No relaxation in Assam for the aged

04/05/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,GUWAHATI

The Assam government has announced the relaxation of COVID-19 lockdown for a slew of activities from Monday but people above 65 years and children below 12 years have been barred from venturing out of their homes except for medical reasons.

The relaxation is applicable in all districts marked green zones. Assam has no red zone and only four of the 33 districts are marked orange.

“All offices and businesses allowed to function will operate during the day hours with sufficient time for employees and proprietors to return home before a total curfew starts from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. until further notice,” Finance and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Sunday.

Shops and offices will have to be closed by 5 p.m.

All public and private sector offices will, however, be allowed to operate with 50% employees, while women employees who have children below 5 years have been allowed to stay home. Construction activities have been permitted with 50% workers.

20 central teams to monitor hotspots

04/05/2020

Data from State Health Departments put the nationwide death toll at 1,389. The number of positive cases overall stood at 42,037, with 29, 965 active ones. Mumbai reported 441 new cases and 21 deaths, taking the total number of cases to 8,613 and fatalities to 343, an BMC official said.’

Fewer tests

India is one of 11 countries that have tested over one million samples, with the latest Health Ministry update reporting 74,000 tests a day. However, at just 758 tests per million of population, India ranks among countries that have tested the lowest fraction of their population.

In an interview to the Press Trust of India, NITI Aayog Member, V.K. Paul said extending India’s lockdown was part of a plan to curb infection transmission.

“...Real goal of lockdown was to suppress the chain of transmission of the virus. So, we will lose that if we abruptly end it,” Mr. Paul said.

On April 25, Mr. Paul, who also heads a key government empowered committee on medical management, presented a study to suggest that the lockdown had slowed the rate of transmission and increased the doubling time to about 10 days. He also presented an analysis showing that new cases would cease by May 16, though — as The Hindu had reported — this was a guesstimate and questioned by experts.

Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Sunday that the rate of growth in new cases in India was steadying. “As per data today, for the past three days, the doubling rate is 12; for seven days 11.7 and for 14 days its 10.4. We need to adhere to strict physical distancing and hand hygiene to take lockdown 3.0 to a logical end,” a release quoted the Minister as saying.

Scramble for funds as Centre tightens purse strings

By neither releasing GST dues nor raising the borrowing limit, the Union government has squeezed Kerala’s options

04/05/2020, N.J. NAIR,THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

The health and economic crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic has compounded the fiscal woes of the Kerala government, which is battling a grave resource crunch and a hostile political dispensation at the Centre.

An alarming dip in the State’s own tax revenue, coupled with a delay and cut in Central transfers, have pushed the State to the edge of a financial precipice.

A comparison of receipts in April 2019 and April 2020 reveals the intensity of the crisis. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection was ₹1,950.71 crore in April 2019. It dipped to ₹153.26 crore in April 2020. Land revenue has come down from ₹19.65 crore to ₹2.7 crore, State excise duty from ₹193.08 crore to ₹22.83 crore and motor vehicle tax from ₹298.42 crore to a mere ₹3.52 crore.

The Centre has not yet heeded the State’s demand for the release of GST compensation arrears of ₹5,000 crore. The demand for raising the annual borrowing limit from 3% to 5% also remains a cry in the wilderness. The same applies to the demand for enhancing the allocation for the National Health Mission to tackle the COVID-19 crisis.

The State has pointed out that supply chain breaks due to the lockdown would result in a shortage of medicines and other essentials that reach Kerala from the neighbouring States.

The government has only ₹2,000 crore in its coffers at present. Other than debt servicing and similar commitments, the recurring expenditure for disbursing salary and servicing pensions amounts to ₹3,850 crore. A tranche of ₹1,276 crore provided by the Centre as revenue deficit grant was perhaps the only major revenue inflow into the treasury this month.

The government’s decision to effect a six-day cut in the salary of employees and teachers for five months to cushion the impact of the pandemic’s impact ended in a legal tangle, with the High Court staying the decision for two months. The State government was forced to promulgate an ordinance to get legal sanction for the decision. However, the deduction would earn the exchequer only ₹500 crore a month and ₹2,500 crore in six months. Moreover, the government will have to return the amount once the crisis blows over.

Healthcare costs

Despite its exemplary efforts so far to contain the CODIV-19 pandemic with minimum loss of life, the threat is far from over. The government will have to bolster quarantine and testing facilities once the lakhs of Non-Resident Keralites and those residing in other States return after lockdown curbs are eased.

The Kerala State Electricity Board, the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation, the micro, small and medium enterprises, traditional industries and a host of other sectors are desperate for financial assistance to limp back to normalcy.

Turning to the market

The only option left before the government is open market borrowing. Out of the sanctioned limit of ₹24,500 crore for the current financial year, the State has already availed itself of ₹6,000 crore and is now gearing to up to borrow ₹1,000 crore to meet the committed expenditure for the month.

The Reserve Bank of India has, however, cautioned the State against drawing huge sums from the market at exorbitant rates. Which also means that the government would have to tread cautiously while approaching the market.

The State is now looking forward for a substantial assistance from the Centre and also a relaxation in borrowing curbs as a way forward.

It was in this context that Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac took the lead in initiating consultations with Finance Ministers of non-BJP ruled States to form a pressure group to force the Centre accept the demand for more funds.

Dr. Isaac is hopeful of bringing in Telangana and other Congress-ruled States to the fold and pressing the Centre to accept demands.

Whether the Centre will yield to such demands remains to be seen. Or else, the administrative machinery may grind to a halt for want of financial fuel.

Pinarayi defends staff salary deferment

04/05/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

Pinarayi Vijayan

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday attacked Congress-led service organisations for criticising the government’s decision to defer the remittance of 30 days’ salary over five months to steady the State’s finances.

In his weekly television programme, Nam Munnottu, Mr. Vijayan said teachers who had burnt the government order had become objects of public ridicule. The students of their schools had set an example for them by contributing their mite to the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF).

On the teachers who torched the order, he said, “Their perverse mindset will never change.”

He said the COVID-19 lockdown had choked the government’s conventional revenue streams. Kerala had protected its employees from arbitrary wage and dearness allowance cuts resorted to by the Central government. The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party had done the same in the States ruled by them.

Mr. Vijayan defended his action to hire highly paid lawyers to argue for the government and said his special advisers bore minimal cost to the public exchequer.

He also justified the government’s decision to hire a helicopter for a “high monthly rental” by stating that the State would deploy it during natural disasters.

Kerala Congress chief Mullappally Ramachandran said the Chief Minister’s sense of insecurity had caused him to splurge on helicopters, bulletproof vehicles and expensive escort cars.

New cases leave Telangana, Karnataka and A.P. in the red

Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh adds 30 cases; relief in Kerala as it stays clear

04/05/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,HYDERABAD

Andhra Pradesh reported 58 new COVID-19 positive cases, and Telangana 21 new cases on Sunday. No fresh cases were recorded in Kerala but after several days of low case numbers, Karnataka had 34 cases.

The tally in Andhra Pradesh rose to 1,583, but no deaths were reported. Most of the new cases reported on Sunday were from the red zone districts of Kurnool, Guntur and Krishna. Kurnool alone had 30 fresh cases while Guntur and Krishna reported 11 and eight cases respectively. Anantapur had seven and Chittoor and Nellore two fresh cases each.

Also on the same day, 47 persons were discharged from hospital following recovery. The data on those discharged were: Guntur 18; Chittoor 13; Kurnool 11; East Godavari 3; and Krishna 2. So far, 488 patients, or 31% of total positive cases recovered and 33 patients (2% of the total cases) died.

Cumulative data for the State were: Kurnool 466 cases, Guntur and Krishna 319 and 266 cases, Nellore (91), Kadapa (83), Chittoor (81), Anantapur (78), Prakasam (61), West Godavari (59), East Godavari (45), Visakhapatnam (29) and Srikakulam (5).

Kurnool, inching closer to the 500 mark reported nearly 30% of the State’s positive cases. The State had so far tested 1,14,937 samples.

The number of COVID-19 cases in Telangana rose to 1,082. While 20 cases were from Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation area, one was from Jagtial. Of the people in isolation wards, 46 were discharged after recovery. Of the total, 508 were active cases, 545 were discharged, and 29 people died.

For the first time the number of people discharged was higher than active cases. State Health Minister Eatala Rajender said hospital authorities were acting on issues related to medical services pointed out by those who recovered.

One COVID-19 patient who recovered was a 68-year-old man with diabetes. The patient was admitted with bilateral pneumonia, and respiratory problems. The Health Minister’s office said the patient in intensive care unit was administered Hydroxychloroquine, Liponavir, Ritonavir. He was discharged after recovery. The number of districts with zero cases in 14 days increased to 17.

95 under treatment

No fresh COVID-19 cases were reported in Kerala on Sunday. The Health department said in a statement that one patient - a Kasaragod native, undergoing treatment in Kannur, was reported as having recovered from the disease.

Kerala had a total of 499 cases, of which 401 had recovered, while 95 were undergoing treatment in various hospitals.

The government said 21,720 persons were under surveillance in different districts. Of these, 21,332 were under observation in their own homes, while 388 were admitted in isolation wards in hospitals. The number of fresh hospital admissions on Sunday was 63.

Four new places in the State were declared as hotspots today - one each in Wayanad and Idukki district, and two in Ernakulam district. There were 84 hotspots in Kerala.

After several days of reporting low case numbers, Karnataka recorded 34 COVID-19 positive cases on Sunday. Davangere district was in focus, as 21 of the cases were from there. Davangere Deputy Commissioner Mahantesh Beelagi told the media that the district administration had sent 330 throat swabs in the last three days. Of these 37 high risk (A category) samples were tested and 21 were found to be positive. With this, the number of active cases had gone up to 28 in the district, he said.

Among the other cases, six were from Kalaburagi, four from Bengaluru Urban and three from Bagalkote, the media bulletin by the Department of Health and Family Welfare said. Out of these thirteen cases, four patients had Influenza-Like Illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infections (SARI), while the contact investigation for one case was on. All the remaining eight tested positive after coming in contact with a patient who was tested positive.

Meanwhile, the case tally in Karnataka stood at 635. A total of 293 patients were discharged, 21 being discharged on Sunday.

(With inputs from Vijayawada, Thiruvananthapuram and Bengaluru)

MHA asks States to create a second line of defence

Order comes amid reports of policemen getting infected

04/05/2020, S. VIJAY KUMAR,CHENNAI

Amid reports of policemen getting infected with the novel coronavirus, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has asked the States and the Union Territories to prepare a second line of defence to sustain the control strategy.

In a note to all Chief Secretaries and Director-Generals of Police, the MHA said police forces need to prepare an effective second line of defence to make up for the personnel rendered ineffective by infection.

While a majority of policemen are deployed for COVID-19-related work and other policing duties, the Head of Police Forces (HoPFs) may consider the option of ‘work from home’ for personnel not deployed on front-line duties whereever it is feasible, the communication said.

Home Guards, Civil Defence personnel, NCC cadets, Scouts & Guides and Student Police Cadets could be utilised in areas where there were no imminent law and order problem, the MHA said. “They can especially be of help in maintaining order at the relief centres and in facilitating the maintenance of supply chain and coordinating other essential services.”

The MHA said that while performing COVID-19-related duties, police/security personnel should help the public and deal with them with empathy and compassion, especially the weaker sections. They should monitor religious and social congregations during festivals to ensure physical distancing. The police should also be watchful of migrant labourers and slum areas to contain any unexpected and undesirable mass movement.

The Centre’s instructions come after States reported infection among police and security personnel deployed as frontline workers to implement the lockdown orders and the guidelines to check the spread of the virus.

In Tamil Nadu, the DGP had recently issued instructions that at least 25% of the 1.25 lakh police force could stay at home so as to keep a healthy reserve to meet any exigency.

The MHA said Police Control Rooms might be expanded, resourced and designed to incorporate special cells to handle all issues arising out of the pandemic. The staff manning the cells should be trained in elementary modules of the epidemic and appropriate responses to handle issues and scenarios they are likely to face. Such cells should be equipped with men and material, including drones.

Petrol, diesel prices hiked in Tamil Nadu

A sequel to changes made by the State govt. in tax structure

04/05/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,CHENNAI

The changes have been made in anticipation of a reduction in retail prices to be carried out by the Central authorities.

The prices of petrol and diesel in the State are set to go up by ₹3.25 and ₹2.50 per litre. The hike is a sequel to changes made by the State government in the tax structure for petroleum products that would come into effect from the midnight of Sunday, according to a notification issued by the State government.

The structure of State-level Value Added Tax (VAT) for the petroleum products has been changed from a pure ad valorem tax rate to a combination of quantum and the absolute figure of the tax rates.

In respect of petrol, the structure has been changed from 34% to a sum of 15% and ₹13.02 per litre. Likewise, in the case of diesel, it is the aggregate of 11% and ₹9.62 per litre from 25%.

The changes have been made in anticipation of reduction in retail selling prices to be carried out by the Central authorities in the days to come.

The continuance in the existing rate structure in the event of the reduction would lead to a “steep fall” in the revenue of the State government.

Before the Centre announces the decrease, the State government has tweaked the rate structure so that it can protect its revenue, explained senior officials of the State government, which hopes to get an additional revenue of ₹250 crore a month.

The Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam founder T.T.V. Dhinakaran, in a series of tweets, condemned the decision, which, he said, would hit the poor and the middle class at a time when the prices of essential commodities were on the rise. He has urged the government to roll back the hike.