First india ahmedabad edition-09 march 2021

First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: The Guja-
rat High Court has pro-
posed to direct the state
regarding protection of
women from social ex-
clusion during menstru-
ation. In its interim di-
rection, it has asked the
state to prohibit social
exclusion of women on
the basis of their men-
strual status at all plac-
es, be it private or pub-
lic, religious or educa-
tional.
Adivisionbenchcom-
prising Justice JB
Pardiwala and Justice
Ilesh Vora has been
hearing a public inter-
est litigation (PIL) filed
by a Nirjhari Sinha
through advocate
Megha Jani. The peti-
tioner has approached
the court with a prayer
for a law that specifical-
ly deals with exclusion-
ary practices against
women on the basis of
their menstrual status.
The petition has come
up for hearing amidst
the background of me-
dia reports about girl
students being subject-
ed to physical ‘checks’
and put under isolation
in hostel rooms during
menstruation in Kutch.
The court on Monday
asked the state as well as
the central government
to file an affidavit stat-
ing their stance on the
issue by March 30, when
thematterhasbeenkept
for further hearing.
It observed, “The
state government
should spread aware-
ness among its citizens
regarding social exclu-
sion of women on the
basis of their menstrual
status through various
mediums such as put-
ting up posters at public
places, including them
in the school curricu-
lum, using audio visual
mediums like radio, en-
tertainment/newschan-
nels, short films, among
others.”
Turn to P6
Ban social exclusion of menstruating women: Guj HC
TAKING A STAND
The court has also directed the
state and central govts to file af-
fidavits on the issue by March 30
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
AHMEDABAD l TUESDAY, MARCH 9, 2021 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/16208 l Vol 2 l Issue No. 103
OUR EDITIONS: JAIPUR, AHMEDABAD & LUCKNOW
PM SALUTES AATMANIRBHAR
womenpreneurs, shops online
Modi-Shah peddling lies
on women’s safety: Didi
Kolkata: Chief minis-
ter Mamata Banerjee
on Monday sharpened
her attack on Prime
Minister Narendra
Modi and Union home
minister Amit Shah
amid escalating friction
between her Trinamool
Congress (TMC) and
the Bharatiya Janata
Party in the run-up to
the West Bengal Assem-
bly Election 2021.
Banerjee, while ad-
dressing a rally at the
tail end of a roadshow
from College Street to
the Dorina Crossing
area in Kolkata, alleged
that the Prime Minister
and Shah were “ped-
dling lies” regarding
women’s security in
West Bengal.
“They [the BJP] are
saying that women
aren’t safe in West Ben-
gal. Had there been no
safety
, women in Bengal
would not have been
able to move around
freely at night,” Baner-
jee said, rebutting PM
Modi’s assertion that
the women feel unsafe
in the state. Turn to P6
New Delhi: Prime Min-
ister Narendra Modi on
Monday said women
are playing a leading
role in India’s quest to
become self-reliant.
On the occasion of
International Women’s
Day, he took to Twitter
and shared a list of
products he bought
from women entrepre-
neurs of the country
and lauded their efforts
for preserving and pop-
ularising local crafts
and products. “Women
are playing a leading
role in India’s quest to
become Aatmanirbhar.
On International Wom-
en’s Day, let us commit
to encouraging entre-
preneurship among
women. Today, I bought
a few products that cel-
ebrate women enter-
prise, creativity and
India’s culture. #Nar-
iShakti,” he tweeted.
The prime minister
further said that he had
bought a ‘Gamusa’
made by various self-
help groups of Kakati-
papung Development
Block, a handmade jute
file folder from tribal
communities of West
Bengal and a tradition-
al shawl from Naga-
land.
He also bought a Kha-
di Cotton Madhubani
Painted Stole, a hand-
crafted Gond Paper
Painting made by tribal
communities and a
h a n d - e m b ro i d e re d
Shawl made by artisans
of the Toda Tribe of Ta-
mil Nadu. “I am eagerly
waiting for a Classic
Palm Craft Nilavilakku
made by women based
in Kerala,” PM Modi
tweeted. “Saluting our
indomitable #Nar-
iShakti on Internation-
al Women’s Day! India
takes pride in the many
accomplishments of
the women of our na-
tion. It is our govern-
ment’s honour to be get-
ting the opportunity to
work towards further-
ing women empower-
ment across a wide
range of sectors,” he
tweeted. —ANI
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing the National Committee to commemorate ‘Azadi ka Amrut
Mahotsav’, through video conferencing, in New Delhi on Monday. —PHOTO BY ANI, SEE P6
Scindia could’ve been
a CM in Cong: Rahul
Batla House case: IM man
convicted for killing cop New Delhi: BJP leader
Jyotiraditya Scindia
could have become
chief minister with the
Congress but has be-
come a backbencher in
the BJP, said Congress
leader Rahul Gandhi on
Monday
.
According to sources,
while speaking to the
Youth Wing of the party
about the importance
of Congress organisa-
tion, Gandhi said, “He
(Scindia) would have
become the Chief Min-
ister had he stayed with
Congress but has be-
come a backbencher in
the BJP
. Scindia had the
option to strengthen the
organisation by work-
ing with Congress
workers. I told him -
One day you will be-
come the Chief Minis-
ter. But he chose anoth-
er route.”
The Gandhi scion, ac-
cording to sources, fur-
ther said, “Write it
down, he will never be-
come Chief Minister
there. He will have to
come back here for
that.” He also instruct-
ed the Youth party
workers to fight the ide-
ology of RSS and not be
afraid of anyone.
Notably, Scindia had
resigned from the Con-
gress party and joined
the BJP in March last
year. —ANI
New Delhi: A court
hereonMondayconvict-
ed Ariz Khan, allegedly
associated with the ter-
roroutfitIndianMujahi-
deen, for the murder of
Delhi police inspector
Mohan Chand Sharma
in a case related to 2008
Batla House encounter
which was questioned
by certain political par-
ties and leaders.
Additional Sessions
Judge Sandeep Yadav
said “the evidence pro-
duced by the prosecu-
tion duly proved the
case beyond reasonable
doubts.”
The judge said that it
was “duly proved that
Ariz Khan and his asso-
ciates caused murder of
police official and fired
gunshot on the police
official.”
The court will hear
arguments on the quan-
tum of sentence on
March 15.
Ariz Khan faces a
maximum punishment
of death penalty while
the minimum sentence
for murder is life im-
prisonment. He was ar-
rested on February 14,
2018, after a decade be-
ing on run.
The judgement as-
sumes importance as
Congress leader Digvi-
jay Singh had voiced his
doubts over the police
claims about the en-
counter and Samajwadi
Party and Bahujan Sa-
maj Party (BSP) had
also demanded a judi-
cial inquiry into the
matter.
FIVE TMC MLAS JOIN BJP AHEAD
OF WEST BENGAL POLLS
Kolkata: In a significant development ahead of
West Bengal Assembly polls, five sitting TMC
MLAs and a party candidate who was allotted a
seat from Habibpur joined BJP on Monday. TMC
MLAs Sonali Guha, Dipendu Biswas, Rabindranath
Bhattacharya, Sital Sardar and Jatu Lahiri joined
BJP in presence of WB BJP prez Dilip Ghosh, BJP
V-P Mukul Roy and party leader Suvendu Adhikari.
7 JULY 1935 – 8 MARCH 2021
Ex-Raj Guv Anshuman Singh
dies due to COVID at 86
Lucknow: Former Governor
of Rajasthan Anshuman Sin-
gh died at a Lucknow hospital
on Monday, a month after he
was admitted there with cor-
onavirus-related pneumonia.
He was 86. Singh was admit-
ted to Lucknow’s Sanjay Gan-
dhi Postgraduate Institute of
Medical Sciences due to COV-
ID pneumonia on February 8
and was later admitted to a
non-COVID ICU. “Subse-
quently, his condition wors-
ened and led to a multi-organ
failure requiring life support
system,” hospital said in the
statement, adding that he
died at 4.30 am on Monday
.
Raj Governor Kalraj
Mishra, CM Ashok Gehlot
and others condoled Singh’s
demise. Singh had taken
charge as Raj Governor on
Jan, 1999 & remained in office
till May 2003.
HAVE HIGHEST
RESPECT FOR
WOMANHOOD:
CJI BOBDE
New Delhi: The Chief
Justice of India SA
Bobde on Monday
said that as an
institution and Court,
“We have always had
the highest respect
for womanhood” and
have never asked
a rape accused to
marry the victim.
A three-judge bench
headed by Chief
Justice Bobde
maintained that the
Court has the highest
respect for woman-
hood as an institu-
tion, and there was
“misreporting” on its
recent queries in a
rape case. “We never
asked anyone to
marry,” Chief Justice
said. His query to
rape accused -- ‘Will
you marry her?’ was
in the facts of that
case, Turn to P6
Conversations about “how dark” their baby’s skin tone would be. A rift between Prince Harry and his father so deep that Harry said his father
at one point “stopped taking my calls.” And Meghan, Duchess of Sussex saying she “just didn’t want to be alive anymore.” These were
some of the shocking details described by Harry and Meghan in an exclusive interview with Oprah Winfrey, the first they have given since
they stepped away from official royal duties last year. They said they would have stayed had they gotten support from the royal family.
MEGHAN ACCUSES UK
ROYALS OF RACISM, SAYS
‘DIDN’T WANT TO BE ALIVE’
EXPLOSIVES
OUTSIDE
AMBANI HOUSE:
NIA TO PROBE
Mumbai: Two days
after the BJP raised
questions over the
circumstances sur-
rounding the death of
Mansukh Hiren, the
owner of the stolen
Mahindra Scorpio
found with explosives
and a threat letter
outside the residence
of billionaire Mukesh
Ambani on February
25, the Centre handed
over the probe to the
National Investigation
Agency (NIA).The
NIA is currently in the
process of registering
a case, Turn to P6

NEWS
AHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, MARCH 9, 2021
02
Haresh Jhala
Gandhinagar: Put-
ting to rest all specu-
lations regarding
early state legislative
assembly elections,
Chief Minister Vijay
Rupani on Monday
clarified that the state
will go to polls as
scheduled in Decem-
ber 2022 and not any
sooner.
Addressing the ru-
mours, Rupani said,
“These speculations
have started doing
rounds because the
Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) is doing very well
in electorate politics
and securing wins in
one state after the other.
But the presumption
that it will hold assem-
bly elections early in
the state is just a specu-
lation and it has no
foundation. When the
state government is en-
joying full majority in
the House and the con-
fidence of the people,
why will it choose to go
in for early elections?
This government will
respect the mandate of
the public and complete
its five-year term in of-
fice.”
Meanwhile, Minister
of State for Forest, En-
vironment and Tribal
Affairs Raman Patkar
on Sunday addressed
mediapersons in Umar-
gam of Valsad district
and stated, “There is a
pro-BJP wave in the
country and the party is
winning one after an-
other state. If it wins
the West Bengal assem-
bly elections, the state
parliamentary board
and the BJP Gujarat
and national leadership
are of the view that the
state assembly polls be
held early to capitalize
on the growing support
for the party. An an-
nouncement may be
made regarding the
same soon.”
In the recently con-
cluded Gujarat local
body elections, the BJP
grabbed power in all six
municipal corporations
and 31 district panchay-
ats up for polls. It also
secured majority in the
taluka panchayats and
nagarpalikas, where
the Congress party
failed to gain seats in
double digits even.
One may argue that
this would be an appro-
priate time to hit the
Congress party hard
again by announcing
early assembly polls,
considering the disor-
ganized shape it is in
and also recovering
from the drubbing it re-
ceived in the local body
polls. But, politically,
themovemaybetermed
‘suicidal’ on part of the
ruling party solely be-
causeGujaratisalready
a stronghold of the BJP
and it does not foresee
any threat from the
Congress in the near fu-
ture. Therefore, going
up against the opposi-
tion party when it is
down may prove to be
unfruitful.
CM rules out early assembly elections in state
NOT ANYTIME SOON
lll
Ending
all specu-
lations,
Rupani
addressed
the issue
by stating
that polls
would be
conducted
as slated; in
December
2022
Chief Minister Vijay Rupani celebrating BJP's win in local body polls with state unit prez CR Patil. —FILE PHOTO
CONGRESS TO HOLD TRACTOR RALLY
ON 91ST DANDI MARCH ANNIVERSARY
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: To mark
the 91st anniversary
of the Dandi March,
the Gujarat Pradesh
Congress Committee
(GPCC) may take out
a tractor rally on the
route. The act of saty-
agraha (non-violent
resistance) was un-
dertaken by Father of
the Nation Mahatma
Gandhi to protest the
tax levied by British-
ers on salt. According
to sources, a few
changes have been
added to the pro-
gramme owing to the
announcement of
Prime Minister Nar-
endra Modi’s rally on
the day.
The Congress party
had decided to call
Rakesh Tikait, farmer
leader of Bharatiya
Kisan Union (BKU),
and one of the most
well-known agitating
farmers against the
three new agricultural
laws introduced by the
central government.
However, now the party
will hold a protest
march by highlighting
inflation and plight of
farmers.
Last year too, the
opposition party had
planned to retrace
the steps of
‘Bapu’from the Sa-
barmati Ashram to
Dandi by conducting
a Dandi March of its
own in 27 days. It was
slated to commence
from March 12, but
was cancelled due to
the COVID-19 out-
break.
GPCC president Amit
Chavda admitted that
the party had not been
granted permission to
execute the March this
time, but that it will or-
ganize parallel tractor
marches and give voice
to the agitating farm-
ers.
“We will be re-es-
tablishing our resolve
to protect and pro-
mote the values en-
shrined in our Consti-
tution and to emulate
Gandhiji’s thoughts
especially those relat-
ing to truth, peace,
non-violence, and so-
cial harmony,” said
the leader.
Representatives from
all districts across the
state are expected to
join the March.
Mahatma Gandhi leading the Dandi March in 1930. GPCC prez Amit Chavda driving a tractor while campaigning for local body polls. —FILE PHOTO
THE PARTY PLANS ON HIGHLIGHTING PLIGHT OF FARMERS AND PROTEST AGAINST INFLATION
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: In the
last five years, as
many as 11,411 hit-
and-run cases were
reported in the state,
according to data
presented by Minis-
ter of State for Home
Affairs Pradipsinh
Jadeja in the state
legislative assembly
on Monday. In addi-
tion, a total of 5,570
accused drivers and
car owners have not
yet been nabbed by
the police in these
cases.
MLA Vikram Mad-
am of Khambhaliya in
Devbhoomi Dwarka
district had asked a
question about the
traffic regulation sys-
tem in the state. In re-
sponse, Jadeja admit-
ted that the state re-
ported a total of 11, 411
hit-and-run incidents
between 2015 and 2019.
According to the statis-
tics released, 6,727
from the state died in
road accidents in the
last five years, while
6,429 were injured in
road accidents.
The majority of hit-
and-run cases were
reported in Surat,
where 1,642 people
lost their lives in the
last five years. A total
of 945 people lost their
lives in hit-and-run
accidents in
Ahmedabad. In terms
of road accidents, Gu-
jarat ranks 10th
among all the states in
the country, the Road
Accidents in India
2019 report says. The
report also says that
road accident fatali-
ties in the state
dropped by 7.6 percent
in 2019 when com-
pared to 2018.
Govt blames cyclones &
nCoV for LNG terminal delay
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: In re-
sponse to a question
posed by MLA Amrish
Der of Rajula, Amreli
district regarding de-
lay in construction of
a Liquified Natural
Gas (LNG) at Jafrabad
in the district, the
state cited two cy-
clones and the COV-
ID-19 pandemic as
reasons.
DuringQuestionHour
of the ongoing Budget
Sessioninthestatelegis-
lative assembly
, Der had
askedaboutthefirmthat
had been granted the
contractfortheterminal
construction,theproject
timeline and the govern-
ment’s actions if it was
not finished in a timely
manner.
The state informed
the House that Swan
LNG Private Limited
had been given permis-
sion for the terminal’s
construction on Decem-
ber 8, 2016, and also that
the project was nearing
completion after four
years in the making on
December 8, 2020.
The government fur-
ther stated that the pro-
ject had been delayed
when two cyclones hit
the state, namely Okhi
(in 2017) and Vayu (in
2019), which damaged
the construction that
had already been com-
pleted. Post that, the
COVID-19 pandemic
was also a setback in the
timely finish of the ter-
minal. Reiterating that
the holdup was caused
by natural factors, the
company has been
grantedanextensiontill
March 2022, as request-
ed. Also, no action has
been taken against the
contractor, it added.
The cyclone Vayu would have devastated Gujarat had it made
landfall and not turned its direction abruptly —AJIT SOLANKI/AP
Gujarat reported over 11K hit
and-run accidents in last 5 years
Statistics reveal that as many
as 6,727 from the state died in
road accidents, while 6,429
were injured in road accidents

GUJARAT
03
Discrepanciesinindustrialcolonydata:Cong
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: Ques-
tions were raised dur-
ing the ongoing state
legislative assembly
session after Con-
gress MLAs suggest
that there have been
discrepancies in the
records of industrial
colonies in the state.
According to Con-
gress MLA Punja Vansh
of Una constituency in
Gir Somnath district,
despite having tabled
the same question twice
in relation to industrial
data in the House, the
state government had
provided different in-
formation each time.
The MLA says that
he tabled the same
question on March 3
and March 8, but re-
ceived different infor-
mation for both que-
ries. In one of the re-
sponses received on
March 3, it was men-
tioned that there was
not a single colony in
the Tapi district. How-
ever, on Monday, the
data presented men-
tioned that there were
six colonies in the dis-
trict, pertaining to the
same question.
Assembly Speaker
Rajendra Trivedi took
note of the questions
and asked the state gov-
ernment to provide nec-
essary clarification on
the matter.
The state govern-
ment informed the
House that there are a
total of 8,539 indus-
trial colonies in Guja-
rat. It also stated that
around 450 sheds were
lying vacant while a
total of 2,203 such es-
tates had closed down
due to financial
crunch.
GOVT FORMS GOVERNING COUNCIL FOR
GANDHI ASHRAM OVERHAUL
It will comprise 13 members of various sub-organizations with CM Rupani presiding over as chairman
Gargi Raval
Gandhinagar: In a
first, the state govern-
ment has formed a gov-
erning council for the
development of the
Gandhi Ashram Memo-
rial and Precinct Devel-
opment project. Final-
ized on March 05, the
body would be responsi-
ble for the overhaul of
the site into a world-
class memorial paying
an ode to Mahatma
Gandhi. Interestingly,
the Ashram is current-
ly being run by six dif-
ferent trusts/societies.
“To announce such a
governing council is
not done. All the trusts
of the Gandhi (Sabar-
mati) Ashram must
pass a resolution to sur-
render the land and
property, and the char-
ity commissioner
should listen to all the
stakeholders involved.
Nobody has knowledge
about when the plans
for ‘redevelopment’
were finalized. All the
trustees are thugs. Gan-
dhi’s soul has left the
place,” asserted Guja-
rat High Court advocate
Anand Yagnik. He fur-
ther said that Ashram
had lost its moral right
and legacy to represent
Mahatma Gandhi.
The council will com-
prise 13 members and a
chairman namely
Chief Minister Vijay
Rupani. Each member’s
role has been defined to
guide the development
of the project by ensur-
ing smooth coordina-
tion between the cen-
tral government, state
government, urban lo-
cal body Ahmedabad
Municipal Corporation
(AMC) and formal as
well as informal stake-
holders of the project.
According to veteran
journalist and practic-
ing Gandhian Dilip Pa-
tel, the project may be
just a representation of
Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi as a more
prominent figure than
Mahatma Gandhi. “It is
a commercially moti-
vated idea. Mahatma
Gandhi lived a simple
life and promoted that
practice. The Gandhi
Ashram has land worth
Rs4,000 crore. None of
the citizens will come to
know about the happen-
ings in the Ashram,”
said Patel.
Workers sprucing up the Sabarmati Ashram ahead of Prime Minister Modi’s visit on March 12. —FILE PHOTO
555 new nCoV cases,
1 death in Gujarat
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: Keep-
ing with the sharp rise
in COVID-19 cases seen
since the beginning of
the month, the state re-
ported 55 new cases on
Monday
. This has taken
the total tally of the
pandemic to 2,73,941,
since March 2020.
One death was re-
ported from the infec-
tion in the jurisdiction
of the Ahmedabad Mu-
nicipal Corporation
(AMC), the health de-
partment stated in its
COVID-19 bulletin on
the day. The death toll
of the state stands at
4,416.
With 482 more pa-
tients recovering dur-
ing the day, the tally of
discharged cases in-
creased to 2,66,313. The
state’s rate of recovery
rose to 97.22% on Satur-
day, stated a press re-
lease by the health de-
partment.
The number of active
cases stood at 3,212, of
which, 41 patients were
on ventilator support,
while 3,171 were in sta-
ble condition.
AMC registered 126
new COVID-19 cases,
the highest in the state,
followed by Surat Mu-
nicipal Corporation
(90), Vadodara Munici-
pal Corporation (89),
Rajkot Municipal Cor-
poration (35).
Meanwhile, as many
as 15.01 lakh people
were reported to have
been administered the
first dose of the COV-
ID-19 vaccine and 3.57
lakh, the second dose.
Furthermore, over
five districts of Gujarat
did not report a single
COVID-19 case on the
day
.
A COVID-19 testing centre in
Ahmedabad. —FILE PHOTO
First India Bureau
New Delhi/
Ahmedabad: The cen-
tral government is set
to establish a National
Wildlife Disease Diag-
nostic Research and
Referral Centre in the
state. The proposal is
part of the document
for ‘Project Lion’
drafted in consulta-
tion with the Gujarat
government and the
Wildlife Institute of
India.
Minister of State for
Environment, Forest
and Climate Change
Babul Supriyo, provid-
ed the information in
the Rajya Sabha on
Monday, in response to
a question posed by RS
MP Parimal Nathwani.
According to the state-
ment of the minister,
the Project Lion envis-
ages actions aimed at
averting the risk of
extinction of the Asi-
atic lion and ensuring
that its population is
maintained for genera-
tions to come by sus-
taining their scientific
conservation manage-
ment.
The project also
aims to ensure that
local communities
are the main stake-
holders and are ben-
efitted by lion con-
servation. Nathwani
also wanted to know
whether the govern-
ment had prepared a
road map for the im-
plementation of the
proposed Project
Lion, details of the
available health in-
frastructure in Gir
for the treatment of
sick or injured lions,
and whether the road
map includes the es-
tablishment of a spe-
cial Indian Council
of Agricultural Re-
search- Indian Vet-
erinary Research In-
stitute (ICAR-IVRI)
sub-centre – in Gir to
cope up with emer-
gencies like canine
distemper.
MoS Supriyo in-
formed that the state
of Gujarat had two
hospitals and seven
rescue centres avail-
able as health facili-
ty infrastructure in
the Gir National
Park for the treat-
ment of sick or in-
jured lions.
StatetogetNationalWildlifeDiseaseDiagnosticResearchCentre
FOR THEIR SURVIVAL

While answer-
ing a query on
‘Project Lion’ by
MP Nathwani,
MoS Babul Su-
priyo announced
the proposal in
the Rajya Sabha
on Monday
Parimal Nathwani, Rajya Sabha member from Andhra Pradesh,
YSR Congress Party. —FILE PHOTO
On the occasion of International Women’s Day, a programme was organized at the state police headquarters in Ahmedabad
on Monday. Female police personnel demonstrated different safety techniques and also participated in a parade. The event
was attended by Minister of State for Home Pradipsinh Jadeja, Congress MLA Imran Khedawala and Ahmedabad police
commissioner Sanjay Srivastava, who felicitated women officers. —PHOTOS BY HANIF SINDHI
Gujarat High Court notice to SMC,
govt over foot overbridge issue
FirstIndiaBureau
Ahmedabad: TheGuja-
rat High Court on Mon-
day issued notices to the
Surat Municipal Corpo-
ration (SMC) and the
stategovernmenttofilea
responseontheproposed
demolitionof undercon-
structionfootoverbridg-
es in Surat. The matter
was kept for further
hearingonApril06.
Surat’s resident Sa-
jeevEzhavahasmoveda
public interest litigation
(PIL) through advocate
KR Koshti, wherein he
challenged SMC’s deci-
sion to demolish incom-
plete foot overbridges in
thecity
.
The petitioner has
pleadedtoquashandset
aside the SMC’s motion
to demolish foot over-
bridgeswhichweretobe
completedatlocationsof
Krushi Mangal Road
(Mahavir Hospital to
VanitaVishram).Hefur-
ther asked the court to
direct the civic body to
complete construction
onallthethreefootover-
bridges under construc-
tion in the city
, for the
safety and security of
pedestrians with imme-
diate effect. Petitioner
submitted that out of 14
foot overbridges in the
city
, construction on 11
has already been com-
pleted but three have re-
mainedincompleteeven
aftereightlongyears.He
addedthatinsteadof fin-
ishing the three incom-
pleteprojects,theadmin-
istration had decided to
demolish the partially
completed ones, which
was contrary to public
interestandpolicy
.
A foot overbridge under construction in Surat.
I AM WOMAN, HEAR ME ROAR!
MAKEOVER

Vol 2 Issue No. 103 RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/16208. Printed and published by Anita Hada Sangwan on behalf of First Express Publishers. Printed at Bhaskar Printing Planet Survey No.148P, Changodar-Bavla Highway, Tal. Sanand, Dist. Ahmedabad.
Published at D/302 3rd Floor Plot No. 35 Titanium Square, Scheme No. 2, Thaltej Taluka, Ghatlodiya, Ahmedabad. Editor-In-Chief: Jagdeesh Chandra. Editor: Anita Hada Sangwan responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act
PERSPECTIVE
04
here’s a global
shortage in
semiconduc-
tors, and it’s be-
coming increas-
ingly serious. The US is
currently reviewing its
supply of the technology,
following a landmark ex-
ecutive order from Presi-
dent Joe Biden.
The president also
pledged US$37 billion (£26
billion) to cover the short-
term costs of rebuilding
and securing America’s
supply of semiconductors,
which are a fundamental
part of microchips and
thus integral to everything
from computers to smart-
phones to renewable ener-
gy and military hardware.
The automotive sector
has been worst affected by
the drought, in an era
where microchips now
form the backbone of most
cars. Ford is predicting a
20% slump in production
and Tesla shut down its
model 3 assembly line for
two weeks. In the UK, Hon-
da was forced to temporar-
ily shut its plant as well.
Even highly experienced
tech companies such as
Nvidia and Microsoft are
struggling to provide a
steady stock of graphics
cards and Xboxes respec-
tively. It appears that no
company, big or small, tech
or non-tech, is safe from
the wide-ranging impact of
the great semiconductor
famine of 2021.
THE CONCENTRATION
PROBLEM
While it is easy to blame
the COVID-19 pandemic for
this situation, the truth is
that the global semicon-
ductor supply chain had
this coming for some time.
As much as 70% of the
world’s semiconductors
are manufactured by just
two companies, Taiwan
Semiconductor (TSMC)
and Samsung.
The entry barriers into
semiconductor manufac-
turing are astronomically
high. There’s a steep learn-
ing curve required to set
up a semiconductor found-
ry, entailing an upfront in-
vestment of US$10-$12 bil-
lion and then at least three
years to become produc-
tion-ready
.
Even then, there are no
guarantees that a new
foundry’s chip yields will
match those of the incum-
bents. Chips rapidly be-
come obsolete and price
pressures are a major prob-
lem in the tech sector, so
there are lots of risks to
profitability
.
Due to such harsh eco-
nomics, it has only made
sense for a handful of large
players to invest in manu-
facturing capabilities and
then spread those costs and
risks across hundreds of
thousands of customers.
Global tech has historical-
ly been very happy to hand
the manufacturing reins to
TSMC and Samsung. And
in turn, this has created
the supply-chain equiva-
lent of a house of cards.
HIGH DEMAND
The pandemic has driven
unexpectedly high demand
for home electronics such
as laptops and gaming con-
soles, as many people start-
ed working from home and
seeking more sources of
indoor entertainment.
Automotive companies
had been expecting lower
demand, given that car
sales tend to move lower in
an economic downturn.
This, however, proved to be
an erroneous assumption,
as new car sales started
bouncing back quickly by
the tail end of 2020. Auto-
motive companies tried to
re-book previously can-
celled semiconductor or-
ders only to discover that
home electronics manufac-
turers had taken their
place.
At the same time, Presi-
dent Trump’s trade war
with China led to new rules
that made it harder for Chi-
nese companies to source
semiconductors from
TSMC and Samsung. With
China’s own semiconduc-
tor technology inferior to
the industry leaders, Chi-
nese tech behemoths like
Huawei stockpiled semi-
conductor chips in advance
of the new restrictions in
2020, soaking up any spare
capacity with large orders.
SOURCE: THE CONVERSATION
How the world ran out of semiconductors
T
And let us consider how we
may spur one another on
toward love and good deeds.
—Hebrews 10:24
Spiritual
SPEAK
Top
TWEET
Prakash Javadekar
@PrakashJavdekar
75 years of independence should
be a festival in which the spirit of
freedom struggle, its renunciation
can be experienced; in which
there is also a tribute to the
martyrs of the country and the
resolve to make India of their
dreams - PM @narendramodi
Dharmendra Pradhan
@dpradhanbjp
India’s medical and RD
institutions have played a stellar
role in the fight against the
#Covid19 pandemic. The proposal
for setting up of four additional
National Institute of Virology
in Budget 2020-21 will further
strengthen India’s defences
against future pandemics.
IN-DEPTH
INDIA’S VACCINES SET
TO COUNTER CHINA
ndia’s vaccine diplomacy is proving to be
hugely successful, helping it win goodwill
andfriendsnotonlyintheneighbourhood
but across the world and prove our pole
position in vaccine manufacture and de-
velopment. The latest country to seek vaccine assis-
tance from India is the United Kingdom which has
requested for, and will be provided, 10 million doses
of the vaccine developed by the Serum Institute of
India(SII)incollaborationwithOxford-AstraZeneca
and produced under the brand name of Covishield.
The move has attracted criticism from Medecins
Sans Frontiere which has said that the shipment
could hit supplies to developing countries. Britain’s
Vaccine Deployment Minister Nadhim Zahawi has
allayedthesefears.WhileassertingthattheSII’svac-
cine was always intended for Britain, Zahawi said
that AstraZeneca and the SII have given assurances
to the effect that these shipments will not affect In-
dia’scommitmenttoprovidevaccinestothepoorand
developing countries. He mentioned Ghana, Ivory
Coast and the Philippines among the beneficiaries.
The list of countries getting anti-Covid vaccines
from India is now fairly long. Bangladesh, Nepal,
Bhutan, Mauritius, Seychelles, the Maldives, Myan-
mar,SriLanka,Bahrain,Oman,Barbados,Dominica
and Brazil are among the countries to have received
the anti-virus vials. The vaccine strategy is part of a
bigger strategy aimed at staying ahead of China in
the vaccine supply race. India has also sought the
assistance of Quad member nations---the US, Japan
and Australia---to invest in its production capacity to
counter China, which has promised to provide 463
million vials of its own vaccine to various countries.
I
100 DAYS OF PROTEST
STILL GOING STRONG
armers’agitationisnowover100daysold
and there’s no sign of fatigue yet, despite
the government still unwilling to acqui-
esce to their demands. Their resolve to
continue the agitation against the new
farm laws is as strong as the government is firm in
its decision not to repeal them. The Congress party
which has emerged as the biggest supporter of the
agitating farmers described the completion of 100
days as “100 days of BJP’s arrogance.” In a tweet,
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that those
“whosesonsrisktheirlivesatthecountry’sborders,
for them nails have been laid at Delhi’s borders”. He
toldthefarmersthattheirmovementwasstillgoing
strong. His sister and party general-secretary Pri-
yanka Gandhi used the hashtag “100days of BJPar-
rogance” to say
, “100 days of BJP government’s ar-
rogance, of assault on farmers, of lies and scorn for
farmers”. Former UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Ya-
dav also held an impressive Kisan mahapanchayat
in Western UP to lend his support to farmers. How-
ever,theCentreisleastbotheredbythepoliticalsup-
portforprotestersasitisconfidentof winningState
electionswithoutmuchado.Yetthenegativeimpact
of the protests cannot be denied.
Theagitationisexemplaryfortheunityamongst
various groups even after a marathon protest. Per-
haps the longest protest by farmers in the world,
it has “put farmers back on the political land-
scape” of the country. And though the protesters
are pitted against a very strong Central govern-
ment, Rakesh Tikait of the BKU said the agitation
will continue as long as it is needed.
F
hose who understand the
politics of Rajasthan, know
it like the back of their hands
that in the politics of the
largest state in the country,
currently two leaders are at
the top and it seems they will
remain in the top position,
for a foreseeable future.
It remains a fact that current-
ly among two major political
parties, the son of ‘Marusthal’
(arid zone) three-time Chief
Minister - Ashok Gehlot - and
erstwhile Maharani of Dhaul-
pur Vasundhara Raje, a two-
time chief minister have a sig-
nificant place in the politics of
Rajasthan. In fact, Ashok Ge-
hlot and Vasundhara Raje are
theaxisof politicsin Rajasthan.
No other leader in the state, as
comparedtothesetwogiantand
bold leaders, is capable to sail
their party through the tough
state assembly elections.
Both, sixty-nine years old
Ashok Gehlot and sixty-sev-
en years old Vasundhara
Raje are grassroot leaders
and tremendously popular.
Both are farsighted, sensi-
tive, ambitious, hold consid-
erable self-esteem, and have
a developmental vision.
While Gehlot supports social
schemes, Vasundhara favours
developmental schemes. Not
only in regional politics but
both the leaders hold a vital
place in central politics too.
Both have had an illustrious
career as they remained more
in significant positions in their
respective party’s organiza-
tion, served as Member of Par-
liament and minister in the
center from their parties.
Alternately, since 1998, Ge-
hlot and Vasundhara are hold-
ing the power as chief minis-
ters. Whenever they are out of
‘power’, they still wield consid-
erable power’ on the political
ecosystem of the desert state
while playing crucial roles like
senior officials of their parties
and minister at the center.
Vasundhara’s entry into
Rajasthan has been from
Centre when the bold leader
Bhairon Singh Shekhawat
was the chief minister of the
state. Similarly, Ashok Ge-
hlot rolled in when Haridev
Joshi, who even served as
Governor of Meghalaya and
West Bengal, was the chief
minister of Rajasthan.
Later on, both Gehlot and
Vasundhara not only proved
themselves as alternatives to the
establishedleadersof theregion,
and leaving them behind turned
out to be ‘in for the long haul’.
Gehlot is a true grassroot
leader who has got a strong
public base from village to
cities. Similarly
, Vasundhara
has got her own aura and is
quite popular among women.
Gehlot never compromised
withhisprinciplesandVasund-
hara with her self-esteem. Both
are rich in their personality in
their own way
. Gehlot is used to
working late in the night while
Vasundhara capable of work-
ing in the need of hours prefers
to work in her daily routine.
Both are experts in handling
bureaucracy
.
While Gehlot is a follower of
the Kabir sect and upholds secu-
larism, and like Vasundhara he
has respect and faith in all the re-
ligions,whileRajeisreligiousand
inclined to spiritualism and is an
exclusive devotee of mother god-
dessDevi.Vasundharaisanener-
geticoratorandcapableof speak-
ing English, Hindi, and Marathi
fluently
,whileGehlotisanexpert
at making others agree with his
point of view in simple language
based on facts and logic. He is ca-
pable of winning the hearts of
people in the Marwari language.
Perhaps the one aspect that
has always been in Gehlot’s
favour is the blessing hand of
his party’s high command on
him while this has not been
the case with Vasundhara
Raje. Her relations with par-
ty leaders, top leaders of the
RSS, Jansangh have been ex-
tremely cordial. No one has
forgotten the contribution of
her mother Vijaya Raje Scin-
dia in developing a sealing
into a gigantic tree. For this
reason, Vasundhara contin-
ues to have a distinct entity
of her own in the party
.
There were times when
Vasundhara was not keen on
entering the state politics hav-
ing tasted the life of politics in
the centre, but when she came,
she carved a niche in the poli-
tics of the state on her own.
Owing to the massive support
of her legislators and public
base, she remained successful
in making her party high com-
mand to agree predominately.
When Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi was the chief minis-
ter of Gujarat, she was success-
ful in getting waters of Nar-
mada River (upper canal of the
Mahi) from Gujarat to the dis-
tricts of Jalore and Barmer.
Both the leaders have always
faced unfortunate situations
whenever they came to power,
and most of the time they had
to deal with the governments
of the opposition parties to ini-
tiate many new schemes on
their own for which they faced
many hurdles.
Since Independence, except
Indira Gandhi Canal Project,
not a single national project
has been initiated. During her
tenure as chief minister, she
got Eastern Rajasthan Canal
Project at a cost of 35000 Crores
to render a permanent solution
to meet with drinking water
and irrigation. She made PM
Narendra Modi announce the
same in public meetings at
Jaipur and Ajmer, but this pro-
ject could not take off till date.
With a change of power CM,
Ashok Gehlot continued to pur-
sue the project and looking at
the importance of the same,
has requested PM several times
to term the project a national
project. In the currently con-
cluded sixth meeting of the
governing council, he remind-
ed the PM, but even though the
central government is ‘satiat-
ed’ with all twenty-five Lok
Sabha seats from Rajasthan,
the desert state is yet to hear
about its second canal.
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY
THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL
TWO POLAR STARS
OF RAJASTHAN POLITICS
T
It remains a fact
that currently
among two major
political parties,
the son of
‘Marusthal’ (arid
zone) three-time
Chief Minister -
Ashok Gehlot -
and erstwhile
Maharani of
Dhaulpur
Vasundhara
Raje, a two-time
chief minister
have a significant
place in the
politics of
Rajasthan. In
fact, Ashok Gehlot
and Vasundhara
Raje are the axis
of politics in
Rajasthan. No
other leader in the
state, as
compared to these
two giant and
bold leaders, is
capable to sail
their party
through the
tough state
assembly elections
GEHLOT IS A TRUE
GRASSROOT LEADER WHO
HAS GOT A STRONG
PUBLIC BASE FROM
VILLAGE TO CITIES.
SIMILARLY, VASUNDHARA
HAS GOT HER OWN AURA
AND IS QUITE POPULAR
AMONG WOMEN. GEHLOT
NEVER COMPROMISED
WITH HIS PRINCIPLES AND
VASUNDHARA WITH HER
SELF-ESTEEM
NEETI
GOPENDRA BHATT
THE AUTHOR IS
A FREELANCE JOURNALIST

To Receive Free Newspaper
PDF Daily
Whatsapp:
http://bit.ly/whatsappahm
Telegram:
https://t.me/firstindiaahmedabad
Click the above link☝ subscribe us on your
preferred platform.

INDIA
05
ARMY OFFICER ARRESTED FROM
TN IN EXAM PAPER LEAK CASE
Pune: A 45-year-old army
officer of a major rank has
been arrested by Pune
city police in Tamil Nadu
in connection with the
Army recruitment exam
paper leak. The police
said that the accused
was arrested in Welling-
ton town and has been
brought to Pune where
he will be produced in a
court later on Monday.
The police further
informed that it was the
ninth arrest in the case in
which two different FIRs
were registered with the
police last month. Earlier,
in a joint operation with
military intelligence of
southern command of
the Indian Army, Pune
city police had arrested
eight accused in this
case.
UZBEK SOLDIERS IN INDIA TO
PARTICIPATE IN JT EXERCISE
New Delhi: The second
edition of India-Uz-
bekistan joint military
exercise “Dustlik-2”
started on Monday at
Chaubatia in Uttara-
khand, the Defence
Ministry said.The first
edition of the joint
military exercise had
taken place in Tashkent
in November 2019. De-
fence Minister Rajnath
Singh’s office said
on Twitter, “The 2nd
edition of India-Uzbek-
istan military Exercise
starts. This Exercise is
an important milestone
in growing coopera-
tion between both the
countries.”
NAINITAL HIGHWAY 9, CLOSED
DUE TO FARMERS’ PROTESTS
New Delhi: Due to
ongoing protests
against farm laws,
Nainital Highway 9 and
National Highway 24
are closed at the point
of Uttar Pradesh gate,
said Delhi Traffic Police
on Monday. The police
said there is heavy
traffic on both the
sides. “Due to protest
of Kisan Andolan,
Nainital highway No. 9
and NH-24 is closed at
the point of UP Gate.
Traffic is heavy in both
carriageways. The di-
version has been given
from Delhi towards
Ghaziabad,” tweeted
Delhi traffic police.
FRESH SNOWFALL, RAIN IN PARTS
OF HIMACHAL PRADESH
Shimla: The higher
reaches of Himachal
Pradesh received light to
moderate snowfall,
leading to a dip in
temperature of two to four
degrees Celsius
Manmohan Singh, IMD
Director of Himachal
Pradesh on Monday said
that Khadrala, tehsil
Rohru received 10 cm
snow. Mandi district will
receive heavy rainfall
along with thunderstorms
in the next 24 hours and a
yellow alert has been
issued for other places.
Singh further stated that
the state will again
witness heavy rainfall
from March 10. A fresh
western disturbance is
very likely to affect the
western Himalayan region
and the adjoining plain.
MIND YOUR LANGUAGE
SUBTLE DISCRIMINATION AGAINST
WOMEN SHOULDN’T BE ENCOURAGED: FM
She spoke about was facing different terms of engagement for both genders
New Delhi: On the oc-
casion of International
Women’s Day, Union Fi-
nance Minister Nirma-
la Sitaraman on Mon-
day said nuanced dis-
crimination, even in
language, is often ac-
cepted and not objected
to, due to its subtlety.
She added that lan-
guage needs to be gen-
der-sensitive and wrong
language shouldn’t be
encouraged. “Language
of communication has
to be gender-sensitive.
We stand up each time
for use of the right lan-
guage. We come across
language both formal
and informal that
doesn’t recognise an
implicit gender bias.
We need to say lan-
guage needs to be gen-
der-sensitive. We
shouldn’t encourage
such language,” said Si-
tharaman while ad-
dressing a gathering of
women MPs and jour-
nalists.
Giving an example
she quoted a popular
Hindi expression the
Union Finance Minis-
ter said, “Arey main
choodi pehen ke baitha
hoon kya?” (Am I just
sitting here wearing
bangles like a woman?)
That means you don’t
have courage. Each one
of us has to say that we
don’t accept such lan-
guage.” Another prob-
lem she spoke about
was facing different
terms of engagement
for both genders. “We
are MPs, but we are of-
ten treated as women
first,” she said. —ANI
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman —FILE PHOTO
GOOGLE ANNOUNCES $25 MN
FUND TO EMPOWER WOMEN
New Delhi: In a bid
to support the eco-
nomic empowerment
of women in India,
Google and Alphabet
CEO Sundar Pichai on
Monday announced
$25 million in grants to
non-profits and social
enterprises in India
and around the world.
On the occasion of
International Women’s
Day, Pichai also com-
mitted to help 1 million
women in rural villages
in India to become
entrepreneurs through
business tutorials,
tools and mentorship,
as part of the Google
Internet Saathi pro-
gramme. “Women are
almost twice as likely
to lose their jobs dur-
ing the pandemic and
an estimated 20 million
girls are at risk of not
returning to school.
We have the opportu-
nity to build a future
that is more equal -
and we must take it,”
Pichai said.
Indian Navy deploys women
officers on warships after 23 yrs
Don’t let anyone stop you: Rahul
Gandhi to women
The Indian Navy on
March 8 deployed
female officers onboard
its war vessels after a
gap of 23 long years.
The development
comes on the occa-
sion of International
Women’s Day. Indian
Navy had deployed
women on warships for
the first time in 1998
but the decision was
soon revoked due to
lack of facilities for fe-
male officers and other
issues. According to
spokesperson, four
women officers have
been deployed.
New Delhi: Congress
leader Rahul Gandhi on
Monday extended his
greetings on the oc-
casion of International
Women’s Day and said
women are capable of
creating history and
future with formidable
grace. “Women are
capable of creating
history and future with
formidable grace. Don’t
let anyone stop you.
#InternationalWomens-
Day,” he tweeted. Prime
Minister Narendra Modi
said India takes pride in
the many accomplish-
ments of the women.
SIT interrogates
Amazon prime
head Aparna
Raj boy among 5 score 100
percentile in JEE Main
New Delhi: National
Testing Agency on
Monday announced the
result for the JEE-Main
with six students scor-
ing 100 percentile in the
February session. The
final answer key was
released late Sunday
night on th websites.
Education Minister
Ramesh Pokhrial tweet-
ed that till last year, ex-
ams were done in three
languages only but this
time exams were con-
ducted in 13 languages
and results have been
declared in 10 days.
Saket Jha from Ra-
jasthan, Pravar Kataria
and Ranjim Prabal Das
from Delhi, Guramrit
Singh from Chandi-
garh,SiddhantMukher-
jee from Maharashtra
and Ananth Krishna
Kidambi from Gujarat
have scored 100 percen-
tile. In the girls category
,
10 female students have
scored above 99 percen-
tile. A total of 6.61 lakh
(6,61,776) candidates
registered for the Feb
session, out of this, 6.52
lakh (6,52,627) candi-
dates applied for the BE
or BTech exam. JEE-
Main is held annually
.
Janardan Misra
Lucknow: Special In-
vestigation Team (SIT)
interrogated Aparna
Purohit, Amazon Prime
head here in Hazarat-
ganj Kotwali. It was re-
ported that about 80
questions were asked
and Aparna was not
able to answer all of
them.
Police sources said
that on instructions of
High Court Aparna had
to record his statements
in matter of objection-
able content in web se-
ries telecasted on Ama-
zon. Case was regis-
tered against Amazon
and others on com-
plaint of inspector Am-
arnath Yadav after pro-
test and demonstration
of Hindu outfits in cap-
ital and other districts
of the state.
Earlier, Aparna had
recorded her state-
ments on February 23
and she has to deliver
statements again in-
front of SIT. Apart from
complaint in Hazarat-
ganj police station case
was registered in Rabu-
pura police station in
Noida and in Jaunpur.
FIR was lodged against
Amazon Prime head
Aparna Purohit, Tan-
dav Web series director
Ali Abbas, producer
Himanshu Krishna Me-
har and writer Gaurav
Solanki in Hazaratganj
police station. State-
ments of director, pro-
ducer and others were
recorded in Mumbai by
investigating team from
Lucknow.
IN THE COURTYARD
Mysore royal family land: State
govt approaches Apex court
New Delhi: The
Karnataka Govern-
ment has moved the
Supreme Court ques-
tioning the Karnataka
High Court (HC) judge-
ment declaring owner-
ship of 1,561.31 acres of
land at Mysuru in fa-
vour of Mysore Royal
family
.
The Government con-
tended that the HC
order went against the
Accession Treaty of
1950, signed between
theMaharajaof Mysore
and Dominion of India
on Jan.23, 1950 and an
earlier British Govern-
ment decision taken in
1881-83 declaring the
land as B-Kharab meant
for public purpose.
SC extends
limitation, asks
Centre to amend
containment
zones guidelines
New Delhi: While dis-
posing of the Suo moto
case, the Supreme
Court in an order on
Monday extended the
limitation and asked
the Union of India
(UOI) to amend the
guidelines for contain-
ment zones, as dis-
cussed.
A three-judge bench
of the Apex Court,
headed by Chief Jus-
tice of India Sharad
Arvind Bobde and also
comprising Justices
AS Bopanna and V Ra-
m a s u b r a m a n i a n
passed the order on the
suo motu case.
The Apex Court’s
three-judge bench, led
by the CJI Bobde
passed the order on the
lifting of the extension
of the limitation peri-
od for filing of cases
granted by the Court in
March 2020, due to the
COVID-19 pandemic.
—ANI
New Delhi: All states
have been asked to
submit views to the
Supreme Court on 50
per cent cap on reser-
vation for backward
communities - enact-
ed after 1992 Indra
Sawhney case verdict
- as the top court pre-
pares to examine if
the reservation cel-
ling needs to be recon-
sidered.
A five-judge bench
was hearing petitions
against Maratha quo-
ta when Maharashtra
gov urged that “all
states must be called
as parties and their
views should be taken
because any interpre-
tation in Maratha
quota will have im-
pact on OBC quota”.
The Socially and Edu-
cationally Backward
Classes (SEBC) Act,
2018 was enacted to
grant reservation to
people of Maratha
community
.
Supreme Court seeks states’
response on quota to specific class
Firemen,Cop
among 7 dead in
Kolkata blaze
Kolkata: Seven people
have been killed after a
huge fire broke out in
an office building in
centralKolkata’sStrand
Road on Monday even-
ing. Among those dead
are four firemen, a po-
lice officer and a RPF
staff, officials said.
Five of the seven bod-
ies were found in an el-
evator. West Bengal CM
Mamata Banerjee, other
ministers and police of-
ficers reached the spot
and firefighters are try-
ing to put out the blaze.
“Seven people are dead.
The police commission-
er says two more may be
missing. The tragedy
took place because the
elevator was used dur-
ing the fire. We will give
Rs10 lakh to the families
of those killed,” Mama-
ta said. “This is a rail-
ways property
. Railways
has a responsibility.
Railways was unable to
provide map of the
building. I don’t want to
do politics over the trag-
edy but no one from the
railways has come to
the site,” she added.
—ANI
NCB arrests 3 in Goa, including 1
who provided drugs to Sushant
Panaji (Goa): The Nar-
cotics Control Bureau
(NCB) has arrested
three persons in Goa for
their alleged involve-
ment in the death of
Bollywood actor Sush-
ant Singh Rajput.
According to NCB
Zonal Director Sameer
Wankhede, one of the
three accused, Maharaj,
was allegedly providing
drugs to the late actor.
The NCB, which has
been probing the drugs
angle in Rajput’s death
case, started the investi-
gation after it received
official communication
from the ED, in which
there were various
chats related to drug
consumption, procure-
ment, usage and trans-
portation.
The ED had on July
31 registered an En-
forcement Case Infor-
mation Report in the
late actor’s death case.
Sushant Singh
Survey: Didi likely to retain
power; BJP may bag 100 seats
New Delhi: Mamata
Banerjee-led Trina-
mool Congress is like-
ly to retain power in
West Bengal for the
third consecutive term
but with a slightly re-
duced majority, an
opinion poll conducted
by Times Now-C-Voter
said.
As per the projec-
tions, the state’s ruling
party is expected to
win around 146 to 162
seats in the 294-mem-
ber Assembly, down
from the 211 seats it
had won in the 2016 As-
sembly polls. —Agencies

Ban social
Emphasizing on the
importance of creat-
ing awareness regard-
ing the issue, the divi-
sion bench stated,
“The first and fore-
most strategy in this
regard is raising
awareness about men-
strual health and hy-
giene among adoles-
cent girls.
Young girls often
grow up with limited
knowledge of men-
struation because
their mothers and oth-
er women shy away
from discussing the is-
sues with them.”
Adult women may
themselves not be
aware of the biological
facts or good hygienic
practices, instead
passing on cultural ta-
boos and restrictions
to the next generation.
C o m m u n i t y - b a s e d
health education cam-
paigns could prove
worthwhile in achiev-
ing this task. There is
also a need to spread
awareness among
school teachers re-
garding menstruation,
it added.
Have highest...
said Chief Justice clar-
ifying that Court never
gave a suggestion that
“You should marry
h e r ” .
“This court has always
given the largest re-
spect to women. Even
in that hearing, We
never gave a sugges-
tion that you should
marry, we had asked
are you going to marry
.
It has been completely
misreported,” the
Chief Justice said
while referring to a
case where he asked a
state government em-
ployee, facing charges
of raping a relative
when she was a minor
if he intended to mar-
ry her.
Explosives
outside...
after which a team will
visit the spot and ex-
amine the Scorpio,
people familiar with
the development said.
The state’s Anti-Ter-
rorism Squad (ATS)
was investigating the
matter till now.
The SUV was found
abandoned on Carmi-
chael Road, about 600
metres away from An-
tilia, the residence of
Reliance Industries
Chairman Mukesh
Ambani, with 20 gela-
tin sticks on February
25, causing a security
scare. The Mumbai Po-
lice had subsequently
released details of a
letter found in the car,
addressed to the Reli-
ance chairman and his
wife, claiming this was
just “a trailer”. The
SUV sported fake
plates with the regis-
tration number of the
lead car in the security
convoy deployed for
the industrialist’s wife
Nita Ambani.The ve-
hicle had been stolen
from Vikhroli on Feb-
ruary 17.
Modi-Shah...
To drive home her
point, the TMC chief
drew a contrast with
the BJP-ruled state of
Gujarat and cited me-
dia reports, saying
Modi and Shah’s ‘mod-
el state’ has “witnessed
four rapes and two kill-
ings every day in the
last two years”. She
also referred to Modi
and Shah as a ‘syndi-
cate’.
“Remember the Tri-
namool’s motto — Ma-
Maati-Manush (Moth-
er, Motherland, and
Humanity). Women
will fight for Bengal.
Women will build Ben-
gal. This is my vow, on
the occasion of Inter-
national Women’s
Day,” she said.
Lambasting the ris-
ing prices of cooking
gas, the TMC supremo
said, “Even when the
global price for cook-
ing gas was low, our
central government
kept on hiking it. Now
we are having to pay
an exorbitant amount
for the same, forced to
cook rice which costs
`2 per kilo on a cylin-
der that costs `800. Will
the BJP ever be able to
provide cooking gas
for free?”
She also took a dig at
PM Modi over the in-
clusion of his photo in
Covid-19 vaccination
certificates. “He’s
turned the Covid vac-
cine into ‘Modi vac-
cine’. A day will come
when the entire coun-
try will be named after
Narendra Modi,” the
chief minister said.
FROM PG 1
SENSEX ENDS
36 POINTS
HIGHER
New Delhi: At the top
of a unstable day, bulls
ultimately managed to
break a two-day losing
streak on Monday,
however the positive
aspects have been
restricted as a pointy
rise in bond yields and
crude oil costs stored
merchants on their
toes. The 30-share pack
Sensex added 35.75
points or 0.07 per cent
to shut at 50,441.07. Its
broader peer NSE Nifty
superior 18.10 points
or 0.12 per cent to
14,956.20. —ANI
INDIA
06
PM: 75TH I-DAY WILL CELEBRATE
SPIRIT OF FREEDOM STRUGGLE
‘75th Independence Day will celebrate spirit of freedom struggle’
New Delhi: Prime
Minister Narendra
Modi on Monday said
that this year’s Inde-
pendence Day celebra-
tion will celebrate the
spirit of the freedom
struggle.
“This year’s 75th In-
dependence Day will
celebrate the spirit of
freedom struggle and
reflect the feeling of
sacrifice. In this, there
should be a tribute to
the martyrs of the
country and a resolve
to build an India of
their dreams. It will
have a glimpse of the
pride of Sanatan India
and the glow of modern
India as well,” PM Modi
said in Hindi while
speaking at the com-
mittee meeting to mark
75 years of India’s Inde-
pendence.
“We have to cele-
brate the festival of 75
years of independence
while taking along 130
crore countrymen with
us. Public participa-
tion is the basic spirit
of this event,” PM
Modi said.
PM Modi-led panel
held first meeting on
the commemoration of
75 years of India’s Inde-
pendence titled ‘Azadi
Ka Amrut Mahotsav’.
India is going to cel-
ebrate its 75th Inde-
pendence Day this year.
—ANI
PM Modi to inaugurate ‘Maitri
Setu’ between India B’desh
New Delhi: PM Naren-
dra Modi will inaugu-
rate ‘Maitri Setu’ be-
tween India and Bangla-
desh on 9 March 2021 at
12 noon via video con-
ferencing. The bridge
has been built over Feni
river which flows be-
tween the Indian bound-
ary in Tripura and
Bangladesh. The 1.9 Km
long bridge joins Sab-
room in India with Ram-
garh in Bangladesh. It is
poised to herald a new
chapter for trade peo-
ple to people movement
betweenIndiaandBang-
ladesh. —ANI
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing the National Committee to commemorate ‘Azadi ka
Amrut Mahotsav’, through video conferencing, in New Delhi on Monday. —PHOTO BY ANI
Cong, IUML give adjourn motion
notices in LS over fuel price hike
New Delhi: The Con-
gress, Shiv Sena and the
Indian Union Muslim
League (IUML) on Mon-
day gave adjournment
motion notices in Lok
Sabha over the continu-
ous rise in petrol, diesel
and LPG prices in the
country. Meanwhile,
price of petrol in Delhi
stands at Rs 91.17 per
litre while that of diesel
stands at Rs 81. 47, ac-
cording to the Indian
Oil Corporation.
The second part of
the budget session of
parliament began on
March 8 amid the up-
roar on fuel price hike
in the Rajya Sabha.
Meanwhile, the Lok
Sabha will also function
as per usual timings of
the House existing be-
fore the COVID-19 situ-
ation from tomorrow.
Many leaders of five
poll-bound states and
political parties also de-
manded the curtail-
ment of the budget ses-
sion due to the upcom-
ing assembly elections.
Both Houses of the
Parliament will com-
mence their sitting
from 11 am on Tuesday
.
The decision to revise
the timing of both
Houses was announced
on Monday
. —ANI
Will continue protest
demanding discussion on fuel
price hike in Parl: Mallikarjun
Budget session
may conclude
before Holi
New Delhi: The
second part of Budget
session of Parliament
is likely to be curtailed
and be concluded
before Holi, sources
said on Monday. It is
believed that most top
politicians would be
busy campaigning for
Assembly polls taking
place in March-April.
Both Houses
to commence
at 11 am
New Delhi: Both
Houses of the Parlia-
ment will commence
their sitting from 11
am on Tuesday. The
decision to revise the
timing of both Hous-
es was announced on
Monday. Both RS and
LS were operating
under curtailed hours
of timing.
New Delhi: Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha
Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday said the Congress
will continue its protest demanding discussion
on a hike in fuel prices in Parliament. His re-
marks came as Rajya Sabha witnessed repeated
adjournments following repeated sloganeering
by the Opposition MPs demanding on fuel price
hike in Parliament. Later, the Upper House was
adjourned till 11 am tomorrow.
MP freedom of
Religion Bill, 2021
passed in Assembly
Bhopal: The Madhya
Pradesh Freedom of
Religion Bill, 2021 was
passed in Assembly on
Monday.
The Bill had been ap-
proved earlier in De-
cember last year, by the
state Cabinet in a spe-
cial meeting chaired by
Chief Minister Shivraj
Singh Chouhan.
“We won’t allow
forced conversions in
Madhya Pradesh. Un-
der the new bill, anyone
who does it will face jail
term up to 10 yrs and
minimum Rs 50,000
fine. Many incidents
came to light where mi-
nor girls were convert-
ed, married made to
contest Panchayat
polls,” Shivraj Singh
Chouhan had said. —PTI
Shivraj Singh Chouhan
Suvendu Adhikari
to file nomination
on March 12
Kolkata: BJP leader
Suvendu Adhikari will
file his nomination on
March 12 for contesting
WB Assembly elections
from Nandigram con-
stituency, informed the
party’s media cell on
Monday. BJP on Satur-
day released its first list
of 57 candidates for the
polls fielded Mr Adhi-
kari from Nandigram
against CM Mamata Ba-
nerjee, setting the stage
forahigh-profilecontest
from the seat in the state
Assembly elections.
Adhikari, once a close
aide of Ms Banerjee
switched to BJP in De-
cember, last year. —PTI
Close to 60% of new cases in
Maharashtra; Kerala second
New Delhi: Maharash-
tra, Kerala, Punjab,
Karnataka, Gujarat
and Tamil Nadu are the
six states that cumula-
tively account for 86.25
per cent of the new
coronavirus cases re-
ported in the past 24
hours, the Health Min-
istry said on Monday
.
Maharashtra has re-
ported a maximum of
11,141 fresh cases in a
single day, accounting
for 59.90 per cent of
the total new cases re-
corded while Kerala
registered 2,100 new
infections that ac-
count for 11.29 per cent
of the new infections.
Punjab recorded 1,043
new infections (5.60
per cent of total new
cases) in the past 24
hours while Karnata-
ka recorded 622 fresh
cases that account for
3.3 per cent of the total
new infections, the
ministry said.
Gujarat recorded 575
new infections in the
past 24 hours which ac-
count for 3.09 per per
cent of new cases while
Tamil Nadu recorded
567 new infections that
account for 3.04 per cent
of the total new infec-
tions, ministry said.
BJP’s central observers
submit report to party
high command
New Delhi: BJP gen-
eral secretary in-charge
of Uttarakhand Dushy-
ant Kumar Gautam and
Raman Singh, who was
appointed to look after
the current crisis with-
in the party’s state unit,
has submitted its report
to the BJP’s high com-
mand, said sources.
Last week, BJP Utta-
rakhand held an emer-
gency core group meet-
ing which was attended
by observer Raman
Singh, Dushyant Gau-
tam, Trivendra Singh
Rawat, Ajay Bhatt, Nar-
esh Bansal, Mala Rajya
Laxmi and others.
There are specula-
tions about the leader-
ship change in Uttara-
khand as several minis-
ters and around twenty
MLAs are against the
working style of Rawat.
As per sources, sev-
eral MLAs some min-
isters complained about
the CM to the party
leadership. Later, the
BJP central high com-
mand sent Raman Sin-
gh as party observer for
emergency core group
meeting, which was at-
tended by Dushyant
Gautam, general secre-
tary in-charge of Utta-
rakhand BJP. —PTI
SPECULATION
DIRECTOR OF LBSNAA SANJEEV
CHOPRA TO RETIRE
Director, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy
of Administration (LBSNAA) Sanjeev Chopra is
superannuating by this month end. He is 1985
batch IAS officer of West Bengal cadre.
WILL DR SWARUP GET EXTENSION?
If sources are to be believed, Secretary, Biotech Dr
Renu Swarup is likely to get extension in service.
It is said that she may get extension at least for
six months.
WILL COLLEGIUM MEET BEFORE
MARCH 23?
Will Supreme Court Collegium meet before March
23 to fill the vacancies of the Judges in the SC.
Since the CJI, Justice S A Bobde, will retire on April
23, his power to convene the Collegium meeting
will freeze one month before his retirement.
WILL SHAILESH PATHAK BE
EMPANELLED TO SECRETARY LEVEL
POSTS IN RAILWAYS?
Whisper has it that the name of Shailesh Kumar
Pathak, presently Chief Commissioner of Railway
Safety (CCRS), is in the panel of empanelment for
Secretary level posts in Railways. He is a 1986
batch IRSE officer.
VIKRAM PAGARIA RELIEVED
TO JOIN NHA
Vikram Pagaria has been relieved to join the
National Health Authority (NHA), New Delhi on
loan basis. He is an IRS-IT officer.
TWO INDIAN STATISTICAL SERVICE
OFFICERS SHIFTED
Soumya P Kumar has been posted to the
Department of Water Resources, RD GR and
Jawaid Alam Khan was posted to CWC, under the
Ministry of Jal Shakti.
TENURE OF ACTING VC OF DELHI
UNIVERSITY TO BE EXTENDED?
Tenure of Acting Vice Chancellor of the Delhi
University P C Joshi is likely to be extended on
March 10.
5 IAS OFFICERS IN HARYANA GET
NEW RESPONSIBILITY
Five IAS officers in Haryana have been assigned
new responsibility. Krishan Kumar Pradeep has
been appointed as Administrator, HSVP, Faridabad
and Additional Director, Urban Estate, Faridabad,
while Jaspreet Kaur has been posted as Additional
Deputy Commissioner, Panipat and Manoj Kumar
will join as Additional Deputy Commissioner, Jind.
Besides, Pradeep Dahiya is posted as Director,
Citizen Resources Information Department and given
additional charge of Additional Secretary, Revenue
Disaster Management and Vishram Kumar Meena
was made Sub Divisional Officer (Civil), Ganaur.
SISIR KUMAR RATHO REPATRIATED
TO PARENT CADRE
Sisir Kumar Ratho, presently working as ADGF
(FC) in the Ministry of Environment, Forest
and Climate Change, New Delhi, is allowed to
prematurely repatriate to his parent cadre Odisha.
He is a 1987 batch IFS officer.
A K MISHRA POSTED AS DIRECTOR,
DEPT OF COMMERCE, ON
DEPUTATION
Anand Kumar Mishra has been appointed
as Director in the Department of Commerce
(Government e Marketplace) under the Central
Staffing Scheme for a period of five years. He is
an Indian Defence Service of Engineers (IDES)
officer of 1999 batch.
BAN ON TRANSFERS IN HARYANA
TILL MARCH 31
The Haryana Government has imposed complete
ban on transfers in all the departments/Boards/
Corporations under the government till March
31, as the current financial year is coming to a
close and there may be heavy workload in all the
departments.
POWERGallery
By arrangement with: http://
whispersinthecorridors.com

IS RECYCLED,
SOME OF IT ENDS UP IN
THE OCEAN
NOTALL PLASTIC
W
e all know it’s wrong to toss your rub-
bish into the ocean or another natural
place. But it might surprise you to
learn some plastic waste ends up in the environ-
ment, even when we thought it was being recy-
cled.
Our study, published today, investigated how
the global plastic waste trade contributes to ma-
rine pollution.
We found plastic waste most commonly leaks
into the environment at the country to which
it’s shipped. Plastics which are of low value to
recyclers, such as lids and polystyrene foam
containers, are most likely to end up polluting
the environment.
The export of unsorted plastic waste from
Australia is being phased out – and this will help
address the problem. But there’s a long way to
go before our plastic is recycled in a way that
does not harm nature.
MONIQUE RETAMAL
Research Principal, Institute for Sustainable Futures,
University of Technology Sydney
NICK FLORIN
RResearch Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures,
ELSA DOMINISH
Senior Research Consultant, Institute for Sustainable
Futures, University of Technology Sydney
RACHAEL WAKEFIELD-RANN
Research Consultant, Institute for Sustainable Futures,
Know your
plastics
Plastic waste collected for
recycling is often sold for
reprocessing in Asia.
There, the plastics are sort-
ed, washed, chopped, melt-
ed and turned into flakes or
pellets. These can be sold to
manufacturers to create
new products.
The global recycled plas-
tics market is dominated by
two major plastic types:
 Polyethylene terephthalate
(PET), which in 2017 com-
prised 55% of the recyclable
plastics market. It’s used in
beverage bottles and takea-
way food containers and fea-
tures a “1” on the packaging
 High-density polyethylene
(HDPE), which comprises
about 33% of the recyclable
plastics market. HDPE is used
to create pipes and packaging
such as milk and shampoo
bottles, and is identified by
a “2”.
 The next two most com-
monly traded types of plastics,
each with 4% of the market,
are:
 Polypropylene or “5”, used
in containers for yoghurt and
spreads
 Low-density polyethylene
known as “4”, used in clear
plastic films on packaging.
The remaining plastic
types comprise polyvinyl
chloride (3), polystyrene
(6), other mixed plastics
(7), unmarked plastics and
“composites”. Composite
plastic packaging is made
from several materials not
easily separated, such as
long-life milk containers
with layers of foil, plastic
and paper.
This final group of plas-
tics is not generally sought
after as a raw material in
manufacturing, so has lit-
tle value to recyclers.
Shifting plastic
tides
China banned the import of
plastic waste in January 2018
to prevent the receipt of low-
value plastics and to stimu-
late the domestic recycling
industry
.
Following the bans, the
global plastic waste trade
shifted towards Southeast
Asian nations such as Viet-
nam,Thailand,Malaysia,and
Indonesia.Thelargestexport-
ers of waste plastics in 2019
were Europe, Japan and the
US. Australia exported plas-
tics primarily to Malaysia
and Indonesia.
Australia’s waste export
ban recently became law.
FromJulythisyear,onlyplas-
tics sorted into single resin
types can be exported; mixed
plastic bales cannot. From
July next year, plastics must
be sorted, cleaned and turned
into flakes or pellets to be ex-
ported.Thismayhelpaddress
the problem of recyclables
becoming marine pollution.
But it will require a signifi-
cant expansion of Australian
plastic reprocessing capacity
.
What we found
Our study was funded by the
federal Department of Agri-
culture, Water and the Envi-
ronment. It involved inter-
views with trade experts,
consultants, academics,
NGOs and recyclers (in Aus-
tralia, India, Indonesia, Ja-
pan, Malaysia, Vietnam and
Thailand) and an extensive
review of existing research.
We found when it comes to
the international plastic
trade, plastics most often
leak into the environment at
the destination country,
rather than at the country of
origin or in transit. Low-
value or “residual” plastics
– those left over after more
valuable plastic is recovered
for recycling – are most like-
ly to end up as pollution. So
how does this happen?
In Southeast Asia, often
only registered recyclers are
allowed to import plastic
waste. But due to high vol-
umes, registered recyclers
typically on-sell plastic bales
to informal processors.
Interviewees said when
plastic types were consid-
ered low value, informal pro-
cessors frequently dumped
them at uncontrolled land-
fills or into waterways.
Sometimes the waste is
burned.
Plastics stockpiled out-
doors can be blown into the
environment, including the
ocean. Burning the plastic
releases toxic smoke, caus-
ing harm to human health
and the environment.
Interviewees also said
when informal processing
facilities wash plastics,
small pieces end up in waste-
water, which is discharged
directly into waterways, and
ultimately, the ocean.
However, interviewees
from Southeast Asia said
their own domestic waste
management was a greater
source of ocean pollution.
A market
failure
The price of many recycled
plastics has crashed in re-
cent years due to oversup-
ply, import restrictions and
falling oil prices, (ampli-
fied by the COVID-19 pan-
demic). However clean
bales of PET and HDPE are
still in demand.
In Australia, material re-
covery facilities currently
sort PET and HDPE into
separate bales. But small
contaminants of other ma-
terials (such as caps and
plastic labels) remain,
making it harder to recycle
into high quality new prod-
ucts.
Before the price of many
recycled plastics dropped,
Australia baled and traded
all other resin types togeth-
er as “mixed plastics”. But
the price for mixed plastics
has fallen to zero and
they’re now largely stock-
piled or landfilled in Aus-
tralia.
Several Australian facili-
ties are, however, investing
in technology to sort poly-
propylene so it can be re-
covered for recycling.
Doing plastics
differently
Exporting countries can
help reduce the flow of plas-
tics to the ocean by better
managing trade practices.
This might include:
 Improving collection and
sorting in export countries
 Checking destination pro-
cessing and monitoring
 Checking plastic shipments
at export and import
 Improving accountability for
shipments
But this won’t be enough.
The complexities involved in
the global recycling trade
mean we must rethink pack-
aging design. That means
using fewer low-value plas-
tic and composites, or better
yet, replacing single-use
plastic packaging with reus-
able options.
SOURCE:
THECONVERSATION.COM
Plastic waste meant for recycling can end up in overseas landfill, before it blows into the ocean. —ANUPAM NATH/AP
Map showing the import and export map of plastic waste globally.
Research shows plastic meant for recycling often ends up
elsewhere —SHUTTERSTOCK
TALKING POINT
07

There is so much beauty in the
world and so little appreciation
and still humanity focuses on the
negativity, we must change this.
—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO Editor-in-Chief, First India
08
2NDFRONT
First India Bureau
Bhuj/Ahmedabad:
Buoyed by its first
huge electoral success
in Surat where it
obliterated the Con-
gress party, the Aam
Aadmi Party has on
the one hand started
questioning the State
Government on key is-
sues and, on the other,
on Monday an-
nouncedaprogramme
to enrol more people
in the party
.
Raising the issue of
two custodial deaths in
Kutch’s Mundra in Jan-
uary
, the AAP’s farmers
cell said the cops in-
volved in the case had
criminal antecedents
and demanded that the
government prepare a
report on police person-
nel having a “criminal
mindset” and those
known for violating po-
lice manuals.
In a letter to Chief
Minister Vijay Rupani
and DGP Ashish Bhatia,
Gujarat AAP farmers’
cell president Ravi Patel
and Rohit Gaur de-
manded that such po-
licemen should be iden-
tified and sacked.
They said the kind of
police atrocity against 3
youth at the Mundra po-
lice station had left be-
hind an impression that
people with criminal
mindset have infiltrated
into the police force.
In this case, the ar-
rested cops have been
found to be involved in
11 offences in the past.
“It is shocking that such
persons have got select-
ed in the police force in
2015 and are given a
very delicate assign-
ment, where police are
expected to deal with
great sensitivity and hu-
manity
,” the letter said.
They threatened a
statewide agitation if
no stern action was tak-
en against such cops.
Meanwhile, in a press
conference, Gujarat
AAP chief Gopal Italiya
released a phone num-
ber where ordinary peo-
ple could give a missed
call to join the party
.
AAP wants cops with criminal mindset to be sacked
MISSION 2021?
Encouraged by its first
political success in Gujarat,
AAP has begun question-
ing the govt and inviting
people to join the party
8jailedfor‘lionshows’inGir
foreststoentertaintourists
First India Bureau
Veraval (Gujarat):
Years after the now
infamous illegal lion
shows in the Gir pro-
tected forests, a local
court has initiated ac-
tion and convicted
eight people and fined
them Rs 10,000 each
for the tourist shows
where the beasts are
tempted with various
baits for entertain-
ment.
The Gir Somnath
Court has not only con-
victed eight persons but
has also directed the
Gujarat Government to
confiscate and cancel all
the rights of the lands
allocated to those who
became the show organ-
izers.
It was on May 19, 2018,
midnight where a resi-
dent of Dhumbhak vil-
lage, Iliyas Abdreman,
organised an illegal lion
show in the Babariya
forest range for 5 tour-
ists. He used a bait in
the form of a chicken.
He video-recorded the
entire lion show where
he played truant with a
lioness by showing and
taking away the bird be-
fore the animal pulled it
away from him and ran
away. After the game
was enjoyed by the tour-
ists, he uploaded the
video clip of the entire
event on social media.
This caught the atten-
tion of a forest officer,
who lodged complaints
against him and others
under various sections
of the Wildlife Protec-
tion Act, 1972.
When the case came
up before the First Class
Judicial Magistrate
Sunil Dave, the court
concluded that both Ili-
yas and the tourists
were guilty of partici-
pating in the illegal be-
haviour.
Besides Iliyas Abdre-
man, the tourists con-
victed are Ahmedabad
tourists Ravi Patadiya,
Divyang Gajjar and
Rathin Patel, Abbas
Ringbloach of Har-
madiya, and Altaf Haid-
er from Talala Man-
dorana, for three years
of imprisonment and
10,000 fine. If they fail
to pay the fine, they will
have to spend one more
year in jail.
One more accused,
Mangilal Meena from
Rajasthan, is convicted
for one year imprison-
ment and 10,000 fine.
The Court also or-
dered the State to
seize the vehicles used
for lion show and can-
cel all rights of land
allocated to Iliyas as
part a settlement out-
side the Gir forest
programme. The
same land has to be
declared a govern-
ment land.
—FILE PHOTO
Adistrictcourtissuedconvictionordersaftervideoofincidentwentviral
327 govt medicos flew
out of Guj in 5 years
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: In an
admission of brain
drain of those pursu-
ing higher education
in Gujarat, the State
Government has ad-
mitted that as many
as 327 youngsters
who graduated in
medicine from state-
owned colleges left
for foreign shores
during the last five
years.
The Gujarat Govern-
ment made this admis-
sion in reply to a ques-
tion during the ongoing
budget session of the
State Assembly about
passouts from govern-
ment medical colleges.
It should be noted
that the fee at govern-
ment colleges are nomi-
nal although it costs the
government crores of
rupees to educate the
students.
The State also re-
vealed that the govern-
ment has recovered Rs
6.28 crore as bond mon-
ey from such doctors,
who did not serve the
mandatory rural duty,
to ensure that none of
the fresh doctors left
without clearing the
dues of the bonds.
There is a govern-
ment bond scheme un-
der which the medicos
would need to pay a cer-
tain bond amount if
they wanted to avoid
duties in the rural areas
after passing out from
their colleges. This was
done to address the is-
sue of the shortage of
doctors in rural areas.
It should be noted
that government hospi-
tals in the state face a
shortage of doctors,
particularly of special-
ists. The State Govern-
ment recently adver-
tised for 740 posts of
medical teachers but
the response was not
encouraging.
Earlier similar adver-
tisements could help fill
up only 50% of the va-
cancies.
—FILE PHOTO
Masuma Bharmal Jariwala
Rajkot: Vigyan Jatha
and Rajkot taluka police
on Monday busted a
racket of a fake astrolo-
ger cheating people by
doing various ‘vidhi’ on
people suffering from
various issues.
Identified as Ashwin
Mehta, he used to trap
innocent people and
gave them “magic treat-
ment” of radish, iron
nails, coconut, lentils,
thread and cloth by as-
suring removal of all
evil. He used to charge
anything from Rs 2,500
to Rs 1 lakh.
The racket came to
light when a lawyer felt
he had been cheated af-
ter nothing positive hap-
pened to after Mehta’s
‘vidhi’. He lodged a com-
plaint with Rajkot talu-
kapoliceandsentacopy
to Vigyan Jatha, an or-
ganization that works
for rational thinking
and promoting science
to unravel these fake be-
liefs being spread.
“Mehta has been
cheating people for 10
years. When he came to
know about the com-
plaint, he changed three
places but was finally
caughtbyJathaworkers
after three months of
hiding. Facing two un-
successful marriages,
Mehta was tired of do-
ingimitationlabourand
begancheatingpeoplein
the name of astrology,”
Jatha chairman Jayant
Pandya said.
“This is our 1,183rd
case of revealing secrets
of such people. We keep
requesting people to be
aware before getting
trapped,” he informed.
The organisation re-
cently conducted a wed-
ding in a crematorium
just to make people be-
lieve that certain stig-
mas created by society
are man-made and to
inculcate a feeling of in-
security
.
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: The
State Government has
filed an affidavit in
the Gujarat High
Court assuring that it
is committed to e-pub-
lish all the gazetted
notifications and the
process is in an ad-
vanced stage.
The affidavit claimed
that a committee had al-
ready been constituted
and a report submitted.
Based on the report, a
URL, e-Gazette.gujarat.
gov.in has already been
allotted by the State Sci-
ence and Technology
Department. Also, the
approval for publishing
e-gazette notifications
had already been grant-
ed by the government.
A PIL was filed
through advocate Band-
ish Soparkar seeking
directions to the State to
upload the official ga-
zetteonthee-portal.The
advocate appearing for
thepetitionersubmitted
that 22 State Govern-
ments and the Centre
had uploaded their noti-
fications online, while
Gujarat was not comply-
ing with the same.
Government pleader
Manisha Lavkumar
submitted that the State
was very much seized of
thematterandtheatten-
tion of the departments
concerned had been
drawn to it.
VIGYAN JATHA AND RAJKOT POLICE
BUST RACKET OF A FAKE ASTROLOGER
Gujarat tells HC
it will e-publish
gazette papers
at the earliest
AAP President Arvind Kejriwal. —FILE PHOTO
REVEALING VIDEO
Fake astrologer Ashwin Mehta.
HERALDING WOMEN'S DAY WITH MEHNDI
Girls students took part in Mehndi competition organised by social worker Burhanuddin
Kadri as they celebrated the International Women's Day at Rahe-khair Girls High School in
Ahmedabad on Monday. —PHOTOS BY HANIF SINDHI

AHMEDABAD, TUESDAY
MARCH 9, 2021
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia
facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia 09
ON INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY, FIRST INDIA AWARDED ‘THE FIRST INDIA WOMAN OF SUBSTANCE AWARDS 2021’
TO 22 DESERVING WOMEN ICONS FROM DIFFERENT CATEGORIES WHICH WAS TELECASTED LIVE TO THE
LAKHS OF VIEWERS OF FIRST INDIA. CITY FIRST BRINGS YOU GLIMPSES OF THE SHOW!
n the occasion of
I n t e r n a t i o n a l
Women’s Day, First
India Woman of
Substance Awards
2021 was awarded
to women icons
from different fields.
Jagdeesh Chandra appreci-
ated the efforts of these
women who have forged
ahead and said, “These
women have become moti-
vators, symbols of hope and
icons for other women and
the society at large and First
India is proud to honour
them.” He further added
that women as mothers, sis-
ters, daughters and friends
are the cornerstone of Soci-
ety and play a critical role in
its development.
MoS Mamta Bhupesh was
the Chief Guest for the
event and it was to be pre-
sided over by CS Niranjan
Arya but both the eminent
dignitaries could not attend
due to the State mourning
declared after the demise of
former Governor Aayush-
man Singh. Mamta Bhu-
pesh sent in a recorded mes-
sage wishing First India all
the best and appreciating
their efforts for this initia-
tive.
MLA Krishna Poonia,
MLA Anita Bhadel, Con-
gress leader Archana Shar-
ma, BJP leader Suman Shar-
ma, Mayor (Heritage) Mun-
ish Gurjar, Environmental-
ist and Educationist Rashmi
Dickinson and Blogger Har-
shika Pareek held a panel
discussion moderated by
Shweta Mishra on the chal-
lenges before women today.
22 awards in different cate-
gories were given to torch-
bearers who reach out to
help others and a Nukkad
Natak was also enacted
which touched the hearts of
all present.
IAS Rashmi Gupta, IPS
Smita Srivastava were
awarded in the Senior bu-
reaucrats category and
RPSC member Sangeeta
Arya was awarded for So-
cial work though they could
not make it for the awards.
The bureaucrats adhered to
the state mourning protocol
while Sangeeta Arya had to
be in Ajmer.
The event was telecast
live to the multi-lakh view-
ers of First India News
across India and greatly ap-
preciated by one and all.
ANITA HADA
anita.hada@firstindianews.com
O
Jagdeesh Chandra with the Special Guests, Awardees and team of First India —PHOTOS BY SANTOSH SHARMA
Ritika Arya Cake Cutting to celebrate the Empowerment of Women
The Panelists- Suman Sharma, Munish Gurjar, Krishna Poonia,
Archana Sharma, Rashmi Dickinson and Harshika Pareek
Jagdeesh Chandra and Syed Umar greeted the women staff
of First India family on International Women’s Day
with flowers and chocolates!
Shweta Mishra Mamta Bhupesh

uman and ani-
mals have spe-
cialised tissue
structure called
muscles, made
of filaments
structured by
two types of the protein
named actin and myosin.
The actin protein mole-
cules form thin and short
muscle filaments while
myosin molecules form
thick and long filaments.
Grossly looking, actin
filaments have a smooth
surface while myosin
filaments have a rough
surface. Actin filaments
are much more in num-
ber, there being one myo-
sin filament for six actin
filaments. Myosin can be
called a molecular motor
that converts chemical
energy into mechanical
energy, thereby, generat-
ing force and movement.
Just look at a bull - this
molecular energy when
gets streamlined along
with the whole muscular
system can generate im-
mense force. Muscle con-
traction is a highly spe-
cialised task involving so
many chemical actions
with mechanical outcome
leading to movement of
the body and its parts. Ac-
tin protein molecules
form the microfilaments
of the muscles which par-
ticipate in muscle contrac-
tion but they perform
many other cellular func-
tions as well. These mus-
cles are placed in three
categories - skeletal mus-
cles which are attached to
bones and are well known
and can be seen below the
skin, cardiac muscles
which are specifically de-
signed to perform pump-
ing action for a very pro-
longed period without any
obvious resting period
and smooth muscles in
your intestines, lungs, kid-
neys etc. The point to re-
member is that to stay fit,
you have to take care of all
these muscles, only flex-
ing of biceps won’t do.
In a world controlled by
information without expe-
rience, every gym trainer
has become a muscle spe-
cialist and fitness expert.
Such people have very rig-
id ideas which they assert
with a lot of verbal force.
You can not attain in-depth
knowledge without self-
doubt, self-questioning
and a humble attitude. Lis-
ten to your gym instructor
but devote time to get fact-
based knowledge.
The craze for protein
shakes among gym-goers
is a commonly observed
phenomenon. Are protein
shakes essential for mus-
cle development? You
need proteins, no doubt
but this protein peddling
by gym owners and train-
ers is nothing but pure
greed and emotional ex-
ploitation of naive and
dreamy youth. Proteins
can not be stored by the
human body, they are ei-
ther broken down and ex-
creted in urine or convert-
ed into carbohydrates
leading to weight gain.
Timing of protein intake
is more important than
the amount. Take three-
part carbohydrates and
one part protein shake af-
ter a workout, have
your meal after sev-
eral hours and then
take three parts pro-
tein and one part
carbohydrates to con-
tinue protein synthesis
with muscle formation.
Muscle-strengthening
needs logic, not brute
force. If you wish for
healthy knee, hip and an-
kle joints, the top priority
should be squatting in
place of stretching. Squats
involve a group of mus-
cles on either side of
joints while stretching in-
volves mainly one group.
Stretching is for relaxa-
tion, squats build mus-
cles. Note that this is only
an explanatory example
that you can apply to
many joints and a group
of muscles.
It is always safe and bet-
ter to warm up before any
real exercise to prevent
muscle injury. Remember,
the warm-up
is different
from
stretch-
ing as it
increas-
es blood
f l o w
w h i c h
prevents
muscle inju-
ry. It is always
wise to stretch a
warm muscle and this
principle should be ap-
plied during yoga also.
It is a misplaced state-
ment that yoga caus-
es no muscle in-
jury, many
y o g a
p o s t u r e s
may injure your
muscles if done inappro-
priately. The simple yoga
postures are as beneficial
as the fancy, highly publi-
cized variants but they
have to be practised
throughout life. Yoga is a
way of life rather than a
target achieving phenom-
enon. In real life, so many
people claim to practice
yoga but in a significant
majority, it is only a state-
ment rather than practice.
I’ve seen so many peo-
ple working out early in
the morning empty stom-
ach. A morning walk is
okay but vigorous exer-
cise empty stomach is not
a wise decision. Exercise
needs ready energy, eat
a light, easily digesti-
ble food 90 minutes
before your workout
otherwise the body
will start drawing en-
ergy by eating into your
muscles which would
weaken over some time
and your metabolism
would slow down.
One more thing to take
note of is that walking is
important even if you go
to the gym. Walking con-
nects you to life all around
you, thereby, widening
your horizon. Excessive
and exhaustive exercise is
also a negative action as it
makes your body very rig-
id and tired. A
flex-
ible body is a much health-
ier body that a six-pack but
rigid body
.
Strength is to serve, dis-
play of that powerful mus-
cle is inspiring and brings
attraction but if it builds
ego and aggression, the
whole purpose of getting
a strong body is lost. A
strong body with a gentle
tongue and compassionate
heart should be a compre-
hensive goal.
10
ETC
F
A
C
E
O
F
T
H
E
D
A
Y
ISHIKA SEHGAL, Musician
LEO
JULY 24 - AUGUST 23
Fingers may be pointed at
you for something you are
not responsible for at work.
You can find yourself fitter
with regular exercises. This is the
time to strengthen the family bonds.
A prime property may come into your
name. Someone may do for you more
than what was expected.
LIBRA
SEPT 24 - OCTOBER 22
Financial worries can make
some restless, but the
situation will not be
beyond redemption. A new
project will proceed smoothly as you
get help from all quarters. You will
need to handle a tensed family
member with sympathy. A property
dispute can pit you against someone.
ARIES
MAR 21 - APR 20
Judicious spending will
find your bank balance in a
healthy state. You can feel
overworked on the
professional front. Spouse can
expect a helping hand. Settling down
in a new house is indicated for some.
An invitation to a party or function
may provide you an opportunity.
SAGITTARIUS
NOV 23 - DEC 22
Those ailing can expect their
condition to improve. Not
much gains on the monetary
front are indicated. Those
feeling restless in a particular job will
be able to settle down in time.
Interruptions on the domestic front are
foreseen that will not allow you to do
your own thing.
GEMINI
MAY 21 - JUNE 21
Assistance of colleagues
will help complete a project
much before time. A family
youngster is likely to make
you proud. Don’t be hasty in matters
pertaining to property. An entertain-
ing time with near and dear ones is
foreseen. An expected raise or bonus
is on the cards for some today.
AQUARIUS
JAN 21 - FEB 19
It may be difficult to make a
client accept your views on
the professional front. Avoid
indulging in speculation.
Peak physical fitness will make even
strenuous activities seem like child’s
play. Bad mood of a family member
may spoil the domestic environment. A
holiday promises much rest.
TAURUS
APR 21 - MAY 20
Those on medication will
find a distinct improvement
in their condition. Those
struggling to find a
solution to a workplace problem will
succeed. A forthcoming family event
is likely to raise your spirits. Those
dealing with property issues may
need to be careful.
CAPRICORN
DEC 23 - JAN 20
New dimensions open up
on the professional front
as you handle more than
one project. Your desire to
increase earning may need to be put
on hold temporarily till the time is
right. Your health consciousness will
keep you hale and hearty. Pending
things may hinder official work.
VIRGO
AUG 24 - SEP 23
You will manage to
showcase your profes-
sional skills to those who
matter. Playing your cards
well in a family situation will get you
the support and attention you crave
for. Taking possession of a new
house may become a reality for
some.
CANCER
JUNE 22 - JULY 23
Problems faced on the
health front show signs of
disappearing completely. A
deliberate attempt at
saving is the only way you can repay
your loans. Work front may appear a
bit too demanding, but you will be
able to handle it well. A family
get-together will uplift the mood.
PISCES
FEB20 - MARCH 20
A friend will come to the
rescue in bailing you out of
a financial situation.
Inculcating physical
workouts in your lifestyle will benefit
health. A family get together can find
you into your element. You will have
enough to invest in a suitable
property.
SCORPIO
OCT 23 - NOVEMBER 22
Those experiencing a cash
crunch will manage to
overcome it by tight
budgeting. You may feel
hesitant to broach a contentious
issue with a rival at work. A family
member may prove annoying by not
doing your bidding. Good returns can
be expected.
THE
WORLD
OF
MUSCLES
DR RAMAWTAR
SHARMA
cityfirst@firstindia.co.in
H
YOUR
DAY
Horoscope by
Saurabbh Sachdeva

THE AWARDEES
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia AHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, MARCH 9, 2021
11
Golf player Eti Chaudhary said while receiving
the award, “I never stopped when I was asked
to. I don’t see the world in limits, just an illusion
that I break every day.”
Lt Col Rashmi Mishra said while receiving the
award, “Yes, there are barriers, but in order to
walk shoulder to shoulder we need to break all the
bondages that we set upon ourselves and strive
for a better tomorrow, challenges ourselves to
become a better version of ourselves.”
Designer Bani Pasricha said while receiving the
award, “Women empowerment does not say we
should give more power to women but it means
that women must realize what powers they
already have and utilize it to the full extent.”
Model and actress Kriti Garg said while receiving
the award, “Dream big, come out of your shelves, do
not let anyone’s opinion break you. Let your strength
speak for itself.”
Dr Samra Sultana said while receiving the award, “Each
woman must take up the responsibility to take care of higher
education of at least one unprivileged child if we wish to see
this society get better every day.”
Model Akanksha Bhalla said while receiving the award,
“Shine! not just today, but everyday!”
Entreprenuer Neha Gupta said while receiving the award,
“We are the movers, makers, hustlers and shakers. There’s
not even a single limit to what we can accomplish.”
Sarpanch Geeta Choudhary said while receiving the award,
“We must be fearless at all stages of life, although we may have
a lot of burden on us, but, we have the strength to carry it all.”
Gold medalist archer Swati Dudhwal said while receiving the
award, “Focus on yourself, stay strong not just internally but
physically as well. Your only priority in your life must be you!”
Dr Harpreet Kaur Mann said while receiving the award,“Women
are blessed with roles, as a mother, sister, friend and daughter.
We must strike up the right balance to not lose ourselves in
playing all those roles and find our inner voice that thrives.”
Aanganbadi worker Usha Sharma said while receiving the
award,“Covid-19 didn’t stop anyone, it didn’t stop me, I took the
responsibility to spread awareness in the rural areas, if I could do it so
can the other women.”
Artist, gallerist and art promoter Sangeeta Juneja said
while receiving the award, “Through my art, I always support
women, if we stand together, we excel together.”
Educationist Rashmi Dickinson said while receiving the
award, “Know thyself, look closely at your passions, do all you
can to support your dreams.”
Social worker Savera Tak said while receiving the award,“As a
housewife, I always thought that my world is limited to one but as
I got out of the bubble, I knew that I had a bigger purpose to serve
through my social welfare and I always encourage other women to
break this circle of being just a housewife.”
Yoga trainer Aarti Soni said while receiving the award, “Be
pretty, be strong and be you!”
Social worker Nitisha Sharma said while receiving the award,
“There’s not just one day that must be celebrated to recognize the
services of women, our work, our sacrifices, our passions and our
being. Celebrate your weaknesses every day, build yourself step by
step every day.”
IAS Rashmi Gupta and IPS Smita Srivastava also received the
award for their exceptional services.Although they couldn’t be
present at the award ceremony.
Sangeeta Arya, a social worker and a member of the RPSC who received the award said through
a virtual medium,“Girls must always put education first.We do have a role in the society to play,
but, the most important rule we must follow is to establish ourselves before helping others.” Her
daughter-in-law Ritika Arya received the award on her behalf.
Garima Patet, Learning and Development Manager at Rambagh Palace said while receiving the award, “This
year’s theme for International Women’s Day is ‘Choose to Challange’, and I believe this call to action not just at
our workplace but at our home, to curate the best version of ourselves.”
Dr Swati Srivastava said while receiving the award, “Women contribute
more than half of the population of the world. This day marks empowerment,
let this day remind us that we must contribute more and more to improve
our society for they do have the potential to change the world.”
Poet Malka Naseem said while receiving the award,
“It is my dream to see all the women in the world to
walk shoulder to shoulder with men. Be responsible,
take up charge ad lead the way.”
During the ‘Nukkad Natak’
Jagdeesh Chandra, Syed Umar, First India family
and the team of Nukkad Natak caught in a selfie moment.
During the play performance
Garima awarded
by Jagdeesh
Chandra and the
women icons
present there
(from left)
Munish Gurjar,
Anita Bhadel,
Suman Sharma,
Archana Sharma
and Krishna
Poonia
—PHOTOS BY SANTOSH SHARMA
Sangeeta Arya
—COMPILED BY SUSHMITA AIND

First india ahmedabad edition-09 march 2021

First india ahmedabad edition-09 march 2021

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to First india ahmedabad edition-09 march 2021

Similar to First india ahmedabad edition-09 march 2021 (20)

More from FIRST INDIA

More from FIRST INDIA (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (11)

First india ahmedabad edition-09 march 2021