First India News Paper|Gujarat-English News Paper Today-04 January 2020 edition

AHMEDABAD l SATURDAY, JANUARY 4, 2020 l Pages 14 l 3.00 RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/16208 l Vol 1 l Issue No. 41
NEED REVOLUTION IN TECH ASSISTING
AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES: PM MODIBengaluru: Prime
Minister Narendra
Modi on Friday said
that there is a need for a
revolution in technolo-
gies which can assist
agricultural practices.
“There is a need for
revolution in technol-
ogies assisting agri-
cultural practices.
Can we find farmer-
centric solutions to
the problem of stalk
burning for instance?
Can we also redesign
our brick kilns for re-
duced emissions and
greater energy effi-
ciency? We need to
find better and faster
solutions to the prob-
lem of clean drinking
water supplies
around the country,”
Prime Minister Modi
said here while ad-
dressing the 107th
session of Indian Sci-
ence Congress. The
Prime Minister men-
tioned that he is happy
to learn that India’s
ranking has improved
in the Innovation Index
to 52.
“Our programs have
created more technolo-
gy business incubators
in the last five years
than in the previous 50
years. I congratulate
our scientists for these
accomplishments,” he
said.
“We are continuing
our efforts to ensure
the ‘Ease of doing Sci-
ence’,” he remarked.
Modi said that farm-
ers now are able to sell
their products directly
to the market without
being dependent on the
middlemen.
“Digital technology,
E-commerce, internet
banking, and mobile
banking services are
assisting the rural
population signifi-
cantly. Today, farmers
are getting the re-
quired information
about the weather
and forecast at their
fingertips through
many e-governance
initiatives,” he said.
The 107th Indian Sci-
ence Congress is being
held from January 3 to
7 at the University of
Agricultural Sciences
(UASB), GKVK Cam-
pus, Bengaluru, focus-
ing on ‘Science & Tech-
nology: Rural Develop-
ment’.
The five-day-long
event aims to bring
together science fra-
ternity across the
world to discuss sci-
entific innovation
and research.
—ANI
Rupani’s New Year reachout to urban Gujarat, civic polls may wait
Darshan Desai
Gandhinagar: In yet
another New Year gift to
Urban Gujarat, a pro-
gressive Chief Minister
Vijay Rupani on Friday
approveddevelopmental
worksworthawhopping
Rs.1887.73 crore for six
MunicipalCorporations
and seven Municipali-
ties in one single day.
Call it a move with
elections to these civ-
ic bodies slated for
November in mind or
not, Rupani is effec-
tively reaching out to
the urban masses
even as the key mu-
nicipal corporations
are with the BJP for
over 15 years. And
there seems to be lit-
tle possibility of this
to change.
With one sleight of
hand, Rupani granted
infrastructural devel-
opment works worth
Rs.599.20 crore for
A h m e d a b a d ,
Rs.479.83 crore for
Surat, Rs.179.28 for
Vadodara, Rs.144.54
crore Rajkot and
Rs.65.50 crore for
Jamnagar.
The works include
construction of flyover
bridges, roads, railway
underbridges, storm
water drainage, water
supply, purchase of fire
safety equipments,
among a host of other
things. It will also in-
clude the purchase of
CT scan machines,
MRI machines, con-
struction of urban
health centres, cul-
tural centres, multi-
level parking, swim-
ming pool and gym-
nasiums.
The Chief Minister
approved the construc-
tion of five flyover
bridges worth Rs 230
crore for his home town
Rajkot. The bridges will
be made at the 150 feet
ring road of Ramapir
crossroads overbridge,
150 feet ring road of
Nana Mava Crossroads
overbridge, Turn on P5Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the inaugural ceremony of the 107th Indian
Science Congress at the University of Agricultural Sciences in Bengaluru. —PHOTO BY PTI
‘Innovate, patent,
produce & prosper’
Bengaluru: Prime
Minister Narendra
Modi on Friday called
on young scientists of
India to “Innovate,
Patent, Produce and
Prosper,” and said
these four steps would
lead our country to-
wards faster develop-
ment.
The Prime Minister
also stressed on the
need to transform the
landscape of Indian sci-
ence, technology and
innovation.
“The growth story
of India depends on
its success in science
and technology sec-
tor. There is a need to
transform the land-
scape of Indian sci-
ence, technology and
innovation,” Modi
said.
“If we innovate we
will patent and that in
turn will make our pro-
duction smoother and
when we take these
products to the people
of our country, I’m sure
they will prosper,” he
said, adding that inno-
vation for the people
and by the people is the
direction of our new In-
dia.
PM Modi also said
he was happy to learn
that India’s ranking
has improved in the
Global Innovation In-
dex to 52. —ANI
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
with Karnataka Chief Minister BS
Yediyurappa during the inauguration of
107th Indian Science Congress at the
University of Agricultural Sciences in
Bengaluru on Friday. —PHOTO BY PTI
YOU READ IT FIRST IN FIRST INDIA
DECEMBER 18, 2019
The State Government on Friday ordered an inquiry into the scam relating to
“Ghost users” of Aysuhman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna. First
India had first reported about the scam, which has been followed up by other
newspapers and TV channels. A senior official said this is the second time
the state has issued inquiry orders after finding 1,700 cards issued to a single
person. “Earlier also, an inquiry was started to find irregularities. As per the
orders, an investigation will be done with the agencies issuing Aadhaar Card
and hospital centers to find the culprits”, said the officer.
STATE GOVT ORDERS INQUIRY IN AYUSHMAN SCAM
IMPACT

A
li Madeeh Hash-
mi, the grandson
of Faiz Ahmed
Faiz, writes that when
these lines were sung by
Iqbal Bano in 1986, the
crowd went into rap-
tures. From there, she
sang a nazm to raucous
applause and approval.
Chants of “Inquilab
Zindabad” echoed
through the crowd.
Soon,however,thelights
dimmed, and the micro-
phone muted. Bano
would in years to come
be banned from appear-
ing on television and
singing at events spon-
sored by the ruling mili-
tary government. The
nazm was Faiz Ahmed
Faiz’s“HumDekhenge”.
From Bano to Coke Stu-
dio’s recent rendition,
Faiz’s poem has held the
heart of millions and
has become symbolic of
protest and dissent. It
was after all written in
1979againstZia-ul-Haq’s
dictatorial rule in Paki-
stan.
The poem was one of
modern Urdu’s most fa-
mous – “‘Wa yabqa wa-
jh-o-rabbik”, a verse
from the Quran that
means “the face of your
Lord”. But it is more
commonly known by its
refrain:HumDekhenge.
We shall bear witness.
Written by Faiz
Ahmed Faiz, the work
uses one of the most sa-
lient events in Islamic
history to construct a
call to arms against tyr-
anny and oppression.
The nazm recounts
Prophet Mohammed’s
conquest of Mecca. Af-
ter the Islamic Army
had won victory, Proph-
et Mohammed stepped
into the Kaaba – accord-
ing to Islamic tradition,
the world’s first mosque
built by the Prophet
Ibrahim. Over time,
however, the people
around the Kaaba
stocked it with idols,
disregarding Ibrahim’s
injunctions. The Proph-
et Mohammed removed
theidols,saying,“Truth
has come and falsehood
has vanished.”
However, to truly un-
derstand why the crowd
was so ecstatic, the
poem must be situated
in the politics of Paki-
stan. Faiz wrote the
poem in 1979 – two years
after a military coup by
General Zia-ul-Haq. Not
only did Zia strangle Pa-
kistan’s fledgling de-
mocracy, sentencing to
death the charismatic
prime minister, Zulfi-
kar Ali Bhutto, he
turned Pakistan sharp-
ly towards the right,
fashioning it as an Is-
lamic state.
With Hum Dekhenge,
the Communist poet
turned Zia’s religious
symbolism on its head,
using Islamic iconog-
raphy to attack the Is-
lamist military dicta-
tor. Similar attempts
have been made to
criticise the Hindutva
of the Sangh Parivar in
India using Hindu ico-
nography.
It was so heady that
Bano “had to stop re-
peatedly to allow the
cheers and loud slogans
of ‘Inquilab Zindabad’
to subside before she
could carry on singing,”
writes Faiz’s grandson,
Ali Madeeh. “The clap-
ping and cheers were so
thunderous that it felt at
times that the roof of
Alhambra hall would
blow off.”
The crowd asked –
begged – for an en-
core. When Bano sang
the poem again, a
technician recorded it
– a copy that survives
till today. You can lis-
ten to it – complete
with cheers and cries
for revolution – on
YouTube today. Here’s
an English transla-
tion for anyone who
falters with the heav-
ily Persianised Urdu
used by Faiz.
Hum Dekhenge is
now an anthem of pro-
test across Pakistan
and the Hindi-Urdu
speaking parts of In-
dia. The cccIronically,
when the song was
sung at the Indian In-
stitute of Technology,
Kanpur, on December
17 during a protest
against the Citizenship
Amendment Act, a pro-
fessor made a formal
complaint that the
poem was anti-India
and communal. After
that, the poem’s use of
Islamic imagery was
criticised in Hindutva
circles. IIT Kanpur has
now set up a panel to
investigate if the poem
is “anti-Hindu”.
The characterisation
of Hum Dekhenge – a
poem written by a Com-
munist to combat an
Islamist dictator – as
communal is absurd.
But then again maybe
that fact fact that the
poem stings the reli-
gious right in India is
not unexpected.
TALKING POINTAHMEDABAD | SATURDAY, JANUARY 4, 2020
02www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
F
i l m m a ke r- c o m p o s e r
Vishal Bhardwaj, who had
used Faiz’s ‘Gulon Mein
Rang Bhare...’ in his critically-
acclaimed, Kashmir-set 2014
film Haider, said those inter-
preting it as pro-Muslim and
anti-Hindu lack “emotional in-
telligence”. “It sounds totally
ridiculous. To understand po-
etry, you need to feel it first. You
need a certain standard of emo-
tional intelligence, which seems
to be completely lacking in
those who are interpreting it as
pro-Muslim and anti-Hindu,”
Bhardwaj told PTI.
Rahat Indori, whose nazm
‘Sarhadon par bahut tanav hai
kya” (There is lot of tension on
the borders, find out if an elec-
tion is nearby) and ‘kisi ke baap
ka Hindustan thode hi hai’
(Hindustan is no one’s proper-
ty), have also emerged as popu-
lar anti-Citizenship Amend-
ment Act protest anthems, said
calling Faiz anti or pro any reli-
gion is laughable. “People first
need to understand who has
written this poem before under-
standing what the poem means.
He was a communist and had no
connection with religion. He
did not believe in any God, Ish-
war or Allah.
“This poem was originally
written against Zia, who was a
fanatic and a military dictator.
Faiz’s poetry never died, it was
alive even before this controver-
sy erupted but then politics will
ensure that he reaches to even
those who have never heard
about him,” said Indori. The
poet said he was also sad that
people were giving religious col-
our to his poem even when he
has written that everyone’s
blood is mixed in the soil of this
country.
“How can you brand it or at-
tach it to any religion,” Indori
asked.
Urdu poet Munawwar Rana
called it a “strange tamasha”
where everything in the country
was being politicised. “It is a
strange tamasha that politics
has invaded into everything,
what kind of meat you should
eat or what kind of poetry you
should read. “The situation has
come to this point that poetry
will now have to be approved by
those sitting in power. The era in
which this ‘nazm’ was written,
Faiz’s target was Zia-ul-haq, a
Muslim fanatic and a dictator.”
Article 15 co-writer and poet
Gaurav Solanki took to social
media to put things in perspec-
tive about how the phrase of
‘Anal-Haq’ in Hum Dekhenge is
an equivalent of ‘Aham Brah-
masmi’.
Jo manzar bhi hai naazir bhi,
uthegaa anal-haq ka naara
“Can someone tell those call-
ing Faiz’s ‘Hum Dekhenge’ anti-
Hindu and the IIT professor and
the panel investigating it, that in
the very same poem he talks
about raising the slogan of
‘Anal-Haq’. The word means ‘I
am truth’, ‘I’m God’, which is the
equivalent of ‘Aham Brahmas-
mi’ in Hindu culture, which
talks about every person, every
soul being God. Is there a bigger
protest and spirituality than
this?”
“You should be a little
ashamed that the poem that you
are calling anti-Hindu and ac-
cusing it of being Islamic is ac-
tually anti-Islam for Muslim fa-
natics, so much so that Sufi saint
Mansoor-al-Hallaj, who first
gave the slogan of ‘Anal-Haq’
was hanged,” Solanki wrote in a
Facebook post.
HUM DEKHENGESUBCONTINENTALANTHEMOFPROTEST
Forty years later, ‘Hum Dekhenge’ has become an anthem of the anti-CAA protests across the border. It was
recited on December 17 at the IIT-Kanpur campus to express solidarity with the students of Jamia
“The reality is that
the institute has
received complaints
from multiple
sections of the
community that
during a protest
march taken out
by students certain
poem was read and
then subsequently
certain social
media posts were
made, which were
inflammatory,” The
Telegraph quoted
IIT-Kanpur Director
Abhay Karandikar as
saying on Thursday.
The poem was read
to express solidar-
ity with students of
Jamia Millia Islamia
University in Delhi,
who had faced
police violence two
days before.
He said one of
the complaints that
the administration
had received turned
out to be false. “So,
the institute has set
up a committee to
look into all these
complaints to see if
they are genuine,”
Karandikar added.
“And if they are
genuine, what reme-
dial action is to be
taken.”
Responding to the
initial reports, Faiz’s
daughter Salima
Hashmi said the
institution’s decision
was funny. Hashmi
had said Faiz, who
died in November
1984, was a con-
troversial personal-
ity but his work ap-
pealed to even those
who hated his ideas.
She pointed out that
controversies had
always made curious
people search for the
source, and hoped
that people would
succumb to the
power of her father’s
poetry. “Let’s look
at in another way,
they may end up
getting interested in
Urdu poetry and its
metaphors,” she told
PTI. “Never under-
estimate the power
of Faiz.”
SINGING ABOUT THE DARK TIMES
Iqbal Bano sang
Hum Dekhenge in
1985 in front of a
50,000-strong
crowd. Her black
sari was an act of
defiance against
the Zia-ul-Haq
dictatorship
‘Faiz’s words
continue to
resonate’
DIVYA
HEMNANI
Inputs from agencies

Haresh Jhala
Gandhinagar: Even as
the ruling BJP has
launched a campaign
within the country to al-
leviate fears about the
CAA among the Mus-
lims, the Vijay Rupani
Government will be
stepping right into the
Islamic world with road
shows to attract stu-
dents under its “Study
inGujarat”programme.
The road shows will
be held between Janu-
ary 14 and January 23
in various Middle
Eastern countries and
Bangladesh to attract
students for higher
studies in the State.
According to Princi-
pal Secretary (Higher
Education) Anju
Sharma, Education
Minister Bhupendras-
inh Chudasama, other
ministers and bureau-
crats from education
as also other depart-
ments will participate
in the shows.
According to the
schedule finalised so
far, the events will be
held in Kuwait on Janu-
ary 16, in Dubai on Jan-
uary 17 and 18, on Janu-
ary 19 and January 20
in Muscat, and on Janu-
ary 21 and 22 in Riyadh.
Anju Sharma said
the Gujarat team
would share informa-
tion about education-
al facilities as well as
options available in
the State. Aspiring
students would also
be impressed upon
about the state’s
peaceful environment
and vast industriali-
sation, which offers
ample opportunities
to those passing out of
professional courses.
During the last two
decades, the State Gov-
ernment has granted
permission to a number
of professional courses
and has even launched
sectoral universities on
super-specialities like,
Security, Forensic, Mar-
itime, Sanskrit and also
a Children University.
The overall education
quality has improved a
lot in the State over the
years, she added.
The government has
not restricted itself to
roadshowsabroad,simi-
lar events would also be
held in various parts of
thecountry.Accordingto
the schedule, the events
will be held in Ranchi,
Patna, Nasik, Srinagar,
Indore, Kolkata, Hy-
derabad and Guwahati.
To get registered
with the ‘Study In Gu-
jarat’ programme.
For more information
can visit, www.study.
gujarat.gov.in, twit-
ter: @studyingujarat,
facebook: studyingu-
jarat, instagram: @
studyingujarat_sig.
It is to be noted that
for the academic year
2019-20 when the admis-
sion process for profes-
sional courses conclud-
ed in October 2019, Ad-
mission Committee for
Professional Courses
(ACPC) had informed
the media that some
93,778 seats of profes-
sional courses have re-
mained vacant, that is
59 percent of total seats.
Turn on P5
Washington: General
Qasem Soleimani, the
powerful commander
of Iran’s Revolutionary
Guards, was killed in a
US drone strike in Iraq
to protect American
personnel abroad, the
Pentagon announced
on Friday, dramatically
escalating hostilities
between the arch-rivals
and spiking tensions in
the already volatile Per-
sian Gulf region.
Gen Soleimani, the
head of Iran’s elite al-
Quds force and archi-
tect of its regional
security apparatus,
was killed when a
drone fired missiles
into a convoy that was
leaving the Baghdad
International Airport
early on Friday. The
strike also killed the
deputy chief of Iraq’s
powerful Hashed al-
Shaabi paramilitary
force and some local
Iran-backed militias.
Gen Soleimani, 62,
was widely seen as the
second most powerful
figure in Iran behind
the Ayatollah Khame-
nei. His Quds Force, an
elite unit of the Iranian
Revolutionary Guards,
reported directly to the
ayatollah and he was
hailed as a heroic na-
tional figure. Turn on P5
US kills top Iranian
General Soleimani
Rupani forays into Islamic world
with ‘Study in Gujarat’ road shows
Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.
Photo released by the Iraqi
Prime Minister Press Ofﬁce
shows a burning vehicle at
the Baghdad International
Airport following an airstrike in
Baghdad early on Friday.
PARTICIPANTS
IN ‘STUDY IN
GUJARAT’
 22 Government
and private universi-
ties as well as four
colleges
 Eminent universi-
ties, CEPT, GNLU,
PDPU, IIT (Research
& Management), and
Ganpat
 Colleges are Guja-
rat Arts and Science
College, L. D. Engi-
neering College, SAL
Institute of Engineer-
ing and Technology
and VGEC.
Rajiv Gaur/ Aditi Nagar
Jodhpur: Union Home
Minister Amit Shah on
Friday said the govern-
ment will not budge an
inch on its decision to
implement the Citizen-
ship Amendment Act
despite the opposi-
tion’s misinformation
campaign .
Launching an
“awareness pro-
gramme”, he said the
Congress was mis-
leading Muslims over
the Act and chal-
lenged party leader
Rahul Gandhi to a
discussion if he has
read the law.
The BJP will take out
500 rallies across the
country, beginning Sat-
urday to reach out to
three crore people, Shah
said while addressing a
20,000 strong crowd.
Shah, who is also
the BJP president,
said the party had to
launch this pro-
gramme because of
the misinformation
spread by the opposi-
tion parties on the
amended law.
Let all these parties
come together. The
Bharatiya Janata Party
is not going
back an inch
on the CAA,’ he
said at the meeting
held in Rajasthan
Chief Minister Ashok
Gehlot’s assembly con-
stituency.
The home minister
said it is shameful that
the Congress is criticis-
ingthesacrificeof great
sons of the country, like
Veer Savarkar, for the
sake of its vote bank.
The remark comes
amid a row over the dis-
tribution of a booklet
against the Hindutva
icon at a camp held by
Congress-affiliated
Seva Dal in Madhya
Pradesh. But Shah did
not directly refer to it.
Opposition parties
have criticised the
amendment that allows
non-Muslims an easier
path to citizenship if
they came to India from
three neighbouring
countries before 2015
Turn on P5
Rajiv Gaur
Jodhpur: Chief Minis-
ter Ashok Gehlot on
Friday targeted the BJP,
saying it should shun
arrogance and go for a
rethink on the amended
citizenship act.
He also slammed
Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi, asking why
such a situation has
emerged that they had
to clarify to the public
about the legislation.
His remarks has
came on a day when
Union Home Minister
Amit Shah is holding a
rally in support of the
Citizenship Amend-
ment Act (CAA) in
Jodhpur.
“When the whole
country is opposing it,
then the BJP-led Centre
should leave behind its
arrogance and re-
think,” Gehlot said, al-
leging that the saffron
party was still “ada-
mant” on implementing
the Act despite opposi-
tion from nine states.
Welcoming Union
Home Minister Amit
Shah to his home dis-
trict for the rally, the
CM said, “PM Modi
used to give ‘Mann ki
Baat’ speech and peo-
ple used to listen. Now,
why such a situation
has developed that he
hastogiveclarification
regarding the Citizen-
ship Amendment Act,
NPR and the NRC.”
“He is sending people
all over the country, all
leaders to go and ex-
plain to the public.
Turn on P5
GOVT WON’T BUDGEAN INCH ON CAA: SHAH
HOME MINISTER’S SALVO AT CM There is no
provision in
CAA to take
anyone’s citizenship
away but it is a law to
grant citizenship
Amit Shah,
Home Minister
Gehlot says, BJP should
shun arrogance & rethink
The youth of the country are wor-
ried about their future. Why such a
situation developed
—Ashok Gehlot, Chief Minister
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot speaking during an event in Jodhpur.
AHMEDABAD l SATURDAY, JANUARY 4, 2020 l Pages 14 l 3.00 RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/16208 l Vol 1 l Issue No. 41
—PHOTO BY SUNIL SHARMA
Home Minister Amit Shah
being garlanded during
launch of CAA awareness
programme in Jodhpur on
Friday. Also present on the
stage are State BJP chief
Satish Poonia, ex-state
chief Ashok Parnami, Arjun
Meghwal, Gulab Chand
Kataria, Kailash Chaudhary,
Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra
Singh Shekhwat and Pali
MP PP Chaudhary among
others. -PHOTOS BY
SUMAN SARKAR
Home Minister Amit
Shah addressing
the crowd during
awareness programme
in Jodhpur on Friday.

GUJARATAHMEDABAD | SATURDAY, JANUARY 4, 2020
Leopards kill
child, injure
farmer in
separate attacks
Veraval: Leopards have
killed a four-year-old
girl in South Gujarat
and injured a farmer in
Saurashtra. Chief Con-
servator of Forests SK
Srivastav said Danabhai
Chauhan (48) was sleep-
ing in his farm in Sam-
dhiyana village in Una
taluka when a leopard
attacked him early Fri-
day. He has been admit-
ted to a hospital in Una.
Cages have been in-
stalled in and around
the village to catch the
beast. On Thursday,
evening, a leopard had
attacked and killed Shi-
vani (4), daughter of
farm labourer Shankar
Mahala in Patal village
of Mandvi taluka in Su-
rat district, as she was
playing in a sugarcane
field where her father
was working.
Jamnagar sees 8
tremors in 5 days
Jamnagar: With the
district experiencing
low-intensity earth-
quakes all of this week,
a number of houses
have begun to develop
cracks. The eight earth-
quakes felt in the past
five days were all in the
range of 2.5 to 3 on the
Richter scale, and were
felt in Banga, Khanko-
tada and Beraja villages
of Kalawad. Two trem-
ors, of magnitudes low-
er than 3 on the Richter
scale, were felt in the
district on Thursday
alone. Their epicentre
was 22km from Jamna-
gar city.
Rajkot to make
3m origami flag
this R-Day
Rajkot: Rajkotians are
planning to enter the re-
cord books this Republic
Day, by constructing a
10.6-foot (about 3m) ver-
sion of India’s national
flag using the Japanese
paper-folding technique
of origami. The flag,
which will consist of
42,000 individual pieces
of paper, is expected to
be recorded in the World
Book of Records.
Schoolchildren and pris-
on inmates are helping
in the project, which is
being headed by Rajkot’s
Genesis Systems. The la-
bour-intensive task will
take 22 days to get done.
Annual flower
show begins
today
Ahmedabad: The
eighth edition of the an-
nual flower show organ-
ized by the Ahmedabad
Municipal Corporation
(AMC) will be held at
the Sabarmati River-
front from January 04 to
January 19. According
to a statement issued by
the State government,
the Flower Show 2020
will be inaugurated by
Chief Minister Vijay
Rupani. The floral ex-
travaganza is expected
to cover a vast display
of more than 750 species
of flowers such as car-
nations, white roses, or-
chids and English roses.
BRIEF
in
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
GLORIFIED SECURITY
PERSONNEL?
It takes years hard work
to get an appointment as
an academic; not so much
if you are a politician or
politically connected, at least at
government-run universities.
With no files in their inboxes
and barely any visitors to keep
them occupied, many political
appointees are reduced to
keeping a close eye on footage
from the many CCTV cameras
around the campus. We’re
not sure what exactly they are
seeing, but we can tell you that
CCTV footage has never been
as riveting as these folks make
them out to be.
LUNCH HOUR FOR
POWER NAP
Government employees get
a 30-minute lunch break.
Or at least they’re supposed
to get only half an hour for
their mid-day meal. However,
there are officers—we won’t
say where—who not only
take a full hour but also use
this time to catch up on their
sleep. These officers close
their chambers and leave their
peons and administrative staff
with strict instructions not to
disturb them. It doesn’t matter
who’s visiting, or how dire their
circumstances, these “power
naps” take precedence for
these officers.
KASH SUPERMAN
HOTA!
Asenior IAS officer with
many portfolios on his
hands probably wishes he
was Superman and had his
abilities, which include X-Ray
vision and super speed.
This person is always busy
with meetings and clearing
files, and hardly has time to
justify all the work assigned
to him. He is heading a
department and its subsidiary
agencies, while also serving
on the board of two or three
corporations. No wonder he’s
always running around. Too
bad he’s missing a cape and a
cool secret identity, though!
MP’s MLA on 7-day
visit to Gujarat
Ahmedabad/Bhopal
: The Madhya Pradesh
Legislative Facilita-
tion Committee will
depart from Bhopal on
3rd January for a
study tour in state of
Gujarat under leader-
ship of Chairman Sen-
vada MLA Ghanshyam
Singh.
The committee will
stay in Gujarat for a
full 7 days and member
facilities committee
will study the facilities
available to the mem-
bers of the assembly
of the state of Gujarat.
The Member Facili-
tation Committee will
meet the Speaker and
Chief Minister of Gu-
jarat Legislative As-
sembly on Friday and
will review the facili-
ties received by
the Members of Legis-
lative Assembly in
both the states by
holding a joint meet-
ing with the Member
Facilitation Commit-
tee of the Gujarat Leg-
islative Assembly.
—GNS
LRD candidates post ‘missing MPs & MLA’ posters
First India News
Ahmedabad: Candi-
dates and aspirants of
the Lok Rakshak Dal
(LRD) exams in the
state have been protest-
ing against allegedly
biased exam results for
a long time. To catch the
attention of political
leaders, they have now
put up posters of “miss-
ing” politicians, mostly
MPs and MLAs, from
the state.
Posters claiming that
Gir Somnath MP Rajesh
Chudasama, Kutch MP
Vinod Chavda, and
Mangrol MLA Ganpath
Vasava are “missing”
have gone viral on so-
cial media over the past
few days as well.
For more than 10
days, a number of wom-
en candidates who gave
the exam have been pro-
testing near Satyagrah
Chhavani in Gandhina-
gar but not a single po-
litical leader has paid
them a visit. The pro-
testers believe the exam
was not conducted as
per the rules and regu-
lations and injustice
was done to them, espe-
cially women.
The posters mention
that it has been nearly a
month since women
candidates have been
holding demonstra-
tions in Gandhinagar,
but some members
from their communi-
ties (ST, SC, and OBC)
have not turned up.
“It is suspected that
they have gone missing.
For justice to LRD exam
candidates, we need
support from these
leaders and we must
contact them urgently.
Whosoever finds them,
please bring them to the
venue where candidates
are protesting,” the
posters read.
Students to send letters
to PM in support of CAA
Gargi Raval
Ahmedabad: After fail-
ing in its attempt to
drown out opposition to
the controversial Citi-
zenship Amendment
Act (CAA) on Twitter,
the government is now
trying to rope in stu-
dents as part of its pro-
CAAcampaign.Arecent
circular issued to
schools in the city has
askedstudentstowritea
letter thanking Prime
MinisterNarendraModi
for bringing in the Act.
According to the cir-
cular, schoolchildren
are expected to write
15,000 such letters by
Sunday, January 5.
And the Ahmedabad
Municipal Corporation
(AMC) is responding
enthusiastically. Stu-
dents from as many as
300 schools run by the
civic body are expected
to participate in this ef-
fort.
One of the teachers
at an AMC-run school
spoke to First India but
asked not to be named
in fear of backlash at
the workplace.
“We have been given
a set of 10 drafts,” this
person said, adding,
“We have been asked to
add variations to those.
We have also been asked
to ensure that letters
thanking the PM are
handwritten by stu-
dents.”
The students have
been asked to choose
from one of these 10
pre-approved drafts.
AMC school adminis-
tratorLagdhirDesaiwas
not available for com-
ment despite multiple
attempts to contact him.
On the other hand,
many BJP supporters
have been meeting peo-
ple and conducting a
door-to-door campaign
to make people aware of
CAA. Dhavalsinh Zala,
a BJP leader in Bayad
constituency launched
a signature campaign to
support CAA. A candle-
light march was also
held, in which support-
ers walked from the bus
stand to police station.
In Ahmedabad, many
BJP supporters have
been heading to public
gardens early in the
morning to ask people
to support CAA.
Ahmedabad: Amit Pa-
tel, a resident of Moto
Vas in Vadaj, has filed a
complaint against a fa-
ther-son duo for cheat-
ing and threatening to
kill him. According to
the complaint, Patel
had read an advertise-
mentforaflatinanews-
paper.Whenhereached
the site, he met Nandan
Patel who introduced
himself as a supervisor
at “Swati Kimson”. Af-
ter discussion, the com-
plainant booked flat
number A/801 and
handed over cheques
amounting to Rs70 lakh
in the name of Swati
Sandhya Procon LLP to
Nandan. Later, Nandan
told Amit that he would
get him a further dis-
countif hepaidincash,
so the latter took the
chequesbackandhand-
ed over Rs70 lakh in
cash instalments. How-
ever, he later learnt that
he had been swindled.
When he demanded his
money back, Nandan’s
father allegedly threat-
ened to kill him.
Ahmedabad: Juna-
gadh police inspector
DD Chavda of the Anti
Corruption Bureau
was suspended on Fri-
day after being caught
red-handed taking a
bribe of 18 lakh. He
was detained on De-
cember 25 and remand
for five days. He has
been suspended to pre-
vent any damage to an
ongoing land case he
had been investigating
in Malia-Hathina gram
panchayat, the
Ahmedabad ACB told
the press on Friday.
Chavda, the investi-
gating officer in the
case, had demanded a
bribe of Rs20 lakh
from one of the ac-
cused and had also
asked him to be a gov-
ernment witness in the
land fraud case.
Ahmedabad: A teen-
aged girl has been
threatened with an
acid attack after she re-
fused the advances of a
sexual harasser. Ac-
cording to the police
complaint filed by her
parents at the Sola Po-
lice Station on Thurs-
day, Gulabsinh Vaghela
would often catcall her
and make obscene ges-
tures. He even man-
aged to get hold of her
phone number and
would call her seeking
“friendship”. In the
complaint, the girl,
who lives in Gota Hous-
ing, Sola, said Vaghela
recently threatened to
throw acid on her, “like
what happened in Hy-
derabad a few days
ago”, when she refused
his advances.
Ahmedabad: On
Thursday, a special-
ized She-Team of
women personnel of
the Shahibaug police
station caught a
34-year-old man sexu-
allyharassingschool-
girls during an after-
noon patrol. Manish
Parmar, a resident of
Pritamnagar society,
has been arrested for
obscene behaviour.
‘They have freedom to choose one of 10 pre-approved drafts’
The government has provided schools with postcards to make the process easier.
President felicitates four from Guj
Vadaj resident cheated of Rs70 lakh
Junagadh ACB’s PI
Chavda suspended
Girl threatened with acid attack
Man held by
She-Team for
‘eve-teasing’
Galaxy group named in Rs12
crore cheating complaint First India News
Ahmedabad: President
Ramnath Kovind on Fri-
day honoured four per-
sons from Gujarat for
their achievements in
various fields. Kovind
felicitatedIsmailKhatri,
BiplabKetalPaul,Mittal
Patel and Himanshu Pa-
tel. Chief minister Vijay
Rupani also congratu-
lated them for their
achievements.
First India News
Ahmedabad: A farmer
of Ahmedabad’s Muthi-
ya village has filed a
complaint against the
owner of Galaxy Mall
Pvt. Ltd at the Naroda
Police station.
Police sources say
Ramaji Thakor has filed
a complaint accusing
Ashish Bhatt, his son
Hemang and Galaxy
Mall Pvt. Ltd of cheat-
ing him and his brother
of Rs12 crore. In his
complaint, he stated
that the accused alleg-
edly agreed to purchase
land from him and his
brother for a total of
Rs17 crore. The farmers
were given multiple
cheques for the amount,
and they signed over
their land. However, the
accused took back
cheques for Rs12 crore
after they had taken
control of the deal pa-
pers.The brothers de-
cided to seek help from
the police when the
Bhatts did not pay them
the pending money.
CRIME BRANCH
MISSING IN ACTION
Students are at a tender age when they
must receive the right education. They
must learn how about the constitution
and how to be good citizens. However, the BJP-
run government is using these children to gain
political mileage at a time when it has failed to
provide school infrastructure and sufficient
numbers of teaching staff.”
—Manish Doshi,
Chief Spokesperson, Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee
Ismail Khatri
Khatri was felicitated for his con-
tribution in the fields of crafts. He
preserved a 5000-year-old form of
traditional ajrakh block-printing.
Himanshu Patel
Patel, who was sarpanch of
Punsari, was awarded for creating
a smart village which has facilities
that can compete with any metro-
politan city in the country.
Mittal Patel
She was felicitated for her work with
deprived communities and denotified tribes.
She is well known for providing welfare to
these communities.
Biplab Ketan Paul
He was honoured for his water-conservation
projects. He has helped more than 14,000
farmers and has transformed 40,000 acres
of barren, disaster-affected and highly saline
land into productive farms.
THOSE HONOURED

GUJARATAHMEDABAD | SATURDAY, JANUARY 4, 2020
Rupani’s New...
near Jaddu’s restaurant
at Kalawad Road,
Greenland Crossroads
overbridge and 150 feet
ring road near Umiya
Chowk. The bridges
will regulate traffic in a
major way and reduce
congestion.
For smaller towns,
Rupani has approved
the construction of a
flyover worth Rs 50
crore in Disa and one in
Palanpur worth Rs.28
crore.
From the remaining
amount, the Chief Min-
ister has approved the
works worth Rs 35
crore, Rs 25 crore, Rs
5.08 crore, Rs 6 crore for
roads in Vadodara, Ra-
jkot, Jamnagar, and Ju-
nagadh respectively.
The total cost for the
same is Rs 71.08 crore.
A sum of Rs 25 crore
has been approved for
developmental works in
Rajkot’s outgrowth
area, and a sum of Rs. 3
crore for town hall in
Dakor, Rs 75 lakh for
Sidhpur, Rs 21 lakh for
Kadi and Rs 48 lakh for
Godhra.
A sensitive Vijay
Rupani has also consid-
ered smaller towns like
Talaja and Godhra. A
sum of Rs 1 crore has
been approved for new
houses in Talaja in ad-
dition to Rs 9.86 lakh for
construction of railway
underbridge in Godhra.
Rupani forays...
Sharing the breakup,
the ACPC said in Bach-
elor of Engineering
40,317, Diploma to De-
gree 30,526 seats, for
Masters in Engineering
7,665, Bachelor of Phar-
ma 2,917, Diploma in
Pharma- 721, Masters in
Pharma-1,211, MBA-
3,223, and MCA-4,495,
and other courses many
seats remained vacant.
Govt won’t...
after facing religious
persecution.
The law is not against
the minorities,” Shah
said.
“There is no provi-
sion in the Citizenship
Amendment Act to take
anyone’s citizenship
away but it is a law to
grant citizenship,” he
added.
“We have not kept out
any religion. We are giv-
ing citizenship to mi-
norities of Pakistan,
Bangladesh and Af-
ghanistan whether they
are Hindu, Sikh, Jain,
Buddhist, Parsi or
Christian,” he said.
Gehlot says...
Why such a situation
has developed. I want to
ask,” he added.
The chief minister
said the situation was
so serious that people
from all over the coun-
try were on the streets.
“They have come on
the streets; the new gen-
eration has come on the
streets. The youth of
the country are worried
about their future. Why
such a situation devel-
oped,” he asked.
US kills...
The Pentagon con-
firmed the death of
Soleimani in the air
strike, saying the mili-
tary action was carried
out at the direction of
President Donald
Trump.
“At the direction of
the president, the US
military has taken deci-
sive defensive action to
protect US personnel
abroad by killing Qa-
sem Soleimani, the
head of the Iranian Rev-
olutionary Guard
Corps-Quds Force, a
US-designated Foreign
Terrorist Organisa-
tion,” the Pentagon said
in a statement.
Following Soleima-
ni’s killing, Trump,
now on vacation in
Florida, did not com-
ment immediately, ex-
cept for tweeting an im-
age of the US flag.
The strike comes
days after Trump
threatened Tehran after
Iraqi supporters of
pro-Iranian regime fac-
tions laid siege to the
US embassy in Bagh-
dad, following deadly
American air strikes on
a hardline Hashed fac-
tion.
Gen Soleimani and
officials from Iran-
backed militias were
leaving Baghdad air-
port in two cars when
they were hit by a US
drone strike near a car-
go area.
He had reportedly
flown in from Lebanon
or Syria. Several mis-
siles struck the convoy
and at least seven peo-
ple are believed to have
died, according to me-
dia reports from Bagh-
dad.
The Pentagon alleged
that the strike was
aimed at deterring fu-
ture Iranian attack
plans.
“General Soleimani
was actively developing
plans to attack Ameri-
can diplomats and ser-
vice members in Iraq
and throughout the re-
gion. General Soleima-
ni and his Quds Force
were responsible for the
deaths of hundreds of
American and coalition
service members and
the wounding of thou-
sands more,” it said.
The Pentagon said
that Soleimani had “or-
chestrated” attacks on
coalition bases in Iraq
over the last several
months - including the
attack on December 27
- culminating in the
death and wounding of
additional American
and Iraqi personnel.
FROM JECKET AND PG 1
First India News
Ahmedabad: MICA
Ahmedabad has
launched MICAST, a
podcast run by students
to reflect all the happen-
ings of the institute, in-
cluding interviews, con-
versations and analysis
of a variety of topics.
In addition to MICA’s
officialsocialmediaplat-
forms,MICASTwillalso
beavailableonplatforms
such as Google Podcast,
Spotify and Apple Pod-
cast. The podcast has a
dedicated team from its
student community to
voice the murmurs and
musings of MICA.
A second-year student
JeffreyModak,whohan-
dles logistics, said, “MI-
CAST has been an inter-
esting intellectual prop-
erty, with us entering a
medium which is gain-
ing popularity. In its
first-ever iteration, the
core team has done a
greatjobcomingupwith
a jingle, the creatives,
and format of the series,
along with the logistics
of recording and com-
mendable skills of pro-
cessingrawrecordings.”
The first episode will
have MICA director
Shailendra Raj Mehta,
speaking about the vi-
sion of the institute,
global collaborations, its
current students, new
batches and the alumni.
Later episodes are ex-
pected to feature Dr
Preeti Shroff, Dean,
MICA, and other emi-
nent personalities in-
cluding filmmaker R
Balki, IndiaMart COO
Dinesh Gulati, award-
winning cinematogra-
pher Shanker Raman,
Dentsu Vice- President
Kumar Deb Sinha and
Jaguar General Manag-
er Sandeep Shukla.
Vipul Rajput
Ahmedabad: Gujarat’s
health department
keeps reiterating its am-
bition of making the
state a medical hub. To
this end, it is currently
setting up new infra-
structure and building a
newhospitalonthecam-
pus of the Civil Hospital
in Asarwa. However,
when it comes to main-
taining existing equip-
ment and treating pa-
tients, its performance
raises questions, with
patients being asked to
wait as long as a month
for sonograms, X-rays,
and MRI and CT scans.
Even the new 1,200-
bed hospital only has
one analogue X-ray ma-
chine in working condi-
tion. While the new hos-
pital does have another
digital one, this is yet to
be installed.Therefore,
patients are forced to
have their tests run at
theolderhospital,where
the situation isn’t ideal
either. There is one CT
scan machine, one MRI
machine, a total of five
sonography machines
and two digital X-ray
machines that operate
without problems in the
entire hospital. Of the
five ultrasound ma-
chines, four are located
in the out-patient de-
partment (OPD) of
Asia’s largest hospital.
The sole X-ray ma-
chine in the OPD is non-
functional. Despite such
procedures being con-
sidered essential for ba-
sic diagnosis in today’s
times, the Civil Hospital
is very low on working
equipment, meaning pa-
tients have to spend
largeamountsof money
to get the required tests
done at private medical
centres. For instance,
Mohansinh Gohil, a pa-
tient from Rajpipla, has
been suffering from
stomach pain for some
time now. He has been
admitted to the Civil
Hospital but has to wait
till January 8 to get an
ultrasound.Doctorssus-
pect he has an intestinal
disease but cannot give
him a proper diagnosis
until he has the test.His
relative says, “We have
been given a date of
January 8 for the sono-
gram. Since diagnosis
is impossible without
that, he has to suffer in
pain until then.
“We have only three
sonography machines,”
Dr GH Rathod, Medical
Superintendent in
charge of the Civil Hos-
pital, said. “We see be-
tween 3,000 and 4,000
patients in the OPD
every day. So, there is a
long waiting list due to
the heavy influx of pa-
tients. However, we re-
quested new sonogra-
phy machines,” he
added.
First India News
Ahmedabad: Senior
citizens who live alone
in the city are often soft
targets for thieves, rob-
bers and other crimi-
nals. In order to protect
such vulnerable peo-
ple, the city police have
now launched a project
called Naman, Aadar
Sathe Apnapan.
According to Police
Commissioner Ashish
Bhatia, the programme
is aimed at protecting
senior citizens who live
alone.
“Once senior citi-
zens register them-
selves with the police,
we intend to provide
them with extra care
and protection. Police
personnel will visit
them every fortnight
and help alleviate
some of the stress in
their daily lives, by
performing simple
tasks such as buying
medicines and rations,
paying electricity
bills, and registering
for gas cylinders,” he
said.
So far, 680 senior citi-
zens are registered
with the police.
In addition to their
daily needs, medical,
legal, security and
emergency informa-
tion will be obtained.
“We aim to cover about
5,000 senior citizens
under this pro-
gramme,” Commis-
sioner Bhatia also said,
adding that a circular
has been issued to all 52
stations in the city for
this purpose.
“We have found that
the number of elderly
people living alone is
particularly high in the
western part of the
city.
If a person cannot go
to the police station
and register, then they
can also do so online,
on the Gujarat Police
website,” he said.
First India News
Ahmedabad: Budget
carrier SpiceJet is set to
launch eight new inter-
national and domestic
flights, including direct
connectivity between
Ahmedabad and Jed-
dah, the commercial
capital of Saudi Arabia.
The carrier will be the
first to offer direct con-
nectivity between the
two cities, with the new
flight set to begin opera-
tions from February 20.
SpiceJet added that
Ahmedabad’s interna-
tional connectivity is
set to get a major boost
with the new flight to
Jeddah. The launch of
new flights is aimed at
strengthening connec-
tivity across western
and southern India, the
carrier said in a release.
The carrier has an-
nounced introductory
all-inclusive promo-
tional fares on the
Ahmedabad-Jeddah
sector.
SpiceJet has also
launched daily flights
on the Ahmedabad-Hy-
derabad route.
First India News
Ahmedabad: A boot-
legger stabbed a Home
Guard jawan to death in
Ahmedabad’s Amrai-
wadi area on late Thurs-
day night. A Lok Rak-
shak Dal (LRD) jawan
was also injured in the
attack. Amraiwadi po-
lice have arrested the
bootlegger.
According to Amrai-
wadi police officers,
LRD jawan Baldevsinh
Padharia filed a com-
plaint, in which he said
that his friend Ravi Pa-
tel, a jawan with the
Home Guard, had lent
the bootlegger money,
and was attempting to
get it back when he was
stabbed in the stomach,
back and hands. He was
taken to LG Hospital
where he was declared
brought dead. Baldev
sinh sustained similar
injuries when he tried
to intervene in the at-
tack on his friend.
Haresh Jhala
Gandhinagar: In a
first, the state wildlife
board is set to emulate
the National Tiger Con-
servation Authority
(NTCA) technology for
the 2020 lion census in
Gujarat, scheduled for
May.
The adoption of
NTCA technology was
decided at a recent
meeting of the state
wildlife board as the
new methodology helps
avoid duplication of en-
tries, saves time and
increases accuracy. Ear-
lier, wildlife officials
had to record identifica-
tion marks on individu-
al sketches of lions and
also captured photo-
graphs, which at times
resulted in multiple en-
tries of the same lion.
As per the NTCA
model, a mobile appli-
cation, M-STrIPES
(Monitoring System for
Tigers-Intensive Pro-
tection and Ecological
Status), is used to esti-
mate the population of
tigers. This GPS-ena-
bled tool helps forest of-
ficials capture data and
images relating to tiger
deaths, sightings, eco-
logical observations
and wildlife crime dur-
ing their patrolling and
uploads them into a da-
tabase. Additionally,
nearly 14,000 camera
traps were also set up.
According to the last
census in 2015, around
523 lions were counted
in the state. Back then,
the forest department
had divided the land-
scape into eight re-
gions, 30 zones and 106
sub-zones. They had
also deployed 160 offic-
ers, 652 main enumera-
tors, 1250 assistant enu-
merators, and 200 vol-
unteers along with 100
four-wheelers and 400
motorcycles. The forest
department had used
high resolution camer-
as, GPS technology and
camera traps to conduct
the census.
Sources said it is too
early to speak about the
census plan of lions,
but a detail plan will be
worked on very soon.
According to sources,
the state forest depart-
ment is planning to use
around 10,000 cameras
for estimating the lion
population.
The number of lions
in the state is expected
to have grown in recent
years, with sources say-
ing the population may
have reached the 600-
mark in 2018.
MICA launches student podcast
For patients at Civil Hospital, it’s
a month-long wait for diagnosis
City police
launch plan for
seniors’ safety
SpiceJet to launch
Amd-Jeddah flight
Bootlegger kills Home
Guard jawan over Rs5k
Tiger Census technology for lion count
state-run medical centre is short on machines for X-rays,MRIs,CT scans and sonogram
INSIDE INFO
COUNTING STRIPES
Sunil Chris-
tian, alias,
Machchhi, is a
hardened criminal,
with eight different
types of criminal cases
registered against him.
—UD Udavat
Amraiwadi Police Inspector
—PHOTOBYHANIFSINDHI

G Vol 1 G Issue No. 41 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, Managing Editor: Robin Roy, responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act
PERSPECTIVEAHMEDABAD | SATURDAY, JANUARY 4, 2020
POLITICISATION
OF REPUBLIC DAY
FUNCTION
ational function like Republic Day
has fallen victim of politics that
both the government and the op-
position have been playing since
the passage of a contentious act
by parliament as the government has dropped
tableaus from three opposition-ruled states,
West Bengal, Maharashtra and Kerala and
opposition accusing ruling coalition of ‘dis-
crimination’.
The clarification given by central govern-
ment that tableaus of three opposition-ruled
states have been dropped due to time con-
straint does not hold any ground because
states have right to represent themselves at a
national event like Republic Day, one of the
most prestigious and colourful national cel-
ebrations. A government announcement
made on New Year said only 16 of 32 states
have been included as there was an acute
shortage of time. It is unfair on the part of
the central government to drop three crucial
opposition-ruled states. The move hints of a
political vendetta as in the Maharashtra BJP
not only lost its ‘natural’ ally Shiv Sena, but
also the government. In Kerala, it is at log-
gerhead with the local government as the
state assembly had recently passed a unani-
mous resolution against the implementation
of the contentious Citizen Amendments Act.
Similarly, Mamata Banerjee, the chief minis-
ter of West Bengal has already announced
her government’s decision against the same
act.
Marxist-ruled Kerala deserved displaying
its tableau at the Republic Day because its
proposed tableau had been rejected for the
second consecutive year. It was dropped after
the third phase of evolution. It shows the de-
cision to drop Kerala’s tableau was taken for
political considerations.
Both centre and states should avoid mixing
politics and any national function that is
linked with country historical and cultural
heritage. Had Kerala passed resolution after
the Republic Day function, its tableau could
have been included in the yearly parade at
Rajpath. The central government could have
avoided this kind of unnecessary confronta-
tion with opposition-backed states as it would
further deteriorate relations between them.
Strangely, Congress has not made any com-
ment on this issue because tableaus from four
states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Pun-
jab, and Chhattisgarh where Congress has
been ruling without coalition have been in-
cluded in the list.
The country has not witnessed this kind of
low politics that we have come across today
where national occasions and institutions
are being misused for petty politics and elect-
ed bodies are being made instrumental to set-
tle political scores and divide society.
The successive governments have been fre-
quently accused of politicising prestigious
national awards to oblige leaders and sympa-
thisers of political parties in power at the
time of distribution of awards as it lacks
proper criteria.
IN-DEPTH
N
he US drone strike that killed
Iranian General Qasem
Soleimani in Baghdad on ear-
ly Friday handicaps the poten-
tial to throw entire West Asia
into fresh turmoil and esca-
late global tension. Soleimani,
the chief of the Iranian Revo-
lutionary Guards, was the sec-
ond most important person in
the country’s hierarchy and
his death will put immense
pressure on his country to
strike back at the US.
Soleimani’s importance can
be gauged from some of the
internal memos exchanged by
the US top brass where he was
referred as the de facto foreign
minister of Iran. Some ex-
perts believed he was next in
line to be Iran’s president.
Soleimani himself never
shied away from calling him-
self the man who controls
Iran’s policy in Iraq, Syria,
Yemen, and Afghanistan. By
taking him out, the US has
challenged Iran in its own
backyard.
The decision to hit Soleima-
ni apparently had the assent
of the US president, who
wouldn’t mind the distraction,
caught as he is in a vortex of
troubles emanating from an
impeachment motion and
charges of impropriety. As the
old adage goes, nothing im-
proves the prospect of a presi-
dent in an election more than
the adrenaline rush of war.
Yet, the ramifications of the
incident could plunge the Mid-
dleeast into an abyss of blood-
shed. Iran has a deep network
of militias operating in Iraq,
Syria and on the borders of
Israel. It would now be itching
to activate them for counter
strikes on US forces and its al-
lies in the region. A few
months before his death,
Soleimani had warned the US
that his network ran deep into
US interests and he had the
capacity to inflict heavy dam-
age. “You will start the war,
but we will end it,” Soleimani
had said in a message to
Trump, with characteristic
swagger.
It is difficult to predict if and
when Iran would strike back.
But, going by the stern reaction
from Tehran, an escalation ap-
pears likely. The targets could
be the US forces or staff in the
region or tourist resorts that
attract foreigners. Since Iran
works with the help of private
militias in the entire region, it
has the capacity to strike at
will at targets of its choice.
There is, however, still hope
that both the countries would
de-escalate, aware of the price
of a cycle of revenge and ret-
ribution.
The US would be hoping
that Iran would get a message
that President Trump is will-
ing to order pre-emptive
strikes and may be open to the
idea of a protracted conflict,
something that would ulti-
mately hurt Iran more be-
cause of the geopolitical equa-
tions. And Iran might hold
back its fire, hoping that fear
of retribution might bring the
US to the negotiation table.
The next few months would
be crucial for the region, and
also for the world.
US PUTS PEACE AT PERIL
A few months before his death, Soleimani had warned the US that his network
ran deep into US interests and he had the capacity to inflict heavy damage
T
It is difficult to
predict if and
when Iran
would strike
back. But, going
by the stern
reaction from
Tehran, an
escalation
appears likely.
The targets
could be the US
forces or staff in
the region or
tourist resorts
that attract
foreigners
US would be hoping
that Iran would get a
message that Trump
is willing to order
pre-emptive strikes
and may be open to
the idea of a
protracted conflict
hat will happen
in the 2020s? If
history is any
guide (and
there’s good
reason to think it is), the
outlook isn’t great.
Here are some big-pic-
ture predictions: stagnant
real wages, faltering
standard of living for the
lower and middle classes,
worsening wealth inequal-
ity, more riots and upris-
ings, ongoing political po-
larisation, more elites
competing for limited po-
sitions of power, and elites
co-opting radical move-
ments.
Thanks to globalisation,
all this won’t just happen
in one country but in the
majority of countries in
the world. We will also see
geopolitical realignment,
dividing the world into
new alliances and blocs.
There is also a low to
moderate chance of a
“trigger event” – a shock
like an environmental cri-
sis, plague, or economic
meltdown – that will kick
off a period of extreme
violence. And there is a
much lower chance we
will see a technological
breakthrough on par with
the industrial revolution
that can ease the pressure
in the 2020s and reverse
the trends above.
These aren’t just guess-
es. They are predictions
made with the tools of
cliodynamics, which uses
dozens of case studies of
civilisations over the past
5,000 years to look for
mathematical patterns in
human history.
CYCLES OF GROWTH
AND DECLINE
One area where cliody-
namics has borne fruit is
“demographic-structural
theory”, which explains
common cycles of prosper-
ity and decline.
Here’s an example of a
full cycle, taken from Ro-
man history. After the
second Punic war in 201
BCE, the Roman republic
enjoyed a period of ex-
treme growth and pros-
perity. There was a rela-
tively small divide be-
tween the richest and
poorest, and fewer mem-
bers of elites.
As the population grew,
smallholders had to sell
off their farms. Land coa-
lesced into larger planta-
tions run by elites mostly
with slave labour. Elite
numbers ballooned,
wealth inequality became
extreme, the common peo-
ple felt pinched, and nu-
merous wealthy people
found themselves shut out
of power.
The rich resisted calls
for land reform, and even-
tually the elites split into
two factions called the Op-
timates and the Populares.
The following century in-
volved slave revolts and
two massive civil wars.
Stability only returned
when Augustus defeated
all other rivals in 30 BCE
– and ended the republic,
making himself emperor.
So began a new cycle of
growth.
BOOMS AND BUSTS
Demographic-structural
theory looks at things like
the economic and political
strength of the state, the
ages and wages of the pop-
ulation, and the size and
wealth of the elite to diag-
nose a society’s health –
and work out where it’s
heading.
Historically, some
things we see today are
bad signs: shrinking real
wages, a growing gap be-
tween the richest and the
poorest, rising numbers of
wealthy and influential
people who are becoming
more competitive and fac-
tionalised.
Another bad sign is if
previous generations wit-
nessed periods of growth
and plenty. It might mean
that your society is about
to hit a wall – unless a
great deal of innovation
and good policy relieves
the pressure once again.
FOR FULL REPORT LOG ON TO
WWW.THECONVERSATION .COM
History repeats itself. That’s bad news for the 2020s
W
Demographic-
structural theory
looks at things
like the economic
and political
strength of the
state
TOP TWEET
Piyush Goyal
@PiyushGoyal
Signiﬁcance of ‘Make in India’ in
medical devices is to bring the
fruits of advances in diagnostics
to our people. Mahatma Gandhi
once said, “It is health that is
the real wealth and not pieces of
gold and silver”: PM
@NarendraModi ji
KAUTILYA
The author is a Delhi-based blogger
who writes on politics, society, sports
and everything else
I
n his long military career, Qassem Suleimani left the
Middle East littered with corpses. Now he has finally
joined them. His death has closed one gruesome chapter
in the region’s endless conflicts, only to open another,
which could well prove even worse. No one can predict how
this will turn out, perhaps least of all the two leading pro-
tagonists. Nothing about Donald Trump’s actions in the
Middle East until now suggests that Suleimani’s assassina-
tion by drone outside Baghdad airport was part of a con-
sidered plan. For its part, the leadership in Tehran has
clearly been shocked by Trump’s dramatic leap up the es-
calation ladder.
—The Guardian
GENERAL GOES TO GRAVEYARD HE CREATED
F
or a president who repeated his determination to with-
draw from the caldron of the Middle East, the strike
that killed Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, who for two
decades has been leader of Iran’s most fearsome and ruth-
less military unit, the Quds Force, means there will be no
escape from the region for the rest of his presidency, wheth-
er that is one year or five. Mr. Trump has committed the
United States to a conflict whose dimensions are unknow-
able, as Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,
seeks vengeance.
—New York Times
US EXPERTS CALL IT A BOLD GAMBLE

INDIAAHMEDABAD | SATURDAY, JANUARY 4, 2020
New Delhi: The Uttar
Pradesh Congress is
planning to hold ral-
lies in a few districts
across the State
against the Citizen-
ship (Amendment) Act
and the National Reg-
ister of Citizens (NRC)
after the Republic Day
on January 26, party
sources said.
Congress general
secretary Priyanka
Gandhi will be address-
ing the rallies. The Ut-
tar Pradesh Congress
is taking final nod for
the rallies. An initial
proposal has been sent
for rallies at two ven-
ues. Priyanka's office is
yet to respond to the
proposal of the PCC,
sources said.
The party is initially
planning to hold rallies
in Saharanpur and
Basti. The State Con-
gress leaders are pre-
paring for the rally
which will be attended
by Priyanka, informed
the party sources.
The Citizenship
(Amendment) Act,
2019, seeks to grant
citizenship to Hindus,
Sikhs, Jains, Parsis,
Buddhists and Chris-
tians fleeing religious
persecution from Pa-
kistan, Afghanistan
and Bangladesh and
who came to India on
or before December
31, 2014. —ANI
UP: CONG TO HOLD RALLIES AGAINST CAA, NRCCongress gen secy
Priyanka Gandhi
will be addressing
the rallies
CAA STIR
Mumbai: Union Minis-
ter Piyush Goyal on
Friday said that the per-
centage of minorities
in Pakistan has reduced
to mere three per cent
from earlier 23 per cent,
which is a testimony of
hardships being faced
by them in the neigh-
boring country.
Goyal attended an
event in Mumbai on Fri-
day which was organ-
ised in favor of the Citi-
zenship Amendment
Act. “Pakistan is an Is-
lamic country. Congress
is responsible for the
division of India. Thou-
sands of people came to
India and we know in
what condition they
came here. The trains
had only dead bodies.
Earlier, Pakistan had 23
percent minorities and
now it has reduced to
just three percent,” he
said. —ANI
Hyderabad: BJP na-
tional general secretary
Ram Madhav said that
the Opposition parties
are trying to spread
falsehood about the im-
portant humanitarian
gesture of the govern-
ment in the form of the
CAA for narrow politi-
cal gains.
“Opposition parties
are trying to spread
falsehood about this
important humanitar-
ian gesture of our gov-
ernment in the form of
CAA for narrow politi-
cal gains. They are try-
ing to provoke commu-
nal sentiments and the
Muslim community,”
said the BJP leader.
Speaking to media per-
sons on the violence
that took place during
the protests against
NRC and CAA, he said:
“We consider violent
activities of groups
like PFI as those
against the law of the
land. They should be
dealt with strictly by
State governments.” He
said India never ques-
tioned the religious cre-
dentials when Congress
interim president So-
nia Gandhi and singer
Adnan Sami were given
citizenship. —ANI
Make 3 crore people
aware of CAA: Goyal
'Oppn parties trying
to spread falsehood’
Lucknow: Uttar
Pradesh DGP OP Singh
on Friday said that Pop-
ular Front of India
(PFI) was actively in-
volved in the violent
protest against the Citi-
zenship Amendment
Act and there is ample
proof against them.
“PFI was actively in-
volved in the recent vio-
lence that is why we
have arrested 25 of
their members. We have
ample proof against
them,” DGP told the re-
porters. In December
OP Singh wrote a letter
to the Ministry of Home
Affairs, requesting to
'ban the PFI as the in-
vestigations found PFI's
involvement in the vio-
lent protests against the
CAA that took place on
19 December.'
“PFI should be
banned. We have writ-
ten to the Home Minis-
try. We expect investiga-
tion on the same,” he
had said. A total of 25
persons affiliated with
the PFI have been ar-
rested. —ANI
‘Ample proof of
PFIs’ involvement
in CAA protest’
Panaji: BJP national
working president J.P.
Nadda on Friday
launched Goa''s first
major pro Citizenship
(Amendment) Act
(CAA) rally in the state
capital.
Thousands of BJP
workers from several
constituencies, mostly
from North Goa have
arrived in the state cap-
ital to participate in the
rally, which began at
Patto business district,
to the city''s central
square, Azad maidan.
Nadda addressed a
public meeting later on
Friday, along with Goa
CMPramod Sawant &
other BJP leaders.
“Our party working
president addressed
the rally in favour of
CAA in Panaji. The
rally was attended by
around 20,000 to 25,000
party workers.” —ANI
JP Nadda kicks off
pro-CAA rally in Goa
Patna: Union Minister
Giriraj Singh slammed
the Congress party for
claiming that Hindu
Mahasabha co-founder
Vinayak Damodar Sa-
varkar and Mahatma
Gandhi's assassin Na-
thuram Godse were
physically involved and
said that the party abus-
es Savarkar because
they “idealise Jinnah”.
“The day is not far
when they will read a
book on how good a
leader Jinnah was.
They idealise Jinnah
and that the reason why
they abuse Savarkar,”
he said. The comment
came a day after the
Congress sparked con-
troversy by distributing
a booklet during the 10-
day camp of Congress
Seva Dal in MP which
claimed that Savarkar
had a “physical rela-
tionship” with Godse.
The booklet also
claimed that Savarkar
encouraged his follow-
ers to rape women from
minorities & pelted
stones at mosques when
he was 12 years old.
“Congress has just one
agendawhichistoweak-
en the country & speak
language of Pakistan.
Congress behaves the
same way as Jinnah
usedtobefore1947.”—ANI
‘Congress idealises Jinnah
and abuses Savarkar’
Mumbai: Shiv Sena
leader Sanjay Raut said
that Veer Savarkar was
a great man.
His statement comes af-
ter a booklet was dis-
tributed during the 10-
day camp of Congress
SevaDal,whichclaimed
that Savarkar had
“physical relationship”
with Mahatma Gan-
dhi's assassin, Na-
thuram Godse. “Veer
Savarkar was a great
man and will remain a
great man. A section
keeps talking against
him and it shows the
dirt in their minds,
whoever they might
be,” said Raut. —ANI
‘People talking
against Savarkar
shows dirt in
their mind’
RAJNATH TO MEET UP CM TO
REVIEW PREPS FOR DEFENCE EXPO
New Delhi: Defence Min-
ister Rajnath Singh will
meet Uttar Pradesh Chief
Minister Yogi Adityanath
and other officials in
Lucknow on January 5 to
review the preparations
for the 11th edition of
Defence Expo. The expo,
which is slated to be held
from February 5 to 8
next year, will showcase
India's defence manu-
facturing prowess. It will
provide an opportunity
to major foreign original
equipment manufacturers
to collaborate with the
Indian defence industry
and help promote 'Make
in India' initiative of PM
Modi. In Sept last year,
Singh had reviewed the
preparation of the exhibi-
tion in a meeting attended
by CM in New Delhi.
ARMY CHIEF LIKELY TO VISIT
SIACHEN GLACIER ON JAN 9
New Delhi: In his first visit after taking over as
Army Chief, General MM Naravane is likely to
visit the world's highest battlefield, Siachen Gla-
cier next week. General MM Naravane is likely to
visit Siachen Glacier next week on January 9 as
his first tour to an army base after taking over as
Army Chief. He will pay homage to soldiers at the
Siachen war memorial. General Naravane took
over as the 28th Chief of the Army Staff (COAS)
on Tuesday, succeeding General Bipin Rawat who
has become India's first Chief of Defence Staff.
VHP TO CELEBRATE RAM UTSAV
FROM MARCH 25 TO APRIL 8
New Delhi: The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) will
celebrate Ram Utsav from March 25 to April 8
this year and will also distribute statues of Lord
Rama in 3.75 lakh villages across the country.
It was from these villages that stones were sent
for the construction of Ram temple foundation in
1989 during the Ram temple movement. VHP will
also be organising cultural programmes along
with the distribution of statues. Several rallies,
seminars and Ramayan recitation will be organ-
ised for the people.
TWO-DAY MEETING OF UNION
COUNCIL OF MINISTERS BEGINS
New Delhi: A two-day
meeting of union council
of ministers began here
on Friday in which work-
ing of all ministries was
reviewed, sources said.
They said that Ministries
of Health and Family
Welfare and Human
Resources Development
will make presentations
at the meeting which
will be chaired by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi.
The sources said that the
working of all ministries
will be reviewed at the
meeting so that the prior-
ities and strategies for the
future can be formulated.
The meeting comes seven
months after the Modi
government returned
to office with a bigger
majority in the Lok Sabha
elections held last year.
COURTESY MEET
Newly appointed Army Chief General MM Naravane calls on President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Friday.
Nagpur: Union Minis-
ter Nitin Gadkari said
that Shiv Sena compro-
mised on its ideology
for the post of the Chief
Minister of Maharash-
tra.
“Shiv Sena compro-
mised its ideology for
the Chief Minister's
post. Congress, NCP
and Shiv Sena have
come together solely for
power. Shiv Sena only
pretends to be 'bhagwa'
but in reality it is now
coloured in Congress'
colours,” Gadkari said.
In November last year,
Uddhav Thackeray took
oath as the Chief Minis-
ter of Maharashtra. He
is leading a government
of the Maha Vikas
Aghadi, an alliance of
Shiv Sena, Nationalist
Congress Party (NCP),
and Congress. —ANI
‘Shiv Sena
compromised
on its ideology
for CM post’
‘CAA FAILS
CONSTITUTION TEST’
BAIL TO ACTIVIST
SADAF JAFAR
Punjab Chief Minister
Captain Amarinder
Singh on Friday
slammed the BJP-led
Central government
over the Citizenship
Amendment Act and
said that it “fails the
test of the Consti-
tution” and “can
easily be misused for
infiltrating into the
country”. Taking to
Twitter, Singh targeted
Union Law and Justice
Minister Ravi Shankar
Prasad and asserted
that the Centre must
pay attention to the
issues raised by the
state governments, as
they also ‘represent the
voice of people’. —ANI
Lucknow: A court
in UP granted bail
to Congress worker
Sadaf Jafar, for-
mer IPS officer SR
Darapuri, Pawan Rao
Ambedkar and many
others on Friday.
They are in jail after
being arrested for
protesting against
the citizenship law
on December 19
in Lucknow.After
the sessions court
rejected the bail, it
came up for hearing
in the district court.
The Hazratganj police
had booked Jafar and
others under various
sections of the Indian
Penal Code. —ANI

INDIAAHMEDABAD | SATURDAY, JANUARY 4, 2020
IN THE COURTYARD
R V HOSMANI APPOINTED ADDL JUDGE
OF KARNATAKA HIGH COURT
Ravi Venkappa Hosmani has been appointed
as an Additional Judge of the Karnataka High
Court for a period of two years. Maralur Indra-
kumar Arun and Engalaguppe Seetharamaiah
Indiresh have been appointed as additional
judges of the Karnataka High Court for a period
of two years.
MJ JAMDAR APPOINTED ADDL JUDGE
OF BOMBAY HIGH COURT
Madhav Jayajirao Jamdar has been appointed
as Additional Judge of the Bombay High Court
for a period of two years with effect from the
date he assumes charge of his office.
FIVE KARNATAKA HC ADDL JUDGES
PROMOTED AS PERMANENT JUDGES
Justices Dixit Krishna Shripad, Shankar
Ganapathi Pandit, Ramakrishna Devdas ,
Bhotanhosur Mallikarjuna Shyam Prasad
and Siddappa Sunil Dutt Yadav, Additional
Judges of the Karnataka High Court have
been appointed as permanent judges of the
Karnataka High Court.
1988 BATCH IAS OFFICERS TO BE
EMPANELLED ?
There are strong reports that 1988 batch IAS
officers are being empanelled to the rank of
Secretary in the Government of India by this
month end or early next month.
FIVE ASSTT COMMISSIONERS’
VR NOTICE ACCEPTED
The govt has accepted the Voluntary Re-
tirement (VR) notices of five Asstt Commis-
sioners from IRS (C&CE). They are - Rajeev
Lochan, V Vaithilingam, Narayan M Tambe,
Y N Shashtri and K Ramdass. CBIC put no-
tification of these officers VR on December
27, 2019.
IIS OFFICER’S VR NOTICE ACCEPTED
Voluntary Retirement notice of S Shyama
Prasad has been accepted by the MIB
w.e.f January 27 this year. He is a 1988
batch IIS officer presently posted as DG,
Publication Division.
MAJOR RESHUFFLE OF OFFICERS IN CBI
The Central Bureau of Investigation has car-
ried out major reshuffle at key levels of of-
ficer ranks. Accordingly, Vivek Priyadarshi,
who was serving as AIG (Policy), has been
moved to Jaipur, Sudhanshu Dhar Mishra
has been transferred to Economic Offence-2
unit in Delhi, Abhay Singh, currently posted
in Special Crime Branch Kolkata as DIG, has
been posted as Head of Branch (Economic
Offences-3) unit in Delhi, Kiran S, SP at
Anti-Corruption Branch-II and also Member
of Special Investigation Team, has been
shifted to Anti-Corruption Branch-V, Partha
Mukherjee, currently serving as SP in Eco-
nomic-Offences - IV, has been transferred to
Policy division.
TWO CMS PICK UP JUNIORS AS CHIEF
SECRETARIES DESPITE OPPOSITION
No sooner was the name of Somesh Kumar
proposed for the post of Chief Secretary than
a coterie of IAS officers voiced protest against
the decision of Chief Minister of Telangana on
appointing a junior of 1989 batch. The Chief
Minister showed his political will and signed
the proposal of Somesh Kumar for the same.
Similarly, the protest erupted in Meghalaya
where Chief Minister appointed a 1987 batch
junior IAS officer, M S Rao as Chief Secretary
keeping seniors at bay.
GOVT WILL DECIDE EXACT NO. OF
NON- EXEC MEMBERS FOR RLY BOARD
The exact number of Non-executive members
in Railway Board will be decided by Govt.
LT GEN CP MOHANTY HAS GOOD CHANCE
AS NEXT NORTHERN ARMY COMMANDER?
Lt Gen CP Mohanty, presently GoC, UB Area,
stands a good chance of being made the
Northern Army Commander if Lt Gen
Ranbir Singh is appointed as next Vice Chief
of Army Staff.
CDS WILL BE PERMANENT CHAIRMAN
OF COSC
The Chief of Defence Staff will be permanent
Chairman of Chiefs of Staff Committee.
CDS WILL BE MEMBER OF DAC & DPC
The Chief of Defence Staff will be Member
of Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) and
Defence Planning Committee (DPC).
POWERGallery
TENURE OF ABHINAV KUMAR AS IG,
BSF EXTENDED
The deputation tenure of
Abhinav Kumar as Inspec-
tor General of BSF has been
extended upto July 21,
2021. He is a 1996 batch
IPS officer of UP cadre.
Rajneesh is new Secy
PR in HP: On return from
central deputation, Ra-
jneesh has been appointed
Secretary Public Relations
with additional charge of
Pollution Control Board. He
is 1997 batch IAS officer.
Pendency of cases in
SC as on Dec 2, 2019
at 59,535: The total
pending matters before
the Supreme Court were
59535 as on December
2, 2019. Out of these
39092 were admission
matters and 20443 regu-
lar hearing matters.
PAK VIOLATES CEASEFIRE
ALONG LOC IN KRISHNA GHATI
Poonch: Pakistan on Friday initiated unpro-
voked ceasefire violation along the Line of
Control (LoC) in Krishna Ghati sector in Jammu
and Kashmir’s Poonch district.The ceasefire
violation took place at 12:15 pm when Paki-
stani forces resorted to firing of small arms
and shelling with mortars along the LoC in
Krishna Ghati sector. The Indian Army retaliated
befittingly. Earlier on Wednesday, Pakistan had
resorted to unprovoked ceasefire violation in
the same area.
PRESIDENT ACCEPTS ALLAHABAD
UNIVERSITY VC'S RESIGNATION
New Delhi: President
Ram Nath Kovind on Fri-
day accepted the resigna-
tion tendered by Allahabad
University's Vice-Chan-
cellor Ratan Lal Hangloo
and directed an inquiry to
be conducted into alleged
financial, academic and
administrative irregular-
ities during his tenure.
Hangloo had put down his
papers on December 31
on personal grounds. "The
President of India is also
pleased to direct to con-
duct an inquiry into the
allegations of financial,
academic and administra-
tive irregularities including
the recommendations of
the National Commission
for Women regarding al-
leged misconduct against
Rattan Lal Hangloo," an
official release said.
Siliguri: West Bengal
Chief Minister Mama-
ta Banerjee on Friday
led a protest march
against the Citizenship
(Amendment) Act and
National Register of
Citizens (NRC) here
and targeted Prime
Minister Narendra
Modi by stating that
he always talks about
Pakistan.
"I am fighting against
the National Register
of Citizens and Citizen-
ship (Amendment) Act.
Join hands with me.
Requesting all people
to come forward to save
our democracy," Mama-
ta said. "He (Modi) is
the Prime Minister of
India, but always talks
about Pakistan. Why?
We are Indians and we
will definitely discuss
our national issues,"
she said.
Mamata further stat-
ed that she will hold a
similar rally in Darjeel-
ing on January 22 and
requested people to join
her movement to save
democracy.
The Citizenship
(Amendment) Act, 2019,
seeks to grant citizen-
ship to Hindus, Sikhs,
Jains, Parsis, Buddhists
and Christians fleeing
religious persecution
from Pakistan, Afghan-
istan and Bangladesh
and who came to India
on or before December
31, 2014. —ANI
Ayodhya: Welcoming
the Ministry of Home
Affairs (MHA) decision
of appointing an Addi-
tional secretary-level
officer to deal with all
Ayodhya matters, Nir-
mohi Akhara chief Ma-
hant Dinendra Das Ma-
haraj on expressed sat-
isfaction over the move
and said that the step
shows transparency of
central government.
"This was a landmark
judgment and it needs a
proper view when it
comes to implementing.
The decision has been
taken so that there is no
hindrance in the pro-
cess. This was actually
needed. This will do jus-
tice to the judgment. We
want the government to
build the temple as soon
as possible. People from
all the religions want
the Ram Temple to be
built," Dinendra Das
told ANI. Das appreci-
ated Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and
Home Minister Amit
Shah for maintaining
transparency and said
this decision has ex-
posed the people who
were trying to create a
rift between Hindus
and Muslims.
"This is a satisfactory
step and this shows the
transparency of the
government. People
from both the Hindu
and Muslim communi-
ties want the temple to
be grandiose. Those
people who wanted to
create a rift between
Hindus and Muslims
have been exposed. We
need not worry about
the desk and we trust
the government," he
added.
Earlier, the MHA had
designated an Addition-
al secretary-level offic-
er to deal with all Ayod-
hya matters and related
Court judgments.
According to the
MHA, all files concern-
ing the same will be put
up by the Deputy Secre-
tary (National Integra-
tion) to Additional Sec-
retary (Jammu, Kash-
mir & Ladakh) through
Joint Secretary (JKL).
Further, MHA has
merged its Internal Se-
curity-II Division with
Internal Security-I and
named it as Internal Se-
curity Division. —ANI
New Delhi: Amidst the
massive furore over the
Congress Seva Dal
booklet that claimed
Nathuram Godse and
Veer Savarkar had
"physical relations,"
Akhil Bhartiya Hindu
Mahasabha president
Swami Chakrapani
said that the allegations
against Savarkar were
"ridiculous".
He also said that he
heard that Congress
leader Rahul Gandhi is
"homosexual". "These
are ridiculous allega-
tions against Savarkar
Ji. Similarly, we have
also heard that Rahul
Gandhi is homosexual,"
Chakrapani told ANI.
On Thursday, a book-
let was distributed dur-
ing the 10-day camp of
Congress Seva Dal,
which claimed that Sa-
varkar had "physical
relationship" with
Godse, Mahatma Gan-
dhi's assassin.
Congress Seva Dal
chief Lalji Desai had said
that the writer has writ-
tenthebookletonbasisof
evidence. The booklet, ti-
tled 'Veer Savarkar Kitne
Veer?', claiming to be
quoting from page 423 of
the 'Freedom at Midnight'
book written by Larry
Collins & Dominique
Lapierre, states that
Godse had a homosexual
relationship with his "po-
litical guru" Savarkar be-
fore the former turned
celibate. The booklet also
claims that Savarkar en-
couraged his followers to
rape women from minor-
ity communities. —ANI
Jammu: In the back-
drop of nationwide pro-
tests over the CAA and
the proposed all-India
National Register of
Citizens (NRC), Union
Minister of State in the
PMO, Dr Jitendra Sin-
gh, said Friday the Cen-
tre’s next step would be
the deportation of Roh-
ingyas from the coun-
try.
Speaking at a func-
tion in Jammu on Fri-
day, Jitendra Singh
said, “The next govern-
ment move will be the
deportation of Rohing-
yas. The government is
considering ways to de-
port them.”
The Union Minister
also emphasised that
the Citizen Amendment
Act had become appli-
cable in the Union Ter-
ritory of Jammu and
Kashmir the day it was
passed by the Parlia-
ment.
“They (Rohingyas)
are not part of the six
religious minorities
(Hindu, Sikha, Bud-
dhist, Jain, Parsi and
Christian) in three
neighbouring states
(Pakistan, Bangladesh
and Afghanistan). They
are from Myanmar and
hence have to go as they
are not eligible for In-
dian citizenship under
the CAA,” Singh said.
‘India’sPMalwaystalksaboutPak’
Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee addresses at a public rally during a protest against NRC and CAA in
Siliguri on Friday. —PHOTO BY ANI
Nirmohi Akhara chief lauds
MHA for designating sr official
AYODHYA ISSUE
ADDL SECY TO DEAL WITH AYODHYA ISSUES
We've heard Rahul
Gandhi is 'homosexual':
Swami Chakrapani
‘Next move: Deport
Rohingya refugees’ New Delhi: The En-
forcement Directorate
(ED) is questioning
senior Congress leader
P Chidambaram in
connection with the al-
leged deal and pur-
chase of 111 aircraft for
Air India during the
Congress-led United
Progressive Alliance
(UPA) government's
tenure, probe agency
sources said on Friday.
According to sourc-
es, the case pertains to
the purchase of 111
aircraft, 48 aircraft
from Airbus and 68
from Boeing for Rs
70,000 crore in 2007.
The former finance
minister was released
from Delhi's Tihar Jail
on December 4 last
year after being grant-
ed bail in the INX me-
dia case.
The Supreme Court
directedChidambaram
not to give press inter-
views and make public
statements with regard
to the case.Chidambar-
am had sought the
bail in the case pertain-
ing to the Foreign In-
vestment Promotion
Board (FIPB) clearance
given to INX media to
the tune of Rs 305 crore
in 2007 during his ten-
ure as the finance min-
ister. —ANI
New Delhi: Two
men, who were de-
ported to Bangladesh
in August 2018, but
somehow managed
to return to India af-
ter six months, are
now contesting a le-
gal battle in Delhi HC
seeking citizenship
of India.
Mohammad Kal-
am and Mohammad
Salam were deported
to Bangladesh in Au-
gust 2018 after they
were found to be ille-
gal migrants. They,
however, returned to
India after six
months using an il-
legal route. —ANI
New Delhi: The
National Company
Law Appellate Tribu-
nal (NCLAT) reserved
till January 6 the order
on a petition filed by
Registrar of Compa-
nies (RoC) seeking
modification in its or-
der in Tata-Mistry
matter.
RoC, which falls un-
der the ambit of the
Ministry of Corporate
Affairs, approached
NCLAT on December
23 seeking changes to
its order in the case. In
the application, RoC
sought to be included
as a party in matter. It
also sought amend-
ments to certain parts
of judgement.—ANI
After being deported to
Bangladesh, 2 men move HC
Order reserved on plea in
Tata-Mistry matter till Jan 6
ED questions Chidambaram in Air India purchase probe

SPORTSAHMEDABAD | SATURDAY, JANUARY 4, 2020
Aus players raise
money for support
Melbourne: The Aus-
tralian sports fraternity
has come in unison in
order to raise money to
support people and
communities across the
country affected by the
devastating bushfires.
Bushfires are raging
across Australia, with
New South Wales and
Victoria greatly affect-
ed, causing huge loss to
life and property.
Manav becomes
number 1 paddler
New Delhi: Paddler
Manav Thakkar has be-
come the number 1 pad-
dler in the U-21 catego-
ry, latest International
Table Tennis Federa-
tion rankings revealed.
The 19-year-old has
jumped nine places to
take the pole position.
The paddler has also
won the U-21 men’s sin-
gles title.
BBL: Heat trump
Hurricanes
Sydney: Chris Lynn
starred with the bat as
Brisbane Heat defeated
Hobart Hurricanes by
31 runs in the ongoing
Big Bash League (BBL)
on Friday.
Dhaiya, Deepak in
Olympic qualifiers
New Delhi: Ravi Dahi-
ya and Deepak Punia on
Friday advanced to the
Olympic qualifiers after
registering victories in
their respective catego-
ry matches in the ongo-
ing Wrestling Federa-
tion of India’s trials for
the freestyle category.
Haryana: Class 10
girl bags gold
New Delhi: A tenth
standard girl, Sahira
Jain, who performed a
Latin dance form
bagged the gold medal
in the 11th National
Dance Sport Champion-
ship. She thanked her
parents and teachers
for their constant sup-
port in pursuing dance.
Eden Hazard out
of Spanish Cup
Spain: Eden Hazard’s
injury-plagued start at
Real Madrid will con-
tinue after Zinedine Zi-
dane said the Belgian
will not play in Spanish
Super Cup next week.
Jofra ruled out of
second Test
New Delhi: England
were hit with more bad
news on the morning of
the second Test against
South Africa, with Jofra
Archer ruled out due to
an elbow injury.
Pak players will
be fined if unfit
Lahore: In a new dik-
tat, the Pakistan Crick-
et Board has announced
that players failing to
meet minimum fitness
requirements in the fit-
ness tests of the cen-
trally contracted play-
ers will be fined.
BRIEF
in
Lahore: It remains to
be seen whether Sourav
Gangulywillonceagain
play the catalyst to In-
dia and Pakistan re-
suming bilateral ties on
the cricket pitch as for-
mer Pakistan skipper
Rashid Latif has urged
the BCCI president to
“help” the Pakistan
Cricket Board (PCB) in
taking talks of Indo-Pak
matches forward.
Former wicketkeeper
batsman Latif said it
was Ganguly, then India
captain, who played a
big role in India agree-
ing to tour Pakistan in
2004 despite BCCI’s re-
luctance. “As a cricket-
er and BCCI President,
Ganguly can help (Eh-
san) Mani and the
PCB,” Latif was quoted
as saying by ‘The Na-
tion’. “Unless full-
fledged Pakistan-India
bilateral series re-
sumes, things won’t im-
prove for both coun-
tries. The world wants
to see Pak-India playing
cricket,” he said. “PCB
CEO Wasim Khan
should also play his ac-
tive part to ensure top
cricket-playing nations
come and tour Pakistan
as it will help Pakistan
cricket and local play-
ers.” “In 2004, when the
BCCI was reluctant to
tour Pakistan, it was
Ganguly, who persuad-
ed the BCCI and play-
ers. It was a highly
memorable tour for In-
dia as they managed to
win big here after a long
gap,” Latif added. India
clinched the five-match
ODI series 3-2 while
they also won the three-
match Test series 2-1.
India and Pakistan
onlymeetinICCtourna-
ments now due to politi-
cal tensions between the
two countries. Pakistan
welcomed back Test
cricket after a long gap
when Sri Lanka toured
the nation recently. Pa-
kistan won the series.
‘Ganguly can help resume India-Pak bilateral cricket ties’
FOR A NEW BEGINNING?
lll
India & Pakistan
have not been
playing bilateral
cricket but
former Pak
skipper Latif
believes BCCI
president
Ganguly can help
end the impasse
Brisbane: Canada is
the first team to win a
tie at the inaugural ATP
Cup 2020. The Canadi-
ans, behind singles and
doubles wins from Felix
Auger-Aliassime and
Denis Shapovalov,
earned a clean 3-0 sweep
against Greece to get
off to a 1-0 start in Bris-
bane on Friday.
“It’s always amazing
to be part of the team
and have kind of a team
feeling. It’s pretty rare
on the Tour, so I defi-
nitely love it and I al-
ways feel like I thrive
off that atmosphere. So,
yeah, I’m really happy,
happy with the result
today,” Shapovalov said.
Shapovalov, the coun-
try’s No. 1 singles play-
er, clinched the team
victory with a
7-6(6), 7-6(4)
win against
World No. 6
Tsitsipas.
The 2 com-
bined to save all five
break points faced, but
Shapovalov, who ended
2019 by reaching his
first ATP Masters 1000
final in Paris, remained
clutch in the tie-breaks
at Pat Rafter Arena.
From 3/3 in the sec-
ond-set tie-break,
Shapovalov won 4of 5
points, including his
first match point on
Tsitsipas’ racquet when
the Greek double fault-
ed. Tsitsipas is the
reigning Nitto ATP Fi-
nals (d. Thiem).
“It’s definitely a huge
win for me. Obviously,
he had an unbelievable
end to the season and
he’s definitely one of
the top players in the
world right now. He’s
got a great game. So to
beat a guy like this in
the first match of the
year, it’s really special
for me. It means a lot,”
Shapovalov said.
“I think today it was
just a couple points here
and there, just tried to
keep playing my game,
keep playing every sin-
gle point and wait for
my chances
and I just
think that
I took ad-
vantage re-
ally well in
the tie-breaks.”
Tsitsipas fell to
against Shapovalov in
FedEx ATP Head2Head
series. To start the day,
A u g e r - A l i a s s i m e
steamrolled past Mi-
chail Pervolarakis to
secure first win in the
ATP Cup history.
The 24-team
event is being
played in Brisbane,
Perth and Sydney
from 3-12 January, with
the Final Eight begin-
ning. Auger-Aliassime,
a three-time ATP Tour
finalist in 2019, didn’t
face a break point and
dominated rallies with
Pervolarakis, who was
making his ATP Tour
main draw debut.
n Dakar Rally
2020 will start
in Saudi Arabia
on Sunday
n Competitors
must navigate
their way
through about
7,500 kms
n Drivers will
compete in five
categories from
cars, bikes,
trucks, quads
and UTVs (utility
task vehicle) in
12-day race
3 quarters of toughest off-road race to take place on sand
Gill ‘abuses’ umpire
after being given out
Jeddah: With the start
of the Dakar Rally only
days away, fans in Saudi
Arabia have been get-
ting their first taste of
the excitement & spec-
tacle of the legendary
race. This year marks
the first time the event
has been staged in the
Middle East, with the
Kingdom playing host.
In a test of endur-
ance as well as speed,
550 competitors from 62
countries — driving
cars, motorbikes, quad
bikes and trucks — will
set off from Jeddah on
Sunday to cover 7,500
kilometers during 12
days of racing across
the Saudi desert. Mo-
torsport fans on Friday
flocked to the race vil-
lage, set up on the Jed-
dah Corniche, to soak
up the atmosphere
during the build-up to
the start of the race and
were clearly delighted
to have the chance to
attend the legendary
event for the first time.
Hamid Haalwani, who
was accompanied by
his children, said that
he has been a big fan of
the Dakar Rally for a
long time and came to
the village to show his
kids what it is all about.
“I am very interested in
seeing the Dakar this
year in Saudi Arabia,”
he added. “It is one of
the major sporting
events in the world; ev-
eryone loves the Dakar.
I am really proud and
pleased to see Saudi
Arabia hosting such a
mega event.” Mahir
Baqabas, 23, was shop-
ping for souvenir Dak-
kar Rally T-shirts. “We
had heard about the
Dakar before,” he said.
“My friends and I de-
cided to come and live
the action. We are lucky
to have the opportunity
to see it.” Hani Amro
was also excited that
the rally is being held
in Saudi Arabia for the
first time. “It’s not ev-
eryday fans have the
chance to experience
the ultimate thrill of
the Dakar rally,” he
said. “As a big fan of the
event and other famous
car races I am really ex-
cited to live this mo-
ment and to meet the
(racers) here in person.
“The Dakar rally is the
pinnacle of motorsport
events in the world, so
there is no better set-
ting to celebrate the
(race) than here in our
country.” The Dakar
Rally begins on Jan. 5
in Jeddah, and will end
in Riyadh on Jan. 17.
Earlier, Saudi Arabia
has increasingly
opened its doors to in-
ternational tourism
and world-class sports
and entertainment
events, as part of ef-
forts to diversify the
nation’s economy.
Mohali: Punjab opener
Shubman Gill ‘abused’
the umpire after being
given out and refused to
walkoff thefieldduring
their Ranji Trophy
game against Delhi at
the IS Bindra Stadium.
Delhi captain Nitish
Rana as saying that
Shubman walked down
to umpire Paschim
Pathak -- who was mak-
ing his debut -- and
abused him. Following
this, the umpire over-
turned his decision.
The decision to over-
turn the wicket, howev-
er, did not go down well
with the Delhi team as
they walked off the field
and play was halted.
The match referee had
to intervene and after a
brief stoppage, play re-
sumed. The 20-year-old
Punjab opener was
eventually dismissed by
Simarjeet Singh.
Motorsport fans ﬂocked to the race village on Friday.
CanadablowawayGreece
Denis Shapovalov wins the
battle of the up-and-comers
against Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas
Canada went up 1-0 when Felix
claimed a breezy 6-1-6-3
victory over Pervolarakis
Canada registered a clean
sweep over Greece on 1st day
|of the ATP Cup 2020
DE MINAUR, KYRGIOS CARRY AUSSIES TO 1ST ATP CUP WIN
Alex de Minaur enlivened the Bris-
bane crowd on Friday night, coming
back from a set and a break down
against World No. 7 Alexander Zverev
to clinch Australia’s ﬁrst ATP Cup win
2-0 against Germany.
De Minaur was down 6-4, 4-2
against Zverev, who had beaten him
all four times they played, including in
February 2018 at Pat Rafter Arena in
Brisbane, the same location as their
Group F ATP Cup tie.
But the 20-year-old Aussie, who
ended 2019 at a career-best year-end
FedEx ATP Ranking of No. 18, ripped
back momentum in the eighth game
of the second set and ran away with a
season-opening win 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-2.
De Minaur saved seven of 10 break
points, and Zverev struggled to hold
serve in the latter stages, hitting 14
double faults for the match. It’s the
fourth Top 10 win of De Minaur’s
career (4-13).
INAUGURATION
Tennis player Sania Mirza during the launch of 5th Inter-
Society Sports League 2020, in Hyderabad on Friday.
Denis Shapovalov beats Stefanos
Tsitsipas 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7/4)
Sydney: Marnus Labuschagne’s century took Australia
to a strong position at the end of day 1 in the third Test
against New Zealand at Sydney Cricket Ground on Friday.
LABUSCHAGNE SETS UP DOMINANCE

First India News Paper|Gujarat-English News Paper Today-04 January 2020 edition

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