First India-Ahmedabad Edition-19 May 2020

OUR EDITIONS: JAIPUR & AHMEDABAD

CORONA

28°C - 42°C

ALERT AHMEDABAD l TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2020 l Pages 12 l 3.00

COVID-19 UPDATE

COUNTRY TOTAL CASES

TOTAL NEW DEATHS DEATHS

1,534,883 290,678 SPAIN 277,719 UK 246,406 BRAZIL 245,595 ITALY 225,886 FRANCE 179,569 GERMANY 177,182 TURKEY 150,593 IRAN 122,492 CANADA 77,309

91,306 2,722 27,650 34,796 16,370 32,007 28,108 8,085 4,171 7,057 5,805

RUSSIA

INDIA

3,18,261 48,53,663 3,155 1,00,340 694

GLOBAL STATE OF AFFAIRS USA

CONFIRMED CASES

Aditi Nagar New Delhi: The entire country has rallied behind Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the coronavirus pandemic, leading American

LAST UPDATED: MAY 18, 2020, 11:00 PM

DISTRICT

TOTAL CASES

TOTAL NEW DEATHS DEATHS

AHMEDABAD VADODARA SURAT RAJKOT BHAVNAGAR ANAND BHARUCH GANDHINAGAR PATAN PANCHMANHAL BANASKANTHA NARMADA CHOTA UDEPUR KUTCH MAHESANA BOTAD DAHOD PORBANDAR JAMNAGAR MORBI SABARKANTHA ARAVALLI MAHISAGAR KHEDA GIR SOMNATH VALSAD TAPI NAVSARI DANG SURENDRANAGAR

8683 682 1127 80 112 82 32 180 49 71 83 13 21 31 75 53 28 5 35 2 39 81 50 47 25 15 2 8 2 5 12 9 1 2 11746

555 32 53 2 8 8 3 6 3 6 4 0 0 1 3 1 0 0 2 0 2 2 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 694

TOTAL

SAMPLE RECEIVED SAMPLE NEGATIVE

31 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 35

1,48,824 1,37,078

UNDER EXAMINATION

0

CONFIRMED CASES

DEATHS

11,746

CONFIRMED CASES

If India continues to ride out the virus in decent form then Modi may emerge a stronger leader; Indians have trusted their PM and look upon him as a mobiliser, says NYT

+328 +91 +59 +160 +252 +99 +109 +36 +31 +69 +23

IN GUJARAT

DEATHS

GUJARAT

‘Modi’s popularity soars as India weathers Corona’

WWW.WORLDOMETERS.INFO

DWARKA JUNAGADH RAJASTHAN AMRELI

RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/16208 l Vol 1 l Issue No. 173

WORLD

DEATHS

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newspaper The New York Times has said.

PM Narendra Modi’s popularity has soared across the country amid the coronavirus pandemic that has rattled country’s health and economic system, a report published in the New York Times said.

Calling PM Modi a ‘mobiliser’, the NYT report stated that the Indian prime minister’s already high approvals

Recent opinion polls show that in the past few months Mr. Modi’s already high approval ratings have soared even higher, touching 80, even 90 percent.

Unlike two of the populist leaders to whom he is often compared, President Trump and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, Mr. Modi seems to be thriving in this crisis.

—NEW YORK TIMES ratings have soared even higher, touching 80 per cent, even 90 per cent.

Comparing PM Modi with US President Donald Trump and Russian

President Vladimir Putin, the report said that unlike these world leaders, PM Modi has handled the COVID-19 crisis quite well.

#SuperCycloneAmphan

UP ACCEPTS PRIYANKA’s PROPOSAL New Delhi: UP govt on Monday agreed to Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s request to run 1,000 buses for migrant labourers.ACS Home Avnish Awasthi wrote informing her in this regard and also sought details of the 1,000 buses. Earlier, she had requested UP CM to allow buses arranged by her party, to enter State. P5

Cyclone Amphan is developing into a super cyclonic storm over the Bay of Bengal and can become severe in the next 24 hours, says NDRF. Two states—Bengal and Odisha—have been alerted over the storm, which is expected to make a landfall in Bengal on Wednesday. As the storm rolls in towards the Indian shores ominously, the cyclone is likely to unleash heavy rain and high-velocity winds in large swathes of coastal Odisha, West Bengal and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. PM Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting with officials of MHA and NDMA to review the arising Cyclone Amphan situation where Union Home Minister Amit Shah was also present.

Can’t dilute Lockdown 4.0 India with WHO: Seeks of coronavirus curbs: MHA to States & UTs origin India steps up medicine diplomacy as New Delhi: The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Monday said that the States and Union Territories cannot dilute restrictions as mentioned in the guidelines for the fourth phase of lockdown and can only make them stricter based on local level assessment.

“MHA has reiterated to the States/UTs that despite widespread relaxations given in lockdown restrictions under revised guidelines, States/UTs cannot dilute the restrictions imposed in the MHA guidelines,” said the Min-

border tensions with China simmers

Huge traffic jam seen at UP border during the fourth phase of nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus, in New Delhi on Monday.

—PHOTO BY ANI

istry in an official release.

The MHA on Sunday extended till May 31 the fourth phase of the lock-

down imposed to contain the spread of the coronavirus and issued revised guidelines.

Turn on P6

New Delhi: India on Monday joined nearly 120 countries at a crucial conference of the World Health Organisation in pushing for an impartial and comprehensive evaluation of the global response into the coronavirus crisis as well as to examine the origin of the deadly infection.

The two-day 73rd session of the World Health Assembly (WHA) of the WHO began in Geneva amid growing calls including by US President Donald Trump to inves-

The report said the Indian prime minister’s popularity among the Indians will soar further if the country rides out the coronavirus pandemic in a decent form.

The report stated that Modi’s various calls during the coronavirusinduced lockdown were whole-heartedly support. Even the softer, feel-good exercises he has insisted on, Turn on P6

tigate how the virus originated in China’s Wuhan city and subsequent action by Beijing.

Another flash point between China and the US has been over the Trump administration’s push for inclusion of Taiwan in the WHO. China has been strongly opposed to the move as it considers Taiwan to be part of its territory.

The WHA is also expected to delve into pooling in additional resources to deal with the pandemic Turn on P6

CBSE EXAM DATESHEET RELEASED New Delhi: The Central Board for Secondary Education on Monday released the much awaited datesheet for Class 12 boards for remaining papers and for re-scheduled board exams for Class 10. Exams for the remaining 29 papers will be held from July 1 to July 15, CBSE said. P6 KARNA BANS PEOPLES’ ENTRY FROM 4 STATES New Delhi: Even as govt announced relaxations in the lockdown, Karnataka has decided not to allow people from four states — Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Gujarat – inside its borders till May 31 except under inevitable circumstances, said CM Yediyurappa after holding a meeting with ministers and senior officials. P5

More freedom for Gujarat, but Surat and Ahmedabad left out  SHOPS, OFFICES IN WESTERN

CONTAINMENT AREAS

A’BAD MAY REOPEN, BUT WITH 33% STAFF, AND ONLY UNTIL 4 PM A First India Bureau Gandhinagar: In a massive relief to tobacco users, the state government has allowed pan shops to reopen today. Most other aspects of life will also start getting back to normal, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani announced on Monday. He was accompanied by Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel and

Minister of State for Home Pradipsinh Jadeja. Even so, Ahmedabad and Surat will be under more restrictions than the rest of the state.

For instance, state road transport has been allowed to play across the state, but not in Ahmedabad, until May 31. Similarly, autos and cabs can go anywhere in the state, except for containment zones,

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani held meeting with district collectors and Municipal Commissioners through video conference. On his left is Chief Principal Secretary to Chief Minister K Kailashnathan, Chief Secretary Anil Mukim and Additional Chief Secretary (Revenue and overseeing Health) Pankaj Kumar.

Ahmedabad and Surat.

The two cities will have to wait until May 31 for this benefit.

Ahmedabad itself has been divided into its eastern and western halves, with no relaxations an-

nounced for the former.

In containment areas and eastern Ahmedabad, essential commodities will be available from 8 am to 3 pm but the CM stressed that there is no

relaxation whatsoever here. He did, however, clarify that the containment zones may change their status depending on the number of cases reported.

In western Ahmedabad and in the rest of the state, offices and shops may resume operations from 8 am to 4 pm with a maximum of 33% staff, unless they are located in containment zones. Similarly, industries can also operate in non-containment areas with 50% of their staff.

Turn on P6

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AHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2020

‘Entire office building needn’t be closed if 1 or 2 COVID-19 cases’

02

120 more trains to bring back migrants: Didi

If there is a larger outbreak, entire building will have to be closed for 48 hours, says MHA order New Delhi: The entire office building need not be closed if one or two cases of COVID-19 are reported there and work can resume after it is disinfected as per protocol, the Union health ministry said on Monday. However, if there is a larger outbreak, the entire building will have to be closed for 48 hours. All staff will work from home till the building is adequately disinfected and is declared fit for re-occupation, it said in the guidelines on preventive measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 in workplace settings.

The document outlines the preventive and response measures to be observed to contain the spread of COVID-19 in workplace settings.

It stated that any staff reportedly suffering from a flu-like illness should not attend office and seek medical advice from local health authorities. Such persons, if diagnosed as a suspect or confirmed case of COVID-19 should immediately inform office

The document outlines the preventive and response measures to be observed to contain spread of COVID-19 in workplace. —FILE PHOTO

authorities, it said.

“Any staff requesting home quarantine based on the containment zone activities in their residential areas should be permitted to work from home. DoPT guidelines with respect to organizing meetings, coordinating visitors shall be scrupulously followed,” the guidelines stated.

The high-risk exposure contacts will be quarantined for 14 days and they will follow the guidelines on home quarantine and undergo testing as per ICMR protocol while low-risk exposure contacts shall continue to work and closely monitor their health for next 14 days, the ministry stated in the guidelines.

It stated that since offices and other workplaces are relatively close setting with shared spaces like corridors, elevators and stairs, cafeteria, meeting rooms and conference halls, coronavirus infection can spread relatively fast among officials, staff and visitors.

“Thus there is a need

to prevent importation of infection in workplace settings and to respond in a timely and effective manner in case a suspect case of COVID-19 is detected in these settings so as to limit the spread of infection,” the ministry said in the document.

The basic preventive measures include maintaining physical dis-

NATURAL SOCIAL DISTANCING KEY TO CORONA-FREE DANGS Gargi Raval Ahmedabad: The Dangs has successfully cured all three SarsCoV-2 cases and no new positive case has been reported in the district.

However, 326 people with travel history have been kept under home quarantine.

District collector NK Damor has enforced a system which will ensure that no new cases are reported in the district and controlling the spread of infection.

“The Dangs has a comparatively limited number of inhabitants. The residents are all naturally distant from one another so, social distancing as per government guidelines has been maintained. We have also strengthened our Information Education and Com-

File photo of Dang Darbar 2020; the district administration used the annual festival to raise awareness about the outbreak and then focused on screening.

munication (IEC) activities to create awareness among people about novel coronavirus,” he said.

The district administration had sealed their borders and started screening people after

the lockdown was announced.

“We had a festival called ‘Dang Darbar’ in which natives of the Dangs come to participate. The people who either stayed back or left were informed about the

lockdown. We then screened people according to three categories,” he added.

The collectorate made three teams for the screening process.

“The first category comprised of people at high-risk of contract-

ing the virus, such as those working in hospitals and ambulances.

Three nurses tested positive, who are now cured. The other category was of people working in factories and GIDCs with a 75% risk of getting infected. The last category included people at farms or places associated with agriculture and construction labour. We screened them all,” asserted the officer.

“Dang is known for its ayurvedic medicines and experts. We have 48 experts or vaidyas who made ayuvedic concoctions and distributed them in all villages for a week,” said Damor.

However, according to the official press release, there have been only two cases reported in Dangs, and both of them have been cured.

tancing of at least one meter, mandatory use of face covers or masks, practising frequent hand-washing for at least 40-60 seconds even when hands are not visibly dirty and use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers.

Respiratory etiquettes such as covering mouth and nose while coughing or sneezing with a tissue, handkerchief or flexed elbow and disposing of used tissues properly should be strictly followed besides self-monitoring of health by all and reporting any illness at the earliest, the guidelines state.

As for offices, guidelines with respect to preventive measures specific to offices issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) should be followed, it said.

The ministry, however, stated that, despite taking the measures, occurrence COVID-19 infection among the employees working in the office cannot be ruled out.

—ANI

Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday said that the government will request for 120 more Shramik Special trains in the next few days to bring back migrant labourers and the state government will bear the train fares.

“Today a special Air India flight AI 0231 carrying 169 passengers from Bangladesh touched down at Kolkata airport. They have been kept in quarantine. “...In the next two to three days, we will be giving an order for 120 more trains. In the next 15 days every day five to six trains will enter the state,” Banerjee said during a video conference here.

She further said that more than 2 lakh people have already entered

the state and it is extremely difficult to screen everyone for COVID-19 at one-time and arrange vehicles for them to send them to their districts.

“It is not possible for the government to handle the lakhs of migrant workers at one moment.

I request you to give us some time to prepare and plan for action,” she said while slamming political parties for attacking her. She said, “At present, the West Bengal government is handling coronavirus situation, migrant labourers and cyclone Amphan.”

“Earlier, the Centre had asked the wstates to take up the responsibility of the migrant workers living in their states.

However, no one did it except for us,” she said.

‘Chinese military bolsters troops in Aksai Chin region’ Beijing: Chinese troops have bolstered their border control measures in the Galwan Valley in the Aksai Chin region of the Sino-India border, official media here reported on Monday.

The Chinese action followed “India’s recent, illegal construction of defence facilities across the border into Chinese territory in the Galwan Valley region,” a writeup in the state-run Global Times tabloid said, quoting unnamed military sources.

“Since early May, India has been crossing the boundary line in the Galwan Valley region and entering Chinese territory. The Indian side built defence fortifications and obstacles to disrupt Chinese border defence troops’ normal patrol activities, the report claimed.

There was no immediate reaction from ei-

Pic for representation purpose

ther the Ministry of External Affairs or the Indian military.

A military official in New Delhi on condition of anonymity said such incidents happen along the un-demarcated Sino-India border due to the varying perceptions of the frontier by the two sides. On May 5, around 250 Indian and Chinese army personnel clashed in Pangong Tso lake area in Eastern

Ladakh. Four days later, there was a similar faceoff near Naku La Pass in North Sikkim. Reacting to the two border incidents, India last week said it remained committed to maintaining peace and tranquillity along the border with China noting that such incidents could have been avoided if there was a common perception about the frontier.

—ANI

366 cases from 16 dists & 35 deaths in 4 districts, A’bad tops with 31 11,746 total cases, 694 total deaths across the state; sample testing increased First India Bureau Gandhinagar: Reports of 366 new cases of COVID-19 have come in from 16 districts over the past 24 hours.

Thirty-five deaths occurred in four districts, and 305 patients were discharged from 13 districts. With this, the state has witnessed 11,476 cases, 694 deaths and 4,804 people being

discharged. OF the 6,248 patients under treatment, 6,210 are stable and 38 are on ventilators.

The situation in Ahmedabad appears to be defying the best efforts of the authorities. The city accounted for 31 of the day’s 34 deaths and also witnessed 263 new cases. With this, the city’s tally is up

A medic takes a sample for testing.

—FILE PHOTO

to 8,683 cases with a death toll of 555.

With 181 patients discharged on Monday, 2,841 people have been discharged from Ahmedabad so far.

After coming under heavy criticism, the state government has once again increased the sample testing. On Monday, it tested 5,224 samples. This is 31 samples more than on Sunday, but 2,074 more than on Friday and 2,812 more than on Thursday.

As of Sunday evening, emergency medical services have pressed 40 ambulances into service at Ahmedabad.

They covered 160 sites and 5,210 cases, of those 31 were severe respiratory, 1678 were of cold and cough, 504 were of fever.

On Monday, revenue staff boycotted transportation duty for migrant workers as a sign of protest.

They had threatened the boycott on Sunday, on the grounds that their demands

for protective gear are not being met.

Ahmedabad Police Commissioner Ashish Bhatia has issued a circular stating that Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code will remain in place until May 31. Even lockdown is extending till May 31st.

Government offices are also likely to resume, but official no circular has been issued by the General Administration Department at the time of filing.

GUJARAT AHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2020

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03

Tired of waiting for transportation to their native states, migrant workers from Jharkhand took to the streets of Vastrapur in Ahmedabad on Monday. They caused damage to public and private property before being detained by the police. —PHOTOS BY HANIF SINDHI & NANDAN DAVE

Out of patience, workers turn violent

Over 200 workers detained by police; four jawans injured in the incident, which was allegedly started by migrants from Jharkhand First India Bureau Ahmedabad: It seems that the patience of migrant workers hailing from Jharkhand gave up waiting for the Gujarat government to provide transportation back to their native state. Turning to violence, around 200 workers armed with sticks, pipes, iron rods, bricks, went on a rampage in Vastrapur area of the city on Monday morning. Four police jawans including a female jawan were injured while trying to control the situation. Police have detained around 250300 workers from the labour colony in the area. The situation in the labour colony remains tense but under control, as only female members of migrant workers’ families have been left in the colony.

An eyewitness narrated the entire incident to First India, “At around 9.30 am, a group

An injured woman weeps after her male family members were detained by the police.

—PHOTO BY HANIF SINDHI

My husband is innocent, it was the workers from Jharkhand who instigated the whole thing. We were to board a train for West Bengal on Monday.

—Anjum, The wife of a migrant worker from West Bengal

of over 200 workers gathered near the labour colony in Vastrapur. Second police inspector SR Gamit was on duty with his team and he tried to convince the group to disperse and return to the colo-

We have detained the workers for the time being. We will try to understand why they were angry and try to resolve their problems.

Surat: A 44-year-old caretaker at a mosque in Lalgate area has been booked by police for allegedly luring two minors with chocolates, showing them pornography and molesting them.

The accused, Mohammad Nishad Ghulam Mohammad Sheikh looks after the 400-yearold mosque in Variyali Bazaar area of the city and has been working at the Lalgate Dargah for the last 2.5 years. He reportedly lured two girls, aged 5 and 6 years, in-

side the dargah, which is shut due to the lockdown, with chocolates and biscuits. He then allegedly made them watch pornography on his phone and touched them inappropriately.

When the girls started crying, he threatened them and sent them home. The minors narrated their ordeal to their parents, who then picked up Sheikh from the mosque and handed over to the police.

After the parents lodged a complaint, police detained the accused and are investigating the incident.

BLACK MARKET TICKET VIDEO GOES VIRAL Surat: A video of a man selling tickets in black was popularly shared among citizens in Surat on Monday. After the video came to the attention of the Rail Sangharsh Samiti, a raid was carried out at around 1 am at the black market in Pandesara’s Bhavani Nagar. More than 150 Uttar Pradesh residents had queued up to buy tickets in black when the raid was conducted and Samiti members arrested an agent named Dinanath, who said he bought more than 400 tickets and sold them to UP residents for as much as Rs2,800 per ticket.

Four jawans have suffered injuries and police vehicles were damaged in the incident. About 250-300 people have been detained.

— Amit Kumar Vishwakarma, JCP, Sector 1

Minor girls molested by mosque caretaker First India Bureau

ny. This instigated the workers who started pelting stones on them, compelling PI Gamit to inform the control room about the situation and ask for back-up force to be dispatched to the area,” he said.

“The group gathered momentum and more people joined them.

They reached the Vastrapur village and attacked private vehicles.

Later, they entered the new campus of IIM-A undergoing some construction and vandalized the temporary office of the contractor PSP Project for whom they were working,” he said.

“The mob then went to IIM Crossroads and pelted stones at the police back-up force when it arrived. They also attacked police jeeps with iron pipes.

A few minutes later, the police returned and lobbed tear gas on the mob to disperse them. They chased them to the colony and started detaining them,” he added.

In all the chaos, a few innocent labourers too were victims of police violence.

—PL Maal, DCP (Zone-1)

Aggression, vandalism tell tale of migrant workers’ frustration First India Bureau Ahmedabad: After trying to seek the state government’s support to go back home, migrant workers took to the streets in Ahmedabad, KadiChhatral in Mehsana district and ShaparVeraval highway on Monday and engaged in vandalism and violence. This raises question: has the state has failed to provide adequate services to these workers?

On Sunday, Union Railways Minister Piyush Goyal tweeted: “I appeal to all states to give permission to evacuate and bring back their stranded migrants, so that, we can get all of them back to their homes in the next two to three days.”

Later in the day, the state Director-General of Police Shivanand Jha had announced that

A man tries to flee from the police.

only workers who have been granted permission from their home states will be allowed to leave Gujarat.

This means some states have refused to permit workers to return. This has exacerbated the situation. Migrant workers desperately trying to go back to their native states, turned violent on Monday, due to the uncertainty they have been facing on a daily basis. Local police reined in the situation this time but, if left unchecked, the situation could spin out of control

—PHOTO BY HANIF SINDHI

in the coming days.

On condition of anonymity, a collector told First India, “Even if we provide five- star facilities to these workers, they are in no mood to stay back. The best option is to arrange transportation for their safe return home. They are fearful of the COVID-19 situation and also under pressure to return to their native states,” he said.

As many as 476 Shramik trains have taken 6,72,000 workers home, but thousands are still stranded here.

Increase benches for hearings: GHAA to CJ

CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF HISTORY

First India Bureau

The blue sky may be pretty as a picture with its cottony clouds but the historic Sarkhej Roza in Ahmedabad looks lonely with no visitors amid the lockdown.

—PHOTO BY HANIF SINDHI

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High Court Advocates’ Association (GHAA) has requested Chief Justice Vikram Nath to increase benches (judges) for physical or virtual hearings. It asked for access to advocate chambers as well.

GHAA president Yatin Oza in a letter addressed to Chief Justice Vikram Nath sought access to the advocates’ chambers for a minimum of two hours a day since many advocates run their offices from

their chambers.

He cited the Mumbai high court’s decision to increase the number of benches in order to facilitate higher disposal of cases. He also called for more hearings.

On the Mumbai court, Oza wrote, “It is fully functional and practically all the judges sit in court and matters are taken up either in person or virtually.”

The association has also asked for more registry staff so that more petitions and registrations can be handled on a daily basis.

State appoints 2nd committee in 12 days to study virus spread Haresh Jhala Gandhinagar: Barely 10 days after the first one submitted its report, the state government has appointed a second committee to study the spread of COVID-19 in areas under the jurisdiction of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation.

The bigger question here may be: what happened to the report submitted by the Dinkar Rawal Committee? The report was submitted

A medical team comes out of a quarantined cluster after collecting samples in Ahmedabad's Dhalgarwad area.

—FILE PHOTO

three days after the committee was formed.

However, the state has not made the report public, nor has it an-

nounced what, if any, action it prompted.

The Health and Family Welfare Department announced

1 2 3 4 5

Dr Shital Vyas Dr Rachna Kapoor Dr Anand Solanki Dr Himanshu Naik Dr Kaushal Damor

1 2 3 4 5

Dr Aparajita Shukla Dr Vaibhavi Patel Dr Parul Hathila Dr Vaibhav Ramanuj Dr Manish Rana

its decision to carry out scientific study of the COVID-19 spread in the AMC area in a circular dated May

TEAM 1 Professor and Head Associate Professor Assistant Professor Assistant Professor Assistant Professor TEAM 2 Professor and Head Assistant Professor Assistant Professor Assistant Professor Assistant Professor 16. To this end, two teams of community medicine experts have been appointed to cover each zone

Team leader South Zone North Zone East Zone Central Zone Team leader West Zone New West Zone Central Zone Central Zone and submit their findings to the Municipal Commissioner and Health department’s nodal officer AM

Quadri on a daily basis by 6 pm.

In this circular, the state health department does accept that corona cases are increasing in three municipal corporations: Surat, Vadodara and Ahmedabad, which together account for 90% of the state’s cases.

To carry out scientific study of corona spread in Ahmedabad, have been formed. They will conduct scientific study daily and report their findings by the end of each day.

WHAT ABOUT THE LAST REPORT?

PERSPECTIVE AHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2020

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PAKISTAN AND THE PRINCELY ORDER

IN-DEPTH

SOME FREEDOM BUT CHALLENGES ABOUND

A

s predicted by this newspaper lockdown 4.0 is here. If the number of Covid-19 cases continues to rise the way they are doing, lockdown 5.0 also cannot be ruled out. For the last few days nearly 5000 cases are being reported everyday with Maharashtra leading the table. The total number of positive cases is slowly inching towards the 100,000 mark, going ahead of China’s 90,927 infections. Even though the recovery rate remains high and number of deaths relatively low the Centre will bear the numbers in mind before giving further relaxations. For instance, if the number of deaths crosses 5000 it will be a cause of concern for the government as we would have then overtaken China, the epicentre of the pandemic. Lot will depend on how we conduct ourselves once restaurants, markets, malls, cinemas and parks reopen.

Breaking rules like social distancing, mask wearing, as one saw when liquor shops opened, and not washing hands with soap could mean return of harsher restrictions.

Central government has allowed several relaxations including inter-state movement of passenger vehicles with mutual consent of states, intra-state and travel without e-permits and opening of shops with staggered timings.

As “shops” have not been defined it will be for the states to interpret which shops the rule will apply to. Flights, metro and train services are to remain shut along with schools, swimming pools, gyms, hotels and restaurants. There was something for e-commerce sites to cheer. Sale of non-essential goods has been allowed with orders that movement of cargo carrying trucks were to ply unhindered.

States like Rajasthan and Gujarat issued revised guidelines allowing barber shops, salons and beauty parlours to open. In Delhi private taxi operators Uber and Ola were permitted to resume services with specific restrictions. Rajasthan also allowed restaurants to open but only for takeaways.

Shops in Khan Market, Karol Bagh and Chandni Chowk are also scheduled to open in the national capital from tomorrow.

Staggered timings apart, the shoppers have to follow social distancing of six feet. It is hard to imagine what Karol Bagh and Sarojini Nagar markets (in case it is allowed to open) would look like with the social distancing curb.

Uttar Pradesh has also not made any significant changes to the earlier lockdown rules.

Maharashtra with the highest number of positive cases and fatalities will rightly provide no relaxations.

On May 12, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced that lockdown 4.0 will have new rules and will be “totally different” from the previous three. “We cannot let our lives be controlled by corona. We will have to live with it.

We will wear masks and maintain physical distancing but not give up on our dreams,” he said.

Lockdown 4.0 does offer hope provided we don’t mess it up.

DR SANJEEV CHOPRA The author is an IAS & Director, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration Mussoorie and Honorary Curator, Valley of Words: Literature and Arts Festival, Dehradun

R

The largest and the most developed of the princely states in Pakistan was Bahawalpur, a seventeen gun salute state, with an area of 16,434 miles, a population of about five lakhs, of which approximately ninety present were Muslims.

However, with a contiguous border to both India and Pakistan, it could have theoretically acceded to either country and in the first map of the Indian Dominion

eaders may recall that in addition to the excellent biography of VP Menon: the Unsung Architect of Modern India by his historian granddaughter Narayani Basu, we have two excellent tomes by Menon himself: Transfer of Power and Integration of Indian states. Together these three books give us a very comprehensive and thorough account of the crucial two and half years of the Indian dominion (from August 15th, 1947 to January 26th 1950) during which times, the political landscape of India changed like never before, and the 562 odd states in the Indian princely order were integrated into the Indian Union without too many issues, and with the exception of J&K, Hyderabad, and Junagadh, it could be called a ‘smooth succession’.

However in discussing the story of the integration of Indian states in an earlier column, there was only a passing reference the princely states which acceded to Pakistan, and here too the story of the failed accession of Junagadh to Pakistan has been privileged over the rest, for at the end of the day, Junagadh remained with India. As such this column will be discussing the accession and integration of princely states of Pakistan from 1947-1955 and is based mainly on the magisterial work of Yaqoob Khan Bangash in which he has referred to hitherto, unused inaccessible primary sources to complete the history of Pakistan.

The largest and the most developed of the princely states in Pakistan was Bahawalpur, a seventeen gun salute state, with an area of 16,434 miles, a population of about five lakhs, of which approximately ninety present

were Muslims. However, with a contiguous border to both India and Pakistan, it could have theoretically acceded to either country and in the first map of the Indian Dominion. Bahawalpur was put in the category of Punjab states. However, as in the case of several Indian princes ( J&K, Bhopal, Hyderabad and for some time Jodhpur), the Ruler of Bahawalpur, whose official title was General His Highness Nawab Sir Sadiq Mohammad Khan Abbasi V, GCSI, GCSIE, KCVO, too harboured the hope that the lapse of paramountcy meant Independence from either dominion. On August 15th, 1947, he declared himself Amir and Jalalat –ulMulk ala Hazrat, and ten days later issued the following statement: ‘ the states have once again become fully independent and sovereign territories. These important

MEANWHILE, RUMOURS WERE AFLOAT THAT BAHAWALPUR HAD SECRET PLANS OF A MERGER WITH INDIA AS THE HEAD OF THE UNION OF BAHAWALPUR, BIKANER, AND JAISALMER

and far-reaching changes enable us to shape our own destinies... In view of the geographical position of my state and its cultural and economic affinities with the Pakistan Dominion, my representatives should participate in the labours and deliberations of the Pakistan Constituent Assembly... which

Will the pandemic set women back?

I

n April, the International Labor Organization predicted that 195 million workers worldwide would “suffer severely” in the second quarter of this year, owing to the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. And markets remain shaky, raising fears of a recession more severe and prolonged than that following the 2008 financial crisis.

The stakes are high for everyone, but particularly for women – and especially for women in developing and emerging economies.

A recession (or even depression) would cause more than just economic losses.

The experience of the post2008 period suggests that women’s advances will be rolled back substantially, even among those already doing low-income work. In

04

that case, the gains will be difficult, if not impossible, to win back.

The COVID-19 crisis, like the 2008 crisis, has revealed features of globalization that many take for granted in normal times. When advanced economies like the United States contract sharply, their consumers cut back on spending, and demand for goods from export-oriented countries plummets. Owing to the pandemic, the low-wage global garment industry is facing what some manufacturers describe as an “apocalyptic” situation.

Women make up over three-quarters of the global garment workforce and thus have the most to lose from the downturn. Most have long been subject to poor working conditions, which makes their situation even more precarious.

The COVID-19 pandemic poses an acute threat to women workers and progress toward greater gender equality

Since the 1970s, clothing manufacturers in developed countries have offshored and outsourced their productive capacity to developing countries with the lowest wages and, by proxy, the weakest labor standards. Along this global assembly line, employment is typically temporary, job-based, sub-contracted, and insecure.

Nonetheless, while there is rampant exploitation in the industry, there are also opportunities for women.

For many employed in the garment sector, a job in a clothing factory provides an entry point to participate in the formal economy – steady work for a stable wage with tangible benefits. Work in the sector comes with the promise of independence, skills development, mobility, and a better quality of life.

The COVID-19 crisis endangers not only these women’s jobs but also the potential for gender empowerment more broadly. In a recent study of garment-sector workers in Kenya, Lesotho, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Bangladesh, we found that access to waged employment can broadly advance women’s prospects in highly gender-unequal soci-

eties. The data show that garment-sector employment for women has translated into broader improvements in gender dynamics.

Among the countries considered, the most significant shifts have occurred in factories where there have been specific interventions to improve workplace health and safety, such as training in manager-employee communication.

The ripple effects from women’s wage-earning in manufacturing are evident in household gender relations. Female study participants demonstrated an increased ability to leverage the material resources that they contribute to engage male partners more effectively in decisions about spending and other household matters.

FOR FULL REPORT LOG ON TO WWW.PROJECTSYNDICATE.COM

will enable the two states to arrive at a satisfactory constitutional arrangement ..’

Meanwhile, rumours were afloat that Bahawalpur had secret plans of a merger with India as the head of the Union of Bahawalpur, Bikaner, and Jaisalmer. It may be mentioned that during this period (JulySeptember 1947, the Ruler was in England for long sojourns) and when he returned, he signed the Instrument of Accession on October 5, which was drafted on much the same lines as the one used by the Ministry of States of India. Incidentally, the Political Department of Pakistan (under Colonel Shah, and Generals Iftikhar and Ikramullah of the Pakistan Army) gave not so subtle hints that independence was out of the question.

Next, we come to Khairpur, a medium-sized state with an area of 6,050 square miles, a population of about two lakhs, but as the Lahore –Karachi railway track lay in the state, its accession was crucial to Pakistan Since 1944, the Ruler was in confinement in Poona for treatment of ‘schizophrenic Simples’, and the minor George Ali Murad Talpur was recognized by the King-Emperor as the heir apparent to the Gaddi on July 24, 1947, and even as he was holidaying in Kashmir, Khairpur state celebrated its Independence on August 15th, but in the festivities, there was no mention of accession to Pakistan. As in the case of Bahawalpur, after the initial buster, the state accepted the Instrument of Accession on October 3, 1947.

In the next column, we shall take up the very interesting cases of the frontier states of Chitral, Dir, Swat, Amb, Hunza and Nagar, the frontier states of Pakistan. The status of these states was so obscure that a report in the Kashmir Times in its editorial piece on February 25 opined ‘we admit that these states pay tribute to four governments – British, Chinese, Russian and Kashmiri and situated as they are, derive benefit from all of them!

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL

Top

TWEET Jagat Prakash Nadda @JPNadda Culture of debate and criticism of those in public life is an integral part of our democratic process but using state agencies at your disposal to silence dissent is unbecoming of those in power. Opposition should adhere to political arguments, when questioned on their failing.

Piyush Goyal @PiyushGoyal Railway Manufacturing Back on Track: Taking proper precautions and following guidelines, axle forging unit operations have started today at Rail Wheel Factory in Bengaluru. Railways is committed to producing quality products for smoother train operations.

Spiritual SPEAK

Learn this from water: loud splashes the brook but the oceans depth are calm.

—Buddha

Vol 1 Issue No. 173 RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/16208. Printed and published by Anita Hada Sangwan on behalf of First Express Publishers. Printed at Bhaskar Printing Planet Survey No.148P, Changodar-Bavla Highway, Tal. Sanand, Dist. Ahmedabad.

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UP GOVT ACCEPTS PRIYANKA’S PROPOSAL’

The Congress General Secretary took to Twitter and posted a video featuring buses for migrants queued up in a row Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh government on Monday agreed to Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s request to run 1,000 buses for migrant labourers.

Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Avnish Awasthi wrote to the personal secretary of Gandhi informing her in this regard and also sought details of the 1,000 buses. Earlier, the Congress leader had requested Yogi Adityanath to allow the buses arranged by her party, to enter the State in order to take migrant labourers to their homes.

Gandhi took to Twitter and posted a video featuring buses queued up in a row.

“Our buses are standing at the border. Thousands of migrants and labourers are walking in the heat. Please give permission CM Yogi Adityanath ji, let us help our brothers and sisters,” Gandhi wrote.

In another tweet, she wrote, “Respected Chief Minister, I am requesting you, this is not the time for politics.

Our buses are standing

‘Announce an package of `10 lakh cr’ K’taka bans entry

A large number of migrant labourers are waiting at Ramlila Maidan in Ghaziabad to go home. There is no system from the Uttar Pradesh government. If a proper procedure to transport them had been established a month ago, the labourers would not have suffered so much.

—Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Cong Gen Secy on the border. Thousands of labourers and migrants, without eating anything, are walking towards their homes. Let us help them, give permission to our buses.” —ANI

CHOPPER SCAM

HC seeks Saxena’s reply on ED’s plea to cancel bail

New Delhi: The Delhi HC sought response of accused-turned-approver Rajiv Saxena on a plea by the Enforcement Directorate challenging the bail granted to him in the Rs 3,600-crore VVIP chopper deal scam.

Justice C Hari Shankar, who conducted the hearing through video conferencing, issued notice to Saxena on ED’’s plea which also sought revocation of his approver status on the ground that he had undertaken to disclose all the facts related to the offence but he was not doing so.

The court listed the

matter for further hearing on June 3.

The probe agency has challenged the trial court’’s order which refused to cancel his bail and revoke the approver status given to him.

The Dubai-based businessman was extradited to India on January 31 last year in connection with the Rs 3,600-crore scam case relating to the purchase of 12 VVIP helicopters from AgustaWestland.

In its plea before the trial court, the ED had said that while seeking pardon, Saxena said he would make full disclosure of the facts within his knowledge. —ANI

SENSEX PLUMMETS 1,068.75 POINTS; NIFTY TANKS 313.60 PTS Mumbai: Equity benchmark Sensex crashed 1,069 points to close at its lowest level in nearly six weeks on Monday, dragged mainly by heavy selling in financial and auto counters as the government’s stimulus package failed to live up to market expectations.

Contrary to an overall positive trend in world

markets, domestic bourses ended sharply lower as the Rs 20 lakh crore economic package, announced in five tranches spread over as many days, left investors disappointed, besides worries grew over the biggest ever single-day spike in the number of COVID-19 cases in the country, informed the sources.

New Delhi: Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Monday expressed disappointment over the COVID-19 economic package and requested the Centre to announce a revised and comprehensive fiscal stimulus package of not less than Rs 10 lakh crore.

“We express our thorough disappointment and request the

It is condemnable, entire case is false, even if you have to identify them you can call them for investigation.This is to put fear in the minds of the students that they will put you in custody. If this is the state of the mind, it is incompatible with democracy.

—P Chidambaram, Sr Cong Leader government to reconsider the stimulus package and announce a revised and comprehensive fiscal

stimulus package of not less than Rs 10 lakh crore of real Additional Expenditure equivalents to 10 per

cent of GDP,” he said.

Chidambaram, a former Finance Minister, stated that there can be no fiscal stimulus to the economy without Additional Expenditure over and above the Budgeted Expenditure.

“The true value of the package will be known when we know what is the additional borr owing in 2020-21.” —ANI

‘Cong playing politics on migrant issue’ Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath has said that he had sought the list of 1,000 buses that were being arranged by the Congress to ferry the migrant workers but their leaders did not provide him with the same. “The Congress should not indulge in petty politics and that too, when the nation is facing the corona crisis,” he said.

The Chief Minister said that he had earlier sought a list of mi-

7 of family charred to death in house fire Gwalior: A fire broke out in a house on Roshni Ghar Road near Inderganj intersection.

The fire spread so fast in the color and other chemical in the lower part of the house that the families living in the upper floor of the house were surrounded by it. The house is described of Hariom Goyal of the famous Rangwala House family of the city. One by one the fire brigade trains ran to extinguish the fire. The trains started throwing water on the fire as well as the rescue operation with the help of the police. Amid the screaming, it was found that many people including the family and children of the family were trapped inside the house but by the time they were rescued they were badly burnt.

UP CM Yogi Adityanath holds a meeting to review the situation arisen due to COVID-19 in Lucknow.

grant workers from the various state governments but he had not receive any so far.

He said that one of

the trucks involved in Aurraiyya accident had come from Punjab and the other was from Rajasthan. “What was the

Congress leadership doing when money was being taken from migrant workers?” he asked. —Agencies

of people from Guj, Maha, Kerala, TN Bengaluru: Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa said that people from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Kerala and Tamil Nadu will not be allowed in the state till May 31.

“We have decided not to allow entry of people from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Kerala and Tamil Nadu till May 31,” Yediyurappa said after a meeting with state ministers and senior government officers to discuss the guidelines issued by the Centre regarding the fourth phase of nationwide lockdown.

“State road transport corporation buses in Karnataka and private buses will run. Strict lockdown measures in containment zones and economic activities will be permitted in other areas. Sundays will be total lockdown across the state. Home quarantine will be strengthened,” he added.

The Chief Minister further said that all shops will be allowed to open and all trains running within the state will be permitted.

The Centre extended the ongoing COVID-19 induced nationwide lockdown till May 31, but with a set of new relaxations. The Union Home Ministry has also given powers to States/UTs demarcate areas in Green, Orange and Red zones, which will allow them to start activities except in containment zones. —ANI

‘Cabs will operate with 2 passengers’

Rlys earns 76 cr from sale of 2.05L tickets

New Delhi: Taxis and cabs will be allowed to operate with two passengers at a time in the national capital amid the Lockdown 4.0, said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. “Taxis and cabs will be allowed but only two passengers at a time in a car,” said Kejriwal in a press conference. He said that hotels, gymnasium, swimming pool, entertainment parks and auditorium, and places of worship will remain closed.

Moreover, social, political, sports, cultural and religious gathering will not be allowed.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) asked Ministries/Departments of the GoI, State Governments and State Authorities to continue the lockdown measures up to May 31. —ANI

GOM MEETS TO REVIEW ECONOMIC PACKAGE New Delhi: Meeting of group of ministers (GoM) with the responsibility of monitoring Rs 21 lakh crore special economic package took at the residence of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Rural Development Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Cabinet Minister Smriti Irani among others attended the meeting.

Th GoM was held to review the announcement of the economic revival package announced by Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman.

New Delhi: The Indian Railways, which started bookings for 15 pairs of Special Rajdhani Express, has earned Rs 76.22 crore from the sale of 2.05 lakh tickets in a week, officials said on Monday.

On May 10, the national transporter had announced the running of Rajdhani trains from May 12 and started ticket bookings a day later.

The officials said

tickets for 3.80 lakh passengers were booked in a week’’s time.

On Monday, over 26,830 passengers will travel by Special Rajdhani Express trains, as against 30,039 passengers on Sunday.

The railways has suspended passenger, mail and express train services since March 25 amid the nationwide lockdown to combat the spread of coronavirus.

THOUSANDS OF MIGRANTS FLOCK GHAZIABAD’S RAMLILA GROUND

Navy’s ‘breathable’ PPE kit

Ghaziabad: Thousands of migrant workers gathered at Ramlila Ground for registering themselves for the three Shramik special trains, which will leave for different parts of Uttar Pradesh later in the day.

The migrants here were seen flocking the ground, flouting social distancing norms. Some of them were seen without masks as well. Meanwhile, the total number of COVID-19 cases in UP stand at 4,259. —ANI

Mumbai: The Indian Navy’s indigenouslymade PPE kit, ‘NavRakshak’, made for enhancing comforts of the health workers under Indian conditions, is helping fight the war against Covid-19 in a better and effective manner, officials said here on Monday.

It was made by a doctor who can understand the agony of his fraternity wearing a multilayered coverall PPE while treating patients

MANALI-LEH HIGHWAY REOPENS AFTER WINTER BREAK Manali: Closed for over five months due to heavy snowfall, the Manali-Leh highway was reopened to motorists on Monday with the completion of the snow-clearing operations amid the coronavirus pandemic, officials said. The route is strategic for the movement of the armed forces and their supplies and wares to the areas in

Ladakh. “Traffic between Manali and Leh was resumed. This time it was reopened much earlier,” a Border Roads Organisation (BRO) official said. The official further added that the snow was 30-35 feet high in some stretches close to the Baralacha Pass, posing a big challenge to those clearing the snow.

for upto 12 hours in hot and humid conditions.

The ‘’NavRakshak’’ with an innovative ‘breathable’ fabric material, has brought new hopes to the medical world and healthcare professionals from whose perspective it has been designed.

“When it comes to PPE, everyone is concerned only about the water, blood, body fluid resistant levels of the material used in making PPE but the comfort and

breathability of such PPE is something few have paid attention to.

“This PPE is made by a doctor, keeping in mind a doctor’s pain,” said Surgeon Lieutenant Commander Arnab Ghosh from Naval Medical Specialist of Innovation Cell, Institute of Naval Medicine in Mumbai. Navrakshak - which translates to a “novel protector”, has two distinctive factors; optimal protectiveness and optimal breathability. —ANI

9 EMPLOYEES OF OPPO FACTORY IN NOIDA TEST +VE Gautam Buddha Nagar: Nine employees of OPPO mobile company factory in Greater Noida have tested positive for COVID-19, said Gautam Buddha Nagar District Magistrate Suhas LY on Monday. “Medical Department has informed that they have been told by OPPO company that they have received reports of 1,200 people. Of them, nine have tested positive for COVID-19, 8 from our district and one from Ghaziabad,” Suhas told reporters here. Operations at the factory have also been suspended.

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‘Naval fighter jets can fly with Air Force’ MiG-29K can fly in different sectors when they are not deployed at sea IAF Chief RKS Bhadauria said New Delhi: Naval fighter jets such as the MiG-29K can fly with the Indian Air Force in different sectors when they are not deployed at sea, Indian Air Force Chief RKS Bhadauria said on Monday. “Of course. It is not just a possibility, it has always been a part of the process that if the naval fighters are not deployed at sea, then, they would

COVID -19 UPDATE

Meghalaya becomes 5th NE state to be Covid-free Shillong: Meghalaya on Monday became the 5th Covid-19-free state out of the eight northeastern states as its lone corona patient, a woman, recovered from the dreaded disease, Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma said.

With Sikkim and Nagaland have not reported any cases, two other northeastern states - Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram - currently have no active cases as two patients, one in each state, have recovered and been discharged from the hospitals.

Covid-19 cases are, however, rising in the other three NE states - Tripura, Assam and Manipur. Currently, Tripura leads the tally with 167 cases, among which 80 are active, followed by Assam with 104 and Manipur with seven cases, of which five are active.—ANI

be deployed with other air force elements for undertaking tasks,” he told ANI in an interview.

The Chief, Bhadauria was asked about the possibility of using naval fighter aircraft in the western sector or northern border. He added that: The CDS has already spoken on the issue and all assets will be integrated to achieve our aim.” —ANI

‘IAF TO ACQUIRE 450 FIGHTER AIRCRAFT’

scribed in the guideline.

Frontline workers involved in containment and mitigation of Covid-19 will also be tested.

Beside the earlier cat-

egories of individuals fitting the testing criteria, ICMR said asymptomatic direct contacts of confirmed cases be tested once between day

exams for English (elective and core), Physics, Accountancy, Chemistry, Mathematics, Economics, History, Biology and Political Science will be conducted too.

The exams were postponed due to violence in February.

“On July 10, exams will be conducted for both courses of Hindi, and on July 15 for both courses of English,” CBSE Controller of Examination Sanyam Bhardwaj said. —PTI

New Delhi: Without naming any party, BJP President JP Nadda hit out at “opposition-ruled states” claiming that BJP workers who have been critical over the handling of COVID-19 outbreak on social media have been targeted.”In last few days, it has been observed that in opposition-ruled states, state machinery has been used unfairly to target BJP workers & independent voices on

5 and day 10 of coming into contact.

“All hospitalised patients who develop ILI symptoms, symptomatic individuals with history of international travel in the last 14 days, symptomatic contacts of laboratory confirmed cases, symptomatic healthcare workers, patients of SARI, ILI in hotspots &containment zones to be tested for Covid-19,” the ICMR said. —ANI

JP Nadda

social media, critical of local govt’’s handling of Covid. In a vibrant democracy, this is unacceptable,” he tweeted.

‘glorifies’ acid attack, NCW to take action

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray takes oath as a Member of Legislative Council in Mumbai on Monday.

—PHOTO BY PTI

New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh government has given approval to nearly 800 Shramik special trains for migrants labourers while West Bengal government has given nod to only 19 trains so far, Railway Ministry sources said, noting that “states blocking trains” was harming migrants. “ U n f o r t u n a t e l y, many states are not giving approvals for trains carrying their own migrants, resulting in migrants being forced to

Stranded migrants board a special train from Bhopal.

walk on roads or travel through unsafe vehicles like trucks etc. and violating social distancing.

Only UP has been able to give as many approvals as required, resulting in nearly 800 trains

A 1997 batch officer of Uttarakhand cadre, Dr Bhupinder Kaur Aulakh has resigned from Indian Administrative Service (IAS) with effect from May 15, 2020.

TOP DEFENCE PROMOTIONS MAY BE HELD UP

Whispers are in that the selection for top defence promotions could be held up due to COVID-19 situation for the next four months.

ANURAG JAIN IS SECOND IAS OFFICER FROM MP TO BE VC, DDA

Anurag Jain, who has been appointed as Vice Chairman, Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, is whispered to be second IAS officer from Madhya Pradesh after MN Buch to serve this post.

New Delhi: TikTok star Faizal Siddiqui, , is in hot water for a disturbing video in which he enacts an acid attack. The National Commission for Women (NCW) has demanded that action be taken against him, after a video of himself throwing ‘acid’ on the face of the woman who left him for another man surfaced online. It is not known when the video was originally shared. “@NCWIndia has written to @DGPMaharashtra Shri. Subodh Kumar Jaiswal to take action against #FaizalSiddiqui for the video he posted that promotes a grievous crimes of #acidattack on social media using @TikTok_ IN App. @CyberDost @ MahaCyber1,” the NCW tweeted. —Agencies

‘800 Shramik trains for UP’

NEW BEGINNINGS...

If govt goes by the seniority then Prof Pradeep Kumar Joshi will be appointed next Chairman of UPSC in June this year. Presently, he is the senior most Member in the Commission.

1997 BATCH OFFICER FROM UTTARKHAND, DR BHUPINDER AULAKH QUITS IAS

CBSE releases datesheet BJP Prez accuses oppn for pending Board exams of silencing dissent New Delhi: The dates for the remaining Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Class 10 and Class 12 board examinations have been announced on Monday. As per the latest notification, the exams will be held between 1 July and 15 July.

CBSE was unable to hold exams for Class 10 and Class 12 due to novel the coronavirus and the lockdown to stop the spread of the disease.

In Northeast Delhi,

WILL PROF JOSHI BE NEXT CHAIRMAN OF UPSC?

Around one dozen officials are due to join various Boards in Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) at Director and CMD levels on June 1, 2020.

ICMR’s revised testing scheme

Medical teams conducting thermal screening in Dehradoon.

POWER Gallery MAJOR JOINING AT BOARD LEVEL IN VARIOUS PSUS IN JUNE

No emergency procedure should be delayed for lack of test, say experts TikTok star

New Delhi: The ICMRreleased a revised Covid-19 testing strategy, which included testing of all symptomatic influenza like illness (ILI) among returnees and migrants within 7 days of illness.

According to new strategy, no emergency procedure should be delayed for lack of test.

But the sample can be sent for testing simultaneously if the person showed symptoms pre-

06

being approved for the state. A large migrant state like West Bengal has approved only 19 trains till date,” a source said. The sources said even Bihar is not allowing more than 50 trains per day while the requirement is of 200 trains per day.

They said that other migrant-heavy states have approved very less trains - Chhattisgarh only 19 trains, Rajasthan only 33 trains and Jharkhand only 72 trains. —ANI

DEPUTATION TENURE OF SHASHANK ANAND TO UT CHANDIGARH ENDING SOON

Three-year deputation of Shashank Anand to Union Territory of Chandigarh on inter cadre is ending soon. He is a 2006 batch IPS officer of Haryana cadre.

BBB MAY SOON ADVERTISE FOR POST OF MD & CEO OF UNION BANK OF INDIA

Whispers are in that the Bank’s Board Bureau is to soon advertise for the post of MD & CEO of Union Bank of India as the incumbent Rajkiran Rai G’s tenure is ending on June 30,2020.

VACANCY OF CMD, REC ARISING ON JUNE 1

A vacancy of Chairman-cum-Managing Director, Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) is arising with the present incumbent Ajeet Kumar Agarwal retiring on May 31. The Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) has withheld the selection process to find his successor, due to COVID-19.

DIRECTOR (TECH) OR ADDL SECRETARY LEVEL OFFICER LIKELY TO GET CHARGE OF CMD, REC

Sanjeev Kumar Gupta, Director Technical, REC or Additional Secretary level officer in Government of India is expected to get an additional charge of Chairman-cum-Managing Director, Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) till the joining of fulltime CMD. ARUN KUMAR AGRAWAL TO JOIN AS DIRECTOR (FIN), REC ON JUNE 1

Arun Kumar Agrawal, GM, MECON, will be taking over the charge as Director (Technical) in MECON Limited on June 1, 2020.

ZUBAIR IQBAL ALSO GOVT NOMINEE NOW ON J&K BANK BOARD

The Government of Jammu and Kashmir has appointed Zubair Iqbal, Former Senior Vice President, HDFC Bank as a Government Nominee Director on the Board of Bank for a period of three years, informed a few reliable sources from the organisation. The Board of Directors of the Bank have also approved the appointment of Zubair Iqbal as Managing Director of the Bank subject to the Reserve Bank of India’s approval.

FROM PG 1 More freedom...

Barbershops, spas and salons may resume business but have to ensure that proper social distancing is maintained. Fifty persons may gather for weddings, and 20 persons for funerals.

Highway dhabas and restaurants outside containment zones may reopen as well, but only for takeaway services.

Businesses located in commercial complexes that are not malls can reopen in rotation, with shopkeepers left to decide which shops are operational

on which days. At most, 50% of shops may be open at one time.

While the state has permitted three passengers in four-wheelers, pillion riding is still banned on two-wheelers.

Public libraries will now open doors for readers, but only at 60% capacity.

Alongside dairy, Amul parlours will also sell masks: N-95 masks will be available at Rs65 and three-layer masks, at Rs 5 each.

Multiplexes, single-screen cinema halls, malls, schools and colleges will continue to

remain shut across the state. The textile industry and markets that are on the east side of the city cannot resume operations yet.

In Surat, authorities have permitted textile markets to pull up shutters, but they have to run the show with 50% staff.

Can’t dilute...

“Under the new guidelines effective from today, States and UTs would now delineate the Red, Orange and Green zones, taking into consideration the revised guidelines issued by Ministry of Health and Family Wel-

fare on May 17, 2020,” the release said. “Inside the red/orange zones, containment and buffer zones would be identified by the local authorities, based on local level technical inputs and health ministry guidelines,” it added.

It said that within the containment zones, the strict perimeter would be maintained as earlier and only essential activities would be allowed.

“Limited activities would continue to be prohibited throughout the country. All other activities would be permitted except the ones that are specifically

prohibited under MHA guidelines. They may prohibit certain other activities or impose restrictions as deemed necessary on the basis of the ground-level analysis of the situation,” the release said.

It said the States and UTs must take into consideration the benchmark or thresholds indicated in the revised guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare while delineating zones at the local level. —ANI

‘Modi’s popularity... like asking people to stand in their doorways

and clap at a certain time, or to light candles at another, have been followed by millions.

PM Modi never downplayed the virus threat or said India had capabilities it didn’t, this worked in favour of him, the NYT report said.

Analysts say Modi has worked well with state-level officials across India, regardless of ideology. —With Agency Inputs

India with... that has killed over 310,000 people and infected nearly 4.7 million besides wrecking the global economy.

A draft resolution pushed by the 27-nation European Union and supported by a large number of countries for deliberations at the WHA called for a stepwise process of impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation of the WHO-coordinated international response to COVID-19.

It, however, did not mention China. The coronavirus pandemic was first reported in Wuhan, a port city in China in December last year.

Since then, it has spread to over 180 countries.

The resolution sought scientific and

collaborative field missions to trace the origin of the coronavirus, saying such an exercise will enable targeted interventions and a research agenda to reduce the risk of similar events in future.

It also called for continuing to work closely with the World Organisation for Animal Health, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN and other countries as part of the “one-health approach to identify the zoonotic source of the virus and the route of introduction to the human population. —ANI

TALKING POINT AHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2020

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SHIFT IN INDIA’S URBAN-RURAL DEMOGRAPHIC POST LOCKDOWN Movement to most cities has reduced and number of people in the suburbs has increased

FACEBOOK DATA

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o better understand mobility patterns during this period, we accessed Facebook mobile users’ data provided through the company’s Data for Good platform. Keeping in mind the potential digital divide, we aimed to observe the changes induced by lockdown on mobility patterns of more than 28 million users – approximately 3% of the total population 18 and over.

With the most up-to-date information, this data helps us understand dynamically where the people are. Measured every eight hours – 12 am, 8 am, and 4 pm GMT – it provides a grid with the number of persons who moved from a given cell to another between two time periods.

The mode of detection is passive, fully anonymised and no individually-identifiable information is provided. For our purpose, we combined it with data from the 2011 census of India since it constitutes a solid basis to add further socio-demographic insights.

T

he reduction in the number of individuals commuting and travelling have without a doubt decreased the propagation of the coronavirus, as indicated by recent research. However, several articles underline the necessity to take into account urban and regional mobilities to better understand the emergence of infectious diseases in particular territories. The difficulty for the research community in considering such data contributes to the vulnerability of societies, notably in countries like India. However, preliminary results from ongoing research using social network data could be a first step to change this.

Economic development in India has led to the development of significant intra- and inter-regional mobilities. In addition to workers of the unorganised sectors who are currently stranded due to the nationwide lockdown, metropolitan regions of India are at the centre of major daily flows that have significant consequences on pathogens diffusion such as dengue and Covid-19.

Migrant workers, who were stranded in the western state of Rajasthan due to the lockdown, look out from a train upon their arrival in their home state of eastern West Bengal. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri

CITIES LOSE POPULATION

UNUSUAL INCOMING MOBILITIES

H

T

he only states that observed a significant decrease of population – Facebook users served as a proxy – are Chandigarh, Goa and the Delhi NCR. Delhi has high level of commuting, and cities in general lost 7% of their users, which would represent around one million individuals.

The map presenting the difference of population reveals a clear structure: cities are losing population, while rural areas are gaining some. This is confirmed by graphs 3 and 4: rural population increased by 7% while cities lost between 4% and 11% according to their typology – from metropolis to small census towns. As revealed by the following map, neighbouring countries seem to exhibit the same pattern, with cities losing a significant share of

Changes in population.

their population.

Bangladesh being archetypal.

Our data suggest that prior to the lockdown, cities are at the centre of significant population shifts during the day from neighbouring areas.

Because of the lockdown, millions of individuals no longer commute to them. In that context, the population increase in

Evolution of Facebook population between the March 19 and 30 per category of area.

the rural areas surrounding cities is the result of the abrupt

stop of daily movements toward city centres.

owever, some areas concentrate cluster of localities experimenting unusual incoming flows during this crisis: this is the case in West Rajasthan, South India –around Bangalore, Chennai and Madurai, the mountains located in the North of Delhi and Odisha.

Long-distance relocation of individuals explain the exceptional increase in incoming mobilities from Delhi to the mountains in North India.

In Rajasthan and Odisha, they are the result of local adjustment of residence mainly toward remote villages. In South India, an exodus from cities also occurred, but was limited to the state level. Notably, some Bangalore and Chennai residents rushed to distant and small localities and migrant

Unusual mobility movements during and after the lockdown in comparison with mobilities detected before.

workers went back to their place of origin.

Our analysis suggests that up to the end of March, there was no significant increase of population in the poorest states, such as Bihar, Jharkhand or Uttar

DECREASE IN COMMUTING

T Decrease of individuals between March 19 and 30.

Evolution of population per states between the March 19 and 30.

Source O TelleS BenkimounFacebook Data for Good

of users per state does not change signifi-

cantly, as indicated in figure 3.

An exception is Uttar Pradesh, which has its border within the Delhi metropolitan region across the Yamuna River. We might be able to better see this return migration pattern in the coming weeks.

POINTING UP THE NEXT CLUSTERS

A

t national level, the data reveals that the number of individuals who changed locations between the eight-hour gap decreased massively after the lockdown.

This global pattern hides a more complex one at the state level.

The mobility of individuals shrank by almost 90 per cent in Delhi National Capital Region, while in other states, it fell by only 40 per cent.

Overall, the number

Pradesh, a source of migrant workers.

Their mobility has been severely constrained and delayed by the lockdown: railways and buses stopped, and interstate police roadblocks were in place.

his first exploration of Facebook’s Data for the Good platfor m in India reveals that the lockdown was clearly effective in reducing mobility. While cities are losing daily commuters, some longdistance mobility was detected, particularly during the first week, as other research suggest. These movements could point out the next Covid-19 clusters to come.

A future collaboration based on an ongoing project between the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut Pasteur, India’s Center for Policy Research and UK Liverpool University will help to define if the lockdown impacted the pandemic curve and the spatial diffusion of Covid-19.

Our preliminary results show how using real-time social-

network data on population movements can help to understand how the virus spread on local and regional levels. These in tur n can point us toward what confinement strategies will have the most impacts on virus diffusion, and thus reduce significant humanitarian effects and social and economic impacts caused by a total lockdown of population.

Number of individuals changing location each day and time.

SOURCE: THE CONVERSATION

CONCEPT: DIVYA HEMNANI

DESIGN: ABHISHEK GUPTA

None of us have unlimited time, live your life to the fullest. Don’t waste it by living in half measures, it is not worth it. All or Nothing is the Mantra!

2ND FRONT

—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO & Editor, First India

AHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2020

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Nobody’s people? Gujarat doesn’t want to accept own people: Maha

@ahmedpatel Exactly 46 years ago, a new chapter began in India’s nuclear journey Smiling Buddha.

India became the first country,outside the 5 permanent UNSC members, to conduct a nuclear test. Our tributes to the leadership of our scientists,military officers and Indiraji for this feat.

5,000 Gujaratis stuck in Mumbai; allegation comes after BJP made similar charge on West Bengal First India Bureau Gandhinagar/Mumbai: Days after the BJP heaped allegations on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee that she was not allowing her own state’s migrants back home, the Maharashtra Government has asserted that neighbouring Gujarat is resisting the return of at least 5,000 Gujaratis from Kutch.

Maharashtra Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat has stated that the “Congress party is ready to pay for the fare of workers stuck in Maharashtra. Yet, it is sad that Gujarat Government does not want to accept its own workers. Their government has still not approved the travel of 1200 workers from Mumbai to Samakhi-

NO ENTRY

Thousands of workers are stuck in Maharashtra, wishing to return to Gujarat.

ali (in Kutch).”

Sources in Maharashtra government claimed they have been following up with Gujarat for the past 10 days.

“They delayed the matter citing problems in the workers’ addresses,” a government official said.

In fact, Gujarat

Government’s nodal officer Dhananjay Dwivedi has stated that Maharashtra sent the list of passengers only on May 16 and that there seemed to be some issue in Mumbai with the exact destinations of the workers. He said the government

Migrants travel on ‘flashback’ tickets First India Bureau Surat: After black-marketing of tickets of Shramik Special trains for migrant workers, another scam has come to light in Surat of migrants returning home using old train tickets, which came cheaper than those they bought for a premium.

This was revealed by a vigilant ticket checker in one of the trains leaving for different states late on Sunday night. He found that most of the tickets shown by the workers were old ones of late 2019 or early months of 2020.

The ticket checker found that as many as 30 people were travelling on that train on old tickets of 2019. He later reported this to the railway police who rushed to the spot and arrested all the 30 of them.

Further inquiries with them revealed that the workers had taken the ticket from a travel

A scam of workers travelling on old rail tickets has been unearthed in Surat.

TRACKING SCAM

could organise transport for the workers if it knew their destinations.

This has been contradicted by Lakshman Patel, a social activist based in Navi Mumbai, who helped Maharashtra put together the list of Gujaratis wishing to go home. He said they

had organised all their details, including Aadhaar cards, and made the list by May 5, but the Gujarat government is reluctant to accept its own people.

Rahim Hussain Kumbhar, 30, who works at a stationery shop in Mumbra and stays in the area, and

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Rajesh Patel, 38, stuck at a construction site at Ulwe, have listed their names right in the first week of May but nothing has moved. Kumbhar has the responsibility of Nazma, 22, who is into her eighth month of pregnancy and wants to go home to Kutch for her delivery.

“Our local doctor is asking us to go back to our village so she would be able to deliver the baby in peace,” said Kumbhar, who is her brother-in-law.

“The hospitals in Mumbai are overburdened. We also fear the exposure to coronavirus in government hospitals.”

Rajesh Patel says, “Our employer made arrangements for our food until 3 May. We are now struggling to get two meals a day.”

He is from Rapar in Kutch.

Ray of hope for textile workers in Surat First India Bureau Surat: With the government facilitating opening up of business activities in the fourth phase of lockdown, Gujarat’s textile hub Surat -- and the thousands of migrant workers still here -- sees light at the end of the tunnel.

At least 20 textile weaving units began

First cop dies of Covid-19

operations at the Anjali Industrial Estate in the city’s Amroli area after a go-ahead from the District Collector. A large number of artisans stay and work in this industrial suburb.

The weaving units have started providing employment to those workers who could not go home and are willing to join.

At least 20 textile units have started buzzing again in Surat.

This has brought a fresh opportunity to the workers who lost their jobs and exhausted all their money, and so were desperate to return home.

Since the powerlooms in the units were shut for over two months, the factories have first started to clean up and oil the systems.

WALKING FREE!

First India Bureau

agent based in the industrial area of Pandesara in Surat.

The police have sent all the workers back and launched investigations as to how a huge quantity of old tickets reached the agents and whether any railway staff was involved in the scam.

There was a major uproar at the Surat rail-

way station with this scam of fleecing the helpless penniless workers came to the fore, while there are complaints galore of black-marketing of the tickets. As it is, the central and the state governments are facing severe criticism for the migrants having to pay for the tickets in such circumstances.

Ahmedabad: A head constable in Ahmedabad succumbed to Covid-19 on Monday, becoming Gujarat’s first policeman to succumb to the virus. Head constable Bharatji Somji was admitted in the Ahmedabad Civil hospital after he tested positive. He was serving in Krishna Nagar police station, Ahmedabad.

The Gujarat government has announced a compensation of Rs 25 lakh to all government employees.

Surat: As many as 31 more patients, including an 80-year-old woman in the city, have been discharged after recovering from Covid-19. With this, a total of 739 persons have so far beaten Corona in the city-district. It may be mentioned here that the number of positive cases in the city-district has reached 1133.

OF HUMAN BONDAGE!

Worker dies in friend’s lap — this is not ‘Sholay’ but for real !

First India Bureau Surat: There have been stories in the coronavirus pandemic of deaths alone, deaths unmourned. Mohammed Saiyub ensured Amrit Kumar, 24, didn’t go that way.

A 24-year-old migrant worker died in Shivpuri district in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday after being dumped out of a truck carrying migrants from Gujarat to Uttar Pradesh.

Migrants escape huge fire in bus Vadodara: Eighteen migrant labourers had a narrow escape after the bus ferrying them to a relief camp at Sayajipura caught fire near Khodi-

A migrant worker breathed his last on his friend’s lap on way to Uttar Pradesh from Surat.

A photograph of the worker’s friend cradling him in his lap went viral on social media. Amrit fell ill and died as the two of

yarnagar area on Monday. No one was injured.

The bus had started from the Sama sports complex. Witnesses said as the bus went up them made their way home to their village Banpati Bihar in Basti in Uttar Pradesh from Surat, a distance of more than 1,400 km.

in flames, the passengers jumped out of the windows. The flames melted the window panes and heavy smoke continued to billow out Saiyub, now at an isolation facility in Shivpuri District Hospital, said there could have been no other way.

“My parents were wait-

until the firefighters arrived. Four firefighters were rushed to the spot to contain the fire. The driver and the conductor allegedly fled the spot. ing for me. Uske mummy papa bhi (Amrit’s parents too).”

Amrit’s samples as well as his were taken for coronavirus testing.

Both tested negative.

On May 14, Amrit Kumar and his friend, Mohammad Saiyub, 22, paid Rs 4,000 each to get on a truck carrying 60 others from Surat in Gujarat to Basti district in Uttar Pradesh.

Around 2 pm on Friday, Kumar developed severe breathing problems and his condition deteriorated rapidly, spreading panic among the other passengers, who feared he had coronavirus.

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MANGOES

Not so Aam City First believes that, ‘a mango a day keeps the doctor away’ and as the season of the King of Fruits is here, we bring you some benefits of eating mangoes!

NEHAL NAYAR

nehal.nayar@firstindia.co.in

I

f you love fruits and sweets, mangoes are probably your favourite. Mango is called the King of Fruits not just because of the richness of its taste and sheer variety but also because it single-handedly fights cancer, alkalizes the body, regulates diabetes, helps in digestion, aids in weight loss, clears your skin and of course, makes the perfect snack.

Mangoes have antioxidants such as isoquercitrin, quercetin, astragalin, gallic acid and methyl gallate which protect the body against cancer. It also keeps cholesterol levels in check as you get high levels of vitamin C, fibres, and pectin to help lower serum cholesterol levels.

Eat mangoes in plenty in the season and also use it as a face pack to unclog pores and c l e a r acne. It actual-

ly aids in weight loss and digestion as it is rich in vitamins and nutrients and we feel stuffed after eating it. Also, it’s fibres boost our stomach’s digestive functions by burning excess calories while the enzymes found in mangoes aid in digestion.

Apart from the fruit, mango leaves are healthy too because they help regulate insulin levels. Just boil 5-6

mango leaves in a vessel, soak it through the night, and drink the filtrate in the morning.

Do you know that there is a reason why people call mango “the love fruit.” Mangoes have the ability to increase virility in men, has a particular nutrient, vitamin E, which regulates sex hormones and boosts sex drive.

It also prevents heat stroke and strengthens immunity.

Mangoes help in increasing memory retention, so they are good for children who have difficulty concentrating on studies. The fruit may aid menopausal and pregnant women because of its high iron and calcium levels. Mangoes are simply the best healthy and tasty nutrition filled wonders of nature’s bounty.

MANGO MAN Padmashri Awardee Haji Kaleem Ullah Khan has a profound love for mango cultivation. His 14-acre orchard in Malihabad in Uttar Pradesh is unlike any other in aroma, textures and hues. His passion led him to experimentation and he actually grew over 300 varieties of mangoes of different shapes, colours and sizes all on one tree!

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AHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2020

COVID–19 DOULAT JAIN

C

OVID19 has rudely pulled the rug from under the feet of the hospitality industry, leaving it in a state of complete disarray. As you are aware, a nation-wide lockdown was announced by our Honorable Prime Minister on account COVID-19 effective 25th March 2020. The speed at which this pandemic is evolving and the social distancing measures are taken by the Central and the State Governments to contain it, are both un-precedent as well as the need of the hour.

The pandemic is uncharted territory for the hospitality industry. While most industries have been badly impacted and world economies are in a recession, it is the hospitality and travel industries that have been crippled globally.

The potential losses and disruptions India’s hospitality industry was on overdrive before things went downhill:  The tourism and hospitality sector accounted for 7.5% of the country’s GDP in 2019.  The Industry experts expected the hospitality sector to grow at 16.1% to reach Rs 2,796 crore in 2022. Now, WTTC estimates up to 50 million jobs in the travel and hotel industry are at risk due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, several of those are likely to be in India.

FA CE OF TH ED AY

Doulat Jain

Hotels have upped their hygiene game, disinfecting their properties and putting in place all the WHO safety protocols, which may continue even after the COVID19 crisis blows over.

The impact of coronavirus is unprecedented.

The month of February and March, generally considered peak season for inbound tourism, have witnessed a 70-80%downfall in revenues and if the spread continues for a few months, the holiday season of May-June will be no better, followed by a tepid business cycle of three months.

Travel companies, governments, and hotels fear a complete washout of the summer holidays, which are peak business season. Given the huge potential the industries offer for growth and employment, the Hotel Association of India (HAI) has stated, in the letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, that the “potential shock to the livelihood of millions is enormous. We will need to think in terms of forming a task force with the industry and the government to establish a path for normalcy in general, and build confidence in this industry in particular”.

The hospitality industry was among the first to show the big signs of distress, with large global groups announcing furloughs of staff, leave without pay, closing of hotels and postponement of new hotel plans.

Chain hotels brands worldwide have already been closed, and this is likely to increase to over two-thirds in the coming weeks.

Many groups such as IHCL have opened its hotels to BMC medical staff, to travelers stuck due to the lockdown, even as they supply nutritious meals to hospitals dealing with COVID-19 patients.

With no air or road traffic, empty hotels, and all restaurants and recreational facilities shut, “the likelihood of the revival in the short term is uncertain. The hotel industry is a key pillar of both domestic and international tourism. Globally, it is considered as a major contributor to GDP, foreign exchange earnings, creation of jobs as well as the biggest multiplicator of jobs.

Among the measures taken are, Requesting em-

ployees to use their accumulated leaves during the lean period, restricting operations to a limited number of floors, thus reducing the manpower required and the HLP consumption, the closing down of restaurants and spa, and a relook at the contractual services by carrying out tasks in-house where possible.

Travel for business: Going by past economic flashpoints, global travel should take at least a year to get back to normal. The economic stimulus packages being announced by several countries will make all the difference in the way the travel and tourism industry bounces back from this severe crisis.

There will be an indirect impact on the amount of discretionary spend that the leisure customer will be willing to make, especially in the next six months.

International travel will take longer to get back on track. Geographies have to first lift their restrictions, and even when that happens, the willingness of people to travel recreationally will have certain psychological barriers.

Leisure travel is a discretionary expenditure and people will want to wait until they are completely sure that there is no health risk involved. A lot of people have already exhausted a large part of their leaves, either during the lockdown or in quarantine. Also, due to the state of the economy, which has resulted in pay cuts and other financial challenges, holidays are going to be pushed further down the priority list.

To sum up the whole situation, there are a lot of factors that are and will affect our industry in the coming months. This situation has bought the entire nation to stagnation but soon as the lockdown is uplifted an entire month will pass by just in maintenance and sanitization.

Although we are hoping for the best but tough days are still to come.

YOUR DAY Horoscope by Saurabbh Sachdeva

ARIES

TAURUS

GEMINI

CANCER

Do not worry as there may be delays in promotion but you will surely get it. This is the time to work on your health and improve your immunity power so be careful of what you put in your belly. You will keep your family entertainment up by being with them or through technology.

You are an example of success and intelligence in your circle and people look upto you. Don’t make enemies and forgive people and resolve issues as soon as possible.

You are very regular with your fitness regime and very sincere about your lifestyle. You are a self motivator.

You life will change when your destiny partner will walk into your life. You should remain active and fit, specially right now. Keep distance from any kind of intoxication as you won’t realise when you have crossed the limit. You will get an opportunity to venture into new field of business.

You will be able to easily resolve tensions arising at home, with a clear conversation. Your dreams will come true but you need to be patient. Don’t leave anything for later as now is the time to work and improve and repeat. Talk to your lover and discuss your future.

MAR 21 - APR 20

APR 21 - MAY 20

MAY 21 - JUNE 21

JUNE 22 - JULY 23

LEO

VIRGO

LIBRA

SCORPIO

You are a very health conscious person and you very well take care of those living with you. Job seekers must not feel disappointed and must believe that you will get what you want for sure. Devoting time to spiritualism will prove to be beneficial for you. You will experience joy.

Even during these tough times your income will rise from one source or the another. You are a good life partner and you always put other’s need first but this is not the time to neglect yourself rather you must take full care of yourself. You will travel overseas but after some time.

You are financially really fine but amidst these hard times its important to save on unnecessary expenditure. Try to resolve official issues at you end instead of approaching your boss. You will have an awesome career and its just a matter of time.

Even if you are working from home, give your 200% and your efforts will pay in the future for sure.

Read often at home, watch movies and spend time with family if not devote some time to spirituality but don’t let your self feel lonely. This is the time to bond with people.

JULY 24 - AUGUST 23

AUG 24 - SEP 23

SEPT 24 - OCTOBER 22

OCT 23 - NOVEMBER 22

SAGITTARIUS

CAPRICORN

AQUARIUS

PISCES

Contrivance cost cutting strategies as it is the need of the hour. You are very satisfied with life and you live each day like it is the last. Your spirit motivates those around you and people crave for your company for the same reason. You will increasingly become health conscious.

Your financial problems will be resolved with time, this is not the time to lament but to make efforts to rise up again. Cater to the needs of elders in the house and comfort them with all the love possible. You will handle ritualistic matters with competence.

To will pay off all your debts very soon as new business opportunity will come your way. You are working very hard on your health and you shall see the results sooner than you expected.

You will spend some exciting time with family today. You love to explore new things all by yourself.

New developments will take place as far as your career is concerned. On academic front, now is the time and opportunity to work on your short comings and stand out in future. You may think about changing you career. You may not be able to go an trip.

NOV 23 - DEC 22

DIVYA AGARWAL, Actor

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DEC 23 - JAN 20

JAN 21 - FEB 19

FEB20 - MARCH 20

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AHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2020

FASTING FOR

FEELING

FIGURE

BLESSED!

P

riyanka Chopra Jonas organised a quarantined tea party at her house, and she was all dressed up for it.

Taking to Instagram, Priyanka shared an image in which she can be seen posing with her niece. She ... her post flaunted her flowery hat as she wears a black dress.

“Playing dress up. English tea party,” Priyanka captioned the image. She also posted another image that shows her soaking in the Sun, wearing a white crochet outfit. “Feeling blessed. The sun, a hat and a cherry lip... it’s a good day,” s h e wrote.

—IANS

S

inger Ellie Goulding says she occasionally fasts for “up to 40 hours” to maintain her figure, and insists that it is safe. The singer, who was once addicted to working out, only has water and other drinks for almost two days, and says it reduces inflammation. The 33-yearold has taken a go ahead from her doctor friend for this fitness regime.

“I do it very safely by having a purposefully nutritious food day the day before and after. On the fast day, I drink high-grade electrolytes and a lot of water (plus tea and coffee). ” she said.

—IANS

11

... her post

Ellie Goulding

Kangana’s ‘Aasmaan’

K

angana Ranaut on Monday showcased her poetic skills one more time with a new poem titled ‘Aasmaan’, which she released with an artistically shot video.

The poem penned by the ‘Queen’ actor, uses the sky as an analogy to express one’s thoughts and feelings. The video of the poem was shared by Team Kangana Ranaut on their official Instagram account. “Kangana Ranaut reveals another treasure from her innumerable talents.

Aasmaan was been penned and directed by her, and is truly food for thought in these testing times,” the team captioned the post.

Capturing the beauty of mountains, trees, and the sky, the one-minute and 38-second long video features the ‘Gangster’ actor walking around the place barefoot as she is all smiles.

The 33-year-old actor recites the poem, which runs as the background score throughout the video. Within

... her post

minutes of sharing, the video managed to garner more than 18,000 views.

—ANI Priyanka Chopra Jonas

‘I’m a big cuddler’ Wild makeover

I

leana D’Cruz shared a photograph of herself hugging her mother Samira D’Cruz and said that she’s a big cuddler.

Ileana took to Instagram, where she shared an adorable photograph of the m o t h e r- d a u g h t e r Ileana’s post duo. In the image, Ileana and her mother are seen looking at the camera while hugging. The ‘Rustom’ actress is seen pouting.

“Because just one day isn’t enough to celebrate my gorgeous amazing mama... Also...I’m a big cuddler. I apparently make weird faces when I cuddle,” she said.

Recently, Ileana showcased her perfect washboard abs.

Ileana took to Instagram Stories, where she posted a boomerang video of herself showcasing her abs in a sports bra and yoga pants. On the image, she wrote: “Post workout sweaty jiggle.” —IANS

A

ctress Eva Mendes just got a wild makeover, thanks to her daughters.

This weekend, the 46yearold actress took to Instagram to share a self ie of her make-up done by her daughters Esmeralda Amada Gosling and Am anda Lee Gosling. Her da ughters gave her one colou rful and wild makeover pe rfect for the spring se ason.

“T hey’ve won,” Me ndes captioned her selfie.

While Mendes doesn’t pu blicise her life with her daug hters and her husband Ryan Gosling, she does share snippets of their lif e together.

—IANS

... her post

Kangana Ranaut

Eva Mendes

CITY BUZZ www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia

HAPPY

Birthday!

West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar along with his wife Sudesh Dhankhar clap to show gratitude to the helpers and medical practitioners who are working relentlessly to fight coronavirus during Janta curfew, Kolkata, on 22 March.

—FILE PHOTO CITY FIRST

T

he dynamic Governor of West Bengal, J a g d e e p Dhankhar remained occupied with official work as he spent a quiet birthday on May 18, in Kolkata with his wife Sudesh Dhankhar, in the ongoing Corona crisis.

Vasundhara Raje tweeted birthday greetings and many other stalwarts of BJP and Congress also conveyed their best wishes.

Dhankhar tweeted, “Am thankful to all who have wished me on my birthday. I resolve to work zealously for the welfare of the people of the State and am grateful to them for love, respect and affection.

Would follow undeterred ‘Work is thy worship reward is not thy concern.’

Dhankar had started his career in the judiciary, as also his political career from Rajasthan. Dhankar made his mark in Rajasthan politics, was the MLA from Kishangarh during 199398, a Janata Dal MP from Jhunjhunu in 1989-91 and a Minister in the Central government. Later, he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2003. Dhankhar, the former President of Rajasthan High Court Bar Association, and an advocate at the Supreme Court of India is also a member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration. cityfirst@firstindia.co.in

AHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2020

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STIMULATING INNOVATIONS! CITY FIRST

J

ECRC University is going to mentor 264 Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs) established in the Schools of the state of Rajasthan. The University will mentor the young children of different schools to orient the burgeoning innovation ecosystem towards stimulating creative thinking among the children. The Vice-

Chairperson of JECRC University, Arpit Agarwal shared that it is an initiative set up by the

NITI Aayog to promote innovation and entrepreneurship across the length and breadth of

the country and we are proud that we have been entrusted by NITI Aayog to act as a Men-

tor Academy for the schools of Rajasthan.

As a Mentor Academy, the areas of contribution to the young students of ATL Schools would be: a) Technical Knowhow: building prototypes, b) Innovation and Design: inculcating solution-oriented approach, c) Inspirational: leadership and self-motivation, and d) Business and Entrepreneurship: encouraging ideas and team

building. The activities will be focused on guiding and nurturing students in Atal Tinkering Labs for problem identification and formulation, stimulating creative thinking, finding innovative technology-based solutions to identified problems, design thinking and finally tinkering on ideas converting them into prototypes solutions. cityfirst@firstindia.co.in

NOBODY GOES HUNGRY A NOBLE CAUSE! CITY FIRST

T CITY FIRST

D

istrict administration of Rajasthan has taken the CM’s appeal of not letting anybody go hungry, as a mission. Collector Dr Jogaram said that there are

around 1100 PDS shops operational in the Jaipur rural area. The administration is ensuring door to door delivery of the ration, using 1053 vehicles and 2346 MANERGA workers. He said that the administration is catering to 1033550 ration card holding families, out of which

CARING FOR THE WORLD AHMEDABAD: In the fight against COVID-19, employees of Bank of Baroda, Gujarat contributed Rs37.75 lakh to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.

Archana Pandey, general manager, presented a cheque of the amount collected as a contribution from all staff members of Bank of Baroda, Gujarat to Chief Minister Vijay Rupani in his office. Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel and the bank’s director Bharat Dangar were also present.

655488 are under the NFSA scheme. Free 5 Kg wheat in March and April has already been distributed under NFSA, and 8197 quintal wheat with 19546 quintal pulses have reached the beneficiaries so far in the Jaipur rural. cityfirst@firstindia.co.in

BRIEF GREATER LEVEL Mumbai: The Pravasi Jain Samaj intellectuals of Sirohi district, trustees/activists serving in various institutions across the country, IAS, IPS, IRS, officers, social workers, industrialists, journalists and non-resident Indians are gathering on one platform to formulate various plans and needs of the Sirohi region and Pravasi Jain Samaj. Amritlal T Jain Shivganj of the organisation said that Sirohi district Pravasi Jain Samaj has been formed to take these tasks to a greater level and around 220 distinguished personalities have joined the organisation.

he Federation of Indian Association NY, NJ, CT (FIA-Tristate), Bihar and Jharkhand Association of North America (BAJANA) organised an online seminar on Sunday, to discuss the impacts of the global pandemic COVID-19 on Indian diaspora living in the United States with the various community leaders, dignitaries and delegates. Attendees of the seminar were Minister of State for External Affairs, Vellamvelly Muraleedharan, Parliament member, Prem Prakash Chaudhary, Joint General Secretary of RSS, Dr Krishna Gopal, Founder of Super 30, Anand Kumar, and Chairman of Jaipur Foot USA and Social Activist, Prem Bhandari.

FIA President, Anil Bansal welcomed all the dignitaries and delegates, on behalf of all the member organisations. He also provided an overview of FIA’s work on various fronts for all Indians living in the United States, including Non-Resident

Indians (NRI) for the past 50 years.

Alok Kumar Introduced Prem Bhandari, he raised the issue of the Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholders who have been adversely impacted by the Indian government’s May 5th order. This order impacted over 6 million OCI card holders of Indian origin in the world, who are unable to travel to India. Several Indian citizens have American-born children and are not allowed to travel to India with children under this order. He requested to address this concern with the highest priority.

Dr Gopal assured that they will escalate the issue within the government and will try to get this resolved. He provided information on how India is fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and how it has impacted life in India and worldwide. Anand Kumar raised the issue of migrant workers in India and how people have been coming forward to help them. He also assured that the Indian government officials will address the OCI card issue. cityfirst@firstindia.co.in

WHAT’S HAPPENING!

UTTAR PRADESH: Vivek Bansal, National Secretary, AICC has taken the initiative to make his surroundings corona free and healthy. Bansal and his team members are working tirelessly to sanitize streets, homes and various localities while spreading awareness among people to take precautions against this deadly virus in Aligarh. In this regard, the corona warriors sanitized various areas including Naurangabad, Cantonment, Shastri Nagar and Tikaram Colony on Monday, and also distributed masks to the people. Thermal screening of the people seen outside their homes was also done by Bansal.

RAJASTHAN: The Rajasthani music video album ‘Pihariye’ is the latest Rajasthani album composed by Rapperiya Baalam. The song has been sung by Rapperiya Baalam and Sheetal Bansal, wherein actors Honey Sharma and Aastha Chaudhary can be seen romancing in the video. The video song depicts the love story and love quarrels between the couple.

RAJASTHAN: MLA Rafiq Khan welcomed and expressed his gratitude towards the Corona Warriors including Police, Doctors, Nursing staff, Municipal Corporation Employees and Social Workers at Van Vihar colony, Delhi road, Jaipur. The event was organised by Adarsh Vikas Samiti and Alpsankhyak Adhikari Karmchari Mahasangh. During the event, Khan also visited the Community Kitchen and distributed the food packets to the needy people. On the occasion, BL Jatawat, Haroon khan, Mohd Umar, Ashfaq Naqvi Mohd Shahid, Hafiz Manzoor, Raees Mansuri, Parshad Uamrdaraj were also present.

GUJARAT: BJP MLA from Deesa Shashikant Pandya found violating Social Distancing norms at the release of water in Dantiwada dam in Banas river; Pandya surrounded by mob Gujarat, MLA in Black.

RAJASTHAN: On the fourth day of the ongoing ‘Online Learning – Children’s Summer Festival’, viewers learned about hand-drawn ‘Calligraphy in Roman and Devanagari scripts. The session was conducted by visual artist, Harishankar Balothia. During the session, viewers were taught the basic theory of Calligraphy, structure and formation of letters, pen pressure, maintaining consistency, use of spacing and much more. The session witnessed participation from over 330 viewers.

GUJARAT: Joining the fight against COVID-19, Under NCC Yogdan Exercise handed over 15O masks to Army officials of the 1st Gujarat battalion, NCC Ahmedabad by Sergeant Bhagwat Pandeya on behalf of the NCC Troop JNV, Hathijan Ahmedabad on Monday.