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Mumbai, May 14: The Shiv Sena on Thursday raised questions over the Centre's Rs 20 lakh crore stimulus package announced to revive the COVID-hit economy, and asked if India is not a "self-reliant" country at present.

An editorial in Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' wondered how Rs 20 lakh crore will be raised, and opined that an environment needs to be created where industrialists, trade and business sectors are encouraged to invest.

On the path of new self-reliance, India cannot afford industrialists running away, and for that "political institutions like the ED and CBI need to be put in lockdown for some time," it said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced new financial incentives on top of the previously announced packages for a combined stimulus of Rs 20 lakh crore, saying the COVID-19 crisis has provided India an opportunity to become self-reliant and emerge as the best in the world.

The Sena said the country is being told that the package will be beneficial for MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises), poor labourers, farmers and the tax-paying middle class.

"The package (as per the Centre) will reach 130 crore Indians and the country will become self-reliant. Does this mean India is not a self-reliant country at present?" the Marathi daily asked.

It is good that PPE kits and N95 masks are now being manufactured in India, it said.

"Any country progresses ahead while learning from crisis and through struggle. Before Independence, not even a needle was manufactured in India but in 60 years, India became self-reliant in science, technology, agro business, defence, manufacturing and atomic science," it said.

An institution like the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), which is helping in the manufacturing of PPE kits, is part of the self-reliant India, it noted.

Wondering how Rs 20 lakh crore, as announced in the central package, will be raised, the Sena said an "environment needs to be created where industrialists, trade and business sectors will be encouraged to invest".

"India, on path of new self-reliance, cannot afford industrialists running away, and for that political institutions like the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) need to be put in lockdown for some time," the paper said.

Despite announcing the 'lockdown-4' and the economic package, why its impact has not been reflected in the share market? it asked.

"Investors are in a dilemma. The prime minister and chief ministers must show them trust and support," it said.

"Earlier it was Pandit Nehru and now it is Modi. If (former prime minister) Rajiv Gandhi had not laid the foundation of a digital India, there wouldn't be video conference of PM, CMs and bureaucracy in times of coronavirus," the Uddhav Thackeray-led party said.

It agreed with Modi that coronavirus will stay for long, and lives need not revolve around it.

"We need to get back on our feet again," the Sena said.

Bharuch, Mar 5: Vijay Kumar, a resident of the Tamil Nadu has sought help from his friend Abdulkhuda Mohd Hanif Shaikh who is residing in Gujarat to build a temple in his village.

Abdulkhuda Mohd Hanif Shaikh, who also belongs to Tamil Nadu's Paraipatti village and has been residing in Gujarat' Bharuch for a decade has collected Rs 3 lakh from his friends as a donation to build the temple in Paraipatti village in Dindigul district.

"They'd told me 4 months ago and came to me 10 days back. From Vapi to Mehsana, there are several Madrasis, even here in the village too. I personally went to them and collected around Rs 3 Lakh," Shaikh said.

Vijay Kumar said that he stayed in Gujarat for ten days and collected Rs 3 Lakh with him.

"I had sought help from him. I stayed here in Gujarat for 10 days, and went with him from people to people and collected Rs 3 Lakh. No one lives like Hindus or Muslims in our village, everyone lives like friends," he said.

Eminent river engineer and former professor of civil engineering at IIT in the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) Prof. U.K. Choudhary has said that the judicious use of river technology can help resolve the Coronavirus crisis as well as the plight of Ganga river.

Choudhary, who is also founder of Ganga Research Centre at IIT (BHU), said: "The Ganga water contains a significantly higher proportion of bacteriophages - a kind of virus that kill bacteria. Our ancient scriptures like Vedas, Puranas and Upanishads say that Ganga jal is medicinal water. Scientists later found that Ganga water has bacteriophages capable of killing pathogens."

Explaining further, he said, "Let us analyze the source of bacteriophages. If we take three rivers of Himalayan origin having sources at different heights -the Ganga (Gomukh), Yamuna (Yamunotri) and the Sone river, we find the colours of waters are different. The whitish colour of Ganga water, greenish colour of Yamuna water and the brownish colour of Sone water is also indicative. As Gomukh is the highest among the three, its water comes from lowest depth of aquifer as compared to Yamunotri and Sone river," he explained.

Thus, the quality of river water is proportional to height of origin point. This defines the genetic character of Ganga water. The balanced flow of this water in entire length of the Ganga defines the medicinal property of Ganga water," he stated.

Prof Chaudhary said that the bacteriophages in the Ganga can curb the spread of coronavirus through soil, water and air.
He suggested that the idea is to preserve the medicinal value of Ganga water and to use it to fight Corona. He said that this can be done by opening the gates of all the dams and barrages in a way that the discharge through each is similar to the water at Gomukh. In this way, the concentration of bacteriophage will be enhanced in Ganga water making it more effective against pathogens.

"With increasing diffusion of bacteriophages in water and soil, the spread of Coronavirus will be impacted and reduced. This methodology and technique can also help maintain the quality of Ganga water later when the problem of Corona ends," he said.