01032022 first india ahmedabad

CORONA CATASTROPHE
Gujarat A’Bad
NEW
CASES
61
NEW
CASES
117 NEW
DEATHS
02
CM Patel welcomes students on return from war-torn Ukraine
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: Chief
Minister Bhupendra
Patel on Monday wel-
comed 27 students hail-
ing from the state in
Gandhinagar, where
they arrived in a bus
from Delhi after evacu-
ation from Ukraine by a
special flight.
In the last two days,
around 100 students
studying in war-torn
Ukraine have reached
their home state Guja-
rat from Mumbai and
Delhi.
The 27 students who
reached capital city
Gandhinagar hail from
different parts of the
state. The state is mak-
ing arrangements to
send them along with
their parents to their re-
spective destinations,
said the government in
a statement.
“Chief Minister
Bhupendra Patel on
Monday morning wel-
comed the youths with
flowers and asked
about their well-being.
The students had
reached the Gandhi-
nagar circuit house
from Delhi in a Volvo
bus at around Sunday
midnight,” informed
the Chief Minister’s
Office (CMO).
Patel interacted with
the students and as-
sured their parents of
all possible help from
the government.
Education Minister
Jitu Vaghani and other
senior government of-
ficials were also present
to welcome the stu-
dents, who thanked
Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi for facilitat-
ing their evacuation
and CM Patel for ar-
ranging for their return
to the state.
The state government
has been making ar-
rangements of buses to
bring the students from
Mumbai and Delhi.
A special bus was
sent to Delhi and a task
force from the state ed-
ucation department
was deputed to receive
the students after they
arrived there. The gov-
ernment had also ar-
ranged for the accom-
modation and food for
the students and their
parents who reached
the state capital to re-
ceive them.
Patel performing a ritual at Bhavnath Mahadev Temple on Monday.
RELIEVED WELCOME
He received them at Gandhinagar
circuit house after their arrival from
Delhi; food & accommodation were
arranged for them & their parents
RELIGIOUS FERVOUR
Belarus (Agencies): A
Ukrainian presidential advis-
er today called for the retreat
of all Russian forces from
Ukrainian territory. The de-
mand came as Russia and
Ukraine began ceasefire talks
on the Belarusian border.
The talks are being held at
Ukraine’s border with Belarus
-- near the Chernobyl exclu-
sion zone -- after a call between
President Volodymyr Zelen-
sky and Belarus leader Alex-
ander Lukashenko. Ukraine
had earlier refused to talk in
Belarus, where Russian troops
were stationed before the inva-
sion.
According to Sputnik, Rus-
sian President Vladamir Putin
reportedly told his French
counterpart Emmanuel Ma-
cron that Ukraine solution is
possible only if Russia’s secu-
rity interests are considered.
Meanwhile, according to
AFP, Russian shelling killed at
least 11 civilians in Ukraine’s
second largest city of Kharkiv
on Monday
.
Dialogue between
Ukraine, Russia take
place at Belarussian border
UN rights boss
Bachelet said at least
102 civilians, including 7
children died in Ukraine since
Russian invasion. Moreover,
304 have been injured
Ukraine’s goal for
talks was immediate
ceasefire and withdrawal
of Russian forces
4 Union Ministers
going to Poland and
Romania to oversee
evacuation of thousands of
Indians stuck there
1
3
2
4
Talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in the Gomel region at Ukraine-Belarus border.
DIDI’S SUPPORT TO
PM MODI ON
UKRAINE CRISIS
UKRAINE FOR
“IMMEDIATE” EU
MEMBERSHIP
PM MODI CHAIRS HIGH-LEVEL MEETING
GOVT TO INDIANS
STUDENTS...
RUSSIA BANS
AIRLINES...
EX-MISS UKRAINE
JOINS FIGHT
AGAINST RUSSIA
INDIA ABSTAINS
FROM UNSC CALL
West Bengal Chief Minister
Mamata Banerjee Monday
offered unconditional support
to Prime Minister Narendra
Modi on the Ukraine issue
and urged him to consider
convening an all-party
meeting for a national resolve
to emerge from the crisis
in sync with the country’s
long-standing stand for
international peace and non-
aggression.
Ukrainian President Volo-
dymyr Zelensky on Mon-
day urged the European
Union to grant his country
“immediate” member-
ship, as Russia’s assault
against the pro-Western
country went into its fifth
day. “We appeal to the
European Union for the
immediate accession of
Ukraine via a new special
procedure,” the 44-year-
old leader said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while chairing a meeting
over the ongoing crisis in Ukraine on Monday, decided
to send four Union Ministers to Poland and Romania to
oversee the evacuation of thousands of Indians, including
students, who are still stuck there. Meanwhile, Air India’s
fifth evacuation flight landed in Delhi with 249 Indians.
Indian students who are in
conflict-hit Ukraine should
try to move towards the
western side of the country
and stay in nearby towns
and not reach the border
directly, MEA said.
Russia has announced it is
banning flights by airlines
from 36 countries includ-
ing Britain and Germany in
response to a slew of bans
on its planes. Its list also
includes Jersey.
Anastasia Lenna, who
represented Ukraine in the
Miss Grand International
in 2015, is now joining
the Ukrainian military as it
fights Russian forces
India abstained from UNSC
procedural vote to call for a
rare emergency session of
the UNGA on Ukraine. The
resolution was adopted with
11 votes in favour, paving the
way for the General Assembly
to meet on Monday.
LET’S
TALK
TALK
LET’S
TALK
TALK INDIA ABSTAINS
FROM UNSC CALL
INDIA ABSTAINS
LET’S
TALK
Belarus (Agencies): A
Dialogue between
LET’S
TALK
LET’S
LET’S
TALK
TALK
AHMEDABAD l TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2022 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/79050 l Vol 3 l Issue No. 95
OUR EDITIONS: JAIPUR, AHMEDABAD, LUCKNOW & NEW DELHI www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
Madhabi Puri Buch, the former whole-time member
(WTM) of the Securities and Exchange Board of
India (Sebi) has been appointed as its new chief for a
tenure of three years. She is the first woman to head
the market regulator since its inception.
MADHABI PURI
BUCH NAMED
NEW SEBI
CHAIRPERSON
India’s GDP for the October-December quarter (Q3)
grew by 5.4 per cent, while the GDP for the entire
financial year 2021-22 is seen growing 8.9 per cent,
as per the second advanced and quarterly estimates
of GDP released by MoSPI on Monday.
INDIA’S GDP
GROWS 5.4% IN
Q3, TO GROW AT
8.9% IN FY22
Ukraine seeks withdrawal of Russian troops at talks; Russian nuclear triad begins rehearsals
Dozen civilians killed, hundreds wounded in Russian shelling on Kharkiv: Ukraine official
MAHA SHIVRATRI TODAY
Devotees dressed as Lord Shiva participate in procession
ahead of Shivratri festival in Jammu on Monday.
Violence mars Manipur phase 1
polls with 78.03% voter turnout
HC issues notice to leaders including
Sonia, Rahul on plea to implead them
Imphal: Violence
marred the first phase
of elections to 38 of Ma-
nipur’s60Assemblycon-
stituencies on Monday
as 78.03% of about 12.09
lakh voters exercised
their franchise by 5 p.m.
tone-pelting and gun-
fire were reported from
the Keirao constituency
in Manipur a few hours
after the first phase of
the Manipur Assembly
elections got underway
.
Polling was also dis-
rupted in the New
Keithelmanbi constitu-
ency in the Kangpokpi
district after Congress
and Bharatiya Janata
Party workers allegedly
clashed over allegations
of booth capturing.
Violence was also re-
ported from the Sing-
hat Assembly constitu-
ency in Churachand-
pur when a clash be-
tween BJP and KPA
broke out during mock
poll testing. A control
unit of the EVM was
damaged. The return-
ing officer had to call
for a backup EVM.
New Delhi: The Delhi
High Court Monday is-
sued a notice to several
political leaders and ac-
tivists, including Con-
gress leaders Sonia
Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi,
Priyanka Gandhi
Vadra, and Union Min-
ister Anurag Thakur, in
applications seeking
their impleadment as
respondents in peti-
tions calling for regis-
tration of FIRs against
them for allegedly giv-
ing hate speeches prior
to the 2020 Northeast
Delhi riots.
The court had earlier
asked the petitioners if
it can proceed to issue
directions against
whom allegations have
been made without
them being arrayed as
parties. Following the
court’s observations,
the two petitioners –
Lawyers Voice and
Shaikh Mujtaba Farooq
& Ors. – moved two ap-
plications seeking to
add at least 24 persons,
against whom FIRs are
being sought, as re-
spondents to the peti-
tions which are pend-
ing since 2020.
A man injured in
the clash and(right)
The damaged EVM.
Giving hate speeches before 2020 Northeast Delhi riots:
Notice to Priyanka, Union Minister Anurag Thakur too

NEWS
AHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2022
02
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
15K march against River Link Project
First India Bureau
Valsad: A protest rally
against the Par-Tapi-
Narmada River Link
Project was attended by
more than 15,000 people
belonging to the tribal
community of Dharam-
pur and nearby pockets
on Monday
. The project,
which was announced
by the central govern-
ment, has been opposed
by locals as they believe
that it will destroy cul-
tivable land. A week
ago, Vansda MLA from
Congress Anant Patel
had called for a protest
rally, which resulted in
the massive rally
.
Besides Patel, the son
of former MP from
Dadra & Nagar Haveli
Mohan Delkar and Shiv
Sena Gujarat President
Abhinav Delkar also
participated in the rally
.
Other political and so-
cial leaders from all
over the South Gujarat
region, including the
Valsad district also re-
mained present. Initial-
ly, local police attempt-
ed to stop people from
going to the rally, but
after some friction, the
gathering went ahead
as scheduled.
Addressing the gath-
ering, MLA Patel said,
“Congress leaders op-
posed the government’s
proposed river link pro-
ject. However, the state
is going to implement
the Par Tapi and Nar-
mada River Link pro-
ject. A dam is to be con-
structed near Chas-
mandva village on Par
River in Dharampur
taluka of Valsad dis-
trict. If it is built, many
tribal families in the
area are likely to be dis-
placed. That has
brought the community
and political leaders to-
gether to oppose the
government’s proposed
project.”
The rally was held on
the public roads of
Dharampur and a mem-
orandum against the
river link project was
submitted to the local
revenue officer by po-
litical leaders. Patel
also warned that if the
government imple-
ments this project
against the wishes of
the tribal community, it
will have serious conse-
quences.
The Vansda MLA
also claimed that there
was a lack of coordina-
tion between the cen-
tral government and
state government min-
isters. “On one hand,
the central government
is talking about this
link project in the budg-
et. Meanwhile, the Gu-
jarat government min-
isters are publicly
claiming that this pro-
ject is not going to hap-
pen,” he said.
Huge crowd of tribals at the rally in Dharampur on Monday.
Vansda MLA Anant Patel addressing the gathering.
LOCAL TRIBALS
ARE AGAINST
CONSTRUCTION
OF A DAM AS IT
WILL DESTROY
AGRI LAND
First India Bureau
Surat: Around 300 vil-
lagers and farmers of
Abhawavillagereached
the district collector’s
office on Monday to
submit a memorandum
against acquisition of
land for development of
Surat Airport runway.
Airport authorities had
demanded land from
the district collector for
expansion of the run-
way
.
Citing past demands
for land, farmers stated
that several depart-
ments in the govern-
ment had demanded
land reservation in the
year 1989, 1999 and now
again in 2022. “The
Khajod Urban Develop-
ment Authority (KHU-
DA) is demanding land
reservation and our
land is shrinking be-
cause of that. If this
continues, we will not
have land for farming
in the future.”
A meeting of farmer
leaders of Abhava vil-
lage was also held to
discuss the issue. On
behalf of over 4,000
families, 300 agricul-
tural workers submit-
ted an application to the
collector and chief of-
ficer of KHUDA to pro-
test the government’s
proposal of including
700 acres of land in
KHUDA for the airport.
Supporting the farm-
ers’ contention, city-
based activist Hiren De-
sai said, “The govern-
ment will acquire land
fortheairportanditwill
affectover4,000families.
This decision has been
taken without conduct-
ing a survey
. We demand
that the reservation
draft be removed alto-
gether. If our demands
are not accepted, we will
continue the agitation.”
Incidentally, this is
not the first time that lo-
cal authorities have de-
manded land from farm-
ers for establishing gov-
ernment projects. Many
farms were acquired by
the state for the Ahmed-
abd-Mumbai Bullet
Train Project as well.
Farmers oppose reservation of land for airport expansion
NO OTHER WAY
lll
Demand a
survey be
conducted
and proposal
to reserve
land be
scrapped by
the
government
FARMERS, CONG MLAS LEAD RALLY
IN PALANPUR OVER WATER WOES
First India Bureau
Palanpur: A silent
protest rally was held
by local farmers and
seven Congress MLAs
in Palanpur over reso-
lution of irrigation
woes in the region on
Monday. According to
them, underground wa-
ter is slipping deeper in
the earth and lakes are
drying up in 14 talukas
of Banaskantha dis-
trict. The government
plans to address this is-
sue in the upcoming
budget session on
March 03.
Despite repeated rep-
resentations by Con-
gress MLAs and farm-
ers, the government
has found no solution
to our problems and we
are left with no water to
use for irrigation, said
a farmer.
Some of the demands
put forth by farmers are
provision in this year’s
budget for release of wa-
ter in the Sujalam Su-
falam canal, filling wa-
ter in lakes and con-
struction of canals in
areas that need one. The
farmers handed over an
application explaining
theirdemandstothecol-
lector.
Tharad MLA Gulab-
sinh Rajput supported
the farmers’ demands
and said that it was
high time that the gov-
ernment listened to
their requests. “In the
coming days, we will
appeal to the chief min-
ister regarding irriga-
tion facilities accessi-
ble to the farmers of
Banaskantha district.
In the budget session,
we shall ask them to fill
local lakes, water bod-
ies, and as per the Su-
jalam Sufalam scheme,
include the district’s
land in the command
area of Narmada irri-
gation canal. All areas
that are plagued by ir-
rigation issues should
be treated as ‘special
areas’ and granted spe-
cial treatment. The
groundwater level in
this region now stands
at 1,200 feet. If demands
are not met, we plan to
initiate a full-scale agi-
tation,” he asserted.
With no water to irrigate their land, farmers of Banaskantha district are in dire straits. —FILE PHOTO
Farmers expressing dissent at Surat district Collectorate on Monday.
First India Bureau
Vadodara: City-
based non-govern-
ment organization
(NGO) Vishwamitri
Bachao Samiti has
written to Vadodara
Municipal Commis-
sioner Shalini Agar-
wal regarding viola-
tion of a notification
by putting up hoard-
ings at public places
in the city
. Contesting
that historical build-
ings and statues were
not visible due the
hoardings, members
demanded their re-
moval from places un-
der this notification.
Leading members
of the committee in-
clude advocate
Shailesh Amin, Nikul
Patel, Kishore Shar-
ma, Sanjay Vaghela,
Sunny Dhobi, Deepak
Prajapati, Abhishek
Bhardwaj, Akash
Christian, among
others, who signed
the petition.
“Vadodara now
looks like a hoarding
city. Everywhere we
go, big hoardings are
up at public places
and near historical
buildings. The road-
ways and traffic cir-
cles built from the tax-
payers’ money have
been damaged due to
these hoardings. They
have also been put up
next to the old court
building (Nyay Man-
dir) which is consid-
ered the pride of Va-
dodara city. Founda-
tions of these hoard-
ings have been laid by
digging into the roads
and later filling them
with water; they lead
to cave-in incidents,”
said Amin.
He further stated,
“TheGeneralDevelop-
ment Control Regula-
tion (GDCR) rules
clearly state that no
hoardings of any kind
should be put up near
public places, traffic
circles, statues, his-
toric buildings and
crossroad junctions.
In this regard, Va-
dodara Municipal
Corporation (VMC)
had put up public no-
tice boards at every
junction, but its notifi-
cation has been vio-
latedwiththeadminis-
trationturningablind
eye to such illegal ac-
tivitiesWedemandim-
mediate compliance
withthecourtorderas
well as the law of
GDCR and removal of
illegallyerectedhoard-
ing boards.”
V’dara NGO demands
removal of illegal hoardings
A hoarding put up on the road behind Nyay Mandir in the city.
Sev usal vendor accuses VMC councillor of bribery
First India Bureau
Vadodara: A vendor
selling sev usal in Va-
dodara has levelled
bribery allegations
againstaVadodaraMu-
nicipal Corporation
(VMC) councillor for
demanding Rs1,000 to
conduct his business in
Amit Nagar area of the
city
. The councillor,
Chhayaben Kharadi,
has called it a “misun-
derstanding”andstated
that she had asked him
to pay the tax to the civ-
icbodyforhisbusiness.
Lalit Parmar, who
runs a sev usal cart at
Amit Nagar Circle, ac-
cused Kharadi of de-
manding a bribe of
Rs1,000 to run his
business.
Terming the allega-
tions as baseless,
Kharadi said that she
had visited the spot af-
ter receiving com-
plaints from locals.
“Theincidenthappened
aroundtwomonthsago,
when I visited the spot
to ask the laari owners
to resolve the issue
raised by locals. They
told me that it was their
only source of income,
whichwillbeaffectedif
they move their carts
elsewhere.ThenIasked
them to pay taxes to the
VMCandcontinuerun-
ning their businesses. I
think the laari owner
(Parmar) took it anoth-
er way
,” explained
Kharadi.
Lalit Parmar with his food cart at Amit Nagar Circle.

GUJARAT
03
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: Former
Chief Minister Vijay
Rupani on Monday said
that he had slapped le-
gal notices on Leader of
Opposition Sukhram
Rathwa and two of the
latter’s Congress col-
leagues for accusing
him of being part of a
Rs500 crore scam.
Last week, Rathwa
and other Congress
leaders had alleged
that Rupani helped a
private real estate de-
velopment company by
converting the use of
land parcels in two vil-
lages under Rajkot Ur-
ban Development Au-
thority (RUDA), as part
of the scam.
“Soon after returning
from the US on Febru-
ary 27, I discussed the
matter with my lawyer
and issued legal notices
to Congress Leader of
Opposition Sukhram
Rathwa and MLAs CJ
Chavda and Shailesh
Parmar, seeking their
apologies within 15
days or else I will move
court with a defamation
suit,” Rupani told me-
dia persons.
He said this “politi-
cal conspiracy” to de-
fame him will not be
taken lightly, adding
that the opposition
Congress was trying
to divert attention of
the people from the
fact that several mem-
bers of that party had
crossed over to the
Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP).
Rathwa had claimed
the land parcels in the
two villages were origi-
nally meant for a pri-
vate company to build a
township, but acting on
a request from compa-
ny officials, RUDA
passed a resolution for
zone change of the land.
This proposal was
then sent to the state ur-
ban development de-
partment which ap-
proved it when Rupani
was CM, allowing the
company to use the land
for other purposes as
well, Rathwa had al-
leged.
The Congress had de-
manded the cancella-
tion of this order and
had also sought a CBI
probe into the issue.
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: Owing
to the COVID-19 pan-
demic, students of
Gujarat University
were granted the op-
tion of appearing for
their examinations
in-person or online.
However, despite a
significant drop in
cases, the university
went ahead and con-
ducted online exams
for 39,000 students—
who had opted for it--
on Monday.
Out of 90,000 stu-
dents, 39,000 had cho-
sen online examina-
tion as their preferred
medium and appeared
for it on Monday. The
Semester-I examina-
tions of different dis-
ciplines have begun at
the university. The of-
fline examinations
will begin after the
online exams culmi-
nate.
Usually, Semester I
exams are held by the
end of December, but
delay in the admis-
sion process due to
the pandemic, caused
the exams to start
late. After the exami-
nations are complete,
students will be able
to attend classes at
their respective col-
lege campuses for Se-
mester-II.
According to uni-
versity authorities,
students are likely to
sit for the Semester-
II examinations in
June-July, barring
any delays due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
or otherwise.
First India Bureau
Vadodara: Sar-
panchs from seven
villages under the
jurisdiction of the
Vadodara Municipal
Corporation (VMC)
presented a memo-
randum to the mu-
nicipal commission-
er regarding tax no-
tices of basic ameni-
ties issued to them.
According to the
memorandum, the
villages lack essen-
tial amenities such
as water, roadways,
drainage, and elec-
tricity. Hence, the
sarpanchs of Vemali,
Sevasi, Bil, Bhayali,
Undera, Karodiya,
and Vadadala villag-
es have requested a
three-year tax ex-
emption as well as
special status for the
areas.
“Since the merger
of villages into the
VMC’s jurisdiction,
the civic body has
provided no basic
services such as wa-
ter, roads, drainage,
or street lighting to
us. On the other
hand, it is issuing
large tax bills that
are nearly unafford-
able for us. They also
send such bills to re-
ligious and social in-
stitutions. We de-
mand that our taxes
be waived and that
new invoices be is-
sued with reasonable
amounts,” requested
Darpan Patel, sar-
panch of Bhayli vil-
lage.
The sarpanchs of
other villages la-
mented that since
their inclusion in
the VMC, they have
received no basic
services, and despite
that, the corporation
has handed them tax
invoices. They pro-
tested against the
civic body’s actions
by submitting a
written request to
Municipal Commis-
sioner Shalini Agar-
wal for a tax remis-
sion and the issu-
ance of new amount
receipts.
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: The run-
way re-carpeting work
underway at the Sardar
Vallabhbhai Patel In-
ternational Airport is
likely to end a month
ahead of schedule in
April this year.
The work was
ramped up speedily
due to the possibility
of the Vibrant Gujarat
Global Summit being
organized in Gandhi-
nagar at the end of
April or beginning of
May. The runway re-
carpeting work will
also be continued on
Sundays from 9 am to
6 pm beginning March
20. As of now, the work
halts on Sundays and
public holidays.
According to author-
ities, one layer of the
re-carpeting work has
been completed. Work
on drainage after form-
ing slop after shoulder
side and proper grad-
ing is pending, said an
official. Several labour-
ers and modern ma-
chinery have been de-
ployed at the airport to
finish the work at the
earliest.
Former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani. —FILE PHOTO
Sarpanchs of villages with the memorandum.
Aircrafts parked at Ahmedabad Airport. —FILE PHOTO
RUPANI SLAPS NOTICES ON CONG LOP,
2 MLAS OVER LAND SCAM CLAIMS
Rathwa, MLAs Chavda Parmar have 15 days to tender apology, failing which, legal action will be initiated
First India Bureau
Vadodara: On a trek-
king trip to Himachal
Pradesh, youths
from Vadodara city
rescued 17 people
from Surat, includ-
ing three children,
who were caught in
heavy snowfall.
In bone-chilling
temperatures of mi-
nus eight degree Cel-
sius, the group of
youths, representing
the organization
Thrill Blazers,
rushed to the aid of
Surti families at Jot
in Bankot.
Thrill Blazers is an
adventure-based travel
organization that con-
ducts trekking activi-
ties in some of the
country’s less-trav-
elled areas.
Dhaivat Pandya, the
company’s CEO, stated
regarding the incident,
“Their (the families’)
vehicle was trapped in
heavy snowfall at Jot,
on the route to Khajji-
ar, a town located at
8,600 feet. In such a
challenging situation,
Thrill Blazers’ senior
instructor Akshay
Bhatt and chief driver
Subhashbhai removed
the battery from an-
other vehicle and put it
in theirs. Even though
the tyres were stuck in
the snow, they were
able to drive for about
10 kilometres and
bring the families to
safety.”
“It was a nightmare
for us since our vehi-
cle broke down in Jot
at 8.30 pm on Febru-
ary 25. After the team
of Thrill Blazers
managed to start our
Traveller, we could fi-
nally get out of the
snowfall. But, as the
roads were closed, we
stayed at a place near-
by
. We reached Amrit-
sar the next day and
reached our homes
safely on February
28,” said Khyati De-
sai, one of the mem-
bers of the families
that were brought to
safety.
V’dara youths rescue snow-stuck Surti families in Himachal Pradesh
CHILLY MISSION
Sarpanchs of 7
villages demand
tax waiver
39K GU students appear for online exams
12,09,878
TOTAL RECOVERED
344
RECOVERED
IN A DAY
12,22,628
TOTAL CASES
117 CASES
IN A DAY
10,930
TOTAL DEATHS
02 DEATHS
IN A DAY
1,820
61 MAX
CASES IN
A’BAD
ACTIVE CASES
COVID-19
UPDATE
12,09,878
AS OPPOSED
TO MAY,
AUTHORITIES
HAVE NOW
INFORMED THAT
ALL WORK MAY
BE DONE BY
APRIL
A candlelight vigil was
held near Vallabh Sadan
in memory of those who
perished in the communal
riots that rocked Gujarat in
2002, on Monday.
—PHOTOS BY
HANIF SINDHI
IN MEMORIAM
I am ready for any
kind of investiga-
tion, because the
truth never hurts. This has
been a conspiracy afoot to
tarnish my political career
for some time now. Con-
gress has falsely accused me
of embezzling Rs500 crore
and the allegations levelled
against me by its leaders
are false..
—Vijay Rupani, Former Guj CM
Re-carpeting work
at A’bad airport to
culminate early
Gujarat University. —FILE PHOTO
Submit
memo with
claims that
they have not
received
basic
facilities
fromVMC

Representing
city organization
Thrill Blazers,
they rushed to
their aid in
bone-chilling
temperatures of
minus eight
degree Celsius
at Jot Members of Thrill Blazers lending a hand.

SPIRITUAL SPEAK
The wise work for the
welfare of the world, without
thought for themselves.
—Bhagavad Gita
IN-DEPTH
Amit Shah
@AmitShah
I urge the people of Manipur,
especially the youth to vote in large
numbers. Your one vote will keep this
beautiful state free from insurgency,
blockade and corruption. So come out
and vote for a prosperous Manipur.
Piyush Goyal
@PiyushGoyal
Thank you PM@NarendraModi ji for
capturing the transformative impact
that PM GatiShakti will have on the ec
onomy.#AatmanirbharBharatKaBudg
et backs this initiative that strengthens
cooperative federalism, creates jobs
unlocks our growth potential.
TOP TWEETS
POLAND’S
RACIST ACT
AGAINST INDIAN
STUDENTS
STRANDED IN
UKRAINE
heissueof trappedIn-
dian students in
UkraineandalongPo-
land’s border needs to
be resolved at the ear-
liest. Prime Minister Narendra
Modihasgiventhisresponsibility
tofourUnionministers---Hardeep
Puri, Kiren Rijiju, Gen VK Singh
and Jyotiraditya Scindia---of
bringingbackthestudentsstrand-
ed in the conflict zone. The evacu-
ation exercise has been code-
named ‘Operation Ganga.’ These
ministers will travel to Romania,
Moldova, Hungary and Poland.
It is at the Polish border that
the students have been ill-treated
by the border guards who are not
allowingIndianstudentspassage
becauseIndiadidnotbacktheUN
resolution against Russia. That’s
a racist and reprehensible act of
thePolishguards.OneIndianstu-
dent said that around 50 students
weretrappedinfreezingtempera-
tures. For those trapped in cold,
and amid raging war, the govern-
ment’s response has come a wee
bitlate.Thishasgiventheopposi-
tionpartiesachancetoattackthe
government which seemed busy
with election campaigns.
T
ladimir Putin put-
ting Russia’s nu-
clear deterrence
forces on high
alert has sent a
chill around the world. The
warning came after the West
announced a slew of retalia-
torymeasuresfortheinvasion
of Ukraine, there’s fear of the
warescalating.Especiallypro-
vocativeforRussiaistheEuro-
peanUnionmember’sdecision
to supply weapons, including
anti-tank air defence missiles,
tothebesiegedcountry
.Thisis
the first such decision in the
history of the EU. More sig-
nificant is the change in Ger-
many’s policy banning export
of weapons to a conflict zone
and Sweden shifting from its
neutralstancetoprovethatthe
EU is united in its response to
the Russian invasion.
During the five days of
fighting the West has hit hard
at Russia’s financial inter-
ests. A day ago US, UK and
Europe removed some Rus-
sian banks from SWIFT (So-
ciety for Worldwide Inter-
bank Financial Telecommu-
nication), a messaging sys-
tem for transactions, to block
Russia’s access to the global
financial system. In the latest
reprisal, the Biden adminis-
tration has cut off American
transactions with the Rus-
sian central bank to prevent
it from dealing in dollars.
All this is aimed at squeez-
ing Moscow into stopping the
war and withdrawing its
troops from Ukraine. That is
not happening as reports
suggested that Belarus will
join the war alongside Rus-
sia. Putin, the former KGB
chief, must have done all his
calculations about the conse-
quences of the invasion.
What the west is sceptical of
is whether Putin will stop at
Ukraine or target some Bal-
kan country next. It is this
uncertainty which is keeping
the west on tenterhooks.
WEST HITS FINANCIAL
INTERESTS OF RUSSIA
Belarus will join the war
alongside Russia. Putin,
the ex- KGB chief, must
have done all his
calculations about
invasion’s consequences.
What west is sceptical
of is whether Putin will
stop at Ukraine or target
some Balkan country next
V
Sanctions as America’s
Universal Response to Evil
PETER ISACKSON
ur regularly updated feature
Language and the News will
continue in the form of sepa-
rate articles rather than as a
single newsfeed. Click here
to read the previous edition.
We invite readers to join us
by submitting their sugges-
tions of words and expres-
sions that deserve exploring,
with or without original com-
mentary
. To submit a citation
from the news and/or pro-
vide your own short com-
mentary, send us an email.
FEBRUARY 25:
APPETITE
Is it justified to think that na-
tions have personalities,
along with tastes, fears and
desires? People do. But can
we assume there is an equiv-
alence between the demon-
strable inclinations of a na-
tional government and the
needs, ambitions and predi-
lections of the people in a
democracy? It appears ever
more obvious that the politi-
cal class — increasingly per-
ceived as an isolated elite in
modern societies — is less
representative of and respon-
sive to the people who elect
its leaders and officials than
to the economic and cultural
elite those politicians tend to
associate and identify with.
In a Los Angeles Times ar-
ticle on the Kremlin’s view of
international sanctions, Da-
vid Pierson and Sam Dean
seek to explain how the West
has been elaborating an effec-
tive strategy designed to
counter Russia’s militarily
assault on Ukraine. “With no
appetite for military confron-
tation,” they write, “the U.S.
and its allies are relying on
sweeping economic sanctions
to persuade Russian Presi-
dent Vladimir Putin to pull
out of Ukraine.”
Most people would find
this sentence a reasonable
description of the American
reaction to events in Eastern
Europe. The comforting mes-
sage is that the West has no
interest in war. The damage
and suffering caused by this
war can be blamed on one
government and indeed one
man, Vladimir Putin.
But does it make any sense
to talk of an “appetite” when
speaking of the foreign poli-
cy of a nation? If the meta-
phor of a nation’s appetite
has any factual foundation in
the realm of foreign policy,
the history of the United
States over at least the past
three-quarters of a century
reveals an aptitude of Amer-
ican leaders for war in all its
forms, which may or may not
reflect an appetite or even a
craving of its leaders.
Recent decades have re-
vealed a proclivity of the
American political class to
toggle between physical war-
fare itself — which tradition-
ally pitted trained and
equipped armies against
each other — and economic
warfare directed against en-
tire civilian populations. The
latter has recently been
deemed by political leaders
to be more humane, even
though it spreads suffering
wider and disproportionate-
ly affects uncounted masses
of people not remotely in-
volved in wartime aggres-
sion or any of the practices
cited to justify going to war.
In 1996, when Madeleine
Albright, the US ambassador
to the UN at the time, was
asked about the death of
500,000 Iraqi children due to
US sanctions, she said “the
price is worth it.” This re-
flects the kind of political
calculus that counts half a
million lives not as a tragedy,
but as a “price,” something to
be evaluated in purely mon-
etary terms. In moral terms,
Albright was counting on a
form of specious reasoning
that says if we haven’t direct-
ly sought to kill those chil-
dren, we bear no responsibil-
ity
. Their sacrifice is thus of
no concern.
A similar form of reason-
ing led to the policy privi-
leged at least since Barack
Obama’s presidency of see-
ing drone warfare as humane
because it is “clean,” to the
extent that it precludes any
risk to the “good guys” (our-
selves) doing the killing. If
only bad people are being
killed, war appears to be hu-
mane and possibly as fun as
playing a video game.
So now The Los Angeles
Times wants us to accept the
idea that American leaders
have “no appetite for military
confrontation” in the current
Ukraine drama. Apart from
the irrelevance of the ques-
tion of appetite, that idea is
contestable for another rea-
son. In this case, it isn’t a
question of desire, aptitude,
proclivity or even ingrained
habit. The unwillingness to
mount a military operation is
due to the simple fact that the
United States has no legal jus-
tification for engaging in
physical war with Russia,
which has not threatened US
security or the security of
any NATO nation.
—WWW.FAIROBSERVER.COM
O
Language allows people to
express thoughts, theories,
ideas, experiences and opin-
ions. But even while doing so,
it also serves to obscure what
is essential for understanding
the complex nature of reality.
When people use language
to hide essential meaning,
it is not only because they
cynically seek to prevaricate
or spread misinformation. It
is because they strive to tell
the part or the angle of the
story that correlates with their
needs and interests.
WHY
MONITORING
LANGUAGE IS
IMPORTANT
In 1996, when
Madeleine Albright, the
US ambassador to the
UN at the time, was asked
about the death of
500,000 Iraqi
children due to US
sanctions, she said “the
price is worth it”
PERSPECTIVE
04
lVol3lIssueNo.95
l RNINO.GUJENG/2019/79050.
Printed and published by Anita
Hada Sangwan on behalf of First Ex-
press Publishers. Printed at Bhaskar
Printing Planet Survey No.148P,
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D/3023rdFloorPlotNo.35Titanium
Square,SchemeNo.2,ThaltejTaluka,
Ghatlodiya,Ahmedabad.
Editor-In-Chief: Jagdeesh Chandra.
Editor: Haresh Jhala
responsible for selection of news
under the PRB Act

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INDIA
05
New Delhi (Agencies):
Human-caused climate
change is now dealing
damage to every region
of the world, with al-
most half of humanity
at risk of increasing
harm to their lives and
livelihoods, concludes a
landmark UN report re-
leased on Monday
.
In its report focusing
on the impacts of glob-
al warming on people
and the planet, the In-
ternational Panel on
Climate Change says
that every inhabited
continent is already ex-
periencing multiple cli-
mate impacts, from
droughts and flooding
to biodiversity loss and
falling food production.
Between 3.3 to 3.6 bil-
lion people live in areas
“highly vulnerable to
climate change,” the
authors warn, with
“additional severe
risks” should the Earth
warm beyond 1.5 de-
grees Celsius (2.7 de-
grees Fahrenheit).
Some of the effects
“will be irreversible,
even if global warming
is reduced.”
Emphasising that the
harms caused by global
warming go far beyond
simply the thread of
fires and flooding, the
report finds: “Climate
change impacts are in-
creasingly being felt in
all regions of the world
with growing challeng-
es for water availabili-
ty, food production and
the livelihoods of mil-
lions of people.”
Crucially, these
harms will intensify
rapidly over the com-
ing years.
“We also know that
impacts will continue
to increase if drastic
cuts in greenhouse gas
emissions are further
delayed—affecting the
lives of today’s chil-
dren tomorrow and
those of their children
much more than ours.”
The report is vital
because it represents
the consensus view of
thousands of climate
researchers from 195
countries, and as such
is intended to guide the
plans that governments
put in place to respond
and adapt to the chang-
ing climate. But the au-
thors say governments
are not doing anywhere
near enough to meet
the threat.
“This report is a dire
warning about the con-
sequences of inaction,”
said Hoesung Lee,
Chair of the IPCC.
Over 3 billion lives now threatened by global warming: UN report
CLIMATE BREAKDOWN
From West to East, UP people have
rejected ‘ghor parivaarvadis’: PM
Ballia (ANI): A day af-
ter the conclusion of
the fifth phase of elec-
tions in the ongoing As-
sembly polls in Uttar
Pradesh, Prime Minis-
ter Narendra Modi on
Monday said that the
people of the state have
rejected the ‘ghor pari-
vaarvadis’ (family-ori-
ented leaders) from
West to East and have
shown that the “vehicle
of UP will not be strand-
ed in the lanes of caste”.
“Five phases of elec-
tions have concluded in
Uttar Pradesh. From
West to East, the ‘ghor
parivaarvadis’ have
been rejected. The peo-
ple of UP have shown
that the vehicle of UP
will not be stranded in
the lanes of caste, but it
has gained pace on the
highway of develop-
ment. Rising above
caste, respecting the na-
tional interest and op-
posing dynasty is the
definitionof Ballia,”PM
Modi said here while ad-
dressing a public rally
.
Lauding Chief Minis-
ter Yogi Adityanath for
“bringing the law and
order of the state back
on track”, the Prime
Minister said that the
“ghor parivaarvadis
had destroyed the law
and order situation in
the state during their
tenure in office.
“Development of Bal-
lia, Purvanchal and Ut-
tar Pradesh is my duty
as well as my priority.
Today, along with
Poorvanchal, every re-
gion is being given at-
tention to the develop-
ment, be it electricity,
road, hospital. The
‘ghor parivaarvadis’
had destroyed the law
and order situation in
the state. Yogi Adity-
anath is bringing it
back on track,” he said.
Hitting out at the pre-
vious Samajwadi Party
government in the state
led by party chief Akh-
ilesh Yadav on the issue
of law and order, PM
Modi said that the busi-
nessman of Ballia can-
not forget how the
goons snatched their
money during his rule.
“The businessmen of
Ballia cannot forget
how the goons snatched
their money. Under the
government of Chief
Minister Yogi, the busi-
nessman of Ballia is
feeling safe. The daugh-
ters no more have the
fear of goons when they
go out of their homes,”
he said.
In the sixth phase,
polling will be held in 57
assembly seats in 10 dis-
tricts on March 3.
The 2022 Assembly
elections are being held
in Uttar Pradesh from
February 10 to March 7
in seven phases to elect
403 members of the Ut-
tar Pradesh Legislative
Assembly. The votes
will be counted and the
results will be declared
on March 10, 2022.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi with State BJP president Swatantra Dev Singh (2R) and others during
a public meeting for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, in Ballia on Monday. —PHOTO BY ANI
PM: OPP PROMOTED
VACCINE HESITANCY
Maharajganj: Prime
Minister Narendra Modi
on Monday slammed
Opposition for promoting
Covid-19 vaccine hesi-
tancy in the country and
said that the vaccination
drive was successfully
carried out despite several
challenges. The Prime
Minister, while addressing
a rally in Maharajganj,
said, “Those Indians who
felt proud by knowing that
vaccines were Made in
India were incited by the
Opposition not to take the
doses,” he said.
UP POLL CAMPAIGN IN FULL SWING
Majority mark crossed
after 5th phase: Shah
Kushinagar (ANI):
SeniorBharatiyaJanata
Party (BJP) leader and
Union Minister for
HomeAffairsAmitShah
of Monday claimed that
the party has already
gone past the majority
mark after the first five
phases of polling in the
UttarPradeshAssembly
elections.
Addressing a public
meeting in Kushinagar,
Shah said, “The BJP
has reached the major-
ity mark in the first
five phases of Uttar
Pradesh elections. In
the sixth and seventh
phases, people have to
vote for the BJP to form
the government with
over 300 seats.”
“In 2014, the whole
country and Uttar
Pradesh made PM Modi
ji Prime Minister. For
the first time, a non-
Congress party won
more seats than the half
way mark in the UP As-
sembly
. Since then, this
winning campaign of
the BJP has gone on up-
wards. This time you
have to cross the bound-
ary line of attaining vic-
tory
,” he said.
The Union Minister
also slammed the Op-
position for promoting
COVID-19 vaccine hesi-
tancy.
“Had Akhilesh Ya-
dav led Samajwadi par-
ty regime been here in
Uttar Pradesh, people
would have seen tough
time in the third wave
of COVID-19. Opposi-
tion misled the public
due to their vested in-
terests! Opposition
parties created COV-
ID-19 vaccine hesitan-
cy,” he said.
Home Minister Amit Shah greets during a public rally for the UP
polls, in Sant Kabir Nagar on Monday. —PHOTO BY ANI
KUNDA MLA RAJA BHAIYA BOOKED
FOR THRASHING SP WORKERS
Pratapgarh (ANI): Ahead of the sixth phase of the UP As-
sembly elections, Jansatta Dal Loktantrik founder Raghuraj
Pratap Singh alias ‘Raja Bhaiya’ has
been booked for thrashing a polling agent
of Samajwadi Party. An FIR has been regis-
tered against Singh and 17 others at the
Kunda police station in the matter. Indian
Penal Code (IPC) sections and provisions
of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled
Tribe (SC-ST) Act have been invoked in the
matter. Polling for the fifth phase of the ongoing Assembly
polls in Uttar Pradesh concluded at 6 pm yesterday.
Rahul releases Stalin’s
autobiography in TN
Chennai (ANI): Con-
gress leader Rahul Gan-
dhi on Monday released
DMK chief and Tamil
NaduChief MinisterMK
Stalin’s autobiography
,
titled ‘Ungalil Oruvan,’
(One Among You) here.
Gandhi, Lok Sabha
MP
, released the book in
the presence of Kerala
Chief Minister Pinarayi
Vijayan and Leader of
Opposition in Bihar As-
sembly
, Tejashwi Yadav
andNationalConference
leader Omar Abdullah.
The first copy of the
bookwasreceivedbysen-
iorDMKleaderandstate
Water Resources Minis-
ter Duraimurugan.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin with Congress leader Rahul
Gandhi during book launch on Stalin’s biography “Ungalil Oruvan”
(One Among You), in Chennai on Monday. —PHOTO BY ANI
POST PUNJAB ELECTION RESULTS,
WILL AKALI-BJP FORGE ALLIANCE?
Sharat K Verma
New Delhi: The assem-
bly elections in Punjab
are over and with this
the discussion of the
coming together of both
the old allies – Akali Dal
and BJP has started. On
the very next day of vot-
ing,AkalileaderBikram
Majithia has said that
after the elections, there
can be coordination be-
tween the two parties.
Although he had said
this in the context of
forming the govern-
ment, which is not visi-
ble. Still, even if the gov-
ernment is formed or
not, both the parties can
come together. The Aka-
li Dal withdrew support
from the government on
theissueof threecontro-
versial agricultural
laws. Now that the gov-
ernment has abolished
that law, Akalis will not
objecttoreturningtothe
NDA again.
Ontheotherhand,the
Bharatiya Janata Party
also has to look towards
the 2024 Lok Sabha elec-
tions. It knows that it
will have to work harder
andgarnersupportfrom
more parties to form the
government next time.
That is why the BJP will
also welcome the Akali
Dal with an open heart.
Keep in mind that the
decree issued by Dera
Sacha Sauda for Dera
lovers before voting was
for both BJP and Akali.
In ‘code’, Dera support-
ers were asked to vote
for the lotus and weigh
scale.Moreover,itseems
that non-political forces
will also play a role in
bringing the two togeth-
er. The issue will be on
whether Harsimrat
KaurBadalwillbemade
a minister again at the
Center or not. Akali
leaders would like her to
become a minister
again. Discussion about
this will happen after
the Punjab assembly re-
sultsandbeforethepres-
idential elections.
PM Modi with SAD chief Sukhbir Badal. —FILE PHOTO
Tharoor’s view on Ukraine personal: Cong
New Delhi: Though
Rahul Gandhi has used
sharp words to urge the
government to evacu-
ate students from
Ukraine, the Congress’
official statement on
Russia’s invasion of
Ukraine is far more
diplomatic and is simi-
lar to the government’s
stand at the UN after
abstaining from a vote
to denounce Russia.
Congress leader
Shashi Tharoor, in fact,
was far sharper on In-
dia’s abstention at the
UN.
“After our absten-
tion, many regretted
that India had placed
itself on the ‘wrong
side of history’,” Tha-
roor had said.
Anand Sharma said
his colleague’s views
“are personal” and re-
marked that strong
words must not be
used. “The path of dip-
lomatic negotiations
must be embraced in
all sincerity for a nego-
tiated resolution of all
issues between Russia
and Ukraine, respect-
ing the Minsk and Rus-
sia-NATO agreements
and earlier understand-
ings,” said a statement
from former Union
Minister Anand Shar-
ma, who heads the par-
ty’s foreign affairs de-
partment.
“The Congress while
expressing its anguish
is of the considered
view that the interna-
tional community must
work together for ces-
sation of armed con-
flict and early restora-
tion of peace to save
human lives and fur-
ther aggravation of the
crisis,” said the Con-
gress statement.
Shashi Tharoor
Ram Rahim
returns to jail
after 3-week
furlough
Chandigarh (PTI):
Dera Sacha Sauda chief
Gurmeet Ram Rahim
Singh was
on Mon-
d a y
b r o u g h t
back to
Rohtak’s
S u n a r i a
jail after his three-week
furlough ended.
The sect chief is
serving a 20-year jail
term for raping two
women disciples at his
ashram in Sirsa, where
the ‘dera’ is headquar-
tered. He was convict-
ed by a special CBI
court in Panchkula in
August 2017.
A Rohtak police offi-
cial said the dera chief
was brought from Gu-
rugram to Sunaria jail
in Rohtak district be-
fore noon under heavy
security cover.
He was granted the
three-week furlough on
February 7 for meeting
his family in Guru-
gram.
Muslim students from
Udupi denied entry to
attend practical exams
Bengaluru (PTI): On
Monday three Muslims
students of Udupi Gov-
ernment PU College for
Girls were disallowed
from attending their sci-
ence practical examina-
tionsforwearinghijabto
class. Among the stu-
dents were AH Almas,
one of the petitioners
who had approached the
Karnataka High Court
seeking per-
mission to
wear hijab to
the college.
On 10 February
, in an
interim order the court
banned hijab and other
religious clothing on
campuses where uni-
form is prescribed by
College Development
Committee (CDC).
On Monday
, the stu-
dentswereaskedtoleave
the campus in “five min-
utes,” they alleged. In a
video posted on Twitter,
Almas said, “The princi-
pal told us that he will
call the police if we do
notleaveinfiveminutes.
It was very cruel.”
The students were not
allowed to submit their
practical record books
for attestation from the
faculty concerned, she
alleged. “The teachers
refused to sign the re-
cord books.”
In a press conference
held the pre-
vious week,
the students
had request-
ed the state govt to post-
pone science practical
exams as students who
wear hijab are not al-
lowed to attend classes.
The protest for hijab
started in the Udupi col-
lege in December 2021.
The hijab protest,
however, met with vehe-
ment opposition from
Hindu students who
were backed by Hindu
right-wing outfits.
HIJAB ROW
KARNATAKA

—
FILE
PHOTO

INDIA
06
New Delhi (ANI): As
the fifth session of the
United Nations Envi-
ronment Assembly
(UNEA) commenced on
Monday in Nairobi,
Kenya, Union Environ-
ment Minister Bhu-
pender Yadav said that
India will play a major
role in the UNEA,
stressing the govt com-
mitment on the ban on
single-use plastic in the
country. The Assembly
commenced on Monday
and will continue till
March 2 with the theme
of “Strengthening Ac-
tions for Nature to
Achieve the Sustaina-
ble Development
Goals”. Speaking to
ANI, Yadav said, “India
will play a major role in
the Fifth session of the
United Nations Envi-
ronment Assembly
which will be held in
Nairobi, Kenya.
The way Modi has
given us directions, the
Environment Ministry
has issued a notification
to ban single-use plastic
and a resolution for the
same will be passed.”
The Minister said that
the Assembly is the pro-
cess of creating aware-
ness among people re-
garding the environ-
ment. “This is the fifth
Assembly of the Envi-
ronment Ministers at
the international level.
This process has been
started so that aware-
ness could be created
for the subject of the
environment,” he said
Furthermore, this
year’s theme is
‘Strengthening Actions
for Nature to Achieve
the Sustainable Devel-
opment Goals’.
‘India will play a major role in UNEA session’
UN ENVIRONMENT ASSEMBLY
Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav.
’FADNAVIS USED GUJ SNOOPING MODEL IN MAHA’
New Delhi: Maharash-
tra Congress chief
spokesperson Atul
Londhe on Monday al-
leged that the Bharati-
ya Janata Party`s Lead-
er of Opposition Deven-
dra Fadnavis had intro-
duced a `Gujarat brand`
of surveillance tactics
in Maharashtra and de-
manded a through
probe into the matter.
His demand came amid
the backdrop of the FIR
lodged on Feb 26 by the
Pune police against for-
mer city Police Com-
missioner Rashmi
Shukla in the illegal
phone-tapping case.
“IPS officer Rashmi
Shukla is merely a
pawn.
The real culprits are
those who guided her.
Fadnavis was the state
CM and he implement-
ed the `Gujarat surveil-
lance model` in Maha-
rashtra,” Londhe said
here. His comments
also endorsed state par-
ty president Nana
Patole`s demand on
Sunday that the role of
Fadnavis who was han-
dling the home portfo-
lio during the relevant
period must be investi-
gated in the illegal
phone tapping case.
Speaking to the media
here, Londhe charged
that the `Gujarat sur-
veillance model` -- in
which the government
of the adjoining state
allegedly snooped on
people and overheard
their private conversa-
tions was introduced in
Maharashtra by
Fadnavis.”After 2017,
the phone numbers of
Patole, Shiv Sena, Na-
tionalist Congress Par-
ty and Congress lead-
ers, ministers, certain
BJP leaders and their
ministers, top bureau-
crats and others were
tapped illegally. The
snooping was ostensi-
bly to link them with
drug dealers”.
CONG ALLEGED THAT FADNAVIS HAD INTRODUCED A `GUJARAT BRAND` OF SURVEILLANCE TACTICS AND DEMANDS PROBE INTO MATTER
PROBE FADNAVIS ROLE IN
ILLEGAL CELL TAPPING CASE
Nagpur: Against the backdrop of the illegal
phone-tapping FIR lodged by police against a
senior woman IPS officer Rashmi Shukla on
Saturday, the Maharashtra Congress on Monday
said that the investigators should probe the role
of Bharatiya Janata Party Leader of Opposition
Devendra Fadnavis in the entire matter. “The IPS
officer Rashmi Shukla is merely a pawn. The real
culprits are those who guided her when Fadnavis
was the state chief minister,” state Chief Spokes-
person Atul Londhe said here. His comments
came a day after state Party President Nana
Patole demanded that the role of Fadnavis who
was handling the home portfolio during the rel-
evant period be investigated in the illegal phone
tapping case. The Bundgarden Police on Saturday
booked the former Pune Police Commissioner
Shukla currently, at Hyderabad.
Mahesh Sharma
New Delhi: An interest-
ing assessment of the
meetings of Parliament
and State Legislatures
has been published. Ac-
cordingtothis,themeet-
ings of Parliament and
Legislatures are getting
less and less every year
in India.
The second thing is
that if you compare it
with other countries of
theworld,thenIndiahas
the least number of sit-
tings in the legislature.
Most of the time even in
the meetings that take
place,itgoesintouproar
and controversy
. In fact,
the work of the legisla-
tureinIndiaisnolonger
to discuss and consider
every aspect of a law be-
fore enacting it. In many
cases, the government
has already enacted a
law through an ordi-
nance and even if it is
not implemented, it be-
comes a law after a max-
imum debate of three
minutes to three hours.
However, the Lok Sabha
in India sits for an aver-
age of 63 days in a year,
while the state legisla-
tures have an average of
30 days. Think assem-
blies meet for only 30
days in a whole year! In
this also, the Legislative
Assemblies of Punjab
and Haryana sit for an
average of 15 days in a
year.
The maximum as-
sembly meetings are
held in Odisha for 46
days and in Kerala for 43
days. In Britain, the
House of Commons
meets for 140 days as
against the Lok Sabha
meeting for 63 days in a
year. India has adopted
the same model of Brit-
ain, which has been go-
ingonforthreehundred
years and even now the
lower house of its Par-
liament meets 140 days
in a year, but in India, it
meets for merely 63
days. America’s lower
house i.e. House of Rep-
resentatives met for 166
days in 2021 and 163
days in 2020 amid the
Corona epidemic. The
upper house i.e. the Sen-
ate met more than this.
CRUCIAL READ
FRIDAY PRAYERS BEING ALLOWED IN
SRINAGAR’S MOSQUE AFTER 30 WEEKS
Srinagar: After remaining closed for Friday’s
congregational prayers for 30 weeks, the ‘Jamia
Masjid’ (Grand Mosque)
is being opened for
devotees for this week’s
Friday prayers in JK’s
Srinagar city. Kashmir
Divisional Commission-
er, P.K. Pole and IGP,
Vijay Kumar visited the Jamia Masjid in Nowhatta
area of old city Srinagar on Monday to take stock of
various parameters necessary for allowing the Friday
prayers.
THREE HELD FOR SHOOTING AT
DOCTOR IN UTTAR PRADESH
DALAI LAMA TEMPLE TO REOPEN
AFTER TWO YEARS
Bareilly: Three persons have been arrested for
shooting a surgeon De Keshav Agarwal, who is
also the director of a private medical college in
Bareilly. The assailants said that they were trying
to threaten Agarwal to compromise in a land
dispute case. The doctor was shot at after his SUV
was intercepted by four men on bikes at a railway
crossing in Baradari area of the city on Saturday
night. The bullet passed through his jaws. He has
been hospitalised and his condition is stated to be
stable.
Dharamsala: After nearly two years of closure for
the public owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, the
hilltop Tsuglagkhang
temple close to the offi-
cial residence of the Dalai
Lama at McLeodganj near
here will be reopened for
the visitors from March
3, it was announced on
Monday. March 3 is the start of the week-long festi-
val Losar Tibetan New Year Day. “For the benefit of
all devotees and visitors, we request all to follow the
precautionary protocols of wearing a mask.
Indian Legislature heading for
another ‘dubious’ record?
Sanjay Pandey is new
chief of Mumbai police
Mumbai: Sanjay Pan-
dey, the former acting
Director General of Po-
lice of Maharashtra,
has been appointed as
the new Mumbai Police
commissioner, replac-
ing the incumbent He-
mant Nagrale. An offi-
cial order said Mr Na-
grale will take over as
Managing Director of
the Maharashtra State
Security Corporation.
This is the third time
in less than a year that
the Mumbai Police is
witnessing a change of
guard. Then city police
chief Param Bir Singh
was shunted out in
March 2021 after Mum-
bai Police officer Sachin
Waze was arrested in
the ‘Antilia’ explosives
case and was replaced
by Mr Nagrale. Mr Pan-
dey, a 1986 batch IPS of-
ficer, was appointed as
the acting DGP of Maha
in April last year. Never
given the full charge, he
was replaced by Rajnish
Seth, a 1988 batch IPS of-
ficer, earlier this month,
after the BHC rapped
the state govt. Following
the reshuffle, Mr Pan-
dey said the system
worked to “undo some
of the injustice” done to
his career record in the
past and he was leaving
the post with a “clear
conscience”.
Schools reopen amid
prohibitory orders
Bengaluru: Schools
and colleges in the vio-
lence hit Shivamogga
district of Karnataka
state reopened amid
prohibitory orders on
Monday
.
The district adminis-
tration had imposed
curfew in the district
and closed schools and
colleges after the mur-
der of Bajrang Dal ac-
tivist Harsha on Feb
21.However, the district
administration taking
no chances with the law
and order situation had
extended prohibitory
orders banning group-
ing of more than five
people in the Shivamog-
ga city till March 4. The
business establish-
ments will be allowed to
operate from 6 a.m. to 7
p.m. from February 26
and the city is limping
back to normalcy.The
police have arrested 10
persons in connection
with the murder of Har-
sha and the government
has stated that it does
not look like to be just a
case of murder. “There
seems to be a larger pic-
ture than what appears
to the eye,” Bommai
stated.
—PICTURE
FOR
REPRESENTATION
New Delhi (ANI):
Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi on Monday
said that PM Gati Shak-
ti initiative will lead to
rapid infrastructure
development and also
generate employment.
Addressing a webinar
on Monday, the Prime
Minister said, “PM Gati
Shakti will not only
lead to rapid infrastruc-
ture development but
also generate employ-
ment.
With PM GatiShakti,
we will be able to opti-
mally utilise our re-
sources.” The Prime
Minister highlighted
that PM Gati Shakti
will enhance the infra-
structural fervour of
New India. “To fulfil the
dreams of 21st century
India, PM Gati Shakti
will enhance the infra-
structural fervour of
New India,” he said.
“Usually, we develop in-
frastructure according
to our requirements.
Whether it is a work of
rail or road, there are
conflicts between the
two. This is because dif-
ferent departments
don’t have details of all
development projects,”
he said. The govern-
ment informed earlier
that PM Gati Shakti is
an initiative aimed at
synergizing the infra-
structure projects of all
key infrastructure Min-
istries including Rail-
ways, Roadways, Water-
ways and Aviation for
planning and coordi-
nated execution of na-
tion-wide infrastruc-
ture projects including
all the State Govern-
ments.
PM:GatiShakticreatinginfrawithjobs
PM GREETS THE SCIENTISTS
ON NATIONAL SCIENCE DAY
Prime Minister Modi greeted India’s scientific
community on Monday on the occasion of Na-
tional Science Day. In a post on Twitter, Modi said,
“National Science Day greetings to all scientists
and science enthusiasts. Let us reaffirm our com-
mitment towards fulfilling our collective scientific
responsibility and leveraging the power of science
for human progress.” The Centre also announced a
series of webinars to facilitate the implementation
of science and technology-related announcements
made by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in
the Union Budget announced at the start of Feb.
IN THE COURTYARD
BOMBAY HC DEFERS HEARING ON CONTEMPT
PLEA AGAINST NAWAB MALIK
Mumbai: The BHC on Monday deferred hearing for one
week on a plea filed by Dhyandev Wankhede, father of
NCB’s former Mumbai zonal director Sameer Wankhede,
which sought contempt action against Maharashtra minister
Nawab Malik, while noting that the latter is already behind
bars. Dhyandev Wankhede had claimed in his contempt plea
filed earlier this year that despite an undertaking given to
court in December 2021, to refrain from making defama-
tory public comments and social media posts against the
Wankhedes, Malik continued doing so.
TWIN TOWERS TO BE
DESTROYED ON MAY 22
New Delhi : The Noida
authority has informed the
SC that Supertech 40-sto-
ry twin towers will be
demolished on May 22. In
its Aug 31 judgment, last
year, the SC had ordered
for the demolition of twin
towers in Noida. A bench
comprising Justices D.Y.
Chandrachud and Surya
Kant said that all authori-
ties should strictly comply
with the timeline given.
‘INTL FLIGHTS TO
REMAIN SUSPENDED’
New Delhi: Scheduled
international commercial
passenger services to and
from India will remain sus-
pended till further orders,
the Director-General of Civ-
il Aviation said on Monday.
In partial modification of
circular dated, the compe-
tent authority has decided
to extend the suspension
of scheduled international
commercial from India till
further orders.
CLIMATE CONCERN
Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. —FILE PHOTO
Sanjay Pandey
BAJRANG DAL ACTIVIST MURDER

BIZ BUZZ
07
BIZ BRIEFS
Engg exports
surpass
target: EEPC
New Delhi (PTI):
On course to meet
FY22 export target
of $107 billion,
engineering goods
exports during
April-January
2021-22 has been
over achieved
to the extent of
85.3%. Consider-
ing the target on a
pro-rata basis, the
target for April-
January was $ 89.4
billion while actual
exports was $ 91.5
billion during this
period, as per data
compiled by EEPC
India.
Tata Nexon
reaches 3 lakh
milestone
New Delhi (Agen-
ices): Tata Motors
successfully rolled
out the 3,00,000th
unit of the its Sport
utility vehicle Nexon
from its production
facility on Monday,
which is located
in Ranjangaon of
Pune district in
Maharashtra state.
The compact SUV
celebrated the 2
lakh units produc-
tion milestone in
June 2021, and it
has managed to
reach this gap of 1
lakh units in just 8
months.
‘Play Pass’
subscription
launched
New Delhi: Google
on Monday an-
nounced the launch
of Play Pass sec-
tion in Play store
to offer over 1,000
apps and games
without advertise-
ment and provide
access to their
premium features
on a fixed monthly
or annual charge.
Pass collection will
include titles from
sports, puzzles etc.
BBL to go for
IPO in 18-24
months
B’luru: Biocon
Biologics (BBL) is
looking to go for
an IPO in the next
18-24 months,
said BBL executive
chairperson Kiran
Mazumdar Shaw.
“The debt that
BBL is taking on
to finance this
transaction will be
financed by equity
infusion by exist-
ing shareholders
and the IPO,” said
Shaw.
New Delhi (PTI):
Madhabi Puri Buch
on Monday was ap-
pointed as the new
cha ir-
person of Sebi, the
first woman to head
the capital market
regulatory body
.
She has replaced
Ajay Tyagi, whose
five-year term
has come to
an end.
The Ap-
pointments
Committee
of Cabinet
has ap-
proved Bu-
ch’s appointment for
an initial period of
three years, sources
said.
A formal order in
this regard would be
issued shortly, they
added. She has also
served as a whole-
time member of Secu-
rities and Exchange
Board of India (Sebi).
Previously, Buch
was a consultant to
the New Development
Bank in Shanghai,
China. She has also
served as the Head of
the Singapore office
of the Private Equity
Firm, Greater Pacific
Capital.
Buch had a long
stint in ICICI Group
and served as the
managing director
and chief executive
officer at ICICI Securi-
ties Limited and also
as executive director
on the board of ICICI
Bank.
A graduate of St
Stephen’s College,
Buch holds an MBA
from the IIM,
Ahmedabad.
Tyagi, a 1984 batch
IAS officer of
Himachal Pradesh
cadre, was appointed
as Sebi chairman on
March 1, 2017, for a pe-
riod of three years.
Subsequently, he was
given a six-month ex-
tension and later in
August 2020, his ten-
ure was extended by
another 18 months.
As per the proce-
dure for the appoint-
ment of regulators,
the candidates are
shortlisted by the Fi-
nancial Sector Regula-
tory Appointments
Search Committee
(FSRASC) headed by
cabinet secretary
.
MADHABI PURI BUCH APPOINTED
AS FIRST WOMAN CHIEF OF SEBI
Sitharaman says government is closely monitoring evolving situation
Worried about Russia-Ukraine conflict
impact on India’s exports: FM
New Delhi (ANI): Un-
ion Finance Minister
Nirmala Sitharaman
on Monday said the
government is worried
about the impact of the
Russia-Ukraine con-
flict on India’s foreign
trade, particularly
farm sector exports.
In a post-budget in-
teraction with busi-
ness and industry lead-
ers in Tamil Nadu, Si-
tharaman said the gov-
ernment is closely
monitoring the evolv-
ing situation in the
Russia-Ukraine region
and assessing the im-
pact of the conflict on
the country’s trade.
“We are rightly wor-
ried about what comes
from there but I am
more worried about
what is going to happen
to our exporters who
are doing very well,
particularly the farm
sector, to Ukraine and
Russia,” Nirmala said.
“The government is
already looking at the
emergent situation.
But I will have to have
a complete assessment
through the various
concerned ministries
and only then will be in
a position to comment
on it,” she said.
Sitharaman pointed
out that Ukraine is a
major supplier of sun-
flower oil seeds and fer-
tilizers and the disrup-
tion in supply would
impact essential com-
modities like edible oil.
“But you can be as-
sured that we are fairly
seized of the matter in
its granular form be-
cause it’s going to have
an impact on the essen-
tials which come,” she
said.
Sustained conflict likely
to raise gas prices
Global gas prices are
expected to rise if any
material and sustained
escalation in the con-
flict between Russia
and Ukraine puts
constraints on Russia’s
gas exports, global
financial services
provider firm Moody’s
Analytics said. Russia
is the world’s largest
exporter of gas. The
majority of its gas
exports stay in Europe,
with Germany, Italy,
Turkey, Austria and
France the largest re-
cipients, the consulting
firm said adding never-
theless, Asia’s largest
economies including
India all source some
of their gas needs from
Russia.
April-Janfiscaldeficitat
58.9% of FY22 target
New Delhi (PTI): The
central government’s
fiscal deficit at end-Jan
worked out at 58.9% of
the annual budget tar-
get for 2021-22, accord-
ing to official data re-
leased on Monday
.
The fiscal deficit was
66.8% of Revised Esti-
mate of 2020-21 during
the corresponding pe-
riod of the last fiscal.
In actual terms, the
deficit was `9,37,868
crore at end-Jan 2022
against upwardly re-
vised annual estimate
of `15.91 lakh crore.
The country’s fiscal
deficit -- the difference
between total revenue
and total expenditure --
is projected to be higher
at 6.9% this fiscal as
against 6.8% estimated
earlier.
Govt promotes setting
up FPOs to boost income
New Delhi (PTI): Agri-
culture Minister Naren-
dra Singh Tomar on
Monday said the gov-
ernment will promote
setting up of more
Farmer Producer Or-
ganisations (FPOs) in
the country as part of
its efforts to increase
income of small and
marginal farmers.
He said the govt has
already started a
scheme to set up 10,000
FPOs with an outlay of
`6,865 crore and the pro-
gramme is being imple-
mented at a fast pace.
Tomar said the pro-
gramme of setting up
FPOs is very effective in
ensuring progress of
small and marginal
farmers.
Nearly 86% of farm-
ers are small and mar-
ginal with average land
holdings of less than 1.1
hectare. Tomar said the
government is making
efforts to make Indian
agriculture profitable
and bring prosperity to
farmers.
To boost farmers’ in-
come, he said the gov-
ernment is trying to
ensure availability of
easy finances, market
linkages and elimina-
tion of middlemen in
agri marketing.
Sensex rallies 389 points,
Nifty ends near 16,800-mark
Mumbai (PTI): Bench-
mark BSE Sensex re-
covered from early lows
to close higher for the
second straight session
on Monday, mirroring a
rebound in Asian equi-
ties,evenastheUkraine
crisis continued to roil
western markets.
After a weak open-
ing, the 30-share BSE
barometer plunged
more than 1,025 points
to the day’s low of
54,833.50, before staging
a recovery to close
388.76 pts higher at
56,247.28, marking its
second session of gains.
On similar lines, the
broader NSE Nifty
climbed 135.50 points to
settle at 16,793.90.
Tata Steel emerged as
the lead gainer among
Sensex scrips, jumping
by 6.61%, followed by
Power Grid, Reliance
Industries, Titan,
NTPC, LT, Asian
Paints and ICICI Bank.
On the other hand, Dr
Reddy’s, MM, Axis
Bank, HDFC twins
Kotak Bank were the
major laggards.
‘Will work towards
improving bilateral
trade’
New Delhi (PTI): US
President Joe Biden’s
ambassadorial nomi-
nee to India, Eric Garc-
etti has assured the In-
dian-American commu-
nity that he will work
towards improving bi-
lateral trade and under-
lined the importance of
human rights and plu-
ralism. Garcetti, who is
currently the Mayor of
LA, said that Biden has
told him that the US-
India relationship is the
most important global
r’ship in his mind.
Kia India ramps
up production to
full capacity
New Delhi (PTI):
Automaker Kia India
on Monday said it
has ramped up pro-
duction to full capac-
ity of 3 lakh units
annually with the
start of the third
shift at its Ananta-
pur plant. Kia India
had commenced
mass production
from the facility in
August 2019. It had
recently crossed 5
lakh cumulative dis-
patches from the
Anantapur plant.
Reliance to control
250 more FRL stores
New Delhi (Agen-
cies): India’s top re-
tailer, Reliance, will
add 250 more Future
Retail stores to its
portfolio after the
company failed to
make lease payments
for the outlets to Reli-
ance, two people with
direct knowledge of
the matter said on
Monday
.
The plans - which
sources said will be
executed within weeks
- come after Reliance
took possession of and
started rebranding
about 200 of Future’s
Big Bazaar supermar-
kets over the weekend,
and is set to further
hollow out Future,
which has been at the
centre of a pitched
battle between Reli-
ance and Amazon.com
Inc.
CORE SECTOR
GROWS 3.7% IN
JAN 2022
New Delhi (PTI):
Production of eight
core sectors rose
by 3.7% in January,
2022. April-January
core sector output
grew by 11.6% as
compared to same
period last year. The
index of eight core
industries measures
the output of eight
infrastructure indus-
tries - coal, crude,
natural gas, refinery
products, fertilisers,
cement, steel and
electricity. The core
sector index has a
40.27% weight in
the index of IIP and
a low growth points
to a likely weak
industrial growth.
Airtel only Telco to gain RMS in Dec quarter: TRAI
Bharti Airtel is the only
telco to gain revenue
market share (RMS) in
the Dec quarter, helped
by the steep tariff hike
taken last November,
experts said, analysing
latest financial data col-
lated by the Trai.
Trai data, however,
showed that all three
private carriers gained
in Q3 from impact of
the November 2021 tar-
iff hike, which fuelled
sequential growth in
their respective quar-
terly adjusted gross rev-
enue.
The Sunil Mittal-led
telco reported 92 bps
gain sequentially, tak-
ing its RMS in the fiscal
third quarter to 35.4%.
Reliance Jio’s RMS, by
contrast, fell 38 bps se-
quentially to 40.6%
while loss-making
Vodafone Idea’s de-
clined 61 bps on-quarter
to 18.4, analysts added.
“Bharti Airtel with
its broad-based perfor-
mance has been win-
ning revenue share and
its gains (on this score)
in Q3FY22 show supe-
rior (market) execu-
tion,” ICICI Securities,
said in a note. The bro-
kerage added that Air-
tel’s steady RMS gains
also meant “its incre-
mental AGR has been
higher than existing
(revenue) share”. The
RMS is a measure of
overall telecom market
leadership.
Analysts, though,
said Jio’s RMS dip is
largely temporary as
the telecom market
leader hasn’t immedi-
ately gained much from
the last tariff hike, giv-
en that most of its cus-
tomers are on longer-
validity plans. They
expect Jio to report
strong RMS gains in the
current quarter which
started in January
.
CLEAR WINNER
BSE Smallcap
index set to record
its sharpest fall
New Delhi (PTI):
The SP BSE Small-
cap index is set to
record its sharpest
decline in six years
during the month of
February as a sharp
sell-off engulfed eq-
uities amid Russia-
Ukraine conflict.The
BSE Smallcap index
has fallen 9.2% in
the month of Febru-
ary, recording its
sharpest fall in the
month since 2016.
Back then, it had
fallen 12.2% during
the month.
MADHABI PURI BUCH
Nirmala Sitharaman

COVID-19
UPDATE
WORLD
5,969,917
TOTAL DEATHS
366,964,392
TOTAL RECOVERED
63,372,552
ACTIVE CASES
436,306,861
TOTAL CASES
INDIA
513,843
TOTAL DEATHS
42,307,686
TOTAL RECOVERED
102,601
ACTIVE CASES
42,924,130
TOTAL CASES
08
2NDFRONT
Dev. by RMC-run Samiti, it will help 32,000 students, 87 schools, teachers parents
WEBSITE TO UPLIFT STUDENTS
PARENTS SOCIO-ECONOMICALLY
Masuma Bharmal Jariwala
Rajkot: In a novel ini-
tiative, the Rajkot
Nagar Prathmik Shi-
kshan Samiti will
soon launch a dedi-
cated website, show-
casing every single
piece of information
about the school that
falls under the Sami-
ti. Activities carried
out by the school, its
students, teachers’
profiles, Google loca-
tion of the schools
and also details
about the parents
will be uploaded on
the website. It is per-
haps a first-of-its-
kind website done for
government schools.
Around 32,000 stu-
dents are studying in
87 schools under the
RMC run Samiti. The
majority of the chil-
dren attending these
schools are from chal-
lenging socio-econom-
ic backgrounds.
Parents of these stu-
dents are normally
into professions that
fall under the unorgan-
ised sectors like elec-
tric work, masonry,
carpentry, driver, fabri-
cation and more.
“The idea is to uplift
these families both eco-
nomically and socially.
Details of parents com-
prising of what profes-
sion they are into will
be uploaded on the
website so that anyone
who needs help for any
kind of listed work,
can contact them. Fur-
ther, we want to em-
power them so that
they do not move from
one place to another,
thus helping us reduce
the school dropout ra-
tio,” said the chairman
of the Rajkot Nagar
Prathmik Shikshan
Samiti Atul Pandit to
First India.
He added, “Along
with school teachers,
school and students,
parents are an impor-
tant part of the entire
system. The stronger
the system, the better
the education, which
will help build a strong
nation.”
Currently, the
schools are collecting
data, and in a week, the
website is likely to be
launched, said Pandit.
UPGRADING
TECHNOLOGY
Rajkot Nagar Prathmik Shikshan Samiti office.
YOUTH, MINOR NABBED
WITH COUNTRY-MADE
PISTOL AND KNIFE
First India Bureau
Surat: The police are
constantlytakingsteps
to curb the menace in
the city
. From increas-
ing patrolling to keep-
ingawatchonstudents
and youth—they are
on their toes. During
one such patrolling
round on Monday, the
Khatodara police ar-
rested a youth and a
minor from the Althan
area. Prime investiga-
tions revealed that the
minor was a 16-year
old student of the class
eighth.
Police sub-inspector
RS Patel from Kha-
todara police station
said, “We were patrol-
ling with the team
when the head consta-
ble Jayaraj Singh re-
ceived a tip that two
youths were returning
from Althan Soham
Circle with illegal
weapons.”
Patel with his team
setawatchnearSoham
Circle and nabbed the
duo, of which Javed
Shaik, a resident of
SMC Awas is a minor.
Oncheckingtheirbags
insteadof books,police
foundadeadlyweapon-
-a knife and a country-
made pistol. They con-
fessed that the pistol
was of one Raj Kripal
Singh of Udhana.
Family opts for crowdfunding
to save two 8-month-old infants
Bizman to install solar panels in native village
AMUL increases milk prices by `2 per litre
First India Bureau
Anand: Amul increases
thepricesof milkbyRs2
perlitreacrossthecoun-
try
. According to the lat-
est rates, from Tuesday,
March 1, in the markets
of Ahmedabad and Sau-
rashtra especially, the
price of Amul Gold milk
will be Rs30 per 500 ml,
Amul Taza Rs24 per 500
ml, and Amul Shakti
will be Rs27 per 500 ml.
The Gujarat Coopera-
tiveMilkMarketingFed-
eration has increased
the milk prices after a
gapof sevenmonthsand
27 days. The last time
they raised the prices
was in July 2021, by Rs2
per litre. The price rise
extends to all milk vari-
ants by the brand--Gold,
Taaza, Shakti, T-special,
as also, cow and buffalo
milk. The company said
that the increase in the
cost of production was
the reason behind the
price hike. Amul passes
on almost 80 paise of
every rupee paid by con-
sumers for milk and
milk products to the
milk producers, added
the company
.
The Khatodara police with the arrested youth.
First India Bureau
Surat: Diamond tycoon
Govind Dholakia has
planned to equip his vil-
lage with solar rooftop
panels to help villagers
save money on electrici-
ty bills. It will also in-
crease the share of re-
newable energy sources
in the city
. In the initial
stage, he will equip all
the houses of his home-
town Dudhala village of
Amreli district.
Thevillagehasapopu-
lation of 1,200-1,500 peo-
ple with 350 houses. A
solar panel of 2-5kv will
be installed on the roof
of each house in the vil-
lage, totalling 450KW of
the entire project. The
expense of the solar pan-
elwillbebornebyDhola-
kia. “ I visited my village
forthefirsttimeaftermy
liver transplant. We
wanted to give a token of
gratitudetomyvillagers,
who wished and prayed
for my good health. That
is when the idea struck
us. With the solar roof-
top,eachfamilywillsave
at least Rs5,000 on their
electricity expenses. It
will cost around Rs6
crore to install 300 solar
rooftops in the village,”
said Dholakia.
Diamond tycoon Govind Dholakia.
First India Bureau
Vadodara: Parents of
triplets choose to
crowdfund to save two
of their three eight-
month olds suffering
from Spinal Muscular
Atrophy (SMA). The
middle-class family is
collecting money to
purchase injections
worth Rs32 crores with
import duty. They have
requested the Chief
Minister of Gujarat
Bhupendra Patel to
help waive off the duty,
which will bring down
the cost to Rs16 crores.
Sahil Kiri works in a
private company in Va-
dodara, and his wife
delivered triplets on
July 15, 2021. The in-
fants were doing well
for the first five
months, till in Janu-
ary, the couple got to
know about the genetic
disorder.
“My daughter had
pneumonia on Janu-
ary 16, 2022 and was
in the ICU for 22
days. During her
treatment the doctor
found that the infec-
tion had spread to
other parts of her
body. Her leg move-
ment became re-
stricted and on con-
sulting a neurolo-
gist, her blood sam-
ples were sent to
Bangalore. The re-
ports showed she
was SMA positive,”
said Sahil, father of
kids Pratham and
Prisha suffering
from SMA.
He added, “The doc-
tor then took blood
samples and develop-
ment reports of other
two kids, and our son
was also tested posi-
tive. News of SMA
came as a rude awak-
ening to us, as without
treatment my kids’ life
span is reduced. We
started crowd funding
to purchase the Zol-
gensma injections for
my kids”.
They registered
themselves with Im-
pact Guru and till now
have collected Rs16
lakhs. Friends and
well-wishers have
joined in to help and
reach out to people of
the city to collect funds
for the little kids.
Sahil Kiri with his five and two of the triplets Pratham and Prisha
who are suffering from Spinal Muscular Atrophy.
Parents of triplets
and friends, together,
work on funding
from a portal and
from people to save
two of their triplets
suffering from Spinal
Muscular Atrophy
Greetings on the occasion of
Mahashivratri! Power and
courage to all of you!
—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO Editor-in-Chief, First India
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh with Jagdeesh Chandra, Prem Prakash (Grandfather of the
groom) and Jay Panda at the wedding reception on Monday.
Jagdeesh Chandra extends a floral greeting to Smita Sanjiv Prakash.
Baba Ramdev warmly greets Jagdeesh Chandra.
Jagdeesh Chandra with the newlyweds Ishaan and Sarah.
First India Bureau
New Delhi: The
wedding reception
of Ishaan, son of
Smita and Sanjiv
Prakash with Sarah,
daughter of Andree
and Late Mr. Paul
Terence Walsh was
held on Monday,
February 28 at Air
Office Auditorium,
Subroto Park, New
Delhi. Sanjiv Prakash
is the CEO of ANI
while Smita is the
Editor News at ANI.
Senior leaders,
media personalities,
elite from different
sections of the
society, family and
friends reached to
BLESSINGS GREETINGS!
convey their best wishes
to Sanjiv and Smita and
bless the newlyweds.
Minister of Defence
Rajnath Singh also
reached to bless the
couple, as did Jay Panda
(former MP and National
Vice President of BJP),
Baba Ramdev, Jagdeesh
Chandra, Arnab
Goswami (MD Editor-
in-Chief of Republic
Media Network), Rakesh
Asthana (Delhi Police
Commissioner) and
Naveen Kapoor (National
Bureau Chief, ANI).

AHMEDABAD, TUESDAY,
MARCH 1, 2022
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia
facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia 09
WHEN IT COMES
TO HAIR COLOUR
HIGHLIGHTING
AND BALAYAGE
TECHNIQUES AND
TRENDS, SOMETIMES
THE DIFFERENCES
BETWEEN THEM ARE
SO NUANCED THAT
IT’S HARD TO KEEP
THEM STRAIGHT.
NEVER FEAR. CITY
FIRST BRINGS TO YOU
STYLING TIPS FROM
SHADES SKIN AND
HAIR CARE BY JASSI
CHHABRA, ONE OF THE
STYLING PARTNERS OF
FIRST INDIA FASHION
CONNECT SEASON
11, TO BE HELD ON
MARCH 12 AT OAKS
IBN BATUTTA GATE
HOTEL, DUBAI!
OMBRÉ,
SOMBRÉ,
BABYLIGHTS
ant to recreate
those natural
highlights you
had as a kid? Bal-
ayage can do
that. Balayage
makes you look
like you just returned from
lavish summer vacation. Bal-
ayage says, ‘I have great hair’
in a subtle yet noticeable way
,
not flashy and obvious.
“It’s easy to love balayage
hair colour, the effortlessly
cool hair trend that’s taken
red carpets by storm. The
look is accomplished via
hand-painted highlights, and
clients love the technique be-
cause it gives a natural sun-
kissed look to the hair and
the maintenance is much
easier than traditional foils”,
said Jassi Chhabra, owner of
Shades Skin Hair Care.
Wait, what does “balayage”
mean? The term comes from
the French word “balayer,”
meaning to sweep. It’s a term
that refers to the way the col-
our is applied, not the colour
itself. “Balayage is a tech-
nique where hair colour is
painted onto the hair to cre-
ate a graduated, more natu-
ral-looking highlight effect.
Every balayage is differ-
ent: Placement, gradation,
and colour are based on your
hair colour, texture, and
length, so it can be personal-
ized for each client to high-
light or soften facial features.
A good stylist will always
take into consideration the
client’s skin tone and natural
base colour to determine
which ones will work best.
No two balayage should look
the same — keep that in mind
as you’re looking through
your stylist’s portfolio.
The terms ‘balayage,’
‘ombre,’ ‘babylights,’ and
‘highlights’ are all various
styles and techniques that
refer to the same goal:
lightening the hair. They
can all be combined for the
desired look.
MITALI DUSAD
mitalidusad01@gmail.com
W

BALAYAGE!
Jassi Chhabra styling a client with her team

10
ETC
AWAKEN THE LEADER
AWAKEN THE LEADER
WITHIN YOU
WITHIN YOU
We all have heard the word ‘leader’, but the true essence
of a leader means much more than the word itself!
ightly said,
leadership is
not about a ti-
tle or a desig-
nation. It’s
about impact
influence and
inspiration. We all
know the meaning of a
leader but do we know
the essence of being a
leader in the true sense?
A true leader is not only
aware of his qualities
and how to make the
best out of himself, but
he is also aware of how
to enhance the skill of
his subordinates so that
they can be developed
into future potential
leaders. The future of
an organization is not
determined by the num-
ber of managers but by
the number of capable
leaders who can sow the
seed of a promising fu-
ture and help it germi-
nate with prudence and
foresightedness.
Our future is never
determined by our
past. Even if we have a
glorious history, it can-
not ensure a golden fu-
ture. Right thoughts
which can create the
right actions at the
right time are precious
building blocks of a
promising future. We
can witness from our
history, many empires
and kingdoms have col-
lapsed due to poor lead-
ership styles. A true
leader knows how to
pave the path towards a
golden tomorrow.
ESHITA SINGH
eshitasingh07396@gmail.com
R
WHO IS A LEADER?
There is an existing
definition of a leader,
‘A true leader has the
confidence to stand
alone, the courage to
make tough decisions,
and the compassion to
listen to the needs of
others. He does not set
out to be a leader, but
becomes one by the
equality of his actions
and the integrity of
his intent.’
When we hear the
word leader we often
think of someone who
does much more than
merely manage people.
In my opinion, a lead-
er is someone who is
extremely capable of
creating great miracu-
lous changes. He has a
positive outlook and his
approach to solving a
problem is very creative
and updated. He is self-
motivated and ensures
to motivate the people
around him as well. A
leader constantly
thrives on development
and helps people to
move forward towards
their goals through con-
stant motivation. A
leader is empathetic
and considerate. He
knows how to use the
qualities and capabili-
ties of people around
him for overall better-
ment which can help
create a better future
for all.
A true leader always
treats the people work-
ing with him with re-
spect and humility. He
knows that irrespective
of the hierarchy, every-
one deserves to be treat-
ed with respect and dig-
nity. He helps in im-
proving the self-esteem
of all the people work-
ing around him. Happy
employees working ef-
fectively with all their
efficiency can produce
miraculous results in
an organization. Em-
ployees in a joyful state
of mind can produce ef-
ficacious results. A true
leader knows how to
ensure maximum pro-
ductivity. A true leader
can never treat the peo-
ple like his slave who
work in a constant state
of fear, humiliation,
and threats. He knows
the importance of self-
respect and self-esteem.
LEADERSHIP IS THE
CAPACITY TO
TRANSLATE VISION
INTO REALITY
A leader with true lead-
ership qualities is re-
quired in every
organization,and socie-
ty
, who can ensure prop-
er growth and develop-
ment of the place and
its people. Living is not
just earning money,
paying bills, and dying.
Being alive signifies
much more than the
normal routine activi-
ties we do. A leader
helps his team to live a
life full of joy, and exu-
berance. He positively
influences the quality
of life of his team.
A leader ensures op-
timum utilization of
available resources.
Human resource is the
most important and
the most delicate part
of any organization,
which can create mira-
cles if properly man-
aged.
GOOD BUSINESS
LEADERS CREATE A
VISION, ARTICULATE
THE VISION,
PASSIONATELY OWN
THE VISION, AND
RELENTLESSLY DRIVE
IT TO COMPLETION. –
JACK WELCH
A leader can create mir-
acles, with his vision
and his team, who are
determined to achieve
their goals with enthu-
siasm and passion.
To make this world a
better place to live for
yourself and for the
future generation,
awaken the leader
within you.
SPOTTED!
B-town singers
Jubin Nautiyal,
Sukhbir Singh,
Honey Singh
Badshah, Guru
Randhawa and
Asees Kaur along
with Director
Rocky Khanna
and Lakshyaraj
Singh Mewar
were spotted
at Jaipur
International
Airport on
Monday, February
28. The celebs
are in Pink city to
attend a private
wedding.
—PHOTOS BY
MUKESH KIRADOO Lakshay Raj Singh Mewar
Director Rocky Khanna
Honey Singh
Badshah
Asees Kaur
Guru Randhawa
Jubin Nautiyal
Sukhbir Singh

ETC
11
DEVO KE DEV- MAHADEV
DEVO KE DEV- MAHADEV
SHIV:
SHIV: STRONGEST HELPFUL INSPIRING VIRTUOUS
STRONGEST HELPFUL INSPIRING VIRTUOUS
The most Powerful and Auspicious one! Devo ke dev Mahadev, is one of the principal deities
of Hinduism also considered to be the father of the whole universe.
he one who
s h o w e r s
his devo-
tees with
immense
love and
d e s t roy s
those all evildoers
and hence is
known as the de-
stroyer or the
transformer of
theworld.Tomark
and same and cel-
ebrate the oneness
of LordShivawith
Goddess Parvati,
Mahashivaratri is
celebratedwithre-
ligious fervour
and gaiety in the
entire nation.
On this auspi-
cious day
, devotees
worship Lord Shi-
va in early morn-
ing. On this day of
celebration of Ma-
hashivaratri, City
First brings you
some astonishing
temples of Ma-
hadev across the
nation, that every
devotee must visit
must in his life-
time.
T
his beautiful temple
is dedicated to
Meenakshi (God-
dess Parvati) and Sunda-
reswarar (Lord Shiva). It
is the only temple in the
country, where you can
spot Lord Shiva with a
smiling face. The temple
is located in Madurai. It
is one of the most talked-
about mysterious tem-
ples, as its shrines have
historical and mytholog-
ical importance. The
temple has 4000 pillars
and all of them are made
of a single rock
T
ungnath is directly
translated to Lord
of the Peaks and the
place remains true to its
name. It is located in the
Rudraprayag district of
Uttarakhand and is con-
sidered to be the highest
Shiva temple in the
world.
Located at an altitude
of a little over 12,000 feet
at the base of Chan-
drashila peak, this tem-
ple is one of the Panch
Kedars. The temple is
surrounded by snow-
capped peaks on all sides,
and it is truly breathtak-
ingly beautiful and offers
the perfect break that
travellers look for.
MEENAKSHI AMMAN
TEMPLE: MADURAI
TUNGNATH MANDIR
T
he Kailasa temple is
the largest rock-cut
Hindu temple which
was made in the 16th cen-
tury at the Ellora Caves,
Aurangabad. Mythology
says that the structure of
Kailasa cave temple is
built on a single rock and
interestingly the render-
ing of Ramayana is en-
graved in it.
According to various
archaeologists, approxi-
mately 30 million San-
skrit carvings are yet to
be decoded to know the
meaning.
KAILASA TEMPLE: ELLORA
CAVES, MAHARASHTRA
STAMBHESHWAR
MAHADEV: KAVI KAVOI
VILLAGE, GUJARAT
L
ocated in Vadodara, Gujarat, it
is known as a submerging Shi-
va temple and this temple is vis-
ible only during low tides.
LINGARAJA TEMPLE: BHUBANESHWAR
I
t is said that near the
completion of this
temple, Lord Shiva
and Lord Vishnu’s vis-
ited the temple, bless-
ing it forever. Accord-
ing to mythology, in-
side the Garbh Griha,
the lingam is self-orig-
inated and that’s why
it’s termed swayamb-
hu. The temple often
looks much larger than it is because of its optical illusion.
UTTKARSHA
SHEKHAR
uttkarsha.shekhar@firstindia.co.in
T

CITY FIRST
A
s part of Azadi
Ka Amrit Ma-
hotsava,celebra-
tions of the 75
years of India’s inde-
pendence, EdCIL organ-
ised‘StudyinIndia’Dip-
lomatic Conclave for
showcasing the educa-
tion sector of India par-
ticularlythepoliciesand
schemes for providing
education opportunities
to foreign students in In-
dia. The event was held
at Sushma Swaraj Bha-
wan, New Delhi on Feb-
ruary 24 with the par-
ticipation of diplomats
from across 20 countries
of the world.
Union Minister of
State for External Af-
fairs and Education, Ra-
jkumar Ranjan Singh,
chaired the opening cer-
emony in presence of
Saurabh Kumar - Secre-
tary, Anil Kumar Rai –
Joint Secretary and sen-
ior officials from EdCIL
Limited. In his opening
remarks, MoS empha-
sised the opportunities
available to internation-
al students under the
‘Study in India’ pro-
gramme of the Govern-
ment of India to
strengthen the associa-
tion among countries in
theeducationsector.The
aim of the ‘Study in In-
dia Diplomatic Con-
clave’ was to promote
the sharing of best aca-
demic and research
practices through inter-
actions between diverse
education systems
through the foreign Dig-
nitaries who further
helped in understand-
ing higher education
systems followed in di-
verse international
markets. Foreign Digni-
taries also shared their
views about the educa-
tion system of their re-
spective country, and
their views on the Indi-
an Education System.
cityfirst@firstindia.co.in
12
CITY BUZZ
GET VACCINATED
STAY MASKED
INCREDIBLE INDIA!
CITY FIRST!
A
certificate distribution
ceremony of She Leads
was organised on Mon-
day at Multipurpose
Hall, Kamala Devi Complex,
India International Centre,
New Delhi. With the aim to
strengthen the status of Indian
women in the country’s politi-
cal scene. She Leads is a collec-
tive initiative of Stree Shakti -
The Parallel Force, Indian
School of Democracy co-found-
ed by Hemakshi Meghani and
Political Shakti founded by
Tara Krishnaswamy. Indian
School of Democracy is a non-
partisan organisation with a
mission to nurture principled
political leaders focusing on
making political representa-
tion more value-driven, inclu-
sive and equitable. The She
Leads initiative led by Cheven-
ing Alumna Kanta Singh, is
also supported by the UK Gov-
ernment’s flagship scholarship
programme Chevening
through its Chevening Alumni
Programme Fund (CAPF).
Speaking at the occasion, Su-
priya Chawla, Head Chevening
Scholarships India said “This
is a remarkable example of Ch-
evening alumni creating last-
ing positive impact when they
return to their home countries.
We are proud of their achieve-
ments and their work towards
transforming people’s lives.”
In this programme, Dr Hena
Gavit (BJP), Ghanshaym Ti-
wari (SP), Rajiv Gowda, Marga-
ret Alva (INC), Archana Chit-
nis (BJP), Bandana Kumari
(AAP) guided the trainees.
BrownBrella, a home bakery started in June 2020 by Swati Dang an apparel
sourcing specialist turned into a certified Baker, with a vision of providing
healthy, delicious and premium bakery products. All her bakes are free from
eggs, preservatives, refined flour and refined sugar. Her products are available
in gluten-free and vegan variants too. Her specialization is in tea travel cakes,
brownies, cookies and cheesecakes. Swati Dang started with a vision to
provide premium healthy bakes and desserts to people living a conscious
eating lifestyle. —CITY FIRST
GOURMET CAKES!!
EVENINGDEDICATEDTOART!
nder the ban-
ner of Azadi ka
Amrit Mahot-
sav, the Cultur-
al Relations
Ministry of Ex-
ternal Affairs
presented an evening
of Dance and Music
at Purana Qila, Ma-
thura Road, New Del-
hi on February 27, to
bring various per-
forming art forms un-
der one roof. The pro-
gramme was initiated with
the message by the Chief
Guest of the event, Meenakshi
Lekhi, Union Minister of State
for External Affairs Culture.
She said, I am very grateful and
happy to be Chief Guest at a cul-
tural evening by of a confluence
of dance music forms, showcas-
ing India’s culture achieve-
ments. Thanks to the diplomatic
community for their presence It
marks the conclusion of very suc-
cessful celebrations she added.
ICCR President Dr Vinay Sahas-
rabuddhe also graced the event as
a special guest and motivated the
audience with his kinds words.
UTTKARSHA SHEKHAR
Uttkarshashekhar@firstindial.co.in
U
Of the Women, by the Women and for the Women!
Meenakshi Lekhi and Vinay Sahasrabuddhe
Swati Dang
(L-R) Richa Saini, Tabassum Khan, Hemakshi Meghani, Anita, Katy Budge, Rekha
Mody,Mahima Singh,ManishaAhlawat,Abha Banerjee, Samreen Khan,Anand Sahu
—PHOTOS BY SHAZID CHAUHAN
—PHOTO BY SHAZID CHAUHAN
—PHOTO BY SHAZID CHAUHAN
Rajkumar Rajan Singh, Saurabh Kumar, Anil Kumar with a guest During the event
During the event

01032022 first india ahmedabad

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