17022022 first india ahmedabad

First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: The
state government plans
to complete construc-
tion of 2,500 kilometres
of roadways and repair
and resurfacing of
12,000 kilometres of
roads by December
2022. In another deci-
sion taken during a
cabinet meeting on
Wednesday, Chief Min-
ister Bhupendra Patel
also approved alloca-
tion of Rs650 crore for
the second phase con-
struction of Tarapur-
Bagodara highway
. The
government will also
launch the Sujalam Su-
falam programme in
the state soon.
Announcing the state
government’s deci-
sions, state Education
Minister Jitu Vaghani
told media persons, “It
has been decided that
rules for the laws en-
acted by the state as-
sembly will be framed
shortly. The state gov-
ernment has also ex-
tended the deadline for
procurement of chana
and tuvar harvest at
Minimum Support
Price (MSP).” He ap-
pealed to farmers to
register themselves for
the procurement of the
crops. As of now, 2.25
lakh farmers have reg-
istered to sell their cha-
na crop to the govern-
ment.
Meanwhile, CM Patel
will kick-off the Khel
Mahakumbh on Thurs-
day. Around 45 lakh
sportspersons will par-
ticipate in various
sporting activities in
taluka, district and
state-level competi-
tions. From every talu-
ka, 50 sportspersons
will participate in the
Mahakumbh from 252
talukas of the state.
Every district-level
competition will have
150 participants from
every district.
State to develop 2,500 km new roadways by Dec 2022
NEW INITIATIONS
Extends deadline for procurement
of chana, tuvar harvest from
farmers at Minimum Support Price
Earlier in the day, CM Bhupendra Patel addressed a gathering to
mark the 645th birth anniversary of Sant Ravidas.
AHMEDABAD l THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2022 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/79050 l Vol 3 l Issue No. 83
OUR EDITIONS: JAIPUR, AHMEDABAD, LUCKNOW & NEW DELHI www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
Sensex fell 145.37 points or 0.25% to end the day at 57,996.68, while Nifty was down
30.30 points at 17,322.20. About 1958 shares advanced, 1309 declined, and 99 were
unchanged. Power Grid Corporation, UltraTech Cement, NTPC, ICICI Bank and SBI were
the worst hit on Nifty, while Divis Labs, Adani Ports, ONGC, IOC and HDFC Life rose.
Banks, financials, auto, metal stocks fell, while pharma and realty shares advanced. P7
SENSEX ENDS
SHY OF 58K,
NIFTY HOLDS
17,300-MARK
A Mumbai sessions court today granted bail to former MD and CEO of YES Bank, Rana
Kapoor, in a money laundering case related to the wrongful loss of over Rs 300 crore to
the bank. A special court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) granted
Mr Kapoor bail on certain standard conditions. Businessman Gautam Thapar and 7 oth-
ers in case also got bail pertaining to the sale of a property at a prime location in Delhi.
YES BANK FOUNDER
RANA KAPOOR
GETS BAIL IN `300
CRORE FRAUD CASE
NOV 27, 1952 - FEB 15, 2022
DISCO KING OF BOLLYWOOD
BAPPI LAHIRI PASSES AWAY
usic composer and singer Bappi Lahiri has
passed away at the age of 69 in Mumbai. He
died at around 11.40 – 11.45 on Tuesday night.
The composer has been ailing for many weeks and was
suffering from Obstructive Sleep Apnea. Lahiri was
primarily known for his contribution in popularising the
sound of disco music in India. Known for his success
with Bengali films like Amar Prem, Mandira, Badnam,
Aamar Tumi among others, Lahiri also contributed sig-
nificantly to the soundtrack of Bollywood movies in the
80s and 90s like Disco Dancer, Namak Halaal, Dance
Dance and Sharaabi among others.
M
Centre asks states to end
additional Covid-19 norms
New Delhi: The Centre
on Wednesday asked
states and union territo-
ries to review, amend or
do away with additional
COVID-19 restrictions
after considering the
trend of new cases and
positivity rate in their
regions, stating sus-
tained downward trend
in the nationwide case
trajectory
.
In a letter sent to
chief secretaries and
chief administrators of
all states and UTs on
Tuesday, Union Health
Secretary Rajesh
Bhushan said the coro-
navirus pandemic in
India is showing a sus-
tained declining trend
since January 21.
The daily case posi-
tivity rate had declined
to 3.63 per cent on
Tuesday
.
Don’t panic, more flights planned: Centre to Indians in Ukraine
Mohd Fahad
New Delhi: India has
asked its citizens living
in Ukraine not to panic
over reports of people
not getting flight tick-
ets amid rising ten-
sions between the for-
mer Soviet state and its
neighbour Russia,
which has deployed
troops, tanks and war-
planes along the bor-
der, leading to fears of
an invasion.
India’s embassy in
Ukraine, in a tweet,
said it is aware of re-
ports of people not get-
ting flights; however, it
asked Indians living in
Ukraine not to panic as
more flights are being
planned. A 24-hour hel-
pline has been set up for
Indians. The embassy
did not specify by when
exactly the additional
flights would be opera-
tional. It said details
would be shared by the
embassy “as and when
confirmed”.
“Embassy of India
has been receiving sev-
eral appeals about non-
availability of flights
from Ukraine to India.
In this regard, students
are advised not to re-
sort to panic, but book
the earliest available
and convenient flights
to travel to India,” the
embassy tweeted.
l THE RUSSIAN
DEFENCE MINISTRY
ON WEDNESDAY
PUBLISHED A VIDEO
SHOWING TROOPS
WITHDRAWING
FROM CRIMEA. THIS
CAME A DAY AFTER
PRESIDENT
VLADIMIR PUTIN
SAID RUSSIA HAD
DECIDED “TO
PARTIALLY PULL
BACK TROOPS”
FROM THE BORDERS
OF UKRAINE
l NATO DOUBTS
CLAIMS OF FORCES
DRAWDOWN
Russian tanks moving back to permanent base after drills in pic released by Defence Ministry.
YOU READ IT FIRST
IN FIRST INDIA
FEBRUARY 14, 2022
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said the United
States is yet to see any evidence of a significant Russian
withdrawal of its military forces from near Ukraine’s
frontiers, despite claims from Moscow that a pullback is
under way. Blinken said “critical units” were in fact con-
tinuing to move “toward the border, not away from the
border”. US President Joe Biden will conduct telephone
talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
WASHINGTON CASTS DOUBT ON RUSSIA’S
CLAIMS OF PULLING BACK FORCES
Indians in Ukraine who
need information and
assistance can contact
the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, or MEA, which has
set up a dedicated control
room. Toll free number
is 1800118797. Mean-
while, 24x7 emergency
helpline in Ukraine is
+380 997300428, +380
997300483.
24X7 HELPLINE FOR
INDIANS IN UKRAINE
PETITIONERS QUESTION IN HC
Why not hijabs when
ghoongat, turban permitted?
Bengaluru: Petitioners
challenging the hijab
ban in educational insti-
tutions made their sub-
missions in the Karna-
taka High Court saying
that hijab was being
singled out and Muslim
studentsarebeingasked
to choose between faith
and education.
Senior Advocate Ravi
Varma Kumar appear-
ing for petitioners said,
A bindi wearing girl is
not sent out. A bangle
wearing girl is not. A
Christian wearing a
cross is not touched.
Why only these girls?
This is a violation of
Article 15 of the Consti-
tution,” Advocate Ku-
mar said.
Ghoongats are per-
mitted, bangles are per-
mitted. Why only hijab?
Why not the turban of a
sikh, cross of the Chris-
tians? he added.
AGAIN, KARNATAKA
STUDENTS WITH
HIJAB TURNED AWAY
Vijayapura: Another
government college in
the state has turned
into a site of protest for
sending away students
who insisted on wearing
the hijab (headscarf) in
classrooms. “We are
in accordance with the
High Court’s order that
says no religious gar-
ment, whether hijab or
saffron shawls, will be
allowed inside educa-
tional institutions,” the
Principal said in the
video surfacing online.
Pathankot (PTI): Ad-
dressing his second
election rally in Punjab,
Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi on Wednesday
said the AAP was a pho-
tocopy of the Congress
and accused both par-
ties, which he called
“partners in crime”, of
opposing the Ram Tem-
ple in Ayodhya and
questioning the bravery
of soldiers.
“When soldiers show
bravery, leaders of
these parties say what
Pakistan says. One has
pushed the youth of
Punjab into the clutch-
es of drugs while the
other is making the
youth of Delhi liquor
addicts. One looted
Punjab while the other
is doing scams in Delhi
one after the other. Ye
ek hee thaali ke chatte
batte hain. Now these
two parties are doing
noora kushtie (fixed
fight)” in Punjab, like
WWE,” said Modi.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi along with Priyanka (right) served food during langar on
Ravidas Jayanti at Sant Shiromani Guru Ravidas Mandir in Varanasi on Wednesday.
PM Narendra Modi greets supporters during an election
campaign rally in Pathankot on Wednesday. —PHOTOS BT PTI
BJP LEADER
VISITS OWAISI’S
ATTACKER’S HOME
On Wednesday, BJP’s
Sunil Bharala, who
is the chair-
person of
the state
labour wel-
fare board,
visited the
family of
Sachin Sharma, a resi-
dent of Dadri, who is in
jail for allegedly shoot-
ing at Owaisi. Bharala
during visit to Sharma’s
home declared him to
be innocent.
‘AKHILESH BEGAN
SWEATING OVER
KARHAL ATTACK’
Union ministers
Piyush Goyal and Anu-
rag Thakur
slammed
SP supremo
Akhilesh
Yadav over
the attack
on the BJP
Karhal candidate SP
Singh Baghel’s convoy
late Tuesday evening.
Thakur has lodged
a complaint to the
Election Commission
demanding strict action.
EITHER PUNJAB CM
OR KHALISTAN PM:
OLD VIDEO EMERGES
The BJP on on Wednes-
day shared a video of
poet and
ex-AAP
leader
Kumar
Vishwas
alleging
that Delhi
CM Arvind Kejriwal
wanted to be “either the
Punjab CM or the PM of
Khalistan”. In the
video, however, Vish-
was didn’t mention
Kejriwal’s name.
AAP, Cong questioned
soldiers’ bravery: PM
MODI: AAP A PHOTOCOPY OF CONGRESS...
‘BOTH OPPOSED
RAM TEMPLE’
CORONA
CATASTROPHE
GUJARAT
884
NEW
CASES
304
NEW CASES
IN A’BAD
13
NEW DEATHS

NEWS
AHMEDABAD | THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2022
02
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
DANGER TO LIFE & LIMB
Two students were injured in Rajula on Wednesday
morning, when the ceiling of a 60-year-old collapsed at a
state-run school. The girls have been shifted to separate
hospitals for treatment.
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: The
state government on
Wednesday suspend-
ed a probationary
youth development
officer from Valsad
district for organiz-
ing an elocution
competition for
school students with
‘My Role Model - Na-
thuram Godse’ as
one of the topics- the
assassin of Mahat-
ma Gandhi.
This issue came to
light when local media
in the district pub-
lished reports claim-
ing that a girl student
has won the elocution
competition for speak-
ing on the subject
–‘My Role Model - Na-
thuram Godse (Maro
Adarsh - Nathuram
Godse)’.
Mitaben Gavli, a
probationary Class-II
District Youth Devel-
opment Officer for
Valsad district, was
suspended immediate-
ly after Minister of
State for Sports, Youth
and Cultural Activi-
ties, Harsh Sanghavi,
assured action.
“I have ordered an
inquiry into this inci-
dent. We will take ac-
tion against the
guilty,” Sanghavi had
told media persons in
Gandhinagar.
Within hours, the
order suspending Gav-
li was issued.
The order stated
that the officer
should have taken
extra care in select-
ing the topics for the
elocution competi-
tion, which was or-
ganized by the de-
partment’s Valsad
office on February
14 at a private
school. It was open
for students of pri-
mary schools in the
age group of 11 to 13
years from the en-
tire district.
“In the district-level
competition held on
February 14, school
children were given
three subjects to
choose from. One of
the subjects provided
by Gavli was ‘My Role
Model - Nathuram
Godse’. The other two
subjects were – ‘I like
only those birds who
fly in the sky’ and ‘I
will become a scientist
but will not go to the
US’, the suspension or-
der stated.
When the depart-
ment sought informa-
tion from the Valsad
district Primary Edu-
cation Officer, BD Bar-
iaya, he said that Gavli
had selected these sub-
jects and had informed
primary schools about
the upcoming elocu-
tion competition.
“On February 16,
newspapers carried
reports about the se-
lection of such a
controversial sub-
ject for the competi-
tion. It appears that
you have not taken
due care in selecting
subjects despite be-
ing a responsible
government officer.
Thus, in the interest
of public and admin-
istrative interest,
you are put under
suspension with im-
mediate effect,” it
said.
After the controver-
sy erupted, the private
school management
clarified that they had
only hosted the event
and not organised it.
“We had only pro-
vided our school
premises to the de-
partment for organ-
izing this competi-
tion. Not just the
subject, even judges
for the competition
were selected by the
Valsad district of-
fice,” said Archana
Desai, administrator
of Kusum Vidhya-
laya.
Rajendrasinh Darbar, Vaghubha Jadeja and Pabubha Zala joined the BJP with about 100 supporters on Wednesday.
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: Three
Congress leaders from
Becharaji taluka in
Mehsana district,
along with more than
100 of their support-
ers, joined the ruling
Bharatiya Janata Par-
ty on Wednesday
.
Given that the three-
-Rajendrasinh Darbar,
Vaghubha Jadeja and
Pabubha Zala--hold
massive sway in Be-
charji, the defection has
consolidated the BJP’s
position over the con-
stituency
.
In another big blow to
the opposition party,
Gujarat Congress
spokesperson Jayrajs-
inh Parmar is also re-
portedly set to defect,
having had a personal
meeting with BJP state
unit president CR Patil
on Tuesday
.
Prior to switching al-
legiances officially
, Dar-
bar and Jadeja had al-
leged that the Congress
party’s sitting MLA
Bharatji Thakor was
not allocating grants
for development in
their respective villag-
es. They had even said
the Congress did noth-
ing for their villages
while in power, while a
lot of development has
taken place under BJP
rule.
“This is a good strate-
gic move by the BJP,”
senior political journal-
ist from Mehsana,
Suresh Vanol, said.
“Darbar's family has
controlled the Bechara-
ji Taluka Panchayat for
the last three genera-
tions and the other two
leaders have been mem-
bers of the Mehsana
District Panchayat. So,
with this development,
the BJP has cornered
Rajput votes in the Be-
charaji constituency in
one fell swoop, almost
ensuring an easy win
for any BJP candidate.”
He added: “Now the
Congress vote bank
stands divided. Patidars
who had voted for Con-
gress candidate
Bharatji Thakor, may
turn to the BJP this
time, making it difficult
for the Congress to re-
tain their seats.”
Chief spokesperson
of the Gujarat Pradesh
Congress Committee
rubbished Darbar’s ac-
cusations as a “blatant
lie”.
“It is a blatant lie to
say that the Congress
has been unjust to Ra-
jendrasinh or any
other Rajput leader.
The party had nomi-
nated Rajendrasinh
Darbar as its candi-
date in the 2012 as-
sembly election but
he lost to the BJP can-
didate by a margin of
7,000 votes. In 2017,
party nominated
Bharatji Thakor, who
won by a margin of
15,000 votes,” Doshi
said.
First India Bureau
Surat: Aam Aadmi
Party (AAP) council-
lors showed up for
the general board
meeting held on
Wednesday, dressed
in white clothes. The
draft budget of the
Surat Municipal Cor-
poration (SMC) was
presented at the
meeting, after it re-
ceived approval from
the civic body’s
standing committee.
Chairman of the
committee, Paresh
Patel, presented the
budget of Rs7,288
crore before the gen-
eral body.
Defending their ges-
ture, Leader of Opposi-
tion Dharmesh Bhand-
eri said it was their
way of mourning AAP
councillors who recent-
ly joined the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP).
“They have killed their
conscience and soul.
We all came to the gen-
eral meeting in white
to mourn and pay trib-
ute to them, according
to our culture,” he said.
As per recommen-
dations of the com-
mittee, bus travel fee
for students was ad-
vised to be limited to
a monthly amount of
Rs300 only. A paper-
less budget was pre-
sented to councillors
on laptops provided
by the corporation.
Addressing the coun-
cillors at the meet, Pa-
tel said, “The e-budget
presented this year
will not only save mon-
ey but is also eco-
friendly. Prime Minis-
ter Narendra Modi’s
goal of energy saving
will be initiated this
year with the installa-
tion of solar panels on
the BRTS route. The
fire department will
receive high-tech arti-
ficial intelligence (AI)
equipment.”
The civic body has
also allocated Rs100
crore to speed up
construction of con-
crete instead of as-
phalt roads in the
city. Councillors also
paid homage to Surat
murder victim Grish-
ma Vekariya and vet-
eran singer Lata
Mangeshkar.
Official suspendedoverNathuram
topicin elocutioncompetition
Class II probationary officer Mitaben Savli had chosen ‘My Role Model-Nathuram Godse’ as one of the subjects
V’dara entrepreneur reminisces visit to Bappi Da
First India Bureau
Vadodara: The sud-
den demise of veter-
an Bollywood singer
and composer Bappi
Lahiri fondly known
as Bappi Da on
Wednesday has left
many in shock. Divy-
ang Gandhi, an en-
trepreneur from Va-
dodara, who visited
Bappi Da at his Mum-
bai residence last
year, found him to be
a down-to-earth per-
son. He shared fond
memories of his
meeting with the leg-
end with First India.
Talking about the
singer’s Gujarat con-
nection, Gandhi said,
“Bappi Da always
talked about Gujarat
and used to say that he
used to get positive
vibes whenever he
came here. He had a
distinct personality in
the showbiz industry.”
While Gandhi holds
the position of Gujarat
vice president of the
World Book of Records,
London, Bappi Da was
the ambassador of
WBR.
Elaborating on his
visits to Bappi Da’s
residence, Gandhi
said, “I went to meet
Bappi Da in 2021 and
was amazed to see sev-
eral awards and photo-
graphs adorning the
walls in his home. He
was a down-to-earth
person and always mo-
tivated youngsters and
guided us on the path
of success in our ca-
reers. He talked about
his struggling days too,
which instilled a sense
of inspiration when-
ever I engaged in a con-
versation with him.”
Sharing his plan to
pay tribute to the ar-
tiste in Bappi Da,
Gandhi informed,
“As he is not with us
anymore, we will
think of a fitting
tribute for the great
human being and ar-
tiste that he was.”
lll
Shocked at
the legend’s
passing,
Divyang
Gandhi
shared his
impressions
of one of
India’s
greatest
musical
talents
FOND MEMORIES
Gandhi with Bappi Lahiri
Councillors at the SMC board meet on Wednesday.
AAP COUNCILLORS ‘MOURN’
PARTY LEADERS WHO JOINED BJP
Show up wearing
white clothes to
SMC general
board meeting,
where budget
was presented
THREE CONGRESS LEADERS JOIN BJP,
JAYRAJSINH PARMAR TO FOLLOW SUIT
Move consolidates
saffron wave
in Becharji
assembly seat
Shameful! It is unfortunate that certain officers in the Gujarat government are try-
ing to drive the agenda of BJP in the state. This is Gandhi’s Gujarat and yet someone
came forward to organise a competition on ‘My Hero Nathuram Godse.’ Sab ko Sam-
mati De Bhagwaan! Citizens must come forward and stop the BJP and its stooge officers
from imposing its thoughts on our children. Father of the Nation, Pujya Bapu laid down his
life for the nation and this is how we want our children to learn about his sacrifices.
—-Statement by Congress working president Hardik Patel
Kusum Vidhyalaya, the venue. List of topics for the elocution competition.

GUJARAT
03
CHANGING TRACKS
A pair of city workers
are seen laying
the foundation
for new tracks for
the ‘Atal Express’
toy train at the
Kankaria Lakefront
in Ahmedabad, on
Wednesday.
—PHOTO BY
HANIF SINDHI
First India Bureau
Gir Somnath/Vadoda-
ra: An adult male lion
and a female cub were
found dead in differ-
ent parts of the Gir
forest in Gujarat, an
official said on
Wednesday. Mean-
while, a pair of lion
cubs have been born
to Raja and Rani, the
lion and lioness at the
Safari Park attached
to the Statue of Unity
in Kevadia.
The adult pair has
been in the Kevadia fa-
cility for more than a
year, and this is their
first offspring, SoU pub-
lic relations officer Ra-
hul Patel said, adding
that breeding and live
births are very uncom-
mon in captivity
.
The cubs will be
named after some time,
he also said, since the
sex cannot be deter-
mined at this time.
Meanwhile, field
staff of the forest de-
partment spotted the
carcass of the female
cub, aged around 1.5
years, during foot pa-
trolling on Tuesday in
theforestsnearManek-
pur village in the
Gir-Somnath district,
which falls under the
Gir-East division,
Chief Conservator of
Forest (CCF), Jun-
agadh Wildlife Divi-
sion, DT Vasavada
said. She was killed by
another lion in a fight,
he added.
Also on Tuesday, a
beat guard found the
carcass of the male
lion, aged five to 10
years, in the forests
near Bhavnagar’s Gad-
hada village, he said.
The exact cause be-
hind the death of the
male lion will be
known after a postmor-
tem, the CCF said.
2 lion cubs born at SoU Safari
Park; lion, cub found dead in Gir
CHECKS & BALANCES
The cubs will be named after their sex is determined. They are currently under observation.
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: The Gu-
jarat High Court has
observed that while an
extramarital relation-
ship can be seen as “an
immoral act” from a
social standpoint, it
cannot be considered a
“misconduct” and a
reason to sack a police-
man under the police
service rules.
Justice Sangeeta
Vishen made this obser-
vation while quashing
the order to dismiss a
police constable and di-
recting the Ahmedabad
police to reappoint him
within a month and pay
25% of back wages
since November 2013
when he was sacked
from service.
The order, which was
passed on February 8,
was made available re-
cently
.
The constable had
moved a plea challeng-
ing his dismissal from
service for having an
extramarital affair with
a widow at the police
headquarters in the
city where he lived with
his family
.
“It is true that the pe-
titioner is a part of a
disciplined force, how-
ever, his act which oth-
erwise is immoral in
the eyes of the society
at large, would be diffi-
cult for this court to
bring it within the pur-
view of misconduct,
considering the fact
that the act was a pri-
vate affair and not re-
sult of any coercion
pressure or exploita-
tion,” the court said in
the order.
“Applying the afore-
said principles to the
facts of the present
case, the act on the
part of the petitioner
can, at the most. be
considered an immoral
act, viewed from the
standpoint of the soci-
ety; however, to term it
as misconduct as per
the Conduct Rules,
1971, would be too far-
fetched,” it noted.
The constable, in his
plea, had argued that
the relationship was
consensual and both
he and the woman had
confessed in the state-
ment that everything
was done of their own
volition.
The petitioner
claimed that there was
no question of him ex-
ploiting the woman.
He further alleged
that the police depart-
ment had not followed
the proper procedure
of inquiry.
While sacking him,
the joint police com-
missioner had deemed
it fit not to conduct an
inquiry against him,
as this will put the par-
ties in an embarrass-
ing position.
The court observed
that this cannot be the
ground for not conduct-
ing an inquiry before
arriving at the decision
of sacking him.
Extramarital affair
can’t be considered
fireable offence: HC
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: The
Ahmedabad City
Civil and Sessions
court has granted
anticipatory bail
to chartered ac-
countant (CA)
Jignesh Hirapara
in a case involving
Rs1,000 crore
worth of hawala
transactions in vi-
olation of the Mon-
ey Laundering Act.
The money laun-
dering took place
through a Chinese
company set up by
Chinese nationals
with dummy direc-
tors from India.
While granting
bail, the court ob-
served, “The role of
the CA as an auditor
is only limited to
conducting the audit
of the company
based on the finan-
cial documents/
statements prepared
by the promoters/
directors of the com-
pany. Further, the
CA resigned from
the company as an
auditor on the
grounds that the
company was irreg-
ular in making pay-
ment of dues like
Income Tax, GST
etc., which was re-
flected/recorded in
the resignation giv-
en by the CA. There-
fore, there is no nex-
us of the CA with the
alleged offence in
the FIR.”
Hirapara’s advo-
cates Vishal Dave
and Nipun Sanghvi
submitted that the
CA was appointed as
auditor for the finan-
cial year 2015-16 and
the complaint in-
volves fiscal 2014-15,
their client was no
longer employed as
an auditor at Swarai-
ya International Pvt.
Ltd.
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: Gu-
jarat on Wednes-
day recorded 884
new COVID-19 cas-
es and 13 fresh
deaths, taking the
overall tally to
12,18,212 and the
toll to 10,851, the
state health depart-
ment said.
On Tuesday, the
state reported less
than 1,000 new COV-
ID-19 cases at 998 for
the first time in near-
ly a month-and-a-
half and 16 deaths.
Also, 2,688 pa-
tients, more than
thrice the new cases,
were discharged dur-
ing the day, raising
the tally of recover-
ies to 11,97,983, it
said. With this, the
tally of active cases
dropped for the first
time after January 5
below the 10,000-
mark to 9,378. Of
these active cases, 70
patients are on venti-
lator support, the de-
partment said. .
D i s t r i c t - w i s e ,
Ahmedabad reported
the highest number
of 317 new cases, Va-
dodara 202, Surat 53,
Gandhinagar 42 and
Rajkot 29, among oth-
ers. As many as 20 cit-
ies and districts re-
ported single-digit
cases,thedepartment
said in a release.
In terms of deaths,
Vadodara recorded
the highest at six, fol-
lowed by three in
Ahmedabad, two in
Surat, one each in
Tapi and Jamnagar.
With 1.68 lakh
more people getting
vaccinated against
COVID-19onWednes-
day, the number of
doses administered
so far in Gujarat rose
to 10.15 crore.
CA in `1K crore
hawala case gets
anticipatory bail
Activecasesfallbelow
10KasGujsees884
nCoVcases,13deaths
Constable had challenged in case of ‘misconduct’ cited for
his dismissal from service for affair with widow in 2013
11,97,982
TOTALRECOVERED
2,688 MORE
IN A DAY
12,18,212
TOTAL CASES
884 CASES
IN A DAY
304 MAX
CASES IN
A’BAD
ACTIVE CASES
10,851
TOTAL DEATHS
9,378
13 DEATHS
IN A DAY
COVID-19 UPDATE
The widow’s family had in 2012 complained to
the top brass of the city police about the illicit
relationship of the constable with the woman after
producing evidence in the form of CCTV camera
footage. The couple admitted to the relationship,
after which the police sent him a show-cause
notice and dismissed him from service in 2013
on the ground of “moral turpitude” amounting to
erosion of public faith in the police.
OUTED!

PERSPECTIVE
04
mid the reported rift at the
top order and dissolving
all national posts on Sun-
day… there was good news
for the Trinamool Con-
gress on Monday when it
made a clean sweep in the
civic polls to four munici-
pal corporations in West
Bengal that is Bidhanna-
gar, Siliguri, Chanderna-
gore and Asansol. TMC
retained Bidhannagar by
winning 39 out of 41 seats
while the Opposition BJP
and the CPI(M) failed to
open their account. The
Congress managed to bag
one seat, and an Independ-
ent candidate secured vic-
tory in a ward. In Chand-
ernagore, the TMC bagged
31 of the 32 seats, while the
CPI(M) won in one.
In fact, the epicentre of
theverdictepisodeisTMC’s
winning the prestigious
Siliguri Municipal Corpo-
ration (SMC) by defeating
the CPI(M)-led Left Front,
wheretheTMCpocketed37
out of 47 seats. The BJP
,
however, managed to get
the status of opposition by
clinching only five seats,
whiletheLeftwasrelegated
to the third position as it
managed to win four seats
and the Congress only one!
But we shall concentrate
later in this article on how
the Left is still managing to
retain its relevance albeit
not in a great way and in
politics every move counts
as they say
.
A look at the vote share
may be bewildering. The
TMC’s (vote) share in
Siliguri was 78.72 per cent,
while the BJP and CPI(M)
managed to bag 10.64 per
cent and 8.5 per cent of the
votes polled respectively
.
West Bengal Chief Min-
ister Mamata Banerjee
wasted no time to an-
nounce that party leader
Gautam Deb, who won by
a margin of 3,000 votes,
would be the next mayor
of SMC. It may be recalled
that it was at the Siliguri
Municipal Corporation…
The Left and Congress
came together in 2015 to
keep the TMC out of pow-
er and had made an elec-
toral arrangement called
the ‘Siliguri Model’. Sen-
ior CPI (M) leader and for-
mer Mayor of the Corpo-
ration Asok Bhattacharya
who had brought the Left
and Congress together,
lost from Ward Number 6.
The results and the pat-
tern of TMC’s win indicate
the highest ever support
for a ruling party in West
Bengal and political ob-
servers very rightly have
raised questions of the ex-
istence and relevance of
Opposition parties. In at
least 17 wards of the Bid-
hannagar Municipal Cor-
poration, TMC candidates
mustered more than 80%
votes and in a particular
ward the percentage of
votes polled in the favour
of TMC was 95%.
Polls to another 108 civic
bodies across 20 districts
are scheduled on February
27. TMC has won three of
thelocalbodiesunopposed.
A look back would reveal
that TMC had also won the
Kolkata Municipal Corpo-
ration election held in De-
cember 2021. The TMC had
bagged134outof 144wards.
The BJP finished second
with just three seats.
In the Assembly general
election results while the
Left – the CPM, CPI, Revo-
lutionary Socialist Party
(RSP) and Forward Bloc –
secured only 5.87% of the
polledvotes…inthestate…
in south Bengal’s urban
pockets, especially in the
areas which fall inside 100
km from Kolkata, Left can-
didates bagged 10-20% of
the polled votes. This was
in sharp difference to their
show especially in the ru-
ral areas, mainly in dis-
tricts away from the city of
Kolkata, like north Bengal
and southwestern Bengal,
where Left candidates got
2-4% votes.
In the urban areas of
Hooghly, Howrah, North
24 Parganas, Bardhaman
and even in Nadia, Left
candidates (especially
those of CPM), secured 12-
15% votes. However, Left-
backed Congress candi-
dates did not get that much
votes even in urban areas.
Meanwhile, interesting-
ly… as soon as the results
were out, Jayaprakash Ma-
jumder once again blamed
the state leadership of the
BJP
. It may be recalled that
he was expelled from BJP
a few days ago. He blamed
them for the current situa-
tion of the Saffron camp in
the state. He attacked state
president Sukant Majum-
der, general secretary (or-
ganization) Amitabh
Chakraborty and Amit
Malviya. He claimed that
the new leadership wanted
to usurp power by elimi-
nating the old party. He
further added that a con-
spiracy is being hatched
within the party to bring
40 per cent of the vote back
to 4 per cent.
Jayprakash also said
just going to the court and
the Raj Bhavan won’t help.
The state leadership has to
stand by its committed
workers who had worked
overtime to help the party
win 18 Lok Sabha seats in
West Bengal in 2019. On the
other hand, Dilip Ghosh
said, “Votes have been loot-
ed. Nominations have been
blocked by using gangster
police to nullify the Oppo-
sition. Attempts have been
made everywhere to block
the election, to zero in on
the Opposition. The vote
did not go well and the re-
sults reveal the same. The
court will decide.
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY
THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL
A
ROBIN ROY
The writer is Senior Associate Editor,
Free Press Journal, Mumbai and
former Managing Editor, First India
CIVIC POLLS: RIFT OR NO RIFT,
TMC DOESN’T DRIFT FROM WINNING SPREE
INTERESTINGLY, IN
ALL FOUR CIVIC BODIES

z Asansol, Biddhannagar, Chandannagar and
Siliguri – put together, TMC received 61%
vote share while the BJP managed 14.5%

z The Left Front, which failed to win even a
single seat in the Assembly polls last year,
fared better by getting 16.75% vote share

z The Congress managed to get only 3.5% of
the vote share. Although it failed to make
much headway in the civic polls to the four
municipal corporations

z The Left Front’s 16.75% vote share ahead
of the Saffron party’s 14.5% may boost its
workers morale for another fight for 108
local bodies on February 27
IN THE BIDHANNAGAR
CIVIC ELECTIONS

z The Left Front bagged 10.7% of the polled
votes against TMC’s whopping 73.95%,
BJP’s 8.37% and Congress’s 3.42%

z In Chandannagar, the party’s vote share
increased to 26.40% from 18.5% in the last
Assembly polls. The BJP came third with a
9.80% vote share

z In Siliguri too, the Left Front with a 17.39%
vote share trailed TMC (47.14%) and the BJP
(23.24%), but ahead of the Congress (5.32%)

z BJP’s sitting MLA Shankar Ghosh also lost
and ranked third. In the last Assembly polls,
the saffron party had bagged the Siliguri
seat with more than a 50% vote share
LEFT STILL RELEVANT?
AFTER MASSIVE WIN ON
FEBRUARY 14, 2022
Mamata Banerjee @MamataOfficial
It is once again an overwhelming victory
of Ma, Mati, Manush. My heartiest
congratulations to the people of Asansol,
Bidhannagar, Siliguri & Chandanagore for having put their
faith and confidence on All India Trinamool Congress
candidates in the Municipal Corporation elections.
West Bengal Chief
Minister Mamata
Banerjee shows
victory sign as she
celebrates TMC win in
Kolkata on Monday.
Smriti Z Irani@smritiirani
Deeply saddened by the demise
of musical maestro Bappi Lahiri.
His timeless music will continue
to enthral generations to come.
My heartfelt condolences to Bappi
Da’s family, friends and millions of
admirers across the globe. Om Shanti!
Kiren Rijiju@KirenRijiju
Commitment of @narendramodi
Ji’ Govt for Judicial infrastructure
is so apparent. In the last 7
years Government has released
more funds under the Centrally
Sponsored Scheme for Judicial
Infrastructure in District and Subordinate Courts.
TOP TWEETS
SPIRITUAL SPEAK
Thousands of candles can be lighted
from a single candle, and the life of the
candle will not be shortened. Happiness never
decreases by being shared.
—Buddha
alu Prasad Ya-
dav, the former
Bihar Chief
Minister and
Rashtriya Ja-
nata Dal chief, is headed
back to prison in the fa-
mous Rs 950-crore fodder
scam. A CBI court in
Ranchi convicted him in
the fifth case pertaining to
the scam in which Rs 139.5
crores were fraudulently
withdrawn from Doran-
da’s treasury in Ranchi.
Giving Lalu (73) company
in the case are 74 other ac-
cused. Their sentencing is
due on February 21. The
case dates back to 1995-96
and Lalu has already
spent time in jail but not
the entire cumulative pe-
riod of about 20 years of
his sentence. Most of the
time he has been in a hos-
pital because of uncon-
trolled diabetes and other
health issues.
That nemesis has caught
up with Lalu, a Bihar
strongman for whom was
coined the popular slogan
“jab tak samose me aaloo,
tab tak rahega bihar me
Lalu”. Lalu is there in Bi-
har but is now a pale shad-
ow of his once towering
figure. Should a prison
term alone be enough for
high-profile public figures
who defalcate public mon-
ey? If Lalu has been con-
victed in cases involving
crores of rupees, shouldn’t
he and the other accused
be ordered to cough up the
amount? In 1998 the In-
come-Tax department did
file a disproportionate as-
sets case against Lalu,
claiming that the former
CM had amassed Rs 46
lakh from government
treasury
. Lalu’s wife Rabri
Devi was also charge-
sheeted in the case. How-
ever, a special CBI court
acquitted the two in 2006.
After a long legal battle,
Lalu’s challenge to his ac-
quittal in the case was up-
heldbytheSupremeCourt.
FODDER SCAM STILL
HAUNTS LALU YADAV
A CBI court in Ranchi convicted him in the fifth
case pertaining to the scam in which `139.5 crores
were fraudulently withdrawn from Doranda’s
treasury in Ranchi. Giving Lalu (73) company in
the case are 74 other accused
L
l Vol 3 l Issue No. 83 l RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/79050. Printed and published by Anita Hada Sangwan on behalf of First Express Publishers. Printed at Bhaskar Printing Planet Survey No.148P, Changodar-Bavla Highway, Tal. Sanand, Dist. Ahmedabad.
Published at D/302 3rd Floor Plot No. 35 Titanium Square, Scheme No. 2, Thaltej Taluka, Ghatlodiya, Ahmedabad. Editor-In-Chief: Jagdeesh Chandra. Editor: Haresh Jhala responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act

To Receive Free Newspaper
PDF Daily
Whatsapp:
http://bit.ly/whatsappahm
Telegram:
https://t.me/firstindiaahmedabad
Click the above link☝ & subscribe us on your
preferred platform.

New Delhi: Punjab
chief ministerCharanjit
Singh Channi waded
into a controversy drag-
ging senior party leader
Priyanka Gandhi along
with him when he asked
Punjabistostandtogeth-
er and reject the ‘bhai-
yyas’ from UP
, Delhi and
Bihar who come to Pun-
jab.
Channi’s comments
were immediately
latched onto by opposi-
tionpartieswhoaccused
Congressof playingdivi-
sive politics.
Clips of Channi’s
speech went viral on so-
cial media in which he is
heard proclaiming in
chaste Punjabi that Pri-
yanka Gandhi is the
daughter-in-law of Pun-
jabis.
Channi claims that
Priyanka is a punjabi
and asks Punjabis to
stand together and re-
ject the bhaiyas from
Uttar Pradesh, Delhi
and Bihar who are com-
ing to Punjab. A smiling
Priyanka Gandhi is
seen vigorously nod-
ding in support of
Channi’s statement. Ap-
parently Channi, by try-
ing to project Priyanka
as a Punjabi, was trying
to hit out at rival AAP
and also BJP. Many of
AAP leaders who have
worked or are working
in Punjab are from out-
side the state. Similarly
.
BJP also has its nation-
al leaders campaigning
as is the Congress.
However, the com-
ment against UP and
Bihar ‘bhaiyyas’ comes
at a time when Priyan-
ka Gandhi is trying
hard to muster votes in
Uttar Pradesh. There is
also a sizeable migrant
population in cities like
Ludhiana in Punjab.
Rival parties were
quick to hit out at the
Congress. At a press
conference, AAP lead-
ers Arvind Kejriwal and
Bhagwant Mann con-
demned the statement.
“It is very shameful.
We strongly condemn
comments aimed at any
individual or any par-
ticular community
,” Ke-
jriwal said. —ANI
Sitapur: Prime Minis-
ter Narendra Modi on
Wednesday said Uttar
Pradesh cannot pro-
gress under a Govern-
ment that supports riot-
ers and mafia.
Addressing a public
rally in UP’s Sitapur,
PM Modi said, “The de-
velopment of UP can-
not be done by those
people who encourage
rioters, goons, mafia.”
PM Modi urged the
public to vote for the
BJP as it has brought
the “rule of law” in
the state. “Now Yogi
ji’s government is
working to liberate
the people of UP from
these rioters and crim-
inals. That is why to-
day the whole of UP is
saying we will bring
those who have
brought the rule of
law,” PM Modi said.
PM Modi said the
BJP government in UP
“means equal control
over rioters, mafia raj,
goonda raj. It means
open freedom to cele-
brate the festivals, pro-
tection of sisters and
daughters, continuous
work for the welfare of
the poor”.
INDIA
05
Mahesh Sharma
New Delhi: Arvind Ke-
jriwal, the Chief Minis-
ter of Delhi and Nation-
al Convener of Aam
Aadmi Party, gets vari-
ous surveys done on
smallest of issues. He
has such a technique to
get these surveys con-
ducted that they issue a
normal mobile number
instead of toll free and
in two-four days the re-
sponse of lakhs of peo-
ple comes on the same.
At present, surveys are
conducted in states,
where the population is
less, otherwise the re-
sponse would have been
in crores. He conducted
a survey to decide the
chief ministerial candi-
date in Punjab, in which
more than 23 lakh re-
sponses were received
on a mobile number in
four days and 93 percent
liked Bhagwant Mann.
Similarly, it has been
two weeks since Punjab
Chief Minister Charan-
jitSinghChannibecame
the candidate from Bha-
daur seat of Malwa re-
gion and Arvind Kejri-
wal got the survey done
thrice there. Kejriwal
also got the survey done
thrice on Chamkaur Sa-
hib, the traditional seat
of Channi. Now the
question arises if he is
runningapoliticalparty
or a survey agency?
Channi is losing in both
his surveys. In Delhi
also, he has been con-
ducting surveys and
many times he has has
got posters and hoard-
ingsputupof theresults
of that alleged survey
.
Once he had put up a
poster of AAP’s win-
ning survey in the Delhi
University Students’
Union elections as well.
It is a different matter
that his party could not
win even a single seat. A
special feature of his
survey is that every
time it is his party that
wins and the Opposition
parties lose and even
where there is no win-
win case, he get the de-
sired results on the sur-
vey at least!
Kejriwal and his survey propoganda machine!
POLLS
Uttar Pradesh
MAFIA PROMOTERS CAN’T DEVELOP UP: PM
BJP government in UP means equal control over
rioters, mafia raj, goonda raj, says PM in Sitapur
Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi with senior Congress leader
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra during an election rally. —File photo
Meghalaya CM Conrad Sangma discusses HNLC peace talk issue
with MHA Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla on Wednesday.
Channi stokes controversy
with ‘UP-Bihar’ comment
BAGHEL GETS
Z SECURITY;
BJP BLAMES
AKHILESH
AAP SURVEYS!
CONVOY ATTACK
New Delhi: Union
Minister Satya Pal
Singh Baghel has
been provided ‘Z’
category security by
the Home Ministry
after his convoy was
attacked late Tuesday
evening in Karhal in
the Mainpuri district
of Uttar Pradesh.
Baghel is contesting
the Uttar Pradesh
Assembly polls
against Samajwadi
Party (SP) chief
Akhilesh Yadav from
the Karhal seat. The
BJP had alleged on
Tuesday that Baghel’s
convoy was attacked
by “SP goons” with
stones and sticks
near Attikullapur
village in Mainpuri
district. However, a
media report said the
‘Z’ category security
cover was provided to
the Union Minister of
State in the Ministry
of Law and Justice on
February 11. Earlier,
Baghel was accorded
‘Y+’ category CISF
security cover.
Channi is losing in both
his surveys. In Delhi also,
he has been conducting
surveys and many times
he has has got posters
and hoardings put up of
the results of that alleged
survey.
‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ slogan
inspired by Guru Ravidas: UP CM
PM Modi addressing a public rally in Sitapur on Wednesday. —PHOTO BY ANI
Varanasi: Prime Minis-
ter Narendra Modi’s
‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vi-
kas’policyisinspiredby
the teachings of Guru
Ravidas, UP Chief Min-
ister Yogi Adityanath
said on Wednesday as he
paid obeisance at the re-
vered icon’s birthplace.
Adityanath reached
the Ravidas temple at
the Seer Govardhan
premises in the morn-
ing, paid his respects to
the 15th-16th century
poet and also had ‘pras-
ad’atthe‘langar’served.
“It’s maghi poornima
todayandalsothebirth
anniversary of
Guru Ravidas,
whowasbornin
the holy land
of Kashi at
Seer Govard-
han. To-
d a y,
lakhs of people are ex-
pressing their respects
towards the sadhguru,”
he told reporters.
“Under PM Modi’s
leadership, we are tak-
ing forward to all
the ‘Sabka Saath,
Sabka Vikas’ poli-
cy which is also
inspired by Saint
Ravidas’s teach-
ings,” Yogi added.
— PTI
WILL SEND FARMERS’
KILLING CASE CULPRIT,
HIS PROTECTORS TO
JAIL: AKHILESH YADAV
“Babaji’ is levelling allegations the most
but see the work of their govt too”
Auraiya (UP): Samajwadi
Party president Akhilesh
Yadav on Wednesday con-
demned the state govern-
ment over grant of bail to
union minister Ajay Mishra’s
son in Lakhimpur case, say-
ing he would ensure that the
culprit and his protectors go
to prison when he comes to
power. “The minister’s son
who trampled farmers has
got bail from court. The gov-
ernment did not pursue the
case as it should have been,”
said Yadav. “SP assures you
all that our government is
coming and when it does, the
case will be pursued in such
a manner that not only the
one who took the life
of farmers will go to
jail but also those
patronising them,”
Akhilesh Yadav said address-
ing an election meeting in
Auraiya. MoS Home Ajay
Mishra’s son Ashish Mishra
is an accused in the Lakhim-
pur Kheri incident which had
left eight people, including
four farmers, dead. Mr
Mishra was recently
granted bail and
was released
from Lakhim-
pur Kheri jail after his arrest
in October last year. Faced
with continuous attack on
the law and order situation
during his govt, Akhilesh said
that those who want to take
law in their hands need not
vote for his party in the com-
ing elections. He alleged that
Yogi is the only CM in the
country who has withdrawn
cases lodged himself. —PTI
POLLS
Punjab

z BJP MLA gets EC
notice for ‘threatening
voters’ in UP; clarifies
statement

z BJP announces 3 more
candidates for UP polls

z Hyderabad: Case
against Himanta for his
comments on Rahul

❍ POINTERS
MAMATA ANGRY OVER
‘STUCK’ RAJYA SABHA SEAT
Hijab row: Rana
Ayyub booked over
‘terrorists’ remark
Sangma meets Home
Secy over peace talks
with militant outfit
WB: Counting of votes for
108 local bodies on Mar 2
Moni Sharma
New Delhi: West Ben-
gal Chief Minister
Mamata Banerjee is
upset with the party’s
political campaign in
Goa since the ‘rosy
picture’ drawn before
her regarding her par-
ty’s electoral chances
and the assurance
given to her, have
turned to be nought.
She is said to be most
upset that a Trina-
mool Congress Rajya
Sabha seat got stuck in
the affair of Luizinho
Flario. According to
informed sources,
Flario had joined Tri-
namool cracking a
major deal. It was
then said that he
would contest the as-
sembly elections and
would vacate the Ra-
jya Sabha seat after
winning. It is being
told that Mamta Ba-
nerjee was going to
give that Rajya Sabha
seat to Yashwant
Sinha. But at
the last mo-
ment, Flario
has refused to
contest the as-
sembly elec-
tion.
The term of
the Rajya
S a b h a
seat of Luizinho Fler-
io is till April 2026. He
is 70 years old and
even if he doesn’t do
anything, then too he
will remain a member
of upper house till
2026. He will be of no
use to the Trinamool
Congress after the Goa
assembly elections are
over. Mamata also
feels that she will
hardly contest
the Lok Sabha
elections in
2024. That’s
why she is angry
with the
leaders
a n d
elec-
tion strategist
Prashant Kishor who
has pitched Trinamool
in Goa. After the Rajya
Sabha seat was not va-
cated, Mamata has
made Yashwant Sinha
a member of the par-
ty’s National Working
Committee. Now keep
in mind that no seat is
being vacant in West
Bengal in the biennial
elections to the Rajya
Sabha this year. In
Bengal, six seats will
be vacant in August
next year and five in
April of 2024. There-
fore, all Trinamool
leaders will have to
wait till then.
New Delhi:Anadvocate
has filed a complaint
with the Mumbai Police
against journalist Rana
Ayyub over ‘derogatory
remarks’ against stu-
dents holding saffron
flags while protesting
againstwearinghijabby
Muslim girl students in-
side educational institu-
tions. The complainant,
advocate Ashutosh,
claimed that in an inter-
view with BBC World
News, Rana Ayyub said
that “students with saf-
fron flags in Karnataka
are terrorists”. —PTI
New Delhi: Meghalaya
Chief Minister Conrad
Sangma on Wednesday
held a discussion with
Union Home Secretary
Ajay Kumar Bhalla over
the issue of peace talks
with the banned mili-
tant outfit Hynniewtrep
National Liberation
Council (HNLC).
“Following the re-
quired process to take
forward the peace talks
with HNLC, met the
Home Secretary of the
Ministry of Home Af-
fairstodiscussthesame.
The Government of
Meghalayaiscommitted
to see this through,”
Sangma tweeted after
the meeting.
The move comes days
after the HNLC offered
to sit down for peace
talks with the Central
and the Meghalaya state
governments without
any pre-conditions. The
outlawed militant made
the announcement
through a press release.
On Feb 8, in a state-
ment issued by HNLC
general secy-cum-pub-
licity secretary Sainku-
par Nongtraw said that
the organisation has de-
cided to give peace a
chance after receiving a
lot of requests from el-
dersandsocialorganisa-
tions over past few days.
“After consultations
with elders recently
, we
have decided to come to
a peaceful pact with the
GOM (Govt of Megha-
laya) and the GOI (Govt
of India),” the militant
group had said, adding,
“
As of now we are ready
to talk within the ambit
of the Indian constitu-
tion and we are ready to
have talks without any
pre-conditions.” —ANI
Kolkata: The counting
of votes for 108 munici-
palities going to polls
on February 27 will be
held on March 2, an-
nounced West Bengal
state election commis-
sion on Wednesday
.
“On being satisfied
that in the Municipal
General Elections to the
108 Municipalities, 2022
the Counting of Votes
cannot conveniently be
done immediately after
thecloseof thepollatthe
polling stations as pro-
vided under Section 12
of the West Bengal Mu-
nicipal Elections Act,
1994 for the said Constit-
uenciesundertheabove-
noted Municipalities,
the West Bengal State
Election Commission
hereby directs that the
MunicipalReturningOf-
ficers concerned shall
arrange strong rooms
for storing of polled
EVMs and counting of
votes on 02.03.2022 at a
central place of the re-
spectiveMunicipalareas
to be fixed and notified
bythemintermsof Rule
61B of the said Rules,”
the Election Commis-
sion said. The elections
to 108 municipalities in
the state will be held on
27 February. —PTI

INDIA
06
Sharat K Verma
New Delhi: The Chief
Ministers of the states
ruledbyanti-BJPparties
have once again started
acampaignof solidarity
.
Usually this work is
done during Lok Sabha
elections but in the last
few days, one after the
other, decisions of the
central government
have been such, due to
whichthestatesruledby
theoppositionhavebeen
troubled. Whether it is
the matter of increasing
the scope of the BSF’s
jurisdiction or changing
the rules of deputation
of All India Services of-
ficers to the Center or
the matter of reducing
the share of states in
central taxes, all have
raisedtheconcernof the
state governments.
That is when Tamil
Nadu Chief Minister
MK Stalin, West Bengal
Chief Minister Mamata
Banerjee and Telanga-
na Chief Minister K
Chandrasekhar Rao
have taken the initiative
of solidarity. All three
have talked to each oth-
er and it is learnt that
Chandrashekhar Rao
has said that he will
soon head to Mumbai
and talk to Maharash-
tra Chief Minister Ud-
dhav Thackeray
. He also
told that Mamata Ba-
nerjee is going to come
to Hyderabad. Mean-
while, MK Stalin said
that a meeting of Chief
Ministers of anti-BJP
parties will be held in
Delhi soon.
Now the question is
whether the Congress
party will attend this
meeting or not? So far,
noneof thethreeopposi-
tion chief ministers
have spoken to the Con-
gress. The Congress has
three chief ministers
and all three have op-
posed the central gov-
ernment’s decision af-
fectingCentre-staterela-
tions. In Punjab, due to
the increase in the juris-
diction of BSF, almost
theentirestatehascome
under the ambit of this
central force. But like
the chief ministers of
other states, the chief
ministers of these three
Congress-ruled states
cannot decide on their
own. If Stalin, Mamata
and Rao take any initia-
tive then one has to talk
to Rahul Gandhi about
it. Stalin and Rao can
hold talks but both have
to take Mamata Baner-
jee’s consent as well.
As far as Congress-
backed governments are
concerned, the Chief
Minister can decide in-
dependently
. Mamata
Banerjee went to Mum-
baitomeetMaharashtra
Chief Minister Uddhav
Thackeray and met Adi-
tya Thackeray and San-
jay Raut. Similarly
,
Jharkhand Chief Minis-
ter Hemant Soren can
also do politics separate-
ly from Congress. Only
then it will be interest-
ing to see what the Chief
Ministers of the Con-
gress and the govern-
ments running with its
support,dointhis initia-
tive of the opposition
Chief Ministers? The
Tamil Nadu govern-
ment also has the sup-
port of the Congress,
but there Stalin’s party
DMK enjoys an absolute
majority on its own.
WHAT WILL THE CONGRESS CHIEF MINISTER DO?
SHOWCASING SOLIDARITY
New Delhi: The exit
of senior leader
Ashwani Kumar from
the Congress has once
again brought to the
fore simmering ten-
sion in the party.
While the party main-
tained a silence, lead-
ers of the ‘G-23’ group-
ing in the party said
his exit shows all is
not well in the party.
Senior party leader
Ghulam Nabi Azad
said exit of “leader af-
ter leader” from the
party is a “matter of
serious concern”.
Azad, Congress depu-
ty leader in Rajya Sabha
Anand Sharma and Lok
Sabha MP Manish
Tewari said it is time the
partyholdsaseriousand
sincere introspection.
Allthreeof themaresig-
natories to the letter 23
senior leaders — or G-23
—had written to Con-
gress president Sonia
Gandhi in August 2020,
calling for sweeping
changes in the party
.
Several leaders on
the condition of an-
onymity said they
would not be
s u r-
prised
if the
party
faces an implosion after
March 10 if the Assem-
bly election results are
not in its favour.
“It is a matter of great
concernthatleaderafter
leader are leaving the
party
. (Ashwani) Kumar,
I think, is the fourth or
fifth former Union min-
ister who has left, be-
sides a large number of
leaders and workers at
various levels across the
country
,” Azad said.
Azad, a member of
Congress Working
Committee and former
Leader of Opposition
in Rajya Sabha, said
this shows the Con-
gress needs to do a lot
of introspection to find
the cause of these exits.
It is not right to say
these leaders are going
at the behest of any in-
dividual, or (any) party
.
There must be some
disquiet within the
party (that) makes even
hardcore Congress
leaders uncomforta-
ble.” Tewari and Vivek
Tankha called Kumar’s
exit “sad” and
“unfortunate.”
Bhupinder Singh
Hooda, former Haryana
chief minister and an-
other G-23 leader, tweet-
ed, “The news of Sh
Ashwani Kumar leav-
ing Congress is sad and
unfortunate. He is an
old dear friend and one
belonging to a freedom
fighter’s family
.”
Tewari said, Ashwani
Kumar and I worked to-
gether in Dr Manmohan
Singh’s government. He
and I have had civilised
differences on a number
of issues. However, even
if a small worker leaves
the party, it calls for in-
trospection.”
AFTERASHWANIKUMAR’SEXIT,CONG
G-23 LEADERS CALL FOR INTROSPECTION
While the party leadership has remained silent on Kumar’s exit, the G-23 have called a review
Mumbai: Maharashtra
chief minister Uddhav
Thackeray has extend-
ed support to his Telan-
gana counterpart K
Chandrasekhar Rao for
the latter’s efforts to
unite political organisa-
tions against the BJP
and the NDA.
Thackeray’s tele-
phonic conversation
with KCR is seen as a
statement amid its on-
going tussle with the
BJP-led central gov-
ernment. Earlier this
week, the Telangana
chief minister said he
would visit Mumbai to
meet his Maharashtra
counterpart. A Shiv
Sena leader informed
that Rao is expected to
visit Mumbai around
February-end to meet
Thackeray
.
“Uddhav ji, in his
brief conversation, ex-
tended support to the
Telangana CM’s efforts
to unite regional parties
to join forces against the
Centre. This is in line
with what Uddhav ji has
been saying in the over-
reach of the Centre.
Thackeray dials
KCR, extends support
in fight against BJP
New Delhi: Tax offi-
cials on Wednesday
conducted searches at
the offices of Chinese
tech giant Huawei, the
firm said, days after
New Delhi banned a
host of Chinese apps
over national security
concerns.
Tensions between
New Delhi and Beijing
have been running high
since a deadly 2020
clash in Ladakh. The
latest volley from India
saw officials from its in-
come tax department
search Huawei's prem-
ises in Gurgaon, on the
outskirts of capital
New Delhi, and in Ban-
galore, according to the
company
.
We have been in-
formed of the visit of
income tax team to our
office and also of their
meeting with some per-
sonnel, Huawei India
said in a statement
emailed to AFP
.
Huawei was confi-
dent their operations in
India were firmly com-
pliant to local laws and
they would fully cooper-
ate with the authorities,
the statement added.
The government au-
thorities were not im-
mediately available for
comment.
Local media reports
said the officials were
looking at the financial
documents, account
books, and Huawei's In-
dian businesses as well
as overseas transac-
tions. Earlier this week,
the home ministry
banned 54 mobile appli-
cations of Chinese ori-
gin, including the popu-
lar game Garena Free
Fire, several news out-
lets reported.
India is the world's
second-biggest market
by number of phone us-
ers, and the government
has justified the bans on
the apps, saying they
threatened its sover-
eignty and integrity
.
Tax searches on Chinese
telecom giant Huawei Haryana: Bharatiya
Kisan Union national
spokesperson Rakesh
Tikait on Wednesday
condoled the death of
actor and farm activist
Deep Sidhu in a car ac-
cident and ruled out
speculation that a con-
spiracy was at play.
Terming Deep Sid-
hu’s passing a “tragic
incident”, Tikait told,
“I don’t believe there
was a conspiracy be-
hind [his] death. He
was travelling on the
highway and it was re-
ported that his car
rammed [into a truck]
from behind. It seems
to be an accident, the
rest is a matter of in-
vestigation.”
Asked about Deep
Sidhu’s alleged involve-
ment in the violence
that erupted at the Red
Fort during the farm-
ers’ tractor march on
January 26 last year, Ti-
kait admitted that it
gave the farmers’ agita-
tion a bad rap. He, how-
ever, claimed that the
actor was taken to the
scene by authorities in
a bid to implicate the
protesting farmers.
“We did not tamper
with the tricolor, there
was a bare pole and a
religious flag was un-
furled from it. It was a
conspiracy by the
government to defame
the farmers’ union and
the entire movement.
Deep Sidhu got
caught up in this
chakravyuh [trap] of
the govt,” said Tikait.
Chaotic scenes were
witnessed at the Red
Fort in Delhi during the
farmers' tractor parade
onRepublicDayassome
miscreants clashed with
the police. Deep Sidhu
was arrested in Febru-
ary 2021 by the Delhi
Police in connection
with the violence.
Police claimed that
the actor-activist par-
ticipated in the protest
with the intentiontocre-
ate violence and that he
was the main instigator
of unlawful assembly
.
TikaitcallsSidhu’sdeath
‘tragic’,rulesoutconspiracy
SERIOUS CHARGES
MK Stalin, Mamata Banerjee and K Chandrasekhar Rao.
Punjab: A day after former Union Law Minis-
ter Ashwani Kumar quit Congress, party leader
Manish Tewari on Wednesday called the decision
unfortunate and said that the ambition for Rajya
Sabha seat makes people do many things.
Addressing a press conference in Ludhiana today,
Tewari said, Whenever a leader quit Congress
party, it's a loss for us. Ashwani Kumar who left
Congress yesterday was Rajya Sabha MP from
Punjab Congress. It's a very unfortunate deci-
sion for us. The ambition for a Rajya Sabha seat
makes people do many things, the Congress
leader added. Former Union Law Minister and Con-
gress leader Ashwani Kumar on Tuesday resigned
from Congress after a long association of 46 years
with the party. Ashwani Kumar was a part of the
UPA term two government's cabinet. Currently, he
was not holding any main profile in the Congress
party and did not have a post in the AICC.
‘LOSS FOR US’: TEWARI ON
ASHWANI’S RESIGNATION
COMING TOGETHER
DIG INTO FINANCIAL DOCS
Local media reports said the officials were
looking at the financial documents, account
books, and Huawei’s Indian businesses as well
as overseas transactions. Earlier this week, the
home ministry banned 54 mobile applications of
Chinese origin, including the popular game Garena
Free Fire, several news outlets reported. India is
the world’s second-biggest market by number of
phone users, and the government has justified
the bans on the apps, saying they threatened its
sovereignty and integrity.
LIQUOR BOTTLE RECOVERED
Haryana: A partially consumed bottle of liquor was
recovered from the ill-fated car of Punjabi actor
Deep Sidhu, who died in a road accident on Tuesday
near Sonipat in Haryana. An FIR has been registered
for rash and negligent driving against the driver of
the truck with which the actor's car collided. Viscera
samples of the actor have been collected. We re-
trieved a partially consumed liquor bottle from Deep
Sidhu's car. It is a case of rash and negligent driv-
ing. An FIR has been registered. The driver has been
identified and police teams are trying to nab him.”
New Delhi: The
NIA on Wednesday
carried out a search
operation at three
places in Kashmir
Valley in the case of
“radicalising, moti-
vating and recruit-
ing” youth of Jam-
mu and Kashmir by
outlawed terrorist
organisation LeT.
The agency con-
ducted the search
operation in coordi-
nation with Jammu
and Kashmir Police
and CRPF person-
nel. The agency
said it seized in-
criminating mate-
rial and digital de-
vices during the
search operation.
The case pertains
to radicalisation
and recruitment
of youth in JK
for violent activi-
ties in the erst-
while state and
other parts of the
country by Sajjad
Gul, Salim Rehma-
ni alias Abu Saad
and Saifullah Sajid
Jutt, the command-
ers of LeT and The
Resistance Front.
New Delhi: Delhi
police have taken a
person into custody
after he tried to
drive into National
Security Adviser
Ajit Doval’s resi-
dence.
The incident oc-
cured today around
7.30 am when a per-
son tried to enter
Mr Doval’s resi-
dence in a car today
.
He was stopped and
taken into custody
by the Central In-
dustrial Security
Force (CISF) per-
sonnel who guard
Mr Doval’s resi-
dence. The NSA is
secured under the
top Z category of
CISF commandos.
Ajit Doval was
present at his resi-
dence when the in-
cident took place.
JK terror
recruitment:
NIA raids
three sites
Man held for
attempting to
enter NSA’s
residence
Manish Tewari
K Chandrasekhar Rao
Ajit Doval
—FILE
PHOTO
Uddhav Thackeray
It is a matter of great concern that
It is a matter of great concern that
leader after leader are leaving the
leader after leader are leaving the
party. I think, is the fourth or fifth
party. I think, is the fourth or fifth
former Union minister who has left.
former Union minister who has left.
—Ghulam Nabi Azad, Senior Congress Leader
Anand Sharma
Rakesh Tikait
Will Congress CMs
attend the meeting
led by anti-BJP
CMs in New Delhi?

BIZ BUZZ
07
Indianeconomytogrowatquickest
paceamonglargenations: FinMin
New Delhi:The Indian
economy is poised to
grow at the quickest
pace among the league
of large nations on the
back of various initia-
tives taken by the gov-
ernment in Budget
2022-23, said the Fi-
nance Ministry’s
Monthly Economic Re-
view.
“The current year
may as well end with
an economic reset
manifest of a post-
C O V I D - 1 9
world...Manu-
facturing and
C o n s t r u c -
tion will be
the ‘growth
d r i v e r s ’ ,
triggered by
the PLI
schemes and
public capex in
infrastructure,”
the report said.
Agriculture, which
continues to see a con-
stant increase in net
sown area and crop di-
versification, will
strengthen food buffers
while benefiting farm-
ers through generous
volumes of procure-
ment at remunerative
minimum support
prices and income
transfers through PM
KISAN scheme, it add-
ed.
Observing that the
IMF in its January 2022
u p - date has
l o w - ered its
global growth estimate
for 2022, it said India is
yet the only large
and major country
listed by the IMF
whose growth pro-
jection has been
revised up-
wards in
2 0 2 2 -
23.
“In a testimony
to the resilience of
its people and the far-
sightedness of its poli-
cymaking, the Indian
economy that contract-
ed by (-)6.6% in 2020-21
is now projected in
2022-23 to grow the
quickest among the
league of large na-
tions,” it said.
The report said the
Budget 2022-23 has
strengthened the direc-
tion set for India’s
economy by the previ-
ous year’s
budget.
The capex budget,
higher by 35.4% over
current year’s budget
estimates and rising to
4.1% of GDP after in-
clusion of grants-in-
aid to
states for
c a p i t a l
works, will
power the seven
engines of Gatishakti
to reduce the infra-
structure gap and fa-
cilitate private invest-
ment in the country, it
said. —PTI
Observing that IMF in its Jan update
has lowered its global growth
estimate for 2022, it said India is the
only major country listed whose
growth has been revised upwards
ATF prices at record
high after 5.2% hike
New Delhi: Jet fuel
prices on Wednesday
soared to record high
levels across the coun-
try after rates were
increased by 5.2% in
line with a rise in in-
ternational oil prices.
This is the fourth
hike in jet fuel or Avia-
tion Turbine Fuel
prices in less than two
months following a
spike in global oil pric-
es but petrol and die-
sel prices remained
unchanged for a re-
cord 103rd day in a
row, coinciding with
electioneering to elect
new governments in
states like UP and
Punjab.
ATFpricewashiked
by `4,481.63 per kiloli-
treor5.2%to`90,519.79
per kl in New Delhi,
according to a price
notification of state-
owned fuel retailers.
This is the highest
ever price touched by
ATF. —PTI
4TH INC. IN 2021
Agriculture,
which continues
to see a constant
increase in net sown
area and crop
diversification, will
strengthen food
buffers
LIC sits on `21,500
cr unclaimed funds
New Delhi: State-
owned insurance be-
hemoth LIC had un-
claimed funds to the
tune of `21,539 crore
as of September 2021,
according to draft pro-
spectus filed for IPO
with market regulator
Sebi.
This includes inter-
est earned over the
outstanding un-
claimed amount.
As per the Draft Red
Herring Prospectus
(DRHP) filed by the
Life Insurance Corpo-
ration of India (LIC),
theunclaimedamount
was at
`18,495 crore at the
end of March 2021 and
`16,052.65 crore at the
end of March 2020.
Every insurer is re-
quired to display in-
formation about any
unclaimed amount of
`1,000 or more on their
respective websites (to
continue even after
completion of 10
years) and a facility is
to be provided on the
website to enable poli-
cyholders or benefi-
ciaries to verify un-
claimed amount due
to them.
Further, it said, the
u n c l a i m e d
amounts circular
by Insurance
Regulatory and
Development Au-
thority of India
(IRDAI) pre-
scribes the proce-
dures relat-
ing to the
mode of
payment
of the un-
claimed
amount
etc.
—PTI
2022-23 Budget proposals set
tone for economic revival: RBI
New Delhi: The 2022-
23 Budget proposals
and the recent mone-
tary policy announce-
ments have set the
tone for a durable and
broad-based econom-
ic revival which has
started gaining trac-
tion as the nation
emerges from the
third wave of the
COVID-19 pandemic,
according to an arti-
cle published in RBI’s
February bulletin.
The RBI article on the
‘State of Economy’
also emphasised that
the domestic econom-
ic situation continues
to improve, the unset-
tled global environ-
ment notwithstand-
ing.
The renewed em-
phasis on public in-
vestment in the Budg-
et through infrastruc-
ture development is
expected to crowd-in
private investment
and strengthen job
creation and demand
in 2022-23, it said. —PTI
Sensex ends volatile session 145 pts lower
Mumbai: The BSE gauge
Sensex closed below the
key 58,000-level after a
highly volatile session on
Wednesday, dragged lower
mainly by banking, metal
and auto shares.
The 30-share bench-
mark swung nearly 800
points during the session
before closing at 57,996.68
-- marking a loss of 145.37
points. Likewise, the NSE
Nifty settled 30.25 points
lower at 17,322.20.
On the Sensex chart,
NTPC, SBI, ICICI Bank,
Tata Steel were among the
major laggards. —PTI
Mumbai: The rupee appreciated by 25 paise
to close at 75.07 (provisional) against the
US dollar on Wednesday, amid signs of
de-escalation in the conflict between Russia
and Ukraine. At the interbank forex market,
the local unit opened at 75.24 against the
greenback and witnessed an intra-day high
of 74.96 and a low of 75.24. It finally settled
at 75.07, a rise of 25 paise over its previous
close. On Tuesday, the rupee had snapped
its five-session losing streak and surged 28
paise to close at 75.32. —PTI
` SURGES 25 PAISE TO CLOSE AT
75.07 AGAINST US DOLLAR
FAITH suggests ‘Vision 35’ road
map to achieve tourism goals
New Delhi: The Fed-
eration of Associa-
tions in Indian Tour-
ism and Hospitality
(FAITH) on Wednesday
unveiled the ‘Vision
2035’ road map outlin-
ing strategic pillars to
achieve tourism goals
to mark the 75th year
of India’s Independ-
ence.
These goals target 75
million inbound tour-
ists, aim for 150 billion
of foreign exchange
earnings from inbound
tourism, eye 7.5 billion
domestic tourism vis-
its, and target 15 crore
direct and indirect em-
ployment from tour-
ism, among other ob-
jectives.
The vision docu-
ment proposes four
strategic pillars to
achieve the goals, in-
cluding a shared na-
tional tourism ap-
proach, value accretive
regulations, invest-
ment drivers and mar-
ket excellence.
It recommends tour-
ism to be a concurrent
subject as a shared ex-
ecution between the
Centre states, and
setting up of a Nation-
al Tourism Council of
PM and CMs, among
others.
The vision also sug-
gests travel credit for
domestic travel and
MICE (meetings, in-
centives, conferences
and exhibitions), sin-
gle-windowe-clearance
for all projects and na-
tional seamless tourist
transportation. —PTI
New Delhi: B2B eCommerce
platform Udaan announced
an ESOP policy covering all
employees and said future
allocations will vest every
quarter, as it removed the
standard one-year cliff. The
one year ‘cliff’ period is a prevalent industry prac-
tice that requires employees to wait for a year for
their employee stock option plan to start vesting.
UDAAN REMOVES 1-YEAR ESOP CLIFF
New Delhi: The coun-
try’s oilmeal export
declined by 65% YoY
to 1.76 lakh tonnes in
Jan 2022, mainly due
to fall in shipments of
soyabean and rape-
seed meal, industry
body SEA said on
Wednesday. In Jan
2021, the country’s
oilmeal export stood
at 5.01 lakh tonnes.
During the April-Jan
period of the current
fiscal, overall export
of oilmeal fell 35%
to 19.43 LT, when
compared with 29.69
LT in the year-ago
period. —PTI
India’s January
oilmeal export
dips 65% to 1.76
lakh tonnes: SEA
New Delhi: Income earned from providing guest
lectures will attract 18 per cent GST, the Karnata-
ka bench of AAR has ruled. The applicant, Sairam
Gopalkrishna Bhat, had approached the Authority
for Advance Ruling seeking clarity on whether the
income earned from conducting guest lectures,
amounts to or results to as supply of taxable ser-
vices. —PTI
New Delhi: State-owned GAIL
India Ltd plans to lay a pipe-
line to Srinagar to take the
environmentally friendly
natural gas to the Kash-
mir Valley as it doubles
down on efforts to expand infrastructure to
helm the government vision of a gas-based
economy, its chairman and managing director
Manoj Jain said. —PTI
GAIL to connect Srinagar to gas grid
New Delhi: Full-service carrier Vistara on
Wednesday said it is gradually resuming
certain services that were suspended
temporarily due to the pandemic. The
airline also plans to improve its inflight
entertainment offerings across its domestic
and international network by introducing a
wider variety of content. Since the start of
Covid, Vistara had taken various measures
including altering several processes, trun-
cating many inflight services, intensifying
sanitisation efforts to maintain safety and
hygiene standards, it said. “While we are
restoring our services progressively and
systematically, we will also be introducing
new enhancements at various customer
touchpoints, said
Deepak Rajawat,
Chief Commercial
Officer. —PTI
Vistara gradually restoring services to pre-Covid levels
Mumbai: Admitting
that Vistara fell short
of customers’ ex-
pectations in the last
few months, its CEO Vinod
Kannan has said the airline is
addressing some of the gaps
on a war footing. “We have
always wanted to make flying
an experience a joyous and
memorable. But, I admit that
we fell short on this commit-
ment in the last few months
and did not live up to your
expectations,” Kanan said.
DIDN’T LIVE UP TO
CUSTOMERS’
EXPECTATIONS: CEO
New Delhi: The diversified Tata Group touches
every online shopper with existing consumer
brands and the attempt of Tata Digital will be to
bring together all the assets under a single value
proposition, the new outfit’s president Mukesh
Bansal said on Wednesday. The group -- which
will be competing head on with Mukesh Ambani’s
digital business, Amazon and the Walmart-owned
Flipkart -- will be making announcements on how it
goes about the job in the coming months. —PTI
Tata brands touch all e-shoppers: Bansal
18% GST ON GUEST LECTURE INCOME: AAR

COVID-19
UPDATE
WORLD
58,59,609
TOTAL DEATHS
33,94,74,044
TOTAL RECOVERED
7,12,79,963
ACTIVE CASES
41,66,13,616
TOTAL CASES
INDIA
5,09,903
TOTAL DEATHS
4,18,43,446
TOTAL RECOVERED
3,70,209
ACTIVE CASES
4,27,23,558
TOTAL CASES
If you measure your success by
how society views you then it will
be forever a shifting benchmark.
—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO Editor-in-Chief, First India
08
2NDFRONT
A’bad’s HL college to host soccer tournament
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: The HL
Soccer League (HSL)
is set to take place at
the heritage cricket
ground of HL College
of Commerce Febru-
ary 18-20.
Organised by the HL
College Alumni Asso-
ciation (HLCAA), the
five-a-side league will
see the participation of
more than 450 players,
representing 48 teams
from Ahmedabad, oth-
er places in Gujarat,
and other states.
The teams will face
off in more than 100
matches during the
three-day tournament.
The matches will be
played in different cat-
egories such as Un-
der-15, Under-18, and
open category, and in-
stitution/corporate cat-
egory. There are sepa-
rate winners and prizes
for all categories.
The league has a
cash prize of Rs1.50
lakh on offer, besides
trophies for the win-
ners and runners up,
exciting individual
awards medals, and
certificates for all par-
ticipants.
“The HL Soccer
League is aimed at ca-
tering to the evolving
choices of today’s
youth and at fostering
a community of pas-
sionate players. We
have big plans for the
league, and aim to see
it become a premier
five-a-side league and
emerging as a national
event in the next five
years,” said Jainil
Shah, Secretary,
HLCAA.
Dhoraji police nab 2 for attack on woman
First India Bureau
Rajkot: Dhoraji po-
Rajkot: Dhoraji po-
lice on Wednesday
lice on Wednesday
arrested two persons
arrested two persons
for the attempted
for the attempted
murder of a woman.
murder of a woman.
The victim’s nose
The victim’s nose
and hair were
and hair were
chopped off by her
chopped off by her
husband at her resi-
husband at her resi-
dence on Monday
dence on Monday
evening. She has al-
evening. She has al-
leged that her hus-
leged that her hus-
band was exploiting
band was exploiting
her by drugging her
her by drugging her
and using compro-
and using compro-
mising photographs
mising photographs
to blackmail her.
to blackmail her.
Toralben (name
Toralben (name
changed), who is un-
changed), who is un-
dergoing treatment for
dergoing treatment for
her injuries at Rajkot
her injuries at Rajkot
Civil Hospital, named
Civil Hospital, named
her husband Sultan
her husband Sultan
alias Tapu Jan Moham-
alias Tapu Jan Moham-
mad Juneja and his
mad Juneja and his
friend Rahul as her as-
friend Rahul as her as-
sailants. They were re-
sailants. They were re-
portedly accompanied
portedly accompanied
by one other person
by one other person
who is as yet unidenti-
who is as yet unidenti-
fied. Sultan and Rahul
fied. Sultan and Rahul
have been arrested.
have been arrested.
The victim told the
The victim told the
police that she re-
police that she re-
turned to her parental
turned to her parental
home in Dhoraji a
home in Dhoraji a
month ago, after Sul-
month ago, after Sul-
tan got violent. He at-
tan got violent. He at-
tacked her on Tuesday
tacked her on Tuesday
after she refused to
after she refused to
come back to him.
come back to him.
“Sultan used to drug
“Sultan used to drug
me and ask me to sleep
me and ask me to sleep
with other men. He
with other men. He
used me for his ‘busi-
used me for his ‘busi-
ness’ and blackmailed
ness’ and blackmailed
me using my compro-
me using my compro-
mising photographs.
mising photographs.
Whenever I refused to
Whenever I refused to
obey his orders, he used
obey his orders, he used
to show those pictures
to show those pictures
and force me to do what
and force me to do what
he wanted,” she said,
he wanted,” she said,
narrating her ordeal.
narrating her ordeal.
The accused Sultan and his friend Rahul in police custody.

5-a-side HL
Soccer
League will
see the
participation
of 48 teams
and has a
cash prize of
Rs1.50 lakh
up for grabs
FOOTBALL SEASON
CRUCIAL READ
Vadodara: Railway police personnel have nabbed
a man wanted for
stealing a bag con-
taining almost Rs8.7
lakh worth of jewel-
lery from a passen-
ger on the Avantika
express at Vapi on
February 8. Based
on CCTV footage,
the cops found that
the suspect, Rakesh Ahirvaar, had fled to UP. They
tracked him down and found jewelery and other
items from two other offences worth Rs11.42
lakh in his possession. Ahirvaar was presented in
court on Wednesday, and remanded to two days
in police custody.
Surat: Local police have arrested four persons for
violating the Copyright Act by duplicating liquid de-
tergent registered
by IFB Industries
Ltd in the city’s
Pune area. The
arrests follow raids
in two factories in
which the knock-
offs were being
manufactured. An
investigation, based on a complaint by Pandesara
resident Amit Harikishan Chaudhary, has revealed
that the arrested persons—Rahul Khokhar, Kewal
Dudhat, Ravi Diya and BP Mesh Dudhat—were
selling the fake detergent liquid on online shopping
platforms without the necessary permissions.
In bid to solve Vapi theft, cops
recover goods worth `11.42L
4 arrested violating Copyright
Act by duplicating detergent
Morbi sarpanch disqualified
for ‘having more than 2 kids’
Ousted for redevelopment
a year ago, 6.5K homeless
First India Bureau
Surat: Around 6,500
Surat: Around 6,500
persons in 1,200 fami-
persons in 1,200 fami-
lies have been left in
lies have been left in
the lurch after being
the lurch after being
asked to vacate their
asked to vacate their
homes last year, as
homes last year, as
part of the city’s plan
part of the city’s plan
to redevelop their di-
to redevelop their di-
lapidated properties.
lapidated properties.
They say the Rs5,000
They say the Rs5,000
monthly allowance
monthly allowance
for house rent was
for house rent was
also discontinued af-
also discontinued af-
ter just two months.
ter just two months.
Yet, the Gujarat Hous-
Yet, the Gujarat Hous-
ing Board and the Surat
ing Board and the Surat
Municipal Corporation
Municipal Corporation
continue to urge those
continue to urge those
who have refused to
who have refused to
move, to do so at the ear-
move, to do so at the ear-
liest.GHB Executive En-
liest.GHB Executive En-
gineer Jatin Thakkar
gineer Jatin Thakkar
told First India, “The
told First India, “The
buildings are in very
buildings are in very
bad condition and can
bad condition and can
collapse at any time. We
collapse at any time. We
had planned to bring
had planned to bring
down all such buildings,
down all such buildings,
but about 200 houses are
but about 200 houses are
still occupied in Pande-
still occupied in Pande-
sara alone. Further, the
sara alone. Further, the
case is in court at the
case is in court at the
moment but since the
moment but since the
court has not issued a
court has not issued a
stay order, we will re-
stay order, we will re-
sume demolition soon.”
sume demolition soon.”
Local residents are
Local residents are
wary
, at best.
wary
, at best.
Pandesara resident
Pandesara resident
Bhaskar Raut said,
Bhaskar Raut said,
“SMC and GHB are
“SMC and GHB are
pushing people out
pushing people out
based on a survey of one
based on a survey of one
building.” Another resi-
building.” Another resi-
dent, Vikas Jalan said,
dent, Vikas Jalan said,
“We have a structure
“We have a structure
report which says the
report which says the
building will last for 10
building will last for 10
more years. Yet, the
more years. Yet, the
SMC and GHB are will-
SMC and GHB are will-
ing to kick us out just to
ing to kick us out just to
help builders.”
help builders.”
First India Bureau
Morbi: Jayanti Vara-
niya has been disquali-
fied as sarpanch of Tra-
jpar village panchayat
in Morbi district—bare-
ly two months after he
won the election—on
the grounds that he has
more than two children,
one of whom was born
after 2005.
Jashuben Sabariya
who lost to Varaniya in
the election held in De-
cember filed a com-
plaint with the taluka
development officer
(TDO) of Morbi con-
tending that one of his
four children was born
in 2007. This made him
ineligible to hold any
post as per the provi-
sions of Gujarat Pan-
chayat Act 1993, she
said.
As per Section 32 of
the Gujarat Panchayat
Act, a person who has
more than two children
and if any of them is
bornafterAugust4,2005,
heorsheisnoteligibleto
contest local body polls
in the state and is liable
to be disqualified.
Taking cognisance of
Jashuben’s complaint,
Morbi TDO Teepa Ko-
tak issued an order on
Mon-day, disqualifying
Varaniya as sarpanch
of Trajpar.
“The village register
recorded birth of Vara-
niya’s fourth child in
2007. The principal of
the school also certified
that the birth of the
said child was recorded
in 2007. This was in vio-
lation of existing laws.
Therefore, under Sec-
tion 32 of Gujarat Pan-
chayat Act, 1993, we de-
clared Varaniya dis-
qualified as Trajpar
village sarpanch,” the
TDO said.
Varaniya, said that
he would appeal against
the TDO’s order. “My
son was born in 2004
and I stick to that decla-
ration. I will appeal
against the TDO’s or-
der,” he said.
Jashuben’s defeat in
the December 2021 elec-
tion was seen as an em-
barrassment to her hus-
band Parsottam Sabari-
ya, the sitting BJP MLA
from Dhrangadhra.
Kotak, however, said
thatthedeputysarpanch
would hold charge until
a bypoll is held.
Varaniya said he will contest the disqualification. —FILE PHOTO
Complaint
against Jayanti
Varaniya, who
won two months
ago, filed by
beaten opponent
SIGN
OF THE
TIMES
With summer still
officially months away,
the Chandola lake in
Ahmedabad is already
showing signs of drying
up. This does not bode
well for the city or the
state, many parts of which
are parched every year
during the hotter months.
—PHOTO BY
HANIF SINDHI
OUT IN THE COLD
Monthly
allowance of
`5,000, meant
for rent, also
stopped after
just two months,
local residents
complain

www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia
facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia 09
AHMEDABAD, THURSDAY,
FEBRUARY 17, 2022
ANITA HADA
anita.hada@firstindianews.com
eri neend ude te
ud jaaye…
Bindiya Cham-
kegi, Chudi
khankegi …
Lata Man-
g e s h k a r
crooned as
Mumtaz wooed the reticent
Rakesh Khanna, looking ab-
solutely stunning in an or-
ange saree, gajra, bindi, ban-
gles. Coupled with her imp-
ish sexiness the song has
become one of the biggest
hits and would not be fair to
say Mumtaz’s best. But Do
Raaste is actually not about
the love story of Khanna and
Mumtaz even though with
Chup Gaye Saare Nazaare
and Mere Naseeb Mein ae
dost, one might be misled
into thinking the same.
With the pandemic, many
have had a forced or chosen
‘homecoming’ and in a way,
the theme of Do Raaste is
relevant again as people
with different outlooks and
attitudes live together as a
family
. Once again, we are
close-knit as try to compro-
miseandadjusttoeachother
to keep a family together.
As a child, I would be an-
gry at Balraj Sahni for not
being harsh with Bindu as
sheselfishlyandwithschem-
ing breaks the ‘home’ built
so lovingly with sacrifice
and love but today I can un-
derstand the positives of the
stoic Balraj. Bindu as the
‘evil bahu’ gives a stellar per-
formance and much of the
film is enacted as Rajesh
Khanna and Bindu spar- she
for her own interests and he
for the ‘family’. Bindu had
no songs in Do Raaste but a
powerful ‘vamp’ role which
she did full justice to.
Thetrialsandtribulations
of middle-class India were
depicted with emphasis on
respect of elders, relations
are supreme, mother-power
and the sanctity of joint fam-
ily
. Raj Khosla hit upon a
‘winning formula’ and to
date, hundreds of directors
have followed suit.
Rajesh Khanna dominat-
ed the scenes as the angry
young man, upholding fam-
ily values with little care
of high-society- a man
who puts his elder step-
brotherandBhabhifirstand
foremost.Veenaasthemoth-
er and Kamini Kaushal as
the Bhabhi play supporting
roles though on reflection
one does wish they had han-
dled things better rather
thanbeingdoormatsinfront
of Bindu. K L Sigal’s Ek
Bangla bane nyara – the
song echoes as the family
disintegrates – is haunting
and a masterpiece.
Essentially, the lesson is
clear- as a family
, we all will
face problems sometimes in-
ternal and many times ex-
ternal. We all have Do
Raaste- two paths in front of
us- do we stay united as a
family and sort things out
with compromise and love
(not sacrifice) or do we allow
‘trials’ to break our family?
We all choose…daily…
BINDIYA
BINDIYA
CHAMKEGI
CHAMKEGI
T
THIS THROWBACK THURSDAY WE BRING YOU DO RAASTE, A 1969 FAMILY DRAMA
WHICH CELEBRATE THE AGE-OLD THEMES OF FAMILY, LOVE, SACRIFICE AND MORE.
POST PANDEMIC, THE IMPORTANCE OF THE FAMILY HAS DEFINITELY BEEN
REINFORCED AND ‘TOGETHER WE CAN’ IS THE KEY PHRASE FOR THIS GEN TOO!

10
ETC
F
A
C
E
O
F
T
H
E
D
A
Y
AKSHARA KHANNA, Blogger
LEO
JULY 24 - AUGUST 23
Your depressing thoughts
vanish as a special friend or
relative arrives to lift up
your spirits. Those fed up
of frequent travelling will be able to
do something about it. Some major
changes may be initiated in a property
owned by you. You will need to
become proficient in everything.
LIBRA
SEPT 24 - OCTOBER 22
Family will be loving and
supportive of your ideas. A
ride to the countryside will
help some unwind.
Property issues are likely to get
settled in your favour. Distractions
may find your focus wavering on the
academic front. Someone you hate is
likely to turn over a new leaf.
ARIES
MAR 21 - APR 20
Take up meditation or yoga
for achieving a fit body and
mind. You will manage to
tie up a lot of loose ends
on the domestic front. Your desire to
visit someplace out of town is likely
to get fulfilled. You will manage to
book property that you had been
wanting to for long.
SAGITTARIUS
NOV 23 - DEC 22
Enjoying extra time on your
hands on the academic front
may not be possible today.
You enjoy good health by
remaining regular in your exercise
regimen. A guest arriving at home will
prove quite entertaining and lighten the
domestic atmosphere. Gains from
rented out property are foreseen.
GEMINI
MAY 21 - JUNE 21
Setting out early on a
journey will be in your
favour. A property matter,
pending for long, will
proceed smoothly and get your
dream house registered in your
name. Excellent academic perfor-
mance will help you catch up with
the lead pack.
AQUARIUS
JAN 21 - FEB 19
A family youngster may
need to be dealt with firmly
in regards to spending
money. You will need to
define your career goals clearly before
deciding what to pursue on the
academic front. You will be able to
overcome the feeling that nobody loves
or cares for you.
TAURUS
APR 21 - MAY 20
Selective eating will keep
you fit as a fiddle. Taking
up meditation will prove
beneficial for both body
and mind. A family youngster may
require a push from your side to gain
confidence in something attempted.
Adopting a more convenient route for
workplace is possible.
CAPRICORN
DEC 23 - JAN 20
You will have a good time
in the company of friends
or cousins. Going on a
short vacation in future
after lockdown restrictions just for a
break is possible. A property is likely
to be yours soon. You will be able to
maintain the tempo on the academic
front and fare well.
VIRGO
AUG 24 - SEP 23
A family get together may
find you in your element.
Travelling to meet
someone close is
indicated. A house or an apartment is
likely to come in your name.
Competition on the academic front
may unsettle you, but not discourage
you to put your best foot forward.
CANCER
JUNE 22 - JULY 23
Planning something
together with family will be
fun. Good news on the
professional front can
prove highly motivating. A different
mode of conveyance will be better
suited to your needs. A good price
can be expected for a piece of
property being sold.
PISCES
FEB20 - MARCH 20
Coming back in shape can
prove an uphill task for
some. You will go out of
your way to extend a
helping hand to a family member. Be
careful of property dealers promising
you the moon. Doing exceptionally
well on the academic front will add to
your prestige.
SCORPIO
OCT 23 - NOVEMBER 22
You may get involved in
arranging something on
the family front. A loan you
had applied for will be
sanctioned. Remaining regular in
workouts is the key to achieve total
health. You get a chance to visit your
favourite place. Settling a property
deal is on the cards for some.
YOUR
DAY
Horoscope by
Saurabbh Sachdeva
stablished in 1982
under Section 5 of
the Rajasthan
Wild Animals and
Birds Protection
Act, 1951, Ra-
jasthan’s Ram-
garh Vishdhari Wildlife
Sanctuary is expected to be
formally announced any-
time as a tiger reserve. The
Centre and technical com-
mittee of the National Ti-
ger Conservation Author-
ity (NTCA) have already
given their consent to
grant tiger reserve status
to Ramgarh Vishdhari
Wildlife Sanctuary. If it
happens then after Ranth-
ambore, Sariska, and
Mukundra tiger reserves
in Rajasthan, Ramgarh
Vishdhari Wildlife Sanctu-
ary would be Rajasthan’s
fourth and 52nd tiger re-
serve in the country. This
initiative will strengthen
tiger conservation and in-
crease the tiger population
in Eastern Rajasthan.
On February 9th, 2022 as
a recent development, the
first-time movement of
four tigers have seen. Near
Chakan Dam T129 and
near Kamleshwar T110
and T59 have been spotted.
In search of territory for
the last one-month T129 is
in Ramgarh sanctuary.
4-year-old male tiger T115
has already been in Ram-
garh for the last 18 months
and it is presumed that the
tiger has made its abode in
Ramgarh sanctuary. It is
believed that from the for-
est of Kamleshwar T115 in
search of food and water
reached to Sakhavada Mej
River. From there the tiger
crossed the Indragarh
Buffer zone and went to
Ramgarh sanctuary
.
According to the forest
officials, 5-year-old male
tiger T110 and female ti-
ger T59 (mother of T115)
come very frequently to
Ramgarh from Rantham-
bore Tiger Reserve. The
place where all these ti-
gers have been spotted is
a few kilometres away
from the Sakhavada Mej
river in Ramgarh.
“Biodiversityof Bundiis
suitable and rich for tigers.
Due to tiger clashes and
pressure tigers are coming
out of Ranthambore Tiger
Reserve and making Ram-
garh as their destination,”
stated A.N.Gupta, DFO
Wildlife, Kota.
Tarun Mehra, Assistant
Conservator of Forests,
Ramgarh Vishdhari Sanc-
tuary, Bundi district in an
exclusive interview stated,
“In Bundi district, this
would be the third tiger re-
serve. As a unique feature,
once the official announce-
ment of Ramgarh Sanctu-
ary as the Tiger Reserve
will be made Bundi would
be the first district in India
where three tiger reserves
will be found.”
Mehra further said,
“The North area of Bundi
is the part of Rantham-
bore Tiger Reserve and the
southern area of the dis-
trictisthepartof Mukund-
ara Tiger Reserve. As Ram-
garh becomes the tiger re-
serve, the portion of
Southern Eastern Ra-
jasthan from Karauli to
Jhalawar districts will be-
come a territory. From
Mukundara and Rantham-
bore tiger reserves move-
ment of tigers is very often
or frequent in Ramgarh
sanctuary
. To protect a cor-
ridor there is no provision
in the wildlife protection
act. And hence as a corri-
dor between Mukundara
and Ranthambore and also
to protect that area the
Ramgarh Wildlife century
is decided to be announced
as a tiger reserve.”
Ramgarh Tiger Reserve
will be spread across 1,501
sq km. of reserve area
comprising three forest
blocks of Bhilwara; a cor-
ridor and territorial for-
ests block of Bundi along
with a part of Nainwa,
Hindoli, and Dabi; from
Kota to Bundi, the Nation-
al Chambal Ghadiyal Cen-
tury of Rajasthan will be
included as the core area
of the tiger reserve. Simi-
larly, the area of Ramgarh
Century will also be the
core area, and the remain-
ing part would be the buff-
er zone of the sanctuary
.
In the proposed tiger re-
serve a 225.6 sq. km. would
be the Core-I area and 256
sq. km. will be the Core-II
area for Tigers and 1019 sq.
km. will be preserved as
the buffer area. The core
areas of the sanctuary
have 8 villages with a pop-
ulation of 5000 and are
home to large numbers of
wild animals like samb-
hars, caracals, wild boars,
nilgai, and striped hyenas.
There are around 35 vil-
lages in the zone of influ-
ence of the sanctuary area.
It is pertinent to men-
tion that the tigers were
disappeared from the sanc-
tuary in 1999. During the
budget session in the year
2019, the Chief Minister of
Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot
showed interest to exam-
ine the Ramgarh area to be
made as to the Tiger Re-
serve. Later, the expert
committee and then NTCA
found the area suitable for
the Tiger Reserve. The
State Government of Ra-
jasthan has given nod to
develop Ramgarh as the
Tiger Reserve but the offi-
cial announcement will
soon be made just after its
notice gets published in a
gazette or a public journal.
ANUBHA JAIN
Journalist writer
E
RAMGARHVISHDHARIWILDLIFE
RAMGARHVISHDHARIWILDLIFE
SANCTUARYGEAREDUPTOBE
SANCTUARYGEAREDUPTOBE
THE4THINRAJASTHANAND52ND
THE4THINRAJASTHANAND52ND
TIGERRESERVEINTHECOUNTRY.
TIGERRESERVEINTHECOUNTRY.
ANEXCLUSIVEINTERVIEWWITH
ANEXCLUSIVEINTERVIEWWITH
THEASSISTANTCONSERVATOROF
THEASSISTANTCONSERVATOROF
FORESTS,RVWS!
RAMGARH VISHDHARI
RAMGARH VISHDHARI
RAMGARH VISHDHARI
RAMGARH VISHDHARI
RAMGARH VISHDHARI
RAMGARH VISHDHARI
RAMGARH VISHDHARI
RAMGARH VISHDHARI
RAMGARH VISHDHARI
WILDLIFE SANCTUARY
WILDLIFE SANCTUARY

ow does a person
become great? It is
certainly not the
rosy countenance
one sports or the
muscles that one
flexes. It is not even
the awards one has won or
the adulation he or she has
received. It is only how long
and how deep a person is
placed in our hearts that de-
fines greatness. It is the
sheer longevity of one’s
creation that extends one’s
life through time and makes
him immortal.
Bappi Lahiri is one such
icon of Indian music, whose
genius can’t be measured by
the number of awards he
won or the kind of adula-
tion he received or rather
didn’t receive. Bappi Lahiri
won’t be found in many in-
terviews. He is not on top of
many awards lists. He didn’t
make news if not for his
sartorial aberrations high-
lighted by his gold cover. He
didn’t taste the kind of cult
magic that a Rahman or an
RD do. Of his six nomina-
tions, he picked only one
Filmfare award (for Shara-
bi) in a career spanning
over five decades and not
many thereafter. Even in
his peak in the 80s, he was
often badmouthed for pla-
giarising, an allegation he
always had to fight hard to
refute. For all the music he
wrote, he remained a poor
man’s RD Burman. And he
passed away as silently as
unceremoniously he lived!
Yet, as long as music
lives, ‘I am a disco dancer’
will live. As long as melody
is celebrated, ‘Imtehan ho
gai’ will be celebrated. As
long as the dance floors
rock, ‘Koi yahan aha nache
nache’ will rock. As long as
lovers part, ‘Chalte chalte
mere ye geet’ will be sung.
As long as there is pining in
love, ‘Kisi nazar ko tera in-
tezar’ will be loved. That’s
where his greatness
will be vindicated.
He didn’t just wear
lavish gold, but also
gifted us a rich
bouquet of
golden lilts
w h o s e
g l i t t e r
would
never fade.
Bappi da’s output was
prolific. Starting off at 19,
he is said to have composed
music for around 300 films
in Hindi, Bengali and other
languages. Even his Telugu
films number over two doz-
en! He entered the Guinness
Book of World Records for
recording over 180 songs for
a whopping 33 films in one
year – 1986. He has also ren-
dered several Hindi hit
songs, in his typical Bengali
tint, which are still sung
across the world wherever
Indians live and celebrate
life. ‘Yaad aa raha hai tera
pyar’, ‘Bambai se aaya mera
dost’, ‘Pyar kabhi kam nhi
karna’, ‘Pyar bina chain ka-
han re’ and his last great hit
‘Oolala oo lala’ were like
national rage in their time
and they have left an indel-
ible imprint in the musical
sensibilities of generations.
Bappi da was a harbinger
of techno or disco music in
Bollywood, which was way
different from RD’s and had
a character that made them
Bappi da’s very own. Moreo-
ver, the gamut of his diver-
sity is even wider than RD’s
in some ways. It is hard to
believe that a person who
composes a masterpiece
like ‘Chanda dekhe chanda’
or ‘Aao tumhe chand pe le
jayein’ could also produce
something like ‘Gutur gu-
tur’ and ‘De de pyar de’.
When I had the good for-
tune of meeting him some
three years back, I felt the
euphoric impact of a great
man hitting me on the face.
He was reserved in his ap-
proach but warm in his sen-
sibilities. He was not keep-
ing too well even then. He
looked exhausted and
moved even slower than he
normally did. Yet he was
still active on the music
scene, busy with several big
and small projects, includ-
ing frequent stage and real-
ity shows. Who knew, a vi-
brant life could end so
abruptly? Is it a sheer coin-
cidence, that three
stalwarts of the
same fraternity
and time, all of
who knew each
other – Lata
didi, Sandhya
M u k h e r j e e
and Bappi da
– passed
away in a
span of
just 10
days?
ETC
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia AHMEDABAD | THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2022
11
Goodbye, Bappi Da
Goodbye, Bappi Da
‘Golden’ boy
‘Golden’ boy of
of
BOLLYWOOD...
BOLLYWOOD...
H
DIPTIMAN
CHAKRABORTY
diptiman2000@gmail.com
The writer is a music
aficionado and a senior
journalist with First
India. He has been
writing on diverse
topics related to art
and culture for various
English newspapers,
magazines and
websites for over 15
years.
Ooh la la, ooh la la, tu hai meri fantasy...
I am a disco dancer...
Pag ghunghru baandh..
Yaar bina chain kahan re ...
Bambai se aaya mera dost...
Raat baaki, baat baaki...
Pyaar kabhi kam mat karna...
Tamma Tamma...
Gori hain kalaiyaan...
Mithun in the iconic number-I am a disco dancer...
Late Bappi Lahiri

17022022 first india ahmedabad

17022022 first india ahmedabad

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Similar to 17022022 first india ahmedabad

Similar to 17022022 first india ahmedabad (20)

More from FIRST INDIA

More from FIRST INDIA (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

17022022 first india ahmedabad