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1. Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Chinese President Xi Jinping. —FILE PHOTO
CM exhorts students to counter challenges of 21st century
Darshan Desai
Gandhinagar: Guja-
rat Chief Minister Vi-
jay Rupani on Monday
exhorted the law stu-
dents to realise and
identify their duties
as citizens and con-
tribute their might to
face the challenges in
the 21st Century in
nation building.
Rupani said the law
students would short-
ly embark on the role
of practising lawyers
and they should en-
sure the common man
gets justice as well as
work towards further
strengthening and
empower the nation.
The Chief Minister
was addressing the lec-
ture series on ‘Rebuild-
ing the Judiciary – Na-
tion Building’ organ-
ised by the Centre for
Constitutional and Ad-
ministrative Law at the
Gujarat National Law
University here with
former Chief Justice of
India Ranjan Gogoi as
the chief guest.
Speaking at length on
legislature, judiciary
and executive as the
three pillars of democ-
racy, Rupani said that,
“Our constitutional
system is unique in the
sense that ours is the
world’s largest democ-
racy. While all the three
pillars independently
performed their func-
tions, the independent
judiciary is the strength
of the country, insepa-
rable from the process
of nation building.
He said the country
has always respected
the judiciary’s ver-
dicts. He said the Su-
preme Court’s recent
judgment on Ram Jan-
mabhoomi “reflects
the judiciary’s matu-
rity, sensitivity and
independence. It
might have taken time,
but the judiciary has
gone into the fineness
of truth and untruth
in interpretation.”
Supreme Court’s re-
tired Chief Justice Ran-
janGogoi,inhiskeynote
address, recalled Guja-
rat’s illustrious son
Sardar Vallabhbhai Pa-
tel’s integration of 565
princely states in the
Union of India as a best
exampleof hiscontribu-
tion to the nation build-
ing.“Hadhelivedlonger,
he would have strength-
enedthenationfurther,”
Justice Gogoi said.
A MoU was signed be-
tween Gujarat Govern-
ment’s Biotechnology
Mission and Gujarat
National Law Universi-
ty to jointly develop and
start Postgraduate Di-
ploma Course in ‘Bio-
technology and Law
and Public Policy’.
Meanwhile, in anoth-
er key event, Rupani ap-
provedanewcitysurvey
superintendent’s office
at Gandhidham to pro-
vide property cards on
the basis of documents
of 30,000 lease land hold-
ers on the Deendayal
(Kandla) Port Trust in
the Kutch district.
The work could not be
undertaken earlier be-
cause when it was allot-
ted to the Gandhidham-
Adipur twin township
around February 1996,
the land belonged to the
port trust for simultane-
ous development of the
townships and the port.
Since the lease condi-
tionsweredirectlyunder
theCentralGovernment,
the State Government
had no control over that
land. Related Report P10
Chief Minister Vijay Rupani with Former Chief Justice of Supreme Court, Justice Ranjan Gogoi lighting
the lamp at the lecture series on ‘Rebuilding the Judiciary in Nation Building’ in Gandhinagar on Monday.
DEMONSTRATES FRIENDSHIP: CHINA ON
PM’S LETTER TO XI OVER VIRUS CRISIS
Beijing: China on
Monday appreciated
Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi’s letter to
President Xi Jinping
offering solidarity and
assistance to deal with
the deadly coronavi-
rus outbreak, saying it
“fully demonstrated”
New Delhi’s friendship
with Beijing.In a letter
to President Jinping,
PM Modi expressed
solidarity with the
president and people
of China over the out-
break of the virus that
has claimed over 900
lives in the neighbour-
ing country.”
We thank and appre-
ciate India’s support for
China’s fight against the
NCP Novel Coronavirus
Pneumonia, the official
name for coronavirus,”
Chinese Foreign Minis-
try spokesman Geng Sh-
uang said.”
India’s acts of good-
will fully demon-
strate its friendship
with China,” Geng
said during an online
media briefing while
replying to a question
on PM Modi’s letter to
President Jinping.
Prime Minister Modi
also offered India’s as-
sistance to China to face
the challenge, besides
conveying condolences
over the loss of lives due
to the outbreak.
The prime minister
also conveyed to Pres-
ident Xi his apprecia-
tion for facilitating
evacuation of around
650 Indian citizens
from the worst-affect-
ed Hubei province
last week.
A sizeable number of
countries have evacu-
ated their citizens from
China and restricted
movement of people
and goods to and from
China.
India too has put re-
strictions on the move-
ment of people to and
from China as part of
precautionary meas-
ures to contain the
spread of the virus.”
We stand ready to
work with India and
other members of the
international com-
munity to jointly
tackle fight the epi-
demic and safeguard
regional and global
public health securi-
ty,” Geng said.
IndianAmbassadorto
ChinaVikramMisritold
the Indian media on
Monday that India was
intouchwithChineseof-
ficials to find out the im-
mediaterequirementsto
deal with the epidemic.
The death toll in
China’s coronavirus
outbreak has gone up
to 908 with 97 new fa-
talities reported
mostly in the worst-
affected Hubei prov-
ince and the con-
firmed cases of infec-
tion crossing 40,000,
Chinese health offi-
cials said on Monday.
A team of interna-
tional experts led by the
World Health Organisa-
tion (WHO) would ar-
rive in China on Mon-
day night to assist the
Chinese health officials
to contain the spread of
coronavirus outbreak.”
I’ve just been at the
airport seeing off
members of an ad-
vance team for the @
WHO-led 2019nCoV
international expert
mission to China, led
by Dr Bruce Aylward,
veteran of past pub-
lic health emergen-
cies,” WHO director
general Tedros Adha-
nom Ghebreyesus
said in a tweet.
APPRECIATION
YOU READ IT FIRST IN FIRST INDIA FEBRUARY 10, 2020
In a letter to President Xi Jinping, PM Modi expressed solidarity with the president and people of
China over the outbreak of the virus that has claimed over 900 lives in the neighbouring country
AHMEDABAD l TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2020 l Pages 14 l 3.00 RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/16208 l Vol 1 l Issue No. 77

2. TALKING POINTAHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2020
02www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
Los Angeles: Director
Bong Joon Ho scripted
history by becoming
the first Asian and
South Korean filmmak-
er to bag the best direc-
tor Oscar for his class
satire “Parasite” at the
92nd Academy Awards
where it also walked
away with the best pic-
ture, screenplay and in-
ternational feature film
trophies.
In his speech, the di-
rector gave a shout-out
to fellow nominees, sin-
gling out “The Irish-
man” director Martin
Scorsese and “Once
Upon a Time in Holly-
wood” director Quentin
Tarantino.
“I thought I was done
for the day and was
ready to relax,” Bong
quipped.
“When I was young
and studying cinema,
there was a saying that
I carved deep into my
heart, which is ‘the
most personal is the
most creative’. That
quote was from our
great Martin Scorsese.
When I was in school, I
studied Martin
Scorsese’s films. Just to
be nominated was a
huge honor; I never
thought I would win.
“When people in the
US were not familiar
with my film, Quentin
always put my films on
his list. He is here,
thank you so much.
Quentin, I love you.
And Todd and Sam,
great directors that I ad-
mire. If the Academy
allows, I would like to
get a Texas chainsaw,
split the Oscar trophy
into five and share it
with all of you,” he said
through his interpreter
Sharon Choi.
He joked that after
the win, which culmi-
nates a busy award sea-
son for the director, he
would “drink till the
next morning”.
Bong, 50, is not new to
the western audiences
and first broke on the
international scene
with his second South
Korean language fea-
ture “Memories of Mur-
der”, based on a real
incident and still con-
sidered to be his best by
many fans.
The rich-poor divide
has been a recurring
theme in his films, be it
monster movie “The
Host” or his first full-
fledged English-lan-
guage film “Snowpierc-
er”, starring Hollywood
star Chris Evans and
his favourite Song Kang
Ho.
“Parasite”, a cleverly
crafted class satire, is
Bong Joon Ho’s seventh
film. —PTI
Los Angeles: Holly-
wood star Laura Dern
couldn’t have asked for
a better birthday pre-
sent than an Oscar as
she won her maiden
Academy Award in the
best supporting actress
category for her role in
“Marriage Story”.
The actor, who turns
53 on Monday, won the
Oscar for playing Nora
Fanshaw, a firebrand
divorce counsel to Scar-
lett Johansson’s charac-
ter undergoing separa-
tion from her husband,
played by Adam Driver.
Dern beat Johansson,
nominated for “Jojo
Rabbit”, and her “Little
Women” co-star Flor-
ence Pugh in the catego-
ry. Other nominees
were Margot Robbie
(“Bombshell”) and
Kathy Bates (“Richard
Jewell”).
“This is the best
birthday present ever,”
Dern declared as she ac-
cepted her trophy.
“Some say never
meet your heroes but I
say if you are really
blessed, you get them as
your parents,” the actor
said, dedicating the
award to her parents,
veteran actors Bruce
Dern and Diane Ladd.
Dern hailed the cast
and crew of her film.
She singled out director
Noah Baumbach as she
praised him for his “vi-
sion” and “magic”.
“Noah wrote a movie
about love and about
breaching divisions in
the name and in the
honour of family and
home, and hopefully for
all of us, in the name of
our planet,” she added.
A decorated actor
who has largely been
celebrated for her act-
ing chops both on TV
and in cinema, Dern to-
day is at the top of her
game.
Her turn as the fierce
yet charming and sup-
portive Nora had al-
ready earned Dern her
fifth Golden Globe, a
BAFTA, a Critics
Choice Award and a
Screen Actors Guild
Award.
The actor has often
talked about her affini-
ty towards unassuming
but sticky characters
and as Nora she blazed
the screen, especially
with her much-talked
about monologue in the
divorce drama.
But much before
“Marriage Story” came
to the fore, Dern’s per-
formance as a wealthy
helicopter mom Renata
Klein in HBO series
“Big Little Lies” re-
flected a change in
time.
The role of an angry
woman on screen dur-
ing the nascent stage of
the #MeToo movement
hit close to home and
also won the actor her
first Emmy for best
supporting actress in a
limited series or movie.
She kick-started
started her career in
the 1980s but her offi-
cial film debut was an
appearance in “Alice
Doesn’t Live Here Any-
more” (1974), directly
opposite her mother.
Dern rose to promi-
nence with David
Lynch’s 1986 neo-noir
mystery “Blue Velvet”.
She later received an
Academy Award nomi-
nation for best actress
for her portrayal of the
titular orphan in the
1991 drama “Rambling
Rose”.
The generation of
the 1990s still recognis-
es Dern as the soft-spo-
ken, maternal and
opinionated Dr Ellie
Sattler from Steven
Spielberg’s “Jurassic
Park” series.
Besides Lynch and
Spielberg, she has
worked with directing
greats such as Martin
Scorsese, Jonathan
Demme, Paul Thomas
Anderson, Clint East-
wood, and Robert Alt-
man. —PTI
Best costume
design
 The Irishman
 Jojo Rabbit
 Joker
 Little Women – WIN-
NER
 Once Upon a Time in
Hollywood
Best documentary
 American Factory –
WINNER
 The Cave
 The Edge of Democ-
racy
 For Sama
 Honeyland
Best documentary
short
 In the Absence
 Learning to Skate-
board in a Warzone
(If You’re a Girl) –
WINNER
 Life Overtakes Me
 St Louis Superman
 Walk Run Cha-Cha
Best supporting
actress
 Kathy Bates, Richard
Jewell
 Laura Dern, Marriage
Story – WINNER
 Scarlett Johansson,
Jojo Rabbit
 Florence Pugh, Little
Women
 Margot Robbie,
Bombshell
Best
cinematography
 The Irishman
 Joker
 The Lighthouse
 1917 – WINNER
 Once Upon a Time in
Hollywood
Best sound
editing
 Ford v Ferrari – WIN-
NER
 Joker
 1917
 Once Upon a Time in
Hollywood
 Star Wars: The Rise
of Skywalker
Best sound mixing
 Ford v Ferrari
 Joker
 1917 – WINNER
 Once Upon a Time in
Hollywood
Best original
score
 Joker – WINNER
 Little Women
 Marriage Story
 1917
 Star Wars: The Rise
of Skywalker
Best original song
 I Can’t Let You
Throw Yourself
Away, Toy Story 4
 I’m Gonna Love Me
Again, Rocketman –
WINNER
 I’m Standing With
You, Breakthrough
 Into the Unknown,
Frozen II
 Stand Up, Harriet
Best film editing
 Ford v Ferrari – WIN-
NER
 The Irishman
 Jojo Rabbit
 Joker
 Parasite
Best visual
effects
 Avengers Endgame
 The Irishman
 1917 – WINNER
 The Lion King
 Star Wars: The Rise
of Skywalker
Best actor
 Antonio Banderas,
Pain and Glory
 Leonardo DiCaprio,
Once Upon a Time in
Hollywood
 Adam Driver, Mar-
riage Story
 Joaquin Phoenix,
Joker – WINNER
 Jonathan Pryce, The
Two Popes
Best actress
 Cynthia Erivo, Harriet
 Scarlett Johansson,
Marriage Story
 Saoirse Ronan, Little
Women
 Charlize Theron,
Bombshell
 Renée Zellweger,
Judy – WINNER
Best International
Feature Film

Corpus Christi

Honeyland

Les Misérables

Pain and Glory

Parasite
Best Director

Martin Scorsese, The Irish-
man 
Todd Phillips, Joker

Sam Mendes, 1917

Quentin Tarantino, Once
Upon a Time in Hollywood 
Bong Joon-ho, Parasite
Best Picture

Ford v Ferrari 
The
Irishman 
Jojo Rabbit

Joker 
Little Women

Marriage Story 
1917

Once Upon a Time in
Hollywood 
Parasite
Laura Dern wins best supporting
actress Oscar for ‘Marriage Story’
Cast of
Parasite
including Choi
Woo-shik, Park
So-dam, Lee
Sun-kyun, Park
So-dam, Cho
Yeo-jeong, Lee
Jung-eun, Jang
Hye-jin, and
Park
Myung-
hoonwere.
DERN HAILS CAST
COMPLETE LIST OF WINNERS
Taika Waititi, winner of the
award for best adapted
screenplay for Jojo Rabbit.
Jonas Rivera, from left, Mark Nielsen, and Josh Cooley,
winners of the award for best animated feature film for Toy
Story 4, pose in the press room at the Oscars.
PARASITE IN
PARADISE

3. New Delhi: The Su-
preme Court on Mon-
day said the anti-CAA
protesters at Delhi’s
Shaheen Bagh cannot
block public roads
and create inconven-
ience for others.
The apex court is-
sued notices to the
Centre, Delhi govern-
ment and the police
on pleas seeking re-
moval of protesters
from Shaheen Bagh.
“There is a law and
people have grievance
against it. The matter is
pendingincourt.Despite
thatsomepeoplearepro-
testing.Theyareentitled
to protest,” a bench com-
prising justices S K Kaul
and K M Joseph said.
“You cannot block
the public roads. There
cannot be indefinite pe-
riod of protest in such
an area. Turn on P5
AHMEDABAD l TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2020 l Pages 14 l 3.00 RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/16208 l Vol 1 l Issue No. 77
Guj ATS nabs Mum
serial blasts accused
First India News
Ahmedabad: In a late
Sunday night swoop,
the Gujarat Anti-Ter-
rorist Squad on ar-
rested Munaf Halari,
a prime accused in
the 1993 serial blasts
and wanted in a Rs
1,500 crore narcotics
smuggling case.
He was picked up
when he was going to
Dubai from Mumbai
via a transit flight, on
a Pakistani passport.
Halari was arrested
on the basis of a spe-
cific intelligence re-
ceived by K K Patel,
ACP of Gujarat ATS
Gujarat.
He was wanted in a
case of heroin smug-
gling through Gujarat
Coast in which five Pa-
kistani nationals were
arrested from high sea
on January 2, 2020.
The ATS said Munaf
Halari is also a prime
accused in the Mumbai
serial blasts case, “in
which he had played vi-
tal role” and Red Cor-
ner Notice was issued
against him on the re-
quest of CBI.
He is a close associate
of Tiger Memon, one of
the main conspirators
of the 1993 Mumbai
blasts of the year 1993.
It may be recalled that a
series of bomb explo-
sions in Mumbai on
March 12, 1993, claimed
257 lives and injured 713
people. It caused de-
struction of properties
worth more than Rs 27
crore. Turn on P5
How can you block public road?
SC upholds SC/ST Amendment Act, law
has no provision for anticipatory bail
Apex Court seeks Raj govt’s
response on Kota deaths
New Delhi: Supreme
Court on Monday up-
held the constitu-
tional validity of the
Scheduled Castes
and Scheduled Tribes
(Prevention of Atroc-
ities) Amendment
Act of 2018 enacted
to nullify the effects
of the March 20, 2018
judgment of the
court which had di-
luted the provisions
of the Act.
A bench headed by
Justice Arun Mishra
said a preliminary
inquiry is not essen-
tial before lodging
an FIR under the act
and the approval of
senior police offi-
cials is not needed.
The Act also does
not provide for antici-
patory bail to the ac-
cused being charged
with SC/ST Act.
Courts can, however,
quash FIRs in excep-
tional circumstances.
Turn on P5
New Delhi: The Su-
preme Court on Mon-
day sought response
from the Rajasthan
government on a plea
seeking probe into the
death of over 100 in-
fants at a hospital in
Kota recently.
A bench comprising
Chief Justice S A Bob-
de and Justices B R
Gavai and Surya Kant
issued a notice to the
state government on a
plea filed by noted doc-
tor K K Aggarwal and
social worker B
Mishra seeking probe
into the death of new-
born babies due to
lack of equipment at a
government hospital
in Kota.
Never before ‘EWS type’ Smart Ghar-3 to give wings to dream housing
Masuma Bharmal Jariwala
Rajkot: While Prime
Minister Narendra
Modi dreams for hous-
ing for all by 2022, but
Rajkot the place
where Modi fought
his first election has
gone a step ahead in
ensuring that the af-
fordable housing un-
der the PMYA are not
just affordable but
also environmental
friendly in sync with
meeting climate
change challenges.
Based on an innova-
tive approach for ther-
mally comfortable liv-
ing and inclusive
township - Smart
Ghar-3 built under
Pradhan Mantri
Aawas Yojna by Ra-
jkot Municipal Corpo-
ration, it has 1,176
EWS type dwelling
units constructed near
Aryaland Residency in
Mavdi area of the city.
Huge theme based
paintings, centrally lo-
cated huge green space
designed in a way that
every dweller gets max-
imum green view, fully
openable windows, ven-
tilators, solar roof top
PV for common elec-
tricity requirement,
rain water harvesting ,
anganwadi, shopping
area, play area, cavity
wall on southern side,
use of AAC blocks for
masonry work, electric
points in parking areas
for ebike charging are
some of the essential
features incorporated
to make the living ther-
mally comfortable and
provide inclusive inte-
grated housing by way
of adding technical fea-
tures and modifying the
existing practices of
building components .
Considered the
above initiatives, the
GRIHA (Green Rating
for Integrated Habi-
tat Assessment) has
awarded ‘Green
Building Certifica-
tion’ making Rajkot
the first city to re-
ceive this honor in af-
fordable housing cat-
egory.
Alpana Mitra, City
Engineer housing at
RMC who is instrumen-
tal behind the building
environmental friendly
housing speaking to
First India said, “Lot of
efforts have gone in en-
suring such a unique,
innovative, comforta-
ble, energy friendly de-
sign to make environ-
mental friendly living.
Turn on P5
Alpana Mitra and Smart
Ghar-3 township.
New Delhi: “Can a
4-month-old child be
taking part in such
(Shaheen Bagh)
protests?”, the Supreme
Court asked on Monday
while warning some
women lawyers for making
“explosive submissions”
that kids participating
in these anti-CAA
demonstrations are being
called names, ‘terrorist’,
‘gaddar’ (traitor),
‘Pakistani’, in school.
New Delhi: The nine-
judge bench of the Su-
preme Court on Monday
held that questions of
law can be referred to
a larger review bench.
The nine-judge bench of
the apex court, headed
by Chief Justice of India
(CJI) Sharad Arvind
Bobde, passed the verdict
on more than 50 review
petitions challenging the
top court’s earlier judg-
ment on Sabarimala.
‘Can 4-month-old
take part in stir?’
Sabrimala: Can
refer larger bench
SC issues notices
to Centre, Delhi
govt, police on
Shaheen Bagh
DELHI ELECTION
RESULTS TODAY
New Delhi: Tight security
arrangements have been
put in place at various
centres across the national
capital where the counting
of votes polled in the high-
stakes February 8 Delhi
Assembly elections will
take place on Tuesday. The
curiosity among people to
know the outcome of the
elections to the 70-mem-
ber Delhi Assembly has
heightened post-exit polls,
that has forecast a big win
for the ruling AAP, and the
delay in announcement
of the final voter turnout
by authorities.
New Delhi: Scores of Ja-
mia Millia students and
residents of Jamia Nagar
on Monday got into a scuf-
fle with police after they
were stopped from carry-
ing an anti-CAA march
towards Parliament.
The protest call was giv-
en by the Jamia Coordina-
tion Committee (JCC), an
organisation of Jamia stu-
dents and alumni.
Despite repeated ap-
peals from the police and
the varsity authorities,
the protesters refused to
end their agitation. Police
said the protesters did not
have permission to march
towards Parliament.
Amid heavy deployment
of security personnel in and
around the university, the
protesters, including several
women, began their march
from Jamia’s gate no 7.
The protesters raised slo-
gans like “Kagaz Nahi
Dikhayenge’ (We will not
show documents)
Turn on P5
JAMIA PROTESTERS DETAINED ON WAY TO PARL ‘DON’T BURST CRACKERS IN VICTORY
CELEBRATIONS TO PREVENT POLLUTION’
New Delhi: A day ahead of election results, Delhi
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday asked AAP
volunteers not to burst firecrackers during victory
celebrations to prevent air pollution. Party functionaries
said though preparations are underway to celebrate the
victory in the polls, whose results will be announced
on Tuesday, Kejriwal has asked party volunteers not to
burst firecrackers as it contributes to pollution.
A woman protestor shouts as police
stop many others during their march
against the amended Citizenship Act,
NRC and NPR, near Jamia Nagar in
New Delhi on Monday. —PHOTO BY PTI
Munaf Halari in ATS custody.
 Caught travelling to
Dubai from Mumbai on
a Pakistani passport
 wanted in Rs 1,500 cr
narcotics smuggling case

4. GUJARATAHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2020
04www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
BUGGED? Or is it the
grapevine... . First India
begins a column that
brings to you gossips or
tete-e-tete from the
corridors of power
GUP
SHUP
ALL TALK AND NO
ACTION!
Ahmedabad City Police recently
made an announcement about
starting a YouTube channel to create
awareness among citizens on topics
such as online theft, cheating,
harassment and women’s safety,
among others. While we commend
the thought behind it, there have been
no actual uploads on the channel yet.
The channel—which is supposed to
enlighten people about their rights
and also alert them about the various
tricks that criminals use to con their
victims into submission—does not
have a single video uploaded there.
What we want to convey to the police
is that, the threat alone won’t work to
discourage crime but backing it with
action just might!
GHAR ME SHAADI HAI
With the city getting decked up
in anticipation of US President
Trump’s impending visit, it seems
the bureaucrats here are having a
gala time. The kind of preparation
being undertaken to pretty up the
city before the state visit feels very
much like the putting together of
an Indian wedding. Going to all that
trouble for a short VVIP visit is akin
to planning a family wedding. All
officials receive their assignments
which range from food, cleanliness,
decoration, ‘extreme makeover’, and
even managing stray cattle! All this
to maintain the illusion that the city
always shines like a bride. Which is
all good, except we’re still not 100%
sure of how much time the the guest
of honour will even spend here.
CLEAN ‘SWEEP’
IN DELHI?
CAA: three small letters that could
have a major impact on the way the
country sees the BJP, at least if the
exit polls from Delhi’s recent Assembly
elections are to be believed. Rumour
has it that, given the BJP’s dismal
performance in Maharashtra and
Haryana following populist decisions
like abrogating Article 370 and the
Ram Mandir decision, the Delhi
Election is likely to be a referendum
on the Modi Sarkar. What does one
have to do with the other? This is
the first election to be held after the
introduction to CAA, silly, and we’ve
all been seeing how the public has
received *that*. Which leaves us
wondering, is Arvind Kejriwal going to
come out on top today?
BALANCING ACT
Some things are easier said than
done. Everyone knows that. But
we’re thinking of a very specific
something. The Police Commissioner
recently announced that police
personnel would soon be given
Segways to help them patrol the
River Front. While the cops might
receive their Segways, there was
no mention of any training being
planned. Anyone who’s ever tried to
get onto one of those things knows
that staying on can be a massive
pain unless you have some serious
core strength. And given that most of
our city’s cops are of the pot-bellied
variety, one can’t help imagining
what that first attempt would look
like for our khakhi-clad law-keepers.
Still, we wish them luck!
First India News
Ahmedabad: City ru-
ral police on Monday
questioned education-
ist Manjula Pooja
Shroff for nearly three
hours to get her state-
ment concerning the
alleged kidnapping of
Delhi Public School
(DPS) children at Swa-
mi Nithyananda’s ash-
ram and the violation
of government norms
while leasing out land
to the self-styled god-
man. The police had
last week issued notice
to Shroff, who is the
MD and CEO of Kalo-
rex Group, which oper-
ates DPS (East), where
Nithyananda’s alleg-
edly illegal ashram
was located.
Deputy Superinten-
dent of Police KT
Kamaria says, “Man-
jula Pooja Shroff said
that she was unaware
of the kidnapping inci-
dent at the ashram.
She says she was out of
the country when the
incident occurred. On
the issue of leasing
land illegally, she
passed a resolution in
the school and made an
agreement to lease
space.”
Shroff also told po-
lice that she ap-
proached Nithyananda
in April 2018, a yoga
camp at his Bidari
Ashram in Bengaluru.
She says she has not
met him since.
First India News
Ahmedabad: A 23-year-
oldmanfromAmraiwadi
was stabbed to death by
three unknown persons
onabike,policesaid.The
three persons allegedly
struck Vishal Parmar on
his neck, chin, hand,
chest and leg before he
was pronounced dead at
a city hospital.
Jignesh Parmar, the
victim’s cousin, filed a
complaint with Amrai-
wadi police, who have
begun an investigation.
Inthecomplaint,Jignesh
says, “On Saturday even-
ing, when I was standing
near my house, I heard
some people arguing.
When I went to see what
happened, another cous-
in Rohan called me say-
ing he was caught in the
middle of a brawl.” After
reaching the spot near
Siddhi Vinayak temple,
Jignesh and some other
relativesfoundVishalun-
conscious on the side of
the road.
First India News
Ahmedabad: A com-
plaint has been regis-
tered against a man for
allegedly threatening
to throw acid at a
26-year-old woman for
rejecting his love. Ac-
cording to the com-
plaint lodged by the
victim’s family, Pur-
vesh Pandya, who is a
neighbour of the wom-
an, threatened to throw
acid on her and kill her
parents if she did not
reciprocate his love to-
wards her The woman
has been working at a
software company in
Kolkata for the past
year but visits
Ahmedabad often. She
was in a relationship
with Purvesh a few
years ago, but broke up
with him because of
his alcohol addiction.
The woman’s mother
filed a complaint
against Purvesh with
Krushnanagar police
station last month.
Congress leader
Shaktisinh Gohil’s
driver assaulted
Bharat Desai, who
works as a driver for
Congress leader Shak-
tisinh Gohil, was alleg-
edly assaulted by an
unknown person at a
petrol pump when he
was filling air in his
car’styres.The39-year-
old filed a complaint
with Vastrapur police
station. According to
the complaint, Desai
went to fill fuel in his
car at a petrol pump in
Bodakdev on Sunday
afternoon, when he
was assaulted for ask-
ing a person who cut
him off in a queue to
get back in line.
School threatened
over annual day
function
The committee presi-
dent of a school in the
city filed a case with
Shahpur police, accus-
ing one person of
threatening to kill him
unless he stopped his
school’s annual day
function. Ata Moham-
ad Qureshi, the com-
mittee president of
Oriental School, filed a
case against Gulam-
gaus Qureshi, who at-
tended the school’s an-
nual day function at
Town Hall in Ellis-
bridge on Sunday and
demanded that the
school authorities stop
the event. The com-
plainant alleged that
Gulamgaus threatened
to kill him and started
abusing him.
First India News
Surat: Two workers of
a textile factory died
when a fire erupted at a
factory in the Puna
area of the city early on
Monday. As per reports,
the deceased, identified
as Bhooraram Makwa-
na and Radheshyam
Berawala of Madhya
Pradesh were asleep
when the fire broke out.
The incident took
place at Ramdev Decor
located at Bhagyaoday
industrial society. The
unit is used to polish
fabric rolls used on
looms. According to lo-
cals, the fire depart-
ment was informed as
soon as the fire started
and they showed up to
the scene immediately.
Sub Fire Officer
Manoj Shukla said,
“We received the call in
the wee hours of Mon-
day. We reached the
spot and wasted no
time in getting the fire
under control. At first,
we used water cannons
to suppress the blaze.
Local residents in-
formed us about the
two labourers inside
the factory during the
night. Our firefighters
rushed them to the
nearest hospital, where
they were declared
brought dead by doc-
tors.”
Undertrials account for
2/3 of inmates in state jails
First India News
Ahmedabad: About
two-thirds of all in-
mates in Gujarat’s pris-
ons are undertrials, ac-
cording to a recent re-
port, which also says
that with three-fourths
of the posts for correc-
tions officers lying va-
cant, there is only one
prison guard for every
12,500 inmates.
The ‘India Justice Re-
port 2019’, published by
the Tata Trust, says
both the vacancies and
the number of undertri-
als have been increas-
ing steadily over the
past five years.
However, Gujarat is
not alone in being una-
ble to fill correctional
officer positions. The
national average vacan-
cy of correctional staff
stands at nearly 40%.
In addition, at 5.5%,
Gujarat has one of the
lowest representations
of women in prison
staff among states with
large population size.
This was below the na-
tional average of 10%.
This is a considerable
change from previous
years. Between 2012-
2016 and 2013-2017, Gu-
jarat was the only
ranked state to reduce
its vacancies in the key
pillar positions sur-
veyed, while its share
of women in police
and prisons also in-
creased over a five-year
period.
Chief Editor of the
India Justice Report
Maja Daruwala said,
“We hope this report
will encourage more co-
ordinated conversa-
tions between the vari-
ous duty holders to
bring about early im-
provements in ease of
accessing justice ser-
vices that will be of
benefit to the public.”
The report is an ini-
tiative of Tata Trusts in
collaboration with Cen-
tre for Social Justice,
Common Cause.
MANJULA POOJA SHROFF
QUESTIONED BY POLICE
Murder, attempt
to murder
complaints filed
Youth threatens to throw acid on woman
Factory fire
claims life of
two labourers
in Surat
RMC gets nod
for Rs2,132.15
crore budget
3 dead, 33 injured in 3 accidents across state
Masuma Bharmal Jari-
wala
Rajkot : The stand-
ing committee of Ra-
jkot Municipal Cor-
poration on Monday
added Rs12.17 crore
to the Rs2,119.98 crore
budget proposed by
the Municipal Com-
missioner, to approve
a budget of Rs2,132.15
crore for the city.
While no new tax
burden has been im-
posed, there is a re-
cord-breaking in-
crease of 50% in
grantstocorporators,
mayor, deputy mayor,
standing committee
chairman and chair-
man of various com-
mittees. The corpora-
tors’ grant has been
increased from Rs10
lakh to Rs15 lakh,
while grants of the
remaining have in-
creased from Rs3
lakh to Rs4.5 lakh.
Standing commit-
tee chairman Uday
Kangad called the
budget a people-ori-
ented one, which will
ensure the overall de-
velopment of the city
in addition to taking
care of the basic
needs of citizens.
To ease traffic
problems, the budget
has promised five
new flyovers and an
underbridge, at a to-
tal investment of
Rs255.75 crore. In ad-
dition, the budget has
also allotted Rs12
crore for urban forest
development in Aji
area,Rs100crorefora
new auditorium in
South Rajkot, and
Rs3.35 crore for new
community halls in
four wards. Other ini-
tiatives include the
use of so lar rooftops,
e-buses, waste man-
agement, gardens
and markets for wom-
en, a modern gym,
hygienic street food
and provisions for Di-
wali carnival, mara-
thon and flower show.
First India News
Surat: Monday saw
three separate acci-
dents in the state,
which left three people
dead and 23 injured.
A bus carrying 53
people on board over-
turned near Chikhli,
Navsari district on
Monday. Around 23 stu-
dents travelling in the
bus were injured in the
accident and three re-
main in critical condi-
tion at New Civil Hospi-
tal, Surat.
The bus, which was
heading towards Sapu-
tara was ferrying Class
4 and 8 students of Pri-
mary School, Amrut-
pura in Ankleshwar.
Raman Gohil, Princi-
pal, Primary School,
said, “We took all nec-
essary permissions
from the police, RTO,
District Education Of-
ficer as well as family
members of the stu-
dents. It was a day-long
trip so we decided to
push off in early in the
day. We were all asleep
when the bus over-
turned. We managed to
pull the students out
from the wrecked bus,
with the help of some
passersby and staff
members. Students
with severe injuries
were rushed to the New
Civil Hospital through
the 108 emergency ser-
vice.”
In another incident,
three vehicles met with
an accident at Iqbal
Garh, Banaskantha, in-
juring 10 people. Ac-
cording to reports, the
accident involved a
truck, mini-luxury bus
and a car. Palanpur res-
ident Meghnaben Joshi
and her 12-year-old
daughter Adhya Joshi
were killed. The other
deceased was Rajkot
resident Nitinbhai
Chandubhai Popat.
In Modasa, a truck
driver lost control of
the vehicle and hit
three vegetable lorries
and five shops. While
the truck driver fled the
scene, Modasa Town
Police have seized the
truck. Investigations
are ongoing.
RMC standing committee
chairman Uday Kangad.
With 3/4 posts for correctional officers vacant, Gujarat has one guard for every 12,500 inmates
THE REPORT

WHAT ELSE?
The India Justice Report 2019-20 was released at the Gujarat National Law University.—FILE PHOTO
CRIME BRANCH
‘Was unaware
of the alleged
kidnapping’

5. GUJARATAHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2020
05www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
Guj ATS...
After the serial blasts
in Mumbai he had fled
to Bareilly in Uttar
Pradesh, and then to
Bangkok. His associate
and conspirator of the
serial blasts, Tiger
Memon, got Pakistani
passport prepared for
Halari with the help of
Pakistani authorities.
His Pakistani passport
is in the name of An-
war Muhammad. He
was in constant con-
tact with Tiger Memon
and took shelter in Nai-
robi on the basis of as-
sumed identity of a
Pakistani mational.
In Nairobi, he ran a
business in the name
of Magnum Africa and
later on instructions of
Tiger Memon, shifted
to export-import of
grains, especially rice.
The ATS said in the
guise of export-import,
Halari was trying to
smuggle explosives
and contraband to In-
dia.
The interrogation of
the 5 Pakistani nation-
als, who were caught
on the high-seas, re-
vealed in their ques-
tioning that the con-
signment belonged to
Haji Hasan of Karachi.
Haji Hasan had in tele-
phonic conversations
promised Halari that
he will be able to infil-
trate Gujarat Coast
with explosives also.
Munaf Halari had
entered India twice on
a Pakistani passport
after absconding in
1993. He had come in
India last in 2014
through Atari border
and visited Mumbai.
The ATS has seized the
Pakistani passport.
SC upholds...
Justice S Ravindra
Bhat has penned down
a separate order con-
curring with Justice
Arun Mishra and add-
ed a caveat that pre-ar-
rest bail should be
granted only in ex-
traordinary situations
where a denial of bail
would mean miscar-
riage of justice.
How can...
If you want to protest,
it has to be in an area
identified for protest,”
the bench said.
The apex court fur-
ther said that the pro-
test at Shaheen Bagh
has been going on for
long but it cannot cre-
ate inconvenience for
others. The bench said
it would not pass any
direction without hear-
ing the other side and
posted the matter for
February 17.
Jamia protesters...
and “Jab Nahi Dare
Hum Goron Se Toh
Kyun Dare Hum Auron
Se” (When we did not
fear the British, why
should we fear others).
Men formed a hu-
man chain on either
sides of roads as wom-
en walked ahead, wav-
ing the tricolour and
raising slogans of
“Halla Bol”.
“It has been two
months since we are
protesting. No one
from the government
has come to talk to us,
so we want to go to talk
to them,” said bur-
qa-clad Zeba Anhad.
Those opposing the
CAA contend that it
discriminates on the
basis of religion and
violates the Constitu-
tion.
Never before...
It has the capacity to
retain inside tempera-
ture upto 30-31 degree
centigrade even if the
outside temperature
soars at around 40 de-
grees. This Certifica-
tion is a matter of
pride because every-
thing had to be proved
scientifically. Even pri-
vate buildings find it
difficult to get such
Certification.
We have worked on ev-
ery micro aspect right
from conducting exper-
iments for months to
check the temperature
with thermometer, to
selecting theme based
paintings done on six
buildings of 22×70 feet
height.Everything is
done scientifically
keeping future in
mind. Like in future if
people go for e-bikes,
we have already pro-
vided charging points
in the parking area.”
FROM PG 1
Chudasama verdict reserved
HC was hearing petition to reverify ballots cast in 2017 assembly election
First India News
Ahmedabad: The Gu-
jarat High Court on
Monday concluded
hearing the petition
challenging the thin-
margin victory by State
Education Minister
Bhupendrasinh Chu-
dasama in the 2017 as-
sembly election from
Dholka constituency.
The court has reserved
its verdict.
Congress candidate
Ashwin Rathod, who
had lost by a margin of
just 327 votes in the 2017
assembly election, had
filed the case in the
high court demanding
re-verification of the
429 postal ballots which
were rejected by Re-
turning Officer Dhaval
Jani. He claimed that
taking such a step
would have altered the
result in his favour.
In September last
year, Chudasama had
appeared in court for a
deposition and apolo-
gized for filing pleas in
the Supreme Court
questioning the credi-
bility of a high court
judge in a trial related
to an election petition
questioning his victory.
He had withdrawn the
petition from the apex
court. Both parties had
been asked by Justice
Paresh Upadhyay at the
last hearing to submit
their pleas by Monday.
The petitioner’s coun-
sel had concluded their
argument in December
2019, while Chudasa-
ma’s counsel finished it
last month. Chudasa-
ma’s advocate had ar-
gued that CCTV footage
allegedly showing his
polling agent talking
over the phone at a poll-
ing station could not be
accepted as evidence
without any verifica-
tion by relevant author-
ity, according to the
provision of the Evi-
dence Act.
He had also present-
ed that the counting of
votes was conducted in
accordance with rules
and in the presence of
authorized officers.
Therefore, re-verifica-
tion of the postal ballot
in question was not
needed. Also, the peti-
tioner had not sought
recounting immediate-
ly after the counting.
Class 12th Science Stream
Practical Admit Card Released
First India News
Ahmedabad: Ahead
of the Class 12 exams,
the Gujarat State Edu-
cation Board has re-
leased admit cards for
the science stream’s
practical examinations
on the official website
sciprac.gsebht.in. Stu-
dents may download
their admit cards di-
rectly from the site.
The Gujarat Board
Class 12 practical ex-
aminations will be con-
ducted February 14-24.
An official release
from GSEB stated that
the board has released
the admit card online
for easy accessibility.
“Students should make
sure to carry the admit
card at the time of ex-
amination. In order to
maintain privacy and
safeguard individuals’
identity, the admit card
can be downloaded
only by entering the
login credentials,” it
added. The education
department had, last
week, announced
changes to the academ-
ic year. This includes
beginning the academ-
ic session in April,
rather than the June,
and conducting board
exams for Classes 10
and 12 in February
rather than March
from next year. There-
fore, annual examina-
tions of class nine and
11 will also be conduct-
ed by the end of March.
Hardik Patel’s
wife alleges govt,
police harassment
China’s Corona impacts
Guj Pharma industry
Jewellery
heist attempt
at Nikol
First India News
Ahmedabad: Congress
Patidar leader Hardik
Patel’s wife Kinjal has
accused the state gov-
ernment and police of
harassing her husband,
who she said, has not
come home post his re-
lease on January 18.
The accusation was put
forth by Kinjal at a
meeting of PAAS lead-
ers in the city.
The meeting was
held by the Patidar An-
amat Andolan Samiti
(PAAS) to decide the
next step regarding the
legal recourse of the
cases filed against Pa-
tel.
Kinjal had also post-
ed her concern for her
husband on his Twitter
handle a few days ago,
after he failed to return
home from prison. She
further accused police
officials and other staff
members of the
Ahmedabad Crime
Branch of frequenting
her home and insisting
on a search at night de-
spite being informed of
Hardik’s absence.
Earlier, Kinjal had
also taken a dig at the
police and posted that
terrorism does not only
mean to kill someone,
terrorism also means to
try and intimidate
someone into a corner.
After being arrested
and released multiple
times, Hardik tweeted,
“I am finally free of dic-
tatorship after a period
of seven days. What is
my crime? I talk about
farmers’ rights, youth,
education and employ-
ment, so I am a target.”
The Patidar leader’s
wife has been handling
his official Twitter han-
dle for the past one
month. She also posted
a cryptic note about
how people forget about
the work being done for
their good, when the
time comes.
First India News
Gandhinagar. Due to
its vast linkages in glob-
al trade, any major
change in China im-
pacts various business-
es across the world. The
present situation of
lock down of several
cities and spread of
coronavirus has im-
pacted several sectors
of industries in India.
One of them is Pharma
sector.
Ankur Agrawal,
Founder, Medkart Phar-
macy Pvt Ltd on the ef-
fects of Coronavirus on
Gujarat based pharma
manufacturers said, In-
dian drug manufactur-
ers are largely depend-
ent on China for sourc-
ing the APIS(Active
Pharmaceutical Ingre-
dients).
This is largely for
drugs like antibiotics
and for vitamins such
as vitamin C and D.
Considering the corona-
virus effect, the supply
concerns are increas-
ing.
Many Indian pharma
manufacturers have in-
creased raw material
prices by 10-15%.
First India News
Ahmedabad: A loot at-
tempt was foiled at a
jewellery shop at Tejen-
dra Park society in
Nikol area of the city on
Monday. Two youths en-
tered the shop posing as
customers. When the
owner, Ketan Patel,
showedthemgoldrings,
one whipped out a pis-
tol and asked him to
hand over the jewels.
Patel raised an alarm
and rushed out of the
shop. Surrounding
shopkeepers responded
to his call for help,
nabbed Amarsinh
Tomar and handed him
over to the police.
WHAT HAPPENED?
Hardik Patel with wife Kinjal.
HALLA BOL!
City lawyers took to the streets to protest the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Population Register (NPR) and
National Register of Citizens (NRC) on Monday. The rally started at Gandhi Ashram and ended with slogan-shouting at the
city collector’s office. —PHOTO BY HANIF SINDHI

6. G Vol 1 G Issue No. 77 G RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/16208. Printed and published by Anita Hada Sangwan on behalf of First Express Publishers. Printed at Bhaskar Printing Planet Survey No.148P, Changodar-Bavla Highway, Tal. Sanand, Dist. Ahmedabad.
Published at D/302 3rd Floor Plot No. 35 Titanium Square, Scheme No. 2, Thaltej Taluka, Ghatlodiya, Ahmedabad. Editor: Jagdeesh Chandra, Resident Editor : Darshan Desai, responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act
PERSPECTIVEAHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2020
06www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
DEALING WITH
PROTESTERS
IN DEMOCRACY
t is Jantar Mantar in the national
capital where masses gathered to
voice their dissent against the
government of the day. Some call
it the “heart of India’s space of
dissent”. There are other places as well. The
famous Ramlila Maidan from yoga guru
Ramdev had to escape wearing a burqa.
Mahendra Singh Tikait brought Delhi to
a grinding a halt as farmers trooped in
hundreds in 1988. Shaheen Bagh can now
be added to the list of sites in Delhi for pro-
tests, even though temporarily, for staging a
sit-in lasting 58 days.
As the Delhi elections are now the
epicenter of anti-Citizenship Amend-
ment Act protests at Shaheen Bagh
could be cleared of women and men who
have been there days braving harsh win-
ters. There’s a plea in the Supreme Court
seeking removal of protesters from the
place as they are alleged to be causing pub-
lic inconvenience. If not there, then where
else can a sit-in, which is so integral to de-
mocracy, by a few hundred people be al-
lowed in Delhi?
The apex court took up the matter on
Monday and issued notices to the Centre,
Delhi government and the Delhi police
seeking their replies but refused to pass
any order. While posting the matter for Feb-
ruary 17 the court made clear to the agita-
tors that they cannot block public roads and
cause a problem to others. “If you want to
protest, there can be some area where
you protest. You cannot block a public
road. Can you block a public area? There
must be defined areas of protest,” the
Supreme Court said.
An appeal filed by an advocate, Amit Sah-
ni, said that since December 15, when the
protests began, the traffic on Kalindi Kunj-
Shaheen Bagh stretch had been impeded.
The apex court told the petitioner, “If it
has lasted 58 days you can wait one week
more.” He had earlier approached the
Delhi High Court seeking directions to
the police to ensure smooth traffic flow
on that stretch of road.
Being fundamental to democracy, non-vio-
lent protest needs to be allowed as it provides
a “vital corrective” to majority rule which
aims “to override the rights of minorities”.
Allotting space to those squatting at
Shaheen Bagh in a remote part of Delhi
would imply that the government neither
wants to see them nor hear their voices.
Once out of public gaze, even the media may
lose interest after a point. In other words,
they’d be ignored. That the protesters
cannot afford. They also have to ensure
sizeable numbers. If shifted, will pro-
testers throng the new address in equal
numbers?
Democracies all over the world allow free-
dom to protest. It is only when dissenters
cross the line by disrupting normal life that
they are crushed. So far that line has not been
crossed at Shaheen Bagh.
IN-DEPTH
I
very author is
asked by new
writers for ad-
vice. There is,
however, no all-
encompassing, single an-
swer that also happens to
be correct. Quite a lot of
commonly-offered sug-
gestions – “write every
day” – don’t work for
everyone and must be ap-
proached with caution.
A few years ago, I set out
to create a list that will
benefit all new writers. I
put ten commandments
through the wringer of my
peers, who suggested mod-
ifications and noted that
this list applies not just to
new writers but to writers
at every stage of their ca-
reer. Indeed, I’ve needed
reminding of more than
one myself.
Here, then, are the 10½
commandments of writing
– with an extra one for free.
READ WIDELY
To succeed as a writer, you
must occasionally read. Yet
there are wannabe-novel-
ists who haven’t picked up a
book in years. There are
also, more tragically,
writers too busy to en-
gage with the end-prod-
uct of our craft. If the
only thing you’re reading
is yourself, you are bound
to miss out on valuable
lessons. The same applies
to reading only within a fa-
vourite genre. A varied diet
will strengthen your liter-
ary muscles.
WRITE
No need to thrash out 1,000
words a day or pen a perfect
poem before breakfast, but
you do have to write. The
fundamentalqualification
for being a writer is put-
ting words on the page. If
you aren’t doing that now,
it’s possible you never will.
FOLLOW YOUR HEART
When you really want to
write literary fiction, but
the market wants paranor-
mal romance, write liter-
ary fiction. Chasing para-
normal romance will be
futile. Writing well is
hard enough without
cynicism getting in the
way. Passion doesn’t al-
ways pay, but it increas-
es the odds of your work
finding a home.
BE STRATEGIC
But the choice is never
between just literary fic-
tion and paranormal ro-
mance. You might have
poetry and narrative non-
fiction passion projects as
well, and it’s possible nar-
rative non-fiction will ap-
peal to the widest audi-
ence. If a wider audience
is what you want, narra-
tive non-fiction is the one
to choose.
If, however, you don’t
give two hoots about your
audience, write what you
like. There are lots of dif-
ferent kinds of writers
and lots of different
paths to becoming the
writer you want to be.
BE BRAVE
Writing is hard, intellec-
tually and physically. It
also takes emotional
work, dealing with ex-
posure, rejection, fear
and impostor syndrome.
It’s better you know this
upfront, in order to fortify
yourself.
These crises, however,
are surmountable. We
know this because there
are writers out there, lead-
ing somewhat normal
lives, even healthy and
happy ones. You can too, if
you don’t give up.
BE VISIBLE
Many writers would pre-
fer they remain hidden in
a dark cave for all eter-
nity. But stories demand
to be communicated,
which means leaving that
cave. Whether it’s you or
your written word, or
both, broaching the bub-
ble of self-isolation is im-
portant.
FOR FULL REPORT LOG ON TO
WWW.THECONVERSATION.COM
Commandments for writers (that go beyond clichés)
E
Quite a lot of
commonly-offered
suggestions –
‘write every day’–
don’t work for
everyone and must
be approached
with caution
TOP TWEET
Dharmendra Pradhan
@dpradhanbjp
Met with Shri @nitin_gadkari
and Shri @Gen_VKSingh along
with fellow MPs from Odisha
and reviewed various ongoing
road projects undertaken by
@NHAISocialmedia and
National Highways in Odisha.
he “Chicken Neck” was recent-
ly in news, when last week a
radical Islamist youth accused
of inciting anti-CAA violence
was heard appealing people
plan and establish a human
blockade in Siliguri area with
an aim to deny supplies and
land-based military movement
to the North-Eastern states
(NE) of Bharat.
It’s a narrow stretch of land
of about 60 km in length and 22
kilometres in width (narrow-
est) point connecting mainland
with North Eastern states (NE)
constituting about 8 % (2100
km) of Bharat’s land border
and is a cartographic relic of
decolonisation process of
breaking Bharat in 1947 with
Nepal and Bangladesh lie on
either side of the corridor.
Chumbi valley lies just 130 km
from the corridor.
The strategic threat to the
corridor always existed and
accordingly the military had
well-rehearsed plans in place
to defeat the enemy designs.
It would be pertinent to men-
tion here that the terrain in the
corridor does not have any nat-
ural or man-made obstacles.
Although the military always
has rare area security plans to
dealwithminorfringeelements
within the backyard but to deal
with any possibility of such ne-
farious designs of organized
threats by Naxalite / tukde tuk-
de gang/ anti-national elements
in the hinterland will require
war-gaming at an appropriate
level and formalizing of fool-
proof countermeasures.
The foreign threat in the
corridor is mainly from Chi-
na. 1962 war had witnessed
ideological support to the en-
emy by some groups but in
view of recent exposure, the
rear area security will consti-
tute an important component
of military planning. TheChi-
nese may by-pass or para drops
Special Forces in Siliguri Cor-
ridortocutoff theNortheastfor
a short period only, but for the
prolonged operation would re-
quire link up with mainland
forces. The rise in the level of
construction activities of road,
airstrip, and bunkers in its side
of border and deployment of
heavy caliber weapons/anti-
aircraft weaponry/missiles is
with a military purpose to fa-
cilitate speedy mobilization of
its forces.
The efforts by China for
the territorial swap with
Bhutan for Doklam Plateau
had been going since 1966.
So far Bhutan had not
obliged China. China’s efforts
to seize control over the
Doklam region will continue.
The timely bold decision by the
government of Bharat in Au-
gust 2017 to intervene militar-
ily forced china to retreat after
three months standoff in
Doklam. The Doklam dispute
was not between Bharat and
China but between Bhutan and
China as Doklam falls within
Bhutan’s borders. Even apart
from the strategic impor-
tance of it’s close proximity
to the Siliguri corridor,
Bharat serves as a security
guarantor to the hill king-
dom through the 2007
Friendship Treaty.
The corridor is of strategic
importance as all rail and road
networks towards the NE run
through it. The inclement
weather and harsh terrain
in the NE make the railway
and roads subject to damage
from frequent landslides
and natural disaster. The cor-
ridor, if blocked will isolate the
complete NE and it being land-
locked as there is no sea route
available. Limited provisions
can reach through aerial route.
Hence, there is a strategic
requirement to create an un-
derground safe passage or
widen the corridor or create
an alternate route of pas-
sage through Bangladesh to
be used both for military
and civilian purposes.
On lines of English chan-
nel Underwater transport
system, Bharat should cre-
ate strategic underground
freight corridor for connect-
ing NE states, both for rail
and road which should be
able to withstand enemy
aerial strikes in times of a
military conflict.This would
boost economic growth and en-
hance trade/tourism of the NE
manifold during peacetime.
Presently, the land transpor-
tation between mainland and
Northeastern states is forced to
uses a circuitous Siliguri cor-
ridor until 4 km long Tetulia
Corridor, connecting Chopra
and Jalpaigudi via Tetulia in
Bangladesh becomes effective
as agreed vide India–Bangla-
desh Trade Agreement 1980.
While the Tetulia corridor
would reduce the travel dis-
tance by about 84 km, at the
same time will provide an al-
ternate route through third-
country and alleviate the pos-
sibility of severance of the
north-east with the mainland.
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY
THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL
CHICKEN NECK...
VULNERABILITY?Efforts by China for territorial swap with Bhutan for Doklam Plateau had been going since 1966
T
China’s efforts
to seize control
over the
Doklam region
will continue.
The timely bold
decision by the
government of
Bharat in
August 2017 to
intervene
militarily
forced china to
retreat after
three months
standoff in
Doklam
Doklam dispute was
not between Bharat
and China but
between Bhutan and
China as Doklam falls
within Bhutan’s
borders
COL DEVANAND
LOHAMAROD

7. INDIAAHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2020
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MARANDI LIKELY TO JOIN BJP ON
FEB 17 IN PRESENCE OF SHAH
Ranchi: Former Chief
Minister and president
of the Jharkhand Vikas
Morcha, Babulal Marandi
is likely to join the BJP on
February 17 in the pres-
ence of Union Home Min-
ister Amit Shah. Sources
in the BJP said Marandi
met party president J.P.
Nadda and national vice
president Om Prakash
Mathur in New Delhi on
February 8 and discussed
the merger. The JVM-P
has called an executive
body meeting on Tuesday
where a resolution to
merge the party with the
BJP might be passed. “Till
now there is no decision
to join the BJP. Any such
thing will be decided
in the executive body
meeting of the party,” said
Marandi.
RALLIES TO BE HELD UNDER
KISAN JANAJAGARAN ABHIYAN
Lucknow: The Uttar
Pradesh Congress
announced on Mon-
day that they will be
organising four big
rallies under Kisan
Janajagaran Abhiyan.
The state Congress
spokesperson has
said that the public
awareness campaign
will run for 40 days
wherein four rallies will
be held. The first rally
will be held in Basti
district on February
23, the spokesperson
added.It is speculated
that Congress General
Secretary Priyanka
Gandhi will attend all
the four rallies.
PERSON IMITATES PRINCIPAL
ADVISOR TO PM MODI, HELD
New Delhi: CBI has
registered a case
against an unknown
person in connection
with “subject imper-
sonation by someone
as Principal Advisor to
PM”. Aman Sharma,
Administrator, Mahe
Region Pondicherry,
had received a call
from an unknown
person, who named
himself as PK Mish-
ra, Principal Secy to
PM, & asked some
favour saying that his
daughter is studying in
JIPMER, Pondicherry.
CBI has registered a
case under Sections
120-B, 419, 420 of IPC.
I-T DEPT SUMMONS TAMIL ACTOR
VIJAY OVER TAX EVASION CHARGES
Chennai:The Income Tax
Department on Monday
summoned Tamil actor
Vijay over charges of tax
evasion and his alleged
links with financier Anbu
Chezhiyan. The devel-
opment comes after the
IT Department on Friday
carried out a raid at the ac-
tor’s residence in Panaiyur
area in Chennai. IT sleuths
held searches in connec-
tion with the success of
a recent film which was a
box office hit, collecting
around `300 crore. As per
sources, the IT Depart-
ment on Thursday recov-
ered `65 crore from the
residence of Vijay’s alleged
financer in Chennai during
raids which were carried
out in the connection with
the tax evasion case linked
to AGS Cinemas.
C A A S T I R
NHRCseeksreportoverpolicebrutality
duringanti-CAAprotestsinUttarPradeshLucknow: The Nation-
al Human Rights Com-
mission (NHRC) has is-
sued a notice to UP
Chief Secretary, DGP
seeking a detailed re-
port within six weeks
on a complaint filed by
Congress general secre-
tary Priyanka Gandhi
over the alleged police
brutality against dem-
onstrators during anti-
CAA protests in state.
"The Commission
finds it appropriate to
direct issuance of no-
tices to the Chief Secre-
tary and Director Gen-
eral of Police (DGP), UP,
calling for a detailed
and specific report
within 6 weeks on the
allegations mentioned
in the complaint," the
notice reads. "Looking
into the gravity and
sensitivity of the mat-
ter, the Commission ex-
pects that the requisite
report shall be sent by
the authorities within
the stipulated time,
without any delay," adds
the notice.
In her complaint sub-
mitted to the NHRC,
Priyanka Gandhi had
requested an inquiry
into the alleged "unlaw-
ful and brutal conduct"
of the Uttar Pradesh
Police and the "abject
failure" of the state gov-
ernment in "upholding
the rule of law" during
the course of public
demonstrations against
the CAA and proposed
NRC.
In its letter to CS,
NHRC said it has "re-
ceived some more com-
plaints alleging high-
handedness & exces-
sive use of force by po-
lice in Lucknow & Kan-
pur dists of UP during
protests by the general
public against the CAA
and NRC." —ANI
Women demonstrators take part in a protest against CAA,
NRC and NPR at Jamia in New Delhi on Monday.
WOMEN PROTEST
AGAINST CAA, NRC,
NPR IN BENGALURU
Bengaluru: Agroupof wom-
en on Monday started a pro-
test against Citizenship
Amendment Act (CAA), Na-
tional Register of Citizens
(NRC), and National Popula-
tionRegister(NPR)herenear
Bilal Masjid.
Members of the transgen-
der community on Sunday
had also taken out a march
here to express solidarity
with those protesting
against CAA, NRC, and
NPR. The newly enacted law
is facing stiff opposition
across the country with
some states including Kera-
la, West Bengal, Rajasthan
and Punjab refusing to im-
plement it. Rajasthan, Kera-
la, and Punjab have also
passed resolutions against
the amended citizenship law
in their legislative Assem-
blies. —ANI
FIR AGAINST 21 FOR
VIOLATING SECTION
144 DURING PROTEST
Lucknow: An FIR has been
registered against 21 people
for violation of Section 144
during a demonstration held
at Lucknow’s Clock Tower
against the Citizenship
Amendment Act (CAA) and
proposed National Registrar
of Citizens (NRC), Lucknow
police has said, adding that
2 accused have been arrested
so far.
A case was also filed
against the 21 named and
several other unnamed ac-
cused for sharing a social
media post inviting people to
the protest, police added.
Lucknow’s Clock Tower has
witnessed anti-CAA, NRC
protests since January 17.
As many as 50 people have
been arrested, while 8 FIRs
have been registered since
the beginning of the protest
at the named site. —ANI
Abdullah’s PSA
challenged in SC
New Delhi: A petition has
been filed in SC challeng-
ing the detention of former
J&K CM Omar Abdullah,
under the Public Safety Act
(PSA). The plea was filed
by Abdullah’s sister Sara
Abdullah Pilot. Abdullah and
PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti
were recently booked under
the Act. Both the former J
&Kchief CMs were detained
after the government
abrogated Article 370.
In December, Farooq
Abdullah’s deten-
tion was extended
for three more
months under
the PSA.
Validity of SC/ST
Act uheld by SC
New Delhi: SC upheld con-
stitutional validity of SC and
STs Amendment Act, 2018
that ruled out any provision
for anticipatory bail for a
person accused of atrocities
against SC/STs. A bench
comprising Justices Arun
Mishra, Vineet Saran &
Ravindra Bhat, pronounced
the verdict on pleas chal-
lenging the Act In October
last year, the Bench
had hinted that it will
uphold amendments
made by Centre
in SC/ST Act to
restore immediate
arrest and ban
anticipatory bail.
A child displays a placard during a protest rally against CAA, NPR & NRC.
'PROTESTORS TRUE
GANDHI FOLLOWERS’
Kurnool: Addressing his first anti-
CAA and (NRC) meet in Andhra
Pradesh, AIMIM chief Asaduddin
Owaisi said that the true follow-
ers of Mahatma Gandhi and BR
Ambedkar will oppose the citizen-
ship law. "This is the first time in
70 years of our country's Parlia-
ment that a law has been made
based on religion. Never before
an Act based on religion had been
made in the Parliament. This is
against the fundamental rights of
our Constitution," he said.
'CAA CANNOT BE
QUESTIONED’
Puducherry: Days ahead of the
special session of the Puducherry
Legislative Assembly, Lieutenant
Governor Kiran Bedi wrote a letter
to Chief Minister V Narayana-
samy stating that the Citizenship
(Amendment) Act, passed by the
Parliament, is applicable to Pu-
ducherry as well, which cannot be
questioned or deliberated in any
manner. The special Assembly
session is likely to take up resolu-
tions including against Citizenship
Amendment Act (CAA).
IN THE COURTYARD
Sabarimala: Can refer
questions of law to
larger bench says SC
New Delhi: The nine-
judge bench of SC held
that questions of law
can be referred to a
larger review bench.
The nine-judge bench
of the apex court, head-
ed by CJI SA Bobde,
passed the verdict on
more than 50 review pe-
titions challenging the
top court’s earlier judg-
ment on the Sabarimala
issue. The apex court
also framed seven is-
sues to be heard by the
nine-judge bench on
matters relating to free-
dom of religion under
Constitution and faith.
The bench had re-
served its order on Feb
6 after hearing argu-
ments on whether the
top court can refer
questions of law &
what can be the compo-
sition of the law on the
issue of the review peti-
tions pending before it.
Hearing adjourned in JNU case
New Delhi: SC adjourned hearing in a petition filed against
the HC order, which had refused to pass any order for grant
of sanction by State of NCT of Delhi for trial in the 2016 JNU
sedition case. A bench headed by CJI S A Bobde, adjourned
the matter for a week. Petitioner Shashank Deo Sudhi has
sought a direction to the respondent, GNCT, Delhi to grant
immediate sanction in a case titled as State versus Kanhaiya
Kumar in the 2016 case registered at Vasant Kunj police
station which is being deliberately delayed by GNCT, Delhi, by
not granting sanction. He sought a direction to respondents,
including GNCT, Delhi, for issuance of guidelines for expedi-
tious prosecutions in respect of all sensitive criminal cases.
‘BJP governments eroding quota system’
New Delhi: Congress
general secretary Pri-
yanka Gandhi Vadra ac-
cused the BJP and Rash-
triya Swayamsevak
Sangh (RSS) of system-
atically trying to end the
quota system for the
backward classes pro-
vided in the Constitu-
tion.
In a series of tweets, Pri-
yankaGandhisaid:“Un-
derstand the system by
which BJP wants to end
the reservation: 1) RSS
leaders keep giving
statements against res-
ervation. 2) BJP govern-
ment in Uttar Pradesh
appeals in the Supreme
Court that the funda-
mental right to quota
should be terminated.
“3) Uttar Pradesh gov-
ernment immediately
starts tampering with
the rules of reservation.
BJP first tried to tamper
with the law made
against the atrocities on
Dalit Adivasis. Now it is
weakening the right of
equality given by the
Constitution and Baba-
saheb (BR Ambedkar).”
Congress party had
asked BJP to clarify its
stand on reservation for
STs & SCs in govt jobs
and promotions.
‘BJP is weakening the right of equality,’ said Priyanka Gandhi.
KKK
PRIYANKA TO VISIT AZAMGARH ON FEB 12
It’s in DNA of BJP-RSS to try
& erase reservations: RaGa
New Delhi: Congress
leader Rahul Gandhi
said that the BJP and
the RSS are against res-
ervation & progress of
the SC/STs and Other
Backward Castes in the
country. “BJP& RSS’
ideology is against res-
ervations. They never
want SC/STs to pro-
gress. They are break-
ing the institutional
structure. I want to tell
SCs, STs, OBCs and Dal-
its that we will never let
reservations come to an
end no matter how
much Modi Ji or Mohan
Bhagwat dream of it,”
he said. He also said
this in reference to the
Uttarakhand govt’s ar-
guments in SC, in a mat-
ter which dealt with
state govt’s duty to pro-
vide reservation in pro-
motions for govt jobs.
Rahul Gandhi
VIEWPOINT

8. INDIAAHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2020
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ED SANJAY MISHRA TO GET MORE
IMPORTANT ASSIGNMENT ?
In the corridors of power, it is believed that ED
Sanjay Mishra who is promoted to the rank of
Secretary may get more important assignment ei-
ther in North Block or South Block. He is a 1984
batch IRS (IT) officer. His two year tenure ends in
the month of October this year.
WILL ASTHANA GET RELIEF ?
All eyes are on CBI affidavit to be filed in the Delhi
High Court this month. This will decide the fate
of Rakesh Asthana, a 1984 batch Gujarat cadre
officer of the Indian Police Services (IPS).
DELHI POLICE COMMISSIONER ONLY
FROM UT CADRE ?
Top sources said that no outsider would be made
Delhi Police Commissioner on March 1.Who will
make it from the UT cadre?
TOPNO TO CONTINUE WITH PRIME
MINISTER
PS to PM Narendra Modi, Rajeev Topno being the
low profile person will continue. Tenure of 1996
batch IAS officer of Gujarat cadre, Topno will be
co-terminus with the PM.
SANJAY BARVE TO RETIRE THIS
MONTH END
Extended service tenure of Mumbai Police Com-
missioner Sanjay Barve is coming to an end this
month end. 1987 batch Maharashtra cadre IPS
officer Barve would retire.
IRS-IT OFFICER, YOGENDER
CHAUDHARY DEPUTED AS
ADDITIONAL PS TO HARYANA CM
Yogender Chaudhry has been appointed as Ad-
ditional Principal Secretary to Chief Minister of
Haryana. He is an IRS-IT officer.
DHILLON TO SUCCEED RAJEEV
SHARMA AS CMD, POWER FINANCE
CORP ON JUNE 1
Ravinder Singh Dhillon, Director (Project), PFC,
is expected to take over as Chairman-cum-Man-
aging Director, Power Finance Corporation (PFC)
on June 1, 2020. He will succeed Sharma retiring
on May 31, 2020.
FOUR ITS OFFICERS GET POSTINGS
CONSEQUENT UPON REPATRIATION
4 Indian Telecom Service(ITS) officers in JAG
got their new postings. Accordingly, Paritosh
Kumar Shah posted in TEC, New Delhi, Umesh
Kumar Sah goes to WB LSA, Anil Kumar joins
Haryana LSA and Md Anis Ur Rehman will join
DGT, Hq.
SINHA JOINS AS PR ADVISOR, TRAI
Rajiv Sinha has joined as Principal Advisor in
TRAI Hq’s on deputation for two years. He is an
ITS officer.
S K PANIGRAHI APPOINTED JUDGE
OF ORISSA HIGH COURT
The Central Government has appointed Sanjeeb
Kumar Panigrahi as Judge of the Orissa High
Court.
THREE ADDITIONAL JUDGES
APPOINTED IN CALCUTTA HIGH
COURT
The Central Government has appointed Justice
Shampa Sarkar, Justice Ravi Krishan Kapur and
Justice Arindam Mukherjee as Additional Judges
of the Calcutta High Court.
IPS OFFICERS PROMOTED TO DIG
GRADE IN ANDHRA PRADESH
As many as 11 IPS officers have been promot-
ed to the grade of Deputy Inspector General of
Police (DIG) in Andhra Pradesh. The offic-
ers are: Dr Kolli Raghuram Reddy, Ake Ravi
Krishna, (central deputation), Sarvashresth
Tripathi, (inter cadre deputation), R Jay-
alakshmi, (central deputation), G V G Ashok
Kumar, G Vijay Kumar, S Hari Krishna, M Ravi
Prakash, S V Rajasekhar Babu, K V Mohan
Rao, PHD Ramakrishna.
POWERGallery
NC MP MOHAMMAD AKBAR LONE’S
SON BOOKED UNDER PSA
Srinagar: J&K admin-
istration slapped the
stringent Public Safety
Act against Hilal Lone,
the son of National
Conference LS member
Mohammad Akbar Lone,
officials said here. Hilal
Lone had been under
preventive detention since
August 5 last year when
the Centre announced the
abrogation of erstwhile
J&K state’s special status
besides its bifurcation
into union territories.
On Monday morning the
Deputy Commissioner
served him with a dossier
informing him that he had
been booked under the
PSA as the union territory
administration felt that his
release could hamper the
law and order situation in
north Kashmir, they said.
MAMATA URGES PM MODI TO
REFRAIN FROM ‘DIVISIVE POLITICS’
Kolkata: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee
urged PM Modi to refrain from the “divisive and
communal politics”, stating that Union gov-
ernment & Opposition should work together to
revive the slowing Indian economy. “I request
Prime Minister to refrain from political vendet-
ta, communal politics and divisive politics. The
government & Opposition shall work together to
revive the Indian economy and for the develop-
ment of the country. We are ready to have talks
with Centre as it is a serious matter,” she said.
MPs JOIN HANDS TO MAKE
INDIA MALERIA-FREE BY 2030
New Delhi: Parliamentarians from across party
lines have joined hands to support India’s efforts
to eliminate malaria by 2030. The group called
“Parliamentarians for Malaria Elimination” in-
cludes 11 MPs belonging to different states. BJP
lawmaker KJ Alphons, coordinator of the group,
said, “India is well placed to eliminate malaria
by 2030 and we, as Parliamentarians, must play
an active role in helping the country achieve
that goal. We will work at the central, state, and
district levels to accelerate malaria elimination.”
CUSTODY OF SISODIA’S FORMER
OSD EXTENDED IN BRIBERY CASE
New Delhi: Delhi’s Rouse
Avenue Court allowed the
CBI to quiz Gopal Krishna
Madhav, former Officer
on Special Duty (OSD) to
Dy CM Manish Sisodia till
February 14 in an alleged
bribery case of Rs 2 lakh.
Special Judge SS Mann
extended his custody
till February 14 after he
was presented before
the court on expiry of his
earlier CBI custody. CBI
sought another seven
days more custodial inter-
rogation of the accused
but was given only four
days to quiz Madhav.CBI
had arrested him in a late-
night operation on Thurs-
day for allegedly receiving
a bribe of over Rs 2 lakh
in a matter related to GST.
Madhav was posted in the
office of Sisodia in 2015.
Barmer: The historic
andcontinuousattempts
by Pakistan on Indo-Pak
border hardly raise any
eyebrows in the country
not unless there is some
bloodshed or something
to make it to the head-
lines. This might be true
for both media and its
consumers, but certain-
ly not for the peace keep-
ers who diligently en-
sure peace & security at
the border even without
media or public atten-
tion. The Border Secu-
rity Force (BSF) is one
such force who like us,
know date, time and
season yet are oblivious
to all else other than
their duty 24x7x365. In-
dia, Pakistan shares 3323
kms of International
Border (IB) out which
1037 is in Rajasthan it-
self. Welcome to Barmer,
where the BSF not only
keeps a hawk’s eye on
Pak rangers across the
border, but, takes imme-
diate steps if anything
untoward is noticed
andaboveall,alsokeeps
a strong vigil which
continuously discour-
ages the enemy from at-
tempting anything ad-
venturous. The desert
poses its own challeng-
es, not only in terms of
mobility, but typical
desert phenomenon for
example, sand dune
shifting makes life in
desert really tough. And
then the deadly sand kill-
ers like poisonous snakes
and scorpions. Saving
self so that rest can be
safe is the way of life for
the BSF. Close coordina-
tion with Army, local Po-
lice and people living
near border make this
force what it is – True
Guards Of The Border.
Sagar: Hitting out at
Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi, Chief Minis-
ter Kamal Nath on
Sunday said there is
difference between
hollow talk and run-
ning the country ac-
cusing the former of
talking about national-
ism and Pakistan in an
attempt to divert the
attention of people.
“Modi ji will talk
about nationalism and
Pakistan to divert the
attention of people.
But he will not talk
about youth and farm-
ers. There is a lot of
difference between
hollow talk and run-
ning the country,” the
Chief Minister said
while addressing a
gathering here.
Earlier, Congress
leader Rahul Gandhi
had said that youth
will hit Prime Minis-
ter Narendra Modi
with sticks if he is un-
able to address the is-
sue of unemployment
in the country.
“The Prime Minister
is delivering speeches
now, but six months
later, he will not be
able to even leave his
home.”
“The youth of India
will beat him up with
sticks and make him
understand that this
country will not be
able to make progress
until jobs are provided
to them,” the Congress
leader had said while
addressing a rally for
the party candidate in
Delhi polls.
—ANI
New Delhi: Lok
Sabha Speaker Om
Birla on Monday cau-
tioned TMC member
Mahua Moitra against
making undue re-
marks during debates
and casting aspersions
on the chair’s impar-
tiality during proceed-
ings of the House.
The Speaker’s com-
ments came after Moi-
tra made certain re-
marks on the chair af-
ter she was not given
an opportunity to ask
a supplementary ques-
tion on the country’s
growth rate during the
Question Hour.
“Honourable mem-
ber, please don’t make
undue comments and
that too when sitting
in someone else’s seat.
Whether I am impar-
tial or not, the House
will decide...,” he said,
expressing his dis-
pleasure over Moitra’s
comments which was
not audible in the din.
As the West Bengal
MP rose to say some-
thing again, Birla said
she was again making
undue comments.
Then the Speaker told
TMC leader of the
House Sudip Bandyo-
padhyay to advice his
party MP, Moitra, to
behave and not to
make undue com-
ments during proceed-
ings of the House and
that too sitting in
someone else’s seat.
Bandyopadhyay re-
spondedtotheSpeaker’s
request by saying Moi-
tra was a first time MP
and he would convey
Birla’s words. —PTI
Srinagar: A fresh batch
of foreign envoys will
visit J&K this week to
get first-hand informa-
tion about the ground
situation after the abro-
gation of Article 370 in
August 2019, officials
said on Monday.
The first batch of en-
voys, including the US
Ambassador to India,
had visited Jammu and
Kashmir last month.
The fresh batch of
foreign envoys will visit
J& K later this week, an
official said.
Those who will be
part of the delegation
include envoys from Eu-
ropean Union and Gulf
countries, the official
said. A team of 15 en-
voys, including US Am-
bassador to India Ken-
neth I Juster, paid a two-
day visit to J& K in
January. The central
govt had on August 5,
2019 abrogated Article
370 and bifurcated the
erstwhile state Jammu
and Kashmir into union
territories, Jammu and
Kashmir & Ladakh.
Kolkata: Firing a fresh
missile at West Ben-
gal’’s Mamata Banerjee
government, Governor
Jagdeep Dhankhar ex-
pressed dismay that his
address to the Assem-
bly was not “allowed” to
be telecast live while
the budget presented by
Finance Minister Amit
Mitra was granted the
privilege. “The State Fi-
nance Minister Dr Mi-
tra’’s budget speech was
live while the address
of the Governor under
Article 176, an impor-
tant occasion, in sharp
deviation to practice
was not allowed live
coverage and media
was also kept away.
Leave to judgement of
the people of the State
!” Dhankhar tweeted.
Banerjee, however,
dodged a scribe’’s ques-
tion on the issue, saying
it was not her subject.
She said the question
should be put to Speak-
er Biman Banerjee, who
can shed light on the
matter.
“That’’s a different is-
sue. That Speaker can
tell. You can ask the
Speaker. It is not my
subject,” said Banerjee.
Dhankhar’’s Febru-
ary 7 address to the
state Assembly was not
telecast live, unlike the
last few years.
The lack of television
coverage of the Gover-
nor’’s address came in
the wake of a stand-off
between him and the
Banerjee government.
Aligarh: A BJP leader,
Raghuraj Singh de-
manded a ban on burqa,
calling it a security
threat and provocative-
ly linking it to demon
king Ravana’s sister
Surpanakha. He has
been given seven days
time to reply and has
been asked why he
shouldn’t be expelled
for indiscipline and
flouting party’s princi-
ple.
“Burqa should be
banned in the country
as has been done in sev-
eral other countries,”
Raghuraj Singh, who
holds a rank equivalent
to a minister of state in
the Uttar Pradesh gov-
ernment, told report-
ers.
Without citing his
source, Singh linked
burqa to Surpanakha,
the demon who has her
facedisfiguredinRama-
yana. According to Sin-
gh’s version, Sur-
panakha fled to hide in
the Arab desert.
“As her nose and ears
were chopped, she used
a burqa to hide her
face,” he said, adding it
is not necessary for hu-
mans.
New Delhi: Aviation
regulator DGCA sus-
pended an IndiGo cap-
tain for three months
for allegedly intimidat-
ing and threatening a
wheelchair-bound sen-
ior citizen in a Chennai-
Bengaluru flight on
January 13, an official
said. During probe, it
was found that the pilot-
in-command “insisted”
on an apology letter
from the passengers ,
the senior citizen and
her daughter, which
further delayed the mat-
ter, detaining them for
approximately 75 min-
utes after the deboard-
ing began at the Ben-
galuru airport. The
DGCA has suspended
his license for a period
of three months,” the
official said.
‘Differenceinmincing
words&runningcountry’He accused PM Modi of talking about nationalism to divert attention of people
BirlacautionsMoitraagainst
makingundueremarks
Fresh batch of foreign
envoys to visit J&K
IndiGo captain
suspended for
3 months
BJP leader seeks ban
on burqa, served notice
Dhankhar dismayed
over no live coverage
KAMALNATH’S JIBE AT PM MODI
Barmer: An untold saga of
‘True Guards’ of the Border

9. SPORTSAHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2020
09www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
Jaiswal, Bishnoi,
in ICC U-19 WC
New Delhi: The prolif-
ic Yashasvi Jaiswal and
highest wicket-taker
Ravi Bishnoi were
among three Indians
named in the ICC U-19
World Cup Team of the
Tournament on Mon-
day. Bishnoi topped the
wicket-taking chart by
claiming 17 in six
matches with a miserly
average of 10.64.
Sophie is 1st to
get T20 milestone
New Delhi: Sophie
Devine scored maiden
T20I hundred as New
Zealand sealed 5-match
series against South Af-
rica women 3-1 with a
game remaining.
Devine, also created a
world record with her
extraordinary figures
in the shortest format.
Real Madrid beat
Osasuna
Madrid: Real Madrid
and Barcelona rebound-
ed from disappointing
Copa del Rey elimina-
tions with away victo-
ries in the Spanish
league on Sunday to
continue their closely
fought title race. Three
days after losing in the
cup quarterfinals, Ma-
drid routed Osasuna 4-1
and Barcelona edged
Real Betis 3-2.
Sheffield beats
Bournemouth
New Delhi: Sheffield
United beat Bourne-
mouth 2-1 in Sunday’s
only English Premier
League game after Man-
chester City’s match
with West Ham was
called off due to a
storm. John Lund-
stram scored the win-
ning goal as Sheffield
recovered from 1-0
down to claim a win.
Aditya wins Nat’l
Snooker C’ship
Pune: Ace cuiest Adi-
tya Mehta defeated mul-
tiple-time world cham-
pion Pankaj Advani 6-2
to win the National
Snooker Championship.
Mehta started off with
a bang after wining the
first frame with a break
of 103 while the score
remained 103-17.
BRIEF
in
Dubai: Simona Halep, a
former Dubai Duty
Free Tennis Champion-
ship winner and world
No.1 is ready to build
upon her magnificent
Australian Open adven-
ture as she seeks to re-
claim the title she
earned in 2015.
The Romanian pre-
pared for the 2020 sea-
son by training in
Dubai and made an out-
standing run to the
semi-finals of the year’s
first Grand Slam which
lifted her to number
two on the WTA rank-
ings. It came after an
excellent 2019 season
that saw her add a Wim-
bledon trophy to dis-
play alongside the one
she claimed at Roland
Garros a year before.
“We were thrilled
to see how Simona
Halep performed,
not only last year at
Wimbledon but
throughout 2019,” said
Colm McLoughlin, Ex-
ecutive Vice Chairman
& CEO, Dubai Duty
Free. “We are also de-
lighted that she has
made such a successful
start to the new season
in Australia and very
much look forward to
watching her challenge
for the title once again.”
That Wimbledon tri-
umph saw her not only
overwhelm Serena Wil-
liams in under an hour,
as she became the first
Romanian woman to
reach Wimbledon final,
and the first Romanian,
man or woman, to lift
the trophy. She was the
12th woman in the Open
Era to win Wimbledon
on their debut in the fi-
nal, & also became only
fourth active player to
reach a Grand Slam fi-
nalonallsurfacesalong-
side Maria Sharapova &
Williams sisters. “It was
my mum’s dream,” she
said of her Wimbledon
victory. “She said that if
I wanted to do some-
thing in tennis then I
would have to play the
final of Wimbledon. The
day came and it was my
best match. It was unbe-
lievable.”
Simona Halep plans to keep momentum going in Dubai
DUBAI DUTY FREE CHAMPIONSHIP
lll
The Romanian
prepared for the
2020 season by
training in Dubai
and made an
outstanding run
to the semi-
finals of the
year’s first
Grand Slam
Perry & Warner take headline
prizes at Aus Cricket AwardsThe prizes of the Allan Border Medal and Belinda Clark Medal went to David
Warner and Ellyse Perry, making it the third such win for each. Alyssa Healy also
won big, taking home both Women’s ODI and T20I Player of the Year, while Men’s
Test Player of the Year went to Marnus Labuschagne. The Belinda Clark Medal
and Allan Border Medal are awarded to the players from the Women’s and Men’s
side respectively, voted by players, umpires & media from all international cricket.
Australia ODI and T20 captain
Aaron Finch with wife Amy.
Aus cricketers Alyssa Healy
with husband Mitchell Starc.
Australian cricketer Marnus &
wife Rebekah Labuschagne.
Australian cricketer Shaun
Marsh with wife Bec.
Molly Strano wins awarded
Domestic Player of the Year.
Tayla Vlaeminck wins Young
Cricketer of the Year award.
Australian Test skipper Tim Paine with wife Bonnie Paine.
Ellyse Perry and David Warner pose with their prestigious medals during the Australian Cricket Awards.
St Louis: India’s Hari-
ka Dronavalli got the
better of former world
champion Alexandra
Kosteniuk in the third
round of Cairns Cup.
Meanwhile, Koneru
Humpy, the other Indi-
an in the fray in the
10-player tournament,
drew with reigning
world champion Ju
Wenjun of China in 22
moves late on Sunday,
to take her tally to 1.5
points. Harika who is
unbeaten after three
rounds, is joint second
with two points along
with former world
champ Mariya Muzy-
chuk (Ukraine) and Ka-
teryna Lagno (Russia).
Georgia’s Nana Dzag-
nidze beat American
player Carissa Yip in 55
moves with white piec-
es, overcoming a stub-
born challenge from
the youngster.
Mount Maunganui: It
will be matter of pride
for India in their third
ODI. After whitewash-
ing New Zealand in the
5-match T20I series, In-
dia lost only their 6th
bilateral ODI series in
the last 5 years but they
still have a lot to play for
when they take on the
Black Caps in Mount
Maunganui on Tuesday.
India would expect
its top order to fire to
avoid a series white-
wash, when it clashes
with a high-flying New
Zealand cricket team.
Despite missing inspi-
rational skipper Kane
Williamson in the line-
up due to a shoulder in-
jury, the hosts shrugged
off the T20 series deba-
cle to claim the ODI se-
ries. New Zealand,
though, will have the
experience and leader-
ship of Williamson for
the final game as he has
passed the fitness test.
India went down in
Hamilton despite set-
ting New Zealand 348
and in the second ODI
in Auckland, a Ravin-
dra Jadeja special went
in vain after New Zea-
land rallied to defend
273 on a good pitch. The
match is scheduled to
start at 7.30 AM IST.
Cairns Cup Chess: Harika beats
former world champion Kosteniuk
Pride at stake for India in third ODI ICCto investigate
India U19’s match
spat with Bangla
BCCI to hire
ombudsman,
ethics officer
New Delhi: The Board
of Control for Cricket in
India will discuss the
appointment of the om-
budsman and ethics of-
ficer in the upcoming
Apex Council meeting
on February 16. The re-
lease of funds for the
Indian Cricketers’ As-
sociation is also set to be
discussed in the meet-
ing along with the home
season schedule of the
Indian team for 2020-21.
New Delhi: After the
finalof theU19World
Cup ended on a
shocking note as
Bangladesh and In-
dia teams engaged in
a spat, India U19
manager Anil Patel
said International
Cricket Council
(ICC) will watch the
video and decide ac-
cordingly. Bangla-
desh defeated India
by three wickets
(DLS method) in the
final of the tourna-
ment to lift their
maiden title at Sen-
wes Park on Sunday.
Priyam Garg calls
reaction ‘dirty’
The India U19 cap-
tain Priyam Garg
has termed Bangla-
desh’s reaction after
securing the U19
World Cup as dirty.
Bangladesh U19 cap-
tain Akbar Ali apolo-
gized for his team’s
part in the ugly
scenes that were
scene breaking out
as the match ended.
Jasprit Bumrah, Head Coach Ravi Shastri and Virat Kohli during a practice session ahead of 3rd ODI.

10. 90 per cent judges won’t be
assets, says Justice Gogoi
First India News
Gandhinagar: For-
mer Chief Justice of
Supreme Court, Jus-
tice Ranjan Gogoi
here on Monday stat-
ed that a key to
achieving Prime Min-
ister Narendra Modi’s
dream of achieving a
five-trillion dollar
economy is a proper
industrial disputes
resolution mecha-
nism through ex-
perts.
“If the country wants
to achieve the dream of
the five-trillion dollar
economy, we need for-
eign investment. For
that, we need to have a
dispute resolution
mechanism in place for
the early resolution of
disputes,” Justice Go-
goi said.
He asserted that,
“Ninety per cent judg-
es will not be an asset
in resolving commer-
cial disputes. Let us
entrust commercial
disputes resolution to
professionals. Let us
curtail the right to ap-
peal. We need to give
confidence to inves-
tors that we have a sys-
tem that works, you
can come and invest
here safely,” he added
Justice Gogoi was de-
livering a public lecture
on “ Rebuilding the Ju-
diciary: Nation Build-
ing “ at Gujarat Nation-
al Law University
(GNLU) Gandhinagar.
Chief Minister Vijay
Rupani presided over
the function.
He said that there is
an urgent need to re-
build the judiciary.
Unless the judiciary
is rebuilt, this coun-
try cannot prosper.
“We need to rebuild
the judiciary; merely
increasing the num-
ber of courts or expe-
diting the process of
judicial appointments
will not suffice,” Jus-
tice Gogoi asserted.
He said, “The mo-
ment we have a fearless,
independent and work-
ing judiciary, the nation
will be on a march.”
Referring to the ongo-
ing controversy around
CAA, he said that “CAA
is an issue. Our views
may not match but the
resolution should be
through constitutional
means. Trust your judg-
es, they will decide in
accordance with the
Constitution of India.”
He asserted that, “In-
dia as a nation is not do-
ing too well if we look at
the comparative statis-
tics. While we are num-
ber two in terms of the
population, we are not
faring too well on many
important parameters.”
Giving instances, he
said on the Happiness
Index, the country
ranks at 140 out of 156
countries. On where a
person would like to be
bornif hehadachoice,
India is at number 66
out of 80 nations. On
Gun ownership, India
is at number 02 out of
179 countries. On the
Rule of Law Law in-
dex, the country stood
number 66 out of 113
countries.
He said on the inten-
tional homicide, the
country is at number
two in 219 nations. On
Corruptioninpubliclife,
India is at number 78 in
180 nations, freedom of
press index at number
140 out of 180 nations.
“On Democracy Rank-
ing,ournumberis65out
of 112 counties and on
Air Quality Index, the
country’s number 84 out
of 92 nations,” he said.
Retired CJ says $5-trillion economy needs experts in industrial disputes resolution
Former Chief Justice of Supreme Court, Justice Ranjan Gogoi speaking at the lecture series on
‘Rebuilding the Judiciary in Nation Building’ in Gandhinagar on Monday.
FRESH SPECULATION ABOUT RUPANI’S
FUTURE AHEAD OF BUDGET SESSION
First India News
Gandhinagar: Sur-
prisingly, and sudden-
ly, there is again a
fresh speculation
about the future of
Gujarat Chief Minis-
ter Vijay Rupani.
Since Sunday night,
the buzz in
Ahmedabad and Gan-
dhinagar is that a low
profile and popular
face Rupani may be
inducted into the Un-
ion Cabinet and the
present Union Minis-
ter of State for Ship-
ping Mansukh Man-
daviya may replace
him at Gandhinagar.
Interestingly, the specu-
lation is rife at a time
when Rupani is going to
face the budget session
of the State Assembly
from February 24 and is
working 24/7 to make
the expected visit of US
President Donald
Trump to Gujarat
around the same time a
super hit. BJP sources
claim apparently there
is no reason for his quit-
ting the post of the
Chief Minister, but pol-
itics is always fraught
with uncertainties.
City police, AMC
officers gearing up
for Trump visit
First India News
Ahmedabad: Authori-
ties at the Ahmedabad
Municipal Corpora-
tion (AMC) have as-
signed 15 different
duties to the officers
ahead of the visit of
the United States of
America’s president
Donald Trump by end
of the month. Trump
is likely to inaugu-
rate the world’s larg-
est cricket stadium in
Motera, where Prime
Minister Narendra
Modi will be also
there.
The guest is likely to
visit Gandhi Ashram
and Sabarmati River-
front. For their wel-
come, the civic body has
assigned different roles
to their engineers and
other staff regarding
sanitation, cattle con-
trol, decoration, park-
ing facility, fire and
emergency services,
and first aid, etc.
In addition, a tight
security net is being put
into place, with as many
as 5,000 police person-
nel reportedly being de-
puted along the route
where Trump’s convoy
is likely to pass. Start-
ing from Bhat Road, an
area of about 10 km is
being scanned, includ-
ing Sabarmati Tolana-
ka, Parimal and Kotesh-
war Vala Road, Motera
village and the stadium
itself. Unauthorized en-
try into the stadium has
already been banned.
City officials have
also been asked to en-
sure that no hurdle
can be found in terms
of bad roads, weird
footpaths, and cattle.
Open plots near the
stadium will provide
parking space for
more than 10,000 ve-
hicles.
GUV AT HERITAGE CAR SHOW
Governor Acharya
Devvrat visited
the 5th Heritage
Car Show hosted
at the House of
Aman Aakash
Ahmedabad by
Gujarat Vintage &
Classic Car Club
on Sunday, where
he appreciated the
aesthetics of more
than 80 vintage
cars and 20
motorcycles, which
are participating.
Four Gujarat tribal
MPs meet PM to
discuss quota issue
First India News
Ahmedabad: A group
of Schedule Tribe
members of Lok Sab-
ha elected from Guja-
rat called on Prime
Minister Narendra
Modi in New Delhi on
Monday and
made a repre-
sentation over
their demand
to remove Ra-
bari, Charan
and Bharwad
castes from
the list of
S c h e d u l e
Tribes.
The MPs, who met the
Prime Minister, include
Jashwant Bhabhor, Gita
Rathwa, Prabhu Vasava
and Mansukh Vasava,
all from BJP. Accord-
ing to Gita Rathwa,
the Prime Minister in
his response said that
the matter will be dis-
cussed with the Guja-
rat Government.
The key contention
of the tribal MPs was
that Rabaris, Charans
and Bharwads, who
had earlier been in-
cluded among the
Scheduled Tribes
since they were living
in remote Gir
forest areas,
were no long-
er inside the
jungles. They
were settled
outside later
after the Gir
forests were
declared a
protected lion
sanctuary in view of
increasing man-ani-
mal conflicts there.
The MPs said
that only those living in
interior regions in the
forests should be con-
sidered as Scheduled
Tribes and these com-
munities should not be
among them.
First India News
New Delhi: The Ayur-
veda institute Bill
was introduced in the
Lok Sabha on Mon-
day amid opposition
by the Congress and
All India Trinamool
Congress.
Raising the issue dur-
ing Zero Hour, Saugata
Royof theAITCsaidThe
Institute of Teaching
and Research in Ayur-
veda Bill, 2020 seeks to
setupanAyurvedainsti-
tute in Jamnagar of Gu-
jarat which has no lega-
cy of Ayurveda.
“Instead, the insti-
tute should be set up
in Delhi, Varanasi,
Kerala or West Ben-
gal which has glori-
ous tradition of Ayur-
veda instead Jamna-
gar in Gujarat,” he
said, opposing the in-
troduction of the Bill.
Congress’ShashiTha-
roor opposed the intro-
ductionof theBillsaidit
violates the objective of
providing training and
research of Ayurveda in
the country.
He said the Bill
overlooked the legacy
of Ayurveda in Kera-
la and demanded that
before the introduc-
tion of the Bill, a de-
bate should be held
under Rule 272 (1) in
the House.
Replying to them,
Minister of State for
Ayush Shripad Yasso
Naik said this was the
first institute in this
series only and the
Government will set
up more after consid-
ering their proposals.
Later, the Bill was in-
troduced via voice vote
in the House.
Ayurveda institute bill introduced in LS
INSTITUTE IN GUJ
Suspicious machinery found
in chinese ship going to pak
Gandhidham: Investi-
gations have found sus-
picious machinery from
a Chinese ship, which is
from Hong Kong and on
its way to Pakistan. Sat-
urday’s investigation
has also prompted other
agencies to investigate
the possibility of the
vessel possessing any
war material such as a
missile, besides wind-
mill supplies for the Pa-
kistani government.
The suspected ma-
chinery was discov-
ered at the Din Dayal
Port Trust, Kandla,
when a Chinese flag
ship named ‘De China
Jing’, departing from
Hong Kong, was dis-
covered. So the experts
from the concerned
department were
called. No investiga-
tion has been found as
the National Security
Investigation Agency
is under investigation.
The goods were to be
unloaded at Port
Qasim, a crop in neigh-
boring Kutch area.
There were rituals
including pachnamas
until late at night after
initial inspection of the
ship stopping, while the
ship was still being in-
spected during the day.
6 of 15 convicts reach
Indore after SC order
Indore: A group of six
out of 15 convicts sen-
tenced to life impris-
onment in a 2002
post-Godhra riot case
in Gujarat reached
Indore in Madhya
Pradesh on Monday
after being released
on bail by the Su-
preme Court.
These 15 convicts
were sentenced to life
imprisonment for a
massacre in Ode town
in Gujarat’s Anand
district in which 23
people were burnt
alive.
The apex court had
granted bail to the 15 on
January 28 this year on
the condition that they
stay outside Gujarat
and do community ser-
vice for six hours a
week in Indore and Ja-
balpur in MP.
Vijay Patel (51),
Suryakant Patel (50),
Dharmesh Patel (41),
Jayendra Kumar Patel
(64), Dilip Patel (65) and
Praveen Patel (61) have
reached Indore as per
the SC order after com-
pleting bail formalities
inthetrialcourtinGuja-
rat,IndoreDistrictLegal
Assistance Officer Sub-
hash Chaudhary said.
The Supreme Court
had also asked the Dis-
trict Legal Services
Authority to help
these convicts in get-
ting proper employ-
ment. “These convicts
have expressed their de-
sire to take farm land on
rent in Indore. We are
initiating necessary
stepstohelptheminthis
direction, so that they
canearntheirlivelihood
while staying in the
city,” Chaudhary said.
He added that a plan
was being made to send
these convicts to tem-
ples, gurdwaras and
hospitals of the city for
community service.
On January 28, the
SC had ordered to
split the 15 convicts
into two groups, send-
ing one to Indore and
the other to Jabalpur,
and ordered them to
regularly report to
police stations in
these cities.
FOR COMMUNITY SERVICE
POST-GODHRA RIOT
AHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2020www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
10
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