First India-Ahmedabad Edition-20 July 2020

OUR EDITIONS: JAIPUR & AHMEDABAD

CORONA

26°C - 35°C

ALERT AHMEDABAD l MONDAY, JULY 20, 2020 l Pages 12 l 3.00

COVID-19 UPDATE

WORLD

6,06,779 1,45,32,856 DEATHS

MAHARASHTRA 11,854 DEATHS 3,10,455 CASES

CONFIRMED CASES

DELHI 3,628 DEATHS 1,22,793 CASES

RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/16208 l Vol 1 l Issue No. 235

INDIA

27,502 11,16,846 DEATHS

CONFIRMED CASES

TAMIL NADU 2,481 DEATHS 1,70,693 CASES

STATE

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GUJARAT

2,147 DEATHS

KARNATAKA 1,336 DEATHS 63,772 CASES

48,441

CONFIRMED CASES

RAJASTHAN 559 DEATHS 29,434 CASES

CENTRE

WHAT NEXT? GUV

LOOKS UP TO CENTRE!

Governor Kalraj Mishra has sought informal advice from Centre while seeking guidance on how to go about in current scenario on Gehlot trust vote issue Kashiram Choudhary Jaipur: Even as word spread across the state that a special session of the Rajasthan Assembly could be called from coming Wednesday, a speculation fueled by the meeting between Governor Kalraj Mishra and Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday, sources in Raj Bhawan maintained till Sunday evening that the state government has not forwarded any file to Governor in this regard.

However, there was a strong word on Sunday that Governor has apprised the Centre, informally, about the entire matter and of CM Gehlot’s ‘designs’ to register his ‘strength’ during floor test.

Interestingly, the Governor has not been signalled back on the future course of action in the state and therefore it now remains a ‘wait and watch’ game for the Raj Bhawan.

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NEVER DEMANDED FLOOR TEST: BJP

Ajay Maken

Jaipur: BJP said it never demanded a floor test in Rajasthan Assembly. “The BJP had never demanded the floor test, not even now. We are watching their fight. As of now, we are being unnecessarily dragged into this matter,” said LoP in Assembly Gulab Chand Kataria.

Kalraj Mishra GC Kataria

CS burns midnight oil, compiles report for MHA Dr. Rituraj Sharma Jaipur: With the phone tapping issue becoming a bone of contention between the State and Centre, top IAS and IPS officials in state Secretariat were on their toes even on a holiday, busy compiling the report the state government has to forward to the

Union Home Ministry.

Chief Secretary Rajeeva Swarup, who has been asked to submit the report, chaired a meeting on the issue which lasted more than three hours. According to sources, the high level meeting, attended by ACS (Home) Rohit Kumar Singh, senior officials from ACB, SOG

and PHQ, gave final shape to the report to be sent to Centre.

Interestingly, sources revealed that officials were silent to the question as to when were the phone recording initiated, before or after July 2? Word in the bureaucratic circles is that none of the officers were ready to commit

any date by which the report will be sent to the Centre. Now, it is being assumed that the final report will be sent to the Union Home Ministry, only after CM Gehlot’s approval.

Moreover, MHA had asked CS on Saturday evening the basis of the phone tapping and the authorizing person.

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Gajendra SIngh Shekhawat

Congress bays for Shekhawat’s blood First India Bureau Jaipur: The Congress on Sunday demanded the resignation of Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat for his alleged involvement in a conspiracy to topple the Gehlot government in Rajasthan.

Citing the two audio clips, in one of which Shekhawat is allegedly heard during a conversation on a plot to bring down the state government, AICC central observer for Rajasthan political crisis and senior Congress leader Ajay Maken said the BJP leader should quit on moral grounds.

“If Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shek-

If Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat is claiming that it is not his voice and the reference in the audio clip is of some other Gajendra Singh, then why is he afraid of giving his voice samples —AJAY MAKEN, Cong leader

SOG PAYS A VISIT TO SHEKHAWAT! Rajasthan Police’s SOG has been trailing rebel Congress MLAs and word is that a team reached Gajendra Singh Shekhawat at his Delhi home at around 1 AM on intervening night of Saturday-Sunday, apparently to receive his voice sample. hawat is claiming that it is not his voice and the reference in the audio clip is of some other Gajendra Singh, then why is he afraid of giving his voice samples,” Maken asked.

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PERSPECTIVE JAIPUR | MONDAY,

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CAN THE SOG FIR STAND ITS GROUND BEFORE LAW? the pandemic? herd immunity really end the Governor

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the foundation laying ceremony for the construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya on August 5. According to sources, PM will remain in Ayodhya from 11 am to 1.10 pm.

The PM on Sunday finalised August 5 as the date of stone laying ceremony Turn on P6

NOW HAS 6 CR FOLLOWERS ON TWITTER! New Delhi: The followers of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on microblogging site Twitter have risen to six crore. Modi is known for reaching out to the masses through social media. He uses Twitter extensively to share important information with the people. Most of his addresses are beamed live on his personal Twitter handle. Modi, who joined Twitter in January 2009, is following 2,354 accounts, according to his handle @ narendramodi. In September 2019, PM Modi had five crore followers.

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Top

P4

TWEET

@dpradhanbjp Dharmendra Pradhan noble gesture of

Appreciate the after two #Covid19 recovered @OdishaFS_ in the their antibodies have measurements HGs_CD personnel who good months. plasma for the imvolunteered to donate study relate to how This suggests our Their This is treatment of critical patients. and to SARSthe response is. lives humane act will help save donate lab by mune responselost much to measured in the may be also inspire cured patients of others. blood se- CoV-2 good putting patients’ we might have plasma for the greater infec- faster than people might rum together with virus hoped, and tious SARS-CoV-2 be susceptible Piyush Goyal @PiyushGoyal the thereafter Delivers: with the viand seeing whether Railway Promises, Railway& cells in a to reinfection Take a look at the modern the virus can infect of called a rus. state-of-the-art interiors may Station lab dish. This is So herd immunity new Phoolbagan Metro assay”, working “neutralisation solution some in Kolkata. Relentlessly were not be the 1st is because if and here the results through lockdown, this on Eastof peo- think. This underground station good. Around 60% is short-lived, is ready for potent immunity West Metro corridor ple produced a very be in an ongoing passenger operations. response we will of endless reinfecDoores neutralisation virus grow- cycle to search, from Katie Col- that stopped tion. For herd immunity and her team at Kings at ing in the lab cells. a high be effective we need lege London, looked Finally, the researchers percentage – perhaps more reFor herd immunity to how long the antibody how long the anto be people measured than 60% – of people be effective we need sponse lasted in response lasted. time to in It has tibody immune at any one There is more happiness a high percentage – who had Covid-19. most important of transa jour- This is the doing one’s own (path) anti- disrupt chains perhaps more than been submitted to hapthan in peer- data. Unfortunately,falling mission. This can’t excellence been without be hasn’t to nal but levels began 60% – of people well. must be bodies pen if a lot of reinfection doing another’s (path) reviewed, so it 20 and only 17% immune at any one caution. after day is occurring.

—Bhagavad Gita treated with some retained a poON TO FOR FULL REPORT LOG stud- of patients time to disrupt chains Of the 65 patients at day 57. Some WWW.THECONVERSATION.COM of transmission antibody tent level lost ied, 63 produced patients completely responses. The important Tonk Road, Jaipur.

D.B. Corp Limited, Shivdaspura, Act Bhaskar Printing Press, of news under the PRB Publishers. Printed at responsible for selection on behalf of First Express Editor: Jagdeesh Chandra,

by Anita Hada Sangwan Phone 0141-4920504.

Printed and published Jaipur-302001, Rajasthan.

RNI NO. RAJENG/2019/77764.

Das Road, C-Scheme, Vol 2 Issue No. 44 Floor, City Mall, Bhagwan Published at 304, 3rd

and quire regular boosters, ow is the world not be herd immunity might going to go back viable at all. to the days when we could grab a IMMUNITY DWINDLES coffee, see a movor QUICKLY ie, or attend a concert are an imporanyone? Antibodies footy game with of our immune there are tant part mainly work Opinion suggests vac- system that binding to two options: an effective via by physically cine, or herd immunity particles and stopof people virus at least 60%-80% infecting cells.

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PM Modi

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their asof Parliament and have been sociates in the past under convicted for offence Corrupthe Prevention of in lieu of tion Act for voting AK JAIN money. it has AIR 1932 Cal 378, down the been clearly laid of India Advocate, ‘word’ Government the exRajasthan High Court established by means as disisting political system particutinguished from any was ection-124 A i.e. Sedition Inlar set of Administrators. original the that the in says there not This law clearly was introMinisdian Penal Code. It Chief Minister and to curb the Adminduced in the year 1870 ters, who are only in Indo not fulnationalist movement istrator in the set, Government.

Governof British by dia fill the definition British to It was imported from ment and an attempt of senot invoke law. In Britain, offence change them does slapped, if dition can only be Section 124-A. to rebellion armed explanation is there Further even has clearly overthrow the government.

1 of Section 124-A 124-A has should The sedition u/s laid down that there of enbeen defined as under:be creation of feelings SecWhoever, of 2 Sedition124-A mity. Explanation spoken or clarified by words, either tion 124-A further or by visexciting written, or by signs, that an act without or otherexcite haible representation, or attempting to to attempts or disaffecor wise, brings tred, contempt or conoffence bring into hatred tion do not constitute attempts section, and then tempt, or excites or unless under this towards, 3 says that any It is basic law that to excite disaffection not dis- explanation does established exciting without the information the Government be punof offence act against to excite hato overthrow close ingredients by law in India, shall TO for ment in India be called or attempting or disaffecONLY ABOUT BRIBE alleged, it cannot ished with imprisonment contempt British Rule was peaceful IF TWO PERSONS TALK ARE do not dis- tred, maybe add- the ofjudgment FIR. All three FIRs life, to which fine not constitute an OF LEGISLATION, WHO and this 1908 any of tion, do ELECTED MEMBERS close, even slightly, ed or with imprisonment seemed to change the course. under this section.

MEANS ONLY OFFENCE to three the offence fence mention PUBLIC SERVANTS THAT the ingredients of 1908 judgment till which may extend It is pertinent to IS AN OFFENCE may be After this leaders catSection 124-A has of sedition. years, to which fine THAT THEY ARE COMMITTING 1947, all congress Hon’ble here that OF CORRUPTION ACT It is further held by took the stand that added, or with fine. declared constitutional UNDER THE PREVENTION The ex- egorically any act(s) been exception proRule goes, SecExplanation 1Apex Court that to subject to the in- after British (2) of that brings or attempts pression “disaffection” 124-A will be removed. vided under Article-19 and all feel- tion hatred or condid not of India, cludes disloyalty Presi- bring into the Constitution However, the same “124. Assaulting or excites or attempts which reads as under:be independence. ings of enmity. his Cabinet is to etc., with tempt, to the Com- happen after in subcase ‘Ke- ister or some dent, Governor, or restrain to excite disaffection Explanation 2“19(2)._ Nothing In 1962, a famous unless replaced by paying disapproto compel (1) shall State or Government ments expressing Singh Vs State of elected leg- intent clause (a) of clause of any lawful of the dar Nath cannot called was money to certain of any at- the exercise bation of the measures - AIR 1962 SC 955’with the are together all three FIRs, affect the operation that means, the a view to Bihar the power. - Whoever, constitu- islators Government with or sedition. In existing law, or prevent law, there, where the only to replace one is inducing by nor of tempt hatred, present alteration In the of Section there is neither obtain their his Cabi- intention from making any excit- tional validity the President of Chief Minister and disaffection, State law imposes Rajasthan case, lawful means, without was challenged, while net by another Chief Minis- compelling Governor of any contempt, nor or in so far as such to excite 124-A or the restrictions on the three FIRs towards the Government ing or attempting Cabinet. India it valid. The Court ter and another or disaffec- holding to exercise or refrain State. The whole conversa- reasonable of the right conheld that it can lodged by SOG hatred, contempt or his Cabi- State, the exercise in any manan of- categorically when Chief Minister about bribing the sub-clause are from exercising tion, do not constitute only speak about ferred by the said powers tion is only be applicable is not the State and ner any of the lawful of State will net MLAs. fence under this section. interests of [the sovertelephone talks Com- very existence because of appointed by the Governor. of such President or Goverto bring in the It seems that just Explanation 3and integrity of India] jeopardy does not even made between or wrongfully disappro- be in of routine eignty It The sedition of the Sate, having nor, assaults ments expressing the act of the offenders. few persons that attempts the jurisdiction or is a po- the security say that only a person restrains, police i.e. SOG, which relations with forbation of the administrative was further held that if oflegislators will CM or his to restrain, or state gov- friendly the Govthe majority of order, deMinis- wrongfully licing authority of or other action of does not jeopardize eign States, public Cabinet is to be means of crimbe appointed as Chief exciting or fence relahas been registhe overawes, by of the State then ernment without or morality, or in of ernment, FIR but these are only replaced by hatred, existence IPC. There cency force or the show of court, “Sedition” ter, tered u/s 124-A of attempting to excite and democrat- inal tion to contempt Section 124-A i.e. attempts or do where constitutional force, paying some to criminal a single example contempt or disaffection,un- cannot be slapped. It was defamation or incitement such Presi- is not offence money to certain sedition have law is sub- ic customs. only so to overawe, not constitute an be charges of further held that some- an offence.”

If two persons talk Governor shall elected of above (2) of the mem- dent or been slapped, because der this Section.

A bare reading was jected to Article-19 Chief about bribe to elected are punished with imprisonsedition legislators that of India. Kedar Lokmanya Tilak one tried to replace who clearly says that law Gov- Constitution bers of legislation, either description or his Cabinet by means, the slapped only means ment of charged by the British his Nath Singh’s judgment has extend Minister or can only be for public servants that a term which may attempt is only another Chief Minister ernment for sedition it challenges soverfollowed continuously only offence that they are for certain when years, and shall also Indians to been of the of judgments to replace one his Cabinet by luring Article requesting offence un- to seven eignty and integrity Rule. in a number committing is an to fine.”

If it is so, then security of Cor- be liable overthrow the British be- later on and has become baCM and his country or endanger of Sec- legislators. der the Prevention pubA bare reading no need to bring this context.

The same was challenged stretch of Cabinet by State or even destroys that if there was Court. sic law in ruption Act. By no Law as well as of tion-124 clearly shows these are fore Bombay High or Anti Defection another CM and In the present Rajasthan the imagination, it may be lic order. None of Judge President, Governor of Corruption FIRs lodged by However, the British in FIRs, so FIRs are this con- it is a at- Prevention another Cabinet. and case, the three to men- present called sedition. In State against whom Act. It is pertinent was obviously biased Operation Group Section 124 the illegal. of parse offence Special Chief Minister then preceding seditext, of made, Members telewhich tacks are tion here that few held that definition only speak about or his Cabinet is - A, there is 124 section in Britain (SOG) comes into existence. tion as applicable talks made between not the State and reads as under:in India. phone that Chief Minwas not applicable are appointed by of move- few persons Obviously because

Will H

A dream come true! Ram Temple foundation on Aug 5

JULY 20, 2020

STAND ITS CAN THE SOG FIR ?

GROUND BEFORE LAW

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Spiritual SPEAK

India likely to deploy Rafale jets in Ladakh amid border tension New Delhi: Amid ongoing tensions with China, top Air Force commanders will meet this week to discuss the situation on the Line of Actual Control with China in Eastern Ladakh and rapid operational station of Rafale combat aircraft arriving later this month.

The Indian Air Force could deploy its new Ra-

fale fighter jets in the Ladakh sector as part of an overarching plan to strengthen India’s military posture

in the region, where Indian and Chinese forces are locked in a tense border confrontation, said sources on Sunday, ahead of a key IAF commanders’ meeting this week.

France is speeding up deliveries of Rafale to India and six jets are likely to land at their home base in Ambala on July 27, said sources. Turn on P6

BUREAUCRACY BUZZ

Anil Mukim likely to get extension as Gujarat CS If Mukim, who retires in August-end, does not get a second term, Guruprasad Mohapatra is a front-runner Haresh Jhala Gandhinagar: Gujarat’s low profile and mild-mannered Chief Secretary Anil Mukim attains superannuation next month, bang in the middle of the Covid-19 crisis, and so there is every possibility that he will get an

extension for another six months.

Top Secretariat sources said senior bureaucrat Guruprasad Mohapatra, at present serving a Delhi deputation, stands a good chance to become the Chief Secretary if Mukim does not get an extension.

Ever since Mukim, a

1985 batch IAS officer, took charge of the coveted post on November 30 last year his task was cut out. In less than four months of taking over, Mukim had to plunge straight into managing the corona crisis after overseeing the highprofile visit of US President Donald Trump

and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

With his spotless track record, he stands a good chance of having yet another go at the top post for at least six months.

There are other reasons too. First and foremost, the second seniormost bureaucrat in the list is Sangeeta Singh, a 1986 batch IAS officer and currently serving as the Additional Chief

Secretary (Home).

Sources claim that though she is the seniormost and has a clean record, she may not find favour either with Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Union Home Minister Amit Shah. But, even if she is picked, Singh will be there only for two months from retirement and the government will have to look for her successor.

There are others too in the 1986 batch and Guruprasad Mohapatra is one of them. He is currently on Delhi deputation as Secretary of Department for Promotion of Industries and Internal trade in the Union Ministry of Commerce. The others are Additional Chief Secretary (Revenue) Pankaj Kumar, ACS (Labour and Employment) Vipul Mittra, Turn on P6

NEWS AHMEDABAD | MONDAY, JULY 20, 2020

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PM speaks to Assam CM over flood situation, assures support Floods have wreaked havoc in Assam and have claimed 81 lives so far this year l

Guwahati: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday assured all support to Assam in dealing with the flood havoc, which has claimed 81 lives so far this year.

Discussing the flood situation with Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal over phone, Modi also enquired about the COVID-19 scenario and the ongoing

efforts to douse the raging blaze at the Oil India's Baghjan gas well.

"Hon'ble PM Shri @ narendramodi ji took stock of the contemporary situation regarding #AssamFloods2020, #COVID19 and Baghjan Oil Well fire scenario over phone this morning," Sonowal tweeted.

"Expressing his con-

cern & solidarity with the people, the PM assured all support to the state," he said.

An official at the Chief Minister's Office said that Sonowal informed Modi about all the measures the state has taken so far in dealing with the problems faced by the people.

The total number of people killed in this year's flood and landslide has gone up to 107 across the state, of whom 81 were killed in flood-related incidents and 26 died due to landslides, the Assam State

Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said in its morning bulletin.

Floods have hit over 27 lakh people in 26 of the 33 districts of Assam and destroyed houses, crops, roads and bridges at several places On the COVID-19 front, Assam has recorded 22,981 cases, of which 10,503 have been reported from the Guwahati city alone. The total number of persons losing their lives due to COVID-19 in the state

Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

BIRTHDAY BOY

HARDIK GOES BEYOND HIS PATIDAR IDENTITY Darshan Desai Ahmedabad: Hardik Patel, an upper caste Patidar, Alpesh Thakore, an OBC and Jignesh Mevani, a Dalit, are the three young Turks who fuelled the Congress party’s rejuvenated campaign during the December 2017 Gujarat Assembly elections, which left the ruling BJP with an apologetic seven seats more than a sure, spectacular defeat.

There were two key takeaways from that election: One, Patels or the Patidars - the major vote and money machine of the BJP -- voting for the Congress in a big way for the first time since the anti-reservation agitation in the eighties when the party drew up a lethal Kshatriya (OBC), Harijan, Adivasi, Muslim (KHAM) combination that together accounted for over 70 per cent of the voters, leaving the upper castes going with the BJP. Two, it was unprecedented that the Patidars and all the constituents of KHAM almost spoke in the same voice and voted alike. It is rare to see a Hardik Patel, an Alpesh Thakore and a Jignesh Mevani coming on the same podium and making similar speeches. While Congress’ Patidar seats increased considerably, it also made a dent among the Scheduled Caste and Muslim seats in 2017.

Hardik Patel’s seemingly sudden sky-rocketing as the Working President of the Gujarat Congress last week has this larger picture in the backdrop. This is why his promotion is not restricted to the cliched analysis of his being only a Patidar. The July 20, 1993, born young-

ster’s public rallies in 2017 found traction among youth from all castes and classes, given that though he ostensibly espoused the Patel cause he was touching issues that affected youth, farmers and small businesses-something that Alpesh and Jignesh, and so also Rahul Gandhi, did.

The subtext, therefore, is also the glaring lack of strong leadership, to the extent that the party’s three aspiring chief ministers, Shaktisinh Gohil, Arjun Modhwadia and Siddharth Patel, could not win.

But the defeat halted Hardik’s juggernaut and his subsequent attempts to create another agitation

It is a welcome step!

Forget Patidars, it is more important for the Congress to have young leaders and this man has the guts to stand up and snap back. He has much better connect with the people in the rural and semi-urban areas than the so-called seniors.

Another reason f0r getting him could be to ensure he doesn’t get drawn towards the Aam Aadmi Party. Let us see how the party handles him.

Congress in Gujarat needs young and aggressive leaders in the moribund status that it is in.

With Hardik, the party will have an advantage of not only a Patidar leader but also a young man who can create and sustain public movements. There are several issues in Gujarat but the Opposition party lacks that drive and energy to tap them. This boy can do it and he can pull in more and more youngsters.

—Hari Desai, Veteran Journalist and Author

—Vidyut Joshi, Political Scientist

flopped. Of course, he insists, “The economic reservation for non-reserved classes and related announcements were the result of the Patidar agitation.”

The Congress party in Gujarat later returned to the same inertia. As many as eight MLAs quit the party and five of them joined the BJP, to facilitate the Rajya Sabha victory of its three candidates. Neither State Congress President Amit Chavda nor Leader of Opposition Paresh Dhanani could change much.

What contrasts Hardik Patel from them - besides his age -is that even in defeat and dejection, he has constantly been on the move travelling across the State holding public interactions. If he was in Morbi days before he was named the working chief, he is beginning a tour of Saurashtra from Monday. Till the lockdown, he was travelling.

His last two key outings before the lockdown were on January 11 and 12 in Anklav - Amit Chavda’s constituency -and Kheda.

During this time, Alpesh Thakore, by then an MLA, got too ambitious. He found cliched faults with the Congress leadership of ignoring the aspirations of partymen, something the quitting MLAs also claimed. He quit the Congress, along with another OBC MLA close to him, and joined the BJP, only to lose the by-polls on their own seats.

Jignesh Mevani, who won with Congress support, continues on his own trip.

In 2017, Hardik was too young to be able to contest elections and in 2019, he couldn’t because of sedition cases against him. But he seems to be focussed. When First India called him the day he got the promotion, he only said, “Yes, this assignment has come to me. I will do the same work that I have been doing -reaching out.”

Saga of data mismanagement continues in Guj —PHOTO BY HANIF SINDHI

As he turns 27 today, Gujarat Congress’ working chief has his task cut out 8 assembly by-elections and local body polls in the year-end

has gone up to 53.

However, five more COVID-19 patients have died, but the government's Death Audit Board has not included them in the tally of deaths caused by the COVID-19 virus. They had other ailments.

Meanwhile, the damaged Baghjan gas well of the PSU major Oil India Ltd in Assam is spewing gas uncontrollably for the last 54 days since the blowout took place on May 27, followed by the inferno on June 9. —PTI

Health workers compiling COVID-19 sample collection data at a health centre in Ahmedabad.

Gargi Raval Gandhinagar: With the COVID-19 outbreak gradually entering the community transmission stage in the state, the number of cases has grown by leaps and bounds. But, due to differing data presented by local authorities in various districts and the state health department, there are questions surrounding the authenticity of data. The figures released daily by the health department have raised more doubts about the government not giving an accurate account of the ongoing health crisis.

First India reported on how the number of total positive cases and the death toll numbers were revealed to be lower than the numbers released by local authorities of a district or city. But now, in a reversal of roles, the state health portal reported a higher number of COVID-19 active cases than local district bodies.

For instance, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) reported a total of 3,193 active cases in the city on Sunday, whereas the number

of the Ahmedabad rural stood at 92 active cases. Therefore, the total number of cases in the district was reported to be 3,295.

However, the state government declared that the total number of active cases in the district were 3,661.

Another example is the Amreli district, where the local administration claimed that it had

Discrepancies in COVID-19 numbers across the state have raised questions of authenticity 89 active cases but the state government reported 95 active cases.

Similarly, in Junagadh, local authorities claimed that there were 158 active cases. But, as per the data on the state government portal, there are 168 active cases in the district.

According to the opposition party Congress, the BJP government has always hidden actual data. “It is sad that right from employment generation to the usage of funds, no factual data

has been shared by the government anywhere. Even when people are dying, the government is focused on hiding data and not providing better healthcare services to them,” said Manish Doshi, Chief Spokesperson Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC).

Due to mismanagement of data, there has been no clarity on the actual number of active cases across the state. In yet another reversal, discrepancies in the data revealed by the state government and local district authorities continued with the former reporting lower numbers than the latter. The Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) claimed to have 736 COVID-19 patients under their jurisdiction but the state government stated that there were 660 cases in the district.

After several reports in the media, regarding the mismatch of data, many district officials have stopped sharing the details of the COVID-19 crisis on social media platforms, which was earlier used to gain publicity.

GUJARAT AHMEDABAD | MONDAY, JULY 20, 2020

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Surat crosses 10K mark with 279 new nCov cases Chhota Udepur to observe lockdown for a week, citizens asked not to visit hotspots First India Bureau Gandhinagar: With 279 new COVID-19 cases, the total tally of Surat district touched 10,275 on Sunday. Of these, over 8,516 cases have been reported from the city and 1,765 from the district’s rural areas.

Around 31 districts and eight municipal corporation areas reported 965 cases and 20 deaths on Sunday. Surat topped the list with 285 cases, of which 206 were from city and 79 from rural areas, followed by Ahmedabad (212), Vadodara (79), Rajkot (49), Bhavnagar and Gandhinagar (30 each), Mehsana (22) and Banaskantha (21). The death toll in Surat stands at 439, of which, 381 are from the city and 58 from rural areas.

In past 24 hours, the state has tested

KEEP AWAY

A health worker collects a swab sample at a health centre in Ahmedabad. —PHOTO BY HANIF SINDHI

12,323 samples, and has 11,412 active cases, of which 69 are on ventilator support and 11,343 are in stable condition.

A group in Rajkot launched a campaign on social media advocating for a lockdown in the city. Meanwhile, the town of Chhota Udepur observed a total lockdown which will re-

Congress MLAs all for cops pay hike

main enforced for a week to break the chain of nCov transmission. The Vadodara wing of the BJP state unit lost its Vice President Mahesh Sharma to the deadly virus on Sunday morning. His wife and son, who had also tested positive for COVID-19, recovered after treatment.

Local administra-

tions across the state have been issuing advisories to people about avoiding visits to nearby hotspot districts or towns. The advisory comes on the heels of COVID-19 transmission from hotspots to adjoining areas due to movement of people. Residents of Chhota Udepur have also been warned by the

local administration to avoid visiting Vadodara.

A 14-day home quarantine is also being insisted upon by authorities for visitors from hotspots such as Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat and now even from Bhavnagar, Mehsana, Bharuch and Rajkot, which may be the new hotspots of novel coronavirus.

03

SMIMER Hosp resident doc alleges exploitation First India Bureau Surat: A letter written by a resident doctor of the SMIMER Hospital in Surat has been repeatedly shared on social media platforms in which serious allegations have been levied against senior doctors at the hospital. Dr Vipul Srivastava (Head, Medicine Department), Dr Divyang (Head of Anaesthesia Department), Dr Rajesh Parmar (RMO, Maintenance Department), Dr RK Bansal (Dean, SMIMER), Sajid bhai (Biomedical Engineer) have been named by the doctor as the perpetrators of mental harassment. A demand for immediate action to be taken against them has also been put forth in the letter.

According to the letter, the five senior doctors namely Dr Srivastava, Dr Divyang, Dr Parmar, Dr Bansal, Sajidbhai have allegedly swindled crores of rupees and filled their pockets in wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. It also underlines the ex-

ploitation of resident doctors at the hospital and the hardships faced by them due to their superiors.

The resident doctor who wrote the letter has also threatened to commit suicide if the issues mentioned in it are not solved on a priority basis. “We, the resident doctors, have been performing our COVID-19 duties for 14 consecutive days. And yet, neither the system nor our superiors pay any attention to ensure that we get adequate rest and quarantine. Not just this, after finishing our COVID-19 duties, we are being forced to perform other duties as well. We have been threatened of failure in exams by our superiors, if we do not comply. Due to this

—FILE PHOTO stressful schedule, we have been getting infected with novel coronavirus. Who will take responsibility for this?”, read the letter.

“Senior physicians do not visit patients in the wards assigned to them. Fearing infection, they have put all the responsibility of patient treatment and care on the resident doctors,” wrote the doctor.

A week ago, two patients lost their lives due to low pressure in the oxygen line at the hospital. Although resident doctors on duty had informed seniors, they were not present at the time. The responsibility of controlling the situation and providing answers to patients’ family members was placed on resident doctors.

COVID-19 testing free for Surtis

AVOIDANCE IS BLISS

—PHOTO BY HANIF SINDHI

Imran Khedawala

Gulabsinh Rajput

Health workers will collect samples at designated centres.

First India Bureau

have mentioned that the authorities should ensure that the state police department ascertain the working hours of the force. They also asserted that the total number of working hours should not go beyond eight hours. If it exceeds that limit, they should be paid for the extra hours and also provided with kits in accordance with the weather. “All employees in the state have unions therefore, the cops too should be granted the right to form a union,” stated the letter.

A call for the abolishment of the fixed pay system and enforcement of the seventh pay commission was also made in the letter.

First India Bureau

Ahmedabad: After lending support to protesting teachers, the Congress party has now raised its voice for the policemen in the state.

In an attempt to secure a better pay grade, police personnel across the state with a grade pay of Rs1,800, have launched a campaign for a pay hike.

Two Congress MLAs namely Gulabsinh Rajput and Imran Khedawala have written a letter to Chief Minister Vijay Rupani requesting him to not only raise the salaries of the policemen but also adhere to employee rights.

In the letter, they

Post Unlock 2.0, Amdavadis seem to have taken the COVID-19 crisis for granted, as a number of them were seen playing cricket at a ground behind Tagore Hall in Paldi on Sunday morning. Most of them did not follow health protocol and wear masks or practice social distancing.

—PHOTO BY HANIF SINDHI

Light showers likely in few places First India Bureau Ahmedabad: The state has continued to receive a decent spell of rains this monsoon season. Rainfall occurred at many places in the districts of Saurashtra, at a few places in districts of the South Gujarat region and in the Kutch district, as well as isolated places in dis-

tricts of the North Gujarat region on Sunday.

Moreover, the weatherman has forecasted more showers for the next two days. Currently, there is a cyclonic circulation over southwest Rajasthan and its neighbourhood between 3.1 km and 3.6 km above mean sea level.

This will ensure light to moderate rains in com-

ing days.

“Light to moderate rain or thundershowers are very likely at a few places in all the districts of the Gujarat region, including Saurashtra and Kutch for the next two days,” mentioned the weather bulletin.

According to a press release issued by the State Emergency Oper-

ation Centre (SEOC), a total of 14 roads have been damaged due to heavy rains mainly in Saurashtra and have been blocked for vehicular movement. These include state highways and panchayat roads.

Tankara town in Morbi district received the highest amount of rainfall (28 mm) on Sunday.

Surat: Due to rapid surge in novel coronavirus cases, the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) has declared that free COVID-19 tests will be conducted for the people of Surat. The local civic body enlisted a host of sites where rapid tests will be administered to citizens.

According to a press release by the SMC, rapid testing of a person with suspected symptoms of novel coronavirus will be conducted free of cost at local health centres from 9 am to 1 pm and from 2 pm to 5 pm.

As per reports, it is to be believed that the city administration has

made this announcement after receiving guidance from the fourmember Central team which recently visited Surat. Free COVID-19 testing will be conducted at zonal health centres such as DKM Urban Health Centre (Central Zone), Pal Community Health Centre (Rander Zone), Katargam Community Health Centre Katargam Zone), Magob Community Health Centre (Varachha A Zone), Mobile Bus Testing Centre (Varachha B Zone), Panas Community Health Centre (Athwa Zone), Bamroli Community Health Centre (Udhna Zone) and Mobile Bus Testing Centre (Limbayat Zone).

PITFALLS OF GREED

Rajkot Crime Branch nabs postman who duped 50 people of `75L Deepak Bhatt used to present them with fake job offers on Department of Post letterhead 

Masuma Bharmal Jariwala Rajkot: A postman was arrested by the Rajkot Crime Branch on Sunday for allegedly duping people on the pretext of them offering jobs at the post office.

Hailing from Junagadh district, 50-yearold Deepak Mungat

Bhatt had been working as a postman at the Mendarda sub-division office in Junagadh.

Over the course of his tenure at the position, he duped over 50 people from Junagadh and Rajkot districts by making false promises and presenting fake job offer letters to them. Bhatt

used to print an original letter on the letterhead of the post department and charge a fee of one lakh rupees for ‘fake’ permanent job offers.

The Crime Branch laid a trap for Bhatt in Rajkot by posing as a party interested in securing a job in the department of post. When Bhatt came to the predetermined address to collect his installment of the payment, he was nabbed by officials.

“People trusted him

Officials of Rajkot Crime Branch with people duped by Bhatt at a press meet.

because he was a postman himself and his daughter too worked at one of the post offices.

Primary investigation has revealed that he duped over 50 people from Junagadh and Rajkot districts and collected money to the tune of Rs75 lakh,” said ACP Jaydeepsinh Sarvaiya, Rajkot Crime Branch.

“He used to collect partial payment first and the final payment after producing a fake appointment letter on

the original letterhead of the post department.

He has been duping people for the past six years and the money he made was spent by him on personal pleasures,” Sarvaiya added.

Police have seized original and photocopy documents of various ‘candidates’ along with passport-size photographs, the dummy order on department of post letterhead and one lakh rupees cash from Bhatt.

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04

CAN THE SOG FIR STAND ITS GROUND BEFORE LAW? AK JAIN Advocate, Rajasthan High Court

S

In the present Rajasthan case, the three FIRs lodged by SOG only speak about telephone talks made between few persons that CM or his Cabinet is to be replaced by paying some money to certain elected legislators that means, the attempt is only to replace one CM and his Cabinet by another CM and another Cabinet.

Chief Minister or his Cabinet is not the State and are appointed by the Governor

ection-124 A i.e. Sedition was not there in the original Indian Penal Code. It was introduced in the year 1870 to curb nationalist movement in India by British Government.

It was imported from British law. In Britain, offence of sedition can only be slapped, if there is armed rebellion to overthrow the government.

The sedition u/s 124-A has been defined as under:124-A Sedition- Whoever, by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards, the Government established by law in India, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, to which fine maybe added or with imprisonment which may extend to three years, to which fine may be added, or with fine.

Explanation 1- The expression “disaffection” includes disloyalty and all feelings of enmity.

Explanation 2- Comments expressing disapprobation of the measures of the Government with a view to obtain their alteration by lawful means, without exciting or attempting to excite hatred, contempt or disaffection, do not constitute an offence under this section.

Explanation 3- Comments expressing disapprobation of the administrative or other action of the Government without exciting or attempting to excite hatred, contempt or disaffection, do not constitute an offence under this Section.

Lokmanya Tilak was charged by the British Government for sedition for his Article requesting Indians to overthrow the British Rule.

The same was challenged before Bombay High Court.

However, the British Judge was obviously biased and held that definition of sedition as applicable in Britain was not applicable in India.

Obviously because of move-

ment in India to overthrow the British Rule was peaceful and this 1908 judgment seemed to change the course.

After this 1908 judgment till 1947, all congress leaders categorically took the stand that after British Rule goes, Section 124-A will be removed.

However, the same did not happen after independence.

In 1962, a famous case ‘Kedar Nath Singh Vs State of Bihar - AIR 1962 SC 955’- was there, where the constitutional validity of Section 124-A was challenged, while holding it valid. The Court categorically held that it can only be applicable when very existence of State will be in jeopardy because of the act of the offenders. It was further held that if offence does not jeopardize the existence of the State then Section 124-A i.e. “Sedition” cannot be slapped. It was further held that law is subjected to Article-19 (2) of the Constitution of India. Kedar Nath Singh’s judgment has been followed continuously in a number of judgments later on and has become basic law in this context.

In the present Rajasthan case, the three FIRs lodged by Special Operation Group (SOG) only speak about telephone talks made between few persons that Chief Min-

IF TWO PERSONS TALK ONLY ABOUT BRIBE TO ELECTED MEMBERS OF LEGISLATION, WHO ARE PUBLIC SERVANTS THAT MEANS ONLY OFFENCE THAT THEY ARE COMMITTING IS AN OFFENCE UNDER THE PREVENTION OF CORRUPTION ACT

ister or his Cabinet is to be replaced by paying some money to certain elected legislators that means, the attempt is only to replace one Chief Minister and his Cabinet by another Chief Minister and another Cabinet.

Chief Minister or his Cabinet is not the State and are appointed by the Governor.

The sedition does not even say that only a person having majority of legislators will be appointed as Chief Minister, but these are only the constitutional and democratic customs.

If two persons talk only about bribe to elected members of legislation, who are public servants that means only offence that they are committing is an offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act. By no stretch of the imagination, it may be called sedition. In this context, preceding of Section 124 - A, there is 124 section which reads as under:-

“124. Assaulting President, Governor, etc., with intent to compel or restrain the exercise of any lawful power. - Whoever, with the intention of inducing or compelling the President of India or the Governor of any State, to exercise or refrain from exercising in any manner any of the lawful powers of such President or Governor, assaults or wrongfully restrains, or attempts wrongfully to restrain, or overawes, by means of criminal force or the show of criminal force, or attempts so to overawe, such President or Governor shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine.”

A bare reading of Section-124 clearly shows that if it is a President, Governor or the State against whom attacks are made, then offence comes into existence.

It is basic law that unless the information does not disclose ingredients of offence alleged, it cannot be called FIR. All three FIRs do not disclose, even slightly, any of the ingredients of the offence of sedition.

It is further held by Hon’ble Apex Court that any act(s) that brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection to the State or Government unless are together cannot called sedition. In all three FIRs, there is neither hatred, nor contempt, nor disaffection, towards the Government or State. The whole conversation is about bribing the MLAs. It seems that just to bring the jurisdiction of routine police i.e. SOG, which is a policing authority of state government, FIR has been registered u/s 124-A of IPC. There is not a single example where charges of sedition have been slapped, because someone tried to replace Chief Minister or his Cabinet by another Chief Minister or his Cabinet by luring certain legislators. If it is so, then there was no need to bring Anti Defection Law as well as Prevention of Corruption Act. It is pertinent to mention here that few Members

Will herd immunity really end the pandemic?

H

ow is the world going to go back to the days when we could grab a coffee, see a movie, or attend a concert or footy game with anyone?

Opinion suggests there are two options: an effective vaccine, or herd immunity via at least 60%-80% of people becoming infected. Either one of these options requires that people become immune to SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes Covid-19.

An important new study released online this week could have a large bearing on how our future looks in 2021 and beyond.

It suggests our immunity to SARS-CoV-2 does not last very long at all – as little as two months for some people.

If this is the case, it means a potential vaccine might re

quire regular boosters, and herd immunity might not be viable at all.

IMMUNITY DWINDLES QUICKLY Antibodies are an important part of our immune system that mainly work by physically binding to virus particles and stopping them infecting cells.

They can attach to infected cells to induce cell death in some cases.

We also have T cells, another part of the immune system that is much better at recognising and killing virus-infected cells. But for Covid-19, antibodies are important in the lungs because T cells aren’t good at getting to airways where the virus first invades.

The newly-released re-

For herd immunity to be effective we need a high percentage – perhaps more than 60% – of people to be immune at any one time to disrupt chains of transmission

search, from Katie Doores and her team at Kings College London, looked at how long the antibody response lasted in people who had Covid-19. It has been submitted to a journal but hasn’t been peerreviewed, so it must be treated with some caution.

Of the 65 patients studied, 63 produced antibody responses. The important

measurements in the study relate to how good the response is. This is measured in the lab by putting patients’ blood serum together with infectious SARS-CoV-2 virus and seeing whether the virus can infect cells in a lab dish. This is called a “neutralisation assay”, and here the results were good. Around 60% of people produced a very potent neutralisation response that stopped virus growing in the lab cells.

Finally, the researchers measured how long the antibody response lasted.

This is the most important data. Unfortunately, antibodies levels began falling after day 20 and only 17% of patients retained a potent level at day 57. Some patients completely lost

their antibodies after two months.

This suggests our immune response to SARSCoV-2 may be lost much faster than we might have hoped, and people might thereafter be susceptible to reinfection with the virus.

So herd immunity may not be the solution some think. This is because if immunity is short-lived, we will be in an ongoing cycle of endless reinfection. For herd immunity to be effective we need a high percentage – perhaps more than 60% – of people to be immune at any one time to disrupt chains of transmission. This can’t happen if a lot of reinfection is occurring.

FOR FULL REPORT LOG ON TO WWW.THECONVERSATION.COM

of Parliament and their associates in the past have been convicted for offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act for voting in lieu of money.

AIR 1932 Cal 378, it has been clearly laid down the ‘word’ Government of India established by means the existing political system as distinguished from any particular set of Administrators.

This law clearly says that the Chief Minister and Ministers, who are only the Administrator in the set, do not fulfill the definition of Government and an attempt to change them does not invoke Section 124-A. Further even explanation 1 of Section 124-A has clearly laid down that there should be creation of feelings of enmity. Explanation 2 of Section 124-A further clarified that an act without exciting or attempting to excite hatred, contempt or disaffection do not constitute offence under this section, and then explanation 3 says that any act against without exciting or attempting to excite hatred, contempt or disaffection, do not constitute an offence under this section.

It is pertinent to mention here that Section 124-A has been declared constitutional subject to the exception provided under Article-19 (2) of the Constitution of India, which reads as under:“19(2)._ Nothing in subclause (a) of clause (1) shall affect the operation of any existing law, or prevent the State from making any law, in so far as such law imposes reasonable restrictions on the exercise of the right conferred by the said sub-clause in the interests of [the sovereignty and integrity of India] the security of the Sate, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence.”

A bare reading of above clearly says that law sedition can only be slapped only when it challenges sovereignty and integrity of the country or endanger security of State or even destroys public order. None of these are present in FIRs, so FIRs are parse illegal.

Top

TWEET Dharmendra Pradhan @dpradhanbjp Appreciate the noble gesture of #Covid19 recovered @OdishaFS_ HGs_CD personnel who have volunteered to donate plasma for the treatment of critical patients. Their humane act will help save lives and also inspire cured patients to donate plasma for the greater good of others.

Piyush Goyal @PiyushGoyal Railway Promises, Railway Delivers: Take a look at the modern & state-of-the-art interiors of the new Phoolbagan Metro Station in Kolkata. Relentlessly working through lockdown, this 1st underground station on EastWest Metro corridor is ready for passenger operations.

Spiritual SPEAK

There is more happiness in doing one’s own (path) without excellence than in doing another’s (path) well.

—Bhagavad Gita

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05

HEAVY RAINS BRING DELHI TO A HALT New Delhi: The national capital received its first spell of heavy rains on Sunday morning which led to waterlogging in low-lying areas and brought traffic to a standstill at key stretches in the city.

According to the Delhi Traffic Police, jams were reported in various areas. due to heavy waterlogging. A house in the slum area of Anna Nagar near ITO in Delhi collapsed following heavy rainfall, but no one was present in it at the time of the mishap.

Centralised Accident and Trauma Services (CATS) and fire engines were deployed at the spot. The IMD said the Safdarjung Observatory, which provides representative figures for the city, recorded 74.8 mm rainfall till 8:30 am.

A 56-year-old man drowned while trying to manoeuvre his tempo through the waterlogged underpass at Minto Road.Residents shared on social media videos& pictures of rainwater gushing into their houses & vehicles navigating waterlogged roads.—PTI

NDRF personnel near the site of a collapsed house in the slum area of Anna Nagar, following rains in New Delhi.

5 DIE, OVER 25L HIT BY ASSAM FLOODS Guwahati: Five more people died in floodrelated incidents in Assam where the deluge has hit over 25 lakh people in 24 of the 33 districts of the state, according to an official bulletin issued on Sunday.

One death each was reported from Baghbar in Barpeta district, Baganpara in Baksa district, Bilasipara in Dhubri district, Mayong in Morigaon district and Kaliabor in Nagaon district.

OP Dhankar is president of BJP’s Haryana unit New Delhi: OP Dhankar, who was a cabinet minister in the BJP government in Haryana, was on Sunday appointed the president of the party’s state unit.

By appointing Dhankar, the BJP has continued with a Jat face, the most dominant caste in the state.

The BJP, in a statement, said party chief JP Nadda appointed Dhankar the Haryana unit head.

The appointment is also seen as an attempt to balance the caste equations in the state, where politics revolves around Jats and non-Jats.

Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar is also a non-Jat. Dhankar will replace incumbent Subhash Barala, who was also a Jat. Both Dhankar and Barala had lost the Harayana Assembly elections held in October last year. Dhankar was a cabinet minister in the BJP government in Haryana. —PTI

A DTC bus stuck at waterlogged Zakhira underpass as children play after rains in New Delhi on Sunday.

Galwan braves get a pat on the back ‘Priority to boost economy, not building temples’ from Rajnath in Ladakh’s Lukung New Delhi:Defence Minister Rajnath Singh met soldiers from the 16th battalion of Bihar regiment who fought off numerically superior Chinese troops in Galwan Valley on June 15, and acknowledged their bravery in the presence of military’s top brass.

Singh returned to Delhi on Saturday after a two-day tour of Ladakh & J&K. A new video from Lukung on the western bank on Ladakh’s Pangong Tso,

Rajnath Singh exchanges sweets while interacting with Indian soldiers as he visits the forward posts near LoC in Kashmir.

which has been at the centre of current border tensions with China, showed the minister having tea with soldiers from 16 Bihar. In the clip, he is seen

mingling with soldiers. Lt Gen Harinder Singh who can be heard telling minister that commanding officer killed in the skirmish was from their unit.

Solapur : Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Sunday, said that some people think that the coronavirus would be eradicated by building a temple.

The NCP leader’s comment comes a day after the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust proposed two dates in August for laying the foundation stone of a Ram Temple in Ayodhya. Addressing a press conference here, he said, “We are all

thinking of how to fight the battle against coronavirus but some people think that coronavirus will be mitigated by building a temple. But our priority is to see how to improve the economy which has been affected due to lockdown.”

“The lockdown has created an economic crisis & we want to request the State and Central government to pay attention to the issue,” added Pawar.

—ANI

‘230 kg gold landed in 13 batches in one yr’ Thiruvananthapuram: At least 230 kg of gold was smuggled into the country by using some employees of the United Arab Emirates diplomatic mission since July 2019, said a senior officer familiar with the probe led by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) into the seizure of 30 kg of the yellow metal from the Thiruvananthapuram airport on July 5.

“At least 13 such consignments came to the

SWAPNA SURESH IS SECOND ACCUSED

country in one year and they all passed without any check due to diplomatic immunity. Some of them were heavier than the latest consign-

ment which weighed 70 kg. We are also probing some events organised by state government departments,” the official said on?Sunday.

All these consignments landed in Thiruvananthapuram.

The NIA has arrested four persons while the Customs have nabbed

13 people so far in connection with the gold smuggling case.

The official also said that people whose names have cropped up during the questioning of the accused will be summoned.

This includes CM Pinarayi Vijayan’s former secretary M Sivasankar and the government’s former IT Fellow Arun Balachandran.

The Customs department had grilled Sivasankar for nine hours.

Rescue works underway at the site of accident after a private bus fell off the Lucknow-Agra Expressway following a collision with another vehicle in Kannauj dist on Sunday.

6 killed in Agra-Lko E-way accident Agra: Six people died on the spot and another 20 were injured in an accident early on Sunday on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway in Kannauj district. Most of the passengers were migrant workers from Bihar returning to their work places in Delhi.

Police said a passenger bus coming from Madhubani in Bihar rammed into a stationary SUV on the side of the road

near Saurikh. Both the vehicles fell 20 feet below.

Four persons died on the spot, two on the way to the hospital. The injured were shifted to Saifai and Tirwa hospitals, the police said.

Cops said SUV driver headed for Ludhiana, had stopped to take a nap, on the roadside. The speeding bus rammed into the car with such a force that both came rolling down 20 feet. —PTI

‘Has Modi government accepted IT dept randomly picks up cases to remove bias Chinese occupation in Ladakh?’

FACELESS TAX ASSESSMENT

New Delhi: The income-tax department, which implemented faceless tax assessment from October 7 last year, has randomly selected 58,319 cases for scrutiny in the first phase and already resolved 7,116 of those, two finance ministry officials said.

The objective of the faceless assessment is to completely eliminate physical contact between the taxpayer and the taxman to make tax administration objec-

THE SELECTION PROCESS

T

FM Nirmala Sitharaman

tive, transparent and corruption free, they said requesting anonymity.

“The faceless assessment system has been a

game changer in the arena of direct taxation. It has empowered the taxpayers and has, as a foremost mechanism, altered the facets

and perception of overall tax administration in India,” one official, who holds a senior position, said. The official said this is the future of

direct tax administration in India with automated and random allocation of income tax assessment cases without human interface at any stage.

The faceless system was first proposed by PM Narendra Modi in 2017. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced it in her first budget speech on July 5, 2019 & subsequently launched the system on October 7, 2019. —Agencies

New Delhi: The Congress used Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s recent statement that he cannot guarantee to what extent the border standoff with China in Ladakh would be resolved, to launch another attack on the government.

“What does this statement of the country’s Defense Minister mean that there is no guarantee of a solution through talks with China? Has the Modi

Randeep Singh Surjewala

government accepted the Chinese occupation that they cannot solve it?” Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala asked at a briefing.

Rajnath Singh had made the comment in Lukung near Pangong Tso lake on Friday while addressing troops. “China isn’t ready to restore the status quo ante & to return to the pre-May 2020 position. China has converted Ngari Gunsa civil airstrip on our border into military airstrip causing threat to our territorial integrity & placed over 20,000 Chinese soldiers on our border,” Surjewala said.

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06

Record 38,902 new cases in 24 hours

543 deaths linked to the highly contagious illness were reported on Sunday, taking the COVID-19 toll to 26,816, said Health Ministry

New Delhi: India saw a record single- day jump of 38,902 COVID-19 cases pushing its tally to 10,77,618 on Sunday, while the total number of recoveries increased to 6,77,422, according to the Union Health Ministry data.

The death toll due to the disease rose to 26,816 with new 543 fatalities even as 23,672 patients have recuperated in the past 24 hours, the highest so far in a day, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The Ministry of Health said the 11 most COVID-19 affected countries in the world --the US, Brazil, Russia, Peru, Chile, Mexico, South Africa, the UK, Iran, Pakistan, Spain --together reported 8 times more cases and 14 times more deaths than India. There are 3,73,379

A medic collects a sample from a child for COVID-19 test in New Delhi.

active cases presently in the country.

The total number of confirmed cases includes foreigners. This is the fourth consecutive day that COVID-19

cases have increased by more than 30,000.

According to the ICMR, a cumulative total of 1,37,91,869 samples have been tested up to July 18 with 3,58,127

samples being tested on Saturday.

Of the 543 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, 144 are from Maharashtra, 93 from Karnataka, 88 from Tamil

gression by frightening the media. The illusion will break soon and India will pay the price.”

An article by an international publication was also attached along

7 Indian pharmas in race to develop vaccine

New Delhi: At least seven Indian pharma companies are working to develop a vaccine against coronavirus as they join global efforts to find a preventive to check the spread of deadly virus that has already infected more than 14 million globally.

with his tweet.

On Friday, Gandhi had targeted the Centre over the India-China standoff in a few minutes long video stating since 2014 PM Modi’s ‘constant blunders and indiscretions’ have fundamentally weakened the country.

The Gandhi scion has been attacking Centre over various issues including COVID-19, Ladakh stand-off, migrant labourers and the state of the nation’s economy. —PTI

‘No extension of lockdown in Bengaluru’

Bharat Biotech, Serum Institute, Zydus Cadila, Panacea Biotec, Indian Immunologicals, Mynvax and Biological E are among the domestic pharma firms working on vaccines in India. scientists are hoping to develop a vaccine in months because of the pandemic.

Bengaluru: There was no question of extending the ongoing week-long lockdown here set to end on July 22, newly appointed commissioner of the city civic body N Manjunatha Prasad said on Sunday, amid speculations it may be continued for another fortnight in view of rising cases.

“The Chief Minister has made it clear that the lockdown will not be extended for any reason, after Tuesday there will not be any lockdown. We will follow the government's orders,” he said. —PTI

doesn’t seem to have found a place in the PM’s scheme of things.

Gupta, again, is not known to be very close to Modi or Shah but is considered better at lobbying and has been holding fort at the Sardar Patel statue and the PM’s ambitious plans around it.

When Vipul Mittra was heading the tourism department of the state, the ‘Khushbu Gujarat ki’ and ‘Kuchh to Din Gujaro Gujarat mein’ campaign by celebrity actor Amitabh Bachchan was launched and the response was encouraging. Yet, sourc-

es claim, his chances are dim compared to Pankaj Kumar and Gupta.

Then, if Pankaj Kumar is promoted in August, one senior has to be superseded and in case of Mohapatra, two senior officials would be overtaken. As for Gupta, his promotion could be at the cost of aspirations of four seniors.

In such a scenario, Modi and Shah as well as the PM’s close confidant K Kailashnathan, Chief Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, would prefer a sixmonth extension for Mukim and maintain the status quo.

Andhra Pradesh 586.

So far, 553 people have died of COVID-19 in Rajasthan, 409 in Telangana, 344 in Haryana, 246 in Punjab, 236 in Jammu and Kashmir, 208 in Bihar, 86 in Odisha, 53 in Assam, 52 in Uttarakhand, 46 in Jharkhand and 40 in Kerala.

Puducherry has registered 28 deaths, Chhattisgarh 24, Goa 21, Chandigarh 12, Himachal Pradesh 11, Tripura 5, Arunachal Pradesh 3, Meghalaya and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu two each, while Ladakh has reported one fatality.

More than 70% of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

Maharashtra has reported the highest number of cases at 3,00,937 followed by Tamil Nadu at 1,65,714, Delhi at 1,21,582. —Agencies

India’s case fatality rate ‘progressively falling’, lowest in world: Govt New Delhi: India’s Covid-19 case fatality rate is ‘progressively falling’ and is currently at 2.49%, which is one of the lowest in the world, the Union Health Ministry said on Sunday, crediting efficient clinical management of hospitalised cases for it.

There are 29 states & UTs with a case fatality rate (CFR) lower than India’s average, with five of them having a CFR of zero and 14 having fatality rate of less than 1%.

The focused efforts of the Centre and state and UT governments on

efficient clinical management of hospitalised cases have ensured that India’s case fatality rate has fallen below 2.5 per cent, the ministry said.

With effective containment strategy, aggressive testing and standardized clinical management protocols based on holistic standard of care approach, the CFR has significantly dipped, it said.

“The CFR is progressively falling and currently, it is 2.49 per cent.

India has one of the lowest fatality rates in the world,” the ministry said. —PTI

Corona spread may spike during monsoon, winter: IIT-AIIMS study

‘BJP has lied on COVID-19, GDP & Chinese aggression’ New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged that “BJP has institutionalised lies” and stated that the party is fudging data on coronavirus and related deaths, Gross Domestic Product figures and the recent standoff with China.

Taking to Twitter, hesaid, “BJP has institutionalised lies. 1. Covid19 by restricting the testing and misreporting deaths. 2. GDP by using a new calculation method. 3. Chinese ag-

Nadu, 52 from Andhra Pradesh, 27 from West Bengal, 26 from Delhi, 24 from Uttar Pradesh, 17 from Haryana, 16 from Gujarat and nine from Madhya Pradesh.

Bihar, Punjab and Rajasthan have reported seven fatalities each followed by Telangana with six deaths, Jammu and Kashmir five, Odisha and Puducherry three each, Assam, Tripura and Kerala two each, while Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand have registered a fatality each.

Of the total 26,816 deaths reported so far, Maharashtra accounted for the highest 11,596 fatalities followed by Delhi with 3,597 deaths, Tamil Nadu 2,403, Gujarat 2,122, Karnataka 1,240, Uttar Pradesh 1,108, West Bengal 1,076, Madhya Pradesh 706 and

PM speaks to CMs of seven states New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday had a telephonic conversation with the chief ministers of Bihar, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand to discuss the COVID-19 situation in the respective states.

With the highest single-day spike of 38,902 cases reported in the last 24 hours, India’s COVID-19 tally on Sunday reached 10,77,618, informed Health Ministry on Sunday. The Health Ministry said the total number of cases includes 3,73,379 active cases and 6,77,423 patients have been cured/discharged/ migrated. —ANI

A worker paints graffiti on a wall during the lockdown imposed by the state government due to surge in COVID-19 cases in Prayagraj.

Bhubaneswar: A study conducted jointly by researchers at IIT-Bhubaneswar and the AIIMS here has shown that the spread of COVID-19 may pick up pace during peak monsoon and winter with a fall in the mercury.

The rainfall, decrease in temperatures and cooling of the atmosphere coupled with progression towards winter may environmentally favour the spread of COVID-19 in the country, according to the study led by V Vinoj, Assistant Professor of the School of Earth, Ocean and Climatic Sciences at IITBhubaneswar.

The report titled “COVID-19 spread in India and its dependence

‘FOLLOW HEALTH NORMS TO CONTAIN SPREAD’ the wake of the rising cases of Igalncoronavirus in the state, West BenGovernor Jagdeep Dhankhar urged people to abide by social distancing norms & take all precautionary measures to contain its spread. “PANDEMIC Covid-19 challenge is on rise. As figures of Covid-19 +ve and Deaths @MamataOfficial rise I appeal CALM and URGE to give 100% in observing:- *SOCIAL DISTANCING *WEARING MASK

*REGULAR HAND WASH ...TIME TO HAND HOLD NEEDY. No scope for complacency at any level,” he tweeted.

He also tagged CM Mamata Banerjee in the tweet.

According to the Health Ministry, West Bengal so far has recorded as many as 40,209 cases of coronavirus. Out of the total,15,594 are active cases, 23,539 have been migrated/cured/discharged.

Around 1,076 have died in the state after contracting the infection.

on temperature and relative humidity” took into account the pattern of the coronavirus outbreak and the number of such cases in 28 states between April and June.

The study revealed

that rise in temperatures leads to a decline in transmission of the virus, Vinoj said. The study, which is in its pre-print stage, shows that temperature and relative humidity have a significant impact on

the disease. “It suggests that a one-degree-Celsius rise in temperature leads to a 0.99% decrease in cases & increases doubling time by 1.13 days, implying a slowdown of the virus spread,” he said. —PTI

erate on a range of security issues, said IAF officials. One of the main agenda points during the conference headed

by Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria and attended by all seven of his commanders-in-chief would be about the situation on the borders with China and the forward deployments done by the force in the Eastern Ladakh and northern borders, sources said. —ANI

Trust on Saturday said the Trust had suggested two dates for PM Modi’s visit.

The sources added that the prayers and other rituals related to ‘bhoomi poojan’ ceremony of Ram temple will begin at 8 am on August 5. The ‘bhoomi poojan’ will be done by priests from Kashi and some priests from Varanasi. It is also the parliamentary constituency of PM Modi. —ANI

isode. If he calls a session of the state Assembly where Gehlot government aims to prove its majority, it will cast serious questions on the future of Pilot camp leaders and specially Sachin Pilot.

A dream... for Ram Temple. Govind Giri Maharaj, member of Sri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra

What next?...

Notably, the future of Rajasthan politics depends on Governor’s stance on the entire ep-

FROM PG 1 Anil Mukim... and ACS (Forest and Environment) Rajiv Gupta.

Of these four officers, sources say Mohapatra is not keen to return to Gujarat, as was the case of Anil Mukim before he was picked by Modi and Shah as the Chief Secretary. But he came because the Prime Minister wanted him to be back in the State. The same could happen with Mohapatra too.

Pankaj Kumar and Rajiv Gupta are lobbying hard for the post.

Pankaj Kumar has worked with Narendra Modi when he was the Chief Minister but he

PM Modi...

The Twitter handle of the Prime Minister’s Office has 3.7 crore followers. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who joined Twitter in April 2015, has over 1.5 crore followers.—ANI CS burns...

It is assumed that the report was prepared by the SOG & senior police officers and the CS has given it a final shape after discussions with the ACS (Home) and other senior officers.

The report, as per sources, mentions the ‘basis and reasons’ of the phone tapping

along with the person, who authorized the recording after considering the available evidence. Sources say that the report also mentions the reasons for suspecting sedition against the state. Once the report is finalised it will be to the state home department, which will furnish the report to CS who will then forward it to MHA.

India likely...

Meanwhile, top commanders will meet this week for the two-days commanders’ conference starting from July 22 where they will delib-

Congress bays...

He said Shekhawat has no moral authority to continue as a Union minister and should resign so that the investigation is not influenced.

Maken also alleged that the police in Haryana and Delhi are giving protection to the rebel Congress MLAs from Rajasthan.

TALKING POINT AHMEDABAD | MONDAY, JULY 20, 2020

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Despite its prominence, handwashing is still out of reach for many people. For the more than one-inthree on the planet who lack basic water access, handwashing is not just a lifesaver, it is a privilege

S

orry to say, “We told you so.”

But, we told you so. While our two water-focused organizations, Water For People and IRC, have been diligently working for a collective 81 years to ensure the world’s most vulnerable communities have reliable access to safe water, it has taken a global pandemic to raise the world’s awareness of the importance of handwashing and access to clean water – basic services that more than 2 billion people in the world still lack.

Indeed, humble handwashing has gone mainstream because it is the first defence against COVID-19. It literally saves lives. But, the simple act of handwashing is unachievable for far too many people. For the more than one-in-three on the planet who lack basic water access, handwashing is not just a lifesaver, it is a privilege.

This was always our fear - that one day, a virus as contagious as this new strain would spread insidiously across the globe. We said: “Communities must have water to protect themselves. Rural health clinics must have the ability to practice proper hygiene in the event of a pandemic. We must work faster and do more!” And we were right.

It’s happening. COVID-19 is creeping steadily into Latin America, India and Africa.

When COVID-19 reaches the world’s most vulnerable populations— those without water, let alone those without the luxury of social distancing or working from home – the results could be devastating. The lack of sufficient testing in much of the southern hemisphere belies the true level of infection.

Our organizations are dedicated to improving the quality of life for people in low and middle-income countries through the development of water and sanitation services and hygiene education. This is our everyday work – to ensure people living on less than $2 a day can prepare for, and become resilient to, threats like COVID-19. And it works. Knowing you have access to safe water and a clean toilet changes everything. The way of life for millions of people has improved in thousands of villages and low-income urban areas through the dedication of our global teams.

Water and sanitation aren’t rocket science – they are simpler than vaccine development - yet they aren’t sexy enough to attract the necessary funding. Perhaps that will now change with COVID-19.

Water and sanitation face an estimated $114 billion annual funding need over the next decade – and the gap is around $85 billion per year.

National governments don’t give enough priority - or sufficient funding - to this work. Funds collected by system users (domestic and industrial) are insufficient to cover the operational costs while continuing to invest in the new infrastructure required to meet Sustainable Development Goal 6 – water and sanitation for all – by 2030. Our voices in the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector are not loud enough to break through the noise and political chatter in the daily news. Instead, we piece together government allocations, user fees, philanthropic donations and aid dollars to reach as many people as we can with improved services. But it isn’t enough.

And because it isn’t enough, the quiet, recurring mortality rates never stop. As of writing, more than 350,000 people worldwide have died from COVID-19. We are riveted to the daily reporting and have no way of knowing where these numbers will eventually stop.

But what we do know is that, according to the World Health Organization, 829,000 people die every single year from a lack of safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene. Why isn’t this daily headline news?

Thanks to COVID-19 awareness, many people now realize that disease transmission can be slowed or

HANDWASHING

REMAINS A LUXURY

FOR MANY PEOPLE stopped by having access to water and soap, by doing a good job of washing their hands, and by not touching their faces. These are the basic tenets of hygiene education that we teach around the world every day. Because of COVID-19, our message of making handwashing an important part of everyday life has

been amplified. It has become mainstream. Yet in the urgency of mobilizing a global response, with the world fixated on ventilators and personal protective equipment, we still struggle to get across this most basic message: where there is no medical treatment available, a fundamental health response is access to water

and sanitation.

Deaths due to inadequate water and sanitation services are almost entirely preventable, and water and sanitation can act as a firebreak to new diseases for which we have no cure. Yet to do so, they need attention and investment.

Here are three ways you can help:

How does India give its citizens access to clean water?

According to water.org, over 99 million Indians lack access to safe water. Further, according to WHO, four percent of all deaths and 5.7 per cent of all disability or ill health in the world is due to poor drinking water access, unimproved sanitation and poor hygiene practices. A 2017 WHO report titled, “Forgetting to wash your hands can cost lives” states that in India and many low- and middle-income countries practicing good hand hygiene is not easy because many don’t have access to water, a toilet or soap.

Further, according to the Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene 2019, over 37 million people in India have no access to handwashing facilities at home.

The figure is worse for some of the African nations such as Guinea, where more than 50 per cent of the population does not have access to handwashing facilities, followed by Senegal, Somalia, Sudan and Zambia. With more than 97 per cent of the population with no access to handwashing facilities at

home, Liberia comes last. Recently, WHO’s first African head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has told Africa to “wake up” to the threat of the coronavirus outbreak and be prepared. There have been over 600 positive cases of COVID-19 across the continent.

In fact, the combination of water and soap is not only essential for protecting against COVID-19, but also for other diseases such as diarrhea, which is one of the

leading causes of death among children under the age of five globally. As per an NCBI report, diarrhea is the third leading cause of childhood mortality in India and is responsible for about 13 per cent of all deaths per year among children under the age of five. Some of the ways of preventing this disease include handwashing with soap, access to safe drinking water and the use of improved sanitation.

1. Influence your lawmakers to support global health programs for COVID-19. In the United States, this means contacting your representatives and senators to support robust international affairs allocations, especially for water, sanitation and hygiene. We are a member of the Millennium Water Alliance and the alliance advocates Congress on our behalf.

2. Support organizations like Water For People and IRC that are part of Agenda For Change – a coalition of sector partners who are collectively taking action to drive systemic change around sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene services.

3. Spread the word and share the facts about the still far-too-great need for this most basic resource: safe, reliable water!

Hopefully the spike of interest in hygiene and handwashing that came with COVID-19 will help water and sanitation be seen as the fundamental public health interventions that they are. Hopefully,proper funding will follow. Hopefully the rising visibility of WASH is a permanent trend and not a blip. And hopefully, finally, the world will wake up and realize that we already have the solution to deliver basic water and sanitation services to everyone on our planet. We can make ourselves more resilient to pandemics. Now we just need the financial commitment to get it done.

So, may our next “We told you so” be one of positive proclamation.

When all people across the globe have the humble privilege of washing their hands, let us say, “We told you it was possible. We told you so!”

n SOURCE: WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM n CONCEPT: DIVYA HAMNANI n DESIGN: SITARAM SHARMA

Life is about change, it is a constant. How we take ‘it’ is our choice and these choices are based on our principle and theory of life.

2ND FRONT

—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO & Editor, First India

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Huge demand-supply gap spawns Tocilizumab injection racket

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Diamond markets’ lockdown till July 31

An alert doctor’s suspicion blew the lead of the racket in manufacture and sale of fake Tocilizumab injections Haresh Jhala

MASTERMIND

Gandhinagar: The huge gap between the demand and supply of Tocilizumab injection, considered a life-saving drug for Covid-19 patients, has spawned a racket of sorts to manufacture and sell fake injections.

Gujarat’s Food and Drug Control Administration Commissioner Hemant Koshia on Sunday gave startling details of the racket, as found from five persons who have been booked for it. The FDCA busted the racket in Surat and Ahmedabad.

He said it is a patented drug manufactured by Switzerlandbased Roche Pharma and Indian company Cipla has the domestic marketing rights.

Cipla has supplied as

many as 6,400 Tocilizumab injections to Gujarat during the last three months to Gujarat, which have been shared equally between government and private hospitals.

Sohel Ismail Tai, the

racket’s alleged mastermind ran a fake company called Genic Pharma in Surat which manufactured the spurious drug at his residence. Raids there led to seizure of filling machines,

packaging materials and APIs (active pharmaceutical ingredients) worth Rs 8 lakh, Koshia told reporters.

Taking advantage of this demand-supply gap, some people tried to make spuri-

ous tocilizumab injections under a fake pharma company, called Genic Pharma, he said.

Tai supplied the medicine to agents who distributed it to various pharmacists

in the two cities and elsewhere, he said. In Ahmedabad, one Mahesh Thakor, owner of Maa Pharma store, was involved in selling fake injections.

Koshi informed that the FDCA has charged five persons under provisions of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act for manufacturing and selling spurious Tocilizumab injections, for which a convict could be awarded life imprisonment. He said FDCA is in the process of filing a police complaint against them.

According to sources Dr. Devang Shah was the first to notice the fake drug. This drug is for intravenous infusion, but the fake injection box recommended it for intramuscular infusion. This raised the doctor’s eyebrows.

First India Bureau Surat: After the hundreds of textile markets, the diamond industry hasn’t waited for the Gujarat Government and has begun practising selflockdown.

As a part of this, the Mini Bazaar and Choksi Diamond markets in Surat have extended their voluntary closure till July 31. However, the safe vaults here will be open from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Mondays and

—FILE PHOTO Fridays.

The number of Covid-19 positive cases in the city and district has reached close to 10,000 and the highest caseload was reported from diamond hubs Katargam and Varachha.

Following this, diamond markets were closed till July 19 but with the increase in cases, it has been decided to keep the shops shuttered, informed GJEPC Regional Chairman Dinesh Nawadia.

NEW GUIDELINES TO HELP POWER CONSUMERS IN GUJ

HEAVY RAINS ADDING TO WOES

First India Bureau

With the monsoon season not holding back this year, regular rainfall has exacerbated the stray cows and bad roads menace for Amdavadis. Various areas such as Gurukul, Nava Vadaj, Mithakali, Navrangpura reported damaged roads post spells of rain.

Cows took to the streets and proved to be a hazard for commuters.

—PHOTOS BY HANIF SINDHI

Gandhinagar: In keeping with its recent decision to revoke a December 2018 GR facilitating private power producers in Gujarat, the Vijay Rupani Government has issued new guidelines for the power sector that are likely to benefit consumers up to 30 paisa per unit.

The State Energy Department has made modifications suggested by Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission in the matter of supplemental Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Essar Power for considering superior operational parameters and disallowing Transit Loss and Other Charges (3%). This will bring down the power tariff and benefit the consumers.

Under this new mechanism, in addition to consideration

Two local authorities will be acquiring 1,21,324 lakh square metres of land for the purpose of constructing affordable housing for the poor.

—Vijay Rupani, Chief Minister

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.

of superior operational parameters, the project developers are required to procure coal in a “prudent and transparent manner through competitive bidding”. This would enable availability of power to the consumers at reasonable rates for the balance tenure of the PPA of around 15 years.

According to the new guidelines, the estimated Tariff for Supplemental PPA under im-

—FILE PHOTO

plementation will reduce by around 30 paise/ unit at June-2020 price level, which is a noteworthy reduction as compared to Tariff under GR dated 1.12.2018.

Meanwhile, continuing his approach to have a planned urba n development, Chief Minister Rupani has approved Rajkot’s initial Town Planning (TP) scheme No 26 (Mavdi), TP scheme No 106 of Ahmedabad East (Vastral and Ramol) as well

as TP scheme No 64 of Ahmedabad West (Tragad).

Accordingly, 59,060 sq. m of land will be available in TP scheme of Rajkot, 40,019 sq. m in Vastral-Ramol TP scheme of Ahmedabad and 22,245 sq. m in Tragad TP scheme.

Land for public gardens in these three TP schemes include 34,950 sq m in Rajkot (Mavdi), 53,295 sq m in Vastral-Ramol and 27,190 sq m in Tragad.

NEW BEGINNING?

Covid crisis helping sex workers to turn over a new leaf 

NGO Shakti Foundation is training sex workers in Surat and around to find better, alternative work

First India Bureau Surat: The Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent extended lockdown have created a survival crisis for one and all. In an example of compassion, a Surat-based NGO has come forward to support the sex workers in the region and to provide them skill-training.

Apart from rations and other essentials, the NGO also found ways to ensure that the sex workers earn their

livelihood in a more respectful manner. Shakti Foundation, which has been working for nine years for the upliftment and empowerment of tribal women, took the initiative after discovering their problems.

“We got to know of the bad condition of sex workers in Surat during the coronavirus crisis and the lockdown. We first helped them with rations. But since they would have no source of income for the coming days too, we start-

NGO volunteers imparting skill training to sex workers in Surat.

ed imparting skill training to them,” Dr Sonal Rochani, founder, Shakti Foundation, said.

“We trained them in stitching and the first batch has 50 women who stitch khadi masks, bags, raincoats and kurtis,” she added.

The sex workers at the centre run by the NGO can’t stop thanking the organisation for the initiative and said they are attempting to make a turnaround in their lives.

One of them said, “I

was forced to work as a sex worker because my husband did not support me. I am the sole earner for my kids and my family, but the corona crisis really hit us hard.”

She went on, “The initiative is helping us in this difficult time but I do not think I can quit being a sex worker as I can barely manage my expenses in Rs 7,000-8,000. I have to educate my two children, pay rent, and look after other family members also.”

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Flowers are the soul of nature; City First celebrates all the aspects of this beautiful creation

NEHAL NAYAR

nehal.nayar@firstindia.co.in

F

lowers are the most beautiful natural occurrence on the planet and are known as the symbol of beauty, love and also a gift from nature. The reason why they are used by people to express the feeling of love is that they have a great power to make people cheerful and happy.

Whenever you go to a couple’s wedding, a baby/bridal shower, or any happy occasion for that fact, don’t you notice flower decoration everywhere? Well, that’s only because flowers have the tendency to spread happy vibes everywhere. The most common flowers used for decoration are Orchids,

Lillies, Roses, Marigolds, Tulips, and the list can go on and on because of the vast variety available. Not just this, there are times when people also ‘make the flowers’. Yes, that’s right- they make flowers with papers for a more creative look.

Talking about Roses, they are the ones that are the most-loved; quite literally. Valentine’s Day? Get

Roses. Proposing to the love of your life? Get Roses. Need to pamper someone? GET ROSES! They never fail to bring a smile on someone’s face. Not just venue decoration, flowers are also being used as ornaments for the past few years. If you remember, a few years back, almost every girl had a flower ‘Tiara’ that made her look like a princess. THAT’s the beauty of flowers!

In a recent ‘trend’, Brides started

opting for floral jewellery on their ‘Mehendi Ceremony’ or ‘Haldi Ceremony’, by hook or by crook. This jewellery never fails to make a Bride look really elegant and she looks amazing in photos with matching jewellery, of course!

Bollywood stars like Bipasha Basu, Asin, Divyanka Tripathi and Vidya Balan also opted for floral jewellery during their wedding ceremonies.

Flowers also act as a great prop in photoshoots. They help in bringing out great results in creative portrait shoots as well as aesthetic shoots. There’s no model or a photographer who hasn’t used flowers as a prop, ever.

Let’s appreciate the beauties a bit more and make them bloom like never before!

09

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I

f you’ve ever visited or lived in Mumbai, chances are you’ve found yourself seated on an old, imported wooden chair — sometimes intact, other times held together by tape and glue — with 100 rupees in your dwindling pocket while dipping an offering of bun maska in a steaming glass of Irani chai. The experience is as old as the memory itself, with Irani cafes peddling nostalgia for generations, even as the world outside and the people within its walls continue to change.

Such is one Irani cafe run by Diana (Manisha Koirala) and her 19-yearold son Rumi (Prit Kamani) in the Netflix movie Maska. Three generations of the family have baked buns and churned butter in its kitchen and Diana is gearing towards a handover to the next, harboring a dream of restoring Rustom Cafe (Since 1920, a humble board outside reminds us) to its former glory. But aspiring actor Rumi has other plans.

Armed with a degree in acting and a fevered determination to forge his own identity, Rumi is itching to be rid of his late father’s legacy. ‘Main aapka jeeta jaagta museum hoon (I am a living museum of you,)’ he says to the friendly ghost of Rustom (Javed Jaffrey) who once proclaimed his son would “become a world-famous maska walo.’ To prove his dedication, Rumi even moves to Andheri to live on rent with fellow actor and girlfriend Mallika Chopra (Nikita Dutta) — which you know for a Colaba boy is indicative of some major commitment to the craft — while his mother, like every disapproving parent, declares, ‘Agar tereko film line mein lukkha banne ka hai (If you want to be a loafer in the film line), I will not give you a single penny.’ Inciting both anxiety and intrigue, Rumi puts everything on the line even as an old friend and blogger Persis Mistry (Shirley Setia) sets out to document the city’s few remaining Irani cafes.

What writer-director Neeraj Udhwani does particularly well in Maska is pace the film’s drama. Set to a neutral tow, the movie indulges in all the stereotypical idiosyncrasies — think hand-me-down recipes, a Bihari Romeo & Ju-

liet remake, a neighborhood pageant and more — that are part and parcel of a story hinging on a mother, lover and friend’s approval but does so with nuanced earnestness and humorous ease. Udhwani also nails the highs and lows of Rumi’s journey, painting a picture of a boy stuck between dream and legacy, that in its many splatters and splodges never fails to evoke laughter and even empathy. Pulled in different directions by the relationships that mean most to him, Rumi eventfully discovers throughout the two-hour

AHMEDABAD | MONDAY, JULY 20, 2020

LEGACY OR

DREAMS

film that some connections can be passed on from generation to generation and when particularly lucky, even shared.

An ikigai reference or two might make you cringe but Ishita Moitra’s dialogue packs a punch, particularly entertaining and enlightening whenever Diana and Rustom occupy the screen and Udhwani’s writing while simplistic is laced with a sincerity that makes even Rumi practicing an awards speech in front of a mirror the farthest scene from cheesy.

Rumi’s drive and naivete seldom come across as con-

10

trived and Kamani wears the character’s heart on his sleeve in this portrayal.

All is not breezy with Maska and the story suffers in how it poses its female characters as plot devices. Diana is the obstruction to Rumi’s dream, Chopra is the partner in ‘crime’ and Mistry is the voice that makes Rumi question his path. This nags as the actors leave a mark in all their scenes.

Diana grows on you — even the at first unnerving accent — and Koirala brings an endearing rage and passion to a character who doesn’t want to lose what she loves. Dutta is as much of an acting firebrand as she was in Gold (2018), infusing performer on the rise Chopra with quiet confidence and vocal resilience and Setia brings an innocent intelligence to her portrayal of a woman in the inquiry of history.

Their characterization feels especially stunted as their agency, ambition, and accounts while presented are never fully realized, and these arcs frustratingly play second fiddle to Rumi’s aspiration in Maska.

In Maska, Persis says, ‘Mumbai is a story,’ and the film pays homage to the few Irani establishments still raising their shutters every morning — Jimmy Boy, B. Merwan, Kyani & Co., Britannia & Co., Koolar & Co. (if you haven’t been, you know what to do post lockdown) — through nostalgic cityscape glimpses and a montage of what these cafes mean to visitors (these stories — of the steward from Unnao, the couple who met in the cafe, the railway employee who escapes the noisy tracks for the Irani eatery’s quiet — are the stories within the story and I wonder if they could be an anthology of their own. Hello, Modern Love: Irani Cafe edition!) While the intent seems earnest, Maska only toes the drawn line, glossing over the history of the Irani community in India as well as the intergenerational nuances that inform their cultural footprint, reducing Diana and Rumi’s socio-economic motivations and constraints to merely legacy and it feels like a lost opportunity in a storyline budding with potential for complexity.

In the end, Maska still has a lot of heart.

Sources: https://rollingstoneindia.com/maska-review-feel-good-movie-about-choosing-between-legacy-and-dream/

FA CE OF TH ED AY

YOUR DAY Horoscope by Saurabbh Sachdeva

ARIES

TAURUS

GEMINI

CANCER

Undying spirit and hard work will surely make your dreams come true. Its just a matter of time when you get in your life for which you have worked so hard forever. Its high time you understand the importance of caring for family and create an environment for love.

Meritorious performance on academic front will take your life to the next level.

There is always a new diet plan in the market, kindly refrain from any fancy ad and try to live a healthy life. People look upto you when they see how far you have made in life. You are an artist.

Ceaselessly you work hard and give your best in your work. Nothing has come easy to you, you have struggled and moved mountains to be where you are today. You deserve all the love that people shower on you. You can expect someone calling you for a favour today.

Merchantable items must be put up for sale on business front. On job front, if there is any money being withhold in office then you must know its cause to be very temporary and the situation may seem tough but the very next moment every thing will be fine.

MAR 21 - APR 20

MAY 21 - JUNE 21

JUNE 22 - JULY 23

LEO

VIRGO

LIBRA

SCORPIO

Acquaintance could be of some help today in some or the other business related matter. In life you should take one step at a time. You won’t take any tension today and people around you will be surprise by the change. Some of you may spend a lot of time wooing your partner today.

Its gratifying for you to see your children all grow up and each one of them doing well in life.

Sometimes we misunderstand someone just because we are not ready to listen, develop a habit of listening to other. Practice contentment in life and things will get better.

Premarital bonding is one thing but things get very real once you are married as there are not only shared responsibilities but also a sudden demand of standing on your own feet and getting independent.

You like to help poor and you always do whatever best you can do.

Harmony, happiness and hospitality are the three H’s you practice in life. You are a wonderful person and don’t let anyone tell you anything otherwise. You parents will sanction you a budget to sponsor your dream and make sure to live upto their expectation by working hard.

JULY 24 - AUGUST 23

AUG 24 - SEP 23

SEPT 24 - OCTOBER 22

OCT 23 - NOVEMBER 22

SAGITTARIUS

CAPRICORN

AQUARIUS

PISCES

Hallowed traditions are your utmost priority and you respect them with all sincerity. Its ok to make mistake as long as we are learning from them. You cannot be fooled by anybody unless you are willing to get fooled. Sometime in love you make mistakes, so choose your love wisely.

Futurity is controlled by no one nor anyone can predict but surely you can guess the outcomes based on your currents deeds. A timely action has to be taken to correct the behavioural issues of your child. You really love your spouse and he/she is very lucky to have you.

Pecuniary benefits are indicated as per your star movements. With control on your tongue, you can do a lot better than you believe you can.

Jealous people are always jealous and you can do nothing about it so stop bothering and start living. You are free to choose whatever you want to do.

Hounding someone unnecessarily with difficult question isn’t a good thing to do so avoid doing that.

You sometimes make resolution but you fail to follow but that doesn’t mean you are a looser, we fall we get up and if we fall again so we try to get up again simple.

NOV 23 - DEC 22

PIYA GOUR, Model

APR 21 - MAY 20

DEC 23 - JAN 20

JAN 21 - FEB 19

FEB20 - MARCH 20

ETC www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia

AHMEDABAD | MONDAY, JULY 20, 2020

SCREEN SHARING

I

ndian film industry’s two biggest actors, Prabhas and Deepika Padukone will be sharing the screen space for the first time in Nag Ashwin’s upcoming untitled film, Prabhas 21. The film has been the talk of the town for a very long time and finally, the makers of Prabhas starrer have made a huge announcement. From Alia Bhatt to Keerthy Suresh, a lot of names were speculated to play the female lead opposite Prabhas. Eventually, Deepika Padukone grabbed this big deal, and well, fans can’t wait to see them together on the big screen. The makers of Prabhas starrer uniquely made this announcement through YouTube Live. A sneak peek was shared ahead of the big surprise.

The official twitter handle

‘KHULKE JEENE KA’

ering the actress with congratulatory messages on Twitter. There was also a huge buzz that Deepika agreed to be a part of the film but has also demanded a huge remuneration.

Meanwhile,

Poster of the song

T

he newly released song, ‘Khulke Jeene Ka’ from the movie ‘Dil Bechara’ starring late actor Sushant Singh Rajput and co-star Sanjana Sanghi, is all about the joy of living the life.

The mood uplifting song, which was released on Sunday, is from the legendary composer AR Rahman and is sung by Arijit Singh and Shashaa Tirupati. The official music video which is shot in the ‘love capital of the world’ - Paris, sees the actors, who are playing the role of Manny (Sushant Singh Rajput) and Kizie (Sanjana Sanghi), enjoying their time and sharing some adorable moments.

The backdrop of the beautifully shot music video can be understood from Sanghi’s tweet, that she posted earlier today while sharing the link to the official music video on Twitter.

The 23-year-old star tweeted, “You’re finally going to be a part of witnessing Manny turning Kizie’s cant’s into cans; and her dreams, into plans.”

—ANI

...her post

of Vyjayanthi Movies wrote, “Deepika Padukone, welcome on board! Thrilled to have you be a part of this incredible adventure.” Fans can’t keep calm and are show-

the Mahanati director has already kick-started the preproduction works and the shooting will go on floors in April next year.

—Agency

BABY CRYING!

M

Justin Timberlake andJessica Biel

onths after making headlines for their marriage being on the rocks, Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel have welcomed their second child after a top-secret pregnancy. According to reports, the couple, who are already parents to five-year-old son Silas, have become parents for the second time after Jessica gave birth to a boy earlier this week.

The report further revealed that Biel’s mother Kimberly Conroe Biel, 65, was with her daughter and her grandchild when he was born.

While Justin and Jessica are yet to comment and make it official, the couple was last seen in public in March. As per reports, Justin and Jessica spent their lockdown in US’ Montana state and are currently holed up there with son Silas and Kimberly Conroe. The couple tied the knot back in 2012 after having first met in 2007.

While their son is already five, the parents are fiercely protective about revealing his identity.—Agency

11

KIDNEY AILMENTS

TOOK A LIFE

Deepika Padukone

F

ilmmaker Rajat Mukherjee passed away due to kidney ailments in the early hours of Sunday. He was in his late 50s. Producer Anish Ranjan, a close friend of Mukherjee’s, said the director took his last breath in Jaipur, where he had gone to be with his family for Holi but got stuck when the coron av i r u s - i n d u c e d nationwide lockdown was announced. Ranjan said the director had developed breathing issues over a month ago and had gone to get a COVID-19 test done when the doctors realised that his ‘sodium-potassium levels’ were imbalanced.

—Agency

ANCESTRAL THROWBACK!

BIRTHDAY-POST!

P

riyanka Chopra Jonas ringed in her 38th birthday amid the coronavirus pandemic but looks like husband Nick Jonas made sure to make it an extremely special one. Taking to Instagram, Nick gave a glimpse of the birthday celebration as he shared a lovedup photo with PeeCee and had all their fans swooning over it.

In the picture, Priyanka can be seen sitting on Nick Jonas’ lap as he adorably looks at her.

Dressed in a stunning soft yellow outfit and sporting a dark lip, Priyanka’s chunky earrings are unimissable. As for Nick, the floral shirt gives the perfect relaxed yet celebratory vibes.

Wishing Priyanka, Nick wrote how grateful he was to have met a ‘thoughtful’ person like her.

The birthday message read, “I could stare into your eyes forever. I love you baby. You are the most thoughtful, caring and wonderful person I have ever met. I am so grateful we

...her post

K

...his post

found one another.

Happy birthday beautiful.”

—Agency

Karisma Kapoor Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas

arisma Kapoor seemed to be in the mood for some major throwback on Sunday as she took to Instagram to share a photo of her grandfather Raj Kapoor.

Revealing a stunning black and white photo from the archives, the picture shows the legendary Raj Kapoor suited up in a fine outfit. Against the backdrop of ‘Stratford Court’, Raj Kapoor can be seen striking a fun pose for the camera with a cigarette in his mouth.

That’s not all, next to Raj Kapoor is the beautiful Nargis, as she looks at him and the actors can be seen sharing a laugh. While Raj Kapoor is suited up, Nargis can be seen donning a trench coat and flowers pinned to her.

The retro look will take you back in time.

Recently, it was reported that Raj Kapoor’s ancestral home in Pakistan was about to be demolished. Known as the Kapoor Haveli, Raj Kapoor was born in Peshawar and family moved Mumbai after partition. —Agency

CITY BUZZ www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia

Somvati Amavasya

AHMEDABAD | MONDAY, JULY 20, 2020

12

FACEBOOK POST!

The Right Motivation

MAHESH BANG

cityfirst@firstindia.co.in

A

fter 20 years, Somvati Amavasya (no moon) will fall on 20 July, today, during the month of Sawan. Astrologically, the Moon, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn planets will be in their respective zodiac signs. Despite all that we have faced recently, this is a very unique & beneficial situation to please Lord Shiva more easily. So, I urge all to make the most of this opportunity to indulge in prayer that is appearing after decades in astrological calculations and chant the following powerful mantra for enhancing our immunity.

The “Mahamritunjaya” mantra: “Om Tryambakam Yajamahe Sungandhim Pustivardhanam Urvarukamiva Bandhanan Mrityor Muskshiya Maamritat”, this mantra if chanted with dedication will create a protective shield around your aura which is so needed during this time.

The night of Amavasya gradually changes into a pleasant bright morning. Similarly, the dark phase or struggles of your life will result in a bright and happy future. This day signifies that after every dark phase comes to the ray of light. And so All the pain and grief one goes through will also come to an end.

Robert Vadra

R

obert Vadra on Sunday morning took to Facebook to share an image of him working out. Motivating the

viewers to be fit, he wrote, “When you feel low or lost in difficult times... you got to go to your reserve energy, and be harder and

stronger. Push your limits and mind, if you have good health you have everything. Stay safe, stay healthy, stay happy.”

—Vaishali

WHAT’S HAPPENING! Things to do today- try as much as you can if your circumstances permit:

Maun (silence) or speak as is recommended for the whole 1. Observe little as possible on this day.

5. Fasting day.

Peepal tree is revered as a sacred It is considered auspicious to donate 2. The tree. People should tie a sacred thread 6. things on this day. Astrologically any around the tree’s trunk for 108 times. object of white colour or white food

3.

An offering of little bit milk is good to do on this day at the base of the Peepal tree.

maximum time in Japa and 4. Devote meditation. Chant powerful mantra Om Namah Shivaya 1 hour at least.

such as rice, curd, sugar, milk, etc. can be donated to the poor.

Any unfulfilled or outstanding ances7. tors prayer can be fulfilled. planting any kind of plant on the 8. Start day.

RAJASTHAN: The Rajasthan State Olympic Association elections took place on Sunday, where Janardhan Singh was elected as President, Arun Saraswat bagged the position of SecretaryGeneral, Mahipal Singh was appointed as the President of District Olympic Association from Pali and LN Jalani was elected as the President of District Olympic Association from Jodhpur.

INTERACTIVE SESSION CITY FIRST

E CHOOSE PREMIUM

CITY FIRST

E

njoy fresh, homemade and good quality desserts from Olive & Cocoa, one of the premium gourmet food specialists of Jaipur. They are sure to satisfy your sweet cravings be it night or day. With a combined experience of 50 years in culinary capitals like Paris, Rome, New York, Tel Aviv, and Toronto, their food interpretations are authentic but with a twist.

Owners, Shishir Mehta and Preeti Mehta say that “At Olive & Cocoa, we believe in serving everything super fresh and made to order so you can be assured of its quality. We source the finest ingredients we can get our

veryone’s lives have many twists and turns, no matter at what stage or stature they are. To discuss the same, Vatsalya Legacy had a LIVE FaceBook Session with people from different stratas and different industries. The founder of Vatsalya Legacy, Nisha Jain Grover was in conversation with Sharang Rathore (Country Man-

During the session

ager- BMW), Kalpesh Jain (MD & CFO- Multiples Equity), Dr Rashmi Singh Dickinson (Ex British Bureaucrat) and Shanaya Piramal (Head Girl- Dhirubhai Ambani

International School) to discuss various aspects of life and work on the very relevant topic in today’s times- People, Purpose and Passion. cityfirst@firstindia.co.in

UTTAR PRADESH: Congressmen led by National Secretary, AICC, Vivek Bansal staged a protest at the Congress office Ayodhya Kuti Maris Road, Aligarh on Saturday, to express their anger against the BJP government of Madhya Pradesh by chanting slogans. All the rules of social distancing were followed during the protest. While giving his statement from Jaipur, Vivek Bansal shared that the Guna has proved that the BJP government is treating the Dalits, poor people and farmers with great cruelty.

SANITATION APP

CITY FIRST

A Shishir Mehta

hands-on. All our products have no preservatives, substitutes nor do we use any shortcuts in preparing them.”

Bringing a fun experience, Olive & Cocoa’s menu has something for everyone for all times of the day be it breakfast, weekday lunch, weekend brunch, afternoon tea or lots of snacks and they are open for deliveries! cityfirst@firstindia.co.in

16-year-old Anvita Maheshwary along with her team created an app named Swachh India App which ensures a basic hygiene check for the user, giving the user time-to-time measures that should be taken in this current pandemic situation. Sanitation is one of the most important aspects of one’s life, especially during the current pandemic.

Repeatedly reminding yourself about something often becomes a tedious task - hence the app SIA (Swachh India App), will make it easier for you. SIA is equipped to provide its users with essential reminders throughout the day. These are time and location-based notifications that will remind you of wearing a mask,

Sidhya Maheshwary

Anvita Maheshwary

maintaining social distancing, washing hands, etc. The app also provides complete customization in its notifications so that your reminders are tailored just for you. The content features information regarding immunity-boosting measures, preventive measures and simple do’s and don’ts. This app is available in English and Hindi on Android OS. cityfirst@firstindia.co.in

RAJASTHAN: On behalf of the Rajasthan Progressive Writers Association demanding the immediate release of revolutionary poet Varvara Rao, various poets, writers, journalists and intellectuals demonstrated protest in front of the Pinkcity Press Club on Sunday. Adhering to social distancing, they all held placards in their hands, with slogans demanding release and freedom of expression.

RAJASTHAN: Acoustic Affair released the cover song ‘Ladki Kyu’ on its official YouTube channel, giving a platform to 32 singers from different states of India, which has got a very good response. The special thing about this song is that it is full of young talent. In this song, the city’s young Guitarist Vikram Kamad has also made a mark of his talent and mixed the tone with everyone.

RAJASTHAN: The ongoing ‘Fiesta Online’ workshop, organised by Rajasthan Studios, concluded on Sunday with a masterclass by TV and Bollywood actor Narendra Gupta. During the session, he gave acting tips to emerging artists along with sharing his experiences of the field.