MANGALURU  FRIDAY  APRIL 16, 2021  `7.00  PAGES 12  CITY EDITION WPI INFLATION SHOOTS UP TO 8-YEAR HIGH OF 7.39% IN MARCH Rising crude oil and metal prices pushed up the wholesale price index (WPI)-based inflation in March, government data showed on Thursday LOW BASE CONTRIBUTES TO SPIKE DRIVEN BY OIL, METALS, CHEMICALS WPI inflation was 4.17% in February 2021 and 0.42% in March 2020. The low base of March last year, when the data was computed with a low response rate due to the Covid lockdown, contributed to the spike in March 2021. This is the third straight month of increase in the WPI. The last time WPI showed such a high level was in October 2012, when inflation was 7.4% ■ ■ Inflation in the fuel and power basket was 10.25% in March, against 0.58% in February on higher fuel prices Icra Chief Economist Aditi Nayar said the jump in WPI-inflation was driven by metals, textiles, chemicals, rubber, etc as many of them recorded large price increases globally in recent months | P10 32.1% INFLATION OF CRUDE PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS IN MARCH 2021 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 MUMBAI AHMEDABAD CBI to probe cops who framed Nambi NEW DELHI EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi From left: Gateway of India in Mumbai wears a deserted look on Thursday; A Covid-19 patient is given an oxygen mask inside an ambulance, outside the the Government Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad; A family member after performing the cremation of a Covid-19 victim at the Nigambodh Ghat in New Delhi | PTI Daily count crosses 2 lakh, doubles in 10 days Oxygen scarcity continues; Delhi overtakes Mumbai’s single-day peak; Kumbh Mela may end soon EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi THE daily fresh Covid case count in the country shot past the 2-lakh mark on Thursday morning for the first time, amid reports of acute oxygen scarcity from various states. To get a sense of the unprecedented public health emergency staring India in the face, the country took just 10 days to double its active cases from 1 lakh to 2 lakh, while the US had taken more than 20 days in doubling to 2 lakh. And daily fatalities have crossed 1,000 since the last two days. Many experts fear the current trend may push daily infections up for many days to come and the country may even surpass the highest daily infec- tions of over 3 lakh registered in the US in early January . Amid all the anxiety about the ongoing Maha Kumbh in Uttarakhand becoming a super spreader, there was some selfregulation as the Shri Panchayati Niranjani Akhada, one of the 13 participating akhadas, announced the conclusion of the mega event on April 17 instead of the scheduled May 8 in view of the pandemic. A final call will be taken by the apex body of 13 akhadas, the Akhada Parishad. As many as 2,269 Covid cases have been deNATIONWIDE Fresh cases Recoveries Deaths APRIL 14 1,84,372 82,339 1,027 APRIL 15 1,97,865 1,04,507 1,019 tected so far in the mela area. With Delhi overtaking Mumbai’s single-day peak (11,163 on April 4) by recording over 17,000 fresh cases, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced a weekend curfew and the closure of malls, gymnasiums and auditoriums till April 30 as part of sweeping restrictions to break the chain. Maharashtra stayed on top of the Covid chart with 61,695 fresh cases and 349 fatalities. As many as 36 lakh patients in the state are on home quarantine while 27,273 are under institutional quarantine. With Uttar Pradesh recording 22,439 new cases and staying at second highest on the national list, the government decided to incremnetally increase the time of night curfew. 14.7k EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Bengaluru JUST a day after Karnataka saw its highest daily spike at 11,265 Covid-19 cases since the pandemic started in Karnataka on March 8 last year, the state beat its own record, adding a whopping 14,738 cases on Thursday. It registered a 1.34 per cent growth rate in the tally of Covid-19 patients, from 10,94,912 on Wednesday, to 11,09,650 on Thursday . With this massive jump in cases, the positivity rate has Down with fever, CM leaves road show midway EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Belagavi, Bengaluru ON the last day of campaigning for the Belagavi Lok Sabha bypoll on Thursday Chief Minister , B S Yediyurappa, who was holding a road show for BJP candidate Mangala Angadi in Belagavi, had to quit midway as he Act soon on collegium suggestions, SC tells govt EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi EXPRESSING concern over the Centre’s inordinate delay in responding to the Supreme Court Collegium’s recommendations for appointment of judges, the apex court on Thursday sought a ‘reasonable time frame’ from the government for a decision. It pointed out that 10 names recommended by the Collegium were pending with the government for a year-and-half. Attorney General K K Venugopal said the government will take a decision within three months. Reserving the order on a plea filed by NGO Lok Prahari seeking appointment of additional judges in high courts under Article 224A of the Constitution to reduce the pendency of cases, a bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde also flagged the rise in false complaints against judges. The bench said judges should not be made to feel insecure. EXPRESS READ NEET-PG postponed due to surge in cases New Delhi: In view of the surge in Covid-19 cases, the National Eligibility-Cum-Entrance Test (Postgraduate), which was scheduled to be held on April 18, has been postponed, announced Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Thursday. developed uneasiness and fever. The road show was planned from Shivaji Garden in Belagavi South Assembly constituency through prominent roads and to end at Mahatma Phule Road. However, Yediyurappa started feeling exhausted and left for the hotel after the road show had barely covered half way . Sources in the CMO said Yediyurappa had mild fever two days ago and had undergone a Covid test before hitting the campaign trail. The test report had returned negative. After being checked by doctors and resting for some time in Belagavi, the CM left for Bengaluru by a regular 7.30 pm flight. P4 New cases as K’taka sees another big jump To chair meet on Covid CM will rest for two days on Friday and Saturday, and chair an allparty meeting in Bengaluru on Sunday evening shot up to 4.78 per cent from 4.75 per cent the previous day . As against the massive number added cases, Thursday saw just 3,591 patients being discharged, contributing to consistently pushing down the recovP3 ery rate across the state. STATE WIDE Fresh cases Active cases Deaths Tally Fresh cases in Bengaluru APRIL 14 APRIL 15 11,265 63,167 38 78,795 8,155 14,738 96,561 66 1,14,890 10,497 THE Supreme Cour t on Thursday accepted Justice D K Jain Committee’s report on the lapses of Kerala Police officers in the ISRO spying case and asked the Centre to hand it over to the CBI for further probe. A bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar asked the CBI to submit its report within three months and made it clear that the panel’s report can’t be made public or shared with anyone, including former ISRO scientist S Nambi Narayanan. The court also clarified that the copies of the report can’t be given even to officials named in it or in the petition. The bench directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to treat the Jain panel report as a preliminary inquiry report and proceed further. Two-and-a-half-years after it was asked to look into the lapses on the part of the Kerala Police officers in wrongfully arresting Nambi Narayanan in 1994, the Jain Committee recently submitted its report to the SC in a sealed cover. The panel probed the roles of police officers Siby Mathews, K K Joshua and S Vijayan in framing Narayanan. Wipro to scale up hiring B I S M A H M A L I K @Bengaluru BENGALURU-BASED IT major Wipro, which on Thursday posted a 27.7 per cent jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 2,972 crore for the March 2021 quarter, will embark on a robust hiring plan, give skill-based bonuses and salary increments for senior employees after the adoption of a new operating model last quarter. Wipro CEO and Managing Director Thierry Delaporte said the company had announced salary increments and promotions, covering about 80 per cent of its employees, effective January 1, 2021, and that it will increase the wages of the reFULL REPORT: P10 maining senior executives in June.