Dance bars...

“Of the total 39 rules, only a few have been entirely or partially struck down. The Act has been upheld entirely, except the provision of separation of bar room from the dance floor, holding it as violation of the fundamental rights,” said an official from the home department, on condition of anonymity. “This means the amendment in the Act is not necessary as it would be against the spirit of the judgment. To ensure that dance bars do not reopen, change in the rules is sufficient.”

One of the rules the SC had overturned was of installing CCTVS inside bars. The state is now likely to make CCTVS compulsory at the entrance of the bars. The court had also struck down the rules of ‘looking at the character of person seeking the licence’, terming it “vague”. The senior official said the state plans to “better define” this rule.

The government, the official said, is likely to also bring down the distance between a dance bar and educational and medical institutions from 1km to 400-500 metres. The Apex Court had asked the state to fix a “reasonable distance”.

An official from the law and judiciary department said the fine of ₹25 lakh and imprisonment up to 3 years for violation of rules, and restriction to operate the bars between 6pm and 11.30pm was as it is sufficient to compel owners to keep bars shut. The SC had upheld the restriction on timings.

The home department, however, has sought legal opinion from Shekhar Naphade, its counsel representing the case in SC, before they tweak the rules.

In the past three weeks since the SC order, the state has so far not received any applications seeking permission to operate dance bars. 290,000 and 650,000 of them each year, estimates the World Health Organisation. In most cases, it causes symptoms of headache, fever, runny nose, cough and muscle pain, with people remaining undiagnosed and recovering within a week after using nonprescription medicines for fever and pain.

The seasonality of influenza is highly varied across India depending on latitude and environmental factors, shows data from past outbreaks. Influenza peaks in Srinagar from January to March, and in Delhi, Lucknow, Pune, Nagpur, Kolkata and Dibrugarh from July to September. Chennai and Vellore showed infection rising in October-november, coinciding with the monsoon months in these cities.

“For maximum protection, people in Srinagar should consider vaccinating in October and November, but people in the Gangetic plains and central India should vaccinate in May and June, and the southern states in August,” a scientist with the National Centre for Disease Control said on condition of anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

The worst outbreak in Delhi was in the year 2010 when 77 people died of the viral infection out of 2725 who had tested positive. nomic Research in a note on 5 February, expecting a repo cut of 25bps in April and June. One basis point is a hundredth of a percentage point.

However, Bank of America Merrill Lynch thinks the fiscal risks have been overdone.

“We are not particularly concerned that the Centre’s fiscal deficit is slightly above the fiscal path. In fact, fiscal deficit cuts have been nullified by a parallel tightening of liquidity. As a result, crowding out is rising. Despite lower fiscal deficits, this is keeping lending rates high,” it said in a note on 4 February.

In the current fiscal year, the RBI has raised the policy repo rate twice by 25bps each. It changed the monetary policy stance from ‘neutral’ to ‘calibrated tightening’ in the October policy review.