rni regn. no. chheng/2012/42718, postal reg. no. - ryp dn ... · crpc to stop tour operators ......

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I ndia saw the biggest single day spike in the number of novel coronavirus cases when 23 persons reported positive during the last 24 hours on Sunday. The number swelled to 107 from 84 with Maharashtra reporting the highest number of positive cases followed by Kerala. Meanwhile over 450 stranded Indians were flown back from Italy and Iran and quarantined. A Health Ministry official said over 4,000 people who had come in contact with 93 positive cases have been identified through contact and were being tracked while 42,000 people across the coun- try are under community sur- veillance. More States on Sunday closed schools, colleges cinema halls, and also imposed Section 144 of the CrPC to prevent gathering of more than four persons in order to check the spread of the disease. While the number of pos- itive cases in Maharashtra shot up to 32, the health ministry has clarified that the 71-year- old man from Buldhana, who died during treatment on Saturday in a hospital has test- ed negative for coronavirus infection. He had returned from Saudi Arabia recently and had diabetes and high blood pressure. The Mumbai Police on Sunday clamped prohibitory orders under section 144 of the CrPC to stop tour operators from conducting any kind of group tours to foreign or domestic destinations till March 31. Maharashtra has already invoked the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 that gives wide-ranging powers to offi- cials to enforce measures, including that of lockdown and quarantine, required to tackle an outbreak. Shopping malls, schools and colleges have been closed in the State till March 31. After closing the door on foreign nationals, mainly tourists, the Centre has now suspended travel and registra- tion of pilgrims to Kartarpur Sahib Gurudwara through the corridor from Sunday mid- night. It has also placed a curb on the movement of all types of passengers to Pakistan through international border points. Earlier, the Government had announced suspension of all types of passenger move- ment from 00:00 hours on March 15 through the Indo- Bangla, Indo-Nepal, Indo- Bhutan and Indo-Myanmar borders barring a few specified border checkposts. The total number of cases in the country includes the two persons who died in Delhi and Karnataka and 17 for- eigners. Twelve more people have tested positive in Maharashtra, taking the num- ber of cases to 31. Delhi has so far reported seven positive cases, Kerala 22 and Uttar Pradesh 11. Karnataka has six coronavirus patients while Ladakh three and Jammu & Kashmir had two. Telangana reported three cases. Rajasthan also reported two cases. Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab have reported one case each. In Kerala, 20 Dubai-bound passengers were detained at the Kochi airport after a UK national, who was under sur- veillance sneaked out and joined the group, tested posi- tive for novel coronavirus, offi- cial sources said. Meanwhile, the over 280 passengers of the Dubai-bound Emirates flight, which the group had taken, were offloaded at the airport. The flight left for Dubai in the after- noon after the 20 passengers were detained. The UK national has been taken to an isolation facility at a nearby Government hospital, a Cochin International Airport Limited spokesman said. Kerala has launched an intensified medical check up in inter-State border areas for people entering the State by rail and road. As many as 302 people are in isolation wards of various hospitals across the State. U ncertainly prevails over the floor test in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly as Speaker NP Prajapati has not given clear instructions for it despite Governor Lalji Tandon on Saturday night asking Chief Minister Kamal Nath to seek a trust vote soon after the Governor address on Monday. With the BJP seeking an early confidence vote, it seems the political drama has shifted to the Assembly after the Speaker on Sunday ignored the Governor’s advice and rather said he will decide on floor test on Monday. On being asked whether he will respect the Governor’s direction to the CM for the floor test on Monday, the Speaker remained noncom- mittal and said, “This will be known tomorrow... I will read out my ruling tomorrow.” As the rebellion led by Jyotiraditya Scindia threatened the survival of its Government, the Congress appeared keen on putting off the trust vote and asserted that it is the Speaker’s prerogative to decide about the proceedings of the House, but a buoyed BJP maintained that he was bound by the Governor’s direction. BJP leg- islative party sources said it will vociferously demand for the trust vote after the Governor’s address. However, Law and Legal Affairs Minister PC Sharma said, “What all will be done in the House, the Speaker decides.” Another Congress MLA said the floor test “might not take place on Monday” and the issue could even go to court. After the Speaker accepted the resignation of six Congress MLAs on Saturday, the party now has 108 legislators. These include 16 rebel legislators who have also put in their papers but their resignations are yet to be accepted. The BJP has 107 seats in the House which now has an effective strength of 222, with the majority mark being 112. To add to the ruling Congress’ woes, it is yet uncer- tain whether it will continue getting the support of four Independents, two BSP MLAs and one MLA from the SP. Referring to resignations of 22 Congress MLAs, the Governor wrote in his letter to the CM: “Based on the above facts, prima facie, I believe that your Government has lost the confidence of the House and it is in minority. This is a very serious issue and therefore as per the constitu- tional provisions and for pro- tecting the democratic values, it is necessary that on March 16, soon after my address, you seek the trust vote in the Assembly.” While the Congress MLAs returned on Sunday from Jaipur, the BJP too was bring- ing back its legislators from Haryana to attend the first day of the session on Monday. Both the parties have issued whips to their MLAs. F our Congress MLAs in Gujarat have tendered their resignation to Assembly Speaker Rajendra Trivedi ahead of the election to the four Rajya Sabha seats in the state to be held on March 26, prompting the opposition party to shift at least 24 MLAs to Jaipur on Sunday. I n an interesting twist to Dalit vote bank politics in the coun- try, Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan on Sunday launched his political party — the Azad Samaj Party (ASP) — marking the birth anniversary of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) founder Kanshi Ram. The date of the party’s launch is seen as a direct challenge to BSP supremo Mayawati whose party has so far been the sole claimant of the Dalit votes in Uttar Pradesh and a few other States. As many as 28 ex-MLAs and six former MPs attended the event in neighbouring Noida prompting two former Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh — Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav — to react on the new outfit, saying these are parties with vested interest and would have no polit- ical impact. Chandrashekhar took to social media depicting Dalit leader late Kanshi Ram’s image as his profile status, to offi- cially announce his new political party. S AARC nation on Sunday supported Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s proposal of setting up COVID-19 Emergency Fund to jointly combat the pandemic. During video conference with his counterparts, Prime Minister committed 10 million dollars as initial investment for the fund. Apart from Modi, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, Nepalese Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, Bhutanese premier Lotay Tshering, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Special Assistant to Pakistani Prime Minister on Health Zafar Mirza, participated in the video conference. The underlying message of the video conference was unitedly taking on the pan- demic, but Pakistan used the occasion to raise Kashmir, with Mirza calling for the “lockdown” to be eased in Jammu & Kashmir to deal with the coronavirus threat. Modi asserted that it was important for the SAARC member countries to work together and said the region can best respond to the coro- navirus pandemic by “coming together, not growing apart”. New Delhi: Pilgrimage and regis- tration for the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara in Pakistan will be sus- pended beginning Sunday mid- night in view of coronavirus out- break, the Home Ministry said. The Government has also suspended movement of all types of passengers through International border points with Pakistan from 00:00 hours of March 16. Washington: US President Donald Trump has tested negative for the novel coronavirus, the White House physician said, hours after his administration declared the COVID-19 pandemic a national emergency on Friday. Trump, 73, had taken the coronavirus test on Friday night. The results came out in less than 24 hours. Trump had resisted being tested for the virus that has killed at least 51 Americans and infected over 2,500 others. New Delhi: In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, the Indian Railways has issued orders to all its zones to with- draw blankets and curtains from AC coaches as they are not washed every day. Other items in the bed roll are washed every day, it said. The railway board has also instructed that the minimum temperature in the coaches be set at 24-25 degrees Celsius. Noida: The Gautam Buddh Nagar district administration on Sunday ordered closure of all cinema halls and gymnasi- ums across Noida and Greater Noida till March 31 to prevent the spread of coronavirus. “All owners, operators and man- agers of cinema halls and gym- nasiums are directed to keep their facilities completely closed till March 31,” the DM said. RNI Regn. No. CHHENG/2012/42718, Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN/34/2013-2015

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Page 1: RNI Regn. No. CHHENG/2012/42718, Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN ... · CrPC to stop tour operators ... patients while Ladakh three and Jammu & Kashmir had two. Telangana reported three

����� �����

India saw the biggest singleday spike in the number of

novel coronavirus cases when23 persons reported positiveduring the last 24 hours onSunday. The number swelled to107 from 84 with Maharashtrareporting the highest numberof positive cases followed byKerala. Meanwhile over 450stranded Indians were flownback from Italy and Iran andquarantined.

A Health Ministry officialsaid over 4,000 people who hadcome in contact with 93 positive cases have beenidentified through contact andwere being tracked while42,000 people across the coun-try are under community sur-veillance.

More States on Sundayclosed schools, colleges cinemahalls, and also imposed Section144 of the CrPC to preventgathering of more than fourpersons in order to check thespread of the disease.

While the number of pos-itive cases in Maharashtra shotup to 32, the health ministryhas clarified that the 71-year-old man from Buldhana, whodied during treatment onSaturday in a hospital has test-ed negative for coronavirusinfection. He had returnedfrom Saudi Arabia recentlyand had diabetes and highblood pressure.

The Mumbai Police onSunday clamped prohibitoryorders under section 144 of theCrPC to stop tour operatorsfrom conducting any kind ofgroup tours to foreign ordomestic destinations tillMarch 31.

Maharashtra has alreadyinvoked the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 that giveswide-ranging powers to offi-cials to enforce measures,including that of lockdown

and quarantine, required totackle an outbreak. Shoppingmalls, schools and collegeshave been closed in the State tillMarch 31.

After closing the door onforeign nationals, mainlytourists, the Centre has nowsuspended travel and registra-tion of pilgrims to KartarpurSahib Gurudwara through thecorridor from Sunday mid-night. It has also placed a curbon the movement of all types ofpassengers to Pakistan throughinternational border points.

Earlier, the Governmenthad announced suspension ofall types of passenger move-ment from 00:00 hours onMarch 15 through the Indo-Bangla, Indo-Nepal, Indo-Bhutan and Indo-Myanmarborders barring a few specifiedborder checkposts.

The total number of casesin the country includes the twopersons who died in Delhiand Karnataka and 17 for-eigners. Twelve more peoplehave tested positive inMaharashtra, taking the num-ber of cases to 31.

Delhi has so far reportedseven positive cases, Kerala 22and Uttar Pradesh 11.Karnataka has six coronaviruspatients while Ladakh threeand Jammu & Kashmir hadtwo. Telangana reported threecases. Rajasthan also reportedtwo cases.

Tamil Nadu, AndhraPradesh and Punjab havereported one case each.

In Kerala, 20 Dubai-boundpassengers were detained at theKochi airport after a UKnational, who was under sur-veillance sneaked out andjoined the group, tested posi-tive for novel coronavirus, offi-cial sources said.

Meanwhile, the over 280passengers of the Dubai-bound

Emirates flight, which thegroup had taken, wereoffloaded at the airport. Theflight left for Dubai in the after-noon after the 20 passengerswere detained.

The UK national has beentaken to an isolation facility ata nearby Government hospital,a Cochin International AirportLimited spokesman said.

Kerala has launched anintensified medical check up ininter-State border areas forpeople entering the State by railand road. As many as 302people are in isolation wards ofvarious hospitals across theState.

����� ����

Uncertainly prevails overthe f loor test in the

Madhya Pradesh Assembly asSpeaker NP Prajapati has notgiven clear instructions for itdespite Governor Lalji Tandonon Saturday night asking ChiefMinister Kamal Nath to seek atrust vote soon after theGovernor address on Monday.

With the BJP seeking anearly confidence vote, it seemsthe political drama has shiftedto the Assembly after theSpeaker on Sunday ignoredthe Governor’s advice andrather said he will decide onfloor test on Monday.

On being asked whether hewill respect the Governor’sdirection to the CM for thefloor test on Monday, theSpeaker remained noncom-mittal and said, “This will beknown tomorrow... I will readout my ruling tomorrow.”

As the rebellion led byJyotiraditya Scindia threatenedthe survival of its Government,the Congress appeared keen onputting off the trust vote andasserted that it is the Speaker’s

prerogative to decide aboutthe proceedings of the House,but a buoyed BJP maintainedthat he was bound by theGovernor’s direction. BJP leg-islative party sources said it willvociferously demand for thetrust vote after the Governor’saddress.

However, Law and LegalAffairs Minister PC Sharmasaid, “What all will be done inthe House, the Speakerdecides.”

Another Congress MLAsaid the floor test “might nottake place on Monday” and theissue could even go to court.

After the Speaker acceptedthe resignation of six CongressMLAs on Saturday, the partynow has 108 legislators. Theseinclude 16 rebel legislators whohave also put in their papersbut their resignations are yet tobe accepted.

The BJP has 107 seats inthe House which now has an

effective strength of 222, withthe majority mark being 112.

To add to the rulingCongress’ woes, it is yet uncer-tain whether it will continuegetting the support of fourIndependents, two BSP MLAsand one MLA from the SP.

Referring to resignations of22 Congress MLAs, theGovernor wrote in his letter tothe CM: “Based on the abovefacts, prima facie, I believethat your Government has lostthe confidence of the Houseand it is in minority. This is a very serious issue andtherefore as per the constitu-tional provisions and for pro-tecting the democratic values,it is necessary that on March16, soon after my address, youseek the trust vote in theAssembly.”

While the Congress MLAsreturned on Sunday fromJaipur, the BJP too was bring-ing back its legislators fromHaryana to attend the firstday of the session on Monday.

Both the parties haveissued whips to their MLAs.

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Four Congress MLAs inGujarat have tendered their

resignation to AssemblySpeaker Rajendra Trivediahead of the election to thefour Rajya Sabha seats in thestate to be held on March 26,prompting the oppositionparty to shift at least 24 MLAsto Jaipur on Sunday.

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In an interesting twist to Dalitvote bank politics in the coun-

try, Bhim Army chiefChandrashekhar Azad Ravan onSunday launched his politicalparty — the Azad Samaj Party(ASP) — marking the birthanniversary of Bahujan SamajParty (BSP) founder Kanshi Ram.

The date of the party’s launchis seen as a direct challenge toBSP supremo Mayawati whoseparty has so far been the soleclaimant of the Dalit votes inUttar Pradesh and a few otherStates. As many as 28 ex-MLAsand six former MPs attended theevent in neighbouring Noidaprompting two former ChiefMinisters of Uttar Pradesh —Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav —to react on the new outfit, sayingthese are parties with vested

interest and would have no polit-ical impact.

Chandrashekhar took tosocial media depicting Dalitleader late Kanshi Ram’s image as his profile status, to offi-cially announce his new political party.

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SAARC nation on Sundaysupported Prime Minister

Narendra Modi’s proposal ofsetting up COVID-19Emergency Fund to jointlycombat the pandemic. Duringvideo conference with hiscounterparts, Prime Ministercommitted 10 million dollarsas initial investment for thefund.

Apart from Modi, SriLankan President Gotabaya

Rajapaksa, MaldivianPresident Ibrahim MohamedSolih, Nepalese PrimeMinister KP Sharma Oli,Bhutanese premier LotayTshering, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Afghan PresidentAshraf Ghani and SpecialAssistant to Pakistani PrimeMinister on Health ZafarMirza, participated in thevideo conference.

The underlying messageof the video conference was

unitedly taking on the pan-demic, but Pakistan used theoccasion to raise Kashmir,with Mirza calling for the“lockdown” to be eased inJammu & Kashmir to dealwith the coronavirus threat.

Modi asserted that it wasimportant for the SAARCmember countries to worktogether and said the regioncan best respond to the coro-navirus pandemic by “coming together, not growingapart”.

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New Delhi: Pilgrimage and regis-tration for the Kartarpur SahibGurdwara in Pakistan will be sus-pended beginning Sunday mid-night in view of coronavirus out-break, the Home Ministry said. TheGovernment has also suspendedmovement of all types of passengersthrough International border pointswith Pakistan from 00:00 hours ofMarch 16.

Washington: US President DonaldTrump has tested negative for thenovel coronavirus, the WhiteHouse physician said, hours afterhis administration declared theCOVID-19 pandemic a nationalemergency on Friday. Trump, 73,had taken the coronavirus test onFriday night. The results came outin less than 24 hours. Trump hadresisted being tested for the virusthat has killed at least 51 Americansand infected over 2,500 others.

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New Delhi: In the wake of thecoronavirus outbreak, theIndian Railways has issuedorders to all its zones to with-draw blankets and curtainsfrom AC coaches as they arenot washed every day. Otheritems in the bed roll are washedevery day, it said. The railwayboard has also instructed thatthe minimum temperature inthe coaches be set at 24-25degrees Celsius.

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Noida: The Gautam BuddhNagar district administrationon Sunday ordered closure ofall cinema halls and gymnasi-ums across Noida and GreaterNoida till March 31 to preventthe spread of coronavirus. “Allowners, operators and man-agers of cinema halls and gym-nasiums are directed to keeptheir facilities completely closedtill March 31,” the DM said.

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Page 2: RNI Regn. No. CHHENG/2012/42718, Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN ... · CrPC to stop tour operators ... patients while Ladakh three and Jammu & Kashmir had two. Telangana reported three

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Union Home Minister AmitShah on Sunday assured

the delegation of newly formedApni Party leaders that that theremaining political prisoners inJammu & Kashmir would bereleased “very soon”. Talking tomedia after the meeting, ApniParty’s president Altaf Bukharisaid that the Home Ministerhad also assured a detaileddevelopment packages for theState. The 24-member delega-tion also met Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Saturday.

“Yes, we did discuss aboutthe detention of remainingpolitical leaders and others, andthe Home Minister said it is aprocess and we will be releas-ing them very soon,” Bukharisaid. Many political leaders,including former chief minis-ters Omar Abdullah andMehbooba Mufti, weredetained by the Governmentafter the abrogation of specialstatus of the erstwhile state ofJammu & Kashmir on August5.

According to a HomeMinistry statement, Shahallayed the apprehensions of

the delegation on restrictionsand said all decisions on relax-ations are based on groundrealities and not due to anypressure.

Shah also assured the del-

egation of restoration of Jammu& Kashmir’s statehood at an“early opportunity” and nochange in the demography ofthe region.

“Shah after engaging with

the delegation on about 40odd issues raised by thememphasised that there is nointention of the Governmentfor demographic change in theregion and all such talks have

no basis at all. He said that theGovernment will work with allsections of the society to real-ize the hopes of statehood forJammu & Kashmir at an earlyopportunity,” said the statement

issued by the Home Ministry.The Home Minister

assured the delegation thatJammu & Kashmir will have abetter domicile policy thanother States in the countryand that a reasonable eco-nomic development policy willbe drafted soon after wide-spread consultation.

On the issue of reserva-tion, the Home Minister saidthat a commission will be setup soon and reiterated that noinjustice will be done toGujjars, nomads and othercommunities. On the issuesconcerning JK Bank, he assuredthe delegation of personalintervention in the matter.

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Taking a dig at PrimeMinister Narendra Modi,

Congress leader Rahul Gandhion Sunday said he had askedthe PM to pass on the benefitof the global oil price crash toIndian consumers, but instead“our genius” hiked excise dutyon fuel.

His jibe at the PrimeMinister came a day after theGovernment hiked excise dutyon petrol and diesel by a steep�3 per litre each to garnerabout �39,000 crore addition-al revenue.

“Just 3 days ago I hadrequested @PMOIndia to passon the benefit of the global oil

price crash to Indian con-sumers, by slashing the pricesof petrol & diesel in India.Instead of heeding this advice,our genius has gone and hiked#exciseduty on fuel!” Rahultweeted.

He alsotagged a video ofa press confer-ence in whichFinance MinisterN i r m a l aSitharaman pur-portedly avoidsanswering aquestion on whyGovernment hasnot passed on thebenefits of theglobal oil crash to

the people.The former Congress pres-

ident on Wednesday hadaccused Prime Minister Modiof being too busy “destabilisingan elected Government” tonotice a crash in global oil

prices this week. “Hey@PMOIndia, while you werebusy destabilising an electedCongress Govt, you may havemissed noticing the 35 percent crash in global oil prices.

“Could you please pass onthe benefit to Indians by slash-ing #petrol prices to under 60?per litre? Will help boost thestalled economy,” the formerCongress chief had said ontwitter.

The Congress on Saturdayhad hit out at the Governmentover the hike in excise duty onpetrol and diesel, demandingthat the benefit of reducedinternational crude oil pricesshould be passed on to the peo-ple.

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At a time the deadly coron-avirus epidemic is creating

havoc, the WorldMeteorological Organisation(WMO) has warned wide-spread transmission of denguedue to climate changes thatbrings rising temperatures andunpredictable rainfall patterns.The WMO has also warnedrise of global hunger and largenumber of displacement due toextreme climatic conditionsacross the world.

The WMO report on stateof global climate 2019 saidthat the global incidence ofdengue has grown dramatical-ly in recent decades, and abouthalf of the world population isnow at risk of infection.

“In 2019, the world expe-rienced a large increase indengue cases. Changes in cli-matic conditions since 1950 aremaking it easier for the Aedesmosquito species to transmitdengue virus, increasing therisk of the occurrence of dis-ease.,’ the report said.

In another report, it saidthat the frequency of dengueoutbreaks has grown dramati-cally around the world in recentdecades and is currently thefastest spreading mosquito-borne viral disease in the world.Known to exist in only 9 coun-tries in the 1970s, dengue isnow endemic in 128 countriesand strikes as many as 96 mil-lion people each year. Thedengue virus is transmitted tohumans by two species of mos-

quito, the Aedes aegypti andAedes albopictus, mosquitoesthat also transmit yellow fever,Zika, chikungunya and otherviruses

The WMO report on cli-mate change said that 2019 wasthe second warmest year in theinstrumental record. “ Between2015 and 2019 are the fivewarmest years on record, and2010-2019 the warmest decadeon record. Since the 1980s,each successive decade hasbeen warmer than any preced-ing decade since 1850. 2019ended with a global averagetemperature of 1.1°C aboveestimated pre-industrial levels,second only to the record set in2016, when a very strong ElNiño event contributed to anincreased global mean tem-

perature atop the overall warm-ing trend”, the report said.

The report warned thatfor over 820 million people suf-fered from hunger in 2018.

Among 33 countries affectedby food crises in 2018, climatevariability and weatherextremes a compounding dri-ver together with economic

shocks and conflict in 26 coun-tries and the leading driver in12 of the 26. The food securi-ty situation deterioratedmarkedly in 2019 in somecountries of the Greater Hornof Africa due to climateextremes, displacement, con-

flict and violence. By late 2019,about 22.2 million people, (6.7million in Ethiopia, 3.1 millionin Kenya, 2.1 million inSomalia, 4.5 million in SouthSudan, 5.8 million in theSudan) were estimated to beseverely food insecure, onlyslightly lower than during thesevere and prolonged droughtin 2016-17.

“More than 6.7 millionnew internal disaster displace-ments were recorded betweenJanuary and June 2019, trig-gered by hydrometeorologicalevents such as Cyclone Idai inSoutheast Africa, Cyclone Faniin South Asia, HurricaneDorian in the Caribbean, andflooding in Iran, thePhilippines and Ethiopia. Thisnumber was forecast to reach

close to 22 million in 2019, upfrom 17.2 million in 2018. Ofall natural hazards, floods andstorms contributed most todisplacement,” it said.

According to report, anunusually and exceptional heat-wave in Europe, unprecedent-ed floods and droughts, aboveabove the long-term average inIndia, Nepal, Bangladesh andMyanmar, and flooding led tothe loss of some 2,200 lives inthe region, ongoing warming inAntarctica saw large-scale icemelt and the fracturing of aglacier, with repercussions forsea level rise, and carbon diox-ide emissions spiked followingthe devastating Australianbushfires, which spread smokeand pollutants around theworld.

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The National InvestigationAgency (NIA) probe into

the 2019 Pulwama attack hasrevealed that Pakistan-basedterror groups like the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) wererecruiting gullible youth inKashmir for making onlinepurchases of chemicals used formanufacturing explosives tofabricate IEDs.

The investigation into theterror attack that killed 40CRPF personnel on February14 last recently led to the arrestof two persons, including 19-year-old Wazir, who during hisinterrogation gave the officialsan insight into the radicalisa-tion process of JeM.

Wazir is alleged to haveprocured online aluminumpowder, high altitude jackets,mobile battery banks andtrekking shoes. Aluminumpowder is a highly flammablematerial and used as an ingre-dient in blasting agents used incommercial mining, they said.

Wazir handed over thealuminium powder to JeMover-ground workers and it wasused by terrorists in theFebruary 14 suicide attackwhen an explosive-laden car hit

a CRPF convoy killing 40 per-sonnel.

His interrogation alsorevealed that the JeM over-ground workers were brain-washing young boys andpreparing them to indulge interror activities, they furthersaid.

The probe into thePulwama incident got a freshimpetus after the NIA identi-fied the house where AdilAhmed Dar, the terrorist whowas driving the explosive-ladencar, had shot his last propa-ganda video that was subse-quently released by the terrorgroup from Pakistan.

On February 28, the NIAgot a major breakthrough inthe case when it arrested 22-year-old Shakir Bashir Magrey,

a furniture shop owner and res-ident of Hajibal in Pulwama’sKakapora.

Magrey had provided shel-ter and other logistical assis-tance to suicide bomber Adil.He was introduced to Adil inmid-2018 by Pakistani terror-ist Mohammad Umar Farooqand he became a full-timeoverground worker of the JeM.

This month, the NIA hasarrested four persons-- TariqAhmed Shah, his daughterInsha Jan, Wazir-ul-Islam andMohammad Abbass Rather.The number of people arrest-ed in this case has now gone upto five. The key conspiratorshave since been killed by thesecurity forces during encoun-ters.

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Aspecial NIA court inChennai has convicted a

Sri Lankan national ArunSelvarajan for five years of rig-orous imprisonment and fined�20,000 for spying on Indiandefence installations at thebehest of Pakistan intelligenceofficers as part of a conspiracyto carry out terrorist attacks inthe country.

The case known as‘Thameem Ansari EspionageCase’ was was originally regis-tered by Tamil Nadu Policeunder relevant sections of theOfficial Secrets Act besidesIndian Penal Code sectionsrelating to criminal conspiracyafter the arrest of ThameemAnsari, native of Thanjavur dis-trict, Tamil Nadu on September16, 2012 for conducting espi-onage at the behest of PakistanIntelligence officers led byaccused Amir Zubair Siddiqueposted at the Pakistan HighCommission in Colombo, aspart of the conspiracy to carryout terrorist acts in India.

The NIA had re-registeredthe case on May 1, 2013.

“Accused Arun Selvarajanwas arrested in this case onSeptember 10, 2014 for engag-ing in similar espionage activ-ities, at the behest of PakistanIntelligence officers. Ensuinginvestigation had establishedthat the accused persons

Thameem Ansari and ArunSelvarajan, pursuant to theconspiracy hatched withPakistan intelligence officershad conducted espionage atvarious defence establishmentsand sensitive locations in TamilNadu besides transmitted suchclassified information to AmirZubair Siddique, therebythreatening the sovereigntyand security of India,” the NIAsaid in a statement.

On March 6, 2015, acharge-sheet was field againstThameem Ansari and ArunSelvarajan under OfficialSecrets Act and relevant sec-tions of the Indian Penal Code,Unlawful Activities(Prevention) and Narcotics,Drugs and PsychotropicSubstances Act (NDPS) Actbesides Passport Act.

Charges were framedagainst Ansari and SelvarajanJanuary 8, 2018 and trial hadcommenced on January 29,2018.

“Accused Arun Selvarajnhas now been convicted for allthe charges against him.However, trial againstThameem Ansari continues.Investigation is continuingagainst the absconding accusedMohammed AnverMohammed Siraj, native of SriLanka besides the Pakistanintelligence officer Amir ZubairSiddique and others,” added thestatement.

New Delhi: The Army, whichis running coronavirus quar-antine facilities, has told a par-liamentary panel that all nec-essary steps are being taken tosafeguard the troops from theinfection, including examiningall meat products supplied tothem. In its response to theStanding Committee onDefence, the Army said most ofthe meat products used by thetroops were frozen.

It also told the panel aboutsteps such as setting up quar-antine facilities in Manesar

and Jaisalmer for civilians tocontain the spread of the virus.

So far, the Army has estab-lished such facilities inSuratgadh, Deolali, Jodhpur,Kolkata and Chennai. Most ofthe Indians brought back fromcoronavirus-hit countries arekept at the quarantine facilitiesmaintained by the Army.

“We are inspecting all meatproducts but we have not comeacross any such case,” the Armytold the panel, adding that itwas holding regular meetingswith officials of the health

ministry.The panel submitted its

report to the Lok Sabha onFriday.

“The frozen meat productsand whatever rations that haveto be sent to the border postshave already been stocked. Wehave checked all meat products.We will follow all the directionsgiven to us by the Ministry ofHealth and Family Welfare.The PMO is also monitoringthe situation,” the Army toldthe panel headed by BJP MPJual Oram. PTI

New Delhi: Pakistan’s attempt to“politicise” a humanitarian issueby its “unwarranted” statementon Kashmir during the SAARCnations video conference oncoronavirus reflected “verypoorly” on it, Governmentsources said on Sunday.

The underlying message ofthe video conference was unit-edly taking on the virus, butPakistan used the occasion toraise the Kashmir issue, callingfor immediate lifting of the“lockdown” there to allow dis-

ease containment measures. Pakistan chose to be“churlish” and used the videoconference for political pointscoring, the sources said.

Pakistan sent their StateMinister of Health Zafar Mirzawho was uncomfortable whilespeaking, they said. Pakistanraising the matter reflected “verypoorly” on their dealing with thehumanitarian issue, the sourcessaid. “Raising the issue

was unwarranted and out ofcontext. Pakistan attempted topoliticise a humanitarian issue,”a government source said.

India could have keptPakistan out of the video con-ference, but as it was a human-itarian issue, the country wasinvited, the sources said.

“Every leader responded toPrime Minister NarendraModi’s call, but Pakistan choseto send its health minister whichreflected its lack of serious-ness,” the source said. PTI

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Ajoint group of fourLashkar-e-Taayiba (LeT)

and Hizbul Mujahideen (HM)terrorists were eliminated bythe alert security forces in DarMohalla Watarigam area ofDialgam in Anantnag onSunday.

Since January 2020, aroundthree dozen terrorists havebeen eliminated by the securi-ty forces in different operations.

According to police, “threelocal Lashkar-e-Taayiba ter-rorists including district com-mander and one HizbulMujahideen commander wereeliminated in the operationwithout suffering any collater-al damage”.

Police spokesman said, “thejoint operation was launched inthe area after receiving a tip offabout the presence of group ofterrorists in the area. Duringthe cordon and search opera-tion, the hiding terrorists firedupon the joint search party. Thefire was retaliated leading to anencounter in which four ter-rorists were eliminated”.

According to police, “thekilled terrorists have been iden-tified as Muzaffar Ahmed Bhat(District commander of pro-scribed terror outfit LeT) sonof Mohammad Amin Bhat,Omar Ameen Bhat (affiliatedwith proscribed terror outfitLeT) son of Mohd AmeenBhat, both residents of Sopat

Tangpora, Kulgam, SajadAhmed Bhat (affiliated withproscribed terror outfit LeT)son of Mohd Subhan residentof Tengbal Frisal and GulzarAhmed Bhat (affiliated withproscribed terror outfit HM)son of Abdul Salam Bhat resi-dent of Hirpora Tarigam,Kulgam”.

Two AK 47 rifles, two pis-tols, ammunition and otherincriminating materials havebeen recovered from the site ofencounter.

As per police records, ter-rorist Muzzafar had a history ofterror crime cases since 2017.He was involved in 7 differentcases U/S 7/25 Arms Act, 302IPC, 18, 19, 20, 39 ULAP Act.Terrorist Gulzar Ahmad Bhatwas involved in a case U/S 13,18, 38, 39 ULAP Act of PSKulgam. Terrorist SajadAhmad was also involved in acase U/S 13, 20 ULAP Act.Similarly, terrorist Omar wasinvolved in 3 FIR’s U/S 13,16,18, 20, 39 ULAP Act.

Aligarh (UP): Student pro-testers tried to take out a can-dlelight march at AligarhMuslim University here tomourn the death of a youthwho had died of gunshotinjuries sustained in violentclashes during protests over theamended citizenship Act lastmonth, but were blocked at themain gate itself, police said.

Sixty students including 50unnamed persons have beenbooked by police at the CivilLines police station in connec-tion with the protests at the

AMU campus on Saturdaynight. Ten students werenamed for violating Section144 of the Indian Penal Code.

The protesters tried tomarch towards the collectorate,which is located close to AMU,to submit a memorandum tosenior district officials but werethwarted from doing so bypolice personnel who reachedthe spot and blocked them atthe Sir Syed Crossing, the mainuniversity campus gate, accord-ing to Civil Lines Circle Officer(CO) Anil Samania. PTI

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Page 3: RNI Regn. No. CHHENG/2012/42718, Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN ... · CrPC to stop tour operators ... patients while Ladakh three and Jammu & Kashmir had two. Telangana reported three

RAIPUR | MONDAY | MARCH 16, 2020chhattisgarh 03

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

The Chhattisgarh healthand family welfare

department on Sundayissued a directive banning allleave of state healthcare offi-cials and employees, includ-ing those at the district level.

The step has been takenin view to ensure and makeall necessary arrangementsfor comprehensive treat-ment of coronavirus-infect-ed patients and to guaranteeadequate isolated treatmentof suspected cases, an offi-cial source said.

The initiative is also to

ensure that all precautionaryand preventive measures arein place to stop the spread ofCOVID-19 among the pub-lic in the state at any cost.

The World Health

Organisation (WHO) hasdeclared the novel coron-avirus (COVID-19) flu out-break as a pandemic—aworld-wide spread of a newdisease—which has until

now infected more than124,000 people in at least114 countries.

The government ofIndia too has declared theoutbreak as a notified disas-ter and has directed all pos-sible assistance to statesunder the State DisasterResponse Fund (SDRF).

Based on the regularadvisory being issued by theWHO and the Centre, thestate government too hasbeen regularly issuing publicadvisory for creating aware-ness among the people foradopting effective preven-tion and other safety meas-ures to arrest the spread of

the virus.This apart, the state

health department is alsomaking special arrange-ments to tackle any possibleoutbreak in case anyCOVID-19 cases are report-ed in Chhattisgarh for whichthe department will requireadequate healthcare staff.

Keeping this in view, ithas been made mandatoryfor all healthcare officialsand employees, who in spe-cial cases, want to leave thedistrict headquarters, theywill have to seek prior per-mission from their respec-tive district collectors, a gov-ernment source said.

No leave for healthcareofficial, employees

Coronavirus Scare

STAFF REPORTER nSUKMA

Afierce gun-battle lastingmore than 45 minutes

took place between the secu-rity forces and Maoist rebelson Sunday afternoon in theKistaram area of Sukma dis-trict, a senior police officialsaid.

The gun-battle started at2:30pm and a cache of explo-sives and Maoist literaturewere recovered from the spot,about 390km from here, saidinspector general of police(Bastar range) Sundarraj P.

Security personnel of theDistrict Reserve Guard(DRG), Special Task Force

(STF) and the CRPF'sCoBRA (CommandoBattalion for ResoluteAction) launched an opera-tion from the Palodi campand came under heavy Naxalfire inside the forests near

Kasaram and Amapenta vil-lages, the Bastar range policechief said.

"The exchange of firebetween the security forcesand Naxals' platoon number8 lasted for more than 45minutes. The ultras cameunder heavy fire and fled,leaving behind campingmaterial, documents, electricwires, detonators and materi-als used to make explosives,"the IG said.

Search operations in theregion are underway andmore details about theencounter would be knownwhen the security teamreturns to the camp, headded.

Detonators, explosives seizedafter encounter in Sukma

“The ultras cameunder heavy fire andfled, leaving behindcamping material,documents, electricwires, detonatorsand materials usedto make explosives,”the IG said

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

The budget session ofthe state assembly,

which will resume onMonday after the Holirecess, will be formallydeclared suspended untilMarch 25 after the ques-tion hour is over, an officialsource said.

A decision to suspendthe ongoing budget sessionof the state assembly hadbeen taken at a meeting ofthe business advisory com-mittee of the House in viewof the world-wide outbreakof the novel coronavirus.

Earlier Chief Minister

Bhupesh Baghel while talk-ing to media persons hadinformed about the gov-

ernment’s decision to sus-pend the budget session asa precautionary measure

due to the coronavirus(COVID-19) scare.

Now, a formal declara-tion of the suspension ofthe House will have to bemade by the state govern-ment on Monday, the offi-cial said.

Meanwhile, takinganother step as a precau-tionary measure to countercoronavirus outbreak, andfollowing an advisory fromthe Union government, thestate assembly secretariathas banned the entry ofpeople other than legisla-tors and staff inside theassembly premises fromMonday and during theentire budget session.

Assly session to be suspended tillMar 25 after question hour today

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

The Bastar royal familyscion, Kamalchand

Bhanjdeo setting an exam-ple and following the Indiantradition of “Atithi DevoBhawa”, gifted a new camerato a foreign tourist on tourof the Bastar region whowas looted of his cameraand mobile phone.

In a noble gesture, theformer ruler of Bastar, invit-ed the tourist to his palaceand gifted him a camera inorder to restore the sulliedimage of Bastar.

The foreigner, SolowifSerjee from Eukraine, on a

fortnight-long tour to theregion, was looted by a cou-ple of unidentified peopleon Holika Dahan day atMadpal village in Nagarnarof Jagdalpur district.

The tourist had taken alift on a motorcycle early onMarch 9, after photograph-ing the Holika Dahan cere-mony event at Madpal vil-lage.

The two unidentifiedrobbers, who gave him thelift, looted him of hismobile phone and cameraafter taking him to adeserted place.

The robbers also beathim up badly and fracturehis nose.

The tourist, somehowmanaged to reach the hotelwhere he staying and lateron called royal family scionat his palace to recount hisordeal.

Bhanjdeo immediatelyinformed the police andarranged for the tourist’smedical treatment.

The royal scion latergifted a new camera to the

tourist on behalf of thepeople of Bastar.

The robbers are stillabsconding even after fivedays after the crime and thetime of filing this report.

Speaking to mediapersons, Bhanjdeo said, hewas merely following thegreat Indian tradition of“Atithi Devo Bhawa”.

“Our honoured guestsshould be and helped inwhatever manner theyneed.

“The robbers havesullied the image and goodname of Bastar and by gift-ing the camera, I have onlytried to salvage the image ofBastar region,” he said.

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

Leader of OppositionDharamlal Kaushik

condemning the Jashpurincident in name ofdelivering justice, onSunday demanded a high-level probe.

The Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP) leader also

sought stern action againstthe accused.

Kaushik said even afterthe name of the relative ofa legislator emerged, theentire issue is being cov-ered up.

“A committee shouldbe constituted for probinginto the whole incident

and the victim should beprovided security,” he said.

The mode in which thevictim was said to be given‘justice’ and the way in

which the pressure wasexerted, is a clear indica-tion that the legal pathhas been bypassed, the BJPleader said, adding that

action should be takenagainst all those involvedin the incident.

Kaushik furtherpointed out that the mat-ter could have beenreported to the nearestpolice station but thewhole issue was diffusedat the village level itselfunder political pressure toend the matter.

“Even after being anissue of molestation of aminor girl, it is necessarythat justice is delivered tothe victim.

“The district adminis-tration should ensure thatthe victim does not faceany political pressure,” hesaid.

Kaushik seeks high levelprobe into Jashpur incident

“A committeeshould beconstituted forprobing into thewhole incident andthe victim shouldbe providedsecurity”

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

Raipur district collector DrS Bharatidasan on

Sunday constituted six teamsto monitor the sale of surgi-cal masks and hand sanitizersafter the Union governmentbrought both the productsunder the EssentialCommodities Act-1955.

The teams have beendirected to monitor andcheck the black-marketing,availability and rates of theproducts across the district.

In view of the ongoingoutbreak of COVID-19 andconcern of supply of the twocommodities, the Centrenotified an order to declaremasks and hand sanitisers asessential commodities until

June 30, 2020, by amendingthe Schedule of the EssentialCommodities Act- 1955.

Hand sanitizers, 2-ply and3-ply surgical masks and N-95masks have been declared asessential commodities.

Sub divisionalMagistrate, Raipur after theconstituting the six teams on

Sunday, conducted a surveyand inspected a number ofmedical shops in Raipur.

The teams, during theinspection, took stock of theavailability of the masks andhand sanitizers, its price, fol-lowing complaints that theproducts were being sold athigher rates.

Teams formed to checkblack-marketing ofmasks, hand sanitizers RAIPUR: The Chhattisgarh

health and family welfare depart-ment, which is already issuingevening bulletin every day on thestatus of coronavirus in the state,on Sunday set-up a round-the-clock helpline number forupdates on the viral flu infection.

The everyday updates canalso be accessed from the statehealth department websitewww.cghealth.nic.in.

In addition to the accessingthe details on the COVID-19 orthe coronavirus outbreak, peopledial the round-the-clock 104helpline number for all type ofqueries and support related to thecoronavirus infection

During the office workinghours, people can, however,access the state level surveillanceunit helpline phone number:07712235091 to seek detailedinformation on the latest status ofcoronavirus outbreak in the state.

Helpline number104 for coronavirus

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

Chief Minister BhupeshBaghel on Sunday bitter-

ly attacked on the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) over thepolitical crisis in MadhyaPradesh. He however wasassured that his MadhyaPradesh counterpart KamalNath would be able to provethe majority in the floor test.

Talking to reporters atthe Swami VivekanandAirport here on Sundaybefore leaving for Satna inMadhya Pradesh, Baghel saidthe Kamal Nath governmentis "safe" and would easilyprove the majority in thefloor test on Monday.

Baghel further lashed out

at the BJP, alleging that it wasbadly hampering the consti-tutional system in the coun-

try. He also alleged that

“horse trading” was going on

and the act of the BJP inMadhya Pradesh was con-demnable.

‘Kamal Nath govt will succeed inproving majority during floor test’

Baghel lashedout at the BJP,alleging that itwas badlyhampering theconstitutionalsystem in thecountry

STAFF REPORTER nAMBIKAPUR

Chief Secretary RP Mandalon Sunday visited the

Ramgarh caves, Maheshpurtemples in Udaipur block ofSurguja district and SitamadhiHarchowka Shiva Mandir inKorea district to review theprogress of ‘Ram Van GamanPath’ being developed in state.

After the visit, Mandalasked officials to prepare aworking plan for developingapproach roads, food andlodging facilities as well asentertainment avenues in theregion.

At Sitabengra andJogimara caves of Ramgarh, heappreciated the natural beauty

of the place and directed offi-cials to spruce up the place as atourist attraction. The chiefsecretary also directed officialsto expand the venue where‘Ramgarh Mahotsav’ is heldevery year.

Later at Maheshpur, he

asked officials to develop awater-front at the Ren Riverand also construct 20 cottages.

Mandal said both placeswere important part of ‘RamVangaman Path’—the pathtravelled by Lord Ram duringhis exile.

CS reviews on ground preparation for‘Ram Van Gaman Path’ in Surguja

Bastar royal family scion giftsnew camera to foreign guest

/gra

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Page 4: RNI Regn. No. CHHENG/2012/42718, Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN ... · CrPC to stop tour operators ... patients while Ladakh three and Jammu & Kashmir had two. Telangana reported three

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New Delhi: In the wake of the coronavirus out-break, the Indian Railways has issued orders to allits zones to withdraw blankets and curtains fromAC coaches as they are not washed every day. Otheritems in the bed roll, including bedsheets, towelsand pillow covers, are washed every day, it said.

The railway board has also instructed that theminimum temperature in the coaches be set at24-25 degrees Celsius. “Adequate publicity shouldbe given regarding this precautionary measure sothat passengers are suitability prepared,” it said.“All curtains and spare blankets to be washed,dried and stored in clean and dry storage facili-ty. 100 per cent fresh washed linen to be providedin sealed packets as per existing instructions,” itsaid. The railways will ask passengers to bringtheir own blankets through SMS and IVRS.

It has also instructed its personnel to inten-sively clean coach fittings such as grab handles,window grill, bottle holders and charge points asthey are touched by thousands of passengers everyday. Officials said liquid soap, napkin rolls and dis-infectant chemical will be provided to passengersby the housekeeping staff on board. PTI

Jaipur: All three old cases ofcoronavirus-hit patients inRajasthan have now been test-ed negative for infection andcured, while a 24-year-oldyouth found having the afflic-tion is undergoing treatment atSMS Hospital here, a seniorofficial said on Sunday.

Rajasthan Chief MinisterAshok Gehlot complimentedthe SMS Hospital doctors andstaffers for successfully treatingthe three. The three who havebeen declared corona-negativefollowing repeat tests includean Italian couple and a Dubai-returned, 85-year-old

Jaipur native.“Sixty-nine-year-old Italian

man and an 85-year-old Jaipurnative have now been tested neg-ative twice. Both are now coro-navirus-free,” said AdditionalChief Secretary (Medical &Health) Rohit Kumar Singh.Italian’s man wife too was test-ed negative for coronavirusaffliction earlier.

Singh said total of threepatients, including corona-pos-itive, 70-year-old wife of theItalian man, have turned coro-navirus-free after treatment atthe state-run Sawai Man SinghHospital, Jaipur. PTI

Panaji: Union AYUSHMinister Shripad Naik onSunday said his Ministry hasnot claimed that Ayurveda,Unani and Homeopathy havecures for novel coronavirus asthese lines of treatment are yetto be scientifically validated.

The Minister said treat-ments prescribed in the three systems of alternativemedicine are meant for the res-piratory system and help boostimmunity.

He, however, added thatsome of these medicines can beused to “lessen the impact ofthe coronavirus”. “We havefirmly said that though ourmedicine is not validated sci-entifically, it has been provedthat Ayurveda, Homeopathyand Unani can be used as pro-motive medicines,” he told PTIon Sunday.

Promotive medicines lookat boosting health and immu-nity as a bulwark against dis-eases rather than a direct curefrom the pathogen.

“It can be used by thosewho are already infected so thatthey can get relief,” he said.

Naik said some medicinesprescribed in Ayurveda,Homeopathy and Unani havebeen validated by his ministryat “our level” but overall vali-dation is a “lengthy process”. PTI.

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Kerala Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan has sought the intervention

of Prime Minister Narendra Modi torestore the beneficial clauses in the StateDisaster Respond Fund (SDRF) forproviding relief to Covid-19 patients.

The Union Ministry of Homeaffairs had on March 14 issued an orderpermitting the utilisation of SDRF for “responding appropriately toCovid-19”, but later made some mod-ifications to it.

As per the initial order the fundcould have been used to provide com-pensation in case of any death relatedto Covid-19 as well as utilisation of thefund for treatment of patients.

While terming the order as a “wel-come step”, the Chief Minister point-ed out that a “partial modification” ofthe order the same day that took away

the beneficial provisions.“...The Ministry has deleted the

beneficial provisions. By deleting theseclauses,the spirit behind relief/ assis-tance intended by the State DisasterResponse Fund is defeated,” Vijayansaid in a letter sent on Saturday night.

The order will have equipped theState Government to give �four lakh incase of any Covid-19 deaths and alsoprovided permission to use the SDRFfor the treatment of Covid-19 positivecases.

Vijayan urged the Prime Ministerto restore the beneficial clauses. “Thedeleted two clauses being those thatdirectly benefited and provided reliefto the Covid-19 affected families needto be restored. I request you to recon-sider the partial modification andrestore the earlier one in its entirety,”Vijayan said.

Kochi/Thiruvananthapuram:A UK national tested positivefor coronavirus in Kerala onSunday and was stopped alongwith 18 others of his touristgroup at the Kochi airportfrom flying to Dubai after heallegedly jumped quarantine inthe hill resort town of Munnar,officials said.

The foreigner who testedpositive and his wife have beenadmitted to an isolation facil-ity at a nearby Governmenthospital while the 17 were sentto a hotel for quarantine afterbeing offloaded from the flight,Kerala Agriculture MinisterVS Sunil Kumar told reportersat the airport.

Another passenger, aKeralite also booked on theEmirates flight scheduled fordeparture at 9.20 am, volun-tarily opted not to travel andhas been advised home quar-antine, officials said.

The flight carrying 270 pas-sengers left for Dubai at 12.47pm after the 20 passengers wereoffloaded, airport spokesmansaid. With the UK nationaltesting positive, the total num-ber of confirmed COVID-19cases under treatment in Keralahas risen to 20 and over 300under are in isolation wards ofvarious hospitals.

The resort has been closed,its employees quarantined and

steps taken to identify those whocame in contact with the touristsin the State, officials said.

Talking to reporters inThiruvananthapuram, StateHealth Minister KK Shailajaalleged the tourists had left theresort without informing healthofficials and added theGovernment would probe thematter. “As soon as we got thepositive result, officials went totake the couple to isolationward but came to know they leftfor airport. The resort authori-ties should have been more vig-ilant as the Government hadgiven strict direction not toallow the foreigners to leave theresorts,” she said. PTI

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Uttar Pradesh Health Minister Jai Pratap Singhon Sunday said around 700 doctors appoint-

ed in Government hospitals have not reported forduty and will be dismissed soon.

Singh, who was here to inspect MukhayamantriJan Aarogya Mela at a community health centre,said nearly 700 doctors appointed in Governmenthospitals have gone to other places or have start-ed pursuing higher education without informingthe department. He said, “The process for dismissalof these doctors has started, and their services willbe terminated in one to one-and-a-half months.”

On the coronavirus outbreak, the HealthMinister said, “There is no need to feel afraid. Thisvirus can be tackled through proper prevention.India is ready to combat it.”

Kolkata: India-Bangladeshpassenger train servicesbetween Kolkata and cities inthe neighbouring country havebeen suspended from Sundayas a precaution against thespread of COVID-19, on a Union Government directive, an Eastern Railwayofficial said.

The Eastern Railway saidservices of Maitree andBandhan Express trains willremain suspended from March15 to April 15 or till furtherorders, whichever is earlier.

The services of the twotrains have been suspended as

precautions being taken to pre-vent the spread of novel coro-navirus, the ER official said.

While Maitree Expressconnects Kolkata with theBangladesh capital Dhaka,Bandhan Express runs betweenKolkata and Khulna city of theneighbouring country.

The city-headquarteredzonal railway has also under-taken programmes at its dif-ferent divisions, includingSealdah, Howrah and Asansol,to spread awareness amongpassengers and staff on cleanliness and safe practicessuch as washing hands, cough

etiquette and self-quarantineduring fever.

It has also set up isolationwards at its headquarter hos-pital at Sealdah and other divi-sional railway hospitals atHowrah, Asansol, Malda andrailway workshop hospitals atLiluah, Kanchrapara and sub-divisional hospital at Andal, theofficial said.

Sanitisation of areas withhigh contact points such asentrance handrail of coachesand toilet door handles arebeing done at Asansol divisionas a precautionary measure, hesaid. PTI

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The Manipur Government haswarned all licensed pharmacies

and drug stores of stringent actionfor hoarding and jacking up pricesof masks and hand sanitisers,amid growing demand for theitems in the wake of the novelcoronavirus outbreak.

A notification issued by theDirectorate of Health Services hasalso asked the medical shops toensure steady supply of essentialitems to people.

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Atotal of 117 people withnovel coronavirus-like

symptoms have been put inhome isolation in Mizoram,a senior health official said on Sunday.

Though Mizoram has notyet reported any positive caseof coronavirus, 117 peoplehave been home quarantinedas a precautionary measure,Health department principaldirector F Lallianhlira.

“Even though no positivecase has been reported, wehave to remain alert,” he said.

Lallianhlira said all sec-tions of the society mustmake efforts to prevent thespread of the disease in theState. The State healthdepartment on Saturday con-ducted an awareness drive onprecautions that are needed tobe taken to prevent the spreadof COVID-19.

The State Governmenthas clamped Section 144 ofthe CrPC along the State’sinternational borders with Myanmar andBangladesh to prevent theentry of people from theneighbouring countries.

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With coronavirus scaregripping the State, West

Bengal State ElectionCommission has called an all-party meeting on Monday todiscuss the future of upcomingStatewide municipal electionswhich were scheduled to takeplace sometime in mid-April.

According to sources, theruling Trinamool Congress islikely to suggest a postpone-ment of the elections till situ-ations improved. The BJP toohas expressed its viewpoint on

the issue with the State partypresident Dilip Ghosh saying“when there is a national emer-gency like this the party willalways stand by the SEC deci-sion if it decides to push backthe election date.”

Sources said the TMC willcarry a message from the StateGovernment to the SEC advis-ing a adjournment of the pollprocess “since it will involve alot of risk as the workers andleaders will go around to meetpeople leading to randomphysical contacts,” said a seniorTMC leader and a Ministeradding “the rest will dependupon the Commission.

CPI(M)’s Sujan Chakrabartysaid his party would join the

Monday’s meeting and take adecision only after hearing theproposal adding however that“public health is the first andforemost priority.”

Bengal has come to a nearstandstill following a StateGovernment advisory to shutdown educational and otherinstitutions in anticipation ofCOVID-19 proliferation. EvenCalcutta High Court put amoratorium on daily proceed-ings (save urgent hearings) tillMarch 20.

All educational institu-tions, including schools andcolleges, both public and pri-vate have declared a close-down from Monday followingState-Government directive.

All university examinationshave been postponed exceptthe ongoing Class XII Boardexaminations which started onMarch 13.

The shutdown will contin-ue till March 31 when theGovernment would take fur-ther decision considering thestatus of corona virus infectionsin the country.

Other institutions like theIndian Museum, the museumVictoria Memorial have alsobeen shut down, sources said.

The Ramakrishna Missionheadquarters at Belur Mathhave also announced a partial ban on mass congre-gation inside the sanctum sanc-torum of the Math building,

sources said.Apart from issuing shut-

down notices the StateGovernment has made elabo-rate arrangements for treat-ment of any COVID-19 infected patients.

“Quarantine wards havebeen created besides theBeleghata ID Hospital andSSKM Hospital at the newlyconstructed ChittaranjanCancer Institute at New Town,” a Health Departmentofficial said, adding all the dis-trict hospitals have been askedto keep ready their quarantinewards. At least eight patientshave been kept in quarantine atthe Beleghata ID Hospital,sources said.

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Film and television serialmakers and producers on

Sunday decided to stop shoot-ings from March 19 to March31 and the Mumbai Policeclamped prohibitory ordersbanning assembly of five ormore persons, even as thenumber of positive coronaviruscases mounted to 33 inMaharashtra.

In another precautionarymeasure taken by it in view ofcoronavirus outbreak, theMaharashtra Government —invoking the provisions of theEpidemic Diseases Act of 1897— suspended the MaharashtraPublic Service Commission(MPSC) examination tillMarch 31, 2020.

“The State Govt in exerciseof the Epidemic Act,1897 haspostponed all exams of MPSCscheduled to happen in

Maharashtra until 31st March2020 or until further orders asprecautionary measures againstcorona,” State Tourism MinisterAditya Thackeray tweeted.

With two more fresh pos-itive cases — one each fromAurangbad and Pimpri-Chinchwad, the total numberof positive COVID-19 rose to33 in the State. While Pune andthe neighbouring Pimpri-Chinchwad accounted for amaximum of 16 cases, thebreak-up of positive coron-avirus cases elsewhere in theState was: Mumbai-5, Nagpur-4, Yavatmal-2, Panvel-1,Kalyan-1, Navi Mumbai-1,Thane-1, Ahmednagar-1 andAurangabad-1.

In an effort to reducecrowds in public places in thecountry’s commercial capital,the Mumbai Police hasclamped prohibitory ordersunder Section 144 banning

assembly of five or more per-sons in the city till March 31.

Divisional CommissionerDeepak Mhaisekar said theadministration was contem-plating similar prohibitoryorders in Pune. “As a precau-tionary measure, we havedecided to close down parks.Though the State Governmenthas decided to close downmalls, a small relaxation hasbeen made in the case of ven-dors in malls selling medicine,vegetables and groceries.Besides these, no shoppingunits will remain open tillMarch 30,” Dr Mhaisekar said.

Mumbai’s DeputyCommissioner of Police PranayAshok said that all tours —organised through privateoperators or through profes-sional organisations — hadbeen banned in Mumbai tillMarch 31.

At a joint meeting held

here on Sunday the IndianMotion Picture Producers’Association (IMPPA), WesternIndia Film Producers’Association (WIPFA), IndianFilm and Television ProducersCouncil (IFTPC), Indian Film& Television Directors’Association(IFTDA) andFederation of Western IndiaCine Employees (FWICE) stopshootings of films, televisionserials, web series and otherentertainment programmesfrom March 19 to March 31 inview of the spread ofCoronavirus across the world.

“A decision about re-startingthe shootings will be taken onMarch 30 after considering theprevailing situation at that time,”an IMPPA spokesperson said.

Talking to mediapersons,State Health Minister RajeshTope that in an effort toenhance the COVID-19 testingfacilities in Maharashtra, the

State Government would set upa new laboratory in Pune in 15to 20 days. “We shall get newmachines, for testing bloodsamples to quicken up theprocess of getting the testsreports. We are also planningto set up new testing labs inMiraj, Dhule, Solapur andAurangabad,” Tope said.

Tope said the bed capacityin Kasturba Hospital, which iscurrently handling coronaviruscases in Mumbai, will beincreased fromthe 100 to 1000in the next two to three days.

In a related development,three patients with coronavirussymptoms, who had fled fromthe isolation ward inAhmednagar Civil Hospital onSaturday, returned to the facil-ity early on Sunday.

Following the decisiontaken by the State Government,all schools, colleges, cinemahalls, auditoriums, malls,

swimming pools, gymns, pub-lic places have been shut downin urban areas of Maharashtra,while a ban has been imposedon all political, cultural, sportsevents, taking out of religiousprocessions tlll March 31 as a

precaution. DeputyCommissioner of Police PranayAshok said all tours — privateor through professional organ-isations — has been banned inthe city with immediate effecttill March 31.

However, the MaharashtraGovernment has spared thesuburban trains and BESTbuses, which are lifelines forMumbaikars — from the shut-down it has imposed during thepast two days.

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Mumbai: Prime Minister Narendra Modispoke to Maharashtra Chief Minister UddhavThackeray to discuss the State’s preparednessto tackle the novel coronavirus outbreak.

The telephonic conversation, which tookplace at 11 pm on Saturday, was centred on theefforts by the state and the Centre to tackle the situation.

Thackeray informed the PM about the mea-sures taken by his Government, sources said.

Maharashtra, which has 32 Covid-19 casesas on Sunday morning, has already invoked theEpidemic Diseases Act, 1897 that gives wide-ranging powers to officials to enforce measures,including that of lockdown and quarantine,

required to tackle an outbreak.The State Government has ordered the clo-

sure of educational institutions, theatres, malls,parks, swimming pools, gymnasiums etc to stopthe spread of coronavirus. PTI

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Page 5: RNI Regn. No. CHHENG/2012/42718, Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN ... · CrPC to stop tour operators ... patients while Ladakh three and Jammu & Kashmir had two. Telangana reported three

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Tehran: Iran on Sunday urgedits citizens to stick to guidelinesand stay at home to stop thenew coronavirus spreading, asit announced 113 deaths in aday.

The latest death tollannounced by the HealthMinistry took to 724 the offi-cial number of people to havebeen killed by the disease sincelast month.

People “should cancel alltravel and stay at home so thatwe may see the situationimproving in the coming days,”ministry spokesman KianoushJahanpour said in a televisednews conference.

Jahanpour also reported1,209 new confirmed cases ofCOVID-19 infection, raisingthe total to 13,938.

“The good news is thatmore than 4,590 of the overallconfirmed cases have recov-ered” and the patients havebeen discharged from hospitals,he added.

Tehran province had thehighest number of new infec-tions with 251 fresh cases.Khorasan Razavi province,home to the holy Shiite city ofMashhad, followed with 143cases.

“The cases there will prob-ably increase,” the official said,

calling on everyone to ceasefrom travelling to the north-eastern province.

Mashhad’s Imam Rezashrine receives many devoutIranians every year, especiallyaround the country’s New Yearholidays which start on March20.

The outbreak in Iran is oneof the deadliest outside ofChina, where the disease orig-inated.

Jahanpour called onIranians to “take the coron-avirus seriously” and especial-ly be mindful of elderly rela-tives who are most vulnerableto the infection. AFP

Harare: Zimbabwe’s DefenceMinister has called the coron-avirus pandemic a “punish-ment” of the US and Europe forimposing sanctions againstmembers of the ruling regimeover human rights abuses.

Coronavirus has infectedmore than 150,000 peopleworldwide and killed almost6,000 since it was first detectedin China last December.

“Coronavirus is the work ofgod punishing countries whoimposed sanctions on us,” saidZimbabwe’s defence ministerOppah Muchinguri on Saturday,speaking at a rally in the north-ern town of Chinhoyi.

“They are now stayingindoors. Their economies arescreaming just like they did toour economy.” The United Statesand the European Union firstimposed sanctions onZimbabwe during the despoticrule of the country’s late ex-pres-ident Robert Mugabe, ousted bythe military in November 2017.

The measures were aimed athigh-ranking officials and gov-ernment institutions, includingtravel bans on Mugabe and hisinner circle.

President EmmersonMnangagwa has been battling tore-engage with the West since hetook office in 2017. AFP

Paris: France will progressively reduce long-distance train, bus andplane travel on its territory over the coming days in a bid to limitthe spread of the coronavirus, the ecology minister said on Sunday.The country, which has already shut cafes, restaurants, schools anduniversities and urged people to limit their movements, will nowseek to limit long-distance travel “to the strictly necessary” min-ister Elisabeth Borne told journalists in Paris. AFP

Washington: The United Statesannounced on Saturday that atravel ban imposed on Europeannations over the coronaviruspandemic will be extended to theUnited Kingdom and Ireland.

President Donald Trumphas decided to “suspend all trav-el from the United Kingdom andIreland. That will be effectivemidnight Monday night EST(0400 GMT Tuesday),” VicePresident Mike Pence told aWhite House news conference.

“Americans in the UK orIreland can come home. Legalresidents can come home,” Pencesaid, adding that such peoplewould be “funneled throughspecific airports and processed.”Trump’s sweeping travel banhas drawn an angry responsefrom European officials, whohave called for cooperation tofight the pandemic. The 30-dayUS ban on travel from the 26countries of Europe’s Schengen

border-free zone took effect onSaturday, but notably excludesBritain and Ireland.

The move caused wide-spread consternation amongtravelers, with even exemptedAmerican citizens uncertainabout their status after the dead-line expired.

Trump had earlier con-firmed the ban would beextended to those countries asthe pandemic progresses, say-ing: “They’ve had a little bit ofactivity, unfortunately.” Britain’sdeath toll from the novel coro-navirus nearly doubled onSaturday, to 21.

Official figures showed thecountry has 1,140 confirmedcases —an increase of 342 fromthe day before, but a seniorhealth official has estimatedthat the number of infectedpeople is more likely to bebetween 5,000 and 10,000. AFP

Madrid: Spain on Sunday reported some 2,000 new coronaviruscases and more than a hundred deaths over the last 24 hours, thelatest spike in Europe’s second-most affected country after Italy.The new figures raise Spain’s number of COVID-19 infections to7,753— and its death toll to 288 — after the Government imposeda near-total nationwide lockdown, banning people from leavinghome except to go to work, get medical care or buy food. AFP

London: The Islamic State(ISIS) terrorist group has issueda travel advisory for its opera-tives to steer clear of coron-avirus-hit Europe, described as“the land of the epidemic”.

According to The SundayTimes, the latest issue of theISIS ‘Al-Naba’ newsletter refersto a new set of “sharia direc-tives” warning against travel toEurope.

The Middle East-based ter-ror outfit, which has in the pastencouraged operatives to plotattacks in Europe, also instruct-ed those of its followers whomay have become ill with coro-navirus not to leave the region,in order to prevent the diseasespreading.

The newsletter says that the“healthy should not enter theland of the epidemic and theafflicted should not exit fromit”. It also instructs followers to“cover their mouths whenyawning and sneezing” and towash their hands regularly.

The newsletter refers to a“plague” described as a “tor-ment sent by God on whom-soever He wills”, adding:“Illnesses do not strike bythemselves but by the com-mand and decree of God.”

ISIS has lost a lot of groundin the Middle East after aseries of defeats, but it remainsactive in Iraq and Syria in afragmented form.

PTI

Tehran: The Islamic endow-ment overseeing the Al-Aqsamosque compound, the thirdholiest site in Islam, says themosque itself and other buildingswill be closed over concernsabout the new coronavirus.Sheikh Omar Kiswani, the direc-tor of the mosque, said onSunday that prayers will contin-ue to be held outdoors. The clo-sure is to continue indefinitely.

Iran’s official leading thecountry’s response to the worstcoronavirus outbreak in theMiddle East on Sunday acknowl-edged that the pandemic couldoverwhelm health facilities in thecountry, which is under severeUS Sanctions. AP

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The Vatican said on Sunday that its tra-ditional Easter week celebrations would

be held this year without worshippers dueto the coronavirus.

“Because of the current global publichealth emergency, all the liturgical celebra-tions of Holy Week will take place withoutthe physical presence of the faithful,” thePrefecture of the Pontifical Household saidin a statement.

The office is in charge of coordinatingmost of Pope Francis’s public schedule andhis audiences with heads of state and otherdignitaries.

The Vatican also said: “Until April 12,the general audiences and the Angeluspresided over by the Holy Father will beavailable only in live streaming on the offi-cial Vatican News website.”

According to the latest tally late Saturday,there have been 1,441 deaths in Italy due toCOVID-19, and more than 21,000 Italianshave tested positive.

Italy is the hardest-hit European coun-try so far in the pandemic.

Tallinn: Estonia and Lithuaniasaid on Saturday they will shuttheir borders to most foreignvisitors while fellow Baltic EUmember Latvia imposed secu-rity measures of its own to stemthe spread of the novel coron-avirus.

“The Government hasdecided to temporarily rein-troduce border controls on thewhole border,” Estonian PrimeMinister Juri Ratas said in agovernment statement.

The measure will apply

starting Tuesday in the coun-try of 1.3 million people whichhas registered 115 confirmedcases of COVID-19.

Only citizens, individualswith residence permits andforeigners with a family mem-ber in Estonia will be allowedin but will have to undergo twoweeks of isolation.

Foreigners will still be ableto pass through Estonia to getto their country provided theyshow no symptoms of thevirus. AFP

Sydney: Australia on Sundayannounced anyone arrivinginto the country will facemandatory 14-day self-isola-tion, in a bid to slow the spreadof the coronavirus.

“We are going to have toget used to some changes in theway we live our lives,” PrimeMinister Scott Morrison said,adding the measure will comeinto effect from midnight (1300GMT Sunday).

Morrison also said allcruise ships will be bannedentirely and that he expects

“visitor traffic will dry up veryvery very quickly.”

“If your mate has been toBali and they come back andthey turn up at work and theyare sitting next to you, well theywill be committing an offence,”Morrison said.

Australia has detected 269cases of the COVID-19 virus sofar, with a large number of newcases now coming from theUnited States, Morrison said,describing the country as a“major source”.

AFP

London: Queen Elizabeth IIhas been shifted out ofBuckingham Palace in Londonto Windsor Castle as the UKplans for isolation measures forpeople over 70 amid the coun-try’s death toll from COVID-19hitting 21, nearly doublingfrom 11 within a day.

The 93-year-old monarchand her 98-year-old husband,Prince Philip, are likely to beplaced in quarantine at theroyal Sandringham Estate inNorfolk in the coming weeks astougher measures are put inplace to fight the coronavirusoutbreak in the UK affectingover 1,140 people.

PTI

Paris: A spike in deaths fromthe coronavirus in Spain haspushed the global toll past6,000, according to an AFP tallycompiled from official sources.

The worldwide death tollrose to 6,036, with 159,844infections after 105 died inSpain. While China remainsthe country with the mostdeaths with 3,199, the pan-demic is now spreading morerapidly in Europe, with 1,907deaths in the continent’s worst-hit country Italy. AFP

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An Israeli court on Sundaypostponed Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu’s grafttrial over coronavirus, as thepremier relaunched his appealfor an emergency unity gov-ernment to tackle the crisis.

Netanyahu, the first Israeliprime minister ever indicted inoffice, had been scheduled tostand trial from Tuesday overalleged bribery, fraud and

breach of trust -- charges whichhe denies.

Jerusalem’s District Courtsaid in a statement that, giventhe coronavirus pandemic, ithad been instructed to hear“only urgent matters”.

In Netanyahu’s trial, “wehave decided to postpone thefirst hearing until May 24,” thecourt said.

Israel has 200 confirmedcases of the virus, and tens ofthousands of people in home

quarantine.Netanyahu has been

charged with a range ofoffences including receivingimproper gifts and offering amedia mogul lucrative regula-tory changes in exchange forfavourable coverage.

Despite the indictments,Netanyahu’s right-wing Likudparty won the most seats inMarch 2 elections and he isaiming to form a new govern-ment.

Beirut: In a world gripped bya pandemic, global unrest anda fast-moving news cycle, it canbe difficult to remember thatthe war in Syria is still hap-pening.

Even before the coron-avirus outbreak took over dailylives around the globe, the con-flict, which began in early 2011,had largely fallen off the world’scollective radars — reduced toa never-ending fight involvingan ever-more complex web ofplayers and refugees that fewremember once lived in a coun-try they called home.

But as it enters its tenthyear, the war — which gave riseto the Islamic State group andtriggered the worst humanitar-ian catastrophe of the 21st cen-tury — has shown it is still cre-ating new tragedies that canhave an outsized impact onglobal politics.

Earlier this month, Turkishand Syrian troops were clash-ing in Syria’s northwest.

That brought NATO-mem-ber Turkey and Russia, whichback opposing sides of the war,to the brink of direct con-frontation, and produced anunprecedented wave of dis-placed people.

Arguing that it faces apotential new influx of refugeesfrom Syria, Turkey announcedit would no longer stop its vastmigrant and refugee populationfrom illegally entering Greece,touching off a new crisis for theEuropean Union.

More than half of Syria’spre-war population of 23 mil-lion people have been drivenfrom their homes, and a stag-gering 80% of the populationlive beneath the poverty line,according to the United Nations.Half the country lies in ruins.

A political process doesnot exist. Contrary to whatsome may hope, the Syrian waris nowhere near its end-game.

A cease-fire brokered bythe Turkish and Russian pres-idents in Moscow last week mayhave put the brakes on theSyrian government’s devastat-ing military campaign to retakethe northwestern Idlibprovince. But the halt is not along-term solution, and thewar’s final and most devastat-ing chapter is yet to come.

In the three months beforeit was paused, the Syrian offen-sive triggered the largest singlewave of displacement of theentire war. That may bedwarfed by the flight of human-ity toward Turkey if SyrianPresident Bashar Assadresumes the assault to retakeIdlib, home to some 3 millionpeople. AP

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Washington: US PresidentDonald Trump has tested neg-ative for the novel coronavirus,the White House physiciansaid, hours after his adminis-tration declared the COVID-19pandemic a national emer-gency on Friday.

Trump, 73, had taken thecoronavirus test on Fridaynight. The results came out inless than 24 hours. “Last night,after an in-depth discussionwith the President regardingthe COVID-19 test, he electedto proceed. This evening, Ireceived confirmation that thetest is negative,” Dr SeanConley, the presidential physi-cian, said in a memorandum toWhite House Press SecretaryStephanie Grisham onSaturday. PTI

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Colombo: Faced by the increas-ing threat of COVID-19 spread,the Army is to track down agroup of Sri Lankans who hadarrived from Italy and evadedquarantine, a top official said onSunday. They had arrivedbetween March 1-9 and alleged-ly escaped the quarantine processwhere they ought to have trav-elled from the Colombo inter-national airport to the quaran-tine centre in the eastern districtof Batticaloa. Sri Lanka Army hastaken over the quarantineprocess of the returnees.

“One of the ways in whichthe Army ensures national secu-rity is guaranteeing the safety ofcitizens,” Army chief GenShavendra Silva told reporters.

PTI

Seoul: A North Korean nuclear negotiator hasbeen appointed as the Ambassador to Austria,replacing a son-in-law of the country’s founderKim Il-sung, state media said in a report onSunday.

Choe Kang-il, acting director-general of theForeign Ministry’s North American affairs bureau,had been involved in nuclear negotiations withthe US, including preparatory talks ahead of thesecond summit in Hanoi last year betweenNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-un and AmericanPresident Donald Trump, Yonhap News Agencyquoted Pyongyang’s KCNA as saying in a reporton Saturday.

Choe was named to replace Kim Kwang-sop,the husband of Kim Kyong-jin, a half-sister of lateNorth Korean leader Kim Jong-il, according to theKCNA.

The former envoy has been in the position for27 years since his appointment in 1993.

The KCNA also confirmed that Ju Won-cholhas replaced Kim Pyong-il, a half-brother of lateleader Kim Jong-il, as ambassador to CzechRepublic.

It also reported that Ambassador to BritainChoe Il has been appointed as ambassador toPoland. IANS

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'���������������"���������"���������(�� �"� ��������Washington: As the two remainingDemocratic presidential candidatesreturn to the debate stage, their party,the stakes, and the world look muchdifferent than in their last meeting lessthan three weeks ago.

The fast-moving coronavirus wassomething of an afterthought in thatdebate; now the escalating crisis is like-ly to dominate Sunday’s contest.

Rising infections in the UnitedStates and around the world haveprompted a dramatic slowdown ofglobal travel, upended financial mar-kets, and raised questions aboutPresident Donald Trump’s ability tolead the nation through a prolongedperiod of uncertainty.

Just two Democrats — former VicePresident Joe Biden and Vermont Sen.

Bernie Sanders — remain to make thecase that they are best-positioned tochallenge Trump in November.

Five other candidates who joinedthem on stage in the February 25debate in South Carolina have droppedout, with many rallying behind Biden’ssurging candidacy.

For both Biden and Sanders, thedebate is a moment to display theirleadership skills in front of what couldbe one of the largest audiences of theprimary.

They’ll aim to draw a contrast withTrump, but also with each other, argu-ing that they have the right experience,temperament and policy prescriptionsto lead the nation through a crisis.

“Moments like these don’t comearound often in campaigns and this is

a perfect opportunity to show millionsthat you have what it takes,” said RobertGibbs, former White House press sec-retary and campaign adviser toPresident Barack Obama.

“They must show voters they arethe answer to what is missing right nowby being calm, honest, ready to leadand empathetic.”

The coronavirus crisis rapidlyupended plans for Sunday’s debate.First, the Democratic NationalCommittee announced that it wouldhold the contest without a live audi-ence. Then the debate was moved froma large venue in Arizona, one of thestates holding a primary Tuesday, to atelevision studio in Washingtonbecause of concerns about cross-coun-try travel. AP

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Three years ago, whenCaptain AmarinderSingh took over as Chief

Minister, Punjab was caughtin a morass. The law andorder situation was virtually inthe doldrums, the rampantabuse of narcotics was eatinginto a generation of Punjab'syouth and the State was sink-ing deeper into a financialtrough with a slackening agri-cultural and industrial growth.But challenges bring out thebest in him as he went aboutgiving hope and restoringtrust among his people. He setup a Special Task Force (STF)to arrest the drug nuisance inthe State, gave a systemicpush to the growth of the agri-culture sector, ensured a state-wide crackdown on criminalgangs, busted terror modules,reformed the power sector,spurred industrial growth andtook public services to thedoorstep of residents. And inthese three years, the transfor-mation is visible with elimina-tion of drugs from the state,law and order back to itsstrict efficiencies, the GharGhar Rozgar raising thepotential of human capital inthe State, the debt-waiverscheme easing farmers' woesand policies encouraginginvestment. Besides, he has ensured an overall compli-ance of the traditional sloganof Bijli, Paani and SafaiSuraksha.

Right from the beginning,Capt Amarinder had a visionembodied in the slogan,'Nawen Naroye Punjab LayeeCaptain De Naun Nukte'(Captain's nine-points forrejuvenated Punjab). Threeyears down the line, he haskept his promises to not onlypull back Punjab from theprecipice but catapult it as thecountry's most vibrant andsought after destination.

��������������Fighting the slur of drug

menace, Captain AmarinderSingh's Government succeed-ed in breaking the backboneof the drugs mafia and chok-ing the supply chain. To fur-ther intensify its efforts, theGovernment now intends tobring in the State DrugControl Legislation. Whatworked was the ChiefMinister's decision to set up aSpecial Task Force to rein inthe deadly scourge and ensur-ing "free-hand" in its working.He also ensured that there adirect interaction between hisoffice and the task force offi-cers to build accountabilityand quick action.

Believing in not just treat-ing the symptoms but curingthe condition, CaptAmarinder also involved thepeople, from the commonman to the notables. The gov-ernment rolled out an ambi-tious Buddy Programme-

forming groups of schoolsand college students to edu-cate and motivate childrenabout ill-effects of drugs. Helaunched the Drug AbusePrevention Officers (DAPO)programme, where dedicatedvolunteers work in their local-ities in coordination with thelocal administration, policeand the STF to ensure com-munity-level penetration ofthe campaign. Besides seekingsupport of the people ofPunjab-right from the com-mon man to the students tocelebrities as part of his#NasheToAzaadi (freedomfrom drugs) campaign ---Capt Amarinder also reachedout to the makers of the vir-tual world - Google CEOSunder Pichai and FacebookCEO Mark Zuckerberg "toextend and provide technolo-gy support in fighting thismenace."

Figures speak for them-selves. A total of 36418 NDPScases have been registeredwith the arrest of 45445 per-sons. In addition, 1305 kg ofheroin has been recoveredbesides other contraband sub-stances vis 380 kg of smackand charas, 1500 kg of opium,1.30 lakh kg of poppy huskhave also been seized duringdifferent operations with theState witnessing a steadyincrease in narcotics seizuressince March 2017. More than180 'big fish' (major drugsmugglers) have been arrest-ed and property worth Rs 67crore has been forfeited in thelast three years. Drug-relateddeaths have fallen from 114 in2018 to 47 in 2019.

Fortifying the efforts oflaw enforcement agencies, theGovernment launchedOutdoor Opioid AssistedTreatment (OOAT) clinics,improved the infrastructure ofdrug de-addiction and reha-bilitation centres. Of the over3.5 lakh people treated, 2.15lakh were treated at de-addic-tion centres, 29,156 at rehabil-itation centres while 1.04 lakhwere healed at OOAT centres.

Turning a new leaf in pre-vention of drug abuse, theState Government has decidedto incorporate a chapter on themenace in the school syllabusso as to educate the studentsabout the ill-effects drugs.

While societally there is anew awareness, unfortunate-ly, Punjab, along with Delhi,had over the years emerged asa lucrative market for drugs,encouraging smugglers fromother States and narco-terror-ists from Pakistan to spreadthe venom here. So the StateGovernment is now workingclosely with other northernstates, sharing regular infor-mation, forming a commonmechanism and monthlymeetings of the state policechiefs. The cross-border threatis now more severe as trouble-makers in Pakistan are using

drones, in recent months, tosmuggle weapons and drugsinto Punjab. Flagging the"serious" issue, the ChiefMinister had written to thePrime Minister and UnionHome Minister demandinganti-drone devices and sur-veillance to tackle the prob-

lem. Since August 2019,Punjab has had three docu-mented cases of drones drop-ping supplies of weapons andnarcotics.

Joining hands with theneighbouring states, CaptainAmarinder Singh had moot-ed joint operations on the

inter-state borders, as part ofa series of collaborative mea-sures to tackle the drugs men-ace during the '2nd RegionalConference on Drug Menace- Challenges & Strategies' heldat Chandigarh in July 2019,attended by Haryana ChiefMinister ML Khattar,

Himachal Pradesh ChiefMinister Jai Ram Thakur,Rajasthan Chief MinisterAshok Gehlot, UttarakhandChief Minister TrivendraSingh Rawat, besides seniorofficials representing Jammuand Kashmir, Delhi andChandigarh.

Pointing out that drugtraffickers were not confinedby national or state bound-aries, Captain Amarinderpleaded for a National DrugsPolicy to combat the menacesince it was not possiblefor any state to tackle it alone.

������������ ����������

� ����� ���Working with the sole

aim of ensuring greater andhassle-free engagementbetween the StateGovernment and its citizens,the State machinery haslogged into technology tobring in a slew of governancereforms to improve its func-tioning by virtually providingcitizen-centric services at thedoorstep through online webportals, mobile applicationsand Sewa Kendras.

Implementing the"Digital Punjab" initiative,the Government is providingGovernment to Citizen(G2C) and Government toBusiness (G2B) services24X7, 365 days a year, in a

time-bound manner by car-rying out complete back-endcomputerisation of al lGovernment departments,integrating electronic pay-ments, redressing grievancesthrough an online and trans-parent system, implementinge-office application in alladministrative departmentsand Deputy Commissioner'soffices, among others.

This is not all. TheGovernment has ensurednecessary transparency andaccountability in the deliveryof public services by formu-lating Transparency andAccountability Act, 2018,launching several digital plat-forms l ike mSewa,Digilocker, Sewa Kendras,

GeM or e-Procurement toprovide all public services atcitizens' fingertips.

Keeping pace with thetime and considering thestate having the highest tele-density, the Governmentdecided to promote mobilegovernance by taking mobileas the first option for deliv-ery of government services.People can now stay in thecomfort of their home toavail all services with a tap orclick. And for the services,which cannot be made avail-able through online modes orrequire the personal presenceof the citizen, the govern-ment is strengthening andrationalising its network ofSewa Kendras.

Unlike the previousSAD-BJP government,Captain Amarinder Singh'sGovernment is operatingSewa Kendras on a self-sus-taining model, without anyburden on the State, which iscovering 271 services on anaverage of 35,000-40,000transactions per day in 516fully operationalized SewaKendras. The StateGovernment is in the processof harmonisation of FardKendras and Saanjh Kendraswith Sewa Kendras so that allGovernment to Citizen ser-vices can be delivered in aunified manner.

To effectively executevarious projects underDigital India and national e-

governance programmes, thePunjab Government has cre-ated a state-level IT Cadrewhich would help depart-ments in the integration ofvarious departmental ser-vices on digital platforms.The newly-recruited officialsunder IT cadre will play avital role in executing processre-engineering of variousState GovernmentDepartments and PSUs.

To ensure transparency ingovernance and accountabil-ity in public services, the StateCabinet led by CaptainAmarinder Singh has alsogiven its go ahead to enact anew Lokpal legislation cover-ing all officials, right from theChief Minister till downwards.

���'��� �' �( �����'� ) '�� ��*) �� ���+ � �� ) � ���� ) �� � '� ����)*���� ������(+ ����,��� ) ,��� + �* ��� ) ������( � )�-�� � �� �� ���� ) ��*��'�� ����((��� '� �+ '�� .��' ����� ��� �� )� /�-�� �� ' � �* 0�� ��( '��� (*�('� '�� ���(*��(�-�� '�� �(' '���� ���( '� �*' ��( ����� ���('� ��*)(+ ,���� ,��� ��� ) ��-�� ��� ) '�� �*'� ��� � ) � � (����� ) � )� ���'�� +��� ���(' �*'� ��, � �*('���( ��� ��� ) (�' *� ,��� '�� �� � �(+ ,���� ,��� � )*�(�� )+ ��-� ��� ��-�-��� � -�('��( ��� ���� � '�� �'�'� ,�'� � �� �,�� �� ���� �� � � � '���('� � � '�� (���� (��'�� �( �*(�� ) '�� �*�� ��-����� ' � ��1 *� ��� �-�� ��������* 0�� ��( ��,���� �'(�� '� �, ��-����� ' ���� )�( � � ��( �' ������ � � �� '�� '��2�������� ) �'�'�( � '�� ��* '�

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Placing emphasis onschool education, theGovernment has adopted thepolicy of catching studentsyoung, sharpening their skillsand grooming them into pro-fessionals. From making edu-cation accessible to buildingsmart schools, theGovernment has opened newchapters in the state's acade-mic history.

In a major initiative, theGovernment has made educa-tion free for all students, upto Class XII. Earlier, the boyswere getting free education upto Class VIII and girls up toClass XII.

Already notifying theSmart School Policy, the StateGovernment has transformedas many 5992 primary, middleand high schools into "smartschools" with the help ofCorporate SocialResponsibility (CSR), NGO's,NRIs, charitable institutions orindividual contributions andso on. The Government hasalso planned to convert allclassrooms of high schools andsenior secondary schools into"smart classrooms" by provid-ing digital teaching aids likeLCDs, projectors etc.

Indicating the improvinglevel of education,Government schools haveoutperformed the privateschools in Class X and XIIPunjab School Education

Board results by securing88.21 percent and 88.14 per-cent respectively, against79.51 percent and 83.69 per-cent in private schools.

The State Government's

learning enhancement pro-gramme, "Padho PunjabPadhao Punjab", has achievedencouraging results achieving79 per cent of the prescribedlearning level targets as

against less than 30 percent inAugust 2017.

In the budget for 2020-21, the Government has allo-cated Rs 12,488 crore forpromotion of school andhigher education, includingRs 100 crore dedicated for theconstruction of 4,150 addi-tional classrooms and Rs 75crore for the maintenance ofschool buildings. The StateGovernment has alsoplanned to install 10 KWSolar plants in a total of 259Government senior sec-ondary smart schools in thefirst phase and in another 621senior secondary schools inthe second.

Besides, the Governmenthas rolled out an ambitiousprogramme to provide karatetraining to all girls in govern-ment schools this year forwhich all female teachers,below the age of 50 years,have undergone trainingthrough expert karate train-ers. Also, sanitary napkins arebeing provided to girl stu-dents in all governmentschools. The Government hasalso set aside requisite bud-getary provisions to providefacility of free transport tostudents of primary classesacross the state.

��������� �� ���������������������

Maintaining law and orderhas always been the primefocus of the CaptainAmarinder government, andthe State has witnessed a "per-ceptible decrease in crime".Since 2017, Punjab Police hasneutralised 2411 gangstersincluding 15 of 'A-category',seized 1,380 illegal weapons,recovered 614 snatched vehi-cles, and busted 32 terror mod-ules in the State arresting 155terrorists.

With the Chief Ministerensuring "no political interfer-ence" and giving free-hand to

the police force, the PunjabPolice has waged a war againstorganised gangs and crimi-nals, operating not only in theState, but also from outside. Infact, the State police, by team-ing up with the security forcesof other states and also othercountries, have managed tochase down the gangsterswho have fled to foreigncountries and bring themback for further investigationsand links.

In this effort, the specialwing of the Punjab Police,Organized Crime Control Unit(OCCU), is working with thecooperation of other statesand even liaisoning with the

Interpol, and police forces ofother countries. In the wake ofabout two dozen cases, whereforeign handlers, especiallyfrom Pakistan, were involvedin conspiring to disturbPunjab's peace and harmony,a special operation group(SOG) has been created on thelines of national securityguards (NSG) to deal with anyexigencies like fidayeen orterror attack, hostage situation,armed infiltration attempts,among others. Besides, a sep-arate internal security wing hasalso been created to specifical-ly focus on anti-terrorism andanti-internal insurgency oper-ations.

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��������������� ���������� �!"!" �7

��� ��������������The Government believes

that the State's prisons shouldnot just be about punishmentbut a true correctional facili-ty where inmates developskills to build self-worth anda sense of purpose. Punjab isall set to reform its prisonerswith the enactment of ThePunjab Prisons DevelopmentBoard Act, 2020. With this,the Punjab PrisonsDevelopment Board, on thelines of Telengana, will beconstituted to engage the pris-oners in economic activity,reducing crimes in prisons,helping them contribute tosociety and transformingcriminals.

The Board, to be headedby the Chief Minister withJails Minister as senior vicechairperson would furtherstrengthen prison and correc-tional administration, partic-ularly correctional interven-tions, welfare of prisonersand prisons' staff and expan-sion of prison industries. Theprimary purpose of the Boardis to boost defunct prisonindustries and other com-mercial activities for genera-tion of revenue. TheGovernment has also decidedto create a separate prisonintelligence wing to keep a tabon the activities of not just theinmates but employees as well.

���� ����������������

From bailing out the dis-tressed cultivators, extricatingthem from a debt trap to giv-ing a much-needed push todiversification, the StateGovernment has emerged asa farmer-friendly regime withits slew of decisions benefitingthe already beleaguered com-munity of this agrarian state.

During his previous stintas the Chief Minister, CaptAmarinder took several initia-tives in the agriculture sector,with special focus on organiccrops. This time, his mainfocus is lending the farmersand farm labourers a helpinghand and boosting crop diver-sification. The Governmenthas already waived off Rs 4,624crore of debt of 5.64 lakh smalland marginal famers indebtedto cooperative and commercialbanks. It has furtherannounced providing debtrelief to farm labourers andlandless farmers. In the 2020-21 budget, a total of Rs 2,000crore has been allocated for thenext phase, "including Rs 520crore specifically for waivingoff the loans of 2.85 lakh land-less and farm workers during2020-21."

Laying thrust on diversi-fication by breaking thevicious wheat-paddy cycle,the Government has assistedin diversifying 10 per centarea from growing the con-ventional paddy crop to try-ing out cycles of cotton, maize,basmati and experiment withhorticulture.

For agriculture diversifi-cation, an allocation of Rs 200crore has been made withspecial focus on maize. Atotal allocation of Rs 12,526crore has been made for agri-culture and allied sectors inthe budget, constituting amajor share of Rs 8,275 crorefor power subsidy.

Crop diversification andweaning the state's farmersaway from wheat-paddy cul-tivation is the need of the hourconsidering the decliningground water levels. Punjab

uses over 65 billion cubicmeters of water annually andthe major portion is used forproducing paddy. As per thelatest report, the ground waterlevel is depleting at the rate of49 centimetre per year. Out ofthe total 138 blocks in Punjab,109 are over-exploited interms of ground water usage,two are critical and anotherfive fall in the semi-criticalcategory.

To address the problem ofdeclining ground water effec-tively, Captain Amarinder'sGovernment has taken a pathbreaking initiative to setup thePunjab Water Regulation andDevelopment Authority,which will be empowered toissue directions on waterextraction but will not beauthorised to impose anyrestrictions or tariff on extrac-tion of water for drinking,domestic and agriculture pur-poses. The Punjab WaterResources (Management andRegulation) Act 2019, in thisregard, is aimed at develop-ment, management and regu-lation of water resources of theState for ensuring its judi-cious, equitable and sustain-able utilization and manage-ment. Further, the Authoritywould have the right toimpose financial penaltiesupon non-compliance of itsorders or directions. It hasbeen vested with the powersof a Civil Court, and wouldalso be required to present anannual report which would belaid on the floor of the Houseby the Government.

Water draft through tube-wells for many districts isvery high - Sangrur (260 percent), Patiala (217 per cent),Jalandhar (239 per cent) andKapurthala (224 per cent). Inanother alarming finding, thelatest survey report of theCentral Ground WaterAuthority says that the extrac-tion of groundwater is 165 percent of recharge in Punjab,resulting in various environ-mental concerns like overexploitation of groundwater,depleting soil productivity,excess use of fertilizers, amongothers.

However, with theGovernment's efforts, 6.29lakh hectare of basmati hasbeen sown during 2019-20. Amassive campaign has alsobeen launched for producingresidue-free Basmati and todiscourage or reduce the useof pesticides during the kharifseason, leading to an increasein export potential of Basmatifrom Punjab.

In addition, 18,000hectares in critical blockshave been brought undermaize crop. Besides, the areafor growing cotton has alsoincreased to 3.92 lakh hectarewhereas the area under veg-etables is increasing consis-tently during the past twoyears at the rate of 4.95-5.42per cent. Also, kinnow acreagehas increased to 53,000hectare and that of guava toabout 9,000 hectares.

To give further impetusto its diversification efforts,the Government will soonnotify an appropriate incen-tive scheme for encouragingthe farmers to grow alterna-tive crops, especially maize.

The State Government islaying a special emphasis onhorticulture, marketing ofproduce and food processingto ensure a sustainable successof this effort. Notably, the hor-ticulture crops are contribut-

ing 12.43 percent value to thestate's agriculture GDP fromonly 4.83 percent share ofgross cropped area. In this

direction, the Government isplanning to diversify citruscultivation by introducingnew sweet orange and man-

darin varieties in the State incoordination with PunjabAgriculture University (PAU),Ludhiana. Besides, four new

Horticulture Estates - Pear inVerka (Amritsar), litchi inSujanpur (Pathankot), guavain Wajidpur (Patiala) and hor-

ticulture in Kotkapura(Faridkot) - will also be set up.

In addition, to standard-ise and demonstrate the latestfloriculture technologies suit-able to Punjab's conditions,the work for establishing aCentre of Excel lence ofFloriculture under Indo-Dutch Work plan is inprogress at Doraha, Ludhiana.

In another pro-farmerdecision, the government hasslashed 'mandi fee' - levied onthe sale and purchase of agri-culture produce - on fruitsand vegetables from four to oneper cent to check irregularand unauthorised activities.

The Government isencouraging organic farmingand planning to shift onelakh acres of farm land fordedicated use even though12,000 acres have already beenbrought under it. UnderTandrust Punjab Mission, theState has witnessed a fall inurea consumption by 4.48lakh metric tonnes and DAPconsumption by 1.83 lakhmetric tonnes, saving Rs704.51 crore as farmers' inputcost.

Moreover, the timely andactive intervention of the StateAgriculture Departmenthelped in neutralising thethreat of crop loss due tolocust attack in Bareka andRoopnagar villages of Fazilka,situated near Rajasthan andPakistan borders. TheAgriculture Department con-ducted a 13-hour-long oper-

ation to control the pest byinvolving officials from thePunjab AgriculturalUniversity (PAU), BorderSecurity Force (BSF), firedepartment, police, civiladministration, horticultureand farmers. This was a multi-department operation like noother.

�������� ������������ ������������

In a pro-poor initiative ofCaptain Amarinder's govern-ment, nearly 60,000 slumdwellers living in 89 slums in29 cities will get the much-needed basic amenities, alongwith proprietary rights, fol-lowing the enactment of "ThePunjab Slum Dwellers(Proprietary Rights) Act,2020". The legislation, passedin the Vidhan Sabha recently,will transform the urban slumareas, thus promoting sus-tainable growth of the cities.The move would go a longway in ensuring inclusivegrowth of the slum dwellersbesides upgrading the infra-structure in the urban areas.The new law would entitle theslum dwellers occupying landin a slum in any urban area tobeing settled in the land occu-pied by him. If it was not pos-sible to ensure his/her settle-ment on the same piece ofland, the slum dweller wouldbe settled on alternate land, asidentified by the state govern-ment.

��� �������� ���Captain Amarinder's

Government, committed toensure equal status andopportunities to the women,has implemented 50 percentreservation for women in allcivic bodies, includingPanchayati Raj Institutionsand Urban Local Bodies bymaking amendments in therespective Acts of 1994, 1911,and 1976.

For the purpose, thegovernment did not place thematter in the domain ofdebate for a long duration. Itwas, rather, among the firstdecisions taken by the govern-ment pursuant to the promis-es it made to the voter duringthe run up to the assemblypolls.

Providing for the first timeequal status to the women inall municipalities, the StateGovernment gave the women-folk equal chances of beingdirectly elected as members ofgram panchayats, zilaparishads, and other similarbodies.

Punjab was among thefirst few states that brought in50 per cent reservation forwomen in local bodies muchbefore the constitutionalamendment demanded it to beimplemented in the wholecountry. Earlier, 33 percentseats were reserved for thewomen in Panchayati RajInstitutions (PRIs) and UrbanLocal Bodies (ULBs).

The amendment hasempowered women, especial-ly in rural areas, and helpedthem lead from the front. Thefact that no less than 6612women sarpanches, 35,310women panches, 1410 mem-bers in panchayat samities,and 168 in Zila parishads,have been elected is testimonyto the success of the

Government's women empow-erment scheme.

For further empoweringthe women, the StateGovernment has announcedtwo new schemes - KasturbaGandhi Mahila Yojana andMata Tripta Mahila Yojana - in2020-21 budget. WhileKasturba Gandhi, an umbrel-la scheme, would convergebenefits under all existingwomen-centric governmentschemes being run by variousdepartments, Mata TriptaMahila scheme would takenew initiatives or programmes

to cover aspects which havehitherto remained uncoveredor were partially covered underany existing Centrally or State-sponsored women or girlchild-oriented schemes.

Besides, the ChiefMinister has also announced50 per cent concession in busfares to women travelling ingovernment and PRTC buses.Complementing its efforts ofproviding equal rights andopportunities, the StateGovernment has also provid-ed free pick-up and drop facil-ity considering women's safe-

ty while working night shifts.Any woman, anywhere in

the State, can call the police on100 or other helpline numbers- 181, 112, and 1091 - any timeof the day for safe transporta-tion back home or to work-place. The all-women PCRshave been deployed for the jobwhich would rush to helpstranded women.

Captain Amarinder, tofurther scale up the policepick-drop facility for women,has ordered all-women PCRvans to be mobilized in majorfive cities of Punjab, Mohali,Amritsar, Patiala, Ludhianaand Jalandhar, to provide safetransport in response to suchcalls.

Further facilitating thewomenfolk, the StateGovernment has establishedone stop centres in all 22 dis-tricts of the state, under 'Sakhi'project, to provide medicaland legal aid besides policehelp and counseling servicesunder a single roof to womenin distress.

These 24 X 7 Centres,providing all required servicesto the victims of violenceagainst women, will have onelady constable each. The 'Sakhi:One Stop Centre' provides atemporary shelter to the vic-tims and their children.

The State-level 181helpline number has been ded-icated to the women for report-ing domestic violence, sexualharassment, eve teasing, sexu-al assault and other crimesagainst women. At the sametime, the Government is work-ing on establishing theStandard OperatingProcedures and protocols foran effective and efficient collab-oration between the 181helpline and the "One StopCentres."

� ������� ��

With the power genera-tion and distribution

taking the centre stage inPunjab politics, the ChiefMinister will revisit the 'con-troversial' power purchaseagreements (PPAs) signedwith private thermal plants,thereby honouring one of theCongress party's key pollpromises.

In a first step towards thesame, a draft white paper onthe PPAs signed by the previ-ous government has alreadybeen prepared. After it isfinalised, it will be distributedamong legislators, givingthem ample t ime to gothrough it before taking upthe matter for discussion dur-ing the monsoon session ofthe Punjab Vidhan Sabha.

With the governmentstrengthening its power infra-structure on one hand, it isalso fulfilling its commitmentto provide free, high-quality,uninterrupted power to itsconsumers, especially thefarmers and industry.

For approximately 14lakh tube-well connectionsacross the State, an allocationof Rs 8,275 crore has beenmade in 2020-21 budget pro-posals on account of power

subsidy against the previousyear's Rs 6,060 crore. For theindustrial sector, theGovernment is providing sub-sidised power with variablecost of Rs 5 per unit to theindustry - a move that hasresulted in 16.92 percentincrease in industrial con-sumption over 2016-17. Anallocation of Rs 2,267 crorehas been provided for indus-trial power subsidy during2020-21.

Besides, 200 free units ofpower (per billing cycle) arealso provided to the SC, BPLand BC category consumershaving sanctioned load ofless than one kilowatt. Thegovernment extended thefacility to the freedom fight-ers, taking the cumulativefigure of the subsidy borne bythe State to Rs 1,623 crore for2019-20.

Under the government'spilot project of 'Pani Bachao,Paisa Kamao' for direct ben-efit transfer for electricity(DBTE) to the agricultureconsumers in the state and forincentivizing the farmers tosave water and earn money byconsuming lesser groundwa-ter, as many as 2,196 farmershave enrolled and about Rs 16lakhs have been disbursed.

The project, under whichagriculture consumers aregiven a fixed electricity enti-tlement for every month of

the year with no bills areissued, will be expanded dur-ing 2020-21 covering 244feeders, and setting up of

demo farms for motivatingfarmers to adopt the scheme.

Another Voluntar yDisclosure Scheme (VDS) has

been introduced for agricul-ture consumers by allowingthem to regularise their addi-tional load without any penal-

ty at discounted service con-nection charges of Rs 2,500per BHP instead of Rs 4500per BHP. As many 95,000farmers received benefits ofRs 109 crore.

Contrar y to theOpposition's claims, the statepower utility has managed torestrict the tariff hike to 13.28percent (2017-18 to 2019-20) despite hike in coal tariffand Railway freight charges,against the tariff hike of 23.88percent during the previousgovernment (2012-13 to2016-17).

The Chief Minister is onrecord saying that the StatePower Department and thePunjab State PowerCorporation have been direct-ed to explore every possibleoption to make the electrici-ty tariff for the domestic con-sumers comparable, if notless, with the neighbouringStates.

He had also declared thatthe Government "remainedunequivocally committed tosupplying quality power to alldomestic consumers ataffordable prices and will dowhatever possible to achievethis, even if it amounts torenegotiation of PPAs signedby the previous government

with private power generatingcompanies."

Keeping pace with thetechnology and to ensuretransparency, the PSPCL hasintroduced various digitalmodes for bill payments. It hasalso started an online portal forgrant of approval and execu-tion of rooftop solar projects topropagate the solar power.

In a bid to augment hydropower generation in the state,Captain Amarinder rededi-cated to the people the vitalShahpur Kandi Dam projectat a cost of Rs 2073 crore onMarch 8, 2019, setting threeyears deadline for its comple-tion. The project has beenrevived with CaptainAmarinder's personal effortsto resolve all pending issueswith the Jammu & Kashmirgovernment.

The Dam would result inenhanced irrigation potentialof 5000 hectares across thestate. Apart from generatingclean power, the projectwould also improve irrigationpotential of 1.18 lakh hectaresof Upper Bari Doab Canal(UBDC). The project wouldreduce the water flowing intoPakistan drastically andwould help save the criticalwater resources of the state.

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Following an infructuous spell oflooking east, India’s Act EastPolicy (AEP) is hobbled by snagsin connectivity, continuing insur-gencies, agitations, blockades

and extortion in the North-east andreplication of some of these very problems,especially insurgencies and snarls, indecision-making in Myanmar, the launch-pad and fulcrum of AEP. Last month, thevisit of Myanmar President, U WinMyint, to India reminded us of AEP anew.

The open-door policy is intended tousher in development in the North-east,which could in turn facilitate the closureof insurgencies. For the Look East Policyto work, it was necessary to press the“pause” button on democracy and,instead, support the ruling militaryjunta. Reversion to democracy, albeit par-tial, has been achieved as I discovered lastmonth in Yangon through a joint civilmilitary leadership, with the Army hav-ing the last word.

At the core of AEP is connectivity —by road, rail, sea, inland waterways and air.The strategic geography in the North-eastchannelises this outreach through the nar-row and sensitive Siliguri corridor, the vul-nerable chicken’s neck of the region.Choices for bypassing the Siliguri constric-tion were to transit through Bangladeshand/or use the sea route to reach insur-gency-free Mizoram on the Myanmar bor-der — from Kolkata to Sittwe Port inMyanmar and upto Mizoram.

Earlier, Bangladesh had rejectedIndian requests to connect Myanmarthrough the Port of Chittagong uptoAgartala and thence to the Myanmar bor-der. What is being operationalised now isthe costly and delayed Kaladan multi-modal access from Sittwe toMyanmar/Mizoram through Rakhineand Chin States, currently beset with insur-gencies by the Arakam Army. Therefore,instead of working this project south-north, it has been reversed, starting fromMizoram to Sittwe, which will have a 1,000km special economic zone (SEZ) and agas land pipeline from its gasfields to Gayain Bihar. A number of roads to andthrough Myanmar to the east are underconstruction and completion, thusenhancing the AEP connectivity grid.

Unique to Myanmar is the civil-Armyjoint leadership arrangement under anArmy-dictated constitution of 2011, whichensures that 25 per cent of the elected seatsin Parliament is reserved for the Army. Asthe Constitution forbids Myanmar’s pop-ular leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi of theNational League of Democracy (NLD)from holding office, she is a StateCouncillor in the improvised system,which allows her the number three posi-tion in the State hierarchy after thePresident and Vice President; whereas the“C” in C Senior General Aung Hlaing, who

calls the shots, is at number five.The Constitution reserves theposts of defence, home and bor-der affairs Ministers for theArmy.

The NLD wants to changethe Constitution, which requiresan unachievable two-thirdsmajority in Parliament. Lastweek, State Counsellor Aung SanSuu Kyi unsuccessfully tried topass the Constitutional amend-ment. Senior General Min AungHlaing is in his second term,which will end in April 2021, andefforts are on to accommodatehim as the Vice President. Thismay introduce a modicum ofcivilian control over the military.While the Army is popular in thecountryside, it is disliked by theurban elite. It disapproves of theoverwhelming Chinese pres-ence and meddling inMyanmar’s internal affairs. Butothers don’t mind them as theyhave the money to invest anddevelop the country.

Another historical challengefacing Myanmar is its myriadinsurgencies, which like the clus-ter on the Indian side, is a hur-dle for AEP. At the time of inde-pendence, many States in theerstwhile Burma had soughtself-determination and separa-tion but the PanglongAgreement of 1947 promised tosettle Centre-State relations even

as the Communists and Karensfavoured independence. Today,there are more than two dozenactive and dormant insurgencies,the active ones in border Stateslike Shan, Kachin, Chin andRakhine. The world’s most com-plex but elaborate peace processis in Myanmar and it consists ofunilateral, bilateral and a nation-wide cease fire agreements,prone to violations and formaland informal dialogues backedby the international communi-ty, prominently by China.

The year 2019 was bad forthe peace process. The 21st cen-tury Panglong Union PeaceConference with 10 nation-wideceasefire signatories and thehigh-level Joint ImplementationCoordination Meeting couldnot be held, though the UnionPeace Dialogue took place in July.Both the failed meetings are like-ly to be held after the nationalelections later this year, which theLady — reference to NLD leaderDaw Suu Kyi — is expected towin but with a reduced majori-ty. For various reasons, her pop-ularity has waned but there is noalternative leader.

Chinese President Xi Jinpingvisited Myanmar this Januaryand signed 33 agreements, ofwhich the China-MyanmarEconomic Corridor (like theeconomic corridors with

Pakistan and Nepal) was the cen-tre piece. All three strategic cor-ridors seek access to markets buttwo have an eye on warm watersof the Indian Ocean. SurpassingIndia’s port potential at Sittwe isKyakpyu, the deep-water portcoupled with SEZ and ultimate-ly road, rail, oil and gas pipelinesradiating through Myanmarnorth of China’s Yunnanprovince. China’s footprint isenormous: There are hordes ofChinese in the north. Thoughthe controversial $3.6 billionhydel dam at Myitsone has beenput on hold, bilateral tradestands at $17 billion and Chinaholds 40 per cent of Myanmar’sforeign debt of $5 billion. Xisigned separate agreements withthe Senior General and StateCouncillor while hailing thenew blueprint for comprehensivestrategic cooperation and thenew 2+2 strategic dialogue,Myanmar’s first with any coun-try.

India, though with goodintentions and now sizeable civiland defence cooperation, is nomatch for China’s deep pocketsand outreach to play the role ofa regional equaliser. Still, itsimpressive infrastructure andcapacity-building programmeshave been appreciated. Japan willteam up in improving qualityand quick delivery of projects.

While the two million, mostlyIndian Tamil, diaspora is noasset, the Buddhism connecthas not been tested even asIndian tourists are throngingMyanmar. India has transferreda Russian kilo-class diesel-elec-tric attack submarine and maysoon sell Brahmos missilesagainst the $1.5 billion line ofcredit, of which $300 million isleft. Border trade — within 16km — is a paltry $25 million,though overall trade is around$2.5 billion, far below potential.

The flowering of bilateralrelations is stalled in part by thecomplexity of joint leadershipand the unstoppable rise ofChina. While Beijing has cast astring of pearls along India’speriphery, it has placed inMyanmar, an arrestor wire sys-tem of an aircraft carrier to bluntthe take-off of AEP towardsAsean, where China is also thedominant influencer. Myanmar’sfull transition to democracydepends on progress in ethnicreconciliation and resolving civil-military tensions throughConstitutional reform. Till then,AEP will remain constrained.

(The writer, a retired MajorGeneral, was Commander IPKFSouth, Sri Lanka and foundermember of the Defence PlanningStaff, currently the IntegratedDefence Staff.)

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Sir — Nature has its own way oftesting humans. The spread of onevirus has brought the entire worldto its knees. The novel Coronaviruspandemic, which began in Chinain late December, has since sick-ened more than 11,0000 and killedmore than 5,000 people worldwide.Its spread has not only renderednations vulnerable but has servedas a warning to those who possessor are developing biologicalweapons. One can only imaginehow dangerous the situation wouldbe in case any nation resorts togerm warfare.

Some of the affluent coun-tries, like Italy, are experiencingscarcity of essential items. Thereare reports that supermarketsthere have run out of goodsbecause COVID-19 has crippledsome Chinese manufacturingplants, which produce those com-modities. Panic buying, too, hascontributed to the present situa-tion. But the worst is yet to come.

Compounding woes, stockmarkets have crashed. The glob-al economy has already suffereda loss of $2 trillion. Airlinesaround the globe are suffering set-backs and economies dependent

on tourism stand devastated.Many industries dependent onChinese imports are facing grimlosses. India is no exception tothis. The crippling of the Chinesefactories is bound to sound thedeath knell for many industries.

KS Jayatheertha Bengaluru

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Sir — The prompt bailout propos-al for Yes Bank, with the State Bankof India (SBI) and other privatebanks such as HDFC and AxisBank chipping in their bit to pro-vide financial aid, has averted the

tragedy for the moment. Further,the Cabinet, too, has approved thereconstruction of the crisis-hitYes Bank as per the scheme pro-posed by the Reserve Bank of India(RBI). But pro-active measures areonly temporary in nature.

The fact of the matter is thatthe Central bank could have

nipped the problem in the budhad it taken lessons from earliersuch episodes of banks coveringup their solvency. But in India, wewake up only with whistle-blow-ing and end up with a late reali-sation. India’s financial sector isin dire need of reforms.

T Ridhi SreelekhaSecunderabad

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Sir — The spread of Coronavirushas remined us of the good oldways. Once again, emphasis isbeing laid on Ayurveda, other tra-ditional medicines like Unaniand homoeopathic medicine sys-tems. Besides, the Indian traditionof namaste has gone global withthe likes of US President DonaldTrump, French PresidentEmmanuel Macron and evenPrince Charles saying no to helloand yes to folded hands. Insteadof using tissue papers, people arenow getting accustomed to wash-ing hands. It is better to follow ahealthy and systematic lifestyle.

Nitesh KumarJharkhand

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While the share of agriculture in India’s econ-omy has progressively declined, eventoday the sector directly and indirectly

occupies over 50 per cent of the country’s workforceand contributes to over 17 per cent of the GrossDomestic Product (GDP). However, the farm sec-tor’s importance in our economic and social fabricgoes well beyond these indicators as the majority ofIndia’s poor live in rural areas where farming is theprimary source of livelihood. Additionally, with agrowing population and rising incomes in the cities,farmers face the burden of increasing yields andimproving the quality of their produce. But, for manyyears now we have been beset with an agrarian cri-sis for a variety of reasons. The Government’s strat-egy, over the years, primarily focussed on raising agri-cultural output, improving food security and pro-viding subsidies and waivers rather than recognis-ing the need to raise farmers’ income. While theseprove helpful in the short run, they are not effec-tive measures for the long haul as farmers contin-ue to face the same issues that got them into a cat-astrophic situation in the first place.

Instead of handing out loan waivers, theGovernment could help farmers by providingaccess to exploitation-free credit. This has beenattempted but both vision and implementation havebeen lacking. If easy credit is available, farmers willhave improved access to seeds, pesticides, irrigationfacilities and even mechanisation. Since farmers typ-ically procure all these materials via an open mar-ket as there is no State support, higher income oreasy credit will enable them to produce more/bet-ter. As farm incomes reduce or stagnate over time,conversion of farmlands for alternate uses to gen-erate money has gone up significantly in the pastdecade as land prices have seen a considerable uptick.After putting in all the hard work, farmers do notreceive fair wages for their labours. This has tradi-tionally been due to unfair exploitative practices atthe mandis (wholesale food markets) and the largenumber of middlemen across the supply chain, rightfrom production to consumption. In addition, foryears now, low global prices have hurt exports andencouraged cheaper imports, that further hit farmerincomes. A highly-fragmented supply chain andpoor farm infrastructure is a contributing factor tothe farm crisis as more than 50 per cent of the pro-duce is wasted in distribution alone. At the front end,there is very little demand insight for various cropsand virtually no marketing infrastructure and at thefarmers’ end there are non-existent or poor storagefacilities and additional transport and manpowercosts. Due to all the contributing factors above, farm-ers’ incomes have either stagnated or been lowerwhile the cost of production and support servicesis perpetually increasing. The farmers, despite highinterest rates, take the risk and cultivate only to bedisheartened when their produce does not fetch suit-able prices that cover their costs and leave somethingover as profit. Only a small portion of the farm pro-duce gets the Minimum Support Price (MSP) andmore than 90 per cent of farmers are at the mercyof the traders who set the market price. As incomesbecome insufficient, more and more farmers facepoverty. This situation discourages the current cropof farmers but more so the next generation whichgravitates towards the city for better opportunities.This leads to a shortage of hands for farm activitiesand is a very prevalent problem in an agri-rich Statelike Maharashtra where a lot of the farm help and

labour is being brought from other States.The lack of fair return on both financialand effort investment by farmers has ledto a marked increase in farmer suicides.

To solve this crisis all controllable,supporting factors (Government policy,spending, initiatives, incentives amongothers) have to singly focus on helping thefarmer be self-sustainable. On an averagethe farmers’ income today is only �20,000a year in 17 States or about half the coun-try. That means that the monthly incomeof a farming family — with an average offive members — is less than �1,700. It ishard to imagine how farmers are surviv-ing today with these incomes which haveto suffice for supporting their families andcontinuing with their farm productionactivities. With 50 per cent of our popu-lation working in the agri sector, it isimperative to help generate more incomefor them both for their betterment and forthe economy to keep ticking.

Thankfully, the Centre has set a tar-get to double farmers’ income by 2022.While this is a good first step towardsenabling farmer self-sustainability, theincome has to go up significantly morethan double at the current levels for it tobe truly transformational. The broaderstrategy and framework outlined by theGovernment is based on good principles.However, implementation on the groundand ensuring effective and timely impactfor the farmer will make the difference.Some of the key factors to ensure that theoutcome is favorable are given below:

Productivity of farmland holdingshas to be prioritised and improved: Mostimportantly, reducing dependence whol-ly on rainwater through better irrigationmechanisms and better planning ofgroundwater, is important. Enabling bet-ter support services such as easy access tocredit on fair terms, availability andaccess to high-quality seeds, fertilisers, pes-ticides and technology-driven enhance-

ments would be extremely beneficial. Helping farmers align their produc-

tion with seasons and market demands:As phone and internet penetration growexponentially, providing farmers educa-tion, information on weather, marketrequirements, pricing, Governmentschemes and subsidies would be useful.

Crop diversification for betterincome: A lot of companies, especiallystart-ups are taking up the important taskof educating and advising farmers how tonot only improve farm yield but also todiversify their produce to increaseincomes. This farmer education andawareness, at a larger scale, would not onlyhelp increase farm income but also helpmeet the demands of a growing popula-tion.

Better access to markets and pricing:Currently, the control of pricing or whatthe farmers receive for their hard work isin the hands of a few traders in mandis.Traditionally, this has been the area ofmost severe exploitation of farmers.Ensuring transparency in buying and sell-ing of agri goods at the mandis and ensur-ing MSP is an immediate impact solution.In the last few years, with the rise in over-seas Fast-Moving Consumer Goods(FMCG) companies coming to Indiaand recently minted and existing compa-nies working in agriculture, farmers havebeen given an alternative to selling in man-dis. Here, for production to certain spec-ifications and quality standards, farmersearn more than what they would at man-dis and have some demand guarantees aswell. Companies such as Big Basket,More, Godrej, Reliance and so on all havecenters where farmers can sell their pro-duce directly with transparent pricing.However, this is limited to areas that arecloser to urban centres and has not yetpenetrated the deeper rural areas where-in there is a larger number of severely-impacted farmers.

Improved agri-infrastructure andsupply chain: A lot of the produce, be itvegetables, milk, grains and so on, is lostin distribution across the supply chain. Allstakeholders suffer additional costs due tothese losses. Farmers suffer the most dueto loss or quality deterioration and it alsodiscourages them from diversifying theircrops to fruits and vegetables. Enablingefficient, low-cost storage options atfarmer locations, improving access totransport or credit facilities for the same,subsidies on cold storage, use of technol-ogy to predict demand and so on wouldhelp eradicate some age-old problems andpositively impact farmer incomes.

Cooperative farming/cluster farm-ing/Farmer Producer Organisations:Most farmers across India have margin-al land holdings and this reduces their abil-ity to generate higher incomes individu-ally. Consolidation of land holdingsbecomes an important strategy to raisefarmer incomes. They can voluntarilycome together and pool land to gain thebenefits of size. Through consolidation,farmers can reap the benefits of economiesof scale both in input procurement andoutput marketing.

Focussing on these areas and imple-menting programmes with a single, uni-fied vision will be a huge step in the direc-tion of reviving India’s agriculture sector.Improving purchasing power in ruralareas, especially that of farmers, will alsohelp accelerate overall economic growth.Poor policy, high price volatility, climaterisk and indebtedness plague India’s farmsector. A majority of farmers — 85 per cent— include small and marginal ones, withdeclining and increasingly fragmentinglandholdings, where these external factorsand uncertainty make them even morevulnerable.

(The writer is Director, Farmpal,which helps farmers to connect with busi-nesses)

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The National Programme forHealth Care of the Elderly(NPHCE) was launched by the

Ministry of Health and FamilyWelfare in 2010 to provide accessibleand affordable healthcare for theelderly and the World HealthOrganisation (WHO) declared 2020-2030 as the ‘Decade of HealthyAgeing.’ This is very relevant for Indiaas according to census data, there areover 104 million senior citizens in thecountry. Out of this, more than halfof the elderly are women.

Approximately 71 per cent of thecountry’s elderly reside in areas withlimited access to healthcare. It goeswithout saying that the incidence ofhospitalisation is much higher in the

elderly as compared to the total pop-ulation.

A major cause for concern is thefact that 27 per cent of people abovethe age of 80 were found to be home-bound or immobile.

Despite the fact that the situationis grave, States have not managed touse more than seven per cent of thefunds disbursed by the Centre for thehealthcare needs of the elderly andonly five per cent of the fundsreleased for the management of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) havebeen put to use.

This is particularly pathetic con-sidering the fact that the NPHCE ispart of the NCD flexi pool which isone of the major components of theNational Health Mission (NHM).

Providing access to quality health-care is the responsibility of the CentralGovernment as well as States and theyneed to put central funds to good useand ensure that healthcare schemesfor the elderly are implemented in alldistricts.

At present, the implementation islackadaisical and is marred by

unwieldy cost overruns. StateGovernments are already over-whelmed by their existing healthcareprogrammes and it is not unreason-able for them to expect a certainamount of flexibility in operations.However, the failure to produce tan-gible results points towards a lack ofplanning and organisation. Unlessthere is a strict oversight mechanism,course correction is difficult and theelderly of the nation will continue tosuffer the result of this indifference atthe State Government and bureaucrat-ic level.

Where do we stand?: At present,the facilities that are dedicated forgeriatric care are sub-standard. Inrural and remote areas, where a sub-stantial percentage of the elderlyreside, you would be hard-pressed tofind a functional facility, let alone awell-equipped one.

State Governments are not verykeen on spending money on pro-grammes like the NPHCE as they usethe funds for more immediaterequirements like skill training, salaryand infrastructure development, all of

which are crucial areas that are for-ever cash-strapped.

Even though the NPHCE isunder the NCD flexi pool, there aretwo main reasons behind the under-utilisation of funds. First, we suffer ashortage of medical professionalswho are trained in geriatric care.Second, State Treasuries take a lot oftime to release funds to the respectivedistrict administration.

Both of these factors lead to anunderutilisation of capital, preventingthe programme from taking flight.Also, depending on the economiccondition, a number of StateGovernments cut back on expendi-tures to trim the fiscal deficits.

Time to address the skill gap:Since the core of the programmefocusses on clinical care, it is not pos-sible to ensure effective implementa-tion, unless we train our healthcareprofessionals. Only a handful of med-ical colleges in India have postgrad-uate programmes to train undergrad-uate students in geriatric care, owingto the strict guidelines laid down bythe Medical Council of India (MCI).

Unless medical colleges get thetechnical and the bureaucratic supportthey need, it is unrealistic to expectthe current state of affairs to improve.Thankfully, the Government haswoken up to this reality and is nowsupporting two National Centres forAgeing (NCAs) that are dedicated totrain professionals, conduct research,and provide healthcare for the elder-ly. We also have regional geriatric cen-ters (RGCs) that aim to provide ter-tiary care through outpatient depart-ments for seniors in addition to pro-viding postgraduate medical coursesfor students who want to specialise ingeriatric medicine. If we open moreRGCs and NCAs, particularly inrural and remote areas, it will helpimprove health outcomes for theelderly.

The need for a multifacetedapproach: We also need a shift insocietal attitudes towards the elderlyif we want better results. Preventingand treating health problems in theelderly requires a multiprongedapproach that incorporates the activeinvolvement of the healthcare ecosys-

tem, urban/rural development, socialwelfare and legal sectors. We need toexpand our current geriatric care pro-gramme to include non-medicaldeterminants as well.

Unless we have an unwaveringpolitical commitment coupled withsocial action, it is difficult to imple-ment customised policies at the grass-root level. Seniors must be educatedabout potential risk factors so thatthey are empowered to take controlof their health. Children must volun-teer to look after their ageing parentsand we need customised health insur-ance schemes to take care of the needsof our senior citizens.

The Government must establishmore gerontology units to train med-ical and paramedical professionals onthe healthcare needs of the elderly. Tosum it up, a joint approach can helpaddress the challenges in geriatric carein the country. Failing to do so willdevelop into a costly proposition inthe future.

(The writer is Director andCreative Strategist at CHAI Kreativeand Return of Million Smiles)

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Equity markets are likely tosee more volatility this week

and may also witness a reliefrally after suffering a massivedrubbing recently due to thecoronavirus pandemic, ana-lysts said.

In a nerve-wracking weekfor the markets, the BSE Sensexplummeted 3,473.14 points or9.24 per cent while the NSENifty lost 1,034.25 points or9.41 per cent, largely in tandemwith global equities which suc-cumbed to panic selling trig-gered by the coronavirus out-break.

Domestic markets wit-nessed a roller-coaster sessionon Friday, with trading beinghalted for the first time in 12years as benchmarks plungedover 10 per cent in openingtrade, before staging a record-shattering comeback.

Analysts said participantswould keep an eye on the

spread of the coronavirus, aswell as further stimulus mea-sures by global central banksand governments. The USFederal Reserve is also sched-uled to announce its rate deci-sion this week.

“Markets would take awhile to recover from this sig-nificant price damage. Whilevolatility may continue in com-ing days, we could see inter-mittent relief rallies, howeverthese are likely to be short-lived. In such times of globalvolatility, retail investors shouldkeep calm and not panic,” saidSiddhartha Khemka, Head -Retail Research, Motilal OswalFinancial Services.

The number of novel coro-navirus cases in the countryrose to 107 on Sunday, with 12fresh cases in Maharashtra,the Union Health Ministrysaid. The virus has infectedmore than 150,000 peopleworldwide and killed over5,600.

On the macroeconomicfront, WPI inflation data will beannounced on Monday.

“Temporary relief was seenin the global markets based on

stimulus hopes. Investors arestill advised to be alert since thevolatility, as measured by thevolatility index has reachedall-time highs. Sentiments

around the spread of the viruswill continue to drive the mar-kets and any signs of the rate ofinfections falling will be a pos-itive,” said Vinod Nair, Head of

Research, Geojit FinancialServices.

“In the near term, weexpect volatility to remain highand maintain cautious stance,”Ajit Mishra, VP - Research,Religare Broking Ltd said.

According to IndiaNivesh,Head - Institutional Equities,Vinay Pandit, “Markets haveseen a lower circuit for the firsttime after 2008. But equatingthis situation with2008 isunfair. 2008 was a global finan-cial meltdown whereas the2020 correction due to con-cerns on account of coron-avirus are overdone. Goodquality stocks have taken anundue beating and I am expect-ing a sharp bounce back.”

The Indian benchmarksposted their biggest ever one-day falls in two sessions thisweek (March 9 and 12).

Investor wealth wortharound �15 lakh crore hasbeen wiped off in the past foursessions.

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Yes Bank expects pressuresfrom sour loans, which led

it to declare the highest loss forany private sector lender at Rs18,654 crore for the Decemberquarter, to continue even inFY21, but CEO-designatePrashant Kumar is confident ofits survival after a Rs 10,000-crore capital infusion.

The bank witnessed with-drawals of over Rs 72,000 croreof deposits in the last sixmonths to Rs 1.37 lakh crore,but the Rs 10,000 crore capitalinfusion, coupled with over1,000 branches and a strongcustomer base makes Kumarconfident of Yes Bank contin-uing to be a “going concern”.

“The proposed capitalinfusion and the bank’s strongcustomer base and branch net-work will enable the Bank tocontinue its business for theforeseeable future, so as to beable to realise its assets and dis-charge its liabilities in its nor-mal course of business,” thebank said, quoting Kumar’sassessment.

Kumar is at present thebank’s RBI-appointed admin-istrator and will be taking overas CEO on Wednesday eveningonce the bank comes out ofmoratorium.

The heavy reverses on cor-porate lending -- nearly a thirdof the overall loans have turnedsour -- have probably led thenew management led byKumar to earmark focus onretail and small business loansas a priority going forward,according to its investor pre-sentation.

The bank has also made itclear that additional-tier 1

bonds of over Rs 8,500 crorewill have to be written-downcompletely for the reconstruc-tion to begin, setting the stagefor a legal battle.

Kumar had to be installedas the administrator of thebank on March 5 by the RBI,after the government super-seded its board due to aninability to raise much-neededcapital.

Much of the troubles at thebank are attributed to thealleged mishandling by its co-founder and former chief exec-utive Rana Kapoor, whose termwas cut short by the RBI due togovernance lapses.

Under Kapoor’s successorRavneet Gill, it began an accel-erated recognition of the stresshidden in the balance sheet,which started with reporting itsmaiden quarterly loss in March2019. Kumar has continued thewidely prevalent practice of anincoming head cleaning upthe books and preferring tostart with a clean slate.

However, in its investorpresentation, Yes Bank saidslippages, which went up to Rs24,587 crore in the Decemberquarter, will normalise only inFY22.

The bank told investorsthat it expects slippages to beat 5 per cent of the assets inFY21. The assets decreased by22 per cent to Rs 2.90 lakh

crore at the end of December2019, as compared to the year-ago period.

Compared to the precedingquarter, advances overdue for31 to 90 days (levels before theyget tagged as NPAs), declined43 per cent to Rs 13,911 crore.

The higher slippages and areduction in loan book werekey reasons for the 60 per centdecline in the core net interestincome at Rs 1,065 crore, andalso narrowing of the net inter-est margin to 1.4 per centfrom 3.3 per cent a year ago.

Deposit mobilisation,accelerating resolution of thestressed assets and cost opti-misation have been marked asthe key focus areas, along witha shift to low-value loans byKumar.

In the high-value loanssegment, the strategy is toreduce exposure to commercialrealty, non-bank lenders, hous-ing finance companies, infra-structure and electricity sectors,it said.

Meanwhile, the bank’sreconstruction has been set-offwith the issue of Rs 10,000crore of shares to the consor-tium led by SBI, which alsoincludes IDFC First Bank,Bandhan Bank, Federal Bank,ICICI Bank, HDFC, KotakMahindra Bank and Axis Bank,the bank informed theexchanges.

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Petrol price was on Sundaycut by 12 paise a litre and

diesel rates by 14 paise as oilcompanies moderated ratereduction amid the fall in glob-al prices to absorb the hike inexcise duty on fuel by theGovernment.

Petrol in Delhi now costs�69.75 per litre, while diesel ispriced at �62.44, according toa price notification of state-owned oil firms.

Delhi has the lowest fuelprices among metros becauseof lower state taxes.

Industry sources said thereduction in rates would havebeen higher but for the �3 perlitre increase in excise dutyeffected on Saturday.

Oil companies, they said,had been moderating reductionwarranted in retail prices inanticipation of an excise dutyhike. The gains they thus accu-mulated were adjusted againstthe price hike that would havebeen necessary because of theincrease in excise duty. Somemoderation in passing on thedecline in international pricesin the near future to domesticconsumers will continue till allof the excise duty impact isrecovered, the sources added.

The Government had onSaturday hiked excise duty onpetrol and diesel by a steep �3per litre each to garner about�39,000 crore additional rev-enue as it repeated its 2014-15act of not passing on gains aris-ing from the slump in interna-tional oil prices.

According to a notificationissued by the Central Board ofIndirect Taxes & Customs, spe-cial excise duty on petrol washiked by �2 to �8 per litre andto �4 a litre from �2 in case ofdiesel. Additionally, road cesswas raised by �1 per litre eachon petrol and diesel to �10.

With this, the total inci-dence of excise duty on petrolhas risen to �22.98 per litre andthat on diesel to �18.83.

The tax on petrol was �9.48

per litre when the Modi gov-ernment took office in 2014and that on diesel was �3.56 alitre.

The Government hadbetween November 2014 andJanuary 2016 raised excise dutyon petrol and diesel on nineoccasions to take away gainsarising from plummeting glob-al oil prices.

In all, duty on petrol ratewas hiked by �11.77 per litreand that on diesel by 13.47 alitre in those 15 months thathelped Government’s excisemop up more than double to�2,42,000 crore in 2016-17from �99,000 crore in 2014-15.

It cut excise duty by �2 inOctober 2017 and by �1.50 ayear later. But it raised exciseduty by �2 per litre in July 2019.

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Saudi Aramco on Sundayreported a 20.6 per cent

drop in its net profit for 2019due to low oil prices and pro-duction levels, the companysaid in a statement.

These are the first annualresults to be announced by theenergy giant after its historical$29.4 billion initial public offer-ing and listing on the SaudiTadawul market last December.

Aramco posted net profitsof $88.2 billion last year com-pared to $111.1 billion in 2018,Monday’s statement said.

“The decrease was pri-marily due to lower crude oilprices and production vol-umes, coupled with decliningrefining and chemical mar-gins,” it said.

The company also made$1.6 billion of impairment pro-visions for losses associated withSadara Chemical Company, anAramco subsidiary.

“2019 was an exceptionalyear for Saudi Aramco. Througha variety of circumstances —some planned and some not —the world was offered unprece-dented insight into SaudiAramco’s agility and resilience,”CEO Amin Nasser said.

“Our unique scale, lowcosts, and resilience came

together to deliver both growthand world-leading returns,while also maintaining ourposition as one of the world’smost reliable energy compa-nies,” Nasser said.

The earnings for last yearare not affected by the coron-avirus outbreak or the ongoingprice war between Saudi Arabiaand Russia that has sent oilprices crashing.

Aramco said it will dis-tribute dividends worth $73.2billion for 2019 but based on itscommitments under the IPO,its dividends for the next fiveyears starting this year will beat least $75 billion.

It said its capital spendinglast year dropped to $32.8 bil-lion from $35.1 billion in 2018.

The company expects cap-ital spending, which is expen-diture on projects, to bebetween $25 billion and $30 bil-lion this year “in light of currentmarket conditions and recentcommodity price volatility.”

But it said that capitalexpenditure for 2021 andbeyond is currently underreview. The results wereannounced amid a price warbetween Saudi Arabia andRussia after they failed to agreeon additional output cuts tosupport prices dented by theoutbreak of the coronavirus

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Increasing GST on mobilephones to 18 per cent from

12 per cent at the time of eco-nomic slowdown coupled withcoronavirus outbreak willderail the industry and lead tojob losses, industry body ICEAsaid on Sunday.

The India Cellular andElectronics Association saidthe decision will put a burdenof �15,000 crore on commonman and adversely impact over100 crore Indian consumers.

“When coronavirus isspreading panic, economicslowdown is at its peak, con-sumer sentiment is batteredand stock markets are in free-fall, increasing GST is bothcounter-intuitive and insensi-tive. This will lead to immedi-ate job losses and severelydampen future investments inmanufacturing,” ICEAChairman Pankaj Mohindroosaid in a statement.

He said that till June 2017consumers were paying 4-5per cent value added tax and 1per cent on excise duty andlater they were burdened with12 per cent GST which hasbeen further increased to 18per cent.

“The 18 per cent GST hikewill also bring back the bad olddays of early 2000s when thegrey market in mobile phoneswas rampant at 90 per cent. Itreverses years of painstakingefforts by governments andindustry to increase mobilemanufacturing and penetrationby sensible policy interventionsand tax rationalisation,”Mohindroo said.

He said this move will alsoprove to be disastrous for thealready fragile retailer com-munity wherein lakhs of smalland mid-sized retailers surviveby selling mobile phones.

A top official of the coun-try’s leading smartphone sell-

er Xiaomi had said on Saturdaythat smartphone makers will beforced to increase handsetprices with this hike in GST.

“As a result of this GSTincrease, all smartphone mak-ers will be forced to increaseprices. This can weaken thedemand and mobile industry’sMake in India programme.This could also have long last-ing impact on internet pene-tration and digital India pro-gram as majority of Indiansaccess the internet on smart-phones,” Xiaomi IndiaManaging Director Manu Jainsaid.

ICEA said that the GSThike is contrary to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’svision to make India the worldleader in mobile phone manu-facturing.

Mohindroo said that withhike in GST, it will be difficultto achieve even half the targetof $80 billion domestic pro-duction of mobile phones inthe country by 2025 set underNational Policy on Electronics2019.

Mobile manufacturing pro-duction in the countryincreased five-folds and rev-enues 10-folds from 58 millionunits valued at �18,900 crore in2014-15 to 290 million unitsvalued at �1,81,200 crore in2018-19.

“The government revenuespost GST had doubled from�10,900 crore to �20,700 crorewithin two years. To strike thesector with a higher GST at thisstage is the equivalent of killingthe goose that lays the goldenegg. Not a savvy move by anystretch,” Mohindroo said.

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The Apparel ExportPromotion Council

(AEPC) has advised its mem-bers to explore more marketsfor buying intermediates orraw materials to reduce depen-dency on China due to coron-avirus outbreak.

In a letter to its members,AEPC Chairman A Sakthivelsaid that he has approached thegovernment to direct Indianembassies abroad to identifyalternate sources of input sup-pliers.

“We have advised ourmembers to diversify theirsourcing base given that thesupply chain from China is dis-rupted,” he said.

He also said that the coun-cil has identified top 10 appar-el product lines or items eachin the US, the EU, Japan andSouth Korea which are show-ing significant decline inimports from China.

“These items can work asnew opportunities for localapparel exporters who have thepotential to fill the gap,” he said.

Sakthivel also urged mem-bers to spread health awarenessabout coronavirus among itsworkforce at their factories.

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India’s coal imports regis-tered a decline of 14.1 per

cent to 17.01 million tonnes(MT) in February in the wakeof the coronavirus outbreak, asper industry data.

The country’s coal importsin February last year stood at19.82 MT, according to a pro-visional compilation by mjunc-tion services, based on moni-toring of vessels’ positions anddata received from shippingcompanies.

Mjunction — a joint ven-ture between Tata Steel andSAIL — is a B2B e-commercecompany which also publishesresearch reports on coal andsteel verticals.

“In line with expectations,coal import volumes staged adecline during the month ofFebruary due to increaseddomestic availability, volatilityin non-coking coal prices aswell as uncertainty arisingfrom...Coronavirus epidemic,”mjunction MD and CEOVinaya Varma said.

“Going forward, pricesmay see a downward bias,while demand for import mayremain subdued, for much the same reason,” Varmaadded.

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Construction, transport andchemical manufacturing

sectors are likely to be theworst-affected by the coron-avirus pandemic in China, saysa report. However, India’s topimports — crude oil and gemsand jewellery — which collec-tively account for 46 per cent oftotal imports are relatively insu-lated from the public health cri-sis in China, according to thereport by ICICI Securities.

The novel coronaviruswhich originated in China’sWuhan city towards the end of2019 has so far claimed over5,000 lives and infected morethan 1 lakh people globally.Daily death toll due to the virusis still very high and given thenumber of infected people, thebattle with the virus is farfrom over, it said.

Since the severity of thevirus became known, globalfinancial markets have been onthe edge. Although most ofdeaths are in China, the virushas reportedly spread to about100 countries and has beendeclared a pandemic by theWHO. Out of India’s totalimports of $507 billion in

FY19, 26 per cent of the basket,which comprises iron and steeland inorganic chemicals, islikely to be affected modestly.

“We expect the impact oniron and steel to be moderatebecause India imports 11 percent of its iron and steel fromChina. Also, India’s biggestimport source country for ironand steel, South Korea imports20 per cent of its requirementfrom China.

“Similarly, we expect theimpact on inorganic chemicalto be moderate as well sinceIndia imports almost 15 percent of its inorganic chemicalsfrom China,” the report noted.

Further, there are fiveimport items that heavilydepend on China. They are —electrical machinery, machin-ery and mechanical appliances,organic chemicals, plastics andoptical and surgical instru-ments. These items collective-ly account for 28 per cent ofIndia’s import basket.

“The sectors likely to beworst-affected by the possibleshutdown in China are con-struction, transport manufac-turing, chemical manufactur-ing and machinery manufac-turing,” it added.

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Foreign portfolio investors(FPIs) have withdrawn a

whopping �37,976 crore on anet basis from the Indian mar-kets in March so far amid thecoronavirus pandemic triggering fears of a globalrecession.

Overseas investors pulledout a net sum of �24,776.36crore from equities and�13,199.54 crore from the debtsegment between March 2-13, depositories datashowed.

This translates into a totalnet outflow of �37,975.90 croreduring the period underreview.

Prior to this, foreigninvestors were net buyers for sixconsecutive months sinceSeptember 2019.

“The spread of coronavirusoutbreak, which has now beendeclared a pandemic, and con-tinued slowdown in the glob-al economy, has created avicious cycle which is con-suming investors worldwide,”said Himanshu Srivastava,senior analyst managerresearch, MorningstarInvestment Adviser India.

New Delhi: Bharti Airtel andVodafone Idea Ltd, whose self-assessed dues to theGovernment are less than halfof what the Department ofTelecommunications (DoT)estimates, must disclose work-ings highlighting areas of dif-ference as minority sharehold-ers deserve to know, an analystreport said.

While Bharti Airtel haspegged its dues arising from aSupreme Court ruling thatasked for non-telecom rev-enues to be included in calcu-lating spectrum charges andlicence fee at �13,004 crore, theDoT puts the estimate at�35,000 crore. In case ofVodafone Idea Ltd (VIL), theDoT is seeking over �53,000crore, while the company esti-mates its dues are �21,533 crore.

“While we appreciate thematter is still sub judice, oncethe legal chapter is over, Bhartiand VIL could (and should)disclose their self-assessmentworkings highlighting the areasof difference versus the DOTmath. Even as this isn’t a statu-torily mandated disclosure, webelieve the minority share-holders deserve to know,”Kotak Institutional Equitiessaid in a March 9 report. PTI

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Traders’ body CAIT hasappealed to Finance

Minister Nirmala Sitharamanto direct regulator IRDAI tomandate insurance firms tointroduce coverage for disrup-tions to businesses on account of the coronavirusoutbreak.

In a letter to Sitharaman,CAIT suggested that insur-

ance companies may be man-dated to introduce ‘disruptionsdue to coronavirus’ as an addi-tional cover to fire and mate-rials damage policies, and theexisting policyholders may be offered an option to add the additionalcover.

Confederation of All IndiaTraders (CAIT) SecretaryGeneral Praveen Khandelwalhighlighted the need for insur-

ers to come up with need-basedpolicies like cover against mos-quito-borne diseases and vec-tor-borne diseases, which cancover hospitalisation expensesdue to coronavirus or fixed benefits upon its diag-nosis.

CAIT has also sent a sim-ilar representation toCommerce Minister PiyushGoyal to take up the matterwith Finance Ministry.

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Chennaiyin FC headcoach Owen Coyle rued

his side’s missed chances intheir 1-3 defeat against ATKin the Indian Super Leaguesummit clash that cost thema third title.

Chennaiyin failed to givetheir magical turnaround inthis ISL the desired fairytaleending, and Coyle minced nowords that his side playedbetter than ATK in the finalheld here without spectatorson Saturday due to COVID-19 pandemic.

“Goals change games.We had a few easy chances ininitial phase but could nottake them. No one should tellme they (ATK) were the bet-ter team. My disappointmentis for how much my team putinto the game. But ultimate-ly if you don’t take yourchances, you give away softgoals,” he said.

“We were the team thatplayed all the football. To befair to them they stuck totheir task. They made ittough for us by banging theball forward. The spoils wentto ATK so all the very best tothem. We were the teamwho kept pushing on, butthey were clinical and wewere not,” Coyle added.

The 53-year-old Irishcoach said ATK must berelieved to have won thefinal and the title given thatChhenaiyin had more pos-session and goal-scoringchances.

“We had almost 70%

possession but ultimately ifyou don't take your chances,it will come back to hauntyou. There were two thingsfrom our perspective. One,we were not clinical enoughwith our chances and second,I felt ATK’s last two goalswere certainly avoidable,” hesaid.

“I think ATK will bevery relieved to get awaywith the trophy given whatwe brought to the game. Butthat is how football is at thehighest level.”

Coyle praised ATK goal-keeper ArindamBhattacharja despite he wasbeing the thorn inChennaiyin’s flesh by savingsome crucial saves.

“However, I have to sayATK’s goal in the first halfwas a wonderful finish andcredit to them. The man of

the match for me was theirgoalkeeper ArindamBhattacharja. He was trulyoutstanding. I have to givecredit to ATK for winning,”he said.

Despite the disappoint-ing stumble in the final hur-dle, it has been a season toremember for the MarinaMachans who made it to thesummit clash after languish-ing near the bottom of thetable midway into the season.

“My feelings go out to mygroup of players, becausethose players, particularlythe young players, they havedone so much. They havebeen a joy to watch. I reallyfeel for them. They love theirclub. I feel disappointed forthem. It is a tough night tolose and it is important torecognize the players whohave done very well.”

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The first head coach to winthe Indian Super Leaguetrophy twice, Antonio

Habas of ATK feels that theleague has become more pro-fessional over the years with thecoming in of better playersand support staff.

He also said the latest titleATK won on Saturday afterdefeating Chennaiyin FC 3-1 inthe final here, though it wasplayed without spectators dueto COVID-19 pandemic, wasmore important than the clubwon in the inaugural seasonunder him in 2014.

“It’s different because in thefirst season, the Hero ISL wasnot the same competition. Nowit is much more professional.There are better coaches, bet-ter players, more teams, moretime in the competition,” hesaid when asked to compare hissuccess in the first ISL to thelatest one.

“This title is more impor-tant than the first, but the firstwas also important because itwas the first title,” Habas added.

ATK have now become thefirst ISL team to win the titlethrice in the league's six yearhistory, having also won thetrophy in 2016. ChennaiyinFC, who lost 1-2 in the summitclash on Saturday, had won thetitle twice (2015 and 2017-18).

Habas credited the collec-tive effort of the team as thereason behind their latest titleafter injuries to key playersearly in the season createdproblems.

“We are a group always,inside and outside of the pitch.This is important. We had bigproblems with injuries to CarlMcHugh, then Agus (Iniguez)and in the final, the problem to(Krishna) Roy. But the strengthof the team was the collectiveeffort,” he said.

“His (Carl McHugh) injurywas a big miss. With the prob-lem with Agus, the team was ina problem for two, three match-es. But the strength of thegroup salvaged the situation.When you have individualproblems, the only solution isthe team, the collective. Themix between Indian and for-eign players was fantastic this

season.”The 62-year-old Spaniard

admitted his side did not playwell in the second half of thesummit clash againstChennaiyin FC and his playerswere nervous.

“I think the match hadtwo different parts. In the firsthalf after the initial few min-utes, we were better than

Chennaiyin. And after that inthe second half, with the injuryto Roy (Krishna), the teamwas nervous.

“We could not find thenecessary personnel to keepscoring and kill the match off.In the second half, the team didnot play well. Even though wedid not play well, we had fan-tastic character. In some match-

es, you can win with the heart,”he said.

Asked about the secretbehind his success with ATK,Habas said,” “ATK has peoplethat love me, like I love ATK. Ihave a special connect withATK since the first season andit continues. We are a family.This is amazing. This is thesecret.”

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Former Manchester Unitedstar Wayne Rooney claims

the British government andfootball authorities have treat-ed players like “guinea pigs”during the coronavirus crisis.

While the rest ofEuropean football was shut-ting down due to the growingthreat of the global pandem-ic, Rooney is angry it took sev-eral days for the PremierLeague and Football League topostpone their matches untilApril 3.

It was only when Arsenalmanager Mikel Arteta andChelsea winger CallumHudson-Odoi tested positivefor the virus on Friday thatfootball’s UK governing bod-ies called a temporary halt tothe season.

Rooney, currently play-ing for second tier Derby, feltthey should have acted quick-er and the former Englandcaptain said he would “neverforgive” the authorities if hisfamily fell ill as a result.

“Why did we wait untilFriday? Why did it take MikelArteta to get ill for the gamein England to do the rightthing?” Rooney wrote in theSunday Times.

“For players, staff andtheir families it has been aworrying week - one inwhich you felt a lack of lead-ership from the govern-ment and from the FA andPremier League.

“After the emergencymeeting, at last the rightdecision was made -until then italmost felt likefootballers inEngland werebeing treatedlike guineapigs.

“I knowhow I feel. Ifany of my fam-ily get infectedthrough mebecause I’ve hadto play when it’snot safe, andthey get seri-ously i l l , I’dhave to thinkhard about everplaying again. Iwould neverforgive theauthorities.”

M a n ymatches atn o n - l e a g u elevel weregoing ahead asscheduled in

Britain this weekend andRooney believes PrimeMinister Boris Johnson“dodged” the issue by lettingfootball make its own decisionabout playing on.

The 34-year-old claimedmoney was key to the author-ities' reluctance to cancelgames.

“The rest of sport - tennis,Formula One, rugby, golf,football in other countries -was closing down and wewere being told to carry on,”Rooney said.

“I think a lot of foot-ballers were wondering, ‘Is itsomething to do with moneybeing involved in this?'”

Once the virus is undercontrol, Rooney wants a rad-ical schedule shake-up whichcould see the current seasonbeing concluded as late asSeptember, and the next twokicking off in winter-time asa result.

“We’re happy to play untilSeptember if the seasonextends to then, if that’s howit has to be. That’s our job. Aslong as we know we’re safe toplay and it's a safe environ-ment for spectators, we’ll play,”Rooney said.

“The next World Cup is inNovember and December

2022, so you couldactually use this sit-uation as anopportunity andsay we're going tofinish the 2019-20 season laterthis year, then pre-pare for 2022 byhaving the next

two seasonsstarting in

winter.”

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ISL has become more professional over years : Habas

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Valencia confirmed onSunday five of the club's

players and staff have testedpositive for coronavirus,including Argentiniandefender Ezequiel Garay.

Valencia said all thoseaffected were "now at home,in good health and obeyingself-isolation measures."

Garay, who was set tomiss the rest of the seasonwith a knee injury, becamethe first player in La Liga toconfirm a positive test earli-er on Sunday.

"Clearly I've got off onthe wrong foot in 2020,"Garay wrote on social media."I've tested positive for thecoronavirus, I'm fine andnow just listening to thehealth authorities, at themoment in isolation."

Valencia confirmedmore cases shortly afterGaray's announcement."Valencia CF confirm fivepositive cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus have beendetected amongst first teamstaff and players.

“All of these persons are

now at home, in good healthand obeying self-isolationmeasures.”

Valencia played behindclosed doors on Tuesday inthe Champions Leagueagainst Atalanta, the Serie Ateam based in Lombardy,one of Italy's worst-hitregions by the virus.

The club announced onFebruary 28 they would besuspending all non-sporting

activity with the first-teamafter a journalist attendingthe opening game againstAtalanta was confirmed tohave tested positive.

All engagement with themedia before and after sub-sequent matches against RealBetis on February 29 andAlaves on Friday was can-celled, while a tribute to theclub's former player DavidVilla was also called off.

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Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen clinched themen's singles title of the All England

Open at Birmingham Arena here on Sunday.Axelsen outclassed Taiwan’s Chou Tien-

Chen in two straight games 21-13, 21-14. Thesummit clash lasted for about 46 minutes.Axelsen did not give any chance to worldnumber two to make a comeback in the clash.This was Axelsen’s maiden All EnglandOpen title.

Valencia confirm five positive testsfor coronavirus, among them Garay

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The visit of a high-powered delegation compris-ing Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju and top IOA

officials to Tokyo later this month to look into India'slogistical preparedness for the Olympics has beenput on hold in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The visit was scheduled for March 25 to 29 butwill now happen at a later date which is yet to bedecided.

Besides Rijiju, the other members of the dele-gation included Indian Olympic Association pres-ident Narinder Batra, secretary-general RajeevMehta, Boxing Federation of India president AjaySingh, sports secretary Radhey Shyam Julaniya andSports Authority of India director general SandipPradhan.

"The pro-posed visit ofHigh LevelI n d i a nDelegation toTokyo con-sisting ofGovt Officialsand IndianO l y m p i cAssociation toreview India's#Tokyo2020preparationon 25thMarch is tem-porarily post-poned," Rijijutweeted.

M e h t atold PTI, "In view of the rising threat of this COVID-19 pandemic, the visit has been put on hold. As ofnow, we have not decided when the delegation willvisit Tokyo. It will happen at a later date depend-ing on the situation."

India will have its first-ever Olympic HospitalityHouse in Tokyo during the Summer Games,scheduled to be held from July 24 to August 9. Itwill be built by JSW on a piece of land of 2,200square metre area and in close proximity to theGames Village and multiple venues in the Ariakeregion of the Japanese capital.

It will offer a range of activities and experiencesfor travelling fans and supporters who will be inTokyo for the Olympics.

Running through the duration of the Games,the India House will host watch parties, medal cel-ebrations and meet-and-greet opportunities with theIndian athletes. The visitors will also get a taste ofvariety of Indian cuisine.

There will be a dedicated Athlete Lounge forIndian Olympians and access to medical facilitiesand food will be available on site. A media centreto host travelling Indian media personnel has alsobeen planned in the area. Several Indian and inter-national brands will also have their stalls to displayand sell their products.

More than 70 Indian athletes have so far qual-ified for the Tokyo Olympics and the IOA is expect-ing the number to touch at least 125 before theGames.

The coronavirus outbreak has led to specula-tion over the fate of the Olympics this year. TheInternational Olympic Committee (IOC), howev-er, has insisted that the Games will be held as sched-uled in July-August.

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Four-time Olympic Gold medallistSimone Biles wants more than good

wishes from USA Gymnastics.The US federation wished Biles a

happy 23rd birthday on social media onSaturday.

Biles — who also owns 19 world titlesand is expected to be among the stars ofthe Tokyo Olympics — used their tweetas a chance to demand an independentinvestigation into the Larry Nassar sexabuse scandal.

“how about you amaze me and do theright thing ... have an independent inves-tigation,” Biles snapped on Twitter after thefederation's birthday tweet.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the mostdecorated gymnast of all time,@simonebiles!” USA Gymnastics wrote,posting a video of Biles in action in a floorexercise. “We know you will only contin-ue to amaze us and make history!”

Former national gymnastics teamdoctor Nassar was jailed for life for abus-ing more than 250 athletes, including starsof the United States' 2012 and 2016 goldmedal-winning Olympic teams.

A US Senate investigation found that“multiple institutions" failed to adequate-ly respond to credible allegations againstNassar, but Biles has said that USAGymnastics and the US Olympic andParalympic Committee still owe his vic-

tims, including herself, more answers anda framework to ensure such abuses won'toccur again.

“Wish they BOTH wanted an inde-pendent investigation as much as the sur-vivors & I do,” she tweeted earlier thismonth..”

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With less than five months to go before the TokyoOlympics, International Olympic Committee

President Thomas Bach plans emergency talks withmember organisations, sources close to the IOC saidon Sunday.

The IOC plans a conference call on Tuesday to“keep the international federations informed of thesituation, as well as the National Olympic Committeesand athletes,” one source close to the IOC told AFP.

The IOC “will take stock of the actions taken”to respond to the coronavirus crisis “and the feder-ations will have the opportunity to ask questions”added a source close to one international sports fed-eration

The IOC “conducts a regular dialogue with allthe Olympic partners and regularly informs them ofthe situation,” added an IOC spokesman.

While many international sporting events havebeen postponed or cancelled, Japanese PrimeMinister Shinzo Abe promised on Friday that Tokyowould host the Olympic Games as planned in Julyand August, despite questions raised by the pandem-ic.

Thomas Bach said on Thursday that his organ-isation would follow the recommendations of theWorld Health Organisation regarding a possible post-ponement.

He acknowledged, however, that the cancellationof qualifying events due to the epidemic was alreadyposing "serious problems”.

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Australia’s white-ball captain AaronFinch has revealed heHad nightmares during India’s

2018 tour when pacersBhuvneshwar Kumar and JaspritBumrah were taking his wicket“for fun”.

Opening the innings, theAustralian captain struggled acrossall three formats during the Indiaseries, specially while trying to nav-igate Bhuvneshwar's inswingingdeliveries.

“I’d wake up in a cold sweat,he’s (Bhuvneshwar) got me outa lot with the ball moving backin,” Finch said in Amazon’srecently released docu-seriestitled 'The Test'.

The Indian seamer hadscalped Finch’s wicket four times,including during all three ODIs andone T20I, in the six-match limitedovers series.

Finch also said that he would wake upat night just thinking about facing Bumrahthe next day.

“There were times that I’d wake up inthe night thinking about getting out.Thinking I’m facing Bumrah again tomor-row, he’s getting me out for fun,” Finchsaid.

India enjoyed an unprecedentedsummer, winning the BorderGavaskar Trophy 3-1, their first-everTest series win on the Australiansoil. It was followed by a 2-1 vic-tory in the ODIs, while the T20series ended in a 1-1 draw.

Bumrah was instru-mental in India's his-toric Test victory. Theright-arm paceremerged as the joint high-est wicket-taker in the four-match series, claiming 21 wick-ets.

The Test, which is an eight-part series, shows the Australiancricket team’s journey of redemp-tion from the 2018 ball-tamper-ing scandal to a successful defenceof the Ashes.

The series also featuresbehind-the-scenes footage ofAustralia's first-ever Testseries loss to India onhome soil and the WorldCup semifinal exit.

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Mahendra Singh Dhoni onSunday left the Chennai

Super Kings training camp herefollowing the suspension of the13th edition of IPL till April 15 inthe wake of COVID-19 pandem-ic.

Dhoni, who had arrived inChennai for CSK’s preparatorycamp early this month, left the

base in front of his cheering fans.“It has become your home,

sir!' Keep whistling, as #ThalaDhoni bids a short adieu to#AnbuDen,” Chennai Super Kingswrote on its twitter handle alongwith a short video.

The video showed fans liningup to catch a glimpse of Dhoni ashe signed autographs and inter-acted with the fans.

The BCCI on Friday post-

poned the start of this year's IPLfrom March 29 to April 15 inwake of the pandemic, which hascaused massive upheaval acrossthe globe.

On Saturday, the BCCI andthe eight IPL team owners met inMumbai to discuss the variousoptions after government-imposed travel restrictions andrefusal of three states to host anymatches forced the postpone-

ment of the cash-rich T20 tour-nament. Dhoni hasn’t played anyform of cricket since featuring inIndia’s semifinal loss to NZ at the50-over World Cup in Englandlast year.

There has been a lot of spec-ulation over Dhoni’s internation-al future ahead of this year’s T20World Cup in Australia, withsome saying it will depend on hisperformance in the IPL-13.

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Ace Indian paddler AchantaSharath Kamal produced asensational performance to

clinch the 2020 ITTF ChallengerPlus Oman Open men's singles titlehere on Sunday. Despite being agame down, seasoned campaignerSharath recovered well to outclass topseeded Marcos Freitas of Portugal 6-11, 11-8, 12-10, 11-9, 3-11, 17-15 inthe final.

With Oman Open crown, the 37-year-old veteran also ended his decadelong wait for the title at ITTF event.It was in 2010, Sharath bagged a titlelast time when he won Egypt Open.Since then he made two semi-finalappearances (Morocco Open in 2011and India Open in 2017) but could-n't manage to get through it.

Earlier in the semi-finals, Sharathpulled off a stunning come-from-behind victory against Russia's KirillSkachkov. Fourth-seeded Sharathmade a sensational comeback afterbeing two games down to register 11-13, 11-13, 13-11, 11-9, 13-11, 8-11, 11-7 win in a thrilling seven-set semi-final that lasted for one hour and eightminutes.

Freitas entered final with a 5-11,11-9, 6-11, 6-11, 11-8, 13-11, 11-3 winover Harmeet Desai. India paddlerDesai produced a gritty performanceand was seen dominating the matchat the initial stage. However, WorldNo. 26 Freitas fought back well afterbeing 3-1 down and went on to winthe next three successive games tomake his way into the final.

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