First india lucknow edition-23 march 2021

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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.
First India Bureau
Lucknow: Congratulat-
ing Prime Minister Nar-
endra Modi for the his-
toric MoU to implement
the Ken-Betwa Link
Project, the country’s
first ever national pro-
ject for interlinking of
rivers, Chief Minister
Yogi Adityanath said it
will prove to be a mile-
stone in quenching the
need of water-starved
Bundelkhand region.
He was speaking af-
ter inking an agree-
ment with the Union Jal
Shakti Minister Gajen-
dra Singh Shekhwat
and Madhya Pradesh
Chief Minister Shivraj
Singh Chauhan on the
occasion of World Wa-
ter Day, during the vir-
tual launch of ‘catch
the rain campaign’,
here on Monday
.
Mootedaboutfourdec-
ades ago, the project in-
volves transfer of water
from the Ken to the Bet-
wariverthroughthecon-
struction of Daudhan
Dam and a canal linking
the two rivers, the Lower
Orr project, Kotha Bar-
rage and Bina Complex
Multi-purpose Project.
The Ministry of Jal
Shakti will now get the
PublicInvestmentBoard
approval for implement-
ing the project as a na-
tional project. Once
deemed a national pro-
ject, the Centre will foot
90 per cent of the cost
while the remaining 10
per cent will be shared
by the two states.
Turn to P6
Centre, UP and MP ink historic pact on linking of rivers
QUENCHING THE THIRST
CM Yogi virtually greeting PM Modi, MP CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan and other dignitaries during the
pact signing. It is one of the memorable days in the history of two states. CS RK Tiwari, ACS to CM
SP Goyal, ACS Information Navneet Sehgal were also present during the event.
COVID SURGE
IN SIX STATES :
ACCOUNT FOR
80% CASES
New Delhi: Maharash-
tra, Punjab, Karnataka,
Gujarat and Madhya
Pradesh are reporting a
surge in the COVID dai-
ly new cases as they to-
gether account for
80.5% of the total new
cases registered in the
last 24 hours.
4 6 , 9 5 1
new cases
were regis-
tered in the
last 24 hours. Of
these, 84.49% are re-
ported from these six
states.
Maharashtra has re-
ported the highest daily
new cases at 30,535
(65.03%). This is fol-
lowed by Punjab with
2,644 while Kerala re-
ported 1,875 new cases.
CM Yogi Adityanath says the project will
be a milestone in quenching the thirst of
water-starved Bundelkhand region
Holi holidays in
schools from
March 24
Lko doc tests
positive after both
Covid vax shots
Lucknow: The Yogi
Government has or-
dered Holi holidays
fromclasses1to8thin
allprivateandcouncil
schools from March
24 to March 31. The
CM has issued strict
instructions to insti-
tutions where exams
aregoingon,tofollow
Covid protocol. For
remaining schools,
the holidays will be
from March 25 to
March 31. The CM
saidnoprocessionsor
public functions
should be held with-
out prior permission
of theadministration.
Lucknow: A Luc-
know based doctor
became the first per-
son in Uttar Pradesh
to test positive for
the novel coronavi-
rus infection with
symptoms even af-
ter completing the
two-dose course of
the vaccine given a
month apart. Dr Ni-
tin Mishra, emer-
gency medical offic-
er at SPM Civil hos-
pital, Lucknow, had
received two shots
of Covaxin on Feb-
ruary 15 and March
16 respectively
.
More on page 3
A special purpose vehicle
— the Ken-Betwa Link
Project Authority — will
be set up that would have
representatives from the
two states for the imple-
mentation of the project,
which comprises two
phases. The first o f the
two phases involves
building a 77-metre high
dam while the second.
ADDED PERKS
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.
LUCKNOW l TUESDAY, MARCH 23, 2021 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI NO. UPENG/2020/04393 l Vol 1 l Issue No. 129
OUR EDITIONS:
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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

UTTAR PRADESH
LUCKNOW | TUESDAY, MARCH 23, 2021
02
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First India Bureau
Lucknow: The Power
Minister Shrikant
Sharma said here on
Monday that the Yogi
Adityanath govern-
ment has been consid-
ering avenues to pro-
vide electricity to con-
sumers on low rate.
The minister said the
Yogi government is-
committed to the wel-
fare of people and all
possible steps would be
taken in help electricity
consumers in this con-
nection.
He said so , when
the chairman UP Ra-
jya Upbhokta Pari-
shad and member
state advisory com-
mittee Awadhesh Ver-
ma, handed over a
memorandum to the
minister on Monday
demanding that pow-
er tariff should be re-
duced as the present
rates were quite high.
Drawing the attention
of the minister towards
the BJP’s election man-
ifesto in West Bengal
assembly election
which was released on
Sunday, Verma said the
BJP had promised free
electricity supply up to
200 units and other fa-
cilities for industrial
units.
Verma said similarly
facilities should be pro-
vided to the consumers
in UP also. He said the
Parishad had been de-
manding reduction in
tariff for the last three
years. He said high tar-
iff was also one of the
reasons for low electric-
ity consumption in the
state. Verma said when
the government had
been paying considera-
ble attention to the pow-
er sector the problems
of consumers should
also be addressed.
The minister assured
the parishad that gov-
ernment would sympa-
thetically look into the
demand.
He said already
scores of measures had
been taken during the
last four years to im-
prove the power sector.
Committed Yogi govt looking for ways to provide power at cheaper rates
FOR POWER@LOW COST
Awadhesh Verma, Chairman UP Rajya Upbhokta Parishad hands
over the memorandum to power Minister Shrikant Sharma.
Yogi also directs wheat procurement officials to conduct on-spot inspections at Mandis
First India Bureau
Luckniow: Chief Min-
ister Yogi Adityanath
on Monday directed the
Food Safety and Drug
Administration (FSDA)
officials to carry out
surprise inspection and
check the quality of
food items being sold in
the markets in view of
the upcoming festival
season.
The CM asked the
officials to take sam-
ples of sweets and
sundry food items be-
ing specially pre-
pared for the festivals
and get them tested
for adulteration.
The FSDA officials
were specially asked
to check the quality
of mustard oil being
used and sold by the
shopkeepers.
The UP CM, who was
reviewing the progress
of work of various de-
partment here on Mon-
day, directed the offi-
cials to ensure timely
completion of all ar-
rangements for wheat
procurement process to
be started under the
Price Support Scheme
from April 1, 2021.
The officials were
told to form teams and
radndomly carry out
surprise on-the-spot in-
spection to examine the
functioning of ‘Mandis’
and implementation of
the price support
scheme.
On the issue of
prompt redress of peo-
ples grievances, the Dis-
trict Magistrates were
directed by the CM to
regularly review the
status of problems and
ensure there was no
backlog.
He said Sampoorna
Samadhan Diwas
(Tehsil Day) and Thana
Day should be made
more effective and in-
structed revenue de-
partment and police
department to dispose
off complaints expedi-
tiously. In view of the
approaching Summer
season, the UP CM
asked the authorities to
take preventive steps
for fire incidents which
increase during this pe-
riod.
Yogi also asked the
Revenue Commission-
er’s Office and revenue
administration to send
a daily report about the
steps taken by them.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has given strict instructions to officials to make sure that all public
grievances be solved on a priority basis and Sampoorna Samadhan Diwas (Tehsil Day) be organised
effectively. —FILE PHOTO BY SUMIT KUMAR
HOLIVIGIL: CMTELLSFSDA TOENSURE
ADULTERATION-FREE FOOD ITEMS
CM Yogi has
expressed deep
condolences on the
demise of Dr Raghunath
Chandji, former Acharya
of Digvijaynath Post-
graduate College, Gora-
khpur. He has expressed
his condolences to the
bereaved family.
The CM has di-
rected UP Police
to not to take any
leaves from March 25
to March 30 in view
of ‘Holi festival’.
‘DMs, CMOs should
actively monitor
Covid-19 spread’
First India Bureau
Lucknow: Amid
spike in Covid cases,
Chief Minister Yogi
on Monday asked of-
ficials to step up vigil
and screen passen-
gers at airports, bus
and railway stations.
CM Yogi was re-
viewing the Unlock
system at a meeting
at his residence on
Monday here.
He said that the
people should con-
stantly be made
aware about preven-
tion from coronavi-
rus using public in-
formation system.
The CM asked of-
ficials to assure
presence of infra-
red thermometer,
pulse oximeter and
rapid antigen test
at the railway sta-
tion, bus station
and airport. He
said that testing of
Covid-19 and con-
tact tracing should
be conducted in
full swing.
Instructing that
the corona vaccina-
tion work be done in
accordance with the
guidelines and order
of the Government
of India, Yogi said
that all the District
Magistrates (DMs),
Chief Medical Offic-
ers (CMOs) should
consistently review
the COVID vaccina-
tion work. He said
that the Integrated
Command and Con-
trol Center should
work effectively and
inform people about
the vaccination
drive.
Medical Education
Minister Suresh
Khanna, Chief Sec-
retary RK Tiwari,
Agriculture Produc-
tion Commissioner
Alok Sinha, Addi-
tional Chief Secre-
tary (Home) Avneesh
Kumar Awasthi, Di-
rector General of Po-
lice Hitesh C
Awasthi, Additional
Chief Secretary
(MSME and Informa-
tion) Navneet Sehgal,
Additional Chief
Secretary (Health)
Amit Mohan Prasad,
Additional Chief
Secretary (Panchaya-
ti Raj and Rural De-
velopment) Manoj
Kumar Singh, Addi-
tional Chief Secre-
tary (Agriculture)
Devesh Chaturvedi,
Additional Chief
Secretary (Labor)
Suresh Chandra,
Principal Secretary
Chief Minister and
Information Sanjay
Prasad, Principal
Secretary Medical
Education Alok Ku-
mar, Secretary Chief
Minister Alok Ku-
mar, Information Di-
rector Shishir and
other senior officers
were present in the
meeting.
CM Yogi presiding over the meet in presence of Medical
Education Minister Suresh Khanna, ACS (Home) Awanish
Awasthi, Chief Secretary RK Tiwari and other officials.
WITH LOVE...FROM INDIA
Uzbekistan
Ambassador
Farhod Arjivi
along with
his family,
visited one
of the seven
wonders of
the world,
Taj Mahal,
in Agra on
Monday. He
was quoted
as saying
that the Taj
Mahal is a
masterpiece
beyond
imagination.
Learntotacklenewchallenges:Guv
First India Bureau
Gorakhpur: Governor
Anandiben Patel at-
tended the 22nd Convo-
cation ceremony of the
Agriculture and Tech-
nology University, Kan-
pur on Monday
.
In her address at the
event, the Governor
said that the students
should be proud of
their past achievements
and plan diligently for
the upcoming future.
She added that new
challenges keep on com-
ing in accordance to
the needs and circum-
stances and therefore it
is necessary to take cog-
nizance of the challeng-
es of tomorrow, analyze
and tackle them.
The Governor
Anandiben Patel said
that the country will
prosper only with the
help of education and
science.
She added that every
student is talented and
it is the duty of the
teacher to identify these
talents and nurture
them in students. She
further added that the
problems faced by the
farmers should be ad-
dressed through the use
of technology and sus-
tainability be achieved
in agricultural produc-
tion with the help of
such technologies.
The Governor also
called for change in
the agricultural ed-
ucation system to
keep up inpace with
the rapidly chang-
ing technological,
business and social
scenario on a global
basis.
The Governor on
the event awarded 57
medals to the top per-
forming students and
awarded degree cer-
tificates to 643 stu-
dents over there.
Governor Anandiben Patel at the 22nd convocation ceremony at
Agriculture, Technology University in Kanpur.
Yogi govt never discriminated
on the basis of religion: Dy CM
First India Bureau
Kanpur: UttarPradesh
DeputyCMDineshShar-
ma arrived in Kanpur to
attend the Deepotsav
programme held on
Monday
.
Sharma, in a press
conferenceattheUniver-
sitypraisedthestategov-
ernmentforsuccessfully
completing 4 years.
He said that due to the
perseverance of the gov-
ernment, Uttar Pradesh
has completely changed
its outlook and develop-
ments can be seen in the
fieldof education,health
trade and industry
.
The Deputy CM while
statingthatwhilethecel-
ebrationof variousfesti-
vals like Deepotsav of
Ayodhya, Holi of Bar-
sana, Sawan in Kashi
takes place in the state,
said that the state gov-
ernment has never dis-
criminated against any
religion.
Governor Anandiben Patel, Deputy CM Dinesh Sharma, Jal Shakti
Minister Dr Mahendra Kumar and others at the Deepotsav event.
GPF, pension papers
for 2500 retd teachers
First India Bureau
Lucknow: For the
first time, Chief Min-
ister Yogi will felici-
tate government and
aided intermediate
schools teachers re-
tiring on March 31.
At a function to be or-
ganised in April, all
2500 retired teachers
will be paid GPF and
pension papers at the
same time.
This will be the first
time that CM Yogi Adi-
tyanath would hando-
ver GPF and pension
papers to such a large
number of retired
teachers.
Apart from complet-
ing a lot of paperwork,
retired employees are
required to furnish a lot
of information and the
whole process is a long-
drawn cumbersome ex-
ercise. The move will
save them from taking
rounds of the education
department for pension
and GPF.
WB PROMISE IN UP!
The Minister assured
Parishad that the govt
would sympathetically
look into the issue
ADULTERATION-FREE FOOD ITEMS
Yogi Speaks
Yogi Speaks
UP CM has ex-
tended greetings
to people on ‘World
Water Day’.”Come, take
a pledge to preserve
every drop of ‘water’,
the unique gift of nature
to protect the life of life,
because water is life. If
water is there, there is
future,” he said.
Yogi has asked offi-
cials to take steps to
prevent incidents of fire
during the approaching
summer season.

UTTAR PRADESH
03
WANTED CRIMINAL
ARRESTED AFTER
ENCOUNTER
CAR CATCHES FIRE AFTER HITTING
TRACTOR, CLOSE SHAVE FOR FOUR
MINOR GIRL RAPED AT RLY STATION
REST ROOM, EMPLOYEE HELD
Kanpur: Afiercecarcrashledtoafirethatengulfed
a in Kanpur Rural along Delhi National Highway
.
The car was occupied by 4 people travelling from
Auraiya to Kanpur on the highway
. The car upon
hitting a tractor, caught fire. The occupants jumped
from the vehicle quickly and ran away to save their
lives.Theincidenttookplacenear Madanpurvillage
under Sikandra Police Station area.
Gorakhpur: A minor daughter of a sweeping
staff woman was raped at rest room of Bhatni rail-
way station after intoxicating mother and daugh-
ter. The girl was found unconscious near rail track
in morning. Police said a woman rail employee
resides in Bhatni railway colony with 15-yr-old
daughter and one son. Trolley-man Santosh Yadav
was arrested later.
Ambedkar Nagar:
A notorious criminal
carryingrewardof Rs
50,000onhisheadwas
arrestedafterencoun-
terinMotinagararea.
Police sources
here said that acting
on a tip-off, a police
team intercepted mo-
torbike-borne sus-
pect near Motinagar
area but he opened
fore on police team.
In retaliatory firing
criminal was injured
and a country-made
pistol was recovered
from him.
CRIME ROUND UP
First India Bureau
Lucknow: URISE (The
Unified Reimagined In-
novation for Student
Empowerment) is the
new identity of the state
in technical and voca-
tional education with a
visionof unifiedempow-
erment of the students
of engineering, poly-
technic, Vocational and
skill trainees. With the
moto- “Live the life you
imagined…...” URISE
brings exhaustive stu-
dent-related services,
now made available on-
line, for convenient ac-
cess anytime, anywhere.
Breaking the bounda-
ries,URISEprovidesstu-
dents the opportunity to
go beyond their institu-
tionsandcourses,widen
their horizons to net-
work with their fellow
students, share their
ideas and concerns, and
access the best in class,
e-content.
URISE portal
launched by CM Yogi
Adityanath, on boards
all the government, aid-
ed, and private institu-
tions that impart skills,
vocationalandtechnical
education on an all-in-
clusive platform to en-
hance students’ learn-
ing experience and em-
power them to excel and
lead in the profession of
their choice. All the stu-
dents, teachers, trainers
are on the same plat-
form and thus all the
facilities and informa-
tion related to the stu-
dent’s life cycle will be
available at one place.
The concept was pio-
neered by
. S Radha
Chauhan an IAS of 1988
batch, well-known for
her innovative techno-
logical intervention and
approach to its applica-
tion for G2G and G2C
services.
The other brain be-
hind URISE is 1999
batch PCS, Sunil Kumar
Chaudhary, known for
drafting UP Revenue
Code and Digital Re-en-
gineering in the field of
revenue The portal got
the technical support of
of AKTU Vice Chancel-
lor VK Pathak.
Tech This:URISE the new education edge in UP
BOON FOR STUDENTS
CM Yogi launches new portal to bring
students, teachers on one platform
S Radha Chauhan, IAS
DM DASHES INTO COVID COMMAND
CENTRE ON SURPRISE INSPECTION
First India Bureau
Lucknow: DistrictMag-
istrate Abhishek
Prakash arrived at the
Integrated Covid Con-
trol and Command Cen-
treforcarryingoutphys-
ical verification of the
workbeingdonetherein.
TheDMinspectedallthe
worksincludingSurveil-
lance,RRTTeam,Ambu-
lance Allocation, Hospi-
tal Allocation, Vaccina-
tion etc. presently car-
ried out from the Centre.
He said Command
Centre had been made
functional like before
and 100 per cent contact
tracing and testing
work was being done
through it. He said am-
bulance and hospital
were also being allocat-
ed to patients by team
of doctors besides con-
dition of home isola-
tion patients including
their oxygen level and
temperature was also
being monitored
through the command
centre.
Data about vaccina-
tion was being taken
through it and Chief
Development Officer
had been made its nodal
officer, he said.
After the inspection,
a review meeting was
convened by him to con-
trol covid wherein he
directed to expedite
work of tracing and
testing by RRT teams .
He also ordered carry-
ing out target testing at
railway station, bus
stop, airport and con-
gested areas and mar-
kets. He appealed for
making efforts to avoid
the infection through
proper arrangements of
prevention and treat-
ment.
The DM also directed
continuous efforts to
make people aware
about more infection
and prevention through
the public address sys-
tem. He asked to make
people aware about on-
going vaccination
against the virus.
He directed strict
compliance of social
distancing, use of mask
and covid protocols in
public places besides
initiation of strict ac-
tion against violators.
The DM also directed
for availability of infra-
red thermometer, pulse
oximeter and rapid anti-
gentestingfacilityatrail-
way station, bus station
and airport for carrying
outmandatorytestingof
passengers coming from
affected states.
As cases cross 500, Command Centre gets functional like before, with 100% contact tracing and testing
Lucknow District Magistrate Abhishek Prakash inspecting the Covid Control and Command Centre.
DM Abhishek Prakash chairing a covid review meet on Monday. People coming by trains being tested at the railway station.
SPM CIvil Hospital, Lucknow —FILE PHOTO
BREACHING 500...
SI held, ASP shifted
in harassment case
SECcovidsafetyprotocol
for Panchayat polls
Woman strangulated to death for
resisting rape, accused arrested
CS Tiwari reviews construction
work of Atal Residential schools
ACSaskstoexpediteexpresswaywork
First India Bureau
Lucknow: Additional
Chief Secretary (Home)
and CEO of Uttar
Pradesh Expressway In-
dustrial Development
Authority (UPEIDA)
Awanish Kumar
Awasthireviewedworks
related to land acquisi-
tion for Ganga Express-
way at a meeting attend-
ed by DMs and top offi-
cials of UPEIDA. He di-
rected officials to expe-
dite and complete the
purchase/acquisitionof
remaining land.
Officials informed
Awasthi that around
1248 hectare i.e. 18 per-
cent land had been pur-
chased/acquired by UP-
EIDA for which Rs 1,300
crores had been spent.
He also directed DMs
of Hapur, Sambhal,
Badanyu, Shahjahan-
pur, Hardoi, Unnao and
Rae Bareli over phone
for purchasing/acquir-
ing land of Ganga Ex-
pressway post verifica-
tion. Work on proposed
AccessControlledGreen
FieldGangaExpressway
project of 594-km from
MeeruttoPrayagrajwas
being carried out at a
fast pace and oo far Rs
2138 crore had been sent
byUPEIDAtoconcerned
districts for purchase of
land for the project.
Janardan Misra
Basti: Sub-inspector
Deepak Singh was ar-
rested here on Monday.
He had registered sev-
eral cases against the
girl and her family
who had refused his
love proposal. ADG,
Gorakhpur zone Anil
Kumar took action
against 12 persons, in-
cluding 10 policemen,
after CM Yogi Adity-
anath took cognisance
of the matter.
ASP Ravindra Singh
was transferred and
case was registered
against accused SI
Deepak Singh, his
brother SI Rajan Singh,
former inspector Ram-
pal Yadav, former wom-
en police station in-
charge Sheela Yadav, SI
Abhishek Singh, reve-
nue officer Satish, lekh-
pal Shalini Singh, con-
stables Pawan Kushwa-
ha, Alok Kumar, Sanjay
Kumar, Deeksha Yadav
and Neelam Singh.
It was reported that
accused SI had taken
mobile number of a girl
while checking her ve-
hicle papers and he
started harassing her.
First India Bureau
Lucknow: In view of
the growing number of
corona cases in the
state as well as the
country, the UP Elec-
tion Commission has
instructed the nodal of-
ficers to make sure that
the corona protocols are
followed in the upcom-
ing Panchayat polls.
The State Election Of-
ficer has notified all the
DMs and District Elec-
tion Officers regarding
the various guidelines
to be followed. The
guidelines include man-
datory sanitization of
polling stations before
polling, masks to be
worn by all personnel at
all times and Arogya
Setu app should be
downloaded in every-
one’s phones.
The State Election Of-
ficer said the Nodal Of-
ficers at District Level
will either be a Chief
Medical Officer or a
doctor.
Meanwhile, the SEC
said corona infected
candidates can contest
polls and infected vot-
ers too can cast their
votes after strictly fol-
lowing the Standard
Operating Procedures.
First India Bureau
Gorakhpur: Police
have arrested an ac-
cused for strangulating
a woman to death when
she resisted rape.
Superintendent of
police (SP) Ashish Sriv-
astav here said that a
woman was strangulat-
ed to death in a wheat
farm in the morning. It
was alleged that Sand-
eep Nishad of same vil-
lage murdered her
when she resisted rape.
Police have arrested
Sandeep and his father
Chatur was arrested on
that day
. It was reported
that family members of
the victim refused to
cremate the deceased
when FIR was not regis-
tered against Sandeep.
SSI Santosh Singh
reached the village and
assured stern action
against the culprits to
pacify the situation.
First India Bureau
Lucknow: Chief Secre-
tary Rajendra Kumar
Tiwari chaired a meet-
ing regarding the con-
struction of Atal Resi-
dential Schools.
He said that children
of registered labourers
will be provided free
education from Class 6
to 12 along with board-
ing facilities in the Atal
Residential Schools. He
added that the schools
will be constructed in a
land area of 12 to 15
acres and will be oper-
ated by the Uttar
Pradesh Building and
Oother Construction
Workers’ Welfare
Board. The construc-
tion of such schools
will be undertaken by
the Public Works De-
partment.
The CS via a video-
conferencing asked the
DMs of Varanasi, Gon-
da, Moradabad and Ayo-
dhya to begin the con-
struction work and re-
solve any issues arising
in the procurement of
land for Atal Residen-
tial Schools.
Lko doctor catches
infection after second
dose of covid vaccine
...continued from page 1
Lucknow: A Lucknow
doctor became the first
person in UP to test pos-
itive for corona infec-
tion with symptoms
even after completing
the two-dose course of
the vaccine given a
month apart. Dr Nitin
Mishra, emergency
medical officer at SPM
Civil Hospital here had
received two shots of
Covaxin on February 15
and March 16 respec-
tively
. “However, I devel-
oped a severe cough
along with mild fever on
March 18 and got myself
tested two days after on
Mar 20. The report on
Sunday revealed I was
Covid-19 positive,” the
doctor said.
“He has isolated him-
self at home because he
has only mild symptoms
and regularly monitors
his blood pressure and
blood oxygen levels. We
are in touch with him
and in case symptoms
aggravate, he will be
hospitalised,” said di-
rector, SPM Hospital, Dr
SC Sundariyal. “The en-
tire hospital was sani-
tised on Sunday and ser-
vices are continuing as
usual,” he added. DG,
medical health Dr DS
Negi confirmed that Dr
Nitin’s is the first re-
corded instance where a
person has been found
to have contracted covid
and turned symptomat-
ic after two-dose course.
ACS Awanish Awasthi chairing a review meeting on Monday.
CS RK Tiwari chairing the meeting on Monday.
Sunil Kumar Chaudhary, PCS AKTU V-C VK Pathak

l Vol 1 l Issue No. 129 l RNI NO. UPENG/2020/04393. Printed and published by Anita Hada Sangwan on behalf of First Express Publishers. Printed at Amar Ujala Ltd. B-5 Amausi Industrial Area Kanpur Road Lucknow.
Published at 98, Friend’’s Colony, Raheem Nagar, Dudouli Road, Madiyaon, Lucknow (UP). 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

INDIA
06
Centre UP...
All formalities, includ-
ing stage-II forest
clearance for Daudhan
reservoir, will be ob-
tained before the min-
istry goes for cabinet
approval. After work
starts, the Rs
37,611-crore project
will take eight years to
complete, the official
added.
The ambitious pro-
ject will also benefit
the districts of Jhansi,
Mahoba, Lalitpur and
Hamirpur of Uttar
Pradesh by providing
67 mcm of potable wa-
ter to over 21 lakh peo-
ple. It will provide an-
nual irrigation of 2.51
lakh hectares and 1700
million cubic meters
(mcm) of water to UP.
The first phase in-
volves building a
77-metre high dam
across Ken near Daud-
han village in MP. It
will provide annual ir-
rigation of 10.62 lakh
hectares, drinking wa-
ter supply to about 62
lakh people and also
generate 103 MW of hy-
dropower. The project
will be of immense
benefit to the water
starved region of Bun-
delkhand, especially to
the districts of Panna,
Tikamgarh, Chhatar-
pur, Sagar, Damoh, Da-
tia, Vidisha, Shivpuri
and Raisen of Madhya
Pradesh and Banda,
Mahoba, Jhansi and
Lalitpur of Uttar
Pradesh. “It also will
pave the way for more
interlinking of river
projects to ensure that
scarcity of water does
not become an inhibi-
tor for development in
the country”, said CM
Yogi.
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 inter-
linking of river pro-
jects to ensure that
scarcity of water does
not become an inhibi-
tor for development 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 imple-
ment the Ken Betwa
Link Project, the first
project of the National
Perspective Plan for in-
terlinking of rivers,
also took place. —ANI
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 issu-
ance of appropriate
writ, order or direc-
tion to quash and set
aside the order, passed
by the other Respond-
ent state government,
concerning his trans-
fer from the post of
Police Commissioner
in Mumbai as illegal
and arbitrary.
“The same is also in
clear violation of Ar-
ticles 14 and 21 of the
Constitution of India,
for each of the
grounds namely for
being without 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
India (UOI) case, the
petition stated. —ANI
Pawar defends...
From 5th-15th February
,
Deshmukh was admit-
ted in the hospital be-
cause of coronavirus.”
Pawar also displayed
a hospital slip which
indicated that Desh-
mukh was in the hospi-
tal 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 wait-
ing the whole month to
expose it? Yesterday I
also suggested some
senior officer should
probe the case. I think it
is clear who murdered
(Mansukh) Hiran. In
the investigation, it will
be clear why they did
this.”
He said, “ATS an-
nounced that two per-
sons were arrested.
ATS investigation is go-
ing in the correct direc-
tion and to divert the
things allegation has
been made now. The
Truth is coming out
now. I am convinced af-
ter seeing the document
that on a particular day
he was in Nagpur.”
FROM PG 1
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.

NEWS
07
First India Bureau
Lucknow: Uttar
Pradesh Deputy Chief
Minister Dr Dinesh
Sharma while address-
ing a seminar on Educa-
tion Policy organized at
Pt RK Shukla Law Col-
lege, Amiliha, Choube-
pur said that the new
education policy would
uplift Indian culture
and national language
besides generate em-
ployment for youth. He
said, on the instruc-
tions of Central Gov-
ernment, the Deen Day-
al Model School and
Smart Classes had al-
ready begun in state.
He said that only 48
schools were opened in
state in last 15 years
while BJP government
created 5987 posts be-
sides adopting new edu-
cation policy increased
research and innova-
tion. Colleges are being
given autonomy to pro-
mote education policy
besides the influence of
educational mafias had
also been done away
with. In the previous
governments, use of
unfair means had be-
come an industry,
which the present gov-
ernment had complete-
ly abolished and estab-
lished transparency in
education system.
The Deputy Chief
Minister said that
NCERT syllabus had
been implemented in
schools besides the sys-
tem of decoding on cop-
ies in examinations had
brought about a signifi-
cant change. Further,
the ‘Kayakalp’ scheme
had been started in Ba-
sic Education and the
goal of state govern-
ment was to change the
present form of educa-
tion. The syllabus of
Sanskrit language had
also been extended to
have an impact of Vedic
and national languages
on students besides con-
ferencing arrange-
ments had also been
introduced in colleges
for focusing on much
needed educational re-
forms.
Minister of state Nee-
lima Katiyar and for-
mer Justice Ranganath
Pandey also spoke on
the occasion. Former
MP Shyam Bihari
Mishra, Awadh Bihari
Mishra of Nar Narayan
Seva Samiti, MLC Arun
Pathak, MLA Pratibha
Shukla, Dr Awadh
Dubey were also pre-
sent in the seminar.
First India Bureau
Lucknow: With the re-
lease of reservation for
Panchayat elections in
state, candidates have
started making all out
efforts to woo maxi-
mum voters in their
favour.
With the help of fam-
ily after making sure of
getting votes of neigh-
bours, now the candi-
dates have started mak-
ing efforts to woo resi-
dents residing outside
the village in far away
locations. Before the
elections, candidates
are not leaving any-
thing to chance and are
making all out efforts to
woo foreign voters by
ensuring that they ar-
rived on time to cast
their vote.
The hectic campaign-
ing for panchayat elec-
tions has started in ru-
ral areas of the district.
During the day also,
candidates can be seen
visiting residents while
discussion in village
chaupal in the evening
has become a routine.
Apart from contacting
residents all through
the day, candidates are
also analyzing the vot-
er list to chalk out a
winning strategy. They
are making a list of vot-
ers living outside the
village with their ad-
dress and contact num-
bers in an effort to be
the first to contact
them and make resi-
dents living outside the
village to cast votes in
their favour.
A large number of
residents of Kausham-
bi district are living in
other parts of the state
as well as in different
states of the country,
some due to occupation-
al reasons while others
have migrated for some
other reason. In such a
situation, candidates
set to contest the Pan-
chayat elections are do-
ing everything possible
to woo such people for
casting their votes in
his or her favour.
Candidates even go to
the extent to provide
transportation to such
voters so that they may
come on time in village
and cast their votes in
candidate’s favour.
‘New Edu policy will
promote languages,
generateemployment’
Panchayat election
candidates leaving
no stone unturned
to attract voters
First India Bureau
Lucknow: The vision
document being pre-
pared on the overall de-
velopment of Ayodhya
will be presented before
Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi on March 25.
Once the PM gives his
nod for the vision docu-
ment,itwouldmeanthat
the overall framework
for the development
works is almost ready
.
The vision document
beforebeingpresentedto
PMistobefirstreviewed
by the Chief Minister of
stateYogiAdityanathon
March 22nd. CM Yogi
hasalreadyreviewedthe
vision document twice
and had suggested some
changes which have
since been made in the
document.
CM Yogi Adityanath
has wanted to shape the
developmentof Ayodhya
as per the wishes of PM
Modi which is why he
does not want leave any
stone unturned and
makesurethatthedevel-
opment works would be
appreciated by the PM.
Vishal Singh, vice
president of the Ayod-
hya Development Au-
thority along with con-
sultant company Lee
Associates has been try-
ing to make the frame-
work error-free so that
PM Modi likes it imme-
diately
. The consulting
agencyhasbeenengaged
in preparing the vision
documentfrommid-Feb-
ruary
. The vision docu-
ment also includes the
opinion of about five
hundred people on the
developmentof Ayodhya
as well as suggestions
fromsaintsandMahants
of Ayodhya,membersof
theSriRamJanmabhoo-
mi Tirtha Kshetra
Trust,MLAs,MPs,laure-
ates and many others.
The vision document
was originally planned
to be completed in Au-
gust but seeing the rapid
development and in-
volvement of consultant
agency has meant that it
could be completed be-
fore Ram Navami. The
development work of
Ayodhya is being
planned to take place
with the construction of
Lord Ram temple in the
city
.Thisisbeingdoneso
that people who come to
visit Lord Ram’s temple
will also be able to ac-
knowledge the develop-
ment of Ayodhya.
If Vishal Singh, Vice
President of Ayodhya
Development Authority
is to be believed then the
process of preparing the
vision document has
been coming along with
rapidpaceandwithcom-
plete dedication. He add-
ed that the vision docu-
ment will be presented
first to CM Yogi on
March 22nd and once he
approvesit,willbevirtu-
ally presented to PM
Modi on 25th March.
AYODHYAVISIONDOCUMENTTOBE
PRESENTEDBEFOREPMONMAR25
SPECIAL
DARSHAN TRAIN
RETURNED FROM
NASHIK
A round 170
passengers from
Lucknow and 535
overall, were in for a
rude shock after their
special Jyotirlinga
Darshan train from
the IRCTC that headed
from Delhi via Lucknow
towards South India, was
forced to return from
Nashik. The train was
forced to take a u-turn
and return to Lucknow
due to the number of
rising Covid-19 cases.
The passengers had
no idea that their much
anticipated journey was
about to end as abruptly
and as agonisingly as it
did. All the passengers
were highly anguished
with the turn of events.
The passengers could
not take Darshans of the
Ghrashneshwar Temple
as the train was returned
from Nashik itself. Even
though there was not
much of a hullabaloo
about the whole incident
as IRCTC agreed to
return passengers’
money paid by them as
fair for the journey.
—First India Bureau
400 UNFIT
BUSES GIVE
NIGHTMARE TO
PASSENGERS
The festive season
has started and the
Transport Corporation’s
apathy has also come to
the fore. The Transport
Corporation has 400
unfit buses equipped
with decayed batteries
and these buses are
somehow started by
using a helper battery
mounted on a trolley
while leaving the depot
but have no guarantee
as to when these buses
can stop midway
without being able to
be restarted. The whole
journey is based on
luck factor that the old
alternator will charge
the battery of the bus
during a long run, if in
case the alternator fails
to charge the battery
then there is a high
possibility that the bus
cannot be restarted in
between the journey
if it comes to a halt.
There are 9,400 buses
in the state’s roadways
fleet and of these feet
around 300 buses are
currently off-road. The
224 surrendered buses
if included in the list
of off-road buses, the
number increases to
524. These buses are
currently off-road due
to various reasons like
including tire and battery
replacement. There are
400 buses which can be
started using the helper
battery in depots but
there is no guarantee
as to when they could
come to a halt and the
passengers might need
to push start the bus.
Out of the 580 buses of
Lucknow Region fleet,
50 buses are waiting
for batteries and the
officials said that many
of these buses will be
ready for deployment
before the start of Holi
and refrained from
giving a date as to when
these buses will be re-
deployed.
—Amit Baliyan
HOOCH CONSUMPTION ON THE RISE IN STATE
Police inquire from people who fell ill after consuming spurious liquor, at Swaroop Rani Nehru Hospital in Prayagraj on
Monday. In another incident, four people had died and several fell sick after they had allegedly consumed country-made
liquor in Chitrakoot on Saturday. —PHOTO BY PTI
Sri Krishna Janmasthan case hearing
deferred due to death of advocate
Sex racket in spa busted: 6
including doctor arrested
First India Bureau
Lucknow: The hearing
in the court of District
Judge Yashwant Kumar
Mishra in the Sri Krish-
na Janmasthan case file
by eight people includ-
ing Lucknow resident
advocate Ranjana Agni-
hotri, could not be
heard on Monday Ow-
ing to death of a lawyer.
Ranjana Agnihotri
has demanded removal
of the Shahi Masjid Id-
gah from the Sri Krish-
na Janmasthan Com-
plex, and handing over
the entire 37 acres land
to Shri Krishna Janma-
bhoomi Trust. The mat-
ter was to be heard on
Monday, but the hear-
ing could not be held
due to the death of ad-
vocate TP Singh.
Similarly hearing on
the case filed in the
court of Civil Judge
Senior Division Neha
Banodia by advocate
Mahendra Pratap Singh
could not be held on
Monday owing to the
same reason.
The court has fixed
April 1 as the next date
of hearing in Ranjana
Agnihotri’s case while
the court has fixed
April 7 as next date of
hearing in the case filed
by Advocate Mahendra
Pratap Singh.
It may be mentioned
that Mahendra Pratap
had also given an appli-
cation to the court to
appoint a receiver at the
Shahi Masjid Idgah,
conduct an Archaeo-
logical Survey besides
granting stay to prevent
carrying out of any
work in the mosque.
First India Bureau
Moradabad: A team
of Majhola police led
by ASP Anil Yadav
raided a spa center and
arrested 6 people
which include a doctor
and 2 young women for
running a sex racket
under the guise of a
spa center.
As per Anil Yadav,
ASP / CO Civil Lines,
the police team raided
the spa situated at the
Parsvnath Plaza on the
Delhi Road under Ma-
jhola police station af-
ter receiving a tip-off
from an informer. The
police upon entering
the spa arrested the re-
ceptionist named Ravi
Kumar and seized Rs.
11,000 in cash from the
cash counter.
Ravi Kumar has re-
vealed in the interroga-
tion that the owner of
the spa Satish Chuhan
runs a sex racket and
charges Rs. 1200 per
person for providing
service. The police also
arrested 2 girls who
were working at the spa
center.
Once of the girl who
was working in a beau-
ty salon previously said
that she was lured by
the spa operator with
his offer of paying her
Rs. 17,000 per month for
the job at the spa center.
She added that the own-
er took both the women
as hostage and forced
them into the flesh
trade by force.
Dr Dinesh Sharma

08
2NDFRONT
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
BATTLE CRY: SP, BSP spell out poll agenda ahead of ballots
First India Bureau
Lucknow: With the UP
Legislative Assembly
elections less than a
year away
, parties have
started looking for new
political equations.
At least two impor-
tant parties Samajwadi
Party and Bahujan Sa-
maj Party have made
their agendas clear on
how they will contest
the 2022 state assembly
elections?
The SP was the first
to announce that it will
be contesting the state
assembly elections. On
many forums, SP Chief
andformerchief minis-
ter Akhilesh Yadav said
that he will not forge
any alliance with any
big political party but
will ally with the small-
er parties in the state.
Meanwhile, BSP
chief Mayawati has re-
cently reiterated that
her party will not forge
any electrical alliance.
TherulingBJPhaskept
its cards close to the
chest over alliances for
2022stateassemblyelec-
tions.
Has the ruling BJP
madeupitsmindtocon-
test the elections alone?
Thisislikelypossibleas
the parties with which
theBJPfoughtelections
in 2017 have either left
the alliance or exited
discussions.
Those who are with
the BJP are just for the
sake of the name. One
such alliance in 2017
was with Om Prakash
Rajbhar’s party
Suheldev Bharatiya Sa-
maj Party and Anupri-
ya Patel’s Apna Dal. Ra-
jbhar parted ways from
the saffron party and
has been vocal against
theBJPsincethen.With
the Apna Dal having no
special significance,
Anupriya Patel did not
even get a place in the
Modi government’s sec-
ond term.
The Director of Go-
vind Ballabh Pant Insti-
tute of Social Sciences
(Prayagraj), Badri-
narayan, said, “These
small parties based on
ethnicgroupsarelosing
their existence. Com-
munitieshavestartedto
feel that such leaders’
interestistotakeadvan-
tage of being in power.
On the other hand, the
BJP has also made in-
roads into such ethnic
groupsinthepastyears.
Leaders of some ethnic
groups have been given
very high status in the
party
.”
It is obvious that
when a political party
hascreatedsuchleaders
withinitsownorganiza-
tion, they will need the
clutches. Many leaders
from the backward
classes have got a big
position in the govern-
ment. On the other
hand, Akhilesh Yadav
has been trying to bring
togethersmallerparties
for contesting the as-
sembly elections. Only
time can tell which
small parties will be in
the fray with him in
2022.
Meanwhile, Chan-
drashekhar Azad of
Bhim Army
, Om
Prakash Rajbhar, Akh-
ilesh Yadav’s uncle
Shivpal Yadav of PSPL,
AIMIM chief Asadud-
din Owaisi and leaders
of AAP have been quite
active on the ground
lately
. Of these, Akhile-
sh Yadav is expected to
forge alliances with po-
litical groups that suit
his party
.
BSP supremo Mayawati Akhilesh Yadav
Plea in apex court challenges
Panchayat polls order of HC
Centre approves seven judicial officers
for appointment as Allahabad HC judges
Mayawati attacks UP
govt over Hathras case
Lko mosque counters
PIL challenging Places of
Worship Act provisions
GOOD CHAPTER: PRE-PRIMARY SCHOOLS
NEED TO GET NOD FROM STATE GOVT
First India Bureau
Lucknow: Chief Minis-
ter Yogi Adityanath has
instructed that all pre-
primary schools run-
ningacrossthestatewill
have to get a mandatory
recognition from the Ut-
tar Pradesh government
for its functioning.
Asof now,nosuchrec-
ognition was needed to
run any pre-primary or
play school in UP
.
Acting on the Chief
Minister’s order, the De-
partment of Basic Edu-
cation is now preparing
alistof guidelinesforall
pre-primary schools.
The government will
keep a check on fees
charged by such play or
Apart from this, An-
ganwadi centers will be
developed like play or
More than 2,000 play or
pre-primary schools are
being operated in Luc-
know alone. Many lo-
calities have opened
play schools in their
houses and charge a
hefty fees from the par-
ents. Under the guide-
lines of National Educa-
tion Policy, the govern-
ment is going to make
the recognition of play
or pre-primary schools
mandatory
. Under this,
the accountability of
schools will also be fixed
for the safety of kids.
A pre-primary unit
has been formed under
the Samagra Shiksha
Abhiyan to recognise
pre-primary schools and
frame a set of rules for
the same. This commit-
tee will decide on stand-
ardsandschemesrelated
to pre-primary level edu-
cation. Like council
schools, Anganwadi
centers for young chil-
dren will be developed
like play schools.
Bail to man jailed for forwarding
messages regarding France prez
First India Bureau
Lucknow: BSP chief
Mayawati on Monday
targeted the Yogi Adity-
anath government over
the Hathras gangrape
case, saying new facts
emerging in the matter
haveraisedseriousques-
tions on the working of
the state government
Her remarks came in
the backdrop of the Al-
lahabad High Court di-
recting the Hathras dis-
trict judge and CRPF In-
spector General, central
sector, to inquire wheth-
er the prosecution wit-
ness and the lawyers of
the girl who was alleg-
edly raped and died due
to injuries were threat-
ened before a special
judge during the trial on
March 5.
In a tweet in Hindi,
Mayawati said the diffi-
culties faced by the fam-
ily of the victim in get-
ting justice are well
known,butthenewfacts
in this regard revealed
in court have once again
raised serious questions
on working of the state
government in ensuring
justice to the victim.
“The high court tak-
ing cognisance of new
facts in the Hathras case
and ordering an inquiry
into threats to witnesses
and other issues has put
the UP government in
the dock and the people
havebeenforcedtothink
astohowvictimswillget
justice,”’ she said.
First India Bureau
New Delhi: The
mosque committee of
the Teeley Wali Masjid,
a 350-year-old mosque
in Lucknow, has filed
an interim application
in the Supreme Court
in a PIL challenging
the constitutional va-
lidity of the Places of
Worship Act, 1991.
The intervention ap-
plication was filed by
the counsel for Indo-Is-
lamic Cultural Founda-
tion, Sarim Naved,
with Advocate-on-Re-
cord Kabir Dixit, on
behalf of Wasif Hasan
of the mosque commit-
tee.
On March 12, 2021,
the Apex Court issued
a notice in the matter
of Ashwini Kumar
Upadhyay v. Union of
India, challenging sec-
tions 2, 3, 4 of the Plac-
es of Worship (Special
Provisions) Act, 1991,
which has averred that
the Act takes away the
power of Court and Re-
ligious Sects to restore
their places of Wor-
ship.
Petitioner Wasif
Hasan, co-mutawalli of
the Teeley Wali Masjid,
alleged that petition
challenging Places of
Worship Act, 1991 is a
‘mischievous’ attempt
at isolating the Muslim
community from other
major religious com-
munities.
The petitioner has
sought to set up an al-
legedly factual case of
fundamentalist barbar-
ians coming to India
and destroying places
of worship, sources or
setting up a case that
any such places of wor-
ship have indeed been
destroyed
First India Bureau
Lucknow: The Luc-
know Bench of Alla-
habad High Court re-
cently granted bail to a
man jailed for forward-
ing objectionable mes-
sages regarding Presi-
dent of France Emma-
nuel Macron.
The accused had al-
legedly asked people to
display black flags as a
mark of protest at their
houses, shops and oth-
er establishments.
Justice Dinesh Ku-
mar Singh granted bail
to the accused after not-
ing that he had no crim-
inal history and that he
had already expressed
regret for forwarding
the message.
The Court had earli-
er directed the accused,
who had been in jail
since November last
year, to file an affidavit
tendering an uncondi-
tional apology.
Counsel for the ac-
cused submitted that
the applicant did not
inscribe the message,
and that he had only
forwarded it.
First India Bureau
New Delhi: A Special
Leave Petition has been
filed in the Supreme
Court challenging the
judgment of the Luc-
know Bench of the Al-
lahabad High
Court wherein the
Court had directed the
State Government and
State Election Commis-
sion to hold upcoming
Panchayat Elections,
taking 2015 as base year
for reservation of seats.
This has been issued
in compliance with the
decision of the Alla-
habad High Court, Luc-
know Bench in Ajay
Kumar vs State of UP
and others in PIL. The
present SLP has been
filed by one Dilip Ku-
mar. The petitioner, a
resident of Ishapur
Gram Panchayat, Jaun-
pur, has challenged the
High Court order on
various grounds.
The main contention
is that the PIL petitioner
before High Court did
not bring into knowl-
edgeof thecourtthatthe
earliernotificationdated
16-09-2015isnownomore
in existence in the light
of UP Government’s
new notification dated
09.02.2021. The govern-
ment in pursuance of
this notification had is-
sued government order
whereby it was directed
to hold panchayat elec-
tionsbyconsidering1995
as base year. The peti-
tioner has highlighted
other anomalies both at
the state level and dis-
trict level if 2015 is con-
sidered base year and
not 1995.
First India Bureau
New Delhi: TheCentral
government has signed
off on the appointments
of seven judicial officers
as judges of the Alla-
habad High Court.
JudicialofficersMohd
Aslam, Anil Kumar
Ojha, Sadhna Rani
Thakur, Naveen Srivas-
tava, Syed Aftab Husain
Rizvi, Ajai Tyagi, and
Ajai Kumar Srivastava -
I havebeenappointedas
additional judges of the
High Court.
Thakur, Rizvi and Sriv-
astava - I will serve for a
period of two year from
their date of assuming
office.
Thenotificationstates
thatAslam,Ojha,Srivas-
tavaandTyagiwillserve
from the date they as-
sume office till January
14, 2023, July 1, 2022, De-
cember 19, 2021 and De-
cember 31, 2022 respec-
tively
.
The Supreme Court
Collegium had earlier
recommended the eleva-
tion of the above men-
tioned judicial officers
along with four others -
Anil Kumar Gupta, Om
Prakash Tripathi,
UmeshChandraSharma
and Syed Waiz Mian -
whose elevations are yet
to be confirmed.
The new appoint-
mentswilltakethework-
ing strength at the Alla-
habad High Court to 103,
as against a sanctioned
strength of 160 judges.
—FILE PHOTO
Teeley Wali Masjid
New facts revealed in
the court raised
questions on working
of the state govt
NEW RULES
Acting on CM Yogi’s order Dept of
Basic Edu is preparing list of
guidelines for pre-primary schools
BRACING UP FOR HOLI
Workers busy preparing Gulal in Bhadohi district on Monday ahead of Holi festival.
—FILE
PHOTO
—FILE
PHOTOS

LUCKNOW, 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

First india lucknow edition-23 march 2021

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