NATIONWIDE LOCKDOWN EXTENDED TILL MAY 3

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced the extension of the

nationwide lockdown till May 3, suggesting limited relaxation in select

areas after April 20 keeping in mind interests of daily wage earners.

In his fourth address to the nation during the last few weeks, Modi said the

government will continuously evaluate steps taken by each district/ areas

under police stations of how the strictly lockdown measures are being

implemented.

Announcing a one-week strict observance, he said, during this time the

measure of success will determine relaxation especially how areas did not

allow being turned into hotspots and controlled the situation in preventing

any new case. Detailed guidelines in the regard will be issued by the

Government on Wednesday, he said.

Prefacing his address thanking the people for bearing with hardships caused

by the lockdown, he said, the collective strength and resolve demonstrated

by the people is, in fact, a real tribute to the architect of the

Constitution, Dr B R Ambedkar, whose birth anniversary was observed

yesterday.

Explaining how the Centre was always ahead in taking steps to prevent the

spread of the virus and ahead of the curve, he said while comparisons with

other countries should not be done but the rate of progression in India is

far less than countries that have greater resources and better health

infrastructure.

In an apparent response to some criticism that India was late in taking

preventing steps, PM said the country had begun screening

tourists/international travellers at airports even before the first case was

detected, started compulsory 14-day quarantine of those arriving in India

before 100 cases were found and declared nationwide lockdown when 550 cases

were recorded.

On health infrastructure being ramped up to face the challenge, he said as

against the international norm of 1500 beds for every 10,000 cases, India

now has 1 lakh beds and 600 hospitals dedicated to tackling Covid19 cases.

Outlining seven steps each citizen should take in the collective fight

against the spread of the global health pandemic, he advised all to take

extra precaution and care of senior citizens especially those with

pre-existing diseases; follow social distancing and lockdown while using

homemade face masks; download Aarogya Setu App and encourage others to do

so; help the poor to the extent possible and take care of their food

requirements; increase personal immunity by following AYUSH guidelines; have

empathy towards employees and not remove them from work, and respect for

frontline warriors engaged in fighting the pandemic.

CONG SAYS PMÂ’S ADDRESS HOLLOW, NO MENTION OF FINANCIAL PACKAGE

The Congress on Tuesday termed as rhetoric and hollow on specifics the prime

ministerÂ’s address to the nation, saying there was no mention of a financial

package or concrete steps to revive the economy.

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said, “The poor have been left to fend

for themselves for 21+19 days, including practically soliciting food. There

is money, there is food, but the government will not release either money or

food. Cry, my beloved country,” he said on Twitter.

“CMs’ demand for money elicited no response. Not a rupee has been added to

the miserly package of March 25, 2020Â…..From Raghuram Rajan to Jean Dreze,

from Prabhat Patnaik to Abhijit Banerji, their advice has fallen on deaf

years,” Chidambaram tweeted further.

1,544 people are talking about this

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said the PMÂ’s address was like Hamlet

without the Prince of Denmark. He tweeted: “Amazing PM address. Exhortation,

rhetoric, inspiration.....yet hollow on specifics! No financial package, no

details, no concrete item. Neither for poor nor middle class nor industry

nor businesses. Lockdown is good but cannot be end in itself! Where is

single livelihood issue.” He said the PM be assured that all stakeholders

will do their duties and will strictly observe lockdown. “After this: should

we pray? We want concrete palliatives for these deprived classes and even

for middle india and MSMEs,” he said.

OVER A THOUSAND 'HOMESICK' MIGRANTS PROTEST IN MUMBAI

Over 1,000 migrant workers who earn daily wages gathered near Bandra (West)

station in Mumbai on Tuesday demanding transport arrangements to go back to

their native places, hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced

extension of the coronavirus-enforced lockdown till May 3.

It took police about two hours to dispersed the crowd. In viral videos,

police were seen using mild cane-charge.

Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said the migrant workers who

gathered outside Bandra railway station might have expected that Prime

Minister Narendra Modi would order reopening of state borders. They were

told by the police that borders are not going to be opened and the situation

was now under control, he said, adding the migrants were assured that the

state government will make arrangement of food and accommodation for them,

following which the crowds dispersed, he said.

State Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray blamed the Centre for the protest

by the migrant workers and sought a road map to facilitate their journey

back to their native places. In a series of tweets, Thackeray said, “The

current situation in Bandra, now dispersed or even the rioting in Surat is a

result of the union government not being able to take a call on arranging a

way back home migrant labour.” “They don’t want food or shelter, they want

to go back home,” Thackeray said. He said feedback from all migrant labour

camps is similar - that these workers want to go back to their native

places. “Many are refusing to eat or stay in these camps,” he said.

Currently, more than six lakh people are housed in various shelter camps

across Maharashtra, he added.

The Mumbai Police has detained a man who may have potentially set off

rumours that led to hundreds of migrants flooding the Bandra West area on

Tuesday. A man identified as Vinay Dubey was allegedly running a campaign

online -- 'Chalo Ghar Ki Ore' (Head towards home) for migrant labour in

Mumbai. He has been accused of inciting migrants by posting calls for action

on Facebook and Twitter.

COVID-19 DASHBOARD – (Nos. IN INDIA / Nos. WORLDWIDE)

(Indian data from covid19india / and World Data from

worldometers.info/coronavirus/ )

Total Cases 11,487(+1,034) / 19,98,138(+73,459)

Total Deaths 393 (+35) / 1,26,607 (+6,915)

Total Recovered 1,361 (+168) / 4,78,741 (+33,736)

Active Cases 9,733(+831) / 13,92,790(+32,808)

Serious / Critical Cases (Not Available) / 51,608(-156)

Top 6 impacted nations so far: (Country / Total No of cases / Deaths)

USA 6,13,886 / 26,047

Spain 1,74,060 / 18,255

Italy 1,62,488 / 21,067

France 1,43,303 / 15,729

Germany 1,32,210 / 3,495

UK 93,873 / 12,107

Top 15 impacted Indian States so far: (Total No. of Confirmed case / No. Of

Deaths)

MAHARASHTRA 2,684 / 178

DELHI 1,561 / 30

TAMIL NADU 1,204 / 12

RAJASTHAN 1,005 / 11

MADHYA PRADESH 741 / 53

UTTAR PRADESH 660 / 8

GUJARAT 650 / 28

TELANGANA 644 / 18

ANDHRA PRADESH 483 / 9

KERALA 386 / 2

JAMMU AND KASH 278 / 4

KARNATAKA 260 / 10

HARYANA 198 / 3

WEST BENGAL 190 / 7

PUNJAB 184 / 13

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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DONALD TRUMP HALTS WHO FUNDING OVER HANDLING OF CORONAVIRUS

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he has instructed his administration

to halt funding to the WHO over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic

while his administration reviews its response to the global crisis.

Trump, at a White House news conference, said the WHO had “failed in its

basic duty and it must be held accountable.” He said the group had promoted

China’s “disinformation” about the virus that likely led to a wider outbreak

of the virus than otherwise would have occurred.

Reacting to Mr Trump's remarks, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said

now was "not the time" to be cutting resources for the WHO.

The United States is the biggest overall donor to the Geneva-based WHO,

contributing more than $400 million in 2019, roughly 15% of its budget.

According to the WHO website, ChinaÂ’s contribution for 2018-2019 was almost

$76 million in assessed contributions and some $10 million in voluntary

funding.

The hold on funding was expected. Trump has been increasingly critical of

the organization as the global health crisis has continued, and he has

reacted angrily to criticism of his administrationÂ’s response.

TRUMP IS NOT A KING, SAYS CUOMO

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo took to morning TV shows on Tuesday to push

back against President Donald Trump’s claim of “total” authority to reopen

the nationÂ’s virus-stalled economy, noting that a President is not an

absolute monarch.

“We don’t have a king,” Mr. Cuomo told NBC. “We have a President. That was a

big decision. We ran away from having a king, and George Washington was

President, not King Washington. So the President doesnÂ’t have total

authority.”

The Democratic Governor, whose State has become the epicentre of the

COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S., was reacting to Mr. TrumpÂ’s assertion on

Monday that “when somebody is President of the United States, the authority

is total.”

When asked on CNN’s “New Day” what he would do if the President ordered him

to reopen New York’s economy, Mr. Cuomo said “If he ordered me to reopen in

a way that would endanger the public health of the people of my State, I

wouldnÂ’t do it. And we would have a constitutional challenge between the

state and the federal government and that would go into the courts and that

would be the worst possible thing he could do at this moment.”

TALIBAN CALLS FOR ISLAMIC EMIRATE IN AFGHANISTAN

The Taliban have drafted a charter with rules for the future governance of

Afghanistan that virtually envisages a return to the era when the terror

group was in power in Kabul during 1996-2001, according to a media report on

Tuesday.

The draft charter, which was shared with ToloNews channel by a senior Afghan

government official, calls for establishing an Islamic emirate, has 149

articles on a broad range of topics including how laws will be passed, and

states the Islamic emirate is not obliged to implement UN laws that

contradict Islamic values.

The development comes at a time when there is growing concern within

government circles in India and other neighbouring countries that the

Taliban, long accused of having strong ties with PakistanÂ’s military

establishment, are trying to take advantage of the Covid-19 crisis to push

through their agenda.

THE REST

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WILL FULLY IMPLEMENT PM'S LOCKDOWN MEASURES: KEJRIWAL

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said the city will fully

implement the lockdown measures announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to

control the coronavirus spread. "Delhi will fully implement PM's lockdown

measures," Kejriwal tweeted. In a tweet, Kejriwal said if the lockdown is

taken away, all gains would be lost as the country fights coronavirus.

After hundreds of migrant workers gathered in Mumbai, Kejriwal, in a video

message, appealed to the daily wagers from different states that they should

not fall prey to rumours of bus arrangements being made to ferry them to

their native places. He assured them that the Delhi government had made

arrangement of their food and accommodation.

“A lot of people will try and spread rumours. They may come you saying that

they will help you reach your hometowns, or that DTC buses are taking people

to their destinations. I want to repeat, no DTC buses and no buses of any

other government are functional right now. You may create a huge crisis for

you and your family by stepping out in this hope,” he said.

INDIA REACHES OUT TO CHINA FOR 15 MILLION PPEs

To meet its requirement of 15 million personal protection equipment (PPEs),

which includes gowns, masks, gloves and goggles, India has now reached out

to China and has placed orders. New Delhi is also in the process of

procuring 1.5 million rapid testing kits from China, some of which have

already been delivered.

This comes at a time when China is facing complaints of exporting low

quality items from European countries. However, after facing criticism,

China stepped up quality checks on exports of 11 categories of medical

products, including masks, protective suits, goggles and ventilators.

These are being procured from Chinese companies by the Indian government and

private companies. The Indian Embassy in Beijing is facilitating the

procurement.

BCG VACCINE TO BE TESTED IN COVID-19 BATTLE

Mumbai's Haffkine Institute has claimed some success in mitigating the

effects of the Covid-19 virus in patients injected with the BCG vaccine. In

its application to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the

Drugs Controller of India, the Haffkine Institute has claimed that

preliminary research on the BCG vaccine's effect in combating the Covid-19

virus has been encouraging. "We have applied to the authorities to carry out

clinical trials of the vaccine," Dr Sanjay Mukherjee, Secretary, Medical

Education and Drugs Department, Government of Maharashtra said.

The BCG vaccine is used universally across India to immunise children

against tuberculosis and meningitis. Newborn children are usually given the

BCG vaccine in India and other developing countries.

According to expert advice obtained by the Maharashtra government, the

effect of the BCG vaccine wears off with the age of the patient. Officials

say, elderly patients and those with co-morbidities may be injected with

newer versions of the BCG vaccine to protect them from the Covid-19 virus if

the clinical trials are proved to be effective.

Initial research by the Haffkine Institute indicates that patients who have

already tested positive for the Covid-19 virus but with mild symptoms could

prevent worsening of their condition following a fresh round of the BCG

vaccination. However, this needs to be established by clinical trials,

according to health department officials.

ALL AIR, TRAIN SERVICES SUSPENDED TILL MAY 3

Shortly after Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended the nationwide lockdown

for 19 more days, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) Tuesday

announced that all domestic and international flights will remain suspended

till May 3. “All domestic and international scheduled airlines operations

shall remain suspended till11:59pm of 03 May 2020,” the aviation body said

in a tweet.

The Indian Railways also suspended all passenger trains till May 3 after the

prime ministerÂ’s address.

IMF PROJECTS INDIAÂ’S GROWTH RATE AT 1.9% IN 2020, FORECASTS GLOBAL RECESSION

The IMF on Tuesday slashed IndiaÂ’s projected GDP growth to 1.9 per cent in

2020 from 5.8 per cent in January, as the global economy hits the worst

recession since the Great Depression in the 1930s due to the raging

coronavirus pandemic that has nearly stalled all economic activities across

the world.

With this subdued forecast, India is likely to record its worst growth

performance since the 1991 liberalisation. But the IMF, in its latest

edition of the World Economy report, said India and China are the only two

major countries that will register a positive growth rate.

The IMF has projected a growth rate of 1.2 per cent for China in 2020---the

slowest in more than four decades.

“We project global growth in 2020 to fall to -3 per cent. This is a

downgrade of 6.3 percentage points from January 2020, a major revision over

a very short period,” Indian-American Gita Gopinath, the IMF Chief Economist

said.

Most countries, in the advanced economy group, are forecast to contract this

year, including the US (–5.9 per cent), Japan (–5.2 per cent), the United

Kingdom (–6.5 per cent), Germany (–7.0 per cent), France (–7.2 per cent),

Italy (–9.1 per cent), and Spain (–8.0 per cent), the IMF report said.

REALTY DEVELOPERS MAY SEE A 20% FALL IN HOUSING PRICES, SAYS DEEPAK PAREKH

Property developers should be prepared for up to a 20 per cent fall in

housing prices and have to create liquidity by selling their inventory at

whatever prices they get, HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh said on Tuesday.

“Next six months are going to be extremely tough. You need liquidity. Get

the cash flows coming by selling properties at whatever prices you get.

Don’t sit on the completed properties,” Parekh said in a video call,

attended by about 5,500 developers and jointly organised by industry bodies

Naredco and Credai.

He said it was an excellent buying opportunity for potential homebuyers with

job security and savings.

Across the top seven cities, developers had an unsold inventory of 455,000

units worth Rs 3.7 trillion at the end of March, according to consultancy

firm JLL.

To his suggestions for state governments, Parekh said they should waive

stamp duty and registration charges during festive months of September and

October.

“States should review ready-reckoner charges frequently and allow deferred

payment charges on various levies," he said.

US ALLOWS H-1B VISA EXTENSION, RELIEF FOR STRANDED INDIANS

In a big relief for thousands of stranded Indian professionals in America

due to the coronavirus pandemic, the US government has decided to accept

their H-1B visa applications for an extended stay in the country.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ

foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or

technical expertise.

The travel restrictions have left a number of H-1B visa holders stranded in

the US with their visa permits soon to expire. However, the DHS will shortly

start accepting applications for the extension of expiring visas. “We

recognise that non-immigrants may unexpectedly remain in the United States

beyond their authorised period of stay due to COVID-19,” the DHS said.

INDICATORS

(Indian Markets were closed yesterday on account of Dr B R Ambedkar

Jayanti.)

Nasdaq 8,516 (+323) Dow 23,950 (+559), S&P 2,846 (+84)

US$-Rs. 75.58 GBP-Rs. 95.08, Euro-Rs. 82.79, UAE Dhm-Rs.20.57, Can$-Rs.

54.39, Aus$- Rs. 48.48

GBP 0.79 /US$, Euro 0.91 /US$, Jap.Yen 107.39 /US$, Aus$ 1.55 /US$, Sing

1.41 /US$, Bang Taka 83.12 /US$, Can$ 1.38 /US$, Mal Ring 4.32 /US$,

Pak Re 166.14 /US$, Phil Peso 50.57 /US$, Russian Rouble 73.19 /US$, NZ$

1.63 /US$, Thai Baht 32.65 /US$, Ukraine Hryvnia 26.89 /US$, Norway NOK

10.27 /US$

Bitcoin - USD 6,887

Dollar Index 98.90 Brent Crude 29.99 BDI 635

Gold world Spot Price USD/aoz 1,722 India (Rs. per gm 24k/22k) 4,445.50 /

4,345.50, Silver (Rs. Per KG) 41,310

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow. - Audrey Hepburn

OFF TRACK

When Peters learned that he was being fired, he went to see the head of

human resources. "Since I've been with the firm for so long," he said, "I

think I deserve at least a letter of recommendation."

The human resources director agreed and said he'd have the letter that next

day. The following morning, Peters found the letter on his desk. It read,

"Jonathan Peters worked for our company for eleven years. When he left us,

we were very satisfied."