03032022 first india ahmedabad

Governor Devvrat lauds state for ‘good governance’
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: In the
opening address of the
Gujarat Legislative As-
sembly Budget session
onWednesday
,Governor
Acharya Devvrat com-
memorated the occasion
by pointing out the pres-
ence of Nimaben Acha-
rya,whoisthefirstwom-
anspeakerof theVidhan
Sabha.
The governor then
spoke about governance
inGujaratanditsimpact
on progress. “Gujarat
has started a new chap-
ter to realize the dream
of goodgovernancewith
renewed confidence un-
der Chief Minister Bhu-
pendra Patel and his
team.Thegovernmentis
committed to streamline
policies and rules as far
as possible for easy ac-
cess of people-oriented
services to the most vul-
nerable people,” he as-
serted.
Among other things,
the governor, in his
speech, mentioned the
recent court judgment
regarding the 2008
Ahmedabad serial bomb
blasts. A special court
judge last month con-
victed 49 persons, of
which,38weresentenced
to death and 11 were giv-
en life imprisonment,
noted the governor.
“The investigation
and consequent judg-
ment shows that terror-
ist activities will not be
tolerated and strict pros-
ecution will be done
against all the involved
persons,” he said.
However, as soon as
Devvrat began speaking
ahead, chaos ensued on
the opposition bench.
Withoutpayinganyheed
to it, the governor con-
tinued with his address
initially
. But after senior
Congress MLA Virji
Thummar’s jibe on Na-
thuram Godse, another
senior Congress MLA
got up from his seat and
startedshoutingslogans
seeking the resignation
of Minister of State for
Home, Harsh Sanghavi,
over the issue of law and
order situation and sei-
zure of drugs from Mun-
dra port and different
parts of the state in the
recent past.
Due to the ruckus, the
governor cut short his
speechandlefttheHouse.
Guj Governor Acharya Devvrat.
His speech at
Budget session was
cut short due to
chaos by the
opposition bench
Rajasthan CM Ashok
Gehlot writes exclusively
for First India on the Old
Pension System.
inside P4
OUR EDITIONS:
JAIPUR, AHMEDABAD,
LUCKNOW & NEW DELHI
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AHMEDABAD l THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2022 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/79050 l Vol 3 l Issue No. 97
Purvanchal in the penultimate
phase holds the key to UP 2022
M Tariq Khan
Lucknow: A strong
BSP can ensure a trian-
gular fight in an elec-
tion that has so far been
seen as a bipolar one
between the BJP and
the Samajwadi Party
. A
triangular fight can
mean a split of the anti-
BJP votes.
As the period of poll-
ing in the seven-phase-
long Uttar Pradesh As-
sembly elections ap-
proaches its end, the
penultimate phase of
the crucial polls is
scheduled for Thursday
.
It will be a real test
for BJP to hold on to its
2017 tally of 46. In 2017,
the BJP had a sizable
lead in districts like
Kushinagar and Maha-
rajganj and many of the
seats in Gorakhpur,
Deoria and Basti dis-
tricts as well.
Of the 19 seats that
BSP bagged in 2017,
5 seats came from this
region.
UTTAR PRADESH PHASE-6 (TODAY)
57
Constituencies
10
Districts
2.16
crore voters
676
Candidates
in the fray
46
seats BJP
clinched in
2017 polls
7am-6pm
Polling time
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath
(Gorakhpur Urban), Mata Prasad
Pandey (Itwa), Leader of Opposition
in the state assembly
Ram Govind Chaudhary
from Bansdih against
Ketakee Singh (BJP), Vinay
Shankar Tiwari who would
be contesting on SP ticket this time
against Rajesh Tripathi (BJP) from
Chillupar and Rakesh Pandey on
SP ticket from Jalalpur.
KEY CANDIDATES
Caste-based
census,
reservation,
Healthcare
facilities,
unemployment,
inflation, stray
cattle and
infrastructure
development
CRUCIAL
ISSUES
If a third World War were to
take place, it would involve
nuclear weapons and be
destructive. Russia would face
“real danger” if Kyiv acquired
nuclear weapons.
—SERGEI LAVROV, Russian Foreign Minister
I say to the Russian oligarchs and corrupt leaders we built billions of dollars of
this violent regime — no more! United States Department of Justice is
assembling a dedicated task force to go after their crimes. We are coming for
your ill-begotten gains. The US and European allies were coming after their
yachts, luxury apartments and private jets. And tonight, I am announcing that
we are joining our allies in closing off our airspace to all Russian flights.
—JOE BIDEN, US President in first State of the Union address
BOMBING UKRAINE,
THREATENING WORLD
Moscow (Agencies):
Russian Foreign Minis-
ter Sergei Lavrov said
on Wednesday that if a
third World War were to
take place, it would in-
volve nuclear weapons
and be destructive, the
RIA agency reported.
A week after launch-
ing its invasion of
Ukraine, Russia said its
forces took control the
first sizable city on
Wednesday, seizing
Kherson, in the south,
as fighting raged
around the country and
Western nations tight-
ened an economic noose
around Russia.
More than half a mil-
lion Ukrainians have
fled the fighting since
Russian attack.
The assault on the
Ukrainian city of Kharkiv
continued even as
Russia said it would be
ready to resume talks
with the Ukrainian side
Russia claims control
over Ukraine’s Kherson;
Another Indian
student in Ukraine
dies due to prolonged
brain-related illness
All Indian nationals in
Kharkiv have been asked to
leave immediately for their
safety. The advisory comes
amid a huge shortage of
public transport
A 40-mile (64-kilometer) convoy of hundreds
of Russian tanks and other vehicles advanced
slowly on Kyiv, the capital city of nearly 3
million people, in what the West feared was a
bid by Putin to topple the government and
install a Kremlin-friendly regime
1 2 3 4
RUSSIA TO PROBE
INDIAN STUDENT’S
DEATH IN SHELLING
Moscow is working to
ensure a safe corridor for
evacuation of Indian stu-
dents stranded in eastern
Ukraine and will launch a
probe into the death of an
Indian student in shelling
in Kharkiv, Russian am-
bassador to India Denis
Alipov said Wednesday.
CHINA HOLDS TALKS
WITH UKRAINE
China is “extremely con-
cerned” about the harm
to civilians in Ukraine,
Foreign Minister Wang Yi
told his Ukrainian coun-
terpart Dmytro Kuleba
during a phone call, in
the latest indication of
Beijing’s desire
to prevent the war’s
further escalation.
KILLED STUDENT’S
FATHER RESPONDS
TO MIN’S REMARK
Father of Naveen re-
ponded to Minister Pral-
had Joshi’s comments
on students failing to
qualify in exams in India.
“Naveen simply could not
afford to study medicine
in India and so went to
Ukraine,” Shekharappa
Gyanagoudar said.
INDIA EVACUATES VIA
MOLDOVA ROUTE
The Indian government
is evacuating its citizens
stranded in Odessa town
of Ukraine. The entire
evacuation process is
being carried out via
Moldova to Romania. The
Indian embassy in Roma-
nia in coordination with
Moldovan authorities is
organising movement.
‘IT’S DUE TO RISING STRENGTH OF INDIA,
WE ARE ABLE TO EVACUATE NATIONALS’
Sonbhadra: Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi on Wednesday (March 2)
said that India is able to evacuate its
stranded nationals under ‘Operation
Ganga’ in Ukraine because of the
country’s ‘rising power’. Addressing
a poll rally in UP’s Sonbhadra, Modi
said, “India will leave no stone un-
turned in bringing back the stranded
nationals from war-hit Ukraine”.
PM MODI SPEAKS TO PUTIN, DISCUSSES
EVACUATION OF STRANDED INDIANS
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
spoke to Russian President
Vladimir Putin on Wednesday and
discussed the issue of safe evacu-
ation of Indians from war-torn
Ukraine. This was the second con-
versation between Modi and Putin
within a week on Ukraine conflict.
VIKTOR YANUKOVYCH, KREMLIN’S PICK
FOR UKRAINE PRESIDENT AFTER WAR
Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who
fled to Russia in 2014, is being prepared by the
Kremlin for a special occasion, The Kyiv Independent
tweeted, citing a report
by the Ukrayinska Pravda,
an online newspaper. The
report, citing Ukrainian
intelligence, said that ac-
cording to one scenario,
Russia will try to declare
him as the “President of Ukraine”. The Kremlin may
be preparing an informational operation or action for
Yanukovych’s return to Ukraine, it said.
Ukrainian soldier passes the site of a fighting with Russian troops in the Ukrainian capital
of Kyiv. (Left) Volunteers from the Territorial Defense Units make Molotov cocktails to use
against Russian troops in Kyiv. Ukraine on Wednesday sharply raised the number of civilians
killed in the Russian invasion to over 2,000 as the country contested Russian claims of
capturing the port of Kherson and reported an escalation in attacks on many cities.
‘3rd World War will involve nuclear weapons’
Indian Girl Students
Out Of Kharkiv With
Russian Help, Boys
Next: Sources
TMC decimates Oppn, wins 102 of 108 civic bodies
Kolkata (PTI): The
ruling Trinamool Con-
gress has recorded a
landslide victory in
the West Bengal mu-
nicipal elections win-
ning 102 of the 108 mu-
nicipalities. Out of the
102 civic bodies won by
the TMC, there is no
opposition in 31 mu-
nicipalities. TMC
chief and West Bengal
Chief Minister Mama-
ta Banerjee congratu-
lated all the winning
candidates of the par-
ty and expressed grati-
tude over the “over-
whelming mandate”.
The Left Front se-
cured its victory in
Taherpur Municipali-
ty in the Nadia dis-
trict. BJP failed to
open its account.
The Congress too
failed to win a single
seat. Surprisingly, the
newly-formed Humro
Party won the Darjeel-
ing Municipality
.
The civic body polls
recorded a 77 per cent
turnout, marred with
violence.
P5

NEWS
AHMEDABAD | THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2022
02
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
First India Bureau
Surat: The Surat Tex-
tile Market (STM) has
remained in controver-
sy ever since its man-
agement demanded to
reducetheleaseamount
of the land given to
them by Surat Munici-
pal Corporation (SMC).
Recently
, a message was
posted in the STM
WhatsApp group de-
manding money for
Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP).
The message read
that group members
were to give a cheque of
Rs4 lakh to STM to-
wards payment of the
land lease and a cheque
of one lakh rupees to
the BJP.
Surat Textile Market
Co-operative Society
was constructed on
24,435 square meters of
land provided by the Su-
rat municipality, and
the land was leased, in
1968 at Rs2.5 per square
metre. After the lease
ended in 2018, SMC de-
manded a premium of
Rs127 crore, in four in-
stallments, which
comes to five lakh ru-
pees per shop; STM has
1,033 shops.
“After the lease ex-
pired in 2018, SMC ex-
tended the lease for 100
years under pressure
from the ruling party.
The message clearly in-
dicates that BJP is
openly demanding
money for party funds.
If the message is wrong,
then why isn’t the BJP
taking any action? It
has also come to light
that 28 traders have al-
ready given cheques of
Rs1 lakh in the name of
BJP,” said former Con-
gress councillor Aslam
Cyclewala.
“We have spoken to
the member who circu-
lated the message. He
informed us that he had
only demanded five
lakh rupees for the
lease premium,” said
STM President Har-
bans Lal Arora.
Meanwhile, city BJP
President Niranjan
Zanzmera demanded
action. “The message is
false. We are consider-
ing action against the
person who shared the
message with others.”
STM IN NEW CONTROVERSY OVER DEMAND FOR BJP FUNDS
lll
A message was
posted on Surat
Textile Market’s
WhatsApp group
asking each
member to
contribute five
lakh rupees
towards its land
lease and one lakh
rupees to BJP
Surat Textile Market. —FILE PHOTO
FRESH HELL
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: On the
first day of the Budget
session held at the Gu-
jarat Vidhan Sabha in
Gandhinagar on
Wednesday, saw Con-
gress MLAs causing
disruption by chanting
anti-Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) slogans
over various issues.
Due to the continu-
ous sloganeering by
nearly 50 opposition
MLAs, who were seen
carrying placards, Gov-
ernor Acharya Devvrat
left the House after ad-
dressing it for only five
minutes. His remain-
ing speech was then
tabled in the House.
Later, other MLAs
a l s o
joined
the chorus and started
raising slogans against
the BJP government
over several other is-
sues, including paper
leak of a clerk recruit-
ment exam, corruption
and harassment by
land mafia.
Congress MLA Lalit
Kagathara raised the
issue of deaths caused
due to COVID-19 in Gu-
jarat and sought a fair
compensation for the
kin of the deceased.
Opposition lawmak-
ers also demanded res-
ignation of Minister of
State for Home Harsh
Sanghavi over worsen-
ing law and order situ-
ation in the state.
Another Congress
MLA, Imran Khed-
wala, expressed dis-
sent over closure of
small-scale
textile in-
dustries
and ex-
tended his support to
small and medium-
scale industry owners.
He then asked the gov-
ernment to come to
their aid and help
start textile units,
p r o c e s s i n g
houses and
c o l o u r e d
chemical
units of Ahmedabad
city, by giving employ-
ment to more than 1
lakh unemployed work-
ers and 1,500 to 2,000
traders. Khedawala
protested outside the
House and then handed
over a memorandum to
Chief Minister Bhu-
pendra Patel.
Raising the exami-
nation paper leak is-
sue, MLA Shailesh Par-
mar said, “The issue of
government paper
leaks and police cor-
ruption scandal will be
discussed in the
House.”
While BJP MLAs
were seen sitting calm-
ly in the House, mem-
bers of the opposition
bench were agitated
and some of
them even
left the ses-
sion.
Sloganeering by Cong MLAs
disrupts state Budget session
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: Well-
known dignitaries were
commemorated by
Chief Minister Bhupen-
dra Patel in his condo-
lence remarks at the
Budget session of the
Gujarat Legislative As-
sembly on Wednesday
.
CM Patel expressed
grief over the demise of
‘Nightingale of India’
singer Lata Man-
geshkar, Member of Gu-
jarat Legislative As-
sembly Dr Ashaben
Dwarkadas Patel, for-
mer Gujarat Minister
of State Pratap Hirab-
hai Patel. He also
named other political
leaders in his tribute
including Vrajlal Dur-
labhaji Jani, Amrutlal
Kalidas Patel, Upen-
drasinh Pratapsinh Go-
hil, Ambalal Jais-
hankar Upadhyay, Jag-
dish Chandraji Doljib-
hai Damore and Jorub-
ha Jethubha Chauhan.
While paying hom-
age to Mangeshkar, the
House went completely
silent and resembled
Maharashtra Assembly
,
as the lawmakers re-
membered the voice re-
nowned all over the
world.
Addressing the
House, CM Patel
paid his respects to
Lata didi and said,
“Her talent as a
singer was much
appreciated. Her
dedication to-
wards public ser-
vice was also un-
paralleled.”
Speaker of
the House
N i m a -
b e n
Acharya as well as state
cabinet ministers,
Leader of Opposition
Sukhram Rathwa and
Congress MLAs also
paid tribute to the de-
part- ed souls.
Members of the
National Students’
Union of India (NSUI)
gathered at Gujarat
University Crossroad
in Ahmedabad on
Wednesday to protest
against the state
government’s actions
to rescue Gujarat
students from war-
torn Ukraine. They
demanded that officials
make arrangements
to ensure their safe
passage to India.
—PHOTOS BY
HANIF SINDHI
CALL FOR ACTION
GUJARAT LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY BUDGET SESSION
First India Bureau
Vadodara: After Amul
hiked its milk prices
by two rupees on
March 01, there have
been rumours that the
Baroda Dairy plans to
follow suit soon. Tak-
ing cognizance of the
possibility, Vadodara
Youth Congress mem-
bers staged a demon-
stration at the dairy on
Wednesday to demand
that it does not in-
crease its milk prices.
Led by Vadodara
city Youth Congress
President Kuldeepsinh
Vaghela and district
Youth Congress Presi-
dent Bhaumik Patel,
youth workers arrived
at the dairy’s premises
and requested its Man-
aging Director (MD)
Ajay Joshi not to in-
crease the prices of
milk. They chanted
slogans and later sub-
mitted a memorandum
to Joshi.
Expressing the
plight of citizens,
Vaghela appealed to
dairy authorities not
to hike its milk prices.
“Periodic inflation has
made it difficult for the
underprivileged and
middle-class citizens
to survive. If milk pric-
es are also increased
by Baroda Dairy, it will
have a damning impact
on them. They had
raised their prices
only a few months ago,
and that is why people
are already paying
Rs60 for every litre of
milk. Therefore, we de-
mand that they not in-
crease the prices, or
else, we will have to
take the path of ag-
gressive agitation,” he
asserted.
Vadodara Youth Congress urges
Baroda Dairy not to hike prices
Members of Vadodara Youth Congress presenting their demand to MD Ajay Joshi.
Opposition lawmakers called out govt over exam paper
leaks, police corruption, nCoV ex gratia land mafia
Lata didi, political leaders
remembered in CM’s address
Lawmakers of
both ruling
opposition
benches paid
their respects to
the personalities
who had passed
away
CM Bhupendra Patel.
—FILE PHOTO
Lata Mangeshkar
Jamalpur MLA Imran Khedawala. —FILE PHOTO

GUJARAT
03
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: On the
eve of World Wildlife
Day
, IFS Dr AP Singh,
Additional Principal
Chief Conservator of
Forests, Gandhinagar
calledforpreservationof
natural vegetation and
wildlife.
Laudingthesigningof
the‘ConventiononInter-
nationalTradeinEndan-
geredSpecies(CITES)of
wild fauna and flora in
1973, he informed that
the theme of the World
Wildlife Day 2022 is ‘Re-
covering Key Species for
Ecosystem Restoration’.
One of the most pow-
erful tools for wildlife
conservation through
regulation of interna-
tional trade, CITES cov-
ers around 3,800 species
of wild animals and
plants.Thelistedspecies
are used by people
around the wild in their
daily lives for food,
healthcare, furniture,
housing, tourism, souve-
nirs, cosmetics, fashion
and other purposes. It
seeks to ensure that the
international trade in
such species is sustaina-
ble, legal and traceable
and contributes to the
livelihoodof thecommu-
nities that live closest to
them, said Dr Singh.
In appreciation of the
wildlife variety found in
the state, the IFS officer
remarked, “Gujarat is
very rich in wildlife and
for the conservation of
wild flora and fauna, the
stategovernmenthadde-
clared four national
parks, 23 wildlife sanctu-
aries and one conserva-
tionreserveontotalarea
of 17,329.34 square km.
Incidentally
, that ac-
counts for 8.84 % of the
state’s geographical
area. Important wildlife
species such as the Asi-
aticlion,Indianwildass,
leopards, blackbuck, In-
dian wolf, among several
othersareconservedand
their habitat is managed
properly
. The popula-
tionsof thesespeciesare
also continuously in-
creasing, which is fur-
ther proof of conserva-
tion efforts.”
He also called for the
preservation of species
facing the threat of ex-
tinction.“
AsperInterna-
tional Union for Conser-
vation of Nature (IUCN)
Red List of threatened
species, over 8,400 spe-
cies of wild fauna and
flora are ‘critically en-
dangered’, while around
30,000 are understood to
be ‘endangered or vul-
nerable’, it is suggested
that over a million spe-
cies are threatened with
extinction. Continued
lossof speciesanddegra-
dation of habitats and
ecosystems threaten hu-
manity as a whole,”
warned the officer.
‘Conservation of wildlife vegetation imperative for survival’

Addtl
Principal
Conservator
of Forests IFS
Dr AP Singh
urged citizens
to band
together and
work to
preserve the
ecosystem
Dr AP Singh. Blackbucks are one of most important wildlife species found in Gujarat. —FILE PHOTO
3 YOUTHS NABBED FOR GANG
RAPE OF TWO MINOR SISTERS
First India Bureau
Jamkhambhaliya:
Three youths have been
apprehended for the
gang rape of two minor
sisters in Jamkhamb-
haliya. Police have
booked them under the
Protection of Children
from Sexual Offences
(POCSO) Act and vari-
ous sections of the In-
dian Penal Code includ-
ing a woman raped by
one or more in the
group, acting in fur-
therance with common
intent, committing rape
repeatedly on the same
woman, criminal intim-
idation.
A complaint was
lodged by the mother of
both Damyantiben
(name changed) against
three youths namely Ni-
kesh Prajapati, Ashish
Aahir and Mahesh
Chavda. In her state-
ment to the police, she
stated that Prajapati
was the key person in
the crime. He first be-
friended the complain-
ant’s elder daughter
Daksha (name
changed). With a prom-
ise of a long-term rela-
tionship and marriage,
he established physical
relations with her and
then forced her to sleep
with his friends.
It did not stop there,
as Prajapati often called
Daksha to blackmail,
threaten and then rape
her. Over the past few
months, his friends and
he repeatedly raped her.
A few days ago, Dhruvi,
Daksha’s younger sis-
ter accompanied her on
an errand, and all three
accused raped the for-
mer at knifepoint. Both
sisters were frightened
but gathered the cour-
age to inform their par-
ents about their ordeal.
Following their confes-
sion, a police complaint
was registered by the
sisters’ mother.
“Both sisters were
sent for medical tests
on March 01, while all
three accused under-
went medical tests on
Wednesday. They will
be produced before the
court on March 03,
where the police will
seek their remand. The
case is under investi-
gation by Police In-
spector PN Judal,”
said a Jamkhambhali-
ya police officer.
Younger sibling
was attacked
by trio at
knifepoint
when she
accompanied
her elder sister
HARROWING
Mankillswifeinrage,
surrendersbeforeSantalpurpolice
Hot summer with ‘above
normal’ max temp likely
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: The
state recorded a total
of 116 cases and one
death due to COV-
ID-19 infection on
Wednesday, informed
the health and family
welfare department.
The only casualty
was reported in the
Vadodara city area,
takingthedeathtollto
10,933. Of the total re-
ported cases on
Wednesday, the high-
est number was re-
ported in Ahmedabad
(47) followed by 26
cases in Vadodara.
With the day’s addi-
tion, the total cases
recorded in the state
touched 12,22,906.
With a total of 1,428
active cases across
the state, 14 patients
are on ventilator sup-
port while 1,414 pa-
tients are in stable
condition.
Over 79,461 people
were administered
either the first or
second dose of the
COVID-19 vaccine
on Wednesday till 5
pm. So far, a total of
10.30 crore dosages
have been given to
beneficiaries in Gu-
jarat.
The state govern-
ment discharged a
total of 334 patients
and claimed that the
recovery rate from
novel coronavirus in-
fection had reached
98.99%.
First India Bureau
Patan: On Tuesday
night, a man walked
into Santalpur po-
lice station and con-
fessed to murdering
his wife in a fit of
rage. Garbed in
blood-stained cloth-
ing, he also told of-
ficials that he
wished to surren-
der. Police arrested
him and rushed to
his home to secure
the victim’s body.
According to a San-
talpur police officer,
the accused, Lalji Kh-
imsur, lives on the
outskirts of Patan
with his wife and fam-
ily
. He is employed for
a private salt process-
ing firm. “He suspect-
ed his wife was having
an affair with some-
one for a long time.
Both of them even
used to get into heated
debates about it,” said
an officer.
Lalji told police in
a statement that dur-
ing a heated argu-
ment on Tuesday
night, he grabbed a
stick and hit his wife
on the head before
pulling out a knife
from his pocket and
stabbing her three to
four times.
Police have sent
the victim’s body for
post-mortem exami-
nation and collected
evidence from the
crime scene.
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: Above
normal maximum tem-
peratures are “most
likely” over many plac-
es in the western part of
the country as well as
adjoining areas of cen-
tral and northwest and
parts of the northeast
during the March to
May period, officials of
the India Meteorologi-
cal Department (IMD)
have confirmed.
The number of heat
waves in the Indo-
Gangetic plains is likely
to be lower than normal
during the period, they
added.
Slightly higher than
normal maximum tem-
peratures is likely in
Gujarat, Maharashtra,
Madhya Pradesh and
Chhattisgarh in March.
While the minimum
temperature is expected
to stay above normal in
most parts of northwest
and west India, said the
weather forecast.
For the plains, a “heat
wave” is declared when
the maximum tempera-
ture is more than 40 de-
greeCelsius,andatleast
4.5 notches above nor-
mal. A “severe” heat
wave is declared if de-
parture from normal
temperature is more
than 6.5 degrees Celsius,
according to the IMD.
It also said the maxi-
mum temperatures are
likely to remain above
normal in Jammu and
Kashmir, Ladakh,
Himachal Pradesh, ma-
jor parts of Rajasthan,
Gujarat and adjoining
areas of Madhya
Pradesh and Maharash-
tra.
Above normal tem-
peratures are expected
in the extreme north-
east areas of the coun-
try during the period.
No heat wave is predict-
ed in March in the
northern plains.
An advisory for fish-
ermen to avoid going
out to sea for fishing ac-
tivities was also issued
by the IMD due to windy
weather. “Squally
weather and strong
windsof 40-50kmphand
gusting to 60 kmph are
likely to prevail over the
Comorin area and ad-
joining southeast Ara-
bian Sea till March 05,”
stated the advisory
.
Santalpur police station.
A woman was spotted carrying her child wrapped in a dupatta as
protection against the heat at Swastik Crossroads in Ahmedabad
on Wednesday. —PHOTO BY HANIF SINDHI
NID alumnus teaches
‘button masala’ to
INIFD students
First India Bureau
Vadodara: Around 40
students of INIFD Va-
dodara learned the ‘but-
ton masala’ technique
from Lakme Fashion
Week designer Anuj
Sharma at a workshop
on Wednesday
.
Sharma, a National
Instituteof Design(NID)
alumnus, has devised a
unique method for mak-
inggarmentsthatdonot
require the use of a sew-
ing machine, tools, or
stitches.Itwasdescribed
by students as “an inno-
vative approach that
may be applied in every-
day styling.”
Lauded with national
and worldwide recogni-
tion for his work, Shar-
ma also dabbles in craft
development and sus-
tainability
.
“Button Masala is a
simple joinery system
that uses only buttons
and rubber bands to re-
place sewing on cloth-
ing. It is a highly speedy
construction method
that is also possibly the
cheapest and most envi-
ronmentally friendly in
the world,” Sharma,
who now lives in
Ahmedabad, said.
Ruchi Pandy, one of
the students who at-
tended the workshop,
said, “I have been fol-
lowing him on social
media and had hoped to
learn from him some-
day
. We can turn ordi-
naryclothesintodesign-
er ones using this new
technology
. It is also
cost- effective because
no cloth is wasted.”
Students trying their hand at the sustainable clothing
construction technique.
1,428
47 MAX
CASES IN
A’BAD
ACTIVE CASES
12,10,545
TOTAL RECOVERED
334
RECOVERED
IN A DAY
10,933
TOTAL DEATHS
01 DEATHS
IN A DAY
12,22,906
TOTAL CASES
116 CASES
IN A DAY
COVID-19 UPDATE
WORLD WILDLIFE DAY
YOUTH HANGS SELF
State records 116 nCoV
cases; 1 casualty in V’dara

PERSPECTIVE
04
THE VEHICLE OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC SECURITY
OLD PENSION SYSTEM
T
he Congress Party and its
Government in Rajasthan
recognizes its duty to pro-
vide socio-economic secu-
rity to the people. A Gov-
ernment employee
serves for 30-35 years
and spends his post re-
tirement life on the basis
of pension. It is there-
fore the duty of any
elected Government to
ensure that the employ-
ees live their life with a
sense of security so that
they can render their in-
valuable contribution to
cause of good govern-
ance. With a view to
strengthening the socio-
economic base of the Gov-
ernment employees, the
Central Civil Services
(Pension) Act, 1972 was im-
plemented which had pro-
vision for an inbuilt pen-
sion/ family Pension, Gra-
tuity and commuted
amount. Unfortunately the
old pension system was
done away with by the Vaj-
payee Government in De-
cember, 2003 and replaced
it with a New Pension Sys-
tem (NPS) w.e.f. 01.04.2004.
The NPS in its current
form is riddled with a num-
ber of problems and the
employees throughout the
country have been demand-
ing for the restoration of
the Old Pension System
(OPS) as the NPS fails to
take care of their current
as well as post retirement
needs. National Human
Rights Commission, CAG
Report No. 13 of 2020 and
the Second National Judi-
cial Pay Commission have
also raised questions about
the efficacy of the NPS in
providing guaranteed so-
cio-economic security to
the employees. Under the
NPS, the hard earned re-
tirement fund of employees
is subjected to the vagaries
of share market which fluc-
tuates at the drop of a hat.
In the event of major in-
ternational crises like
the present Ukraine cri-
sis, the share market no-
sedives thereby increas-
ing the heartbeats of em-
ployees and perennially
putting their social secu-
rity at risk. An employee
cannot work with his full
potential and contribute
to good governance if his
socio-economic security
is threatened. Since the
pension fund is invested in
market which is replete
with risk and provides no
guarantee of return even
after 17 years of implemen-
tation of NPS, it engenders
old age insecurity among
the employees.
In order to protect the
interests of Rajasthan
Government employees
and safeguard their life
after retirement, the
Congress Government in
Rajasthan decided to re-
store the Old Pension
System (OPS) for all the
employees joining gov-
ernment services on or
after 1 January, 2004.
In my budget speech in
the State Assembly on 23
February, 2022, I have an-
nounced to implement the
OPS from the next Finan-
cial Year. This decision has
been hailed not only by the
employees in Rajasthan
but also by the employees
of all the States. Earlier,
Pension was the primary
differentiating factor be-
tween the Government and
the private jobs. The Pay
scales in Government jobs
cannot exceed the pre-
scribed limit. Talented
youths used to accord pri-
ority to government jobs
because guaranteed pen-
sion under OPS provided
security to their future. It
has been observed the in-
terest of talented youth in
Government job dwindled
with the implementation
of NPS. The decision to im-
plement OPS will attract
large number of talented
youth towards government
jobs in future.
It is said about OPS
that it places a lot of fi-
nancial burden on the
governments and forces
them to abandon devel-
opment and welfare
works. These critics fail
to take into account the
fact that the country has
done commendably well
even when the Old Pen-
sion System was in force.
Development and public
welfare works were nev-
er curtailed on account
of OPS.
A number of factors trig-
gered the Government of
Rajasthan to restore the
OPS. In the Old Pension
System, an employee was
guaranteed the right of
pension as half of the last
basic salary plus dearness
relief at the time of retire-
ment and in the case of in-
service death, the employee
and his family was given
economic support in the
form of Death Cum Retire-
ment Gratuity (DCRG). No
such guarantee is provided
in the NPS. Table 1.1 exhib-
its the major difference be-
tweentheOPSandtheNPS.
The fact that the armed
forces have not been in-
cluded in the NPS right
from the beginning, makes
it clear that the OPS ade-
quately provides social se-
curity to them. The NPS
was implemented for em-
ployees in Indian Coast-
guard under the defense
ministry while the employ-
ees of this service work
with the same alertness
and face the same challeng-
es as faced by the person-
nel of armed forces. Simi-
lar services are rendered
by employees of BSF, CISF,
CRPF, ITBP, SSB etc. yet
they have been covered un-
der NPS. The employees of
the central and the State
Governments also dis-
charge their duties with
the same spirit and com-
mitment. Keeping two dif-
ferent systems of pension
is discriminatory and is
against the principle of
natural justice.
In the performance au-
dit of the NPS (Report No.
13 of 2020) the CAG has
come out with revealing
facts regarding the plan-
ning, implementation and
monitoring of the NPS.
The CAG report mentions
that ‘Even after 15 years of
introduction of NPS, rules
on service conditions/re-
tirement benefits in re-
spect of employees covered
by NPS were pending fina-
lization (Para 3.2)’. Raising
objection to the viability of
the fund/scheme, the CAG
in para 3.9 says ‘There was
no indication that actuari-
al evaluation of the fund/
scheme was conducted
once in two years and of
adoption of any other
mechanism to assess the
viability of the fund/
scheme’. Questioning the
implementation of NPS,
the CAG in para 4.1.3 of the
same report stipulates that
‘there was no assurance
that 100 percent of eligible
employees were covered
under NPS despite 15 years
of implementation.’ These
are indeed serious objec-
tions which threaten the
socio-economic security of
the employees. States like
Kerala, Andhra Pradesh,
Assam, Himachal Pradesh
and Punjab have setup
state level committees to
review the NPS in their re-
spective states in view of
the protests by the NPS em-
ployees. The West Bengal
Government has not yet
implemented the NPS.
While preparing the
NPS, no attention was
paid to the pension
amount payable to the
employee after the retire-
ment. This has created a
senseof insecurityamong
the employees through-
out the country
. If the
NPS is so sacrosanct then
why the Second National
Judicial Pay Commission
has, in its report in Febru-
ary 2020, suggested that
NPS should not be imple-
mented in the Judicial
Services.
The National Human
Rights Commission, wrote
to the Central Government
on20December2021,asking
it to setup a committee to
review NPS for the sake of
ensuring the protection of
humanrightsof employees.
The employees appoint-
ed on/after 01.01.2004 and
who have retired now, they
have either not received
any pension or if they have
received any pension then
it is not sufficient to make
their both ends meet.
Therefore it can be said
that NPS failed to achieve
its objective. There was no
provision of family pen-
sion and gratuity in NPS in
the beginning. The Gov-
ernment of India had to
implement the same later.
The State Government
of Rajasthan never com-
promised with the develop-
ment schemes of the State
despite NPS. Likewise, the
development works will
continue in the state even
after the implementation
of OPS. The State Govern-
ment was fully aware of
the anxieties caused by
NPS among the employees.
The Old Pension Sys-
tem provides social and
economic security to the
employees hence, the
Government of Ra-
jasthan decided to restore
OPS in the larger interest
of the employees. It is not
fair to have two catego-
ries of pension schemes
and differentiate among
the employees.
ASHOK GEHLOT
Chief Minister, Rajasthan
In my budget speech in
the State Assembly on
23 February, 2022, I
have announced to
implement the OPS
from the next
Financial Year. This
decision has been
hailed not only by
the employees in
Rajasthan but also
by the employees of
all the States
Contribution of
employee
Pension Guarantee
by Government
Amount of Pension
Dearness Relief
provided by Govt
for mitigating
impact of inflation
Commutation
of Pension
GPF Eligibility
NPS Withdrawal
DESCRIPTION
Nil
Yes
50% of last pay
drawn
Yes
Upto 33%
Yes
Yes
OLD PENSION
SYSTEM
10% of
(Basic pay plus DA)
No
No link with
last pay
No
No option
No
Upto 25% of the
amount deposited
after 2015
NPS
(TIER-I)
l Vol 3 l Issue No. 97
l RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/79050. Printed
and published by Anita Hada Sangwan on
behalf of First Express Publishers. Printed
at Bhaskar Printing Planet Survey No.148P,
Changodar-Bavla Highway, Tal. Sanand, Dist.
Ahmedabad. Published at D/302 3rd Floor
Plot No. 35 Titanium Square, Scheme No. 2,
Thaltej Taluka, Ghatlodiya, Ahmedabad.
Editor-In-Chief: Jagdeesh Chandra.
Editor: Haresh Jhala responsible for selection
of news under the PRB Act
SPIRITUAL SPEAK
The peace of God is with
them whose mind and
soul are in harmony,
who are free from desire
and wrath, who know
their own soul.
—Bhagavad Gita
TOP
TWEETS
Grateful to our
airline crew and
pilots for their
service and support
to Government’s
efforts in bringing
our citizens
back home.
#OperationGanga
Smriti Z Irani
@smritiirani
Many people became farmer leaders,
but no one did anything for the farmers.
When our government was formed under
the leadership of Prime Minister Mr.@
narendramodi, first of all, 40 crore were
opened through Jan Dhan accounts, and
then money was deposited directly in the
accounts of farmers.We don’t just say,
we believe in doing.
Jagat Prakash Nadda
@JPNadda

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INDIA
05
Sharat K Verma
New Delhi: Former
Congress president Ra-
hul Gandhi has started
meeting leaders of oth-
er states in the midst of
the Assembly elections
of five states and start-
ed taking stock of the
organisation and other
works in these states.
According to sources in
theCongress,Rahulhas
started meeting the
leaders of the states in
connection with the
preparations for the
elections to be held this
year.Alongwiththis,he
is also meeting the lead-
ers of the state commit-
tees and encouraging
them for further elec-
tion preparations. He
has met leaders of
Jharkhand and Karna-
taka in this regard and
himself visited Chhat-
tisgarh and Gujarat.
Rahul Gandhi met
all the leaders of
Jharkhand recently. It
is believed that he had
called all the leaders
in view of the condi-
tions after RPN Singh,
who was in charge of
the state for a long
time, joined the BJP.
The new in-charge
Avinash Pandey had
brought all the MLAs,
ministers and party
office bearers and Ra-
hul met everyone. But
the purpose of this
meeting was not only
that the in-charge has
changed and that
there is a possibility
of breakdown in the
state, so Rahul showed
solidarity with every-
one. No, the reality is
far from this since
word in the Congress
is that it is also a sign
of preparation for Ra-
hul’s new role.
That is why after
Jharkhand, a similar
meeting took place
with the leaders of
Karnataka. Almost all
the big leaders includ-
ing former Chief Min-
ister Siddaramaiah,
party leader in Rajya
Sabha Mallikarjun
Kharge, State Presi-
dent DK Shivakumar,
former Chief Minister
Veerappa Moily met
Rahul together. Elec-
tions in Karnataka are
due in May next year.
The meeting with Ra-
hul a year before elec-
tion does not have elec-
toral meaning, but in
connection with the
preparations for Rahul
to become the presi-
dent again. In the com-
ing days, Rahul will
meet leaders of other
states as well.
RAHUL GANDHI ON SILENT MARCH TOWARDS
CONGRESS’ ‘PRESIDENTIAL CHAIR’, YET AGAIN
Mahesh Sharma
Kolkata: West Bengal
would witness a bizzare
development and if this
happens, then it will be
recorded in history that
the meeting of the Leg-
islative Assembly of a
state started at 2 o’clock
in the night. Although
there is time and it is
possible that it can be
rectified, but looking at
the current situation, it
seems that the meeting
of the West Bengal Leg-
islative Assembly will
start on March 7 at 2
AM and Governor
Jagdeep Dhankhar will
address the same. This
has happened due to the
wrong time being typed
in the proposal sent by
the state government to
convene the assembly
session. The proposal
was sent to the Gover-
nor after the cabinet
meeting chaired by
Chief Minister Mamata
Banerjee, in which the
date of March 7 was
written but in case of
time, ‘2 AM’ was writ-
ten instead of ‘2 PM’.
Significantly
, there is
already a dispute be-
tween Governor
Jagdeep Dhankhar and
the state government on
many issues. This issue
came up in the midst of
that controversy. The
Governor approved this
proposal and said that
he would attend the
meeting at two o’clock
in the night and would
be ready to give speeche
and start the session as
the government so de-
sires. Later the Chief
Secretary of the state
HK Dwivedi sent a let-
ter, saying that there
was a typing mistake
and the Governor
should allow the session
to be called from 2
o’clock in the day, but
the Governor turned
down the demand of the
Chief Secretary
. He says
that the Chief Secretary
cannot amend the cabi-
net proposal. This
means that Mamata Ba-
nerjee will have to call
the cabinet meeting
again and send the pro-
posal again. Along with
this, a request will also
have to be made to the
Governor.
Guv Dhankhar proves to be a strong
force before ‘aggressive’ Mamata Govt!
Gazipur (PTI): Prime
Minister Narendra
Modi on Wednesday
hit out at the BJP’s ri-
vals, saying dynasts
living in palaces and
moving in big cars can-
not understand the
problems of poor.
Highlighting his gov-
ernment’s public wel-
fare initiatives, he said
even during the worst
pandemic in 100 years,
the government did
not let anybody sleep
empty stomach by pro-
viding them free ra-
tion.
Addressing an elec-
tion rally here, he said
Ghazipur has given
many great personali-
ties to the country.
PM MODI: DYNASTS LIVING IN PALACES
CAN’T UNDERSTAND PROBLEMS OF POOR
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Time has come to punish
those who change the
identity of Gazipur
These Parivarwadis made
fun of us when we talked
about toilets
Chandauli (PTI): Un-
ion Home Minister
Amit Shah on Wednes-
daysaidillegalweapons
were made earlier in Ut-
tarPradeshtoscareand
kill people but now
shells and missiles are
being manufactured to
protect the country
.
He was apparently re-
ferring to the defence
industrialcorridorcom-
ing up in the state.
Shah also listed vari-
ous achievements of
the BJP government in
the state.
“Earlier, illegal weap-
ons were made in Uttar
Pradesh, which were
used to scare or kill peo-
ple. Today
, shells and
missiles are being made
here, which are used to
protect India. This
changehascomeduring
the BJP government,”
Shahsaidaddressingan
election meeting here.”
“I have been to
around 150 (assembly)
seats of in UP and seen
the election mood at
every place. In the first
five phases of the elec-
tions, the SP and the
BSP will be wiped off,
andthepeoplearework-
ing to form the BJP gov-
ernment.”
Chandauli will go to
polls during the sev-
enth phase on March 7.
Instead of illegal weapons, UP
now makes missiles, says Shah
Home Minister Shah greets during a public meeting in Jaunpur.
Jaunpur (PTI): Sama-
jwadi Party chief Akh-
ilesh Yadav on Wednes-
day threw a broadside
at the BJP terming it
the “biggest liar party”
and accused it of halv-
ing farmers’ income
even though they came
to power with the
promise of doubling it.
At an election meet-
ing in Jaunpur, he
promised to relax the
age limit for govern-
ment jobs and an-
nounce vacancies in
the police force if the
alliance led by his par-
ty comes to power in
Uttar Pradesh.
Yadav sought to
counter the BJP’s
“ghor pariwarwadi
(staunch dynast)” jibe
directed at him, say-
ing, “We accept that
we are family people.
Whenever family peo-
ple like us step out of
our houses, they gen-
erally bring some-
thing like sweets for
children.
Jaunpur: BJP is biggest liar
party in world, says Akhilesh
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav addresses a public rally in Jaunpur.
Akhilesh-Mamata’s joint rally
in PM’s constituency today
Noida: West Bengal
Chief Minister
Mamata Banerjee
will on Thursday ad-
dress a joint rally
with Samajwadi Par-
ty(SP)presidentAkh-
ilesh Yadav in Vara-
nasi, ahead of the last
phase of the Assem-
bly election in Uttar
Pradesh.
Banerjee’s visit
will coincide with a
three-day tour by
Prime Minister Nar-
endra Modi. This is
hersecondvisittothe
State; she had spent
two days in the first
week of February
.
RLD chief Jayant
Chaudhary will also
joinSamajwadiParty
president Akhilesh
Yadav and West Ben-
gal Chief Minister
Mamata Banerjee for
a joint poll rally in Ut-
tar Pradesh’s Vara-
nasi on Thursday
.
The joint rally will
be held in Airhe vil-
lage in Harhua block
of Varanasi 12 pm on-
wards, the RLD said.
Patna (PTI): The State
Election Commission in
Bihar has declared the
dates or the legislative
council poll. The voting
will be held on April 4
and the result will be de-
clared on April 7.
The polling will be
held for 24 out of 75
seats. The voting on
these seats has been de-
layed by nearly seven
months as the term of
the 24 members expired
in July last year.
Of the 24 seats, three
were vacant since No-
vember 11, 2020, as the
memberswereelectedto
theLegislativeassembly
.
These members are Rit
Lal Ray, Dilip Ray and
Manoj Yadav. Two seats
Darbhanga and Sa-
mastipur fell vacant due
to the death of the sit-
ting members.
As per the election
commission, the polling
was delayed as the rural
local bodies that make
for the majority of the
lectoral college for the
MLC polls were not in
existence at the time.
“Biennial elections to
fill up 24 seats could not
be conducted by
16.07.2021 as the Constit-
uent Local Bodies/Elec-
tors therein were not in
existence at that time.
The Commission vide
letter 21.05.2021 had
sought information re-
garding the existence of
constituentLocalBodies
functioning and their
percentage in the said
Constituencies,”anSEC
statement said.
Bihar MLC poll for 24 seats
on April 4, counting on Apr 7
NCB says probe yet
to be completed in
Aryan Khan drug case
Mumbai (ANI): The
Narcotics Control Bu-
reau (NCB) on Wednes-
day dismissed media re-
ports which inferred
that there was “non-
availabilityof evidence”
against Aryan Khan in
thedrugs-on-cruisecase.
The NCB through a Spe-
cial Investigation Team
(SIT) that was constitut-
ed to look into the drug
nexus leading back to
the cruise, termed all
such media reports as
“mere speculations.”
NCB Deputy Director
General Sanjay Singh,
who is currently head-
ing the SIT on the drugs-
on-cruise case, dis-
missed the reports as
false and said that the
statements made were
not cross-checked with
the agency before being
published.
“Themediareportson
non-availability of evi-
dence against Aryan
Khan are not true and
just speculations. These
statements were not
cross-checked with the
NCB before being pub-
lished,” media reported.
Schools reopen across
Kashmir after 32 mths
Schools in JK reopen after remaining shut for 32 months due to
Covid and for maintaining law order post abrogation of Art 370.
Jammu (PTI): All gov-
ernment, private, and
army-run schools in
Kashmir reopened on
Wednesday after a gap
of 32 months.
The authorities in
the second week of Feb-
ruary decided to reopen
schools across Jammu
Kashmir as the num-
ber of Covid cases
dropped significantly
.
School buses filled
with students made
way to respective
schools across the city
and other parts of the
valley, officials said.
The government has
made it compulsory for
students above the age
of 15 years to be fully
vaccinated for them to
be allowed for attending
in-person classes.
Webcasting at 203
polling stations
Dispur (ANI): The As-
sam State Election
Commission has made
all the arrangements as
the election in 99-Majuli
(ST) assembly constitu-
ency is just a week away
.
The Chief Electoral
Officer (CEO) of As-
sam, Nitin Khade stat-
ed, “As directed by the
ECI, we made all the
arrangements regard-
ing webcasting, which
will be done in all the
203 polling stations of
the Constituency.”
He further stated that
these arrangements are
donetoensureafree,fair
and safe bye-election to
the Assam Legislative
Assembly
, 2022. The poll
proceedingswillbemon-
itored live by ECI, CEO
Assam, District Election
Officer and other con-
cerned officials on duty
.
Khade also said that the
half section of the
CAPF will be deployed
at each polling station
to ensure full-proof se-
curity on poll day
.
ASSAM: MAJULI BYPOLL
Village head
shot dead in
JK’s Kulgam
Jammu (Agencies): A
panch (village council
member) was shot dead
by militants in JK’s
Kulgam district on
Wednesday
, police said.
P o l i c e
s o u r c e s
said mili-
tants shot
M u h a m -
m a d
Yaqoob Dar in Kulpora
Srandoo village of Kul-
gam.
“He sustained several
injuries. He was rushed
to district hospital Kul-
gam where doctors de-
clared him dead on ar-
rival,” a source said.
Sources added that
the area has been cor-
doned off for searches.

INDIA
06
Moni Sharma
New Delhi: When Ma-
harashtra government
minister Nawab Malik
was arrested by the
Enforcement Directo-
rate (ED), there was a
lot of chaos in Mum-
bai. There was a meet-
ing at Sharad Pawar’s
house, Mamata Baner-
jee called Pawar, and
later then Pawar went
to meet Chief Minis-
ter Uddhav Thackeray
and it was decided
that the next day the
entire government
would protest in sup-
port of Malik. But the
next day’s perfor-
mance was carried out
only by NCP and Con-
gress. All the minis-
ters of NCP and Con-
gress in the Uddhav
government demon-
strated in front of the
ministry and other
leaders of both the
parties protested in
other parts. In this,
most of the MPs,
MLAs and ministers
of Shiv Sena remained
absent.
Later Shiv Sena MP
Sanjay Raut said in the
manner of clarification
that the entire govern-
ment and Shiv Sena
also stood with Nawab
Malik. But the reality is
that Shiv Sena has dis-
tanced itself from the
issue. According to in-
formed sources, there
are two reasons for this.
The first reason is that
Malik has been arrest-
ed for being close to Da-
wood Ibrahim’s family
members and buying
their property
. And sec-
ondly, the whole matter
of ED is related to Mus-
lims and Shiv Sena
does not want to get en-
tangled in these two is-
sues before Brihan-
mumbai Municipal
Corporation elections
to be held in next two
months. In Mumbai, it
has to unite the votes of
‘Marathi Manush’ and
Hindus. Shiv Sena
knows that it is not go-
ing to get Muslim vote
and if it is seen more
with Malik then Hindu
vote will shift to BJP.
That is why Shiv Sena
has decided to fight
alone by separating
from NCP and Con-
gress. On the other
hand NCP has nothing
at stake in BMC.
Shiv Sainiks worried of getting their hands burnt!
NAWAB MALIK CASE
96.8% ADULTS RECEIVED FIRST DOSE OF
COVID VAX, 81.3% 2ND, CENTRE TO SC
For the population between 15-18 years of age, 74% (5,47,94,459) have been covered with the first dose
New Delhi (ANI): The
Centre on Wednesday
informedtheapexCourt
that96.8percentof adult
populationhavebeenad-
ministered with first
dose of the Covid vac-
cine and 81.3 per cent
have been administered
the second dose.
Additional Solicitor
General Aishwarya
Bhati, representing the
Centre, submitted be-
fore a bench of Justices
L. Nageswara Rao and
B.R. Gavai that
177,50,86,335(177.5crore)
total vaccines have been
administered.
In the adult popula-
tion, 96.8 per cent of the
population (90,92,27,350)
has been covered with
the first dose, and 81.3
percent of the popula-
tion (76,35,65,779) has
been covered with the
second dose. For the
population between 15-
18 years of age, 74 per
cent (5,47,94,459) have
been covered with the
first dose, and 37.1 per
cent (2,74,87,370) with
the second dose. The
precaution dose num-
bers for the adult popu-
lation amount to
2,00,11,377. The figures
are based on data col-
lated on February 28.
The top court was
hearing a plea by Jacob
Puliyel challenging vac-
cine mandates issued by
various state govern-
mentsandseekingdirec-
tion to also disclose post
vaccination data regard-
ing adverse events.
Advocate Prashant
Bhushan, representing
Puliyel, a formermem-
berof theNationalTech-
nicalAdvisoryGroupon
Immunisation, contend-
ed that a person’s funda-
mental right to not take
vaccine cannot be
eclipsed by the govern-
ment only by saying that
person not taking vac-
cine will pose a clear
threat to public health.
Bhushan said: “Even,
I had Covid. But, I have
not taken the vaccine. I
have decided not to take
the vaccine, come what
may
.”
He insisted that ad-
verse effects of Covid
vaccination are not
known, and questioned
why governments are is-
suing vaccine mandates
restricting people from
entering public spaces
by making vaccination
mandatory
. “If one was
infected with Covid (and
got cured), that person
gets better natural im-
munityagainsttheinfec-
tion,” said Bhushan.
BMC chief Chahal
shows income way
amid Covid-19
First India Bureau
Mumbai: The revenue
surplus of the country’s
richest municipal corpo-
ration, Brihanmumbai
Municipal Corporation
continued to boom even
inthetestingtimesof the
ongoingpandemicphase.
BMC’s Municipal
Commissioner Iqbal
Singh Chahal informed
that due to 50 per cent re-
duction in premiums
charged on building pro-
posals between Mar’21
Dec’21, BMC had a wind-
fall of nearly Rs 14,000
crore additional income
in last 11 months (due to
increase in volumes
wherein 2,860 new con-
struction projects got ap-
proved, most of which
werenon-viablewithfull
premiums), resulting in
unprecedented jump in
BMC reserves from Rs
78,000 crore to nearly Rs
93,000 crore now.
A real win-win situa-
tion, where the real es-
tate sector (backbone of
Mumbai) is on fast track
now, despite last 2 years
of covid pandemic, re-
sulting in tremendous
boost in employment in
this sector for the next
three years at least.
Pune (PTI): Coming
out in defence of Maha-
rashtraministerNawab
Malik, who has been ar-
rested by the ED in con-
nection with a money
laundering case, NCP’s
state unit president Jay-
ant Patil has said that it
is not mandatory to
seek the resignation of
any minister until the
crime is proven.
Apparently targeting
BJP, Patil said there are
efforts to put the MVA
ministers in trouble.
He was speaking to
reporters on the side-
lines of a party event
here on Tuesday
.
When asked about
BJP state unit chief
Chandrakant Patil’s
statement that his party
willnotallowtheupcom-
ing budget session of
state legislature to func-
tion if Malik continues
to remain a Cabinet Min
despite his arrest, the
NCPleadersaid,“Letthe
BJPputforthitsstandon
Malikduringthesession
and an appropriate an-
swer will be given.” “If
everyday some kind of
action is being taken
against ministers, it is
not mandatory to seek
their resignation. If the
crime against them is
not yet proved, why
wouldthepersongivehis
resignation?” he said.
“In the case of Anil
Deshmukh, we took his
resignation innocently
when he was arrested,
but it was later under-
stood that the allega-
tions against him were
frail,” Patil said.
Malik’sresignationnot
necessary: NCP leader
Pune (PTI): Four per-
sons died of suffocation
while cleaning a septic
tank near a residential
building in Loni
Kalbhor in Pune dis-
trict, said police author-
ities on Wednesday
.
The incident took
place around 11.30 a.m.
The deceased were
tasked with cleaning a
septic tank behind a
residential complex in
Loni’s Kadamwak Vas-
ti, around 20 km from
Pune city
.
“The first victim was
taken out of the tank in
an unconscious state.
He was rushed to a
nearby hospital, where
doctors declared him
brought dead. The oth-
ers were soon taken
out, but had already
died,” said a police sta-
tion official, adding
that the process of
identifying the victims
was on along with fur-
ther investigations
into the matter.
Pune: 4 die of suffocation
while cleaning septic tank
New Delhi (PTI): A
Public Interest Litiga-
tion (PIL) has been
filed in the Supreme
Court seeking to direct
the Bureau of Police
Research and Develop-
ment (BPRD) to collect
data in a time-bound
manner from all the
state police organisa-
tions on investigations
revealing a direct link
between viewing por-
nographic material
and rape.
The petition has
been moved by advo-
cate Nalin Kohli, who
has apprised the Court
about an investigation
by the Police in Assam
into the gruesome
murder of a six-year-
old girl wherein it has
been revealed that the
four perpetrators of
the crime, including
two minor boys be-
tween eight and 11,
were porn addicts.
As a consequence of
this, the Assam Police
has issued guidelines
to be followed by the in-
vestigating officer for
collecting digital evi-
dence while investigat-
ing offences related to
rape, molestation and
other sexual offences.
The petitioner
sought the direction of
the Court to all the
state police organisa-
tions to collect data in
a time-bound manner
on the linkage between
the viewing of porno-
graphic material and
rape and also consider
formulating an SOP by
its police to include
the aspect of viewing
of pornographic mate-
rial while investigat-
ing cases of rape and
sexual assault.
PLEAINSUPREMECOURTOVERDATAON
LINK BETWEEN RAPE,PORNOGRAPHY
CRPF trooper
commits
suicide in JK
Srinagar (PTI): A Cen-
tralReservePoliceForce
(CRPF) trooper commit-
ted suicide by shooting
himself on Wednesday
in Jammu Kashmi’s
Srinagar district.
Police sources said
constable Anand Lal of
29 CRPF battalion shot
and killed himself with
his service rifle in the
Sanat Nagar area of
Srinagar city
.
“A case has been reg-
istered in this incident.
“The reason behind
the trooper taking the
extreme step is being
probed,” sources said.
New Delhi (Agencies):
The India Meteorologi-
cal Department(IMD)
on Wednesday forecast
heavy to very heavy
rains for Tamil Nadu
and neighbouring areas
owing to a low pressure
area likely to intensify
into depression.
A low pressure area
formed over southeast
Bay of Bengal (BoB) and
adjoining areas of south
Andaman Sea Equato-
rial Indian Ocean (EIO)
on Monday evening
moved west-northwest-
wards and lay over cen-
tral parts of south BoB
and adjoining EIO at
8.30 a.m on Wednesday
.
“It is likely to become
a well-marked low-pres-
sure area during the
next 24 hours and con-
centrate into a depres-
sion during subsequent
24 hours,” the IMD said.
‘Heavy,very heavy rain
likely in TN on Mar 3,4’
First India Bureau
New Delhi: One of the
most influential media
conglomerates, Bennett
Coleman and Co. Ltd., is
allegedly being evaluat-
ed for a split, according
to sources. The news
comesastheTimesGroup
iswitnessingaconflictbe-
tween the brothers Samir
JainandVineetJain.The
Jain family owns and op-
eratesTheTimesof India,
India’s largest English
newspaper. Samir Jain,
the elder brother is the
Vice President of the
company while Vineet
JainisservingastheMD.
TIMES GROUP
HEADING FOR
SPLIT?
A health worker gives a Covid-19 vaccine jab to a beneficiary at a vaccination center.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray with Sanjay Raut.
New Delhi: The effec-
tiveness of the Pfizer
COVID-19 vaccine for
children waned quickly
during the Omicron
surge in the US, es-
pecially among those
aged 5 to 11 years, but
the preventive was still
protective against se-
vere disease, according
to a study. Researchers
estimated the effective-
ness of Pfizer vaccine
against COVID cases
and hospitalisations.
‘PFIZER LESS EFFECTIVE
AGAINST COVID IN KIDS’
Mumbai: On the eve of the Budget session of the Maha-
rashtra legislature, senior BJP leader
Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday
said his party is firm on its demand
for the resignation of state minister
Nawab Malik, who has been arrested
by the Enforcement Directorate in
connection with a money launder-
ing case. Fadnavis was speaking to
reporters in Mumbai after chairing a meeting of the BJP’s
members of the legislative Assembly and Council as the
budget session is set to begin from Thursday.
Mumbai: Referring to the arrest of Neil Somaiya, son of
BJP’s Kirit Somaiya for his alleged links with an accused
in the PMC Bank scam, Shiv Sena
MP Sanjay Raut said that father and
son duo will be jailed soon. The Shiv
Sena leader said, “Mark my words...I
repeat: baap beta jail jayenge.
Period. And rest assured, apart from
baap beta, three central agency
officials and their vasuli agents will
also go behind bars. Maharashtra jhukega nahi!”
FIRM ON DEMAND FOR MALIK’S
RESIGNATION, SAYS FADNAVIS
BAAP BETA JAIL JAYENGE: RAUT
SLAMS KIRIT SOMAIYA, HIS SON
Kochi (PTI): The Ker-
ala High Court on
Wednesday dismissed
Malayalamnewschan-
nel MediaOne's appeal
against a single judge
order upholding the
Centre's decision to
stop its telecast by not
renewing its licence.
A bench of Chief
Justice S Manikumar
and Justice Shaji P
Chaly also rejected
the appeals by some
of the channel's em-
ployees, including its
Editor, as well as the
Kerala Union of
Working Journalists
(KUWJ) against the
single judge's order of
February 8.
The Centre had
banned telecast of the
channel on January
31. This was not the
first time the channel
hasfacedsuchabaron
its operation.
Kerala HC upholds Centre’s
ban on MediaOne TV
BMC had a
windfall of
nearly Rs 14,000
crore additional
income in last
11 months
Nawab Malik

BIZ BUZZ
07
AMID THE UKRAINE WAR
New Delhi (PTI): In-
dian companies are ex-
pected to dole out an
average increment of
9.1 percent in 2022,
higher than the pre-
Covid-19 increment in
2019, as companies are
focusing on retention
of talent through re-
wards.
According to the 2022
Workforce and Incre-
ments Trends Survey
by Deloitte Touche Toh-
matsu India LLP, the
average India 2022 in-
crement is expected to
go up to 9.1% from 8%
in 2021. Moreover, 2022
projected increment is
higher than the pre-
Covid-19 increment in
2019 by 50 basis points
(bps). A basis point is
equal to 1/100th of a
percentage point. “Cor-
porate India reacted dif-
ferently to each Cov-
id-19 wave.
Average pay hike expected to rise by 9.1% this year
DELOITTE’ INCREMENTS TRENDS SURVEY
THE SURVEY FINDINGS FOR 2022 STATES...

z 34% the organisations
surveyed are planning to
give double-digit average
increments, compared
with only 20% in 2021
and 12% in 2020

z Increments are
expected to be higher
across all major sectors,
compared with 2021 and
the pre-pandemic levels
observed in 2019

z Life sciences and IT
sectors are likely to give the
highest increments in 2022

z Finance technology, IT
product companies and
digital/e-commerce or-
ganisations are expected
to give double-digit incre-
ments in 2022

z 92% of organisa-
tions are expected to use
individual performance to
differentiate increments
across employees, with
top performers expected
to get 1.7 times the incre-
ment given to average
performers

z More than half
the organisations are
expected to differentiate
increments by levels of
management (with senior
management getting a
lower increment than
relatively junior employ-
ees)

z Percentage of employ-
ees to be promoted is
expected to increase from
11.7% to 12.4% in 2022,
with avg additional incre-
ment to those promoted
expected to be 7.5%
While the
2022 incre-
ment of 9.1
per cent is only for
existing employees,
the overall employee
cost could go up by
an even higher
amount, owing to
factors such as in-
cremental hiring,
one-time pay cor-
rections and reten-
tion bonuses.
—Anubhav Gupta,
Partner at DTTILLP
PETROL, DIESEL PRICE HIKES MAY
RESTART FROM NEXT WEEK: REPORT
New Delhi (PTI): Af-
ter remaining stable for
months, petrol and die-
sel prices may see a
hike after assembly
elections come to an
end next week, says a
JP Morgan report
Fuel prices may be
hiked to bridge the ₹ 9 a
litre gap created by
surging international
crude prices, which
have gone past the $100
per barrel. “With state
elections getting over
next week, we expect
daily fuel price hikes to
restart across both gas-
oline and diesel,” JP
Morgan said in a re-
port.
The seventh and final
phase of polling for the
Uttar Pradesh assem-
bly elections is to be
held on March 7 and the
counting of votes for all
the elections held ear-
lier in Uttarakhand,
Punjab, Goa and Ma-
nipur is slated to take
place on March 10.
CRUDE OIL RATES
International crude oil
prices shot above $110 a
barrel for the first time
since mid-2014 on fears
that oil and gas supplies
from energy giant Rus-
sia could be disrupted,
either by the conflict in
Ukraine or retaliatory
western sanctions.The
basket of crude oil In-
dia buys, rose above
$102 per barrel on
March 1, the highest
since August 2014, ac-
cording to information
from the Petroleum
Planning and Analysis
Cell(PPAC)of thepetro-
leum ministry
. This
compares to an average
of $81.5 per barrel price
of the Indian basket of
crude oil at the time of
freezing of petrol and
diesel prices in early
November last year.
RETAILERS @ LOSS
State-owned fuel retail-
ers Indian Oil Corpora-
tion (IOC), Bharat Pe-
troleum Corporation
Ltd (BPCL) and Hindu-
stan Petroleum Corpo-
ration Ltd (HPCL) are
making a loss of `5.7 a
litre on petrol and die-
sel.
This is without taking
into account their nor-
mal margin of `2.5 per
litre.
REPORT STATES
The brokerage said for
oil marketing compa-
nies to revert to normal-
isedmarketingmargins,
retail prices need to in-
crease by ₹ 9 a litre or 10
per cent. “We expect a
combination of small
excise duty cuts (Rs 1-3
perlitre)andretailprice
hikes (Rs 5-8 a litre) to
reflect the pass-through
of $100 per barrel oil,”
the report further said.
Russia makes up for a
thirdof Europe’snatural
gas and about 10 per cent
of global oil production.
About a third of Russian
gas supplies to Europe
usually travel through
pipelines crossing
Ukraine. India’s mfg ac-
tivities expand in Feb as
output, new orders rise
amid demand: PMI.
BRENT CRUDE BREACHES $111
MARK, HIGHEST IN 8 YEARS
New Delhi (Agen-
cies): Lower supplies
as well as hostilities
between Russia and
Ukraine pushed
Brent crude oil price
to nearly an 8-year
high on Wednesday.
Besides, robust global
demand is expected to
keep the Brent-index
crude oil price high.
Consequently, crude
oil prices have surged
by nearly 15 per cent
in the last two days on
fear of tight supplies.
On Wednesday, the
Brent-indexed crude
oil prices rose to over
$111 per barrel on
Wednesday. It had
risen to $102 per bar-
rel on Tuesday from
Monday’s $98 per
barrel mark.
Sensex drops 778 pts, Nifty holds 16,600
New Delhi (PTI): The
benchmark equity in-
dices on BSE and Na-
tional Stock Exchange
(NSE) snapped out of a
two-session gaining
streak and ended over
1% lower on Wednes-
day weighed by auto-
mobiles, banking and
financial stocks which
fell after GDP growth
data released Monday
missed market esti-
mates. Ukraine crisis
along with crude oil
prices weighed on in-
vestor sentiment. SP
BSE crashed 778.38 pts
(1.38%) to settle at
55,468.90 while Nifty
climbed 187.95 pts
(1.12%) to end at
16,605.95.
BharatPe strips Ashneer
Grover of co-founder tag
New Delhi (PTI): Pay-
ment startup BharatPe
has stripped its co-
founder Ashneer Grov-
er of all positions for its
alleged “misdeeds” and
may take further legal
actions, including claw-
ing back of some of his
shareholding.Bharat-
Pe, which allows
shopownerstomake
digital payments
through QR codes,
in a statement said
Grover resigned
after receiv-
ing the
agenda
for an
upcoming board meet-
ing that included sub-
missionof anindepend-
ent audit regarding his
conduct. Board of com-
pany met Tuesday
, and
the meeting went past
midnight, following
which a statement was
issued. “Grover family
their relatives en-
gaged in exten-
sive misap-
propriationof company
funds, including, but
not limited to, creating
fake vendors through
which they siphoned
money away from com-
pany’s account
abused company ex-
pense accounts in or-
der to enrich them-
selves and fund their
lavish lifestyles,” it al-
leged.
BIZ BRIEFS
Bengaluru: India’s
factory activity
growth acceler-
ated in February
as the threat from
a third Covid-19
wave eased, while
some softening
of price pressures
meant demand and
business expecta-
tions strengthened,
a private survey
showed. However,
the survey was
conducted before
Russia invaded
Ukraine, which led
to an immediate
spike in oil prices.
GOLD RALLIES
`1,202; SILVER
JUMPS `2,148
New Delhi: Gold
in national capital
on Wednesday
surged by `1,202
to `51,889 per 10
grams, reflecting
overnight gains
in international
precious metal
prices along with
rupee depreciation,
according to HDFC
Securities. In previ-
ous trade, yellow
metal had closed
at `50,687 per 10
grams.Silver also
jumped by `2,148
to `67,956 per kg,
from `65,808 per
kg in previous trade.
UKRAINE CRISIS:
GOVT MAY
DEFER LIC IPO
New Delhi: With
the Russia-Ukraine
war roiling financial
markets globally,
the government
may defer the
mega IPO of LIC
and wait for an op-
portune time to get
the maximum value
of its holding in the
state-owned insur-
ance behemoth,
sources said.
Didn’t dilute
NSE orders,
says Tyagi
HDFC DIPS 5%, NEARS 52-WK LOW
Mumbai: Shares of
HDFC Bank dipped 5
per cent to `1,358 on
the BSE in Wednes-
day’s intra-day trade
on the back of persis-
tent selling pressure
in financial shares,
mainly private institu-
tions.The stock of
private sector lender
traded at its lowest
level since April 2021.
Stock quoted close
to its 52-week low of
`1,353.10 touched on
April 12, 2021. HDFC
Bank has underper-
formed the market
by falling 10 per cent
in past one week, as
compared to 3.5 per
cent decline in Sensex.
In the last one year,
the stock has slipped
13%, as against a
10% rally on BSE
benchmark index.
Only thing lavish
about me is my
dreams and ability to
achieve them against all odds
through hard work and enter-
prise.
—Ashneer Grover
BPCL to invest
over `3,972 crore
for devp of city
Aurangabad, Maha-
rashtra: Bharat Petro-
leum Corporation Lim-
ited (BPCL), a Maha-
ratna’ and a Fortune
Global 500 Company,
has launched the city
gas distribution (CGD)
network in Aurangabad
and Ahmednagar dis-
tricts. The Company
will invest around Rs.
1,600 crore over next 5
years and a total of Rs.
4000 Cores for comple-
tion of full project.
BPCL won geographi-
cal area (GA) of Au-
rangabad and Ahmed-
nagar during 9th round
of bidding of PNGRB,
throughawhollyowned
subsidiary Bharat Gas
Resources Ltd (BGRL).
KIAIndiasalesrise8.5%inFeb
KIA had dispatched
16,702 units cars to
dealers in February
New Delhi (PTI): KIA
India on Wednesday
said its sales increased
8.5% YoY to 18,121
units in February. The
automaker had dis-
patched 16,702 units
to dealers in February
2021. The company said
it continues to remain
one of the top five sell-
ing car manufacturers
in the country, owing to
the consistent perfor-
mance of its products.
Bajaj Auto sales
dip 16% in Feb
Wewalkthatvery
finelinebetween
toplineandbot-
tomlineandcannot
compromiseonthetop
linevolumepartbyin-
creasingthepricesas
muchasthecostincreas-
es.Ontheotherhand,the
bottomlinecannotbene-
glected.Itisacontinuous
processandwewillcon-
tinuouslymonitorit.
—Shashank Srivastava,
Executive Director,Maruti
Suzuki India
2,81,714 units sale of TVS in Feb
MARUTI SUZUKI SEES MARGINAL
INCREASE IN PRODUCTION IN FEB
New Delhi (PTI):
TVS Motor Company
registered sales of
281,714 units in Feb-
ruary 2022 as against
sales of 297,747
units in the month
of February 2021.
Total two-wheelers
registered sales of
267,625 units in Feb-
ruary 2022 as against
sales of 284,581
units in Feb 2021.
Domestic two-wheel-
er registered sales of
173,198 units in Feb
2022 as against sales
of 195,145 units in
February 2021.
New Delhi (PTI):Maruti
Suzuki India said its
production witnessed a
marginal increase last
month. In regulatory fil-
ing, auto major reported
production of 1,69,692
units in Feb, compared
to 1,68,180 units in
same month last year.
MSI said passenger ve-
hicle production stood
at 1,65,672 units last
month, against 1,65,783
units in Feb last year.
New Delhi (PTI): Bajaj
Auto on Wednesday
reported a 16 per cent
drop in its total sales to
3,16,020 units in Febru-
ary. The company had
sold 3,75,017 units in
February 2021. Do-
mestic sales last month
stood at 1,12,747 units
as against 1,64,811
units, down 32%.
Three-wheeler
sales of TVS
Company grew
by 7% from Feb
2021 to 2022
Mumbai: Outgo-
ing SEBI chief Ajay
Tyagi on Wednes-
day said the capital
markets regulator
acted as per its re-
mit and understand-
ing on the National
Stock Exchange
(NSE) case, and
denied any “dilu-
tion” of orders in the
matter. Speaking to
reporters after hand-
ing over the charge
to his successor,
Madhabi Puri Buch,
Tyagi said the NSE
case pertains to
events between
2010-2015, and the
regulator started
investigations under
him in the “right
earnest”.
Factory growth
accelerated in
February
...May claw back
some of his shares

COVID-19
UPDATE
WORLD
5,986,736
TOTAL DEATHS
371,820,005
TOTAL RECOVERED
61,455,160
ACTIVE CASES
439,261,901
TOTAL CASES
INDIA
514,246
TOTAL DEATHS
42,338,673
TOTAL RECOVERED
85,680
ACTIVE CASES
42,938,599
TOTAL CASES
08
2NDFRONT
BIZMAN ENDS LIFE BY
POISON, STRANGULATION
First India Bureau
Rajkot: In a shocking
incident, a re-
nowned busi-
nessman and
leader of the
Patidar com-
munity died
by suicide at
his office on
150 feet ring
road on
Wednesday.
According to offi-
cials, businessman Ma-
h e n d r a
Faldu left his home at
8:30 am for his office lo-
cated on 150 feet ring
road in the Nakshatra
building. He consumed
poison and strangled
himself. On Tuesday, he
had informed his office
staff to come late.
According to details,
before taking this ex-
treme step, he circu-
lated a suicide note
among media houses
blaming the Ozone
group of Ahmedabad
and his directors for
harassing him and for
not preparing the due
documents of property
worth around Rs33
crore.
It is learnt that Faldu
was involved in buying
around a five lakh vaar
(45 lakh square feet)
plot in a project ‘the
Taskin Beach city’ in
Baldana village, Bavla
taluka of Ahmedabad
district in 2007. Since
then, he had been plead-
ing the directors to
ready the papers. In-
stead, the directors kept
threatening him and
other investors and tor-
tured him and others by
saying that the group
had a strong relation-
ship with the police and
the political leaders.
Rajkot standing
committee chairman
Pushkar Patel, a close
friend of Faldu, was
deeply saddened by
the incident.
First India Bureau
Surat: Three persons
have been arrested for
allegedly forging reg-
istration certificate
(RC) books of vehi-
cles, Aadhaar cards
and voter IDs to help
people secure loans to
buy two-wheelers and
forge payment re-
ceipts of fines for traf-
fic violations in Surat
district.
One of the accused
Vishwanath Sav
would supply dupli-
cate receipts of pay-
ment of fines to
agents of regional
transport office
(RTO), confirmed an
official from Dindoli
police station.
The police seized
materials used to
forge duplicate docu-
ments from Sav’s resi-
dence and arrested
two RTO agents in
this connection.
Sav charged Rs2,000
for a fake RC book and
Rs1,000 to Rs1,500 for
bogus Aadhaar card
and voter ID, added
the official.
“The accused was
in touch with the RTO
agents through whom
he would receive
memos of traffic vio-
lations issued by the
police along with the
copy of RC books, and
supply duplicate re-
ceipts of payment,”
said the officer.
The trio has been
booked for forgery
and other relevant
provisions of the In-
dian Penal Code (IPC)
and Information
Technology Act.
Mahendra Faldu left a suicide note blaming Ahmedabad firm
3 held for forging RC books,
Aadhaar cards in Surat
POLICE ARREST SEVEN
VNSGU PREPONES BSC
SEM VI EXAM, STUDENTS
OPPOSE SUDDEN MOVE
GUJ ATS NABS
ABSCONDING MAN
FOR ABDUCTION,
MURDER IN SHIRDI
First India Bureau
Surat: The Veer Nar-
mad South Gujarat Uni-
versity (VNSGU) has
preponed the BSc Se-
mester-6 examination
to March 21, which was
scheduled for April 11.
As soon as the decision
was announced, stu-
dents on Wednesday
submitted a letter to the
registrar demanding
that the university con-
duct the examination as
per the earlier sched-
uled dates.
Student of 6th semes-
ter BSC Vivek Patodia
said, “We went to the
university to put forth
our request to the vice-
chancellor, but he was
unavailable. Then we
reached the registrar.
He said, “The meeting
of the syndicate is to be
held after eight days,
and all your questions
will be discussed
there”.”
The students added,
“We have been prepar-
ing as per the previous
timeline. The sudden
change in the examina-
tion dates will hamper
our studies. We still
have a lot of revisions
left to our syllabus.
Most of us had planned
the preparations, ac-
cordingly
.”
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: The
Gujarat Anti-Ter-
rorist Squad (ATS)
has arrested a
man, who was
wanted for the ab-
duction and mur-
der of a Kolkata-
based jeweller,
from neighbouring
state Maharash-
tra, on Wednesday.
A team of the ATS
nabbed the accused
Vishal Sharma from
Shirdi and brought
him to Ahmedabad
for questioning, said
an official.
Sharma, a native
of Delhi, was wanted
by the police in Kol-
kata and Odisha,
with the latter having
announced a reward
of Rs 50,000 for infor-
mation on his where-
abouts, the ATS said
in a statement.
On February 14,
jeweller Shantilal
Vaid (66) was found
strangled to death at
a guest house in Kol-
kata’s Bhowanipore
area. Vaid had been
abducted and his
family had been
asked to pay a ran-
som of Rs1 crore, of
which they had paid
Rs 25 lakh.
Kolkata police be-
gan an investigation
based on the CCTV
footage and evidence
from the crime scene.
Later, the police at
Cuttack and Bhu-
baneswar of Odisha
had also joined the
probe.
Gujarat ATS had
received informa-
tion that the accused
was hiding in a hotel
in Ahmedabad’s
Raipur Darwaza
area. However, fol-
lowing a probe, it
was discovered that
he was hiding in
Shirdi after chang-
ing his identity.
First India Bureau
Navsari: In broad day-
light, a BJP leader from
Bilimora town was bru-
tally attacked and later
shifted to Surat in a seri-
ousconditionforfurther
treatment. As the first
informationreportfiling
processisstillgoingonit
is unclear, whether the
attack was because of a
business or political ri-
valry
, or due to some so-
cial or personal dispute.
Theattack,wasrecorded
on a CCTV camera from
the opposite end.
The Gandevi Police
Station officer told First
India that police sub-in-
spector SC Ahir and his
team had reached the
spot and have started in-
vestigations. Later, Ahir
left for Surat to record
the statement and FIR
from the victim, BJP
party leader in Bilimora
NagarpalikaHarishOde.
The police team have
collected the CCTV foot-
age, where it is visible
that as Ode moves out of
his car, a person holds
himfrombackandstarts
beatinghim.Meanwhile,
a four-wheeler arrives,
from which four to five
armed persons get down
and start beating Ode. A
few minutes later, they
flee in the car leaving be-
hind a brutally beaten
Ode on the road. No one
present on the scene in-
tervened or stopped the
goons. After they fled,
someonecalledtheemer-
gency medical services,
and Ode was rushed to
the Bilimora hospital.
Finding him in critical
condition, doctors re-
ferred him to Surat civil
hospital.
Students submitted a letter to demand exams as scheduled earlier.
CCTV footage showing goons beating BJP leader Harish Ode.
Bilimora BJP leader attacked
by group of goons on busy street
Velanpur PHC officer mowed down by dumper
Rinkal Patel, 25-year old Commu-
nity Health Officer with the Velan-
pur Primary Health Centre, died
on Wednesday morning due to a
heavy commercial vehicle (HCV). A
resident of Balwada village of the
Chikhli taluka, Rinkal was walking on
the service road, just a few hundred
yards away from her residence,
when a dumper (HCV) hit her from
behind, seriously injuring her. She
was rushed to the Chikhli govern-
ment hospital, but while undergoing
treatment, she succumbed to her
injuries. Police have registered a
case of rash and negligent driving
against the dumper driver. They are
searching for him.
Vishal
Sharma had
been on the
run for killing
Kolkata-
based
jeweller
Shantilal Vaid
Challenges are gifts- they force us to
open new doors, grow and bloom in
new climates. Embrace them!
—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO Editor-in-Chief, First India
1982 BATCH IAS TO CELEBRATE REUNION
AT LBSNAA TO MARK 40 YEARS OF SERVICE
Rakesh Ranjan
New Delhi: The
1982-batch IAS officers
will hold a reunion at
the Lal Bahadur Shastri
Academy of Adminis-
tration (LBSNAA, Mus-
soorie) on June 3-4 to
celebrate the 40th anni-
versary of their service.
Some of them may avail
of the optional third-day
stay on June 5.
Top bureaucrat of the
batch and current Un-
ion Cabinet Secretary
Rajiv Gauba may also
grace the occasion and
be part of his batch-
mates on the reunion
day. Indianmandarins
has learned that of 109
officers (serving re-
tired), 65 have con-
firmed their participa-
tion whereas nine have
regretted their absence
for pressing reasons
with some of them pre-
scheduled to undertake
foreign trips.
Interestingly, the ten-
tative program suggests
that horse riding may
be among the daring
sports activities. The ex-
citing program sched-
ule has one interesting
item: Bed Time: For
those who want to sleep.
The 2nd day (conclud-
ing day) of the reunion
would mark the evening
(called Dinner + Hun-
gama at LBSNAA) will
reportedly be coordi-
nated by former Union
Tourism Secretary
Rashmi Verma and for-
mer Chief Secretary of
UP Deepak Singhal.
Top bureaucrat of
batch, current Union
Cabinet Secy Gauba
may also grace event
Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie.
The deceased businessman Mahendra Faldu.

grew up watching
Dilip Kumar in
tragic roles, he is
my Dad’s favourite ,
but I fell for him
when I watched Ko-
hinoor, what a rol-
licking comedy with none
other than Meena Kumari
and then Ram aur Shyam
and I haven’t found anyone
to date with better comic
timing and swashbuckling
attitude.
If you have watched See-
ta aur Geeta and Chaal-
baaz, you might have a
déjà vu moment or two but
very soon Dilip Kumar will
draw you in and it will be
him all the way, but I sim-
ply must put in a word for
Pran as the totally amazing
diabolic villain, Gajendra.
The music – deep and sin-
ister- whenever Pran steps
into the frame is a delight
as is his stylish attire with
leather boots, jodhpuris
and the moustache.
For me, the movie gives
a glimpse into how child-
hood abuse and trauma can
shape a person’s character
and mark him/her forever
as it does with Ram who is
a scared, timid man unable
to stand him up for himself
or his family while his
twin Shyam is a happy-go-
lucky, confident, daring
and swaggering man. I
would have liked to write
youth but even a big fan of
the thespian like me can’t
stretch the truth so much,
he was close to 45 years but
his acting prowess makes
you forget that.
In spite of Dilip Kumar
in a double role and Pran,
the movie actually does do
justice to both its heroines,
the absolutely beautiful
Waheeda Rehman and the
chirpy pretty Mumtaz,
both are women of spirit
and we are spared the sac-
rifice and sobs. Young
Mumtaz manages to hold
her win despite the strong
and senior co-stars.
And now the music, this
time I have kept the music
for the end because frankly
except for Aaj ki raat mere
dil ki salaami le le (which is
one of my favs); Aayi hain
baharein is a sermon, Main
hun saaqi tu hai sharaabi is
a drag, Balam tere pyaar ki
aag is still tolerable.
I love the scene of the
face-off when Ram (actu-
ally Shyam) refuses the
sign the papers, right from
sliding down the balus-
trade, arrogantly whistling
in Pran’s glowering face,
mimicking the munim to
the point of thrashing Pran
with his own whip in the
shadow of the growling
menacing stuffed tiger as
the metaphor, I like it all
except Nirupa Roy slap-
ping Shyam for bestowing
justice, that I hated.
My all-time favourite
scene is when in the climax
Pran forcibly gets Shyam to
sign the property papers
thinking he is Ram and
brandishing a pistol tells
him to sign his name. Dilip
Kumar does, in Hindi, Urdu
and English with a smi-
ley… wouldn’t you fall in
love with such a hero?
ANITA HADA
anita.hada@firstindianews.com
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia
facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia 09
AHMEDABAD, THURSDAY,
MARCH 3, 2022
DOUBLE
DOUBLE
TROUBLE
THIS THROWBACK THURSDAY, WE BRING
YOU RAM AUR SHYAM, WHICH WAS THE
ORIGINAL FLICK TO THE REMAKES WITH
THE SAME PLOTLINE - SEETA AUR GEETA,
CHAALBAAZ AND KISHEN KANHAIYA AND
BELIEVE ME DILIP KUMAR DOES SHOW
THE WAY, EVEN TODAY!
I

10
ETC
F
A
C
E
O
F
T
H
E
D
A
Y
SUHANI SHARMA, MODEL
ARIES
MAR 21 - APR 20
Investment
antiques and
jewellery would
bring handsome
financial gains.
On professional
front, recognition
for good work
would motivate
you to work harder. Efforts made to
improve personality will bring desired
results. Those awaiting an affirmation on
romantic front are likely to get lucky.
LIBRA
SEPT 24 - OCTOBER 22
You succeed
in completing
an important
project well
before deadline.
Disagreements
on the family
front are
foreseen. Be
careful about the legal apprehensions
in the property you are planning to buy.
Your intuition will save you from a tricky
spot today.
TAURUS
APR 21 - MAY 20
A sound
financial health
of businessmen
would enable to
give monetary
benefits to
employees. Your
sole dependency
on friends may
fail to bring any respite from loneliness
today. It is good day to confess your love
as stars appear favourable for positive
reply.
SCORPIO
OCT 23 - NOVEMBER 22
You will have an
awesome day
today .Continue
to put in efforts at
work and you will
see promising
opportunities
coming your
way. Matrimonial
match for siblings will bring happiness
for entire family. You will get a good price
for your property. Seek proper valuation
of the property you are planning to buy.
GEMINI
MAY 21 - JUNE 21
Health tips from
an expert will
enable you to
get closer to
your fitness
goals. Chances
of being misled
by competitors
in business are
high. Your generous behavior would
enable to enjoy some lovely moments
with family. Love comes your way as
friendship turns into romance.
SAGITTARIUS
NOV 23 - DEC 22
Implementation
of new ideas
and projects
would add to
your prestige on
the professional
front. A sound
monetary
position would
enable you to keep pace with changing
times. Avoid raising controversial issues
at home to maintain harmony. It is a
wonderful day to build new connections.
CANCER
JUNE 22 - JULY 23
Some of you
are going to
experience
emotional
fulfillment on
romantic front.
Yoga would help
in raising your
energy levels.
Place emphasis on domestic affairs
to enhance the domestic tranquility.
Associating yourself with humanitarian
group on social front would benefit you.
CAPRICORN
DEC 23 - JAN 20
Seek the opinion
of your family
before finalizing
a property deal.
An impromptu
invitation to a
function from an
unexpected friend
is likely to be
received. Your bold initiatives on romantic
front bring back passion and spark in
romantic relationship. Your intuition will
save you from a tricky spot today.
LEO
JULY 24 - AUGUST 23
Your hard work
and dedication
are likely to
be noticed
by seniors,
paving way for
promotion or
increment. Family
will be supportive
of career aspirations. A promising day
overall as you stay in limelight without
any efforts. Harsh words may create a rift
in your romantic relationship; be careful.
AQUARIUS
JAN 21 - FEB 19
Those suffering
from chronic
ailments may
find remarkable
improvement in
their health with
home remedies.
Today you will
enjoy the trust
of senior management. Minor domestic
disputes may snowball into a major row,
so give attention to the family. Rewards
and recognition will come your way.
VIRGO
AUG 24 - SEP 23
You will succeed
in resolving
disputes with
family members,
normalizing ties.
Seek proper
valuation of the
property you
are planning to
buy. You will remain much in demand
on social front. You need to stand by
romantic partner during testing times to
make the relationship stronger.
PISCES
FEB20 - MARCH 20
Paying special
attention to plan
your career would
give immense
joy. You are likely
to get clearance
or approval for
your construction
plans. You find
things moving in the way you want them.
Gifting something to your beloved is likely
to make the day memorable. You are
likely to receive invaluable guidance.
YOUR
DAY
Horoscope by
Saurabbh Sachdeva
The Gold
The Gold
Standard
Standard
in Post–
in Post–
Graduation:
Graduation:
MBA
MBA
MUNIRA LOKHANDWALA
The writer is a personal
development skills facilitator.
veryone talks
about the man-
tra ‘Maximize
Returns and
M i n i m i z e
Risk’ when it
comes to in-
vestments but only
some of us see that
even our education is
an investment: in terms
of time, effort and, of
course, money. So, the
most important ques-
tion that you need to
answer for yourself or
your children; especial-
ly during these uncer-
tain times is: What
course should I or my
child pursue to opti-
mize both in terms of
risk and return?
As automation in-
creases throughout the
world, the skill that
overrides other skills is
the skill or rather the
art of management.
Starting with the obvi-
ous i.e. management of
people to the more ex-
otic i.e. management of
campaigns based on
text analytics, manage-
ment is now an essen-
tial part of any activity
.
Here are some other
reasons why doing an
MBA should be the next
logical step to start or
enhance your career.
ENTRY OR ADVANCEMENT
REQUIREMENTS
To have a corporate career, we
need to apply and qualify for a
corporate job. If you notice
most of the entry-level posi-
tionsinglobalorganizationsis
‘ManagementTrainee’.Thisis
not a misnomer; these organi-
zations have the policy to hire
candidates with a master’s in
Business Administration. For
other companies, even if they
hire non-MBA candidates at
entry-level positions, they still
requireanMBAforjobpromo-
tions, so employees cannot ad-
vance beyond certain levels
without an MBA.
MBA PAY PACKAGES
Some of the reasons we spend
more than half of our day at
a job are long term security
and salary. Both of these cri-
teria are automatic benefits
of an MBA degree. If you
compare the average income
of candidates with different
educational backgrounds
then you will see that employ-
ees with an MBA earn more
than employees without an
MBA qualification. MBAs do
not just earn more they may
earn as much as twice the
amount that a graduate will
be earning on average.
(Source: GMAC1)
The average starting salary
of an MBA in India is Rs. 4.5
lakh per annum. Considering
that the cost of an MBA starts
from 3 lakhs, the standard
time to recover your invest-
ment for your MBA education
is 2 to 3 years.
HIGH DEMAND FOR MBAS
Internationally, 77% of the
U.S. employers and 87% of
companies in the Asia Pacific
plan to hire an MBA graduate.
Indian Express states that ‘
Ac-
cording to survey respond-
ents, demand for MBA gradu-
ates by the technology indus-
try is anticipated to increase
by 10 per cent in 2021 com-
pared to pre-pandemic 2020
levels. In fact, with 96 per cent
of tech recruiters projecting
to hire MBA graduates in
2021, the demand for manage-
ment talents tops the previous
three years.2’ So if you have
done an MBA, you do not need
to worry about getting a job.
The demand for MBAs has
been constantly high in the
past and will continue to be so.
FLEXIBLE JOB ROLES AND
INDUSTRIES
One of the most important
advantages is the flexibility
that an MBA offers concern-
ing its specialization. This
ensures that irrespective of
the industry and the job pro-
file that you are targeting
there will be an MBA to suit
your purpose. Don’t just be-
lieve me; have a look at some
of the specializations: Con-
sulting, Strategic Manage-
ment, General Management,
Analytics, Marketing, Fi-
nance, Operations, Human
Resources, International
Business, Entrepreneurship
and the list goes on..!
BUSINESS NETWORKING
Networking has been contrib-
uted immensely to business
success and an MBA is the
only educational program
that teaches you this skill or-
ganically
. As an MBA student,
you’ll interact with fellow stu-
dents, professors and other
teaching staff such as doctor-
ate students (all of them have
great management experi-
ence). Besides this, most im-
portantly
, you will also be able
to access the extensive alumni
network of that particular
MBA programme. As a part
of outreach programs and/or
placement processes, you will
touch base with industry
leaders and interact with
them. You will also go to com-
pany visits, which will add to
your learning experience.
Full-time MBA programs are
breeding grounds for friend-
ships that last lifetimes. If
you check the Startup envi-
ronment, companies are in-
evitably launched by batch-
mates which bring us to the
next benefit of doing an MBA.
ENTREPRENEURIAL SKILLS
AND RESOURCES
Most of the current start-up
environment is driven by in-
dividuals with an MBA. This
is hardly surprising consider-
ing that the culture at a busi-
ness school fosters entrepre-
neurship skills. Be it speciali-
zation in Entrepreneurship
or Business Plan Competi-
tions, the MBA curriculum
and environment encourages
students to explore ideas and
bring them to fruition.
A lot of MBA colleges in India
(including the IIMs) and
abroad (including Harvard
which has the Harvard Inno-
vation Lab) also have Incuba-
tion Centres. Incubation cen-
tres or as they are called Incu-
bators are institutions that
assist entrepreneurs in devel-
oping their business and solv-
ing problems associated with
it, especially in the initial
stages, by providing an array
of business and technical ser-
vices, initial seed funds, lab
facilities, advisory, network
and linkages.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Munira Lokhandwala has
been an educationist in the
post-graduate sector for the
past twenty years. She is an
alumna of IIM Kolkatta and a
Wiley –published author. She
has scored 100%ile in the CAT
Entrance Exam for MBA in
IIMs. She has launched CAT-
4Sure – First Residential Pro-
gramme for CAT.
E

P
rabhas was spotted in
Mumbai for the grand
trailer launch of his up-
coming film Radhe Shy-
am. The trailer was launched
on Wednesday. The actor
opted for a super comfy look
and oozes swag at the airport.
Reportedly, Prabhas and Pooja
Hegde also interacted with
the media and answered
questions regarding the
movie. Prabhas, along with
team ‘Radhe Shyam’, will be
extensively touring
major cities
across India
- Mumbai,
Delhi, Chen-
nai, Kochi, and
others. —Agency
ften known
as the Mar-
wadi king of
c o m e d y ,
Panya Sepat
is a famous
Rajasthani
actor and comedian.
This well-known en-
tertainer has ap-
peared in a string of
movies such as Pan-
ya Sepat Mussal Ki
Padhai, Musal Ki
Shadi, Panya Sepat
Ki Yatra and Laadli.
Deepak Meena, fa-
mously known as
Panya was recently
elected as the Brand
Ambassador of
Swach Bharat Ab-
hiyaan, shared
this journey
in a conver-
sation with
City First.
While
t a l k i n g
about the
S w a c h
B h a r a t
A b h i -
yaan he
said, “I
want to
thank Nagar Nigam
heritage city for
choosing me for this
Nobel cause. I was
born in a heritage
city and it’s our right
to keep our city clean
and safe, I will en-
courage my fans and
the general public to
keep our state clean.
He also shared his
opinion on the cur-
rent scenario of the
Rajasthani film and
said, “Government
is taking steps for
the upliftment of
Rajasthani cinema
and soon condition
will improve, I am
hoping for a ‘Good
News’ soon! He also
shared a beautiful
message for his fans
in a melodious
bhajan. “Samay
Samy mei hot hain,
yeh samay samay ki
baat, ek samay mei
din bada or ek samay
ki raat”, and said
“corona has
changed every-
thing, mostly
our way of
living and
now it is im-
portant to
keep our
surround-
ings clean
and main-
tain social
d i s t a n c -
ing”.
O
ETC
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia AHMEDABAD | THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2022
11
Jaipur-Delhi Highway, NH 11, Kukas, Rajasthan 302 028. Phone: 01426 350 000 Email: reservations.jaipur@theleela.com
The Leela Palace Jaipur turns 1 today.
COMEDY KA DUSRA
NAAM- SEPAT!
UTTKARSHA SHEKHAR
Uttkarshashekhar@firstindial.co.in
SHILPA SHARES FIRST
MOTION POSTER
S
hilpa Shetty
Kundra took
to her Insta-
gram space
and announced her
new film Sukhee.
The film will be di-
rected by Sonal
Joshi and produced
under the banners
of Gulshan Kumar
and Bhushan Ku-
mar’s T-Series in as-
sociation with
Vikram Malhotra
and Shikhaa Shar-
ma’s Abundantia
Entertainment. In
the poster,
she can be
seen wearing a sal-
war suit and holding
several household
items in her hands
like a rolling pin, an
iron, a vegetable, a
wallet, a watch, and
a medicine box. It
can be assumed that
she might be essay-
ing the role of a
homemaker. The
words ‘Vedhadak
Besharam Be-
parwah’ is
written just below
the title of her film.
We also see several
avatars of Shilpa do-
ing a variety of
things like riding a
bike, a horse, danc-
ing, and singing. It
will be exciting to
know how all these
avatars connect
in the film.
—Agency
Grand Trailer
Launch
BALIKA IN
KHATRON?
T
here is an im-
mense buzz
around Khatron
Ke Khiladi 12.
Now and then we have
speculations about the
contestants of the
show. A lot of names of
TV celebrities are float-
ing around as the con-
testant of Rohit Shet-
ty’s stunt-based real-
ity show. Now, anoth-
er name has been
added to the list.
Yeh Rishta Kya Ke-
hlta Hai fame Shi-
vangi Joshi is al-
legedly making
her way to Khatron
Ke Khiladi 12.
—Agency
Panya Sepat
Shivangi Joshi
Pooja Hegde
Shilpa Shetty Kundra

03032022 first india ahmedabad

03032022 first india ahmedabad

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