19022022 first india ahmedabad

First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: A day
after Chief Minister
Bhupendra Patel
launched the state’s new
biotech policy
, the Guja-
rat Biotechnology Re-
search Centre (GBRC)
has procured a new
high-throughput ge-
nome sequencer--the Il-
lumina Novaseq 6000.
This is the first time
such an advanced ma-
chine has been set up in
a state-government-run
institution across the
country, the Gujarat
government said in a re-
lease.
The machine, pro-
curedatacostof Rs13.95
crore, will increase
GBRC’s sequencing ca-
pacity nine-fold.
“The new gene se-
quencer is capable of
generating 6Tb and 20
billion reeds in two
days. With the help of
this machine installed
in GBRC, it is possible to
sequence more than
3000 SARS-CoV-2 (COV-
ID-19) genomes in a
month. It will also make
the inspection of new
mutations or strains
easier. Other research
includinginthefieldsof
cancer, rare genetic dis-
orders, population ge-
netics, and complete ge-
nome, exome and tran-
scriptome(thefullrange
of messenger RNA, or
mRNA, molecules ex-
pressed by an organism)
will be easily possible,”
the state said, adding
that CM Patel had ap-
proved the purchase in
order to boost the com-
petence, structure and
power at GBRC.
Established under the
Department of Science
and Technology, GBRC
conducts transnational
research in various
fields of biotechnology
.
It has more than 30 pro-
jects, being run by vari-
ous international, na-
tional and local agen-
cies. In addition, GBRC
has also worked on
genomics surveillance,
diagnostics, waste-wa-
ter surveillance, etc.,
during the pandemic.
GBRC procures new genome sequencer at `13.95cr
STATE-OF-THE-ART TECH
Announcement
comes day after
CM launched
bio-technology
policy
Israel’s Ambassador to India Naor Gilon paid a courtesy visit to
CM Bhupendra Patel in Gandhinagar on Friday.
AHMEDABAD l SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2022 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/79050 l Vol 3 l Issue No. 85
OUR EDITIONS: JAIPUR, AHMEDABAD, LUCKNOW & NEW DELHI www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
CORONA CATASTROPHE
Gujarat A’bad
NEW
CASES
204
NEW
CASES
617 NEW
DEATHS
10
The Felicity Ace, a massive Panama-flagged cargo ship
carrying thousands of Volkswagen Group vehicles,
caught fire near the Azores islands in the Atlantic Ocean.
The ship’s 22 crew members were successfully evacu-
ated. The ship was transporting 4,000 luxury cars.
SHIP ON FIRE
WITH PORSCHES,
LAMBORGHINIS
ABOARD
Rakesh Gangwal, who along with Bhatia had started
IndiGo at the start of this Millennium but had a serious
fallout in last few years, on Friday resigned as director
from the board of the airline’s holding company, Inter-
Globe Aviation. Gangwal will reduce his stake gradually.
CO-FOUNDER OF
INDIGO RAKESH
GANGWAL RESIGNS
FROM BOARD
LIC LIKELY TO LAUNCH
IPO ON MARCH 11
SENSEX ENDS FLAT,
NIFTY BELOW 17300
A public offering of shares by In-
dia’s state-run Life Insurance Corp
(LIC), set to be the country’s big-
gest ever at $8 billion (Rs 60,000
crore), is expected to open for an-
chor investors on March 11, three
sources with direct knowledge of
the matter told agencies.P7
Sensex ended 59.04 points or
0.10% lower at 57,832.97, and
the Nifty settled 28.30 points
or 0.16% down at 17,276.30.
Sectorally, except bank and capital
goods, all other indices ended in
the red with oil & gas and realty
indices down 1 percent each. P7
 The Karnataka
government on Friday
contended before the
High Court that the hijab
is not an essential reli-
gious practice of Islam
and preventing its use
did not violate Article 25
of the Indian Constitu-
tion, which guarantees
religious freedom.
 Advocate General
Prabhuling Navadgi
said that government
has taken a stand that
wearing hijab is not
an essential practice
under Islam.
 The AG also re-
jected the charge of
some Muslim girls,
who challenged the
Karnataka govern-
ment’s order
on February
5 that barred students
from wearing hijab or
saffron scarves saying
that it violated Article 25
of the Constitution.
 Meanwhile, Kar-
nataka Police has
booked hijab-clad
Muslim students of
Empress Government
Pre-University College
for allegedly taking
part in an “unlaw-
ful assembly” and
showing “disobedi-
ence” towards public
servants. According to
police, 10-15 unidenti-
fied girls have been
booked by cops.
 On the other hand,
male student of a
government PU college
was stopped on Friday
from sporting vermilion
citing the Karnataka
High Court’s inter
order, spark-
ing Bajrang
Dal activists to
stage a protest
against the col-
lege authorities.
HIJAB NOT AN ESSENTIAL
RELIGIOUS PRACTICE OF ISLAM:
KARNATAKA GOVT TELLS HC
GIRLS BOOKED
VERMILION ROW
3 CONVICTS
FROM KOTA
Kota: Among the con-
victs, three belonged
from Rajasthan’s Kota.
Imran, Atiqur Rehman
and Mehndi Hasan
Ansari. Imran ran a
medical store in Patan-
pol and came in contact
with SIMI. The wires of
Jaipur blast were also
connected with Imran.
His input was received
from a terrorist caught
in Jaipur. Mehndi Has-
san Ansari, a resident
of Ghantaghar area,
used to run a breakfast
shop in front of JK Lone
Hospital in Nayapura.
Atiqur Rehman was
caught from Nanta area.
—Bhanwar S Charan
Out of all the convicts who were awarded death penalty,
Usman Agarbattiwala, also convicted under the Arms Act,
was additionally awarded a year in jail under the Arms Act
In this Aug 16, 2008 file photo, suspected militants who were produced by
crime branch for their alleged involvement in 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts.
Ahmedabad: Aspecialcourtdes-
ignatedforthespeedytrialof the
2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts
cases on Friday sentenced 38
of the49convictedtodeath.
Theelevenothersweresen-
tenced to life in jail. Ac-
cording to the defence
lawyers, this is the
highest number of
convicts to be sen-
tenced to death in a sin-
gle case in India’s legal
history. The court of spe-
cial judge AR Patel directed
payment of Rs 1 lakh for the
56 victims who died, Rs 50,000
for those who suffered serious in-
juries and Rs 25,000 for those who
suffered minor ones. More on p3
2008
AHMEDABAD
SERIAL BLASTS
VERDICT...
‘HANG 38
TILL DEATH’
11 GET LIFE IMPRISONMENT;
FINE OF `2.85 LAKH IMPOSED
ON EACH OF 49 CONVICTS
56 WERE KILLED, 200 HURT
 Police investigations con-
cluded the IM was a regroup-
ing of the banned SIMI
 In February 2013, 14
accused were booked for dig-
ging a 213-foot-long tunnel
while they were lodged in
Sabarmati Central jail
THE INDIAN MUJAHIDEEN
Ex NSE chief, accused of
sharing info with Himalayan
yogi, interrogated by CBI
New Delhi: The Cen-
tral Bureau of Investi-
gation (CBI) is ques-
tioning Chitra Ram-
krishna, former manag-
ing director and chief
executive officer of the
National Stock Ex-
change (NSE), in con-
nection with a 2018 case
in light of revelations
made by the Securities
and Exchange Board of
India that Ramkrishna
has passed on confiden-
tial information to a
“Himalayan yogi”.
The case pertains to
alleged abuse of the
NSE’s co-location facil-
ity (where brokers can
buy “rack space” for
their servers) to make
gains by getting early
access to the stock mar-
ket. The CBI had booked
Sanjay Gupta, owner of
Delhi-based OPG Secu-
rities Pvt. Ltd, and oth-
ers in the case.
Meanwhile, a lookout
notice has been issued
against Chitra Ram-
krishna, former Chief
Executive Officer (CEO)
of NSE and others for-
merly from the top man-
agement, a move to stop
the accused from leav-
ing the country
.
LOOKOUT
CIRCULARS ISSUED
Chitra Ramkrishna
New Delhi: The Uttar
Pradesh government on
Friday informed the Su-
preme Court that it had
withdrawn 274 notices
issued for recovery of
damages to public prop-
erties during the anti-
Citizenship (Amend-
ment) Act protests.
The state Additional
Advocate General Ga-
rima Prashad conveyed
this to the bench of Jus-
tices D Y Chandrachud
and Surya Kant, which
accepted the same and
appreciated the “fair
gesture”.
The Bench also di-
rected that recoveries
made in consequence of
the proceedings that
had been withdrawn, be
refunded. Though the
state urged the court to
direct status quo on re-
coveries already made
till the Tribunals de-
cide the matter, the
Bench said that when a
proceeding itself is
withdrawn, all conse-
quent actions, too, will
have to go.
UP GOVT INFORMS SUPREME
COURT ON ANTI-CAA PROTESTS:
‘WITHDRAWN ALL
NOTICES ISSUED
FOR RECOVERY
OF DAMAGES’
The state government
also said all subsequent
proceedings would be in
view of enactment of a
new law and would be
referred to Tribunals
constituted under the Act
YOU READ IT FIRST
IN FIRST INDIA
FEBRUARY 12, 2022
I’mworld’ssweetestterrorist:
Kejrijunksseparatistremarks
New Delhi: AAP leader
and Delhi chief minis-
ter Arvind Kejriwal on
Friday responded to al-
legations made by for-
mer party colleague
Kumar Vishwas, saying
he must be the “world’s
sweetest terrorist” who
builds schools and hos-
pitals.
He said Vishwas’
charge that he was
Khalistan supporter
was laughable.
Kejriwal also target-
ted Centre and said that
the government could
not find any evidence
against him, but just
keeps accusing.
“All these corrupts
are calling me terrorist.
I am the first terrorist
in the world who builds
schools for people,
builds hospitals, fixes
electricity. I am the
world’s first “sweet ter-
rorist,” Kejriwal added.
The Delhi CM’s
reaction came after his
ex-partymen Kumar
Vishwas claimed in an
old video that Kejriwal
was supportive of the
Khalistan movement
in the state of Punjab
CONGRESS PUNJAB MANIFESTO
PROMISES ONE LAKH GOVT JOBS
Chandigarh: The Congress on Friday released its manifesto
for the February 20 Punjab Assembly polls, promising
`1,100 per month for women, eight free cooking gas cylin-
ders per year and one lakh government jobs. The party also
promised to end the mafia raj by creating corporations for
the sale of liquor and sand mining. Addressing the media,
state party chief Navjot Singh Sidhu said the party’s govern-
ment will procure oilseed, pulses and corn from farmers.
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal tweeted the satirical cartoon on Friday.
 The emails purportedly
sent out by the IM contained
images from the Gujarat
riots of 2002, and claimed
the bombings were revenge
for the riots and for the
destruction of the Babri
Masjid in Ayodhya in 1992
 56 people were killed and
around 200 were injured
 Ahmedabad was the third
city to be bombed that year,
after Jaipur in May and Ben-
galuru just the day before
 On July 27, similar bombs
were found in Surat
 On July 26, 2008, in
the span of 70 minutes, 22
bombs went off at various
places in Ahmedabad city in-
cluding at Gujarat govern-
ment-run Ahmedabad Civil
Hospital, the Ahmedabad
Municipal Corporation-run
LG Hospital, in buses, on
parked bicycles, and in cars
Russia all set to stage
massive nuclear drills
amid Ukraine standoff
Moscow: The Russian
military on Friday an-
nounced massive drills
of its strategic nuclear
forces, a stark reminder
of the country’s nuclear
might amid Western
fears that Moscow
might be preparing to
invade Ukraine.
Russian President
Vladimir Putin will
personally oversee Sat-
urday’s exercise, which
will involve multiple
practice launches of in-
tercontinental ballistic
missiles and cruise mis-
siles, the Defense Min-
istry said.
Russian President
Vladimir Putin will
personally oversee
Saturday’s exercise

NEWS
AHMEDABAD | SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2022
02
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First India Bureau
Gir Somnath: A farm-
er has written to the
Gir Somnath District
Superintendent of po-
lice and other senior
officers alleging that
Dinu Solanki--a for-
mer Member of Par-
liament of the ruling
Bharatiya Janata
Party--has threatened
to kill him and his
family.
A video clip of the al-
leged threat has become
popularonsocialmedia.
In his application,
Gopal Gohil says he
owns a tract of farm-
land in Mitiyaz vil-
lage, near a piece of
land belonging to
Solanki’s nephew Ravi
Solanki. Gohil said he
recently found Ravi il-
legally damming a
branch of the river
Goma using sand from
the government waste-
land. He then asked
Ravi to not block the
tributary, since the
move would cut off
water supply to the
Mitiyaz farm and ruin
the planted crops.
Not only did Ravi con-
tinue to fill the river
branch with sand, on
February 15, Ravi and
his uncle--who was pre-
sent at his nephew’s
farm in Devri village-
-also rushed Gohil, and
threatened to kill him
and his family if he did
not back down. Gohil
said in his written appli-
cation that his brother
and someone in civil
dress saved him from an
attack.
Gohil has further
alleged that the
“ s h o r t - t e m p e r e d ”
Dinu Solanki--who
was convicted in the
murder of RTI activist
Amit Jethva--“has a
history of having peo-
ple killed”.
“Ravi wants to grab
my land, so he is divert-
ing the river water to
ensure my crops fail,”
Gohil said.
Gir Somnath DSP
Rahul Tripathi and
Junagadh Range Dep-
uty Inspector General
of Police Maninder
Pawar were not
reachable for com-
ment despite several
attempts.
14 MLAS HAVE DEFECTED TO RULING PARTY
SINCE 2017 POLLS. WILL MORE FOLLOW?
KODINAR FARMER
AFRAID EX-MP FROM
BJP WILL KILL HIM
Alleging that the authorities have not paid any heed to his
complaints of water problems in his area for the past 10
days, Bharatiya Janta Party councillor from Ward no. 15
Ashish Joshi decided to take a trip into a stormwater drain
to check for leakage in the main water line. He then sent
the video to Standing Committee Chairman Dr Hitendra
Patel who is from the same area. He said the leak was
likely caused when city workers “broke a slab” while
cleaning the drain near Waghodia Road Uma Char Rasta.
HANDS-ON, FEET-
FIRST APPROACH
‘BJP IN TOUCH WITH SEVERAL SOUTH
GUJARAT CONGRESS LEADERS’
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: Every-
thing is fair in love
and war, they say.
And this is appar-
ently never truer
than in an election
year, with the ruling
Bharatiya Janata
Party seemingly set
on bleeding the oppo-
sition Congress dry
of senior leaders, de-
spite the actual polls
being months away.
Notably, 14 elected
members of the legisla-
tive assembly have al-
ready switched alle-
giances since the 2017
polls.
A highly placed
source within the Con-
gress told First India
that members of “BJP
state unit chief CR Pa-
til’s group in regular
contact with Congress
leaders in south Guja-
rat,” adding, “Each
leader has been con-
tacted, arm twisted or
bribed to join BJP. It is
possible that many
people will quit the
Congress in coming
months.”
Then, there are those
who allege that Con-
gress veterans are act-
ing as go-betweens for
disgruntled party work-
ers and their main ri-
val, the BJP.
“Over the past few
months, some Con-
gress veterans are
working as agents for
the BJP. They know
which are the weak
links, and they also
know that the party
high command has flat-
ly ruled out bowing to
pressure from disgrun-
tled workers, who have
been told to either ac-
cept the party and its
ideology, or exit grace-
fully. So we are expect-
ing more leaders to
quit the party,” one
leader added asking
not to be named for
fear of blowback.
Still, the official line
is that there “are no re-
bels” as senior Con-
gress leader Gaurav
Pandya said when
asked for a comment.
“There are no rebels in
the party
. So there is no
question of their leav-
ing or being helped to
leave,” he said.
Rajiv Bhavan, state headquarters of Congress party in Ahmedabad. —FILE PHOTO
A video clip, in which ex-MP Dinu Solanki (in the cream shirt) is allegedly
seen threatening farmer Gopal Gohil, has gained traction on social media.
‘Hopeful of +ve outcome
in police corruption case’
First India Bureau
Rajkot: Rajkot
Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) MLA Go-
vind Patel on Friday
said that he was
“hopeful of a positive
outcome on charges
levied against Rajkot
Police Commissioner
Manoj Agarwal.” A
day earlier, eight po-
lice inspectors and
sub-inspectors from
Rajkot crime branch
and Special Opera-
tion Group (SOG)
were issued transfer
orders.
Speaking to First
India, Patel said, “The
state government has
taken serious note of
the matter. I am happy
with the beginning in-
vestigation and am
positive of a good out-
come. The overall sit-
uation in Rajkot will
now change.”
On February 02, Pa-
tel had levelled allega-
tions against Rajkot
police for accepting
‘commission’ for re-
covering money of fi-
nancial fraud victims.
One of the victims,
Jagjivan Sakhiya,
had alleged that offi-
cials had taken Rs75
lakh from him to re-
cover Rs12 crore.
Meanwhile, a busi-
nessman named Avi-
nash Dhulesia, who
was attacked by five
miscreants in Rajkot
two days ago, suc-
cumbed to a head in-
jury on Thursday
. The
accused had been har-
assing to vacate his
home.
“I had warned the
state government to
make Suchit Socie-
ty permanent a dec-
ade ago. Dhulesia’s
death is a result of
active land mafia. I
am happy that the
government has
now considered my
appeal to make
these suchit socie-
ties permanent,”
asserted Patel.
Rajkot MLA Govind Patel. —FILE PHOTO
First India Bureau
Rajkot: A state-level
Arohan Avrohan com-
petition concluded at
Osam Hills in Dhoraji
on Friday. A total of 168
youths from 10 dis-
tricts participated in
the second edition of
the event organized by
the state government
to promote and develop
the venue as a sports
activity centre. Efforts
will be made by Rajkot
district Collectorate to
extensively develop the
place as a hub for ad-
venture sports and
tourist spot.
While the competi-
tion was held last year,
owing to the COVID-19
pandemic, it was held
this year. Participants
had to climb 650 steps
and another 750 steps in
the mountain trekking
area.
Shailesh Kamaliya,
18, of Gir Somnath
bagged the first posi-
tion in the boys catego-
ry on his first attempt.
He finished the event in
a record time of 10 min-
utes and 8 seconds.
In the girls category,
the first prize was
bagged by Kiran Dhad-
hvi of Surendranagar
district with a timing of
14 minutes and 40 sec-
onds.
The top 10 winners in
both boys and girls cat-
egory were distributed
cash prizes ranging be-
tween Rs2,500 to
Rs12,500. The event was
jointly organized by the
youth and culture de-
partment and Rajkot
district Collectorate.
Speaking on the oc-
casion, Rajkot Collec-
tor Arun Mahesh
Babu, said, “The
place (Osam Hills)
will be developed as
an adventure base
camp where various
sports activities will
be conducted. The
point already is a
tourist attraction
among locals.”
Arohan Avrohan competition culminates at Osam Hills
SPORTING EVENT
lll
Second edition
of the step-
climbing
event saw
participation
from 168
youths from
10 districts of
the state Winning climbers of the competition posing with dignitaries.
FEARING FOR LIFE
Has written to police
officials expressing worry
that “short-tempered” Dinu
Solanki will carry out
threat of “dire consequences”
Surat: In an initiative aimed at helping people against online fraud--spe-
cifically in the case of apps that purport to give “small and easy loans”--the
city Congress issued a helpline (9904670696) and asked the government
to take appropriate action on the issue. “Such apps promise hassle-free
loans of Rs1,000-Rs50,000, based on users’ Aadhar and PAN card details,
but end up taking interest of 40% per week, which works out to 2,400%
per annum. They are totally illegal. We have set up the helpline to aid any-
one who needs assistance,” Congress member Deep Nayak said.
SURAT CONG STARTS ONLINE LOAN FRAUD HELPLINE

GUJARAT
03
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: Guja-
rat reported 617
COVID-19 cases and
10 deaths in the last
24 hours, taking the
tally to 12,19,699 and
toll to 10,874, an of-
ficial said on Friday.
The discharge of
1,885 persons during
this period took the re-
covery count to
12,02,089, leaving the
state with an active
tally of 6,736, of which
53 patients are on ven-
tilator support, he said.
Once again,
Ahmedabad topped the
list with 204 new COV-
ID-19 cases, a day after
announced its decision
to relax curbs in most
cities and towns.
Only Ahmedabad
and Vadodara, which
has been reporting the
highest number of dai-
lydeathsinrecentdays,
will remain under
night curfew—current-
ly in place from mid-
night to 5 am—the state
had said on Thursday
.
A government re-
lease said 10.19 crore
COVID-19 vaccine dos-
es have been adminis-
tered in the state so far,
including 1.78 lakh
during the day
.
Two new COVID-19
cases in adjoining
Dadra Nagar Haveli
and Daman Diu in
the last 24 hours and
the discharge of six
persons took the tally
to 11,407 and recovery
count to 11,392.
It has left the Union
Territory, which has
seen four deaths so far,
with 11 active cases, a
local official said.
Guj sees 617 COVID-19 cases, 10
deaths as 1,885 recover in 24 hrs
DECLINE CONTINUES
14yearson, thedayofreckoningarrives
NCC cadet from V’dara selected for
B’desh Youth Exchange Programme
First India Bureau
Vadodara: Dheeraj
Singh, a fourth year
Bachelor of Technol-
ogy (BTech) student
from Parul Universi-
ty’s Vadodara cam-
pus, was chosen to be
one of 20 National
Cadet Corps (NCC) to
travelled to Dhaka,
Bangladesh under
the Youth Exchange
Programme.
As part of the annual
programme that in-
volves exchange of ca-
dets between friendly
nations, Singh visited
Bangladesh’s land-
marks such as the Na-
tional Martyrs Memo-
rial, Bangladesh Na-
tional Museum as well
as Army, Navy Air
Force headquarters.
The senior secretary at
the Ministry of De-
fense hosted a dinner
at the Army Golf Club
where the cadets heard
about experiences of
senior officials and in-
teracted with them.
Dheeraj also repre-
sented Parul Universi-
ty at the 2021 Republic
Day celebrations at Ra-
jpath in New Delhi. He
was part of the ‘All In-
dia NCC Boys March-
ing Contingent’ at the
parade. He was also
awarded the prime
minister’s baton and
medal during the NCC
Republic Day Camp
2021 in Delhi. Dheeraj
has been serving as a
NCC Cadet with the 1
Gujarat Air Squadron
in Vadodara, Gujarat.
In the over 7,000-page judgment, court termed the case as rarest of rare and ordered
that 38 convicts be hanged till death, while 11 others were awarded life imprisonment
12,02,089
TOTALRECOVERED
1,885 MORE
IN A DAY
12,19,699
TOTAL CASES
617 CASES
IN A DAY
204 MAX
CASES IN
A’BAD
ACTIVE CASES
10,874
TOTAL DEATHS
6,736
10 DEATHS
IN A DAY
COVID-19 UPDATE
Cadet Dheeraj Singh
Singh with his counterparts from other nations and their Bangladeshi
hosts at the Youth Exchange Programme in Dhaka.
It is a historical judgement. It was a big
challenge for investigators team to collect
evidence, as there were no clues. The ac-
cused were tech-savvy, educated and were
hiding in a safe place. Plus, the Indian Mujahideen
had accepted the responsibility for the serial blasts.
—Abhay Chudasama,
then Deputy Commissioner of Police-Crime Branch, now serving
as Gandhinagar Range Inspector General of Police
I was asked to join the Ahmedabad
Crime Branch on July 27 morning. My
first task was to collect evidence of
where the material was procured and
where the bombs were prepared. During the in-
vestigation, I learnt that they were made in a
house in Danilimda.
—RV Asari, then Deputy Superintendent of Police-Godhra, now
Joint Commissioner of Police, Ahmedabad.
Iappreciatethepoliceinvestigation,and
thejudicialsystemforafairtrialandjus-
ticetothevictims.Thestategovernment
willchallengetheacquittalpartofthejudge-
mentintheappellatecourt.Thevictimsarepraying
thatallshouldbepunishedfortheactofterror.
—Pradip Parmar, Minister of Social Justice Empowerment, who
had been injured in the bomb blast at the Trauma Centre of the
Civil Hospital
My son was just 21 years old. The pain
of losing a child is unbearable. The
court has delivered justice today. I am
at peace now and can die peacefully. Now
the culprits will realise the pain and suffering
which I have gone through over the years. I hope
the judgement will set an example for anyone
thinking of such an attack in the future.
—Dimpi Modi, mother of blast victim Ankit Modi
 Zahid Sheikh
 Imran Sheikh
 Iqbal Sheikh
 Samsuddin Sheikh
 Gyasuddin Ansari
 Mohammad Arif Kagzi
 Mohammad Usman Agarbattiwala
 Yunus Mohammad Mansuri
 Qamruddin Chand Nagori
 Aamil Parvez Kazi Saifuddin Saikh
 Sibli alias Sabit Abdul Karim Muslim
 Safdar Husain Iqbal Husain Nagori
 Hafiz Husain alias Adnan Mulla
 Mohammad Saji Mansuri
 Mufti Abubashar Shaikh
 Abbas Sameja
 Javed Ahmed Shaikh
 Mohammad Ismail Mansuri
 Afzal alias Afsar Usmani
 Mohammad Arif Shaikh
 Asif alias Hasan Shaikh
 Mohammad Arif Mirza
 Qyamuddin Kapadia
 Mohammad Shaikh alias Rahul sheikh
 Jisan Ahmed Shaikh
 Ziyaur Rehman Taili
 Mohammad Saqil Luhar
 Mohammad Akbar Chaudhary
 Fazle Rehman Durani
 Ahmed Bawa Saiyad
 Surfuddin Sainuddin Salam
 Saifur Rehman alias Abdul Rehman
 Saduli Abdul Karim Muslim
 Mohammad Tanvir Pathan
 Aamin alias Raja Shaikh
 Mohammad Mobin Safurkhan
 Mohammad Rafiq Ahmed
 Tausif Khan alias Atiq Pathan
SECURITY BEEFED
UP AMID DEATH
THREATS
LUCKY DUO
FROM
JAMNAGAR
DEAD MEN WALKING
Officials have in-
creased the security
detail allotted to
Additional Sessions
Judge AR Patel,
who pronounced the
quantum of punish-
ment on Friday, after
it was learnt that
some of the convicts
have threatened to
kill him, investiga-
tors and the pros-
ecutors within the
next two months.
Sources said some
of the convicts
were in remorseful
tears, while others
showed no remorse
and refused to plead
for any relief in the
quantum of pun-
ishment awarded to
them.
Jaydeep Bhatt and
Hemant Tanna had
visited Ahmed-
abad’s Manish Tex-
tile market to pro-
cure cloth on July
26, 2008. They had
just left for Kalupur
Station to catch a
train to return to
Surat, where they
work, when they
heard about the
serial blasts. They
said that they had
both felt like they
had had a lucky
escape but decided
not to return to
Ahmedabad city
until the case was
completed and the
judgement was
pronounced in the
case.
Families of victims celebrated the judgement. —PHOTOS BY HANIF SINDHI Public prosecutor Amit Patel addressed reporters after the hearing.

PERSPECTIVE
04
lVol3lIssueNo.85
l RNINO.GUJENG/2019/79050.
Printed and published by Anita
Hada Sangwan on behalf of First Ex-
press Publishers. Printed at Bhaskar
Printing Planet Survey No.148P,
Changodar-Bavla Highway, Tal. San-
and, Dist. Ahmedabad. Publishedat
D/3023rdFloorPlotNo.35Titanium
Square,SchemeNo.2,ThaltejTaluka,
Ghatlodiya,Ahmedabad.
Editor-In-Chief: Jagdeesh Chandra.
Editor: Haresh Jhala
responsible for selection of news
under the PRB Act
SPIRITUAL SPEAK
He who experiences the
unity of life sees his own
Self in all beings, and all
beings in his own Self,
and looks on everything
with an impartial eye.
—The Bhagwad Gita
IN-DEPTH
Rajnath Singh
@rajnathsingh
Participated in the road show for
Captain Amarinder Singh ji at Patiala,
Punjab today. The people here want to
create ‘Nava Punjab’ and only the BJP
led NDA can bring the change.
Dharmendra Pradhan
@dpradhanbjp
@narendramodi’s govt. has approved
the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha
Abhiyan #RUSA for FY 2022-27 with
an outlay of `12,929.16 crore to
improve the overall quality of higher
education institutions and strengthen
institutional base.
TOP TWEETS
WHEN A BOY OF 12
REGARDS GODSE AS
A ROLE MODEL, IT’S
TIME TO WORRY
odse wins, Mahatma
Gandhi loses. That
too in Gujarat where
Bapu was born! In
the latest attempt to
idolise Godse and denigrate
Gandhi was made in an elocu-
tion contest held under the aegis
of Gujarat government’s depart-
ment of youth service and cul-
tural activities. Participants
were aged between 8 and 12
years. Students had to choose
from one of the three topics: All
I want is to be a bird and fly in
the sky; I will become a scientist
but will not go to America; and
My Role Model---Nathuram
Godse. No prize for guessing that
the student who spoke of Godse
as a hero won the first prize.
Although there has been a
sustained effort to idolize Godse
while condemning Gandhi, this
is the first such attempt with of-
ficial sanction. Those looking at
Godse as a role model at such a
tender age are being awarded
for worshipping an assassin. Is
that the future of India? The
very thought is scary
.
G
ingapore Prime
Minister Lee
Hsien Loong’s re-
mark that
“Nehru’s India
has become one where, ac-
cording to media reports, al-
most half the MPs in Lok
Sabha have criminal charges
pending against them, in-
cluding charges of rape and
murder, though it is also said
many of these allegations
are politically motivated”. In
his prepared speech Loong
underlined the importance
of MPs with good values and
clean image in a democracy.
He described India’s first
Prime Minister Jawaharlal
Nehru and Israel’s David Ben
Gurion as “exceptional”, of
“great courage”, “immense
culture” and “outstanding
ability”. The comment has
not gone down well with In-
dia lodging its objection with
Singapore’s High Commis-
sioner and calling the com-
ments “uncalled for”.
But what is there to object?
Is the objection to a foreign
leader talking about Indian
lawmakers having a criminal
background, or praising
Nehru? Lawmakers with
shady backgrounds are a
harsh reality about Indian de-
mocracy
. The Association of
Democratic Reforms report
said in 2019 that 43 percent of
newly-elected MPs have crim-
inal charges against them.
The numbers were 26 percent
higher than in 2014.
TheSupremeCourtandthe
ElectionCommissionof India
are both taking a stern view
of increasing criminalization
of politicsbutallpoliticalpar-
ties just can’t do without
them. Yet, the Singaporean
prime minister could have
avoided making the remark.
Invoking and praising
Nehru in the present times,
however, is definitely uncalled
forasitmaynotbetotheliking
of the present dispensation.
What should be praised is
Loong’s appeal for preserving
democraticvaluesasthe“qual-
ityof democracyhingesonit.”
SINGAPORE PM’S
REMARKS IRK INDIA
The Supreme Court and the
Election Commission of
India are both taking a
stern view of increasing
criminalization of
politics but all political
parties just can’t do
without them
S
THE QUINTESSENCE OF
INVENTION DESIGN
omparisons are odious. But,
comparisons are part of life.
A cricket bat isn’t a bat with-
out the willow for reference.
Hence, the equation — a
unique object, or organisa-
tion, halts assessment and
comprehension, because it is
singular. This explains for
human aptitude to ‘invent-
ing’ technologies.
It’s not that animals don’t
invent; they use tools to carve
and manipulate environmen-
tal objects to improve their
quality of life. Chimps, for ex-
ample, peel off twigs to make
better termite traps, while
beavers arrange logs and
sticks to make handy ‘dams.’
Yet, one fact remains: each of
such species does not boast of
a single ‘miracle’ invention.
Most conventionalists, as
the British philosopher-aca-
demicKarlPopperexpressed,
seem to, however, feel that
this simplicity would be per-
plexing, also astonishing, if
we were bound to believe,
with the realists, that the
laws of nature reveal to us an
inner, a structural, simplici-
ty of our world beneath its
outer appearance of great
diversity. The German phi-
losopher Immanuel Kant’s
idealism, likewise, sought to
illuminate this simplicity by
saying that it is our own in-
tellect which imposes its
laws upon nature. Most con-
ventionalists, yet again, treat
this simplicity as our own
creation. For them, however,
it is not the effect of the laws
of our intellect imposing
themselves upon nature,
thus making nature simple
— for they would often reso-
lutely believe that nature is
simple. Agreed that the ‘laws
of nature’ are simple; and,
what most conventionalists
embrace, or espouse, are our
own free creations, or inven-
tions, as also our arbitrary
decisions and conventions.
This is the true perception
of reality, or fundamental
characteristic of the human
species — one that may have
determined our origin during
the evolution narrative. The
supposition — our technolo-
gy is, doubtless, a natural and
inescapable progression, be-
cause we are supposedly the
most intelligent, thinking
species, influenced by every
code of the universe. Our in-
telligence may not always be
rational, but what is impor-
tant is the stunning sequence
of our own biological charac-
teristics. The fact also is we
have our endoskeleton based
onthe‘lever’principle,unlike
large animals that need to be
necessarily viewed in the con-
text of metazoans — earthly,
ratherthanmarinecreatures.
Scholars reckon that a suit-
able comparison for human
technology exists — the
evolved technology of living
organisms. Hence, the big
question—couldwecontinue
to characterise biology as
technology? Maybe, yes. How-
ever,thetruthremainsthat bi-
ological technology has been
shaped by natural selection.
Besides, it’s agreed that our
commonplace templates in-
volveexternalconstraints,yet
the paradox is differences of-
ten arise either from history,
or refined differences in natu-
ral contexts. Such disparities
may, again, be just the right
grist for our own technology
mill, as we move increasingly
towards a position compara-
ble to biological systems —
one that promptly guides ge-
neticelements.Whatdoesthis
connote? That our biological
world includes an array of
technologies — mechanical,
chemical and computational.
The only difference being the
technology fulcrum of bio-
logical chemistry — it needs
analyses, just as much as the
technology of biological com-
putation remains unfath-
omed.
The similarity between en-
gineering and biomechanics,
likewise, is rich enough to
supplyextraordinaryinsights
intobothbiologicalchemistry
and bio-computation. Prokar-
yotes, for example, are bio-
chemical geniuses, directing
chemistry to make their liv-
ing and identifying their
roles; yet, they do extraordi-
narily little orchestration of
external mechanical forces.
Research suggests that the ab-
sence of structural metals, in
biology
, is proof that animals
would be far better off, if only
they had them. You may not
agree with such a hypothesis,
thoughyou’dbetemptedtofor
a reason, or two.
Here’s another analogy.
The pliability of metals ex-
plains for our elevated tough-
ness, but organisms have
found other routes to attain
it. Also, if ‘elasticity’ under-
lies the usage of metals in hu-
man technology
, there’s noth-
ing like the mechanism at
work that would allow an
animal to mend a deformed
tooth. The argument is obvi-
ous — that the metals we use
in our technology, iron and
aluminium, were ignored by
evolution because their poor
presence in seawater holds
no weight when investigated
from a pertinent geological
standpoint. When free oxy-
gen was a scarce commodity,
over three billion years ago,
iron and uranium were deli-
cately soluble, while the great
iron deposits in a part of our
living planet are just enough
evidence of the ‘crystallisa-
tion’ of ‘that’ iron which
helped oxidative photosyn-
thesis to really come of age.
The inference is simple —
as we approach true nano-
technology and biotechnolo-
gy
, cultivated comparisons of
the two will perpetually
transform the way we look at
either paradigm. For all the
good reasons.
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY
THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL
C
RAJGOPAL
NIDAMBOOR
The writer is a wellness physician,
independent researcher and author
The supposition — our
technology is, doubtless, a
natural and inescapable
progression, because we
are supposedly the most
intelligent, thinking
species, influenced by
every code of the universe
SCHOLARS RECKON
THAT A SUITABLE
COMPARISON FOR
HUMAN TECHNOLOGY
EXISTS — THE EVOLVED
TECHNOLOGY OF LIVING
ORGANISMS. HENCE,
THE BIG QUESTION —
COULD WE CONTINUE
TO CHARACTERISE
BIOLOGY AS
TECHNOLOGY?
MAYBE, YES

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INDIA
05
Sharat K Verma
New Delhi: Ashwini
Kumar has never been a
leader with an immense
hold in the grass-root
and has never been ac-
tive in day-to-day poli-
tics. He has not played
the same role in legal
matters as Kapil Sibal,
Abhishek Manu Singh-
vi or Vivek Tankha. De-
spite this, he continued
to get his work done by
managing some kind of
jugaad within the Con-
gress. He was a Rajya
Sabha member thrice.
Think, how many such
leaders will be there in
Congress or BJP, who
were sent to Rajya Sab-
ha thrice? After this, he
became a minister at
the Center by aligning
his Punjabiyat to Man-
mohan Singh. He left
the Congress just be-
fore the voting for the
ongoing Assembly in
Punjab. Everyone
knows that his stay or
leaving has no effect
on the Congress, but
his resignation is be-
ing covered by the me-
dia as if it has spelt
doom for Congress.
That’s when it seems
that his resignation
has been done under
some plan. By the way,
the immediate reason,
doing the round, is
that he was asking for
a ticket for the assem-
bly in Punjab for his
son, which the Con-
gress did not give.
He realised that even
for him it will be diffi-
cult to get anythin in
Congress, so he became
a part of the ‘big game’
of damaging the Con-
gress, thinking that he
might get something
from there. Congress
leaders have such
greed for trading their
position for favors that
any party is using
them. However, five
days before the polling,
his resignation seems
to be a calculated move
because immediately
after his resignation,
leaders like Ghulam
Nabi Azad, Anand
Sharma, Manish
Tewari, etc. have given
statements saying that
the resignation has
been done under a
plan. However, its ef-
fect will not be seen
now but only after the
election results.
Will Ashwini’s exit really hurt Cong chances in Punjab?
PARTY EXIT AMID CRISIS
New Delhi: India was
not born in 1947, Prime
Minister Narendra
Modi said on Friday in
an interaction with sen-
ior Sikh leaders at his
home in Delhi ahead of
the Punjab election on
Sunday
. “This country
was hardly born in 1947.
Ourguruswentthrough
so much... We suffered
somuchoppressiondur-
ingtheEmergency
.Iwas
underground at that
time. I used to wear a
Sikh disguise to hide. I
used to wear a pagdi,”
PMModiisheardtelling
the gathering in a video
released by his office.
PM Narendra Modi
hosted a number of
prominent Sikhs at his
residence and high-
lighted the works done
by his Government for
the community
.
The meeting came
two days before the
Punjab Assembly polls,
with the BJP going all
out to woo the Sikh
community as it seeks
to put up a strong show
in an alliance with for-
mer chief minister
Amarinder Singh’s
Punjab Lok Congress
and the Akali Dal fac-
tion headed by Sukhdev
Singh Dhindsa.
BJP leader Man-
jinder Singh Sirsa told
PTI that PM Modi in
the interaction said he
wants to work for the
community everyday
and regretted that the
previous Congress dis-
pensations lost oppor-
tunities to bring Sikhs'
holy places like Kartar-
pur Sahib, which is in
Pakistan, into Indian
territory
. —Agencies
India not born in 1947: PM Modi to
Sikh leaders ahead of Punjab polls
Congress failed to ensure that Kartarpur stayed in India during the partition, says Modi
Yogi: Grand Ram temple in
Ayodhya will be ready by ’23
Mainpuri (UP): Uttar
Pradesh Chief Minis-
ter Yogi Adityanath on
Friday said that a
grand Ram temple will
be ready in Ayodhya by
2023. He made the
statement during a
rally in the Karhal As-
sembly seat where the
former UP CM Akh-
ilesh Yadav is facing
the Union Minister of
State SPS Baghel.
The UP CM also stat-
ed that the Ram temple
will be a ‘Rashtra Man-
dir’ of India. Karhal is
in the Mainpuri dis-
trict of UP.
The BJP’s UP cam-
paign had begun with
the unveiling of the
redevelopment works
of the Kashi Vishwa-
nath temple in Vara-
nasi. —ANI
Ayodhya: The BJP’s
national President JP
Nadda on Friday
slammed Samajwadi
Party president and
Uttar Pradesh's former
CM Akhilesh Yadav for
allegedly giving shel-
ter to terrorists and
withdrawing cases
against them.
Addressing a public
meeting at Fatehganj
in Ayodhya, the BJP
president said, On 23
November 2007, there
were bomb blasts in
three courts of Uttar
Pradesh. 15 people had
been killed in the blast
and 50 people were in-
jured. Indian Mujahi-
deen took responsibil-
ity for this. —ANI
Nadda bashes Akhilesh
for harbouring ultras
NADDA VISITS
RAM TEMPLE
CONSTRUCTION
SITE IN AYODHYA
Ayodhya (UP):
Amid the ongoing
electioneering for
the Uttar Pradesh As-
sembly elections, BJP
national president
JP Nadda on Friday
visited the construc-
tion site of the Ram
temple in Ayodhya.
Construction work
of the Ram temple
is stated to be in full
swing. Nadda was
seen talking about the
temple construction
with the workers.
The third phase of the
construction of the
Ram temple began at
Ramjanmabhoomi in
Ayodhya on January
24 with the laying of
the granite stones for
the plinth.
Etawah: As high deci-
bel campaigning in UP
has intensified further
after two phases of
polling, an interesting
picture emerged from
Etawah where SP chief
Akhilesh Yadav, his fa-
ther Mulayam Singh
Yadav and his uncle
Shivpal Singh Yadav
were seen together on
the campaign trail for
the first time after
more than five years.
The trio was last
spotted together in
public in October 2016
to flag off “Samajwadi
Vikas Rath” in Luc-
know ahead of the 2017
Assembly elections.
In 2016, Akhilesh
had shown the Sama-
jwadi Party’s exit door
to his uncle Shivpal
due to a family dispute.
Shivpal later formed
his own party Pragat-
isheel Samajwadi Par-
ty (Lohiya). —ANI
Akhilesh,Mulayam,Shivpal
spotted together after 5 years
Imphal: The Congress
has hit out at the BJP
manifesto for Manipur
and released a booklet
named 5 years of dark-
ness where it claimed
to have outlined with
proof misrule of BJP.
Senior Congress lead-
er and AICC observer
for Manipur, Jairam
Ramesh, described
BJP’s claim of bringing
stability to Manipur as
hollow and its zero-
tolerance policy to-
wards drugs as a joke.
5 yrs of darkness:
Cong’s swipe at
BJP in Manipur
Kolkata: West Bengal
Chief Minister Mamata
Banerjee’s nephew Ab-
hishek Banerjee won a
major vote of confi-
dence from the Trina-
mool boss on Friday,
renewing his hold on
the party’s No. 2 posi-
tion, after weeks of in-
ternal wrangling.
That Banerjee will
once again be the par-
ty’s All India General
Secretary was an-
nounced after Mamata
held a meeting of the
newly reconstituted Na-
tional Working Com-
mittee — the top deci-
sion-making body of
the party
.
The meeting was held
at Ms Banerjee’s resi-
dence in Kolkata days
after the party swept to
victory in municipal
elections to four major
towns despite talk of
the internal rift.
Besides the endorse-
ment for Abhishek Ba-
nerjee, the Trinamool
chief also signed off on
the appointment of
Congress defectors Su-
shmita Dev and Mukul
Sangma for the han-
dling of the party’s
units in the northeast.
Didi backs nephew
Abhishek, restores
his number 2 status
New Delhi: BJP MP
Varun Gandhi, who has
been in news of late for
consistently targeting
his party, is in attack
mode again, this time
over bank frauds and
the economic offenders
behind them.
Listing names of eco-
nomic offenders Vijay
Mallya, Nirav Modi and
Rishi Agarwal - former
chairman of ABG Ship-
yard currently under
the scanner for a mas-
sive fraud — Gandhi
took a swipe at the Cen-
tre, saying a strong
Government is expect-
ed to take
“strong ac-
tion”
against
such cor-
ruption.
Varun’s swipe at
Centre features
`23K cr scam
New Delhi: The contro-
versy over Punjab CM
Charanjit Singh Chan-
ni's UP, Bihar de bhai-
ya comment was re-
flective of an unfortu-
nate systemic and insti-
tutionalised social bias
against migrants
stretching back to the
inception of the Green
Revolution, Congress
leader Manish Tewari
said on Friday, compar-
ing the issue to the ra-
cial tension in US be-
tween African Ameri-
cans and people of Eu-
ropean descent.
The row had flared
after the Channi made a
controversial remark
asking the people of the
state not to let the bhai-
yas of Uttar Pradesh
and Bihar rule the state.
‘Bhaiya row’ like ‘black
issue’ in US, says Manish
His stay or
leaving has no
effect, but his
resignation is
being covered
by media as if it
has spelt doom
for Congress
TIGER FOUND
DEAD IN MP’S
KANHA RESERVE
FIRST-EVER
‘DANGER TO LIFE’
ALERT IN LONDON
Mandla: A tiger was
found dead in Kanha
Tiger Reserve (KTR)
in Madhya Pradesh’s
Mandla district, a forest
official said on Friday
The carcass of a big
cat, aged around three
years old, was found
by a patrolling team of
foresters on Thursday,
KTR’s field director S K
Singh said. Prima facie
evidence suggests that
the tiger was killed in
a territorial fight with
another feline.
London: Millions hun-
kered down as Storm
Eunice pummelled
Britain with winds on
Friday, leaving the
streets of London eerily
empty and disrupting
flights, trains and fer-
ries across Western
Europe. The UK capital
was placed under its
first ever “red” weather
warning, meaning there
is “danger to life”. The
same level of alert was
in place across south-
ern England.
CRUCIAL READ
INDIAN NAVY TEST
FIRES BrahMos
CRUISE MISSILE
VISHWAS’ SECURITY
REVIEWED BY
CENTRE: REPORT
New Delhi: Indian
Navy’s warship INS
Visakhapatnam carried
out the test-firing of
BrahMos supersonic
cruise missile off the
western seaboard
on Friday. The war-
ship has now reached
Visakhapatnam to take
part in President’s Fleet
Review on February
21, informed Defence
sources. The missile
was tested from INS
Visakhapatnam which is
the latest warship.
New Delhi: The Central
Government is review-
ing the security of for-
mer AAP leader Kumar
Vishwas and may give
him protection through
a central agency, official
sources said on Friday.
The move came in the
wake of Vishwas’ al-
legations against AAP
convenor and Delhi CM
Arvind Kejriwal. The
government is review-
ing the security of Ku-
mar Vishwas and may
give him protection.
POLLS
UTTAR PRADESH
POLLS
PUNJAB
PM Narendra Modi during a meeting with Sikh delegation, at Lok
Kalyan Marg in New Delhi on Friday. —PHOTO BY ANI
WHO ATTENDED
UP Chief MinisterYogiAdityanath shows victory sign at Ram Katha
Park, in Lucknow on Thursday. —PHOTO BY ANI
POLL BATTLEGROUND
l Amarinder Singh,
Sukhbir Badal two
sides of the same
coin, says Navjot
Singh Sidhu.
l Anurag Thakur slams
Kejriwal, says AAP
signifies 'Arvind Anti
Punjab', people of
Punjab will never
accept it.
l Samajwadi Party urges
EC to deploy additional
security forces at
'sensitive' booths in
UP's Jaunpur.
l ‘Karhal is worth 300
seats’: UP poll battle
hots up for Yadav fort
l Defence Minister
Rajnath Singh, along
with Punjab Lok
Congress founder
Amarinder Singh,
conducted a roadshow
in Patiala on Friday.
l The Association for
Democratic Reforms
(ADR) has come out
with a report that
shows that Chief
Minister Charanjit
Singh Channi’s
wealth has decreased
by over `5 crore
while that of his
predecessor Captain
Amarinder Singh has
gone up by `20 crore
since 2017.
Akhilesh Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Shivpal Singh Yadav
during an election campaign on Thursday. —PHOTO BY ANI
BJP National President JP Nadda during his visit to Ram
temple, in Ayodhya on Friday. —PHOTO BY ANI
AKHILESH: WILL THOSE WITHOUT
FAMILY BE ABLE TO FEEL PAIN?
Jalaun, Uttar Pradesh: Hitting back at BJP leaders
over their dynast jibe against him, Samajwadi Party
(SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Friday said a person who
has a family understands its pain and asked will those
without a family be able to feel the pain of families.
Addressing an election meeting in Jalaun in Uttar
Pradesh, Mr Yadav said, They are terming me a 'ghor
pariwarvadi' (ultimate dynast). A person who has a
family understands the pain of the family. The BJP lead-
ers do not have any family, will they be able to feel the
pain of families? Only a family person can understand
his responsibility. A family person can understand what
inflation is. People who have families are sitting here
and they can feel (pain of) price rise.
Manish Tewari
Mamata Banerjee
Ashwini Kumar
Varun Gandhi
BE LESS THIN-SKINNED: THAROOR
JABS GOVT ON S’PORE PM REMARKS
New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Shashi
Tharoor on Friday said it was most unseemly for
the Ministry of External Af-
fairs to “summon” the envoy
of a friendly country like
Singapore over remarks by
their prime minister to their
own Parliament, and asserted
that “we must learn to be less
thin-skinned”. Tharoor’s remarks came after
India on Thursday lodged a strong protest with
Singapore over the comments made by its Prime
Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

INDIA
06
Mahesh Sharma
Mumbai: There is com-
plete silence in the me-
dia on the biggest bank-
ing scam of the country
.
The media is not ‘inves-
tigating’ the matter and
even trivial things are
not being told to the peo-
ple.Inthisscamof about
23 thousand crore ru-
pees, the maximum
amount of seven thou-
sand crore rupees which
has been defaulted upon
belonged to ICICI Bank.
The bank was also lead-
ing the consortium of 28
banks that gave loans to
ABGShipyard.Butsince
the complaint has been
made by State Bank of
India,thefocusisalsoon
SBI.However,thereisno
mention of ICICI Bank,
eventhoughone-thirdof
the loans are of ICICI,
which had also given
loans for overseas pro-
jects of ABG Shipyard.
ABG Shipyard Com-
pany was given such a
huge loan from ICICI
Bank when Chanda
Kochhar was the head
of this bank. There is a
lot of discussion about
the loan given to Video-
con Company, in which
it was revealed that ICI-
CI Bank gave loan to
Videocon and later Vid-
eocon invested in the
company of brother of
Deepak Kochhar (Chan-
da Kochhar’s husband).
At the same time, a sim-
ilar game seems to have
happened in this case as
well. Arvind Gupta, a
whistleblower and so-
cial activist, has re-
vealed that industrialist
Ravi Ruia through his
son-in-law Nishant Kan-
odia’s company invest-
ed around Rs.400 crore
in Deepak Kochhar’s
company. The question
is, if the loan goes to
ABG Shipyard, what
has it got to do with
Ruia’s investment? The
takeaway is that Rishi
Agarwal, the most
prominent of the own-
ers of ABG Shipyard, is
Shashi and Ravi Ruia’s
own great-nephew.
ABG Shipyad Case: Birds of a feather, flock together?
IN THE COURTYARD RajnathreviewspreparationsofDefExpo
New Delhi: Defence
Minister Rajnath Singh
on Friday reviewed the
preparations for the
12th edition of DefEx-
po-2022 which is sched-
uled to be held in Gan-
dhinagar, Gujarat in
March this year, in-
formed the Ministry of
Defence (MoD). Ra-
jnath Singh appreciated
the arrangements made
by Ministry of Defence
in collaboration with
the Govt of Gujarat and
exuded confidence of a
safe and successful Def-
Expo-2022, said the
press release issued by
the ministry
.
DefExpo-2022 will
now be held between
March 10-14,2022 and
will be held in a hy-
brid format featuring
both physical and vir-
tual stalls, said the
ministry.
Defence Minister while reviewing preparations def expo 2022.
GOVT APPOINTS
NEW IG
ON INDRANI MUKERJEA'S BAIL PLEA,
SC ISSUES NOTICE TO CBI
U’KHAND HC SEEKS
INFO ON CRIMINAL
CASES AGAINST MLAs
New Delhi: Defence
Ministry has ap-
pointed Inspector
General Homesh
Kumar Sharma as
the new Deputy Di-
rector General at the
Indian Coast Guard’s
Western Seaboard
headquarters in
Mumbai. Sharma
has been in charge
of various sea and
aviation installations
of the ICG in his
nearly 35 years of
service. —ANI
New Delhi: The SC on Friday issued notice to the
CBI seeking its response on a bail plea by Indrani
Mukerjea, the
prime accused
in the murder
of her daugh-
ter, Sheena
Bora. Ms
Mukerjea, who
is currently in
judicial custody
of a special CBI court, filed her bail plea last week
but the hearing was postponed to Monday after
the SC failed to receive a copy. Arguing for bail,
senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for
Indrani Mukerjea, told the Supreme Court: “She
has been in jail for six-and-a-half years... this trial
will not even in the next 10 years.” 185 witnesses
have yet to be examined (and) no witnesses have
been examined in the past 18 months,” he told a
bench headed by Justice L Nageswara Rao.
Dehradun: Uttarakhand HC
on Thursday took suo moto
cognizance of the criminal
cases registered against the
MPs and MLAs of the state
and directed the govt to pro-
vide information on the reg-
istered and pending cases to
the court by March 3. There
are a total of 70 MLAs and 8
MPs in the state.
UNITECH CASE: 66
FIRMS IN ED RECORD
SPICEJET ADDS
KHAJURAHO FLIGHT
New Delhi: ED has
named five individuals
and 66 domestic and
overseas firms in its
charge sheet in a money
laundering case against
Unitech Group, the agen-
cy said on Friday. The
federal agency filed the
prosecution complaint on
Thursday here in Rouse
avenue Court naming
promoter of United Group
Sanjay Chandra.
Gurgaon: Union
Civil Aviation Minister
Jyotiraditya M Scindia
inaugurated SpiceJet's
direct flight from Delhi
to Khajuraho in MP. We
aim to construct 100 new
airports by 2025. There
were 6 crore passengers
in 2012, it has increased
to 14 crores, he said.
The airline will operate
flights between Delhi and
Khajuraho twice a week.
KIRIT SOMAIYA HAS LOST HIS
MENTAL BALANCE, SAYS RAUT
Mumbai: On the former Lok Sabha MP Kirit
Somaiya going on a trail to identify assets owned
by Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thack-
eray’s wife Rashmi Thackeray, the Rajya Sabha
MP of the Shiv Sena Sanjay Raut claimed that
the BJP leader has “lost his mental balance”.
Somaiya had alleged that Maharashtra Chief
Minister’s wife own 19 bungalows in the Korlai
village in the Konkan parts of the state, and he
would be going to the area to identify the assets
himself.Speaking to ANI on Friday, Raut said that
Somaiya is “a mad, thief, and dacoit and he is
finding his road to jail”. —ANI
NO DEFAMATORY
REMARKS AGAINST
NOVELIST VIKRAM
New Delhi: The Delhi
High Court on Friday in an
interim order restrained
several historians and
others from publishing
any defamatory content
(online and offline) about
Dr Vikram Sampath,
author of a two-volume
biography of Vinayak
Damodar Savarkar.
Scared of ED action,
Raut adopts 'offence
is the best defence'
strategy against BJP!
Moni Sharma
NewDelhi: Shiv Sena
MP Sanjay Raut is
scared of central agen-
cies. The Enforcement
Directorate (ED) had
sent a notice to his wife
regarding a 10-year-old
transaction. His wife
also appeared before the
ED and said that she
had taken a loan from
an old friend, which has
now been returned.
Even after that, the eyes
of the central agencies
remained on Raut. Lat-
er action was taken by
the central agencies
against one of Sanjay's
close businessman
Praveen Raut. Many
leaders close to Raut are
on the target of central
agencies, for which he
has written a letter to
Rajya Sabha Chairman
Venkaiah Naidu and
other opposition lead-
ers saying that pressure
is being put on him
through central agen-
cies to topple the Maha-
rashtra govern-
ment.
Actually,
Raut is
afraid of
g e t t i n g
caught in
the investi-
gation, so he
is trying to
position him-
self well in ad-
vance. Along with
this, he has also
started intimi-
datingBJP
leaders
also, as a side tactic. He
has adopted a strategy
of attack to defend him-
self. Raut has claimed
that some Maharashtra
BJP leaders will soon be
behind bars. He has
talked about 'three and
half' i.e. three and a half
leaders going to jail.
This means that three
big leaders and one
small leader will be
trapped.
But, on the hindsight,
is he not weakening his
own case by making
such announcements?
After this announce-
ment, if any agency of
takes action, then it will
be considered as an act
of political vendetta
and it will be easy for
them to get relief from
the court. That's when
it seems that he is pres-
surizing the BJP lead-
ers by intimidating
them that if they want
to survive, then the ac-
tion against Raut will
have to be stopped.
GREEN FLAG TO DEVELOPMENT
PM FLAGS OFF RAIL LINES
IN THACKERAY’S PRESENCE
New Delhi: PM Modi
inaugurated two addi-
tional railway lines con-
necting Thane and Diva
in Maharashtra via
video conferencing on
Friday. He also flagged
off two suburban trains
of the Mumbai Subur-
ban Railway. The inau-
guration was done in
the presence of Maha
governor Bhagat Singh
Koshyari, Maharashtra
CM Uddhav Thackeray,
Deputy CM Ajit Pawar
and Railway Mini Ash-
wini Vaishnaw.
36 new trains were
also inaugurated, out
of which 34 were AC lo-
cal trains. Talking
about the same, PM
said, “From now 36
new locals are going to
run on the Central
Railway. Most of these
are also AC trains. This
is part of the central
govt’s commitment to
expand the facilities of
the local, modernize
the local.” This new
line will give more life
to mumbai.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi flag off during the inauguration of the newly commissioned rail line
between Thane and Diva in Maharashtra, via video conferencing, in New Delhi on Friday.
—PHOTO
BY
ANI
PM Modi to inaugurate Asia’s biggest
Bio-CNG plant in Indore today
PM inaugurates
two additional
railway lines,
34 AC locals
Indore: Nearly 400
buses in Indore will
soon run on Bio-CNG
to be generated from
waste at a plant which
will be virtually inau-
gurated by Modi here
in Madhya Pradesh
on February 19, civic
officials said on
Thursday
.
The plant has been
set up in 15 acres of a
trenching ground of
the Indore Municipal
Corporation in the
Devguradia area with
an investment of Rs
150 crore through the
public-private part-
nership (PPP) mode,
they said.The civic
body has claimed it to
be the largest such
Bio-CNG plant in
South Asia. The plant
is capable of produc-
ing 19,000 kg of Bio-
CNG per day from 550
tonne of wet waste (of
fruits, vegetables, raw
meat, stale food, green
leaves and flowers)
and a part of this gas
produced will soon be
used to run 400 buses
in the city, officials in
the civic said.These
buses are currently
running on diesel and
they would be con-
verted to operate on
Bio-CNG in a phased
manner, they said. In
the first-phase, 55 Bio-
CNG buses will start
running in the city
from this month itself,
they added.According
to an official, the In-
dore Municipal Cor-
poration has not spent
a single rupee on this
plant. —ANI
INDIA INKS
CEPA PACT
WITH UAE
Delhi: India and
the UAE on Friday
inked a landmark
Comprehensive
Economic Partner-
ship Agreement
(CEPA) and unveiled
a roadmap for
expansion of overall
ties at a virtual
summit between
PM Narendra Modi
and Crown Prince of
Abu Dhabi Sheikh
Mohammed bin
Zayed Al Nahyan.In
his remarks, Modi
delved into vari-
ous facets of ties
between India-and
United Arab Emir-
ates and said both
the nations will
stand “shoulder-to-
shoulder” against
terrorism while re-
ferring to the recent
terrorist attacks in
the Gulf country.
Prince Zayed Al Nahyan
Inter-Operable Criminal
Justice System project
approved by goverment
New Delhi: The Modi
Government has ap-
proved the implementa-
tion of the Inter-Opera-
ble Criminal Justice
System (ICJS) project
by the Ministry of
Home Affairs at a total
cost of Rs. 3,375 crore
during the period from
2022-23 to 2025-26.
Under the guidance
of the Union Minister
of Home Affairs Amit
Shah, Phase II of the
ICJS project will be a
step towards ensuring
effective and modern
policing. The project
will be implemented as
a Central Sector
Scheme. The ICJS sys-
tem would be made
available through a ded-
icated and secure cloud-
based infrastructure
with high speed connec-
tivity. National Crime
RecordsBureau(NCRB)
will be responsible for
the implementation of
the project in associa-
tion with National In-
formatics Center (NIC).
The project will be im-
plemented in collabora-
tion with the States and
Union Territories. —ANI
Union Home MInister Amit Shah
Bhupender Yadav
GOVT NOTIFIES GUIDELINES ON
EPR FOR PLASTIC PACKAGING
Taking forward the
clarion call given by
Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi to eliminate
single-use plastics, the
Environment Ministry has
notified comprehensive
guidelines on Extended
Producer Responsibility
(EPR) for plastic packag-
ing, Union Environment
Minister Bhupender
Yadav said. Announcing
the notification of the
new Plastic Waste Man-
agement (Amendment)
Rules, 2022 through so-
cial media late on Thurs-
day night, Yadav said
the guidelines provide a
framework to strengthen
the circular economy of
plastic packaging waste
and promote alternatives
to plastic.
—ANI

BIZ BUZZ
07
India’s economy expanded by 8.4% in the second quarter of 2021-22 LIC $8 bn
IPO launch
on March 11
New Delhi: A public
offering of shares
by India’s state-run
Life Insurance Corp
(LIC), set to be the
country’s biggest
ever at $8 billion,
is expected to open
for anchor investors
on March 11, three
sources said. The
book will open for
bidding by other
investors a couple
of days later, the
sources said. LIC’s
IPO is expected to
obtain regulatory
approval by the first
week of March, after
which an indicative
marketing price
band will be set,
said the sources.
The sources said
that the IPO launch
schedule could
change, though for
now the issuer was
working to meet
those timelines.
New Delhi: IndiGo's
co-promoter Rakesh
Gangwal on Friday
resigned from the
board of directors
of parent company
InterGlobe Aviation,
stating that he will
gradually reduce the
equity stake over
the next five years.
Gangwal and his
related entities own
around 37% stake
in this company. “I
have been a long-
term shareholder
in the company for
more than 15 years
and it's only natural
to someday think
about diversifying
one's holdings,”
Gangwal said. —PTI
Gangwal
resigns
from IndiGo
New Delhi: India
and the United Arab
Emirates signed
a broad trade and
investment pact
on Friday that will
eventually cut all
tariffs on each oth-
er’s goods and aims
to increase annual
trade between the
two nations to $100
billion within five
years. The virtual
signing ceremony
marks the first trade
deal sealed by the
Gulf state since it
began pursuing
such pacts last Sep-
tember in a bid to
strengthen its status
as a business hub.
India’s PM Narendra
Modi and UAE de
facto ruler Sheikh
Mohamed bin Zayed
Al Nahyan wit-
nessed the signing
by senior officials
from both nations,
already major trade
partners, during
a virtual summit
between the leaders.
India,UAE eye
$100 bn in
annual trade
New Delhi: Dollar mil-
lionaires or those pos-
sessing a personal
wealth of over `7 crore
rose by 11% to 4.58 lakh
households in India at
the end of the pandem-
ic-hit 2021, as per a sur-
vey. The survey of 350
such dollar millionaires
also indicated that the
number of those who
classify themselves as
happy in per-
sonal and
professional
lives slipped to
66% in 2021,
down from
72% in the
previous year.
The Hurun Re-
port findings on
the dollar mil-
lionaires come
at a time when
there is rising
c o n c e r n
about the
g rowing
inequali-
ty in the
country
with a
population
of over 130
crore.
A re-
cently re-
leased re-
port by non-
profit Oxfam pegged
the wealth of top 100
richest Indians at
$775 billion, and added
that India accounted for
4.6 crore or half of the
overall people on the
planet falling into ex-
treme poverty in 2021.
The report estimated
the number of Indian
dollar millionaires to
increase by 30% to
touch 6 lakh households
by 2026. Mumbai is
home to the largest
number of dollar mil-
lionaires at 20,300
households, followed by
Delhi at 17,400 Kolka-
ta with 10,500. —PTI
MONEY MATTERS
Dollar millionaires in India rise 11%
The number of Indian dollar
millionaires will increase 30% to
touch 6 lakh households by 2026
Metaverse to push data usage
by 20 times in next 10 years
Ind-Ra pegs states’
fiscal deficit at 3.6%
New Delhi: Revising
the outlook on state
finances to “improv-
ing” in FY23 from
“neutral”, India Rat-
ings expects the aggre-
gate fiscal deficit of
the states to come in at
3.6% of their gross do-
mestic product from
3.5% in FY22 on the
back of robust reve-
nue growth. The agen-
cy had earlier forecast
the fiscal deficit of the
states to print in at
4.1%.
The upward revi-
sion is due to the bet-
ter-than-expected
growth in revenue re-
ceipts and higher
growth in the nominal
GDP in FY22, India
Ratings said in a note.
The agency also es-
timates the national
nominal GDP to grow
17.6% this fiscal, high-
er than the previous
estimate of 15.6%.
Accordingly, the
agency expects gross
and net market bor-
rowings by the states
in FY22 to be lower
than at `6.6 lakh crore
and `4.6 lakh crore, re-
spectively
, than its pre-
vious estimate of `8.2
lakh crore and `6.2
lakh crore.
Their gross and net
market borrowings
are estimated at `7
lakh crore and `4.63
lakh crore, respective-
ly, in FY23 due to an
improvement in
states’ aggregate rev-
enue receipts and
higher tax devolution
from the Centre.
The quality of the
fiscal deficit, which is
revenue deficit as a
percentage of fiscal
deficit, is likely to im-
prove in FY22 and
FY23, after deteriorat-
ing in the previous
two fiscals of 2020 and
2021 due to the impact
of the pandemic on
the states’ revenue re-
ceipts. —PTI
New Delhi: The tran-
sition of digital ecosys-
tem to metaverse,
where a person will
feel immersed in a vir-
tual world, will push
data usage by 20 times
across the globe by
2032 and telecom oper-
ators Bharti Airtel and
Reliance Jio are suita-
bly placed to benefit
from the surge in In-
dia, a Credit Suisse re-
port has said. The re-
port said metaverse
has enormous poten-
tial to further expand
screen time and drive
more bandwidth con-
sumption. “Internet
traffic is already 80%
video and has been
growing at a 30%
CAGR. Our team pro-
jects that even modest
metaverse usage could
drive a further 37%
CAGR in the next dec-
ade to 20x current data
usage,” the report
said.
Augmented reality
and virtual reality
technologies are ex-
pected to see a boom as
these are the technolo-
gies that are required
for accessing the
metaverse.
According to the re-
port, while 5G will sup-
port the metaverse eco-
system, the emergence
of 6G will enhance
metaverse use cases.
“While it is too early
to determine the im-
pact of metaverse on
Indian telcos’ reve-
nues, we believe Airtel
(with 17% of revenues
from fixed line) and Jio
are well placed to ben-
efit from surge in data
usage driven by
metaverse in the latter
half of this decade,”
report said. —PTI
New Delhi: The coun-
try’s GDP is likely to
grow at 5.8% in the
third quarter of fiscal
2022, according to an
SBI’s research report.
The country’s econo-
my expanded by 8.4% in
the second quarter of
2021-22, to cross pre-
pandemic levels. How-
ever, the GDP growth in
July-September period
was slower than the
20.1% expansion in the
previous quarter.
The National Statisti-
cal Office (NSO) will
declare the GDP esti-
mates for Q3 FY 2021- 22
on February 28.
“As per SBI Nowcast-
ing Model, the forecast-
ed GDP growth for Q3
FY22 would be 5.8%,
with a downward bias.
The full year (FY22)
GDP growth is now re-
vised downwards to
8.8% from our earlier
estimate of 9.3%,” the
report said on Friday
.
The Nowcasting
Model is based on 41
high frequency indica-
tors associated with in-
dustry activity, service
activity, and global
economy.The real GDP
will be around `2.35
lakh crore more / 1.6%
higher than the FY20
real GDP of `145.69 lakh
crore, the report said.
The report said the
recovery in domestic
economic activity is yet
to be broad-based, as
private consumption
remained below pre-
pandemic levels.
The high frequency
indicators suggest some
weakening of demand
in Q3 also continuing to
January 2022, reflecting
the drag on contact-in-
tensive services. —PTI
GDPLIKELYTOGROWAT5.8%
INOCT-DEC:SBIREPORT
NEED TO BRIDGE GLOBAL
INFRA FUNDING GAP: FM
43% FEWER DOMESTIC
FLYERS IN JAN OVER DEC
Govt focus on making gem,
jewellery sector self-reliant
New Delhi: Indian
Finance Minister Nir-
mala Sitharaman on
Friday emphasised
the need for bridg-
ing the infrastructure
funding gap and
developing innovative
financing mecha-
nisms for an inclusive
growth in the sector.
Participating in a
virtual session on
‘sustainable financing
and infrastructure’
at the ongoing G20
Finance Ministers and
Central Bank Gover-
nors meeting under
G20 presidency of
Indonesia on Friday,
she supported the
efforts being made
for scaling up the
sustainable finance
instruments, with a
focus on improving
accessibility and af-
fordability.
—PTI
New Delhi: Around
64.08 lakh domestic
passengers travelled
by air in January,
approximately 43%
lower than the 1.12
crore who travelled in
Dec, Indian aviation
regulator said on
Friday.The passenger
load factors -- which
means occupancy
rates -- fell for all In-
dian carriers in Janu-
ary as compared to
Dec, the Directorate
General of Civil Avia-
tion (DGCA) stated in
its monthly state-
ment.The load factors
of SpiceJet, IndiGo,
Vistara, Go First, Air
India and AirAsia
India were 73.4%,
66.6%, 61.6%,
66.7%, 60.6% and
60.5%, respectively,
in Jan 2022. The
aviation sector has
been significantly
impacted due to the
travel restrictions
imposed in India and
overseas in view of
pandemic. —PTI
New Delhi: The
country needs a
self-reliant gem and
jewellery sector and
the government has
made it a focus area
to help boost both
domestic as well as
export growth, Com-
merce and Industry
Minister Piyush Goyal
said on Friday. India
wants to make the
gem and jewellery
sector self-reliant.
Therefore, this will be
a focus area both for
domestic growth and
for export promotion.
The Budget 2022 has
paved the road for
the sector to grow
and expand India’s
footprint in the global
gem and jewellery
trade,” the minister
said. —PTI
Vedanta to invest up
to $20 bn in chip biz
New Delhi: Vedanta has
earmarked $15 billion for
foray into the electronic
chip and display manu-
facturing space, and plans
to scale up the investment
to as much as $20 billion.
Vedanta’s group firm
Avanstrate, which will
spearhead the semicon-
ductor business, expects
to roll out electronic chips
and displays from Indian
manufacturing plants by
2025, the official of the
group’s semiconductor
arm said on Friday. “Sem-
iconductor is a long-term
business. We are looking
at about $10 billion on
display. Right now we are
looking at $7 billion in
semiconductors that may
also go up by another $3
billion to further extend
it. First 10 year we have
engaged to invest up to
$15 billion. We will evalu-
ate further investment at
a later stage,” Avanstrate
managing director Akarsh
Hebbar said. Avanstrate
has applied for setting up
a semiconductor plant
and a display manufac-
turing unit.Vedanta has
signed a memorandum
of understanding with
electronics manufacturing
services giant Foxconn
to form a joint venture
company that will manu-
facture semiconductors in
India. —PTI
SENSEX FALLS FOR 3RD DAY, SHEDS 59
POINTS AS PARTICIPANTS CAUTIOUS
Mumbai: Domestic eq-
uity gauges Sensex and
Nifty extended their
losing run for the third
session in a row on Fri-
day as participants re-
mained cautious track-
ing other Asian mar-
kets amid geopolitical
uncertainties in east-
ern Europe. After
swinging about 700
points between gains
and losses during the
session, the BSE
Sensex finally closed
59.04 points or 0.10%
lower at 57,832.97. On
similar lines, the NSE
Nifty edged lower by
28.30 points or 0.16% to
settle at 17,276.30. The
Sensex was dragged
lower by mainly Ultrat-
ech Cement, MM, In-
fosys, Reliance, Bajaj
Finance and Nestle—
dropping as much as
1.88%.
On the index, 17
shares closed in the
negative zone. —PTI
` RALLIES 39 PAISE
TO 74.67 AGAINST $
New Delhi: The rupee
appreciated by 39 paise
to 74.67 against the US
dollar on Friday on
hopes of a diplomatic
solution to the East-
West standoff over
Ukraine. At the inter-
bank forex market, the
local unit opened at
75.03 against the green-
back and witnessed an
intra-day high of 74.60
and a low of 75.05.
The rupee was quot-
ed at 74.67 at 1530 hrs,
registering a rise of 39
paise over its previous
close 75.06. —PTI
New Delhi: Sebi on
Friday intends to seek
more justification and
transparency from
new-age technology
companies when it
comes to pricing their
shares in IPOs. If
the raft of proposals
floated by the market
regulator in a discus-
sion paper are ap-
proved, companies will
have to provide a more
detailed explanation of
how they have priced
their issue, compare
it to pre-IPO share
sales and disclose all
presentations made to
pre-IPO investors.
SEBI PLANS
TOUGHER
PRICING
NORMS FOR
STARTUP IPOs
Promoted by
AU Small Finance Bank

COVID-19
UPDATE
WORLD
5,884,499
TOTAL DEATHS
345,268,373
TOTAL RECOVERED
69,802,358
ACTIVE CASES
420,955,230
TOTAL CASES
INDIA
510,937
TOTAL DEATHS
41,977,238
TOTAL RECOVERED
292,060
ACTIVE CASES
42,780,235
TOTAL CASES
Explore, Dream, Discover-Take
these journeys within and outside
to live life to the fullest.
—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO Editor-in-Chief, First India
08
2NDFRONT
GO FIRST NIXES THREE
FLIGHTS FROM SURAT
OVER PARKING WOES
EXTENDED DEFEXPO TO
NOW BE HELD MAR 10-14
Thereare12monkeysinall
committees,AMCLOPsays
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: The gen-
eral budget meeting of
the Ahmedabad Mu-
nicipal Corporation,
which began on Fri-
day dissolved into cha-
os when leader of op-
position Shehzadkhan
Pathan compared the
BJP committee mem-
bers with monkeys.
While the meeting
wasmeanttodiscussthe
nitty-gritties of the
Rs8,807crorecitybudget
for the next financial
year, it turned into a
shoutingmatchbetween
the BJP councillors and
Pathan, after the latter
said that there were 12
monkeys in all the com-
mittees like there were
three monkeys of Ma-
hatma Gandhiji, who
don’tsee,listenorspeak.
Notably
, in addition to
the budget of the AMC
itself, the meeting was
also supposed to cover
the budgetary alloca-
tions of its sister con-
cerns, including the
Ahmedabad Municipal
School Board, the Mu-
nicipal Transport Ser-
vice, MJ Library and VS
Hospital.
Pathan also claimed
that the families of
many teachers who lost
their lived to COVID-19
are still waiting for the
promised benefits. He
then addressed the issue
of onlineeducation,say-
ing that students should
be provided with the
mobile or tablets so that
no students can be left
without education. In-
terestingly
,thestategov-
ernment on Thursday
announced that all
schools and colleges
would go back to just in-
person classes from Feb-
ruary 21.
GSHSEB denies Class X and XII
prelim paper leak allegations
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: Gujarat
Secondary and Higher
Secondary Education
Board (GSHSEB) has
denied reports of paper
leak of the preliminary
examinations of Class
X and XII. On Friday
morning, news broke
out that the Business
Administration and
Management paper of
Class XII Commerce
stream had been leaked;
its solved key was also
posted on social media
platforms.
Reputed publishing
house Navneet Publica-
tion has claimed that
two or three schools
have complained to
them about the paper
leak. “Papers are being
leaked a day before the
examination. Those
who wish to get these
papers have to sub-
scribe for them on so-
cial media. Papers are
then made available to
examinees for payment
of a specific amount,”
said an official of the
publication. It had also
claimed that they had
uncovered names of
eight to ten YouTubers
who had paid for access
to papers. The publish-
ing house’s information
and technology (IT)
team is investigating
the leak and it plans to
lodge a complaint with
Ghatlodia police sta-
tion.
The Board has denied
allegations of a paper
leak. In a statement, DS
Patel, Board Secretary,
said, “The Board does
not prepare and/or
print the preliminary
examination papers. A
group of schools at the
city and district level
get their exam papers
printed locally
, and then
circulate them within
member schools. The
Board has no role in the
process. Examinations
too are handled by the
respective schools
themselves.”
He further stated that
the Board has instruct-
ed Ahmedabad city and
rural education officers
to look into the issue
and file a report.
Female constable
alleges harassment
by male colleague First India Bureau
Surat: As the fight
for expansion of Su-
rat Airport contin-
ues, Go First, the
Maharashtra-based
ultra low-cost air-
line, has cancelled
three flights from
Surat, due to park-
ing woes.
Its Surat to Delhi,
Kolkata and Hy-
derabad flights were
shelved and no offi-
cial word on their re-
sumption has been
released by the air-
line. The company
had been planning a
stage-wise expansion
of its connectivity
from Surat to Srina-
gar, Jammu, Luc-
know, Patna, Silliguri
and Ranchi.
The airline began
its services at Surat
Airport in November
2021 but not a single
flight has been sched-
uled to take off from
there in a month. The
main reason behind
it is said to be una-
vailability of parking
space for aircrafts.
A social group
formed by airport
‘enthusiasts’ in-
formed First India
that sources from the
airport’s manage-
ment have stated that
more airline compa-
nies could withdraw
their operations in
Surat due to parking
issues in coming
days. The group also
claimedthatthethree
Go First flights ac-
counted for 75% pas-
senger traffic at the
airport.
First India Bureau
Rajkot: A female con-
stable has lodged a
harassment complaint
against a male police
officer at Rajkot A di-
vision police station.
The woman, who is
serving in the traffic po-
lice branch, was alleged
tohavebeenharassedby
traffic police constable
Rashid Bashir Sheikh.
According to the com-
plainant, Rashid forced
andpressuredhertocon-
verse with him.
On February 15, the
woman constable was
found in an unconscious
state from the Rashid’s
quarters. She had to be
sent for treatment to a
private hospital.
A division police of-
ficer has lodged the
harassment complaint
against Rashid under
Indian Penal Code
(IPC) Section 354 (A)
(D) and 506(2).
According to the com-
plaint, Rashid obtained
the contact number of
the female constable
from somewhere and be-
gan calling her. He har-
assedherrepeatedlyand
forced her to talk with
himandeventhreatened
to defame her within the
police department.
Sheikh also allegedly
threatened her with dire
consequences.
Two days ago, when
the issue was reported
to the assistant commis-
sioner of police (ACP)
Traffic, Sheikh was
transferred to the head-
quarters from the traf-
fic branch.
First India Bureau
New Delhi: The Def-
Expo-2022, the land, na-
val and homeland secu-
rity systems exhibition
of the Ministry of De-
fence to be held in Gan-
dhinagar next month
has been extended by
one day. The 12th edi-
tion of the exhibition
will now be held March
10-14, said the Ministry
of Defence on Friday
.
The exhibition was
earlier scheduled to be
held from March 11-13.
DefExpo is Asia’s
largest exhibition on
land, naval, and home-
land security systems.
As many as 930 exhibi-
tors have registered for
the event so far, with
significant attendance
of Foreign Defence Min-
isters as well.
According to the Min-
istry of Defence, the De-
fExpo-2022 will be a hy-
brid business event,
with the exhibition
planned at the Helipad
Exhibition Centre and
seminars at Mahatma
Mandir Convention and
Exhibition Centre. A
live demonstration of
weapons and defence
platforms is also being
planned at the Sabar-
mati River Front in
Ahmedabad.
The objective of Def-
Expo-2022 is to make
India a major destina-
tion of land, naval, air
and homeland security
systems and defence en-
gineering. Keeping with
future warfare in mind,
the event aims to recog-
nise the impact of dis-
ruptive technologies on
conflicts and its conse-
quent impact on the
equipment and plat-
forms required.
The Ministry said De-
fExpo-2022 will be or-
ganised in keeping with
the COVID-19 protocols
and aims to ensure max-
imum international
and domestic participa-
tion.
During the event, a
conclave at the level of
Defence Minister to ac-
celerate the decision-
making process. A hy-
brid system for attend-
ees to join the events
virtually and partici-
pate in seminars, hold
B2B meetings, view
products and exchange
ideas/business proposi-
tions, etc will be there.
Further, Live demon-
strations by the Servic-
es, Defence Public Sec-
tor Undertakings and
industry to showcase
land, naval, air and
homeland security sys-
tems will be held.
Business seminars by
both international and
Indian industry cham-
bers to capture the intel-
lectual capital of re-
nowned subject matter
experts will also be con-
ducted.
The DefExpo 2020 was
held in Lucknow that
witnessed a footfall of
over 12 lakh people. The
event also witnessed the
participation of 70 na-
tions. Defence Minis-
ters of 40 different coun-
tries were present at the
event.
Notably, in February
2021, India was the first
country to conduct a hy-
brid aerospace exhibi-
tion, Aero India-2021 at
Bengaluru.
Rashid Bashir Sheikh, the accused.
The 12th edition of Asia’s largest exhibition on land, naval, and homeland security systems was
earlier scheduled to be held from March 11-13. —FILE PHOTO
NAVNEETPUBLICATIONSUNCOVERSEVIDENCEOFWRONGDOINGONSOCIALMEDIA
GSHSEB does not prepare or print preliminary exam papers for
Class X XII. —FILE PHOTO
The meeting began normally enough. —HANIF SINDHI
REAL REPORT
First India Bureau
Vadodara: Around 18
amateur kart racers
from across the coun-
try fought it out for
the final event of the
National Red Bull
Kart competition held
at Erda’s Speedway on
Sindhrot Road in Va-
dodara on Friday. Af-
ter a series of qualify-
ing rounds, Pranjal
Anand from Lucknow
became national
champion and won an
all-expense paid trip
to watch one of the
Formula1 Grand Prix
in2022.DhruvChavan
from Mumbai came in
second followed by
Mohamed Ridhaf of
Kochi.
In its fifth edition, 18
participants from Chen-
nai, Bengaluru, Hy-
derabad, Mumbai, Del-
hi, Pune and Vadodara
featured in the final
event.
“It is amateur kart-
ing, where we provide
participants with the
platform at basic cost.
It is mandatory for
them to have The Fed-
eration of Motor
Sports Clubs of India
(FMSCI) license. The
race was held on a
400-metre track,
where the partici-
pants featured in
practice laps, qualify-
ing laps, an eight lap
heat race followed by
the 12 lap pre-final
race. Six qualifying
racers ran 20 laps in
the final race. We ex-
pect more girls to par-
ticipate next year,”
said Mira Erda, who is
a Formula 4 racer.
Lucknow’s Pranjal is national kart champion 2022

In a tourney held
in V’dara, 18
amateur kart
racers from
across the
country
participated The final race was held at Erda’s Speedway in Vadodara.

AHMEDABAD, SATURDAY,
FEBRUARY 19, 2022
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia
facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia 09
eauty pageants cele-
brate not just beauty
but empower young
girls and women to
stand up, be confident,
raise pertinent issues
and give them a plat-
form for a career and
financial independence. First In-
dia endeavours to do all this and
more, as we celebrate the indi-
viduality and strength of each
participant who becomes a part
of the First India family
.
In a breath-taking beauty
pageant, 26 gorgeous models
competed for the coveted ti-
tle and the responsibility
of representing India at
the international Queen
of Cosmos beauty pag-
eant, emotions ran high
as with true competitive
spirit the girls gave their
best in all the rounds. Af-
ter the introductory
round and the evening
gown sequence, the em-
inent jury selected 13
top participants who
then went in for
the question-an-
swer round. It
was not an easy
choice as each
girl spoke
brilliantly
from her
heart.
Sanskriti Negi was crowned the
winner and Sanskriti Sharma was
the 1st Runner-up. The 2nd Run-
ner-up was a tie between Angela Ku-
mar and Khushi Verma while Aarna
Vishvkarma bagged the Viewer’s
Choice award.
Jagdeesh Chandra congratulat-
ed the winners, he said that re-
gardless of who won, all the
girls were queens and First
India would continue to sup-
port and promote them. First
India is always keen to pro-
vide opportunities to young
local talent in the fields of en-
tertainment, glamour and fash-
ion, he added. He also congratulat-
ed Brand ambassador Rishee Mi-
glani, Show Director Lokesh Sharma
and their entire team for the stupen-
dous success of the event.
Rupa Khurana hosted the event
with her usual grace and pa-
nache. First Miss India Teen
2021 Rayna Sikri also graced
the event. More on P10-11
ANITA HADA
anita.hada@firstindianews.com
Jagdeesh Chandra with (L-R) Lokesh Sharma, Rishee Miglani, Rayna Sikri, Anita Hada, Rupa Khurana with the 26 participants;
Aarna, Aarti, Akansha, Amisha, Amrita, Angela, Ayushi, Bahaar, Dayana, Disha, Kalpana, Kashika, Khushi A, Khushi V, Nivedita,
Palak, Pooja, Priya, Ritiu, Rukmini, Sanskriti N and Sanskriti S, Shruti, Simran, Sweezal and Vioma
Jagdeesh Chandra with the smiling crowned beauty Sanskriti Negi.Also seen are (L-R) Rupa Khurana,
Manju Sharma, Rishee Miglani, Aditi Jaggi, Anita Hada, Priyatam Sogani and Khushi Verma
Jagdeesh Chandra with the winners.(From left) Sanskriti Sharma,
Sanskriti Negi,KhushiVerma,Angela Kumar andAarnaVishvkarma
Sanskriti Negi (Winner), Sanskriti Sharma (1st Runner-up) and Angela Kumar Khushi Verma (2nd Runners-up) AarnaVishvkarma (Viewers’ Choice)
Joyaux De La
Cour nne
THE FIRST INDIA QUEEN OF COSMOS ‘INDIA’- SANSKRITI NEGI, WHO
WILL REPRESENT INDIA AT THE INTERNATIONAL BEAUTY PAGEANT IN
DUBAI ON 10 MARCH 2022 WAS CROWNED IN A GLITTERING CEREMONY
AT FAIRMONT, JAIPUR ON FRIDAY. BUT FOR US, EACH OF OUR 26
PARTICIPANTS IS ‘JOYAUX DE LA COURONNE’ —A JEWEL IN THE CROWN!
B —PHOTOS
BY
SANTOSH
SHARMA

MUKESH
KIRADOO

10-11
ETC
A Galaxy of
BEAUTIES
BEAUTIES
T
he eminent jury consisted of Manju Shar-
ma ( Chairperson, Eternal Hospital), Pri-
yatam Sogani ( Sogani Jewellers), Rajiv
Kapoor (GM Fairmont), Ruchika Sodhi
(Ace Nutritionist), Aditi Jaggi (Fashion Design-
er), Akansha Bakshi (Fashion and Lifestyle
blogger), Dhirendra Raghav (Businessman),
JD Maheshwari (NS Publicity), Vanish
Chugh (Founder, Sizzlin Scizzors) and Usha
Punia ( Ex-Tourism Minister, Raj).
Chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Khadi
Board Navneet Sehgal, sent across
beautiful contemporary Khadi de-
signer dresses for the winners de-
signed by Aditi Jaggi.
Among the eminent guests who
reached the venue to be a part of
the evening were Preeti Bakshi,
Nikhil Anand, Vishaal Mathur,
Mohit and Anjula Falod, Timsy
Sikri, Farha Ansari, among oth-
ers. Supermodels Tripti Arora,
Muskan Mulchandani, Sim-
ran Kashyap reached to en-
courage the participants.
Hotel Fairmont was the
hospitality partner while
the production was by
Vineet Jain and Gunjan
Singhal designed the
beautiful set.
TURN TO P9
‘MissTalented’
was bagged by
Palak Shah
‘Miss Photogenic’was
bagged by Sanskriti
Sharma
‘Miss Beach Body’was
bagged by PriyaVinod
Singh
Jagdeesh Chandra felicitates Sai Girdhar. Also seen are
Rupa Khurana and Rishee Miglani
The top 13 selected beauties: (L-R) Sanskriti Sharma, Aarna Vishvkarma, Angela Kumar, Kashika Bassi, Khushi Verma, Priya Vinod Singh, Sanskriti Negi, Simran Mahendrawal, Palak Shah, Khushi Adesra, Bahaar, Amrita Khurana and Rukmini Chaudhary
—PHOTOS
BY
SANTOSH
SHARMA

MUKESH
KIRADOO
Jagdeesh Chandra felicitates Sanjay Sardana. Also seen are
Jagdeesh Chandra felicitates Pawan Goyal. Also seen are
Jagdeesh Chandra felicitates Nikhil Anand. Also seen are
Jagdeesh Chandra felicitates Team Star Entertainment.
Also seen are Rupa Khurana and Rishee Miglani
Jagdeesh Chandra felicitates Vishaal Mathur. Also seen are
Jagdeesh Chandra felicitates Preeti Bakshi. Also seen are
Jagdeesh Chandra felicitates Bharat Gupta. Also seen are
Jagdeesh Chandra felicitates Swaroop Bhati. Also seen are
Jagdeesh Chandra felicitates Vishal Jalani. Also seen are
Khushika felicitated by Rajiv Kapoor,
Ruchika Sodhi and Rupa Khurana
Jagdeesh Chandra felicitates Team Fairmont, Jaipur: Amit, Indu
and Sukhpreet. Also seen are Rupa Khurana and Rishee Miglani
‘Miss Beautiful
Skin’was
bagged by
Khushika Bassi
Palak felicitated by Dhirendra Raghav and Akansha Bakshi
Priya felicitated by Anita Hada
and Rayna Sikri
Sanskriti felicitated by Dhirendra Raghav
and Akansha Bakshi
Disha felicitated by Rajiv Kapoor, Ruchika Sodhi and Rupa Khurana
‘Miss Beautiful Smile’
was bagged by Disha
Nareda
‘Miss Beautiful Hair’was
bagged by Ritiu
Bhadauria
Ritiu felicitated by Ruchika Sodhi and Rupa Khurana
Sanskriti felicitated by Aditi Jaggi
‘Miss Fashion Icon’
was bagged by
Sanskriti Negi

12
CITY BUZZ
GET VACCINATED
STAY MASKED
G
ujarati moun-
taineer Ravi
Rathwa will fi-
nally climb Mt
Everest! The mountain
of his dreams! Ravi is
not only a Mountaineer
but an Ultra runner too.
From a young age he
motivated himself to
climb the mountains.
When asked about his
journey Ravi shared
that initially, it was dif-
ficult to take a step in
the mission due to the
poor health issues.
When he was 1.5 years
old he met with an acci-
dent and suffered severe
burn injuries, about 70
per cent of his body was
burnt but fortunately,
his grandma donated
herskinforhissurvival.
After the tragic incident
he was forced to stay in
bed. He said, “I was told
to focus on health first.
But I am a rebel and de-
cided to work for my
dream. I tried convinc-
ing my parents and then
began my journey with
promenades and out-
door activities.”
When asked about his
mission, he mentioned
that outdoors games
have always motivated
him to get out of his bed
and run for his dreams.
He has received many
pieces of training to
train himself for the
greatest mission of his
life.
He always wanted to
climb mountains be-
cause he believes that
he belongs in the moun-
tains. “I was well
trained and prepared
for this beautiful jour-
ney as a mountaineer,
but when I went, I found
more than what I was
told about mountains,
and it was really mind-
blowing with captivat-
ing sceneries and ter-
rains. I have climbed
mountains in-
cluding Mt Sato
Panth 7,075m (Pre
Everest expedition),
Mt Deo Tibba at-
tempt, Mt Renok, Ka-
bru Dome camp 1,
SRT ULTRA moun-
tain race 53 km and
Deccan Ultra 50 km
to count a few. I have
learned a lot from
these mountains and
they have shaped my
personality. The first
expedition taught me
that life will not come
and offer opportuni-
ties but we have to
work hard no matter
how difficult it is.” Cur-
rently, Rathwa is plan-
ning to climb World’s
highest mountain
Mt Everest.
UTTKARSHA SHEKHAR
uttkarsha.shekhar@firstindia.co.in
MUSIC TO THE EYES
hink of your
beloved gifting
you a beauti-
fully handwrit-
ten letter or
postcard.
Won’t you
feel like framing it and
putting it in front of you
all the time? You may
also use it as your wall-
paper or share it on so-
cial media. That’s the
power of calligraphy
.
It gives people a way
of expressing their feel-
ing and empowers their
thoughts like a story
narrated beautifully
through art.
Calligraphy is a mag-
nificent art form that
is worthy of expressing
God’s word. The intri-
cate, calligraphic
details found within the
pages of the Quran are
fascinating to this
date and are sure to re-
main so.
History has it, callig-
raphers were highly re-
garded for their skills
and lineages developed
over centuries were
passed on from genera-
tion to generation.
Today, many indus-
tries are widely using
the art of calligra-
phy for their adver-
tising as it provides
them with a medium
to communicate with
their audience. Thou-
sands of calligraphy-
style fonts are readily
available online for
download, making it
easier for these busi-
nessestoevokeemotions
in their audiences.
City First reached out
to Yasmine, a profes-
sional calligraphy artist
who traIvels across
India to educate
people about this
art form and con-
ducts tons of work-
shops for it in Delhi.
Why is this skill
necessary?
From school projects, to
wedding invitations, the
text is present every-
where. Calligraphy en-
hances these words, of-
fersdifferentiationanda
medium to express our-
selves or our business.
People can start their
creative journeys, in-
crease focus, avoid mo-
notony and speak their
hearts out through Cal-
ligraphy
.Andonedoesn’t
have to be an artist to
learn it.
When was the first
time you realised this
can be your bread
and butter?
It all came organically to
me. I was working with
an IT company and I was
looking for a hobby that
makes me creative. So I
commencedlearningcal-
ligraphy
. I designed
cards, wrote quotations
and posted them. My
friends,familyandsocial
media audiences loved it
and gradually placed or-
ders and that’s when I
thoughtthiscouldbelife-
changing for me. I quit
my job and after doing
some courses in UI UX
design, I became a full-
time calligraphy artist.
How can one start
learning Calligraphy?
There are several sourc-
es to learn Calligraphy
.
My favourite of all was
to take workshops and
finally offer workshops
to artists, students, pro-
fessionals, homemakers
andalotof people.Work-
shops also offer a per-
sonal touch and atten-
tion that helps people
learn quickly and ven-
ture into their own crea-
tive spaces.
T
FOR THE ADVANCEMENT
T
he Rotary Club
of New Delhi
and Istri Shik-
sha Pracharini
Sabha in partnership
with the NIIT Founda-
tion organised an event
surrounding ‘Project
Aajeevika’ at Rotary
Skill Development Cen-
tre in Daryaganj. This
project has been run-
ning since Jan 2020,
and its main objective
is to provide voca-
tional training and
employment to un-
d e r p r i v i l e g e d
youth to transform
their lives and their
communities.
More than 2000 ben-
eficiaries have been
trained and around 800
candidates have been
placed since 2020.
Leaders from var-
ious Rotary clubs, Re-
tractors and Interac-
tors attended the event
virtually on Zoom.
Charu Kapoor, COO
NIIT Foundation, also
attended the ceremony,
which was a fantastic
boost for the Rotary
Scholars and team.
During the ceremony,
Anup Mittal, District
Governor R.I. District
3011, also paid a visit to
the development cen-
tre. —CITY FIRST
HITMAKER!!
—PHOTOS BY YASH SHAH
Live music has an unrivalled
vibe that allows fans to
interact with their favourite
musicians. King Rocco, a well-
known Indian vocalist and
rapper with a large fan
base, made everyone
fall in love with his
voice when he
performed on the
stage of Waters, a
new face of Pune
nightlife. This
amazing event
was organised
by the PR Club
Events.
UNBEATABLE RAVI! Thomas Wolfe once said “The mountains were his masters. They rimmed with life. They were the cup of reality,
beyond growth, beyond struggle and death. They were his absolute unity in the midst of eternal change.”
Calligraphy art by Yasmine
Yasmine
Anup Mittal at Rotary Skill Development Centre
King Rocco
King Rocco with fans
During the performance
Ravi Rathwa
—PHOTOS
BY
SHAZID
CHAUHAN
THE WORLD OF POETRY
CITY FIRST
J
aipur Litera-
ture Festival
2022 is all set to
go hybrid this
year and will feature
some of the most pop-
ular poets of the con-
temporary world. The
Festival will offer a
variety of sessions
highlighting various
aspects of poetry.
Produced by pioneer-
ing performing arts
and entertainment
organisation Team-
work Arts, the Festi-
val will have a session
of readings and con-
versations.
At one such session,
Meena Kandasamy
will take the audience
on a journey navigat-
ing the dimensions of
self, politics and gen-
der. The epic poem,
The Light of Asia, by
Sir Edwin Arnold. Sir
Arnold’s rendering of
the Bhagavad Gita
was one of Mahatma
Gandhi’s undisputed
favourites. Author
and Rajya Sabha
member, Jairam
Ramesh’s book, The
Light of Asia: The
Poem that defined the
Buddha, attempts to
contextualise and
comprehend this im-
portant narrative
poem that has now be-
come a milestone in
Buddhist historiogra-
phy
.
In conversation with
author and academic
Malashri Lal, Ramesh
will inspect the form
and style of this icon-
ic poem and its ever-
lasting impact on
world history
.
Award-winning poet,
author, and critic
Arundhathi Subra-
maniamhas will talk
with the Managing
Trustee of Yuva Ekta
Foundation Puneeta
Roy, to discuss the
confluence of litera-
ture, culture and
yoga.
Meena Kandasamy
Akhil Katyal
Arundhathi Subramaniam
NITIKA PANJWANI
cityfirstdel@firstindia.co.in
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