17112021 first india ahmedabad

CM PATEL DEDICATES WATER SUPPLY
PROJECTS WORTH `491.39 CRORE
AIMING FOR THE FUTURE
First India Bureau
Vadodara: Chief Minis-
ter Bhupendra Patel on
Tuesday visited Va-
dodara for the first time
since taking charge and
received a warm wel-
comefrompartyworkers.
He dedicated and laid
thefoundationstoneof a
water supply project to
be built at a total cost of
Rs491.39 crore, to
strengthen water distri-
bution system in Va-
dodara district. He also
granted in-principle ap-
proval to water supply
projects worth Rs63.37
crore in six other mu-
nicipalities. Addressing
the gathering organized
by the CM state water
supply department in
Savli, he declared Va-
dodara district as 100%
tapwaterconnected.“
Af-
ter Gandhinagar,
Mehsana, Anand, Botad
and Porbandar, Va-
dodara is now the sixth
districtinthestatetoget
100%tapwater,”hesaid.
Lauding Prime Minis-
ter Narendra Modi for
the Jal Jeevan Mission,
Patel said, “Our govern-
ment has been constant-
ly trying to provide fa-
cilities such as tap water
toallcitizensof thestate.
PM Modi has decided to
providepuretapwaterto
all households in the
country by the year 2024
under the Jal Jeevan
Mission. Turn to P6
Vadodara MP Ranjan Bhatt presents CM Bhupendra Patel with a
safa (turban) as state Revenue Minister Rajendra Trivedi looks on
at an event on Tuesday evening.
On his maiden visit to Vadodara
district, he was welcomed
warmly by party workers
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
AHMEDABAD l WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2021 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/79050 l Vol 2 l Issue No. 348
OUR EDITIONS: JAIPUR, AHMEDABAD, LUCKNOW & NEW DELHI
Jaipur: International cricket match is going to be organised in Jaipur
after a long wait of 8 years. Team India will play the first match of the T20
International series with New Zealand on November 17 at SMS Stadium
wherein, the newly appointed coach of Team India, Rahul Dravid and captain
Rohit Sharma will have their first test in more ways than one. P3
Mumbai: Equity benchmark Sensex tanked 396 points on Tuesday tracking losses
in index majors Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and SBI amid a mixed trend in
global markets. Index ended 396.34 points or 0.65 per cent lower at 60,322.37.
The 50-issue Nifty fell 110.25 points or 0.61 per cent to 17,999.20. Reliance
Industries was the top loser in the Sensex pack, shedding over 2 per cent.
T20 INTERNATIONAL
MATCH TO BE HELD
IN JAIPUR AFTER 8
YEARS TODAY
SENSEX TUMBLES
396 PTS; NIFTY
SLIPS BELOW
18,000
CORONA CATASTROPHE
GUJARAT
INDIA
12,907
new cases
251
new fatalities
35
new cases
00
new fatalities
CRUCIAL READ
LS SPEAKER BIRLA ARRIVES IN SHIMLA
FOR PRESIDING OFFICERS CONFERENCE
Shimla: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Tuesday arrived
in Shimla for the Presiding Officers conference and he
was accorded a warm welcome by Himachal Pradesh
Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar on his arrival at
Raj Bhavan. Lok Sabha Speaker has arrived here to attend
the Presiding Officer’s Conference being organised in HP
Vidhan Sabha. A dinner will also be hosted in his honour
by the Governor in Peterhoff on November 18. P6
RECOVERY IS NOW
TAKING HOLD: DAS
New Delhi: RBI Governor
Shaktikanta Das on Tuesday
said that there are numer-
ous indicators that suggest
that economic recovery is
now taking hold, but for
the growth to be sustain-
able and reach its potential,
investment in private capital
has to resume.
CM GEHLOT
ACCUSES SHAH
Jaipur: Rajasthan Chief
Minister Ashok Gehlot on
Tuesday accused Union
Home Minister Amit Shah
of being involved in the
fall of Congress govern-
ment in Madhya Pradesh
and trying to do it with his
state government too last
year.
SC JUNKS PIL ON PB
DGP APPOINTMENT
Chandigarh: SC on
Tuesday dismissed
petitions filed by
DGPs Sidharth Chat-
topadhyaya and Mohd
Mustafa challeng-
ing appointment of
1987-batch IPS officer
Dinkar Gupta as the
Punjab Police chief
by Captain-led Punjab
govt. The development
is seen as a setback to
Chattopadhaya, con-
sidered a frontrunner
for the post of Punjab
DGP, the appointment
of which is expected in
the next few days.
—Agencies
E-WAY
TO PROGRESS,
SECURITY
Sultanpur: Prime Minister
Narendra Modi on Tuesday
accused the previous Uttar
Pradesh governments of let-
ting poverty and the mafia
take over the state’s eastern
part, saying the BJP govern-
ment is now writing a new
chapter of development there.
Modi was addressing a rally
here after the launch of the
341-km Purvanchal Express-
way
, where he himself landed
in a military transport air-
craft on a 3.2-km stretch devel-
opedasanemergencyairstrip
for the Indian Air Force.
Development was limited to
places where the previous
CMs had their homes or fami-
lies, Modi said while not nam-
ing SP, the BSP or Congress
which the ruling BJP faces in
the Assembly polls just
monthsaway
.UPCMYogiAdi-
tyanath,GovernorAnandiben
Patel & others were present.
Shah: Kartarpur Corridor to
reopen ahead of Gurupurab
New Delhi: In a major
decision, PM Modi-led
government has decid-
ed to reopen the Kartar-
pur Sahib Corridor
from Wednesday, Union
Home Minister Amit
Shah said on Tuesday
.
Taking to Twitter
Shah said, “In a major
decision, that will bene-
fit large numbers of
Sikh pilgrims, PM Nar-
endra Modi government
has decided to re-open
the Kartarpur Sahib
Corridor from Novem-
ber 17. The nation is all
set to celebrate the
Prakash Utsav of Shri
Guru Nanak Dev ji on
November 19 and I am
sure that PM Narendra
Modigovernment’sdeci-
sion to reopen the Kar-
tarpur Sahib corridor
willfurtherboostthejoy
and happiness across
the country
.” —ANI
MIRAGE, JAGUAR, SUKHOI AND AN-32
AIRCRAFT SPELLBOUND SPECTATORS
A MAJOR BOOST
FOR IAF PLANES
Event ended with an air show by Mirage, Jaguar,
Sukhoi and An-32 aircraft, before PM headed back
to Delhi on C-130 Hercules which had brought
him here. A Mirage-2000 was the first to land.
Commandos emerged later from the belly of an
An-32 plane. Another Mirage, two Jaguars and an
Su-30MKI performed touch-and-go manoeuvres
on the air strip. Show ended with a flypast.
341 KM-LONG
EXPRESSWAY
The 341 kilometre-long
Purvanchal Express-
way starts from village
Chaudsarai in Lucknow
on Lucknow-Sultanpur
road and ends in Hydaria
village located on National
Highway number 31, 18
kilometres east of the Ut-
tar Pradesh-Bihar border.
MAMATA LIKELY TO MEET
MODI NEXT WEEK
Kolkata: West Bengal CM Mamata
Banerjee is likely to visit New Delhi
next week for three days and meet PM
Modi to discuss dues to the state and
increased BSF jurisdiction in Kolkata.
Didi is expected to fly to Delhi on
November 22 and return to Kolkata on
November 25. During her visit, she may
meet PM Modi and also hold meetings
with leaders of other parties.
The key feature of the E-
way is 3.2 km long airstrip
to enable landing and take-
off of IAF fighter planes
in case of emergency.
Six-lane expressway can
be expanded to eight lanes
in the future. It has been
constructed at estimated
cost of `22,500 crore.
New Delhi: The operations at the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor
had been suspended since March 16, 2020, on account
of the Covid-19 pandemic. Pilgrimage through the cor-
ridor would be facilitated as per existing procedures and
adherence to Covid protocols. Punjab CM CS Channi an-
nounced that the entire state Cabinet would pay obeisance
at Sri Kartarpur Sahib on 18 November as a part of the
first delegation after the re-opening of the corridor.
Capt.Amarinder Singh @capt_amarinder
My profound gratitude to PM @narendramodi
and HM @AmitShah for timely opening of Kar-
tarpur Sahib Corridor. It will provide a chance
to thousands of devotees to pay obeisance at the holy
shrine on occasion of Guru Purab of Guru Nanak Dev Ji.
Can’t interfere
in how to hold
‘puja’, break a
coconut: SC
WB Assembly
resolution against
GoI’s BSF move
2 businessmen killed in Srinagar
Op; supported terrorists,say cops
New Delhi: The Su-
preme Court on Tues-
day said the constitu-
tional court can’t inter-
fere in the day-to-day
affairs of the temple,
and declined to issue
any order on a petition
alleging irregularities
in certain rituals of
Tirupati Balaji temple.
A bench headed by
Chief Justice NV Ra-
mana said constitution-
al courts can’t spell out
how rituals (‘puja’ in a
temple) should be per-
formed, how coconut
should be broken, how
a garland should be put
on a deity, etc.
Bench, also compris-
ing Justices A.S. Bopan-
na and Hima Kohli said
these issues cannot be
decided in a writ peti-
tion. Sarvari Daadaa, a
devotee of Lord Ven-
kateshwara Swamy had
filed the PIL. —ANI
Kolkata: West Bengal
Assembly on Tuesday
passed a resolution
against the Centre’s de-
cision to extend BSF’s
jurisdiction, amid oppo-
sition by BJP legisla-
tors. WB became the
second state after Pun-
jab where such a resolu-
tion has been passed.
House saw unruly
scenes after TMC MLA’s
remark against BSF. P5
Srinagar: Four per-
sons, including two
businessmen, were
killed during an anti-
terror operation by se-
curity forces in Srina-
gar. The police said that
two terrorists were
killed in the operation
and the killed business-
men were “terrorist
supporters”.
The killed business-
men—Dr Mudasir Gul
and Altaf Bhat—had
shops in the commer-
cial complex at Hyder-
pora where the encoun-
ter took place on Mon-
day evening.
Ex-J&K CM Mehboo-
ba Mufti had demanded
an inquiry into the kill-
ings. The families al-
lege that the business-
men were killed by se-
curity forces but cops
earlier insisted that
both of them were ei-
ther killed in terrorist
firing or killed during
the crossfire. —ANI
CBI crackdown on child porn at 76 locations
New Delhi: In a major
crackdown against sex-
ual abuse and child por-
nography, the Central
Bureau of Investigation
(CBI) conducted search-
es at around 76 loca-
tions across 14 states
and union territories in
the country
.
A senior official on
Tuesday informed that
CBI has registered 23
separate cases on Mon-
day against a total of 83
accused on the allega-
tions related to online
child sexual abuse and
exploitation. “The raids
are underway in
Andhra Pradesh, Delhi,
Uttar Pradesh, Punjab,
Bihar, Odisha, Tamil-
nadu, Rajasthan, Maha-
rashtra, Gujarat, Hary-
ana, Chhattisgarh,
Madhya Pradesh,
Himachal Pradesh and
other states,” he added.
Details will be re-
leased after completion
of raids they said. —ANI
Country’s security is as important as its prosperity said PM
Modi, who landed in a C-130 Hercules plane on the airstrip
constructed on 341-km Purvanchal Expressway on Tuesday
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
arrives to inaugurate 341-km long
Purvanchal Expressway, at Karwal
Kheri in Sultanpur on Tuesday.
—PHOTOS BY SUMIT AWASTHI
SHUT DUE TO COVID-19 PANDEMIC
When I laid the foundation stone of
Purvanchal Expressway 3 yrs back, I
had never thought that I will land here
on an aircraft one day. Roar of these aircraft
will also be for those who ignored nation’s
defence infra for decades. —Narendra Modi, PM
The corridor was shut in wake of the COVID pandemic
PM Modi flanked by UP Governor Anandiben Patel
and CM Yogi Adityanath enjoy the air show.

NEWS
AHMEDABAD | WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2021
02
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: The trib-
al district of Dang in
eastern Gujarat will be
declared as a 100% or-
ganic farming district,
as the state govern-
ment has taken steps to
encourage farmers to
avoid the use of chemi-
cal fertilizers and pesti-
cides on the entire cul-
tivable area, state Agri-
culture Minister Ra-
ghavji Patel said on
Tuesday.
Speaking to media-
persons, Patel said the
state government is
providing a subsidy of
Rs10,000 per hectare for
a maximum of two hec-
tares to each farmer in
the largely hilly district
for adopting organic
farming practices.
“For the first time in
western India, Guja-
rat’s Dang will be de-
clared a 100% organic
farming district by the
governor at a pro-
gramme on November
19. Farmers in the dis-
trict are adopting farm-
ing techniques that are
fertilizer and pesticide-
free,” the minister said.
The state consumes
38 to 40 lakh tonnes of
chemical fertilizers, for
which the government
pays Rs4,200 to Rs4,300
crore subsidy, he add-
ed.
Dang Collector B K
Pandya said that out of
nearly 58,000 hectares
under cultivation in
the district, at least
70% to 80% land was
already covered under
traditional farming
practices that don’t re-
quire chemical fertiliz-
ers and pesticides.
“A majority of farm-
ers in Dang use tradi-
tional farming. In the
remaining areas, they
cultivate rice and mil-
let (nagali), the local
staple food. They use
fertilizers to cultivate
rice in certain pockets.
The state government
has announced a
scheme to provide a
subsidy to compensate
farmers for fall in pro-
duction by adopting
organic farming prac-
tices,” said Pandya.
The district adminis-
tration is in the process
of implementing the
scheme, and the subsi-
dy has been paid to
around 12,000 farmers,
he added.
“Farmers are also
being encouraged to
use cow dung and
urine, and Rs900 is be-
ing paid to them for
maintenance of cattle,
As for marketing, agen-
cies through the state
agriculture depart-
ment will certify the
produce as organic so
that they can be simi-
larly marketed all over
the state and outside,”
the collector said.
The Gujarat govern-
ment had in 2015 de-
clared an organic farm-
ing policy, which stated
that areas that have a
very low level of ferti-
liser consumption
could play an impor-
tant role in promotion
of organic farming.
Dang district, as well
as tribal districts of Sa-
barkantha, Dahod,
Panchmahal, Chhota
Udepur, Narmada, Su-
rat, Tapi and Valsad
are considered to have
high potential for or-
ganic farming due to
the social-economic
condition of farmers
and traditional crop-
ping pattern that re-
quires minimal use of
chemicals.
Dang to be declared 100% organic farming dist: Agri Min
FROM FARM TO TABLE
Agriculture Minister Raghavji Patel addressing mediapersons on Tuesday.
Government working alongside
farmers to ensure fertilizer &
pesticide-free crops
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: Assur-
ing farmers that there
is no shortage of ferti-
lizers for Rabi season
in the state, state Agri-
culture Minister Ra-
ghavji Patel warned of
action against those
who spread rumours of
dearth, was found
black marketeering fer-
tilizers, and/or cheat-
ing farmers during
crop procurement.
Addressing the
chemical fertilizer
shortage issue in Gan-
dhinagar, the agricul-
ture minister further
said that the state gov-
ernment had provided
ample amounts of
urea, potash, and other
chemicals for cultiva-
tion on 94.93 lakh hec-
tare during the cur-
rent season.
“All the fertilizers
are available in ample
supply across the state.
The central govern-
ment has allocated
12.50 lakh MT urea, 2.50
lakh MT DAP, 2.85 Lakh
MT NPK, and 60,000 MT
MOP fertilizer for the
state. There is no need
for farmers to purchase
fertilizers in large
quantities thinking
they are in short sup-
ply,” Patel said.
He further stated
that there was no short-
age of fertilizers in Gu-
jarat even in the Kharif
season. The state had
received 38 lakh MT
fertilizers, including
11.77 lakh MT of urea,
2.59 lakh MT DAP, 3.38
lakh NPK and 63,000
MT potash.
While addressing
media persons in Gan-
dhinagar, Patel also in-
formed that till Monday
evening, the state gov-
ernment had procured
616.23 MT groundnut
from 3,602 farmers,
with 102 beneficiaries
receiving payment of
Rs1.165 crore.
The state govern-
ment had announced a
relief package for
farmers of four dis-
tricts of Saurashtra,
as standing crops in
Jamnagar, Junagadh,
Rajkot and Porbandar
were badly damaged.
According to a survey
conducted by the state
agriculture depart-
ment, crops standing
on 4.20 lakh hectare of
land in 682 villages of
23 talukas were dam-
aged. To remedy the
damage, a Rs 547 crore
relief package was an-
nounced. The govern-
ment received 2.06
lakh applications, of
which, 74,090 applica-
tions have been ap-
proved and beneficiar-
ies have received
Rs151.87 crore relief.
It has also conducted
damage surveys in 17
other districts, for
which the state govern-
ment will announce a
relief package soon,
added the agriculture
minister.
No fertilizer shortage in Gujarat,
crop procurement going smoothly
Govt has allocated 12.5L MT urea, 2.5L MT DAP, 2.85L MT NPK & 60K MOP fertilizers for cultivation during Rabi season.
—PHOTO
BY
HANIF
SINDHI
AGRICULTURE MINISTER RAGHAVJI PATEL WARNS
OFACTIONAGAINSTBLACKMARKETERS,CHEATERS
First India Bureau
Himmatnagar: As a
part of the party’s ‘Jan
Jagran Abhiyan’, Gu-
jarat Congress state in-
charge Dr Raghu Shar-
ma on Tuesday, visited
the Sabarkantha dis-
trict and had kicked
off the membership
drive there.
In Gadhoda village
of Sabarkantha dis-
trict, Sharma induct-
ed citizens as mem-
bers of the party. Ad-
dressing a gathering
at the village, he said,
“Ordinary people are
paying the price for
the lies and jokes of
the Modi government.
By conjuring up the
dream of an ‘atma
nirbhar’ India, the
economy’s self-reli-
ance has been com-
pletely demolished.
Today, the govern-
ment is not listening
to the screams of the
people of India due to
inflation.”
Camping in the state
for the past few days,
Sharma took part in
the ‘Jan Jagran Abhi-
yan’ event organized
by the Congress party
in Patan district on No-
vember 15.
He participated at a
function organized in
Himmatnagar of Gu-
jarat on Tuesday and
appealed to Congress
workers to take a vow
and create awareness
about the govern-
ment’s faults. On this
occasion, he also hon-
oured the citizens
who joined the Con-
gress party.
The state in-charge
also appealed to the
public to participate
in the ‘Jan Jagran Ab-
hiyan’ and help “up-
root the Bharatiya Ja-
nata Party’s (BJP)
misgovernance” in
the upcoming 2022
state legislative as-
sembly elections.
He was accompanied
by Amit Chavda, presi-
dent of Gujarat
Pradesh Congress
Committee (GPCC) and
other party leaders.
ALL INDIANS SHOULD PARTICIPATE IN
‘JAN JAGRAN ABHIYAN’: SHARMA
Dr Raghu Sharma,
Congress Gujarat
in-charge.
—FILE PHOTO
The Cong Gujarat in-charge
visited Sabarkantha district
on Tuesday to initiate party
membership drive
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: Gujarat
High Court Chief Jus-
tice Aravind Kumar has
agreed to mediate the
dispute between the Va-
dodara Bar Association
(VBA)andtheBarCoun-
cil of Gujarat (BCG). As
thematterhasremained
unresolved, CJ Kumar
will be hearing both par-
ties after court hours on
November 22.
The Vadodara Bar
Association has moved
a petition challenging
the Bar Council’s deci-
sion to stop it from
changing the legal con-
stitution. It wishes to
include more women
representatives in the
bar association. The
council’s stance is that
all bar associations are
affiliated members of
the bar council and so
are governed by its con-
stitution, which does
not give it the power to
make any changes.
In a recent hearing,
VBA advocate submit-
ted that the council’s
decision to remove the
association president
was malicious. “It is not
clear whether the coun-
cil is empowered by any
article of the Constitu-
tion to take action or
not,” he stated.
The advocate further
submitted that if a sole
member of the associa-
tionhasanobjectionand
he approaches the coun-
cil, who then takes ac-
tion, is not justified. “To
remove or add any mem-
ber is the sole authority
of the Vadodara Bar As-
sociation, and the coun-
cil has no role to make
decisions.Bypassingthe
resolution, the bar coun-
cil is trying to take con-
trol of the Vadodara Bar
Association,” asserted
the advocate.
CJ Aravind Kumar to mediate
dispute between VBA and BCG
Gujarat High Court Chief Justice Aravind Kumar (right) with Governor Acharya Devvrat at his
swearing-in ceremony. —FILE PHOTO
RERA TO HAVE CHAIRMAN, TECH MEMBERS SOON

GUJARAT
03
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad:WithCOV-
ID-19 cases on the rise
post Diwali festivities,
parents of students have
demanded that schools
revert to online educa-
tion for the time being.
To prevent the virus
from spreading among
the children studying in
city schools, parents
have demanded that
schools be closed and
online classes resumed.
Notably
, state Education
Minister Jitu Vaghani
had hinted at resump-
tionof on-campusteach-
ing for students of pri-
mary section (Class I to
V) in December earlier.
The government has
already acquiesced to of-
fline education for Class
VI to XII. The admission
process in colleges and
universities has also be-
gun due to relaxations.
Naresh Shah, presi-
dent of the All Gujarat
Board of Trustees said
that online education
shouldberesumed.“Chil-
dren may be at risk if a
situation similar to last
year occurs. All schools
should conduct online
classes for students up to
Class XII, until the case
surge comes down
again,” he asserted.
According to reports,
schools have taken to
collecting provisional
fees by increasing their
previous fees. However,
because the online por-
tal is no longer availa-
ble, parents are unable
to view the fees they
paid before the new
hike was introduced.
The state Fee Regula-
tion Committee website
contains information
on the fees set by the de-
partment of education
based on the state’s
zones. However, the
website has not been up-
datedinseveralmonths.
Parents demand online classes as COVID-19 cases surge
SAFETY PRECAUTION
Students of Class VI to XII have resumed offline classes.
Policequestions10bookedforillegalconversion
100 MEMBERS OF 37 TRIBAL FAMILIES WERE ALLEGEDLY CONVERTED TO ISLAM BY THEM OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS
First India Bureau
Bharuch: After a FIR
was registered
against nine persons
for allegedly luring
tribals from Kanka-
riya village in
Bharuch district to
convert them to Is-
lam, Bharuch police
have swung into ac-
tion and begun ques-
tioning the accused
for their alleged role
in illegal conversion
of 100 Hindu tribals
over the last few
years.
On Monday, convert
tribals from the village
had lodged a complaint
at Amod police station
with the allegations.
District Superinten-
dent of Police R V Chu-
dasama and Deputy
Superintendent of Po-
lice (SC/ST cell) M P
Bhojani and their
teams have been camp-
ing in Amod town since
Wednesday morning.
They have started
questioning persons
named in the First In-
formation Report, and
even recorded state-
ments of their family
members.
A tribal man, who
had converted to Is-
lam in 2018, has now
come forward and
lodged the complaint,
alleging that local
Muslim leaders re-
ceived funds from
London-based NRI
Fefdawala Haji Abdul.
“These funds were
then used to convert
100 persons of 37 Vasa-
va tribal families to
Islam,” he stated.
The accused named
in the complaint are
Sabbir Bekriwala
(Amod), Samaj Bekri-
wala (Amod), Abdul
Patel (Kankariya -
Amod), Yusuf Patel
(Kankariya - Amod),
Ayub Patel (Kankariya
- Amod), Ibrahim Patel
(Kankariya - Amod),
Fefdawala Haji Abul
(UK resident), Ismail
Delawala (Aachhod-
Amod) and Hasan Tisli
(Aachhod -Amod).
They have been
booked under various
sections of the Guja-
rat Freedom of Reli-
gion (Amendment)
Act, as well as sec-
tions 120 (B) (criminal
conspiracy), 153 (B)
(C) (act likely to cause
disharmony), and 506
(2) (criminal intimi-
dation) of the Indian
Penal Code (IPC). As
of now, no official ar-
rest has been made in
the case.
Kankariya village
sarpanch Raju Vasava
has claimed that he
had complained about
illegal conversion of
tribals to district au-
thorities but no action
was taken. South Gu-
jarat Prant Mantri of
the Viashwa Hindu
Parishad Ajay Vyas
told First India, “We
have verbally com-
plained many times,
ever since the matter
came to the knowl-
edge of the Parishad.
We had even organ-
ized satsang, sneh mi-
lan and other activi-
ties in the area to dis-
courage them from
conversion.”
Kankariya village in Amod taluka of Bharuch district; (inset) Bharuch district Superintendent of
Police (SP) R V Chudasama.
Fearful of the virus, they want
schools to close down until
on-campus teaching is safe
Vadodara LCB nabs
4 youths for selling
illegal narcotics
Godsestatueinstalled
byHinduSenaparty,
vandalisedbyCongress
First India Bureau
Vadodara: The Va-
dodara Prevention of
Crime Branch team ar-
rested four youths in
an interstate drug rack-
et. Officials seized 500
gm of marijuana and 10
gm of charas worth Rs1
lakh from the accused.
The team discovered
during primary inter-
rogation that the sup-
plier received the stock
from Madhya Pradesh.
According to details,
the PCB team seized
narcotics worth around
Rs1 lakh during a raid
at the basement of the
Avishkar Complex in
Gotri area of the city.
According to police, all
of the young people are
graduates who run
their own businesses.
“Saquib Munshi and
Mohsina are siblings
who graduated from
Vidyanagar. They have
been involved in this
crime for a year and are
said to be selling pouch-
es to their friends and
circles. Their mother is
also involved in the
business from their
house,” said V P Gamit
ACP (control room).
He added, “The two
other accused namely
Meet Thakkar and Nu-
pur Sehgal also sell the
pouches to their connec-
tions. They obtained
their current stock from
an individual known as
Dilip kaka, who ordered
it from MP
. This is a sig-
nificant breakthrough
forusbecausethesellers
and customers are all
youngpeople,andwhat’s
more,theaccusedareall
highly qualified.”
First India Bureau
Rajkot: Members of
Jamnagar Congress on
Tuesday vandalised a
Nathuram Godse statue
installed by the Hindu
Sena. The statue was
unveiled on Monday
near Morkana village,
about four kilometres
from Jamnagar. Both
parties have filed a po-
lice complaint against
each other.
According to reports,
Hindu Sena state presi-
dent Pratik Bhatt and
his associates installed
a statue of Godse on
the occasion of his
death anniversary, by
chanting slogans like
‘Nathuram Godse
Amar Rahe.’
Speaking to First In-
dia, Jamnagar Con-
gress president Digvi-
jaysinh Jadeja said,
“This is a party with
few members seeking
publicity. There is no
way we can promote
such people who are
trying to misguide the
Hindu community. We
plan to take this matter
to the topmost level and
make a case of rajdroh
(treason) against
them.”
Bhatt, on the other
hand, said that “Godse
was a revolutionary
youth who fought for
rashtra dharma (na-
tional path of right-
eousness) and culture.
We want to highlight his
reality to the people.”
Nathuram Godse was
the man who assassi-
nated Mahatma Gan-
dhi, fondly known as
‘Bapu’, by shooting him
in 1948.
The accused in police custody.
Nathuram Godse statue installed by Hindu Sena.
AMC seizes laaris on official
orders, AIMIM holds ‘egg’ protest
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: Despite
clearing the air about
removal of only unhy-
gienic food carts from
roadsides by Chief
Minister Bhupendra
Patel a day earlier, of-
ficials of Ahmedabad
Municipal Corpora-
tion (AMC) were seen
impounding laaris
selling sandwiches,
poha and other food
items on Tuesday
.
The civic body’s
town planning com-
mittee had ordered the
removal of food carts
selling egg or non-veg-
etarian dishes near re-
ligiousplaces,gardens,
schools and colleges.
Chairman of the
town planning com-
mittee Devang Dani
said that action will be
taken in every area of
the city, adding that a
resolution had been
passed by the standing
committee of the civic
body regarding the is-
sue. On the other hand,
the food vendors asso-
ciation has threatened
the civic body with a
court case if it does not
withdraw the decision.
Coming out in sup-
port of the food cart
vendors, members of
the All India Majlis-e-
Ittehadul Muslimeen
(AIMIM) party held a
protest outside AMC
office with eggs and
demanded that the ar-
bitrary decision be
quashed.
Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) state unit
presidentCRPatilclar-
ifiedtheissuebysaying
that the government
did not plan to target
non-vegetarian food
carts on the street, but
only unhygienic ones.
Meanwhile, Gujarat
Congressworkingpres-
identHardikPateltook
to social media and
posted information re-
garding a deal between
BJP leadership and
state government with
multi-national compa-
nies selling non-vege-
tarian food items.
Only carts encroaching or affecting
traffic will be removed: Boghawala
First India Bureau
Surat: With cities
like Ahmedabad, Va-
dodara and Rajkot
cracking down on
footpath vendors and
cart pullers selling
non-vegetarian food,
Surat Mayor Hemali
Boghawala in a state-
mentonTuesdaysaid
that Surat Municipal
Corporation (SMC)
had not considered
the removal of such
food carts yet.
“There is no special
order for removal of
handcartsontheroad-
side.However
,thezonal
headiskeepingacheck
on encroachments on
theroad.If trafficisaf-
fected by encroach-
ments, then vendors
arefinedandtheircarts
areseized,”shesaid.
SMC Commission-
er Banchhanidhi
Pani said, “The ques-
tion is not about veg-
etarian or non-vege-
tarian stands, but en-
croachment and traf-
fic issues. If traffic on
public roads and
places in the city are
disrupted then, such
stalls and eateries
will be removed. It
does not matter
whether the cart
serves vegetarian or
non-vegetarian fare.
Asof now,wehaveno
plans to remove egg
or non-vegetarian
carts or food stalls.”
253
20 MAX
CASES IN
A’BAD
ACTIVE CASES
8,16,671
TOTAL RECOVERED
17
RECOVERED
IN A DAY
10,090
TOTAL DEATHS
00 DEATHS
IN A DAY
8,27,014
TOTAL CASES
35 CASES IN
A DAY
10,090
COVID-19 UPDATE
Members of AIMIM party protesting against removal of egg carts from roadsides in A’bad on
Tuesday. —PHOTO BY HANIF SINDHI
Surat Mayor Hemali Bhoghawala
Officials seized
500 gm
marijuana and
10 gm charas;
believe the drug
racket to be an
inter-state
operation
Both parties have
lodged
complaint
against each other

PERSPECTIVE
04
lVol2lIssueNo.348
l RNINO.GUJENG/2019/79050.
Printed and published by Anita
Hada Sangwan on behalf of First Ex-
press Publishers. Printed at Bhaskar
Printing Planet Survey No.148P,
Changodar-Bavla Highway, Tal. San-
and, Dist. Ahmedabad. Publishedat
D/3023rdFloorPlotNo.35Titanium
Square,SchemeNo.2,ThaltejTaluka,
Ghatlodiya,Ahmedabad.
Editor-In-Chief:JagdeeshChandra.
Editor:AnitaHadaSangwanresponsible
forselectionofnewsunderthePRBAct
How BSF’s stretched footprint is
politically significant for Bengal
The state government
decided to bring a
resolution in the Assembly
against the extension of
the BSF’s jurisdiction on
November 16, taking a cue
from the Congress
government in Punjab.
TMC’s apprehensions
stem from the fact that the
directive will bring nearly
one-third of West Bengal,
which shares
global borderlines with
Bangladesh, Bhutan and
Nepal, under the direct
jurisdiction of the BSF
he major amendment in the
statute of the BSF extending
the force’s area of jurisdic-
tion to 50 km from the inter-
national borders with Paki-
stan and Bangladesh in Pun-
jab, Rajasthan, West Bengal
and Assam has created po-
litical heartburn in the
states especially ruled by
non-BJP parties.
The new rule gives BSF an
ambit increase of 35 km from
the existing limit of 15 km in-
side the border and will effec-
tively ensure that almost one-
third of West Bengal, espe-
cially crucial areas in north
Bengal, will come under the
searchlights of the force.
West Bengal has the long-
est and reportedly the most
“porous” global borders. The
state also shares a 2216-km-
long border with Bangladesh
and a 100-km border with Ne-
pal and a 183-long km border
with Bhutan.
This will also have a huge
impact in strategic towns
like Siliguri (in the north)
which is one of the most im-
portant cities after Kolkata
in West Bengal as Siliguri is
also considered to be the
gateway to the entire north-
eastern part of the country
and also Bhutan and Nepal.
Opposition parties have
been watching this develop-
ment closely and haven’t
taken this new law at face
value.
“The expansion of
#BSF area of jurisdic-
tion up to 50 km from
the border of some
states amounts to bra-
zen infringement upon the
territory of states. @HMOIn-
dia, you should not indulge
any ‘Chherkhani’ else will
face the consequences,”
tweeted Adhir Ranjan
Chowdhury, leader of the
Congress party in the Lok
Sabha.
“This is simply infringing
upon the sovereign rights of
the state. There are allega-
tions of links between BSF
and smugglers. To let them
increase their area of opera-
tion would be suicidal. The
state should oppose this,”
said Saugata Roy, TMC MP.
Most of North Bengal com-
ing under BSF’s purview is
also seen as a politically sen-
sitive development, as the
region is becoming an in-
tense political hotbed with
the BJP focussing closely on
the region as it is doing rela-
tively better in the area than
rest of Bengal which was wit-
nessed especially in the re-
cently held crucial Assembly
elections earlier this year.
Apart from several BJP
leaders giving a clarion call
for a separate statehood of
north Bengal, this region
also got a shot in the arm fol-
lowing the Centre’s during
the reshuffle in June.
FourMPsfromthestategot
a ministerial berth with two
of them from north Bengal.
The party recently also chose
an MP from north Bengal, Su-
kanta Majumdar, as its state
unit president! Thus giving
more impetus to the region.
In his bid to defend the de-
cision on BSF’s jurisdiction,
minister Nisith Pramanik
had said, “All of us know that
north Bengal is located in
chicken’s neck (the area
where the width of the Indian
sub-continent is the thinnest
and perched between Nepal
and Bangladesh). We have
four international borders
here and this decision (of ex-
tending BSF’s jurisdiction)
can help in bolstering secu-
rity of the region.”
Even as the Union minister
of state tried to pass on a mes-
sage that people living in the
concerned area will not face
any problems following the
jurisdiction order, local peo-
ple continue to live in appre-
hension that their trade
might get affected if the
force imposes fresh re-
strictions across the
new area of jurisdic-
tion. Hundreds of
trucksandgoodscar-
riagevehiclesmeant
for Bangladesh are parked in
this area and innumerable
small traders, who depend on
the border trade, run their
units along the stretches
which run up to the border. It
isstillnotknownif suchfresh
rules on jurisdiction might af-
fect them also.
Meanwhile, the TMC has
decided to raise strong objec-
tions over the new BSF juris-
diction rule in the Winter ses-
sionof Parliamentastheissue
has become a new flashpoint
between the West Bengal gov-
ernment and the Centre.
The TMC sees a political
motivebehindthemovewhich
will allow the BSF to conduct
searchandarrestsdeepinside
the state’s territory with the
purpose of protecting India’s
international borders from il-
legal encroachments and
cross-border crimes.
“It interferes with the po-
lice’s responsibility of main-
taining law and order in the
state and also violates the
federal structure of our
country,” TMC Lok Sabha
leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay
said, adding that the party,
according to instructions
from chief Mamata Baner-
jee, would raise the issue in
both houses of Parliament in
the Winter session starting
from November 29.
The state government de-
cided to bring a resolution in
the Assembly against the ex-
tension of the BSF’s jurisdic-
tion on November 16, taking
a cue from the Congress gov-
ernment in Punjab.
TMC’sapprehensionsstem
from the fact that the direc-
tive will bring nearly one-
third of West Bengal, which
shares global borderlines
with Bangladesh, Bhutan
and Nepal, under the direct
jurisdiction of the BSF.
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY
THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL
T
The new rule gives BSF an
ambit increase of 35
km from the existing
limit of 15 km inside
the border and will
effectively ensure that
almost one-third of West
Bengal, especially
crucial areas in north
Bengal, will come under
the searchlights of the force
ROBIN ROY
The writer is Senior Associate Editor,
Free Press Journal, Mumbai and former
Managing Editor, First India
SPIRITUAL SPEAK
Anyone who is steady in his
determination for the advanced
stage of spiritual realization
and can equally tolerate the
onslaughts of distress and
happiness is certainly a person
eligible for liberation.
—Bhagavad Gita
IN-DEPTH
Vice President of India
@VPSecretariat
Hearty congratulations to all the friends
associated with the media on the
occasion of National Press Day. You
have an important role in educating
the public with correct, fair, authentic
and timely information, it is also
necessary for a healthy democracy.
#NationalPressDay
Piyush Goyal
@PiyushGoyal
I thank PM @NarendraModi ji for
institutionalising role of auditing
in nation-building, by marking the
first #AuditDiwas. The CAG’s role
in strengthening transparency &
accountability in governance is
paramount. The institution’s legacy
must be protected & improved.
TOP TWEETS
SC COLLEGIUM BACKS
GAY ADVOCATE FOR
JUDGESHIP, WILL
CENTRE GIVE ITS NOD
fter inducting the
maximum number of
women judges in the
SupremeCourt,Chief
Justice of India NV
Ramana is likely to leave another
legacy
. The Supreme Court’s col-
legiumheadedbytheCJIhasrec-
ommended senior advocate Sau-
rabh Kirpal, a gay
, for appoint-
ment as a judge of the Delhi High
Court. Saurabh Kirpal is openly
gay
. His name has been recom-
mended for judgeship after being
deferred for four years. When the
SCcollegiumforwardedhisname
to Central government in 2017, it
was rejected over his gay partner
beingaSwisshumanrightsactiv-
ist. How will the Centre treat the
recommendation this time re-
mains to be seen.
Centre’s stand on homosexual-
ity is no secret. It has been op-
posedtotherepealof Section377,
which the Court declared uncon-
stitutional in 2018. The Court di-
rected the government to create
public awareness about homo-
sexualitynotbeingacrime.Same
sex marriage is still not recog-
nized. The government’s argu-
ment is that a “spouse” means
either a husband or wife.
A
ttar Pradesh took
the expressway to
development with
PM Narendra
Modi inaugurat-
ing the Purvanchal Express-
way
. Together with Lucknow-
Agra and the Yamuna Ex-
pressways the Purvanchal
Expressway puts UP on the
threshold of becoming one
of the states with excellent
road connectivity. Other ex-
pressways—Bundelkhand,
Ganga and Eastern Periph-
eral Expressways—which
are in the making will pro-
vide further impetus to
growth and reduce regional
imbalances. Like the Agra
and Yamuna expressways,
Purvanchal has also been
constructed keeping in mind
future defence needs and is
built to specifications to fa-
cilitate take-off and landing
of IAF’s aircraft.
Irrespective of Samajwadi
Party claiming credit for ini-
tiating Purvanchal E-way,
the project will always be
known for government
which completed it. The pos-
itive takeaway is that devel-
opment projects conceived
of by any Opposition-ruled
government are not junked.
Besides catalyzing the
state’s development, the
event, which comes a few
months before elections, will
also push issues like infla-
tion and other inconvenienc-
es into the background. Bet-
ter road connectivity and the
hope for a better future
should outweigh the impact
of other issues. Thanks to
PM Modi and CM Yogi, UP is
able to dream of a developed
state tag. The Central and
state governments, being of
the same party, have perfect
understanding and that is
what makes them a “double
engine ki sarkar”. This was
not the case earlier when the
Centre and state were ruled
by political parties pulling in
different directions. That ef-
fectively stalled the state’s
progress pushing it into the
BIMARU category where it
languished for a long time.
POLITICS CAN WAIT,
UP TAKES E-WAY TO PROGRESS
The Central and state
governments, being of the
same party, have
perfect understanding
and that is what makes
them a “double engine
ki sarkar”
U

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Mumbai: Keeping the
controversy cauldron
bubbling, actor Kanga-
na Ranaut on Tuesday
claimed Subhas Chan-
dra Bose and Bhagat
Singh got no support
from Mahatma Gandhi
and went on to mock his
mantra of ahimsa by
saying that offering an-
other cheek gets you
“bheek” not freedom.
Inmakingthe“bheek”
comment, Ranaut
wound the clock back to
last week when she
described In-
dia’sIndepend-
ence as
“bheek”, or
alms, and de-
clared that
freedom came
in 2014, when the Modi
govt came to power.
In a series of posts on
Instagram, Ranaut this
time targeted Mahatma
Gandhiandsaid“choose
your heroes wisely”.
The “Manikarnika”
actor, still in the eye of
the proverbial storm for
her comments, today
shared an old news clip-
ping headlined “Gan-
dhi, others had agreed
to hand over Netaji”.
The report claimed
that Gandhi, along with
Nehru and Jinnah,
came to an agreement
with a British judge
that they would hand
Bose over if he were to
enter the country
.
“Either you are a Gan-
dhifanorNetajisupport-
er. You can’t be both...
Choose and decide,”
Ranaut, whose Twitter
account has been sus-
pended, captioned the
news clipping.
In another post,
Ranaut, who has court-
ed many a controversy
with her incendiary
and provocative state-
ments, then claimed,
“Those who fought for
the freedom were ‘hand-
ed over’ to their masters
by those who had no
courage burning/ boil-
ing hot blood to fight
their oppressors but
they were power hun-
gry and cunning.”
She then went on to
target Gandhi, even
claiming that there was
evidence suggesting he
wanted Bhagat Singh to
be hanged.
“Those are the ones
who taught us, ‘If some-
one slaps you offer an-
other cheek for one
more slap’ and that is
how you will get Aazadi.
That’s not how one gets
Aazadi, one can only get
bheekhlikethat.Choose
your heros wisely(sic),”
the 34-year-old actor
said. —PTI
‘Offering another cheek gets ‘bheek’ not freedom’
GANDHI UNDER ATTACK
Either you are a Gandhi fan or
Netaji supporter. You can’t be
both... Choose and decide.
—Kangana Ranaut, Actor
INDIA
05
CRUCIAL READ
TMC LEADERS
GRANTED BAIL IN
NARADA SCAM
Kolkata: Kolkata city
sessions court on
Tuesday granted interim
bail to West Bengal
Transport Minister
Firhad Hakim, TMC
leader Madan Mitra,
and Ex-Mayor Sovan
Chatterjee in the Narada
scam on the bond of
`20,000. The next date
for them to appear
physically is January
28. Earlier on May 10,
Bengal Governor had
sanctioned the prosecu-
tion of Firhad Hakim,
Subrata Mukherjee,
Madan Mitra and Sovan
Chatterjee in Narada
scam being probed by
the CBI. —ANI
KERALA HC: BOOZE
SMELL NOT PROOF
OF INTOXICATION
Kochi: The Kerala High
Court on Monday ruled
that alcohol consump-
tion in private places
does not constitute
an offence, as long as
it does not cause any
nuisance in the public,
the Bar and Bench
reported. The court
also observed that the
mere smell of alcohol
does not mean that the
person was intoxicated
or under the influence
of alcohol. —Agencies
JHUNJHUNWALA
AIRLINE’S ORDERS
72 BOEING 737S
Dubai: Akasa Air on
Tuesday placed an order
for 72 Boeing 737 MAX
jets, valued at nearly $9
billion at list prices - a
deal that could help the
US planemaker regain
lost ground in one of the
world’s most promising
markets. The order by
billionaire investor Rake-
sh Jhunjhunwala-backed
airline comes months
after air safety regulator
allowed the country’s
airlines to fly the MAX jet,
ending its nearly two and
a half years of regulatory
grounding after two fatal
crashes in five months
killed 346 people.
—Agencies
HEARING ON NEET
RESERVATION ISSUE
LIKELY ON NOV 24
New Delhi: The Su-
preme Court deferred
hearing on a peti-
tion filed against the
implementation of 27
per cent reservation
for Other Backward
Classes (OBC) and 10
per cent reservation for
Economically Weaker
Sections (EWS) in
NEET. The top court is
likely to hear the matter
next on November 24.
NEET PG counseling
for 50% AIQ seats was
scheduled to begin
from October 25, 2021.
However, MCC had
postponed the dates of
NEET PG counseling
2021. —Agencies
DRUGS-ON-CRUISE CASE: NCB ASKED TO
APPROACH PUNE COURT TO EXAMINE GOSAVI
Mumbai: The Special Narcotic Drugs and Psy-
chotropic Substances (NDPS) Court, Mumbai on
Monday disposed of the Narcotics Control Bu-
reau’s (NCB) plea for
recording statement
of KP Gosavi, who is a
witness in the drugs-
on-cruise case and was
arrested by Pune Police
in a cheating case. The
court said that Gosavi
is “technically” in judicial custody of another court
and the NCB should approach that court (Pune
court) for it. —ANI
COLLABORATION STRONG TERM: TOP
COURT ON ZAKIA JAFRI’S SIT CHARGE
New Delhi: The top court on Tuesday objected to
Zakia Jafri, widow of Congress MP Ehsan Jafri,
who was killed in the 2002 Gujarat riots - alleging
“collaboration” between
the SIT and some of
the accused, including
the then Gujarat CM
Narendra Modi, given a
clean chit. “Collabora-
tion is a strong term for
a SIT constituted by the
court,” a three-member bench of Justices AM Khan-
wilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari and CT Ravikumar said in
reply to senior advocate Kapil Sibal. —Agencies
KCVENUGOPAL:THE‘GENERAL’OF
CONGRESSGENERALSECRETARIES!
Anita Hada
New Delhi: Several
questions were raised
about former Congress
President Rahul Gan-
dhi’s decision to give a
‘major’ promotion to,
Kerala resident & RS MP
from Rajasthan, KC
Venugopal and appoint-
ed him as organisation’s
general secretary in
place of Ashok Gehlot.
Till that time all mem-
bers of AICC did not
even know KC. He him-
self was not familiar
with people and office
bearers associated with
party organisation
across the country. His
scope was also very lim-
ited & there was no spe-
cial recognition about
himeveninDelhimedia.
So, from time of his ap-
pointment, this decision
was under question.
After this appoint-
ment, Venugopal did not
even contest the 2019
Lok Sabha elections, in
which Congress lost for
the second time in a row.
Although it is true
that the Congress per-
formed very well in his
home state of Kerala
and Rahul himself
reached Lok Sabha from
there. Despite this, peo-
ple’s perception about
Venugopal did not
change. But in last two
years, he has gradually
consolidated his posi-
tion and has taken hold
of party organisation.
This happened since he
may have been appoint-
ed by Rahul, but he also
managed to win trust of
Sonia and Priyanka.
Continued support of
the trio made him an ac-
ceptable face among
Congress leaders.
Recently, Venugopal
played an active role in
handling the crisis in
two Congress-ruled
states - Rajasthan and
Chhattisgarh - and re-
mained active even dur-
ing the Punjab crisis. So,
it can be said that in the
last one year, he has
played an important role
in resolving the crisis in
the Congress ruled
states. He continued to
act as a bridge for state
governments&organisa-
tion on behalf of Sonia,
Rahul & Priyanka which
hasfurtherstrengthened
his position.
Now he is being called
the ‘General Secretary
of the General Secretar-
ies’ within the party.
Earlier this system used
to work in Congress that
the General Secretary
of the party was in di-
rect contact with the
party President. The
general secretary in
charge of the states also
gave their report to the
president and their feed-
back was most impor-
tant in the politics of the
states. KC Venugopal,
who came to be known
as KCV in the last two
years, is now link be-
tween General Secretar-
ies and President and
former President. That
is, if any general secre-
tary has to meet Sonia
or Rahul, then it is hap-
pening through KCV &
he is also present in
every such meetings. In
fact, Congress leaders
say that he has not be-
come Ahmed Patel and
may not be able to be-
come one, but his posi-
tion in the organisation
is not weaker than that
of Patel.
PARTY’S CRISIS
MANAGER
Recently, Venugopal
played an active role in
handling the crisis in two
Congress-ruled states of
Rajasthan & Chhattisgarh
and remained active even
during Punjab crisis. So,
it can be said that in the
last 1 year, he played an
important role in resolving
crisis in Cong-ruled states.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi with general secretary
KC Venugopal and party leader Rahul Gandhi. —FILE PHOTO
WB Assembly passes resolution against
Centre’s move to expand BSF jurisdiction
Kolkata: The West
Bengal Assembly on
Tuesday passed a reso-
lution against the Cen-
tre’s decision to extend
BSF’s jurisdiction,
amid opposition by BJP
legislators.
Bengal became the
second state after Pun-
jab where such a resolu-
tion has been tabled and
passed.
The resolution was
moved by state parlia-
mentaryaffairsminister
Partha Chatterjee under
Rule 169 of the Proce-
dures of Conduct of
Business of the House.
“We demand that this
decision be withdrawn
immediately as enhanc-
ing the area of jurisdic-
tion of the BSF is a di-
rect attack on the coun-
try’s federal structure,”
he said.
Unruly scenes were
witnessed in the House
during the day after
TMC MLA Udayan
Guha made a remark
that raised eyebrows.
“A child living in a
border area can never
be patriotic if he wit-
nesses his mother being
i n a p p r o p r i a t e l y
touched under the garb
of body search by the
BSF,” Guha said.
BJP MLAs opposed
theremarkanddemand-
ed that it be expunged.
Speaker Biman Ba-
nerjee, however, re-
frained from expunging
Guha’s comment.
Leader of the Opposi-
tion Suvendu Adhikari
said the kind of lan-
guage used against a
forceliketheBSFiscom-
pletely unacceptable.
“When the Union
government tries to
withdraw central forc-
es from Junglemahal, it
is the state government
that opposes the move.
And now, the same gov-
ernment is opposing
BSF activities. Under
this new rule (jurisdic-
tion extension), there
is no question of con-
flict between the state
police and the BSF,”
Adhikari stated.
The resolution was
passed with 112 voting
in favour of it and 63 op-
posing it.
The BJP-led central
governmenthadamend-
ed the BSF Act to au-
thorise the force to un-
dertake search, seizure
and arrest within a
larger 50 km stretch, in-
stead of 15 km, from the
international border in
Punjab, West Bengal
and Assam. —PTI
“BSF JAWANS
TOUCH WOMEN
INAPPROPRIATELY
DURING CHECKS”
New Delhi: Chaos erupted at the West
Bengal assembly after Trinamool Con-
gress legislator Udayan Guha accused
personnel of the Border Security Force
(BSF) of inappropriately touching women
while searching them during border
movement. The Dinhata MLA further said
that no matter how much the personnel
chanted ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’, they were
not patriotic. Guha made the statement
during a discussion on the Centre’s deci-
sion to extend the BSF’s jurisdiction up to
50km inside the international border.
—Agencies
You can criticise the
decision. You can say
the duty of the police
will be hampered and
if it is true, we will
appeal to the Centre
but what some lead-
ers spoke about BSF,
a force that relentless-
ly works to save our
borders, is very un-
fortunate and people
of India will hear
what opinion the
leaders have about
the forces.
—Suvendu Adhikari,
Leader of Opposition
A GREEN PEDAL
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya arrives on a cycle to inaugurate the Health Pavilion at
India International Trade Fair 2021, Pragati Maidan in New Delhi on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY PTI
Body of
Maoist leader
found two
days after
Gadchiroli Op
First India Bureau
Mumbai: The body
of a Maoist leader
was recovered from
the encounter site two
days after the encoun-
ter between security
personnel and the Mao-
ists in Maharashtra’s
Gadchiroli.
According to a senior
Home Ministry official,
the commander has
been identified as
Sukhlal Parchaki, who
was carrying a reward
of 25 lakh.
“With this, the num-
ber of Maoists killed in
theencounterreached,”
he added.
Earlier, on November
13, an encounter took
place at the Gyarapatti
forest of Korchi Tehsil
in the Gadchiroli dis-
trict. The police have
recovered the bodies of
26 Maoists. —ANI

INDIA
06
Siddhaarth Mahan
Jaipur: Jaipur will wit-
ness the dawn of a new
era in Indian Cricket
as Rohit Sharma
takes over the reins
of the team in the T20
format. The game with
New Zealand will begin
India’s tryst with ‘Split
Captaincy’.
It has been regarded
as a solution to India’s
cricketing ills for the
past few years. Be-
sides lessening
the burden
on Virat Kohli and en-
hancing the responsibil-
ityonRohitinwhiteball
cricket, it may well in-
fuse fresh ideas and en-
ergythataremuchneed-
edafterIndia’searlyexit
in the recent T20 World
Cup.
Rohitsurehasthecre-
dentials to revive the In-
dian team after its disas-
trous World Cup cam-
paign. On a personal
plane, Rohit is a calm,
laidback character. His
relaxed attitude was
ridiculed in the early
phase of his career but
once the ‘hitman’ un-
veiled his batting prow-
ess, critics were si-
lenced.
His calmness takes
pressure away from his
teammates, testified by
many players of Mum-
bai Indians, the side he
has led to five IPL titles.
When given a chance
to be India captain, Ro-
hit has done well in the
past. He ensured Indian
victories in 15 of the 19
T20 games and in 8 of 10
ODIs.
Moreover, under his
captaincy India not only
won the tri-nation Nida-
has Trophy but also the
Asia Cup in 2018 despite
the absence of several
senior players. Rohit
Sharma’s captaincy
will, of course, be very
differentfromViratwho
is a fierce competitor
and more emotionally
charged in all games. Vi-
ratKohli’shyper-aggres-
sion makes him an ex-
cellent cricketer but a
rather stressful captain.
SPLIT CAPTAINCY AND ROHIT SHARMA
LS Speaker Om Birla arrives in Shimla for Presiding Officers conference
PMTOINAUGURATE
MEETTODAY:BIRLA
Shimla: Lok Sabha
Speaker Om Birla on
Tuesday arrived in
Shimla for the Presid-
ing Officers conference
and he was accorded a
warm welcome by
Himachal Pradesh Gov-
ernor Rajendra
Vishwanath Arlekar on
his arrival at Raj
Bhavan.
The Conference will
be attended by the Dep-
uty Chairman of the
Rajya Sabha and the
presiding officers of all
the States and Union
Territories, added the
Lok Sabha speaker.
Himachal Pradesh
Chief Minister Jai
Ram Thakur will also
participate in the meet-
ing. Along with this,
many Union ministers
will also participate in
it. The Governor of
Himachal Pradesh will
conclude the confer-
ence, Birla said. —ANI
CRUCIAL READ
CAIT TO HOLD
PROTESTS IN 1,000
CITIES TODAY
New Delhi: The Confed-
eration of All India Trad-
ers said that it would
hold protests today
in around 1,000 cities
across nation over
drug peddling gang
using e-commerce sites
to supply marijuana.
Through protest, they
would request govt to
take cognizance of the
matter and take action.
5 RELATIVES OF
SUSHANT SINGH
KILLED IN ACCIDENT
Patna: At least six
people were killed and
four injured in a road
accident in Bihar’s Lakh-
isarai district on Tues-
day. Five of six deceased
were the relatives of late
Bollywood actor Sush-
ant Singh, sources said.
They were going Jamui
from Patna where they
went to attend last rites
of a relative.
MEALS AND MAGAZINES TO BE BACK ON ALL
DOMESTIC FLIGHTS: CIVIL AVIATION MINISTRY
New Delhi: The Civil Aviation Ministry on Tuesday
said it has allowed airlines to serve meals and also
permitted resumption of
magazine on all domestic
flights. The carriers had not
been allowed to serve meals
in flights, which have dura-
tion of less than two hours,
since April 15 due to the pandemic. The decision has
been taken as “Covid caseload” has reduced.
I hope, from the Shimla Conference, that in coming times, we will
strengthen the democratic institutions of the country and prepare an
action plan for 100 years in the Conference of Presiding Officers.
During this conference, we will formulate an action plan to deal
with the challenges that lie ahead of us over the course of 100 years.
—OM BIRLA, Lok Sabha Speaker

z Rohit Sharma
takes over the
reins of the team
in the T20 for-
mat in Jaipur

z The game
with New Zea-
land will begin
India’s tryst with
‘Split Captaincy’

z Rohit sure has
the credentials to
revive the Indian
team after its dis-
astrous World
Cup
The ways of empow-
ering the Lok Sabha,
Rajya Sabha and
State Legislative As-
sembly and Legisla-
tive Council would be
discussed. The rights
and responsibilities of
the presiding officers
will also be discussed
extensively in this
conference.
Prime Minister
Narendra Modi
will on Wednesday
inaugurate a meet-
ing of the National
presiding officers to
be held in Shimla on
November 17 and 18
to commemorate the
centennial year of the
AIPOC, the 82nd edi-
tion of the AIPOC.
POINTS TO BE
DISCUSSED
PM TO ADDRESS
EVENT TODAY
Shekhawat: Climate change
will impact water, food cycle
New Delhi: Union Jal
Shakti Minister Gajen-
dra Singh Shekhawat
on Tuesday said climate
change will impact the
water cycle therefore
affect food security but
effective water conser-
vation is possible only
with community. ‘The
already felt impacts of
floods droughts are
definitely its footprints.
This will pose threat to
food security,” Shekha-
wat said at virtual ses-
sion on ‘Int’l Water Se-
curity, Climate Change
Conference 2021’. —ANI
HAR GHAR DASTAK
Mandaviya urges NGOs
to strengthen campaign
New Delhi: Union
Health Minister Man-
sukh Mandaviya on
Tuesday discussed “Har
GharDastak”Covidvac-
cination campaign with
NGOs and CSOs and
sought their support to
strengthen the cam-
paign, urging them to
take it to every nook and
corner of the country
.
With the ‘Har Ghar
Dastak’ campaign, the
Centre is targeting to
complete maximum
single dose and second
dose adult COVID-19
vaccination in the
country. It was
launched on November
2 on occasion of Dhan-
wantari Diwas. —ANI
Dr Mansukh Mandaviya
@mansukhmandviya
Interacted with NGO
and CSO of the coun-
try. Discussed how an
enhanced partnership
between the government
and these organisations
will strengthen our Har
Ghar Dastak vaccination
campaign. Our govern-
ment seeks support of the
organisations to take our
campaign to every nook
and corner of the country.
Mansukh Mandaviya holds meeting to discuss the strengthening
of PM’s ‘Har Ghar Dastak’ campaign with NGOs, CSOs and the
Development partners, through VC in New Delhi on Tuesday.
US issues ‘Level
1’ travel notice to
India as cases dip
Washington: The US
Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention
(CDC) has issued a ‘Lev-
el One’ Covid-19 notice
for Americans travel-
ling to India, saying the
risk of contracting the
infection and develop-
ing severe symptoms
may be lower if one is
fully vaccinated. The
travel health notice has
also been issued for Pa-
kistan. However, US
State Department is-
sued level two and three
travel advisories for In-
dia and Pakistan, say-
ing while citizens are
urged to reconsider
travel to Pakistan due
to terrorism and sec-
tarian violence, those
going to India must ex-
ercise increased cau-
tion due to crime ter-
rorism.—ANI
Nadda meets former bar assn
prez jailed during Emergency
Rudrapur: BJP Na-
tional President JP Na-
dda on Tuesday met the
former president of the
district bar association,
Subhash Chhabra who
was imprisoned during
the Emergency at his
residence in Rudrapur
districtof Uttarakhand.
Chief Minister Push-
kar Singh Dhami, state
BJP chief Madan Kau-
shik and others were
also present. Nadda,
who is on a two-day trip
to Uttrakhand had in-
augurated the ‘Shaheed
Samman Yatra’ from
Chamoli on Monday.
BJP Prez is scheduled
to participate in several
meetings during his
trip, BJP chief spokes-
person Anil Baluni had
said in statement. —ANI
ED arrests IREO
Group’s Goyal
Chandigarh: ED has
arrested Lalit Goyal,
vice chairman and
MD of the real estate
group IREO, in con-
nection with a money
laundering case. Goy-
al has been taken into
custody under provi-
sions of PMLA by cen-
tral watchdog in
Chandigarh. —ANI
JP Nadda at a dialogue programme with Bengali society in Rudrapur.
Also seen here is Pushkar Singh Dhami, Madan Kaushik and others.
India faces more
challenges in the
face of climate
change because there is a
huge geographical diversity.
We have 18% share of world
population but only 4% of
water. Under ‘Jal Jeevan
Mission’, as many as 5.5
crore new connections have
been provided by the govt.
—GAJENDRA SINGH SHEKHAWAT,
Union Jal Shakti Minister
CENTENARY
YEAR CELEBRA-
TIONS!
President Ram
Nath Kovind during
the centenary year
celebrations of the
Punjab Engineering
College in Chandigarh on
Tuesday.
—PHOTO BY ANI
RWANDA PRESIDENT KAGAME INVITES PM
MODI TO CHOGM SUMMIT IN KIGALI
New Delhi: Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame has
invited PM Narendra Modi to participate in next
CHOGM summit to be held
in his country in 2022, dur-
ing a call on him by MoS for
External Affairs V Muraleed-
haran in Kigali. Kagame also
spoke about the strategic
partnership between India and Rwanda and ex-
pressed his desire to work with India.
Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly Speaker Vipin
Singh Parmar welcomes Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.
Om Birla being welcomed by Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar at Raj Bhavan in Shimla on Tuesday.
This is perfect time to blood Rohit about year
ahead of next T20 World Cup. With Rahul Dravid
driving team as Coach, Rohit could soon lead India
to an ICC title that has eluded them since 2013!
Rohit Sharma
Dawn of a glorious era for Indian Cricket?
FROM PG 1
CM Patel...
Vadodara district has
already achieved this in
2021 and soon all homes
in the state will have
tap water by next year.”
The CM gave in-prin-
ciple approval for vari-
ous water supply pro-
jects under the
Swarnim Jayanti
Mukhya Mantri
Shaheri Vikas Yojana
including Rs21.87 crore
in Mahuva municipali-
ty
, Rs13.69 crore in Bala-
sinor, Rs9.08 crore in
Khedbrahma, Rs6.38
crore in Idar, Rs7.76
crore in Thangadh and
Rs4.95 crore in Sikka.
The chief minister
also assured party
workers their hard
work would not go in
vain and that they
could attain the same
position as him, some-
day
. “I am also a worker
and aware of the diffi-
culties faced by them. I
believe in living among
activists. It should not
be forgotten that a
grassroots worker
came to the fore in the
BJP. Like me, tomor-
row it may be your
turn,” he said.

BIZ BUZZ
07
New Delhi: Realtors’
apex body CREDAI on
Tuesday expressed con-
cern over an increase in
the rates of cement and
steel during the past one
year and said housing
prices could rise 10-15%
if the prices of construc-
tion raw materials do not
fall.
The industry body de-
manded that the govern-
ment should take meas-
ures to control the prices
and suggested reduction
in GST for construction
raw materials.
The Confederation of
Real Estate Developers’
Association of India
(CREDAI), which has
over 13,000 member de-
velopers, pointed out that
the prices of construc-
tion raw materials have
been increasing con-
sistently since Jan-
uary 2020.
Moreover, the
association said
the the delays
in construction
caused by lock-
downs, curfews
and the short-
age of labour re-
sulted in a direct
increase in con-
struction cost any-
where between 10% and
15%inthepast18months.
“If the prices of a high-
er raw materials do not
start decreasing in the
immediate future, there
is a high probability that
the prices of residential
properties will go up by
10-15% to offset the in-
creased cost of construc-
tion,” CREDAI said in a
statement. Harsh
Vardhan Patodia,
president, CRE-
DAI National,
said: “We have
been consistently
witnessing sharp
increase in the
raw material pric-
es over the last
one year
and they
d o n ’ t seem to be
decreasing or stabilising
in the near future.”
He said the developers
might not be able to ab-
sorb escalating costs and
will pass on the burden
onto homebuyers.
Patodia urged the gov-
ernment and relevant
ministries to address this
issue and tackle the pric-
es rise at the earliest.
Credai suggested that
the government can per-
mit escalation of prices
by allowing a clause in
the buyer-seller agree-
ment.
“The government may
also consider either al-
lowing input tax credit
for real estate projects
and/or rationalisation of
GST on various con-
struction raw materi-
als from their cur-
rent rates,” it said.
If these steps are
not taken immedi-
ately, property
prices across all
segments will
shoot up, directly
hampering the af-
fordable housing and
housing for all mis-
sions of the govern-
ment, CREDAI said.
Anarock Chairman
Anuj Puri said: “We have
to give credit where it is
due despite the massive
increases in input costs
for developers since the
pandemic took
hold, they
held on to the
low property
prices as
long as pos-
sible in or-
der to foster
and nurture demand.”
However, he said it was
evident that sooner or
later developers will have
to hike their prices.
“The hikes in the cost
of construction materi-
als are too severe to ab-
sorb any further without
impacting buyers. Infla-
tion has impacted our
lives at every level, and
real estate construction
is certainly no excep-
tion,” Puri said.
Trehan Developers
Managing Director Sa-
ransh Trehan said the
construction cost has al-
ready gone up by 10-
20% compared to last
year because of
the in-
crease
i n
the cost of
raw material
as well as la-
bour charges.
“Developers are
left with no elbow room
to absorb this increase in
raw material cost, unwill-
ingly developers will
have to offset the in-
crease in cost by in-
creasing the price
to some extent,”
he added.
—PTI
Housingpricesmayrise 10-15%
if rates of raw material not controlled: CREDAI
2000
The rate of
P-sand has gone
up by `2,000 a
load.
the prices of construc-
tion raw materials have
been increasing con-
sistently since Jan-
Moreover, the
age of labour re-
sulted in a direct
increase in con-
struction cost any-
where between 10% and
15%inthepast18months.
for real estate projects
and/or rationalisation of
GST on various con-
struction raw materi-
als from their cur-
rent rates,” it said.
hampering the af-
fordable housing and
housing for all mis-
sions of the govern-
ment, CREDAI said.
Anarock Chairman
We have been consistently
witnessing sharp increase in
the raw material prices over
the last one year and they
don’t seem to be decreasing
or stabilising in the near fu-
ture.
—Harsh Vardhan Patodia
CREDAI President
up by `
15-20
The rates of PVC
pipes and electric
cables went up by
15% to 20%
cables went up by
15% to 20%
470
A bag of cement,
which was sold
between `370-
390 before the
lockdown, has
shot up to
`430-470
390 before the
lockdown, has
shot up to
`430-470
20
Most of the
construction materials,
including cement,
electric cables, steel,
PVC pipes, M-sand and
P-sand, have gone up
by 20%
Economic recovery taking
hold; private investment
should resume: RBI Guv
New Delhi: Numer-
ous macro indicators
suggest that the eco-
nomic recovery is
now taking hold after
the beating it has
taken during the
pandemic, but for
growth to be sustain-
able and reach its po-
tential, private capi-
tal investment has to
resume, the Reserve
Bank Governor said
on Tuesday
.
RBI Governor
Shaktikanta Das said
the economy has the
potential to grow at a
reasonably high pace
in the post-pandemic
scenario, provided
private capital in-
vestment resumes.
Despite many
economists revis-
ing down their
growth forecasts be-
tween 8.5 and 10%
for the current fiscal,
the central bank has
not changed its fore-
cast of 9.5% for the
year so far.
Addressing a
banking function,
the governor asked
banks to be invest-
ment-ready when the
investment cycle
picks up, which the
RBI feels to begin
f r o m
the next fiscal.
It can be noted that
since 2013, private
capital has been
missing from the
economy and many
are of the view that
this should begin
from mid-next fiscal.
Lauding the tech
entrepreneurs, the
governor said the
country has
emerged as a top
performer in the
startup land-
scape, attracting
billions of foreign
c ap i - tal. —PTI
The
economy has
the potential to grow
at a reasonably high
pace in the post-pan-
demic scenario, pro-
vided private capital
investment resumes
—Shaktikanta Das,
RBI Governor
Significant percentage of borrowers
prefer securing loan online: Survey
New Delhi: A signifi-
cant percentage of bor-
rowers led by millenni-
als, prefer online mode
to secure loans rather
than traditional offline
channels, indicating an
increase in digital pen-
etration during the
COVID-19 period, says a
survey
.
Post the second wave
of COVID-19 pandemic,
shows a largely positive
consumer borrowing
trend and thereby, re-
flects a return to nor-
malcy as consumer sen-
timents are positive
and buoyant about eco-
nomic revival, accord-
ing to an annual survey
‘How India Borrows’
(HIB) conducted by fi-
nancial firm Home
Credit India.
Nearly 40%borrow-
ers showed willingness
to move to digital plat-
forms for taking loans.
This is over and above
the 15% customers who
have already graduated
to the online loan jour-
ney instead of tradi-
tional offline channels.
Although technology
has been a key enabler,
the survey findings re-
veal that like all digital
trends, chatbot famili-
arity and trust on it are
governed by age young-
er customers leading it.
There has been a
sharp drop in borrow-
ing for running house-
hold expenses to 4% in
2021 viz--viz 85% last
year, thereby showing a
transition from need-
based borrowing to de-
sire-based borrowing
due to revival of the
economy, the survey re-
port said.
There has been no-
ticeable uptick in bor-
rowing for business set-
up or expansion. —PTI
Edible oils import up 63% to
`1.17 lakh crore in 2020-21
New Dehi: India’s im-
port of edible oil re-
mained almost flat at
131.3 lakh tonnes dur-
ing the 2020-21 market-
ing year ending Octo-
ber, but in value terms
inwardsshipmentsrose
63 per cent to `1.17 lakh
crore, according to in-
dustry data.
The marketing year
of vegetable oil, which
comprises of edible oil
and non-edible oil, runs
fromNovembertoOcto-
ber. ‘’Import of vegeta-
ble oils during oil year
2020-21 is reported at
135.31 lakh tonnes com-
pared to 135.25 lakh
tonnes during 2019-20,’’
Solvent Extractors’ As-
sociationof India(SEA)
said in a statement.
Theimportof vegeta-
ble oils has been at the
lowest for the second
time in last six years, it
added.
As per the data, edi-
b l e
o i l
i m -
port
f e l l
t o
131.31 lakh tonnes in
2020-21 from 131.75 lakh
tonnes in the previous
year, while imports of
non-edible oil rose to
399,822 tonnes from
3,49,172 tonnes.
In value terms, SEA
said the import of edi-
ble oil gone up to
`1,17,000crorein2021-21
from `71,625 crore in
2019-20.
Thefrequentchanges
inimportdutyonedible
oils in last few months
by the Government of
India also disturbed the
import pattern, the as-
sociation said.
Import of refined oil
has marginally in-
creased to 6.86 lakh
tonnes in 2020-21 as
compared to 4.21 lakh
tonnes during 2019-20,
while crude oil import
marginally decreased
to 124.45 lakh tonnes
compared to 127.54 lakh
tonnes.During 2020-21,
palmoilimportsharply
increased to 83.21 lakh
tonnes as compared to
72.17 lakh tonnes dur-
ing the previous year
due to reduction in im-
port duty on CPO
(Crude Palm Oil) and
lifting of restriction on
import of RBD (Re-
fined, Bleached and
Deodorised) Palmolein.
The import of soft oil
decreased to 48.12 lakh
tonnes from 59.58 lakh
tonnes in last year, con-
sisting of 28.66 lakh
tonnes of soybean oil,
18.94 lakh tonnes of
sunflower oil, 0.52 lakh
tonnes of rapeseed oil.
—PTI
As per the data, edible oil import fell to 131.31
lakh tonnes in 2020-21 from 131.75 lakh
tonnes in the previous year, while imports of
non-edible oil rose to 399,822 tonnes from
3,49,172 tonnes
Sensex tumbles
396 points;
Nifty slips
below 18,000
Mumbai: Equity
benchmark Sensex
tanked 396 points on
Tuesday tracking losses
in index majors Reli-
ance Industries, ICICI
Bank and SBI amid a
mixed trend in global
markets. The 30-share
index ended 396.34
points or 0.65 % lower at
60,322.37. The 50-issue
Nifty fell 110.25 points
or 0.61 % to 17,999.20.
Reliance Industries
was the top loser in the
Sensex pack, shedding
over 2 %, followed by
SBI, UltraTech Cement,
IndusInd Bank, NTPC.
On the other hand,
Maruti, MM, Tech
Mahindra were among
the gainers. —PTI
KIA ALL SET TO EXPAND
PRODUCT RANGE IN INDIA
New Delhi: Automak-
er Kia India is looking
to strengthen its prod-
uct portfolio as it gears
up to introduce a new
model in the country
in the first quarter of
next year, as per a top
company official.
The company
, which
currently sells three
products in India --
Seltos, Sonet and Car-
nival -- is all set to glob-
ally un- veil its
fourth model (code-
named KY) on Decem-
ber 16. While the glob-
al showcase of the
product would happen
next month, the actual
market launch would
take place later in the
January-March quar-
ter. Kia has become
the fastest player in
the Indian automotive
industry to cross the
three lakh cumulative
sales mark in less than
two years of com-
mencing opera-
tions in
t h e
c o u n -
try
.
—PTI
Office space demand to rise
in Asian countries: GAR Corp
Singapore: Global
companies are eager to
work in countries like
India and Asian coun-
tries are going to see an
increase in office space
demand on the back of
strong economic
growth, according to
Abhinav Reddy, man-
aging director of GAR
Corp.
More and more com-
panies are looking to
work in India, especial-
ly in the digitalisation
space, Abhinav Reddy,
managing director of
GAR Corp, told an in-
ternational conference
in Singapore on Mon-
day
.
There is a big differ-
ence between the East
and the West.
He said most homes
in Asia have three gen-
erations living in it.
“So, you have an av-
erage of five people per
home staying there. So,
working from that sort
of home environment
is not really as condu-
cive as when you have
nuclear families in the
West,” he said, adding
this is a big factor
which will change de-
mand for office space.
—PTI

If your efforts can bring joy to
even a single person, they are
worth it!
—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO Editor-in-Chief, First India
08
2NDFRONT
VMC campaign finds alternatives
to make city stray cattle free
First India Bureau
Vadodara: The Va-
dodara Municipal Cor-
poration (VMC) is tak-
ing effective steps to
make the city free of
cattle menace, in a way
that creates a win-win
situation for the cattle
owners and the people
at large.
In a first step to-
wards relocating the
cattle keepers in Va-
dodara as part of its
‘Cattle Free Cam-
paign’, the VMC has
identified a 1 lakh
square feet open space
at Khatamba.
Mayor Keyur Roka-
dia and Vadodara MP
Ranjan Bhatt on Tues-
day visited the place to
review the fencing and
levelling work. They
also gave important
instructions to the of-
ficials.
The Vadodara Mu-
nicipal Corporation
could now shift as
many as 1,500 heads of
cattle permanently to
this new facility.
As a part of the Cat-
tle Free campaign, the
VMC team is continu-
ously carrying out the
work of catching stray
cattle roaming on city
roads and shifting
them to cattle ponds.
They are also trying to
acquire new open spac-
es to shift the animals
permanently.
One such space iden-
tified by the corpora-
tion is located near
Khatamba Cattle Pond.
The cattle can be shift-
ed in this space and
also the cattle keepers
can be relocated here.
“We are here to re-
view the Khatamba
Cattle Pond and the lev-
elling and fencing of
one lakh feet open
space nearby. With this
facility, we would soon
be able to shift around
1,500 animals here per-
manently,” Mayor
Keryu Rokadia said.
He went on, “Second-
ly, we will organize a
meeting with the cattle
keepers of nearby are-
as. We will ask them to
shift here and take care
of their animals by
making sheds on their
own and doing busi-
ness. Water, light and
fencing facilities will
be provided by the mu-
nicipal corporation.
Our target is to make
the nearby areas per-
manently cattle free in
the coming days.”
UnderitsCattleFreeCampaign,1,500cattletobeshiftedto1lakhfeethome
Mayor Keyur Rokadia and MP Ranjan Bhatt visited Khatamba Cattle Pond on Tuesday.
UNIQUE CAMPAIGN
Guj Cong women wing writes to
PM, wants tough ports policy
First India Bureau
Rajkot: The Congress
party has raised con-
cern over the security
of ports in Gujarat af-
ter the recent series of
drug seizures in Sau-
rashtra and Gujarat.
In a letter to Prime
Minister Narendra
Modi, Gujarat Chief
Minister Bhupendra
Patel and Leader of
Opposition in Parlia-
ment, Gujarat
Pradesh Mahila Con-
gress President Gay-
atriba Ashoksinh
Vaghela has request-
ed the formation of a
strict policy for trans-
port of goods at vari-
ous ports of Gujarat.
According to the
letter, in the past five
years drugs amount-
ing to Rs 30,000 crore
have been seized from
the coastal belt of
Saurashtra and
Kutch. The recent
ones include seizures
of 3,000 kg heroin
worth Rs.21,000 crore
from Mundra port
imported in the name
of talcum powder,
and worth Rs 600
crore seized from a
village in Morbi on
Sunday night.
“Gujarat has a
long coastal belt of
1,600 km and has 42
ports of which 17
ports are used to
handle cargo from
Arabian countries.
With increasing traf-
fic at Gujarat ports
due to increased im-
ports and exports, it
may be impossible to
check entire contain-
ers thoroughly. Tak-
ing advantage of this
opportunity, Gujarat
is being used as a
transit point,” the
letter said.
“It is pertinent to
formulate a strict
transportation poli-
cy for goods in the
coastal belt of Guja-
rat and procedures
need to be foolproof,”
Vaghela added.
Gujarat Congress women wing president Gayatriba Vaghela.
A’bad Crime Branch
arrests youth for
blackmailing minor girl
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: The
Ahmedabad Crime
Branch has arrested a
youth from Anand for
blackmailing a minor
girl with her nude pic-
tures and videos. It was
found he had done this
with many girls.
A 13-year-old girl
from western
Ahmedabad had come
in contact with one
Shailesh Lukhada on
social media and got in-
timate. On Shailesh’s
request, she had shared
her pictures and a nude
video clip with him.
Soon, Shailesh start-
ed demanding Rs 20,000
from her and threat-
ened to make her nude
pictures and videos vi-
ral if she did not pay.
Frightened, the girl in-
formed her parents and
they approached the
cyber cell of the crime
branch to lodge a com-
plaint against Shailesh.
With technical sur-
veillance, the cyber cell
tracked him down in
Anand and arrested
him. Read up to 10th
standard, Shailesh
works as a labourer in
an industrial unit in
Anand.
The police found
nude pictures and vid-
eos of many girls in his
phone and are now in-
vestigating how long he
has been running the
racket and from who all
he had collected money
.
Surat schools
rank high in
Sarva Shikshan
Abhiyan Survey
First India Bureau
Surat: TheGujarat
government had
conductedasurvey
of government-run
schools under Sar-
va Siksha Abhiyan
to understand the
situationof schools
in the state. The
survey mainly fo-
cused on facilities
likedrinkingwater,
toilets and sanita-
tion in schools
which are detri-
mental to the
health of students.
More than half of
the schools still
have poor access to
these facilities.
The survey cov-
ers schools in Su-
rat, Tapi, Dang,
Valsad, Bharuch,
Narmada and
Navsari districts.
The schools have
been evaluated be-
tween 1 to 5 stars.
Outof 6993schools
in South Gujarat,
645 got 2 stars and
21 got 1 star only,
showing lack of
basic facilities.
Meanwhile, 487
got 5 stars, 4457 got
4 stars and 1383 got
3 stars.
Out of 1557
schools of Surat
district, 130 got 5
stars, 1115 got 4
stars, 237 got 3
stars, and 93 got 2
stars. Not a single
schoolinSuratand
Navsari district
got 1 star. Every
school of Surat is
top notch in terms
of hygiene.
THE
HUGE
DIVIDE!
A video clip is in
circulation on the
social media of
activists of the
Vishwa Hindu
Parishad ‘purifying’
an area at the
Vastrapur Lake
Garden after some
Muslims offered
namaz there on
Tuesday.
2SBIgoldvaluersheldfor`1.83crfraud
First India Bureau
Rajkot: Rajkot police
on Monday arrested two
gold valuers of State
Bank of India Rajkot
and another person for
defrauding the bank of
over Rs 1.83 crore. Two
people were arrested
earlier and sent to jail.
A complaint regis-
tered with A Division
Police Station by SBI re-
gional manager Romesh
Munshiram stated that
Dhaval Chowksi, a gold
valuer with the bank
since July 2020 issued 22
carat gold certificates to
gold loan seekers by pro-
ducing fake jewellery
against which bank is-
sued loans of over Rs
1.83 crore from its R.K.
Nagar branch and Jag-
nath branch.
“Dhaval is the main
accused. He and one
Ajim Valibhai used to
find people seeking gold
loan and present fake
jewellery against the
original 22 carat gold
certificate. The loans
weregivenbyproducing
original documents and
they would give some
amount to the applicant
and share the rest be-
tween them. Ajim is yet
to be arrested.” A divi-
sion PI CG Josgi said.
Those arrested are
Dhaval,DineshAhirwho
has taken gold loan on
fake jewellery and Dipak
Ranpara another gold
valuerof SBI.“Dipakdid
gold valuation for the
bank from 2020. During
the audit Dipak was
called to verify the cer-
tificate issued by Dhaval.
Dipak issued a wrong
value report and submit-
ted that Dhaval’s report
was correct,” Joshi said.
Dhaval Chowksi Dinesh Ahir Dipak Ranpara
Court has
granted 2-day
remand for
Dhaval and one
day for Dinesh.
Dipak has been
sent to jail
Vadodarayouthturnspetrol-runmobikeintoelectricone
First India Bureau
Vadodara: In a re-
markable feat, a Va-
dodara youngster has
converted his petrol-
run mobike into an
electric one and in-
cluded many new
functions for smooth
riding. With its re-
verse and easy han-
dling functions, the
bike is safe to ride.
Mithilesh Patel
dropped out of diploma
in civil engineering
and was engaged in de-
signing unique prod-
ucts throughout his
career. He runs a com-
pany called Vraj Inno-
vator (Research and
Development Center)
and owns as many as 20
patents in his name.
His name is also regis-
tered in the virtual In-
dia Book of Records.
“Rising fuel cost and
new Motor Vehicles Act
require health verifica-
tion of 20-year-old vehi-
cles. The Yamaha R15
bike petrol engine has
beenreplacedbyBrush-
less Permanent Magnet
Motor with Lithium
Battery pack of 2 Kilo-
watt. It has a regenera-
tive system, which
helps the bike to charge
20 to 25% while run-
ning. Various features
such as central locking
anti-theft system, GPS
and track telemetry
and solar charging sys-
tem have been provid-
ed. It has a maximum
speed of 76 Km/h. The
bike gives an average of
80-90 km in one charge
of 5 to 6 hours,” Mith-
ilesh says.
The costing is around
Rs 1.22 lakh with re-
search and develop-
ment. He will upload
the video of his manu-
facturing process free
of cost on his YouTube
channel.
INNOVATIVE CREATION
Video of entire process will be
uploaded soon on Mithilesh’s
YouTube channel free of cost
Mithilesh Patel, owner
of Vraj Innovator
(Research and
Development Center)
with his electric bike.
AUNT ELOPES
WITH NEPHEW
In a missing
complaint filed
in Ahmedabad,
a 32-year-old
woman eloped
with her 18-year-
old nephew. They
were in a relation-
ship and youth
used to delete all
social media chats
with her. Before
eloping on Mon-
day, the youth had
searched various
hotel fares, job op-
portunities, cheap
rented houses
and frequency of
buses between
Ahmedabad and
North India.
—FILE
PHOTO

AHMEDABAD, WEDNESDAY
NOVEMBER 17, 2021
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia
facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia 09
Politics,
Democracy
Academics!
Digital Baal Mela’s initiative
‘Baccho ki Sarkar Kaisi Ho’, intends to connect
young children with our democratic ethos, show
them the spirit of our constitution and the
governance structure of our nation!
he Digital Baal
Mela which
celebrated the
second season
this year is a
concrete step
forward in
bringing the idea of
Pandit Jawaharlal
Nehru to life when he
said, “The children of
today will make the In-
dia of tomorrow.”
Dr CP Joshi launched
the campaign Baccho
Ki Sarkar Kaisi ho on
June 15, 2021. Digital
Baal Mela, sponsored
by LIC, co-sponsored by
IDBI, and designed by
the Future society wit-
nessed children in vari-
ous roles like Assembly
Speaker, Leader of Op-
position, Chief Whip
and ministers on 14 No-
vember 2021 at the Ra-
jasthan Assembly
.
Jagdeesh Chandra
also hosted the young
masterminds at Ram-
bagh Palace, Jaipur on
Tuesday and motivated
them to continue to
bring their own per-
spective to the politics
of the nation and high-
light the issues faced by
the young generation
and also their expecta-
tions from the political
leaders.
CM Ashok Gehlot
and other ministers
congratulated and ap-
preciated Dr Meena
Sharma for her efforts
to make this a success-
ful program.
The Digital Baal
Mela was started by a
10-year-old girl, Janhvi
Sharma, during the
first lockdown when
the children were
cooped up in their
homes and had a lot of
problems adjusting to
this new life thrust
upon them.
Turn to P11
MITALI
DUSAD
T
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Raj Assembly Speaker Dr CP Joshi and MLA Sanyam Lodha with the Baal Mela children outside Rajasthan Vishan Sabha
CM Ashok Gehlot, Om Birla, Dr CP Joshi, Sanyam Lodha, Mahendra Choudhary and others
walk forward happily to the Children’s Govt proceedings day!
Jagdeesh Chandra with Sanika Lalwani, Aayushi Saini, Priya Sharma, Raghav Kalla, Janhvi Sharma, Anita Hada,
Meena Sharma, Lipi Gupta, Vaibhavee Goyal, Harshsardhan Sharma, Aditya Sharma, Ronit Jain and Shreyansh Agarwal
Samyak Jain as MLA of opposition shedding
some light on almsgiving
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla addressing the Children’s Assembly
Gulab Chand Katariya addressing the Baal Vidhansabha
Vidhan Sabha session for children
Kashwini Gehlot addressing the house Baal Session Speaker Janhvi Sharma
—PHOTO BY SANTOSH SHARMA
Special Guest and All India BBC Head Rupa Jha with Himanshi Gehlot

10
ETC
P
rof Rattan Lal Mittal is
former Head of Orthopae-
dic Department, Principal
Government Medical Col-
lege, Patiala; Director, Research
Medical Education, Government
of Punjab, Chandigarh and Dean
as well as Chancellor’s nominee
Punjabi University, Patiala. He
has been a Member of the Medical
Council of India (1993-95), Chair-
man of the ESI Medical Board
(1981-1995) and Sports Medicine
teacher at the National Institute
of Sports, Patiala.
Born on April 23, 1937, Prof
Mittal completed MBBS in 1960
and MS in 1966 from Punjabi Uni-
versity, Patiala. He has been a
passionate researcher in diverse
areas with 135 landmark global
publications. He has been a
strong advocate of low-cost tech-
nology for LMICs (Low and Mid-
dle-Income Countries), including
India. He invented numerous or-
thopaedic instruments. Superan-
nuated in April 1995, Prof Mittal
has been a passionate researcher.
His special field of lifetime inter-
est has been the grey area of ex-
treme clubfoot deformities in
which he has done pioneering
original research with 11 global
publications in reputed journals
during the last half-century. His
research includes the all-inclu-
sive four in one plastic surgery
procedure for correction of se-
vere clubfoot deformities. He has
been a distinguished Orthopae-
dic surgeon with numerous
awards and rewards viz. Govern-
ment of India’s Senior Common-
wealth Fellowship to UK 1984,
Indian Council Medical Research
award for Skeletal Fluorosis in
1991, Dr BC Roy National Award
1994, President, Asia Pacific Foot
Ankle Society 2000-2002, Life
Fellow National Academy Medi-
cal Sciences since 1995 etc. He
was specifically authorized by
Punjab Government in 2016-2017
and performed unprecedented 38
free unique clubfoot surgeries at
Government Mata Kaushalya
Hospital, Patiala. He has written
an invited book on congenital
club foot published in the USA by
Taylor and Francis released at
IOACON at Coimbatore in 2018.
r Niru Kumar has
been honoured as Pad-
ma Shri Awardee 2021
for her tireless work in
the field of Diversity
and Inclusion. She is
also the National Icon
and Board member Election
Commission of India. She is a
Diversity and Inclusion Con-
sultant, Medical Doctor, Execu-
tive Coach, NLP Master Practi-
tioner trained from Dr Richard
Bandler founder NLP and a
CHI Certified Teacher and
Practitioner of Hypnosis.
Dr Niru’s consulting and
training sessions are one of its
kind as she skillfully uses Di-
versity and Inclusion, Coach-
ing skills, NLP and Hypnother-
apy techniques to bring pro-
found and authentic transfor-
mation in the personal and
professional lives of the par-
ticipants.
Dr Niru is the founder of a
DI Consulting firm Ask In-
sights. This is a woman-owned
firm and is the only DI Con-
sulting firm that has partnered
with the world’s best thought
leaders in the field.
Dr Niru offers her expertise
in Diversity Strategy, Policies,
Talent Management, Assess-
ments and Analytics covering
areas of Gender Generation,
LGBTQ, Disability and Uncon-
scious Bias and Inclusion. She
has provided consulting to
more than 50 leading organisa-
tions and trained more than
30,000 people from Global Lead-
ers to the frontline in plants in
remotest areas. Some of her
clients are Unilever, Google,
Amazon, Flipkart, Aditya Bir-
la, PepsiCo, TATA etc.
She also coaches top Global
Leaders in the field of Inclu-
sive Leadership in one-to-one
sessions. Through the work-
shops and these sessions, the
leaders are able to drive
change within the organisa-
tion to not only be inclusive
but to leverage Diversity of
Thought in Innovation and be
Market Leaders.
Dr Niru is currently running
many Global Projects for top
leaders in various geographies
in companies like Unilever,
Concentrix etc.
THE UNFORGETTABLE MOMENT
THE UNFORGETTABLE MOMENT
City First brings to you the Padma Shri Awardees, Dr Niru Kumar and Prof Rattan Lal Mittal who
because of their hard work and efforts were conferred the award by President Ram Nath Kovind!
D
The work and the
transformation I saw in
people was my award.
Receiving this honour has
intensified my belief that I
am in service of the
divine. My life story
including getting polio at
age 3 was for a purpose
and I was being prepared
for this role since then.
From an early age being
different myself, made me
feel the pain of others who
were different and were
not included.
—DR NIRU KUMAR
Receiving this
award is the
culmination of my
original work over
the last 50 years in
the field of
congenital clubfoot. With this
novel surgical concept, even the
most severe deformity can be
corrected. I am grateful to the
Government of India for reaching
out to all the corners of the
country and giving recognition to
the efforts of its citizens. I draw
my inspiration from the teachings
of Swami Vivekananda.
—PROF RATTAN LAL MITTAL
President Ram Nath Kovind conferring the Padma Shri Award to Dr Niru Kumar
Dr Niru with her students while taking a session on empowering women
Dr Niru at the Minneapolis Forum
Dr Niru with the Hindalco Factory Unit
Prof Rattan Lal Mittal with Dr Arun Kumar Chopra, Dr Suruchi Chopra, Bhuvan Mittal,
Pritha Khurana and Sanjiv Khurana among other family members
President Ram Nath Kovind conferring the Padma Shri
Award to Dr Rattan Lal Mittal
Dr Mittal with his wife Dr Radha Rani Mittal and daughter Dr Suruchi Chopra
Picture of a patient before and after surgery treated by Dr Mittal
Dr Mittal greeted by his wife Dr Radha Rani Mittal, neighbors and
friends on his homecoming
Dr Niru Kumar with her family

ETC
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia AHMEDABAD | WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2021
11
Janhvi is the first child
in the country who
stepped out in the Coro-
naAwarenessCampaign
of the Government of
Rajasthan during the
lockdown of March -
April 2020. On learning
of the plight faced by
her ‘locked down’
friends, Janhvi the logo
of this new kids’ world
in her notebook and did
everything from her
home.
The Future Society
heard the children’s call
and turned this into a
national initiative by
formally launching the
Digital Baal Mela on No-
vember 14, 2020, Chil-
dren’s Day. Rajasthan
Education Minister Go-
vind Singh Dotasara re-
leased a video of the
Baal Mela and appealed
to the children to par-
ticipate in large num-
bers. Dr BD Kalla, Minis-
ter of Arts and Culture,
Government of Ra-
jasthan, described it as a
platform for children.
Children from across
the country participated
in 10 kinds of competi-
tions of Digital Baal
Mela. Not only chil-
dren, but their
parents also showed
huge enthusiasm.
As a result, in one
month, children
from all over the
country appeared
at this Baal Mela.
While one
thousandchildren
became active mem-
bers of Digital Baal
Mela, about fifteen lakhs
also reached social me-
dia platforms. DBM 2021
was designed to take
the voice of children
to the political func-
tionaries so that they
also become stake-
holders in the politi-
cal process even
though they don’t
vote. Starting on June
15, DBM, 2021 has al-
ready been able to con-
nect more than 15 lac
children and their fami-
lies.
Children have been
selected to experience
for themselves how the
state Assembly func-
tions. These children
were allowed inside the
Rajasthan Vidhan Sab-
ha and got the opportu-
nity to run the House.
FROM PG 09
Chief Minister of Children’s assembly Harsh Bharat Bhai
Piyush Goyal as Health
Minister shared his views
on children’s health issues
Rajasthan Vidhan Sabha Secretary
Pramil Kumar Mathur
Finance Minister Anushka Rathore answering
questions on the child development budget
Proud mothers of the children of Baal Mela sitting as MLA in Vidhan Sabha Children’s Assembly
Opposition MLA Anvesha Singh discussing on effective operation
on E- vehicles for the prevention of air pollution
Dinesh Bairad as Minister of Social justice and welfare
development giving possible solutions on child marriage issues
Dr CP Joshi with Dr Meena Sharma
and Digital Baal Mela team
Dr Meena Sharma giving brief instructions to the children before the session
Children of Digital Baal Mela outside the Assmebly on 14 November
Jagdeesh Chandra presents Certificate of Participation to Vaibhavee Goyal Jagdeesh Chandra appreciates Lipi Gupta on Tuesday evening Jagdeesh Chandra felicitates Ronit Jain
Mayank Potaliya
Politics,
Democracy
Academics! BD Kalla, Rajendra Pareek,
Mamta Bhupesh, Meena Sharma, Lalchand Kataria,
Ashok Lahoti, Prasadi Lal Meena at the Vidhan Sabha
DURING THE INTERACTION! —PHOTOS BY SANTOSH SHARMA
—PHOTOS
BY
MUKESH
KIRADOO

Saurabh Kirpal is all geared
up to be the first gay judge
of Delhi High Court.After
delaying a decision on
the nomination of senior
advocate for at least four
times since 2018, the
Supreme Court Collegium
has finally recommended
his name as a judge of the
Delhi High Court, rejecting
the Union government’s
prior dissatisfaction against
his proposed elevation.
The changing culture and
awareness amongst the
people with coming time is
clearly being seen after this
decision.This action will boost
the self-esteem of the entire
LGBTQ community.
12
CITY BUZZ
AWARDED
MAML the leisure brand was awarded as India’s leading
premium leisure brand of 2021 by the Indian Saga recently.‘Me
and My Life’ is the classic idea behind this brand’s name that
started in 2016. Designer Suresh Ganesha and his partner Ashok
Gangji came up with a perfect product for every occasion.
CHANGE IS COMING
NO WORRIES ABOUT PARKING!
Delhi-based Autotech Startup Parky Launched Unique QR-Code Product to Ease the Wrong parking situation
on Monday.The Parking Safety Solution was launched in the presence of an actor and brand ambassador of
Parky, Rushad Rana.The Parky QR Decal on the vehicle that is blocking the path can be scanned by any QR
code scanner, which then helps the caller connect to the vehicle owner while ensuring the privacy of contact
details of both the caller and the owner.This Parky app is also available on Android and IOS.
Unseen Moments
Few more glimpses from the MP
Cup Polo Championship-Sir Pratap
Singh Cup 2021 held on Sunday
at Jaipur Polo Grounds, Delhi. The
match was held between Sona Polo
vs Vimal Arion Achievers where
the latter won the match. Minister
of State for Culture and External
Affairs, Meenakshi Lekhi graced the
occasion as the chief guest. The
Most Valuable Player Award was
given to Juan Cruz Losada, while
the Best Playing Pony Award was
given to Sunjay J Kapur’s pony.
MATTER OF
WOMENS’HEALTH
The Embassy of Israel in
partnership with NGO Khushii
and Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute
organised Women’s Health
Clinics in Sangam Vihar, South
Delhi, and Mukandpur, North
Delhi between November 15-19.
Eminent doctors from Israel
and India participated in these
clinics.This initiative aims to
increase awareness of women’s
health issues including cancer
prevention and early detection
that are important to effective
treatment.This mission was
led by Ronit Almog, a senior
obstetric gynaecologist.The
clinics provided services free
of cost: blood pressure, blood
sugar check-ups, Physician
check-ups, disbursement of
medicines, gynaecological
check-ups and pap smear tests
were also conducted. LIVA Miss
Diva Universe 2021 Harnaaz Kaur
Sandhu, also visited these clinics.
Forever Living Products
India, manufacturer and
distributor of Aloe Vera
products celebrated
the successful day and
achievement of Forever
Business Owners on
Monday at Thyagraj stadium
on Monday.The business
owners were recognised on
stage by the Country Sales
Manager, Harish Singla
for their achievements.
The achievers motivated
the audiences with their
successful speeches.The
audience was spellbound
seeing the incredible
transformation of people
in Forever from ordinary to
extraordinary.
A DAY TO CELEBRATE
ajasthan Foun-
dation, Ra-
jasthan Tour-
ism and BHMS
in association
with Marwari
Yuva Manch,
Dubai presented Global
Pravasi Deepotsav on
Saturday at Bikaner
House, New Delhi. The
one day program was
divided into two sec-
tions. Saturday Haat
displayed handicrafts,
food, organic products,
sustainable fashion and
home care. During the
evening, a phygital Diya
Lighting Ceremony was
also held followed by a
Cultural Eve. Various
dignitaries like IAS
Shubhra Singh, IAS
Gayatri Rathore, Dhiraj
Srivastava were present
during the program.
Performances by Anay-
ana Singhvi (Interna-
tional Rajasthani
Bhavai Dancer), Hriti-
sha Rewadia (Opera
Queen of India) and
Bhungar Khan and his
band (Desert Sympho-
ny Band) were wit-
nessed during the cul-
tural evening.
SUSHMITA AIND
sushmita.aind@firstindia.co.in
R
CELEBRATING
CULTURE
—PHOTOS
BY
MANOJ
KESHARWANI
Anayana Singhvi
Dignitaries during the event
Bhungar Khan and his band
(L-R) Manoj Sharma, Manoj Singh,
Gagandeep Singh and Ashish Sharma During the lamp lighting ceremony
IAS Shubhra Singh and Nishant Jain Hritisha Rewadia
Harnaaz Kaur Sandhu during the visit to a health clinic
A cultural performance of the North Eastern state,
Manipur where Polo was first discovered
Meenakshi Lekhi presenting the winning trophy
to Vimal Arion Achievers; Ashok Chandna,
Kuldeep Singh Rathore, Daniel Otamendi
and Juan Cruz Losada Sir Pratap Singh Cup Award Ishita Taneja
Spectators during the match
Players paying tribute to late Pratap Singh
—PHOTOS BY SHAZID CHAUHAN
Harnaaz Kaur Sandhu in conversation
with the frontliners
HE Naor Gilon greeting Harnaaz Kaur
HE Naor Gilon and Harnaaz Kaur Sandhu
—PHOTOS BY SHAZID CHAUHAN
—PHOTO
BY
SHAZID
CHAUHAN

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