First india ahmedabad edition-25 may 2020

CORONA
ALERT
AHMEDABAD l MONDAY, MAY 25, 2020 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/16208 l Vol 1 l Issue No. 179
28°C - 44°C
OUR EDITIONS:
JAIPUR & AHMEDABAD
www.firstindia.co.in
www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/
thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia
instagram.com/thefirstindia
COVID-19
UPDATE
GUJARAT
858
DEATHS
14,063
CONFIRMED CASES
INDIA
1,38,229
CONFIRMED CASES
4,024
DEATHS
WORLD
3,45,409
DEATHS
54,62,859
CONFIRMED CASES
G’nagar ‘given’ 8 new cases between 5 pm and 7.30 pm on Sunday
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: The
state capital saw as
many as eight new cases
between 5 pm and 7.30
pm on Sunday evening.
At least, that’s what the
state health department
told reporters who ques-
tioned the disparity be-
tween the figure report-
ed by the local civic bod-
ies and the state.
The state health bul-
letin--announced at
7.30 pm--had put the
overnight tally in the
state capital at 11 new
cases, while the Gan-
dhinagar Municipal
Corporation and Dis-
trict Panchayat had
togethersaidtherehad
only been three new
cases as of 5 pm. It is
unclear where these
additional eight cases
may have originated.
The last 24 hours also
brought reports of 14
casesfromSabarkantha,
35 from Surat and 30
fromVadodara.Asmany
as 279 fresh cases were
recorded on Sunday in
Ahmedabad, which still
has5,532activecasesand
a death toll of 28 despite
4,051 being discharged.
The state now has
14,603 cases, with 858
deaths and 6,412 dis-
charged.
Even taking the dis-
chargerateastherecov-
ery rate, as the govern-
ment has been doing,
Gujarat still lags far
behind states like Pun-
jab (89.69%), Kerala
(73.91%) and Haryana
(66.05%) with a 44% re-
covery rate. Turn on P6A man crosses a street in Ahmedabad’s Saraspur, one of the city’s newest cluster-quarantined areas.
 24 hours: 394 cases, 29
deaths, 243 discharged
 Total: 14,603 cases, 858
deaths, 6,412 discharged
—PHOTOBYHANIFSINDHI
COLLEGES FINAL EXAMS FROM JUNE 25,
FIRST SEMESTER FROM AUGUST 25
The state government has decided that if the
situation is under control, college exams will now
be held from June 25. Usually held in March and
April, these exams had been postponed due to
the lockdown. However, the government said that
universities will have to see that social distancing
is maintained while conducting tests. In addition,
each exam will be limited to a two-hour paper. The
new academic year is set to begin a month later.
New Delhi: With tem-
peratures surpassing
the 45 degrees Celsius-
mark across several
parts in north India, the
India Meteorological
Department (IMD) on
Sunday issued a “red”
warning for Delhi, Pun-
jab, Haryana, Chandi-
garh and Rajasthan for
the next two days.
The IMD has also is-
sued an orange warn-
ing for a heatwave for
east Uttar Pradesh, said
Kuldeep Srivastava, the
head of IMD’s Regional
Meteorological Centre.
He cautioned that
temperatures could
soar up to 47 degrees
Celsius in some parts
over the next 2-3 days.
This is also for the
first time this summer
season that a red warn-
ing has been issued for
a heatwave, Srivastava
said. This season, the
temperatures did not
rise the way it usually
does in the north and
central India because of
significant rainfall ac-
tivity during April that
continued till mid-May.
“Heatwaveconditions
over some parts with a
severe heatwave over
isolated pockets are
very likely Turn on P6
HEAT
WAVE
IMD issues ‘red alert’ for Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan
TEMPERATURES COULD SOAR UP TO 47° CELSIUS; RED WARNING ISSUED BY IMD TO CAUTION
PEOPLE NOT TO STEP OUT FROM 1 PM TO 5 PM WHEN INTENSITY OF THE HEAT IS THE MOST
IMD’S COLOUR-CODED WARNINGS
CHURU
NAGPUR
DELHI
PILANI
AGRA
The IMD issues colour-coded warnings depending on the
intensity of any weather system in ascending order – green,
yellow, orange and red.Srivastava said the red warning has
been issued to caution people not to step out from 1 pm to
5 pm when the intensity of the heat is the most.
47° C
46.2° C
46° C
46.7° C
44° C
New Delhi: The Union
Ministry for Health and
Family Welfare has
come up with guidelines
for international arriv-
als into India through
air, sea and land routes,
whereby it has said that
every person entering
India will have to under-
go a mandatory quaran-
tine of 14 days.
The quarantine peri-
od would include seven
days of paid institution-
al quarantine at their
own expense, followed
by seven days of isola-
tion at home with self-
monitoring of health.
Alltravellerswillhave
to give an undertaking
forthe14-dayquarantine
beforeboardingashipor
a flight.
The ministry, howev-
er said that only for ex-
ceptional and compel-
ling reasons Turn on P6
First India Bureau
New Delhi: Indianskies
willopenupfordomestic
passenger flights from
Monday after a gap of
two months but there is
confusion following the
imposition of own set of
conditions and rules by
several states which are
at odds with each other.
According to Civil
Aviation ministry, 1050
flights will operate on
May 25. Conditions re-
garding flights, quaran-
tine periods and stand-
ard operating proce-
dures of passengers
between many states is
still not clear.
Many states like Ma-
harashtra, West Bengal
and Tamil Nadu were
opposed to opening up
of their airports in view
of rising cases of the
coronavirus infection,
making it difficult for
theairlinesaswellasthe
civil aviation authori-
ties to resume services.
However, Maharash-
tra government has
now agreed to allow 25
take-offs Turn on P6
DOMESTIC AIR TRAFFIC OPENS
TODAY WITH 1,050 FLIGHTS
Preparation for 380 domestic flights from Indira Gandhi Airport in
Delhi, operation will be from Terminal 3, thermal screening mandatory
‘14-day
quarantine
must for Int’l
arrivals’
India’s Corona tally nears 1.3L;
2,600-plus deaths since May 1
New Delhi: The nation-
wide tally of COVID-19
cases neared 1.3 lakh on
Saturdaywithover6,000
new cases getting de-
tected. More than one
lakh people have tested
positive for the deadly
virus infection and over
3,000 have lost their
lives in past one month.
The spike in numbers
has been sharp this
week with nearly 5,500
new cases and 160
deaths getting reported
on an average every day,
according to data of dif-
ferent states and union
territories, many of
whom have found a
large number of new
cases among people hav-
ing returned from other
states in special trains
and buses being run for
taking migrant and stu-
dents to their places.
Sikkim reported its
first COVID-19 case as a
25-year-old student who
recently returned from
Delhi tested positive for
the virus, a senior offi-
cial said. The first case
was detected in India on
January 30, but Sikkim
had managed to stay
free of it so far.
States have also re-
ported positive cases
among people who have
returned from abroad
in special flights being
operated to bring back
stranded Indians and
expatriates from vari-
ous countries. —ANI
CHINA ACCUSES US OF
SPREADING ‘CONSPIRACIES’
Beijing: China on Sunday accused the
US of pushing the bilateral ties to the
brink of a “new Cold War” by spreading
“lies” about the coronavirus and said
it was open to international efforts to
identify the source of the deadly virus.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi also said the
lawsuits filed against China in the US
demanding compensation for COVID-19
is an attempt to blackmail a victim with
fabricated evidence.
‘NO DELAY IN SUPPLY OF
RAFALE JETS TO INDIA’
New Delhi: There will be no delay in
delivery of 36 Rafale jets to India as the
timeline finalised for the supply of the
fighter jets will be strictly respected,
French Ambassador Emmanuel Lenain
has said. India had signed an inter-
governmental agreement with France in
September 2016 for the procurement of
36 Rafale fighter jets at a cost of around
58,000 crore. France is reeling under
swelling cases of coronavirus.
SAI RELEASES RS8.25 CR AS OUT OF POCKET
ALLOWANCE FOR 2,749 KHELO INDIA ATHLETES
New Delhi: The Sports Authority of India
(SAI) on Sunday informed that it has
released over Rs 8,24,70,000 as Out of
Pocket Allowance (OPA) for 2749 Khelo
India athletes for the first quarter of 2020-
21. “The money has been transferred to the
bank accounts of the athletes on May 22. A
total of 2893 athletes will be given the OPA
for the period, with the funds to the remaining 144 athletes to be
transferred by the end of May 2020,” SAI said in a release.
Workers spray disinfectant at Jai Prakash Narayan International Airport, on the resumption of flight
services from May 25, in Patna on Sunday. —PHOTO BY ANI
 Do’s and Don’ts shall
be provided along with
tickets by agencies
concerned.
 All passengers
advised to download
Aarogya Setu app.
 States/UTs shall
ensure that all pas-
sengers shall undergo
thermal screening at
the point of departure
and only asymptomatic
passengers are allowed
to board the flight/train/
bus.
 During boarding and
travel, all passengers
shall use face covers/
mask. They will also fol-
low hand hygiene.
 At airports/railway
stations/ bus terminals
required measures to
ensure social distancing
shall be taken.
 Airports/railway sta-
tions/bus terminals should
be regularly sanitised/dis-
infected and availability of
soaps and sanitisers shall
be ensured.
CHURU HOTTEST IN RAJASTHAN
THINGS TO REMEMBER
Jaipur: Heat wave swept parts of Rajasthan on Sunday,
with day temperature soaring to 47.4 degrees Celsius in
Churu, the MeT department said. Kota and Bikaner recorded
their respective highs at 45.9 and 45.8 degrees Celsius, it
said. The day temperature in Barmer, Ganganagar, Jaipur
and Jodhpur was 44.9, 44.7, 44.5, 43.6 degrees Celsius
respectively, the meteorological department said. It said the
maximum temperature in Ajmer and Dabok (Udaipur) was
43 and 41.9 degrees Celsius respectively.

First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: The state
High Court on Friday
singled out Deputy
Chief MinisterNitinPa-
tel who is also Health
Minister and Principal
Secretary (Health) Jay-
anti Ravi while pulling
upthestategovernment
on its handling of the
ongoing COVID-19 cri-
sis.OnSunday,Patelan-
nounced that he had
visitedtheCivilhospital
in Ahmedabad as many
as five times.
The court had also
asked the government for
a detailed report on some
subjects,Patelsaid,adding
that the state will file its
replylaterthisweek.
“The High Court has
many observations about
the government’s actions
in handling the coronavi-
ruscrisis.Ithasalsogiven
direction to the state gov-
ernment and has also
askedforadetailedreport
onsomesubjects.Thestate
will file a reply before the
high court this week,” he
said.
The High Court had
putspecificquestionsto
the health minister in-
cludinghowmanytimes
he had visited the Civil
Hospital and if he was
aware of what was go-
ingonthere.Replyingto
this, Patel said he had
been to the Civil Hospi-
tal, and taken meetings
with senior doctors too.
Healsosaidthatheand
Chief Minister Vijay Ru-
pani have closely moni-
tored the situation, and
thatthestatecannotacton
itsowninsuchacrisisbut
in accordance with the
guidelinesfromtheIndian
Council of Medical Re-
search(ICMR)andtheUn-
ionMinistryof Healthand
FamilyWelfare.
Inaveryshortperiod,
the state has created fa-
cilitiesfor22,000bedsin
26 districts to meet the
needs during the COV-
ID-19 outbreak. Also,
thereisenoughstockof
PPE kits, masks and
medicines, he said.
Meanwhile, the state’s
farmers have traded 67
lakhquintalof agroprod-
uctsinmarketyardssince
lockdown norms were re-
laxedonApril20,Informa-
tion and Broadcasting
SecretaryandSecretaryto
the Chief Minister
AshwaniKumarsaidhere.
This includes 19.37 lakh
quintal wheat, 14.66 lakh
quintal castor, 3.53 lakh
quintal cotton, 1.83 lakh
quintal tobacco and 2.85
lakhquintalchana.Asper
its promise to procure
wheat and tuvar from
farmers through Gujarat
StateCivilSuppliesCorpo-
ration (GSCSC), the state
government has bought
23,437 metric tonnes (MT)
wheatand11,583MTtuvar
from farmers. On behalf
of the state government,
GUJCOMASOL has pro-
cured73,574MTwheatand
12,213MTchana.
After HC pulls up Rupani govt, defensive Dy CM
says he has visited Civil Hospital five times
(Right to left) CM Vijay Rupani and Dy CM Nitin Patel taking a meeting. —FILE PHOTO
USA 1,675,880 99,003 +320
BRAZIL 352,744 22,291 +278
RUSSIA 344,481 3,541 +153
SPAIN 282,852 28,752 +74
UK 259,559 36,793 +118
ITALY 229,858 32,785 +50
FRANCE 182,469 28,332 —
GERMANY 180,153 8,371 +5
TURKEY 156,827 4,340 +32
IRAN 135,701 7,417 +58
CANADA 84,655 6,424 +69
S ARABIA 72,560 390 +11
CHILE 69,102 718 +45
MEXICO 65,856 7,179 +190
BELGIUM 57,092 9,280 +43
COUNTRY TOTAL TOTAL NEW
CASES DEATHS DEATHS
GLOBAL STATE
OF AFFAIRS
WWW.WORLDOMETERS.INFO
LAST UPDATED: MAY 24, 2020, 11:30 PM
NEWSAHMEDABAD | MONDAY, MAY 25, 2020
02www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
Haresh Jhala
Ahmedabad:Thestate’s
economy is struggling
to get back on its feet
after the COVID-19 pan-
demic left industries
paralyzed and workers
jobless for two months.
However, the longer it
takes for trade and in-
dustry to bounce back,
the harder it is going to
be.Thenextfewmonths
are likely to bring more
retrenchment, pay cuts
and even some units
may not live to see an-
other day.
A month after lock-
down norms began to be
relaxed in the state, in-
dustrial units in Central
Gujarat and the rest of
the state are functioning
only at 40% capacity.
Their supply and distri-
butionchainsareblocked
because interstate trans-
portation is still prohib-
ited. Units cannot func-
tion at full capacity until
the lockdown is relaxed
in the entire nation, ob-
served Nitesh Patel, Sec-
retary-General, Federa-
tion of Gujarat Indus-
tries (FGI), from Va-
dodara.
Demand trends are
going to change drasti-
cally in the post-relax-
ation period for two
major reasons: unem-
ployment and pay
cuts. Brands and high-
end products will take
a backseat, while con-
sumption of local la-
bels will increase. The
market has started
feeling the hit. “Con-
sumers have stopped
purchasing Good Day
biscuits, while regular
biscuits are in de-
mand. Even among the
more expensive prod-
ucts such as sports
bikes and sports utili-
ty vehicles, only the
lowest-end ones are in
demand,” observed an
economist who wished
to remain anonymous
since he is not author-
ized to speak to the
press.
“To announce a pack-
age is one thing but the
bigger issue is of morale,
which is very low among
bankers and industrial-
ists.Neither the state nor
the nation’s economy can
bounce back without
these two sets of people,”
this person also said.
FGI’s Patel adds that
“non-tariff taxes” like
social distancing, run-
ning operations with
33-50% staff, ensuring
no worker gets infected
will put an added bur-
den on industries.
“With these excess fi-
nancial burdens, it is
going to be next to im-
possible to maintain
the low costs needed to
survive and thrive in
competition,” he said.
The ongoing labour
migration might prove to
be a blessing in disguise
for industry, feels Mahen-
dra Kajiwala, former
president, Southern Gu-
jarat Chambers of Com-
merce and Industries.
“They are going to take at
least two to three months
to completely recover, so
10 lakh workers return-
ing to their home state
will not directly affect
production,” he said.
Another big questions
is whether these these
workers will get jobs if
and when return to the
state. Marketsmojo Chief
Investment Officer Sunil
Damania and Prabodh
Patel, former president,
Federation of Industries
Association (FIA) are of
opinion that units will
not operate at 100% ca-
pacity until domestic and
international demand
increases. Until then,
they will not require as
many workers as they
did prior to the lock-
down.
With all these equa-
tions put together, the
next few months do not
bode well for the econ-
omy. Not only can un-
employment lead to
social unrest, but low
production means low
revenue for the state
and Central govern-
ments, a cascading ef-
fect of which will like-
ly be lower expenditure
on development pro-
jects, at least in the
current year.
Pandemic-hit economy will take time to recover,
SLOW GROWTH WILL HAVE
SEVERE IMPACT ON REVENUE
Three lakh industrial
units have resumed oper-
ations, giving job oppor-
tunities to 25 lakh workers; power
consumption is at 82% of nor-
mal; 11 lakh workers have
reached their home states.
—Ashwani Kumar, Information and Broadcasting Secretary, GoG
Nation should give
return gift in the
form of financial
assistance to industrialists
and entrepreneur who
have paid taxes honestly
for 20-30 years.
—Prabodh Patel, former president, FIA
Let us see how the society and
nation can digest retrench-
ment and pay cuts. If unem-
ployment increases on a very large
scale, it can lead to social unrest.
—Sunil Damania, Chief Investment Officer, Marketsmojo
Customers already limiting purchases to items in the lowest-end
bracket; pay cuts and unemployment could lead to social unrest
Says state acts on guidelines from ICMR and Centre; Gujarat to file reply before HC this week
SAMPLE RECEIVED
SAMPLE NEGATIVE
0
UNDER EXAMINATION
1,82,869
1,68,806
IN GUJARAT
DISTRICT TOTAL TOTAL NEW
CASES DEATHS DEATHS
AHMEDABAD 10280 697 28
VADODARA 836 35 0
SURAT 1320 61 1
RAJKOT 92 2 0
BHAVNAGAR 115 8 0
ANAND 91 9 0
BHARUCH 37 3 0
GANDHINAGAR 221 10 0
PATAN 71 4 0
PANCHMANHAL 71 6 0
BANASKANTHA 99 4 0
NARMADA 13 0 0
CHOTA UDEPUR 22 0 0
KUTCH 64 1 0
MAHESANA 101 4 0
BOTAD 53 1 0
DAHOD 36 0 0
PORBANDAR 6 0 0
JAMNAGAR 47 2 0
MORBI 3 0 0
SABARKANTHA 77 3 0
ARAVALLI 99 3 0
MAHISAGAR 79 1 0
KHEDA 62 3 0
GIR SOMNATH 44 0 0
VALSAD 19 1 0
TAPI 6 0 0
NAVSARI 15 0 0
DANG 2 0 0
SURENDRANAGAR 23 0 0
DWARKA 12 0 0
JUNAGADH 26 0 0
AMRELI 2 0 0
OTHER STATES 7 0 0
TOTAL 14063 858 29
Sector Time
Pharma Growth to continue
Transport 3-4 months
Automobile 4-5 months
Food sector 6 months
Retail 6 months
Hospitality, travel, tours 6-8 months
Capital goods 1 year or more
Major projects Depends on the availability of funds
Major movement Depends on lockdown relaxation
—Pic for representational purpose only
Pharma Growth to continue
ESTIMATED TIME NEEDED FOR
INDUSTRIES TO RECOVER

GUJARATAHMEDABAD | MONDAY, MAY 25, 2020
READY, SET, FLY
A fter a two-month lockdown, the state government
has allowed domestic flights to resume operations
from today amid the COVID-19 outbreak. In preparation
for the arrival of passengers, staffers at the airport sani-
tized all corners. Airline staffers received briefings about
the importance of social distancing and sanitizing.
Social distancing stickers dot the airport floor to ensure
that norms are followed by passengers at all times.
Gargi Raval
Ahmedabad: Taking
into account the num-
ber of fresh cases of
novel coronavirus in
the city as well as the
state, it seems that
the system has man-
aged to keep the fig-
ures below the 300
and 400 mark respec-
tively, this month.
Barring May 5, the
state (441) and city (336)
witnessed highest num-
ber of cases reported in
a single day. It was the
same day when the for-
mer Ahmedabad mu-
nicipal commissioner
Vijay Nehra went on
leave for two weeks af-
ter coming in contact
with two COVID-19 pos-
itive people.
Officer on special
duty Rajiv Gupta pre-
sented a comparison of
tests per million and a
rise in the discharge
rate before May 5 and
afterwards. They
showed drastic im-
provement after May 5.
However, one thing
that has remained
constant is that, the
number of fresh Sars-
CoV-2 cases in the city
has not crossed the
300-mark while, the
number has not
touched the 400-mark
in the state. Even the
lowest number of cas-
es reported in the
state was 324 on May
14. The number stood
at 223 for Ahmedabad
on May 2.
According to the data
of the entire month un-
til May 23, an average of
267 cases for the city of
Ahmedabad and 372
cases for Gujarat have
been recorded every day.
Sources at the
Ahmedabad Municipal
Corporation (AMC) be-
lieve that the number of
cases will rise in the
coming days.
“There will be more
tests conducted in the
city in the immediate
future. Health survey
has been gathering
data on high-risk peo-
ple and a few of them
have been completed
already. The number
of positive cases is ex-
pected to shoot up in
the first week of
June,” said an officer.
No visible spikes in May as new cases in state, A’bad stay steady
With more people on the streets after the government announced relaxations in the lockdown, the
numbers are likely to rise in the near future. —PHOTO BY NANDAN DAVE
AHNHAqueriesstate’s
labtestingregulations
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: After
First India ques-
tioned the state de-
partment’s directive
to private laborato-
ries to seek permis-
sion before conduct-
ing COVID-19 tests,
the Ahmedabad Hos-
pitals and Nursing
Homes Association
has now sought an ex-
planation from the
state health depart-
ment regarding the
directive.
In a letter addressed
to state principal sec-
retary (health) Jayanti
Ravi, Ahmedabad Hos-
pitals and Nursing
Homes Association
president Dr Bharat
Gadhvi has questioned
the conviction of the
decision to regulate
COVID-19 tests by pri-
vate laboratories.
Dr Gadhvi also
raised doubt over the
credibility of the order
and asked if any health
or medical expert was
consulted before the
implementation of the
order. The association
president also called
into question the logic
behind not conducting
more number of tests.
In his letter, Dr Gad-
hvi also stated, “If
there is any kind of
medical emergency
and a patient is re-
quired to undergo a
COVID-19 test, the
permission will take
time. This can put the
patient’s life at risk.
Who will ensure that
the patient is safe or
claim responsibility if
things go sideways?”
Drawing attention
toward factual data, the
letter also underlined
the time it took to re-
ceive test results ini-
tially, which was with-
in six to eight hours.
But, now it takes up to
three days for the test
results to come back.
On Friday, the state
high court too direct-
ed the state govern-
ment to allow private
laboratories ap-
proved by the Indian
Council of Medical
Research (ICMR) to
conduct tests on pa-
tients. The court also
said that everyone
has the right to un-
dergo COVID-19 tests.
Civil Hosp’s Dr MM Prabhakar in hot water for demanding more than needed
Gargi Raval
Ahmedabad: Amid
the state govern-
ment’s claims of a
COVID-19 recovery
rate of 45%, it is curi-
ous as to why there
seems to be a lot of
hue and cry over an
alleged shortage of
ventilators at dedi-
cated COVID-19 hos-
pitals. The question
which arises is that
who has a vested in-
terest in using tax-
payers’ money for
ventilators when, ac-
cording to First In-
dia’s investigation,
there is no dearth of
the machines.
Civil Hospital in-
charge superintendent
MM Prabhakar in his
letter to the state gov-
ernment on May 15 had
asked for 100 high-end
ventilators for COV-
ID-19 hospitals on a pri-
ority basis. According
to official data, until
Saturday, there were
only 73 corona positive
patients on ventilator
support across the state.
Currently, the state has
6,671 active patients.
When the demand for
more ventilators was
made by Prabhakar,
therewere29positivepa-
tients on ventilator sup-
port at Civil Hospital.
The number of patients
on ventilators at Sardar
Vallabhbhai Patel (SVP)
Hospital stood at 17.
Prabhakar insisted
that the machines had
been needed at the time.
“We demanded the ma-
chines at a time when
the patient inflow at the
hospital was high. Also,
the demand was not
solely for the Civil Hos-
pital but others too. We
do have enough number
of ventilators at Civil,”
he stated.
Dr Prabhakar had
questioned the effective-
ness of Dhaman-1 venti-
lators, and had put forth
a demand for 50 ventila-
tors for Civil Hospital
and 50 ventilators for In-
stitute of Kidney Dis-
eases and Research Cen-
tre (IKDRC) but now
claims that there are
enough ventilators on
the Medicity campus.
“We have enough
ventilators, I was de-
manding it for other
hospitals,” he said.
Interestingly, in his
letter, Prabhakar had
categorically said
that the demand was
being made for Civil
Hospital and IKDRC
not others.
Just how many ventilators
does the city really need?
Staff at the Sardar Patel Vallabhbhai Hospital set up equipment in the COVID-19 ward. —FILE PHOTO
ASKING FOR IT
Probe into sale of seized
IMFL has cops on the run
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: The
sale of Indian Made
Foreign Liquor
(IMFL) has landed
two police officers of
Mehsana district in
hot water. They went
underground on
learning that the
Gandhinagar range
Inspector-General
(IG) ordered an inves-
tigation into the ille-
gal sale of IMFL in
the state.
When Gandhinagar
range IG Mayanksinh
Chavda had received in-
formation that Kadi po-
lice station officers
were involved in the il-
legal sale of seized liq-
uor, he ordered Gandhi-
nagar district superin-
tendent of police (SP)
Mayursinh Chavda to
initiate a probe.
However, sources say,
Kadi police inspector
OM Desai and sub in-
spector KN Patel threw
all the remaining
seized liquor in the
Narmada canal before
fleeing before the Gan-
dhinagar SP reached
their police station.
This was done to en-
sure that the SP didn’t
get an account of the
exact amount of stock
in their possession.
‘Escaped’ patient gets
15-hr break from SVP
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: Security
arrangements at the
city-based Sardar
Vallabhbhai Hospital
have come under the
scanner after a COV-
ID-19 patient ‘es-
caped’. The hospital
did file a police com-
plaint, but not until
the 30-year-old male
had been missing for
15 hours.
The patient, a resi-
dent of Sarkhej had
been admitted to the
hospital on Friday after
showing symptoms of
COVID-19. He disap-
peared shortly thereaf-
ter but his absence was
only discovered when
his report came back on
Saturday. RMO Kuldip
Joshi then filed a miss-
ing persons complaint
at the Ellisbridge police
station.
While the patient,
who had wanted to
spend Eid at home, was
later brought back to
the hospital, the inci-
dent has raised the
question of how a pa-
tient could leave the
COVID-19 ward without
anyone noticing.
More importantly,
if medical staff is on
duty 24/7, how did it
take 15 hours for the
man’s absence to be
noticed?
EID MUBARAK!
People are seen watching the crescent moon that marks the arrival of Eid and the end of
the holy month of Ramzan, at Ashram Road in Ahmedabad. —PHOTO BY HANIF SINDHI
TTT
TOUGH BREAK
Case numbers are
likely to see a sharp
uptick in the coming
days, officials say.
IMPACT
—PHOTOS BY NANDAN DAVE

G Vol 1 G Issue No. 179 G RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/16208. Printed and published by Anita Hada Sangwan on behalf of First Express Publishers. Printed at Bhaskar Printing Planet Survey No.148P, Changodar-Bavla Highway, Tal. Sanand, Dist. Ahmedabad.
Published at D/302 3rd Floor Plot No. 35 Titanium Square, Scheme No. 2, Thaltej Taluka, Ghatlodiya, Ahmedabad. Editor: Jagdeesh Chandra, responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act
PERSPECTIVEAHMEDABAD | MONDAY, MAY 25, 2020
PASSENGERS IN
A QUANDARY
OVER AIR TRAVEL
omestic flights seem to have run
into air turbulence even before
their scheduled take-off on Mon-
day. Reason being, states like Ma-
harashtra, Tamil Nadu and West
Bengal are not yet ready to make their air-
ports operational. Tamil Nadu was the first to
request the Centre to delay opening of air-
ports till May 31. West Bengal has very genu-
ine reason to seek postponement of air travel
after it was left bruised and battered by Cy-
clone Amphan. Pictures of the flooded Kolka-
ta airport are still fresh in everyone’s memory.
It therefore wants flights to Kolkata and Bag-
dogra to be put on hold for a few more days.
Maharashtra’s Covid is getting out of hand,
or so it appears, with Mumbai being the epi-
center of the disease. It also wants to delay
resumption of flights till the end of May. Ma-
harashtra’s home minister Anil Deshmukh
said that resuming air traffic will add to stress
on Red Zone. “It’s extremely ill-advised to reo-
pen airports in red zone. Mere thermal scan-
ning of passengers inadequate w/o swabs.
Impossible to have autos/cabs/buses ply in
current circumstances. Adding positive pas-
senger will add Covid stress to red zone,” he
said in a tweet. In another tweet Deshmukh
said that “keeping a busy airport up and run-
ning with all Covid safety measures will need
huge staff presence and compound risk in the
red zone”,
Delhi-Mumbai is an important and busy
sector the airlines were looking at to get back
into business. With Kolkata and Chennai also
blocking the move, domestic airlines will have
to wait till May 31, hope that the lockdown
curbs are further relaxed and then pray that
the three state capitals are able to contain the
infection. These developments and the health
ministry’s guidelines released on Sunday
have, however, left flyers in a quandary.
While prescribing Do’s and Don’ts, the
guidelines allow states to develop their own
protocol for quarantining and isolation of
passengers reaching their respective states.
This would require all passengers to acquaint
themselves with the standard operating pas-
sengers they’d be required to follow on reach-
ing their destination. For someone landing at
Jaipur but planning to go to Jodhpur any
other district it will be important to know if
s/he will be quarantined/isolated in Jaipur
or at the final destination.
Arogya Setu app is also going to be a nag-
ging issue. “All passengers are advised to
download the Arogya Setu app on their mo-
bile devices,” the guideline says. Although
civil aviation minister Hardeep Puri has said
that it is not mandatory, doubts persists in the
minds of flyers over privacy issues. The app
is supposed to inform authorities if one is
coming from a highly infected zone. Puri an-
nounced the resumption of flights days after
refusing to start them apparently to keep the
bleeding airlines airborne. Now it looks as if
fixing anomalies in the sector will take time.
IN-DEPTH
D
he story of Chitral is inter-
twined with the Great Game:
the political and diplomatic
confrontation that existed for
most of the 19th century be-
tween the British and the Rus-
sian Empires over Afghanistan
and territories in Central Asia.
Russia was fearful of British
commercial and military in-
roads right up to Bukhara,
whileontheotherhand,Britain
was fearful of Russia adding
“the jewel in the crown”, to the
Tsar’s portfolio. As such, in
1878, the British government in
India signed an alliance with
Kashmir and Chiral to thwart
any Afghan aggression.
Through this agreement, Chi-
ral, in itself an eleven gun sa-
lute state ,accepted the suze-
rainty of Kashmir, a twenty one
gun salute state, in return of
heavy subsidies from both
Kashmir Durbar and the Gov-
ernment of India. In 1914, Chi-
ral had signed yet another
agreement with Kashmir on
similar lines, called the Mas-
tunj Agreement, but from the
late (nineteen) thirties, it had
stopped sending the nazrana.
After the lapse of paramountcy,
Kashmir held the view that Chi-
tral could not decide the future
course of action by itself, and
even when the Ruler, His High-
ness Mehtar Muzaffar-ul –Mulk
wanted to join Pakistan, Jin-
nah, with his sharp legal mind
and acumen, delayed the acces-
sion as he did not want to jeop-
ardize in any way the larger
question of accession of Kash-
mir. He felt when Kashmir ac-
ceded to Pakistan, it would im-
ply, ipso facto the inclusion of
Chitral in the boundaries of
Pakistan.
We now come to Dir, a small
state with just 3000 square
miles of territory and a popula-
tion of 250,000 in 1931, the rul-
ing family of Yususzai Pathans
traced their origins to Kahuna
Baba, a mystic from the seven-
teenth century. Dir was also the
only tribal Pakhtun state to
have emerged in the Indian Em-
pire and also explains the per-
manent confrontation between
the Pakhtun warlords and the
centralized state of Chitral.
The current ruler Sir Shah
Jahan Khan was always
thought that as a buffer state, it
also had the option of joining
Afghanistan. To prevent such
an eventuality Jinnah accepted
that ‘his relations with Paki-
stan should remain the same as
those with the British govern-
ment previously’. Thereafter,
the Instrument of Accession
was signed in November 1947,
and accepted in February 1948.
The origins of the Amb state
arequitesimilartothoseof Dir:
here too a prince from the Tan-
awali tribe was propped up as a
hereditary ruler. However he
was also a Jagirdar of Haripur
in Hazara and subject to the
laws of British India in areas
outsideof hislittlekingdom.As
such, he was ‘at once an Inde-
pendent Ruler, a feudal chief
and a British subject’. The Rul-
er in 1947 was Nawab Sir Mo-
hammad Khan held a territory
of 225 square miles and a popu-
lation of just 36,000 and hardly
had any option but to join Paki-
stan most willingly. In fact, Jin-
nah did not even respond to his
personal letters for quite a few
weeks. The Instrument of ac-
cession was signed and accept-
ed on 31 December 1947.
Colonel Durand, the Political
Agent for the Gilgit Agency,
and the person on whom the
infamous AF Pak boundary
line is often called Durand’s
curse entered into an agree-
ment with these tinny states in
1889 that in lieu of not conduct-
ing caravan raids, they would
receive an annual subsidy of
Rs 2000 from the British gov-
ernment in India. From 1992,
after a series of bloody con-
frontations, these were laced
under the suzerainty of Kash-
mir Durbar with guarantees
from the British Government
of India. It should be acknowl-
edged that the inaccessibility
of these states made control
over these areas difficult for
any foreign force, and neither
the Sikhs nor the Dogras could
actually hold them for a consid-
erable stretch. The titles used
by them was Sore, closer to Sri,
and though they were notion-
ally Muslims (Ismailis in Hun-
za and Shias in Nagar), the rul-
ing family of Hunza also used
the name Ayeshe (heavenly),
the use of this nomenclature
gave them a sense of being
apart, with perhaps even a di-
vine mandate to rule.
The legal position with re-
spect to these states was that
while Hunza and Nagar were
under the suzerainty of Kash-
mir, they were not part of Kash-
mir, but separate states. As
such there was a confusion on
whether after the lapse of para-
mountcy, they had the right to
exercise their option of joining
any Dominion, or whether they
went with the decision of the
Ruler of Kashmir. Of course,
given the fact that both these
states were nearly cent per cent
Muslim, and their relations
with the Kashmir Durbar had
been quite strained, they ac-
ceded to Pakistan even before
receiving the format of the In-
strument of Accession. This
was perhaps the smoothest ac-
cession to Pakistan !
THE GREAT GAME AND THE
FRONTIER STATES OF PAK
BritishgovtinIndiasignedanalliancewithKashmir&ChiraltothwartanyAfghanaggression
T
In 1914, Chiral
had signed yet
another
agreement with
Kashmir on
similar lines,
called the
Mastunj
Agreement, but
from the late
(nineteen)
thirties, it had
stopped sending
the nazrana
The legal position
with respect to these
states was that while
Hunza and Nagar were
under the suzerainty
of Kashmir, they were
not part of Kashmir,
but separate states
he global back-
lash against
China over its
culpability for
the internation-
al spread of the deadly
coronavirus from Wuhan
has gained momentum in
recent weeks. And China
itself has added fuel to the
fire, as exemplified by its
recent legal crackdown on
Hong Kong. From implic-
itly seeking a political quid
pro quo for supplying other
countries with protective
medical gear, to rejecting
calls for an independent
international inquiry into
the virus’s origins until a
majority of countries
backed such a probe, the
bullying tactics of Presi-
dent Xi Jinping’s govern-
ment have damaged and
isolated China’s commu-
nist regime.
The backlash could take
the form of Western sanc-
tions as Xi’s regime seeks
to overturn Hong Kong’s
“one country, two systems”
framework with its pro-
posed new national-securi-
ty laws for the territory,
which has been wracked by
widespread pro-democracy
protests for over a year.
Xi’s overreach is inviting
increasing hostility among
China’s neighbors and
around the world.
Had Xi been wise, China
would have sought to re-
pair the pandemic-inflict-
ed damage to its image by
showing empathy and com-
passion, such as by grant-
ing debt relief to near-
bankrupt Belt and Road
Initiative partner coun-
tries and providing medi-
cal aid to poorer countries
without seeking their sup-
port for its handling of the
outbreak. Instead, China
has acted in ways that un-
dermine its long-term in-
terests. Whether through
its aggressive “Wolf War-
rior” diplomacy – named
after two Chinese films in
which special-operations
forces rout US-led merce-
naries – or military-backed
expansionist moves in Chi-
na’s neighborhood, Xi’s
regime has caused interna-
tional alarm. In fact, Xi,
the self-styled indispensa-
ble leader, views the cur-
rent global crisis as an op-
portunity to tighten his
grip on power and advance
his neo-imperialist agen-
da, recently telling a Chi-
nese university audience
that, “The great steps in
history were all taken after
major disasters.”
China has certainly
sought to make the most of
the pandemic. After buying
up much of the world’s
available supply of protec-
tive medical equipment in
January, it has engaged in
price-gouging and apparent
profiteering. And Chinese
exports of substandard or
defective medical gear have
only added to the interna-
tional anger. While the
world grapples with COV-
ID-19, the Chinese military
has provoked border flare-
ups with India and attempt-
ed to police the waters off
the Japanese-controlled
Senkaku Islands.
Meanwhile, China has
made good on its threat of
economic reprisals against
Australia for initiating the
idea of an international
coronavirus inquiry.
Through trade actions, the
Chinese government has ef-
fectively cut off imports of
Australian barley and
blocked more than one-
third of Australia’s regular
beef exports to China.
Whereas Japan readily
allowed the International
Atomic Energy Agency to
conduct a full investigation
into the 2011 Fukushima
nuclear disaster – a probe
that helped the country to
improve safety governance
– China strongly opposed
any coronavirus inquiry, as
if it had something to hide.
In fact, some Chinese com-
mentators denounced calls
for an inquiry as racist.
FOR FULL REPORT LOG ON TO
WWW.PROJECTSYNDICATE .COM
Coronavirus: China is its own worst enemy
T
Chinese military
has provoked
border flare-ups
with India and
attempted to police
the waters off the
Japanese-Senkaku
Islands
If we could see the miracle
of a single flower clearly,
our whole life would
change. —Buddha
Spiritual
SPEAK
Top
TWEET
Ahmed Patel
@ahmedpatel
We condemn the arrest of the
UP Congress President. All legal
assistance is being provided to
ensure his early release but this arrest
underlines the grim situation in Uttar
Pradesh- where a weak government
has resorted to anti democratic
tendencies to hide its failures.
Piyush Goyal
@PiyushGoyal
There is more public acceptance
of our reform steps. The world
is looking at India as a trusted &
reliable partner. India will be one
of the 1st countries to recover
from COVID-19 because we have
130 crore aspirational Indians.
The author is an IAS &
Director, Lal Bahadur
Shastri National Academy of
Administration Mussoorie
and Honorary Curator, Valley
of Words: Literature and Arts
Festival, Dehradun
DR SANJEEV
CHOPRA

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

INDIAAHMEDABAD | MONDAY, MAY 25, 2020
Mumbai: Maharashtra
Chief Minister Uddhav
Thackeray held an on-
line briefing on the pre-
vailing coronavirus
situation in the state
and said that the fight
against Covid-19 is go-
ing to be a “tougher
one” but the adminis-
tration is prepared with
extra medical facilities.
Thackeray said that
it was wrong to im-
pose lockdown sud-
denly. On the lock-
down deadline of May
31, he said that “we
can’t end it all at once”
Thackeray thanked
the people of Maha-
rashtra for showing
their discipline and
following the lock-
down. He said that the
Covid-19 cases in Ma-
harashtra were pro-
jected to be around 1.15
lakh by May end but
currently, “we have
33,786 Covid-19 cases,
around 13,404 have re-
covered,” he said.
“This is due to the
lockdown and discipline
maintained by you all,”
the chief minister said.
Thackeray cautioned
against rise in Covid-19
in state & said that the
administration is pre-
paring hospital infra-
structure for an increase
in load of Covid-19 cases.
“By the end of May,
we will make 14,000
beds available, cur-
rently we have already
created around 7,000
beds including 3,000 in
our field hospitals,” he
said. —PTI
‘Fight against COVID-19tougher now’Maha CM Uddhav Thackeray held an online briefing on the prevailing coronavirus situation in the state
New Delhi: Chief of
Defence Staff General
Bipin Rawat has started
donating Rs 50,000 from
his monthly salary to
the PM-CARES fund,
news agency ANI re-
ported on Sunday. The
amount will be deduct-
ed from his salary and
deposited in the Cen-
tre’s COVID-19 relief
fund for the next twelve
months, defence sourc-
es told ANI.
The former Army
Chief wrote a letter in
March requesting the
concerned authorities
to transfer the amount
from his monthly sala-
ry, as per reports. The
first deduction of Rs
50,000 was made in
April. —ANI
CDS to donate
`50,000
monthly to PM-
CARES Fund
New Delhi: BSP supre-
mo Mayawati held both
the BJP & Congress re-
sponsible for the poor
condition of migrant
workers in the country
amid the COVID-19 lock-
down. “Neither the Cen-
tre nor state govern-
ments focused on mi-
grants. When migrant
labourers started dying
of hunger and were not
given wages by their
companies, they started
moving towards their
states in desperation as
they had no option. The
BJP and Congress kept
blaming each other and
playing disgusting poli-
tics over the issue. How-
ever, these two parties
are equally responsible
for the plight of mi-
grant workers amid the
lockdown,” Mayawati
said. “Congress was
against the implemen-
tation of the SC/ST Act.
This was the reason Dr
BR Ambedkar resigned
from Jawaharlal
Nehru's cabinet,” she
said.
She further lambast-
ed Congress saying,
“Congress says BSP
wants to join hands
with BJP. We condemn
this. I want to clear that
we will never contest
any election in alliance
with BJP or Congress,”
Mayawati said. —ANI
BJP, Cong equally responsible
for labourers’ plight:Mayawati
Mumbai: Two persons,
including a sadhu, were
found murdered in
Nanded district of Ma-
harashtra Saturday
night. Sadhu Shivacha-
rya Rudra of Pashupati
Math was found mur-
dered inside his ash-
ram, while the body of
Bhagwan Shinde was
found near a school in
the area.
The Nanded police
said a local villager and
follower of sadhu, iden-
tified as Sainath Lan-
gote, was behind the two
murders and, prima fa-
cie, the motive seemed to
be robbery.
The accused has a case
of murder and molesta-
tion registered against
him.SP,Nanded,Vijayku-
mar Magar said that the
incident took place on
Saturday when Langote
went to the Pashupati
Math. He went inside the
private room where the
sadhu was taking rest
and threw chilli powder
on him before a fight
broke out between the
two, Magar said.
“Langote throttled
him to death. He then
took laptop, money of
sadhu. He also dragged
sadhu’s body to latter’s
four-wheeler in order to
dispose it off. However,
the vehicle got stuck
at entrance of ashram
& some followers saw
this. They suspected
that Langote was steal-
ing four-wheeler and
rushed down,” Magar
said. —Agencies
Maharashtra:
Sadhu among two
killed in Nanded
New Delhi: Delhi
Health Minister
Satyendar Jain on
Sunday said that the
Delhi government
has barricaded
the containment
zones and no
relaxation has been
given in these areas.
“Whatever contain-
ment zones are
there, we are bar-
ricading it and no
relaxation from the
government has
been given in these
zones,” the Health
Minister said.
Mumbai: “87 police
personnel of state
found COVID-19 posi-
tive in last 24 hours
taking the total number
of affected personnel
to 1,758,” the police
said.Out of the total,
18 have died due to the
infection. —ANI
‘NO RELAXATION
IN CONTAINMENT
ZONES’
87 MORE
POLICEMEN TEST
POSITIVE
MIGRANTS WALK
DOWN TO THEIR
HOMES
Kanpur: Migrant
workers seem to be
unaffected in Kanpur
even when tempera-
ture rises to 45-de-
gree Celsius. Sharing
the ordeal of his jour-
ney braving scorching
heat, Avlal Kumar, a
migrant worker who
started his journey
from Chennai & has
reached Kanpur, said:
“I don't have a single
penny in my pocket.
We didn't have any
other option but to
reach home.”
Lucknow: The Con-
gress described BSP
chief Mayawati as a
“Twitter behanji” and
“undeclared spokes-
person of BJP”, “an-
gry with” the grand
old party’s “proac-
tive” efforts to miti-
gate migrant workers’
miseries.
Congress leader PL
Punia hit back at
Mayawati a day after
BSP described Rahul
Gandhi’s meeting
with migrant workers
a “drama”.
“The language &
tweets, which the
‘Twitter behanji’ is
using clearly indi-
cates that she makes
the press note for the
BJP and sends it,” Pu-
nia said. “She feels
angry over the proac-
tive efforts of the Con-
gress and its general
secretary Priyanka
Gandhi Vadra,” he
added. Punia also ac-
cused the BSP of hav-
ing a “tacit under-
standing” with the
BJP while the Con-
gress’ SC cell chair-
man Brijlal Khabri
said, “Mayawati is the
undeclared spokesper-
son of the BJP.” —PTI
Mayawati a ‘Twitter behanji’
‘undeclared speaker of BJP’
New Delhi: Dr Harsh
Vardhan, the Union
Minister for Health &
Family Welfare today
visited the Dedicated
COVID-19 Health Cen-
tre (DCHC) at Chaud-
hary Brahm Prakash
Ayurved Charak San-
sthan (CBPACS), Najaf-
garh, New Delhi.
He reviewed the ar-
rangements at the Cen-
tre for treatment of
COVID-19 patients.
While in the COVID-19
Health center, the Min-
ister also interacted
with the team of Doc-
tors and enquired about
the wellbeing of COV-
ID-19 patients. He
sought their feedback
about the facilities
available at the COV-
ID-19 Health Centre and
the results of treatment
by Ayurvedic medi-
cines. After inspection
of the various facilities
of the Centre, Dr Harsh
Vardhan expressed sat-
isfaction with the work-
ing of the CBPACS
DCHC. —ANI
‘CBPACS’s
treatment
for patients
satisfying’
Medics conduct a health check-up of residents of Vile Parle slum area for COVID-19 detection.
Incident of the
brutal murder
of a Sadhu
and other Sevekari in
Nanded district is
shocking and painful.
My heartfelt tributes.
—Devendra Fadnavis,
Former Maharashtra CM
Kathmandu: Nepal
Army has deployed a
‘section plus’ unit near
Ghantibagar of Darchu-
la district for construc-
tion of 87 kilometres
section of road under
Mahakali corridor or
the Darchula-Tinkar
Road Project.
The government had
decided to entrust Nepal
Armywithconstruction
project. “The ministers
during a meeting on
April 26 had decided to
deploy a section plus
force of Nepal Army
with required equip-
ment to build 87 kilome-
tres section of the road.
A mule track which falls
under road section will
have a width of 2 meters
& 450 meters length,”
Nepal Army said. The
Govt of Nepal in 2008 had
sanctioned various con-
tractors to build on-road
which would run parallel
with India border on
Dharchula side, separated
by Mahakali River. —ANI
NepaldeploysArmyunittoconstruct
Darchula-Tinkar Road Project
Bhopal: Two consta-
bles of MP Police
were suspended & an
inquiry ordered after
a video clip showed
them mercilessly
beating a man in
Chhindwara. The
man alleged to be in
an intoxicated state.
Head constable
Krishna Dingre &
constable Ashish
posted at Pi-
plyanarayanwar po-
lice outpost under
Lodhikheda police
station in Chhind-
wara. The man who
was beaten up is fine,
said police.The video
triggered massive re-
action on social me-
dia with many users
demanding harsher
punishment for cops.
Cops who thrashed man in MP,
suspended as video goes viral
Migrants not adhering to social distancing norm as they
arrive at Danapur railway station to board a train in Patna.
Mumbai: Maharashtra cabinet minister and
former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan has tested
positive for coronavirus in Mumbai. Congress
leader Ashok Chavan is the current PWD min-
ister of Maharashtra. Meanwhile, the number
of Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra crossed the
50,000-mark on Sunday on account of 3,041
new detections, the highest in the single day.The
overall death toll in the state has gone up by 58,
including 39 from Mumbai, to 1,635.
EX- MAHA CM CHAVAN TESTS+VE
G’nagar ‘given’...
The situation has be-
come such that Jayanti
Ravi,theprincipalsecre-
tary(health),hasstopped
briefingthemediainper-
son. Instead, the depart-
ment sends out a press
release. The change
came after the Gujarat
highcourtpulledupRavi
over the situation in
Ahmedabad’s Civil Hos-
pital. Some eight cases
have been reported from
Yadunath Lane and Piru
Singh Lane of the Army
cantonmentarea.Author-
ities have quarantined
jawans and their families
living in these areas.
One more front line
warrior, an Assistant
Police Inspector with
the Krishnanagar po-
lice station of Ahmed-
abad died while fight-
ing the Corona. He
was confirmed as be-
ing infected with
Sars-CoV-2 just four
days ago. In another
incident, a head con-
stable with the Va-
dodara police has
been infected with the
virus. City police will
quarantine all per-
sonnel who had come
into contact with the
head constable.
IMD issues...
over Punjab, Haryana,
Chandigarh, Delhi, Ra-
jasthan, Uttar Pradesh,
Madhya Pradesh, Vidar-
bha and Telangana
during the next five
days,” the IMD said in
its daily bulletin. —PTI
‘14-day
quarantine...
such as cases of human
distress, pregnancy,
death in family, serious
illness and parents ac-
companied by children
below 10 years, as per
assessment by the re-
ceiving states, home
quarantine may be per-
mitted for 14 days. In
such an exceptional
case, the use of the Aar-
ogya Setu app will be
mandatory. Further, all
inbound passengers
shallbeadvisedtodown-
load Aarogya Setu app
on their mobile devices,
and at the time of board-
ing the flight or ship,
onlyasymptomatictrav-
ellers will be allowed to
board after thermal
screening. —PTI
Domestic air...
and 25 landings per day
for domestic flights
from Mumbai. This
number will be in-
creased gradually. State
govt will issue details
and guidelines in this
regard soon.
Many states have so
far made it mandatory
for travelers to go on
quarantine and these
are Madhya Pradesh,
Punjab, Chattisgarh,
Karnataka, Assam , Ut-
tarakhand, Goa, Jam-
mu Kashmir, Andaman
& Nicobar, Kerala, Odi-
sha, Assam, Uttar
Pradesh, Tamil Nadu
and Andhra Pradesh.
In the midst of uncer-
tainty and confusion,
representatives of air-
lines and several states
held multiple meetings
with top officials of the
Civil Aviation Ministry
on Sunday covering a
range of contentious
issues like quarantine
rules for flyers and
standard operating pro-
cedures for leading air-
ports, officials said.
Officials said the
first flight on Monday
is scheduled to depart
from Mumbai for Patna
at 4.20 am. Similarly,
the first flight from Del-
hi airport would depart
for Kolkata at 4.30 am.
Both flights are from
IndiGo airline. At the
same time, they did not
rule out a change in the
schedule if the West
Bengal government
unilaterally decides not
to allow flight opera-
tions. —Agency inputs
FROM PG 1

TALKING POINTAHMEDABAD | MONDAY, MAY 25, 2020
SOURCE: THE CONVERSATION CONCEPT: DIVYA HEMNANI DESIGN: ABHISHEK SHARMA
PLANE CABINS ARE HAVENS FOR GERMS
THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IS FORCING AIRLINES TO LOOK CLOSELY AT THEIR HYGIENE PRACTICES. BUT
AIRCRAFT CABINS WERE HAVENS FOR GERMS LONG BEFORE THE CORONAVIRUS CAME ALONG
a n t a s
has un-
veiled a
range of
precau-
tions to guard pas-
sengers against COV-
ID-19. The safety
measures expected to
be rolled out on June
12 include contact-
less check-in, hand
sanitiser at depar-
ture gates, and op-
tional masks and
sanitising wipes on
board.
Controversially,
however, there will
be no physical dis-
tancing on board, be-
cause Qantas claims
it is too expensive to
run half-empty
flights.
The COVID-19 pan-
demic is forcing air-
lines to look closely
at their hygiene prac-
tices. But aircraft
cabins were havens
for germs long before
the coronavirus
came along. The good
news is there are
some simple ways
on-board hygiene can
be improved.
Q
As an environmental
microbiologist I have
observed, in general, a
gradual loss of quality in
hygiene globally.
Airports and aircrafts
have crammed ever larger
numbers of passengers
into ever smaller econo-
my-class seats.
Although social dis-
tancing can’t do much in a
confined cabin space – as
the virus is reported to be
able to travel eight metres
— wearing face masks
(viral ones in particular)
and practising hand hy-
giene remain crucial.
Since microorganisms
are invisible, it is hard to
combat such a powerful
enemy. During flights, I
have observed a vast ar-
ray of unwitting mistakes
made by flight crew and
passengers.
Some crew staff would
go to the bathroom to
push overflowing paper
towels down into the bins,
exit without washing their
hands and continue to
serve food and drinks.
We have the technol-
ogy for manufacturers to
install waste bins where
paper towels can be
shredded, disinfected and
disposed of via suction,
as is used in the toilets.
Moreover, all aircraft
waste bins should operate
with pedals to prevent
hand contamination.
Also, pilots should not
share bathrooms with
passengers, as is often
the case. Imagine the
consequences if pilots
became infected and
severely ill during a long
flight, to the point of not
being able to fly. Who
would land the plane?
For instance, the highly
transmissible norovirus,
which causes vomiting
and diarrhoea, can mani-
fest within 12 hours of ex-
posure. So for everyone’s
safety, pilots should have
their own bathroom.
In March, luggage han-
dlers were infected with
COVID-19 at Adelaide
Airport.
As a passenger, you
should avoid placing
your hand luggage on the
seats while reaching into
overhead lockers. There’s
a chance your luggage
was placed on a contami-
nated surface before you
entered the plane, such
as on a public bathroom
floor.
Be wary of using the
seat pocket in front of
you. Previous passen-
gers may have placed
dirty (or infected) tissues
there. So keep this in
mind when using one to
hold items such as your
passport, or glasses,
which come close to
your eyes (through which
SARS-CoV-2 can enter
the body).
Also, safety cards in
seat pockets should be
disposable and should be
replaced after each flight.
In facing the COVID-19
crisis, it’s important to
remember that unless an
antiviral drug or a vaccine
is found, this virus could
come back every year.
On many occasions,
microbiologists have
warned of the need for
more microbiology litera-
cy among the public. Yet,
too often their calls are
dismissed as paranoia, or
being overly cautious.
But now’s the time to
listen, and to start taking
precaution. For all we
know, there may be even
more dangerous super-
bugs breeding around us
– ones we’ve simply yet
to encounter.
COMMON SENSE PRECAUTIONS
Aircraft kitchen areas
should be as far as
possible from toilets.
Male and female toilets
should be separated
because, due to the way
men and women use the
bathroom, male bath-
rooms are more likely to
have droplets of urine
splash outside the toilet
bowl. Child toilets and
change rooms should be
separate as well.
Food trolleys should
be covered with a sterile
plastic sheet during ser-
vice as they come close
to seated passengers who
could be infected.
And to allow traffic flow
in the corridor, trolleys
should not be placed
near toilets. At times I
have seen bread rolls in a
basket with a nice white
napkin, with the napkin
touching the toilet door.
Also, blankets should
not be used if the bags
have been opened, and
pillows should have their
own sterile bags.
Use gloves when han-
dling non-disposable food
service items.
FOOD AND THE KITCHEN
MIND YOUR LUGGAGE

Greetings on the pious occasion of
Eid Al-Fitr. Eid is a day of
sharing what we have and caring
for others. Joy and happiness to all!
—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO & Editor, First India
AHMEDABAD | MONDAY, MAY 25, 2020www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
08
2NDFRONT
Nizam Kantaliya
Jaipur : With the lock-
down in effect and so-
cial distancing being
the order of the day, the
Rajasthan Bar Council
held the ninth session
of webinar on Sunday
during which Chief
Justice of Telangana
High Court - Justice RS
Chauhan address the
seminar on criminal ap-
peals and the art of ar-
gument in court. Ad-
dressing advocates, Jus-
tice Chauhan said that
there is always a differ-
ence in knowledge and
experience. “We can
take knowledge from
books and life is what
gives us experiences,”
Justice Chauhan said.
“There are a few prin-
cipalsof criminallawof
which the first principal
isof commonlaw,which
states that every person
is innocent. “To prove
him guilty is the respon-
sibility of state govern-
ment. Every person is
responsible for their ac-
tion but sometimes
there are circumstances
where one person can be
termed responsible for
others’ action. IPC’s sec-
tion 34 and 35 mention
this and thus advocates
should know about it,”
the Telangana Chief
Justice, who started his
career in 1983 as an ad-
vocate, said.
Justice Chauhan
stressed that before
any action can be
termed criminal, two
facts related to it need
to be studied. First,
what is the action that
has been taken for ex-
ample a theft or rape.
And second, what is
the mindset or psy-
chology of the ac-
cused which we also
term as intention, ra-
tionale or knowledge,
he said.
“However, there are
some actions which are
devoid of mindset or in-
tention for example kid-
napping, rape, socio-
economic offence.
Crimes are of several
types like some are re-
lated to property like
theft and dacoity, some
are associated with per-
son like rape and har-
assment and murder,
some are against the
country like treason.
There are some crimes
against judiciary as
well like giving false
statement while under
oath. CRPC also also de-
tails crimes as bailable
or non-bailable, cogni-
zable or non-cognizable
and then there are spe-
cial laws like POCSO
and others,” Justice
Chauhan said.
The former judge of
Rajasthan and Karnata-
ka High Courts also said
that an advocate, new to
the field, faces most dif-
ficulty in preparation of
criminal appeal. He sug-
gested that start should
befromFIRbecausethat
is the base for the pros-
ecutionandtheycannot
deviate from it. After
reading the FIR, find
out which sections
does the crime fall in
and then study the in-
gredients of this sec-
tion, go through the
facts of the case and
read the judgement af-
ter reading the FIR
and facts.
“whenyougothrough
these points, the ambit
og appeal becomes
large. Focus on contra-
dictory statements.
Study the post-mortem
report, narcotics report
and keep in mind the
FSL report. Corrobo-
rate how much help you
can gather from prose-
cution. A Fauzdari ad-
vocate is master of
facts and if he does
not know the facts of
the case, his argu-
ments become weak.
Even personal ap-
pearance also matters
of any advocate,” CJ
Justice Chauhan told
advocates.
Knowledge is gained from books, experience...from life : Justice RS Chauhan
@ahmedpatel
HOME SWEET HOME
As many as 132 people on Sunday landed at the Ahmedabad international airport from UK.They
have been flied home under the Vande Bharat Missions. In all, the flight carried 323 Indians.
2 killed for asking Gujarat
driver to get quarantined
First India Bureau
Latur: A man and his
relative were killed in
the early hours of Sun-
day in Latur in Maha-
rashtra in a mob attack
after they asked a Guja-
rat-returnee truck driv-
er to get quarantined.
Police said the inci-
dent happened around
2.30 a.m. in Bolegaon
village in Nilanga
tehsil, over 275 kilome-
tres from here.
“Driver Vidyaman
Baramde, who lives in
Mumbai, returned to
Bolegaon from Gujarat
and deceased Shahaji
Patil asked him to get
home quarantined.
However, Baramde
went to his sister’s place
in Chandori village and
returned with a mob
which thrashed Patil
(50) and his relative Vai-
bhav (24), both of whom
died in the attack,” a
police officer said.
The official said a
murder case had been
registered and eight
people have been de-
tained.
Pradhan gets Patnaik to ‘cosy-up’ to union government
Vaishali
New Delhi: Two days
back, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi vis-
ited the cyclone-af-
fected areas of Odis-
ha and announced a
Rs 500 crore relief
package for the state.
To the common man,
it could appear as the
‘cause and effect’
principle. There was
a cyclone (cause)
that rained havoc on
the people of the
tribal state and in its
effect, PM Modi trav-
elled there. However,
what people do not
know is the back-
ground of the visit
i.e. who made a rec-
ommendation to
Modi to carry the se-
rial survey.
Highly placed sourc-
es in the union govern-
ment inform that it was
none other than the CM
contender from Odisha,
current Petroleum
Minister Dharmen-
dra Pradhan who rec-
ommended to PM. Po-
litical observers be-
lieve that Pradhan
was the ‘architect’ of
PM’s visit, giving fur-
ther impetus to the
established fact that
he is extremely close
to both PM Modi and
Union Home Minister
Amit Shah.
But how did he gain
the trust of probably
the most active political
minds of our nation.
One word: ‘Hardwork’.
Apart from being an ef-
fective party worker,
what outshone him
among the horde of
ministers, was his suc-
cess in taking the petro-
leum ministry to each
and every rural house-
hold. Sounds bizarre?
Well, the ministry, that
was like a ‘honeycomb’
for big corporate ‘bees’,
bolstered its image
among the rural lot
through PM Ujjawala
Yojna. Effective imple-
mentation of the
scheme providing free
cylinder to over six
crore people, according
to BJP’s ‘think tank’,
proved immensely ben-
eficial for the party in
the 2019 general elec-
tions.
Cut to two days
back, when Odisha
CM Naveen Patnaik
accompanied PM
Modi for the aerial
tour. While the Prime
Minister took Prad-
han along in the
flight, it is his local
politics and charisma
that has ultimately
resulted in BJD lead-
er and CM Patnaik
tweeting his thanks
and stressing that
BJD and BJP will
work together for the
people of Odisha.
Dharmendra Pradhan with Naveen Patnaik —FILE PHOTO
Telangana HC Chief Justice RS Chauhan during the webinar.
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: The Gu-
jarat High Court has
not only pulled up the
State Government for
various aspects of its
handling of the corona
crisis, but in a 142-page
interim judgment in a
bunch of PILs it has
also asked the
Ahmedabad Municipal
Corporation to ensure
early preparations for
the monsoons.
The high court’s di-
rectives are not out of
sync with the situa-
tion, given that mon-
soon diseases like
dengue and malaria
had created a scare in
Ahmedabad city in
particular and the
rest of the State in
general during the
last two years with
numbers crossing
four digits.
A division bench of
the Gujarat High
Court comprising
Justice JB Pardiwala
and Justice IJ Vora
reminded the
Ahmedabad Munici-
pal Commissioner
that since monsoon
may set in by June
21, the AMC should
not ignore or fail to
initiate pre-monsoon
measures that may
include prevent wa-
ter-logging. This is to
ensure, the judges
said, diseases like
dengue and malaria
do not spread, along
with the coronavirus.
The apprehensions
raised by the high court
have basis in the fact
that Ahmedabad city
already accounts for as
many as 75 per cent of
the total nearly 14,000
Covid-19 cases in Guja-
rat and any other
health calamity could
lead to serious conse-
quences.
There was a three-
fold rise in dengue
deaths in Ahmedabad
in 2019 as against
2018, even when these
cases were on the
higher side.
The number of den-
gue cases in
Ahmedabad city alone
last year recorded an
increase of 38 per cent
over 2018. AMC fig-
ures show that from
January 1 to Decem-
ber 7, 2019, 4,331 cas-
es of dengue were re-
ported against 3,135
in the whole of 2018.
What is more, Guja-
rat topped the list of
total dengue cases at
16,565 between Janu-
ary 1 and December 7
last year, followed by
Karnataka with 15,929
cases.
A MONTH BEFORE MONSOONS,
DENGUE FEAR LOOMS LARGEGujarat reported the highest over 16,000 dengue cases in the country in 2019
First India Bureau
Surat: The challenge
for migrant workers
stuck in different
parts of the country
after the lockdown is
not just to get a trans-
port, the hardship
continues even after
getting a train to go
home. This is one
such case.
A Shramik Spe-
cial train that start-
ed from Surat for
Sivan in Bihar at 4
a.m. on May 22, in-
stead reached Rour-
kela in Odisha. The
labourers realised it
later.
Also, during the
30-hour journey to
Rourkela, the pas-
sengers did not even
get water or any-
thing to eat. The
train was expected
to reach Sivan in Bi-
har at 12 noon on
Sunday.
The train ran
smoothly till
Bhusaval in Maha-
rashtra and then
took the passengers
to Chhattisgarh be-
fore reaching them
to Rourkela in Odi-
sha. The destina-
tion, Sivan in Bihar,
is a good 600 km
from Rourkela.
Besides this, the
Railways may be
praised for the spe-
cial trains it runs
for the workers but
the condition of the
passengers is said to
be pathetic.
A passenger on
the train said that,
“We carried 20 li-
tres of water, which
finished within a
few hours. After
that, we did not have
enough water to
drink and anything
to eat on the way.”
Thus, the passen-
gers had to travel
more than 500 km and
suffer with 10 hours
of hassle which has
caused a great deal of
resentment against
the railway officials.
Shramik train meant
forBihar reachesOdisha!
A Shramik Special train headed for Bihar left the passengers
zapped when it reached Rourkela in Odisha instead
STRICT REMINDER
Union Petroleum Minister Pradhan was instrumental in bringing PM to Bhubaneshwar and to announce `500 cr relief package
Jan
Feb
March
April
May
June
July
Aug
Sept
Oct
Nov
Dec
11 34 42 26 30 24 18 72
309 332
115
18 07 08 13 12
137 125
351/02
1409/02
899/04
12341436/08
804/01
CITY
DENGUE 2019
CITY
DENGUE 2019
Total:4,331/13 Total:3,135/04
CITY
DENGUE 2018
Cases Deaths Cases Deaths
—INFOGRAPHIC : MURLIDHAR SHARMA
Jan
Feb
March
April
May
June
July
Aug
Sept
Oct
Nov
Dec
The observations of the Hon’ble Gujarat High
Court on the conduct of the state government
& present situation in public hospitals are
extremely worrisome. It should serve as an eye
opener for the government
Eid Mubarak! I convey my hearti-
est greetings on the occasion of
Id-ul-Fitr
Compassion & Solidarity is the true
spirt of Eid
Let us dedicate this Eid to assist all
those who have endured grave
suffering due to this pandemic.

AHMEDABAD, MONDAY
MAY 25, 2020
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia
facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia 09
MUBARAKRegardless of the lockdown, dressing up is a
definite must in Eid, and City First briefs you
about the looks you can go for this year, and look
your best on the special day!
oday is the occasion of
Eid, and there are
many people who have
been eagerly waiting
for this day. Being a
grand occasion every
year, things have
slowed down a bit this time, due
to the unfortunate events that
lead to a two-month lockdown.
Butthatwon’tstopthespreadof
love and positivity, and Eid is go-
ing to be celebrated today be-
tweenthefamilies,infullswing.
The three main elements be-
cause of which Eid is looked
forward to are dressing up, food,
and of course being together
with the loved ones. Everyone is
going to dress up in the best way
possible and looking their best,
thehouseholdsaregoingtohave
Sheer Khurma and Biryani
among other things, ready to
be hogged on to, and every-
one is going to be with their
loved ones- some being
physically together, and
some virtually.
City First spoke to a few
of its readers in Rajasthan
and Gujarat regarding
the Eid looks to go for
this year!
“Eidisincomplete
without the festive
wearslikeShara-
ra, Lehengas,
Kurtas, Sa-
rees and
amazing
Hijabs.
Life is short and we should
make every outfit count,” said
Ekta Thirani from Jaipur. Sam-
reen Khan from Jodhpur
shared, “Dressing up for a
change can brighten up the day
and we feel can feel festive all
day long. I did not forget to
dress up this Eid. I personally
loved to wear my garara suit,
which is in trend from years
and till the day with colourful
glass bangles.”
“No new clothes this year, but
maybe I can mix and match to
create a cool ensemble that will
probably include a mask,” stat-
ed Arwa Taksali from
Ahmedabad. Khushboo Nadaf
from the same city shared, “Un-
fortunately, the lockdown
means no shopping. So I’ll be
reusing the stuff I already have
in the closet. I am planning to
wear a plain white kurta and
add a bright coloured scarf. Full
glam make-up with some ele-
gant jewellery willcomplete
the look.”
NEHAL NAYAR
nehal.nayar@firstindia.co.in
T

10
ETCAHMEDABAD | MONDAY, MAY 25, 2020www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
FACEOFTHEDAY
ANMOL BHATIA, Influencer
YOUR
DAYHoroscope by
Saurabbh Sachdeva
LEO
JULY 24 - AUGUST 23
You will work towards
something that is not easily
doable but with consistent
efforts you will keep
moving ahead. Do not take your work
for granted thinking it to be a
cakewalk as any negligence will make
you put in triple efforts. You family
member may expect you to join them.
LIBRA
SEPT 24 - OCTOBER 22
If you are self employed
then you may plan to get
into an allied field for better
results. Academically you
may need to try very hard for your
chances to increase. In social life
someone may target you and make
you the subject of their gossip, so be
careful.
ARIES
MAR 21 - APR 20
Professionally all the hard
work that you have done in
the past will pay you now
and that will give a boost
to your career. You may try other
options to make money and create
your strong financial standing.
Please take care of your health. Be
careful while negotiating.
SAGITTARIUS
NOV 23 - DEC 22
Do not allow any one’s
intervention if you are
assigned a duty to organise
any event or function.
Government employees can to be
subjected to the scrutiny by those in
authority. It can be extremely difficult
for you to forgive the one who has
done wrong to you in the past.
GEMINI
MAY 21 - JUNE 21
You are very innovative
and full of ideas at your
workplace. Be prudent by
starting to save right from
now because too many expenses at
hand may leave you with hardly any
money in your bank account. The
member of your family may be need
of medical help.
AQUARIUS
JAN 21 - FEB 19
To avoid any humiliation
please take your tasks
seriously. Adopt a helping
attitude and assist people
who are in need. On academic front
you will achieve all your desired goals.
You may travel abroad to meet your
close ones. You will get good results if
you are planning to buy or sell.
TAURUS
APR 21 - MAY 20
Before taking up any other
work in hands, focus and
prioritise getting things in
order at your workplace. In
social life, the initiative that you took
in the past with give fruitful results.
You can expect a result at home who
will fill your environment with
positivity. It is a celebration time.
CAPRICORN
DEC 23 - JAN 20
Do not be bias towards
who needs to be pulled up
for the sake of improve-
ment. You find a friend and
a guide in your family elder so listen
to their wise words. You may throw a
party for the closed ones at your
place. Relatives may brighten up
your environment.
VIRGO
AUG 24 - SEP 23
You will stop poking your
nose in other people’s
business. You may not be
in the mood today to take
up a responsibility as you know you
may not be able to fulfil it. Academi-
cally your hard work will pay and you
will get what you want. Rejoice as
family outing is on the cards.
CANCER
JUNE 22 - JULY 23
You may not be brave
enough to see eye to eye
with a senior but you will
surely handle the situation
tactfully. Academically your hard
work and persistence will pay you.
There will be peace at home as you
have a positive outlook now. You will
spend quality time with someone.
PISCES
FEB20 - MARCH 20
Try your give your best at
work if you want to
impress yours seniors. You
may get the opportunity to
travel abroad. If you are thinking of
buying a house or property then go
ahead you will surely get the loan or
the resources you are looking for.
Tensions at home will be perceptible.
SCORPIO
OCT 23 - NOVEMBER 22
Please show support to a
younger in your family to
increase their performance
level on academic front.
You may get time for leisure pursuits
totally supported by your firm. You
may get your receivables from
someone to whom you loaned the
money.
BHAR DO JHOLI MERISONGS DEPICTING THE FESTIVE SPIRIT OF EID HAVE BEEN POPULAR SINCE LONG IN
BOLLYWOOD. CITY FIRST SHARES A FEW SONGS YOU CAN PUT AND LISTEN TO TODAY
AS WE IMMERSE OURSELVES IN THE CELEBRATION OF EID AL-FITR!
Song: Kun Faya Kun
Movie: Rockstar
Song: Jumme Ki Raat
Movie: Kick
Song: Aaj Ki Party
Movie: Bajrangi Bhaijaan
Salman Khan
Aamir Khan
Shah Rukh Khan
Song: Khwaja Mere Khwaja
Movie: Jodhaa Akbar
Song: Wallah Re Wallah
Movie: Tees Maar Khan
Song: Mubarak Eid Mubarak
Movie: Tumko Na Bhool Paayenge
Song: Allah Hi Reham
Movie: My Name Is Khan
Song: Bhar Do Jholi Meri
Movie: Bajrangi Bhaijaan
Song: Yoon Shabnami
Movie: Saawariya

T
he fear of uncertainty
has hit everyone hard as
the world has come to a
standstill due to the global
outbreak of the novel coronavirus.
Actress Yami Gautam says she
doesn’t know when film shoots will
resume because even after the
lockdown is lifted, it doesn’t
look like COVID-19 will be
contained. How does she see
the future of the entertain-
ment industry post-pandemic
and in what ways will the in-
dustry change? “Budgets are
going to be reworked. Already
the proposed films that most
of us were to be part of, are
looking at reworked budgets
and mediums, with theatres
being shut and with no idea
when they’ll open. Of
course, the mid-budget
films have an opportunity
to opt for digital plat-
forms,” Yami said. She
says she is only being
offered work that is
set for the web space.
“Films are coming
my way with the
proposal that it’s for
the digital platform.
This shift is already hap-
pening. We don’t know when
we’re going to resume shooting
because even after the lock-
down is lifted, it doesn’t look
like the coronavirus will be
contained,” she said. —IANS
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
11
MOST
Difficult
SHOT!
ndian actress Pri-
yanka Chopra Jo-
nas’s latest post on
social media draws a
funny comparison
between “expecta-
tion vs. reality”. Pri-
yanka took to Instagram,
where she shared two
photographs of herself,
in which she quipped
about how expectation
looked like and how it
was in real life. In the
first image, ‘The Sky Is
Pink’ actress is seen
sporting a glamorous
blush pink monokini
paired with sunglasses.
In the second image, Pri-
yanka is seen in a white
crochet skirt and crop
top, with her face cov-
ered with a
white cloth.
She captioned
it: “Expectation
vs. Reality @di-
vya_jyoti. —IANS
Expectation vs
REALITY
ETCAHMEDABAD | MONDAY,
MAY 25, 2020
I
A
ctress and former
beauty queen Urvashi
Rautela has shared
that she was once
shouted at for not knowing how
to smoke a cigar. Urvashi took
to Instagram, where she shared
a video of herself from a shoot.
In the clip, she is seen strug-
gling to smoke a cigar. Calling
it the most difficult shot, Ur-
vashi captioned the video:
“#BTS#mostdifficultshot #cig
ar#selflearntin5seconds#nons
mokerforlife P.S. I was shouted
at for not knowing how to
smoke a cigar SMOKING IS IN-
JURIOUS FOR HEALTH.” On
the work front, Urvashi’s next
is ‘Virgin Bhanupriya’, which
is the latest Bollywood film to
confirm a release on an OTT
platform, bypassing a tradi-
tional theatre opening. ‘Virgin
Bhanupriya’ also stars Gautam
Gulati, Archana Puran Singh,
Delnaaz Irani, Rajiv Gupta and
Brijendra Kala, Niki Aneja
Walia and Rumana Molla.
—IANS
Cynical about
MARRIAGE!
i n g e r
Ellie Goulding
s a y s her parents’ divorce
made her cynical about marriage for
a long time. During the ‘Table Manners’
podcast, the singer opened up about how her
parents’ divorce affected her. The ‘Love me like
you do’ hitmaker got married to art dealer Caspar
Joplinglastyear.Sheadmittedthatshebecamedisil-
lusioned with the idea of wedding because of her
parents’ break-up. “I had quite a few outfits because I
was really shameless for my wedding. Since I was a
girl,Iwoulddrawpicturesof girlsinweddingdress-
es, in ball gowns. I always said to myself, ‘if I ever
get married’ which I was really cynical about
for a long time because my parents divorced.
A lot of my childhood friends’ parents
divorced also, so I was never really
a big fan of it,” she said.
—IANS
S
Uncertain
TIMES!
A
ctress-singer Jennifer Lopez is thinking
about safety first, instead of going back to
working on sets. The Hollywood star says a
lot of people are contemplating ways to go
back to work safely after the pandemic, but she has
no clue how that would play out. “We all have to think
about safety first. You don’t want to create a situation
where a bunch of people could get sick or die,” Lopez
said, asked when she would feel safe to go back to
working on set. “I think there are just going to have
to be big procedures in place, whether it’s testing eve-
rybody before they get on a project and then tests
throughout production. I think crews for a while will
be much smaller than they usually are. But this is
just me speculating because I have no idea. I know
studios are working hard, TV and movies, on how to
get back to work because so many people are out of
work,” she added. —IANS
Safety
FIRST
Priyanka Chopra Jonas;
(inset) Her posts
Yami Gautam
Jennifer Lopez
Urvashi Rautela
... her post
Ellie Goulding

12
CITY BUZZAHMEDABAD | MONDAY, MAY 25, 2020www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
FACEBOOK POST! WHAT’S HAPPENING!
HAPPY B’DAY!
IPS Hemant Priyadarshi
(top) and IPS Devendra
Kumar Bishnoi celebrated
their birthdays on 24 May,
Sunday. We wish them all
the best!
CITY FIRST GUJARAT
T
he fire brigade
of Surat city
has made a
f i v e - m i n u t e
video on the precau-
tionary measures to be
taken in order to pre-
vent spread of COV-
ID-19 infection. The
video, which was re-
corded on a mobile
phone, was aimed at
creating awareness
about the deadly virus
and staying safe in
these perilous times. A
song titled ‘Phir Se
Shehro Mein Ronak
Aayegi, Ganvo Mein
Hansi Lotegi’ is also a
part of the video
which expresses opti-
mism that order will
be restored in cities
and villages.
Talking about the
video, chief fire officer
Parikh said, “Around
18 employees and six
officers of the fire bri-
gade department of the
Surat Municipal Cor-
poration have made
this public awareness
video. Not a single pen-
ny has been spent to
make this video that
underlines the precau-
tions to be taken dur-
ing this health crisis.
We appeal to people not
to spit on public roads,
throw used hand gloves
in the trash, and use
hand sanitizers liber-
ally.”
The video has been
made at different fire
stations in the city in-
cluding the Surat Mu-
nicipal Corporation
headquarters.
cityfirstgujarat@gmail.com
CITY FIRST
A
team of re-
searchers at
Centre for
Nano and Soft
MatterSciences(CeNS),
Bangalore, an autono-
mous institute of the
Department of Science
and Technology, have
developed a cup-shaped
design (patent filed) of
the mask that helps to
create enough space in
front of the mouth
while speaking. It has
been transferred to a
Bangalore based com-
pany for mass produc-
tion.
This snug fit mask
causes no speech distor-
tion, no fogging on
glasses, and indeed,
packs well all around,
leaving practically no
room for leakage while
breathing. Another im-
portant advantage is its
high breathability al-
lowing one to wear it
without any discom-
fort. Further, the re-
searchers have chosen
the fabric layers such
that there is a possibil-
ity of deactivating path-
ogens sheerly by the
electric charges that
may prevail under mild
friction due to the tribo-
electric nature of the
fabric. These advanced-
level tests are being car-
ried out.
“While an ergonomic
design for COVID-19
protection mask is es-
sential for its ease of
use for long hours, it is
often not paid much at-
tention beyond a few
standard designs. A
good design should
minimize the feeling of
intrusion and leakage
around the edges, but
maximize the ease of
breathing and talking
while holding its place,”
said Prof Ashutosh
Sharma, Secretary,
DST.
With the increase of
active COVID cases in
India and other coun-
tries, usage of face
masks has been advised
for the general public.
While the healthcare
professionals can use
the special and high
technical quality medi-
cal masks, for the gen-
eral public, a mask with
moderate filtering effi-
ciency should suffice. It
should be comfortable
to wear to encourage
the public to wear it for
long hours.
MYRA SETHI
am sad to know and
sharewithyouthatone
of the oldest and most
prestigiousunitsinthe
Indian Army, the 61st
Cavalry Regiment, is
being disbanded and
now they are to pose as an
armoured regiment with
tanks. Indian Cavalry, rep-
resented by a two-headed
eagle, is most noted for its
victory in the battle of
Haifa, a place in modern-
day Israel, where many
otherup-to-datearmieshad
failed to smash some artil-
lery guns and that is the
reasonwhySeptember23is
celebrated as Haifa Day in
the Indian Army every
year. This step has been
taken by the Government
and Army Headquarters to
reduce taxpayers’ money
on the feeding and caretak-
ing of horses in the middle
of this situation that we’re
going through. Though it is
disheartening that the 61
Cavalry is no more the
world’s only non-tradition-
al working horsed unit, the
government’s decision was
sensible. It is not practical
to spend the taxpayers’
money to make horses af-
fordable with the promise
of medals in international
events, which the regiment
has moderately procured
despitetheseyears.Though
I hate to admit it, this was
bound to happen someday.
This event is concrete
proof that our society is
overcoming the urge to
preserve traditions and
memories. It sends a warn-
ing to the rest of the eques-
trian world that everything
must keep up with the
changing times. The not-
very-progressive methods
of training horses that still
prevail in the horse indus-
try including the cavalry
couldposeadangeragainst
the call of change. If eques-
trians all over the world
fail to evolve their methods
of training and manage-
ment of horses, it could
very well lead to the sport
itself being banned forev-
er. It is not yet known what
will happen to the 200+
horses,stables,roundpens,
horse pools, cross-country
courses, polo grounds,
jumping and dressage are-
nas which the cavalry used
for a century. I assume that
the privately owned horses
will be boarded elsewhere
and the land be used for the
new purposes.
It is also possible that the
rest of the horses will be
shifted to Delhi and the
whole thing will be rein-
stated as a horse riding
node. I hope they will turn
all this existing infrastruc-
ture into a node in Jaipur
itself, that would mean I
can still ride here. If not...
I’ll have to find a way to buy
myfavouritehorse,Shivraj.
Let’s pay a tribute to this
eminent Regiment and
help it rest in peace by en-
suring that its old glory
will never be forgotten.
Adapting the Change!
I
It’s all about comfort!Comfortable face mask designed
by CeNS could encourage the public
to use it for long hours
Surat fire brigade
CROONS CORONA
AWARENESS
Rajasthan: To
spread awareness
about menstrual
hygiene among
the women
living in the
Jawahar Nagar
slum area, Shilp
Srijan Foundation
distributed 5000
sanitary napkins
on Sunday.
Rajasthan: On the
occasion of the Martyr’s
Day of the 5th Guru of
the Sikhs, Guru Arjan
Dev, the 40th day ‘virtual’
prayers were held on
‘Google Duo’ on Sunday.
All the devotees of Sri
Sukhmani Seva Society,
Gurudwara Nehru Nagar,
wore white as a mark
of respect. Although, for
the past forty days, such
‘virtual’ prayers are being
held every afternoon by
the society members.
‘Virtual’ Ardaas was also
held after the ‘Sukhmani
Sahib path’. In each
household the traditional
‘prasad’ of ‘Kalaa
channa’ and ‘meetha
sherbet’ was made and
distributed today among
the family members and
neighbours.
Gujarat: Social distancing
stickers line the floor at the
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
International Airport terminal
against the backdrop of a
replica of the Teen Darwaza,
as part of preparations for
the resumption of domestic
flight services after a two-
month standstill.
—PHOTO BY
NANDAN DAVE
Gujarat: A
man dries rows
of sevaiyya
(vermicelli),
ahead of Eid
celebrations, in
Kalupur area of
Ahmedabad on
Sunday.
—PHOTO BY
HANIF SINDHI
Myra Sethi, a Colonel’s daughter and a rider Myra on Volvo when she won her first medal
Horse Statue outside the training ground
A young rider’s perspective on disbandment proposal of 61 Cavalry
Rajasthan: During the ongoing 3-day online learning series,
‘The Show Must Go On’, organised by Jairangam Theatre
Lab, an interaction was held on Sunday with renowned artists
Actor Puneet Issar, who is known for playing the character of
Duryodhan on-screen, and Director Atul Satya Koushik, who
has Directed plays like Ramayan, The Legend of Ram and more.
During the session, the artists discussed their love for theatre and
their takings from the theatre world.
Rajasthan: Health
Minister Dr. Raghu
Sharma and Sagar
Sharma accepted
the ration products
donated by Akshay Patra
Foundation for 350
families of Kekri, Ajmer.
Dr Raghu Sharma has
been closely monitoring
the situation in his
constituency and ensuring
that all help is given to the
needy in his constituency,
Sagar has also been
coordinating with the local
administration and NGO’s
for this too.

First india ahmedabad edition-25 may 2020

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to First india ahmedabad edition-25 may 2020

Similar to First india ahmedabad edition-25 may 2020 (20)

More from FIRST INDIA

More from FIRST INDIA (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (6)

First india ahmedabad edition-25 may 2020