First india ahmedabad edition-23 february 2021

First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: With
the Centre approving
the extension of Anil
Mukim for a second
time, he becomes the
state’s only Chief Sec-
retary to get a year’s
extension after the
age of superannua-
tion.
Mukim, a 1985-batch
officer of the Indian Ad-
ministrative Services,
will now serve as the
Chief Secretary till the
end of August this year,
an official said.
The 59-year-old bu-
reaucrat, appointed to
the top post in Novem-
ber 2019, was to have
retired on August 31
2020. However, before
that, the state govern-
ment had put up a pro-
posal to extend his ser-
vice for six months.
A notification in this
regard will be issued in
the coming days, the of-
ficial added.
In the past, Mukim
has served as the Sec-
retary to the Gujarat
Chief Minister, as the
Secretary of Finance
and Revenue, and also
as Ahmedabad’s mu-
nicipal commissioner.
Prior to being pro-
moted to Gujarat’s
Chief Secretary in
November 2019,
Mukim had been on
deputation to the
Central government,
where he has served
as Secretary (Com-
merce) and other de-
partments.
Anil Mukim gets second extension as Gujarat CS
59-year-old will continue as
Chief Secretary until Aug-end
BJP GETS 2 MORE RS MPs
Anil Mukim —FILE PHOTO
While PM Modi’s ‘Poriborton’ (change) jibe may have been targeted for West Bengal, it appeared to have a far reaching effect. On one hand, a ‘change’ occurred in continuance of
Pudduchery govt where its CM failed to prove majority & resigned. But that was not all, perhaps the most hardened agitators of recent years, farmer leader Rakesh Tikait, also un-
derwent a ‘poriborton’ of heart and agreed to another rounds of talks with Centre, which on Monday went back to the drawing board to assess the situation posed after ‘poriborton’
i.e. spike in corona cases in few states. In Mumbai, the stock market continued its slump for 5th day; another ‘poriborton’ after rising several points post Union Budget.
GUJARAT RAJYA SABHA BYPOLLS:
BJP WINS BOTH SEATS UNOPPOSED
NEWS DIGEST
Ahmedabad: BJP nominees Dineshchandra Ana-
vadiya and Rambhai Mokariya were on Monday
declared elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha from
Gujarat as the Opposition Congress did not field
candidates for the two vacant seats, one of which
was held by its veteran leader Ahmed Patel.
Elections to 2 seats were held following demise of
Patel and BJP’s Abhay Ganpatray Bhardwaj.
UP PRESENTS
`5.5 L CRORE
BUDGET
IRAQI ROCKETS
TARGET US
EMBASSY
Lucknow: Yogi
Adityanath-led UP
govt on Monday pre-
sented `5,50,270.78
cr budget for 2021-22
in Assembly. With
Assembly polls a year
away, budget included
various new schemes.
Baghdad: At least 3
rockets targeted the
US embassy on Mon-
day in high-security
Green Zone of Iraq’s
capital Baghdad, local
security sources told
AFP. The attack is
third in a week.
Puducherry: Amid a
spate of resignations
including Congress
MLAs A John Kumar
and Lakshmi Naray-
anan and DMK MLA K
Venkatesan in the Pu-
ducherry assembly re-
sulting in a floor test,
Puducherry Chief Min-
ister V Narayanaswa-
my on Monday submit-
ted his resignation to
Lieutenant Governor
Tamilisai Soundarara-
jan after losing the ma-
jority in the Assembly
during the floor test.
Puducherry Lt Gov-
ernor Tamilisai Sound-
ararajan had ordered a
floor test in assembly
on February 22. The UT
is going to Assembly
polls later this year. The
dates are yet to be an-
nounced.
Assembly Speaker VP
Sivakolundhu an-
nounced that the Chief
Minister has failed to
prove his majority and
adjourned the house
sine die. Meanwhile, the
TreasuryBenchesraised
theissueof votingrights
to nominated MLAs.
Shortly before the result
of the floor test, Naraya-
nasamy alleged that the
Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP)wasforciblytrying
to implement Hindi in
theUT,whichfollowsthe
two-language system.
Turn to P6
Puducherry CM
resigns after losing
majority in Assembly
New Delhi: After cer-
tain sections of media
recently reported on
CentralPoliceForcesbe-
ing sent specifically to
WestBengal,theECIhas
negated the point stress-
ing that it is a standard
practice.
“Central Police Forc-
es (CPFs) are routinely
sent to all the States and
UTs where elections are
totakeplace,foradvance
area domination, espe-
cially in the critical sec-
torswhichareidentified
by meticulous advance
reviews from various
sources including politi-
cal parties and entities.
This practice is going on
sincelate1980s,”theECI
saidinarelease. TurntoP6
New Delhi: The Delhi
High Court on Monday
sought responses of
Congress president So-
nia Gandhi, her son Ra-
hul and others who are
accused in the National
Herald case following a
plea by BJP MP Subra-
manian Swamy seeking
to lead evidence before
the trial court.
Justice Suresh Kait,
while issuing notice to
the Gandhis, AICC gen-
eral secretary Oscar
Fernandes, Suman
Dubey
, Sam Pitroda and
YoungIndia(YI),sought
their stand on Swamy’s
plea by April 12 and
stayed the proceedings
in the case till then.
Advocate Satya Sab-
harwal, appearing for
the BJP MP, and advo-
cate Tarannum
Cheema, appear-
ing for the Gandhis and
others, confirmed that
the high court has is-
sued notice in the mat-
ter and stayed the trial
court proceedings till
April 12.
Turn to P6
Mumbai: Mohan
Delkar, a seven-
time MP from
Dadra and Nagar
Haveli, was found
dead at a hotel in
Mumbai’s Marine
Drive, Maharashtra
on Monday. Delkar,
who was staying in
a sea-facing room
on fifth floor of the
Sea Green Hotel, al-
legedly died by sui-
cide by hanging.
His body has
been sent for post-
mortem. Mumbai
Police said that a
suicide note has
been found and an
investigation is un-
derway. The exact
cause of death will
be known after post-
mortem is conduct-
ed, Mumbai Police
added. The body
was taken to JJ Hos-
pital for postmor-
tem.
More on P3
Dadra &
Nagar Haveli
MP dies by
suicide
HC seeks reply from Sonia,
Rahul over Swamy’s plea
NATIONAL HERALD CASE CPFs sent routinely to
poll-bound states: ECI
Hooghly: Prime Minis-
ter Narendra Modi on
Monday asserted that
poll-bound West Bengal
has made up its mind for
‘poriborton’ (change).
During his second
visit to the state this
month, PM inaugurated
the extension of Metro
Railway from Noapara
to Dakshineswar and
flag off the first service
on this 4.1 km stretch
constructed at a cost of
`464 crore.
While addressing a
public meeting in
Hooghly, PM said, “To-
day, Bengal is taking a
big step to prove its re-
solve for fast develop-
ment. Last time I came
here to give you the gift
of gas connectivity and
infrastructure projects.
Today, important works
to strengthen rail and
metro connectivity are
going to be inaugurat-
ed,” PM Modi said.
“Modern highways,
railways, airways, infra-
structure of many coun-
tries helped those na-
tions to become Turn to P6
Dhemaji: Taking a shot at the previous govern-
ments for neglecting the state of Assam, Prime
Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that
despite the state’s great potential, it was given
a ‘sautela’ treatment and its development
needs were overlooked in various sec-
tors. Speaking at the launch of vari-
ous projects in Silapathar, PM said,
“Centre and Assam governments
working collaboratively to develop
State infrastructure. Despite the
State having great potential, the
former governments gave it
‘sautela’ treatment by overlooking
development in various sectors.”
“Bet it, connectivity, hospitals,
educational institutions were not
in the priority list Turn to P6
New Delhi: Noting the coun-
try’s growing capabilities in the
Defence sector, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi on Monday said India
is exporting defence equipment to more
than 40 countries and working towards
becoming one of the major exporters in the
world. Speaking at the webinar for effective
implementation of Union Budget provisions
in the Defence Sector, PM Modi said, “To-
day, we are exporting defence equipment
to more than 40 countries. We have to
come out of the list of importing nations
in the defence sector and become a
major exporter in the sector. P5
PM SETS STAGE
FOR ‘DESI’
WEAPONS
WEST BENGAL MADE UP ITS MIND
FOR CHANGE, ASSERTS PM MODI
Sensex sinks 1,145 pts; Nifty drops below 14,700
Mumbai: Equity in-
vestors lost over Rs
1,000 crore every min-
ute on Manic Monday
as traders dumped
shares, spooked by
reemerging cases in
some pockets of In-
dia. Rising bond
yields and extreme
volatility also added
to the mayhem.
Extending its loss-
esforthefifthstraight
session, equitybench-
mark Sensex plum-
meted 1,145 points on
Monday, tracking
heavy losses in index
majors Reliance In-
dustries, HDFC and
TCS amid negative
cues from global mar-
kets.
The 30-share BSE
index ended 1,145.44
points or 2.25 per cent
lower at 49,744.32. The
broader NSE Nifty
sank 306.05 points or
2.04 per cent to finish
at 14,675.70.
Dr Reddy’’s was the
toploserintheSensex
pack, shedding
around 5 per cent, fol-
lowed by M&M, Tech
Mahindra, Axis
Bank, IndusInd Bank
and TCS.
Bearish Dalal
Street slews
investors’ 3.8
lakh cr rupees as
shares plunge for
5th day straight
Sonia Gandhi Rahul Gandhi
V. Narayanasamy submitted the letter of the resignation of the chief
minister and his Council of Ministers to Lt. Governor Dr Tamilisai
Soundararajan, in Puducherry on Monday. —PHOTO BY ANI
Dr Shamsheer Vayalil, CMD VPs Healthcare met CEC Sunil Arora
on Monday to press for an early resolution of extending ETPBS
facility to Indian Diaspora.
IF CALLED,WE WILL
GO FOR TALKS
WITH GOVT: TIKAIT
AHMEDABAD l TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2021 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/16208 l Vol 2 l Issue No. 89
“If the government calls us, we will definitely go for talks with them.” Farmer leader Rakesh
Tikait who came to Rajasthan’s Nohar to address a farmer rally of thousands said that he was
open to a dialogue with the central government on farm laws, however he claimed that “it will
take them (centre) one or two more months” before they call for discussion again.
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OUR EDITIONS:
JAIPUR, AHMEDABAD
& LUCKNOW
‘ASSAM IGNORED BY PAST GOVTS’

NEWS
AHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2021
02
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
CAST(E)ING THEIR VOTE
Haresh Jhala
Ahmedabad: A poten-
tially worrying factor
has presented itself in
the voting pattern of
people in Gujarat this
municipal corpora-
tion. On Sunday, over
52 lakh electors voted
to elect their represent-
atives in six municipal
corporations, but most
gave preference to the
caste of candidates in
the fray rather than the
party they belonged to.
This development
may throw a spanner
in the works of the
Bharatiya Janata Par-
ty (BJP) and the Rash-
triya Swayamsevak
Sangh’s (RSS) Hindut-
va nationalism propa-
ganda wave. It will also
adversely affect the
Congress party’s bid to
keep the nation’s secu-
lar fabric intact.
While there is no
doubt that almost 40 to
50% who elected to vote
on Sunday were com-
mitted to vote for right
or centric wing parties,
but the rest chose to fa-
vour the caste of candi-
dates. This move by the
voters may be denied
by political powerhous-
es in the state but, mes-
sages on social media
platforms urging citi-
zens to vote for candi-
dates on basis of their
castes proclaim other-
wise.
In Ahmedabad, a
post of the Jain com-
munity was in circula-
tion on social media
platforms that listed 18
Jain candidates from
both the BJP and the
Congress party. It
urged Jain voters to
vote for the mentioned
candidates, irrespec-
tive of the party they
were contesting polls
from.
In Patidar-dominat-
ed areas of the state,
messages asking
Patidars not to vote for
the BJP candidate in
the fray were being
passed on social media.
Despite being pro-BJP,
Patidars were asked
not to elect them be-
cause “the time has
come to teach them a
lesson.”
In a similar attempt
to sway public opinion,
voters were asked to
vote for candidates be-
longing to the Koli
community in Bhavna-
gar. The messages pro-
claimed, “With 13 Koli
community candidates
in the fray, even if 70%
candidates make it to
the municipal corpora-
tion, the community’s
efforts to vote based on
caste will be a huge
success.” Also, similar
messages about Rajput
and Brahmin commu-
nities were also floated.
In Jamnagar, the Lu-
vana community was
denied tickets in the
Panchvati area which
led to dissent among
members. Therefore,
messages advising
against voting for the
party and pressing the
NOTA (None of the
above) button were cir-
culated on messenger
groups. Prior to voting
day, Jain community
group meetings also
took place in the dis-
trict with the motive to
ensure that the com-
munity stands behind
Jain candidates irre-
spective of their party
.
In Rajkot, a city
dominatedbyPatidars,
voters decided to
maintain social dis-
tancing from polling
booths because they
felt that political par-
ties were not giving
due importance to the
community.
“The fear ruling the
minds of candidates
and even various party
leaders is that the en-
tire panel may not get
elected. That is the first
indication of caste-
based politics,” as-
sessed Nitin Soni, sen-
ior journalist from
Bhavnagar.
According to Soni,
along with caste-based
campaigning, two to
three other factors
have won out this elec-
tion--inflation effect,
which is visible in the
voting trend, and the
laidback approach of
veteran leaders who
were denied tickets
during the campaign.
As per reports, only a
few wards of the BJP’s
page committees have
performed well.
“New faces received
little support from sen-
ior leaders. Voters are
fed up with continual
inflation and lost hope
that any of the political
parties may come up
come with solution to
their problems. Moreo-
ver, internal dissent in
all parties was the rea-
son for low voting turn-
out in Vadodara,” ob-
served Manu Chavda,
senior journalist from
Vadodara.
Even with low turn-
out, the BJP still has
the upper hand and
the chance to retain
power in all six mu-
nicipal corporations.
In Jamnagar, the BJP
had won 38 seats in the
2015 elections, and
this time it can add
four more seats at the
most, asserted Ravi
Buddhdev, analyst
from Jamnagar.
Electors belonging to different communities showed up to vote for their representatives in Ahmedabad on Sunday. —PHOTOS BY HANIF SINDHI
VOTERS PRIORITIZED THE CASTES OF CANDIDATES AND NOT THE PARTY THEY BELONGED TO
WHILE CHOOSING THEIR REPRESENTATIVES IN THE MUNICIPAL CORPORATION ELECTION
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: Over
52.83 lakh voters exer-
cised their right to elect
their councillors in the
municipal corporation
election held in
Ahmedabad, Vadodara,
Surat, Rajkot, Jamna-
gar and Bhavnagar on
Sunday
. While the turn-
out of 46.1% is 0.29 per-
cent higher than the
voter turnout of 45.81%
witnessed during the
2015 elections, the num-
bers were achieved only
after the Bharatiya Ja-
nataParty(BJP)pushed
its entire cadre to get
people to polling booths
and urge them to vote.
However, only 42.6% of
female voters cast their
votes in the election.
It is no secret that the
BJP has established it-
self as a powerhouse in
urban Gujarat over the
past two decades. It
played to its strength in
this election by appoint-
ing page presidents for
committees and created
hype around huge voter
turnout numbers. But,
the ruling party’s plan
seems to have fallen
short of the high expec-
tations it had set for it-
self.
After tracking the
voting trend during the
first four hours of poll-
ing on Sunday, BJP
state unit president CR
Patil took to his Twitter
handle at 11 am and
wrote, “I request all
page committee mem-
bers and page presi-
dents to ensure that vot-
ers on his/her page cast
their votes. I am confi-
dent that it will bring
revolutionary results.”
Over 19,65,946 elec-
tors voted in
Ahmedabad, 5,54,857
voters in Rajkot, which
was 0.3% higher than
2015’s 50.04%, while Va-
dodara witnessed 0.91%
drop in voting com-
pared to the 2015 elec-
tion, with 47.8% voting
this election.
In Surat, Patil’s
hometown, the voting
percentage increased
by 7.17% as compared to
2015’s 39.93%. The total
number of votes cast in
the city were 15,50,035.
In Bhavnagar, 2,59,612
voters polled and
2,61,045 in Jamnagar,
with a 2% increase and
3% decline witnessed in
both cities respectively
.
It may be so that Patil
has realized that all is
not well within the par-
ty and that his strategy
of not repeating coun-
cilors who have already
served three terms and
denying tickets to lead-
ers above 60 years of
age, have failed. The re-
alization was visible
during his speech in
Vapi on Sunday evening
as he addressed party
workers. “Those who
had been denied tickets
in the municipal corpo-
ration election because
of the age bar should
not worry, the state as-
sembly and Lok Sabha
elections are approach-
ing,” he said.
Despite the failure of
his strategy, Patil indi-
catedthathestillintend-
ed to bring down the age
limit to contest local
body polls to 40 years.
Has Patil’s age limit, no repetition strategy failed the party?
TROUBLED TIMES
lll
Low voter
turnout in
urban areas
has worried
BJP state
leadership as
several elec-
tors chose not
to cast their
votes in mu-
nicipal corpo-
ration polls
BJP state unit chief CR Patil being welcomed by Aravalli district leaders on Monday.
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: After a
slow start to polling
for municipal corpo-
ration elections on
Sunday, several poll-
ing booths reported a
sudden rush of voters
in the final hour be-
fore closing of polls.
This resulted in a
last-minute 20%
surge in numbers of
votes cast and has
been flagged as a seri-
ous concern by politi-
cal parties.
After reviewing the
vote percentage trend,
Manish Doshi, chief
spokesperson of the
Gujarat Pradesh Con-
gress Committee
(GPCC) said, “This
(trend) has been hap-
pening in every elec-
tion. As polls draw to a
close, the final hours
witness a suspiciously
high flow of votes.”
added, “If we take a
look at the data gath-
ered of the final hours
of polling, one can say
that each vote was
polled at every 36 sec-
onds. The average voter
turnout rose from
21.32% to 48.15% sud-
denly. As per the dash-
board of the state elec-
tion commission (SEC),
the turnout stood at
26.83% at 3.30 pm.”
On an average, there
were around 1,200 vot-
ers per booth, so in the
final hours of polling
over 252 votes were cast
in each booth. “The
booths were looked de-
serted since morning
but, the final hours of
polling witnessed more
than 100 votes. And
most of the voters did
not even have to stand
in a queue! This is not a
new pattern; it was seen
in the 2010 and 2015
elections too. We had
alerted our party mem-
bers about this too,”
stated Doshi.
Echoing Doshi’s
claims, All India Majlis-
e-Ittehadul Muslimeen
(AIMIM) spokesperson
Shamshad Pathan said,
“There was bogus vot-
ing during polls. This
has been happening
during every election.
Why is there a sudden
rise in vote share in the
final hours of polling,
and that too without
voters lining up in
queues outside the vot-
ing centres? I was on
the ground during polls
on Sunday and I discov-
ered that bogus voting
is not a myth,” Pathan
told First India.
However, Tuli Ba-
nerji of the Aam
Aadmi Party (AAP)
disagreed with the
theory narrated by
other leaders and in-
sisted that the surge
happened because
political parties had
pushed people to
cast their votes via
social media plat-
forms and door- to-
door campaigns.
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: The vote-
counting of the munici-
pal corporation election
is set to commence to-
day but a Bharatiya Ja-
nata Party (BJP) candi-
date from Naroda ward
of the Ahmedabad Mu-
nicipal Corporation
(AMC) had already de-
clared himself mayor
of the city on Sunday
evening.
Rajendra Solanki, 44,
was greeted by his well-
wishers and his social
media handles were
flooded with congratu-
latory messages on his
appointment. One of
the messages read, “We
are heartily thanking
you; the youths of the
community for their
support of our favour-
ite candidate from the
Ahmedabad Municipal
Corporation election,
Rajendra Solanki (May-
or sir).”
It is to be noted that
this time, there is a
Scheduled Caste (SC)
reservation for the may-
oral post of AMC. The
selection for the posi-
tion will be conducted
in a minimum of one
week after the election
results are declared.
Incidentally, candi-
dates of both political
powerhouses of the
state, the BJP and the
Congress party are wor-
ried about the outcome
of the elections. Some
say that it may be diffi-
cult for Congress to win
duetolowvoterturnout,
others have expressed
fear of BJP’s defeat.
A police officer guards the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs)
stored at Gujarat College, one of the main vote-counting centres in
Ahmedabad on Monday. The EVMs have been kept under a heavy
security cover ahead of vote-counting commencement today.
A screenshot of the congratulatory message for Rajendra Solanki
being circulated on a social networking platform.
Surge in voter turnout due to last-minute
polling is suspicious,say Cong,AIMIM
BJP candidate ‘declared’
mayor on social media
—PHOTO
BY
HANIF
SINDHI

GUJARAT
03
SC rejects voters’ petition
but keeps legal point open
Counting of votes for municipal corporation elections to be held today
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad/New
Delhi: The Supreme
Court on Monday re-
jected the petition
pleading for it to di-
rect the State Elec-
tion Commission to
hold vote-counting
for the six municipal
corporations that
went to the polls on
Sunday, and the dis-
trict panchayats, ta-
luka panchayats and
nagarpalikas that
will go to the polls
next Sunday on a sin-
gle day
. While reject-
ing the petition, the
apex court has kept
the law point open.
The division bench
comprising Justice
Ashok Bhushan and
Justice R Subhash
Reddy rejected the pe-
tition after hearing
senior advocate Kapil
Sibbal, who appeared
for petitioner Natvars-
inh Mahida, and the
Solicitor General, who
appeared on behalf of
the SEC. However, the
bench has kept the law
point.
This decision clears
the way for the count-
ing of votes cast in
Sunday’s municipal
corporation election to
go ahead as scheduled
on Tuesday
.
Counting will take
place at two to three
locations in each of
the six cities in which
46.1% of people voted
on Sunday
.
On Tuesday, the pro-
cess will begin at 8 am,
with postal ballots be-
ing counted initially.
Thereafter, counting
will proceed, booth-
wise. By 3 pm, the pic-
ture should be clear as
to whether the BJP is
returning to power or
if the low voter-turn-
out caused some
changes.
Supreme Court of India. —FILE PHOTO
HC ORDER
Testing centres return
as nCoV cases surge
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: A day
after the municipal
corporation elections,
Ahmedabad saw the
civic body reinstall a
number of walk-in
COVID-19 testing cen-
tres, which had been
dismantled earlier
this month. The move
comes as the state’s
daily jump in COV-
ID-19 cases crossed the
300-mark after about a
month.
City officials say the
rising numbers could
bring a return of micro-
containment zones in
the coming days. Mean-
while, the state has de-
cided to set up border
checkpoints, to screen
passengers coming in
from Maharashtra and
Madhya Pradhesh, both
of which have been see-
ing a rise in cases.
As many as 315 new
cases were reported on
Monday, taking the
state’s total case load to
2,67,419 since March
2020. One more fatality,
in Ahmedabad city,
took the total death toll
to 4,406.
Ahmedabad city re-
ported the most new
cases(70)onMonday
,fol-
lowed by Vadodara city
(59), Surat city (48), Ra-
jkot city (39), Kutch dis-
trict (10), and Vadodara
district (9). Ten districts
saw no new cases. There
are now 1,732 active
cases in Gujarat, with
30 patients on ventila-
tor support.
A total of 8,13,582 peo-
ple have received the
first dose of the vaccine
and 67,300 people have
taken their second jab.
The testing centre outside Tagore Hall had been dismantled on
February 12. —PHOTO BY HANIF SINDHI
WELL-GUARDED
Unwilling to take any chances with security, state police deployed personnel in and around the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (Motera)
Stadium on Monday, ahead of the India- England Test match slated to begin February 24. —PHOTO BY HANIF SINDHI
First India Bureau
Mumbai/Dadra & Na-
gar Haveli: Member
of Parliament from
Dadra and Nagar
Haveli, Mohan Delkar
was found dead in a
hotel near Mumbai’s
Marine Drive on Mon-
day
. Police are investi-
gating the matter and
suspect that he com-
mitted suicide.
Delkar’s body has
been sent to JJ Hospi-
tal for a postmortem.
Delkar is survived by
his wife, a son and a
daughter.
Police officials said
they have recovered a
three-page suicide
note, the contents of
which will only be
shared with Delkar’s
family members.
Several senior police
officials including Joint
Commissionerof Police,
Law & Order, Vishwas
Nangre Patil and Addi-
tional Commissioner of
Police, South Region,
Satyanarayan Chaud-
harywereseenquestion-
ing staff at the hotel on
Monday
, in an attempt to
glean details regarding
Delkar’s stay there.
Local sources say
that the administration
of the Union Territory
of Daman and Diu, and
Dadra & Nagar Haveli
has been harassing
Delkar in connection
with an educational in-
stitute floated by his
charitable trust.
Delkar began his ca-
reer as a trade union
leader in Silvassa. He
was first elected to the
ninth Lok Sabha from
Dadra and Nagar Haveli
constituency in 1989 as a
Congress nominee.
He left the Congress
ahead of the 2019 Lok
Sabha election, and
tied up with the JDU
for the local election in
Dadra and Nagar Have-
li after a meeting with
Bihar Chief Minister
Nitish Kumar. His sup-
port to the JDU result-
ed in a loss of seats for
the Bharatiya Janata
Party in Dadra and Na-
gar Haveli.
MP from Dadra & Nagar Haveli dies, 3-page suicide note found
INVESTIGATION ONGOING

Mohan
Delkar was
found dead in
a hotel room
near
Mumbai’s
Marine Drive,
police suspect
case of suicide
Mohan Delkar —FILE PHOTO
5 persons injured
in clash between
PAAS, BTP in Surat
‘Bereaved widower’
arrested for killing
wife in Sabarkantha
First India Bureau
Surat: Five persons
were injured and a
vehicle vandalized
when activists
from the Patidar
Anamat Andolan
Samiti and the
Bharatiya Tribal
Party clashed in
Mota Varachha on
Sunday, police of-
ficials said on
Monday.
Police officials,
including district
police chief Usha
Rada, had to inter-
vene to curb the vio-
lence, after the two
groups got into a
scuffle as PAAS con-
venor Alpesh
Kathiria exited the
polling booth at Ve-
lanja village.
A case of assault
and beating, includ-
ing atrocities, has
been registered
against the PASS
leaders, five of
whom are currently
receiving treatment
at the Surat Civil
Hospital.
Those familiar
with the issue say
that Kathiria and 10
others were seen
beating up BTP mem-
bers after the latter
group was seen
shooting a video of
Kathiria and his as-
sociates on one of
their mobile phones.
Velanja village of
Kamarej taluka was
brought under the
purview of the Su-
rat Municipal Cor-
poration, when the
city limits were ex-
panded in 2020.
Bhavesh Barot
Himmatnagar: Kheroj
police have arrested a
man for allegedly
bludgeoning his wife
to death, nine months
after he reported her
demise as an accident.
According to police
sources, Shravan
Bhurabhai Khair filed a
report on June 14, 2020,
saying that his wife Jee-
naben on VASF had suc-
cumbed to injuries sus-
tained after falling down
at their home in the
hamlet of Digthali near
Kheroj.
Inhisstatementtothe
police, Khair had said
Jeenaben was initially
admitted to a nearby
government hospital,
but was later shifted to
the Ahmedabad Civil
Hospital,whereshedied
after four days.
However, the post-
mortem revealed that
the24-year-oldJeenaben
had died due to internal
head injuries caused by
beingbludgeonedwitha
blunt object.
Later, Jeenaben’s par-
ents filed a complaint
against her husband,
accusing him of harass-
ing her for dowry and
causing mental torture.
Based on his in-laws’
complaint and the post-
mortem report, the po-
lice on Sunday arrested
Khair under Section
498(K) and 302 of the In-
dian Penal Code and
Section 135 of the Guja-
rat Police Act.
DySP DM Chauhan is
leading the ongoing in-
vestigation.
The BTP workers allegedly arrived in the four-wheeler that
was vandalized in the melee.
Accused Shravan Bhurabhai Khair.
`1.91 cr worth of foodgrains go missing
from state govt godown in Banaskantha
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: A mas-
sive stock of
foodgrains, worth
about Rs1.91 crore
has gone missing from
a government godown
in Banaskantha dis-
trict. The district col-
lector’s office has ini-
tiated an inquiry into
the issue after receiv-
ing complaints of ir-
regularities.
Persons familiar
with the developments
said that this initially
looks like a scam in-
volving the squander-
ing of rations meant for
the poor. A primary
complaint has been
filed against the food
supply officer, godown
manager, and one other
person.
The missing grains,
mainly wheat and rice,
were stored in the gov-
ernment’s food supply
department. These
were meant to be later
distributed among ben-
eficiaries belonging to
economically backward
categories. According
to an estimate, there are
about 11.1 lakh benefi-
ciaries in Banaskantha
district who receive
foodgrains from the
government.
The Palanpur West
police station has filed a
complaint against three
people and is continu-
ing is investigation.
The godown manager
has gone into hiding.
The missing grains are mostly wheat and rice. —FILE PHOTO
315 new cases, one
fatality take state tally
to 2,67,419 cases,
death toll to 4,406

Vol 2 Issue No. 89 RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/16208. Printed and published by Anita Hada Sangwan on behalf of First Express Publishers. Printed at Bhaskar Printing Planet Survey No.148P, Changodar-Bavla Highway, Tal. Sanand, Dist. Ahmedabad.
Published at D/302 3rd Floor Plot No. 35 Titanium Square, Scheme No. 2, Thaltej Taluka, Ghatlodiya, Ahmedabad. Editor-In-Chief: Jagdeesh Chandra. Editor: Anita Hada Sangwan responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act
PERSPECTIVE
04
t is the year
2049. China is
c e l eb r at i n g
h a v i n g
reached its
second centenary goal –
to become a “prosper-
ous, powerful, democrat-
ic, civilised and harmo-
nious socialist modern-
ised country” by the
100th anniversary of the
people’s republic.
Its economy is three
times the size of the United
States’, as the Internation-
al Monetary Fund predict-
ed back in the 2010s. The US
remains wealthy and pow-
erful – it has functioning
alliances in Europe – but its
pacts with Asian allies
have fallen into disrepair.
For decades, Hong
Kong has been accepted
as just another province
of China. Few dare to
criticise the ongoing hu-
man rights abuses there,
or in Xinjiang and else-
where, because of the ex-
traterritorial application
of China’s national secu-
rity laws. Taiwan, if not
annexed, is isolated, with
no diplomatic partners.
The legacy of Xi Jinping,
who led China for more
than 30 years, monopolises
ideological discourse in
China. His successors rule
under his shadow.
Outside China, many
of the third-wave democ-
racies that transitioned
in the second half of the
20th century have be-
come far less liberal.
Elections are held, but
increasingly authoritar-
ian governments have
adopted many of Bei-
jing’s technological and
legal tools to manage
markets and control pol-
itics. The internet is
heavily censored.
Mistrust permeates eve-
ry aspect of China’s rela-
tions with the West. Inter-
national co-operation on
climate change and the
strong carbon-reduction
commitments of the early
2020s have long been aban-
doned. The focus is on indi-
vidual adaptation.
Australia remains a
liberal democracy and a
staunch defender of free
markets and human
rights. But these are no
longer the default stand-
ards of global govern-
ance – they are minority
positions associated
mostly with Western tra-
ditions. No longer a top-
20 economic or military
power, Australia’s op-
portunities to make its
mark internationally
are few and far between.
AN UNSETTLING BUT
PLAUSIBLE VISION
Thisvisionof afragmented
and decidedly less liberal
international order is high-
ly speculative, but also dis-
piritingly plausible. It is
unsettling to an Australian
reader, not just because
Australian foreign policy
has been centred on a glob-
al set of rules and institu-
tions since 1945, but be-
cause Australian identity is
so enmeshed with the val-
ues of liberal democracy
.
The 2017 Foreign Poli-
cy White Paper states
that Canberra is “a de-
termined advocate of
liberal institutions, uni-
versal values and human
rights”, in stark contrast
to Beijing.
All nation states, espe-
cially rising powers, de-
sire a favourable global
environment in which
they can acquire power,
prosperity and prestige.
The postwar system great-
ly aided China, and it
would be incorrect to
claim Beijing wants to dis-
mantle it entirely.
Similarly, it would be
disingenuous to over-
look the many instances
where the US and other
liberal democracies have
behaved inconsistently.
But the Chinese Commu-
nist Party, which leads an
authoritarian state, sees
the liberal values embed-
ded in the present order as
a threat to its rule.
HTTPS://THECONVERSATION.COM/
How China is remaking the world in its vision
I
THE LEGACY OF XI
JINPING, WHO LED
CHINA FOR MORE
THAN 30 YEARS,
MONOPOLISES
IDEOLOGICAL
DISCOURSE
IN CHINA
Change is the law of the
universe. You can be a
millionaire, or a pauper in
an instant. —Bhagwat Gita
Spiritual
SPEAK
Top
TWEET
Dharmendra Pradhan
@dpradhanbjp
Privileged to be a part of this
celebration of progress in Assam.
Dedication of oil, gas and other
important projects to the nation
in Silapathar by Hon. PM Shri
@narendramodi will lead to
accelerated development of
Assam and further drive growth
in eastern India.#UnnataAxom
Randeep Singh Surjewala
@rssurjewala
Profiteers, give immediate relief
to the common people by cutting
the “Modi tax” (excise) on
petrol-diesel. In fuel prices, you
have made India a world guru!
#FuelLootByBJP
COVID-19 RETURNS
TO HAUNT PEOPLE
ovid-19 has come to haunt us again with
resurgence in cases in four states and an
Indian variant of the virus being de-
scribed as more lethal than the one we
have been fighting till now. With 15,000
new Covid-19 cases recorded in the last 24 hours, a
second wave of the pandemic seemed to be in the
making. The total cases in the country on Monday
totalled over 1.10 crore and the toll crossing 1.56
lakh. Compared to the United States and Britain
these are small numbers but rising new cases are
causing the Centre some worry. Maharashtra,
Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Pun-
jab are bearing the brunt of the second wave. Of
these, it is Maharashtra where the situation is re-
ally alarming. The State reported 7000 new cases,
including cabinet minister Chhagan Bhujbal, on
Sunday. This is the highest number of Covid-19
cases since October 23. Given the sharp U-turn in
positive cases, Union Home Minister Amit Shah
presided over a meeting to review the pandemic
situation in the country
.
To deal with the situation BMC sealed 1305 build-
ings with five or more cases affecting over 70,000
households and imposed fines on violators of Cov-
id-19 protocols. In Pune, only essential services
were being allowed in Pune and Nashik after 11 pm.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is not ready to
call it a second phase. He was quoted as saying that
he was “worried about the severity of a second
wave if it hits the state”. The problem lies with the
people who decided to throw caution to the wind
after relaxations were announced.
C
IN-DEPTH
CONG NOW A PARTY
OF THREE STATES
wo days before Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi is to reach Puducherry to ad-
dress a rally the Congress-DMK govern-
ment of Chief Minister V
. Narayansamy
fell after failing to win a trust vote on the
floor of the House. Resignations from the Cong-
DMK alliance legislators in the Union territory
were much on the lines of developments in Goa,
Madhya Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh where
BJP formed governments after engineering defec-
tions by exploiting Congress party’s weakening
hold on its flock. In Arunachal Pradesh, Chief
Minister Prema Khandu first formed a Congress
government. Within a few months he joined the
People’s Party of Arunachal Pradesh (PPA) and in
a month left PPA to join the BJP. He moved quick-
ly to prove majority with 33 of 43 MLAs switching
over to BJP. Similarly in Madhya Pradesh, Jyoti-
raditya Scindia, after being sidelined by the Con-
gress, joined the BJP. Along with him over 22 leg-
islators quit the Congress to bring down the Kamal
Nath government.
What happened in Puducherry, which goes to
poll in May, was no different as four Congress and
one DMK legislators resigned in the last two
months to precipitate a crisis. The BJP, which did
not win even a single seat in the last assembly elec-
tions, is now set to be part of the NR Congress gov-
ernment with three of its nominated members
likely to ministerial berths. With this the Congress
has shrunk to only three states---Rajasthan, Pun-
jab and Chhattisgarh. This does not augur well the
Cong-DMK alliance in Tamil Nadu where the BJP
is using all tricks in the trade to grab power.
T
f you leave the expressway and
move into state highways/vil-
lage roads, you will find speed-
breakers almost at every KM.
Speed-breakers are taken as a
symbol of power, where in all
passing vehicles slow down to
pay obeisance in front of high
and mighty
. We often find the
eight lanes being blocked by po-
lice barricades, parked trucks/
buses, protestors, agitators, so-
cial processions and vendors,
leaving only one lane for traffic,
leadingtotrafficjamsandsnarls.
But who cares? I find that these
speed breakers in India are not
only on roads, they are more so
in minds. We don’t want anyone
to go fast and progress at rapid
rate. Interestingly
, let’s have a
look at some of the speed-break-
ers in the growth of our country
which have come up in our psy-
che, over the last few decades.
SPEED BREAKER 01:
GOVERNANCE
Ourconstitutionhaslegislateda
way of Governance for a demo-
cratic country
. In this, the vot-
ers of the country elect their
Government, by majority
. The
Govt is mandated with the duty
of makinglawsandgovernance,
as deemed fit. If they are not
happy
, they can vote them out
in next elections. I find a new
trend in our country
, where in
the laws made by elected Govt
are challenged on the roads. An
armed protest, dharna, marches
and all kind of defiance maybe
abettedbyanti-nationalsandfor-
eignhandsismanifestedagainst
governance. No Govt can func-
tion if the rules and laws are to
be made and taken back, by
crowds on the roads. The chal-
lenging of CAA and farm laws
on the roads amplify this speed-
breaker in our progress.
SPEED BREAKER 02:
POLITICAL HARDLINERS
The political chaos and quality
of principled politics is touch-
ing the lowest ebb, each day.
Today, any policy or act passed
by ruling party is opposed by
opposition parties, irrespective
of national interest. Actions
like guarding the frontiers, ex-
ternal aggression, purchase of
defence equipment and corona
vaccination are also being
challenged on political lines.
Rather than issue based oppo-
sition, today
, the lines are clear-
ly drawn as WE and THEY. All
Govt decisions are supported
by ruling party and opposed by
opposition parties. Both sides
have experts and media, in
their teams, to support their
narratives. The common public
gets confused as to what is
right or wrong.
SPEED BREAKER 03:
JUDICIAL OVERREACH
Legislative, Executive and Ju-
diciary are three pillars of a
stable democracy
. Today, every
rule and act passed by legisla-
tive is challenged in the courts
and court not only decides the
legality of it but pass orders on
execution methods also. I am
amused to note that courts
which have thousands of seri-
ous cases pending with them
for years, find all the time for
PIL and such cases of judicial
dominance. It’s also intrigu-
ing for common man to know
how poor people don’t even get
hearing date for bail, for
months, while court are opened
at midnight for high and
mighty
. If one pillar (judiciary)
of the tripod becomes larger,
the stability of the democracy
will be threatened.
SPEED BREAKER 04:
CASTE BASED
RESERVATIONS
One of the biggest speed break-
ers in the progress of the coun-
try is the caste based reserva-
tion overriding the merit. The
caste based reservation found
it’s place in Constitution of In-
dia due to disparity in social
status, in 1947. Originally, it
was planned for 10 years. How-
ever, due to vote bank politics,
no political party has dared to
remove this speedbreaker of
caste based reservations. Due
to this reservation Policy of
our country, the deserving can-
didates do not get their due and
talent is not recognized in se-
lection/promotion. Resultant-
ly, the mediocrity prevails over
excellence and quality of gov-
ernance suffers.
SPEED BREAKER 05:
PSEUDO SECULARISM
The architects of Constitution
of India thought of a secular
India, wherein people with dif-
ferent religious faiths could
live peacefully together and
work in harmony, furthering
progress of the country
.
The real secularism soon
came under vote bank politics
and political parties started
minority appeasement to gar-
ner votes. The backlash result-
ed in hardliners from other
communities also responding
in similar manner and thereby
taking mutual hatred to higher
levels. This slowly resulted in
the polarization of society on
religious grounds. If India has
to prosper as a country and ex-
hibit it’s soft power, these speed
breakers of religions divide
will have to be removed from
the path of exponential growth.
WAY AHEAD
I want to sincerely ask the
highest authority in the coun-
try ( hope someone answers) as
to “What do we want?” We
want to go slow or fast?? If
slow, then why make express-
ways and if fast, then why
make speed breakers. Let all
agencies move towards one
goal that Nation wants to pur-
sue- slow/fast.
Speed-breakers in India are
more in minds then on roads.
To take the country on the fast
track of growth, I exhort upon
the countrymen to think of NA-
TION FIRST and take a more
disciplined approach to nation
building.
TO SUM UP-
“IN THIS COUNTRY OF
SPEED BREAKERS,
LET’S MAKE EXPRESSWAYS
OF GROWTH.
……NOT ONLY ON GROUND
BUT ALSO IN MINDS.”
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY
THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL
INDIA A COUNTRY
OF SPEEDBREAKERS
I
One of the biggest
speed breakers in
the progress of
the country is the
caste based
reservation
overriding the
merit. The caste
based reservation
found it’s place
in Constitution
of India due to
disparity in
social status, in
1947. Originally,
it was planned
for 10 years.
I FIND THAT THESE
SPEED BREAKERS IN
INDIA ARE NOT ONLY ON
ROADS, THEY ARE MORE
SO IN MINDS. WE DON’T
WANT ANYONE TO GO
FAST AND PROGRESS AT
RAPID RATE.
MAJ GEN
CP SINGH, RETD
The writer is a scholar soldier
accredited with MA, MSc, LLB,
MBA, M Phil (Def Mgt) and M Phil
(International Strategic Affairs)
—Pic for representational purpose only

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INDIA
05
INDIA SET TO CLEAR 45 CHINESE
INVESTMENT PROPOSALS
New Delhi: India is set to
clear 45 investment pro-
posals from China, which
are likely to include those
from Great Wall Motor
and SAIC Motor Corp,
government and industry
sources told media. The
proposals have been held
up since last year after
India tightened controls
on Chinese investment in
the country in retaliation
against Chinese troop
incursions in the western
Himalayan region. China
blamed Indian troops
for the standoff. Compa-
nies from Japan and the
US routing investment
through Hong Kong were
also caught in the cross-
fire as an inter-ministerial
panel led by the interior
ministry increased scruti-
ny of such proposals.
`450 CR BLACK INCOME FOUND
AFTER RAIDS ON SOYA GROUP
New Delhi: Income
Tax Department has
detected undisclosed
income of over Rs 450
crore after its raided
a Madhya Pradesh-
based Soya products
manufacturing group.
The searches were
carried out on Febru-
ary 18 at 22 premises
located in Betul
Satna (both in Madhya
Pradesh), Mumbai
Solapur in Maharash-
tra, Kolkata in West
Bengal. “Incriminating
evidence in the form of
digital media such as
laptops, hard drives,
pen drives have been
found seized.
UP CM YOGI IS “AMBASSADOR
OF HATE”: BRINDA KARAT
New Delhi: Communist
Party of India (Marxist)
leader Brinda Karat
accused UP CM Yogi
Adityanath of being “an
ambassador of hate”
after his statement in
Kerala that “love jihad
is a conspiracy to make
Kerala an Islamic state.”
The CPI(M) leader said,
“He (Yogi) is less of a
chief minister more
of an ambassador of
hate. He went to Kerala,
where the unity of the
people, ensures that the
state is number one on
the all-important social
indicators like health,
education, social secu-
rity, food security.”
INDIA OFFERS $100 MILLION LINE
OF CREDIT TO MAURITIUS
Port Louis: India on
Monday offered a USD
100 million line of credit
to Mauritius to facilitate
procurement of defence
assets and the two
countries signed a Com-
prehensive Economic
Cooperation Partnership
Agreement following
talks between Exter-
nal Affairs Minister S
Jaishankar and Mauritius
Prime Minister Pravind
Jugnauth here.
“SAGAR policy re-
affirmed. Pleased to
witness, along with PM
@JugnauthKumar, the
exchange of USD 100
million Defence Line
of Credit. Will facilitate
procurement of defence
assets, guided by the
needs of Mauritius,” S
Jaishankar tweeted.
PM CALLS FOR ATMANIRBHARTA IN DEFENCE
We’ve to build an image as a leading defence exporter globally and strengthen the image as well: Modi
New Delhi: Noting the
country’s growing capa-
bilities in the Defence
sector, PM Narendra
Modi on Monday said
India is exporting de-
fence equipment to
more than 40 countries
andworkingtowardsbe-
coming one of the major
exporters in the world.
Speaking at the webi-
nar for effective imple-
mentation of Union
Budget provisions in
the Defence Sector, PM
Modi said, “Today, we
are exporting defence
equipment to more than
40 countries. We have to
come out of the list of
importing nations in
the defence sector and
become a major export-
er in the sector.”
The PM pointed out
that despite India’s cen-
tury-old experience in
making arms and am-
munition, today the
country still is one of
the largest defence im-
porters in the world.
“We have century-old
experience when it
comes to making arms
and ammunition. Dur-
ing WW I and II, India
supplied arms and am-
munition. But post-in-
dependence, the situa-
tion deteriorated, even
for small arms we are
relying on small coun-
tries,” he said.
“Today we are one of
the largest defence im-
porters. And this is not
something to be proud
of. Let’s be clear, Indi-
ans don’t lack talent
and we don’t lack capa-
bilities,” said PM Modi
while citing how the na-
tion bolstered its capac-
ity in building ventila-
tors amid the COVID-19
pandemic. “The coun-
try which has the capa-
bility to reach planet
Mars, was fully capable
of producing modern
weapons. But import-
ing weapons was the
easy way out, which we
took,” he added.
PM said that India is
working in full swing
towards increasing its
capacity capabilities
in the defence sector.
“From 2014, we have
tried to inculcate trans-
parency, predictability
and ease of doing busi-
ness in the sector. We
have taken several
strong steps in this sec-
tor including delicens-
ing, deregulation, ex-
port promotion liber-
alisation of foreign in-
vestment,” he said. —ANI
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses at the webinar for effective implementation of Union
Budget in Defence Sector, in New Delhi on Monday. —PHOTO BY ANI
Government to complete defence
acquisitions in 2 years: Rajnath
New Delhi: Defence
Minister Rajnath Sin-
gh on Monday said
that the Centre will
make efforts to com-
plete the pending de-
fence acquisitions
within two years and
to promote private
participation in the
defence sector.
Addressing a Webi-
nar on ‘Budget An-
nouncements 2021-22’,
Singh said,” Govern-
ment of India has
brought many re-
forms in last 6 years.
There is a clear focus
of the government on
‘Ease of Doing Busi-
ness’ to encourage for-
eign Original Equip-
ment Manufacturer
(OEMs), to set up
manufacturing units
in India, develop joint
ventures and promote
private participation
in the defence sector.”
“Ministry is also
working on bringing
down the delays in
timelines of capital
acquisition. We will
make efforts to com-
plete the defence ac-
quisition within 2
years, instead of the
existing 3-4 years be-
ing taken on the aver-
age,” he added. —ANI
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh during a webinar on Defence
Budget, in New Delhi on Monday. —PHOTO BY PTI
DefamationcaseagainstShahsentbacktolowercourt
New Delhi: A designat-
ed MP/MLA court on
Monday forwarded a
case of defamation
brought against Union
Home Minister Amit
Shah by Trinamool Con-
gress MP Abhishek Ba-
nerjee to the Metropoli-
tan Magistrate Court
over jurisdiction issues.
The court, which had
issued summons to
Shah to either appear
personally or through a
counsel on Monday,
took note of his lawyer
Brajesh Jha’s submis-
sion that the address of
Amit Shah mentioned
in was incorrect.
Banerjee’s lawyer
Sanjay Basu said two
addresses were provid-
ed to the court, that are
Delhi Ahmedabad. The
address provided earli-
er by the complainant
was of BJP office in
Kolkata. Hearing both
the parties, the special
judge directed that the
matter be sent to the
Metropolitan Magis-
trate Court in Kolkata
since the addresses
were beyond the MP/
MLA court’s jurisdic-
tion. Basu had claimed
that Shah made certain
defamatory statements
against TMC MP in
2018, at a BJP rally in
Kolkata. —PTI
After 22 years,main accused
in Odisha gangrape case held
New Delhi: The Odisha
police on Monday ar-
rested the prime ac-
cused in the sensational
gangrape case involv-
ing the estranged wife
of an IFS officer, after
22 years from Maha-
rashtra. The case had
created a political up-
roar in the state leading
to the resignation of the
then Chief Minister of
Odisha, JB Patnaik, in
1999.
Bibekananda Biswal
alias Biban was arrest-
ed by the Twin city com-
missionerate police
from Aamby Valley in
Lonavala where he
worked as a plumber.
“We have launched “Op-
eration Silent Viper” to
track and arrest the ac-
cused. Our teams were
active in Maharashtra
after having received a
tip off about his where-
abouts and we were
working closely with
the Maharashtra police.
He was working there
under a fake identity of
Jalandhar Swain at
Idyllic resorts,” Com-
missioner Sudhanshu
Sarangi said.
Three persons in-
cluding the accused had
allegedly raped the sur-
vivor, who was 29 then,
inside a car in front of
her friend. The case
was reported on Janu-
ary 9, 1999. —Agencies
CBI summons to TMC leader’s
sister-in-law in coal scam case
Kolkata: A team of CBI
visited the residence
of TMC MP Abhishek
Banerjee’s sister-in-law
Menaka Gambhir in
Kolkata to examine her
in connection with the
coal pilferage case. Two
women officers of CBI
are examining Gambhir
at her residence after a
notice was served to her
on Sunday. Gambhir is
the sister of Abhishek’s
wife Rujira Banerjee who
told the CBI earlier in the
day that she will be avail-
able for examination in
connection with the case
at her residence in Harish
Mukherjee Road between
11 am to 3 pm on Feb 23.
Banerjee’s wife asks CBI to visit her on Feb 23
Kolkata: After CBI notice
in connection to a coal
scam case, Trinamool
Congress leader
Abhishek Banerjee’s
wife Rujira Banerjee on
Monday replied to the
agency, asking officials
to visit her residence be-
tween 11 am and 3 pm
on Tuesday. “Though
I am unaware of the
reason for me being
called for questioning
or the subject matter of
the investigation, you
may visit my residence,
as per your convenience
between 11 am 3 pm
tomorrow, i.e., 23 Febru-
ary 2021,” wrote Rujira
in a letter to CBI. “You
are requested to kindly
inform me your sched-
ule,” she added Earlier,
CBI served a notice to
Rujira Banerjee Naroola,
the wife of West Bengal
CM Mamata Banerjee’s
nephew Abhishek asking
her to join the investiga-
tion related to the coal
scam case. —ANI
Mehbooba re-elected as PDP
prez unanimously for 3 yrs
Srinagar: Former Jam-
mu and Kashmir chief
minister Mehbooba
Mufti was on Monday
unanimously re-elected
as president of the PDP
for a three-year term.
Mufti’s name was
proposed by senior
leader Ghulam Nabi
Lone Hanjura and sec-
onded by Khurshid
Alam, a party spokes-
person said.
Senior PDP leader
Abdul Rehman Veeri
was chairman of party
election board, he said.
The spokesperson said
party’s electoral college
in Jammu had earlier
unanimously re-elected
Mufti as party chief.
Senior leader
Surinder Chaudhary
was the returning of-
ficer for the election.
The Peoples Demo-
cratic Party (PDP) was
formed in 1998 by Mufti
Mohammad Sayeed as a
regional alternative to
the National Confer-
ence. The party grew
from strength to
strength during the last
two decades with many
political stalwarts join-
ing it. Several techno-
crats and bureaucrats,
after retiring from ser-
vice, also joined the
PDP over the years. —ANI
Mehbooba Mufti with party members, in Srinagar on Monday.
Bhima Koregaon case: HC
grants bail to ailing Rao
SC allows Karti to travel
abroad with condition
New Delhi: The Su-
preme Court on Mon-
day allowed Congress
MP Karti Chidambar-
am, who is being inves-
tigated in the INX Me-
dia case, to travel
aboard on the condition
that he will have to de-
posit an amount of Rs 2
crores and submit his
detailed itinerary be-
fore travelling.
Earlier this month, a
Delhi court had per-
mitted the Central Bu-
reau of Investigation
(CBI) to investigate
documents it has re-
cently received from
Swiss authorities in
the INX Media case in-
volving former finance
minister P Chidambar-
am and others.
Mumbai: The Bombay
High Court on Monday
granted interim bail
for six months on medi-
cal grounds to ailing
poet and activist Vara-
vara Rao, an accused in
the Elgar Parishad-
Maoist links case.
A bench of Justices S
S Shinde and Manish
Pitale took into account
the advanced age of Rao
(82), his “precarious”
health condition, qual-
ity of medical aid pro-
vided to him in prison,
and medical facilities
available at the Taloja
prison in neighbouring
Navi Mumbai, while
holding that his case
was “fit and genuine for
grant of relief”. Rao is
currently admitted in
Nanavati Hospital lo-
cated in Mumbai. —ANI
SC issues notice
to FRL, others
on Amazon plea
The Supreme Court on
Monday sought re-
sponses from Future
Retail Ltd and others on
Amazon’s plea against
the Delhi High Court
direction to maintain
status quo on the Fu-
ture-Reliance deal.
A bench comprising
Justices R F Nariman
B R Gavai issued notic-
es to Future Retail Ltd,
Chairperson Kishore
Biyani and others
sought their replies.
IN THE COURTYARD
Amit Shah

INDIA
06
CPFs sent
Notably, during Lok
Sabha elections 2019
also, Central Forces
were sent to all States
and UTs and the same
has been done in all
State Elections which
have been taking place.
“In the instant case
also the CPFs have
been sent to all the four
states namely Assam,
Kerala, Tamil Nadu,
West Bengal and UT of
Puducherry where As-
sembly Elections are to
take place. It may be of
interest for the Media
to know that the orders
for CPF deployment
were issued to the
Chief Secretaries, the
DGPs and the Chief
Electoral Officers of
these five States /UT on
the same day, i.e. 16th
February 2021.
‘Assam ignored...
of the previous govern-
ments,” PM Modi said
while adding that this
decimation of the
North-eastern states
was stopped by the BJP
government.
HC seeks
BJP MP Subramanian
Swamy has moved the
high court aggrieved
by a trial court order of
February 11 declining,
for now, his plea to lead
evidence to prosecute
the Gandhis and the
other accused in the
case. The trial court
had said that Swamy’s
application under sec-
tion 244 of the Crimi-
nal Procedure Code
(CrPC) to lead evidence
would be considered af-
ter his examination in
the case was over.
Swamy has sought
summoning of certain
witnesses, including
the secretary general
(registry officer) of the
Supreme Court, a dep-
uty land and develop-
ment officer, and a dep-
uty commissioner of
Income Tax, and also
directions to them to
prove certain docu-
ments which are part
of the case.
Puducherry CM...
He also said that for-
mer Lieutenant Gover-
nor Kiran Bedi and
Central Government
colluded with the Op-
position in a bid to top-
ple his government in
the Union territory.
“Former LG Kiran
Bedi and Central Gov-
ernment colluded with
the Opposition and
tried to topple the gov-
ernment. As our MLAs
stayed united we man-
aged to pull off the last
5 years. The Centre has
betrayed the people of
Puducherry by not
granting funds we re-
quested,” said Puduch-
erry in the Assembly.
“We formed the gov-
ernment with the sup-
port of DMK and inde-
pendent MLAs. After
that, we faced various
elections. We have won
all the by-elections. It is
clear that people of Pu-
ducherry trust us,” he
added. Further slam-
ming the Centre, he
said, “We demanded
full Statehood to stop
the nominated LG from
snatching the rights of
the people of Puduch-
erry.” He also claimed
that the Central Gov-
ernment has betrayed
the people of Puduch-
erry by not granting
the requested funds.
West Bengal
modern, where it be-
came a major cause for
positive change. Our
country should have
done the same thing
decades ago. But it did
not happen,” he added.
Addressing the huge
crowd at the meeting,
PM Modi said, “This
enthusiasm and energy
by all of you is sending
a message from Kolka-
ta to Delhi. Now West
Bengal has made up its
mind for ‘poriborton’
(change).”
“This year ‘rail and
metro’ connectivity is
Centre’s priority. Such
work should have been
done decades back and
now, we should not de-
lay any projects, from
broadening of rail
lines to electrification
work, money being in-
vested in infrastruc-
ture projects,” he add-
ed.
On February 7, he
visited Haldia and ded-
icated to the nation the
LPG import terminal
built by BPCL. He also
dedicated to the nation
Dobhi-Durgapur Natu-
ral Gas Pipeline sec-
tion of the Pradhan
Mantri Urja Ganga pro-
ject.
In West Bengal, the
Prime Minister will in-
augurate the extension
of Metro Railway from
Noapara to Dakshine-
swar, and flag off the
first service on this
stretch. This 4.1 km ex-
tension has been con-
structed at a cost of Rs
464 crore, fully funded
by the central govern-
ment. It will decongest
road traffic and im-
prove urban mobility.
This extension will
ease out access to the
two world-famous Kali
temples at Kalighat and
Dakshineswar, for
lakhs of tourists and
devotees.
—ANI
FROM PG 1
B VIJAY DUTTA GETS ADDITIONAL
CHARGE IN MP
B Vijay Dutta, Deputy Secretary, Science and
Technology, has been handed over an additional
charge of Commissioner Director, Aviation. He
is a 2011 batch IAS officer.
MUKUL KUMAR IS ALSO DC,
KURUKSHETRA IN HARYANA
Mukul Kumar, Special Secretary, Urban
Estates Department, Deputy Commissioner,
Yamunanagar and Member Secretary, Hary-
ana Backward Classes Commission has been
handed over an additional charge of Deputy
Commissioner, Kurukshetra. He is a 2011
batch IAS officer of Haryana cadre.
TEN IPS OFFICERS GET NEW
ASSIGNMENT IN BIHAR
As many as 10 IPS officers in Bihar have
been assigned new responsibility. Meenu
Kumari has been posted as SP, Vigilance
Investigation Bureau, while Nilesh Kumar
will join as SP Training, STF and Deepak
Ranjan is posted as SP, Jehanabad. Similar-
ly, Rajeev Ranjan was posted as SP Opera-
tion, STF Wing; Rashid Jaman as SP, Special
Branch; Hari Mohan Shukla as SP Security,
Special Branch with additional charge of
Commandant, SSG and Baliram Kumar
Chaudhary is posted as Commandant, Home
Guard, Patna and gets additional charge of
assistant state fire officer. Besides, Har-
preet Kaur, Commandant, BMP-5 was given
additional charge of commandant, BMP-10;
Manoj Kumar Tiwari, Commandant, BMP-
8, gets additional charge of Commandant,
Second Battalion, Industrial Security Force
and Satyanarayan Kumar, AIG Training, gets
an additional charge of SP, Wireless.
KARNATAKA HC GETS FOUR
JUDGES
Four Additional Judges of Karnataka High
Court have been promoted as Judges. They
are Justices Singapuram Raghavachar
Krishna Kumar, Ashok Subhashchandra
Kinagi, Suraj Govindaraj and Sachin Shankar
Magadum.
4 ADDL. JUDGES APPOINTED
IN KERALA HC
Murali Purushothaman, Ziyad Rahman Alev-
akkatt Abdul Rahiman, Karunakaran Babu and
Dr. Kauser Edappagath have been appointed as
Additional Judges of Kerala High Court.
DELHI HC GETS TWO JUDGES
Jasmeet Singh and Amit Bansal have been ap-
pointed as Judges of Delhi High Court.
RAHUL JAIN APPOINTED AS DG
SAFETY, RAILWAY BOARD
Rahul Jain, GM Integral Coach Factory, Chen-
nai,has been appointed as Director General
(Safety) Railway Board.He is an IRSME Officer.
D S DHESI IS ALSO PRINCIPAL
CHIEF RESIDENT COMMISSIONER,
HARYANA BHAWAN
D S Dhesi, Chief Principal Secretary to CM,
Haryana, has been given additional charge of
Principal Chief Resident Commissioner, Haryana
Bhawan, New Delhi. He is a retired IAS officer.
Alok Mittal is also Addl Resident
Commissioner, Haryana Bhawan
Alok Mittal, ADGP, CID, Haryana, has been
given additional charge of Additional Resi-
dent Commissioner, Haryana Bhawan, New
Delhi. He is a 1993 batch IPS officer of
Haryana cadre.
POWERGallery
By arrangement with: http://
whispersinthecorridors.com
Wayanad: Congress
leader Rahul Gandhi on
Monday said 3 new
farm laws passed by the
central government are
designed to destroy the
agriculture business
and hand it over to
Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi's friends.
While addressing an
event in Wayanad, Gan-
dhi said: The entire
world can see the diffi-
culty faced by Indian
farmers, but the govern-
ment in Delhi is unable
to understand the pain
of the farmers. We have
pop stars who are com-
mentingonthesituation
of the farmers but the
Indian government is
not interested. They are
not going to take back
these new laws unless
they are forced reason
is that new laws are de-
signed to destroy the ag-
ricultural system in In-
dia give the entire
business to 2 or 3 of Nar-
endraModi'sfriends,he
added.Gandhiremarked
that agriculture busi-
ness, unlike other busi-
nesses, belonged to
'Bharat Mata' a hand-
fulof peoplewanttocon-
trol this business and do
not want it to be con-
trolled by 40 per cent of
the Indian population.
‘NEW FARM LAWS DESIGNED TO
GIVE BUSINESS TO PM’S FRIENDS’
Kerala: Congress lead-
er Rahul Gandhi met
the survivors of the
Kozhikode plane crash,
which took place in Au-
gust 2020.
The Air India Ex-
press flight carrying
190 passengers includ-
ing 10 infants skidded
while landing at Ka-
ripur airport in
Kozhikode. At least 18
people including two pi-
lots have lost their lives
in the incident. Rahul
has reached Wayanad
district to inaugurate
Poothadi Grama Pan-
chayat Kudumpasree
Sangamam and Vidhya
Vahini bus distribution
at Infant Jesus School
in Kenichira.
RaGa meets plane crash survivors
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi meets survivors of the Kozhikode
plane crash that occurred in August 2020, at Kalpetta on Monday.
New Delhi: Union
Home Minister Amit
Shah on Monday re-
viewed the COVID-19
situation in the country
in the wake of sudden
spike in cases in a few
states. The review meet-
ing was also attended
by Union Health Minis-
ter Harsh Vardhan,
Home Secretary Ajay
Bhalla and top officials
of the two ministries.
The home minister
took stock of the coro-
navirus situation in the
country, particularly in
the states which have
witnessed a spike in
cases recently, a home
ministry official said.
The ongoing vaccina-
tion drive and the steps
needed to check further
spread of the virus were
discussed in the meet-
ing, the official said.
The possible assis-
tance to be offered to
the affected states was
also discussed in the
meeting, another offi-
cial said.
Shahreviewssituationasfew
statesreportspikeinCovid
Kolkata: After the Cen-
tral Bureau of Investi-
gation (CBI) served no-
tice to the wife of Trina-
mool Congress (TMC)
Member of Parliament
Abhishek Banerjee in a
coal scam case, TMC on
Monday pounced on
BJP saying they are try-
ing to use their allies
(Enforcement Directo-
rate and CBI) to threat-
en the party. Now BJP
is left with no allies.
Akali and others have
left so their only allies
are CBI and ED. They
are trying to use their
allies to threaten and
pressurise TMC, which
is their main oppo-
nent, said Trinamool
MP Sougata Roy
.
They are trying
to use their
allies ED, CBI to
threaten:TMC
New Delhi: The Delhi
Police on Monday
sought the custody of
climate activist Disha
Ravi for five more days
in connection with the
'Toolkit' case. The cli-
mate activist was pro-
duced before Chief Met-
ropolitan Magistrate
Pankaj Sharma of the
Patiala House Court at
the end of her three-day
judicial custody, amid
high security
.
Disha Ravi faces
charges of conspiracy
and sedition in the
'Toolkit' conspiracy
case related to the farm-
ers' agitation and was
arrested from Bengalu-
ru on February 13.
The police had told
the court that her cus-
tody would be required
on February 22 to con-
front her with co-ac-
cused Shantanu Muluk.
Muluk and another
accused Nikita Jacob
joined the investigation
into the case at Delhi
Police's Cyber Cell of-
fice in Dwarka earlier
in the day. They were
issued a notice to join
the probe, last week.
Police seeks 5-day
custody of Disha
TOOLKIT CASE
Farmers protest against the arrest of farmers in connection with
R-Day violence, at Tikri border in New Delhi. —PHOTOS BY ANI
BLAME GAME
New Delhi: Robert
Vadra, businessman
and son-in-law of Con-
gress interim Presi-
dent Sonia Gandhi, on
Monday slammed
Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi over fuel
price hike and said
that he should come
out from air-condi-
tioned cars and see
people's suffering.
You (PM) must
come out from A/C
cars and see how peo-
ple are suffering and
perhaps then you
would reduce fuel pric-
es. All he does is blame
others previous gov-
ernment for every-
thing move on,
Vadra said. —ANI
‘PM must come out of A/C cars to feel pain’
Robert Vadra rides a bicycle on his way to his office during a
protest against the hike in fuel price, in New Delhi on Monday..
Union Home Minister Amit Shah along with Union Minister for Health
Family Welfare Dr Harsh Vardhan during a meeting on COVID-19
vaccination drive, in New Delhi on Monday. —PHOTO BY ANI
New Delhi: Taking a jibe at the Central govern-
ment over rising fuel prices, Rahul Gandhi said
that the Union government is doing a great
job of emptying public pocket and giving it
to 'friends' for free. While re-filling oil in the
car on the petrol pump, when you look at the
fast-rising meter, must remember that the
price of crude oil has not increased, but it has
decreased. Petrol is Rs 100/liter. The Modi
government is doing a great job of emptying
your pockets and giving it to 'friends' for free!
the Congress leader tweeted. This comes as the
prices of petrol and diesel are increasing con-
tinuously for several days and in some states.
RAHUL GANDHI LASHES OUT CENTRE
OVER INCREASING FUEL PRICES
Mumbai: Maharashtra Food and Civil Supplies Min-
ister Chhagan Bhujbal on Monday said he has tested
positive for coronavirus. Mr Bhujbal is the seventh
minister to be infected by the novel coronavirus this
month. In a post on Twitter, Mr Bhujbal said his health
is fine. I have tested positive for COVID-19. All those
who came in my contact over the past two-three days
should get themselves tested, he tweeted. My health
is fine and there is no reason to worry. All citizens
should take proper care in the backdrop of COVID-19.
Should wear masks and use sanitisers regularly, the
NCP leader added. Earlier this month, Maharashtra
ministers Anil Deshmukh, Rajendra Shingne, Jay-
ant Patil, Rajesh Tope, Satej Patil and Bachchu Kadu
tested positive for the disease.
MAHARASHTRA CABINET MINISTER
CHHAGAN BHUJBAL TESTS POSITIVE
Disha Ravi
Abhishek Banerjee

TALKING POINT
07
FAST
EASY,
BUT NOT
CHEAP
FAST
EASY,
BUT NOT
BUT NOT
CHEAP
FAST
EASY,
BUT NOT
CHEAP
D
igital platforms like Facebook and Google give us easy
access to media and information. But our collective
dependence on these tech giants could in the long run
reduce the quality of journalism, making us all worse off.
The tension between convenience for readers and funding
for journalism has been highlighted by Facebook’s recent
move to block news in Australia rather than pay media com-
panies under new regulations.
Situations like this, where each individual acts in their
own best interest but everybody still somehow loses, are sur-
prisingly common in life. Economists see them through the
lens of the “prisoner’s dilemma”, a famous fable from game
theory that might well illustrate our digital platforms eco-
system.
Getting news from Facebook and Google is
convenient — but it comes at great collective cost
What is the prisoner’s
dilemma?
Imagine two prisoners being interrogated in
separate rooms about a crime they’ve commit-
ted. Each is offered a reduced sentence if they
provide evidence of the crime.
If both prisoners provide evidence, they are
both convicted of the crime. If only one does, he
or she gets a reduced sentence, while the other
gets the harshest of sentences. If neither sup-
plies evidence, the investigator can only convict
them of a minor crime.
Now put yourself in either criminal’s shoes:
whatever your co-conspirator does, it is always
in your own self-interest to provide evidence. If
your co-conspirator doesn’t, you get off with a
light sentence. If your co-conspirator does too,
you are both convicted, but you would have re-
ceived an even harsher sentence if you didn’t
provide evidence yourself.
By this logic, both prisoners would give evi-
dence (it is a “dominant strategy” for each of
them) — but both would end up worse off than
if they had both stayed silent.
This fable is one of the most famous and suc-
cessful models of game theory — it has been
widely used to study nuclear arms races, climate
change, the evolution of cooperation, doping in
sports, and many other phenomena.
Do digital platforms present
a prisoner’s dilemma?
Digital platforms make it easy for users to
access news and information by integrat-
ing them into the rest of their services.
Seeking out news directly from providers
would be less convenient.
When we choose to get news and informa-
tion on these platforms, we individually value
the convenience, but not the effect on news
quality in the long run.
Google and Facebook dominate the news
ecosystem without creating content them-
selves. We generate value when we use the
platforms — but the quality of the news
and information we get will depend on
how much of that value ultimately goes to
the journalists and newsrooms who pro-
duce the content in the first place.
If very little value goes to content pro-
viders, they may have little incentive to de-
velop high-quality content. This is the classi-
cal prisoners’ dilemma outcome, where we are
all worse off.
Alternatively, if digital platforms pass a lot
of the value to content providers, we might all
benefit from both high-quality content and
ease of access. Who captures the value of
news and information?
Digital platforms capture enormous value by
monetising the time and attention we spend on
them, and the data we generate.
There are good reasons to think digital plat-
formsbringsignificantvaluefornewsandcontent
providers, but it’s hard to determine how much.
If easy access to news means people read more
news than they would otherwise, then the digital
platforms are creating value overall, and some
of that would benefit the content providers.
On the other hand, there are also good reasons
to think very little of that value ultimately goes
to news and content production.
Platforms have a very strong bargaining posi-
tion in negotiations with providers over how
much to pay for news. In part this is because plat-
forms can easily substitute one news provider
for another. An article from the Sydney Morning
Herald and one from the Australian Financial
Review on the same topic are likely to be very
similar, apart from some nuance.
But a news provider can’t easily substitute Fa-
cebook for Twitter or Google for Bing, because
the alternatives have much smaller audiences.
So the news providers have a lot less power to
negotiate because they are more replaceable
than the platform itself.
What makes digital
platforms so irreplaceable?
Facebook and Google are as big as they are today
thanks to network effects. When many people
use a digital platform, the platform can attract
even more users and create economies of scale.
It can collect more and better data, and target
advertising more effectively. Markets with such
network effects tend to be dominated by a few very
large firms in the long run.
Digital platforms monetise their dominance
of social media and search by selling advertising
throughout their entire range of products and
indirectly selling data about their users. The
time and attention that we spend on digital plat-
forms has enormous value, contrary to what
Google Australia might want to claim.
What comes next?
Facebook turned off news content on its social
media platform, in response to the Australian
government’s proposed media bargaining code.
Google has taken a more conciliatory approach,
striking multimillion-dollar deals with several
media companies. Might we be better off this
way in the long run? What if we did not consume
our news and information on Facebook?
If platforms like Facebook do leave the news
and information “market” in Australia, some-
thing else will fill the vacuum. People will not
simply stop reading the news. Rather, they
would find alternative channels, or other plat-
forms would step in to aggregate news.
The cooperative solution to the prisoner’s dilem-
ma of news and information requires that we as a
society consume news in a way that incentivises
journalists to produce high-quality content. This
could come about if we all individually choose to
get our news content directly from those who pro-
duce it, or from platforms that pass more value to
producers.
Ideally, one might imagine a world with mul-
tiple platforms that aggregate news and provide
convenient access to journalism. Because news
and information are public goods, we might
even imagine a non-profit platform that seeks
to maximise informed-ness and digital well-
being, rather than maximising the profit from
eyeballs and user engagement.
SOURCE: THECONVERSATION.COM

What is the most powerful energising
memory that you have? Keep it with
you always and look at it often, it
will help you move ahead.
—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO Editor, First India
08
2NDFRONT
What were poll
officials doing in
EVM strong rooms
at 1 am? asks Cong
First India Bureau
Rajkot: A day after
polling to elect a new
body at Rajkot Mu-
nicipal Corporation,
the Rajkot city Con-
gress has raised sus-
picion about mal-
practices with the
electronic voting ma-
chines (EVMs).
On Monday, the
party members along
with five past city
presidents of the par-
ty submitted a mem-
orandum to Rajkot
District Collector Re-
mya Mohan seeking
protection of the
EVMs kept inside the
strong room.
Speaking to First
India, the incharge
city Congress presi-
dent Pradeep Trivedi
said, “Based on cer-
tain movements and
an active wi-fi near
the strong room, we
fear malpractices
with the votes of peo-
ple. Yesterday, the of-
ficers were seen as
late as past midnight
around 1 am in the
strong room. The
process of sealing
took much longer
than normal.”
He added, “The
votes of the voters
sealed inside the
EVMs are the most
invaluable asset of
democracy
.”
The memorandum
submitted to the Dis-
trict Collector read:
“Except the (ruling)
BJP all political par-
ties have raised their
doubts on EVMs be-
fore the Chief Elec-
tion Commissioner
and the President.”
“Yesterday (poll-
ing day Sunday),
many polling officers
were behaving like
BJP workers. How
can we trust the elec-
tion department? It
is the duty of the of-
ficers to safeguard
the votes of the pub-
lic. We have proofs of
active wi-fi near
strong rooms. We re-
quest to immediately
put jammers at all
the 6 places till the
counting is not over,”
the memorandum
stated.
Rajkot city Congress leaders submitted memorandum
to Rajkot Collector on Monday, suspecting
malpractices in EVMs.
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: The Gu-
jarat High Court has
expressed its strong
displeasure over the
submission of the resi-
dent doctors in a peti-
tion to grant them ex-
emption from Covid-19
duty
, asking them if
they were scared of
rendering services or
wanted to shirk their
responsibility
.
Disposing of a peti-
tion by Adtiya Jivrajan
and others, a division
bench of Chief Justice
Vikram Nath and Jus-
tice JB Pardiwala
strongly observed:
“Resident doctors are
not doctors but they are
final year MBBS stu-
dents”.
“The students are the
future of this country.
Being students they
owe a lot of responsi-
bilities and obligations.
In the near future they
are going to be the mem-
bers (of the medical fra-
ternity) whether as on
date they are full-
fledged doctors or final
year MBBS students.”
The court observed,
“We understand this
much much that being
the final year MBBS
students, they are now
well trained in all facul-
ties of medicine. They
cannot say that they
would not do a particu-
lar type of work.”
The court also noted
that the “Right to health
is integral to the right
to life. The government
has a constitutional ob-
ligation to provide
health facilities. The
fundamental right to
life, which is the most
precious human right
and which forms the
ark of all other rights,
must therefore be inter-
preted in a broad and
expansive spirit so as to
invest it with signifi-
cance and vitality,
which may endure for
years to come and en-
hance the dignity of the
individual and the
worth of the human
person. To live is to live
with dignity
.”
HC’s firm directive: resident docs can’t shirk Covid-19 duties
MEDICOS’ OBLIGATION
Gujarat
High Court
disposes
of plea by
resident
docs seeking
exemption
from corona
duty
Gujarat High Court —FILE PHOTO
Privatehospitals’lettertoGujCMwarnscoronavirushasnotgonenolaxitycanbeallowed
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: A day
after Ahmedabad re-
ported the highest 21-
day spike in Covid-19
cases,theAhmedabad
Hospital and Nursing
Homes Association
(AHNA) has dashed
off a letter to Chief
Minister Vijay Rupa-
ni, himself recover-
ing from corona in-
fection, urging the
State Government to
strictly impose the
mask and social dis-
tancing rules.
The association has
also stressed on the
need to intensify the
vaccination drive given
the surge in Covid-19
cases in Ahmedabad
and the State.
Pointing to the fresh
spike in cases, includ-
ing many needing hos-
pitalisation, in Maha-
rashtra and Kerala, the
hospitals association
has demanded that im-
mediate measures
must be initiated to
prevent an alarming
rise in the cases yet
again in the State.
The AHNA has
warned that citizens
in the State were not
taking the mask rule
seriously and this
needed to be strictly
implemented. The as-
sociation expressed
concern that the peo-
ple had started be-
lieving that coronavi-
rus was gone and
were attending
events and functions
without following
norms.
It warned that “the
gains made by the state
in its fight against Cov-
id will be lost if it con-
tinues to be lax.” The
hospitals association
warned that the next
few days would be criti-
cal and the trend would
largely depend on how
strictly the State Gov-
ernment implemented
Covid-19 norms and
protocol.
The AHNA further
said that a simultane-
ous acceleration of
the vaccination drive
would help cover a
much larger popula-
tion.
Ahmedabad city on
Sunday recorded a
sharp spike with 66
cases. The rise was 47%
higher compared to 45
recorded on February
20 and 27% higher com-
pared to the weekly
cases average of 52. As
on Sunday evening,
Ahmedabad accounted
for 527 out of 1,690 ac-
tive cases, or 31% of
the State’s active cases.
In fact, recent sta-
tistics released by the
AHNA had revealed
that the bed occupan-
cy in the city went
above 125 after near-
ly two months.
COVID STILL THERE: A’bad hospitals’
SOS to CM to implement mask norms
Concerns have been raised again over possibility of another round of coronavirus in Gujarat.—FILE PHOTO
FRESH CONCERNS
BABIES DAY OUT
Children enjoying themselves during the night curfew on the otherwise crowded main roads of Danilimda area in the old city of
Ahmedabad on Monday. —PHOTO BY HANIF SINDHI
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: Having
emerged the highest
bidder to acquire a 51%
stake in a power distri-
bution company (dis-
com) in Diu, Daman
and Dadra Nagar
Haveli, the Ahmedabad-
based Torrent Power is
all set to supply electric-
ity to the union territo-
ry neighbouring Guja-
rat.
Bids were invited in
December 2020 to of-
fload a 51% stake in a
discom in the union ter-
ritory, as part of the
Central Government’s
efforts to privatise pow-
er distribution compa-
nies in the UTs.
The bids for Diu, Da-
man and Dadra Na-
gar Haveli were opened
on Saturday and Tor-
rent Power emerged the
highest bidder, beating
firms like Adani Group,
Renew Power Venture
Ltd and CESC Ltd.
“With this acquisi-
tion, Torrent Power will
be entrusted with the
responsibility to dis-
tribute over 25 billions
units of power, which is
equivalent to around
2% of India’s total pow-
er consumption,” Tor-
rent Group Chairman
Samir Mehta said.
Torrent to supply power in Diu, Daman, DNH
AIMIM fields 20
candidates in
Godhra, Modasa
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: The
AIMIM,whichfielded21
candidates in 6 wards in
the Ahmedabad Munici-
pal Corporation (AMC)
elections, has nominat-
ed 20 candidates for the
taluka and district pan-
chayat elections in Mo-
dasa and Godhra Nagar-
palika.
The polling for dis-
trict panchayats, taluka
panchayats nagarpa-
likas will be held on Feb-
ruary 28.
AIMIM’s 12 candi-
dates from Modasa and
8fromGodhrahavefiled
their nominations. The
party is contesting from
3 wards of Modasa Na-
garpalika and 6 of
Godhra Nagarpalika.
Godhra and Modasa
have several minority-
dominated localities.
AIMIM chief Asadud-
din Owaisi is scheduled
to visit Modasa and
Godhra on Tuesday to
address a public meet-
ing in both the cities in
the evening. This is the
second time that Owaisi
isvisitingthestatesince
the announcement of
polls.
The result of the first
phase of polling to 6 mu-
nicipal corporations
will be announced on
Tuesday and political
observers are keenly
watching the perfor-
manceof Owaisi’sparty
,
that may cut into votes
of the Congress party
.
Torrent Group Chairman Samir Mehta AIMIM leaders and workers discussing poll strategy. —FILE PHOTO

istory repeats itself
and so does fashion.
It’s a source of confi-
dence and contem-
porary lifestyle.
Fashion is an art, an
expression and an
exhibition of freedom.
Looking at fashion down
the years, it surely has
changed its course from prim
and proper dresses to more
freestyle mom jeans and bag-
gy sweatshirts.
Today, City First will take
you on a vicarious fashion
journey through the decades
and the stark contrast be-
tween these styles.
Fashion evolution through
every decade was gleaming
with trends that defined that
era like when Madonna re-
leased her 1986 music video
for “Papa Don’t Preach,” she
brought the punk style, and
leather jackets, more into the
mainstream.
This gave rise to metal and
gothic punk style while the
disco from the early 80s’ took
a hike.
While the ‘80s were all
about dark stiff and power
dressing, it soon faded when
the flowy, silky satin dress
took over. With supermodels
like Kate Moss, Cindy Craw-
ford strutting on ramps in
backless black LBD and their
Indian contemporaries like
Sushmita Sen and Malaika
Arora donning silk halter
neck tops, chiffon sarees and
cuts which were peculiar and
unconventional.
The ‘90s was also the
prime of athleisure ac-
tivewear. It was the incep-
tion of baggy jeans and dad
sneakers coming into main-
stream as a fashion staple.
It was the ‘90swhen Cher
Horowitz taught us any-
thing in ‘Clueless’, it’s that
plaid sets can look incredi-
bly chic.
Then came the 2000s which
redefined fashion when peo-
ple started following pop
stars, celebrities like Paris
Hilton and Britney Spears
were the fashion inspiration.
Fast forward to the cur-
rent decade where
the lines between
haute couture
and everyday
fashion be-
c a m e
blurred, as
s t a t e m e n t
pieces took
over red carpets and
streets alike. From pick-
ing up platform heels
from the ‘80s to bring-
ing back the sexy crop
tops from the ‘90s, it’s a
generation of revisit-
ing. It’s the romanticism
of silhouettes and the
love for creativity
that causes the
emergence of new
trends and we
thank designers
who crafted
them.
MONICA PRABHAKAR
cityfirstgujarat@gmail.com
H
AHMEDABAD, TUESDAY
FEBRUARY 23, 2021
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia
facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia 09
VOGUE
Chronicles!
Today, City First will take you on a vicarious fashion journey
through the decades and the stark contrast between these styles!

leep is an integral
part of life, we
spend about one-
third of our lifes-
pan sleeping, yet
manyof usknowso
muchlessaboutthe
phenomenon of sleep. For
centuries, sleep was consid-
eredapassiveactivitywhere
the brain and body become
dormant. It was only after
1950 that we started under-
standingthescienceof sleep
becauseof breakthroughsin
technology and realised that
sleep is a dynamic process
where the brain and body
rest and rejuvenate but
many parts of the brain stay
active to improve quality of
lifeandperhapsitslongevity
.
Sleephastwostages-Non-
REM (Rapid Eye Movement)
and REM. In the first one,
there are no eye movements
behind the closed eyelids
while in the second one the
eyes move rapidly behind
closed eyelids. Non- REM
(NREM) has four stages - in
the first stage you are in be-
tween being awake and fall-
ing asleep, then there is the
stage of light sleep when the
bodytemperaturedropslow-
er, heart rate and breathing
fall in a certain rhythm fol-
lowed by third and fourth
stages where your sleep gets
deeper and deeper and most
of the non-vital activities of
the brain are closed but even
then some parts of the brain
might be working silently to
improve memory and learn-
ing especially in children
and young. Each of the
NREM stages lasts between
5-15 minutes. Young people
get about 2 hours of this re-
storative sleep which gets
shorter and shorter as we
age and elderly people hard-
ly get 30 minutes of NREM
sleep.
DuringREMsleep,breath-
ingrategoesupandbecomes
irregular, brain waves occur
as during the awakened
state,thebodybecomespara-
lyzed, we cannot lift our
arms or legs as you might
have experienced during
somevividorfearfuldreams.
RME sleep usually begins 90
minutes after falling asleep.
RME sleep is much more in
children and helps them
learnandenhancesmemory
byplayingdreams.Thearms
and legs are paralyzed so
thatthedreamsarenotacted
upon otherwise the person
might hurt himself or some-
one sleeping nearby
. This
atonic temporary paralysis
is protective. RME sleep is
very important for mental
and physical growth, exces-
sive alcohol and antidepres-
sant drugs reduce it and
hence, cause migraine-like
headache, weight gain, poor
learning and daytime leth-
argy
. Poor REM sleep leads
to the abnormal leg and arm
movements, crying, shout-
ing and other noises during
sleep and are the cause of
alarm to family members.
As our knowledge stands
today
, the sleep circadian
rhythm is controlled by the
enigmatic pineal gland
which is believed to produce
the hormone of darkness’
melatonin which takes feed-
backs to the suprachiasmat-
ic nucleus - the Master Clock
- of the brain which then
brings about sleep. As the
name suggests, melatonin
production gets a bump up
as darkness spreads and the
body responds to sleep stim-
uli. This should emphasize
on us to start switching off
the lights of our household
as the sun starts its descent
to the north. Melatonin not
only induces sleep but also
has anti-inflammatory
, anti-
coagulant, antioxidant and
endothelium protective
properties, thereby
, making
sleep not only dozing off but
bringing about so many
unique benefits to it. The
‘darkness’ hormone has
some bright side with its in-
builtantivirusproperties-is
has proved useful in Ebola
virus infection. Its useful-
ness in Covid19 deserves a
deeper look. Turn to your
body when no external rem-
edy is found is a case of so
many dreaded diseases. You
are much more ‘naturally’
endowedthanyouhavebeen
made to believe.
Sleep, like so many things
in life have their share of
myths. One most commonly
heardisthatapersongoesto
sleepanytime,anywherethe
moment one gets a resting
place - be a chair or a sofa.
This isn’t great sleep, the
person might be suffering
from sleep deprivation or
sleep apnea. The true and
beneficial sleep is one ac-
cording to the circadian
rhythm and sleep clock of
the body
. Sudden sleepers
needmedicalconsultationto
rule out any pathology
.
People believe that they
can compensate for a night-
time sleep deficit by a day-
time nap. A power nap, post-
lunch, of between 15-30 min-
utes is fine but prolonged,
compensatorydaytimesleep
destroys the natural rhythm
and deprives the body of re-
storative benefits of night
sleep. Remember, sleep is as
important as success, give it
its due space.
One more common myth
that is especially prevalent
for successful people like
politicians, film stars, au-
thors and scientists is that
they sleep 4 to 5 hours a day
and still stay in an excellent
state. Such a possibility has
aone-in-fourmillionchance.
Mostly they sleep adequate-
ly but propagate the myth
for obvious publicity
. Sec-
ondly
, even if it is true then
there is always a possibility
of many disastrous mis-
takes for which the person
and in some cases innumer-
able people pay the price.
Haven’t you heard the say-
ing - big people make big
mistakes?
Another frequently no-
ticed belief is that you have
better sleep in a warm room
during winter. People use
heat blower or room heater
forthispurposebutthisisn’t
logical. To have a relaxing
and rejuvenating sleep, your
body temperature has to fall
a bit during the induction of
thesleepcycle.Thewarmair
won’t allow this to happen
and you will have poor sleep
and would wake up a bit
tired and lethargic. The best
option is a good quality quilt
or blanket.
Finally, philosophy plays
a great role in the sleep pat-
tern. Overthinking, ego,
sorrow, jealousy
, hate, anger
all these negative senti-
ments are thieves of sleep.
Have a philosophical atti-
tude to life. You are born as
a human being to observe
and experience life as well
as death and hence be a sim-
ple, witnessing conscious-
ness, nothing more. You be-
long to none and none be-
longs to you. Work logically
and with dedication, accept
the outcome of your labour
blissfully, it is immaterial
whether it is positive or neg-
ative and you will be blessed
with great sleep and, most
probably
, longer life.
10
ETC
F
A
C
E
O
F
T
H
E
D
A
Y
GEETANJALI CHAUHAN, Entertainer
LEO
JULY 24 - AUGUST 23
Your profession is likely to
go great guns, as you add
celebrities to your client
list. Good preparation is
likely to keep you ahead of others in a
competitive situation. Wealth comes
to some by way of inheritance. Those
suffering from a lifestyle disease will
manage to keep it under check.
LIBRA
SEPT 24 - OCTOBER 22
Someone is testing your
patience, so remain cool.
Your performance at work
will remain consistent.
Total satisfaction is guaranteed in
something that you are pursuing on
the academic front. Marriage of
someone eligible in the family is
likely to be solemnised soon.
ARIES
MAR 21 - APR 20
There may be clash of
purpose between your
desire to buy quality stuff
and your wish for saving
money, so take the middle path. A
good companion promises to make a
long journey interesting.
Achievements of a family youngster
can make you proud.
SAGITTARIUS
NOV 23 - DEC 22
You will be able to impress
all and sundry on the
professional front. Your cost
cutting measures are likely
to benefit you a lot. Maintaining a
balanced diet may begin to show on
your body earlier than expected.
Getting into a favourable situation on
the academic front is possible.
GEMINI
MAY 21 - JUNE 21
This is the day when you
can struggle a bit on the
professional front. Remain
up to date with the course,
as a surprise test can be unleashed
anytime. An opportunity on the
financial front, if seized immediately,
can earn good returns. A diet plan
adopted recently will suit you.
AQUARIUS
JAN 21 - FEB 19
Your good performance at
work will be noticed by
those who matter. Those
debuting on television or
films may find instant fame. Singles
may make efforts to win a romantic
dinner date with the one they secretly
love. Students should get the right
coaching to regain lost ground.
TAURUS
APR 21 - MAY 20
Money will not seem a
problem for those trying to
purchase a major
household item. Getting
work out of a new team may seem
tough. Spouse may ask for your time
and attention today for an important
discussion. A special treat awaits you
on the romantic front.
CAPRICORN
DEC 23 - JAN 20
Your multitasking skills
may be much in demand
as you make it possible to
juggle different jobs at
work with ease. You will find yourself
fit and energetic. Luck shines on
your bank balance. Cupid may strike
its arrow across those looking for it
lately. You might befriend a stranger.
VIRGO
AUG 24 - SEP 23
Doors to new opportunities
will open by meeting
people. Doing up the
property owned by you is
indicated and will be a step in the
right direction. Remain a little
tight-fisted on the financial front to
conserve money. Key to your good
health is constant workout.
CANCER
JUNE 22 - JULY 23
You may need a good
resource to fund your
current venture. Good
news awaits some on the
academic front. You will be able to
achieve stability on the professional
front. An invitation to a party or
function can be expected and will
enable you to meet someone.
PISCES
FEB20 - MARCH 20
A senior will appreciate
your skills in an event.
Those planning to set up a
side business are likely to
bring their ideas in execution. A
family youngster may look up to you
for guidance. You are likely to take
the initiative in getting something
constructed.
SCORPIO
OCT 23 - NOVEMBER 22
You may receive a payment
you had given up for lost.
Delegating work will lessen
your workload at office,
but do supervise the work. Today,
you may have to contend with some
unwanted guests preying on your
private time. Monetary benefits are
likely to come in a partnership.
YOUR
DAY
Horoscope by
Saurabbh Sachdeva
UNDERSTANDING
SLEEP
DR RAMAWTAR
SHARMA
cityfirst@firstindia.co.in
S

First india ahmedabad edition-23 february 2021

First india ahmedabad edition-23 february 2021

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