First India Gujarat For Gujarat Today Epaper 07 March 2020 edition

1. AHMEDABAD l SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 2020 l Pages 14 l 3.00 RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/16208 l Vol 1 l Issue No. 102 Prime Minister Narendra Modi with President Ram Nath Kovind (2R) and Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu (R), during the swearing-in-ceremony of Bimal Julka (2L) who has been appointed as the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC), at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Friday. —PHOTO BY PTI WB GUV MEETS SHAH, APPRISES HIM OF SERIOUS GOVERNANCE CONCERNS est Bengal Governor J a g d e e p Dhankhar on Friday met Union Home Min- ister Amit Shah and apprised him of vari- ous issues of “serious concern touching upon the governance” in the state. Dhankhar met Shah at the latter’s office at the Parliament complex here, an official said. The meeting was held at the initiative of the Governor, who was appointed to the Con- stitutional post over seven months ago. “I had myself sought this meeting. I had sought this meeting under the background that over the (past) seven months I have been able to appreciate the situation on the cern touching upon Purohit. —PTI of Tamil Nadu Banwarilal Purohit and Governor of Haryana Satyadeo Narain Arya on Friday. W the governance in the state. I discussed with him a variety of is- sues,” Dhankhar told reporters here. This was his first meeting with Shah af- ter assuming charge as governor. It comes within a week of Shah’s visit to Kolkata. At a rally in the city , the Union Minister had expressed over the law and order situation in West Bengal. Dhankhar has been engaged in standoffs with the West Bengal government over a host of issues since assuming charge in July last year. Meanwhile, Shah also met Governor of Hary- ana Satyadeo Narain Arya and Governor of Tamil Nadu Banwarilal Jagdeep Dhankhar @jdhankhar1 Had more than half an hour productive meeting with the Union Home Minister Amit Shah at his Parliament House. Apprised the Union Minister about my perspective on various critical and worrisome facets of governance in the State of West Bengal. “anguish” ground with respect to the critical issues of governance. “I have availed this opportunity to ap- prise the Union Home Minister of various issues of serious con- Clockwise: Union Home Minister Amit Shah with West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, Governor Rupani Govt has been presenting surplus budget year after year Haresh Jhala crore during the Con- gress rule while “in our time, touched Rs crore even after slash- ing the duty.” When the Congress was in power, the State’s revenue was just Rs 11,000 crore and now touched a whopping Rs 1.25 lakh crore and this is why the government has been able to give a plan size of Rs 2.17 lakh crore. The State is giving subsidy to the tune of Rs 18,500 crore in various sectors. of Opposition party . Pa- tel said when the Con- gress was ruling the state in 1990 the fiscal deficit was 27.1 per cent, which has been brought down to 16.9 per cent. In 2001-02, the State’s rev- enue deficit was 13.50 per cent and it is 8.47 per cent today . The Minister said the country’s average GDP is 6.1 per cent, while that of Gujarat is 10.7 per cent, which is two percent higher than any other State. He also said people at large should not wor- ry about the public PINK OF FINANCIAL HEALTH it has 8,700 Gandhinagar: By its efficient management of State finances as well as its industry- friendly policies, the Vijay Rupani Govern- ment has ushered in huge industrial in- vestments while there has been an increase in its revenues. From Rs 20,000 crore in 2004-05, the revenues have increased to Rs 1,25,000 crore now. Energy Minister Sau- rabh Patel was replying to budget cut proposals put up by the members       it has trillion US $ by 2025, in which the State’s con- tribution will be phe- nomenal. Revenues even from sources like stamp duty has increased during the BJP rule, Patel said, adding that it was Rs 355 debt since State bor- rowings are for devel- opment work. The State’s economic growth has many-fold in the last two decades. Prime Minister Modi’s aim is to lift the nation’s economy to 5 grown Narendra —FILE PHOTO Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.

2. TALKING POINT 02 AHMEDABAD | SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 2020 www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia A FESTIVAL OF SOUL STIRRING MUSIC About 200 musicians from 10 different countries mesmerised the audience during the thirteenth edition of the World Sacred Spirit Festival, an extravaganza held at the Chokhelao Garden situated at the historic Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur WSSF provided a platform for these youngsters to show- case their newly acquired skills. The legendary Kachra Khan Manganiyar also de- livered his powerful rendi- tion of traditional Rajastha- ni Sufi folk songs as the in- augural event of the festival. The highlight of the pe- nultimate day of the perfor- mances was a musical col- laboration involving the Indian born Tibetan Loten Namling, who is a now set- tled in Switzerland and is an important voice for Ti- bet. He sang Milrepa com- positions while playing the Tibetan lute. Collaborating with him was the Padma Shri awardee Anwar Khan Manganiyar with his Di- vana Ensemble singing Meerabai bhajans Ustad Daud Khan Sadozai from Afghanistan on the sarod. They, and two female dancers with them, trans- ported the audience into a trance-like state, dancing to their music. Earlier that day, there was a fascinating instrumental performance by two Korean female musi- cians who have come to- gether as Duo Bud. One of them played a traditional Korean string instrument and, the other was the per- cussionist with a range of small drums and cymbals. Ustad Bahauddin Dagar in a dhrupad duet with Pel- va Naik, the Hindustani classical singer Kavita Seth, her son Kanishka per- forming as Kanishka Seth Trio and the Areej Sufi En- semble from Oman were the other significant per- formances this year. At the festival was also the Moroc- can poet Walid Ben Salem. With his soulful rendition of Arabic classical Sufi songs, a ghuzhang (tradi- tional Chinese string in- strument) was used, played by the Chinese musician Jiang Nan. Surprisingly, not knowing Arabic was no handicap to the sympathet- ic resonance that his music managed with the appreci- ative audience. Music, per- haps, has its own vocabu- lary that starts where words end. The promise in the festival brochure was to ‘enamour your soul with transcending Sufi perfor- mances’. The overall expe- rience of the WSSF left us nodding in agreement with them and with the Greek philosopher Plato that, “Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagina- tion and life to everything.” MAHENDRA SINGH DG INCOME TAX (INVESTIGATION) RAJASTHAN T preserved fifteenth-century Mehrangarh Fort of Jodh- pur in Rajasthan. As we walked in, the sound of the lead qawwali singer’s voice rising above that of the ac- companying tabla and the harmonium, was reverber- ating in the air. The support vocalists would occasional- ly provide a high-pitched counter to the lead singer against the background of rhythmic clapping by their team members. This vibrant and evocative performance by Danish Hussain Bada- yuni of the Sheswan Ghara- na of Rampur reminded us of the essence and the pow- er of devotional qawwali, missing in the insipid Bol- lywood versions. We were at the thirteenth edition of the World Sacred Spirit Festi- val, an extravaganza featur- ing 200 musicians from 10 different countries, held in Jodhpur from February 13- 16, 2020. There is a history to this event that has be- come popular on the global music calendar. The meticulous ongoing restoration of the Ahhi- chatragarh Fort in Nagaur is being carried out by the Mehrangarh Fort Museum Trust with the help of inter- national aid. The fort, to showcase its transforma- tion, was used as the venue for the Nagaur Sufi Festival first held in 2007. That festi- val has since become an an- nual feature, and the perfor- mances now continue at the Mehrangarh Fort in Jodh- pur. The name of this festi- val, featuring Indian and international music performances, was subsequently changed to the World Sacred Spirit Festi- val. For curating the events, the Trust engaged Alain We- ber, the curator of the fa- mous Fez Festival in Mo- rocco. On the criteria for the selection of specific per- formers, Maharaja Gaj Sin- gh II of Jodhpur, the chief patron of the Trust and the Festival elaborates, “those who captivate the live audi- ences and whose perfor- mances are a confluence of different types of Sufi mu- sic, that conveys the feeling of universality in the true spiritual sense, are chosen.” he Chokhelao Garden is located within the imposing and well- and Rakesh Chaurasia and team performing at the backdrop of Jaswant Thada. A nephew of the legendary Hariprasad Chaurasia, he has established a name for himself as an accomplished flautist. Conversation be- tween his flute and the tab- la, as a break from the struc- tured raga, was endearing. Traditional musicians of Western Rajasthan, the Manganiyar and the Langa, earn their livelihood singing on ceremonial occasions for the Rajput and Sindhi land- lords, respectively . The Meh- rangarh Fort Museum Trust has extended patronage to them, for the revival and ad- vancement of their tradi- tional art form. The Trust, through their Rajasthan In- ternational Folk Festival (RIFF) forum, is supporting training programmes for their young artists conduct- ed by accomplished teachers from their own community . It was heartening that the Sufism, an offshoot of Is- lam, originated in the Mid- dle East and reached its cul- tural zenith in South Asia under the rule of the Delhi Sultans. Moving away from the rigid religious dogmas, the Sufi saints emphasised the universality of God. Achieving the divine ecsta- sy of oneness with God through poetry and music became their forte. Central to the evolution of Sufi mu- sic in the Indian subconti- nent was Amir Khusrau (1253-1325), the favourite disciple of the Sufi saint Khwaja Nizamuddin Auli- ya. Inventing the sitar and the tabla, Khusrau was also the originator of the qaw- wali form of singing. Com- bining Persian poetry with imagery borrowed from the Indian nirguna bhakti cult, he composed a treasure of poems in song in the ver- traditional Mesmerised audience during the fest. was common. On the steps below the glorious Jaswant Thada cenotaph construct- ed in 1899 in white marble, we were fortunate to be mesmerised by the floating fluid sounds of the flute played by Rakesh Chaura- sia. It was a beautiful melo- dious combination of notes in the Indian classical form. the sterile atmosphere of large enclosed modern au- ditoriums. Here, artists per- forming on stages set up on the lakeside and in the mag- nificent courtyards in the fort premises itself, attract- ed intimate gatherings of music lovers. Informal in- teractions between the au- dience and the musicians nacular language, success- fully articulating the mysti- cal experience of the Sufis for the spiritual benefit of the audience. The locations selected for the performances in the WSSF provided an authen- ticity to the experience of listening to soul-stirring music that is not possible in Walid Ben Salem Anwar Khan & Loten Namling Duo Bud —PHOTOS BY MAHENDRA SINGH

3. AHMEDABAD l SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 2020 l Pages 14 l 3.00 18°C - 31°C OUR EDITIONS: JAIPUR & AHMEDABAD RNI NO. GUJ ENG/2019/16208 l Vol 1 l Issue No. 102 www.fi rstindia.co.in I www.fi rstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefi rstindia I facebook.com/thefi rstindia I instagram.com/thefi rstindia FLORAL LEELA Artists perform fl oral dance during ‘Faag Utsav’ at Govind Devji Temple in Jaipur. Devotees and tourists fl ocked to the temple premises to enjoy the dance-drama performances and devotional singing related to Radha Krishna followed by playing Holi with fl owers. —PHOTO BY SANTOSH SHARMA HOW THE ‘YES BANK’ COOKIE CRUMBLED  RBI monitoring Yes Bank since 2017 noticed governance issues, weak compliance: FM Sitharaman Parl to discuss Delhi on Mar 11, Shah will reply Oppn demanded a debate on violence earlier this week, causing a ruckus CRUCIAL READ LAND BUY WON’T LAPSE IF GOVT PAID COMPENSATION: SC T acquisition proceedings would not lapse as long as the government had tendered the compensa- tion. The court said land owners who refuse to accept the compensation cannot press for cancella- tion of acquisition of the land. A bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra and comprising of Justices Indira Banerjee, Vineet Saran, M.R. Shah and Ravindra Bhat clarifi ed that acquisition will be deemed to have lapsed only when government authorities fail to take possession and pay compensation. Turn on P5 he Supreme Court on Friday said land  Sitharaman said, RBI advised a change within Bank management after finding risky credit decision New Delhi: Parlia- ment will discuss last week’s Delhi violence on March 11, a day af- ter Holi, with Union Home Minister Amit Shah scheduled to re- ply, it was revealed today . Under pressure this week by the oppo- sition to hold a debate on the sensitive issue, the government had refused to do so till after Holi, with Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla arguing that the time was not right. It has now agreed to a short-duration dis- cussion that will see no voting on the subject. “We hope that the op- position will participate in the debate without interrupting the House as it was their demand to hold the discussion. Now the normalcy has returned to Delhi, we have no issues in par- New Delhi: Divulging details into the crisis that has engulfed Yes Bank, Finance Minis- ter Nirmala Sithara- man said RBI had been monitoring the beleaguered since 2017 and no- ticed governance is- sues and weak com- pliance besides wrong asset classification. Addressing press, Si- tharaman further stated that the RBI advised a change within the Yes Bank management after finding risky credit deci- sion. “Anil Group, Essel, DHFL, ILFS, Vodafone are some of the very stressed cor- porate whom Yes Bank lent,” she said. Meanwhile, Mumbai House of Yes Bank founder Rana Kapoor was searched by ED on Friday night. Turn on P5 Rahul Gandhi, Gaurav Gogoi and others stage protest at Parliament, against the suspension of party MPs from Lok Sabha, and also demanded resignation of Amit Shah over Delhi violence. bank RAHUL DEMANDS HOME MINISTER’S RESIGNATION OVER DELHI VIOLENCE Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and other members of the party on Friday sought Prime Minister Nar- endra Modi’s answers and demanded the resigna- tion of Union home minister Amit Shah over last month’s communal violence in Delhi. Gandhi and a bunch of other Congress leaders shouted slogans near the statue of Mahatma Gandhi demanding justice for the victims of the deadly riots, which have claimed the lives of more than 50 people. NGOs FOR PUBLIC CAUSES CAN’T BE PENALISED: SC N public causes via recog- nised means of protest and dissent cannot be deprived of funds from foreign contributors and sources, the Supreme Court said today in a potentially key verdict. The top court said organisations that did not have a political goal could not be penalised by declar- ing them “an organisation of political nature”. on-governmental or- ganisations supporting Ambani Account holders stand in a queue to withdraw money from Yes Bank in Navi Mumbai on Friday. RMC WAS NOT THAT LUCKY AS VMC YES Bank Pvt Ltd is in deep fi nancial trouble and so the Reserve Bank of India has directed to allow only Rs 50,000 withdrawal per account holder. Fortunately, Va- dodara Municipal Corporation, who has an account with the bank had timely withdrew Rs 267 crore from the bank and transferred to Bank of Baroda. Unfortunately Rajkot Municipal Corporation was that lucky, it has Rs 164 crore deposit with the Yes Bank, it is caught completely in the dark about it’s fi nancial situation. ‘BUYER’ SBI SHOWS INTEREST RBI said SBI has expressed willingness to invest in crisis-ridden Yes Bank.The central bank also said the investor bank shall invest in Yes Bank to the extent that it will hold 49% equity. Speaker Om Birla on Wednesday , comes after seven Congress MPs were suspended, till the end of the budget session (April 3), for creating a ruckus in the house. ticipating in it,” Pralhad Joshi, the Parliamenta- ry Affairs Minister, was quoted by a news agency . Confirmation of the date of discussion, first advanced by Lok Sabha Turn on P5 State mulling ban on mass gatherings in view of corona scare CENTRAL CIRCULAR Haresh Jhala hibit such visitors as many people booked buses and also ordered lunch packs in advance. “So till March 10, we can’t put such a ban, after that we can think of it,” a senior of- ficial said. As per scores of women visi- tors are brought by the well-wishers of the BJP and they are spending money to their visit to State As- sembly from different parts of the State. They are even paid a compen- sation of Rs 300 against their loss of wages. yatra planned by the Congress party . Sources in the State Government that this was discussed in a meeting two days ago, during a review of the preparations to tackle the spread of the virus in the State. The issue of mass gatherings was raised by an officer, citing the hundreds of visi- tors during the ongo- ing assembly session every day. He suggest- ed that visitors entry at the assembly visi- tors galleries should be stopped with im- have Gandhinagar: As a precautionary meas- ure among concerns over coronavirus, the State Government is seriously considering to ban mass gather- ings from March 10. For this, the govern- ment may rely on the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s circular of March 5 suggesting to reduce large public gatherings. If this ban comes on the eve of March 12, it could affect the Dandi       hinted sources, GOVT CANCELS WOMEN’S DAY 2020 EVENTS AS PRECAUTIONARY MEASURE Gandhinagar: The state government has decided to postpone all the Women’s Day events, earlier scheduled to be held in the state on March 8, as a precautionary measure, an offi cial said on Friday. The postponement of programmes is aimed at ensuring compliance with the Centre’s guidelines to help prevent the spread of coronavirus, the of- fi cial said. facilitate When a senior minis- ter reportedly stated that till March 10, the government can’t pro- and see that all don’t sit in large groups and avoid handshakes or body touch. mediate effect. If not possible, the govern- ment should provide masks to each visitor

4. GUJARAT AHMEDABAD | SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 2020 04 www.fi rstindia.co.in I www.fi rstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefi rstindia I facebook.com/thefi rstindia I instagram.com/thefi rstindia —PHOTOS BY HANIF SINDHI Bitumen and craters on the surface of a road near Manav Mandir, Thaltej A huge crack on a road at Panchavati Crossword A LITTLE RAIN, A LOT OF DAMAGE Roads in several areas had deep craters, resettlement & waterlogging. Our photographers take stock... First India News We are assessing the situa- tion. Some roads have been reported dam- aged. I don’t have the exact informa- tion on how much money was used for the construc- tion of roads. However, strict ac- tion will be taken against those responsible for road damage.. Chairman, AMC Standing Committee Damaged roads are the real- ity and tradition of BJP-run AMC. They are hoarding money in the name of good roads. The rain has exposed them; they cannot provide proper roads. They are also favouring corrupt officials involved in the road scam. Leader of Opposition, AMC Average expense for building roads: `300 crore per annum Ahmedabad: The city received 2mm of rain on Thursday evening. This was enough to damage roads in many areas of Ahmedabad, leaving be- hind craters and resettle- ment. Near Panchavati, a recently resurfaced road was wrecked when the rain washed away the top layer of tar, exposing the bitumen below. Another road in Odhav, where a drainage line was re- cently installed, has been severely damaged. The road parallel to the upcoming Metro rail project in Thaltej was also damaged. Many roads in the city re- mained waterlogged un- til Friday evening. RMC turns to homoeopathy to ‘boost immunity’ against COVID-19 Average funds for drainage line repairs, installation: `100 crore per annum —Amul Bhatt, —Dinesh Sharma, Road damage due to this little rainfall speaks volumes about their quality. Ideally, water should percolate and not collect over the road. But sloppy road geometry maintained means roads do not have slopes. That is why water remains stagnant. The roads are not made with proper layering. —M.N. Patel, former V-C, Gujarat University Road above a drainage line in shambles near Arbudanagar, Odhav Masuma Bharmal Jariwala such as China, Thai- land, Hong Kong, Sin- gapore, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Nepal, Indonesia, Malaysia, Iran and Italy have been kept under obser- vation for 14 days. Cur- rently, 31 are under ob- servation and no posi- tive case has been reg- istered until now. A 30-bed isolation ward has been set up at the Civil Hospital, Ra- jkot. Similar facilities have been made at pri- vate hospitals too. Rajkot: The Rajkot Municipal tion (RMC) will distrib- ute free homoeopathic medicines to city resi- dents to combat coro- navirus. Dr Pankaj Rathod, Health Officer (RMC) said, “As a pre- cautionary measure, the health department in collaboration with Rajkot Homoeopathic Medical College will distribute homoeopa- thy medicines at no Corpora- boost the immune sys- tem.” So far, 53 out of 98 people including tour- ists or citizens from corona-hit countries cost at 21 health cen- tres beginning March 11. While there is no medicine for coronavi- rus yet, homoeopathic medicine will help Board Exams: Rajkot reports one dummy student, 44 in Junagadh First India News jit Gadhvi. Gadhvi is absconding. The police have already recovered three dummy receipts issued for students at Rajkot, Porbandar and Junagadh and remain- ing receipts that were under production. Junagadh Dy SP Pradeep Jadeja said, “We suspect around 45 students sought help from the accused. We have se- cured a three-day re- mand. Gujarati is the mastermind this scheme. His main role was to make fake receipts by changing the photograph and forging the seal.” Rajkot: Three people were arrested by Juna- gadh police for their involvement in making dummy receipts and supplying dummy writ- ers to students on the Day One of the State Board exams on Thurs- day . One other accused is absconding. As many as 45 students appear- ing for the ongoing Class X and XII State Board exams, allegedly used unethical means for sitting for the ex- ams. One dummy writ- er, a minor, was also apprehended by Rajkot police on Friday . that —FILE PHOTO stream. In Junagadh, the four main accused who lured students by prom- ising them a favourable result, have been iden- tified as Rajesh Guja- rati, Pravin Solanki, Rana Taparia and Ran- The Rajkot District Education Officer con- firmed that the minor dummy writer was ar- rested from Parimal School and was appear- ing in the exam on be- half of a Class XII stu- dent of the general behind

5. GUJARAT AHMEDABAD | SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 2020 05 www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia CONCERNS OVER CORONAVIRUS RAISES THE QUESTION, ‘HOLI HAI?’ Entertainment hotspots have cancelled customary events and city residents are unsure of whether to celebrate SMC starts 30-bed quarantine ward Vipul Rajput about 60 societies, says: “Of course there is a danger among people be- cause of the corona vi- rus. However, with prop- er cautions, we should be able to celebrate the festival without many concerns.” This might not be as risky as it may sound. According to Principal Secretary for Health, Jayanti Ravi, lab tests of 36 of the 37 patients suspected of being in- fected have come back negative, while reports are still awaited for one patient. han told First India, “In order to prevent COV- ID-19 infection, it is es- sential that people fol- low the guidelines of the Central government’s Health Department. As far as celebrating the festival of Dhuleti is concerned, it is at peo- ple’s discretion.” Whenw put that way, it seems like Ahmedabad, at least, will see a colour- ful Holi and Dhuleti af- ter all. Pradeep Nair, joint secretary of the New CG Road Society Welfare As- sociation, a collective of celled. On the other hand, the Central gov- ernment circular on pro- tective measures sug- gests a reduction in mass gatherings, rather than an outright ban. The Centre’s guidelines also warns people to pay particular attention to hygiene, since COVID-19 spreads through drop- lets of mucous. This, combined with the myriad messages do- ing the rounds on social media, has led to confu- sion among Amdavadis on whether to celebrate the festival at all, and First India News the ward along with high-tech equipment needed to detect coro- navirus infection. SMC Commission- er Banchhanidhi Pani said, “We have deployed our health teams on all entry gates of the city. A team of experts has been sent to Hazira Port also. Though they have their own system of health sur- veillance, we have de- ployed our staff to check people coming through sea routes.” Ahmedabad: With 37 suspected cases of COV- ID-19 infections reported across the state in the past 36 hours, things are not quite black and white when it comes to the city’s plans for the festival of colours. On the one hand, pop- ular city establishments have cancelled their cus- tomary Holi and Dhuleti festivities tracking the announcement from the Prime Minister’s Office that the Holi Milan pro- gramme has been can- Surat: Even as the test results of the two people suspected of being infected by COVID-19 came back negative, the Surat Municipal Corpora- tion has established a 30-bed quarantine ward at the General Hospital in the Vesu area as part of its pre- vention drive against coronavirus disease. A team of doctors and specialist nurses has been deployed at too —FILE PHOTO how to do so safely . Health authorities are largely leaving the deci- sion to the public. SVP Hospital Superin- tendent Dr Sandeep Mal- The govt tion have launched a ‘Namaste’ campaign to create awareness about COVID-19. Still, people hug each other on Holi and many people play with colours. This make them susceptible to the virus. —Dr GH Rathod Civil Hospital Superintendent Every year, we celebrate the festival of Dhuleti together in our society. However, this year, because of the corona virus, we do not know whether to celebrate the festival or not. —Meet Solanki, Smitsagar Society near Prahladnagar The residents of the society get together to celebrate Holi and Dhuleti every year. But the government has also said that the corona virus can be spread by shaking hands. So we’re still wondering what to do. — Harish Parmar, Paras Nagar, Naranpura FROM PG 1 Parl to... One of the Congress MPs who has been suspended - Gaurav Gogoi - hit back, say- ing: “The government is talking about a debate post-Holi. But will the families who have lost near and dear ones be able to cel- ebrate Holi? What will happen to the fam- ily of the police officer who lost his life?” Opposition MPs had served notices in both houses of parliament demanding a discussion on violence over the citizenship law that scarred parts of northeast Delhi for four days. More than 50 people were killed, hun- dreds injured and scores of homes, shops and schools were vandalised and set ablaze by armed goons who spread terror. As the government declined to hold a discussion on the violence, the opposi- tion’s demand led to a tug-of-war ensuring repeated adjournments in both houses, allowing little time for any other business since parliament reconvened for the sec- ond half of the budget session. Meanwhile, two South India channels were barred from transmission for 48 hours for Delhi reporting. How the... The Finance Minister also said that the government has asked the central bank to look into what went wrong at Yes Bank and fix individual responsibilities. The RBI, on the other hand, stated that the State Bank of India (SBI) has expressed willingness to invest in Yes Bank. In a draft ‘Yes Bank Ltd. Reconstruction Scheme, 2020’, the RBI also said the strategic inves- tor bank will have to pick up 49 per cent stake and it cannot reduce holding to be- low 26 per cent before three years from the date of capital infusion. Earlier, speaking to reporters, Sithara- man had allayed concerns surrounding the Yes Bank crisis and assured that every depositor’s money was safe. She also in- sisted that she was in touch with the Re- serve Bank of India (RBI) regarding the matter. “I’m in continuous interaction with the RBI. The central bank is fully seized of the matter and has assured they will give a quick resolution. I want to assure every depositor that their money shall be safe. Their monies are safe,” Sitharaman told reporters here. land buy... The bench held that the compensation need not be essentially deposited in the court and the proceedings would not lapse. Concluding the pronouncing of the verdict, Justice Mishra said the spirit of the judgement was that the benefit should go to the land owners, agriculturists and not intermediaries. The case pertains to the interpretation of Section 24(2) of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act which came into force in 2013. As per the provisions, if a land is acquired and the compen- sation of the land is not paid within five years, the acquisition process would lapse. This case came to limelight following two contradictory judgments over whether a land acquired by the government would lapse, if it fails to deposit the compensation within a span of five years in the bank account of the land owners.

6. PERSPECTIVE WHAT IS THE POINT OF LIBERATION Disappearing into the ‘here and now’ means transcending the limitations of space & time 06 AHMEDABAD | SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 2020 www.fi rstindia.co.in I www.fi rstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefi rstindia I facebook.com/thefi rstindia I instagram.com/thefi rstindia IN-DEPTH YES BANK TAKES A HIT, DEPOSITORS’ FAITH SHAKEN t is a double whammy which has shaken the faith of inves- tors and depositors in the coun- try’s banking system. People were yet to recover from the shock closure of PMC Bank on Septem- ber 23, 2019 due to gross mismanage- ment. Six months later it is the Yes Bank, which has Holland’s Rabobank as part- ner, which is headed the PMC Bank way. Once again the Reserve Bank has stepped in by superseding the board of directors of the crisis-hit bank due to “serious de- terioration in its financial position” and capping deposit withdrawals at Rs 50000 per depositor. In the case of PMC Bank it was a measly Rs. 1000 per depositor be- fore the RBI raised it to Rs. 50,000. A 30- day moratorium has been placed on Yes Bank’s lending activity. It can neither renew nor grant any loan or advance. It is also barred from investing or incurring any liability. SADHGURU, ISHA FOUNDATION Ranked amongst the fifty most influential people in India, Sadhguru is a yogi, mystic, visionary and a New York Times bestselling author Sadhguru has been conferred the Padma Vibhushan by the Government of India in 2017, the highest annual civilian award, accorded for exceptional and distinguished service I S omeone once asked me, “What’s the point of mukti or libera- tion? How is it useful?” I said, “First tell me, does your life have any use? Does it have any value for this exist- ence? If you died right now, actually it would be ecologi- cally very useful. Good ma- nure! Liberation is not about social utility. It is about the life process itself.” If you’d spent years in a five- by-five feet cubicle, and I were to unlock you and put you in a ten-by-ten feet cubicle, it would feel like total liberation. But af- ter three days, again you’d feel stuck. After ten years, if I de- clared you free and put you in a hundred-by-hundred feet cubi- cle, again it would seem like blissful release. But a little lat- er, the same longing would re- turn. So liberation is not my idea. It is the fundamental urge within every human be- ing. There is something within us that dislikes fenc- es. However liberated you are, you are still seeking lib- eration. What does that mean? It means you are seek- ing ultimate liberation, isn’t it? You are seeking mukti. So, how do we attain libera- tion? If you stop putting limita- tions on yourself, you’re liber- ated. It’s as simple as that. The way you think, feel, act, right now is a compulsive process. Because of this compulsive- ness, everything is limited, unconscious and repetitive, and that is imprisonment. Do not think of ‘mukti’ as some grand terminology. Lib- eration, freedom, divinity – these are just words. Belief gives you only two options: either to believe or disbelieve me. If you believe me, you’re not getting any closer to liberation. If you disbelieve me, you’re still no closer. Whether my story is true or not, for you, it’s still entertainment. ing would be compulsive with- in you any longer. And life would be fabulous. So, what is ultimate libera- tion? When there are no more cubicles in your life, when you are here and now, that is libera- tion. Disappearing into the ‘here and now’ means tran- scending the limitations of space and time. So what hap- pens next? Where do you go? Nowhere. All ‘going’ is over. When there is no longer any separation between you and this existence, that is ultimate liberation. The intellectual problem is, how can nothingness and infinity be the same? It is. The most incredible contri- bution to mathematics is the zero. It’s not by accident that it was born in this land. And it’s not just mathematics; it’s a profound insight, born of inner realization. If you want to reach the infinite, adding numbers won’t get you there. Zero means nothingness, but if you want to reach the infinite, nothingness is the only way . Looking up at the sky and thinking ‘freedom’ is no good. If you want to fly, you don’t look at the sky. Just look at what is holding you down, lim- iting you, right now. If you break that, you can move into the next level of limitation, and then see how to break that. Let’s start with a basic ques- tion. How do you know that you’re alive right now? Only because you’re conscious, isn’t it? So, you’re already conscious. It is just that it is happening in a limited way . All you need to do is rev up the voltage, so that consciousness happens in your experience in a much larger way. Consider a light bulb. If you start cranking up its voltage, you see more and more of what was previ- ously not in your vision. You crank up to full voltage and you suddenly see everything. People and objects that previ- ously didn’t exist, are now suddenly in your perception. The basis of the first Isha programme is just that -- to crank up your system in such The bank which started off with an initial public offering of Rs 300 crore in 2005 ran into bad loans of Rs 6,355 crore in 2017, just 12 years later. Its high-profile bank’s promoters unwit- tingly chose clients who turned out to be bad debtors---IL&FS, Anil Ambani Group, CG Power, Cox & Kings, Altico, CCD, Essel Group, Essar Power, Varadaraj Cement, Radius Devel- opers and Mantri Group. One of them has now said that having sold his remaining stakes in the bank in November 2019 he was not in- volved in the bank’s working ever since. The development brought the bank’s stock from tumbling. The shares which were once traded at Rs. 1400 per share closed at Rs. 16.20 per share on Friday. It was a double blow for the stock market too as the market tanked 893 points be- cause of Yes Bank and Coronavirus spread in the US and Europe. The RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das as- sured to protect depositors’ interests and to put in place a “reconstruction or amalgama- tion” before the end of the 30-day moratori- um so that depositors don’t face any diffi- culty. Finance Minister Nirmala Sithara- man also urged depositors’ not to panic. Despite these assurances, there was panic as people rushed to ATMs wondering if this will mark the end of Indian banking sys- tem’s horror story. Belief gives you only two options: either to believe or disbelieve me. If you believe me, you’re not getting any closer to liberation. If you disbelieve me, you’re still no closer As you become more aware, you become less compulsive. As you become less compulsive, you start moving towards liberation. If you became a hundred times more conscious than you are right now, nothing would be compulsive within you any longer a way that you’re far more aware than you are right now. As you become more aware, you become less compulsive. As you become less compul- sive, you start moving towards liberation. If you became a hundred times more conscious than you are right now, noth- How to call out fake news when you see it Y USE BASIC MATH Untrustworthy news and political campaigns often use statistics to make bo- gus claims – rightfully as- suming most won’t take the time to fact- check them. mathematical calcula- tions, which scholars call “Fermi estimates” or rough guesstimates, can help you spot falsi- fied data. For instance, a widely circulated meme falsely claimed 10,150 Americans were “killed by illegal im- migrants” in 2018. On the surface, it’s hard to know how to verify or debunk that, but one way to start is to think about finding out how many total murders there were in the US in 2018. Murder statistics can be found in, among other places, the FBI’s statistics on violent crime. They es- timate that in 2018, there were 16,214 murders in the US. If the meme’s fig- ure were accurate, it would mean that nearly two-thirds of the murders were committed by the “il- legal immigrants”. Next, find out how many people were living in the US. illegally. That group, most news re- ports and estimates suggest, about 11 million men, women and children – which is only 3% of the country’s 330 million people. Just 3% of people com- mitted 60% of US mur- ders? With a tiny bit of research and quick math, you can see these num- bers just don’t add up. FOR FULL REPORT LOG ON TO WWW.THECONVERSATION.COM ou might have fallen for some- one’s attempt to disinform you about current sites and social media such as Twitter, Face- book, Reddit, Apple News and Google. You should change that. These are technology companies – not news outlets. Their goal is to maximise the time you spend on their sites and apps, generat- ing advertising reve- nue. To that end, their algorithms use your browsing history to show you news you’ll agree with and like, keeping you engaged for as long as possible. That means instead of presenting you with the most important news of the day, social media feed you what they think will hold your attention. Most often, that is algorithmi- cally filtered and may de- liver politically biased information, falsehoods or material events. But it’s not your fault. Even the most well- intentioned news con- sumers can find today’s avalanche of political information difficult to navigate. With so much news available, many peo- ple consume media in an automatic, state – similar to knowing you drove home but not be- ing able to recall the trip. And that makes you more susceptible to accept- ing false claims. But you can develop habits to exert more conscious control over your news intake. readers Simple unconscious numbers that you have seen before. Instead, regularly vis- it trusted news apps and news websites directly. These organisations ac- tually produce news, usually in the spirit of serving the public inter- est. There, you’ll see a more complete range of political information, not just content that’s been curated for you. Untrustworthy news and political campaigns often use statistics to make bogus claim – rightfully assuming most readers won’t take the time to fact-check them TOP TWEET Piyush Goyal @PiyushGoyal Railways at the Forefront to Empower Women: 400th locomotive produced by Chittaranjan Locomotive Works was fl agged off by senior women employees & driven by lady loco pilots, demonstrating their skills & competence. #SheInspiresUs SEEK OUT NEWS Like most people, you probably get a fair amount of your news from apps, outright G Vol 1 G Issue No. 102 GRNI NO. GUJENG/2019/16208. Printed and published by Anita Hada Sangwan on behalf of First Express Publishers. Printed at Bhaskar Printing Planet Survey No.148P, Changodar-Bavla Highway, Tal. Sanand, Dist. Ahmedabad. Published at D/302 3rd Floor Plot No. 35 Titanium Square, Scheme No. 2, Thaltej Taluka, Ghatlodiya, Ahmedabad. Editor: Jagdeesh Chandra, Resident Editor : Darshan Desai, responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act

7. INDIA AHMEDABAD | SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 2020 07 www.fi rstindia.co.in I www.fi rstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefi rstindia I facebook.com/thefi rstindia I instagram.com/thefi rstindia Speaker to probe incidents of indiscipline IN PARLIAMENT LS Speaker Om Birla has approved the constitution of a committee that will look into various incidents of misconduct Such behaviour should not be displayed in Parl: Pralhad Joshi ‘Opposition always raises objections in Parliament’ New Delhi: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has approved the constitu- tion of a committee that will look into various incidents of indisci- pline and misconduct by members in the House between March 2 and March 5. The announcement was made by BJP mem- ber Kirit Premjibhai Solanki, who was in the chair when the House met at 12 noon after its first adjournment dur- ing the question hour. He said the commit- tee will probe “all inci- dents” between March 2 and 5 and give its re- port. “It will be chaired by the Speaker and will have representation from almost all par- ties,” he said. Seven Congress were suspended from Lok Sabha on Thursday for “gross misconduct” after papers snatched Speaker's table. Parliamentary fairs Minister Pralhad Joshi has said that he will seek termination of membership of Con- gress member who had forcibly snatched the papers relating to the business of the House. Suspending 7 MPs for entire session not a minor thing’ New Delhi: Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Joshi on Friday said that the behaviour shown by the seven Congress MPs in the Lok Sabha should not be displayed in the House. Speaking in the Lok Sabha, in a reply to Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Joshi said: “Such be- haviour should not be displayed House. Earlier, inap- propriate words were said against the Prime Minister and Amit Shah Ji in the House but we did not do any- thing. The govern- ment doesn’t want to keep any MP outside the Parliament. But, what happened yester- day , never happened in the 70 years of inde- New Delhi: Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary on Friday raised the matter of the suspension of his party's MPs in the Lok Sabha saying, “this is not a minor thing.” “Seven of our MPs were suspended for the entire Budget ses- sion, yesterday. We don't know on what basis was this done? This is not a minor thing. We only want a discussion on the is- sue of Delhi violence,” he said. Congress MPs were on Thursday named by the Chair in Lok Sabha got sus- pended for the remain- ing part of the budget session for “gross mis- conduct” in the House. BJP leader Meenak- shi Lekhi, who was in the Chair, when the House reassembled at New Delhi: Amid pan- demonium journment-hit ongoing Parliament Congress leader Meem Afzal on Friday said that the BJP also used to raise slogans in the House when the party was in the opposition. “Opposition always raises objections in Par- liament. The BJP also used to raise slogans in the House when they were in the opposition,” Afzal told ANI. He also condemned the state- ment made by Rashtri- ya Loktantrik Party MP Hanuman about Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi and sought action against the RLP leader. “The Speaker should have at least expunged the comment,” Afzal said. Beniwal had on Thursday said in LS that Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi must get tested for coronavirus as they have just returned from Italy and may end up spreading it. and ad- Pralhad session, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi speaks in the Lok Sabha during the Budget Session of Parliament. Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury speaks in the Lok Sabha during the Budget Session of Parliament. in the ings when the House met at 2 pm. She named the Con- gress members. Parliamentary Af- fairs Minister Pralhad Joshi had moved a resolution to suspend the members from the remaining period of the budget session, which was adopted by the House. pendent India.” BJP leader Meenak- shi Lekhi, who was in the Chair, when the House reassembled at 3 pm on Thursday, had said the members had behaved in a manner that had never happened before and had snatched pa- pers from the podium during the proceed- ond half of the budget session. The rules of conduct of business in Lok Sabha state that the Speaker, may if deemed name a member “who disregards the author- ity of the Chair or abuses the rules of the House by persistently and wilfully obstruct- ing the business”. 3 pm, said the Con- gress members have behaved in a manner that had never hap- pened before and had snatched papers from the podium during the proceedings. The LS has been wit- nessing continuous protests since it met on Monday at the com- mencement of the sec- Beniwal necessary, members Congress were the from Af- Speaker Om Birla, who had expressed per- sonal pain at the devel- opments, has not been coming to the House since Wednesday . concerning a discus- sion on Delhi violence. The government has said it is prepared for discussion on March 11 after Holi. directions of the Speak- er not to cross to the other side. The House witnessed two adjourn- ments on Thursday over opposition demand mediate discussion on Delhi violence. The House has wit- nessed repeated ad- journments and mem- bers have also flouted My ministers not for sale, Cong believes in politics of principles, service: CM Nath part of the budget ses- sion started on Monday . Members of Congress have been coming to the well of the House over their demand for an im- The House has wit- nessed unruly scenes including pushing, tearing of pa- pers and display of ban- ners since the second shoving, FESTIVE FERVOUR Bhopal: Amid the on- going political crisis in the state, Pradesh Chief Minis- ter Kamal Nath on Fri- day said that his minis- ters are not for sale and reiterated that the Con- gress believes in the politics of principles and service. “My ministers are not for sale. They be- lieve in the politics of principles and service. We (Congress) create our identity on politics we can be proud of and firmly say that we are from the state of Mad- hya Pradesh,” Nath said in a community programme. “Today, we have to make sure the stand- ards of politics do not drop,” he added. The comments come days after the Con- gress alleged that the BJP was trying to poach legislators in the state. Recently, leader Digvijaya Singh had alleged that BJP leaders Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Narottam Sanjay Pathak says he will not join Congress Madhya Bhopal: In a new twist to Pradesh politics cen- tred on three Rajya Sabha seats, Sanjay Pathak, BJP MLA who reportedly met CM Kamal Nath on Thursday night, said on Friday that he is not going to join the Congress and will re- main with the BJP. Earlier in the day, Congress said Sanjay Pathak was about to join the Congress. “This is a tit-for-tat formula engineered by Digvijaya and Ka- mal nath to counter BJP’’s move to desta- bilise the state gov- ernment,” said a sen- ior leader. sources said the “op- eration” targeted at the BJP has been jointly engineered by Digvijaya and Chief Madhya ‘NO PROBLEM WITHIN THE KAMAL NATH-LED CONGRES GOVT’ Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Friday again accused the BJP of resorting to horse-trading in order to bring down Kamal Nath govt. “It is not Operation Lotus, but Operation Money bag. Big, big bags (of money). I came here after the chief minis- ter asked me to. Our government is 100 per cent safe.” CONGRESS GOVERNMENT IN MP IS SAFE: KC VENUGOPAL A child with cerebral palsy wears a protective mask while playing Holi organised by Trishala Foundation, in Prayagraj on Friday. —PHOTO BY PTI Minister Kamal Nath as both are camping in the state capital Bhopal and eyeing the disgruntled BJP legislators. Meanwhile, signs of dissensions within the Congress, Mahendra Sisodia, a Minister in the Kamal Nath-led Congress ment, while reaf- firming his loyalty for Jyotiraditya Sin- gh, said: If Scindia ji is overlooked, then a real trouble will start for the government.” LS passes Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (2nd Amendment) Bill New Delhi: Lok Sabha on Friday passed the In- solvency and Bankrupt- cy Code (Second Amendment) Bill amid noisy protests. The bill seeks to amend the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) so that successful bidders of insolvent companies are ring- fenced from any risk of criminal proceedings for offences committed was in the chair, amidst AICC General Secre- tary KC Venugopal on Friday assured that the Madhya Pradesh Government headed by the Congress party is safe and will complete its full term. “BJP is trying to topple the elected government in Madhya Pradesh. They are offering big money. But their attempt is not going to be success- ful,” he added. sources in continuous protests by Congress members. The amendments in the law seek to remove bottlenecks streamline the corpo- rate insolvency resolu- tion process, wherein successful bidders will be ring-fenced from any risk of criminal proceedings for offenc- es committed by previ- ous promoters of com- panies concerned. Singh and govern- Party by previous promoters of the companies con- cerned. The Bill was declared passed by Ra- jendra Agarwal, who Congress Mishra were offering bribes of Rs 25-35 crore to Congress MLAs in order to bring down the Kamal Nath govern- ment in the state. DECLARE NIRBHAYA CONVICTS’ DATE AS ‘RAPE PREVENTION DAY’ New Delhi: Women rights activist and founder of People against Rapes in India (PARI), Yogita Bhayana, has written a letter to the United Nations seeking to declare March 20, 2020, the scheduled execution date of Nirbhaya convict, as “Rape Prevention Day”. “Such naming shall help every Indian to under- 33 PER CENT BERTH RESERVES FOR WOMEN IN CONG YOUTH New Delhi: When a reservation for women in legislation is still a discussion and agen- da from many parties, Congress has decided to give 33 per cent quota to women leaders in the national body of its youth wing, said the Indian Youth Congress on Thursday. In a press release, Congress has PM TO PARTICIPATE IN JAN AUSHADHI CELEBRATIONS New Delhi: In a bid to create more awareness about the use of generic medicines, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday will interact with the benefi ciaries of Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana and store owners of Jan Aushadi Kendras, through video conference. He will interact with seven Pradhan Mantri Bharatiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana Kendras.The Centre cel- ebrates March 7, 2019, as ‘Jan Aushadhi Diwas’ across India, for creating awareness and provid- ing impetus on the use of generic medicines. PURI JAGANNATH HAS DEPOSITS WORTH `545 CR IN YES BANK Bhubaneswar: Devotees of Lord Jagannath and priests at the centuries-old temple in Puri are worried following Reserve Bank of India restric- tions on Yes Bank where Rs 545 crore is depos- ited in the deity’s name. The RBI restrictions on Yes Bank have caused panic among the devo- tees, said senior ‘’Daitapati’’ (servitor) Binayak Dasmohaopatra. “We demand a thorough probe and action against the persons responsible for depositing such a huge amount in a private bank for a little more interest,” he said. stand what Nirbhaya and her family had endured and reaffi rmed their vow to the vision of a rape free India. Just like Gandhi Jayanti is celebrated in India to not just celebrate Gandhiji’s birthday but to celebrate Gandhi as a person and the ideals that he lived to protect,” Bhayana said in her letter to the UN. announced 50 new offi ce-bearers of Indian Youth Congress (IYC), which include national general secretaries, secretaries and joint secretaries. Out of 50 offi ce-bearers, 18 are women including a Dalit MP from Kerala Ramya Haridas, who has been promoted from national coordinator post.

8. INDIA AHMEDABAD | SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 2020 08 www.fi rstindia.co.in I www.fi rstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefi rstindia I facebook.com/thefi rstindia I instagram.com/thefi rstindia Army directs military hosp to set up OPDs amid corona scare Service hospitals instructed to work in synergy with local civil medical authorities and designated ICMR labs POWERGallery PREMATURE RETIREMENT PROCEEDINGS AGAINST 320 OFFICERS The Government of India has initiated premature retirement proceedings against 320 offi cers including 163 Group ‘A’ and 157 Group ‘B’ during the period July, 2014 to January, 2020 on the ground of lack of integrity. 13 Italian tourists kept in isolation Amritsar: At least 13 Italian nationals have been kept in isolation at a hotel in Amritsar, as a precautionary measure in the wake of coronavi- rus outbreak. SDM Amritsar Vikas Heera said, “None of the 13 people has dis- played symptoms of coronavirus. They are all healthy .” Meanwhile, one more person has tested posi- tive for coronavirus in Delhi, taking the total number of people in- fected with the deadly virus in the country to 31, health ministry an- nounced on Friday . Delhi: Indian New Army on Friday issued detailed instructions about preparations and emergency response to tackle coronavirus, di- recting military hospi- tals to establish isola- tion wards and have separate outpatient de- partments (OPDs) for the screening of symp- tomatic cases to prevent transmission. Army also instructed service hospitals to work in synergy with local civil medical au- thorities and designat- ed ICMR labs. “In consonance with various advisories is- sued by the govt, Indian Army HQ has issued de- tailed instructions with respect to preparations and emergency sponse in tackling COV- ID-19. Military hospitals to establish isolation wards & have separate OPDs for a screening of symptomatic cases to prevent avoidable trans- mission. Service hospi- tals will work in syner- gy with local civil medi- cal authorities and des- ignated ICMR labs,” the army said. “Service personnel to be encouraged to utilize Shopping Complex fa- cilities within the Can- tonment /Military Sta- tions and avoid visits to crowded areas like mov- ie halls/ shopping malls etc,” it added. BSF DG VIVEK JOHRI TO RETURN PARENT CADRE AS DGP, MP A 1984 batch IPS offi cer, Vivek Kumar Johri presently on central deputation as DG, Border Security Force (BSF), is returning to parent cadre as Director General of Police (DGP) (Head of Police Force) in Madhya Pradesh. WILL CHAUBE MOVE TO BSF AS DG ? After the return of Vivek Kumar Johri to his home state MP as DGP, search for new DGP has start- ed. Sources said that KN Chaube is likely to be new DG, BSF. Before returning to Jharkhand, he was Spl DG, BSF. He is a Jharkhand cadre 1986 batch IPS offi cer. The OUTGOING DGP V K SINGH APPOINTED DIRECTOR, SPORTS VK Singh, Director General of Police (Head of Police Force), has been appointed as Director, Sports in Madhya Pradesh. He is a 1984 batch IPS offi cer of MP cadre. Top Prev Next Click here for Your Feedback re- RAJENDRA KUMAR TO LOOK AFTER AS DGP, MP TILL RETURN OF JOHRI Rajendra Kumar, DGP, Cyber Cell, will be looking after an additional charge of Director General of Police (DGP) (Head of Police Force) from March 6 in Madhya Pradesh till the assumption of charge by Vivek Kumar Johri after returning from central deputation. Rajendra Kumar is a 1985 batch IPS offi cer of MP cadre. CISF personnel and passengers wear protective masks, in wake of the deadly novel coronavirus, at the airport in Chennai on Friday. RAHUL GANDHI SCREENED FOR CORONAVIRUS, SAYS CONGRESS WAGAH BORDER CEREMONY SUSPENDED DUE TO COVID-19 thorities till further orders. However, flag hoisting and lower- ing would be carried out as usual. The district au- thorities have asked visitors not to come to Attari for the cer- emony. The ceremo- ny is carried out by the border guards of India and Pakistan - the BSF and Pakistan Rangers. Amritsar: The BSF on Friday decided to temporarily suspend the Retreat ceremo- ny on the interna- tional border with Pakistan at the Wa- gah-Attari checkpost to tackle the spread of the deadly coronavirus, officials said. The ceremony was suspended by local administrative au- dhi, and suggesting they should be wary of spreading the disease. The BJP often tar- gets Gandhi over his foreign trips, especially to Italy . Rahul Gandhi, who had travelled to the Ital- ian city of Milan for two weeks, had been of- fered courtesies due a Lok Sabha MP and a Z- Plus protectee on his return, but declined. New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was screened for coro- navirus infection at Delhi airport on his re- turn from Italy on Feb- ruary 29, the party said today . The confirmation came after three caus- tic digs this week, in- cluding two by the BJP’s Ramesh Bidhuri, targeting Gandhi and his mother, Sonia Gan- RBI DY GOV N S VISHWANATHAN QUITS THREE MONTHS BEFORE RETIREMENT RBI Deputy Governor NS Vishwanathan has re- signed citing health reasons three months before his retirement in June 2020. joint NO EMPANELMENT OF OFFICERS IN DIG GRADE IN RPF FOR LAST 2 YRS? Just a total of 18 offi cers of JAG/RPF were empanelled on DIG grade in RPF during 2016- 17 and 2017-18. The offi cers left out are still awaiting empanelment to DIG grade since last two fi nancial years. Pedestrians wear protective masks, in wake of the deadly novel coronavirus in New Delhi. IN THE COURTYARD IB staffer murder: Tahir Hussain sent to 7-day police custody Mukesh’s counsel seeks CBI probe against amicus curiae NIRBHAYA CASE AJAY SINGH IS NOW VICE CHAIRMAN, STATE PLANNING COMMISSION IN CHHATTISGARH Ajay Singh has, on Thursday, taken over as Vice Chairman State Planning Commission in Chhat- tisgarh. 1983 batch IAS offi cer Singh is former Chief Secretary. Delhi HC lists pleas on northeast Delhi violence, hate speeches on Mar 12 against several politi- cians including that of BJP, Congress, etc for alleged hate speech, re- habilitation of the in- jured victims in the vio- lence, among other re- liefs. A fresh Petition, filed by CPI (M) leader Brin- da Karat was also men- tioned before the court to- day claiming that the police are not following certain sections of Code of Criminal Procedure, therefore, making it dif- ficult for the people to find their loved ones, who were separated during the riot. Under Section 41C of the CrPC, police are re- quired to list the names of the people arrested. New Delhi: A Delhi court Friday sent sus- pended AAP councillor Tahir Hussain to 7-day police custody in con- nection with the alleged killing of IB official An- kit Sharma during the violence in northeast Delhi. Duty Magistrate Rakesh mar the order af- ter Hussain was produced before him by Delhi Police which said that his cus- todial interrogation was required to unearth larger conspiracy. Hus- sain was produced be- fore the duty magistrate amid tight security late in the evening and nei- ther the media nor any lawyer was allowed in- side the courtroom. Delhi High Court on Friday said that it will hear on March 12 a batch of petitions seek- ing registration of FIRs against political leaders over alleged speech, which claimed to have led to the violence in the na- tional capital last week. A division bench of Justice DN Patel and Justice C hankar asked Central government, Delhi Police, and oth- er respondents in the matter to file their re- sponse before the next date of hearing. A verbal brawl also erupted between Delhi government's standing counsel (criminal) ad- vocate Rahul Mehra and Additional Solici- TRIPURA HC NOW HAS FULL STRENGTH OF JUDGES Tripura High Court will now work with full strength with appointment of Satya Gopal Chatto- padhyay as Judge. New Delhi: A day after the issuance of death warrant against four convicts in Nirbhaya case, one of the con- vict''s defence counsel moved a plea in the Su- preme Court claiming amicus curiae Vrinda Grover, appointed by lower court, had forced his client to sign docu- ments for filing cura- tive petition sought CBI against her for profes- sional misconduct. Advocate M L Shar- ma, representing Mukesh, contended his client is a victim of a criminal conspiracy and fraud played by Grover in collusion with the Delhi govern- ment and the Centre. hate ANURAG SRIVASTAVA TO BE NEXT MEA SPOKESPERSON Anurag Srivastava will be the new Spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs. Formal orders are to be issued in a day or two. He is a 1999 batch Indian Foreign Service offi cer. is SC SEEKS CENTRE'S RESPONSE ON CAA Ku- DELHI VIOLENCE passed Haris- the and probe SC adjourns till April 15 hearing on plea against Harsh Mander’s speech streets and expressed a lack of faith in the judi- ciary . A bench of Chief Justice SA Bobde asked Mander to file a reply on the police’s affidavit on the alleged contemp- tuous speech by him. New Delhi: The SC on Friday adjourned till April 15 hearing on a plea relating to the speech given by social activist Harsh Mander, in which he allegedly called the people to tor General Maninder Acharya over who will represent Delhi Police. The court was hear- ing petitions seeking registration of FIR VODAFONE WANTS TO MAKE A NEW BEGINNING IN INDIA: CEO TO GOVT New Delhi: Vodafone Global CEO Nick Read has told the government that the company wants to make a new and good beginning in India, accord- ing to sources. Sources said during his meeting, Prasad made it clear that the government is against a monopoly in the telecom sector, and wants Vodafone Idea to survive ELECTION COMMISSIONER, SUSHIL CHANDRA VISITS ELECTION MUSEUM JUSTICE MURALIDHAR TAKES OATH AS P&H HC JUDGE Chandigarh: Justice S Muralidhar was on Friday administered the oath as Judge of the Punjab and Haryana HC here by its Chief Justice Ravi Shanker Jha in the presence of a large gathering compris- ing jurists and lawyers. Justice Muralidhar, who was transferred here from the Delhi HC, was greet- ed with roses by a number of lawyers in the HC auditorium during the oath-taking ceremony. Most roads leading to the High Court complex were dotted with welcome hoardings, a rare gesture to welcome a Judge, a senior advocate pointed out. and remain invested in India. The sources said the minister conveyed India’s growing economic clout and its attractiveness to foreign investors, as also the enormous size of its market. The minister point- ed out that the company has 30 crore subscribers in India and that the telecom market presents huge opportunities. Election Commissioner, Sushil Chandra visited the Election Museum at Kashmere Gate, in New Delhi on Friday. —Source: Twitter

9. SPORTS AHMEDABAD | SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 2020 Harika posts 2nd straight win, remains in joint lead Lausanne: Indian Grandmaster Dronaval- li Harika posted a sec- ond straight win, beat- ing Nana Dzagnidze in the fourth round to re- main in joint lead at the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix chess tournament here. Harika, the world no.9, has three points after four rounds and shares the lead with Aleksandra Goryachki- na of Russia, who beat Antoneta Stefanova (Bulgaria). Harika outclassed her Georgian opponent late on Thursday in 27 moves in a queen pawn open- ing capitalising on an Wenjun of China, who 09 www.fi rstindia.co.in I www.fi rstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefi rstindia I facebook.com/thefi rstindia I instagram.com/thefi rstindia SANIA, ANKITA guide India to 2-1 win over Korea New Delhi: India defeated Korea 2-1 on Friday in the ongoing Fed Cup Asia/ Oceania Group I tourna- ment and as a result of this win, the side has jumped to the second spot in the league standings. Sania Mirza and Ankita Raina, won the deciding rubber against Korea to lift India to second place in the round-robin league standings at the end of day three. Mirza ranked 222nd in doubles and Raina (119) took the courts as a pair for the first time in the on- going tournament, as the tie was evenly poised at 1-1. India and Korea won a singles rubber each cour- tesy Rutuja Bhosale and Na-Lae Han, respectively . Mirza-Raina used all their experience and managed a comfortable straight-sets win 6-4, 6-4 against Na-Lae Han and Na Ri Kim. Earlier in the match, Indian skipper Vishal Uppal entrusted Rutuja Bhosale and Ankita Raina for the two sin- gles rubbers for the third time in as many outings of the Indian team. 23-year-old Bho- Dronavalli beat Nana Dzagnidze in the fourth round was beaten by Harika in round three, was held to a draw by Anna Muzy- chuk (Ukraine) Thursday . She is in 11th spot with 1.5 points. The strong tourna- ment featuring 12 play- ers, including the world champion Wenjun, is the third in the series of four Grand Prix from which two with the highest points would qualify for the next candidates event. Results: Round 4: Dro- navalli Harika (IND) 3 beat Nana Dzagnidze (GEO) 2; Ju Wenjun (CHN) 1.5 drew with Anna Muzychuk (UKR) 2.5, etc. on sale, playing in India col- ours for the third time in Fed Cup, rose to the occa- sion and won a point for India as she defeated Su Jeong Sang 7-5, 6-4. This win came a day af- ter Bhosale earned the maiden point of the com- petition for India in a three-hour-long battle with Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan on day two. In the second singles rubber, Ahmedabad born Raina suffered her second defeat of the tournament by the hands of Na-Lae Han 4-6, 0-6. Later today, India will face Chi- nese Taipei. —ANI error in the 25th move. She faces the 21-year- old Goryachkina in the fifth round. In a surprise result, Zhanasaya Abdumalik of Kazakshtan (Elo 2471) defeated former world champion and higher- rated Alexandra Kos- teniuk (Russia, Elo 2504) in 37 moves. World champion Ju tally —Agencies Measures will be in place to handle virus threat: Ganguly League is very much on. Everywhere, the tournaments are going on. England are already in Sri Lanka. South Af- rica are here. There are no issues,” Ganguly as- serted. “County teams are travelling all over the world. They are travel- ling to Abu Dhabi, UAE to play. So there is no problem,” he added. Asked about the precau- tionary measures to en- sure that players and fans are not affected, Ganguly said a medical team is thrashing out the specifics. Kolkata: The Indian Premier League (IPL) is ‘very much on sched- ule’, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly said on Friday, asserting that all measures will be in place to tackle the rap- idly-spreading coronavirus which has wreaked hav- oc on sporting calen- dars globally . The glitzy T20 event, featuring both Indian and international stars, gets underway March 29 in Mumbai. India’s coronavirus pa- tient count currently stands at 31, including novel threat 16 Italian tourists. In- ternationally, the dead- ly outbreak has so far killed more than 3,300 people and infected nearly 100,000 in about 85 countries. “Indian on Ankita Raina Premier —PTI ‘Dealing with success was hard for me’ Aditya 1st Indian to complete World Marathon Challenge Mary Kom, Amit set to begin quest for Tokyo Olympic berth goal and just for one mo- ment. I have thought about what will I do ever after. Then I fine day I have a gold medal in my pocket,” the shooter said. Before the Olympics gold, he won a gold med- al in 2006 World Champi- onships, gold in 2002, and 2006 wealth Games. —Agencies Suddenly, I succeeded,” Bindra said in an event. Bindra bagged coun- try’s first individual gold in 10-metre Air Ri- fle event at the 2008 Bei- jing Olympics. It was also India’s first gold medal since 1980 when the Men’s Hockey team won the gold. “I trained for 15 years of my life just for one Mumbai: India’s sole individual gold medallist Abinav Bindra said dealing with success was diffi- cult for him rather than failure. “For me, success was harder. Dealing with success was much more challenging phase of my life. I failed most of the time and I got used to it. el across the globe to complete seven mara- thons in 7 days across 7 continents. The mara- thons were held in Novo, Antarctica; Cape Town; Perth, Australia; Dubai in Asia; Madrid in Euro- pean continent; Brazil in South America, and finally in Miami in North America. —Agencies New Delhi: Aditya Raj has become the first In- dian to complete the gruelling World Mara- thon Challenge 2020. He created a record by par- ticipating and complet- ing seven marathons in seven days on seven con- tinents. In World Marathon Challenge, runners trav- Olympic Common- CORONA IMPACT HS, Chirag among 6 Indians pull out of All Eng Open training hard to win medal at Tokyo. “Mary knows that this is her last Olym- pics and wants to do her best to close her dream with a medal. She has worked hard especially the reac- tivity work on legs as well and has been working hard to be in good shape,” Berga- masco said. Amit Panghal will start off his cam- paign against Mon- golia’s Kharkhuu af- ter he was the first- round bye in the tournament. Amman: Indian box- ers MC Mary Kom (51kg) and Panghal (52kg) are set to enter the ring of Asian/Oceanian Olympic Qualifiers to seek a berth for the upcoming 2020 Tokyo Olympics berth. The 6-time world champion, Mary will face NZ’s Tasmyn in the round. Kom is two wins away to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics. Coach for Indian women’s boxing Raf- faele Bergamasco said that Mary is Amit serves as a chance for qualification in the up- coming Tokyo Olym- pics 2020. The competi- tion is scheduled to be- gin from March 11. On the other hand, the novel coronavirus disease was first detect- ed in Wuhan, China’s Hubei province, in late December 2019 and has since spread worldwide. In late January , World Health Organization de- clared a global health emergency in light of the epidemic. New Delhi: Six Indian shuttlers including HS Pronnoy, Chirag Shetty, and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy have pulled out of the All England Open Badminton Cham- pionships as a precau- tionary measure over coronavirus outbreak in many countries. “Chirag Satwiksairaj Rankired- dy , Manu Attri, Sumeeth Reddy, HS Pronnoy, and Sameer Verma have withdrawn from partici- pating in the tourna-  However, top India shuttlers like PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth, and Sai Praneeth are expected to take part in the upcoming tournament Shetty, Foreign HS Pronnoy Chirag Shetty the tournament. This is season’s first World Tour Super 1000 tournament which also shuttlers PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth, and Sai Praneeth are ex- pected to take part in ment,” the Badminton Association of India (BAI) sources said. However, top India —ANI —ANI

10. Sometimes, the best thing to do is to start over, remember you are not starting from scratch but from experience. —Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO & Editor, First India 2ND FRONT 10 AHMEDABAD | SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 2020 www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia ‘Farmers have been given `39K cr short-term loans’ House passed the Appropriation Supplementary Bill by majority voice on Friday Congress to safeguard SC extends interim relief to Hardik Gargi Raval Gandhi Sandesh Yatra First India News Ahmedabad: The Su- preme Court on Fri- day extended the in- terim protection from arrest granted Congress Hardik Patel until March 20. Patel is the primary accused in a 2015 case relating to alleged violence dur- ing a Patidar rally in Vastrapur, Gujarat. A division bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Uday Umesh Lalit, asked police not to arrest Patel until March 20, when it will take up the matter for hearing again. The top court had, on Feb 28, grant- ed anticipatory bail to Cong & Patidar-move- ment leader Hardik Patel in connection with a case pertaining to violence that had erupted during Patidar rally in Guja- rat in 2015. Patel had moved the top court against the rejection of his anticipatory bail plea by the Guja- rat High Court. Ahmedabad: the state in a panic over COVID-19, Con- gress plans to take all necessary tions for the Gandhi Sandesh Yatra set to commence March 12. Amit Chavda, Pres- ident of the Gujarat Pradesh Committee told First India, “Due to the spread of COVID-19 across the globe, the party will ensure that all participants of the Dandi March are taken care of. They will be screened on a daily basis and only those who are physically fit would be allowed to take part in the yatra. Also, we will make sure that all partici- pants walk in a lane and some distance is always maintained between them.” He added, “There will be a dedicated medical team with the yatris. Whenever there With First India News CROP INSURANCE CLAIM PAID Year 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 to precau- Gandhinagar: state government is committed for the farmers development and so it has borne the interest liability of farmers, stated Deputy Chief Minis- ter and Finance Min- ister Nitin Patel. The House passed the Ap- propriation Supple- mentary Bill by ma- jority voice on Friday . Patel had submitted the Bill for the House’s approval on Friday. However, it was opposed by the Congress party. While replying to a que- ry from the opposition The Amount (` in cr) 567 1,075 2,777 leader from Congress govts. He added that there had previously been a blanket ban on recruitments, since it brings financial burden on the state. However, he said, since the BJP has come to power, it has restarted the re- cruitment process and has given as many as 1,25,000 youths govt jobs till date. rat have granted short- term loans amounting to Rs 39,000 crore to farmers, something that never happened when the Congress was in power. He also stated that farmers are getting interest-free loans, as the 7% interest is borne by the state and Central bench, Patel said, “It is not necessary that anyone with insur- ance can claim a pay- out. Claims are reim- bursed only if the terms for which the insurance scribe are met. The finance minister said that banks in Guja- in is sub- Crop insurance com- panies have collected Rs20,000 crore in premiums. Against that, farmers are not paid enough claims, state should influence them to release more. —Virji Thummar, MLA Cong Competitive exams for govt jobs are delayed after cancella- tion for various reasons, some youths cross the age limit be- cause of delay in exams and miss the bus of govt job, so ex- ams should not be delayed. —Punja Vansh, Senior MLA Cong The state govt has recently in- creased seats for other classes in LRD exams. It should also increases seats for women can- didates from the Scheduled Tribes. Otherwise, it will be in- justice to them. —Anil Joshiyara, Cong MLA is a halt called, the team will screen people who join the march from other districts or places. We will not com- promise with health of the yatris.” The state govern- ment recently an- nounced a ban on public gatherings in the state. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi has informed that he will not be playing with Holi col- ours due to the COV- ID-19 scare. a the Letter to IB: Threat to Shah, Guj Leaders Pharma meet focuses on changing regulatory scene First India News First India News sion for the pharma- ceutical Ecosystem for R&D, Innovation & Start Ups in the Pharma Sector; Regulatory meet with pharma- ceuticals & medical device industry; Af- fordability, accessibil- ity and availability of quality drugs & medi- cal devices; Emerging trends in healthcare; a Panel discussion on Innovate to Make in India for the world; amongst others. maceutical and Medi- cal devices industry in India. The bureau will also act as a policy think tank to support the Government as well as the Industry . The three-day event organized with an ob- jective to have an inte- grative system healthcare and well- ness for the world. In addition to this objective, various ple- nary sessions were organized on the vi- lating to the Govern- ment of India and var- ious State Govern- ments. The Bureau will coordinate with different ministries of the Central Govern- ment as well as the State Governments for providing solutions to the Industry in a time bound manner. In partnership with Invest India, the Bu- reau will also help fa- cilitate both foreign as well as domestic in- vestment in the Phar- collaborations tween emerging inno- vators in the medical devices space with pri- vate equity investors and healthcare provid- ers to support their growth. The Department of Pharmaceuticals also announced the launch of Pharma Bureau a body of technical ex- perts, which will act as a single-point interface for the pharmaceutical and medical devices industry for issues re- be- stakeholders to pre- sent their offerings through exhibition, in- ternational ence, B2B meetings, MSME vendor develop- ment program and the DPIIT investment lounge. This year to give a boost to innovation and to showcase the growing start-up eco- system in healthcare, FICCI organized an ex- clusive Med-Tech Inno- vators’ Session to fos- ter conversation and industry; Ahmedabad: The 5th edition of India Phar- ma 2020 and India Med- ical Device 2020 organ- ized by FICCI in col- laboration with the Department of Phar- maceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fer- tilizers, Government of India has over 1,200 delegates and visitors from all over India meeting with buyers to provide an exclusive platform for various Ahmedabad: A memo doing the rounds on social media claims that the Gujarat In- telligence Bureau has received an anony- mous tip warning of an attack on 13 per- sons including Home Minister Amit Shah and Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupa- ni. The IB has not en- dorsed either the note or the anonymous warning. The note, which went viral on Thursday, ap- pears to be an internal memo from the Deputy Commissioner to the Additional State, and orders all dis- tricts to be vigilant in the face of the “threat”. In addition to Amit Shah and Rupani, the note also mentions Deputy CM Nitin Pa- tel, DGP Shivanand Jha, BJP President Jitu Waghani, Minis- ter of State for Home Pradipsinh Ahmedabad ‘Grass’roots programme produces 200 tonnes Banni in Kutch confer- of Commissioner Ashish Bhatia, Antarashtriya Hindu Parishad Presi- dent Pravin Togadia, MLA Shailesh Parmar, Chief Justice of the Gujarat HC Justice Ramayyagiri Subhash Reddy, former MLA Bharat Barot, and for- mer MLA Bhushan Bhatt. While it is still un- clear as to where the note Ahmedabad Branch’s Special Police Commissioner Tomer said the police are investigating the is- sue. RAJYA SABHA NOMINATIONS TO BE FILED BY MARCH 13 53,000 women to benefit from Anganwadi workers’ pay hike DG Guj First India News First India News wadi women workers stands at Rs 7,800. Teda- gar women will now get Rs 3,950, while the in- come of workers at mi- ni-Anganwadis now be Rs4,400 with ef- fect from March 2020. Arrears for March 2019 to Feb 2020 period will be paid in 3 instalments. The govt will bear the ad- ditional burden of Rs 112 cr that comes with this decision. The revised salary scale is set to ben- efit 53,029 women. The hike in case of Angan- wadis worker is of Rs 600 and in case of Tedagar and mini-Anganwadi workers is Rs 300. ted to either returning officer or an assistant returning officer at state Legislature of- fice. Scrutiny of the nomination paper will be done on March 16, and any candidates wishing to withdraw his/her nomination can do so be- fore 3 pm on March 18. cumbents end in April. While the election and counting will be held on March 26, Friday’s notification states that candidates or their proposers need to fill and submit all nomi- nations by 3 pm on March 13. Nomina- tions may be submit- Gandhinagar: state govt on Friday an- nounced a pay hike in for Aanganwadi women workers. According to an announcement made by Dy CM Nitin Patel, as per rule 44, the re- vised salary of Angan- The Gandhinagar: Chief Electoral Officer S Murli Krishnan on Friday issued a notifi- cation for elections to four seats of the Rajya Sabha, which will fall vacant once the terms of their current in- originated, Crime will Ajay Jadeja, Police First India News Kamboj also told the beneficiaries that nine new lakes have been de- veloped in the area, to conserve which can be used for the cultivation of Banni grass. In addition, many self-help groups have been formed in the re- gion, enabling women to launch economic activities. Gurjari’s Heenaben Goswami told women partici- pants that they should start tapping into the world-class craft tradition they have inherited in or- der to earn money. The state forest de- partment’s GEER Foun- dation programme— launched under the Centre’s ‘National Ad- aptation Fund for Cli- mate Change’ to rejuve- nate the area—includes the local pastoral com- munity, who often have to migrate in search of fodder for their ani- mals. GEER Foundation director RD Kamboj told beneficiaries of this scheme in an an- nual meeting that, “Having successfully rejuvenated grass on 6,000 hec- tares of land in nine No government jobs for Divyangs in last two years Kutch:The Gujarat Ecological Education and Research (GEER) Foundation in part- nership with the local residents of the Ban- ni grassland area has set an example of growing two hundred tonnes of the grass. The region at the out- er southern edge of the desert of the marshy salt flats of Rann of Kutch is largely barren now but was once lush with Banni grass that would grow up to eight feet in height. rainwater, First India News a lack of welfare. Ahmedabad trict currently has the highest number of registered Divyangs at 130. Rajkot has 44, Sabarkantha, 26, Pa- tan and Jamnagar, 24, and Mehsana, With just one regis- tered Divyang, Dwar- ka has the least. Botad has two, Chhota Udep- ur has five and, Dahod has seven. not given government jobs to any Divyang. The situation is simi- lar in the private sec- tor, where only one Divyang has been em- ployed in the previous year. According to an es- timate, the number of Divyangs in the state has crossed 10,000, but the state ment’s apathy wards them has led to dis- Gandhinagar: Under the Sulabh Bharat Ab- hiyan, the Gujarat government struggled to provide government jobs for differently abled indi- viduals (Divyangs). It admitted as such dur- ing the Question Hour at the Assembly on Friday. Last year, the state government had has 22. villages, we have also started a grass bank. People wishing to sow grass can buy seeds from this bank and can also use it to store their produce. With the help of benefi- ciaries, Banni grass production touched two kilo.” handi- govern- to- has lakh Banni

11. www.fi rstindia.co.in I www.fi rstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefi rstindia facebook.com/thefi rstindia I instagram.com/thefi rstindia 11 AHMEDABAD, SATURDAY MARCH 7, 2020 —PHOTO CREDIT: SABYASACHI DEPENDING ON WHERE YOU WEAR IT, A NOSE RING CAN BE SEEN AS A BEAUTIFUL ACCESSORY, A SYMBOL OF STATUS, WEALTH OR PRESTIGE OR EVEN AS AN ACT OF REBELLION ductive organs. The exact place for the traditional conservative nose piercing is just above the crease where the nos- tril curves gently away from the cheek and usually consists of a single hole and can be done on either side of the nose. Septum and Bridge piercing have been done for centuries and are still popular. There are many types of jewellery to choose from to adorn your nose, you can go in for a stud or a ring with the complete range of pearls, diamonds meenakari. Just remember to keep it clean and com- fortable. For special occa- sions splurge for a bigger nose ring and make a strong style statement. The nose ring is a piece of jewel- lery which is totally dy- namic and has changed, grown with the changing times, fashion and style. ANITA HADA anita.hada@firstindianews.com B ack in 2012 when Miley Cyrus re- vealed her nose piercing, she gen- erated a lot of pub- licity, with her cooler and edgier look. Well, that’s Holly- wood for you, while we in India take nose piercing without batting an eyelid or rather I should say with- out a twitch of the nose! The custom of nose rings has been around for thousands of years and is actually the sec- ond most popular type of body piercing, the first being ear piercing. Nose piercing can be traced back to 44,000 BC in Australia but the modern nose ring tradition began in the Mid- dle East over 4000 years ago which then came to India and became a local way of life. The hippies who visit- ed India in the 60s found it exotic and took it up though it was frowned upon in the Western World and was viewed as an act of rebel- lion till the recent past and is still considered unpro- fessional by some. Piercing the nose is also co-related to sexual health, fertility childbirth in some cul- tures, including India. It is believed that having the left nostril pierced would result in easing the pain of the menstru- al cycle, increasing sexu- al pleasure and assist with easier childbirth. The Ayurvedic reason- ing behind this is that a woman’s left nostril is connected to her repro- and and I saw my mother make a nose ring for a bride and then I asked her if I could have it to wear at Cannes. She told me that people will laugh at me but then they laugh at me for a lot of other stupid things and I wanted to wear it. —SONAM KAPOOR

12. HOLLYWOOD 12 AHMEDABAD | SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 2020 www.fi rstindia.co.in I www.fi rstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefi rstindia I facebook.com/thefi rstindia I instagram.com/thefi rstindia SWIFT HELP BY TAYLOR S Swift also responded quickly to Nashville’s flooding drama a decade ago 2010, founding the Taylor Swift Charitable Fund. More than 20 people lost their lives as two tor- nados ripped through Nashville. Buildings in the eastern part of the city sustained significant property damage. Emergency Fund. “Nashville home... and the fact that so many people have lost their homes and so much more in Middle Tennes- see is devastating to me,” Swift wrote in a state- ment on her Instagram story . She included a link to the Response Fund and encouraged fans to do- nate to the cause. Response inger Swift has donat- ed a whopping $1 million to aid Nashville, Ten- nessee tornado relief efforts. The ‘Blank Space’ hit- maker’s publicist, Tree Paine, confirmed to The Tennessean that the long- time Nashville resident has handed over the cash to the Middle Tennessee Taylor is my —IANS Taylor Swift OVERDOSE ABANDONMENT GHOST HOUSE? BLACK WIDOW IS BACK S hard time when she was rushed to hos- pital after overdos- ing in 2018. On El- len DeGeneres’ chat show, Lovato spoke about her struggles and how she felt abandoned by her people times. “My core issues are abandonment as a child from my birth father. He was an addict, alco- holic. We had to leave him and I had vivid memories of him leaving. played on that fear and I felt abandoned so I drank. That night I went to a party, there was other stuff there and it was only three months before I ended up in the hospi- tal with an over dose,” she shared. Lovato recalled how she reached out to her team, and was left stunned when they branded her selfish, triggering her issues of abandonment. The ‘I Love Me’ singer also urged people to “take responsibility” for themselves. inger Demi Lovato cently counted her re- re- I sha Romanoff in ‘Black Widow’ this April. After a blockbuster end to the last phase in 2019 with ‘Avengers: Endgame’, Marvel will be starting off its most anticipated phase four by redefining the superhero uni- verse with women power in focus. ts going to be a marvellous time for Marvel fans. The new phase starts with Scarlett Johansson coming back on the big screen as deadly spy Nata- M lease in In- upcoming films. Johansson’s ‘Black Widow’ will release on April 30. The film is set after the events of ‘Captain America: Civil War’ but before the events of ‘Avengers: In- finity War’. The film will trace the story of Romanoff, who will confront her past. —IANS dia for its o d e l Chrissy Teigen suspects her house has some kind of ghost or evil spirit as she keeps suffering from night terrors. Teigen took to Twitter on 4th March where she said the dis- turbances have led her to sleep in a different room. “I know this sounds insane but I think I have some kind of ghost or evil spirit and I have the worst night- mares,” Teigen told her followers on her Instagram Story. She added: “I will go to bed super early and I will sleep so long and I will wake up soak- ing wet because I have just the most terrible nightmare. It’s always the same nightmare.” She didn’t explain what the night- mare was, Teigen, who is married to musician John Legend, said: “I’m tired of it and it’s ruining my life, so I’m sleeping in a different room tonight. We’ll see if this makes a difference.” She went on to seemingly cut off crit- ics before they had a chance to com- plain. several Recently, the studio released a poster an- nouncing dates of re- the Demi Lovato It Scarlett Johansson —IANS Chrissy Teigen —IANS FACE OF THE DAY YOUR DAY Horoscope by Saurabbh Sachdeva ARIES MAR 21 - APR 20 TAURUS APR 21 - MA Y 20 GEMINI MA Y 21 - JUNE 21 CANCER JUNE 22 - JUL Y 23 Your family will appear most responsive to your needs today. Your understanding nature towards someone’s suffering will be highly appreciated. You must consider taking your friend’s advice in the matter of love. You can expect a visible raise in salary. Carefully read your work documents and specially those which involve your signatures. At workplace not everyone like us no matter how good we are so that should never bother you. Academically, help others to an extent you don’t anduo creating trouble for yourself. Today no matter how much you spend on what, luckily all the money will fl ow back to your life as today you are blessed with money. Never let someone’s words defi ne who you are, people often get jealous from someone having true potential. Industrialists and entrepreneurs will make a huge profi t. Do not leave any stone unturned when it comes to excelling in studies. Focus on improving your concentration power if you are feeling distracted lately. You will feel like fi nishing all the pending work at home. There will be positive changes in your environment. LEO JUL Y 24 - AUGUST 23 You seem to always solve problems for others and help them out. You have started working in the direction of achieving your targets. Your planning for building a house will turn out to be good. You will relive your childhood days by having a reunion with all your cousins. VIRGO AUG 24 - SEP 23 LIBRA SEPT 24 - OCTOBER 22 Avoid taking any loan rather believe in yourself and you will fi nd a way to deal with things. Your spouse may be a bit stubborn about some idea and sometimes you should give in. You will change your accommodation to gain more security. SCORPIO OCT 23 - NOVEMBER 22 If you looking for monetary help then the help shall be provided. Today you will work really hard in whatever you will do with hundred percent dedication. Sometimes you agree with family and sometimes you don’t but remember that doesn’t make anyone bad, take things easy. You can expect a fi nancial boost in form of salary increment or getting money back from the borrower. Keep following the path you have chosen to have a good health. Your ability to handle issues at hand will get you recognised professionally. You will see a remarkable change in your health. SAGITTARIUS NOV 23 - DEC 22 Social gathering will lighten up your mood today. Sometime you becomes a shopaholic and once you start you don’t pay attention to what is important and what not, luckily for you today you are blessed with money as well as sensibility to judiciously use your dough. CAPRICORN DEC 23 - JAN 20 You may spend all your time running behind money but it will come to you only when you stop running after it and invest more time in doing what you like. If you have a spoilt kid then its time to mend there ways by doing counselling. You may have to take a loan to buy your dream house. AQUARIUS JAN 21 - FEB 19 PISCES FEB20 - MARCH 20 You must take responsibility of things rather than relying on others as sometimes others can take advantage of it. You may have opinion difference with your parents but take it lightly. You are a go getter and this traits will take help you a very successful person. You recently have controlled your hunger to shop and these days you have limited yourself to only buying the bare essentials. You will help your spouse on the home front to take some burden off his/her shoulders. You will spend a very satisfying day at home today, a day full of fun and laughter. AINDRILA ROY, Digital Infl uencer

13. ETC AHMEDABAD | SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 2020 13 www.fi rstindia.co.in I www.fi rstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefi rstindia I facebook.com/thefi rstindia I instagram.com/thefi rstindia SPREADING AWARENESS T aapsee Pannu star- rer ‘Thappad’ has been receiving rave reviews from fans and film critics alike. The impressive star cast and the effective story line has left a deep im- pact on everyone’s minds. Af- ter having shown her acting prowess in films like ‘Mulk’ and ‘Pink’, Taapsee has given a stellar performance again in the Anubhav Sinha direc- torial. Moreover, its hard- hitting plot has surely im- pressed everyone. In the midst of all this, Rajasthan police took to their official social media handle in order to create awareness among people. The tweet says in Hin- di that the word ‘thappad’ is all about domestic violence and mental abuse. They have urged people to call the hel- pline or inform the nearest police station regarding such cases. Tweet by Rajasthan Police herself has shared this tweet on her social media handle thereby providing further as- sistance in spreading social awareness. A picture of Taapsee Pan- nu from Thappad has also been added along with a tweet that reads, ‘just a slap par nahi mar sakta.’ The actress —Agency Taapsee Pannu BEBO SAYS ‘HELLO’! SARA TROLLED! Birthday-Bae! B tress surprised her fans by making her debut on Insta- gram. The recent post she uploaded on the social media application is a picture of herself in all- black and golden tracksuit. “The cat’s out of the bag. #HelloInstagram,” she cap- tioned the image. Her Ins- tagram account has al- ready got a blue tick, and has a profile picture of a very young Bebo. Welcoming Kareena on Instagram, her sister and actress Karisma Kapoor posted a cute post for the ollywood diva Kareena Kapoor Khan is finally on social media. On Fri- day, the ‘Jab We Met’ ac- Kareena Kapoor Khan J 2020 poured in for the ac- tress from friends, fans and fol- lowers. Janhvi was to shoot on her birthday , but at the last minute, her shoot got can- celled, therefore, she decided to spend the time with family at Anshula Kapoor’s res- idence in Mumbai. Her sister Anshula Kapoor shared the video of Janhvi Ka- poor blowing the can- dles on four cakes of different shapes and siz- es. “birthday baby girl. I love you!” wrote Anshula Ka- poor shar- ing the video of Janhvi cutting the cake. Now we all know that Janhvi Ka- poor is extremely at- tached to her parents Boney Kapoor and late Sridevi, and when Janhvi was asked about her memories of birthday mom, she said that Sridevi and Boney Ka- poor used to decorate her room and make everything “Be it the conversa- tions on couch or the cake cutting, mom would make me feel pampered.” Janhvi. anhvi celebrated her 23rd birthday on 6th March, and Kapoor wishes family, ...her instagram post with former. “Brace yourselves @insta- gram She’s here !@kareenaka- poorkhan. Welcome to the gram bebo,” Karisma wrote. Kareena’s Instagram handle goes by the username of “KareenaKa- poorKhan”. Earlier, she had re- vealed that she had a secret Insta- gram account, just to stalk people. special. ...her instagram post S impressed. Most fans on social media who have raised objection over the photograph don’t seem to have a problem with her beach- wear, but they appear confused about the pose that the actress has struck with her brother. In the snapshot, Sara clasps onto Ibrahim who, most neti- zens feel, is quite uncomforta- ble with the pose. They note his body language in the picture, particularly the posture of his hand that, they feel, reveals the teenager’s discomfort, as well as his expression. “Her brother is not comfortable... look at his hand... ara Ali Khan has posted a new bikini picture with her brother Ibrahim, and netizens are not exactly shared —IANS —Agency ‘Hunger and curiosity kept me going’ L she won the title of Miss Universe in 2000. “I think it’s just hunger and curiosi- ty. I don’t feel like I want to be limited to any one thing. I never said, I am just a beauty queen or just an ac- tress. When that’s done, I am always wondering what’s next can I do so, yeah, that keeps me going,” said Lara, while interaction at global tech-hospitality plat- form Airbnb celebrated spirit of women entrepre- neurship at their promo- tional event ahead of In- ternational Women’s Day in Mumbai. Lara won Miss Uni- verse 2000 pageant before entering to Bollywood. Apart from acting, she is a hands-on mother and wife, and has also ven- tured into film production. —IANS ara Dutta says her hunger and curiosity about things have kept her going since time not fair Sara... not expecting from you...,” wrote user. O t h e r s i m p l i e d stardom has start- ed affect- ing Sara, a b l a m e d inadequate parenting. “If the children don’t know the elder at least should w h a t ’ s wrong and w h a t ’ s r i g h t , ” wrote user. now one n d tell a Lara Dutta —IANS Sara Ali Khan Janhvi Kapoor

14. CITY BUZZ AHMEDABAD | SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 2020 14 www.fi rstindia.co.in I www.fi rstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefi rstindia I facebook.com/thefi rstindia I instagram.com/thefi rstindia ‘I don’t believe in ego’ A ctress Katrina Kaif feels fortunate that biggies like Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Ak- shay Kumar and Salman Khan are her friends, and says she respects them and ego doesn’t come into friendship. “I don’t need to look at, ‘why have you hurt my ego’. That’s your problem. Disrespect is different. You must stand up and defend (against) that. What pur- pose does ego serve? I’m just a person,” Katrina said. “Whether it is Shah Rukh or Hrithik, Akshay or Sal- man, I’m very fortunate to call them friends and they are important to me. I can talk to them any time. I re- spect them and when you respect someone, ego doesn’t come into it,” added the actress. The actress will soon be seen in ‘Sooryavanshi’ with Akshay and she says that the oft-repeated perception that she is a “blockbuster star but not a great actor” never bothers her. She said: “My focus was to be a star. I wanted to be loved by people and seen by people. That came from when I was growing up. I have zero inhibi- tions about hiding and changing that. That’s my jour- ney and my story, and I have to own that. I did exactly what I set out to do. Every day I realise how fortunate I am to say that. I wanted to be known in every house- hold, my idol was Hema Malini ji and that’s what I was interested in being.” Katrina was speaking on the audio show ‘Kissa Kh- waabon Ka’, available on Audible Suno. —IANS Katrina Kaif Celebrating being a woman Basking in architectural glory major attractions at the event will be a fashion show which will be held on the first day . Other ac- tivities include a panel discus- sion and felicitation with Amda- vad’s women celebrities, an in- teraction about women’s law. A special candle making and cook- ing show have also been planned.” cityfirstgujarat@gmail.com cristo at Sindhu Bhavan on March 7-8. Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, his wife Anjali Rupani and Ahmedabad Mayor Bijal Pa- tel will inaugurate the event. Talking about the event, Arch- ana Gupta, Chairperson, Busi- ness Women Wing Committee, said, “There are various pro- grammes planned for partici- pants over two days. One of the CITY FIRST T merce and Industry (GCCI), an- nounced ‘We UDAAN’ pro- gramme to mark International Women’s Day. The two-day pro- gramme will be held at Monte- Educating & Empowering A ma conducted an inter- action with the govern- ment school students in Bhat and Trasad vil- lage, about the impor- tance of skill develop- ment and education in order to lead an inde- pendent life. The speaker session was curated by women honchos at the organi- sation where they talked about their jour- ney and challenges faced in their lives. They also talked about the importance of edu- cation and how pursu- ing a career can help them become capable of facing challenges that life may throw at them. Sangeeta Thakkar, AVP (International Business), Cadila, said, “I hail from Gujarat and talking to these girls took me back to my childhood. The only the company . he Wing (BWWC), under the Gu- jarat Chambers of Com- Business Women Committee mediate context. It showcases how design and technology are adapted to suit local constraints. It presents private, public and community-driven projects of multiple scales through the dual lens of intent and process. Started by a former exchange student Franz Ziegler, the Rotter- dam-based company Ziegler Branderhorst showcases a selec- tion of seven projects in the exhi- bition ‘Landscape Urbanism’. It highlights various techniques of analyses and documentation to stress the importance of drawing as research by design. cityfirstgujarat@gmail.com CITY FIRST T vati Lalbhai Library Podium, CEPT University on Thursday . A work of Kolkata-based Abin Design Studio, ‘Making of a Place’ narrates an ongoing story of how a tiny spark introduced an entire community to the pow- er of design. Thereby, demon- strating how architecture can expand its sphere of influence beyond just defining the visual and material culture of its im- wo exhibitions titled ‘Making of a Place’ and ‘Landscape Urbanism’ were inaugurated at Lila- CITY FIRST head of Inter- national Wom- en’s Day (March 8), Cadila Phar- message I wanted to give these girls was to have courage. When you have courage, you can fight for your rights and realize all your dreams.” The session was at- tended by over 150 girl students and women from skill development work groups in both Trasad and Bhat. It also included women from Bhat village who are currently involved in skill development pro- grammes organised by