GUIDELINES ISSUED FOR GRADED LIFTING OF CURBS FROM APRIL 20

The centre on Wednesday issued guidelines effective April 20 lifting

restrictions on a range of activities in the rural and agriculture sector,

manufacturing in SEZs and industrial zones, and e-commerce operations.

Strict restrictions will, however, continue in COVID-19 containment zones

notified by respective states.

A close reading of the guidelines indicates the government's keenness to

support the rural poor and urban migrant workers who have suffered the most

due to stringent lockdown curbs.

Clearly, almost all activities in rural areas have been approved - MNREGA

works, MSMEs, food processing, construction of roads, buildings, irrigation

and industrial projects, work in factories outside the limits of

municipalities and municipal corporations, brick kilns, highway dhabas, tea,

coffee and rubber plantations, gaushalas, and Common Service Centres. Even

within the limits of municipalities, construction projects where workers are

available on site, have been permitted.

Given that the trajectory of the pandemic is different for each state, they

have been given more control of Covid containment measures to be followed.

States will have the liberty to notify Covid containment zones depending

upon their assessment of the scale of the outbreak in an area or region.

This would be judged on the basis of number of cases in an area or growth

rate of the infection.

In allowing these new activities, the MHA has asked certain social

distancing and hygiene norms to be followed. These include no more than 50

per cent workers or employees to be allowed in factories or manufacturing

units, all equipment entering the premises to be sanitised, premises to be

disinfected regularly, no overlapping of shifts and staggered lunch breaks.

It has also asked all factories to provide medical insurance to all workers.

"Manufacture of IT hardware and of essential goods and packagings are also

allowed. Coal, mineral and oil production are permitted activities. It is

expected that the industrial and manufacturing sectors will see a revival

with these measures, and will create job opportunities while maintaining

safety protocols and social distancing.

Services provided by self-employed people, including electrician, IT

repairs, plumbers, motor mechanics and carpenters will also remain

operational.

The activities prohibited across the country include travel by air, rail and

road; operation of educational and training institutions; industrial and

commercial activities; hospitality services; all cinema halls, shopping

complexes, theatres, etc., all social, political and other events, and

opening of all religious places/ places of worship for members of public,

including religious congregations.

NO NATIONAL PLAN FOR COVID-19 IN PLACE, SC NEEDS TO STEP IN: KAPIL SIBAL

Arguing that it is not known whether the government has prepared or

activated a national plan to deal with the coronavirus outbreak as mandated

by the Disaster Management Act of 2005, Congress leader and former Law

Minister Kapil Sibal on Wednesday said it is time for Supreme Court to step

in and ask the government to disclose what it has done under the Act.

In the absence of a plan, he said there is confusion and ad hocism.

"The mere announcement of the Prime Minister to say that people must

sacrifice.people will sacrifice provided you provide them with livelihood.

People can't sacrifice in a vacuum. They are stranded, students are stranded

in Kota. People are now coming on to the streets in Surat and in Bandra. we

hear horrendous, heart-rending stories about people going without food and

they're desperate to go back to their families. The address of the Prime

Minister is not going to resolve all those issues. Not words but action on

the ground is what will resolve issues," he said.

He said the preparation of the government could be gauged by the fact that

senior officials were quoted as saying in the second week of March that the

epidemic is not a health emergency. "And then on March 24, without

consultation with the state governments, the PM announced a national

lockdown."

"I don't think they were prepared for it. After all, they did not screen

anybody from flights that were coming from other parts of the world. They

only stopped the flights from China.," Sibal said.

'STOP ADDING RELIGIOUS COLOUR': INDIA SLAMS US BODY

India on Wednesday came down hard on the US Commission on International

Religious Freedom for its criticism of the country based on a "misguided"

report that Covid-19 patients in a hospital in Ahmedabad were segregated on

the basis of their religious identities.

The US Commission expressed concerns over the way India is fighting the

coronavirus pandemic following a media report that a government-run hospital

in Ahmedabad segregated the infected patients on the basis of their

religions.

"As if its peremptory commentary on religious freedom in India is not

enough, the USCIRF is now spreading misguided reports on the professional

medical protocols followed to deal with spread of Covid-19 in India," MEA

Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said. He said no segregation of patients is

being done in the civil hospital on the basis of religion as clarified by

the Gujarat government.

Srivastava said the USCIRF "must stop adding religious colour to our

national goal of fighting the pandemic and distract from larger efforts".

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

(Indian data from covid19india / and World Data from

worldometers.info/coronavirus/ )

Total Cases 12,370 (+883) / 20,83,304 (+85,166)

Total Deaths 422 (+29) / 1,34,616 (+8,009)

Total Recovered 1,508 (+147) / 5,10,341 (+31,600)

Active Cases 10,440 (+707) / 14,38,347 (+45,557)

Serious / Critical Cases (Not Available) / 51,142 (-466)

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

USA 6,44,089 / 28,529

Spain 1,80,659 / 18,812

Italy 1,65,155 / 21,645

France 1,47,863 / 17,167

Germany 1,34,753 / 3,804

UK 98,476 / 12,868

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

Deaths)

Maharashtra 2,916 / 187

Delhi 1,578 / 32

Tamil Nadu 1,242 / 14

Rajasthan 1,076 / 11

Madhya Pradesh 938 / 53

Gujarat 766 / 33

Uttar Pradesh 735 / 11

Telangana 650 / 18

Andhra Pradesh 525 / 14

Kerala 387 / 2

Jammu and Kashmir 300 / 4

Karnataka 279 / 12

West Bengal 213 / 7

Haryana 204 / 3

Punjab 186 / 13

Bihar 72 / 1

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

======================

CHINA DIDN'T WARN PUBLIC OF LIKELY PANDEMIC FOR 6 KEY DAYS

In the six days after top Chinese officials secretly determined they likely

were facing a pandemic from a new coronavirus, the city of Wuhan at the

epicenter of the disease hosted a mass banquet for tens of thousands of

people; millions began traveling through for Lunar New Year celebrations.

That delay from January 14 to January 20 was neither the first mistake made

by Chinese officials at all levels in confronting the outbreak, nor the

longest lag, as governments around the world have dragged their feet for

weeks and even months in addressing the virus.

President Xi Jinping warned the public on the seventh day, Jan. 20. But by

that time, more than 3,000 people had been infected during almost a week of

public silence, according to internal documents obtained by The Associated

Press and expert estimates based on retrospective infection data.

"This is tremendous," said Zuo-Feng Zhang, an epidemiologist at the

University of California, Los Angeles. "If they took action six days

earlier, there would have been much fewer patients and medical facilities

would have been sufficient. We might have avoided the collapse of Wuhan's

medical system."

Other experts noted that the Chinese government may have waited on warning

the public to stave off hysteria, and that it did act quickly in private

during that time.

ONLY A COVID-19 VACCINE WILL ALLOW RETURN TO 'NORMALCY', SAYS UN CHIEF

A Covid-19 vaccine may be the only thing that can bring back "normalcy," UN

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Wednesday, hoping for just that

before the end of the year.

"A safe and effective vaccine may be the only tool that can return the world

to a sense of 'normalcy,' saving millions of lives and countless trillions

of dollars," he added during a video conference with the 50 or so African

countries that are members of the United Nations.

He called for its accelerated development and accessibility to all, adding

it must have a "universal global benefit" and "allow us to control the

pandemic."

"We need an ambitious effort to ensure that international stakeholders

operate through a harmonized, integrated and leveraged approach to maximize

the speed and scale needed for the universal deployment of such a vaccine by

the end of 2020," he insisted.

THE REST

========

170 DISTRICTS ARE HOTSPOTS, ANOTHER 207 POTENTIAL AS CASES NEAR 12,000 MARK

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Wednesday listed 170 districts

across the country as COVID-19 hotspots or 'red zone' areas - 123 districts

with "large outbreaks", 47 with "clusters".

The state governments have been asked to implement containment measures in

these areas.

Another 207 districts have also reported COVID-19 cases, but are not

hotspots yet. Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said the district

authorities have been told to implement cluster containment plans in these

areas as they could develop as potential hotspots.

Asked about the categorisation as hotspots, Agarwal said these are districts

where either the number of cases or the rate of growth is high.

While 28,941 samples were tested in the last 24 hours, a total of 2,74,599

samples have been tested so far.

GOVERNMENT OFFICES TO REOPEN WITH SENIOR STAFF FROM APRIL 20

All central ministries and departments and their subordinate offices will

start functioning from April 20 with 100 per cent attendance of officials in

the rank of Deputy Secretary and above, while 33 per cent of the rest of the

staff are to be present in the offices, as per new norms of relaxation of

Covid-19 lockdown rules issued by the government Wednesday.

In states, departments like police, home guard, fire department, prisons,

municipal bodies, civil defence, will also function with 100 per cent

attendance without any restrictions.

The notification, however, clarifies that delivery of public services are to

be ensured and whatever staff is needed for that should be deployed.

SLOW TESTING PIPELINE AS BIG A WORRY AS KIT DELAY

India carried out close to 27,000 Covid-19 tests on Wednesday and added 22

new labs in the last two days, ramping up efforts to speed up a process that

is crucial to determine the extent of the outbreak but has suffered from

long delays due to several bottlenecks.

Almost as much as kits, capacity and protocols -- which have been areas of

debate and concern for India right through the last month when Covid-19

cases began to rise -- speed of testing is a critical area where India may

be falling behind, with a large backlog of tests awaiting results at the end

of every working day.

India's testing relies at the moment on the RT-PCR process, which is the

most definitive diagnostic test for the virus that causes Covid-19. This

involves swabbing a person for samples, which is then processed at a lab to

if it matches the molecular signatures established with the virus.

The process is meant to take 7-8 hours. But collecting the sample and

collation of results - including accounting for all negative results as well

- leads to about 24-36 hours from when a person's samples are collected to

the result reflecting in the official tally. In some cases, as the number of

tests grow and testing centres get backed up, it can take up to 2-3 days for

a result to get reported in certain states.

Quick testing is key to India's containment strategy, according to experts,

and will eventually determine when and what parts of the country are

exempted from a lockdown that has halted economic activity and stranded

hundreds of thousands of migrant workers.

17 HELD IN UP'S MORADABAD FOR ATTACK ON QUARANTINE TEAM

Seventeen people were arrested in Uttar Pradesh's Moradabad city on

Wednesday after health workers and policemen were attacked in Nawabpura

locality while trying to quarantine the family members of a patient who died

of COVID-19.

Seven people - a doctor, three medical workers and three policemen - were

injured in the attack labelled an "inhuman crime" by Chief Minister Yogi

Adityanath.

UP CM Yogi Adityanath said the attackers would be booked under the National

Security Act (NSA). "The attack on the members of the health, police and

sanitation department in Moradabad is an inhuman crime which is condemnable.

Action under NSA will be taken against them," he said, adding that the

police had been directed to identify the attackers, and that the "cost of

property damage will also be recovered from the accused".

'MIGRANT WORKERS' STIR PART OF CONSPIRACY TO DISLODGE UDDHAV GOVT,' SAYS

MAHARASHTRA MINISTER

The Maha Vikas Aghadi ruling coalition in Maharashtra has alleged a

political conspiracy behind the protest by migrant workers outside Mumbai's

Bandra railway station on Tuesday.

"We are investigating as to who was behind the protests. There is also a

social media campaign holding the blame it on the government and a call for

the imposition of President's Rule in the state," Public Works Department

Minister Ashok Chavan said in a video conference with journalists.

He added that the migrant workers were misled into holding the protests.

Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat, who also addressed the video conference,

said the railways added to the confusion by allowing people to book tickets

even during the lockdown.

The Maharashtra Government also filed a FIR against Rahul Kulkarni, Marathi

news channel ABP Majha's correspondent in Osmanabad for flashing the news

about train services being started in major stations of the country.

However, the reporter took to social media stating that his story was based

on the documents prepared by the railways.

ACTIVISTS CONDEMN "DISCRIMINATION AGAINST MUSLIM VENDORS"

The National Hawkers Federation, the National Coalition for Inclusive and

Sustainable Urbanisation and a group of activists, academics and lawyers on

Wednesday in a statement condemned the reported "discrimination against

Muslim vendors" during the lockdown.

"We are alarmed and disheartened to learn that hawkers continue to be

intimidated and physically attacked in various parts of the country...These

incidents seem to have been spurred by a maelstrom of disinformation and

propaganda campaigns being run by motivated agents and spread amongst people

through social media... The rumours and hoaxes particularly seem to be

targeting those belonging to the Muslim community," the statement read.

It said Muslim vendors were being discriminated against and being stopped

from selling fruits and vegetables in some non-Muslim localities.

"Such behaviour by citizens should be punishable by law as set forth in

Section 153(A) and Section 295(A) of the Indian Penal Code. To prevent this

there should be a dedicated police helpline number for Muslim vendors or

essential service providers so that they can launch complaints of

discrimination and prohibition," it said.

3,500 SIGN FOR DROPPING CHARGES AGAINST SCRIBE

Demanding the Uttar Pradesh Government to drop criminal charges against 'The

Wire' and its founding editor Siddharth Varadarajan, a statement by eminent

Indians yesterday urged the Central and state governments not to use the

pandemic as a cover to trample upon the freedom of media.

A statement signed by over 3,500 jurists, academics, actors, artists,

writers and people from all walks of life stated that a medical emergency

should not serve as a pretext for the imposition of a de facto political

emergency.

The Yogi government had filed two FIRs on April 1. The police had accused

The Wire of spreading panic with a report claiming that the Chief Minister

Yogi Adityanath attended a religious event on March 25 in Ayodhya on the

occasion of Ram Navmi, when a national lockdown was in force.

The Wire has held that his presence was a matter of public record and

knowledge. A sentence in an article in the portal had wrongly attributed a

statement made by Acharya Paramhans to the Chief Minister, which was

retracted and a corrigendum issued.

On April 10, a police team descended at Mr. Varadarajan's residence to serve

him a notice for appearance on April 14. "The manner in which the U.P.

government and its police have been pursuing this with a single-minded

agenda smacks of vindictiveness," the group said in a statement.

PICHAI, NADELLA AMONG 6 INDIAN-AMERICANS ON TRUMP'S LIST OF ECONOMIC

ADVISERS

US President Donald Trump has named six Indian-American corporate leaders,

including Sunder Pichai from Google and Satya Nadella from Microsoft, to his

Great American Economic Revival Industry Groups formed to revive the

American economy ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump has roped in over 200 top American leaders from various industries and

sections to create nearly a dozen and half different groups, who will advise

him and offer recommendations on how to revive the American economy, which

has hit an unprecedented ebb in just a few weeks due to the deadly

coronavirus.

In addition to Pichai and Nadella, the president has named IBM's Arvind

Krishna and Micron's Sanjay Mehrotra to the Tech Group. Other members of the

group are Apple's Tim Cook, Oracle's Larry Ellison and Facebook's Mark

Zuckerberg.

Indian-American Ann Mukherjee from Pernod Ricard has been named to the

manufacturing Group, which among others include Caterpillar's Jim Umpleby

III; Tesla's Elon Musk, Fiat Chrysler's Mike Manley, Ford's Bill Ford and

General's Mary Barra.

Ajay Banga from Mastercard has been named to the Financial Services Group

along with, among others, Al Kelly from Visa, Blackstone's Stephen

Schwarzman; Fidelity Investment's Abigail Johnson and Intuit's Sasan

Goodarzi.

INDICATORS

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Dollar Index 99.91 Brent Crude 28.63 BDI 679

Gold world Spot Price USD/aoz 1,715 India (Rs. per gm 24k/22k) 4,457 /

4,357, Silver (Rs. Per KG) 41,920

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

We speak of educating our children. Do we know that our children also

educate us? - Lydia Sigourney

OFF TRACK

Can you explain to me how this lipstick got on your collar?" the suspicious

wife sneered.

"No, I can't," the husband replied. "I distinctly remember taking my shirt

off."