Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, March 24

The first dawn of curfew in Punjab and Chandigarh brought with it anxieties for people wondering about whether or not they would get their essential supplies such as milk. The supplies were disrupted for the most part, but attempts were being made by district administrations to start deliveries at doorstep, at least in the cities.

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Door-to-door supply of milk and vegetables was allowed in Faridkot, with the Deputy Commissioner issuing passes to vendors.

Also read: Punjab Govt clamps statewide curfew to curb spread

The Bathinda DC announced there would be no relaxation in the curfew on Tuesday in the district, but Verka would arrange door-to-door supply of milk in the city.

However, the supply of milk (including Verka) and essential items was severely affected in most parts of Punjab due to a lack of coordination between the district authorities and state government agencies responsible for supply of essential commodities.

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Moga, Patiala, and Mohali too reported disruption in the supply of newspapers and milk. As much as 12 lakh litres of milk was reported lying at the Mohali Verka milk plant alone for want of pick up.

Officials said relaxation was not being given as people in many parts of the state were not taking the curfew seriously. Relaxation for short intervals was resulting in people coming out in large numbers in public places such as parks and markets.

They said it could take a day to streamline the process of distribution of essential items.

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Chandigarh too reported similar disruptions, though newspapers were delivered in some areas.

Newspaper supply in several areas of Amritsar remained affected on Tuesday.

Vendor union leaders came at pick up points to discourage the vendors from distributing newspapers.

Milk Supply also remained disrupted in the city. Only milk vendors from the rural belt could manage to supply milk at the doorstep in parts of the city.

Tribune News Service
Srinagar, March 24 

The Jammu and Kashmir government issued an order revoking the detention of former chief minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday.

In a tweet, government spokesperson Rohit Kansal said: “Govt issues orders revoking detention of Shri Omar Abdullah.”

The National Conference leader was in detention at Hari Nivas since August 5, 2019—when Article 370 was abrogated.

Also read: SC notice to J-K on Sara Pilot’s plea against brother Omar’s detention

Last week, the Supreme Court had asked the Centre and Jammu and Kashmir Administration to spell out if it planned to release Abdullah.

“If you are releasing him, then release him soon or we will hear the matter on merits,” a Bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra had said.

During his detention, part of a major crackdown to prevent protest against the abrogation of Article 370, Omar grew a long beard that has dramatically changed his appearance.

Omar’s father and former chief minister Farooq Abdullah was only recently released from detention.

Omar’s political career saw him becoming the Minister of State for External Affairs during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 2001-2002. He was elected as the Member of Parliament from Srinagar in 1998 and was also elected as a legislator from Ganderbal and Beerwah constituencies.

On the one hand, shutdowns have helped in other countries. Every infectious disease model supports a total shutdown. But there are many unknowns. The virus could mutate to be less virulent as most viruses tend to.

The doors to leasing military hardware were opened for the first time last week with the government unveiling a draft policy on arms acquisition that allows the armed forces to go in for leased capability to cut down on costs associated with purchasing weapons and systems.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) is considering, for the first time, leasing aerial refuelling tanker aircraft to extend the reach of its fighter jets instead of a direct purchase against the backdrop of previous failed attempts to buy new tankers, two officers familiar with the move said on Sunday on condition of anonymity.

The doors to leasing military hardware were opened for the first time last week with the government unveiling a draft policy on arms acquisition that allows the armed forces to go in for leased capability to cut down on costs associated with purchasing weapons and systems.

“The IAF has made two attempts to buy tankers during the last decade-and-a-half. On both occasions, we were close to signing the deal but things fell through because of the high acquisition cost. Leasing is a good option to fill the capability gap,” said one of the officers cited above.

The IAF operates a fleet of six Russian-origin Ilyushin-78 tankers that are plagued by maintenance problems and the force urgently needs at least six more.

“We are finalising the requirements for the proposed lease of tankers to boost our in-flight refuelling capabilities. We are looking at aspects such as whether we should opt for a wet [the lessor provides crew and maintenance] or dry lease. Leasing will be a better option as our budget is under pressure,” said a second officer.

Leasing has been introduced in the draft Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP)-2020 as a new category for acquisition in addition to the existing ‘Buy’ and ‘Make’ categories in order to substitute huge initial capital outlays with periodical rental payments.

Leasing is permitted in two categories—where the lessor is an Indian entity and is the owner of the assets and where the lessor is a global entity. The provision of leasing in the draft DPP governs military equipment that is not deployed during the war—transport fleets, trainers and simulators.

“Tankers are a force multiplier and the IAF has been pressing for more inductions for the past 15 years. Finance has been and still is the issue. Leasing is a good option. It will save the flying hours of the IAF-owned aerial refuelling tanker aircraft for wars, with the leased ones doing the very substantial task of training and long ferries for exercises abroad,” said Air Vice Marshal (retired) Manmohan Bahadur, additional director general, Centre for Air Power Studies.

According to an August 2017 Comptroller and Auditor General of India report, the desired serviceability of the Il-78 fleet should have been 70% by the IAF’s own standards but it stood at 49% during 2010-16—barely half of the planes were available for missions at any given time during that period.

American (Boeing KC-46A), Russian (Il-78) and European (A330 MRTT) military contractors were expecting the IAF to float a global tender for more tankers. Israel Aerospace Industries’ Bedek Aviation Group was also looking at participating in the contest with its Boeing 767-200 multi-mission tanker transport—a conversion of the Boeing aircraft by Bedek Aviation.

As the number of Covid-19 positive cases soared in the country, the government put in place stringent measures, locking down districts to check the spread of Sars-CoV-2 virus.

The government has already said that private sector workers in New Delhi must work from home this week unless they are providing an essential service. Most public transport will also be halted.

Tracking Coronavirus Outbreak: Live Updates

The 82 districts, where Covid-19 cases have been reported, are under complete lockdown. The Union Home Ministry said these 82 districts in 17 states are places from where Covid-19 cases have been under reported and are under complete lockdown, but state governments can extend the list of districts as they deem fit.

Here’s a look at what is shut where and what is not:

To carry out basic essential transactions, the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) has asked banks to open only selective branches in areas that have been placed under lockdown.

The association asked the CEO of banks to empower their regional or zonal or circle heads to take appropriate decision in the matter. The association had earlier asked customers to use online and mobile banking channels for making their transactions.

Except Karnataka, private vehicles are allowed in states across the country. Grocery shops, fuel stations, LPG agencies, telecom services, hospitals and pharmacies are open in almost every state.

All schools, colleges, trains, inter-state bus services and offices are closed. Most of the states have also banned dine-in eateries, while some like Maharashtra and Rajasdthan have kept these open. Except Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, local bus services are also banned. 

Now, let’s take a look at measures taken by various state governments as part of national lockdown.

Delhi:

Services of Ola and Uber will not be available in Delhi till March 31 amid the lockdown announced by the state government to contain the spread of coronavirus disease Covid-19.

“Uber is complying with all Central and State Government directives related to its services for containing the spread of Coronavirus,” an Uber spokesperson said in response to a query.

An Ola spokesperson said the company “will enable a minimal network of vehicles to support essential services in cities, wherever applicable, as part of this national effort to reduce the contagion of COVID-19”.

The lockdown in Delhi will continue till March 31. The total number of coronavirus cases in the national capital on Sunday increased to 30, said the Union health ministry.

The city’s borders will remain sealed during the lockdown, but essential services related to health, food, water and power supply will continue, and 25 per cent of the DTC buses will run to transport people associated with essential services.

Uttar Pradesh:

Sixteen districts in Uttar Pradesh, including capital Lucknow, have been locked down till Wednesday amid a spurt in Sars-CoV-2 cases.

The districts where the lockdown has been enforced in the first phase are Lucknow, Agra, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Ghaziabad, Varanasi, Allahabad, Kanpur, Aligarh, Moradabad, Lakhimpur Kheri, Bareilly, Azamgarh, Meerut, Gorakhpur, Saharanpur and Pilibhit.

“I appeal to all the citizens that they should stay indoors and not venture out of their homes. Unnecessary crowding and gathering at public places should be avoided. We are standing at a juncture where even a slight laxity can prove to be harmful,” Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said.

Maharashtra:

The state has seen highest number of Covid-19 patients in the country. Among the steps taken by the state government, all kinds of gatherings and travel are banned.

The police in Pune have passed an order restricting assembly of five or more people in the city to avoid the spread of coronavirus. The order passed under Section 144 of CrPC restricts people to assemble at one place or organise any such event/programme where five or more people’s gathering can be expected.

West Bengal:

The West Bengal government on Sunday announced lockdown in the state, including rural and urban areas, till March 27.

“The state will be on lockdown till March 27 until further orders in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus,” read the order issued by the government.

The state government announced that no public transport including taxis and autorickshaws, except for vehicles going to and from hospitals, airports, railway station, bus terminals/bus stands and good carrying food and essential commodities, will be allowed to be on streets.

Jharkhand:

The Jharkhand government on Sunday announced a lockdown in the state till March 31 in wake of the surge in coronavirus cases in the country, said government officials.

During the lockdown, the movement of all public transport is prohibited and all shops, commercial institutions, offices, factories, godowns, weekly markets will remain closed.

Odisha:

The Odisha government on Sunday suspended all inter-state bus services amid a lockdown imposed to contain the further spread of coronavirus disease Covid-19.

The inter-state bus operation to and from Odisha will remain suspended till further orders, these buses coming from other states will not be allowed to reach their destination in Odisha after 11 am on March 23, said a government order.

Similarly, no inter-state bus will be allowed to operate to other states from Odisha after 11 am on Monday.

Bihar:

The Bihar government on Sunday announced a lockdown till March 31 to prevent the possible spread of Covid-19.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said the lockdown is being enforced in all districts, sub-divisional and block headquarters and municipal towns. It came into effect immediately.

Kumar urged people to “extend their full cooperation” to the state government’s campaign to curb the spread of the disease.

Karnataka:

The state government on Sunday announced lockdown of nine districts and the suspension of operations of public transport all across the state.

These nine districts are Bengaluru, Bengaluru rural, Kalburgi, Mysore, Mangalore, Kodagu, Chickballapur, Dharwad and Belagavi. They will remain under lockdown till March 31.

The suspension of public transport all across the state, however, is only in place till Monday, Karnataka home minister Basavaraj Bommai said.

Haryana:

The Haryana government on Sunday ordered lockdown for seven of the state’s 22 districts, including Gurgaon and Faridabad, till March 32 and suspending all public and private transport and various non-essential services there with the positive coronavirus cases reaching 12.

According to a state government notification, issued on Sunday, the lockdown in the seven districts – Gurugaon, Faridabad, Sonipat, Panipat, Jhajjar, Rohtak and Panchkula – was enforced at 9 pm.

Testing has expanded in the country of 1.3 billion people after the number of infected people reached 396 on Sunday.

The World Health Organization has called for “aggressive” action in Southeast Asia, fearing that a major outbreak could cripple the region’s health care systems.

Habeas corpus petitions are gathering dust since August last year. The urge to not disturb the State has not gone. But the main idea behind all this is that the judiciary and the legislature, or to be more specific, the government, should work together for the project of nation-building. It needs to be rejected. Cowardice and bullying are two sides of the same coin and they define the character of our elite.

The independence and impartiality of the judiciary hinge on whether it can keep the executive at arm’s length. Though the Constitution says that the State shall take steps to separate the judiciary from the executive, successive Union governments have chosen to disregard this Directive Principle. In February last year, the government, in reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, had ruled out a cooling-off period for retired judges before their appointment to tribunals or commissions. This stand was diametrically opposite to the view expressed by senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley in 2012, when the UPA-II was in power. Backed by then party chief Nitin Gadkari, Jaitley had claimed that pre-retirement judgments were influenced by the desire for a post-retirement job. Both had sought a two-year gap between a judge’s retirement and his subsequent appointment by the government.

Since a political party usually has one opinion when it’s in the Opposition and a contrasting one when it’s at the helm, it’s hardly surprising that Justice Ranjan Gogoi has been nominated to the Rajya Sabha, just four months after he retired as the Chief Justice of India (CJI). In fact, there is an air of inevitability about post-retirement sinecures for those holding constitutional positions.

The Congress, which is raising a hue and cry over Justice Gogoi’s nomination, is in no position to take the moral high ground as it had itself sent former CJI Ranganath Misra to the Upper House on the party ticket in 1998. It was the Justice Misra Commission of Inquiry, set up by the Congress government months after the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, that had given the clean chit to the party and dubbed the violence as a ‘spontaneous reaction of the people at large.’ Less than two years after he retired as the CJI, Justice Misra had been appointed the first chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission by the Narasimha Rao-led Congress dispensation. A cooling-off period alone, however, can’t make the judiciary impervious to the executive’s pulls and pressures. It all boils down to following the Constitution — invoked these days at the drop of a hat — in letter and spirit.

THE Chief Justice of India is ranked sixth in the warrant of precedence and he administers the oath of office to the President of India. The recent fall in prestige of a previous occupant of this high office has been singularly steep: from the majestic court room no. 1 to seat no. 104 in the sixth row of the Rajya Sabha, which erupted on Thursday in unprecedented cries of shame. A presidential nominee in the Rajya Sabha, be it Sachin Tendulkar or Raja Ramanna, normally evokes awe, and even admiration. Their entry into Parliament is a moment of celebration. But unfortunately, the oath-taking of former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi turned into an occasion for derision, with the Opposition walking out, alleging quid pro quo. The son of a former Congress Chief Minister, Gogoi cannot be a stranger to political barbs and bouquets, but this nomination has only brought disrepute to the judiciary and the legislature.

A judge’s reputation rests forever on his judgments and not in retirement sinecures. The late Arun Jaitley, while speaking in the very same Rajya Sabha as its Leader of Opposition, presciently pointed towards a grave danger: ‘The desire of a post-retirement job influences pre-retirement judgments. It is a threat to the independence of judiciary.’ Jaitley’s old concern, and Gogoi’s new controversy, ought to trigger a movement to institutionalise a permanent bar against post-retirement jobs for judges and those holding constitutional positions to avoid the ugly sight of a former Chief Election Commissioner shouting slogans or a former Comptroller and Auditor General of India rushing into the well of the House.

Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has put up a spirited defence against allegations by the Congress of the government compromising the judiciary’s integrity by quoting copious examples of Congress’s misdemeanours. But that is no justification because it is a sad fact that the Congress had dragged pliable constitutional functionaries through all possible legal loopholes. Gogoi’s own defence is weaker still. He is blaming the controversy on some ‘lobby’ of lawyers whom he had every opportunity to expose while he presided over the judiciary. This is a new low in our lowly public life.