DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA
JOURNALISM OF COURAGE
FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 2020, PUNE, LATE CITY, 12 PAGES
SAVINGLIVESTOPPRIORITY,
says CM Patnaik, ordinance promulgated
Extending lockdown: Odisha leads the way
Shut until April 30,
state wants no rail or
air; draws contours of
roadmap for others
SAMPAD PATNAIK
& RAVISH TIWARI
BHUBANESWAR, NEW DELHI,
APRIL 9
EVENAStheCentreandstatesare
stillweighingtheiroptionsonex-
tendingthe21-daylockdownbe-
yondApril14,Odishabecamethe
first state to clearly spell out its
plan of action: that its statewide
lockdown will continue till April
30. The state government also
said it would recommend to the
Centre to extend the national
lockdown to the same date and
request for rail and air services to
thestatetobestoppeduntilthen.
“The state Cabinet, which
met today, decided that saving
lives of our people is the top
most priority at this juncture,”
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik
said in a written statement that
was shared by the state govern-
mentonThursday.“Wehavede-
cidedtoextendthelockdowntill
April 30. We will recommend to
the Government of India to ex-
tend the national lockdown (up
to the same time period)... We
will also request the Union
Government not to start airline
andrailwayservicestillApril30,”
the statement added.
The state also promulgated
an ordinance amending a sec-
tion of The Epidemic Diseases
Act, 1897, witha provisionof im-
prisonment for up to two years
` 63 per kilo
` 91 per kilo
` 110 per kilo
` 54 per Dozen
For supply of
HCQ, Trump
and Bolsonaro
thank Modi
and India
SHUBHAJIT ROY
NEW DELHI, APRIL 9
US PRESIDENT Donald Trump
and Brazilian President Jair
Bolsonaro thanked India and
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
for the “timely assistance” in
releasing ingredients for anti-
malarial drug hydroxychloro-
quine (HCQ), seen as useful in
the treatment of COVID-19.
“Extraordinarytimesrequire
evenclosercooperationbetween
friends. Thank you India and the
Indianpeopleforthedecisionon
HCQ. Will not be forgotten!
Thank you Prime Minister
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
PAGE 1
ANCHOR In zero-case Nanded, a worry: 4,000 stranded Punjab pilgrims
IRAM SIDDIQUE
NANDED, APRIL 9
ON WEDNESDAY, 12
Indonesians who arrived in
Nanded on March 15 after
attending the Tabligi Jamaat
gathering in Delhi — linked to
many coronavirus cases —
finished quarantine with their
COVID-19 test results negative.
It was the end of just one excru-
ciating wait for the administra-
tion in the district, among only
nine in worst-hit Maharashtra
with zero cases. Nanded has on
CORONA COUNT
5865
CASES
169
DEATHS
478 RECOVERED
1,44,910 samples have been
tested as on April 9, 2020
forthosefoundviolatingtheepi-
demic regulations.
Whilestateafterstatehassig-
nalled their intention to extend
thelockdown—Karnatakabeing
the latest to say that the Cabinet
wants the lockdown to be “con-
tinued for another 15 days” —
Odisha’s announcement is seen
asastepforward,settingthetone
fordeliberationsonexitstrategies
when Prime Minister Narendra
Modi interacts with Chief
Ministers on Saturday morning.
Odisha’sannouncementisset
toimpacttheoptionsbeingcon-
sidered by other states as they
formulate their exit strategies.
More so, because Odisha has a
relatively low coronavirus posi-
tivecaseloadat44inabout5,865
cases across the country. The
state has so far reported one
death and two recoveries, and
tested 2,841 samples.
Odisha’s request to stop train
and flight services to the state
until April 30 is likely to have a
cascading effect on any policy
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
Investors unfazed by March mayhem,
equity MF inflow at 12-month high
ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU
NEW DELHI, APRIL 9
EVEN THOUGH stock markets
wentintoatailspininMarchand
benchmark indices crashed in
line with the global trend, mu-
tualfundinvestorsdon’tseemto
have pressed the panic button.
Data for March released by
the Association of Mutual Funds
in India (AMFI) shows that net
inflows into equity-oriented
schemes amounted to Rs 11,722
crore, a 12-month high, and
gross fund mobilisation for
Bihar tests, finds migrants haven’t
added to state tally of positive cases
SANTOSH SINGH
PATNA, APRIL 9
JUST 10 DAYS ago, when
migrants started returning to
their homes in Bihar in large
numbers, Chief Minister Nitish
Kumarwasconcernedaboutthe
potential spread of COVID-19 in
the state. But after screening
about1.8lakhmigrants,whoare
living either with their families
or at the 3,115 quarantine cen-
tres, the state is heaving a sigh of
relief that none of the migrants
have tested positive so far.
AccordingtotheBiharhealth
department, 4,991 people have
TEST
REP RTS
FROM THE
FIELD
TRACKINGTHEVIRUS,
LOCKDOWN
its minds another gathering: of
nearly 4,000 pilgrims from
Punjab stranded at the historic
Gurdwara Langar Saheb.
ResidentDeputyCollectorDr
Sachin Khalla said all the 3,755
pilgrims have been screened for
AGRI,MGNREGA,ANIMALHUSBANDRY
activities to be facilitated during lockdown
Nurses from Mumbai’s KEM hospital on their way to work. The hospital has reported at least 10 COVID-19 deaths over the last week. Prashant Nadkar
No let-up in Maharashtra:
25 deaths, 229 new cases
is highest single-day jump
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
MUMBAI, PUNE, NAGPUR,
APRIL 9
IN ITS highest single-day spike
sofar,Maharashtrareported229
fresh COVID-19 cases and 25
deaths on Thursday, taking the
total count to 1,364 cases and 97
deaths.
The Union Health Ministry,
however,reported20deathsand
591 fresh cases across the coun-
try in the last 24 hours. The total
number of cases in the country
is now 5,865, of which 169 died
while 477 recovered.
With 876 cases, Mumbai
now accounts for morethan half
equity schemes — total money
invested — stood at Rs 30,109
crore, a 24-month high.
There was also an addition of
7.1 lakh new equity accounts
during the month — the highest
monthly addition in at least 12
months.
This, when both the Sensex
and Nifty have lost 23 per cent in
March as the COVID pandemic
roils markets and threatens
global growth.
The equity assets under man-
agement,however,fell18percent
over February to Rs 650,146 crore
onaccountofthemark-to-market
Medical staff distribute sanitisers to policemen in Patna. PTI
been tested so far, including
about2,000migrants,thosewith
overseas travel history, and also
theirrelatives.Of thosetested,58
turned out to be COVID-19 posi-
symptoms of COVID-19 such as
coldandsorethroatoverthepast
two days, and none is so far
showing any. However, the
tougher part is ensuring that the
pilgrims don’t venture outof the
premisesof thegurdwara,oneof
the five most prominent Sikh
shrinesinthecountrythatdraws
nearly 30 lakh visitors a year.
Section 144 has been im-
posed in the area, with three po-
licemen guarding a major road
leading to the gurdwara, and a
barricade to stop vehicles.
Thepilgrimsarrivedbetween
March 1 and March 20 and have
SINCE 1932
the total cases in Maharashtra.
However,thehighernumber
in the state could also be due to
increased tests. In the last two
days, almost 10,000 samples
have been tested in the state.
While 20,877 samples had been
tested till April 7, the number
touched 30,299 on Thursday.
Thedeathscountedtodayin-
cludesomewhichoccurredover
the last three days, since April 6.
Pune recorded 10 deaths on
Wednesday alone, its highest in
a day so far; eight more people
have died in the city since then.
Nine deaths were reported in
Mumbai, and one each in
MalegaonandRatnagirioverthe
CONTINUEDONPAGE2
losses. The overall industry aver-
age asset under management fell
toRs24.7lakhcroreinMarch,from
an all-time high of Rs 28.28 lakh
croreinFebruary2020.
Data shows that equity
investors took the March fall as
anopportunitytoinvest.Despite
the sharp decline of up to 13 per
cent in a day in the premier
indices in March and the index
hitting the circuit twice in a
month — forcing exchanges to
shut — they not only continued
with their investments but also
came in with fresh investments.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
tive, most with overseas travel
history, or contact with persons
who travelled abroad.
State government officials
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
A langar at Gurdwara Langar Saheb in Nanded. Express
A nurse tests positive and a quiet
birthday for daughter in a ward
SOMYA LAKHANI
NEW DELHI, APRIL 9
ON WEDNESDAY, the daughter
of a nursing officer from Delhi
State Cancer Institute (DSCI)
turned four. Typically, there
wouldhavebeenasmallpartyat
home — her eight-year-old son
wouldhavedecoratedtheir2BHK
house, while the birthday girl
would have been gifted a new
doll. Instead, the children and
their mother spent the birthday
inside a COVID-19 ward at Rajiv
Gandhi Super Specialty hospital.
The nursing officer from
Dilshad Garden’s DSCI is among
22 staffers who have tested pos-
itive for coronavirus. The test
Showsmarkets
havegotdeeper
LOW EQUITY valuations
provide an opportunity to
generate higher returns
when interest rates are
falling and fixed deposit
and small savings rates
have seen deep cuts. The
record inflow underlines
the deepening of the
market and signals in-
vestor hope that these
hard times will pass.
BUSINESS AS USUAL
BY UNNY
THE EDITORIAL PAGE
COVID-19 POINTSTO
RURALDISTRESS
BY CHRISTOPHE JAFFRELOT
& HEMAL THAKKER PAGE 8
KARNATAKACMSAYSCABINET
unanimous on extending shutdown
22 of the DSCI staff have tested positive in Delhi. Praveen Khanna
was conducted on April 3 and
the result came on April 6, after
which she reached Rajiv Gandhi
Super Specialty Hospital, with
Higher spend, slump in revenues
start straining finances of states
NUSHAIBA IQBAL
& HARISH DAMODARAN
NEW DELHI, APRIL 9
THE EFFECTS of a slump in their
revenues from the lockdown,
coupled with higher spending
to deal with the novel coron-
avirus pandemic, are starting to
show on the finances of state
governments.
On Tuesday, 19 states sought
to borrow an aggregate sum of
Rs 37,500 crore through sale of
bonds, with tenures ranging
from two to 15 years, conducted
on the Reserve Bank of India’s
(RBI) auction platform.
UN flags concern to Govt Covid group:
Need to fight targeting of certain sects
LIZ MATHEW
NEW DELHI, APRIL 9
A DAY before the Union Health
Ministry issued an advisory ask-
ing people not to label any com-
munity or area for the spread of
COVID-19,theUNrepresentative
in India urged the government
tofight“stigmatisationof certain
sects of people”.
On Tuesday, at the seventh
meeting of the empowered
groupcoordinatingwiththepri-
vate sector, NGOs and interna-
tional organisations,RenataLok-
been unable to head back. They
have moved into the gurdwara’s
five ‘hostels’ — a total of 1,200
rooms, in different sizes.
The administration is aware
of the risks of having so many
under one roof amidst the pan-
demic, with little means of en-
suring social distancing. Nanded
Superintendent of Police Vijay
Kumar Magar says that after
Section 144 was invoked, the
first two days posed a major
challenge as pilgrims kept head-
ing out into the city.
“Afterthatweheldameeting
with religious heads and asked
`5.00, WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
her children in tow. “My hus-
band went to visit my mother in
Pathanamthitta in Kerala, as she
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
GOVERNMENT BOND YIELDS
VERSUS RBI’S REPO RATE %
8--
7--
6--
5--
4--
9-Mar
11-Mar
13-Mar
15-Mar
17-Mar
19-Mar
21-Mar
23-Mar
25-Mar
27-Mar
29-Mar
31-Mar
2-Apr
4-Apr
6-Apr
■ RBI'sRepoRate ■ 10-yearGovernmentofIndiabondyield
■ Weightedaverage10-yearStategovernmentbondyields
As against the notified amount,
they were able to mobilise only
Rs 32,560 crore.
Dessallien, UN Resident
Coordinator in India, “pointed
out the need to address the
issues of migrant labourers and
fightingstigmatisationof certain
sects of people,” said a source
who was part of the meeting
chaired by NITI Aayog CEO
Amitabh Kant.
Inthewakeoffinger-pointing
atMuslimsafterthespikeinpos-
itivecasesacrossthecountrywas
tracedtoaMarchcongregationof
the Tablighi Jamaat in Delhi, the
Health Ministry issued an advi-
sory Wednesday: “Public health
emergencies during an outbreak
themtokeepthepilgrimsintheir
rooms and even serve food to
themthereinsteadof inthecom-
munity kitchen,” says Magar.
But that is easier said than
done. Bachendar Singh, a priest
at the gurdwara, says their faith
doesnotallowthemtoturnany-
one away from a langar, includ-
ing non-Sikhs. “The concept of a
langar was never to restrict peo-
ple. Langars are not constructed
with gates. How do we even
close?” he asks.
Every day, as people sit in
rowstoeatandthewomenmake
the meals of rice, roti, dal and
Double testing
samples, new
target 2.5 lakh
by April 14:
Centre to states
VARINDER BHATIA
CHANDIGARH, APRIL 9
THE CENTRE has asked all states
andUnionTerritoriestorampup
thenumberof samplescollected
across the country for testing to
at least 2.5 lakh by April 14 —
when the 21-day national lock-
down period ends.
Speaking to The Indian
Express,HaryanaAdditionalChief
Secretary (Health) Rajeev Arora
said the target was conveyed by
the Union Health Ministry in a
video-conference with Health
Secretaries of all states and UTs
Wednesday. “We were told that
1 lakh samples have been col-
lected in India till date, and by
April 14 we have to take it up to
2.5 lakh samples,” he said.
As of 9 pm Thursday, a total
of 1,44,910 samples had been
tested nationwide, including
30,299 from Maharashtra, from
wherethemaximumnumberof
positive cases (1,135) have been
reported.
Based on suggestions from
states, the Centre has already in-
dicated that various restrictions
on the movement of people will
continue after April 14 — a final
callwillbetakenbasedonthetra-
jectoryofinfectionsafterApril10.
Haryana,whichhasreported
156 cases so far, has sent 2,964
samples for testing out of which
2,017 have come out negative
while results are awaited in 791.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
But more than the shortfall,
what is striking is the cost of the
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
of communicable diseases may
cause fear and anxiety leading to
prejudices against people and
communities,socialisolationand
stigma.” Such behaviour, it said,
may culminate into increased
hostility, chaos and unnecessary
social disruptions.
On April 2, BJP president J P
Nadda had urged his party lead-
ers to refrain from giving any
“communal colour” or create
any“divisionordifferences”over
the COVID-19 outbreak. He told
themtosupporttheeffortsof the
Prime Minister as well as that of
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
sabzi, food is prepared for nearly
four lakh people, to be sent
throughout Nanded and its sur-
rounding areas. The wheat, rice
anddalsuppliesforthegurdwara
aregenerallyreceivedintheform
of donations twice a year from
Punjab, while other things are
purchased locally.
Thestrandedpilgrimssaythe
only way to ensure their safety
and that of others is to get them
home.“If thegovernmentwants
us to maintain social distance,
theyshouldmakearrangements
for us to return,” says
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
 2 THE SECOND PAGE
FROM PAGE ONE
Nurse tests +ve
is unwell. Then the lockdown
happened and he’s been unable
toreturnhome,”shesaidoverthe
phone from the hospital bed.
She moved to Delhi from
Pathanamthitta15yearsagoand
began working as a nurse. A
decade ago, she joined DSCI,
where she works in the cancer
ward.“Fromadministeringmed-
icinestocheckingthecatheter,IV
tubes, listening to patients’ re-
quests, explaining to their rela-
tives about treatment and medi-
cines...wedoitall.OnceIrecover,
I will go back to work. There is no
other option,” she said.
“We work in three shifts — 8
am-2pm,2pm-8pm,8pm-8am
— and the roster keeps changing.
All these years, I didn’t have to
worryaboutthechildrenbecause
my husband would manage.
When he left for Kerala mid-
March,thehouse-helppitchedin,
but after the lockdown even she
couldn’tcome.SoIwoulddropoff
the children to a friend’s house
nearby and then go for my shift,”
she said.
Once cases of DSCI staffers
testingpositivestartedemerging,
she started getting nervous and
the rules at home changed. “I
wouldreturnhomefrommyshift,
immediately rush to the bath-
room, take a bath, wash all
clothes,andthenseethechildren.
I told them ‘no hugging
mummy’...It’shardtoexplainthat
to children. I am most worried
about them,” she said.
After she tested positive, she
hadnochoicebuttotakeherchil-
drentotheCOVIDwardwithher.
The siblings tested negative
Wednesday. “I was on the phone
all Wednesday, trying to find a
place for them to stay since my
husband is still stuck in Kerala.
Finally,afriendtookthemin.Now
I talk to them on video call. It’s
hard,Iworryfortheirsafety,their
healthanddiet,butIhavestarted
developing symptoms now —
headache and cough. They can’t
be around me,” she said.
She is one of 18 nursing offi-
cersandorderliesatDSCItohave
tested positive for coronavirus.
Speaking to The Indian Express,
manyof themhadearlieralleged
theywerenotgivenPPEsevenaf-
ter a doctor there tested positive.
She said she will return to nurs-
ing — a profession she fell in love
with as a young girl in
Pathanamthitta—andhopedthat
“the PPEs will be there”.
Double testing
“Detailed directions have
been issued to doctors and med-
ical staff that another round of
testing shall be launched across
thestatefromFriday,”Arorasaid.
On the state's strategy to
achieve the Centre's target in the
next five days, he said: “We took
Haryana’sfiguresofsample-test-
ing,anddecidedthatweshallalso
increase it by 1.5 times, going by
the formula adopted by the
Government of India. Since our
number today (Thursday) is
around 3,000 samples, we shall
be taking it up to around 7,000-
7,500 in the next five-six days.”
Arorasaid450sampleswillbe
tested in each of Haryana's
hotspots, including the four dis-
tricts of Gurugram, Nuh, Palwal
andFaridabad,andaminimumof
125 samples each in all other ar-
eas. “A few more samples will be
India rejects China reference to J&K at UN Big spike in corona cases among SARI patients
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, APRIL 9
A DAY after the Chinese mission
to the United Nations said that
Jammu and Kashmir remains
high on the UN Security
Council's agenda, India rejected
the reference and asked Beijing
to refrain from commenting on
its internal affairs.
Anurag Srivastava,
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tested in Panchkula, Panipat and
Ambala,” he said.
Arorasaidthecriteriaforiden-
tifying people for testing is “al-
readyset”.“Forinstance,ourfever
clinicsarethere,andweshalltake
the samples of anyone who
comes with either influenza-like
symptoms or acute respiratory
disorder,” he said.
“In March, our sampling was
approximately 750-800. But, in
the last seven days, we have
reached approximately 3,000
samples. We are now doing al-
most 400 samples per day.
Considering the Tablighi Jamaat
gathering in Delhi, we have done
intensive sampling of the entire
group (in Haryana). All of them
have been quarantined and kept
under isolation,” Arora said.
Two of the cases reported in
Haryana Thursday, both from
Panchkula, have been linked to
the Tablighi gathering, he said —
thethird,inKaithal,isanine-year-
old boy.
UN to Govt
stategovernmentsirrespectiveof
which party was in power.
A leader present at the meet-
ing said: “This was reiterated
whentheTablighiissuecameup.
There is a directive that no one
shouldmakeitacommunalissue.
Onlyleadersoftheminoritycom-
munity can comment on that if
theywishto.Wehavetobeunited
in our fight against the virus.”
Manysupportersoftheparty,
especially on social media, cited
the outbreak to fuel campaigns
like “CoronaJihad” and “Markaz
Conspiracy”.
Bihar migrants
said a total of about 1.8 lakh mi-
grants returned to Bihar from
Delhi, Punjab, Maharashtra,
Kerala, Gujarat, Karnataka and
Uttar Pradesh before and during
thelockdown.Ofthis,almostone
lakh migrants got back to their
families, and are now nearing
completion of their 14-day quar-
antine at home. Their first-level
screeninghappenedfirstatinter-
stateborders,andlaterintheirre-
spective districts.
“Wefirstscreened27,300mi-
grants living at 3,115 quarantine
centres at schools or panchayat
buildings.Inthesecondphase,we
screenedover55,000peoplehav-
ingreturnedfrom‘hotspot’states
such as Maharashtra, Kerala,
KarnatakaandDelhi.Ourdoctors
assessed that less than one per
cent in both the phases were
symptomatic cases,” Bihar
Principal Secretary (Health)
Sanjay Kumar told The Indian
Express.
“Butmostofthosewhotested
Covid-19positivearepeoplewho
travelledtoMiddleEastcountries
or have Tablighi Jamaat connec-
tion,” Kumar said.
Bihar Principal Secretary
(DisasterManagement)Pratyaya
Amrit said it was “a very happy
sign that we have so far no posi-
tive case from migrants despite
their vulnerability” as they
crossed inter-state and Indo-
Nepal borders till the national
lockdown was announced. “We
hope we do not get any positive
casefromthemigrantsinfurther
tests,” he said.
Amrit said all the 20 positive
cases from Siwan are persons
with overseas travel or contact
with persons who had a travel
history.“Fourpositivecasesfrom
spokesperson of the Ministry of
External Affairs, said New Delhi
also expects that China would
“respect India’s sovereignty and
territorial integrity” and that it
would “recognise and condemn
the scourge of cross-border ter-
rorism that affect the lives of the
people of India, including in
Jammu and Kashmir”.
“We reject the reference to
Jammu and Kashmir in a state-
mentmadebythespokesperson
EXCLUSIVE
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Odisha to stay shut until April 30, draws
broad contours of a roadmap for others
decision on resumption of
Railway services.
This request has a bearing
on the migrant-origin as well
as migrant-destination states
as they formulate their exit
strategies after April 14.
According to the 2011 Census
migration data that was re-
leased last year, Odisha is the
fifth largest state in terms of
net migration origins.
Odisha’s request to stop
trains and flights is a clear sig-
nal to migrants from the state
to stay put in their places for
the moment. Surat, India’s
third largest migrant magnet,
Equity mutual fund inflows at 12-month high
While the gross fund mo-
bilisationbytheindustryinthe
equity schemes amounted to
Rs 30,109 crore in March, the
redemptions for the month
stoodatRs18,386crore,result-
ing in a net inflow of Rs 11,722
crore.
This is in sharp contrast to
whathasbeenseeninthepast.
During the global financial
crisis in 2008-09, when the
Sensex fell sharply 24 per cent
in October 2008, equity mu-
tual funds had seen a net out-
flow of Rs 706 crore.
This reversal of trend un-
derlines how domestic in-
Begusaraiarepossiblybecauseof
two Tablighi groups which trav-
elled through some parts of the
district. We have sealed some
mosques to prevent any further
spread in Begusarai,” he said.
HCQ supply
@NarendraModi for your strong
leadership in helping not just
India,buthumanity,inthisfight!”
Trump tweeted late on
Wednesday night.
Prime Minister Modi
ThursdaysaidIndiawilldoevery-
thingpossibletohelphumanity’s
fightagainstCOVID-19,respond-
ingtoTrumpthankinghimforal-
lowing the export of hydroxy-
chloroquine. HCQ is deemed as a
potential preventive drug for the
deadlycoronavirus.“Weshallwin
this together,” Modi said, re-
sponding to a tweet by Trump.
“Fully agree with you
President @realDonaldTrump.
Times like these bring friends
closer,” he said, adding that the
India-USpartnershipis“stronger
than ever”.
“Indiashalldoeverythingpos-
sible to help humanity’s fight
against COVID-19,” the Prime
Minster said.
Brazil’s Bolsonaro, in his ad-
dress to the nation Wednesday,
said,“Asaresultofmydirectcon-
versationwiththePrimeMinister
of India, we will receive, until
Saturday, raw material to con-
tinue producing hydroxychloro-
quine,sothatwecantreatcovid-
19 patients, as well as malaria,
lupus and arthritis.”
“I thank Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and the Indian
of the Permanent Mission of the
People’sRepublic of China to the
United Nations. China is well
aware of India’s consistent posi-
tion on this issue.
The Union Territory of
Jammuand Kashmirhas been, is
and shall continue to be an inte-
gral part of India. Issues related
toJammuandKashmirareinter-
nal matter to India.”
A spokesman for theChinese
mission to the UN had said that
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 2020
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
COUNTRIES ARE RETURNING MASKS IMPORTED FROM CHINA: HERE’S WHY
Inrecentweeks,Spain,TheNetherlands,TurkeyandAustraliahavereturnedChinese-boughtmasks,
promptingtheChinesegovernmenttosuggestthatnationshavenot“doublechecked”theproductsbefore
Tracking the
purchasingthem. coronavirus curve
in India
TECH
NEWEPISODEEVERYDAY
MUMBAI’S NSCI AN INDIAN RETHINKING Today on the 3 Things podcast, we talk
QUARANTINE FACILITY OF THE STETHOSCOPE about the rate at which the virus has
Mumbai's NSCI Dome AyuSynk increases the spread so far and when the curve likely to
has been converted into distance between flatten
a quarantine centre doctor and patient
bondyieldsandthereporatehas lockdownintheseareas.Ihavere-
doubledto3.41percentagepoints questedthehomeministertode-
in the last one month (see chart). ploytheStateDisasterReliefForce
“There are no buyers for state toenforcethelockdown,”hesaid.
bonds,asthere’snoclarityonhow “In Dharavi, we noticed that
much they would really need to public toilets are over-crowded
borrowinthecomingdays.Goods andhavesanitisationissues.Each
and services tax collections are toiletseatisusedbyover100-200
for example, hosts a large significance for states such as have relaxed lockdown rules down and so are the revenues people. We will use the fire
number from Odisha. UttarPradesh,Bihar,Rajasthan, for agricultural operations, from fuel, liquor, stamp duty and brigadetocleanthepublictoilets
“Given the slump in eco- and West Bengal, which are some states can use migrants registration charges. At the same with pipes,” he said.
nomic activities, there is all top migrant exporters to other in their rural areas for rabi har- time,thestatesareincurringbulk The state government is also
likelihoodof allmigrantsrush- states, according to the 2011 vesting operations. However, of the on-the-ground expendi- tryingtodeliverready-to-eatfood
ing back to the native places at Census. the situation in the urban ar- tures on containing COVID-19,” atthedoorstepthroughcommu-
the very first opportunity. This If thesestatesdecidetotake eas may need a different solu- bond market sources told The nitykitchens.Inslums,where10-
will compromise whatever Odisha’s cue, this will mean tion, given the clampdown on Indian Express. 15 people share a small room,
gains are made in breaking the additional responsibility for economic activities. This fiscal uncertainty has schoolswillbeopenedtoprovide
outbreak transmission in the the net migrant host states - Patnaik too signalled that been compounded by the RBI, in accommodation.
three weeks of the lockdown. Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat, the lockdown norms could be itsindicativecalendarreleasedon Following the death of a 101-
This is weighing on our mind Haryana, Karnataka and less stringent in rural areas, March 31, tentatively placing the year-old woman at the Brahma
while considering exit strate- Punjab in that order, according saying “activities related to total quantum of borrowing by Samaj Hospital on Charni Road,
gies,” said a source who was tothe2011Census-tomanage agriculture,animalhusbandry, state governments in the April 7 Mumbai, on April 6, the BMC has
present in the last meeting of the economic anxiety among and MGNREGS will be facili- auction at Rs 26,100 crore. That directed the hospital to test all its
theinformalgroupof ministers this section of population tated during the lockdown pe- figure was subsequently revised staffers.Thewomanalsosuffered
on this issue. within their jurisdiction. riod following social distance to Rs 37,500 crore, a steep jump from hypertension.
Odisha’s decision has great Given how several states norms”. from the notified amounts of Rs Atleasttwoofthosewhodied
22,394-26,907.5croreforthepre- in the state so far were below 40
vious four weekly auctions. years:a38-year-oldwomanwho
“Thebondmarketisveryilliq-
uid today. There’s too much sup-
ply of government paper,
diedonApril7,anda27-year-old
pregnant woman who died on
April 4.
THE 12-MONTH RIDE their their holdings worth a
net of Rs 118,203 crore, DIIs
whereasnobodyhastheappetite
to buy. This is particularly so in
Over35,000peopleacrossthe
stateareunderhomequarantine,
(domestic institutional in- long-duration securities, where while another 4,731 have been
NetInflowinequityschemes In Rs crore
vestors) pumped in a net of Rs investors risk mark-to-market quarantined in hospitals, hotels
55,595 crore into the capital losses from their prices falling in and government institutions.
6,609
6,026
11,756
11,722
markets. theeventofyieldsgoingup(bond Thecasecountcrossed200in
5,407
10,795
4,499
4,608
9,152
Debtassetsundermanage- prices and yields move in oppo- Pune district on Thursday. The
8,112
7,663
7,877
Nov2019 1,311
ment fell from Rs 12.63 lakh site directions). So, they would death toll in the district has
crore in February to Rs 11.47 naturallydemandhigherinterest climbed to 26. Five deaths were
lakh crore in March. Said N S rates,” the sources pointed out. reported from Sassoon General
Mar2020
Feb2020
Jan2020
Oct2019
Dec2019
Sept2019
Aug2019
Jul2019
Jun2019
May2019
Apr2019
Mar2019
Venkatesh, CEO, AMFI: “The Inthisenvironmentofa“buy- Hospital and one from Jehangir
decline on the debt side is on ers’ strike”, state government Hospital. Sassoon General
account of quarter-end phe- won’t find it easy to raise funds, Hospitalalsoreportedtwodeaths
nomena... banks maintaining evenif theCentreweretopermit late Wednesday night.
capital adequacy norms and them to borrow more. States are District Collector Naval
vestors have emerged as a sign that the markets have corporates fulfilling advance currentlymandatedtokeeptheir Kishore Ram said there were 210
strong counterbalance against deepened. tax obligations. These funds fiscal deficits within 3% of GDP. A positive cases in Pune.
foreign portfolio investors — a Even in March, as FPIs sold will return in April.” one percentage point relaxation Among those who died in
willgivethemlatitudetoborrow Pune was a 58-year-old woman.
an extra Rs 200,000 crore or so, She was admitted on April 8 and
people for this very timely assis- on March 20 with dose for five founded.TheTablighiJamaatcri- but this will not really work in a succumbedthenextday.Shesuf-
tance to the Brazilian people.” days, hoping to be back home by sis involved 70,000 people who “broken” bond market. fered from diabetes and died of
Brazilhasthehighestnumber March 26. But then came the 21- returned to Nanded via Mumbai “The states badly need cash, acute respiratory failure.
of Covid-19 cases in South day nationwide lockdown start- andPune.“Theywereputinto14 whether to pay salaries or buy Another64-year-oldwoman,
America with more than 14,000 ing March 24. “The medical shop daysofhomequarantineandtwo ventilators and personal protec- who had hypertension, also suc-
infectionsandalmost700deaths, in the vicinity does not have the differentteamsformedtoensure tive equipment. Instead of going cumbed to COVID-19. A 65-year-
while the US has emerged as the medicine. I have been looking people observe it,” he says. None tothemarket,theyshouldbeen- old womanfromYerawada, who
epicentre of the pandemic now everywhere,” says Kalwinder. has so far tested positive. abled to borrow more directly had been admitted on April 5,
with more than 4 lakh cases and Amrik Singh, 47, says he paid fromtheRBI.Thecentralbankhas died on Thursday of acute respi-
14,000 deaths. Rs 60,000, against the usual rate Higher spend since April 1 increased the exist- ratorydistresssyndrome(ARDS).
Inaletterfollowinghisphone ofRs45,000,tobookaprivateve- monies raised. The weighted av- ing ways and means advances Shehadunderlyingmedicalcon-
conversation with Modi, hicleonMarch29totakehisfam- erage yield (interest) on 10-year limits (for states to borrow at the ditions like diabetes and hyper-
Bolsonaro had invoked the ily of 10 back to Punjab. But their securitiesinthelatestauctionwas repo rate) by 30%, apart from al- tension.
Ramayan,comparingHCQtothe vehicle was stopped at Hingoli 7.81%. Some states paid more lowing them to be in overdraft Another 65-year-old woman
Sanjeevani booti (herb) in the and returned to Nanded. (Jammu & Kashmir 8.07%, (borrowingatrepoplus2%)for21 wasadmittedtoSassoonGeneral
epic. “Just as Lord Hanuman According to him, some private Arunachal Pradesh 7.97%, continuous working days, from Hospital on April 7. She suc-
brought the holy medicine from vehiclesareaskingasmuchasRs Nagaland and Manipur 7.95%, theearlier14days.Buttheseneed cumbed to ARDS. A 44-year-old
the Himalayas to save the life of 1.25 lakh to take them home. Assam7.92%,Haryana7.87%,Goa to be further eased. Also, the man from Swargate died on
Lord Rama’s brother Laksmana, Head priest Baba Balwinder 7.84%andUttarakhand7.83%)and Centre could direct the Thursday. Seven more persons
andJesushealedthosewhowere Singh says they have readied some less (Tamil Nadu 7.71%, Employees’ Provident Fund tested positive in Akola on
sick and restored the sight of trucks and 10 other vehicles that Maharashtra7.72%andKarnataka Organisation or Life Insurance Thursday.Fivenewcasessurfaced
Bartimeu, India and Brazil will cantakethepilgrimsbackifclear- 7.74%). Rajasthan had to shell out Corporation of India to frontload inBuldhana.AmaravtiDivisional
overcome this global crisis,” ances are given. 8.01%foralowerseven-yearma- theirinvestmentsinstategovern- CommissionerPiyushSinghsaid,
Bolsonaro said in his letter to The Divisional Railway turitystatedevelopmentloanand ment bonds,” the sources said. “All seven are from Patur tehsil
Modi.
India is the largest manufac-
Manager, Upinder Singh, says he
hasreceivedmultiplerequeststo
could still mop up only Rs 670
croreoutof thetargetedRs1,000 Maharashtra and have links to the Tablighi
Jamaat event in Delhi.”
turer and exporter of hydroxy- runaspecialtrainforthepilgrims, crore. last three days. While some of The case count in Vidarbha
chloroquine in the world. Last including from MLA Pratap The 7.81% average rate for 10- thesedeathswerereportedbythe has gone up to 62: 19 from
Saturday,theDirectorateGeneral Chiklikar. “We are urging the year bonds in the April 7 auction stategovernmentonWednesday Nagpur, 17 from Buldhana, 11
of Foreign Trade (DGFT) had RailwayMinistertorunatrainbe- was higher than the weighted itself,theotherswerereportedto- from Yavatmal, nine from Akola,
bannedexportsofHCQanditsin- tween Nanded and Amritsar as, yields recorded earlier on March day. fourfromAmravatiandoneeach
gredients, given the rise in cases to travel by road to Punjab, per- 30(7.3%),March23(7.51%),March NewCOVID-19caseswerere- from Washim and Gondia.
ofCovid-19inIndia.Thisbanwas missionwillhavetobegrantedby 17 (7.1%) and March 9 (6.86%). portedinMumbai(143),followed Meanwhile, the Centre has an-
reversedMonday,thedayTrump three states. I have written a let- Simply put, the borrowing by Pune, Pimpri Chinchwad, nounced a Rs 15,000 crore India
threatenedretaliationifIndiadid ter to Home Minister Amit Shah costsforstateshavegoneupbyal- Yavatmal, Aurangabad, Navi COVID-19 Emergency Response
not lift the ban. as well,” says Chiklikar. mostonepercentagepointinless Mumbai, Kalyan, Sindhudurg, andHealthSystemPreparedness
However, authorities remain than a month’s time. During the Vasai,MiraBhayanderandThane. Package, as announced by Prime
Nanded apprehensive about making an same period, the RBI’s repo or State Health Minister Rajesh MinisterNarendraModiinhisad-
SukhwinderKaur,whoarrivedat exception as it might lead to a overnight lending rate has fallen Tope said that in order to contain dress to the nation on March 24.
the gurdwara on March 18 with flood of similar demands. by 75 basis points (the cut from the transmission of the virus in The funds sanctioned will be
her husband and their daughter. Chiklihar says an estimated 4.5 5.15% to 4.4% was effected on Mumbai, especially in Dharavi utilisedforimmediateCOVID-19
KulwinderSingh,35,isstrug- crore people are stranded in dif- March 27), while yields on 10- where 17 cases have been re- Emergency Response (Rs 7,774
gling to obtain a drug for his 58- ferent states away from their year Government of India bonds ported so far, the government is crore)andformedium-termsup-
year-old mother Jaswinder Kaur, homes. havealsorisenbynearly0.35per- using drones and CCTV cameras port (1-4 years).
who has breast cancer. They had Meanwhile, Collector Khalla centagepoints.Thegapbetween to monitor crowded areas. WITHINPUTSFROM
left home in Kapurthala, Punjab, hopes their fears remain un- the 10-year state government “We need to observe strict ANURADHAMASCARENHAS
Beijing’s position on Kashmir February 15 to April 2, a total of national travel history;59 had no - states with some of the highest
remains unchanged as he KARISHMAMEHROTRA 104 (1.8 per cent) tested positive availabledata,theresearchstates. confirmed positive cases overall.
rejected claims that the NEWDELHI,APRIL9 forCOVID-19across52districtsin Thepositivecaseswerefounddis- Maharashtraalsosawawide-
country, during its presidency of 20 states and UTs. proportionatelyinmenandthose spread of random positive cases
the Security Council in March, THEPERCENTAGEofrandompos- Fortyofthesecasesin15states over50years.ICMRofficialshave in eight of its 36 districts, the re-
hadignoredPakistan’scallforur- itivesamplesofCOVID-19among and 36 districts had no history of saidrandomsurveillancecande- searchers found.
gent consideration of the severe acute respiratory illness contactwithaknowncaseorany termineifIndia’soutbreakhasen- WestBengalhasalownumber
decades-old dispute at the 15- (SARI)patientsacrossthecountry international travel. “These dis- tered community transmission. ofreportedcasesoverall,butahigh
member body. hasincreasedincrementallyover trictsneedtobeprioritizedtotar- States with a high proportion numberofrandomlypositivecases
“The question of Kashmir re- the past month, new ICMR re- getCOVID-19containmentactiv- ofpositivesamplesoutoftheirto- (3.5%).UttarPradeshhadarandom
mains high on the Council’s search says. ities,” the research states. talSARIsampleswereDelhi(5.1%), positive rate of 1.4%, and Madhya
agenda,” the spokesman had Outof5,911SARIpatientsran- Only two positive cases had Telangana (4.2%), Maharashtra Pradesh had 2 per cent, according
said in a statement. domly tested for COVID-19 from contacthistoryandonehadinter- (3.8%)andAndhraPradesh(3.1%) totheresearch.
 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

3 THE OUTBREAK
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 2020

PUNE

5ofstate’sheavilycrowded
prisonsgointo‘lockdown’
SUSHANT KULKARNI
PUNE, APRIL 9
THE MAHARASHTRA State
Prison Department on Thursday
announced that it was ‘locking
down’ five heavily overcrowded
prisons — Arthur Road and
Byculla Jails in Mumbai, Thane
and Kalyan in Thane district, and
Yerawada Central Prison in Pune
— in the backdrop of rapidly-in-
creasing coronavirus cases.
Under the lockdown, no new in-
mates will be lodged in these
prisonsandmedicallyexamined
prison staff will remain inside
prison till further orders.
OnMarch26,theMaharashtra
governmenthadannouncedthat
nearly11,000inmates—bothun-
dertrials and convicts who have
been incarcerated for lesser and
non-heinousoffencesthatattract
PMC medical staff conduct door-to-door survey at Kasba Peth in Pune on Thursday. Ashish Kale less than seven years of maxi-
mumsentence—willbereleased
overcrowding of 78 per cent.
The British-era prisons like
Yerawada Central Jail in Pune
(5,717against2,449,133percent
overcrowding) and Arthur Road
Central (3,718 against 804, 362
per cent), Thane Central Jail
(4,035 against 1,105, 265 per
cent), Kalyan District Prison
(1,971 against 540, 265 per cent)
andByculla(514against200,157
per cent) are worst affected by
the overcrowding. These figures
are from a month before the re-
lease of prisoners started.
Since the process of release
startedinthelastweekof March,
Besides Yerawada Central Prison in Pune, the state Prison thenumberof undertrialprison-
department has locked down Arthur Road and Byculla jails ers that havebeen releasedfrom
in Mumbai, Thane and Kalyan prisons in Thane district. File Arthur Road, Thane, Yerawada,
Kalyan and Byculla jails respec-
tively are 465, 343, 270, 118 and
Services) for Maharashtra, Sunil This is a preventive measure in 177, as on Wednesday night.
Ramanand,stoppingtheentryof view of the coronavirus spread,” Officials said that for the last
anynewinmatesintothesepris- Ramanand said. oneweek,alltheinmatesbrought
ons. “I have issued orders for the Accordingtotheprisonpopu- totheprisons—whichthecourts
lockdown of five prisons. lation figures as on February 29, are ordering only in exceptional

Doctors, nurses fighting COVID-19 in

eitheronprovisionalbailorparole. Medically examined prison staff the 60 prisons in Maharashtra cases — were put in isolated bar-
AftertheprocessstartedonMarch willlockthemselvesupuntilfur- have an inmate population of racksintheinitialfewdays.Visits
28,nearly3,100prisonersfrom60 ther orders and administer the nearly36,700asagainstthesanc- of family members and lawyer
jailsacrossthestatewerereleased prisons without stepping out. tionedcapacityof24,030,anover- havebeensuspended.Thefacility

PCMC hospitals to get Rs 1-cr cover

till Wednesday night. The move has been initiated as crowdingofaround52percent.Of ofpayphonehasbeenmadeavail-
The order about the lock- these five prisons are located in these,theninehigh-securitycen- able with more frequency.
down was issued on Thursday affected areas of the state and tral prisons have a total popula- Isolationwardshavebeencreated
by Additional Director General hold very large number of in- tionof25,866asagainstthesanc- for inmates showing any symp-

MANOJ MORE
wasdoingeverythingpossibleto
takecareofdoctorsandnurseson 3 more cases, (Prisons and Correctional mates, way beyond capacity. tioned strength of 14,491, an tom of the viral disease.

PUNE, APRIL 9 the frontline in the fight against

DOCTORS AND nurses who are
treating coronavirus patients in
hospitals under the Pimpri-
Chinchwad Municipal
Corporation will get a life insur-
ancecoverof Rs1crore.Thedoc-
tors and nurses working on con-
tract in PCMC hospitals will get
a cover of Rs 75 lakh.
“All permanent doctors and
nurses who are treating coron-
avirus patients in PCMC hospi-
tals will get a security cover of Rs
1 crore,” said Municipal
CommissionerShravanHardikar
on Thursday.
Hardikarsaidthecentralgov-
ernment would provide cover of
Rs 50 lakh, while the PMC will
give Rs 25 lakh. “The remaining
Rs 25 lakh coverwill beoptional.
The kin of employees can claim
theamountortheycantakeupa
civic job,” said Hardikar.
“The central government’s
TO MINIMISE CONTACT WITH BODY
The doctors and nurses
working on contract will get
a cover Rs 75 lakh. File
Rs 50 cover will be applicable to
doctors and nurses working on
contract as well. Besides, they
will get Rs 25 lakh cover from
PCMC,” Hardikar said.
Thereareatleast200doctors
and over 300 nurses who are
contract workers at YCM hospi-
tals which have been reserved
for COVID-19 patients.
BJP House leader in PCMC
Namdev Dhake said the PCMC
thevirus.Dhakesaidthecontrac-
tual employees who are treating
COVID-19 patients will not lose
their jobs after the current criti-
cal phase was over. “...Their con-
tracts will be renewed in the fu-
ture as well,” he said.
A senior doctor working with
YCM Hospital on contract basis
said,”The doctors and nurses
working on contract have been
under immense pressure while
treatingCOVID-19cases,intheab-
sence of a security cover... we are
hopefulthatthePCMCwillnotfor-
getusoncethischallengeisover....”
Pune Municipal Corporation
health chief Ramchandra
Hankare said all the doctors and
nurses who are on the payroll of
the civic body will get Rs 1 crore
cover. “However, as far as the
contractual doctors and nurses
areconcerned,thePMCcommis-
sionerwilldecideaftertalkingto
the employees’ union,” he said.
Bhosari under
lockdown 55-year-old ex-serviceman tests positive
designated military hospitals. Forces Medical College has and drugs department, 12,984
MANOJ MORE EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE District health authorities said been designated by the Indian samples have been tested at
PUNE, APRIL 9 PUNE, APRIL 9 the man’s contacts had tested Council of Medical Research government labs and 7,893 at
negative and he is stable at the to test COVID-19 samples. The privatelabs.Atotalof 868have
AFTER THREE more coronavirus A 55-YEAR-OLDformer armed isolation ward of Army patient had come 10 days ago tested positive while 715 re-
(COVID-19) cases were detected forces personnel from Institute of Cardio Thoracic and, as per protocol, his throat portsareawaited.Accordingto
in Pimpri-Chinchwad on Lohegaon has tested positive Sciences (formerly Military swab was taken and found officials,89percent(570cases)
Thursday, the total number of for coronavirus (COVID-19) Hospital-Cardio Thoracic positive. are asymptomatic while 16
COVID-19 patients admitted to andisthefirstcaseinPunethat Centre) at Kondhwa. According to an analysis by cases are critical. A total of 57
the civic-run YCM Hospital has is being treated at one of the The laboratory at Armed the state medical education cases have symptoms.
gone up to 12.
A 50-year-old woman was
foundtobepositiveonThursday
morning. By late evening, the
throat swab samples of two
more persons turned out to be
positive. Of the two, one is a 42-
year-oldwomanandthe otheris
a 50-year-old man.
“The50-year-oldwomanwas
admitted to YCM Hospital on
Wednesday and quarantined.
Her close contacts are being
traced,” said Municipal
CommissionerShravanHardikar.
Earlier, three people who at-
tendedareligiouscongregationin

PMC reserves gas furnaces

Delhi’s Nizamuddin were found
to be positive, and admitted to
YCMHospital.Now,someoftheir
high-riskcontactshavealsobeen

at different city crematoria

AJAY JADHAV
PUNE, APRIL 9
TOFOLLOWbestpracticeswhile
cremating bodies of coronavirus
(COVID-19) patients, the Pune
Municipal Corporation (PMC)
has reserved gas-run furnaces,
which require least human con-
tact with the body.
“We have reserved six fur-
naces at different crematoria in
the city for cremating bodies of
COVID-19patients,”saidSrinivas
Kandul, chief engineer, PMC.
He said there were select
hospitals treating COVID-19 pa-
tients, so the bodies could only
be taken to a specific cremato-
rium closest to these hospitals.
There are nine electric fur-
naces at six crematoria and 14
gas furnaces at 15 crematoria.
“The electric furnace requires
more human intervention than
the gas one. A conveyor belt car-
riesthebodyintothegasfurnace
but in the electric one, the staff
hastopushthetrolleyinsideand
pull it outside, in addition to ty-
ing it with a bed made of bam-
boo sticks,” Kandul said.
He said, “We have opted to
usethegasfurnaceatfivecrema-
toria and an electric furnace at
one crematorium. This will also
enableeachcrematoriumtotake
safety measures for other fur-
naces in the same area.”
Kandul said the PMC had de-
putedengineerstoensurethatall
electric and gas furnace facilities
were operational. He added that
the civic administration will
carry out repairs for all six re-
served furnaces.
The six furnaces have been
reservedatVaikunth,Mundhwa,
Katraj,Bopodi,AundhandKailas
crematoria.Of these,thefurnace
at Kailas crematorium is electric
while the others are gas-run.
Cremation for COVID-19
deathsatNaidu,Sassoon,Jehangir
andRubyhospitalswilltakeplace
at Kailas crematorium. Bodies
from Deenanath Mangeshkar
hospital and Symbiosis Medical
College will be cremated at
Aundh, while those from Bopodi
hospital will be cremated at
Bopodi crematorium and those
from Bharati hospital at Katraj.
Bodies from Inlaks Budhrani,
Noble, Columbia Asia, Sahyadri-
Hadapsar will be cremated at
Mundhwa while those from
Sahyadri-Karve Road, Surya and
KEM hospital will be cremated
at Vaikunth crematorium.
According to guidelines, all
crematoriawill haveafacility for
disinfecting the area and staff
employed for the cremation.
Earlier, the PMC was finding
itdifficulttoconductcremations
orburialsof thosewhohavedied
of COVID-19 due to lack of pro-
tectivegearamongcivicstaff en-
trusted to ensure the process
takes place as per protocol.
Beforethefirstdeath,thePMC
hadinstructedstaffofallcremato-
riaandburialgroundstofollowthe
Centre’s guidelines to dispose of
bodies of COVID-19 patients. The
civic body had even pasted the
guidelinesontowallsof cremato-
riaandburialground.However,it
had failed to depute specific per-
sons or provide training and pro-
tectiveequipmentforthosetrans-
porting the body and handling it
during the funeral. Now, the re-
sponsibilityhasbeenfixedandthe
situation eased by reserving only
sixcrematoriaforcremation.
The civic staff had com-
plained of lack of protective
equipment and refused to han-
dle the bodies of COVID-19 pa-
tients but their demands have
been met now.
admitted after they were also
found positive for coronavirus.
In another development, en-
tire Bhosari will remain under
The ward medical officer has lockdown for three days from
been given the responsibility to Friday. Bhosari MLA Mahesh
arrange for transport through Landge said the decision was
the fire department or Pune takenatameetingof villagerson
Mahanagar Parivahan Thursday after one positive case
Mahamandal Ltd to ferry the was found in the area.
body from the hospital to the “All shops and vegetable
crematorium or burial ground, markets will remain closed in
while the zonal medical officer Bhosari. The closure will affect a
has been entrusted to provide populationof nearly2lakh,”said
protective equipment to all staff Kartik Landge, brother of
involved in disposing of the Mahesh Landge.
body.Thehealthinspectorof the Pimpri-Chinchwadhasso far
wardoffice,whoseareathebody seen 24 positive cases, of which
has to be cremated or buried in, 12 have been discharged.
isresponsibleformonitoringthe FULL REPORT ON
process as per the guidelines. www.indianexpress.com
The PMC has also directed
city hospitals to do a police pan-
chanama of the body in cases
when family members do not
want to take part in the last rites.
Duringthefuneral,ritualssuch
as reading from religious scripts,
sprinkling holywaterandothers,
whichdonotrequiretouchingthe
body, are allowed, but other ritu-
als such as bathing or embracing
the body are not. The staff and
family members of the deceased
have to clean their hands thor-
oughlyafterthecremationorbur-
ial. The ashes do not pose a risk
and can be collected to perform
furtherrites,aspertheguidelines.
 4 THE OUTBREAK
The deserted marketyard in the city on Thursday. Traders operating in Mumbai and Pune wholesale markets have decided to suspend operations till further notice. Arul Horizon
Wholesale vegetable markets to
shut down in Pune and Mumbai
State govt falls
back on FPCs
PARTHA SARATHI
BISWAS
PUNE, APRIL 9
THE DECISION of traders and
commissionagentsatwholesale
markets in Pune and Mumbai to
suspendtradehasputaquestion
mark over the supply of fresh
fruits and vegetables. The
Maharashtra government has
asked deputy registrars of vari-
ous districts to coordinate with
housing societies to enable
Farmers Producers Companies
(FPCs) to deliver groceries and
vegetables to these societies.
On Wednesday, traders and
commission agents of Pune’s
wholesale market issued a letter
totheadministrationof thePune
wholesale market, seeking sus-
BUSINESS
POULTRY
Vencobb today’s ex-
shop delivery rate at
Pune Rs. 63/- per kg.
Contact (9522)
22872417, Pune (9520)
24269414. 0090272255-1
Simra Trading rates for
100 eggs. Selling price
Rs. 420/-. Contact
9922117736.
0090269086-1
''IMPORTANT''
Whilst care is taken prior to
acceptance of advertising
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THE INDIAN EXPRESS, FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 2020
Centre to support Pune
start-up in mass
till Thursday to sell the material APMC has also decided to sus-
manufacture of
membrane oxygenators
nitrogen, offering oxygen-en-
CORONA
WATCH
they have in godowns. This sus- pend operations from April 11. ANJALIMARAR riched air as the product at the
pension is only applicable for Sunil Pawar, director of mar- PUNE,APRIL9 ambientpressure.Themembrane Pune cops take action
fruits, vegetables, onion and po-
tatomarkets. However,thegrain
keting, Government
Maharashtra, said nearly 85 per
of
THEDEPARTMENTofScienceand
cartridgeiscapableofdistinguish-
ing oxygen and nitrogen, and re- against those who
market will remain operational.
The four sub-yards of the mar-
cent of the 307 wholesale mar-
ketsinthestatewereoperational,
Technology(DST)hascalledupon
aPune-basedstart-uptoincrease
strictsthepassageofviruses,bac-
teria and particulate matter.
submitted false info
ket— Moshi, Uttam Nagar, but arrival of produce was low. theproductionofmembraneoxy- Theunitcanhelppeoplewith Pune:ThePuneCityPolicehas
ManjriandKhadki—willremain With wholesale markets genatorequipment(MOE),which compromised respiratory condi- lodged six offences against
open for trade. shutting down, the bigger ques- iscapableofenrichingairwith35 tions also. “Those suffering from thosewhosubmittedfalsein-
A similar decision was taken tionbeforetheauthoritiesishow per cent more oxygen. chronic breathing problems like formation to get exemptions
bythetradersof Vashiwholesale to ensure regular supply of per- The unit can be administered COPD (chronic obstructive pul- fromrestrictionslaiddownby
marketasrumoursstartedmak- ishable commodities to urban to patients with compromised monarydisease),asthma,intersti- the government during the
ing rounds of a positive case be- areas.OnThursday,AnilKawade, respiratoryconditions,oneof the tial lung disease can also be ad- ongoinglockdown.Policehad
ing reported from among the commissioner, cooperation, is- mostcommonsymptomsamong ministeredMOEsupport.Besides, appealed local residents who
spice traders of the market. sued an order to district deputy thosewhotestpositiveforcoron- the unit can also be used to sup- are facing emergency situa-
On Thursday, onion and po- registrars (DDRs) to coordinate avirus (COVID-19). portpre-termbabiesadmittedto tions to submit their requests
tato traders decided to suspend with housing societies to ensure Designed and developed by neonatal ICUs,” Kharul added. for seeking exemptions.
workfromApril13inviewof the perishable items were supplied Genrich Membrane, supported While the cost of the unit “Whilegoingthroughthedata,
The PuneAPMC marketwears adesertedlook. Pavan Khengre spread of coronavirus. Rajendra there. The order stated that the by the Venture Centre operated ranges from Rs 50,000 to Rs itwasobservedthatsome917
Shelke, head of the Traders and move would help prevent peo- under CSIR-National Chemical 70,000, depending on its variant, Aadhaar entries submitted
Commission Agents’ ple from going out regularly Laboratory (NCL), the MOE units thebiggestadvantageisthatasin- along with request applica-
pension of trade from Thursday. thespreadof coronavirus.When Association, said the four-day amid the nationwide lockdown. can actassupportiveequipment gleunitcansupportuptofivepa- tions were wrong. Text mes-
A similar letter was issued by it opened for auction on periodwillhelptradersfinishoff The DDRs will coordinate with to critical patients, who have tients at once. sages were sent to all of those
labour unions, which pointed Thursday, the administrator of their stocks. Chances of a similar the FPCs, which will be given been released from intensive Even as advanced countries who submitted these entries.
out that areas under the Pune the market issued a letter order- suspension of work in the veg- pre-ordered lists from housing care units. Under development grapple with shortage of ventila- They were asked to resubmit
Municipal Corporation (PMC) ing suspension of all trade from etable and fruit market is also societies, which would be deliv- for three years now, along with tors for patients suffering from correctinformationorfacele-
were being sealed off to control April10.Tradersweregiventime likely. Meanwhile, the Mumbai ered at a fixed time. complete testing and validation, COVID-19, the addition of MOE gal action. After checking
15 units have been installed at can attempt to fill this gap. through the resubmitted in-
varioushospitalsacrossthestate, “Wecanmodifytheunit,soas formation, somedoubtfulen-
Website to open-source ventilator designs including one at Sassoon to enhance the capacity and pro- tries were given to Crime
General Hospital. vide support for four to five pa- Branch for verification….On
April 7. Scientists from the Indian Rajendra Kharul, co-founder tients at one time through a sin- verification, six non-cognis-
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE InstituteofScienceEducationand and director of Genrich gle unit,” Kharul said. able offences were registered
PUNE,APRIL9 Research (IISER) and Inter- Membrane, told The Indian Arecently-developedportable under Section 177 of IPC
University Centre for Astronomy Express, “During the initial phase, version is best suited for against persons who submit-
RESEARCHERSFROMPune-based and Astrophysics (IUCAA) have wewillmanufacturebetween10 those advised home or institu- tedwronginformation...,”said
ADVERTISEMENT DEPOTS institutionshavelaunchedaweb- contributed to it. They have col- and 100 units.” tionalquarantine.Thebattery-op- Deputy Commissioner of
AUNDH- AUNDH- site to develop and share designs laboratedwithoctogenarianCapt The start-up team plans to erated portable version weighs Police(crime)BachchanSingh.
Suyog Enterprises, Suyog Enterprises, for ventilators. This comes at a (Retd) Rustom Barucha from seek funding under Centre for below 5 kg. “Localresidentsarerequested
NECC suggested farm-
C/o Sandeep Book Stall, C/o Sandeep Book Stall, time when such life-support Barucha Instrumentation and AugmentingWarwithCOVID-19 The main unit, one metre in to co-operate with the police.
gate price for 100eggs
on 10.04.2020 in Pune Swajas Complex, Swajas Complex, equipment is needed urgently Control,besidesIndoGenius,New Health Crisis (CAWACH) of the height and weighing 25 kg, runs Requestswhichareurgentare
without tray is Rs. Parihar Chowk, Parihar Chowk, amidthecoronavirus(COVID-19) Delhi,andKing’sCollege,London. DST.“Theequipmentcanbeused onelectricityandisfixedatthepa- clearedonpriority,”headded.
395/- ( Three Hundred Aundhgaon, Pune-7. Aundhgaon, Pune-7. pandemic. Representatives from manu- to treat patients who have been tient’s bedside.
and Ninety five only) Mob. 9422011181. Mob. 9422011181. Evenadvancedcountrieshave facturingcompanies,engineering releasedfromICUs,”saidDSToffi- Themanufacturingwillbegin
Phone:NECC 24270724, Chordia Chordia
Communications,
faced the challenge of a shortage students, physiologists, and any- cials.Thecompressedandfiltered along with partners Bharat Day after COVID-19
patient dies, FIR
26336377, Dealer: Communications,
24332689, 24455130, Arshad Ajit Chordia. Arshad Ajit Chordia. of ventilators at hospitals . oneelsefamiliarwiththetechnol- air from the compressor is fed to ElectronicsLimitedandCSIR-NCL,
against doctor
24265787. 17/18, Aundh Gaon, opp. 17/18, Aundh Gaon, opp. The website — www.open- ogy can visit the website and en- the membrane cartridge, which withexpecteddeliveryinthenext
0090272256-8 lane of Cosmos Bank, lane of Cosmos Bank, breath.tech — was launched on roll as volunteers. selectivelypermeatesoxygenover three months.
Pune Broilers Traders’ Aundh, Pune-7. Tel: Aundh, Pune-7. Tel: Pune:Adayafterthedeathofa
Team works on mathematical model
Association Rate on 25886118, 9960111123. 25886118, 9960111123. man with COVID-19 symp-
10.04.2020 For Live Big Shraddha Ads, Shraddha Ads, toms in Ratnagiri district, the
Birds Rs. 75/- Live Mrs.Ujwala Kotbagi, 'A' Mrs.Ujwala Kotbagi, 'A' district administration on
Small Birds Rs. 76/- wing, Vastu-sunder, wing, Vastu-sunder, Thursday filed an FIR against
to predict post-lockdown scenarios
Momin Poultry(Asif Near Kumar Classic, Near Kumar Classic,
Momin) 26336349
thedoctorwhotreatedthepa-
Pune-7. Tel. 9371055799. Pune-7. Tel. 9371055799.
90267633-98 San Ads, San Ads, tient. “...The patient had
Anurag, Plot No. 10, near Anurag, Plot No. 10, near COVID-19 related symptoms
Pimpri-Chinchwad
Kobe Silzler Cave, Kobe Silzler Cave, and should have been imme-
Broilers Traders’
Aundh-411007. Tel: Aundh-411007. Tel: modelforepidemicsevenbefore said, "So, mathematical models diatelyreferredtothegovern-
Association “Rate On
ALIFIYA NALWALA
10.04.2020 For Live Big 25881302/3/4. 25881302/3/4. The team is led by two the lockdown was announced. on epidemics have been around menthospital.Thereshouldbe
Birds Rs.78/-.Live APPA BALWANT CHOWK APPA BALWANT CHOWK PUNE, APRIL 9 researchers from SPPU More specifically, the two scien- for a long time. But what we did no delay in such cases,” said
Small Birds Rs.79/-. Al- - - tists have developed a mathe- was we studied the transport Ratnagiri District Collector
Taqdeer Broiler(Siraj M/s V. V. Medhi, M/s V. V. Medhi,
Shaikh)9822931357,
HOW MANY people can one matical model to predict the network of the entire country Laxminarayan Mishra.
Varun Medhi, 153, Varun Medhi, 153,
9767869302 coronavirus (COVID-19) patient chooses to travel within their spread of the disease among and connected 320 cities to each Thepatientwasadmittedtoa
Budhwar Peth, Near Budhwar Peth, Near
090272278-4 Jogeshwari Temple, Jogeshwari Temple,
infect after the lockdown is own city or intercity and does cities across India by investigat- other through air, rail and road government hospital on April
Sheetal Agro Traders Opp. Ganraj Books, Opp. Ganraj Books, lifted? By how much can that the number vary depending on ing transport links among them. network. Based on this, we can 6, where he died on
Today’sEx-Shop Above DTDC Courier, Above DTDC Courier, number vary if the patient the mode of transport chosen? "Our work was well received start studying what happens if Wednesday. An FIR has been
delivery for live small 2nd floor, Pune-2. Ph. No. 2nd floor, Pune-2. Ph. No. These and such post-lock- by the Indian scientific commu- two infected persons start the filed against the doctor who
birds size between1.3 9028967505, 8793647505, 9028967505, 8793647505, downscenarios arewhat ateam nity and a group has been journey from City A and travel to runs the private clinic where
to 1.5 rate at PuneRs. (020) 24492149. (020) 24492149. of Indian scientists are hoping to formed of India scientists called CityB,whatisthelikelyoutcome the patient had been initially
47/- per Kg. BIBVEWADI - BIBVEWADI -
figureoutbydevelopingamath- 'Indian scientists' response to on the spread of the virus? Also, admitted. He has not been ar-
7776024132,7588532184 Ad Services, Ad Services,
0090270545-2 ematical model for epidemics, COVID-19',” he said. dependingonthemodeof trans- restedyet,officialssaid.Mishra
Amol Nalawade, Amol Nalawade,
whichcanbetweakedtosuitthe While some of the port, variables change. Since ex- said district authorities have
Sr. No.659/28, Rajiv Sr. No.659/28, Rajiv
NAVI PETH -
Gandhi Nagar, Upper current scenario. 300-odd scientists and re- act passenger data is not avail- quarantined 25 persons who
Vijaydeep Services, Gandhi Nagar, Upper
Deepali Vijay Sonawane, Last Bus Stop, Last Bus Stop, Leading the team of scien- searchers are working on virol- able, at best these are variable had come in contact with the
315, Navi Peth, Gururaj Bibvewadi, Pune-17. Bibvewadi, Pune-17. tists on this project are two re- ogy, some are working on modelsbasedonsimulation,but deceased. “We are going to
Apt., Shop No-C, Ground Mobile 9420729914, searchers from the Savitribai awareness, and so on. they do give a generic idea." seal3-kmareaaroundthevil-
Floor, Near Vitthal Mobile 9420729914,
Mandir, Pune-30. 9021851460 9021851460 Phule Pune University's Centre “A small group of mathe- Dr Pujari said the model that lage,” he said. The patient had
NIGDI- Akash Advtg, Akash Advtg, for Modeling & Simulation maticians from the Institute of they eventually develop is being returnedfromDubaionMarch
Dinesh Advertising, C. S. Sawar, 645/1, Shop C. S. Sawar, 645/1, Shop (CMS) —Dr Bhalchandra Pujari MathematicalSciences,Chennai, designed to suit any epidemic 18, said an official. “A week
Mr. Dinesh, 3/6 LIC No.4, Rasakar Campus,
Colony, Sector 25,
No.4, Rasakar Campus, and Dr Snehal Shekatkar. which was working on mathe- scenario, focusing on a long- later, he developed some
Bibawewadi Main Road, Bibawewadi Main Road,
Sindhunagar, The SPPU scientists have matical model, invited us to col- term modeling framework that symptoms. He then ap-
Pradhikaran. Bibawewadi, Pune-37. Bibawewadi, Pune-37.
Ph. No. 27657582. Tel: 9922221261. been invited to lead modeling laborate with them to develop can predict the spread of any fu- proached the local clinic...,”
Tel: 9922221261.
PAUD PHATA - Ganesh Advertising, efforts of pan-India scientists, as new models to predict post- tureepidemicotherthanCOVID- saidan official.Mishrasaidthe
Pari Advertising,
Ganesh Advertising,
Mr. Vijay Deshmukh, Mr. Vijay Deshmukh, a part of Indian scientists' re- lockdown scenarios," explained 19. However, he also added that district has seen four cases.
Mr. Sunil Kalsekar, 13-14
Gopal Park, Karanjkar S.no. 672/2a /2b, Ganesh S.no. 672/2a /2b, Ganesh sponse to COVID-19. Dr Pujari. the team understands the need One patient has been dis-
Road, Opp. Dindayal Complex, Shop No.3, Complex, Shop No.3, Speaking to The Indian Explaining the study, which forsuchatoolatthepresentmo- charged while two are still in
School, Paud Phata, Bibvewadi, Pune-37.
Pune-38. Ph.No.
Bibvewadi, Pune-37. Express, Dr Pujari said that he found out that it was necessary ment, and hence it is preparing the hospital. —ENS
Ph.no. 24219660, Ph.no. 24219660, and his colleague had been to shut down the transport net- to present some findings in the
25469492/ 9422512640.
9822841930. JIRAO ROAD 9822841930. JIRAO ROAD
PAUD ROAD - working on a mathematical work for effective measures, he coming days.

5 THE OUTBREAK
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 2020
CORONA
WATCH
A sanitisation tunnel
at Kalupur railway
station in
Ahmedabad. Javed Raja
GOA
Cruise ship
barred from
docking
Panaji: A cruise liner from
Mauritius, reportedly car-
ryingseveralGoaresidents
along with other Indians,
was barred from docking
at Mormugao port on
Thursday. Port Minister
Michael Lobo said the pas-
sengers can'tbeallowedto
disembark due to the lock-
down. Chief Minister
Pramod Sawant said MHA
would be consulted. ENS
MANIPUR
Team that
treated patient
to get reward
Imphal: Manipur Chief
Minister N. Biren Singh on
Thursday announced a re-
ward of Rs 35 lakh for the
Jawaharlal Nehru Institute
of Medical Sciences team
which successfully treated
the state’s first COVID-19
patient. The Chief Minister
said that those who are on
the frontlines, including
thepoliceandgovernment
functionaries, will also be
rewarded. The state's first
patient was a 23-year-old
woman from from Imphal
West district. ENS
RAJASTHAN
Displaced
families from
Pak to get aid
Jaipur: Rajasthan Chief
Minister Ashok Gehlot
Thursday announced that
the state would provide ra-
tions to displaced families
from Pakistan residing in
the state. Gehlot took the
decision following a letter
fromadisplacedpersonsor-
ganisation, which claimed
6,000 such families are re-
sidinginthestateandmany
of these them are facing
shoratge of rations due to
the lockdown. ENS
India talks
COVID-19
with South OUTBREAK BRINGS TRIAL TO A STANDSTILL FCI asked to
Korea, Russia Woman who died after being give subsidised
Prime
set on fire awaits justice
Minister
Narendra
Modi
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, APRIL 9
PRIME MINISTER Narendra
Modi on Thursday discussed
with South Korean President
Moon Jae-in ways to tackle the
coronavirus pandemic through
cooperation and technology.
“Had a telephone conversa-
tion with President @moon-
river365ontheprevailingCOVID-
19situationandhowwecanfight
this pandemic through coopera-
tion and leveraging the power of
technology,” the PM tweeted.
Foreign Secretary Harsh
Shringla, meanwhile, had a tele-
phone conversation with
Russia’sDeputyForeignMinister
Igor Morgulov on the spread of
the virus. Both countries agreed
to facilitate each other's medi-
cine and equipment needs.
WALK ALONE
An elderly woman walks on a deserted road near Maharshi Shinde Bridge amind the nationwide lockdown, in Pune. Arul Horizon
ICMR framing protocol
for plasma therapy
Centre announces Rs 15,000-cr package for COVID-19 fight
ABANTIKA GHOSH
NEW DELHI, APRIL 9
THE INDIAN Council of Medical
Research(ICMR)isframingapro-
tocol for infusing blood plasma
frompeoplewhohaverecovered
from COVID-19 into patients in a
seriouscondition.Theprocedure,
known as convalescent plasma
therapy, is carried out in the ex-
pectationthatantibodiesspecific
totheNovelCoronavirusthatare
present in the blood of the pa-
tientwhohasrecoveredwillhelp
generate immune response in
the other patient.
Thiswillonlybedonebyway
of a clinical trial in patients in a
severeconditionoronventilator
support, ICMR officials clarified.
“We are in the final stages of
making a protocol for convales-
cent plasma therapy and after
that we will need approval from
the Drug Controller General of
India... It will be done on a 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
ManojMurhekar,Director,ICMR-
National Institute of
--WITHENS,
Epidemiology, said in reply to a
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM
question about Kerala being al-
rice, wheat
VIVEK DESHPANDE
NAGPUR, APRIL 9
IN THE wake of COVID-19, jus-
tice for Ankita Pisudde, who
was set on fire by a stalker
at Hinganghat in Wardha dis-
trict on February 3, has been
delayed.
Ankita (23), who belonged
to Daroda village near
Hinganghat, was set on fire by a
married youth, Vikesh Nagrale
(28), also from the village, near
the college where she used to
teach. She had succumbed to
her burns at a Nagpur hospital
on February 13.
The incident had caused
huge public outrage, with the
state government announcing
trial in a fast track court.
Ujjwal Nikam was ap-
pointed as Special Public
Prosecutor in the case.
The Wardha police had filed
a chargesheet within twenty
days. However, as coronavirus
lowedtogoaheadwiththetrials.
The testing strategy was re-
vised to include antibody tests in
hotspots after seven days of ill-
ness.Beforethat,thenucleicacid-
based test will have to be done.
The government has an-
nouncedaRs15,000-crorepack-
age that was promised by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi in his
address to the nation on March
24. While Rs 7,774 crore will be
utilised for emergency response
and the rest for medium-term
support to be provided under
mission mode approach.
The Health Ministry has
asked states not to procure
masks, PPEs and ventilators on
their own. The items, the min-
istrysaid,wouldbeprocuredand
distributed centrally based on a
“rational” demand of states.
“Certain states have been found
to be holding sufficient stocks of
material with them but the field
functionarieshavebeenreported
to be functioning without such
equipment. The state govern-
ments should ensure timely dis-
tribution of the key equipment
to field functionaries,” the letter
from the ministry states.
Murhekar said the positivity
rate of the 1.30 lakh samples
tested so far is in the range of 3-
continues to spread, all pro-
ceedings have come to a stand-
still. The government, however,
said courts will continue to deal
with only urgent matters.
Incidentally, Wardha is one
of the few districts in Vidarbha
that hasn’t recorded a COVID-
19 positive case so far.
Wardha Superintendent of
Police Basavraj Teli told The
Indian Express, “We haven’t
heard anything from the court
yet…” He added that the case
is sought to be transferred from
Hinganghat to Wardha.
A senior official said, “The
accused is opposed to the trial
being held either at Hinganghat
or Wardha as he feels it will
pose danger to his life. He
wants it to be held outside
the district. However, his
lawyer hasn’t yet conveyed
where he wants it to be held.
Nikam has told the police that
arguments can start on the
venue of the trial any time by
video conferencing.”
5 per cent and the number has
not changed significantly in the
last1-1.5months.JointSecretary
in Health Ministry Lav Agarwal
said supplies of PPEs, masks and
ventilators have started coming.
“More important than the ques-
tion of whether these things are
sufficient or insufficient is the
point of judicious use,” he said.
Convalescent plasma ther-
apy, which was recently allowed
by USFDA for investigational
purposes, banks on the age-old
concept of passive immunity.
This is one of several therapeu-
tic options being tried against
COVID-19 the world over.
In Kerala, Dr Anoop Kumar,
member of the state-constituted
expertcommitteeforadvisingthe
governmentonCOVID-19,saidhe
had spoken to some who had re-
coveredfromCOVID-19andthey
arereadytobepartof theplasma
therapy trial. A key challenge, he
said, is the non-availability of the
kitforcheckingtheantibodylevel
in the plasma of a recovered per-
son. That kit is not available in
India and has to be brought from
Germany and the cancellation of
internationalflightswouldleadto
delay, he said.
HARIKISHAN SHARMA
NEW DELHI, APRIL 9
WITH THE lockdown likely to
be extended, the government
Thursday asked the Food
Corporation of India (FCI) to
provide wheat at Rs 21 per kg
and rice at Rs 22 per kg to the
states for all beneficiaries not
covered under National Food
Security Act (NFSA), to whom
ration cards have been issued
by state governments under
their schemes.
Union Minister of Consumer
Affairs, Food and Public
Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan
tweeted, “...Ration card holders
under State's schemes, who do
not come under NFSA, can also
get foodgrainsfor next 3 months
at a subsidised rate.... the Central
Government has reduced pre-
scribed rates for direct purchase
under OMSS for 3 months. Now
State Governments can directly
buy rice from FCI at Rs 22/kg and
wheat Rs 21/kg.”
‘We have to wait for 2
more weeks to see if
the curve has flattened’
PROFESSOR K SRINATH REDDY,
president of Public Health
Foundation of India and a mem-
ber of the high-level committee
of public health experts for
COVID-19 speaks to KAUNAIN
SHERIFF M on the fight against
the pandemic. Excerpts:
On March 30, India reported
1,251 COVID-19 cases and 32
deaths. In less than a week, it
has witnessed an over 200
per cent spike. Keeping the
lockdown and the Tablighi
Jamaat congregation in
mind, has India’s COVID-19
curve peaked?
The rise in numbers has to be
interpreted in the context of the
number of types of tests per-
formedatdifferentperiods.They
havetobecomparableduringthe
two periods. We have to wait for
two more weeks to see if the ris-
ingcurvehasflattenedorismov-
ing down. In this large country,
wewillneedstate-wiseorprefer-
ably district -wise assessments. I
will look at the number of new
cases per day as a fraction of the
numberoflabandclinicalassess-
mentsperformedthatday,using
comparablecriteriaforcasedefi-
nition.Iwillalsolookatthenum-
ber of serious acute respiratory
infection cases hospitalised each
day. I will seek supportive infor-
mation from lab-based random
sample surveys and household
syndromicsurveillancedatafrom
both rural and urban samples.
The immediate impact of the
lockdowncanbegaugedoverthe
next two weeks but the effort to
quell the epidemic has to go on
longer. It is only by June that we
willgetameasureof oursuccess.
Virologists say it is the virus
that determines the timeline,
not us. However, most of the
discourse around the
pandemic is how long is the
long haul.
Theviruscannotbelefttode-
Aurangabad: Stopped for violating lockdown,
five attack cops on duty, three detained
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
PUNE, APRIL 9
AN OFFENCE was lodged against
five persons, including a minor
boy, in Aurangabad city on
Thursday for allegedly assault-
ing police personnel on duty
and violating lockdown orders.
The incident took place at
about 12 noon, when police per-
sonnel deployed at Annabhau
Nation
THE EXPRESS
INTERVIEW
WITH
K SRINATH
REDDY
PRESIDENT, PUBLIC HEALTH
FOUNDATION OF INDIA
termine the timeline at its own
pace. We have to do our best to
slowdownthetransmission.The
signals that we are gaining con-
trol over the virus will come
whenthenumbersof newcases,
identifiedthroughacombination
of testing and clinical criteria,
consistently fall over 14 days...
Out of 700 districts, over 500
are almost corona-free. How
do we keep increasing this?
And, in your view, what has
the lockdown achieved?
The lockdown has achieved
the slowing down of transmis-
sion, even though it may not
have fully stopped it. It has given
timetopreparehealthandsocial
systems for the delivery of es-
sential services... We have also
identifiedgoodmodelsfromdif-
ferent states and districts...
Adapting to local conditions and
trends to make data-driven de-
cisions, we can move all districts
to the corona-free category.
FULLINTERVIEWON
www.indianexpress.com
Sathe junction near the district
collectorate were checking pri-
vate vehicles and taking action
against those who had unneces-
sarily left home during the lock-
down.
Police stopped three persons
going triple seat on a two-
wheeler. While the three were
being questioned, their friends
also reached the spot and
started arguing with police per-
sonnel.
Wearing masks in public
Many states and cities across the country have made
wearing face mask compulsory. What they say:
MADHYA PRADESH:
Madhya Pradesh has made
wearing masks compu-
lsory. Triple-layer masks
available in the market or
home-made masks with
three layers can be used.
Not wearing it will be
treated as a violation of the
State Epidemic Diseases
Act and Madhya Pradesh
Public Health Act, 1949.
ODISHA: Odisha Chief
Secretary Asit Tripathy on
Thursday said the state
government has decided
to penalise people not
wearing a mask in public,
across the state. “From
today, it is an an offence to
not wear a mask in public.
For the first three
violations, the fine will be
Rs 200 each time, and in
the fourth instance and
beyond the penalty will be
Rs 500 for every instance”.
RAJASTHAN: Chief
Minister Ashok Gehlot has
made it mandatory for
citizens to wear a mask in
all urban areas. Violaters
will be penalised under
section 188 of IPC. All will
have to compulsorily wear
a three-ply mask or a
reusable cloth mask, even
while in their vehicles.
MUMBAI: The
Brihanmumbai Municipal
Corporation has made it
mandatory for citizens to
wear masks in public
places and while travelling
in vehicles. The civic body
said these masks may be
standard masks available
with the chemist or home-
made, washable masks.
Violators will be punished
under Section 188 of IPC,
which deals with
disobedience to order
promulgated by a public
A policeman hit one of them
with his stick, but the person
snatched the stick and started
hitting the cop with it repeat-
edly. The five accused also al-
legedly thrashed other police
personnel at the spot. A video of
this incident has gone viral on
social media.
According to a press release
issued by Assistant
Commissioner of Police
Nagnath Kode of Aurangabad
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
servant.
DELHI: The government
has made wearing masks
mandatory for anyone
stepping out of their
house. Masks made out of
a handkerchief or a piece
of cloth, which cover the
nose and mouth, are
acceptable. Those in their
official or personal vehicle
also have to follow the
order. Violators will be
booked under Section 188.
UTTAR PRADESH:
Additional Chief Secretary
(Home) Awanish Kumar
Awasthi said anyone
stepping out of their home
will have to wear a mask.
Principal Secretary Amit
Mohan Prasad had said
that in case a person does
not have a mask, they can
use a scarf, towel,
handkerchief or stoll to
cover the face. The state
has not specified penalty
for violation.
CHANDIGARH: Any
person found not wearing
a mask in public in the
city will be arrested under
Section 188. Union
Territory Adviser Manoj
Parida issued these orders
under Section 22 of the
Disaster Management
Act, 2005.
SURAT: Surat Municipal
Corporation has made
wearing of masks
compulsory, imposing a
fine of Rs 100 for flouting
the rule. Since Wednesday,
270 people have been
fined for not wearing
masks. The notification
issued by SMC says, “... it is
compulsory to wear
home-made /non-woolen
masks and maintain social
distancing".
City Police, two of the accused —
Shaikh Farookh Shaikh Kadar
(52) and Shaikh Sharukh Shaikh
Farookh (24) — were arrested
and their minor accomplice was
detained, while a search was
launched for the remaining two
accused, identified as Shaikh
Sajid Shaikh Farookh and Shaikh
Sameer Shaihkh Salim.
Assistant Police Inspector
M M Sayyad is investigating
the case.
 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

6 THE OUTBREAK
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, FRIDAY, APRIL10, 2020

Nation

Pvt labs endorse SC order on free tests, Indore

records a
DELHI CONFIDENTIAL want to know: Who will cover cost? Mumbai-headquartered barely able to recover costs at the tivity, because why should we 19,mandatesMedicare,Medicare
first, doctor
dies of
KAUNAINSHERIFFM
&PRABHARAGHAVAN
Thyrocare, has decided to put on
hold its COVID-19 testing until it
govt-mandatedcostof Rs4,500,”
saidDrArjunDang,CEO,DrDangs
unnecessarily get into distress?
We are awaiting (clarity)."
Advantage and Medicaid cover-
age for COVID-19 testing. This is COVID-19
NEWDELHI,APRIL9 receives further clarity on the sit- Lab. “We hope the government Velumani said the labs, too, similar to coverage under the
uation. The firm said it had so far comesupwithmodalitiessothat “wantthecommonmantogetthe Ayushman Bharat scheme, now
ADAYaftertheywereorderedby collected 2,000 samples. testing in private laboratories re- testsforfree”,andsuggestedaway being offered by the central gov- MILIND GHATWAI
the Supreme Court to provide The Centre had fixed a price mains sustainable,” he said. forward. “For all those who are ernment. BHOPAL, APRIL 9
COVID-19testingfreeof cost,pri- capofRs4,500oneachtestforthe Dr Arvind Lal, Managing employed, the employers should The US government has also
vate labs have called upon the 65 private labs in 12 states that Director, Dr Lal PathLabs, said pay. For those unemployed, the asked private insurance firms to A 62-YEAR-OLD medical practi-
government to “come up with wereapproved.Amongthestates, they “are talking to the govern- governmentshouldpay,"hesaid. provide coverage for tests — but tioner died of coronavirus in
modalities” so that their service Maharashtra(14), Telangana (10) ment”. “We want to find a solu- While the Centre is yet to re- only those conducted with kits Indore on Thursday, taking to 22
“remains sustainable”. and Tamil Nadu (9) have the tion... The government had ap- spond,themethodologyadopted that have received “emergency the death toll in the biggest city
Some of the leading groups, largest network of private labs proved this price, and now we byothercountriesinthisdirection use authorisation” by the Food inMadhyaPradesh,officialssaid.
such as Dr Dangs Lab and Dr Lal conducting these tests. are in discussion with the gov- is significant. and Drug Administration (FDA). The state’s death toll is now
PathLabs, told The Indian Express “Forprivatelabs,therearenu- ernment again,” he said. For instance, South Korea has The US has also increased 33,witheightdeathsreportedin
BACK IN THE GAME that while they “endorse” and
“willabidebytheSupremeCourt
merous fixed costs, such as
reagents, consumables, skilled
Lal had earlier termed the Rs
4,500 cost as a “next to” break-
opted for an aggressive testing
policy—onceapprovedbyadoc-
fundingforMedicaid,andallowed
states to cover free testing for
the last 24 hours, according to
state officials.
SAM PITRODA, who had courted controversy during the Lok order”, testing involves “fixed manpower and infrastructure even price for the company. “The tor,it’sfreeforanyonewhohasre- uninsured residents under the The Indore physician’s death
Sabha election campaign with remarks such as “hua toh hua” costs”, such as reagents and con- specifics.TheCOVID-19pandemic costs are multifold. It is just not turnedfromChina,orhadcontact programme, as a temporary is perhaps the first instance of a
in the context of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, is back. Pitroda, who sumables. And in the case of also calls for immense infection- about the kit,” he had said. either with an infected person or measure. For those not covered medical practitioner succumb-
is considered close to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, held a COVID-19, they say, the labs have control measures, like personal Thyrocare CEO those in high-risk groups. under insurance or government ingtothevirus.Theprivateprac-
video conference with health ministers of the four Congress- toincurthecostof providingper- protectiveequipment,viraltrans- Arokiaswamy Velumani said: TheUSmodeladoptsdifferent programmes,theUShassetaside titioner was not involved in
ruled states on Wednesday on the COVID-19 issue. They were sonal protective equipment to port media, and the need to keep “The government should tell us strategiesfordifferentcategories. $1billionfortheNationalDisaster treatingCOVID patients but may
joined by some doctors and public policy experts besides their staff, too. sanitationandemployeesafetyin not to charge, and we will not The Families First Coronavirus MedicalSystemtoreimbursethe have contracted it from one of
party leaders such as Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari and K At least one approved lab, mindateverystep.Privatelabsare charge...We have paused our ac- ResponseAct,approvedonMarch costs of testing and diagnosis. his patients because he contin-
Raju, who works in Rahul’s office. Now some Congress lead- ued to work, even as many other
ers are wondering whether the initiative was at the behest of practitioners stopped practicing
Rahul or Congress president Sonia Gandhi, or was Pitroda’s
own idea. And they are wondering since when has Pitroda
been given the task of coordinating the efforts for Congress-
Mumbai: Turned days ago, officials said.
Indore CMHO Dr Pravin Jadia
told The Indian Express that the
ruled states.
away by 3 hospitals, doctorwasdiabeticandsuffered
from hypertension. He was ad-
mittedtoahospitalonApril5af-
MASS MASKS
WEARING OF masks is increasingly becoming compulsory in
pregnant woman dies ter he complained of breathless-
ness.
He tested positive on
states.HRDMinisterRameshPokhriyal,anMPfromHaridwar, “Nobody was ready to admit Wednesday and died around
is now distributing masks made of khadiin Delhi and his con- TABASSUM her. We had to take her. She was 3.45 am on Thursday, Dr Jadia
stituency. These khadi masks are being made by an organisa- BARNAGARWALA inacriticalcondition,”saidDrRN said.
tionrunbytheminister’sdaughterArushiNishank.Themasks MUMBAI, APRIL 9 Bharmal, dean of Nair Hospital. Madhya Pradesh Chief
arebeingpitchedasreusableaswellasenvironment-friendly, They took her throat swab. In an Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan
as it takes only 1 litre of water to make a metre of khadi, as A 27-YEAR-OLD pregnant wom- hour, she died due to respiratory and his predecessor Kamal Nath
opposed to 56 litres of water for mill fabric. an,herduedatebeingApril8,died distress. Thefoetus,too,couldnot paid tributes to the deceased
of coronavirus after she was tur- besaved.Later,hersamplestested medical practitioner.

USE TIME BETTER

nedawaybythreehospitalsbetw- positive for COVID-19. OfficialsonThursdaysaidthe

UP IN ARMS
een Nalasopara and Mumbai. “In22days,thisisthefirstcase virushasspreadtofivemoredis-
On the night of April 3, her inNalasopara.Dhanevhadnotre- tricts of MP — Hoshangabad,
RAILWAYS MINISTER Piyush Goyal took a dig at the top offi- husband, a scrap dealer, rushed ported a single case,” said Dr Raisen, Dhar, Khandwa and
cers of the national transporter, saying the senior manage- Lucknow civic body’s cleaning staff protest, demanding protective equipment. Vishal Srivastav her to four hospitals between Pandhare, who visited the slum Dewas. With this, 18 districts of
ment is not using the lockdown period, when passenger train Nalasopara and Mumbai. The forcontact-tracing.“Thehusband the state have so far reported
operations are suspended, as an opportunity to do the kind nextafternoon,sheandhernine- refused to give information. The confirmed coronavirus cases. By
of long-term planning that they did not get the scope to do all month-old foetus died. neighbourswerenotreadytotalk. 4 pm on Thursday, the state re-
these years. He is learnt to have mentioned planning items 2G SPEED MAKES ONLINE CLASSES A STRUGGLE SC notice to Thewoman,herhusbandand We realised they don’t trust us.” ported 411 cases.
such as making ‘zero based’ time-table, reduction of turn-
around time of each train in maintenance, etc, as issues that
the senior management could put their minds to now, and be
Private DTH operators Centre, J&K on
a one-and-a-half-year-old baby
had been living in a 10x10 sq ft
garageinNalasoparaaftercoming
Area in-charge Dr Vandana
Waisaikarsaid,“Theythoughtwe
came to collect information for
Health Commissioner Faiz
Ahmed Kidwai said more cases
werebeingreportedbecausethe
plea against
management by exception.
told to air govt education Internet curbs
from Uttar Pradesh eight months
ago. On April 3, after she com-
NPR. They kept referring to CAA
We tried to counsel; eventually
number of tests have gone up.
He said the state is conducting

channels in J&K
plainedofbreathlessness,thehus- we had to ask the police to shift more than 1,000 tests per day.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court bandandtworelativestookherto them to a quarantine centre.” Indore has so far reported 211

Maundy Thursday: Mass time lessons online and to even

on Thursday issued notice to the
Centre and Jammu and Kashmir
NewAyushNursingHomeinNal-
asopara in an auto-rickshaw. The
Thirty-two people have been
put in quarantine. At least 6,453
confirmed cases, followed by
Bhopal with 98 cases.

livestreamed in Kerala
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM,
APRIL 9
CHURCHES REMAINED shut for
the public in Kerala during
MaundyThursdayastheChristian
community watched the day’s
massonsocialmedialivestreams
and television channels.
MaundyThursdaymarksthe
beginningof theholyweeklead-
ing up to Easter Sunday.
Churches in the state had de-
cided not to open during the
lockdown after the government
insisted on social distancing to
tackle the COVID-19 spread.
However, priests conducted the
daily mass in the presence of a
few assistants and altar servers.
Eight more
test positive in
Chhattisgarh
GARGI VERMA
RAIPUR, APRIL 9
DAYS AFTER a 16-year-old boy in
Katghora town in Chhattisgarh's
Korba district tested positive for
For the first time, the
churchesalsoabandonedtherit-
ual of foot-washing on Maundy
Thursday. In several churches,
priests arranged livestreaming
of themassforthefaithfulunder
their parishes.
Churches in the state will re-
main closed on Good Friday and
Easter Sunday as well.
FatherPaulThelakkat,editorof
Catholic publication
Sathyadeepam, said, “Unusual sit-
uation demands unusual reme-
dies. In a country certain times all
laws are subject to public health
and morality. We are in such a
causality when the churches
should not be used to gather big
numbersofpeopletogether,sowe
mightcometoanendof thecele-
brationofmassorotherservices...”
Wadhawans
breach lockdown
orders, detained
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
MUMBAI, PUNE, APRIL 9
DHFL PROMOTERS Kapil
Wadhawan and Dheeraj
Wadhawan, who are facing
RITIKA CHOPRA
NEW DELHI, APRIL 9
THE GOVERNMENT has asked
privateDTHoperatorstotelecast
at least one SWAYAM PRABHA
channel covering higher educa-
tion after centrally-run educa-
tional institutions in Jammu &
Kashmir flagged problems in
shifting classes online because
of restrictions on Internet speed.
Since March 4, only 2G mo-
bile services with no restriction
on websites have been allowed
in J&K.
The National Institute of
Technology (NIT) in Srinagar had
apprisedtheHRDMinistryaweek
agoofitsstruggletoconductreal-
24 fresh cases in Valley, contacts of
those who earlier tested positive
ADIL AKHZER
SRINAGAR, APRIL 9
ELEVEN FAMILY members of a
man from Hajin in Bandipora
district, who died this week and
tested positive for coronavirus,
were among 24 fresh cases re-
portedintheValleyonThursday,
officials said. Jammu and
Kashmir now has 184 cases, of
which 152 are from Kashmir.
uploadresourcematerialwith2G
Internet.TheCentralUniversityof
JammuandtheCentralUniversity
of Kashmir, too, are facing prob-
lems and have mostly limited
themselvestosharingPDFs,Word
files and PowerPoint presenta-
tions over WhatsApp and email.
“WehaveapproachedtheI&B
Ministry to ask private DTH
providerstoairatleastoneof our
higher education channels.
Everyone doesn’t have DD Free
Dish. (If private providers air our
channel)thenthisshouldincrease
access and resolve the problem
faced by the students,” Higher
Education Secretary Amit Khare
said. FULLREPORTON
www.indianexpress.com
Health officials said half of
the cases reported Thursday
were from Bandipora district
alone. Kashmir has recorded 54
new cases in the last 48 hours.
J&K government spokesper-
son Rohit Kansal said the 24
cases were contacts of those
who had earlier tested positive.
Hetweeted,“24morepositivein
Kashmir.Total 184.32inJammu,
152 in Kashmir. All are contacts.
A result of aggressive testing.”
administration on a plea against
restrictingmobileInternetinthe
region to 2G speed.
Takingupthematterthrough
video conference, a bench of
Justices N V Ramana, B R Gavai
and Subhash Reddy issued the
noticeonapleabytheFederation
of Media Professionals, a non-
profit organisation.
Thepetitionercontendedthat
restrictingaccessto4Gspeed,es-
pecially amid the pandemic,
amountstorestrictingtherightof
the people, including doctors in
J&K,toaccessimportantdailyad-
visoriesandguidelinesregarding
the pandemic.
The court will hear the mat-
ter again next week. ENS
Earlier this week, a 54-year-
old diabetes patient from Hajin
had died in a Srinagar hospital
and was subsequently found
positive for COVID-19.
A senior health official said,
“11 family members of a person
who died this week have tested
positive today. They were al-
ready under quarantine when
the man died because they were
in close contact with him... They
have been put under isolation.”
doctorsuspectedcoronavirusand
refused to admit her. They then
wenttothegovernment-runSar-
vodayaMaternityHome.“Amed-
ical officer there said they did not
have the facility to treat her. They
did not provide an ambulance,”
Medical Officer in Palghar Dr
Sudhir Pandhare said.
At2.30am,theauto-rickshaw
took them 40 km away to Shat-
abdi Hospital in Mumbai’s Kand-
ivali.Acheck-uprevealedshehad
pleural effusion — water in lungs
— and she was referred to Nair
Hospital, another 30 km away.
Baghel holds Centre responsible
for COVID-19 spread in country
MANOJ C G
NEW DELHI, APRIL 9
AS THE number of confirmed
coronaviruscasesinIndiainched
closer to 6,000, Chhattisgarh
Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel
on Thursday held the Central
government responsible for the
spreadof thediseaseinthecoun-
try. He argued that the epidemic
would not have spread had the
government screened and quar-
antinedallpassengerswhocame
from other countries early on.
housesintheslumhavebeende-
claredpartofacontainmentzone.
MohammedIslam,alsoamigrant,
said, “No one believes she died of
coronavirus. It is a trick to keep us
home, and to take our details. We
don’t trust the government.” His
friend Rajkumar Vishwakarma
said he only cares about ration.
“The police beat us with sticks if
we step out. I don’t have any ra-
tion left. What will we do?”
SP Gaurav Singh said, “There
have been no instances of police
using lathi. We allow people to
leave for emergencies,” he said.
Bhupesh
Baghel
As for extending the lock-
down, Baghel said his govern-
mentwilltakeadecisiononApril
12,adayafterthePrimeMinister’s
scheduledvideo-conferencewith
Chief Ministers of all states.
“This disease did not origi-
nate in India. This disease came
First death in
Jharkhand
Ranchi: Jharkhand saw its first
COVID-19 death in Bokaro
Thursday after a 75-year-old
man who had complained of
“breathlessness” died in
Bokaro general hospital. The
district administration said the
patient was admitted on April
4 and had “pneumonia and
breathlessness”. ENS
to India through people who ar-
rived in the country via interna-
tional flights. Had all those peo-
ple who landed in India — be it
in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata,
Hyderabad or Chennai — in in-
ternational flights... been
screened and quarantined early
on... then this situation would
not have arisen... the disease
would not have spread all over
India... the problems that we are
facing today could have been
averted...thistheCentralgovern-
ment should have done,” he said
at a Congress press conference.

Hidden away in ‘Goa’s Tuscany’, migrants without food

thecoronavirus,eightmorepeo-
ple from the area tested positive.
Thestategovernmenthassealed
theareaandisgoingtotestallthe
residentsofthearea,sourcessaid.
"All the eight patients lived in a
community...Thesepeopleinter-
acted with the boy who was
tested earlier..." said a senior po-
lice officer from Korba.
BilaspurrangeIGDipanshuKabra
said, "The people found positive
today are residents of
Chhattisgarh who came in con-
tact with some people who had
comefromKamptee.Wehaveal-
ready registered an FIR against
thepeoplefromKampteeasthey
hadhiddentheirtravelhistories."
NeighbouringdistrictSargujahas
alsoshuttheinter-districtborder
to ensure containment.
With the new cases, the state's
tally for coronavirus patients has
reached 18, of whom nine have
been discharged. All the nine ac-
tivepatientsarecurrentlyadmit-
ted in AIIMS Raipur.
moneylaunderingchargesinthe
Yes Bank case and are currently
outinbail,wereonThursdayde-
tained at Mahabaleshwar in
Satara along with 21 others for
violating lockdown orders. All
were shifted to a school-turned
quarantine facility in Panchgani,
where they will be under obser-
vation for the next 14 days, said
police.
Earlier in the day, BJP leader
KiritSomaiyaallegedthatmem-
bers of the Wadhawan family
were granted a special pass by
the Maharashtra government to
travel during the lockdown and
called for an inquiry into the in-
cident.
The letter granting permis-
sion for Dheeraj Wadhawan,
Kapil Wadhawan and others,
who were to travel in five cars,
was granted by Principal
Secretary (Home) Amitabh
Gupta on April 8. Home Minister
Anil Deshmukh said the govern-
ment will probe the matter.
SMITA NAIR
ASSAGAO (GOA), APRIL 9
ASSAGAO IS known as “Goa’s
Tuscany”,orthesummerpincode
forsomeofIndia’srichestmillion-
aires.Ittookavirusfortheadmin-
istration to wake up to its other
residents — the service staff, in-
cluding migrants, who keep this
worldoflargehaciendavillasand
private pools afloat.
And it is the migrants who
have been hit the hardest by the
21-day lockdown.
FellyGomes,aGoanandcoor-
dinator of a volunteer network,
says the locals have neighbour-
hoodandfamilylinkstoseethem
through, but not the migrants,
many of them workers brought
here to build the villas. “I have
been living here for decades, but
thesheernumberof labourcam-
ps was a revelation.”
WhileGomes’svolunteernet-
work now has a list of 630-odd
homes, where limited rations
havebeensupplied,hepointsout
thatalargerpolicyinterventionis
needed and they have ap-
proached the government.
Raj Singh, 29, came in a group
from Jharkhand to build a villa.
The house is half-done, with all
workatahalt.“Wekeepchecking
for trains to Jharkhand but there
islittleinformation...Thecontrac-
tor is supplying rations but these
will stop some day.”
At another end of the village,
Doman Thatti, from Begusarai,
says he has gone out twice look-
ingforhiscontractorandthe“rich
man” from Karnataka who owes
him money for building his bak-
ery. “I am told both have left.”
The 35-year-old adds that he
hasbeenstrugglingtounderstand
coronavirus. “Yesterday I told my
wifeandneighboursit’sgotsome-
thing to do with meeting people.
Idon’tknowyet,butIpromisethe
government that if you allow us
to work at construction sites, we
will not talk to anyone, keep our
heads down, and work.”
His neighbour Sandeep
KumarBharti,32,isworriedabout
his pregnant wife Julie Devi, not
knowingif and wheretotakeher
when the time comes. “We are
from Uttar Pradesh. We came
here as we can earn Rs 400 here
DomanThatti,anativeof Begusarai, sayshehas goneouttwice perdaycomparedtoRs300inour
lookingforhiscontractorandthe “richman”fromKarnataka village. Someone asked us to buy
who oweshimmoneyforbuildinghisbakery. Express soapandsanitiser.Iwentlooking,
but they cost too much.”
Officials say they are aware of
thesituationandareintouchwith
panchayats and volunteer net-
works to ensure supplies. “We
have been informed that stocks
are reaching. We are making a
database and understanding the
scale of migrants in the state. The
state registry only has 15,000
building and construction work-
ers listed with it,” an official said.
AssagaonsarpanchHanumant
Ranu Naik accuses the state gov-
ernment of being of no help.
“Initiallywearranged520bagsof
essentials, but had to distribute it
first to the needy. Soon we also
startedincludingmigrants.Butthe
panchayat has seven wards and
the number of calls were too
many. We are making arrange-
ments for the next round of
stocks,”Naiksays.
 E EXPLAINED
7
CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK
YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED DAILY
61,487
United Kingdom
113,296
Germany
83,080
France
432,596
US
152,446
Spain
24,983
Belgium
TOTAL CONFIRMED: 1,506,936
Source: Johns Hopkins University, updated at 11 pm on April 9
How should I clean and reuse
my home-made face cover?
IN THE new conversation around
masks,governmentsinvariouscoun-
tries,includingIndia and the US, have
now recommended that even unin-
fected people cover their faces when
they go out. Can you wear the same
face cover again and again? You can,
the Health Ministry says in an advi-
sory, while insisting on cleaning it af-
ter each use. The advisory includes a
disclaimer over the home-made face
cover’s limitations: “This face cover is
not recommended for either health
workers or those working with or in
contact with COVID-19 patients or
are patients themselves as these cat-
egoriesof peoplearerequiredtowear
specified protective gear.”
How does one clean the face
cover? The advisory recommends
three possible ways:
■ Wash in soap and warm water
and dry in sun for at least 5 hours; or
■ Place in water (preferably with
salt added) in a pressure cooker and
pressure boil for at least 10 minutes,
and leave to dry. Otherwise, you may
INDIA COUNT:
TOP 10 STATES
5,865 (169 DEATHS)
669 Delhi
410 UP
383 Rajasthan
259 MP
1135 Maharashtra
442
Telangana 348 Andhra Pradesh
738 Tamil Nadu
181 Karnataka
345 Kerala
Union Health Ministry update at 11 pm on April 9. Some states may have
reported higher numbers. Only states with most cases are listed above.
478 PATIENTS DISCHARGED IN 22 STATES ACROSS THE COUNTRY
Have a question on the COVID-19 outbreak and what you should/should not do?
Write to explained@indianexpress.com
Armed forces in outbreak battle: their role, procedures for requisition
SUSHANT SINGH
NEW DELHI, APRIL 9
AS THE Army moves in to take over the
COVID-19 quarantine facility at Narela in
Delhi, the procedure for calling the armed
forces to help the civil administration is in
the spotlight.
What is the procedure?
The regulations permit civil authorities
to requisition the Army for controlling law
andorder,maintainingessentialservices,as-
sisting during natural calamities such as
earthquakes,andanyothertypeof helpthat
may be needed by the civil authorities. The
procedureforrequisitioningarmedforcesis
governedunder‘AidtoCivilAuthorities’un-
dertheguidelineslaidinInstructionsonAid
totheCivilAuthoritiesbytheArmedForces,
1970;RegulationsfortheArmy,ChapterVII,
Paragraphs301to327;andManualof Indian
Military Law, Chapter VII. Civil administra-
tionrequeststheLocalMilitaryAuthorityfor
assistance, for the maintenance of law and
order,maintenanceof essentialservices,dis-
aster relief and other types of assistance.
Armedforcescanbeaskedtoprovidetroops
and equipment for a flag march, rescue and
relief, evacuation, and immediate aid.
The current case of checking the spread
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 2020
Reading the containment plan
The sealing of COVID-19 hotspots is part of the government’s larger plan to contain the spread. A look at
139,422
Italy 38,226
the approach laid down, stage by stage, and what is recommended on hospitalisation and treatment
Turkey
ABANTIKA GHOSH
NEW DELHI, APRIL 9
82,883 IN THE last couple of days, several areas in
China
the National Capital Region have been cor-
doned off — “sealed”— to tryandrestrictthe
66,220 novelcoronavirusdisease(COVID-19)within
Iran
thatarea.Thisispartof 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.
DEATH COUNT: 90,057
What are the components of the 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,
boil it in water for 15 minutes; or many of the crucial epidemiological infor-
■ Wash and clean with soap and mationparticularlysourceof infection,mode
apply heat on the face cover for up to of transmission, period of infectivity, etc are
5 minutes (you may use an iron). still under investigation,” reads a disclaimer.
For wearing the cover, the advi- Officials say it means that the plan is subject
sory recommends: to revisions if required, as and when there is
■ Wash your hands thoroughly greater clarity about some of these aspects.
before wearing the face cover;
■ As soon as the face cover be- What is the approach recommended for
comes damp or humid, switch to an- the various stages?
other one and clean the used one; Containmentof localtransmissionhinges
■ Never reuse a face cover after on extensive contact tracing and search for
single use without cleaning it; cases in the containment zone, testing all
■ Never share it with anyone. suspectcasesandhigh-riskcontacts,andiso-
For removing it: latingallsuspectorconfirmedcases;quaran-
■ Do not touch any surface of the tining contacts; and social distancing.
facecover;removeitusingthestrings; For larger outbreaks, in addition to the
■ After removal, immediately usual measures, there is higher focus on a
clean your hands with 65% alcohol- particular geographic zone and hospitals
basedhandsanitiserorwithsoapand around the area are prepared for a rise in
water for 40 seconds; cases. This was done in Agra in early March
■ Drop cover into a soap solution when the area was cordoned off, contact
or boiling water to which salt has tracing and isolation undertaken at a large
been added. scaleinLohamandiarea,andSNHospitalbe-
The advisory recommends that came the base of the surveillance team and
the face cover, after removal, be also the place where suspected cases could
sealed in a cleaned plastic bag. betaken if required.Inaddition, allasympto-
REST OF INDIA
AndamanandNicobarIslands11
ArunachalPradesh 1
Direct farm-to-kitchen: relief, with promise
Assam 28
Bihar 39 PARTHA SARATHI BISWAS
Chandigarh 18 PUNE, APRIL 9
Chhattisgarh 10
Goa 7
THEDISRUPTIONinsupplychainsasaresultof
Gujarat 179
Haryana 169 thelockdownhasspotlightedtherelevanceof
HimachalPradesh 18 a nearly two-decade-old initiative to reach
JammuandKashmir 158 fresh produce directly to consumers in
Jharkhand 13
Maharashtra, bypassing the mandis. The es-
Ladakh 14
Manipur 2 sentialfeaturesofthisalternativemarketchan-
Mizoram 1 nel—decentralisationanddirect-to-homede-
Odisha 42 livery — will remain valuable even after the
Puducherry 5
Punjab 101
lockdown, when efforts to avoid crowding in
Tripura 1
the wholesale markets are likely to continue.
Uttarakhand 35
WestBengal 103 Alternative model
Theideaistocreatesmaller,lesscongested
marketsinurbanareaswiththeparticipation
of farmers’ groups and Farmer Producer
Companies (FPCs), so that growers of vegeta-
blesandfruithavedirectaccesstoconsumers.
Maharashtra is one of a handful of states
where FPCs are robust. The model, imple-
mentedbythestateAgricultureDepartment
and Maharashtra State Agricultural
Marketing Board (MSAMB), requires urban
water,restorationofessentialservices,emer-
gency feeding and shelter, prevention of
panic, prevention of theft and loot, guarding
quarantine locations and detention centres,
surveillancethroughdronesaerialplatforms,
and other miscellaneous tasks.
In such situations, what happens to the
armed forces’ primary role?
Providing aid to civil authorities, as and
when called upon to do so, is a secondary
An Army personnel distributes food
task for the armed forces. It cannot replace
the primary role of ensuring external secu-
rity and operational preparedness. The
among the homeless and needy in Army recently killed five militants on the
Chennai, during the lockdown. PTI Line of Control (LoC), foiling an infiltration
attempt,whilelosingfiveSpecialForcessol-
diers in the engagement. There have been
of COVID-19 is different, as the medical as- 53ceasefireviolations onthe LoC whichthe
pect is predominant. These resources are
being controlled centrally and judiciously,
because of the requirement of doctors,
Army has responded to. The Navy also con-
tinues to be operational on its various mis-
sion-based deployments, while taking all
equipment and facilities. the precautions to prevent infection from
foreign ports.
What are the tasks expected to be
performed in the current situation?
Besidesthespecialisedmedicalresources,
whicharecentrallycontrolled,thelocalunits
Is there a ceiling on such deployment?
No,thereisnosuchceilingeitherofdura-
tion of deployment or on the number of
arepreparedformaintenanceof lawandor- armedforcespersonnelthatcanbedeployed
der,crowdcontrol,curfewinsensitiveareas, to aid civil authority. The National Crisis
evacuation of civilians from affected areas, Management Committee (NCMC), headed
provisionofessentialsupplyofelectricityand bythecabinetsecretary,isthefinalauthority.
The Outbreak
SIMPLY PUT QUESTION &ANSWER
Barricade outside a sealed housing society in Greater Noida. Gajendra Yadav
matic healthcare workers are to be given hy-
droxychloroquine as a preventive.
The graded containment plan in effect
takes lessons from the H1N1 influenza pan-
demicwherethespreadwasinclusters.“The
current geographic distribution of COVID-19
mimics the distribution of H1N1 Pandemic
Influenza.Thissuggeststhatwhilethespread
of COVID-19inourpopulationcouldbehigh,
it’sunlikelythatitwillbeuniformlyaffecting
allpartsof thecountry.Thiscallsfordifferen-
tialapproachtodifferentregionsof thecoun-
try, while mounting a strong containment
effortinhotspots,”readstheplandocument.
How are confirmed and suspected cases
to be dealt with?
It says: “All suspect/confirmed COVID-19
cases will be hospitalized and kept in isola-
tion in dedicated COVID-19 hospitals/hospi-
talblocks.PersonstestingpositiveforCOVID-
19 will remain hospitalized till such time as
two of their samples are tested negative as
per discharge policy. About 15% of the pa-
tients are likely to require hospitalization,
and an additional 5 % will requires ventila-
tor management.”
To reduce the burden on hospitals, there
is a plan to temporarily convert hotels/ hos-
tels/guesthouses/stadiumsnearaCOVID-19
A decentralised market in Pune. Express
andrurallocalbodiesandotherstakeholders
to buy into the agricultural marketing chain.
How the markets work
The government and MSAMB identify
farmer groups and FPCs, and form clusters;
local bodies choose the market sites and link
the markets for direct delivery to coopera-
tive housing societies.
The model was introduced in the early
Are there any templates or instances
from the past that are applicable here?
The current situation is different from
earlier cases such as tsunami or super-cy-
clone,whichwerenaturaldisasters.Thema-
jor difference is that specialists are the key
in the current situation, and their tasks can-
not be performed by general duty soldiers.
Who pays for the costs incurred by the
armed forces in these roles?
The civil administration. The cost of as-
sistanceprovidedbytheArmedForcesisre-
coveredinaccordancewiththeinstructions
contained in Appendix ‘H’ to the Pamphlet
‘Instructions on Aid to Civil Authorities by
the Armed Forces 1970’. These instructions
are also contained in the ADGFP letter No
9367/Reports/GS/FP2 dated 11 Jul 1994.
What is the role of the National Disaster
Management Authority?
NDMA is involved in secondary follow-
ups by the Home Ministry, and is not very
actively involved in the current case. The
roles of theMinistriesof Health,Home, Civil
Aviation and Defence are predominant in
this case. The armed forces are aligned with
them at the apex level viz NCMC. The direc-
tions are followed by execution-level coor-
dination which is done by respective secre-
taries in the government.
@ieExplained
#ExpressExplained
If there are questions of current or contemporary relevance that you
would like explained, please write to explained@indianexpress.com
hospitalascarecentreswheremildcasesmay
bekept.“DedicatedCOVID-19hospitals/ded-
icatedblocksinlargehospitalswillbeidenti-
fiedandoperationalized.Moderatetosevere
cases, who require monitoring of their clini-
calstatus(patientswithradiologicalevidence
of pneumonia) will be admitted to COVID
hospital.”Formoreseverecasesrequiringres-
piratory or other support, tertiary care cen-
tres both private and government will be in-
cluded as part of the micro plan.
So, the protocol varies based on severity?
Yes.TheHealthMinistryhasissueddirec-
tionsforcategorisationofdesignatedfacilities
intothreegroups—COVIDcarecentres,COVID
health centres and dedicated COVID hospi-
tals.Thecarecentreswillbeforcasesclinically
assigned as mild or very mild, or suspected
cases.Thehealthcentresarehospitalsthatwill
offercareforallcasesthathavebeenclinically
assigned as moderate. The dedicated hospi-
tals will offer comprehensive care, primarily
for those clinically assigned as severe.
“TheCOVIDcarecentresaremakeshiftfa-
cilities.Thesemaybesetupinhostels,hotels,
schools,stadiums,lodgesetc.,bothpublicand
private.(COVIDhealthcentres)shouldeither
be a full hospital or a separate block in a hos-
pital with preferably separate entry/ exit/
2000s.TheFPCsandfarmers’groupsareallot-
ted space for weekly markets in municipal
wards or localities. Some producers’ groups
parkpick-uptrucksloadedwithfruitsandveg-
etablesatthegatesofhousingsocieties.Locally
producedvegetablesarethebulkof thestock.
Before the lockdown began on March 24,
at least 118 such markets were set up in
Mumbai,PuneandThane,withmoreplanned
in Nashik, Aurangabad and other cities.
In the time of pandemic
Traffic of both buyers and sellers in these
decentralised markets can be controlled
more effectively than in wholesale mandis —
a key advantage when social distancing is
critical. Most FPCs have minimised contact,
and have taken to selling pre-packed, cus-
tomised packets of vegetables.
In several areas of Pune and Mumbai, the
decentralised markets have given way to
FPCs delivering directly to the gates of hous-
ing societies. The administration has set up
telephonenumbersineachdistrict,towhich
residents can call in to pre-order vegetables.
Thefarmers’groupshavefilledmuchofthe
WHAT ARMED FORCES HAVE DONE SO FAR
6 quarantine facilities in Mumbai,
Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Hindon,
Manesar and Chennai. Over 1,700
persons have been kept at these
centres so far, of whom over 400 have
been released. Three positive cases
were referred to a hospital.
15 other facilities on standby,
capacity of approximately 7,000.
The Army runs 6 (Babina, Jhansi,
Barmer, Bhopal, Kolkata, Binnaguri),
IAF another 6 (Bhatinda, Hyderabad,
Deolali, Kanpur, Gorakhpur, Agra), the
Navy 3 (Vizagapatam, Kochi, Chilka).
51 armed forces hospitals are
preparing dedicated COVID-19
facilities including High Dependency
Units (scaled-down version of an
Intensive Care Unit), and ICU beds.
5 testing labs at armed forces
hospitals made part of national
grid. These are Army Hospital
(Research & Referral), Delhi Cantt; Air
Force Command Hospital, Bangalore;
AFMC, Pune; Command Hospital
(Central Command), Lucknow; and
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
zoning.(they)willhaveseparateareasforsus-
pect and confirmed cases. Suspect and con-
firmed cases should not be allowed to mix
underanycircumstances,”saidthedocument
on categorisation of care and hospitalisation
facilitiespreparedbytheemergencymedical
response division of the Health Ministry.
What is the line of treatment?
The document collates the various advi-
soriesissuedbytheIndianCouncilof Medical
Research (ICMR), emphasising that till now
there is no approved specific drug or vaccine
against COVID-19.
“However Hydroxychloroquine hasbeen
recommended as chemoprophylaxis drug
for use by asymptomatic healthcare work-
ers managing COVID-19 cases and asympto-
matic 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.OnThursday,theICMRsaiditisinthefi-
nal stages of preparing a clinical trial proto-
col 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),theplanreiteratestheneedforadequate
PPE. “At all times doctors, nurses and para-
medicsworkingintheclinicalareaswillwear
three-layered surgical mask and gloves. The
medical personnel working in isolation and
critical care facilities where aerozolisation is
anticipated,willwearfullcomplementofPPE
(including N95 masks).The support staff en-
gaged in cleaning and disinfection will also
wearfullcomplementof PPE.Environmental
cleaningshouldbedonetwicedailyandcon-
sist of damp dusting and floor mopping with
Lysol or other phenolic disinfectants and
cleaningof commonlytouchedsurfaceswith
sodium hypochlorite solution,” says the doc-
ument.Sodiumhypochloriteisalreadybeing
usedextensively,includingintheNizamuddin
headquarters of the Tablighi Jamaat.
gap created by the shuttering of wholesale
markets.Morethan200FPCsarenowsupply-
ing fresh vegetables in urban Maharashtra.
What’s in it for farmers
The startof the pandemic coincidedwith
the peak vegetable harvesting season. As the
markets were locked down, there was a
threattothecropinover100lakhhectaresin
thecountry. A significantpart of theproduce
is several states has made its way to these
markets, softening the blow to farmers.
More importantly, larger numbers of veg-
etable growers in Maharashtra have got into
direct selling to consumers. The practices of
rudimentarypacking,sortingandbrandingare
being inculcated in farmers, as they pack and
sendpre-orderedpacketstohousingsocieties.
Direct marketing, although not a new
concept in perishables, had thus far failed to
getmuchtractionamonglocalfarmers.Now,
with mandis shut, rural entrepreneurs have
steppedintosupplythedemandinthecities.
This exposure will likely help create alterna-
tive market chains that could continue even
after more normal times return.
Command Hospital (Northern
Command), Udhampur. Six more
hospitals to be equipped with the
resources to begin COVID-19 testing.
SPECIAL IAF flights have evacuated
people and carried medical supplies. A
C-17 Globemaster III has carried 15
tonnes of supplies to China and
airlifted 125 persons including Indians
on its return. From Iran, it brought back
58 stranded Indians. Also, C-130J Super
Hercules aircraft has ferried 6.2 tonnes
of medicine to Maldives. An Army
Medical Corps team was deployed in
Maldives between March 13-21.
60 tonnes of stores airlifted by IAF
transport fleet has airlifted
approximately to various parts of the
country. Twenty-eight fixed wing and
21 helicopters are on standby.
6 Naval ships kept ready for
assistance to neighbouring
countries. Five medical teams also on
standby for deployment in Maldives,
Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan
and Afghanistan.
 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

8
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 2020
WORDLY WISE

THE EDITORIAL PAGE

The U.S. constitution is an extraordinary
document. In my view, it should not be
amended often. — BERNIE SANDERS

FOUNDED BY
Through the prism of crisis
§

§
RAMNATH GOENKA
By revealing magnitude of migrant worker
BECAUSE THE TRUTH INVOLVES US ALL
phenomenon, COVID-19 points to rural distress

WHO IN THE MIDDLE Christophe Jaffrelot and Hemal Thakker

US-China battle over its role in pandemic may be precursor to
THE COVID-19 CRISIS is affecting rural India erage landholding size of an household had was ranked 93 in 2015 in the Global Hunger
struggle about future of UN, multilateral institutions atatimewhenagricultureisalreadyinapre- shrunk to 1.1 ha in 2016. In fact, 37 per cent of Index, slipped to the 102nd rank (out of 117

A
carious situation. The thousands of migrant
S THE RECORD of the World Health Organisation in handling the coron- workers who have returned to their villages
avirus crisis becomes a bone of contention between the US and China, India since the lockdown used to send home large
should not lose sight of its significant interest in promoting long overdue remittances.TariqThachil’sfieldworkshows
changeattheUNagencyresponsibleforglobalpublichealth.Inhisinterven- that a majority of the migrant workers send
tion at the G-20 meeting last month to coordinate global actions on the COVID-19 crisis, 25 to 50 per cent of their monthly income to
their families — which will now miss this
Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for a reorientation of the WHO to make it more ef-
money.InBihar,theseremittancesaccounted
fective. Delhi must, however, caution the world against excessive politicisation of the de- for35.6percentof grossstatedomesticprod-
bate on the WHO’s role and performance in a crisis that has cost thousands of lives in uctin2011-12,upfrom11.6percentin2004-
China, from where the virus began to spread out, and in the rest of the world. The time 05. How will the villagers of Bihar, or Orissa,
for a post-mortem, Delhi should insist, begins only after the war against the virus ends. forthatmatter,copewiththisnewsituation?
WiththeUSlikelytobecomethebiggestvictimof coronavirus,thedebateaboutitsori- The question is particularly relevant at a
time when Indian agriculture is facing huge
gin, spread and management has begun to acquire a sharp intensity in America. The num-
challenges. In fact, the migrant worker phe-
berofdeadintheUSisnowthesecondlargestatabout15,000,behindItalyatnearly18,000. nomenon is a symptom of these challenges,
In the next few days the count in the US might cross that of Italy. Twice in the last few days, astheyhavemovedtothecitymostlybecause
Trump has criticised the WHO, for being too deferential to China during the crisis and un- ofthepushfactors.Accordingtothe2011cen-
derplaying the danger to the rest of the world. Trump is channeling the strong sentiment sus, 3.5 million migrants who moved within
in the US that if the WHO had done its job, the world could have significantly reduced the the last one year stated economic reasons for
migration. The corresponding numbers for
casualties. The WHO, however, has rejected the criticism and insists that its actions have
the2001and1991census,were,respectively,
saved many lives. Beijing is standing firmly behind the UN agency. A battle royale is shap- 2.2 and 1.4 million.
ing up at the WHO between the US and China and this could well be the precursor to a For years, rural India has been losing
broaderstrugglebetweenthetwoforthefutureoftheUNandothermultilateralinstitutions. groundvis-a-vistownsandcities.In2008,the
Delhi, however, should not view the WHO’s recent actions through the sole prism of “rural-urban gap” was at 45 per cent in India
in terms of average revenue — versus 10 per
US-Chinaconflict.Manymajorcountries,includingIndia,were deeply wary of theWHO’s
policy guidance during the crisis. As this newspaper reported on Thursday, Delhi chose cent for China and Indonesia. The data from
the 75th round of NSSO for 2017-18 suggests
to rely on the Indian Council of Medical Research rather than the WHO in limiting the
that the rural-urban gap widened during
spread of the coronavirus. India is better off for Delhi’s independent judgements. But that
2012-18.Theruralmonthlypercapitaexpen-
luxury is not available to most countries in the world, especially the developing nations dituredeclinedfromRs1,430in2011-12toRs
that rely entirely on the WHO’s wisdom. Delhi owes it to itself and its traditional con- 1,304 in 2017-18 — an 8.8 per cent decline —
stituency in the global South to help ensure that there is an objective international in- whileitrosefromRs2,630toRs3,155inurban
India — a 2.6 per cent increase. This is partly
vestigation into the WHO’s performance in the war against the virus and identification
duetotheslowgrowthofagricultureoverthe
of thecorrectlessonsfordealingwithfuturepandemics.That,inturn,shouldpavetheway
lastdecade.In2013-2019,theaverageagricul-
for a badlyneededrevitalisationof the WHO, the onlycollectiveframeworktheworldhas turalGDPgrowthratewas3.1percent,much
in dealing with challenges of global health. lowerthantheaverageGDPgrowthrate—6.7
per cent. This growth in agriculture was also
driven by non-crop sectors, including live-
stock. The average growth of the crop sector,
This sector of the economy
should become a priority
again in term of policies.
Indian agriculture needs
more investments (in
irrigation, for instance) and
more financial support (by
relaunching the
MGNREGA, among other
things). But not only that.
Further liberalisation of
Indian agriculture would
hamper food security as the
existing food procurement
system is essential in
maintaining food reserves
farm households owned land parcels of
smaller than 0.4 ha, another 30 per cent had
holdings which fall between 0.41 and 1.0 ha.
Only 13 per cent agricultural households
ownedlandholdingsbiggerthan2ha.Asare-
sult,theproportionof thoseowninglessthan
one ha reached 82.8 per cent — whereas a
farm household needs to have at least 1 ha of
land to make ends meet.
Secondly, irrigation has stagnated, with
less than half of Indian farmland irrigated.
Thirdly, rural India suffers from what Ashok
Gulati calls the “urban consumer bias”: To
spareurbanconsumers,governmenthaskept
food prices very low. One of the techniques it
usedwastoletimportsof foodproductssub-
merge the Indian market. Fourthly, budget
cuts have affected key programmes such as
the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana and the
Backward Regions Grant Fund as well as irri-
gation schemes, such as the Integrated
Watershed Management Programme and
Accelerated Irrigation Benefits. The actual al-
location in agriculture has been short of the
budgeted allocation since 2014.
Qualitatively, the agricultural sector has
suffered because of the rise of monocultures
based on the intensive use of chemical pesti-
cides. Nearly 30 per cent of India’s land has
beendegradedduetodeforestation,intensive
farming,soilerosionandgroundwaterdeple-
tion,resultingindesertification—thelevelof
water tables fell by 65 per cent in 10 years.
Forallthesereasons,overhalf of thefarm-
ers are indebted: The average loan amount
outstanding for a farm household in India in
2017 was Rs 47,000. More than 3,20,000
farmers committed suicide between 1995
and 2016, according to the National Crime
RecordsBureau—whichhasstoppedprovid-
ing this data since. Many others live in great
economic distress. In fact, this crisis not only
countries)in2019—belowalltheotherSouth
Asian countries.
Thus,theCOVID-19crisis,byrevealingthe
magnitudeof themigrantworkerphenome-
non, should open the eyes of the urban
dwellers to the grim situation of India’s agri-
culture.Thissectoroftheeconomyshouldbe-
comeapriorityagainintermofpolicies.Indian
agriculture needs more investments (in irri-
gation, for instance) and more financial sup-
port (by relaunching the MGNREGA, among
otherthings).Butnotonlythat.Furtherliber-
alisationof Indianagriculturewouldhamper
foodsecurityastheexistingfoodprocurement
system is essential in maintaining food re-
serves and protection of vulnerable farmers
from the whims of the global markets with
theminimumsupportpriceofferedforwheat
and rice under the Agricultural Produce
Market Committee (APMC) Act.
Inthemidstofeverycrisisliesanopportu-
nity.Anagro-ecologicaltransitionwillregen-
eratenotonlythesoilwhichwasdepleteddue
totheexcessiveuseofchemicalpesticidesbut
also ensure sustainable supply of food in the
long run. Since the agro-ecological system of
farming is more bio-diverse in nature, it will
make the system more resilient overall and
provideasafetynetforfarmersincaseof crop
damageduetofactorssuchasclimatechange
ordroughts.Itwillalsostrengthenfoodsecu-
rityandhelpthenationfighthungerandmal-
nutrition.Finally,itwillhelpbridgetheurban-
ruraldivideasmuch-neededinvestmentwill
occur in rural areas after decades of neglect
that created the staggering inequalities.
The transition to an agro-ecological sys-
temof agriculturehasthecapacitytobecome
the engine to restart a sustainable economy
by increasing soil fertility and reducing
groundwaterexploitation.Indianagriculture
wouldprovidemillionswithlivelihoods,mak-

LET IT FALL which accounts for two-thirds of the agricul-

tural sector GDP, was 0.3 per cent, the lowest
in two decades.
and protection of vulnerable
farmers from the whims of
the global markets with the
explainstheincreasinglylargenumberof mi-
grant workers, it also puts food security in
jeopardyforthepoor.Whilegrainstockshave
ing migration to the city less necessary.

Jaffrelot is senior research fellow at CERI-

Tillersof thelandhaveleftvillagesforthat increased,accesstofoodhasnotinruralIndia, Sciences Po/CNRS, Paris and professor of
RBI should let the rupee slide. It will aid export reason, and also because of the shrinking of minimum support price especially for those who live below the Indian Politics and Sociology at King’s India
growth when global trade picks up landholdings.Morethanhalfofthosewholive offered for wheat and rice povertyline.NSSdatashowthatruralpoverty Institute; Thakker is food and agriculture

W
off agriculture are landless peasants. And the under the Agricultural rose about 4 percentage points between policy analyst and student of environment
ITH CONTINUING UNCERTAINTY over the spread of the coronavirus othershaveverysmallholdings.Accordingto 2011-12 and 2017-18 to 30 per cent whereas policy with specialisations in agriculture
and its economic impact, there has been a sell-off globally in risk as- a survey carried out by the National Bank for Produce Market Committee urban poverty fell 5 percentage points over policy and african affairs at the Paris School of
sets as investors are seeking refuge in safe haven assets such as the Agriculture and Rural Development, the av- (APMC) Act. the same period to 9 per cent. India, which International Affairs, SciencesPo.
dollar. Most emerging market currencies have fallen in this period,
and while the Indian rupee has also fallen, it has fared relatively better than others. On
Thursday, the rupee ended the day at 76.29 against the dollar, after touching a low of
76.54 during the day. Since March, the currency has fallen by around 5 per cent against
thedollar.Incomparison,overthesameperiod,theMexicanpesohasfallenby26percent,
the Brazilian real by 17 per cent, the Indonesian rupiah by 14 per cent, and the South
African rand by 18 per cent. The Indian currency has fared relatively better despite a mas-
sive sell-off by foreign investors — FIIs have withdrawn around $14 billion in March. This
HEED NATURE’S WARNING
situation is in stark contrast to the 2013 period when all emerging market currencies, COVID-19 is yet another call to humankind to mend its ways or perish
andtheIndianrupeeinparticular,fellsharplyonaccountof talksof theUSFederalReserve
slowly putting the break on its quantitative easing programme.
Through this period, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been actively intervening in Kapil Sibal
the currency markets. Foreign exchange reserves fell by $10 billion in the week ended
THE ACTIVITIES OF homosapiens are often the space of a few days, the toxic foams have epicentreof thisvirus,maywellbeassociated
March 20 — indicating the extent of the intervention. Presumably, the intervention was
toxic. They interfere with nature’s design to disappeared.Theshuttingdownof industries with its transmission from non-human
aimed at slowing down the pace of the rupee’s fall in order to prevent a self-fulfilling cy- sustain life. Viruses such as MERS-COV and has made all the difference. The Hindon river sources to human sources in China.
cle. But, notwithstanding the intervention needed to iron out excess volatility, the evi- SARS COV-2 are a warning to us. We must is showing similar signs of revival. Oursurvivalisalsodependentonhowwe
dence suggests that the Indian rupee continues to be overvalued and should be allowed mend our ways or perish. COVID-19 has al- Research has shown that the source of handle global warming. However, globally,
to fall. The RBI’s 36-currency export-based real effective exchange rate (REER) stood at readytakenover50,000livesglobally.While new emerging diseases is through inter- peoplehavebecomecynicalabouttheintent
119.47 in February, indicating significant overvaluation. The currency’s recent fall, to that weawaitthevaccine,wewillhavetotakepre- species transmission. Human coronaviruses of governments to meet such challenges.
extent, corrects for this overvaluation. But as the continuing overvaluation of the cur- ventative measures to limit, as much as pos- are associated with respiratory and gastro- COP-25inSpainalsoproducednoresults.The
sible, the loss of more human lives. nomicdiseases.Animal-relatedviruses,also, developed world is not honouring its com-
rency affects the country’s export competitiveness, this needs to be addressed.
With human activity coming to a stand- cause severe respiratory, zoonotic and viro- mitments and the emerging economies are
Whentheuncertaintyovertheeconomicdisruptioncausedbythecoronavirusbegins still,thesilenceof ourcitieshasemboldened logicdiseasesintheirhosts.Mostanimalscar- polluting like never before. Unless this is ar-
to recede, and economic activity begins to crawl back in, global funds will start flowing animals to venture from their constricted The availability of clean rying viruses — bats, pigs, cattle or poultry — rested immediately, global warming will be
back towards emerging markets, including India. This would exert upward pressure on habitats.Deers,sambars,nilgaisandleopards drinking water, and the are isolated from humans. However, novel irreversible.
the rupee. While the RBI’s stated policy is that it does not target any particular level, at a are relishing the lockdown. The chirping of human pathogens emerge as a result of in- The availability of clean drinking water,
birds, a rarity in the past, is a pleasant regu-
conflicts emerging ter-speciestransmission.Studieshaveshown andtheconflictsemergingtherefrom,willbe
timewhencountrieswillbefightingtograbexportmarketshareinordertoboostgrowth,
larity now. Woolly clouds floating across a therefrom, will be the next thattheinter-speciestransmissionof animal thenextbattlefront.Globalwarmingwillim-
the central bank must ensure that the currency’s value does not affect the country’s ex-
blue Delhi sky is also a welcome, rare, sight. battlefront. Global warming viruses to humans is a permanent threat to pactagriculturewhich,inturn,willjeopardise
port competitiveness. Theambitiousschemesof successivegov- human life. Of the 12 bat species examined food security. Our coastal areas will be inun-
will impact agriculture
ernments could not clean the Ganga. About by experts, it was found that the coronavirus datedandislandstatesarelikelytodisappear.
Rs 5,000-crore was pumped in for the pur-
which, in turn, will identified with bats was responsible for In such a context, given the abysmal state of
jeopardise food security. Our
A LITTLE TO THE LEFT
pose, without any substantial outcomes. emergingdiseasesinhumans.Weneedmore healthinfrastructureglobally,itwillbedifficult
During the course of the lockdown, though, coastal areas will be studies of these viruses in animals to protect to combat the onslaught of new viruses.
theGangaishealingherself.Fewerpeopleare inundated and island states the human species from future attacks. The It is clear by now that if we threaten na-
at the ghats daily. In fact, the river water is fit analysis of public Genome Sequence Data ture,naturewillhitback:Inthisbattle,weare
Bernie Sanders’s legacy will be the issues he for bathing with dissolved oxygen levels up- are likely to disappear. In fromSARSCOV-2andrelatedviruses,clearly sure to lose. Consumerism is now a self-de-
stream being 8.1 mg per litre. The closure of such a context, given the suggeststhattheseviruses,throughaprocess structive virus. Coronavirus is yet another
pushed front and centre in US politics industries along the river, including 400 tan- abysmal state of health of natural selection from non-human hosts, warning for us to mend our ways. If not, our

A
nery units, has helped. infrastructure globally, it will jump to humans after the latter are directly road to extinction is inevitable.
S HE CALLED an end to his second campaign for the Democratic Party nom-
TheYamuna,too,issparkling.Severalyears exposedtothevirus.Aslongaswekeepcon-
ination for US president on April 8, Bernie Sanders asserted that “few would of planning, huge allocation of funds did not be difficult to combat the suminganimalswhichhostsuchviruses,the The writer, a senior Congress leader, is a
deny that over the course of the past five years, our movement has won the producetheresultswehopedfor.Butnow,in onslaught of new viruses. dangertothehumanraceisreal.Wuhan,the former Union minister
ideological struggle”. A few days before Sanders’s announcement, the US
pharmaceuticalindustrywasexemptedfrompricecontrolsintheover$8billionemergency
spending bill proposed to deal with the coronavirus outbreak. It would be easy to see this
development—seeminglyopeningthedoortoprofiteeringduringthepandemic—asev-
idence of the futility of the “ideological struggle”. Inequality, unaffordable healthcare and APRIL 10, 1980, FORTY YEARS AGO
anendtocorporateprofitsdeterminingAmericanpolicywerekeyplanksof Sanders’cam-
paign. But his political legacy is important not just for the outcomes, but more for how it ASSAM FOREIGNERS INDIA-VIETNAM TALKS IRAN ON IRAQ
has shifted the terms of debate in the world’s richest and oldest democracy. THE 1961 CENSUS returns coupled with the THE VIETNAMESE PRIME minister, Pham IRAN’S FOREIGN MINSTER, Sadegh
Already78,thiswaslikelySanders’slastcampaign.Butthecauseshehasespousedhave 1962 electoral rolls and the land records of Van Dong, indicated in New Delhi that there Ghotbzadeh, claiming Iraq was an American
that time can be an acceptable criterion for are differences in the respective positions of stooge, announced that “we have decided
galvanised young Americans and created the possibility of a new leadership on the left.
identifying the “foreigners” in Assam. This is India and Vietnam on the Afghanistan ques- to overthrow the Baathist regime in
Racial equality — including calling out police brutality — gender rights, affordable higher the reporter’s inference after talking to the tion. Instead, he approvingly mentioned the Baghdad,” according to Teheran radio.
education,abettereconomicandsocialsecuritynetandhealthcarearenowfrontandcen- leaders of the All Assam Students Union initiative Cuba has launched to resolve the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, spiritual
tre in the US’s political discourse. A new generation of leaders, who don’t look or talk like which has so far stuck to 1851 as the base Afghanistan issue. Addressing a crowded leader and power behind Iran’s revolution,
the traditional suited male politician — the likes of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — are mak- year, and has demanded the deportation of newsconference,DongsaidAfghanistanhad declared in another London-monitored
ing waves. And even the idea of the American dream is evolving for many into one that allthosewhohaveenteredthestateafterthat. figured at his talks with the Indian prime broadcast that Muslims of Iran and Iraq
includes a basic standard of living for all. The state governor, L P Singh, has already in- minister. He said that both countries agreed would remove the “evil Baathist leaders” of
dicated to the students that the government in principle that the question had to be re- Iraq’s ruling Arab Socialist Paity and “con-
Yet, it was not Bernie’s time. Much like Jeremy Corbyn in the UK, Sanders was unable
mightbewillingtoaccept1967asthecut-off solvedonacorrectbasisbutaddedthatthere sign them to the dustbin of history.” But nei-
to gather the support of the centre of his own party. The rhetoric against the “one per year. This would mean the deportation of are differences in the points of view of the ther broadcast made clear Iran’s exact inten-
cent” — the wealthiest — has lost out to the idea of someone who can build a consensus nearly 1.8 million people against 1.2 million, government although such differences “are tions in the growing conflict between the
in Joe Biden. But Sanders has shifted the centre just a little more to the left. if the original date on 1971 was adhered to. understandable and natural”. two oil-rich neighbours.

9
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 2020
THE IDEAS PAGE
The law cannot
fall silent
Nationsmustnotignorefundamentalandoverridingprinciplesof existing
internationallawinfightagainstpandemic
Upendra Baxi
THE CORONAVIRUS EPIDEMIC has now en-
veloped the globe and generated new forms
of governmentality and bio-legitimation
practices in its wake. But only new forms of
human compassion and solidarity can help
overcome this lethal and formidably grim
challenge.
Evenamidstthediseaseanddeathcaused
bythepandemic,theoreticaldiscourserages,
on the one hand on the intensification of the
state of exception in combating COVID-19
and, on the other, the projection of the crisis
as an opportunity for building a new future
for global politics marked by empathy, fra-
ternity, justice, and rights.
Weengageherewithonlyonefacetof the
new developments: How to read interna-
tional law in the context of the pointers to
the future?
Respect for the norms and standards of
international law is among the paramount
constitutional duties of the state under
Article 51 of the Constitution, regardless of
the quibbles on whether the language here
refersonlytotreaty/obligationsoralsotocus-
tomary international law. And despite US
President Donald Trump’s recent threat of
actions against the WHO, international
norms, standards, and doctrines remain rel-
evant to making national policy and law.
The difference between the United
Nations as a site of normative discursivity
and as a site of doing global power politics is
sadly manifest even now in the accelerated
pace of the pandemic. President Trump’s in-
sistence on calling it a “Chinese virus” ren-
ders it extremely unlikely that the pandemic
willbediscussedduringthecurrentmonthly
presidency of the UN Security Council by
China. The threat of veto by China and Russia
will always loom large whenever the matter
is placed for discussion.
But the UN is also a site of systems of
norm enunciation. Along with the
International Law Commission, it is respon-
sible for the progressive codification of law.
The UN system has developed lawmaking
and framework treaties as well as provided
auspices for systems of “soft” law that may
eventually become the binding law.
Some of the norms of international law
are robust and deeply relevant. For example,
the peremptory jus cogens — a few funda-
mental,overridingprinciplesof international
law such as crimes against humanity, geno-
cide,andhumantraffickingapplytoallstates.
And Article 53 of the Vienna Convention on
the Law of Treaties goes so far as to declare
that a “treaty is void if, at the time of its con-
clusion, it conflicts with a peremptory norm
of generalinternationallaw”.Andevenwhen
ingredients of genocide remain difficult to
prove, the International Court of Justice (ICJ)
has held, in 2007, that states have a duty to
prevent and punish acts and omissions that
eventually furnishelementsfor thecommis-
sion of crime of genocide. There also exist
erga omnes rules prescribing specifically-de-
terminedobligationswhichstatesowetothe
international community as a whole. This
was enunciated bythe ICJ in 1970 for four sit-
uations—theoutlawingof actsof aggression;
Pollution and pandemic
Healthcrisishascleanedupair.Itisglobalcommunity’sdutytocarrythatforward
Eeshan Chaturvedi
THE CORONAVIRUS pandemic and its fall-
out have had devastating effects in most
parts of the world. The swift and aggressive
glocalisation of the world has been stopped
in its tracks. Industrial economies, supply
chains, essential commodities, public health
services, and various other activities have
taken a serious hit because of the much-
needed governmental regulations to curb
the spread of Covid-19. A silver lining,
though, has been the effect of regulatory so-
cial distancing and the blanket lockdown of
the industrial and service sectors on the en-
vironment.
There are four main sources of air pol-
lution: Stationary sources such as indus-
tries, power plants and factories; mobile
sources or vehicular transport; area sources
such as agricultural tracts and cities; and
natural sources, which include volcanoes,
cyclones and wildfires. The current lock-
down seems to have snuffed out a lot of the
first three sources. The industrial, tourism
and service sectors have been brought to a
standstill.
The effect of all this is apparent. For in-
stance, the Air Quality Index (AQI) at Anand
Vihar — infamous for being one of the most
the outlawing of genocide; protection from
slavery; and protection from racial discrim-
ination. A great significance of this judicial
dictum is that it lays down obligations which
transcendconsensualrelationsamongstates.
In addition, there are three other sets of
international law obligations. These are pri-
marily derived from the no-harm principles
crystallised in the International Law
Commission’s 2001 Draft Articles on the
Preventionof TransboundaryHarm(DAPTH)
and the Paris Framework Agreement on
Climate Change, 2015.
The DAPTH has carefully developed
norms of due diligence, stressing all the way
that these may be adapted to contextual ex-
igencies. But due diligence obligations cer-
tainly extend beyond local and national
boundaries, especially because the environ-
mental problems have a transboundary im-
pact. Each state is obliged to observe these
standards in the fight against COVID-19 as a
matter of international law.
Thesecondsetof obligationsrelatestothe
other core human rights measures — no law
or policy to combat epidemics or pandemic
can go against the rights of migrant workers,
internallydisplacedpeoples,andrefugeesand
asylumseekers.Respectfortheinherentdig-
nity of individuals in combating COVID-19
and for the rights of equal health for all, non-
discrimination,andthenormsof humandig-
nity further reinforce accountability and the
transparency of state and other social actors.
Panicky and sadist policing, including shoot
atsightordersincollectiveexodussituations,
andmilitaristicresponsestofoodriotsde-jus-
polluted regions in Delhi due to the plethora
of industries in its vicinity — has come down
from 229 (deemed poor) about this time last
year to about 80 currently (regarded as sat-
isfactory). The difference is, in fact, much
more when Anand Vihar’s current AQI is
compared to that in November last year —
theregionhadrecorded447then.Therehave
been similar improvements in other parts of
the country — the world, in fact.
The natural question, then, is: Why have
governments not been able to enforce such
environmental measures proactively? Why
is the current situation a by-product of man-
aging a pandemic? The most obvious — and
understandable — answer would be that the
lockdown was needed to bring down the fa-
talities caused by the pandemic.
However, according to a World Health
Organisation report, the combined effects of
ambient (outdoor) and household air pollu-
tion are responsible for 70,00,000 deaths
every year — largely as a result of increased
mortality caused by heart diseases, chronic
obstructive pulmonary diseases, lung can-
cer and acute respiratory infections.
Compare this to the about 50,000 deaths in
the three months of the pandemic — about
Respect for norms and
standards of international
law is among the paramount
constitutional duties of the
State under Article 51 of the
Constitution, regardless of
the quibbles on whether the
language here only refers to
treaty/obligations or also to
customary international law.
And, despite US President
Donald Trump’s recent
threat of actions against
WHO, international norms,
standards, and doctrines
remain relevant to making
national policy and law.
2,00,000 deathsa year, viasimple extrapola-
tion, discounting other developments. That
is less than 3 per cent of the deaths caused
byairpollutionalone.Wehavenotevencon-
sidered other sources of pollution — water
pollution, hazardous waste pollution — as
well as displacement due to glacial reces-
sions and climate change.
The effort at reducing social interactions
and cutting down commercial activities has
been almost on a global scale — and that has
brought down pollution. This shows that
positive actions by a handful of countries or
regions do not always improve the environ-
ment. Industries displaced from environ-
mentally-regulated regions move to other
regions. Of course, governments would be
hard-pressed to impose measures designed
for an international pandemic to address en-
vironmental issues like air pollution. It is also
not pragmatic to impose a blanket lockdown
to address air pollution. Policy decisions will
have to balance socio-economic considera-
tions with health imperatives. Inter-gener-
ational equity should be the thrust of such
efforts.
Under Common Law, the public trust
doctrine is often invoked in cases of large-
C R Sasikumar
tify health lockouts and curfews.
The third set of obligations arises out of
international humanitarian law. The
Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention
(BTWC) is pertinent here. India did not sub-
scribe to any conspiracy or racist theory
about the origins of COVID-19 — in fact,
India’s foreign minister rightly affirmed the
BTWC obligations on March 26 (on the 40th
anniversary of that Convention). Surely, this
globalandnon-discriminatorydisarmament
convention deserves applause because it
outlaws a whole range of weapons of mass
destruction. India has, and rightly so, called
for “high priority” to “full and effective im-
plementation by all states parties”.
Multinational and domestic corpora-
tions are also liable before an increasing
number of domestic courts. As if to confirm
this, the Canadian Supreme Court, on
February 28, held that customary interna-
tional law can give rise to a direct claim in
Canada if obligations pertaining to forced
labour, slavery, cruel, inhumane and de-
grading treatment, and crimes against hu-
manity are violated.
The starting point of a determined fight
againstCOVID-19hastobeafull-throatedre-
pudiation of an ancient Latin maxim, inter
armaenimsilentleges(intimesof war,thelaw
falls silent). Combating this fearsome pan-
demiccallsforre-dedicationtonestedinter-
national law obligations and frameworks.
The writer is professor of law, University of
Warwick, and former vice chancellor of
Universities of South Gujarat and Delhi
scaleenvironmentalharm.Thedoctrinepre-
supposes the government to be the custo-
dian of the environment — its protection,
therefore, is the responsibility of the govern-
ment. However, during the current pan-
demic the maximum stimulus, especially in
thetechnologyandservicesectors,hascome
from the private sector.
The government can consider promot-
ing innovation in the private sector in mat-
ters pertaining to the environment.
Individual sectors can be made custodians
of regions to curb pollution. For instance,
green indices of companies can be made a
factor in their market valuation. Similarly,
instead of adding fuel/carbon tax at the time
of issuing flight tickets, the same could be
added to the yearly tax returns to make a
person aware of his/her carbon footprint.
Some of these measures can be scaled glob-
ally within a short time.
Ithasrequiredapandemictocleanupthe
environment. It is the global community’s
duty to carry the task forward.
The writer is an environmental and energy
lawyer and an assistant professor at Jindal
School for Environment and Sustainability
WHAT THE OTHERS SAY
“In any return to normalcy, comprehensive diagnostic testing will be required
to isolate the sick and help certify those who can go back to work safely”
After the
storm passes
Wewillneedtostrikerightbalancebetweenpublic
healthandindividual’srighttoprivacy
Venkatesh
Hariharan
THE NOVEL coronavirus outbreak has
brought into sharp focus the promise and
perils of data surveillance in the healthcare
sector. As India faces an unprecedented
public health crisis that has resulted in a
countrywide lockdown, policymakers are
trying to figure out exit strategies.
Ultimately, lockdowns are brute force in-
struments and are unsustainable over long
periods of time. To bring daily life back to
normal at the earliest, some governments
are deploying apps for self-diagnosis, con-
tact tracing, quarantine and curfew passes
as mitigation strategies. For example, the
Indian government has launched the
Aarogya Setu app for contact tracing, and
as a medium for sharing authentic infor-
mation with citizens.
At this moment, when all of India is
faced with a 21-day lockdown (and per-
haps a partial lockdown after 21 days), that
is estimated to cost $120 billion, privacy
seems to be the least of our worries.
However, privacy is a fundamental right of
every citizen and the state has the primary
responsibility of upholding this right. For
example, when the COVID quarantine lists
that help identify affected individuals are
released in the public domain, the privacy
of those individuals is violated, leading to
social ostracisation. Commentators as di-
verse as Yuval Noah Harari and Edward
Snowden have warned that heightened
surveillance during healthcare emergen-
cies can make the surveillance state the
“new normal” with frightening possibili-
ties for individual liberty.
In the wake of corona, governments
have released apps for self-diagnosis, con-
tact tracing and curfew passes. These apps
can help bring daily life back to normalcy
soon. Self-diagnosis apps can help individ-
uals do a quick check and see if the sore
throat, fever or other symptoms they have
are minor problems or symptoms of coro-
navirus. These apps can be the first line of
defence, and can protect our underfunded
medical system from being overloaded by
panic-stricken individuals seeking to be
tested for the virus.
Contacttracingcanhelpwithoneof the
most difficult challenges in dealing with a
highly infectious and asymptomatic
pathogenlikethecoronavirus.If apersonis
diagnosed with the virus, they may not be
able to remember all those they came in
contact with in the 14 days that it takes for
thesymptomstomanifest.Widespreaduse
of contact tracing apps in the early days of
the virus can minimise the need for pro-
longed lockdowns.
Intimesof lockdowns,peoplestillneed
their daily essentials like grains, eggs, milk
and other supplies. If those supply chains
are hit by the shutdown, prices of essential
commodities rise sharply, leading to panic
buying.Manyindividualsmayalsohavele-
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
AUSTERITY IN CRISIS
THIS REFERS TO editorial, ‘Out of the
old box’ ( IE, April 9). One wonders
what is wrong in the austerity meas-
ure suggested by Congress President
Sonia Gandhi. The government
has spent a whopping Rs 5,700 crore
on advertising between 2014 and
2019. Why not cut the expenditure
and spend the amount for relief meas-
ures? When the government is asking
people to donate, it should also take
steps to augment resources. As
far as the revenue for media is con-
cerned, they should source it from
the private players at this time
of distress.
Vidhya B Ragunath, Thanjavur
THIS REFERS TO the editorial, ‘Out of
the old box’ (IE, April 9). Indian media
has already been feeling the pinch of
the lockdown. As advertisement rev-
enues continue to plummet, Congress
President Sonia Gandhi further calls
for a two-year blanket ban on govern-
ment ads in the media. Not only is her
message badly-timed, but the sugges-
tion completely unhelpful in these try-
ing times. The Indian Newspaper
Society is right to call out her awful
idea as an attempt of “financial cen-
sorship” of the free press.
Varun Das, Zirakpur
GREATER WOES
THIS REFERS TO the editorial ‘Opening
up’ and the article, ‘Listening as gover-
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
— THEWASHINGTONPOST
gitimate reasons for stepping out of their
homes—visitingafamilymemberinahos-
pital,forinstance.Curfewpassappscanhelp
the police quickly issue passes to doctors,
caregivers, delivery services, couriers and
others who keep the wheels of our econ-
omy running.
However, the data collected through
these apps also provides huge surveillance
capabilitiestothestate.Therefore,asHarari
pointsout,“Whenchoosingbetweenalter-
natives, we should ask ourselves not only
how to overcome the immediate threat,
but also what kind of world we will inhabit
once the storm passes?”
Where the collection of data through
such apps is done by the state, the state
must recognise that it is not the owner of
the collected data, but merely the custo-
dian of data. Secondly, as compared to the
private sector, the state has a much higher
responsibility for safeguarding data, be-
cause its control of the police, tax author-
ities and other instruments gives it great
coercive power. The threats of state mis-
use of data are, therefore, much higher
than its misuse by the private sector. The
only way to mitigate this is by putting pri-
vacy and good data governance practices
at the centre of such data collection, and
by instituting checks and balances on
state power.
Wherever data is collected by the state,
itmustbetheminimumrequiredtogetthe
job done. For example, self-testing apps
should not collect personally identifiable
information, except essential information
like age, and gender. This data should be
deleted after the crisis is over.
Singapore seems to have set a good ex-
ample with its Trace Together app — a vol-
untary app that uses bluetooth technology
to detect proximity to other users having
this same app. When the app is down-
loaded,arandomnumberisassignedtothe
user, and thedata is stored on the phone it-
self in an encrypted manner. Singapore’s
Ministry of Health (MoH) is the only entity
thatcandecryptthisdata,anditcanrequest
the users to share it if the user is diagnosed
with COVID-19. This enables MoH’s con-
tact tracing team to quickly identify other
individualswhoareatrisk.Byrequiringthe
data to be shared only when the individual
hasbeenidentifiedasinfectedwithCOVID-
19, Trace Together strikes a good balance
between public health and protecting an
individual’s privacy.
Ultimately data collection practices by
the state boil down to the social contract
for data between citizens and the state. A
responsiblestate willcollectthe minimum
amount of data required for a specific pur-
pose and delete it after the purpose has
been served. No state should take its citi-
zens’ trust for granted. If citizens do not
trustthestateasthecustodianof theirdata,
therewillbedigitaldisobedience.Nuanced
data collection and governance practices
combined with independent audits of
these practices will help the state win the
trust and collaboration of its citizens.
Without such sensitivity, a healthcare cri-
sis could be compounded into a human
rights disaster.
The writer is senior fellow at IDFC Institute
and member of the
Data Governance Network
LETTER OF THE
WEEK AWARD
To encourage quality reader
intervention, The Indian
Express offers the Letter of
the Week award. The letter
adjudged the best for the
week is published every
Saturday. Letters may be
e-mailed to
editpage@expressindia.com
or sent to The Indian
Express, B-1/B, Sector 10,
Noida-UP 201301.
nance’ (IE April 8). I remember that
during Bengal Famine of 1943, while
Mahatma Gandhi appealed to extend
assistance to all sufferers, M A Jinnah
advocated help for the Muslims only.
Your opinion that impending
restrictions will have to give way to a
dynamic strategy allowing resump-
tion of economic activity is commend-
able. Ways and means need to
be chalked out as the adage goes
“the serpent also does, but the lathi
doesn’t break”. But our economy
stands shattered, daily wagers are dy-
ing of hunger and the elderly are feel-
ing suffocated. The lockdown, as
at present, gives more woes than
comforts.
L R Gupta, Lucknow

10 THE OUTBREAK
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 2020
PANDEMIC
WATCH
During a drive in
Karachi. Reuters
PAKISTAN
ScopeofCPEC
tobe‘enhanced
in2ndphase’
Islamabad: The China-
Pakistan Economic
Corridor (CPEC) is at the
cusp of launching its sec-
ond phase to add more
sectors like agriculture
and tourism, a senior of-
ficial has said, rejecting
reports that the project is
slowing down due to the
outbreak. Chinahascom-
mitted to invest over $60
billion in Pakistan as part
of the CPEC under which
itplannedtobuildanum-
ber of special economic
zones. Asim Saleem
Bajwa, chairman CPEC
Authority, in a tweet on
Wednesday rejected re-
ports about the adverse
impactof thecoronavirus
on CPEC projects.
YEMEN
Saudicoalition
startsunilateral
virusceasefire
Riyadh: The Saudi-led
coalition began a unilat-
eral ceasefire in Yemen's
long war on Thursday,
saying it hoped the ini-
tiative to prevent coron-
avirus in the impover-
ished country would
lead to a wider political
solution. The Iran-
backed Huthi rebels
have not made any com-
ment on the coalition's
declaration of a two-
week pause in the five-
year conflict that took ef-
fect from 0900 GMT. If
the ceasefire does hold,
it would be the first
breakthrough since the
warring parties agreed
to a UN-brokered cease-
fire in the port city of
Hodeida during talks in
Sweden in late 2018.
AUSTRALIA
Policeraidship
atcentreof
virusoutbreak
Sydney: Police wearing
protective gear boarded a
cruise ship to seize evi-
dence and question crew
members of the vessel
linked to hundreds of
coronavirus infections
and 15 deaths across
Australia. About 2,700
passengers disembarked
from the ship on March
19 in Sydney and it has
since become the largest
source of coronavirus in-
fectionsinAustralia.More
than 600 cases of COVID-
19 and 15 deaths are
linked the to the ship, the
Ruby Princess.About 200
crew have shown symp-
toms of COVID-19, while
18 have tested positive.
Damascus slams ‘misleading’
chemical arms watchdog report
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
DAMASCUS, APRIL 9
THE SYRIAN government on
Thursday criticised as "mislead-
ing"areportbytheglobalchem-
ical weapons watchdog that for
the first time blamed Damascus
for toxic attacks in 2017.
“The report of the
Organisation for the Prohibition
of ChemicalWeaponsontheuse
of poisonous substances in the
town of Latamneh in 2017 is
misleadingandcontainsfalsified
and fabricated conclusions
OVER1.5MILLIONVIRUSCASES
and 90,000 deaths reported worldwide
Faced racist slurs from Taiwan:
Tedros politicising pandemic,
Taiwan protests accusation, calls for Tedros to clarify, apologise to country
ASSOCIATED PRESS
TAIPEI, APRIL 9
TAIWAN'S FOREIGN ministry on
Thursday strongly protested ac-
cusations from the head of the
World Health Organisation that
the self-governing island was
linked to and condoned racist
personal attacks on him.
A ministry statement ex-
pressed “strong dissatisfaction
andahighdegreeof regret”with
WHO Director-General Tedros
AdhanomGhebreyesus'remarks
at a press briefing in Geneva on
Wednesday.Itrequestedhe“im-
mediatelycorrecthisunfounded
allegations, immediately clarify,
and apologise to our country.”
At the press briefing, Tedros
vocally defended himself and
theUNhealthagency'sresponse
tothecoronaviruspandemic.He
accused Taiwan's foreign min-
istryof beinglinkedtoamonths-
long campaign against him and
said that since the emergence of
the new coronavirus, he has
been personally attacked, in-
cludingreceivingattimes,death
threats and racist abuse.
“This attack came from
Taiwan,” said Tedros, a former
Ethiopian health and foreign
minister and the WHO's first
African leader.
HesaidTaiwanesediplomats
wereawareof theattacksbutdid
not dissociate themselves from
US jobless roll rises by 6.6 mn;
NY death count hits new high
AGENCIES
NEW YORK, APRIL 9
ANOTHER 6.6 million people
filedforunemploymentbenefits
lastweekasthecoronavirusout-
break continued its devastating
march through the American
economy,theLaborDepartment
reported on Thursday.
With astonishing swiftness,
the pandemic has shut down
bothlongstandingandnewbusi-
nesses, leaving veteran workers
and recent hires in nearly every
type of industry without a pay-
check. In just three weeks, more
than 16 million Americans have
lost their jobs.
Many Wall Street analysts
concede that at this point, fore-
casts are not much more than
gussied-up guesses: The pur-
poseful and sudden halt in eco-
nomic activity hasno precedent,
UK death toll up by 881; BANGLADESH
PM ‘makes positive steps’ Rohingya camps under ‘complete lockdown’
ADITI KHANNA
LONDON, APRIL 9
BRITAIN ON Thursday reported
881 more fatalities due to
COVID-19,bringingthecountry's
total toll to 7,978, as Foreign
Secretary Dominic Raab said the
strict lockdown measures in
place in the UK must continue
for more time to ensure there is
no second wave.
Raab, who is deputising for
Prime Minister Boris Johnson
while he is in hospital recover-
ing from COVID-19, confirmed
thatthepremier'sconditioncon-
tinues to improve.
Bashar
al-Assad
aimedatfalsifyingtruthsandac-
cusing the Syrian government,"
the foreign ministry said.
The OPCW findings pub-
lished Wednesday accused
President Bashar al-Assad's air
force of using the nerve gas sarin
and chlorine three times in 2017
on that town in northwest Syria.
TheSyriangovernmentsaidit
WHO chief
Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen at a military camp in Tainan on Thursday. Reuters
them. “They even started criti-
cising me in the middle of all
those insults and slurs,” Tedros
said. “I say it today because it's
enough.” The basis of his allega-
tions was unclear.
President Tsai Ing-wen also
weighed in, saying on Facebook
that Taiwan does not condone
theuseof racistremarkstoattack
those with different opinions.
“If Director-General Tedros
could withstand pressure from
China and come to Taiwan to see
JOBLESS CLAIMS NOW EXCEED
16 MILLION IN THE UNITED STATES
7
RECESSION
6 16,780,000
5 Claimswere
Initialjoblessclaims,
4 lastthree
Million
perweek
3 Seasonallyadjusted
2
1 China — it will be considering
0 two sets of texts for resolution.
’04
’05
’06
’07
’08
’09
’10
’11
’12
’13
’15
’16
’14
’17
’19
’18
’20
Source: Department of Labor
and no one knows when the re-
strictions on movement and
commerce will be lifted.
New York state set another
single-day record of COVID-19
deaths.Thenumberofknownin-
fections in New York state alone
approached 150,000.
Nearly 430,000 cases of
“The Prime Minister remains
inintensivecare,buthecontinues
to make positive steps forwards
and is in good spirits,” said Raab.
The senior Cabinet minister
revealed another record in-
crease in the daily coronavirus
related death toll of 881 to hit
7,978 as he urged the British
public to continue to follow the
government's social distancing
guidance.
After chairing an emergency
Cobra committee meeting ear-
lier on Thursday, Raab said the
early signs suggest all the lock-
down measures are having an
impact but it is too early to say
that “conclusively”. PTI
rejectedthecontentsofthereport.
Damascus"absolutelydenies
ever having used poisonous
gases in the town of Latamneh
or in any other Syrian city or vil-
lage," the statement said.
Wednesday's report was the
first from a new investigative
team set up by the OPCW to
identify the perpetrators of at-
tacks in Syria's nine-year-old
civil war.
It said two Syrian Arab Air
Force Sukhoi SU-22 jet fighters
dropped two bombs containing
sarin on Latamneh on March 24
and 30, 2017.
BASELESSACCUSATIONS
of cover-up, claims China
Taiwan'seffortstofightCOVID-19
for himself, he would be able to
seethattheTaiwanesepeopleare
the true victims of unfair treat-
ment,” she wrote, referring to
Taiwan'sexclusionfromtheWHO
atChina'sinsistence.“Ibelievethat
the WHO will only truly be com-
plete if Taiwan is included."
Tedros was elected with the
strong support of China, one of
five permanent veto-wielding
members of the UN Security
CouncilandwhichclaimsTaiwan
filedinthe
weeks
The New York Times
COVID-19, the highly infectious
lungdiseasecausedbythecoron-
avirus, were confirmed in the US
as of Wednesday afternoon, in-
cludingover14,700deaths.Forthe
secondstraightdaytheviruskilled
atleast1,900ina24-hourperiod.
Cuomo said 779 people had
died in the past day in his state.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
COX'S BAZAR, APRIL 9
BANGLADESH HAS imposed a
"complete lockdown" in Cox's
Bazar district — home to over a
million Rohingya refugees from
neighbouring Myanmar — to
halt the spread of coronavirus,
officials said Thursday.
Experts have warned the dis-
easecouldspreadquicklythrough
the cramped, sewage-soaked al-
leys where the persecuted
Muslim minority are housed in
canvas and bamboo shacks.
With the official number of
casesdoublingtomorethan200
OTHER TOP GLOBAL STORIES
Spy chief named Iraq’s
3rd PM-designate this year
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
BAGHDAD, APRIL 9
IRAQI PRESIDENT Barham Saleh
nominated spy chief Mustafa
Kadhemi on Thursday as the
country's third prime minister-
designatethisyear,momentsaf-
terhispredecessorendedhisbid
to form a government.
Kadhemi, the 53-year-old
head of the National Intelligence
Service, has ascended to the role
as Iraq faces a budget crisis
brought on by the collapse in
world oil prices and the spread
of the novel coronavirus.
asitsownterritory.Hehasfirmly
backed Beijing's claims to have
beenopenandtransparentabout
the outbreak, despite strong evi-
dencethatitsuppressedearlyre-
ports on infections.
Taiwan has one of the most
robust public health systems,
and has won praise for its han-
dlingof theoutbreak. Despiteits
close proximity to China and the
frequency of travel between the
sides, Taiwan has reported just
379 cases and five deaths.
IN THE NEW WORLD
Nurses hold newborn babies wearing protective face shields during the outbreak at a
hospital in Bangkok, Thailand, on Thursday. Reuters
Refugee camps vulnerable
tocoronavirus outbreak
REFUGEE CAMPS such as the one in Myanmar are considered
particularly vulnerable to the outbreak. One reasonis because
of the sheer volume of people living in congested space, mak-
ingsocialdistancingdifficult.Thesituationisexacerbatedbythe
poormedicalfacilitiesandlackof protectivegearinsuchcamps.
InternetbanintheBangladeshcamphasalsoledtothespread
of rumours and difficulty in accessing accurate information.
nationwide in the last five days,
officials ordered a lockdown
from late Wednesday.
The area “will be put under
"This is a huge responsibility,
and a difficult task," said Saleh in
his nominating speech, describ-
ing Kadhemi as someone with
integrity and reason.
Hisnominationwasattended
by ministers, political rivals and
even the United Nations' repre-
sentativeinIraq,indicatingwide-
spreadsupportforKadhemithat
neither of the previous PM-des-
ignates had enjoyed.
Moments before the cere-
mony, his predecessor Adnan
Zurfi announced he was with-
drawing his candidacy due to
"internal and external reasons,"
without elaborating.
The World
VICTIMSOFUNFAIRTREATMENT
siding with China, says Trump
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
WASHINGTON, BEIJING, APR 9
US PRESIDENT Donald Trump
has fired a fresh salvo at the
World Health Organisation, ac-
cusing its chief of siding with
Chinaand"politicising"thepan-
demicwhilerepeatinghisthreat
to freeze the agency's funding.
Trump's allegation comes a
day after the US President
threatened to put a "very pow-
erful" hold on US' funding to the
World Health Organisation
(WHO) and criticised it for hav-
ing "missed the call" in its re-
sponse to the pandemic.
The president's fresh allega-
tion comes after WHO Director-
General Tedros Adhanom
Ghebreyesus cautioned against
politicisation of COVID-19 and
said that such a move will only
resultin"manymorebodybags".
Hours later at the White
House conference, Trump
agreed COVID-19 should not be
politicised, but alleged that the
WHO chief was doing exactly
that and was siding with China.
"When he (Ghebreyesus)
says politicising, he's politicis-
ing. That shouldn't be. We
spend $450 million last year,
hundreds of millions in previ-
complete lockdown — no entry,
no exit — until the situation im-
proves”, the directive said.
Police and soldiers set up
Pak asks Afghanistan to hand over
mastermind of gurdwara attack
SAJJAD HUSSAIN
ISLAMABAD, APRIL 9
PAKISTAN ON Thursday asked
Afghanistan to hand over the
chief of the Islamic State's
Khorasan unit, Aslam Farooqi,
themastermindbehindadeadly
terror attack on a prominent
gurdwara in Kabul last month.
A heavily armed Islamic
State-Khorasan suicide bomber
stormed the gurdwara in the
heart of Afghanistan's capital on
March25,killing25Sikhsandin-
juring eight others.
are the Taiwanese: Tsai Ing-wen
AFRICAN LEADERS RALLY AROUND TEDROS
SOUTH AFRICAN
president Cyril Ramaphosa
said the WHO chief had
shown “exceptional
leadership ... from the very
earliest stages of this
global health crisis”
RWANDAN LEADER
Paul Kagame said the
WHO chief “has the full
confidence and support of
Africa,” while AU
Commission head Moussa
Faki urged leaders to focus
on fighting COVID-19
ous years. And they got to do
better than that. They got to do
better. When you talk about
politics, I can't believe he's talk-
ing about politics look at the re-
lationship they have to China,"
Trump said.
China on Thursday denied
anycover-upinreportingtheini-
tial information of the outbreak
as it put up a staunch defence of
Ghebreyesus.
"China was the first country
to report the COVID-19 to the
WHO, (and) that doesn't mean
the virus originated from
roadblocks in the district, home
to 3.4 million people including
the Rohingyarefugees,and were
conducting patrols inside and
around the camps on Thursday.
Refugee commissioner
Mahbub Alam Talukder said
movement restrictions on aid
workers had also been imposed.
"Only emergency food supply
and medical services can con-
tinue work in the camps by
maintaining extreme caution,"
he told AFP.
Anyone with a recent history
of travel abroad would also be
prevented from entering the
camps until they completed a
quarantine, he added.
Theattackkilled25. Reuters/File
Afghanistan's National
Directorate of Security had said
Farooqi, also known as Abdullah
Orakzai,wasarrestedalongwith
19 other commanders.
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
AFRICA ACCOUNTS
for a fraction of global
cases, but its countries are
feeling the impact with
economies expected to
contract, putting about 20
million jobs at risk
Wuhan," Foreign Ministry
spokesman Zhao Lijian told a
media briefing here.
"Epidemic may break out
first anywhere in the world. But
its origin is a matter of science
and we should leave it to sci-
ence and medical community,"
said Zhao.
"Accusationof Chinacovered
up the epidemic and lack of
transparency is groundless,”
Zhaosaid,adding thatChinahad
informedWHOof thegeneticse-
quence of the virus which was
used by American labs.
UNSC to meet
over outbreak,
discuss global
ceasefire
SHUBHAJIT ROY
NEW DELHI, APRIL 9
AS THE United Nations Security
Council meets in the wee hours
of Fridaytodiscussthepandemic
forthefirsttime—afterweeksof
differences between the US and
Proposed by France, the first
text focuses on United Nations
Secretary General Antonio
Guterres's call last month to
cease hostilities around the
worldas partof a "humanitarian
pause" to fight the pandemic. It
has been supported by all per-
manent members of the UNSC.
Andthesecondtexthasbeen
spearheaded by Tunisia on be-
half of the 10 non-permanent
members and calls for "an ur-
gent, coordinated and united in-
ternationalactiontocurbtheim-
pact of COVID-19" and urges an
immediate global ceasefire on
humanitarian grounds.
Spearheaded by Germany,
nine of the UNSC's 10 non-per-
manentmembershadrequested
the closed-door meeting -- a
video conference -- last week.
This meeting could not be held
earlier since Washington and
Beijingwereatloggerheads,with
the Trump administration had
insisted on referring to the virus
as originating from China.
At the UNSC meeting,
Guterres is expected to brief on
efforts to fight the pandemic,
peacekeeping missions and
push for unity in the interna-
tional community.The UNSC
President for the month of April,
the Dominican Republic has
formally scheduled the video
conference. WITH PTIINPUTS
"The ambassador of
Afghanistan to Pakistan was
called to the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and conveyed Pakistan's
views with regard to the arrest
of ISIS-K leader, Aslam Farooqi,
by the Afghan authorities on
April 5, 2020," a statement is-
sued by the Foreign Office
said here.
"It was underscored to the
ambassador that since Farooqi
wasinvolvedinanti-Pakistanac-
tivities inAfghanistan,heshould
be handed over to Pakistan for
furtherinvestigations,"thestate-
ment added. PTI

11 ECONOMY
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 2020
COVID-19 EFFECT
PROVIDENT FUND
EPFO processes
nearly 1.37 lakh claims,
disburses `279.65 cr
through online facility
ENSECONOMICBUREAU
NEWDELHI,APRIL9
THE EMPLOYEES’ Provident
FundOrganisation(EPFO)has
processed nearly 1.37 lakh
claims and disbursed an
amount of Rs 279.65 crore
since the launch of the online
facility to allow withdrawal
notexceedingthebasicwages
and dearness allowances for
three months or up to 75 per
cent of the amount standing
toamember’screditintheEPF
account, whichever is less, in
the wake of the coronavirus
pandemic.
“The system, as it stands
today, is processing all appli-
cations which are fully KYC
compliantwithinlessthan72
hours. Members, who have
applied for claims in some
other category, can also file
claim to fight pandemic and
depending upon the KYC
complianceconditionof each
member, every effort is being
made to settle claims at the
earliest,” an EPFO official said.
Many EPFO subscribers
hadraisedtheissueofdelayin
processing of the claims,
which officials said are being
addressed.“FullyKYCcompli-
ant applications are being
cleared first automatically,”
another official of the
Organisationsaid,addingthat
therestoftheapplicationsare
being looked into.
EXEMPTION ON BASIC CUSTOMS DUTY TO BE AVAILABLE UP TO SEPTEMBER 30: FINANCE MINISTRY
Import of COVID-19 preventive products to get duty exemption
ENSECONOMICBUREAU
NEWDELHI,APRIL9
THE GOVERNMENT has ex-
emptedimportofventilators,face
masks, surgical masks, PPE,
COVID-19 test kits and inputs for
manufacturing these items from
levy of basic customs duty and
health cess. The exemption from
import duty would be applicable
till September 30, the Finance
Ministry said in a statement.
“In the context of COVID-19
situation, considering the imme-
diate requirement of ventilators
and other items, the Central
Governmenthasgrantedexemp-
tionfromBasicCustomsDutyand
Health cess, on the import of the
followinggoods,withimmediate
effect:ventilators,facemasks,sur-
gical masks, personal protection
At Mumbai airport, thousands of
tonnes of unclaimed cargo in the open
KHUSHBOONARAYAN
MUMBAI,APRIL9
THENATIONWIDElockdowndue
to COVID-19 pandemic has cre-
ated a capacity crunch at the
country’slargestcargoterminalat
Mumbai International Airport. It
currently is being forced to ac-
commodate imported cargo fifty
percentmorethanitscarryingca-
pacity, as importers have not
pickeduptheirgoodssinceMarch
23,sourcestoldTheIndianExpress.
The airport — which has
India’s largest cold chain storage
andacapacitytostoreabout3,000
metric tonnes of imported goods
— is currently accommodating
4,500 metric tonnes of goods,
some of which are even lying out
intheopennexttotheaircraftdue
to space crunch. “The sheds at
SaharAircargocomplexareover-
flowing,” said an official.
The situation prompted
MumbaiInternationalAirportLtd
(MIAL) to issue a circular on
Tuesday, urging importers and
customs brokers to swiftly ap-
proachtheaircargocomplexwith
documents and collect the cargo
immediately after the arrival of
thecargoflight.Earlier,importers
were allowed to start the collec-
tion process only after they re-
ceived a location number of their
shipment after its arrival.
“Due to less clearance and
huge storage of import cargo, it
willnotbepossibletoassignloca-
SENSEX: 31,159.62 ▲ 1265.66 NIFTY: 9,111.90 ▲ 363.15 NIKKEI: 19,345.77 ▼ 7.47 HANG SENG: 24,300.33 ▲ 329.96 FTSE: 5,753.82 ▲ 76.09 DAX: 10,398.18 ▲ 65.29
Theschemeallowing
advancewithdrawal
wasnotifiedon
March27;online
facility waslaunched
onMarch29
EPFO has relaxed the date
of birth correction criteria to
ease KYC (know your cus-
tomer) compliance. It is ac-
cepting the date of birth
recorded in the Aadhaar card
of a subscriber as a proof for
rectificationofthedateofbirth
in PF records.
Moreover, all cases with
variationindateof birthupto
three years are now being ac-
cepted by EPFO, officials said.
Last month, Finance
MinisterNirmalaSitharaman
—aspartof thegovernment’s
financial package to counter
theCOVID-19outbreak—had
announced measures for a
section of organised workers
by bearing the outgo on con-
tributionof 24percentfores-
tablishmentshavingupto100
workerswith90percenthav-
ing income below Rs 15,000
andrelaxingwithdrawalcon-
ditions from EPF accounts.
The scheme allowing ad-
vance withdrawal was noti-
fied on March 27 and the on-
line facility was launched on
March 29.
equipment (PPE), COVID-19 test
kits,inputsformanufactureofthe
above items. This basic customs
dutyexemptionshallbeavailable
up to 30th September, 2020,” the
statement said.
However, certain sections of
the country’s medical devices in-
dustry feel the move may not be
as beneficial as the government
hopes it to be. “If the companies
intendingtoimportproductslike
ventilators are headquartered in
a country which needs these
productsmorebecausetheyhave
a higher number of serious cases
and deaths, how much India will
be able to import will remain a
question mark,” said an industry
executive,requestinganonymity.
“In the US already, there is a
huge demand for products like
ventilators.Manufacturingisalso
shut in Ireland, and Germany
The Mumbai airport is currently accommodating 4,500
metric tonnes of goods. Express photo
tion to all landed shipments,
hence please don’t wait for loca-
tions/binningupdationinthesys-
tem, kindly process for the deliv-
ery at the earliest,” said the MIAL
circular.Theimportedgoodsthat
are lying unclaimed include es-
sential pharma and agriculture
cargoandnon-essentialautomo-
bile, engineering and electronic
goodsamongothers,saidsources.
Both the airport authorities
andcustomsofficialssaidtheim-
ported goods have completely
cloggedtheaircargocomplex.The
problemiscompoundingasonan
average, 4-5 frieghters have been
operating at the airport with av-
eragedailyimportsof250tonnes.
“The customs is functioning
24/7 and engaging with stake-
holders proactively to clear the
consignmentsattheearliest.Butit
is proving to be a difficult task.
Whilecustomsofficersareableto
reachtheplaceofworkwithrela-
tive ease, the same is not true of
other stakeholders, particularly
IIP FOR FEBRUARY EXPANDS TO 4.5% FROM 0.2% A YEAR AGO
FactoryoutputinFebat7-month
high;subduedgrowthinApr-Feb
ENSECONOMICBUREAU
NEWDELHI,APRIL9
FACTORYOUTPUTrosetoaseven-
month high of 4.5 per cent in
February from 0.2 per cent a year
ago, primarily due to a low base
effect and pickup in mining and
electricity output. Capital goods
and consumer durables output
continued to contract, indicating
weak investment and consump-
tion demand, data released by
National Statistical Office (NSO)
on Thursday showed.
Cumulatively, the growth of
IndexofIndustrialProduction(IIP)
remainedsubduedat0.9percent
for the 11 months of April-
February, as against 4.0 per cent
growthintheyear-agoperiod.The
COVID-19outbreakisexpectedto
adversely impact industrial
growth in the coming months.
Manufacturing sector, which
carries a weight of 77.63 per cent
‘Half a billion more people
face poverty due to virus’
Around half a billion people could be pushed into poverty
as a result of the economic fallout from the coronavirus
pandemic, an Oxfam report said
doesn’tseemfaroff.Wouldthese
companies be able to make
enough to send to India as well?”
thepersonsaid.“Thedutyreduc-
tion on components might help
though,” the executive added.
“How does this import duty
juggling make a difference if the
governmentistheonebuyingthe
ventilators? The government
leviesthedutiesandgetsthesame
back,whetheritiszeropercentor
15 per cent. For PPEs and other
items,itmayhelpthepublic.India
is publicly admitting that our
‘Make in India’ that was hyped so
much for many years hasn’t
yieldedanyresultandwehaveto
importcriticalgoods,beitduring
normal days or during a crisis,”
said Vishwaprasad Alva, manag-
ing director, Skanray.
“AiMeDstronglyproteststhis.
This is a repeat mistake that has
the contract labour, some of
whom may have been migrant
and left the city,” said Vijay Singh
Chauhan, commissioner of cus-
toms, Air Cargo Complex.
While the Centre has waived
50 per cent of demurrage charge
on exim consignments and the
customs is allowing importers to
shiftcargotowarehouseswithout
paying duties, importers are not
keen on moving the goods from
the airport. They have cited vari-
ous reasons including lack of
workers, transport and low de-
mand, for delay in collection of
imported goods, said sources.
“Perhapsthebiggestchallenge
relatesto refrigeratedcargo,with
only limited storage space and
high possibility of spoilage. Most
of the imports relate to pharma-
ceutical companies. Customs is
trying to reach out to the im-
porters, offering them all assis-
tance,istakingdeliveryoftheim-
ported materials and even in
warehousing,” said Chauhan.
INDUSTRIAL
GROWTHTOBEHIT
■ The expansion in
February was due to a
low base effect and
pickup in mining and
electricity output;
COVID-19 is likely to hit
industrial growth in
coming months
in the IIP, grew 3.2 per cent in
February, gaining from the low
base last year. The sector had
recorded a contraction of 0.3 per
cent in the corresponding period
of last year, the data showed.
For April-February, manufac-
turingsectorhasgrownameagre
0.6percentasagainst3.9percent
growth last year. Capital goods
output, a measure of investment
demand,hascontractedineachof
led to India already becoming so
importdependentonmedicalde-
vices.Theweaknessof theIndian
medical system is well known to
all ... Had the Indian medical de-
vice industry been more
strongerandrobustandwell-pro-
tected, the manufacturers of
masks and PPE kits would have
beenmoremodernised,moreau-
tomated and better placed to
ramp up capacities,” said Rajiv
Nath, forum coordinator,
Association of Indian Medical
Devices Industry (AiMeD).
At present, the basic customs
duty on some of the medical de-
vices such as ventilators is 7.5 per
cent.Meanwhile,anempowered
group of the government has
been trying to help domestic
manufacturersofPPEsandmasks
to boost their production. The
companies are attempting to
Reserve Bank puts on hold two
key HDFC Bank appointments
ENSECONOMICBUREAU
MUMBAI,APRIL9
THE RESERVE Bank of India (RBI)
hasput onhold theappointment
of Sashidhar Jagdishan and
Bhavesh Zaveri as additional di-
rectors and executive directors of
HDFCBank,triggeringspeculation
aboutthesuccessortoAdityaPuri
who is scheduled to retire as MD
and CEO in October.
“We are now in receipt of a
communication dated April 7,
2020 from the RBI stating that
since these are important posi-
tions in the bank, the bank is ad-
vised to examine and submit the
proposalafteranewMDandCEO
assumes charge later this year,”
‘Worst fallout
since Great
Depression’
United Nations: The pandemic
sweeping the world will turn
globaleconomicgrowth“sharply
negative” in 2020, triggering the
worstfalloutsincethe1930sGreat
Depression,withonlyapartialre-
coveryseenin2021,International
Monetary Fund Managing
DirectorKristalinaGeorgievasaid,
painting a far bleaker picture of
thesocialandeconomicimpactof
the new coronavirus. REUTERS
the eleven months this fiscal, de-
clining 9.7 per cent in February
comparedto9.3percentcontrac-
tion last year. Cumulatively, capi-
tal goods output has contracted
by11.4percentinApril-February
from4.1percentgrowthlastyear.
Consumer durables output
posted a contraction of 6.4 per
cent in February as against a
growth of 0.9 per cent a year ago.
The industry group ‘Manuf-
acture of basic metals’ recorded
the highest growth of 18.2 per
cent, followed by 8.0 per cent in
‘Manufacture of chemicals and
chemicalproducts’andin‘Manu-
factureofothernon-metallicmin-
eral products’. ‘Manufacture of
motorvehicles,trailersandsemi-
trailers’recordedthehighestcon-
tractionof15.6percent,followed
by(-)14.8percentin‘Manufacture
of computer, electronic and opti-
calproducts’and(-)9.9percentin
‘Manufacture of fabricated metal
products, except machinery and
● RESCUE PACKAGE FOR
POOR COUNTRIES: World
leaders need to agree on an
economic rescue package to
keep poor countries and poor
communities afloat
MEASURESRECOMMENDED:
■ $1 trillion: Worth of debt
payments of developing
countries due in 2020, which
needs to be cancelled
■ $500 million: Increase in
overseas aid
■ $1 trillion: Value of special
drawing right at IMF that needs
to be created
boosttheircapacityfrom1.10lakh
to 1.35 lakh units per day, said a
senior government official close
to the development.
“The requirement is more, so
thegovernmenthasalsobeenar-
ranging for imports. It is coming
from different countries, wher-
everthereisavailability,”theoffi-
cial said.
India has long been depend-
ent on imports for most of its
medicaldevices.Forinstance,the
averagedemandforventilatorsin
Indiaisaround8,000piecesayear.
Of this, only 10 per cent is manu-
facturedandsuppliedinthecoun-
try. With the number of COVID-
19casesrising,thecountrymight
need anywhere between 1.10
lakh-2.20lakhventilatorsbyMay
15, in the worst case scenario, ac-
cording to an analysis by think
tank Brookings India.
“... the bank isadvisedto
examine and submit the
proposal after anew MD
and CEO assumes charge
later this year”
HDFC BANK
HDFC Bank said in a stock ex-
change filing. “The bank should
accordingly ensure compliance
with Reserve Bank’s instruction,”
the RBI advised the bank.
The RBI move, which came
overfourmonthsafterHDFCBank
submitted the names for clear-
ance, has led to speculation that
thesuccessorcouldbeaninternal
candidate. Both Jagdishan and
Zaveriaresaidtobeinthereckon-
US Fed rolls out new
$2.3-tn virus rescue plan
REUTERS
WASHINGTON,APRIL9
THE US Federal Reserve on
Thursday rolled out a broad, $2.3
trillion effort to bolster local gov-
ernments and small and mid-
sizedbusinessesinitslatestmove
to keep the US economy intact as
the country battles the coron-
avirus pandemic. The US central
bank said it would work through
GOLD
`41,705
Note: Spot gold markets shut due to lockdown in major states. *Indian basket as on March 19, 2020
equipment’.
Economists said the shut-
down is likely to reverse the
growthtrendofindustrialoutput.
“Going forward, we will see a re-
versaloftrendinMarchduetothe
shutdown and the March-end
phenomenonofcompaniespush-
ingproductiontomeettargetswill
nothold.Fortheyear,production
couldbeinrangeof1-1.5percent
at best,” Madan Sabnavis, chief
economist, CARE Ratings said.
RajaniSinha,chiefeconomist,
Knight Frank India, said,“Thereis
not much to cheer from this
data as IIP growth is likely to
sharply fall going forward ... Even
after the lockdown is lifted, de-
mandforconsumerdiscretionary
items will take time to recover
given the poor consumer senti-
ments in midst of job losses and
pay cuts. Capital goods demand
will also remain weak as busi-
nesses will be wary of capex in
these uncertain times.”
● 6%-8%: percentage of
global population that could be
forced into poverty as
governments shut down entire
sectors of their economies to
manage the spread of the virus
URGENT ACTION NEEDED
FROM RICHER COUNTRIES:
Unless richer countries step up
their efforts to help the
developing world, the fight
against poverty could be set
back by a decade and by as
much as 30 years in some areas
Source: Oxfam/PTI
Lockdown, global trade dislocation
to hit Indian economy: RBI report
ENSECONOMICBUREAU
MUMBAI, APRIL 9
THERESERVEBankof India(RBI)
has warned that the coronavirus
(COVID-19)pandemicwouldim-
pacteconomicactivityinIndiadi-
rectly due to lockdowns and
throughsecondroundeffectsop-
erating through global trade and
growth.
“While efforts are being
mounted on a war footing to ar-
rest its spread, COVID-19 would
impacteconomicactivityinIndia
directly through domestic lock-
down,” the RBI said in its
‘Monetary Policy Report-April
2020’.Thoughitforecastretailin-
flation to decline to 2.4 per cent
by the fourth quarter of 2020-21,
thecentralbankrefusedtomake
ing for the top post at the bank.
HDFC Bank recently consti-
tuted a search panel to find the
successor to Puri. Puri, who built
the private lender from scratch
since its inception in 1994 and
madeitthesecondlargestlender
withoverRs9lakhcroreassets,is
thecountry’shighestpaidbanker
and is retiring on October 26.
“Jagdishan and Zaveri will
continue as Additional Directors
on the board of the bank till the
ensuing annual general meeting,
intermsoftherelevantprovisions
of Companies Act, 2013,” the fil-
ing said. The bank had intimated
theRBIabouttheappointmentof
JagdishanandZaveriasadditional
directors and executive directors
on November 28, 2019.
banks to offer four-year loans to
companies of up to 10,000 em-
ployees and directly buy the
bonds of states and more popu-
lous counties and cities to help
themrespondtothehealthcrisis.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell said
the central bank’s role had now
broadenedbeyonditsusualfocus
on keeping markets “liquid” and
functional, to helping the US get
theeconomicandfinancialspace
it needs to fix a dire emergency.
RUPEE
`76.28
Sensex jumps 1,266 pts
on hopes of stimulus,
virus cases peaking out
ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU
MUMBAI, APRIL 9
STOCK MARKETS on Thursday
gained another 4 per cent, amid
expectations of more stimulus
measures and reports of COVID-
19 infections peaking and com-
ing down in the near future. The
Sensexralliedby1,265.66points,
or 4.23 per cent, to 31,159.62 and
the 50-share Nifty increased by
363.15 points, or 4.15 per cent, to
9,111.90. With this gain, the
Sensex has recovered 12.93 per
cent, or 3,668 points, during the
week.
Vinod Nair, head of research,
Geojit Financial Services, said
Indian markets, in sync with
globalmarkets,wereupagainon
expectations of infections peak-
ing out and more stimulus
measures to be announced.
“On the back of positive
global cues, the market rose on
spirited all-round buying.
Automobiles, financials and
pharmaceuticals led the charge
despiteprofitbookingwitnessed
duringthesession. Today’strade
saw even consumer discre-
tionary and consumer durables
stage a comeback ahead of ex-
pectations of a stimulus to help
MSME weather the pandemic,”
said S Ranganathan, head of
Research at LKP Securities.
Indianindicesjumpedhigher
during the week taking signifi-
cant cues from its global peers,
mainly from the US bourses.
“Confidence returned with
reduction in the number of daily
COVID cases in some countries.
Sentiments are changing from
ultra-pessimistic to mildly pes-
simistic, which is driving mar-
kets higher. However, one must
not forget the trillions of dollars
of economic stimulus packages
any estimate on the GDP growth
in the wake of “highly fluid cir-
cumstances”.Manyglobalrating
agencies and banks have down-
gradedIndia’sGDPgrowthtobe-
low two per cent.
“Second round effects would
operate through a severe slow-
downinglobaltradeandgrowth.
Moreimmediately,spilloversare
being transmitted through fi-
nance and confidence channels
to domestic financial markets,”
the RBI report said. These effects
and their interactions would in-
evitably accentuate the growth
slowdown,whichstartedinQ1of
2018-19 and continued through
thefirsthalf of 2019-20,itadded.
According to the RBI, the
globalmacroeconomicoutlookis
overcastwiththeCOVID-19pan-
demic,withmassivedislocations
Incentives for
India INX staff
amid lockdown
AVINASHNAIR
AHMEDABAD,APRIL9
DESPITEA60percentdipintrad-
ing volumes, India International
Exchange(IndiaINX)—thecoun-
try’s first international exchange
at GIFT City, Gandhinagar — is
planningtoincentivisestaffmem-
bers during the annual appraisal
cycle,fortherisksomeofthemare
takingtocometoofficeduringthe
lockdown to keep the exchange
and the data centre functional.
“Wehavereducedourstaffat-
tending office in such a way that
only a bare minimum of 3-4 per-
sons ... come to the office in one
shift,” said V Balasubramaniam,
MD and CEO, India INX.
FY21 growth
likely to be
4.8%: UN report
United Nations: India’s GDP
growthforthecurrentfiscalisex-
pected to slow down to 4.8 per
cent, a UN report has said, warn-
ing that COVID-19 is expected to
result in significant adverse eco-
nomic impacts globally.
India’sGDPgrowthforthefis-
calyear2019-2020wasestimated
at5percentandisforecasttoslow
down to 4.8 per cent for the cur-
rent fiscal 2020-21. PTI
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
OIL SILVER
$26.15 `38,100
*International market data till 1900 IST
Recent
uptrend may
be short-term
MARKETS ARE keenly
awaiting another stimu-
lus to revive the economy
battered by COVID-19.
There are expectations
that worst affected sec-
tors and MSMEs may get
some relief in the pack-
age to be announced by
the government.
While the Sensex has
shot up by over 3,500
points this week, analysts
say the uptrend seems to
be a short-term bear
market rally and may not
be sustainable.
in the US, Japan and other
economies that have boosted
confidence to a large extent,”
said Jimeet Modi, founder and
CEO, Samco Securities.
According to analysts, once
the lockdown is lifted, markets
will take note of the ground re-
alityandreactaccordinglyasthe
aftereffects of the lockdown will
emerge only then.
Meanwhile, the rupee fell to
a new intra-day low against the
US dollar despite strong traction
in domestic equity markers.
Itopenedat76.09beforeslid-
ing to a record low of 76.55
against the dollar. However, the
domestic unit pulled back to fin-
ish at 76.28 as against its previ-
ous close of 76.34.
in global production, supply
chains, trade and tourism.
Financial markets across the
world are experiencing extreme
volatility; global commodity
prices,especiallyofcrudeoil,have
declined sharply, it said.
“The impact of COVID-19 on
inflation is ambiguous, with a
possible decline in food prices
likely to be offset by potential
cost-push increases in prices of
non-fooditemsduetosupplydis-
ruptions,” it said. Taking into ac-
count initial conditions, signals
from forward-looking surveys
and estimates from time series
and structural models, CPI infla-
tion is tentatively projected to
ease from 4.8 per cent in Q1 of
2020-21 to 4.4 per cent in Q2, 2.7
per cent in Q3 and 2.4 per cent in
Q4, the RBI said.
BRIEFLY
BoBcutsMCLR
by0.15%
acrosstenors
New Delhi: State-owned
Bank of Baroda on
Thursdayannouncedtocut
marginal cost of funds
based lending rate by 0.15
per cent across all tenors,
whichwill bringdowncost
of consumer loans. PTI
Googletoldto
paycopyright
feesinFrance
Paris: France’s competition
regulator said Thursday
Google must start paying
media groups for display-
ing their content, ordering
it to begin negotiations af-
ter refusing for months to
comply with Europe’s new
digital copyright law. AFP
Aurobindo
Pharma
donates`10cr
New Delhi: Aurobindo
Pharma Limited said it has
donatedanamountofRs10
croretothePM-CARESfund,
“to strengthen India’s re-
solve to fight against the
menaceof COVID-19.” ENS

12 SPORT
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, FRIDAY, APRIL 10, 2020
How Wimbledon, unlike IPL,
avoided the corona blow
Wiser after SARS outbreak, All-England Club had a virus-related clause in their
insurance policy. As for IPL, like most mega sporting events, it didn't factor a
world-wide disease outbreak.
GAMBLEPAYSOFF
While global sporting leagues and
competitions all across the world reel
from the effects of the Covid-19 virus
strain, the All-England Club is set to
benefit from some foresight on their part.
According to The Times, Wimbledon
chiefs are to see their insurance triggered
by the cancellation with the clause that
covers infectious diseases set to be worth
as much as £100m. (Insurance premium
paid is an estimated 26 million pounds).
According to the Daily Mail, the
Wimbledon’s insurance policy was
updated in 2003 for a virus-related clause
after a SARS outbreak.
■ The Mail article also claims that the
Wimbledon is the only slam with a virus-
related insurance policy and that the
French Open’s insistence on holding the
tournament later this year came from the
fears of losing out on an estimated £230
million. The 134th edition of the oldest
tennis Grand Slam will now be held from
June 28 to July 11, 2021.
WORDPLAYHURTSIPL
The definition of pandemic as opposed
to that of an epidemic may end up
costing the Indian Premier League a
precious insurance pay-out. An epidemic
is defined as a disease that affects a large
number of people within a community,
population or region, whereas a
pandemic is the same, but spread across
multiple countries and continents.
According to a source in the BCCI there is
no pandemic insurance cover for the IPL.
“The BCCI insurance doesn’t cover
pandemic. It covers epidemic, terrorism
and climate related stuff. Pandemic
situation is unprecedented. We have
insured players’ fees so that if they get
injured, they can get money. Ticketing
during play-offs and final is also
insured,” the BCCI source told this
newspaper.
CROSSWORD 4088
ACROSS
1 Quiet game (5)
4 Game with two essential
elements of tennis (7)
8 A Royal Marine member (3)
9 Drink disrupted pool game
(5,4)
10 Fear led to a new form of
government (7)
11 Susie’s spoilt children (5)
13 Actually it’s about a friend (6)
15 In time the deserter makes
mistakes (6)
18 Teach new way to commit
fraud (5)
19 Round and round, in a
manner of speaking (7)
21 Overlooking a number inside
working as blacksmiths (9)
23 Have to confess (3)
24 Trickery of the French in a
sense (7)
25 It’stheherbseason,wehear(5)
SolutionsCrossword4087:Across:1Speechless,8Shrub,9Athlete,10Rounded,
11Needs,12Potash,14Becalm,17Idler,19Patches,21Tangier,22Orals,23
Highlights.Down:2Pursuit,3Ebbed,4Hoards,5Enhance,6Sieve,7Pessimists,8
Sorepoints,13Surfing,15Athwart,16Spiral,18Lynch,20Thong.
JUMBLED WORDS
Givenbelowarefourjumbledwords.Solvethejumblestomakeproperwordsandmovethemto
therespectivesquaresbelow.Selectthelettersintheshadedsquaresandjumblethemtoget
theanswerforthegivenquip.
YouandIcomebyroadorrail,buteconomiststravelon____.-MargaretThatcher(14)
NAERR
HIRST
- Margaret Thatcher
Answer: You and I come by road or rail, but economists travel on infrastructure.
SOLUTION: RERAN, SHIRT, MUTANT, FECUND
Vol XX : No. 972 Regd. No. RNI 46944/87, Registration No. PR/RNP/PNE/D/11/2000. Printed and published by Vaidehi Thakar on behalf of The Indian Express (P) Limited and Printed at The Indian Express (P) Limited Press, Survey No. 288, Plot No. 1 and 2, Raisoni Industrial Park, Village Maan, Taluka Mulshi, District Pune 411027 and Published at
The Indian Express (P) Limited, Express House, Plot No. 1205/2/6, Shirole Road, Shivajinagar, Pune 411004. Phone: 67241000. Fax: 67241148. Chairman of the Board: Viveck Goenka, Chief Editor: Raj Kamal Jha, Editor: Unni Rajen Shanker, Editor (Pune): Amitabh Sinha* Branch offices: Ahmednagar (0241) 2451907, 2451544 Fax 2451607, Kolhapur
(0231) 2644994, Solapur (0217) 2603880, *Responsible for selection of news under PRB Act Copyright : The Indian Express (P) Limited. All rights reserved. Reproduction in any manner, electronic or otherwise, in whole or in part, without prior written permission is prohibited. The Indian Express®
The BCCI insurance doesn’t cover
pandemic but it covers epidemic.
THEOPENWASALSOSMART
The Open was also cancelled shortly after
Wimbledon was culled. One of the
reasons the golf championship was
canceled rather than postponed like the
Masters and PGA Championship is
because of the insurance cover it has, a
source told Golf Digest. Like Wimbledon,
there is a policy in place that shields
against a pandemic. According to Golf
Digest, the Open had to cancel by a certain
date in order to collect insurance money.
HOPEFORAUSGP
TheAustralianGPwassettogoaheadon
March15untilaMcLarengaragemember
wasdiagnosedwithcoronavirus-a
decisionthatcomeswithobviousfinancial
repercussions.AccordingtoAustralian
newspaperHeraldSun,theGrandPrix
Corporationissettoexploreclaimsthrough
theVictorianManagedInsuranceAuthority
-thestategovernment’sowninsurance
agency.TheHeraldSunalsoreportedthat
theScottMorrison-ledLiberalPartyof
AustraliawouldnotbebailingMelbourne
outif F1managementdecidedtodumpthe
hugefeeof theraceonthestate,despitethe
cancellationof therace. ENS
OVER THE HEDGE by Michael Fry & T Lewis
CALVIN & HOBBES by Bill Watterson
DOWN
1 Why the confusion about
how far to beginning? (4,3)
2 Means to enter a faulty item
without delay (9)
3 Building a tug? (5)
4 A weedy type, and stingy (6)
5 Row about stray dog (7)
6 An attempt to indicate time
past (3)
7 Not bound to relax (5)
12 Remain outside a coach as
required by law (9) MARVIN by Tom Armstrong
14 Allowing buildings to be
leased (7)
16 Neat and refined, but rather
slow (7)
17 Vote is for communist
government (6)
18 Blows on the wrists (5)
20 Have a duty, even if it might
be tough? (5)
22 Be sorry for some cruelty (3)
SUDOKU 4175
AMTNTU
DENCFU
Dangal stars hit hard
Top mud wrestlers stand to lose up to Rs 35 lakh as circuit in Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra is stalled
MIHIR VASAVDA
NEW DELHI, APRIL 9
WHEN HE began the season by winning the
dangalinKapurthalaonMarch18,BaniaAmin
wassalivatingattheprospectofanotherprof-
itable season. In the dangal universe, Amin is
a showman beyond compare. His art and an-
tics - he has a signature style while entering
and exiting the mud pit: spreading wide his
armsandlegs,andleapinghigh—iswhythou-
sands pay to watch him.
And it’s also why the constable from
Jammu gets paid in lakhs in appearance fees
from organisers across the country.
“But on March 19, we were all told that
the tournaments have been suspended. It
looksliketheentireseasonwillbewipedout
because of the current crisis,” Amin says. “So
right now, I will not make at least Rs 30-35
lakh that I otherwise would.”
Fromarguablythebiggestsportingevent,
theOlympics, to themost globalised tourna-
ment,thePremierLeague,toanoverwhelm-
inglyruralsportlikemudwrestling,thecoro-
navirus outbreak has spared none. And
pretty much like the players and executives
across the globe, the pehalwans have been
counting their losses in the last few weeks.
Foraseeminglysmallsport,the econom-
ics of a dangal season is staggering, far out-
weighing a lot of mainstream events in the
country.Theseasonisdividedintwo:March,
April and May — with a spillover into June —
is when the tournaments take place in
Himachal Pradesh and Maharashtra. After a
break in July, another three-month season
gets underway in Punjab.
There are a few tournaments held else-
where in the country which overlap with
these, but these three most dominant belts
havethemostpackedcalendars.Accordingto
KulbirKainour,adangalcommentatorandob-
server,therewerearound250dangalssched-
uledtotakeplaceinHimachalPradesh,where
theseasonhadjustbegunwhenthelockdown
was announced. A similar number of events
weretotakeplaceacrossMaharashtra,Arjuna
Awardee Kaka Pawar adds.
All these tournaments, roughly 500 of
them, are likely to be cancelled. The dozen
or so which were scheduled for Wednesday
DifficultyLevel3s
Instructions
TosolveaSudokupuzzle,
everydigitfrom1to9
mustappearineachofthe
nineverticalcolumns,in
eachoftheninehorizontal
rowsandineachofthe
nineboxes.
DifficultyLevel
1s=Veryeasy;2s=Easy;
3s=Medium;4s=Hard;
5s=VeryHard;6s=
Genius
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
PAINE ON NOT SLEDGING KOHLI
“I'm not sure who was going easy on him; we certainly
had a thing where we didn't want to provoke any fight
with him because we think that's when he plays at his
best... I'm pretty sure they're not thinking about an
IPL contract”
Beside cash prizes, wrestlers also win tractors, cars motor-cycles and milch buffaloes. File
alone, to mark Hanuman Jayanti, too were ing money. In fact, they are saving. The of wrestlers don’t have that luxury,” Gill says.
not held due to the nationwide lockdown. wrestlers, though, will be badly hit.” Amin and Gill spend close to a lakh every
“Onanaverage, eachof the250-300dan- Like Amin. The 31-year-old’s only regu- month on their diet. For majority of
gals have a total purse of around Rs 5 lakh. lar income is as a constable with Jammu & wrestlers, to sustain that will be tough in ab-
The minimum prize money at each dangal KashmirPolice.Duringthedangalseason, he senceof tournaments.“UnlikeOlympic-style
is Rs 2 lakh, with the maximum going up to fights for almost 25 days in a month, earning wrestling, the dangal pehalwans do not re-
Rs 7 lakh. So you can do the math,” Kainour thousands in appearance fees. This week, ceive government support. So a lot of them
says. Amin was to fight at back-to-back dangals in endupinvestinghalf of theirearningsintheir
Aconservativeestimateof thedangal,tal- Hamirpur on Thursday and Friday, before food and supplements,” Pawar says.
lying events in both Himachal and taking a flight to Pune on Saturday for an Because of the sheer nature of the sport,
Maharashtra, would be approximately Rs 25 event there. itishighlyimprobablethattournamentswill
crore. This is just the cash prize. There are Amin is one of the wrestlers who is in de- be held until complete normalcy is restored.
other rewards as well: tractors, cars, motor- mand everywhere. But he isn’t the biggest, There is hope that the Rs 1 crore dangal in
cycles and milch buffaloes. or the best, in the business. That title is re- Kangra can be held in June to salvage some
“Each wrestler is guaranteed a participa- served for Jaskanwar Singh Gill, alias Jassa partof theseason.Buttheorganisersarealso
tion fee,” says Rajnish Kumar ‘Bitta’, an or- Patti,whoisconsideredtobethebestpound- facingauniquedilemma.“Afterthebout,the
ganising committee member of one of for-pound mud wrestler of his generation. tradition is for the wrestler to perform a lap
India’s biggest dangals, held in Himachal’s Gill who competes in fewer events than of honour and accept prizes for the crowd,”
Kangra district. The season-ending event, Amin estimates that he will be bereft of close Kainour says.
held over three days, offers prize money of to Rs 25 lakh this year. But he is more con- “The prize is usually cash. And in current
close to Rs 1 crore. “There are few corporate cernedaboutlower-rungwrestlerswhodon’t atmosphere of social distancing, who will
sponsors. Mostly, it is the locals who con- earnmuchandarefromhumblebackgrounds. want to mingle with the crowd and accept
tribute so it is not like the organisers are los- “We have something to fall back on. But a lot cash from complete strangers?”
DAY TODAY BY PETER VIDAL
ARIES (Mar 21 - Apr 20) LIBRA (Sep 24 - Oct 23)
Never If you think that
underestimate the nothing is as it
long-term effect of seems, you could be
current changes in wrong. Still, the
your social scene. All will great thing to remember is that
become clear next week, so friends don’t always mean what
don’t sit around scratching your they say. Keep that simple truth
head. Instead you can get on in mind and you’ll get the most
and complete overdue out of social relationships
domestic duties. Spare a without being disappointed or
thought for the future, though. disillusioned.
TAURUS (Apr 21 - May 21) SCORPIO (Oct 24 - Nov 23)
What is really You do dig in your
needed from you heels so terribly
now is a change of easily. That really
attitude. Many of
your difficulties or limitations
is a great shame, for
your behaviour totally
actually exist only in your contradicts the astrological
imagination, and it therefore message that everything is in a
stands to reason that with a permanent state of change.
different approach they’d Also, don’t imagine, for
probably disappear. It will help example, that a current
to talk to the right people. professional situation is in any
way permanent.
GEMINI (May 22 - June 21)
There’s a lot going on SAGITTARIUS (Nov 24 - Dec 22)
down at the bottom Try to remember
of your solar chart what first drew you
what with planets to another person, or
jumping this way and that like a group of people. It’s
so many demented chickens. always good to focus on what’s
Do yourself a favour and really important — your friends
spare a little time for quiet and loved ones. After all, you
contemplation, that’s the way don’t want to get caught
to get things into perspective. blaming the wrong people for
the wrong things.
CANCER (June 22 - July 23)
It is said that inside CAPRICORN (Dec 23 - Jan 20)
every Cancer there is The Moon is about
a Capricorn waiting to let you off the
to get out. In other hook, but I’m
words, inside every muddled, honestly not sure
emotional Crab there is a world if that’s a good thing. It may do
leader. Yet even without going you more good to grapple with
to extremes it still looks as if contentious issues, including
you are becoming more of a money matters, until the last
leader in a very special field minute, even if it is too late
with every day that passes. to substantially alter the
final outcome.
LEO (July 24 - Aug 23)
There is a real danger AQUARIUS (Jan 21- Feb 19)
of cutting off your The time has come
nose to spite your to make loved ones,
face. This partners and
particularly applies to money employers realise
matters, but also to a whole that you cannot be taken for
range of personal issues. If granted any longer. Don’t press
you’re confused, just wait until too hard just yet though, for a
the dust settles. It may be minority of people you have to
SOLUTION SUDOKU 4174
another couple of weeks deal with are still too self-
before a matter of principle obsessed to see anything other
is resolved. than their own interests.
VIRGO (Aug 24 - Sep 23) PISCES (Feb 20 - Mar 20)
You think you know Long-term
what you’re up to, complications aside,
and what you must this is a simple and
do next. However, helpful day on which
you could be following a false to discuss long-term plans. The
trail. You may, of course, be Moon’s useful aspects favour
absolutely right, but the agreement and compromise
element of doubt is sufficient just as long as you are prepared
for me to advise caution. A to find a radically new solution,
loved one is about to turn on the to old problems. You might
charm, so you have plenty to have to put one of your personal
look forward to. goals to one side.