JOURNALISM OF COURAGE

SINCE 1932

Dear friends and fellow member,Greetings from Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Hope you are well and safe.

For nearly 184 years, Bombay Chamber had lived up to its core theme – ‘Corporates for Change’. The enduring value guides us to face the difficult challenges of responding to the coronavirus (COVID -19).

Importantly, the Chamber has been up & running. I would like to inform some of the activities conducted during the Lockdown period.

E-Certificate of Origin – We are happy to inform you that the Chamber, adapting itself to this COVID-19 situation, took the initiative to issue Digital Certificate of Origin for supporting our members from the exporter community. Currently, we have issued a few thousand digital certificates to over 200 companies. We would also like to inform you that continuing our digital certification drive, the Chamber will be parallelly resuming its CO office operation/counters at Ballard office, as per the norms set by the State Government.

Webinars – During this period, the Chamber has been conducting webinars on various topics covering areas such as legal, Taxation, Sustainability, Banking & Finance, Media, films, etc. You can visit to our website for more information. A total of 23 webinars conducted so far in April & May. Over 20 scheduled in the month of June.

Legal and Labour Advisory Services (LAS) - LAS department has been regularly supporting members by providing opinion and advisory to our members on recent issues. All Advisories and Notifications relating to COVID-19 issued by the Centre, State Governments and other Regulatory Authorities are regularly uploaded on our website.

Centre for Mediation and Conciliation (CMC) - CMC has been actively spreading awareness about mediation to resolve disputes even in the time of lockdown. CMC has successfully conducted and concluded remote mediations over audio and/or video conferencing. CMC has conducted webinars with expert speakers, published articles and interviews pertaining to issues or disputes and their resolution in times of COVID19. CMC, in collaboration with BW Businessworld, has launched an "Access to Justice" campaign for providing remote mediation services for resolving disputes.

COVID-19 - Bombay Chamber had appealed to its members to contribute towards this cause. It is a matter of pride that our members generously contributed an approximate amount of Rs.61.8 lacs, both in cash and kind to assist the Government/Municipal Hospitals in and around Mumbai.

Bombay Chamber has been diligently adapting to the new circumstances, while planning for the future. We are grateful to you for your continued support.

Warm Regards,

V. S. ParthasarathyPresident-Bombay Chamber of Commerce & IndustryPresident-Mobility Service Sector,Mahindra Group & Member of the Group Executive Board, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd

DA ILY FROM: AHMEDABAD , CHAND IGARH , DELH I , JA IPUR , KOLKATA , LUCKNOW, MUMBAI , NAGPUR , PUNE , VADODARA ● REG .NO . MCS/067/2018 - 20 RN I REGN . NO . 1543/57

MONDAY, JUNE 8, 2020, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 14 PAGES `5.00, WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMJOURNALISM OF COURAGE

SINCE 1932

`̀ 123 per kilo

`̀ 151 per kilo

`̀ 188 per kilo

`̀ 60 per Dozen

SANDIPGNEWDELHI, JUNE7

INMID-MARCH, as Randy JuanMuller, a Ghanian footballerplaying Kerala’s popular seven-a-side circuit, prepared to leaveThrissur forMumbai by train totake the flight home, he ap-pearedtense.“Maybe,itwasthefearof travellingduringthepan-demic.Weconsoledhim,sayinghewould reach home soon. Hesaid goodbyewith the promiseof meeting next year and be-coming famous,” recalls Faizal,the goalkeeper of Muller's clubORPCKechery.

It'sbeenovertwomonthsandFaizal hasn't reachedhome, butheisalreadyunderthespotlight.Onreaching theMumbaiair-

port,Mullercametoknowaboutthe ban on international flights,and foundhimself strandedout-sidewithlittlemorethanRs1,000,hisonlysavingfromsixmonthsofaCovid-curtailedseason.With help from Mumbai

Police, CISF and the airport au-thority, the 24-year-oldmade apark outside the terminal hishome for 73 days — until twodays ago, when MaharashtraMinisterAadityaThackeray,andlater theGhana Embassy, inter-vened and he was moved to a

suburban hotel. “They havepromised to putme on the firstflight home. Home is closernow,”hesays.Muller remembers his first

daywithlittlecashandnoplaceto go. “I waswoken up by a po-liceman. He askedme to leavetheairport.But I couldn’t returntoKeralabecausethetrainswerecancelled, Icouldn'tgotoahotelbecause I didn’t havemoney. Iwas like ‘well, I’m gonna diehere’,”hesays.Mullertookawalkaroundthe

airport and settled into a “neatandbreezy corner”, somewherethepolicecouldnotspothimeas-ily.Butlittledidheknowthenthat

it would become his home formore than two-and-a-halfmonths.“NowIfeelit’soneofthemostbeautifulplacesIhavesleptat. The breeze, the stars, and thefriendlypeople,”hesays.Theonlytimehehadtoleave

was when Cyclone Nisargastruck last week, and the CISFtookhimtooneof their cabins.By then, he had already

struckupconversationswithpo-licemenandCISFpersonnel.“Weused towatch Hindimovies onthe phone. I used to tell themstories of Ghana andmyhome-town,whichisafewhoursfromAccra. We ended up spendinghours talkingpolitics, sport and

religion.Theyevengotmeacell-phone when mine got dam-aged,” saysMuller.Beingdisconnectedfromhis

familyforabout20dayswithoutaphonewas“traumatic”.“WhenI finally called them, theywerelike, ‘wethoughtyouweredead’.The joy I felt in their voices re-energised me. I told myself Iwould live to see them again,even if Ihave tostarve,”hesays.“Buttherewasalwayssome-

one to giveme food— roti, bis-cuits, a soft drink,” he says. Amore difficult partwas towashhis clothes. “I had to wear thesame clothes for weeks. Then I

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PAGE1ANCHOR

Muller inaMumbaihotel(above);withteammates inThrissur (first row, right)

Footballer’s 73 days outside Mumbai airport: ‘Thought I’d die’

WORLD

PEACEFUL PROTESTSSWELL ACROSSU.S.NODELAY, NOCOVER-UP: CHINAONCOVID RESPONSEPAGE12

ARMYBRIEFSGOVTONLACTALKSWITHPLA

Officials sayconcernsconveyed;MEAunderlinesModi-Xiagreement

As BRO seeks workers forLadakh, Jharkhand asksfor a better deal for themABHISHEKANGADRANCHI, JUNE7

THE JHARKHAND governmentunder Chief Minister HemantSoren has extracted a commit-ment from Border RoadsOrganisation (BRO) to do awaywithcontractors,recruitlabour-ersdirectlyfromthestate,regis-ter itself under the Inter-StateMigrantWorkmenActnextyear,

and sign a memorandum ofagreement(MoU)withthestate.A May 22 communication

fromtheMinistryofHomeAffairsto Chairman, Railway Board,seeking 11 trains to transport11,815labourersfromJharkhandtoworkfortheBROinLadakhandotherareas,setoffaseriesofcom-munication between the stategovernmentandBRO.Thestatehadreceivedmany

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SUSHANTSINGH,SHUBHAJITROY&KRISHNKAUSHIKNEWDELHI, JUNE7

SIGNALLINGITwaspreparedforthelonghaulinitsdealingswithBeijingoverthefaceoffalongtheLineofActualControl ineasternLadakh, NewDelhi Sunday said“the twosideswill continue themilitaryanddiplomaticengage-ments to resolve the situationand to ensure peace and tran-quility in theborderareas”.In first remarks after the

marathonmeetingSaturdaybe-tweenIndianandChinesearmycommanders at the Chushul-Moldoborderpoint,theMinistryof External Affairs, in a state-ment,saidit“tookplaceinacor-dial andpositiveatmosphere”.The statement underlined

the “agreement between theleaders” of the two countries—announced after the informalsummits between PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andChinese President Xi Jinping inWuhan andMahabalipuram—that“peaceandtranquilityinthe

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At heart of Mumbai trafficking case:6 children, lockdown & 10-min calls

Rajasthan hospital facesprobe after anti-MuslimWhatsApp posts by staffDEEPMUKHERJEEJAIPUR, JUNE7

POLICE IN Rajasthan haveopened an inquiry after screen-shots of a purportedWhatsAppconversation inwhich staff at aprivatehospitalinChurudistrictallegedly discussed not attend-ing to Muslim patients, were

sharedwidelyonsocialmedia.On Saturday, Dr Sunil

Choudhary, who runs theSrichand Baradiya Rog NidanKendra, a private orthopaedichospital inSardarshahar,atownabout50kmwestof Churucity,apologised on Facebook, sayinghis staff did not intend to hurtanyreligiousgroup.

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MOHAMEDTHAVERMUMBAI, JUNE7

THECOUPLEsaythatwhentheirthree-and-a-half-year-old “son”comes on screen for the allotted10minutes every day, he criesout:“Mummacome,Papacome.”But the story behind this

emotional exchange is at theheartof aMumbaiPolicecaseofalleged trafficking involving six

boys that reached the BombayHighCourtlastyear—andisnowcaught intheCovid lockdown.Theboy,liketheotherfive,all

aged between sevenmonths tofive years, is in the care of BalAnand, an adoption agency inChembur. Police say hewas al-legedly sold by his Mumbai-based biological parents to aDelhicouplewhenhewasafewdays old in 2016. The coupleraised the child till last May,

whentheMumbaiCrimeBranchcameknockingat theirdoor.The“adoptivefather”wasar-

rested and the boy, alongwiththe others who had allegedlybeen sold to different people,was sent to the agency.Monthslater, themanwas released onbail, and approached the courtalongwith theother “parents”.In November, theywere al-

lowedbyBombayHighCourt toCONTINUEDONPAGE2

SANDEEPSINGHNEWDELHI, JUNE7

BARELY three months beforeIL&FSGroupcompaniesranintotroublewith the firstdefaultonAugust 28, 2018, SRBC&CoLLC(anarmofErnstandYoung),au-ditor to IL&FS TransportationNetworks India Limited (ITNL),decidedtoexcludenotesonthecompany’s ability to continueoperationsindefinitely,whichinaccountinglanguageisreferredtoas agoingconcernprinciple.According to the Grant

Thornton forensic audit report,SRBC&CoLLChadearlier takenadecision tomakesuchqualifi-cations in its audit report for2017-18. But following ameet-ing with IL&FS and ITNLman-agement, it did not include thisintheEmphasisofMatter(EoM)paragraph. If anauditordecidesit is importanttodrawtheatten-tion of the readers of financialstatements to aparticular item,

itpointsouttheissueinanEoMparagraph in theaudit report.On May 26, 2018, the then

COOof ITNL, Dilip Bhatiawrotean email to Hari Sankaran, vicechairman of IL&FS, informinghimthattheauditorwasconsid-ering issuing an audit reportwith an EoMpara on the ‘goingconcern’ issues of ITNL, a sub-sidiaryof IL&FSGroup.Overthenextcoupleofdays,

several emails were exchangedbetween KMPs (key manage-ment personnel) of ITNL andIL&FSonthematterandonMay28,Bhatiasuggestedthatapres-entation be prepared aboutITNL’s ability to raise additionalfunds from themarket for a re-viewbytheauditors.The Grant Thornton report

notes that the ITNL and IL&FSmanagement may have suc-ceeded in convincing the audi-tors since no qualifications ornotesintheEoMparagraphper-taining to ‘going concern’ issue

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Auditor may not haveraised red flags at IL&FSbehest: forensic report

HARIKISHANSHARMANEWDELHI, JUNE7

AS COVID and the lockdowncripple theglobal economyandground international travel, theamount of money Indians sendabroad has plunged to a50-month low.InApril 2020, Indians remit-

ted just $499.14million underthe Liberalised RemittanceScheme (LRS) — a 61% declinefrom $1,287.91 million in thesamemonthlastyear,accordingtolatestdataoftheReserveBankof India.Themonthlyoutwardflowin

April 2020 is lowest sinceFebruary 2016 when it was$449.28million.UnderLRS,residentindividu-

als, includingminors,mayremitupto$250,000perfinancialyearfor permissible current or capi-tal account transactions or acombinationof both.Adipinoutwardremittances

wasseeninMarch2020,too,butit plummeted the followingmonth.The sharpest decline —

71.81%— has been recorded inmoney sent for travel purposeswhich came down to $121.13million in April this year from$429.75millionayearago.This is significant as an esti-

mated 2million Indian nation-alstraveloverseaseverymonth.Themoney sent for studies

abroadhasalsoseenasharpde-clineof68.85%—$78.76millionin April this year from $252.84million in the correspondingmonth lastyear.Over 7 lakh Indian students

pursuedstudies in foreign insti-tutions in2018.“Maintenance of close rela-

tives” category, which con-tributes the highest amount tototaloutwardremittancesunderLRShasrecordedadeclineof50%

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PASSENGER SERVICES START TODAYABEST busbeingsanitisedonSunday,adaybeforeabout2,500of themwill startoperationtoprovideconnectivity foroffice-goers inMumbai.Express

UNLOCKINGTHE

ECONOMYWISHLIST & ROADMAP

AN EXPRESS INTERVIEWSERIESUDAYKOTAK

MANAGING DIRECTOR,KOTAK MAHINDRA BANKECONOMY,PAGE13

PrimeMinisterNarendraModiwithChinesePresidentXi Jinping.AP file

THISDIP reflectseco-nomicdistress, lock-downathomeandcurbsonoverseas travel.Significantly, thecut inexpensesoneducation,medical treatmentandmaintenanceof relativesmayendurebeyondthetravelban.

Atriplewhammyeffect

Five militants killedin Shopian gunbattle,likely a Hizb groupADILAKHZERSRINAGAR, JUNE7

FIVEMILITANTSwerekilled inagunbattlewithsecurityforcesinShopian district of SouthKashmironSunday.IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar

toldTheIndianExpress:“Wehavekilledfiveterroristsintoday’sop-erationinShopian.Itwasacleanoperation. Such operationswillcontinue.”Speaking to reporters,

Brigadier VijayMahadevan of 1SectorRashtriyaRiflescalledtheShopian operation a “big suc-cess”. “Yes, it is a success, a verygoodsuccess.Oureffortistocon-tinuetargetingtheterroristlead-ership,”hesaid.Theidentitiesofthemilitants

have not yet beendisclosed butpolice said they probably be-longedtotheHizbulMujahideen

andoneof themwaslikelyatopcommander.“The identification andaffil-

iation of the killed terrorists isbeing ascertained. However, asper credible sources, the killedterroristsbelongedtoproscribedHM terrorist outfit and oneamongthekilledterroristsisbe-lievedtobeatopcommander.Incaseanyfamilyclaimsthekilledterrorists to be their kith or kin,

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Securitypersonnelatthesiteof theencounter inShopian,Sunday. ShuaibMasoodi

LOCKDOWNDAY

75

CONCERNKARNATAKA:More than 2,200cases in a week,growing at over8.5% daily

CAUTIONWEST BENGAL:Picking up paceagain. More than2,500 cases overthe last week

A GLIMMERMADHYA

PRADESH: Slowestgrowth rate amongthe top ten states

right now

KEYSTATESTOWATCH■Maharashtra■Gujarat■Delhi■TamilNadu■Bihar■WestBengal

TOTALCASES82,96819,61727,65430,1524,8317,738

DOUBLINGRATE**

20.5127.3612.2613.9216.2311.91

SURGEIN24HRS2,7394981,3201,458233435

7-DAYAVG.GROWTH*

3.51%2.63%5.87%5.17%4.44%6.05%

TRACKING INDIA’SCOVIDCURVE

CASES:2,46,628

RECOVERED: 1,19,292 |DEATHS:6,929TESTS:46,66,386 |DOUBLINGRATE: 16.27**

*CompoundedDailyGrowthRateover last 7days **Calculatedover7-daygrowth

BasedondailydatabyCentre, ICMR, stategovernments

Over65%dip ineducationandtravelexpensescomparedtoApril lastyear

Delhi prepares for long haul:Military,diplomatic engagements to continue

Sending moneyabroad: Aprilmarks 50-monthlow at $499 mn

26TESTPOSITIVEINBUILDINGHOUSINGSENIORIASOFFICERS PAGE3

Pvt offices open today, traffic policebraces for surge in vehicles on roads

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI, JUNE7

THEMUMBAI Traffic Police onSunday braced itself for an ex-pected surge in vehicles on thecityroads,asprivateofficesopenup partly on Monday underMaharashtra's phase-wise eas-ingof lockdown.As part of its 'Mission Begin

Again',thestategovernmenthasfrom June 8 allowed all privateoffices to operatewith up to 10per cent of their strengthwiththe restworking fromhome.While some offices in the

businessdistrictsofBandraKurlaComplex (BKC) and NarimanPoint were sprucing up theirpremises for the limited open-ing, a large number have stilladopted a wait and watch ap-proachbeforeallowingemploy-ees to function fromoffices."Wewill be opening our of-

fice tomorrow. Arrangementshave beenmade to ensure thateveryemployeegetscheckedbya thermal scanner at the lobby.The seating arrangements havealso been rearranged to ensurethatsocialdistancingnormsaremet,"anHRandadminmanagerataMNCinBKC.

Whilesomecompanieshavemadearrangements for sanitis-ers and disposable facemasksfor their employees, there areothers who are still taking aguarded approach to openingup. Parth Shah, from LSD FilmsPrivateLimited,saidtheyarenotopening their office for thenextfew days. “Only housekeepingstaff is coming to office," headded.With courts and alternate

dispute redressal forums to re-sume operations in a gradualmannerfromMonday,asurgeincrowds isexpected inFortarea.

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Only Delhiiteswill get beds inprivate, Delhigovt-runhospitals

SOURAVROYBARMANNEWDELHI, JUNE7

BEDSINDelhi’sprivatehospitalsand inhospitals runbythestategovernmentwillbereservedforresidents of Delhi until theCovid-19 pandemic subsides,Chief Minister Arvind KejriwalsaidonSunday.This policywill not apply to

hospitalsrunbythecentralgov-ernment— such as the All IndiaInstituteofMedicalSciences(AI-IMS),RamManoharLohia(RML)Hospital,andSafdarjungHospitaletc.—Kejriwalsaidinawebcast.Privatehospitalsthatunder-

take specialised surgeries too,will beexempt,hesaid.The reservation of beds for

Delhi residents will come intoCONTINUEDONPAGE2

BUSINESS AS USUAL

BYUNNY

THESECONDPAGE2 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY, JUNE8,2020

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

ThemonetarycostofCovid-19NEWEPISODEEVERYDAY

In today’sepisodeof the3Thingspodcast,we lookathowprivatehospitalsarecharginghugeamountsofmoneyfromCovid-19patientsandwhat thegovernmentcandoabout it.

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IndianExpress★★★★★■4.6

IL&FS reportwasraisedbythestatutoryaudi-tor initsreport.TheGTreportalsohighlights

that there was a meeting be-tweenEY(Ernst&Young)officialsandseniormanagementofIL&FSand ITNL on May 28, 2018 inwhichthegoingconcernmatterwasdiscussed.“Our reviewof the audit re-

port forFY2017-2018for ITNL, itwas noted that there were noqualificationsornotesintheEoMparagraph pertaining to goingconcernissueraisedbythestatu-tory auditor (EY) in its audit ob-servations……Thus, it appearsthat though the auditors wereaware about the going concernissues in ITNL, for the FY 2017-2018,theyacceptedtheexplana-tionofthethenKMPsofITNL,andpotentially did not include thesameintheauditor’sreport,”saidGrantThorntoninitsreport.Itisimportanttonotethatjust

fivedaysearlieronMay21,2018,Ravi Parthasarathy, then Chair-man,IL&FShadacknowledgeditwas unfeasible to sustain ITNLcash flow requirementsmuchlonger in an email to keyman-agement persons of the IL&FSGroup.“Itmaynotbefeasibletosus-

tainITNLcashflowrequirementsmuch longer,” Parthasarathywrote to Hari Sankaran (thenvice-chairman IL&FS), RameshBawa, ArunK Saha (Director onITNL board), RamchandKarunakaran (MD, ITNL) andVibhav Kapoor (IL&FS GroupCIO).Intheemailthatispartofthe

GT forensic audit report, he fur-ther said he has decided to for-mulateaschemeofhisownandapproach bankswith it. “Basedonmy subsequent discussionswithMrUdayanSen(formerCEOof Deloitte India) the best wayforwardistoformulateaschemeof our ownand approachbankswith it. Before that, it would beuseful toalsomeetwithRBIandkeep themadvised. There doesnot appearmuchpoint in seek-ing their approval, as they havejustgotridofalltheirearlierdebtre-structuring schemes,”Parthasarathywrote.An IL&FS spokesperson de-

clinedtocomment.When contacted, SRBC&Co

LLPsaid, “SRBC&CoLLPwasap-pointed as a joint auditor forIL&FS TransportationNetworksLtd (‘ITNL’) in February 2017.Accordingly,we audited ITNL asjoint auditor for the year endedMarch31,2017andcontinuedasthe sole auditor for the yearendedMarch31,2018. Inrespectof the audit of the consolidatedfinancial statements, we per-formedourdutiesinaccordancewith SA600 ‘Using theWork ofAnother Auditor’ and theGuidance Note on Audit ofConsolidated Financial State-ments issued by the Institute ofChartered Accountants of India(ICAI). OurlimitedreviewreportfortheJune2018quarterforITNLincluded an emphasis ofmatteron theabilityof theCompanytocontinueasagoingconcern.Thisemphasis of matter paragraphwasalsoincludedintheauditre-portoftheconsolidatedfinancialstatements of InfrastructureLeasing & Financial ServicesLimited (IL&FS) for the yearendedMarch2018.”

Shopian(they) can come forward for theidentification,” police said in astatement.Policeofficerssaidthatbased

onaninputaboutthepresenceofmilitants in the area, a cordon-and-search operation waslaunched in Reban area ofShopian.While a searchwason,militantsopenedfireatthesecu-rityforces,triggeringagunbattlearound8.30am.

Trafficking casemeet the children at Bal Anandeverydayfromnoonto4pm.

Theyalsofiledforlegaladop-tion in a sessions courtwhile apetitiontoquashthepoliceFIRispendingbeforetheHighCourt.Butthelockdownhascompli-

cated the situation. Before thetravel curbs, the Delhi couple,alongwiththeirteenageddaugh-ter, had moved to a hotel inMumbaitobeneartheboy.“I left my business behind

sinceoursonmeanstheworldtous.Wewent tomeet himeveryday.Butassoonasthelockdownwasannounced,onMarch23,wetookaflightforDelhi.Ipetitionedthe lower court to grant us cus-todyofthechildintheseextremecircumstances.Wewereallowedtomeethimthroughvideocon-ferencing for 10minutes daily,”theparenttoldTheIndianExpress.“Theagencymakesthevideo

callintheevening.Hedoesn’tun-derstandwhywearenotvisitinghimorwhyhewastakenaway.Itistraumatic.Butifwedon’tmakethe call, it will appear that wedon’t care for the child and thatwillworsenourcasetoadopthimlegally,” theparentsaid.TheMumbai Crime Branch

says it busted the traffickingracketinJulylastyear,andislikelytofileachargesheetsoon.Officerssay it is a case of exploitationsinceallthechildrenaremaleandfrompoorfamilies inMumbai.According to police, at least

nine intermediaries were in-volved in the racket, includingnursesfromhospitalsinpoorar-eas, surrogatemothers and em-ployeesatIVFcentres.Theyhavealsoarrestedthealleged“master-mind”who has been identifiedas Pawan Sharma, a Delhi resi-dent. Sharma, the six coupleswho “bought” the children, andtheintermediariesareoutonbail.

RajasthanOneoftheparticipantsinthe

purportedchatwasallegedlyDrChoudhary'swife,whoisadoctorherself, police said. Dr (Mrs)Choudharydeniedthis.“Kalmememuslimptnt ka x-

ray ni krunga. Yahmeri sapat hai(Fromtomorrow, IwillnotdoX-rays of Muslim patients. This ismy vow),” said one of themes-sages in the alleged chat amongmembers of aWhatsApp groupcalled“BARDIARISE”.Anothermessage from the

same individual said, “Muslimptnt ko dekhna hi band krwa do(Stop attending toMuslim pa-tientsall together).”Someoneelseinthegroupre-

sponded: “Agar Hindu positivehote n,Muslim dr hota to hinduokokbhiniDekhte.MenidekhungiMuslimopd.Boldenamadamhheni yaha (HadHindus been posi-tiveandthedoctorwasMuslim,hewouldneverhaveattendedtoHindus. IwillnotattendtoMus-lims in the Outpatient Depart-ment. Tell themMadam is notin).”Police said an inquiry was

openedfollowingthereceiptofacomplaint, but no FIR had beenregisteredyet.“Twodaysago,policecontrol

roomreceivedacomplaintaboutscreenshotsbeing sharedonso-cial media of an allegedWhatsApp group chat betweenprivate hospital staff inSardarshaharwhicharediscrim-inatoryinnatureagainstapartic-ular religion. The timing of thechatseemstobeduringtheCovidlockdown,” Sub-InspectorRamesh Pannu of Sardarshaharpolicestationsaid.“Thecomplaintsaysthemes-

sages are communal in natureanddiscriminatory.Wearecon-ductingan inquiry, andso farnoFIRhasbeenregistered.Thestate-ment of a leader of the localMuslim community has alsobeenrecorded,”headded.Pannusaidtheauthenticityof

the screenshots, and the identi-ties of thosewhohad circulatedthem,werebeinginvestigated.MaqboolKhan,districtpresi-

dent of the Muslim ParishadSansthan in Churu, said he hadreportedthemattertopolice.

S-I Pannu said a few of thepurported messages on thegroupwereallegedtohavebeenwritten by Dr BhagwatiChoudhary, thewife of Dr SunilChoudhary.When contacted by The

Indian Express, Dr BhagwatiChoudhary said, “It is not truethat we refused treatment toMuslims.”Asked if she hadwritten the

messages in the purportedscreenshots thatwere being at-tributed to her, Dr BhagwatiChoudharysaid,“Idon'tknow... Ihavenotdonethis.”Dr Sunil Choudhary told The

Indian Express that the screen-shotswereold.“I have apologised on social

media.Thechatisfrommid-AprilwhenCovid cases related to theTablighi Jamaat were coming.Therewere several cases in ourarea... As you can see, someonehaswritten this and there is nodoubtabout it, but if yousee thenumber ofMuslimpatientsweattend to on a regular basis, youwill see that the ground realityhas no relationwithwhat hasbeensaidinthechat.“Even during that time of

widespreadfear, Iwasproviding24-hour healthcare facilities toeveryone.We have never dis-criminatedagainstanyoneonthebasis of their religion or caste. Ihave also spokenwith the com-munitymemberswhomadethecomplaint.Theissueshouldn’tbepoliticised and doctors shouldnotbepunishedwithoutanyrea-son.”In his Facebook post, Dr

Choudharywrote inHindi thatneitherhenoranymemberofhisstaffhasanyintentionofhurtinganyreligiouscommunity.“Despitethat,peoplefeltbad,

andfor this, I andmyentirehos-pital staff apologise.We assureyouthat in the futureourhospi-talwillnotgiveyouanyreasontocomplain,”hewrote.

Ghana footballerwould put themout in the sunandspraysomeperfumesothattheydon’tstink,”hesays.Eventually,lonelinesshit.“Sa-

meroutine,faces,surroundings...Itnearlydrovememad,”hesays.HisteammatesinThrissurin-

sist itwasMuller’s “friendly na-ture” that got him through. “Hewould keep talking about hiscountry,football,dreams,love.Hewas like ayoungerbrother to allofus,”saysFaizal.The football seasonwasn’t

productive forMuller, though.Asharp-shooting centre forward,butafirst-timertoSevens,hehadtobidehistimetogetaconsistentrun. Andwhenhedid, the lock-downhappened.InSevens,rookiesusuallyget

an initial fee in the range of Rs30,000toRs50,000,followedbymatchfees.“Inbigtournaments,you get Rs 1,500 for a game. Inothertournaments,yougetany-thingfromRs500toRs800...Butit’sbettermoney thanwhatyougetbackhome,wherethelevelofcompetitionissohighthatit’sdif-ficult to break into the topleague,”hesays.And that's why Muller

headed to the seven-a-side beltofMalappuram,Kozhikode,Thri-ssur and Palakkad, like severalfrom his country and otherAfrican nations such as IvoryCoast,NigeriaandSenegal.Now, despite the ordeal, he

says he will take a slice ofMumbai andKerala backhome.“Idon’thavethemoneytobuyasouvenir or gift, but I think thisexperience itself is the biggestsouvenir.Godwilling,IwillreturntoKerala.”

Delhi hospitalseffectas thebordersofDelhi areunsealedonMonday.Thispolicywillapplytoall illnesses,notjustthenovelcoronavirusdisease.A late night order signed by

Delhi Health Secretary PadminiSingla said increased interstatemovementwouldputmoreload

on both Covid and non-CovidhospitalsinDelhi,aspatientsap-proachthem“fromotherpartsofthecountry”.“It has been observed that

there has been a surge in thenumberofpositivecases... inthelastfewdaysinDelhi,resultinginadditional demand of hospitalbeds, consumables and infra-structure.“...It isherebyorderedthatall

the hospitals operating underGovernmentofNCTofDelhiandalltheprivatehospitals&nursinghomes shall ensure that onlybona fide residents of NCT ofDelhiareadmittedfortreatmentin these hospitals. However,transplantation, oncology, neu-rosurgerieswillcontinuetofunc-tion for all patients, irrespectiveof the place of residence.However, treatment relating tooncology, transplantation, neu-rosurgery shall continue for allpatients,irrespectiveoftheplaceofresidence.Alsoanymedico-le-galvictimsofroadaccidents,acidattackshappeningwithinNCTofDelhi will continue for all pa-tients,irrespectiveofplaceofres-idence,” theordersaid.Documents that will be

treatedasvalidproofofresidenceinclude the patient’s voter ID,bank/kisan/post office currentpassbook, ration card, passport,

driving licence, Income-Tax re-turn filed or assessment order,latest water, power, gas, tele-phonebillsforthataddresseitherinthenameofthepatientorthatof his/her immediate relation“likeparentsetc”, and thepostaldepartment’spostreceivedinthepatient’s name at the given ad-dress.Incaseofminors,thesedocu-

ments in name of parents, orAadhaarcardmadepriortoJune7,2020,willbeconsideredvalid.Thedecision,aimedat“strik-

ing a balance”,was basedon in-putsreceivedfromthepeople,aswell an expert committeeheadedbythevice-chancellorofGuruGobindSinghIndraprasthaUniversity, DrMahesh Verma,Kejriwalsaid.

Ladakh labourcomplaints from labourerswhowere recently airlifted fromLadakh about not just delayedpayments, but also lowerwagesthanwhatwas specified in thescheduledratechartofBRO,andwithholding of bankATMcardsbycontractors.In letters exchanged with

BRO,theJharkhandgovernmentraised serious concerns on the“plight” and “exploitation” oflabourers from the state. In fact,ChiefMinister Sorenhad earlier

saiditwouldbeintheinterestoflabourers to take the govern-ment’sconsentforworkoutsideso that it could protect theirrights.BRO’s commitment to di-

rectly recruit assumes signifi-cances a small percentage ofworker salaries was actuallytakenby“mates”,whoarethem-selves labourers, but coordinatewith small groups of labourers,onbehalfof theBRO.In letters to the Jharkhand

government, BRO said “mates”arecoordinatorsandensurebet-ter command and control.Comparing “mates” with con-tractors in this casewill “not beappropriate”, itsaid.When contacted, Jharkhand

Chief Secretary Sukhdev SinghtoldThe IndianExpress, “Initially,therewas a contractual systemwith no link between the BROandthelabourers.Now,anagree-menthasbeenreachedthattheywillberecruiteddirectly.”BasedontheHardnessIndex

of the area ofwork and the skillof the labourers, the paymentswillrangefromRs15,900-29,000forLadakhwitheffect fromJune10. Itwill be amarked increasefromwhat labourers receivedearlierthrough“mates”.The Indian Express spoke to

labourers, recruited through

‘mates’, and recently airliftedfromLadakh.

■PansalMarandiofDumka,currentlyintransit,saidhissalaryis Rs 10,000 permonth. “‘Mate’hasmyATMandhewillgivememoney once I am back inJharkhand. I cametoknowfromother sources that my actualsalaryisRs16,000,butIdon’tgetthatamount.”

■ Raj Kishore Marandi ofDumkasaidhissalaryforthelastfivemonthswas pending. “Themate had kept the ATM withhimself and sayshewill pay themoneyinsometime.Idon’tknowhowmuch I get inmyaccount,”hesaid.

■ Sanatan Besra of Jamtarasaid he receive Rs 9,000 permonth: “I was paid around Rs50,000 after I returned. But theATMremainswiththe‘Mate’.Hekept a portionwithhimself andgaveme the remaining amountincash.”

■ Soilen Soreng of WestSinghbhumarea saidhehasnotbeen paid for the last eightmonths. “I used togetRs10,000permonthwhichthe“mate”toldmewillbegivenaftersometime.HehasmyATM.”InalettertotheBRO,Principal

Secretary Labour Rajeev ArunEkkasaidtheorganisation’sclaimthat it directly engaged with

workers “surprised him”. “They(labourers)havereturnedhomewithbittermemoriesandexpe-riences. Government ofJharkhandisdeeplyconcernedattheplightoftheselabourers…Itisalso surprising that thesework-erswerenotreceivingappropri-ate payments through bank ac-countsandchequesasperwagesfixed in thescheduledratechartofBRO,”Ekkawrote.Whencontacted,BRO’spub-

lic relation officer Lt Col DAJohnson said, hewas not awareof the development. “I cannotcomment as I have noinformation.”

Pvt offices openLaw firms, even though

deemed as “essential services”,haveexercisedcautionandareinno rush to reflood their officerswithlawyersandtheentirestaff,but are planning toworkwithlimitedstrength.Advocate ShubhamMisar, a

BombayHighCourtlawyer,whoassistsaseniorcounselhavinghischamberintheFortarea,saidlessthan 50per cent stafferswill bepresent in office andwill followstandard operating proceduresforphysicaldistancinglaiddownby theHC and the state govern-ment.“Weareconductingtimelysanitisation, temperature andoxygenlevelchecksbeforeenter-ingtheoffice,"Misarsaid.Meanwhile, anticipating a

surgeofpeopleandvehicles, thetraffic police, which is short of660 staffers due to theCovid-19crisis, has drafted in 200Homeguards and 500 civiliantrafficwardens."It is hard to say exactly by

howmuchtrafficwillincreaseonMonday,"saidMadhukarPandey,Joint Commissioner of Police(Traffic).Headdedthathalfofthecity's traffic signals, which hadbeenput on flashingmodedur-ing the lockdown, had beenswitchedonagain."We have also recalled 500

traffic wardens," said Pandey,addingthattheremaining1,000wardens drafted and trained intraffic policing in 2017werenotavailable. Pandey said that thewardensand200Homeguards–thestatepolice'sauxiliaryforce–hadbeencalledintoassisttrafficpolice personnel during themonthsofmonsoon.Around500trafficpoliceper-

sonnel,who are 55 years of ageorabove,haveco-morbiditiesorarehigh-riskcontactsofpositivepatients, are currently underquarantine, said Pandey. Of the400personnelwhohave testedpositive, 260 have returned toworkafterrecovering,headded.The police expect a surge in

traffic at office complexes insouthMumbai, BKC and PowaiandincreasedcongestionontheWestern Express Highway. "Aspublictransport isavailableonlyon a limited basis, people willtravel towork, to sell and pur-chase goods and to exercise intheirownvehicles,"Pandeysaid.Headdedthatwhilethetraf-

ficpolicewillfacilitatethemove-mentofpersonsforexemptedac-tivities, they would also takeaction against those not eligibletoventureontotheroads.Pravin Padwal, Additional

CommissionerofPolice(Traffic),saidthattrafficpersonnelonthefieldwould conduct increasedrandomchecksonvehicles."Wewillbeverifyingwhetherpeopletravelling in their own vehiclesare actually heading towork orforactivitiesthatarenotpermit-ted. We will also be checkingwhetherpassengers intaxisandautorickshawsareoutforessen-tialactivities,"headded.Locationsoftrafficcheckposts

wouldalsobechangeddepend-ingon thedirectionandvolumeof vehicles, he said. "Wewill seehow things go onMonday andadapt accordingly," addedPandey.

FULLREPORTSONwww.indianexpress.com

FROMPAGEONE

Delhi prepares for long haul: Military,diplomatic engagements to continueIndia-China border regions isessential for the overall devel-opmentof bilateral relations”.“Both sides also noted that

this yearmarked the 70th an-niversaryof theestablishmentof diplomatic relations be-tween the two countries andagreedthatanearlyresolutionwouldcontributetothefurtherdevelopment of the relation-ship,” theMEAsaid.Sourcessaidthediscussions

between the two sides was“frank”, and that South BlockhadgotasenseofBeijing’s“sen-sitivities” following the talksSaturday and a videoconfer-enceofdiplomatsFriday.“Thiswillbealonghauland

smallstepsneedtobetakentoresolve the situation,” sourcessaid, indicating that talks willcontinueat theBrigadier-levelandthefieldlevelregularlyandat the levelof JointSecretaries.At the meeting Saturday,

where the team leaders wereLtGeneralHarinderSingh,XIVCorps Commander, andMajorGeneralLiuLin,CommanderofSouth Xinjiang MilitaryDistrict, the Indian side con-veyedtotheChineseitscentralpoint about restoration of sta-tusquoante incertainareasofeasternLadakhalong theLAC.Anofficialsaidthiswasdone

by sharing comprehensive de-tailsofChinesedeploymentsasofApril–andtowhichlocations

Indiawants the Chinese to goback--beforethecurrentroundof tensionsbegan.The Indian delegation also

gavedetailsofpatrollinglimitsinvariousareas, followedhith-erto but now being denied bythe Chinese, and sought theirrestoration.A key issue in these talks

was about the Pangong Tsoarea, where the Chinese havemoved westward by 8 km,pitching tents and deployingsoldiersaccordingtotheir“per-ception”of theLAC.Besidesal-tering the status quo, this hasalsomeant that Indian patrolscanno longergoupto theLAC,asmarkedinArmymaps.The Indian side, sources

said,raisedtheissueofthehighnumberof Chinese troopsandtheaggressionshown.While therewas acknowl-

edgement that aggressive be-haviourmust bedialleddown,sourcessaidtheIndiansidecon-veyed that patrollingmust notbe stopped. The Chinese sidesaid theywill look into it, buttheyalsopointedtothebuildingof Indianinfrastructure.TheChinesebuild-upinthe

Galwan region is also at theheart of the standoff. Chinesecommandersandofficialshaveinsisted that there is "nothingunusual” about the deploy-ment on their side of the LAC.Thisrefusaltoacknowledgethe

problemisbeingseenasasignof their “intransigence” in theGalwanarea, sources said.Thebuild-upintheGalwan

area is worrying because itthreatensthe255-kmDarbuk-Shyok-Daulat Beg Oldie (DS-DBO) road and access to for-wardpostsneartheKarakoramPass.The Saturday talks lasted

more than six hours.“Essentially, the conversationwas more than three hours,sinceconstanttranslationtakestime,” sources said.The positive takeaway,

sources said, is that the twosides agreed to keep talking—possiblyatworkinglevels—toaddresseachother’s concerns.Afterthemeeting,theArmy

briefedtheMinistryofDefence,MinistryofExternalAffairsandthePMO.Meanwhile, preparing for

the eventuality of a stalemate,the Army has startedmakingplansforextendeddeploymentinthehigh-altitudeterrain.Afterthedelayedinitialresponsedueto the Covid-19pandemic, theArmymovedalargenumberoftroopsandheavymilitaryequip-mentintothearea,mirroringtheChinesedeployment.The challenge with these

plansforextendeddeploymentistoprepareforhabitatandlo-gistics for soldiers and equip-mentduringtheharshLadakh

winter. This will stretch theArmy’s resources in a tougheconomicenvironment–ArmyChief General MMNaravanehad told a seminar lastmonththat the government had al-ready asked the Army for a 20per centbudget cut–at a timewhentheLineofControl (LoC)with Pakistan has becomehighlyactiveandmilitancytoois rearing its head again inKashmir.A related challenge for the

Army, an official said, is to en-sure that the PLA provides nomore surprises at other placeson the LAC. These fears stemfromtherecent incidents inar-eassuchasGalwan,HotSpringand Naku La where the twosides had agreed on the LAC. Itwouldmeancommittingasub-stantial number of troops andequipmenttooperationalroles.Meanwhile, China’sGlobal

Times, a tabloid which oftenechoes the views of the rulingCommunistPartyof China, re-ported “large scale manoeu-vre”bythePLAinwhichthou-sands of paratroopers andarmoured vehicles can be de-ployed in“just a fewhours”.“Themobilizationoperation

cameatatimewhenChinaandIndia face a newwave of ten-sionsduetohighaltitudeborderissues, as reports saybothsideshavereinforcedtheirborderde-fences,” itsreportstated.

—$148.25million inApril thisyear from$296.14million lastyear. Substantial decline hasbeen recorded inmoney sentfor purchase of immovableproperty abroad; investmentin equity/debt; deposit; gift;medical treatment; and othercategories during April 2020.The only exception is “dona-tions”whichcontributeaneg-ligibleamounttothetotalout-flows.While the category “Gift”

has recorded a 66% decline inoutwardremittances,“medicaltreatment” has seen a declineof45.85%inApril2020.Buttheamount remitted formedicaltreatmentpurposesisnegligi-ble. Two categories, which

recorded lesser decline are —‘deposit’and‘investmentineq-uity/debt’. The amount ofmoneysentoutof thecountryfor thepurposeof deposit justdeclinedby7.69%inApril2020compared to the samemonthlast year. Similarly, ‘deposit’and ‘investment inequity/debt’hasrecordedade-clineof 29.91%.Resident Indians have re-

mitted a record $18.75 billionunderLRSinthefinancialyearendedMarch31,2020.Despitetheoutflowsreach-

ingarecordlevelduringlastfi-nancial year,March,2020sawa dip — $1,358.82 million —against$1,476.82millioninthecorrespondingmonthof2019.

OUTWARDREMITTANCESUNDER LRSApr2019 Apr2020 Changemillion$ million$ %

Deposit 65.18 60.17 -7.69

Purchaseof immovableproperty 8.47 3.21 -62.13

Investment inequity/debt 35.38 24.80 -29.91

Gift 166.59 55.15 -66.89

Donations 0.54 2.68 395.19

Travels 429.75 121.13 -71.81

Maintenanceofcloserelatives 296.14 148.25 -49.94

Medical treatment 2.49 1.35 -45.85

Studiesabroad 252.84 78.76 -68.85

Others** 30.53 3.66 -88.02

Total 1,287.91 499.14 -61.2

Sending money abroad: April marks 50-month low

3THEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY, JUNE8,2020

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''IMPORTANT''

SANDEEPASHAR&TABASSUMBARNAGARWALAMUMBAI, JUNE7

YASHODHANBUILDING, hometosomeofMaharashtra’ssenior-most bureaucrats, saw 26 peo-ple who reside or work in itspremisestestpositiveforCovid-19onSunday.Situated onDinsha Vachcha

RoadatChurchgate,thegovern-ment-owned high-rise houses42 senior officials. They includeHome secretary Sanjay Kumar;Health Secretary Dr PradeepVyas; Medical EducationSecretaryDrSanjayMukherjee;AdditionalChiefSecretarytotheChief Minister Ashish KumarSingh;hiswifeValsaNair-Singh,

who is the state AviationSecretary; Principal SecretaryBhushan Gagrani;Women andChild Development SecretaryIdzes Kundan; her IPS husbandNiket Kaushik and StateIntelligence DepartmentCommissioner Rashmi Shuklaamongothers.OfficialssaidthataseniorIAS

officer,whoisanintegralpartofMumbai’s Covid-19 task force,was among the 26 to have con-tractedthe infection.Threeoth-ers who tested positive are cardrivers of some other bureau-crats, two are officials from thepublicworksdepartment,whiletherestareemployedashelpersanddomestichelpsinthebuild-ing.A building resident, who is

alsoapartof thestate’sCovid-19

task force, said that eight of the26were actually staying in thebuilding, while the remainingwouldcomefromoutside.The source said that the IAS

officer,who testedpositive, hadalsobeenstayinginaBandraho-tel for the past month and hadonly come back to the buildingon Saturday. The officer is nowunder home quarantine and isasymptomatic to thevirus.Therestalsoeitherasympto-

matic or exhibitingmild symp-toms,saidagovernmentsource.According tocivicofficials, 16ofthem have been shifted to aCovid care centre near CST sta-tion.“Most of themareasympto-

matic. They are all stable,” saidAdditional MunicipalCommissionerSureshKakani.

While BMC's establishedprotocol is to seal a floorwhereacasehasbeendetected, seniorofficialssaidsuchacordoningoffhadn’t been carried out till lateevening.But Kakani said this will be

done.“Floorswherepeoplehavetested positive will be sealed.Officialswhosehousehelpshavetestedpositivewill be testedaf-ter five days. If these test nega-tive, theywill be advised homequarantine for somemoredays.Wewillkeepawatch(onthem)for symptoms,”headded.Aseniorbureaucrat,whore-

sidesinthebuilding,saidthatal-most none of the bureaucratsstaying in the buildingwere inprolonged contact with thosewho have tested positive. Butcivic officials said that some of

them will be advised homequarantinenonetheless.OnMay7,anotherseniorIAS

officialinvolvedinCovid-19con-trol measures had first testedpositiveinthebuilding,necessi-tatinghospitalisationdue to se-veresymptoms.Herhusband,anIPS officer, later contracted theinfection. At that time, the civicbody was criticised by somebuilding residents for delayingcontacttracingandcontainmentmeasures.According to BMC officials,

the index case or the point ofcontactfromwheretheinfectionspread in the latest instance aretwodomestic helpswho testedpositiveeightdaysago.When contacted, A ward

AssistantCommissionerChandaJadhavrefused tocomment.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI,JUNE7

ACTOR SONU Sood, who hasgained appreciation for helpingmigrant labourers to return totheirnativesplacesamidthelock-down, on Sunday met ChiefMinisterUddhavThackeray andMaharashtra EnvironmentMinister Aaditya Thackeray atMatoshree. The actor is said tohaveapprisedtheCMofhiswork.The meeting comes on the

heels of a column in Shiv Senamouthpiece Saamana, wherepartyMPSanjayRautallegedthatthe actorwasworkingat thebe-hest and with support of theBJP and is likelybe inducted intothe party. In the column, pub-lished Friday, Raut said: “Certainpolitical entities are using SonuSood as a front to criticise theThackeray government. Certainsections in theBJPhave adoptedSoodandareusinghimasafrontto gain mileage among NorthIndianmigrants.Heisanactorandisadeptatactingbytakingmoney.Afewyearsago,inasting,hewascaughtoncameraagreeingtopro-moteBJPonsocialmediaby tak-ingmoney.”Raut indicatedSoodcouldendupjoiningtheBJPsoon.Soon after Sood reached

MatoshreeSunday,Rauttweeted:“SonuSoodfinallyseemstohavelocated the address ofMaharashtra'sChiefMinister.”Sood hadearlier saidhehad

receivedhelp fromvarious stategovernmentsforhiswork.“...Theworkdoneformigrant labourersisnotlimitedtoaparticularstate.Ihavetriedtohelpall those fromKashmir to Kanyakumari...,” hetweeted. On Sunday, CongressMinisterAslamShaikhaccompa-niedhimtoMatoshtree.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI,JUNE7

ABOUT 2,500 buses ofBrihanmumbai Electric SupplyandTransport (BEST) undertak-ingwillstartoperationacrossthecityandsuburbsfromMondaytoprovideconnectivityforoffice-go-ers as Mumbai kickstarts its‘MissionBeginAgain’.Thesebuseswill ply on81 routes to fill in thevacuumleftbysuburbantrains.Of the81routes, therewillbe

at least five corridor routeswithoneeach fromVirar,Nalasopara,Badlapur,KalyanandPanvelcon-nectingMumbaiMetropolitanRegion(MMR)tothecity.Onlyonepassengerwillbeal-

lowedoneach seat and fiveoth-erswillbeallowedtostand.Untilnow,BESThasbeenrun-

ningaround1,800busesonly foressentialworkerssinceMarch23,when thenationwide lockdownhad come into force. Despite afleet strength of about 3,500buses, including thoseownedbythe undertaking and procuredthroughwet leasing, only about2,500will beput touse togaugetheinitialdemand.“Notallroutesare required, as only 10per centstaffers in private offices and15percentingovernmentofficesareallowed,”saidaBESTofficial.Over the next one week, if

thereisdemand,morebusesandadditional routeswill be intro-duced.Public Relation Officer for

BEST,Manoj Varade, said: "Wewouldurgeonlythosewithvalidreasonstostepoutandtakeabus.Residentscanalsoreachouttousonourhelplinenumberifthereisan additional requirement ofbuses."ThoughBESThasmaintained

that only those with an officeidentity cardwill be allowed toboarditsbuses,officialssaiditwillbedifficulttoimplement.Evenasessentialworkerswereallowedtoboardbusesshowingtheirpassesor IDcardsduring the lockdown,officials feelwith 'MissionBeginAgain', the same systemwill bedifficulttoenforce."Ifaconductorbeginstocheck

ID cards of every passenger, thebuseswill bedelayed.Moreover,noteveryoneheadingtoworkhas

anID,"saidanofficial.BESTwill be charging its reg-

ularfaresanddailypasseswillalsobeavailableontheseroutes.Apartfrom BEST, Maharashtra StateRoad Transport Corporation(MSRTC)will add another 250busestoitsearlierstrengthof400buses to ferry essentialworkersandofficer-goers.While BESToperations veers

towardsnormality, taxi andrick-shawdriverswhohave been al-lowed to operate, albeit only foressentialservices,havebeencom-plaining about the police im-poundingtheirvehicles.OnSunday, trafficpolicecon-

tinuedtotakeactionagainstautoand taxi driverswith several oftheir vehicles being impoundedfor plying on the city streets.Around five taxi drivers werestoppedbyVakoladivisionof thetraffic police and their vehicleswereimpounded.Mumbai Taximens Union

leader, A L Quardros, said,"Despite the government issu-ing orders for taxis to ply, thetrafficpolice is takingactioncit-ing violation of lockdown rules.Theysaythattheyarenotawareof any revised rules allowingtaxis to ply.We'll be writing tothe traffic department to sensi-tise their staff."Shashank Rao, union leader

forautodrivers,claimedthatboththe transport and traffic depart-ment were passing the buck."Whenweapproachedthetrans-portdepartment,wewereaskedtospeaktothetrafficdepartment,while theautodriversaresuffer-ingontheground."Rao saidhewill also bewrit-

ing to the traffic departmentabout the action being takenagainstautodriverswhohavenoway toascertain if apassenger isoutforessentialworkornot.When contacted, Transport

Commissioner Shekar Channemaintained that both auto andtaxi drivers were permitted toferryessentialworkersinMMR.

Courts to resumeworkbutchallenges remain:Access tovirtualhearing& lackof infrastructureSADAFMODAK&OMKARGOKHALEMUMBAI,JUNE7

MONDAYONWARDS,courtsandother alternatedispute redressalforumswillgraduallyresumeop-erations,facedwithchallengesofhighpendencyand justicedeliv-eryintimesofapandemic.Inmanypartsoftheworld,vir-

tualcourtroomshavebeensetupto replace physical hearings toavoidcrowdingbutthelackofin-frastructureandaccessremainsahindrance for the justice systemtofunctiononlineseamlessly.Since the lockdownwas im-

posedinMarch,theBombayHighCourt and trial courts inMaharashtra had been hearingonlyurgentmatters.WhiletheHCfunctioned through e-filing, up-loadingofscanneddocumentsforparties,judgesandthroughvideoconferencing,subordinatecourtsfunctioned with limited staff.With amajority of theprisonersinthestatebeingundertrials, thetrial courtswere swampedwithbailapplications.StartingMonday,while sub-

ordinate courts in non-red zoneareaswill functionwith 50 percent staff, inMumbai and otherredzonesdistricts,thecourtswillfunctionwith15percentstrengthforfourhoursdaily.“Wehave also requested for

video conferencing facility to besetup in threecourts inMumbaifor lawyerswhocannot access iton their phones due to lack oftechnologicalknowhoworotherreasons,” said lawyer Sudeep

Pasbola, a member of the BarCouncilofMaharashtraandGoa.Headdedthatthemajorchal-

lengewillbeconductingtrialsthatrequirewitnesses todepose andevidence to be recorded in thepresenceof theaccused. In caseswhereundertrialsareinjailpend-ingtrial,likeSheenaBoramurdertrial accused IndraniMukerjeaand Sanjeev Khanna, this delaycouldmeanlongerincarceration.Lastmonth, six senior coun-

sels hadurged theHC to exploremaking theuseof technology toresume sitting at full strengthwhilemaintaining that thecourtmaynotbe able todealwith theincreasingcaseloadwhile it con-tinuestoconducthearingsinare-strictedmanner.They had stated that as on

June 30, 2019, nearly 4.5 lakhcaseswere pending before HC,across all its benches. The advo-cates had added: “Further, be-tween 2 March 2020 and 20March 2020, 1,256 cases werefiled only on the original side(which refers to civil cases fromMumbai’sadministrativelimits),that is, approximately 90 casesperdaywerefiled.Onthisbasis,itissafetoassumethatevenifnor-malcy be restored by 30 June2020,whichismostunlikely,ap-proximately 6,700 fresh cases(thatwere held back during thelockdown) will be filed on re-sumption.”SinceFriday, theHChasbeen

working in twobatches a day tohear urgent and regular casespendingforadmission.Similarly, during the lock-

down,familycourtshadreceivedpleasofnon-custodianparentstoaccess their children via videoconferencing, owing to restric-tionsontravelandriskinphysicalmeetings.Thechallengegoingfor-wardwillbetofindawaytomake

remotehearingsworkinsensitivecases involving children anddo-mesticdisputes.“Inthisperiod,thecourtshave

heardmutual consentmatterswith couples going through themandatory counselling throughvideo conference. Usually, chil-dren canmeet their non-custo-dian parents in child-friendlycomplexwithin the family courtpremises,whichhasbeenclosed.Evenifvirtualcourtroomsaresetup,theseaspectsmaynotbeabletoreplacephysicalhearings,”saidfamilycourt lawyerKrantiSathe.AccordingtotheNationalJudicialDataGrid, over 41,000 cases arepending in family courts in thestate.Lawyers practicing in labour

courts also said that since theywerenotworkingduringthelock-down,complaintsareexpectedtorisewhentheyresume.Similarly,asconsumerforums,

Debt Recovery Tribunals andNationalCompanyLawTribunalsarenotfunctioningwiththeirfullstrength,severalpeople,firmsandfinancialorganisationsare facingdifficulties in getting issues likeclaims and compensation re-solved.Thane resident Varun

Saykhedkarhadbookedair tick-ets and a resort in Maldivesthrougha travel agent.Hehadtocancelthebookingsinviewofthelockdownbutdidnotreceiveafullrefund since the agent deductedRs30,000.However,helatercameto know that the resort did notcharge any cancellation fees.“Unfortunately,myclientwasun-able to fileacomplaint for recov-erybefore thedistrict consumerforum,whichwasclosed,” advo-cateShubhamMisarsaid.

26 test positive in building housing senior IAS officers

BEST to resume busestoday for office-goers

ActorSonuSoodmeetsCMUddhavThackerayandAadityaonSunday. Twitter

After Raut dig,Sonu Sood meetsCM, Aaditya

About2,500buseswillplyon81routestofill inthevacuumleftbysuburbantrains

4THEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY, JUNE8,2020

MAHARASHTRAWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

MAYURAJANWALKARSHRIVARDHAN, JUNE7

PARTS OF the asbestos roof ofMalati Chunekar’s two-storyhomebythe JivnaBunder fish-ing jetty in Shrivardhan arepatched with plastic sheets.The blue sheets have replacedpiecesof themetalblownawayby squally winds brought byCyclone Nisarga that on June3 made landfall near thesleepy townknownfor itspris-tine beaches.“Wecouldhear thewinds–

whoosh, whoosh – long beforethecyclonecame.Therooftops,the windows started rattling. Iwas so scared by that deafen-ing sound that I could not daretoopenmyeyes,” says the fish-erwoman in a magenta nine-yard sari.The Chunekars’ residence

offers an unobstructed view oftheArabianSeaandthecoastofShrivardhan. On June 3, how-ever, from their housewith theenviable view, the Chunekarswere among the fewwho sawthe severe cyclonic stormNisarga,whichhadbeen form-ingovertheArabianSeafor124hours, arrive in all its fury.“It was dark and smoky all

day.Thewindswereblowingatspeeds like never before. Itlastedaboutanhourtoanhour-and-a-half.Thenwesawitoverthe sea. It looked like a largespinningtop,”saysMalati’shus-bandKashinathChunekar.The fishing jetty isdevoidof

both people and boats thatwerepulledashoreafter thecy-clone warning was issued.Right outside theMaharashtraMaritime Board office, how-ever, one lies crushed under abanyan tree, next to a coconuttree that is bent like it was be-ing folded in half.Janardan Waghe and his

eight-year-old son Bhavik areby themselves at the jetty try-ingtocatchsmall fish for lunch.Bhavik waits with the emptywoven bag he had brought tocollect the catch, as his fatherthrowshis fishingnet inthewa-ter for the third time in vain.“Whatwe sawwasbeyondourimagination. The winds justblew away the rooftops of ourhomes. Splintered roofs hov-ered in the wind like butter-flies,” says Janardan.Inthemunicipalschoolnear

the jetty, around 300 peoplewho were evacuated ahead ofthecyclonecontinuetostayputinaddition to thosewhohad tomove there after their homeswerewrecked. The classroomsare now filled with LGP cylin-ders, utensils, beddings andcriesofbabies. “Everythingwasscatteredbythewinds.Wejustpickedupwhateverutensilswecould gather. We don’t evenknow if they are ours or some-oneelse’s,”saysGovindKalekar,whohasmoved into theschoolwithhis family.Even as road connectivity

to themainhighways inRaigadwasrestoredadayafterNisargastruck, roads in the interiors,connecting one village toanother, were still being ridof displaced trees, branchesand scree.OntheBagmandlaroadthat

leadstofourvillages,debriswasbeing removed by the StateDisaster Rescue Force (SDRF)men in orange, who had beensawing heavy tree branches toclear the roads all day. S MKedar, the Talathi of Maral-Bagmandla, said that the menhad been sawing fallen barksandbranchessincesunriseandnobodywaskeeping a count ofhowmanywere removed.With power sub-stations

and electricity polls destroyed,several parts of Raigad havebeen relegated to the dark. InShrivardhan, telecommunica-tion has been hamstrung withsomecellularservicesavailableintermittently.Shrivardhan Sub-Divisional

Officer (SDO)AmitShetyesays,“Our priority is to clear all theroads first. The connectivity tothemainhighwaywasrestoredthe very next day, however,some internal roads had to becleared, which is being donecontinuously.”While invertersandgenera-

tors have been used to light upsomeplaceslikegovernmentof-fices,powerlinesinShrivardhanshould be resurrected in a fort-night, saidofficials.An official of the

Maharashtra State ElectricityBoard (MSEB) sat atop a tiledroof detangling and snappingelectric cables from a pole thathad descended on it. NinadKawle, assistant engineer withtheMSEB, says they have beenthroughat least 250 suchpolesinShrivardhansinceJune3.Thecables,headds,werebeingpre-served for when the poles are

re-erected.Electricity poles avulsed

from the ground and treeswedged into roofs are a com-mon sight across Raigad. Onstate highways, in neighbour-ing talukas of Mangaon andMhasla, too, Nisarga left thesame trail of destruction.BeyondtheBagmandlaroad

lay the downhill villages ofKarivne and Bauddhawadi,which after nearly four days ofbeing incommunicado, werereaching out topeople outside.Mayur Pawar, a resident of

Virar who was back in his vil-lage after the lockdown, drovein his four-wheeler tomake anSOScall onbehalf of his village.“Wehavenotbeenabletoreachanyone in the last fourdays.Nogovernmentofficialwasable tovisit us because the roadswereblocked. There is a lot of dam-age to our village,” he says.AbhijeetMane, the gram se-

vak of the village, had arrived inKarivneonSaturdayonhis two-wheeler. “There are 126 homesin this village. I havedrawnupalist of relativesof all the familieswhostayinMumbai,whichIwill

take back to the tehsildar office.Wewill inform their relativesthat theyareall right,”hesays.Perhaps the starkest testi-

mony to the wrath of Nisargastands in Shrivardhan’sVetalwadi. The formidableBanyan tree that even the eld-ers had grown up watching, isleftbearing its roots, splitdownthe middle, resembling themangled carcass of an animaldevoured by a mightier beast.Had it survived another day, itwould have been worshippedby married women on VatPurnima, the full moon day onwhich Maharashtrian Hinduwomenprayfortheirhusbands’longlifebytyingatreadaroundthe tree’s bark.Shrivardhanisnowaswarm

of perhaps lakhs of fallen trees,someheavingwithfruit–man-goes, coconuts, bananas, jack-fruits–butrubbingtheir face inthe soil, someuprooted, othershunched.Mushtaq Satvilkar owned

mango and coconut orchardsbehind his house on which anelectricity pole had fallen. “Forthe first time, I may have to go

to themarket tobuy a coconut.Shrivardhanwas famous for itstrees, its greenery and itsbeaches. This is what attractedtourists.Tourismwashitbythelockdown and now the green-ery is gone too,” he says.As an immediate relief

measure, Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray had an-nounced a Rs 100-crore reliefpackage for Raigad. RaigadMPSunil Tatkare said that theCentre’s help may also besought. On Sunday, Food andCivilSuppliesMinisterChhaganBhujbal announced that thegovernment will provide freekerosenetofamilies livingwith-out electricity.Meanwhile, the district ad-

ministration, the NDRF, theSDRF,themunicipalcouncilandthe people are doing their partto help Shrivardhan dust itselfup, albeit slowly, without elec-tricity and Internet. The reliefmeasures may take their timebutthepeoplecannot.Asmuchas they hope for swift govern-ment intervention, theysay, themonsoon is fast approachingandtheyhaveatowntorebuild.

Thedamagecausedbythecyclone(top);SDRFteamclearsaroad. Deepak Joshi

Ravaged byNisarga, Shrivardhan reelsin the dark, awaits phone connectivity

PG medical studentson Covid duty urgeMCI to cancelfinal-year exams

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI, JUNE7

ARRESTED LAST week fromPune for murdering two of hiscolleagues at a Mira Roadrestaurant last week, KalluYadav (33) had joined work atthe eatery as a waiter justweeks before the nationwidelockdown was announced.Yadav reportedly battered therestaurant manager, HarishShetty (48),andanotherwaiter,Naresh Pandit (52), with ashovel on May 30. Their de-composed bodies were recov-ered from a water tank on therestaurant premises on Friday.According to police, in the

first week of March extensiverenovation had begun atShabari Restaurant and Bar atSheetal Nagar on Mira Roadwhen Yadav had approachedShetty, forwork. Investigationsby Thane Rural District Police,so far, have also revealed thatneither the manager norrestaurant the owner,Gangadhar Payade, had con-ducted a preliminary back-

ground check on Yadav, hiringhimwithoutsomuchasaskinghimhis surnameor about pre-viousexperienceofworkingata restaurant and taking a copyof his personal identificationdocuments.After the lockdownwasan-

nounced on March 24, Yadav,Shetty and Pandit were theonly employees to stay back asall others returned to their na-tive villages, said InspectorSandipKadamofMiraRoadpo-lice station.On Saturday, district

Superintendent of PoliceShivaji Rathod said over thepast three months Shetty andPandit had forced Yadav to eatonly rice and daal that hecookedforhimself evenas theyfeasted on takeout food. Thepolice alleged that this iswhatprompted Yadav to kill his col-leagues lastweek.“On the night of the mur-

ders, after Shetty and Pandithad fallenasleepafterdrinkingalcohol, Yadav picked up ashovel and hit themanager onhis head. As Shetty did not in-stantly pass out, Yadav hit him

again.ThenoisewokeupPanditbutbeforehecouldreact,Yadavstruck him on the head andkilled him instantly,” saidInspector Vyanakat Andhale ofthe local crimebranch.Yadav then allegedly

dumpedbodiesof bothmen ina large water tank on theground floor on the premises.Over the next few days, Yadavallegedly claimed to his em-ployer that his colleagues re-turnedto theirvillageswithoutinforming him. Seeing Yadavaloneat therestaurant,on June1 Payade locked the premisesand shifted him to anotherrestaurantonMiraRoad,policesaid. The police claimed thatYadav fled to Pune instead.The murders came to light

June 4 night when the ownerreceived a phone call from anunidentifiedmanwhoclaimedthat Shetty and Pandit hadbeen killed. The police believethat the phone call was madeby Yadav, but are yet to under-stand the reason why he didthat.Soonafter thebodieswererecovered, the owner told thepolice thathesuspectedYadav.

SP Rathod said police wereinitially unable to locate Yadavas his employer had collectedno details about him. “We didnot have his phone number orAadhaar cardnumber.His em-ployeronlyknewhimasKallu,”saidRathod.Using the locationof themobile phones of Shettyand Pandit, which were inYadav’s possession, the policetracked him to Pune earlyFridaymorning.Yadavreportedly toldpolice

that he had killed two watch-men in Kolkata in 2003. “Healsoclaimedtohavespent five-and-a-half years in jail for thecrime. We have written to theKolkata Police seeking detailsof the case,” said InspectorKadam.Yadavwasalsobookedin the past in a case of assaultinPune'sSwargate locality,po-lice said.Inspector Andhale, whose

team located Yadav, describedthe murder accused as a well-builtmanwith a short temper.“His family lives in UttarPradesh. He knows no one inMaharashtra and moves fromone job to another,” he said.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI, JUNE7

THEBRIHANMUMBAIMunicipalCorporation did not find anysource of the suspected gas leakthat tookplace on Saturday, de-spiteasearchconducted inareasfromwhereresidentscomplainedaboutafoulsmell.Officialssaidallefforts were taken to find outaboutthesuspectedleak.On Saturdaynight, residents

from Ghatkopar, Chembur,Govandi,PowaiandKanjurmarghadstartedcomplainingaboutagas-likesmell.Followinginstruc-tionsfromDisasterManagementCell, the Mumbai Fire Brigadesent a teamto check a companyinGovandi east.However, noth-ingGhatkopar, Chembur, Powaiand Kanjurmarg were alsosearched, where nothing wasfoundeither.“Wehave dispatched 17 fire

engines to findout the source ofthegasleak,butnothinghasbeenfound,”saidPSRahangdale,ChiefFire Officer. “Announcementswerealsomadetoresidentstonotpanic.Wehavekepthazmatvehi-cles on standby in case of anychemical leaks.”

VIVEKDESHPANDENAGPUR, JUNE7

FORESTDEPARTMENT officialshaveattributedthedeathsof fivepeople in the Tadoba-AndhariTigerReserve’scoreandbufferar-easinChandrapurdistricttoasin-glebigcat.The latest incident occurred

onSundaymorning. The victim,RajeshDadmal,was killed nearKolaraonthecore-bufferborder.Itcame close on the heels of thekilling of Rajyapal Nagose fromBamangaonvillageonJune4.“Four incidents earlier have

beencausedbythesametigerascameratrapimageshaveshown.SinceSunday’sincidentalsohap-penedinthesamearea, it ismostlikely by the same tiger. Butwewill be able to say that for sureonlyaftergettingcamera images

tomorrow,” said Guruprasad,Deputy Conservator of Forest,TATR.Askedwhynoordershavestill been issued to capture thetiger despite at least four con-firmedkillingswhentheNationalTiger Conservation Authority(NTCA) guidelines require onlytwofatalattacks,Guruprasadsaid,

“The first two incidentswere incorearea,whichisinviolatespaceandhence the tiger can’tbeseenasresponsible.Butwehadsoughtadvice from the Principal ChiefConservator of Forest after thenext two incidents. The fifthonehappenedbeforewecouldtakeacallafterthefourthincident.”TheincidentsinTATRcoreand

bufferareasbeganonFebruary15,whenaman fromKolara villagewaskilled. Itwas followedbyanincidentonApril8andlaterbyan-otherinMay.Withthis,thetotalnumberof

peoplekilled inbig cat attacks inChandrapur this year has so farreached14, one ofwhich is by aleopard while the rest are bytigers.TwodeathseachhavebeenreportedfromGadchiroli,Gondiaand Bhandara districts and onefromNagpur district. ThismaketheVidarbhatally21.

BMC officials findno source ofsuspected gas leak

MUMBAIMURDER

Forced to eat rice & daal for three months, waiterbattered restaurant manager, colleague with shovel

Tiger claims fifth victim in Chandrapur,officials attribute all killings to one big cat

ABHAGORADIAMUMBAI, JUNE7

MORE THAN 900 final-yearpost-graduate medical stu-dents from at least 15 medicalcolleges across Maharashtrahave written to the MedicalCouncil of India (MCI), theMaharashtra University ofHealth Sciences (MUHS) andGovernor B S Koshyari de-manding cancellation of thepending summer exams.Engaged as frontline work-

ers in the Covid-19 duty at re-spective hospitals, studentshave said that the announce-ment of exams at a timewhenthe number of patients anddutyhourswere increasinghadcreated an environment of“restlessness, anxietyand fear”among them.In the letter to theMCI and

stateauthorities, studentshavesaid: “Several institutionsacross the world, have over-looked medical exams for ac-tive doctors in the pandemicandrequestyoutoconsider thesame. The competence of doc-tors is automatically beingtested in their participation in(the) current crisis, andseveralinternal examinations and ourown faculty can vouch for itconsidering the course of ourresidencies.”The IndianExpresshas a copy of the letter.OnMay22, theMCIboardof

governorshadadvisedcollegesto conduct the examinationsby June 30.MCI is the nodal body gov-

erning all medical universitiesin India. In view of thecoronavirus pandemic, the

Maharashtra University ofHealthSciences (MUHS),whichgoverns all medical collegesin thestate,however,hadwrit-ten to the MCI stating that ex-amswouldbeheld fromJuly15onward.The Governor, also

Chancellor of the state univer-sities, Thursday had given nodtoconductall final-yearunder-graduateandpostgraduateex-aminations of the MUHS fromJuly15onwards,asproposedbythe university, after a meetingwith State Medical EducationMinister Amit Deshmukh.The final-year PG students

are due to appear for four the-ory and practical papers.“The MUHS has verbally

told us that preparatory leavewould be granted for exams,but it is impossible to think oftakinganoff ata timewhenthe(Covid-19) situation isworsen-ing. We also foresee more(Covid-19) patients and casesof dengueandmalariaafter themonsoon sets in. In such a sit-uation,howcanwethinkof ap-pearing for exams,” a residentdoctor fromKEMhospital said.Another a resident doctor

said, “In case our exams arepostponedandourdegreesarewithheld until then, we willlose out to students of otherstates who will have receivedtheir degrees and will appearfor super-speciality exams. Inthe present scenario, we are oftheopinionthat theMCIshouldpromoteusbasedonour inter-nalassessments,whichhaveal-ready been conducted.”Maharashtrahasmore than

3,000 post-graduate medicalstudents.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI, JUNE7

AFTERCONSISTENTLYslidingforover amonth, the death rate inMaharashtra has once againstarted to rise. On Sunday, themortality rate was recorded at3.58 per cent, up from the 3.25per cent recordedonMay25. InMumbai,themortalityratestoodat3.55percentontheday.The state Sunday recorded

3,007 new Covid-19 cases,1,218of theminMumbaialone,taking the total virus count inMaharashtra to 85,975. A totalof 39,314 people have recov-ered, so far.Maharashtraalsoreported91

deaths due to Covid-19 on theday,crossingthe3000-mark.Thestate nowhas 3,060 deaths duetotheviral infection.Sixty-twoof the newdeaths

werereported inMumbai—thehighest, so far, for the city. EightdeathswerereportedinSolapur,two in Kolhapur, five inUlhasnagar, four in MiraBhayander,sixinPune,oneeachin Jalna, Palghar, Akola, andNashik.Healthofficialssaidof62peoplewhodiedinMumbai,onewasaresidentofWestBengal.

WhileMumbai’s death rateremains constant, districts likeJalgaon, Solapur, Dhule, andNashik,havepulledupstate’sfa-tality rate to 3.58 per cent, offi-cials said. “Thesedistrictshaveasmall base number, but deathsare surprisingly high,” a statehealthofficialsaid.Dhule, for in-stance, has a 8.8 per cent deathrate, Jalgaon has 11 per cent,Solapur has 7.7 per cent andNashik5.8percent.HealthministerRajeshTope

has formed a district task forcein Jalgaon to monitor why

deaths arehigh and chalk out atreatmentprotocol.Thedistrictisalsotakingadvice fromataskforce inMumbai tobringdowntheirdeaths. Jalgaon isalso try-ing to procure 25 Tocilizumabdoses through CSR funds totreat critical patients.In St George’s hospital,

Mumbai, amedical officer saidthe death rate has come downsince they started putting pa-tients on oxygen support. “Assoonastheoxygenlevelsdrop,itis advisable to provide patientoxygen and not wait for theirhealth to deteriorate,” said DrGokulBhole,medicalofficer.AcrossMaharashtra,thereare

5.58 lakh people under homequarantine.Thereareover77,000beds for quarantining high-riskpeople,and28,504havebeenad-mittedsofar.InMumbai, 748peoplewith

symptomsofCovid-19weread-mittedonSunday at quarantinecentres. The BMC has advisedpeople with cough, cold andfevertovisitnearestdispensariesforacheck-up.Thosewhosefam-ilymembershavetestedpositivecannowdirectlyreachouttopri-vate labs forhome testingwith-outaprescriptioniftheydevelopsymptoms.

Numberofdeaths 3,060

Totalnumberofpeopledischarged 39,314

Numberofpeopletested5.51 lakh

Totalnumberquarantined28,504

Numberofnewcases 3,007

TOTALPOSITIVECASESINMAHARASHTRA

85,975

Fatality rate rises in stateas toll crosses 3,000-mark

SUSHANTKULKARNIPUNE, JUNE7

HOME MINISTER AnilDeshmukh said on Sunday thatthestatepolicehavesufferedthemost casualties in the Covid-19fight in Maharashtra. Around3,000 police personnel have tillnowtestedpositiveandover30have lost their lives,headded.On a visit to Pune,

Deshmukhtoldmediapersons:“Till now, around 3,000 policepersonnel, including officersand constables, have testedpositive. Over 30 deaths havebeenreported. It isunfortunatethat police have suffered themost casualties among thosefighting the battle against thedisease.Police forcehasheld itsground for around threemonths while being deployedat isolation facilities, quaran-tinewards, hospitals, at check-points or on any other duty.”“Becausetheyhavebeendo-

ing these frontline duties, thenumberof infectionsisalsohigh.As a precautionary measure,around23,000policepersonnelagedbetween50and55arebe-ing given low-risk tasks while12,000more,whoareabove55,have been asked to stay homewhile their salaries are beingpaid. In every district, we havestarted dedicated hospitals foranyhealth-relatedcomplaintofpolicepersonnel,”headded.AsonSundaymorning,there

are 1,497 active cases in the po-lice forceand33deaths.

Police sufferedmost casualtiesin Covid-19 fight,says Deshmukh

Around3,000policepersonnelhavetillnowtestedpositiveandover30have lost their lives,Deshmukhsaid

Four incidentsearlierhavebeencausedbythesametigerascameratrapimageshaveshown.SinceSunday’s incidentalsohappened inthesamearea, it ismost likelybythesametiger...”

GURUPRASADDEPUTYCONSERVATOROFFOREST, TATR

5THEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY, JUNE8,2020

MAHARASHTRAWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

TABASSUMBARNAGARWALAJALGAON,MAY7

IN JALGAON’S Kanchan Nagar,Anjali Birade (20) cradles hermonth-old son, Ronak, born onthebedsheissittingon.OnMay5, at 1.30 am she developedlabour pain. “The civil hospitalhere has been converted into aCovid-19facility.Privatenursinghomes nearbywere also shut,”her husband ChandrakantBiradesaid.Withnowheretogo,theywokeupanelderlywomanin the neighbourhood around4amtodeliver thebaby.AmonthsinceRonak’sbirth,

no immunisationshothasbeenadministeredtothechildagainstinfectionslikehepatitis,measles,andpolio.Frominstitutionalde-liveries to ante-natal care, im-munisation to Anganwadischemes, the Covid-19 pan-demic has hit all crucial health-careservices.The effects have rippled in

tribal stretches aswell. Forty kmfromJalgaon,AsrabarivillagenearSatpurarangehasnotbeenvisitedby any Anganwadi workers orAccreditedSocialHealthActivists(ASHAs)sinceMarch.Thevillage,housing Tadvis and Pawarastribes,hasnotreportedanyCovid-19casebut the lockdownhashitservicesforpregnantwomen.Aged 17, Sangeeta Ramsar is

six-month pregnant with herfirst child. “I have not gone to aprimary health centre, and noonecameheretocheckme,”shesaid. She has to walk 7 km toreach the nearest villagewherepublic transport was availableuntilMarch.Sincethelockdown,even that transport is lost.Her neighbour Reshma

Bodya delivered her fifth son afortnightagoinahut. “Yahankoigadi nahi hai. Shehar band padahai virus ke karan. Hospital kaisejaye(Thereisnovehiclehere.Thecity is shut due to coronavirus.Howdowegotohospital),” saidKhedyaPatil, a tribalwoman.District health officer Dr DS

Potode said since Asrabari is atribal area, the institutional de-livery rate is already low there.“Innearbyvillages,wehaveafa-cility fordeliveryat theprimaryhealthcentre,”hesaid.According to MLA Girish

Mahajan, Jalgaon civil hospitalwas performing 1,000 child-births in a month. “Since itbecame a Covid-19 facility,there have been zero deliveriesthere. Another private hospital,Godavari, has been convertedinto a civil hospital, but it hasperformed only 200 deliveries.Every other health service hasbeenaffectedsincethecivilhos-pital has been converted,”Mahajansaid.InParola taluka,Mangrulpri-

maryhealthcentrehas148preg-nant women registered sinceMarchafterlockdown,ofthem37arefirst-timepregnancies,alleli-gible for PradhanMantriMatruVandana Yojana (PMMVY), aschemeunderwhichRs5,000 isgiventoawomanforherfirstde-livery. NurseAnkitaAadhavsaidsince thepandemicbegan, data

entry procedures have come toa standstill. “We have not beenable to link bank accounts andAadhaar. None of thesewomenhasreceivedthefirstinstallmentof Rs2,000,” shesaid.As per government norms,

immunisationactivity,ante-na-tal check-ups are prohibited incontainment and buffer zoneswhere Covid-19 positive casesarediagnosedtopreventtheriskof transmission. “We have al-lowedthesehealthservicesout-side containment zones. So,servicesmaybeslightlyaffectedin containment areas,” said DrArchana Patil, additional direc-tor in Directorate of HealthServices. “Butwe aremanagingtomeet targets for immunisa-tionanddeliveries,” sheadded.AnupKumar Yadav, director

of National HealthMission, ad-mitted thehealth serviceswerehit in March and April as re-sourcesweredivertedtoaddressthe Covid-19 pandemic. “Thestategovernmentkeptruralhos-pitals, primary health centresandsub-centresfreefromCovid-

19 activities to focus on otherservicestosolvetheseissues,”hesaid. But in several districtsASHAs have been engaged inCovid-19surveyofmigrants,af-fecting mother and child careservices.“Ourfocusistofindmi-grants, who travelled fromout-side,andquarantinethem.Afterthatif thereistime,Ifocusonim-munisationandante-natalcare,”saidASHAworker Swati Patil inMangrulvillage.Maharashtra performs

80,000-90,000deliveriesingov-ernmentsectorpermonth.Stateofficials said corporations likePune,Mumbai, Thane, Jalgaon,andMalegaonthathavebeenhitbyCovid-19arefacingproblemswith routinehealthservices.Pregnant and lactating

womenarealsonotabletoavailBharat Ratna APJ Abdul KalamAmrutYojna inparts of state. InAkkalkuan, Dhadgaon, andToranmal areas of Nandurbar,Anganwadis are shut and preg-nant women are getting no ra-tion, a reviewmeeting held inthe first week of June found.

Food for children aged up to sixyears has also been affected. InMay, Nandurbar district datafoundthat15,402childrenwerescreened at Akkalkuan, knownforahighmalnourishmentrate,and2.3per centwere found se-verelyunderweightand12.6percentmoderatelyunderweight.InJalgaon,nosuchscreening

of children formalnourishmenthas been carriedout for the lastthreemonths,whensuchanex-ercise must be undertaken atleastonceamonth.Anganwadi worker Seema

Patilsaid,“Wecan’tdohouse-to-housevisitstoweighchildren,asthere is Covid-19 scare. There isalsoaproblemof ration.Wehadasked for ration for 65 children,forninechildrennorationcame.”Healthsecretary,DrPradeep

Vyas, admitted that the pan-demic had hit other services.“Weareworkingonnormalisingroutine services,” he said. IndraMallo, who heads IntegratedChild Development Services,which monitors Anganwadis,wasunavailable for comment.

MOHAMEDTHAVERMUMBAI, JUNE7

MUMBAIPOLICEThursdayregis-teredanFIRonchargesof cheat-ing,forgeryandcriminalconspir-acyagainstfourpersons,includingtwo lawyers andapolice officer,for allegedly forging apoliceno-tice to illegallyaccessbankstate-mentsofaperson.The complainant, Irphan

Mogul, who is separated fromwifeShaistaKhan,allegedthatthelatter along with her lawyersRizwanMerchant and GayatriGokhale, and Assistant PoliceInspector (API) Vilas Sutar usedforged a police notice to get hisbankstatement,whichwas thensubmitted in the BombayHighCourt. In themaintenance plea,Mogul said, the family court hadruled inhis favour last year afterwhichKhanhadapproachedthehighcourt that is currentlyhear-ingthematter.

The Indian Expresshas a copyof the FIRwhere several IPC sec-tionshavebeen invokedagainstKhan, advocatesMerchant andGokhale and theAPI Sutar,whowaspostedatAgripadapolicesta-tionwhentheallegedcrimeissaidtohavetakenplace.Mogul toldThe IndianExpress

that on February28, he receivedevidence submitted by Khanthrough her lawyers before theBombayHCon the ground thatMogul had suppressed some in-formation tobolsterhermainte-nanceclaim.Theevidencewasa200-page

bank statement of a current ac-count theMogul familyheldat aprivatebankinBandra.Mogul then approached the

localbranchofthebanktoenquirehowhis private details could behandedout.Mogul is associatedwith Infinity cars atWorli,whilehis father runs a garage andhashigh-profile clients, includingBollywoodA-listers and interna-

tionalcricketers.“Apart from compromising

my family's security, the bankstatements alsohadsensitive in-formationaboutmyfather'sbusi-nessclients,”Mogulsaid.Thebank informedhimthat

apoliceofficerhadcometotheirFort branch in August 2019 andsought information of his bankaccount in connection with afraudcaseregisteredagainsthimby oneAnwar Abbas Shaikh, anAgripadaresident.“Iwasshocked.Itookacopyof

thenoticethattheofficerhadpro-vided under section 91 of theCriminalProcedureCode—asum-mons toproduce adocument—andaphotocopyoftheofficerAPIVilas Sutar attached toAgripadapolicestation,”Mogulsaid.On checking with the

Agripadapolice,Mogulfoundthattherewasnosuchcaseregisteredagainsthim,thenoticewasforgedandtherewasnoonebythenameofAnwarAbbasShaikh.“Asenior

officer,however,identifiedtheAPISutar and said that he hadbeentransferred to local arms fromAgripadapolice lastyear,”Mogulsaid.Later,whenSutarwascalledup by senior officers, he said hewasinhisvillageonsickleave.Last week, Mogul met the

Mumbai Police CommissionerParam Bir Singh and apprisedhimoftheissueandthefactthatnoFIRhadbeenregisteredinthecase. Following the commis-sioner's intervention,anFIRwasregisteredatAzadMaidanpolicestationonThursday.Assistant Police Inspector S

MulaniconfirmedanFIRwasreg-isteredbutrefusedtosayanythingelse. So far, no arrests havebeenmadeinthecaseasyet.When contacted, lawyer

RizwanMerchant, speaking onbehalf of himself and his juniorGayatriGokhale, said, “Weasthelawyers of Shaista arenot in anyway concerned in the procure-mentofthebankstatementsfrom

thebank.Wewereengagedinfil-ing an appeal in theHighCourt,against theorder of family courtjudge. The bank statements ofIrphanMoghulwereproducedbyour client for being filed withthe appeal in the high court, ongrounds of suppression beforefamily court. The names oflawyers are being deliberatelydraggedintopressureustowith-drawfromthecase.”Hefurtheradded,“Onthecon-

trary, a strongcaseof giving falseevidenceonoathhasbeenmadeoutagainstMogul,whichweareunderinstructionsfromourclientto pursue in the high court andfamilycourt.ExpectingthisIrphanMoghul apparently has chosenthis route to pressure our clientfromgivingupherclaim.”Khanrefusedtocommenton

theissue.Sutarcouldnotbecon-tacted for comment as hismo-bile number was switched offand his currentmobile numberwasnotavailable.

Monsoon to hitstate in next 2-3days, says IMD

Hit by Covid: Delivery, immunisation, nutrition

FIR against two lawyers, cop for ‘forgingpolice notice’ to procure bank details of man

MOHAMEDTHAVER&SADAFMODAKMUMBAI, JUNE7

ASSISTANT POLICE inspectorSachinVaze,whowasreinstatedin the Mumbai Police Fridayalong with three others — 16years after being suspended forhis alleged involvement in thecustodial death of 27-year-oldKhwajaYunusinJanuary2003—has donnedmany hats duringthe years hewas away from theforce. He joined the Shiv Sena,created a socialmedia platforminMarathi, developed amobilephone application, assisted in-vestigating agencies, appearedon several news channels andwrotetwobooks.OnSaturday,Vaze,policecon-

stablesRajendraTiwariandSunilDesai resumedduty in the localarms unit, while constable

RajaramNikamwasreinstatedinthemotorvehicledepartment.Despite repeated attempts,

Vazedidnotrespondtocalls.Sourcessaidthatoverthelast

few years when Vaze saw hismentors, senior policemen (re-tired)PradeepSharmaandDayaNayak,being inductedback intothepoliceforceafterfacingaslewof allegations and enquiries, hetoowas hopeful despite the on-going Khwaja Yunus case. Vazewas alleged to have disposedYunus’bodyafter thepurportedcustodialkilling.AseniorofficersaidthatVaze

had startedout inThane,wherehe along with other officersplayed a role in keeping theSureshManchekar gang, activeinthearea,undercontrol.WhenanIPSofficerfromThanemovedtoMumbai, he got Vaze alongwith him. Here, hewas postedwiththecrimebranchCIUwhere

hegot in touchwith “encounterspecialist”PradeepSharma.“Vaze has been close to

Sharmarightthroughhiscareer.Workingwith the team, he toostarted being called an 'en-counterspecialist',althoughpri-marily he was in Sharma'sshadow,”anofficersaid.“He (Vaze)wasmedia savvy

and had his name and photosappear in newspapers and TVchannels. In2004,however,duetohisallegedrole intheKhwajaYunus case, he was suspendedandlatersubmittedhisresigna-tion in 2007. However, the res-ignationhadnotbeenacceptedand hence he could be rein-stated,” anofficer said.After tendering his resigna-

tion, Vaze had joined the ShivSena in2008.His lawyer saidhewas intheSenaforsometime.Knowntobegoodwithtech-

nology, in 2010he also started a

socialnetworkingsitecalled 'LaiBhari'. Vaze had also reportedlydevelopedasoftware.Healsowrotetwobooks,one

ontheSheenaBoramurdercaseandtheotheronDavidHeadley,theLeToperativeinvolvedinthe26/11 terror attack, who laterturnedanapprover. “Awayfromthe force, his serviceswere also

usedbysomeinvestigativeagen-ciesaswell.Healsoappearedonseveralnewschannelsasan ‘ex-pert’,”anofficersaid.On December 25, 2002,

Yunus alongwith three otherswasarrestedbytheMumbaipo-lice under Prevention ofTerrorismActivitiesAct for theiralleged role in a bomb blast atGhatkopar on December 2.Subsequently, the POTA courthad acquitted all the men ar-restedwithYunus.On January 6, the last day

Yunuswasseenalive,histhenco-accused had allegedly seen himbeing stripped and severely as-saulted. Later, the police hadclaimed that Vaze and threeothers were taking Yunus toAurangabadtofollowaleadandthat the vehicle theywere trav-elinginmetwithanaccidentandYunushadescaped.Basedonaninquiry ordered by the POTA

court, the CID booked Vaze andthe three constables on chargesofmurder.Yunus' family also ap-

proachedvariouscourts seekingtomakeotherpolicemenaccusedin the case, who eyewitnesseshadsaid,tohaveseenassaulthim.The state government did notsanctionforthemtobemadeac-cusedandpleasregardingaddingthemtostandtrialremainpend-ingbeforetheSupremeCourt.Meanwhile, the trial before

the Sessions Courtwent on in astaggeredmannerwith the firstwitnessdeposingon January17,2018. Thewitness named fourother policemen who he hadseenYunusbeingassaulted.Based on this testimony, the

then special public prosecutormovedaplea incourt toaddthefour policemen as accused.Within twomonths, the prose-cutor, Dhiraj Mirajkar was re-

movedbythestategovernment.Yunus’ mother, Asiya

Begum, has approached theHigh Court challenging the re-moval. The state governmentinformed theHC that since thepetition is pending, it will notappoint another prosecutor toconduct the trial. Since 2018,the trial, therefore, has re-mained stalled. The petition inHC is yet to bedecidedupon.The accused policemen, in-

cludingVaze,havealsocontestedthemurderchargeagainstthemstating that based on thechargesheet filed by the CID,thereisnoevidencetoshowthattheyhadbeeninvolvedinassaultormurder of Yunus.HismotherAsiyaBegum,basedinParbhani,said that shewas apprehensivethat the reinstatement of Vazecould adversely affect the casewhich has already been pro-longedforsomanyyears.

KhwajaYunuscustodial deathcase:Senamember, appdesigner, author–manyhatsdonnedby reinstatedcop

Since itbecameaCovid-19facility, therehavebeenzerodeliveriesat Jalgaoncivilhospital. Express

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEPUNE, JUNE7

THE SOUTHWEST monsoon islikely to make an onset overMaharashtra within the nexttwo to three days. The mon-soon on Sunday advanced topartsofKarnatakaandmorear-eas of Tamil Nadu.“Conditions are becoming

favourable for the advance-ment of monsoon into someparts of Goa and southKonkanwithin the next two to threedays,” stated the latest forecastissued by the IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD).OnSunday, theNorthernLimit of Monsoon (NLM)passed through Karvar,Shimoga, Tumkuru, Chittor,Chennaialongwithmorepartsof Bay of Bengal.According to the revised

monsoon onset dates releasedby IMD, the monsoon onsetover Maharashtra can be ex-pected from June 10 onwards.

Theaccusedcops,includingVaze,havecontestedthemurderchargestatingthatbasedonchargesheetfiledbytheCID, there isnoevidencetoshowthat theyhadbeeninvolvedinassaultormurderofYunus

DIVYAANEWDELHI, JUNE7

KEEPINGINlinewiththeCentre’sdirectiontoopenallplacesofwor-shipfromJune8aspartofUnlock1.0 measures, the Ministry ofCulture on Sunday announcedthat 821monuments across thecountry at which people offerprayerswillbeopenedtothepub-licstartingMonday,Union Culture Minister

Prahlad SinghPatel said visitorswill be allowed topray at thesecentrallyprotectedmonuments

thatwereshutinMarchaspartoftheCovid-19lockdownmeasures.Issuing directions to the

Archaeological Survey of India(ASI), the ministry on Sundaystatedthatthese821monumentswould be opened to the public.Theorder also stipulated theASIto share the listwith respectivestatesanddistrictauthoritiesandfollow any additional “contain-mentandpreventivemeasures”,asperthesituation.Of the821monuments tobe

opened,114wereintheNorthre-gion, 155 inCentral, 170 inWest,279inSouthand103inEast.

However, Patel said themin-istrywillensurethatsafetyproce-dures announced by theHealthandHomeMinistrieswouldcon-tinue to apply at these places,which include social distancingand sanitisation of thepremisesbeforereopening.Healsoclarifiedthat the remainingmonumentsof theASI’s total 3,691protectedsites will continue to remainclosed.While the TajMahalwillcontinue to remain shut, theFatehpuriMasjid on the south-west corner of its entrance, themosque inside its premises andthe Kali masjid near it will beopened.In Delhi, Friday prayers

wouldbeallowedintheQutubarchaeological area and atAfsah-wala-kiMasjid outsidethe west gate of Humayun’s

Tomb. The list also includesHidamba Temple in Manali,Baijnath Temple in Kangra,SankaracharyatempleinSrinagar,a gurdwara located inside theBhatindaFort inPunjabandsev-eralBuddhistmonasteriesinLeh.Meanwhile, theministry, in

consultationwiththeASI,iswork-ingon creating SOPs for reopen-ingtheremainingprotectedmon-umentsforvisitors.Thelikelyprecautionsinclude

doingawaywithticketwindowsin favour of e-ticketing, allowingsmall groups inside, sanitisationof premises and keeping con-gestedpartsofmonumentsoutofbounds,sourcessaid.However,itisunlikelythatthe

green signal for reopening thesemonuments will be given thismonth,sourcessaid.

MADHYAPRADESHAGENCY FORPROMOTIONOF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGYState IT Centre, A-47, Arera Hills, BhopalPh. : (0755) - 2518702

“RFP FOR SUPPLYING OF PROFESSIONAL &STANDARD SURVEY GRADE UNMANNED AERIALVEHICLE/DRONE FOR LARGE SCALE MAPPING”

Øekad % eSi vkbZVh@2020@2875Øekad % eSi vkbZVh@2020@2875Øekad % eSi vkbZVh@2020@2875Øekad % eSi vkbZVh@2020@2875Øekad % eSi vkbZVh@2020@2875 fnukad 06-06-2020fnukad 06-06-2020fnukad 06-06-2020fnukad 06-06-2020fnukad 06-06-2020MAP_IT invites Proposals from qualified and experiencedsuppliers for “supplying of professional & standard surveygrade Unmanned Aerial Vehicle/Drone for large scale mapping”to MAP_IT.Interested Bidders, who qualify as per the criteria mentioned inthe document, may submit their proposals through e-tenderinglatest by 28 June till 3:30 P.M. on e-Procurement portal(www.mptenders.gov.in). Bidder has to submit the documentfee of Rs. 1000/- (Rupees One Thousand only) for RFPdocument along with e-Procurement Processing fees throughonline payment at e-Procurement portal.The detailed RFP document can be downloaded from thewebsite www.mptenders.gov.in and www.mapit.gov.infrom 8 June 2020 onward.In future, all the information/notice will be display on websitewww.mapit.gov.in.M.P. Madhyam/97540/2020 CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Martyrs of CISF on 08th June

CISF proudly remembers the supreme sacrifice of these brave-hearts. On this day, they laid down their lives at the altar of duty.Their courage and bravery would remain an abiding source ofinspiration for the force. The force will remain eternally indebtedto them for their noblest deeds.

9422881L Rfn Linchon Pradhan

Rfn Linchon Pradhan of 1/11 Gorkha Rifles (BATA-LIK) made the supreme sacrifice during 'OP VIJAY'on 08 Jun 1999 in a true act of

valour. The brave soldier will always be remem-bered for his raw courage and indomitable team

spirit. To this braveheart we pledge that we shall always beguided by his immortal spirit and make his name proud.

9421595X LNk Indra Bahadur Rai

LNk Indra Bahadur Rai of 1/11 Gorkha Rifles(BATALIK) made the supreme sacrifice during'OP RAKSHAK (J&K)' on 08 Jun 2006 in a trueact of valour. The brave soldier will always beremembered for his raw courage andindomitable team spirit. To this braveheart wepledge that we shall always be guided by hisimmortal spirit and make his name proud.

The above mentioned Martyrs of 1/11 Gorkha Rifles (BATALIK)made the supreme sacrifice during "Mt Trishul Expedition" in2009 in a true act of grit and valour. The Brave soldiers willalways be remembered for their enthusiam and courage. Tothese brave Martyrs we pledge that we shall always be guidedby their immortal spirits and do their name proud.

CO AND ALL RANKS, 1/11 GORKHA RIFLES

(BRAVEST OF THE BRAVE)

(BATALIK)

ASI/EXE VIKASH

GURUNG

BSP BHILAI08-06-2008

HC/DVR BRAH-

MA PRAKASH

BSP BHILAI08-06-2008

CT/GD MD AYUB

4TH RES. BN. RANCHI

08-06-1997

CT/GD U K

SHARMA

FSTPP FARAKKA08-06-1994

CT/GD G. MURMU

GURUNG

BSP BHILAI08-06-2008

SSAALLUUTTEE TTHHEE SSOOLLDDIIEERR

9421341L Nk ChandraBahadur Lawati

9420004Y HavDhan Raj Rai

9421335F NkNima Wangdi Sherpa

Sl. No Tender Inviting Authority Specification No. Total1 SE/M-II/NCTPS-2 13 1

For details of works/Procurement/Due date of submission/opening,Corrigendum, Due date Extension Notice, viewing and downloadingof e-tenders, please visit websites : www.tangedco.gov.in,www.tenders.tn.gov.in, www.tntenders.gov.in nicgep/app

NOTICE INVITING TENDERS (E-TENDERING PROCESS)

DIPR/2102/Tender/2020

TAMIL NADU GENERATION AND DISTRIbUTION CORPORATION LTD.

6THEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY, JUNE8,2020

THEOUTBREAKWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

Bengaluru’strafficisnotbacktoitsusual,infamouslevels,butnormalcyisslowlyreturning.AtMGRoadonSunday. JithendraM

ABANTIKAGHOSHNEWDELHI, JUNE7

THE CENTRE has described as“unfounded and baseless”theaccusations that the govern-ment’sefforts towardscontain-ment and management ofCovid-19 excluded the largerwisdomof technical experts.A joint statement by the

IndianPublicHealthAssociation(IPHA), Indian Association ofPreventive and SocialMedicine(IAPSM) and Indian AssociationofEpidemiologists(IAE)hadlastweekaccusedthegovernmentofnot having consulted “epidemi-ologistswhohadbettergraspofdisease transmission dynamicscomparedtomodelers”.“These apprehensions and

allegations are unfounded andbaseless.Thegovernmentiscon-stantly in consultationwith ex-perts for technical and strategicinputs, scientific ideas and do-main-specific guidance to ad-dress theCovid-19pandemic.ANational Task Force (NTF) forCovid-19 is constituted bySecretary DHR-cum-DG-ICMRwith Member (Health) NITIAayog as Chairperson andSecretary (DoHFW) andSecretary (DHR) as Co-Chairs.The NTF comprises 21mem-bers, including technical/do-mainexperts fromthegovern-ment and outside thegovernment. Predominant ex-pertiseintheTaskForceisfrompublic health and/or epidemi-ology. Given the complexity

andimplicationsoftheCovid-19pandemic,thegrouphasexpertsfrommedicine, virology, phar-macology and programme im-plementationdomains,aswell,”read a statement issued by theMinistry of Health and FamilyWelfare.The Task Force constituted

four expert groups, the state-ment added, on EpidemiologyandSurveillance(with13mem-bers) and on OperationsResearch (with 15 members)thatalmostentirelyincludepub-lichealth andepidemiologyex-perts from thegovernment andnon-governmentarena.Amongthesignatories in the

joint statementwere Dr ShashiKant, Professor andHead of theCentreforCommunityMedicine,AIIMS, NewDelhi, andDr D C SReddy, former Professor andHeadofCommunityMedicineatBHU. The twoare alsomembersofa ICMRresearchgrouponepi-demiology and surveillance forCovidformedonApril6.The joint statement also

mentioned that it is unrealistictoexpectthatthepandemiccanbeeliminatedatthisstagegiventhatcommunitytransmissionisalreadywell-established acrosslarge sections or sub-popula-tionsinthecountry.Thegovern-ment has consistently deniedcommunity transmission.The HealthMinistry stated,

“TheTaskForcehasheldover20meetingsandhassystematicallycontributed towards the scien-tific and technical response tothepandemic.”

Claims that Covidstrategy excludedexperts baseless: Govt

SHAJUPHILIPTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM,JUNE7

ALLGOVERNMENT, quasi-gov-ernmentandPSUofficesinKeralaaresettoreopenonMonday,evenas thenumberof Covid-19 casesinthestatecontinuestoincrease.An order issued by the state

government Sunday saidoffices,except those in containmentzones, should functionwith fullstaffstrengthstartingMonday.Incontainment zones, officeswillfunctionwithminimumstaff.Thegovernmenthasdirectedthatstaffmembers taking care of elderlyparents, children aged below5years and thosewho are differ-ently-abledshouldavoidcontactwiththegeneralpublic.Placesofworship,meanwhile,

willreopenTuesday,maintainingsocialdistancing. TheSabarimalatempleissettoopenfordevoteesduringthemonthlyritualstartingJune 14. However,Muslim reli-giousorganisationshavedecidedtonotopenprominentmosquesinmajorcities. SomeChristiandio-

ceses toohavedecidednot to re-openchurchesfromJune9,disre-gardingthegovernmentsanctionforconductingdailyritualsforthepublic.Thestatedirectionthatallpersonsabove65should remaininself-isolationisalsoposingtrou-bleforchurches,whichhaveasiz-ablechunkofservingbishopsandpriestsabovetheageof65.Meanwhile, the number of

newCovid-19casesinKeralacon-tinuedtohoverat thethree-digitmark for the third consecutiveday,with the state reporting107newcasesonSunday.The Kerala government is

set to begin antibody tests thisweek using 14,000 kits sup-plied by ICMR, with 40,000-odd kits expected to reach thestate thisweek.

In Kerala, Govt officesreopen today, most placesof worship tomorrow

UTTARPRADESH11,308 433 67

Foreignentrants:None

TAMILNADU16,275 1,515 11

Foreignentrants:7

RAJASTHAN12,304 262 25

Foreignentrants:NA

KERALA2,358 107 28

Foreignentrants:71

ANDHRAPRADESH17,695 199 69

Foreignentrants:None

KARNATAKA11,860 239 183

Foreignentrants:9

PUNJAB5,300 93 12

Foreignentrants: 2

■Samplestested

■Positivecases■ Migrants

A look at howCovid-19 case counts in statesare changing asmigrants return home

CASECOUNT: THECHANGINGPICTURE

States’ data for last 24hours, updatedup to9pmon June7

Mumbaikarsmakethemostof apleasantweekendatMarineDrive—under thewatchfuleyeof thepolice.Peoplehavethrongedthe3.6-kmpromenadeafterprohibitoryorderswere liftedbytheMaharashtragovernmentonJune5,allowingindividualphysicalactivities likewalkingandjogging.GaneshShirsekar

WALK UNDER WATCH

821 ASI monuments to reopen for prayers today

The Sabarimalatemple is set to openfordevotees duringthemonthly ritualstarting June14

7THEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY, JUNE8,2020

EXPRESSNETWORKWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

DELHICONFIDENTIAL

NEW MISSIONLOKSABHAMPDanishAli,who joinedMayawati’sBSPafterseeking ‘consent’ from the JD(S) leadership to contest fromAmroha,UttarPradesh,hadakeyroleinforgingtheCongress-JD(S) alliance inKarnataka. Althoughhe is part of the BSP inthe Lok Sabha, his proximitywith the Gowda family, espe-ciallyformerPrimeMinisterHDDeveGowda,isnosecret.Alihasbeeninthenationalcapitalwithanewmission—hewantstoensureGowda’spresence inParliament.He isusingallhisconnectionsintheCongressandJD(S)toseethattheCongressoffers theseattotheformerPMevenwithouthispartymak-inga formal request.

GREEN CONCERNSTHEPANDEMICseems tohaveprompted lawmakers todealwithenvironmentissuesonpriority.AtatimewhenMPsarerefusingtotraveltothenationalcapitaleventoattendparlia-mentary panel meetings, YSRCP MP fromRajamahendravaramMarganiBharatcametoDelhiforaproj-ecttoprotecttheGodavariinhisconstituencyinEastGodavaridistrict.HemetJalShaktiMinisterGajendraSinghShekhawatand got a project of Rs 416 crore by National ReserveConservative Board Directive under hisministry approved.Theproject,whichincludesconstructionofsewagetreatmentplants and laying of outfall drains, has become all themoreimportant in the Covid-19 era for his voters, Bharat told theminister.

VETERANS INCLUDEDIN THEwake of rising cases of Covid-19 across the countryandreportsofshortageofhospitalbeds,theBSFandITBPhaveopenedalltheirhospitalsfortheirretiredpersonnel. Inanor-der issuedonSaturday,BSFand ITBPDGSSDeswal said thathospitals of the forceswill also treat veterans suffering fromCovid-19.Untilnow,thesehospitalswerereservedforservingpersonnel. The order comes at a timewhen the two forceshavereportedmorethan600casesofCovidinfectionsintheirranks.

SHAJUPHILIPTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM,JUNE7

THE DEATH of a pregnant ele-phantinthebufferzoneofSilentValley National Park in Kerala’sPalakkaddistrictaftertheanimalallegedlybitintoacoconutfilledwithfirecrackershasbroughttotheforefrontthestate’sgrowingchallengeofmanagingman-an-imal conflicts.Thousands of farmers in

Kerala have either abandonedcultivation or stopped nursingtheir farmlands due to frequentraids by wild elephants, wildboarsandof late,monkeys.The state economic review

2019hasstatedthat“despitethe

proactivemeasures of the (for-est) department in mitigatingtheproblemsof human-animalconflicts, it continues unre-solved... Variousmeasures thatwere adopted include diggingelephant-proof trenches, creat-ing elephant-proof walls, con-structingsolar-poweredelectricfences... Inspiteof thesepreven-tivemeasures, it is alarming tonote that the number of inci-dentsofhuman-animalconflictis increasing year by year. In2018-19, asmany as 7,890 inci-dentswerereported,whereas itwas7,229 in2017-18.’’Forest department data

shows that between 2015 and2020,416wildelephantsdiedinKerala,with24deathsattributedto“unnaturalcauses”—hunting,

electrocution,beinghitbyvehi-cles and by explosives. Duringthe same period, 514 peoplewerekilledinattacksbywildan-imals, including elephants. In2019 alone, 15 people were

killed inelephantattacks.Therehave been 246 cases related towildlife crime inKerala in2019.A forest department official

saidthefragmentationof forestshas also led to elephants stray-ingintofarmlands.“Duetomin-ing and other human interven-tions, elephant habitats havebeendisturbed,”hesaid.However,whilethethreatof

elephants ismainly felt in areasclose to forest regions, thepres-enceofwildboarshasemergedasathreattofoodsecurityinvil-lagesandsemi-urbanareas.Theforestdepartmentofficial

said, “The population of wildboars has increased manifoldeven in non-forest areas. Jackalsused to be the predator of wildboarcubs.Now, the jackalpopu-

lationhasgonedown...Theuseofpesticides,mainlyinpaddyfieldsand banana plantations, hasturnedfatalforjackals,whichper-ishedinlargenumbersaftercon-suming crabswhich died of ex-posuretolethalpesticidesinsuchfarms.Farmershavetobeblamedforcreatingsuchasituation.”Kerala Farmers Federation

general secretary Joshy Josephsaid,“Theraidofelephantsshowsthattheanimalsdonothavefod-derandwaterintheirhabitat.Thegovernment has to take steps toensure availability of fodder forelephants in forests...Manypeo-plewhoblame farmers over theman-animalconflictdonotknowthepainof cultivation.”

FULLREPORTONwww.indianexpress.com

SANTOSHSINGHPATNA, JUNE7

ADDRESSING A virtual rally,UnionHomeMinisterAmitShahspoke of Bihar’s journey from“lantern to LED” and assertedthat the Nitish Kumar-led NDAgovernment would return topowerwithtwo-thirdsmajority.TheseniorBJPleadersaidthe

virtualrallywasa“waytoconnectwith party workers up to thebooth level and the people ofBihar”. Asserting that it is not anelection rally, he slammedOppositionpartiesforcallingitso.TheBiharAssemblyelections

aredue inOctober-November.“This rally is aimed at con-

necting people with theAatmanirbharBharatcampaign.TheBJPwillhave75suchmeet-ings,” Shahsaid inhisaddress.He said the Centre helped

morethan1.25croremigrantsre-turn to their homestates duringtheCovid-19pandemic.Headdedthatmigrants fromBihar had tobe “respected as they had con-tributing tobuildingother stateswiththeirbloodandsweat”.Hesaid,“Itdidhurttoseepeo-

plestartwalkingfortheirhomes,but we immediately arrangedbusesandlaterranShramikspe-cial trains. Indian Railways bore85percentofthecostoffaresand

we could help about 1.25 croremigrantsreachtheirhomes.”Shahcongratulated thecom-

bined leadership of CMNitishKumar and his Deputy SushilKumar Modi for dealing withCovid-related andmigrants’ is-sues. “The Bihar governmentalonespentRs8,538croreforre-liefofitspeopleandmigrantswhoreturnedtothestate,”hesaid.The homeminister said the

Bihar government had takenGDP growth of 3.9 per cent inRJD-Congress rule to 11.3 percentunderNitish-ledNDAgov-ernment. "The statebudget sizehas gone up from Rs 23,800crore in 2004-05 to Rs 2,11,761crorein2020-21.Electricitysup-

ply is available to 100 per centhouseholds now as against 22percentavailabilityinRJDrule,”saidShah,challengingtheRJDtoofferanyothercomparativedata.Naming Nitish thrice in his

speech, Shahsaid: “Though thisis not an election rally, NitishKumar-led NDAwill return topower with two-thirdsmajor-ity... Bihar is a journey fromlantern to LED.” Shah, however,did not mention LJP, anotherNDApartner.Speaking about the Centre's

contribution to Bihar, Shah saidRs 354.5 crore had been trans-ferred to Jan Dhan accounts of2.38 crorepeople, LPGcylindersworth Rs 630 crore had been

given to 84.4 lakh beneficiaries."Nowwith 'one nation, one ra-tion'scheme,peoplewillgettheirshareofsubsidisedgrainswher-ever theyare inthecountry.”Shah added that a con-

tentious issue likeAyodhyawasresolved because the centralgovernmentmadeastrongcaseforRam’sbirthplaceinthecourt.He also said that no onewouldhavethought that special statusfor J&Kcouldbeabrogated.The Bihar BJP claimed that

seven party workers watchedthe virtual rally at each of the72,000 polling booths, besidesthousandsfromtheelectorateinBiharonYouTube,FacebookLiveandNaMoapp.RJD Leader of Opposition

TejashwiPrasadYadav,whogothis partyworkers to beat platesoutside their homes beforeShah's virtual rally, said: "TheNDA government does notbother about the poor whoseplatesareempty.Weareoppos-ing the BJP’s virtual rally as it isinsensitive to think of electionswhenCovidcasesaresurging inBihar.”DeputyCMSushilModisaid:

"It is Laluwad versus Vikaswadin Bihar... RJD is now beatingplates. Do they know the stategovernment spent Rs 5,700 oneach migrant who returnedhome?

Thepregnantelephantcollapsed intheVelliyarriveronMay27anddied.

AmitShahvirtuallyaddressingthepeopleofBihar.

Congress leadersstageadharnaat theresort.ChiragChotaliya

Elephant death brings to fore man-animal conflict in Kerala

AMITSHAHADDRESSESVIRTUALRALLY

‘Nitishwill return to powerwith two-thirdsmajority’

DEEPTIMANTIWARYNEWDELHI, JUNE7

AKASHMIRIwomanarrestedbyDelhi Police inMarch on suspi-cion of being associated withIslamicStateandorganisinganti-CAAprotestsinthenationalcap-italhastestedpositiveforCovid-19 during interrogation by theNational Investigation Agency(NIA).Sincethen,aroundadozenofficersandpersonnelofthecen-tral agency have been tested, of

whomtwohave testedpositive.Allhavebeenquarantined.TheNIAhadtakencustodyof

HinaBashirBeg(39)andherhus-bandJahanzaibSami(36)onMay29 in connectionwith its probeinto an IS terror conspiracy al-legedly involving Hyderabadyouth Abdullah Basith. Beforetakingcustody, theNIAgotbothof them tested and they werefoundnegative.However,duringinterrogation, Beg developedsymptomsandwastestedagainalong with her husband and

Basith. Beg tested positive andhas been shifted to hospital,while theentireNIA teamprob-ingherhasbeenquarantined.“Twoof our personnel in the

controlroomtestedpositive.Thecontrolroomisinfrontofthelockup.WearetryingtofindouthowourmenandBeggotinfected.Theprobe team has been quaran-tined. All procedures are beingfollowed,”anNIAofficialsaid.Beg'slawyerhasnowmoved

forinterimbail.“Myclientgotin-fected inNIA custody. Cases are

rising every day andmedia re-ports suggest there aren'tenough beds in hospitals. Jailsarealsowitnessingcases.Insuchasituationitisonlyprudentthatmy client is granted bail,” M SKhantoldThe IndianExpress.Beg and her husband

Jahanzaib Sami, who belong toSrinagar’sShivporaarea,werear-rested fromDelhi’s JamiaNagaronMarch9andbookedunderIPCsectionsforseditionandcriminalconspiracy and the UnlawfulActivities(Prevention)Act.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICERAJKOT, JUNE7

THEMANAGER and owner of aresort in Rajkot, where GujaratCongressMLAs and party lead-ers have been camping, werebookedforopeningthepremisesinviolationof thenotificationtokeepsuchestablishmentsclosedin light of the Covid-19 pan-demic.The resort is reportedly

owned by Indranil Rajyaguru,former Congress MLA fromRajkot (east) constituency.Manoharsinh Jadeja,deputy

commissionerofpolice(DCP)ofZone-II of the city said,“AccordingtonotificationsoftheCentralgovernment,suchestab-lishmentswould be allowed toopen from June8.Wehave reg-istered a caseunder IPC Section188.Noonehasbeenarrestedsofar. We shall investigate, sum-monthem,seektheirreplyandifwarranted,will arrest them.”The move comes after the

leaders held a dharna on thepremisesofNeelsCityResortde-mandingwaiving of electricitybills and property taxes aswellastodirectprivateschoolsnottocharge“exorbitant” fees.LedbyseniorCongressleader

ArjunModhwadiaandCongressLegislature Party leader PareshDhanani, 18 Congress MLAs

stageddharnaunder theparty’s‘Bolshe Gujarat’ (Gujarat willspeakup)campaignattheresortneartheSaurasthraUniversityonSunday.PartyleaderHardikPatel,Khambhaliya MLA VikramMadam, Dhoraji MLA LalitVasoya, Tankara MLA LalitKagathara, UnaMLA PunjabhaiVansh and Vashram Sagathiya,leaderoftheOppositioninRajkotMunicipal Corporation, joinedthedharna.“Peoplecouldn'tworkdueto

the lockdown in view of thecoronaviruspandemic... farmerscould not sell their produce...people don’t have money.Therefore,wedemandthatgov-ernment waive electricity billsandpropertytaxesaswelldirectprivate schools to refrain fromtakingexorbitantfees,”Dhananisaid.The leaders started arriving

in the resort on Friday night,hours after CongressMLA fromMorbi, BrijeshMerja, resignedfrom the party and asMLA, be-comingthe8thOppositionMLAto quit ahead of the elections tofour Rajya Sabha seats in thestate. Modhwadia said that allthe19MLAsoftheparty, includ-ingDhanani,arrivedintheresortby Sunday. He said that theparty’splan is tokeepthegroupofMLAstogetherintheresorttillthe Rajya Sabha elections onJune19.

TORAAGARWALAGUWAHATI, JUNE7

CLOSEON the heels of protestsover its operations in Assam’sDehingPatkaiElephantReserve,NorthEasternCoalfields(NEC),aCoal India Limited (CIL) sub-sidiary,saiditistemporarilysus-pendingallminingoperations.An order from the office of

theGeneralManager,NEC, said,“Allminingoperations inNorthEastern Coalfields, Coal IndiaLimited,Margherita are herebytemporarily suspended w.e.f.03.06.2020.”The NEC has two existing

opencastcoalminingprojects—Tirap Colliery in ArunachalPradesh and Tikok Colliery inAssam.Aseriesofvirtualprotestsfol-

lowedafter themoveby abodyunder the Ministry ofEnvironment,ForestandClimateChange— theNational BoardofWildlife—for“recommendationfor approval” of a coal miningprojectbytheNECintheDehingPatkaiElephantReserveinApril.The reserve—believed tobe

the last remaining contiguous

patchofrainforestareainthere-gion— spreads across the coal-and oil-rich districts of UpperAssam.While NEC had a 30-year-

lease to carry out operations inits Tikokopencastminingproj-ect in the Saleki proposed re-serve forest (under DehingPatkai Elephant Reserve), thecontract expired in 2003.Between2003to2012,thecom-pany mined land measuring44.27 hectares (ha) withoutclearance. A response to an RTIquery by green activist Rohit

Choudhury later revealed thattheagencyhasminedintheun-brokenareaof 41.59ha too.TheNBWL’sconditionalclear-

ance in April came after CIL ap-pliedforpostfactoregularisationof open cast mining in 98.5hectares of the Saleki PRF. Sincethen,thecampaigntosaveDehingPatkaihasintensifiedinAssam.While operations in the

Tikok Collierywere suspendedinOctober2019afteradirectivefromtheAssamgovernment,theTirapCollierywasclosedonJune3after theorder.“We have had issues with

clearances. And since Tikokwasshutearlier,itwasveryhardforustosustainwithjustonemine.Weincurredhugelosses,”saidanNECofficial. “So, the operations havebeen temporarily suspended forthese two reasons: issueswithclearancesandfinancial losses.”“This is not a permanent

stoppage but only temporary.Onceweget clearances,wewillstart bothmines together,” saidthe official, adding that if clear-ances did not come through,they would have to consider“shifting the workers to othersubsidiariesof CIL”.

Manager, owner ofresort where GujaratCongress leaderscamped booked

TheDehingPatkaiElephantReserve isbelievedtobethelast remainingcontiguouspatchof rainforestarea intheregion.

After protests, Coal India haltsmining ops in Assam reserve

IS suspect, 2 NIA personnel test Covid positive

TORAAGARWALAGUWAHATI, JUNE7

AGROUPofpeople inGuwahatikilled an old andweak leopardin a forested area, removed itsteeth and paraded its carcassaroundthe localityonSunday.“It was an 8-year-old male

leopardwhichhadbeeninitiallycaughtwitharopetrapbythelo-calresidents,”saidRajibBaruah,DFO,KamrupEastDivision. Theincident occured in the city’sKatahbariPahararea,whichfallsundertheFatasilReserveForest.Inanallegedvideoclipof the

incident, nowcirculatingonso-cial media, three-fourmen canbeseencarryingaroundthecar-cass of the animal to hoots andcheersbyacrowd.Sevenpeople,includingoneminor, havebeenheld. “Since the animal’s teethwere also removed, they willalso be charged with a case ofpoaching,” saidBaruah.The post-mortem report is

awaited. “Whatwe know so faris that it was an old and weakleopardwhichhadnoteatenfordays,”hesaid,Forest department officials

were alerted about the leopardbeingtrappedbythelocalsearlySundaymorning. “By the time,the zoo authorities reached torescue the leopard, it escaped,”saidBaruah.The local residents, however,

followed thebig cat into the for-est—byabout10am,theforestde-partmentwas informed that theleopard had been killed. “Theleopardhadnotdisturbedanyonenorhadhedamagedanything.Sotherewas really noprovocationfortheattack,”saidBaruah.A preliminary FIR has been

lodged at the Gorchuk PoliceStation.“Wearewaitingformoredetails from the post-mortemexamination to file amore de-tailedFIRaswell asacase forvi-olating theWildlife ProtectionAct, 1972,” said HemkantaTalukdar, Chief Conservator ofForest,CentralAssamCircle.

Leopard killed,teeth removed,carcass paradedin Guwahati

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEBHOPAL, JUNE7

A DAY after a woman allegedthatherfatherhadbeentiedtoabed in a private hospital inMadhya Pradesh’s Shajapur fornon-payment of dues, theShajapurdistrictadministrationseizedthetreatmentpapersandtook statements of the doctorsand staff on duty, who deniedtheallegations.Sheela Dangi, a resident of

Ranaravillage inRajgarhdistrict,alleged on Friday that CityHospital, where her father hadbeenadmittedforclosetoaweek,refusedtodischargehimandtiedhimtothehospitalbedwhenshesaidshehadrunoutofmoney.Thehospitaldeniedthealle-

gation, saying the patient wastied to the bed because hewashaving convulsions due to hy-pernatremia and would havehurthimself.DrVarunBajajof thehospital

said it was a common practice.HesaidwhenthehospitalaskedfortheremainingRs11,000from

thedaughter,shesaidshehadnomoney. ShehadpaidRs10,800.Dr Bajaj said the hospital

called thepolice,but thedaugh-ter refused to pay, and that thehospital discharged the patientontheadviceofpolice.Heshareda letterwritten by the daughterdenying the allegation that thehospital refused to let her go fornon-paymentofmoney.Thelet-ter said the hospitalwaived theremainingamount.Chief Minister Shivraj Singh

Chouhanorderedaninquiryintothe allegation. Sub-divisionalMagistrateSLSolanki,whocon-ducted the probe after seizingpapers from the hospital, sub-mittedhisreporttothecollector.Despite repeated attempts,Collector Dinesh Jain was notavailable for comment.

Woman alleges father tiedto MP hospital bed overdues, CM orders probe

Hospital saidpatientwastiedtothebedbecausehewashavingconvulsionsduetohypernatremia

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICESHIMLA,JUNE7

ANEMPLOYEEofaPunjab-basedfirmhasbeenarrestedinconnec-tionwiththeallegedmedicalpur-chasescaminHimachalPradeshwhich led to the suspensionandarrest of the state’s director ofhealthservices(DHS)lastmonth.PrithviSingh,46,aresidentof

Sangrah in Sirmaur districtwhowasworking as a liasioningoffi-cerforPunjab-basedfirmBioaideCorporation,wasarrestedby thestate anti-corruption and vigi-lancebureauonSaturday,anoffi-cialsaid.Singhallegedlyrecordeda43-

secondaudioclipofhistelephonicconversationwith thenDHSDrAKGupta inwhich theduowerepurportedlyhearddiscussingthehandover of Rs 5 lakh. The clipwent viral, leading toGupta’s ar-rest onMay20.According to thevigilancebureau,GuptaandSinghwerediscussing the exchangeofbribefollowingthesupplyofPPEkits worth over Rs 1 crore byBioaidetothestategovernment.State BJP chief Rajeev Bindal

resignedhispost “onthebasisofhighmoralground”amidthecor-ruption probe into the procure-mentofPPEkits.Superintendent of Police in

the state vigilance and anti-cor-ruptionbureau,ShaliniAgnihotri,inastatementsaid, “Forensicex-aminationof themobile phonesseizedrevealedatleastthreemoreaudio recordings between theagent of Bioaide Corporation(Singh) and theDHS (Gupta) re-latingtosupplyofPPEkits.Theseconversationsrevealedthatwhilethe agentwas ready to deliverRs3 lakh inhispossession to theDHS,whowasinsistinguponhimtoarrangeatleastRs2lakhmore”.As per the statement, Singh

wasseekingonemoresupplyor-der of PPE kits before the issueoftender.“Nosupplyordercould,however, be issued as itwasde-cidedbythegovernmentthatfu-ture Covid-related purchaseswouldonlybemadethroughten-ders,”theSPsaid.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JUNE7

THEENFORCEMENTDirectorate(ED) has filed a supplementaryprosecution complaint in theManesar land scam case, inwhich former Haryana chiefministerBhupinderSinghHoodaisanaccused.The supplementaryprosecu-

tion complaint (equivalent to achargesheet) has been filedagainst eightpeople andentitiessuspected tohavebeen involvedin laundering the proceeds ofcrimeoutoftheallegedlyfraudu-lentlanddeal.Thosechargesheeted include

privatebuildersandentitiessuchasAtulBansal andhiswifeSona;ABW Infrastructure Ltd;Mahamaya Exports Pvt Ltd;Shashikant Chaurasia; DilipLalwani; Varinder Uppal; VijayUppal; Viney Uppal; RavinderTaneja; TDI Infrastructure Ltd;WisdomRealtorsPvtLtd;andABRephconsInfrastructurePvtLtd.Hooda has already been

chargesheetedbytheCBI,whichisalsoprobingthematter.TheEDhasalsoattachedprop-

ertiesworthRs108.79croreinthecase. “Investigationunder PMLArevealedthatbuilders/privateen-tities extorted the land fromthefarmers/ landholders onmeagreratesbyexhibiting the fearof ac-quisition. Farmers/landholdersunder different fears sold theirlandtosuchprivateentitieswhoultimately, sold thesametovari-ous builders who obtained li-cences and gained handsomeprofits...”anEDstatementsaid.On the role of the

chargesheeted entities, the EDsaid, “Investigation further re-vealedthatmostofthelandswerepurchased by ABWIL GroupwhichiscontrolledbyAtulBansaland after obtaining of licences;ABWIL sold the licensed / unli-censed land and licences to theprivate persons/ developers andtherebymakinghugeprofits.”TheEDinitiatedthe investiga-

tion inthecaseonthebasisof anFIRregisteredbyGurgaonPolice,whichwaslatertakenoverbyAntiCorruptionBureauofChandigarhandtheCBI.

ED files anotherchargesheet inManesar landscam case

HIMACHALPRADESH

Punjab firmemployeearrested inPPE scam case

8THEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY, JUNE8,2020

EXPRESSNETWORKWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

NAVEEDIQBALSRINAGAR, JUNE7

FOUR DAYS after bureaucrat-turned-politicianShahFaesalandtwo senior PDPmemberswerereleased following revocationoftheir detention under the PSA,PDPspokespersonSuhailBukhariraisedtheissueofotherleadersofhispartystillbeingheldindeten-tion.“We have been asking all

alongforunconditionalreleaseofthepoliticalleadershipacrosspar-ties fromillegaldetention.Whileour president and former CMMehboobaMufti has completed10monthsinthisillegaldetention,leadersfromotherpartieslikeAliMohammadSagaralsocontinuetobeunderarrest.Eventhosere-leasedfromjailshavebeenputindetention in their homes. This isundemocratic,illegalandunethi-cal,”Bukhari,Mehbooba’sadviser,toldTheIndianExpress.Faesal and twoPDP leaders—

PeerMansoorandSartajMadni—werereleasedfromdetentiononJune3.However,accordingtoof-ficial sources, Faesal has beenplacedunderhousearrestalong-side almost adozenotherpoliti-cal leaders.Whileamajorityofthepoliti-

cal leadership of Jammu andKashmirhasbeen released sinceJanuary—theywere among sev-eralpoliticalleaderswhowerede-tained in the aftermath of theAugust 5 scrappingof J&K’s spe-cial status—there is a growingclamourforthereleaseoftheoth-ers, including PDP chief Mufti,seniorNationalConferenceleaderAliMohammadSagar,seniorPDPleader NaeemAkhtar andNC’sNorthKashmirMPAkbar Lone’ssonHilalLone.Allofthemarebe-ingheldunder the Public SafetyAct(PSA).FormerCMandNCvice-pres-

ident Omar Abdullah,whowasreleased fromdetention underPSA in March, has repeatedly

called for release of all politicalleaders. He recently tweeted:“Disappointed that@MehboobaMufti, Sagar Sb &Hilal Lone continue to be de-tained. It’s high time theyare setfree aswell. Not tomention themany others under informal‘house arrest’ for the last 10months.It’stimetheruleoflawisappliedtoallequally&theselead-ers are allowed to leave theirhomeswithouttheir‘guards’lock-ing them insidewithout cause,justificationor anydetentionor-der.”Peoples Conference (PC) has

also called for the immediate re-leaseofallpoliticalprisonersbothwithinandoutsideJ&K.PeoplesConferencechairman

Sajad Lone, senior NC leaderAbdul Rahim Rather, NCspokespersonAgaSyedRuhullahandNC leaders Irfan Shah, ShafiUri andNasir Sogami, and PDPyouth president Waheed-ur-Rehman Para are among thoseunder house arrest since theywere released from SKICC orSrinagar’sMLAHostel.Mehbooba’s daughter Iltija

Javed,whoruns the formerCM’sTwitteraccount, tweeted:“...bar-ring a few,most political leaderscuttingacrosspartylinescontinuebeing under house arrest. Theirunlawful detention is an aberra-tion of the law.” She added thatthe “adhoc releases of detaineesdefiescommonsense”.CPM central committee

memberMYTarigami said thatprolongeddetentionsareasignof“howthingsremainfarfromnor-mal in Kashmir” despite NewDelhi’s claims.He, too, called forreleaseofpolitical leaders.

MILINDGHATWAIBHOPAL, JUNE 7

CONGRESSLEADERandformerMadhyaPradeshchiefministerDigvijayaSinghonSunday saidJyotiraditya Scindia won’t getthesamerespectandtreatmentin the BJP as he got in theCongress because he had spo-ken out against the RSS in thepast.Addressing a virtual press

conference, Singh said thatScindiawaslikehisson.Hesaid,“When he (Scindia) was withtheCongress,hehadasayinap-pointing district presidentsfromMorena to Mandsaur. Noother leader got the same re-spect intheCongressasyoudid.It won’t happen now becausetheRSScalls theshots intheBJPandyouhave criticised it in the

past.”“Maybeyouwere inahurry

to get into Narendra Modi’sministry,” Singh said, addingthat thevoterswill “teacha les-son” to those who broughtdown the Kamal Nath-ledCongress government a lessonin the ensuing by-elections to24 seats.When asked whether the

Congress would shift its MLAsin the state to resorts ahead oftheRajyaSabhaelections,Singhsaid, “Those who could beboughtoverhavealreadygone,”referring to the party’s leadersand legislators, led by Scindia,who switched over to the BJP,bringing down the Nath gov-ernment inMarch.“There aremany legislators

for whom even Rs 1 croremeans a lot, but they did notsuccumb even when offered

hugesums,”hesaid, takingadigat the MLAs who defected toBJP,allegedlyafterbeingofferedsums in excess of Rs 30 crore.Singh also claimed he had

conveyed to Scindia thatwhileboth he and Nath are in their70s andwould soon fade away,the former GunaMP had two-three decades of active politicsbeforehim.Recalling that formerPrime

Minister Rajiv Gandhi hadbrought theanti-defection law,Singh said the law should nowbe amended again to ban peo-ple’s representatives whochangeparties fromcontestingfor six years.SinghalsoaccusedTulsiram

Silawat and Govind SinghRajput — two Scindia support-ers who are now in ShivrajSingh Chouhan’s cabinet — ofcorruption.

ADILAKHZERSRINAGAR, JUNE7

THE Army on Sunday said thatPakistanviolatedceasefirewithunprovokedcross-borderfiringat the Line of Control (LoC) intwo districts of North Kashmir.Separately, theArmyalsostatedthattroopshadfoiledaninfiltra-tionattempt inNowgamsectorof Kupwara on June 3. OnSunday’sceasefireviolation,de-fense spokesperson ColonelRajesh Kalia said: “On 07 Jun2020, at about 1100 & 1240hoursrespectively,Pakistanini-tiatedanUnprovokedCeasefire

ViolationalongtheLoCinKeranandRampurSectors,ofDistrictsKupwara & Baramulla. Army isretaliatingbefittingly...”Police officials in Baramulla

said the shelling started in Uriareaof RampuronSunday.In Kupwara, police officers

saidtherewerenoreportsofanydamagefromtheshellingsofar.On the infiltration attempt,

an Army statement said, “Onnight of 3rd Jun 20, a patrol ofIndian Army along LoC inNaugam... spotted a group ofPakistani terrorists trying to in-filtrate... On being challenged,the infiltrators retrieved backunder the coverof darkness.”

Pak violates ceasefireat LoC; Indian troopsfoil infiltration bid

Digvijaya: Scindia won’t get same respectin BJP due to anti-RSS comments in past

MehboobaMuftihasbeenindetentionfor10months

PDP,NC&PCcall for releaseofJ&K leaders

NewDelhi:ThepriceofliquorissettocomedowninthecitywiththeDelhi government deciding towithdraw the special corona feeimposedonalcoholbrands fromJune 10. Till June 6, the govern-mentearnedaroundRs209crorethroughthefee.Thedecisiontodoawaywiththefee—fixedat70%ofMRPofeveryalcoholbrand—wastaken at a Cabinet meetingSaturday.ThefeewasimposedonMay5.However,theCabinetalsodecidedtoincreasetheVAT“from20%to25%leviedonallcategoriesofliquorsoldinthejurisdictionofNCTofDelhi”.Asaresult,thepriceofliquorwillremainalittleabovethepre-May5level.Thedecisiontowithdraw the feewas takenbased on inputs of the ExciseDepartmentthatretainingitmayencourage smuggling of liquorfromHaryanaandUP. ENS

Delhi govt liftsliquor Covidcess but VAT up

SHIVAMPATELNEWDELHI, JUNE7

KALAMUDDIN BURIED his fa-ther twice. The first time, itwasabodythathethoughtbelongedtohisfatherandthesecondtime,itwas in facthis father. In a caseofmistakenidentity,twobodiesweremixedupat themortuaryat Lok Nayak Hospital as theyhadthesamename:Moinuddin.Onewasof Kalamuddin’s fa-

ther and the otherwas of AijazUddin’s elderbrother.Anofficialat LokNayakHospital said, “It issometimesdifficulttoidentifythebody because people are oftenanxious in amortuary and afterdeath, the face lacks expression,whichalsomakes itdifficult.Wewillmake efforts to ensure suchincidentsdonothappenagain.”OnSunday, Aijaz saidhehad

seen around 250 bodies at the

mortuarybefore findingout thathis brother had already beenburied a day earlier at a burialgroundatDelhiGate, byanotherfamily.“Wecalledthepersonwhohadtakenthebodyandaskedhimtosendapictureoftheface.Itwasclearlymybrother,”saidAijaz.Themixuphappenedas the

body shown to Kalamuddin at

themortuary on Thursdaywasdifficult to identify, but thedoc-umentgiventothe familyalongwith ithadcorrectdetails.WhileKalamuddincouldnot

be reached for a comment, hiswife said, “The body that myhusbandsawhadaswollenfaceandbloodstains,whichmade ithardtoascertain if itwasmyfa-ther-in-law. Hospital staff saidthis was causedwhen they re-moved the dialysis pipe. Myhusbandhadhisdoubts,butthereportgiventohimhadthecor-rectaddressandname,sohebe-lieved them.”Kalamuddin’sfatherhadbeen

undergoingdialysis at ahospitalnearPatparganj,where the fam-ily lives. Hewas referred to LokNayak for a Covid test on June 4anddied that night fromkidneyfailure,Kalamuddin’swifesaid.Aijaz said his brother was

broughttothehospitalonJune2

afterhisbloodpressure fell con-siderablyandhediedashospitalstaff were conducting an ECGtest: “Mybrother’swifesuffereda cardiac arrest and diedwhenwetoldherabouthisdeath.”Hisbrotherwas foundCovid

positivewhen the results cameintwodayslater.OnJune5,Aijazwent to themortuary to collectthebody. “Thehospitalgave thewrong report, showed thewrong body. The report saidMoinuddin,sonofRahimuddin,about 70 years old, while mybrother is thesonofAmiruddin,aged50,” saidAijaz.On Sunday, when he learnt

the body had already beenburied,Aijaz said, “Itwasnousetoextractthebodyagain... Itwasburied following all rituals...Police and hospital staff wereblaming the other person(Kalamuddin)forwrongidentifi-cation,butthehospitalisatfault.”

Willensuresuchincidentsdon’thappenagain:Hospital

Family buries wrong body after mix-up at mortuary

In Delhi,restaurants &malls to open,not hotelsEXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JUNE7

MALLS,RESTAURANTSandplacesof worship in Delhi will be al-lowed to open from Monday,Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwalsaid.However,hotelsandbanquethallswillremainshut,astheymayhave to be converted into Covidcarefacilitiesinthefuture.The CMsaid on Sunday that

Delhiwasfollowingguidelinessetby theCentre. “Following theor-ders of the central government,the Delhi government has de-cided toopen restaurants, shop-pingmalls,andplacesofworshipfromtomorrow.Thecentralgov-ernment has issued specificguidelinesregardingtheopeningof these places which includemaintaining social distancing,wearingmasks, and others. AlltheseguidelinespreparedbytheexpertsofthecentralgovernmentwouldbefollowedinDelhi...“However, the government

willtakeacallonopeningbanquethallslaterasthenumberofCovidcasesisrising,andtheremightbeaneedtotakeoverthehotelsandbanquets to convert them intoCovidcarefacilities,”hesaid.Mallsinthecapitalplantoput

inplacecarsanitisingkiosks,matswith sanitising liquid, thermalscanners,andhandsanitisers.Restaurantswillbeallowedto

haveonlyupto50%of theirseat-ing capacity. Restaurants in thecity have so far been allowed tooperate their kitchens only fortakeawayanddeliveryservices.

ABHISHEKSAHAGUWAHATI,JUNE7

SAMSULALOM(20), a tailor, re-turned toBarpeta inwestAssamfromTamilNaduonSaturdayafterworkingatafactorynearChennaiforthepastsixmonths.“Whenthefactory reopened a few weeksback,afteraday’swork,wewouldhavetositidleforthree,”saidAlom,whoisnowlodgedataquarantinecentre.SamsulAlom(20),atailor,re-

turnedtoBarpeta inwestAssamfromTamilNaduonSaturdayaf-ter working at a factory nearChennai for thepast sixmonths.Business was hit by the lock-down,and“whenthefactoryre-openedafewweeksback,afteraday’swork,wewouldhavetositidle for three,” saidAlom,who isnowlodgedataquarantinecen-tre.Nearly 1.25 lakh migrant

workershavereturnedtoAssam,accordingtoaseniorstateofficial.Over 2.5 lakh people have re-

turned so far to the statewhichhas seen a sudden spike in thenumber of Covid cases -- a totalof 2,565 at the timeof filing thisreport.“Poorworkers likeushave to

go out of the state to search forwork.Maybe after the economyrecovers, I will have to go backagain.Butifthestategovernmentmanages to accommodate us, Iwillstayback,”Alomsaidoverthephone.Toabsorbthousandsofwork-

erslikeAlom,Assamgovernmentofficialssaidthattheyhavetakenup amulti-pronged strategy, in-cludingbuildingadatabaseofre-turningworkersrightatthepan-chayat level and lobbying to getJapanese, American and

Europeancompanies,whowanttomove out of China, to set upbaseinthestate.AninitiativetitledSAMPARKA

(Software Application forMigrated People to Assam forRejuvenating Karma Abhiyan)wasrecentlyinitiatedtosystem-aticallycapturedataofreturningmigrantworkers.“Dataaboutallworkerscom-

ingbackwillbecollectedfromthepanchayat level. The data willcomprisevariousparameterslikewhentheyreturned,fromwherethey returned, what did theywork as, whether they holdMGNREGA job cards andwouldthey like towork underMGN-REGAandforwhatindustriesaretheirskillsetsuitablefor.Thedatawill be sharedwithgovernmentdepartments for further actionand policy making,” JB Ekka,Principal Secretary of PanchayatandRural Development depart-ment, toldTheIndianExpress.“So,wecanengagepeopleun-

derMGNREGAor share their in-formationwith relevant indus-

tries who can employ them.Moreover,wewillalsotrackthesepersons in the coming days —whethertheystillhaveajoboraretheystillathome,”Ekkasaid.Registration for SAMPARKA

beganafewdaysbackandnearly200workers havebeen enlistedsofar.“Mostofthereturneework-ers are still under quarantine.Once they are out, registrationswillshootup,”Ekkasaid.According toAssamgovern-

mentdata, the state’s 66,000 in-dustries,largelyintheMSMEsec-tor, contribute 39% to the stateGDP.“Government istalkingtoin-

dustries regardingwhat kind ofskills they need. Skill develop-ment trainingwill also be facili-tated in coordinationwith thestate’s Skill DevelopmentMission,” said K K Dwivedi,Commissioner and Secretary,Industries and Commerce de-partment.Returneesarenowabletoreg-

isteronarecentlylauncheddigi-tal portal named ‘Sudakhya’ and

applyforskilldevelopmenttrain-ing.AssamisalsoeyeingJapanese,

European,AmericanandKoreancompanieswhowant tomoveout of China. “We are trying toturnthesechallengingtimesintoanopportunity,”Dwivedisaid.TheAssamgovernment is in

talks with the Department forPromotion of Industry andInternal Trade, Japan ExternalTradeOrganisation (JETRO), andother European and Americanbodies. A 600-acre plot of landhas also been chosen for a pro-posed Japanese industrial town-ship.“Thereismucheaseinmove-

ment to the Southeast Asiancountries through Assam be-causeof thestate’s location.ThatwayAssamhasahugeadvantage.Weareaggressivelytryingpitch-ingformorebusinessopportuni-ties,” Dwivedi said. He saidBangladeshallowingIndiatousethe Chittagong andMongla seaportswill immensely help busi-nesseswhichsetupbasehere.

Database, skill training: How Assamplans to absorb returning workers

Pune’sTaljaihill forest isaspotpopularwith joggersandwalkers. Spreadover100hectares, ithasnowbeenopenedfor threehourseveryday—from5-8am.(Right)Withmasks forprotection,youthsenjoyagameinAhmedabad’sOldCityonSunday. PavanKhengre&JavedRaja

Kolkata: Lockdown restrictionswill be further lifted in WestBengal from Monday withrestaurants,hotelsandshoppingmalls set to reopen. Besides, allprivateofficeswillbeallowedtofunctionfromMonday.Withtheestablishments opening theirdoors to the public, the ownerswilladoptaslewofsafetymeas-urestoreducethespreadofcoro-navirus infections. ENS

Malls, offices setto open in Bengal

Nearly1.25 lakhmigrantworkershavereturnedtoAssam,accordingtoaseniorstateofficial

FIR filed againstMedanta MD, 14others, Trehanrejects chargesSAKSHIDAYAL&VARINDERBHATIAGURGAON,CHANDIGARH,JUNE7

AN FIR has been lodged againstthechairmanandmanagingdi-rector of Medanta Hospital, hisorganisation, Global Health PvtLtd,and14others, includingvar-ious Haryana government offi-cials, for allegedly indulging inmoney laundering and corrup-tion insettingupthehospitalaswellas itsoperations.DrNareshTrehan, chairman andMD, de-nied theclaims.Officials said the FIR was

lodged Saturday, following di-rections of Additional SessionsJudgeAshwaniKumar,underIPCsectionsrelatedtocriminalcon-spiracy, breachof trust, and for-gery, sections of the PreventionofMoney LaunderingAct, 2002and Prevention of CorruptionAct,1988.Thematterwastakento court by Gurgaon-based RTIactivistRamanSharma.ASJ Kumar had directed, “In

viewofthefactsincorporatedinthecomplaint,coupledwithvo-luminousdocumentsenclosed...this court finds that withoutproperinvestigation,justicecan-notbedoneinthiscaseforwhichlodging FIR is prerequisite.Hence, thepresent complaint issent to police station Sadar,Gurgaon, for lodgingFIR...”Inspector Naveen Kumar,

SHOofSadarpolicestation,said:“Wereceiveddirectionsfromthecourtto lodgeanFIR. IthasbeenregisteredagainstGlobalHealthPvtLtd,whichhasdevelopedthehospital, andothers.”Statingthattheallegationsin

the complaint are “completelyfalse, baseless andmotivated”,DrTrehansaid: “This complainthas been filed by a personwho

claimstobeanRTIactivist.Butithas been reported in the pressthathehashadanFIR forextor-tionregisteredagainsthim.”In his complaint, Sharma al-

legedthatwhenpeoplewerere-movedfromtheirancestral landinSector38in2004,theHaryanagovernment had advertised fora‘MedicityProject’,envisagedas“havingsuperspecialtyhospitalof international standard, aca-demicmedical institutions... toprovidestate-of-the-artmedicalfacilitiesatoneplacealongwithancillary... facilitiesintheformofshoppingmall, yatriniwasetc."The 53 acres earmarked for

the same, the complainantstated, was to be split into “fivesites of varied sizes fordifferentallottees”.Termsandconditionsforthe

project,thecomplainantfurtherclaims,includedthattheallotteewouldcompleteconstructionof“atleast25%”oftheprojectbuilt-up area and start facility of hos-pital“withintwoyearsfromdateofofferofpossession”,andcom-plete it “in all respects” in fiveyears.Thecomplainantaccusedthe

governmentofficialsof“causingpecuniary advantage” to theother accused and “immenseloss to the state”; abusing theirposition “by criminal miscon-duct and influence”; and allot-ting the entire site to Dr Trehan“withoutanyconsiderationof fi-nancialcapability...re-advertise-ment and calling for newappli-cationswithrespect tochangedterms and offer... without sanc-tion of the Hon’ble High Courtfor sucharevisedscheme”.“Thegreenbeltwasremoved

and bundh area included tocause allotment of contiguous43 acres of institutional land atundervalued rates to the ac-cused,”allegesthecomplainant.

NE Delhi riots: Copsfile chargesheet in85-yr-old’s murderEXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JUNE7

THE DELHI Police has filed achargesheet against sixmen inconnectionwith themurder ofan elderly woman, whosecharred bodywas found insideher home in Northeast Delhi,during the riots in February, of-ficialsonSunday.The 85-year-old woman,

AkbariBegum,diedonFebruary25 when a mob attacked herhouseinBhajanpuraandsettheplace on fire. The six accused,ArunKumar (26), VarunKumar(22), Vishal Singh (29), RaviKumar(24),PrakashChand(36)and Suraj Singh (28), were ar-rested by theCrimeBranch andareinjudicialcustody.Theyhavebeen booked under sections ofrioting,murder,attempttomur-der, dacoity, house trespass andmischief by fire, saidpolice.

The chargesheetwas filedat3 pm Sunday before the ChiefMetropolitan Magistrate ofKarkardooma court. As per astatement sharedbyAdditionalPRO Anil Mittal, “Videos thatwereviral onsocialmediawereprocured and taken on record.Severalmobilephonesbywhichthe video was recorded weretracedandseizedduringthe in-vestigation.”“Inthepresent incident,ari-

otousmob attacked and set onfire the house of the deceased.While other members of thefamily climbed to the rooftop,thedeceased,duetoheroldage,couldnot reach the rooftop andsubsequentlydieddue to suffo-cation(asphyxia),”saidpoliceinthechargesheet.Firefighters, alongwith local

police, rescued the othermem-bersof thefamily.Begum’sbodywas recovered from the secondfloorof thehouse.

AT DELHI’S LOK NAYAK HOSPITAL

SEEMACHISHTINEWDELHI, JUNE7

APROBLEM indealingwith issues relatingtomigrantlabourafterthelockdownwasan-nouncedonMarch25hasbeentheabsenceoffirmestimatesofthenumberofdisplaced.VARIOUS GOVT ESTIMATES: Last

week,theChiefLabourCommissionerputthe figure at 26 lakhmigrants strandedacross the country, of whom10% are saidtobeinreliefcamps,43%onworksitesand46%inotherclusters.TheSolicitorGeneral,on theotherhand, informedtheSupremeCourtof97lakhwhohadbeentransportedbackhome.Among the states, UP has said 21.69

lakhworkers had returned, and UP itselfhad sent back 1.35 lakh. Bihar has said 10lakh had returned;Maharashtra has said11lakhhaveleftthestate.Gujaratsaid20.5lakhhadgonebackhome.WestBengalsaid3,97,389migrantworkersfromotherstateswerestillstranded.Karnatakasaidincourtthat the state had facilitated the return of3 lakhmigrantworkers.Scholarsandthosewatchingmigration

estimatethosedislocatedtobemanymore.The Economic Survey of 2017 has a

chapter, ‘IndiaOntheMoveandChurning:NewEvidence’,whichisregardedasanim-portantgovernmentdocument that looksatthenumberof internalmigrantsthenorlabourthattravelstocitiesfromruralIndiain spurts. Using a new Cohort-basedMigrationMetric(CMM)andrailwaydata,itput interstatemigrationat60million.“The first-ever estimates of internal

work-relatedmigrationusingrailwaysdatafortheperiod2011-2016indicateanannualaverageflowofcloseto9millionpeoplebe-tween the states. Both these estimates aresignificantly greater than theannual aver-agenumberofabout3.3millionsuggestedby successive Censuses and higher thanpreviouslyestimatedbyanystudy.”DrArvindSubramanian, then theChief

EconomicAdviser, nowsaid, “Data onmi-grants (suchaswecompiledearlier) canbeausefulanalyticaltoolgoingforward totrackthemagnitudeanddirectionofmigrants. itcanalsobeaveryusefulinputintocomplet-ingthejaminfrastructure.forexample,ifweknowthemostimportantsourceanddesti-nationofmigrantsthatcouldhelpprioritizewhere to focus policy efforts tomake surethere is full financial inclusion.”Hehasnotdoneanyrecentestimates,butcitedtheworkof Ahmedabad-based scholar ChinmayTumbe,whohasbeenworkingonmigrantlabourinIndiaasreliable.CHINMAY TUMBE, 3 CR: He puts

India’sreversemigrationsincemid-March“conservatively at 30million or 3 crore or15-20% of the urban workforce”. This isconservativebecausealotof intra-statemi-gration is not accounted for. He is not sosure if train journeys are a good approxi-mation, becausemost returned by roadrather thanrail.“Phase1,justbeforethelockdown,saw

peoplegoback forHoli.Aconservativees-timateof5millionbasedonoldpassengertraffic data as the number that stayed on,mostly within-state migration. Phase 2(March25-April30)startedwitharush,es-peciallyfromDelhiandotherplaceswheresome state governments did arrange forbuses. Basedonnumerous reportson thisanddistrict-border crossings, I estimate 5million as a very conservative number,mostlywithin-statemigration. For Phase

3 inMay, with Shramik trains (5millionpeople)androadtransportoptionssawthemaximum exodus, with 20million as avery conservative figure,most ofwhich isinter-state migration.” He regards theShramik trains as useful to helpmeasure“because it’s the only firm number avail-able, across states.”PROF AMITABH KUNDU & COL-

LEAGUES,2.2CR:Theeconomistandde-mographer, along with K Verghese andKhalidKhan,hasmadeestimatesof“inter-statemigrants who have been economi-callydestabilisedduringMarch-April2020.The estimated number is 22million (thebreakupbeing16millioninternalmigrantsand 6 million short-duration migrantsdestabilised).”Butnotallof thesehavere-turned.“Ofthese,about12millionhavere-turned.Possibly60%of therestwouldstayback. About 4millionwould still want goback before the kharif season harvestingbegins, unless there is suddenspurt inur-baneconomyinthenextcoupleofweeks.”DRNOMANMAAJID,5MN:Heworks

with the ILODecentWorkTeamforSouthAsia. In a paper for The India Forum, hesaid: “Theoverall number…is likely tobearound 5million in the first wave— per-sonswhofindthemselveswithoutshelterandhavebeenmostlycasuallyemployed.”Dr Tariq Thachil, who has studiedmi-

grantpopulationsandheadstheCentreforAdvanced Study of India at University ofPennsylvania, said the inability to put anumbersuggeststheneglecttheyhaveal-readybeenvictimsof.“Weareseeingcon-siderablevariationsintheestimatesof thesizeof thepopulation—Ihaveseenfiguresrangingfrom50-150million. IthinkeffortstouseShramiktrainsdata(byscholarslikeChimney Tumbe) are again useful in pro-viding a conservative estimate of the sizeof migration, but again such figures arenecessarily limited—moreusefulas illus-trations of the importance of circularmi-grationinIndiathanfirmcountsof thecir-cular migrant population. None of thisshoulddetract fromthepointthatthecri-sisonlyconfirmstheneglectof thesecom-munities fromboth state and society, be-foreandduringthepandemic.Thisneglectisclearlyintertwinedwithourlackofabil-ity andwillingness to invest in accuratelycapturingthesizeof thesepopulations(forexample, theNSSestimatesmostscholarscontinue to use onmigration still comefrom2007-8).”

ABANTIKAGHOSHNEWDELHI, JUNE7

LASTWEEK, The Lancet published a retrac-tionfromthreeoffourauthorsofastudythathad said neither chloroquine nor hydroxy-chloroquine(HCQ)withantibioticsholdanysignificantpromiseasatreatmentforCovid-19. TheWorldHealthOrganization (WHO),which had suspended enrolment for theHCQarmoftheSolidarityTrialfollowingtheoriginalstudy,hasreinstateditfollowingtheretraction.Solidarityisaninternationalclin-icaltrialonpossibleCovid-19treatments, in-cludingHCQ,which is anantimalarial drug.IndiahascontinuedtoreposeitsfaithinHCQ,whileUSPresidentDonaldTrumpclaimstouse ithimself.

Whatwasthestudyandwhywas itretracted?In the study on chloroquine and HCQ

with antibiotics, the authors hadwritten:“Eachofthesedrugregimenswasassociatedwith decreased in-hospital survival and anincreased frequencyof ventricular arrhyth-miaswhenusedfortreatmentofCOVID-19.”Following the retraction by three of the

authors, The Lancetwrote: “Theywere un-abletocompleteanindependentauditofthedataunderpinningtheiranalysis.Asaresult,theyhaveconcludedthatthey‘cannolongervouch for the veracity of the primary datasources’…Therearemanyoutstandingques-tions about Surgisphere and the data thatwere allegedly included in this study.Following guidelines from the Committeeon Publication Ethics (COPE) andInternationalCommitteeofMedical JournalEditors (ICMJE), institutional reviews ofSurgisphere’sresearchcollaborationsareur-gentlyneeded.”Alongside thenoteappearsaninterestdisclosurelistthatissignificantlylonger than theone in theoriginal study.

What isSurgisphere?It is a Chicago-based firm that collates

data. Itswebsitesays, “TheSurgispherereg-istry is an aggregation of the deidentifiedelectronic health records of customers ofQuartzClinical,Surgisphere’smachinelearn-

ing program and data analytics platform.Surgisphere directly integrates with theEHRs of our hospital customers to providethemactionabledatainsightstoimproveef-ficiencyandeffectiveness.”Surgispherehasstoodbythe integrityof

its dataevenwhilerefusingtogiveaccesstoittopeerreviewerscitingclientconfidential-ity agreements. “One of the core principalsatSurgisphereisbasedarounddataintegrity.Anotheriscenteredondatasecurity.Ouren-tire ISO9001:2015andISO27001:2013cer-tificateandvariousauditsthatwehavecom-pletedall focusonthese twofoundationsofthecompany,andthedataacquisition,ware-housing, analytics, and reporting processesthatrelatetothem.Itisvitallyimportantthatourcolleaguesaroundtheworldunderstandthe validity of our database as it relates tothose functions, especially where the datacomesfrom,thedatabase,andthestatisticalanalysis,” the company said in a statementfollowinganearlierexpressionofconcernbyTheLancetontheHCQstudy.There has been another retracted study

(not related to HCQ), againwith data fromSurgisphere. The New England Journal ofMedicine has printed a retraction note for astudyitpublishedlastmonth:“Becauseallthe

authorswere not granted access to the rawdataandtherawdatacouldnotbemadeavail-abletoathird-partyauditor,weareunabletovalidatetheprimarydatasourcesunderlyingour article, ‘Cardiovascular Disease, DrugTherapy,andMortalityinCovid-19’.”Thetwostudieshavethreeauthors incommon.

What is themessagefromthecontroversy?The retractionshave exposedgaps in the

peerreviewprocess.Itisusuallyanunpaidjobforresearcherswhoaresparingtimeforworkthatcarriesnocredit.Checksandbalancesthatcancalloutfudgeddataareveryfew.James Heathers, a research scientist at

NortheasternUniversity in Bostonwrote inThe Guardian: “The immediate solution tothis problem of extreme opacity, which al-lowsflawedpaperstohideinplainsight,hasbeen advocated for years: require moretransparency, mandate more scrutiny.Prioritise publishing paperswhich presentdata andanalytical codealongside amanu-script. Re-analyse papers for their accuracybeforepublication, insteadof just assessingtheir potential importance. Engage expertstatistical reviewers where necessary, paythem if youmust. Be immediately respon-

sivetocriticism,andenforcethissamestan-dardonauthors. The alternative ismore re-tractions,moremissteps,morewastedtime,morelossofpublictrust…andmoredeath.”TheCovid-19pandemichasgivenrisetoa

globalhungerforscientificworkandarushofmedicaljournalstogetresearchpublished.Thecompulsiveneedamong researchers topub-lish papers, or perish, is called the DarseeSyndrome,afterJohnDarsee,aresearcherwhowas consideredextremelybright early inhiscareer,beforebeingaccusedofdatafraud.SaidDrKSReddy,presidentof thePublic

Health Foundationof India,member of theIndianCouncilofMedicalResearch’sCovid-19taskforceandmemberoftheexecutivegroupofthe international steering committeeof theSolidarityTrial,“Scientificpublicationsdependonrigorous,unbiasedandknowledgeablepeerreviewsbyexpertssupplemented bythejour-nal’s editorial team.Slip-upscanoccuratanystageinthisprocess…Whenexpeditedreviewsareconductedatagreat rush, in theCovid-19era, thechancesofaslip-upincrease.Thecon-sequencescanbeharmfuliftheerrorsareuncor-rected.However,thebeautyofscienceisthatitcanquicklyself-correct…Lessonswillbelearntbut respect for sciencemustgoupandnotdi-minishasaresultofthiscontroversy.”

What is thestatusofHCQnow?While theWHOhas reinstated theHCQ

armof itstrial, Indiahasneverwaveredfromitsfaithinthedrugasatreatmentandapro-phylactic forCovid-19. IndiaweatheredTheLancetstudy,citingitsowndatatojustifytheuseof thedrug.Meanwhile,investigatorsintheRecovery

Trial at the University of Oxford have an-nouncedthattheywouldstopenrolmentfortheHCQarmasnobenefitshavebeenfoundofthedrug.PeterHorby,chief investigatorofthe trial, said: “Hydroxychloroquine andchloroquinehave receiveda lot of attentionand have been used very widely to treatCOVID patients despite the absence of anygood evidence. The RECOVERY trial hasshownthathydroxychloroquineisnotanef-fective treatment in patients hospitalisedwithCOVID-19.Althoughitisdisappointingthatthistreatmenthasbeenshowntobein-effective, it does allow us to focus care andresearchonmorepromisingdrugs.”

9WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

TORAAGARWALAGUWAHATI, JUNE7

SINCETHEmorningofMay27, natural gashasbeencontinuously flowingoutof agaswell in Assam following a blowout— or asudden, uncontrolled release of gas/oil.With authorities unable to control it, ex-pertsfromaSingaporefirmreachedAssamtoday.Meanwhile, people from surround-ing villages have been evacuated, while avarietyof fishandanendangeredGangeticdolphinhavedied.

Where is theoil rig?TheBaghjan5wellisapurelygas-produc-

ingwellinTinsukiadistrict,andisatanaerialdistance of 900 metres from the Dibru-SaikhowaNationalPark. ItwasdrilledbyOilIndiaLimited(OIL)in2006.Itproducesaround80,000standardcubicmetresperday(SCMD)ofgasfromadepthof3,870metres. Asperof-ficials,thecurrentdischargeisat90,000SCMDatapressureof4,200PSI, farhigherthanthenormalproducingpressureof around2,700PSI. “It’saverygoodreservoir,oneofthemostprolific gas reservoirs ownedbyOIL,” saidTridivHazarika,spokespersonofOIL.

Whydoblowoutshappen?Sometimes,thepressurebalanceinawell

maybedisturbedleadingto‘kicks’orchangesinpressure.Ifthesearenotcontrolledintime,the ‘kicks’ can turn into a suddenblowout.“The forcewithwhichapressurecooker re-leasessteamisunderstandable.Imagineasit-uationwhereonemillionpressure cookersdothesameinanuncontrolledmanner,”saidgeologist Siddhartha Kumar Lahiri ofDibrugarhUniversity.He citedmanypossi-ble reasonsbehindblowouts, “fromsimplelack of attention, poorworkmanship, badmaintenance, old age, sabotage tomorpho-tectonicfactors”.A device called a blowout preventer is

usually installed inwells.ThegaswellatBaghjanwasbeingserv-

iced,andanewsandwasbeingtestedatan-otherdepthinthesamewell.“Wewerealsorepairing the existing well-head (the ex-posed topportion),” saidHazarika.“To repair the well-head, you need to

temporarily ‘kill thewell’orshutdowntheproducing zone,” said Hazarika. “Theblowoutpreventerwasalsoremoved,sincewe were in the process of repairing thewell-head.Butsuddenly,gasstartedtooozeout of the exposed well. Before anyonecoulddoanything, itbrokethroughource-ment barrier,” he said. “How and why ithappened, how the gas came out of the‘killedzone’ iswhatweare inquiring into.”In the recent past, two comparable

blowouts have happened in Assam: at anOIL-ownedoilwell inDikhom(Dibrugarh)in 2005 and an ONGC-owned oil well inRudrasagar in the 1970s. The latter tookthreemonths tocontain.

Whyis it sodifficult tocontrol?AccordingtoaGuwahati-basedexpert,

“the control of a blowout depends on two

things: the size of the reservoir and thepressureatwhichthegas/oil isflowingout.This reservoir was particularly difficult tocontrol since it was a gaswell and ran theriskof catching fireatanypoint”.While many blowouts automatically

collapse on their own, it can take up tomonths.Tocontrolablowout, thefirststepistopumpinwater,sothatthegasdoesnot

catch fire. “Sheermagnitude of the eventinvites specialists to douse the fire,”ProfessorLahiri said.

What isbeingdone?AcrisismanagementteamfromOILand

ONGCintendtocreateawaterumbrella toprotect workers while they hook up theblowout preventer. “With very limitedspace and non-availability of open spaceabovethewellhead,placementof theBOPis ahuge challenge andentails a huge risk.It is planned to place the BOP on thewellhead through a hydraulically drivenme-chanical transporter,” OIL said in a releaseon Sunday. Drilling mudwill have to bepumped in immediately after capping thewellby theBOP.About the water umbrella, Hazarika

said: “For thatwehavehad tobuilda tem-poraryreservoir, channelcablesor tempo-rary pipelines from the Dangori rivernearby”.OILhasreachedouttoSingapore-based

firmAlertDisaster Control,whose expertsarrivedinthestateonSunday.OILsaidthatthey will carry out the first inspection ofBaghjangaswellonMonday.

Howserious is the impact totheneighbourhood?Asmany as 1,610 families with 2,500-

3,000peoplehavebeenevacuatedtoreliefcamps.Therearereportsofdeathsofariverdolphin,andavarietyof fish.Whilethead-ministration has kept an ambulancewithparamedical staff on standby, locals havecomplainedof symptoms such as burningof eyes,headacheetc.As per Assam Pollution Control Board

chairman, Y Suryanarayana, the gas —whichisamixofpropane,methane,propy-lene andother gases— is flowingwith thewind, towards the northeast. “That is a ra-dius up to 5 km and condensate ismostlyfalling on bamboo, tea gardens, bananatreesandbetelnut trees,”hesaid.While the well is outside the Eco

Sensitive Zone of the park, Tinsukia’s divi-sional forest officers (wildlife), RajendraSingh Bharti said the boundary does notmattersincethegasismovingthroughtheair. “Condensate is falling into Dibru-SaikhowaNationalPark too,”hesaid.AlsocloseistheMaguri-Motapungwet-

land—an Important Bird Area notified bythe BombayNatural History Society. “Theparkisfamousforitsbirds,butterflies,wildcats,andferalhorses,”saidBharti. “Theim-pact is visible in the sense thatyoucanseetraces of condensate on thewater bodies,thenumbersofbirdshavedecreased,”saidBharti, “Not because theyhavebeenkilledbutbecause theyhave flownaway.”

Behind Lancet’s retractionSIMPLYPUTQUESTION&ANSWER

Afterpublishingastudyraisingquestionsonhydroxychloroquine’sefficacyagainstCovid-19,TheLancethas issuedaretraction.What ledtothis,andwhatquestionsdoes it raiseaboutthepeerreviewprocess?

@ieExplained#ExpressExplainedIf there are questions of current or contemporary relevance that youwould likeexplained, pleasewrite to explained@indianexpress.comE EXPLAINED

THEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY,JUNE8,2020

CORONAVIRUSDASHBOARD

254,340India

234,998Italy

185,750Germany

287,621United Kingdom

190,759France

241,550Spain

1,925,503US

672,846Brazil

191,758Peru

TOTAL CONFIRMED:6,944,916 DEATHCOUNT:400,792Source: JohnsHopkinsUniversity,updatedat11pmonJune7. JHU’sIndiatallyandHealth

Ministry’stally(below)maynotmatchastheseareaccountedatdifferenttimes.

THEWORLD TOP 10STATES

INDIA COUNT: 246,628 (6,929 DEATHS)

82,968Maharashtra

30,152Tamil Nadu

10,331Rajasthan

9,228MP

9,237 UP

27,654 Delhi

19,592Gujarat

7,738West Bengal

4,915Bihar

Have a question on the COVID-19 outbreak andwhat you should/should not do?Write to explained@indianexpress.com

4,510Andhra Pradesh

UnionHealthMinistryupdateasof11pm,June7.Somestatesmayhavereportedhighernumbers.Onlystates/UTswithatleastonecaselistedabove.

104,107PATIENTSDISCHARGEDIN33STATESANDUNIONTERRITORIES

RESTOFINDIAArunachalPradesh 47Assam 2397Chandigarh 309Chhattisgarh 923DadarNagarHaveli 19Goa 267Haryana 3952HimachalPradesh 400JammuandKashmir 3467Jharkhand 1000Karnataka 5213Kerala 1807Ladakh 99Manipur 157Meghalaya 33Mizoram 24Nagaland 107Odisha 2781Puducherry 99Punjab 2515Sikkim 7Telangana 3496Tripura 747Uttarakhand 1303

467,073Russia

Workers forChhattisgarhstuck inAmritsar,on June2. PTI

Hydroxychloroquine,nowreinstated inWHOSolidarityTrial.Reuters

Gas leaksoutof thewell in thebackground,atBaghjan. ImonAbedin

How many migrantworkers displaced?A range of estimates

Assamgas leak: why it’s tough to plug, andwhat threat it poses to area

10WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

UNDOING THE DAMAGEMilitary talksbetweenIndiaandChinaareagoodbeginning.

Delhimustpushtheprocess forward, carefully

INITSTYPICALLYlaconicstatementonSaturday’stalksbetweenseniorIndianandChinese generals, theministry of external affairs sounded surprisingly positiveaboutthenatureoftheconversationandsaidtherewillbemoremilitaryanddiplo-maticengagement to resolve thecurrentcrisis inLadakhregion. Saturday’smili-tary talks followedinconclusive local-levelengagementbetweenthetwoarmed

forces inthelast fewweeks.OntheeveofSaturday's talks, therewasintensivediplomaticconsultationbetweenthetwosidesthatreaffirmedthemutualpoliticalinterestinapeace-fulresolutionoftheissuesathand.Thatthetalksbetweenseniorgeneralswereheldina“cor-dialatmosphere” isarelief.Delhi’saffirmationthatthetwosidesagreedtoresolvethesit-uation inaccordancewith thebilateral confidence-buildingmeasures institutedover thelastthreedecadesiswelcome.Itisreasonabletoconcludethatthetalksmarkagoodbegin-ningintheeffort toresolveyetanothermilitarycrisisontheChinafrontier.BeforeSaturday’stalks,Delhiwascarefultodownplaytheprospectsforanearlybreak-

throughandsuggestedanextendedprocessisathand.Thegovernment’scautionwascom-plementedbywidespreadpessimismwithintheIndianstrategiccommunityaboutanim-mediate resolution.That scepticismwasrooted in the fact that Indiawas takenunawaresinAprilbythebig forwardpushbythePeople’sLiberationArmyacrossmultiple locationsalongtheso-calledLineofActualControlseparatingthetwosides.ThatthePLAhaddugintothe newpositions andhadbrought in heavyweapons systems seemed to suggest Chinawasheretostayinthenewpositionsithadsecured.WithChinahavingseizedsomegroundthatitdidnotcontrolbefore,Delhi’staskofgettingBeijingtoundothenewfactsithadcre-atedinLadakhappearsratherdifficult.Buthavingpubliclysignalleditscasefortherestora-tionofthestatusquothatexistedinApril,Delhihaslittleroomtobackoff.Thereforethegov-ernment'ssuggestionsthattheIndianarmedforcesareinthis fora longhaul.The strategic community fears twonegative implicationsof Delhi’s current engage-

mentwithBeijing.One is thatDelhimightbe tempted toease the standoff in return forsome cosmetic steps from the PLA to defuse the current crisis. The other is that Beijingmightdemandrather costlypolitical concessions fromDelhi in return for a full restora-tion of the April status quo. Given the unenviable situation Delhi finds itself in, SouthBlock’supbeatdescriptionof thetalkssuggeststhattheoutcomesonSaturdaymayhaveexceeded initial expectations.But there isno forgetting that theApril surprisehasgiventhe upper hand to the PLA. Delhi will have to press all its leverages — on themilitary,diplomaticandpoliticalfronts—topersuadeBeijingtorestorestatusquoanteinLadakh.IfDelhi,however, is seenasmakingunreasonableconcessions toease thecurrentcrisis,itwill faceadomesticpoliticalbacklashandconsiderablediminutionof its regionalandinternational status in relation toBeijing.

DELHI DIKTATFIRonahospital forproceduraloversight in testingspeaksof ahigh-handedness that is ill-advised,especially incrisis

ASINDIABEGINStounlock,asteadilyrisinginfectioncurveandviral loadputs it among the world’s most burdened nations. The capital is ahotspot, andDelhi’s fresh infectionshavenumbered in four figures fordaysnow.When thepandemic first spreadand theworldwasbracingfor a shock, theWHOhad prescribed “testing, testing, testing” as the

first lineof defence. But inDelhi, as it anticipates a freshwaveof infections triggeredbytheunlocking,themostvisibleinitiativeof theArvindKejriwalgovernmentistosuspendtestingintherespectedSirGangaRamHospitalandslapanFIRonit.Theissueisnotoneof life and death, or of the quality of testing, but, reportedly, administrative— the gov-ernment accuses the hospital of not using the RT-PCR app,which shares test data effi-cientlywith all stakeholders. Suspending testing affects livesmore deeply. Admissionshavebecomechaoticandthehospital finds itdifficult to schedulecriticalprocedures.Inmanycities,adequateaccesstotestinghasbecomeastumblingblockforfamilieswith

criticallyillmembers.WithfacilitiesdefinedasCOVIDandnon-COVID,thestatusofpatientsmustbedeclaredat the timeof admission. Patients and their families are finding itdiffi-cult to get themselves tested, and as a consequence, there are reports of patients beingturnedawaybyhospitals. Ideally,everyonewhohasconcernsshouldhavetherighttobetested. Denial conveys the public impression that having failed to flatten the infectioncurve, thegovernmentwants to flattenthedatacurveby limitingaccess totesting.While the Delhi government hasworked tomake beds available for COVID-19 pa-

tients, it has also invited controversies. Its pandemicdatahas failed to tallywith that ofhospitals providing it, and therehavebeenpublic complaints that government data onfree beds does not tally with reality. A day before filing the FIR, Chief Minister ArvindKejriwalhadaccusedprivatehospitalsofallottingbedsforhugemarkups,withoutnam-ingthem.Whythereticence?If theallegationis true, thentheyarehoardingascarcere-source and gouging desperate people during a crisis. They should be named and pro-ceededagainst. And institutions like SirGangaRamHospital,whose focus is affordablehealth rather than commerce, andwhich are serving the public in this crisis, should bespared theunwelcomeattentionsof themuscular state.

This isn’t BJP vs Congress

SoniaGandhi

Myappeal togovernment:MGNREGAisapowerfulmechanism,pleaseuse it in thepeople’s timeofneed

THE MAHATMA GANDHI National RuralEmployment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA),2005,isashiningexampleofaradicalandra-tionalsystemicchange.It isradicalbecauseittransferredpower to thepoorest of thepoorandenabledthemtoescapehungeranddep-rivation. It is rational because it putsmoneydirectly in the hands of thosewho need itmost.Ithasproveditsworthintheyearsithasbeen inexistence, evenenduringsixyearsofa hostile government. A government thatsoughttodenigrateit,undermineit,hascometoreluctantlyrelyonit.AlongwiththePublicDistributionSystemputinplacebyanearlierCongress government, it is themainstay forour poorest andmost vulnerable citizens inpreventing starvationanddestitutionwher-ever implemented in letter and spirit, espe-cially intoday’sCOVID-19crisis.Letusnotforgetthatthenotificationofthe

MGNREGA in September 2005 as an act ofParliamentcameaboutbecauseofapeople’smovementafteryearsof strugglebycivil so-ciety. The Congress party listened to theirvoicesandtothoseof thepeople. Itbecameacommitmentinour2004manifestoandthoseofuswhopressedhardestforitareproudthattheUPAgovernmentimplementeditassoonasfeasible.The ideawas simple: Any citizen in ru-

ral Indianowhadthe legal right todemandworkandwasguaranteed100daysofworkwithminimumwagesprovidedbythegov-ernment. And it proved its worth veryquickly — a grassroots, demand-driven,Right toWorkprogramme, unprecedentedin its scale and architecture, focused onpoverty alleviation. Millions have beensavedfromhungerandworseinthe15yearssince its inception.MahatmaGandhi said, “When ridicule

failstokillamovementitbeginstocommandrespect”.InindependentIndia,thereisnobet-ter example of this coming true than theMGNREGA. On assuming office, PrimeMinister NarendraModi realised that shut-ting down the schemewas not practical.Instead, he sought to deride it, attacking theCongress party in a caustic speech inwhichhe called it “a livingmonumentof your fail-ure”.Intheyearssince,theModigovernmenttried its best to throttle theMGNREGA, hol-

lowingitoutandunderminingit.Butwiththeunrelenting pressure of activists, the courtsandavocalOppositioninParliament,thegov-ernmentwasforcedtostepback.Inacharac-teristicreversalofcourse,itsought,instead,togiveitanewappearance,byintegratingitwiththe primeminister’s pet programmes likeSwachh Bharat and PradhanMantri AwasYojana.Thesewerepassedoffasreformsbut,inreality,theywerenomorethanabarelydis-guised dressing up of Congress party initia-tives. It is anothermatter that payments toworkersweredelayedinterminablyandworkwasdeniedfrequently.TheCOVID-19pandemicandthedistress

ithasunleashedhasbroughttheModigovern-ment full circle. Facedwith unprecedentedhardship and an economy already in slow-down,thegovernmentwasobligedtofallbackontheUPA’sflagshipruralreliefprogramme.Deeds aremore important thanwords, andnothingspeaksmoreeloquentlythanthefina-nceminister’s recentandbelated increase inthe overall allocation of the programme tomorethanRs1lakhcrore.InMay2020alone,2.19 crore households demanded workthroughtheAct, thehighest forthemonthineightyears.TheModigovernmentmaystillbelooking

forsometwisted logic toreconcile itsdislikeof a Congress party programme with itswholesale adoption of it. But the countryrecognises how theworld’s largest publicworks programmenot only helped liftmil-lions of Indians from extreme poverty buttransformed Panchayati Raj, contributed toclimate changemitigation and revived therural economy. It heralded social change byensuring equal pay to everyone, empower-ingwomen, Scheduled Castes, ScheduledTribes and other vulnerable populations. Ithelpedthemorganiseandofferedthemalifeof dignity and self-respect. Understandingthesewell-establishedfactswillbecrucialtoempowering India intoday’scrisis.Now, as dejected workers return from

cities and towns to their villages in droves,deprivedofemployment, facinganinsecurefuture,ahumanitariancrisisonanunprece-dentedscale isunfoldingbeforeus.And thevalue of the MGNREGA has never beenclearerandmoreevident.Reliefeffortsmust

becentredaroundrebuildingtheirfaith.Oneimmediate stepmust be to issue them jobcards in the programme. The panchayats,empowered by Rajiv Gandhi’s path-break-inginitiatives,mustbebroughtcentre-stageas theMGNREGA is not a centralised pro-gramme.Thecapacityofpanchayatstoman-agepublicworksprojectsmustbestrength-enedanddevolutionof fundstopanchayatsmustbeprioritised.Thenatureofworkmustbe left to gram sabhas. Local elected bodiesunderstand ground realities, the influx ofworkers and their needs. They know bestwhere to spend their budgets, in tunewiththe needs of the village and the local econ-omy.Theskillsof theworkersmustbeusedto build durable assets that improve farmproductivity, increaseruralincomeandcon-serve theenvironment.Thegovernmentmustputmoneydirectly

in thehandsof thepeople in this timeof cri-sis by clearing arrears, ensuring unemploy-ment allowance, and being flexible aboutmodesof payment to theworkers to cut de-lays.TheModigovernmenthasnotpaidheedtodemandstoincreasethenumberofwork-daysto200andtoallowthemtoberegisteredattheworksitesineverygrampanchayat.TheMGNREGAmust be ensured open-endedfundingasitwasmeanttobe.TheMGNREGAhas proved itsworth be-

cause it continuously improvedandevolvedduring theUPA years. It was shaped by thepeopleworking togetherwith the govern-ment through extensive social audits, trans-parency, openness to scrutiny by journalistsand academics, and the appointment of anombudsman.Stategovernmentsplayedacru-cial role by innovating best practices. It be-cameknownasamodelofpovertyalleviationthroughouttheworld.TheModi government has grudgingly

come around to the significance of the pro-gramme.Mypleatothegovernmentis,thisisatimeofnationalcrisis,notatimetoplaypol-itics. This is not a BJP versus Congress issue.You have a powerful mechanism at hand,pleaseuseittohelpthepeopleofIndiaintheirtimeofneed.

Thewriter ispresidentofIndianNational Congress

Now, as dejected workersreturn from cities and townsto their villages in droves,deprived of employment,facing an insecure future, ahumanitarian crisis on anunprecedented scale isunfolding before us. And thevalue of the MGNREGA hasnever been clearer and moreevident. Relief efforts mustbe centred around rebuildingtheir faith. One immediatestep must be to issue themjob cards in the programme.The panchayats, empoweredby Rajiv Gandhi’s path-breaking initiatives, must bebrought centre-stage as theMGNREGA is not acentralised programme. Thecapacity of panchayats tomanage public worksprojects must bestrengthened and devolutionof funds to panchayats mustbe prioritised.

FOUNDED BY

RAMNATH GOENKA

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

§ §

THEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY, JUNE8,2020 WORDLYWISENational security liesnot just in protecting

ourborders, but in bridgingdivides.— JOE LIEBERMANTHEEDITORIALPAGE

Freeze Frame E P Unny

Aakash Joshi

DEATH OF AN ELEPHANTOurreactionspeaksofthenatureoftheanimal, thebestandworst instincts inhumanity

“IDON’TKNOWwhytheelephantdidit,” re-marked anold friend, looking and soundingcompletely spentonavideochat. Lastweek,beforethedetailsof thenowseeminglyacci-dental killing of a pregnant pachyderm inKerala had emerged, the grotesque, tragiceventseemedlikethefinalstraw.Wehad, all of us on that call, become in-

uredtosuffering.Themillionsabandonedbythe state and society, trudging along formonths to go home, had become a talkingpoint,more than a thinking point; Americawas fighting its ownworst instincts; profes-sional and economic uncertainty cloudedplansforthefuture.Togoonwithlife,withoutcompletelygivingintoeitherangerordespair,all you can do is not think about things toohard.Yet,allofusinthecocoonofrelativepriv-ilege, so accepting of injustice and suffering,eatersofmeat,weresaddenedbyanelephantdying,movedalmosttotears.Thisreactionsayssomethingaboutthena-

ture of the animal, as well as the best andworstinstinctsinhumanity.Anelephant,evenmore than a dog (a pet), is a person. FromAristotle’s time—hesaidanelephant is “theanimal that surpasses all others inwit andmind”—humanbeingshaveseenelephantsaswise,formidable,usefulandgood.Itsbrainhasasmanyneuronesasoursandislikelyca-pableofcomplexthoughtsandemotionsweare as yet unaware of. Elephant societies arematriarchalanddeeplybonded.Theyremem-bertheirdead,showgriefandhavelanguage.

They think.Yet, theyarenot consideredper-sons,not inalegalsense.JaneGoodall,whosedecades-longwork

withchimpanzeeshasshownhowclosetheyare to us—both in decency and violence—haslongarguedfortherightsofnon-humanpersons. Along with dolphins and pachy-derms, great apeshave the intelligence andemotional and social complexity to be con-sideredsentient.Yet, littlehasbeendonese-riously in this regard.Therearetwoconceivableargumentsaga-

instgrantingbasic rights tonon-humanper-sons.Thefirst isridiculous, thesecondisnot.One, that the law, made by humans,

shouldapplyonlytohumans,isspecious.Forhundreds of years, legal persons have notbeenco-terminuswithhomosapiens.Rivershave rights in India, as do corporations.Animal rights are a broad term, to dowithcruelty. But the right to land, habitat and awayof lifeisnotguaranteedtoelephantsandother sentient creatures.A right is not enshrined in a violation, an

injunction on the immorality of thosewhowould violate it. Rather, it recognises the in-trinsicandinalienableworthof thosewhomit is conferred on. Both in terms of legal firstprinciplesandmorally,thereislittleargumentagainstthegrantingofsuchrights,especiallysince there is enough science behind theclaimstopersonhoodof thesecreatures.The second andmore convincing argu-

mentagainstmakingelephantspersonsisthe

same reason that its death caused such anemotionalreactioninmyfriend.In 1936, GeorgeOrwellwrote “Shooting

an Elephant”,which described his time as apoliceofficerinBurma,wherehehadtokillamale elephant inmust because of the pres-sures of a crowd. A popular story, it is an in-dictment of colonialismand the cruelties ofpower. Orwellwrites: “Webeganquestion-ing thepeople as towhere the elephant hadgone and, as usual, failed to get any definiteinformation.ThatisinvariablythecaseintheEast;astoryalwayssoundsclearenoughatadistance,buttheneareryougettothesceneofevents the vaguer it becomes.” Thekilling oftheelephant,alltheseyearslater,isasmurky,its truthmore disturbing than even the suf-feringof theanimal.Itseemsnowthattheelephantwaslikely

killedbyaccident,withatrapmeantforpestslikeboars. It is alsoclear that thedeath isbe-ing used by certain elements as a way tospreadbigotry,againstMuslims.Initially, the elephant’s death seemed

likeanactofwantoncruelty,another injus-tice inacountrywherecallousnessseemedtohavebecomethenorm.Therealproblem,though, runs deeper and is cause formuchmoredespair.Theelephantthatdiedwascertainlyaper-

son.Butwemaynotbethecompetentauthor-itytojudgeitso.

aakash.joshi@expressindia.com

An elephant, even more thana dog (a pet), is a person.From Aristotle’s time — hesaid an elephant is “theanimal that surpasses allothers in wit and mind” —human beings have seenelephants as wise,formidable, useful andgood... Elephant societies arematriarchal and deeplybonded. They remembertheir dead, show grief andhave language. They think.Yet, they are not consideredpersons, not in a legal sense.

FUEL PRICE RISETHE PRICEOF petrol has been raised by 65paiseper litrestartingfromJune8.Thegov-ernment alsoannounced similar increasesin the prices of high-speed diesel oil andlight diesel oil. Kerosene and cooking gashave been spared from the price hikes. Anofficialpressreleasesaidthattheretailpriceof petrol in Delhi now fixed at Rs 4.41 perlitrewill goup toRs5.10per litre. ThepriceofdieselnowfixedatRs1.58perlitrewillbeRs 2.28 per litre. The prices of petroleumproductswere raised last inAugust 1979.

PRESIDENTIAL GOVTTHE ANDHRA CHIEF minister, Chenna

Reddy, pleaded for a presidential form ofgovernment inthecountry.Reddyalsosug-gested that a new Constitution should bewritten to replace the present one “whichdoesnot trulyreflect thechangedsituationin thecountry”. This is thesecondtime inaweek Reddy, the senior-most Congress (I)chiefminister in thecountry, has called fora new Constitution. Reddy was talking in-formally in Delhi to journalists and ex-plained that the President hadmore free-domto act.

AAGSP INFIGHTINGTHE NINE-MONTH-OLD AGITATION inAssamonthe issueof foreignnationalshas

sufferedacripplingblowasaresultof seri-ousriftsdevelopingwithintheranksof theAllAssamGanaSangramParishad(AAGSP),the apex party of half-a-dozen organisa-tions jointly spearheading the movementfor thedetectionanddeportationof aliens.The rift, which could well result in theabrupt calling off of the current agitationcame to the surface late at night on June 7whentheAllAssamStudentsUnion(AASU)—themajorconstituentof theAAGSP—di-rected its units in the state to oversee theformation of new units of the AAGSP assomepeopleclaimingtobemembersof theParishadaresettingtheirsightsonpersonalgains through theorganisation.

JUNE 8, 1980, FORTYYEARSAGO

11THEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY, JUNE8,2020

WHATTHEOTHERSSAYAs cases and fatalities increase, the government must reflect on its own failures.The leadership must be more deliberate in its messaging. — DAWNTHE IDEASPAGE

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

The new AtmanirbharBharat mission provides anopportunity to graduallyreduce imports in everysector. If we can convert ourdemographic advantage intoa demographic dividend byproviding high-qualitytechnical and vocationaltraining to our youth, if wecan further simplifyprocedures for setting upand running businesses, ifwe can focus strategically onthe critical bottlenecks thatare constricting rapid growthand find solutions toovercome them, if we canfoster research andinnovation, the mission weare embarking on will be ableto achieve its transformativepotential.

Relying on India From subsidiesto cash transfersIt couldhelpgovernment togetcloser todoubling farmers’ incomesby2023

LETUSSTARTwithsomegoodnewsontheeconomicfront.Duringthefirstyear(2019-20) of the second term of the NarendraModigovernment,grossvalueadded(GVA)inagricultureandalliedsectorsregistereda growth of 4 per cent. This is commend-able,especiallywhenjuxtaposedwiththegrowth of overall GVA of the economy at3.9percent,andoverallGDP(includingnettaxes)at4.2percent.Andevenin2020-21,when the impact of COVID-19will be onfull display, andwhen theGDPmayregis-ter a negative growth of as high as -5 percent, agriculturemay still surprisewith apositive growth of 2.5 per cent, as perCRISIL’s recent forecast.Agriculturemattersnotjustforfoodse-

curity, but also for thegoodof themasses,since almost 44 per cent of the country’slabour force is engaged in agriculture. So,“sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas”willnotbepossibleunlessagricultureper-forms in a sustainedmanner at around 4per cent per annum, if notmore. The po-tential isdefinitely formore.While usingChina as an examplemay

be somewhat problematic these days, letme remind the reader that Chinese agri-culturegrowthhasbeenabout4.5percentover the last 40 years. Even today, Chinaproduces three timesmore agri-producefrom a cultivated area that is much lessthan ours, andwith a holding size that isalsomuchsmaller (0.7ha) thanours (1.08ha). It isthisprosperityatthebottomofthepyramidthatprovidesalargedemandbasefortheir industrialgoods.Migrationoutofagricultureislargelyfroma“demand-pull”to higher productivity sectorswith betterskills. Incontrast, inIndia,atseveralplaces,migration is froma “push” factor becauseagriculturecannotsupportalargepercent-ageof theworkingpopulation.Inanycase,theModigovernmentinits

second termhas started some reformsontheagri-marketingfront.ByliberalisingtheEssential Commodities Act (ECA), APMCAct,andcontractfarmingthroughtheordi-nanceroute, ithasmadeagreatbeginning,and I amhopeful the governmentwill in-viteprivatesector investmentsinbuildingmore efficient value chains,whichwill bebeneficialtofarmersandconsumersalike.Ihaveearlierdescribedthesereformsas

ahistoric“1991moment”(IE,May18)—likethede-licensing of industry, this is a de-li-censingofagri-marketing.Myonlyreserva-tionwasregardingthefineprint,andthatinthe amended ECA, they have inserted aclauseaboutstocking limitsbeing imposedin case of “extraordinaryprice rise”. This isbeingdefinedas a100per cent increase inthepriceofperishablesanda50percentin-creasefornon-perishablesovera12-monthperiod.Ifonionprices,whicharehoveringat

aroundRs15/kgintheretailmarketofSafalinDelhigotoRs30/kg,andifthegovernmentimposesstockinglimits, thewholepurposeof this exercise— to attract private invest-ment instorage—willbenullified.Onecanunderstandifstockinglimitsareimposedincase of natural calamity, famine,wars, etc.Butbeyondthat,itisonlyforrent-seekingbythe“inspectorraj”.There is another issue thatweneed to

revisit vis-a-vis agriculture and farmers.And that relates to doubling farmers’ in-comesby2022-23. InFebruary2016,aftertwo successive years of drought in 2014-15 and 2015-16, PMModi said that hisdreamwastodouble farmers’ incomesby2022-23. We did not take that politicalstatementveryseriously,asitdidnotmen-tionwhether hewas referring tonominalincomesorrealincomes.ButinApril,whenhesetupacommitteeunderAshokDalwaito double farmers’ incomes, and theCommittee said that it is real incometheyaretalkingabout,andit requiredagrowthrate of 10.4 per cent per annum till 2022-23,itwastimetoexaminethenotioncare-fully as all ministers and bureaucratsstartedrallyingaround“doublingof farm-ers’ incomes” in all their public speeches.While shifting the focus fromproduction(tonnage-centric)toincomes(farmer-cen-tric)was laudable, I had expressedmyse-rious reservations about its achievementbecauseof the followingreason.If one looks at the data on farmers’ in-

comes in 2002-03, 2012-13, and 2015-16,for which NSO andNABARD surveys areavailable, and compares itwith agri-GDPgrowthover thesameperiod, the trends inagri-GDPandfarmers’incomesfolloweachotherveryclosely(about3.6to3.7percentperannum).Thereisnoofficialdataonfarm-ers’incomesafter2015-16.Butifweassumeroughly the same relation between agri-GDPgrowthrateandgrowthinfarmers’in-comesthatexistedduring2002-03to2015-16, it is possible to assess the likelyachievement of this goal post of doublingfarmers’ income.Sincethebaseyeargrowthratein2015-

16,whichwasadroughtyear,wasmeagre(0.6percent),theaverageannualgrowthofagri-GDPduringthenextfouryears(2016-17 to2019-20)was4.8 per cent. This year,in2020-21,CRISILforecastsGVAinagricul-tureat2.5percentandevenifoneassumesagri-growthtobearound4percentperan-numfor thenext twoyears, for the seven-yearperiod(from2016-17to2022-23),thelikely annual agri-GVA growth is going tobearound4.2percent.Thiscannotdoublethe income of farmers by 2022-23. That’swhy I had said that the achievementwillbe less than50percentof the target.But if direct income transfers under

PM-Kisan are also added, and continuedeach year till 2022-23, the shortfall fromthe target will bemuch less. My humblesuggestion is that if the PM can convertfoodandfertilisersubsidiesintodirectcashtransfers, hewill come closer to doublingfarmers’ real incomes by 2022-23. If hebitesthisbullet, itwillgivehimevenbetterresults thanagri-marketing reforms.

Gulati is InfosysChairProfessor forAgricultureat ICRIER

FACEDWITH ONE of themost disruptivehealthchallengesinrecenthistory,eachcoun-tryiscraftingitsstrategytocopewiththepan-demic. The subtle balance betweenprotect-ing livesandrestartingeconomicactivities ishardtostrike.Indiaisnavigatingthiscomplexodysseywithgreatagility,flexibility,sensitiv-ityandtenacity.Thechallengehasengenderedaspiritofsolidarityandunity.Ithasshownyetagainhowresilientwecancollectivelybe.As India looks at opening up after four

phasesof lockdown, it is seeking to findnewdoorsandwindowsofopportunity. It isaim-ingtodiscoverpossibilitiesforspurringinclu-sive,equitablegrowth,todiscovernewvaluechains thatwould createwealth, to harnesstheuntappedhumanpotentialandoptimallyutilise the natural resources. It is embarkingon amission thatwouldmake the countryself-reliant.TheAtmanirbharBharatAbhiyan,as it is called, is amission to galvanise theforcesofgrowthacrossthecountryinvarioussectors of the economy. It’s a launchpad forfostering entrepreneurship, nurturing inno-vationandcreationofanecosystemforrural-urbansymbioticdevelopment.Thedecisionstakenbythegovernmenton

June1willhavea far-reaching impactonthefarmandnon-farm sectors in rural areas aswell ason thedevelopmentandsustainabil-ityofmedium,smallandmicro-enterprises.Ittendstoturnthecurrentchallengeintoanop-portunity.Ifthesoundpolicyintentcanbeef-fectively translated into practice, it is boundto have a profound impact on our country’seconomy,especially inruralareas.Thepandemichascreatedadifficultsitu-

ation.Wehadgotused toan intensely inter-connectedandinter-dependentworld.Aswehadtoperforce isolateourselvestobreakthechainofviral transmission, theglobalsupplychainswhichwehad relieduponhavebeendisrupted, promptingmany countries likeourstothinkofwaystomitigatethenegativeimpactofeconomicdownturn.Thanks to the visionary national leader-

shipablysupportedbythestategovernmentsand the creative energies of our people,wecontinuetoact inunisontonotonlyweatherthestormbutalsotocalibrateourresponses,fine-tuningthem,aswemovealong,accord-ingtothestates'contexts.Giventhemagnitudeof thevirus’s threat

andthesizeof ourpopulation, thehardreal-ityofacuteshortageofbasicrequirementslikethemasks,ventilatorsandPersonalProtectionEquipmentcametothe fore.Theemergencyforcedustoscaleuptheproductionofessen-tials needed to fight the virus. At the sametime, medicines made in India likeHydroxychloroquinewere in great demandfromvarious nations. India gladly suppliedthisdrugtoseveralcountries.It was in this context of an effective re-

sponsetoanunprecedentedemergencythatdisruptedmost channels of internal and in-ternational trade, that Prime MinisterNarendraModigaveaclarioncallforthecoun-trytobecomeself-reliant.Itisnotacallforpro-tectionismorisolationism,butforadoptingapragmaticdevelopmentstrategythatwould

enablethecountrytorecogniseandcapitaliseon its inherent strengths. It is a trigger for re-forms in the policymatrix and charting outtheway forward aswe reboot and reset oureconomic trajectory in an uncertain, post-COVID-19world.AsthePrimeMinisterunderscored,“self-

reliancealsopreparesthecountryforatoughcompetitionintheglobalsupplychain”.Byin-creasing the efficiency of all our sectors andalsoensuringquality, thenewthrustonself-relianceisexpectedtoenhanceIndia’sroleintheglobalsupplychain. It isaimedatgivinganewboost,aquantumjumptotheeconomicpotentialof thecountrybystrengtheningin-frastructure,usingmoderntechnologies,en-richinghumanresource,andcreatingrobustsupplychains.Theappealforself-relianceaimsataseri-

ousreflectiononwhetherwearemakingthebest use of our natural, human and techno-logicalresources.Itseekstogalvaniseourun-usedandhiddenpotential. Itonlyunderlinestheneedtobeonourownwithrespecttoba-sicandcorenecessitiesbasedonourabilitytomeet themwith our known available re-sourcesandtechnologies.Ourcountryisblessedwithavastarrayof

natural resources, a huge demographic ad-vantagewithover two-thirdsof ourpopula-tionundertheageof35years,alargefarmingcommunity that indefatigably ensures foodsecurity for all of us, dynamic captains of in-dustrywho are creatingworld-class institu-tionsandasetof young,aspirationalanden-trepreneurialpath-breakers.Weneedtomaketheconnectionbetween

these strands toweave the fabric of a newIndiathatnotonlymeetsitsdomesticdemandforgoodsandservicesbutbuildsglobalbrandsthat theworld will recognise as uniquelyIndian.We have all the ingredients for success.

We have pioneers who have built globalbrands in various sectors. For example, 20years ago Reliance had commissioned theworld’slargestgrassrootsrefineryinarecord36 months. Bajaj Auto is ranked as theworld’s fourth-largest three- and two-wheelermanufacturer.AzimPremjinotonlyfoundedWipro,oneof India’sforemosttech-

nology companies but has also been recog-nisedasoneofAsia’smostgenerousphilan-thropists. Companies like HindustanUnilever, Larsen and Toubro, Bharati Airtel,SunPharmaceuticals,Marutiareamongtheworld’stop100innovativecompanieslistedin Forbes 2018 ranking. Similarly, in theForbes 2019 list of world’s best-regardedcompanies Infosys, TCS, TataMotors, TataSteel andMahindra andMahindra figure inthetop125.ThereareothergiantsinthefoodprocessingandFMCGsectorsaswell.Forin-stance,PriyaFoods, thetoppicklecompany,Haldirams, the largest snack company,PatanjaliAyurved,ahome-grownconsumergoodsgiant,andITC,themulti-businesscon-glomerate,havecarvedoutanicheforthem-selveswithin India.The new Atmanirbhar Bharat mission

providesanopportunitytograduallyreduceimportsineverysector. Ifwecanconvertourdemographicadvantageintoademographicdividend by providing high-quality techni-calandvocationaltrainingtoouryouth,ifwecan further simplify procedures for settingup and running businesses, if we can focusstrategically on the critical bottlenecks thatareconstrictingrapidgrowthandfindsolu-tions toovercome them, ifwecan foster re-search and innovation, themissionwe areembarking on will be able to achieve itstransformativepotential.Anymission has to have people at the

centre. Peoplemust internalise the conceptof valuing local products and artefacts andpromoting them. Once the demand is gen-eratedandthemarketexpands,theproduc-tiontriestokeeppaceandeventually,withabrandingeffort,theproductsgoglobal.Beingvocal for “local” canbea stepping stone toaself-reliant India and an India thatwill addits own unique glow and charm to the vastarrayof products in theglobalmarketplace.We can certainly chase the dreamof trans-forming“Local”Indiaintoa“Glocal”Indiabyusingourresourceswiselyandstrategically.We canmake it happen by unleashing theforcesofgrowthandgivingspaceforcreativeexperimentation.

Thewriter isVicePresidentof India

TRUMP’S ACTIONS

THIS REFERS TO the article, ‘Anagenda for aG-12’ (IE, June5). Due tomany unilateral decisions by DonaldTrump, America’s allies are nomorelooking to it to lead them. The reasonbehind German Chancellor AngelaMerkel’s refusal to attend G-7 meet-ing is not just the pandemic, but alsoa disillusionment with America.BritainandCanadatooareopposedtoRussia being re-inducted into the fo-rum. America’s growing isolation inthe face of China’s expansionismdoesn’t augurwell.

SKPrabhakar,Gurugram

BAFFLING CRUELTYTHISREFERSTOtheeditorial, ‘Cryofthewild’ (IE, June 5). Human-animal con-flict isnotnewtoourcountry.ButwhathappenedinKeralaisheart-wrenching,tosay the least. This latest incidenthasbecomeahugeblotonus,humans.Andit is reallybafflingthat ithashappenedin Kerala, which has the highest liter-acy rate in the country. We not onlyneed tomake law enforcement agen-cies aware of animal rights but ensurethat lawsare followed.

BalGovind,Noida

PERKS AND STATUSTHIS REFERS TO the article, ‘Namesand labels’ (IE, June 5). Respect forworkersdependsmoreontheirperksthan the nature of the job done bythem.This isevident fromthefact that

thoughinmanycasesandrespects thenatureof the jobdoneby flightatten-dants on the one hand and bypart/full-time,manorwomandomes-tic workers on the other hand, is es-sentially the same, the former has ahigher status insociety. This is simplybecause there is aworldof differencebetween their perks.

TarsemSingh,Mahilpur

RIP BASU DATHIS refers to the editorial ‘Chhoti SiBaat’(IE, June5).BasuChatterjee’spass-ingawayat90isanirretrievablelossforthe Indian films. He picked up simplesubjects about and for the commonmanwho outnumbers the elite. Basu-dawillberememberedbyhundredsofhis fansathomeaswell asabroad.

AzharAKhan,Rampur

LETTER TO THEEDITOR

BETWEENTHEYEAR1CEandthestartoftheIndustrialRevolution(aroundtheearly1800s),the decadal growthof the global populationwas around0.8 per cent.With the advent ofconcentrated production centres, improvedmedicineandtheeraoffossilfuels,theglobalpopulationhasshotupbyseventimesinthelast180years,clockingadecadalgrowthrateofover11percent.This population growth rate has been

largelyurbanandmetro-centred.Today,citiesconsumetwo-thirdsoftheglobalenergycon-sumption and account formore than70percentofgreenhousegasemissions.Londonbe-came the firstmodern city to cross the onemillion populationmark around 1800. By1960,ourplanethad111citieswithoveramil-lioninhabitants.InChinaandIndia,thenum-berrosefrom371in2000to548in2018,with61ofthesecitiesinIndia.Recently,theUNpro-jected thatby2030,28percentof theworldpopulation will live in dense, congestedspaces,jostlingforever-dwindlingspaceandchoked infrastructure. Population densitieshaveincreasedenormously,withtheDharavisluminMumbairegisteringamind-bogglingdensityof3.75lakhpersonspersqkm.ButCOVID-19hasraisedthequestion:Will

concentrated,high-investment,high-densitycities have a prominent place in the new,emergingworld?Are theysuccessful atpro-viding an adequate return on investment?

And,aboveall,dotheyprovideaqualityoflifeandhappinesstoalltheirinhabitants?Anav-erageMumbaikar daily spends 95minutescommutingbetweenofficeandhome,wast-ingnearly10percentofhistimeawakeevery-day.EightpeopledieeverydayinMumbaiinlocaltrain-relatedaccidents,andinDelhi,fivepeople losetheir lives inroadaccidents.Goingbypresenttrends,Indiawillbuilda

newChicagoeveryyeartoaccommodatenewurbandwellers. Thiswill require about $2.5trillion of investment until 2030— to createmorecongestedurbanspaces.Shouldwenotlook at alternativemodels of habitations,whicharemorefrugal,moresustainableandoffermoresatisfyinglifestylesandhigherwel-fare levels?Once cities expand beyond onemillion,

they start to experience dis-economies ofscalewithpressure on every urban amenityincreasing exponentially —more peoplemeansmore vehicles,more vehiclesmeanneedformoreroadsandincreasedpollution,whichmeanmorehospitals,moreenergyandmorewaste.Eventhemostrobustmegacitiescaneasilywitnessthe“domino”effectwhereaminorandlocalfailureiscompoundedintoa catastrophe. In China in 2010, due to somebrokencarsandroadrepairwork,aminortraf-ficsnarlexpandedquicklyintoamassivejamof120kilometresonthehighwayconnectingInnerMongoliaandBeijing.Driverswereleft

with nowhere to go for a punishing 12days.EveninIndia,wehavewitnessedsmallerbutpainful versions of the samephenomenon.The truth is that overpopulated cities straintheir resources inordinately and leave littleroomtosuccessfullytackleeverycontingency.Thus, cities are themost affectedbynat-

ural andman-made disasters. Nearly everyhot-spot of theCOVID-19outbreak is a con-gested urban centre. The low-income areasofcities,whereanythingfromdrinkingwaterto sanitation canbe a shared facility, are themost vulnerable to any disease outbreak.Congestedlow-incomeurbanspacesnotonlybear an inordinately high disease burden,theyalsobear thebruntof airpollution,wa-ter contamination and crime infestation. Inthe face of any disaster like a flood, earth-quake or, worse still, a pandemic, migrantworkers,whothrongthesemegacities, rushtogobacktotheirvillages. India,with itsap-proximately72millionmigrantworkers(in-cluding their families), is vulnerable to suchdisruptionsasamplydemonstratedinrecentweeks.Someof the principal and strong advan-

tages claimed formegacitieswith their skyscrapersaretheeconomiesofagglomerationandthegenerationofnewideasandinnova-tionsthroughmulti-disciplinaryinteractions.Theseadvantageshavebeenlargelynullifiedwith advances in digital technologies that

havemade online interactions numerous,equally rich in content and covering awiderrangeofdisciplines.The“cloud”isthenewin-teractionspace,whichcanbeaccessedbyin-novators fromwidely-spread geographies.Digitisationhasapparentlyresultedinthelossof cities’ innovativemojo.Withthismajortransformationandwith

theonsetofCOVID-19, it issurelythetimetoreconsider our habitationmodel. Gandhiji’smodelof gramswaraj,APJAbdulKalam’svi-sionofprovidingurbanamenitiesinruralar-easandNanajiDeshmukh’sideaofself-reliantvillage development clearly deserve of freshandfocusedattention.Wehavevastswathesof land, people and resources located in ourover 6,00,000 villages. These offer anotherchance forus topursueanalternativemodelof developmentwhere agriculture, industryandservicesectorsmove insync forsustain-abledevelopment,whichisinharmonywithnature. Thiswillminimise our carbon foot-print.At thesametime, itwill alsominimisesocialdisruptionwith jobscomingtopeoplerather than the otherway round.New tech-nology, the carbon constraint and disec-onomiesofcongestionanddensitymustforceustoreviewoururbanisationlandscape.

KumarisvicechairmanNITIAayog,SinghisCEOofDr.KalamCentre,NewDelhi.

Viewsarepersonal

Pandemicofferschancetopursueanalternativemodelofurbanisation

Reimagining the cityRajiv Kumar and Srijan Pal Singh

IDEASONLINE

ONLY IN THE EXPRESS

●●AMPINGUPSTATECAPACITY:

VSKRISHNAN

●●ANTHROPOCENEVSCOVID-19:DIPAYANPAL

www.indianexpress.com

MVenkaiahNaidu

CR Sasikumar

Thecall for self-relianceasks forapragmaticdevelopmentstrategythatwouldenable thecountry tocapitaliseon its inherentstrengths, aswerebootandresetpost-COVID-19

byAshokGulatiFROM PLATE TO PLOUGH

12THEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY, JUNE8,2020

THEWORLDWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

GLOBAL TOLL

THEGLOBAL COVID-19DEATH TOLL CROSSED

4lakhs■TheworldwidedeathtollfromCovid-19hassurpassed4,00,000,accordingtoatallyby JohnsHopkinsUniversitythathealthexpertssay is stillanundercountbecausemanywhodiedwerenot testedforthevirus.Worldwide,at least6.9millionpeoplehavebeeninfectedbythevirus,accordingto JohnsHopkins.

ISRAEL

NetanyahusayskillingofPalestinianwithautismatragedyJerusalem: Israeli PrimeMinister BenjaminNetanyahu on Sundaycalled the deadly policeshooting of an unarmedPalestinian man withautism a “tragedy,” al-though he stopped shortof apologizing for the in-cident. Netanyahu’s re-markswere the first he’smade since police inJerusalem’sOldCity shotand killed Eyad Hallaqlast week. The 32-year-old Palestinian with se-vere autismwas chasedby Israeli border policeforces into a nook inJerusalem’s Old City andfatallyshotashecowerednext to a garbage bin af-terapparentlybeingmis-takenforanattacker.Theshootinghasdrawncom-parisons to the death ofGeorgeFloyd in theUS.

TOPOFTHEWORLD

PALESTINE

FormerlongtimePalestinianIslamicJihadleaderdiesGaza City: The formerhead of the PalestinianIslamic JihadmovementdiedSaturdaynight aftera long illness. Hewas 62.Ramadan Shalah hadbeen in a coma formorethan three years afterheart surgery, the groupsaid. It didn't say wherehedied,butheisbelievedtohavebeen in Lebanon.Shalah led the Iranian-backedgroup forover20years, after its founder,Fathi Shikaki, was shotdeadinMaltainanattackwidely attributed toIsrael. In 2018, the groupnamed Shalah's deputy,Ziad al-Nakhalah, as anewleader.

PAKISTAN

Pakapproves$7.2bnrailwaylineupgradeunderCPECIslamabad: Pakistan hasapproved the strategic$7.2 billion railway lineupgradation project be-tween Peshawar andKarachi under the CPEC,paving theway for the fi-nal negotiations withChina for the finance, amedia report said onSunday. The approval oftheprojecttoupgradethe1,872 km-long railwaytrack from Peshawar toKarachiisabigmilestonefor the second phase ofthe China PakistanEconomic Corridor(CPEC), said LieutenantGeneral (retired) AsimSaleemBajwa, chairmanof theCPECAuthority.

THENEWYORKTIMESJUNE7

DEMONSTRATIONSTHATbeganasspontaneouseruptionsof out-rage after the death of GeorgeFloyd at the hands of theMinneapolispolicetwoweeksagocoalescedthisweekendintoana-tionwidemovement calling forpolicereformsandracialjustice.Tens of thousands gathered

in big cities like New York andSeattle and small towns likeVidor,Texas,andMarion,Ohio—in swelling crowds that havebeenmultiethnic,spanninggen-erations and overwhelminglypeaceful.Themovementhasalsospread around theworld, withprotests thisweekend in Africa,Asia,AustraliaandEurope.Thecalls for changecomeas

United States faces its starkesteconomic crisis since the GreatDepression, largely the result ofmeasures put in place to limitthe spread of the coronavirus,which has claimedmore than110,000 lives in thecountry.Both the economic and the

health crises have dispropor-tionately hurt blacks and otherminorities especially and high-lighted the nation’s persistentsocial inequalities.Althoughpolicing is largelya

localmatter — and some citiesand states have begun acting oncalls for reform—one commonthemehasboundthedemonstra-tionstogether:Blacklivesmatter.AcrossNewYorkCity,peace-

ful demonstrators defied an 8pmcurfew. But aftermore thanaweekof imagesfloodingsocialmedia of the police cornering,roughly arresting and some-times beating protesters whiletryingtoclearthestreets,thepo-lice took a different posture onSaturday, allowing peacefulmarches long into thenight.ManyofSaturday’sgatherings

werelargerthanpreviousrallies,especiallytheoneinWashington.AlthoughSaturday’sdemon-

strationswereoverwhelminglypeaceful, PresidentTrumpcon-tinued to hammer home a fa-miliar message. “LAW & OR-DER!” he wrote on Twitter onSaturdayevening.The capital’s mayor, Muriel

Bowser, has given her own re-sponse to the protests: She re-named an area outside theWhite House “Black LivesMatter Plaza.”

KENMORITSUGUBEIJING, JUNE7

SENIOR CHINESE officials re-leased a lengthy report Sundayon the nation’s response to thecoronavirus pandemic, defend-ing their government’s actionsand saying that China had pro-vided information in a timelyandtransparentmanner.China “wasted no time” in

sharing informationsuchas thegenome sequence for the newvirus with the World HealthOrganizationaswell as relevantcountriesandregionalorganiza-tions, according to thereport.AnAssociatedPressinvestiga-

tion found that government labssat on releasing thegeneticmapof thevirusformorethanaweekinJanuary,delayingitsidentifica-tion in a third country and thesharingofinformationneededtodeveloptests,drugsandavaccine.NationalHealthCommission

ChairmanMaXiaoweididnotad-dress the specific findings in theAP report, but said it “seriouslygoesagainstthefacts.”Headdedthatthereweremanyunknownsintheearlystageof theoutbreakandthatittooktimetogatherev-idenceandfigureoutthecharac-teristicsof thenewvirus.“The Chinese government

did not delay or cover up any-thing,”hesaid.“Instead,wehaveimmediatelyreportedvirusdataand relevant information abouttheepidemictotheinternationalcommunityandmadeanimpor-tantcontributiontothepreven-tionandcontrolof theepidemicaroundtheworld.”AP

REUTERSLONDON, JUNE7

BRITAIN’S FAILURE to impose anationwide lockdown to tacklethe spread of the coronavirussooner has costmany lives, oneof the government’s scientificadvisers saidonSunday.Britainisoneoftheworst-hit

countries in the world, with adeath toll of more than 50,000from Covid-19, according to aReuterstallythisweekbasedonofficial sources.Critics from a broad spec-

trum includingmedical profes-sionals, scientists and lawmak-ers, say the government hasbotched its response to theout-break by being too slow in im-posingcrucialmeasuressuchas

thelockdownandprotectingtheelderly incarehomes.Despite reservations from

someof itsownscientificadvis-ers, thegovernment isnoweas-ingnationwidelockdownmeas-ureswhichhaveclosedmuchoftheeconomysinceMarch23.Askedduringaninterviewon

BBCTVwhatregretshehadaboutthehandlingoftheoutbreak,JohnEdmunds, amemberof thegov-ernment’s Scientific AdvisoryGroup for Emergencies (SAGE),said: “Weshouldhavegone intolockdownearlier.” “Thedataweweredealingwithintheearlypartof March and our situationalawarenesswas really quite poorsoIthinkitwouldhavebeenveryhard to pull the trigger at thatpointbut Iwishwehad ... I thinkthathascostalotof lives.”

Demonstrations fromaroundthecountrycoalesce intonationwidemovement for racial justice

PANPYLAS,FRANKJORDANS&FRANCESD'EMILIOLONDON,JUNE7

THOUSANDSOF people took tothe streets of European citiesSundaytoshowtheirsupportforthe Black Lives Matter move-ment, with protesters in theEnglish port of Bristol ventingtheirangeratthecountry'scolo-nial history by toppling a statueof a17th-centuryslave trader.Demonstratorsattachedropes

to the statue of Edward Colstonbefore pulling it down to cheers

and roars of approval from thecrowd. Images on social mediashow protesters appearing tokneel on Colston's neck, recall-ing thedeathofGeorgeFloyd in

MinnesotaonMay25.InLondon,thousandsofpeo-

ple congregated around the USembassyfortheseconddayrun-ning,makingcleartheirmessagewasn't just aimedatAmerica.A rally in Rome's sprawling

People's Square was noisy butpeaceful, with themajority ofprotesterswearingmaskstopro-tectagainst coronavirus.In Italy’s financial capital,

Milan,a fewthousandprotestersgathered in a square outside thecentraltrainstationSundayafter-noon.Many in the crowdweremigrants or childrenofmigrantsofAfricanorigin.AP

ProtesterswalkdownCapitolHill inWashingtonDConSaturday.Reuters

Anti-racism protesters rallyin Europe again, topple statue

Ataprotest inBerlin.AP

THENEWYORKTIMESJUNE7

US PRESIDENTDonald Trump’sthreattodeployfederaltroopsincities has continued to roilWashingtonastensionsbetweenthe White House and thePentagonescalatedandtheArmylaunched an investigation into

theuseofmilitaryhelicopters inthenation’scapitalonMonday.TopPentagonofficialsordered

NationalGuardhelicopterstousewhattheycalled“persistentpres-ence” to disperse protests in thecapital thispastweek,accordingtomilitaryofficials.As twoArmyNationalGuard

helicoptersflewlowoverdemon-strators,thedownwardblastfrom

their rotorblades sentprotestersscurrying for cover and rippedsigns fromthesidesof buildings.Thepilotsofoneofthehelicoptershavebeengroundedpendingtheoutcomeof theinquiry.Thehigh-profile episodewas

aturningpointinthemilitary’sre-sponsetotheunrest.Senior Pentagonofficials, in-

cluding Gen Mark Milley, the

chairman of the Joint Chiefs ofStaff,triedtopersuadeTrumpthatactive-duty troops shouldnotbesentintothestreetstoimposeor-der.Trump’sthreattousethe1807InsurrectionAct to send active-dutytroopsonUSsoilagainstpro-testershaslaidbareachasminthenationalsecuritycommunitythatwas surfacing evenwhenhe ranforofficein2016.

White House-Pentagon tensions deepen

COVID-19PANDEMIC

No cover-up, nodelay: China defendsvirus response innew lengthy report

Brazil stopsreleasing deaths,infections dataBRAZIL’S GOVERNMENT hasstoppedpublishingarunningto-talofcoronavirusdeathsandin-fections in an extraordinarymovethatcriticscallanattempttohidethetruetollofthediseaseinLatinAmerica’slargestnation.Themovecameaftermonthsofcriticism from experts sayingBrazil’sstatisticsarewoefullyde-ficient,andinsomecasesmanip-ulated.Brazil’s lastofficialnum-bers showed it had recordedover34,000deathsrelatedtothecoronavirus, the third-highestnumberintheworld, justaheadof Italy.REUTERS

XuLin,viceheadof thePublicityDepartmentof theCommunistParty, showsacopyof thewhitepaperonfightingCovid-19.AP

UK should have gone intolockdown sooner, govtscientific adviser says

NICOLEHONG&WILLIAMK.RASHBAUMJUNE7

THEDAYbefore hewent out toprotest, ColinfordMattis, 32, anIvy-educatedcorporatelawyerinBrooklyn,chattedforoveranhouron the phonewith a close highschool friend. They discussedGeorgeFloyd’s death as just “an-other example of an unarmedblack person being killed,” thefriend said, but they also talkedaboutgroceryshopping.The next afternoon, Urooj

Rahman,31,whoisalsoalawyerand Mattis’s close friend, at-tendedaZoomtalkaboutbuild-ing “solidaritymovements” be-tweenpeopleofcolour. Rahmanhad recently finished fasting forRamzan andwas caring for hermotherathome,alsoinBrooklyn.What happened next came

asasurprisetomanywhoknowthe twoyoung lawyers.

ThepairtooktothestreetsonMay29with thousands of NewYorkerswhowere voicing theiroutrage over Floyd’s death. Butafter midnight, police officersspotted them in a tanminivandrivingthroughtheFortGreeneneighbourhood of Brooklyn. Atonepoint,Rahmanclimbedout,walked towardanemptypolicepatrol car and threw aMolotovcocktailthroughitsbrokenwin-dow,prosecutors said.

Theirarrestsshortlyafterwerea startling turn for the two,whowere otherwise rolemodels intheircommunities.Bothchildrenof immigrants, they rose fromworking-class Brooklyn neigh-bourhoods towin a long list ofawardsand leadershippositions.Mattis graduated fromPrincetonand New York University LawSchool, while Rahmanwent toFordhamUniversity for collegeandlawschool.A littleoveraweekafter their

arrests, it is difficult todrawcon-clusionsabout theirmotivations.If the charges prove to be true,werethetwospurredbyanill-ad-visedmomentof anger—ordid

theyactoutofadeeper,darkerdis-illusionmentwiththepoliticalsys-teminthewakeofFloyd’sdeath?A portrait of Mattis and

Rahmanwasassembledfromin-terviewswithmore than threedozen of their friends, relatives,colleagues, neighbours and for-merprofessors.Thosewhoknewthe twowell said they had longbeenpassionateaboutsocialjus-tice issues and had expressedfrustrationoverFloyd’sdeath,butnevershowedadesiretocommitviolence. Investigatorsappeartohave found no evidence of anyties to violent groups, and pros-ecutorsdidnot offer amotive incourt filings.NYT

2 lawyers, protests and a Molotov cocktail

Brooklyn lawyersColinfordMattisandUroojRahman,after theywerearrested.AP

AccusedofthrowingaMolotovcocktailatapolicecar,thetwolawyers,whowereotherwiserolemodelsintheircommunities,raisequestionsregardinghowdeepdisillusionmentisamongpeopleofcolourfollowingGeorgeFloyd’sdeath.

AUSTRALIA

10-FOOT SHARKKILLS SURFERA 60-year-old surfer was attacked and killed by a 10-foot great white sharkoff the coast of northern New South Wales state on Sunday, officials said.The man received a bite to the back of his thigh and was brought to the shoreby other surfers who had fought off the shark, but died on the beach.

THEREHAVEbeenattemptsat significant police reformin many US cities in recentyears that have beenthwarted by police unions,which are one of the tough-est roadblocks to police re-form in theUS, according toa New York Times report.Police unions have usedtheirclout in legislativebod-ies, fought multiple legalbattles, andeventoldmem-bers to not take changes toprocedure seriously, in at-tempts to thwart reforms,the report said.

Reformfacestoughopposition

CORONAVIRUS LOCKDOWN EASES, USHERING IN A NEW NORMAL

Germans get used to giving their phone numbers to complete strangers; it’s a ruleKATRINBENNHOLDBERLIN, JUNE7

I’VEGIVENmyphonenumbertoalotofstrangersoverthepastweek.I scribbled it down for the

charmingbaristawhomademylattetheothermorning.Ihandedittothewaiterwhotookmyfirstrestaurantbookinginmorethantwomonths. I gave it to a hair-dresser, to an ice creamvendor,even to the guy behind plexi-

glassat theopen-air swimmingpool that just reopened.“That mask looks great on

you,” he said andwinked atmeover his own mask in one ofthose I-can’t-believe-I’m-hav-ing-this-conversationmomentswehaveeverydaynow.IswearIwasn’t flirting. Iwas

just trying tohaveaswim.Berlin has been emerging

from its coronavirus lockdowninfull force,andthecostof free-dom, theprice of having a snip-

pet of our pre-corona lives —datenightwithyourhusband,ahair cut — is handing over con-tactdetails.Callthemcoronalogs:Areg-

istry of who was where whenand for how long has becomemandatory so the detectives oftheGermanhealthauthoritycantrace thecontactsof anewly in-fectedperson.It is one way in which

Germany’s new normal looksanythingbutnormal. Inacoun-

trywhereprivacy is somethingof anational religion,Germansnow casually hand over theirprivateaddressatevery turnofdaily life.At theRefinery,a trendycof-

fee shop near the river Spree incentral Berlin, Sabine Baum, agraphicdesigner,wasaddingherdetails to the dog-eared hand-writtenlistonthecounterasshewaited for her porridge one re-centmorning.“Somehow it feels OK be-

cause it’s just on paper and notonline,” shesaid.The longing for normality is

a powerful incentive to put upwith things that in earlyMarch— a lifetime ago—would haveseemed either unacceptable ortotallyabsurdtomanyGermans.Like wearing something in asauna (face masks might be-comemandatorywhen saunasreopennextmonth).There are moments when

Germany feels— almost—nor-

mal again. Childrenwalking toschool in the mornings.Restaurants buzzing at night. Awedding inapublicpark.Butoneswimmingpoolnow

has a traffic light outside itsshower area to regulate thenumber of people inside.Vendingmachines that used tosellcandyandcondomsnowselldisinfectant andmasks. A the-ater has removed500of its 700seatstoallowfordistancingdur-ingperformances.NYT

Berlinhasbeenemergingfromits lockdowninfull force

Peaceful protests swell acrossUS in unified push for reforms

Protesters urgedto get testedfor coronavirus

ASSOCIATEDPRESSNEWYORK, JUNE7

AS NEWYork City prepared toreopen after amore than two-month coronavirus shutdown,officials on Sunday lifted a cur-few that was put in place amidprotests of police brutality andracial injustice. But they alsourged that demonstrators betested forCovid-19.“Get a test. Get a test,” New

YorkGov.AndrewCuomourgedpeoplewho have been partici-patinginralliesandmarches.Hesaidthestateplannedtoopen15testingsitesdedicatedtoprotest-erssotheycangetresultsquickly.“Iwouldactasifyouwereex-

posed, and I would tell peopleyouareinteractingwith,assumeI am positive for the virus,”Cuomoadded.

13THEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY, JUNE8,2020

ECONOMYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

Fuel Watch‘UNLOCK 1.0 TO REVIVE FUEL SALES’New Delhi: Weeks after the coronavirus lockdown led to fuel salesnosediving to record lows, Indian Oil Corp (IOC), the nation’slargest oil firm, sees demand returning with the resumption ofeconomic activities. PTI

ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI,JUNE7

ABUDHABIInvestmentAuthority(ADIA) has investedRs 5,683.50crore in Jio Platforms, thedigitalarmof Reliance Industries (RIL).Thelatestinvestment—eighthinthe series—values Jio Platformsat anequityvalueof Rs4.91 lakhcroreandanenterprisevalueofRs5.16lakhcrore.ADIA’s investmentwill trans-

late into a 1.16 per cent equitystakeinJioPlatformsonafullydi-lutedbasis.WiththisJioPlatformshasraisedRs97,885.65crorefromleadingglobalinvestorsincludingFacebook,SilverLake,VistaEquityPartners, General Atlantic, KKR,Mubadala andADIA in less thansevenweeks.Awholly-ownedsubsidiaryof

RIL, JioPlatformsisanext-gener-ation technology platform fo-cusedonprovidinghigh-qualityand affordable digital servicesacrossIndia,withover388millionsubscribers.ADIAisaglobally-di-versified investment institutionthatinvestsfundsonbehalfoftheGovernment of Abu Dhabithrough a strategy focused onlong-termvalue creation. ADIAmanages a global investmentportfoliothatisdiversifiedacrossmorethantwodozenassetclassesandsub-categories.RIL CMD Mukesh Ambani

said, “This investment is a strongendorsementofourstrategyandIndia’s potential.” HamadShah-wanAldhaheri,executivedirectorof the Private Equities Depart-ment at ADIA, said, “Our invest-mentinJioisafurtherdemonstra-tion of ADIA’s ability to drawondeep regional and sector expert-ise to invest globally inmarketleadingcompaniesandalongsideprovenpartners.”

ADIA invests`5,683.5 cr inJio Platforms

NETINVESTMENTBYOVERSEASINVESTORSBETWEENJUN1&5AT`18,613CR

ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI, JUNE7

FOREIGN PORTFOLIO investors(FPIs), whowere big sellers inMarchandApril, areback in thestock markets with fresh pur-chaseorders.During the first five trading

sessions of June, overseas in-vestors put in a net sum of Rs20,814 crore in equities. Howe-ver,FPIspulledoutanetRs2,225crore fromthedebt segment.The total net investment in

debtandequitybetween June1and 5 stood at Rs 18,613 crore.Buoyedby the investment fromoverseas investors, the Sensexalso rose by 1,863 points to

34,287.24during theweek.Prior to this, FPIs were net

sellers for three consecutivemonths.TheywithdrewRs7,366crore inMay, Rs 15,403 crore inApril and a record Rs 1.1 lakhcrore inMarch.

Analysts said that FPIs havebeeninvestinginfundamentallystrong bluechip companies andthis trendis likelytocontinueinthenear future.TheriseinFPIinflowsandthe

buoyancy in stockmarkets also

reflected the strong global cuesdespite the rising number ofCOVID-19 infections.SudhakarShanbhag,chief in-

vestment officer, KotakMahindra Life InsuranceCompany, said, “Indian equitymarketshavebeenbuoyantoverthe last couple of weeks. Thismarket rally has come as a sur-prisetoallwhennobodywasex-pecting it. Indianmarkets hadbeen laggards in the emergingmarketbasketandareprobablycatchingupandwehaveseenal-mosta33percentrallyfromthelowwesawinMarch2020.“Gradualreleaseof lockdown

measures would also haveplayeditspart.Thereis,however,acompletedichotomybetween

themarkets and the economy,”he further said.The coronavirus situation is

also not completely under con-trol. “While the currentmarketrally has seenmomentum, wehave to bewatchful about howthe coronavirus comes undercontroloverthenextfewweeksand months, as also how theeconomy responds to the sameincludingthemeasurestakenbythe government and the RBI,”Shanbhagsaid.The weekend data on non-

farmpayroll intheUSwasapos-itive surprise, aswell as the un-employment rate being lowerthan expected has seen a sharprallyinUSmarketbyabout3percent,”headded.

■Priortothis,foreignportfolioinvestorswerenetsellersforthreeconsecutivemonths.Theywithdrew`7,366croreinMay,`15,403croreinAprilandarecord`1.1lakhcroreinMarch

■AnalystssaidthatFPIshave

beeninvestinginfundamentallystrongbluechipcompaniesandthistrendislikelytocontinue

■TheriseinFPIinflowsandthebuoyancyinstockmarketsalsoreflectedthestrongglobalcues

INVESTMENTSMAINLY INBLUECHIPCOMPANIES

BRIEFLYIOBslashesMCLRbyupto30bpsNewDelhi: IndianOverseasBank(IOB)hascutmarginalcost of fundsbased lendingrate(MCLR)byupto0.30percent across all tenors. Thebenchmarkone-yearMCLRhasbeencutby0.20percentfrom June 10, IOB saidSunday.

KarnatakaBankQ4netfalls56%to`27crNewDelhi:KarnatakaBankhasposteda56percentfallin net profit for theMarchquarteratRs27.31croreduetohigherprovisions. PTI

MexicotositoutextensionofoiloutputcutsMexicoCity:Mexicowillnotjoinothertopoilproducers,whichincludesOPECmem-bersandalliesledbyRussia,in extending through Julyoutput cuts aimedatprop-ping up the price of crude,EnergyMinisterRocioNahlesaidonSaturday. REUTERS

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI, JUNE7

WHILETHEdamagetorevenuesand profits was limited in theMarchquarter, India Inc is brac-ing fora tough2020-21.The commentary continues

tobeverycautious,evenborder-ingonthepessimistic,givenhowthe lockdownhascrimpedcashflows in the June quarter so far.Givenhowpoorvisibilityonde-mandis,fewfirmsareabletoseewhererevenuesareheadedandanalysts are trimming earningsestimatesacross theboard.It’snotsurprisingtheLarsen

&Toubromanagementobserved

it doesn’t expect any revival ofcapital expenditure in the pri-vate sector thisyear.The company said the sales

missedsofarbecauseof thedis-

ruption from Covid-19 werearoundRs15,000-17,000crore.At InterGlobe Aviation, the

capacityutilisation is just aboutafifthof thatavailableandoccu-

pancies are expected to climbslowlysinceinternationaltravelissometimeaway;despitegainsfromlowerfuelpricesandlowerexpensesonemployees,theair-line is expected to report a lossofclosetoRs7,000croreinFY21.The crash in prices of com-

modities has hit producers asseeninthestaggeringRs15,269-crorelossbeforetaxreportedbyVedanta for Q4FY20, triggeredby an exceptional loss of Rs17,132 crore on account of im-paired assets, primarily a steepfall incrudeoilprices.At BPCL, inventory losses

were high and the sharp rise indebt,albeitpartlyduetoone-offfactors,hasanalystsworried. FE

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI, JUNE7

GROSS DIRECT tax collections(without factoring for refunds)declined by 4.92 per cent to Rs12.34 lakh crore in 2019-20, theCentral Board of Direct Taxes(CBDT) in a statement said onSunday.The direct tax buoyancy, the

ratio of taxmop up to nominalGDP, slowed to1.12 in FY20 tak-ingintoaccounttherevenuefor-gone, though the CBDT said itwasonexpectedlinesand“tem-porary in nature due to the his-torictaxreformsundertaken”inthelastfinancialyearreferringtothe corporate tax cut and in-crease in income taxexemptionlimits.AlthoughCBDThasnotmade

public the actual net direct taxcollection in 2019-20, the grosscollections (Rs 12.33 lakh crore)adjustedwith refunds (Rs 1.84lakh crore) shownet collectionsaroundRs 10.49 lakh crore dur-ingthefiscal.Netcollectionisthegross collectionminus incometaxrefunds.In2018-19,netdirecttax collectionwas Rs 11.36 lakhcrore.The direct tax mop up in

2019-20 is lower than previousfiscal,primarilyduetocorporatetax cuts announced inSeptember, which lowered col-

lection by an estimated Rs 1.45lakh crore. Additionally, in theBudgetlastyear,incomeuptoRs5 lakhwas exempted from tax,impactingcollectionbyaboutRs23,000crore,CBDTsaid.It also said that gross direct

taxcollectionwasabettermeas-ure to ascertain buoyancy as itnegated anomalies created byhigher refunds granted in FY20compared to the year before. Itsaid that refund of Rs 1.84 lakhcrorewasgrantedinFY20,com-pared to Rs 1.61 lakh crore inFY19, an increase of 14 per centoverpreviousyear.“It is a fact that thenetdirect

tax collection for theFY2019-20was less than the net direct taxcollectionfortheFY2018-19.Butthisfall inthecollectionofdirect

taxes is on expected lines and istemporary in nature due to thehistoric tax reformsundertakenandmuchhigherrefundsissuedduringtheFY2019-20,”theCBDTsaid.As per data released by the

CBDT, theactualgrosscorporatetax and Personal Income Tax(PIT)revenuemopupstoodatRs6.78 lakh crore andRs 5.55 lakhcrore, respectively in FY20, tak-ingtheactualgrossdirecttaxcol-lectiontoRs12,33,720.Italsosaidthatthebuoyancy

ofdirect taxescameinatalmost1 for corporate tax and 1.32 forpersonal income tax, respec-tively.“Thesebuoyanciesindicatethat the growth trajectories ofboththearmsofdirecttaxes, i.e.,corporate tax and PIT are intact

and are rising steadily. Further,the higher growth rate in directtaxesascomparedtogrowthratein the GDP even in these chal-lengingtimesprovesthatrecenteffortsforthewideningofthetaxbaseundertakenby thegovern-ment are yielding results,” theBoardsaid.The CBDT statement comes

atatimewhentaxtargetsfortheongoing fiscal are being seen tobe too high in viewof the exac-erbation of the economic slow-down due to COVID-19 andshortfall in tax collections in2019-20.During FY20, revenue fore-

gone due to reduction in corpo-rate tax rate was Rs 1.45 lakhcrore, while in PIT (due to in-creasedtaxrebatelimitandstan-darddeduction)itwasRs23,200crore. If this had not happened,corporate tax and PIT collectionin 2019-20would have been Rs8.23 lakh crore andRs 5.78 lakhcrore, respectively. Thus, thegross direct taxmop upwouldhave been Rs 14.01 lakh crore,whichwould have been a 8.03percentgrowthover2018-19.In2019-20fiscal, thenominalGDPgrowthratewas7.20percent.TheCBDTaddedthatpickup

in investmentsubsequenttotaxcutswould take time tomateri-alise asmanufacturing facilitieswith its ancillary activities takemonthstocomeup.

INTERVIEWWITHNEWCII PRESIDENTUDAYKOTAK

THE CORONAVIRUS pandemichas brought economic activityacross thecountry toanearhalt.Having taken over as the presi-dent of industry body Confede-rationofIndianIndustry(CII)lastweek, UDAYKOTAK,MD, KotakMahindra Bank told SANDEEPSINGH and P VAIDYANATHANIYER that he believes that Indianeeds tobe competitive anden-gagedwith theworld and gov-ernmentinterventionisonlyjus-tified in cases of unfaircompetition. He also said thatthere is an opportunity to rebal-anceruralandurbanandthatthestate needs towork towards theaspectofprovidingasocialsecu-rity net to not onlymigrants butalsobusinessesacrosstheboard.Editedexcerpts:

Thegovernmenthas,overthelastthreeyears, increasedcustomsdutiesacrosssectors.Afterthreedecadesofliberalisation,doesdomesticindustrystillneedprotection?Andwhatsignaldoesitsendtotheoutsideworld?The CII supports the Prime

Minister’s concept ofAtmanirbharBharatandbelievesitisconsistentwithacompetitiveIndiaandnotaprotectionistIndia.Atrulyself-reliantandself-confi-dent India is important,butwiththatwebelieveIndianeedstobecompetitive and engagedwiththe world. If there is any areawherethereisneedforinterven-tion, it is justified only wherethere is unfair competition. Butother than that,with reasonablelevelsoftariffs,Indianeedstoen-sure that it is building a trulyAtmanirbharBharatandcompet-itiveIndia.

Howdoyouseetheurbantoruralmigrationofworkers?COVIDhasexposedthisissue

ofurbantoruralmigration.Whenworkers come to cities, they livein poor conditions in slums orchawls, have poor job securityandnowarehitbyaviruswhichexposes themmore than us. So,thehealth crisis, qualityof livingcrisis and lack of security of jobhavemade themtakeadecisionthattheyarebetter-off invillageseven if their apparent income islower.Inthiscontext,Ithinkitisagreat opportunity to rebalancerural and urban. This is time tocreatedigitalabilityandredefinethe roleof rural—rural infra, ru-ralhealth, ruraldigital.

Ourinitialfeedbacksuggestsmigrantsmaystaybackforafewmonths,butmayeventuallyhavetoreturntotheurbancentresforwork...theydon’treallyhaveachoice.Ofcourse,Iamjustsayingthat

notallwillhavethatchoice. Iamsayingthatevenif30-40percentof the people decide to comeback, therewill be shortage of

people in the cities.Wehavegotsousedtoassumingthatthereisthis lowcost, cheap labouravail-ableonourtermsforhireandfire.And this iswhere the stateswillhave to come in andputmoneyinto rural India opportunity andcreatetheenablingprovisionthatmakesitpossibleforthemigrantsto look at the optionmore seri-ously.AtCII,wewillendeavourtoworkwith ourmembers to en-surethatsomesortofcodeisputin place so that it is a fair playtreatmentforthemigrantswhentheycomebackandwewillneedthesupportofthestatewhenwegetthere.Atsomelevel,wewillneedto

createa social securitynet alongwiththestateand inevitably it isabeginningofadirectionalmovewherethestatehastheobligationtoprotecteverycitizen.If a business finds 80-90 per

cent of its revenue going away,how can it protect jobs? That iswherethestatecomesinandthestatemustgivesocialsecuritynet.Theaspectofsocialsecurityisnotonly with the migrant but forbusinessesacrosstheboard.

Wouldyouthenrecommendthegovernmenttoopenupitspursealittlemore?Webelievethatthegovernm-

entwillhavetoopenupitspurse,but tightensomewhereelse. It isimportantthatthegovernment’sresources are used properly be-cause these are difficult choices.We are not a reserve currencycountryandourfiscaldeficitisal-

ready at 12per cent (Centre andstatescombined)andwehavetokeepinmindthattherearefinan-cialstabilityissues.Sohowdowebalance these different conflict-ing heated issues at the sametimebutpreservetheconceptofanIndiawhichfunctions.

Riskaversionbybankscontinuestoposethebiggestobstacletobanklending,mo-resoincircumstanceswhendefaultsaremostlikely.WhatcanthegovernmentandRBIdotogiveconfidenceorprodthemtolendandtakerisk?Bankswant to lend to busi-

nesses which they believe arebusinesses that can repay theirmoney.Inthosecategoryofbusi-nesses,thedemandformoneyisrelativelylow,butwhoeverwantsitwearedelightedtogivebecausewehave confidencewewill getourmoney back. Another set ofbusiness is one whose funda-mentalfinancialconditionbeforeCOVIDhasbeenpoor.COVIDhashurt themfurther.Bankersobvi-ouslywanttobecautiousinlend-ingtothesebusinessesinordertoprotectthefinancialsystemitself.Banksarenotriskaverse.But

if theyarebeingprudentandnotlendingwhere there is a risk oftheir money not coming back,they are doing it ultimately andfundamentallytoensureprotec-tion of depositors. The last thingwewant at the time of a healthcrisisistodosomethingthatcre-atesafinancialcrisisandlosethetrustofdepositorsinthefinancialsystem.Astablefinancialsystemisbasedononlyonething—trustofthedepositorswithhismoney.If that gets eroded, therewill beanothercrisisandwemustnotal-lowthattohappen.

Whatdoyouthinkaboutthelockdown?Hasitgiventimetothehealthcaresectortorampuporhasithurtthelivelihoodofmillionsofmigrants?Let’sgobacktoMarch24and

assumethatweasacountryde-cided—no lockdown. Knowingthe status of our healthcare sys-tem and level of alertness thatwastherepriortoMarch24aboutwhat COVID could do, todaywehave6,000deaths,arewesayingwewould have less than 6,000deaths or 60,000 or 600,000.Who knows. But the fact of thematter is that we have 6,000deathsandasaratioofthepopu-lationthatnumberis low.Sowhenwearelookingatthe

lockdown,wehavetoaskwhatifwedidnotdoit,whatcouldhavebeen and that’s the correctway.What if younger peoplewent towork but came home wheretherewould be older people. Atleast, I hopewe are in a betterstate of preparedness fromhealthcarepointofviewthanwewerebefore.

UNLOCKINGTHE

ECONOMYWISHLIST & ROADMAP

AN EXPRESS INTERVIEWSERIES

UDAYKOTAKMANAGING DIRECTORKOTAK MAHINDRA BANK

If there is any areawhere there is need

for intervention, it isjustified onlywhere thereis unfair competition.Butother than that,withreasonable levels oftariffs, India needs toensure that it isbuilding a trulyAtmanirbharBharat andcompetitive India

‘Last thing we want at the time ofa health crisis is to do somethingthat creates a financial crisis’

‘Coal import falls 20%y-o-y to 19 MT in May’India’s coal import dropped by 20 per cent to 18.93milliontonnes (MT) inMay against the correspondingmonth ayear ago, provisional data provided bymjunction showed

17.09MT:AMOUNTOFCOAL IMPORTEDINAPRIL,ASPERREVISEDDATA

13.22MT:IMPORTOFNON-COKINGCOAL INMAY,ASAGAINST12.28MTINAPRIL

Subdued import demand: Given the highcoal stock levels in pithead and powerplants, import demand is expected toremain subdued in the short-term

Source:mjunction/PTI

23.57MT:Coal import by IndiainMay last year

3.81MT: Import of coking coalinMay, as against 3.23MT inApril

242.97MT:Country’s coalimport in 2019-20,whichincreasedmarginally by3.2 per cent

0:Amount of country’s‘avoidable coal imports’ thatthe government is planning tobring by2023-24

Mandate toCIL toboostproduction:Coal India Ltd(CIL),which accounts for over80per cent of the domesticfuel output, has beenmandated by theCentre toreplace at least 100MTofimportswith domestically-produced coal in FY21

FACTORSFORINCREASEINMAYIMPORTSOVERAPRIL:■ Partial re-start of operationsin some sectors■ Continued softness in coalprices in internationalmarkets

10.76%: Estimated rise incoal import this May throughmajor and non-major ports overApril 2020

FPIs invest`20,814crore inequities inaweek,pullout`2.2Kcr fromdebtsegment

REUTERSBEIJING,JUNE7

CHINA’SEXPORTScontracted inMay as global coronavirus lock-downs continued to devastatedemand,while a sharper-than-expected fall in importspointedtomountingpressureonmanu-facturersasglobalgrowthstalls.The sombre trade readings

for theworld’s second-biggesteconomycouldpilepressureonpolicymakers to roll out moresupport for a sector that is criti-cal to the livelihoods of morethan 180millionworkers. Totaltrade accounts for about a thirdof theeconomy.Overseas shipments inMay

fell 3.3 per cent fromayear ear-lier,afterasurprising3.5percentgain in April, customs datashowedSunday.Thatcomparedwitha7percentdropforecastinaReuterspoll.While exports fared slightly

better than expected, importstumbled16.7percentcomparedwith a year earlier, worseningfroma 14.2 per cent decline thepreviousmonthandmarkingthesharpest decline since January2016.Ithadbeenexpectedtofall9.7percent inMay.“Exports benefited from the

ASEAN(AssociationofSoutheastAsian Nations)market and ex-change rate depreciation,whileimportswere affected by insuf-

ficient domestic demand andcommoditypricedeclines,” saidWang Jun, chief economist ofZhongyuanBank.As a result, China posted a

record trade surplus of $62.93billion last month, the highestsinceReutersstartedtrackingtheseriesin1981,comparedwiththepoll’s forecast for a $39 billionsurplus and $45.34 billion sur-plus inApril.China’stradesurpluswiththe

USwidened to $27.89 billion inMay,Reuterscalculationbasedoncustoms data showed. Thiscomes as Sino-US tensions areagainontherise,thoughsourcessayPresidentDonaldTrumphaslittle choice but to stick with aPhase1tradedeal fornow.

Both official and private fac-tory surveys for May showedsub-indexesforexportordersre-mained deep in contraction.ProfitsatChina’sindustrialfirmsfell almost 30 per cent in theJanuary-Aprilperiod.Analystssaidbrightspotslike

exports of medical supplies, ofwhichChinahasdominated thesupplychain,maskedthestrongheadwinds faced by exportersstuckwithunsoldstockandcan-celledorders fromabroad.In the firsthalf ofMay,China

shipped 63.2 billion yuan ofmedical supplies, Reuters calcu-lations based on customs datashowed, compared with 71.2billion yuan in theMarch-Aprilperiod.

Temporary fall incollection, alongexpected lines

INAstatement,theCBDTsaidthoughthenetdirecttaxcollectionforFY2019-20waslessthanthatinFY2018-19,thedeclinewasonexpectedlinesandistemporaryinnatureduetothehistorictaxreformsundertakenandmuchhigherrefundsissuedlastfiscal.Talkingaboutthelackofpickupinvestment,itsaidthatvariousmeasuresarerequiredtosetupnewmanufacturingunitsanditwilltakesomemonths.

FY20 gross direct tax mop up falls 4.92% oncut in corporate tax, hiked PIT exemption

China May exports slip back intocontraction, imports worst in 4 yrs

Trucks lineuptotransportcontainersat thecontainerportinQingdaoineasternChina’sShandongprovince.China’sexportsandimportsbothfell inMay,amidthecoronaviruspandemicandtradetensionswiththeUS. AP

■Thecommentarycontinuestobeverycautious,evenborderingonthepessimistic,givenhowthe lockdownhascrimpedcashflows inthe Junequarterso far

■Larsen&Toubromanagementobserved it

doesnotexpectanyrevivalof capitalexpenditure intheprivatesector thisyear

■AtBPCL, inventory losseswerehighandthesharprise indebt,albeitpartlyduetoone-off factors,hasanalystsworried

COMMENTARYCONTINUES TOBECAUTIOUS

India Inc braces for a tough year ahead,earnings forecasts cut across the board

14THEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY, JUNE82020

SPORTWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

MIHIRVASAVDANEWDELHI, JUNE7

INTHEthirdweekofMarch,whenSpainwassurpassing China’s Covid toll, Juan Ferrandogot ready toappear for an interviewfromhishome in Barcelona. The football coach’sprospectiveemployerswerethousandsofkilo-metres away, bracing for a lockdown thatwouldbringtheirclubtoastandstill.Ferrando,whowasapartofthelegendary

ArseneWenger’s support staff at Arsenal,sharedhisvisionandstylefortheclub,andas-sessmentof theplayers--andtheemployersscrutinisedeverypointhemade.Afterseveralhours, thedealwasclosed:FerrandobecamethenewmanagerofFCGoa.Thiswasn’t theoriginalplan, though.The senior clubmanagementwas to fly

overtoSpain,meetFerrando,possiblywatchamatch, and then look at a future together.“Instead,wefinishedeverythingonline,”saysfootballagentVarunAchreja,whobrokeredthedeal.“Everythingismovingdigitalatthemoment.”So much so, that instead of scurrying

fromonegroundtoanotherindifferentpartsof theworld, club officials and representa-tives have shifted to e-meeting apps likeZoomandrelyingonscoutingresourceslikeInStatandWyscout.InIndia,Juneisthetimewhenthemodest

transfermarket springs to life. Old contractsexpireonMay31,thetransferwindowopensinthefirsthalfofJune,andbythetimeitshutsonAugust31,croresarespentonhundredsofdeals. This time,while data and scouting re-portsonIndianplayersareavailable,fillingtheforeignquotahasbecometricky. “I spendthesummer travelling to different countries toscoutplayersorhavealookatsomewhoareal-readyonmyshortlist.Thistime,ithasnotbeenpossible,”saysMandarTamhane,thechiefex-ecutiveofformerISLchampionsBengaluruFC.Clubofficialsarejustonepartofthechain.

Often, they have representatives on theground, who crisscross cities to watch aprospective signing in action. For instance,KuldeepSharma,whohasbeenresponsibleforseveralbig-tickettransfersinIndianfoot-ball, ends up watching about 100-125matchesayearacross theworld.

Sharma prefers live action andmeetingplayersdirectlytounderstandtheirperson-alitiesandmindset,allvaluablecomponentsindeterminingatransferdeal.Thissummer,saysSharma,“therehasbeenalotofrelianceon digital communication and online re-sourcestoscoutplayersandnegotiatedeals”.

Scouting resourcesThe online platforms provide scouts,

agents and club officials with hundreds ofhours of video and stats of almost any pro-fessionalplayer.Butastheynowrealise,con-ductingthetransferbusinessonline isn’tal-ways the best way. The data equips themwith information about a player's skills --strong header, weak left foot, quick on thewings, etc -- but there are a lot of “intangi-blesinvolvedthatcanonlybeassessedwhen

youmeetaplayerinperson”,saysTamhane.So even if there is a shift to online, some

of thebasicsremainthesame.“Youdevelopagoodsetofnetworks,verifytheplayers’po-tential with his teammates or coaches andgobyrecommendations,” saysSharma.There isalsoanelementof luck.For example, one of the most prolific

strikers tohaveplayed in India, Venezuela’sMiku,wouldnevercometotheseshoreshadclubs reliedonlyononlinemediums.Thestorygoesthatinthesummerof2017,

BengaluruFChadactuallygoneshopping foranotherplayer,Manucho.TheAngolanstrikerwasplaying for Spanish clubRayoVallecanoatthetimebutitwasMiku,histeammate,whocaughttheirattention.Mikuwasinadifferentclass,andinthe2016-17seasonhewasnamedLa Liga’s Player of theMonth ahead of the

RonaldosandMessisandSuarezs.Tamhane casuallymetMiku in the sta-

dium’scarparkafterthematch.Onethingledtoanotherandafewmonthslater,MikuwasinBengaluru, stampinghis class in the ISL. “Soyoucanuseonline resources, but it isnot thesame.Of course, in the current situation it isnotpossibletotravelsoyouhavetodealwiththesituationaccordingly,”Tamhanesays.Theclubs,however,arecautious.Sofar,a

majorityof thedeals involvingforeignplay-ers have either been contract extensions ormovement from one club to another. Thistrend is unlikely to change immediately, astheAll IndiaFootballFederationissettogivetheclubs timetillOctober to signplayers.The Indiantransfermarket ispeculiar, in

thesense that thereare fewactual transferswhereafeeispaid,andclubsareoftenonthelookoutforplayerswhoareoutofcontracts.“Sothistime,youmightseealotofclubswaitto see how the situation evolves in Europeand elsewhere in the world,” says AshishShah, who has been at the helm atChennaiyinandOdisha.The contracts of a foreigner in ISL range

from anything between $70,000 and$500,000 a year. Andwith each franchisehavingasalarycapofRs16.4crore,theclubsare hoping to land “bargain buys” in case alower division club in Europe goes bust orthe ratesof players fall.Withthedomesticseasonlikelytobegin

onlyinNovember,thereisstilltimeforclubs.“And tillwecanmeet,wewillwatchvideosof the players and monitor them onWhatsApp,” says Ferrando, 39. “Wehave touse the technology.”

IndianclubsZoominondeals,signingsInsteadofflyingoutandcriss-crossingcities,footballofficialsandrepresentativeshaveshiftedtoonlineplatforms

SpaniardJuanFerrando,whowasapartofthelegendaryArseneWenger’ssupportstaffatArsenal,becamethemanagerofFCGoaafteradigitalmeetingthatlastedhours. File

@indianexpress.com

ForHHIIMMAADDAASS,theU20worlds triumphwasn’ta‘bigoccasion’...andthenthetweetsstartedpouringin.The2018goldmedallistspeakswithSSHHAASSHHAANNKKNNAAIIRR

THOSEMONTHS,THOSEMINUTESForced intoanunprecedented lockdown, sport is staringat anunfathomabledespair. Indianathletes, though,havegiven thecountry reasons to rejoice in thepast.

NBAoffersclarityontiebreakerswithunevenscheduleTheNBAhas told teams thatplayoff seedingwillbebasedonwinningpercentage,andthatanytiebreakersnecessaryafterthatwillfollowthe usual procedures. It was an issue thatneededclaritybecausethe22teamsthatwillbegoing to theDisneycomplex inFlorida, fortheplanned resumption of the seasonnextmonthwillnothaveplayedthesamenumberof games. TheNBAtold teamsof theplan forutilizingtiebreakersinamemoonFriday.Basedonthe leagueplanfor therestart,withgamesstarting again in late July, Dallaswill endupplayinganNBA-high75contests.Mostotherswillplaybetween72and74;thelowtotalwillbe71,whichSanAntonioandtheLosAngelesLakerswillfinishatiftheNBA'splansforteamstoplayeightgamesattheDisneycomplexbe-foretheplayoffsbegincomestofruition.AP

HEAVYWEIGHT BOXINGworld championAnthony Joshuadescribed racismas a “pan-demic”whileaddressingprotestersataBlackLivesMattermarchinLondononSaturday.Joshua, one of Britain’s highest-profile

sportsmen,joinedamarchthroughthestreetsof his home townofWatford before gather-inginaparkwhereherecitedapoemwrittenbyafriend.“Thevirushasbeendeclaredapan-demic,”Joshuasaid.“Thisisoutofcontrol.AndI’mnot talkingaboutCovid-19. Thevirus I’mtalkingabout iscalledracism.”Marches andprotests have beenheld all

overtheworldinresponsetothekillingofun-armedblackmanGeorgeFloydbyapoliceof-ficer in theU.S. onMay 25. Four officers in-volvedhavesincebeenchargedoverthedeath.The 30-year-old Joshua, whose world

heavyweight title defence against BulgarianKubrat Pulev scheduled for this month atTottenhamHotspur’sstadiumwaspostponedbecause of the COVID-19 pandemic, wasdressedinallblackfortheevent.“We can no longer sit back and remain

silentonthesesenseless,unlawfulkillingsandsly racismon another humanbeing –basedonwhat?Onlytheirskincolour,”theIBF,WBAandWBOworld champion,whowas usingcrutches andwearing a knee brace, after in-juring his knee during training this week,added. “We need to speak out in peacefuldemonstrations—justliketoday,sowelldone

Watford.Wemust not use a demonstrationforselfishmotivesandturnitintoriotingandlooting.”A spokesman for Joshua saidhis knee in-

jurywouldbefurthercheckedbydoctors,but“thereisnoimmediateconcern”.

REUTERS

This virus is out of control. I’mnot talking about Covid: Joshua

Players suspended for6monthsforbreakingviruscurfewTheChineseFootballAssociationsayssixmem-bersof thenationalunder-19havebeensus-pendedforsixmonthsforviolatingcoronaviruscontrolmeasuresby leaving trainingcampatmidnighttogodrinking.The35-playertrainingcampinShanghaibeganonMay17andendedSaturday."Itwasasevereviolationoftheteam'sepidemiccontrolregulations,andcausedneg-ativeimpactsonthewholeteam,"theCFAwasquotedassayingbyXinhua.ThesixplayerswillhavetositoutallmatchesthroughNov.30.Theyalsofacefurtherpunishmentfromtheirrespec-tiveclubs.Players inChinahavenoofficialor-ganization to represent their interests and itwasn'tclearif therewasanywaytoappealtheban."Itisalosstotheteam,andofcourse,itwillhavegreatereffectsontheplayersthemselves,"headcoachChengYaodongsaid. AP

AnthonyJoshuajoinedamarchthroughthestreetsofhishometownofWatford. AP

CROSSWORD4138

ACROSS1 StormyHornteaches it is the

last refuge forsailors (5,6)9 Largehousenomanis

preparedtoobtain (7)10 Deckordock(5)11 Vegetable inneedof aplug,

wehear (4)12 Hegivesusone final tune

(8)14 Demands150objects

(6)16 Companies takeondoctors

inauniversal system(6)

18 Onedoesn’thear itwhen it’sdropped(8)

19 Poe’shouse-owner,heartlessemployer (4)

22 Asksomeburningquestions?(5)

23 ScotembracesHinduQueenofPersia (7)

24 Orders that singersarerevised(11)

DOWN2 Sothat’swhat itmeans!

(5)3 Awayoutofperplexity (4)4 Recordsofnon-Uplants

(6)5 Theyoncemadeabolt for it

(8)6 Tree that seemstocall for

graft (3,4)7 Whatanurserymayask for

lookingafterone(5,6)

8 Competitive field inwhichaperson’sart isdeployed(6,5)

13 Itgetsheldupwhentheweather’sbad(8)

15 Fixaquiet spot(7)

17 Trainracehorses (6)20 Issueacutting

(5)21 Modelmadetobedurable

(4)

ARIES(Mar21-Apr20)Letyourheadfollowyourheart. Today’svivaciousMooncanberelieduponto

raiseyourmorale,butyoushouldalsomake itquiteclearthat tradition isnot tobereliedupon.Somehowyouhavetoforgeyourownpathwhilekeeping friendsandalliesonside.

TAURUS(Apr21-May21)Youmaybegrippedonthehornsof adilemma,unsurewhetherpersonalor

publicaffairsmust takeprecedence.The fact is thatfamilyobligationsshouldhavefirst callonyourattention.Ayoungerrelationmightcomeupwith just theadvice thatyouneed.

GEMINI (May22- June21)It’saday forcommunication, forexchangingopinionsandperhaps

discoveringexactlywhatelse isgoingon.Doconsider thevirtuesofmakingacompletebreakwith thepast inafinancialmatter. It’snotnecessarilypeople thatyouneedtowave farewell to,butyourownbadhabits.

CANCER(June22- July23)There’s no time toflap around, somake a businesslikestart to theweek.

Partners are liable to be in anerraticmoodyet again, butperhaps you’ll be able toignore someof theirmore sillyideas and see if there isanything inwhat they saywhich could be of use.

LEO(July24-Aug23)Youseemtohaveafairmeasureofcontrol today,perhapsbecause

otherswill voluntarilysurrendersomeof theirpower.However, anysuchadvantagewillbepurely temporary, soyouwill squandergoodfortuneatyourownrisk.A littlecautioncouldpayoff.

VIRGO(Aug24-Sep23)There’s a sense inwhich secrecy iscalled for, perhapsmore than anything

else, so if other people insistthat theyhave an automaticright to knowwhat you’redoing, you should give themshort shrift. The simplewayout of a deadlock is to look forsimilarities betweenyourfeelings andother people’s,rather thandifferences.

LIBRA(Sep24-Oct23)There ismuch to besaid for pressingaheadwith socialgoals and activities,

so that youmayhave littletime forwork. If professionalchores are utterly unavoidable,theway to cheer yourself up isteamwork -meetings and thelike, or even aparty.

SCORPIO(Oct24-Nov23)It just so happensthat one of thestrongest regions ofyour chart at the

moment is thatwhich feedsyour ideas, and anyonewhoignores your proposals,suggestions and invitationswill do so at their peril.Mind you, I amquite surethat theywill come round inthe end.

SAGITTARIUS(Nov24-Dec22)Today’s stars aresent to test yourmettle and to see ifyou are prepared to

put your adventurous dreamsinto practice. If you cantackle joint ambitions and getother people to back you, thenyoumight build up theexperiencenecessary topursue your ownvision ofthe future.

CAPRICORN(Dec23- Jan20)TheSun’sdelicatemovementwill soondrawasignificantpersonalphasetoa

close.However, there is still agreatdealmore thought tobeput inbeforeyouget into theswingof anewrelationship.Youmayalsohavetomakeaconcessionor twotokeepalovedonehappy.

AQUARIUS(Jan21-Feb19)There’s a newthemedevelopingin your chart thisweek, onewhich

seems to be verymuchconnected to a lingering questfor security. Themostimportant question iswhetheryou canprovide sufficientstability for yourself, orwhether youwill have to relyonother people.

PISCES(Feb20-Mar20)It’s a day ofwork,although thisdoesn’tmeanthat everything

needbe terribly dull orroutine. There aremanyways to re-invent thewheeland,with your typicalingenuity, that is just the sortof thing you should bedoing.Youmight even cause afew surprises.

SUDOKU4133

DifficultyLevel3sInstructionsTosolveaSudokupuzzle,everydigitfrom1to9mustappear ineachofthenineverticalcolumns, ineachoftheninehorizontalrowsandineachofthenineboxes.

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

OLU

TIONSUDOKU4132

Givenbelowarefour jumbledwords.Solvethejumblestomakeproperwordsandmovethemtotherespectivesquaresbelow.Selecttheletters intheshadedsquaresandjumblethemtogettheanswerforthegivenquip.ItwassuchalovelydayIthoughtita___to____-W.SomersetMaugham(4,.,3,2)

SOLUTION:TITLE,JAUNT,ZEPHYR,GROPERAnswer:ItwassuchalovelydayIthoughtitapitytogetup-W.SomersetMaugham

LTEIT EHRZPY

JUNTA EORRGP

SolutionsCrossword4137:Across: :1Bounds,4Accident,9Losers,10Impostor,12Clan,13Tipsy,14Vera,17Curlingtongs,20Apprehension,23Eats,24Array,25Etna,28Heathens,29Ragtag,30Lastpost,31Ferret.Down:1Ballcock,2Upstairs,3Dora,5Comestoahead,6Icon,7Either,8Tartar,11Fingerprints,15Limps,16Agent,18Dictator,19Ontarget,21Lethal,22Straws,26Chap,27Late.

JUMBLEDWORDS

OVERTHEHEDGE byMichael Fry&TLewis

CALVIN&HOBBES byBillWatterson

MARVIN byTomArmstrong

DAYTODAY BYPETERVIDAL

Vol. LXIVNo.134Printed for theproprietors, The IndianExpress (P) LtdbyMsVaidehiThakaratThe IndianExpressPress, PlotNo.EL-208,TTC IndustrialArea,Mahape,NaviMumbai -400710andpublished from 1st floor, ExpressTowers,NarimanPoint,Mumbai -400021.Editorial&AdministrativeOffices:ExpressTowers,NarimanPoint,Mumbai -400021.Phone:22022627/67440000. Fax:022-22835726.Chairmanof theBoard:ViveckGoenka,Chief Editor:RajKamal Jha,Editor:UnniRajenShanker, Editor (Mumbai):NirupamaSubramanian.* (*Responsible for selectionofNewsunder thePRBAct)

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FCGoa’sseniormanagementwastoflyovertoSpain,meetFerrando,possiblywatchamatch,andthenlookatafuturetogether.“Instead,wefinishedeverythingonline,”saysfootballagentVarunAchreja,whobrokeredthedeal.“Everythingismovingdigitalatthemoment.”