I APOLOGISE FOR UNPRECEDENTED LOCKDOWN BUT IT'S FOR YOUR BENEFIT: PM MODI

As the 21-day lockdown entered its 5th day, the exodus of migrant workers

from big cities continued unabated, desperate to return to their villages

after being left jobless and many of them without food or shelter.

Charitable organisations, volunteers, religious institutions and government

bodies including Railway Protection Force fed tens of thousands of people

across the nation but many more remained outside the safety net.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his 'Mann Ki Baat' radio broadcast, sought

the nation's forgiveness for the hardships caused by the stringent

nationwide lockdown, saying it was necessary because the country was

fighting a battle between life and death.

A panic-like situation emerged due to mass exodus of migrant workers from

various parts of the country, including the national capital, Maharashtra

and Kerala, where thousands of people came out of relief camps and demanded

being allowed to go to their homes.

Concerned over such movements causing the risk of a community spread, the

Centre asked state governments and Union Territory administrations to

effectively seal all state and district borders and warned that those

violating the curbs will be sent to 14-day quarantine in government

facilities.

During a video conference with chief secretaries and DGPs, Cabinet Secretary

Rajiv Gauba and Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla asked them to ensure that

there is no movement of people across cities or on highways as the lockdown

continues.

States were directed to ensure that there is no movement of people across

cities or on highways and there should be strict implementation of the

lockdown.

Only the movement of goods and of those involved in delivery of essential

services is allowed during the 21-day nationwide lockdown announced by Prime

Minister Modi on March 24.

States have been also told to ensure timely payment of wages to labourers at

their place of work during the period of lockdown without any cut.

House rent should not be demanded from the labourers for this period. Action

should be taken against those who are asking labourers or students to vacate

the premises, the government statement said.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Maharashtra's Uddhav Thackeray,

among other state leaders, asked migrant workers in their respective states

stay put and promised them food and other facilities.

The Indian Railways said it will now run special trains of parcel vans to

ferry essential commodities.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also wrote to Modi, saying the sudden lockdown

has created immense "panic" and "confusion". He called for steps other than

a total lockdown announced by some developed nations to tackle the deadly

disease. Gandhi said the number of poor people in India who are dependent on

a daily income is too large to unilaterally shut down all economic

activities in the wake of the pandemic. "The consequences of a complete

economic shut down will disastrously amplify the death toll arising from

COVID-19," he feared.

GOVT FORMS 11 GROUPS OF OFFICERS TO DEAL WITH LOCKDOWN ISSUES

With essential supplies, including of medicines and equipment, still

disrupted and migrant workers stranded in various states, the government has

formed 11 empowered group of officers to deal with problems arising out of

the coronavirus lockdown.

The groups will deal with issues concerning medical emergency management

plan, availability of hospitals, testing and quarantine facilities,

availability of medical equipment such as PPEs, masks and gloves, augmenting

human resources and capacity building, facilitating supply chains,

coordination with private sector and NGOs, economic and welfare measures,

communication and public awareness, technology and data management, public

grievances and strategic issues relating to lockdown.

"The measures taken hitherto have been effective in containing the pandemic

so far. However, considering the gravity and magnitude of the challenges,

which are emerging with every passing day, there is a pressing need to

augment and synchronise efforts cutting across various

Ministries/Departments," a notification released by the Ministry of Home

Affairs said on Sunday.

Announcing the formation of the empowered group of officers, it said, "These

Groups are empowered to identify problem areas and provide effective

solutions thereof; delineate policy, formulate plans, strategize operations

and take all necessary steps for effective and time-bound implementation of

these plans/ policies/ strategies/ decisions in their respective areas."

PAKISTAN USES COVID-19 OUTBREAK TO AGAIN RAKE UP KASHMIR

Pakistan has sought to use the Covid-19 outbreak to rake up Kashmir at

different forums, including the UN Security Council, where Islamabad's

recent efforts to highlight the issue have gained no traction.

On Sunday, Pakistan's Foreign Office made public the contents of a letter

written by foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi to the UN secretary general

and the president of the Security Council on March 9 regarding what he

described as the "dire" humanitarian situation in Jammu and Kashmir.

In a separate statement, the Foreign Office also called for the release of

Kashmiri prisoners and lifting of restrictions in Kashmir in view of the

Covid-19 pandemic.

Pakistan was criticised by India recently for raising the Kashmir issue

during the March 15 video conference of leaders of Saarc states on the

pandemic, with officials saying Islamabad had resorted to politicising a

humanitarian issue.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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PEAK US DEATH RATE LIKELY TO HIT IN TWO WEEKS, SAYS DONALD TRUMP

President Donald Trump said Sunday that the peak death rate in the United

States from the coronavirus pandemic was likely to hit in two weeks.

Trump, during a briefing at the White House, also said that he was extending

the government's "social distancing" guidelines until April 30.

"The modelling estimates that the peak in death rate is likely to hit in two

weeks," the president said.

"Therefore, we will be extending our guidelines to April 30th to slow the

spread," he said.

Trump also said he expects the country "will be well on our way to recovery"

by June 1 -- dropping his previous target of Easter.

Trump has backed off his threat to quarantine Covid-19's epicentre, New York

City area, but the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued an

advisory asking people from there to not to travel.

Earlier on Saturday, Trump had that he was looking at a quarantine of parts

of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut at the request of other states that

don't have much coronavirus infection.

BORIS JOHNSON WARNS BRITONS TO BE PREPARED FOR THE WORST

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is self-isolating after testing,

positive for the coronavirus, has written to every UK household to ask

people to stay at home and follow the social distancing rules to fight the

pandemic, warning them things will get worse before they get better.

In letters which will arrive through the post for nearly 30 million homes

along with a leaflet outlining the UK government's advice, Johnson says he

will not hesitate to impose stricter measures.

The British Prime Minister, who has been working from home with mild

symptoms, warned that things are set to get worse before they start getting

better as the UK's death toll from the outbreak crossed 1200.

The warning came as the UK government's leading epidemiology adviser,

Professor Neil Ferguson, told 'The Sunday Times' that the UK population

could need to stay at home for nearly three months.

GERMAN MINISTER COMMITS SUICIDE AFTER 'VIRUS CRISIS WORRIES'

Thomas Schaefer, the finance minister of Germany's Hesse state, has

committed suicide apparently after becoming "deeply worried" over how to

cope with the economic fallout from the coronavirus, state premier Volker

Bouffier said Sunday.

Schaefer, 54, was found dead near a railway track on Saturday. The Wiesbaden

prosecution's office said they believe he died by suicide.

Hesse is home to Germany's financial capital Frankfurt, where major lenders

like Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank have their headquarters. The European

Central Bank is also located in Frankfurt.

A visibly shaken Bouffier recalled that Schaefer, who was Hesse's finance

chief for 10 years, had been working "day and night" to help companies and

workers deal with the economic impact of the pandemic.

Popular and well-respected, Schaefer had long been touted as a possible

successor to Bouffier.

THE REST

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SUPPORT POURS IN FROM MANY QUARTERS FOR PM'S EMERGENCY FUND

 Political leaders, corporates, defence personnel, employees of PSUs such as

Railways and Bollywood personalities were among a cross-section of

organisations and people who pledged their contribution on Sunday to the

fund announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to fight the coronavirus

pandemic.

President Ram Nath Kovind said he will donate a month's salary to the fund

to "help the nation tide over the crisis of COVID-19" and appealed to

countrymen to donate generously to it.

The Railways will donate Rs 151 crore to the Prime Minister's Citizen

Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM CARES Fund), Railway

Minister Piyush Goyal said.

The Army, Navy and the Indian Air Force as well as employees of the Defence

Ministry have decided to donate one day's salary totalling around Rs 500

crore.

The ruling BJP has announced that all its MPs will contribute a month's

salary to the cause. The party has also asked all its MPs, 303 in Lok Sabha

and 83 in Rajya Sabha, to sanction Rs one crore from the annual Rs

five-crore MP Local Area Development Scheme.

The Central Board of Secondary Education has donated Rs 21 lakh, collected

from its employees who it said have volunteered to contribute, to the fund.

Home Minister Amit Shah said in a tweet that the Central Armed Police Forces

contributed Rs 116 crore, a total of one-day salary of its personnel.

The Tata group on Saturday said it had committed Rs 1,500 crore to fight the

coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, as well as protect and empower all affected

communities. The group also said it is gearing up to manufacture ventilators

in India.

Paytm Saturday said it aims to contribute Rs 500 crore - for every

contribution or any other payment made on Paytm using the wallet, UPI and

Paytm Bank debit card, the company will contribute an extra up to Rs 10,

Paytm said in a statement.

The Adani Foundation has committed a direct contribution of Rs 100 crore.

ITC Ltd said it is setting up a contingency fund of Rs 150 crore for

vulnerable sections of the society in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

The Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra has said his company will

immediately start working on how its manufacturing facilities can make

ventilators along with offering Club Mahindra Holidays' resorts as temporary

care facilities, even as it would help the government/Army in setting up

more such facilities.

Chairman of Vedanta Resources Limited Anil Agarwal pledged Rs 100 crore to

fight the pandemic.

Biscuits major Parle Products on Wednesday said it will donate 3 crore packs

of biscuits in the next three weeks, especially to the needy, through

government agencies.

The Bajaj Group of companies has on Wednesday committed Rs 100 crore for the

fight against COVID-19.

GOVT ALLOWS TRANSPORTATION OF ALL GOODS, ESSENTIAL & NON-ESSENTIAL

The Union Home Ministry on Sunday allowed the transportation of all

essential and non-essential goods in the country and the use of the State

Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) to provide shelter to migrant workers and the

homeless stranded due to the lockdown imposed to combat Covid-19.

Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla wrote to chief secretaries of all states

and Union territories, asking them to enure that relief camps were set up

for homeless people, including migrant labourers, to provide them shelter

and food.

The letter made it clear that transportation of all goods, without

distinction on grounds of essential and non-essential, has been allowed.

The home secretary also made it clear that the newspaper delivery supply

chain is allowed under exemptions given for print media.

MHA SUSPENDS KEY DELHI GOVT OFFICERS FOR 'LAPSES' IN ENSURING LOCKDOWN

Quick on the heels of hundreds of migrant labourers gathering in large

numbers at Delhi's Anand Vihar, over the last two days, the Central

government on Sunday initiated disciplinary proceedings against four senior

officers of the Delhi government.

The Union home ministry on Sunday suspended with immediate effect Additional

Chief Secretary of the Transport Department, and Principal Secretary,

Finance and Divisional Commissioner (GNCTD), while also issuing a showcase

notice to Additional Chief Secretary, Home and Land Buildings Departments,

GNCTD and the Sub divisional magistrate of Seelampur SDM Seelampur.

"It has been brought to the notice of the competent authority that the

officers, who were responsible to ensure strict compliance to the

instructions issued by Chairperson, National Executive Committee, formed

under Disaster Managment Act 2005 regarding containment of spread of

COVID-19, have prima facie failed to do so," the ministry said on Sunday

night.

FARMERS CAN WORK, SAYS GOVT AMID NATIONWIDE LOCKDOWN OVER COVID-19 PANDEMIC

The government has exempted all agriculture-related operations from a

national lockdown currently in force to contain the coronavirus epidemic,

which virtually sets a large section of rural India free from an economic

curfew.

"The government has added one more amendment to its original notification

for a nationwide notification. Agricultural activities are now exempt

because it has been included under essential services now," an official

said.

According to the latest order, sowing of crops as well as harvesting stands

permitted. Fertilizer and pesticide shops as well as the seed markets can

function. Agriculture Produce Market Committees, popularly known as anaj

mandis, are allowed to resume operations. Food aggregators, commission

agents, forwarding contractors and wholesale buyers - critical to run the

farm-to-fork food supply chain - have also been exempted from the lockdown.

INDUSTRY CALLS FOR EXTENDED FINANCIAL YEAR DUE TO CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

Auditors and industry bodies have called for extending the financial year

2019-20 by three months, till the end of June, amid the coronavirus

(Covid-19) pandemic.

Industry representatives recently met officials of the Ministry of Corporate

Affairs, seeking among other things, an extension of the financial year on

grounds that "any financial statement prepared for April 2019 to March 2020,

will not give a true and fair view as it does not represent one complete

business cycle of the entity".

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) told the ministry: "With the

current backdrop of coronavirus, the entire economy is getting stagnated for

at least a couple of quarters, which are a kind of missing quarters for

corporates."

The auditors cited issues such as physical verifications of inventories,

fixed assets, balance confirmations, fair-value measurements, and

going-concern assessments, which are difficult to carry out under the

present circumstances.

An audit report, even if submitted at a later date, may not present a

reliable picture if the auditors try to ascertain the key data for the March

figures in June. Companies, too, are struggling with ascertaining their

inventories due to supply-chain disruptions.

TURMOIL CAUSED BY CORONAVIRUS LIKELY TO HIT GIG ECONOMY

The turmoil caused by the outbreak of Covid-19 is expected to derail India's

gig economy, which was projected to touch gross sales of $455 billion by

2023 by industry group Assocham. Led by online food delivery firms Zomato

and Swiggy, ride hailing companies Uber and Ola, online homestay brand

Airbnb, hospitality chain Oyo and a host of other shared economy companies,

the sector is bracing itself for unforeseen challenges as lives are unlikely

to return to normal even after the completion of the 21-day lockdown, which

could also be extended.

In the short term, the companies are likely to suffer from weak consumer

demand, supply-chain disruptions and shortage of manpower, leading to poor

growth rates. The immediate impact of the Covid-19 scare is likely to happen

in the gig economy with people remaining apprehensive of any physical

contact and thus refraining from availing most such services such as

ordering cabs and food to grooming services at home and staying in shared

spaces.

WHATSAPP STATUS VIDEO TIME LIMIT REDUCED TO 15 SECONDS IN INDIA

WhatsApp has limited the time duration of videos that can be uploaded as

Status in India. Previously users could upload up to 30 seconds video as

WhatsApp Status. The messaging platform has now limited video time duration

to be uploaded as Status to 15 seconds. With the new feature coming is the

Facebook-owned messaging platform is asking users to crop any video longer

than 15 seconds time duration and only then it can be posted as Status.

WhatsApp has introduced this feature to reduce the load on its servers which

has spiked since the time people have started staying at home due to

coronavirus pandemic.

MS DHONI ONCE SAID HE WANTED TO MAKE 30L FROM CRICKET: WASIM JAFFER

MS Dhoni might have become a legend in Indian cricket over the last fifteen

years, but he had humble ambitions when he started out.

Wasim Jaffer, a former teammate of his during his early years, revealed a

dressing room anecdote about the Jharkhand stumper from his earliest days in

the India team after his debut in 2004. When a fan asked Jaffer what his

favourite memory of Dhoni was, Jaffer said, "In his 1st and 2nd year with

the Indian team, I remember he said, he wants to make 30 lakhs by playing

cricket. So, he can live peacefully for the rest of his life in Ranchi."

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Only the weak are corrupted by power. The strong judiciously use it as a

tool in service to others. - Jeffrey Fry

OFF TRACK

A young man from the city went to visit his farmer uncle. For the first few

days, the uncle showed him the usual things - cattle, crops, etc. After

three days, however, it was obvious that the nephew was getting bored, and

the uncle was running out of things to amuse him with.

Finally, the uncle had an idea. "Why don't you grab a gun, take the dogs,

and go shooting?"

This seemed to cheer the nephew up, and with enthusiasm, off he went, dogs

in trail.

After a few hours, the nephew returned.

"How did you enjoy that?" asked the uncle.

"It was great!" exclaimed the nephew. "Got any more dogs?"