First india ahmedabad edition-18 september 2020

26°C - 34°C www.firstindia.co.in | www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia | instagram.com/thefirstindia
AHMEDABAD l FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2020 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/16208 l Vol 1 l Issue No. 293
LIFE IS A PACKAGE CONSISTING OF
BOTH SUCCESS & FAILURES: JC
P8
HARSIMRAT KAUR BADAL RESIGNS
FROM UNION CABINET OVER
ÀNTI-FARMER LEGISLATION’
OUR EDITIONS: JAIPUR & AHMEDABAD
P6
New Delhi: In a sig-
nificant development,
Indian Navy warships
constantly tracked a
Chinese research ves-
sel which entered the
Indian Ocean Region
last month at a time
when tensions rose on
the land borders in
Ladakh between the
two nations. The Yuan
Wang class research
vessel had entered the
Indian Ocean Region
from Malacca straits
last month. It was con-
stantly tracked by In-
dian Navy warships
deployed there in the
region, Government
sources told ANI.
The Chinese re-
search vessel returned
to China a few days
ago after being under
constant watch of In-
dian Navy vessels, the
sources said.
Such research ves-
sels have been coming
regularly from China
and they try to gain
sensitive information
about Indian mari-
time territory.
Such vessels could
have also been used by
the Chinese to spy on
the Indian activities in
the Island territory
from where India can
keep a close eye on the
maritime movements
in the Indian Ocean
Region (IOR) and
South-East Asian re-
gion.
Meanwhile, ahead
of another round of
talks at the Corps
Commander-level be-
tween India and China
to resolve the crisis
along the LAC, the
Ministry of External
Affairs on Thursday
said a consensus had
been reached at recent
ministerial talks that
there should be “quick
and complete disen-
gagement of troops”.
—Agencies
INDIAN NAVY ON ALERT!
CHINESE RESEARCH VESSEL
ENTERS INDIAN OCEAN
New Delhi: Defence
Minister on Thursday
said that conduct of our
armed forces through-
out India-China border
clashes showed that
they maintained ‘Sayy-
am’ and displayed
‘Shaurya’, in face of
provocative actions by
the Chinese army.
In a statement in Ra-
jya Sabha, the Defence
Minister said, “Conduct
of our armed forces
throughout these inci-
dents shows that while
they maintained ‘Sayy-
am’ in face of provoca-
tive actions, they also
equally displayed ‘Shau-
rya’ when required to
protect the territorial
integrity of India.”
“While our armed forc-
esabidescrupulouslyby
it, this has not been re-
ciprocated by the Chi-
nese side,” he added.
The Minister said
that China continues to
be in illegal Turn to P6
RAJNATH ON BORDER ROW WITH CHINA
‘NO ONE CAN STOP INDIAN
ARMY FROM PATROLLING’
Indian armed forces maintained ‘Sayyam’, displayed ‘Shaurya’ in
face of provocative actions by China, he tells Rajya Sabha MPs
OPPN DEMANDS RESTORATION OF STATUS
QUO ANTE OF APRIL ON LAC WITH CHINA
REGULATE DIGITAL MEDIA
FIRST: CENTRE TO SC
New Delhi: Opposition leaders in the Rajya Sabha asked the government on
Thursday to restore status quo ante as on April this year on the India-China
border. Cutting across party lines, members in the Upper House of Parliament
expressed their solidarity and support to the armed forces, which are facing a
standoff situation against the Chinese army in eastern Ladakh. Leader of Oppo-
sition Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anad Sharma and former defence minister A K Antony
of the Congress asked the government to take efforts to restore Turn to P6
New Delhi: The Centre has said that if the
Supreme Court decides on the issue of media
regulation then such an
exercise should be undertaken
with the digital media first
as it has faster reach and
information has the potential
to go viral due to applications
like WhatsApp, Twitter and Fa-
cebook. The government told
the apex court that sufficient
framework and judicial pronouncements exist for
the electronic and the print media. Full Report P6
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh speaks during the Monsoon Session of Parliament inside Rajya
Sabha on Thursday. —PHOTO BY ANI
‘India may
get vaccine
by 2021’
New Delhi: Union
Health Minister Harsh
Vardhan on Thursday
said that he is hopeful
that by the early next
year, the vaccine will be
available in India and
added that Prime Min-
ister Narendra Modi
has handled Covid-19
“meticulously.”
Turn to P6
Shah discharged
from AIIMS
New Delhi: Union
Home Minister Amit
Shah was discharged
from Delhi’s AIIMS on
Thursday. Earlier, Shah
wasadmittedfor“acom-
plete medical checkup”
before the beginning of
the monsoon session of
Parliament, on Sunday.
Home Minister was dis-
charged from AIIMS,
after his post-COVID
care on August 30. —ANI
Srinagar: Army Chief General MM Naravane on Thursday
arrived on a two-day visit and took “a firsthand assessment”
of situation along LoC in North Kashmir, a Defence spokes-
person said. During his interaction with soldiers deployed in
the areas, he appreciated their high morale & complimented
them on their response to Pak’s ceasefire violations.
New Delhi: The gov-
ernment on Thursday
said it has rejected Pa-
kistan’s “obsession”
with “territorial ag-
grandisement” sup-
ported by cross border
terrorism, in a refer-
ence to Islamabad un-
veiling a new political
map laying claim to In-
dian territories.
Minister of State for
External Affairs V Mu-
raleedharan said the
government continues
to respond “appropri-
ately” to Pakistan’s ma-
licious actions and
propaganda, including
on the issue of Jammu
and Kashmir, at various
international fora.
He was replying to a
written question on the
issue in Rajya Sabha.
Pakistan released the
newmaponAugust4lay-
ing claim to union terri-
tories of Jammu and
Kashmir and Ladakh
and parts of Gujarat.
“Government has re-
jected Pakistan’s obses-
sion with territorial ag-
grandisement support-
ed by cross border ter-
rorism,” Muraleed-
haran said in the writ-
ten reply, Turn to P6
India rejects Pakistan’s absurd
assertions in doctored map
ARMY CHIEF IN J&K
High rate of attrition among docs/paramedics has led to labour shortage
Gargi Raval
Ahmedabad: The
state’s current short-
age of medical and
paramedical staff is
startling, especially
considering how
many students apply
to these courses.
While this is an ongo-
ing issue even during
“normal” days, the
challenges created by
the novel coronavirus
pandemic have made
the shortfall much
more problematic.
Many district and
civic authorities had is-
sued advertisements
calling for recruits
when COVID-19 first hit
the state. These did not
receive an encouraging
response.
Authorities say
that even those who
do appear for inter-
views and get recruit-
ed do not serve for
extended periods of
time. Now, in many
places, it has become
standard practice to
issue these recruit-
ment ads in an almost
continuous rotation.
On May 28, in the
middle of the pandem-
ic, the Gujarat Health
Department had issued
an advertisement seek-
ing 686 doctors for the
six civil hospitals in
Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Su-
rat, Bhavnagar, Jamna-
gar, and Vadodara.
They were to be em-
ployed on a contractual
basis in the civil hospi-
tals’ various depart-
ments at various desig-
nations.
Panchmahal Col-
lector Amit Arora,
who is currently bat-
tling the Sars-CoV-2
virus, told First India
that recruitment has
become a continuous
process. “We invite
people to apply for
medical and para-
medical service posi-
tions. We get several
applications and
then, when we hire
them, they join and
then leave shortly
thereafter,” he said.
When COVID-19 cas-
es first spiked in
Ahmedabad, doctors
from many other dis-
tricts were sent here to
serve the overwhelming
number of patients, de-
spite the scarcity of
doctors in rural areas
and smaller towns.
Turn to P6
Several hospitals have had to resort to placing recruitment ads on a rotational basis, in order to
keep up with the demands of the pandemic
Authorities say many give
interviews, but few recruits
stay for any length of time

NEWSAHMEDABAD | FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2020
02www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
CM Rupani announces subsidies on purchase of electric vehicles
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: Chief
Minister Vijay Rupa-
ni extended good
wishes to Prime Min-
ister Narendra Modi
on the latter’s 70th
birthday on Thurs-
day. Attending to
state matters, he an-
nounced a subsidy on
purchase of electric
vehicles, e-launched a
farmers’ welfare pro-
gramme and also laid
the foundation of the
drinking water sup-
ply project for Gan-
dhinagar city via vid-
eo conferencing. Un-
ion Home Minister
Amit Shah too joined
the programme from
Delhi virtually.
Elaborating about
providing subsidy on
electric vehicles, CM
Rupani said, “The idea
is to make our state pol-
lution-free. If students
purchase electric two-
wheelers, they will be
able to avail a subsidy
of Rs12,000. This benefit
will be extended to
10,000 vehicles. Also, on
the purchase of electric
auto-rickshaws, the gov-
ernment will provide a
subsidy of Rs48,000.”
While laying the
foundation of the
drinking water pro-
ject, CM Rupani said,
“Gandhinagar will be
the first city in the na-
tion to receive tap wa-
ter facility 24 X 7. The
project will ensure
that each resident of
the state capital gets
150 litre of drinking
water per day. The to-
tal investment allo-
cated for the project
is Rs229 crore.”
“The present drink-
ing water infrastruc-
ture is being estab-
lished considering the
population growth esti-
mated for the next dec-
ade. As the population
keeps growing, infra-
structure facilities will
need to be updated as
per requirement. Cur-
rently, over six crore li-
tres of drinking water
is supplied to the city
daily. Once, the infra-
structure has been up-
dated, the daily water
supply will jump to 16
crore litres,” he added.
The chief minister
also e-launched the
Desi Gaay and Jivam-
rut Yojana pro-
gramme under the
second phase of the
‘Saat Pagla Khedut
Kalyan Yojana’ to
boost organic farm-
ing. Speaking on the
occasion, state Gover-
nor Devvrat Acharya
stated, “Cow is consid-
ered as the mother of
the world. In our cul-
ture, we also worship
them. Therefore, to
facilitate natural agri-
culture, the state gov-
ernment will provide
assistance of Rs900 as
well as Rs1,350 for
farming equipment to
farmers under the
‘Saat Pagla Khedut
Kalyan Yojana’ to
make natural fertiliz-
ers. They will be able
to use cow dung and
urine to make natural
fertilizers, which will
in turn provide a new
impetus to the farm-
ing in the state.”
Earlier in the day,
Rupani also offered
prayers to Narmada
River via video confer-
encing, for filling the
Sardar Sarovar Dam
up to the brim at 138.68
metres.
l He also laid foundation of the
G’nagar drinking water project and
a farmers’ welfare programme
(L to R) Minister of State for Agriculture Jaydrathsinh Parmar, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and State Secretary,
Department of Agriculture Manish Bhardwaj at the e-launch of famers’ welfare programme on Thursday.
NEW INITIATIVES
Haresh Jhala
Bhavnagar: The ban
on export of onions by
the central govern-
ment has invited back-
lash from all quarters
of the state. With
farmers lamenting
loss of income, politi-
cal leaders have also
come out in support of
the crop-growers. Ma-
huva Agriculture Pro-
duce Market Commit-
tee (APMC) Chairman
Ghanshyam Patel has
raised the issue by
writing to Prime Min-
ister Narendra Modi
and demanded that
the ban be lifted at the
earliest. “Why has the
state and central gov-
ernment not taken re-
sponsibility for the
farmers’ losses in the
wake of the onion
price crash due to the
export ban?” he ques-
tioned.
“The big question is
that when the season be-
gins and onion prices
fall, why isn’t there a
mechanism to support
farmers? As a result of
thepricedrop,theylodge
huge losses, but never
complain,” stated Patel.
Elaborating on the on-
ion crop and farmers’
mutually symbiotic rela-
tionship,Patelexplained,
“Theonionfarmingcycle
falls between the months
of September and No-
vember and there is no
fresh inflow of onions.
Until then, there is al-
ways stock in holding.
Farmerstakeahugerisk
by holding back their
crop due to monsoon. In
doingthat,atleast30%of
their stock gets damaged
and another 10 to 15%
loss is incurred due to
weight shrinkage of on-
ions. Therefore, the over-
alllossforfarmersstands
at almost 40 to 45%. So,
whentheyputtheirstock
upforsaleinthemarkets,
they expect to recoup the
loss and get a good price
for their stock.”
He added, “It is natu-
ral for farmers to ex-
pect a price in the
range of Rs40 to 45 per
kilo between the
months of September
and November, there-
by driving up the retail
price of onions to Rs70
to 75 per kilogram.”
Citingtheexamplesof
other states, Patel said
that the wholesale price
of the bulb ranged from
Rs22 to 30 per kilogram
in Maharashtra and
Rs20 to 28 per kilogram
in Madhya Pradesh.
“These prices are just a
little above the cost of ir-
rigation thereby leaving
thefarmerswithnoprof-
it for all their hard
work,” he stated.
The APMC chairman
also remarked that the
export ban was com-
pletely unfair to farm-
ers and that it would
send wrong signals to
the international mar-
ket about India’s incon-
sistent policy.
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: The state
high court gave the
government two
weeks’ time to pre-
scribe fees of colleges
in the state and submit
a comprehensive re-
port in order to come
up with concrete solu-
tions for the fee issue
in the next hearing.
The court is hearing
a Public Interest Litiga-
tion (PIL) filed by col-
lege students with the
prayer to seek the
court’s intervention on
the fee issue and seek
concession. In defense
of their demand, the
students stated in their
petition that with no
on-campus classes be-
ing conducted, the ad-
ministration expenses
of colleges have been
lower. Therefore, the
colleges were unjusti-
fied in asking students
to pay the total fee
amount ask for a given
semester or the aca-
demic year. Further, the
students also demand-
ed that all colleges roll-
back 25% fees and allow
students to pay the re-
maining amount in in-
stallments.
The petitioners also
pleaded to the court to
provide direction to
the state government.
On the other hand, the
state government’s
submission was that it
has constituted two
separate Fees Regula-
tion Committees for
professional and non-
professional courses.
It further stated that
the University Grants
Commission (UGC)
had recommended a
fee concession.
Unfortunately, the
state has also remained
unsuccessful in its at-
tempts to resolve the
school fees issue with
private school manage-
ments.
‘StategovtandCentremustbe
heldaccountableforlosses’
HC asks state to finalize fees
of colleges in two weeks
MAHUVA APMC CHAIRMAN GHANSHYAM PATEL HAS WRITTEN TO PM
MODI ABOUT THE PLIGHT OF FARMERS AFTER ONION EXPORT BAN
l Students de-
mand 25% roll-
back and approval
for a payment plan
Gujarat High Court. —FILE PHOTO
A worker carries a sack full of
onions at the wholesale market
in Vejalpur,Ahmedabad.
—PHOTO BY HANIF SINDHI
On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi marked his 70th birthday and it was marked with celebratory fervour by his supporters and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, members across the state. In Surat, local
civic body Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) along with several NGOs and CREDAI, Surat planted over 70,000 saplings to mark Modi’s birth anniversary. In a mass tree plantation drive spearheaded by deputy mayor
of Surat Nirav Shah, saplings were planted at various locations. Shah was also felicitated for his endeavour by Gujarat Book of Records. In Ahmedabad, members of BJP distributed grain kits to the underprivileged as
part of ‘Seva Week’ in the Khadia area of the city. A special complaint box was put up by Bapunagar police station to encourage citizens to complain against any grievance. A few BJP members also gave away fruit
baskets to kids of sanitation workers in Maninagar area while others marked the prime minister’s birthday by cutting a cake at Bhuyangdev area in Ahmedabad. —PHOTOS BY HANIF SINDHI
FirstIndia Bureau
Ahmedabad: Dariyapur
MLA Gyasuddin Shaikh
has written to the State
Election Commission
seeking the postpone-
ment of the upcoming lo-
calbodyelectionsinview
of theCOVID-19pandem-
ic.Hecitedtheexampleof
Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP)stateunitpresident
CRPatilandotherleaders
who were recently infect-
edwithnovelcoronavirus
duringPatil’sSaurashtra
and North Gujarat tour,
as a deterrent. In his let-
ter, Shaikh also men-
tionedthattheinitialpro-
cess for the polls of six
municipal corporations,
56 municipalities and 31
district panchayats had
already been started.
“If elections are an-
nounced for next month,
then different political
parties will commence
extensive public cam-
paigns, rallies, meetings,
whichwillbecounterpro-
ductive amid a pandemic
situation,” he stated.
Toasting the nation’s leader
Postpone local
body elections:
Dariyapur MLA

GUJARATAHMEDABAD | FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2020
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: Ex-
pressing concern
over the deaths of
Asiatic lions at the
Gir National Park &
Wildlife Sanctuary
due to radio collars,
the Congress party
on Thursday called
for a removal of col-
lars.
Raising this issue
during Zero Hour at
the Rajya Sabha, Mem-
ber of Parliament (MP)
Shaktisinh Gohil said
that the lions had been
fitted with radio col-
lars unscientifically
leading to their deaths.
Radio collar is a
wide band fitted with
a transmitter and
battery used to track
an animal’s move-
ments within its nat-
ural habitat. The
transmitter emits a
signal at a selected
frequency which can
be tracked from up to
5 kilometres away.
When trying to lo-
cate a specific lion,
the researcher dials
the ascertained fre-
quency and drives in
a vehicle while lis-
tening for the beep
signal. An antenna is
mounted on top of
the vehicle, and once
a signal is detected,
the researcher seeks
out the direction
where the signal is at
its loudest.
A few lions had al-
ready been tagged
with radio collars for
research purposes. Af-
ter a distemper virus
outbreak, over 75 more
were tagged. Re-
nowned wildlife ex-
perts such as HN Sin-
gh and AK Shama have
strongly opposed the
method of attaching
2.5 kg heavy radio col-
lars on the big cats.
“The devices are
also fitted on lion cubs
who tend to grow rap-
idly, making the col-
lars a very uncomfort-
able nuisance. It also
violates the wildlife
protocol according to
which only six percent
of all animals can be
collared with radios,”
said Gohil.
It is to be noted
that of the total lion
deaths recorded, 25%
casualties have oc-
curred due to these
collars. Apart from
the removal of the
collars, Gohil also
demanded stern ac-
tion to be taken
against those respon-
sible for installing
them.
In response to this,
Rajya Sabha Chair-
man M Venkaiah
Naidu said that the is-
sue had been noted
and would be investi-
gated in due time.
Shaktisinh Gohil demands removal of radio collars from Asiatic lions
SAVING THE SIMBAS
Addressing the
Rajya Sabha on
Thursday, the
MP attributed
25% of big cat
deaths to the
devices; also
called for action
against those
responsible for
their
installation
With 1,378 new cases and 14 fatalities, state has now witnessed 1,19,088 cases and 3,272 deaths
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: The
state government
has confirmed that
rural Rajkot is wit-
nessing a spurt in
the number of COV-
ID-19 cases—some-
thing First India
predicted on Sep-
tember 06.
Speaking to the me-
dia in Rajkot, Princi-
pal Secretary (Health)
Jayanti Ravi on
Thursday admitted
that the cases are on
the rise in the dis-
trict’s rural areas, but
added that the state’s
health department is
ready to handle the in-
crease.
“We have set up
350-bed facilities in
Jasdan and Gondal
and are extending
these precautions
even to the city,
where 900 more beds
have been equipped
with oxygen facili-
ties,” she said.
Health Secretary
Ravi, Industries Com-
missioner RP Gupta
and Finance Secre-
tary Milind Torwane
are back in Rajkot to
take stock of the situ-
ation in the city and
the rural areas and
bring it under control.
The State health
bulletin shows zero
deaths in Rajkot due
to COVID-19 in the
past 24 hours, but
the local media has
reported as many as
31 fatalities related
to the novel corona-
virus in the same
time frame.
The state conducted
85,620 tests in 24 hours,
of which 1,379 came
back positive. There
are now 16,007 active
cases in the state with
96 patients on ventila-
tor support. Of the 14
patient deaths report-
ed across the state in
the past 24 hours, six
occurred in Surat,
four in Ahmedabad,
two in Vadodara, and
one each in Banaskan-
tha and Devbhumi
Dwarka.
Surat reported the
highest number of
cases with 280, of
which 171 were in
the city and 109 in
rural areas. There
are now 2,450 active
cases in the district,
with 16 patients on
ventilator support
and 154 on oxygen
support. Athwa zone
has reported a total
of 3,190 confirmed
cases so far.
Vadodara tested
3,988 samples, of
which 123 tested posi-
tive. There are 1,370
active cases in the city
with 59 patients on Bi-
PAP machines and
ventilators, and 159 on
oxygen support.
Readytodealwithhighinfection
rateinruralRajkot:HealthSecy
A policeman undergoes COVID-19 test at a camp nearTagore Hall inAhmedabad.—PHOTO BY HANIF SINDHI
QUICK OVERVIEW
Surat’s Umarpada gets 11
inches rain in two hours
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: The
monsoon season
does not seem to be
in a mood to let up,
especially in the
South Gujarat re-
gion of the state,
which received
heavy showers on
Thursday. Umarpa-
da taluka of Surat
with 11 inches
(275mm) of rainfall
recorded the highest
amount of rainfall.
The taluka received
10.82 inches of rain-
fall from 2 pm to 6
pm, creating a flood-
like situation. A to-
tal of 64 talukas re-
ceived spells of rain-
fall, mainly in the
north, central, and
southern regions of
the state.
Several causeways
had to be closed due to
waterlogging in the
state. Heavy rains also
affected people living
in forest areas. The
city of Mangrol in Ju-
nagadh district re-
corded 5.25 inches of
rainfall.
The India Meteoro-
logical Department
(IMD) issued a warn-
ing for rainfall over
the next five days. As
per the forecast, the
South Gujarat region
may be lashed down
with heavy rains
while the remaining
regions of the state
were more likely to re-
ceivelighttomoderate
showers.
IMD further stat-
ed that thunder-
storms and light-
ning with strong
winds less than
40kmph in gust were
very likely at isolat-
ed places in all dis-
tricts of the South
Gujarat region on
Saturday.
The districts of
North Gujarat and
Saurashtra-Kutch re-
gions are likely to get
light to moderate rain-
fall. On the other
hand, heavy rainfall is
very likely at isolated
places in the districts
of Bharuch, Narma-
da, Surat, Valsad,
Navsari, Amreli and
Bhavnagar. Dadra Na-
gar and Haveli may
also witness pouring
rain in the next few
days.
A’BAD CRIME BRANCH NABS MAHA
DRUG SUPPLIER FOR `1 CR HAUL
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: The
Ahmedabad Detection
Crime Branch has ar-
rested a Mumbai-based
drug supplier, who had
sold drugs worth
Rs99.50 lakh to
Ahmedabad peddlers.
Five people were busted
with 995 gm of drugs by
the crime branch in
Ahmedabad last week.
Afak Ahmed alias
Afak Bava is one of the
biggestdrugsuppliersof
Mumbai. According to
sources, Afak has a net-
work that spans the en-
tire nation. The drug
peddlerhasalsosupplied
the drug Methylenediox-
ymethamphetamine
(MDMA) in Ahmedabad
on one or two occasions
in the past.
Having been in the
drug business for more
than a decade, Afak had
gone underground and
had been hiding at Ku-
rundwad village of Ma-
harashtra with his fam-
ily, after his name sur-
faced in a Directorate
of Revenue Intelligence
(DRI) seizure of 50 kilo-
gram of MDMA drug in
January this year. Po-
lice sources also said
that his son Fida had
been running his opera-
tion ever since Afak
went underground.
Video of nCov patient
viral on social media
AMC to prioritize
core city projects
First India Bureau
Rajkot: A video of a
COVID-19 patient be-
ing manhandled by
staff members of the
Rajkot Civil Hospital
has been circulating
on social media plat-
forms over the past
couple of days.
In the said video, a
patient is seen lying on
the floor of the hospital
surrounded by security
personnel. A male staff
member decked out in a
PPE kit then proceeds
to put his leg on the pa-
tient’s chest. A security
personnel is also visible
in the video holding a
white pipe. The patient
is then also slapped by a
staffer. It has remained
unclear whether the
physical assault was an
attempt to revive the pa-
tient or control him.
In its defense, the
hospital has claimed to
have constituted a com-
mittee to inquire into
the incident.
According to re-
ports, the incident oc-
curred early on Sep-
tember 09 and the
patient in question
had been admitted to
the hospital a day pri-
or. “The patient
seems to be suffering
from depression or is
in a mentally unsta-
ble condition. After
he could be controlled
by the female staffers
and was about to
jump out the window,
when our male staff-
ers overpowered
him,” claimed Dr
Pankaj Buch, Super-
intendent of Rajkot
Civil Hospital.
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: In the
wake of the COVID-19
pandemic, several de-
velopmental projects to
be implemented by the
Ahmedabad Municipal
Corporation (AMC)
have been postponed.
As the city returns to
some semblance of nor-
malcy, the local civic
body has taken to creat-
ing a checklist of pro-
jects that need its imme-
diate attention.
If AMC officers are to
be believed, a few pro-
jects have yet to be start-
ed as migrant labourers
have yet to return from
their native states. The
state government has
already extended the
deadline of existing
projects by six months.
“There are several
necessary jobs such as
water supply, drainage
system and road repair
have been pending since
the lockdown was im-
posed. The recent road
repair work was execut-
ed with almost 50% of
the actual labour
strength,” said an offi-
cial.
The official also add-
ed that most of the engi-
neering projects were
likely to receive an ex-
tension of six months.
On the other hand, sev-
eral others such as
bridges, multi-storey
parking may be shelved.
Meanwhile, since a
few private contractors
have not been paid their
dues from February on-
wards, it may well be
that work on several
projects may not com-
mence until all pending
dues are paid by the lo-
cal civic body.
IF GUILTY..
Trafﬁc at a standstill near Umarpada of Surat district onThursday.
WORK MODE ON
Taking advantage of clear skies, the construction work on the upcoming overbridge on
Sarkhej-Gandhinagar Highway was going on in full swing in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
Showers likely over
next five days,
warns IMD
A still from the video.

G Vol 1 G Issue No. 293 G RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/16208. Printed and published by Anita Hada Sangwan on behalf of First Express Publishers. Printed at Bhaskar Printing Planet Survey No.148P, Changodar-Bavla Highway, Tal. Sanand, Dist. Ahmedabad.
Published at D/302 3rd Floor Plot No. 35 Titanium Square, Scheme No. 2, Thaltej Taluka, Ghatlodiya, Ahmedabad. Editor: Jagdeesh Chandra, responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act
PERSPECTIVEAHMEDABAD | FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2020
he Paris cli-
mate agree-
ment seeks to
limit global
warming to
1.5°c this century. A new
report by the World Me-
teorological Organisa-
tion warns this limit
may be exceeded by 2024
– and the risk is growing.
This first overshoot be-
yond 1.5°c would be tempo-
rary, likely aided by a major
climate anomaly such as an
El Niño weather pattern.
However, it casts new doubt
on whether Earth’s climate
can be permanently stabi-
lised at 1.5°c warming.
This finding is among
those just published in a
report titled United in
Science. We contributed
to the report, which was
prepared by six leading
science agencies, includ-
ing the Global Carbon
Project.
The report also found
while greenhouse gas
emissions declined slightly
in 2020 due to the COVID-19
pandemic, they remained
very high – which meant
atmospheric carbon diox-
ide concentrations have
continued to rise.
WARMEST FIVE
YEARS ON RECORD
The global average sur-
face temperature from
2016 to 2020 will be
among the warmest of
any equivalent period on
record, and about 0.24°c
warmer than the previ-
ous five years.
This five-year period is
on the way to creating a
new temperature record
across much of the world,
including Australia, south-
ern Africa, much of Eu-
rope, the Middle East and
northern Asia, areas of
South America and parts
of the United States.
Sea levels rose by 3.2
millimetres per year on
average over the past 27
years. The growth is ac-
celerating – sea level rose
4.8 millimetres annually
over the past five years,
compared to 4.1 millime-
tres annually for the five
years before that.
The past five years have
also seen many extreme
events. These include re-
cord-breaking heatwaves
in Europe, Cyclone Idai in
Mozambique, major bush-
fires in Australia and else-
where, prolonged drought
in southern Africa and
three North Atlantic hur-
ricanes in 2017.
Our report predicts a
continuing warming
trend. There is a high
probability that, every-
where on the planet, av-
erage temperatures in
the next five years will
be above the 1981-2010
average. Arctic warming
is expected to be more
than twice that the glob-
al average.
There’s a one-in-four
chance the global annual
average temperature will
exceed 1.5°c above pre-in-
dustrial levels for at least
one year over the next five
years. The chance is rela-
tively small, but still sig-
nificant and growing. If a
major climate anomaly,
such as a strong El Niño, oc-
curs in that period, the 1.5°c
threshold is more likely to
be crossed. El Niño events
generally bring warmer
global temperatures.
Under the Paris Agree-
ment, crossing the 1.5°c
threshold is measured
over a 30-year average,
not just one year. But eve-
ry year above 1.5°c warm-
ing would take us closer
to exceeding the limit.
SOURCE: THE CONVERSATION
Earth may pass dangerous 1.5°c warming limit by 2024
T
You have a right to perform
your prescribed duties, but
you are not entitled to the
fruits of your actions.
—Bhagavad Gita
Spiritual
SPEAK
Top
TWEET
Dharmendra Pradhan
@dpradhanbjp
Met DG @IndiaCoastGuard K
Natarajan and appreciated him and
#ICG for their timely, innovative &
brilliant efforts in dousing the ﬁre
on oil tanker #MTNewDiamond
off the coast of Sri Lanka,and also
for their commitment in ensuring
safe, secure and clean seas in our
neighbourhood.
Mallikarjun Kharge @kharge
It was on this historic day that Pt.
Nehru & Sardar Patel ensured that
we became a part of this great
nation. My best wishes to the people
of Kalyana Karnataka & my humble
tribute to all those who fought for the
cause. Our only focus now should be
working together for development.
he five-point consensus
signed between the foreign
ministers of India and
China on the sidelines of
the Shanghai Cooperation
Organisation (SCO) meet-
ing at Moscow to ease ten-
sion in the Eastern Ladakh
sector has drawn mixed
reactions at home both in
India and China. Even be-
fore the ink had dried the
Chinese English mouth-
piece Global Times (GT)
began to write about the
likelihood of its imple-
mentation accusing India
of flexing its muscles to
create tension and nib-
bling Chinese territory.
While at home, the reac-
tions were from moderate to
extreme. Many veterans and
former diplomats remain cir-
cumspect that we may have
conceded too much to the
Chinese. The veterans also
feel that all such future nego-
tiations at the political level
should include the represent-
atives of the Armed Forces
lest we are handed over fait
accompli like Tashkent or
Shimla or Sharm el-sheik.
While a series of meet-
ings will begin soon to put
into practice the decisions
reached Moscow. In my
mind, there are five mis-
takes the Indians should
not commit. These are :
1.Do not trust China. His-
tory is replete with ex-
amples of China’s deceit and
treachery with its neigh-
bours. Even the leaders of
modern China post-revolu-
tion Mao Zedong and Chou
En-lai are known for failing
to walk the talk and stab the
neighbours in the back. Peo-
ples’ Liberation Army (PLA),
the army of the Communist
Party of China (CPC) also
has not behaved differently.
Even Xi Jinping, the current
all-powerful Chinese leader,
is no different. He is a firm
believer of the “Middle King-
dom” supremacy and his
“China Dream” is nothing
but a manifestation of Chi-
na’s expansionist ambitions,
Sino-centric view of the
world. 2020 is the landmark
year of his China Dream
leading to 2021 centenary cel-
ebrations of the CPC. Will Xi
mar the celebrations with a
defeat? He is definitely going
to bargain hard making the
“deadlock persist for long”
as mentioned by GT. Let the
negotiations continue but
our eyes should be glued to
how China acts? Nothing
short of the physical imple-
mentation of what its lead-
ers say should be acceptable
to us. Verification and re-
verification must be the
mantra for us.
2.Do not surrender the
tactical advantages.
The demand for status quo
ante is misleading and we
should not fall prey to the de-
mand of few. It should be
made very clear that restora-
tion to status quo ante is ap-
plicable only to the Chinese
troops which have unilater-
ally intruded into our terri-
tory at multiple points in
Eastern Ladakh. As stated
repeatedly we are in our own
territory and we will not
move back. For the first time
after the 1962 conflict, India
has occupied heights that
not only give us the tactical
advantage of dominating the
Chinese but also open ave-
nues for exercising offensive
options. This advantage
should not be surrendered at
any cost keeping the Doklam
experience in mind. Another
thing to remember is that the
terrain on our side hampers
movement in winters due to
closure of passes while the
Chinese do not face such a
problem in the Tibet plateau.
Thus, vacating the heights
will be at our own peril giv-
ing the Chinese a chance to
occupy them and threaten
our Chushul defences, open-
ing the gateway to Leh.
3.Do not have dual con-
trol. The dual control of
troops operating together is
a certain way to disaster. We
have learned the bitter les-
son at the beginning of the
stand-off. There is no option
but for the Indo-Tibetan Bor-
der Police (ITBP) units de-
ployed along with the Army
to be placed under command
of the local Army unit/for-
mation. That is the best way
to ensure synergy and avoid
conflicting situations. Both
operational and administra-
tive control should be with
the army.
4.Do not compromise on
defence preparedness.
The development of infra-
structure on our side should
not be stopped at any cost.
The present crisis may be
overcome through prolonged
negotiations but one thing
has become certain. China
no more is a simple threat to
our national security but a
confirmed enemy. A two-
front war in the future is not
going to be just a probability
but a likely possibility. We
must prepare for it, and re-
tain punitive deterrence in a
manner that Pak is hesitant
to join a two-front war. India
no more can depend merely
on diplomacy to keep our
borders safe because of the
growing Chinese belliger-
ence in keeping with its Chi-
na Dream. It is worth pon-
dering that why China chose
India for a confrontation
from among multiple options
it had? China wants to be the
sole power in Asia and is un-
willing to accept India as a
challenger. It has also been
experienced that the only
thing China respects is pow-
er or strength. India’s com-
prehensive national power
will always remain weak in
front of China until we have
strong and modern armed
forces. The Indian military
has to be transformed from a
force to military power. The
process has been set in mo-
tion. But we Indians suffer
from very short-lived memo-
ries. A Soldier and the God is
remembered only at the time
of crisis and forgotten soon
thereafter. Let it not happen
again. Despite all domestic
compulsions a fixed amount
of the GDP should be as-
sured towards defence ex-
penditure. The existing gaps
in our joint warfare capabili-
ties and fifth-generation
warfare including disruptive
technologies should be ad-
dressed on priority. Based on
our national interests India
should also look forward to
joining multilateral security
organisations.
5.Do not revert to old and
outdated protocols and
border management. The
PLA through its strategy of
“Altering Status Quo at Will”
and The salami-Slicing tech-
nique have proved in the past
that it has scant respect for
these protocols. China delib-
erately has not made public
its official claim line. With
the Galwan incident of June
15, it was further confirmed
that it had no respect for
these protocols but had come
well prepared to circumvent
them to beat and scare the
Indian troops who were scru-
pulously adhering to the pro-
tocols. It is a different story
that they were taught a les-
son of their lives by valiant
Indian troops in unarmed
combat. The orders have
since been issued to the
troops to open fire but it goes
to their credit that despite
provocation by the Chinese
they have maintained top
class self-control and fire dis-
cipline. Keeping the Chinese
behavior in mind the orders
should not be changed. No
‘buffer zone’ but complete
withdrawal by the Chinese
troops to their pre- May 5 po-
sitions must be our stand.
The aim of any new agree-
ment on protocol should not
be crisis management but a
firm commitment of no more
intrusions in the future for
which delineation is very im-
portant.
For the first time China’s
hegemony and bullying has
been challenged by none oth-
er than India. India should
not let the opportunity drift
off settling issues at its terms
even if we have to wait till
China concedes. We have
avoided so far to get over-
awed by the Chinese influ-
ence operations and should
continue to remain steadfast
in face of intensified Chinese
effort of mind-games..
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY
THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL
FIVE MISTAKES INDIA
SHOULD NOT MAKE
T
The demand for
status quo ante is
misleading and
we should not fall
prey to the
demand of few. It
should be made
very clear that
restoration to
status quo ante is
applicable only
to the Chinese
troops which
have unilaterally
intruded into our
territory at
multiple points
in Eastern
Ladakh
FOR THE FIRST TIME CHINA’S HEGEMONY AND
BULLYING HAS BEEN CHALLENGED BY NONE
OTHER THAN INDIA. INDIA SHOULD NOT LET
THE OPPORTUNITY DRIFT OFF SETTLING
ISSUES AT ITS TERMS EVEN IF WE HAVE TO
WAIT TILL CHINA CONCEDES
BRIG VETERAN
ANIL GUPTA
The author is a Jammu
based veteran, political
commentator, columnist, security
and strategic analyst

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INDIAAHMEDABAD | FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2020
High rate...
Six months since the
first cases were report-
ed in the state, the gov-
ernment has not been
able to curb the spread
of the virus. The situa-
tion has worsened to a
point where members
of the medical fraterni-
ty have publicly admit-
ted to being tired.
On Wednesday even-
ing, ST Malhan, Super-
intendent of Sardar
Vallabhbhai Patel (SVP)
Hospital admitted that
the city-run hospital
was short-staffed. He
stated that it had be-
come “very difficult to
manage a large number
of patients when man-
power was so scarce”,
since many doctors
have been infected with
COVID-19. “Moreover,
the hospital’s staff has
beendeputedtoasmany
as 350 teams in the San-
jivani Rath Scheme,” he
added. In Ahmedabad,
many private doctors
have also been asked to
help the government.
Omprakash Machra,
deputy municipal com-
missioner of health,
could not be reached for
comment despite multi-
ple attempts.
‘No one...
occupation of approx
38,000 square kilome-
tres in the Union Terri-
tory of Ladakh. He
added that it also claims
approximately 90,000
square kilometres of
Indian territory in the
Eastern Sector of the
India-China boundary
in Arunachal Pradesh.
“China continues to
be in illegal occupation
of approx 38,000 sq km
in the Union Territory
of Ladakh. In addition,
under the so-called Si-
no-Pakistan ‘Boundary
Agreement’ of 1963, Pa-
kistan illegally ceded
5,180 sq. km. of Indian
territory in PoK to Chi-
na. It also claims ap-
proximately 90,000 sq.
km. of Indian territory
in the Eastern Sector of
the India-China bound-
ary in Arunachal
Pradesh,” he said.
Recalling the Galwan
Valley incident, he said,
“On 15 June, Col San-
tosh Babu, along with
his 19 brave soldiers,
made the supreme sacri-
fice in Galwan Valley
towards the cause of de-
fending the territorial
integrity of India. Our
Prime Minister himself
went to Ladakh to boost
the morale of forces.”
The two countries
have been engaged in a
standoff position since
April-May timeframe
and the Chinese have re-
fused to vacate areas in
the Finger area and oth-
er friction points in the
Eastern Ladakh area.
Multiple rounds of talks
have also failed to yield
any significant result in
defusing the tensions
and now the Indian side
has prepared itself for
longtermdeploymentin
the high mountainous
region. —ANI
Oppn demands...
the status quo ante of
April and resolve the
over-three-month-old
border standoff.
Some members such
as Prasanna Acharya
of the Biju Janata Dal
(BJD) and Sanjay Raut
of the Shiv Sena cau-
tioned the government
while entering into any
agreement with China
over the present situa-
tion. Sharma said the
country is proud of its
Army and the sacrifices
made by the soldiers to
protect the border.
“There should be no
doubt on this and the
entire nation would
stand together,” he said.
Referring to the re-
cent talks between the
Indian defence minister
and foreign minister
with their Chinese
counterparts and a
statement on Septem-
ber 11, Sharma asked:
“Do we understand that
the restoration of the
status quo ante will re-
main a non-negotiable
and final objective for
India?” “You have to
clarify that sovereignty
means status quo ante
as on the middle of
April. That is the mean-
ing of sovereignty,” he
said. —PTI
India rejects...
calling release of the
map by Pakistan Prime
Minister Imran Khan
as “absurd”.
“It has also been em-
phasised that Pakistan
should desist from lay-
ing untenable claims to
Indian territories,
whichhaveneitherlegal
validitynorinternation-
al credibility,” he said.
Replying to a sepa-
rate question on sus-
pension of work visas
like H1B by the Trump
administration, he
said India is engaged
with Washington and
the US Congress on the
issue. —PTI
‘India may...
“History will remem-
ber PM Modi for metic-
ulously monitoring the
entire situation him-
self. India is making ef-
forts just like other
countries. Under PM’s
guidance, an expert
group is looking at it
and we have advanced
planning in place,” he
said. —ANI
FROM PG 1
Under Modi’s leadership, the deprived sections of the society have been given a respectable life: Shah
‘MODI DEVOTED TOSERVICE OF THE NATION’
Morethan82krecoveries
for two days in a row
New Delhi: India has
been registering very
high recoveries for two
consecutive days. More
than 82,000 coronavi-
rus patients have been
cured and discharged
in the past two days.
82,961 active cases
were found free of Cov-
id-19 in the last 24
hours, as per the govt
data. The number of
people who have recu-
perated from the dis-
ease crossed 40 lakh
today, according to the
Union Health Ministry
data. The national re-
covery rate continues
to follow its rising
curve.
A record single-day
increase of 97,894 infec-
tions pushed India’s
COVID-19 tally to over
51 lakh. Maharashtra
(17,559) contributed
more than one-fifth of
the new recoveries
(21.22%) while the
States of Andhra
Pradesh (10,845), Kar-
nataka (6580), Uttar
Pradesh (6476) and Ta-
mil Nadu (5768) con-
tributed 35.87% of the
new recoveries.
New Delhi: The Minis-
try of Information and
Broadcasting has in-
formed the Supreme
Court that if it is keen
to begin an exercise to
regulate media, then it
should be the digital
media instead of main-
stream media, as it has
wider viewership and
also has the potential to
turn viral.
The Ministry in an
affidavit in the SC said
while in a mainstream
media (whether elec-
tronic or print), the
publication or telecast
is a one-time act, the
digital media has faster
reach to a wider range
of readership and has
the potential to become
viral because of sever-
al electronic applica-
tions like WhatsApp,
Twitter, Facebook.
“The media includes
mainstream electronic
media, mainstream
print media as well as a
parallel media namely
digital print media and
digital web-based news
portal and YouTube
channels as well as
‘OTTs,” said the Minis-
try in an affidavit.
A bench comprising
Justices DY Chandra-
chud, KM Joseph and
Indu Malhotra has
stayed the broadcast of
Sudarshan TV pro-
gramme UPSC Jihad,
untilfurtherorders.—PTI
IT IS DIGITAL MEDIA WHICH
NEEDS REGULATIONS: CENTRE
A health worker collects a nasal sample from a girl in New Delhi.
Union minister Prahlad
Singh Patel tests +ve
New Delhi: Union
minister Prahlad
Singh Patel on
Thursday said he has
tested positive for
Covid-19. He has re-
quested those who
came in contact with
him to be cautious.
“Last night my
coronavirus report
came positive, I re-
quest those who met
me on Tuesday to be
cautious,” he wrote
on Twitter.
On Wednesday, Un-
ion minister Gadkari
had announced test-
ing positive for Cov-
id-19 and going into
self isolation. Re-
cently seventeen peo-
ple including staff
and family members
living at BJP’s Delhi
office, tested positive
for coronavirus.
RaGa slams Centre over ‘unemployment’
New Delhi: Congress
leader Rahul Gandhi
on Thursday attacked
the Central govern-
ment over the issue of
unemployment claim-
ing that “massive un-
employment has
forced the youth to call
today National Unem-
ployment Day.” “Mas-
sive unemployment
has forced the youth to
call today National
Unemployment Day.
Employment is digni-
ty. For how long will
the government deny
it?” the Congress lead-
er questioned.
“How long will the
government back
down from giving this
honour?” he asked. On
Wednesday, the Con-
gress leader had at-
tacked BJP-led Centre
alleging its promises
made during the COV-
ID-19 crisis phase had
failed.
The Wayanad MP
had accused the Centre
of “building castles in
the air regarding de-
feating Corona in 21
days, Arogya Setu app
protecting people, 20
lakh crores package,
nobody entered our
borders and the situa-
tion is under control.”
Demands of youth ex-
ams on time, results on
time, increase in jobs,
contract law to be abol-
ished.Youth has risen
and if the government
does not change its way
and attitude then the
youths will remove the
government.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra
@priyankagandhi
Harsimrat Kaur Badal
quits Modi Cabinet
New Delhi: Processing
Minister Harsimrat
Kaur Badal on Thurs-
day resigned from Un-
ion Cabinet in protest
against “anti-farmer
ordinances and legisla-
tion”. The resignation
came soon after Shi-
romani Akali Dal (SAD)
leader Sukhbir Singh
Badal opposed the two
farmer-related bills in
the Lok Sabha. SAD is
an ally of ruling Na-
tional Democratic Alli-
ance at the Centre and
in Punjab. “I have re-
signed from Union Cab-
inet in protest against
anti-farmer ordinances
and legislation. Proud
to stand with farmers
as their daughter and
sister,” Harsimrat said
in a tweet.
The two bills seek to
replace two ordinances
brought earlier by the
NDA government.
New Delhi: Union
Home Minister Amit
Shah, on September 17,
extended birthday
greetings to Prime
Minister Narendra
Modi and said the coun-
try’s most popular lead-
er was devoted to the
service of the nation
and welfare of the poor.
Amit Shah also said
that under Modi’s lead-
ership, the poor and
deprived sections of
the society have been
given a respectable life.
“Birthday greetings
to country’s most popu-
lar leader Prime Minis-
ter @narendramodi,
who is devoted to the
service of the nation
and welfare of poor.
“In the form of Modi
ji, the country has got a
leader who has connect-
ed the deprived class
with the mainstream of
development and laid
the foundation of a
strong India,” he said in
a series of tweets in
Hindi. The home minis-
ter said the poor of the
country, who have been
deprived of their rights
for decades, have been
provided with houses,
electricity, bank ac-
counts and toilets. Shah
said it is a privilege to
have the opportunity to
serve ‘Maa Bharati’ un-
der the leadership of
“such a great leader @
narendramodi ji who
spends every moment
of his life making a
strong, secure, self-reli-
ant India”.
RCA President Vaib-
hav Gehlot also extend-
ed birthday greetings to
Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi.
World leaders and
personalities wish PM
BJP announces start
of ‘Know Namo’ quiz
New Delhi: As Prime
Minister Modi turned
70 on Thursday, wishes
from home and abroad
poured in for him.Ex-
tending his greetings,
Nepal PM KP Sharma
Oli tweeted: “Warm
greetings to Prime Min-
ister Shri @naren-
dramodi ji on the auspi-
cious occasion of your
birthday. “We will con-
tinue working closely
together to further
strengthen relations be-
tween our two coun-
tries.” In his message to
Modi, Russian Presi-
dent Vladimir Putin
said: “I look forward to
continue constructive
dialogue with you and
work closely together
on topical issues of the
bilateral agenda.”
New Delhi: On the oc-
casion of PM Modi’s
70th birthday, BJP has
organized a virtual ex-
hibition on the NaMo
App about the PM’s in-
spiring journey of life
and his achievements.
The news came to light
after the political party
posted a message on
Twitter asking people
to visit the virtual exhi-
bition. “Glimpses of
NaMo’s inspiring life! A
special virtual exhibit
for a special day, greet
your favorite leader on
his 70th birthday from
home! Witness PM Nar-
endra Modi’s life-story,
his journey, his achieve-
ments in never-before-
seen format,” the mes-
sage from BJP on Twit-
ter read.
BJP’s virtual exhibition on
PM Modi’s inspiring life New Delhi: While urg-
ing people to wish PM
Modi on his birthday
through the Namo App,
the BJP also announced
the start of the “Know
Namo” quiz whose win-
ners will get books auto-
graphed by the PM. The
quiz which begins today
will have questions on
PM Modi and BJP.“How
much do you know
about PM Narendra
Modi? Take ‘The Know
NaMo Quiz’ on NaMo
App - http://nm4.in/dn-
ldapp Winners walk
away with books signed
by PM Modi himself!”
the tweet by the BJP
read. The party also
urged people to post
their wishes, and those
of others who want to
thank the PM, through
messages or by upload-
ing a video on the app.
Ifindmyselfblessedtohavegotalead-
er,mentorandguideinourbeloved
PrimeMinisterShriNarendraModi
Ji, a person with unmitigated
righteousness, unquestionable
sense of service towards mankind
and overwhelming sensitivity.
-Yogi Adityanath, UP Chief Minister
President of India
@rashtrapatibhvn
Happy birthday to you
Modi ji. You have set an
example of Indian life
values. I pray to God
that he always keeps
you healthy & happy &
the nation continues to
receive your invaluable
services.
Rajnath Singh
@rajnathsingh
Greetings and warm
wishes to PM Narendra
Modi on his birthday.
He has been working
assiduously towards
empowering the poor
and marginalised. Pray-
ing for his good health
and long life.
Ahmed Patel
@ahmedpatel
Birthday greetings to
Prime Minister
@narendramodi
Avinash Pande
@avinashpandeinc
Greetings and warm
wishes to PM Narendra
Modi on his birthday.
Rahul Gandhi @RahulGandhi
Wishing Prime Minister Narendra Modi
ji a happy birthday.
Amit Shah Narendra Modi

HOW SHOULD WE MEASURE
THE IMPACT OF COVID-19?
Clearly, when measuring the impact of COV-
ID-19, cases and deaths are relevant. But a
case is not necessarily “bad”. Although esti-
mates vary, about 40-45% of cases are asymp-
tomatic. And it’s not death (in itself) that mat-
ters. Death is bad because it denies us life we
could have had. But if you die one second
earlier than you could have died, this is not
particularly bad. What matters, ethically, is
not death per se, but years of life lost. Even
this is not what ultimately matters. If you
could live an extra 20 years in a coma, you
would hardly call this a win. What matters
is years of good (enough) life lost.
HOW MUCH SHOULD WE
PAY TO SAVE A LIFE?
In an ideal world, how much it costs to
save a life would be irrelevant. But we oper-
ate with limited resources. So, the concept
of “Quality Adjusted Life Years” or QALY
lets us put a price on life, or at least to
how much we will spend on trying to
save one. This is a year of life, ad-
justed for its quality. A year in per-
fect quality of life is 1, coma is close
to zero. This idea is understandably
controversial, not least because it
assigns a lower value to a year
spent living with a disability. Nev-
ertheless, how much quality of
life we save is relevant. Before
the pandemic, Australia’s
public health spending was
typically no more than
A$50,000 per QALY.
At the end of March,
US-based economists esti-
mated large-scale COVID-19
measures such as lockdowns
cost between US$75,000. For-
mer Australian prime minister
Tony Abbott has said the cost per
QALY Australia has spent so far
during the pandemic exceeds our
usual standards: Even if manda-
tory shutdown in Australia really
was all that avoided the initially pre-
dicted 150,000 deaths, that still works
out at about $2 million per life saved.
And if the average age of those who
would have died is 80, even with rough-
ly 10 years of expected life left, that’s
still $200,000 per quality life year or sub-
stantially beyond what governments are usu-
ally prepared to pay for life-saving drugs.
But evaluating the cost of lockdown is not
so simple. We also have to weigh the potential
cost of not having a lockdown. One goal of
lockdown is to protect health systems from be-
ing stretched beyond breaking point. If COV-
ID-19 escalates out of control, we would lose
manymorelives,withvastsufferingandgrave
risks to social stability. The cost in life years
and financial losses would be staggering. Ini-
tial data also appears to refute the idea public
health and economic health are fundamen-
tally at odds. A well-controlled virus may keep
more money coming in, in the medium term.
If lockdown is the only way to achieve control,
it may be warranted economically as well as
in terms of health. But if there are other effec-
tive health measures that are less economi-
cally damaging, they would be preferable. So
how do we account for the cost per QALY of
lockdown? This is an uncomfortable and dif-
ficult issue. But it needs to be addressed.
TALKING POINTAHMEDABAD | FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2020
WHICH VALUE DO YOU VALUE?
IS LOCKDOWN
WORTH THE
PAIN?The concept of ‘Quality
Adjusted Life Years’ or QALY
lets us put a price on life, or at
least to how much we will spend
on trying to save one. This is a
year of life, adjusted for its
quality. A year in perfect quality
of life is 1, coma is close to zero
M
elbourne’s
lockdown
has been
described
as one of the harshest
in the world. And ju-
risdictions outside
Australia have taken
other measures to lim-
it the spread of COV-
ID-19 once case num-
bers have eased. So, in
the absence of a relia-
ble COVID-19 treat-
ment or licensed vac-
cine, is lockdown still
worth it? To answer
this, we not only need
scientific evidence, we
need ethics to decide
which factors should
weigh most heavily in
our decision-making.
Some of these factors
are not so obvious.
Melbourne’s lockdown
has been described as
one of the harshest in
the world. And juris-
dictions outside Aus-
tralia have taken other
measures to limit the
spread of COVID-19
once case numbers
have eased. So, in the
absence of a reliable
COVID-19 treatment
or licensed vaccine, is
lockdown still worth
it? To answer this, we
not only need scientif-
ic evidence, we need
ethics to decide which
factors should weigh
most heavily in our
d e c i s i o n - m a k i n g .
Some of these factors
are not so obvious.
SOURCE: THE CONVERSATION CONCEPT: DIVYA HEMNANI DESIGN: CP SHARMA
THE FLIPSIDE OF
LOCKDOWN
While lockdown may limit our ex-
posure to COVID-19, it can be bad
for our health. In lockdown, we’re
less likely to access health care for
seemingly less urgent issues. Can-
cer detection rates are currently
well below expected, potentially
leading to a rise in preventable
deaths. There have also been con-
cerns about increases in suicide,
alcohol abuse, other mental health
issues, and domestic violence. We
may not know the mental and so-
cial toll of lockdown for some time.
But we should attempt to include
these effects in our assessment.
Poor mental health outcomes can
shorten lives, or reduce their qual-
ity significantly. Poor social out-
comes can impact for generations.
SO, WHERE DOES
THIS TAKE US?
To answer whether lockdown is worth
the cost, we need to agree on how we
should evaluate outcomes (cases, lives,
life years lost, QALYs) and what other
ethical principles matter (equality, lib-
erty, desert).The right strategy will
vary. A short, sharp, early lockdown
might stamp out the virus and allow
life for everyone to continue as normal
and preserve the economy. Longer
lockdown may be necessary when the
health system is threatened; this
might prevent huge loss of life across
all diseases. A lockdown to give time
to establish other more nuanced sys-
tems to be put in place effectively also
has value. But lockdown is a sledge-
hammer of a solution. For most coun-
tries now, other strategies are likely to
be of more value to the community.
WHAT ALTERNATIVES
ACHIEVE THE SAME GOAL
FOR A LOWER COST?
We should not merely compare lock-
down to doing nothing, but weigh it
against other strategies. Here we can
learn from other countries and how
other policies might replace lock-
down once numbers are manageable.
Although South Korea’s vigorous
track-and-trace program raised pri-
vacy concerns, it targeted social dis-
tancing to keep deaths to around 370
so far. Iceland, Vietnam, Singapore
and Taiwan used methods such as
mass testing, contact tracing, and
strictly enforced self-isolation.
In Singapore, breaches were pun-
ished with up to six months’ jail.
True, there have been some costly
mistakes. Singapore, for example, al-
lowed returning citizens to quaran-
tine with other family members who
were not themselves isolated,
prompting a partial lockdown. Nev-
ertheless, these countries appear to
have been able to regain control.
Even if the number of life years
saved by these alternative strategies
and lockdown is the same, these al-
ternative strategies, when imple-
mented well, are preferable. That’s
because they impose fewer costs:
economically, socially, and in lost
freedom.
The use of QALYs as an outcome meas-
ure faces staunch criticism. Often, there
is an irresolvable conflict between max-
imising QALYs and giving every person
an equal chance at living their longest,
best quality life. Imagine a doctor is faced
with the choice of giving their last ICU
bed to a person who is 30, in complete
health, with two children and job, or an
85-year-old with advanced dementia, who
does not recognise herself or her family.
A QALY-maximisation approach says ad-
mit the 30-year-old; if you favour equali-
ty, toss a coin. The COVID pandemic
forces us to get off the fence on whether
all lives are
equally valu-
able, or
e q u a l l y
worth sav-
ing. Then
there’s fair-
ness or jus-
tice (or what
philosophers
call “de-
sert”). Young
people have
had less good
life than old-
er people,
and have
more ahead
of them.
They are at
little risk of dying. Yet during the pan-
demic, they have had to make significant
sacrifices in the quality of their lives,
whether that’s through job losses, lost op-
portunities or curtailment of movement.
If we value “desert”, we value the idea
young people deserve to be favoured.
This takes us to the value of liberty. Lock-
down, curfew and restriction of freedom
of movement, association and protest are
arguably among the most severe restric-
tions possible. So we should be restrict-
ing people’s liberty as least as possible,
using this strategy sparingly, locally, and
for a specific purpose.

Learn to refuse without giving a
reason if you want to stop further
requests, everytime you give a
reasonforrefusingyouinvitemorerequests.
—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO & Editor, First India
AHMEDABAD | FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2020www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
08
2NDFRONT
LIFE IS A PACKAGE CONSISTING OF
BOTH SUCCESS & FAILURES: JC
 How do you analyse
Jagdeesh Chandra as a
person and how did an
IAS embark upon a suc-
cessful journey in media?
JC-IbelieveIamoneout
of those one crore lucky
man in the rags among a
country of 138 crore. I
may not harp on my
humblebackground,but
I am extremely proud of
it and I firmly believe
that the blessings of my
parentsandfamilyhada
big role in whatever suc-
cess I have achieved.
Adding to it luck, oppor-
tunity and hard work, I
was blessed to have had
godfathers like Shri
Ramoji Rao, Mukesh
Bhai and Dr Subhash
Chandra and good wish-
es of friends like you
made everything possi-
ble. I find myself lucky
enough in achieving the
targetsIsetformyself at
various stages of life.
But setting up of the tar-
gets and working hard
for them is very impor-
tant. If I fail to achieve
any target despite best
of my efforts then I sim-
ply resign it to my fate
and leave it thinking
that something better
might be in the offing, in
fact, sometimes, you cel-
ebrate your failures also
tobounceback.So,lifeis
a package consisting of
both success and fail-
ures. Asfarasentryinto
media is concerned,
whenIwas58andTrans-
port Commissioner of
Rajasthan, one incident
mademeseriouslythink
about life after retire-
ment at 60. The fear of
being irrelevant after
retiring from the gov-
ernment job made me
think of an option,
where a person doesn’t
retire just because of
age. The ETV option
came my way. With the
blessingsof ShriRamoji
Rao and guidance of his
right hand man K Bapi
Needu, I took up the
challenge of reviving
ETV Rajasthan and
Madhya Pradesh/
Chattisgarh as its CEO.
Rest is history in the
public domain. I am
proud to say that at one
point of time, I was
heading 17 ETV chan-
nels across 22 states as
it’s All India CEO. With
God’s grace, I am also
credited with being the
longest serving CEO
for 10 years in the re-
gional television in-
dustry. I also got an op-
portunity to travel
with the President and
the Prime Minister to
more than 50 countries
as a part of their me-
dia delegation.
 There are various an-
ecdotes about your ca-
reer as a bureaucrat,
what percent of them
are true?
Once Late Bhairon Sin-
ghShekhawatremarked
that I was a good officer,
but somehow was al-
ways in the public dis-
course, which he didn’t
approve of. I narrated to
him one incident, which
I take as a predicament
of my life. When I was a
servinganRTO,Iusedto
return home late in the
night. One night when I
camelateandfellasleep,
mymothertriedtosmell
me to know whether I
had come home drunk
as some people had mis-
reported and deliberate-
ly misled her as every-
one knows that I am a
teetotaller. So, when my
mother could believe
such a story, what if for
a while, then the rest of
the world is bound to be-
lieve in the stories that
float around, which I
take into my stride. As a
government employee,
you sail with the re-
gimes, but are branded
circumstantially. I
joined Rajasthan Ad-
ministrativeServiceson
the day, when emergen-
cy was imposed i.e. June
25, 1975. It was a Con-
gressgovernmentunder
LateShriHariDevJoshi
in Rajasthan. Being a
newcomer, I was con-
stantly attached with
the Collector, which
earned me both good
and bad returns later.
During the emergency,
while my Collector was
executing MISA orders,
I had also accompanied
him during this opera-
tion as an Assistant Col-
lector. This gave an im-
pression to political
circles that I am also
guilty or responsible for
MISA operations.
Therefore, when the re-
gime changed in New
Delhi, all the officers,
who were handling im-
portant responsibili-
ties, were punished or
shunted to remote posi-
tions and as a part of
this exercise, I was also
transferred to one re-
mote border district at
Rajasthan- Gujarat bor-
der. I was there for
around 2 and a half
years and as soon as
Mrs. Indira Gandhi
came back to power, all
such officers who were
punished or side lined,
were brought back on
important positions. In
this entire re-location
exercise, I also got an
important position of
RTO Jaipur, at that
time. In fact, I was nev-
er a Congress or BJP
man, but such inci-
dents brand you as per
the convenience of the
people. During emer-
gency, I did certain good
things like taking strin-
gent action against
more than 50 cinema
black marketeers and
action under the Guest
Control Act to ensure
that too many people
did not assemble during
events and marriages.
 How did the concept
of running regional
news channels evolve
and how did you strate-
gise for it?
Destinyandopportunity
both had a big role in
this, apart from the fact
that we lived the news as
it happened rather than
simply airing it. Accord-
ing to me, firstly, a re-
gional news channel is
all about the ‘LIVE’ re-
porting of the life of a
village, township or city
of a state. Secondly, we
introduced the ‘Patti’
news,’ which made peo-
ple not only watch the
channel, but also read it.
While taking on the
reignsof ETVRajasthan,
we had asked for two
years to turn around the
loss-making channels
and we did turn them
around in two years.
 How did this ‘Patti
News’ concept emerge?
We wanted to deliver
everynewstotheviewer
in real time like every
news concerning the SP
& Collector of the dis-
trict, leading business-
men of a township and
even regarding known
history sheeters. So ba-
sically, our ‘Patti news’
consisted of a news
package for the entire
society. For us the death
of a sarpanch hit by a
cow was a news and it
transpired that our
viewers too considered
it a news. Even now,
when we run ‘patti’ re-
garding the rains hap-
peninginanycity,people
ask me what kind of
news is this? I call it liv-
ing the news, feeling it
and conveying it to the
viewers in real time
whether its politics,
crime, economy or a
bandh organised in a
smalltownship.Wemake
responsible people ac-
countable to people in a
true ‘democratic spirit.’
 Did you face any po-
litical opposition, while
expanding regional
channels for ETV in
various states of the
country?
There are two aspects
to your question.
First is how did I
make the
regional channels com-
mercially viable? When
I started, I realised that
ETVRajasthanwasrun-
ning in a loss of Rs 5-6
crores, so we devised a
module, where 50% of
the revenue came from
the state government,
while balance 50% was
contributed by retail &
corporate. Now, the is-
sue was why would the
state government give
business to a regional
news channel without it
being relevant in their
scheme of things. So, we
started ‘LIVE telecast’
of various government
functions and events in-
volving Chief Ministers
like Ashok Gehlot and
Vasundhara Raje. Soon,
they realised our
relevance be-
cause the re-
gional chan-
nels catered to
even those,
who couldn’t
read or write,
which turned into a
‘win-win’ situation for
both the state govern-
ment and us. Later, we
also convinced the pri-
vate sector, through
which we brought the
channel in profit. All
this was possible due to
trust reposed in me by
Shri Ramoji Rao, who
gave me a complete free
hand. His trust in me
and my dedication to-
wards my work, helped
me reach my goals.
 While leading ETV
regional channels, you
had the courage of
breaking some hard
stories, which no other
channel during that
time dared to do, even
Central Hall was a
programme with
real killing
power. How did
you gather the
courage to go
strong, editori-
ally?
If you want to know the
source of my courage
and conviction then
firstly nothing succeeds
like success. Our chan-
nels were hit and it was
because the news they
carried were also hit,
Secondly, almost every-
bodyinUPAgovernment
including PM Manmo-
han Singh knew me and
were aware that I didn’t
follow any agenda and
only went ahead with
reasonable criticism.
None of our news or fea-
tures including yours’
and the one hosted by
Hari Shankar Vyas had
any targeted agenda. We
carried authentic & rea-
sonable news with a per-
sonal goodwill that I car-
ried and always lived up
to and therefore, we
didn’t encounter any po-
litical opposition be-
causeof allthesevirtues.
 You not only parted
ways with Network18
on amicable terms,
but also created an al-
most equivalent alter-
native regional news
channel along with an
English Newspaper.
How were you able to
accomplish this?
First of all, there is no
substitute to hard work,
but it should be support-
ed by luck later on. Sec-
ond, I never gave up and
strived to achieve my
goals right from the ini-
tial struggling days of
mylife.Evenwhilebeing
anRASofficer,Itravelled
lakhsof Kmssleepingon
the conductor seat in a
State Roadways bus. I
think, that prepared me
for the future. I used to
pray in front of my par-
ents’ photos, before leav-
ing for my government
jobeachday,thatIreturn
home without having
any tensions with any-
body, while doing my
duty. I was fortunate to
get bosses like Ramoji
RaoatETV,MukeshBhai
and Manoj Modi at Reli-
ance and Dr Subhash
Chandra at Zee. All of
them were resilient and
non- confronting. I feel
one should buy peace to
remain focused on his
priorities rather
than getting in-
volved in con-
frontation. So, all my
bossesweregreatenough
to never interfere and all
of them are successful
due to their wonderful
human resource practic-
es. Dr Subhash Chandra
not only sanctioned me a
new national channel in
the form of Zee Hindu-
stan, but also gave me
control of all regional
channels, It was the cul-
mination of a dream for
me, to run a national
Hindi channel . The one
year journey there was
great, but had to end be-
causeIhaddecidedtocut
down responsibilities to
one Rajasthan- based
channel. So finally, First
India news channel hap-
pened,whichforallprac-
tical purposes, is the
‘News Leader of the
State.’ This was possible
becauseof theteamlega-
cy, which accompanies
me right from ETV days.
 Why did you venture
into print when even
existing giants are cur-
tailing operations?
Print is my insistence
and passion. It started,
when I was handed over
the charge of DNA, a
joint venture of Zee and
Bhaskar,whichwasrun-
ning into losses despite
being there for 12 years.
I accepted the challenge
and within a year, it was
in profit of Rs 2 crore.
Later, it also was a by-
gonestory,whenIjoined
First India. When DNA
was shelved due to com-
pany restructuring, I ac-
commodated the same
staff when I launched
First India, Jaipur edi-
tion. I am proud to say
that First India with
genuine circulation of
only2,500copiesandcer-
tified readership of 2.5
lakh for the digital edi-
tion, is the ‘Only’ Eng-
lish daily of Rajasthan,
which is a true ther-
mometer to measure the
political temperature of
the state. It reaches eve-
ry opinion maker of the
state,whichareonly500-
1000 in any state. It is be-
ing read by top leader-
shipinNewDelhiacross
all major political par-
ties. It serves like ‘Politi-
cal oxygen’ for the re-
gional leadership in Ra-
jasthan and Gujarat.
 How did you balance
between stark political
adversaries like Ashok
Gehlot and Vasundha-
ra Raje?
The most important rea-
son for our success with
political reporting is
that we are the only
news platform, which
never gives up on a po-
litical leader with
change in political for-
tunes. When Ashok Ge-
hlot was in opposition,
we were the only ones,
who covered him exten-
sively like an opposition
leader and even now, we
are the only ones, who
cover Vasundhara Raje
even when all other me-
dia platforms fail.
 You have a distinct
quality of standing by
your reporters even
when there is tremen-
dous political or some
other pressure to give
way. How does this
come to you in the times
when most editors have
done away with this
practice?
Number 1 – My man is
always right. I might
scold him in private, but
in public domain, I am
right behind him or her.
Number 2 – the reporter
does everything on the
behalf of his publication
or channel. A reporter
may be the most weak &
vulnerable person or the
mostpowerfulpersonde-
pending on the stand
taken by the manage-
ment.Ihaveimbibedthis
value from people like
youandothersintheme-
diafraternity.Iamproud
of myteamandtheyhave
never let me down so far.
Thewaymybossestrust-
ed me, I trust my team.
The way I worked dedi-
catedlyformybosses,my
team works for me.
 How many people do
you know, in the present
media scenario, are
working diligently with
zeal like you ? I need the
reply in the context of
negative journalism of
making issues out of
‘non issues.’
Firstly, I am immune to
this negativity because I
consider myself a man
of all seasons by the vir-
tue of my life experienc-
es. The reason I have re-
mained unaffected by
thechangesinthemedia
in, say, the last decade or
so, is two fold. One, the
regional media itself
hasn’t changed much
and I personally am do-
ingwhatIwasdoingear-
lier without any major
changes. Our policy
from the beginning is
60%coveragefortherul-
ingpartyand40%forthe
opposition. The simple
logic is that the ruling
partyisrulingbecauseit
enjoys the support of
majority, at least 51%,
people.Anotheraspectis
that the regional media
has a limited impact, so
it remains more focused
as compared to national
Hindi channels and does
not sway with rather ir-
relevant issues. As far as
theconcernforchanging
values of journalism is
concerned, I share the
concern up to an extent
because sooner or later,
national trends will in-
vade regions also, but I
also believe in ‘change
with changing time and
space.’ The requisite
changes have to be made
while upholding the
time- cherished values.
Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO & Editor, First India, pours his heart out, in JC Speaks, with senior journalist Santosh
Bhartiya, where he talks about his journey from being an assiduous Bureaucrat to a shining Media Tycoon, who
changed the very definition of television viewing in the state with the introduction of ‘Regional News Channels’ in
Rajasthan and how his perseverance, the blessings of his parents & his dreams helped him reach where he is today!
they realised our
relevance be-
cause the re-
gional chan-
nels catered to
even those,
who couldn’t
read or write,
programme with
real killing
power. How did
you gather the
courage to go
strong, editori-
ally?
I BELIEVE IN LIVING THE NEWS,FEELING IT & CONVEYING IT TO VIEWERS IN REAL-TIME

hecks are one of those patterns in
fashion that are absolutely ever-
green. Being a pattern of modi-
fied stripes consisting of crossed
vertical and horizontal lines,
forming squares, it is used to de-
sign various things, like- textiles,
flags, or even the symbol of the po-
lice. This pattern was first used in
Glasgow back in the 1930s, inspired
by a pattern worn by a few Scot-
tish army regiments.
Be it any season,
checks are something
that is going to be a
part of it, and on a very
large scale. If you would
have noticed the pattern closely, you
would have realised that checks are
not just one kind- there are so many
kinds of checks out there in the fash-
ion industry, that never fail to make
style statements.
Did you know there way too many
types of checks? If not, we’re here for
you. Below mentioned are a few types
of checks that are extremely popular:
n Gingham n Houndstooth n Window Pane
n Tartan n Glen n Madras n Dupplin n Checker-
board n Graph n Pin n Plaid n Shepherd
n Tattersall n Gun Club n Ichimatsu
With so many types, there are so
many ways you can style the checks
print. A few of them are mentioned be-
low:
1
TOP TO BOTTOM: Print on print
looks really classy these days, and that
goes without saying- it is totally a style
statement. Go for a shirt with normal checks,
a pant with broad checks and matching
footwear, and you will be good to go.
2
MAKE IT CLASSY: Opt for a mono-
chrome outfit and pair it up with a classy
checks shrug/coat (according to your
mood, and well, weather) and you will rock it
like never before.
3
ALL-CHECKS: There are beautiful
dresses and jumpsuits out there with
beautiful checks design- they would
never fail to make you look super chic and
elegant.
4
GO INDIAN: Who said checks are only
for western wears? There are beautiful
Indian ethnic wears with the checks pat-
tern, like a classy saree, which can be paired
with beautiful silver junk jewellery to give a
boho-look.
5
FORMAL-O-CLOCK: Have a meeting
later in the day and you’re in the mood
to wear casuals? Don’t worry. Pair your
outfit up with a check blazer and you’ll be
good to go.
AHMEDABAD, FRIDAY
SEPTEMBER 18, 2020
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia
facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia 09
Checks, stripes and polka dots are patterns that come and
go as trends but remain in fashion all the time. City First
has already dished out tips for stripes and dots, today we
invite our viewers to check out the CHECKS!
NEHAL NAYAR
nehal.nayar@firstindia.co.in
C

10
BOLLYWOODAHMEDABAD | FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2020www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
anoj Bajpayee, the
son of a farmer
from Bihar, battled
all odds to break
into Bollywood. The
recipient of two Na-
tional Awards and a
Padma Shri.
The actor’s first tryst with
acting was in Govind Ni-
halani’s Drohkal (1994) in a
blink-and-miss role and
Shekhar Kapur’s Bandit
Queen (1994). But numbers
don’t matter to him ‘as long
as the journey has some-
thing to offer. It is the jour-
ney that is significant. He
was offered his first Bolly-
wood film & soon, He got his
big break with Satya, a
crime drama directed by
Ram Gopal Varma, and won
him a National Award for
his performance. The film’s
success came as a validation
of his dreams.
Since his debut in Bolly-
wood in the mid-1990s, the
National Award-winner has
acted in the mainstream as
well as indie films. The Ban-
dit Queen actor has featured
in several films – ‘Aiyaary’
not a superhit but one of his
best performances. In terms
of the script, it was one of
the best by Neeraj.
He has also been relevant
to every generation, as Sard-
ar Khan in Gangs of Wassey-
pur (2012) or as Dr. Ram-
chandra Siras in Aligarh
(2015) or it was Bhiku Mha-
tre from Satya (1998). Some
of his other films are Baaghi
2, Missing, Satyameva Jay-
ate, Gali Guleiyan, Love So-
nia, Naam Shabana,
Raajneeti and Special 26.
Bajpayee further played a
prince with two wives
in Zubeidaa (2001), a serial
killer in Aks (2001), and a
hitchhiker-turned-psycho-
path killer in Road (2002).
Bajpayee has also set his
foot in the movies released
on OTT platform some of
them are Mrs. Serial Killer,
Bhosle, The Family Man
Mrs. Serial Killer, a Netflix
original film directed by
Shirish Kunder, featured
Manoj as a man framed for
the serial murders of a
number of wom-
en. In Bhosle, he
playedaterminal-
ly-ill retired police
officer. He plays
the story of a mid-
dle-classmansecret-
ly working as an in-
telligence officer in
The Family Man.
In 2019 Bajpayee
must have felt ecstatic
as his work was recog-
nized by the highest of-
fice. He says getting a
Padma Shri, the coun-
try’s fourth-highest ci-
vilian honor for your
journey and convic-
tion. It’s a huge honor
for any professional
because it’s not an
honor for just one
particular film or
performance.
He was later seen
in Sonchiriya,
which hit the
screens in 2019. The
film is set in the
1970s and focuses
on a small town
ruled by dacoits.
dle-classmansecret-
ly working as an in-
telligence officer in
In 2019 Bajpayee
must have felt ecstatic
as his work was recog-
nized by the highest of-
journey and convic-
Shirish Kunder, featured
Manoj as a man framed for
the serial murders of a
for any professional
because it’s not an
honor for just one
particular film or
He was later seen
in Sonchiriya,
journey and convic-
FACEOFTHEDAY
TAMANNA GAUR, Model
YOUR
DAYHoroscope by
Saurabbh Sachdeva
LEO
JULY 24 - AUGUST 23
A family youngster will do
something extraordinary
and will prove how talent
he/she really is. Your looks
will attract many today so get ready
for some attention time. You
sometimes tend to ignore your
partner’s romantic feelings
unknowingly, please be careful.
LIBRA
SEPT 24 - OCTOBER 22
Any issues arising in family
must be dealt with on
priority basis. Positive
thoughts will give you the
push to do things which seem
impossible at first. Do not turn off
your lover by being insecure all the
time. You have to remain alert while
investigating any issue in business.
ARIES
MAR 21 - APR 20
Your family may not be as
excited as you are for
something so do not get
upset, not everyone can
feel the same way at the same time.
Your decision to wait until your
partner gets ready for the life long
commitment is a very mature
thought.
SAGITTARIUS
NOV 23 - DEC 22
No matter how much you
desire to take a break from
studies don’t fall for the
temptation. The home
makers will turn the house vibe
positive for resting and relaxation.
Considering the market situation,
excess bargaining won’t be the right
thing to do.
GEMINI
MAY 21 - JUNE 21
Plan your day in advance
so that you dont miss out
on anything that you
intended to complete in a
day. Your discontentment on
academic front is a feeling that will
fade away pretty soon so dont stress
out by overthinking. In stock you can
opt for less lucrative money.
AQUARIUS
JAN 21 - FEB 19
Confidence is very important
when you are going for any
interview. On academic
front, you are in absolute
control and you are always one step
ahead of all. You must prioritise family
matters over anything else today, do
whats need ed to be done. You may get
hard pressed for funds.
TAURUS
APR 21 - MAY 20
Those hoping to spend
some passionate moments
with their partners today
need to have some
patience. Your sincerity will always
be acknowledged on academic front.
You will see a rise in bank balance
and you will become wealthier. There
is a solution to every problem.
CAPRICORN
DEC 23 - JAN 20
Don’t reply on anyone and
be self dependent today.
No matter how good you
think about others, not
everyone will understand that so its
okay if people do not acknowledge
because after all its their karma not
yours. Give your mind some rest and
take thing slightly today.
VIRGO
AUG 24 - SEP 23
Do not be over protective
and controlling for your
child, a caged bird has
more desire to escape.
Your long term friend can become
your lover in coming time and this
will be a fantastic relationship as far
as understanding is concerned. You
look upto your parents.
CANCER
JUNE 22 - JULY 23
You don’t take much risk in
life and always play safe.
Romance is in the air and
lovers will have some
awesome time together today. A wise
man always respects a women, to all
the man out their please don’t hurt
any female’s sentiments. You will buy
some precious metal or stones.
PISCES
FEB20 - MARCH 20
You may not like
someone’s double
standards on office front
but that doesn’t mean you
confront them on their face about the
same. Romance is on your mind
today but your partner may not feel
the same way so do not push
yourself on someone.
SCORPIO
OCT 23 - NOVEMBER 22
Avoid any social gathering
right now due to the
pandemic situation if it can
be avoided. Any good offer
on the property should not be
refused in verge of expecting more.
Your relationship will work out any
way because you are someone who
has a good sense of understanding.
GURMAN SINGH
cityfirst@firstindia.co.in
NOT AN
‘OUTSIDER’
ANYMORE!
M

K
eeping Up With The
Kardashians star
Kim Kardashian is
joining the #Sto-
pHateForProfit campaign,
which will result in a 24-
hour freeze of her Facebook
and Instagram account “I
love that I can connect di-
rectly with you through In-
stagram and Facebook, but
I can’t sit by and stay silent
while these platforms con-
tinue to allow the spreading
of hate, propaganda and
misinformation – created by
groups to sow division and
split America apart – only
to take steps after people
are killed,” Kim explained
on Instagram.
“Misinformation shared
on social media
has a serious im-
pact on our elec-
tions and under-
mines our democra-
cy. Please join me to-
morrow when I will be
“freezing” my Instagram
and FB account to tell Fa-
cebook to #StopHateFor-
Profit.”` —Agency
D
ays after the BMC de-
molished actor Kanga-
na Ranaut’s Mumbai
office, the actress on
Thursday said that the demol-
ished office has rendered many
people jobless as a film employs
“several hundred” people.
She took to Twitter to share
pictures from the demolished
parts of her Mumbai’s Pai Hill-
based production office and
penned down how the ones who
rendered so many people job-
less are now celebrating the
“#NationalUnemployment-
Day17Sept.”
“Theytransformedmywork-
place into a cremation ground,
rendered so many
people jobless, a
film unit em-
ploys several hundred people,”
Kangana tweeted in Hindi.
“When a film is released in em-
ploys the theatre workers and
the popcorn sellers. After ren-
dering all of us jobless, they are
celebrating the #Nation-
alUnemploymentDAy17Sept
today,” her tweet further read.
—ANI
ETCAHMEDABAD | FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2020
11
TARA AND ADITYA IN
AHMED’S NEXT?arlier this year, Mohit Suri an-
nounced that his film 'Ek Vil-
lain 2' will have Tara Sutaria
and Aditya Roy Kapur pairing
up on screen for the first time
ever. But luck had its way and
Aditya decided to ope out of
the project. Later, it was said that the
'Malang' star has signed up a big solo
action film, to be produced by Ahmed
Khan.
Now, we can tell you that Tara and
Adi's pair will soon be setting screens
on fire, albeit in a different project. An
insider reveals, "Tara has been ap-
proached for the Ahmed Khan film
opposite Adi. She has liked the story
but she is yet to sign on the dot-
ted line. It all depends on her
schedule and the dates that
Adi and Ahmed decide to
shoot the film on. The film
is tentatively titled Om.
It's a high octane action-
er and will also have
Tara playing a pivotal
action-oriented role."
Aditya has already start-
ed prepping for the same
and now, it needs to be
seen if Tara comes on
board the film. —Agency
E
FRESH-PAIR
ALERT
F
ew years ago, Shahid Kapoor and
Karan Johar had joined hands for
the first time, for ‘Shaandaar’.
Since then, the actor and the
filmmaker have been discussing
projects to do together, but nothing
was working out. Now, the ‘Kabir
Singh’ star has been locked for
Shashank Khaitan’s next, that
will be bankrolled by Dharma
Productions. And we hear the
team has also roped in an A-
list heroine opposite him as
the female lead.
A source said that, “Di-
sha Patani has been
signedonforShashank’s
next. It’s titled Yoddha
and will have Disha
and Shahid romance
each other on screen
for the first time. In
fact, the film is a big
actioner being
mounted on a lav-
ish scale. Along
with Shahid, Dis-
ha too will have
an action packed
role in the movie,
details of which
has been tightly
kept under
wraps for now.
The team was
scouting for an
actress who’s
great with stunts and ac- t i o n
sequences and they locked Disha
very recently. An official announce-
ment will be made soon.” —Agency
#NationalUnemploymentDay
STOP HATE FOR PROFIT
Restraining
ORDER
T
he Smile singer Katy Perry went to
court to ask for a restraining order
against an alleged stalker who tres-
passed on her property and is harassing
her family. “According to court documents ob-
tained by The Blast, the pop star filed a peti-
tion for a restraining order against a man
named William. The documents note, ‘believed
homeless and living in a silver Buick sedan.’
The petition is asking for protection for her
partner Orlando Bloom along with her
1-month-old daughter Daisy Bloom and the ac-
tor’s 9-year-old son Flynn,” the outlet reports.
“I do not know him. He is a complete stran-
ger who trespassed on my property, is stalking
me and who threatened my family,” Katy
wrote in the filing, listing the last date of har-
assment as September 8 of this year.
“William jumped the fence of my home in
the Beverly Hills area,” she wrote. —Agency
Tara Sutaria
Kangana Ranaut
...her post
Aditya Roy Kapur
Shahid Kapoor
Katy Perry
Disha Patani Kim Kardashian
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia

12
CITY BUZZAHMEDABAD | FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2020www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
he COVID Sol-
diers Virtual
Awards 2020 is
going to be or-
ganised soon by
the joint efforts
of My Rajasthan
Concept and Rahat
Aid Foundation. Fash-
ion Designer Pooja
Motwani, the Found-
er-Director of the
event said that it is a
digital virtual award
event and will be
shown live in 90 coun-
tries. In this, they are
going to honor those
who have achieved a
lot in their life on their
own and have helped
those facing difficul-
ties in the Corona pe-
riod. Pooja further re-
vealed that this virtual
award includes Pho-
tographers, Models,
Singers, Dancers, Ac-
tors, Artists and
Makeup-artists from
across the country.
She also mentioned
that Pilots, Air-host-
esses, Doctors, Tarot-
card Readers and So-
cial Workers can also
participate.
Jagdeesh Chandra
will be the VIP guest
of this virtual award
event, along with Bol-
lywood Singer Shibani
Kashyap. The jury
panel for this award
would include Rita
Gangwani,Nawab
Kazim Ali Khan,
Sharad Kohli and
DJ Lemon.
Rishi Miglani,
Swati Mehrotra,
Dinesh Pareek, Sand-
eep Marwah, Nitika
Panjwani, Sulabh Nag-
pal, Shankar Sahni
and Actor Nasir Ab-
dullah will be the guest
of honor for the event.
Singer Sulabh Nagpal
will entertain every-
one with a live perfor-
mance. The event is
scheduled to take place
on 30 September, be-
tween 5-8 pm on Pooja
Motwani’s Facebook
page.
COVID SOLDIERS’
AWARDS 2020T
CITY FIRST
A
social referral
endorsement
platform ‘Spon-
sa’ that pro-
motes small businesses
and incentivises con-
sumers was started by
Suravi Patnaik, Swati
Mehrotra, and Abhi-
nash Sahoo.
Suravi Patnaik was
17 when she had her
first tryst with entre-
preneurship. As a high
school student in Jer-
sey, Channel Is-
lands, UK she sold
Indian ethnic
earrings at a fes-
tival to make
some pocket money.
She describes the expe-
rience as, “the most
thrilling childhood ex-
perience that is etched
in my memory”.
In 2009, after return-
ing to India, she began
her first entrepreneuri-
al venture selling ethnic
wear to people in the
UK. “It was more like a
hobby back then and en-
trepreneurship as a ca-
reer choice was a far-
fetched dream,” Suravi
tells Her story. Suravi
handles the business
from New Zealand,
while two other co-
founders Swati Mehro-
tra, a serial entrepre-
neur and founder of
designer footwear
brand Swatimodo and
Abinash Sahoo, handle
operations in India.
A democratising plat-
form Speaking about
the need for a referral
platform, Swati
says, “In my expe-
rience of over 10
years in the fash-
ion fraternity, I
understood net-
working is an essential
part of the business
since it helps in the
brand and social recog-
nition. Sponsor’s busi-
ness model works on the
same lines with a digital
approach to referrals.”
The significance of a
referral feature for en-
trepreneurs like herself
prompted her to partner
with Suravi. The plat-
form allows consumers
to refer products and
services to friends and
family through their
unique referral code
and get cash incentives
between three and five
per cent of the sale price
if people use the unique
link to purchase on the
platform. In this way,
the platform also works
as a buying and selling
platform and promotes
the small product and
service-based business-
es.
Since the inception
of the platform in New
Zealand in May 2020 and
in July in India, Suravi
claims it has 11,000 us-
ers and 115 active sell-
ers. The startup makes
its revenue by charging
a 10 per cent commis-
sion on every sale for
businesses and refer-
rers. With a capital in-
vestment of Rs 18 lakh,
it claims to have gener-
ated revenue worth Rs
8.1 lakh since May 2020.
THE SPONSA!
GURMAN SINGH
T
attoo-making is
an organized and
booming sector
being run by
well-trained profession-
als.Butthistransforma-
tion didn’t happen or-
ganically. Many maver-
icks redefined the rules
of the game and
brought the much-
needed credibili-
ty to the business
of body art and
piercing. Vikas Ma-
lani is among those few
who not only focused on
the artistic aspect of tat-
too making but also did
wonders to the tattoo
makingscenewiththeir
entrepreneurial acu-
men.
Vikas Malani is a vet-
erancelebritytattooart-
ist and the man behind
‘BodyCanvas’, got in-
spired by his mother,
who was an artist too.
Having no formal train-
ing in fine art, Vikas’
passion for art led him
to start sketching at a
very young age. As a
young kid, Vikas en-
joyed scribbling and
sketching random de-
signs. His artwork in-
cluded a lot of land-
scape, abstract pat-
terns and designs.
He later pro-
gressed to body
painting and tem-
porary tattoos in
college in 1998. He par-
ticipated and won many
faces and bodypainting
competitions in college
and made temporary
tattoos.
He later decided to
take tattooing & pierc-
ings professionally and
acquired expert train-
ing from foreign artists.
He trained under a
Spanish tattoo artist,
Lydia and with the sup-
port of Dr Kohiyar and
Mr Shantaram, started
commercial tattooing in
the year 2001. And final-
ly, in the year 2003, ‘Bod-
yCanvas’ was launched.
Vikas, particularly, has
revolutionized the in-
dustry by affiliating
with global partners
and using products and
equipment that were
unheard of in India.
They have done tattoos
on celebrities & popular
names, like Remo
D’Souza, John Abra-
ham, Alok Nath, For-
mer Australian Cap-
tain-Michael Clarke,
Krishna and Ayesha
Shroff, Sneha Ullal,
Raghu Ram, Violet
Chachki(drag queen),
Ambika Anand, Acid at-
tack survivor Laxmi Ag-
garwal, Aamir Khan for
Dhoom 3, Anushka
Sharma for Matru ki Bi-
jlee ka Mandola, Priyan-
ka Chopra for Pyaar
Impossible, Fardeen
Khan for All the Best,
Anil Kapoor for Tashan,
MS Dhoni for Max Oil
TVC and Shahrukh
Khan for Dish TV Ad-
vertisement and Shoot
with Sidharth Malhotra
for the movie Gentle-
man. He also elevated
the tattoo industry by
targeting many miscon-
ceptions surrounding
tattoos. Vikas is a living
example of how deter-
mination, hard work,
and a little support can
transform a vocation
into a thriving business.
Vikas has worked on all
styles of tattoos, from
old school to modern.
His personal favourites
include linework, dot-
work, freestyle, tradi-
tional designs, watercol-
our and geometric tat-
toos. He has made thou-
sands of tattoos & more
than 150 different types
of body piercing.
BODY CANVAS TATTOO
RAJASTHAN: Kusum Yadav, Ajay Yadav along with other officials
celebrated the 70th birthday of PM Narendra Modi by planting
saplings, cutting cakes and distributing fruits at Ward No. 73, Johri
Bazar. During the celebration, a seminar was also organised, in which
keynote speaker Kusum Yadav gave detailed information about the
work done by the Prime Minister.
WHAT’S HAPPENING!
RAJASTHAN: With an aim to
Incorporate ‘Power of Flowers’
in the beauty regime, Silverline
Salon & Makeover Academy has
launched an organic beauty with
scents campaign in Jaipur on
Thursday. The campaign aims
at creating awareness about the
prevention of skin allergies in this
changing season.
RAJASTHAN: On the day of Sangrand (beginning of new desi month),
the members of the Sukhmani Seva Society Bani Park, Jaipur did
an online Sukhmani Sahib path on Wednesday and prayed for the
mankind in this Pandemic.
GUJARAT: Parrots were Seen in their
Nest at Gandhi Ashram on Thursday in
Ahmedabad.
GUJARAT : Priests of Swaminarayan temple performed pooja to celebrate the
113th birth anniversary of Muktajivan Swamiji at Maninagar area of Ahmedabad
city on Thursday. —PHOTO BY HANIF SINDHI
CITY FIRST
A
n online discus-
sion ‘Kuch Yaa-
dein… Kuch
Baatein’ was
held on the various as-
pects of Indian poets on
Thursday. The program
was organised under the
joint aegis of the Depart-
ment of Art, Literature,
Culture & Archaeology,
Government of Ra-
jasthan, JKK, and Ra-
jasthan Urdu Academy,
Jaipur. The speakers on
the occasion were Ustad
Ahmed Hussain and
Ustad Mohammad Hus-
sain. The program was
coordinated by Secre-
tary, Rajasthan Urdu
Academy, Moazzam Ali.
Recalling Hasrat
Jaipuri’s personality,
Ustad Ahmed Hussain
shared that many people
often ask, where we got
our simple and humble
natureandwealwaystell
themthatwelearnedthe
characteristics of sim-
plicity from Hasrat
Jaipuri.
Tothis,UstadMoham-
mad Hussain said once I
askedhimif youareHas-
rat Jaipuri then who is
Maulana Hasrat? He re-
plied that he is a very
great personality and
inspired by him, I decid-
ed to become his name-
sake and added Jaipuri
to the name.
HAPPY B’DAY!
IAS Dr Madhukar Gupta
celebrated his birthday on
17 September, Thursday.
We wish him all the best!
Kuch Yaadein… Kuch Baatein
Suravi Patnaik Swati Mehrotra Abhinash Sahoo
Pooja MotwaniShibani Kashyap Sulabh Nagpal
Vikas Malani with Michael Clarke
KARISHMA
GWALANI
Karishma.gwalani
@firstindia.co.in

First india ahmedabad edition-18 september 2020

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