First india ahmedabad edition-24 june 2020

CORONA
ALERT
AHMEDABAD l WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2020 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/16208 l Vol 1 l Issue No. 209
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COVID-19
UPDATE
GUJARAT
1,711
DEATHS
28,429
CONFIRMED CASES
RAJASTHAN
365 DEATHS 15,627 CASES
MAHARASHTRA
6,531 DEATHS 1,39,010 CASES
TAMIL NADU
UTTAR PRADESH
DELHI
2,301 DEATHS 66,602 CASES
WORLD
4,76,571
DEATHS
92,70,233
CONFIRMED CASES
INDIA
4,55,830
CONFIRMED CASES
14,483
DEATHS
With 230 overnight cases, A’bad sees slight dip in numbers
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: In a sliv-
er of good news for
Ahmedabad, the city
has seen a slight fall in
overnight cases of
COVID-19. The area
under the Ahmedabad
Municipal Corpora-
tion--which usually ac-
countsfor50%ormore
of the state’s fresh
cases--on Tuesday had
“just” 41.8% of the
state’s 549 new cases .
The new cases bring
the state tally to 28,429
cases. With 26 fatali-
ties reported over-
night, the state’s death
toll is at 1,711. The
state also has 6,197 ac-
tive cases, with 62 pa-
tients on ventilator
support. Of the total
active cases, 3,277 are
in AMC limits. The
civic body discharged
390 patients, of which
108 patients were dis-
charged from home
isolation.
According to the
state’s COVID-19 bulle-
tin, the department stat-
ed 549 fresh cases and 26
deaths, of which 230
cases were recorded in
the AMC’s jurisdiction.
Interestingly, the
health department has
changed the format of
the press bulletin once
again. Not only has it
split the cases accord-
ing to districts and mu-
nicipal corporations, it
has also mentioned
three cases from other
states. This indicates
that the state is trying
to control the figures by
bifurcating rural and
urban areas, creating
more confusion regard-
ing the actual figures.
While Ahmedabad
showedadecreaseinnew
cases, it still accounted
for50%of thestate’stotal
deaths with 13.
Meanwhile, the Su-
rat Municipal Corpo-
ration recorded 152
positive cases, con-
tinuing the trend of a
higher number of
cases since Unlock 1.0
came into effect. The
SMC recorded five
deaths and dis-
charged 76 patients
after recovery.
The Vadodara Munic-
ipal Corporation record-
ed 38 fresh cases, Surat
district, 23, Jamnagar
Municipal Corporation,
11, Baruch, 11, Gandhi-
nagar district, 8, Nar-
mada, 6, Ahmedabad
district, 5, Mehsana, 5,
and Bhavnagar, 5. Va-
dodara, Mahisagar,
Panchmahal, Kutch,
Valsad, and Navsari had
four cases each and
Bhavnagar, Gir Som-
nath, and Surendrana-
gar had two cases each.
The Gandhinagar Cor-
poration, Sabarkantha,
Anand, Patan, Botad
Chhota Udepur report-
ed two cases. On the
other hand, the Rajkot
Corporation and dis-
trict, Aravalli, Kheda,
Jamnagar, Dahod, and
Amreli reported one
positive case each.
 24 HOURS: 549 CASES,
26 DEATHS
 TOTAL: 28,429 CASES,
1,711 DEATHS
Made in India!
New Delhi: Congress
president Sonia Gan-
dhi on Tuesday said the
current crisis on the
border with China is at-
tributable to the “mis-
management” of the
BJP-led government
and the “wrong poli-
cies” pursued by it.
The crisis on the bor-
der, if not tackled firm-
ly, can lead to a serious
situation, former PM
Manmohan Singh said
at a meeting of the CWC
on the situation along
LAC. Addressing the
meeting, Gandhi also
hit out at the govern-
ment for Turn on P6
New Delhi: In a bid to
promote Make in In-
dia and Aatma Nirb-
har Bharat (Self-reli-
ant India), the Gov-
ernment e-Market-
place (GeM) has man-
dated for sellers to
spell out the “Country
of Origin” of prod-
ucts they want to sell
on the platform.
GeM, a special pur-
pose vehicle under the
Ministry of Commerce
and Industry, has also
enabled a provision for
the indication of the
percentage of local con-
tent in products.
The government pro-
curement portal has
made it mandatory for
sellers to enter the coun-
try of origin while reg-
istering all new prod-
ucts on GeM, the Minis-
try of Commerce and
Industry said in a state-
ment on Tuesday.
With this new feature,
now, Country of Origin
as well as the local con-
tent percentage will be
visible in the market-
place for all items.
“Sellers, who had al-
ready uploaded their
products before the in-
troduction of this new
feature on GeM, are be-
ing reminded regularly
to update the Country
of Origin, with a warn-
ing that their products
shall be removed from
GeM if they fail to up-
date the same,” the
statement said.
It also said that Make
in India filter has also
been enabled on the por-
tal granting buyers
choice to buy only those
products that meet the
minimum 50% local
content criteria. “In
case of Bids, buyers can
now reserve any bid for
Class I Local suppliers
(local content more
than 50 percent). For
those Bids below INR
200 crore, only Class I
and Class II Local Sup-
pliers (local content
more than 50 percent
and more than 20 per-
cent respectively) are
eligible to bid, with
Class I supplier getting
purchase preference,”
the statement said. —ANI
Government enables ‘Make in India’ filter; mandates naming country of origin
India, China can solve border
issues on their own: Russia
Moscow: Russia on
Tuesday said that India
and China have shown
their commitment for
peaceful resolution of
the border issue and the
twocountriesdonotneed
“any help from outside”
to resolve the matter.
Speaking at the vir-
tual RIC foreign minis-
ters’ meeting, Russia’s
Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov said Moscow
hopes that New Delhi
and Beijing continue to
be committed to a
peaceful resolution of
disputes. “I don’t think
that India and China
need any help from the
outside. Turn on P6
India to Pak:
Cut mission
staff by half
New Delhi: India on
Tuesday asked Paki-
stan to reduce its staff
in its High Commission
here by half within the
next seven days and an-
nounced a reciprocal
trimming of Indian
strength in Islamabad,
in a significant down-
grading of diplomatic
ties. The MEA said
Charge d’ Affaires of
Pakistan Turn on P6
LAC crisis due to Modi’s
wrong policies: Sonia
DIL CHAHE WHAT’S
AGREE TO ‘COOL
DOWN’ TENSIONS
Beijing: Chinese and Indian
armies have arrived at a
consensus on the ‘outstand-
ing issues’ between them
and agreed to take necessary
measures to ‘cool down’ the
situation at their borders,
Chinese Foreign Ministry
said on Tuesday. “The
meeting showed that both
sides wish to control and al-
leviate the situation through
dialogue and consultation,”
Foreign Ministry spokesman
Zhao Lijian said.
In what may come as a major boost to tourism and also
to fill up government coffers, finally after three months
of long wait, the bars in clubs, hotels and restaurants will
open across Rajasthan from today. This paves way for
1,000 bars—a major money spinner for Tourism
Industry—to start business across state. Bar owners have
been strictly told to adhere to COVID 19 guidelines.
TIMETOCHEER!
Earthen pots with a face design of PM Modi are being sold at a market in Kanpur on Tuesday.
—PHOTOBYANI
The Lake Palace Hotel, Udaipur.

NEWSAHMEDABAD | WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2020
02www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
New Delhi. Union
Home Minister Amit
Shah on Tuesday
greeted people on the
occasion of Jagan-
nath Rath Yatra and
wished for everyone's
good health and pros-
perity.
The Supreme Court
had on Monday allowed
holding of the historic
Lord Jagannath Rath
Yatra in Puri with cer-
tain conditions.
"I extend my warm
greetings to all, on the
auspicious occasion of
Rath Yatra. May Maha
Prabhu Jagannath
bless everyone with
good heath, joy and
prosperity. Jai Jagan-
nath!," Shah tweeted.
The home minister
on Monday had said the
entire country is de-
lighted over the Su-
preme Court's decision
on the conduct of the
yatra and stressed that
Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi took the initi-
ative for consultations
which ensured that the
"great traditions of our
land are observed". —PTI
Darshan Desai
Ahmedabad: Known
for his otherwise low
profile approach, Con-
gress veteran Ahmed
Patel has in recent
months been taking a
swipe at the Narendra
Modi Government - of-
ten at where it hurts
the most.
In his latest jibe, Pa-
tel, a close confidante of
the late prime minister
Rajiv Gandhi and politi-
cal adviser to Congress
President Sonia Gan-
dhi, has ridiculed the
BJP-led Government
for the frequent rise in
petrol and diesel prices
during the last week
even as the global crude
oil prices are at a low.
On Tuesday, he sent
out a strong tweet
that spoke little but
showed more. Patel
put out videos of Nar-
endra Modi, the late
Arun Jaitley and un-
ion minister Prakash
Javadekar question-
ing the former Man-
mohan Singh Govern-
ment for hike in pe-
troleum prices. Patel,
in a tweet in Hindi,
then taunted the cen-
tral government over
the prices of petrole-
um products, assert-
ing that there is a
stark difference in
“kathni aur karni
(contrast between
preaching and prac-
tice)”. When asked
about this, Ahmed Patel
told First India, “These
are only the sample of
people who made alle-
gations on the Manmo-
han Singh Government
between 2009 and 2014
when the crude prices
were high. And now, do
they have a reply?” The
Congress leader, who
has his moorings in Gu-
jarat, said in response
to a question, “Every
single thing of this gov-
ernment is a study in
contrast. It has no con-
sistency of policies and
is incompetent,” Patel
asserted.
He went on, “the
Prime Minister went to
China and he had as
many as 18 meetings
with Xi Zinping during
the last few years but he
never once conveyed
anything to him. Modi
has had personal meet-
ing with the Chinese
premier, but even there
he didn’t tell him any-
thing.”
The Congress lead-
er, who is also AICC
treasurer, reasserted,
“This government has
no idea of the ground
realities. Modi’s claim
to “minimum govern-
ment, maximum gov-
ernance” is all hollow
and meaningless.”
MODI’S CLAIM TO ‘MINIMUM GOVERNMENT,
MAXIMUM GOVERNANCE’ IS HOLLOW: PATEL
Haridwar: Patanjali on
Tuesday launched 'Cor-
onil and Swasari', what
it claims is the Ayurve-
dic cure for treating
COVID-19, which they
said has been shown 100
per cent favourable re-
sults during clinical tri-
als on affected patients,
at Patanjali Yogpeeth.
While thanking the
Director, National Insti-
tute of Medical Scienc-
es, NIMS University,
Jaipur, Dr Balbir Singh
Tomar and all other
doctors and scientists
for their help in creat-
ing the medicine, Yoga
Guru Ramdev said,
"with the help of NIMS,
Jaipur we conducted
the clinical control
study on 95 patients.
The biggest thing which
came out of this is that
within three days 69 per
cent patients recovered
and became negative
from positive (cases)
and within seven days
100 per cent of them be-
came negative." "The
whole country and the
world was waiting for
medicine or vaccine for
corona. We are proud to
announce that the first
Ayurvedic, clinically
controlled trial based
evidence and research-
based medicine has
been prepared by the
combined efforts of Pa-
tanjali Research Centre
and NIMS," Ramdev
said at the press confer-
ence.
"We are launching
COVID medicines Cor-
onil and Swasari today
(on Tuesday). We con-
ducted two trials of
these, first clinical con-
trolled study, which
took place in Delhi,
Ahmedabad, among
many other cities. Un-
der this 280 patients
were included and 100
per cent of those recov-
ered. We were able to
control Corona and its
complications in this.
After this the all-impor-
tant clinical control
trial was conducted," he
added. He also said that
necessary approvals for
conducting the trials of
medicine on patients
had been taken from
competent authorities.
Acharya Balkrishna,
Chief Executive Officer
(CEO) of Patanjali, was
also present at the occa-
sion of the launch along
with other officials and
representativeswhohad
taken part in the prepa-
ration of the medicine.
Baba Ramdev launching a medicine kit for COVID-19, in Haridwar on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY ANI
Surat: Despite earlier
suggestions to close
the Surat's diamond
industry in wake of
COVID pandemic, it
will continue to func-
tion as per the new
norms, said Dinesh
Navadiya, Gujarat re-
gion chairman, Gems
and Jewellery Export
Promotion Council
on Monday.
"There were sugges-
tions to close industry
in Surat for a week in
view of COVID but in a
meeting with officials,
several norms have
been finalised. Based on
these norms the dia-
mond industry will con-
tinue functioning," Na-
vadiya said.
First India Bureau
New Delhi/Gandhina-
gar: Gujarat, which has
reported the highest Cov-
id-19 mortality rate of
over 6.3, is a key benefi-
ciary of nearly 3000 of
the 50,000 ‘Made in In-
dia’ ventilators sanc-
tioned under the PM
CARES fund that have
been manufactured and
over 1,300 have been de-
livered to various states,
while the rest would soon
be dispatched.
According to an official
statement, the PM CARES
Fund Trust had last month
decided to allocate Rs 3,100
crore for the fight against
the COVID-19 pandemic
and the amount was to be
used, among other things,
to purchase ventilators and
for welfare of migrant
workers.
Outof theRs3,100crore,
nearly Rs 2,000 crore was
earmarked for the pur-
chase of 50,000 ‘Made in
India’ ventilators.
“So far 2,923 ventilators
have been manufactured,
out of which 1,340 ventila-
tors have already been de-
livered to the States/UTs,”
the statement said.
By the end of this month,
an additional 14,000 ventila-
tors will be delivered to all
the states and UTs.
The prominent recipi-
ents, include Maharash-
tra (275), Delhi (275), Gu-
jarat (175), Bihar (100),
Karnataka (90), Ra-
jasthan (75), it said.
Out of the 50,000 ventila-
tors, 30,000 are being manu-
facturedbytheBharatElec-
tronics Ltd, a government
undertaking.
The remaining 20,000
ventilators are being manu-
factured by AgVa Health-
care (10,000), AMTZ Basic
(5650), AMTZ High End
(4000) and Allied Medical
(350), the statement said.
Referring to the welfare
of migrant workers, it said
Rs 1,000 crore has already
been released to states and
UTs for welfare of the mi-
grant labourers.
Thedistributionof funds
is based on the weightage
of populationof thestateas
per the 2011 Census 50 per
cent weightage, number of
positive COVID-19 cases as
on date 40 per cent weight-
age and equal share -- 10 per
cent weightage for all states
to ensure basic minimum
sum for all. The funds were
to be used for arranging ac-
commodation, food, medi-
cal treatment and transpor-
tation of migrants.
According to the state-
ment, the main recipients
of the grant are Maharash-
tra (Rs 181 crore), Uttar
Pradesh (Rs 103 crore), Ta-
mil Nadu (Rs 83 crore), Gu-
jarat (Rs 66 crore), Delhi (Rs
55 crore), West Bengal (Rs
53 crore), Bihar (Rs 51
crore), Madhya
Pradesh (50 crore),
Rajasthan (Rs 50
crore) and Karnata-
ka (Rs 34 crore).
Prime Minister
Narendra Modi had
announced creation of
thePM’sCitizenAssistance
and Relief in Emergency
Situations Fund (PM-
CARES) where people can
contribute to help the gov-
ernment fight against coro-
navirus and similar “dis-
tressing situations”.
The trust was formed
on March 27 and is head-
ed by the prime
minister. The
other ex-of-
ficio mem-
bers of
the trust
are the de-
fence min-
ister, the
home minis-
ter and the fi-
nance minister.
UNDER THE PM CARES FUND, 2,000 CRORE WAS EARMARKED FOR PURCHASE
OF 50,000 VENTILATORS AND 1,000 CRORE FOR MIGRANT WORKERS’ WELFARE
GUJ GETS 175 ‘MADE
IN INDIA’ VENTILATORS
The Centre has
statedthatoutof
the 50,000
ventilators,
30,000 are being
manufactured by
the Bharat
Electronics Ltd
Ramdev’s Patanjali launches Swadeshi
Corona medicine, claims 100% recovery
STOP ADVT DRUGS
HM Amit Shah greets
people on Rath Yatra
Diamond firms to work with new norms
EXCLUSIVE
Ahmed Patel
Amit Shah
Prime Minister Narendra Modi

GUJARATAHMEDABAD | WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2020
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: At a time
when private bus op-
erators across the
country are struggling
to re-start their bus
services, those in Gu-
jarat have not only re-
sumed operations but
have also witnessed
huge traction during
the past two weeks, ac-
cording to online bus
ticketing aggregator
Abhibus.com.
As the Government
of India announced Un-
lock 1.0 in which it had
permitted to run intra-
state as well as inter-
state bus services in the
country, the Gujarat
private bus operators
have taken a lead by op-
erating more than 1,600
bus services in a single
day, it said.
This trend clearly in-
dicates early signs of a
revival of the ailing in-
dustry which is badly
hit by the COVID-19
pandemic. Starting
from June 8, a total of
161 private bus opera-
tors in Gujarat have op-
erated 1,659 intra-state
services connecting
multiple key cities in-
cluding Ahmedabad,
Surat and Rajkot. More
than 160 private bus op-
erators have been using
the online platform to
sell seats on their buses
and provide seamless
commute to the people
of Gujarat who are ea-
gerly waiting to reach
their native places and
meet their loved ones.
During the lock-
down period, the por-
tal had recorded a
40% increase in daily
inquiries from Guja-
rat alone as over
1,00,000 travellers
about enquired bus
tickets on the portal.
Rohit Sharma, Chief
Operating Officer, Ab-
hibus said, “It is quite
impressive that the
private bus operators
have taken the lead
and commenced their
intra-state services
by operating more
than 1,600 services
per day. To provide
them with continuous
support, our dedicat-
ed teams are working
tirelessly on a 24/7
basis to ensure seam-
less operations.”
Pvt bus operators in Guj witness huge traction in intra-state services
BOUNCING BACK
 A total of 161 operators have run
1,659 intra-state services connecting
multiple key cities in the state
Rath Yatra stays in after HC rejects petitions
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: Chief
Minister Vijay Rupani
performed ‘Pahind’
ritual with the golden
broom on Lord Jagan-
nath’s chariot on Tues-
day morning, after
Gujarat High Court
rejected all petitions
to allow the 143rd
Rath Yatra outside the
temple gates. Later,
trustees and priest Dil-
ipdashji led devotees
in a Rath Yatra within
temple premises.
This was in keeping
with the court’s stay
on the procession,
which came at 2am on
Tuesday morning.
On Tuesday morn-
ing, there was heavy
police deployment at
the Lord Jagan-
nath Temple in Jamal-
pur area, to ensure
that the court’s order
was strictly followed.
The first division
bench comprising
Chief Justice Vikram
Nath and Justice JB
Pardiwala had rejected
all petitions seeking
permission for the
Rath Yatra after hear-
ing all concerned peti-
tioners and even the
state government. In
its order, the court ob-
served, “Despite the
assurance being given
by the state and all oth-
er applicants, we still
do not find any good
ground to recall or
modify our order dated
June 20. All the civil
applications are ac-
cordingly rejected.”
The bench further
noted, “In our order dat-
ed June 20, we had men-
tioned two grounds for
staying the procession.
First, the condition of
Ahmedabad on account
of the COVID-19 pan-
demic and second, the
order passed by the Su-
preme Court on June 18,
restraining Rath Yatra
in Puri and the entire
state of Orissa.”
The court also noted
that while Monday’s Su-
premeCourtordercould
not be ignored, “the situ-
ation in Ahmedabad on
account of pandemic
Covid-19 cannot be com-
pared with the situation
of Puri or in the state of
Orissa.”
Chief Minister Vijay Rupani kicked off the event with the ‘Pahind’ ritual sweeping, after which the chariots of Lord Jagannath and his siblings had their limited outing. Meanwhile, a heavy deployment of police ensured no one left the premises. —PHOTOS BY NANDAN DAVE
The 143rd edition of the Jagannath procession in Ahmedabad was a limited affair, held within the temple premises in Jamalpur area
Representational photo of private buses. —FILE PHOTO
Temple trustees lodge complaint
against two Jain monks for rape
First India Bureau
Himmatnagar: A trus-
tee of the Pavapuri
Sametshikhar Tirth-
dham and Sarvakaly-
an Trust have lodged
criminal complaints
against two Jain
monks for rape, using
abusive language and
threatening people
with black magic.
Dr Ashit Doshi, in his
complaint, has alleged
that two Jain monks as-
sociated with the
Pavapuri Sametshikhar
Tirthdham and Sar-
vakalyan Trust raped a
woman, and then
threatened her with
dire consequences if
she disclosed it. The
complaint also said that
the monks also threat-
ened to use black magic
to harm her family.
The complaint says
that the rape survivor’s
husband has written a
letter to the trust and
even provided photo-
graphs and video clips
in which two monks,
identified as Rajtilak
Sagarji (Rajasaheb)
and Mahrajsaheb
Shree Kalyan Sagarji,
are seen in compromis-
ing positions.
Dr Doshi told First In-
diathatbothmonkscon-
fessed to the crimes
when they were con-
fronted back in Febru-
ary. When the trustees
pulled them up, the
monks used abusive lan-
guage against them.
They also threatened to
use anti-social elements
to “silence” the trustees.
Both monks alleged-
ly lured women disci-
ples in the name of con-
ducting religious ritu-
als and then rape them.
In the current case, the
husband and wife cou-
ple from Surat were
regular visitors to the
Pavapuri temple, where
they came into contact
with the two monks.
Dr Doshi told First
India, that the com-
plaint was filed on
Tuesday at the Idar po-
lice station, where In-
spector PL Vaghela is
investigating the case.
Congress attacks govt for
buying 40K Chinese tablets
Flood-like situation expected in three rivers in the state
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: The Gu-
jarat Congress on
Tuesday launched a
fresh attack on the rul-
ing Bharatiya Janata
Party after the govern-
ment allegedly pur-
chased 40,000 “Made
in China” tablet com-
puters instead of boy-
cotting Chinese prod-
ucts in the wake of the
Galwan Valley issue.
“How come the state
government is purchas-
ing Chinese items at a
time when Prime Minis-
ter Narendra Modi and
Chief MinisterVijayRu-
pani are advocating that
citizens reject Chinese
products?” asked Man-
ish Doshi, chief spokes-
person of Gujarat
Pradesh Congress Com-
mittee. The government
has purchased around
40,000 tablets at the cost
of Rs58 crore to distrib-
ute in schools.
Doshi further said
that BJP leaders are giv-
ing calls to become ‘Aat-
manirbhar’ but are us-
ing educational grants
to purchase Chinese
products. He said, “Why
does the BJP govern-
ment lack nationalist
sentiments event at this
point in time? The BJP
always says something
and does the opposite
thing. The entire nation
is boycotting Chinese
products and the chief
minister is buying Chi-
neseitems.Rupanimust
accept moral responsi-
bility for this hypocrisy
and resign.”
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: The
Central Water Com-
mission in Gandhina-
gar released a flood
situation report cum
advisory on the state’s
rivers under the Hy-
drological Observa-
tion Circle, on Tues-
day. A flood-like situ-
ation is expected in
the upper basins of
the Mahi, Sabarmati,
and Banas rivers.
According to Part I of
the report, one or two
central water commis-
sion (CWC) sites in the
basin of the Mahi river
received light rainfall
in the last 24 hours.
While the data is cur-
rently at normal levels,
the water level in the
upper Mahi basin may
rise slightly in the next
24 hours.
A quantitative inflow
forecast will be issued
for Kadana, Dharoi, and
Dantiwada dam and an
advisory forecast will
be issued for Mahi Bajaj
Sagar Dam, Somkamla
Dam, and Panam Dam
if the inflow crosses the
forecast criteria fixed
for the above dams.
Meanwhile, in the Sa-
barmati Basin, one or
two CWC sites received
light rainfall in the last
24 hours. The water lev-
el at most CWC stations
is steady condition and
the situation is normal
according to CWC data.
For Banas Basin, dur-
ingthelast24hourslight
rainfall was received at
one or two CWC sites.
Currently water level at
most of the CWC sites is
in steady condition. As
per CWC data current
situation is normal.
As per the India Mete-
orological Department,
light to moderate rain-
fall is expected at isolat-
ed places in the inde-
pendent rivers in the
Saurashtra-Kutch re-
gioninthenext48hours.
Light thunderstorms
are likely in some parts
of the state, including
Jamnagar, Mandvi, New
KandlaandDwarka.The
region is likely to see
moderate rainfall and
wind speeds of less than
40 kmph as well.
Three killed,
six injured in
road mishap in
Anand district
First India Bureau
Anand: Three per-
sons were killed and
six injured, when
two cars rammed
into near Kantharia
village in the Anklav
taluka of Anand dis-
trict on Tuesday
morning. Anklav po-
lice reached the spot
and rushed injured
persons to hospital
for treatment.
Vadodara district
resident Hiteshbhai
Pandya and his family
were on his way to Ka-
padvanj to attend a so-
cial function, when a
speeding car—coming
from the opposite di-
rection—rammed into
the car in which they
were travelling.
Hiteshbhai, his wife
Jayshreeben and son
Vivek suffered serious
head injuries and died
on the spot. His two
daughters, Krupa and
Riddhi, were injured.
Four persons in the
other car also suffered
serious injuries. All
six injured were
rushed to Vadodara’s
SSG hospital for fur-
ther treatment.
Anklav police have
initiated investigation
into the case, with the
help from the Directo-
rate of Forensic Sci-
ences and the Road Ac-
cident research team.
The tablets will be distributed at schools. —FILE PHOTO
Panam Dam. —FILE PHOTO
RAIN COMING
FLOOD REPORT
The monks allegedly
also threatened to use
black magic to harm
their victim’s family
OTHER NOTES

G Vol 1 G Issue No. 209 G RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/16208. Printed and published by Anita Hada Sangwan on behalf of First Express Publishers. Printed at Bhaskar Printing Planet Survey No.148P, Changodar-Bavla Highway, Tal. Sanand, Dist. Ahmedabad.
Published at D/302 3rd Floor Plot No. 35 Titanium Square, Scheme No. 2, Thaltej Taluka, Ghatlodiya, Ahmedabad. Editor: Jagdeesh Chandra, responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act
PERSPECTIVEAHMEDABAD | WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2020
No one who does good work
will ever come to a bad end,
either here or in the world
to come. —Bhagavad Gita
Spiritual
SPEAK
GALLOPING FUEL
PRICES NOW GET
WORRISOME
ike Jack’s beanstalk the prices
of fuel are touching the sky. Af-
ter a break of 82 days, oil mar-
keting companies have resumed
the daily revision of fuel pric-
es. Prices of diesel and petrol have zoomed
record high in the last 17 days ever since
they were deregulated in 2002 and are
gradually going beyond the reach of com-
mon man, especially farmers. In the na-
tional capital price of diesel has risen to
Rs 79.40, while petrol is selling at Rs 79.76
after a cumulative increase of Rs 9.10 and
Rs 9.41 per litre, respectively. The in-
crease is not confined to New Delhi alone
but is also applicable to other states.
The prices in states vary due to different
slabs of local sales tax or value added tax and
excise. The Centre has hiked excise duty on
diesel and petrol twice in three months to
give the government Rs 2 lakh crore in addi-
tional tax revenues.
The daily price reviews were started by
the state-owned oil companies -Indian Oil
Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum and
Bharat Petroleum---from June 7.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi took up
the issue with the government urging Prime
Minister Narendra Modi to roll back the fuel
price hike and pass on the benefit of low global
crude oil price to consumers. “I am deeply dis-
tressedthatintheseexceedinglydifficulttimes
since the beginning of March, the government
has taken the wholly insensitive decision to
increasepetrolanddieselpricesonnolessthan
ten separate occasions,” she said last week.
Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir
Singh Badal, an ally of the National Dem-
ocratic Alliance, urged the government
to roll back fuel prices as the unprece-
dented hike was hurting farmers at a
time when kharif sowing is on. Besides,
the common man, trade and industry
have also been hit. Transporters who are
already reeling under lockdown after-
math recently staged a protest against
the increased prices. Demanding substan-
tial reduction in prices, the All India Mo-
tor Transport Congress recently said that
high prices have made “operations unvi-
able”. If the prices are not lowered, the
transporters will pass on the burden to
consumers of all the goods they ferry.
After a sharp fall in demand for crude oil,
global oil prices also plummeted earlier this
year.Withtheglobalmarketshavingrecovered,
the prices too have started moving upwards.
The automobile industry is concerned that
the daily hike in fuel prices was adding to the
already sluggish demand.
The high fuel prices do help the govern-
ment fill its coffers as it has to manage
budget deficit and an ailing economy.
They, however, leave a big hole in the pock-
ets of the poor. Already reeling under the
impact of job losses and pay cuts due to
the pandemic, the common man may now
have to shell out more for his cab ride,
fruits, vegetables and other essentials.
IN-DEPTH
irst, the debate started with
whether the landlords should
collect the rents for the lock-
down period or not. Then, the
debate shifted to whether they
are even eligible to collect the
rents or not. Now since the
courts in India have well clari-
fied and ruled that not only the
landlords are eligible to collect
the rents but also it would be
unjust to them if they are even
asked to waive rents for the
lockdown period. Now since
the lockdown doesn’t seem to
end so smoothly, so soon, it is
becoming a challenge for the
landlords to recover rents from
their tenants. I have tried to
study the situation from both
the sides, analyse the gravity
of the lockdown compassion-
ately and have then devised a
modest methodology for the
landlords to recover rents ami-
cably and lawfully even amidst
the Corona crisis.
Gardens are not made by
sitting in the shade. Have a
dialogue with the tenants.
Most of the time, we become
victims of our assumptions.
We simply presume that the
tenants do not want to pay or
are unable to pay. Landlords, if
they do not receive their rents,
as usual, must first of all speak
to their tenants and inform
them that no government order
mandates a rent waiver. It is in
the interest of the tenants to
keep paying the rents as usual
rather than piling it up for a
future date which may also at-
tract interest and penalties as
per the agreement.
Landlords do not have
money plants in their back-
yard. Inform tenants of your
side of problems too. As the
word ‘landlord’ gives the im-
pression, most of the time ten-
ants presume that the land-
lords are the ones who quite
literally have money plants in
their backyards. According to
their presumption, this is that
sect of the society which has a
lot of money, deep pockets, and
no financial problem whatso-
ever. The tenants must be ex-
plained that the landlords too
have to pay the EMIs, they have
to pay the society bills, prop-
erty taxes etc. in which they
have no respite from the gov-
ernment. Whether the rent is
received or not, the landlords
are liable to pay GST, which is
payable on mercantile basis
not on receipt basis.
Needs must when the dev-
il drives. Adhere to the con-
tract as per law. Most of the
tenants, as per my study, have
tried to take shelter of the
‘Force Majeure’ clause in the
agreement. It is rare that the
said clause would have covered
the situation of a pandemic or
the lockdown specifically and
would have allowed for a waiv-
er of rent for the period of lock-
down. The landlords need to
make the tenants understand
that the clause of ‘Force Ma-
jeure’, if applicable, is used to
terminate the agreement. A
tenant cannot use this clause to
take a waiver of rent for a
month or two and still keep the
agreement alive and continue
to use the premises. The order
dated 21st May 2020 of the hon-
ourable Delhi High Court well
defines this aspect.
Unwillingness easily finds
an excuse. Ask for justifica-
tion. It is for those tenants
who, despite being in good fi-
nancial health, are unduly
withholding the rents and are
simply trying to take advan-
tage of the situation. These
tenants should be asked to sub-
stantiate their act with neces-
sary documents such as their
balance sheets, Income Tax
Returns, Bank Statements etc.
If these documents defeat their
claims, the rents must be recov-
ered from them.
A bird in hand is better
than two in a bush. Accept
the part payment of rents. In
some cases, where the tenants
are genuinely stuck up finan-
cially and are facing some li-
quidity crunch, they are asked
to pay at least a part of the
monthly rent now deferring
the balance settlement to a pre-
decided date.
Where there is a will
there’s a way. Advise tenants
to take loans if so required.
If there comes a situation
where neither the landlord nor
the tenant is in a good liquidity
situation, it should be the ten-
ant who should be asked to take
a loan from the bank or raise
finance from other sources
rather than imposing the same
on the landlord. Why should
the landlord bear the brunt?
A tenant must bear in mind
that the landlord is neither a
partner nor a stakeholder in
the profits of the tenants. A
landlord is asking the tenants
to pay only what is due as per
the contract between them. I do
not recommend any landlord to
be unsympathetic or merciless
towards tenants but, he should
also have the conviction that he
too is a sufferer of the lock-
down and he too needs his mon-
ey cycle to remain intact.
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY
THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL
RECOVERING RENT
AMIDST THE CORONA CRISIS
F
Most of the
tenants, as per
my study, have
tried to take
shelter of the
‘Force Majeure’
clause in the
agreement. It is
rare that the
said clause
would have
covered the
situation of a
pandemic or
the lockdown
specifically and
would have
allowed for a
waiver of rent
for the period of
lockdown
A tenant must bear in
mind that the landlord
is neither a partner
nor a stakeholder in
the profits of the
tenants. A landlord is
asking the tenants to
pay only what is due
as per the contract
between them
merican R&B
star John Leg-
end is doing a
major live
show on
Thursday June 25 to pro-
mote his new album,
Bigger Love. But can he
expect much of a crowd,
given that many pan-
demic restrictions are
still in place? More than
likely, since the whole
performance is taking
place in virtual reality.
Legend will not be ap-
pearing in person but as an
avatar via the social VR
platform Wave. The show
is part of an experimental
live concerts series that
has been taking place on
the platform during the
pandemic.
With other artists in
the series including Ti-
nashe, the whole idea is
that they perform live in
an immersive and fan-
tastical virtual world
that offers a new experi-
ence for audiences. Rap-
per Travis Scott did
something similar in-
side the Fortnite video
game in April and at-
tracted over 12 million
viewers.
There appears to have
been a significant rise in
such VR offerings this
year, aiming to deliver
safe, accessible experi-
ences during the pandem-
ic. A number of visitor
attractions have started to
offer immersive VR expe-
riences and access to on-
line collections via the
Google Arts & Culture
app. You can go on a walk-
ing tour of the ancient
temples of Sicily’s Valle
dei Templi, for example.
Or how about visiting a
New York street art exhi-
bition based around giant
water tanks, or Hong
Kong’s renowned Blue
House building?
DYSTOPIA, HERE
WE COME?
Enthusiasts for this tech-
nology often frame the ben-
efits of adding a VR dimen-
sion to an existing service
in terms of the democratis-
ing potential – making
something accessible (for
free) to a lot more people.
Yet for any VR experience
to take place, there are fi-
nancial and practical con-
straints. Users need a fast
internet connection, a
headset and some kind of
computer or mobile device.
This hefty outlay – along
with problems with the
previous generation of
headsets, such as seasick-
ness – has meant that the
market for VR is still rela-
tively small. It is estimated
that there are now around
170 million VR users world-
wide, with one report say-
ing that the industry “had
not lived up to its earlier
expectations”.
There is also the issue of
whether VR experiences
can substitute real-life of-
ferings. On the one hand,
in the context of digital
gaming and virtual worlds,
VR technologies arguably
empower individuals and
often provide a much need-
ed escape from the con-
straints of everyday life.
During COVID-19, the re-
surgence of virtual worlds
like Second Life shows
how they can enable a
sense of community and
various social interac-
tions, from dancing in a
club to walking through a
busy city.
On the other hand, VR
technologies perhaps only
offer a pale imitation of the
multi-sensory experiences
of life. VR risks removing
the authenticity from cul-
tural offerings; of turning
them into little more than
another commodity deliv-
ered in bundles online. It
might also compound the
problems with privacy and
surveillance that exist
with search engines and
social media.
In a post-COVID-19 soci-
ety, there is a real chance
that we will be increasing-
ly using VR in our daily
lives. The organisations
building these virtual of-
ferings, and those who
oversee these industries,
have a duty to ensure it
doesn’t lead us into some
kind of dystopia. We could
end up experiencing much
of life alone at home, with
no privacy, forgetting the
importance of the touch
and smell of cultural expe-
riences..
FOR FULL REPORT LOG ON TO
WWW.THECONVERSATION.COM
Virtual reality has been boosted by coronavirus
A
Top
TWEET
Dharmendra Pradhan
@dpradhanbjp
This is the ﬁrst time an alternative
to natural gas is being sold by @
IndianOilcl. It is a historic occasion
for the people of Tamil Nadu and
it is very apt that project of such
national importance is being
inaugurated in the august presence
of Hon. @CMOTamilNadu.
Piyush Goyal
@PiyushGoyal
Had a meeting with representatives
of Service Export Promotion Council
and discussed ways to boost
service exports. Our Government
is committed to offer full support
to stakeholders to ensure India’s
skilled & young workforce serves
global opportunities.
L ALOK
GUPTA
The writer is a President of the
Estate Agents Association of
India, Central Zone One

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INDIAAHMEDABAD | WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2020
BJP MP PRAGYA THAKUR FAINTS AT A
PARTY EVENT IN BHOPAL
Bhopal: BJP’s Lok Sabha
member from Bhopal
Pragya Singh Thakur
fainted during an event
organised at party to pay
tributes to Bharatiya Jan
Sangh founder Syama
Prasad Mookherjee on
his death anniversary.
The incident occurred
when Madhya Pradesh
Chief Minister Shivraj
Singh Chouhan and
other senior BJP leaders
were paying tributes
to Mookherjee at the
event held at the party’’s
state headquarters here.
Former Bhopal MP Alok
Sanjar told PTI that
Thakur has been under-
going treatment for her
ailments and was taking
heavy doses of medi-
cines, which could have
caused dizziness.
2 TERRORISTS GUNNED DOWN IN
AN ENCOUNTER IN PULWAMA
Srinagar: A Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF)
personnel was killed and two terrorists were
shot dead by security forces during a gunfight in
Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district, officials
said on Tuesday. The encounter had erupted
in Bundzoo area of Pulwama district early on
Tuesday after the operation was launched on
specific input about the presence of terrorists
in the village.The CRPF personnel was injured
when the terrorists fired at the cordon party and
later succumbed to his injuries.
‘RAHUL GANDHI TRYING TO DIVIDE NATION’BJP National President JP Nadda while attacking RaGa also cited 2008 MoU between Congress and China’s Communist Party
New Delhi: BJP na-
tional President Jagat
Prakash Nadda raised
questions over Con-
gress’ links with China
and attacked Rahul
Gandhi stating that the
Wayanad MP is trying
to divide the nation and
demoralise its armed
forces.
Sharing a flow chart
titled “The story of a
MoU and its effect” the
BJP President said that
Congress surrendered
land to China. “First,
Congress signs MoU
with Chinese Commu-
nist Party. Then, Con-
gress surrenders land
to China. During
Doklam issue, Rahul
Gandhi secretly goes to
Chinese embassy. Dur-
ing crucial situations,
Rahul Gandhi tries to
divide the nation and
demoralise armed forc-
es. Effects of MoU?” Na-
dda tweeted.
“Is it that MoU which
made Congress go
against national inter-
est?” the BJP chief
asked.
The BJP President
tried to describe the is-
sue through a flow
chart and shared sev-
eral news reports relat-
ed to the issue. “China
has occupied 640 square
km in three Ladakh sec-
tors” and “600 border
violations by China
along LAC since 2010”.
This he said happened
between the period of
2010 and 2013.
He alleged that China
got a free hand to occu-
py the Indian territory
after Congress signed
an MoU with the Chi-
nese Communist Party
in 2008.
He said now in 2020
Rahul tries to divide In-
dia during the time of
crisis and shared an ar-
ticle citing “Don’t po-
liticize this...:Father of
soldier who got injured
in Galwan to Rahul
Gandhi” The BJP-led
Central government
and Congress have been
at loggerheads over the
recent face-off with
China in Galwan valley
in Ladakh. —ANI
BJP National President JP Nadda pays floral tribute to Dr Syama Prasad Mukherjee on his death anniversary, at BJP Head Quarters in
New Delhi on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY PTI
‘Complete failure’ of
India’s Foreign policy’
New Delhi: Stepping
up his attack on PM
Narendra Modi on the
border standoff with
China, Congress leader
Rahul Gandhi on Tues-
day accused him of “de-
stroying” India’s posi-
tion and “betraying our
Army” by accepting
Beijing’s stand that it
did not occupy any In-
dian land.
Addressing the meeting
of the Congress Work-
ing Committee, he said
there has been a “com-
plete and total failure”
of foreign policy under
the Modi government.
“The established insti-
tutional structure of
diplomacy has been de-
molished by the PM.
Our relations with our
once friendly neigh-
bours lie in tatters. Our
time tested relationship
with our traditional al-
lies has been interrupt-
ed,” he said.
Gandhi suggested that
India should build a
good relationship with
the United States and
other countries and
must also maintain its
ties with its old friends.
“China has brazenly oc-
cupied our territory.
The PM has destroyed
our position and be-
trayed our army by ac-
cepting their position
that they occupied no
Indian land. The Chi-
nese can’t be permitted
to get away with this
unacceptable usurpa-
tion of our land,” he
said, adding everything
needs to be done to en-
sure that sacrifice of
our martyrs is not in
vain. —PTI
‘RaGa is
discouraging &
insulting Army’
Bhopal: Madhya
Pradesh Chief Minister
Shivraj Singh Chouhan
on Tuesday attacked
Congress leader Rahul
Gandhi and said that he
is discouraging and in-
sultingtheArmy.Speak-
ing to media Chouhan
said, “Shame on the
leader who raises ques-
tions on the valour of
Army. Rahul Gandhi is
discouragingandinsult-
ing the army.” He said
that BJP has always
been with the Congress
government during the
times of crisis. “When-
eversuchasituationhas
happenedinthecountry,
the Bharatiya Janata
Party used to stand with
the Congress govern-
ment. But to what extent
they have fallen, the for-
mer president of Con-
gress, even at such
times, he is doing dirty
politics,” he said.—ANI
Rahul Gandhi
@RahulGandhi
We stand united
against the Chinese
invasion. Has China
occupied Indian land?
Jagat Prakash Nadda @JPNadda
First, Congress signs
MoU with Chinese
Communist Party.
Then, Congress
surrenders land to China. During
Doklam issue, Rahul Gandhi
secretly goes to Chinese
embassy. During crucial
situations, Rahul Gandhi tries to
divide the nation and demoralise
armed forces. Effects of MoU?
RJD national V-P Raghuvansh Prasad Singh resigns
Patna: Rashtriya Ja-
nata Dal (RJD) national
vice president Raghu-
vansh Prasad Singh has
resigned from his post.
Raghuvansh Prasad
Singh is closed to RJD
supremo Lalu Yadav’s
famiy. He is the ex cabi-
net minister. According
to the sources Singh is
unhappy, due Rama Sin-
gh, former Lok Jan-
shakti Party (LJP) MP
from vaishali as he is
joining RJD on June 29.
Singh is currently ad-
mitted to All India Insti-
tute of Medical Scienc-
es (AIIMS), Patna as he
was tested positive for
COVID-19.
Moreover, he is also
unhappy with Bihar
RJD President Jagdan-
and Singh, earlier
Raghuvansh Prasad
Singh had raised a
question over former’s
style of working, said
sorces. —ANI
FIVE RJD MLCs JOIN JD(U) AHEAD OF
BIHAR ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS
Ahead of the Legislative Council elections in Bihar,
five RJD MLCs joined CM Nitish Kumar’s JD (U) on
Tuesday.The RJD, which has eight MLCs, is now left
with only three MLCs. The MLCs who defected to JD(U)
are Radha Charan Shah, Sanjay Prasad, Dilip Rai, Md
Kamar Alam and Ranvijay Kumar Singh. JD (U) leader,
Rajiv Ranjan Singh welcomed the five members to the
party. He said, “We welcome them to the family.” Radha
Charan Shah said that he decided to join JD (U) as he
admired the principles of Nitish Kumar. Presence of new
members in the party will make it strong, leaders said.
IN THE COURTYARD
New Delhi: The CBI
has summoned Con-
gress leader and for-
mer Manipur Chief
Minister O Ibobi Singh
for questioning on
Wednesday in Rs 332
crore alleged misap-
propriation of develop-
ment funds between
2009 and 2017, when he
was the chairman of
the Manipur Develop-
ment Society, official
said.
A CBI team has
reached Imphal for
questioning Singh and
other accused, who
will be quizzed at agen-
cy office on Wednesday.
CBI had taken over
the case on November
20 last year on the re-
quest of state’s BJP
government. —PTI
HCadjournshearingonOBC
quotapleainmedicalcolleges
CBI summons former Manipur CM Ibobi
Singh in Rs332 cr misappropriation case
New Delhi: Delhi HC
adjourned hearing on
a plea seeking direc-
tions to Centre to fol-
low the 27% reserva-
tion of seats for OBC
category in medical &
dental colleges for the
academic year 2020.
A bench of Justice
Jayant Nath posted the
matter for further
hearing on July 10 af-
ter the counsel for the
Ministry of Health ap-
prised the court that a
case related to this is
pending in the Su-
preme Court, which is
likely to be heard on
July 8.
According toPIL, in
the past two academic
years - 2017-18 and 2018-
19 - around 5,530 seats
that would have gone
to students of OBC cat-
egory, if reservation
procedure was fol-
lowed, were allotted to
students of the general
category. Plea alleged
that after the NEET re-
sults, that were pub-
lished for 2020, it was
learned through vari-
ous news reports that
the 27% reservation to
the OBCs was not fol-
lowed in the admis-
sions. —ANI
Delhi violence: Pregnant Jamia
student Safoora granted bail
New Delhi: Delhi HC
granted bail to a stu-
dent of Jamia Millia
Islamia who was
charged under UAPA
for her alleged role in
the riots in northeast
Delhi earlier this year.
Safoora Zargar, an
MPhil student, was
granted bail on a per-
sonal and surety bond
of Rs 10,000.
HC said Zargar shall
not indulge in activities
for which she is being
investigated and will
also refrain from influ-
encing, hampering and
interfering in the ongo-
ing probe. Zargar ap-
proached the court
seeking bail on the
ground that she is preg-
nant & has severe medi-
cal complications.
PM Modi’s homage to
Syama Prasad Mukherjee
New Delhi: PM Naren-
dra Modi paid tribute to
Bharatiya Jana Sangh
founder Syama Prasad
Mukherjee,onhisdeath
anniversary.
“I pay my respects to
Dr Syama Prasad
Mukherjee, the great
son of Mother Bharati,
on his death anniver-
sary,” PM Modi tweet-
ed in Hindi.
Syama Prasad
Mukherjee founded
Bharatiya Jana Sangh.
He served as the Minis-
ter for Industry and
Supply in Prime Minis-
ter Jawaharlal Nehru’s
cabinet. However, due to
difference of opinion
with Nehru on several
issues, he later co-found-
ed the Janata Party in
theyear1977-1979,which
went on to become
the BJP. —Agencies
Atleast 53 people died and 400 others were injured during the
riots held at Northeast Delhi in February this year. —FILE PHOTO
BJP MP Maneka Gandhi
pays tribute to her husband
the late Sanjay Gandhi on
his death anniversary, in
New Delhi on Tuesday.
—PHOTO BY PTI
FLORAL
TRIBUTE

India, China...
I do not think they need
to be helped, especially
when it comes to coun-
try issues. They can
solve them on their
own. In recent events,
New Delhi and Beijing
showed their commit-
ment to a peaceful reso-
lution,” Lavrov said
when asked whether
Russia would help Chi-
na and India in resolv-
ing the matter.
“They started meet-
ings at the level of de-
fence officers, foreign
ministers and neither
of the two sides made
any statements which
would indicate that any
of them would pursue
non-diplomatic solu-
tions,” he added.
External Affairs Min-
ister S Jaishankar and
his Chinese counterpart
Wang Yi took part in the
trilateral meeting.
It was held days after
June 15 Galwan Valley
violent face-off between
Indian and Chinese
troops as a result of an
attempt by China to uni-
laterally change the sta-
tus quo during de-escala-
tion in eastern Ladakh.
India has said that the
situationcouldhavebeen
avoided if the agreement
at the higher level been
scrupulouslyfollowedby
the Chinese side.
India lost 20 of its sol-
diers in the violent face-
off in the Galwan Val-
ley and 10 Indian sol-
diers also were held
captive and later re-
leased. Indian inter-
cepts have revealed that
the Chinese side suf-
fered 43 casualties in-
cluding dead and seri-
ously injured.
IndianArmy14Corps
Commander Lt Gen
Harinder Singh and his
Chinese counterpart on
Monday held 11 hours
meeting at the Border
Personnel Meeting
Point at Moldo to reduce
the tensions between
the two countries.
Jaishankar held tele-
phonic talks with Wang
on June 17 and con-
veyed that what hap-
pened in Galway was a
“pre-mediated and
planned action that was
directly responsible for
the resulting violence
and casualties.” —ANI
India to...
High Commission was
summoned and in-
formed about the deci-
sion which was based
on instances of alleged
involvement of Paki-
stani officials in “acts
of espionage” and deal-
ings with terrorist or-
ganisations.
In a statement, the
the MEA also cited the
recent abduction of two
Indian officials in Is-
lamabad and the “bar-
baric treatment” meted
out to them by Paki-
stani agencies as rea-
sons for downgrading
of the diplomatic ties.
“The behaviour of
Pakistan and its offi-
cials is not in conform-
ity with the Vienna
Convention and bilat-
eral agreements on the
treatment of diplomatic
and consular officials.
On the contrary, it is an
intrinsic element of a
larger policy of sup-
porting cross-border
violence and terror-
ism,” the MEA said.
Therefore, it said, In-
dia has taken the deci-
sion to reduce the staff
strength in the Paki-
stan High Commission
in New Delhi by 50 per
cent. —ANI
LAC crisis...
“mercilessly” raising
petrol and diesel prices
for 17 consecutive days,
even when global prices
of crude oil were falling.
On the LAC crisis,
Gandhi said, “The fu-
ture is yet to unfold but
we hope that mature di-
plomacy and decisive
leadership will inform
the government’s ac-
tions in protecting our
territorial integrity.”
She said though the
Congress party was the
first to offer its total
support to the armed
forces and the govern-
ment, there is “a grow-
ing feeling among the
people that the govern-
ment has gravely mis-
handled the situation”.
“We urge upon the
government that peace,
calm and the restora-
tion of the status quo
ante along the LAC be
the only guiding princi-
ples in our national in-
terest. We will continue
to closely watch the sit-
uation,” she said.
On the COVID-19 pan-
demic, Gandhi said,
“Despite assurances of
“the prime minister,
who centralised all au-
thority in his hands, the
pandemic continues to
rage”, she said.
Endorsing Gandhi’s
remarks, Singh said,
“Thepandemicisnotbe-
ing tackled with the
courage and magnitude
andeffortneededtotack-
le the crisis. Another in-
stanceisthecrisisonthe
border,whichif nottack-
led firmly, can lead to a
serious situation.”
As the coronavirus-
induced lockdown halt-
ed economic activities,
the Congress president
said the economic crisis
has only become worse.
“The Modi government
refuses to listen to good
advice.” —ANI
FROM PG 1
INDIAAHMEDABAD | WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2020
16 IPS OFFICERS RETIRING IN JUNE
As many as 16 IPS officers of various cadres and
batches are retiring in June, 2020. They are: Ashok
Kumar Verma of Bihar; DB Vaghela of Gujarat; Dr
Kushal Pal Singh and K K Mishra of Haryana; Dr S
K Shrivastava and Manohar Singh Verma of Madhya
Pradesh; Dr Pramod Asthana of Manipur; Ashok
Kumar Das, KP Shanmuga Rajeswaran and V Varad-
haraju of Tamil Nadu; B Malla Reddy, Dr T Prabhakar
Rao, Dr V Ravinder and A Venkateswara Rao of
Telangana; Reeta Rai of Uttar Pradesh and Jagat Ram
Joshi of Uttarakhand.
11 IRS OFFICERS INTERVIEWED
FOR MEMBER CBIC POST
As many as 11 officers of IRS were interviewed
in February by Committee headed by Cab Sec for
interview for four posts of Members vacant and fall-
ing vacant in CBIC. Ajay Jain, Vivek Johri, Nagendra
Kumar, Sungita Sharma, APS Suri, Dadich, Ranjan
Sahoo, are among the senior most eligible for
Members. By August all the Members will retire and
only Chairman will be left to run the CBIC. When will
the results be out?
NO SUITABLE CANDIDATE FOUND
FOR CMD, HUDCO; MINISTRY TO
SELECT THROUGH SCSC/CSB
The Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB)
has failed to find suitable candidate for the post of
Chairman-cum-Managing Director, Housing & Urban
Development Corporation Limited (HUDCO) despite
having interviewed four candidates at a selection
meeting held on June 22, 2020. The Board has ad-
vised the concerned Ministry to choose an appropriate
course of further action for the selection including
SCSC/appointment through CSB.
4 IB OFFICERS EMPANELLED IN GOI
Out of the 15 empanelled IPS officers in the Govern-
ment of India to the rank of DG, four are from the Intel-
ligence Bureau. They are Sunil Bansal, A Seema Rajan,
Swagat Das and AK Mishra.
VIKRAM MISRI MAY BE CALLED FOR
BRIEFING IN PMO & MEA?
Whispers are in that India’s Ambassador to China
Vikram Misri may be called in both PMO & MEA for a
briefing in the coming weeks.
PADMA T, PRINCIPAL
REGISTRAR, CAT, NEW DELHI MAY
GET TENURE EXTENSION
The service tenure of Padma T, Principal Registrar,
Central Administrative Tribunal, New Delhi, is ending
on August 31, 2020. Speculations are rife that she
might get a short service extension.
SMITA GOPAL PROMOTED AS
PRINCIPAL DIRECTOR OF AUDIT,
CENTRAL BENGALURU
Smita Gopal, Director in the office of Central, Hy-
derabad, has been promoted to the grade of Ac-
countant General (Senior Administrative Grade). She
will take over as Principal Director of Audit, Central
Bengaluru. She is a 2004 batch IA & AS officer.
BIG GAP AMONG BATCHES IN
MEGHALAYA POLICE
There is a big gap of batches among IPS officers
posted in Meghalaya. Presently, R Chandranathan,
DGP is a 1986 batch IPS officer. After that two ADGs
are posted. One ADGP belongs to 1992 batch while
other ADGP is from the 1994 batch. Between DGP
and ADGPs, the gap is of six to eight batches. Similar
gap is visible in IGPs also. Presently, the Meghalaya
Police has three IGPs from 1996 and 2002 batches
having a gap of six batches. Meghalaya is a part of
Assam- Meghalaya cadre. According to sources,
many officers of this cadre prefer to remain in Assam
or go on deputation. And since the IPS officer is
posted in Meghalaya reluctantly, there is a big gap of
batches in Meghalaya police.
DR AJAY KUMAR APPOINTED JOINT
SECRETARY, LOK SABHA
Dr Ajay Kumar, presently Deputy Chief of Mission,
Kathmandu, Nepal, has been appointed as Joint Sec-
retary in Lok Sabha Secretariat. He is a 2002 batch IFS
officer. Will he be relieved from Kathmandu ?.
IPS OFFICER ASHUTOSH PRATAP
SINGH AGAIN APPOINTED AS
DIRECTOR, PUBLIC RELATIONS IN MP
Ashutosh Pratap Singh has been appointed as Director,
Public Relations in Madhya Pradesh. He is a 2010
batch IPS officer. This will be his second Stint as DPR.
IIS OFFICERS GET ADDITIONAL
CHARGES OF DD & AIR
Mayank Agrawal, DG, DD, News, has been given the
additional charge of DG, Doordarshan for six months
while Ira Joshi gets the additional charge of DG, AIR
till July 31. Presently, she is DG, AIR News and is
scheduled to retire in July. Both are IIS officers.
POWERGallery
Priests and devotees perform ‘Pahandi’ rituals of Lord Jagannath during the Rath Yatra festival, amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic in Puri on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY PTI
JAGANNATH YATRA BEGINS
SANS DEVOTEESPuri: The annual Jag-
annath Rath Yatra com-
menced on Tuesday in
Puri without devotees,
amid the coronavirus
pandemic and a curfew
in Puri.
The city had started
preparations since
Monday night after the
SC modified its earlier
order and allowed the
festival to be held but
with restrictions. The
Yatra celebrates the an-
nual journey of Lord
Jagannath and his two
siblings from the 12th-
century Jagannath
Temple to Gundicha
Temple their aunt's
home, some 2.5 kilome-
tres away.
The event began to-
day with the priests
gathered at the Jagan-
nath temple to carry the
idols of Lord Jagan-
nath, Lord Balabhadra
and sister Subhadra to
the chariots.
PM Narendra Modi
greeted devotees in a
tweet: "My heartiest
greetings to all of you
on the auspicious occa-
sion of Lord Jagan-
nath's Rath Yatra. I
wish that this journey
filled with devotion
brings happiness, pros-
perity, good luck and
health to the lives of the
countrymen. Jai Jagan-
nath!".
The former King of
Puri Gajapati Maharaj
Dibyasingha Deb ar-
rived at the temple to
perform the 'Chhera Pa-
hanra' ritual where he
swept the chariots with
a broom having a gold
handle.
The SC had allowed
the Yatra to be held
with coordination of
the Temple committee,
State & Central govern-
ment without compro-
mising with health is-
sue pertaining to COV-
ID-19. The court had
earlier put a stay on the
Yatra. Sanitisation was
conducted at the temple
and the road where the
Yatra takes place. —PTI
ISKCON RATH YATRA CANCELLED IN KOLKATA
Kolkata: The Rath Yatra of ISKCON (International Society
of Krishna Consciousness)in Kolkata has been cancelled
and rituals will be held inside the temple premises, the
organisation said. “Today is Rath Yatra. Last year, around
4 lakh people participated on this day and some 16 lakh
people participated in the nine day long festival. But due
to coronavirus outbreak, this year it is impossible for so
many people to participate and maintain social distancing
at the same time,” said Radharaman Das, Vice- President
and spokesperson of ISKCON. “This time, the entire ritual is
happening inside the premises of the temple. We have made
a replica of the three chariots, which will be pulled by monks
inside the premises,” said Das. “During Jagganath Rath
Yatra, prasad is very useful. But this time, due to coronavirus,
we are unable to distribute it among the devotees and instead
giving them hand sanitizers,” he added.
Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
My heartiest greetings
to all of you on the
auspicious occasion
of Lord Jagannath’s
Rath Yatra. I wish that
this journey filled with
devotion brings happi-
ness, prosperity, good
luck and health to the
lives of the country-
men. Jai Jagannath!”.
IMD issues
orange alert
for several
districts in
Kerala
Thiruvananthapuram:
The India Meteorologi-
cal Department (IMD)
has issued Orange alert
in Thiruvanan-
thapuram, Kollam,
Pathanamthitta and
Idukki districts on June
26 and in Wayanad and
Kozhikode districts on
June 27.
AspertheIMD,Thiru-
vananthapuramandKol-
lam expected to experi-
ence isolated heavy to
very heavy rains. Ex-
tremely heavy rain pre-
dicted in Idukki and
Pathanamthitta dis-
tricts. Meanwhile, the
IMD has said that the
Southwest Monsoon has
furtheradvancedintore-
maining parts of north
Arabian Sea, most parts
of Kutch, some more
parts of Gujarat region,
Madhya Pradesh and Ut-
tar Pradesh and some
parts of Uttarakhand.
“Conditions are be-
coming favourable for
furtheradvanceof south-
west monsoon into re-
mainingpartsof Gujarat,
MP, UP, entire Western
HimalayanRegion,Hary-
ana,Chandigarh&Delhi,
Punjab & some parts of
Rajasthan during next 48
hours,” IMD said. —ANI
CORONA UPDATE
KejriwritestoShahseeking
medsfromArmyforfacilityops
New Delhi: Chief Min-
ister Arvind Kejriwal
wrote to Union Home
Minister Amit Shah, de-
manding doctors and
nurses from the ITBP
and the Army to run a
10,000-bed COVID-19
care facility being set
up in south Delhi,
sources said.
CM has also invited
Shah to visit the facility
being set up on the
sprawling campus of
spiritual organisation
Radha Soami Satsang
Beas (RSSB).
Kejriwal has sought
doctors and nurses
from the Indo-Tibetan
Border Police (ITBP)
and the Army to run the
centre, the sources said.
The lush green
RSSB campus is locat-
ed near the Delhi-Har-
yana border.
The COVID-19 facili-
ty, which will be 1,700
feet long and 700 feet
wide, will have 200 en-
closures with 50 beds
each. —PTI
A worker sanitses an area as people wait to undergo COVID-19
tests at a mobile swab collection bus in Vijayawada on Tuesday.
—PHOTOBYPTI
States to get 50k
‘Made in India’
ventilators
‘Indian pilgrims will not
travel to Saudi for Haj’
New Delhi: Thegovern-
ment has decided that
Muslims from India will
not travel to Saudi Ara-
bia for Haj 2020 after the
kingdom conveyed that
pilgrims should not be
sent this year in the
wake of the coro-
navirus pandem-
ic, Minority Af-
fairs Minister
Mukhtar Abbas
Naqvi said on
Tuesday.
The decision was tak-
en after Saudi Arabia’’s
Haj and Umrah Minis-
ter Mohammad Saleh
bin Taher Benten tele-
phoned last night and
suggested not to send
pilgrims from India for
Haj this year, he told re-
porters.
Saudi Arabia on
Monday said it has
barred international
visitors from making
the Islamic pilgrimage,
in a bid to control the
coronavirus pan-
demic.
The money
will be refunded
through online
Direct Benefit
Transfer mode
into bank accounts of
applicants, the Minori-
ty Affairs Minister said,
adding this will be the
first time since Inde-
pendence that pilgrims
from India will not be
going for Haj. —PTI
New Delhi: Maharash-
tra & Delhi, the worst-
affected states due to
coronavirus pandemic
in India, have received
the maximum number
of ‘Made-in-India’ ven-
tilators from Centre
which are being pro-
cured under Prime
Minister’s Citizen As-
sistance and Relief in
Emergency Situations
(PM CARES) Fund.
Amid surging cases of
coronavirus in India,
PM CARES Fund has al-
located `2,000 crore for
supply of 50,000 ‘Made-
in-India’ ventilators to
govt-run COVID-19 hos-
pitals in states & UTs.

TALKING POINTAHMEDABAD | WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2020
DESIGN: SITARAM SHARMA
MOHD FAHAD
The author is Jaipur-based journalist
While India’s border situation with China and Pakistan has stains of bloody historic past, the recent
provocative actions by Nepal has certainly come as a surprise. With passing of new map showing territories
of dispute with India, the ‘friendly’ Himalayan neighbour has opened a new chaotic front against India
hile India still at odds with
China in the Galvan Valley
following the violent clashes
between the two forces, its
other neighbour Nepal has
turned the tables on the coun-
try with passing the new na-
tional political map including three terri-
tories with India.
Nepal’s Rashtriya Sabha on June 18
passed the new map with over two-thirds of
membersvotinginthefavour.PresidentBid-
hyaDeviBhandarialsosignedtheBillonthe
same day it was cleared by the National As-
sembly, thus, making the new map official.
The map first came into being on May
20, 2020 when it was released by the Nepal
government. India had conveyed strong
displeasure after the map included Kalapa-
ni, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura areas that
fall under Uttarakhand’s Pithoragarh dis-
trict on the Indo-Nepal border.
Since then India claims it tried to initi-
ate diplomatic talks with Nepal and urged
its neighbour not to go ahead with passing
of the map. After June 18 move, India had
rejected Nepal’s claim on these territories
calling the move a violation of its current
understanding to hold talks on outstand-
ing boundary issues. According to India
Foreign Ministry, the move to make new
map constitutional law by Nepal will im-
pact talks on border issues, which could
have been otherwise solved peacefully.
The three territories have been a subject
matter of dispute from the colonial times
when the British has annexed the whole
area of Kalapani into India, but Nepal al-
ways believed that since the border over the
course of years shifted to the banks of Kali
river and has religious significance, the en-
trie region falls under its demarcation.
The victory in Assembly gives a major
boost to Nepalese PM KP Sharma Oli, who
had promised to reclaim the areas from In-
dia. During the debate, Member of Opposi-
tion Radheshyam Adhikary urged the gov-
ernment to take full administrative control
of the new areas acquired in the map.
The bone of contention began with De-
fence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurat-
ing the Dharchula-Lipulekh road on May
8 this year. The road is crucial for India as
it is part of the sacred Mansarovar Yatra
trail. This irked Nepal, which then re-
leased the modified map.
Adhikary said that Nepal was left with
other option to bring the new map on the
floor of the National Assembly as India,
without engaging us, had called the dis-
puted areas as its own and built a road in
the region.
While the ruling party was agitated with
India’s move, some former leaders advised
restraint and asked the government to set-
tle disputes through talks. They also
warned of the situation becoming complex
in the absence of a fruitful dialogue.
With the map becoming constitutional
law, it will now be the only official version
and will also be included in the national
emblem.
Nepal’s border with India runs with In-
dia through three states of Uttarakhand,
Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Since the new
map came into existence, there have been
reports of either Nepalese citizens or bor-
der force occupying lands on India side at
various locations. A complaint was lodged
by Seema Suraksha Bal (SSB) in Lakhim-
pur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh, where
Nepalese citizens had encroached no
man’s land. The SSB also stated in its com-
plaint, submitted with the District Magis-
trate, that Nepalese forces have also set up
five new posts on the border.
Similar reports came from Bihar’s
Champaran district, where Nepal has re-
stricted works of a dam threatening low-
lying areas of the region with major floods
just before the monsoon season. It has also
stopped repair works in Madhubani.
While border situation with China and
Pakistan have caused issues at regular in-
tervals, the current provocative actions on
Nepal’s part has certainly come as a sur-
prise for India. It is left to seen whether
India plays the hardball or exercise re-
straint through diplomatic channels with
its Himalayan neighbour.
W
WHAT’S IN A MAP
that triggered
India-Nepal rancour
Limpyadhura
Kalapani
Lipulekh Pass
Uttarakhand
INDIA
CHINA
NEPAL
Sudurpashchim
Pradesh
Kalapani, Lipulekh
and Limpiyadhura
(disputed)
The solidarity, with no one
opposing the constitution
amendment Bill, shows that
we stand together on the is-
sue of national unity and
that no effort from any side
to divide us will succeed.
—KP Sharma Oli, Nepal Prime Minister
Nepal was left with other
option to bring the new
map on the floor of the
National Assembly as In-
dia, without engaging us,
had called the disputed
areas as its own and built
a road in the region.
—Radheshyam Adhikary,
Member of Opposition in Nepal
 Nepal has converted its Changru border outpost near
its newest claim Kalapani region as a permanent one.
Unlike before, now the post will consist of armed
police personnel
 Previously, baton-wielding cops would administer
the post.
 This border post earlier remained shut from the
month of November to March
 Significantly, Nepalese army chief PC Thapa had on
June 17 inspected the upgraded Changru post
 The Kalapani territory is an area under
Indian administration as part of Pithoragarh
district in the Uttarakhand state, but is also
claimed by Nepal since 1998. According to
Nepal's claim, it lies in Darchula district,
Sudurpashchim Pradesh.[8] The territory
represents the basin of the Kalapani river,
one of the headwaters of the Kali River in
the Himalayas at an altitude of 3,600–5,200
meters. The valley of Kalapani, with the
Lipulekh Pass at the top, forms the Indian
route to Kailash–Manasarovar. It is also
the traditional trading route to Tibet for the
Bhotiyas of Uttarakhand and Tinkar valley.
The Kali River forms the boundary between
India and Nepal in this region. However,
India states that the headwaters of the river
are not included in the boundary. Here the
border runs along the watershed. This is a
position dating back to British India.
 Lipulekh (elevation 5,200 m or 17,060 ft) is a Hima-
layan pass on the border between India's Uttarakhand
state and the Tibet region of China, near their trijunction
with Nepal. Nepal has ongoing claims to the southern
side of the pass, called Kalapani territory, which is con-
trolled by India, and now shown in new map. The pass is
near the Chinese trading town of Taklakot (Purang) in Ti-
bet and used since ancient times by traders, mendicants
and pilgrims transiting between India and Tibet. The
pass was the first Indian border post to be opened for
trade with China in 1992. This was followed by the open-
ing of Shipki La, Himachal Pradesh in 1994 and Nathu
La, Sikkim in 2006. Presently, Lipulekh Pass is open for
cross-border trade every year from June through Sep-
tember. Products cleared for export from India include
jaggery, misri, tobacco, spices, pulses, fafar flour, coffee,
vegetable oil, ghee and various miscellaneous consum-
able items. The main imports into India include sheep
wool, passam, sheep, goats, borax, yak tails, chhirbi
(butter) and raw silk.
 According to the intellectu-
als, the "Kali River" is in fact the
Kuthi Yankti river that arises
below the Limpiyadhura range.
So they claim the entire area of
Kumaon up to the Kuthi Valley,
close to 400 km2 in total. Up
to 2000, the Nepalese govern-
ment did not subscribe to these
expansive demands. In a state-
ment to the Indian Parliament
in 2000, the Indian foreign min-
ister Jaswant Singh suggested
that Nepal had questioned the
source of the Kalapani river.
 But he denied that there
was any dispute regarding the
matter. On May 20, 2020, Nepal
for the first time released a map
that followed through with the
more expansive claims, show-
ing the entire area to the east
of Kuthi Yankti river as part of
their territory.
 Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated the
Dharchula-Lipulekh road on May 8 this year. The
road is crucial for India as it is part of the sacred
Mansarovar Yatra trail.
 This irked Nepal, which then released the modified
map, claiming the road area falls under the jurisdic-
tion of Nepal
 India continued to maintained that the road was
within its territory, but has expressed disappointment
after the map was passed
 Nepalese PM KP Sharma Oli had promised to reclaim
the areas from India
 Since the new map came into existence, there have
been reports of either Nepalese citizens or border
force occupying lands on India side at various loca-
tions.
 A complaint was lodged by Seema Suraksha Bal
(SSB) in Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh,
where Nepalese
citizens had
encroached ‘no
man’s land’. The
SSB also stated
in its complaint,
submitted with
the District
Magistrate, that
Nepalese forces have also set up five new posts on
the border.
 Similar reports came from Bihar’s Champaran
district, where Nepal has restricted works of dam
threatening low-lying areas of the region with major
flood just on the onset of monsoon season.
 Nepal has also stopped repair works in Madhubani.
ON THE OFFENSIVE
KALAPANI LIPULEKH
LIMPIYADHURA
BONE OF CONTENTION
OCCUPYING LAND IN UP,
DISRUPTING WORK IN BIHAR
KNOW THE AREAS NEPAL CLAIMS IN NEW MAP

Words are good but don’t trust
words. Life is action, it happens
through actions. Trust
movement and action.
—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO & Editor, First India
AHMEDABAD | WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2020www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
08
2NDFRONT
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: All the
three BJP members
elected to the Rajya
Sabha from Gujarat
in the June 19 polls
are crorepatis and
they are among 84 per
cent or 52 members
of the 62 latest en-
trants to the upper
house.
According to the af-
fidavits submitted to
the Election Commis-
sion, BJP’s Narhari
Amin has declared as-
sets worth Rs 75 crore,
followed by Ramilaben
Bara with Rs 3 crore
and Abhay Bhardwaj at
Rs 2.68 crore. All these
three BJP candidates
have won.
The lone Congress
candidate, who won
out of the two who
contested from Guja-
rat, is AICC spokes-
person Shaktisinh
Gohil, who has de-
clared assets worth
Rs 1.19 crore.
An analysis of the
self-sworn affidavits of
all the new Rajya Sabha
MPs, by the National
Election Watch and the
Association for Demo-
cratic Reforms, shows
that their average asset
value is Rs 74.04 crore.
Among major par-
ties, the average as-
sets for 18 BJP MPs is
Rs 40.86 crores, 9 INC
MPs is Rs 20.32
crores, 4 YSRCP MPs
is Rs 744.91 crores, 4
AITC MPs is Rs.2.59
crores, 4 BJD MPs is
Rs.1.98 crores and 3
DMK MPs is Rs. 4.97
crores.
Out of the 62 newly
elected MPs, Alla Ayod-
hya Rami Reddy of the
YSR Congress with as-
sets worth Rs
25,77,75,79,180 (Rs 2,500
crore-plus) is the rich-
est MP, followed by Pari-
mal Nathwani of the
YSR Congress with as-
sets worth Rs
3,96,83,96,198 (Rs 396
crore) and Jyotiraditya
Scindia of the BJP with
assets worth Rs
3,79,03,29,144 (Rs 379
crore).
Turncoat Narhari Amin is Gujarat BJP’s richest RS MP
MONEYBAGS!

All four newly
elected
members of the
Upper House
from Gujarat,
including
one from
Opposition
Congress, are
crorepatis Rajya Sabha election. —FILE PHOTO
Gujarat HC orders probe into
mystery calls to sitting judge
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: The Gu-
jarat High Court has
ordered police inquiry
into an unprecedent-
ed incident whereby a
High Court Judge re-
ceived certain phone
calls and SMS from an
unknown number, in
connection to an an-
ticipatory bail appli-
cation listed before
her.
Justice Bela M Trive-
di has ordered the
Anand District Super-
intendent of Police to
get the statements of
two individuals who
were identified in con-
nection to the phone
call, during a prelimi-
nary inquiry held by
the Registrar (IT).
The incident oc-
curred on June 22, on
the date of listing of the
anticipatory bail appli-
cation in question.
According to the de-
tails recorded by the
Judge in her order, at
8.55 am on the said
day, she received a
call from an unknown
number and the per-
son calling identified
himself as Niranjan
Patel, MLA, Petlad.
On being inquired as
to why he had made
the call, he said that
there was one crimi-
nal case listed today.
Justice Trivedi states
that at this point she im-
mediately stopped the
caller and told him that
he could not have called
a judge like this, and
disconnected the phone.
Thereafter, the said per-
son made three consec-
utive calls, which she
didn’t answer.
Following this, the
caller sent a message,
stating that the Crimi-
nal Case No.8266 of
2020 Vijaybhai Arvin-
dbhai was fixed that
day. Infuriated by this,
the judge asked the
Registrar (IT) of High
Court to make an in-
quiry. He informed
that on Truecaller, it
appears that the num-
ber belongs to one
‘Tosif Faiz Xerox’.
Noting that “nobody
can directly or indirect-
ly try to approach the
Court or to influence
the Court, or try to pol-
lute the stream of jus-
tice,” the court ordered
further inquiry into the
matter. It was found
that the number is reg-
istered in the name of
Tofikbhai Vohra, son of
Salimbhai Vohra. The
court has expressed its
inclination to initiate
contempt proceedings
against the said caller.
Gujarat High Court. —FILE PHOTO
JusticeBelaTrivedireceivescallsfromanonymouscalleraboutacriminalcase
MYSTERY CALL!
Seaplane to Statue of Unity
may start in October 2020
First India Bureau
New Delhi/ Gandhina-
gar: Union Minister of
State for Shipping Man-
sukh Mandaviya on
Tuesday reviewed the
seaplane project on In-
dian water bodies and
directed Sagarmala De-
velopment Company
Limited (SACL) and In-
land Waterways Author-
ityof India(IWAI)tojoin
hands to commence the
seaplane operation of
theStatueof Unityroute
by October this year.
Thebathymetricand
hydrographic surveys
of the seaplane routes
to be undertaken by
WAI on behalf of Air-
portAuthorityof India
willhavetobedonelat-
est by September 2020.
IWAI will manage the
Project of Seaplane in
inland waterways and
SDCL will manage the
projects of sapiens in
Coastal Ares IWAI and
SDCL will coordinate
with the Ministry of
Shipping, flight opera-
tors, Ministry of Tour-
ism as well as DGCA.
Mandaviya opined
that Sabarmati and Nar-
mada River to Statue of
Unity seaplane route
will save time and boost
tourism, as it provides a
bird eye view of Narma-
da Valley and Statue of
Unity.
Fresh locust scare in Rajasthan, Gujarat, MP & UP
First India Bureau
Jaipur/Ahmedabad:
The locust scare has
once again come to
haunt Rajasthan that
borders Pakistan, but
it is also proving a
threat to the neigh-
bouring states.
According to latest re-
ports, fresh swarms of
locust have entered Ra-
jasthan from neighbor-
ing Pakistan, but the
governmenthasstepped
up efforts to counter the
threat using different
methods including
drones. Deputy director
of Locust Warning Or-
ganisation, K L Gurjar
said Rajasthan has been
put on high alert and
there was a risk of
swarms entering Guja-
rat, Uttar Pradesh, Pun-
jab, Haryana and Mad-
hya Pradesh. Gurjar
said, “We have asked
Pakistan to kill the lo-
custs on their side of the
border. But nothing
much is happening on
the ground”.
Gurjar added, “We
are able to kill only 50
per cent of the swarms
despite deploying all the
resources. Since the lo-
cust are now as pink im-
mature adults that is the
most active stage, they
can fly swiftly, escaping
the pesticide spray.”
GUJARAT’S NEW OMBUDSMAN
Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and Governor Acharya Devvrat look on as Justice (Rtd) RH Shukla
takes oath as the Lokayukta of the state.
Police seize
17 kg synthetic
drugs
Coast Guards
recover `1.32
cr charas
Three ECI officials
home quarantined
First India Bureau
Vadodara: The Special
Operations Group
(SOG) of Vadodara Ru-
ral police on Tuesday
detained a 32-year-old
man and seized 17 kg of
synthetic drugs from
his possession. The ac-
cused was nabbed from
a checkpoint near
Bhilapur village of Va-
dodara’s Dabhoi taluka.
The police said that 17
kg of the synthetic
drugs classifies as a
commercial quantity.
The police had re-
ceived a tip-off that a
huge shipment of hero-
in was being transport-
ed from Dabhoi to Va-
dodara city, based on
which Vadodara rural
police and the SOG be-
gan an extensive search
at checkpoints between
the two places. As per
preliminary investiga-
tion and Forensic Sci-
ence Laboratory (FSL)
tests, the laboratory-
made consignment of
the basic alkaloid sub-
stance has the presence
of opium content, po-
lice said.
First India Bureau
Jakhau (Kutch): The
Indian Coast Guard
recovered 88 packets
of charas worth Rs
1.32 crore from is-
lands close to Jakhau
in Kutch district of
Gujarat. The packets
were recovered over a
period of three days,
officials said.
The team, led by Dep-
uty Commandant Anu-
radha Shukla, combed
the islands near Jakhua
on June 17, 21 and 22.
Leading the Hovercraft
operations, Shukla and
her team found four, 34
and 50 packets of suspi-
cious material on the
islands on course of the
three days.
During tests, the
packets were confirmed
to be containing charas,
an official release said
on Tuesday. The packets
have been handed over
to Marine Police. The
search operation was
conceived by Station
Commander Jakhau
under the supervision
of District Headquar-
ters -15 (Okha).
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: A day
after Congress’ Rajya
Sabha candidate and
former State Con-
gress president Bhar-
atsinh Solanki tested
positive for Covid-19,
three senior Election
Commission of India
(ECI) officials, who
were present at the
polling centre in on
polling day on June
19, were advised to
isolate and quaran-
tine themselves at
home.
These officials in-
clude Chief Electoral
Officer S Murali Krish-
na, who was the elec-
tion observer for the
Rajya Sabha polls in
Gujarat. “This decision
has been taken as a pre-
cautionary measure on
the advice of health de-
partment officials. I am
home and I do not have
any symptoms. I will
continue to work from
home,” Murali Krishna
told reporters.
The official said he
was among the ECI of-
ficials present inside
the polling booth when
the polls were under-
way. Murali Krishna
will remain isolated for
a week. “If I develop
any symptoms during
this period, I will go for
the test,” he added.
ROLLING IN CRORES!
Man jumps
to death
from BKC
First India Bureau
Surat: A 20-year-
old man jumped to
his death from the
sixth floor of the
diamond bourse in
the Bandra Kurla
Complex (BKC)
here on Tuesday,
police said.Inci-
dentally, it was the
first day at job for
the deceased Jay
Lakhiya after the
lockddown, an of-
ficial said. “Lakhi-
ya came to Mum-
bai from Surat on
Tuesday to resume
his work. He had
left the city due to
the lockdown ear-
lier,” said BKC po-
lice station senior
inspector Anand
Mulay. Lakhiya’’s
colleague told the
police that he was
upset during the
entire journey due
to some reason,
Mulay said. A case
of accidentaldeath
has been regis-
tered.
—FILE PHOTO
RAJYA SABHA

AHMEDABAD, WEDNESDAY
JUNE 24, 2020
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia
facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia 09
n the fashion
i n d u s t r y,
trends come
and go, but
there are
some, which
remain ever-
green, earning their
keep year after year.
Showing the power
of embracing your
wild side, animal
prints are gracing the
markets yet again but
with some reinvention
of course! The nature-
inspired look has made
its way into fashion as
far back as the 18th cen-
tury. One of the biggest
movies during 1932,
‘Tarzan the Apeman’,
came out, where MGM’s
Johnny Weissmuller
and Maureen O’Sullivan
wore animal print cloth-
ing. It caught the eye of
the audience. For them,
they saw it as adventur-
ous, exciting, and at-
tractive. Suddenly, man-
ufacturers and design-
ers came out with more
and more animal print
blouses, scarves, coats,
belts, bodycon, bikinis,
footwear, purses and
what not?
At its start, it became
popular because of its
potential for giving those
who wear it for a sense
of power and an el-
evated status of wealth and
luxury. If one goes back to
history, kings and higher
class people considered it as
a symbol of royalty and high
status. Cut to today, it still
displays sophistication, style
and versatility. They’re en-
tirely man-made, so they’re
also an animal-friendly
choice. Since we don’t see
them going anywhere any-
time soon, we’re giving you
a timely fashion brief for
your styling convenience.
 Take your fashion game to the
next level by pairing your ani-
mal print with a faux-fur coat
to jazz up any outfit.
 The trend this year has
been to clash animal
prints, so alongside
your leopard print,
you might choose to
style cheetah, tiger,
zebra or snake.
 When it comes to
animal prints, leopard
is the king of the jungle,
its sexy, naughty, sumptu-
ous look is still the most
popular of all.
 Animal prints can be worn
anytime, irrespective of the
season, weather or style.
Moreover, many people think
that animal prints can be worn
by women alone, but the fashion
world has offered animal print
garments for men as well.
 Last but not the least, the
golden rule to remember while
wearing animal print is never
dress head to toe with this
print. Here, the fashion trend
is ‘less is more’ so as to keep
the look sophisticated and
stylish.
City First brings you the inevitable
reappearance of animal prints, that
has been forming the cornerstones
of our wardrobes for years!
WILDEST
Dreams
I
KARISHMA
GWALANI
Karishma.gwalani
@firstindia.co.in

10
ETCAHMEDABAD | WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2020www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
FACEOFTHEDAY
KOMAL SANKHALA, Model
YOUR
DAYHoroscope by
Saurabbh Sachdeva
LEO
JULY 24 - AUGUST 23
You are going to find useful
support, which will come
into its own next month. It’s
a good time for making
contacts! Your inner well-being would
benefit from a bit more concentration
on your home comforts and
improving your daily life in this
respect.
LIBRA
SEPT 24 - OCTOBER 22
You’ll have a natural way of
avoiding difficulties and
showing where your limits
are. Your decisions are
final and you don’t compromise. If
you manage to quieten your doubts,
you’ll be able to keep up your mental
energy. Questions about money will
less tricky than normal.
ARIES
MAR 21 - APR 20
Overexcited people around
you are making you lose it.
Find a place on your own
to work. Your body needs
to unwind and would feel better for
it. Go for relaxation, before you feel
too tensed up. You will know how to
deal with the setbacks in your
love-life.
SAGITTARIUS
NOV 23 - DEC 22
You will make an effective
go-between between two
people. You are feeling on
top of the world, but are
starting to feel tired. Youre not getting
enough sleep and that’s a fact, so
recharge your batteries. Venus comes
to reconcile, spreading an aura of
peace across your love life.
GEMINI
MAY 21 - JUNE 21
You’re gaining a wider
perspective of the world,
and you’ll find it hard to
put up with narrow-minded
people. You could do with some
time to breathe and work things out
- you’re tired, don’t deny it. You will
be going through a process of
consolidation and stability.
AQUARIUS
JAN 21 - FEB 19
Your need for freedom
makes you attractive in
other people’s eyes. You are
more aware of your practical
needs and will be able to turn these
into an asset. You will achieve a better
balance between rest and action. New
ideas will come and enrich your
perception of Love.
TAURUS
APR 21 - MAY 20
You’re going to see
positive results from
something you started four
weeks ago. You feel ready
to tackle anything that gets in your
way, and you will be able to - you’re
in a brilliant mood! Your emotional
life will focus itself on brotherhood,
friendships, family, or children.
CAPRICORN
DEC 23 - JAN 20
Your need for freedom
makes you attractive in
other people’s eyes. You’re
really coming out of your
shell! You are more aware of your
practical needs and will be able to
turn these into an asset. You will
achieve a better balance between rest
and action.
VIRGO
AUG 24 - SEP 23
You need to get over an
inner hurdle to move up to
a higher gear. There are
gaps in your diet which it
would be a good idea to look at, so
you can regain your your highest
energy levels. You will have a better
understanding of certain vague
aspects of your partner.
CANCER
JUNE 22 - JULY 23
There’ll be a light mood in
the air today. You’ll feel
more free to do what you
want to do with your life.
Your vitality is here to stay, and you’ll
find it hard to hold yourself back.
Don’t confuse rashness with speed.
You will be going through a process
of consolidation and stability.
PISCES
FEB20 - MARCH 20
There are interesting
discussions in sight. Don’t
hesitate to get legal advice.
Don’t allow yourself to be
put upon by other people’s needs,
which would be to the detriment of
your own. You can’t allow that. Now’s
the time to sort out domestic
problems that are polluting your life.
SCORPIO
OCT 23 - NOVEMBER 22
While you may be feeling
very optimistic, try not to
take on too many
commitments. Chances
run high you’ll find a lot of interest-
ing things to engage your mind. The
day might be busier than you’d like,
but also a great time for creative
ideas and warm, hopeful exchanges.
If you enjoyed Stranger Things but
are actually an adult, then you’ll
want to watch Dark, a
sophisticated, grown-up, German
-language thriller that revels in its
own distinct and foreboding vibe
tranger Things for
grown-ups” is the
TV shorthand
that’s stuck for
Netflix’s new Ger-
m a n - l a n g u a g e
thriller, Dark. Is
that a little too simplistic?
Perhaps, but when a sto-
ryline includes odd goings-
on at a mysterious govern-
ment facility in a small
town, the disappearance of
a child and huge dollops of
80s nostalgia, it’s hard to
argue with. Still, it’s clear
that Winden, the small
southern German town
where the action is set, is no
Hawkins. From the first
moments of the show, when
a deep, gravelly voice talks
about time travel and we
witness a suicide, it’s obvi-
ous that this is something
rather more adult.
JONAS
the main character and son
of Daniel Kahnwald, the
man who took his own life
– is struggling to cope with
his father’s death and fit
back into an everyday rou-
tine in the small, myopic
community. Things only get
more complicated when,
during a late-night mission
to unearth some hidden
weed stashed by a friend
who has been missing for a
week, he’s the last person to
see Mikkel Nielsen, who
has apparently vanished
into thin air as well.
Advertisement
That inscrutable voiceo-
ver starts to make more
sense when it is revealed
that Mikkel has managed to
make his way to 1986. Far
from being the moment
Dark’s creator, Baran bo
Odar, jumps the shark, the
switch back to the mid 80s
is when Dark really gets in-
teresting. There’s no for
Mikkel, though, who re-
turns to his house only to
find an angsty, thrash met-
al-loving version of his fa-
ther (Ulrich), who has little
interest in helping out a lost
child, even though his own
brother disappeared a few
months earlier. The 1986
version of his mother isn’t
any more sympathetic, so
it’s left to the town’s police
chief and a lonely nurse to
look after him.
After the disappearanc-
es, things begin to go awry
in modern-day Winden, too.
Sheep are dying during the
night, old men are wander-
ing into town hall meetings
and mumbling nonsense,
and everyone is slowly un-
derstanding that this just
might have something to do
with an almost identical
case two decades earlier.
The action is actually split
between three time zones –
modern day, 1986 and 1953.
It’s a whodunnit, combined
with a who did it (back
then), that’s knotty without
getting incomprehensible.
As things progress, the con-
nections between the differ-
ent eras and families of
Winden start to reveal
themselves, and the motive
of the show’s villain – who
seems bent on torturing
children with 80s German
television and Euro-pop –
begins to emerge.
There aren’t many mis-
steps in Dark. The super
slo-motion anguished
screams of Ulrich look as if
they were copy-and-pasted
from a daytime soap, but
everything else is tuned
into the show’s dense and
foreboding frequency. The
similarities to Stranger
Things are, in truth, a dis-
traction from Dark’s own
quality, although it might
have made more sense to
tone down the echoes of
Netflix’s other disappear-
ing child show so that it
could stand on its own. But
for fans of slow-burners,
such as Les Revenants, this
will fill a noirish hole and
bring a bit of classy obsid-
ian darkness to the yuletide
binge schedule.
Source:https://www.theguardian.
com/tv-and-radio/2017/dec/01/dark-
review-a-classy-knotty-time-travel-
ling-whodunnit-for-tv
A classy, knotty,
time-travelling
whodunnit for TV
S

W
inona Ryder, most recent-
ly seen playing Joyce Buy-
ers in ‘Stranger Things’,
recently opened up about
her Jewish identity and said how she
was told that she looked too Jew-
ish to play a particular role in
a period film. The actress
spoke ahead of the release of
the drama series ‘The Plot
Against America’. “There are
times when people have said,
‘Wait, you’re Jewish? But
you’re so pretty!” Winona
Ryder recalled.
She also spoke about a
period film that she was
a part of. “There was a
movie that I was up for
a long time ago, it was a
period piece, and the
studio head, who was
Jewish, said I looked
‘too Jewish’ to be in a
blue-blooded family,” Winona Ryder
told the newspaper. Winona lost her
family to the Nazi regime and hence
it is a sensitive matter for her. “It’s a
hard thing for me to talk about be-
cause I had family who died in the
camps, so I’ve always been fasci-
nated with that time,” she revealed.
—Agency
M
egan spoke
out after fans
expressed out-
rage in re-
sponse to a viral thread
detailing her mistreatment
in the industry and the me-
dia. The actress thanked her
fans for their support and
clarified some of the stories
emerging online. She wrote,
“These specific instances
were inconsequential in a
long and arduous journey
along which I have endured
some genuinely harrowing
experiences in a ruthless-
ly misogynistic industry.”
In a recent interview,
Megan, 34, told Jimmy
Kimmel, 52, about being cast
to wear a bikini at a bar in a
Michael Bay movie at age
15. Jimmy laughed at the an-
ecdote and said that all men
think that way — leaving Meg-
an looking uncomfortable. Fans
rushed to point out that she had
been over-sexualized by adults in
the film industry at a young age,
and was then criticized for it.
—Agency
I
leana D’Cruz has uploaded a video
on Instagram where she feels
the’’ sun- kiss.’’
She has one of the
most interesting Insta-
gram accounts in the Hin-
di film industry. Her posts
and pictures are a combi-
nation of fun, frolic, but
also some inspirational
quotes. She not only keeps
sharing candid pictures and
videos from her daily life and
frequent vacations but also
talks about the days when she’s
low and imparts life lessons as
well.
Her latest post is yet again a
candid one. She took to her Ins-
tagram account and shared a
short video where she could be
seen enjoying the sunlight finally
falling on her skin.
One of her fans commented,
“Best Girl.” This was followed by a
heart. Another user wrote- “Beau-
tiful,” with multiple fire emojis.
The actress, in her acting career,
has successfully dabbled in the
South Indian and the Hindi film
industry. —Agency
ETCwww.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia AHMEDABAD | WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2020
11
T
he debate on nepotism has raised many issues
after the untimely demise of the Bollywood
actor Sushant Singh Rajput a few days back.
Various celebrities have come out with
their experience and journey in the Bollywood
industry, and recently, Sushmita Sen took to
Twitter and wrote ‘Ask Me Anything’. On this,
she was asked about her experience with nepo-
tism as a twitter user wrote, “@thesushmitasen
how you survived Nepotism in Bollywood??” To
this, Sushmita answered, “By focusing on my Au-
dience...YOU GUYS!!! I will continue to work as
an actor as long as YOU want to see me!! #sim-
pleenough #AskAarya.”
Sushmita’s fans got a treat on the weekend
that went by, as her new web-series ‘Aarya’ re-
leased on Disney+ Hotstar, with Chandrachur
Singh, Namit Das, Sikander Kher, and many
more in key roles. — Agency
n a tribute to the Indian sol-
diers and police force, veteran
actor Paresh Rawal on Tuesday
proposed that the country must
refer to actors as ‘entertainers’
and forces as ‘heroes.’
Conventionally, actors in lead
roles in films are mostly referred to as
‘heroes.’ Rawal took to Twitter to
share his thought with his fans and
followers. “We Should Start Calling
Actors As ‘Entertainers’ And Our
Army & Police As ‘Heroes’ for Our
Next Generation To Know The Actual
Meaning Of Real Heroes,” he tweeted.
The thought of the Bollywood vet-
eran has received several likes and
has been shared by on Twitter over
25,000 times on Twitter.
This comes a week after the violent
face-off of Indian soldiers with Chi-
na in Ladakh’s Galwan valley in
which twenty personnel of the Indian
Army were killed.
Indian intercepts revealed that the
Chinese side suffered 43 casualties
including dead and seriously injured
in the violent clash. —ANI
I
& ENTERTAINERS
HEROES
ONSURVIVING
NEPOTISM
SUSHMITA
KISSED
by the sun
Steve Bing,
No More
A
merican busi-
nessman Steve
Bing, the
wealthy finan-
cier and writer movies
of such as ‘Kangaroo
Jack’, has died. He
was 55.
According to People
Magazine, the authori-
ties are investigating
Bing’s death after he
was found on the floor of
a luxury apartment
building in Century
City, California on Mon-
day, reported Deadline. A Los Angeles County Coro-
ner spokesperson told People Magazine, that a man
was pronounced dead at the scene at 1:10 pm. (local
time) in a reported suicide although a final determi-
nation for a cause of death and identification of the
deceased is pending.
Bing wrote the script for 2003’s ‘Kangaroo Jack’
and is credited as a producer on films such as ‘Get
Carter’, ‘Every Breath’ and was a financier on Tom
Hanks’ ‘The Polar Express.’
Bing was also a financier for 2007’s ‘Beowulf’ and
Martin Scorsese’s Rolling Stone concert film ‘Shine
a Light’. —ANI
Too pretty to be Jewish!
RUTHLESSLY
misogynistic
Hollywood
Paresh Rawal
Steve Bing
Sushmita Sen
Megan Fox
Ileana D’Cruz
...her post
Winona Ryder

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