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AHMEDABAD l SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2021 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/79050 l Vol 2 l Issue No. 344
OUR EDITIONS: JAIPUR, AHMEDABAD, LUCKNOW NEW DELHI
Sensex closed at 60,686.69, up 767.00, or 1.28% on Friday. Nifty settled
at 18,102.75, up 229.15 points, or 1.28%. The Indian indices opened on a
positive note in line with trends seen across Asian and global markets as they
re-emerged from the shock of a surprisingly strong US inflation reading. The
markets rose in early trade but started shedding points before rising again.
Saudi Arabia has recognised Serum Institute of India’s Covishield as an approved
Covid-19 vaccine for entry into the country. With this, Covishield has joined the
list of eight other approved vaccines. According to a statement by Saudi Tourism
Authority, travellers who are fully vaccinated with Saudi-approved vaccines can
enter the country without having to undergo institutional quarantine.
SENSEX JUMPS 767
PTS, NIFTY AT
18,102; IT, REALTY,
ENERGY SHINE
SAUDI RECOGNISES
COVISHIELD,
EXEMPTS
QUARANTINE
CORONA CATASTROPHE
GUJARAT
INDIA
12,516
new cases
501
new fatalities
21
new cases
00
new fatalities
NOW, INVEST DAILY
IN GOVT SECURITIES
PM Modi launches 2 crucial RBI schemes aimed at
expanding investment scope, ensuring more security
The initiative
was first
mentioned by
the RBI
Governor in
February 2021
New Delhi: Prime Min-
ister Narendra Modi
launched two consum-
er-centric initiatives of
the Reserve Bank of In-
dia (RBI) on Friday via
videoconferencing. The
two initiatives are the
RBI Retail Direct
Scheme and the Reserve
Bank Integrated Om-
budsman Scheme.
Finance Minister
Nirmala Sitharaman
and RBI Governor
Shaktikanta Das were
also part of the virtual
launch event.
PM Modi said the the
schemes will expand
the scope of invest-
ment in the country
and make access to
capital markets easier
and more secure for in-
vestors.
In the last 7 years,
NPAs (non-per-
forming assets)
were recognized
with transparency.
The focus has been
on resolution; mul-
tiple reforms were
carried out in the
financial system
and public sector
banks
Narendra Modi,
Prime Minister
RBI has been lever-
aging technology
and innovation to
enhance the efficien-
cy of its services.
RBI’s developmen-
tal role is focused on
further deepening of
financial inclusion
and undertaking
people-centric initi-
atives
Shantikanta Das,
RBI Governor
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, RBI Governor
Shantikanta Das and others, launches RBI schemes through video conferencing in New Delhi.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah after paying tributes to the statue of Madan Mohan Malviya on his
death anniversary, at Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi on Friday.
WHAT IS THE RBI RETAIL
DIRECT SCHEME
WHAT IS RBI INTEGRATED
OMBUDSMAN SCHEME
The RBI Retail Direct Scheme will allow
retail investors to invest easily in
government securities. The scheme will
allow retail investors to open and main-
tain account free of cost. Investors would
have to open and maintain the Retails
Direct Gilt Account or RGD with the RBI
for investments in government securi-
ties. submit the form. They are beneficial
for investors as they offer guaranteed
returns.These securities are deemed safe
investments and offer promised returns.
The RBI Integrated Ombudsman
Scheme aims to further improve
the grievance redress mechanism for
resolving customer complaints against
entities regulated by the central bank. It
may be noted that PMO said the theme of
the scheme is based on “One Nation-One
Ombudsman” with one portal, one email
address for the customers to lodge their
complaints. This means there will be a
single point of reference for customers to
file complaints against entities.
AMIT SHAH’S 2-DAY UP
POLLS MASTERCLASS
Varanasi: Union Home
Minister and former
BJP president Amit
Shah reached here on
Friday and chaired a
crucial party meeting to
decide on the poll strat-
egy ahead of the 2022 Ut-
tar Pradesh assembly
elections.
Shah reached Prime
Minister Narendra
Modi’s parliamentary
constituency Varanasi
on a two-day visit to a
warm welcome with
thousands of hoardings
greeting him.
On his arrival, Shah
was received by Chief
Minister Yogi Adity-
anath, Union Minister
and BJP’s UP affairs in-
charge Dharmendra
Pradhan, Deputy CM
Dinesh Sharma and par-
ty state president Swa-
tantra Dev Singh.
Those who attended
the crucial meet includ-
ed in-charges of all 403
assembly constituencies
of the states besides the
district and regional
level leaders.
He will also visit Sa-
majwadi Party supre-
mo Akhilesh Yadav’s
Lok Sabha constitu-
ency Azamgarh,
where he will lay the
foundation stone of a
state university and
will address a public
meeting in Basti.
After SC warning,Army
agrees to grant permanent
commission to women
New Delhi: The Indian
Army on Friday told the
Supreme Court that it
was ready to grant Per-
manent Commission to
11 women officers in
line with its previous
orders after the apex
court warned of con-
tempt proceedings.
The move came as
the bench of Justices
DY Chandrachud and
AS Bopanna warned
that the top court would
initiate contempt pro-
ceedings against the
Indian Army and its
Chief Manoj Mukund
Naravane for failing to
grant PC to the women
officers. The top court
was hearing a contempt
petition moved by 11 of-
ficers alleging Army’s
non-compliance of the
directions issued by the
court.
Hyderabad: The new
frontiers of war is the
civil society which can
be manipulated to hurt
a nation’s interests, Na-
tional Security Advisor
Ajit Doval has said. He
was speaking at the
passing out parade
of the 73rd
batch of IPS
probationers
at the Sardar
Vallabhbhai
Patel National
Police Acad-
emy (SVP
NPA) in Hyderabad on
Friday
. Stating that peo-
ple are the most impor-
tant, Doval said, “The
new frontiers of war,
what you call the
fourth-generation war-
fare, is the civil socie-
ty.” Explaining fur-
ther, he said
wars have
ceased to be-
come an effec-
tive instrument
for achieving
political or mili-
tary objectives.
Hindutva, Hinduism two
different concepts: Rahul
amid Khurshid book row
New Delhi: Congress
leader Rahul Gandhi
on Friday stated that
HindutvaandHinduism
are two different things
and stressed upon the
need to explore
and understand
such differences.
Virtually ad-
dressing an orien-
tation camp in
Wardha, Gandhi
asked if Hinduism is
about persecuting peo-
ple of a different faith,
whileassertingthatHin-
dutva “of course” is
about that.
“What is the differ-
ence between Hindu-
ism, as we know it, and
Hindutva? Are they the
same thing? Can they
be the same thing? If
they are the same
thing, why don’t
they have the
same name? Why
do they have dif-
ferent names?
Why do we use
the word Hinduism,
why just not use the
word Hindutva, if they
are the same thing?
They are obviously dif-
ferent things,” he said.
CHINA IS THE BIGGEST SECURITY
THREAT, SAYS CDS GEN RAWAT
China has become India’s biggest security threat
and the tens of thousands of troops and weap-
onry that New Delhi rushed to secure the de-facto
Himalayan border last year will not
be able to return to base for a long
time, Defence Chief General Bipin
Rawat said. A lack of “trust” and
growing “suspicion” is coming in
the way of resolving the border
dispute between the nuclear-armed
neighbours, General Rawat said
late Thursday. Last month, the 13th round of border
talks between Indian and Chinese military command-
ers ended in a stalemate as both sides couldn’t agree
on how to pull back from the border.
SHAH TO CHAIR SOUTHERN ZONAL
COUNCIL MEET IN TIRUPATI ON SUNDAY
New Delhi: The 29th meeting of the Southern
Zonal Council, comprising Andhra Pradesh, Tamil
Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Telangana, and Union Ter-
ritories of Puducherry, Lakshadweep, and the An-
daman and Nicobar Islands, will be held in Tirupati
on Sunday. Union Home Minister Amit Shah will
chair the meeting that will discuss a broad range of
issues, including boundary disputes, security, and
infrastructure-related matters like road, transport,
industries, water and power, a Home Ministry
statement said. Shah has given impetus to this
vision of cooperative federalism to empower states
and promote a better understanding.
Civil society can be manipulated to
hurt India’s interests: NSA Doval
First India Bureau
Rajkot/Palanpur: A
free mega medical camp
was organised at Rajkot
to mark the ‘Niramay
Gujarat’ programme
launchedacrossthestate
by Chief Minister Bhu-
pendra Patel in Palan-
pur, on Friday
.
During the launch in
Palanpur, which was
shown live at the Rajkot
camp, Patel said, “Being
healthy is the first step
towards happiness. To-
day’s fast-paced life has
left people constantly
dealing with stress,
which in turn has left
them vulnerable to dis-
eases. If a person is un-
healthy
, all the luxury he
gets is of no use. People
above 30 years have to
remain alert about their
health and must go for
regularhealthcheck-ups
at nearby health cen-
tres.”
Patel appealed to peo-
ple to control disease or
ailment in its primary
stage. He also urged peo-
ple to make yoga and ex-
ercise a part of their
daily routine.
The Niramay Gujarat
campaign aims to
screen and protect peo-
ple above the age of 30
from non-communica-
ble diseases. It is expect-
ed to cover around three
crore people.
Inaugurating the
camp at Pujya Rancho-
dasji Bapu community
hall in Rajkot’s Anand
Nagararea,stateMahila
Aayog chairperson Lila-
benAnkoliyasaid,“‘Nir-
maya Day’ will be cele-
brated every Friday
across the state so that
people can benefit from
freehealthcamps.Today
health camps have been
organized at 43 places
across the state.”
Rajkot Mayor Dr
Pradeep Dav added, that
diagnosis of non-com-
municable disease, labo-
ratory testing and medi-
cines will be provided
free of cost at all health
centres every Friday
.
On the occasion, ben-
eficiaries were given
Niramay Card, a digital
health ID card and an
Aayushyaman Bharat
card. Superspecialist
doctors were part of the
camp who conducted
free diagnoses for high
bloodpressure,diabetes,
oral, breast and cervical
cancer,anaemiaandkid-
ney diseases related to
calcium deficiency
.
Every Friday to be celebrated as ‘Niramay Day’ in Gujarat
PUBLIC HEALTH
CM Patel’s address in Palanpur was shown live at the Rajkot camp, which was inaugurated by state
Mahila Aayog chairperson Lilaben Ankoliya and attended by Rajkot Mayor Dr Pradeep Dav, among others.
CM launches programme,
which will benefit 3 cr people
above the age of 30, in Palanpur
2. NEWS
AHMEDABAD | SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2021
02
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First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: Gujarat
Congress in-charge Dr
Raghu Sharma held a
virtual meeting with
party leaders and
workers to discuss sev-
eral public awareness
programmes that the
party has planned
ahead of the state As-
sembly elections to be
held next year.
While the primary
focus was on the up-
coming membership
drive and Jan Jagran
Abhiyan campaign, the
Dr Sharma also direct-
ed his Congress col-
leagues to focus on mi-
cro-organization with-
in the party, and organ-
ize data collection for
each Assembly constit-
uency
.
Following the meet-
ing, it was announced
that the Congress will
institute 10-member
teams for every booth
in the Assembly elec-
tions. These teams will
report directly to the
head of organization at
the party level. Fur-
ther, each booth will
also have a separate
youth team.
With Dr Sharma
highlighting the role of
women voters, the par-
ty plans to field women
candidates for 40% of
the seats going to the
polls.
In the near future,
Congress has decided
to stage a massive pro-
test against inflation
under the Jan Jagran
Abhiyan umbrella,
from November 14.
Media reports say
that the party has
asked MLAs, MPs and
top leaders to reach out
to the people at the
ward and panchayat
level. Congress leader
Rahul Gandhi said on
Monday that his party
would raise the issue
of the alleged use of
Pegasus spying soft-
ware. The Congress
leader welcomed the
decision of the Su-
preme Court to form a
three-member expert
panel. Opposition forc-
es, including the Con-
gress, are likely to tar-
get the government on
a number of issues,
including the embat-
tled agricultural laws,
inflation, and the al-
leged use of Pegasus in
the upcoming parlia-
mentary session.
DrRaghuSharmaholdsvirtualmeetingforJanJagrutiAbhiyan
Congress party’s massive
protest to kick off on Sunday
Bhavesh Barot
H i m m a t n a g a r :
Vishal Patel, a police
sub-inspector, was
transferred after
nearly two years of
service at the Khed-
brahma police sta-
tion in the Sabarkan-
tha district.
When the citizens
of the town and
many of his well-
wishers learned of
the transfer, they
gathered in large
numbers to bid him
farewell.
People present
showered rose petals
on the police inspec-
tor, who was over-
come with emotion
and overwhelmed by
the response.
A video of the oc-
casion has also been
widely shared on so-
cial media.
Respected and
loved by his people,
Patel is also an inspi-
ration to other police
officers in his de-
partment.
TRANSFER OF POLICE OFFICER
LEAVES CITIZENS TEARY-EYED
SI Vishal Patel was overwhelmed by emotion.
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: Reve-
nue Minister Rajen-
dra Trivedi on Friday
has instructed the
General Administra-
tion Department to
suspend Modasa
Prant Officer (deputy
collector) Mayank Pa-
tel with immediate ef-
fect.
Trivedi, who also
holds the Law and
Justice portfolio, said
disciplinary action
must be taken since
48 hours had passed
since the cybercrime
branch arrested Patel
for cyberbullying.
Trivedi said such
officers will not be
tolerated, such offic-
ers will face stern ac-
tions. However, the
government has also
transferred the com-
plainant from her pre-
sent posting.
After some confu-
sion on whether the
revenue minister has
the power to suspend
a Class I officer, Ara-
valli collector Naren-
dra Meena confirmed
that Patel has indeed
been suspended.
According to the
cybercrime branch,
Patel was using nine
SIM cards to send
lewd messages and
obscene photos to the
complainant. He had
even threatened her
husband, father-in-
law and son. Patel
and the complainant
are government em-
ployees and had
met for the first
time in an official ca-
pacity when they
were both posted in
Kapadwanj.
They exchanged
phone numbers when
they continued to
bump into each other
during meetings after
Patel was posted in
Modasa as the deputy
collector.
When the accused
was produced before
the court on Wednes-
day, following his ar-
rest the previous day,
his defence was that it
was a personal mat-
ter. He said he and the
complainant were in a
relationship, claimed
that she was harass-
ing him and not the
other way around,
and called the allega-
tions baseless.
MODASA DY COLLECTOR SUSPENDED
OVER CHARGES OF CYBERBULLYING
COMPLAINANTINTHECASEHASBEENTRANSFERREDASWELL
Modasa deputy collector Mayank Patel. —FILE PHOTO
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: Last year,
the government had or-
dered that schools give
students and their par-
ents a 25% fee waiver.
This was to have contin-
ued in place for the aca-
demic year 2021-22, ac-
cording to then educa-
tion minister Bhupen-
drasinh Chudasama.
However, there has been
no circular or notifica-
tion on the issue to date.
Now, the Congress
has written to Chief
Minister Bhupendra Pa-
tel, seeking clarification
on the fee waiver.
In his letter, chief
spokesperson for the
Congress, pointed out
that education has been
hit hard by the COV-
ID-19 pandemic
“For more than 14
months, educational in-
stitutions were com-
pletely shut down. Stu-
dents of Classes I to V
have still not returned
to school premises. Edu-
cational complexes/
school administrators
have not incurred any
additional expenses in-
cluding administrative
costs, maintenance
costs, laboratory costs
and electricity costs. At
the same time, when the
academic session of the
year 2021-22 has not
started yet, how is it rea-
sonable to expect mid-
dle-class parents to pay
the entire year’s fees?”
asked Doshi.
He said that the lack
of a state-government
circular on the 25% fee
relief has led to a dis-
pute between parents
and school administra-
tors. It is also a matter
of concern that the Fee
Regulation Committee
has not yet announced
the new standards for
fees, he added.
Issue notification for
fees waiver: Cong
Parents had protested bitterly for the relief in fees earlier this year.
—FILE
PHOTO
Schools were meant to
have extended last
year’s 25% fee relief
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: City
president of the All In-
dia Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-
Muslimeen (AIMIM)
party Shamshad Pa-
than has alleged that
there are several
schools in Ahmedabad
that are not legal.
He said he has come
across several parents
in recent times who
have been adversely
affected by such
schools.
Citing an example,
he said, “I recently
met someone who en-
rolled his child in Ex-
cellent Public School
school of Isanpur six
years ago. However,
when he tried to admit
his child in a better
school, the school re-
fused to give him a
leaving certificate.
Eventually, when the
school did give him a
certificate, but it was
from another school
(Navrang School),
which is full of errors.
The child’s parents
have given all the fees
and despite that, the
unique ID of the child
also had the identity
of another child.”
He added: “Due to
such errors and fake
documents, the child
is deprived of school
admission even today.
It is known that the
education field and
private schools are
centres of corruption,
but the worst part is
that poor people are
being victimized. We
are going to lodge a
police complaint
against the school
management.”
Pathan further said
that such schools can
only operate since
they have the “bless-
ings of the higher of-
ficials”, who should be
punished. A legal case
should be filed against
the schools and the
child should be given
justice immediately,
he said.
AIMIM alleges illegal schools are
robbing children of education
‘HOW MANY FAKE SCHOOLS
RUNNING IN AHMEDABAD?’
—FILE
PHOTO
Dr Raghu Sharma
3. GUJARAT
AHMEDABAD | SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2021
03
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CRUCIAL READ
1,500 AAP WORKERS TO VISIT DELHI
TO UNDERSTAND DEVP WORK
UNIDENTIFIED GUNMAN FIRES
3 SHOTS AT JEWELLERY SHOP
VMC LOP PROTESTS HIKE IN
BARODA MUSEUM ENTRY FEE
Surat: A number of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) offi-
cials and workers are in New Delhi to learn about
the Delhi government’s development process and
the strategies it employs. On Friday, around 1,500
workers left Udhana railway station for Delhi. AAP
state president Gopal Italia kicked off the jour-
ney. Party members from across the state have
been summoned to the national capital. During
their visit, they will also pay visits to government
schools, government hospitals, clinics, and Delhi
government projects in their constituency.
Surat: A team from the city crime branch arrived
at Sukharam Jewellers in Sarthana on Thursday
evening after three unidentified people allegedly fired
three rounds of gunfire at the shop and fled. The
shooters are believed to be robbers who attempted
to rob the shop but were unsuccessful, so they fired
on the glass door and fled. Hearing the gunshots,
one person came out of the shop and fled the scene.
Later, another man arrived and closed down the
showroom. Three bullet shells were discovered by
police. According to officials, it is still unclear wheth-
er the weapon was an airgun or something else.
Vadodara: Ami Ravat, the Vadodara Municipal Cor-
poration’s Leader of Opposition, demanded on Fri-
day that the civic body reverse the increase in entry
fees for the Baroda Museum and Art Gallery. After
visiting the museum, she wrote an application to the
VMC requesting that the entry fees be reduced. She
claimed that the government is only interested in
collecting money amid the COVID-19 pandemic and
has ignored the purpose for which the rulers erected
the historical structure.
SEVEN VEHICLES GUTTED IN FIRE
AT SURAT SCRAP GODOWN
MAN PRETENDS TO HELP WOMAN,
RAPES HER, MOLESTS DAUGHTER
Surat: A fire broke out in a scrap godown on
the city’s Udhana road No. 4 at midnight on
Thursday. After receiving word of the fire, a fire
department convoy rushed to the scene. The fire
department was able to put out the blaze after
three hours of fighting, according to officials.
The fire destroyed numerous goods in the go-
down as well as seven four-wheelers. The fire-
fighting operation involved nine fire department
vehicles. However, no fatalities were reported as
a result of the fire. According to Aman Shaikh,
a local resident, the fire began at 11 pm. due to
waste in the godown.
Vadodara: A complaint has been lodged at the
Chhani police station in Vadodara against a
man for allegedly raping a woman on the way
from Chhani Bridge to her village under the
pretext of providing financial help. The victim
husband’s has been lodged in Ahmedabad
Sabarmati Jail for the last 18 months. The
complaint also alleges that the rapist also
molested the woman’s five-year-old daugh-
ter. Ranchod Patel, is an acquaintance of the
woman’s husband. His son, Lalo Patel called
the woman and offered her monetary assis-
tance, but then took her into his car and raped
her, police said.
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WIDOW APPROACHES HC OVER
`50L CORONA WARRIOR BENEFITS
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: The wid-
ow of a school princi-
pal has approached
the High Court, with
a petition for the
court to direct the
state to pay the com-
pensation to victims
of COVID-19.
She told the court
that her husband, who
died in September, was
cremated in keeping
with COVID-19 guide-
lines after testing posi-
tive for the novel coro-
navirus and being hos-
pitalized for treatment.
However, she said, the
official death certifi-
cate does not list COV-
ID-19 as the cause of
death. As a result, state
authorities have not
released the compensa-
tion amount due to
pandemic fatalities.
The court has issued
notices to the state gov-
ernment and other au-
thorities asking them
to file a reply
.
The petitioner,
through her advocate
Nupur Parikh, submit-
ted before the court
that her blind hus-
band, Dinesh Bhavna-
garia had served as the
principal of the Sarva
village government
primary school in
Botad district for the
past four years. When
the infection spread in
the district earlier this
year, the school was
converted into a covid-
care centre. As the
principal of the school,
Bhavnagaria was put
in charge of the centre.
He tested positive for
the infection a few
days later.
As his health deterio-
rated, Bhavnagaria was
admitted to the govern-
ment hospital in
Bhavnagar for treat-
ment. He died while
still in hospital, on Sep-
tember 13.
The petitioner also
said that the hospital is-
sued a negative COV-
ID-19 report after her
husband’s death despite
the CT scan showing
that he was infected.
The woman then
filed an application
seeking the Rs50-lakh
compensation an-
nounced by the state for
corona warriors, to no
avail.
Having been turned
down by local and dis-
trict authorities, she
decided to approach the
high court, she said.
Manwascrematedinkeepingwithpandemicguidelines,butdeathcertificatedoesnotlistvirusascauseofdeath
High Court of Gujarat. —FILE PHOTO
2 micro-containment
zones in 2 days: A’bad
First India Bureau
G a n d h i n a g a r /
Ahmedabad: Guja-
rat added 21 cases
of COVID-19 in the
24 hours ended 5
pm on Friday, tak-
ing the total tally to
8,26,887, the health
department said.
With no fresh fa-
talities attributed to
thenovelcoronavirus
in 24 hours, the total
death toll remained
unchanged at 10,090.
At least 35 patients
weredischargedfrom
hospitals around the
state during the day,
taking the total num-
ber of recoveries to
8,16,577.
There are now 220
active cases of COV-
ID-19 in Gujarat, offi-
cials said.
Of the day’s new
additions, Vadodara
district saw six new
cases, while Surat
and Valsad had three
each, Ahmedabad,
Jamnagar and Rajkot
saw two each, while
Junagadh, Kutch and
Surendranagar wit-
nessed one new case
each.
While Ahmedabad
saw just two new cas-
es during the day
, the
local civic body has
designated another
residential complex
as a micro-contain-
mentzone,thesecond
such in as many days.
According to a
statement from the
Ahmedabad Munici-
pal Corporation, 76
people have been
quarantined in 20
houses in the C Block
of Sampad Residency
in Chandkheda.
220
06 MAX
CASES IN
V’DARA
ACTIVE CASES
8,16,577
TOTAL RECOVERED
35
RECOVERED
IN A DAY
10,090
TOTAL DEATHS
00 DEATHS
IN A DAY
8,26,887
TOTAL CASES
21 CASES
IN A DAY
COVID-19 UPDATE
T
T
T
BACKGROUND
Man arrested in Dwarka drug
haul is parolee in murder case
First India Bureau
Thane/Khambhalia:
Sajjad Ghosi, who was
arrested by the Gujarat
police on Tuesday night
in connection with the
seizure of drugs, is out
on parole in a murder
case, police said on
Thursday
.
Ghosi, the 44-year-old
vegetable vendor from
Mumbra near Thane in
Maharashtra, was con-
victed and sentenced to
14 years in jail by a
Thane district court for
his involvement in a
murder case, they said,
adding that he had been
given parole during the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Police have seized
heroin and metham-
phetamine drugs worth
Rs313.25 crore from
three persons—includ-
ing Ghosi—in Devbhu-
mi Dwarka district over
the last two days, offi-
cials said on Thursday
.
Ghosi was arrested
by the Thane police on
June 12, 2013, for mur-
dering Kalyan-resident
Pundalik Patil over a
financial dispute, they
said. He cut the victim’s
body into several pieces
and packed them into
plastic bags which he
was going to dispose of
in a Mumbra creek
when he was arrested,
the police said.
On Tuesday
, the Guja-
rat police arrested Gho-
si from a guest house in
Khambhalia town fol-
lowing a tip-off, and re-
covered 19 packets con-
taining 11.483 kg of
heroin and 6.168 kg of
methamphetamine, col-
lectively worth Rs88.25
crore, a senior police of-
ficial said.
Ghosi, in police custody. —FILE PHOTO
BIRD
FLYING
HIGH
With winter setting
in, migratory have
started arriving
in and around
Ahmedabad. A
bird is seen flying
high against the
background of
the rising sun, in
Ahmedabad on
Friday.
—HANIF SINDHI
First India Bureau
Valsad: Three persons,
including a taluka
panchayat member of
the BJP and his wife,
were killed after their
mini-truck, which
broke down on the
Ahmedabad-Mumbai
Highway in Valsad dis-
trict, was first hit by a
truck and then by a
luxury bus in the early
hours of Friday
.
The deceased were
identified as BJP leader
Mukesh Dhodi (45), his
wife Kalpana (42) and
their employee Hiten
Halpati, police said.
Dhodi was into the
business of providing
truck-mounted DJ mu-
sic systems and was
elected as a member of
Umargam taluka pan-
chayat of Valsad district
from Kanadu, his native
village.
When the trio was re-
turning to Kanadu from
Vapiintheirmini-truck,
the vehicle broke down
at around 3 am near
Bhilad Railway crossing
on the NH-48 and did not
start despite several at-
tempts by Dhodi, Sub
Inspector Bhagvatsinh
Rathod of Bhilad police
station said.
“To start the vehicle,
Halpati got down and
started pushing it, while
the couple was in the
cabin of the mini-truck.
Suddenly
, a truck hit
their vehicle from be-
hind, killing Halpati on
the spot and pushing
theirmini-truckontothe
other side of the road,”
he explained.
Before the couple
could save themselves, a
luxury bus hit the front
portion of their mini-
truck, killing Dhodi and
his wife on the spot, the
police officer said.
Ten passengers of the
bus received minor inju-
ries, while its conductor,
who was also wounded
in the crash, has been
hospitalised. A case of
rashdrivingandcausing
death by negligence has
been lodged against the
unidentified truck driv-
er, who fled after the ac-
cident, he added.
3 killed in mini-truck accident in Valsad
—FILE PHOTO
T
T
T
3 OF V’DARA FAMILY DIE IN RAJASTHAN
4. SPIRITUAL SPEAK
I am the beginning,
middle, and end
of creation.
—Bhagavad Gita
IN-DEPTH
Rajnath Singh
@rajnathsingh
The new policy reforms, coupled with
the ever-increasing ranking in ‘ease of
doing business’, have paved the way
of industrial development in the state
of UP and taken ‘Uttar Pradesh’ on the
path of ‘Uttam Pradesh’.
Dharmendra Pradhan
@dpradhanbjp
Enabling policy structure in the form
of #NEP2020, quality educational
institutions, societal inclusivity
with multiculturalism and focus on
innovation, entrepreneurship and
internationalisation will drive India’s
education system to newer heights.
TOP TWEETS
JUSTICE SN SHUKLA
WASN’T IMPEACHED,
GOVT SHOULD ALLOW
HIS PROSECUTION
he Central Bureau of
Investigation has
sought permission to
prosecute Justice SN
Shukla, also known
as Narayan Shukla, who was
named in the medical college
admission scam along with Jus-
tice IM Quddusi. A couple of
years back the CBI raided the
Lucknow residence of Justice
Shukla for allegedly taking
bribe from a private medical col-
lege. The corruption case
against Justice Shukla was reg-
istered on December 4, 2019.
A case in the medical college
scam, which surfaced in 2017,
was registered against Justice
Shukla, former judge of Odisha
High Court, Justice Quddusi,
owner of Prasad Institute of
Medical Sciences (PIMS) BP Ya-
dav, socialite Bhawna Pandey,
hawala operator Ramdev Saras-
wat and businessman Biswa-
nath Agarwala. Justice Shukla
retired in July 2020 with his pay
and pension intact.
An in-house inquiry by the
Supreme Court confirmed the
allegations but the judge was not
impeached as the government
sat over the recommendation of
two CJI’s. It is hoped that the Al-
lahabad High Court will grant
sanction for his prosecution.
T
atching women
bathe in the Ya-
muna covered
with industrial
waste on Chhath
wasthemostdistressingsight.
The sun-worshippers, for
whom a dip in the river is a
mandatory part of the ritual,
were unmindful of the hazard
the industrial waste posed.
Politicians and authorities
responsible for keeping the
river pollution-free blamed
one another and made re-
newed promises to clean the
river. All done with preten-
tious seriousness for news
channels as their hypocrisy
is no secret.
The shocking part of the
sordid pollution saga is that
it continues despite the Su-
preme Court and the Nation-
al Green Tribunal. One need
not mention state pollution
control boards as they gener-
ally use pollution for some
extra income.
All through his tenure as
Chief Minister of Delhi,
ArvindKejriwalhasannually
repeatedhispromiseof clean-
ing the Yamuna and beautify-
ing its banks for picnickers.
Watching the river on
Chhath it was obvious that
those promises were not
meant to be kept. The Central
government, the Central Pol-
lution Control Board and the
National Green Tribunal
have all proved to be ineffec-
tive against those interested
in protecting the polluting
industriesinUP
,Haryanaand
Okhla. There can be no better
proof of defiance by indus-
tries and government offi-
cials than this observation by
the NGT: “Industries are dis-
charging untreated sewage
water in the river with impu-
nity, as if the law of the land
does not exist. In spite of cat-
egorical observations in the
reports of statutory regula-
tors, not even a single person
is shown to have been prose-
cuted.” The observation also
shows how ineffective courts
and tribunals have become.
LET’S ACCEPT IT,YAMUNA
CANNOT BE CLEANED
Politicians and authorities
responsible for keeping
the river pollution-free
blamed one another and
made renewed promises
to clean the river
W
DELHIDIALOGUE:INDIA’S
BIGDIPLOMATICVICTORY
meeting held in New Delhi
between the National Securi-
ties Advisors (NSAs) of
neighbouring countries dis-
cussed the latest situation in
Afghanistan and saw partici-
pation of the NSAs of Russia,
Iran, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan,
Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan
and Kazakhstan was organ-
ised at the invitation of NSA
Ajit Doval.
In the meeting, the humani-
tarian crisis of Afghanistan
and the possibility of terror-
ists moving from Afghan soil
to other countries and meas-
ures to prevent it were dis-
cussed. Thecollectivedeclara-
tionsaidthatAfghanterritory
should not be used for any ter-
rorist activities. China and
Pakistan were also invited to
this dialogue but both the
countries refused to partici-
pate citing various reasons.
India, Russia, Iran and
other Central Asian coun-
tries discussed issues such as
terrorism, radicalisation,
cross-border threats and
drug trafficking in the re-
gional security dialogue or-
ganised under the name of
Delhi Dialogue. The meeting
emphasised the need to re-
store Afghanistan as a peace-
ful, secure and stable nation.
During the Delhi talks, In-
dia’s initiative to provide hu-
manitarian assistance to Af-
ghanistan in an uninterrupt-
ed, direct and assured man-
ner and collective coopera-
tion against drug smuggling
was also discussed.
This meeting of Afghan
neighbours, held in New Del-
hi, three months after the
Taliban’s occupation of Ka-
bul, was considered very im-
portant from India’s point of
view. There were many rea-
sons for this. First, it was the
first time since the withdraw-
al of the US in Afghanistan
that Russia, Iran and other
Central Asian countries, led
by India, have come together
to discuss the situation in Af-
ghanistan. Second, the way
Afghan neighbouring coun-
tries have accepted India’s
invitation and agreed to par-
ticipate in the meeting, it is
clear that they consider In-
dia’s role important for last-
ing peace in Afghanistan.
Third, after this meeting
chaired by India, the strategic
efforts of China and Pakistan
to isolate India in Afghani-
stan have suffered a setback.
Suchmeetingswerestarted
in the year 2018. The first two
meetings were held in Iran.
The third meeting was to be
held in New Delhi last year
but it was postponed due to
the pandemic. Questions
were being raised from the
beginning about the signifi-
cance of this meeting in the
absence of China, Pakistan
and the Taliban. The truth is
India is in a state of compla-
cency regarding the Taliban.
India still following the policy
of waitandwatch.Alongwith
many countries of the world,
India has already made it
clear that those who occupy
power by force will not be rec-
ognised. Twelve countries,
including India, US and Chi-
na, have already decided,
along with representatives
from the United Nations and
the European Union will not
recognise any government in
Afghanistan that seeks to
seize control by force. India’s
recognition of the Taliban de-
pends on the responses of
democratic countries. Since
the democratic countries
have not yet recognised the
Taliban. Perhaps this is the
reason why India did not in-
vite Taliban for talks.
In fact, after the return of
the Taliban to Afghan army
,
the influence of China and Pa-
kistan is increasing there. Pa-
kistanhasalsobeenabighand
behind the rise of Taliban.
Even during the control of Af-
ghanistan in the year 1996, Pa-
kistanhadprovidednecessary
help to the Taliban besides
weapons.EvenafterAmerica’s
arrival in Afghanistan in 2001
and ouster from Taliban pow-
er, Pakistan continued to sup-
port top Taliban leaders. Now
the way Pakistan and China
played a role in the formation
of the Taliban government,
India was marginalised in
some way or the other. On the
other hand India has its own
interestsinAfghanistan.India
has spent over $3 billion Dol-
larsoninfrastructureandpub-
lic utility projects in Afghani-
stan in the last two decades.
Along with Afghan citizens,
Taliban also acknowledges
this contribution of India.
This is the reason why India
has been raising the issue of
Afghanistan continuously in
bilateraltalksandmultilateral
fora for the last few days. India
does not want Afghanistan to
be a safe haven for terrorists.
In such a situation, the
Delhi Dialogue organised by
India is being seen as an at-
tempt to re-establish its role
and lost influence in Afghan-
istan. The manner, in which
all the major neighbouring
countries of Afghanistan, in-
cluding Russia and Iran,
have accepted the Indian
leadership through the Delhi
Dialogue, should be called
India’s diplomatic victory
.
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY
THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL
A
In fact, after the return of
the Taliban to Afghan army,
the influence of China and
Pakistan is increasing there.
Pakistan has also been a big
hand behind the rise of
Taliban. Even during the
control of Afghanistan in the
year 1996, Pakistan had
provided necessary help to
the Taliban besides weapons
“We all assembled
today to discuss
issues related to
Afghanistan. We have
been keenly watching
the developments in
Afghanistan. These
have important
implications not only for
the people of
Afghanistan but also
for its neighbouring
countries and the
region,” Ajit Doval
DR NK SOMANI
The writer is Assistant Professor
PERSPECTIVE
AHMEDABAD | SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2021
04
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DON’T WANT TO RUSH
MANDAVIYA ON VACCINATING CHILDREN
New Delhi: Union
Health Minister Man-
sukh Mandaviya on
Thursday said the gov-
ernment does not want
to make haste about ad-
ministering COVID-19
vaccine to children and
any decision in this re-
gard will be taken based
on expert opinion.
On when vaccination
for children could start
as Zydus Cadila’s Covid
vaccine has been grant-
ed emergency use au-
thorisation for those
12-year-old and above,
he said children were
not being inoculated
against COVID-19 on a
large scale anywhere in
the world though it has
been initiated in some
countries in a limited
manner. “We do not
want to rush this thing.
Since this is a matter
related to children, the
expert group is carry-
ing out further stud-
ies,” he said.
All the vaccines
which have currently
received emergency use
authorisation will be
granted full authorisa-
tion only after a de-
tailed study and based
on the data of four to
five years, he said.
—ANI
A health worker collects a swab sample of a passenger for the COVID-19 test, at Dadar railway station, in Mumbai. —PHOTO BY PTI
COVAXIN PHASE 3
DATA SHOWS 77.8%
EFFICACY: LANCET
Hyderabad: Hyderabad-
based Bharat Biotech on
Friday announced that
Lancet peer-review con-
firmed efficacy analysis of
Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin.As
per phase-three clinical trials
data, Covaxin demonstrates
77.8% efficacy against
symptomatic COVID. “COV-
AXIN is the only COVID-19
vaccine to have demonstrat-
ed efficacy data from phase
III clinical trials against the
delta variant at 65.2%,” the
official statement issued
by Bharat Biotech said
citing Lancet study. “Ef-
ficacy analysis demonstrates
Covaxin to be 77.8 per cent
effective against sympto-
matic COVID-19, through
evaluation of 130 confirmed
cases, with 24 observed in
the vaccine group versus
106 in the placebo group,”
said the company’s state-
ment. —ANI
New Delhi: India’s cumulative COVID-19 vac-
cination coverage crossed 110.79 crores on
Friday, the Union Health Ministry informed.
More than 53.81 lakh doses (53,81,889) were
administered in the last 24 hours, taking the
total number to 1,10,79,51,225, till 7 am on
Friday. Meanwhile, country reported 12,516 new
COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours. At present,
the active caseload stands at 1,37,416, the low-
est in 267 days. The overall recovery rate stands
at 98.26 per cent. A total of 3,38,14,080
people have recovered from the coronavi-
rus infection so far in the country. —ANI
INDIA’S CUMULATIVE COVERAGE
EXCEEDS 110.79 CR VAX DOSES
Bhubaneswar: Odisha govt on Friday touched a
new milestone of administering 4 crore vaccines
to date, Health Department said. The department
thanked the “combined efforts” of the health
team and the people of Odisha for achieving
the landmark. “Happy to share that Odisha has
crossed a new milestone by completing 4 crore
COVID-19 vaccination,” it tweeted. CM Naveen
Patnaik expressed happiness over “yet another
significant milestone” in the fight against corona-
virus. “Commend the hard work and commitment
of our healthcare workers in ensuring swift inocu-
lation to save precious lives,” he tweeted. —PTI
ODISHA ADMINISTERS FOUR
CRORE COVID-19 VACCINE DOSES
We do not want to rush this thing.
Since this is a matter related to
children, the expert group is
carrying out further stud-
ies,” he said at the “Times
Now Summit 2021.
—Mansukh Mandviya,
Union Health
Minister
Will ‘non-Bengalis’
hit TMC lottery
this time around?
Sharat K Verma
New Delhi: One more
Rajya Sabha seat is
about to be up for elec-
tion in West Bengal
which fell vacant due to
the resignation of Tri-
namool Congress lead-
er Arpita Ghosh, whose
term is till 2026. So, elec-
tion notification has
been issued and with
the announcement of
this election, it is being
speculated as to who
will Mamata Banerjee
give a chance this time?
Significantly, after
the state assembly elec-
tions in May this year,
bypolls to two Rajya
Sabha seats were held
in West Bengal. In the
first seat, Mamata sent
former IAS officer
Jawahar Sarkar to the
Rajya Sabha and on the
second seat, Sushmita
Deb, who left the Con-
gress, was made a mem-
ber of the Upper House.
Both times she chose a
Bengali candidate.
It is worth mention-
ing here that Mamata
has been trying to reach
out to non-Bengali espe-
cially Hindi speaking
people for the last few
days to fulfill her all-In-
dia political ambitions,
as she wants to increase
her base in the Hindi
belt in which Prashant
Kishor is helping her.
Since the assembly elec-
tions,therewastalkthat
Mamata would send for-
mer BJP leader and for-
merUnionFinanceMin-
ister Yashwant Sinha to
the Rajya Sabha. He had
evenjoinedthepartybut
didn’t get the chance.
There was also talk of
Congress leader Subod-
hkant Sahay joining
TMC. Pavan Verma, a
former Foreign Service
officer, former ambassa-
dor and Rajya Sabha
member from Janata
Dal-U, is also indirectly
associating with Trina-
mool Congress because
of Prashant Kishor. So,
will any of them hit the
lottery this time or will
Mamata present a new
face again. Whoever
Mamata chooses to send
to the Rajya Sabha this
time will indicate her
politics ahead.
Mamata Banerjee
CRUCIAL READ
WIFE OF DAWOOD’S AIDE ACCUSES
HARDIK PANDYA, RAJIV SHUKLA OF RAPE
Mumbai: Wife of gangster Riyaz Bhati has filed an
application with Mumbai Police, accusing him of
rape and forcing her into prostitution. Among other
people, she has named cricketers Hardik Pandya and
Munaf Patel as
well as Con-
gress leader Ra-
jeev Shukla in
her complaint.
Riyaz is an aide
of underworld
don Dawood
and faces sev-
eral cases of extortion. As per the report, no FIR has
been registered yet, the matter is under investigation
as police are verifying allegations. —Agencies
PM MODI TO LAND
ON EXPRESSWAY
IN IAF PLANE
Lucknow: Showcasing
a world-class infra-
structure, on November
16, PM Narendra Modi
would land on the
Purvanchal Express in a
C-130J Super Hercules
transport aircraft. The
event would mark the
inauguration of the
340 km expressway
connecting Lucknow
with Mau, Azamgarh,
Barabanki with links to
major cities of Praya-
graj and Varanasi. —ANI
UDDHAV UNDERGOES
SPINE SURGERY,
DOING WELL: CMO
Mumbai: Maharashtra
Chief Minister Uddhav
Thackeray successfully
underwent a cervical
spine surgery at the HN
Reliance Hospital here,
his office said on Friday.
61-year-old Thackeray
has been moved to a
ward after his surgery,
said a statement from
the Chief Minister’s Of-
fice (CMO) quoting two
doctors of the hospital
- Ajit Desai and Shekhar
Bhojraj. —ANI
Railways to
revert to pre-
Covid fares
New Delhi: Under pres-
sure from passengers
over hike in
fares, the Indian Rail-
ways on Friday issued
an order to discontinue
the ‘special’ tag for mail
and express trains and
revert to pre-pandemic
ticket prices with imme-
diate effect. Since the
coronavirus-triggered
lockdown was eased, the
Railways has been run-
ning only special trains.
In a letter to zonal
railways on Friday, the
Railway Board said that
trains will now be oper-
ated with their regular
numbers and fares will
revert to normal pre-
Covid prices. The order,
however, did not specify
when the zonal rail-
ways are required to
revert to their pre-Cov-
id regular services.—PTI
ABP-CVOTER SURVEY
BJP can win four out of five states,
AAP emerging as a spoiler for Cong
Kavita Pant
Jaipur: The first round
of ABP-C Voter survey
conducted to gauge
mood of voters in poll-
bound states for upcom-
ing Assembly polls has
portrayed a good picture
for BJP predicting it’s
victoryinfouroutof five
statesgoingtopollsearly
next year. While survey
has indicated that BJP
couldwinUttarPradesh,
Uttarakhand,Goa,Ma-
nipur states, it predicts
AAP may emerge as sin-
gle largest party in Pun-
jabbutcouldfallshortof
majority
.
UTTAR PRADESH
As per the survey Yogi
Adityanath-led BJP is
still the favourite
among the voters, in UP
while the Samajwadi
Party under the leader-
ship of Akhilesh Yadav
is gaining some ground
as Mayawati’s BSP is on
the sliding side.
PUNJAB
Meanwhile, amid the
ongoing political crisis
and protest by farmers
over the three farm
laws, Arvind Kejriwal’s
AAP is most likely to
emerge as the single-
largest party in Punjab
followed by the ruling
Congress and SAD. Sur-
vey says BJP is staring
atitsworstperformance
in recent decades in
Punjab, which could be
due to the resentment
among farmers and loss
of alliance with SAD.
The saffron party is
likely to win 0-1 seat, the
survey noted.
GOA
TherulingBharatiyaJa-
nata Party (BJP) in Goa
and Manipur is likely to
retain power amid a
close-knit electoral con-
test in Manipur when
the two states will go for
polls next year.
According to the sur-
vey
,inthe40-memberGoa
Assembly
,theBJPislike-
ly to win 19 to 23 seats,
Congress 2 to 6, while
AAP will bag 3 to 7 seats.
MANIPUR
In Manipur the survey
also predicted close, but
a satisfactory win for
BJP in Assembly Polls.
BJP is likely to win 25-29
seats, the Congress 20-
24, Naga People’s Front
(NPF) 4-8, and others 3-7
in 60-member Assembly
.
UTTARAKHAND
While in Uttarakhand,
BJP looks comfortable
asitcompletesfiveyears
of governance there
even as it witnessed a
major overhaul with
three different chief
ministers taking charge
in the past less than one
year. The survey says
BJP-ledallianceislikely
to get 36-40 seats in the
70-memberUttarakhand
Assembly while Con-
gress-led alliance will
win 30 to 34 seats. AAP,
which will make its elec-
toral debut in the hill
state, is expected to win
just 0-2 seats.
Yogi Adityanath Arvind Kejriwal Charanjit Channi Pramod Sawant Harish Rawat
Survey’s prediction clearly
show that the AAP is
causing serious harm to
the Congress
in three states
and, as a result,
nationally.
According to
the survey, the
AAP could end
up defeating the Congress in
Punjab and also playing spoiler
in Uttarakhand and Goa.
AAP HARMING CONG
Rakesh Ranjan
New Delhi : The puzzle
created by not laying
down the time frame
while appointing Par-
asaram Pattabhi Kesa-
va Ramacharyulu last
September as the first
Secretary General of
the Rajya Sabha (RS) in
70 years from its own
cadre has come to be re-
solved. He has moved as
an adviser to the Vice
President in an appar-
ent deal that was prob-
ably struck long ago.
Despite the massive
jockeying for the post in
September 2020, as re-
ported first by First In-
dia, Dr. Ramacharyulu
held the post as he had
the unreserved backing
of VP of India and RS
Chairman Muppavara-
pu Venkaiah Naidu.
Since Naidu’s deci-
sion couldn’t have been
setaside,itstandstorea-
son that a compromise
was probably struck
then to let the first RS
cadreofficercontinueas
the SG with an open
time frame to avoid a
public display of frac-
tures in the decision-
making process of the
executiveandlegislative
branches of the country
.
So on Friday, Dr. Ra-
macharyulu was made
adviser to VP Naidu
and the long-pending
wishes of the executive
branch were fulfilled by
the appointment of
Pramod Chandra Mody
(Retd IRS IT: 1982) as
the new Secretary-Gen-
eral of Rajya Sabha on
a contractual basis till
August 10, 2022. Accord-
ing to the notification,
Mody’s tenure begins
w.e.f. the forenoon of
November 12, 2021. This
translates to a tenure of
nine months.
WHY NINE MONTHS,
AND NOT A YEAR?
Whatever, point to be
noted here is that Mody
is the second member
of the Indian Revenue
Service (Income Tax) to
get a post-retirement
top constitutional job.
The other person in re-
cent times has been for-
mer CBDT Chairman,
1980-batch IRS (IT) cad-
re officer, Sushil Chan-
dra who was made
Chief Election Com-
missioner and who hap-
pened to be Mody’s pre-
decessor in CBDT.
Both have been famous
for their dogged loyalty
and earlier, this earned
them the reward of
post-retirement reap-
pointment as CBDT
Chairman on a contrac-
tual basis along with
the additional charge of
Member (Investigation)
through their tenure as
Chairman.
PC Mody’s appointment as RS Secretary General spills the beans
FRESH POSTING
lll
Pramod
Chandra Mody
was appointed
as new
Secretary
General of RS
on a contractual
basis till August
10, 2022
Pramod Chandra Mody
7. INDIA
AHMEDABAD | SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2021
06
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CRUCIAL READ
GOLD BISCUITS WORTH OVER RS 1
CRORE SEIZED, 1 ARRESTED IN BENGAL
Jalpaiguri: A man was arrested from a Howrah-bound
train at the New Jalpaiguri Railway Station in West
Bengal’s Siliguri and gold biscuits worth Rs 1.08 crore
were seized from his possession on Friday, DRI officials
said. Acting on a tip-off,
Directorate of Revenue
Intelligence (DRI) sleuths
detained the man from
a reserved compart-
ment of the train coming
from Guwahati and upon
finding discrepancies in his answers during questioning,
searched him and found 13 gold biscuits in his posses-
sion, they said. The man, identified as Sheikh Saiful Rah-
man, is a resident of Howrah, the officials added.
INDIAN-ORIGIN STUDENT AMONG 9 KILLED
IN TRAVIS SCOTT’S CONCERT TRAGEDY
New Delhi: A 22-year-old Indian-origin Texas college
student succumbed to her injuries sustained at the stam-
pede during rap star Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival
in Houston, taking the death toll in the tragedy to nine.
Bharti Shahani, who was
about to graduate from
Texas AM University this
year, was on a ventilator
after suffering a severe
brain injury in the tragedy
on November 5. She died
on Wednesday night, according to her family. Bharti had
attended the concert with her sister and cousin who sur-
vived.A stampede of fans during Travis Scott’s concert on
Friday killed nine people between the ages of 14 to 27.
TALIBAN: BOMB HITS MOSQUE IN
AFGHANISTAN, WOUNDS AT LEAST 15
Kabul: An explosion hit a mosque in the Spin Ghar
district of Nangarhar province in eastern Afghan-
istan, wounding at least 12 people including the
imam of the mosque, local residents said. Atal
Shinwari, a local resident said the blast occurred at
around 1.30 pm when explosives apparently hid in
the interior detonated. A Taliban official, speaking
on condition of anonymity, confirmed the blast
and said casualties were feared but gave no further
details. There was no immediate claim of respon-
sibility for the attack. The attacks in recent weeks
underme the Taliban claims of restoring security
after decades of war. Accounts of casualties varied.
STRIKE CONTINUES AT YAVATMAL MED
COLLEGE OVER COLLEAGUE’S MURDER
Yavatmal: Students of Vasantrao Naik Govt Medical Col-
lege and Hospital in Maharashtra’s Yavatmal continued
their strike for the second consecutive on Friday, de-
manding a fast-track court hearing and financial aid to
the family of deceased student who was allegedly mur-
dered on campus.Ashok Pal (24), a resident of Thane,
was found severly injured near hostel on Wednesday
night, following which he was admitted in the accident
ward of the hospital where he died.As per the complaint
filed by medical superintendent Dr S Bhuyar, the college
assumed that Pal had met with an accident, but later
stab injuries were found on his chest.Two suspects
were taken into custody by the police.
INDIANS STUDYING ABROAD LAID BASIS
FOR STRONG TIES ACROSS WORLD: EAM
New Delhi: Highlighting the role of education in the
knowledge economy, the External Affairs Minister (EAM)
S Jaishankar on Friday said that quest for education has
also been a powerful incentive for Indians to go abroad and
it has laid the basis for the
country’s strong ties across
the world.“The quest for
education has also been a
powerful incentive for Indi-
ans to go to other countries.
More than a million Indian
students study abroad they have laid the basis for strong re-
lationships across many geographies,” said EAM Jaishankar
in a video conference at “Diplomatic Conclave” on Higher
Education organised by Chandigarh University.
ANIL DESHMUKH
CUSTODY EXTENDED
Mumbai: A special court on
Friday extended the ED custody
of former Maha home minister
Anil Deshmukh till Nov 15 in
connection with a multi-crore
money laundering case. He
was arrested by the ED early
last week. A special holiday
court on Nov 6 had sent the
71-yr-old NCP leader to judicial
custody after rejecting the En-
forcement Directorate (ED) plea
seeking extension of remand.
IN THE COURTYARD
BHIM ARMY’S PLEA:
WILL PROCEED AS
PER LAW, EC TO HC
New Delhi: The Election Com-
mission told the Delhi HC on
Friday that it will consider in
accordance with law Chandra
Shekhar Aazad’s application
for allotment of a common
symbol for his political party
for the upcoming assem-
bly elections in five states.
Counsel for the EC told
Justice Prateek Jalan, who
was hearing the Bhim Army
Chief’s plea for allotment of a
common election symbol for
his ‘Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi
Ram)’, that applications for
allotment of symbols for four
states, Uttarakhand, Goa,
Punjab and Manipur are now
open for consideration and
the process for UP will start
on Nov 14. Considering EC’s
stand, the judge disposed of
the petition, observing that
the petitioner’s application
may be considered by EC for
the Symbols Order and other
applicable laws.
ADVOCATES WRITETO
CJI IN MADRAS HC
Chennai: Opposing the
transfer of Chief Justice Sanjib
Banerjee to Meghalaya, over
200 advocates of Madras HC
have signed a representation
to the CJI, N V Ramana and
the SC Collegium, seeking
to reconsider the decision
to shift CJ Banerjee. The
representation, described the
transfer proposal as a “puni-
tive measure” against “an
honest and fearless judge.”
SORRY, BUT NO: SC REFUSES NEET
RE-EXAM FOR 2 STUDENTS
New Delhi: Supreme Court has set aside the order to
hold NEET re-exam for 2 students, says “sorry, but
no”. The centre said that if the direction to conduct
NEET UG re-exam is pro-
vided, it will become a pat-
tern.The centre had moved
to the Supreme Court
seeking a stay on the
Bombay HC order which
directed re-examination
for two medical aspirants.
The centre in its petition today has said to the SC that
16 lakh students appeared for NEET this year.
SUPREME COURT TO HEAR SANJAY
KIRLOSKAR’S PLEA ON NOV 25
New Delhi: The Supreme Court today agreed to hear
on Nov 25 the plea on Kirloskar Brothers Ltd’s family
feud related to assets in which Sanjay Kirloskar has
challenged the Bombay
HC order directing arbitra-
tion in the case. A bench
headed by CJ NV Ramana,
on July 27 had ordered
status quo and asked
the parties involved for
mediation. “This is family
dispute it is very sad that we have written about even
appointing the mediator,” AM Singhvi, told the bench.
FB fuelling hate
speech: Cong
writes to Mark
New Delhi: The Con-
gress on Friday wrote to
Facebook chief execu-
tive officer (CEO) Mark
Zuckerberg saying the
company has been bi-
ased in India ‘towards
the ruling dispensation
despite their proclivity
for sharing hate speech,
misinformation, fake
news and inflammatory
content’ on the social
media platform. In his
letter to Zuckerberg,
Cong’s social media in
charge Rohan Gupta
said that in the last two
years, an abundance of
evidence had been re-
leased that point to the
negligence by the com-
pany in controlling hate
speech. —Agencies
KanganashouldwithdrawPadma
Shri:Oppositionamid‘Azadi’row
New Delhi: Actor Kan-
gana Ranaut’s Padma
Shri should be with-
drawn and she should
be charged with sedi-
tion, several political
parties have said in a
snowballing controver-
sy over her comment
that India won true in-
dependence in 2014,
when PM Narendra
Modi came to power
and the 1947 Independ-
ence was “bheekh” or
charity
.
“The Padma Award
given to Ms. Ranaut
should be withdrawn
immediately
. Before giv-
ing such awards, men-
tal psychological evalu-
ation should be done so
that in future such per-
sons do not disrespect
the nation and its he-
roes,” Anand Sharma,
Cong leader tweeted.
“We strongly con-
demn actress Kangana
Ranaut’s statement.
She insulted freedom
fighters. The Centre
must take back the Pad-
ma Shri from Kangana
Ranaut and arrest her,”
said the Nationalist
Congress Party (NCP)
leader. Many parties
have slammed Ranaut’s
remarks made at TV
event. —Agencies
Kangana Ranaut receiving Padma Shri Award from President Ram
Nath Kovind earlier this week on Monday. —FILE PHOTO
WB Guv Jagdeep Dhankhar
meets Union HM Amit Shah
New Delhi: West Ben-
gal Governor Jagdeep
Dhankhar on Friday
met Union Home Minis-
ter Amit Shah at his
residence in the nation-
al capital.
Apprising of his
meeting with Shah,
Dhankar tweeted,
“West Bengal Governor
Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar
called on Union Home
Minister Shri @Amit-
Shah at his residence
today
.”
This comes a day af-
ter President Ram Nath
Kovind and Prime Min-
ister Narendra Modi on
Thursday attended the
Conference of Gover-
nors and Lieutenant
Governors at Rashtra-
pati Bhawan in the na-
tional capital. Dhankar
was also present at the
conference. —ANI
West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar meets Union Home
Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on Friday.
‘Under PM Modi India has
received global recognition’
New Delhi: Union Edu-
cation Minister Dhar-
mendra Pradhan on
Friday said India under
PM Narendra Modi’s
leadership has received
global recognition and
position.
The Union Edu Min
on Friday was invited as
chief guest at an event
‘Diplomatic Conclave
2021’ at Sushma Swaraj
Bhawan in Delhi, which
was organised by a pri-
vate university and un-
der the guidance of the
Edu Ministry and the
Ministry of External
Affairs to explore ave-
nues for Internationali-
zation of Higher Educa-
tion.
Pradhan said, “Vari-
ous High Commission-
ers and Ambassadors
from 126 countries unit-
ed at the Diplomatic
Conclave organised by a
private university. Un-
der the leadership of
PM Modi, India handled
the world. I am respon-
sibly saying the words
that India handled the
world when the global
economic condition had
been stagnant, the
health services of the
world were skinny
. And
at that time, when the
humanity in the world
was under a question
mark at that time is
such big country to
bring economic condi-
tion back on track and
handle COVID-19 pan-
demic especially to fa-
cilitate human beings
and India has made a
global place “. Union
Edu Min further said
that this type of ‘diplo-
matic conclave’ is capa-
ble of enhancing the
world’s understanding
of India’s achieve-
ments. —ANI
Education remains a major
path in this world and with
this, India brought Nation-
al Education Policy in 2020. There
was already an attraction towards
India in the world and today, the at-
traction would multiply.
—Dharmendra Pradhan,
Union Education Minister
Faced with
defection in Pb
AAP announces
candidates
Chandigarh: Faced
with defection of its
Punjab MLAs to the
Congress, the AAP hast-
ily named 10 loyalist
MLAs as candidates
from their current con-
stituencies for the 2022
polls. Apart from the
four MLAs who had ear-
lier joined the Cong,
AAP lost two MLAs on
consecutive days with
Bathinda Rural MLA
joining Congress on
Wednesday, while Ra-
jkot MLA Jagtar Singh
Hissowal literally
crossed over the floor of
the Vidhan Sabha on
Thursday and sat on
Cong benches while the
House was in session.
Among the ten MLAs
whose names have been
announced for the polls
are LoP Harpal Singh
Cheema from Dirba,
Deputy LoP Sarvjit
Kaur Manuke from Jag-
raon, Aman Arora from
Sunam, Kultar Singh
Sandhwan from Kotka-
pura, Meet Hayer from
Barnala, Baljinder
Kaur from Talwandi
Sabo, Budhram from
Budhlada, Jai Kishen
Rori from Garhshankar,
Manjit Singh Bilaspur
from Nihal Singh Wala
and Kulwant Pandori
from Mehal Kalan.
—Agencies
Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists killed by forces in JK
Kulgam: One more Hiz-
bul Mujahideen (HM)
terrorist killed in an on-
going encounter with
the security forces in
the Chawalgam area of
Kulgam district of Jam-
mu and Kashmir on,
Friday said Kashmir
Zone police.
The security forces
also recovered arms and
ammunition.
The total number of
terrorists killed in the
encounter increased to
two.
The ops is still under-
way and further details
are awaited, it added.
The neutralised ter-
rorists have been identi-
fied as District com-
mander of HM Shiraz
Molvi and Yawar Bhat.
“01 more unidentified
#terrorist killed (Total
02). Incriminating mate-
rials including arms
and ammunition recov-
ered. Search going on.
Further details shall fol-
low. @JmuKmrPolice,”
the Kashmir Zone po-
lice tweeted. —ANI
IGP, Vijay Kumar
‘133 TERRORISTS NEUTRALIZED IN J-K THIS YEAR’
Srinagar: As many as 133 terrorists including many top
commanders have been neutralized this year, the Jammu and
Kashmir Police said on Friday. Speaking to Media, Kashmir
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Vijay Kumar said, “133 terror-
ists including many top commanders have been neutralized this
year.” Giving an update about today’s Kulgam encounter, Kumar
said that two terrorists have been neutralized of which one of
them was involved in several civilian killings. —ANI
Retail inflation rises to 4.48% in
October from 4.35% in September
New Delhi: India’sretail
inflation in the month of
October rose marginally
to 4.48% from 4.35% in
September,datareleased
by the government
showed on Friday
.
This is the fourth suc-
cessive month that the
CPIdatahascomebelow
the Reserve Bank of In-
dia’s(RBI)uppermargin
of 6 per cent. The gov-
ernment has asked the
central bank to main-
tain retail inflation at 4
per cent with a margin
of 2 per cent on either
side for a five-year peri-
od ending March 2026.
The CPI data is main-
ly factored in by the RBI
while making its bi-
monthly monetary poli-
cy
. Last month, the Mon-
etary Policy Committee
(MPC) of the central
bank kept the repo rate
unchanged for the
eighth time in a row at 4
per cent, slashed the in-
flation target for 2021-22
to 5.3 per cent, and indi-
cated the unwinding of
the accommodative pol-
icy as the economy
shows signs of emerg-
ing from the impact of
the Covid-19 pandemic.
Food inflation has
also increased slightly
to0.85%inOctoberfrom
0.68% in September.
Separately
,India’sfac-
toryoutput,measuredin
terms of the Index of
Industrial Production
(IIP), witnessed a year-
on-yeargrowthof 3.1per
cent in September, two
separate data released
bytheMinistryof Statis-
tics Programme Im-
plementation (MoSPI)
showed on Friday
. —PTI
CPI-based inflation
in September 2021
was at 4.35% and
in October 2020 it
was 7.61%. Retail
inflation during the
April-June period
of 2022-23 is
projected at 5.2%
The retail inflation during April-June period of 2022-23 is projected at 5.2 per cent.
8. BIZ BUZZ
AHMEDABAD | SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2021
07
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New Delhi:Online
platforms logged sales
worth $9.2 billion
(about `65,000 crore)
during this year’s fes-
tive sale, up about 23
per cent over last year,
according to consulting
firm RedSeer.
RedSeer had predict-
ed that online plat-
forms are expected to
potentially clock $9.6
billion gross GMV
(Gross Merchandise
Value) during the en-
tire festive season this
year, as against $7.5 bil-
lion (about `52,000
crore) last year.
“A slew of new
launches and easy fi-
nancing options meant
that Mobiles continued
to remain the most
widely-sold product
category during this
time, accounting for
more than a third of
the total GMV
,” RedSe-
er said in its report.
With hoards of peo-
ple finally getting to
leave their homes after
months of lockdown,
the Fashion category
witnessed a resurgence
like never before.
Driven by consum-
ers’ desire to refresh
their wardrobes and
new innovative busi-
ness models catering to
shoppers in tier 2 cit-
ies, the sales of Fash-
ion items via online
channels doubled this
year, RedSeer said.
On the other hand,
the categories that wit-
nessed subdued growth
this year included the
likes of home furnish-
ings, home décor and
other electronics, it
added.
The overall online
shopper base grew by
about 25 per cent com-
pared to last year, with
57 per cent of the total
shoppers coming from
tier II cities and be-
yond, indicating that
this year’s festive sales
were dictated by afford-
ability schemes.
“While the overall
online GMV and abso-
lute number of shop-
pers both increased,
the GMV per user de-
clined from `6,570 to
`6,490 as relatively less
expensive items such
as fashion products
saw an increase in
their share of the over-
all GMV
,” it said.
The Flipkart Group
emerged as the leader
during the festive sales
with 62 per cent market
share, it added. —PTI
New Delhi: Huge op-
portunities exist for
Korean investors in
India’s startup ecosys-
tem and both the coun-
tries need to increase
collaboration in sec-
tors such as automo-
bile, textiles, food pro-
cessing, and chemicals
to enhance economic
ties, Commerce and
Industry Minister Pi-
yush Goyal said on
Friday
.
The minister also
invited Korean busi-
nesses to invest in In-
dia. “Korean investors
and the startup ecosys-
tem I believe can find
huge opportunities in
India’s startup ecosys-
tem. We need to com-
plement our strengths
in automobile, textiles,
food processing, met-
als, mining, chemicals
and also grow some of
our traditional sectors
like steel,” he said at
the fourth edition of
the India-Korea Busi-
ness Forum.
He said the govern-
ment has recently
launched a National
Infrastructure Pipe-
line with projects
worth over a trillion
dollars and it can pro-
vide opportunities for
companies.
Goyal informed that
nearly 15,000 Koreans
call India their home
and about 12,000 Indi-
ans live in Korea. —PTI
Mumbai: Equity
benchmark Sensex ral-
lied 767 points on Fri-
day on heavy buying in
index majors Infosys,
HDFC Bank and Reli-
ance Industries amid a
positive trend in global
markets.
The 30-share index
ended 767 points or
1.28 %
higher at 60,686.69.
Similarly, the Nifty
rose 229.15 points or
1.28 % to 18,102.75.
Tech Mahindra was
the top gainer in the
Sensex pack, rising
around 4 %, followed
by HDFC, Infosys, Ba-
jaj Finserv, Asian
Paints and Bajaj Fi-
nance. On the other
hand, Bajaj Auto, Tata
Steel and Axis Bank
were among the lag-
gards.
“The mo-
m e n t u m
which was
lost dur-
ing the
w e e k
was regained as infla-
tion worries started
fading with investors
shifting their focus to
good quarterly earn-
ings, economic recov-
ery and strong domes-
tic macro data points,”
said Vinod Nair, Head
of Research at Geojit
Financial Services.
Elsewhere in Asia,
bourses in Shanghai,
Hong Kong, Tokyo and
Seoulendedwithgains.
Major indices in Eu-
rope were trading on a
positive note in mid-
session deals. Mean-
while, international oil
benchmark Brent
crude rose 1.07 % to $
81.98 per barrel. —PTI
New Delhi: Union
Finance Minister
Nirmala Sitharaman
will on Monday meet
CMs and state fi-
nance ministers to
discuss measures to
attract private in-
vestments to help
boost the economy
.
Finance Secretary
T V Somanathan said
the meeting comes in
the backdrop of
strong economic re-
covery post the two
COVID waves, and
the central govern-
ment has made a big
push in Capex.
Economic Affairs
Secretary Ajay Seth
said the discussion
during the meeting
will focus on easing
norms on land and
water use for attract-
ing private invest-
ments.
The purpose of
this meeting is to use
this juncture not
only to push growth
from the Centre but
also at the states lev-
el. —PTI
New Delhi: Reliance
Retail Ventures Limited
(RRVL) has acquired re-
tail lingerie businesses
under the ‘amante’ um-
brella brand from MAS
Brands, a wholly-owned
subsidiary of Sri Lan-
ka-based MAS Hold-
ings, for an undisclosed
amount.
The ‘amanté busi-
ness’, which was estab-
lished by MAS in 2007,
is engaged in retail and
wholesale distribution
of premium lingerie
under brands ‘amanté’,
‘Ultimo’ and ‘every dé
by amanté’.
The products are sold
through company-
owned stores and multi-
brand outlets, as well as
through its e-commerce
channels across India
and Sri Lanka.
RRVL, the retail arm
of Mukesh Ambani-led
Reliance Industries
Limited, has acquired
100% stake of ‘amante’
brand from MAS, ac-
cording to a joint state-
ment issued by the two
companies.
RRVL director Isha
Ambani said, “We are
proud to add the high
quality, design-led fash-
ion and lifestyle brand
amante to our portfolio.
MAS is a well-recog-
nised product innova-
tor and manufacturer
for some of the iconic
global brands in this
segment - the partner-
ship and collaboration
we build together with
them will offer Indian
customers world-class
product quality and
greater choices in this
segment.” —PTI
New Delhi: Digital
payments and finan-
cial services firm Pay-
tm has fixed an offer
price of `2,150 apiece
for its initial share-
sale.
The shares of Pay-
tm are expected to list
on bourses on Novem-
ber 18, according to
the final prospectus
filed by the company
with the Registrar of
Companies on Novem-
ber 12.
Paytm had priced
its shares in a price
band of `2,080-2,150
per share, valuing the
company at `1.39 lakh
crore at the upper end
of the price band.
With the
`18,300-crore share
sale via Initial Public
Offering, Paytm IPO
has become the largest
fintech IPO in the Asia
Pacific region.
It is also the second
largest fintech IPO of
2021 globally, after
Spain-based Allfunds
IPO. Overall, Paytm
will be the fourth larg-
est fintech stock de-
but, globally
. —PTI
New Delhi: Fashion
and lifestyle e-com-
merce platform Myn-
tra on Friday said it
has named Nandita
Sinha as
its
Chief Executive Of-
ficer. Her appointment
is effective January 1,
2020, and she will re-
port to Flipkart Group
CEO Kalyan Krishna-
murthy
. Sinha suc-
ceeds Amar Nagaram,
who quit Myntra last
month after leading
the company as the
CEO for nearly three
years. She will join
Myntra from group
company Flipkart,
where, as Vice Presi-
dent, Customer
Growth and Market-
ing, she is currently
leading the overall
charter for market-
ing. —PTI
New Delhi: Seven In-
dian states have
achieved capital ex-
penditure target for
the September quarter
and received approval
for `16,691 crore of ad-
ditional borrowing,
Finance Ministry said
on Friday. Chhattis-
garh, Kerala, MP,
Meghalaya, Punjab,
Rajasthan and Telan-
gana have achieved
the target set by the
Ministry of Finance
for the capital expend-
iture up to the second
quarter of 2021-22.
As an incentive,
these states have been
granted permission by
the Department of Ex-
penditure to borrow
an additional amount
of `16,691 crore. The
additional open mar-
ket borrowing permis-
sion issued is equiva-
lent to 0.5% of Gross
State Domestic Prod-
uct. Additional finan-
cial resources thus
made available will
help the states in push-
ing their capital ex-
penditure further, the
statement added. —PTI
New Delhi: Power sec-
tor employees as well as
engineers will hold
demonstrations on No-
vember 29 at all state
capitals to protest
against the proposed
Electricity (Amend-
ment) Bill 2021, AIPEF
said on Friday
.
All India Power Engi-
neers Federation
(AIPEF) Chairman
Shailendra Dubey as-
serted that the agitation
is against the unilateral
approach of the central
government to rush
through the bill in Par-
liament.
“On the call of the
National Coordination
Committee of Electric-
ity Employees Engi-
neers (NCCOEEE),
power sector employees
engineers will hold
protest demonstrations
on November 29 at all
State capitals against
Electricity (Amend-
ment) Bill 2021,” an
AIPEF statement said.
Dubey said NC-
COEEE in a virtual
meeting held on No-
vember 11 decided to
demonstrate on the first
day of Winter Session
of Parliament its pro-
test against any unilat-
eral move of the Centre
to pass the bill.
—PTI
New Delhi: Passenger
vehicle wholesales in
India declined by 27 per
cent year-on year in Oc-
tober with semiconduc-
tor shortage hitting
production of automo-
bile manufacturers,
auto industry body
SIAM said on Friday
.
Passenger vehicle
sales last month stood
at 2,26,353 units, as com-
pared to 3,10,694 units
in the year-ago period.
As per the latest data
by the Society of Indian
Automobile Manufac-
turers (SIAM), two-
wheeler dispatches to
dealers also witnessed a
25 per cent decline at
15,41,621 units, com-
pared to 20,53,814 units
in October 2020. —PTI
‘Huge opportunities for
Korean firms in India’s
startup ecosystem’
SENSEX RALLIES 767 POINTS,
NIFTY ENDS ABOVE 18,100
TECH MAHINDRA
WAS THE TOP
GAINER IN THE
SENSEX
PACK
Goods worth `65K cr sold online during festive sale
during this year’s fes- RedSeer had predict- (Gross Merchandise
Paytm IPO: Offer price
fixed at `2,150 apiece
FM Sitharaman
to meet CMs
and state FMs
on Monday
Power sector employees to protest
against electricity amendment bill
PASSENGER VEHICLE DISPATCHES
DROP 27% IN OCTOBER
Reliance Retail acquires
‘amante’ from MAS Holdings
` gains 7 paise to end at 74.45 against $
Mumbai: The rupee
strengthened by 7
paise to close at 74.45
(provisional) against
the US dollar on Fri-
day, as a firm trend in
domestic equities
boosted investor sen-
timents. Besides, low-
er crude prices in the
interna-
tional
m a r-
ket also supported the
local unit, forex deal-
ers said. At the inter-
bank forex mar-
ket, the local
unit opened
at 74.36
against the
g r e e n b a c k
and later set-
tled at 74.45,
higher by 7 paise over
its previous close of
74.52. The local unit
moved in a range of
74.36 to 74.54 in
the day trade.
The the dollar
index was trad-
ing higher by
0.01% at 95.18.
—PTI
7 states meet Q2
capital expenditure target
MYNTRA APPOINTS
Nandita Sinha as CEO
9. AHMEDABAD | SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2021
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08
2NDFRONT
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: Paki-
stan will release 20 Indi-
an fishermen stuck in
Landhi jail in Karachi
onSundayandwillhand
them over to the Indian
authorities the next day
,
Gujarat government
said on Friday
. The deci-
sion to release the fish-
ermen comes days after
Indiareleasedandrepat-
riated 10 Pakistani fish-
ermen on November 2.
TheywillenterIndiavia
Wagah border.
It also comes in the
backdrop of Pakistan
MarineSecurityAgency
(PMSA) allegedly shoot-
ing an Indian fisherman
dead and wounding an-
other on November 6.
Most of the fishermen
set to be released are
from Gir Somnath dis-
trict in Gujarat and the
Union Territory of Diu
off Unacoastof GirSom-
nath. The fishermen are
Ranvir Mega, Babu Kir-
san, Bhupat Bhagwan,
Naran Parbat, Bhavesh
Sharabhai Arjun Babu,
RukhadArjun,DanaBh-
pat, Ransi Bachu, Pola
Sadhur, Meepa Aamab-
hai, Biso Naga, Haresh-
kumar Parma, Paresh
Govindbhai, Ravendra
Goindbhai, Bhaveshku-
mar Makwaran, Taba
Lumbhabhai, Vaju
Lakhman, Juseb Moosa
and Himat Balu.
Theywereapprehend-
ed by the Pakistan Ma-
rine Security Agency
(PMSA) for allegedly
crossing over to the Pa-
kistan side of the Inter-
national Maritime
Boundary Line (IMBL)
at the Arabian Sea off
Kutch coast.
“These fishermen are
among the 376 Indian
fishermen who have
completed their jail
term in Pakistan and
their nationality has
also been confirmed by
India. Some of them
have also completed
their sentence a long
time ago.” said Jatin De-
sai, former secretary of
the Indian chapter of
Pakistan India People’s
Forum for Peace and De-
mocracy (PIPFPD).
There are around 600
Indian fishermen
lodged in Pakistan jail
and around 60 Paki-
stani fishermen in In-
dian jails.
‘Pakistan to release 20 Indian fishermen from Karachi jail’
BACK TO HOMELAND!
The fishermen are among the 376
Indian fishermen who completed their
jail term in Pakistan, their nationality
has been confirmed by India
—
FILE
PHOTO
IIT-Gn scholars
win Gandhian tech
innovation awards
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: In a
twin achievement, re-
search scholars at the
Indian Institute of
Technology Gandhi-
nagar (IIT-Gn),
Harini Gunda, a PhD
student of Chemical
Engineering,haswon
SRISTI-GYTI Award
2021, and Chandan
Kumar Jha, a PhD
alumnus and now a
postdoctoral fellow in
Electrical Engineer-
ing, has won BIRAC
SITARE-GYTI Appre-
ciation Award 2021.
Gandhian Young
Technological Inno-
vation (GYTI)
Awards celebrate the
spirit of student in-
novation in engi-
neering, science,
technology and de-
sign through ex-
tremely affordable/
frugal solutions.
Harini received
this award for devel-
oping ‘Novel Boron
Nano-additives for
Improving the Per-
formance of Solid
Propellants’. This in-
novation is part of
her PhD under the
supervision of Prof
Kabeer Jasuja and
Prof Chinmay Gho-
roi at IIT-Gn. These
new boron-rich nano-
materials are a prom-
ising single substi-
tute for multiple fuel
additives used in
space and defence ap-
plications because
they result in a super-
lative enhancement
in the performance
of solid propellants
used in rocket pro-
pulsion systems.
Chandan received
the award for devel-
oping ‘An Intelligent
Hand Rehabilitation
and Assessment Sys-
tem for Stroke Pa-
tients’. It is a highly
sensitive instru-
mented glove that
uses fiber-optic sen-
sor technology to as-
sist stroke patients
in performing vari-
ous hand exercises
efficiently to enable
faster recovery from
their disability. This
innovation was de-
veloped by Chandan
during his PhD un-
der the supervision
of Dr. Arup Lal
Chakraborty in the
Photonic Sensors
Lab at IIT-Gn.
Harini Gunda Chandan Kumar Jha
FIRST EXPERIMENT
Union Ministry of Fisheries and Animal Husbandry has congratulated Gir-Somnath farmer
Vinay Vala for his initiative for the use of IVF for birth of three male and three female calves.
Wanted drug dealer Jaimin
arrested, police seal his lab
First India Bureau
Surat: A team of
sleuths has unearthed a
drug racket in Surat.
Jaimin Savani, the mas-
termind of the nexus
peddling MD drugs in
the city, has been ar-
rested.
The police started
their operation after
Pravin Wana, a resident
of Jalore, was caught at
Neol check post with
drugs worth Rs 5.85
lakh on Thursday
. After
interrogation, it was
found that he was sup-
plying the drugs to
Jaimin Savani, a resi-
dent of Sarthana Kavi-
ta Row House. After in-
vestigations, police ar-
rested Jaimin from his
home town Umarada in
Bhavnagar.
Surat Police Commis-
sioner Ajay Tomar stat-
ed, “We had arrested a
drug peddler from Neol
check post and he con-
fessed that he was about
to deliver the drugs to a
local resident in Surat.
We sent a team of SOG
(Special Operation
Group) to Umarada and
arrested Jaimin Savani.
After interrogation, it
was found that he had
set up a lab in his office
to make MD drugs.”
“Savani got addicted
to drugs during the
lockdown period. He
first bought it from Ra-
jasthan, then gradually
started to supply. After
realising that it’s a prof-
itable business, he de-
cided to manufacture
the drug. With the help
of online information
and YouTube, he started
making drugs in his lab
located at Mitul farm
road, near Param
School, Rajvee shopping
centre,” said Tomar.
Police have recovered
the raw material used
for making MD drugs.
The drug samples and
raw materials are sent
to the FSL lab.
Drug peddler Jaimin Savani.
EGGACTLY!Civicbodies‘stall’non-vegitems
First India Bureau
Vadodara: The Va-
dodara Municipal Cor-
poration’s sweeping de-
cision to remove eggs
and non-veg food stalls
from the footpaths has
found support from
Revenue Minister Ra-
jendra Trivedi, also an
MLA from the city, who
has called it land-grab-
bing.
Trivedi, who is for-
mer speaker of the
State Assembly, has
tampered with his state-
ment at an event in
Kutch appreciating the
Vadodara and Rajkot
civic bodies and now
stated that both, “veg
and non-veg” food stalls
are akin to temporary
land grabbing.
Earlier, Trivedi had
appreciated the stance
taken by the VMC and
RMC against the egg or
non-veg food stalls and
that they hurt religious
sentiments.
In a statement in Va-
dodara on Friday
, Trive-
di welcomed the VMC’s
move and said, “It is
like encroachment on
public places which are
meant for the public.”
On Thursday, VMC’s
Standing Committee
Chairman Hitendra Pa-
tel issued oral orders to
the executive wing of
the civic body to stop
within 15 days the man-
ner in which non- veg-
etarian food is sold by
hanging it in public. He
instructed them to
make alternative ar-
rangements.
There are issues of
traffic snarls and also
hygiene is not main-
tained. “It is also a mat-
ter of faith since it
hurts the sentiments of
citizens when they see
non-veg food hanging in
the open,” he said.
Trivedi during an
event in Vadodara as-
serted that no one had
the right to do business
on the sidewalks. He
also said, “People got
uncomfortable and felt
uneasy by the smoke
emanating from these
food stalls and they
must be removed.”
Sweeping decision by Vadodara, Rajkot civic bodies finds support from Revenue Minister Rajendra Trivedi
RMC starts campaign to remove
eggs and non-veg food stalls
First India Bureau
Rajkot: Based on in-
structions from Rajkot
Mayor Pradeep Dav, Ra-
jkot Municipal Corpo-
ration (RMC) has
plunged into action in
removing eggs and non-
veg stalls and kiosks
operating on the main
roads of the city
, includ-
ing major chowks and
residential areas.
Before three days,
strict instructions were
given by Dav to ensure
no stalls operate on the
main roads of the city
.
“So far we have con-
fiscated around 8 stalls
selling eggs and non-
vegetarian food from
Shastri Maidan area,
Moti Tanki and Phul-
chaab Chowk in the past
two days. We assume 50
such stalls operating in
main roads and main
chowks of the city, in-
cluding residential are-
as. Slowly they all will
be removed in the next
few days, including
those operating on Kala-
wad Road, near Pradyu-
man Park area and P D
Malaviya chowk,” in-
formed Deputy Munici-
pal Commissioner
A.R.Singh, monitoring
the entire operation.
When asked about
the sudden action, Sin-
gh said, “These stalls
were blocking the traf-
fic and sometimes it be-
came impossible for
passersby to pass from
such areas.”
On re-allocation, Sin-
gh said, “They are per-
mitted to operate in 120
hawker zones existing
in the city”
Local citizens are
lauding the step taken
by RMC as in many ar-
eas such stalls had be-
come a nuisance for
passersby
.
RMC staff removing non-veg stalls.
On World Kindness Day, let
us all pledge to be kind and
compassionate-Make the
World a better place.
—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO Editor-in-Chief, First India
—FILE PHOTO
10. AHMEDABAD, SATURDAY
NOVEMBER 13, 2021
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facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia 09
Crowned beauties
Rajasthan
Crowned beauties
Rajasthan
he grand finale of Ra-
jasthan’s biggest beau-
ty pageant- Elite Miss
Rajasthan 2021 Season
8 was organised on Fri-
day at The Palace,
Jaipur. Astha Khandel-
wal, Divisha Paliwal, Vasudha
Tiwari, Simran Modi, Muskan
KhariwalandKritikaSwarnkar
were declared as the Top 6 final-
ists of Elite Miss Rajasthan
2021.
Jagdeesh Chandra graced
the occasion as the chief
guest. He also presented spe-
cial cash prizes of Rs 11,000
each to Tanu Chaudhary,
Muskan Kamdar, Divanshi
Bugalia, Navya Tiwari, San-
ya Hissaria, Muskan Khari-
wal and Megha Shyam Soni.
The event spanning five de-
signer sequence rounds show-
cased premier state of art, drop
dead gorgeous collections, was
dazzling and a sight to watch!
Show director Gaurav Gaur
thanked his parents and all the
people who support him.
Anil Bhattar, Ajit Soni, Muke-
sh Sharma, Maulik Shah and
Yasheel Pandel were present
during the show.
MANSI BACHANI
cityfirst@firstindia.co.in
T
The Elite Miss
Rajasthan 2021
winners were yet to
be announced as
we went to print,
watch this space
for the crowned
Queens tomorrow!
Jagdeesh Chandra addressng the
audience, also seen is Gaurav Gaur
Jagdeesh Chandra with the Top 15 finalists (L-R) Shubhdaa Panwar,
Muskan Kamdar, Divisha Paliwal, Tanu Chaudhary,
Upadhi Jolotia, Shrishti Khatri, Rewati Upadhyay,
Megha Shyam Soni, Simran Modi, Astha Khandelwal,
Kritika Swarnkar, Sapna Bundwal and Priya Yadav
(L-R) Priya Yadav, Simran Modi,
Aanchal Sharma, Shubhi Dhaneta,
Pearl Agarwal and Astha Khandelwal
—PHOTOS
BY
SANTOSH
SHARMA
AND
MUKESH
KIRADOO
11. 10
ETC
AHMEDABAD | SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2021
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SARA
ASNANI,
Model
FACE
OF
THE
DAY!
Aries
MARCH 21 - APRIL 20
A change of job may
give you better salary.
This is the time when
you enjoy yourself with
a new group of friends
or colleagues. Those in business will
soon get a chance to make profits. A
new deal may come through and give
you a taste of success. Spending time
with lover proves most fulfilling.
Gemini
MAY 21 - JUNE 21
You will succeed in
putting your stagnant
love life back on the
track. Professionals will
be able to give their best
in a new situation. Financially, this day
may prove lucky for you, so go ask for
the raise that is keeping you on
tenterhooks. Don’t take any chances
with your health today.
Leo
JULY 24 - AUGUST 23
Those looking for
buying a house can get
a good bargain.
Appreciation is in store
for some homemakers.
A professional victory is yours if you
play your cards well. Those in business
will be able to maintain good earning.
You may enjoy good health. Young
lovers are likely to enjoy total bliss.
Libra
SEPTEMBER 24 - OCTOBER 22
Your professionalism
in handling problem
areas will be appreci-
ated. You will find
family life more than
fulfilling. A senior is likely to put in a
good word for you to the higher ups.
Financially, you will be able to
consolidate your position. Lover may
become your pillar of strength.
Sagittarius
NOVEMBER 23 - DECEMBER 22
Remaining on the good
side of those who
matter on the academic
front will help you
achieve much. Good
tidings of your well wishers will keep
you going on the professional front. A
family elder may look up to you for
guidance. You are likely to enjoy good
health.
Aquarius
JANUARY 21 - FEBRUARY 19
You may get busy
organising something
on the social front. You
may need to put your
ideas into action, if you
want to prove yourself. A party may be
thrown in your honour at work. Your
good performance is likely to be
noticed by higher ups. Health-wise a
good day is foreseen.
Taurus
APRIL 21 - MAY 20
On the social front, the
day finds you in your
element. Something
special awaits you on
the romantic front. A
family youngster may do you proud.
Your strategy to promote yourself on
the professional front will bear fruits.
You may need to speed up things on
the academic front to remain ahead.
Cancer
JUNE 22 - JULY 23
Those in love with the
adventures are likely to
chase the excitement
very soon. Your own
happiness is in your
hands today. This is a favourable day
for completing pending jobs.
Financially, no problems are foreseen.
It is best to avoid outside food. Much
fun is in store on the social front.
Virgo
AUGUST 24 - SEPTEMBER 23
Good luck promises to
brighten your day. This
seems a good day for
job seekers. New
avenues for earning
open up as you get more determined.
Fitness through extra efforts is assured
for the deskbound. If you are in love,
chances of making an exciting plan
together is possible.
Scorpio
OCTOBER 23 - NOVEMBER 22
Buying new furniture
or a major appliance is
possible. With good
networking, a prized
posting can be yours .
Those trying to get back their money
will succeed. A healthy phase of life
begins for some. Your love life is likely
to give you immense joy, so make the
right moves.
Capricorn
DECEMBER 23 - JANUARY 20
Your reputation is likely
to boost your image on
the social front. This is
an excellent day to
spend time with family.
Good planning will see you complete a
task at work in record time. Monetary
front grows strong for some. You
enjoy excellent health. Those seeking
love are likely to get lucky.
Pisces
FEBRUARY 20 - MARCH 20
Praise and honour may
greet you in something
that you have managed
to achieve. You will be a
pillar of strength to a
friend or associate. A good day at work
is foreseen as you make your mark in
front of those who matter. Financial
front remains stable. Health remains
fine.
YOUR DAY Horoscopeby
SaurabbhSachdeva
Whatsapp Subscription
Subscribe “First India” Daily
E-News Paper For Free On Whatsapp
To Receive the Most Exclusive News from
the Power Corridors of Gujarat
mall-time India.
That’s my India.
For me, India has
always been an
atmosphere, an
emotional, more
than a geographi-
cal entity. I’m a small-
town boy- born in Kasau-
li, a small boy in Jamna-
gar, a bigger boy in Dehra-
dun, a schoolboy in Bish-
op Cotton School, Simla,
sundry adventures in
Agra, Ambala, Rishikesh,
and now hold up in Mus-
soorie. There is a time-
lessness about canton-
ments and towns of India-
and it’s these qualities
that I try to capture in my
stories”- writes the Indian
author of British descent-
Ruskin Bond. Bond has
written hundreds of short
stories, essays, novels,
books for children. He
was awarded the Padma
Shri in 1999, the Padma
Bhushan in 2014. His work
reflects his Anglo-Indian
experiences and the
changing political, social
and cultural aspects of
India, having been
through colonial, post-co-
lonial, and post-independ-
ence phases of India.
When Bond was four
years old, his mother sep-
arated from his father and
married a Punjabi Hindu.
This young, insecure lad,
grew very close to his fa-
ther and reminiscences
this period as one of the
happiest times of his life.
But, tragedy struck yet
again. When he was ten,
his father died of malaria.
Ruskin was heartbroken.
This pain reflects in many
of his stories- including
‘The Funeral’. Ruskin
says “I had a pretty lonely
childhood and it helped
me to understand a child’s
psychology better”.
In ‘The Funeral’, we
have the theme of loss,
mortality, uncertainty,
change, loneliness, con-
nection, determination,
and hope. Taken from his
‘Collected Short Stories’
collection, the story is
narrated in the third per-
son. The tone is set in the
opening lines- “He sat in
the darkest corner of the
darkened room, his face
revealing nothing of what
he thought and felt. His
father’s coffin lay in the
next room, the lid fas-
tened forever over the
tired,wistfulcountenance
of the man who meant so
much to the boy
.”
The house is full of
people- friends, relatives,
neighbors- “scattered
words of condolence
passed back and forth like
dragonflies on the wind”-
but no one truly under-
stands the little boy’s
pain. He is shattered. He
has no one no place to
go. Tragically, the cook
and the gardener realize
their rootlessness- as
they’ll have to leave.
Death brings grief- along
with changes!
The young boy has a
lot of questions that he is
unable to answer about
God and what happens to
an individual after death.
Though he has been
taught that people
rise again, he can’t
imagine his beloved,
frail father pushing
back the heavy
tombstone and
coming out of his
grave. “Superman
did it in comics,
but his father was
a gentle soul....”
The boy cries si-
lently as he
walks back from
the graveyard. It was the
same road he’d often tak-
en with his father during
their evening walks. He
knew the name of almost
every plant and wildflow-
er, various birds and in-
sects because they’d been
described and pointed out
to him by his father. Now
he was alone. He remem-
bers his father’s words-
“The strongest man in the
world is he who stands
alone”. Well, he doesn’t
feel strong, however much
he tries to. “Instinctively,
he put out his hand, ex-
pecting his father’s warm,
comforting touch. But
there was nothing there.
Nothing. No one... With a
determined resolve, he
clenches his fist
and pushes his hands
deep into his pockets.”
In the world of the liv-
ing, there are thousands
of authors and writers
who are writing numer-
ous books a day. But still,
no author has surpassed
the aptitudes of Ruskin
Bond. He is a world-class
author whose books are
going to be remembered
for centuries. His charac-
ters are not the sort who
make headlines but are
nonetheless remarkable
for their quiet heroism,
their grace under pres-
sure, and how they con-
tinued to cleave to the old
values: honesty, fidelity, a
deep-rooted faith in God,
family, and their neigh-
bors. Their problems are
solved with a minimum
of fuss and tremendous
dignity. Taken together
Ruskin Bond stories is a
magnificent evocation of
real India by one of the
country’s foremost writ-
ers.
Ruskin, who turned 89
this year, says the idea of
death does not scare him
as he has lived a simple,
contented, and fulfilling
life, written for seven dec-
ades, through which he
will always be alive in the
hearts of his readers. “I
have nearly always en-
joyed myself in my writ-
ing and if some of that
enjoyment has been con-
veyed to the reader, then I
have achieved what I set
out to do and no prizes are
solicited”.
DEEPAK’S CORNER
DEEPAK
deepaklifemusings@gmail.com
S
Though he has been
taught that people
rise again, he can’t
imagine his beloved,
frail father pushing
back the heavy
tombstone and
coming out of his
grave. “Superman
did it in comics,
but his father was
a gentle soul....”
clenches his fist solicited”.
Ruskin Bond
12. ETC
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia AHMEDABAD | SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2021
11
City First in
conversation with
readers from
Delhi, Rajasthan,
Uttar Pradesh
and Gujarat who
shared their
thoughts on World
Kindness Day!
n my recent trip to Chen-
nai, where it was hard for
me to communicate with
people because I didn’t
speak their language and
they didn’t speak mine, I
was already kind of frus-
trated. First the food, second the
climate and lastly, no one to talk
to. I was getting on the local train
as the rains poured heavily, I
dropped my neck pillow some-
where on the way, I always carry
it with me whenever I travel,
that’s one of my sources of com-
fort. I was about to get a little anx-
ious and then I heard a kind voice,
“Madam, this your!” She definite-
ly saw the joy in my eyes and I saw
the warmth in her eyes. Two peo-
ple from two different worlds, and
yet, there was a connection be-
tween us. How often do we wit-
ness such magical moments?
Moreover, how often are we kind
to ourselves. I was thinking apart
from all the occasions that we cel-
ebrate, why should this one be of
more importance, and then I
thought perhaps why not, a little
kindness hasn’t hurt anyone,
well, not yet. You might agree
with me on this one.
O
In the fast pace of life, I
take a couple of breaks
where I just sit, listen
to myself and observe
my surroundings and I
find joy, among people,
amidst nature, in a lot of
experiences. You know
these little things that I
miss in my daily hus-
tle are so rare and yet so important. A father
teaching his kids to feed birds, a woman stop-
ping to help a passer-by who just had plenty
of luggage, or a man looking into a mirror and
forgiving himself for his mistakes. The little
acts of kindness that make us human.
AJITESH GUPTA, Actor
You know you’re having
a bad day and somebody
just turns up out of the
blue and offers you
something that you enjoy
the most, for example,
a piece of chocolate. It
makes my day when
someone does that for
me, I sometimes imag-
ine how happier all of
us would be if we keep
on lending our shoulder
through our little acts of
kindness in one way or
another.
AKSHAY KUMAR SHARMA, Theatre Artist
Isn’t it amazing how even
just knowing someone’s
name can close the can-
yon between us? I mean,
the name of the guy who
sells tea or the vendor at
the market. Isn’t it amaz-
ing how a name can lead
to a smile, a daily smile,
one we can look forward
to, or maybe a wave? These things don’t hap-
pen by chance, but by a step- a step across
that canyon: Hey. It’s nice to see you, again. I’m
Garrett. We see each other every day. I hope
today’s one of the better ones. Happy World
Kindness Day.
GARRETT GUNDLACH, Jesuit
a bad day and somebody
something that you enjoy
Isn’t it amazing how even
yon between us? I mean,
the name of the guy who
the market. Isn’t it amaz-
ing how a name can lead
SUSHMITA AIND
sushmita.aind@firstindia.co.in
I hate being selfish sometimes, but,
I need to be in this fast-growing
world. Every time someone asks me
for help I need to think twice first
about how this situation going to
favour me in the future. But, it turns
out that we are all going to die and
we are probably never going to remember each
other. Meanwhile, on this journey, we can learn
to be of whatever help we can to each other.
KRIPANSHU CHOUREY, Retailer
Let this day remind us to spread
kindness with small gestures. In
today’s time where depression has
become the most common dis-
ease amongst the new generation,
hence, Mental blocks such as emo-
tional stress and low self-esteem can
all be lifted by acts of self-kindness or kindness
to others. The main tradition of the day is to be
kind and to try and encourage kindness to prevail
over hatred. KUSHAL SAHABANI, Counsellor
The world can be harsh on you,
more than you can imagine and
on your lonely and empty days,
you might question yourself
what’s wrong if you choose to
respond in a similar manner, by
being as unkind as them. What is
the answer to that question, honestly, I don’t
know and I might never know, but, I know
one thing for sure, that there’s no end to the
bitterness within but kindness when shown
to others can change its shape into happiness
and that multiplies.
RITU SAINI, Activist
I have had times and days that are
achievements-all significant and
probably vivid. Yet why do I just
think of the time I spent with my
parents doing barbeque on our
unflattering terrace? How is it that
I still reminisce the talks I’ve had
with friends after midnight with Parle-G and
jam? I don’t even talk to them any longer. Why
do I still think about watching those underrated
movies with my sister that never even made it
to people’s minds let alone hearts? Is this World
Kindness day a reminder to me that I’m losing
out on being kind to myself? Is that you too?
Why, how, and when are we going to make an
exit from this illusion of nonexistent happiness,
if not now? POOJA SAJEESH, ESL Trainer
When others treat you poorly keep
being you, don’t lose your essence.
Don’t ever let someone else’s bit-
terness change the person you are.
Toughest of times reveal our true face,
but being kind with our gestures, a
simple gesture such as our smile can
change a lot of things. I admit these are tough
times and everyone is going through a lot of s***t
in their heads. But, being kind spreads an amount
of positivity that uplifts you and others that sur-
round you.
ALINA KUJUR, Student
I believe that sometimes even a sim-
ple act of meeting someone and talk-
ing to them about what’s going on in
their lives, like really talking can be an
act of kindness. Our very own friend,
whom we had been ignoring for the
past couple of days might be suffering
and as he/she share their sorrow, they might feel
a sense of relief. That’s how I practice kindness,
by listening. Also I am a big Olaf in real life, lots of
warm hugs to those whom I meet and greet. Being
kind has been more than just giving away things, it
is also about the warmth.
SUNITA ARYA, Sales Executive