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08022022 first india ahmedabad
1. First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: Schools
reopenedforin-personor
offlinesessionsforClass-
es I-IX across Gujarat on
Monday in the wake of a
decline in COVID-19 cas-
es in the state.
The physical ses-
sions for Classes I-IX
were suspended on
January 8 in view of
the then rising COV-
ID-19 cases in the state,
but schools for classes
10 to12 and colleges
were not closed.
Gujarat on Sunday
reported 3,897 new
COVID-19 cases as
against its all-time
high peak of 24,485 on
January 20 this year, as
per official figures.
On Monday
, schools
reopened across the
state with students ap-
pearing happy and ex-
cited to be back to their
classrooms. They were
seenwearingfacemasks
and adhering to other
COVID-19 guidelines.
Parents were re-
quired to submit con-
sent letters for sending
their children to
schools. Some schools
in Surat started offline
classes with “mind
fresh activities” to help
the students relax.
Students from some
schools in Ahmedabad
said they preferred
coming to school as
againsttheonlineclass-
es, which restricted
them to home and pre-
vented from meeting
their friends physically
.
A circular issued by
the Gujarat education
department last week
said considering the
COVID-19 situation, the
government, private
andgrant-in-aidschools
could resume offline
education for Classes
I-IX from Monday
.
However, online
teaching will also con-
tinue and students can
choose between the two
systems, it had said.
The offline classes
will be run in accord-
ance with the Standard
Operating Procedures
(SOPs) issued by the
government earlier,
the circular had said.
While the in-person
sessionsweresuspended
for Classes I-IX last
month, the Gujarat gov-
ernmenthaddecidednot
to discontinue offline
sessions for Classes X-
XII, colleges and coach-
ing centres. They were
allowed to run at 50%
with strict adherence to
the COVID-19 SOPs.
Students were seen wearing face masks and adhering to other nCoV guidelines in Ahmedabad on
Monday. —PHOTO BY HANIF SINDHI
Students of I-IX return to schools as govt resumes offline classes
BACK WITH FRIENDS
Physical sessions were
suspended on January 8
amid rising COVID-19 cases
AHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2022 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/79050 l Vol 3 l Issue No. 74
OUR EDITIONS: JAIPUR, AHMEDABAD, LUCKNOW & NEW DELHI www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
Sensex crashed 1,024 points to end below 58,000-level on
Monday, tracking a heavy sell-off in banking and financial
stocks despite a largely steady trend in global markets.
Sensex ended 1,023.63 points at 57,621.19 and Nifty
tanked 302.70 points to finish at 17,213.60. More on P7
Seven Indian Army personnel have gone missing in
the Kameng sector in Arunachal Pradesh after the
patrolling party was hit by an avalanche. Search and
rescue operations are underway. As per Army, spe-
cialized personnel are assisting in rescue operations.
SENSEX DIVES
1,024 POINTS;
NIFTY TESTS
17,200-MARK
OP UNDERWAY
TO RESCUE 7
CAUGHT IN
AVALANCHE
CORONA CATASTROPHE
Gujarat A’BAD
NEW
CASES
928
NEW
CASES
2,909 NEW
DEATHS
21
PM’S REPLY TO DEBATE ON MOTION OF THANKS TO PREZ ADDRESS
‘CONG INSTIGATED MIGRANT
LABOURERS TO BREACH LOCKDOWN’
“The Congress crossed the limit,” PM said. “During
the first wave, when we had lockdown, when WHO was
advising that ‘stay wherever you are’... the Congress at the
Mumbai railway station gave tickets to labours to go and spread
coronavirus,” he said, alleging this was “paap (sin)”
PM Modi hails India’s Covid fight, says the poor
now have ‘pucca’ houses, gas cylinders, bank
accounts, which is a matter of pride for all Indians.
PM lists out states in which Congress is not in power,
blames it on party’s ‘arrogance’
1 2
New Delhi: While re-
plying to the debate on
Motion of Thanks to
the President’s address
in Lok Sabha on Mon-
day, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi
launched a blistering
attack on the Congress,
saying that the grand
old party had ‘instigat-
ed’ migrant labourers
to breach lockdown
during the first wave of
the pandemic. He fur-
ther said that Congress
has lost countless elec-
tions but that has not
changed the party’s ego.
“During the first
wave of Covid, you
(Congress) gave free
train tickets to migrant
workers to leave Mum-
bai. At the same time,
the Delhi government
told migrant workers to
leave city and provided
them buses. As a result,
Covid spread rapidly in
Punjab, UP and Uttara-
khand,” he said.
New Delhi: Union
Home Minister Amit
Shah on Monday urged
All India Majlis-e-Itte-
hadul Muslimeen chief
Asaduddin Owaisi to
accept Z category secu-
rity offered by the Cen-
tre after a recent attack
on his convoy
.
“Two persons have
been arrested and po-
lice recovered a car and
two pistols. The forensic
team is probing the inci-
dent and the two men
are being questioned by
the Uttar Pradesh Po-
lice,” he said.
Shahfurthersaidthat
sinceOwaisihasrefused
to accept the security
cover, he requests the
AIMIM MP to accept the
security given to him by
the central government.
“He has been provid-
ed with Z category
CRPF security cover on
an all India basis along
with a bullet proof car
in Delhi,” Shah said.
During pandemic, the
country took a big deci-
sion to save small farm-
ers from difficulties. Peo-
ple who have hatred to-
wards small farmers,
have no right to do poli-
tics in name of farmers..
Narendra Modi, Prime Minister
PM: CONG LEADER OF
TUKDE TUKDE GANG
HANDLING INFLATION
PRIMARY AIM: MODI
OWAISI REFUSES
SECURITY, AGAIN
Calling Congress the
‘leader of the tukde tukde
gang’, Modi said, “Con-
gress attempted to hurt Ta-
mil sentiments…I want to
salute Tamil Nadu citizens
who lined the streets for
hours to pay tribute to CDS
Gen Bipin Rawat. Congress
policy is to “divide and
rule”. It has become leader
of ‘tukde tukde gang’.”
In five years of Congress
government, there was
double digit inflation in
country. The government
accepted the inflation was
out of contro. Congress
leaders were insensitive
towards inflation. Handling
inflation was our primary
aim. During they years
2014-2020, the inflation
rate was below 5 per cent.
AIMIM chief Asaduddin
Owaisi on Monday again
refused to accept Z cat-
egory security offered by
the Centre after a recent
attack on his convoy.
“I want to appeal to the
Union home minister that
I don’t want Z security.
My life is not as precious
as that of those 22
people who died during
the CAA Protest in Uttar
Pradesh,” Owaisi said.
This came after Union
home minister Amit Shah
urged him to accept Z
category security.
‘INFO ON BODIES DUMPED IN GANGA
DURING 2ND WAVE NOT AVAILABLE’
WILL RELEASE POSTAGE STAMP ON
LATA MANGESHKAR, SAYS VAISHNAW
New Delhi: There is no information available
about the number of dead bodies found floating
on the Ganga during the peak of the second Covid
wave, the government said in the Rajya Sabha on
Monday. Minister of State for Tribal Affairs and
Jal Shakti Bishweswar Tudu said, “Information
regarding number of COVID-19 related dead bod-
ies estimated to have been dumped in the river
Ganga is not available.”
The Centre has decided to introduce a postal
stamp to honour singing legend Lata Mangeshkar.
Minister of Railways, Com-
munications and Electronics
& Information Technology
of India, Ashwini Vaishnaw
said that the stamp would
be an appropriate honour
for the ‘Nightingale of India’.
The stamp will be released
as a commemorative
stamp, which will
be printed in
limited quanti-
ties.
Threatstillpersists,
accept‘Z’security:
ShahurgesOwaisi
Nine lose life in
car-truck collision
in Andhra Pradesh
Didi in Lucknow bats for Akhilesh, says
Cong should have joined hands with SP
Channi’s nephew got
`10 crore for sand
mining,transfers: ED
New Delhi: Punjab CM
Charanjit Singh Chan-
ni’s nephew Bhupinder
Singh received Rs 10
crore cash in lieu of fa-
cilitating illegal sand
mining and transfer-
posting of certain offi-
cials, the Enforcement
Directorate has claimed.
The agency arrested
Bhupinder on February
4 and claimed to have re-
covered Rs 10 crore in
cash during searches
preceding the arrest.
The agency on Janu-
ary 18 conducted search-
es at various premises,
including the business
and residential premises
of KudratdeepSinghand
other directors of M/s
Providers Overseas Con-
sultants Pvt. Ltd, a com-
pany
, which ED has al-
leged, is involved in ille-
galsandmining.Bhupin-
der is one of the direc-
tors in the company
.
SC orders
demolition of
Supertech twin
towers within
two weeks
Anantapuram:At least
nine people were killed
following a collision be-
tween a lorry and a car
in Andhra Pradesh on
Sunday. According to
the details, the accident
was reported from
Anantapuram district
in Budagavi village of
the state. Commenting
on the accident, Venka-
ta Swamy, Sub Inspec-
tor of police, Uravakon-
da Police Station said
the car was carrying a
total of nine passengers
including the driver.
PM Narendra Modi
while expressing grief
announced Rs 2 lakh
each for kin of deceased.
First India Bureau
Lucknow: Trinamool
Congress (TMC) chair-
person and West Bengal
chief minister Mamata
Banerjee on Monday
saidanalliancebetween
Congress and the Sama-
jwadi Party (SP) in Ut-
tar Pradesh could have
stopped division in anti-
Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) votes in the up-
coming assembly polls.
“It would be good if
the Congress and Sama-
jwadi Party had fought
unitedly. The votes
would not have been
split. We requested
them but they (Con-
gress) did not listen,”
Banerjee said at the
Kolkata airport on
Monday afternoon be-
fore leaving for Luc-
know where she will
campaign for the SP
during her two-day tour
in the run-up to the elec-
tions.
“I am campaigning
for Akhilesh Yadav. He
invited me. I want him
to win. He has the or-
ganizational setup. I
want BJP to lose,” said
Banerjee. The chief
minister said she will
also visit Varanasi to of-
fer prayers at a Shiva
temple and watch the
Ganga aarti.
New Delhi: The Su-
preme Court Monday
directed authorities to
commence the demoli-
tion of the 40-storey
Supertech Emerald
Court project twin tow-
ers in Noida.
A bench comprising
Justices D Y Chandra-
chud and Surya Kant
also directed the Noida
CEO to convene a meet-
ing within 72 hours in
which all the agencies
concerned shall be pre-
sent, news agency PTI
reported.
Shah in RS said
a detailed probe
is underway and
a report is sought
from the UP govt
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav welcomes West Bengal CM Mamata
Banerjee at Lucknow airport on Monday.
SP pitches late-BJP
leader’s wife against
Yogi in Gorakhpur
Samajwadi Party fielded
Subhavati Shukla, wife
of late Upendra Dutt
Shukla, who was BJP’s
state vice-president
against UP CM Yogi
Adityanath.
—PHOTO BY SUMIT KUMAR
2. NEWS
AHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2022
02
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First India Bureau
Vadodara: Trinamool
Congress MP Mahua
Moitra’scommentsabout
the Jain community in
the Lok Sabha continued
to spark outrage on Mon-
day when its Vadodara
and Ahmedabad mem-
berscalledforhersuspen-
sion. They demanded an
apology from the MP and
also wrote to Prime Min-
ister Narendra Modi ap-
prising him of the issue.
Following COVID-19
guidelines owing to ris-
ing cases, members of
the Jain community
gathered at Mahatma
GandhiNagarGruhand
held a protest against
Moitra’s statements.
“The Jain community is
known as a vegetarian
society all over the
world. Mahua Moitra’s
commentshavehurtour
sentiments, thoughts
and values. We demand
an apology from her in
the Parliament and also
call for her suspension.
We are also going to reg-
ister a criminal com-
plaint against the MP,”
said Niraj Jain, a Jain
community leader.
Similarly, another
leader Paresh Shah also
strongly condemned the
MP’s comments about a
Jain boy eating kebabs
in Ahmedabad. “We will
write to the PM about
her (Moitra’s) suspen-
sion and also request
Lok Sabha Speaker Om
Birla to demand an apol-
ogy letter from her. We
will not tolerate such
comments,” he said.
Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) Vadodara
President Dr Vijay Shah
was also present at the
gathering and extended
the party’s support to
the community
.
JAINS CALL FOR MP MOITRA’S SUSPENSION, APOLOGY
INTOLERANCE
Members of Jain community protesting at Mahatma Gandhi Nagar Gruh in Vadodara; BJP A’bad prez Amit Shah with demonstrators at A’bad Collectorate on Monday.
Members of community gathered in
V’dara, A’bad on Monday, plan to
lodge criminal complaint against her
FOR JUSTICE
Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) President Jagdish Thakor was accompanied by leaders Nishit Vyas, Himanshu Patel and others, as he led a ‘Nyay Yatra’ rally in Gandhinagar on
Monday. The party has demanded compensation of four lakh rupees for kin of COVID-19 victims. The leaders submitted a memorandum of their demand at the Gandhinagar Collectorate.
First India Bureau
Vadodara: After a
dealer of Hyundai ve-
hicles in Pakistan
posted a message sup-
porting ‘Kashmir
Solidarity Day’,
#BoycottHyundai
trended on Twitter in
India, with many
retweeting messages
on their accounts,
asking followers to
refrain from buying
the company’s prod-
ucts. The Vadodara
Police Commissioner
Dr Shamsher Singh
also took to the social
media platform and
urged people to boy-
cottHyundai.“#byco-
tHyundai #BycottH-
yundaiIndia #Integ-
rity #India,” he
tweeted.Thisinvoked
myriad reactions and
questions for he is a
serving IPS officer.
However, experts
believe it is too early
to react. “It is a corpo-
rate war, and one
should not include
politics in it. First,
the Ministry of Ex-
ternal and Home Af-
fairs and other con-
cerned departments
will seek clarification
on the statement, and
then reactions are
welcome. The early
reaction can affect
foreign investment”,
said Dr Jayesh Shah,
policy strategist.
#BoycottHyundai
tweets V’dara police
commissioner
Vadodara Police Commissioner Dr Shamsher Singh.
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: Asit
Vora, the embattled
chairman of the Guja-
rat Subordinate Servic-
es Selection Board
(GSSSB), submitted his
resignation to Chief
Minister Bhupendra
Patel on Monday, in the
wake of the question
paper leak that saw the
examination for the
post of head clerk being
cancelled last month.
Several other politi-
cal appointees also ten-
dered their resigna-
tions on Monday, in-
cluding IK Jadeja of the
Fifty-Point Implemen-
tation Programme,
GIDC chairman Bal-
vantsinh Rajput, Guja-
rat Rural Housing
Board Chairman Mulu
Bera, and Hansraj Ga-
jera, the chairman of
Binanamat Varg Ayog.
Those familiar with
the issue say this is part
of an exercise launched
by the ruling party and
CM Patel 10 days ago.
A list is of 100 politi-
cal appointees is being
prepared at the mo-
ment, which will make
way for sitting MLAs,
MPs and party office
bearers to be appointed
to various boards and
corporations, in a bid to
address dissatisfaction
among the party cadre.
With this, the BJP--
which has so far run
the show with bureau-
crats--is giving in to
pressure from dissatis-
fied party workers to
take a U-Tun on avoid-
ing political appoint-
ments in boards and
corporations, in a bid
to boost morale ahead
of the Assembly elec-
tions slated for later
this year.
GSSSB chairman Asit Vora resigns
Asit Vora —FILE PHOTO
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: The
Gujarat High Court
on Monday pulled up
state government of-
ficers for not abiding
by its orders and act-
ing in violation of
court stays.
In the first in-
stance, the court was
hearing a petition
moved by farmers of
Devbhoomi Dwarka
district, regarding a
land acquisition case.
According to the peti-
tioners, the state gov-
ernment had failed to
pay them compensa-
tion for the land for
three years.
Expressing shock
at the farmers’
plight, the court
slammed officers re-
sponsible for delay in
payment. “Officers
sitting in air-condi-
tioned rooms will
never understand
the problems of the
people. They will
only understand if
their pay hike is
stayed,” said the
court. Devbhoomi
Dwarka collector,
who was present in
the courtroom, was
instructed to ensure
that farmers’ com-
pensation is released
at the earliest.
It also asked that
officers responsible
for delay appear at
the next hearing and
face charges for con-
tempt of court.
In another case,
the court had direct-
ed revenue officers
and Ahmedabad po-
lice to arrange alter-
native accommoda-
tion for people ren-
dered homeless, after
their house was de-
molished against a
court stay. The prop-
erty owner was fac-
ing allegations of
land grabbing, which
was challenged by
him before the court
and any further ac-
tion was stayed by
the court.
Yet, Ahmedabad
revenue officials and
police went ahead
and demolished the
house. Thus, the
court has pulled up
officers and asked
them to assist the
family in whatever
way they can.
Gujarat HC slams
officers for failing to
abide by its orders
Gujarat High Court. —FILE PHOTO
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: Nearly
40,800 children up to
the age of two and
9,000 pregnant women
will be covered under
the Intensified Mis-
sion Indradhanush 4.0
that was launched by
Union Health Minister
Mansukh Mandaviya
from New Delhi, the
Gujarat government
said on Monday.
Under the Union
government’s Mission
Indradhanush, eligi-
ble children and preg-
nant women will be
administered vaccines
for diseases like jaun-
dice, TB, diphtheria,
polio, pneumonia,
measles and rubella
and other serious ail-
ments, said a state gov-
ernment release.
Gujarat Health Min-
ister Rushikesh Patel
and MoS Health Nim-
ishaben Suthar had
joined the launching
ceremony for 12 states
through video confer-
ence from Gandhina-
gar, said the release.
“In Gujarat, the mis-
sion will be made op-
erational in all 33 dis-
tricts and eight major
cities in three phases,
starting from February
7, then on March 7 and
April 4. In each phase,
the state government
aims to cover 13,619
children and 3,032
pregnant women
through 3,243 ses-
sions,” said the release.
For maximum cover-
age, health teams will
conduct house-to-house
surveys for the head
count,thereleaseadded.
Between 2015 and
2021, over 9.61 lakh chil-
dren and 2.05 lakh preg-
nant women were given
vaccines through Mam-
ta sessions in Gujarat
under the previous ver-
sions of Mission Indrad-
hanush,saidtherelease.
Guj to cover 40.8K kids, 9K pregnant
women under ‘Mission Indradhanush’
Made operational
in all 33 districts
and eight major
cities in three phases
from Monday
A child is given a polio vaccine. —FILE PHOTO
WHAT IS INDRADHANUSH?
Under the Union govern-
ment’s Mission Indrad-
hanush, eligible children
and pregnant women will be
administered vaccines for
diseases like jaundice, TB,
diphtheria, polio, pneumo-
nia, measles and rubella and
other serious ailments. Be-
tween 2015 and 2021, more
than 9.61 lakh children and
2.05 lakh pregnant women
were given vaccines through
Mamta sessions in Gujarat
under the previous versions
of Mission Indradhanush.
—PHOTO
BY
HANIF
SINDHI
—FILE
PHOTO
3. GUJARAT
AHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2022
03
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EQUAL
RITES
A Dalit family in
Banaskantha’s
Dhaneri village carry
the body of 88-year-
old Tejabhai Badhia
on its final journey
on Sunday, but only
after police and
district authorities
intervened, amid
protests from upper-
caste villagers who
insist the cremation
ground was only
meant for them.
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: Guja-
rat on Monday report-
ed 2,909 fresh COV-
ID-19 cases and 21 fa-
talities due to the in-
fection, taking the
tally to 12,03,150 and
the toll to 10,688, the
state health depart-
ment said.
A total of 8,862 pa-
tients were discharged
during the day
, which
raised the total number
of recoveriesinGujarat
to 11,53,818. The state is
now left with 38,644 ac-
tive cases, the depart-
ment said, adding that
215 patients are on ven-
tilatorsupportinacriti-
cal condition.
In a bit of good news,
nine districts reported
single-digit cases, with
Dang reporting no new
cases at all on Monday
.
Jamnagar and Mahisa-
gar had nine each,
Devbhumi Dwarka and
Surendranagar eight
each, Junagadh rural,
city and Porbandar five
each, Bhavnagar, three,
and Botad one.
Ahmedabad district
reported the most, with
959newcases,Vadodara
603, Rajkot 185, and
Gandhinagar 161,
among others.
At seven, the
Ahmedabad district
also reported the high-
est number of COV-
ID-19 fatalities in Guja-
rat on Monday
, followed
by four deaths due to
COVID-19 in Vadodara,
three in Surat among
other cities.
With 2.70 lakh people
gettingjabbed,thenum-
ber of the COVID-19
doses administered so
far in Gujarat went up
to 9.98 crore.
First India Bureau
Amreli: Two women
were victims of an acid
attack on Sunday night
in Savarkundla town of
Amreli district. Local
policehavebookedthree
persons for attempted
murder, acid attack,
criminal intimidation,
conspiracy and other
sections of the Indian
Penal Code (IPC). Both
women have been shift-
ed to Rajkot Civil Hospi-
tal for treatment.
A complaint was filed
by Manishaben Makwa-
na (one of the victims)
with the Savarkundla
town police station. On
Sundayevening,shehad
accompanied her sister-
in-law Kajal Parmar to
Lallubhai Sheth Hospi-
tal for a pregnancy con-
sultation for the latter.
The women then paid a
visit to their uncle and
were heading home
when their neighbour
Anil Rathod and his fa-
ther Pravin Rathod at-
tacked them with acid.
They screamed for help
and samaritans called a
108 ambulance which
rushed them to Sa-
varkundla Government
Hospital.
She further alleged
that Anil had been pres-
suring Kajal to get a
divorce from her broth-
er Dipak Parmar. This
was because his broth-
er-in-law Bhavesh
wanted to marry her.
When Kajal refused
to divorce Dipak, Anil
and his father attacked
the complainant and
Kajal with acid. As both
women had suffered se-
vere injuries, they were
referred to Amreli Civ-
il Hospital from Sa-
varkundla. But being
in critical condition,
Kajal was referred to
Rajkot Civil Hospital.
A Savarkundla town
policestationofficercon-
firmed that both the ac-
cused have been picked
upforquestioning.“Once
their COVID-19 test is
negative, they will be ar-
rested officially
. Bhavesh
has not been questioned
yet, as he is not directly
involvedinthecrime,but
he will be picked up if al-
legations against are
foundtobetrue,”hesaid.
Daily jump dives to under 3K
but A’bad still posting most cases
COVID-19 testing in Ahmedabad. —PHOTO BY HANIF SINDHI
COVID-19
UPDATE
12,03,150
TOTAL CASES
2909
CASES IN A
DAY
11,53,818
8,862
RECOVERED
IN A DAY
TOTAL DEATHS
21
DEATHS
IN A DAY
10,688
ACTIVE CASES
928 MAX
CASES IN
A’BAD
38,644
TOTAL
RECOVERED
3 HELDFORACIDATTACKON2WOMEN
Anil Rathod and his father Pravin wanted one of the victims to divorce
her husband and marry one of their relatives in Amreli’s Savarkundla 3 men rape 15-yr-old girl in A’bad
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: Krish-
nanagar police are
hunting for three
men accused of rap-
ing and blackmailing
a 15-year-old girl, who
is the niece of a friend
of one of the accused.
Tilotama’s (name
changed) mother in-
formed the police that
Tilotama frequently
visited her uncle, who
lives in a nearby soci-
ety. That is where her
uncle’s friend Sagar
Patel, a resident of
Sardar Bungalows,
came in contact and
pressurized the victim
into a relationship, but
she disagreed.
A few months ago,
when the accused was
alone at home, he
called Tilotama to pick
up her uncle’s shoes.
When she reached Sa-
gar’s house, he threat-
ened her if she did not
surrender for physical
relations, he will kill
her relatives. He then
raped her and had no
other communication
or personal meeting
thereafter.
Around 20 days ago,
Sagar’s friend Ragnesh
Dhanani met the vic-
tim and threatened her
to have a relationship
with him or he will in-
form all about Sagar.
The frightened victim
agreed. Later, Ragnesh
and his friend Dhruvik
alias DD in the latter’s
car took her on De-
hgam road, parked the
car near a building and
raped her.
Slowly, all three
friends and their other
friends started black-
mailing the victim. On
Sunday, the victim
gathered courage and
informed her family
about the rape. The
family stood with her
and filed a complaint.
The victim was sent
for her medical tests.
Man booked for raping minor daughter
First India Bureau
Vadodara: A 17-year-
old girl was allegedly
raped by her father in
Vadodara, said the po-
lice on Sunday
.
“An incident of
rape with a minor of
17-years of age was
reported. We have
registered an FIR un-
der POCSO Act. The
victim’s father has
committed the rape.
After the death of her
mother, she lived with
her father. She was
raped multiple times
since 2021,” DCP, Va-
dodara Police told re-
porters.
Later, the police
took the accused un-
der custody and regis-
tered an FIR under the
POCSO Act. The police
further informed that
the matter came to the
fore after her aunt
took her to a doctor.
“When her aunt took
her to a doctor, it was
revealed that she was
pregnant after which
they brought her to the
police station. The
medical examination
confirmed that she was
18-weeks pregnant,”
the police officer said.
We will ensure strin-
gent action against the
accused on the basis of
scientific evidence, the
police further said.
6 MEN HELD, 20 WOMEN RESCUED AS
SEX RACKET BUSTED IN SURAT’S VESU
Surat: Umra police D
Staff have busted a sex
racket operating under
the garb of an ayurvedic
massage parlour--Kriya
Spa--from the second
floor of Mahalak-
shmi Dreams, Vesu VIP
Road. On Sunday after-
noon, police received
a tip-off and sent a
dummy customer to the
spa. Soon they raided
the spa and found
Rs20,960 in cash, mo-
biles worth Rs30,960,
and arrested six men—
two kingpins and two
customers. One Anurag
Tiwari was running the
spa for four months. Of
the 20 women--16 were
from a spa in Kolkata,
one from UP, one from
Maharashtra and two
girls from Surat. Police
have seized the CCTV
footage and suspect of
discovering an inter-
state sex racket.
THE INCIDENT
On Sunday evening, she had accompa-
nied her sister-in-law Kajal Parmar to
Lallubhai Sheth Hospital for a preg-
nancy consultation for the latter. The
women then paid a visit to their uncle
and were heading home when their
neighbour Anil Rathod and his father
Pravin Rathod attacked them with acid.
They screamed for help and samaritans
called a 108 ambulance which rushed
them to Savarkundla Govern-
ment Hospital.
4. SPIRITUAL SPEAK
Lust, anger and greed
are the three gates to
self-destructive hell.
—The Bhagwad Gita
IN-DEPTH
Kiren Rijiju
@KirenRijiju
I’m happy to inform that Income Tax
Appellate Tribunal has reduced the
total numbers of pendency to 53,000
and with the appointment of 21 new
Members of ITAT, the case of income
tax appeals will be handled faster with
the objective of justice at the door
steps of the litigants
Dharmendra Pradhan
@dpradhanbjp
When you go to cast your vote,
remember that you are not only voting
for UP but also for the country.You are
the voter of UP, the development of the
country cannot happen without UP’s
development.- PM
@narendramodi #UP_In_Modi_Yogi
TOP TWEETS
FINALLY RAHUL
BITES THE BULLET,
SHOWS NAVJOT
SIDHU HIS PLACE
ahul Gandhi has fi-
nally bitten the Pun-
jab bullet. On a visit
to the state on Sun-
day, he declared the
incumbent Chief Minister
Charanjit Singh Channi as the
Congress party’s CM face for the
forthcoming Assembly elec-
tions. Before arriving at the de-
cision Congress was uncertain
of Navjot Singh Sidhu’s reac-
tion to the choice. The Punjab
Congress president was eyeing
the nomination for himself and
won’t take the snub lying down.
Rahul Gandhi’s courage must
bepraisedasSidhuhadbeendefi-
ant towards the party leadership
andwasinstrumentalintheoust-
er of Capt. Amarinder Singh.
SidhuwasunhappywhenChanni
wasnamedtosucceedAmarinder
and even publicly criticised the
CM. Sidhu openly displayed his
rebelliousstreakbutavoidedcrit-
icism of the party leadership.
Whatever Sidhu might do next is
now immaterial. At best he may
crossovertotheAamAdmiParty
.
By taming Sidhu the Congress
has put its house in order before
the voting game begins.
R
he UK govern-
ment recently an-
nounced a dra-
matic U-turn on
the COVID vac-
cine mandate for healthcare
workers, originally sched-
uled to take effect on April 1
2022. Health or social care
staff will no longer need to
provide proof of vaccination
to stay employed. The reason,
as health secretary Sajid
Javid made clear, is that “it is
no longer proportionate”.
There are several reasons
why it was the right decision
at this point to scrap the man-
date. Most notably, omicron
causes less severe disease
than other coronavirus vari-
ants; many healthcare work-
ers have already had the vi-
rus (potentially giving them
immunity equivalent to vac-
cine); vaccines are not as ef-
fective at preventing re-infec-
tion of omicron; and less re-
strictive alternatives are
available.
But the question remains:
what does this imply for vac-
cine mandates more gener-
ally? In a Twitter thread, for-
mer UK health secretary Jer-
emy Hunt has expressed
concerns that the U-turn will
make it harder to implement
vaccine mandates in future.
This might be true politically
,
but ethically
, it doesn’t follow.
The ethical principle that
justifies some forms of man-
datory vaccination of health
professionals remains: The
have a fundamental duty to
minimise risk of harm to pa-
tients. One reason provided
for U-turn is fear of critical
staff shortages. But that
would not necessarily apply
if staffing problems in NHS
are addressed. Ethical princi-
ples aren’t relative, but what
course of action they pre-
scribe depends on facts.
While U-turn on COVID vac-
cine mandate was ethically
justified, we shouldn’t rule
out mandates altogether.
(theconversation.com)
IS THIS THE END OF THE
ROAD FOR VAX MANDATES?
There are several
reasons why it was
right decision to scrap
the mandate. Most
notably, omicron causes
less severe disease than
other coronavirus variants;
many healthcare workers
have already had the virus
T
AMILLIONASPIRANTS!
or the last three years, over a
million aspirants have taken
the Civil Services Examina-
tion (CSE) application form
from the Union Public Ser-
vice Commission (UPSC),
and about fifty percent of
them actually sat for the Pre-
liminary qualifying exam.
(Prelims) The vast drop in
numbers is on account of the
limitation on the number of
attempts, and if the prepara-
tion for the Prelims is not up
to the mark, aspirants avoid
taking the exam as it counts
as an attempt whereas filling
of the form is not. While the
general category can take up
to six attempts, aspirants
from the Other Backward
Castes (OBC) can take nine
attempts till they reach thir-
ty-five years of age and there
is no limit to the number of
attempts by Scheduled Caste
and Schedule Tribe candi-
dates till the age of thirty-
seven.
Of these half a million
candidates, just about ten
thousand qualify for the
‘mains’ exam. One fourth
will make it to the interview
stage, and of eight hundred
odd candidates who make it
to the final ‘merit list, less
than one fifth will be offered
a placement in the Indian Ad-
ministrative Service. Based
on their merit and prefer-
ence, candidates opt for the
two All India Services, the
IAS and the IPS, and sixteen
central services including
the Indian Foreign service,
and five group B civil servic-
es (Armed Forces Headquar-
ters Civilian Service, and the
Delhi and Puducherry Civil
and Police services). It may
bementionedthatthe‘mains’
for the third All India ser-
vice, the Indian Forest Ser-
vice is held separately, and
from 2022, the Railway ser-
vices have requested the
UPSC to conduct an examina-
tion for the two hundred odd
vacancies in all the Railway
services. In addition to all
the Group A services selected
through the CSE, officers of
the Forest and Economic Ser-
vice also come together for
the Foundation course which
is held at the LBS National
Academy of Administration.
The Foundation Course:
‘Sheelam Param Bhushan-
am’: Character is the Su-
preme embellishment
This is drawn from Bhar-
trhari Nitisaktam, and the
English translation of the
Shloka reads ‘Affluence is
adorned by goodness, valour
by not boasting, knowledge
by control of the senses,
scholarship by modesty,
wealth by giving to the de-
serving, tapas by the absence
of anger, power by forgive-
ness, and Dharma by truth.
Character is the Supreme
embellishment’
This point is driven home
to all those who enter the por-
tals of this institution as
prior to their selection, each
individual officer trainee has
put in several months, (in
some cases years) of hard
work, and their academic
merit, rigour and commit-
ment have been certified by
the UPSC. Many become lo-
cal celebrities as their ac-
complishment is feted by
families, friends, all educa-
tional institutions they stud-
ied in, and of course the
coaching centres. Their mug-
shots appear in advertise-
ments, and many get thou-
sands of followers on their
social media pages. They
have achieved a major mile-
stone, but is this an end in
itself, or a means to an end?
In this context, it is impor-
tant to drive home the points
in the above verse, especially
- non-boasting, modesty and
sharing- with emphasis on
‘character building.’ Nor-
mally, the course Team as
well as the Director of the
Academy refer to this dictum
in the inaugural program of
a Foundation course.
Officer Trainees are
briefed about the core values
of the Academy: Integrity,
Respect, Professionalism,
collaboration and last but not
the least, service to the un-
derprivileged. Integrity is
much more than financial
integrity – it includes cour-
age of conviction and speak-
ing Truth to Power. In the
context of Public Service,
‘Respect’ stands for embrac-
ing the diversity of language,
religion, caste, gender, age,
region, and socio-economic
status. ‘Professionalism’ is
the key element – for unless
civil servants master the stat-
ute, rules, and procedure,
they would cut a sorry figure.
The Academy also expects
that civil servants will seek
‘Partnerships’ and collabora-
tions with all the three tiers
of governance, civil society,
corporate, academia as well
as the legislative and judicial
arms of the government: the
ultimate objective being to
ensure inclusion- financial,
legal, academic, social, phys-
ical - for most underprivi-
leged persons.
(TO BE CONTINUED)
F
‘You will not have a united
India, if you do not have a
good All India Service that
has the independence to
speak out its mind’ ‘You
have been selected for the
premier service of the
country, assuring you of a
decent livelihood and
security. Remember you
are going to occupy
important positions in the
future. Now it is your duty
to serve the people of our
country to the best of your
ability, Be fair, be polite
and firm, prepare yourself
well for the job in hand,
and complete it
successfully’
Sardar Patel’s address
to the 1948 batch of the IAS
Officer Trainees are
briefed about Academy’s
core values: Integrity,
Respect, Professionalism,
collaboration last but
not the least, service to
the underprivileged.
Integrity is much more
than financial integrity – it
includes courage of
conviction speaking
Truth to Power
SANJEEV CHOPRA
The writer is Distinguished Fellow, USI Delhi
and Historian Policy Analyst. Also former
Director, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy
of Administration, Mussoorie
PERSPECTIVE
AHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2022
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Mahesh Sharma
Patna: There is abso-
lutely no coordination
between the four NDA
parties in Bihar, and on
the other hand, the har-
mony between Rashtri-
ya Janata Dal and Con-
gress is also deteriorat-
ing. Last year, both the
parties had fielded dif-
ferent candidates in the
by-elections to two as-
sembly seats. At the
same time the leaders of
boththepartieshadsaid
that the alliance was
broken and now both
will fight separately in
the next elections. But
preparations were made
to fight with both in the
Legislative Council elec-
tions to be held for 24
seats of the Legislative
Council. Initial talks
were also held between
the two parties. But now
both are opposing each
other and preparing to
fight separately
.
State Congress presi-
dent Madan Mohan Jha
has said that Congress
has no problem in con-
testing all the seats. In
fact, three or four addi-
tional seats were being
given to the Congress by
the RJD. In that too RJD
wastalkingaboutgiving
both the seat and the
candidateof theirchoice
which angered the Con-
gress leaders. The RJD
had given a seat of its
choice to the CPI. But
faced‘problem’ingiving
seat to Congress. The
party had already an-
nounced to contest 20
seats and also declared
candidates for most of
the seats. This has in-
creased the dispute be-
tween the two parties.
Elections to five Rajya
Sabha seats are also to
be held in the next two
months. There will be
morecontroversyatthat
time. Congress will de-
mand one seat. On the
other hand RJD has
been able to win two
seats only on the
strength of its MLAs.
RJD-CONGRESSALLIANCEWILLALSOBREAK!
DISPUTED CLAIMS
Initial talks
were also held
between the
two parties. But
now both are
opposing each
other and
preparing to
fight separately
‘Cong’s‘double-brake’govtstalledU’khanddevp’
Rishikesh-Karanprayag railway line is a big example of how the brakes on development were removed after the BJP came to power: Modi
New Delhi: Prime Min-
ister Narendra Modi on
Monday launched a
scathing attack on the
Congress,sayingthatthe
Oppositionpartyhadled
a ‘double-brake’ govern-
ment previ-
ously
. PM
Modi as-
s e r t e d
that the
p r ev i o u s
Congress dis-
pensation stalled devel-
opment works in Uttara-
khand.
“Rishikesh-Karan-
prayag railway line is a
big example of how the
brakes on development
were removed after the
BJP came to power. The
work on this project was
to be started a decade
ago. However, the pre-
cedinggovernmentonly
put brakes on it. From
2011 to 2014, they (Con-
gress) were ruling at the
Centre and State level,
putting in place a ‘dou-
ble-brake’government,”
Prime Minister said
while virtually address-
ing voters of Dehradun
and Haridwar during
‘Vijay Sankalp Sabha’
today ahead of Uttara-
khand Assembly polls.
Prime Minister fur-
ther said that the previ-
ous government in
about 3-4 years had only
spent Rs 4 crore on such
a big project, which has
enormous importance
for the state.
“In 2014, when you
gavemetheopportunity
to serve you at the Cen-
tre, we removed the
brake. We started work
ontheRishikesh-Karan-
prayag railway line. We
used to push the work
from Delhi, but brakes
were applied from Deh-
radun. In 2017, when Ut-
tarakhand got a double-
engine government,
thereafter Rs 5,500 crore
have been spent,” Prime
Minister said.
PM Modi also point-
ed out that the work on
the Delhi-Dehradun
highway had started
during the tenure of
former Prime Minister
Atal Bihari Vajpayee in
2000 when Uttara-
khand was carved out
of Uttar Pradesh.
“But Congress sub-
sequently left the work
languishing on the
grounds that the UP
government hadn’t
provided the necessary
clearances. But the fact
is that the Congress
headed government at
the Centre and its al-
lies were in power in
Lucknow. The project
was, however, complet-
ed when BJP’s double-
engine government
came to power at Cen-
tre and Dehradun,” PM
Modi said. —ANI
Rahul to address Cong
rally in U’khand on Feb
10; Priyanka on Feb 12
Dehradun: Congress
leader Rahul Gandhi
will visit Uttarakhand
on February 10 to take
part in the party's poll
campaign for state as-
semblyelectionsthatare
scheduled to take place
on February 14.
Congress general Sec-
retary Priyanka Gandhi
Vadrawillalsoaddressa
public rally in the state
on February 12.
Speakingtomedia,Ut-
tarakhand Congress
general secretary (Or-
ganization) Mathura
Dutt Joshi said, Rahul
Gandhi will address the
public rally in Srinagar
city and Almora on Feb-
ruary 10. On February
12,PriyankaGandhiwill
address the rally in Ud-
ham Singh Nagar and
Haridwar.
Earlier on February 5,
the Wayanad MP visited
Har Ki Pauri in Harid-
war to seek blessing and
offerhisprayers.Healso
addressedagatheringof
farmers at Kichha Man-
di of Udham Singh Na-
gar in Uttarakhand.
Uttarakhand is
scheduled for polls on
February 14. The re-
sults will be announced
on March 10. —PTI
POLL BUZZ
PUNJAB: No MLA's
kin will get chairman-
ship if I remain Punjab
Congress chief: Sidhu
Sukhbir Badal, SAD
Faridkot candidate
booked for violation
of poll code, COVID
protocols
Declaration of
Channi as CM face in
Punjab sends good
message across coun-
try: Kharge
Dev D star Mahie
Gill, actor Hobby
Dhaliwal join BJP
UP: Congress not
national political party
anymore, only belongs
to brother-sister, says
Nadda
After poll verdict,
opposition will chant
'Bharat Mata ki Jai, Jai
Shri Ram': UP Dy CM
Keshav Prasad Maurya
Srinagar: Former
chief minister and Peo-
ples Democratic Party
(PDP) president Me-
hbooba Mufti on Mon-
day lashed out at the
Bharatiya Janata Par-
ty-led Centre and said
that they are executing
a 'Godse agenda' of di-
viding the Hindu and
Muslim communities.
Mufti also said that
the Delimitation Com-
mission's draft is unac-
ceptable to the party
.
Speaking to media
personshere,Muftisaid,
The draft is a reflection
of theBJPfurtheringits
divisiveagenda,separat-
ing Hindus and Mus-
lims. They want to make
it Godse's India.
It is unacceptable. A
sheer dictatorship is
prevailing in the coun-
try, she alleged.
Further, Mufti said
that the issue of the De-
limitation Commis-
sion's draft will be dis-
cussed in the meeting
of PAGD (People's Alli-
ance for Gupkar Decla-
ration) on February 23.
Delimitation Com-
mission's proposal has
not come as a surprise.
It is another onslaught
of democracyinJammu
and Kashmir, she said.
Alleging that the BJP
is trying to strengthen
its constituencies and
attempting to make vot-
ers irrelevant, Mufti
said, They want to dis-
empower the majority
communities, be it in
Rajouri or Chenab val-
ley
. Merging Anantnag
Parliamentary seat with
theJammuregionsisan
attempt to make voters
irrelevant. —ANI
New Delhi: Deferring
the hearing of a case
seeking criminalisa-
tion of marital rape to
February 21, the Delhi
High Court on Monday
granted the Centre two
weeks to place its final
stand on the issue be-
fore it and told the gov-
ernment that it does not
gel with it as a court to
keep the matter pend-
ing. The legal question
has remained undecid-
ed before the court
since 2015.
The government last
week had urged the
court to defer the pro-
ceedings in the matter
to await the outcome
of a consultative pro-
cess with various
stakeholders. Solicitor
General Tushar Mehta
reiterated the govern-
ment request on Mon-
day and said the legal
question should not be
treated merely a ques-
tion of constitutional
validity. —PTI
First India Bureau
New Delhi: Niti Aayog
on Monday launched a
three-week-long virtual
summit ‘Fintech Open’
from February 7–28 to
showcasetheimportance
of the fintech industry
.
The summit was inaugu-
rated by Union Minister
for Railways, Communi-
cations, and Electronics
and IT Ashwini
Vaishnaw in the pres-
ence of Niti Aayog Vice
Chairman Rajiv Kumar.
A first-of-its-kind initia-
tive, Fintech Open will
bring together regula-
tors, fintech profession-
als and enthusiasts.
Beijing: Amid wide-
spread criticism over
its move to field a PLA
soldier involved in the
border clash with Indi-
an soldiers at the Gal-
wan Valley in 2020 as a
torchbearer for the
Winter Olympics, Chi-
na said on Monday that
his selection met the
“standards” to pick up
participants for the
event and asked the rel-
evant parties to refrain
from making “politi-
cised interpretation”.
China fielded Qi
Fabao, the regimental
commander of the Peo-
ple’s Liberation Army
,
who was injured during
theJune2020clashinthe
GalwanValley
,asatorch-
bearer for the Olympics
Games Torch Relay
,
which led India to diplo-
matically boycott the
openingceremonyof the
games on Friday
. —PTI
BJP executing‘Godse agenda’,dividing
Hindu-Muslim communities: Mehbooba
Clear stand on marital
rape, HC asks Centre
IN TWO WEEKS...
Vaishnaw flags
off NITI Aayog’s
Summit
China brushes off India’s
anger over Olympic move
GALWAN SOLDIER AS TORCHBEARER
Sharat K Verma
Chandigarh: Congress
state president Navjot
Singh Sidhu has been
out of the race for the
chief minister's post
from Congress. He has
been told that Charanjit
SinghChanniwillbethe
chief ministerial candi-
datefromtheparty'sside
and the party will con-
test the assembly elec-
tions on his face.
Accordingtoinformed
Congress sources, ac-
cording to the survey
conducted by the party
and the report of social
media, Channi has got
the maximum votes and
Sidhu has lagged far be-
hind him, although not
as backward as the Aam
Aadmi Party had shown
in its survey
. AAP had
released the figures of
Bhagwant Mann and
Sidhu and said that
Mannwaslikedby93per
cent people and Sidhu by
3.6 per cent. In the Con-
gress poll, Sidhu is seen
getting double votes.
However, the Con-
gress high command
had already made up its
mind to announce
Channi's name. When
Rahul Gandhi an-
nounced to declare the
face of CM and the par-
ty started the survey,
the initial report was in
favor of Channi. That's
when the party decided
to field him from two
places so that the party
could take maximum
advantage of the bet
that the party had made
by making a Dalit, the
Chief Minister.
It is nonsense, what
AAP leaders are saying
that Channi was losing
from Chamkaur Sahib,
hence he has been field-
ed from Bhadaur seat as
well. Remember how
Narendra Modi, who
was contesting as the
primeministerialcandi-
date for the first time,
also contested from both
Gujarat and Uttar
Pradesh. He was not los-
ing anywhere, but he
fought from two places
to make the most of his
personality and charis-
ma. Similarly, the Con-
gress has waged a gam-
ble of consolidating the
entire 34 per cent Dalit
vote by fielding Channi
from one seat each in
Malwa and Doaba, both
the areas with the high-
est Dalit population.
Sidhu knew Channi will be the CM contender
Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually addresses at the ‘Vijay Sankalp Sabha’ for the people of Dehradun and Haridwar, as Uttarakhand
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami listens to, in New Delhi on Monday. —PHOTO BY ANI
ment previ-
ously
. PM
p r ev i o u s
U’KHAND
U’KHAND
CITING DEMOCRACY AT STAKE
2 BJP MLAs in
Tripura resign
from Assembly
Agartala: Two
MLAs from the rul-
ing BJP in Tripura
— Sudip Roy Barman
and Ashish Kumar
Saha — resigned
from the Assembly as
well as from the pri-
mary membership of
the party on Monday
saying democracy is
at stake in the state
under the BJP
.
Five-term MLA
Roy Barman, who
was dropped from
the post of health
minister in 2019, and
Saha submitted their
resignation papers to
Speaker Ratan
Chakraborty and
said they would end
the “conspiracy” to
suppress the voice of
the public under the
current regime.
Their resignation
comes months after
BJP MLA Ashish Ku-
mar Das left the par-
ty alleging misrule
and joined the Trina-
mool Congress.
Emerging from the
Assembly this after-
noon, Roy Barman
told reporters, “We
have heaved a sigh of
relief that we re-
signed, because this
government has mis-
erably failed to deliv-
er, live up to expecta-
tions. In this govern-
ment, only one man’s
voice is heard or his
orders are carried
out. No legislature,
no minister can exer-
cise their authority
or power. —PTI
BJP MLAs Sudip Roy Barman (R) and Ashish Kumar Saha
(L) after submitting their resignation. —PHOTO BY PTI
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti —FILE PHOTO
Rahul Gandhi with Lalu Prasad Yadav. —FILE PHOTO
VOTE CONSOLIDATION
The Congress has
waged a gamble of
consolidating the
entire 34 per cent
Dalit vote by fielding
Channi from one seat
each in Malwa and
Doaba, both the areas
with the highest Dalit
population.
Punjab CM Channi with Cong state chief Navjot Sidhu.
Rahul Gandhi
—FILE
PHOTO
7. INDIA
AHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2022
06
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Moni Sharma
New Delhi: The lead-
ers who went from Con-
gress to BJP after de-
fecting have started
‘learning’ lessons. A
strong lesson has been
learned in Manipur, the
impact of which will be
visible across the coun-
try
. In Manipur, 28 Con-
gress MLAs had won in
the last assembly elec-
tions, out of which 16
switched sides to the
BJP. This time in the as-
sembly elections, BJP
has given tickets to only
10 of them and as a re-
sult the six people
whose tickets have been
cut are getting restless.
Congress is also not giv-
ing them any value.
Keep in mind that in the
states where the gov-
ernment was formed
due to the defection of
the Congress and by-
elections were held on
the seats of the defect-
ing MLAs, the defecting
MLAs were taken care
of, but in other places it
did not happen.
This is the reason
that even in Goa, lead-
ers who left Congress
and joined BJP are re-
turning home. They
had already felt that
BJP would not give tick-
et, so they turned to
Congress or Trinamool
Congress. This has also
been proved from Ma-
nipur. Therefore, it is
not a mere coincidence
that in the states where
the Congress base is
still strong, the home-
coming of the defecting
MLAs and leaders has
started. An informed
Congress leader says
that the developments
in Manipur and Goa
have taught a lesson to
the Congress leaders
and they will think a
hundred times before
joining the BJP.
This is proof of the
lesson learned by the
Congress leaders that
many of them, from Ut-
tarakhand, have re-
turned ‘home’. Al-
though Kishor Upad-
hyay, a former party
president, went to the
BJP in the meantime
and the family of for-
mer Chief Minister Vi-
jay Bahuguna is still in
the BJP, but Harak Sin-
gh Rawat returned
home. Before Rawat,
Yashpal Arya also left
the ministerial post and
returned to the Con-
gress. Yashpal and his
MLA son both returned
to the Congress.
On the other hand, in
a big development in
Jharkhand, two former
Congress presidents
have returned back to
the party
.
Former state presi-
dent of Congress Sukh-
dev Bhagat had
switched to the BJP just
before the 2019 assem-
bly elections. In April-
May, he contested the
Lok Sabha elections
from the Congress but
switched to the BJP be-
fore the December as-
sembly elections. Sukh-
dev Bhagat, a former
Jharkhand Public Ser-
vice officer, is a strong
leader and his wife is
also the mayor of Lo-
hardaga.
Along with him, an-
other former president
Pradeep Balmuchu has
also returned to the
Congress. However, it is
possible that the big
faces of the party may
defect and achieve
something for them-
selves, but the way BJP
is cutting tickets, a
large number of Con-
gress MLAs and other
leaders have learned a
big lesson.
BJP’S LESSON TO CONGRESS LEADERS
New Delhi: The Centre
on Monday told the Su-
preme Court that Aad-
haar card is not manda-
tory for registration on
CoWIN portal for Cov-
id-19 vaccination.
A Bench of Justices
DY Chandrachud and
Surya Kant was in-
formed by the Ministry
of Health and Family
Welfare that one of the
nineidentitydocuments
including passport,
driving licence, PAN
card, voter’s card, ration
card can be produced.
The SC took note of
the submission and dis-
posed of a plea filed by
SiddharthshankarShar-
ma who claimed that
Aadhaarwasbeingman-
datorily insisted upon
for administering vacci-
nation on CoWIN portal.
“Counsel for Union
submits that about 87
lakh people without ID
cards have been vacci-
nated. The grievance of
the petitioner that he
was denied vaccination
for non production of
Aadhaar card has also
been dealt in the
affidavit. —PTI
New Delhi: The Nation-
al Investigation Agency
(NIA) on Monday filed a
caseagainstunderworld
don Dawood Ibrahim
and others under vari-
ous sections of the Un-
lawful Activities Pre-
vention Act.
Now the elite probe
agency will look into
the cases pertaining to
the D-company
.
Sources have con-
firmed that the Union
home ministry has giv-
en them approval to
start a thorough probe.
An NIA official told
IANS that the names of
Dawood Ibrahim and
his aides have been
mentioned in the FIR
filed by the NIA.
The official said for
quite a long time Da-
wood had been spread-
ing terror activities
across India. He has
also pumped money
through Hawala chan-
nels to financially help
those who are working
at his behest to create
unrest across India.
The agencies have
been keeping a close eye
on the activities of the
D-company and have
found that in the past
they have recruited peo-
ple across India to cre-
ate riot-like situations.
They are promoting
anti-national activities
and are also trying to
create rifts between dif-
ferent religious groups.
Earlier, a lot of in-
formation was shared
with us regarding the
involvement of Dawood
in a lot of anti-national
activities that took
place across In-
dia. He is re-
cruiting peo-
ple in India
and is finan-
cially and lo-
gistically help-
ing them to
create a
r i o t -
like situation. Different
social media platforms
are being used by them
to communicate. We in-
tercepted a few of them
and came to know that
a deep-rooted conspira-
cy was being hatched.
Now on the basis of the
materials we have
lodged an FIR against
Dawood and D-compa-
ny
, said the NIA official
wishing anonymity
.
NIA Public Relations
Officer Sanjukta only
confirmed that a case
was lodged against the
D-company
.
—Agencies
New Delhi: Russia has
rubbished a Russian
media report describ-
ing Kashmir as another
Palestine in the making
and reaffirmed its posi-
tion that it is a bilateral
matter between India
and Pakistan. The as-
sertion came days after
Redfish digital media
outlet tweeted a trailer
of a new documentary
on Kashmir.
“The Russian official
position on the issue of
Kashmir and Russia’s
principled stance on
non-interference in bi-
lateral disputes remain
unchanged,” the Rus-
sian embassy said.
“The solution should
be found between India
and Pakistan only, and
it should be based on the
achieved agreements,
including the Simla
Agreement of 1972 and
the Lahore Declaration
of 1999,” it said.
The embassy also
said that the “mislead-
ing label of the chan-
nel” on Twitter as ‘Rus-
sia state-affiliated me-
dia’ does not make it
automatically related to
any state support. —PTI
Nagpur: RSS chief Mo-
han Bhagwat on Sun-
day said he had gone
with a lot of prepara-
tion on 'ghar wapsi' is-
sue to meet former pres-
ident Pranab Mukher-
jee for inviting him as
the chief guest for
Sangh's programme in
Nagpur in 2018.
At that time, there
was chaos in Parlia-
ment on the issue of
'ghar wapsi' (home-
coming of converts)
and he was ready to
answer any queries
asked by Mukherjee
during the meeting,
Bhagwat said.
Bhagwat said when
he went there to meet
Mukherjee, no need
arose to give him an-
swers on the issue as
the latter himself told
him that 30 per cent of
the country's communi-
ties would have got cut
off from the nation had
you (RSS) not done ghar
wapsi work. —PTI
New Delhi: Rajya Sab-
ha Chairman M Ven-
kaiah Naidu on Monday
said India is struck si-
lent in the passing away
of iconic singer Lata
Mangeshkar in the 75th
year of Independence,
and adjourned the pro-
ceedings of the House
for an hour as a mark of
respect to her.
Naidu mentioned
that the singer passed
away on February 6 at
the age of 92.
A recipient of many
awards including the
Bharat Ratna and Dada-
saheb Phalke Award,
'the Nightingale' and
'the Melody Queen' re-
corded over 25,000 songs
in 36 Indian languages
in her career spanning
more than seven dec-
ades,hesaidreadingout
an obituary reference.
Aadhaar not mandatory for
vaccination, Centre tells SC
Govtinformed87Lpeoplewithoutanyidentitycardatallhavebeenvaccinated
A healthcare worker inoculates a saint with Covid-19 vaccine in Surat. —PHOTO BY ANI
Former President Pranab
Mukherjee with RSS chief
Mohan Bhagwat at the event
in Nagpur. —FILE PHOTO
Russian Prez Vladimir Putin
INDIA LOGS 83,876 FRESH COVID-19 CASES
New Delhi: India on
Monday reported
83,876 fresh Covid-19
cases that took its total
tally to 4,22,72,014, ac-
cording to Union Health
Ministry data. The death
toll climbed to 5,02,874
with 895 more fatalities,
the data updated at 8
am stated. The number
of active cases in the
country declined further
to 11,08,938, compris-
ing 2.62 per cent of the
total infections. The
national recovery rate
improved to 96.19 per
cent, the ministry said.
A reduction of 1,16,073
cases has been
recorded in the active
Covid-19 caseload in a
span of 24 hours. —PTI
INTENSIFIED
MISSION
INDRADHANUSH
4.0 LAUNCHED
New Delhi: Union
health minister
Mansukh Man-
daviya launched the
Intensified Mission
Indradhanush 4.0
on Monday. On
the occasion, the
health minister said,
Prime Minister
Narendra Modi
wants the vaccina-
tion coverage to be
90 per cent. States
and the Centre
have to put collec-
tive efforts into it.
Mandaviya informed
that a total of 170
crore Covid-19
vaccine doses have
been administered
already throughout
the country.
NIA files UAPA case against
Dawood Ibrahim, D-company
New Delhi: The Su-
preme Court Monday
slammed Tripura Police
for sending notices to
people for social media
posts over alleged com-
munal violence in the
state despite its interim
restraining order. A
Bench of Justices DY
Chandrachud and Surya
Kant warned the coun-
sel for the state that if
Tripura Police does not
refrain from harassing
people, it will summon
the Home Secretary.
The SC was hearing
a plea filed by scribe
Samiullah Shabbir
Khan against a notice
issued by Tripura Police
seeking his appearance
under Section 41A of
the Code of Criminal
Procedure. —PTI
TRIPURA VIOLENCE: SC SLAMS
POLICE FOR SENDING NOTICES
IN THE COURTYARD
New Delhi: The Supreme Court refused to
interfere with the Delhi High Court verdict
which had dismissed a plea by Swami Chakra-
pani, who claims to be the national president
of Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha, seeking to
direct the poll panel to recognise the list of
office bearers and allow them to participate
in Assembly polls. “You are fighting amongst
yourselves, what can be done,” a Bench
comprising Justices Indira Banerjee and JK
Maheshwari observed while hearing. —PTI
New Delhi: An amendment Bill to remove Bhogta caste
from the list of Scheduled Castes (SC) and include
certain communities in the list of Scheduled Tribes
(ST) for Jharkhand was introduced in the Rajya Sabha
on Monday. The Constitution (SC and ST) order
(Amendment) Bill, 2022 was moved for introduction in
the Upper House by Union Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun
Munda and the same was adopted with voice votes.
The Bill aims to remove Bhogta caste from SC list
for Jharkhand and include certain communities in ST
and help beneficiaries to tap better the reservation in
education and government jobs. —PTI SC REFUSES TO INTERFERE WITH HC
VERDICT ON CHAKRAPANI’S PLEA
BILL IN RAJYA SABHA TO REMOVE
BHOGTA CASTE FROM SC LIST
Went prepared to
invite Pranab for RSS
event, says Bhagwat
CRUCIAL READ
Mumbai: Shiv Sena MP Sanjay
Raut on Monday said that he will
welcome raids by the ED but warned
the probe agency’s officials that
they will suffer if they “lie to achieve
political goals”. “Let them (ED)
conduct raids. I will welcome them.
Just don't lie, else they will suffer. If
an agency lies to achieve a politi-
cal goal, it will have to pay. From
officials to ministers, everyone has
gone to jail,” Raut said. —ANI
Guwahati: Assam CM Himanta
Biswa Sarma on Monday said that
762 Personal Security Officers
(PSOs) who were attached to politi-
cians and important personalities
in the State have been withdrawn
in the recent past. On the advice of
the Security Advisory Committee,
set up to review threat perceptions,
people belonging to different politi-
cal parties have given up their PSOs
without objection, Sarma said. —PTI
ED WILL SUFFER IF IT LIES,
SAYS SHIV SENA’S SANJAY
762 PSOs FOR POLITICIANS,
VIPs WITHDRAWN: HIMANTA
Kashmir a bilateral issue,affirms Russia
BUDGET SESSION OF PARLIAMENT
RS pays glowing tributes to Lata
Venkaiah Naidu reads out the
name of Lata Mangeshkar as
a tribute to her in the Upper
House. —PHOTO BY ANI
PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS FAILED TO PROVIDE
BLUEPRINT FOR FUTURE, SAYS ANAND SHARMA
New Delhi: Congress
leader Anand Sharma on
Monday during the debate
on the motion of thanks
to the President's address
slammed the Centre for
failing to provide a blue-
print for the future and
not addressing the prob-
lems faced by the country.
It is expected from the
President's address that
the real state of the coun-
try is presented before the
parliament. Achievements
of the government are
acknowledged and the
country is made aware of
the challenges. Blueprint
of the future is presented.
It failed to do so, Sharma
said in Rajya Sabha. This
is not sarcasm but who-
ever wrote it, did injustice
to the President, he said.
This challenges the intel-
ligence of the people and
negates the difficult situ-
ation before the country,
he added. —ANI
THE ISSUE
Dawood Ibrahim
8. BIZ BUZZ 07
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New Delhi: ICRA on
Monday revised down-
wards the FY2022
growth outlook for as-
sets under management
of NBFC-MFIs to 12-
14% but expects it to
improve to 18-22% in
the financial year 2022-
23. The agency said it
expects the long-term
outlook for non-bank-
ing financial compa-
nies-microfinance insti-
tutions to remain ro-
bust, driven by the fact
that the growth in dis-
bursements is expected
to have continued in Q3
FY2022, after the reviv-
al in Q2 FY2022.
“The same is likely to
be continued go-
ing forward,
supported by
healthy de-
mand in
the in-
d u s -
t r y ,
i n -
creas-
i n g
lev-
el of economic activity
and increasing vaccina-
tion in the country,” the
agency said.
The steady increase
in the disbursements in
the industry from
the second quar-
ter of the finan-
cial year 2021-22
provides hope for
better growth
prospects in the
current fi-
n a n c i a l
year. —PTI
New Delhi: India’s
gross domestic prod-
uct (GDP) is projected
to grow at 9.2% to
`147.5 lakh crore in
2021-22, Minister of
State for Finance Pan-
kaj Chaudhary said on
Monday. In a written
reply to a query in the
Lok Sabha, Chaud-
hary said the govern-
ment has implement-
ed several major re-
forms in recent years
to boost investment
and GDP growth.
“As per the first ad-
vance and first revised
estimates of GDP re-
leased by the National
Statistical Office
(NSO), the size of real
GDP has been in-
creased from `105.3
lakh crore in 2014-15
to `135.6 lakh core
in 2020-21 and es-
timated to be
`147.5 lakh crore
in 2021-22,” he said.
In FY 2020-
21, he said
that as a
major part of its poli-
cy response to the pan-
demic, the govern-
ment while providing
a safety net to the vul-
nerable sections of the
society implemented
several structural re-
forms to strengthen
private sector invest-
ment.
These include the
change in the defini-
tion of MSMEs, new
PSU policy, commer-
cialisation of coal
mining, higher FDI
limits in defence and
space sector, develop-
ment of the Land
Bank and Industrial
Information System.
—PTI
New Delhi: Reliance
Industries Ltd is seek-
ing a minimum of $14
for selling natural gas
being produced from
coal seams in a block
in Madhya Pradesh as
it looks to cash in on
the recent spike in en-
ergy prices globally.
Reliance sought bids
from users for the sale
of 0.65 million stand-
ard cubic meters per
day of gas from its
coal-bed methane
(CBM) block SP-
(West)-CBM-2001/1 for
a one-year period be-
ginning April 1, 2022,
according to a Notice
Inviting Offer (NIO)
published by the firm.
Bids have been
sought at a premium
over the base of
14% of the Brent
crude oil price.
“A Bidder
shall be re-
quired to
quote the var-
iable denoted
as ‘V’ in $ per
million Brit-
ish ther-
mal unit terms as a
positive number pur-
suant to the gas price
formula” of “14% x
Dated Brent + V
,” the
NIO said.
The starting ticker
for ‘V’ has been kept at
$1 per mmBtu, which
means bidders will
have to quote at least
$1 plus 14% of dated
Brent crude oil to buy
the CBM gas.
Brent crude oil is
currently trading
above $92.5 per barrel
and at this price, the
floor rate for Reliance
gas comes to $13 per
mmBtu. Adding ‘V’ of
$ 1, the minimum
price comes to $14 per
mmBtu. The sale price
will be higher of the
bid price or
the govern-
ment-ap-
p r o v e d
rate for
domes-
tic gas,
NIO said.
—PTI
New Delhi: To fur-
ther simplify and
provide greater clar-
ity, Sebi has come
out with a new for-
mat for disclosures
in abridged prospec-
tus, whereby critical
information will be
provided in the front
page of the offer doc-
ument.
A company will
have to disclose
about name of the
promoter, details of
offer to public --
types of issue, fresh
issue and offer for
sale component, to-
tal issue size -- and
share reservations
details on the front
page of the abridged
prospectus.
Also, the company
is required to make
disclosure about de-
tails of OFS by pro-
moter, promoter
group and other
shareholders. The
company will have to
disclose about price
band and minimum
bid lot under the re-
vised format. —PTI
New Delhi: Moody’s
Investors Service on
Monday said the ac-
quisition of NINL
by Tata Steel arm is
credit positive be-
cause it will increase
the subsidiary’s
long-steel produc-
tion capacity and its
reserves of iron ore.
Last month, Tata
Steel had announced
winning the bid for
acquiring 93.71%
stake in Odisha-
based NINL for
`12,100 crore.
While the ac-
quired operations
are substantially
smaller than TSL’s
current global capac-
ity of 32.5 MTPA, it is
credit positive be-
cause it will increase
TSL’s long-steel
product capacity and
increase its reserves
of iron ore.
—PTI
Mumbai: Equity
benchmark Sensex
crashed 1,024 points to
end below the
58,000-level on Monday,
tracking a heavy sell-
off in b a n k i n g
and fi-
nan-
cial stocks despite a
largely steady trend in
global markets. Con-
cerns over unabated
foreign capital out-
flows also affected the
market sentiment,
traders said.
Benchmark indices
started the session
weak as investors re-
mained cautious assets
ahead of RBI’s policy
meet. However, the sell-
ing pressure deepened
in the afternoon trade,
they added.
The 30-share
Sensex ended
1,023.63 points low-
er at 57,621.19.
Similarly, the Nif-
ty slumped 302.70
points to 17,213.60.
HDFC Bank was the
top loser in the Sensex
pack, shedding over
3.5%, followed by Bajaj
Finance, LT, HDFC,
Bajaj Finserv, HDFC
and Kotak Bank.
On the other hand,
PowerGrid, NTPC,
Tata Steel, SBI and Ul-
tratech Cement were
the gainers, rising up
to 1.88%. Of the Sensex
constituents, 25 shares
closed lower while five
were in the green. —PTI
New Delhi: The
much-awaited
initial public
offering
(IPO) of in-
surance behe-
moth LIC may be
launched with a discount for its
policyholders as the company
looks to file its draft red herring
prospectus (DRHP) this week.
LIC is likely to offer a discount
of 5% to its policyholders in
the upcoming public offering,
according to sources. —PTI
LIC policyholders may
get 5% discount in IPO
The
much-awaited
surance behe-
moth LIC may be
New Delhi: Pas-
senger vehicle
retail sales
declined 10%
YoY in Jan
2022, as the
companies con-
tinued to suffer production loss
amid semiconductor shortage,
automobile dealers’ body FADA
said on Monday. The passenger
vehicle (PV) sales dropped to
2,58,329 units last month, down
10.12% from 2,87,424 units in
January 2021. —PTI
PV retail sales drop 10%
in January: FADA
Pas-
Pas-
companies con-
companies con-
New Delhi: The I-T department
on Monday said around 6.17
crore I-T returns and about 19
lakh tax audit reports have been
filed on the new I-T
e-filing portal. Out
of 6.17 crore
ITRs filed for the
assessment year
2021-22, 2.97
crore of these are
ITR-1, 56 lakh is ITR-2, 81.6 lakh
is ITR-3, 1.65 crore is ITR-4, 10.9
lakh is ITR-5, 4.84 lakh is ITR-6
and 1.32 lakh is ITR-7. —PTI
Around 6.17 crore ITRs
filed on new I-T portal
New Delhi: The Na-
tional Company Law
Appellate Tribunal
(NCLAT) will hear e-
commerce major Am-
azon’s interim plea
on February 14, seek-
ing a stay over the
order passed by fair
trade regulator CCI
that had suspended
the over two-year-old
approval for its deal
with Future Coupons
Pvt Ltd (FCPL). A
three-member bench
on Monday directed
to list Amazon’s plea
on Feb 14 to pass an
interim order and
stay the operations
of the order passed
by the Competition
Commission of India
in Dec 2021 till it fi-
nally decides the mat-
ter. “The registry is
directed to list on
February 14 for hear-
ing,” said the NCLAT
bench.
The appellate tri-
bunal also directed to
list the appeals filed
by the Confederation
of All India Traders
(CAIT) and All India
Consumer Product
Distributors Federa-
tion on the same date.
In December, the
CCI had suspended
the Amazon-FCPL
deal saying that the
US e-commerce ma-
jor had suppressed
information while
seeking clearances
for the transaction
back then.
In a 57-page order,
the CCI had said the
approval for the Am-
azon-Future Coupons
deal “shall remain in
abeyance”. —PTI
NCLAT TO HEAR AMAZON’S
PLEA ON FUTURE ORDER
RIL seeks $14 for
gas from CBM block
‘GDPestimatedat
`147.5LcrinFY22’
Sebi releases
new disclosure
format for
abridged
prospectus
New Delhi: Shares of
HDFC Group compa-
nies witnessed heavy
selling pressure in
trades on Monday. All
the four listed firms,
Housing Development
Finance Corporation,
HDFC
Bank, HDFC Asset
Management Compa-
ny and HDFC Life In-
surance Company
were underperform-
ing the market by fall-
ing in the range of 3%
to 4%. Among the indi-
vidual stocks,
HDFC Life hit
a 52-week low
of `600.15, down
4%, it slipped
below its previ-
ous 52-week low
of `615.80 hit on Jan
31, 2021. —Agencies
HDFC at 6-month low;
HDFC Life hits 52-week low
NINL acquisition
by Tata Steel to
strengthen
long-steel
output: Moody’s
Hotels clock 100.3% YoY
RevPar growth in Q4, 2021
High-rises supply share
dips in top 7 cities
FAITH seeks commercial
flights ops in full strength
New Delhi: Hotels end-
ed 2021 on a positive
note. A high occupancy
during the Christmas
and New Year holidays
helped India’s hospital-
ity sector clock a Reve-
nue Per Availa-
ble Room (Rev-
PAR) growth of 100.3%
YoY in Q4, 2021, accord-
ing to JLL’s Hotel Mo-
mentum India. It also
rose 41.9% quarter-on-
quarter. The hospitalu-
ty industry is currently
on a positive upward
trajectory with travel-
ler confidence
backed by im-
proved vacci-
nation rates
and ease of
travel curbs.
—PTI
New Delhi: Vertical
growth, one of the most
defining characteris-
tics of Indian urbanisa-
tion in over a decade,
has become Indian real
estate’s latest Covid-19
‘casualty’.
Latest ANAROCK re-
search reveals that
among new projects
launched since 2019, the
share of high-rises had
shrunk to 52% in 2021
against 63% in the pre-
Covid year. Of 1,178 pro-
jects launched in the
top 7 cities in 2021, close
to 614 were high-rises
of G+10 floors or more.
In 2019, over 603 of 960
projects were high-ris-
es. Newly-
launched projects
include apart-
ments, villas and
row houses, and
i n d e p e n d e n t
floors. —Agencies
New Delhi: Tourism
and hospitality indus-
try body FAITH on
Monday called for al-
lowing operations of
commercial flights in
full strength to and fro
from India to enable
tourist arrival in the
country and help the
sector recover from the
impact of the Covid-19.
A lot of countries
have now opened or
have announced open-
ing up their borders to
fully vaccinated travel-
lers. The industry body
said it has asked Minis-
try of Tourism to take
up with Ministry of
Health for the same and
announce the opening
up of borders and “re-
sumption of full com-
mercial flights.” —PTI
MFIs’ AUM to grow at 18-22% in FY23
SENSEX NOSEDIVES 1,024 PTS; NIFTY ENDS AT 17,214
New Delhi: Shares of One97 Com-
munications tumbled over 7% after
it reported widening of consolidat-
ed loss to `778.5 crore in the Dec
2021 quarter. It declined 5.69% to
`898.95 on the BSE. and tumbled
7.55% to `881.30 on NSE. The
digital payments and financial
services company had registered
a loss of `535.5 crore in the same
period a year ago. —PTI
Mumbai: Investors’ wealth has
tumbled by over `5.82 lakh crore
in three days of market decline.
In three days, the benchmark has
tanked 1,937.14 points. Amid the
weak sentiment, the market capital-
isation of Bombau Stock Exhange
(BSE)-listed companies tumbled
`5,82,272.23 crore in three days to
stand at `2,64,82,633.52 crore.
—PTI
Paytm shares tumble over
7% post Q3 earnings
Equity investors lose over
`5.82 lakh cr in 3 sessions
Mukesh Ambani
A three-member bench directed to list Amazon’s
plea on Feb 14 to pass an interim order and stay
the operations of the order passed by the CCI last
year till it finally decides the matter
AHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2022
filed on the new I-T
e-filing portal. Out
crore of these are
9. COVID-19
UPDATE
WORLD
5,760,851
TOTAL DEATHS
315,424,278
TOTAL RECOVERED
75,602,731
ACTIVE CASES
396,787,860
TOTAL CASES
INDIA
502,905
TOTAL DEATHS
40,660,202
TOTAL RECOVERED
1,108,907
ACTIVE CASES
42,272,014
TOTAL CASES
Only the presence of ‘Justice’ can
ensure ‘True Peace’ within
ourselves and the world.
—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO Editor-in-Chief, First India
AHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2022
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08
2NDFRONT
2008 A’bad serial blasts case judgment likely today
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: A special
court is likely to pro-
nounce its judgment
on Tuesday in the case
related to the 2008
Ahmedabad serial
bomb blasts that
claimed 56 lives and
for which nearly 80 ac-
cused were put on tri-
al, a senior public
prosecutor said on
Monday
.
The court had con-
cluded the trial in the
more than 13-year-old
case in September last
year.
Senior public prose-
cutor Sudhir Brahmb-
hatt said the verdict is
likely to be pronounced
on Tuesday as special
judge AR Patel, who pre-
sided over the trial
court, has resumed
work after recovering
from COVID-19. The tri-
al court had set Febru-
ary 1 as the date for the
judgment, but the mat-
ter was deferred to Feb-
ruary 8 after the judge
fell ill.
Atleast56peoplewere
killed and over 200 in-
jured in 21 bomb blasts
that rocked Ahmedabad
city within a span of 70
minutes on July 26, 2008.
The police had
claimed people associ-
ated with the terror
outfit Indian Mujahi-
deen (IM), a faction of
radicals of the banned
Students Islamic
Movement of India
(SIMI), were involved
in the blasts.
It was alleged IM ter-
rorists had planned and
executed the attack as
revenge for the 2002
post-Godhra riots.
Days after the
Ahmedabad blasts,
cops recovered bombs
from different parts of
Surat, after which 20
FIRs were registered
in Ahmedabad and 15
in Surat.
The trial in the case
began in December 2009
against 78 persons con-
nected to IM after the
court merged all 35
FIRs. The number of ac-
cused came down to 77
afteroneof themturned
approver.
Four more accused
were arrested later, but
their trial has not yet
commenced, a senior
government lawyer
said.
Over 1,100 witnesses
were examined by the
prosecution. The ac-
cused are facing charg-
es of murder and crimi-
nal conspiracy, among
others, and they have
also been booked under
the Unlawful Activities
(Prevention) Act.
The special court ini-
tially heard the case
from inside the high-
security Sabarmati
Central Jail and the pro-
ceedings were later con-
ducted mostly through
video-conferencing.
When the trial was
underway, some of the
incarcerated accused
had allegedly tried to
escape by digging a 213
feet long tunnel in the
jail in 2013. The trial for
this jailbreak attempt is
still pending.
Police officials investigate the blast scene at LG Hospital, one of the sites of the explosions. —FILE PHOTO
MORE CORRUPTION CHARGES
AGAINST MANOJ AGARWAL
After Patel Mokariya, Rajkot MLA Arvind Raiyani supports citizens’ allegations
First India Bureau
Rajkot: Two days after
corruption allega-
tions were levelled
against Rajkot Police
Commissioner Manoj
Agarwal by incum-
bent Bharatiya Jana-
ta Party (BJP) MLA
from Rajkot Govind
Patel, three more peo-
ple have come forward
with similar claims.
Atimbermerchantby
profession, Rajendra
Jogi, has alleged that
Rajkot crime branch of-
ficials picked him up
without any crime, beat
himandthenforcedhim
to sign cheques totalling
Rs3.80 lakh. “I had no
dues other than a few
thousand rupees I owed
to one party
. But I was
forcefully made to sign
cheques by crime
branch officials. I had
contacted the Rajkot po-
lice commissioner, but
nothing was done about
it. I will shortly move to
court and seek justice,”
informed Jogi, while ad-
dressing media persons.
Hitesh Panbhar, who
had taken a loan of five
lakh rupees, alleged
that he was badly beat-
en by police, without
any fault.
Another man named
Dipak Bharward al-
leged pressure from po-
lice to vacate his land
worth Rs12 crore. He
was informed by offi-
cials that former Guja-
rat Chief Minister Vi-
jay Rupani wanted to
build a Jain derasar on
the site.
After Patel and Rajya
Sabha MP Rambhai
Mokariya, another Ra-
jkot MLA Arvind Rai-
yani has come out in
support of corruption
claims against Agarw-
al. Reportedly, Patel
has compiled 12 cases
highlighting the role of
the Rajkot police com-
missioner which he
will present to Minister
of State for Home
Harsh Sanghavi.
With the internal
discord between BJP
leaders of Rajkot out in
the open, Rajkot Con-
gress has grabbed the
opportunity to defame
Agarwal. They have
sought his suspension
and other crime branch
personnel involved in
corruption. On Mon-
day, around 20 Con-
gress workers were de-
tained by police for
staging a dharna. They
chanted slogans
against Agarwal such
as “Rajkot CP chor
hai”. Rajkot Congress
leader Mahesh Rajput
said, “The entire week
will be observed as
‘Bhrashtachar Virodhi
Saptah’ at Jilla Pan-
chayat Chowk. We have
also sought permission
for a two-wheeler vehi-
cle rally on Thursday.”
Rajkot Police Commissioner Manoj Agarwal. —FILE PHOTO
JUSTICE
CONSPIRACY?
First India Bureau
Vadodara: With the
house sparrow consid-
ered one of the fastest
disappearing avian
species, Star India is
back with its “Build a
Birdhouse” competi-
tion under the
governmen’ts Azadi
Ka Amrit Mahotsav”
to save sparrows and
create homes for them.
Star (Sparrow The
Agenda of Resurgence)
India is making efforts
to create awareness and
a habitable environ-
ment for the sparrows
through different ways
and, the competition is
one such effort. The sec-
ond edition of the com-
petition was launched
on Saturday
. “Using
their creativity the par-
ticipants have to design
houses which will be
best suited for the spar-
rows in terms of light-
ing, ventilation and also
save them from other
birds and animals. The
month-long completion
will end on March 5 and
winnerswillbedeclared
after a display of the
best entries. Last year,
wereceivedentriesfrom
24 states and two foreign
countries,” said Tanuj
Tapasvi Desai, Presi-
dent Star India.
He added poor urban-
isation is the biggest
reason for the sparrows
losing their natural
habitats. “As an archi-
tect, we are also respon-
sible and so, I am going
to approach the associa-
tion and architectural
colleges across the
country with a request
to design structures in a
way that supports birds
and their natural habi-
tats,” Desai added.
BUILD A HOUSE, SAVE A SPARROW
BIRDHOUSE BONANZA
Star India NGO is back with its second
edition of the ‘Build a Birdhouse’
competition to save house sparrows
21 BOMB BLASTS IN A SPAN OF
70 MINS ON JULY 26, 2008,
LEFT AT LEAST 56 PERSONS
DEAD, MORE THAN 200 HURT
Sapna Harish Parikh, a Star member and a bird lover, has installed small 25 birdhouses on a wall of her house.
CRUCIAL READ
TWO CHILDREN CRUSHED TO DEATH BY
SUGARCANE AS TRACTOR OVERTURNS
Surat: Two children were crushed to death when a
tractor carrying sugarcane turtled near Sena creek near
Olpad. Eyewitnesses said the two children in their early
teens had tried to pull out sugarcane from an overloaded
truck as it crossed Sena creek, when the tractor over-
turned and the entire load fell on them, crushing them
under its weight. Though a JCB was deployed, it took
time to pull up all the sugarcane. Children’s bodies were
rushed to the hospital, where they were declared dead.
WATCHMAN MURDERED IN SURAT,
COPS SUSPECT CASE OF VENGEANCE
Surat: Security guard Ravi Kukar was stabbed to death
near Rander Palanpur Patiya. The deceased had told his
widowed mother he would be back in 10 minutes when
he left home on Sunday. When he didn’t, the family
started hunting for him. Soon the police called them to
inform them about Ravi’s death. Around six months ago,
Ravi had filed a complaint against one Akshay after the
latter hit him with an iron rod, leading to Akshay’s arrest.
Police suspect that Akshay killed Ravi as revenge.
First India Bureau
Surat: After coming
in second in Swachh
Survekshan 2020 and
2021, the Surat Mu-
nicipal Corporation
is now looking to
oust Indore, which
has won the annual
cleanliness, hygiene
and sanitation sur-
vey for five consecu-
tive years.
However, with air
quality being included
as a parameter for
cleanliness, the Dia-
mond City—which
houses thousands of
industrial units and
just two air-monitoring
systems—has its work
cut out.
“Last year, we were
judged on a total of
6,000 points. This year,
the total score has in-
creased by 1,500 to 7,500
points. Air quality has
also been included this
year, and is worth 150
points. The air-moni-
toring system in Var-
achha is currently
closed. So, only the one
in Limbayat is current-
ly operational,” a city
official said.
GUNNING FOR SWACHH SURVEKSHAN
TOP SPOT, SURAT HAS WORK CUT OUT
Jagdeesh Chandra
greets Lok Sabha
Speaker Om Birla
during a courtesy visit
at the latter’s residence
in New Delhi.
COURTESY
MEET
10. or those who
swear by the
charisma of
fashion, any
discussion on
the topic is in-
c o m p l e t e
without the men-
tion of Mohit Falod.
This famous Jaipur
based designer’s
success story has
humble beginnings.
Today
, Mohit Falod is rec-
ognised as the man who rede-
fined the realm of fashion by
incorporating just the right
amount of boldness into eve-
ry design to make it stand
out from the crowd.
Being responsible
for the success
of some of the
most loved
a n d
ex-
clusive collections, Falod con-
tinues to rule the industry
with his very own fashion la-
bel.
Centred on the belief of cre-
ating unique styles that tend
to become a reflection of your
personality, every design sold
under the label of Mohit Fal-
od is a display of sheer crea-
tive brilliance.
For the past two and a half
decades, Falod has keenly fo-
cused on his handcrafted crea-
tions while maintaining their
lightness and focusing on the
ease of wear for brides
grooms on their special day.
Never compromising on the
garment’s movement and flu-
idity, he has found ways to
work with traditional and
modern techniques to fabri-
cate these veritable pieces of
art in motion.
Talking about his collec-
tion, Mohit said, “The regalia
collection is purely inspired
by nature and the Rajputana
array. We have experimented
with a wide range of jewels,
including polkas and semi-
precious stones. There has
been a beautiful utilisation of
real gold and silver gotas
and threads, semi-pre-
cious stones, polkis,
and turquoise with an inter-
play of fabrics.” He further
added, “I can’t be more excit-
ed for the grand show to be
held in Dubai. Each attire has
been meticulously made to
make one feel like a regal In-
dian bride. It’s an amalgama-
tion of history, nature, cus-
toms, and monarchy that
makes the person feel both
real and mystical.”
Falod has also dropped a
few hints through his recent
collaboration with Badshah
regarding how grand this col-
lection is going to
be!
AHMEDABAD, TUESDAY
FEBRUARY 8, 2022
09
FIRST INDIA FASHION CONNECT SEASON 11, TO BE HELD ON MARCH 12 AT OAKS
IBN BATUTA GATE HOTEL, DUBAI, WILL BE WITNESSING THE GRAND LAUNCH OF
MOHIT FALOD’S UPCOMING COLLECTION FOR SPRING/SUMMER ’22 WHICH IS
SAID TO BE ONE OF HIS MOST ELITE EXPENSIVE COLLECTIONS TILL DATE!
HEAD TURNER
HEAD TURNER
COLLECTION
COLLECTION
MITALI DUSAD
mitalidusad01@gmail.com
F Mohit Falod with his wife Anjula
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Prajakta Koli Badshah
11. 10
ETC
AHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2022
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rom the clas-
sic rose pet-
als spelling
out “will you
be mine?” to
popping the
question in
front of all your fam-
ily and friends, there
are a million ways to
propose to the love of
your life. Everyone
knows that every
couple — and every
relationship — is
unique, so what
works for one couple
may not work for an-
other, which is why
choosing one that is
right for you and
your person may
take some time.
That’s where our col-
lection of unique
marriage proposal
ideas comes in handy
.
We’ve divided some
of our favour-
ite ideas
into three
c a t e g o -
ries on
this page:
p r iv a t e ,
public, and
destination.
Pop the question
Pop the question
WITH PIZZAZ!!
WITH PIZZAZ!!
Proposing can be
an overwhelming
experience.
Especially when
you are trying to be
creative, romantic,
and original. While
getting to the
question you’ve
been dying to ask
can be frightening.
We’ve scoured the
internet to find the
BEST, most
creative, most
original, and most
romantic proposals
out there!
DEVANSHI MUDGAL
cityfirst@firstindia.co.in
HOT AIR BALLOON
PROPOSAL
When you’re in love
it’s like floating on
air! Why not propose
while on a romantic
hot air balloon trip if
you’re seeking a
unique and unforget-
table method to ask
them? You’ll both be
able to float! You can
make the occasion
much more romantic
and intimate by book-
ing an exclusive bal-
loon as well!
COSPLAY
PROPOSALS
Think about it:
you’re in cosplay,
and you have your
person with you.
You want this per-
son to be your be-
loved valentine
and you can’t wait
to ask them. Why
not just propose to
them as your fa-
vourite charac-
ters? Though it
may seem far-
fetched and weird
but trust us when
we say that it is su-
per romantic and
fun!
ROLLERCOASTER
PROPOSAL
This proposal is a
literal rollercoast-
er of emotion!! You
can Have your
friends hold up
boards with your
words written on
them. Naturally,
even the proposal
speech can have a
metaphor linking
roller coasters to
life: And though you
can go by yourself,
it’s a lot more fun to
go with another per-
son.
PROPOSAL FLIPBOOK
Turn your story into a cartoon flipbook and
pop the question at the end as an adorable little
twist! This is such a unique idea, and some-
what of a dying art. It will most definitely be
a present your partner will keep forever! If
you’re an artist, you can make the flipbook
yourself! Show your partner how much they
mean to you through the magic of art!
MOVIE
THEMED
PROPOSAL
This is for all
the movie lov-
ers out there.
Alter your
person’s fa-
vourite movie
by adding ex-
tra scenes.
Make it cute by adding proposal scenes and your
cute moments together in the trailer!! It will be a
huge surprise! Literally!
SCAVENGER HUNT
PROPOSAL
For all you puzzle heads, surprise
your sweetheart with a fun ending
to a scavenger hunt! Make them
feel special while also teasing
their brain! You can hide little
clues and presents all over the
beach! You can create a personal-
ised puzzle. On that only you and
your partner understand.
F
12. ETC
AHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2022
11
As we celebrate
Propose Day today,
a perfect day for
singles to confess
their love to their
crush and to
propose with
fascinating flowers
and attractive
presents. It is also
special for couples
who, on a romantic
date, can take their
beloved and recall
the day and time
when their
romantic journey
began! City First
spoke to a few
lovebirds of every
age to know how
they plan on
making their
partners or ‘to be
better half’ feel
special!
I’m planning to pro-
pose to my girl with
a large bouquet of
red roses. We both share a
moment that involved red
roses and now it’s some-
thing a little more special
for us. I truly fall in love
with her each day. She is
wonderful and I can’t wait
to see the look on her face!
—ASHU SAINI, RAJ
MITALI DUSAD
mitalidusad01@gmail.com
hat is love?
That’s a question
that we have all
grappled with
within our lives
at some point or
the other. It excites phi-
losophers, who dive into
its deep complexities
and hope to describe
our abstract longing for
a particular person.
Love has a powerful ef-
fect on us, one that we
cannot deny. If love
could be dictated or cho-
sen; if it could be con-
tained in a few words or
a mathematical equa-
tion, it would lose its
special place. And yet
we try. Our phones are
cluttered with numer-
ous dating apps and
their algorithms, all
trying to capture love.
But it is notoriously dif-
ficult to find.
As comes February,
people look forward to
Valentine’s Day with
anticipation. The day is
difficult to ignore, irre-
spective of whether you
are a romantic or a cyn-
ic. However, every day
of the week leading up
to Feb 14 also holds a lot
of significance. The
week starts on Febru-
ary 7 and ends on Febru-
ary 14. It starts with
Rose Day, followed by
Propose Day, Chocolate
Day
, Teddy Day
, Promise
Day, Hug Day, Kiss Day,
and culminates in Val-
entine’s Day.
Proposal Day is cele-
brated by lovers on Feb
8 every year. On this day
,
couples or budding lov-
ers express their feeling
and affection for each
other. Most of you have
been waiting for this
day to say your heart
out to your potential
boyfriend or girlfriend.
This day signifies prom-
ise and togetherness
and gives you a chance
to ask your partner for
their presence in your
life, forever.
W
LOVEISIN
LOVEISIN
THEAIR!
Each day is special
when you are with
the right person. I
have been married to my
wife, Anita for more than
25 years. And it wouldn’t
be a lie if I say that I still
feel it’s our honeymoon pe-
riod. On this propose day,
I would cherish our old
times and proudly express
what she means to me.
—SHAILESH TAMBI, RAJ
I’m gonna propose
to my cursh through
an adorable motor-
cycle themed party.
He loves bikes and I have
booked us a cafe. It’s all
motocycle themed and all
the gifts and games and
all that will be motocycle
themed as well. I hope he
understands how much he
means to me.
—SAKSHI SHARMA, UP
How beautiful will it
be to take Isha who I
adore a lot, on a ro-
mantic date. I’m planning
to take her to the beach.
I would love to propose
at such a lovely evening
under the sky filled with
brilliant colours, to cherish
the moment and kiss her
as the sunsets. A day worth
remembering.
—ASHWANI SEKHAR, DELHI
—ASHU SAINI, RAJ
On Propose Day I will
take my sweetheart
on a bike ride. We
will sit with our friends
near a camp fire and then
I will get on one knee and
propose to her! She won’t
even see it coming. It’s
going to be super cute and
I’m confident I’ll sweep her
off her feet! The day would
be so memorable.
—RAHUL CHOUDHARY, RAJ
On Propose Day I will
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Ashu and Aarti Saini Anita and Shailesh Tambi
13. 12
AHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2022
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CITY BUZZ
GET VACCINATED
STAY MASKED
CITY FIRST
T
he 7th Edition of
Ahmedabad In-
ternational Lit-
erature Festival
started with inspira-
tional and information-
al speeches from distin-
guished speakers in a
virtual mode on Satur-
day
. At the start, after
welcoming the guests
and audience, Founder
Director Umashanker
Yadav informed, “Physi-
cal gathering will be
planned and the dates
announced as soon as
the ground situation be-
comes normal, till then
and even after the of-
fline gathering, the On-
line Sessions will con-
tinue throughout the
year mainly on week-
ends.
The focus will be to in-
vite the speakers of far
away and remote rural
areas in this season said,
Umashanker Yadav.”
FormerDeputyDirector-
General of Akashvani
(AIR), Laxmi Shanker
Bajpai, highlighted the
valueof literatureinour
lives. In his address,
AlokRanjan,IAS(Retd.)
former Chief Secretary
of UP advised authors
and writers to bring out
the honest stories of the
people and society to
make them more ap-
pealing and realis-
tic.
He also empha-
sised the broad-mind-
edness of writers and
readers to give space to
conflicting and contra-
dicting views as well, for
the sake of creative free-
dom.
Kusuma Choppra,
Senior Journalist and
author of many books
talked about the power
of women characters in
her novels and how she
has been boldly and fear-
lessly portraying and
writing about the issues
of women in the various
news papers and
magazines during
herjournalismdays.
Dr SK Nanda, IAS (
Retd.)formerAddition-
al Chief Secretary Guja-
rat talked about the im-
portance of literature
and natural ways of life
to overcome various dif-
ficultiesof thedaytoday
life, particularly during
the pandemic.
IMPORTANCEOFGOODLITERATURE!
During the session
CITY FIRST
New Delhi: Senior Citizens
Welfare Association, Mayur
Vihar Phase 3 on Saturday
sought blessings from the
Goddess of wisdom for all
the devotees present during
the occasion on Sunday
. Dev-
otees sang a melodious hymn
‘Vaar De Veenavadini Vaar
De’ and celebrated the day by
applying Gulal to each other.
On this occasion, the gen-
eral secretary, Santosh Ku-
mar informed that they al-
ways worship Goddess Saras-
wati in a Vedic manner.
Apart from our country,
Vasant Panchami is or-
ganised in many major
countries like Bangla-
desh, Nepal, Mauritius etc.
And enlightened all devotees
present there.
President Desh Kumar
Singh expressed his disap-
pointment that some of our
festivals in NCR are being
forgotten by people, which is
not suitable for the cultural
heritage of India.
Ramveer Sharma, former
principal of Kendriya Vidya-
laya said that along with the
birthday of Goddess Saras-
wati, this day is also the born
day of eminent poet
Suryakant Nirala. This festi-
val is celebrated with great
pomp in Bengal, Bihar and
Uttar Pradesh. People
wear yellow clothes and
paint each other yellow.
After worshipping in the
association, people applied
Vasanti sandalwood to each
other. On this occasion, Sat-
ish Vij, Secretary Satya
Prakash Pokhriyal, former
General Secretary Rajni Mo-
han Mahajan, Amarender
Chaudhary, Dev Kant
Mishra, BS Negi and Arvind
Kumar Prasad presented
their views prominently
.
During the event
A STEP TOWARDS
SUSTAINABILITY!
CITY FIRST
A
s theAravalli
Biodiversity
Park in Gur-
ugram was
declared as India’s
first ‘Other Effective
area-based Conser-
vation Measures’
(OECM) site, author-
ities in Delhi de-
clared the Capital
may soon get a simi-
lar tag for the Ara-
valli Biodiversity
Park in Vasant
Kunj. Senior of-
ficials said they
have already fin-
ished the examina-
tion of the biodiver-
sity park in Delhi
and similar recogni-
tion will be sought
for Delhi’s other six
biodiversity parks,
including the Yamu-
na biodiversity park
in north Delhi, in ad-
dition to green areas
such as Sanjay Van.
Issued by the Inter-
national Union for
Conservation of Na-
ture (IUCN), and
OECM tag conferred
upon areas of rich
biodiversity, outside
of protected areas
like national parks
and sanctuaries, for
effective in-situ con-
servation. Chairman
of the National Bio-
diversity Authority,
VB Mathur, told that
Delhi’s seven biodi-
versity parks – Ara-
valli, Yamuna, Tu-
ghlakabad, Neela
Hauz, Tilpath
Valley, Kamla
Nehru and Ka-
lindi biodiversity
parks are being
looked at as possible
additions to the list.
“WebegantheOECM
recognition process
with the Gurugram
park. The Delhi Ara-
valli biodiversity
park could be next.
To create an ‘Aravalli
cluster’ in which bio-
diversity is notified
as an OECM and can
therefore be protect-
ed better.”
he World Univer-
sity of Design pre-
sented the ‘Crit-
ics’ChoiceAward’
for 2022 to Indian
Kathak Dancer
Shovana Narayan
on Basant Panchami with
the celebration of Goddess
Saraswati Puja on Satur-
day, at Nirmal Primary
School Hall, Near India
Gate, New Delhi.
The World University of
Design has ensured to em-
power and encourage the
diverse range of perform-
ing artists in the country,
across different languages,
regions, cultures and gen-
res. The institute aims at
honouring the outstanding
artistic contribution of es-
tablished artists; it also
provides opportunities to
recognise new tal-
ent by showcasing
their work in pre-
mier performance
spaces. On being
felicitated with
the award Indian
Kathak Dancer
Shovana Narayan shared,
“The award from the World
University of Design to me
is in recognition of our
rich ancient temple dance,
Kathak, of which I am a
small stream carrying for-
ward the tradition.
Throughout my life, I
have been dedicated to
Kathak which is my life,
my soul. It is an art form
that spreads universal
love, understanding and
happiness. I am humbled
and grateful to the World
University of Design
who, in recogni-
tion of their
dedicated
service to
classical
dance and
humanity, has decided to
honour me with this
award.” Dr Sanjay Gupta,
Vice-Chancellor said,
“Performing artists have
suffered during the
pandemic due to the
wide-ranging restric-
tions. Even as things
have improved in
many states, per-
formingartsareyet
to make a recov-
ery
. The Critics
ChoicePerform-
ing Art Award
is an effort by
the perform-
ingartsschool
of WUDtoen-
courage the
artists to
come out of
their shells.
UTTKARSHA SHEKHAR
uttkarsha.shekhar@firstindia.co.in
T
A JOURNEY OF ART!
Shovana Narayan with Dr Sanjay Gupta
With the decrease in
Covid cases in the
country’s capital, the
Delhi government
allowed public and
private schools
to resume all the
classes from Monday
while adhering to
strict pandemic
protocols. Most
schools conducted
activities along
with happiness and
mindfulness sessions
to ease students
into the school
environment.
AGLIMPSEOFHAPPINESS!
—PHOTS BY
SHAZID CHAUHAN
Aravali Biodiversity Park
HUES OF
WISDOM!
Shovana Nasrayan