05032022 first india ahmedabad

DefExpo-2022 postponed
due to logistics issues: MoD
First India Bureau
New Delhi: Premier de-
fence exhibition DefEx-
po-2022, which was pro-
posed to be held in Gan-
dhinagar between
March 10 and 14, has
been postponed as par-
ticipants are experienc-
ing problems related to
logistics, confirmed the
Ministry of Defence
(MoD), on Friday
.
The MoD had said on
February 22 that as
many as 973 exhibitors,
including 121 foreign ex-
hibitors from 63 coun-
tries, had registered for
Asia’slargestexhibition
of land,navalandhome-
land security systems.
Due to logistics prob-
lems being experienced
by participants, the Def-
Expo-2022proposedtobe
held in Gujarat from
March 10 till March 14 is
postponed, the MoD’s
spokesperson stated on
Twitter. The new dates
willbecommunicatedin
due course, the spokes-
person added.
This year’s DefExpo
wouldbethe12thedition
of the prestigious bien-
nial defence exhibition.
DefExpo-2022 was to
beheldinhybridformat,
with both in-person and
virtual stalls to ensure
greater engagement.
The exhibition is being
plannedinathreevenue
format — exhibition at
the Helipad Exhibition
Centre (HEC), events
and seminars at the Ma-
hatma Mandir Conven-
tion&ExhibitionCenter
(MMCEC) and live dem-
onstrations for the pub-
lic at Ahmedabad’s Sa-
barmati Riverfront.
It was to be held with
around 973 legislators
in Gandhinagar from
March 10 to 14
Centre
will
announce
new dates
for the
exhibition
soon.
AHMEDABAD l SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2022 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/79050 l Vol 3 l Issue No. 99
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The Haryana government on Friday introduced a Bill
in the state Assembly against religious conversion
through force, undue influence or allurement, trigger-
ing vociferous opposition from the Congress. Speaker
Gian Chand Gupta suspended Congress MLA Raghuvir.
HARYANA: UPROAR
IN ASSEMBLY
OVER BILL ON
ANTI-CONVERSION
Rishabh Pant was in fantastic form as India posted
357 for six in 85 overs at Stumps against Sri Lanka
on Day 1 of the ongoing first Test match at Mohali, on
Friday. The wicketkeeper-batter smashed 96 runs off
97 balls and narrowly missed out on a century.
IND VS SL TEST
DAY 1: PANT’S 96
POWERS INDIA TO
357/6 AT STUMPS
JUSTICE
SRIVASTAVA
TO BE ACTING
CJ OF RAJ HC
Jaipur: The senior
most judge of Ra-
jasthan High Court
Justice Manindra
Mohan Srivastava is
going to be the Acting
Chief Justice after the
sitting Chief Justice
Akil Kureshi retires on
Sunday. The Central
government issued a
notice to this effect on
Friday. Justice Srivas-
tava will take over the
charge on Monday and
will hold the position
till the time a full-time
Chief Justice is ap-
pointed. Hailing from
Bilaspur, he originally
belongs to Chhattis-
garh High Court. After
completing his Law
course from KR Law
College in Bilaspur, he
started his legal career
as a lawyer in Rajgarh.
He was transferred
from Chhattisgarh HC
to Rajasthan HC on
18th October last year.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi greets supporters during a roadshow for the seventh and last
phase of UP Assembly elections in Varanasi district on Friday. —PHOTO BT PTI
PM MODI ROADSHOW IN VARANASI
MANIPUR VOTES IN
SECOND PHASE TODAY
MANIPUR PHASE-2
22
Constituencies
06
Districts
8.3
lakh voters
92
Candidates in the fray
7AM
Polling begins
In 2017, Congress, which emerged as the single
largest party but was unable to form the government,
bagged eight out of 10 seats in Thoubal.
 The second phase of
polls to the 60-mem-
ber Manipur assembly
will be held for the 22
remaining seats on
Saturday with both the
ruling Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) and the
Congress claiming to
have an edge.
 EC has also ordered
re-polling at 12 polling
stations across five as-
sembly constituencies
in Manipur’s Chura-
chandpur, Imphal East,
and Kangpokpi districts
on Saturday.
IF NEEDED, AAP WILL JOIN HANDS WITH SP
TO OUST BJP FROM UP, SAYS SANJAY SINGH
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh said if needed,
his party is ready to join hands with the Samajwadi Party (SP)
to oust the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from Uttar Pradesh.
“Our government will be formed in Punjab. Uttarakhand and
Goa will also see positive results. AAP’s politics is reaching
the people...,” Sanjay Singh added.
Russia seizes Ukraine nuke plant
FIRE AT EUROPE’S LARGEST NUCLEAR POWER PLANT
POST RUSSIAN SHELLING; 3 KILLED, 2 WOUNDED
UN HUMAN
RIGHTS PANEL TO
PROBE VIOLATIONS BY
RUSSIANS IN UKRAINE
1
NO DAMAGE TO
REACTORS AT
UKRAINE NUCLEAR
PLANT AFTER RUSSIAN
SHELLING, SAYS UN
ATOMIC CHIEF
2
HEAVY FIGHTING
CONTINUES ON
OUTSKIRTS OF
STRATEGIC PORT CITY
ON THE AZOV SEA,
MARIUPOL
3
ENTIRE STAFF
OF RUSSIAN TV
CHANNEL RESIGNS
LIVE ON-AIR
4
R
ussian military
forces have
seized the Zapor-
izhzhia nuclear power
plant - Europe’s largest
- in Ukraine’s southeast,
the regional state ad-
ministrationsaidonFri-
day
. Earlier in the day
, a
fire broke out in Zapor-
izhzhya, according to an
announcement from the
mayor of the nearby
town of Enerhodar. “As
a result of continuous
enemy shelling of build-
ings and units of the
largest nuclear power
plant in Europe, the
Zaporizhzhia nuclear
power plant is on fire,”
Enerhodar Mayor
Dmytro Orlov said.
Meanwhile, at least
1,000 Indians - 700 in
Sumyand300inKharkiv
-arestillstrandedincon-
flict zones in eastern
Ukraine, the MEA said.
Fire at the Zaporizhzhia
nuclear power plant in Ukraine.
A woman crouches down in the doorway of a blue
and yellow train at a station in Kyiv, Ukraine’s
embattled capital city. Her husband stands on the
platform below and cranes his neck up for a kiss
that both hope will not be their last. —AP News
MAIN TENU
FIR MILANGI
300 SHOTS FIRED, 280 RUSSIAN TANKS GONE
WITH US MISSILES IN UKRAINIAN HANDS
The Ukrainian military fighting the much larger Russian inva-
sion force has been able to kill hundreds of Russian tanks
and armoured vehicles
using a hand-held anti-tank
missile supplied by the US,
according to a US journal-
ist who has been tracking
the war in the east Euro-
pean nation. At least 280
Russian armoured vehicles
have been destroyed with the American Javelin missile, out
of 300 shots fired, journalist Jack Murphy said in an article.
INDIAN STUDENT
SHOT AT IN KYIV
An Indian student was shot
at in Ukraine capital Kyiv,
Union Minister VK Singh
said, days after another stu-
dent died in Russian shelling
in the city of Kharkiv. The
student was trying to escape
Kyiv and was wounded in
firing, according to the min-
ister. He was taken back into
the city and is in hospital.
3 ASSASSINATION
ATTEMPTS IN WEEK
ON UKRAINE PREZ
Ukraine’s President Volody-
myr Zelensky has survived
three assassination attempts
since the Russian invasion
began last week, reports
said. The reports said that
two different assassination
groups were sent to kill the
Zelensky - the Wagner group
and Chechen rebels.
GOVT TO SC: 17,000
INDIANS EVACUATED
As the Supreme Court ex-
pressed concern for the lives
of students caught in the
middle of the conflict zone
in Ukraine, the Centre said
that government efforts have
resulted in a swift evacua-
tion of 17,000 Indians from
Ukraine. A bench headed by
CJI NV Ramana asked gov-
ernment to open helplines.
‘BODY TAKES MORE
SPACE ON FLIGHT’
Amid a lack of clarity as to
when the mortal remains
of Naveen, the Karnataka
student killed in Ukraine,
will be brought back to his
hometown, BJP MLA Arvind
Bellad has stoked a contro-
versy by saying that more
people can be accommo-
dated on a plane in the space
taken up by a dead body.
‘NO RADIATION
RELEASE AT
UKRAINE PLANT’
The chief of the United
Nations’ nuclear
watchdog International
Atomic Energy Agency
director-general Rafael
Mariano Grossi said said
there was no release of
radiation at the Ukrainian
nuclear plant that was
targeted by the Russian
forces on Friday.
US Secretary of State
Antony J Blinken (R),
speaks with European
Union foreign policy
chief Josep Borrell
during an extraordinary
NATO foreign ministers
meeting at NATO head-
quarters in Brussels on
Friday as Russia’s war
on Ukraine entered its
ninth day on Friday.
56 dead, 194 hurt in Peshawar blast
Peshawar (Agencies):
A suicide bomber
struck inside a Shiite
Muslim mosque in Pa-
kistan’s northwestern
city of Peshawar dur-
ingFridayprayers,kill-
ing at least 56 worship-
pers and wounding 194
people, hospital offi-
cials said.
No militant group
immediately claimed
responsibility for the
attack.BoththeIslamic
State group and the Pa-
kistaniTaliban–amili-
tant group separate
from the Taliban in Af-
ghanistan – have car-
ried out similar attacks
in the past in the area,
located near the border
with neighboring Af-
ghanistan. The explo-
sion occurred as wor-
shippers gathered in
KuchaRisaldarmosque
for Friday prayers.
A victim being shifted from the site of bomb explosion.
FRIDAY PRAYERS
HORROR AT MASJID
Peshawar Police Chief
Muhammed Ejaz Khan
said the violence started
when two armed attackers
opened fire on police
outside the mosque in Pe-
shawar’s old city. One at-
tacker and one policeman
were killed in the gunfight,
and another police of-
ficial was wounded. The
remaining attacker then
ran inside the mosque
and detonated a bomb.
Scores of victims were
peppered with shrapnel
while several had limbs
amputated.
SEPTEMBER 13, 1969 - MARCH 4, 2022
WARNE
IS GONE!
Former Australian cricketer and spin bowling
legend Shane Warne has died at the age of 52
years, due to a “suspected heart attack”
according to a statement issued by his
management company on Friday evening
REDEFINING SPIN
BOWLING LIKE
NEVER BEFORE,
SHANE WARNE WAS
ARGUABLY AMONGST
THE GREATEST
BOWLERS EVER TO
PLAY THE GAME
BALL OF THE
CENTURY
Warne delivered ‘ball
of the century’ to Mike
Gatting in the Ashes
series of 1993. A
cracking leg break that
spun from well outside
leg to clip the off bail
even as the batsman
offered no stroke.
TESTS
145
Matches
708
Wickets
3,154
Runs scored
ODIs
194
Matches
293
Wickets
1,018
Runs scored
Warne had revealed last year that while he was battling Covid-19,
there came a stage when he had to be put on a ventilator.
CORONA CATASTROPHE
Gujarat A’bad
NEW
CASES
39
NEW
CASES
96 NEW
DEATHS
00

NEWS
AHMEDABAD | SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2022
02
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First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: Oppo-
sition party Congress
staged a walkout in the
Gujarat Legislative As-
sembly on Friday after
senior party legislator
Punja Vansh was sus-
pended for seven days
for using unparliamen-
tary words against
Minister of State for
Home Harsh Sanghavi.
Though Vansh had
tendered an apology
and withdrew his
words as directed by
Speaker Nimaben
Acharya, the ruling
Bharatiya Janata Par-
ty (BJP) insisted on his
suspension for using a
derogatory word for
the minister during
the Question Hour.
Not satisfied with
the replies given by
state Agriculture Min-
ister Raghavji Patel
during the Question
Hour, Congress MLA
Naushad Solanki sat
on the floor of the
House.
Following this, Sang-
havi had asked him not
to indulge in such hoo-
liganism and stated
that the House was not
a Congress party of-
fice.
Angered by the re-
mark, senior MLA
Vansh asked Sanghavi
to refrain from using
such language, and fur-
ther accused the minis-
ter of using ‘tapori’
language in the House,
which the BJP found
derogatory and unpar-
liamentary. Comparing
the state home minis-
ter with a ‘tapori’ (vag-
abond) led to a huge
uproar in the House.
As directed by the
Speaker, Vansh later
apologized and with-
drew his remarks.
After the Question
Hour, Chief Whip Pan-
kaj Desai brought a
motion to suspend
Vansh for seven days
for using unparliamen-
tary words.
Education Minister
Jitu Vaghani support-
ed the BJP govern-
ment’s motion, while
Deputy Leader of Op-
position Shailesh Par-
mar objected to it and
urged the treasury
bench to withdraw the
motion, as Vansh had
already apologized as
directed by the Speak-
er. His contention was
supported by Congress
Chief Whip CJ Chavda.
However, senior BJP
MLAs Nitin Patel and
Pradipsinh Jadeja sup-
ported the proposal, al-
leging that Congress
MLAs had the habit of
using such words in
the House and they
must not be allowed to
get away by merely ten-
dering an apology. “De-
spite being a senior
member of the House,
Punja Vansh has re-
peatedly uttered such
words and violated the
decorum of the House,
right from its com-
mencement. I too sup-
port this (Desai’s) pro-
posal,” said former
deputy CM Nitin Patel.
The Speaker sup-
ported the BJP’s views,
saying the dignity of
the House must not be
violated.
After the motion to
suspend Vansh for sev-
en days got cleared
through voice vote, all
the 50-odd Congress
MLAs walked out of
the House and did not
return till the end of
the day’s session as a
mark of protest.
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: The
Gujarat High Court
has released the
cash and goods con-
fiscated by the
Goods and Service
Tax (GST) depart-
ment after delay in
issuance of show
cause notice beyond
the statutory time
period.
A division bench
comprising Justice
Sonia Gokani and Jus-
tice Hemant M Prach-
chhak observed, at the
hearing on Friday, “It
is quite unfathomable
as to why the time
limit is not be-
ing adhered
to and issu-
ance of the
show cause
notice has
been de-
layed be-
yond the statu-
tory time peri-
od. Hence, in-
t e r v e n t i o n
will be nec-
essary at
the end of
this court
proceed-
ing in
cogni-
zance of the respond-
ents’ rights to initiate
adjudication process
afresh in accordance
with law.”
The petitioner is a
sole proprietor of
Surat-based
J B M
Textiles, engaged in
the business of tex-
tile trading and ex-
ports. After receiv-
ing credible infor-
mation, the Directo-
rate of Revenue In-
t e l l i - g e n c e
( D R I )
h a d
conducted searches
at the office prem-
ises of the petition-
er. Officials had re-
covered Rs36 lakh
cash belonging to
the petitioner and
his family members
as well as two mo-
bile phones, which
were all seized.
The petitioner
averred that the DRI
had failed to issue any
notice to him under
Section 124 of the Cus-
toms Act and that 19
months had elapsed
since the seizure. “No
notice had been
issued within
the stipulat-
ed period of
six months
as statuto-
rily pre-
scribed.
The seized
cash and
m o b i l e
p h o n e s
should be
retur ned
to the peti-
tioner and
his fami-
ly,” advo-
cated the
d e f e n d -
ant’s law-
yer.
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: The Gu-
jarat High Court on
Friday issued notices
to a crime branch po-
lice inspector,
Ahmedabad police
commissioner and di-
rector general of po-
lice regarding a
trademark dispute
case. The court asked
them to file their re-
sponses before the
next hearing.
Chartered Account-
ant Sunil Maloo had
moved an application
through Advocate
Vishal Dave with a
prayer to direct the
Ahmedabad Crime
Branch to ascertain if
there was a cognizable
offence. “Police should
register a case against
him or close the case,”
said the defendant’s
lawyer.
The petitioner and
his partner had been
running an account
consultancy firm, but
disputes cropped up be-
tween them which led
to the breakup of the
partnership. After part-
ing ways, they fought
over trademark rights
of their company. The
former partner had
filed an application be-
fore the crime branch
and police have already
recorded the petition-
er’s statement. “More
than 10 months have
passed since then and
till date the open or pre-
liminary inquiry has
not been concluded or
reached any logical con-
clusion,” said Dave.
Presenting his plea,
the lawyer said, “His
prayer is that if an
inquiry discloses the
commission of a cog-
nizable FIR, then it
must be registered. In
cases where prelimi-
nary inquiry ends of-
fence, while closing
the complaint, a copy
of the entry of such
closure must be sup-
plied to the first in-
formant forthwith
and not later than one
week. It must disclose
reasons in brief for
closing the complaint
and not proceeding
further.”
He asked the court to
stay further open or
preliminary inquiry till
the petition is deliber-
ated upon by it.
CONG MLAS STAGE WALKOUT TO
PROTEST VANSH’S SUSPENSION
SENIOR LEGISLATOR WAS ACCUSED
OF USING ‘TAPORI’ LANGUAGE BY
RULING BJP BENCH IN THE HOUSE
MLA Punja Vansh
Gujarat Legislative Assembly. —FILE PHOTO
First India Bureau
Vadodara: In order to
issue a warning to flow-
er and fruit vendors
near the Khanderao
Market in the city, Va-
dodara Mayor Keyur
Rokadia went to the lo-
cation and interacted
with them on Friday
. He
informed them of the
impending encroach-
ment removal action of
local authorities and
told them not to set up
shop as it led to traffic
jams at odd hours.
According to locals,
the market is abuzz
with activity each
morning and residents
as well small-time trad-
ers from surrounding
villages come there to
buy flowers and fruits
in bulk. However, the
vendors they purchase
goods from sit on the
road, which ends up
hindering traffic flow
and leads to frequent
jams.
The mayor, accompa-
nied by Vadodara Mu-
nicipal Corporation
(VMC) councillors, en-
croachment director
Mangesh Jaiswal, and
other ward officers vis-
ited the spot and issued
strict warnings to ven-
dors. Addressing them,
Rokadia said, “None of
your set-ups will be
cleared from the road
today, but if you linger
even after this warning,
all your goods will be
seized by authorities on
March 05.”
He also encouraged
them to approach the
administration through
proper channels and get
their issues resolved, if
required.
Narrating their
plight, the vendors in-
formed the mayor that
they travel from nearby
villages to conduct
business for their liveli-
hood, but are forced to
do that on the road.
They demanded that a
designated space be al-
located to them for busi-
ness.
However, Rokadia
sympathized with their
problem but also insist-
ed that they remove the
encroachment on the
road and warned of ac-
tion against them if
they do not comply
with the orders by
March 05.
Rokadia warns fruit, flower vendors against encroachment on road
STRICT FOREWARNING
Vadodara Mayor Mayur Rokadia interacting with a vendor during his inspection.
Informs them of action by
VMC officials if they do not
remove their makeshift ‘shops’
near Khanderao Market
GST dept ordered to release
cash,goods seized in raid
HC issues notices to DGP,A’bad
PI, Comm over trademark case
Court blamed officials for
failing to issue show cause
notice to the petitioner
within the stipulated
6-month period
Gujarat High Court. —FILE PHOTO

GUJARAT
03
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: Meghani-
nagar police on Thurs-
day evening arrested an
eve teaser before he
could make a minor girl
from the city a victim.
The stalker had been fol-
lowing and chasing the
girlforthepastfewdays.
On Thursday evening,
he forcibly entered the
minor girl’s home
prompting her mother
to file a complaint at
Meghaninagar police
station.
Reva (name changed),
a collegian, lived with
her family in Meghani-
nagar area. For the past
few days, she had been
followed by the accused
BobbyNadiyawhenever
she stepped out for per-
sonal or family errands.
He pestered her to speak
to him and when she
disagreed, he abused
her.
On Thursday after-
noon,Bobbywalkedinto
Reva’sresidence,started
abusing her and also
threatened to kill her.
And if this was not
enough, he took all his
clothes off and stood
bare in the presence of
Reva and her mother.
His actions compelled
the victim’s mother to
inform the police, fol-
lowing which, Meghani-
nagar police rushed to
the residence and ar-
rested Bobby
.
This incident comes
on the heels of three in-
cidentsinvolvingyouths
harbouring unrequited
love for young girls. An
unrequitedloverkilleda
teen girl a few days ago
in Ahmedabad; two oth-
er victims --one in Gan-
dhinagar and another in
Gir Somnath—were
harmed by youths in
similar incidents. Both
victims sustained seri-
ousinjuriesbutsurvived
their ordeal. Police man-
aged to nab the accused
in all three cases.
Ahmedabadpolicearrest
eveteaserfor‘stripshow’
Muslims of Udhana want
space for local graveyard
GirlsinVNSGUhostellamentlack
ofsecurity,filepolicecomplaint
First India Bureau
Surat: Residents of Ud-
hana area of Surat on
Friday gathered at the
Collectorate office to
submit a petition for al-
lotment of land for a
graveyard to be used by
the Muslim community
.
They asked that their
demand be met in 30
days failing which, the
community will leave
corpses on the road.
Dr Aheshan Ansari,
one of the dissenters,
said, “Due to lack of
cemeteries within Ud-
hana and Bhestan are-
as, people are being
forced to travel to Navs-
ari for burials. The mid-
dle-class and under-
privileged groups can-
not afford such ex-
pense.”
Officials at the collec-
torate claimed that
there was no space for a
graveyard but promised
to auction land when it
becomes available. “If
they wish to, they can
establish a graveyard
by taking land. We usu-
ally deduct 40% of the
total auctioned land
from land owners and
later use it to set up a
school garden, hospital,
playground and even a
cemetery,” said an offi-
cial.
First India Bureau
Surat: Female students
housed in the girls hos-
tel of the Veer Narmad
South Gujarat Univer-
sity (VNSGU) have
lodged police com-
plaints against eve-
teasing miscreants who
station themselves at
the entrance gate at
night. Two such cases
have been reported to
Umra police station re-
cently but, no action
has been initiated by
officials yet. “Even se-
curity has not been
stepped up for us at the
entrance or outside the
hostel. There are
around 300 girls staying
in the hostel,” said a
source
According to sourc-
es, a girl had com-
plained about the
youths roaming around
the hostel at night to
the warden last week.
Earlier, a girl had re-
ported that one of the
miscreants had tried to
grab her while entering
the hostel through the
gate. Initially, the war-
den tried to tackle the
situation in-house but
later approached Umra
police to lodge a com-
plaint.
On condition of ano-
nymity, one of the stu-
dents narrated her
plight, “It has been
hard for us to cross the
hostel gate. There are
two gates and neither
of them have proper se-
curity. Most of the girls
are too scared to come
forward and complain.
After the complaints, a
few cops arrived and
took statements from
some of the victims
but, security is still not
up to the mark,” she
said.
Incidentally, the uni-
versity vice-chancel-
lor’s residence is right
next to the girls hostel
and boasts of a two-lay-
er security cover. While
the girls hostel has
been provided private
security, it remains un-
available sometimes.
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: The
‘UNICEF on Campus
Knowledge Initiative’
was launched at Pandit
Deendayal Energy Uni-
versity (PDEU) on
Thursday. The initia-
tive aims to empower
the younger generation
by increasing their
awareness of child
rights and sustainable
development goals pre-
scribed by the United
Nations (UN).
United Nations Inter-
national Children’s
Emergency Fund
(UNICEF) and PDEU
will engage students on
campuses regarding is-
sues that impact socie-
ty. The Centre for Com-
munication of Child
Rights (CCCR), a
UNICEF-PDEU initia-
tive, will execute the
project and take it fur-
ther to other campuses
in the state.
Speaking at the
launch of the event,
Moira Dawa, Communi-
cation Specialist,
UNICEF said, “This ini-
tiative is a first-of-its-
kind by UNICEF in Gu-
jarat. It provides an op-
portunity for children
and young people to in-
crease their awareness
about child rights and
sustainable develop-
ment goals. We will en-
gage and capacitate stu-
dents of PDEU on is-
sues that impact their
lives so they can be
champions and advo-
cates for child rights
and take this message
far and wide through
their on-the-ground
campaigns and digital
activation. We plan to
take this initiative to
schools and universi-
ties across Gujarat.”
In his inaugural ad-
dress, Director General
of PDEU, Prof S Mano-
haran, said, “I am glad
to learn that this initia-
tive is taking shape for
students of PDEU. It
will only help them in
understanding the post-
COVID-19 scenario in a
better manner in addi-
tion to fulfilling the
mantra of ‘Think Glob-
al Act Local’.
‘UNICEF on Campus Knowledge Initiative’ launched
RAISING AWARENESS
Pandit Deendayal Energy University. —FILE PHOTO
Expert sessions on adolescent &
mental health, climate action, art
for change will be held at PDEU
Horse-riding gains
popularity in
Vadodara as police
train citizens
First India Bureau
Vadodara: After re-
ceiving basic train-
ing from the mount-
ed police department
at the Pratapnagar
police headquarters,
Ramanand Gandevi-
kar of Vadodara has
purchased two hors-
es to train in ad-
vanced riding.
He trained in basic
horseback riding 15
years ago, and when
city police began
training citizens in
the activity recently,
it inspired him to en-
roll for advanced
training. “Due to
availability of space,
I purchased two Mar-
wari breed horses,
and training with
them has helped me
in pursuing my hob-
by,” he told First In-
dia.
He believes that af-
ter completing basic
training, an ad-
vanced course in
horseback riding
should be the next
step. “Anyone can
ride a horse indepen-
dently with basic
training. This train-
ing covers a variety
of vital skills, such
as how to care for a
horse, horse riding
equipment, how to
feed a horse, how to
place a foot in a sad-
dle, and so on,” in-
formed Gandevikar.
Vadodara city po-
lice have initiated
numerous pro-
grammes for women
as part of its Surak-
sha Setu programme,
including self-de-
fence and rifle train-
ing. Horseback rid-
ing instruction is one
such popular activity
.
This training is pro-
vided at a very rea-
sonable cost and has
been receiving great
feedback from citi-
zens.
“The training is
being conducted at
the Pratapnagar po-
lice headquarters,”
says Police Sub-In-
spector Ghanshyam
Singh N Jadeja of the
mounted police
branch. “Six horses
are available, as com-
pared to the 11 that
have been sanc-
tioned. So far, 92 peo-
ple have been trained
in three batches. An-
other 35 will receive
training in the fourth
batch,” he explained.
Students being instructed by police personnel during a
lesson.
Udhana residents outside Vadodara Collectorate on Friday.
Veer Narmad South Gujarat University. —FILE PHOTO
Gargi Raval Patel
Gandhinagar: The
state government on
Friday tabled details of
the Ahmedabad-Gan-
dhinagar Metro Rail
project in the assembly
session held on Friday
.
The auditor presented
that land admeasuring
around 20 hectares for
the project was ques-
tionable in nature. He
deemed the govern-
ment’s records as in-
complete and stated
that some documents
werenotavailable.Inci-
dentally, these revela-
tions were put forth on
a day when the House
passed the Land Grab-
bing Prohibition
Amendment Act, 2022.
During the ongoing
budget session of the
Gujarat state assembly
,
the urban development
department tabled the
11thGujaratMetroRail
Corporation (GMRC)
Limited’s (GMRCL) an-
nual report for the year
2020-21.
According to the in-
dependent auditor’s
report, it was observed
that the GMRC did not
have valid documents
of the title deeds of
freehold land situated
atsurveynumber525at
Kathwada,Vastralarea
of Ahmedabadadmeas-
uring 18,000 square me-
tres which comes to
around two hectares.
Its market value as on
March 2021 was
Rs16,82,50,000.
The auditor also not-
ed that land situated at
final plot number 56
and 285 at Ahmedabad
Apparel Park (SEZ) ad-
measuring 17.62 hec-
tares was allotted by
the Gujarat Industrial
Development Corpora-
tion (GIDC) to the Met-
rocompanyforthecon-
struction of a depot.
However, the mode of
transfer of this land
from GIDC to the com-
pany has not been de-
cided by the govern-
ment of Gujarat. “The
landtransferisunques-
tionable,” he men-
tioned in the report.
The Ahmedabad-
Gandhinagar Metro
Rail project has been a
dream project of then
Gujarat Chief Minister
Narendra Modi, but it
has yet to see the light
of the day
. It was con-
ceptualized in 2003 and
the project was put on
paper in 2005. And, 16
years on, the project is
yet to see materializa-
tion. Despite several
route changes, the Cor-
poration has been able
to run only the pilot
metro stretch of six
kilometres in
Ahmedabad,whichciti-
zens treat as a joyride.
‘Govt records of Metro Rail
land parcels incomplete’
Presenting
reportofan
independent
auditor,the
urbandevlpmt
deptrevealed
factsinthe
House
Installation of the escalator of one of the metro stations underway in Ahmedabad.
NO DATA
1,109
39 MAX
CASES IN
A’BAD
ACTIVE CASES
12,11,087
TOTAL RECOVERED
237
RECOVERED
IN A DAY
10,934
TOTAL DEATHS
00 DEATHS
IN A DAY
12,23,130
TOTAL CASES
96 CASES
IN A DAY
COVID-19 UPDATE
Students have
been facing
harassment
from youths
who roam near
the entrance at
night
Bobby Nadiya
showed up at the
home of the girl
he liked and
took all his
clothes off before
her mother
—PHOTO BY HANIF SINDHI

PERSPECTIVE
04
General Vijay Kumar Singh
@Gen_VKSingh
Probably the cutest living testament
of #OperationGanga in the future
will be a little girl from Kerala by the
name of ‘Ganga’.Here is wishing the
expecting parents and child who is
soon to be born into this world, the
very best.
#NoIndianLeftBehind
Dr Mansukh Mandaviya
@mansukhmandviya
Over 2 crore healthcare & frontline
workers and citizens aged 60 years or
above have received Precaution Dose.
I request all those who are eligible to
get their Precaution Dose at the earliest.
#SabkoVaccineMuftVaccine
TOP TWEETS
lVol3lIssueNo.99
l RNINO.GUJENG/2019/79050.
Printed and published by Anita
Hada Sangwan on behalf of First Ex-
press Publishers. Printed at Bhaskar
Printing Planet Survey No.148P,
Changodar-Bavla Highway, Tal. San-
and, Dist. Ahmedabad. Publishedat
D/3023rdFloorPlotNo.35Titanium
Square,SchemeNo.2,ThaltejTaluka,
Ghatlodiya,Ahmedabad.
Editor-In-Chief: Jagdeesh Chandra.
Editor: Haresh Jhala
responsible for selection of news
under the PRB Act
SPIRITUAL SPEAK
You have the right to work, but
never to the fruit of work. You
should never engage in action for
the sake of reward, nor should
you long for inaction. Perform
work in this world, Arjuna, as a
man established within himself -
without selfish attachments, and
alike in success and defeat.
—Bhagavad Gita
IN-DEPTH
EXPECTING KOHLI
MAGIC TO REVIVE AT
MOHALI FOR 100TH
TEST CENTURY
irat Kohli is playing
in his landmark
100th Test at Mohali.
His first innings out-
ing may have fallen
short of the expectation of spec-
tators especially for this first
Test against Sri Lanka, but that
does not make Kohli any less leg-
endary than we know him to be.
En route to his 100th Test he
broke quite a few records and led
India to the pinnacle not only
with his masterful batting but
also leadership. With his young
teammates, Kohli transformed
his squad into a fighting unit
which bounced from being one-
Test down to win the series to
stun Australia and England. His
27 hundreds in Tests are only
three short of 30 each by Sunil
Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar.
Even if Kohli is unable to hit
a ton in his 100th because of a
lean patch, one must not forget
that even Tendulkar had to wait
for the coveted mark. He has age
and the steely resolve for slam-
ming the hundredth hundred.
V
ndia has ab-
stained from vot-
ing against Russia
yet again reflect-
ing its quandary
for doing a balancing act be-
tween Russia and the United
States. On Friday, India ab-
stained from voting on set-
ting up an independent inter-
national inquiry commission
on rights violations by Russia
in Ukraine. The UN Human
Rights Council’s draft vote
was adopted with 32 votes in
favour, two against and 13 ab-
stentions which included In-
dia, China and Pakistan.
India abstained from vot-
ing against Russia in the UN
General Assembly on
Wednesday. The UNGA vote
was to condemn Russia for
its invasion of Ukraine. It
was one of the 35 countries
which abstained. New Delhi
also stayed away from the
UN Security Council vote to
“deplore in the strongest
terms” the Russian aggres-
sion against Ukraine.
By no logic this can be
termed a non-aligned stand
but the US has no option but
to accept India’s soft tilt to-
wards Moscow. This was obvi-
ous from the Quad meeting
which Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi addressed virtually
.
There were no signs of differ-
ences over India’s stand on
Ukraine as Quad has a differ-
ent target in its cross-hairs.
India, however, could face a
tricky situation if Russia
weretotapIranforoilthrough
the Chabahar port which, it is
understood, India has been
unable to complete for some
reasons. It is a strategically
important port and India has
to watch out for China grab-
bing control of the port.
India has justified its stand
by stressing that “there is no
other choice but to return to
the path of diplomacy and dia-
logue”. Given the situation,
dialogue is the only hope.
GIVING DIALOGUE A
CHANCE FOR PEACE
It is a strategically
important port and India
has to watch out for
China grabbing control
of the port. India has
justified its stand by
stressing that “there is
no other choice but to
return to the path of
diplomacy & dialogue”
I
ven as it is being claimed that
the death of student activist
AnisKhanisbeingpoliticized,
somestudents’unionsinWest
Bengal have joined hands to
protest and seek justice.
Anis died at his home in
Howrah district early on Feb-
ruary 19. The student activ-
ist’s death has triggered
widespread protest at Aliah
University in Kolkata, where
Anis was studying an inte-
grated five-year MBA course.
Anis was actively involved
in protests.
WHAT HIS DAD SAID:
Anis had apparently reached
home late after attending an
Islamic programme which is
referred to as jalsa in the lo-
cal parlance. Around 1am,
Salem Khan, Anis’ dad, heard
a knock on the door.
Salem said he saw four
men (but they were “six to
seven” as per Anis’ brother
Shabir!) who were asking for
Anis. They were “wearing
khaki uniform”, his dad had
said. They “informed” Salem
(as per Salem) that they were
policemen and needed to
speak to Anis. Salem goes on
to say after he opened the
door, one person flashed “a
gun on his temple” while the
rest went inside to look for
Anis, Salem had said this
which was widely reported
in the media.
Salem goes on to say… af-
ter he (Salem) let them in,
they began hitting all in the
family
. He had also said these
people vandalised the house
while looking for Anis, who
was sleeping upstairs. When
these men found him (Anis),
they started beating him
also… Salem had said. The
men had “dragged Khan to
the under-construction sec-
ond floor”… his brother had
mentioned.
Anis’ brother Shabir al-
leged that he had heard Anis’
“struggle” with these per-
sons… though his dad had not
mentioned this… and then
everything was over after the
soundcamethatrockedthem,
the family alleged.
Trinamool Congress stu-
dents’ wing on Monday, took
out a rally in the city protest-
ing against the alleged ef-
forts by Opposition Left and
other organisations to politi-
cise the mysterious death of
student leader Anis Khan.
Trinamool Chhatra Pari-
shad state President Trinan-
kur Bhattacharya, Trina-
mool Youth Congress leader
Debangshu Bhattacharya
were in the forefront of the
rally, in which thousands of
students walked 4 km from
Ramlila Maidan at Entally to
Mayo Road.
“Despite the ordering of a
probe by a special investigat-
ing team in the Anis Khan
death and initiatives to con-
duct a fast investigation by
the TMC government, the Op-
position Left and some other
organisations are trying to
politicise Anis’ unfortunate
death. They are trying to cre-
ate lawlessness and are insti-
gating his family and locals
not to cooperate with the SIT
for political reasons,” Trinan-
kur Bhattacharya had said.
The left students’ wing and
CPI-M had alleged that uni-
formed police personnel
from Amta were behind his
death and demanded the ar-
rest of the officer in-charge
of Amta police station and
action against the SP (Rural)
Howrah.
Meanwhile, Uluberia Dak-
shin MLA and West Bengal
minister Pulak Roy met the
father of Anis at his Amta
residence and later told re-
porters “Vested interests are
trying to mislead the family
and derail the SIT probe for
political reasons. But we
want the truth to come out.
We are with the family
.”
Two persons - a civic vol-
unteer and a home guard at-
tached with Amta police sta-
tion – have been arrested by
the SIT and their custodial
interrogation is on, director
general of police Manoj
Malviya had said.
Anis’ septuagenarian fa-
ther Salem Khan said he
could not see the man in po-
lice uniform in the test iden-
tification parade but assured
that he will cooperate in the
SIT probe as directed by Cal-
cutta High Court.
However, according to
Amta Police, no cops were
sent to his (Anis’) house for
anykindof probe/arrest.The
police have suspected foul
play in the entire episode.
Meanwhile, an SIT, prob-
ing the death case, exhumed
the body for a second autopsy
on Monday in the presence of
a district judge in Amta area
of Howrah district. The Cal-
cutta HC had ordered the sec-
ond post-mortem.
Officials said that the pro-
cess (of exhumation) started
around 12.30 pm. A team of
(three) doctors is supposed to
perform the autopsy at SSKM
Hospital. The second autopsy
will help the SIT estimate the
height and angle at which the
late student activist fell.
On February 23, the SIT
had tried to exhume the body
but had to return without do-
ing so after irate villagers
had stopped it and raised slo-
gans against them.
Last week, home guard
Kashinath Bera and civic po-
lice volunteer Pritam Bhat-
tacharya who were on duty at
Amta police station on Febru-
ary 19 were arrested. The two
arrested policemen said they
are being made scapegoats.
Anis was the state general
secretary of the All-India
Students Federation (AISF)
earlier, he had “reportedly”
joined the Indian Secular
Front led by Abbas Siddique.
The Chief Minister, Mama-
ta Banerjee had earlier or-
dered a SIT probe, which is
supposed to place its report
soon. Meanwhile, Kolkata
Mayor Firhad Hakim alleged
“a deep-rooted conspiracy
.”
Students of Aliah Univer-
sity… supported by Jadavpur
University students as well as
several progressive and dem-
ocratic forces, have hit the
streets to protest Anis’ death.
In Kolkata, these students
carried out marches from
Aliah University and culmi-
nated at the seven-roads
crossing of Park Circus.
Anis’ murder has reunited
students of different campus-
es. Raising slogans of Azadi,
these students who had re-
cently participated in the pro-
test rally against Karnataka’s
hijabrow,arenowdemanding
free and fair investigation.
Student activists have also
visited the bereaved family
members and assured them
assistance.
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY
THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL
Students’ Unions claim, counter-
claim over activist’s death
E
Salem said he saw four men
(but they were “six to seven”
as per Anis’ brother Shabir!)
who were asking for Anis.
They were “wearing khaki
uniform”, his dad had said.
They “informed” Salem that
they were policemen &
needed to speak to Anis.
After he e opened the
door, one person flashed “a
gun on his temple”
Two persons- a civic
volunteer & a home
guard attached with
Amta police station, have
been arrested by the
SIT and their custodial
interrogation is on,
director general of police
Manoj Malviya had said.
Anis’ septuagenarian
father Salem Khan said
he couldn’t see the man
in police uniform in test
identification parade
ROBIN ROY
The writer is Senior Associate Editor,
Free Press Journal, Mumbai and
former Managing Editor, First India

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New Delhi (Agencies):
Speakin has announced
its first-of-a-kind initia-
tive to recognise ten
most distinguished IAS
officers who have creat-
ed impact and inspira-
tion beyond the call of
duty
. Speakin is Asia’s
largest network of ex-
perts and thought lead-
ers bringing the best of
knowledge and leaders
to the forefront. The
award ceremony will be
organised on March 19,
2022.
IAS officers recog-
nised by Speakin for
various skills and
achievements included:
Amitabh Kant (IAS),
CEO, NITI Aayog, Anil
Srivastava (IAS), Princi-
palAdvisor,NITIAayog,
Iqbal Singh Chahal
(IAS), Commissioner
Brihanmumbai Munici-
pal Corporation, San-
jeev Kaushik (IAS), Ad-
ditional Secy, Depart-
ment of Financial Ser-
vices (Ministry of Fi-
nance); Santosh Mishra
(IAS), Fr Commissioner
e-Governance and Com-
missioner Transport
and State Transport Au-
thority; Rakesh Gupta
(IAS), Suhas L Yathiraj
(IAS), Hari Chandra
Dasari(IAS),Armstrong
Pame (IAS) and Bhu-
pesh Chaudhary (IAS).
The programme has
panelists like Union
Minister Nitin Gadkari,
senior IAS officers like
Dr Manish Kumar, N K
Kalsi, journalist Bhu-
pendra Chaubey and
many others.
INDIA
06
Ghazipur (PTI): Union
Home Minister Amit
Shah on Friday said Sa-
majwadiPartypresident
Akhilesh Yadav only
cares for “one commu-
nity and one caste”.
Addressing a rally
here, Shah said the elec-
tions in Uttar Pradesh is
to secure the future of
lakhs of people from the
backwardandDalitcom-
munitiesof thestateand
asserted that the BJP
will form the next gov-
ernment with over 300
seats.
Shah said his party
will provide one free gas
cylinder on Holi and Di-
wali if voted to power,
and added that the BJP
hasworkedforthedevel-
opment of the poor and
provided them free ra-
tion, medical facilities,
housing as well as en-
sured that their homes
gets electricity
.
Akhilesh Yadav only
sees people of one com-
munity “which we are
notpartof”andonlyone
caste, Shah said without
elaborating further.
“TheSPchief seesone
communitywithoneeye
and one caste with the
other,” Shah said.
BJP leaders during
their poll campaigns in
thepasthaveaccusedthe
SPof favouringMuslims
and the Yadavs when the
party was in power.
“We have sent money
into the bank accounts
of the farmers directly
and we have promised
that they will not be re-
quired to pay electricity
billforthenextfiveyears
if the BJP comes to pow-
er,” said Shah.
AKHILESH ONLY CARES FOR ONE
COMMUNITY, ONE CASTE: SHAH
Imphal (Agencies):
The stakes for the Con-
gress are higher than
arch-rival Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) in
the second and final
phase of polling for 22
Assembly seats in Ma-
nipur on March 5.
The Imphal and Jiri-
bam Valleys together
have 11 of these seats.
The hills around,
mostly dominated by
the Nagas, account for
the remaining 11 con-
stituencies.
The Congress had
won 12 of these 22 seats
inthe2017polls—eight
across Imphal valley
and four in the Naga-
majority hills. The BJP
could muster three of
the second phase seats
five years ago, one of
them in the Naga hills.
The NPF is not the
only party challenging
both the BJP and Con-
gress.TheNationalPeo-
ple’s Party
, which had
won two of the second
phase seats in 2017, and
the JD(U) are expected
to put up a stiff fight in
someseats.Theturnout
in the first phase was
88.63%. The counting
of votes will take place
on March 10.
Mau (ANI): An FIR
has been registered
on Friday against
Abbas Ansari, son of
jailed don turned poli-
tician Mukhtar Ansari,
for his controversial
statement against
government officials
at a public rally, said
the SP, Sushil Bhole.
Bhole, while speaking
to ANI said, “A case
has been registered
against Abbas Ansari
for violating the Model
Code of Conduct.”
Higher stakes for Congress in
second phase of Manipur polls
Exclude us from RTI,
appeal armed forces
Pak court asks
India to appoint
lawyer for Jadhav
byApril 13
BJP will form the
next government
with over 300
seats, says HM
Congress leaders Priyanka Gandhi Vadra & Rahul Gandhi on
their way to pay obeisance at Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple, in
Varanasi on Friday. —PHOTO BY ANI
Home Minister Amit Shah addresses a rally in Uttar Pradesh.
Shillong: Meghalaya
has withdrawn consent
to the CBI, becoming the
ninthstatetodosointhe
pastfewyears.Themove
comes despite the Con-
radSangma-ledNational
People’s Party being a
partof theBJP’sNation-
al Democratic Alliance.
Barring Mizoram, all
other states that have
withdrawn consent to
the CBI are ruled by Op-
position parties.
“It is true that Megha-
laya has withdrawn con-
senttotheCBI.Wedonot
know the reasons,” a
governmentofficialsaid.
While Meghalaya
Home Minister Lahk-
menRymbuisaidhewas
“notinapositiontocom-
ment” on the develop-
ment,callstoMeghalaya
Chief Minister Sangma
went unanswered.
However, speaking to
local reporters outside
Meghalaya Legislative
Assembly on Friday af-
ternoon, CM Sangma
termed the development
a “normal procedure.”
“The decision was made
quite a long time ago. I
can’trememberthedate,
it was done a very long
time back,” Sangma
said, and added: “There-
fore, it is a normal
thing…lot of states have
taken this decision, and
it is aligned with that.
Anybody who comes in
here, has to take consent
from the state. That’s all.
It is a normal proce-
dure.”
Earlier, besides Mizo-
ram, Maharashtra, Pun-
jab, Rajasthan, West
Bengal, Jharkhand,
ChhattisgarhandKerala
had withdrawn consent
to the central probe
agency
. The withdrawal
of consent means that
the agency will not be
able to investigate any
case in the state without
the state government’s
permission.
Meghalaya becomes 9th state
to withdraw consent to CBI
Islamabad (PTI):
The Islamabad
High Court has
asked India to hire
a legal representa-
tive for Kulbhushan
Jadhav, to imple-
ment the verdict of
the International
Court of Justice
(ICJ), according to a
local media report.
Jadhav, a 51-year-
old retired Indian
Navy officer, was
sentenced to death
by a Pak military
court on charges of
espionage and ter-
rorism in April 2017.
Indiaapproachedthe
International Court
of Justice (ICJ)
against Pakistan for
denial of consular
access to Jadhav and
challenging the
death sentence.
FIR AGAINST
ABBAS ANSARI
FOR HIS ‘HISAB
KITAB’ REMARK
HOLY POLITICS!
New Delhi (PTI): The
armed forces have made
a fresh appeal to be ex-
cluded from the Right to
Information or RTI Act,
saying that they have
notonlyfoundinstances
where the transparency
law could be harming
national security but
compromisingthechain
of command as well.
This time the appeal
has come in the form of
a proposal filed before
the government’s Com-
mittee of Secretaries
which includes the top
officials of prominent
ministries like Home,
Defence, Revenue, In-
formation Technology,
as well as the Cabinet
Secretary
.
The Department of
Military Affairs, a part
of the Defence Ministry
,
had sent a similar pro-
posal to the govt last
year. The push had been
renewed by the coun-
try’s first CDS General
Bipin Rawat citing the
security of the nation,
the need to defend it
from external aggres-
sion and disturbance of
peace and tranquillity
within the country. An
early bid to have the
armed forces exempt
from the law after it was
introduced in 2005 did
not fructify
.
TEN IAS OFFICERS TO GET EXCELLENCE AWARD
Rakesh Ranjan
New Delhi: While the
votersof Lucknow’sSa-
rojini Nagar assembly
constituency reserve
their right to choose
their representative,
BJP’s new candidate
Rajeshwar Singh has
surprised everyone
with his fine oratorical
skill as well.
Onceseenandconsid-
ered as the nemesis of
formerfinanceminister
P Chidambaram, for-
merEDofficertoldFirst
India “I want to enjoy
my newly found free-
dom as an MLA candi-
datetravelingallacross,
delivering speeches and
motivating youths. This
is something anyone
would want to enjoy af-
terdecadesof ananony-
mous stint as a civil
servant.”
Singh belongs to an
illustrious family of bu-
reaucrats with his
brothers, sisters, and
manyrelativesreaching
to the top echelons of
administration. His
wife Lakshmi Singh is
an Inspector General of
Police of the Lucknow
zoneandhisfatherRam
Bahadur Singh retired
fromaseniorpost(DIG),
received the President
gallantry award, and a
road in Lucknow is
named after him.
Singh is well remem-
bered for investigating
high-profile scams like
Aircel-Maxis, Westland
Helicopter,2Gspectrum
allocation, the Com-
monwealth Games
scam, Amrapali, Noida
Ponzi Scheme, Gomti
Riverfront, and the coal
mines allocation.
Various poll surveys
suggest that he could
win the Sarojini Nagar
seat, the only debatable
point being the margin
of hisvictory
.Hisseatis
the focus of discussion
not only among state
politicians but has also
drawn curious atten-
tion from New Delhi’s
power corridors.
Singh’s oratorical
skill, centred around
making facts and fig-
ures easily understand-
able to the common
folks, has drawn many
candidates to seek his
assistance in laying out
their campaign format.
His unreserved criti-
cismsof theSamajwadi
Party’s politics of undi-
luted and dangerous
cocktail of casteism,
communalism, and cor-
ruption are said to have
rattled Akhilesh Yadav
somuchthathewasput
on the backfoot dissoci-
ating himself with the
well-known dons and
Islamists.
The media loves him
for his articulation. On
a single day on Febru-
ary 21, 2022, over 18
channels interviewed
him and he is said to
have swayed and car-
ried the anchors with
him. Times Now, ABP
News, News Nation,
News1 India, India TV
,
News 18, India Voice,
Zee, ABP Viresh, Times
NowNavbharat,Mirror
Now, TV9, Sahara TV
,
Aaj Tak, India Today,
Sahara Samay, Bharat
Samachar, National
Voice, News Adda In-
dia,IndiaNews,News18
India, Republic, and
ANI were some of the
channels which inter-
viewed him.
In the bureaucratic
circles across cadres,
batches, and services,
the high-decibel elec-
tion campaign of Saro-
jini Nagar has been a
talking point. In a short
span of just 20 days, his
election campaign is
said to have moved like
a blitz across his con-
stituency
.
He has also visited
other constituencies. In
Gorakhpur, he ad-
dressed hundreds of
school students and
shared his experience
on electronic surveil-
lance. He informed the
students that nothing
couldbehiddeninthese
digital times even if
they are done by mis-
take. He advised them
tobecarefulabouttheir
activities in the digital
world.
Hiscampaignhasthe
blessingsof PrimeMin-
ister Narendra Modi,
Defense Minister Ra-
jnathSingh,andformer
Union minister Uma
Bharti besides, of
course, of Chief Minis-
ter Yogi Adityanath
who also held a mega
roadshow for him. Un-
ion Minister Kaushal
Kishoretooheldseveral
rallies in his support.
Apna Dal (S) national
president Anupriya Pa-
tel, Lok Sabha MPs
Manoj Tiwari, and Du-
shyant Singh too cam-
paigned for him. Strate-
gic planning for the
election management
was done by Godda Lok
Sabha MP Nishikant
Dubeywhostayedthere
fromfilingnominations
till the polling for 20
days. Uma Bharti and
Sakshi Maharaj had
held rallies and road-
shows and door-to-door
campaigns for him.
State cabinet minis-
ters Mahendra Singh
and Dy CM Dinesh
Sharma also lend their
support to his cam-
paign.Theoppositionis
also not letting any-
thing go in campaign-
ing against him. The SP
candidate against Sin-
ghisacloseallyof Akh-
ilesh and is backed to
the hilt. Both Akhilesh
and wife Dimple have
campaigned in support
of their candidates. Pri-
yanka Gandhi, too, held
a rally against him.
It’s a tough fight in
the sense of winning
theheartsandmindsof
thepeople.Ontheresult
day, the voters of Saro-
jini Nagar will show
who has their minds
and hearts. Those who
have been monitoring
his campaigns closely
claim that the result is
obvious only margin of
victory is being specu-
latedwhetheritmaylist
amongthetopfiveleads
in UP 2022 elections.
RAJESHWAR SINGH’S JOURNEY FROM KHAKI TO KHADI
(1) Officer-turned-BJP
candidate Rajeshwar Singh
greets PM Narendra Modi. (2)
Singh with school students.
(3) CM Yogi Adityanath
flashes victory sign during an
election campaign meeting in
support of Rajeshwar Singh in
Lucknow.

BIZ BUZZ
07
Current global conditions are now posing complex challenges for RBI communication
‘RUSSIA’S INVASIONOFUKRAINE
WORSENS RBI’S POLICYOPTION’
The Russian invasion
of Ukraine and eco-
nomic sanctions have
worsened central
banks’ policy options
which were already
challenged by conflict-
ing objectives of reviv-
ing economic growth
and put a lid on price
pressures, said Reserve
Bank of India Gover-
nor Shaktikanta Das.
“Recent geo-political
developments have fur-
ther aggravated the
challenges and dilem-
mas for the central
banks. Amidst these
uncertainties, central
banks have to find the
optimal grounds with
attendant communi-
cation challenges”
Das said on Fri-
day while delivering a
lecture at the National
Defence College here.
The current global
conditions, after about
two years of living
through the pandemic,
are now posing com-
plex challenges
for central bank
communica-
tion.
The RBI is
faced with a
challenge of
maintaining
a delicate
bal-
ance between reviving
growth following the
pandemic induced
slowdown in the econo-
my and manage infla-
tion and inflationary
expectations triggered
by rising crude and
commodity pric-
es which could
further ac-
centuate as
due to the
fall-out of
Russia’s inva-
sion of
Ukraine.
BIZ BRIEFS
Hero Motocorp
launches new
EV brand ‘Vida’
New Delhi (PTI):
The country’s larg-
est two-wheeler
maker Hero Mo-
toCorp on Friday
said it has lined
up a USD 100-mil-
lion global fund to
nurture over 10,000
entrepreneurs on
ESG solutions. The
auto major an-
nounced the fund
as it unveiled its
new identity ‘Vida’
for the company’s
emerging mobility
solutions, including
upcoming Electric
Vehicles.
Tea exports
during Jan-Dec
dip marginally
PV retail sales
dip 8% in Feb
2022: FADA
ISMA revises
sugar exports
estimate to 7.5 MT
Kolkata (PTI): Tea
exports during the
12 months of 2021
declined marginally
at 195.50 million
kilogramme from
209.72 million kg
during the previ-
ous similar period,
according to latest
Tea Board data.
Value of tea exports
almost remained the
same during the last
12 months which
stood at `5,246.89
crore, compared to
`5,235.29 cr in the
similar correspond-
ing period of 2020.
New Delhi (PTI):
Domestic passenger
vehicle retail sales
declined 8% in Feb
as the companies
continued to suffer
production loss due
to chip shortage,
automobile dealers’
body FADA said on
Friday. The PV sales
dropped to 2,38,096
units last month,
down 7.84% from
2,58,337 units in
Feb 2021. The in-
dustry body warned
that the Russia-
Ukraine conflict
could further impact
the production of
semiconductors.
New Delhi (PTI):
India’s sugar ex-
ports are estimated
to increase 15.38%
year-on-year to 7.5
million tonnes (MT)
in the current mar-
keting year 2021-
22, on likely rise
in demand for the
Indian sweetener
amid the possibility
of a global deficit,
industry body ISMA
said on Friday. The
country has physi-
cally exported 4.2
MT of sugar till Feb-
ruary of the current
marketing year.
Hiring activity touched
new highs as reopening
of the Indian economy
following two years of a
pandemic-induced lull
reinforced the positive
sentiment among em-
ployers and jobseekers,
a new report shows.
According to
Naukri’s JobSpeak in-
dex for February, the
Indian economy’s
steady return to nor-
mality led to sustained
hiring growth across all
key sectors. The
Naukri index
rose to 3,074,
surpassing the
previous high
of 2,753 in September
2021. On year, the index
surged 31%. 
The insurance sec-
tor was the big-
gest employer
in February,
recording a
74% on-year
growth in hiring
activity, fol-
lowed by the
retail segment with
64%. The auto in-
dustry also dis-
played signs of
recovery follow-
ing an extended
period of slug-
gish growth. The
sector grew 12%
on year.   Sectors
such as IT software/
software services
(41%), hospitality
(41%), banking and
financial services
(35%), pharmaceuti-
cal (34%), and telecom
(23%) continued strong
growth in hiring activ-
ity as worry over Cov-
id-19 drastically re-
duced in Feb. Hiring in
medical/healthcare
(7%) FMCG (4%) sec-
tors grew marginally.
The growth in hiring
activity was led my
large metros with the
hiring trend in Kolkata
witnessing a 56% on-
year growth, followed
by Bengaluru (49%),
Mumbai and Chennai
(45% each).
White-collar hirings hit record high in Feb
POSITIVE SIGNS
Monetary policy is an art of
managing expectations: Das
New Delhi (PTI): RBI
Governor Shaktikanta
Das on Friday said
“monetary policy is
an art of managing
expectations” as he
emphasised the need
for an effective com-
munication strategy
amid concerns over
rising inflation fuelled
by geopolitical devel-
opments. The conduct
of monetary policy has
undergone notable
changes in India and
across the world as
economies
and markets
evolved and
policymak-
ers gained
greater
insights into how eco-
nomic agents interact
in a complex economic
system, he said while
delivering a lecture at
the National Defence
College. “As monetary
policy is an art of man-
aging expectations,
central banks have to
make continual efforts
to shape and anchor
market expectations,
not just through pro-
nouncements and ac-
tions but also through
a constant refinement
of their communi-
cation strategies
to ensure the
desired societal
outcomes,” he
said.
Centre sticks to
borrowing plan
New Delhi (PTI): In-
dia has no plans to
borrow more this fis-
cal year and will keep
its budget deficit tar-
get despite a potential
negative shock to the
nation’s finances from
oil prices and delay in
the biggest share sale,
according to sources.
The government’s
market borrowings for
the fiscal are over and
there is no plan to bor-
row against the auc-
tions that were
canceled last month,
the people said.
India had canceled
two previous auctions
citing its comfortable
cash position as bond
yields surged after the
government unveiled
a record borrowing
plan for the next fiscal
year.
Still, the govern-
ment last week said it
will raise its borrow-
ings through Treasury
bills to `1.86 lakh crore
in March, from an ear-
lier aim of `1.26 lakh
crore.
SENSEX DROPS FOR 3RD
DAY, TANKS 769 POINTS
Mumbai (PTI): Equity
benchmark Sensex
tumbled 769 points on
Friday, tracking a weak
trend in global equities
amid escalating ten-
sions between Russia
and Ukraine.
Extending its decline
for the third straight
session, the 30-share
BSE index slumped
1,214.96 points to
53,887.72 during the ses-
sion after a weak start.
It finally finished at
54,333.81, lower by
768.87 points or 1.40%.
Similarly, the broad-
er NSE Nifty slumped
252.70 points or 1.53% to
close at 16,245.35.
Titan, Maruti Suzuki
India, Asian Paints, Ma-
hindra Mahindra and
HUL were the biggest
drags on the Sensex,
tumbling up to 5.05%.
Russia-Ukraine conflict to
further worsen chip shortage
New Delhi (PTI): The
Russian-Ukraine war
can hit the global sup-
ply chains that are al-
ready constrained due
to the pandemic and the
worst impact will be on
ongoing chip shortage
because the warring na-
tions brutally control
supplies of key raw ma-
terials that go into mak-
ing semiconductors.
Since Russia controls
as much as 44% of glob-
al palladium suppplies,
Ukraine produces a sig-
nificant 70% of the
global supply of neon --
the two key raw materi-
als that go into making
chips. The markets can
expect the global chip
shortage, that began
with the pandemic, to
worsen if the military
conflict lingers on, says
a Moody’s Analytics re-
port on Friday. Palladi-
um and neon are the
two resources that are
key to the production of
semiconductor chips.
Steelpricesjumpupto`5,000
pertonneassupplychainshit
New Delhi (PTI): Do-
mestic steel makers
have hiked the prices
of HRC and TMT bars
by up to `5,000 per
tonne as supply chain
is being impacted amid
ongoing Russia-
Ukraine conflict. Ac-
cording to sources, the
prices have been in-
creased in the past few
days and are expected
to go up further in the
coming weeks with the
crisis deepening be-
tween the two coun-
tries. After the price
revision, a tonne of
HRC will cost around
`66,000, while the buy-
ers will get TMT bars
for about `65,000 per
tonne. India meets 85%
of its coking coal, a key
steel making raw mate-
rial, requirement from
imports.
`12 hike in petrol, diesel
priceneededtobreak-even
New Delhi (PTI): Pet-
rol and diesel prices,
which have been on a
freeze for the past four
months in view of as-
sembly elections in
states like UP
, need to be
increased by over `12
per litre by March 16 for
fuel retailers to break
even.
With international
oil prices - on which do-
mestic fuel retails are
directly benchmarked -
spiking in the last two
months, state-owned
fuel retailers “need a
massive price hike of
`12.1 per litre on or be-
fore March 16, 2022, just
to breakeven and a
price hike of `15.1 is re-
quired” after including
margins for oil firms,
ICICI Securities said.
The basket of crude
oil India buys rose to
$117.39/ barrel on
March 3, the highest
since 2012, according to
information from the
PPAC of the oil minis-
try
. This compares to an
average of $ 81.5/barrel
price of the Indian bas-
ket of crude oil at the
time of freezing of pet-
rol and diesel prices in
early November last
year.
“With state elections
getting over next week,
we expect daily fuel
price hikes to restart
across both gasoline
and diesel,” JP Morgan
said in a report.
JET AIRWAYS
appoints Sanjiv
Kapoor as CEO
New Delhi (PTI): Ja-
lan Kalrock Consor-
tium, the new pro-
moters of Jet Air-
ways, has appointed
Sanjiv Kapoor as the
CEO of the airline.
Kapoor, who is cur-
rently the president
of Oberoi Hotels and
Resorts, was previ-
ously with Vistara
and SpiceJet. He will
join Jet Airways on
April 4. Last month,
the consortium said it
has appointed former
Sri Lankan Airlines
chief executive Vipu-
la Gunatilleka as the
CFO.
Services sector activities
expand modestly in Feb
New Delhi (PTI): Ser-
vices sector activities
in India picked up
marginally in Febru-
ary on the back of bet-
ter demand conditions
and the retreat of the
coronavirus pandem-
ic but the rate of ex-
pansion was the sec-
ond-slowest since last
July and subdued by
historical standards,
according to a month-
ly survey
. Reflecting a
moderate rate of ex-
pansion, the season-
ally adjusted IHS
Markit India Services
Business Activity In-
dex rose to 51.8 in Feb
from 51.5 in Jan. A
Purchasing Manag-
ers’ Index reading of
more than 50 indicates
expansion while the
level below 50 reflects
contraction.
LIC IPO set to
be delayed
to next fiscal
New Delhi (Agen-
cies): The initial
public offering of
India’s state-run
LIC is set to be de-
layed to next fi-
nancial year due
to market volatili-
ty triggered by
Russia’s invasion
of Ukraine,
Bloomberg
News re-
p o r t e d ,
c i t i n g
sources.
GlobalData cuts
Indian economy
growth forecast
New Delhi (PTI):
GlobalData, a Lon-
don-based data
analytics and con-
sulting company,
on Friday said it
has lowered In-
dia’s economy
growth forecast to
7.8% for 2022 due
to the nation’s ex-
ports being im-
pacted by the Rus-
sia-Ukraine war
and spiking oil
prices causing rip-
ple effects. It said
rupee is likely to
further depreciate
against USD while
soaring commodi-
ty prices will push
inflation up.
Investors’ lose ` 5.59 L cr in 3 days
` slumps 22 paise, breaches 76-mark
Mumbai (PTI): Investors’ wealth tumbled
more than `5.59 lakh crore in three
days of market fall. Tracking decline in
equities, the m-cap of BSE-listed com-
panies plunged `5,59,623.71 crore to
`2,46,79,421.38 crore in three days.
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee
slumped 22 paise to close at
76.16 against the US dollar on
Friday as investors assessed the
global economic impact of the
Russia-Ukraine conflict amid
rising crude oil prices.
Shaktikanta Das

COVID-19
UPDATE
WORLD
6,003,942
TOTAL DEATHS
375,631,480
TOTAL RECOVERED
61,006,851
ACTIVE CASES
442,642,273
TOTAL CASES
INDIA
514,620
TOTAL DEATHS
42,367,070
TOTAL RECOVERED
69,866
ACTIVE CASES
42,951,556
TOTAL CASES
08
2NDFRONT
LAND GRABBING, AGRI VARSITY
AMENDMENT BILLS PASSED
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: The Gu-
jarat Assembly on Fri-
day passed two bills
about amendments--the
Gujarat Land Grabbing
(Prohibition) Act of
2020 and the Gujarat Or-
ganic Agricultural Uni-
versity Act of 2017.
Both bills were passed
in the absence of Con-
gress MLAs, who had
walked out of the House
immediately after the
Question Hour follow-
ing the suspension of
senior MLA Punja
Vansh, for seven days.
The Gujarat Land
Grabbing (Prohibition)
(Amendment) Bill-2022
was tabled by the state
RevenueMinisterRajen-
dra Trivedi. It proposed
that the word ‘land’ in
the original act “shall
not include the land in
respect of which appli-
cations for grants are
pending on the date of
commencement of this
ActundertheScheduled
Tribes and Other Tradi-
tional Forest Dwellers
(Recognition of Forest
Rights), Act, 2006”.
The amendment
would protect tribals
from any penal action
under the Act, if they
have already applied for
land allocation, said the
minister.
Another amendment
was about the provision
of appeals against or-
ders issued by special
courts constituted un-
der the Land Grabbing
Act, said the minister.
He added that now the
aggrieved persons can
file an appeal in the
High Court against the
special court orders
within 30 days—this
was absent in the pre-
sent Act.
The Assembly also
passed the Gujarat Or-
ganic Agricultural Uni-
versity (Amendment)
Bill, which proposes to
rename Gujarat Organ-
ic Agricultural Univer-
sity as Gujarat Natural
Farming and Organic
Agricultural University
.
The University, came
into existence after the
Assembly had passed a
bill in 2017, and is cur-
rently functioning from
the Anand Agricultural
University campus.
“Natural farming
means chemical-free or
traditional farming
methods, which was
also promoted, in this
year’s Union budget, so,
the rechristening of the
University,” said Agri-
culture Minister Ra-
ghavji Patel, while ta-
bling the Bill. As per the
original Act, the pro-
posed university was to
come up in Gandhina-
gar, but after the amend-
ment, the permanent
campus will be in Halol
taluka, Panchmahal
district added Patel.
First India Bureau
Surat: Recent data
from the family court
revealed that current-
ly, most divorce cases
are filed by the male
spouse. Earlier, 70%
of divorce cases were
filed by women, and
post COVID-19, 60%
of divorce cases are
filed by men. In some
cases, the male part-
ner confessed to be-
ing tortured, even of
being scared of going
home post work.
Advocate Sonal
Sharma said the num-
ber of male applicants
for divorce cases have
increased. Being
home for a long time
has impacted the men-
tal levels of both wom-
en and men.
Recently, a man was
so fed of his wife that he
applied for divorce, and
in the second phase of
COVID-19, he got the di-
vorce. However, the fear
of his wife stayed with
him, so, after a couple
of months, they mutu-
ally agreed and re-mar-
ried. Now again, the
husband has applied for
a divorce.
Advocate Preeti
Joshi also backed the
fact that after COV-
ID-19, the number of
male applicants for di-
vorce has increased as
compared to pre-COV-
ID-19 times.
First India Bureau
Vadodara: The agita-
tion continued by Va-
dodara District Mam-
latdars and employees
for the second day on
Friday, protesting
against Bharuch MP
Mansukh Vasava’s
lewd remarks on Kar-
jan Mamlatdar. They
went on mass casual
leave (CL) and threat-
ened to continue the
agitation till the MP
apologised to the offi-
cials.
Bharuch MP Man-
sukh Vasava was ac-
cused of publicly
abusing Karjan Mam-
latdar and revenue of-
ficials over an acci-
dent where three
youths from Maloda,
Karjan taluka died on
the spot when a speed-
ing dumper hit them
on the outskirts of the
village on February
21. There was a pro-
test by mamlatdars,
revenue officials and
the department over
the incident. They
have also submitted a
memorandum to the
collector demanding
an apology from the
MP.
On the second day
of the protest, the of-
ficials went on mass
CL. Deputy Mamlat-
dar Sahdevsinh
Rathore said, “It is a
fight for our honour,
and we will continue
till the MP gives a
public apology
.”
First India Bureau
Vadodara: Keeping
with this year’s Inter-
national Women’s Day
theme ‘Gender Equality
Today for a Sustainable
Tomorrow’, a special
programme will be or-
ganized by the women
and child development
department at Sayaji
Town Hall in Akota
area of the city on
March 08.
Addressing media
persons, district Collec-
tor Atul Gor said, “On
International Women’s
Day, leading women of
the city as well as dis-
trict will be honoured at
the programme. The
Mata Yashoda Award,
sanction order for ben-
eficiaries of the Ganga
Swarupa Financial As-
sistance Scheme, distri-
bution of cheques to
recipients of the Ganga
Swarupa Re-Marriage
Financial Assistance
Scheme and other
schemes will be con-
ducted at the event.”
Women contributing
to the betterment of the
society at the panchayat
as well as at nagarpa-
lika, mahanagarpalika
level will be felicitated
for their efforts. Stalls
of various women-ori-
ented schemes will also
be set up at the venue,
he added.
First India Bureau
Vadodara: Celebrating
the 10th death anniver-
sary and spirit of the
late Maharaja Ranjit-
sinh Gaekwad as an art-
ist and singer, a two-day
art and music festival
will be in Vadodara. The
festival is envisioned
and initiated as a trib-
ute by Rajmata Shub-
hanginiraje, Maharaja
Samarjitsinh, and Ma-
harani Radhikaraje,
who uphold the Gaek-
wad patronage for arts.
The festival will
showcase performanc-
es by renowned artists
liketablamaestroUstad
Fazal Qureshi, vocalist
Anand Bhate, santoor
maestro Rahul Sharma,
flautist Rakesh Chaura-
sia, Sufi qawwali sing-
ers Qutbi Brothers, sa-
rangi player Dilshad
Khan and more. One of
the highlights is a spe-
cial exhibition of paint-
ings, drawings and
sculptures by the late
Maharaja at the Durbar
Hall and Hathi Hall.
“The festival aims to
revisit the legacy of pa-
tronage and support to
both the visual and per-
forming arts left behind
by the late maharaja
and his illustrious pre-
decessors by bringing to
the people of Vadodara
the finest exponents of
music and art. It also
intends to recognize ex-
cellence in the field of
arts and support up-
coming talent,” said Ra-
jmata Shubhanginiraje.
“The Raja Ravi Var-
maAwardforExcellence
in the Field of Visual
Arts will be presented to
veteran artist Jayant
Parikh and late artistes
Jyotsna Bhatt and Rini
DhumalbytheMaharaja
Ranjitsinh Gaekwad
Charities. They will also
award scholarships to
meritorious students of
Faculty of Performing
Arts, MS University
,
Baroda,” said Maharani
Radhikaraje.
Presented by Maha-
raja Fatesingh Museum
Trust, Supported by
ONGC and Ranjitsingh
Charities, the event is
Co-conceptualized and
Curated by Craft of Art
and will be at the Luk-
shmi Vilas Palace.
(Left to Right) Maharani Radhikaraje Gaekwad, Rajmata
Shubhanginiraje Gaekwad and Craft of Art founder Birwa Qureshi.
District mamlatdars and other employees who went on mass
casual leave on Friday protesting against Bharuch MP.
NEW LEGISLATION TO
PROTECT TRIBAL COMMUNITY
It proposed that the word 'land' in the original act
shall not include the land in respect of which ap-
plications for grants are pending. The amendment
would also protect tribals from any penal
action under the Scheduled Tribes and
Other Traditional Forest Dwellers
(Recognition of Forest Rights),
Act, 2006.
60% rise in male
applicants for divorce,
post nCoV pandemic
Mass casual leave by V’dara’s
Revenue Employees Association
Music art fest in Vadodara V’dara dist to
honour women
on March 08
Masuma Bharmal Jariwala
Rajkot: To encourage
those who have pre-
served heritage in dif-
ferent forms, Rajkot
Collector Arun Mahesh
Babu on Friday visited
the house of 64-years
old Raju Desai who has
preserved over
100-years old original
newspaper published
by Mahatma Gandhi,
stamp papers of differ-
ent states during the
Britishrule,andstamps
that are over a century
old.
Desai’s grandfather
Maganlal Desai used to
run a library on
Lakhajiraj road, which
had to shut down.
Maganlal hence
brought home all the
newspapers from the
library. Later, Magan-
lal’s son Vasant and his
wife Bhanu preserved
the newspapers. Raju
Desai has preserved
over 300 newspapers,
published by Gandhiji
during his lifetime and
published by others af-
ter his death.
These newspapers in-
clude Navjeevan (editor
MohandasKaramchand
Gandhi) Harijan Band-
hu in Gujarati and Hari-
jan in English (founded
by Gandhiji), and Young
India and special edi-
tions of Navjeevan as
old as 1921. The oldest
paper Navjeevan dates
back to July 1920. The
cost of the 1920 paper
was 1.25 Anna, the year-
ly subscription was Rs4,
and the yearly subscrip-
tion outside India was
Rs7 or 15 shillings. The
cost of Harijan Bandhu
in 1953 was 2 Annas, the
yearly subscription was
Rs6, and outside India,
it cost Rs8 or 14 shil-
lings.
In addition, the Desai
family has over 500
stamp papers of vari-
ous states from the Brit-
ish time and over 75,000
stamps as old as of June
25, 1878. Most newspa-
pers did not carry any
photographs. Harijan
published Gandhiji’s
photo in its February 8,
1948 edition and Sardar
Patel’s picture on De-
cember 23, 1950 edition.
The June 5, 1921, edi-
tion of Navjeevan car-
ried the entire ghazal
‘Sarfaroshi ki Tamma-
na’, sung at the
Bharuch Parishad with
23 meanings.
Arun Mahesh Babu,
who will soon launch a
dedicated History cell
at the Collectorate of-
fice, said, “The entire
newspaper is well-
maintained by the fam-
ily, and it will be digi-
tized, for people to read
the contents and under-
stand the events of
those times.”
“It is the first time
that a collector has tak-
en a personal interest.
We wish our collection
gets due recognition
and helps the society at
large,” said Raju. He
has also tried to pre-
serve the pages that are
turning old and feeble.
Rajkot District Collector Arun Mahesh Babu marvels at original
100-year-old newspapers, stamps published by Gandhiji
64-years old Raju Desai has
preserved Navjeevan, Harijan Gujarati
Harijan English newspapers
Collector Arun Mahesh Babu (in black), Raju Desai (in pink) with his family. —Masuma Bharmal Jariwala
Officials in a meeting with
Collector Gor.
EXCLUSIVE
THE 10TH DEATH
ANNIVERSARY
CELEBRATION OF
MAHARAJA
RANJITSINH
GAEKWAD WILL
CELEBRATE VISUAL
PERFORMING
ARTISTES
The Guj Land Grabbing (Prohibition) Act of 2020 Guj Organic Agricultural
University Act of 2017 bills were passed in the absence of Congress MLAs
The age of your brain depends far
more on your thoughts than the
years you have lived on Earth.
—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO Editor-in-Chief, First India

KATE MIDDLETON
I literally can’t forget the mo-
ment when the Duchess of
Cambridge carried a blue
kurta set for Royal duties
in Pakistan. Her kurta was
embellished with white
embroidery around
the neck, and she
wore it with a chif-
fon dupatta. No
doubt, the diva
was looking
exquisite in the
royal avatar.
AHMEDABAD, SATURDAY,
MARCH 5, 2022
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia
facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia 09
ndia’s rich cultural leg-
acy is one of the world’s
oldest civilizations in
the world, and now this
land of God is a melting
pot of religions, tradi-
tions, and customs with
its traditional jewels.
The treasures of Indian
heritage include art, archi-
tecture, classical dance,
music, flora and fauna,
people’s innate secular
philosophy and royal but
aesthetic clothing tradi-
tions.
This intangible cultural
heritage of India has in-
fluenced many countries.
Many parts of the world
have adopted our diverse
culture, food, language and
elegant clothing style and
have charmed their fash-
ion in many different ways.
In fact, one of the most well-
known traditional gowns in
the world is the Indian Saari,
which is a wrapped garment
and is considered as the most
graceful dress of Indian wom-
en, it elegantly covers the
woman’s entire body and
makes women look elegant
and beautiful.
The saree and lehenga have
an unrivalled elegance and
opulence which have attracted
people around the world.
While we have numerous op-
portunities to wear these en-
sembles throughout the year,
the same cannot be said for
overseas celebrities who have
also taken love to them.
Many International celebri-
ties have proved that Indian
traditional clothing has a
large fan following, by wear-
ing various variants of Indian
fashion in Hollywood films
and shows they showed their
love an respect of our fashion
and culture.
When the time arises, how-
ever, they wear these ensem-
bles with the utmost elegance,
resulting in aesthetically al-
luring looks.
THE GLOBAL DOMINATION OF
THE GLOBAL DOMINATION OF
INDIAN FASHION
INDIAN FASHION
INDIA’S TRADITIONAL FASHION IS
DOMINATING THE WORLD, CITY FIRST
BRINGS TO YOU GLIMPSES OF A FEW
CELEBRITIES FROM AROUND THE WORLD
WHO ACED THE INDIAN ATTIRE!
UTTKARSHA SHEKHAR
uttkarsha.shekhar@firstindia.co.in
I
SOPHIE TURNER
Literally, we can’t get enough
of Sophie Turner, who looked
adorable in a Sabyasachi
lehenga at Nick Jonas and
Priyanka Chopra’s wedding re-
ception. Embracing the vibe of
the festivities, Turner was a vi-
sion for the eyes as she looked
stunning in the peach-hued
lehenga, which had flamboyant
sequins and embellishments
scattered decorations all over
the outfit. The actress totally
slew it in Indian attire with
sheer elegance. Seen here with
hubby Joe Jonas.
KIM KARDASHIAN
It seems like with every picture surfacing
from Kim Kardashian’s Vogue India photo
shoot, the US reality TV star gets a little more
Indian. In some beautiful pictures shared by
Kim Kardashian and the magazine, the blonde
star showed up in a shimmery red saree from
designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee and also a
printed Anamika Khanna lehenga choli for her
photoshoot with the Vogue India.
CHRISSY TEIGEN
Back in 2021, when the love-
birds #PriNick threw a Diwali
blowout, Chrissy Tiegen put
her desi foot forward during
the glitzy celebration. To cre-
ate a radiant and poppy look,
she draped herself in a purple
embroidered saree from Papa
Don’t Preach with a full-sleeved
blouse and a deep neck. Chrissy
spruced up her look with a
mang tika and styled her hair
in a sleek middle parting. The
diva stole many hearts with her
elegant and sensual look.
BEYONCE
Beyonce left her admirers dumb-
founded as she twirled about in a
personalised lehenga designed by
Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla for
Isha Ambani’s wedding. This ace
singer wore navy blue Anarkali,
which was floor-length and
designed in kaleidoscopic flower
embroidery throughout, as well
as a chiffon blue dupatta with a
vivid pink border. She was looking
extremely beautiful in royal
desi attire as she gave a
powerful performance at
the wedding.

10
ETC
“Tyger, Tyger, Burning
“Tyger, Tyger, Burning
Bright, in the forests of the
Bright, in the forests of the
night; What immortal hand
night; What immortal hand
or eye, could frame thy
or eye, could frame thy
fearful symmetry?”
fearful symmetry?”
‘Tiger, Tiger,
‘Tiger, Tiger,
Burning Bright’
Burning Bright’
ore than 200
years ago, in
1794, William
Blake wrote
his immortal
lines- “Tyger,
Tyger, Burn-
ing Bright, in the for-
ests of the night;
What immortal hand
or eye, could frame
thy fearful symme-
try?” He encapsulated
the fearsome, majes-
tic glory of the then
invincible tiger, who
reigned supreme in
the jungles.
We have since then
come a long way. To-
day, our earth is fac-
ing serious ecological
crises- global warm-
ing, chronic resources
shortage, rainforest
destruction, wild jun-
gle fires, floods, vol-
canic eruptions, spe-
cies extinction - every
disaster indicating
towards “end of na-
ture”. God’s Eden be-
comes a wasteland-
mainly because of
man’s greed.
In the early 20th
century, TS Eliot and
his contemporaries
were troubled by the
changing values and
moral depravity of
mankind. Ruskin
Bond, in the second
half, is worried about
the disturbance by
ecological imbalance.
“The ignorant man
has been cheerfully
hacking at the branch
on which he is
perched”. Bond’s call
to turn towards the es-
sence of life and rec-
ognize man-made in-
terdependence is
aimed at “preserving
life- beautiful and
powerful”. He de-
serves recognition
not only as a signifi-
cant Indian writer but
as a human being
with a definite phi-
losophy of life which
embraces mankind.
He forges an intimate
relationship with the
Himalayas and his lit-
eral work seems like a
magic casement open-
ing on a beautiful vast
stretch of nature. He
emphasizes the ami-
cable relationship be-
tween man and Na-
ture - as both are in-
terdependent and in-
terrelated.
This wonder and
wild essence of the
world of animals has
been captured with
deep empathy in the
story of an old, wise
and crafty tiger who
has survived all at-
tempts on his life in
‘Tiger, Tiger, Burning
Bright’ by Ruskin
Bond. “Although the
tiger has passed the
prime of his life, he
has lost none of his
majesties. His mus-
cles rippled beneath
the golden-yellow
coat, as he walked
through the long
grass with the confi-
dence of one who
knew that he was still
a king, even though
his subjects were few-
er”. He lives in a jun-
gle near the Ganga
river. Since new towns
and farms are coming
up, the forest is being
cut. The population of
the wild animals
shrinks drastically
.
Poachers and hunt-
ers stalk lions, tigers
and leopards to dis-
play their skins on the
walls or to sell in the
market. This old tiger,
due to his wisdom and
expertise, is the sole
survivor in this area.
He avoids the river-
bank and instead vis-
its a lake higher up in
the hills to quench his
thirst. The villagers
and their cattle use
this water as well.
They have reached a
level of mutual ac-
ceptance where they
do not disturb each
other. “Sometimes,
when the old tiger was
very lonely, he gave a
great roar, which
shook the whole for-
est. The villagers
thought he was roar-
ing in anger, but the
jungle knew that he
was lonely and sad”.
Ramu, a village boy,
takes his family’s buf-
faloes to the jungle for
grazing. Ramu and
the tiger often see
each other from a safe
distance. One day
Ramu was plucking
Mahua flowers when
a mother bear feeling
insecure about her
baby came out to at-
tack him. The tiger
roared to frighten the
angry bear away and
thus saved Ramu. Lat-
er, when the old ti-
ger’s life is in danger,
due to the arrival of
hunters, it is Ramu
who hangs bits and
pieces of human
clothes in the bushes,
so as to warn the tiger.
The foray made by
Ramu and his com-
panion is the essen-
tial harmony of the
universe.
One day
, luck peters
out for the majestic
beast. The hunters
who had been search-
ing for him- finally
spot him. They shoot
at him while he is
crossing a suspension
bridge. He staggers
and falls into the river
and is washed away by
theswiftcurrents.The
hunters search for
him, but to no avail.
The tiger, carried by
the water, finds him-
self on the banks be-
side a dense forest.
The warm rays of the
sun fill him with re-
newed energy
. “He
raised his head high
and gave a full-throat-
ed roar. He’s finally
greeted by a tigress’s
roar in answer - “call-
ing him, calling him
forward”- leaving us
with a renewed hope
that all is not lost.
‘Tiger, Tiger, Burn-
ing Bright is a story
about all tigers and all
wild animals. It’s
about harmony in
the forest. Forest,
tiger and man are
interdependent.
Nature’s har-
mony encom-
passes all
c r e a t u r e s -
great
small, beau-
tiful ugly,
strong
w e a k .
Bond ac-
cepts the
ultimate
truth of
Nature
with hu-
mility
.
DEEPAK’S CORNER
DEEPAK
deepaklifemusings@gmail.com
M This wonder and

B
ritney Spears and her
fiance Sam Asghari re-
cently jetted off for a
getaway to celebrate
the latter’s birthday
. The sing-
er also took to Instagram to
celebrate the same as she
wrote a heartfelt tribute for
him. Along with a sweet
note that she penned for
Asghari, Britney also
shared a snap of the duo
looking adorable on
their date night. Along
with the photo, Britney
in her captions wrote,
“Happy Birthday to
my Fiancé … I love
you so much… I want
a family with you …
I want it all with you
!!!!” —Agency
alman Khan’s fans
have all the rea-
sons to be on
cloud nine Friday
.
After all, his
much-awaited Ti-
ger 3 with Katrina
Kaif has finally been an-
nounced. The superstar
took to social media to
share the big an-
nouncement and
shared an
interest-
ing teas-
er along
with an-
nouncing
the release
date of Tiger 3 as Eid
2023. Salman and Katrina’s reun-
ion for the espionage drama and
has already declared it a block-
buster. —Agency
ETC
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I
facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
11
B
ollywood actress Kriti
Sanon, who will be
seen essaying the role
of a filmmaker Myra
Devekar in the upcoming
masala entertainer, ‘Bachch-
han
Paandey’, recently
opened up about her approach
to her
character in
the film.
K r i t i
said,
“As
a n
actor, once you have gone
through a certain number of
films, you soak in more than
you think, just by observing
and looking around, you start
understanding how the direc-
tors make their vision come
alive, their pro-
cess and man-
n e r i s m s . ”
Meanwhile,
Kriti has
m u l t i p l e
big releas-
es lined
up.
—Agency
A
nanya is once again
making the headlines
as she has begun pre-
paring for her next pro-
ject Kho Gaye Hum Kahan
which will also star Siddhant
Chaturvedi and Adarsh
Gourav in the lead.
The Student of The
Year 2 actress, who is
quite active on social
media, took to her Ins-
tagram story and
shared the update
about the movie.
Ananya shared a video
featuring the script of
Kho Gaye Hum Kahan
and expressed her ex-
citement to begin work-
ing on the new project.
She wrote, “Let’s
goooooo @arjun-
varain.singh @sid-
dhantchaturvedi
@ g o u r a -
vadarsh”. It will
mark Ananya’s
second collabora-
tion with Siddhant.
—Agency
SWAGAT NAHI
KAROGE
HUMARA!!
HEARTFELT
BIRTHDAY
TRIBUTE
Zendaya
gets
nervous!
W
hile auditioning
for Dune,
Zendaya had
great trouble as
a result of the aftermath
of dental treatment. For
the feature article of W
magazine’s Volume 2, The
Directors Issue, the
25-year-old actress reveals
she “had just had her wis-
dom teeth” removed be-
fore auditioning for the
sci-fi epic.
—Agency
BACHCHHAN
BACHCHHAN
PAANDEY
PAANDEY
T
he Batman starring Rob-
ert Pattinson and Zoe
Kravitz opened to positive
reviews from critics. The
Matt Reeves directorial is being
termed as the darkest Batman film.
During their recent interview with Heart, Rob-
ert and Zoe opened up on working on the film’s
action sequences and particularly Kravitz
spoke about her scenes and revealed how she
practised her punches. The actress revealed
that she practised with a punching bag in be-
tween the takes although she was soon inter-
rupted by Pattinson who had another story to
tell. Robert recalled one of the shooting mo-
ments when Kravitz punched him too and said,
“There was also another time when you were
punching me in between every single take. It
was just warming up and I was like ‘I’m in this
scene as well. —Agency
S
Kriti Sanon Ananya Pandey
Robert Pattison and Zoe Kravitz
Zendaya
Katrina Kaif Britney Spears
Kho
gaye
hum
kahan
Robert gets
Punched

12
CITY BUZZ
GET VACCINATED
STAY MASKED
he opening
show of De-
signer Archa-
na Kochhar at
G u r u g r a m
International
Couture Week
2022 by The Blackpage
Fashion Host Pvt Ltd
was held at Huda
Gymkhana, Guru-
gram on Friday. Bol-
lywood actress Amee-
sha Patel was the
Show Stopper for the
show.
Designer Archana
Kochhar is known for
her global design sen-
sibilities, she has
been invited to show-
case her collection on
National Interna-
tional runways, from
Lakmé to London
Fashion Week. She
has been working
closely with Prime
Minister Narendra
Modi on the 'Make in
India' campaign in
her various projects
such as Banjara and
Warli. Archana is
also popular amongst
Bollywood glitterati,
including Shahrukh
Khan, Kareena Ka-
poor, Harbhajan Sin-
gh and Kangana
Ranaut to name a
few. She has dressed
celebrities for the
Cannes Festival and
was also invited by
Galeries Lafayette,
Paris to showcase
her couture collec-
tions alongside in-
ternational design
houses like Armani,
Versace, Prada Gu-
cci.
SHUBHANSHI PATHAK
A
press confer-
ence regarding
the announce-
ment of the Pro
Basketball League Sea-
son 3 was organised on
4 March at Hotel Taj
Mahal,NewDelhi. The
announcement was
made by 3BL Commis-
sioner, Rohit Bakshi
and Director, Prerna
Sharma. League's Sea-
son 3 will be hosted in
Chandigarhon5March
and the finals will be
held on March 21. The
Basketball Federation
of India and Interna-
tional Basketball Fed-
eration backed 3×3 Pro
Basketball League re-
turned for the third
straight season. 3BL
earnedexclusiverecog-
nition from the Basket-
ball Federation of In-
dia, making it India's
only authorized profes-
sional basketball
league. It also has rec-
ognitionfromtheInter-
national Federation.
International Women's
3×3 specialists will be
seeninactionforthesec-
ondtimeinthewomen's
league.VikasBansaland
Rajeev Tiwari, the own-
ers of the Gurugram
Masters franchise
graced the press confer-
ence. Prerna Sharma
announcedthatProBas-
ketball League Season 3
will be live-streamed on
Sony LIV
, and weekly
special programming
will be aired on Sony
Six. During the confer-
ence, Chander Mukhi
Sharma said that 3BL
will provide additional
income and exposure
to many Indian basket-
ball athletes. We
strongly believe India
willbeinthe2024Paris
Olympics. By the end
of 3BLSeason3,Indian
teams should be at
least 30th from men
70th and women 52nd
currently
.
City First
D
irected by Na-
tional Awardee,
Durba Sahay,
AAVARTAN has
become the only film
selected from North In-
dia to be screened for
the 13th edition of The
Bengaluru Internation-
al Film Festival 2022
under Indian Cinema
Competition (Chitrab-
harathi) 2020 organised
by Karnataka Chala-
machitra Academy and
the Government of Kar-
nataka. This year the
13th edition of the pres-
tigious event will take
place from 3rd March till
10th March.
Well-known for her
writinganddirectingnu-
merous short-length
films, Durba Sahay pro-
duced and directed her
first feature film, Aavar-
tan. The film portrays
the onset of the journey
of a teacher and her
apostle. The film targets
younger audiences who
areforgettingtheirroots.
Themoviestars;Sushma
Seth, Padmashri Sho-
vana Narayan, Sunit
Razdan, Mrinalini, and
GurjeetSinghChanniin
pivotal roles.
NO MORE LIES; A re-
curring theme in The
Batman, Matt Reeves'
ambitious, sadistic film
noir, which gives Chris-
topher Nolan's classic
The Dark Knight a con-
siderable run for its
money with deep, dis-
turbing undertones.
Shouldering the emo-
tional trauma of both an
angst-driven Bruce
Wayne and his Caped
Crusader alter-ego, we
haveRobertPattinsonin
his most emo on-screen
appearanceyet.Butdoes
The Batman renewal
(all the pun intended!
You'll understand after
havingwatchedthemov-
ie)reaptherewardswith
an enthralling watch for
the hardcore DC loyal-
ists (especially comic
book fans) and casual
fans alike?
Set in the early hey-
days with Batman mere-
ly grasping his place in
the slum-ish Gotham
City and fighting off
mere scoundrels, the
vigilante's detective
skills are put to the test
in The Batman when
he's entangled in a se-
rial killer case involv-
ing the barbarous Rid-
dler aka Edward
Nashton (Paul Dano),
who murders white col-
lared men of immense
power including mayor
Don Mitchell Jr. (Ru-
pert Penry-Jones), just
ahead of Election Day,
and leaves a trail of
amusing riddles to
solve. As the Riddler
toys with Batman and
his only police ally
James Gordon (Jeffrey
Wright), the dead body
count rises at an ex-
treme pace while the
mystery is all tied
down to the elitist
Wayne family, with
Bruce Wayne as the pri-
mary target. When it's
Batman, organised
crime follows. In be-
tween the powerful
chaos, Batman finds an
unlikely acquaintance
in Catwoman aka Seli-
na Kyle (Zoë Kravitz),
who is equally attached
to the mystery at hand
with her pursuit to un-
cover the truth.
Channelling these
rough and tough emo-
tions with elegance is
Robert Pattinson, who
shuns the pessimists
with a terrific and nu-
anced performance
that's worthy of ap-
plause and future itera-
tions. Batman is equiva-
lent to a superhero ver-
sion of Hamlet with
many well-established
actors having a go at it.
With Robert's version in
The Batman, we're treat-
ed with a comic book ac-
curate Batman we've so
truly craved to relish on
the big screen. You're
genuinely left convinced
that Pattinson was tai-
lor-madetoplayboththe
tortured souls of Bat-
man and Bruce Wayne,
at a painstakingly com-
fortable pace. Atleast
this reviewer firmly
stands by it!
UTTKARSHA SHEKHAR
uttkarsha.shekhar@firstindia.co.in
KARIL GAUR
karilgaud1998@gmail.com
T
DIFFERENT SHADES
FASHION!
DIFFERENT SHADES
OF
—PHOTOS
BY
SHAZID
CHAUHAN
AAVARTAN in
BIFF 2022
A 'HERO' IS METICULOUSLY BORN: GRIM GRIPPING NOIR!
—PHOTOS
BY
SHAZID
CHAUHAN
—PHOTOS
BY
SHAZID
CHAUHAN
Ameesha Patel
Harshdeep Kaur
(L-R) Simran Kochhar with Harshdeep Kaur, Ameesha
Patel and the representatives from Pandit Jewellers
Models during the event
During the event
Durba Sahay
Pro Basketball League Season 3
KARIL GAUR, A POST
GRADUATION JOURNALISM
STUDENT FROM NEW
DELHI, AN ARDENT READER
AND A MOVIE CRITIC,
REVIEWS ‘NO MORE LIES’
FOR CITY FIRST.

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