JOE BIDEN PLEDGES SUPPORT TO PM MODI ON VACCINE INPUTS, KEY SUPPLIES

US President Joe Biden spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday and pledged America’s “steadfast support for the people of India” hit by the unprecedented surge in Covid cases.

The United States will provide a range of emergency assistance, including oxygen-related supplies, vaccine materials, and therapeutics, a White House statement said about the call. “India was there for us, we will be there for them,” Biden tweeted later.

This comes after criticism of Washington over its delay in responding and its earlier cold shoulder to a request for lifting the freeze on export of raw materials linked to vaccine manufacturing.

In what suggests that vaccines could also be shipped, US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy announced on Twitter that the US plans to share AstraZeneca doses with the world: “Sixty million doses to be shared as they become available. Global pandemics require global cooperation.”

The Biden-Modi call came a day after US NSA Jake Sullivan dialled his counterpart NSA Ajit Doval Sunday and conveyed to him that “just as India sent assistance to the United States as our hospitals were strained early in the pandemic, the United States is determined to help India in its time of need”.

A PMO statement said that Biden and Modi discussed the Covid-19 situation in their respective countries, including India’s ongoing efforts to contain the second wave through expedited vaccination, and ensuring supply of critical medicines, therapeutics and healthcare equipment.

According to the statement, Modi conveyed his “heartfelt appreciation” for the offer of assistance and support from the US government and mentioned India’s commitment to contain the Covid pandemic globally through Vaccine Maitri, and its participation in Covax and the Quad Vaccine Initiatives.

India has enough stock of medical oxygen, but the issue is its transportation from the producing states to high-demand areas which the government is trying to address, the Home Ministry said Monday.

Meanwhile, in a show of solidarity, CEOs of some 40 top American companies have come together to create a global task force to mobilise resources to help India fight the battle against COVID-19.

A collective initiative of the US-India Business Council of the US Chambers of Commerce, and the US-India Strategic and Partnership Forum and Business Roundtable, the task force during its meeting in Washington  on Monday committed to get 20,000 oxygen concentrators to India in the next few weeks, Deloitte CEO Puneet Renjen said.

KEY COVID NUMBERS

Current Active Cases Countrywide: 28,75,041

New Cases in last 24 hours: 3,26,646

Recovered in last 24 hours: 2,48,702

Increase in Active cases in last 24 hours: 67,708

No. of deaths in last 24 hours (Total Covid Deaths so far): 2,764 (1,97,880)

Daily Tests: 14,02,367

Daily Positivity Rate (Proportion of Positives among total Tested): 25.2%

Most Affected States:

(S. No. / State / No. of Active Cases / New Cases in last 24 Hrs / Deaths in Last 24 Hrs)

1          Maharashtra     6,74,770           /           48,700  /           524

2          Uttar Pradesh   3,04,199           /           33,551  /           249

3          Karnataka                     2,81,042           /           29,744  /           201

4          Kerala              2,32,808           /           21,890  /           28

5          Rajasthan                     1,46,640           /           16,438  /           84

6          Gujarat             1,21,461           /           14,340  /           158

7          Chhattisgarh     1,21,352           /           15,084  /           226

8          Tamil Nadu       1,07,145           /           15,684  /           94

9          Andhra Pradesh            95,131  /           9,881    /           51

10        West Bengal     94,949  /           15,992  /           68

11        Madhya Pradesh           92,534  /           12,686  /           88

12        Delhi                92,358  /           20,201  /           380

13        Bihar                89,660  /           11,801  /           67

14        Haryana                       79,466  /           11,504  /           75

15        Telangana                    65,633  /           6,551    /           43

16        Punjab              49,894  /           6,276    /           98

17        Jharkhand        49,504  /           5,541    /           124

18        Odisha             44,895  /           6,599    /           9

19        Uttarakhand      39,031  /           5,058    /           67

20        JnK                  20,601  /           2,135    /           25

21        Assam              17,764  /           3,137    /           15

22        Goa                  15,260  /           2,321    /           38

23        Himachal Pradesh         14,326  /           1,692    /           27

24        Puducherry       7,510    /           747       /           10

25        Chandigarh       5,575    /           821       /           5

READY TO HELP, WE NEED POLITICAL CONSENSUS TO FIGHT COVID: SONIA GANDHI

Congress president Sonia Gandhi underlined Monday the need for the political leadership to rise above “our differences” and come together to fight the Covid “calamity” as a nation.

In an interview to The Indian Express, Sonia Gandhi said that the Congress was ready to extend all cooperation to the Government even as she said the “abdication of leadership” by the Centre in this public health emergency is “shocking” and “culpable.” And there was a sense people have been “abandoned” by an “all-round collapse” of governance.

“We believe that fighting Covid is not a ‘You versus Us’ battle but is an ‘Us versus Corona’ battle. This battle is, therefore, beyond political alignments. We have to fight this battle together as a nation,” she said. “The Modi government must realise that the battle is against Covid, it is not against the Congress or other political opponents.”

“Unfortunately, the Modi government has repeatedly demonstrated that it prefers coercion to consensus…I truly believe that challenging times warrant the political leadership to rise above our political differences. We have done so in the past many times. As a country and as a democracy, India has always come together in crisis,” she said.

Asked if she and her party were willing to sit down and help the Government if it reached out, ahead, Gandhi said: “Of course. My answer is an unequivocal yes.”

MUST PERHAPS FACE MURDER CHARGE: MADRAS HC ON ELECTION COMMISSION

Coming down heavily on the Election Commission for “not stopping political parties” from violating Covid protocols during their campaign rallies for Assembly polls in four states and an Union Territory over the last month, the Madras High Court said Monday that murder charges should probably be imposed on the panel for being “the only institution responsible for the situation that we are in today”.

“You have been singularly lacking any kind of exercise of authority. You have not taken measures against political parties holding rallies despite every order of this court saying ‘maintain Covid protocol, maintain Covid protocol’,” the Madras High Court observed.

Remarking that the panel has been “the most irresponsible over the last few months in not stopping political parties from wanton abuse of the Covid-19 protocol”, a bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy said: “You should be put up on murder charges probably.”

It asked whether the EC, which is a Constitutional body, “was on another planet when poll rallies were held”.

The observations were made by the bench while hearing a petition filed by AIADMK leader and Tamil Nadu Transport Minister M R Vijayabhaskar seeking directions for the EC to implement strict measures during counting on May 2 at his Karur constituency.

The bench also directed the EC to prepare a blueprint before May 2 on how Covid protocol will be maintained so that “this state does not succumb to your idiosyncrasies any further”. Otherwise, the court warned, it will order the counting to be stopped.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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IN LEAKED AUDIO, IRAN’S ZARIF CRITICISES GUARDS’ INFLUENCE ON DIPLOMACY

Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif complained in a leaked recording that the elite Revolutionary Guards had more influence in foreign affairs and the country’s nuclear dossier than him, in remarks that shine a light on ties between the government and the powerful force.

In the talk, aired by the London-based Iran International Persian-language satellite news channel late on Sunday, Zarif said he had “zero” influence over Iran’s foreign policy.

Without disputing the audio’s authenticity, the foreign ministry spokesman on Monday said that the news channel only published excerpts of the interview with the minister.

Using language rarely heard in politics in Iran, Zarif complained about the influence the late IRGC commander Qassim Suleimani had over foreign policy, hinting that he tried to spoil Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal by colluding with Russia. “He (Suleimani) asked me to make this or that concession or point almost every time I went to negotiate (with world powers),” Zarif said in the recording.

Suleimani was killed in a US drone attack in Iraq last year. Iran retaliated with a rocket attack on an Iraqi air base where US forces were stationed. Hours later, Iranian forces shot down a Ukrainian passenger airliner in Tehran. Days later, Iran’s Guards admitted that the plane had been shot “mistakenly”. “I said (at the Supreme National Security meeting) that if the plane was really hit with missiles, tell us so we can see how we can fix it. They told me ‘no, go, go tweet and deny it’,” Zarif said in the recording.

THE REST

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BENGAL ELECTION PHASE 7 CONCLUDES PEACEFULLY WITH OVER 75% VOTER TURNOUT

A total of 75.06 per cent voter turnout was registered on Monday in phase seven of the West Bengal Assembly polls, the Election Commission said. The poll panel noted that the turnout figures were provisional and recorded at 5 pm when the voting was still on. Polling was held  "peacefully" in 11,376 polling stations spread across 34  constituencies in West Bengal.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee yesterday demanded withdrawal of central forces in the last phase of polling in a bid to contain COVID spread in the state, while welcoming Madras High Courts observations that the Election Commission of India could not avoid blame for the spread of pandemic.

“I welcome the Madras High Court order, which clearly said the EC cannot escape its responsibility. Both Prime Minister Modi and EC are responsible for the current situation of COVID spreading in the state),” Banerjee alleged.

MASK UP EVEN INSIDE YOUR HOMES: GOVT TELLS CITIZENS

The government on Monday said it is time people start wearing masks inside their homes as well, and refrain from inviting guests.

Addressing a press conference, NITI Aayog member (Health) Dr V K Paul said: “Rather, I’ll say that the time has come that we start wearing masks even otherwise inside our homes. We used to talk about wearing it outside homes, but the way the infection has spread, it will be better if we wear mask inside our homes if we are sitting with someone,” he said.

He added that people should also avoid stepping out of their home unnecessarily and not invite guests at home.

AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria, who also addressed the press conference, sought greater community participation to ensure optimal utilisation of hospital facilities. “We see now there is unnecessary panic among people which is causing more harm than good. Those who test positive even if their oxygen saturation levels are normal and have mild symptoms, they also want to get admitted.

In this disease, 85 per cent people will have mild illness and they will get well with symptomatic treatment like fever medication or steam just like normal common cold, he said.

POSSIBLY THANKS TO LOCKDOWN, MUMBAI, PUNE SEE COVID NUMBERS COME DOWN

In a small glimmer of hope, Mumbai, one of the first cities to be gripped by the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, is showing signs of flattening the curve.

The city, which was recording 10,000 to 11,000 new Covid cases every day at the beginning of April, with a daily positivity rate of 20 to 30 per cent, has seen a steady decline in the number of new cases each day. Over the past three days, Mumbai has been adding less than 6,000 cases to its Covid tally with a test positivity rate of 14.6 per cent, 13.75 per cent and 9.1 per cent.

As of 25 April, Mumbai had 75,740 active cases. The city recorded 5,542 new cases Sunday and 5,888 Saturday. On Monday, the number of new cases fell to under 4,000 for the first time this month, with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) recording 3,876 cases, though the number of tests conducted were also lower than usual.

Maharashtra has been in some form of a lockdown since 5 April. From 14 April, the government declared a complete lockdown, allowing people to step out for grocery shopping only between 7 and 11 am.

In Pune, the situation is not as encouraging as in Mumbai, but continuous decline in active cases for the last one week has raised hopes that the worst in the second wave might be over in Pune as well. Pune was reporting more than 10,000 cases a day, though on Monday, this number dropped below 6,200, the lowest this month.

During the past one week, active cases in Pune have come down by more than 25,000. It peaked on April 19 when the city reported 1.25 lakh Covid-positive people. On Monday, this figure was just about one lakh, though still the second highest in the country after Bengaluru.

KARNATAKA CALLS IT ‘CLOSE DOWN’ FOR 14 DAYS

Aimed at controlling the COVID-19 spike, the Karnataka government on Monday announced "close down" across the state for 14 days from Tuesday night.

"Strict measures to control COVID will be taken. From tomorrow night till next 14 days there will be a close down for the whole state," Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa said.

Speaking to reporters after a three-hour cabinet meeting here, he said shops selling essential commodities would be allowed to remain open only from 6 am to 10 am.

"The agriculture sector, manufacturing sector except garments, construction sector and medical and essential sectors will continue to operate," he said, adding that deputy commissioners of all districts and tehsildars had been instructed to take strict measures.

Yediyurappa said the cabinet took the decisions after consulting the expert committee.

CENTRAL GOVT ASKS SERUM, BHARAT BIOTECH TO CUT VACCINE PRICES

The central government on Monday asked Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech to lower the price of their Covid-19 vaccines amid criticism from several states who have accused the companies of profiteering from the crisis.

The two companies are now expected to come up with revised pricing for their vaccines.

Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech has fixed the price of Covaxin at Rs 600 per dose for state governments, and Rs 1,200 per dose for private hospitals.

Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII), has announced a price of Rs 400 per dose for Covishield for state governments, and Rs 600 per dose for private hospitals.

Both vaccines are available to the central government at a rate of Rs 150 per dose.

In the new vaccine regime, manufacturers will supply 50 per cent of their monthly doses to the central government, and will be free to supply the remaining 50 per cent to state governments and the open market.

THREE YEARS AFTER SHUTDOWN, TAMIL NADU TO REOPEN STERLITE PLANT FOR OXYGEN

Moving to ease the oxygen shortage that has hit efforts to tackle the Covid crisis, an all-party meeting convened by Chief Minister E K Palaniswami in Tamil Nadu Monday reached a consensus to reopen the controversial Sterlite copper smelting plant in Thoothukudi on a “temporary basis” for four months.

The agreement comes nearly three years after the state government shut down the plant, which is owned by Vedanta Ltd, following the deaths in police firing of 13 people who were part of heated protests over environmental concerns related to its operations.

According to Vedanta, the plant has a production capacity of 1,000 metric tonnes of oxygen. Last week, the company had moved a petition in Supreme Court assuring that it could produce oxygen in the plant if it was allowed to reopen. The Central Government and the Supreme Court had favoured the idea, but the Tamil Nadu government opposed it.

ASHWIN LEAVES IPL 2021 TO 'SUPPORT FAMILY'; PAT CUMMINS DONATES TO PM-CARES

R Ashwin has cut short his IPL season with the Delhi Capitals to be with family as India grapples with the pandemic. Ashwin tweeted the news on Sunday night, following his team's Super Over victory against the Sunrisers Hyderabad in Chennai. He said he "expected to return" if the situation improved.

Earlier in the day, the Rajasthan Royals seamer Andrew Tye became the second player to leave the tournament for personal reasons, heading back home to Australia. Last week Tye's Royals team-mate Liam Livingstone returned to England citing "bubble fatigue".

It is also understood that, as of Sunday morning, at least two other Australian players have told their franchises that they have decided to go home as soon as the logistics can be worked out. This is partly down to the tightening of quarantine norms in Australia.

Meanwhile, the Kolkata Knight Riders' Australian fast bowler Pat Cummins has donated US$ 50,000 "specifically to purchase oxygen supplies for India's hospitals" to PM Cares, a fund-raising scheme set up by the prime minister of India in March last year when the Covid-19 pandemic first broke out. Cummins - the first cricketer playing in this year's IPL to publicly announce such a contribution - put out a note on Twitter, also calling on his fellow IPL players to contribute.

IPL MATCH 21  - KOLKATA BEAT PUNJAB

Kolkata Knight Riders finally managed to put up a good all-round show to beat Punjab Kings by five wickets in Ahmedabad yesterday.

In the first IPL match at the Narendra Modi Stadium, KKR restricted Punjab to 123/9 and then chased down the total for the loss of five wickets, with 3.2 overs remaining.

KKR captain Eoin Morgan, who has had a wretched run of form in recent times, calmed the nerves in the camp as he took the team to victory with an unbeaten 40-ball 47.

Now these two teams have 2 wins each from 6 respective matches.

INDICATORS

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US$-Rs. 74.77 GBP-Rs. 103.92, Euro-Rs. 90.42, UAE Dhm-Rs.20.35, Can$-Rs. 60.14, Aus$- Rs. 58.22

GBP 0.71 /US$, Euro 0.82 /US$, Jap.Yen 107.92 /US$, Aus$ 1.28 /US$, Sing 1.32 /US$, Bang Taka 83.25 /US$, Can$ 1.24 /US$, Mal Ring 4.09 /US$,

Pak Re 153.23 /US$, Phil Peso 48.31 /US$, Russian Rouble 74.89 /US$, NZ$ 1.38 /US$, Thai Baht 31.38 /US$, Ukraine Hryvnia 27.57 /US$

Bitcoin - USD 53,920

Dollar Index 90.95 Brent Crude 65.93  BDI 2,788

Gold world Spot Price USD/aoz 1,774 India (Rs. per gm 24k/22k) 4,594 / 4,494

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Well, I tell you, if I have been wrong in my agnosticism, when I die I'll walk up to God in a manly way and say, Sir, I made an honest mistake. - H. L. Mencken

OFF TRACK

This is from the good old pre—internet days. A sales manager has particular trouble selling encyclopedias. One day, a man comes in with a job application and says "l'd l-l-l-l-l- like to b-b-b-b- b-be a salesman, s-s-s-sir." With great reluctance, the manager decided to try him out.  After three weeks, the manager is looking at the charts and realizes that the newest guy is selling the most copies. Amazed, he calls him in to his office.

"You've only worked here for three weeks and you've already sold more copies than anyone else here! How do you do it?"

"Well, l -go up t-t-t-t-to th-the d-d-d-door and- l say, w-w-w-w-would y-y-y-y-y-y-you like to b-b-b-b-buy a copy of th-th-th-the encyclopedia, or would you l-l-l-l-like m-m-me t-to r-r-r-r-read it to you.”