SATURDAY FLYING MAY COST MORE AS GOVT LIFTS BASE FARE BAND MARCH, 2021 The Centre has extended domestic fare bands brought in May 2020 till April-end, but decided to hike the lower fares by 5% 20 epaper.morningstandard.in ATF PRICE RISE IS THE REASON, SAYS PURI facebook.com/TheMorningStandard twitter.com/TheMornStandard “There has been a continuous rise in price of ATF, so it has been decided to increase the lower fare band keeping the upper fare band unchanged,” Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted on Friday. DGCA had on May 21, 2020, announced seven bands of ticket pricing based on flight duration. The first band was for flights that don’t take more than 40 minutes IN A SOUP COOK BOOKED UNDER NSA UP Police slaps stringent act against person who spat on dough while making rotis A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS PAGE 8 Lok Sabha passes Bill to group seven TN sub-sects  J8.00  PAGES 12 MANUFACTURING SECTOR SPARED Earlier, we were able to contain it, but now the virus is exploding. People should come forward and take the vaccine. We are also planning to increase vaccination centres in Maharashtra Mumbai: In government and semigovernment offices, the head of the office will make the decision on staff attendance. However, the manufacturing sector can function at full steam, but should increase work shifts so that social distance and Covid-19 protocols are maintained, the circular issued by the Maharashtra government read EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi WITH no MPs from Tamil Nadu in the lower House on Friday, the Lok Sabha passed the “Constitution (scheduled castes) Order (Amendment) Bill, 2021 with voice vote, which seeks to club seven communities of specified districts in the state. The legislative proposal provides for a common classification by the name of “Devendrakula Velalars”, which will include “Devendrakulathan, Kalladi, Kudumban, Pallan, Pannadi, Vathiriyam, and Kadaiyan in specified regions of Tamil Nadu”. With the bill providing a common classification for the seven caste groups, their separate entries will be removed, said the Union Minister for Social Justice Thaaver Chand Gehlot, who admitted that the categorisation of the communities under the groupings of the scheduled castes were done in 1950 on the basis of their respective socio-economic situations in specific areas, leaving some getting listed under the categories and others of the same caste out of the purview in other districts. With MPs from Tamil Nadu missing from the lower House, members who were present briefly discussed the legislative proposal and raised demands to remove similar anomalies in their respective states. BJP’s MP from Sirsa in Haryana, Sunita Duggal shed historical perspective behind the need for the classification of the seven sub-castes, saying that they have been the victim of the British policy of “Divide and Rule”. NEW DELHI  Uddhav Thackeray, CM A worker collects swab sample from a resident of Dharavi, in Mumbai on Friday | PTI Theatres and private offices in Maharashtra to operate at 50% capacity; shutdown option on CM’s table; Punjab too announces curbs; lockdown in three MP cities Maha mess sees highest-ever daily spike, fresh clampdown imposed EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi /Mumbai/Chandigarh/Bhopal AMID explosion of Covid-positive cases, Maharashtra and Punjab on Friday announced strict state-wide curbs and Madhya Pradesh imposed restrictions in three major cities even as the Centre expressed concerns over some states not sending samples for genetic sequencing of the virus, as directed. Covid-19 cases in the country grew by over 100% in five weeks. A total 39,726 fresh cases were registered on Friday, the highest since early December, while active cases have crossed 2.71 lakh, registering a growth of 103% since February 11. Eight states are showing an upward trajectory with Maharashtra, Punjab, , Karnataka, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh together accounting for more than 80% of the daily new cases. While a worried Centre has advised states to ramp up RT-PCR testing, a few states rushed to tighten Covid curbs. Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray directed that employee’s attendance in private offices be reduced to 50%. Theatres and auditoriums, too, have been asked to operate at 50% capacity till March 31. Establishments related to health and other essentials services and manufacturing sector will be, however, exempted from the curbs. The order came a day after Maharashtra reported a single-day surge of 25,833 cases, the highest ever in the state since the beginning of the pandemic. Till now, the highest count of new cases in the state was 24,896 in September last. Punjab also brought back similar restrictions. Beginning Saturday, educational institutions will remain closed till March 31, cinema halls will be allowed to function at 50% capacity and not more than 100 persons will be allowed in malls at a time. Chief Minister Amarinder Singh also appealed to the people to keep social activity to the bare minimum to break the transmission chain. Not more than 10 visitors should be entertained at home, he added. In Madhya Pradesh, lockdowns have been ordered in three big cities — Indore, Bhopal and Jabalpur — from Saturday 10 pm to Monday 6 am, though essential services and industries will be exempted. All schools and colleges in these cities will remain closed till March 31. MP on Friday reported 1,140 new cases, its highest this year. Uddhav said the fresh case count has gone past last year’s peak. A harsh lockdown, he added, is one of the options but as of now the government expected more discipline from the people. In Punjab, barring medical and nursing colleges, all educational institutions will remain closed. Dr K K Talwar, who heads the state government’s expert team on Covid, said the surge in cases appeared to be the result of opening of schools and colleges. The state currently has almost 40% cases in under-30 population, he added. The Centre has advised states to increase the overall share of RTPCR tests to more than 70%. The health ministry asked states to follow up on sending samples for genome testing to track virus variP4 ants of concern. 716 HIGHEST OF 2021 IN THE CAPITAL New Delhi: Delhi recorded 716 new coronavirus cases on Friday, the highest daily count this year. Four more persons died because of the virus, the Health Department said. The number of active cases rose to 3,165 from 2,924 a day ago and 6.32 lakh people have recovered so far. The positivity rate jumped to 0.93% from 0.76%, according to a bulletin. The 716 new cases took the tally to 6,46,348, while the death tally rose to 10,953.  Flow of financial assets  Flow of financial liabilities  Financial savings COVERAGE `5L Rajasthan’s health scheme aimed at all set for May 1 start 21 R A J E S H A S N A N I @ Jaipur 15.8 10.4 15.1 9.8 2.55 2.72 1.3 0.80 0.78 8.1 11.4 9.8 10.6 7.7 4 Q1 FY20 Q2 FY20 Q3 FY20 Q4 FY20 STRATEGIC TIMEOUT Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin in New Delhi on Friday | PTI | P7 Q1 FY21 Q2 FY21 Source: RBI report has said the Indian middle class has shrunk as the financial woes of the pandemic pushed 3.2 crore Indians into poverty. A year into the pandemic, the middle class population has shrunk to 6.6 crore from a pre-pandemic estimate of 9.9 crore, it said. EXPRESS READ No stay on Mufti’s ED summon New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday refused to stay summons issued to former Jammu and Kashmir CM Mehbooba Mufti by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case. A bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jasmeet Singh said they are not granting any relief to the PDP leader. Bagchi likely MEA spokesperson New Delhi: Arindam Bagchi, a 1995-batch IFS officer, will be the next spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs. His appointment has been confirmed, but an official announcement is awaited. Bagchi is currently serving as joint secretary (north) in MEA and involved in decisions relating to Nepal affairs. Govt seeks high court bar on WhatsApp’s new privacy policy EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi APPEAL FROM MAMATA TO MARXIST FRIENDS Bengal CM urges Left supporters to vote for TMC in order to check BJP PAGE 7 THE Centre on Friday urged the Delhi High Court to restrain Facebook-owned WhatsApp from implementing its new privacy policy and terms of service, which are set to take effect from May 15. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology made the submission in its affidavit filed in response to a petition challenging the new FLIGHT OPERATIONS WILL BE ALLOWED WHEN DAILY PASSENGER TRAFFIC CROSSES 3.5 LAKH tioned why the Central government was opposed to “endDAYS before Delhi Chief Min- ing of ration mafia”. ister Arvind Kejwal was to Chief Minister Kejriwal launch his ambitious door- was scheduled to launch the step ration delivery scheme, scheme with doorstep delivthe Centre on Friday raised ery of ration to 100 houseserious technical objections, holds in northeast Delhi’s putting a roadblock in the im- Seemapuri on March 25. The plementation of the pro- modalities of the scheme had gramme. Subsidised foodgrain also been notified by the Delhi supplied under the National government last month. Food Security Act (NFSA) This is not the first time cannot be used for a state that the scheme has faced hurscheme with a different name, dles. It was because of this the Centre said on Friday . very project that a power tusIn a letter to Delhi’s food sle between the Delhi chief and civil supplies minister and L-G commissioner, Joint Anil Baijal had Secretary in the Unerupted three years ion Food Ministry back. In June 2018, stated that the notiKejriwal along with Centre stops fied Mukhya Mantri Doorstep Delivery of his cabinet minisRation Scheme! Ghar Ghar Ration ters had staged a sitKejriwal Govt’s Yojna “is not perin at the L-G office, Mukhya Mantri Ghar demanding approvmissible” under the Ghar Ration Yojana NFSA norms. “Sub- was scheduled to be al of the scheme. sidised foodgrains Also, in December launched on 25th allocated by the de- March. Why is Modi last year, the high p a r t m e n t u n d e r Govt against ending court issued notices Ration Mafia? NFSA cannot be to the Delhi governused for operationment and the Centre Aam Aadmi Party alisation of any on a plea filed by state specific scheme Delhi Sarkari Raunder a different name/no- tion Dealers Sangh, saying menclature other than the that the scheme was an atNFSA as the same is not per- tempt to remove fair price limissible under the Act,” the cencees from the public distriletter stated. bution system (PDS). The Centre’s letter said that According to the AAP govif the state government wants, ernment, the doorstep ration it can start a separate scheme delivery programme will help but “without mixing the ele- in cutting down the corrupm e n t s o f t h e N F S A tion in PDS and reduce the foodgrains”. role of middle-men. The move — which comes There are about 2,028 desigdays after the Centre brought nated fair price outlets and a Bill that gives overarching shops in the city of Delhi powers to Delhi L-G — prompt- which provide ration to 70 ed an attack from the ruling lakh beneficiaries who are beP5 AAP in Delhi, which ques- low the poverty line. 19 (% of GDP) The lower limit for the first band was I2,000, which will now change to I2,100 while the ceiling will remain at I6,000 ■ This is the second time the government has raised fare limits for domestic airlines. The first hike was in February this year S I D D H A N TA M I S H R A @ New Delhi LIABILITIES SWELL, SAVINGS EBB 1.81 THE financial distress caused by pay cuts and job losses during the pandemic may have forced Indian households to dip into their savings and borrow more to meet expenses. According to RBI data released on Friday, households’ financial savings rate dropped to 10.4% of the GDP in the JulySeptember 2020 quarter compared with 21% in the prec e d i n g quar ter, the central bank’s preliminary estimates on household savings. While the drop appears drastic on a sequential basis, a savings rate at 10.4% is still higher than 9.8% recorded in the year-ago period. The report said Indian households appeared to be slowly going back to their pre-Covid spending habits as consumption switched from an ‘essentials only’ pattern to discretionary spending with the gradual reopening of the economy . While the report notes the change is driven by an increase in household borrowings from banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), experts say the drastic drop in income may have accentuated the process. It gives more credence to economists’ prediction that households are still maintaining consumption despite job losses and low income levels. Rising food prices in the midst of widespread economic pain could also force households to dip into their savings. According to RBI, household financial savings have moderated despite an increase in savings in the form of deposits as borrowings from banks and NBFCs have picked up. On the assets side, there was a notable fall in household savings in the form of currency — to 0.4% of GDP in Q2 from 5.3% in Q1. Similarly, household investment in mutual fund products declined to 0.3% from 1.7%, while savings in the form of insurance products moderated to 3% from 3.2% in Q1. Meanwhile, a Pew Research ■ AAP govt’s doorstep ration delivery plan hit Centre roadblock PANDEMIC ATE INTO HOUSEHOLD SAVINGS IN A BIG WAY IN Q2: RBI S E S A S E N @ New Delhi SECOND HIKE IN OVER A MONTH privacy policy of the social networking platform. The petitioners have contended that the new policy indicates the fissures in Indian data protection and privacy laws. Under the new policy, users can accept it or exit the app, but they cannot opt not to share their data with other Facebookowned or third party apps. A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jasmeet Singh listed the matter for further hearing on April 20. “It is humbly prayed that in view of the above submissions, the Respondent No 2 (WhatsApp) may be restrained from implementing its new privacy policy and terms of service dated January 4, 2021 from February 8, 2021 or any subsequent date pending adjudication by this court,” said the Centre’s affidavit. It further said that IT Rules impose a host of obligations on a company in relation to the security of data collected by it in the course of its business. “The rules require a body corporate who collects, stores or otherwise deals with data to issue a privacy policy providing for certain safeguards, in addition to imposing various The rules require a body corporate who collects, stores or deals with data to issue a privacy policy providing for certain safeguards, in addition to imposing various other obligations —Centre’s petition other obligations. The impugned privacy policy violates the 2011 Rules,” it said. The petition stated the new privacy policy released on January 4 is violative of the fundamental right to privacy under Article 21, because while its old privacy policy issued on July 20, 2020 provided options to opt in or out of data sharing with other Facebook companies, the new policy does not provide the users any option to protect their personal data. IN a move to turn the goal of ‘Health for All’ into reality, Rajasthan government will begin cashless insurance of up to `5 lakh under a universal health scheme for all families of the state from May 1. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has named the newly-announced health coverage scheme ‘Mukhyamantri Chiranjeevi Yojna’. This will cover annual medical insurance of up to `5 lakh for every family in the state. The scheme will begin on May 1, the International Labour Day . Mukhyamantri Chiranjivi Yojna will provide free insurance to all families under BPL, NFSA and SECC categories. Those covered under Ayushman Bharat Mahatma Gandhi Rajasthan Swasthya Bima Yojana, along with contractual workers and small and marginal farmers, can also avail of this scheme for free. Families not in these categories will also be eligible for the benefits, although they have to pay 50 per cent of the premium, which will come to around `850 annually . Registration for those not included in the BPL/National Food Security Act (NFSA)/Socio Economic Caste Census (SECC) beneficiary list will begin from April 1. This `3,500 crore health scheme was announced during the state budget in February. Besides major diseases, the Mukhyamantri Chiranjeevi Yojna will also include Covid-19 care and haemodialysis for the poor.