First india ahmedabad edition-23 march 2021

Almost2KGujfarmersstillopposeBulletTrain
END IS NEAR?
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: The
state and Centre may
be celebrating the
“near completion” of
land acquisition for
the Bullet Train be-
tween Ahmedabad
and Mumbai but, on
the ground, more than
2,000 farmers still op-
pose Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’s pet
project.
About 5% of the land
needed for the project
is yet to be acquired, ac-
cording to information
disclosed by the state
government in the Gu-
jarat state assembly on
Monday.
In response to que-
ries from Congress leg-
islators, Gujarat’s rev-
enue minister Kaushik
Patel said that 69,98,888
hectares of the total
73,64,819 hectares re-
quired for the project
had been acquired from
the farmers in Gujarat,
meaning 3,65,931 hec-
tares, or about 5% of
the required land, was
yet to be acquired as of
December 2020.
He said the land ac-
quisition has been com-
pleted in Valsad and
Kheda districts and is
in progress in Navsari,
Ahmedabad, Anand,
Bharuch, Surat and Va-
dodara.
Turn to P6
—FILE PHOTO
5% of land
needed for PM’s
pet project still
to be acquired
READ
must
must
SENSEX ENDS 87
PTS LOWER;
FINANCIAL
STOCKS DRAG
Equity benchmark
Sensex declined
87 points on Monday,
tracking losses in
index majors HDFC
Bank, ICICI Bank and
Reliance Industries
amid a weak trend in
global markets. After
slumping over 570
points in mid-afternoon
trade, the 30-share BSE
index recovered some
lost ground to end at
49,771.29, down 86.95
points or 0.17 per
cent. On similar lines,
the broader NSE Nifty
dipped 7.60 points
or 0.05 per cent to
14,736.40.
GEHLOT-PILOT
CONG’S STAR
CAMPAIGNERS
IN BENGAL
The Congress on
Monday released
a list of its ‘’star
campaigners’’ for the
West Bengal assembly
polls third phase
wherein Rajasthan
Chief Minister Ashok
Gehlot and ‘rebel’
Sachin Pilot have been
included. The list of
30-star campaigners
also includes Congress
president Sonia Gandhi,
former prime minister
Manmohan Singh,
party leaders Rahul
Gandhi and Priyanka
Gandhi Vadra, Leader
of Opposition in Rajya
Sabha Mallikarjun
Kharge and Leader of
the Congress in Lok
Sabha Adhir Ranjan
Chowdhury along with
CMs from Punjab and
Chattisgarh Amarinder
Singh and Bhupesh
Bhagel respectively.
WATER GOVERNANCE =
India’s self-reliance: PM Modi
New Delhi: Prime Min-
ister Narendra Modi on
Mondayassuredthathis
government has made
‘watergovernance’apri-
ority in its policies and
decisions to ensure the
vision of India’s self-re-
liance.Hesaidthiswhile
virtually addressing the
launchof ‘JalShaktiAb-
hiyan: Catch the Rain’
campaign.
“Our government
has made water govern-
ance a priority in its
policies and decisions.
In the last six years,
many steps have been
taken in this direction,”
said Prime Minister
Modi at the launch of
the campaign on World
Water Day
.
“Today, when we are
trying for rapid devel-
opment, it is not possi-
ble without ensuring
water security, without
ensuring effective wa-
ter management. The
vision of India’s devel-
opment, the vision of
India’s self-reliance, is
dependent on our water
sources, is dependent
on our water connectiv-
ity,” said PM Modi.
“India’s development
vision, its self-reliance
is dependent on water
connectivity. That’s
why our government
has prioritized water
governance in its poli-
cies. More rainwater
harvesting facilities
means less dependence
on groundwater,” PM
Modi reiterated.
“For the first time af-
ter independence, a gov-
ernment is working so
seriously with regard to
water testing. And I am
also happy that in this
campaign of water test-
ing, sisters and daugh-
ters living in our village
are being added,” said
PM Modi.
“With the introduc-
tion of Catch The Rain,
a major step has also
been taken for the Ken-
Betwa link Canal. This
agreement is important
to realize Atal ji’s dream
in the interest of mil-
lionsof familiesof Uttar
Pradesh and Madhya
Pradesh,”PMModisaid.
It will provide annual
irrigation of 10.62 lakh
ha, drinking water sup-
ply to about 62 lakh peo-
ple and also generate
103 MW of hydropower.
The Project will be of
immense benefit to the
water-starved region of
Bundelkhand, especial-
ly to the districts of
Panna, Turn to P6
PM Narendra Modi during launch of Catch the Rain campaign, via
video conferencing, on World Water Day, in New Delhi on Monday.
MISSION ELECTION
Shah slams Cong alliance,
says will increase infiltration
Dhemaji: Union Home
Minister Amit Shah on
Monday slammed Con-
gress’ alliance with
Badruddin Ajmal-led
All India United Demo-
cratic Front (AIUDF)
and said the infiltration
into the state will in-
crease if the alliance
come to power.
“We worked for devel-
opment whereas Con-
gress is forging an alli-
ance with Badruddin
Ajmal. If they come to
power infiltration in
the state will surge. Do
you want to stop infil-
tration? Congress party
should be ashamed for
coming together with
Ajmal,” Shah said while
addressing a public
gathering in Assam’s
Dhemaji.
Slamming Congress
leader for his recent
comments on Assam.
“Rahul Gandhi talks of
protecting Assam’s
‘’Asmita’’, but today I
want to ask him pub-
licly - will Congress do
it with Badruddin Aj-
mal on his lap?” he said.
The Union Home
Minister also alleged
that Congress has a
policy of divide and
rule while stating that
BJP’s policy is ‘’Sabka
Saath, Sabka Vikas and
Sabka Vishwas’’.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah with Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal and BJP State President
Ranjit Kumar Dass during an election rally in Majuli on Monday.
‘BJP FUNCTIONING LIKE MAFIA,
RUNNING SYNDICATES IN ASSAM’
Sarupathar/Koliabor/Batadroba(Assam): Congress
leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday alleged the
ruling BJP in Assam was functioning like a mafia and
running syndicates. Addressing election
rallies in poll-bound Assam, the AICC
general secretary said the BJP’s only
policy is to benefit the party and not
people. “BJP is not a political party
in Assam ... (it) is functioning like a
mafia organisation running syndi-
cates of supari, fish, coal, land.”
Vadra said.
BIKE RALLIES NOT ALLOWED 72
HOURS PRIOR TO VOTING: ECI
New Delhi: The ECI on Monday announced that bike
rallies shall not be allowed at any place 72 hours
before the date of poll or on the voting day in all the
poll-going constituencies. “It has been brought to
the notice of the Commission that in some places
bikes are used by some antisocial elements to
intimidate the voters before the Poll day and/or on
poll day. The Commission has considered the above
issue and has decided that bike rallies shall not be
allowed at any place 72 hours before the date of the
poll or on the poll day in all poll going constituen-
cies,” read the notice by the Election Commission.
Police punish commuters for flouting lockdown norms, to curb
the recent surge in coronavirus cases in Jabalpur.
6 states account for more than
80% of daily new COVID19 cases
New Delhi: Maharash-
tra, Punjab, Karnataka,
Gujarat and Madhya
Pradesh are report-
ing a surge in the
COVID daily new
cases as they to-
gether account for
80.5% of the total new
cases registered in the
last 24 hours.
46,951 new cases were
registered in the last
24 hours. Of these,
84.49% are report-
ed from these six
states.Maharashtra
has reported the high-
est daily new cases at
30,535 (65.03%). Turn to P6
INCREASE COVISHIELD
SECOND DOSE GAP
New Delhi: The gap between
two doses of the Covishield
vaccine should be increased
from 28 days to six-to-eight
weeks for better results, the
government has written to
states and Union Territories.
The revised interval applies
only to Covishield.
VIRCHOW TO PRODUCE
RUSSIA’S SPUTNIK
Hyderabad: Russia’s sover-
eign wealth fund, the RDIF,
has announced a manu-
facturing partnership with
Hyderabad-based Virchow
Biotech Private Limited to pro-
duce up to 200 million doses
per year of Russia’s coronavi-
rus vaccine Sputnik V.
AHMEDABAD l TUESDAY, MARCH 23, 2021 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/16208 l Vol 2 l Issue No. 117
OUR EDITIONS:
JAIPUR, AHMEDABAD
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BEST ACTRESS
KANGANA RANAUT FOR PANGA (HINDI) AND
MANIKARNIKA: THE QUEEN OF JHANSI (HINDI)
BEST ACTOR
(SHARED)
MANOJ BAJPAYEE
FOR BHONSLE (HINDI),
AND DHANUSH FOR
ASURAN (TAMIL)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
PALLAVI JOSHI FOR
THE TASHKENT FILES (HINDI)
BEST HINDI FILM
CHHICHHORE
PAWAR DEFENDS DESHMUKH,
SHOWS HOSPITAL SLIP
New Delhi: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad
Pawar on Monday defended Anil Deshmukh regarding a
complaint by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on allega-
tions of corruption against him, stating that the Maharashtra
Home Minister was hospitalised between February 5 to 15.
Addressing media here, Pawar said, If you see the former
Commissioner's (Param Bir Singh) letter, he mentions that in
mid-February, he was informed by certain officers that they got
such and such instructions from the Home Minister. Turn to P6
Singh moves SC seeking
CBI probe into Home min
New Delhi Param Bir
Singh, former Mumbai
Police Commissioner
on Monday filed a plea
before the Supreme
Court, seeking a direc-
tion to the CBI to imme-
diately conduct an unbi-
ased, uninfluenced, im-
partial and fair investi-
gation in the various
corrupt malpractices of
Maharashtra Home
Minister Anil Desh-
mukh. The plea sought
appropriate order or di-
rection to one of the re-
spondents, Turn to P6
SEND REPORT TO
PRESIDENT : BJP
Mumbai: BJP will meet
Maha governor B S
Koshyari on Wednesday
urging him to send a “fac-
tual” report on current sit-
uation to President Ram
Nath Kovind, BJP leader
Sudhir Mungantiwar said,
days after ex-Mumbai
police chief Param Bir
Singh accused Home
Minister Anil Deshmukh
of supporting corruption.
ATHAWALE SEEKS
PREZ RULE IN MAHA
New Delhi: Union Min-
ister Ramdas Athawale
on Monday wrote a letter
to Union Home Minister
Amit Shah demanding
the imposition of Presi-
dent’s Rule in Maharash-
tra. “Law and order in
the state is very bad and
uncontrolled and people
of Maharashtra are being
neglected,” Athawale
wrote in the letter.
MUMBAI POLICE EXTORTION
RACKET ECHOES IN LS P5
Sharad Pawar

NEWS
AHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, MARCH 23, 2021
02
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MAN DECLARED DEAD 10 YEARS
BEFORE HIS ACTUAL DEATH
Uka Vaja Nirashrit breathed his last on Feb 09 this year but, Radhanpur authorities say he died a decade ago
Gargi Raval
Gandhinagar: A man
was declared dead by
the local administra-
tion at Radhanpur of
Banaskantha dis-
trict, 10 years before
his actual death. Uka
Vaja Nirashrit, resi-
dent of Radhanpur
died on February 9,
2021 but his family
members were de-
nied a death certifi-
cate because accord-
ing to official re-
cords, he had died 10
years ago.
On Monday, Con-
gress MLA Indrajit-
sinh Parmar of Ma-
hudha posed a ques-
tion to state revenue
minister Kaushik Pa-
tel about the number
of people that have
been declared dead in
Radhanpur in the last
two years. He also in-
quired if any cases
had been filed against
those who forged offi-
cial documents.
Parmar stated in the
House that Vaja’s fam-
ily had not been grant-
ed a death certificate
by local authorities by
citing that he had died
10 years ago.
In response, Patel
claimed that no such
incident had been re-
ported or had come to
his notice.
Talking to First In-
dia, the Mahudha
councillor said that
the Nirashrit family
had migrated from
Pakistan during the
Indian freedom strug-
gle. After landing in
India, they were giv-
en land in Radhanpur
for agricultural pur-
poses. Back in 2003, a
local Thakkar family
had forcefully trans-
ferred the land to
themselves by secur-
ing the signature or
thumb impression of
Lahiriben (Vaja’s
wife), and claimed
that Vaja was dead.
The lawmaker added
that even a case had
been filed against the
accused at Radhanpur
police station. “No one
is listening to Vaja’s
family and the chief
officer of Radhanpur
municipality has not
issued a death certifi-
cate when the family
approached it for the
same,” he said.
The Mahudha MLA
asked the Patel
whether any action
will be taken against
the perpetrators or a
case of land grabbing
be filed. But, the rev-
enue minister kept
repeating that no in-
formation was avail-
able on the subject.
Incidentally
, the MLA
had written a letter to
the district collector on
March 04 to look into
the matter.
RMC committee passes `2.2K crore budget
First India Bureau
Rajkot: The standing
committee of the Ra-
jkot Municipal Cor-
poration (RMC) an-
nounced the civic
body’s budget at
Rs2,291.24 crore on
Monday. Incidentally,
the budget is Rs16.24
crore more than the
estimate given by Ra-
jkot municipal com-
missioner Udit
Agrawal.
For the second year
in a row, no additional
taxes have found their
way into the budget.
With a population of
around 18 lakh and area
of 161.86 square kilome-
tres, the city adminis-
tration seeks to go digi-
tal with all major ser-
vices to be made avail-
able on social network-
ing platform WhatsApp
soon. Payment and re-
ceipt of property tax
bills, water charges,
birth, death and mar-
riage certificates,
among other services
will be conducted on the
application and devel-
oped with Rs1 crore al-
located to the project.
In order to ease traf-
fic woes faced by the
public, three new bridg-
es will be built with an
investment of Rs18
crore. Also, to ensure
development in newly-
merged areas within its
jurisdiction, the civic
body allocated Rs56.70
crore for projects.
The city will spend
Rs2 crore on increasing
the capacity of the wa-
ter treatment plant at
Aji and Nyari Dam
sites, to meet its water
demands. An upgrade
of the drainage net-
work is also on the
cards at a cost of Rs3
crore, as construction
of high-rise buildings
increase in the city
.
In special projects for
women, three gardens
will be equipped with
fitness instruments
and built in different
zones of the city at a
cost of Rs1 crore. A spe-
cial Mahila Haat has
also been planned for
Rs1 crore. Simultane-
ously a new indoor sta-
dium and auditorium
will also come up at a
cost of Rs6 crore each.
The body has also
allocated Rs50 lakh to
the digitization of
over two lakh books
to build an e-library,
with a special section
for kids. The grants
allocated to each cor-
porator were also in-
creased to Rs15 lakh
in this year’s budget.
Rajkot Municipal Corporation. —FILE PHOTO
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: Ever
since the Bharatiya Ja-
nata Party came to pow-
er at the centre, Prime
Minister Narendra
Modi has been talking
about his government’s
commitment to its aim
of doubling farmers’
income. However, it
seems that the party
has not taken this seri-
ously
.
On Monday, the La-
bour and Employment
Minister, Dilip Thakor
could not recall on the
number of hours a farm
labourer has to work to
be eligible to get the
wages fixed by the gov-
ernment--barely two
months after his de-
partment fixed and re-
visedtheworkinghours
and wages, respectively
.
He was left flum-
moxed while replying
to a question asked by
the Congress legislator
from Jamalpur-Khadi-
ya, Imran Khedawala,
who enquired about the
minimum wages as on
January 31.
The written reply
given to the MLA said
that the government
had fixed the minimum
wages at Rs178 for a
daily wage labourer
while a regularized per-
manent labourer was
paid Rs64,970 for a year.
According to the writ-
ten answer, the rate was
fixed on September 19,
2019.
However, when the
minister rose to answer
the question during
Question Hour, Thakor
said that according to
the latest revised rates
mentioned in the Gov-
ernment Resolution
(GR) issued on January
1, the basic rate of wag-
es was fixed at Rs268
and a special allowance
was set at Rs56.20.
When Khedwala
asked how many hours
a labourer was required
to work in order to qual-
ify for these wage rates,
the Minister started
beating around the
bush. Despite the speak-
er of the house, Rajen-
dra Trivedi, repeatedly
warning the Minister to
come to the point and
answer the question
precisely, Thakor could
not give a satisfactory
answer.
Incidentally, the GR
issued on January 1
states that the basic
minimum wage for
farm labour has been
set for eight hours of
work per day
.
Query on working hours stumps labour minister
CONFUSION COMPOUNDED
Labour and employment
department fixes hours
and wages for labourers
MSU Senate
member walks
out from meet
First India Bureau
Vadodara: It was
stormy session at the
Senate meeting of
the Maharaja Saya-
jirao University on
Monday as the budg-
et for the year 2021-22
was passed by mem-
bers. Senate member
Narendra Ravat
staged a walkout af-
ter university vice
chancellor and other
administrative offic-
ers failed to respond
to his queries about
the handover of
some university land
to the government.
The meeting began
with vice chancellor
Parimal Vyas tabling
the budget of Rs342
crorefortheyear2021-
22intheSenate.Then,
Ravattooktheonusto
raise the issue of land
worth Rs200 crore be-
inghandedovertothe
governmenttobuilda
Samras Hostel free of
charge. He also point-
ed out that the univer-
sity management did
not possess the right
to sell the university’s
land and that for the
saletogothrough,the
state government
should have paid
money to the
university
.
Citing an example,
Ravat stated that
when the manage-
ment had sought gov-
ernment land to con-
struct the main gate
of the university
, the
state government had
offered the land
against a payment of
Rs12 crore. “If the
government did not
handover its land to
the university free of
cost,thenhowcanthe
university just give
away land worth
Rs200 crore for no
charge?” he asked.
Vyas and other
Senate members,
who are known to
have leanings to-
wards the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP),
told Ravat that he will
not be allowed to pur-
sue this line of ques-
tioning. This prompt-
ed Ravat to walk out
of the Senate meet,
following which, the
budget passed with-
out a hitch.
Ravat (in black Nehru jacket) expressing his displeasure
at the Senate meet on Monday.
Narendra Ravat
had reservations
about the
university handing
over its land worth
`200 crore to the
govt free of charge

GUJARAT
03
Mansukh Hiren murder case
brings Mumbai ATS to A’bad
TwoaccusedinAntiliaexplosivescasemayhaveboughtSIMcardsfromhere
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: A team
from Mumbai Anti-
Terrorist Squad
(ATS) has arrived in
Ahmedabad, in
search of five per-
sons under whose
names SIM cards
were purchased and
used by assistant po-
lice sub-inspector
Sachin Waze, prime
suspect in the Man-
sukh Hiren murder
case, whose Scorpio
was loaded with gel-
atin sticks and
parked near billion-
aire Mukesh Amba-
ni’s residence Antil-
ia, last month.
ATS had arrested
two persons – Naresh
Dhare, 31, a bookie and
Vinayak Shinde, 51, a
constable – for their al-
leged involvement in
the murder of Hiren.
On March 05, his body
was found near Mum-
bai’s Reti Bunder.
Sources say that
Kutch-resident Dhare
was instructed by
Shinde to purchase five
SIM cards, which were
thengiventoWaze.The
ATS team has been col-
lecting documents and
CCTV footage to estab-
lish that the SIM cards
used by Shinde were
purchased from
Ahmedabad. They
were used by the duo
for Hiren’s murder and
for communicating af-
ter that.
While Dhare is a
cricket bookie, Shinde
is a constable who was
convicted in a 2006 case
of abetting and assist-
ing the encounter of
Lakhan Bhaiyya, an
aide of gangster Chho-
ta Rajan.
An ATS source said
that Dhare and Shinde
have been arrested on
technical evidence.
Mansukh Hiren, whose body was found in Mumbai’s Reti Bunder on March 05. —FILE PHOTO
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: The fu-
ture of 250 students
of the Dariyapur-
based Anupam School
hangs in the balance
at least until Tuesday
,
when a court is ex-
pected to decide
whether they will be
allowed to take the
Class X and XII ex-
aminations of the Gu-
jarat Secondary and
Higher Secondary
Education Board.
Thedistricteducation
officer (DEO) cancelled
its affiliation with the
school last July
. Howev-
er,notonlydidtheschool
hide this fact, it also ad-
mitted new students and
even charged them fees.
The students only found
outwhentheirBoardex-
amination forms were
not accepted on the last
date of filing.
Education depart-
ment sources told First
India that school’s rec-
ognition was can-
celled—among other
reasons—because it
was being operated il-
legally by the V Asha
Smriti Vidya Trust, in a
commercial complex
which housed four oth-
er similarly illegal
schools. On failing to
receive a satisfactory
response to their pro-
test at the school, stu-
dents of Classes X and
XII—and some par-
ents—on Monday held a
protest at DEO’s office.
They have demanded
that the DEO intervene,
in order to prevent
them from losing a year
of education.
Senior Superinten-
dent Bharatsinh Gohil
of the district education
office told the media
that the matter is before
the court, which is like-
ly to pronounce its deci-
sion on Tuesday
. “Till
then, the DEO cannot
take any call on the is-
sue. Once the court de-
cides, then the DEO and
the education depart-
ment will be able to take
a decision on whether to
accept the forms of
these students, and con-
sider alternatives, if
needed,” he said.
Derecognized school leaves 250 students adrift
HONOUR AMONG THIEVES?
Woman gang-raped in
Kutch, 2 of 4 accused held
nCoV restrictions cost
Surat’s textile sector
`240 cr over 2 days
First India Bureau
Surat: With buses be-
ing taken off the
roads, markets being
shut for two days,
and the ongoing
night curfew extend-
ed in an effort to
curb the surge in the
number of COVID-19
cases across the
state, Surat’s textile
markets have been
adversely affected.
Industry insiders
say that as many as
70,000 parcels—worth
a total of Rs240 crore—
have been left stranded
in godowns across the
city as a result of the
restrictions on trans-
port in the past two
days alone.
Over 65,000 shops in
165 textile markets
along the Ring Road
remained closed dur-
ing the two days.
Due to the closure of
these stores, the deliv-
ery of textile parcels
was delayed. More
than 70,000 textile par-
cels, which were to be
delivered via 400 truck-
tempos each day, were
affected in total. Ac-
cording to sources, one
truck delivers approxi-
mately 60 lakh parcels
per day.
Sources also said
that the workload of
transporters has dou-
bled following the
opening up of the tex-
tile market on Monday.
According to an esti-
mate, delivery of par-
cels worth around
Rs240 crore has been
directly affected due to
the restrictions in
place due to COVID-19.
First India Bureau
Bhuj: Police arrested
two of four men ac-
cused of gang-raping
a woman in Bhuj on
Monday, within 12
hours of the crime.
The cops have de-
ployed teams to look
for the two that are
absconding.
In her complaint filed
at the A-Division police
station in Bhuj, Nilofer
(name changed) said
that Nur Muhammad
Bafan, his brother-in-
law Akbar alias Ako
Mayatatra and two oth-
ers entered her house
while she was alone on
Sunday night and took
turns raping her.
Shetoldthepolicethat
she had been surfing the
Internet on her phone
when the men entered
her home. She said Nur
Mohammed first
grabbed and overpow-
ered her, and tore her
clothes.Thenthetwoun-
named men held her
down, allowing Ako to
rape her. Nur Mu-
hammed raped her next,
and the other two fol-
lowed. She also said they
scratched her with their
nails. Nilofer said that,
Akbarhadbeenstalking
her since they met at a
social function at Nur
Muhammad’s house a
few days ago. “That day
,
he approached me, and
enquired who I was and
who I was married to.
Since then, he was been
pursuing me constant-
ly
,” she said.
The police have regis-
tered the case under sec-
tions of the Indian Pe-
nal Code dealing with
gang rape, trespassing
and intentionally hurt-
ing a person. The police
have arrested Nur Mu-
hammad and Akbar,
who will undergo medi-
cal examinations.
Students of Classes X and XII, and some parents, on Monday held a protest at DEO’s office.
Anupam School hid loss of
recognition from its students,
who found out when they could
not file forms for Board exams
One day, two murders in
Surat as history-sheeter,
woman, stabbed to death
First India Bureau
Surat: Two people
were murdered in a
span of 24 hours in
separate incidents
that occurred in dif-
ferent parts of the
city. The first murder
was reported in Ka-
targam area, where a
middle-aged woman
was stabbed to death
by a youth. The body
of a known history-
sheeter was found in
Lal Gate area with
stab wounds. Police
have filed both cases
and are investigating.
Geetaben Bharat
Prajapati, a resident of
Rail Rahat Colony of
Gotalwadi, ran a board-
ing and lodging service
for renters. A youth
named Hitesh Vasava
had been living in a
room for the past one
month. Late on Sunday
night, Geetaben and
Hitesh got into an argu-
ment and the youth
stabbed her to death.
Police reached the spot
after one of the neigh-
bours informed them
of the crime. A couple
of hours later, police of-
ficials arrested Hitesh.
Identified as Me-
hmood, alias Kanda Ba-
taka, the second mur-
der victim of the day
was a history-sheeter,
who was killed due to a
money dispute between
him and his partners.
WORLD WATER DAY
Ahmedabad-based non-governmental organization, Jivdaya Charitable Trust marked
World Water Day on Monday with an event aimed at spreading awareness on the
importance of making water available for birds and small animals. Members and
volunteers filled terracotta vessels with water and set them on the premises and
outside. —PHOTO BY HANIF SINDHI
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: Even as
Gujarat saw a new
high of 1,640 cases on
Monday
, Congress
MLA Pratap Dudhat
pointed out the gov-
ernment’s “aimless”
efforts in curbing the
spread of COVID-19, in
the Gujarat legislative
assembly
.
The 1,640 fresh cases
reported in the 24 hours
ended 5 pm on Monday
take the state’s total
case load to 2,88,649.
Four COVID-19 pa-
tients—two each in
Ahmedabad and Surat
cities—also died during
this time, taking the
death toll to 4,454.
“One year ago, Prime
Minister Narendra
Modi asked people to
clap and beat thalis,
etc., to chase away the
virus. We didn’t know
at the time that the cor-
onavirus is deaf. The
virus is still here and
still scary
,” he said, add-
ing, “This is a time to go
beyond political di-
vides. The rules must
be the same for all—pol-
iticians included.”
He continued: “The
government says no
more than 50 people at
weddings, but holds
crowded programmes
itself. There was a mass
marriage of 16 couples
planned in our area of
16 couples. That did not
take place. However, a
big BJP function went
ahead with no interrup-
tions just 5km away
.”
He also called out the
government for the
large crowds seen at the
Namaste Trump event
last year and the cricket
matches held at the
newly renamed Naren-
dra Modi Cricket Sta-
dium in Ahmedabad.
At 481, Ahmedabad
city reported the
highest number of
cases on Monday, fol-
lowed by Surat city
with 429 cases, Va-
dodara city with 139
cases, Rajkot city
with 126 cases, Surat
district with 54 cases,
and Kheda with 41
cases, among others.
The state still has not shared new data on sample testing.
The stranded parcels.
Apply same COVID-19
rules for all: Cong MLA
—FILE PHOTO
DAMNING

l Vol 2 l Issue No. 117 l 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-In-Chief: Jagdeesh Chandra. Editor: Anita Hada Sangwan responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act
PERSPECTIVE
04
MVA GOVERNMENT
FACES ITS BIGGEST
CHALLENGE
IN-DEPTH
aharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA)
government of Uddhav Thacker-
ay finds itself in the dock over its
mishandling of the Sachin Waze
case. After his letter-bomb accus-
ing the State’s Home Minister Anil Desh-
mukh of giving police officers including
Sachin Waze of Crime Intelligence Unit,
Mumbai and Sanjay Patil, ACP Social Service
Branch, to collect Rs 100 crores every month,
former Mumbai top cop Param Bir Singh has
moved the Supreme Court demanding an
early and impartial probe before crucial evi-
dence is destroyed. The meetings, he alleged
in a letter, were held at Anil Deshmukh’s
residence bypassing senior police officers.
The disclosures have rocked the MVA gov-
ernment, which is trying to brazen it out by
refusing to drop Deshmukh, who is now a hot
potato for Thackeray, from the ministry
. One
reason why Uddhav is not sacking Deshmukh
could be the latter being a confidante of
Sharad Pawar, president of the Nationalist
Congress Party
. Pawar, as we all know, was the
one who outfoxed the likes of Union Home
Minister Amit Shah, to form a coalition gov-
ernment of three disparate parties---Shiv
Sena, Congress, and NCP
. Uddhav Thackeray
will be the last person to antagonize Pawar.
Still, it appears that we are witnessing the
endgame in Maharashtra. The MVA govern-
ment was successful in warding off the
Bharatiya Janata Party’s attempt to corner it
in the aftermath of the Sushant Singh Rajput
case. All out efforts of the CBI, Enforcement
Directorate, and Narcotics Control Bureau to
somehow enlarge the scope of investigation
had failed. The allegation against Deshmukh
is far more serious than what the investiga-
tive agencies were trying to probe in the Ra-
jput and Rhea case. Waze is in the custody of
the National Investigation Agency and is un-
derstood to be singing like a canary
. The Ma-
harashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad claimed
that Waze is the main accused in the murder
of Mansukh Hiran. There is also the angle of
a bomb threat to Mukesh Ambani. Waze is the
prime suspect in this case too.
The BJP couldn’t get a better chance to
bring down the Thackeray government. If as
claimed by him, Param Bir Singh has evi-
dence to substantiate his allegations against
Deshmukh then the flame is bound to singe
Sharad Pawar too. The BJP is already asking
for Thackeray’s resignation. Union Law Min-
ister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said that Ud-
dhav Thackeray has lost his moral authority
to govern.
Politics aside, the entire Waze saga once
again exposes the corrupt and criminal nex-
us between politicians and police. Although
Prakash Singh, former Director-General of
Police has been fighting for police reforms for
decades, the rot is so deep-rooted that such
murky stories will keep surfacing every now
and then. And when police are encouraged to
gun down alleged criminals in stage-man-
aged encounters the scope of reforming the
cops gets further reduced.
M
umanity’s con-
sumption of
fresh water has
long exceeded
the rate of re-
plenishment. Now, re-
searchers are warning that
this essential natural re-
source is running out. If
we are to reverse this
trend, investing in natural
solutions is our best hope.
Less than 1% of all water
on Earth is accessible or
usable fresh water. Most is
held in inland wetlands, in-
cluding rivers, lakes,
marshes, peatlands, and
underground aquifers.
These wetlands are na-
ture’s water harvesters,
cleaners, and bankers. By
capturing, purifying, stor-
ing, and releasing rain and
floodwater before releasing
it when needed, they enable
the global water cycle that
ensures a constant supply
.
Worldwide,wetlands’full
integrationintowaterplan-
ning and management
across all economic sectors
would bring far-reaching
benefits. Sufficient water
supplies could stimulate
economic growth, reduce
conflict, and relieve envi-
ronmental stress. But that
requires significant sus-
tained investment to meet
surging demand.
Consumption of fresh
water has increased sixfold
over the last 100 years, and
demand is still rising, with
agriculture, industry, and
energy accounting for 90%
of the total. At least 55%
morewaterwillberequired
by 2050 to meet the demand
created by economic
growth, urbanization, and
a global population of near-
ly ten billion people.
Already, there is consid-
erably less water per per-
son now than there was
just two decades ago. As a
result, over three billion
people face severe water
shortages, which often fuel
violent conflict. By 2050,
more than half the world’s
people will be water-inse-
cure; in dry regions, cli-
mate change will aggra-
vate scarcity
.
Climate change is only
one threat. Pollution is also
exacerbating the water cri-
sis. Unsafe drinking water
is a potentially fatal reality
forpeoplearoundtheworld.
Virtually all freshwater
sources are now contami-
nated to some extent; not
evenMountEverest’ssnow-
caps have been spared.
So, why aren’t we saving
and protecting wetlands?
Their versatility is espe-
cially relevant when con-
sidering that water crisis
ranks among the World
Economic Forum’s top five
global risks in terms of im-
pact. Their water-harness-
ing capacities above and
below ground – counteract-
ing droughts, floods, and
the impact of melting gla-
ciers – are particularly im-
portant. And yet, although
they provide most of our
fresh water, nearly 90% of
all wetlands have disap-
peared since the Industrial
Revolution, and the loss is
accelerating in tandem
with globalization. Many
remaining wetlands are
critically endangered.
Wetlands are particular-
ly vulnerable because they
are frequently considered
wasteland to be converted
for farming and develop-
ment, or disease-ridden ar-
eas to be reclaimed. This
tendency highlights the
lack of understanding of
wetlands’ critical role that
underpins the world’s wa-
ter crisis. To ensure safe,
secure, and adequate water
supplies, we must focus on
the connection between hu-
man dependence on water
andwhatwedotowetlands.
With half of global GDP
dependent on ecosystem
services, saving wetlands
should be a top priority in
crafting a green recovery
from the COVID-19 crisis.
Chennai’s revitalization of
ancientwetlandsinIndiato
prevent another “day zero”
– like the one in 2019, when
the city’s water ran out – of-
fers a blueprint for others.
SOURCE: PROJECT SYNDICATE
OVERCOMING WATER SCARCITY NATURALLY
H
Now faith is the assurance
of things hoped for, the
conviction of things not
seen. —Hebrews 11:1
Spiritual
SPEAK
Top
TWEET
Prakash Javadekar
@PrakashJavdekar
A huge step has also been taken
for the Ken-Betwa Link project
by signing a deal today; Atal
Ji’s dream , this agreement is
significant in the interest of
millions of families of Uttar
Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
Ravi Shankar Prasad
@rsprasad
Under the dynamic leadership
of PM @narendramodi, Pradhan
Mantri Mudra Yojana has given
new aspirations to the budding
entrepreneurs so that they can
fulfil their dreams and can bring
transformation in the growing
sectors of the economy.
ith “vaccine nationalism”
intensifying by the day, the
global effort to end the COV-
ID-19 pandemic is at risk of
faltering. As of mid-March,
the coronavirus has infected
approximately 120 million
people globally, causing
around 2.6 million deaths.
Though these are huge fig-
ures, they represent merely
a fraction of the global pop-
ulation, which means that
the pandemic still has a very
long way to go.
The good news is the histori-
cally unprecedented effort to
tackle the crisis. Although
bringinganewvaccinethrough
the stages of development and
approval normally takes up to
a decade, pharmaceutical com-
panies have completed the pro-
cess in under a year. The World
Health Organization has al-
ready approved four COVID-19
vaccines for emergency use,
and others are likely to follow
soon. Moreover, ambitious new
global mechanisms have been
created in short order to facili-
tate the rapid and equitable
distribution of vaccines
around the world.
For example, since April
2020, the WHO’s Access to
COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accel-
erator, which includes all
aspects of fighting the pan-
demic, has aided the fight
against the virus by facili-
tating one of the fastest co-
ordinated global public-
health efforts in history.
And now, the COVAX facility
has started deliveries of vac-
cines to at least 50 low- and
medium-income countries
around the world (though
initial supplies have been
limited in the early stages of
vaccine production).
But aside from these initia-
tives, most countries are fixat-
ed on their own circumstances,
neglecting the global connect-
edness that leaves all of us vul-
nerable until the virus has
been stamped out everywhere.
As the WHO has been empha-
sizing, no one is safe until eve-
ryone is safe.
As we are now witnessing
firsthand, there is a high
risk that new variants of the
virus will frustrate or even
derail the entire vaccination
effort. We are currently
dealing with the new British
(B.1.1.7), South African
(B.1.351), and Brazilian (P
.1)
variants, and there is no tell-
ing where the next one will
emerge. The longer the pan-
demic continues, the more
opportunities the virus will
have to acquire dangerous
new mutations that would
allow it to evade the current
vaccines. The question is not
if but when.
Moreover, when new vari-
ants do emerge, we should an-
ticipate that they will spread
around the world sooner or
later. We should know by now
that national borders and phys-
ical distance offer only limited
protection.
Apart from protecting us
against a biological threat,
a comprehensive, coordi-
nated global response also
has a clear economic justifi-
cation. In our highly inte-
grated global economy, the
plight of one region will
necessarily be felt else-
where. A startling recent
study commissioned by the
International Chamber of
Commerce warns that, “the
global economy stands to
lose as much as $9.2 trillion
if governments fail to en-
sure developing economy
access to COVID-19 vac-
cines, as much as half of
which would fall on ad-
vanced economies.” And re-
ports by RAND Europe and
the Eurasia Group offer
similar conclusions.
The cost of fighting the pan-
demic should be seen in this
perspective. The ACT Accelera-
tor initially needed $38 billion
for 2020-21. An unprecedented
mobilization of resources by
governments and the private
sector, as well as philanthropic
and multilateral contributions,
has now reduced the funding
gap to $22 billion. That is pea-
nuts compared to the potential
losses estimated above, not to
mention the trillions of dollars
that have already been spent to
support households and busi-
nesses over the past year.
And yet, the threat of vac-
cine nationalism looms
large. Governments are un-
der intense domestic politi-
cal pressure to secure vac-
cines for their populations
before allowing doses to be
sent elsewhere. And some,
like China, India, and Rus-
sia, have begun to use vac-
cine supplies and deliveries
as an instrument in their
foreign policy.
Yet, as tempting as vaccine
nationalism may be for policy-
makers, it is ultimately self-
defeating. Every new restric-
tion ineluctably curtails the
overall rollout and makes it
more likely that vaccines will
not reach the places where they
are most urgently needed.
More than ever, we need an
open, transparent, well-func-
tioning global economy. And,
more than ever, we need politi-
cal leaders who behave like
statesmen, not tacticians.
Make no mistake: we are
facing a historic test of our
ability to unite against a
common threat. All of our
usual conflicts, rivalries,
and sources of geopolitical
tension of course remain;
the question now is whether
we can look past them when
the situation demands it.
It is now us versus them – hu-
mankind against the virus and
its many mutations. We will
stand or fall together.
SOURCE: PROJECT SYNDICATE
Humanity’s Historic Test
W
MAKE NO MISTAKE: WE
ARE FACING A
HISTORIC TEST OF OUR
ABILITY TO UNITE
AGAINST A COMMON
THREAT. ALL OF OUR
USUAL CONFLICTS,
RIVALRIES, AND
SOURCES OF
GEOPOLITICAL
TENSION OF COURSE
REMAIN; THE
QUESTION NOW IS
WHETHER WE CAN
LOOK PAST THEM
WHEN THE SITUATION
DEMANDS IT
CARL
BILDT
The writer was Sweden’s foreign
minister from 2006 to 2014 and Prime
Minister from 1991 to 1994, when he
negotiated Sweden’s EU accession
The World
Health
Organization
has already
approved four
COVID-19
vaccines for
emergency use,
and others are
likely to follow
soon. Moreover,
ambitious new
global
mechanisms
have been
created in short
order to
facilitate the
rapid and
equitable
distribution of
vaccines around
the world

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INDIA
05
COMMON ENTRANCE EXAM FOR
SOLDIERS UNDER UHA QUOTA
Secundrabad: Common
Entrance Exam (CEE) for
soldiers under Unit Head-
quarters Quota (UHQ)
will be conducted on
March 28 at three Training
Battalion Workshop Shed
in Secundrabad. Accord-
ing to the Defence Wing
statement on Monday, the
CEE for soldiers (General
Duty category) under the
Unit Headquarters Quota
of 1 EME Centre, Secun-
derabad will be conducted
on March 28 at the three
Training Battalion Work-
shop Shed. “All affected
candidates have to report
at the three Training Bat-
talion Workshop Shed, 1
EME Centre on March 26
at 9 am for the collection
of admit cards of the ex-
amination,” the statement
continued to read.
NIA DISMISSES SURESH BAIL
PLEA IN COAL SCAM
Kochi: National Investigation Agency (NIA) court
on Monday dismissed the bail petition of Swapna
Suresh, the prime accused in the Kerala gold
smuggling case. She had filed the bail petition
in the gold smuggling case registered by NIA.
The agency has named Swapna Suresh, Sarith
PS, and KT Ramees as the prime accused in
its charge sheet in the scam. The Kerala gold
smuggling case pertains to the smuggling of gold
in the state through diplomatic channels. It had
come to light after 30 kg gold smuggled.
SARADHA SCAM: CBI RAIDS
UNDERWAY AT SIX LOCATIONS
Mumbai: CBI has raided as many as six locations
in Mumbai in connection with the Saradha scam.
These places are reportedly the residences and
offices of three officials of the Securities and
Exchange Board of India (SEBI) who have been
allegedly implicated in the case. These raids,
being conducted in the run up to the West Bengal
elections, appear to be yet another intimidation
tactic used by the Central government run by the
BJP against Mamata Banerjee who is still going
strong in Bengal.
SOUTH KOREAN DEFENCE MINISTER
SUH WOOK TO VISIT INDIA
Seoul: South Korean
Defence Minister Suh
Wook is likely to visit
India this week to hold
high-level talks with
defence Minister Rajnath
Singh, sources told ANI.
South Korean media
reported on Monday that
Suh Wook is visiting the
United Arab Emirates and
India this week to expand
exchanges. “From Thurs-
day to Saturday, Suh will
visit India and meet with
his Indian counterpart,
Rajnath Singh, to talk
about working together
on military technologies.
Suh will take part in the
opening ceremony of the
Korea-India Friendship
Park. The two countries
agreed to build it in
2019,” the media outlet
reported.
Chennai: Cutting a
cake that has the Tri-
colour and Ashoka
Chakra design on it is
neither unpatriotic
nor an “insult” under
the Prevention of In-
sults to National Hon-
our Act, 1971, the Ma-
dras High Court ruled
Monday, Bar and
Bench reported.
The court was hear-
ing a plea filed by D
Senthilkumar alleg-
ing that cutting a cake
that carried a repre-
sentation of the Tri-
colour amounted to an
offence under Section
2 of the Prevention of
Insults to National
Honour Act, 1971 (Sec-
tion 2 penalises an in-
sult to the Indian flag
and Constitution of
India with imprison-
ment up to 3 years or a
fine or both).
Senthilkumar had
filed a complaint after
a 6×5 feet cake with
the Tricolour and the
Ashoka Chakra on it
was cut, distributed
and consumed. —ANI
Madras HC ruling on Tricolour cake
New Delhi: The Divi-
sion Bench of Justice
DN Patel and Justice
Jasmeet Singh on
Monday stayed Justice
JR Midha order fa-
vouring the Emergen-
cy Award against Fu-
ture-Reliance deal.
The Bench has also
issued a notice to Am-
azon on Future appeal.
Division Bench
while passing the or-
der says, having
heard the counsels
and looking at the
facts and circumstanc-
es of the case, the sin-
gle bench order is
stayed. The division
bench had now slated
the matter for April
30th.
Future Retail Lim-
ited and Future Cou-
pons Private Limited
on March 20 had
moved Division Bench
of Delhi High Court
challenging Single
bench order passed on
March 18th. —ANI
HC Stay order against
Future-Reliance deal
SC adjourns
hearing on social
media usage
New Delhi:The Su-
preme Court on Mon-
day adjourned the
hearing of a plea filed
by Congress leader
Sachin Choudhary
challenging condition
imposed on him by the
Allahabad High Court
while granting bail
that he will not use so-
cial media. A three-
judge bench headed by
Chief Justice of India
SA Bobde adjourned
the matter and said it
will be heard next
week. The apex court
had earlier agreed to
examine the matter.
New Delhi: The Su-
preme Court said that
itwillheartheYamuna
pollution matter on
Thursday, after hear-
ing lawyer Shadan
Farasat, appearing for
Delhi Jal Board (DJB),
seeking a direction for
an urgent hearing in
the matter, keeping in
view the demand for
water during Holi.
A three-judge bench
of the Apex Court,
headed by the CJI
Sharad Arvind Bobde
listed the matter for
hearing on Thursday
.
Lawyer Shadan Fara-
sat, appearing for the
Delhi Jal Board men-
tioned the matter be-
fore the CJI Bobde led
bench seeing an urgent
hearing in the matter.
YAMUNA
MATTER TO
BE HEARD ON
THURSDAY
IN THE COURTYARD
New Delhi: In a major
setback to Arvind Ke-
jriwal-led government
in Delhi, the Centre on
Monday passed the
Government of Na-
tional Capital Territo-
ry of Delhi (Amend-
ment) Bill, 2021 in the
Lok Sabha.
The NCT Bill seeks
to provide far-reaching
powers to the Lieuten-
ant Governor in the
union territory. The
Bill proposes that the
‘government’ referred
to in any law passed by
the legislative assem-
bly would refer to the
Lieutenant Governor.
According to the Bill,
the Delhi government
must obtain the opin-
ion of the LG before
implementing any pol-
icy decision. Accord-
ing to the Bill, the Del-
hi government must
obtain the opinion of
the LG before imple-
menting any policy de-
cision.
The Aam Aadmi Par-
ty has protested against
the Bill since its incep-
tion. The Congress par-
ty has also opposed the
proposed move. Kejri-
wal accused the Centre
of ‘curtailing the pow-
ers’ of the elected Delhi
government through
the Bill.
“The Centre has
brought in a law that
says ‘Delhi government
means Lieutenant Gov-
ernor’. If this happens,
where will the CM go?
Do elections, votes do
not mean anything? It is
a fraud with the peo-
ple,” Kejriwal said last
week. Slamming the
BJP-led central govern-
ment, Kejriwal alleged
that as they failed in
“buying” AAP MLAs,
they have amended a
law to “decrease the
power of the elected
government in Delhi.”
Slamming the BJP-
led central government,
Kejriwal alleged that as
they failed in “buying”
AAP MLAs, they have
amended a law to “de-
crease the power of the
elected government in
Delhi.” Chief Minister
Arvind Kejriwal said.
He added this is an in-
sult to the people of
Delhi. He also said,
“BJP has cheated the
people.” —ANI
TROUBLE MOUNTS FOR ARVIND
KEJRIWAL GOVERNMENT
The Delhi govt must obtain the opinion of the LG before implementing policy
New Delhi: The BJP on
Monday demanded res-
ignation of the Maha-
rashtra Vikas Aghadi
(MVA) government
headed by Uddhav
Thackeray in the wake
of former Mumbai Po-
lice Commissioner Par-
am Bir Singh’s claim
that the state’s Home
Minister Anil Desh-
mukh set a `100-crore
collection target for the
police every month, and
sought a CBI inquiry
into the allegation.
Raising the issue dur-
ing Zero Hour in Lok
Sabha amidst protests
by the Shiv Sena and
the NCP, BJP member
Manoj Kotak said that
according to Mr. Singh’s
letter to the chief min-
ister, the state’s home
minister had asked sus-
pended Assistant Police
Inspector (API) Sachin
Vaze to collect `100
crore from bars and res-
taurants in the metrop-
olis every month.
Mr. Kotak said the let-
ter reflected that those
who are in the govern-
ment were using offi-
cials in collecting mon-
ey but the Chief Minis-
ter so far has not ut-
tered a single word on
the issue.
“It is a serious mat-
ter. The home minister
should resign, the Ma-
harashtra government
should resign and there
should be a CBI inquiry
into the whole issue,”
he said.
BJP member Rakesh
Singh that the issue is
so serious that it can’t
be termed a state sub-
ject as it has a national
implication.
Param Bir Singh’s letter
rocks Lok Sabha
Tamil Nadu: Dravida
Munnetra Kazhagam
(DMK) President MK
Stalin's son and party's
candidate from Chep-
auk, Udhayanidhi Sta-
lin has said that he and
his party will definite-
ly speak about former
chief minister J Jay-
alalithaa's death during
the election campaign.
The DMK leader,
speaking to ANI after
reaching Madurai on
Monday, also said that
his party is going to win
more than 200 seats in
the upcoming elections.
On Sunday, All India
Anna Dravida Munnet-
ra Kazhagam (AIAD-
MK) had approached
the Election Commis-
sion, urging it to direct
the DMK chief and his
son not to speak about
Jayalalithaa's death
during their election
campaign.
In the complaint copy
against MK Stalin and
Udayanidhi, AIADMK
had stated, They
shouldn't be talking
about it as the Aarumu-
gasamy commission is
probing the matter.
Hitting out at
Tamil Nadu Chief Min-
ister Edappadi K
Palaniswami, Udhaya-
nidhi said, What does
the CM know about the
people?” —ANI
New Delhi: In yet an-
otherdevelopmentinthe
ongoing army jawans
recruitment case, an
Army doctor will now
face a Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI)
probeforallegedinvolve-
ment in wrongdoings
whilecarryingoutmedi-
caltestsof soldierswhile
joining the force.
“An Army doctor
postedinHaryanaisfac-
ing a probe for his role
incarryingoutmisprac-
tices/wrongdoings
while carrying out med-
ical tests of jawans be-
fore they join the force.”
Sources said the fig-
ures with the Army
suggest that close to 42
per cent of the jawans
were recruited in the
Army have not cleared
their first medical
test. —ANI
Will ‘definitely’ talk
about Jayalalithaa’s
death: Udhayanidhi
Army doctor
faces CBI probe
for wrongdoings
Mumbai: Independent
MP Navneet Ravi Rana
on Monday urged a
probe into the suspen-
sion of Assistant Police
Inspector Sachin Waze
for 16 years and then his
reinstatement.
“On what basis was a
man suspended for 16
years and jailed and
then reinstated again?”
said Rana. “When there
was BJP government,
Uddhav Thackeray him-
self had calledupDeven-
draFadnavisforreinstat-
ing Sachin Waze, Fad-
navis had refused. When
the Thackeray govern-
ment came, they rein-
statedhim.Allthisneeds
to be investigated prop-
erly
,’’ she added. Rana
made her statement in
theMaharashtra assem-
bly after BJP MPs de-
manded President’s
rule in the state amid
the political turmoil.
Maharashtra: Home
minister of state Anil
Deshmukh faces the
heat over allegations of
corruption, a BJP lead-
er has challenged him
and chief minister Ud-
dhav Thackeray to un-
dergo ‘narco tests’ to
prove that the state gov-
ernment is speaking
the truth. “Even Sita
mata went through
‘agni pariksha’, so why
can’t they?”.
‘PROBE NEEDED OVER
WAZE’S SUSPENSION’
‘Agni pariksha’
challenge to Anil
Deshmukh
LEGAL DRINKING AGE REDUCED
AT KEJRIWAL’S
RALLY, AAP
LEADERS MOCK
COVID RULES
CREATING CHAOS
Arvind Kejriwal
Punjab: COVID
NORMS were bra-
zenly flouted at the
‘Kisan Maha Sam-
melan’ addressed by
AAP national con-
venor and Delhi CM
Arvind Kejriwal in
Baghapurana of
Moga Sunday even
as cases continued
to rise in the state.
Thousands of
attendees at the ral-
ly sat without
wearing masks nor
practising social dis-
tancing.
Moga health de-
partment officials
said that even as
four teams of health
workers were de-
ployed at the venue
for rapid antigen
testing and RT-PCR
sample collection of
the people who were
coming to attend the
rally, not a single
test could be con-
ducted due to the
‘chaos’. —ANI
NOT ELECTED CM
BRIBES FOR TEST
Param Bir Singh
Udhayanidhi Stalin

Almost 2K...
The minister also said
that a total of 1,908
farmers had opposed or
complained against the
PM’s project, in re-
sponse to another query
.
Of these complaints,
Surat accounted for 940,
followed by Bharuch
with 408, Valsad with
236, Navsari with 209,
Vadodara with 26 and
Ahmedabad for four.
Pawar defends...
From 5th-15th February
,
Deshmukh was admit-
ted in the hospital be-
cause of coronavirus.”
Pawar also displayed
a hospital slip which in-
dicated that Deshmukh
was in the hospital till
February 15.
Pawar said, “So it’s
clear Deshmukh was in
Nagpur. CP is saying he
was briefed the same
day by the home minis-
ter. The second week of
March, Parambir got
the information he says.
Why was he waiting the
whole month to expose
it? Yesterday I also sug-
gested some senior of-
ficer should probe the
case. I think it is clear
who murdered (Man-
sukh) Hiran. In the in-
vestigation, it will be
clear why they did this.”
He said, “ATS an-
nounced that two per-
sons were arrested. ATS
investigation is going in
the correct direction
and to divert the things
allegation has been
made now. The Truth is
coming out now. I am
convinced after seeing
the document that on a
particular day he was in
Nagpur.”
Water governance...
Tikamgarh, Chhatar-
pur, Sagar, Damoh, Da-
tia, Vidisha, Shivpuri
and Raisen of Madhya
Pradesh and Banda,
Mahoba, Jhansi and
Lalitpur of Uttar
Pradesh. It will pave the
way for more interlink-
ing of river projects to
ensure that scarcity of
water does not become
an inhibitor for devel-
opment in the country
.
Prime Minister Nar-
endra Modi launched
the ‘Jal Shakti Abhi-
yan: Catch the Rain’
campaign on World
Water Day i.e. today
via video conferenc-
ing. In the presence of
the Prime Minister,
the signing of historic
Memorandum of
Agreement between
the Union Minister of
Jal Shakti and the
Chief Ministers of
Madhya Pradesh and
Uttar Pradesh to im-
plement the Ken Bet-
wa Link Project, the
first project of the Na-
tional Perspective
Plan for interlinking
of rivers, also took
place. —ANI
6 states...
This is followed by
Punjab with 2,644 while
Kerala reported 1,875
new cases. India’s total
active caseload has
reached 3,34,646 with
the present active case-
load now standing at
2.87% of total positive
cases. A net incline of
25,559 cases has been
added to the total active
caseload in the last 24
hours.
The Daily Positivity
Rate (7-day average)
currently stands at
3.70%.
Eight States/UTs
have a weekly positivity
rate more than the na-
tional average.
On the other hand,
the total vaccination
coverage in India has
crossed the 4.5-crore
mark.
More than 4.50 cr
(4,50,65,998) vaccine
doses have been admin-
istered through 7,33,597
sessions.
India’s cumulative
recoveries stand at
1,11,51,468 with the na-
tional recovery rate at
95.75%. Moreover,
21,180 recoveries were
registered in the last 24
hours. On the other
hand, 212 deaths were
reported in the last 24
hours. The Case Fatali-
ty Rate currently stands
at 1.37% and is continu-
ously declining.
Singh moves...
the Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI) to
immediately conduct
an unbiased, uninflu-
enced, impartial and
fair investigation in the
various corrupt mal-
practices of Anil Desh-
mukh, the Home Minis-
ter of the Government
of Maharashtra.
Singh, in his plea also
sought the issuance of
appropriate writ, order
or direction to quash
and set aside the order,
passed by the other Re-
spondent state govern-
ment, concerning his
transfer from the post
of Police Commission-
er in Mumbai as illegal
and arbitrary
.
“The same is also in
clear violation of Arti-
cles 14 and 21 of the
Constitution of India,
for each of the grounds
namely for being with-
out the completion of
the minimum fixed ten-
ure of two years in
teeth of the law laid
down by this Court in
TSR Subramanian
against the Union of In-
dia (UOI) case, the peti-
tion stated. —ANI
FROM PG 1
INDIA
06
INTER-CADRE DEPUTATION TENURE
OF MS. PINKY JOWEL EXTENDED
The inter-cadre deputation tenure of Ms. Pinky
Jowel from Uttar Pradesh to Tamil Nadu has been
extended for a period of two years with effect
from May 24, 2021. She is a 2003 batch IAS
officer of UP cadre.
RASHMI SHUKLA POSTED AS SDG,
CRPF SOUTHERN ZONE
Consequent on induction in CRPF, Mrs. Rashmi
Shukla has been posted as SDG, Southern Zone.
She is a 1988 batch IPS officer of Maharashtra
cadre. Charge of SDG, Central Zone will be
looked after by SDG, NE Zone additionally.
VACANCY OF CMD, ONGC ON MAR
31; NO SUCCESSOR TO SHASHI
SHANKAR SO FAR
A vacancy of Chairman-cum-Managing Director,
Oil Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC)
is arising on March 31, 2021 with expiring
term of present incumbent Shashi Shankar.
The Government of India has not decided his
successor so far.
NINE IRS OFFICERS KEPT AS
RESERVE EXPENDITURE OBSERVERS
The ECI has kept nine IRS(CIT) officers-
Mahesh Kumar ,A. Chandrashekhar Reddy,
Mahesh Chand Bhardwaj, Rajesh Kumar
Nagora, Mohit Agrawal, Ravi Kant, Jaishankar
Upadhyaya, Arun Kumar Gupta and Shivprasad
S - as reserved Expenditure Observers for the
forthcoming assembly elections in five states.
1991 BATCH IPS OFFICERS GET
DG RANK IN JK
Two 1991 batch IPS officers Rashmi Ranjan
Swain, ADG, CID, and A K Choudhary, ADG,
Armed, have been cleared for promotion for
DG rank.
TENURE OF CHARLES, DF, CWC
ENDING; NO SUCCESSOR SO FAR
The tenure of S M Charles as Director Finance
of Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC), is
coming to an end on April 30, 2021. The post has
been advertised but no selection so far.
TWO IRS-IT OFFICERS GET POSTINGS
Vikas Singh has been appointed Additional
CIT(OSD) in the office of Principal CCIT, Delhi
Region, while Dr Shruti was posted as DCIT
(TCB) in the office of Principal DGIT(HRD).
NIRAJ KUMAR GETS PROFORMA
PROMOTION TO JCIT GRADE
Niraj Kumar has been accorded a proforma
promotion to the grade of Joint Commissioner of
Income Tax (JCIT). He is an IRS-IT officer.
NAME OF PAMU SAMPATH KUMAR
CHANGED TO SAMPATH KUMAR
The name of Pamu Sampath Kumar has been
changed to Sampath Kumar. He will accordingly
be recognised as Sampath Kumar for all official
purposes. He is a 1997 batch IAS officer of
Assam-Meghalaya cadre.
NOMINATIONS OF OFFICERS INVITED
FOR ADDITIONAL DGFT
The Department of Personnel and Training has
invited nominations of officers by April 19 to
fill up the posts of Additional DGFT (JS level) at
the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT)
Zonal Offices in Chennai and Mumbai, under
the Department of Commerce, on deputation for
five years.
TENURE OF SATISH SINGH THAKUR
AS OSD TO CS, BIHAR, EXTENDED
The tenure of Satish Singh Thakur as OSD to
Chief Secretary, Bihar, has been extended to
March 31, 2022. He is a former IAS officer.
POWERGallery
By arrangement with: http://
whispersinthecorridors.com
WORST-HIT MAHARASHTRA STATE
LETS MORE HOSPITALS VACCINATE
85% of 2.10 lakh cases recorded so far in the state were asymptomatic
New Delhi: Maharash-
tra Health Minister
Rajesh Tope on Monday
said the state govern-
ment has now allowed
more hospitals to carry
out vaccination drives
to curb the spread of
the virus. “Earlier, we
had a rule that only hos-
pitals with 100-plus
beds can be given per-
mission for vaccina-
tion, but now vaccina-
tion can happen at hos-
pitals even with 20-plus
beds.” The Health Min-
ister further informed
that 85% of the 2.10
lakh cases recorded so
far in the state were
asymptomatic. He in-
formed that the Chief
Minister will also con-
vene a meeting with all
officials as he is wor-
ried about the rising
cases in the state.
Meanwhile, the Cen-
tre increased the inter-
val between two doses
of Covishield to 6-8
weeks following recom-
mendations by the Na-
tional Technical Advi-
sory Group on Immuni-
zation and the National
Expert Group on Vac-
cine Administration.
Informing about the
updated norm, the Cen-
tre wrote to states and
Union Territories that
it has been found that
protection is enhanced
if the second dose of
Covishield is adminis-
teredbetween6-8weeks.
Mumbai city during lockdown in 2020. —FILE PHOTO
Negative report
mandatory from
Punjab: Karnataka
Negative report
for some states:
Goa Health Min
New Delhi: Karnataka
made it mandatory for
travellers arriving from
Punjab and Chandigarh
to produce negative
test report. Karnataka
health minister Dr K
Sudhakar said second
wave of Covid-19
has begun sought
people’s cooperation to
contain the virus. “We
are at the beginning
of the second wave of
coronavirus. Let us all
join hands to control
it because the next 3
months are crucial for
us,” Sudhakar said.
Panaji: Goa Health
Minister Vishwajit
Rane on Monday said
he would be placing
a proposal in front of
Chief Minister Pramod
Sawant to make
COVID-19 negative cer-
tificate mandatory for
people flying in from
neighbouring states
like Maharashtra,
Karnataka and Kerala.
He said the proposal
would be placed before
the CM in the next cou-
ple of days, in order to
stall any surge in
cases in Goa. —PTI
Central govt’s tax collection on
fuel jumps 300% in six years
New Delhi: Central
government’s tax col-
lections on petrol and
diesel have jumped
over 300 per cent in the
last six years as excise
duty on the two fuels
was hiked, the Lok Sab-
ha was informed on
Monday. The central
government collected
Rs 29,279 crore from ex-
cise duty on petrol Rs
42,881 crore on diesel in
2014-15 -- the first year
of office of the Modi
government. The col-
lections on petrol and
diesel rose to Rs 2.94
lakh crore in the first
10 months of the cur-
rent fiscal (2020-21), ac-
cording to information
furnished by Minister
of State Anurag Singh
Thakur in a written re-
ply to a question in the
Lok Sabha. Together
with excise duty on
natural gas, central
government in 2014-15
collected Rs 74,158
crore which has gone
up to Rs 2.95 lakh crore
in April 2020 to Janu-
ary 2021 period.
He said taxes collect-
ed on petrol, diesel and
natural gas as a per-
centage of total revenue
have gone up from 5.4
per cent in 2014-15 to
12.2 per cent this fiscal.
Excise duty on petrol
has been raised from Rs
9.48perlitrein2014toRs
32.90 a litre now while
same on diesel has gone
up from Rs 3.56 a litre to
Rs 31.80. Taxes make up
for60% of presentretail
price of petrol of Rs
91.17alitreinDelhi.—PTI
Price of petrol in Delhi stands at Rs 91.17 per litre; diesel at Rs 81.47.
Women more powerful
than men: Rahul Gandhi
demonstrates Aikido
New Delhi: Congress
leader Rahul Gandhi
turned a martial art
instructor today dur-
ing his visit to a col-
lege in Kerala on the
request of a student.
The 50-year-old Way-
anad MP, who is
trained in the Japa-
nese martial art Ai-
kido, took a bunch of
students on stage at St
Theresa’s College and
showed them a ‘princi-
ple’ of the art. For
around 10 minutes, the
stage turned to a ‘dojo’
where Mr Gandhi dem-
onstrated how one
woman can resist be-
ing pushed by some
seven others by using
their energy to hold
the ground.
He helped the young
woman get her posture
correct and showed
her the technique of
the Aikido principle.
He sat with her on the
stage demonstrating
what she had to do. I’ll
tell you a secret that
men will never tell
you, women are much
more powerful than
men. Shri @Rahul-
Gandhi teaches the
students of St. There-
sa College some prin-
ciples of Aikido. Con-
gress (@INCIndia)
March 22, 2021
“I’m going to show
you the Congress party
now,” Mr Gandhi
quipped as he called on
for more students to
push the woman, in po-
sition on her knees, to
resist the attack. —PTI
LS passes bill to raise FDI in insurance
New Delhi: A bill to in-
crease foreign direct
investment (FDI) in the
insurance sector from
49 per cent to 74 per cent
was approved by Parlia-
ment with the Lok Sab-
ha giving green signal
to the legislation by a
voice vote on Monday
.
Piloting the Bill, Fi-
nance Minister Nir-
mala Sitharaman said
that hiking the FDI
limit in the insurance
sector will help insur-
ers to raise additional
funds and tide over fi-
nancial problems. The
Insurance (Amend-
ment) Bill, 2021 was
earlier passed by the
Rajya Sabha last week.
The minister said that
the government will
provide funds to the
public sector insur-
ance companies but the
private players will
have to raise capital on
their own.
Observing that insur-
ance companies are fac-
ing solvency related is-
sues, she said, “if
growth capital is hard
to come by, there will be
a stress situation. In or-
der that the stress situ-
ation is not left unat-
tended, we need to raise
the FDI limit.”
The Insurance (Amendment) Bill, 2021 was earlier passed by
the Rajya Sabha last week. —FILE PHOTO
Thakur demands action
over allegations against
Maharashtra Home Minister
New Delhi: Union Min-
ister Anurag Thakur
demanded appropriate
action by Maharashtra
government over the al-
legations of corruption
by former Mumbai po-
lice chief Param Bir
Singh against state
Home Minister Anil
Deshmukh. Thakur not-
ed that allegation that
Deshmukh wanted po-
lice officers to collect Rs
100 crore per month, is
a “matter of concern”.
“The MPs not only from
Maharashtra, but from
all over India are con-
cerned about the seri-
ous allegation of cor-
ruption (against Anil
Deshmukh ). The state
governmentshouldtake
appropriate action on
the issue,” he said. —PTI
Tighten IT security
after threats, says
Highways Ministry
New Delhi: The Minis-
try of Road Transport
and Highways on Sun-
day alerted NHAI,
NHIDCL and its other
wings besides automo-
bile makers to augment
their IT security sys-
tems after reports re-
garding threats of pos-
sible cyber attacks tar-
geted at Indian trans-
port sector. The minis-
try said it has received
an alert from the Indian
Computer Emergency
Response Team (CERT-
In) about possible cyber
attacks. “The Ministry
of Road Transport and
Highways received an
alert from CERT-In re-
garding targeted intru-
sion activities directed
towards Indian Trans-
portsectorwithpossible
malicious intentions,
Ministry said. —PTI
BJP’s promise of
free Ration false,
will not fulfil it:
Mamata Banerjee
Kotulpur (WB): West
Bengal Chief Minister
Mamata Banerjee on
Monday accused the
BJP of making a false
promise to supply free
ration ahead of the as-
sembly elections in the
state and said the BJP
will “never fulfil this”.
Addressing a rally in
Bankura district, she
described the BJP as a
“party of outsiders”,
and alleged that it is
bringing “goondas to
create terror” in the
state. “The BJP has
made a false promise
of free supply of ra-
tion. It will never fulfil
this. BJP goons will
come to your house and
seek votes for their
party. Be ready with
household utensils to
chase away such peo-
ple if they threaten
you,” the TMC supre-
mo told the rally.

Stepaway
fromthe
desk!
How to deal
with a year of
accumulated
burnout
from
working
at home
TALKING POINT
07
O
ver the past year, our
lives have seen exten-
sive changes which
have led to many of us feeling
a sense of exhaustion and
burnout.
The luckiest among us have
been able to remove ourselves
from harm’s way and work
from home during the pandem-
ic. We now spend our days look-
ing at a screen, with a great
deal of our communication
taking place via video calls.
This has led to what has been
termed “zoom fatigue”, where
our brains are exhausted from
overstimulation.
Aside from the eye strain of
looking at a screen all day (if
we are not looking at a com-
puter, we’re often looking at
our TV or our phone), our sense
of space is disrupted by video
meetings. Suddenly, everyone
is much closer than they would
be in a pre-pandemic meeting.
In the 1960s, anthropologist
Edward Hall described how our
relationships operate within
socially accepted distances.
Close family and intimate rela-
tionships occur within a half-
metre proximity. For close
friends, this distance extends
to about 1.2 metres.
The pandemic is sending our
brain conflicting messages.
With video calls, faces are with-
in 50 centimetres of us, and
this tells our brain that these
are close or intimate friends
when instead they are col-
leagues or strangers. Similarly,
social distancing rules have
forced our loved ones out into a
much more distant field that is
usually reserved for people we
may meet or know socially, but
not very well—acquaintances
rather than friends.
While our rational brain un-
derstands social distancing,
the physical inability to touch
and hold our close friends and
family can confuse us into
thinking the distance is some-
how a rejection. The cognitive
effort of managing these con-
flicting messages is tiring.
Video calls also force us to
look at ourselves more than we
are used to doing, and this can
feel uncomfortable and make
us worry excessively about
how others perceive us.
But turning the video off
while on a call can increase
burnout in other ways—people
may use the opportunity to
check emails or catch up on
other work while listening in.
This multitasking is mentally
draining.
We are much more efficient
when we work on one task at a
time. Our brains respond to the
end of one activity and the on-
set of a new activity from pre-
learned cues. Often these cues
involve physical movement.
These have largely disap-
peared—the daily commute is
the most obvious absence for
those working from home, but
walking to and from meetings
also allows the brain and body
time to prepare for the next
task. Outside of work, doing
the school run, going to the
gym and regular appointments
all add structure and separa-
tion of space to our lives.
The blurring of home and
work is not only due to bring-
ing our work into our homes,
but also the longer hours peo-
ple report working. Being un-
able or unmotivated to take
part in our usual activities
means the weeks and week-
ends have begun to morph in
to unboundaried time, and
the shorter days of winter
lessen the distinction be-
tween day and night.
HOW TO GET
THROUGH
So how can we address this feel-
ing of burnout and exhaus-
tion?
Build time into your working
day for casual chat that is not
work-related. Daily conversa-
tions range from small talk
about the weather, to more sub-
stantive conversation about
our lives.
Make time for these con-
versations, maybe arrange
an online lunch. The differ-
ent use of the technology will
help to break the monotony
and association of screens
with burnout. Additionally,
sharing the space with col-
leagues you are friendlier
with in real life and who fall
in to our personal space al-
lowance, makes the online
encounter less stressful.
The charity Fight for Sight
suggests a 20-20-20 rule where
for every 20 minutes looking at
a screen you look away at a dis-
tance of 20 metres for 20 sec-
onds to limit eye strain. Where
possible, during video meet-
ings keep the camera off or
switch to phone calls, and con-
sider whether meetings need to
be a full hour.
Before and after a meeting
get up from your desk, move
around a bit to mimic the walk-
ing to and from meetings, and
try to build one no-meeting day
into your working week.
Having distinct spaces helps
our brains to psychologically
switch off from work. If the
dining table is used as a desk
in the day, move work items
out of sight at the end of the
day. This could be just a box by
the side of the table to place
work items in, and that you
open every morning to mark
the start of work.
To limit multitasking and in-
crease focus, close down addi-
tional tabs and browsers, turn
your phone to silent, and check
and respond to emails at set
times.
Sticking to a routine of start-
ing and stopping work at the
same time every day by adding
a fake commute—where you
get ready and leave the house
before circling back and start-
ing work—can help create a
mental division of space.
As we enter into spring with
already noticeable longer,
brighter days, it is the perfect
moment to increase the time
we spend outdoors, and to get
exercise which is a natural
mood elevator.
Being outdoors helps us to
feel more connected with oth-
ers, even with maintaining
social distance we can ex-
change pleasantries, or even
just smiles, which can in-
crease wellbeing.
SOURCE
:
THECONVERSATION.COM
The pandemic has messed with our sense of distance.
—PHOTO BY KZENON/SHUTTERSTOCK
You might be missing your morning commute. —PHOTO BY TANIA VOLOSIANKO/SHUTTERSTOCK
NILUFAR AHMED
Lecturer in Social Sciences,
University of Bristol

It is important to fight for the
things that you care about but
remember, the fight should be
inclusive not excluding.
—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO Editor-in-Chief, First India
08
2NDFRONT
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad : Caught
in the cross-hairs of
an income-tax as-
sessment that he
found allegedly un-
fair, a tax payer’s
knock on the doors
of the Gujarat High
Court has brought
results. The court
has quashed and set
aside a 2018 notice to
an assessee.
Quashing the notice,
a division bench of the
high court comprising
Justice JB Pardiwala
and Justice BN Karia
stated that the assess-
ing officer couldn’t
have formed the rea-
son to believe that
the income had es-
caped assessment.
“Therefore, in view
of facts and circum-
stances of the case, the
impugned notice dat-
ed 29.3.2018 issued
under section 148 of
the Act, 1961 cannot be
sustained and is ac-
cordingly quashed and
set aside,” the court
observed.
Assessee Bharat
Shah had challenged
an income tax notice
of March 29, 2018, be-
fore the High Court.
The high court
bench stated that, “It
appears that the as-
sessing officer has
nowhere found
that how amount of
Rs 15,55,275 was
earned as profit by
the petitioner and
the same was not
offered to tax for
accounting year
2011-12. Therefore,
the reasons record-
ed are only based
upon the assump-
tion and presump-
tion.”
The petitioner is
engaged in trading
and broking of shares,
securities, commodi-
ties, including deriva-
tives transactions
and carried out a
number of transac-
tions and earned profit
as well as made losses
with respect to them
and as per Income Tax
Act, a loss of Rs
1,98,14,401 is computed
and reflected in the
statement of income
and after considering
the materials on re-
cord.
The court observed
that the assessing of-
ficer had failed to
form his own opin-
ion with regard to
the petitioner for
alleged escapement
of income of
Rs.15,55,275 by
merely stating that
such amount per-
tains to profit earned
during accounting
year 2011- 12 .
Legal battle for ‘wrong’ income counted in I-T favours assessee
The Gujarat High Court has ruled that
over Rs 15 lakh profit counted by I-T
assessment based on mere “assumptions
and presumptions”
Gujarat High Court. —FILE PHOTO
UNFAIR TAX?
CongMLAsstagewalkoutinGujarat
AssemblyoverspurtinCovidcases
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: Three
tribal Congress MLAs
on Monday staged a
walk-out of the Gujarat
Assembly during a
heated debate with the
ruling BJP over the sud-
den rise in Covid-19
cases.
While the Congress
blamed the India-Eng-
land cricket series held
at the Narendra Modi
Stadium at Motera,
Deputy Chief Minister
Nitin Patel disagreed
with this and said cases
were also coming from
Surat and other dis-
tricts as well as other
states like Maharashtra
where no cricket match-
es were played recently
.
Patel even asked why
the opposition Con-
gress was not question-
ing its own government
in Maharashtra where
over 40,000 new corona-
virus cases were emerg-
ing daily
.
Enraged by some re-
marks made by Patel
about “Adivasis” dur-
ing the heated discus-
sion, tribal Congress
MLAs Anand Chaud-
hary, Punabhai Gamit
and Sukhram Rarhva
walked out of the House
as a mark of protest.
Speaker Rajendra
Trivedi expunged the
remarks made by Nitin
Patel.
Patel had asked
Chaudhary, who repre-
sents Mandvi (ST) seat
of Surat, to prove if
anyone from his con-
stituency had come to
Ahmedabad to watch
the cricket match.
In his address,
Ahmedabad’s Congress
MLA Gyasuddin Shai-
kh claimed the “third
wave” of coronavirus is
mainly due to the crick-
et matches played at the
Narendra Modi stadi-
um.
“While Namaste
Trump in February and
Diwali in November
last year were responsi-
ble for the first and sec-
ond wave, cricket
matches at Motera were
responsible for the
third wave of coronavi-
rus,” said Shaikh.
“Despite claims of so-
cial distancing, we saw
how 70,000 spectators
were sitting inside the
stadium without follow-
ing such norms,” al-
leged Shaikh.
Leader of Opposition
Paresh Dhanani
slammed the BJP gov-
ernment in Gujarat for
“allowing” the cricket
series and gathering
over 70,000 people at one
place, and said it should
be ashamed of such an
act which had “resulted
in sudden spike in cas-
es”.
Patel, however, said
there was no connec-
tion between the cricket
matches and sudden
spike in COVID-19 cases
in Gujarat.
DyCM Nitin Patel —FILE PHOTO
Three tribal Congress MLAs protest against DyCM Nitin Patel’s ‘anti-Adivasi’ remarks, walk out of House
TRIBAL ANGER!
IIM-A records 100%
summer placement
for MBA students
Human skeleton found
on police station campus
Diamond artisans livid
over units’ closure
MAN KILLS WIFE IN HOTEL, ATTEMPTS SUICIDE
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: A man al-
legedly killed his wife at
a hotel near the Ajit Mill
Compound in Bapuna-
gar area of Ahmedabad
and then made a vain
attempt to kill himself.
The Atithi Hotel in-
formed the police who
rushed him to a hospi-
tal. Police said he
tried to kill himself
by slitting his throat
but could not inflict a
wound deep enough to
kill himself.
The hotel staff came
to know of the incident
when blood from the
room seeped under the
door into the hotel lob-
by
.
The man has been
identified as Mehul
Solanki and his wife Yo-
gita. Both lived in the
slum quarters in Am-
raiwadi.
It is not known
what led to the mur-
der-suicide. Reports
say Yogita had lost
her father a few days
ago and had come to
visit her family with
her husband. The two
had left home at
around 12 stating that
they were going to a
bank and instead had
booked themselves in
a hotel.
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: Indian In-
stitute of Management,
Ahmedabad (IIM-A),
concluded the summer
placementprocessforits
MBA class of 2022 with
companies from multi-
ple domains participat-
ing in three cluster
groups and the students
were placed across more
than 20 cohorts.
Boston Consulting
Group made the most of-
fers (including Pre-
Placement Offers) at the
end of the final place-
ment process with 32 of-
fers, followed by McKin-
sey with 30 offers.
In the IT consulting
cohort, Tata Consultan-
cy Services was the larg-
est recruiter with 14 of-
fers. In the niche cohort,
GEP extended 8 offers,
while among the invest-
ment banks, Nomura
was the largest recruit-
er, making seven offers,
closely followed by Gold-
man Sachs and Bank of
America–MerrillLynch,
each with five offers.
This year, the private
equity, Venture Capital
and Asset Management
cohort, witnessed close
to a 40% increase in par-
ticipatingfirmsvis-à-vis
last year. In the consum-
er goods category, con-
sumer electronics and
general management
domain, HUL, Samsung
Electronics and CK Bir-
la Group made the high-
est number of offers (in-
cluding pre-placement
offers) – 6, closely fol-
lowed by Lenovo, with
five offers.
First India Bureau
Surat: In what has
raised many an eye-
brows, a skeleton was
recovered from the Kha-
todara police station
campus in Surat remi-
niscent of a eerie crime
inspired by the Bolly-
wood movie Drishyam,
a remake of a Malay-
alam flick.
The Ajay Devgan
starrer had a storyline
that revolved around a
youth whose body was
buried under a police
station and never recov-
ered.
At the Khatodara po-
lice station compound
in Surat, the skeleton
was recovered when the
police undertook a
cleaning campaign on
the campus on Sunday
afternoon after two
years.
The clean-up was car-
ried out where the
seized vehicles had
been kept. When the ve-
hicles were removed for
cleaning purposes, the
bones were found. The
bones were found under
two autorickshaws
when the vehicles were
moved by a crane.
The labourers who
found the bones in-
formed the cops about
the same. The skeleton
was missing the rib
cage though. Police
have also sent the skel-
etons to the Forensic
Science Laboratory.
Since the skeleton is es-
timated to be more than
4 years old, a post-mor-
tem is not possible, ac-
cording to the police.
First India Bureau
Surat: The diamond ar-
tisans in Surat on Mon-
day organised a protest
against the closure of
diamond units after the
surge of Covid-19 cases,
blaming it all on the
mass gathering done by
politicians during the
recent local body elec-
tions.
“We, the commoners
have had to face the
brunt of it. The lower
income people were al-
ready devastated and
now another closure of
units will make them
beg for every loaf of
bread,” one of them
said.
Vithalbhai Patel, an
artisan, said he had al-
ready fallen short of
last year’s collection in
his business and that
the goods dispatched
then were coming back.
“Now a situation has
come for one to commit
suicide,” he bemoaned.
The artisans asserted
that nothing prevented
the local elections and
when it came to a three-
day salary of Rs 1,000
forpoorpeople,allWHO
guidelineswereapplied.
IIM-A saw cent per cent placements this year.
Remains of skeleton found on Surat police station campus.
Diamond workers’ protest in Surat.
HUGE BLAZE
A major fire broke out at the Spectrum Complex in Arab Gali area of Relief Road in old
Ahmedabad where some 27 fire-tenders battled the rising flames on Monday evening. At
least over a dozen shops of surgical instruments were reduced to ashes. No casualties were
reported. —PHOTO BY HANIF SINDHI

AHMEDABAD, TUESDAY
MARCH 23, 2021
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia
facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia 09
pandana Palli, a
26-year-old strong
independent wom-
an, grew up in a
middle-class fami-
ly
. Coming from an
army background,
she always led a disciplined
life. When asked about her
early life, she said, “My
mother is a homemaker
but was always passionate
about dancing and wanted
me to do something extra
apart from academics. I
joined Kathak classes
when I was in 7th std and
later completed a Diploma
in Kathak. While my fa-
ther always wanted me to
go for sports and I started
working on my fitness and
became a National Volley-
ball player and won many
awards.” She further add-
ed, “I post graduated in
MBA but wasn’t happy
from within and one
fine day I casually ended
up enrolling myself for
Miss India. It was a com-
plete life turning moment
for me when my form got
selected and well, the
rest is history. I have
been working hard
since then to achieve
my dreams.”
On her challeng-
es and family
support, she
said, “I had to
face many
challenges
and work on
myself a
l i t t l e
extra
than the others as I
switched my career from
sports to modelling. I al-
ways wanted to represent
India on International lev-
els and I look forward to it.
My parents were my big-
gest pillar of support. They
encouraged me since the
beginning and I have im-
mense gratitude towards
them”
When asked what advice
would she give someone
starting, the alluring
beauty replied, “To the
girls who want to come
into this industry should
be mature enough to tack-
le every situation with a
positive attitude and im-
mense patience. Well,
Spandana was very fortu-
nate to have learned so
much at a young age and
she’s now using those expe-
riences as a platform to
speak truth to others.
S
CONFIDENCEPERSONIFIED
SPANDANA PALLI:
SPANDANA PALLI:
Spandana Palli stepped into a modelling career out of sheer passion and officially
signed in 2018. City First spoke to the gorgeous and talented model!
MITALI DUSAD
mitalidusad01@gmail.com

10
ETC
F
A
C
E
O
F
T
H
E
D
A
Y
APURVA MEHROTRA, Fashion Model
LEO
JULY 24 - AUGUST 23
You will be a bundle of
energy today as you go
about doing what needs to
be done. You will be able to
increase the pace of work to be
productive. Taking steps to bolster
your image on the social front will
hold you in good stead in the future.
There are things you want to discuss.
LIBRA
SEPT 24 - OCTOBER 22
Impressing those who
matter on the academic
front is possible today.
Things start looking
brighter on professional front. Those
in the creative field will be in a
position to dictate their price. Your
workable solution to a professional
problem will get the go ahead.
ARIES
MAR 21 - APR 20
A workplace issue is
resolved in your favour.
You are likely to meet
someone you had not met
in years and enjoy your heart out. A
family elder is likely to favour you
over others. Some of you are likely to
travel to an exotic destination. Good
returns are expected.
SAGITTARIUS
NOV 23 - DEC 22
Something confidential may
be divulged to you on the
social front, but keep it
under wraps. This is a good
day to start a thing you had been
thinking for long. Financial worries
become a thing of the past. An issue is
decided in your favour. You are likely to
have a time of your life.
GEMINI
MAY 21 - JUNE 21
Travelling to a distant place
with friends becomes a
blessed journey of
togetherness. Be cautious
of a distant relation who can sow the
seeds of discord in the family. Your
insistence of doing daily workouts is
likely to get you positive results on
the health front.
AQUARIUS
JAN 21 - FEB 19
This is the time to assert
your authority at work to get
things moving. Money
multiplies through excellent
financial planning. At work, you will get
an opportunity to put your point across
to those who matter. Someone you
have known will sympathise with you.
Romance may not be your priority.
TAURUS
APR 21 - MAY 20
Someone may distract you
from your work today, but
you will be to blame for
this! Maintaining a working
relationship with those you don’t like
will be a better option. You will
influence an important decision on
the social front. Keep doubts and
suspicions at bay.
CAPRICORN
DEC 23 - JAN 20
Somebody may expect you
to take initiative in a
current situation, but take
your call. With confusion
over a domestic issue sorted out,
you will heave a sigh of relief. An
indescribable inner joy is likely for
those anticipating positivity. Some of
you will celebrate life.
VIRGO
AUG 24 - SEP 23
Shaking a leg and making
life more active promises
to do you good on the
health front. Rising
expenses may get you into conserv-
ing mode on the financial front.
Pressure of work that you had been
feeling for the past few days is set to
increase.
CANCER
JUNE 22 - JULY 23
You will be a bundle of
energy today as you go
about doing what needs to
be done. You will be able
to increase the pace of work to be
productive. Taking steps to bolster
your image on the social front will
hold you in good stead in the future.
There are things you want to discuss.
PISCES
FEB20 - MARCH 20
This is the time to put in
your best efforts in
securing the best job on
offer. Your intelligence and
confidence will soon find you on the
path to success. The project you had
been working on for long can face
hurdles. Your firm resolve to come
back in shape will soon bear fruits.
SCORPIO
OCT 23 - NOVEMBER 22
A refreshing change is in
the offing for some. If you
can take care of your
health today, you are
certain to enjoy the day to the hilt! A
business trip is likely to open many
lucrative opportunities for you. Leave
applied for a vacation is likely to be
sanctioned.
YOUR
DAY
Horoscope by
Saurabbh Sachdeva
ate is a domi-
nantly negative
phenomenon pre-
sent all over the
earth, across all
races, religions
and societies. Hate
confuses the human brain
as, biochemically
, the same
hormone oxytocin respon-
sible for the expression of
love mediates hate as well.
This somehow vindicates
the philosophical observa-
tion that love and hate are
conjoined twins, some-
where intertwined. Hate is
commonly expressed by
extreme anger and resent-
ful attitude. Though it can
target anything living,
non-living or even dead,
hate mainly targets ideas,
religious beliefs, person,
raceandsects.Hateagainst
a person or place may sub-
side with the passage of
time or persuasion but
when it is targeted at some
religion or belief system
then it may last for centu-
ries as there are always
people or socioeconomic
factors which continuous-
ly feed the fire of hate. It
has been observed that
hate lingers and gets nur-
tured by real or perceived
historical injustice, tor-
ture, and prejudices. One
of the strongest factors
which keep hatred alive is
the complete lack of as-
similation amongst people
and societies. People start
building their ghettos,
start having the tubular vi-
sion and cocooned exist-
ence.
It is not easy to write on
hate as its psychology and
philosophy are not easy to
express in words. Secondly
,
due to the lack of ‘cool dia-
logue’ both of them are
poorly developed. Famous
German philosopher Frie-
drich Nietzsche tried to
explain the world of hatred
and his inference looks
quite plausible that ‘hatred
must be learnt and nur-
tured if one wishes to be-
come a proficient hater.’
Many forces gain tremen-
dous power, money, busi-
ness and clout by trading
the emotional commodity
called hatred and this has
been happening for ages.
The masses are trained in
a very subtle way and over
some time, they become
mesmerized and get under
the spell of hate. The invis-
ible forces have a lot of pa-
tience and remain out of
the picture till they be-
come powerful enough to
control the masses and
then come to the fore. Such
a thing has happened innu-
merable times in the his-
toryof mankindandwould
be repeated again and
again in future. It has also
been noticed that a real
hater loses his soul. Once
under command of his
masters, he goes out and
kills innocent people in-
cluding men, women, chil-
dren, the elderly or even
the disabled and this in-
cludes his neighbours,
classmates and old friends.
What surprises psycholo-
gists are that this man oth-
erwise is a loving husband
and caring father but when
he kills, he kills with bru-
tality, goes back home,
dines with his family,
makes love to his wife and
sleeps profoundly and then
gets up in the morning as
though nothing has hap-
pened! History is full of
such instances including
contemporary history
.
Religions of the world
are frequently blamed for
igniting hatred especially
by radical leftists who
themselves are the epito-
me of hatred - the history
of “Reds” is written with
deep red blood in Russia,
China, Combodia etc. Reli-
gions if they mean Dhar-
ma, then it means right-
eousness - a journey in
search of truth and com-
passion but this is only
true for spiritual Dharma.
Political religions, as they
exist, are an entirely differ-
ent world - they thrive only
on hatred and violence -
killings in the name of
books that preach love.
This political-religious
world is a dangerous world
and few dare to enter it.
This is controlled by hate-
ful and dreaded people and
if anybody dares to bring
reality to the ground then
one may face real liquida-
tion or well-planned char-
acter assassination. Politi-
cal religions are potent
elixirs of death and de-
struction.
If we look from a bio-
chemical point of view
then there is a lot for us to
think about. There is a
hormone fondly called
‘love hormone’ whose
medical name is oxytocin.
When it is released in the
bloodstream, it invokes
love, empathy, affection,
generosity and trust but,
surprisingly, this same
hormone mediates hatred,
jealousy and gloating! We
have yet to know how this
happens that the same
compound has two entire-
ly different and opposite
actions. It is related to
doses of the hormone re-
leased or the way it is re-
leased?
Hate as we know is a be-
havioural training and an
emotional commodity sold
by the cunning and scoun-
drels, the majority of the
buyers being naive but
highly egoistic people who
visualise a future situation
under which the world
would belong to them,
though, this has never hap-
pened except for some
transient period. In hate
they kill but hate ultimate-
ly engulfs the haters’ whole
being, making them slaves
of their misplaced dogma.
The earth shall belong to
dancing and singing peo-
ple - the people in romance
with the phenomenon
called life.
PHENOMENON OF HATE
PHENOMENON OF HATE
DR RAMAWTAR
SHARMA
ramawatarf132@gmail.com
H

K
atherine Heigl after un-
dergoing major neck
surgery, recently shared
that she is now ‘bionic’,
along with photos of her. She
took to her IG and posted a
picture sporting a neck
brace and revealed that she
had surgery to insert two
titanium disks in her neck.
After the successful sur-
gery, she penned down a
note of thanks to the
team of doctors.
—Agency
BIONIC!
ETC
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia AHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, MARCH 23, 2021
11
A
ctress-model Bella Thorne and musi-
cian Benjamin Mascolo are engaged.
The singer took to Instagram and posted
a picture of the couple, confirming the
happy news. “She said YES (ring and heart emo-
ji) @bellathorne,” Benjamin captioned the pho-
to, which featured the two posing together as she
showed off her new engagement ring. Bella and
Benjamin started dating in June 2019, when they
confirmed their romance on social media. By
July 2020, their representatives were denying
engagement rumours, following a Mexican geta-
way last summer. —Agency
A
n unidentified man broke inside the
home of actor Johnny Depp in Holly-
wood Hills. Local cops got a call from a
neighbour who spotted a homeless man
hanging out in the backyard near the pool. The
neighbour told police the man took off when
confronted and hopped a gate, which actually got
him closer to the star’s house. When the cops
arrived, the accused was taking a shower, and
refused to open the door, when he was asked to
do so by the cops. The report states that the in-
truder also made a drink for himself from the
actor’s collection. —Agency
A
fter COVID, Jake Gyllenhaal is final-
ly taking on a new project! The actor
will star in the new movie Combat
Control. The film will reportedly
highlight the true story of Air Force CCT
John Chapman, who died in battle on March
4, 2002 in Afghanistan. Fifteen years after his
death, Air Force Captain Cora Alexander is
tasked with investigating if he is a worthy re-
cipient of the Medal of Honor, despite there
being no eyewitnesses to his actions and the
secretive nature of his operation. —Agency
T
aapsee Pannu has been on a roll these
days. While the curly hair beauty had
wrapped Rashami Rocket and Tahir Raj
Bhasin starrer Loop Lapeta early this
year, Taapsee is once again making the head-
lines as she has wrapped another project of
Anurag Kashyap directorial, ‘Dobaaraa’.
—Agency
A
ctress Janhvi Kapoor revealed that
Boney is more of a friend to her and
that she can tell him anything. The
Roohi star added, “He has become a
very close friend. A very new equation has
developed between him and me. —Agency
M
onday began on a worrisome note
for fans of Kartik Aaryan as he
announced that he tested positive.
He took to social media to an-
nounce the news and while he did not use
the word COVID 19 or Coronavirus, his
fans went all out to send him speedy recov-
ery wishes. —Agency
K
angana Ranaut has been making the
headlines ever since she has been roped
in for J Jayalalithaa’s biopic. Titled as
Thalaivi, this AL Vijay directorial show-
cases Jayalalithaa’s journey from being an or-
dinary girl to being a legendary politician and
Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister. The diva shared a
new motion poster of Thalaivi. The motion post-
er also came with a special announcement as
Kangana revealed that the trailer of Thalaivi will
be releasing on her birthday today
. —Agency
S
uperstar Kareena Kapoor Khan has
been one of the actors who have not
spared any stereotypes when it
comes to actresses and now, it
seems she is all set to keep up with that
tradition as she gears up to return to
sets of a shoot a month after second
delivery
. All this is coming to end as
the actress is all set to shoot a cook-
ing show on Monday
. —Agency
L
aughter has always been the
best medicine! To keep up
with this notion, the team of
Hello Charlie have come up
with an entertaining fun-filled ride
to enjoy with your family. Accord-
ing to the team, this is the best way
to spread laughter as after Corona,
people have been looking forward to
a source of entertainment. The film
features Aadar Jain, Jackie Shroff,
Elnaaz Norouzi, Darshan Jari-
walla, Rajpal Yadav, Girish
Kulkarni, Bharat Ganeshpure and
Siddhanth Kapoor. The film re-
marks the debut of Shlokka Pan-
dit. Apart from the cast, the film
also stars another important char-
acter, Toto, a gorilla, which makes
it all the more fun.
As the trailer reveals, Jackie
Shroff asaconmantriestoescape
MumbaiinaGorillasuit,where-
as,AadarakaCharlie,becomes
his help in disguise, unsure
about what is he dealing with.
What follows further will be
revealed to us as the film is set
to premiere globally on April 9
only on Amazon Prime.
CITY FIRST
he 67th Na-
tional Film
A w a r d s
were an-
nounced in
New Delhi
on Monday.
The awards were
presented by the
President of In-
dia traditionally.
However, for
the 66th Na-
tional Film
Awards, Vice
P r e s i d e n t
V e n k a i a h
Naidu did
the honours,
while Presi-
dent Ram Nath Kovind
hosted the high tea for the
winners.
‘Chhichhore’, starring
Late Sushant Singh Rajput
won the award for the Best
Hindi Film while Best Ac-
tor award was bagged by
Manoj Bajpayee for Bhon-
sle (Hindi), and Dhanush
for Asuran (Tamil) and
Best Actress award was
won by Kangana Ranaut
for Panga (Hindi) and Man-
ikarnika: The Queen of
Jhansi (Hindi).
National Film Awards
T
SHE SAID YES!
ANYBODY INSIDE?
BACK ON SETS
IT’S A WRAP!
Equation revealed
Hello Charlie!
SUSHMITA AIND
cityfirst@firstindia.co.in
Back to shoot
Back to shoot
Tested positive
NEW MOTION
POSTER OUT
Poster of the film
Manoj Bajpayee from ‘Bhonsle’
Kangana Ranaut from ‘Manikarnika’
Benjamin Mascolo and Bella Throne
Johny Depp
Jake Gyllenhaal
Taapsee Pannu and Anurag Kashyap
Poster of the film
Kartik Aaryan
Janhvi Kapoor and Boney Kapoor
Kareena Kapoor Khan Katherine Heigl

First india ahmedabad edition-23 march 2021

First india ahmedabad edition-23 march 2021

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First india ahmedabad edition-23 march 2021