Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot emphasized the need for legal changes to enable recovery of funds from fraudulent credit cooperative societies, which have duped many investors. In parliamentary discussions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for Muslim community participation in national development during the centennial celebrations of Aligarh Muslim University. Other highlights include reports of a new COVID-19 strain not yet seen in India, the issuance of notices regarding a credit society scam, and ongoing political developments in West Bengal and Jammu and Kashmir.

1. 11°C - 26°C www.firstindia.co.in | www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia | instagram.com/thefirstindia
JAIPUR l WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2020 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI NO. RAJENG/2019/77764 l Vol 2 l Issue No. 197
OUR EDITIONS: JAIPUR, AHMEDABAD & LUCKNOW
Tighten noose around credit co-op societies that duped people: CM
Naresh Sharma
Jaipur: Chief Minister
Ashok Gehlot has said
that the agencies con-
cerned should study the
legal provisions and
change them as per the
requirement to get the
money of the investors
from the credit co-oper-
ative societies that have
grabbedthehardearned
money of people.
“It is a serious matter
due to which millions of
people had to lose hard
earned money. It is our
endeavourthattheinves-
tors get their money and
criminalsarepunished,”
Gehlot said while re-
viewing the complaints
received against the
creditco-operativesocie-
ties, on Tuesday at CMR.
He said societies have
dupedpoorpeoplebylay-
ing their trap even in the
villages and dhanis.
“Along with ensuring
that such incidents do
not happen in future,
SOG, Cooperative De-
partmentetc.shouldtake
effectiveactioninthepre-
sentcases.Stateagencies
should also coordinate
withCentralagenciesfor
this,” he stressed.
The Chief Minister
said that the SOG
reached a conclusion by
holding quick research
in these cases and found
out how the money of
the investors was spent
so that further action
couldbetakentogetthat
money back. “Receiving
more than 75,000 com-
plaints of money grab
on ‘Raj Sahkar Portal’
itself, against Adarsh,
Sanjeevani, Navjeevan,
Sahara and other multi-
state societies and State
Credit Co-operative So-
cieties, shows that a
large number of people
in the state have been
played with. Turn to P6
If necessary, amend law to get
money back, Gehlot says as HC
issues notices to Gajju bana, others
CM Ashok Gehlot
MODIREACHESOUTTO
Muslims with New India call
M Hasan
Aligarh: Prime Minis-
ter Narendra Modi on
Tuesday called upon
the Muslim community
to join the efforts of the
Central government for
the overall development
and growth of every
section of the society.
Reaching out to the
community within and
outside the country
through the significant
platform of Aligarh
Muslim University
(AMU) while address-
ing online centenary
celebrations, the PM
said the NDA govern-
ment had been striving
for balanced growth ir-
respective of “religion,
caste and creed”.
It was after a long gap
of 56 years that a Prime
Minister was address-
ing the AMU fraternity
torecogniseitsvitalrole
in the nation-building.
In December 1964 the
then Prime Minister Lal
Bahadur Shashtri had
addressed the universi-
ty’s convocation func-
tion. Setting at rest all
the misgivings prevail-
ing in the AMU campus
and outside about the
NDA government, Modi
said that the centre was
committed to institu-
tion’s progress and
would generously ex-
tend all help solve its
problems. The Prime
minister also released a
postal stamp commemo-
rating 100 years of insti-
tution which had tried
to transform the Mus-
lim community from its
rigid traditionalism to
modernism. Turn to P6
Aligarh Muslim University represents ‘mini-India’ and has to
its credit 100 glorious years of excellence in education: PM
Top US honour
‘Legion of
Merit’ for PM
New strain
not seen in
India so far,
says Centre
New Delhi: After being
conferred the prestig-
ious Legion of Merit
from US President Don-
ald Trump, Prime Min-
ister Narendra Modi
said he was deeply hon-
oured by the award,
adding that it recognis-
es the efforts of India
and the US to improve
bilateral relations be-
tween the nations.
Taking to Twitter,
PM Modi said that the
award reflected the bi-
partisan consensus of
both countries about
the Indo-US strategic
partnership. “I am
deeply honoured to be
awarded the Legion of
Merit by @POTUS @re-
alDonaldTrump. It rec-
ognises the efforts of
the people of India
Turn to P6
New Delhi: A mutated
and more aggressive
strain of the novel coro-
navirus-whichwasfirst
identified in the United
Kingdom in September
- has not been seen in
India so far, the govern-
ment said Tuesday.
Thenewstrain-initial
datasuggestsitisatleast
70 per cent more easily
transmitted-hassparked
concern worldwide,
amid surging infection
rates in the UK and fears
the first lot of vaccines
may not be as effective
against the mutation.
“The new strain or
mutationof (the)corona-
virus in the United King-
dom has not been seen in
India,sofar,”DrVKPaul,
a member of govern-
ment think-tank NITI
Aayog, said. Turn to P6
New Delhi: Union
Home Minister and BJP
leaderAmitShahwould
be frequently visiting
the poll-bound West
Bengal from January
onwards ahead of 2021
Assembly polls. Sourc-
es informed that Shah
would be visiting West
Bengal for a week every
month from February.
This was communicat-
ed by Shah in an inter-
nal meeting with the
leaders of the state on
his recent visit.
The senior party lead-
ers in BJP said that
there are two dates that
are being finalised by
Shah’s office for his next
visit. While there is the
possibility of him visit-
ing the state on January
12 which is the birth an-
niversary of Swami
Vivekananda, the other
date that is under con-
sideration could be
around January 23, the
birth anniversary of
Subhash Chandra Bose.
“Post January 20 is a
possibility,” is what a
top leader of the state
said when asked about
Shah’snextvisit.Shah’s
visit and the pressure
on the state govern-
ment because of his
presence would grow
intense, informed a sen-
ior party leader.
“He told us that Feb-
ruary onwards he
would be spending al-
mostaweekeachmonth
in the state till Assem-
bly elections. His pres-
ence boosts the party
cadre that is reeling
Turn to P6
Shah’snextBengalvisitinJan,
tospendmoretimefromFeb
Union Home Minister Amit Shah during a roadshow in Birbhum in
West Bengal. —PTI FILE PHOTO
Mumbai: Thirty four
persons including crick-
eter Suresh Raina and
BollywoodcelebritySus-
sanne Khan were held
afteraraidataposhclub
near the Mumbai air-
port on Tuesday for vio-
lating social distancing
norms, police said.
Thirteen women who
were among those held
were allowed to leave
after being served no-
tices while the men
were shown as arrested
and granted bail later,
police said.
The raid took place at
the Dragonfly Experi-
ence club near the
Mumbai international
airport at around 3 am,
police said, adding the
34 also included seven
staffers of the club.
They were booked
under sections 188 (Dis-
obedience to order duly
promulgated by public
servant), 269 (whoever
unlawfully or negli-
gently does any act
which is, and which he
knows or has reason to
believe to be, Turn to P6
Raid in Mum club:Raina,
Sussanne,32 others held
Wasn’t aware of timing, protocol: Raina
FAROOQ & MEHBOOBA
MAKE A COMEBACK
BUTAFTERHYD,NOWSAFFRON
EMERGENCEINSRINAGAR!
Kavita Pant
Srinagar: The BJP
seems to be on a roll as
was depicted in Tues-
day’s results of Dis-
trict Development
Council elections in
Jammu and Kashmir.
The Saffron party
showed a dramatic im-
provement in its posi-
tion in Kashmir al-
most immediately af-
ter making a mark in
the Municipal polls in
Hyderabad. The party
on Tuesday won an
election for the first
time from any seat in
Kashmir while facing
regional heavyweights
like the National Con-
ference and the PDP.
The DDC elections
hold significance as it
was the first major
electoral exercise in
the Valley since the ab-
rogation of Article 370
last year in August.
The People’s Alli-
ance for Gupkar Decla-
ration (PAGD), an
amalgam of seven po-
litical parties, includ-
ing the NC and the PDP
won over 90 seats while
the BJP emerged as the
single largest party
winning 65 seats as of
now. Counting of votes
for the 280 DDC in J&K
is still underway. Nota-
bly, as many as 39 seats
were bagged by Inde-
pendent candidates,
while the Congress
party won 20 seats.
Lotus bloomed in
Kashmir as the people
of the Valley exhibited
theirfaithintheleader-
ship of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, said
local party leaders.
Turn to P6
BJP supporters dancing in jubilation as Ajaz Hussain of BJP won DDC election from Balahama
area in Srinagar on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY ANI
PM Narendra Modi addresses the centenary celebrations of
Aligarh Muslim University via video conferencing, in New Delhi,
on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY PTI
No Board exams till
February,final dates
soon: Pokhriyal
New Delhi: Union edu-
cationministerRamesh
Pokhriyal said on
Tuesday that the board
exams will not be held
in January or February.
“No board examina-
tions will be conducted
in January or February.
A decision on the con-
duct of examinations
will be taken later,”
Pokhriyal said during a
virtual interaction with
teachers.
He also said that it is
not possible to conduct
the board exams in on-
line mode.
The Central Board of
Secondary Education
(CBSE) had earlier this
month announced that
board exams in 2021 will
be conducted in written
mode and not online.
Schools across the coun-
trywereclosedinMarch
to contain the spread of
the Covid-19 pandemic.
They were partially reo-
pened in some states
from October 15.
However, a few states
have decided to keep
them closed in view of a
spike in the number of
infections.
Not possible to
hold exams
online: Min
Not a Sanjeevani: HC issues notices
to Shekhawat,wife and 15 others
Rajeev Gaur
Jodhpur: In a develop-
ment that is sure to
leave its imprint on the
politics of Rajasthan,
the Rajasthan High
Court, on Tuesday, is-
sued notices to Union
Jal Shakti minister Ga-
jendra Singh Shekha-
wat, his wife Naunand
Kanwar and 15 others in
Sanjeevani Cooperative
Credit Society Scam.
The court issued no-
tices on a writ petition
filed by Sanjeevani Vic-
tims Union, in which
petitioner Shanti
Swarup prayed to the
court to order investiga-
tion in the matter by
Enforcement Directo-
rate, Serious Fraud In-
vestigation Office and
CBI and also to appoint
a receiver of the proper-
ties of the society.
After hearing, the
court of Justice Vijay
Vishnoi issued show
cause notices to all 17
respondents, including
the minister and his
wife. Turn to P8
A delegation of Congress leaders, led by
former party chief Rahul Gandhi, will meet
President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday
to submit around 20 million signatures col-
lected from across the country in the past
three months seeking repeal of three farm
laws. Congress general secretary in-charge
of organisation KC Venugopal said the party
had launched a nationwide campaign in
September for collecting memoranda of
appeals addressed to the President signed
by farmers, farm labourers and other stake
holders opposing the three new farm legis-
lations. He said around 20 million signatures
have been collected till now.
RAGA TO MEET PREZ
WITH 20 MM SIGNATURES
AGAINST FARM LAWS

2. RAJASTHANJAIPUR | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2020
02www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
Shubham Jain
Ajmer: Health minister
Raghu Sharma on Tues-
day said that the BJP
leadershavegotcataract
as such they are not able
to see development in
the state. He said that
the Gehlot government
has given all possible re-
lief to the people of the
stateinthelasttwoyears
even in odd circum-
stances.
“Be it medicine, agri-
culture, animal hus-
bandry, water supply or
electricity and oth-
ers, the government has
fulfilled the promises
made to the public in all
fields,” he said while
addressing the media in
Ajmer on Tuesday to
highlight the achieve-
ments of the govern-
ment on its second an-
niversary.
He said that during
the Corona period, the
better management of
the Gehlot government
was appreciated not
only in the state but
also in the country and
the world. He said that
the Ashok Gehlot gov-
ernment of the state
has completed half of
the manifesto promises
in two years.
On the occasion, min-
ister in-charge Lal-
chand Kataria also
spoke about the effi-
cient management and
good governance done
by the government. Dis-
trict in-charge secre-
tary Bhavani Singh De-
tha, district collector
Prakash Rajpurohit, SP
Kunwar Rashtradeep,
Congress leader Dr. Sri-
gopal Baheti, dairy
chairman Ramchandra
Chaudhary and several
other leaders and activ-
ists were present.
BJP leaders have got cataract: Sharma
APPRECIATING THE EFFORTS
AUTOMATED DRIVING TRACK
FACES PROTEST IN TRIAL PHASEProtesters object to private company for charging additional fee from the applicants
Kashiram Chaudhary
Jaipur: The trial on
the automated driving
track for driving li-
cences at RTO in Jagat-
pura met with protests
on the first day on
Tuesday. The Jan Mor-
cha motor driving
school association
staged a sit-in protest
at the RTO office alleg-
ing that the track has
been handed over to a
private company that is
charging additional fee
from the applicants.
The association al-
leged that a fee of Rs
1,000 is being charged
from the public for get-
ting the licence. Out of
which Rs 300 go for
driving trial inspec-
tion. Now the private
company will start tri-
al on the automated
track by taking addi-
tional Rs 235. This way
the license cost will go
up to Rs 1,235. It is
wrong to charge extra
fees from the public in
this corona period, the
association said.
The association rep-
resentatives said that
the government has
made this trial track by
spending money from
the government coffers
as such the govern-
ment should also oper-
ate it.
In this trial, the driv-
er of a vehicle is moni-
tored through cameras.
It shows where the driv-
er made a mistake. Ap-
plicants have to drive to
make an 8 and H shapes
during the test.
Jan Morcha motor driving school association staged a sit-in protest at the RTO office.
Raghu Sharma addressed a press conference with Lalchand
Kataria and highlighted the achievements of the government on
its second anniversary in Ajmer on Tuesday.
BJP minority morcha
demands FIR
‘Create separate cadre
of computer teachers’
Lottery of CM Jan Awaas
Yojana on December 28
BJPtoholdKisanSammelans
onVajpayee’sbirthanniversary
‘Athawale doesn’t know
anything about Raj’
Om Birla launches campaign
‘Sheetal Chhanv’ in Kota
`12 cr approved
by Jaipur Smart
city board
First India Bureau
Bharatpur: BJP mi-
nority morcha has de-
manded FIR against
the Delhi police person-
nel in connection with
the death of a man in
police firing in Kedli
village of Bharatpur.
Morcha state presi-
dent Sadiq Khan alleged
that Delhi police person-
nel went to catch the
man without informing
the local police and
opened fire at the man,
which led to his death.
First India Bureau
Jaipur: BJP state presi-
dent Satish Poonia has
demanded from chief
minister Ashok Gehlot
tocreateaseparatecadre
of regular computer
teachersineverysecond-
ary and senior second-
ary government schools.
Poonia wrote a letter
to CM saying that there
is no arrangement of
computer teachers in
government schools. He
said that in each second-
ary and senior second-
ary school, there should
beonecomputerteacher
on a regular basis.
He said that online
portals like ShalaDar-
pan, Shaala Siddhi, U-
Dise, PayManager are
used in schools but
teachers of other sub-
jects have to operate
them which affects his/
her own work. He said
that creating new cadre
will generate employ-
ment opportunities.
Shivendra Parmar
Jaipur: Rajasthan
Housing Board Com-
missioner Pawan Aro-
ra informed on Tues-
day that the prefer-
ence lottery of
Mukhya Mantri Jan
Awaas Yojana (GS-3
and GS-4) at Indira
Gandhi Nagar, Sector 7
in Jaipur and Niwai
Awas Yojana at Tonk
will be held on 28 De-
cember. Similarly, in
Pratap Nagar, the pro-
posed State Employee
Housing Scheme,
Mukhya Mantri Jan
Awas Yojana, Sector 3
and 28 and Vatika and
Mahla Housing
Scheme will be held on
January 6, 2021.
According to the ap-
plication received in
these schemes, the pref-
erence for allotment of
accommodation to all
applicants will be held
in concerned offices. It
is noteworthy that on
August 22, 2020, eight-
een housing schemes
of Housing Board were
launched by Chief Min-
ister Ashok Gehlot. By
completing the process
related to the applica-
tion of these schemes
in a very short time by
the board, now the pref-
erence lottery of the
applicants is being or-
ganized.
789 independent
houses for EWS, LIG
and MIG-A in Vatika
Residential Scheme
and 194 independent
houses will be built in
Mahla Residential
Scheme. Similarly, 479
houses of EWS, LIG,
MIG-A, MIG-B, and HIG
will be built in Niwai
Residential Scheme.
“Under the Mukhya
Mantri Jan Awaas Yo-
jana, 4 residential
schemes were launched
in Jaipur. Of these, two
were launched in Sec-
tor 7 of Indira Gandhi
Nagar and two in Sec-
tor 3 and Sector 28 of
Pratap Nagar. 2500
houses will be built in
all these public hous-
ing schemes,” Arora
informed.
Aishwary Pradhan
Jaipur: BJP will hold
Kisan Sammelan across
Rajasthan to mark the
birth anniversary of
former prime minister
Atal Bihari Vajpayee on
December 25.
The birth anniver-
sary will be observed
as ‘Sushashan diwas’
by the party for which
preparations have
started.
PM Narendra Modi
will address on the oc-
casion and arrange-
ments will be made at
booth and gram pan-
chayat levels so that the
party leaders and work-
ers can listen to Modi’s
speech.
BJP state president
Satish Poonia will lis-
ten to the programme
along with farmers in a
farm near Vaishali na-
gar. Screens will also be
installed at different
places to telecast the
PM’s programme.
BJP national joint
general secretary V
Satish and state presi-
dent Satish Poonia will
address the farmers in
Bassi (Jaipur), nation-
al vice president and
former chief minister
Vasundhara Raje will
be addressing farmers
in Dholpur while na-
tional general secre-
tary Bhupendra Yadav
will be in Khairthal
(Alwar).
Similarly, Leader of
Opposition in Ra-
jasthan assembly Gu-
labchand Kataria will
address farmers meet-
ing in Girwa (Udaipur).
Yogesh Sharma
Jaipur: Targeting un-
ion minister Ramdas
Athawale for his state-
ment about threat to
Ashok Gehlot govt,
chief whip Mahesh
Joshi said that he does
not know anything
about Rajasthan and he
gave statement just to
attract attention.
He said that all Con-
gress MLAs are united.
Former Rajya Sabha
MP Ashk Ali Tak said
that no one in the coun-
try takes Athawale se-
riously because he re-
mains in the mood of
joke all the time.
Meanwhile, the par-
ty leaders paid floral
tributes to former
chief minister Heer-
alal Devpura at PCC of-
fice here.
Apart from Mahesh
Joshi and Ashk Ali
Tak, Mumtaz Masih,
RR Tiwari, Manju
Sharma and other lead-
ers of the party paid
homage to Devpura.
Bhanwar S. Charan
Kota: Street vendors
who earn livelihood on
footpaths will be distrib-
uted umbrellas in Kota
so that they can protect
their set up during
rains. The initiative has
beentakenbyLSspeaker
Om Birla and will be run
acrosstheparliamentary
constituency of Birla
with the assistance of
donors. Birla launched
the campaign ‘Sheetal
Chhanv’bygivinganum-
brella to a cobbler.
FormerMLAHeeralal
Nagar, former executive
member of BJP Yuva
Morcha Vikas Sharma,
councilor Gopal Ram
Manda, Vivek Rajvasnhi
and others were present
on the occasion.
Prior to this, Birla
met people at his camp
office in Shakti Nagar.
Newly elected Panch
and Zila Parishad mem-
bers also called on Birla
LS speaker later
spoke to the media and
said that a special plan
is being chalked out on
how Panchayats can
play a more construc-
tive role in development
of villages.
He said that a plan to
organise a Panch, Prad-
han and Zila Parishad
conference in Uttara-
khand next month is
also being prepared.
Bharat Dixit
Jaipur: Works worth
Rs 12.45 crore were ap-
proved in the 17th meet-
ing of the Jaipur Smart
City Ltd board held at
the local self govern-
ance building on Tues-
day under the chair-
manship of the Local
self government secre-
tary, Bhavani Singh De-
tha. The works include
beautification of San-
ganeri Gate, New Gate,
Subhash Chowk chau-
raha. Kanwar Degree
College building project
in Brahmapuri area, e-
library in Maharaja li-
brary, construction of
community centre at
Chandpole mandi.
OM Birla launched the campaign by giving an umbrella to a
cobbler. —PHOTO BY PANKAJ PAREEK
Mahesh Joshi
JOURNALISTS-XI BEAT PCC-XI
First India Bureau
Jaipur: A T20 cricket
match was played be-
tween the teams of
journalists and Con-
gress leaders on Tues-
day at KL Saini Stadi-
um in Jaipur which
was won by journal-
ists.
Journalists-XI team
registered a thrilling
win on the last ball.
Chief whip Mahesh
Joshi inaugurated the
match between Jour-
nalist-XI and PCC-XI in
the morning and the
CMD of First India
News channel Jagdeesh
Chandra and energy
minister BD Kalla
awarded the winner
and runner up teams in
the afternoon.
PCC XI players and
MLA Vedprakash
Solanki, Rajesh Chaud-
hary, Rakesh Moradia,
Rohit Joshi, Abhiman-
yu Poonia, Anil Chopra,
Samarth Sharma Sunil
Parwani, Mahendra
Khedi and Journalists
XI players Yogesh Shar-
ma and Naresh Sharma
of First India news, Su-
shant Pareek, Dinesh
Dangi, Ashutosh Shar-
ma, Aditya Atre played
brilliantly.
First India CMD
Jagdeesh Chandra said
that First India has al-
ways been an active
partner in such events.
BDKallaandJagdeeshChandraawardthewinnerandrunnerupteams.—PHOTOBYSANTOSHSHARMA
Probe ordered as
inmates go on strike
Ramesh Sharma
Sikar: The hunger
strike of Sikar Shivs-
inghpura jail prison-
ers entered the sec-
ond day. Sighting the
severity, jail DIG
Monika Agarwal
reached Sikar from
Jaipur and had a de-
tailed discussion with
the inmates on their
concerns. The jail
DIG has now started
an investigation on
the death of the pris-
oner. The initial in-
vestigation suggests
the negligence of the
male nurse, who has
been APO (Awaiting
Postal Order), and the
entire case will now
be judicially investi-
gated.
TRIAL EXPERIMENTAL
Morcha members held a demonstration at civil lines railway
crossing in Jaipur.
—PHOTOBYSUMANSARKAR

3. RAJASTHANJAIPUR | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2020
03www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
Raj records eight more Covid-19
deaths, 807 fresh cases in a day
Jaipur: Eight more
COVID-19 fatalities and
807 fresh cases were re-
ported in Rajasthan on
Tuesday, taking the
deathtollto2,634andthe
infection tall in the state
to 3,00,716.
The deaths were re-
ported from Banswara,
Barmer, Jaipur, Jhunj-
hunu, Jodhpur, Nagaur,
Pali and Sikar, accord-
ing to an official report.
Jaipur continued to re-
port the highest daily
cases. On Tuesday, as
many as 163 people test-
ed positive for COVID-19
followed by Kota where
91 cases were reported.
The rest of the cases
were reported from oth-
er districts. State has
11,601 active cases at
present. —PTI
THREE DIE, TWO HURT AS SPEEDING
CAR CRASHES INTO DUMPERFirst India Bureau
Jaipur: Three friends
were killed while two
were seriously in-
jured when the car
they were travelling
in crashed into a
truck near Riddhi-
Siddhi intersection
on Gopalpura bypass
road at 1 am on Mon-
day. According to the
police, the car driver
was seemingly over
speeding as the road
was empty due to
night curfew. There
were five friends in
the car and were re-
portedly driving at
high speed. The col-
lision was so severe
that the front of the
car was badly dam-
aged and all the
youths were trapped
in the car. The po-
lice said that Rake-
sh, 32, Losal of Si-
kar district, Muke-
sh, 30, Posna of
Jhunjhunu district,
and Pushpendra
Jat, 30, of Pathena
in Bharatpur dis-
trict died on the
spot. While Daljeet,
23, and Vivek, 24,
are injured. Push-
pendra used to op-
erate a hostel on the
Gopalpura bypass.
According to the
information, a man
Vicky had come to
meet Pushpendra
late at night. Both of
them discussed
about the hostel af-
ter which Pushpen-
dra left with Vicky’s
car. Rakesh and
Mukesh live in Man-
sarovar and trade in
clothes.
All of them were
going from Gopal-
pura chauraha in
the car towards
Gurjar ki Thadi. Af-
ter coming down
from Triveni Nagar,
the car crashed into
a dumper running
in front of it near
Riddhi-Siddhi inter-
section. Some pas-
serby informed po-
lice after which team
rushed injured to
hospital. Victims re-
mained stuck in car
for long time.
TEEN KILLED, COUSIN INJURED
WHILE ON WAY TO GET BOOKS
TWO KILLED AS TRUCK
HITS SCOOTY
Dungarpur: 16-year-old Praveen
Kharadi, 16, was killed while his
cousin Pradeep Kharadi, 12, was
critically injured when their cycle
was crushed under a trailer filled
with marble. The duo, residents of
Vikasnagar, was on their way to get
books for Praveen when the ac-
cident occurred on Tuesday on See-
malwara road. Praveen was killed
on the spot while Pradeep sustained
multiple fractures and is in critical
condition, the police said.
Dausa: Two men were killed on late
Monday night when the scooty they
were riding on was hit by a truck at
Salempur in Dausa. According to
police, the accident occurred on the
Mahua-Hindaun-Karauli highway
in which BP Singh, 35, and Ashish
Kumar Jatav, 28, died during treat-
ment. Doctors declared BP Singh
dead while Ashish was referred to
Jaipur in critical condition, died on
the way. Police seized the truck fol-
lowing but the truck driver escaped.
Ill-fated car after accident in city on Gopalpura bypass road at 1 am on Monday.
The Dhand Diabetes Association of Jaipur along with other social organisations of the city starts
awareness campaign of Coronavirus with key highlight as ‘Covid Free India and Mask Is Vaccine’
from Patrika Gate on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY SANTOSH SHARMA
The grandure of amazing sunset on Tuesday captured in lens, as the cloud formations spanned the horizon in city.
Kota: Paralysed below
the neck, 21-year-old
Tuhin Dey writes ex-
ams holding a pen in his
mouth and operates his
mobile phone and com-
puter the same way.
This has not stopped
him from getting ad-
mission to a prestigious
engineering institute.
Tuhin, who suffers
from cerebral palsy, se-
cured Rank 438 in the
JEE (Mains) this year
and got admission in
information technology
at the Indian Institute
of Engineering Science
and TechnologyinWB’s
Shibpur. Tuhin has so
far undergone 20 sur-
geries and several
plates have been insert-
ed into his body to keep
his bones straight. A
resident of Midnapore
in WB, Tuhin prepared
for the exam at a coach-
ing institute in Kota.
“Everybody in the in-
stitute is delighted that
such a candidate has
taken admission”, a
senior official at IIEST
said over the phone. It
is for the first time that
a student with 90 per
cent disability will be
studying at the insti-
tute. Since engineering
has got less physical
work, I chose to pursue
it to realise my dream,
Tuhin told. —PTI
Fighting cerebral palsy, 21-yr-old cracks JEE
WRITING THROUGH MOUTH TAKES BOY TO IIEST!
Tuhin Dey
Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank honoured Tuhin Dey at Teachers’ Day
in 2019 at Kota where Om Birla, Shanti Dhariwal were also present.
Kota: A special POCSO
court in Baran on Tues-
day sentenced two men
to life term each for ab-
ducting and raping two
teenaged girls over five
years ago.
Baran Special Judge
Rakesh Katara also im-
posed a fine of Rs 1
Lakh each on convicts
Naresh Panchal, 25, and
Sheru alias Shahid, 24,
holding them guilty of
abducting, confining
wrongfully and raping
the two minor girls in
March 2015.
Special Public Prose-
cutor Mahesh Tyagi
said the case against
the duo was lodged in
Anta police station in
Baran on March 21,
2015. He had told police
in his complaint that
his 15-year-old daughter
has gone missing along
with her 16-year-old
friend from their
homes. The Anta police
subsequently regis-
tered an FIR against the
duo. under sections 363
and 366 of the Indian
Penal Code. —PTI
Vimal Kothari
Jaipur: SDRI has de-
tected royalty eva-
sion of nearly Rs 11
crore by a company
engaged in road con-
struction in Bikaner.
A team of SDRI
conducted inspection
at the site office of
the company in Bi-
kaner, which is work-
ing on road construc-
tion under package 4
of Amritsar- Jamna-
gar Bharatmala pro-
ject.
After data analysis,
team found that com-
pany has illegally
used minerals in huge
quantities. Company
illegally used 9.80
lakh MT clay, 2.5 lakh
tone masonry stone.
Two get life term for abducting,
raping two teenagers in Kota
Tension grips Dausa village as
youth found hanging on tree
First India Bureau
Lalsot: The people of
Dhakda Dhani of Did-
wana village, Dausa
rose to a shocking Tues-
day morning to see the
dead body of youth
hanging on a bambool
tree in a field. The pre-
vious night he slept
with his brother-in-law
at home. Yesterday
morning the dead body
of the deceased was
found swinging from a
bambool tree in a field
near the house.
On receiving the in-
formation, Lalsot police
station in-charge Rajvir
Singh Rathore reached
the spot with the police
team and took stock of
the incident.
The MOV, FSL team
also collected evidence
from the scene of the
incident. The police as-
sured to register the
case under murder. The
body was then sent for a
post-mortem.
SDRI detects `11 cr evasion
in BKN’s Bharatmala Project
Ambulance staff stole
bride’s jewellery, held
First India Bureau
Jaipur: The police have
arrested a contractual
employee of 108 ambu-
lance and his accom-
plice on charges of
stealing jewellery of a
newly married couple
Mahesh Yadav, 22, and
Sanjana, 20, who were
killed in an accident on
December 14.
The couple, married
on November 30, had
died after a speeding
mini-bus hit them and
overturned in Chand-
waji area of Delhi road.
They were on their way
to a relative’ place Jait-
pur Khinchi when the
accident happened.
The family members
found the jewellery
missing and informed
the police about it. The
police investigation re-
vealed that the contrac-
tual employees of 108
ambulance, in which
the victims were taken
to hospital, stole the
jewellery. The police
have recovered items of
victims from accused.
Varsities should work for devp of
students as per new NEP: GUV
Ravi Sharma/
Kashiram Chaudhary
Udaipur/Jaipur: Gov-
ernor Kalraj Mishra on
Tuesday insisted that
the syllabus of subjects
related to modern
knowledge, science and
technology should be
prepared in English as
well as Hindi.
He said that research
should be done on In-
dian crafts, ancient
texts of music and
knowledge related to
architecture. Address-
ing a virtual convoca-
tion ceremony of Mo-
hanlal Sukhadia Uni-
versity of Udaipur, the
governor said that the
universities should
start employment-ori-
ented new courses and
work for the all-round
development of the stu-
dents as per the new
national education pol-
icy. Governor also
stressed on doing such
fundamental research
work for water conser-
vation in the state.
Governor Kalraj Mishra addressing a virtual convocation
ceremony of Mohanlal Sukhadia University of Udaipur on Tuesday.
—PHOTOBYSANTOSHSHARMA
BHAYA TESTS POSITIVE FOR COVID-19
‘Itching powder’
gang robs man of
`3 lakh in city
Illegal colonies
demolished in
city by JDA
First India Bureau
Jaipur: The JDA’s en-
forcement Squad
thwarted an attempt to
establish illegal colo-
nies on three bighas of
private accountable
land behind Kanota and
around five bighas be-
hind Tombi farmhous-
es at Agra Road on
Tuesday. Furthermore,
a five-storey illegal
building at Sri Gopal
Nagar and Shyam Na-
gar on Gopalpura by-
pass was sealed.
First India Bureau
Jaipur: A bag carrying
Rs 3 lakh was looted
from a man while he
was walking on the
main bus stand in city.
The culprits put itch-
ing powder on his head
and took away the bag.
Victim Jeetendra Sin-
gh Shekhawat said
that he had a bag in his
hand which was carry-
ing Rs 3 lakh along
with other belongings.
On receiving the infor-
mation, ASI Dilip Sin-
gh Yadav reached the
spot and took stock of
situation, starts inves-
tigation.
—FILEPHOTO
MAGICAL ‘DUSK’ EFFECTS!

4. PERSPECTIVEJAIPUR | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2020
04www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
G Vol 2 G Issue No. 197 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-In-Chief: Jagdeesh Chandra. Editor: Anita Hada Sangwan responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act
ven after Asia’s
e c o n o m i e s
climb out of the
COVID-19 re-
cession, Chi-
na’s strategy of frenetical-
ly building dams and reser-
voirs on transnational riv-
ers will confront them with
a more permanent barrier
to long-term economic
prosperity: water scarcity.
China’s recently unveiled
plan to construct a mega-
dam on the Yarlung Zangbo
river, better known as the
Brahmaputra, may be the
biggest threat yet.
China dominates Asia’s
water map, owing to its an-
nexation of ethnic-minori-
ty homelands, such as the
water-rich Tibetan Plateau
and Xinjiang. China’s ter-
ritorial aggrandizement in
theSouthChinaSeaandthe
Himalayas,whereithastar-
geted even tiny Bhutan, has
been accompanied by
stealthier efforts to appro-
priate water resources in
transnational river basins
– a strategy that hasn’t
spared even friendly or pli-
antneighbors,suchasThai-
land, Laos, Cambodia, Ne-
pal, Kazakhstan, and North
Korea. Indeed, China has
not hesitated to use its hy-
dro-hegemonyagainstits18
downstream neighbors.
The consequences have
been serious. For example,
China’s 11 mega-dams on
theMekongriver,Southeast
Asia’s arterial waterway,
have led to recurrent
drought downriver, and
turned the Mekong Basin
into a security and environ-
mental hot spot. Mean-
while, in largely arid Cen-
tral Asia, China has divert-
ed waters from the Illy and
Irtysh rivers, which origi-
nate in China-annexed Xin-
jiang. Its diversion of water
from the Illy threatens to
turn Kazakhstan’s Lake
Balkhash into another Aral
Sea, which has all but dried
upinlessthanfourdecades.
Against this back-
ground, China’s plan to
dam the Brahmaputra
near its disputed – and
heavily militarized – bor-
der with India should be no
surprise. The Chinese com-
munist publication Huan-
qiu Shibao, citing an arti-
cle that appeared in Aus-
tralia, recently urged In-
dia’s government to assess
how China could “weap-
onize” its control over
transboundary waters and
potentially “choke” the In-
dian economy. With the
Brahmaputra megapro-
ject, China has provided an
answer.
The planned 60-giga-
watts project, which will be
integrated into China’s
next Five-Year Plan start-
ing in January, will report-
edly dwarf China’s Three
Gorges Dam – currently the
world’s largest – on the
Yangtze River, generating
almost three times as much
electricity. China will
achieve this by harnessing
the power of a 2,800-meter
(3,062-yard) drop just before
the river crosses into India.
What the chairman of
China’s state-run Power
Construction Corp, Yan
Zhiyong, calls an “historic
opportunity” for his coun-
try will be devastating for
India. Just before crossing
into India, the Brahmapu-
tra curves sharply around
the Himalayas, forming
the world’s longest and
steepest canyon – twice as
deep as America’s Grand
Canyon – and holding
Asia’s largest untapped
water resources.
Experience suggests
that the proposed megapro-
ject threatens those re-
sources – and China’s
downstream neighbors.
China’s past upstream ac-
tivities have triggered
flash floods in the Indian
states of Arunachal and
Himachal. More recently,
such activity turned the
water in the once-pristine
Siang – the Brahmaputra’s
main artery – dirty and
gray as it entered India.
SOURCE: PROJECT SYNDICATE
WILL CHINA TURN OFF ASIA’S TAP?
E
nthesky,thereisnodistinction
of east and west; people create
distinctions out of their own
minds and then believe them
to be true. —Buddha
Spiritual
SPEAK
Top
TWEET
Ravi Shankar Prasad
@rsprasad
It is a matter of great pride and
honour for India that our Prime
Minister @narendramodi Ji has been
awarded the ‘Legion of Merit’ by the
President of USA. His charismatic
leadership and contributions have
elevated the India-US strategic
partnership to greater heights.
K C Venugopal
@kcvenugopalmp
A delegation of @INCIndia leaders
led by former Congress President
@RahulGandhi will submit a
memoranda of appeal signed
by around 2 crore farmers from
across the nation to Hon’ble
Rashtrapati ji on 24th December,
2020 urging his intervention to
annul the black anti-farmer laws.
Promoted by Dilip Patel
he old order changeth, yield-
ing place to new’ has proved
true in respect of the Union
Territory (UT) of Jammu &
Kashmir with the successful
completion of first ever third
tier elections of District De-
velopment Councils (DDCs).
A challenging and mammoth
task executed brilliantly by
the newly formed State Elec-
tion Commission (SEC) with
the help of vigilant and dedi-
catedmembersof thesecurity
forcesandJKPolice.Afterthe
election of the DDC Chair-
men and formation of the se-
lect committees and District
Planning Commission, the
DDCs will become fully func-
tional and work in unison
withtheothertwotiers,Halqa
Panchayats and Block Devel-
opment Councils (BDCs), to
ensure that Panchayat Raj In-
stitutions (PRIs) are fully bed-
ded in the UT ushering Naya
Jammu & Kashmir.
With the PRIs fully func-
tional, the centre of power in
the UT will shift from the high
profileGupkarRoadtothevil-
lages and towns with the ac-
tual stakeholders planning
and executing the local area
development. It was for this
very reason that the Kashmir
based political leadership
which remained at the helm
for the last seven decades was
unwilling to promote the Pan-
chayat Raj because it went
against the tenets of Dynastic
Rule. For the Gupkaris self-
interestandpreservation/pro-
motion of dynastic rule was
always the paramount consid-
eration since devolution of
power would have meant the
empowermentof thecommon
man considered as an existen-
tial threat by the Gupkar elite.
It is therefore not surprising
that despite huge amounts of
central assistance the com-
monmenarestillyearningfor
thethreebasicamenities;con-
nectivity,waterandelectricity.
TheGupkarisexcelledinemo-
tional exploitation of the peo-
plethroughloftyslogans,false
promises and manufactured
narratives spin doctoring his-
torical facts to suit their nar-
ratives. The successive gov-
ernments in New Delhi were
treated as “milch cows” by
these leaders while at the
same time widening the rift
between the people and New
Delhi. It was all fine as long as
New Delhi submitted to their
demands and pressures but
moment it adopted a different
approach or squeezed liberal
flow of funds, New Delhi was
portrayed as the enemy of the
Kashmiris. Even New Delhi
hardly ventured to establish a
direct contact with the people
and hence failed to read the
pulse of the people.
Behind the shield of Arti-
cles 370 and 35A, the Kash-
miri leadership began to feel
indispensable and invinci-
ble. They even began to hold
New Delhi at ransom de-
manding greater autonomy
legitimising exclusivity
which had resulted due to
mass exodus of indigenous
Kashmiri Hindus and other
minorities gradually con-
verting Jammu & Kashmir
with a distinct identity of
Muslim majority state enjoy-
ing special status of a “state
within a state”. This trend
needed to be reversed before
it became irreversible.
The epoch making decision
takenbyModigovernmenton
05 August 2019, which ulti-
mately reversed the trend,
has now become a part of his-
tory of Naya Jammu & Kash-
mir. The three decades of vio-
lence also needed to be con-
trolled and ultimately
brought to an end. Father of
the nation Mahatma Gandhi
had said, “When the panchay-
at raj is established, public
opinion will do what violence
can never do.” With J&K fully
integrated with the idea of
One India One Nation, it was
a matter of time before the
panchayat raj was introduced
and made functional like the
restof thecountryinthenew-
ly formed UT as well. The pro-
cess in fact had begun earlier
after the application of the
President’s rule under the
governorship of Satya Pal
Malik who successfully con-
ducted the elections to the
first tier of halqa panchayats
and urban local bodies. The
concept was nascent hence
took time to mature and gath-
ered full steam only post 05
August 2019. J&K entered
2020 with rays of new hopes
and aspirations.
Things were moving pretty
when the deadly pandemic
engulfed the entire world in
the beginning of 2020 itself.
In the UT, its impact began to
be felt from March onwards.
Undeterred by the pandem-
ic UT administration realised
thatitwasracingagainsttime
since it had something to
prove. The administration be-
gan to take many steps to
strengthen the nascent Pan-
chayat Raj Institutions (PRIs)
through their financial em-
powerment through direct
funding and delegation of
powers in keeping with the
73rd and 74th Amendments
which had not been imple-
mented earlier due to Article
370. The elected representa-
tives were given training un-
der the centrally sponsored
scheme of Rashtriya Gram
SwarajAbhiyanforthecapac-
ity building to enhance capa-
bilities of Panchayats for in-
clusive local governance.
Much needed protocol status
wasaccordedtotheChairman
of Block Development Coun-
cils (BDCs) to enable them
function with authority. The
centre’sflagshipe-governance
programme for rural govern-
ance, the e-panchayat project
toautomatethefunctioningof
the panchayats has also been
implemented. Local govern-
ance through devolution of
power to PRIs is the key to ru-
ral development, the area in
which the UT lacks woefully.
The highlight and major
achievement of the year has
been the conduct of local bod-
ies’ elections in November-
December. A major gamble
whichhasprovedtobeagame
changer. In keeping with its
intent of promoting Panchay-
at Raj, the administration an-
nounced elections to the
DDCs. A very big challenge
since the elections were to be
held on an adult franchise ba-
sis. The newly introduced
DDCs were to replace the ear-
lier District Development
Boards which were nominat-
ed as against the DDC which
will be an elected body.
The Peoples’ Alliance for
Gupkar Declaration (PAGD)
also referred to as Gupkar Al-
liance, formed by the leaders
of six mainstream Kashmir
based political parties to
fight for status quo, also par-
ticipated in the elections de-
spite initial theatrics and
gimmicks.
Allayingallfearsandappre-
hensions,theelectionsproved
a great success. The gusto
with which people of all ages
came out of their houses ig-
noring the challenges of bad
weather,harshwinterandter-
roristthreatprovedtheirfaith
in the Panchayat Raj system.
The participation in Kashmir
hassurprisedmanyincluding
the Gupkar Alliance. It has re-
corded massive increase
across all ten districts in com-
parison to the 2018 Panchayat
elections and 2019 Parliamen-
tary elections. An achieve-
ment beyond expectations.
The election also had many
firsts to its credit; no boycott
call, first electoral exercise of
the new UT, first elections un-
der newly formed State Elec-
tion Commission, West Paki-
stan refugees, Valmikis,
Gorkhas exercised their fran-
chise for the first time in local
elections, reserved seats for
STs and newly formed politi-
cal party JK Apni party mak-
ing its maiden electoral fray.
The ballot has ultimately
emerged victorious over the
bullet and grassroots democ-
racy has begun to take firm
roots in the UT. The people of
J&K also need to be compli-
mented for their wholeheart-
ed participation in this car-
nival of democracy. Political
parties will interpret the
election results based on the
narrative they want to set
post elections and claim vic-
tory but one thing is certain
that democracy has already
emerged victorious. The peo-
ple have also given a befitting
reply to those who were mak-
ing loud noises like the com-
plete loss of faith of the peo-
ple in Indian democracy. The
message is loud and clear
that no place for “sub-nation-
alism” exists in Naya Jammu
& Kashmir.
2020isendingonahighnote
of successful resumption of
the political process with peo-
ple pinning high hopes on
their new leaders and the pan-
chayat raj system. They hope
thatthenewsystemwilldawn
aneraof changewithfocuson
mitigating their problems
through effective planning at
grassroots level and judicious
use of resources. The attempt
by the Gupkar Alliance to use
the new system for forced ver-
ification of their retrograde
ideology of return to status
quo will have to be curbed by
the people lest the entire exer-
cise is hijacked away from its
main aim by the vested inter-
ests. Nothing is static in this
dynamic world. Change is the
law of nature. Sooner the
change is accepted by the sta-
tus quo lobby, the better it
would be for the future.
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY
THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL
NAYA J&K EMBRACES PANCHAYAT RAJ
WINDS OF CHANGE
T
With the PRIs
fully functional,
the centre of
power in the UT
will shift from the
high profile
Gupkar Road to
the villages and
towns with the
actual
stakeholders
planning and
executing the
local area
development. It
was for this very
reason that the
Kashmir based
political
leadership which
remained at the
helm for the last
seven decades
was unwilling to
promote the
Panchayat Raj
because it went
against the tenets
of Dynastic Rule
THE HIGHLIGHT AND MAJOR ACHIEVEMENT OF THE
YEAR HAS BEEN THE CONDUCT OF LOCAL BODIES’
ELECTIONS IN NOVEMBER-DECEMBER. A MAJOR
GAMBLE WHICH HAS PROVED TO BE A GAME
CHANGER. IN KEEPING WITH ITS INTENT OF
PROMOTING PANCHAYAT RAJ, THE ADMINISTRATION
ANNOUNCED ELECTIONS TO THE DDCS
BRIG VETERAN
ANIL GUPTA
The author is a Jammu
based veteran, political
commentator, columnist, security
and strategic analyst

5. To Receive Free NewspaperNewspaper
PDF DailyPDF Daily
Whatsapp:
http://bit.ly/whatsappjpr
Telegram:
https://t.me/firstindiajaipur
Click the above link☝ & subscribe us on your
preferred platform.

6. INDIAJAIPUR | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2020
05www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
591 PASSENGERS FROM UK LAND
IN MUMBAI IN THREE FLIGHTS
Mumbai: As many as
591 passengers landed in
Mumbai in three flights
from the UK on Tues-
day, a civic official said,
adding none of them has
been found symptomatic
so far. While 299 have
been sent to various
hotels for the mandatory
quarantine, 292 are at the
airport, the official said.
“With reports of distinct
phylogenetic cluster of
coronavirus detected and
rapidly growing in UK, all
flights originating from
UK to India have been
suspended temporarily
as per orders of GoI,” the
BrihanMumbai Municipal
Corporation tweeted.”In
order to prevent spread of
the new mutant, BMC has
issued orders to follow
quarantine of seven days.
CONG WILL BOUNCE BACK: GOA
CHIEF AFTER ZP POLL LOSS
Panaji: Days after Con-
gress was trounced
in Zilla Parishad polls
in Goa, the party’s
state in charge Dinesh
Gundu Rao said it
would bounce back.
BJP won 32 out of
49 seats while the
Congress was left with
just four, less than the
seven won by Inde-
pendents. “I don’t think
ZP polls are a signal
towards Assembly
polls. We have seen so
many elections for lo-
cal bodies, that should
not be the barometer.
We have lot of work to
do & convince people
about our work.”
INDIAN ARMY, BOB SIGN MOU
FOR MILITARY SALARY PACKAGE
New Delhi: Ministry of
Defence said that the
Indian Army and Bank
of Baroda have entered
into an MoU for Baroda
Military Salary Package
under which services
will be offered to serv-
ing and retired person-
nel of Indian Army
through the bank’s
network of over 8,200
domestic branches
and around 20,000
business correspond-
ent touchpoints. The
MoU was signed by Lt
General Ravin Khosla,
DG and Vikramaditya
Singh Khichi, Execu-
tive Director, Bank of
Baroda.
RUPEE SETTLES 5 PAISE LOWER AT
73.84 AGAINST US DOLLAR
Mumbai: The rupee pared
most of its initial losses
and settled for the day
5 paise lower at 73.84
against the US dollar on,
tracking a rebound in
domestic equities. At the
interbank forex market,
the domestic unit opened
at 73.95 against US dollar
and witnessed an intra-
day high of 73.82 and a
low of 73.95. The local
unit finally closed at 73.84
against the American cur-
rency, registering a fall of
5 paise over its previous
close. On Monday, rupee
plunged 23 paise to end
at a two-week low of
73.79 against US dollar.
Meanwhile, the dollar in-
dex, which gauges green-
back’s strength against a
basket of six currencies,
was trading 0.29%.
IN THE COURTYARD
Resources of country belong
to every citizen, says PM ModiPolicies which are being framed today are reaching all without discrimination, he said
New Delhi: Prime Min-
ister Narendra Modi on
Tuesday said that re-
sources of the country
belong to every citizen
and every one of them
should benefit from it.
“Jo desh ka hai woh
har deshvaasi ka hai
(Resources of the coun-
try belongs to every
citizen). Everyone
should benefit from it,
that’s the spirit our gov-
ernment is working
with,” PM Modi said
“The policies which are
being framed today are
reaching every section
without discrimination
on the basis of religion.
Bank accounts of over
40 crore poor were
opened without any dis-
crimination. Without
discrimination, more
than 2 crore poor were
provided pucca houses.
More than 8 crore wom-
en got gas connections
without discrimina-
tion. 50 crore people got
free medical treatment
up to Rs 5 lakh under
Ayushman scheme
without any discrimi-
nation,” he said.
“The country is on
the path where every
citizen should rest as-
sured about their con-
stitutional rights &
their future. The coun-
try is on the path where
no citizen would be left
behind because of their
religion and everyone
would get equal oppor-
tunities so that every-
one can fulfil their
dreams. Sabka Sath,
Sabka Vikas, Sabka
Vishwas is the mantra
behind it,” he said.—ANI
New Delhi: A forum of
women lawyers, social
Group of Lawyers of
Delhi High Court have
decided to fast on
Wednesday in solidari-
ty with the ongoing
“Satyagrah” by farmers
demanding to roll back
the recently passed
farm laws.
Lawyers associated
with the forum demand-
ed to repeal the three
farm laws on December
23, the day which is ob-
served as Kisan Diwas.
“It is our belief that
while the issue of the
Constitutionality of the
farm laws being enact-
ed by the Centre when
agriculture is a state
subject is subjudice be-
fore the Supreme Court
and the issue of the le-
gality of the enactment
by a voice vote in the
Rajya Sabha is also be-
ing heard by the Su-
preme Court, imple-
mentation of irreversi-
ble and far-reaching
farm laws would render
these petitions infruc-
tuous and could cause
irreparable damage to
the farm sector in In-
dia,” the forum said
The forum includes sen-
ior advocates Indira
Jaising, Mahalakshmi
Pawani, Biswajit Bhat-
tacharyaMohan Katar-
ki, Anand Grover and
advocates Shadan Fara-
syat, Prashant Pad-
manabham, Ritu di-
wan, etc. It also includes
members Shweta Ka-
poor, Zeba Khair & Iram
Majid among others.
Delhi HC’s women legal
forum to observe fast today
JetAirways’promoter:
Closurereportaccepted
Sister Abhaya murder:
Priest, nun found guilty
Bengal ahead of other states on all
development indices: CM Mamata
New Delhi: PM Narendra Modi
praised the Aligarh Muslim
University and said it has worked
to strengthen India’s relations
with many countries of the world.
“The way AMU has helped society
during the coronavirus crisis is
unprecedented - free tests, build-
ing isolation wards, plasma banks
and contributing a large amount
to the PM CARES Fund shows
the seriousness of fulfilling your
obligations to the society.”
PM LAUDS AMU FOR
STRENGTHENING TIES
New Delhi: PM Narendra Modi
said that dropout rate of Muslim
girl students has reduced due
to government policies. “School
dropout rate among Muslim girls
was more than 70% and this situ-
ation persisted for 70 years. In
these circumstances, the govern-
ment started Swachh Bharat Mis-
sion, built toilets in villages and
toilets for school-going girls. Now
the dropout rate from 70 per cent
has fallen to nearly 30 per cent.
New Delhi: PM Modi re-
leased a postal stamp as part
of centenary celebrations of
Aligarh Muslim University
(AMU). Chancellor of the
University Syedna Mu-
faddal Saifuddin and Union
Education Minister Ramesh
Pokhriyal Nishank were also
present on the occasion.
PM RELEASES POSTAL
STAMP TO MARK
AMU’S CENTENARY
‘DROPOUT OF MUSLIM
GIRL STUDENTS REDUCED’
Farmers sit on the road as they block Delhi-Meerut Highway
during an ongoing protest against the new farm laws, at the
Ghazipur border in New Delhi on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY ANI
PM Narendra Modi addresses during the centenary celebrations of Aligarh Muslim University via VC.
Kolkata: Slamming
Union Home Minister
Amit Shah for “deliber-
ately trying to project a
dismal and gloomy pic-
ture” of West Bengal,
Chief Minister Mamata
Banerjee on Tuesday
contended that the state
has fared well on all de-
velopment indices.
Issuing a point-by-
point rebuttal to asser-
tions made by Shah
against her dispensa-
tion, during his visit to
Bengal last week, Ba-
nerjee cited NCRB data
to state that political
killings and other
crimes have decreased
in the last ten years un-
der the TMC rule.
“When the home
minister of the country
says something, it
should be backed by
data, facts and figures.
Bengal is ahead of oth-
er states on all develop-
ment indices. But Amit
Shah ji deliberately
tried to depict a gloomy
and dismal picture of
the state. I was chal-
lenged... here is my re-
ply,” Banerjee said at a
press meet here.
Kolkata has twice been
accorded the ‘safest city’
taginthecountry,shesaid.
“According to NCRB
data, political killings, oth-
er incidents of crime and
rape cases have decreased
during the TMC rule. —PTI
Srinagar: PDP youth
president Waheed Para,
who is in custody of the
NIA for alleged links
with militants, won the
District Development
Council (DDC) elections
from Pulwama district
in J&K. Para defeated
BJP candidate Sajad
Ahmad Raina.
PDP president Me-
hbooba Mufti said she
was proud of her par-
ty’s youth leader to reg-
ister a win. Para was
arrested by the NIA on
November 25, a few
days after filing nomi-
nation papers as a
PAGD candidate. —PTI
New Delhi: A fall in
minimum temperature
by 1 to 3-degree Celsius
is likely over the plains
of northwest and cen-
tral India during the
next three days, the In-
dia Meteorological De-
partment (IMD) pre-
dicted on Tuesday.
“Fall in minimum
temperature by 1-3°C
over some parts of
plains of northwest In-
dia and central India
during next 3 days. No
significant change in
minimum temperature
over some parts of west
India during next 2 days
and rise by 2-3°C there-
after for subsequent 3
days,” the IMD said.
Himachal Pradesh,
Uttarakhand, Bihar,
Punjab, Haryana, Chan-
digarh, Delhi and West
Uttar Pradesh will most
likely witness cold wave
conditions at isolated
pockets today, while se-
vere cold wave condi-
tions will prevail on
December 23 and 24 in
some parts.
The same is likely
over Odisha, East Uttar
Pradesh, Gangetic West
Bengal, Chhattisgarh
and Telangana today.
Dense fog will be seen
in the morning over
Punjab, Haryana, Chan-
digarh and Delhi on De-
cember 23, and dense to
very dense fog will be
seen at isolated pockets
from 24th to 26th De-
cember. —ANI
COURTESY MEET
Army Chief Gen MM Naravane calls on Union Minister Nitin Gadkari at his residence in
New Delhi. —PHOTO BY PTI
Thiruvananthapuram:
Twenty eight years af-
ter the mysterious
death of Sister Abhaya,
an inmate of St.Pious
convent at Kottayam in
Kerala, a CBI special
court here on Tuesday
held it was a case of
murder and found a
priest and nun guilty of
killing her.
Special CBI Judge K
Sanal Kumar, while pro-
nouncing the verdict,
said the murder charg-
es against the two will
stand.
The court held that
Fr Thomas Kottoor and
Sister Sephy of the-
Catholic Church were
guilty of murder under
Sections 302 and 201 of
the IPC. It also found
Father Kottoor guilty of
offence under Section
449 of the Indian Penal
Code.The court will
pronounce the quan-
tum of sentence on
Wednesday. —PTI
‘Cold wave conditions prevail over North India’
Mumbai: A metropoli-
tan court accepted the
closure report filed by
Mumbai police in a
cheating case against
Jet Airways, which has
been grounded since
April last year, its pro-
moter Naresh Goyal
and his wife.
The order came a day
after theBombay High
Court rejected a plea of
ED, which is also prob-
ing the case, to inter-
vene into the matter.
Earlier, a similar
plea by ED had been re-
jected by the metropoli-
tan court and a sessions
court here. The MRA
Marg police here in
February this year reg-
istered a case against
the Jet Airways, Goyal
and his wife on charg-
es of cheating and
criminal beach of
trust, on a complaint
filed by city-based Ak-
bar Travels India Pri-
vate Limited. —PTI
CHILLA, GAZIPUR BORDERS TO REMAIN
CLOSED FOR TRAFFIC, INFORMS DTP
Jailed PDP
youth leader
Waheed Para
wins DDC polls
A train runs slowly on its tracks during a foggy winter morning.
Mamata Banerjee

7. INDIAJAIPUR | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2020
06www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
Modi reaches...
Modi was all praise for
the role played by
AMU founder Sir Syed
Ahmad Khan.
Since the Muslims
of the country closely
associate themselves
with this institution,
PM’s positive vibes
were largely aimed at
connecting with the
community’s intellec-
tuals. AMU known as
intellectual capital of
Muslims has always
played considerable
political role. Thus,
calling AMU campus
“mini India” with full
of diversity Modi
pointed out that all
the three main lan-
guages Sanskrit, Hin-
di and Urdu have
flourished here and
the Indian govern-
ment had succeeded
in widening its based
in Muslim countries
though the cultural
and religious studies
being conducted in
AMU. He said no one
will be left behind be-
cause of his religious
faith as the rights of
each citizen is protect-
ed under the Constitu-
tion.
Accepting possi-
bility of differences
on issues in the
society, Modi
laid stress on
coming togeth-
er on national
issues. “Society
is above poli-
tics and pow-
er”, he said,
adding issues of
national significance
should not be seen
through the prism of
politics.
Top US...
& the US to improve
bilateral ties, reflected
in the bipartisan con-
sensus in both coun-
tries about the Indo-
US Strategic Partner-
ship,” he tweeted.
Farooq & ...
BJP won four seats in
Kashmir including
that of Srinagar. Kak-
pora-Pulwama, Tulel-
Bandipora, Gurez-
Bandipora. The saf-
fron brigade is also
leading in two seats in
Kupwara and Anant-
nag.
Meanwhile, the re-
sults saw People’s Al-
liance for Gupkar
Declaration (PAGD)
winning the majority
of the seats in Kash-
mir valley as the Cen-
tre backed Jammu
and Kashmir Apni
Party failed to make a
mark. Meanwhile, in
accordance with ex-
pectations, the BJP is
leading in the Jammu
division. The party
has also won two seats
in Kashmir valley.
New Delhi: The num-
ber of daily new corona-
virus infections report-
ed in the country was
recorded below 20,000
after nearly 6 months
while the COVID-19 ac-
tive caseload fell below
3 lakh, as per the Union
Health Ministry data
updated on Tuesday.
India’s COVID-19
caseload rose to
1,00,75,116 with 19,556
new infections being re-
ported in a day. The
death toll increased to
1,46,111 with 301 new fa-
talities, the data updat-
ed at 8 am showed.
The number of peo-
ple who have recuper-
ated from the disease
surged to 96,36,487
pushing the national re-
covery rate to 95.65 per
cent, while the COV-
ID-19 case fatality rate
stands at 1.45 per cent.
The COVID-19 active
caseload has fallen be-
low 3 lakh. There are
2,92,518 active coronavi-
rus infections in the
country which compris-
es 2.90 per cent of the
total caseload, the data
stated. India’s COV-
ID-19 tally had crossed
the 20-lakh mark on Au-
gust 7, 30 lakh on Au-
gust 23, 40 lakh on Sep-
tember 5 and 50 lakh on
September 16. It went
past 60 lakh on Septem-
ber 28, 70 lakh on Octo-
ber 11, crossed 80 lakh
on October 29, 90 lakh
on November 20 and
surpassed the one-crore
mark on December 19.
According to the
ICMR, 16,31,70,557 sam-
ples have been tested up
to December 21 with
10,72,228 samples being
tested on Monday.
The 301 new fatalities
include 55 from Maha-
rashtra, 41 from West
Bengal, 27 each from
Kerala and Delhi.
“Our figures are be-
ing reconciled with the
Indian Council of Med-
ical Research,” the min-
istry said on its website,
adding that state-wise
distribution of figures
is subject to further
verification and recon-
ciliation.—PTI
Virusweakensaslowest
casesrecordedin1-day
COVID-19: Number of daily new infections reduced in the country
Members (health) of NITI Aayog Dr. Vinod K. Paul along with the Secretary, Ministry of Health and
Family Welfare, Rajesh Bhushan during a press conference on the actions taken, preparedness and
updates on COVID-19, in New Delhi on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY ANI
New Delhi: The eco-
nomic loss due to pre-
mature deaths and
morbidity from air
pollution was
2,60,000 crore or 1.4
per cent of the GDP in
India in 2019, accord-
ing to a new scientific
paper. It also said that
1.7 million deaths
(18% of total deaths)
in the country were
attributable to air pol-
lution last year. As
per the scientific pa-
per on health and eco-
nomic impact of air
pollution published
in Lancet Planetary
Health, household air
pollution decreased
in India resulting in
64% reduction in the
death rate attributa-
ble to it from 1990 to
2019, whereas the
death rate from out-
door ambient air pol-
lution increased dur-
ing this period by 115
per cent. The findings
highlight that “lost
output from deaths
and diseases due to
air pollution led to a
loss of 1.4% of the
GDP of the country”.
Air pollution killed 1.7
million Indians in 2019
FROM PG 1
FROM PG 1
LARGEST CENTRE TREATING 59 PATIENTSCOVID CURBS
Tighten noose...
We have a dual obliga-
tion to send criminals to
jail on one side and get
their money to inves-
tors,” CM said. Gehlot
said that Home, Co-oper-
ative, Finance and other
related departments
should jointly develop a
system in the state to
discourage unregulated
deposit schemes, so that
no illegal society can
grab money from people
by luring on the pretext
of providing more inter-
est. In the meeting, Ad-
ditional Director Gen-
eral of SOG Ashok
Rathore informed that
more than one and a
half thousand cases
have been registered
against societies in vari-
ous police stations.
Shah’s next...
undertheoppressionby
the state for quite some
time now,” stated a sen-
ior BJP MP from Ben-
gal. Sources said Shah
would be camping in the
state for two days. —ANI
New strain...
“(And) as of now, it has
no impact on the poten-
tial of vaccines being
developed in our coun-
try and (which) are
available in other coun-
tries,” he added.
Raid in...
likely to spread the in-
fection of any disease
dangerous to life), and
34 (Acts done by several
persons in furtherance
of common intention)
of IPC, police said. —ANI

8. NEWSJAIPUR | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2020
07www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
Promoted by First India News International Pvt. Ltd.
MOOCH NAHI
TO KUCH NAHI!
Astrology says that
if a person wears
certain colors or certain
fabrics and even if they
change their overall
appearance, a lot can
change in their lives.
While the effect of
these changes and their
correcponding efficacy
might be a topic of
discussion, however it
appears that one netaji,
from the tribal belt,
has taken the astral
advice seriously. The
netaji has long kept
himself clean shaven
to make a ‘good’ image
for himself among the
masses however, with
one after the other
‘political defeats’ some
astrologer suggested
that he should keep a
well groomed beard
and moustache and
therefore netaji is
sporting a new style
these days in the hope
that the ‘mooch’ might
get him a political
position or at least
some position in the
eyes of people. As they
say, Mooch nahi to kuch
nahi!
—Ravi Sharma
Controversial edict: Nine Khap
panchayat members arrested
PK Agarwal
Chittorgarh: Nine
members of a Khap
Panchayat have been
arrested for allegedly
passing a humiliating
edict against two cous-
ins, to put shoes of the
members of the Pan-
chayat on their heads
for an hour, in Chittor-
garh district.
In an FIR registered
with Kotwali police sta-
tion on December 13,
the complainants Kam-
lesh and Kishan alleged
that the Khap Panchay-
at has also imposed a
fine of Rs 11,000 on
them earlier.
After investigation,
police arrested nine
persons on Monday and
produced them before a
court where the magis-
trate remanded them to
judicial custody.
Police said that one
Mangi Bai had adopted
Rakesh, who is the
brother of Kishan, as
her son but now there
was some dispute be-
tween Mangi Bai and
Rakesh over financial
matters. Rakesh had
called the panchayat in
December 2019 where
he entered into verbal
spat with the panchayat
members. Another
meeting of the panchay-
at was called in Febru-
ary last in which
Bhairual, Narayan Lal,
Hariram, Dinesh and
others imposed a fine of
Rs 11000 and asked
Kamlesh and Kishan to
put the shoes of the
members of Panchayat
on their head for one
hour.ASI Mahendra
Singh said that nine ac-
cused were arrested af-
ter investigation.
Members of the Khap panchayat in police custody in Chittorgarh.
They were arrested
for an edict against
two cousins, to put
shoes on their heads
In Bengal, the battle
of perception begins
Prashant Saxena
D
efection, disin-
formation/mis-
information and
inducing fear of defeat
are among the essential
instruments of state-
craft, which political
parties love to settle
scores with their adver-
saries. Something of
this sort is very much in
evidence in West Bengal
where Assembly polls
are due in about three
months from now.
It is here the cut-
throat politics would
test the larger efficacy
of BJP’s Hindutva in its
conquest of the east.
So far, so good for BJP
by all indications -- the
grandstanding has paid
off: starting from the
activist Governor to
projecting the ranco-
rous Trinamool Con-
gress Chief Minister
Mamata Banerjee, it all
seems to add up to saf-
fron calculations.
When Suvendu Adhi-
kari switched sides
along with a sitting MP
and nine MLAs besides
others, including local
Muslimleaders,atapub-
lic rally last week, the
perceptioninthesaffron
camp was south Bengal
is more or less won.
Didi, the once stormy
petrel, isn’t a pushover.
She struck back on
Monday, leaving the
BJP MP from Bishnu-
pur in Bankura district,
Saumitra Khan, in
tears. Though the MP
has vowed to divorce
his wife Sujata Mondal
Khan for joining the
“enemy” TMC, Mamata
again looks menacing
enough to put the BJP
in its place. The battle
of perception has be-
gun in earnest.
Mamata then sum-
monedherpollstrategist
Prashant Kishor to do
some plain-speak: the
BJP won’t cross the dou-
ble-digit figure in the
294-member Assembly
else he’d quit Twitter!
On her part, the CM
spoke to NCP boss
Sharad Pawar and tried
towinhissympathyover
the alleged attempts by
the Centre to destabilize
opposition-ruled states.
There are two other
fronts where TMC and
BJP would try to outdo
each other: the ‘Gorkha-
land’ politics of Dar-
jeeling hills in the east
and the Muslim factor
that holds the key
across the state in over
100 Assembly seats.
The Gorkha Janmuk-
ti Morcha has resur-
faced with the emer-
gence of Bimal Gurung,
who had been under-
ground for over three
years after a violent
clash with the state au-
thorities in 2017. Except
around over a dozen
seats where the Gorkha-
land demand matters,
the rest of Bengal is
against the statehood.
Rather than arresting
him for several pending
cases, Mamata has al-
ready extended an olive
branch to Bimal by al-
lowing him to hold a
rally. For BJP, there is a
clear opportunity: “It is,
say, 15 versus 280 seats.
The TMC can now easi-
ly be accused of soft-
pedaling the Gorkha-
land issue. For us, we’ll
go with the rest of Ben-
gal,” said a BJP leader.
On Muslim votes, the
AIMIM of Asaduddin
Owaisi has staked its
claim. In a state where
the Trinamool is hard-
pressed to corner the
minority vote in the
face of Congress strain-
ing every nerve to sew
up an alliance with the
Left Front, the prospect
of vote division looks
eminently clear.
Didi, the once stormy petrel, isn’t a pushover.
Mobile retailers vow to attract govt
attention towards industry welfare
First India Bureau
Jaipur: The mainline
(offline) retailers under
All India Mobile Retail-
ers Association (AIM-
RA), an apex body rep-
resenting and working
for over 1.5 lakh mobile
retailers of the country
joined together digital-
ly and announced
the #FightForRight
(#HaqKiLadai) against
the discriminatory and
predatory policies fa-
vouring online trade by
the brands.
In tough COVID-19
era, when the market is
already undergoing tur-
bulence and uncertainty,
adding on to woes, retail-
ers claim of ‘facing the
wrath of predatory and
discriminatory policies
of brands favouring the
onliners, thus killing the
chances of their surviv-
al, leading to unexpected
huge number(Over 40K
nationally) getting shut
down in near future
which will lead to heavy
unemploymentandhuge
losses’.
The association has
been demanding for a
nationalregulatorybody
to regulate the online
businesswhichwillhelp
in creating a balanced
trade. Sunil Gupta, Ra-
jasthan State President
(AIMRA) in a statement
shared that exclusive
product launches for on-
line channel with prod-
uct availability for first 7
days and more only on
online(preferentialsale/
window period), dis-
criminatory Pricing,
brands resorting to divi-
sive policy by offering
products to selective re-
tailers instead of all, re-
duction in retail mar-
gins, arbitrary commis-
sions charged by finan-
cial institutions on their
digital transactions, re-
duced credit lines, up-
front payments and de-
layedCNsundertheGST
law were some of the
core issues before the re-
tailers and needed ur-
gent attention.
Navneet Pathak , vice
president AIMRA Ra-
jasthan, shared that to
address these issues As-
sociation now plans to
raise its voice at vari-
ous levels right from
Brands, to Government
Stake holders, Financi-
ers etc to fight for the
right under the #Fight-
ForRight, #HaqKiLadai
campaign.
Drug peddler
arrested with
opium worth
Rs 15 lakh
First India Bureau
Jaipur: Under opera-
tion Prahar being run
against drug traffick-
ing, Hanumangarh po-
lice on Tuesday arrest-
ed a man and seized
nine kg of opium from
his possession.
A Maruti Wagon R
was seized from the ar-
rested person. The ac-
cused was smuggling
drugs after pasting a
slip on his car that he
was on Covid-19 duty. He
was arrested when po-
lice was on a routine
checking by putting
barricading at several
places in Sangria area
on Monday night. Dur-
ing the checking, the ac-
cused Omprakash (45)
was stopped. The police
seized nine kg of opium
worth about Rs 15 lakh
from his possession.
During interrogation
he told police that he
was a WHO officer and
had put Covid-19 slip on
his vehicle to escape
from the police. The in-
terrogation of the ac-
cused is currently un-
derway and a case has
been registered against
him. Police said the ac-
cused hails from Nokha
Road in Ganga Shahar.
ON A COURTESY CALL
BJP Member of Parliament from Jaipur Rural, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore meets Uttar
Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, in Lucknow on Tuesday.
Nine-year-old girl writes to Guj CM for
sewerage plant, clean water to people
First India Bureau
Jaipur: Nine-year-old
girl Tashvi Amit Shar-
malivinginAhmedabad
has written a letter to
Gujarat Chief Minister
Vijay Rupani, urging
him to set up a sewage
plant in the state.
Describing clean wa-
ter is a basic need of
the people, Tashvi has
appealed to the chief
minister to pay atten-
tion to the matter
raised by kids.
Tashvi is a Corona
Warrior of Digital Baal
Mela. She sent her en-
try in a cooking compe-
tition in the country’s
first digital children’s
fair. She has now
knocked on the social
media platform of the
chief minister.
A student of class
4th standard of Zydus
School for Excellence,
Vejalpur, Tashvi Amit
Sharma is also a part of
the Jal Jeevan Mission.
The Digital Baal Me-
la’s team has launched
the new campaign to
connect children with
water conservation.
Digital Baal Mela is
an online platform
where children can
show their perfor-
mance by uploading
videos of photos.
Tashvi Sharma
Protocol ignored,netas & babus keep mum!
Rajendra Chhabra
Jaipur: The presence
of former Chief Secre-
tary DB Gupta in the
function organised to
celebrate the comple-
tion of two years of the
state government has
become a point of dis-
cussion in the bureau-
cratic & political cir-
cles. Gupta was seated
in front row with two
advisors Arvind Ma-
yaram & Govind Gup-
ta, along with Chief
Secretary Niranjan
Arya & DGP ML La-
thar and knowledgea-
ble sources claim that
this was highly irregu-
lar & wrong. This is
due to the fact that he is
not an advisor to the
government rather is
seated on a statutory
position, which is at
par with the Chief Jus-
tice of High Court.
Not only is this posi-
tion different and above
the other than minis-
ters and even Chief
Minister. During the
two year celebration
function, ministers and
CM were seated on the
stage and CIC DB Gupta
was seated in the front
row with bureaucrats
which is completely
against the protocol and
honour of CIC’s post.
Someone should advice
DB Gupta not to attend
this function as he is
neither government
servant nor a ‘Yes Man’
or paid advisor. Also,
now he has constitu-
tional responsibilities.

9. An individual’s happiness is
always dependent on the
outside and the within and
the within has a bigger role.
—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO & Editor, First India
JAIPUR | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 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
Rajendra Chhabra
Jaipur: With a view to
ensure the optimum
utilisation of available
talent at CMO, CM
Ashok Gehlot has re-
distributed responsi-
bilities among its exist-
ing staff at CMO which
continues to be headed
by a low profile and a
silent performer Kul-
deep Ranka.
1 Rajesh Kumar Gupta

Forest, Environ-
ment, State Pollution
Control Board

CMRF, DIPR 
Tour-
ism/Art and Culture,
Archaeology and
Museums 
Docu-
mentation/Project
Monitoring/Monitor-
ing of Implementation
of Important Cabinet
Decisions of Projects
and Programs
2. Arti Dogra

DoP 
Mines and
Petroleum 
Energy

Home, Police, Home
Guards, Vigilance, Jail,
Civil Defence/RSBI

RPG
3. Amit Dhaka

Industries/MSME/
Khadi/BIP/PSUs/ESI

Labour, Employ-
ment and Skill, Facto-
ry and Boilers 
UDH,
Housing Board/LSG/
Jaipur Metro 
Animal
Husbandry, Gopalan,
Dairy, Fisheries

Agriculture/ Agri
Marketing/ Horticul-
ture/ RSAMB

Co-operative
4. Rajan Vishal

Finance & Taxation/
Excise/ Small Sav-
ings/ S.I & GPF

Planning & Man-
power, Economics
and Statistics

PHED, GWD

Water Resources,
CAD, IGNP 
PWD

VIP References
5. Shaheen Ali Khan

Minorities Affairs/
Waqf 
Youth & Sports

Medical & Health,
Medical Education

Ayurved/ Family Wel-
fare, Transport, Social
Justice & Empowere-
ment/ Disabilities

TAD, WCD
6. Lekh Raj Toshawara

Rural Development/
MNREGA/ Panchayati-
Raj 
Election 
Water
Shed and Soil Con-
servation 
General
Admin of CMO
7. Dinesh Kumar Sharma

I.T., Science & Tech-
nology 
Parliamen-
tary Affairs/ Assembly

Monitoring of CM/
Budget Announce-
ment 
Manifesto
Implementation

Compilation of Im-
portant Achievements

Highlights of all
Departments
8. Gaurav Bajad

DIsaster Manage-
ment/ Relief & Reha-
bilitation 
Education
(Higher/Technical)/
Bhasha/ Sanskrit
Education 
Education
(Primary/Secondary)

GAD/ Civil Aviation/
Cabinet/ Motor Ga-
rage/ Estate 
Mid Day
Meal 
Revenue/Colo./
Devsthan/ Sainik Kalyan

Administrative
Reforms 
Printing and
Stationary 
Food and
Civil Supplies
9. Lalit Kumar
RPG at CMR 
Moni-
toring Redressal of
Public Grievances

RPG
10. GS Yadav

Departmental Enquiry
& Prosecution Sanction

Law & Justice

RTI Act
11. Laxman Singh Shek-
hawat

RPG
RE-DISTRIBUTION OF WORK AT CHIEF MINISTER’S OFFICE!
AMIT DHAKA RETAINS UDH, LEAVES HOME FOR ARTI DOGRA
Streamlined RHB to get more busy
with development work now on!
Shivendra Parmar
Jaipur: The 244th meet-
ing of the Board of Direc-
tors of the Rajasthan
Housing Board (RHB)
was held on Tuesday un-
der the chairmanship of
its Chairman Bhaskar A
Sawant during which 51
proposalswerediscussed.
RHB Commissioner
Pawan Arora informed
that a committee will set-
tle cases related to land
acquisition and lease. In-
terestingly, keeping in
mind the premium quali-
ty and less time taken by
the Board in completing
its projects, and after be-
coming the nodal agency
for construction of MLA
flats, the Board will now
construct a building for
State Election Depart-
ment.
“To settle land acquisi-
tion cases, it was decided
in the meeting that a com-
mittee will examine the
issues related to the ac-
quisition and lease of the
lands and if such lands
are useful to the board or
not. After this, a proposal
will be sent to the govern-
ment. For the land that
would be useful to RHB, it
would take the land
through agreement by
giving 25 percent of the
developedland.Moreover,
RHB will construct an of-
fice building of Chief
Election Commissioner,
Rajasthan and SWEEP
centre,whichwillbebuilt
in an area of 3,368 sqm in
Indira Gandhi Nagar Res-
idential Scheme located
in Jaipur. The proposed
building will have base-
ment, ground floor and
five floors. Its construc-
tion will be completed in
two phases and as per the
criteria, green building
plans will be used for
which about 29 crore of
rupees will be spent,”
Arora said.
Meanwhile, an approv-
alhasbeengiventoimple-
ment Rajasthan Building
Regulations-2020 in Ra-
jasthan Housing Board.
Now auction will be done
according to the circular
of the Urban Develop-
ment Department. “Cir-
cular issued by the Urban
DevelopmentDepartment
has been accepted in the
auction cases by the
Board. It is noteworthy
that the circular was is-
sued by the Urban Devel-
opment Department in
January 2020 to simplify
the process related to the
auction.Accordingtothis
circular, the auction of
the plot should not be re-
jected if the bid exceeds
the minimum bid,” the
Commissioner informed.
Meanwhile, RHB has
been struggling with
shortage of personnel of
various cadres for a long
time, therefore it was de-
cided in the meeting that
recruitment will be done
on 573 posts for smooth
workingof theboard.The
proposal in this regard
will be sent to the state
government.
244TH MEETING OF BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF RAJASTHAN HOUSING BOARD
 Building Regulations -2020 in force
 RHB to construct an office building of
Chief Election Commissioner,
Rajasthan and SWEEP centre
 Now, all auction will be done according
to the circular of the Urban
Development Department
 Recruitment on 573 vacant posts given
assent
‘Kota will become a
developed & beautiful
city in times to come’
RajCongleadersmeetMaken,
discusscurrentpoliticalscenario
‘Chargesheetsubmittedby
SOGdoesn’tnameShekhawat’
Bhaskar A Sawant, Pawan Arora, RK Vijayvargiya and KC Meena sitting in the board meeting.
Bhanwar S Charan
Kota: UDH Minister
Shanti Dhariwal on
Tuesday, said that Kota
will become a developed
and beautiful city in
times to come. He said
that the core area of the
city from railway sta-
tion to Anantpura will
have no red light except
Kotadi Chauraha and
traffic will run smooth-
ly, without any conges-
tion on nearly 12 km
road.
On the last day of his
four-day visit to Kota,
the minister visited
sites of several mega
projects and gave neces-
sary directions to offi-
cials. He visited railway
station, library, JK Lon
Hospital, Nayapura
chauraha & other sites.
He also went to the site
of Chambal heritage
river front on the banks
of Chambal river and
claimed it will become a
marvelous site which
will attract tourists in
large numbers.
The minister, accompa-
nied by officials, in-
spected the site in an
open Gypsy & directed
officials to complete
works of safety wall in
eastern side by March
31 & western side by
April 30. He also direct-
ed engineers to expedite
the project work.
Yogesh Sharma
Jaipur: The rounds of
meeting of Rajasthan
Congress leaders with
the AICC general secre-
tary in charge Ajay Mak-
en continued on Tuesday
with Jat leaders includ-
ing revenue minister
Harish Choudhary call-
ing on Maken.
The leaders held dis-
cussions with Maken
over the prevailing politi-
cal situation in the state.
The leaders who are as-
piring positions in the
party organisation and
government also met
Maken.
After the Delhi visit of
CM Ashok Gehlot and
PCC president Govind
Singh Dotasra, the visits
of Rajasthan Congress
leaders have increased
suddenly. Such leaders
include ministers and
others. Revenue minister
Harish Choudhary held a
detailed discussion with
Maken in Delhi on Tues-
day. They also discussed
the issue of farmers
while former leader of
opposition Rameshwar
Dudi also held a meeting
with Maken. Dudi dis-
cussed the results of the
Panchayat elections, po-
litical appointment and
organisational issues.
Earlier, ministers Ra-
jendra Yadav, Tikaram
Jully, Bhajan Lal Jatav
met Maken.
For nearly a week,
more than 50 Congress
leaders including Push-
pendra Bharadwaj and
MLA Rajendra Bidhuri
have met Maken in Delhi.
Rajendra Chhabra
Jaipur: It appears that
senior IAS Subodh
Agarwal, who was sent
out of the Secretariat
due to his seniority, is
not keen on putting in
the same work ethics he
displayed over the
years. There was a time,
when he was handling
important departments
like Mines & Petroleum
and Industries and now,
he has been given a
comparatively minor
charge of CMD of
RREC and made to sit in
a small office.
Sources reveal that
few of his well wishers
have advised him that
instead of being side-
lined, it is far better to
work under CS Niran-
jan Arya with honour
and more so, when he
has to stay in the service
for five years before re-
tiring. Word is that
Agarwal has taken the
suggestion and made up
his mind and therefore,
it is highly probable
that he may return to
the Secretariat in the
next transfer list.
Awaiting a comeback?
Harish Choudhary and Rameshwar Dudi call upon Ajay Maken at
New Delhi on Tuesday.
COVID-19
UPDATE
RAJASTHAN
2,634
DEATHS
3,00,716
CONFIRMED CASES
GUJARAT
4,248 DEATHS 2,37,247 CASES
DELHI
10,329 DEATHS 6,18,747 CASES
WORLD
17,15,207
DEATHS
7,80,03,474
CONFIRMED CASES
INDIA
1,00,97,540
CONFIRMED CASES
1,46,438
DEATHS
MAHARASHTRA
48,876 DEATHS 19,02,458 CASES
UTTAR PRADESH
8,224 DEATHS 5,76,824 CASES
KARNATAKA
12,016 DEATHS 9,10,241 CASES
From Page 1
Moreover, a notice of
stay has also been is-
sued by the Court.
Interestingly, the writ
petition filed in the High
Court claims that the
chargesheet submitted
by SOG does not name
GajendraSinghShekha-
wat and others as ac-
cused therein ‘with the
sole objective of not ar-
resting them despite
their names finding
place in chargesheet in
relation to gigantic
scam. This raises raises
suspicion in relation to
the credibility of the in-
vestigation conducted
by the state police. On
this count alone, investi-
gation by CBI, ED and
SFIO or a SIT’ to investi-
gate becomes necessary.
Notably, Shekhawat
was the business part-
ner of Vikram Singh,
the chairman of the so-
ciety, prior to his elec-
tion as MP. Amit Kumar
Purohit and Madhusu-
dan Purohit, the coun-
sel for the petitioner,
said that Vikram Singh
and others duped the
investors and kept them
in dark by showing fake
records and posters.
Meanwhile, the next
hearing in the case is on
3 January. Thousands
of investors have alleg-
edly lost about Rs 900
crores in the scam.
Gajendra Singh Shekhawat with wife Naunand Kanwar.
CM Ashok Gehlot
Subodh Agarwal
Shanti Dhariwal

10. JAIPUR, WEDNESDAY
DECEMBER 23, 2020
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia
facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia 09
THE FINALISTS OF MISS OCEANWORLD 2020 FROMTHE
TOP 11 COUNTRIES ABSOLUTELY ACED IT INTHE
‘NATIONAL COSTUME ROUND’HELDVIRTUALLY!
FLAUNTING THE
NATIONALITIES
n international beau-
ty pageant, Miss
Ocean World 2020
which began earlier
this month, recently
held a ‘National Cos-
tume Round’ for all
the finalists competing for the
title. Participants from a total
of 11 countries were a part of
this round, where they flaunt-
ed the traditions and values
of their respective countries.
After this round, a total of 7
finalists will be shortlisted for
the Interview Round, which is
to be held on the 28th of this
month. Renowned people
from the fashion world will be
a part of the interviewer pan-
el, to make the competition
more interesting.
Yogesh Mishra from Jaipur,
who is the host and the inter-
national director of this beau-
ty pageant has been working
extremely hard and making
the Pink City proud with his
achievements. From organis-
ing beauty pageants at the
state level to going interna-
tional, Yogesh has come a re-
ally long way. The pageant
Miss Ocean World is
ranked as #17
in the world
of inter-
national
pageantry, which is an ex-
tremely proud moment for
our country.
Talking about being the
host of the pageant this year
and for the next two years, Yo-
gesh Mishra stated, “Being a
host of this esteemed beauty
pageant is a really great op-
portunity for me. It is the very
first time that I am organising
a pageant virtually, but it is
definitely a great and inter-
esting experience altogether.”
Something that makes this
pageant unique from the oth-
ers is the fact that it acted as
a great opportunity for the
women who were of a bigger
age, and not married.
“We believe that everyone
must receive an equal chance,
and that is the reason why we
didn’t focus much on the age
this time- all we required
were the other criteria to be
fulfilled by the participants,”
said Yogesh.
He added, “This year, the
theme of the pageant is
‘Clean Ocean’. Since there
are hardly any activi-
ties dedicated to
the oceans in
the pageants,
a great buzz
was created
across the
g l o b e
once people found out about
the theme. We will be spread-
ing awareness to save the
ocean and keep it clean.”
The grand finale of Miss
Ocean World 2020 will be held
virtually on 30 December.
NEHAL NAYAR
nehal.nayar@firstindia.co.in
A
Uganda
Tanzania
Peru
India France
Nigeria
Venezuela
Spain
United Kingdom Chile
Yogesh Mishra
Egypt

11. 10
ETCJAIPUR | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2020www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
FACEOFTHEDAY
RIDHI SHARMA, Model
LEO
JULY 24 - AUGUST 23
Don’t be hasty in paying up
for something without
getting all the details. A
health initiative promises to
keep you fit and on the go. Forging
cordial relations with those you meet
at work will be in your favour. Your
moodiness may cause friction at
home.
LIBRA
SEPT 24 - OCTOBER 22
You will succeed in
enhancing your earning. A
business deal may have to
be executed on a different
date. An outdoor activity is likely to
give you a chance for sweating out.
Family would be supportive for those
trying to settle at a new place. Devote
few hours to meditation.
ARIES
MAR 21 - APR 20
At this time, you can be at
your penny-pinching best.
It may appear tough to
please a workplace senior
as he/she expects more from you.
Devoting time to family will provide
immense happiness. Adopting a
better lifestyle is indicated for some
and will keep them fit and healthy.
SAGITTARIUS
NOV 23 - DEC 22
Health remains excellent.
Arrears or back payments
are likely to be received. Day
proves favourable for those
holding responsible positions.
Someone’s proximity on the domestic
front is likely to keep you contented.
Those spiritually inclined will be able to
set out on a pilgrimage.
GEMINI
MAY 21 - JUNE 21
New avenues of earning
will help secure the
financial front. You will
manage to nip a medical
problem in the bud and save yourself
from problems. Your decisions on
the professional front will turn out to
be correct. Your hands will be full in
entertaining demands of youngsters.
AQUARIUS
JAN 21 - FEB 19
You are apple of your
parents eyes. A property
issue you are apprehensive
about is likely to be settled
amicably. Your attempts to gain
popularity on the social front are likely
to meet with partial success. An ego
clash on the work front cannot be ruled
out for some.
TAURUS
APR 21 - MAY 20
Although expenditure rises,
you will manage things
well. This is not the right
time to disclose your
business intentions; keep your
competitors guessing. A perfect
understanding with spouse will help
in gauging moods and pre-empting
showdowns. is quite indicated.
CAPRICORN
DEC 23 - JAN 20
Good returns are foreseen
on an investment. Only a
professionally sound
strategy will succeed in the
kind of competitive environment that
you are in. Peace and quiet prevails
on the home front for you to rest and
recoup. Addition or alteration to
existing property is foreseen.
VIRGO
AUG 24 - SEP 23
Keep control over
expenditure. Sticking to
your exercise regime will
begin to show positive
results. Avoid being lazy on the
professional front. Family will be
most caring and they will do a lot to
make you comfortable and happy. Be
patient towards them.
CANCER
JUNE 22 - JULY 23
You can expect the
financial situation to
improve substantially.
Successfully completing an
assigned job will give you the edge at
work. Your dogged determination will
keep you fit. Keeping a positive
outlook will help in spreading
positivity at home.
PISCES
FEB20 - MARCH 20
You can become money
conscious and come into
the ‘saving’ mode. A
colleague can prove a great
asset in helping settle pending tasks.
You are likely to please the family
members by taking them to their
favourite haunt. Legal help regarding
a property matter will be beneficial.
SCORPIO
OCT 23 - NOVEMBER 22
Whatever you earn today is
likely to be spent. Chances
of getting a new job look
bright for young profes-
sionals. Home environment will
encourage you to relax and let your
hair down. Those who have applied
for a house or plot may get a step
closer to acquiring it.
YOUR
DAYHoroscope by
Saurabbh Sachdeva
Promoted by Shree Salasar Oversease Pvt. Ltd.
KISAN KUMBH
n our ancient Hin-
du culture, a great
festival & pilgrim-
age takes place
every 12 years at
Prayagraj, on the
confluence of the
holy Ganga, Jamuna & the
mythical Saraswati rivers.
The attendees are from all
sections of Hindu life, and
they assemble in the larg-
est numbers known to man-
kind. It is a 48-day Mela
(festival). It is the KUMBH
MELA. It is believed that
when the gods were carry-
ing the Kumbh (pot) con-
taining the Elixir of im-
mortality, some drops fell at
this site. Thereafter, any-
one who bathes here wash-
es away all the sins of his/
her life.
Today we are witnessing
a far bigger phenomenon in
numbers and inclusive-
ness. We are becoming part
of History in the conflu-
ence of all castes, regions,
religions and races. The
sins of strife between these
sections are being sani-
tized in this KISAN
KUMBH to form a single
Bhartiyata (Indianness).
Starting as a small agita-
tion in the heart of Punjab,
it has already snowballed
into a festival of an ancient
civilization waking up to
its ideals. The world has al-
ready taken note.
This miracle started to
unfold from the day the
water-cannons and tear gas
shells were greeted with
folded hands and serving
of food, milk, tea & fruits to
the policemen. The pall of
aggression evaporated into
a peaceful brotherhood. Af-
ter all, 90% of these police-
men were from rural stock
too. With subtle connivance
they let the farmers remove
the barricades and dance &
sing to the Delhi borders.
Then the hugely popular
Punjabi singers joined in
and lifted the sky of the
spirit high. Singing Live
from atop tractors and
makeshift stages, they mo-
tivated the farmers by ap-
pealing to their bravery
and history of their fight
against injustice.
If UNESCO had called
Kumbh Mela as an “Intan-
gible Cultural Heritage of
Humanity” in these lofty
words, I am sure many in-
tellectuals must be scurry-
ing around to define this
phenomenon. If anyone
thinks these millions were
“organised” to demon-
strate, he must be living in
an illusion. People from
across India have started to
move voluntarily towards
Delhi as if drawn by a mag-
net. They are sensing His-
tory being created in a tan-
gible form and deeply long
to be part of this festive
revolution.
The sceptical and cynical
urbane urban were brought
up to think of these sons &
daughters of the soil as vil-
lage bumpkins. Now they
are surprised by common
sense and general knowl-
edge voiced by the sun-
kissed farmers in front of
mikes thrust at them by the
farm-illiterate paparazzi.
To further fox everybody,
they haven’t nominated
just one single leader to
lead them, lest he/she be
manipulated via duress,
money or guile of the pow-
ers that be. The sagacity
and grip over their subject
were evident when the
three dozen Union Leaders
sat patiently for long hours
across smug Govt officers
and ministers and meticu-
lously weeded out all the
glaring anomalies in the
Farm Bills. The Govt
agreed to amend those er-
rors and unwittingly made
their “farmer-friendly”
Bills look devious and in-
fructuous. The KISAN
KUMBH is here to push In-
dia’s civilization onto a
unifying train that will
steamroll all political she-
nanigans that “fooled all
the people, all the time”.
Any farmer worth his salt
and guilty of tolerating the
callousness of various Gov-
ernments will surely em-
bark on this pilgrimage to
the KISAN KUMBH to
cleanse the soul of Bharat
Varsh.
RAINU SINGH
cityfirst@firstindia.co.in
I

12. lliot Page
came out as
transgender
on Insta-
gram and
was met
with an over-
whelming response
filled with love and
support for The Um-
brella Academy star.
Weeks later, Page
took to IG yet again to
share his first hand-
some selfie along
with a heartfelt mes-
sage to his fans and
everyone else
who showed their af-
fection towards the
33-year-old actor’s
brave decision.
“From the bottom
of my heart, thank
you. Your love and
support has been the
greatest gift. Stay
safe. Be there for
each other. If you are
able, support @
transanta and
@ t r a n s -
lifeline. See you
in 2021. Xoxo El-
liot,” Elliot
penned.
—Agency
E
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
11JAIPUR | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2020
ETC
SEE YOU
IN 2021...
A
dam Brody is opening up in
his new interview with WSJ
about the upcoming Gossip
Girl revival. The new HBO
Max series is a revival of the televi-
sion show that his wife, actress
Leighton Meester, starred in on the
WB in the early 2000s. However, it
doesn’t look like they will personally
be watching the revival of the show,
which isn’t a reboot. “I highly doubt
we’ll watch it front to back,” Adam
shared. “I don’t think we’re the audi-
ence, but I’m sure we’ll dip our toes
in.” Adam did reveal the things
that he and Leighton had been
watching though. “We just
finished The Reagans, I
enjoyed that,” he
shared. “We watched
Mank, the Fincher
movie, last night.
We watched The
Crown, The Vow,
[and] Moonbase
8, which I
thought was
kind of sweet,
lovely.”
—Agency
HIGHLY REBOOT
Y
ami wrapped up shooting for
the first schedule of her
forthcomingfilmBhootPo-
liceacrosslocationsinthe
state where she stayed for almost
a month. The actress informed
that she has just commenced
shootingforherremainingpor-
tions of the horror-comedy
flick in Mumbai. “As I com-
mence the Mumbai sched-
ule of ‘Bhoot police’ cannot
help but think of our shoot
inHimachal.Pandemichas
hit us all & everywhere but
the security that your home-
town gives you is amazing.
Home is where is the heart
is... #shootdiariesofHi-
machal #dalhousie,”
she wrote on Insta-
gram. Directed by
Pavan Kirpalani,
the horror-com-
edyfilmalso
stars Saif
Ali Khan,
J a c q u e -
line Fer-
nandez, Ar-
jun Kapoor
and Jaaved
Jaaferi.
—Agency
E
ven in the Earth’s
final moments,
peoplewill still be
mixing up Katy
Perry and Zooey De-
schanel! In the music
video for Perry’s Not the
End of the World, which
the pop singer dropped
Monday morning, a
spaceship full of benev-
olent blue-skinned al-
iens abducts Deschanel
thinking she’s Perry,
whom they revere and
wish to rescue before
our exhausted planet
comes to its untimely
demise. Ever the quick
thinker, the New Girl
star plays along, trying
on Teenage Dream-era
costumes and props in
hopes that she and her
fellow space travellers
can save Earth.
—Agency
A
ctor Arjun Ram-
pal has opened
up on shooting
for his upcom-
ingfilmNailPolishamid
the ongoing pandemic,
describing the experi-
ence as challenging. “It
was extremely challeng-
ing -- everything from
production teams hav-
ing to be on top of their
game, to actors being
vulnerable, to Zee5 tak-
ing a huge risk, to 9co-
stars) Manav (Kaul) and
Anand (Tiwari) getting
Covid, to shoot coming
to a halt for three
weeks,” Arjun said. He
added, “Re-gathering
ourselves and braving
the situation, we had all
the experiences. The
best feeling was fighting
through all these times
and finishing what we
had started.” —Agency
NOT THE END
OF THE WORLD
ENGAGED! BIG ANNOUNCEMENT
A
riana Grande just an-
nounced her engage-
ment to boyfriend Dal-
ton Gomez!
The 27-year-old
thank u, next su-
perstar posted a
series of photos
with her luxury
real estate agent
boyfriend to
her Instagram
on Sunday (De-
cember 20). “for-
ever n then
some,” she cap-
tioned the set of
photos. In one pho-
to, she showcases a
massive ring on her
left ring finger.
“congrats to these two amaz-
ing souls. Ari we love you and
could not be happier for you.
Dalton you are a lucky man,”
manager Scooter Braun com-
mented.
The two were first spotted
together hanging out around
Valentine’s Day, and re-
ports surfaced that they
were dating by March.
They have also been
quarantining to-
gether amid the
pandemic.
—Agency
V
ersatile ac-
tor Ayush-
mann Khur-
rana has re-
cently shared a cute
selfie on his Insta-
gram page to an-
nouncehisnextfilm
Doctor G. The actor
can be seen posing
with the script in
the picture. He has
also shared details
about his next cam-
pus comedy-drama
with Junglee Pic-
tures. After his hit
films like Bareilly
Ki Barfi in 2017 and
Badhaai Ho in 2018,
this is his third col-
laboration with
Junglee Pictures.
As per the title,
Ayushmann will
portray the role of a
doctor. It will be
helmed by Anubhu-
ti Kashyap. While
sharing the selfie,
Ayushmann wrote,
“Opening for con-
sultation soon
#DoctorG.” —Agency
ARJUN’S NAIL
POLISH
“During my
childhood, I
only watched
movies starring
Amitabh Bach-
chan and Dhar-
mendra at
home. I loved
the fight
scenes. The
only movies
apart from
these two stars
that I watched
were of Ra-
jinder Kumar.
I’ve always
had a strong
connection
to hill sta-
tions and
that’s the
reason I
chose movies
by Rajinder
Kumar,” he re-
called. “There was
a point in my life
when I didn’t do any-
thing except practise
music. Working in a fac-
tory was my backup op-
tion,” he added. —Agency
DILJIT
DOSANJH
REVEALS
YAMIFEELSSECURED
A
ctress Taapsee Pannu
has been dropping
jaw-dropping glimps-
es of her physical
transformation over the past
few weeks as she shoots for
Rashmi Rocket and fans have
been gushing over the star.
From nailing workout at the
gym to acing races on the
track, Taapsee has been win-
ning the hearts of her fans
with the amount of hard
work and dedication she has
been putting in for her film,
Rashmi Rocket.
She shared an inspiring
photo from the track. Seeing
the star’s toned muscles and
her determination to reach
the finish line, fans could not
help but laud her talent. Not
just this, with her photo, Taap-
see revealed that she was gear-
ing up for the last race of
Rashmi Rocket.
—Agency
RASHMI ROCKET’S LOOK
Ayushmann Khurrana
...his post
Ariana Grande
Yami Gautam
Arjun Rampal
Diljit Dosanjh
Katty Perry
Elliot Page
Leighton Meester
Taapsee Pannu’s post

13. CITY FIRST
C
S Niranjan Arya
greeted Senior Con-
gress leader Shishu-
pal Singh Nimba-
hera when the latter paid
him a courtesy visit. He
greeted him with a garland
and congratulated him on
Sheela Singh being elected
the Up-Pradhan of Rani
Panchayat Samiti.
Shishupal Singh felici-
tated Niranjan Arya
with a traditional safa
and also apprised him
of the problems of the
region.
Arya listened carefully to
all the issues raised and
promised a quick redressal.
He also addressed the prob-
lems of the public repre-
sentatives who came to
meet him. They all con-
veyed their heartfelt grati-
tude to the Chief Secretary.
cityfirst@firstindia.co.in
12JAIPUR | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2020www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
CITY BUZZPromoted by Suvasa Apparel and Furnishing Pvt. Ltd.
EVENTS!
MEET & GREET!
Jagdeesh Chandra with
Gaurav Gaur, Director,
Elite Miss Rajasthan
and Akanksha Bhalla,
Patron of the pageant,
and the winners- Isha
Agarwal, Divija Gambhir
and Riya Sain, in Jaipur.
The winner of Elite
Miss Rajasthan was
Isha Agarwal, while
Divija Gambhir and Riya
Sain were the first and
second runner-ups.
(L-R) Riya Sain, Isha
Agarwal and Divija
Gambhir.
CUTE LITTLE
SANTAS
CITY FIRST
he Digital Baal
Mela by LIC wit-
nessed the cutest
Christmas based
competition on
Tuesday. One year
Sanyam from Bar-
mer became Santa. Being so
young he looked adorable
and mischievous in Santa’s
dress. Parents prepared
their children quite well.
Initially, the minimum age
of children was required to
be six years old to attend the
Children’s Fair. However,
when the entry of young
children started coming,
the Future Society,
which is organising the
Digital Children’s Fair
changed their decision in
favour of the children.
The last date for sending
entries was also changed
from 14 December to 21 De-
cember and prize distribu-
tion will take place on
Christmas.
7 years old Kapil Vash-
istha, a resident of Shivpuri
Colony in Sodala area of
Jaipur, decided to fulfil
the wishes of everyone
by becoming Santa
while Khwaish Gupta of
Jaipur sent her entry to the
Digital Children’s Fair as
Santa. The jaw-dropping
Santa look came from
1-year-old Swastika Sharma
from Guwahati.
cityfirst@firstindia.co.in
T
FolkDramaand
ContemporaryTheatre
CITY FIRST
I
n an ongoing Jai
Rangam Theatre
Festival, known
Author and Direc-
tor Ashok Rahi, Vilas
Janve (Expert of Folk
Theater), Rajeev
Acharya and Vinod
Joshi had a dialogue
about Shrinking
World of Folk Dra-
ma and Contem-
porary Theatre
on Tuesday.
Starting the panel
discussion, Senior
Theatre Artist Ashok
Rahi asserted that it’s
unfortunatefortheatre
thatFolkArtformslike
Nautanki Khyal Turra
Kalangi and Rammat
are losing their identi-
ties and relevance
though at one time
they were an integral
part of an entire world
of Hindi Theatre.
There was a time
when Ali Bakshi Khy-
al was famous till Del-
hi, which is now ap-
proximately on the
verge to end. Theatre
Director Rajeev
Aacharya said that so-
ciety and government
need to work with
joint hands to con-
servetheseArt Forms.
Actor Vilas Jahnve as-
serted that the con-
temporary theatre
world needs to adopt
new things from its
heritage and then
only it would be able
to reach masses.
Folk Art Specialist
Vinod Joshi believed
that in the current sce-
nario, artists of Folk
Theatre are going
through a very diffi-
cult financial phase.
Art Policies were also
discussed during the
panel discussion. The
session was seen by a
huge number of Thea-
tre Artists.
cityfirst@firstindia.co.in
CITY FIRST
D
epartment of Mathe-
matics&Statistics,Ma-
nipalUniversityJaipur
(MUJ) in association
with International Academy
of Physical Sciences (IAPS),
Prayagraj organised a 3-day
international conference ‘CO-
NIAPS XXVI’ which conclud-
ed on Sunday. The virtual con-
ference was titled ‘Interna-
tional Conference on Advanc-
esinMechanics’.Chief Guest
of the inaugural was Di-
rector, Inter-University
Accelerator Centre, New
Delhi, Avinash Chandra
Pandey. President MUJ, G K
Prabhu was also present on
the occasion.
The event featured 7 emi-
nent international speakers
and 15 distinguished national
speakers. More than 250 dele-
gates from India and abroad
participated in the conference
andaround61paperswerepre-
sentedduring15technicalses-
sions. Speakers were from
reputed organisations
such as Montclair State
University, NJ; University
of Johannesburg; Gubkin
RussianStateUniversityof Oil
and Gas, Moscow; IITs; NITs
and various state universities.
cityfirst@firstindia.co.in
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
Raj: The 3- day National Workshop on
‘The Art of Writing Research Papers’ was
organised by the Department of Business
administration and Xavier’s Research and
Publication Cell (XRPC). The workshop began
with the blessings and encouragement of A.
Rex Angelo S.J, Principal who motivated the
young researchers by emphasizing on the
significance of learning the art and Science
on Monday.
K’tka: Help4all was built
with a singular aim to
obliterate the lacuna with
technology and networking
Through this app, the
registered help providers
nearest to the person (Both
NGO’s and independent help
providers) can visually see
the location of the person
in need, nature of his need
and the urgency of his need
conveying the message that
‘you ARE NOT alone’.
Raj: Top health experts of Jaipur will give health tips
to Jaipurites and will receive awards as well.The
message will be given about the support as well as
protection from corona and health lifestyle.This unique
effort will be made for the first time in Jaipur and will
be held on 29 December at Argus Homes,Tonk Road.
A condolence meet for Late Mohanlal
Chhabra was held on Monday at his residence
at Jawahar Circle, Jaipur. The 66-year-old
former Financial Advisor to RCDF breathed
his last on Friday, 18 December. He is grieved
and remembered by his family- wife Kirti
Chhabra, son and daughter-in-law Ankit-
Poleena and daughter and son-in-law Sakshi-Rahul and a large
circle of extended family and friends.
Many art lovers visited the exhibition on mythology organised by Artist Harshil Patel on inaugural at
Ahmedabad ni Gufa Art Center in Ahmedabad on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY HANIF SINDHI
What a decision!CITY FIRST
M
ohanlal Sukhadia
University has
been a pioneer in
the state’s deci-
sion to reduce fees, realiz-
ing the economic crisis of
students during the Corona
period. The order to reduce
the 15 per cent fee in SFS
courses was issued two
months ago, which will
continue to be applica-
ble even in the ongoing
admission process. With
this, the university has
completely waived the fees
of 150 very needy students
on Sunday.
In October, several stu-
dent representatives met
Vice-Chancellor Prof.
America Singh and de-
manded to reduce the
fees. Considering this
the Vice-Chancellor sym-
pathetically agreed to re-
duce the 15 per cent fee in
SFS. Vice-Chancellor Pro-
fessor America Singh put
this decision in the Council
of Deans meeting on 8 Octo-
ber where it was unani-
mously passed.
cityfirst@firstindia.co.in
Kapil Khawash Sanyam Swastika
During the session
Prof. America Singh
CONDOLENCES!
—PHOTOBYSANTOSHSHARMA
FELICITATIONS!