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75 Most Important Articles from the Hindu and IE (April 2020)
1. SC upholds right to discuss COVID-19

The Hindu, April 1
The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the right to free discussion about COVID-19, even as it directed the media
to refer to and publish the official version of the developments in order to avoid inaccuracies and large-scale panic.
It ordered the government to start a daily bulletin on COVID-19 developments through all media avenues in the next
24 hours.
A Bench, led by Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde, was responding to a request from the Central government
that media outlets, in the “larger interest of justice”, should only publish or telecast anything on COVID-19 after
ascertaining the factual position from the government.
A Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) report in the court, signed by Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla,
explained that “any deliberate or inaccurate” reporting by the media, particularly web portals, had a “serious and
inevitable potential of causing panic in larger section of the society”.
The Ministry said any panic reaction in the midst of an unprecedented situation based on such reporting would harm
the entire nation. Creating panic is also a criminal offence under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, the Ministry
said.
But the court took a view balancing free press and the need to avoid panic in society during an unprecedented
crisis. “We expect the media [print, electronic or social] to maintain a strong sense of responsibility and ensure that
unverified news capable of causing panic is not disseminated. A daily bulletin by the Government of India through
all media avenues, including social media and forums to clear the doubts of people, would be made active within a
period of 24 hours as submitted by the Solicitor- General of India. We do not intend to interfere with the free
discussion about the pandemic, but direct the media refer to and publish the official version about the
developments,” the court ordered. Noting that the 21-day nationwide lockdown was “inevitable” in the face of an
“unprecedented global crisis” like the COVID-19 pandemic, the government blamed “fake and misleading”
messages on social media for creating widespread panic, which led to mass “barefoot” journey of migrant workers
from cities to their native villages in rural India.
Fake news
“Deliberate or inadvertent fake news and material capable of causing a serious panic in the minds of the public is
found to be the single most unmanageable hindrance in the management of this challenge... Will set up a separate
unit headed by a Joint Secretary-level officer in the Health Ministry and consisting of eminent specialist doctors from
recognised institutions like AIIMS to answer the queries of citizens,” the Ministry’s 39-page status report said.
Head Office: 127, Zone II, MP Nagar, Bhopal |+91-9111555433|www.legaledge.in Page 1 of 64

he Ministry said the Narendra Modi government, in fact, took “pro-active, pre-emptive and timely” action 13 days
before even the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a “public health emergency of international
concern”. Very few countries responded as well as India.
But the mass migration of the poor would defeat the preventive measures taken by the Central government, the
Ministry said. It said “there was no necessity for migrant workers to rush to their villages” when the Centre, fully
conscious that no citizen should be deprived of basic amenities, had announced a ₹1.70 lakh crore package under
the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana to take care of their daily needs.
2. How does alcohol in sanitisers (and soap) kill the coronavirus?

The Indian Express, April 1
Alcohol’s function in killing the virus is much the same as that of the common soap, which has emerged the greatest
weapon against COVID-19 with the limited availability of sanitisers.
The last few weeks have seen hand sanitisers go off the shelves, to the extent that there is now a government order
to ensure availability and to prevent profiteering. How do these protect you against the novel coronavirus? Alcohol’s
function in killing the virus is much the same as that of the common soap, which has emerged the greatest weapon
against COVID-19 with the limited availability of sanitisers. Handwashing for 20 seconds at least kills the virus.
When using a sanitiser, it should ideally have an alcohol content of 60% or more.
Dr Shobha Broor, former professor of microbiology at AIIMS, explained: “The novel coronavirus has a lipid
envelope. Soap being a detergent destroys the envelope. The same is true for alcohol. You see even when the
virus comes out through droplets when an infected person coughs, it is still within a cell. Even if it isn’t, it can stay
alive in surfaces for some time. It replicates only when within the cell. That is how soap or alcohol attacks the virus.”
The US National Institutes of Health explains the structure of the virus: “Like other coronaviruses, SARS-CoV-2
particles are spherical and have proteins called spikes protruding from their surface. These spikes latch onto human
cells, then undergo a structural change that allows the viral membrane to fuse with the cell membrane. The viral
genes can then enter the host cell to be copied, producing more viruses. Recent work shows that, like the virus that
caused the 2002 SARS outbreak, SARS-CoV-2 spikes bind to receptors on the human cell surface called
angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2).”
All of this is held together by a fatty layer, called an envelope. That is the layer that is disrupted when it comes into
contact with soap or a hand sanitiser with more than 60% alcohol, as Dr Broor explained. Disruption of the envelope
causes the virus to come undone, and kills it.
That is why experts and public health institutes across the world agree that handwashing for at least 20 second is
the most failsafe prevention of COVID-19.

3. Centre defines J&K domicile rules

The Hindu, April 2
The Union government has issued a notification defining “domiciles” in the new Union Territory (UT) of Jammu and
Kashmir for protecting jobs in the Group D category and entry-level non-gazetted posts for the domiciles.
On August 6 last, the Centre withdrew J&K’s special status under Article 370 and Article 35A of the Constitution and
bifurcated it into the UTs of J&K and Ladakh.
Changes in PSA
Tuesday’s notification of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) makes changes to the Public Safety Act (PSA) by
removing a clause that prohibited J&K residents booked under the Act to be lodged in jails outside.
The notification scraps all pension benefits such as car, driver, accommodation, phones, electricity, medical
facilities and rent-free accommodation to former J&K Chief Ministers.
The order says the domiciles will be eligible “for the purposes of appointment to any post carrying a pay scale of not
more than Level 4”. The Level 4 post comprises positions such as gardeners, barbers, office peons and waterman,
and the highest rank in the category is that of a junior assistant.
A senior government official said the reservation for domiciles would not apply to Group A and Group B posts, and
like other UTs, recruitment would be done by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).
“This is according to the norms in other UTs and States. Recruitment by the UPSC expands the search for talent
across the country,” the official said.
Vacancies in posts
According to the MHA’s reply to a parliamentary panel on February 18, there are more than 84,000 vacancies in
J&K, of which 22,078 pertain to Class IV employees, 54,375 to non-gazetted and 7,552 at the gazetted level.
The order defines a domicile as one “who has resided for a period of 15 years in the UT of J&K or has studied for a
period of seven years and appeared in Class 10th /12th examination in an educational institution located in the UT
of J&K or who is registered as a migrant by the Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner (Migrants).’’
The two constitutional provisions that were withdrawn — Article 370 and Article 35A — let the legislature decide the
“permanent residents”, prohibiting a non-J&K resident from buying property there and ensuring job reservation for
its residents.
On Tuesday, the MHA issued the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Adaptation of State Laws) Order, 2020,
through which it amended 109 laws and repealed 29 laws of the erstwhile State and inserted the “domicile” clause
in the Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services Decentralisation and Recruitment Act, 2010. The order was issued at
11.07 p.m. Under the 2010 Act, the clause for “permanent resident of the State” has been substituted by “Domicile”
of the Union Territory. The Act pertained to employment in the civil services, comprising “district, divisional and
State” cadre posts. Only permanent residents of J&K were eligible to apply for the gazetted and non-gazetted posts.
The amendment allows non-domiciles to apply to these posts.
“Children of Central Govt. officials, All India Services, PSUs, autonomous body of Centre, Public Sector Banks,
officials of statutory bodies, Central Universities, recognised research institutes of Centre who have served in J&K
for a total period of 10 years” will be domiciles.
The domicile status applies to “children of such residents of J&K who reside outside J&K in connection with their
employment or business or other professional or vocational reasons but their parents should fulfil any of the
conditions provided”. Another official said, “All posts that are up to the rank of junior assistant and below are open

only to domiciles, the entire non-gazetted services has been reserved. Only a few positions such as police sub-
inspectors are directly recruited at a higher level than junior assistants.”
The Jammu and Kashmir State Legislature Members’ Pension Act, 1984, has been amended by the MHA. It fixes
the pension for former legislators and councillors at ₹75,000 a month.
Changes in PSA
The MHA order has also made amendments to the PSA, 1978. It changes the criteria for appointing the PSA
advisory board on the recommendation of a search committee headed by the Chief Secretary instead of the Chief
Justice of the J&K High Court. It also bars sitting High Court judges to be made part of the board without the Chief
justice’s consultation. The board has a crucial role to play in release of detenus. The order scraps a clause that
dealt with the power to regulate place and conditions of detention.
There are 12 States, including Himachal Pradesh, where provisions of special status under Article 371 apply. The
provisions pertain to regulation of ownership and land transfer in order to conserve the limited resources and to
ensure that the State preserves its unique identity.
4. India welcomes foreign contributions to PM-CARES

The Hindu, April 2
India welcomes foreign contributions to the PM-CARES fund to fight the threat posed by the novel coronavirus, a
source said here on Wednesday.
The official highlighted the shortage of ventilators and personal protective equipment for medical professionals,
which needs to be addressed urgently.
“The pandemic is unprecedented. In view of this, India has taken a decision to accept foreign contributions to the
PM-CARES fund,” said a source.
The PM-CARES fund, a public charitable trust, was set up in response to the emerging requirement for resources.
“Contributions can be made by individuals and organisations, both in India and abroad,” said the source familiar
with India’s plans to deal with the crisis.
The official described the shortage of ventilators and personal protective equipment as “acute”, which prompted
Indian diplomatic teams to look for reliable supplies from different parts of the world. “We are working with our
ambassadors to deal with the huge shortage of ventilators and other equipment,” the official said. The issue also
featured during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s video discussion with 130 Indian envoys on March 30.
The official said the bulk of the equipment and relief materials were flowing in through independent organisations as
special contributions, while the government was purchasing the items that were in short supply in the health sector.
The issue of the short supply of essential items made the headlines after nurses and doctors sent video messages
to Mr. Modi, urging for lifesaving devices. However, at the last weekend, Serbia purchased medical items from
India, prompting a debate.
The official, however, clarified that the supplies to the Serbian government did not include the prohibited items.
Along with the other countries of the SAARC region, India has set up the SAARC-COVID-19 Emergency Fund for
helping the front-line health workers with the personal protective equipment. Mr. Modi took up similar issues and
urged for a global approach at a videoconference with G20 leaders.
The official indicated that India would be open to having the issue discussed at the United Nations Security Council.
“However, it is a matter to be taken up by the members of the Security Council,” he said.

The Ministry of External Affairs has set up a dedicated wing for communications with the Indians abroad, many of
whom are eager to return home. The wing has so far received 3,300 phone calls and 2,500 emails.
5. Lewis of ‘DLS method’ fame passes away

The Hindu, April 3
Tony Lewis, one of the men behind the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method used in weather-affected limited-
overs matches, has died aged 78, the England and Wales Cricket Board announced on Wednesday.
“Tony, alongside fellow mathematician Frank Duckworth, devised the Duckworth-Lewis method which was
introduced in 1997 and adopted officially by the ICC (International Cricket Council) in 1999.
“Renamed the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern Method in 2014, the mathematical formula continues to be used in rain
reduced limited overs cricket games across the globe,” said an ECB statement.
A career academic, and not the Welshman of the same name who captained England, Lewis received an MBE
(Member of the Order of the British Empire) for his services to cricket and mathematics in 2010. The big difference
between the DLS and previous methods was that it gave credit to sides defending a target for taking wickets as well
as chasing sides for scoring runs.
Significantly, this meant the target could be adjusted proportionately in the event of more than one stoppage.
An enduring criticism of the system is that it is difficult to understand without having access to a chart that shows
where teams need to be over by over, for however many wickets they have lost.
But the sight of a D/L target soon became a familiar feature on cricket scoreboards around the world.
6. SC calls for quick end to Kerala-Karnataka border row

The Hindu, April 4
The Supreme Court on Friday ordered the Centre, Kerala and Karnataka to confer immediately and “formulate
parameters for passage of patients for urgent medical treatment at the interstate border at Talapadi”.
The order by a Bench of Justices L. Nageswara Rao and Deepak Gupta came on a series of petitions highlighting
Karnataka’s blockade of the border. The blockade, the court was informed, had resulted in deaths as ambulances
bound for Mangaluru (in Karnataka) were not being permitted to cross the border.
The court listed the case for hearing next on April 7.
The order came on petitions to facilitate the free movement of vehicles carrying persons for urgent medical
treatment across the border between Kerala and Karnataka (Talapadi).
The court, meanwhile, issued formal notice on an appeal filed by Karnataka against the Kerala High Court order of
April 1 allowing patients to cross the border for treatment.
Karnataka has argued that the blockade was in the interest of public health. The situation regarding coronavirus
was “really dire”, it said. Karnataka has warned that opening the blockade would cause a law and order issue as the
local population wanted the border to remain sealed.
Karnataka argued that Kerala was the “worst-affected” State in the country with nearly 194 coronavirus cases. In
this, Kasaragod, adjoining Karnataka, was the “worst-affected” district of Kerala with over a 100 positive cases.
The court separately considered a writ petition by Kasargod MP Rajmohan Unnithan for an order to forthwith open
the border. He said Karnataka’s blockade was “ill-planned and dangerous” and had already led to the loss of lives.

7. IOC revises qualification deadlines

The Hindu, April 4
The International Olympic Committee has revised its qualification deadline for the Tokyo Games to June 29, 2021.
Many yet to complete
The 2020 Olympics, postponed by a year due to COVID-19 pandemic, has forced the IOC and International
Federations to rework their qualification and tournament calendar. While some of the events, like hockey, have
already completed their qualification processes and would not be affected, several, including badminton and track&
field were yet to complete the same.
In a communiqué to National Olympic Associations, the IOC has now confirmed the new dates. “The new
qualification period deadline is 29 June 2021, and IFs can define their own qualification period deadlines, should the
deadline be prior to this date. The revised final sport entries deadline has now been set for 5 July 2021,” it said. The
IOC also reiterated its efforts to revise an overall final qualification system at the earliest, even as soon as mid-April,
but admitted that specifics would only come later. “We understand that at this time these are unlikely to include the
full details on the dates and locations of the specified events, recognising that these will follow later as the impacts
of COVID-19 and its related restrictions become clearer.
“We aim to finalise the adapted qualification systems by mid-April, with the details on specific events to follow when
available. The priority remains to reflect, where possible, the allocation method/pathway of the original qualification
systems for each sport,” it added.
The IOC, while allowing international federations the discretion to tweak their rankings system accordingly, sought
to ensure sport-specific balance between protecting those close to qualifying in 2020 and giving the top performers
of 2021 a chance to qualify.
It also authorised IFs to decide on the age-eligibility of athletes who may not make the cut in 2020 but do so in
2021. While there is no upper age limit, sports like gymnastics (16 years), football (under-23) and boxing (17) have
a minimum age.
8. During India coronavirus lockdown, the laws that come into play
The Indian Express , April 4
During the lockdown, Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code has been widely invoked against those not following it.
In a communication to the states on March 24, the Home Ministry said persons violating the containment measures
will be liable to be punished under provisions of the Disaster Management Act 2005, besides Section 188 IPC. A
look at these and related provisions:
For disobedience
Section 188 IPC deals with those disobeying an order passed by a public servant, and provides for imprisonment
ranging from one to six months. For those violating orders passed under the Epidemic Diseases Act, Section 188
IPC is the provision under which punishment is awarded.
Section 51 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 provides for punishment for two kinds of offences: obstructing
any officer or employee of the government or person authorised by any disaster management authority for
discharge of a function; and refusing to comply with any direction given by the authorities under the Act.
Punishment can extend to one year on conviction, or two years if the refusal leads to loss of lives or any imminent
danger.
For spreading fear
Section 505 IPC provides for imprisonment of three years or fine, or both, for those who publish or circulate
anything which is likely to cause fear or alarm. Section 54 of the Disaster Management Act provides for

imprisonment, extending to one year, of those who make or circulate a false alarm or warning regarding a disaster
or its severity or magnitude.
For false claim to aid
Under Section 52, Disaster Management Act, whoever makes a false claim for obtaining “any relief, assistance,
repair, reconstruction or other benefits” from any official authority can be sentenced to a maximum of two years
imprisonment and a fine will be imposed on the person.
For refusing to do duties
In case of refusal or withdrawal of any officer who has been tasked with any duty under the Act, the officer can be
sentenced to imprisonment extending to one year. However, those who have written permission of the superior or
any lawful ground are exempt from such punishment. A case cannot be initiated without the explicit sanction from
the state or central government.
For refusing to help
Any authorised authority under the Act can requisite resources like persons and material resources, premises like
land or building, or sheds and vehicles for rescue operations. Though there is a provision for compensation under
the Act, any person who disobeys such an order can be sentenced to imprisonment up to one year.
Legal shield
For any offence under the Disaster Management Act, a court will take cognisance only if the complaint is filed by the
national or state or district authority, or the central or state government. However, there is another provision: if a
person has given notice of 30 days or more about an alleged offence, and about his intention to file a complaint, he
or she can approach the court which can then take cognisance.
The Act protects government officers and employees from any legal process for actions they took “in good faith”.
Under the Epidemic Diseases Act too, no suit or other legal proceedings can lie against any person for anything
done or intended to be done under good faith.
9. FIFA puts off women’s U-17 WC

The Hindu, April 5
The event was to be held at Kolkata, Guwahati, Bhubaneswar, Ahmedabad and Navi Mumbai
Qualifying events in Europe, Africa yet to be conducted
The FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup to be held in India in November was on Saturday postponed by football’s
governing body due to the worsening COVID-19 pandemic.
The women’s age-group showpiece was to be held at five venues in the country — Kolkata, Guwahati,
Bhubaneswar, Ahmedabad and Navi Mumbai — from November 2-21. It was to be India’s maiden appearance in
the U-17 World Cup.
U-20 WC postponed
The decision was taken by the FIFA-Confederations working group which was recently established by the Bureau of
the FIFA Council to address the consequences of the pandemic.
The working group also recommended postponement of the FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup Panama/Costa
Rica 2020 — originally scheduled for August/September 2020.
Meanwhile, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) said the postponement was on expected lines.

“Just like other sports events which were postponed due to this dreaded disease, it (postponement of U-17 World
Cup) was to happen,” said AIFF general secretary Kushal Das.
“The qualifying events in Europe and Africa and other confederations are yet to be held and so the decision was on
expected lines.”
He said the tournament would most likely be held next year.
10. Reserve Bank setting up exclusive wing for banking fraud oversight
The Indian Express April 6
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is in the process of putting together an exclusive wing for banking fraud oversight,
which will have teams for meta-data processing and analysis, artificial intelligence analysis units, as well as pro-
active risk assessment cell, sources close to the development said.
The banking regulator is also planning to bring in experts from the private sector working in all these domains to
train the new members in the fraud oversight wing. These training sessions are will be repeated every year in the
initial years, the sources said.
The new team is likely to be formed as soon as within the next month, and could have a capacity of up to 600
officers, the sources said, adding that the perception of the RBI’s inaction in the Yes Bank case had sped up the
process.
“There was one RBI director on the Yes Bank board, who had the help of three mid-level executives. They had
never done credit risk assessment task in their career so far, so it was difficult for them to flag what was happening,”
a source said, requesting anonymity.
Veterans to guide teams; training in latest technologies
The idea of a fraud oversight wing was floated in October 2019 by the top management of RBI. The working
conditions, however, were very strict and anyone opting for that cadre would not be allowed to leave for three years.
To overcome the problem, the RBI sought to create an entire new wing and hire fresh people, including industry
veterans who would lead the teams. These new teams will also be given training in the latest technologies, so that
they can also prevent another Yes Bank kind of event.
The RBI, on March 5, superseded the board of Yes Bank and placed it under immediate moratorium. Withdrawals
from the bank were also capped at Rs 50,000. The banking regulator had then appointed former State Bank of India
Chief Financial Officer Prashant Kumar as the bank’s administrator.
A day later, the RBI revealed a reconstruction plan for the private sector lender, which had then suggested a
possibility of SBI, India’s largest bank, acquiring a 49 per cent equity stake. SBI later committed to invest up to Rs
7,250 crore in the beleaguered private sector lender.
After the loan fiasco at Punjab National Bank, the RBI had been mulling ways to pro-actively detect such frauds.
As part of that plan, the banking regulator had late last year moved to create a separate cadre of its own employees
who would work in regulation and oversight sections.
There were some initial teething troubles due to which the section could never get to actual ground work, sources
said.
Apart from the new division, the banking regulator is also likely to move swiftly to fill its vacancies, as it faces a
shortage of staff.

“We found that in divisions or for work where we should have 20 people working on a case, there were only 7-8.
Naturally they will be overworked all the time and the bank will face human resource management issues,” another
official said.
11. MPLADS suspended; PM, MPs to take 30% salary cut

The Hindu, April 7
The Union Cabinet on Monday approved a 30% cut in the salaries of all Members of Parliament and a two-year
suspension of the MP Local Area Development (MPLAD) scheme so that the amount saved can go to the
Consolidated Fund of India to fight COVID-19, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said on
Monday.
Addressing a press conference after a Cabinet meeting, Mr. Javadekar said the Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, approved an ordinance to amend the Salaries, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament
Act, 1954, to cut the salaries of MPs by 30%.
He said all MPs, including the Prime Minister and his Council of Ministers, would take the salary cut for financial
year 2020-2021. In addition, the Cabinet had decided to suspend the MPLAD funds for 2020-2021 and 2021-2022.
Many MPs had already pledged to use their MPLAD funds, ₹5 crore a year, for efforts to combat the coronavirus
pandemic.
“All MPs were feeling that charity begins at home. Therefore, we have decided on an ordinance...Many MPs had
contributed their MPLAD funds for COVID-19 related measures. So, instead of piecemeal efforts, a comprehensive
decision was taken to suspend MPLADS for two years,” he said, adding that the amount saved from the scheme
would be ₹7,900 crore.
Mr. Javadekar said President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu, as well as all Governors,
had decided of their own volition to take a 30% salary cut. All the amount saved would go to the Consolidated Fund
of India.
When asked about how much would be saved from the MPs’ salary cut, he said: “It’s not about the amount, it’s
about the message it sends to the country about the will of MPs.”
Later, government spokesperson K.S. Dhatwalia clarified via a tweet that only the MPs’ salaries would be cut, not
allowances or the pensions of ex-MPs. According to the Act, as amended in April 2018, MPs are entitled to a
monthly salary of ₹1 lakh, apart from various allowances.
Congress reaction
Reacting to the Cabinet decisions, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said in a tweet that the
Congress supported the salary cut for MPs. However, suspending the MPLAD scheme would undermine the role of
MPs, he observed.
“Dear PM, INC supports the salary cut for MP’s! Please note that MPLAD is meant to execute developmental works
in the constituency. Suspending it is a huge disservice to the constituents & will undermine the role & functions of
MP,” he tweeted.
“He asked us for suggestions on how some industry can be restarted where labour can work with adequate social
distancing safeguards,” the source stated.
Mr. Modi asserted that the situation called for bolstering domestic manufacture and asked the Ministers to see how
‘Make in India’ could be worked out in this scenario.
“Business continuity plans after the lockdown is lifted were also asked, as the economy needs a rescue act,” said a
source.

Government sources (other than the Ministers at the meeting on Monday) told The Hindu that all sorts of
suggestions were placed at the discussion table, but it seemed as though reopening of schools and colleges would
not be done in a hurry, not least because many now are shelters for the homeless and migrant labour and
quarantine centres.
Even railway and air traffic are unlikely to resume anytime soon, possibly in a staggered manner.
Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Puri took to Twitter on Sunday to clarify his Ministry’s position.
“The current lockdown of both domestic and international passenger flights is till April 15. A decision to restart the
flights after this period remains to be taken. If required, we will have to assess the situation on a case to case
basis,” Mr. Puri said.
12. Govt. shifts to ‘large outbreak containment’

The Hindu, April 7
With just over a week left of the 21-day COVID-19 containment lockdown, the Union Health Ministry said on
Monday that India has now stepped out of the local transmission phase and moved into the “large outbreaks
amenable to containment phase”.
With a current case doubling rate of 96 hours and the infection having spread to nearly 300 of the 736 district
across the country, the protocol now followed has been set out in the Union Health Ministry’s recently released
document “Containment plan for large outbreaks”.
This includes “re-defining the area of operation, active surveillance for cases and contacts in the identified
geographic zone, expanding laboratory capacity for testing all suspect cases, high risk contacts and SARI cases,
operationalize surge capacities created for isolation (COVID-19 hospitals/COVID-19 dedicated blocks) to hospitalise
and manage all suspect / confirmed cases.”
The other measures under the protocol include implementation of social distancing measures with strict perimeter
control, providing chemoprophylaxis with hydroxy-chloroquine to asymptomatic healthcare workers and
asymptomatic household contacts of laboratory confirmed cases and the further intensification of risk
communication through audio, social and visual media.
As per the surge capacity recommendation, the government is empowered to enhance capacity and bring in private
hospitals and augment laboratory testing capacity, notes the 20-page document.
Anticipating about 15% of the patients are likely to require hospitalisation, and an additional 5% will require
ventilator management, the Centre has planned a three-tier arrangement for managing suspect and confirmed
cases which is now being implemented to decrease burden on the COVID blocks and hospitals. “The mild cases will
be kept in temporary makeshift hospital facilities, moderate to severe cases who require monitoring of their clinical
status will be admitted to COVID hospitals. Some of the severe cases may progress to respiratory failure and /or
progress to multi-organ failure and hence critical care facility/ dialysis facility etc shall be required,” a senior health
official said. The Ministry is also looking at scaling down operations “if no secondary laboratory confirmed COVID-
19 case is reported from the geographic quarantine zone for at least four weeks after the last confirmed test has
been isolated and all his contacts have been followed up for 28 days.”

13. Restrictions on court hearings lawful: SC

The Hindu, April 7
The Supreme Court on Monday deemed all restrictions imposed on people from entering, attending or taking part in
court hearings as lawful in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sharad A. Bobde said these restrictions were in tune with the social
distancing norms and best public health practices advocated to contain the contagion.
‘Matter of duty’
The court invoked its extraordinary constitutional powers under Article 142 to step away from the convention of
open court hearings. The open court system ensures transparency in administration of justice.
“Every individual and institution is expected to cooperate in the implementation of measures designed to reduce the
transmission of the virus. The scaling down of conventional operations within the precincts of courts is a measure in
that direction... it is necessary that courts at all levels respond to the call of social distancing and ensure that court
premises do not contribute to the spread of virus. This is not a matter of discretion but of duty,” a three-judge Bench
led by the CJI observed in a seven-page order.
The court made it clear that public health takes precedence over conventions. Judiciary would have to improvise
and continue to bank heavily on “videoconferencing technologies” in the wake of this “unprecedented and
extraordinary outbreak of a pandemic”.
“Access to justice is fundamental to preserve the rule of law in the democracy envisaged by the Constitution of
India. The challenges occasioned by the outbreak of COVID-19 have to be addressed while preserving the
constitutional commitment to ensuring the delivery of and access to justice to those who seek it... Indian courts have
been proactive in embracing advancement in technology in judicial proceedings,” the order said.
Open court hearings would mean a congregation of large number of people. This would prove detrimental to the
fight against the virus.
In the past few days, the SC and the High Courts had stopped open court hearings. Cases were heard via
videoconferencing to ensure social distancing. The Supreme Court premises was completely shutdown.
Videoconferencing
The CJI Bench assembled on Monday to suo motu streamline the videoconferencing guidelines for courts. In a
series of directions, the apex court allowed the High Courts to decide the modalities for the temporary transition to
the use of videoconferencing technologies in their respective States. District courts in each State would adopt the
mode of videoconferencing prescribed by the respective High Courts. Helplines would be set up to receive and
rectify technical complaints.
The courts should make available videoconferencing facility for litigants who do not have it or appoint an amicus
curiae.
Until appropriate rules are framed by the High Courts, videoconferencing should be employed for hearing
arguments. “In no case shall evidence be recorded without the mutual consent of both the parties by
videoconferencing. If it is necessary to record evidence in a courtroom, the presiding officer shall ensure that
appropriate distance is maintained between any two individuals in the court,” the apex court order said.

14. New York zoo tiger tests positive for virus

The Hindu, April 7
A tiger at New Yorks Bronx Zoo has tested positive for COVID-19, the institution said Sunday, and is believed to
have contracted the virus from a caretaker who was asymptomatic at the time. The four-year-old Malayan tiger
named Nadia along with her sister Azul, two Amur tigers and three African lions all developed dry coughs and are
expected to fully recover, the Wildlife Conservation Society that runs the city’s zoos said in a statement.
“We tested the cat out of an abundance of caution and will ensure any knowledge we gain about COVID-19 will
contribute to the world’s continuing understanding of this novel coronavirus,” said the statement. “Though they have
experienced some decrease in appetite, the cats at the Bronx Zoo are otherwise doing well under veterinary care
and are bright, alert, and interactive with their keepers,” it said. “It is not known how this disease will develop in big
cats since different species can react differently to novel infections, but we will continue to monitor them closely and
anticipate full recoveries.”
All zoos closed
All four of the zoos and the aquarium in New York — where the virus death toll has topped 4,000 — have been
closed since March 16. The zoo emphasised that 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 evidence that any person has been
infected with COVID-19 in the U.S. by animals, including by pet dogs or cats.”
Chinese disease control officials have previously identified wild animals sold in a Wuhan market as the source of
the pandemic that has infected well over one million people worldwide.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture website, there had “not been reports of pets or other animals” in the
U.S. falling ill with COVID-19 prior to news of tiger Nadia. “It is still recommended that people sick with COVID-19
limit contact with animals until more information is known about the virus,” the department’s website says.
In late March, a pet cat was discovered infected with the virus in Belgium, following similar cases in Hong Kong
where two dogs tested positive. All of those animals are believed to have contracted the virus from the people they
live with. The Bronx zoo said preventative measures were in place for caretakers as well as all cats.
Sarah Caddy, veterinarian and clinical research fellow at the University of Cambridge, said that since domestic cats
had been shown to be potentially susceptible to the virus, the tiger becoming infected was “not wholly unexpected”.
15. Gender violence is a shadow pandemic: UN

The Hindu, April 8
The UN Women has urged member-states to include prevention of violence against women in their action plans on
COVID-19 and consider shelters and helplines essential services, calling the rise in gender-based violence a
“shadow pandemic”.
“Helplines, psychosocial support and online counselling should be boosted, using technology-based solutions such
as SMS, online tools and networks to expand social support, and to reach women with no access to phones or
Internet. Police and justice services must mobilise to ensure that incidents of violence against women and girls are
given high priority with no impunity for perpetrators,” Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of the UN
Women, appealed to various countries in a press statement issued late evening on Monday.
According to UN Women, globally 243 million women and girls aged 15-49 have been subjected to sexual and/or
physical violence perpetrated by an intimate partner in the previous 12 months. “The number is likely to increase as
security, health and money worries heighten tensions and strains are accentuated by cramped and confined living
conditions.” It says according to emerging data, violence against women and girls, particularly domestic violence,
has ‘intensified’.

As per data compiled by the U.N. body, France has seen a 30% increase in domestic violence since the lockdown
on March 17. In Argentina, emergency calls for domestic violence cases have increased by 25% since the lockdown
on March 20 and Cyprus (30%), Singapore (33%) have also registered an increase in calls. Canada, Germany,
Spain, the U.K. and the U.S. have also registered an increase in cases of domestic violence and demand for
emergency shelter.
In an earlier message, U.N. Chief Antonio Gueterres appealed for a ‘ceasefire’ on domestic violence after “a
horrifying global surge in domestic violence”.
16. Hydroxychloroquine: The drug everyone is looking at

The government has decided to ease its ban on the export of hydroxychloroquine, a drug that has garnered
global interest in the treatment and prevention of COVID-19. On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump tweeted
about “retaliation” if India did not heed his request for the drug. Later, India said it would supply to countries that
needed it the most, and to neighbours who were “dependent on India’s capabilities”.
What is hydroxychloroquine and what is it used for?
It is an antimalarial drug option, considered less toxic than chloroquine, and prescribed in certain cases. Doctors
also prescribe hydroxychloroquine for patients of rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.
Who makes this drug in India?
Hydroxychloroquine had a market size of only around Rs 152.80 crore in the 12 months ended February 2020,
according to pharmaceutical market research firm AIOCD Awacs PharmaTrac. However, several countries source
the drug from India.
Mumbai-headquartered Ipca Laboratories had nearly 82% of the market, with its brands HCQS and HYQ. Around
80% of the volumes produced by Ipca are exported. Ahmedabad-headquartered Cadila Healthcare (Zydus Cadila)
prepares the brand Zy Q, with 8% of the market. Wallace Pharmaceuticals (OXCQ), Torrent Pharmaceuticals
(HQTOR) and Overseas Healthcare Pvt Ltd (CARTIQUIN) have smaller shares.
Why has the COVID-19 outbreak spotlighted hydroxychloroquine?
In a study last month in the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents (IJAA), French scientists reported: “Twenty
cases were treated… and showed a significant reduction of the viral carriage… compared to controls, and much
lower average carrying duration than reported of untreated patients in the literature. Azithromycin (an antibiotic)
added to hydroxychloroquine was significantly more efficient for virus elimination.”
The study was flagged as being too small to draw a definitive conclusion. On April 3, the International Society of
Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, which owns the IJAA, said the study did “not meet the society’s expected standard,
especially relating to the lack of better explanations of the inclusion criteria and the triage of patients to ensure
patient safety”.
However, by March 21, Trump had begun to call the drug a “game changer”, and has since been pushing it.
At the end of last month, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) issued an advisory recommending the use
of hydroxychloroquine in asymptomatic healthcare workers treating COVID-19 patients, and also allowed doctors to
prescribe it for household contacts of confirmed COVID-19 patients. However, the government has stressed that the
drug can only be used in COVID-19 treatment on prescription, and that it should not instill a sense of “false
security”.
Since when has India stopped exporting the drug?

The US has been looking to procure the drug for emergency use. On March 21, Ipca told stock exchanges here that
the US Food and Drug Administration had “made exception” to its import alert against the company so that it could
get stocks.
India decided to ban exports of the drug on April 4. On Tuesday, the government decided to ease the ban.
Is hydroxychloroquine actually effective?
Two large trials are under way on the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine, and even chloroquine, in COVID-19
treatment. In the World Health Organization (WHO) solidarity trial, of which India is a part, clinicians worldwide are
to follow a common protocol to treat patients with hydroxychloroquine. The second is the chloroquine accelerator
trial, largely funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
As of now, the jury is still out on how effective these drugs can be against the virus, according to virologist and CEO
of the Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance Dr Shahid Jameel. “Both of these are testing very large numbers of
patients according to the random testing protocol used to test medicines. The results of those trials are not available
yet,” he said. “If people in high exposure situations such as health workers are taking
hydroxychloroquine/chloroquine as a preventive measure in limited ways, it may be fine. But, it is not all right for the
general public to go around popping these drugs hoping that they will be protected. They may not be protected, but
they will definitely cause themselves some harm,” said Dr Jameel.
How has the outbreak impacted patients who take the drug for other reasons?
In March, Trump’s statement promoting the drug not only led to panic buying in the US, but also impacted stocks in
India. Fortis Memorial Research Institute rheumatology consultant Dr Naval Mendiratta said he had already begun
receiving calls from his patients about lack of stocks due to panic buying. While it “should be fine” for some arthritis
and lupus patients to skip “a few days to a week” since the drug is long-acting, breaks longer than that would be
“difficult to manage”, he said.
Following the ICMR’s advisory on the drug, various patients and healthcare professionals alike are learnt to have
stocked up on hydroxychloroquine. According to Prashant Tandon, founder of 1mg, some patients who had never
used the drug had also attempted to source it from his e-pharmacy but were unsuccessful as they did not have valid
prescriptions.
The drug has since been moved to a Schedule H1 status, which means patients who need the drug would have to
get a fresh prescription every time they needed to purchase it.
Nearly a month on, stocks are still not available easily in pharmacies, affecting several patients who actually use the
drug for auto-immune diseases. Some patients The Indian Express spoke to have been struggling to get their
required dosage even after showing prescriptions.
“The stock is still limited, and whatever little stock is available is being prioritised and bought by the central and
state governments. We have been told that we will receive stocks soon, hopefully within a week, but we don’t
know,” 1mg’s Tandon said.
What are pharmaceutical companies doing to resolve the issue?
According to Ipca joint managing director Ajit Kumar Jain, the company has the ability to ramp up production to
meet much of the government’s requirements, as only 10 per cent of its manufacturing capacity of
hydroxychloroquine had been used for the domestic market so far.
However, to make sure the drug is not misused or stocked out due to panic buying, the company has decided to
make hydroxychloroquine available at “select” pharmacies across the country, in communication with rheumatoid
arthritis specialists.


“Now, the patient can just reach out to their doctor and they should be able to connect them with the pharmacy that
has the available stock,” he said. “Maybe after the lockdown eases up, we might be able to slowly make the drug
available more widely.
A spokesperson for Zydus Cadila said the company has ramped up production of hydroxychloroquine to 20-30
tonnes per month from three tonnes previously. It will scale it up further to about 40-50 tonnes per month in the
coming months “if need arises”.
17. Wisden honour for Ben Stokes

The Hindu April 9
Ben Stokes has ended Virat Kohli’s three-year reign as Wisden’s leading cricketer in the world after playing a
starring role in England’s World Cup win last year. Australia’s Ellyse Perry reclaimed the leading women’s cricketer
in the world title from Smriti Mandhana.
Stokes, the first England player to receive the honour since Andrew Flintoff in 2005, had won the ICC player of the
year award.
Two defining knocks
The 28-year-old won the man-of-the-match award in the World Cup final against New Zealand at Lord’s and then
produced a remarkable match-winning innings of 135 not out in the third Ashes Test against Australia.
“Ben Stokes pulled off the performance of a lifetime — twice in the space of a few weeks,” said Wisden editor
Lawrence Booth.
A photo taken by Gareth Copley for Getty Images showing Stokes celebrating after hitting the winning runs in the
Headingley Test has won the Wisden-MCC Photograph of the Year award for 2019.
Aussies strike it rich
England pace bowler Jofra Archer, who bowled the Super Over in the World Cup final, is among Wisden’s five
cricketers of the year.
Australians Pat Cummins, Marnus Labuschagne and Perry have been named alongside Archer, as well as South
Africa-born Essex off-spinner Simon Harmer.
West Indian all-rounder Andre Russell was named leading T20 cricketer in the world.
18. India, US in talks for dollar swap line to strengthen macro outlook
The Indian Express ,April 9
India is working with the United States to secure a dollar swap line that would help in providing an additional comfort
in an event of any abrupt outflow of funds, according to a senior government official and banking industry
executives familiar with the matter. Foreign institutional investors have been large sellers in the Indian equity and
debt markets in March and April so far, as concerns on the economic effects of COVID-19 hit investor sentiment.
“We have been discussing with the US for a dollar swap line, on the lines of a similar facility that India has with
other central banks. We expect positive progress on that front,” the official said.
“(A swap facility) could be on the way as there’s a possibility that India will liquidate its foreign currency assets like
investment in US treasury etc. to stabilise the rupee which has been under pressure of late,” said a forex market
source.
India liquidated its forex assets to stabilise the rupee which recently fell below the 76 level against the dollar. India’s
foreign currency assets had declined by around $7.50 billion in two weeks to $ 439.66 billion as on March 27.

According to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data, 63.7 per cent of India’s foreign currency assets — or $256.17 billion
— is invested in overseas securities, mainly in the US treasury. If countries like India and China resort to large scale
liquidation of their investments, it could push up the yields and interest rates in the US, sources said, adding,
“there’s a case for India to get the swap facility from Fed as the economy is facing rough weather due to
the coronavirus outbreak.” The Finance Ministry and RBI did not reply to queries seeking comments for the story.
EXPLAINED
Tool for RBI to deal with volatile currency markets
Amid the Covid-19 impact on financial markets, presence of a currency swap facility with the United States will add
to the RBI’s arsenal in managing external account and excessive volatility in currency markets. Though some
economists believe foreign exchange reserves are sufficient at this juncture for macroeconomic management, forex
market analysts argue that this will provide comfort in case of further outflows from the Indian markets.
While India is expected to comfortably tide over any challenge posed by continued outflows of funds from the
markets, given the adequacy of foreign exchange reserves, a swap line with the US Fed provides an additional
comfort to the forex markets. “India has enough foreign exchange reserves now and external sector is not facing
any problem. Current account is getting stronger and the oil prices have come down. India doesn’t require a swap
facility,” said CARE Ratings chief economist Madan Sabnavis.
In a swap arrangement, the US Federal Reserve provides dollars to a foreign central bank. At the same time, the
foreign central bank provides the equivalent amount of funds in its currency to the Fed, based on the market
exchange rate at the time of the transaction.
The parties agree to swap back these quantities of their two currencies at a specified date in the future, which is the
next day or as far ahead as three months, using the same exchange rate as in the first transaction. These swap
operations carry no exchange rate or other market risks as transaction terms are set in advance.
On March 19, the US Fed added temporary swap arrangements with the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Banco
Central do Brasil, Danmarks Nationalbank (Denmark), the Bank of Korea, the Banco de Mexico, the Reserve Bank
of New Zealand, the Norges Bank (Norway), the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Sveriges Riksbank
(Sweden) to be in place for at least six months for a combined total of $450 billion.
The US Fed already has permanent swap arrangements with the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the
European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan, and the Swiss National Bank.
19. World faces new ‘Great Depression’

The Hindu ,April 10
World powers scrambled on Thursday to build a global response to the human tragedy and once-in-a-century
economic collapse caused by the coronavirus epidemic, as death tolls in the U.S. and Europe soared higher.
In a locked-down New York, the UN Security Council was to meet on the pandemic for the first time. And, by video
conference, EU Finance Ministers are wrangling over how to bail out their worst hit members Italy and Spain.
“We anticipate the worst economic fallout since the Great Depression,” said IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva, warning
that all but a handful of countries will see incomes fall and urging governments to provide “lifelines” to businesses
and households alike.
The U.S. Federal Reserve tossed out just such a rescue to Americans, with chairman Jerome Powell announcing
financing facilities of $2.3 trillion “to provide as much relief and stability as we can during this period of constrained
economic activity”.

He warned, however, that the U.S. economy is moving “with alarming speed” towards “very high unemployment”.
Another 6.6 million U.S. workers filed for unemployment benefits last week, new data showed on Thursday,
meaning that nearly 17 million workers have lost their jobs since mid-March.
On the spiritual front, Pope Francis was preparing to celebrate Maundy Thursday with The Mass of the Lord's
Supper, but he was to be unable to perform the tradition of washing the feet of the faithful in case of infection.
Meanwhile, the number of worldwide cases of the novel coronavirus since it spread from China earlier this year
topped 1.5 million, according to an AFP tally. More than 88,981 people have died.
Worst recession
Alongside the personal tragedies and the pressure on overburdened hospitals, there has been a stark economic
toll, with the World Trade Organization warning of the “worst recession of our lifetimes.”
The worst-hit countries in Europe — the worst-hit continent — are Italy and Spain, where daily death tolls are now
down from their peaks but still running high, despite strict lockdowns.
In Italy, the country's youngest COVID-19 patient, a two-month-old baby girl, was reportedly released from hospital,
a moment of hope in a country with 17,669 dead.
Madrid and Rome are seeking assistance from EU partners to rebuild their economies. EU finance ministers were
to meet later Thursday by videoconference for crisis talks to try to agree terms to allow hard-hit members to access
funds.
20. Reading the coronavirus containment plan

In the last couple of days, several areas in the National Capital Region have been cordoned off — “sealed” — to
try and restrict the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) within that area. This is part of India’s “containment” plan,
essentially an updated version of an earlier Health Ministry blueprint that was drawn up when the only COVID-19
cases were those coming from abroad.
Coronavirus: What are the components of the containment plan?
The plan outlines a strategic approach based on the stage of transmission. Five stages have been identified —
travel-related case reported in India; local transmission; large outbreaks amenable to containment; widespread
community transmission; India becoming endemic for COVID-19.
“At the time of writing this document, many of the crucial epidemiological information particularly source of
infection, mode of transmission, period of infectivity, etc are still under investigation,” reads a disclaimer. Officials
say it means that the plan is subject to revisions if required, as and when there is greater clarity about some of
these aspects.
What is the approach recommended for the various stages?
Containment of local transmission hinges on extensive contact tracing and search for cases in the containment
zone, testing all suspect cases and high-risk contacts, and isolating all suspect or confirmed cases; quarantining
contacts; and social distancing.
For larger outbreaks, in addition to the usual measures, there is higher focus on a particular geographic zone and
hospitals around the area are prepared for a rise in cases. This was done in Agra in early March when the area was
cordoned off, contact tracing and isolation undertaken at a large scale in Lohamandi area, and S N Hospital
became the base of the surveillance team and also the place where suspected cases could be taken if required. In
addition, all asymptomatic healthcare workers are to be given hydroxychloroquine as a preventive.

The graded containment plan in effect takes lessons from the H1N1 influenza pandemic where the spread was in
clusters. “The current geographic distribution of COVID-19 mimics the distribution of H1N1 Pandemic Influenza.
This suggests that while the spread of COVID-19 in our population could be high, it’s unlikely that it will be uniformly
affecting all parts of the country. This calls for differential approach to different regions of the country, while
mounting a strong containment effort in hot spots,” reads the plan document.
How are confirmed and suspected cases to be dealt with?
It says: “All suspect/confirmed COVID-19 cases will be hospitalized and kept in isolation in dedicated COVID-19
hospitals/hospital blocks. Persons testing positive for COVID-19 will remain hospitalized till such time as two of their
samples are tested negative as per discharge policy. About 15% of the patients are likely to require hospitalization,
and an additional 5 % will requires ventilator management.”
To reduce the burden on hospitals, there is a plan to temporarily convert hotels/ hostels/ guesthouses/ stadiums
near a COVID-19 hospital as care centres where mild cases may be kept. “Dedicated COVID-19
hospitals/dedicated blocks in large hospitals will be identified and operationalized. Moderate to severe cases, who
require monitoring of their clinical status (patients with radiological evidence of pneumonia) will be admitted to
COVID hospital.” For more severe cases requiring respiratory or other support, tertiary care centres both private
and government will be included as part of the micro plan.
So, the protocol varies based on severity?
Yes. The Health Ministry has issued directions for categorisation of designated facilities into three groups — COVID
care centres, COVID health centres and dedicated COVID hospitals. The care centres will be for cases clinically
assigned as mild or very mild, or suspected cases. The health centres are hospitals that will offer care for all cases
that have been clinically assigned as moderate. The dedicated hospitals will offer comprehensive care, primarily for
those clinically assigned as severe.
“The COVID care centres are makeshift facilities. These may be set up in hostels, hotels, schools, stadiums, lodges
etc., both public and private.(COVID health centres) should either be a full hospital or a separate block in a hospital
with preferably separate entry/ exit/ zoning.(they) will have separate areas for suspect and confirmed cases.
Suspect and confirmed cases should not be allowed to mix under any circumstances,” said the document on
categorisation of care and hospitalisation facilities prepared by the emergency medical response division of the
Health Ministry.
What is the line of treatment?
The document collates the various advisories issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR),
emphasising that till now there is no approved specific drug or vaccine against COVID-19.
“However Hydroxychloroquine has been recommended as chemoprophylaxis drug for use by asymptomatic
healthcare workers managing COVID-19 cases and asymptomatic contacts of confirmed COVID-19 cases… In
addition a combination of Hydroxychloroquine and Azithromycin has been advocated for use in severe cases of
COVID-19 under medical supervision,” it says. On Thursday, the ICMR said it is in the final stages of preparing a
clinical trial protocol for convalescent plasma therapy.
Does it address the concerns of healthcare personnel?
Amid unrest among medical personnel across the country over the availability and quality of personal protective
equipment (PPE), the plan reiterates the need for adequate PPE. “At all times doctors, nurses and para-medics
working in the clinical areas will wear three-layered surgical mask and gloves. The medical personnel working in
isolation and critical care facilities where aerozolisation is anticipated, will wear full complement of PPE (including
N95 masks).The support staff engaged in cleaning and disinfection will also wear full complement of PPE.
Environmental cleaning should be done twice daily and consist of damp dusting and floor mopping with Lysol or
other phenolic disinfectants and cleaning of commonly touched surfaces with sodium hypochlorite solution,” says

the document. Sodium hypochlorite is already being used extensively, including in the Nizamuddin headquarters of
the Tablighi Jamaat.
21. How plasma therapy works, what India plans

The Indian Express ,April 11
Even as trials are undertaken across the world, some independently and at least one under the aegis of the World
Health Organization (WHO Solidarity Trial) to look for therapeutics to fight the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-
19), India is all set to try out a therapy that involves attempting to jump-start the immunity of a serious patient by
infusing some of the blood plasma of a person who has already recovered from the disease.
This is called convalescent plasma therapy and has in the past been used in many other diseases.
Explained: What is convalescent plasma therapy?
Convalescent plasma therapy, which was recently allowed by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for
investigation purposes – clinical trials etc in a regulated way – involves transfusion of the blood plasma of a
recovered patient into another patient. Plasma is the matrix on which the blood cells float. It also houses crucial
components of immunity known as antibodies. Antibodies are the immediate warriors who fight an invading
pathogen – an antigen – to defeat it. Once that is done, some blood cells function as memory cells so that they can
identify and defeat the same enemy if and when it invades again by quickly producing the same antibodies.
Source: Johns Hopkins University, updated at 11:00 pm on April 10
Convalescent plasma therapy banks on the age-old concept of passive immunity when antibodies for some
diseases, such as diphtheria, were developed in horses and injected into humans. Active immunity is what is
achieved by introducing an attenuated pathogen (such as the BCG vaccine) into the body to generate an immune
response. The other kind of immunity is passive immunity.
According to the Textbook of Medical Physiology by Guyton and Hall, “Temporary immunity can be achieved in a
person without injecting any antigen. This is done by infusing antibodies, activated T cells or both obtained from the
blood of someone else or from some other animal that has been actively immunised against these antigens. These

antibodies last for two-three weeks and during that time, the person is protected against the invading disease.
Activated T cells last for a few weeks if transfused from another person and for a few hours to a few days if
transfused from an animal. Such transfusion of antibodies or lymphocytes to confer immunity is called passive
immunity.”
T-cells are blood cells that have a crucial role in immunity.
Convalescent plasma therapy: What is India planning to do?
The country’s apex medical research organisation, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), is framing a
protocol for infusing blood plasma from people who have recovered from COVID-19 into serious patients.
This will only be done by way of a clinical trial, in patients who are in a severe condition, or on ventilator. “We are in
the final stages of making a protocol for convalescent plasma therapy and after that we will need approval from the
drug controller general of India. This is not for use in all patients. It will be done on trial basis. Abroad it has been
found successful in limited trials. Here we will do it only on patients on ventilator or severe patients,” Dr Manoj
Murhekar, Director, ICMR-National Institute of Epidemiology, said on Thursday.
Union Health Ministry update as of 11 pm, April 10. Some states may have reported higher numbers. Only states
with the most cases are listed above.
In Kerala, Dr Anoop Kumar, member of the state-constituted expert committee for advising the government on
COVID-19, said he had spoken to some who had recovered from COVID-19 and they are ready to be part of the
plasma therapy trial. The state too would need clearance from the national drug controller before going ahead with
such a trial.
Though Kerala has expressed anxiety about the availability of kits for checking the antibody level in the plasma of a
recovered person, the transfusion process itself is not very complicated. It requires separation of the plasma from
whole blood, through a machine and then transfusion. The kit to check antibody level, though, is not available in
India and has to be brought from Germany.

What is the position of other countries on such therapy?
The United States FDA said on April 8: “FDA has issued guidance to provide recommendations to health care
providers and investigators on the administration and study of investigational convalescent plasma collected from
individuals who have recovered from COVID-19 (COVID-19 convalescent plasma) during the public health
emergency… Because COVID-19 convalescent plasma has not yet been approved for use by FDA, it is regulated
as an investigational product.”
In a study last last month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,
Chinese researchers reported about a pilot convalescent plasma therapy in 10 patients. They reported: “all
symptoms in the 10 patients, especially fever, cough, shortness of breath, and chest pain, disappeared or largely
improved within 1 d to 3 d upon CP transfusion.
Maharashtra Medical Education Department update at 10 am on April 10. The last count will not match that of the
Union Ministry’s evening update
Prior to CP treatment, three patients received mechanical ventilation, three received high-flow nasal cannula
oxygenation, and two received conventional low-flow nasal cannula oxygenation. After treatment with CP, two
patients were weaned from mechanical ventilation to high-flow nasal cannula, and one patient discontinued high-
flow nasal cannula. Besides, in one patient treated with conventional nasal cannula oxygenation, continuous
oxygenation was shifted to intermittent oxygenation.” Most importantly, they reported, no adverse effects were
observed.
When has convalescent plasma therapy been tried before?
It has been tried for several diseases, most recently for Ebola. The WHO had issued a detailed guidance document
for its use in the wake of the Ebola outbreak, to be used as an “empirical treatment modality”. “While there is no
proven treatment available for Ebola virus disease (EVD), whole blood collected from patients in the convalescent
phase of infection has been used as an empirical treatment with promising results in a small group of EVD cases.

During the current ongoing EVD outbreak, whole blood and plasma collected from EVD recovered patients has
been prioritized for investigation, as one of the treatment modalities. The concept that this treatment could be
efficacious is biologically plausible, as convalescent plasma has been used successfully for the treatment of a
variety of infectious agents,” reads the WHO document.
22. Pandemic impact: first batch of Rafales likely to fly in late

The Hindu ,April 13
The arrival of the first batch of Rafale fighter jets for the Indian Air Force is likely to be delayed by around three
months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as France battles rising infections and deaths, and continuing lockdown
restrictions, which have also impacted the training schedule, defence sources said.
“In mid-March there were 8-9 weeks of training left before the first major group could move to India for starting
operations here. Some logistic support equipment and test equipment were also to be flown to Ambala beginning
April, which is postponed as of now due to the lockdown and restrictions on flights imposed by India,” a defence
source told The Hindu on condition of anonymity.
‘No clear timeframe’
In addition, the lockdown restrictions are expected to continue in France at least till the end of April due to severity
of the outbreak. “So, it is only obvious that we expect corresponding delay,” the two sources separately stated.
“Taking in the delay due to the lockdown in France, followed by any restrictions on flights and personnel coming
from Europe imposed by India, we could be looking at July[for the arrival of the aircraft],” the first source stated,
adding that the timeframe was not clear yet.
In October 2019, on a visit to France for the second India-France ministerial-level annual defence dialogue,
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh took formal delivery of the first Rafale jet built for the IAF at the Dassault Aviation’s
facility in Merignac. The jets were scheduled to arrive in India by May 2020.
In addition, the Defence Ministry had stated that during the dialogue the “French side has agreed to consider the
Indian request for 8-10 Meteor missiles to be given to India by 2020 with the first four aircraft”.
May 2020 deadline
In November, Minister of State for Defence Shripad Naik said in a written reply to Parliament that three Rafale
aircraft have been handed over to the IAF. By May 2020, 24 IAF pilots along with engineers and technicians were
scheduled to be trained on the Indian jets in France. Three IAF pilots and two technical officers were trained earlier
on French Air Force (FAF) Rafales as per the terms of the contract.
France has been badly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic with over 90,000 confirmed cases and over 13,800 deaths
as on Saturday. It has been under lockdown since March 17.
The French armed forces have also been affected with the French Defence Ministry confirming on Friday that 50
crew members onboard their sole aircraft carrier, the nuclear-powered Charles de Gaulle, have tested positive.
Diplomatic sources said a civilian staff of Italian origin and two family members with recent travel history had tested
positive for COVID-19 at an FAF base outside Paris and the FAF has imposed a series of measures to prevent
further spread, including several precautions, curtailed flying and working in shifts.

23. Chinese bank picks up 1% stake in HDFC

The Hindu April 13
The People’s Bank of China, the Chinese central bank, has picked up over 1% stake in HDFC Ltd., India’s largest
mortgage lender.
According to the March-end shareholding pattern disclosed by the mortgage lender to the stock exchanges,
People’s Bank of China has 1.75 crore shares, or a 1.01% stake, in HDFC.
The Chinese bank had some stake in HDFC prior to the January-March quarter, but the disclosure was made since
the shareholding crossed 1% during the fourth quarter of 2019-20.
Domestic equities came under pressure in March, including that of HDFC, after the COVID-19 pandemic spread.
The shares of HDFC are now trading at ₹1,701.95.
24. Mujib assassination convict hanged

The Hindu, April 13
Bangladesh on Sunday executed a former military captain for his involvement in the 1975 coup in which the
country’s founder Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated, nearly four-and-a-half decades after
the high profile massacre. Abdul Majed was hanged at 12.01 a.m. (local time), said Law Minister Anisul Huq.
Inspector General of Prisons Brigadier General A.K.M. Mostafa Kamal Pasha at a media briefing in front of the jail
said that the body would now be handed over to the family members for burial.
Majed was arrested in Dhaka on Tuesday after hiding in India for nearly two-and-a-half decades. On Friday,
Majed’s wife and four other relatives met him for nearly two hours in the prison. President Abdul Hamid on Thursday
rejected his mercy plea, removing the last hurdle for his hanging.
‘Self-confessed killer’
A specialised police unit arrested Majed, one of the fugitive convicted Bangabandhu assassins, as he returned
home after hiding for nearly two-and-half decades in India. Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said the “self
confessed killer” was not only involved in Bangabandhu’s assassination but also took part in the subsequent killing
of four national leaders in high security Dhaka Central Jail on November 3, 1975. He said previous reports indicated
Majed was hiding in India but eventually he was arrested from Dhaka as he secretly returned last month.
Majed is one of the six absconding ex-Army officers who were handed down capital punishment after trial in
absentia.
A prosecution lawyer said Majed told the court that he returned to Bangladesh on March 15 or 16. The convict, he
said, claimed he managed to live secretly in Kolkata for the past 23 years.
25. Motorsport legend Moss passes away

The Hindu, April 13
Motorsport great Stirling Moss has died aged 90 following a long illness, the British driver’s wife announced on
Sunday.
“It was one lap too many,” said Susie Moss. “He just closed his eyes.” Although Moss never won the F1 title, he
finished runner-up four times and third thrice.
No corona link

British media reported Moss’ passing was the result of a chest infection he caught in Singapore in December 2016
that saw him retire from public life two years later. There is no suggestion his death was linked to the coronavirus.
In an era where it was common for drivers to race in different disciplines, a 14-year career that started in 1948 saw
Moss win 212 of the 529 races he entered, including the 1955 Mille Miglia, where he set a new course record in the
1,000 mile event.
In F1, Moss won 16 GPs, with his first victory coming in the 1955 British GP at Liverpool that saw him become the
first British winner of the race.
His renowned sportsmanship cost Moss the 1958 title when he defended the conduct of British rival Mike Hawthorn
following a spin at the Portuguese GP. Moss’ action helped spare Hawthorn a six-point penalty, with Hawthorn
winning the title by a single point.
26. How Agra, Bhilwara and Pathanamthitta coronavirus models differ

The Indian Express April 13
In the lead-up to the meeting between the Prime Minister and state Chief Ministers, from which it emerged on
Saturday that the national lockdown would continue for now, different states had come up with their own
different models for containing the COVID-19 spread within smaller geographies. As most health policy experts
would say, “There is no one size fits all”.
At least three of the regional models for cluster containment — Agra (Uttar Pradesh), Bhilwara (Rajasthan) and
Pathanamthitta (Kerala) — have been mentioned in several high-level meetings with the states during the past
week. One was showcased by the Centre at the consolidated COVID-19 press briefing last week.
Coronavirus (COVID-19): The Agra model
The “Agra model” emerged in early March. Two men who had travelled to Austria with a relative — later Delhi’s
first COVID-19 case — went home to Agra where, days later, six positive cases were found. What followed was a
localised yet massive combing operation for contacts, carried out by the district administration and Integrated
Disease Surveillance Programme personnel. A congested area, within a 3-km radius in Lohamandi of Agra, was
cordoned off immediately after the positive reports arrived at 2 am, and 1,248 teams carried out intensive contact
tracing over 1,65,000 households.
The Health Ministry said in a statement: “The State, District administration and frontline workers coordinated their
efforts by utilizing their existing Smart City Integrated with Command and Control Centre (ICCC) as War Rooms.
Under the cluster containment and outbreak containment plans, the district administration identified epicentres,
delineated impact of positive confirmed cases on the map and deployed a special task force as per the micro plan
made by the district administration. The hotspots were managed through an active survey and containment plan.
Area was identified within radius of 3 Km from the epicenter while 5 Km buffer zone was identified as the
containment zone.”

Coronavirus: Tourist wear protective masks in wake of the deadly novel coronavirus, at Taj Mahal, in Agra, March 5.
(PTI Photo)
In the containment zone, Urban Primary Health Centres were roped in. Each of the 1,248 teams had 2 workers
including ANMs/ASHA/AWW reaching out to 9.3 lakh of people through household screening. Additionally, effective
and early tracking of first contact tracing was thoroughly mapped.
The Agra model is important because it has proved effective in areas of high case density, which are being referred
to as “hotspots”. Agra was also the earliest reference to community transmission in an official statement.
Community transmission is said to have happened when cases start being detected where there are no clear
indications of travel history to an affected country, or of contact with a confirmed positive case. Experts such as
AIIMS director Dr Randeep Guleria are now talking about “localised community transmission” in hotspots.
In a statement on March 5, the Health Ministry said: “Since, in addition to COVID 19 cases related to travel, some
cases of community transmission have also been observed, it has been decided to involve district collectors and
States have been asked to form rapid response teams as the district, block and village levels.”
Coronavirus (COVID-19): Bhilwara model
Rajasthan’s Bhilwara was one of the early hotspots for COVID-19. It has now spotlighted itself with a “ruthless
containment strategy”, also being described as the “Bhilwara model”.
According to a March 26 report by the district collector’s office, the first positive case in Bhilwara, reported on March
19, was a doctor at a private hospital. By March 26, the number of positive cases at the hospital was 17, all of them
hospital staff and patients. The outbreak emerged as a massive crisis for the Rajasthan government as the doctors,
before testing positive, had communicated with several people, including nursing staff and patients.

India coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown: JMC workers fumigate the area around Hawa Mahal as a precautionary
measure to contain the spread of coronavirus, during the nationwide lockdown, in Jaipur. (PTI Photo)
The city was completely isolated with Section 144 CRPC being imposed. In the first phase, essential services were
allowed; in the second phase, there was a total shutdown with the city and district borders sealed and checkposts
set up at every entry and exit point. All trains, buses and cars were stopped. The District Magistrates of
neighbouring districts too were asked to seal their borders. The containment zone is usually 3 km around the
epicentre, and the buffer zone is 7 km.
The containment and buffer zones were turned into ‘No-Movement’ zones and cluster mapping was done for
COVID-19 cases. Through this, six areas were identified and special teams were deployed for continuous screening
of suspected cases. The containment and buffer zones, all ambulances and police vehicles, the screening centre
and quarantine centres, the Collectorate, Police Line and other public-dealing offices were disinfected on a daily
basis.
At last count, 3,072 teams in Bhilwara had surveyed 2,14,647 households comprising 10,71,315 people and found
4,258 cases of influenza-like illnesses that had to be tested for COVID-19. Four private hospitals were acquired with
25 isolation beds each. Quarantine centres were set up in 27 hotels with 1,541 rooms, which eventually housed 950
people, while 7,620 people were kept in home quarantine.
There was door-to-door supply of essential groceries, fruits, vegetables and milk. Raw and cooked food packets
were distributed to the needy and there was a complete shutdown of industries, factories & brick-kilns.
Bhilwara currently has about 28 cases, according to Health Ministry data.
Coronavirus (COVID-19): Pathanamthitta model
Technology has been the hallmark of the Pathanamthitta model in Kerala. The district saw its first cases in early
March, when a three-member Italy-returned family ended up infecting several relatives while socialising with them.
The count would eventually go up to 16.

Border sealing and contact tracing happened here too. But more than just screening contacts, every person who
had entered the district was screened and a database created so that they could be easily reached at short notice.
In addition, graphics were created showing the travel route of the positive cases and publicised. This included
details of all places the family had travelled to, and the potential contacts they would have made there between
February 29 and March 6.
This helped in self-reporting. As people realised from the route maps that they had indeed come in contact with a
COVID-19 positive person, many walked up to be screened or treated.
Those under quarantine were checked daily on phone thorough a call centre even as 14 teams of health workers
monitored some 4,000 people who had entered the district before its sealing.
There was also an app — Corona RM — designed by engineering students of IHRD College, Chengannur. Those
under home quarantine were monitored through this app as their whereabouts could be tracked and if they broke
quarantine that could be immediately detected through the use of GP.
The growth of new cases has slowed down in Kerala, with six of the last 10 days witnessing a single-digit rise.
27. Why ‘false negative’ coronavirus tests are a concern

There has been concern about the manner in which some COVID-19 patients have apparently relapsed. Only
days after testing negative, they have been confirmed positive a second time. In Pune, a woman in her sixties
tested negative, then fell critically ill with the infection three or four days later, and subsequently died.
Are these fresh infections? Doctors do not rule out the possibility that these patients had not rid themselves of the
virus in the first place, but the virus didn’t show up in the tests. This is called “false negative”.
Coronavirus (COVID-19) ‘false negative’ tests: Why it happens
No lab test is 100% accurate, said Dr Marc-Alainn Widdowson, Director at the Institute of Tropical Medicine,
Antwerp, and formerly with US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He has researched the subject of false
negative tests.
“The tests based on detection of genetic material are very sensitive, but yes sometimes are negative,” Dr
Widdowson told The Indian Express. “It can be because the swab was not taken right or the test was run badly, or
sometimes simply because the virus may shed in different amounts, and was not there in the nose at that time. If
the infection is in the lung, then a nose swab may not detect it. To be confirmed negative after being positive… you
normally need two negative swabs 24 hours apart to be sure.
In 2003, Dr Widdowson had done a study on SARS that showed respiratory swabs can be negative, but faeces
positive; so the virus can exist in the body even if not in the nose at a given time.
Dr Harlan M Krumholz, professor of medicine at Yale University, wrote in an opinion piece in The New York Times
that an initial swab sample may not always collect enough genetic material to provide an accurate test. This
problem may arise more often in patients who do not show many symptoms at the time of their test.
This is an indication that lessons are still being learnt, according to Dr Subhash Salunkhe, chairman of the
Maharashtra state technical committee on preventing communicable diseases.

No lab test is 100% accurate, says Dr Marc-Alainn Widdowson. (File Photo)
Need for caution
With limited public data on false negative rate in the clinical setting, we must regard each test result that is negative
in a guarded fashion, Dr Salunkhe said.
The test can be negative if the sample is not obtained or processed correctly or even obtained too early, said a
scientist at the National Institute of Virology. “All tests suffer from false positive and false negative errors. We are
constantly battling with positive and negative predictive values,” said epidemiologist Prof Jayaprakash Muliyil, who
also observed that finding coronavirus on a person who died does not mean that the person died of the virus.
False security
In a special article in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, experts have flagged another concern — the risk that over-reliance
on COVID-19 testing can pose to clinical and public health decisions. “A negative test often does not mean the
person does not have the disease, and test results need to be considered in the context of patient characteristics
and exposure,” said Dr Priya Sampathkumar, an infectious diseases specialist at Mayo Clinic.
The authors stress it’s important for public health officials to stick to principles of evidence-based reasoning
regarding diagnostic test results and false-negatives. “For truly low-risk individuals, negative test results may be
sufficiently reassuring. For higher-risk individuals, even those without symptoms, the risk of false-negative test
results requires additional measures to protect against the spread of disease, such as extended self-isolation” said
Dr Colin West , a Mayo Clinic physician.
28. ‘Floor test is Governor’s discretion’

The Hindu, April 14
A Governor can call for a floor test any time he objectively feels a government in power has lost the confidence of
the House and is on shaky ground, the Supreme Court held on Monday.
In a judgment, a Bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and Hemant Gupta concluded that a Governor can call for a
trust vote if he has arrived at a prima facie opinion, based on objective material, that the incumbent State
government has lost its majority in the Assembly.
“The idea underlying the trust vote is to uphold the political accountability of the elected government to the State
legislature... In directing a trust vote, the Governor does not favour a particular political party. It is inevitable that the
specific timing of a trust vote may tilt the balance towards the party possessing a majority at the time the trust vote
is directed. All political parties are equally at risk of losing the support of their elected legislators, just as the
legislators are at risk of losing the vote of the electorate. This is how the system of parliamentary governance
operates,” Justice Chandrachud observed.


The intention behind a trust vote was to enable the elected representatives to determine if the Council of Ministers
commanded the confidence of the House. It was the MLAs, and not the Governor, who made the ultimate call
whether a government should stay in power or not, the court said.
It said that a Governor’s power to call for a floor test is not restricted only before the inception of a State government
immediately after elections, but continues throughout its term.
The court clarified that the Governor’s requirement to have a trust vote does not “short-circuit” any disqualification
proceedings pending before the Speaker.
It said a Governor need not wait for the Speaker’s decision on the resignation of rebel MLAs before calling for a
trust vote.
29. Law enforcers worried as Deep Nude makes a return

The Hindu, April 14
A controversial website that was in the news for all the wrong reasons last year before being shut down has now
gone operational once again. Not only that, this time it seems to have caught the attention of Indian cybercriminals,
who are using it to prey on women.
Cybercrime agencies in Maharashtra and the country are currently tracking Deep Nude, a website that uses a
simple Artificial Intelligence algorithm to generate nude pictures of clothed people. The website requires a user to
upload any picture and within seconds generates a nude version of the subject of the picture, which are typically of
women.
What is more worrying, officials said, is that there are several versions of Deep Nude on the Internet, including an
app and a Twitter Handle; one page even seeks donations from users.
“This is a serious crime and we have a team to monitor this and take stringent action,” Superintendent of Police,
Maharashtra Cyber department, Balsing Rajput, said.
Blackmailing victims
Experts said that once a nude of any woman was generated, the possibilities for misuse were endless. Already,
information about some women being targeted had started trickling in.
“We have received information about pictures of women being morphed using Deep Nude and being used for
nefarious purposes like blackmail, pornography and creating catfish accounts on dating apps. Information is being
shared with the relevant police agencies and we are tracking this trend further,” civilian cyber expert Shubham
Singh said.
Catfish accounts are accounts made and managed by criminal elements using alluring pictures of women to
ensnare men into committing acts that set them up for blackmail later.
Typically, elements who use such websites thrive on the fact that the victims are reluctant to register complaints for
fear of the stigma attached to it. Officers stress on the importance of reporting such cases.
“Recent trends like the Saree Challenge, where women upload their pictures on their social media accounts and tag
their friends, creating a chain, present endless opportunities to criminal elements to prey on them using websites
like Deep Nude,” an officer said.

30. U.S. approves 2 missile deals with India

The Hindu, April 15
The U.S. State Department has approved two potential missile deals with India, for an estimated $92 million and
$63 million.
The first deal, for which Boeing is the contractor, is for 10 AGM-84L Harpoon Block II air-launched missiles and
related equipment. These missiles can be fitted onto Boeing’s P-8I (Poseidon-Eight India) maritime patrol aircraft,
and are intended to enhance India’s capability in anti-surface warfare while defending its sea lanes.
The second deal, for $63 million and principally contracted with Raytheon Integrated Defense System, is for 16 MK
54 All Up Round Lightweight Torpedoes (LWT); three MK 54 Exercise Torpedoes (MK 54 LWT Kit procurement
required); and related equipment. Also included are MK 54 spare parts, torpedo containers, two Recoverable
Exercise Torpedoes (REXTORP) with containers and related equipment and support from the U.S. government and
contractors.
The torpedoes are expected to enhance India’s anti-submarine warfare capability and can be used with the P-8I.
There are no known offset agreements for both deals, the State Department said, and any offset agreement will be
defined in negotiations between India and the contractors.
The Defense Security Cooperation Agency delivered the required certification to the U.S. Congress, notifying it of
the possible sale. Under the U.S.’ Arms Export Control Act, Congress has 30 days to raise objections to the sale in
the case of India.
Delay in delivery
The Indian Navy operates eight P-8I long-range maritime patrol aircraft procured under a $2.2 billion deal in 2009.
In 2016, the Navy exercised an optional clause for four more aircraft in a deal worth over $1 billion. The first of the
four aircraft was to be delivered in May and the deal completed by January 2022. However, the initial delivery is
expected to be delayed by a couple of months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Boeing was to deliver the first aircraft slightly early in May, but due to the current situation it is expected to be
delivered as per the original schedule in July,” a source told The Hindu on Tuesday.
31. India to get 15 million PPE kits from China

The Hindu, April 15
Indian companies and government entities have placed orders for 15 million personal protective equipment (PPE)
kits and 1.5 million rapid testing kits from China, officials said on Tuesday.
The Indian government is calling on China to fulfil those orders, amid concerns over tightened regulations on
exporting such equipment by Chinese authorities following criticism from several European countries over the
quality of exports.
“We are in the process of, or have already completed, contracting for 15 million PPE kits, consisting of gowns,
masks, gloves, goggles, etc. and nearly 1.5 million rapid testing kits of all kinds, some of which have already been
delivered,” India’s Ambassador to China Vikram Misri said at an online press briefing from Beijing.
A substantial amount of India’s national PPE supply is coming from China. These orders, both from the government
and private sectors, were placed on a commercial basis.
China had separately donated 170,000 PPE coveralls, the Health Ministry said on April 6, which would add to the
387,473 PPEs available in the country as of that date.

Test kits delivered
More than 5,00,000 testing kits from China have already been delivered to various entities, while a further 1 to 1.5
million test kits are at different stages of procurement and production.
India has since tried to ramp up production and imports, including from China, which is a major producer of both
PPEs and testing kits.
Mr. Misri called on China to ensure that supply chains remained open and for all placed orders to be fulfilled. While
India “appreciate[d] efforts by China to ensure the quality of goods exported”, it also called on Beijing to fulfil
previously placed orders with companies that were licensed by Indian authorities to export to the Indian market.
China imposed new regulations to tighten checks on April 10, following concerns over the quality of exports
expressed in several countries.
“In some cases, some of the orders placed recently were placed before regulations came into effect that limited and
restricted the number of companies from China that can export to India,” Mr. Misri said. “ Given that the products
are licensed for import to India, it will be a welcome step for Chinese authorities to expedite the registration of these
products. Our expectation is that these well-established companies will fulfil their contractual obligations.”
Mr. Misri said there were “more than half a dozen” orders in different stages of processing, and India’s current
understanding was delivery schedules remained on course.
“We have a schedule that stretches from deliveries starting tomorrow [April 15] until the end of the month, when half
a dozen consignments ordered by different entities in India will be delivered,” he said. “Our understanding is the
registration process has been initiated and we have requested the Chinese government to expedite the registration
process of companies so that export orders already processed and ready to ship can be sent on their way to India.
We hope this request can be facilitated by the Chinese government.”
T.N. order
There have also been concerns over some orders being diverted. The Tamil Nadu government said this week that
50,000 testing kits it had ordered from China were diverted to the U.S. “We have seen media reports but not come
across authoritative reports of supplies intended for India having been diverted,” Mr. Misri said.
32. SoI maps add heft to Arogya Setu app

The Hindu April 15
To “complement” the Arogya Setu App, a government endorsed application that helps trace the contacts of those
who may have been infected by COVID-19, the Survey of India (SoI), the country’s apex map maker, has made
public a trove of maps.
This could improve geospatial data as well as help develop maps that could be customised to a variety of ‘COVID-
related applications’ such as healthcare facilities, infection clusters and disaster management, according to officials
associated with the project.
Geospatial information
“The platform is initially expected to strengthen the public health delivery system of the State and Central
governments and subsequently provide the necessary geospatial information support to citizens and agencies
dealing with the challenges related to health, socio-economic distress, and livelihood challenges,” the Department
of Science and Technology, which oversees the SoI, said in a press release. “The mobile application has been
customised to collect COVID-19 specific geospatial datasets through community engagement to augment the
response activities by government to the pandemic.”
Officials said that the maps wouldn’t be directly useful to the general public and was aimed at government agencies
which require geospatial information. “If a response team needs location specific data on a hotspot that information

can be given by Sahyog (the SoI’s mobile application),” Pankaj Mishra, Deputy Surveyor General (Technical) told
The Hindu.
In his address announcing the extension of the lockdown on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged Indians
to use the Arogya Setu application and “inspire others to download the app as well”.
To be effective, it requires users to keep their device’s Bluetooth and location history ‘on’ as much as possible.
Users will be alerted, without disclosing identity, if they are in the vicinity of someone who’s tested positive. It also
helps the government trace contacts of those infected to execute quarantining.
Critics say that Arogya Setu and applications like Sahyog that link to it, could infringe privacy as there wasn’t clarity
on how data would be shared between the two applications.
“If location data from Arogya Setu is transferred to the other application, then it is a problem. But if it is a one way
transfer from Sahyog to Arogya Setu, then it is more about privacy protection within the latter application,” said
Prasanth Sugathan, Legal Director, Software Freedom Law Centre, India.
Arogya Setu’s terms of use were unclear on several aspects including how long data would be stored, what would
happen to it once the pandemic ceased, who else the data was being transferred to, he added.
The government has said that data would be collected only for managing the pandemic.
33. Govt. wants to use PMJAY for free coronavirus testing in private labs, but
2 cr families missing from database
In an affidavit before the Supreme Court on Monday over its interim order directing free coronavirus testing by
private labs, the government said around 10.74 crore poor and vulnerable families covered under the Pradhan
Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) should be among those allowed the benefit.
However, an internal note prepared by the National Health Authority (NHA), which is responsible for implementing
the PMJAY or Ayushman Bharat scheme, says over two crore families are “missing” from those who should qualify
for the PMJAY as per deprivation points under the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) 2011.
The SECC database is used nationally to identify the scheme’s beneficiaries.
The government affidavit, filed by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), also said that the PMJAY
beneficiaries only had to produce their PMJAY cards and identification numbers, to avail free testing at private
laboratories. But, as per data on the NHA website on April 14, just 12.45 crore e-cards have been issued under the
PMJAY — the government’s data of 10.74 crore families translates into at least 50 crore people, as per its own
affidavit in court.
Sources attributed this to problems with the SECC 2011, which is nearly a decade old.
Against a target of identifying at least 47.28 crore PMJAY beneficiaries through it, the figure stands at only 3.83
crore (8%). So, of the 12.45 crore PMJAY beneficiaries holding e-cards, the remaining have been identified through
other means — 4.68 crore through schemes run by states; about 65 lakh from the existing Rashtriya Swasthya
Bima Yojana; 1.4 crore from the SAMAGRA portal of Madhya Pradesh; as well as several other databases.
As per the NHA’s own admission in an internal note, over two crore families are missing from the SECC.
“Almost all states have reported that several genuinely poor and vulnerable households have been excluded from
the scheme because the SECC data is old,” the note says. “No state has been able to identify more than 75 per
cent of households from SECC. Excluding the states (which) have not joined, more than 2 crore households are
missing. Some states have reported that many villages and some groups have been systematically left out. The

NHA has been routinely receiving letters from various states e.g. Goa, Chandigarh, North Eastern states etc.
regarding their unfair exclusion due to erroneous database.”
The only states that are not implementing the PMJAY are West Bengal, Odisha and Telangana, while Delhi has
announced it will do so.
Sources said that Uttar Pradesh has been able to identify only 89.66 lakh PMJAY beneficiaries of a target of 6.47
crore (14%) given in the SECC database. Bihar has identified only 53.28 lakh of 5.55 crore (10%), and Chhattisgarh
8.35 lakh of 1.52 crore (5%).
Sources said some states like Kerala are using own database to identify the PMJAY beneficiaries.
Says the NHA note, “There are large number of mismatches in dependents’ information in the family, different
families have been clubbed as part of the same family (in one case, more than 200 members in one family), and
incorrect names have been captured. In addition, there are about 2 per cent household IDs with no entries (more
than 20 lakh families).”
It talks of some states/UTs like Rajasthan, Odisha and Jammu & Kashmir reporting that they had not been able to
zero in on beneficiaries to issue PMJAY cards in spite of sincere efforts.
Says the note, “While the scheme is entitlement-based, most of the beneficiaries do not know about their eligibility.
SECC eligibility criteria (are) difficult to communicate, as compared to any other usual simpler approach such as
BPL, Ration Card eligibility.” It attributes this to the fact that only 50% families entitled to the PMJAY in Bihar, for
example, are using it and that too mostly in government hospitals.
Launched in September 2018, the PMJAY aims to provide health cover of Rs 5 lakh per family per year for
secondary and tertiary care hospitalization.
34. U.S. freezes WHO funding over coronavirus crisis

The Hindu April 16
U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered a freeze on funding for the World Health Organization (WHO) for
“mismanaging” the coronavirus crisis.
With the world battling to get on top of the pandemic that has killed 1,25,000 people, Mr. Trump fired a broadside at
the WHO and halted payments amounting to $400 million last year.
Funding would be frozen pending a review into the WHO’s role in “severely mismanaging and covering up the
spread of the coronavirus,” said Mr. Trump, who accused the Geneva-based body of putting “political correctness
above life-saving measures”.
The outbreak could have been contained “with very little death” if the WHO had accurately assessed the situation in
China, where the disease broke out late last year, charged Mr. Trump.
Beijing hit back, saying the move was bad for the global fight. “This U.S. decision will weaken WHO’s capacities and
undermine the international cooperation against the epidemic,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao
Lijian.
35. Centre asks States to ramp up testing

The Hindu ,April 16
The Centre on Wednesday asked the States to ramp up testing among vulnerable groups in the 353 districts that
have not reported any COVID-19 cases so far.
The ‘unaffected’ districts need to be under enhanced surveillance for influenza-like illnesses (ILI) and severe acute
respiratory illness (SARI), the Centre said. It recommended that the ILI and SARI cases be tested, and asked the

States to make preparations to set up dedicated COVID care centres, health centres and hospitals in these districts
as well.
Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba held a video-conference with the Chief Secretaries and Directors-General of Police
of all the States on Wednesday where a presentation on ‘COVID-19 Containment Measures’ was shared. The
States were also informed about the revised guidelines issued by the Home Ministry that need to be implemented
from April 20 to give relief to specified sections of people from the lockdown that has been extended to May 3. The
Centre used the presentation to reiterate its recommendation that hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) be administered to
“health workers in the field and those working in hospitals” as the number of COVID-19- affected patients has
crossed the 11,000 mark.
Emphasis was also laid on ensuring that “personal protection of health workforce is of prime importance and
sufficient stock of PPE/N95 masks etc. to be made available in the districts” in accordance with the guidance on the
rational use of personal protective equipment (PPE).
The Centre said that in severe cases where healthcare professionals were infected, the patients “should be treated
with HCQ in the prescribed dose”.
The Union Health Ministry has repeatedly cautioned that HCQ is only for the specific use of healthcare workers and
that it has “side effects”.
Potential hotspot
The Centre noted that while there were 170 districts defined as “hotspots” or red zones, there were another “207
districts that have reported cases and could be a potential hotspot”. It asked the States to undertake “pre-emptive
action for cluster containment in all these districts”.
A senior State government official, who attended the meeting, said they had been given a “tutorial” on the road map
as the States would have to chalk out a strategy to implement the guidelines. “States cannot be more liberal than
the Centre, instead we will be stricter but some relief ought to be given to people to earn a livelihood,” said the
official. “Inter-State movement, however, is strictly opposed at this stage,” the official added.
The “hotspots” have been divided into two categories —123 districts with “large outbreaks” and 47 districts
classified as “clusters”. A district could be excluded from the hotspot category if no cases were reported there in the
last 28 days. The “large outbreak” category was defined as those districts reporting more than 15 cases that may
not be epidemiologically linked and where “localised increase” in COVID-19 cases occurred within a defined
geographic area — a village, town, or city.
36. Russian firm to donate $2 mn to PM CARES

The Hindu ,April 16
In the first such donation of its kind, Russia’s State-owned defence exports company Rosoboronexport has
committed $2million (₹15.3 crore) to the newly set up ‘PM CARES Fund’, diplomatic and government sources
confirmed. The proposed donation to the fund that has been set up specially to assist the government’s efforts in
combating the COVID-19 pandemic, marks a significant shift in India’s policy on accepting contributions from
foreign government owned companies. Thus far, the government had been only open to contributions from “NRIs,
PIOs and international entities such as foundations”.
“The transfer is yet to be made” the sources told The Hindu on Tuesday, while confirming that Rosoboronexport —
Russia’s umbrella group for all defence exports and a subsidiary of the state-owned defence manufacturing
company Rostec — had indicated its intentions to make then donation. The firm is the largest source of India’s arms
imports and is set to supply defence equipment including the S-400 air defence systems, stealth frigates and AK-
203 assault rifles.

When asked if the donation would constitute a shift from past practice, the Ministry of External Affairs declined to
comment. In August 2018, the Indian government had refused to accept offers of aid from several countries
including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar and the Maldives during the Kerala floods. At the time, the
government had said that it was committed to meeting relief and rehabilitation requirements “through domestic
efforts”. “Contributions to the Prime Minister's Relief Fund and the Chief Minister's Relief Fund from NRIs, PIOs and
international entities such as foundations would, however, be welcome," the MEA spokesperson had added.
On March 28, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency
Situations (PM-CARES) Fund, putting aside the ‘Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF)’. Mr. Modi had
made a personal appeal on social media and directed Indian missions to invite contributions for the fund. “What has
been announced is that the PM CARES fund will simply accept donations and contributions from individuals and
organisations that are based in foreign countries,” government sources said in a statement, and referred again to
the 2018 decision to only accept foreign donations from Indians living abroad, NRIs, international foundations and
UN agencies. As a result, the donation offer from Rosoboronexport is a departure from precedent for New Delhi.
37. NHRC asks Centre to protect rights

The Hindu ,April 16
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Wednesday asked the Centre to issue an advisory to all
States and Union Territories to implement the lockdown without violating rights.
The NHRC said it had written to the Union Home Ministry to issue an advisory or standard operating procedure for
all public officials, including police personnel, to “behave in a sensible manner with the people, particularly those
belonging to vulnerable sections, respecting human rights relating to their life, liberty and dignity”.
The commission did not specify a time frame for reply, but said it expected a response “at the earliest”. The
direction came after one of its special monitors and human rights activist, Maja Daruwala, raised the issue of public
servants, including the police, undermining the rights of people, particularly labourers, while implementing the
lockdown.
“Issuing the directions, the commission has observed that it appreciated that government agencies were sincerely
working to deal with the unprecedented situation to fight the spread of COVID-19. However, it found it appropriate to
bring the issues raised by the complainant to the notice of the Central government,” the NHRC said in a statement.
Ms. Daruwala noted that the police were doing many “good things” and the recent incident of a policeman’s hand
being chopped off while enforcing the lockdown in Punjab was “unforgiveable”, the panel said. At the same time,
those police officials who were “using this time to be cruel and harsh must be stopped,” it added.
“Allegedly, those who are illiterate and less informed, mainly the poor labourers and daily wages workers, etc., are
facing extreme difficulties due to shortage of food and other facilities for themselves and their families. They can be
asked to stay off the streets ... without being cruel and abusive.”
38. India eyes record food production

The Hindu, April 17
On the back of a normal monsoon forecast, the Agriculture Ministry is targeting a record foodgrain production of
298.3 million tonnes for 2020-21, higher than the 291.95 million tonnes estimated for 2019-20.
According to a presentation made by Agriculture Commissioner Suresh Malhotra at a National Conference on
Agriculture-Kharif 2020 Campaign on Thursday, both rice and wheat production targets are minimally higher than
the previous year. However, the focus is on driving the growth in pulses, coarse cereals and oilseeds.
Due to the travel restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Agriculture Ministry’s annual meeting to
review the ongoing rabi or winter season harvest and layout prospects for the coming kharif or summer cropping

season is being held via video conferencing. Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar also interacted with State
agriculture departments, briefing them on the measures taken to ensure a smooth and safe rabi harvest in the midst
of the lockdown.
Normal rainfall
On Wednesday, the India Meteorological Department issued its first forecast for the monsoon, predicting normal
rainfall, with a chance of above normal rain in August and September.
The main kharif season crop is rice, and the Agriculture Ministry is targeting a harvest of 102.6 million tonnes,
slightly higher than the last kharif season harvest of 101.95 million tonnes. However, it has lowered its rice
production target for the next rabi season to 14.9 million tonnes. This means that the total rice production target for
2020-21 is 117.5 million tonnes, barely higher than the previous year's target of 117.47 million tonnes.
Wheat production is also expected to remain steady, with a 2020-21 target of 106.5 million tonnes, in comparison to
the previous year’s estimate of 106.21 million tonnes.
The Agriculture Ministry hopes to ramp up production of coarse cereals this year, but admits that the challenge is
how to create demand for nutricereals or millets. It is targeting a harvest of 48.7 million tonnes in comparison to the
previous season’s 45.24 million tonnes.
With regard to pulses, the target is 25.3 million tonnes compared to the previous season's estimates of 23 million
tonnes, with the entire increase projected to come from the kharif season.
Oilseeds major priority
Oilseeds are a major priority, especially due to the disruption in edible oil imports caused by the COVID-19
pandemic. The targeted harvest is 36.64 million tonnes, in comparison to the last season's estimates of 34.19
million tonnes. One challenge could be a shortfall in supply of soyabean seeds to the tune of 3.2 lakh quintals, due
to unseasonal rains at the time of harvesting the seed crop.
The Ministry has also created an action plan for oil palm plantation, given the disruptions in imports. It hopes to
cover 31,500 hectares with about 45 lakh seedlings this year, with the bulk of the plantation in Andhra Pradesh and
Telangana.
39. RBI to pump in ₹1 lakh crore

The Hindu, April 18
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday announced a slew of liquidity measures to ease financial stress and
increase credit flows, while indicating that more room was likely to emerge for reduction in interest rates as inflation
softens.
Among the measures announced was liquidity infusion of ₹1 lakh crore, of which ₹50,000 crore is exclusively for
non-banking finance companies (NBFCs), via banks. The NBFCs have experienced liquidity shortage since banks
have not offered them any moratorium for repayment, while these entities have had to extend the moratorium option
to their customers.
The RBI will extend another ₹50,000 crore to refinancing agencies like Nabard, Sidbi and National Housing Bank.
Help for States
Separately, RBI also said it has increased the ways and means advances (WMA) limits of States by 60%, over and
above the level as on March 31, 2020.

The move was aimed at providing greater comfort to the States for undertaking containment and mitigation efforts,
and to plan market borrowing programmes better, the RBI said. On April 1, the RBI increased the limit by 30%. The
increased limit will be available till September 30, 2020.
Citing the retail inflation numbers of March, which was at 5.9%, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said inflation could
be on a declining trajectory. “...Early developments suggest that inflation is on a declining trajectory, having fallen by
170 basis points from its January 2020 peak,” Mr. Das said, while announcing the liquidity measures.
He said recent data showed a softening of food inflation by around 160 bps though in other categories of the CPI,
inflation pressures remained firm.
Mr. Das also said onion prices have continued to decline while PDS kerosene prices have slumped by 24% in the
first fortnight of April and domestic LPG prices declined by 8%.
“In the period ahead, inflation could recede even further, barring supply disruption shocks and may even settle well
below the target of 4% by the second half of 2020-21,” he said. He added that such an outlook would make policy
space available to address the intensification of risks to growth and financial stability brought on by COVID-19.
“This space needs to be used effectively and in time,” Mr. Das commented. The RBI had reduced the repo rate by
75 bps to 4.4% on March 27.
The central bank has also reduced the reserve repo rate — while keeping the repo rate unchanged — by 25 bps to
3.5%. This was to discourage banks from parking their excess liquidity with RBI at the reverse repo rate.
Observing that the surplus liquidity in the banking system has risen significantly in the wake of government
spending and the various liquidity enhancing measures by RBI, Mr. Das said banks parked ₹6.9 lakh crore on April
15 through the reverse repo window.
40. Kisan Rath will link farmers to transport options

The Hindu April 18
In a bid to ease the disruption of agricultural supply chains, especially for perishable produce, the Agriculture
Ministry has launched a Kisan Rath mobile application, which will connect farmers and traders to a network of more
than 5 lakh trucks and 20,000 tractors.
The application, developed by the National Informatics Centre, is meant to help farmers and traders who are
searching for vehicles to move produce. This includes primary transport from the farm to the mandis, local
warehouses or the collection centres of farmer producer organisations, as well as the secondary transport from the
local mandis to intra-and inter-State mandis, processing units, railway stations, warehouses or wholesalers.
The application will lead to on-boarding of over 5 lakh trucks through transport aggregators as well as 20,000
tractors from the custom hiring centres run by farmer groups. Refrigerated vehicles will also be available.
“It will be a stepping stone towards provision of timely transportation service at competitive rates for farmers and
traders, besides achieving a reduction in food wastage,” said a Ministry statement.
The application can be downloaded from Google Play Store.

41. Govt. nod mandatory for FDI from neighbouring countries

The Hindu April 19
In a move that will restrict Chinese investments, the Centre has made prior government approval mandatory for
foreign direct investments from countries which share a land border with India. Previously, only investments from
Pakistan and Bangladesh faced such restrictions.
The revised FDI policy is aimed at “curbing opportunistic takeovers/acquisitions of Indian companies due to the
current COVID-19 pandemic,” said a press release from the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal
Trade on Saturday.
‘With land borders’
“A non-resident entity can invest in India, subject to the FDI Policy except in those sectors/activities which are
prohibited,” says the new policy.
“However, an entity of a country, which shares land border with India or where the beneficial owner of an
investment into India is situated in or is a citizen of any such country, can invest only under the Government route.”
Pakistani investors face further restrictions in requiring government approval for FDI in defence, space and atomic
energy sectors as well.
India shares land borders with Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar. Investors
from countries not covered by the new policy only have to inform the RBI after a transaction rather than asking for
prior permission from the relevant government department.
With many Indian businesses coming to a halt due to the lockdown imposed to contain the COVID-19 pandemic
and valuations plummeting, a number of domestic firms may be vulnerable to “opportunistic takeovers or
acquisitions” from foreign players. Last week, housing finance company HDFC informed the stock exchanges that
the People’s Bank of China now holds a 1.01% stake in the company. This was an instance of portfolio investment
through the stock market and not FDI.
The official statement added that a transfer of ownership of any existing or future FDI in an Indian entity to those in
the restricted countries would also need government approval. The decisions will become effective from the date of
the Foreign Exchange Management Act notification.
“Given the macro situation, it is a measure to protect vulnerable companies, with possibly low valuations, from
takeovers. However, while the DPIIT has set out its policy stance, the Non Debt Rules that the Ministry of Finance
will publish in this regard is awaited, as that will set out the different scenarios which will trigger the Central
Government approval requirement and other considerations regarding foreign investments from our neighbours,”
said Aarthi Sivanandh who specialises in corporate law at Partner, J Sagar Associates.

China’s footprint in the Indian business space has been expanding rapidly, especially since 2014.
A recent report from Brookings India showed that net Chinese investment in India until 2014 stood at $1.6 billion,
mostly coming from state-owned players in the infrastructure space.
Three years later, total investment had increased five-fold to at least $8 billion according to Chinese government
data, with a shift from a state-driven to market-driven approach.
The total current and planned Chinese investment in India has now crossed $26 billion, according to estimates in
the March 2020 report, titled “Following the Money: China Inc’s Growing Stake in India-China Relations”.
The single biggest Chinese acquisition has been in the pharmaceutical space, with Shanghai-based Fosun paying
$1.09 billion for a 74% stake in Hyderabad-based Gland Pharma.
However, major Chinese investments in India span a range of sectors. A 2017 survey of Chinese enterprises in
India by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China’s Mumbai branch found that 42% were in the manufacturing
sector, 25% in infrastructure and others in telecom, petrochemicals, software and IT.
42. Most online content on child sexual abuse from India

The Hindu, April 19
In a global compilation of reports of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) found online, India stands right on top of
the list, with 11.7% of the total reports or at 19.87 lakh reports, followed by Pakistan, which contributes 6.8% of all
reports (11.5 lakh reports). Bangladesh comes in fourth with 5.5 lakh reports and a share of 3.3%.
The National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) urges people to report CSAM found online across
the world annually, on their online platform CyberTipline.
This year, the Centre received a total of 1.68 crore reports. The material thus reported by the members of the public
and electronic service providers, principally comprises still pictures and videos depicting children in a clear sexual
angle.
Three of the top four countries were in South Asia, raising concerns among child rights activists about the online
safety of children in the region.
The NCMEC adds that the reports include geographic indicators related to the upload location of the child sexual
abuse material, but country specific numbers may be impacted by proxies and anonymisers.
John Carr, a member of the Executive Board of the UK Council on Child Internet Safety, says, “It has long been
suspected that India was very high (as CASM source) but the data wasn’t being published before now so I guess
nobody on the inside track will be surprised. Their suspicions have merely been confirmed.”
Mr, Carr added, “I am not going to venture any guesses as to why India is the world’s number 1 but it is astonishing
that three out of the four top countries — India, Pakistan and Bangladesh — are all in the same part of the world.”
Vidya Reddy of Tulir Centre for Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse, raised concerns about the fact that the reports
only account for material that has been uploaded.
“We are not even talking of downloading or browsing. We need to focus on finding out whether this is re-uploading
content already circulating on the net, or whether it is new content being uploaded,” Ms Reddy said.
Pointing out that the numbers are consistent with Google searches on sexual content across the world, she said,
“We need to look at the South Asian region with great interest and concern, at their interest in using children’s
pictures for sexual stimulation.”
Lockdown impact

There is also concern that the lockdowns across the world will lead to an exacerbation of the situation.
Mr. Carr says: “Police and child welfare experts around the world are all expressing great anxieties about the impact
of the mass lockdown. Paedophiles who work online are seeking to exploit the situation, looking for bored children.
It might be some time before official figures show any increase in arrests or harms to children. That’s unavoidable
but also, sadly, inevitable.”
“The coronavirus pandemic has led to an unprecedented rise in screen time,” said Howard Taylor, of Global
Partnership to End Violence Executive Director.
43. RT-PCR only confirmatory test, says govt.

The Hindu, April 19
The Union Health Ministry has said that the Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) is the
gold standard frontline test for COVID-19 and that rapid antibody test cannot replace it.
The statement comes after the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)’s national taskforce issued guidelines on
testing strategy to all States, following a review of the worldwide testing methodology.
“The Rapid Antibody Test gives us an idea about prevalence of disease in a particular area and thus is used for
epidemiological studies and surveillance purpose in hotspots. It can also be used in districts which are not hotspots
to study emerging trends,” Joint Secretary in the Health Ministry Lav Agarwal said on Saturday.
He added that data generated by surveillance through rapid testing can be used for contact tracing if any positive
case arise in an area.
Presently, the government is using the RT-PCR tests to detect novel coronavirus from samples of throat or nasal
swabs of people with symptoms or high-risk individuals who might have come in contact with positive patients.
The Ministry has noted that to make all data of Rapid Antibody Test available for surveillance at State, district and
national levels, an order has been issued to register in the portal: covid19cc.nic.in/icmr before conducting rapid
antibody test, so that the information can be made available at all levels.
44. China allowing N. Korea to evade sanctions

The Hindu, April 19

On October 10 last year, eight North Korean vessels — several carrying illicit coal shipments — were anchored in
Chinese waters off the port of Ningbo-Zhoushan, according to a photo in a UN report published online on Friday.
That appears to be a lax enforcement by China of UN sanctions aimed at curbing Pyongyang’s nuclear programme
under which countries are required to inspect cargo destined to or coming from North Korea that is within their
territory or being transported on North Korean-flagged vessels.
Annual report
The annual report to the UN Security Council by independent sanctions monitors said North Korea continued to
flout council resolutions “through illicit maritime exports of commodities, notably coal and sand” in 2019, earning
Pyongyang hundreds of millions of dollars.
A UN Security Council diplomat said China has the capacity to stop sanctions busting by its ally North Korea but “is
simply choosing not to implement the Security Council resolutions.”
According to a Security Council member, Chinese warships have received notification in real time on multiple
occasions of vessels entering its territorial waters who have been observed to be in violation of the UN Security
Council resolutions, the diplomat said.
China’ policing of neighbour North Korea’s adherence to UN sanctions is considered crucial to the effectiveness of
the measures, spearheaded by the U.S. and unanimously adopted by the Security Council.
Reuters first reported in February that the sanctions monitors report found North Korea continued to enhance its
nuclear and ballistic missile programmes last year.
A second photo from the UN report shows ten North Korean vessels anchored in Chinese waters on September 15
last year near the port of Lianyungang. The photos were provided to the UN sanctions monitors by an unidentified
member state.
Cutting off funding
The monitors reported that North Korea conducts ship-to-ship transfers of illicit cargo such as coal, which has been
banned since 2017 in a bid to cut off funding to Pyongyang.
Under UN sanctions imposed in 2017 all countries were also required to repatriate North Koreans working abroad
by the end of last year to stop them earning foreign currency.
The U.S. has said it believed Pyongyang was earning some $500 million a year from nearly 1,00,000 workers
abroad, 50,000 of whom were in China.
45. Hydroxychloroquine does not reduce viral load, randomised trial shows
The Hindu, April 19
Results of a randomised, control trial using hydroxychloroquine drug in 150 COVID-19 patients show that the drug
does not reduce the viral load even on day 28. Seventy-five patients got the drug and standard of care while the
remaining got only standard of care. Patients were given 1,200 mg of the drug for three days followed by 800 mg
daily for two and three weeks in patients with mild/moderate and severe symptoms, respectively.
First randomised trial
Researchers from the Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, who led the team say that in
contrast to other trials that have shown good results, the randomised trial did not show that hydroxychloroquine
drug was able to suppress viral replication. This is the first trail using hydroxychloroquine where patients have been
randomised to receive either the drug or just standard of care.However, patients who got the drug did show quicker
alleviation of clinical symptoms, possibly through anti-inflammatory properties and improvement in white blood cell

count. The drug did not cause any serious adverse effects in patients. But some patients did experience adverse
effects.
The most common adverse event in patients who got the drug was diarrhoea (10%).
The results were posted in preprint server MedRxiv. Preprints are yet to be peer-reviewed and published in
scientific journals.
Patients (mean age 46 years; 55% males) were enrolled at 16 government-designated COVID-19 treatment centres
in three provinces — Hubei, Henan and Anhui — between February 11 and 29, 2020.
During the trial, specimens were taken from the upper and/or lower respiratory tract on the day of screening and
during treatment and post-treatment follow-up.
The authors say that the dosage used in the trial was meant to reach the 50% effective concentrations of
hydroxychloroquine against the virus. “It is not likely to have additional anti-viral effects by further escalating
dosage,” they write.
In the case of COVID-19, systemic inflammation or cytokine storm is the driver of disease progression and death.
Substantial reduction in white blood cell count and increase in inflammatory response have generally been
observed in patients who have eventually progressed and died. The researchers observed “moderate increase” in
while blood cell count and “significantly greater reduction” in the marker for inflammation. These effects were seen
after fifth day of treatment and continued till the end of the treatment.
Clinical benefits
“These encouraging results suggest clinical benefits of adding hydroxychloroquine into the current standard
management to limit inflammatory response, which is the key to prevent systemic inflammation and subsequent
multiple organ failure and death,” they write. “The shorter time to alleviate the symptoms might be useful for
preventing disease progression.”
46. Goa is first to turn virus-free

The Hindu, April 20
Goa on Sunday became the first zero COVID-19 State in the country with the last seven cases also testing
negative.
This makes Goa the first green State in the country with no case of COVID-19 being reported from April 3. The
coastal State had a total of seven positive cases, of whom six had travel history and one was the brother of a
patient.
“Goa is now COVID-19-free, all seven patients have tested negative. They will be quarantined at government facility
and later at home,” Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said. Goa has in all tested over 800 people of whom seven had
come positive.
Dr. Sawant said that though Goa was the first State to be free of any tested positive case and a happy moment for
everyone, especially the frontline workers, it was important to realise that this was no time for complacence.
The Chief Minister said that from April 20, the government would scrutinise reports of its three-day door-to-door
citizens survey done last week and decide on testing people for COVID-19 wherever felt necessary.
“We have to ensure that we remain a zero COVID-19 State. The lockdown will continue till the Central government
decides. Our borders with Maharashtra and Karnataka will continue to remain sealed. Anyone entering the State
under special circumstances will have to stay in a government quarantine centre,” he said.

The Chief Minister said government offices would resume 100% work from Monday. “To ensure that we continue to
remain a green zone State, social distancing will have to be maintained. State transport buses will ensure this while
shifting government staff. Two-wheelers will have a single occupant and 1,000 thermal guns will be positioned at
various places,” he said.
Dr. Sawant announced that subject to permissions from designated officers, industrial units and private businesses
would be allowed to start functioning.
Seafarers issue
On the issue of seafarers, the Chief Minister said the Centre would be announcing the repatriation mechanism any
time. “Once the government makes the mechanism official, it will take about 3-4 days for the first lot of seafarers to
return. Those already at Indian ports or closest to the coast will return first. For the rest, discussions are on whether
it would be the sea route or air route that would be taken to get them back,” Dr. Sawant said.
All these seafarers would be subjected to quarantine followed by home quarantine, he said. Goa has made
available 8,000 rooms for Goan seafarers.
47. How pooled testing works, when it helps

The Indian Express /, April 20
Faced with criticism about insufficient testing and the reality of limited resources, India has decided go for pooled
testing in districts where no cases have been reported. This would on the one hand give data on whether these
really are zero-case districts, and on the other, save resources.
What is pooled testing?
It is a method of testing several samples together with the same technique (RT-PCR) that is being currently used to
test individual samples. Samples taken from the nose or throat are pooled together by suspending them in a
solution in laid-down proportions. The remaining samples are then labelled and kept separate. Pooled samples are
subjected to a test; if it is negative then all samples in the pool are cleared. If it is not, then individual samples are
tested to find out which one is positive.
What does the Indian Council of Medical Research say on pooled testing?
Last week, the ICMR brought out an advisory on pooled testing, ideally in districts where incidence of COVID-19 is
low.
“Number of COVID-19 cases in India is rising exponentially. In view of this, it is critical to increase the numbers of
tests conducted by laboratories… Hence, it may help to use the pooled samples for screening… As all individual
samples in a negative pool are regarded as negative, it results in substantial cost savings when a large proportion
of pools tests negative,” the advisory said. The idea, it said, is to increase the capacity of laboratories to screen
more samples for surveillance rather than diagnostic purposes.
The advisory followed a feasibility study at the Virus Research & Diagnostic Laboratory at King George’s Medical
University, Lucknow. The study showed that “performing real-time PCR for COVID-19 by pooling 5 samples of
TS/NS (200 microlitres/sample) is feasible when the prevalence rates of infection are low.”
The ICMR has also set an upper limit of five samples that can be pooled; this is to avoid false negatives because of
excessive dilution. More samples can, however, be pooled if it is being done only for research purposes.
Where can pooled testing take place?
The ICMR document is clear that pooled testing is only to be used in “areas with low prevalence of COVID-19
(initially using proxy of low positivity of <2% from the existing data). Still a watch should be kept on increasing

positivity in such areas”. It adds: “In areas with positivity of 2-5%, sample pooling for PCR screening may be
considered only in community survey or surveillance among asymptomatic individuals, strictly excluding pooling
samples of individuals with known contact with confirmed cases, Health Care Workers (in direct contact with care of
COVID-19 patients). Sample from such individuals should be directly tested without pooling.” The ICMR does not
recommend pooling in areas where positivity rates exceed 5%.
Government sources, though, say pooled testing is currently being considered only in the districts from where no
cases of COVID-19 have been reported so far. Reacting last week to reports of private hospitals resorting to pooled
testing, Dr R R Gangakhedkar, head of epidemiology and infectious diseases at ICMR, said: “This is to be done in
areas where the rate of seropositivity is less than 2%… five samples can be pooled. This helps clear more people
with less tests. So far private hospitals are concerned, this is not exactly for individual diagnosis. Using it like that
should affect the testing charges. Private hospitals should think about this.”
Is pooled testing being used elsewhere?
In the US, pooled testing is being used in some areas to test population-level infection rates. For example, scientists
from Stanford Medicine used it to estimate the prevalence of the disease in the San Francisco Bay Area while
conserving scarce testing resources.
It can be used for any disease whose test involves, like COVID 2019, an RT-PCR test, and is routinely used for HIV
screening purposes. In a 2010 article in The Journal of Acute Immunideficiency Syndrome, US researchers noted:
“Pooling strategies have been used to reduce the costs of polymerase chain reaction-based screening for acute HIV
infection in populations in which the prevalence of acute infection is low (less than 1%). Only limited research has
been done for conditions in which the prevalence of screening positivity is higher (greater than 1%).”
It is a well-recognised “screening tool” for epidemiologists
48. China says Indian trade curbs are against WTO principles
The Hindu, April 21
India’s recent policy to curb opportunistic takeovers of domestic companies goes against the World Trade
Organisation (WTO) principles, the spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy here said on Monday.
This is the first response from the Chinese side after the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in an April 17 decision
imposed restrictions saying companies from countries that share borders with India can invest “only under the
government route”.
“The additional barriers set by Indian side for investors from specific countries violate the WTO’s principle of non-
discrimination, and go against the general trend of liberalisation and facilitation of trade and investment. More
importantly, they do not conform to the consensus of the G20 leaders and Trade Ministers to realise a free, fair,
non-discriminatory, transparent, predictable and stable trade and investment environment, and to keep our markets
open,” said Counsellor Ji Rong, spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy.
The official pointed at the Chinese investments in various sectors of the Indian economy. He said China's overall
investment as of December 2019 was above $ 8 billion and it had driven key sectors like telecom, infrastructure,
automobile and household goods in India. The revision was meant for sectors and enterprises other than defence,
space, atomic energy and sectors and activities “prohibited for foreign investment”.
It was understood that the Indian decision was a response to the news of an incremental purchase of shares in
HDFC by the People’s Bank of China.
The Chinese spokesperson invoked the principle of free market economy and said, “Companies make choices
based on market principles. We hope India would revise relevant discriminatory practices, treat investments from
different countries equally, and foster an open, fair and equitable business environment”.

The statement said the new policy was clearly going to impact future investment from China.
49. Vijay Mallya loses U.K. High Court appeal

The Hindu, April 21
“Now, Mr. Mallya has 14 days to file an application in the High Court for permission to appeal in the Supreme Court,
which takes up constitutional matters and issues of larger public interest. We believe that it will be turned down in all
likelihood. Once he exhausts all legal avenues, we will have 28 days to bring him back,” said a senior Enforcement
Directorate official.
As flight operations are hit globally due to COVID-19, in case his extradition is cleared by the final authority during
the lockdown period, he may be brought back on board any special aircraft, including Air India, the official said.
Meticulous probe
The Central Bureau of Investigation said the decision was a result of meticulous probe and would strengthen the
“war” against the economic offenders who evaded judicial proceedings in India.
The U.K. High Court, in its 43-page judgment, discussed threadbare Mr. Mallya’s submissions against the lower
court order, holding that on the first impression the charges made against him by the Indian probe agencies stood.
The agencies have alleged that Mr. Mallya, between September 1, 2009, and January 24, 2017, conspired with A.
Ragunathan, S. Borkar, A. Nadkami, A. Shah, Y. Agarwal, B. Batra, O. Bundellu, S. Srinivasan, R. Sridhar and
others to cheat those who might deposit funds with the IDBI Bank. This was done “by dishonestly causing and
permitting the bank to sanction and disburse loans” to Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) in the order of (a) ₹1,500 million on
October 7, 2009, (b) ₹2,000 million on November 4, 2009, and (c) ₹7,500 million on November 27, 2009, with the
intention not to repay them.
False information
The alleged conspiracy was executed by supplying to the bank false information on Kingfisher’s profitability and the
value and/or availability of securities to be relied upon. The funds so raised were diverted and laundered. The High
Court, which had heard the case in February, also turned down the appellant’s contention that the lower court had
erred in law in its approach to the prima facie case test and the admissibility of the respondent’s evidence.
50. Israel PM, Gantz sign unity government deal

The Hindu, April 21
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his centrist election rival Benny Gantz signed an agreement on
Monday to form an emergency coalition government that would end a year of political deadlock.
Mr. Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud and Mr. Gantz’s Blue and White party issued a joint statement saying they had
clinched a unity deal, which follows elections in April and September 2019 and on March 2 in which neither won a
governing majority in Parliament.
Official details of the power-sharing deal were not immediately disclosed, but a source in Blue and White said the
two had agreed Mr. Netanyahu would remain Prime Minister for a set period until Mr. Gantz takes over in October
2021. Until then, Mr. Gantz, a former Armed Forces Chief, will serve as Defence Minister and several of his allies,
including two members of Israel’s Labour Party, will receive ministerial portfolios.
Sticking points
During the negotiations the parties cited a number of sticking points, including the planned annexation of Israeli
settlements in the occupied West Bank where Palestinians seek a state, and setting a nomination process for
judges.

Palestinian officials did not immediately comment.
Mr. Netanyahu, in power consecutively for the past 11 years, is under criminal indictment on corruption charges
which he denies. They include bribery, fraud and breach of trust.
51. Facebook buys ₹43,574 cr. stake in Jio Platforms

The Hindu, April 23
Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook Inc. on Wednesday announced that it had agreed to buy a 9.99% stake in the Mukesh
Ambani-led Jio Platforms Limited for ₹43,574 crore, valuing the subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) at an
enterprise value of ₹4.62 lakh crore.
The transaction, which will need regulatory approval, will help the RIL unit to leverage Facebook’s WhatsApp in
accelerating business on the JioMart platform and connecting neighbourhood grocery stores with consumers. “In
the near future, JioMart and WhatsApp will empower nearly 3 crore small Indian kirana shops to digitally transact
with every customer in their neighbourhood,” Mr. Ambani said in a video message.
Jio Platforms, which houses all of RIL’s digital businesses, intends to use a part of the funds invested by Facebook
to reduce debt. “Jio Platforms has debt of ₹40,000 crore,” Anshuman Thakur, head of strategy at Reliance Jio, told
The Hindu.
“About ₹15,000 crore of proceeds will stay in Jio Platforms and the remaining will be used to pay for optionally
convertible preference shares investments made by RIL in this company,” he added.
Facebook’s investment in Jio will be the largest foreign direct investment (FDI) in the technology sector in India.
Facebook, which counts India as one of its largest markets, said the investment “underscores our commitment to
India and our excitement for the dramatic transformation that Jio has spurred in the country”. By investing in RIL’s
digital business, the U.S. social media company aims to deepen its engagement with users in Asia’s third-largest
economy.
Reliance Jio Infocomm, which provides connectivity to more than 388 million subscribers, will continue to be a
wholly owned subsidiary of Jio Platforms.
“Our goal with this investment is to enable new opportunities for businesses of all sizes, but especially for small
businesses across India and create new and exciting digital ecosystems that will empower, enrich and uplift the
lives of all 1.3 billion Indians,” RIL said in a statement.
RIL shares rose 10.3% on the BSE on Wednesday to close at ₹1,363.65.
52. No 100% quota for tribal teachers: SC

The Hindu April 23
A five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court held it unconstitutional to provide 100% reservation for tribal
teachers in schools located in Scheduled Areas across the country.
A 152-page judgment by a Bench led by Justice Arun Mishra said it was an “obnoxious idea” to have only tribals
teach tribals.
“It is an obnoxious idea that tribals only should teach the tribals. When there are other local residents, why they
cannot teach is not understandable. The action defies logic and is arbitrary. Merit cannot be denied in toto by
providing reservation,” Justice Mishra, who wrote the verdict for the Constitution Bench, observed. The five-judge
Bench was answering a reference made to it in 2016 on whether 100% reservation is permissible under the
Constitution.
Sawhney judgment

The court held that 100% reservation is discriminatory and impermissible. The opportunity of public employment is
not the prerogative of few. A 100% reservation to the Scheduled Tribes has deprived Scheduled Castes and Other
Backward Classes also of their due representation. The court referred to the Indira Sawhney judgment, which caps
reservation at 50%.
“Citizens have equal rights, and the total exclusion of others by creating an opportunity for one class is not
contemplated by the founding fathers of the Constitution of India,” Justice Mishra wrote.
The case stemmed from a legal challenge to January 10, 2000 order issued by the erstwhile State of Andhra
Pradesh Bench providing 100% reservation to the Scheduled Tribe candidates, out of whom 33.1/3% shall be
women, for the post of teachers in schools located in the Scheduled Areas of the State. The court said the 2000
notification was “unreasonable and arbitrary”.
53. Global remittances will see a sharp fall: WB

The Hindu, April 23
Global remittances are projected to experience their sharpest decline in recent times — 20% — owing to migrants
losing jobs and wages because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Bank Group said in a report released on
Wednesday.
The pandemic and declining oil prices are likely to reduce remittances from the U.S., the U.K., and EU countries to
South Asia, resulting in a projected fall of 22% in remittances to $109 billion. This is in stark contrast to 2019 when
they grew by 6.1%.
At risk
In India, remittances for 2020 are projected to fall by 23% to $64 billion. They grew 5.5% in the previous year to $83
billion, the report, “COVID-19 Crisis Through a Migration Lens”, said.
Remittances are crucial in low and middle income countries, financing household and family expenses — such as
on higher education. As studies have shown that higher remittances improve nutritional outcomes by increasing
investments in higher education, a fall in these remittances puts these outcomes at risk, warned the Bank.
This is especially true at a time when households were tackling food shortages and financing livelihood needs.
“Remittances are a vital source of income for developing countries. The ongoing economic recession caused by
COVID-19 is taking a severe toll on the ability to send money home and makes it all the more vital that we shorten
the time to recovery for advanced economies,” World Bank Group President David Malpass said in a statement.
The sharpest decline was for Europe and Central Asia — where Russia is a strong source of income and the ruble
had weakened against the U.S. dollar. Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia were next in terms of projected declines.
Low cost
While remittance costs for some channels in South Asia are below 3% — the SDG (Sustainable Development Goal
) target and South Asia has the lowest remittance costs of any region — in some corridors in South Asia, they were
above 10% due to a lack of competition, regulatory concerns and low volumes.
“Quick actions that make it easier to send and receive remittances can provide much-needed support to the lives of
migrants and their families. These include treating remittance services as essential and making them more
accessible to migrants,” the brief’s lead author, Dilip Ratha, said.


54. Clause allowing FIR against firms for COVID-19 cases goes
The Hindu, April 24
The government withdrew on Thursday the clause allowing filing of an FIR against a company and its management
if an employee tests positive for COVID-19, following concerns raised by India Inc.
“There is no mention of sole responsibility fixed of owner/director on detection of COVID-19 positive case/s,” stated
the reworked guidelines sent to business owners. “The policy has been revised and the FIR clause removed. All the
confusions on this matter should end.”
Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar, meanwhile, maintained that there was no government
directive “for an FIR against a factory”.
‘No harassment’
On Thursday, Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla wrote to the Chief Secretaries of all States requesting that the guidelines
“should not be misused to harass management of any manufacturing/commercial establishment”.
He said some apprehension had been raised in the media based on a wrong interpretation of the guidelines. It was
believed that the States may take legal action, including imprisonment of the CEO, if a COVID-19 positive employee
is found in the factory, and that in such a scenario the factory would be sealed for three months.
“I would like to clarify that there is no such clause in the consolidated revised guidelines...,” Mr. Bhalla said. Subject
to compliance with standard operating procedure, no fresh licence or statutory approval is needed for resumption of
permitted activities, he said.
As and when the decision to release the future instalment of DA and DR due from July 1, 2021, is taken by the
government, the rates of DA and DR, as effective from January 1, 2020, July 1, 2020 and January 1, 2021, will be
restored prospectively.
They will be subsumed in the cumulative revised rate effective from July 1, 2021. However, no arrears for the period
from January 1, 2020, till June 30, 2021, will be paid, according to the Department of Expenditure’s order.
The combined savings on account of freezing of three instalments of DA and DR would be ₹37,530 crore in 2020-
21 and 2021-22, an official said.
Rising expenditure
The decision had been taken considering that there was a major increase in the expenditure on health as well as on
welfare measures for various affected sections of society, including the poor and vulnerable.
The State usually follow the Central orders on DA and DR. The Centre estimates that the saving on freezing of
three instalments of State government employees and pensioners will be ₹82,566 crore.
55. DA for Central staff frozen till July 2021

The Hindu, April 24
The Finance Ministry on Thursday issued an order freezing the Dearness Allowance (DA) to the Central employees
and Dearness Relief (DR) to pensioners at current rates till July 2021.
“In view of the crisis arising out of COVID-19, it has been decided that the additional instalment of Dearness
Allowance... and Dearness Relief..., due from January 1, 2020, shall not be paid,” said the order.
“The additional instalments of Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief due from July 1, 2020, and January 1,
2021, shall also not be paid. However, Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief at current rates will continue to be
paid,” it said.

56. Industries cannot be forced to pay wages: panel

The Hindu April 24
The Parliamentary Committee on Labour, in its report on the Industrial Relations Code, 2019, submitted on
Thursday, has recommended that “in case of natural calamities, payment of wages to the workers until the re-
establishment of the industry may be unjustifiable”.
Committee Chairman and senior BJD leader Bhartruhari Mahtab said that the ongoing lockdown to check the
spread of COVID-19 can be counted as one such calamity.
The Industrial Code makes it incumbent upon the employer to pay 50% wages to the workers/employees who are
laid off due to a shortage of power, coal, raw material and such instances for 45 days.
The committee has, however, expressed reservation on payment of the prescribed percentage of wages to the
workers in the event of closure of an establishment due to “natural calamity” .
“In case of natural calamities like earthquake, flood, super cyclone etc. which often result in closure of
establishments for a considerably longer period without the employer’s fault, payment of wages to the workers until
the re-establishment of the industry may be unjustifiable,” the report says.
The committee has suggested that “clarity” be brought in so that employers “not responsible for closure or lay off,
are not disadvantaged in case of such natural calamity of high intent”.
Asked if COVID-19 and the ongoing 40-day lockdown under which almost all industries have been shut, would also
count as a natural calamity, Mr. Mahtab told The Hindu, that “it should”.
‘A helping hand’
“The basic idea about our recommendations is that the industry should also not be forced when the situation is
beyond their control. The law has to be reasonable. It is for the government to step in and extend a helping hand for
the industries,” he added. These recommendations were strongly opposed by three members — CPI(M) Rajya
Sabha member Elamaram Kaim, CPI Lok Sabha member K. Subbarayan and DMK’s M. Shanmugam.
Dissent note
In his dissent note against the report, Mr. Karim said the recommendations are unfortunate especially in the present
context.
“Given the present situation where the entire nation is fighting against monstrous attack of novel coronavirus and
when every ordinary citizen has been shouldering the risk beyond his/her capacity, I am not able to understand the
rationale behind these recommendations,” Mr. Karim wrote.
The Industrial Relations Code, 2019 is an amalgamation of three laws — the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, the
Trade Unions Act, 1926, and the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946.
The law was introduced in the Lok Sabha in November last year and referred to the Standing Committee on Labour
in December.
With the ongoing lockdown, the draft report was circulated to the members on April 15 via e-mail and they were
given eight days to respond. And the final adopted report was accepted by the Speaker Om Birla on Thursday.

57. DRDO develops mobile virology lab

The Hindu, April 24
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday inaugurated through videoconference a mobile virology research and
diagnostics laboratory (MVRDL). It has been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation
(DRDO), together with ESIC Hospital, Hyderabad, and the private industry.
“The mobile lab will be helpful in carrying out diagnosis of COVID-19 and in virus-culturing for drug screening,
convalescent plasma-derived therapy, comprehensive immune profiling of patients towards vaccine development
and early clinical trials specific to Indian population,” the Defence Ministry said in a statement.
The MVRDL is the combination of a bio-safety level (BSL)-3 lab and a BSL-2 lab and was set up in a record time of
15 days. It can process 1,000-2,000 samples a day, the statement said.
The laboratories comply with the biosafety standards of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Indian
Council of Medical Research (ICMR) so as to meet international guidelines.
The first such MVRDL was developed by the Research Centre Imarat (RCI), Hyderabad, in consultation with ESIC
Hospital. It can be positioned anywhere in the country, the statement said.
58. RBI to restart Operation Twist to manage yields

The Hindu, April 24
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced simultaneous purchase and sale of government bonds in a bid to
soften long-term yields. The central bank will buy ₹10,000 crore of bonds maturing between 2026 and 2030 and sell
the same amount of T-bills.
“On a review of current and evolving liquidity and market conditions, the Reserve Bank has decided to conduct
simultaneous purchase and sale of government securities under open market operations (OMO) for ₹10,000 crore
each on April 27, 2020,” the RBI said on Thursday.
Such open market operations are known as ‘Operation Twist,’ which was used by the RBI in December last year for
the first time.
Following the announcement, the yields on the 10- year bonds dropped by 20 basis points (bps).
The move will also aid monetary transmission by prompting banks to pass on interest rate cut benefits to their
customers. The RBI had reduced key policy rate or the repo rate by 75 bps to 4.4% in the monetary policy review,
announced in the last week of March.
59. Dhoni named IPL’s GOAT captain

The Hindu, April 24
With three Indian Premier League titles with Chennai Super Kings, M.S. Dhoni was named IPL’s Greatest of All
Time (GOAT) captain by a Star Sports jury on the 13th anniversary of the league. ‘Captain Cool’, who has a
staggering win percentage of 60.11, pipped Rohit Sharma, who has led Mumbai Indians to a record four titles.
Dhoni has led CSK to eight finals, the most by any captain in the IPL.
Besides Rohit, Dhoni also faced stiff competition from Gautam Gambhir who helped KKR bag two titles. Shane
Warne, Adam Gilchrist and David Warner were also a part of the elite nominee list.

60. Wildlife Board nod for mining in Assam elephant reserve

The Hindu April 25
Amid the countrywide lockdown, the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has recommended coal mining in a part of
an elephant reserve in Assam.
The NBWL’s Standing Committee had on April 7 discussed a proposal for use of 98.59 hectares of land from the
Saleki proposed reserve forest land for a coal mining project by North-Easter Coal Field (NECF), a unit of Coal India
Limited.
The NBWL is under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).
Saleki is a part of the Dehing Patkai Elephant Reserve that includes the Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary covering
111.19 sq km of rainforest and several reserve forests in Sivasagar, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts.
Panel set up
The NBWL had in July 2019 formed a committee comprising its member R. Sukumar, Assam’s Chief Wildlife
Warden, and a representative of the local wildlife division for assessing the mining area.
In the April 7 meeting, Mr. Sukumar stated that 57.20 ha of hilly forestland had already been broken up by the user
agency (NECF) and the remaining 41.39 ha was unbroken.
He recommended a “cautious approach” for preserving the “basic integrity of this forested hill slope” that is a part of
the elephant reserve in Assam adjoining Arunachal Pradesh’s Deomali Elephant Reserve with “a sizeable
population of elephants”.
After detailed discussions, the Standing Committee “recommended for approval” the proposal for mining in the
broken-up area after the user agency submits a rectified site-specific mine reclamation plan in consultation with the
Assam Forest Department.
“For the unbroken area, the matter will be considered after the user agency submits a feasibility report for
underground mining, and also submits compliance report regarding fulfilment of all other conditions” as
recommended in a meeting on January 21, the NBWL committee said.
Congress MP Pradyut Bordoloi asked, “What can you expect from a government that has de-fanged all environment
and wildlife regulatory bodies? The recommendation reflects the disdain this government has for green assets,
particularly a biodiversity hotspot to benefit the mining lobby.”
Green activist Rohit Choudhury said the MoEFCC overturned its own adverse remark on “rampant violation of local
forest laws” in November 2019 to fast-track coal mining in the Saleki forestland.
The remark followed the local wildlife division’s report pointing to illegal coal mining in the Tikak open cast pit mining
in Saleki. The division also said 4,800 tonnes of coal from “unauthorised breaking up” of 16 ha of the area had been
seized. “The Assam Forest Department has completely failed in protecting the biodiversity of the State and has
allowed all illegal mining of coal, stone, sand, etc., violating all rules and regulations. It is obvious that there is a
corrupt nexus in operation and the State Forest Minister has become a mute spectator,” Mr. Choudhury said.
61. To print more money, or not to

The COVID-19 spread has meant that the Indian economy, which was already slowing down rapidly over the past
couple of years, has completely stalled. Most estimates suggest that India’s GDP (gross domestic product) will
barely grow in the current financial year — that is, if it does not contract as is likely to be the case in most major
economies of the world.

What is the reason for this fall? With a nationwide lockdown, incomes have fallen and so have consumption levels.
In other words, the demand for goods (say a pizza or a car) and services (say a haircut or a holiday) in the economy
has gone down.
What can be done to boost demand? People need to have money. But, of course, who will give them money. From
the highest-ranking CEOs to stranded workers, incomes have taken a huge hit, if not completely dried up.
Who is doing what?
For its part, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been trying to boost the liquidity in the financial system. It has
bought government bonds from the financial system and left it with money. Most banks, however, are unwilling to
extend new loans as they are risk-averse. Moreover, this process could take time.
The government’s finances were already overextended going into this crisis, with its fiscal deficit (the total amount
of borrowings to bridge the gap between its spending and revenues) way over the permissible limit.
Fluctuations in UK debt over three centuries. No ideal level of debt is set in stone.
As things stand, under normal circumstances, just because the economy has stalled and the government will not be
getting its revenues, the “general” government (that is, Centre plus states) fiscal deficit is expected to shoot up to
around 15% of GDP when the permissible limit is only 6%.
On top of that, if the government was to provide some kind of a bailout or relief package, it would have to borrow a
huge amount. The fiscal deficit will go through the roof.
Moreover, for the government to borrow the money, the market should have it as savings. Data show that savings
of domestic households have been faltering and are barely enough to fund the government’s existing borrowing
needs. Foreign investors, too, have been pulling out and rushing to “safer” economies like the US, and are unwilling
to lend in times of such uncertainty.
So there isn’t enough money in the market for the government to borrow. Moreover, as the government borrows
more from the market, it pushes up the interest rate.
As such, within the normal economic framework, things can only get worse before they get better, and the process
of recovery could be painfully slow and full of hardships wherein children don’t get an education, the hungry don’t
get adequate meals and so forth.

But there is a solution — the “direct” monetisation of government deficit.
What is “direct” monetisation of deficit?
Imagine a scenario where the government deals with the RBI directly — bypassing the financial system — and asks
it to print new currency in return for new bonds that the government gives to the RBI. Now, the government would
have the cash to spend and alleviate the stress in the economy — via direct benefit transfers to the poor or starting
construction of a hospital or providing wage subsidy to workers of small and medium enterprises etc.
In lieu of printing this cash, which is a liability for the RBI (recall that every currency note has the RBI Governor
promising to pay the bearer the designated sum of rupees), it gets government bonds, which are an asset for the
RBI since such bonds carry the government’s promise to pay back the designated sum at a specified date. And
since the government is not expected to default, the RBI is sorted on its balance sheet even as the government can
carry on rebooting the economy.
This is different from the “indirect” monetising that RBI does when it conducts the so-called Open Market Operations
(OMOs) and/ or purchases bonds in the secondary market.
Are other countries doing it to counter the economic crisis related to COVID-19?
Yes. In the UK on April 9, the Bank of England extended direct monetisation facility to the UK government even
though Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England, opposed the move till the last moment.
Has India ever done this in the past?
Yes, until 1997, the RBI “automatically” monetised the government’s deficit. However, direct monetisation of
government deficit has its downsides. In 1994, Manmohan Singh (former RBI Governor and then Finance Minister)
and C Rangarajan, then RBI Governor, decided to end this facility by 1997.
Source: Johns Hopkins University, updated at 11 pm on April 23.
Now, though, even Rangarajan believes that India would have to resort to monetising the deficit. “Monetisation of
the deficit is inevitable. Such a large increase in expenditure cannot be managed without monetisation of
government debt,” he said recently.
Then, why does the government not ask the RBI to print new money?

Direct monetisation of deficit is a highly contested issue. Another former RBI Governor, D Subbarao, recently
cautioned against it. Subbarao wrote in the Financial Times: “There is no question that India must borrow and
spend more in this crisis; that is a moral and a political imperative. But New Delhi should not forget that its bruising
balance of payments crisis in 1991, and a near-crisis in 2013, were, at heart, a result of extended fiscal profligacy.”
What are the main problems with direct monetisation of government deficit?
The main argument against it pertains not so much to its initiation as to its end. Ideally, this tool provides an
opportunity for the government to boost overall demand at the time when private demand has fallen — like it has
today. But if governments do not exit soon enough, this tool also sows the seeds for another crisis.
Source: Johns Hopkins University, updated at 11 pm on April 23.
Here’s how: Government expenditure using this new money boosts incomes and raises private demand in the
economy. Thus, it fuels inflation. A little increase in inflation is healthy as it encourages business activity. But if the
government doesn’t stop in time, more and more money floods the market and creates high inflation. And since
inflation is revealed with a lag, it is often too late before governments realise they have over-borrowed. Higher
inflation and higher government debt provide grounds for macroeconomic instability, as mentioned by Subbarao.
To what level should government debt be ideally limited?
While no ideal level of debt is set in stone (see graph, showing how government debt in the UK has fluctuated over
three centuries), most economists believe developing economies like India should not have debt higher than 80%-
90% of the GDP. At present, it is around 70% of GDP in India.
“It should commit to a pre-determined amount of additional borrowing and to reversing the action once the crisis is
over. Only such explicitly affirmed fiscal restraint can retain market confidence in an emerging economy,” Subbarao
wrote.
The other argument against direct monetising is that governments are considered inefficient and corrupt in their
spending choices — for example, whom to bail out and to what extent.

62. Saudi Arabia abolishes flogging as punishment

The Hindu, April 26
Saudi Arabia has abolished flogging as a punishment, the state human rights commission said on Saturday, hailing
a “major step forward” in the reform programme launched by the King and his powerful son.
Court-ordered floggings in Saudi Arabia — sometimes extending to hundreds of lashes — have long drawn
condemnation from human rights groups.
But they say the headline legal reforms overseen by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman have brought no let-up
in the conservative Islamic kingdom’s crushing of dissent, including through the use of the death penalty.
The state human rights commission said the latest reform, which was reported by Saudi media, including the pro-
government Okaz newspaper, would ensure that no more convicts were sentenced to flogging.
“This decision guarantees that convicts who would previously have been sentenced to the lash will from now on
receive fines or prison terms instead,” its chairman, Awad al-Awad, said.
Previously, the courts had powers to order the flogging of convicts found guilty of offences ranging from extramarital
sex and breach of the peace to murder.
In future, judges will have to choose between fines and/or jail sentences, or non-custodial alternatives like
community service.
Blogger flogging
The most high-profile instance of flogging in recent years was the case of Saudi blogger Raif Badawi who was
sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes in 2014 on charges of “insulting” Islam. He was awarded the
European Parliament’s Sakharov human rights prize the following year.
The abolition of corporal punishment in Saudi Arabia comes just days after the Kingdom’s human rights record was
again in the spotlight following news of the death from a stroke in custody of leading activist Abullah al-Hamid, 69.
Hamid was a founding member of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA) and was sentenced to
11 years in jail in March 2013, campaigners said He was convicted on multiple charges, including “breaking
allegiance” to the Saudi ruler, “inciting disorder” and seeking to disrupt state security, Amnesty International said.
Criticism of Saudi Arabia’s human rights record has grown since King Salman named his son Prince Mohammed
the Crown Prince and heir to the throne in June 2017.
The King has launched ambitious economic and social reforms, allowing women to drive and for sports and
entertainment events to be staged in the kingdom.
Murder of Khashoggi
However, the brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018
and the increased repression of dissidents at home have overshadowed the Prince’s pledge to modernise the
economy and society.
The Saudi authorities put a record 184 people to death last year, according to figures released by Amnesty
International on Tuesday.
“Saudi Arabia’s growing use of the death penalty, including as a weapon against political dissidents, is an alarming
development,” the human rights group said.

63. A ustralia, NZ aim to show the way in fighting virus

The Hindu, April 26
Thousands of miles from U.S. President Donald Trump’s combative news briefings, a conservative leader in
Australia and a progressive Prime Minister in New Zealand are steadily guiding their countries toward a rapid
suppression of the coronavirus outbreak.
Both nations are now reporting just a handful of new infections each day, down from hundreds in March, and they
are converging toward an extraordinary goal: completely eliminating the virus from their island nations.
Whether they get to zero or not, what Australia and New Zealand have already accomplished is a remarkable cause
for hope. Scott Morrison of Australia, a conservative Christian, and Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s darling of the
left, are both succeeding with throwback democracy — in which partisanship recedes, experts lead, and quiet
coordination matters more than firing up the base.
“This is certainly distinct from the United States,” said Dr. Peter Collignon, a physician and professor of microbiology
at the Australian National University who has worked for the World Health Organization. “Here it’s not a time for
politics. This is a time for looking at the data and saying let’s do what makes the most sense.”
The dreamy prospect of near normalcy, with the virus defeated, crowds gathering in pubs and every child back in
school, is hard to imagine for much of the U.S.
If there are any two countries that could pull off a clear if hermetically sealed victory — offering a model of recovery
that elevates competence over ego and restores some confidence in democratic government — it may be these two
Pacific neighbours.
Time factor
Far from any global hot spot, they’ve had the advantage of time: Australia reported its first case on January 25, New
Zealand on February 28. But compared to Mr. Trump and leaders in Europe, Mr. Morrison and Ms. Ardern
responded with more alacrity and with starker warnings.
Mr. Morrison banned travellers from China on February 1 (a day before the U.S. did) and labelled the outbreak a
pandemic on February 27 (two weeks before the WHO), while forming a national Cabinet of federal and State
leaders to build hospital capacity and guide the response. In New Zealand, where the government is more
centralised, Ms. Ardern introduced an alert system that led to a total lockdown less than a month after the country’s
first case emerged. “We must fight by going hard and going early,” Ms. Ardern said.
In both countries, the public initially resisted and then complied, in part because the information flowing from
officials at every level in both nations was largely consistent.
64. Pakistan test-fires series of anti-ship missiles

The Hindu April 26
The Pakistan Navy on Saturday successfully test-fired a series of anti-ship missiles in the North Arabian Sea, a
spokesman said. The missiles were fired from surface ships, fixed and rotary-wing aircraft, the Navy’s
spokesperson Rear Admiral Arshid Javed said.
Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Zafar Mahmood Abbasi witnessed the firing of the missiles, he said in a statement.
Operational capability
The demonstration is a testament to Pakistan Navy’s operational capability and military readiness, the official said.
On the occasion, Admiral Abbasi said that the Pakistan Navy is fully capable of responding to the enemy’s
aggression in a befitting manner.

Navy spokesperson Rear Admiral Javed took to Twitter to share the information on the firing.
“Pak. Navy conducted Live Weapon firing of Anti-Ship Missiles from Surface & Aviation units in North Arabian Sea.
CNS, Adm. Zafar Mahmood Abbasi witnessed LWF as Chief Guest & said that PN is always ready to thwart any
aggression against Pakistan’s maritime frontiers,” he said in a tweet.
The Navy did not provide any further details on the drill, which has come amidst the continued chill in India-Pakistan
relations.
65. Quick nod likely for China investments

The Hindu, April 26
The Centre plans to fast track the review of some investment proposals from neigbouring countries such as China
following concerns new screening rules could hit plans of companies and investors, three sources told Reuters on
Saturday.
To avoid opportunistic takeovers during the coronavirus outbreak, India said this past week that all foreign direct
investment from countries sharing a land border would require prior government clearance, meaning they can’t go
through a so-called automatic route.
Advisers to Chinese firms have said they are concerned the process could take several weeks and hit deals and
investment timelines. Auto firms such as SAIC’s MG Motor and Great Wall, and investors Alibaba and Tencent have
placed major bets on India. The Chinese Embassy in New Delhi has called the new screening policy discriminatory.
A senior Indian government source who is involved in policymaking told Reuters that New Delhi will try to approve
any investment proposal in a non-sensitive sector within 15 days when the stake being bought is not significant.
The official declined to elaborate on which sectors would be considered sensitive and what threshold of investment
would be deemed significant. “We will try to fast track investment proposals as soon as possible. It may be faster for
some (sectors) and in others we might take some time,” said the official, who did not want to be named due to the
sensitivity of the discussions.
Two other sources familiar with the government’s thinking confirmed that a fast track mechanism was being
considered, with possible approval timelines of seven days to four weeks.
India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
‘$26 bn in investments’
While the fast track mechanism would be open to all India’s neighbours with a land border, China would be the main
beneficiary. It has major existing and planned investments in India, which the Brookings research group estimated
at $26 billion. Dipti Lavya Swain, a partner at Indian law firm HSA Advocates which advises Chinese companies,
said sectors such as telecom, financial services and insurance were likely to be deemed more sensitive than others
such as automobiles and renewable energy.
‘2-4 weeks bearable’
“Approvals should be a seamless process and anything between two to four weeks could still be bearable,” he said.
“Sectors which are already under severe financial distress and do not concern national security should also receive
faster approvals.”
The new screening rules are designed to prevent fire sales of corporate assets during the COVID-19 outbreak but
government sources have said they will also apply to greenfield investments, as well as investments from Hong
Kong.

66. First merger of two black holes with unequal masses detected
The Hindu, April 26
For the first time since it started functioning, the gravitational wave observatories at LIGO scientific collaboration
have detected a merger of two unequal-mass black holes. The event, dubbed GW190412, was detected nearly a
year ago, and this is almost five years after the first ever detection of gravitational wave signals by these powerful
detectors. Subsequent analysis of the signal coming from the violent merger showed that it involved two black holes
of unequal masses coalescing, one of which was some 30 times the mass of the Sun and the other which had a
mass nearly 8 times the solar mass. The actual merger took place at a distance of 2.5 billion light years away. This
study has been published in preprint server ArXiv, and is pending peer review.
The detected signal’s waveform has special extra features in it when it corresponds to the merger of two unequal-
sized black holes as compared with a merger of equal-sized black holes. These features make it possible to infer
many more things about the characters in this celestial drama, namely, a more accurate determination of the
distance from the event, the spin or angular momentum of the more massive black hole and the orientation of the
whole event with respect to viewers on Earth.
While the mass of the black hole bends the space-time close to it, the spin or angular momentum of this inscrutable
object drags the nearby space-time, causing it to swirl around, along with it. Hence both these properties are
important to estimate.
Crucial difference
Pointing out the difference between binary black holes with equal masses and those with different masses, K.G.
Arun of Chennai Mathematical Institute (CMI), says, ”Dominant emission of gravitational waves happens at twice
the orbital frequency of the binary… In this case, we find, for the first time, emission at a frequency that is three
times the orbital frequency. This emission is negligible when binaries contain equal masses and when the orbit is
face-on. GR has a unique prediction for the details of this emission which is verified by this observation.”
Anand Sengupta of IIT Gandhinagar, along with Prof. Arun and Phd scholar Soumen Roy from IIT Gandhinagar
made important contributions to this analysis. The trio worked on the contribution to the signal from higher
harmonics which form a fainter component to the signal. “Following this a sophisticated statistical analysis was
performed to measure the strength of the sub-dominant component and its statistical significance, by calculating the
odds that it was not a false positive. For instance, that it was not some instrumental noise mimicking this effect,”
says Prof. Sengupta. “The asymmetry in the masses made the feeble higher harmonic component better ‘heard’,
leading to its unambiguous detection,” he adds.
Also, in the case of the merger of unequal black holes, the spin of the more massive black hole can be determined
from the extra features in the signal waveform. “The spin of the heavier black hole plays a more prominent role in
the dynamics of the binary. Hence, it leaves a stronger imprint on the waveform, making it easy to measure,” says
Prof. Arun.
A second Indian team consisting of researchers from ICTS-TIFR, Bengaluru, verified the consistency of the signal
with the prediction of General Relativity.
The existence of higher harmonics was itself a prediction of General Relativity.
67. Yemen separatists declare self-rule in south

The Hindu April 27
Yemen’s main southern separatist group announced early on Sunday that it would establish self-rule in areas under
its control, which the Saudi-backed government warned would have “catastrophic consequences”. The move
threatens to renew conflict between the UAE-backed separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) and the Saudi-
backed government, allies in Yemen’s war.

The STC is one of the main groups fighting against the Houthis as part of a coalition led by Saudi Arabia. But the
separatists have clashed with government forces in the past.
In a statement, the STC announced emergency rule in Aden and all southern governorates, saying it would take
control of Aden’s port and airport and other state institutions such as the central bank.
68. RBI opens ₹50,000 cr. liquidity tap for MFs

The Hindu April 28
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced a special window of ₹50,000 crore for mutual funds in view of the
redemption pressure that the fund houses are facing.
While announcing the window, the RBI said the liquidity stress was limited to high risk debt funds and the larger
industry remains liquid.
Under the scheme, the RBI will conduct repo operation of 90 day tenor at the fixed rate repo.
Funds availed under this facility will be used by banks exclusively for meeting the liquidity requirements of mutual
funds by extending loans, and for undertaking outright purchase of and/or repos against the collateral of investment
grade corporate bonds, commercial papers, debentures and certificates of deposit held by the funds, the central
bank said.
Franklin Templeton
The move comes after Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund last week decided to wind up six debt funds that have
combined assets under management of nearly ₹26,000 crore on account of illiquid and low-rated instruments in its
portfolio.
The fund house said it decided to wind up the schemes to preserve the value at least at the current levels. Their
value was getting eroded due to a combination of redemption pressures and mark-to-market losses due to a lack of
liquidity on account of the coronavirus impact on the markets, it said.
“RBI move is very timely. This move will first improve the confidence; second, it can help in providing the necessary
liquidity to mutual fund industry if anyone needs to avail it. With the yields dropping, one would assume banks may
go down the credit curve and extend facilities,” said A Balasubramanian, chief executive officer, Aditya Birla Sun
Life Mutual Fund and also a board member of the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI).
The scheme is available from Monday i.e., April 27, 2020 till May 11, 2020 or up to utilisation of the allocated
amount. The RBI will review the timeline and amount, depending upon market conditions.
“Heightened volatility in capital markets in reaction to COVID-19 has imposed liquidity strains on mutual funds
(MFs), which have intensified in the wake of redemption pressures related to closure of some debt MFs and
potential contagious effects therefrom. The stress is, however, confined to the high-risk debt MF segment at this
stage; the larger industry remains liquid,” the central bank said.
RBI said that it remains vigilant and will take whatever steps are necessary to mitigate the economic impact of
COVID-19 and preserve financial stability. The facility is on-tap and open-ended, and banks can submit their bids to
avail funding on any day from Monday to Friday.

69. Ministry does U-turn on plasma therapy

The Hindu, April 29
Plasma therapy is not an approved treatment for COVID-19 and is only one of the several therapies being explored
currently, the Union Health Ministry said on Tuesday. The therapy is still at an experimental stage and the Indian
Council for Medical Research (ICMR) is currently studying its efficacy, it added.
“ICMR has not given any clearance for its use as a prescribed treatment and the misuse can have fatal outcome for
the patients,” the Ministry said.
The Health Ministry statement comes days after the Drug Controller General of India gave its go-ahead to a
proposal by the ICMR for the clinical trial of convalescent plasma therapy in COVID-19 patients as per the protocol
developed by the Council.
Evidence not enough
At the daily press briefing, Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said currently there are no approved
therapies for COVID-19 and there is not enough evidence to claim that plasma therapy can be used for treatment of
the disease. The ICMR has launched a national-level study to look into the efficacy of plasma therapy in treatment
of COVID-19.
“Till the ICMR concludes its study and a robust scientific proof is available, plasma therapy should be used only for
research or trial purpose. If plasma therapy is not used in proper manner under proper guidelines, then it can also
cause life threatening complications,” he cautioned.
Last week, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan had asked the Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS) to contact
recovered COVID-19 patients to come forward for blood donation, from which convalescent plasma could be
collected and used.
“As mentioned by ICMR, the convalescent plasma will be really helpful in treating severe and serious COVID-19
patients,” Mr. Vardhan had said.
“The IRCS may like to take up this at the earliest so that the blood collected from the recovered patients could be
used for transfusion for the benefit of corona patients,” the Ministry said.
Several States across India too have been using and advocating for the therapy with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister
Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday directing officials to encourage use of plasma therapy for the treatment of infected
people and to increase testing capacity.
Delhi, Gujarat and Maharashtra, among other States, have started clinical trials for the plasma-based treatment.
70. $1.5 billion ADB loan to fund COVID response

The Hindu, April 29
The Government of India has taken a $1.5 billion loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to fund its
immediate response to COVID-19, both in terms of the health and socio-economic impacts. The bank is also in talks
with the government to fund further stimulus measures, including support for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises
and for extending health services through public-private partnerships.
The money, translating to more than ₹11,000 crore, will be spent to implement the containment plan and rapidly
ramp up the test-track-treatment capacity.
It will also be used to provide social protection for 80 crore poor people over the next three months, according to
Finance Ministry additional secretary Sameer Kumar Khare, who signed the loan agreement.

The loan, approved by the ADB under its COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure Support (CARES)
Programme, is the bank’s largest ever to India. The Centre will also take the ADB's technical support to strengthen
its implementation framework and capacities to deliver the Rs. 1.7 lakh crore welfare package announced last
month.
The bank was also in talks to provide “further possible support for stimulating the economy, support strong growth
recovery, and to build resilience to future shocks”, an official statement said.
During an April 9 telephone meeting, ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa told Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman
that apart from emergency needs, the bank was also willing to support “short- to medium-term measures to restore
the dynamic economic growth of the country by exploring all available financing options”, it added. This would
include support for the MSMEs by facilitating access to finance through credit guarantee schemes, integration into
global and national value chains through enterprise development centers, and a credit enhancement facility for
infrastructure projects.
71. Explain MHA order on full wages, SC tells govt.

The Hindu, April 29
The Supreme Court has given the Centre two weeks to explain a Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) order, issued on
March 29, directing employers to pay full wages to their workers during the lockdown.
A three-judge Bench, led by Justice N.V. Ramana, on Monday, allowed Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta, appearing
for the government, to file his response to a batch of petitions filed by several companies challenging the
constitutional validity of the March 29 order, which mandates that industry, shops and commercial establishments,
without exception, pay their workers without any deduction in the name of COVID-19. The petitions said a blanket
direction to private establishments to pay full salaries against no work was arbitrary and violative of Article 14 (right
to equality) of the Constitution.
‘No obligation’
“It is implicit in the fundamental right of an employer to trade or business that there is an obligation to pay when
work is actually done and there is no obligation if no work is done. An employer and employee have reciprocal
promises whereby the right of an employee to demand salary is reciprocal to performance of work by such
employee. The employer has a right to not pay if no work is done,” the petition filed by private firms such as
Nagreeka Exports Limited and Ficus Pax Private Ltd. said.
Nagreeka said it was engaged in manufacture and export of cotton yarns, fabric and textiles. It said stoppage of
operations since the lockdown had led to losses to the tune of ₹1.50 crore.
Separate petitions have also been filed by entities from the micro, small and medium sector against the
government’s order to pay full wages to their workers. MSME industries have said they are compelled to slide into
insolvency by the government, which has ordered them to continue to pay full salaries to their workers. These
petitions have asked the court to order the government to support them by taking responsibility for 70% of their
staffers’ pay by drawing funds from the PM Cares Fund or the Employees State Insurance Corporation. The court is
yet to list these pleas.

72. NITI Aayog slams India’s terror ranking

The Hindu April 29
A report compiled by the NITI Aayog has questioned the methodology adopted by an Australian-based institute to
rank India as the seventh worst terrorism affected country ahead of conflict-ridden countries such as the Democratic
Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Sudan, Burkina Faso, Palestine and Lebanon.
The report also questions the opaque funding of the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP). Emailed queries by
the government think tank, seeking list of its donors, remained unanswered. India has moved to the seventh
position from the previous year’s eighth in the annual Global Terrorism Index (GTI) 2019. The countries ahead of it
are Afghanistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Syria, Pakistan and Somalia.
In March, the Cabinet Secretariat asked NITI Aayog to track 32 such global indices to see how they could help drive
reforms and growth.
An official said the positioning in the global indices impacted investments and other opportunities.
“The purpose was to see which of the indices can be used to drive reforms or which of these would require some
amount of engagement with the publishing agency to make the indices more relevant,” a NITI Aayog official said.
“Emailed queries sent to the IEP requesting a list of its donors have also remained unanswered. The IEP’s 2019
annual report shows that the organisation has only 12 full-time staff, 12 full-time equivalent staff and 6 volunteers,”
the report said.
73. USCIRF downgrades India in 2020 list

The Hindu, April 29
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has downgraded India to the lowest ranking,
“countries of particular concern” (CPC) in its 2020 report. The report, released in Washington by the federal
government commission that functions as an advisory body, placed India alongside countries, including China,
North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. India was categorised as a “Tier 2 country” in last year’s listing. This is the
first time since 2004 that India has been placed in this category.
“India took a sharp downward turn in 2019,” the commission noted in its report, which included specific concerns
about the Citizenship Amendment Act, the proposed National Register for Citizens, anti-conversion laws and the
situation in Jammu and Kashmir. “The national government used its strengthened parliamentary majority to institute
national-level policies violating religious freedom across India, especially for Muslims.” The panel said that the CPC
designation was also recommended because “national and various State governments also allowed nationwide
campaigns of harassment and violence against religious minorities to continue with impunity, and engaged in and
tolerated hate speech and incitement to violence against them”.
The Centre reacted sharply to the USCIRF report on Tuesday, terming it “biased and tendentious” and rejected its
observations.
“We reject the observations on India in the USCIRF Annual Report,” official spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said.
“Its biased and tendentious comments against India are not new. But on this occasion, its misrepresentation has
reached new levels. It has not been able to carry its own Commissioners in its endeavour. We regard it as an
organisation of particular concern and will treat it accordingly,” Mr. Srivastava added.
Three of the 10 USCIRF commissioners, including Gary Bauer, Johnnie Lee, and Tenzin Dorjee, dissented with the
panel’s recommendation on India as being ‘too harsh’ and that ended up placing the country alongside what they
termed as “rogue nations” like China and North Korea.
“I am confident that India will reject any authoritarian temptation and stand with the United States and other free
nations in defence of liberty, including religious liberty,” wrote Commissioner Bauer in his dissenting note.

The commission also recommended that the U.S. government take stringent action against India under the
“International Religious Freedom Act” (IRFA). It called on the administration to “impose targeted sanctions on Indian
government agencies and officials responsible for severe violations of religious freedom by freezing those
individuals’ assets and/or barring their entry into the United States under human rights-related financial and visa
authorities, citing specific religious freedom violations”. In 2005, Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was at the time
the Chief Minister of Gujarat was censured by the USCIRF. The commission had recommended sanctions against
Mr. Modi for the 2002 riots and the U.S. government had subsequently cancelled his visa.
The USCIRF 2020 report makes a specific mention of Home Minister Amit Shah, for not taking what it deemed as
sufficient action to stop cases of mob lynching in the country, and for referring to migrants as “termites”. In
December 2019, the USCIRF had also asked the U.S. government to consider sanctions against Mr. Shah and
“other principal leadership” over the decision to pass the Citizenship Amendment Act.
74. India’s crossover star Irrfan Khan passes away

The Hindu, April 30
One of Indian cinema’s leading actors and its most recognised face internationally, Irrfan Khan passed away in
Mumbai’s Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital on Wednesday. He was admitted on Tuesday night for a colon
infection and died at 11.11 a.m. the next day because of resultant complications.
Mr. Khan is survived by his wife, screenwriter Sutapa Sikdar and two sons, Babil and Ayan.
His last rites took place on Wednesday at the Versova Kabrastan in Mumbai in the presence of his family, close
relatives and friends, including filmmakers Vishal Bhardwaj, Tigmanshu Dhulia and Abhinay Deo. “We pray for his
peace and we hope he’s in a better place today. He was strong in his fight, and we all have to be strong too in this
loss,” a statement released by the family said.
Mr. Khan, 53, was detected with neuroendocrine tumour in March 2018 and he battled it for several months in
London. He returned early last year to shoot for Homi Adjania’s Angrezi Medium — his last film — but had to get
back to London again in September for further treatment.
Mr. Khan’s nonagenarian mother Saeeda Begum passed away on Saturday morning in Jaipur, and according to
agency reports, he paid his last respects to her through video conferencing.
Born in Jaipur, Mr. Khan started his illustrious innings in acting with a stint at New Delhi’s National School of Drama.
While Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay (1988) is credited as his debut, he had to struggle long and hard to make space
for himself in the world of films.
He acted in a lot of television shows through the 1980s and the 1990s, including the popular Banegi Apni Baat.
Notable projects
The films to truly get him noticed were Tigmanshu Dhulia’s Haasil (2003) and Vishal Bhardwaj’s Maqbool (2004).
But even before them, the buzz around him had started growing strong abroad with Asif Kapadia’s The Warrior
(2001), in which he played a brutal warrior on the road to redemption.
Ms. Nair’s The Namesake (2007), based on the Jhumpa Lahiri book by the same name, made him gain more
ground internationally. Wes Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited (2007), Michael Winterbottom’s A Mighty Heart
(2007), Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire (2008), Ang Lee’s Life of Pi (2012) and Marc Webb’s The Amazing
Spider-Man (2012) were his other notable projects. Paan Singh Tomar (2012), in which he played an athlete-
turned-dacoit, got him the National Award for Best Actor. He was honoured with the Padma Shri in 2011.
He was “a rare talent and a brilliant actor,” tweeted President Ram Nath Kovind. Prime Minister Narendra Modi
described Irrfan Khan’s death as “a loss to the world of cinema and theatre”.

75. Regulating academics is in national, public interest: SC

The Hindu April 30
Regulating academics and imposing reasonable restrictions to ensure educational standards are in national and
public interest, a three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court ruled, holding that the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance
Test (NEET) is mandatory for admission to medical colleges run by religious and linguistic minority communities.
The right to freedom of trade or business is not absolute. It is subject to “reasonable restriction in the interest of the
students’ community to promote merit, recognition of excellence, and to curb the malpractices. A uniform entrance
test qualifies the test of proportionality and is reasonable”, Justice Arun Mishra wrote for the Bench comprising
Justices Vineet Saran and M.R. Shah.
“NEET is intended to check several maladies which crept into medical education, to prevent capitation fee by
admitting students which are lower in merit and to prevent exploitation, profiteering, and commercialisation of
education. The institution has to be a capable vehicle of education,” Justice Mishra observed.
The court said minority institutions were equally bound to comply with the conditions imposed under the law. The
regulations, including admission through NEET, were neither divisive or dis-integrative. They were necessary.
The judgment was based on a challenge by the colleges to several notifications issued by the Medical Council of
India (MCI) and the Dental Council of India (DCI) under Sections 10D of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956, and
the Dentists Act, 1948, for uniform entrance examinations.
“Professional educational institutions constitute a class by themselves. Specific measures to make the
administration of such institutions transparent can be imposed. The rights available under Article 30 [right of
minorities to administer their institutions] are not violated by provisions carved out in Section 10D of the MCI Act
and the Dentists Act and Regulations framed by MCI/DCI,” the court held.


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Rankers’ Study Material

75 Most Important Articles from the Hindu and IE (April 2020)

1. SC upholds right to discuss COVID-19

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2. How does alcohol in sanitisers (and soap) kill the coronavirus?

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3. Centre defines J&K domicile rules

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4. India welcomes foreign contributions to PM-CARES

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5. Lewis of ‘DLS method’ fame passes away

6. SC calls for quick end to Kerala-Karnataka border row

The court listed the case for hearing next on April 7.

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7. IOC revises qualification deadlines

For spreading fear

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For false claim to aid

For refusing to do duties

For refusing to help

9. FIFA puts off women’s U-17 WC

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He said the tournament would most likely be held next year.

Veterans to guide teams; training in latest technologies

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11. MPLADS suspended; PM, MPs to take 30% salary cut

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12. Govt. shifts to ‘large outbreak containment’

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13. Restrictions on court hearings lawful: SC

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14. New York zoo tiger tests positive for virus

All zoos closed

15. Gender violence is a shadow pandemic: UN

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16. Hydroxychloroquine: The drug everyone is looking at

Who makes this drug in India?

Why has the COVID-19 outbreak spotlighted hydroxychloroquine?

Since when has India stopped exporting the drug?

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Is hydroxychloroquine actually effective?

What are pharmaceutical companies doing to resolve the issue?

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17. Wisden honour for Ben Stokes

Two defining knocks

Aussies strike it rich

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Tool for RBI to deal with volatile currency markets

19. World faces new ‘Great Depression’

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