NEW DELHI 14 JUNE 2020 SUNDAY `9 PAGES 24  facebook/TheMorningStandard  twitter.com/TheMornStandard  instagram.com/themorningstandard ASK PRABHU Post your questions on website www.newindianexpress.com, and Prabhu Chawla, Editorial Director, The New Indian Express, will answer them. www.thesundaystandard.com/www.morningstandard.in PLUS: 12 PAGES Small is the New Big The Essence of Good Taste MAGAZINE Art Casts the Net EXCLUSIVE VOICES Prabhu Chawla TJS George Shankkar Aiyar S Vaidhyasubramaniam Pushpesh Pant Ravi Shankar Rajat Chaudhuri Anuja Chandramouli Global Luxe with a Local Twist Reality and All Things Surreal SADHGURU SPEAKS Meeting of Movie Masters The Problem of Population Nepal House passes new political map, includes Indian territories P U S H K A R B A N A K A R @ New Delhi THE Nepal Parliament, in a special session on Saturday, voted in favour of a constitutional amendment Bill to include territories of Lipulekh, Limpiyadhura and Kalapani in Uttarakhand in its new political map and emblem. The Bill, introduced by Nepal Prime KP Shar ma Oli on Wednesday in the House of Representatives, or the Lower House of Nepal’s Parliament, LAC FACEOFF India, China disengaging in phases, says Army chief V I N E E T U PA D H YAY & M AYA N K S I N G H @ Dehradun/New Delhi IN the first public statement after Indian and Chinese troops clashed in eastern Ladakh last month following which the Chinese army has occupied areas near the Pangong lake, Army Chief General M M Naravane said on Saturday that the situation was under control and both the sides were “disengaging” in a phased manner. “Both sides are disengaging in a phased manner. We have started from the north, the area of the Galwan River. A lot of disengagement has happened. We have had a fruitful dialogue with the Chinese, it will continue and by and by the situation will improve,” Gen Naravane said after reviewing the passing out parade at the Indian Military Academy . “It started with corps commander level talks on the sixth of this month which has been followed up by a number of meetings at the local level between commanders of equivalent ranks and as a result of this lot disengagement has taken place,” the Army chief said. He expressed the hope that all differences would get resolved. “We are hopeful that through this continued dialogue, all perceived differences that we have will be set to rest.”His comments underline the fact that a complete resolution of the Ladakh situation will be long drawn and that only some progress has been made so far. While there have been reports of minor disengagement of troops from the Galwan Valley and Hot Spring areas, there has been no change in the standoff at Finger4 of the Pangong lake. Indian and Chinese soldiers are in a standoff position since May 5-6 night when the soldiers clashed between Finger 4 and Finger 5 on the northern flank of the lake. was cleared with a two-thirds majority after all 258 votes w e n t i n f avo u r o f t h e amendment. The overwhelming majority was achieved after the main opposition party the Nepali Con, gress, decided to back the amendment. The strength of the House of Representatives is 275. India described the development as untenable and “violative of our current understanding to hold talks on outstanding boundary issues.” The Ministry of External Affairs said: “We have noted that the House of Representatives of Nepal has passed a constitution amendment bill for changing the map of Nepal to include parts of Indian territory. We have already made our position clear on this matter. This artificial enlargement of claims is not based on historical fact or evidence and is not tenable. It is also violative of our current understanding to hold talks on outstanding boundary issues.” The Bill will now be sent to the National Assembly or the Upper House, which will be given another 72 hours to debate and clear. Once cleared, it would be sent to the Nepali President for ratification and subsequently included in the Constitution. “The House of Representatives unanimously adopted the Constitution Amendment Bill, paving the way for accommodating the updated political- administrative map in the national emblem,” Nepali Foreign Ministry Pradeep Gyawali tweeted with a picture of the new emblem showing the territories in the Himalayan nation’s new map. The Bill’s introduction had evoked strong reactions from India. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava had described the move unilateral and not based on historical facts. “Such artificial enlargement of territorial NO SMELL OR TASTE? YOU COULD HAVE COVID Centre revises criteria for disease’s symptoms, includes muscle pain and diarrhoea S U M I S U K A N YA D U T TA @ New Delhi LOSS of smell and taste, diarrhea and muscle pain are among the Covid-19 symptoms people should watch out for even as the Centre on Saturday recommended against the use of anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine for severely sick patients. Releasing the revised clinical management protocol for Covid 19 patients in India, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said loss of smell (anosmia) or loss of taste (ageusia) preceding the onset of respiratory symptoms could be one of the signs of the disease. An Indian Council of Medical Research official said the clinical criteria for identifying the disease had been expanded after many Covid-19 patients reported atypical symptoms. “These symptoms could soon reflect in our testing protocol, which will be further amended,” he said of the revised clinical management protocol. Other than the most common signs such as fever, cough and breathing trouble, muscle pain, mucous formation in throat, clogged nasal cavity, sore throat, diarrhoea and loss of taste and smell have been included among the symptoms. People over 60 and those with non-communicable diseases SYMPTOMS AND YOU Others 24% Running nose: 3% Weakness 7% HCQ no wonder drug The new guidelines admitted that HCQ may not be helping in reducing mortality in very sick patients. Earlier, this drug was specifically recommended for Covid 19 patients in ICU. such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiac disease, chronic lung disease, cerebro-vascular disease, chronic kidney disease, immune-suppression and cancer are among the high risk category the Ministry said. , The fresh advisory has also dropped antibiotioc azithromycine to be prescribed along with HCQ for serious Covid-19 patients. The new guidelines admitted that HCQ may not be helping in reducing mortality in very sick patients. Earlier, this drug was specifically recommended for Covid-19 patients in ICU. Fever 27% Breathlessness 8% Cough 21% Sore throat 10% “This drug has demonstrated in vitro activity against SARSCoV-2 and was shown to be clinically beneficial in several small single center studies though with significant limitations,” the new advisory said. An ICMR official who helped frame the guidelines said the recommendation for azithromycine along with HCQ was dropped as there was increasing evidence that the combination raised cardiac toxicity . Importantly, the guidelines also allow the off-label usage of the Ebola drug remdesivir, immune-suppressive drug tocili- Makeshift hospitals in vacant flats, temporary crematoriums in top Delhi panel’s agenda PA R V E Z S U LTA N @ New Delhi CONVERTING vacant government flats into makeshift Covid hospitals and setting up temporary crematoriums and makeshift mortuaries in hospital campuses are among the measures that will discussed at a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority headed by Lt Governor Anil Baijal on Tuesday . Officials privy to the agenda THE CURRENT DISEASE DATA OF THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE SHOWS NONSPECIFIC AND VARIED SYMPTOMS IN PEOPLE said the DDMA wants to develop large temporary hospitals with contactless treatment system on the lines of the NSCI dome at Worli in Mumbai. The authority will also deliberate on extending powers to resident welfare associations and providing them medical equipment such as oxymeters, oxygen cylinders and concentrators if community centres are transformed into treatment facilities. The RWAs will also be provided beds and primary healthcare training. The meeting will be attended by CM Arvind Kejriwal, Health Minister Satyendar Jain, chief secretary police commissioner , and a joint secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs. A panel had suggested setting up temporary health facilities at Pragati Maidan and indoor stadia. zumab and convalescent plasma for moderately sick patients on compassionate grounds. Remdesivir is likely to be available in India in a couple of weeks. The advisory said the drug can be used for patients with moderate disease but said the intravenous medicine cannot be given to those with severe kidney disease, pregnant or breastfeeding women and children under 12. Another drug mentioned in the advisory is tocilizumab, which is already being given to patients. It has been formalised under the new protocol. GIVING WINGS TO YOUNG BRIGHT MINDS In Dhanbad, a BCCL manager runs three schools for providing education to poor children PAGE 5 UNINTENDED RESULTS Tougher anti-rape law led to lower conviction, says study K A N U S A R D A @ New Delhi THE rape law that was amended in 2013 to make it more stringent has resulted in lower conviction in sexual harassment cases, a study has found. According to the study published by the Indian Law Review Journal, researchers examined 1,635 rape judgments from trial courts of Delhi pronounced between 2013 and 2018. Of these, 726 cases were adjudicated under the old law, of which 16.11% resulted in conviction. Under the amended law 909 cases were adjudicated but only 5.72% of them resulted in conviction. The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act was passed in March 2013 following a nation-wide outrage over the Nirbhaya gangrape. Preeti P Dash, who conduct. ed the study during her LLM at Harvard Law School, said: “In the years following the gangrape in December 2012, we see increasingly punitive activity in the legal space, where the state has repeatedly sought to increase the quantum of punishment for sexual violence.” Dash said “the public also tends to believe that such measures will help prevent crimes against women. However, research indicates that this is not the case. In fact, such punitive moves have unintended harmful consequences, such as a reduced rate of conviction.” The study said removing judicial discretion for punishment for rape combined in a grim fashion with the patriarchal nature of courts and legal structures result in a reduced rate of conviction in cases of rape. Many judges, it said, felt the cases not “serious rapes.” “In a system where the reporting of peno-vaginal penetrative rapes is low and where the police often refuse to register rape cases, it is unlikely that cases of non-peno vaginal rapes would be treated with the same urgency and importance as peno-vaginal rape,” the study said. claims will not be accepted by India. Nepal is well aware of India’s consistent position on this matter and we urge the Government of Nepal to refrain from such unjustified cartographic assertion and respect India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he had said last month. The border issue grabbed attention after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on May 8 inaugurated a road in Lipulekh. While Nepal claims it as its TEST RATES CUT BY 50% IN MAHARASHTRA own territory under the Treaty of Sugauli, India maintains that the territories are a part of Uttarakhand. A new map was then released a day later, which was endorsed by the Nepal Cabinet. The formal clearance of the new map is likely to close any chances of Indo-Nepal talks on the border issue. The Nepali Congress had, while backing the amendment, insisted on foreign secretary level talks with India to resolve the issue. The cost of home testing has been brought down from `5,200 to `4,500 while testing at the lab will now cost `2,200 instead of `4,500, says minister | P8 STUDY FINDINGS 6.2% of GDP required to fight corona: ICMR S U M I S U K A N YA D U T TA terms of reduction in infected population and Covid-19 deaths in India until a vacA whopping 6.2% of the cine becomes available, the country’s GDP or about 12.5 experts have said. , lakh crore, is required to A main highlight of the fight the Covid-19 pandemic report is that without the in India with intensified lockdown and public health public measures, a report by measures, the peak would the Indian Council of Medi- have come in mid-July but cal Research has said. has now shifted to NovemConsidering that the un- ber and the total number of ion health budget is 1.3 per infections at the peak would cent of the GDP and the be much lower. “The first Centre has pledged two weeks of the `150 billion tol o ck d ow n we re wards the public most effective in health crisis so far, containing the this means that the The first two weeks spread of the discost of Covid-19 ease and as per our of the lockdown were most care could be nearanalysis, the peak effective in ly five times the ancould be expected containing the nual allocation on in October-Novemspread of the health and 75 times ber,” Dr Narendra disease and as per the fund dedicated Arora, chair of the our analysis, the towards the disoperations repeak could be ease management search group of expected in yet. October-November the national Covid The report, A 19 task force said. Dr Narendra Arora, Model-Based Anal“While some Senior health expert ysis for Covid-19 modelers and sciPandemic in India: entists sitting in Implications for Health Sys- the US and UK were predicttems and Policy for Low- and ing doom for India in MayMiddle-Income Countries, June, we have done much also noted “in the event of a better and the main cornerlockdown for eight weeks, stone of our Covid-19 stratthe peak of the epidemic egy would be effective clusshifts by 34-76 days, and the ter management,” he said, number of cases at the end pointing out that India was of the eight-week lockdown much better prepared to reduces by 69% to 97% with deal with infections now varying effectiveness of loc- than it was in March. down. “However, the cumuAccording to the report, lative long-term cases re- the health system cost of main the same,” it said. managing Covid-19 in The study was prethe scenarios of nopared by experts mitigation or a attached with the eight-week lockICMR, PGIMERdown is estimatChandigarh, the ed to be `11,313 London School billion. “This is of Hygiene and nearly 4.5% of Tropical Medithe GDP. These cine and a member estimated costs inof the National Task creased by 2.25 times Force on Covid-19. with an intervention of The report submitted to eight-week lockdown and the government also under- public health measures with lines that intensification of 60% effectiveness.” public health surveillance The estimated requiremeasures with 60% effec- ment of isolation beds, ICU tiveness is estimated to re- beds and ventilators at the duce the cases at peak and peak of the epidemic in the cumulative number of infec- unmitigated scenario is tions by 70% and 26.6%. 18,05,394 and 69 per 1 million Strengthening the health population. In the event of system response in terms of public health measures enhanced testing, isolation being strengthened with of cases, treatment and con- 60% effectiveness after the tact tracing, as is being done lockdown, the requirement currently, would have to be of ICU beds as well as ventithe mainstay to reduce the lators each will be reduced impact of the pandemic in by 83%. @ New Delhi