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The coronavirus casescrossed 2 lakh worldwide

and 150 mark in India onWednesday as scientists anddoctors burnt midnight oil tofind a cure, which is elusive tillnow, to the outbreak which hasbrought the world to a virtualstandstill, destroyed the finan-cial market, and posed anunprecedented threat to mil-lions of people around theworld.

The Government steppedup its quarantine facilities witha combined capacity of 59,587beds across the country. Thenormal life was further dis-rupted with the Centre andStates initiating more precau-tionary measures, like closureof the Vaishno Devi yatra inJammu & Kashmir to keep thevirus at bay.

Tamil Nadu on Wednesdaybecame the first State in thecountry asking its residentsnot to travel to neighbouringStates unless necessary as partof measures to control thespread of coronavirus.

If in India, 151 citizenshave been infected with thevirus and around 276 Indiansare in the grip of the virus inother countries — 255 in Iran,12 in the UAE, 5 in Italy andone each in Hong Kong,Kuwait, Rwanda and Sri Lanka— the Government informedthe Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

On the world stage, the sit-uation remained alarming witharound 170 countries and ter-ritories reporting a total of2,04732 confirmed cases ofCOVID-19 that originated inWuhan, China, and a death tollof 8,270 deaths.

In Italy which is now theepicentre, the virus took toll onmore than 2,500. Italy is nowreporting 31,506 cases, includ-ing nearly 13,000 people whoare hospitalised, while Iranhas issued warning, suggesting"millions" could die in theIslamic Republic if people keeptravelling and ignore healthadvisories. Iran reported over135 new coronavirus deaths onWednesday taking the coun-try's overall toll to 988.

In India, the Governmentsaid so far 11,934 beds atCentral Government facilities,26,153 beds at StateGovernments' facilities and21,500 beds at Haj facilitieshave been kept exclusively to

quarantine public wheneverneeded.

To boost the morale of thecitizens in the corona times,Prime Minister Narendra Modion Wednesday hailed thoseinvolved in combating thecoronavirus outbreak as heresponded to several tweets onthe fight against the virus.

He also appreciated OdishaChief Minister Naveen Patnaikfor setting an example by reg-istering his sister's details in theGovernment portal for peoplecoming from abroad.Responding to a tweet by aman whose daughter was res-cued from COVID-19-hit Italy,the Prime Minister said, "Willdo everything possible to helpour citizens." Such efforts arepossible due to teamwork, hesaid, lauding all those workingto make it possible.

Modi urged researchers,innovators and tech-lovers torise to the occasion and ideate

for a better planet.In India, of 151 cases, 25

were of foreign nationals andthe three persons who died inDelhi, Karnataka andMaharashtra. Delhi has so farreported ten positive caseswhich includes one foreigner,while UP has recorded 16cases, including one foreigner.

Maharashtra has 42 cases,including three foreigners,while Kerala has recorded 27cases which include two foreignnationals. Karnataka has 11coronavirus patients while thenumber of cases in Ladakh roseto eight and Jammu & Kashmirthree. Telangana has reportedsix cases which include two for-eigners.

Rajasthan has also report-ed four cases including that oftwo foreigners. Tamil Nadu,Andhra Pradesh, Odisha,Uttarakhand and Punjab havereported one case each.

In Haryana, there are 17

cases, which include fourteenforeigners. According to theMinistry’s data, 14 people havebeen discharged so far, includ-ing the 3 patients from Kerala

who were discharged lastmonth.

Over 5,700 people, whohad come in contact with thesepositive cases, are under rig-

orous surveillance, the UnionHealth Ministry said even asUnion Health Minister HarshVardhan held a review meetingon the containment and man-agement of coronavirus, direct-ing that teams be deputed toregularly inspect and monitorquarantine facilities.

The meeting was attendedby senior Health Ministry offi-cials, the directors or medicalsuperintendents of CentralGovernment hospitals such asSafdurjung Hospital, RMLHospital and AIIMS-Delhi.

Vardhan reviewed the pre-paredness of hospitals in termsof availability of testing kits,personal protective gears, med-icines and isolation wards anddirected hospitals to ensureavailability of protective gearfor all healthcare workers.

A senior official said Swissfirm Roche Diagnostics Indiahas received the licence forconducting coronavirus testsafter approval from drug reg-ulator DCGI, making it the firstprivate firm to get such per-mission after the Governmentallowed accredited private labsto test for COVID-19.

Continued on Page 4

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In a major fillip to Make inIndia, the Defence

Acquisition Council (DAC) onWednesday approved a pro-posal worth over �38,000 crorefor procurement of 83 indige-nously designed and manufac-tured Tejas light combat aircraft(LCA) for the Indian Air Force(IAF). The aircraft are manu-factured by the HindustanAeronautics Limited (HAL).

The DAC chaired byDefence Minister RajnathSingh has given the nod for theacquisition, but the final clear-ance will come from theCabinet Committee onSecurity (CCS) headed byPrime Minister NarendraModi. The DAC is the apexbody for approving the acqui-sition proposals of the armedforces.

Incidentally, the DACmeeting held on Wednesdaywas the first one since the sep-aration of duties betweenDepartment of Defence (DoD)and Department of MilitaryAffairs (DMA) following thecreation of Chief of DefenceStaff in January this year.

The HAL which will pro-duce the upgraded version ofthe fighter jet has already inked

a deal for supplying 40 Tejasand the IAF has already induct-ed one squadron (18-20) jets.

Designed by AircraftDevelopment Agency (ADA)under the Defence Researchand Development Organisation(DRDO) and manufacturedby Hindustan AeronauticsLimited (HAL), Tejas will bethe backbone of IAF in future.

While orders of 40 Tejasaircraft were earlier with theHAL in initial configurations,the DAC on Wednesday pavedthe way for procurement of 83of the more advanced Mk1Aversion of the aircraft fromHAL by finalising the contrac-tual and other issues.

This procurement will be amajor boost to ‘Make in India’as the aircraft is indigenouslydesigned, developed and man-ufactured with participationof several local vendors apartfrom the HAL.

Continued on Page 4

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The relentless selling in theshare market continued on

Wednesday, crashing Sensexbelow the 29,000-level, whilethe Nifty dived almost 500points as the coronavirus pan-demic maintained its deathgrip on stoke markets acrossthe globe.

S&P lowering India’sgrowth forecast and theSupreme Court’s refusal to pro-vide relief to telecom firms onthe AGR issue further sappedrisk appetite, traders said.

After swinging over2,488.72 points in a highlyvolatile session, BSE Sensexclosed 1,709.58 points or 5.59per cent lower at28,869.51.

The Sensex has closedbelow the 29,000-mark for thefirst time since January 2017.On similar lines, the Niftyplummeted 498.25 points toend at 8,468.80.

Barring ONGC and ITC,all Sensex constituents fin-ished in the red. IndusIndBank was the top loser, diving23.90 per cent, followed byPowerGrid (11.29%), KotakBank (11.23%), Bajaj Finance(11.11%), HDFC Bank (9.92 %)and NTPC (8.08%).

Earlier, S&P Global Ratingslowered India’s GDP growthforecast to 5.2 per cent for 2020,saying the global economy isentering a recession amid thecoronavirus pandemic.

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With the date of executionapproaching, the counsel

for the four death-row convictsin the Nirbhaya gangrape andmurder case moved a courthere on Wednesday seekingquashing of their death penal-ty, saying the second mercyplea of Akshay Singh, one ofthe convicts, is still pending.

Additional Sessions Judge(ASJ) Dharmendra Rana issuednotices to the Tihar Jail author-ities and the police on the pleaand said he will hear it onThursday.

Meanwhile, onWednesday, another convict,Pawan Gupta moved theSupreme Court with a curativepetition against the dismissal ofhis review plea rejecting hisjuvenility claim.

The Delhi High Court onWednesday reserved order onthe plea of Mukesh, one of thefour death-row convicts, chal-lenging a trial court order dis-missing his plea that he was notin the national Capital whenthe crime took place onDecember 16, 2012.

Justice Brijesh Sethireserved the order after hear-ing arguments of counsels ofthe convict and the DelhiGovernment. Earlier, the trialcourt had dismissed Mukesh’splea and asked the Bar Council

of India to give sensitisationexercise to his counsel.

The convicts — MukeshSingh (32), Pawan (25), VinaySharma (26) and Akshay (31)— are scheduled to be hangedon March 20 at 5.30 am.

The death warrant of thefour convicts was deferred forthe first time on January 17.The court issued death war-rants again with execution dateas February 1 at 6 am.

On January 31, the courtagain postponed the executiontill further order. On February17 it issued fresh death war-rants for March 3. On March 2,it deferred hanging of thedeath-row convicts till furtherorder and on March 5 it fixedMarch 20 as the fresh date ofexecution of the convicts.

Continued on Page 4

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In the first positive case ofcoronavirus in the armed

forces, a 34-year-old jawan ofthe Indian Army in Leh test-ed positive. The jawan con-tracted it from his father whoreturned from Iran recently.The soldier from LadakhScouts went on casual leavefrom February 25 to March 1and rejoined on March 2.

As a precautionary step,the Army may quarantine allthe other soldiers who cameinto contact with the affectedjawan at the Ladakh ScoutsRegimental Centre, Leh.

Giving details of the case,sources said here onWednesday the soldier’s fatherreturned from Iran by AirIndia flight on February 27after undertaking a pilgrimageand was quarantined fromFebruary 29 at Ladakh HeartFoundation. The soldier washelping his family even duringquarantine period and wasstaying at Chuchot village forsome time, they said.

The jawan’s father testedpositive for COVID-19 onMarch 6 and was isolated at thehospital. The soldier was alsoquarantined on March 7 andtested positive on March 16and was isolated at the hospi-tal. His sister, wife and twochildren have also been quar-antined at the hospital.

Meanwhile, as precau-tionary measures to curbspread of coronavirus in therank and file, the Army haspostponed all courses startingfrom March 23 and cancelledall non-essential training, con-ferences and movements.However, courses in progresswill continue with precau-tions, sources said.

Some Army officers haveexpressed concern on trainingand exercises being carried outin Rajasthan despite COVID-19 being declared a globalpandemic. “Soldiers belongingto different parts of the coun-try are camping in open andcarrying out training activitiesnear Suratgarh which is apotential threat to the locals,”one officer there stated. Adirective on exercises is alsoexpected to be issued shortly.

The Army some days backhad issued an advisory to all itspersonnel to refrain from vis-iting public places like mallsand gatherings for festivals.

Continued on Page 4

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All weekly haats, shoppingmalls, cinema halls, gyms,

swimming pools, theatres,night clubs, spa centres andmultiplexes in Gurugram havebeen closed till March 31 inview of the COVID-19 out-break.

The orders issued by theGurugram DistrictAdministration stated opera-tion of pharmacy and medicalestablishments, grocery storesand supermarkets is allowed inthe district.

The order said not morethan 50 people should be gath-ered in social, cultural, politi-cal, religious, educational,sports, seminars, conferencesand family events like weddingceremonies, birthday partiesetc. At restaurants, there should

not be more than 50 people ata time.

“We have also issued anadvisory for salons, beautyparlours, grooming centreoperators to repeatedly sanitisethese places and ensure thathand sanitisers are available atthe entrance. Private cab oper-

ators have also been ordered toregularly de-sanitise their cabsand keep a hand sanitiser in thecab. Those flouting orders willbe punished under Section188 of the IPC,” said GurugramDeputy Commissioner AmitKhatri on Wednesday.

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New Delhi: The Ministry ofHuman Resource Developmenton Wednesday directed theCBSE and all educational insti-tutions in the country to post-pone exams till March 31 inview of the coronavirus out-break.

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New Delhi: A man suspectedto be infected with COVID-19committed suicide by jumpingoff the seventh floor of a hos-pital building on Wednesday,soon after he was admitted hereby airport authorities.

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On the last date for with-drawal of nomination

papers for the biennial electionsto the Rajya Sabha onWednesday in Chhattisgarh,Congress candidates PhuloDevi Netam and K. T. S. Tulsiwere elected unopposed.

While Phulo Devi Netamwas handed the winning can-didate’s election certificatewithin the state assemblypremises in presence of chiefminister Bhupesh Baghel, theelection certificate of Tulsi,who was absent, was handedover to Urban Administrationdepartment minister Dr ShivDahariya.

State parliamentary affairsminister Ravindra Choubey,industries minister KawasiLakhma, Congress legislatorand PCC chief Mohan Markamand other public representa-tives were present on the occa-sion.

Phulo Devi Netam, is theincumbent state MahilaCongress president. A tribalregion from the Bastar region,she had represented theKeshkal assembly seat (1998-2003) in Chhattisgarh assem-bly and had also contested the2014 Lok Sabha election fromthe Kanker parliamentary con-stituency but lost her rivalBharatiya Janata Party (BJP)candidate.

Tulsi, a Supreme Courtadvocate, was first nominated

to the Rajya Sabha in 2014 bythe then UPA government. Hewas the additional solicitorgeneral of India in 1990. Thiswill be his second tenure in theRajya Sabha.

The biennial election forthe upper house of Parliamentwas held in the state as two sit-ting Rajya Sabha members—Ranvijay Singh Judeo from theBJP and Motilal Vora fromCongress, will be retiring fromRajya Saha in April, 2020.

The other three sittingRajya Sabha members fromChhattisgarh are Saroj Pandeyand Ramvichar Netam fromthe BJP while Chhaya Verma isfrom the Congress.

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Amid the coronavirus out-break, the Union Home

Ministry has advised the para-military forces to cancel allnon-emergency leaves of theirpersonnel in order to minimisethe risk of contracting the dis-ease during travel.

The Ministry has alsodirected the forces to get into"battle mode" to combat thepandemic by ensuring person-al and public safety.

The medical wing of theMinistry on Tuesday issued afour-page directive underscor-ing that that the next threeweeks are crucial in checkingthe spread of the virus and lackof caution can affect the forces.

The strength of the Centralparamilitary forces is to the tuneof around 10 lakh who aredeployed for a range of rolesincluding internal security, bor-der guarding and securing vitalinstallations.

The Central paramilitaryforces include the CentralReserve Police Force (CRPF),Border Security Force (BSF),Central Industrial SecurityForce (CISF), Indo-TibetanBorder Police (ITBP) andSashatra Seema Bal (SSB),National Security Guard (NSG)

and Assam Rifles."All non-emergency leave

of any kind may be cancelledforthwith. This will cut downtravel risk as well," according tothe guidelines.

"Avoid international ordomestic air, bus or train trav-el for at least a month exceptwhen it is essentially required.Long distance travel is thebiggest cause for spread (Covid-19)," the guidelines further stat-ed. The forces have also beenadvised to postpone all meetingsand regular departmentalreviews related to promotions,medical review, sports tourna-ments and recruitments.

"There is a need to get intobattle mode and plan ahead notonly in theory but throughpractical demonstration anddrills," the guidelines exhortedthe forces.

Apart from reiterating themedically-certified best prac-tices of avoiding hand shakesand 'social distancing', heads ofthese forces have also beenasked to keep "extra emergencybudget" for purchase of sanita-tion items and disinfectants. Ithas also asked the headquartersof these forces to make awaretheir field offices, troops andtheir families about the impor-tance of self-quarantine.

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Aday after Prime MinisterNarendra Modi stated thatcurrent Budget Session of

Parliament will not be curtailed,Opposition members in Rajya Sabhaon Wednesday demanded calling offthe ongoing Session in view of thecoronavirus scare across the country.Congress and other Opposition MPssuggested that the Budget Session becurtailed to practice social distancingbeing advocated by the Governmentto limit the spread of Covid-19 (coro-navirus disease).

Some members wearing facemasks as protection against the coro-navirus walked in the upper house butthe same was objected by ChairmanM Venkaiah Naidu who said it wasagainst the rules to wear any masksinside the House. However, whensenior Congress leader PChidambaram urged Naidu to allowMPs to decide on using protectivegear depending on their perceptionof vulnerability, the Chair agreed.

Minority Affairs MinisterMukhtar Abbas Naqvi opposed anycurtailment saying the House has toshow the resolve to fight the infection.

"Showing any panic will not be in thenational interest," Naqvi said. Hewent on to quote Prime MinisterNarendra Modi for the need to showresolve to fight the coronavirus.

Naidu said the entire ParliamentComplex has been sanitized andhand sanitizers have been kept at var-ious places. "I cannot simply respondto you on my own behalf. After all, it

is the decision of the government andthen of the House," he said on pleasfor curtailing the session. Two sani-tizers were also placed inside theHouse as well.

Members also highlighted prob-lems being faced by people due toshortage and high prices of sanitisersand masks amid outbreak of coron-avirus. Trinamool MPs DerekO'Brien, Sukhendu Sekhar Ray saidthey were following the governmentadvisory in wearing the masks.

While Congress' M V RajeevGowda urged the government toeither curtail or postpone the remain-ing sittings of the Budget session, hisparty colleague Anand Sharma saidthe government was preaching socialdistancing but is not following it inParliament.

"We meet people from every-where across the country and we areprobably most at risk withinParliament, and the House of Elderswith extremely senior people arealso at risk. \The virus does not knowthat we are MPs. The virus does notcare about MPs," Gowda said.

While several members associat-ed themselves with Chidambaram'ssubmission that they should beallowed to wear masks, Naidu accept-

ed his argument but said the Housewas setting a precedent. "I want allthese things to go on record. That isall. We are setting a precedent," hesaid.

"I have no problem personally, ifmembers feel vulnerable, asChidambaramji has said, and theymake their own preventive arrange-ments," Naidu said. He said MPs canmake suggestions on further strength-ening measures in the ParliamentHouse complex to check the spreadof coronavirus.

Congress MP Ripun Bora high-lighted problems being faced by peo-ple due to shortage and high prices ofsanitisers and masks amid outbreakof coronavirus. He urged theMinistry of Health and FamilyWelfare to monitor the supply, andensure their availability and properprices so that there is no panicamong the public.

Making a special mention on thecoronavirus issue, Sanjay Singh(AAP) stressed on increasing numberof testing centres, and follow themodel adopted by South Korea in thisregard. He also made a case forincreasing the number of quarantinecentres as the country should be pre-pared for a "medical emergency".

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Several MPs on Wednesdayraised the issue of Indian

students stranded in thePhilippines, Malaysia, Italy andIran and demanded theGovernment take necessary stepsfor their evacuation asGovernment informed theHouse that 276 Indians abroadhave been affected by coron-avirus.

Around 2,400 Indians,including students and fisher-men, are in Iran and efforts arebeing made for their evacuation,according to Government, whichsaid similar efforts were on inregards to the Indians strandedin Malaysia, Philippines, Italyand other countries.

Raising the issue duringZero Hour, RSP MP NKPremachandran sought responsefrom the Government saying thestudents have been stranded inPhilippines and in other coun-tries as well. Premchandran saidPhilippines had given Indian stu-dents 72 hours time to exit thecountry, which started fromMarch 16, in view of coronavirus.

He demanded that specialflights should be operated forevacuation from Kuala Lumpurand Manila. Congress MP A

Chellakumar and IndependentMP from Maharashtra NavneetKaur Rana said hundreds of stu-dents are stranded in Philippinesand government must take someaction for their evacuation.

Some of the members saidin Malaysia (Kuala Lumpour)300 Indian students, Italy 100and Philippines (Manila) 30have been stranded and soughtgovernment to arrange theirevacuation by arranging an spe-cial aircraft. They said in Iraq andIran also fishermen need to beevacuated.

Rana estimated that inPhilippines 4,000 students havebeen stranded of whom 800 arefrom Maharashtra and askedgovernment to carry out theirurgent airlifting.

The Indian govern-ment on Tuesdaybanned the entry ofpassengers fromA f g h a n i s t a n ,Philippines andMalaysia to Indiawith immediateeffect amidstepped upe f f o r t sagainst thespread ofCOVID-19.

The students said they arerunning out of time as thePhilippines government hasgiven them 72 hours time to exitthe country, which started fromMarch 16, after which the coun-try will go into lockdown.

Dozens of students haveseen stranded in the airport inItaly and appealing for theirevacuation. The said Indianembassy has taken their samplesfor testing and they were stillwaiting for the results.

The Indian Embassy inManila has said in a tweet thatthey, along with the Ministry ofExternal Affairs, are trying towork out a solution.

"It is requested to all tokindly have patience," theembassy said.

BJP MP Ajay Mishra com-plimented the

Government fora c t i v e l yresponding tothe threat ofcoronavirus.

Giving afactual statement

, Governmentinformed thehouse that asmany as 276I n d i a n shad been

infected with coronavirusabroad, including 255 in Iran, 12in UAE and five in Italy, the gov-ernment informed the LokSabha on Wednesday.

In a written reply to a ques-tion in the Lok Sabha, Ministerof State for External Affairs VMuraleedharan said the totalnumber of Indians infected withcoronavirus is 276 — 255 in Iran,12 in UAE, five in Italy, and oneeach in Hong Kong, Kuwait,Rwanda and Sri Lanka.

Replying to a separate ques-tion, Muraleedharan said eightresident Indians are under quar-antine in UAE, while none inKuwait. In Iran, as per informa-tion, there are over 6,000 Indiannationals, he said in his writtenreply to a question on whethermany Indians are held up inArab countries including Kuwaitand Iran due to coronavirus.

The Indians in Iran includeabout 1,100 pilgrims mainlyfrom Ladakh, J&K andMaharashtra, nearly 300 stu-dents from J&K, about 1,000fishermen, including fromKerala, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, and others whoare on a long-term stay in Iranfor pursuing their livelihoodand religious studies, theMinister said.

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Rajya Sabha on Wednesday passed two Bills thatseek to provide for quality medical education sys-

tem in homoeopathy and promote Indian systemsof medicines. The National Commission for IndianSystem of Medicine Bill, 2019 and the NationalCommission for Homoeopathy Bill, 2019 werepassed in the Upper House by voice vote.

The National Commission for Indian Systemof Medicine Bill was introduced in Rajya Sabha onJanuary 7, 2019. Later, it was sent to a standing com-mittee, which submitted its report in November. Theproposed legislation seeks to repeal the IndianMedicine Central Council Act, 1970 and providesfor a medical education system to ensure availabil-ity of quality medical professionals of IndianSystem of Medicine, and adoption of the latest med-ical research, among other objectives. Another keyfeature of the bill is setting up a NationalCommission for Indian System of Medicine.

The second legislation, the NationalCommission for Homoeopathy Bill, too was intro-duced in January in the Upper House. It seeks torepeal the Homoeopathy Central Council Act, 1973.

It too proposes to constitute a NationalCommission for Homoeopathy. It is proposed thatthe Commission, among things, will frame policiesfor regulating medical institutions and homoeopathicmedical professionals, and assess requirements ofhealthcare-related human resources and infra-structure.

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ACongress MP in Rajya Sabha onWednesday made a demand for

enacting a legislation for protectionof journalists, claiming India hasbecome one of the most dangerouscountries in the world to be a jour-nalist. MV Rajeev Gowda (Cong)raised the issue through a ZeroHour mention in the Upper House.

"There is an urgent need to

enact a national legislation for pro-tection of journalists. In the pastseveral years India has becomeone of the most dangerous countriesin the world to be a journalist," hesaid. Chairman M Venkaiah Naidupointed out that he should not makesweeping remarks and cautionedhim.

"Let us not make such a sweep-ing remark. You (Gowda) are a wellread person...Some report, some

international...Member saying itfrom Parliament that will be quot-ed outside also. I am only caution-ing...," he said.

Gowda said last year, Indiaranked 13th in the global impuni-ty index by the community to pro-tect journalists which features coun-tries with the worst record of pun-ishing killers of journalists. Theorganisation Reporters withoutBorders has listed India at 140 out

of 180 countries on its World PressFreedom Index, he said.

The Congress MP said a sub-committee of the Press Council ofIndia prepared a detailed report onattacks faced by working journalistsin 2015. "It found 80 journalistshave been killed in India since 1990and most of the cases are stillpending in courts," he said.

The report, Gowda said,demanded that a separate law be

enacted for safety of journalistsacross India along with other rec-ommendations. This report wassubmitted to the then I&B MinisterArun Jaitley. He said this reportcould be the basis for drafting thelaw.

"We have also heard of tragiccases of murder of journalists.Along with that threats, intimida-tion and violence against journal-ists are also a major problem. How

long we will let this happen," heasked.

In the absence of legal protec-tion and mechanism to create safemechanism for journalists andmedia persons, the public domainand discourse suffers the most, henoted. "Therefore, I urge the gov-ernment to enact a legislation forprotection of journalists and media,and ensure freedom of press staysalive," he said.

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Rajya Sabha proceedings were onWednesday adjourned minutes after

the start of the Question Hour afterCongress members created an uproarover detention of one of their seniorMPs in Bengaluru. Congress MPSwanted to raise the issue in the upperhouse and sought a reply from theGovernment, but Chairman MVenkaiah Naidu did not allow them,saying no member has given a notice inthis regard.

Unrelenting Congress members

continued to raise slogans and latertrooped into the well, forcing theChairman to adjourn the House till 2pm. Congress members were on theirfeet at the fag end of Zero Hour, but theChairman said the issue cannot beraised as no notice has been given. Hesaid a decision on the issue can be takenonly after a notice is received from theopposition.

"Few people are trying to disrupt theHouse. Nobody has given notice to thechair. I will not adjourn the House," thechairman said and announced the startof Question Hour. As Congress mem-

bers trooped into the well while raisingslogans, Naidu asked them to return totheir seats and allow the QuestionHour to proceed.

"Do not take away the opportunityof other members," he told protestingmembers. Amid continued sloganeer-ing, Naidu adjourned proceedings say-ing "tanashahi nahin chalegi" in theHouse, taking a swipe at protestingCongress members who were raisingthis slogan against the Government.

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Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Wednesday

said corruption has ended andthings have become more trans-parent in Jammu&Kashmir afterthe abrogation of Article 370.Replying to the debate on bud-getary proposals and demandfor grants for the union territo-ries of Jammu&Kashmir andLadakh in the Lok Sabha, she saidmany positive developments havetaken place post abrogation ofArticle 370, including a rise inexports and total transparency in

the administration. She alsoattacked the Congress for doingnothing for the rehabilitation ofKashmiri Pandits.

Rejecting the allegations ofOpposition parties in Lok Sabhathat Jammu&Kashmir has beenconverted into an "open jail",Minister of State for Home GKishan Reddy asserted that thenewly created union territory isopen for tourists and shut for ter-rorists. He said that ModiGovernment wants the youth ofthe UT to hold the national tri-colour and computers, instead ofPakistani flags and stones. Reddy

accused the Opposition partiesfor spreading misinformation.He also said that casualties amongsecurity forces have come downas terror networks have beensmashed.

BJP MP Jamyang T Namgyalfrom Ladakh said the UnionTerritory of Ladakh is movingtowards development after theabrogation of Article 370. "Beforethe abolition of Article 370 therewas a sense of insecurity, dis-crimination and exclusion amongthe people of Ladakh...NowLadakh is moving towards devel-opment," said Namgyal, blaming

NC and PDP regimes. Praising Modi Government

for scrapping Art 370, Shiv SenaMP Arvind Sawant accused theCongress, its ally in Maharashtra,of being a "silent spectator" whenjawans were killed by terroristsand the national tricolour wasburnt in Jammu&Kashmir.National Conference MP HasnainMasoodi said the picture that wasbeing presented of Jammu andKashmir was quite different fromthe ground reality and made aplea to the government that thesituation in the union territoryshould be examined afresh.

"The picture that is being pre-sented of this place (Jammu andKashmir) is different from groundreality...I request that that situa-tion there should be examinedafresh," he said.

Union minister JitendraSingh said that there has not beena more peaceful eight-monthperiod in the militancy-hit regionthan the one since August lastwhen Article 370 was nullified.Intervening during a discussionon the he cited development fig-ures to assert that new dreamsand aspirations have emerged inthe region after it was brought

under the Centre's direct rule.Amid opposition members'

attack on the Modi governmentover the detention of formerchief ministers Farooq Abdullah,now released, Omar Abdullahand Mehbooba Mufti, Singh hitout at them, saying they are notworried about over 40,000 peoplewho have lost their lives in the last30 years of militancy there butonly bothered about two-threefamilies.

The number of detainees inthe union territory is the leastright now in the last 30 years, theUdhampur MP said.

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Consumers will beallowed to lift their

rations from ration shops forsix months in one go amidthe coronavirus outbreakacross the country.

As the number of coro-navirus cases rise to 151,Union Food and ConsumerAffairs Minister Ram VilasPaswan on Wednesday said75 crore beneficiaries underthe public distribution sys-tem will be allowed to lifttheir quota of subsidisedfoodgrains for six months inone go. Against the back-drop of rising coronavirusinfections, the decision seeksto ensure that poor peoplehave enough foodgrains inthe event of possible restric-tions that could lead to dif-ficulty in getting the sup-plies.

Currently, beneficiariesare lifting grains in advancefor maximum two months,while the PunjabGovernment is already dis-tributing six-month quota inone go. The Ministry hasissued an advisory to stategovernments for taking nec-essary safety measures tomanage crowd at rationshops in view of theCOVID-19 outbreak.

"Lifting of more grainsin one go will ease pressureon central storage as somequantity of wheat is kept inthe open. We have enoughfoodgrains in our godowns.We have asked state gov-ernments and UnionTerritories to distribute six-month quota of grains to thepoor in one go," Paswanadded. The government hassurplus foodgrains of 435lakh tonne as of now, ofwhich 272.19 lakh tonne isrice and 162.79 lakh tonneis wheat.

The PDS requirementfor April is about 135 lakhtonne of rice and 74.2 lakhtonne of wheat, the ministersaid adding the governmenthas enough supply to meetthe demand and states canlift the quota in advance. Atpresent, the governmentsupplies 5 kilogram of sub-sidised foodgrains per

month to each beneficiaryunder the PDS through5,00,000 ration shops in thecountry. This costs theexchequer about Rs 1.4 lakhcrore annually. Foodgrainsvia ration shops are suppliedat a highly subsidised rate ofRs 3/kg for rice, Rs 2/kg forwheat and Rs 1/kg for coarsegrains under the NationalFood Security Act (NFSA).

Paswan also stated thatthe Centre is closely moni-toring the prices of soaps,floor cleaners and thermalscanners because of surge indemand of these items amidgrowing coronavirus casesin the country. "We aremonitoring prices of threemore products -- soap, floorand hand cleaners like Lizoland Dettol as well as thermalscanners whose demand hasgone up because of coron-avirus scare," Paswan said.The prices of these productswill be monitored from 114centres across the country.The 22 commodities whichthe government monitorsincludes five items groups -- food grains (rice, wheat,atta), pulses (gram, tur, urad,moong, masur), edible oils(groundnut oil, mustard oil,vanaspati, soya oil, sun-flower oil, palm oil), veg-etables (potato, onion, toma-to) and other items (sugar,gur, milk, tea, salt).

Paswan said the gov-ernment will bring thesethree products under theEssential Commodities Actif their prices shoot up fromthe level which prevailed inthe last six months. Handsanitizers and face masks arenow essential items, andstringent action will betaken against those hoardingand black marketing theseproducts, he added.

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RAIPUR | THURSDAY | MARCH 19, 2020chhattisgarh 03

Chief minister Bhupesh Baghel along with his cabinet colleagues paid tributes to Dakhlu Ram Bhagat at Parvatipur village in Surajpurdistrict on Wednesday. Dakhlu Ram Bhagat was the father of food & civil supplies minister Amarjeet Bhagat. Pioneer Photo

Medical experts in Chinahave claimed that a

new flu drug is 'clearly effec-tive' in treating the coron-avirus (COVID-19) pan-demic.

Favipiravir, the activeingredient in a Japanese anti-flu medicine called Avigan,was trialled on 340 patientswith the disease in China,reported dailymail.co.uk

Patients who took the fludrug recovered quicker andshowed greater lungimprovement comparedwith patients not given thedrug.

The component isthought to block the virusfrom replicating in the body.

Doses will be investigat-ed in more COVID-19patients by Hong Kongresearchers, who claim theywill give their pill 'for free' if

studies show it is safe.However, contradictory

clinical trials suggestFavipiravir will not be usefulin patients who have moresevere illness.

As of yet, there isn't atreatment for the coron-avirus pandemic. Most peo-ple have mild symptoms andcan recover at home within aweek.

Almost 200,000 have beeninfected and 7,900 have died.

It was given to 80patients in Shenzen and inWuhan, where the novelcoronavirus first emerged inDecember 2019.

Favipiravir has beeneffective, with no obviousside-effects, in helping coro-navirus patients recover,Zhang Xinmin, an official atChina's Science andTechnology Ministry, toldreporters at a newsconference on Tuesday.

An oral medicine usingfavipiravir, developed byHong Kong-based SihuanPharmaceutical, is also inline to try on COVID-19patients.

Led by Beijing ChaoyangHospital, a clinical trial ispart of a programme bySihuan and the Institute ofMicrobiology Epidemiology,a division of the Chinesearmed forces.

The study will involve 60COVID-19 patients who willbe given treatment foraround 10 days. Larger trialsare expected later.

Sihuan executive direc-tor Che Fengsheng has said,"After all the efforts andpreparations, our group isfully prepared for favipi-ravir's raw material andpreparation production."

(IANS)

Japanese anti-flu medicineeffective in COVID-19

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

State health and family wel-fare minister TS Singhdeo

on Wednesday appealed topeople to remain alert andsafe from the coronavirusinfection.

In a message to the peo-ple of the state, Singhdeo saidthere is need to fight thecoronavirus just by remain-ing alert and adopting pre-ventive measures, as once itspreads, then everyone willhave to face a large-scaledanger.

To curb the spread theCovit-19 outbreak, everyoneshould cooperate with thedoctors, nurses and thehealth department officials

and healthcare staff.Thanking private sector

doctors and nurses for theirdedicated service, the minis-ter said that people have tofight the disease together.

“It is a tough time thateach and every one of us ispassing through due to thecoronavirus scare. Therefore,one has to remain in totalalert mode and must beunderstanding to face thesituation,” he said.

The health departmenthas constituted a rapidresponse team since January27 and it is fortunate thatuntil now there not a singlecoronavirus case has beendetected in the state, Singhdeosaid, adding that 450 peoplesuspected with the symptomsof Covit-19 are being treatedin the state while 1,500 peopleare being kept in isolation forwhich arrangements havebeen put into place.

A new 60-bede hospitalhas been readied to treatpeople with the disease andfurther capacity is beingenhanced, he said.

Singhdeo urged the peo-ple to cooperate with screen-ing of coronavirus and iden-tification of suspected cases.


Stepping up the coron-avirus (COVID-19)

screening drive at the SwamiVivekananda airport Raipur,the state government onWednesday deployed addi-tional police personnel andrevenue department officialsat the airport.

The step come after thehealth department com-plained that travellers werenot cooperating withscreening and quarantineprotocol in place at the air-port, official here said.

A Congress leader of

Chhattisgarh along with 32fellow travellers hadreturned from a trip toDubai few days back. They,however, did not disclosetheir travel history atRaipur airport and went ontheir regular routine lives.

Later, when the mattercame to light, chief ministerBhupesh Baghel expressedhis utter dismay e over theincident, following whichthe group was kept in homeisolation.

The officials said due tonon-cooperation fromtravelers, the functioning ofthe quarantine centre at

Jhanjh in Nava Raipur andNimora was hampered.

Taking the circum-stances into account, thehealth department hasrequested the state homedepartment to deploy extrapolice personnel at theseplaces.

Meanwhile, chief min-ister Bhupesh Baghel andhealth minister TSSinghdeo requested peopleto voluntarily disclose his-tory of their foreign travelon the helpline number 104so that the spread of thecoronavirus could bestopped.

Ex-gratia paymenthiked for jawans killedin Naxal violenceRAIPUR: TheChhattisgarh governmenton Wednesday hiked ex-gratia payment to mar-tyred security personnelkilled in Maoist-relatedviolence in the state to `20from the earlier `3 lakh, anofficial order said.

The state homedepartment order said theamount of the ex-gratiapayments will be based onthe proposal of the statepolice headquarters, andin line with the new guide-lines given by the Centre.

The hike in the ex-gratia payments has beenincorporated for the nextof kin of jawans killed inNaxal violence, the ordersaid.


Preventive measures havebeen put into place at

new capital city, Nava Raipur,Atal Nagar from Wednesdayin the wake of thecoronavirus alert(COVID-19) advisory issuedby the Centre and the stategovernments.

At the secretariat build-ing (Mahanadi Bhawan) andoffices of the departmentalheads (Indiravati Bhawan)sanitization protocol willcarried out every day.

All the lifts, railings ofstaircases, common areasand waiting areas are beingcleaned regularly andsanitized.

The BRTS buses betweenRaipur and Nava Raipur, too

are being cleaned thoroughlyevery day to sanitize thevehicles. Officials are regu-larly inspecting the publictransport system in the state

capital.The evening shows of the

musical fountain at the‘Rajdhani Sarovar’ have beenshut down until further

notice. All bio-metric atten-dance use has in governmentoffices too have been shutdown.

Nava Raipur, Atal NagarDevelopment Authority gen-eral manager (administra-tion) said all the protocolsare being followed to imple-ment the state government’sadvisory and guidelines onthe preventing and control-ling the spread of the infec-tious viral disease.

The authority officialsand employees have beendirected to remain at theheadquarters, the generalmanager said.

Effective steps have alsobeen taken as part of thepreventive measures in allthe residential sectors,central park, Ekatma Pathand others other clusters in

the state capital.All community events

and mass gatherings havebeen banned until March 31to prevent the spread of thenovel coronavirus.

The Nava Raipur-basedhospitals and hotels, too havebeen asked to follow theUnion health ministry’sadvisory without fail.

All educationalinstitutions have been askedto follow preventive adhereto the regular directivesissued by the government.

Chief executive officer,Nava Raipur and Atal Nagardevelopment authorityNeelam Namdeo Ekka hasurged residents not to fallunder the believe rumoursand fake news about theCovit-19 virus and remainalert.

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

Chhattisgarh foodsecretary Dr Kamalpreet

Singh on Wednesday directeddepartment officials toupload the price of masks andsanitizers along with 22 otheressential commodities onevery day on the Centre’sprice monitoring portal.

The order comes in thewake of reports of spiralingprices of the products aftercoronavirus advisories issuedby Centre and the stategovernment.

The letter issued to thestate controller of food anddrugs and other seniordepartment officials, said theCentre’s price monitoring cellhas directed the state govern-ments to upload the prices ofmasks, 2-ply and 3-ply surgi-cal masks, N95 masks, handsanitizers, alcohol-based floor

cleaner, including like, floordisinfectant, liquid soap, handwash along with the 22otheressential commodities beingsold in the market, every day

that are being sold in themarket.

The food secretary in hisletter to the district collectors,directed them to monitor the

availability of the productsthrough regular monitoring.

The collectors have beenasked to hold meetings withtraders and business associa-tions in their respective dis-tricts and access the availabil-ity and review of the stockand price of masks and handsanitizers, the letter said.

The health and familywelfare department has alsoissued an order authorizingofficials to carry out regularinspections and take actionagainst hoarders and black-marketers under the EssentialCommodities, Act 1955, ofmasks and sanitizers.

The Centre on March 13,through a gazette notification,had brought masks, 2-plyand 3-ply surgical masks, N-95 masks, and hand sanitizersas essential commoditiesunder the EssentialCommodities Act, 1955.

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

ACongress leader fromChhattisgarh who along

with 32 others had returnedfrom Dubai and landed at theSwami Vivekananda AirportRaipur did not voluntarilydisclose their travel history, anofficial said on Wednesday.

The group has been kept inhome isolation, the officials said.

Ramesh Varliyani along with70 others had gone to Dubai onMarch 8 and had landed at theRaipur airport on March 14along with 32 others.

However, once they landedat Raipur, they did not disclosetheir foreign travel history at thevolunteer disclosure counter atthe airport, an airport officialsaid.

It was through the touroperator that their travel history

came to light, following whichthey were tracked down, theofficial said.

Later, when the matter cameto light, chief minister BhupeshBaghel expressed dismay overthe incident, following whichthey were kept in home isolation.

Meanwhile, healthdepartment officials said that thegroup is being constantlymonitored and after thequarantine period of 14 days isover and if they do not showsymptoms of coronavirus(COVID 19), they will be released.


The state economicoffences wing (EOW)

registered a case in thealleged multi-crore PublicDistribution System (PDS)scam, which took placeduring the previous BJPgovernment's tenure, andlaunched a probe into therole of concerned officials.

The case was registeredon Tuesday after a proberevealed the irregularitiescommitted by the officialswho were employed with thefood department andincurred a loss of `2,718crore to the exchequer, apress release from here said.

As per the 2011

socio-economic census, therewere 56,50,724 families in thestate and there should have been45 lakh ration cards, it said.

But by the end of 2013, atotal of 71,30,393 rationcards existed across the 27districts of Chhattisgarh,indicating that there were14.80 lakh bogus rationcards as the number offamilies in the state was only56.5 lakh, the release said.

From July 2013 toDecember 2013, as many as41,847 ration cards were inval-idated. But until 2016, newration cards were issued everyyear and some of them werecanceled after it came to lightthat they were bogus, it added.

Between April 2013 andDecember 2016, 11,08,515

tons of rice was distributed atsubsidized rate against thesebogus ration cards whichwere eventually canceled,incurring a loss of `2,718crore to the state govern-ment, it said.

The responsibility of trans-portation and distribution offood grains lay with theDirectorate of FoodDepartment and the trans-portation agency, it mentioned.

The officials who werethen posted with the fooddepartment, misused theirpowers to facilitate issuanceof bogus cards and distribu-tion of foodgrain throughthem, the release said.

The EOW is now probingthe scam and the role of civilservants, it added.

Health minister appeals topeople to remain alert, safe

Price monitoring of mask, sanitizer on govt portalPolice and revenue dept officialsdeployed at Raipur airportHealth department complained of non-cooperation fromtravellers in screening at the airport following which thedeployment was made

EOW registers FIR to proberole of officers in PDS scam

Preventive measures put into place at Nava Raipur

Travellers returning from Dubai hidetravel history; placed in home isolation

It was through the tour operatorthat their travel history came tolight. Once they landed at Raipur,they did not disclose their foreigntravel history at the volunteerdisclosure counter at the airport,an airport official said.

Coronavirus advisory

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New Delhi: Senior rail-way officials onWednesday informed aparliamentary panel thatmore than 60 per centtickets were cancelled inMarch this year due tocoronavirus, even as thepanel came down hard onthe Railway Board chair-man for a "shoddy pre-sentation", sources said.

The Standing Committeeon Transport, Tourism andCulture had convened a specialmeeting with the railway andaviation Ministries, seeking anupdate on the precautionstaken by them in view of theinfection that has led to threedeaths in the country.

Chairman Railway Board,VK Yadav was criticised by the

parliamentary panel for "shod-dy presentation" of the stepstaken to prevent the spread ofCOVID-19.

"Railway Board chairmanwas unprepared and made ashoddy presentation at suchsensitive time," a member ofthe panel said.

Meanwhile, Yadavappealed to all to avoid anynon-essential travel. PTI

��

New Delhi: Prime MinisterNarendra Modi will address thenation on Thursday evening onthe situation arising out ofcoronavirus outbreak and theefforts to combat it, the PrimeMinister’s Office said onWednesday.

"PM Shri @narendramodiwill address the nation on 19thMarch 2020 at 8 PM, duringwhich he will talk about issuesrelating to COVID-19 and theefforts to combat it," the PMOtweeted.

In another tweet, the PMOsaid Modi chaired a high-levelmeeting to review the ongoingefforts to contain the spread ofcoronavirus.

"Ways to further strength-en India’s preparedness werediscussed. This includes furtherenhancing testing facilities," itsaid. The prime minister hasemphasised on actively engag-ing with individuals, local com-munities and organisations in

chalking out mechanisms tofight the coronavirus menace.

He has also urged officialsand technical experts to delib-erate on the steps to be takennext.

The prime minister hasbeen regularly taking to socialmedia, urging people to pre-pare themselves but not panic.He has supported the idea ofavoiding non-essential traveland limiting gatherings tocheck the spread of the virus.

?Modi has also expressedgratitude to all those at the fore-front of combating coronavirusincluding the various state gov-ernments, medical fraternity,paramedical staff, armed andparamilitary forces, those asso-ciated with aviation sector,municipal staff and others.

Earlier this week, he par-ticipated in a video conferenceof SAARC leaders to prepare ajoint strategy to tackle the pan-demic. PTI

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Union MinisterDharmendra Pradhan on

Wednesday exuded confidencethat the coming together ofSAARC nations to fight againstcoronavirus will bear fruit andhelp mitigate the effects of thevirus in the southeast Asiansubcontinent.

Pradhan was reacting toPrime Minister NarendraModi’s proposal of setting up aCOVID-19 emergency fundto deal with the pandemic. Making a strongpitch for SAARC nations tojointly combat the virus, Modihad on Sunday committedUSD 10 million for the emer-gency fund, and asserted thatthe best way to deal with the

pandemic was by comingtogether, and not growingapart.

"I am confident thatthrough this initiative of com-bined efforts of our medicalprofessionals and researchers,we will be able to contain,reduce and eventually mitigatethe effects of Covid-19 in thesoutheast Asian subcontinent,"Pradhan said in a media state-ment. This, he said, not onlyindicates India’s seriousnesstowards containing the viraloutbreak, which recognises noborder, but also the deep bondsof amity that India shares withthe subcontinent, he said.

Terming the move as"humane and far sighted step",Pradhan said it will serve as anexample for the world.

New Delhi: India has tem-porarily banned entry of pas-sengers from 36 countries whilepeople travelling from 11 coun-tries will be mandatorily quar-antined in the wake of the coro-navirus outbreak, the HomeMinistry said on Wednesday.

The Ministry also saidOverseas Citizen of India(OCI) card holders, exceptfrom the restricted countries,will be required to obtain freshvisa from the Indian missionand allowed to enter India.

"No airline will bring anypassenger from Australia,Belgium, Bulgeria, Croatia,Cyprus, Czech Republic,Denmark, Estonia, Finland,France, Germany, Greece,Iceland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy,Latvia, Liechtenstein,Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta,The Netherlands, Norway,Poland, Portugal, Romania,Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain,Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey,United Kingdom effective 12

GMT March 12 at Port ofdeparture," a home ministryspokesperson said.

Airlines are barred frombringing passengers fromPhillipines, Malaysia andAfghanistan with effect fromMarch 17 at port of departure.

The spokesperson saidthere will be no transit throughthese countries as no aircraftwill board passengers for Indiain these countries.

All passengers comingfrom/transiting through theUAE, Qatar, Oman and Kuwaitafter 12:00 GMT on March 18(port of departure) will bequarantined. Those who havevisited China, Republic ofKorea, Iran, Italy, Spain, Franceand Germany on or afterFebruary 15 will be quaran-tined, the spokesperson said.

Those Indians who arecoming from the Republic ofKorea or Italy, it is mandatoryto get COVID-19 negative cer-tificates. Passengers from Italy

shall not be allowed with fromMarch 18 (port of departure).

Indians transiting throughChina, Korea, Iran, Italy, Spainand France will be quarantinedon arrival in India.

The spokesperson saidIndians are strongly advised toavoid non-essential travel to thecoronavirus affected countries.

Foreigners who are cur-rently in India can extend theirvisas and for that they shouldapproach their jurisdiction ofFRRO/ FRO online. Foreignerscurrently in India can go out ofthe country. However, theycan return to India with freshvisa issues from mission only.The OCI card holders arerequired to obtain fresh visafrom mission and allowed toenter India except fromrestricted countries.

Infants/children who holdforeign passports with OCIcards will be required to getfresh visa from the Indian mis-sion. PTI

Kuala Lumpur/New Delhi:India has evacuated its 405 cit-izens, including students,stranded at Kuala Lumpur air-port in Malaysia due to thecoronavirus outbreak, theIndian High Commission inKuala Lumpur said onWednesday.

On Tuesday, the Indiangovernment approved AirAsiaflights for Delhi and Vizag tohelp the stranded Indians.

"Thanks @AirAsia for fly-ing out 405 stranded Indianstransiting thru KLIA in Splflights to Delhi and Vizagtoday. Kudos to @hcikl officialsfor working tirelessly sinceyesterday to make it happen,"the High Commission tweeted.

A source privy to thedevelopment said,"FlightD7182 from Kuala Lumpur toDelhi departed at 7.25 pm(local time), while flightAK8082 left Kuala Lumpur at5.05 pm (local time) toVisakhapatnam."

"While AK8082 landed ataround 6.40 pm with 185 pas-sengers at Visakhapatnam air-port, D7182 landed at Delhiairport with 220 passengers ataround 10.30 pm," the sourceadded.

The Indian nationals werestuck at the Kuala Lumpurairport after the government,which on Monday banned theentry of passengers from EUcountries, Turkey, the UK fromMarch 18 till March 31, alsoclosed its doors to those fromAfghanistan, the Philippinesand Malaysia with immediateeffect.

"Appreciate the difficultsituation of Indian students andother passengers waiting intransit at Kuala Lumpur air-port. We have now approvedAir Asia flights for you toDelhi and Vizag," ExternalAffairs Minister S Jaishankartweeted on Tuesday.’ PTI

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New Delhi: The Central Boardof Secondary Education (CBSE)on Wednesday postponedongoing class 10, 12 examina-tions till March 31 in view of thecoronavirus outbreak. "Allongoing CBSE examinationsin India and abroad postponedtill March 31 and will berescheduled thereafter... Afteran assessment of the situation,"CBSE Secretary AnuragTripathi said. "All ongoing eval-uation work will be suspendedduring the period," he added.The CBSE announcement camefollowing a directive from theHRD ministry saying exams areimportant but safety and secu-rity of students and teachers isequally important. PTI

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From Page 1

The DAC had given ini-tial clearance for the 83 LCA-Mk1A aircraft in November2016 and the IAF issued theRequest For Proposal (RFP)in December 2017. However,negotiations have been stuckdue to the steep price quot-ed by HAL which the IAFhad said was more than theprice of a Su-30MKI.

The 83 jets are in addi-tion to the 40 LCA alreadyordered by the IAF in twobatches of 20 each in theInitial Operational Clearance(IOC) and Final OperationalClearance (FOC) configura-tions.

Officials said approvalwas also accorded for acqui-sition of indigenous Defenceequipment for about Rs 1,300crore. The proposals were forprocurement of Aerial Fusesand Twin-Dome Simulatorsfor Hawk Mk32 aircraft forthe Indian Air Force.

�� 777

From Page 1In the national Capital, the NDMC is sanitising major tem-

ples, churches and gurdwaras while the Delhi Zoo administra-tion shut the zoological party till March 31 in view of the pan-

demic. On the other hand, the J&K administration announcedclosure of the Vaishno Devi yatra and banning of all inter-Statebuses as part of precautionary measures.

The district administration in Udhampur suspended allmodes of public transport, while two major parks in Jammu andall public parks in Poonch district have been closed till furtherorders, officials said. Similarly, the Bihar Government onWednesday ordered all shopping malls, gyms, spas and swim-ming pools across the state to suspend their operations till March31. The BJP, meanwhile, decided not to hold any protest ordemonstration for a month in view of the coronavirus outbreak,party president JP Nadda said.

��!�� "��####

From Page 1A 23-year-old physiother-

apy intern, who came to beknown as ‘Nirbhaya’ (fearless),was gangraped and savagelyassaulted in a moving bus insouth Delhi on December 16,2012. She died after a fortnight.

Six people, including thefour convicts and a juvenile,were named as accused. RamSingh, the sixth accused,allegedly committed suicide inthe Tihar Jail days after the trialbegan in the case. The juvenilewas released in 2015 afterspending three years in a cor-rectional home.

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From Page 1The commanders were also

directed to regularly hold ses-sions on educating the troops atall the military stations aboutthe pandemic and precautionsto be exercised. The militaryhospitals also set up separateOPD for treating patients hav-ing flu and other such symp-toms. The personnel were alsodirected to avoid non-essentialforeign travel.

The Navy earlier postponedits Milan international multi-lateral naval exercise to be heldoff Visakhapatnam from March18 to 28. More than 40 countrieswere scheduled to take part inthe prestigious event held everytwo years. Moreover, the Navydirected its personnel deployedon warships now operating indeep seas to avoid port calls andimmediately lodge any sus-pected patient in the quarantine.

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The Gopalpur Ports Limited(GPL) has taken all pre-

cautionary measures to preventCOVID-19 outbreak. Adetailed process has been estab-lished wherein monitoring andscreening all foreign anddomestic ships and crew inaddition to the directives andinstructions received from theDirectorate General ofShipping and the UnionMinistry of Health are beingundertaken.

Any vessel having its portof origin from countries like

China, Korea, Japan, Italy, etc.,are being quarantined for 14days. For vessels other than theimpacted countries, pre-arrivalreporting form declaring goodhealth of all crew is sought 24hours prior to arrival.

The port has also developedits own standard operating pro-cedures (SOP) measures such ascomplying with InternationalMaritime Organisations (IMO)and World Health Organisation(WHO) reporting form“Maritime Declaration ofHealth” and ports of call list thatare being scrutinised by porthealth and marine team on a24x7 basis.

An isolation ward has beencreated; and non-contactinfrared temperature guns, N-95 face masks, disposablegloves and caps, fully equippedambulance with three para-medics are available.

The GPL has undertaken anumber of measures to educateits employees on hygiene mea-sures. The port carried outmock drills and preparednessdrive in the presence of theGanjam district health admin-istration and MKCG MedicalHospital teams. Indian CoastGuard officials visited the portand were satisfied over itsreadiness to handle COVID-19.

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Tehran: Iran reported its sin-gle biggest jump in deathsfrom the new coronavirus onWednesday as another 147people died, raising the coun-try's overall death toll to 1,135.

The nearly 15 per centspike in deaths — amid a totalof 17,361 confirmed cases inIran — marks the biggest 24-hour rise in fatalities sinceofficials first acknowledgedcases of the virus in Iran inmid-February.

Still, even as the numberof cases continues to groweach day, food markets werestill packed with shoppers onWednesday and highwayswere crowded with traffic asfamilies traveled betweencities ahead of the PersianNew Year, Nowruz, on Friday.

Iran's deputy health min-ister, Alireza Raisi, urged thepublic to avoid travel andcrowded places. In a statementon state TV, Raisi told Iraniansthe coming period represent-ed two "golden weeks" to trycurb the virus from spreadingfurther.

He criticized people fornot adhering to the warningsto stay home, saying the virusis very serious. "This is not a

good situation at all," he said.Iran's President Hassan

Rouhani on Wednesdaydefended his government'sresponse to the coronavirusoutbreak in the face of ofwidespread criticism that offi-cials acted too slowly andmay have even covered up ini-tial cases before infectionsrapidly spread across thecountry.

In a speech to his Cabinet,Rouhani said the Governmentwas “straightforward" with thenation, saying it announcedthe outbreak as soon as itlearned about it on Feb. 19.

"We spoke to people in ahonest way. We had no delay,”he added.

The Government hascome under heavy criticismfor what has been seen as a

slow and inadequate response.For weeks, government offi-cials implored clerics to shutdown crowded holy shrines tostymie the spread of the virus.The Government f inal lyclosed the shrines this week.

"It was difficult of courseto shut down mosques andholy sites, but we did it. It wasa religious duty to do it,”Rouhani said. AP

Berlin: Desperate travellerschoked European border cross-ings on Wednesday afternations implemented strict con-trols in an attempt to slow thespread of the COVID-19 virus,creating traffic jams miles longand slowing the passage oftrucks carrying critical supplies.

The number of peopleinfected worldwide crested the200,000 mark and deathstopped 8,000, with the numberof people now recovered atmore than 82,000, according toa tally kept by Johns Hopkins

University.In an attempt to alleviate

some of the pressure from east-ern Europeans stuck in Austriatrying to return home, Hungaryovernight opened its borders inphases. Bulgarian citizens werefirst allowed to cross in carefullycontrolled convoys, thenRomanians had a turn.

But by early Wednesday onthe Austrian side of the border,trucks were backed up for 28kilometers (17 miles) and carsfor 14 kilometers (nearly 9miles) as rules allowing only

Hungarians or transport trucksthrough the country's borderskicked back in.

European Union leadershave been working on how tomake sure that food, medicalsupplies and other essentialgoods keep flowing but so farborders have been clogged.Looking ahead, they're alsotrying to figure out ways toallow seasonal agriculturalworkers, needed to keep theproduction of food going, totravel back and forth acrossessentially closed borders. AP

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Dhaka: Bangladesh onWednesday reported its firstdeath due to the novel coro-navirus pandemic while fournew infections were detect-ed, taking the number ofcases in the country to 14, asenior health official said.

The 70-year-old man wassuffering from diabetes, kid-ney ailments and hyperten-sion and had contracted thevirus after meeting an over-seas returnee.

"The patient had been inintensive care where he died,"Institute of Epidemiology,Disease Control andResearch (IEDCR) directorMeerjady Sabrina Flora toldreporters.

She said the patient washighly vulnerable.

The health official alsoconfirmed the detection offour more COVID-19 cases,taking the total tally in thecountry to 14. PTI

/�� &�� *+� Washington: US President

Donald Trump said he willhold a news conference onWednesday on "very impor-tant news" from the Food andDrug Administration relatedto the new coronavirus.

Trump, who referred tothe disease as the "Chinesevirus" in one of a series oftweets, shed no light on the

development to be disclosed."I will be having a news

conference today to discussvery important news from theFDA concerning the ChineseVirus!"

The FDA is the US agencythat is responsible for ensur-ing the safety of drugs, vac-cines and medical devices aswell as US foods. AFP

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Beijing: China on Wednesdaydefended its decision to expelabout 13 American journalistsfrom three major US newspa-pers, saying it was "compelled"to take countermeasures afterWashington classified Chinesestate media outlets as “foreignmissions”.

The Chinese governmentannounced that all journalistsof US citizenship working withthe New York Times, the WallStreet Journal and theWashington Post whose cre-

dentials were up for renewalthis year would have to sur-render their press cards with-in 10 days. Defending the deci-sion, Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesman Geng Shuang toldmedia briefing here onWednesday that China was"compelled to take counter-measures" to a US move lastmonth to classify Chinese statemedia organisations as foreignmissions and the expulsion ofChinese journalists in theUnited States. PTI

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Seoul: North Korean leaderKim Jong Un acknowledgedthat his country lacks modernmedical facilities and called forurgent improvements, statemedia said Wednesday, in arare assessment of the North'shealth care system that comesamid worries about the coron-avirus in the impoverishedcountry.

Outside experts say a coro-navirus epidemic in the Northcould be devastating due itschronic lack of medical suppliesand outdated health care infra-

structure. Kim's commentswere made during a ceremonyTuesday marking the start ofconstruction on a new hospital.

North Korea has engagedin an intense campaign toguard against the new virus,though it has steadfastly main-tained that no one has beensickened, a claim many foreignexperts doubt.

During a groundbreakingceremony for a "modern gen-eral hospital" in Pyongyang, thecapital, Kim said it's "crucial"for the state's efforts to be

directed "to prop up the field ofpublic health,” according tothe North's official KoreanCentral News Agency, orKCNA.

It cited Kim as saying theconstruction must be com-pleted before October's 75thfounding anniversary of theruling Workers' Party.

Kim said the ruling partydecided on building the hos-pital during a key party meet-ing in late December and wasworking to have it finished "inthe shortest time." AP

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Johannesburg: South Africa onWednesday recorded its highest24-hour increase in coronavirusinfections, with 31 new casestaking the country's tally up to116, Government announced.

Africa's most industrialisedeconomy has the highest toll insub-Saharan Africa and the sec-ond highest on the continentafter Egypt, which has recorded196 cases. The country's firstcoronavirus infection, confirmedon March 5, was detected in aman who had arrived from Italy— the new centre of a pandem-

ic that has infected more than200,000 people worldwide andkilled more than 8,000.

"As of this morning, 18March 2020, South Africa nowhas 116 confirmed cases ofCOVID-19," Health MinisterZweli Mkhize said in a state-ment. Of the new casesannounced this week, six werechildren aged five or under.

Most of the people whohave tested positive in SouthAfrica had travelled to highly-affected countries in Europeand the Middle East. AFP

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A103-year-old woman inIran has recovered after

being infected with the newcoronavirus, State mediareported, despite overwhelm-ing evidence the elderly aremost at risk from the disease.

The unnamed woman hadbeen hospitalised in the centralcity of Semnan for about aweek, IRNA news agency said.

But she was "dischargedafter making a complete recov-ery", Semnan University ofMedical Sciences head Navid

Danayi was quoted as saying byIRNA late Tuesday.

The woman was the sec-ond elderly patient in Iran tohave survived the disease.

The other was a 91-year-old man from Kerman, in thesoutheast of Iran, the newsagency said.

After being sick for threedays, he recovered on Mondaydespite having pre-existingmedical conditions includinghigh blood pressure and asth-ma, it added.

The report did not sayhow the pair were treated.

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Washington: US PresidentDonald Trump has becomethe Republican Party's pre-sumptive presidential nomi-nee after his home state ofFlorida awarded him withenough numbers to cross thepledged delegate threshold.

As per the national dele-gate count, Trump on Tuesdayhad 1,330 pledged delegates inhis kitty.

A Republican presidentialaspirant needs 1,276 of thetotal 2,550 pledged delegates.A formal nomination wouldbe announced at theRepublican NationalConvention in August.

Trump's campaign in astatement said that the pri-mary in his home state ofFlorida put him above the del-egate threshold to becomethe presumed 2020Republican nominee for pres-ident.

The primary season sawhim shatter records for votetotals and vote percentages.

With Florida's 122 dele-gates awarded to thePresident, he has 1,330 dele-gates, above the 1,276 neededto win the nomination.

“The Republican Party ismore unified and energized

than ever before and it'sbecause of President Trump'sleadership and clear record ofaccomplishment on behalf ofall Americans,” said BradParscale, Trump's 2020 cam-paign manager.

“As his response to thecoronavirus has shown, and asthe broad and strong econo-my demonstrates, thePresident wakes up every dayputting America first in everydecision he makes. And vot-ers have responded,” he said.

Counting vote totals fromstates which have held pri-mary contests so far, Trumphas earned at least four millionvotes more than the previousrecord for total votes cast foran incumbent president inthose same states, held byformer President Bill Clintonin his 1996 re-election cam-paign.

Trump also set vote totalrecords in several states,including Alabama, Arkansas,Colorado, Iowa, Maine,Massachusetts, Michigan,Minnesota, Mississippi,Missouri, New Hampshire,Tennessee, Texas, Utah andWashington, which have hadprimary contests so far in2020. PTI

0�)��%�� 1��2��)��3�� Baghdad: Iraq's typically divided Shiite

political parties lined up on Wednesdayto signal their opposition to premier-designate Adnan al-Zurfi, less than 24hours after his nomination.

The 54-year-old lawmaker and for-mer Najaf governor was nominatedTuesday to be Iraq's new prime minis-ter, the second attempt to replace out-going premier Adel Abdel Mahdi thisyear.

Zurfi has 30 days to form a cabinet,which must earn a vote of confidencefrom Iraq's 329-member parliament.

But several Shiite blocs have alreadysignalled their displeasure with theway Zurfi was selected.

On Wednesday, the State of Lawcoalition, led by ex-prime minister Nurial-Maliki, and lawmakers linked to therelatively moderate cleric Ammar al-Hakim said they opposed the presi-dent's unilateral selection of the primeminister.

President Barham Saleh, they insist-ed, should have referred to parlia-ment's largest bloc to select a nominee.

The powerful Fatah bloc, the polit-ical arm of the Hashed al-Shaabi mili-tary network, had also slammed Zurfi'snomination as unconstitutional. AFP

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Thessaloniki (Greece): Clashes broke out overnight onGreece's border with Turkey early Wednesday, after 500migrants attempted to break down a border fence andenter Greece.

Greek police said they used tear gas to repel the pushto break down the fence south of the Kastanies bordercrossing. They said Turkish authorities also fired teargas at the Greek border. The clashes began at 2 a.M. Andlasted for roughly two hours.

An estimated 2,000 migrants are still camped outon the Greek-Turkish border, weeks after Turkeydeclared its borders to Europe open and encouragedmigrants and refugees living in the country to try cross-ing into European Union member Greece.

Tens of thousands of people headed to the borderdespite Greece's insistence that its eastern border, whichis also the EU's external border, was shut. The move cameafter months of threats by Turkish President RecepTayyip Erdogan that he would open his borders andallow millions of refugees into Europe unless the EU pro-vided more support for refugee care in Turkey. AP

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In participative democracies, the prin-ciple of civilian supremacy over themilitary is both mandated and essen-tial. In democracies like the US andIndia, which have active combat com-

mitments towards the armed forces, theorders to partake, intensify or withdraw fromsuch roles ultimately come from the civilianleadership. This lends itself to strategic andoperational situations where the military hasto abide by civilian orders even where it dis-agrees as the latter has the “right to be wrong.”Such disagreements have led to subliminalcivilian-military tensions, which are natur-al and expected in the normal course of pro-fessional disagreements.

By constructive design, the military hasa black and white instinct of situationalimperatives, which are supremely effective,kinetic and blunt. Whereas by nature, a polit-ical decision is more complex, asymmetricand given to the “unapparent.” This impliesthat the military may pay the price for par-tisan politics that comes along with the deci-sion-making process in democracies. Yet, themost compelling argument for persistingwith this imperfect civil-military equationis the alternative track record of nations,where the military has the last word on gov-ernance matters. The ideal leadershiprequirement for civilian politicians is inmaintaining professional respect, maturerestraint and operational independence ofthe military so as to ensure that its apoliti-cal discipline, efficacy and steel is maintained.

In recent times, unrest and violence insociety has posited the public faith and trustonto the “soldier” even higher when all otherarms of governance seem to have failed.Unfortunately, the Indian armed forces, whoought to be the “last recourse” of theGovernment, are getting increasingly requi-sitioned to bail out the beleaguered State asit fumbles from one man-made or natural dis-aster to another. They have been doing it all— from fighting insurgency in Kashmir toquelling communal riots in Delhi to settingup Coronavirus-related camps across coun-try. The “soldier” seems to epitomise solutionsfor all societal, natural or national urgencies.

However, this public imagination andperception of the “soldier” has not gone unno-ticed to the overzealous politicians, who areincreasingly and unhealthily co-opting theimagery of the “soldier” onto their ownimage, policies and posturings. This situationcould potentially narrow the required distanceand apolitical bearing of the armed forces asit risks pushing the “soldier” towards politi-cal opinions, preferences and biases.Xenophobically nationalistic and self-obsessedleaders like US President Donald Trump typ-ify the sort of political leadership that milksthe image of the “soldier” as he tries to justi-fy his tenure decisions — for them, populism,even at the cost of long-term impact on thearmed forces, is par for the course.

The recent case involving the SpecialWarfare Operator chief, Eddie Gallagher of

the elite US Navy SEALs (Sea,Air and Land) team, is sympto-matic of the political interfer-ences in an institution thatprides itself on discipline, com-mand and ethos of the warfight-ers. These “frogmen” are theultimate warriors of covert oper-ations, who had earlier “takenout” Osama bin Laden andconducted many other acts ofdaredevilry. The SEALs person-ify the finest soldering, training,culture and compliances that arerequired to undertake complexand dangerous missions.

The SEALs wear a reveredpin called the “trident” or “thebird,” which is freighted withincalculable heft and pride on thechest of a serving officer. It isextremely hard-earned and easyto lose, should one fail to live upto its exacting physical, moral andpsychological standards. RearAdmiral Collin Green, as theCommander of Naval SpecialWarfare Command (which over-sees SEALs and their specialoperations and missions), hadsought to withdraw the symbol-ic pin from the errant SEAL,Eddie Gallagher, as he found hisconduct unbecoming.

Rear Admiral Green waskeen to clear the Augean stableof war crimes, murder, drugissues and sexual assaults amongothers that had tainted the insti-tution in recent times. The open-and-shut case of Eddie Gallagherhad been one such professionaldereliction that warranted correc-

tive disciplining. Unfortunately, this incident

offered Trump an opportunityto exhibit his misplaced sense ofpolitical “muscularity” bydefending the errant SEAL,much against the professionalassessment of his Commanderand the institution of the armedforces. Amid disconcertingmurmurs, Rear Admiral Greenhad to acquiesce to the presi-dential and unwarranted polit-ical intervention in a routinedisciplinary case. His profes-sional concerns of the “ethical-ly misaligned” combatants wererubbished and the dignified“soldier” was left with no optionbut to step down earlier thanrequired. Military culture lost,politics won.

Creating divisions withinthe uniformed fraternity mayresult in short-term politicalbenefits for politicians but itcould immeasurably weakenthe sword-arm of the nation.Certain institutions and entitiesneed to be spared the interfer-ences and appropriations thatare borne out of compulsivepoliticisation and partisan one-upmanship. Such misplacedpolitical enthusiasm needs to benipped in the bud, else politi-cians get emboldened by theirown liberties and recklessness.Trump has unconvincinglyposited his intervention towards“sticking up for our armedforces” — nothing could befurther from the truth as com-

mand-and-control and unim-peachable discipline are thebackbone of military profes-sionalism. Trump will mostprobably be replacing Greenwith another two-star SEAL,Wyman Howard, who has aquestionable past. He is said tohave encouraged his men tocarry hatchets during combatdeployments.

Politicians do not under-stand the intricacies, sensitivitiesand traditions of the armedforces. To them, the “soldier”serves the limited utility of con-textualising political decisions “inthe interest of the soldier” andthereby, “in the best interest ofthe nation.” A global wave ofuber nationalistic politics hasaccelerated these tendencies ofexclusivism, polarisation and“divides” that are normally ananathema to the inclusive, apo-litical and simple moorings of asoldier, who swears by his paltan(battalion), regiment and to thenation. Ever-increasing opera-tional deployments, invocationsand allusions have exposed the“soldier” to the societal morassthat prevails. The duty to protectthe “soldier” from political mis-use is one of every serving sol-dier and veteran. Militaries thatavowedly shun political appro-priations remain strong andprofessional. Those that don’t,resemble political parties.

(The writer, a military veter-an, is a former Lt Governor ofAndaman & Nicobar Islands)

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Sir — This refers to the article,“We can just wait and watch”(March 18) by Kalyani Shankar.The outbreak of COVID-19,which started in China about twomonths ago, has now tightened itsgrip across the globe. A panic-likesituation has developed, giving jit-ters to one and all, including eventhose unaffected.

In the midst of all this, thewriter has made an intriguinginference of this abysmal situationby terming it to be “a blessing indisguise” for the CentralGovernment as all burning issues,be it the controversial CitizenshipAmendment Act (CAA) or theDelhi riots and even the econom-ic problems, have taken a backseat in the wake of the outbreak.

Given the fact that India, likeChina, is the most populousnation in the world, contain-ment measures that proved suc-cess elsewhere in Asia may notwork here. Enacting strict socialdistancing measures like thewidespread lockdowns and quar-antines may be a challenge in ourcountry. The key to managing theCOVID-19 outbreak is to identi-fy people with symptoms early so

they can be isolated. But oftenpeople don’t come forward untilthey have advanced symptomsand have spread the disease. We need to enhance our testingsystems.

Azhar A KhanRampur

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Sir — Back in 2019, the ModiGovernment had appointed aretired Supreme Court judge asthe first Lokpal. If this elevatedboth the level of public discourse

and the regard for our upper judi-ciary, we now see theGovernment inducting a retiredChief Justice of India into thepolitical arena to a seat of powerthat is covered under the inves-tigative ambit of the Lokpal.

The apparent contradiction of

policy approach of theGovernment vis-a-vis the judicia-ry has either been missed or it istoo sanguine to fret over. It mayyet redeem itself by entrusting theportfolio of law to this newincumbent. This, however, mayleave an awkward aftertaste as thejudiciary chooses to rub shoul-ders with the Government thatappears before it as a plaintiff ordefendant in a majority of thecases for adjudication.

R Narayanan Navi Mumbai

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Sir — As part of a set of measuresto prevent the spread ofCoronavirus, Jordan has bannedprinting of newspapers. This isindeed unwarranted. In times ofdifficulty, we need to access infor-mation. In times when there is somuch panic and misinforma-tion, the need for “real story”needs no emphasis. This is not a“stop the Presses” moment butrather “print the paper” time.

Dennis FitzgeraldMelbourne

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The field of social entrepreneurship has attract-ed great global interest on account of its rolein providing sustainable solutions for address-

ing a diverse range of complex and stubborn envi-ronmental and social problems and the systems thatperpetuate them. Social entrepreneurs are drawn bya variety of social missions and are passionate abouttackling a problem, have an idea for a solution andthe determination to make that solution happen.This fertile field has given rise to extraordinarily inge-nious people, who have conjured brilliant ideas andused them with operational prowess to dramatical-ly improve people’s lives. At the core of social entre-preneurship is the recognition of a new mindset —that believes in an agenda oriented around makingthe world a more just and equal place.

Social entrepreneurship is an appealing con-struct precisely because it gives primacy to socialbenefits while at the same time remaining firmlygrounded in sound financial principles. Finding thebalance between social purpose and commercial via-bility remains the toughest challenge for any socialentrepreneur.

The social entrepreneurship community hasnow a big tent and a major challenge is to protectthe purity of its mission. It is tragic that we are wit-nessing an unsavory and disconcerting trend whichis muddying the waters and putting this noble fieldunder strain. An increasing number of purely busi-ness ideas is being masqueraded as social innova-tion. Thus several false trappings of innovation arebeing embraced over truly innovative ideas.Resources are squandered when the innovation’sactual capabilities fall short of its promise. We nowhave so many “lost Einsteins” because the prolifer-ation of so many so-called social innovations isobscuring several genuine ones who are left to lan-guish.

Several so-called entrepreneurs are being hailedas saviours and game changers when the impact andoutcome of their work is nowhere near proven —still less studied are the damaging, unintended con-sequences of their enterprise. In many cases, theirmission is not their work — but they themselves.There is a huge mismatch between rhetoric and real-ity — as is the misalignment between their person-al lifestyle and the public stance about the poor, lead-ing to a pervasive loss of trust.

Trust is the currency that facilitates every socialtransaction. Without trust, society risks moral bank-ruptcy. We cannot take trust for granted. It must beearned in all we do, every day. These new socialclimbers must be made to understand that the poorcannot be used as raw material for individual or cor-porate salvation. Microfinance was once hailed asone of the most revolutionary ideas of the century.But rigorous studies have demonstrated that micro-finance, more particularly microcredit, has only amodest role in improving the lives of the poor.Microcredit is so longer an ally in a social entrepre-neur’s toolbox.

Since the term social innovation is still quiteamorphous, several business leaders are conflatingit to cover even purely profit-driven inventions. Oneof the prime determiners of meaningfulness and rel-evance of the innovations is their affordability to end-users while being sustainable for the providers also.An initial subsidy for training support is alright butin the long run the providers must be able to meetcosts .

Technology is an unmixed blessing. All tech-

nological change is a trade-off and maybe better termed as a Faustian bargain.Alan Moore once said, “Technology isalways a two-edged sword. It will bring inmany benefits but also many disasters. Forevery advantage a new technology offers,there is always a corresponding disadvan-tage. These are unevenly distributedamong the population. Some benefit,while some others are harmed. The con-sequences of the changes are vast andunpredictable and often irreversible. It isin this context that Bertrand Russellwarned that “unless men increase in wis-dom as much as in knowledge, increaseof knowledge will be increase of sorrow”.

Poor societies have long been used asguinea pigs by development scientists. Thisis perfectly alright as long as the objectivesare fair and rational. But the emergenceof a tribe that sees the world through abusiness lens and wants to use vulnera-ble communities as a constituency for fur-thering its commercial goals has set theactivist camps on fire. The avowed socialmission of these self-serving entrepreneursis meant to camouflage their rapaciousbusiness interests. In this pursuit, they areusing their semantic skills to justify theiraction by garbing the wolfish acts in sheep’sclothing. Social science tends to focus onaverage outcomes and makes littleallowance for negative tail-end effects.Most modern entrepreneurs are productsof business schools where the training isfocussed on maximising shareholdervalue with limited understanding of eth-ical and social considerations essential toa truly visionary leadership.

The key to compassionate and sus-tainable capitalism is reasonable profits asopposed to maximisation of profits. In thepresent system, one section of society istrying to maximise profits, totally uncon-

cerned with the consequences it is hav-ing on the well-being of the larger soci-ety, while one section is investing its timeand effort in dealing with the fallout. Thesystem is not working. There are now peo-ple, particularly among the socially con-scious ones, who are embracing thenotion of “entrepreneurship for society”rather than “commercial” or “social”entrepreneurship.

There is no that doubt that millionsof people lack access to basic services butthere are ethical questions when productsand services are tested and sold in the guiseof a public service. Everyone has hearddepressingly familiar tales of poor anduneducated people saying how privilegedthey were made to feel as they were sud-denly offered the chance to receive med-icines and nutritious food they couldn’tusually afford. Such interventions are inmany cases part of clinical or field trials.These people are chosen because they donot understand their implications andagree to them without any fuss.

Every social innovation normallyinvolves an unsettling of the status quo andreordering of the social ecosystem — andthese disruptions may impose new costsfor some members of a community or ele-ments of an ecosystem. Yet, when theimpact is measured, there’s a tendency toavoid assessing the full range of positiveand negative impacts and to only focus onmeasurable effects within the “good partof the impact spectrum”, which is what iscrucial to mobilise investment. Much lesseffort is put in for measuring the poten-tial negatives, which are critical to the per-spective of the user community. While itis true that several innovations becomeuseful after a period of refinement, thefinal impact can only be measured byunderstanding the damage caused during

the transition. Innovators must giveimportance to this window before scalingup and take measures to minimise thenegative consequences.

Ideas that generate commercial div-idends along with even bare social divi-dends charm investors — the investors andpolitical actors who are now importantplayers in the ecosystem. Most innovationsare measured in terms of their businessworth and how effectively they can bepitched to the investment world. The lan-guage of innovation is getting increasing-ly grounded in financial logic.

In their book Poor Economics, EstherDuflo and Abhijit Banerjee have listedhundreds of “common sense” develop-ment projects — micro insurance, hous-ing, food aid, microcredit — those eitherdon’t help poor people or make thempoorer. Many of the serious problems offarmers and the rural poor are largely aresult of misguided projects that haveseverely impaired the local ecology, lead-ing to soil degradation, acute shortage ofwater, and resistant pests. There are sev-eral policies which have novel features thatare not organically integrated. They haveexcellent ingredients but have to bemeshed in proper proportions so that theymake an effective recipe. A policy must beseen as a living organism where each organhas its own unique role

Every society is going through differ-ent stages of development and the neces-sary solutions and interventions must beappropriate for its unique cultural and eco-nomic context. By respecting the cultur-al outlook of the people and embracingtheir concerns we enlist their buy-in andthat is what paves the way for enduringand sustainable success.

(The writer is a well known develop-ment professional)

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The Environment Ministry’snotified rules on PersistentOrganic Pollutants (POP)

completed two years this month.POPs are used in a wide range ofindustrial and agricultural applica-tions. Some are pesticides, others areindustrial products or unintendedby-products resulting from industri-al processes or combustion.

They are rapidly becoming asource of concern globally as thereis documented evidence of POPscausing damage to human health andthe environment. Also termed as the“forever chemicals”, POPs are organ-ic compounds that are resistant to

environmental degradation throughchemical, biological or photolyticprocesses and it may take themcenturies to be degraded. Due to thispersistence they tend to bioaccumu-late and pose a serious threat tohumanity and the ecology.

POPs enter into a cycle in nature,accumulating in the bigger animalsas they eat the smaller ones. Immunedysfunction is considered as a plau-sible cause for increased mortalityamong marine mammals. It is pos-tulated that the consumption byseals of fish contaminated with POPsmay lead to vitamin and thyroid defi-ciencies and cause increased suscep-tibility to microbial infections andreproductive disorders.

The Stockholm Convention,2001, became one of the first majorinternational congregations to dis-cuss the possibilities of radicallyrestricting the use of POPs across theworld in order quell their adverseimpacts.

Though India signed the conven-tion in 2002 and ratified the same in2006, new and preemptive regula-

tions banning the manufacture, use,trade and import or export of POPswere only introduced in March 2018by the Government. Though Indiahas been a party to the StockholmConvention, its progress has beenrather slow, especially when com-pared to other nations such as China,where the regulations have beentightened to restrict the use of POPs.As a result today, China has lessexposure to POPs as compared toIndia.

Other Stockholm Conventionsignatory nations have also been ableto tighten the noose on the sevenmost dangerous POPs notified underthe Stockholm Convention by ban-ning the same.

POPs have a perilous impact onhuman health. According to theInternational Agency for Research onCancer (IARC), POPs are confirmedGroup 1 carcinogens which can alsocause allergies, hypersensitivity, dam-age to the peripheral nervous system,immune system and reproductivesystem. In spite of the glaring evi-dence against POPs, India has been

conspicuously slow in adopting aproactive and expedited approachtowards banning their use.

This can be understood by thefact that it was only in 2018 — a full12 years after India ratified theStockholm Convention — that theGovernment banned 18 pesticidesthat were harmful to human healthand the environment. But even thisban was not complete and compre-hensive as many of the actuallyharmful chemicals, pesticides andmosquito repellents such as DDT(Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane)which are a part of the POP familyhave been left out of the ban.

In order to ensure security toboth human health and the environ-ment, there is an urgent need tostrengthen India’s chemical prolifer-ation and bring the nation at par withinternational regulations as laid bythe conventions of Basel, Rotterdam,Stockholm and Minamata.

The Government’s efforts torein-in POPs can bear results if thepolicies and regulations are imple-mented better. For instance, the

compliance report for the regulationsintroduced in 2018 need to be crit-ically examined in order to under-stand the gap between policy andimplementation and how the suppli-ers, users and manufacturers are stillable to get away by using POPs anddisposing the same in an unsafemanner, thereby polluting soil andwater-bodies.

Additionally, the Governmentmust also strengthen the capacity andreliability of its offices so that the reg-ulations and policies pertaining tothe use and disposal of hazardouschemicals are minutely observed bythe related departments and offend-ers and violators are exemplarilypunished.

This will also help the offices toadequately deal with issues of lack ofawareness, outdated technologiesunder use and substandard policyimplementation. Moreover, collabo-ration with international aid organ-isations and institutions must also beforged to ramp up skill imparting andtraining, which in turn will stimulatenationwide capacity-building and

research. These initiatives will enableenforcement of the conventions towhich India is a signatory.

POPs have reigned supreme inevery Indian citizen’s life, either in theform of pesticides or countless chem-icals that one comes in contact withon a daily basis. Already everyhuman today carries approximately250 chemicals within his body thatdid not exist prior to 1945. Therefore,it is imperative for the Governmentto reduce this chemical load byfocussing on those chemicals whichhave a diabolical history of claiminglife and ensure that their manufac-ture and use is stopped immediate-ly.

However, the critical aspect hereis to act expeditiously as more andmore humans are exposed to POPsdaily, foremost being the Indianfarmers who spray a deadly cocktailof pesticides on a regular basis,exposing them to an array of healthproblems whose treatment they can-not even afford.

(The writer is an environmentaljournalist)

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Acase was registered onWednesday against the

owner of a furniture shop atBhiwandi in Thane district forissuing a misleading adver-tisement which claimed thatmattresses sold at his shopcure the coronavirus.

The accused, whose namewas not disclosed by the police,owns two furniture showroomsin Bhiwandi. On March 13, heallegedly published an adver-tisement in a Gujarati newspa-per that the novel coronaviruscan be cured or prevented bysleeping on a special kind ofmattress which he sold.

Muzaffarpur (Bihar): A petition was filed on Wednesdaybefore a court here accusing Union Health MinisterHarsh Vardhan of failing to put a check on “blackMarketing” of face masks and hand sanitizers, thedemand for which has spiked in the wake of the coro-navirus outbreak.

Social activist Tamanna Hashmi filed the petitionbefore the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate MukeshKumar where it has been posted for hearing on March30.

In his petition, Hashmi has cited news channelreports of face masks and hand sanitizers being in shortsupply and those with the stocks selling the same at “10times the selling price”.

“Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has clear-ly failed to check black marketing of these items andappears to be abetting the same,” the petitioner hasalleged. The petitioner has also sought directions fromthe court, to the police, to lodge an FIR against the min-ister under IPC sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 406(criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating) and 506 (crim-inal intimidation). PTI

Kohima: Professors and stu-dents of Kohima ScienceCollege at Jotsoma have madehand sanitisers, and distributedthem free to a hospital andGovernment offices.

Sanitisers are one of theessential items to preventspread of COVID-19.

The santitisers were pre-pared with isopropyl, hydrogenperoxide, glycerine, aloe veraplant extract and distilled water,college authorities said.

Principal of theautonomous college Lily Semasaid, 760 ml of isopropyl, 41 mlof hydrogen peroxide, 15 ml ofglycerin, 2 ml of aloe vera plantextract and 182 ml of distilledwater were used for preparingone litre of hand sanitiser.

“We prepared the sanitisersby following the WHO speci-fications,” Sema told reportershere on Wednesday.

Following a Governmentorder asking all offices to pro-vide hand sanitisers to itsemployees and also reportedshortage of the product in themarket, the institutesChemistry department initial-ly pitched in with the idea ofpreparing sanitisers for thecollege staff, the principal said.

The santitisers were sub-sequently distributed toGovernment institutions suchas Dordhashan and RegionalCentre for Excellence, Musicand Performing Arts atJotsoma on Tuesday, she said.

Fifteen litres of sanitiserswere also provided to NagaHospital Authority Kohima(NHAK) for use in the hospital. PTI

Wayanad: Close on heels ofreleasing Multi-lingual pam-phlets on the dos and don’ts oncoronavirus, the Wayanad dis-trict administration haslaunched yet another innovativescheme of distributing booksand periodicals among thoseunder home quarantine in thedistrict.

“This is a kind of positivegesture on our part towardsthose who are under isolation.We are trying to send out ahumanitarian message to thesepeople that the whole society iswith them and that it is for thesake of the society they are beingput on home quarantine,” dis-trict Collector Dr AdeelaAbdulla told PTI.

The whole exercise is doneunder a scheme -”Donate-a-

book”- wherein anyone candonate books and periodicals totheir panchayats.

The books would be deliv-ered to those under isolationthrough a mechanism via thepanchayat concerned, she said.

Panchayat sources saidthere has been a good responseto the scheme in the district andthe people in isolation had alsotaken the “read-and-relax” pro-ject in good spirit. With anobjective to reach out to thetourists from around the globereaching the tourist hotspot ofWayanad and aimed at creatingan awareness among labourersfrom different parts of India, thedistrict administration had onTuesday last released leaflets onCovid-19 in three foreign andsix Indian languages. PTI

Lucknow: Students of classesone to eight of all Governmentprimary schools in UttarPradesh will get promotedwithout having to appear inexaminations in view of thecoronavirus outbreak, an offi-cial said on Wednesday.

Examinations in primaryschools were scheduledbetween March 23 and 28.

“Orders have been issuedto promote all students, study-ing in schools run by the basiceducation department, of classone to eight to next classes

without examination. Allschools have been closed tillApril 2,” Additional ChiefSecretary, Education RenukaKumar said in a order issued on

Tuesday night.The State

Government onTuesday extended theclosure of all educa-tional institutions, cin-emas, mulitplexes andtourists places in thestate till April 2 andimplemented work-from-home protocol to

the extent possible to containthe coronavirus spread.

Competitive and otherexaminations too have beenpostponed till April 2. PTI

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Shri Mata Vaishno DeviShrine Board authorities on

Wednesday suspended yatra tothe holy cave shrine with imme-diate effect till March 31.Following the decision, the reg-istration counters were closeddown at Katra and no fresh reg-istration was done.

According to officialsources, around 8400 pilgrimswere issued registration slipsand were permitted to under-take yatra.

In a statement, spokesmanof Shri Mata Vaishno DeviShrine Board said, the yatra wassuspended on receipt of advi-sories issued by the UnionMinistry of Health and FamilyWelfare and the J&K

Government in the wake ofspread of coronavirus”.

He said the decision wastaken to ensure the safety of thepilgrims and the people at large.

“The pilgrims are request-ed not to plan their visit to theHoly Cave Shrine of Shri MataVaishno Devi Ji till the situationnormalises completely”.However, Pooja, Aarti and otherrituals shall be held at the HolyCave Shrine as usual.

Late evening, spokesman ofthe Jammu and Kashmir gov-ernment, Rohit Kansal, whileaddressing press conferencetold reporters, religious leadersare also being advised to sus-pend all religious gathering atleast till March 31 on similarlines. Meanwhile, Jammu andKashmir government also sus-

pended inter-state bus serviceson all routes with immediateeffect to check entry of out-siders. The foreign visitorswere also advised not to visitJ&K.

In Jammu, teams of JammuMunicipal Corporation con-tinue to disinfect public placesincluding hospitals, office spacesto prevent spread of coron-avirus.

Rohit Kansal also informedthe media, “out of 145 samples,which were sent for testing, 118have been reported negativewhile 24 reports were still await-ed and so far only three caseshave been tested positive”. Hesaid, at present 28 persons havebeen kept under hospital quar-antine and 346 are under homesurveillance.

Kochi: Strengthening surveil-lance and control measuresagainst the coronavirus inKerala, the State Governmenton Wednesday issued guide-lines to ensure safe return ofaround 5,000 foreign tourists inthe southern State.

In view of some countriesseeking mandatory certificatestating that the passengers areCOVID-19 negative, the StateGovernment directed all for-eign travellers in the state tocontact the COVID-19 districtcell which will ensure theirsample test for coronavirus.

The testing laboratory willissue them certificate which willenable them to fly to theirrespective nations. PTI

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Four Germany-returned pas-sengers With ‘home quar-

antine’ stamp on their handswere de-boarded from theBandra Terminus-DelhiGaribrath Express train atPalghar station, around 100kms from Mumbai, onWednesday after co-passen-gers raised an alarm, theWestern Railway said.

The fourpassengers werede-boarded from coach num-ber G4 and G5 of 12216Garibrath at Palghar stationwhen travel ticket examinerand co-passengers raised analarm after seeing the stamp ontheir hands, a Western Railway

(WR) spokesperson said.“They had arrived from

Germany and were headed toSurat,” the spokesperson said.

The four passengers werescreened at the Mumbai inter-national airport, where theywere found negative for coro-navirus. However, they wereadvised 14 days of home quar-antine, as mentioned in thestamp on their hands, the offi-cial said.

After being de-boarded,they were taken to a govern-ment hospital in Palghar, hesaid.

“The doctor and the localauthorities checked them andlater allowed them to go aheadby road,” he added.

Guwahati: The Assam Governmenton Wednesday stoppedissuing passes tovisitors for entering the State Secretariatto prevent the spread of novel coron-avirus.

As a preventive measure to restrictgatherings in public places and offices,it has been decided not to issue any vis-itor’s pass, including e-pass till March31, an order issued by SecretariatAdministration Department’sCommissioner and Secretary MAngamuthu said.

“The visitors are advised to contactthe officers concerned over telephoneor e-mails whom they proposed to visit,”the official said.’ The department hadon March 16 restricted the daily entryof persons to the state secretariat to 100.

PTI

Kolkata: A BJP activist hasbeen arrested for organising acow urine consumption eventhere, claiming that it will pro-tect people from coronavirus orcure those already infected,leading to a civic volunteerfalling ill after drinking it,police said on Wednesday.

He was arrested lateTuesday night following a com-plaint filed by the victim withthe police, they said.

According to police offi-cials, 40-year-old NarayanChatterjee, a local party work-er of Jorasakho area in NorthKolkata, had on Mondayorganised a cow-worship pro-gramme at a cowshed and dis-tributed cow urine.

He vouched for its “mirac-ulous” properties while offer-ing gaumutra to others.

A civic volunteer, who wason duty near the cow shed alsoconsumed gaumutra and fellsick on Tuesday, followingwhich he lodged a complaintwith the police againstChatterjee.

Reacting to the arrest, thestate BJP leadership criticisedthe state government.

“Chatterjee had distrib-uted cow urine, but he didn’tfool people in consuming it.When he distributed it heclearly said it was cow urine, hedidn’t force anyone to drink it.It has not been proved whetherit is harmful or not. PTI

Lucknow: A 25-year-oldjunior resident doctor of theKing George MedicalUniversity here has tested pos-itive for coronavirus after com-ing in contact with two patientsundergoing treatment for thedisease at its premises, a hos-pital spokesperson said onWednesday.

The KGMU subsequently,in a statement, announced sus-pension of all under graduateacademic classes and exami-nations till April 2 as a pre-ventive measure to stem thespread of COVID- 19.

The doctor has been keptin an isolation ward and isundergoing treatment, thespokesperson said.

“A woman from Canadaand one of her relatives, whocame in contact with her, areundergoing treatment forCOVID-19 at an isolation wardof the KGMU.

“A 25-year-old junior res-ident doctor had taken thesamples of these patients.Suddenly, some symptomswere seen in him and he wastested at the university labora-tory, where he was found pos-itive for coronavirus afflic-tion,” the KGMU spokesper-son, Dr Sudhir Singh told PTI.

“The resident doctor hasbeen kept in an isolation wardand is undergoing treatment,”he said.

Singh said 14 other people

working in the isolation wardwere also tested and they werefound negative for the afflic-tion.

“The junior resident doc-tor is being treated, and he isfine. The other two coron-avirus patients admitted inKGMU too are recuperating,”he said.

In a statement, KGMURegistrar Ashutosh KumarDwivedi later said, “Asapproved by vice-chancellorof King George’s MedicalUniversity UP, Lucknow, allunder graduate (MBBS, BDS, BSc Nursing and Paramedical)classes and examinations havebeen suspended till April 2 asa preventive measure to avoid

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SRM Institute of Science andTechnology, Kattankulathur

near Chennai has reasons torejoice. Though the campusand the students are upset overthe coronavirus lurking allover the State and waiting tostrike at people who are notagile and alert, Anupam Tiwari,a student of mechatronis inSRMIST has come out with astate-of-the-art solution tokeep the virus at bay.

It is a mobile-based appwhich would provide the userwith real time data about coro-

navirus in his neighborhood.The technology, namedCORONAPP, could be inte-grated into the mobile handsetlike the way the user has down-loaded call taxi apps andGoogle Pay.

“All apps seem to focusonly on world data but ourapplication provides peoplewith localized user experience.Using the phone’s location, theGeo-map automatically zoomsinto the user’s location on themap, allowing them to see thereports of cases around them.This is the most importantinformation people are lookingfor, and now, they can find it

within seconds,” said AnupamTiwari.

He said the CORONAPPwas different from what wasavailable in the market. “Therewere only websites that pro-vided chunks and chunks ofinformation. We wanted tocreate a platform that had allthe information one shouldknow about the Coronavirus;from statistics to basic precau-

tions, and one can also inputinformation manually. The appis updated in real-time as it ispowered by data provided bythe Centres for Disease Controland World HealthOrganisation,” said Tiwari.

Tiwari is working as anexchange student in Universityof California, Berkely. TheCoronApp is the outcome of ajoint venture he had with like-minded students from variousuniversities working with himin UCB.

He said that the mobileapp would come handy forcommon man in India’s villagesto monitor the movement ofthe Virus and can ensure thesecurity of the neighbourhoodfrom coronavirus.

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Afurious Mamata Banerjeeon Wednesday directed

one and all — “be it a veryimportant person or a lessimportant person” — to strict-ly follow the World HealthOrganisation protocols regard-ing Corona preparedness afteran alleged senior bureaucratand her son were found guiltyof flouting health officials’advice to get hospitalized soonafter the boy returned from theUK with Corona-like symp-toms.

The erring youth who hadreturned from London —where he picked up the diseasein a birthday party — chose toignore the Airport staff adviceto get admitted to the BeleghataInfectious Disease Hospitaland drove straight back to hishome.

To add salt to injury hismother a Deputy Secretarylevel officer chose not to payheed to the doctors’ advice andavoided her son’s hospitaliza-tion for the second time whenthe doctors at MR BangurHospital advised her to do so.

The medical staff withwhom the official and her sonmet at the MR Bangur Hospitaltoo have been quarantined,sources said.

A visibly angry ChiefMinister on Wednesday said,“no one is allowed to break theprotocol. It is not the questionof whether one is a VIP or anLIP … it is the question of thesafety of the people in general.No one must behave irrespon-sibly so as to infect the others… This is an irresponsibleresponse…” she said wonder-ing how the youth managed toignore the advice of the AirPort staff.

Between March 15 whenthe infected youth from

London returned and March 17— when he was finally admit-ted to the hospital along withhis parents, two drivers and twodomestic helps — the youthallegedly visited some placeswhere he came in contact withsome persons, sources said.

His mother, a senior offi-cial in the Home Departmentwho too was currently in hos-pital attended her office atWriters’ Buildings andNabanna (State secretariat)attending meetings with HomeSecretary AlapanBandopadhyay.

Incidentally Bandopadhyayand his wife, the ViceChancellor of CalcuttaUniversity too went into self-quarantine on account of hiscoming in contact with the saiderring official, HomeDepartment sources saidadding not only the staff butalso the Ministers who too sitat Nabanna could be at risk.

While the youth had test-ed positive the pathologicalsamples of the persons he camein contact with including hisparents were yet to be tested,sources said.

Meanwhile, the ChiefMinister advised utmost cau-tion saying about a lakh peo-ple have flown back homefrom foreign countries. “Wewant everyone including theofficials and the common pub-lic to follow the basic protocolsas we in Kolkata have receivedabout 95,000 people who haveflown back home from foreigncountries. Many more peopleare flying back tomorrow. Sowe have to be extremely cau-tious,” Banerjee said.

Elsewhere at the IDHospital 17 people had beenkept under quarantine sourcessaid adding the queue ofpatients seeking Corona testwas getting longer by the day.

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Five people have been arrest-ed for pelting stones at a

pregnant woman who hadmarried against the wishes ofher parents in Rasulpur villagehere, police said.

The incident took place inthe village falling underMirapur police station limits ofthe district on Tuesday, theysaid.

Trouble started when thewoman had come to the village,where she belongs to, with herhusband that supposedlyangered her family members.

Few months ago, she hadeloped with the youth andmarried despite objectionsfrom her family.

While she was walking onthe streets, five people from herfamily attacked her but shemanaged to escape unhurt.

Later, police reached thespot and arrested Naushad,Abdul, Naeem, Mehboob andShahnawaz, who are all rela-tives of the woman, for attack-ing her.

Bengaluru: Rebel Congress MLAs fromMadhya Pradesh who are staying at a resorthere, on Wednesday said they have come to thecity voluntarily and don’t want to meet anybody,even as senior party leader Digvijay Singh ismaking efforts to reach out to them.

High drama unfolded this morning nearthe resort, as Singh, a two-time MadhyaPradesh Chief Minister, staged a protest accus-ing the police of not allowing him to meet thelegislators, following which he was detainedbriefly and released later.

Singh, along with Karnataka Congress chiefDK Shivakumar, is meeting police top brassseeking opportunity to meet the MLAs.

He hit out at Union Home Minister AmitShah and Karnataka Chief Minister BSYediyurappa, accusing them of trying to blocktheir efforts to get in touch with the legislators.

"We have come here voluntarily on ourown wish; we have got to know from somepeople that a few leaders from MadhyaPradesh including Digvijaya Singh and someMLAs have come here. We don’t want to talkto anybody," Congress rebel MLA fromSumawali Adal Singh Kansana said in avideo message.

"We have tried enough to speak with everyone for the last one year, when they did not hearus for one year, what they will hear us in oneday? We want to say only this that we havecome here as per our wish and go back as perour wish," he added.

Another rebel MLA Govind Singh Rajputtoo said they have come voluntarily and don’twant to meet anybody.

"We got to know that Digvijaya Singh hascome with a few Ministers and leaders.Unnecessarily at the gate they are saying theywant to meet us. When no MLA wants to meethim, they should not be doing this. All MLAshave sent in their resignation," he said in a videomessage.

Currently, 22 rebel MLAs are said to becamping in the city. Digvijaya Singhsaid he wants to meet MLAs, who are his "vot-ers" for the Rajya Sabha polls in MadhyaPradesh, and will stay here till he meets them.

Ahead of meeting the city police commis-sioner, he said, "I have my doubts (about any helpfrom the commissioner) because of pressurefrom Union Home Minister and the ChiefMinister on them; they will not allow meeting(MLAs), because if MLAs meet me they willcome out with me."

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In a major reliefto the people of

Jammu &Kashmir, theAdministrativeCouncil whichmet under thechairmanship ofL i e u t e n a n tGovernor, Girish ChanderMurmu on Wednesdayaccorded sanction to rolling outthe Jammu & Kashmir HealthScheme to provide free of costUniversal Health Coverage toall residents of the UnionTerritory in convergence withAyushman Bharat-PMJAY.

Now, around 1.25 croreresidents of J&K will be pro-vided the same benefits as areprovided under AyushmanBharat-PMJAY.

At present, 5.95 lakh fam-ilies numbering 31 lakh per-sons are eligible for benefitsunder Ayushman Bharat-PMJAY. Around 15 lakh addi-tional families will be coveredunder the Jammu & KashmirHealth Scheme.

Under this UniversalHealth Coverage, the benefi-ciaries shall be entitled to freehealth insurance cover of �5lakh per family per year onfloater basis and there is norestriction on family size, ageor gender.

All pre-existing illnessesshall also be covered besides;cashless services shall also beavailable in all the empanelledhospitals.

The beneficiaries underthe scheme shall have access to20,853 (public and private)hospitals across the country

and avail benefits with facilityof inter-state portability. InJ&K, 159 (public and private)hospitals are empanelled atpresent. It shall provide cover-age to 1469 medical and sur-gical packages/proceduresincluding life consuming dis-eases, such as, cancer and kid-ney failure.

Treatment for oncology,cardiology and nephrologyrelated illness will be coveredfrom day one including high-end diagnostic procedures dur-ing hospitalization. The bene-ficiaries shall also be eligible forcoverage of 3 days pre-hospi-talization and 15 days post hos-pitalization expenses.

As per the decision of theAdministrative Council, allemployees, pensioners andtheir family members are alsocovered under the Jammu &Kashmir Health Scheme. Theemployees shall continue to get�300 per month as medicalallowance to take care of OPDtreatment.

Identification of the eligi-ble families for getting regis-tered for the Health Schemewill be made on the basis ofsocio-economic census 2011.However, the families/personsthat have been left out in thecensus can be enrolled on thebasis of a defined process.

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Aresident of Khanyar area inSrinagar, with a recent

travel history to Saudi Arabiaon Wednesday tested positive,taking the total number ofpositive cases to four in theUnion Territory of Jammu &Kashmir. So far, Ladakh, hasreported eight positive cases,including an army jawan ofLadakh Scouts.

Spokesman of the Jammu& Kashmir Government, RohitKansal late Wednesday tweet-ed, "First positive case inKashmir- Khanyar, Srinagar".

He said the patient had ahistory of recent foreign trav-el and arrived here on March

16.According to Rohit Kansal,

the local resident was kept inisolation since then. He alsoappealed to all the local resi-dents to cooperate as theGovernment agencies havelaunched surveillance in the300 metre area to isolate oth-ers who may have come in con-tact with the patient.

Deputy Commissioner,Srinagar, Dr ShahidChoudhary in a separate tweetsaid, "There will be restrictionson public transport, assemblyof people and some other mea-sures, in #Srinagar from tomor-row. Steps are being taken inview of a positive case detect-ed".

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Former Union Minister andNCP chief Sharad Pawar

will appear before Bhima-Koregaon Commission ofInquiry on April 4, in an effortto present his views on how theprevious BJP-led Governmenthandled the 2018 BhimaKoregaon-Elgaar Parishad case.

The Commission headedby former Bombay High CourtChief Justice J. N. Patel, whichshould have begun the hearingsin Pune by now, has deferredthe hearings till March 30 inview of the pandemic Covid-19.

“In the view of coron-avirus, Koregaon BhimaCommission of Inquiry hasdecided to postpone all hear-ings scheduled at Pune duringlast week of March. It is furthernotified that these hearingswill take place in Mumbaifrom March 30 to April 4.Detailed schedules of hearingwill be notified,” VV Palnitkar,Secretary to the Commission,

said in a statement issued here.Seventy-nine-year-old

Pawar, who being the chiefminister of Maharashtra onthree occasions is well versed inrunning the State Government,will depose before theCommission on April 4, appar-ently on the “politically biased”manner in which the previousDevendra FadnavisGovernment ensured the inves-tigations into the December 31,2017 Elgaar Parishad and sub-sequent disturbances at Bhima-Koretgaon on January 1,2018.

More than a month back,Pawar had made no bonesabout his displeasure over chiefminister Uddhav Thackeray’sdecision to let the NationalInvestigation Agency (NIA)over the 2018 BhimaKoregaon-Elgaar Parishad case,last month.

Expressing his displeasureto the chief minister’s decision,Pawar had said: : “Under theConstitution, maintaining law& order is a state subject. In thefirst place, it was improper onthe Centre to encroach uponthe rights of the state and takeover the case from the Punepolice. It was much moreimproper on the state govern-ment’s part to support theCentre’s move (to ask the NIAto take over the case).

It may be recalled that onJanuary 25 --a day after theUnion Ministry of HomeAffairs (MHA) handed over theinvestigations in the BhimaKoregaon-Elgaar Parishad caseto the NIA, a miffed Pawar hadcharged that the ruling BJP –with an acute fear of beingexposed in the case – had hur-riedly handed over the investi-gations to the NIA.

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Justice Bhushan PradyumnaDharmadhikari was on

Wednesday appointed by theUnion Government as theChief Justice of the BombayHigh Court.

Justice Dharmadhikari,who is the senior-most judgeof the Bombay High Court, iscurrently the Acting ChiefJustice of the High Court.

On February 24, JusticeDharmadhikari had beenappointed as the Acting CJafter Justice PradeepNandrajog retired as the ChiefJustice of Bombay High Court.

Little over a month ago,his cousin Justice SCDharmadhikari, who was thethen senior-most judge afterCJ had retired

A notification issued onWednesday by Ministry ofLaw and Justice, Governmentof India, stated : "In exerciseof the power conferred byClause (I) Article 217 of theConstitution of India, thePresident is pleased toappoint Justice BhushanPradyumna Dharmadhikari,Judge of Bombay High Court,

to be the Chief Justice of theBombay High Court witheffect from the date he assumescharge of his office".

Justice Dharmadhikari isdue to retire in April this year.The development is being seenas a rare occasion when theChief Justice is appointed fromthe same court.

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Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Ideaand Tata Group’s self-

assessment of dues to theGovernment are a whopping�82,300 crore short of what thetelecom department calculatedafter the Supreme Court’s rul-ing on AGR.

The apex court onWednesday lashed out at thetelcos for trying to reopen thedues they owed to the govern-ment through the self-assess-ment exercise.

The Department ofTelecommunications (DoT),according to its own submis-sion to the apex court seekingrelief in payment tenure, hasput dues of the three companies

at �1.19 lakh crore.The dues estimated by

DoT for Bharti Airtel andTelnor was pegged at �43,980crore, while that of VodafoneIdea was �58,254 crore, andTata Group of companies at Rs16,798 crore outlined under‘total demand of DoT incor-porating CAG and special auditas on October 2019’.

Against this, Bharti Grouphas calculated its dues at�13,004 crore, Vodafone Idea at�21,533 crore and Tata Groupof companies at �2,197 crore.

In all, AGR dues calculat-ed by the government for 16entities add up to �1.69 lakhcrore, while telcos’ self-assess-ment place their dues at amere �37,176 crore.

These dues arose after theSupreme Court, in October lastyear, upheld the government’sposition on including revenuefrom non-core businesses incalculating the annual AGR oftelecom companies, a share ofwhich is paid as licence andspectrum fee to the exche-quer.

The SC on Wednesdaypulled up the Centre and tele-com companies for doing self-assessment or reassessment ofthe Adjusted Gross Revenue(AGR) dues fixed by the apexcourt in its verdict given onOctober 24 last year.

A Bench of Justice ArunMishra, Justice SA Nazeer andJustice M R Shah refused totake up the Centre’s plea forallowing telecom companies topay AGR dues in 20 years, say-ing the application will betaken up after two weeks.

“The time frame of 20years is unreasonable. The tele-com companies have to clear all

dues mentioned in the judge-ment,” the bench said, addingit had settled all AGR dues afterhearing telecom companiesand the government then hadfought tooth and nail for inter-ests and penalties.

The Bench said it will sum-mon the secretary and deskofficer of DoT who permittedtelecom companies to do self-assessment of AGR dues.

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The Supreme Court onWednesday pulled up the

Centre and telecom companiesfor doing self-assessment orreassessment of the AdjustedGross Revenue (AGR) duesfixed by the apex court in itsverdict given on October 24last year.

The top court, which wasalso anguished by frequentlypublished newspaper articleson the AGR issue, said all man-aging directors of telecomcompanies will be personallyresponsible and held for con-tempt of court for any suchfuture write-ups hiding thetruth.

A Bench of Justice ArunMishra, Justice SA Nazeer andJustice MR Shah refused totake up the Centre’s plea forallowing telecom companies topay AGR dues in 20 years, say-ing the application will betaken up after two weeks.

“The time frame of 20

years is unreasonable. Thetelecom companies have toclear all dues mentioned in thejudgment,” the bench said,adding it had settled all AGRdues after hearing telecomcompanies and the govern-ment then had fought toothand nail for interests andpenalties.

The Bench said it willsummon the secretary anddesk officer of the Departmentof Telecommunications (DoT)who permitted telecom com-panies to do self-assessment ofAGR dues.

“Exercise of self-assess-ment of AGR dues by telecomcompanies cannot be permit-ted even in wildest dreams,” itsaid. The court said seriousfraud was being committed bytelecom companies by assert-ing to do self-assessment ofAGR dues and that its judg-ment was final and to be fol-lowed in letter and spirit.

“We will be party to fraudif we allow self-assessment of

AGR dues by telecom compa-nies,” the Bench said, adding,it cannot permit encroach-ment of its powers by allowingself-assessment.

The court also said thatnewspaper articles will not beable to influence its decisionand it will draw contempt pro-ceedings against the managingdirectors of telecom companiesif they publish “fake news”against court on payment ofAGR dues.

“Any future newspaperarticle hiding truth from pub-lic on telecom case will makeMDs of telecos personallyresponsible,” the bench said.

The apex court had onOctober 24 last year ruled thatthe statutory dues need to becalculated by including non-telecom revenues in AGR oftelecom companies. It hadupheld the AGR definitionformulated by the DoT andtermed “frivolous” the natureof objections raised by thetelecom service providers.

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After 13 days of hardship forcustomers, Yes Bank said it

has resumed all banking ser-vices as the moratoriumimposed on the lender was lift-ed on Wednesday evening.

Besides, the lender wouldextend banking time for threedays starting Thursday.

Soon after the lifting of the13-day moratorium at 6 pm,some customers took to socialmedia complaining that theywere not able to access certainservices, including internet andmobile banking.

“Our banking services arenow operational. You can nowexperience the full suite of ourservices. Thank you for yourpatience and co-operation.#YESforYOU @RBI@FinMinIndia,” the lender saidin a tweet.

There are also concerns in

certain quarters that Yes Bankcould see significant amount ofdeposit withdrawals.

“To serve you better, ourbranches will open one hourearlier at 08:30 hours fromMarch 19 to 21, 2020. We havealso extended banking hoursacross branches for our seniorcitizen customers, from March19 to March 27, 2020, 16:30hours to 17:30 hours,” the banksaid in another tweet.

On March 5, the ReserveBank of India had imposed amoratorium as well as super-seded the board of the thenstruggling Yes Bank. Depositwithdrawals were capped at Rs50,000 per account apart fromother restrictions.

Under the Yes Bank recon-struction scheme, SBI andseven financial institutions,including private sectorlenders, have infused around�10,000 crore in the bank.

Yes Bank’s deposit baseeroded by �72,000 crore to�1.37 lakh crore as of March 5,2020. The same was at �2.09lakh crore as of December 31,2019, as per data shared by thebank last Friday.

On Tuesday, then Yes BankCEO-Designate PrashantKumar said the private sectorlender has taken adequate stepsto ensure availability of fundsfor customers.

New Delhi/Mumbai: After skip-ping ED summons thrice, pro-moters of crisis-hit DHFL, Kapiland Dheeraj Wadhawan, havecited COVID-19 pandemic fortheir non-appearance in con-nection with the money laun-dering probe against Yes Bankfounder Rana Kapoor and oth-ers, officials said on Wednesday.

The Wadhawan brothers,who denied any wrongdoing intheir dealings with the bank,were supposed to appear beforethe central agency on Tuesdayat its office in south Mumbai.

The ED has summoned

them thrice, with the first com-munication for deposition senton March 10.

DHFL CMD KapilWadhawan and non-executivedirector of the company(Dewan Housing FinanceLimited) Dheeraj Wadhawanare already being probed by theagency as part of a separatemoney laundering probe relat-ed to late Mumbai gangsterIqbal Mirchi. Kapil Wadhawan,47, was also arrested by theagency in the case (IqbalMirchi), but he is now out onbail. PTI

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Total liabilities of the gov-ernment increased to

�93.89 lakh crore at the end ofDecember 2019, up 3.2 per centas compared to the previousquarter, said finance ministrydata on Wednesday.

The liabilities, includingthose under the public account,had stood at �91,01,484 croreat the end of September 2019.Public debt accounted for 90.4per cent of total outstandingliabilities at the end ofDecember 2019.

The Public DebtManagement Quarterly Reportfurther said the proportion ofdebt (dated securities) matur-ing in less than one year washigher at 6.64 per cent at theend of December 2019 as com-pared to its previous quarterlevel of 5.41 per cent.

The proportion of debtmaturing within 1-5 years wasalso higher at 25.09 per cent atthe end of December 2019,compared with 23.65 per centat end-September 2019.

Debt maturing in the nextfive years worked out to 31.7per cent of total outstandingdebt at the end of December2019 or 6.3 per cent of out-standing stock, on an average,needs to be repaid every year over the next fiveyears.

As per the report, the yieldson G-Secs moved in a narrowrange during October-November 2019, before hard-ening in the first fortnight ofDecember 2019.

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All Indian airlines will report significant loss-es in the first quarter of this year and may

initially ground around 150 planes as the shockfrom the coronavirus pandemic will be “far deep-er and much longer”, according to a report.

Aviation advisory firm CAPA India onWednesday said consolidated losses are estimatedto be in the range of USD 500-600 million forthe quarter, excluding Air India.

In a report, it said that some airlines maychoose to temporarily shut down their opera-tions by design on the basis that demand is solow that such action would result in reduced loss-es than if they continue to operate.

As per the report, even before COVID-19(coronavirus) appeared on the scene, mostIndian carriers already had very strained balancesheets and almost no liquidity.

“This latest shock will once again expose thevulnerability of India’s aviation system as hap-pened during the fuel price spike in 2008. Buton that occasion the shock was short-lived, evenif its impact reverberated for several years. Thistime, the shock itself will be far deeper and muchlonger,” it said. In the wake of significant reduc-tion in services, the report said.

Mumbai: The rupee pared initialgains to close marginally down by2 paise at 74.26 against the USdollar on Wednesday amid sus-tained foreign fund outflowsand heavy selling in domesticequities. Forex traders said theIndian rupee failed to find afoothold as there are still concernsover the impact of the coron-avirus pandemic on the global aswell as domestic economy.

At the interbank foreignexchange market, the localcurrency opened higher at73.98. During the day, it shut-tled between a high of 73.92and a low of 74.42 against thegreenback. The domestic unitfinally finished at 74.26, down2 paise over its previous close.

“Rupee fell against the USdollar amidst continued melt-down in the equity markets andsustained foreign fund out-flows. Dollar showed somestrength as investors pursuedmost liquid currency as con-cerns about economic shut-downs from the coronaviruscontinued to dent risk appetite,”said Gaurang Somaiyaa, Forex& Bullion Analyst, MotilalOswal Financial Services.

According to provisionalmarket data, foreign investorspulled out �5,085.35 crore ona net basis from capital marketson Wednesday. Somaiyaa fur-ther said that “continuousefforts by major central banksto provide liquidity in the sys-tem and stabilize the economyis increasing the volatility in themarket. We expect the rupee(Spot) to trade in range of 74and 74.60.” PTI

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The National Company LawTribunal (NCLT) on

Wednesday allowed 90 days’extension for the corporateinsolvency resolution processof Jet Airways.

Jet Airways’ resolution pro-fessional had last week filed anapplication in NCLT seeking 90days’ extension for the insol-vency process of the groundedairline after it failed to attractany bidder.

The NCLT bench, com-prising Bhaskara PantulaMohan and Rajesh Sharma,granted the extension as theCommittee of Creditors (CoC)voted for the same, with 70 percent votes in favour.

The CoC had on February18 set a new deadline of March10 for submission of bids forthe grounded airline afterSouth American conglomerateSynergy Group and New Delhi-based Prudent ARC failed tomeet the previous deadline.

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Asian markets plungedWednesday, reversing an

early rally fuelled by globalstimulus pledges, including amore than $1 trillion packageflagged by the United States.

With borders being shutand countries going into lock-down, there is a broad expec-tation the world economy willplunge into recession as mar-kets convulse. Dealers acrossthe planet, who have been sentrunning for the hills, havebeen begging for governmentmeasures to mitigate theimpact of the disease as tradecollapses and businesses close.

On Tuesday, the US led thecharge, with Treasury SecretarySteven Mnuchin saying officialswere drawing up a package thatcould surpass $1 trillion, on topof $300 billion in deferred taxpayments, making it among thelargest federal emergency plansever and far surpassing assis-tance during the 2008 globalfinancial meltdown.

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Olympic chiefs acknowledgedon Wednesday there was no“ideal” solution to staging

the Tokyo Olympics in response toa growing number of athletesexpressing concern as the coron-avirus pandemic swept the globe.

“This is an exceptional situationwhich requires exceptional solu-tions,” an IOC spokesperson saidafter criticism from top athletes thatthey would be forced to take healthrisks should the Games go ahead.

“The IOC is committed to find-ing a solution with the least nega-tive impact for the athletes, whileprotecting the integrity of the com-petition and the athletes’ health,” thespokesperson continued.

“No solution will be ideal in thissituation, and this is why we arecounting on the responsibility andsolidarity of the athletes.”

Olympic pole vault championKaterina Stefanidi and Britain’sworld champion heptathleteKatarina Johnson-Thompson bothvoiced concerns at the IOC’s stance.

Stefanidi, one of Greece’s mostprominent athletes, was scheduledto hand the ceremonial flame toJapanese officials before the Greekleg of the torch relay was scrappedover COVID-19.

“The IOC wants us to keep risk-ing our health, our family’s healthand public health to train everyday?” Stefanidi tweeted.

“You are putting us in dangerright now, today, not in 4 months.”

‘ZERO RISK CONSIDERATION’On Tuesday, minutes before

the IOC statement that it was press-ing ahead with its preparations, Euro2020 was delayed for a year, bowingto the crisis that has paralysedEurope and drastically curtailed

international travel.Olympic qualifying tourna-

ments are among the swathe ofsports events that have been can-celled or postponed. Only 57 per-cent of athletes have booked theirplaces so far.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Stefanidi.“What about team sports that haveto train together? What about swim-ming? What about gymnastics, thatthey touch the same objects?

“There is zero consideration ofthe risk they are putting us in rightnow."

French swimming federationpresident Gilles Sezionale expressedhis disappointment at the IOC“evoking the possible continuationof the Games”.

“I am devastated by so many

inconsistencies when we shouldtoday devote ourselves solely to theepidemic to save lives!”

Johnson-Thompson, who wonher multi-event world title in Dohain October, criticised the IOC fortelling athletes to train “as best theycan”, saying it was at odds with strin-gent government health measures.

“I feel under pressure to trainand keep the same routine which isimpossible,” she wrote on Twitter.

“It’s difficult (to) approach theseason when everything haschanged in the lead-up apart fromthe ultimate deadline,” added theBriton.

‘ONLY FAIR SOLUTION’France’s 110m hurdler Pascal

Martinot-Lagarde, a European

champion and world Bronze medal-list who finished fourth at the 2016Rio Olympics, said a postpone-ment was the only fair solution.

“We’re not all in the same boat,there are countries which are lessaffected than others. In some coun-tries athletes can train normallywhile we can’t even access ourtraining track,” he said.

“We are not on an equal footingwhen it comes to preparation. TheGames should be postponed untilthe end of 2020, not next year.”

Germany’s six-time Olympicdressage Gold medallist IsabellWerth meanwhile said not talkingabout a potential postponementwas “an incomprehensible andunjustifiable delaying tactic by theIOC and the Japanese”.

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International Olympic Committeemember Hayley Wickenheiser said

that vows to press ahead with plansfor the Tokyo Games are “insensitiveand irresponsible.”

Wickenheiser, a member ofCanada’s women’s ice hockey teamthat won four straight Olympic Goldsbetween 2002 and 2016, made hercomments on Twitter.

The 41-year-old IOC AthletesCommission member was speakingas the IOC said there was no need for“drastic decisions” over the staging ofthe July 24-August 8 event.

IOC and Japanese officials haveinsisted they are working towardsstaging the Olympics as planneddespite the escalating coronaviruspandemic.

“This crisis is bigger than eventhe Olympics,” said Wickenheiser.

“We don’t know what’s happen-ing in the next 24 hours, let alone thenext three months.”

She pointed to the disruption thepandemic had already caused toathletes preparing for the games.

Athletes have been preventedfrom accessing training facilities

because of virus-related lockdowns,while others have seen key competi-tions and qualifying events can-celled. “From an athlete perspective,I can only imagine and try toempathise with the anxiety andheartbreak athletes are feeling rightnow,” Wickenheiser said.

“The uncertainty of not knowingwhere you’re going to train tomorrowas facilities close and qualificationevents are cancelled all over theworld would be terrible if you’ve beentraining your whole life for this.

“Athletes can’t train, attendeescan’t travel plan. Sponsors and mar-keters can’t market with any degreeof sensitivity.

“I think the IOC insisting this willmove ahead, with such conviction, isinsensitive and irresponsible given thestate of humanity.”

In a later tweet, Wickenheiserexpanded on her criticism.

“Should the Olympics be can-celled? No one knows at this pointand that IS my point,” she wrote.

“To say for certain they will goahead is an injustice to the athletestraining and global population atlarge. We need to acknowledge theunknown.”

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Only four Indian shuttlers — Sindhu, B Sai Praneethand men’s doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy — are assured of a spot at theTokyo Games. And there is little hope that Saina Nehwaland Kidambi Srikanth will be able to make the cut, espe-cially after Badminton World Federation (BWF) wasforced to postpone all events due to the COVID-19 pan-demic.

The 57-year-old Vimal, who represented India at the1992 Barcelona Olympics, said it will be sad to see Sainaand Srikanth miss Olympics this time.

“They were going through a low phase for quitesometime and even if the qualifying tournaments hap-pened, it would have taken a herculean task to qualifyfor Olympics. Even at the All England, their performancewasn’t very good,” he said.

“Srikanth needs a separate program regarding hisphysical training, take more initiative and find his wayback. He might not play Olympics this time but can stillcome back and play at top level for 3-4 years. He hadniggles so he couldn’t play attacking badminton.

“Saina also had injury issues. She is putting the effortin the practice sessions but not able to convert in matchsituations. It is sad that they are going through such alow phase. It will be a blow for Indian badminton, theymissing out,” said Vimal, who had coached Saina from2014 to 2017.

Srikanth and Saina are currently ranked 14th and20th respectively in the BWF ranking with only the top16 making the cut when the Olympic qualification dead-line ends on April 28.

Vimal said Srikanth can still squeeze in if BWFfreezes the ranking and doesn’t extend the qualificationperiod.

“Srikanth is still 14th in ranking now and if BWFmaintains this ranking till April 28, he can get lucky andstill make it,” he said.

The former India badminton coach is also extreme-ly disappointed with the way Indonesian doubles coachFlandy Limpele left abruptly in an Olympic year and saidforeign appointees must be held accountable for depart-ing without completing their tenures.

Limpele, who was hired in March 2019, recentlystepped down as India’s doubles coach, citing family rea-sons, becoming the fourth such foreign coach to haveresigned without completing the tenure.

“It was very unfortunate and unprofessional ofFlandy to leave this way. When the doubles players hadqualified for Olympics and had chances of doing well,to leave in the middle of it, I was disappointed,” Vimal,who served as India’s chief national coach from 2003 to2006 said.

“I had a long chat with him in January. He had saidthen that some players were not disciplined but he saidhe will work with them and then suddenly he left justbefore All England.”

Earlier, Korean Kim Ji Hyun, who guided P V Sindhuto a world championship Gold, made an uncer-emonious exit last September.

Renowned Indonesian coach MulyoHandoyo also resigned abruptly inlate 2017 before joining theSingapore squad.

Malaysia’s Tan KimHer stepped down asIndia’s doublescoach early last year,18 months beforehis tenure was toend.

“I think theyhave to be madeaccountable. Weneed to be veryclear that they stick tothe group, or the certainnumber of players thatthey have to handle. Itshould be in the contract.

“We are paying themhuge money, so we have to takethat responsibility. They justcan’t walk off without notice,” hesaid.

�� 7&��78!+

The COVID-19 pandemic has thrownthe build-up to this year’s Olympics

into disarray, but Indian boxing’s HighPerformance Director Santiago Nieva feelsthe country’s Tokyo-bound pugilistswon’t be affected as they would be just finetraining at home if travel restrictions don’tease up.

Nieva is in precautionary quarantinetill March 27 after the team’s return fromthe Asian Olympic Qualifiers in Jordan,where India secured an unprecedentednine Tokyo spots.

The entire squad was training in theItalian city of Assisi before heading toJordan.

“It’s actually quite boring (in quaran-tine). I just about manage to pass my timehere but we all have to be patient. This willbe over soon and the preventive measuresare for our good,” he said.

The Argentina-born Swede, whocame on board back in 2017, soundedrelaxed about India’s build-up plans.

“What’s the point in panicking?” heasked. “Whatever happens, it is going tobe same for all the countries. So, even if

the travel bans are not lifted, we have theinfrastructure in India to ensure that ourtraining is not affected,” he asserted.

The Indian boxers have traditional-ly preferred to travel abroad for training

before the Olympics. They were, in fact,scheduled to be in Russia on a training-cum-competition trip in May before thenow-postponed world qualifiers but thatplan looks unlikely to work out in the cur-

rent circumstances.“The world qualifiers (in Paris) are in

any case suspended as of now and we havesecured Olympic spots in nine out of 13categories. That is a huge advantage giventhe situation. As such, we are not underany pressure,” he explained.

Given that all training activities aresuspended for now due to the precaution-ary measures in place, Nieva and hiswomen’s team counterpart RaffaeleBergamasco will be conducting onlineclasses for Indian coaches.

“I have been notified about it by thefederation yesterday (on Tuesday). We willget going soon enough to utilise this time,”he said.

The idea behind the online classes isto ensure coaches in India are abreast withthe latest technical rules. For this, they willalso be given handbooks, detailing thechanges that have come about in the scor-ing system among other things.

Talking about the Olympics, Nievasaid the preparation for Tokyo began soonafter he joined the Indian team in 2017.This was months after the Indian boxersfailed to win any medals at the 2016Games in Rio.

“We now enter the last leg of a processthat started after the Rio Olympics.What we achieved at the Asian Qualifiersis a result of extensive training and com-petitions that we continuously participat-ed in India as well as outside the coun-try,” Nieva said.

“The India Open has become a hugeplatform for our boxers to gain experienceagainst the best in the world. All that hasmade them a very confident bunch andthey are not bothered who is the oppo-sition.

“Plus we are also able to bounce backfrom deficits (during bouts) more strong-ly. We have a large pool of boxers as wellwhich is keeping the national camp pret-ty competitive,” he added.

“When I joined in India, some jour-nalists would ask me what I would do toimprove the boxers' mental strength andI always considered that question funnybecause I never found anything lacking,”he recalled.

“I always knew they had it in themto take on anyone. And they demonstrat-ed that in these qualifiers. I feel very proudof this performance and my conviction,”he said.

��#�� India’s fastest womanDutee Chand is wary of missing outof the Olympics after she wasdeprived of her training-cum-com-petition stint in Germany, whichaffected her plans to qualify for theTokyo Games.

The 24-year-old Dutee was totrain and take part in Olympic qual-ifying events in Germany fromMarch 2 but despite getting the visaand sponsorship, she could notmake it there as Europe has nowturned into an epicentre of the coro-navirus outbreak.

“I was to go for a training-cum-competition stint in Germany fromMarch 2. I was planning to run insome quality competitions inEurope and hoping to qualify forthe Olympics. But all my plans fellapart due to this coronavirus,”Dutee said from Patiala where sheis taking part in the first leg of theIndian Grand Prix series on Friday.

“I have got the visa and other

travel documents and was ready togo to Germany. But suddenly I gotthe message from the training basein Germany that I should notcome due to the spread of coron-avirus. I am very disappointed,” saidthe national record holder 100msprinter. Asked how confident sheis about qualifying for Tokyo

Olympics, Dutee, who won a Silvereach in both 100m and 200m in2018 Asian Games, said, “I don’tknow. I am worried that I may notqualify for the Olympics.

“It is very tough to qualify forthe Olympics, the qualificationmark is 11.15 seconds. You get goodcompetitors in Europe and thatpushes up your timing. Here onlyfive athletes are taking part in100m (in Indian GP). Competitionis not much here,” said Dutee, whohas a personal best of 11.22 secs.

She is still hoping that the sit-uation caused by the virus improvesin the days to come and she getssome quality competitions inEurope.

“I know the situation is bad andI may not get any race in Europe.But I am still hoping. Now I havethese Indian GP series and theFederation Cup (in Patiala nextmonth) to try and qualify forOlympics. Let us see.” PTI

�� 8:��:�

Wimbledon organisers arestill planning to play the

Grand Slam this year, despitethe coronavirus chaos that ledthe French Open to be pushedback until September.

Wimbledon is scheduled torun from June 29 to July 12, butAll England Club chiefs areaware the sporting schedule hasbeen decimated by the deadlypandemic.

French Open bosses onTuesday revealed the clay-courtevent will move from its sched-uled spring slot to September.

The year’s second GrandSlam was due to begin on May

24, but will now run fromSeptember 20 to October 4.

A roof has been installedover Roland Garros’ centrecourt, Philippe Chatrier, withfloodlights on the three othermain courts, enabling play togo on later.

Wimbledon remain hope-ful that play at the grass-courttournament will be able to goahead if the spread of the virusis slowed.

But Richard Lewis, chiefexecutive of the All EnglandLawn Tennis and CroquetClub, insisted they would putpublic safety first.

“At the heart of our deci-sion-making is our commit-

ment to the health and safety ofour members, staff, and thepublic, and we are grateful tothe government and publichealth authorities for theiradvice and support,” Lewissaid.

“While we continue to planfor The Championships at thistime, it remains a continuous-ly evolving situation and we willact responsibly, in the bestinterests of wider society.

“We thank all of our mem-bers, staff, players, partners,contractors and the public fortheir patience and trust as wecontinue to navigate thisunprecedented global chal-lenge.” ��!��"� The US Tennis Association

acknowledged on Tuesday that develop-ments in the coronavirus pandemic coulddictate moving the US Open, now sched-uled to start in August.

But the American federation said itwouldn’t determine any new date for itsflagship Grand Slam without consultingthe other major championship organizers,the International Tennis Federation andthe ATP and WTA tours.

“We recognize that such a decisionshould not be made unilaterally,” the USTAsaid in a statement — a scarcely veiled jabat the French Tennis Federation.

In postponing the event originallysheculed for May 24-June 7, the FrenchFederation apparently declined to consultother stakeholders in the sport.

The chosen dates, one week after thecurrent scheduled conclusion of the USOpen, caught the ATP and WTA by sur-prise.

They conflict with the Laver Cup inBoston, where Europe’s top players arescheduled to take on a World team.

Roger Federer has already committedto the event.

The US Open, the final Grand Slamon the calendar, is scheduled to run August24-September 13 at the Billie Jean KingTennis Center in Flushing Meadows,New York. AFP

��%��'��+ ��! �� "��3��'��"��'�� #��%�* �"��# �3�� #�%#��!�� $3��@��'"��"�� "�� -��/A<�"�� '��

No ‘ideal’ solution for Tokyo Olympics, says IOC ��$#��"��2�� * &�� "��%� �

, ��(��&� ��0��Tokyo: A Tokyo Olympics gymnas-tics qualifier next month, which hadhoped to feature US superstarSimone Biles among its partici-pants, was cancelled on Wednesday.

The Japan GymnasticsAssociation announced the scrap-ping of the Artistic GymnasticsWorld Cup Tokyo on April 4-5, anOlympic test event, just a few daysafter saying it would be held with-out spectators.

“Due to the impact of the spreadof coronavirus infections in Europe

and cancellations of World Cups inother countries, many athletes and

judges decided not to participate inthe event,” the JGA said in a state-ment.

A rhythmic gymnastics Olympictest event scheduled for April 6 is stillgoing ahead, according to the Tokyo2020 organising committee. “Afterconfirming it is safe to do so, Tokyo2020 will carry out an operational testwithin the given dates,” the organis-ers said, adding they will consult withthe International Olympic Committeeand Federation Internationale deGymnastique. AFP

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�� 7&��78!+

Hanuma Vihari wanted toutilise the summer monthsplaying county cricket in

England but the COVID-19 pan-demic has put paid to the India all-rounder’s plans for the time being.

Slowly becoming a key memberof the Indian Test side, the 26-year-old wants to hone his skills with aprominent county side but now thedeal will be inked when the situationcomes under control and travelbans are lifted globally.

“I was supposed to play fourEnglish county games this season. Iwould only be able to tell you thename when all the paperwork iscomplete. Right now, it’s on hold dueto the unavoidable situation(COVID-19),” Vihari said.

The Andhra man is confidentthat he will be able to travel to theUK during the later part of the coun-ty season which is played from Aprilto September.

“Hope once it’s under control, Iwill be able to play those games. Itwill be a learning experience for me,”said the soft spoken Vihari.

The BCCI, in recent years, hasallowed top cricketers who are notplaying in the IPL to compete in

county cricket during the summermonths.

The likes of Cheteshwar Pujara,Ishant Sharma, RavichandranAshwin and Ajinkya Rahane aresome of the prominent Test special-ists who have plied their trade indivision 1 and 2 of English county.

Vihari’s commitment to thegame can be gauged from the factthat he played for his employersNelson CC in the Tamil Nadu CAleague on Tuesday. He scored 202not out against Alwarpet CC in adrawn game.

“I work for Nelson and I amcommitted to play when I am avail-able. It was good match practice.Now I am back in Hyderabad. I willbe taking a break for the timebeing,” he informed.

Talking about his 55 off 70 ballsagainst New Zealand on a green topat the Hagley Oval in Christchurch,the gutsy right-hander was a touchdisappointed.

“I wouldn’t call it my bestinnings. Yes, I was playing well butthat innings didn’t get a victory formy team. It was good to score runsin tough conditions but you value itmore when the team wins,” he said.

Vihari, who made his debut inEngland, has a decent Test record of

552 runs in nine games with an aver-age of just under 37. Incidentally, hehas eight of his nine Tests abroad.

“I have the self belief and theteam believes that I have the tech-nique to get success in overseas con-ditions,” he said.

So, what has been the key to hisfour half centuries and a century incountries like England, West Indies,New Zealand?

“Adaptability. I believe I havebeen able to adapt well in all condi-tions and I have confidence that Ican perform any role that the teamassigns me,” he said.

India will be playing nine Testmatches (four away against Australiaand five at home against England)between November 2020 andFebruary 2021.

“I am sure that I will get achance to play in home conditionsas well. My job is to work hard andbe prepared for any situation,” hesaid. With no cricketing activity rightnow due to COVID-19, Vihari, likeall other sportspersons, is at homebut will follow the routine given byTeam India’s strength and condition-ing coach Nick Webb.

“We all have individual trainingchart during off time. I will try andfollow that,” he said.

�� 7&��78!+

Former India battingcoach Sanjay Bangar has

decided against taking theBangladesh Cricket Board’soffer to become its Testteam’s consultant citing hispersonal and professionalcommitments.

Bangar was offered tocoach Bangladesh batsmenin red-ball cricket eightweeks ago but he could nottake up the offer as he signeda two-year contract withStar Sports in the interim.

“They offered me theposition eight weeks ago.But in the interim, I finalisedfinalised my contract withStar which gave me theopportunity to balance outmy personal and profession-al commitments. However, Ilook forward to workingwith BCB in the future,”Bangar said.

Former South Africabatsman Neil McKenzie isprimarily working with theBangladesh side for theshorter formats.

Bangar was with theIndian team from 2014 to2019 and was replaced byVikram Rathour at the start

of the home season inSeptember. The West Indiestour, which took place afterthe World Cup, was his lastassignment with the Indianteam. Bangar has been busycommentating on the gameever since he was replaced byRathour. The 47-year-oldplayed 12 Tests and 15 ODIsfor India between 2001 and2004.

“We have spoken withBangar (for Test batting con-sultant) but nothing isfinalised yet,” BCB chiefexecutive NizamuddinChowdhury told reporters inDhaka earlier on Wednesday.

�� 3:!��7�)��4

The South African cricket teamhas been asked to self-quaran-

tine for the next 14 days afterreturning midway from an ODItour of India due to the COVID-19pandemic.

Cricket South Africa’s chiefmedical officer, Shuaib Manjra,was quoted as saying that the play-ers have been told to isolate them-selves and will be tested for thedeadly virus in case any symptomsshow up.

“We have recommended theplayers social distance themselvesfrom others and self-isolate for aminimum of 14 days. I think that

is proper guidance to protect them-selves, people around them, theirfamilies and their communities,” hewas quoted as saying by the media

“In that period, if any of themhave symptoms or any other factorsthat is cause for concern, we willensure this is investigated appropri-ately and managed accordinglywith the protocols that are in place,”he added.

“Some of the players woremasks while we were travelling.Others decided not to wear masks- that was up to them. We were pret-ty isolated during travel and large-ly immunised from the outsideworld,” said Manjra while describ-ing the journey back.

�� 9��!+

The Pakistan Cricket Boardon Wednesday said around

100 people, including players,associated with the now-sus-pended Pakistan Super Leaguehave undergone COVID-19tests.

“We are expecting the firstresults later tonight or tomor-row,” a PCB official said.

“Until now no test resulthas come but we have taken allprecautionary steps to ensurethe health and safety of play-ers and officials belonging tothe semi-finalist teams,umpires, commentators andeven PCB officials and pro-duction staff members,” headded.

Given the health crisis,the PCB has announced clo-sure of its offices in Lahoreand Karachi until Mondaywhen they would review thesituation and take furtherdecisions.

For the time being, theemployees have been told towork from home and practicesocial distancing.

Asked if the foreigners,who were a part of the produc-tion staff, had been allowed toreturn home, the official did-n’t give a clear answer, sayingit was an ongoing process andthe test results were awaited.

The PCB has come undercriticism for not postponingthe Pakistan Super Leagueearlier but the official said theytook all decisions in consulta-tion with the government andhealth agencies.

“The moment we saw themessage from Hales who hadreturned home last week weacted promptly and followedall protocol to ensure every-one’s safety and well being,” hesaid.

��$�� Australia’s two-time worldCup-winning former skipper Ricky Pontingconsiders the 2008 Monkeygate scandal thelowest point of his captaincy stint as he feelshe was not in control of what was happenedat that time.

The scandal unfolded when seniorIndian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh wascharged with racially abusing Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds during the sec-ond Test at Sydney.

“Monkeygate was probably the lowest(point in career as captain). Losing the 2005Ashes series was tough but I was in full con-trol of that. But I wasn’t in full control ofwhat happened during the Monkeygatething,” Ponting, who led Australia to 48 winsfrom 77 Tests and 164 triumphs in 228ODIs, told a Skysports podcast.

Harbhajan was eventually cleared of thecharge and Symonds’ career went into adownward spiral after the incident.

“It was a low point and also because itdragged on for so long. I remember com-ing off the ground during the Adelaide Testmatch and speaking to Cricket Australiaofficials about the case because the hearingwas at the end of the Adelaide Test match,”Ponting added.

The incident created a lot of bitternessbetween the two teams with India threat-ening to pull out of the tour before the ICCintervened.

“We all felt let down by the end result(of the the Monkeygate controversy). Thefact that it got in the way of the way we

played our cricket for the next Test matchwas probably the most disappointing thing,”said the Australia batting great.

“So we go over there and India at Perthis game we expect to win and then we lostthe match and after that the next few daysthings just got worse and worse,” he wenton to add.

Under Ponting’s captaincy, Australiaalso suffered Ashes defeats in 2005, 2009 and2010-11.

“The first two probably hurt morebecause we were expected to win more, cer-tainly in 2005,” he said.

“Everyone in 2005 expected us to justcome over here, whitewash them [England]again and come back with the Ashes. Thatdidn’t happen that way.

“Certainly, for me, the 2005 defeat wasthe hardest to cope with. But 2010-11, wewere just completely outplayed.” PTI

�� 7&��78!+�

Australian coach Justin Langer hasrevealed that he felt like a “punching

bag” after Virat Kohli’s aggressive celebra-tions during India’s 2018-19 tour while alsocalling out the “double standards” when itcomes to sledging in cricket.

India, led by Kohli, enjoyed an unprece-dented summer Down Under, winning theBorder Gavaskar Trophy 2-1, their first-everTest series win on the Australian soil. It wasfollowed by a 2-1 victory in the ODIs, whilethe T20 series ended in a 1-1 draw.

During the series, Australia, who weredetermined to patch up their severelydented image in the wake of the ball-tam-pering scandal, had decided to not engagewith the Indian captain verbally during theseries.

However, Kohli’s on-field anticsangered Langer but he could not be expres-sive about it.

“I remember that afternoon (feeling)like a punching bag. We can’t fight backbecause it felt like we had our hands behindour backs and we just had to take it,” Langersaid in Amazon’s recently released docu-series titled The Test.

“You must be feeling the double stan-dards the way their captain is carrying onand we sort of have to be careful. Imagineif we behaved two out of ten (of) that,” hesaid.

Langar asked his players to take onKohli but warned the hosts not to cross theline between banter and abuse.

“There is a difference between abuseand banter. There is no room for abuse. Wedon’t need to abuse him but there is ban-ter where you stick up for your mate.”

On day four of the second Test at Perth,Kohli and his Australian counterpart TimPaine were involved in a verbal spat. Thatwas time Paine thought he had enough.

“I sort of just had enough and thoughtyou also have to stand up for yourself andyour teammates and that was one of the rea-sons I thought, ‘no, I’m the captain, it’s myturn, I have to stand up and show him we’rehere for the fight’,” Paine said.

Paine was at the receiving end just afterhe had gone out to bat. “If he messes it up,it’s 2-0. Who’s gonna talk then?” Kohli wascaught saying by the stump microphones.

Paine did not hold himself back andreplied “You’ve got to bat first, big head”.

�� +�

FIFA president Gianni Infantinoproposed delaying next year’s

revamped 24-team Club WorldCup in China after UEFA post-poned the EuropeanChampionship until 2021 becauseof the coronavirus pandemic.

South America’s equivalent ofthe Euros, the Copa America, alsoscheduled for this June and July,has also been postponed by ayear, ensuring European-basedplayers will be free to finish the sea-son with their clubs.

Moving the tournaments by ayear puts them on a collisioncourse with FIFA and its presidentInfantino, who had planned tostage the inaugural edition of hishighly lucrative Club World Cupin June and July next year inChina.

Infantino said in a statementhe would hold a conference callwith FIFA officials, during whichhe will suggest “to decide at a later

stage — when there is more clar-ity on the situation — when toreschedule the new FIFA ClubWorld Cup, later in 2021, in 2022or in 2023.”

He also said FIFA will plan “todiscuss with the Chinese FA andthe Chinese Government the post-

ponement of the new FIFA ClubWorld Cup from 2021 in order tominimise any negative impact.”

UEFA said the new proposeddates for the tournament were June11 to July 11 next year, as Euro2020 becomes Euro 2021.

This year’s tournament wasdue to be held in 12 countries.There is no suggestion the formator number of venues will change.

“The world is facing anunprecedented health challengeand clearly a global and collectiveresponse is needed,” said Infantino.

“Cooperation, mutual respectand understanding must be theguiding principles for all decisionmakers to have in mind at this cru-cial moment in time.

“Particularly in football, find-ing appropriate and fair solutionsat global level is imperative.”

Infantino added FIFA wouldpledge $10 million (9.1 millioneuros) to the World HealthOrganization’s COVID-19Solidarity Response Fund.

��!��"� Kevin Durant is reportedlyamong four Brooklyn Nets players whohave tested positive for the new coron-avirus and are in isolation. The injuredDurant, who has yet to play for the Netssince signing for the club last year, con-firmed to The Athletic website he hadtested positive for the virus.

“Everyone be careful, take care ofyourself and quarantine. We’re going toget through this,” Durant was quoted as

saying.News that the two-time NBA Finals

MVP was among those who had con-tracted the virus came soon after the Netsconfirmed four players had tested pos-itive for COVID-19.

“Four Brooklyn Nets players havetested positive for the COVID-19 virus,”the team said in a statement. “Of the four,one player is exhibiting symptoms whilethree are asymptomatic.

“All four players are presently isolat-ed and under the care of team physi-cians.”

The Nets said they were notifyingknown contacts of the players includingthose from teams who played against theNets shortly before the NBA shut downits season indefinitely on March 12.

The last team to play the Nets wasthe Western Conference-leading LosAngeles Lakers, who were stunned 104-102 by Brooklyn on March 10.

The Nets said all players and mem-bers of the team travel party had beenasked to isolate themselves and monitortheir health. AFP

�� +8��

Italian football federation (FIGC) presidentGabriele Gravina expressed his hope

Wednesday that Serie A would resume on May2 with a possible finish in July at the latest.

All Italian sport has been suspended untilApril 3 as a result of the coronavirus pandem-ic which has killed more than 2,500 in the coun-try.

“I don’t even want to think that we won’tstart again, it would be a hiatus, it would worryme for our country,” Gravina told Italianradio.

“We’re working on the hypothesis of start-ing again on May 2 and completing the cham-pionships possibly going into July if we don’tachieve it by June 30. “In the event that it’simpossible to use all the windows as planned,we will resort to a change in the format of thecompetitions.”

The FIGC president welcomed the post-ponement of the European Championshipuntil 2021, stating that as far as they were con-cerned “national championships have priority”.

“We don’t want to penalise anyone, but just

as we evaluate format changes in the event ofa reduction of the windows to play, so UEFAmust do so by remodelling the Champions andEuropa League,” added Gravina. TheChampions League final is scheduled to takeplace on June 27 and the Europa League finalon June 24.

�� France World Cup winnerBlaise Matuidi insisted onWednesday his “morale is good”despite testing positive for coron-avirus.

“I am positive, I am strong,morale is good, that of my familytoo,” the Juventus midfielder said onInstagram.

Matuidi used a play on the word‘positive’ in posts on social media todescribe his mood at contracting anillness.

“I am positive. Usually I like tothink I’m positive. Someone who

tries to radiate good waves aroundhim, my family, my friends, myteammates,” Matuidi said.

“Today I remain positive. I aman asymptomatic carrier of thevirus, aware of the privilege ofbeing a professional footballer andas such benefit from regular andexcellent medical monitoring. If itweren’t, I probably never would haveknown.”

He continued: “I am positive, wewill come out collectively strongerfrom this test, it will teach us to knoweach other better, to be more unit-ed, more generous, better. Thankyou for your messages of friendshipand support.

“Let’s stay disciplined and unit-ed so that we can soon cuddle ourchildren, take our parents in ourarms, check our brothers and sistersand celebrate goals with our team-mates.

“Thank you for your messagesof friendship and support. Let usremain disciplined and united. I ampositive, we will do it.” AFP

�� 7&��78!+

Saurabh Chaudhary andAishwary Pratap topped the

10m air pistol and 50m rifle 3 posi-tions events respectively in theOlympic team shooting selectiontrials qualification here onWednesday. Chaudhary, who hasbooked an Olympic quota place,shot a total of 588 to finish aheadof another Tokyo Games quotaplace holder Abhishek Varma (585)and Annuraj Singh (579) in the

10m air rifle men and women com-bined qualification. Manu Bhaker(574) and Yashaswini Singh Deswal(570), both Olympic quota placeholders, were eighth and last respec-tively in the nine-competitor event.

In the combined men’s andwomen’s 50m rifle 3 positions,Aishwary Pratap shot 1178 onaggregate (393 kneeling, 393 prone,392 standing) to finish ahead ofAnjum Moudgil (1174) andOlympic quota place holderTejaswini Sawant (1170).

�� ;:�

The women’s 2021 European Championshipand next year’s Nations League finals will

both be rescheduled for a later date after Euro2020 was postponed by 12 months due to thecoronavirus pandemic, UEFA said.

Both tournaments were due to take placein June and July next year, with the latter beingheld in England, but the move by Europeanfootball's governing body means neither com-petition will clash with the rearranged men’sEuropean Championship.

The latter competition, to be played in 12different cities across the continent with thesemi-finals and final in London, will now takeplace from June 11 to July 11 next year, UEFAsaid earlier in the day, although those dates arenot yet officially confirmed.

The women’s Euro was scheduled to runfrom July 7 to August 1 next year, with the finalalso at Wembley.

In addition to those tournaments, the 2021Under-21 European Championship, due to bestaged in Slovenia and Hungary, has also beenpostponed.

The announcements were made as UEFAsaid it had agreed on a course of action follow-ing a series of crisis meetings on Tuesday involv-ing the European Club Association, theEuropean Leagues body representing nearly athousand clubs in 29 countries, and also theplayers’ union FIFPro.

A statement said that “the parties consid-er it is their duty to take a responsible lead indeveloping a united European approach inresponse to the global pandemic”.

Europe has become the epicentre of thecoronavirus pandemic, with France on Tuesdayjoining Italy and Spain in applying strict lock-down measures and European leaders also plan-ning to ban all non-essential travel into the con-tinent.

The club season has been frozen acrossEurope, with league campaigns still havingaround two months to run and the ChampionsLeague and Europa League having ground toa halt at the last-16 stage.

UEFA did not reveal a specific way forwardfor those tournaments but said that they hadmade “a commitment” to finish all domesticand club competitions by June 30, “should thesituation improve and resuming playing beappropriate and prudent enough.”

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4 .% ˝˙ ˙ˇ˚˝!ˇ ˝ˆ˚#$˙ˇ ˜ ˘ ˇ › uploads › 2020 › epaper › march › raip… · tured Tejas light combat aircraft (LCA) for the Indian Air Force (IAF). The aircraft