Defence secy tests positive, quarantined
nNEWDELHI: Defence secretary Ajay Kumar has tested positive for Covid-19 and is under home quarantine, two people familiar with the development said on Wednesday on the condition of anonymity. Kumar got himself tested for Covid-19 after developing mild fever and was found to be infected, said one of the persons.
“He tested positive on Tuesday. His condition is stable and he will stay at home till he tests negative,” said another person.
A defence ministry spokesperson refused to comment on the matter.
Necessary contact tracing is being carried out in the case of the defence secretary to identify people he may have recently come in contact with and who may now be in the high-risk category, officials said.
Kumar is the first top government official to test positive for the disease.
The chief of defence staff and the three service chiefs may not have had direct contact with Kumar during the last four days, the officials added.
Defence minister Rajnath Singh did not attend office on Wednesday but it was not immediately known why. The minister is discharging his duties as usual, the officials said.
The first-floor section of the South Block in which the defence secretary has his office is being sanitised. All protocols are being followed. Nothing is being taken lightly, the officials said.
Several top officials have their offices on the first floor including the defence minister, the army chief, the navy chief and a string of bureaucrats.
This may not be a matter of worry. The OMCS (oil marketing companies) are basically dependent on cracks -- the difference in the prices of crude and petroleum products in the international markets -- for their profitability, and not on the crude prices alone. I would say that high volatility in prices is in nobody’s interest. India always looks for a reasonable and responsible
The prices of petrol and diesel depend on the prices of these products in the international markets. Then there is the 15-day cycle to take the moving average of these products to estimate prices in the domestic market. Although crude prices came down, the product prices did not come down by the same percentage. The cracks actually became negative, hurting the books of Indian OMCS.
The oil industry, too, was faced with an extraordinary situation. There were no takers for the crude being produced; the world literally ran out of storage space for the crude and petroleum products. The reduction in demand has led to a peculiar situation where product prices are less than the price of crude. These negative margins and low crude prices do not reflect the real economics of oil refining and the pricing of end products. The pandemic has had a huge impact on government revenue. Therefore, mopping up resources has become inevitable to deal with this unprecedented crisis.
Oil and gas sector play a predominant role, as over onethird of the energy required is met by hydrocarbons. A considerable part of the infrastructure for the government’s push to a gas-based economy, including untouched areas, is also being steered by CPSES (central public sector enterprises).
The government believes in creating a level playing field in which both public as well as
The main thrust of the steel ministry has been to bring in cost competitiveness, and thereby improve steel usage in India. The possible disruption in iron ore availability was addressed by policy changes enabling public sector captive units to carry out the market sale of the mineral, apart from ensuring a smooth carry over of regulatory permissions to new leaseholders post the auction. There has been a thrust to facilitate local industries for which the ISPS (integrated steel plants) of SAIL have come out with a programme to incentivise manufacturers.