PM CARES vs CM Relief Fund: Kerala FM, activists ask people to donate to state funds

Coronavirus

Kerala FM Thomas Isaac said that the Centre has not yet announced any state-wise relief package or plan.

Saritha S Balan

Soumya Chatterjee

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As the number of COVID-19 patients and those affected by the lockdown increase, Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac has urged state residents to donate to the Chief Minister Relief Fund as opposed to the PM CARES (Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations) Fund. In an exclusive conversation with TNM, Isaac said, “Kerala government’s appeal for the people of Kerala is to contribute to the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund. Because the state governments are on the frontline and they have to bear the expenditure related to COVID-19. Unfortunately the Government of India is not considering the plight of the state governments. Revenue is coming down sharply which forced many of the state governments to even slash salaries. The Centre so far has not announced a package like state governments have done.” He added, “Even by the end of March they were not kind enough to provide any additional fund. Hence in this context, the voluntary contribution of the people is very much required and I am appealing to them to contribute to the CM relief fund. Otherwise we don't have any objection to anyone contributing to the PM Fund.” A similar conversation is happening on Twitter in Karnataka. Many, including former Karnataka State Women’s Commission chief Brinda Adige, have opined that private donations from the state and all Local Area Development (LAD) funds of the state’s MLAs and MPs should go to the Karnataka Chief Minister’s Relief Fund. The conversation was sparked by Union Minister and Bangalore North MP Sadananda Gowda announcing that he has donated Rs 1 crore from his MPLAD funds and one month salary to PM CARES. Dear CM of Karnataka pl ensure that MPs from Karnataka, do not send MPLAD funds to PMcares. These MPs were elected by Kannadigas, they must utilise the funds for Citizens in crisis in Karnataka. @CMofKarnataka @PLEKarnataka @ChetanAhimsa @leofsaldanha https://t.co/z0MxRGHVEJ — Brinda Adige (@BrindaAdige) March 31, 2020 Like Isaac, many are of the opinion that the state governments being the implementing agency in most relief measures, it’s better that money should go to the state government. Others have also pointed out the lack of transparency and accountability associated with the newly unveiled fund as there was already an existing Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund. Some have also expressed disappointment with the Centre's actions over disbursement of funds to southern states for disaster relief in recent times. Vinay Kumar, an activist advocating local self-governance and a volunteer with the state government in this crisis, said, “The MPs have no role in local governance except for their LAD funds and if they have given that back to the Centre then they have made no contribution. Otherwise with the sizeable amount that money could have been used for feeding the local people in the constituency and immediately could have made a lot of change. If it goes back to Delhi, how long does it take to come back to the people again? Also there is Rs 3,800 crore of fund leftover in the existing  Prime Minister's National Relief Fund.” Vinay also raised issues relating to the PM CARES as highlighted by rights activist Saket Gokhale. Gokhale has argued that unlike the existing Prime MInister's National Relief Fund, there is lack of transparency on how the funds collected will be spent. PM-CARES scam gets murkier Thread  Using religion as a distraction y'day, Modi govt. quietly passed an ordinance amending the IT Act & bringing PM-CARES at par with PM National Relief Fund They waited to do this till after Parliament session ended last week on 23 Mar' (1/7) pic.twitter.com/zeH4CNwHRc — Saket Gokhale (@SaketGokhale) April 1, 2020  Similarly, actor and activist Chetan Ahimsa said, “MPs are given 'Local Area Development' funds to take CARES of the development schemes of their constituencies in their respective states. The  same goes for MPs in Karnataka. And when a Karnataka MP takes money from the LAD funds and places it into PM CARES funding, then s/he is depriving the people of Karnataka who have elected that MP. The MPs primary responsibility must be to his/her own constituency. If the MP wants to give money to the PM CARES, they can do so with their own personal money instead of taking away taxpayer funds from the entire constituency.” He also touched upon the issue of southern states especially Karnataka and Kerala not getting their due share of disaster relief in the state. “We have seen trends during national calamities how in spite of paying more taxes relatively, the south Indian states have been neglected by the Centre through either insufficient funding and/or delayed funding. Examples of this are flood emergencies in Kerala and Karnataka in 2019,” he added. Echoing the same, Milana Neela, a postgraduate student at Bangalore University, said, “I personally feel the whole PM CARES fund is a PR stunt. I also see how the state governments are actually working kind of well to tackle this humanitarian crisis. I don't see the same motivation or determination by the centre. There is no clarity or structure in their thoughts and messages. Instead of participating in this PR activity, I think it's much better to contribute for the CMRF. It's like helping ourselves.” 

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ASHA workers on COVID-19 surveillance assaulted in Bengaluru

Coronavirus

The residents thought it was an NRC exercise and allegedly gave an announcement in the local mosque to not give any information.

Prajwal Bhat

A team of Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers in Bengaluru were allegedly surrounded, shoved and had their bags and phones snatched by residents of a locality. The incident occurred on Wednesday afternoon in Saraipalya in the Byatarayanapura area of the city. Seven teams of ASHA workers were spreading awareness about coronavirus and collecting information from residents, particularly asking if they are showing any symptoms of the disease. Between 12:30 and 1 pm on Wednesday, a team of workers were allegedly stopped and surrounded by residents in Saraipalya. "An announcement was made in the local mosque telling residents to not give any information to us, especially phone numbers," says Shweta, an ASHA worker who was working in the area. Shwetha's mother Krishnaveni was also one of the health workers conducting surveillance and she said that she was surrounded and her bag and phone were snatched away by the local residents ಮನೆ ಬಾಗಿಲಿಗೆ ಬಂದು #Covid19 ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಜಾಗೃತಿ ಮೂಡಿಸುವ ವೈದ್ಯರು, ನರ್ಸ್ ಗಳು, ಆಶಾ ಕಾರ್ಯಕರ್ತರು ಹಾಗೂ ಈ ಸಂಕಷ್ಟದ ಸಮಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಹಗಲಿರುಳು ದುಡಿಯುತ್ತಿರುವವರು ದೇವರ ಸಮಾನ. ಅವರನ್ನು ಗೌರವದಿಂದ ನೋಡಿ. ಅವರ ಮೇಲೆ ಹಲ್ಲೆ ನಡೆದರೆ ನೋಡಿಕೊಂಡು ಸುಮ್ಮನೆ ಕೂರಲಾಗುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ಎಚ್ಚರವಿರಲಿ!! pic.twitter.com/1pAJOEZCrE — B Sriramulu (@sriramulubjp) April 2, 2020 According to the ASHA workers, the local residents feared that the collection of information was related to the National Register of Citizens (NRC). "The same thing had happened earlier in Hegde Nagar. The people we met were confused that this survey was somehow related to the NRC," Shwetha said. "The mobile numbers we had put together were crossed out by them," Shwetha added. BJP leader and Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister Ashwath Narayan condemned the incident.  "They (ASHA workers) were doing surveillance after a house help in the locality was infected with coronavirus. ASHA workers were visiting each and every house to collect information," he told reporters.  He added that the incident had demoralised ASHA workers and that he had directed the jurisdictional police station to register a case in connection with the incident.  Health officials stated that ASHA workers will be accompanied by a policemen while collecting information in the area.  ASHA workers in Karnataka have been tasked with spreading awareness about coronavirus. They are also going door-to-door to collect information from residents about those who have returned from a foreign country and those who are showing symptoms of the virus.    

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Karnataka govt to supply free milk to the poor until April 14

Coronavirus

The closure of state borders and hotels amid the lockdown has meant that the dairy industry is now replete with lakhs of litres of excess milk.

TNM Staff

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The Karnataka government is set to supply free milk to the poor amid the coronavirus lockdown, up till April 14. This is most likely due to the excess milk that is being produced in the state, which milk producers have to dispose it off or it will go to waste. "We have decided to supply milk free of cost to the poor till April 14. The district administrations have been entrusted with making arrangements for it," Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa said at a press briefing on Wednesday, after chairing a meeting of a group of ministers. The large amount of milk being produced in Karnataka by cooperatives like Nandini is usually transported to other states, and sold to the hotel industry. However, all that has changed with the lockdown, which has closed state borders, and shuttered all establishments, including the hotel industry. This means that large milk corporations are staring at an excess production of lakhs of litres of milk in Karnataka every day. However, production cannot be stopped or slowed, and the cooperatives have no choice but to accept the milk from dairy farmers. Nandini had previously said that they will look to convert all the unsold milk to powder form. The CM conceded that the farmers have been caught in a dilemma due to the nationwide lockdown as they were not able to sell, harvest or transport their produce. “I have given clear directions to the police to ensure the uninterrupted movement of essential goods in the state,” the Chief Minister said. BS Yediyurappa had said earlier that the farmers were able to transport their produce to other states but now it has stopped, owing to which the prices have crashed.   With PTI inputs

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Karnataka waives exams for class 7, 8: Class 9 must pass internal assessments

Coronavirus

The government is yet to decide the time table for the class 10 exams.

Theja Ram

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The Karnataka government on Thursday cancelled exams for students in classes 7 and 8. Earlier in March, the state government had waived exams for students from Classes 1 to 6. The new order was rolled out in the wake of the 21-day lockdown for stopping the spread of COVID-19.  Speaking to the media, Primary and Secondary Education Minister Suresh Kumar said that the Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE) on Wednesday waived exams for classes 7 and 8. Following this, the state government too had decided to waive exams for state board students in these two classes. "Due to the coronavirus pandemic, we have decided that all students in Classes 7 and 8 will be promoted without writing exams. Those in Class 9 will be evaluated based on summative and formative assessments. If any student fails this internal assessment, the respective schools must use the holiday period to bring remedial measures to ensure the students are eligible to be promoted," he added.  Minister Suresh Kumar further stated that schools must encourage online tests for the Class 9 students who do not pass the internal assessments. He also said that the state government would decide the time table for Class 10 exams on April 14. He also said that the decision regarding Pre University College (PUC) exams would also be taken on the same day.  Earlier, a circular had been issued stating that all schools and colleges would be shut till May 20. However, the Minister for Primary Education issued a clarification that the circular was fake and wrong. "The issue of colleges comes under the Higher Education Department. Schools and Colleges are anyway shut during this period due to summer vacation. We issued a clarification that it is fake and incorrect," an Education Department official said. 

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Massive fire at Bengaluru’s Bamboo Bazaar, 25 shops destroyed

Accident

Fortunately, there have been no reports of any injury or fatality.

Soumya Chatterjee

A massive fire broke out in the wee hours of Thursday in central Bengaluru’s Bamboo Bazaar area, within Bhartinagar Police Station limits, and as many as 25 shops have been destroyed. Out of the 25, 13 of them were fully gutted. Fortunately, there have been no reports of any injury or fatality. As of Thursday afternoon, the fire is still partially on, with firemen trying to douse it completely. 17 fire tenders were deployed on the ground after the first vehicle left for the spot at 3:25 am, a fire control room official said. The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. A senior fire department official said that the cause of the fire will be probed by the police. “The Fire Department will determine the origin of the fire within closed spaces but since this is a fire in an open area, the police will probe. We will submit our report to the police after the fire is completely extinguished,” the fire official said. Speaking to reporters on this, Bengaluru City Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao, who also visited the spot said, “Many shops, some of which are around 50 years old, have been damaged. We don’t know yet what is the cause of the fire. But this had led to the loss of a massive amount of property. But fortunately, there is no harm to human life. There are a lot of items made of ply and valuable teak that have been gutted. Also, one electronics showroom has been damaged with washing machines, refrigerators and air conditioners getting burnt. The total loss of property is yet to be estimated,” Bhaskar Rao said.  Jurisdictional Bhartinagar Police ensured that people did not gather at the spot of the fire and made sure that there was no crowd since the state of Karnataka is under lockdown to contain the coronavirus pandemic. According to the latest update, Karnataka has seen 110 positive cases while the national tally has crossed 2,000.

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IISc Bengaluru developing ventilator to save coronavirus patients

coronavirus

"A team of scientists and engineers are building a prototype of an electro-mechanical ventilator using local components," the institute said.

IANS

Twitter / @iiscbangalore

The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is racing against time to develop a home-grown ventilator to save lives of COVID-19 (coronavirus) patients across the country, a statement said on Wednesday. "A team of scientists and engineers are building a prototype of an electro-mechanical ventilator using local components," said the over-century-old institute in the statement. Even as hundreds of patients grapple with the Covid-19 pandemic across the country and hospitals set to face shortage of the life-saving instrument, the team has designed the prototype based on guidelines of the British medicine and healthcare products regulatory agency. "As local manufacturers are unbale to source key components like sensors and flow controllers from overseas due to disruption in global supply chain, we are using only local parts made in India," said the institute's principal research scientist T.V. Prabhakar. The project is undertaken by the department of electronic systems engineering at the institute. "We are assembling the ventilator for use free of cost. The prototype will be ready for trials in the next couple of weeks. We hope by this month-end, manufacturers can make them and scalp up soon," said associate professor and project coordinator Gaurab Banerjee. Though about 40,000 ventilators are available across the country, they will be required in thousands if the virus cases spike rapidly. "Patients with severe Covid infection have damaged lungs that gasp for oxygen. When they are put on a ventilator, the machine enables lung function, feeding them with air and oxygen to fight the virus," said Prabhakar. A well-designed ventilator will have sensors and actuators that allow doctors to set the volume and pressure of gas delivered to the patient precisely, which depends on the severity of their illness. To store and mix air and oxygen, for instance, some component makers reused sedimentation tanks found in household RO water purifiers. "Our mixing process has parallels to those in gas turbines and industrial burners, where the ratio of fuel and oxidizer is carefully controlled," Aerospace engineering department's assistant professor Pratisha Panda said. To check pressure levels, sensors similar to those are used to detect air pressure in car tyres. "Controlling the pressure at which gas is pumped into the patient's lungs is crucial, akin to how using an industrial pressurised hose to water plants instead of a garden hose can cause severe damage," the faculty members warned the doctors. The team is also developing a flow rate sensor, which shows how much air is flowing into a patient's lungs. "By using concepts of fluid and gas dynamics, we are able to estimate and control pressure, volume and oxygen concentration of the air delivered to the patient," said team member Duvvuri Subrahamanyam. The team is taking inputs from doctors to simplify the interface and build a dashboard preloaded with approved settings. The dashboard will allow it to operate in an emergency by technicians or nurses. "They will have to press a button that says pneumonia or Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) and all the settings will come up by default within a certain range," said Banerjee. "We are working with manufacturers to check components required for including them in the final design," said team member Manish Arora. State-run organisations like Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) have expressed interest in supporting mass production. "The institute's centre for nano science and engineering has provided the team with local oxygen and pressure sensors," Arora added.

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The mysterious Mysuru cluster: 16 people with COVID-19, but no sign of a source yet

Coronavirus

So far, in Karnataka, this is the biggest known cluster of COVID-19 cases and the Mysuru district administration is yet to pinpoint the source of the infection.

Prajwal Bhat

Four more people tested positive for coronavirus in Mysuru district of Karnataka on Wednesday taking the tally of people affected by one pharmaceutical employee to 16.  So far, in Karnataka, this is the biggest known cluster of COVID-19 cases and the Mysuru district administration is yet to pinpoint the source of the infection. None of the patients have any foreign travel history or had any contact with any other patient. Mysuru Deputy Commissioner Abhiram G Shankar told TNM that health authorities in the district are examining three different ways the virus could have infected the first case (patient 52), a 35-year-old man who works in the quality assurance section of Jubilant Life Sciences, a company based in Nanjangud in the district.  He tested positive on March 26 and since then, 16 people who came in contact with him have tested positive including his wife and colleagues. Patient 52 did not have any known foreign travel or contact history.  “We are cross checking if the information given by patient 52 about his movements is true. We are checking the visitor log of the pharmaceutical company for foreign nationals who had visited.We are also checking consignments the company had received from abroad,” Mysuru DC Abhiram G Shankar told TNM. The samples of the consignments were sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune for testing, Jawaid Akhtar, Additional Chief Secretary, Health, Karnataka Health and Family Welfare Department. Confirmed. The company had imported a gel from China, officiais stated.  Stringent lockdown measures were imposed in Nanjangud when the first set of cases were reported. All activity in the town has been suspended with only one entry and exit point open for the movement of essential goods and emergency services.  Around 1,400 employees of the pharmaceutical company are also currently quarantined in their homes.  A 3 km buffer zone has been created in Nanjangud town and Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers are going door-to-door to collect information about anyone reporting symptoms.  Health authorities are waiting for information from the National Institute of Virology in Pune about the parcels sent for testing. They are also searching for who they believe could be patient zero i.e a person with foreign travel history who infected patient 52.  A total of 110 cases of coronavirus were reported in Karnataka as of Wednesday night. Apart from the cluster in Mysuru, smaller clusters of cases were reported in Uttara Kannada and Chikkaballapura districts of the state.     

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