KOZHIKODE l THURSDAY l SEPTEMBER 03, 2020 l `7.00 l PAGES 12 l CITY EDITION AIIMS, HEALTH MINISTRY RELEASE FAQs FOR DOCTORS AIIMS and Union health ministry on Wednesday released guidelines to help doctors better manage Covid-19 patients UNNECESSARY DRUGS TO BE AVOIDED According to the guidelines, there is no evidence to support the use of antifibrotic agents such as pirfenidone (to prevent lung fibrosis) and methylene blue, an oxidation reduction agent. Doctors have also been asked not to use favipiravir, an antiviral that has been approved by the Drug Controller General of India for use in mild to moderate cases | P7 ■ 8,01,282 ‘USE PLASMA THERAPY WITH CAUTION’ ■ The FAQs said convalescent plasma collected from ABO matched donors can be given to patients at risk of developing severe Covid in early stages of the disease “However, it should also be considered an experimental therapy and should be used with caution,” the document said ACTIVE COVID-19 PATIENTS IN INDIA, ACCORDING TO UNION HEALTH MINISTRY CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOGGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ WARANGAL ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI WHERE INDIA STANDS IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY SLUMP Of the 60 countries that have released GDP growth/ contraction figures for the AprilJune 2020 quarter, India is the third-worst affected China  Vietnam  Taiwan  South Korea  Norway  Indonesia  Australia  Israel  Sweden  US  Japan  Germany  Canada  Singapore  Austria  Colombia  Philippines  Malaysia  Italy  France  Mexico  UK  Spain  India  Peru  Macau  +3.2 +0.3 -0.6 -3 -5.3 -5.4 -6.3 -7.8 -8.3 -9.1 -9.9 -11.3 -13.0 -13.2 -13.3 -15.7 -16.5 -17.1 -17.7 -18.9 -19.0 -21.7 -22.1 -23.9 -30.2 -67.8 Figures are year-on-year growth of GDP in % Source: Eurostat, Bloomberg Army gets better tactical position in Finger 4 area Some readjustments in deployment of troops also carried out on the northern bank of the Pangong lake; talks inconclusive M AYA N K S I N G H @ New Delhi IN a significant initiative, the Indian Army consolidated its tactical positions around Finger 4 on Sunday while they thwarted Chinese attempts to position themselves in new locations on the southern bank of the Pangong Lake. “To consolidate tactical positions, India has picked up ridges which are at heights around the Finger 4 as militarily things would not have been tenable if the situation turned hot,” a senior officer explained. The Indian Army has its administrative camp on the foothills of the Finger. Explaining the significance of the initiative, the officer said, “Heights are important in mountains for movement and reactions. The Chinese till now had an upper hand as they sat on the high ridges. Now we are around them at places where they were not there.” However, the Army sought to deny reports of Indian troops occupying heights at Finger 4, saying what happened on the ground were ‘readjustments’. “As part of the precautionary deployment carried out on 30 August 2020, some readjustments of our positions on north bank of Pangong Tso Lake on our side of LAC had also been carried out,” it said. Chinese troops entered up to Finger 4 and had not agreed to move back to their previous position of Finger 8. The mountain spurs jutting towards the 118 more apps tied to China banned India on Wednesday increased its squeeze by banning 118 more mobile apps, including PUBG, citing data privacy concerns and threat to national security PUBG, WeChat among the barred list  PUBG Mobile  PUBG Mobile Lite  Baidu Exp. Edition  Baidu  APUS Security  Alipay  FaceU  Cut Cut  CamCard  Hi Meitu  WeChat reading  Government WeChat  Tencent Weiyun  APUS Launcher Pro  ShareSave by Xiaomi  Learn Chinese AI  VPN for TikTok  Beauty Camera Plus  Tencent Watchlist lake are termed as the fingers in military parlance. The Army not only thwarted Chinese attempts but also consolidated Indian military deployments on the higher features overlooking the important Spanggur Gap and also on Rechin La. On Monday Army spokesper, son Colonel Aman Anand had said, “Indian troops pre-empted PLA activity on the southern bank of Pangong Tso Lake, undertook measures to strengthen our positions and thwarted Chinese intentions to unilaterally change facts on ground.” India had blocked Chinese attempts to occupy heights and positioned its soldiers at Rechin La, which is about 2.5-3 km from Rezang La along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) on the Indian 224 Total Chineselinked mobile apps banned by India so far 59 Apps were part of the first lot that were banned in June 29. It included TikTok and UC Browser 47 More clones and variants of those banned in June were barred later side. On Tuesday China accused , India of crossing the LAC, which was promptly rebutted. Since then, three Brigade Commander-level flag meetings have taken place but without any consensus on resolving the new tension. In the military movement of Sunday a person, nel of the Special Frontier Force (SFF) lost his life in a mine blast close to the area of operations. The SFF comprises personnel of Tibetan origin. In Washington, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called out China, saying it is engaged in a “clear and intensive intensifying pattern of bullying” its neighbours from Taiwan to the Himalayas. He hoped for a peaceful resolution of the situation on the India-China border. Question hour scrapped in Parl session, Oppn fumes EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi OPPOSITION parties on Wednesday hit out at the Centre for its decision to have do away with the Question Hour in the monsoon session of Parliament starting September 14. Reacting sharply to the news, several Opposition MPs said it reflects the autocratic mindset of the BJPled government. The MPs said the government cannot run away from key questions on important issues ranging from Covid-19, lockdown, state of the economy, job crisis and trouble with China on the LAC. According to notifications issued by the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha secretariats, there will be no Question Hour in the upcoming session. Besides, private members’ bills will not be taken up, while Zero Hour will be restricted. “If this is true, it is not just a violation of a member’s right, but it also means that the government is uncomfortable answering questions on their gove r n a n c e. G ove r n m e n t i s answerable to people and any move to cancel Question Hour reflects the autocratic mindset of Government,” said senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Mallikarjun Kharge. The Congress said questioning the government is the lifeblood of parliamentary democ- Don’t put GST burden on states: CM writes to PM seeking compensation E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ T’Puram CHIEF Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to direct the Union finance ministry to pay the GST compensation to states as envisaged in the law, after the Centre refused to share the burden and instead passed it on to the state governments. “I request your good self to intervene and advise the Finance Ministry not to go ahead with the plans of transferring the burden of GST compensation on states and instead follow the letter and spirit of the Goods and Services Tax (Compensation to States) Act, 2017,” Pinarayi said in his letter. After last Thursday’s GST Council meeting, the Union finance ministry offered two op- A7,000cr the amount due for Kerala during the April-August period of the fiscal year, according to the CM tions to the states. In the first, the union government will arrange a line of credit for the entire sum of `2.35 lakh crore to the states, with the guarantee that this will have to be repaid only from the sixth year, ie 2022 onwards, from the compensation cess fund. The other option is to get the RBI to arrange a loan of `97,000 crore at a ‘reasonable interest rate’, and the principal and interest can be repaid after 2022 from the GST cess collections. But both the options are not acceptable for Kerala as the loss in GST revenue was due to Covid-19 and hence unprecedented, Pinarayi said. “The revenue loss and expenditure pressures have been much greater for the states and this artificial distinction that is being sought to be drawn would exacerbate the already severe fiscal stress of the states,” Pinarayi said. When the GST became law, state governments were assured they would be compensated for five years till 2022 in case the collections fell ● More on P4 short.  racy. By doing away with this tool of accountability, the BJP government seeks to pass laws without any discussion, the party alleged. “Parliament overall working hours remain the same so why cancel Question Hour? Pandemic excuse to murder democracy ,” tweeted TMC MP Derek O’Brien. Congress Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor tweeted, “This Govt seeks to reduce Parliament to a notice-board.” No time, says BJP There won’t be enough time for questions as the two Houses will convene only for four hours daily, BJP leader Anil Baluni said, adding that unstarred questions will be allowed. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had spoken to all parties and they all supported this move, he claimed. “But now they have changed their stand,” he alleged Adoor Prakash: Why did Rahim turn up in station at 2.45am? E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ T’Puram A DAY after the CPM raised allegations against Congress leader Adoor Prakash citing his links with the accused in the murder of DYFI leaders at Venjarammoodu near here, the Attingal MP shot back on Wednesday . He demanded to know why DYFI state secretary A A Rahim was present at the police station at 2.45am when Shaheen — who was with the two slain DYFI activists at the time of the incident — was being questioned. Rahim maintained that his visit to the police station was a normal procedure following his colleague’s tragic death. Adoor Prakash also sought a CBI probe into the murder, saying only a Central agency could expose the motive behind the killings. KPCC leadership, including Oommen Chandy, meanwhile, rallied behind Adoor Prakash. P4 SHIFTING FOCUS Big bureaucratic reform initiative gets Cabinet nod M A N I S H A N A N D @ New Delhi Rooted in Indian culture, learning from abroad The programme aims to ensure civil servants remain entrenched in Indian culture and sensibilities while learning from the best practices across the world. Mission Karmayogi will focus on individual civil servants and institutional capacity building, with resources and benefits being made available to the ranks of section officers to secretaries. SEEKING to shift the focus of civil servants from rules to roles, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a proposal to launch “Mission Karmayogi”, which aims to continuously re-skill and add to their capacity . The whole programme will be monitored by the prime minister, who will head an HR Council consisting of experts drawn from India and abroad. To create the necessary infrastructure, a special purpose vehicle will be floated to provide technolo gical suppor t, including building digital resourc- es. The National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building has been designed because bureaucrats generally work in silos with few exchange of ideas, bogged down as they are in file work. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the new programme will radically improve the human resource management practices in the government. Within the ruling dispensation, there is a sense that bureaucrats have not really been delivering as per expectation, hence the new initiative. However, it drew mixed reactions from veteran civil servants. “The main challenge currently is the politicisation of the civil services. The political masters control the civil services, wielding punitive powers to transfer. Despite talented youngsters joining the civil services with a lot of idealism, the civil services have been controlled by the politicians,” said Shankar Sen, a former IPS officer, who had been Director of the Sardar Patel Police Academy Hyderabad. , However, Badal Chaterjee, a former civil servant, concurred with the government, saying the intentions were always there in spirit and the Cabinet has only sought to put them in letter. Allegations of Bineesh’s links with B’luru drug racket embarrasses CPM try. The three were nabbed by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) which also seized a large C O N T R OV E R S Y ’ S c h i l d quantity of high-end drugs like Bineesh Kodiyeri has once MDMA (Ecstasy) and LSD. again landed the CPM in an “The statement of the accused in the drug case embarrassment when has clearly proved Muslim Youth League Bineesh’s links with state general secretary P K Firoz them. Hence, a probe dropped a bombshell should be initiated to alleging that the son bring all facts about of the party’s state the racket out,” he secretary Kodiyeri demanded. Bineesh Kodiyeri Balakrishnan has Firoz added that Audio clip links with the BengalBineesh is Anoop’s leaked uru drug racket. sponsor in drug Addressing a me- Kannur: A leaked smuggling and he had dia conference in audio clip of CPM invested money to Kozhikode on launch the Hyatt holeader M V tel run by Anoop at Wednesday Firoz said , Jayarajan, the statement of drug exhorting cadre Kammanahalli in Bengaluru. dealer Muhammad to put up a “Bineesh had postAnoop reportedly giv- defence through en to the investiga- the social media ed a live video on Fation team has con- in the wake of a cebook sharing the firmed Bineesh’s ties PSC rank holder’s greetings for another with the accused and h o t e l o p e n e d by suicide, has the gang. Anoop in 2019. Durbrought further Firoz alleged that embarrassment ing the lockdown period, Bineesh had atBineesh has close ties to the party. tended a night party with Rijesh Raveendran who was nabbed along at Kumarakom on June 19, with Anoop and D Anikha, a along with the accused in the former serial actor, who had al- smuggling case. These shocklegedly been supplying drugs ing details can be exposed if to several actors and musi- their phone call records are ex● cians in Kannada movie indus- amined,” said Firoz.  More on P4 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Kozhikode/T’Puram STATE GOVT TO RUN MASS CAMPAIGN ON SELF-CARE T’Puram: Staring at a peak in Covid cases, the state health department is set to launch a people-centric mass campaign on self-care. The campaign will focus on educating all citizens and community volunteers. P2 1,547 test positive on Wednesday 2,129 recover Law Minister A K Balan goes into quarantine after his gunman tests positive As per stats, in the past three days, the daily count stood below the 2,000-mark and the comparatively low processing of samples is being cited as one of the reasons for the same EXPRESS READ Shailaja named world’s top thinker for Covid age ‘Irregular’ appointment in LBS: Guv seeks report T’Puram: British magazine Prospect has selected Health Minister K K Shailaja as the world’s top thinker for the Covid19 age. She was selected from a list of 50 personalities which included New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern. P4 T’Puram: Governor Arif Mohammad Khan has sought a report from the Higher Education Department and APJ Abdul Kalam Kerala Technological varsity vicechancellor on the appointment of M Abdul Rahiman as the principal of LBS Institute of Technology. P5