First india jaipur edition-08 may 2020

USA 1,273,406 75,826 +1027
SPAIN 256,855 26,070 +213
ITALY 215,858 29,958 +274
UK 206,715 30,615 +539
RUSSIA 177,160 1,625 +88
GERMANY 168,912 7,336 +61
TURKEY 133,721 3,584 +64
BRAZIL 127,655 8,609 +21
IRAN 103,135 6,486 +68
CHINA 82,885 4,633 +4
COUNTRY TOTAL TOTAL NEW
CASES DEATHS DEATHS
GLOBAL STATE
OF AFFAIRS
WWW.WORLDOMETERS.INFO
LAST UPDATED: MAY 7, 2020, 11:00 PM
CORONA
ALERT
JAIPUR l FRIDAY, MAY 8, 2020 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI NO. RAJENG/2019/77764 l Vol 1 l Issue No. 331
23°C - 36°C
OUR EDITIONS:
JAIPUR & AHMEDABAD
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COVID-19
UPDATE
RAJASTHAN
99
DEATHS
3,427
CONFIRMED CASES
INDIA
54,539
CONFIRMED CASES
1,837
DEATHS
SAMPLE RECEIVED
SAMPLE NEGATIVE
2,253
UNDER EXAMINATION
1,45,510
1,39,830
IN RAJASTHAN
DISTRICT TOTAL NEW TOTAL
CASES CASES DEATH
AJMER 187 +5 2
ALWAR 18 +2 1
BANSWARA 66 — —
BARAN 1 — —
BARMER 3 — —
BHARATPUR 116 — 2
BHILWARA 39 — 2
BIKANER 38 — 1
CHITTORGARH 116 +16 2
CHURU 14 — —
DAUSA 21 — —
DHOLPUR 21 +4 —
DUNGARPUR 9 — —
HANUMANGARH 11 — —
JAIPUR 1111 +21 53
JAISALMER 35 — —
JALORE 4 +1 —
JHALAWAR 45 — —
JHUNJHUNU 42 — —
JODHPUR 842 +30 16
KARAULI 4 — 1
KOTA 223 +2 10
NAGAUR 119 — 2
PALI 50 +10 —
PRATAPGARH 4 — 1
RAJSAMAND 7 +1 —
SWAI MADHOPUR 9 — 1
SIKAR 8 — 2
SIROHI 1 +1 0
TONK 136 — 1
UDAIPUR 20 +5 —
OTHER DIST. 2 — 2(UP)
TOTAL 3322 +98 99
OTHER (Italy) 2 — —
EVACUEES 61 — —
BSF 42 +12 —
GRAND TOTAL 3427 +110 99
Gas leak from Vizag chemical plant kills 11, affects 1,000; Tragedy strikes at Wednesday
midnight as plant was about to open after 40 days of nation-wide Corona lockdown
WORLD
2,68,281
DEATHS
38,77,085
CONFIRMED CASES
TIME TO
REFLECT
Full moon rises above Baiji Ka
Mandir at Badi Chaupar on the
occasion of Buddha Purnima,
the birth anniversary of Lord
Gautam Buddha on Thursday.
As we all are in isolation at
home due to the Coronavirus
Pandemic, this is an opportunity
to reflect upon the teachings of
Lord Buddha and enjoy the small
things that life has given us!
—PHOTO BY SANTOSH SHARMA
CLIMATE CHANGE
Visakhapatnam/New
Delhi: Gas leaked from a
chemical plant in Vi-
sakhapatnam in the wee
hours of Thursday and
quickly spread to villages
in a five-kilometre radius,
killing at least 11 people
and impacting about 1,000,
many collapsing to the
ground as they tried to es-
cape the toxic vapours.
Hours after the styrene
gas leak around 2.30 am
from the multinational L
G Polymers Plant at RR
Venkatapuram village
near here, scores of peo-
ple could be seen lying un-
conscious on sidewalks,
near ditches and on the
road, raising fears of a
major industrial disaster.
Among the dead was a
child and two people who
fell into a borewell while
fleeing the vapours from
the plant, getting ready to
reopenafterthelockdown.
Turn on P6
1st flight carrying stranded Indians
from Abu Dhabi lands at Kochi
NIGHTMARE ON VIZAG STREETS
Rs1 Cr relief
to kin of
people killed
IMD forecast now
has areas in PoK
V i s a k h a p a t n a m :
Andhra Pradesh Chief
Minister YS Jagan Mo-
han Reddy on Thursday
announced an exgratia
payment of Rs one crore
each to the kin of those
killed in the styrene gas
leak incident at LG Poly-
mers Limited near here.
The chief minister
announced a committee
to probe into the mishap
andalsosaidthegovern-
ment would talk to the
LG Polymers manage-
ment seeking job for the
kin of the deceased in
any of its businesses.
Speaking to reporters
after conducting a re-
view meeting, Reddy
also announced Rs 10
lakh each Turn on P6
New Delhi: The IMD’s Re-
gionalMeteorologicalCen-
tre has started including
cities under Pakistan-oc-
cupied-Kashmirinitsfore-
casts, a departure from its
earlier format, officials
said on Thursday.
The IMD has started in-
cluding Gilgit-Baltistan
and Muzaffarabad, which
arepartsof PoK,underthe
Jammu and Kashmir me-
teorological sub-division
since May 5, Turn on P6
PM, Shah hold meeting
with NDMA officials
New Delhi: Prime
Minister Narendra
Modi held a meeting
with National Disas-
ter Management Au-
thority (NDMA) offi-
cials on Thursday in
wake of the gas leak
in Visakhapatnam.
Defence Minister
Rajnath Singh and
Home Minister Amit
Shah were also pre-
sent in the meeting
called by the PM. Ear-
lier, Modi spoke to
Andhra Pradesh
Chief Minister YS
Jagan Mohan Reddy
intheaftermathof the
Visakhapatnam gas
leakage mishap and
assured all help and
support to the state.
The Andhra
Pradesh Chief Minis-
ter apprised the
Prime Minister re-
garding the mishap.
The CM informed
him about the rescue
operations being un-
dertaken at the acci-
dent site. Turn on P6
A woman tries to wake up a child as another one looks helplessly,
awaiting help, after gas leakage at a village in Visakhapatnam on
Thursday. —ANI PHOTO
PM Modi chairing a
meeting of NDMA.
Ashok Gehlot @ashokgehlot51
Shocked to know about the terrible #VizagGas-
Leak tragedy. My condolences to the bereaved
families, who have lost their loved ones. May God give
them strength to bear this loss. Prayers for the speedy re-
covery of those injured. #vishakhapatnam #AndhraPradesh
COVID-19 LIKELY TO PEAK IN
JUNE-JULY: AIIMS DIRECTOR
New Delhi: As per the modelling data and the way
India’s COVID-19 cases are increasing, it is likely that
peak can come in June and July, said AIIMS-Delhi
Director Dr Randeep Guleria on Thursday. India’s cases
reached 54,539, including 1,837 deaths on Thursday,
said Health Ministry. P5
SBI HOME LOAN EMIs TO FALL
AS BANK CUTS MCLR
New Delhi: State Bank of India on Thursday announced
a reduction in MCLR or marginal cost of funds-based
lending rate by 15 basis points across all tenors. With
this EMIs on eligible home loans (linked to MCLR) will
get cheaper by approximately Rs255 for a 30-year-loan
of Rs25 lakh, SBI said.
Kochi: The first Air India
Express flight carrying In-
dian citizens from Abu
Dhabi landed at the air-
port in Kochi on Thurs-
day night as India
launched its biggest ever
repatriation exercise in its
history to bring back its
nationals stranded abroad
amid the international
travel lockdown over the
COVID-19 pandemic.
The Air India Express
flight IX 452 with 177 pas-
sengers and four infants
landed at the Cochin In-
ternational Airport
(CIAL) at 10.09 pm, an air-
line spokesman said.
Another Air India Ex-
press flight IX 344 with 177
passengers and five in-
fants from Dubai is expect-
edtolandattheKozhikode
Interantional Airport lat-
er, he said. The evacuated
citizens will be sent to the
quarantine facilities set
up by the administration
in their respective dis-
tricts, Kerala government
officials said.
On Monday, the Indian
government announced
plans Turn on P6
Destination Raj: Gehlot to form task force to attract global investors
Naresh Sharma
Jaipur: Chief Minis-
ter Ashok Gehlot has
said that the state
government knows
full well the pains of
businesses in Ra-
jasthan amid the Co-
rona crisis and lock-
down and assured the
entrepreneurs of Ra-
jasthan that the gov-
ernment is standing
right besides them at
this hour.
“We will do all it
takes to provide sem-
blance to industries in
state,” Gehlot said
while holding a video
conference with entre-
preneurs on Thursday.
“Investors from
world over are looking
towards India for in-
vestment opportunities
and under this Ra-
jasthan can become a
better destination for
them. The state govern-
ment will constitute a
task force to provide
better investment envi-
ronment in Rajasthan
for investors so that
state’s economy can get
on its feet as soon as
possible and labourers
get work,” Gehlot said.
The Chief Minister
observed that due to
lockdown, the state ex-
chequer have not fared
well and demanded that
the Centre should re-
lease a financial pack-
age for states so that
businesses can be given
a major boost. Gehlot
also instructed Chief
Secretary DB Gupta to
look into the challenges
faced by businesses and
workers at Bhiwadi re-
garding their travel. “In-
dustrial units have re-
startedinhugenumbers
and production should
continue amid social
distancing and medical
protocol. Turn on P6Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot during a video conference on Thursday.
 CM sets the ball rolling to get
economy up and running
 Assures entrepreneurs of full
support of state government
CM Gehlot has directed ministers
incharge of districts to hold review on
corona of their respective districts on
May 9 from 11 AM onwards via video
conference. “the incharge ministers
should devise strategy with district
collectors, SPs and district level officials
for time after the third lockdown,
contingency plan on drinking water and
related to MNREGA workers too.
By May 7, the Chief MInister
Covid-19 Relief Fund has swelled to
Rs253 crore. On Thursday, Rs5.11
lakh was deposited in the fund by
Trilokchand Makhija, five lakh rupees
by Anita Kapoor, one lakh rupees
by Arun and Rita Kapoor, 1.51
lakh rupees by Ramsahay Bajiya -
President of Ex-serviceman Welfare
Committee.
CM TO MIN: HOLD REVIEW CM RELIEF FUND GETS `253 CR

Haresh Jhala
Gandhinagar: With
fingers already being
pointed at the Guja-
rat Government over
its alleged inept han-
dling of the corona
crisis and the control
of government’s ‘Co-
rona War’ being given
to Chief Principal
Secretary K. Kailas-
hnathan, popularly
known as KK in bu-
reaucratic circles and
the Chief Secretary
Anil Mukim. In fact,
this duo, along with a
team of five seasoned
bureaucrats, will
have a day to day
close watch on all Co-
rona developments in
Gujarat, and especial-
ly at Ahmedabad.
According to sources,
an incensed Central
Government is learned
to have reprimanded
Deputy Chief Minister
Nitin Patel, who also
keeps the Health portfo-
lio, while it has begun
to keep a closer watch
on the State. It is prob-
ably due to the sorry
state of affairs, that
New Delhi has decided
to handle the reins of
this War on Corona to a
workaholic and experi-
enced group of bureau-
crats. The move came
after the Inter-Ministe-
rial Central Team
(IMCT) submitted its
report to the central
government. Mean-
while, Ahmedabad Mu-
nicipal Commissioner
Vijay Nehra, has self-
quarantine and he is
likely to get deputation
in Dehli before he re-
covers.
This comes amid
fresh speculations
about a possible
change of guard in
Gujarat, especially
with reports that Un-
ion Minister of State
for Shipping, Chemi-
cals, and Fertilizers
Mansukh Mandaviya
had been summoned
by the BJP high com-
mand to discuss the
State affairs. Man-
daviya’s name was do-
ing the rounds as a
replacement for
Chief Minister Vijay
Rupani even between
November and Febru-
ary, though things
had then, been set-
tled. Albeit, Mandavi-
ya has flatly denied
any leadership
change in the State
with him being at the
focal point. He has
also tweeted this.
What has added grist
to the rumour mill is
that the Chief Minis-
ter has been busy
quickly clearing key
government files
while the health cri-
sis firms up its grip
over the State. This
often usually happens
when a minister is
preparing for his exit.
However, according to
a reliable input, a de-
cision to effect a
change of leadership
in Gujarat has yet not
been taken by the top
leadership in New
Delhi.
But now, it has be-
come a matter of con-
cern for the BJP Gov-
ernment at the Centre
that the coronavirus
has defied the extended
lockdown and is getting
worse by the day. With
nearly 7,013 positive
cases and 425 deaths,
Covid-19 just refuses to
relent.
Highly placed sourc-
es in Gandhinagar told
First India that Union
Home Minister Amit
Shah had pulled up
Deputy Chief Minister
Nitin Patel over the
phone this week, after
first taking detailed
feedback of the scenar-
io. He was apparently
conveyed that the Cen-
tre was miffed at the
way corona cases are
increasing and the
death toll mounting.
Reliable sources stat-
ed that the BJP high
command is also piqued
that a “wrong message”
has been going for some
time that the State is
run more by bureau-
crats and less by the rul-
ing dispensation that
has little control over
the situation. This was
also conveyed to the
deputy chief minister,
whoisotherwiseknown
to be very vocal and
comes up with media
reactions at the small-
est instance but has
gone completely silent
during the last one
month.
Sources also told
First India that the
minister has been
warned to tackle the
situation in a time-
bound manner and
not force the high
command to take a
firm position. Even
within Gujarat BJP,
there are murmurs
against the present
team and many lead-
ers complain in pri-
vate that the party’s
image is being sullied
because of the “poor
handling” of the cri-
sis. Some of them
have even spoken
their heart out to the
top leadership.
So, in the present sce-
nario, the next week
may be crucial for any
political development
at Gandhi Nagar.
NEWSJAIPUR | FRIDAY, MAY 8, 2020
02www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
CENTRE PULLS UP GUJARAT OVER CORONA
AMID RUMOUR MILLS OF LEADERSHIP CHANGE
n Union Home
Minister Amit Shah had
pulled up Deputy Chief
Minister Nitin Patel over
the phone this week.
n Name of Union
Minister of State
Mansukh Mandaviya
has already begun
doing the rounds.
Amit Shah Vijay Rupani Mansukh Mandaviya
State govt increases VAT
on petrol and diesel
First India News
Jaipur: A day after
Transport Minister
Pratap Singh Khachari-
yawas criticised the
Modi government for
hike in petrol and diesel
prices, the state govern-
ment has also increased
fuel prices. The state
government increased
VAT on petrol and diesel
due to the financial cri-
sis following the corona
crisis.
The Finance Depart-
ment has issued a notifi-
cation that would be ef-
fective from midnight.
The VAT on petrol has
been increased by 2%
percentand1%ondiesel.
Subsequently, the VAT
on petrol will be 38% in-
stead of 36% and 28% in
place of 27% on diesel.
As a result, the price of
diesel will increase by 53
paise and reach Rs. 70. 35
while petrol prices will
beRs.77.82,withariseof
Rs. 1.12.
This is the third hike
during the lockdown pe-
riod. The state govern-
ment had already in-
creased by 2% VAT on
Petrol and 1% on diesel
on April 14.
It is to be noted that
the central government
had also increased ex-
cise duty on fuel prod-
ucts despite a huge drop
in international prices
of crude. However, eco-
nomic slowdown due to
coronavirus has ad-
versely impacted the
revenue of the govern-
ments. Therefore, the
government has been
increasing tax on petro-
leum products rather
than passing the benefit
of low crude prices to
the consumers.
Pratap Singh Khachariyawas
NO CESS FOR RCDF
FROM JAIPUR DAIRY
First India News
Jaipur: Rajasthan
Dairy Development Fed-
eration (RCDF) might be
on the verge of its worst-
ever financial night-
mare after the court ver-
dict on Thursday which
debars it from charging
any cess from Jaipur
Dairy. Cess or service
fees from 21 dist dairies
are the sole source of
RCDF and soon other
dist units might also re-
fuse to pay the cess.
The court decision
has come after RCDF
refused to share the de-
tails of expenses it in-
curred from the cess
collected so far with the
Jaipur Dairy governing
council.
Jaipur Dairy alone is
said to have paid a
whopping cess of Rs
85.98 crore since 1998.
RCDF receives around
Rs 25 crore annually
from 21 dairies across
the state as cess and has
been paying its employ-
ees from this amount.
Ideally, RCDF should
have spent the cess on
branding, helping, and
modernizing the dis-
trict dairies.
Man beaten
to death by
three youths
First India News
Jaipur: Three youths
killed an elderly per-
son near Riddhi-Siddhi
intersection on
Wednesday. The ac-
cused hit the victim in
the head who was ac-
companied by two-per-
son but they also fled
the spot after the
incident.A police pa-
trolling vehicle was
told by the people that
a man had been in-
jured in an accident.
The police team took
the injured to Jaipuria
Hospital and informed
the police station for
accident. A team has
been constituted to
nab the culprits.
Govt waives off licence, special
band fee of RTDC hotel bars
Nirmal tiwari
Jaipur: The state gov-
ernment has given huge
relief to Rajasthan
Tourism Development
Corporation, which is
burdened by huge finan-
cial losses.
The state government
has waived off compos-
ite basic license fee and
special band fee of
RTDC hotel bars. The
decision will save RTDC
Rs 75 lakh, which has
bars in nearly 2 dozen
units. Since hotels and
bars are closed because
of lockdown; RTDC
would not get the imme-
diate benefit of this de-
cision but once hotel
operation begins, RTDC
would be able to run bar
as well.
In the new excise pol-
icy, RTDC, RSBCL, and
Ganganagar Sugar Mill
had been authorized to
run liquor shops but
none of them has been
able to do so. RTDC had
given a proposal for liq-
uor shop in 34 units but
not a single shop could
start operation for the
inability to arrange li-
cense fees. Hence, the
RTDC has been incur-
ring indirect losses.
It has also not been
able to pay salaries to its
employees since Janu-
ary.
Kalicharancase:HC
summonsprobeofficer
First India News
Jaipur: Rajasthan HC
has expressed displeas-
ure over the slow pace
of trial in a case related
to a judicial magistrate.
The court has asked the
investigating officer to
be present in the court
to give clarification on
May 13.
The trial has been go-
ing on for 17 years and
theaccusedhasnotbeen
arrested for six months.
Former health minister
and BJP MLA Kalich-
aran Saraf is also one of
the accused in the case
of misbehavingwiththe
judicial magistrate.
Mobile magistrate Vi-
nod Kumar was con-
ducting a hearing at Ja-
nata Store in 2000. Saraf
along with a few other
persons reached there
and snatched the docu-
ment from him and tore
them. He also blocked
the magistrate’s vehicle.
The magistrate filed a
complaint in police sta-
tion, which the BJP govt
withdrew but the magis-
trate registered the case
as the complainant in
his own court.
Kalicharan Saraf
First India News
Jaipur: Relaxation in
lockdown seems to
have pushed the on-
button for the road ac-
cidents as 8 deaths
were reported in 4 ac-
cidents in the state. Na-
gaur alone witnessed 3
incidents killing 6 peo-
ple.
An Innova over-
turned while driven at
high-speed on Wednes-
day night killing one of
the occupants near Rol
village. While in an-
other accident three
young men in their
early twenties were
crushed by a high-
speed car in front of a
petrol pump near Choti
Khatu.
The three young men
were chatting on the
roadside on Thursday
morning. Police took
the severely injured to
the hospital where they
were declared dead.
The third incident
killed two on the spot
when a car collided
with a speeding truck
near Kacholiya toll
booth. A father and son
were killed on the spot
while changing the
tyre of their trolley
near Jaisalmer when a
pick up hit them on the
roadside.
8 die in 4 different accidents in Raj
—Pic for representational purpose only
Two kill self in
separate
incidents
First India News
Chomu: A father and
his married daughter
committed suicide in
two separate incidents.
Father Maliram killed
himself by jumping in
front of a train near
Badhal village under
Renwal PS area while
the daughter Sunita
hanged herself with a
ceiling fan at her home
under Chomu PS area.
New Delhi: Prime Min-
ister Narendra Modi on
ThursdaysaidLordBud-
dha’steachingsreinforce
India’s commitment to
saving humanity and in
a crisis like COVID-19
our nation is constantly
working to help coun-
triesacrosstheglobeand
will continue to do the
same.
Speaking on the occa-
sion of Buddha Purni-
ma, Prime Minister
Modi said, “Buddha is
the symbol of both reali-
sation and self-realisa-
tion of India. With this
self-realisation, India is
working in the interest
of humanity and the
world and will continue
to do so. India is con-
stantly working to help
other countries across
the globe and will con-
tinue to do the same. To-
day, India is standing
firmly in support of eve-
ryone, without any dis-
crimination, who are in
need or who are in trou-
ble, in the country or
acrosstheglobe.”“While
makingeverypossibleef-
fort to save every coun-
tryman, India is also sin-
cerelyfulfillingitsglobal
obligations. Lord Bud-
dha’steachingsreinforce
India’s commitment to
savinghumanity.Tostop
aftergettingtiredcannot
beasolutiontoanyprob-
lem. All of us have to
fight together to defeat
coronavirus,” he added.
With the world bat-
tling the COVID-19 pan-
demic, Prime Minister
Modi said that the teach-
ings of Lord Buddha
havebecomeallthemore
relevant.
“Lord Buddha had
said that man must con-
tinuously strive to over-
come difficult situa-
tions. Today, we all are
continuously trying to
overcome a difficult sit-
uation, we are working
together. The four
truths were given by
Lord Buddha- Compas-
sion, mercy, equanimity,
accepting everything as
it is. These truths have
been our constant inspi-
rations. Discarding con-
siderations of profit
and loss, powerful or
weak, for us, this is a
time to extend a help-
ing hand as much as
possible. This is the
reason that many coun-
tries remembered In-
dia in these times of
crisis and our nation
left no stone unturned
in offering help to
them,” he said. —ANI
‘India committed to save humanity; help world in defeating Coronavirus’
LIKE LORD BUDDHA
Buddha is not limited to one instance,
or one place, but has inspired
throughout the ages: PM Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi

RAJASTHANJAIPUR | FRIDAY, MAY 8, 2020
 Banswara: Two
youths of Ramgarh
village of Kushalgarh
subdivision were
working in a company
in Beawar of Ajmer for
a long time. A man at
their workplace had
tested corona positive
recently, after which
the medical depart-
ment also quarantined
these two youths in
Beawar. But, they
escaped from the
quarantine centre and
were caught by the
Garhi police.
 Jaipur: MP Nihal-
chand wrote a letter to
Chief Minister Ashok
Gehlot regarding the
removal of a 2% tax
on agricultural com-
modities imposed by
the government. It
was mentioned in the
letter that the govern-
ment should provide
relief to farmers, trad-
ers, units and mandis
and the increase of
2% would cause huge
losses to farmers and
traders. The condi-
tion of farmers will
deteriorate rather than
improving.
 Jaipur: In Ganga
Vihar Colony of Road
No. 17 in the VKI area,
a fetus of a 4-month-
old fetus was thrown
into the drain. After
that, the dogs took
it out and attacked
it. On receiving the
information, the VKI
police reached the
spot and took the
body to the Kanwatia
Hospital. The police
have started investi-
gating the case after
ﬁling a report by local
resident Dheeraj Sain.
 Sirohi: A car ran
over three migrant
labourers going from
Gurajat to Bihar on
foot. In the accident
in Swaroopganj of
Sirohi, one of them
died while two got
injured, who are
undergoing treatment
at the government
hospital of Abu Road.
 Udaipur: The
number of corona
positive patients is
increasing in Udaipur
and has reached 16
by Thursday. As of
now, a curfew has
been imposed in more
than half a dozen
police station areas
of the city. Police and
administration are
trying their best to
prevent the spread of
the pandemic.
 Jodhpur: A total of
42 BSF soldiers have
tested positive for
coronavirus, includ-
ing 12 soldiers on
Thursday.
BRIEF
in
Shivendra Parmar
Jaipur: One of the
good fall outs of the
lockdown has been a
visible decrease in
crime rate. The data re-
leased by the police de-
partment make the
higher ups also visibly
happy. ADG (Crime) BL
Soni informed that on
month on month
(MOM) basis crime in
all categories has regis-
tered a 51% overall
drop in April in com-
parison to April 2019.
There has been a 70%
drop in women atroci-
ties with dowry deaths
down by 11%, dowry
relatedsuicidesby17%,
women harassment by
87%, rapes by 58%, eve
teasing by 41% and kid-
napping by 74%.
April also witnessed
drop of 30% in atroci-
ties against scheduled
castes & by 20% against
scheduled tribes. There
were 51.16% less cases
registered in April 2020
on MOM basis. Mur-
ders were down by 32%,
attempt to murder by
10%, loot by 63%, kid-
nappingby72%,rioting
by 26%, cash snatching
by 50%, theft by 80%
and cases registered
under other section of
IPC also saw a drop of
46%. Police ensuring
strict lockdown was
very active in acting
against illicit liquor
tradewhichisvisiblein
the data given by the
PHQ clearly. Police reg-
istered2210casesunder
excise act during April
where seized around 55
thousand bottles of
IMFL, 30,000 bottles of
IMCL, 26026 bottles of
handmade country liq-
uor and 13354 bottles of
beer. 2121 accused were
held.
Lockdown keeps crime rate at bay
FLIP SIDE OF THE COIN
DGP goes FB Live to connect with Churu
First India News
Jaipur: DGP Bhupen-
dra Yadav joined a Fa-
cebook live pro-
gramme with people of
Churu to know the
problems faced by
them. He answered
their questions in
‘Talk with the Cop’ in
online dialogue.
The DGP heard prob-
lems and suggestions
from people. They told
him about problems
coming in way of
maintaining social dis-
tancing, charging
more money for liquor
than printed amount
and black marketing
of tobacco products.
Yadav also thanked
the corona warriors
for their services. The
police also shared
their experience with
the corona crisis.
This initiative of
Churu SP Tejaswini re-
ceived national ac-
knowledgement.
First India News
Jaipur: High Court
has passed an order
regarding the royalty
recoverynoticeof the
government and im-
posed a ban on any
type of punitive ac-
tion. HC said how can
the government re-
cover royalty without
doing the mining. HC
also issued a notice to
Principal Secretary
Mining, Additional
Director Mining
Jaipur & others.
HC notice to
govt over mining
royalty recovery
First India News
Kota: UDH Minister
Shanti Dhariwal
claimed that 1,350 poor
people in urban area,
including kiosk opera-
tors in Kota, have been
sent Rs 2,500 directly to
their accounts from
Municipal Corpora-
tion.
Meanwhile, Labour
Department of Kota
has sent Rs 1000 direct-
ly to the accounts of
about 29,000 registered
labourers with labour
diary.
Dhariwal also re-
viewed the develop-
ment works of UITs.
Targeting Centre, he
said that not only has
centre stopped budget
of about Rs 10,000
crore of share of state
government, but has
not given anything in
corona fund.
‘Centre gave nothing for corona’
First India News
Tonk: The incident of
rape with a teenager by
4 youth is turning politi-
cal heads now. Deputy
CM Sachin Pilot has ex-
pressed grief at the inci-
dent and announced a
compensation of Rs 1
lakh for the victim from
his private fund. Pilot
called the collector and
Sp of Tonk and instruct-
ed them to arrest the ac-
cused at the earliest and
file the challan as soon
as possible. Minister for
Youth Affairs & Sports
AshokChandnareached
Bachera village on
Thursday and met the
victim’s family.
Malpura-Todaraisin-
gh MLA Kanhaiyalal
Chaudharyalsoreached
the village to meet the
victim’s family. The
MLA assured of his sup-
port to the family for the
fight for justice for the
victim. He accused the
influential people of
threatening and pres-
surizing the victim’s
family.
Chandana meets kin
of gangrape victim
‘Ensure safe return of students’
Aishwarya Pradhan
Jaipur: State BJP presi-
dent Satish Poonia and
national joint secretary
V Satish spoke to minis-
ter of state for external
affairs V. Muralidharan.
The state BJP president
told him that thousands
of students from Ra-
jasthanhavebeenstudy-
ing abroad. The minis-
ter assured them of
bringing these students
back safely.
Meanwhile,Leaderof
opposition Gulab Chand
Kataria asked Chief
Minister Ashok Gehlot
to revoke 2% Kisan
Kalyan Cess. In a letter
to the CM, he said that
the cess was not in fa-
vour of farmers and
traders.
Satish Poonia
DGP Bhupendra Yadav
First India News
Jaipur: A PIL challeng-
ing the appointment of
sole administrator and
non-inclusion of the
legislators of old Board
of JMC, in the adminis-
trative committee over
the two newly created,
Jaipur Nagar Nigams
will be heard on Friday
by a Division Bench
headed by Chief Justice
Indrajit Mahanty.
The petition has been
filed one O P Tak a resi-
dent of Kathputli Na-
gar Kacchi Basti
through his counsel Dr.
Abhinav Sharma, alleg-
ing that the state gov-
ernment has misused
its power under section
320 of the Rajasthan
Municipality Act and
instead of appointing a
committee for the
smooth running of the
two separate Jaipur Na-
gar Nigams the Chief
Executive Officer of the
old JMC has been given
charge of both the Na-
gar Nigams.
It is noteworthy that
by way of a notifica-
tion on October 18 last
year the State Govern-
ment has bifurcated
Jaipur, Jodhpur and
Kota Nagar Nigams
into two and in Jaipur
two new JMC namely
JMC heritage and JMC
Greater Jaipur were
constituted and the
wards were delimitated
accordingly.
In the petition it has
been alleged that the
work of both the JMC is
seriously hampered as
there are no functional
hands and the public is
more connected to its
elected representative
in the local self-govern-
ance but instead of tak-
ing the previously elect-
ed members as part of
the committee required
to be formed as adhoc
arrangement the state
government has chosen
to appoint only one IAS
officer as the incharge
of both the JMC.
First India News
Jaipur: 6 corona deaths
were reported in last 24
hours taking the total to
99. Tuesday reported 110
new corona positive cas-
es. Two deaths were re-
ported from Jaipur and
one each from Ajmer,
Chittorgarh, Jodhpur
and Kota. Sawai Mad-
hopur.
Maximum 30 new
cases came from Jodh-
pur while 21 cases were
reported from Jaipur. 16
cases were reported
from Chittorgarh,12
BSF Jawans,19 from
Pali, 5 cases each from
Ajmer &Udaipur,4from
Dholpur, 2 each from Al-
war&Kotaandoneeach
from Jalore and Sirohi.
The state total for coro-
na positives stands at
3427. State has tested
145510 samples so far
out of which 139830
have reported negative
while reports for 2253
samples is awaited.
Jaipur leads the most
positive cases tally with
1111 cases followed by
Jodhpur 842 (including
12 BSF Jawans), Kota
223,Ajmer187,Tonk136,
Nagaur 119, Bharatpur
% Chittorgarh 116 each,
Banswara 66, Pali 50,
Jhalawar45,Jhunjhunu
42, Bhilwara 39, Bikaner
38, Jaisalmer 35, Dausa
& Dholpur 21 each,
Udaipur 20, Alwar 18,
Churu 14, Hanuman-
garh 11, Sawai Mad-
hopur & Dungapur 9
each, Sikar 8, Rajsa-
mand 7, Pratapgarh &
Karauli 4 each, Jalore 4,
Barmer 3 and Baran
with one case. Apart
from this 2 Italians, two
from other states, 61 In-
dians evacuated from
Iran. 31 districts are of-
ficially corona infected
as of now.
Good news came from
Women’s Hospital
where two women were
not only declared coro-
na free nut they also de-
livered health babies.
Doctors at the hospital;
felicitated them with
flowers.
First India News
Jaipur: The state gov-
ernment has released
Rs 1.16 crore to urban
bodies to provide food
to homeless people who
are living in shelter
homes. The free food
would be regularly pro-
vided till May 17.
Rajasthan has 179
pucca shelter homes in
87 cities in which 8298
people live. Since, peo-
ple are jobless during
lockdown; the state gov-
ernment has been pro-
viding these people
with food.
The local self-govern-
ment department has
released the amount to
urban bodies at the cost
of Rs 100 per person per
day for food till May 17.
The government had
arranged food during
first lockdown as well.
It had released Rs 1.46
crore in the first lock-
down till April 14 and
Rs 1.57 crore in the sec-
ond one till May 3.
HC to hear plea
against JMC admn
Six deaths and 110 new
cases reported in 24 hrs
Govt releases
over `1cr for
the homeless
People waiting for medical facilities outside Malviya Nagar sector 3 dispensary on Thursday.
ADG (Crime) BL Soni
—PHOTOBYMUKESHKIRADOO

PERSPECTIVEJAIPUR | FRIDAY, MAY 8, 2020
G Vol 1 G Issue No. 331 G RNI NO. RAJENG/2019/77764. Printed and published by Anita Hada Sangwan on behalf of First Express Publishers. Printed at Bhaskar Printing Press, D.B. Corp Limited, Shivdaspura, Tonk Road, Jaipur.
Published at 304, 3rd Floor, City Mall, Bhagwan Das Road, C-Scheme, Jaipur-302001, Rajasthan. Phone 0141-4920504. Editor: Jagdeesh Chandra, responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act
TRAGEDY STRIKES
VIZAG, REVIVES
BHOPAL FEARS
emember the Bhopal gas tragedy
of 1984 when methyl isocyanate
leaked from the Union Carbide
plant-killing over 10,000 people
and left lakhs with gas-related
disorders?
In a grim reminder of that chemical disaster,
leaked gas from a chemical plant in RR Ven-
katapuram village of Andhra Pradesh’s Vi-
sakhapatnam killed 11 and left at least 25 people
critical and on the ventilator. Around 200 peo-
ple are reported to have been hospitalized. The
leaked gas, Styrene, from South Korean com-
pany LG Polymers saw unsuspecting people
slumping to the ground, children holding each
other as their mother struggled to breathe, oth-
ers coughed, gasped for breath and complained
of rashes within a three-kilometre radius.
About 800 people were shifted from ground zero
to safer places.
The parent company has said that it will
investigate the cause of the leak which oc-
curred when workers were to restart the
plant after the long lockdown. An FIR has
been lodged against LG Polymers.
The government has ordered an inquiry but
initial inquiry put the blame on “technical
glitch” in the plant’s refrigeration unit. MG
Reddy, Industry minister of Andhra Pradesh,
said that the company will have to explain the
protocols which were followed or not followed.
Styrene, an alkaline benzene compound,
which is used to make synthetic rubber and
resin, has no antidote and no definite med-
icine for reversing its effects, said Delhi
AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria.
Thankfully, it is not universally fatal like
the methyl isocyanate but if inhaled in
high levels it can cause breathlessness and
respiratory distress. According to Dr Gule-
ria, supportive treatment is the only way
to deal with the affected persons.
Chemicals and water were being sprayed to
contain the impact of the gas and the situation
was soon brought under control. The special
chemical being sprayed is called PTBC and is
made only in Gujarat’s Vapi town. Gujarat gov-
ernment agreed to send it after a request from
Andhra Pradesh.
National Disaster Relief Force has been
deployed at the site and would be stationed
there till the leak is completely plugged.
The gas leak could not have come at a worse
time as Andhra Pradesh’s Covid-19 cases are
inching close to 1,100. Naturally, there is a clam-
our for the plant’s closure just as there was a
demand for the arrest of Union Carbide’s
American bosses. Leading the chorus for the
plant’s closure is former chief minister N.
Chandrababu Naidu, who also demanded a
thorough inquiry into the accident. The Centre
of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) led by the Com-
munist Party of India (Marxist) and Indian
National Trade Union Congress (INTUC),
which owes allegiance to the Congress Party
also demanded the closure of LG Polymer.
The plant, one can say with some certainty,
will be closed only till the pendency of in-
quiry but families will mourn their dead for
long and the tragedy will continue to haunt.
IN-DEPTH
R
n India, there various kinds of
businesses and nature that em-
ploy millions of people. That’s
the backbone of our entire eco-
system. If aviation does not
work, Hotels, Restaurants,
Food, Taxi, Petrol pumps,
Malls, Shopping, Events and all
kind of business gets a huge
hit. It’s a connected world and
weareinthecomplicatedmash.
While mother earth is into re-
set mode, we all need to find
new ways and enter into a new
world, take a pause, and reset
many important things in life.
Build your company’s
digital infrastructure now
Making any type of capital ex-
penditure is counterintuitive
during a lockdown period
where cash flow is king, but
this is an investment that can
be remarkably inexpensive and
will have a significant impact
on your company’s ability to
compete over the next 18–24
months. Take this time of inac-
tivity to build the mobile app,
built remote customer interac-
tion, easy IT tools for each and
every employee to work any-
time anywhere, and create mar-
keting collateral so on the first
day of reactivation after lock-
down or during a lockdown,
you may be more efficient.
Incorporate safety
protocols
Improve your safety protocols
and standards with the availa-
ble state government or GOI
guidance. The top changes to
safety practices will include
the regular deployment of face
masks, face shields, social dis-
tancing marks in office, to en-
sure correct levels of distanc-
ing between visiting custom-
ers, sufficient spacing between
employee workspace to ensure
5-7 ft gap, and increased usage
of disinfectant on high touch
areas of your office.
Accommodate new
consumer needs
Assess to your websites, prod-
ucts,appsmustbemoreintuitive
and user friendly than before.
The need of the hour is to make
yourself accessible in many oth-
er ways than before. Face to face
connect will be mostly possible
virtually, not through large
events, global meetings, net-
working events, etc.
Plan online marketing
and presentations
Almost everyone must learn
how to present and market on-
line. These new business mod-
els need to be launched with a
promotional program the same
way as any other business. We
have many Video meeting plat-
forms like Zoom, Video meet,
Google Meet, etc. Now they can
be in touch with their family,
friends, and individual custom-
ers without meeting them on a
regular basis.
Operations document
for new world
If your company doesn’t have a
designated ops services man-
ager or department, this is the
best time for operational lead-
ership to review and update all
the training documents, job
aids, checklists, and processes
that are likely in need of an up-
date. If those tools are not in
place, this is a great time to
build these tools. While every
day right now is a challenge,
due to the level of uncertainty
and stress created by the pan-
demic, your team will be glad
this essential work was done
when operations do a resume.
Forecasts for 25, 50, and
75 percent of previously
forecasted numbers
The zero revenue or nominal
revenue lockdown period we’re
currently in will prove to be
much easier to understand
than what all of our companies
are entering into as the econo-
my comes back to life. Almost
everyone including Travel com-
panies, hotels, and manufactur-
ing units has seen Zero sales.
As staff is brought back onto
the payroll and the operating
expenses of the business begin
to generate, many of our busi-
nesses will go through the high-
est-risk period of this crisis.
Profit in times of Corona
I have several people asking me
how the economy is going to
fare in the rest of 2020. It’s dan-
gerous. There is no other way I
can put it. It’s not the time to
mince words. I believe the IT
industry is blessed to be in a
position to Work From Home
(WFH) and can tide over this
Tsunami. But not all business-
es will have that advantage.
But there’s the other side of
the story. You have to take care
of your family and team first.
If, in this year, you can do that,
keep them safe from any harm,
consider it your profit.
Communicate
with your team
There’s likely a hesitancy to es-
tablisharoutinelevelof commu-
nication with your employees as
theuncertaintyof thecrisiscon-
tinues but we cannot leave peo-
ple out of the loop. Phone calls
are better than emails. Write
down your bullet points, start
video meetings, and commit to
routine communication. Your
employees will never forget it.
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY
THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL
WELCOME TO NEW WORLD
AFTER LOCKDOWN
I
If your
company
doesn’t have a
designated ops
services
manager or
department,
this is the best
time for
operational
leadership to
review and
update all the
training
documents, job
aids, checklists,
and processes
that are likely
in need of an
update. If those
tools are not in
place, this is a
great time to
build these tools
DR AJAY
DATA
Assess to your
websites, products,
apps must be more
intuitive and user
friendly than before.
The need of the hour is
to make yourself
accessible in many
other ways than before
The writer is the founder
& CEO - Data Ingenious
Global Limited
very year,
some nine mil-
lion people
worldwide –
equivalent to
the population of Aus-
tria – die of hunger or
hunger-related diseases.
That is tragic enough,
but COVID-19’s disrup-
tion of food supply
chains risks doubling
this number in 2020.
This is the hidden cost
of the coronavirus pan-
demic, and it will fall on
the poorest and most vul-
nerable. To prevent these
avoidable deaths, we must
first recognize that Africa,
South Asia, and other poor-
er regions cannot go into
lockdown or seek to con-
tain the disease by mimick-
ing measures adopted in
the West. Instead, they
must find their own way to
balance the risks of the vi-
rus with the risks to liveli-
hoods and lives arising
from attempts to defeat it.
Above all, however, the
international community
must act now to keep food
supply chains operating.
Otherwise, for the poor-
est parts of the world, the
unintended consequenc-
es of the cure will be
worse than the disease.
The United Nations
World Food Programme
has identified 26 countries
that are most at risk from
increased food insecurity
because of the COVID-19
crisis, with Ethiopia, Nige-
ria, and Mozambique
among the most vulnerable
in Africa. In these three
countries alone, the WFP
estimates that 56 million
people (out of a combined
population of about 334
million) were already
chronically food insecure.
In addition, of the 1.5 bil-
lion children worldwide
who are currently out of
school because of the pan-
demic, 350 million depend
on school meals to avoid
going hungry.
COVID-19 is present-
ing poorer countries
with four main food-se-
curity challenges.
For starters, households
have less income to buy in-
creasingly expensive food.
Per capita output in Sub-
Saharan Africa is set to
contract by more than 4%
in 2020 owing to the pan-
demic, while remittances
from Africans working
abroad are plummeting –
by 80% at one payment
company in the United
Kingdom. And a household
survey in Bangladesh
shows that the poor have
already seen their incomes
drop by a staggering 70%;
almost half are now reduc-
ing their food consumption
as a result.
Second, transporting
food has become more
time-consuming and
costlier. Global shipping
activity dropped by 25%
in the first quarter of
2020, while the cost of
sending cargo across the
Pacific Ocean tripled in
March alone. And new
hygiene and social-dis-
tancing measures are
delaying goods clear-
ance and delivery.
Third, the pandemic is
disrupting the global sup-
ply of agricultural prod-
ucts. Farmers in India
have been asked by the In-
dian Council of Agricul-
tural Researchto postpone
their wheat harvest until
after the lockdown, while
countries such as Vietnam
and Cambodia are restrict-
ing rice exports. This di-
rectly affects Africa, which
imports $4.5 billion worth
of rice each year.
In addition, food is be-
coming more expensive as
poorer countries struggle
to secure foreign currency
to pay for imports. For ex-
ample, rice prices in Nige-
ria increased by 30% in the
last week of March, partly
because of a steep decline
in export revenue following
the global oil-price collapse.
FOR FULL REPORT LOG ON TO
WWW.PROJECTSYNDICATE.COM
Building food security during the pandemic
E
COVID-19 is
affecting farming
and food
availability in
markets, as inputs
remain scarce and
vital agrochemicals
are delayed in ports
Old things are passed
away; behold, all things
are become new.
—Corinthians 5:17
Spiritual
SPEAK
Top
TWEET
Ahmed Patel
@ahmedpatel
In light of today’s industrial
accident in AP, I would urge the
Central govt to reject MP govt’s
proposal to dilute safety norms
in small factories. Safeguarding
human lives,particularly of the
poor & the vulnerable,has to be at
the soul of any policy
Dharmendra Pradhan
@dpradhanbjp
Distressed to learn about the
gas leak incident at LG Polymers
industry in Vizag, Andhra Pradesh
this morning. The situation is
being monitored closely and all
assistance is being provided. I
pray for the safety and well-being
of people in Vizag.

INDIAJAIPUR | FRIDAY, MAY 8, 2020
New Delhi: Principal
Secretary to Prime Min-
ister Narendra Modi,
Dr PK Mishra, held a
high-level review meet-
ing over Vizag gas leak
and directed to send
teams of experts on-site
and also measures for
relief.
The meeting was at-
tended by Cabinet Sec-
retary, Home Secretary,
and officials of the Na-
tional Disaster Manage-
ment Authority
(NDMA), NDRF, Direc-
tor, AIIMS and other
medical experts. Ten
people have been killed
in the mishap. While
800 people have been
hospitalised. Styrene
gas leakage had oc-
curred at LG Polymers
industry in RR Ven-
katapuram village in
Visakhapatnam. —ANI
Principal Secy holds high-level meet
VIZAG GAS LEAK
CORONA UPDATE
Dr PK Mishra directed to send teams of experts on-site and also measures for relief
AP Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy meets victims of gas leak tragedy at King George hospital in Visakhapatnam on Thursday.
The Chief Minister has also announced Rs 1 crore exgratia to the families of the deceased. —PHOTO BY PTI
New Delhi: Indian
Navy teams with about
50 breathing sets and
associated portable air
compressor rushed to
help villagers affected
by the gas leak near the
LG Polymers Industry
in Vizag during the wee
hours of Thursday.
The Indian Navy has
provided five Portable
Multifeed Oxygen Man-
ifolds sets to the King
George Hospital in Vi-
sakhapatnam in
Andhra Pradesh to help
the medical administra-
tion in tendering the
villagers affected due to
gas leak.
The force said, “Na-
val teams with breath-
ing sets and two ambu-
lances are assisting the
State Disaster Response
team at the villages af-
fected by gas leak near
LG Polymers”.
“Technical Teams
from the Naval Dock-
yard Visakhapatnam
are at King George Hos-
pital to assist in quick
installation to provide
Oxygen to a large num-
ber of patients a top na-
val officer said. —ANI
Indian Navy rush in to help tragedy victims
New Delhi: Union
Home Minister Amit
Shah responding to the
Vizag gas leakage said
that the incident is “dis-
turbing.” Shah stated
that he has spoken to
the NDMA (National
Disaster Management
Authority) officials and
concerned authorities.
“We are continuously
and closely monitoring
the situation. I pray for
the well-being of the
people of Visakhapat-
nam,” he added.
Minutes before
Shah’s tweet, PM Modi
said that he has spoken
to the officials of MHA
and NDMA. —ANI
Vizag Gas Leak ‘disturbing’:
Amit Shah speaks to NDMA
Plea in NGT
seeks judicial
probe
New Delhi: A petition
was moved in the Na-
tional Green Tribunal
(NGT) seeking direc-
tions for a judicial
probe into the Vi-
sakhapatnam gas leak
incident, in which at
least eight people have
lost their lives.
The petition, moved
by NGO CWEL Founda-
tion founder Banu
Bansal through advo-
cate Gaurav Bansal,
sought directions to
constitute a high-level
committee headed by a
retired Justice and of-
ficers not below rank of
Jt Secy to prove the gas
leakage incident. —ANI
New Delhi: As per the
modeling data and the
way India’s COVID-19
cases are increasing, it
is likely that peak can
come in June and July,
said AIIMS-Delhi Direc-
tor Dr Randeep Guleria
on Thursday.
“According to mode-
ling data and the way
our cases are increas-
ing, it is likely that peak
can come in June and
July. But there are
many variables. With
time only, we will know
how much they are ef-
fective and the effect of
extending the lock-
down,” said Dr Guleria.
India’s count of COV-
ID-19 cases reached
52,952, including 1,783
deaths on Thursday, ac-
cording to the Union
Ministry of Health and
Family Welfare.
Currently, there are
35,902 active cases while
15,266 patients have
been cured or dis-
charged and one is mi-
grated.
Maharashtra has the
highest number of cas-
es -- 16,758 -- followed by
Gujarat 6,625 cases and
Delhi 5,532 cases. —ANI
‘COVID-19 is likely to
peak in June-July’
Health workers escort a suspected COVID-19 patient as he boards an ambulance in New Delhi.
Currently, there are 35,902 active cases while 15,266 patients have been cured, said AIIMS Director, Dr Randeep Guleria
New Delhi: The Na-
tional Research Devel-
opment Corporation
(NRDC) has prepared a
‘Compendium of Indi-
an Technologies for
Combating COVID-19
(Tracing, Testing and
Treating)’.
This concise but de-
tailed compendium will
serve as a ready-refer-
ence for the policymak-
ers, entrepreneurs,
startups, MSMEs, re-
search scholars, scien-
tists, and others in the
country. The compen-
dium has 200 COVID-19
related Indian technolo-
gies, ongoing research
activities, technologies
available for commer-
cialisation, along with
initiatives taken by the
Government. Several
technologies compiled
are those which have
been approved by the
ICMR.
Categorisedunder3Ts
i.e ‘Tracking, Testing
and Treating’, Most of
these technologies are
‘proof-of-concept’ tested
and can help entrepre-
neurs take the product
to market faster. Dr H
Purushotham, CMD,
NRDC, said. —ANI
NRDC’s Indian compendium to fight corona
New Delhi: The clini-
cal trials of AYUSH
medicines on health
workers and those
working in COVID-19
high-risk areas have be-
gun today, Union Health
Minister Dr Harsh Var-
dhan said. “Today is a
very important day, as a
historical work has be-
gun in India. The clini-
cal trials of AYUSH
medicines like Ashwa-
gandha, Yashtimadhu,
Guduchi Pippali,
Ayush-64 on health
workers and those
working in high-risk ar-
eas has begun,” Dr
Harsh Vardhan said.
An app called ‘Sanjee-
vani’ has also been
launched to collect infor-
mation from 50 lakh peo-
ple about the usage of
medicines advised by
AYUSH to boost immuni-
ty, he said. “If you take
into account the deaths
due to the disease in In-
dia, then we are better
than even the top 20 big
countries in the world,
he said. —ANI
CLINICAL TRIALS of AYUSH
medicines on health workers
New Delhi: A Delhi
court issued produc-
tion warrant against
J&K Police officer
Davinder Singh, who
was arrested while
ferrying two Hizbul
Mujahideen terrorists
in a vehicle on the Sri-
nagar-Jammu high-
way earlier this year.
Special judge MK
Nagpal directed the
authorities of Hira
Nagar Jail in Kash-
mir, where the officer
is currently lodged, to
produce him before
the court here on May
18, said Davinder’s ad-
vocate Prashant
Prakash. The judge
also issued production
warrants against
three other accused
persons arrested in
the case. The order
was passed after Tihar
jail authorities in-
formed the judge that
accused could not be
brought before the
court since they were
lodged in a J-K jail.
Davinder Singh, a
DSP, was suspended in
January this year.
Court issues production
warrant against J&K’s
Davinder Singh
New Delhi: The
National Human
Rights Commission
has issued a notice
to Andhra Pradesh
government & Centre
over the gas leak
incident in Vizag. The
human rights body in
a statement said that
it has taken suo motu
cognizance of media
reports about the
death of eight persons
and over five thou-
sand others falling
sick due to leakage of
styrene gas in Vizag.
NHRC NOTICE TO
ANDHRA GOVT
Saddened by the news
of gas leak in a plant
near Visakhapatnam
which has claimed
several lives. My
condolences to the
families of the victims.
I pray for the recovery
of the injured and the
safety of all.
—Ram Nath Kovind
President
I’m shocked to hear
about the Vizag
gas leak. I urge our
Congress workers
and leaders in the
area to provide all
necessary support and
assistance to those
affected. My condo-
lences to the families
of those who have per-
ished. I pray that those
hospitalised make a
speedy recovery.
—Rahul Gandhi
Congress Leader
Deeply pained to hear about the tragic gas leak
in Visakhapatnam. My deepest condolences to
the families of the deceased, I pray for the well
being of all. I urge party workers to provide all
possible relief in coordination with the admin-
istration, following all health protocols.
—JP Nadda, BJP National President
Deeply distressed by
the loss of lives due to
gas leak from chemi-
cal plant of a private
company in Visakhapa-
tnam, Andhra Pradesh.
My condolences to
bereaved families and
wishes for speedy re-
covery of those taken ill.
—M Venkaiah Naidu
Vice-President
There has been a heart
wrenching incident of
gas leak from a plant
in Visakhapatnam.
There are a large
number of casualties.
Hope the government
will get the situation
under control soon.
My condolences to
the loved ones of the
dead. I pray to God for
the well being of all
the injured.
—Priyanka Gandhi Vadra,
Congress Gen Secy
The incident in
Vizag is disturbing.
Have spoken to the
NDMA officials and
concerned authorities. We
are continuously and closely
monitoring the situation. I
pray for the well-being of the
people of Visakhapatnam.
—Amit Shah @AmitShah
IN THE COURTYARD
Navy gives Portable Multifeed Oxygen Manifolds sets for patients.
New Delhi: Two
Border Security
Force personnel have
succumbed to the
COVID-19 infection
while the force has
reported 41 new
cases of infection, a
senior official said on
Thursday. The total
number of infections
or active cases in the
2.5 lakh personnel
strong force now
stand at 193 now.
New delhi: Aus-
tralia’s High Commis-
sioner-designate to
India Barry O’Farrell
explained why his
country was seeking
a probe into origins of
pandemic & a revamp
of WHO. “Clearly, not
everybody likes the
idea but we need to
strengthen our
global institutions to
seek transparency,”
said Farrell.
2 BSF
PERSONNEL DIE,
41 NEW CASES
AUSSIES’
DEMAND FOR
PANDEMIC PROBE
New Delhi: A case
has been filed at Vivek
Vihar police station
here against Gayatri
Pariwar and Shanti-
kunj Haridwar Chief
Pranav Pandya and
his wife.
The victim, a native
of Chhattigarh and
currently staying in
Delhi, in the “Zero”
FIR, has accused the
Pandya couple of har-
assment while Pandya
termed the accusation
as baseless.
While talking to me-
dia in Haridwar on
Wednesday, Pandya
said, “The allegations
are baseless and all is
being done as per plot.
We will prove the
charges wrong at the
appropriate time.”
According to the
FIR lodged at Vivek
Vihar police station in
Delhi on May 5, 2020,
“Pranav Pandya start-
ed harassing the vic-
tim soon after she
started working in
Shantikunj kitchen in
2010. When she told
others about it, they
threatened her and
asked her to stay
quite.”
She was harassed
till 2014 after which
she went to her home.
When she tried to file a
complaint against the
accused, they threat-
ened her over the
phone. The victim has
demanded a CBI probe
into the matter. Ac-
cording to statement
of victim, she has
been staying in Delhi
since March 22 due to
lockdown. In the FIR,
the victim mentioned
that she has also sent a
complaint to the Nation-
alCommissionforWom-
en via email on April 7.
CASE AGAINST SHANTIKUNJ
CHIEF IN NEW DELHI
CASE SO FAR

INDIAJAIPUR | FRIDAY, MAY 8, 2020
ADDL SECRETARIES POSTING
LIKELY THIS WEEK?
More than one dozen officers , who have been
empanelled as Addl Secretaries in GoI, are likely
to get posting this week or next week. Many
posts of Addl Secretaries, like Vice- Chairman,
DDA, DG, ESIC, DG, ASI, are lying vacant.
RAJU BHARGAVA TO RETURN
TO GUJARAT IG CRPF
Raju Bhargava is returning to the parent cadre,
Gujarat, after completion of central deputation
tenure. He is a 1995 batch IPS officer.
RAJIV GUPTA TO CONTROL COVID-19
ACTIVITIES IN AHEMDABAD
Rajiv Gupta, who is considered to be a perform-
er, has been chosen to control Covid-19 activities
in Ahemdabad. He is a 1986 batch IAS officer of
Gujarat cadre.
AKS NAIR SELECTED FOR
DEPUTATION TO NIA
Anil Kumar S Nair, presently posted as ASC/ RPF,
Solapur, Central Railways, has been selected for
deputation to NIA as Additional SP.
BANKERS WONDERING OVER TWO
YEARS’ EXTENSION TO PART-TIME
PSB DIRECTORS
The banking circles are wondering why
the Govt had been recently providing approvals
for extending tenure of part-time non-official
Directors in public sector banks by as many
as two years. The Govt had also extended the
tenure of part-time Directors of Banks Board
Bureau by two years.
AJIT KUMAR SRIVASTAV TO TAKE OVER
AS DIRECTOR (DB), BEML ON JUNE 1
Ajit Kumar Srivastav, CGM, BEML, will be taking
over as Director (Defence Business), Bharat
Earth Movers Limited (BEML) on June 1, 2020.
He will succeed RH Muralidhara retiring in May
this year.
DIRECTOR TCIL GIVEN ADDITIONAL
CHARGE OF CMD
Rajiv Gupta, Director (Project), TCIL, has been
given the additional charge of CMD of TCIL till
May 31, 2020.
DR RICHA PANDEY GETS ADDITIONAL
CHARGE OF CONTROLLER OF
ACCOUNTS IN MEA
Dr Richa Pandey has been assigned an additional
charge of Controller of Accounts, Ministry of
External Affairs. She is an ICAS officer.
BHASKAR VERMA APPOINTED AS
CCA, CONSUMER AFFAIRS
Bhaskar Verma has been appointed as Chief
Controller of Accounts, Ministry of Consumer
Affairs, Food & Public Distribution. He is a 1995
batch ICAS officer.
PRAVEEN NANDWANA APPOINTED
AS CCA IN CGA OFFICE
Praveen Nandwana has been appointed as Chief
Controller of Accounts, Office of Controller Gen-
eral of Accounts. He is a 1995 batch ICAS officer.
TWO IRS(C&CE) OFFICERS PROMOTED
Chief Commissioners IRS(C&CE) officers- Ajay
Ganesh Ubale and Pramod Kumar - have been
promoted as Chief Commissioners/DG. Both
officers belong to 1988 batch.
14 IRPFS OFFICERS GRANTED HA
GRADE ON NFU BASIS
A total of 14 IRPFS officers of the 1989 batch,
have been promoted to Higher Administrative
Grade on a Non Functional Upgradation basis.
They are- Sanjay Sankirtyanan, SC Parhi, Sunil
K Singh, RK Malik, SN Pandey, Ravindra Verma,
Atul Kumar Srivastav, Raja Ram, BB Mishra, RS
Chauhan, Birendra Kumar, S Mayank, AN Sinha
and GM Eswara Rao.
POWERGallery
Destination Raj...
If any labourer or work-
er is found corona posi-
tive, no action will be
taken against the indus-
try but for the safety of
lives, the businesses and
workers should be alert
and mindful of proto-
col,” he said. Meanwhile
Industries Minister Par-
sadi Lal Meena said that
around two lakh work-
ershavestartedworking
in industries post lock-
down relief and it is the
state government’s con-
tinued effort that more
and more workers join
in for work.
1st flight...
to begin a phased repa-
triation of its citizens
stranded abroad from
May 7. The government
also said that Air India
will operate 64 flights
from May 7 to May 13 to
bring back around
15,000 Indian nationals
stranded abroad amid
the COVID-19-induced
lockdown.
Rs1 Cr...
to those undergoing
treatment on ventilator
support and Rs 25,000 to
those who took treat-
ment as out-patients af-
ter developing health
complications due to
inhalation of the sty-
rene vapour.
Earlier, he held a re-
view meeting at the
Andhra Medical Col-
lege with District Col-
lector Vinay Chand and
others. —ANI
PM, Shah...
He assured the Prime
Minister that the situ-
ation is under control
and medical treatment
is being provided to
the victims.
Earlier, Director-Gen-
eral of the National Di-
saster Response Force
(NDRF) had told ANI
that over 800 people had
been taken to hospital
in the relief operations.
According to Direc-
tor General of Police
(DGP) Andhra
Pradesh, at least eight
people have been killed
after styrene gas
leaked from LG Poly-
mers industry in RR
Venkatapuram village
in Visakhapatnam ear-
ly morning today. —ANI
IMD forecast...
said Kuldeep Srivas-
tava, the head of the
Regional Meteorologi-
cal Department that
gives forecast for the
northwest meteorologi-
cal division of the IMD.
IMD Director Gener-
al M Mohapatra said
they have been men-
tioning areas under
PoK under its daily
weather bulletin ever
since the bifurcation of
Jammu and Kashmir in
the two union territo-
ries August last year.
However, officials
said it’s now being men-
tioned explicitly under
the Jammu and Kash-
mir subdivision.
Nightmare on...
As rescue officers and
police personnel rushed
to take people to hospi-
tal and revive them,
many people could be
seen gasping for breath
as they staggered their
way to safety, dazed and
disoriented. Some tried
to walk but fell to the
ground and fainted.
The death toll from
the accident could go up
with at least 20 people
on ventilator support.
Besides, 246 people with
health complications
are undergoing treat-
ment at Visakhapat-
nam’s King George Hos-
pital, police said.
About 800 people in
ground zero, RR Ven-
katapuram village in
Gopalapatnam, were
evacuated and most
needed only first aid.
Cries for help broke
the silence of the night
and many people fell
unconscious in their
sleep, a villager said.
President Ram Nath
Kovind and Vice Presi-
dent M Venkaiah Naidu
also expressed their
distress and condoled
the loss of lives.
Addressing a joint
press conference in
Delhi in the afternoon
NDRF and NDMA offi-
cials said 11 people died
and 1,000 were exposed,
to the gas.
NDRF DG S N Prad-
han said leakage from
the factory had been
reduced to minimal
but NDRF personnel
would be at the spot till
it is totally plugged.
The gas leak took place
as the plastic factory
that was closed during
the lockdown was be-
ing prepared for re-
sumption of opera-
tions, he said. —ANI
FROM PG 1
New Delhi: New Delhi:
Chief of Defence Staff
(CDS) General Bipin
Rawat on Thursday,
heaped praised on the
security forces and Jam-
mu and Kashmir Police
for killing Hizbul Muja-
hideen chief Riyaz Nai-
koo. The slain Hizbul
commander was elimi-
natedinKashmir’sBeig-
hpora area of Awanti-
pora on Wednesday.
The Chief of De-
fence Staff asserted
that the priority of the
armed forces is to neu-
tralise the terrorist
leadership as it helps
in slowing down the re-
cruitment process of
the terrorist groups.
In an attempt to moti-
vate the armed forces
personnel to go all out
against the terrorists,
CDS Rawat said, “They
(terrorists)arenot‘Ram-
bo’, they are nobody.”
Commenting on the
killing of the Hizbul
chief, CDS Rawat said,
“Creating more than a
life-size image of a ter-
rorist is somehow prop-
agating them into de-
veloping a Rambo kind
of image. More we stay
away from them and
actually we highlight
their negativities more,
then we will not create
such ‘ramboistic’ im-
age of these terrorist
leaders.”
“They are just terror-
ists, trying to create
mayhem, not allowing
normalcy to return to
Kashmir. We shouldn’t
give any weightage to
the terrorist leader-
ship,” he added
Hizb’s top man had
managed to escape the
dragent for eight long
years,butthe35-year-old
maths teacher turned
terrorist was gunned
down in an encounter,
which lasted for 5 hours.
He had a Rs 12 lakh
bounty on his head.
Naikoo, who was
graded as A++ (top ter-
rorist), masterminded
the revival of the Hizbul
MujahideeninKashmir.
He was accused of
killing civilians after
branding them as po-
lice/security forces’ in-
formers. He was also in-
volved in the attacks on
security forces, includ-
ing policemen. —ANI
They are nobody: CDS on Hiz Chief killingIt was the Armed Forces’ priority to neutralise the terrorist leadership, said the General Bipin Rawat
AnirudhTiwari
Bhopal: On the in-
structions of Home ,
Public Health and
Family Welfare Minis-
ter, Dr Narottam
Mishra, a state-level
police help-desk has
been set up at Police
Headquarters, Bhopal.
Dr Mishra further in-
formed that as per the
decision taken in a
meeting held with sen-
ior officers at Police
Headquarters, a police
help-desk has been
formed. This desk will
solve the problems of
the families of the de-
ceased cops. The re-
sponsibility has been
assigned to Assistant
Inspector General (Per-
sonnel)Prashant Khare
and Dy SP (Welfare)
Mahendra Rai. The
families of the deceased
policemen will no long-
er have to face unneces-
sary trouble in resolv-
ing their problems. The
families will be able to
contact Khare over
phone on his number,
94253 43017. Rai’s tele-
phone number, 7999
122166 or at the police
headquarters in Bhopal
at the given telephone
numbers, 0755-2440037,
2501105, 2443315 to in-
form them about their
problems, which would
be resolved quickly.
MP: State level police
help desk constituted
Dr Narottam Mishra
New Delhi: Union Hu-
man Resource Develop-
ment Minister Ramesh
Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ on
Thursday announced
that, to boost research
in the country various
amendments have been
carried out in Prime
Minister’s Research
Fellowship Scheme.
He said that after the
amendments, now for
the students from any
recognised institute/
university (other than
IISc/ IITs/NITs/IIS-
ERs/IIEST/CF IIITs),
the requirement of
GATE Score is reduced
to 650 from 750 apart
from minimum CGPA
of 8 or equivalent.
The Minister also in-
formed that now there
will be two channels of
entries, one direct entry
and lateral entry. —ANI
MHRD’s modifications in PMRF Scheme
New Delhi: New Delhi:
The government is
planning to build high-
ways worth Rs 15 lakh
crore in the next two
years, Union Minister
Nitin Gadkari said on
Thursday. The road
transport, highways
and MSME minister
also said that the auto
scrapping policy is like-
ly to be finalised soon.
In a video conference
with the members of
SIAM (Society of Indi-
an Automobile Manu-
facturers) Institute over
impact of COVID-19 on
the automobile sector,
the minister suggested
to focus on enhancing
liquidity in business,
as ups and downs are
common. —PTI
‘Highways
worth `15L cr
in next 2 yrs’
Babita K Singh
Ranchi: Braj Pahan
lives in Khunti district
of Jharkhand. Over 70
years of age, but he is
fully fit because of a dis-
ciplined and restrained
lifestyle. Since the out-
break of the Novel co-
rana virus infection, he
is even more conscious
& strictly adheres to all
instructions issued by
the state government.
Similarly,thevillagers
at Parha village of Ma-
huadand in Latehr,
strictly adhere to the
physical distance while
having food. Due to the
ongoing lockdown, the
State Government has
provideddailytwomeals
for the same, but there is
no emergency at these
tribal dominated rural
centres. Everything is
according to the instruc-
tion as a disciplined ap-
proach is seen from food
making to distribution.
The community mem-
bers themselves follow
strict compliance of so-
cialdistancingwhileeat-
ing together.
It is not only in the
tribal community of
Jharkhand, but all over
the country. The impact
of Covid-19 global epi-
demic is negligible in
the tribal community
of India. This is due to
self-discipline, restraint
and environment
friendly lifestyle. Inter-
estingly, the tribal com-
munity is also insulated
from the effects of this
disease. Unlike the
emergency to buy liq-
uor in metros, the tribal
community across the
country is strictly im-
plementing the direc-
tive issued by the Gov-
ernment to prevent co-
rona virus infection. It
also gives us a lesson.
Jharkhand has a trib-
al population of about
27% of the total popula-
tion. There is also a size-
able population of trib-
als in capital city
Ranchi, other than re-
mote areas. With the an-
nouncement of lock-
down in their settle-
ments, the movement of
people living there, has
been banned. On the en-
try point of the colony,
the ‘no-entry’ board has
been put up using bam-
boo sticks. “There is a
complete ban on the
move”, says Ravi Mun-
da of the Tunkitoli of
Ranchi, adding, “There
is also a ban on meat.
Earlier also, we strictly
followed the rules on
the spread of any kind
of disease in the village
or habitation. The
youth keeps a vigil that
nobody visits the colo-
ny and nobody ventures
out from here.”
‘TribalcommunityisuntouchedbyCorona’
Chandigarh/Shimla: For-
mer Punjab DGP Sumedh Sin-
gh Saini, has been booked in
connection with a 29-year-old
youth ‘abduction’ case. A case
of kidnapping, wrongful con-
finement, criminal conspiracy
under the IPC was registered
against Saini in Mohali town on the complaint of
Balwant Singh Multani’’s brother. —Agencies
Abu Dhabi: The stranded In-
dians in the UAE who are fly-
ing to India today by flights
arranged by the Indian Em-
bassy expressed gratitude and
relief for being given an oppor-
tunity of returning to home.
The Indian government had
decided to repatriate its citizens in two special
flights from the UAE to India on May 7. —Agencies
Srinagar: A total of 64
terrorists, including
three top terrorist com-
manders -- Qari Yasir of
the Jaish-e-Mohammed
(JeM), Burhan Koka of
the Ansar Gazwat ul
Hind (AGH) and Riyaz
Naikoo of the Hizbul
Mujahideen -- have been
killed in 27 anti-terror
operations conducted
by the security forces
since January this year.
Vijay Kumar, the In-
spector General of Po-
lice (IGP), Kashmir said
this at a press confer-
ence in Srinagar. —ANI
PUNJAB EX-DGP BOOKED IN
29-YEAR-OLD ‘ABDUCTION’ CASE
STRANDED INDIANS IN UNITED
ARAB EMIRATES THANK GOVT
64 TERRORISTS
KILLED SINCE JAN
Creating more than a life size image
of a terrorist is somehow propagat-
ing them into developing rambo kind
of image. More we stay away from them &
highlight their negativity, more we’ll not cre-
ate their ramboistic image.
—Gen Bipin Rawat, CDS
The impact of global pandemic Cov-
id-19 is negligible in the tribal com-
munity. The Union Ministry of Trib-
al Affairs is continuously in touch with the of-
ficers of tribal affairs in the States. We are also
constantly taking stock of the situation. The
Ministry is also considering a proposal to give
20percent grant of its flagship schemes to the
States ad hoc. The grant will be spent on tack-
ling corona infections, improving health facili-
ties and providing livelihood.
—Arjun Munda, Union Minister of Tribal Affairs
TTT
JEE-ADVANCED EXAM ON AUGUST 23

TALKING POINTJAIPUR | FRIDAY, MAY 8, 2020
E
x c e p t i o n a l
times call for
exce ptional
action. In
many ways, there has
been a ‘response like
no other’ to Covid19
from Indian govern-
ment in general and
Rajasthan government
in particular. Even as
the Indian Civil Avia-
tion Ministry an-
nounced that 64 flights
will be operated from
May 7 to May 13 to
bring back stranded
Indians from abroad,
the Prime Minister
Narendra Modi said
that this has to be done
keeping in mind the
fact that they "don't get
inconvenienced and
their families are not
under any risk". Ra-
jasthan Chief Minis-
ter Ashok Gehlot
was quick not to down-
play the big reform re-
quired for State gov-
ernments even as he
understands that pan-
demics don’t respect
borders, and that NRIs
caught in Covid crisis
abroad need to be evac-
uated. CM Gehlot said,
“Arrangements should
be made for the mi-
grants of Rajasthan
coming from abroad
when they arrive here.
Government of India
should allow NRI
workers to return from
foreign countries only
when it is confirmed
that they are Covid
negative. Echoing
Congress President
Sonia Gandhi’s senti-
ment, the Congress
lashed out at the Cen-
tre for its decision to
‘impose excessive
costs’ on NRIs flying
in special flights from
the Covid affected
countries, calling it an
‘inhumane’ act.”
Even as the commu-
nity groups in the Mid-
east expressed con-
cerns about the swell-
ing number of people
wanting to go back to
India, First India
asked stranded Ra-
jasthanis and others in
UAE, Oman, Qatar,
Hong Kong and Beijing
about the evacuation
plan, and why some
choose not to queue up
for home-bound flights.
Imran Khan, a law-
yer based in Dubai,
who hails from Sikar in
Rajasthan said:
“200,000 Indian citizens
registered online wish
to be evacuated but
with the limited num-
ber of planes only a few
thousand people will be
taken first.” Mean-
while, Indian Ambas-
sador to the UAE Pa-
van Kapoor said, pri-
ority will be given to
workers in distress, el-
derly people, urgent
medical cases, preg-
nant women as well as
to other people who are
stranded in difficult
situations.” The Indi-
an Consulate in
Dubai appealing on
Twitter for ‘patience
and cooperation’ as In-
dia undertakes the
‘massive task of repa-
triation’ said “It will
take time for all the
people to be accommo-
dat ed on these flights.”
Dubai based Har-
shit Solanki, an engi-
neer, who hails from
Rajasthan said, “Indi-
an government's op-
eration of evacuation
is surely a life saver
for many Indians
stuck abroad, espe-
cially the blue-collar
workers. While some
are forced by their cir-
cumstances to leave,
there are some who
still wish to stay back
here. Yes, we wish to
stay back as we still
see a light of hope at
the end of the tunnel.”
EVENASMANYRAJASTHANISINMEAREINDILEMMATOFIGHTORTAKEFLIGHT,HONGKONGERSSTUCKININDIACRYFOUL
MASKED AND STANDING APART,
NRIs TIPTOE TO RETURN HOME
ASHOK
SHARMA
Senior Journalist
Shoppers are seen observing social distancing and mask norms at a mall in Dubai.
Ashok Purohit, a
senior journal-
ist at Muscat Daily,
who is also from Ra-
jasthan, said, “There
are thousands of ex-
pats in Oman who are
looking forward to the
evacuation plan from
the government. Thou-
sands have registered
but there is a sense of
disappointment that
only two flights have
been initially planned
for Oman. Priority is
being given to medical
emergency cases, preg-
nant women, workers
in distress, senior citi-
zens as well as to other
people who are strand-
ed in difficult situa-
tions.” Quoting an of-
ficial statement by
P. Kumaran Indian
Ambassador to Qa-
tar, Ashok Purohit
said, “The Embassy is
in the process of con-
tacting the short-listed
people for each flight
directly through
email/telephone.” The
first Air India flight
will take off from Mus-
cat to Kochi on May 9
and the second to
Chennai on May 12 tak-
ing a total of 450 pas-
sengers in the first
phase.
Mehre Alam, Dep-
uty Editor of the Qa-
tar Tribune newspa-
per says, “There is no
sense of panic or a
rush to head back
home among Indian
expatriates here in Qa-
tar, very much like
workers from other
countries, as they
know their interest
and well-being is en-
sured in the host coun-
try. Also, in cases of
emergency, they know
they are going to get
the seats on the special
flights heading home.
There is also this feel-
ing that this difficult
time will pass.”
News that the Indian
government has taken
up massive operation
to evacuate NRIs from
different countries,
and reflection that
Hong Kong govern-
ment had brought back
Hong Kong residents
stranded in Hubei
province, Japan, Peru,
and Morocco in the re-
cent past, have raised
eyebrows among some
3,000 Hong Kong resi-
dents stuck in different
parts of India who are
asking China's Hong
Kong Special Adminis-
trative Region govern-
ment (HKSAR), "The
only question is why
HKSAR not seriously
taking evacuation op-
eration of stranded
Hong Kongers in India.
It's not that far from
here."Therearearound
3,000 permanent resi-
dents of Hong Kong
stranded in India.
While the stranded
Hong Kong residents
and nationals remain
hopeful that help will
arrive soon, many of
them can’t help but feel
like they are an after-
thought. They say: We
arenotasmallgroupof
people, it’s just shock-
ing to see the inaction
by our government. We
can only hope that this
will be rectified as soon
as possible.
‘LOOKING FORWARD TO THE EVACUATION PLAN’
Abhishek G Bhaya, In-
ternational Editor,
CGTN, Beijing said, “Expat
Indians who stayed back in
China decided to do so for
various reasons. Some
couldn’t leave because of pro-
fessional commitments. Oth-
ers made a conscious choice
as they were satisfied by the
efficient measures the au-
thorities took to contain the
virus. As an expat living in
China, I was rather touched
and impressed by how the lo-
cal civilian authorities
reached out to everyone in-
cluding expats like me and
ensured that our security and
basic necessities will be en-
sured. About Hong Kong resi-
dents stuck in India, what is
needed is proper communica-
tion and coordination be-
tween the Hong Kong author-
itiesandIndiangovttoensure
that the interest of Hong
Kongers stranded in India are
protected and they are evacu-
ated at the earliest. Consul
Ajith John Joshua, from
the Indian Consulate in
Hong Kong, said in a recent
statement,“Someforeigngov-
ernments have requested the
government of India for per-
mission to arrange special
flights to bring back their na-
tionals from India. If the govt
of Hong Kong sends a similar
proposal to the Consulate
General of India in Hong
Kong, we will process the pro-
posal for obtaining necessary
approvals from the govern-
ment of India.”
Former president of the
India Association,
Hong Kong, Mohan Chu-
gani, who has been attempt-
ing to help those stranded in
India said, “I don’t believe it
takes this long to organise.
So many other countries
have managed to get their
residents out of India al-
ready. People would rather
get infected in Hong Kong
than in India to be honest, as
the medical service in Hong
Kong is many times better
than in India.”
“We’re not just talking
about Hong Kong residents
but also people with Hong
Kong passports. The question
remains, why was it so easy to
bring back residents from
Wuhan or anywhere else?
Every other government is
doing it for their citizens,” a
source in Rajasthani Samaj
of Hong Kong said.
Around 3,000 permanent
resident of Hong Kong are
stranded in India. Shobana
Vaswani, who is one of them,
said, “I had come to visit my
relatives in Rajasthan, I
came to Mumbai for a short
visit, now I am neither in
Hong Kong nor in Rajasthan.
We started reaching out (to
the Hong Kong government)
at the end of March. There
has been no committed re-
sponse. She said they keep
telling her the ‘exact same
thing’ which is to “Call 1868
-- an emergency hotline for
Hong Kong residents -- and to
be patient.”
‘TOUCHED AND IMPRESSED BY THE LOCAL CIVILIAN AUTHORITIES’
‘MEDICAL SERVICE IN HONG KONG IS BETTER THAN IN INDIA’
CONCEPT: DIVYA HEMNANI DESIGN: CP SHARMA
Indian expat workers queue up for free Covid19 test in Dubai
on Wednesday.
THE NEW NORMAL:Sanlintun shopping district in Beijing.The capital of China started
inching back to normalcy in April. —IMAGE: ABHISHEK G BHAYA FROM BEIJING
A govt ofﬁcial hands out leaﬂets to foreign workers in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong, to remind them of distancing & mask norms.

Rajendra Chhabra
Jaipur: The guiding
principle for the war
against corona has
changed to ‘Jaan Bhi,
Jahaan Bhi’. So until
now since the focus was
to save lives (Jaan), the
bureaucrats from the
medical and civil ad-
ministration were the
driving force but now
the economy (Jahaan)
also is in focus so offic-
ers dealing with indus-
tries and labour man-
agement have also taken
over the wheels.
Until Lockdown 2.0
ACS (Home) Rajeeva
Swarup and ACS
(Health) Rohit Kumar
Singh were meeting
all the challenges
head-on but with the
inception of Lock-
down 3.0 the third sen-
ior IAS officer ACS
(Industries) Subodh
Agrawal, will also
have to shoulder the
responsibilities. Sub-
odh Agrawal has two
enormous tasks cut
out for him, first to get
the switched off ma-
chinery in the indus-
trial sector buzzing
and second to manage
the movement of mi-
grant workers. Both
tasks are humongous
and complicated.
Apart from 24 cement
factories, the state has
big industrial units in
Neemrana, Bhiwadi,
Bhilwara and Jaipur.
The state govt has been
trying its best to get the
production resumed in
all these industrial
units but the results in
the first week are far
from satisfactory. Simi-
larly, there are 4 lakh 50
thousand small & me-
dium industries in the
state and all the govt has
been able to manage un-
til now is the resump-
tion of 7300 such units.
That is disappointing,
to say the least.
As far as labour
management is con-
cerned, it is the cur-
rent debating point.
The part of the prob-
lem, the migrants
stranded in the state
& at the borders of
the state, is being
solved successfully.
But to bring back the
Rajasthani workers
stranded in other
states and to send the
other state’s workers
to their native places
is the real challenge
as their number runs
in lakhs.
Boththetasksseemto
be really difficult for
IAS Subodh Agrawal. A
senior IAS of 1988 batch
hasn’treallyfacedmuch
of challenging assign-
ments until now. He has
only served in the field
twice in his entire ca-
reer history. After serv-
ing as the collector for
Bharatpur in 2004, he
has never been on a field
assignment. Agrawal
was in Delhi for 8 years
and has mostly been on
margins while serving
in the state. It was only
in 2018 that the Gehlot
govt brought him to
the mainstream by giv-
ing him charge of the
important industries
department. Even here
he has been quite easy-
going in his last one
year tenure.
It is not that Subodh
Agrawal has to single-
handedly shoulder the
responsibility of re-
viving the economy
during these crucial
times. Apart from his
officers from Indus-
tries & RIICO, he also
has a battery of al-
most two dozen IAS
officers sharing the
load. 7 IAS officers
who are Incharges of
7 divisions in the state-
level control room and
16 IAS officers who
are nodal officers for
migrant workers for
various states. For
Delhi, the responsibil-
ity has been given to
Commissioner of Ra-
jasthan Foundation
Dheeraj Srivastava,
who has been posted
in Delhi for several
years and has good
contacts in Central
Government and sev-
eral bureaucrats from
other states and as a
result, he has been
carrying out his as-
signed work with ut-
most diligence. Delhi
being the focal point
of the nation, Srivas-
tava is able to help in
issues concerning oth-
er states as well.
But that is not
all. Subodh Agrawal
also has IAS Ravi Jain
and IAS Alok Gupta as
head of the committees
for rail and bus move-
ment respectively. The
list will be incomplete
without mentioning 6
IAS officers responsible
for starting points (rail-
way stations) of the
trains.
So basically IAS
Subodh Agrawal has
two huge tasks with a
huge team to execute
his vision. So where is
the problem? The
problem is to keep all
these mines of talent
together and to take
their cooperation as a
team and this becomes
a little more difficult
with the working style
of Agrawal. Subodh
Agrawal seems to an-
noy and deject fellow
officers with his style
of work. He has a
track record of con-
fronting Alok while
he was Principal Sec-
retary (MSME). But
this happened before
he left for Delhi, the
recent case is while he
was taking baby steps
to save the economy
(Jaan). Agrawal had
IAS Abhay Kumar an-
noyed over something
and Kumar left the
‘COVID Movement’
WhatsApp group. Not
to forget that Abhay
Kumar is heading all
the IT solutions in the
corona war. Anyways
Kumar was back in
the group after some
colleagues persisted.
So clearly these are
tough testing times for
Subodh Agrawal, who
is facing acute key chal-
lenges for the first time
in his service history.
He might have lagged
behind in the race to be-
come ACS (Finance) but
he still is considered a
participant in the ‘Hur-
dle Race’ of Chief Sec-
retary. The ‘Labour
pains’ Agrawal bears
for the next 5 months
till September success-
fully will only get him
the ‘Good News’ worth
distributing sweets
around in October 2020.
Tough days have a
harsh overhead Sun, so
the shadow never leaves
the one under the Sun.
In this case, the shadow
is being dragged behind
by controversies.
At the end of the day, all that
matters is courage. Success is not
final and neither is failure. One
can only keep striving.
—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO & Editor, First India
JAIPUR | FRIDAY, MAY 8, 2020www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
08
2NDFRONTPOSTAL REG NO. JPC/010/2019-21
Dheeraj SrivastavaSubodh Agarwal
Try to provide jobs to unemployed labourers: Gehlot to babus
Kartikey Dev Singh
Jaipur: As the war on
Corona drags on,
Chief Minister Ashok
Gehlot has been
maintaining that we
will have to adapt
ourselves to live with
Corona. Keeping
with the trend, Ge-
hlot chaired a review
meeting of the PHED
department on
Thursday and direct-
ed for smooth supply
of drinking water
and to speed up the
repairing works of
hand pumps and tube
wells in the summer
season. He asked
to make an action plan
to reduce the time in
such areas where
drinking water is sup-
plied once in three days
and ensure that people
get water at least once
in 48 hours.
As the temperature is
on a hike, the Chief
Minister reviewed the
drinking water ar-
rangements across the
state through video
conference. “The de-
mand for water will
increase in summers
and the State Govern-
ment’s priority is
that people should
get uninterrupted
supply of drinking
water. We will make
all possible efforts
that no one remains
thirsty in this sum-
mer season”, he said.
The Chief Minister
has asked officials to
ensure supply of
quality drinking wa-
ter and be prepared
to supply drinking
water through tank-
ers in case of de-
mand. He has asked to
give approval for hand
pump and tube well
wherever required and
complete the repairing
works on time. He
stressed on water con-
servation along with
water harvesting.
“Large number of la-
bourers have become
unemployed during
lockdown. Public
Health Engineering
Department (PHED),
Water Resources and
Energy Department
should search possi-
bilities to give work
to these labourers un-
der Mahatma Gandhi
National Rural Em-
ployment Guarantee
Scheme (MGNREGS)
in their projects,” Ge-
hlot stressed.
The Chief Minister
also directed the Dis-
trict Collector and
PHED principal secre-
tary to hold weekly re-
view meeting and
monthly review at state
level under the chair-
manship of Chief Sec-
retary. He asked to re-
dress the complaints
pertaining to drink-
ing water on time. He
also directed to en-
sure electricity sup-
ply by repairing the
electricity supply
lines that have been
damaged recently in
the dust storm.
Avinash Pande
@avinashpandeinc
My condolences to
the families of the
people who passed
away due to gas leak
at a private firm in
#Visakhapatnam,
#AndhraPradesh to-
day. I pray for the well
being of Vizag Public.
#VizagGasLeak
Ahmed Patel
@ahmedpatel
Extremely saddened
by the loss of life
due to the gas leak
in Visakhapatnam.
Our prayers are with
those who have been
exposed to the gas &
we hope all pos-
sible medical help is
being given to them.
Important to also fix
responsibility for this
industrial disaster
Income tax
collection in
state drops
by 29.7%
First India News
Jaipur: The income
tax collection has
shown a growth on
the aggregate nation-
al level. The revenue
collection has seen a
growth of 9.7 per cent
compared to collec-
tions in the year 2019.
Rs 54,750.70 crore
have been collected in
2020 compared to Rs
49,906.40 crore in 2019.
However the reve-
nue collections for
Rajasthan dropped by
29.7 per cent for the
same period revealed
the data released by
IT department earlier
this week on May 2.
The collections
dropped from Rs
1,164.80 crore in 2019
to Rs 818.80 in 2020.
PCCIT Bangalore
topped the country in
collections with a
growth of 122.5 per
cent. PCCIT Mumbai
had the growth rate
of 63.5 per cent. PC-
CIT Delhi had a mini-
mal growth rate of
7.5 per cent.
Many PCCIT offices
from the country also
reported negative
growth.
Testing times for ACS Subodh Agrawal
Gehlot directs PHED to ensure
smooth supply of drinking water
CM Ashok Gehlot during the VC with (from left) Arti Dogra, Kuldeep Ranka, DB Gupta and Niranjan
Arya on Thursday.
Raj has best corona
healing rate: RaghuVikash Sharma
Jaipur: Whether give
credit to able leader-
ship by CM Ashok Ge-
hlot or 24x7 manage-
ment by Dr Raghu
Sharma or untiring
efforts by the state
machinery after
achieving the first po-
sition in the country
for conducting the
maximum number of
tests, Rajasthan has
also become the state
with best recovery
rate. Health Minister
Dr Raghu Sharma said
that the recovery rate of
52% is the result of com-
bined contribution of
vigil govt, efficient doc-
tors and patients willing
to recover. Undoubtedly
thestatehasbeenfollow-
ing effective strategies
like active & passive sur-
veillance survey, aggres-
sive sampling and maxi-
mizing testing which
was complimented by
good quarantine & isola-
tion facilities attended
by dedicated corona
warriorsputtingintheir
best foot forward due to
which the state has been
successful in combating
the coronavirus to a
large extent.
State has so far wit-
nessed the recovery of
1740 positive patients
out of 3400 admitted.
52% recovery rate ex-
cels other states by a
huge margin. Now
SMS hospital has also
used plasma therapy
on two patients after
the state received per-
mission to conduct it
on 20 patients. It is be-
lieved that plasma ther-
apy will improve the
mortality rate. Dr Shar-
ma said that we have a
lowdeathratecompared
to average national rate.
Health minister is hope-
ful of treating critically
ill patients with plasma
therapy. Meanwhile, Dr
Raghu Sharma also an-
nounced hat the Jaipu-
ria hospital in Jaipur
will soon be Covid free
and will be used for
non corona patients.
Dr Sharma said that
the whole building of
the Jaipuria hospital
will be sanitized be-
fore non corona pa-
tients are permitted
inside it. Dr Raghu
Sharma also lauded
the sealing of bor-
ders by CM Gehlot as
it will help maintain
the progress made so
far which otherwise
would have gone hay-
wire due to unre-
stricted entry from
neighbouring states.
BEST WISHES!
Governor Kalraj
Mishra and
wife Satyawati
celebrated their
57th wedding
anniversary on
Thursday. Due to
the nationwide
lockdown,
the Governor
celebrated the day
with his family in
a simple manner.
Amit and Sonal Shah became proud grandparents to a second granddaughter on Thursday.
Their son Jay Shah and daughter-in-law Rishita were blessed with a baby girl at Ahmedabad,
their second child after Rudri, who is the apple of her grandfather’s eye. —FILE PHOTO
Health Minister Dr Raghu Sharma during the VC on Thursday.
बधाई!

f purple is your favourite
colour then allow me to tell
you something about you
and your favourite colour.
One is that you have made
an overall good choice, it
combines the calm stability
of blue and the fierce energy of
red. And you can colour your
room purple, which is not
something that people
who have black as their
favourite colour should
attempt.
Your colour can have
calming effects over the
mind and nerves, it can
be uplifting and can
trigger creativity. It is
the colour of imagina-
tion and spirituality,
so go ahead,
choose the shade
because it comes
in a huge multi-
tude of shades
too. It occurs
rarely in nature
too and is often
said to have sa-
cred meaning,
flowers like laven-
der, orchid, lilac,
and violet are con-
sidered delicate
and precious.
It is THE colour
of Royalty and nobility. Purple repre-
sents luxury, power, and ambition
and wealth. Authority figures adore
this bold hue because it embodies
strength, prestige, and ability. It’s
also commonly found in political
spheres. When attempting to flex
their muscles, people often turn to
the colour purple. From kings and
lords to emperors and superiors, any-
one in power is fond of purple. It has
a variety of effects on the mind and
body, including uplifting spirits,
calming the mind and nerves, en-
hancing the sacred, creating feel-
ings of spirituality, increasing nur-
turing tendencies and sensitivity,
and encouraging imagination and
creativity.
Purple helps align oneself with the
whole of the universe. Different
shades, tints, and hues of purple
have different meanings. Light pur-
ple hues represent feminine energy
and delicacy, as well as romantic and
nostalgic feelings. Dark purple hues
evoke feelings of gloom, sadness, and
frustration. Bright purple hues sug-
gest riches and royalty.
Too much purple brings out quali-
ties of irritability, impatience, and
arrogance. Too little purple brings
out feelings of powerlessness, nega-
tivity, and apathy, so the perfect bal-
ance is necessary.
JAIPUR, FRIDAY
MAY 8, 2020
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia
facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia 09
‘PURPLE ZONE -
MERE WALA ZONE’A chromatic mixture between the fiery red and profound
calm blue, purple is considered to be the balance between
these two primary colours. Nature doesn’t have many
purple representatives, and if found, are rare and delicate
KARISHMA
GWALANI
karishma.gwalani@firstindia.co.in
I

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