First India-Ahmedabad Edition-26 July 2020

OUR EDITIONS: JAIPUR & AHMEDABAD

CORONA

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ALERT AHMEDABAD l SUNDAY, JULY 26, 2020 l Pages 12 l 3.00

COVID-19 UPDATE

WORLD

6,45,240 1,60,78,824 DEATHS

MAHARASHTRA 13,389 DEATHS 3,66,368 CASES

CONFIRMED CASES

DELHI 3,806 DEATHS 1,29,531 CASES

RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/16208 l Vol 1 l Issue No. 241

INDIA

TAMIL NADU 3,409 DEATHS 2,06,737 CASES

Jaipur: For the past fortnight, the political turmoil of Rajasthan, that started as an internal strife of Congress party, has kept several political players, both within the Congress and its opposition BJP, on their toes. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has claimed that the state BJP has been instrumental in causing this division in the grand-old party, and although a battle is already raging

After failing to demolish democratically elected govt, BJP is now putting unconstitutional pressure on Governor to not allow assembly session.

GOVIND SINGH DOTASARA, Rajasthan PCC Chief

meet, said, “We will go to Rashtrapati Bhawan to meet the President if needed. Also, if required, we will stage protest outside

PM’s residence.” He stressed that it was the MLAs’ power that had enabled them to reach the Raj Bhawan the day before. “You all know

ASHOK GEHLOT, Chief Minister

Agartala: The Tripura government has decided to impose a three-day statewide total lockdown from Monday in view of the spurt in coronavirus cases, Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb informed.

The complete shutdown will begin at 5 am on July 27 and last till 5 am on July 30, he said.

A formal order in this regard has been issued

by Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar. The chief minister made announced the decision a televised programme.

The lockdown would

have 21 exemptions, including that to emergency and essential services as well as to print and electronic media.

While announcing the fresh three-day lockdown, Deb thanked people for their cooperation and appealed to extend the same assistance this time again.

—PTI

The whole world saw that a prominent person of a constitutional body gave a warning and challenge against a nominated head.

SATISH POONIA, Rajasthan BJP President

what this fight is for and to what end. This fight is for saving the democracy. The fight we undergo here could be a turning point for the

54,712

CONFIRMED CASES

RAJASTHAN 613 DEATHS 35,298 CASES

n DURING THE 5th CLP MEETING HELD WITHIN 12 DAYS, CM GEHLOT SAID, IF WE ARE REQUIRED TO STAY IN THE HOTEL FOR 21 MORE DAYS, WE DEFINITELY WILL STAY THERE n THE SUSPENSE ON ASSEMBLY SESSION STILL CONTINUES n BJP DEMANDS CM GEHLOT’S RESIGNATION

State BJP delegation led by Satish Poonia, Gulab Chand Kataria, Rajendra Rathore, Ramcharan Bohra, Ashok Parnami, Narpat Singh Rajvi and Kalicharan Saraf handing over the memorandum to Governor Kalraj Mishra at Raj Bhawan on Saturday.

Will meet the President, if required will also stage protest outside PM’s residence.

Tripura to re-impose lockdown from Monday

DEATHS

KARNATAKA 1,798 DEATHS 90,942 CASES

BJP ENTERS BATTLE between the Gehlot government and Union government, it was finally on Saturday, that BJP’s ‘resident’ unit came out in the open in the raging battle. After maintaining a careful distance from the political activities or moves of Sachin Pilot camp for the last couple of weeks, and even claiming it had nothing to do with the turmoil as claimed by Gehlot camp, the saffron party in Rajasthan has now publicly joined the ranks, wherein, it appeared to be ‘natural ally’ to Congress dissident Sachin Pilot!

Saturday started on a high political note, when CM Ashok Gehlot, giving a charging speech to his legislators at Fairmont Hotel during the Congress Legislative Party (CLP)

2,305

CONFIRMED CASES

Pol squabble intensifies as Raj Yogesh Sharma & Aishwary Pradhan

GUJARAT

32,096 13,85,494 DEATHS

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entire nation. I believe you will be victorious in this fight,” Gehlot said.

The three time Chief Minister stressed that

when they held the majority and want to go on floor to prove so, how can one think of stopping them. “Entire Rajasthan is with you and this fight is not merely of the government’s,” he said.

A high point of this meet was when Gehlot asked the MLAs if they wanted to continue fighting, all of them held each others’ hands, raised them together and shouted in unison, “YES”!

However, the political ‘chirping’ reached its highest crescendo in the evening, when a delegation of BJP leaders called on Governor Kalraj Mishra to submit a memorandum to the Governor stating that ‘Chief Minister’s threat suggesting ‘gherao’ of Raj Bhawan and expressing an inability of ensuring security is a clear vi-

olation under IPC section 124’. However, the biggest attack in the entire episode in the past 15 days came at the hands of Leader of Opposition, Gulab Chand Katariya, who demanded that CM Gehlot should resign!

Kataria stated that the CM is the head of the state and he said he will not be responsible for a breach in law and order situation. “If not him, then who’ll be responsible? He should tender resignation for using such language,” he said.

If not him, then who’ll be responsible? He should tender resignation for using such language.

GULAB CHAND KATARIYA, Leader of Opposition

Ayodhya: Ahead of ‘bhoomi pujan’, ISIS terrorists present in Kerala, K’taka: UN Adityanath reviews preparations Ayodhya: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday visited Ayodhya and placed the idols of Laxman, Bharat and Shatrughan on the new ‘asans’ at the Ram Janmabhoomi temple site.

The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister reached Ayodhya in the afternoon and took part in a ‘puja’. He also offered prayers at the Hanumangarhi Temple and inspected the stones carved for Ram Temple at Mandir Nirmaan Karyashala.

United Nations: A UN report on terrorism has warned that there are significant numbers of ISIS terrorists in Kerala and Karnataka, noting that the al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent terror group, which reportedly has between 150 and 200 militants from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar, is planning attacks in the region.

26th report of Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team concerning ISIS, al-Qaida and associated entities said that the al-

‘LIGHT LAMPS TO CELEBRATE CONSTRUCTION’

Yogi Adityanath performs aarti while placing the idols of Lakshman, Bharat and Shatrughan on the new asanas (seats) in the Ram Janmabhoomi premises in Ayodhya, Saturday

He then held a meeting with seers and members of the Ram Mandir Trust at the Vishwa Hindu Parishad headquarters at Karsewak

Puram. Adityanath is on a short visit to Ayodhya.

The visit to review the preparations for the foundation stone laying ceremony for Turn on P6

Ayodhya: UP CM Yogi Adityanath has asked all temples in Ayodhya to carry out special cleaning of their premises and light lamps on August 4 and 5 to celebrate the beginning of the construction of temple of Lord Ram. Triloki Nath Pandey, the decree-holder of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra, said, “CM Adityanath has asked all temples in Ayodhya to light lamps on August 4 and 5.”

Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) operates under the Taliban umbrella from Nimruz, Helmand and Kandahar provinces of Afghanistan.

The group reportedly has between 150 and 200 members from Bangladesh, India, Myanmar and Pakistan. Turn on P6

Surat to be cut off from GSRTC, pvt buses from Monday Haresh Jhala Gandhinagar: Even if it has not said it outright, the government has admitted that Surat—with its steady rise in the number of COVID-19 cases— needs to be cut off from the rest of Gujarat. The Gujarat State Road Transport Cor-

poration on Saturday announced that beginning Monday, all buses connecting Surat will be discontinued for 10 days. The decision was taken at a high-level meeting in Gandhinagar.

With reports of 1,081 new cases and 22 deaths coming in from across the state,

Gujarat has now seen 54,712 cases and a death toll of 2,305.

In the past 24 hours, Surat reported 276 cases: 181 were from the city and 95 from rural areas. Considering the situation grim, Surat Municipal Commissioner Banchhanidhi Pani reached out to positive but home-quarantined persons. He appealed to them to stay home for the prescribed 14 days and warned that the Corporation would lodge a criminal complaint against any pa-

—FILE PHOTO

24 HOURS: 1,081 CASES, 22 DEAD, 782 DISCHARGED n TOTAL: 54,712 CASES, 2,305 DEAD, 39,612 DISCHARGED n

tients found violating COVID-19 guidelines.

He also asked people to get tested at the first signs of infection.

Announcing the hotspot areas, Commissioner Pani appealed to the public to avoid visiting areas like Rander, Athwa, Bhatar, Ambanagar, Pal, Nana Varachha, and some parts of the Central Zone.

A diamond worker who had been admitted to SMIMER Hospital after testing positive on July 17—and who had circulated a

video a few days ago in which he alleges a lack of care in the hospital—died on Saturday morning.

There are 615 patients undergoing treatment in Surat’s dedicated COVID-19 hospitals, of which 544 are in critical condition, with 22 on ventilator support, 46 on BiPAP machines and 476 on oxygen support.

SMIMER is treating 202 COVID-19 patients.

The other districts that are doing badly are Ahmedabad (180), Vadodara (94), Turn on P6

NEWS

02

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WHY THIS NAXAL HUBBUB IN GUJ TRIBAL BASTION?

It is odd that the state is portraying the left as a threat, when this has not been the case for the past two to three decades Haresh Jhala Ahmedabad: The Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) arrested three persons with alleged connections to the Naxalite movement late Friday night. However, given the state’s image as being business-forward, one has to wonder what makes Gujarat’s tribal belt so popular among members of the Naxal movement.

ATS Deputy Superintendent of Police BH Chavda told the media on Saturday that Samu Oreya, Birsa Oreya and Babita Kachhap, all three from Jharkhand, have been booked under IPC sections 124-A (Sedition) and 120-B (Criminal Conspiracy), and also have several outstanding cases against them, including under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. State police sources say the three accused had spent the last six months in the tribal bet from Vyara in Tapi district to Mahisagar district in central Gujarat, trying to incite members of the Satipati tribal community against the state government.

An officer added that the authorities expect to unearth proof of suspicious financial transactions from a laptop seized from the trio.

While Samu and Birsa Oreya were nabbed from Vyara taluka of tribal-dom-

Babita Kachhap was picked up in Mahisagar district.

—FILE PHOTO

Adivasis stage a protest demanding their rights.

inated Tapi district, Babita Kachhap was picked up from Santrampur taluka of Mahisagar district, the ATS said.

“If they are genuinely connected with the Maoist movement or Naxalism, the state police should arrest all those connected with them in Gujarat and crack the case,” said human rights activist Prasad Chako, who adds that the state has a history of branding anyone with left-leaning tendencies, or working towards tribal rights, a Naxalite. This history goes back to the 1990s when Irfan Engineer alias Shyam was arrested under the National Security Act (NSA) of 1980. Every time someone is arrested, the first thing they are accused of is provoking others against

Samu Oreya and Birsa Oreya, in ATS custody on Saturday.

the state government.

“In the past, police accused people of Naxalism and filed cases against them as threats to the government. However, these cases fall apart in court,” he says.

Rohit Prajapati, member of People’s Union of Civil Liberty (PUCL), adds: “If they are Naxals, the law will take its course. But being named in cases or belonging to particular

states like Jharkhand or Chhattisgarh doesn’t automatically make you a Naxalite.”

His assessment as a human rights activist is that such cases are framed to intimidate others who are working for Dalit and tribal rights.

Prajapati also said, “Those involved in the struggle for social justice can be jailed, singled out, or discredited.

Criminal cases can be filed against them, daily life can be made miserable, but the ongoing struggle for social justice will continue.”

Even if these three are members of Maoist groups, this is not the first time leftists have travelled or camped in the tribal belt to educate Adivasis about their rights.

“In the past, leftist ideologues and poets

such as Varavara Rao, Gummadi Vittal Rao (popularly known as Gaddar) have visited Surat and other parts of South Gujarat. Gaddar has addressed a number of programmes in public places. But no violent activity has ever been reported in South Gujarat, where leftists were working for social justice,” one human rights advocate said, asking not to be named.

This person points out that it is odd—to say the least—the state is portraying the left and leftists as a threat to the state when this has not been the case for the past two to three decades.

“The state government claims that development has reached even far-flung tribal communities. So why are they worried?” this person asked.

IRFAN ENGINEER ALIAS SHYAM Adivasis in Dang referred to Irfan Engineer as Shyam. A tribal-rights activist, “Shyam babu” as he was affectionately called in the region by Dang Adivasis, had launched a movement to get cultivation rights in the forest land. He was booked under the National Security Act (NSA) in the early 1990s based on allegations that, under his leadership, tribals armed with bows and arrows had planned an attack on a forest team.

AVINASH KULKARNI ET AL In 2010, Surat police arrested Avinash Kulkarni, Bharat Puwar, Ramu Puwar and eight others for their alleged Naxalite activism. Sriramula Srinivas was arrested in a similar situation in 2017. Two years later, in 2019, Kobad Ghandy too was arrested for alleged Naxal ties. Interestingly, while Naxalites are never known to participate in elections, Bharat Puwar had contested elections in 2007 from the Dang constituency.

SATIPATI CULT Followers of this movement--which was founded about 40 years ago--claim not to accept the authority of the Indian constitution and the country’s elected governments. They also claim to not use Indian currency, accept benefits under government schemes, or even participate in the election process.

BJP state chief ’s big target: Congress draws up list of key contenders ahead of by-poll 150 Assembly seats in 2022 Gargi Raval

First India Bureau

Surat: He’s been in office less than a week, but CR Patil—the state unit chief for the Bharatiya Janata Party—already has his sights trained on 2022.

Addressing party workers at the BJP’s Surat office for the first time since his appointment, Patil on Saturday made it clear that the state unit is playing the long game. “Other small tests will come and go, but we will all work towards 2022,” he said, adding that he has set a goal of winning 150 seats in the General Assembly elections to be held the year after next in Gujarat.

Citing the results of the 1984 Assembly election, he said, “Congress had won 149 seats under the leadership of (then) Chief Minister Madhavsinh Solanki. We have to break that record.”

He also referenced both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata to say, “Neither Lord Ram nor Bhis-

BJP state unit President C R Patil being welcomed at Surat BJP office.

Before 2022, we will have to clear small tests like corporation and panchayat elections successfully, but our main focus should be the 2022 Assembly elections.

—C R Patil, Sate BJP Chief, Gujarat

ma Pitamah, nor Arjun could win any war without an army. BJP’s biggest strength is its workers’ army. Party has fielded me as president. You all work day and night for the party. I am confident that with your help, the party will achieve its goal in 2022.”

He added, “Before 2022, we will have to clear small tests like corporation and panchayat elections successfully, but our main focus should be the 2022 Assembly elections.”

He thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah

and party president JP Nadda for selecting him as state unit president and assigning such a big responsibility.

Patil was named state unit president at the beginning of the week. On Friday, Surat unit had planned a mega show and car rally to welcome him. However, the event was cancelled at the last moment as a precaution against the further spread of COVID-19 in the city, which has recently seen a spike in cases.

Ahmedabad: With byelections looming, the Congress party is on the hunt for nominees to the eight vacant seats in the Gujarat State Assembly. Party leaders have been meeting locals to get a sense of the onground situation and have also appointed “in-charge” overseers for each of the eight constituencies.

The Assembly seats for the constituencies of Abdasa, Limbdi, Gadhada, Dangs, Dhari, Morbi, Kaprada, and Karjan have been vacant since the resignation of eight Congress MLAs in the run-up to the Rajya Sabha elections in June.

Those familiar with the situation within the Congress party say a list of likely contenders has been submitted to the party high command, even as the rival BJP has begun to hold public meetings.

While district panchayat member Kishorsinh Jadeja and taluka panchayat president Iqbal Mandra are in the run-

—FILE PHOTO

Congres office, Ahmedabad.

ning for a ticket in Abdasa, they are likely to face off against Patidar leaders-Visanji Paachaani and Ramesh Dholu.

Sources say the party is more likely to field a Patidar nominee for the Abdasa seat.

In Dhari, Brahmin candidate Dr Kirti Borisagar will likely get the ticket. However, former president of district panchayat and daughter of former MLA Virji Thummar, Jenni Thummar also stands a chance.

Karjan could also see a female candidate in Nila Upadhyay. Howev-

er, former MLA Chandu Dabhi is also eyeing the ticket.

Kaprada--where Congress party members have already accepted defeat--will nominate a Patel candidate. Vasant Patel, son of former MLA Barjur Patel, and former sarpanch Haresh Patel are the contenders.

In Dang, a member of the taluka panchayat, Mukesh Patel is the favourite but the list also includes Mohan Goya and Chandar Gamit.

The list of contenders for Morbi--where Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee working president Hardik

Patel camped for three days--is considerably longer. Patidar leaders Manoj Panara and Mukesh Gamit are in the running, as are three to four members of the local panchayat.

“Most of the names which were submitted were double-checked.

Now the party is making sure the candidates are loyal. It has been facing a tough time with the loss of 14 elected candidates since 2017. Rather than falling into the caste-factor trap, the party will see who is more rooted,” one highly placed source told First India.

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Blame game begins: State alleges AMA not working in public interest

Has also asked HC not to heed AMA’s request to increase testing, to avoid ‘benefit to members’ Haresh Jhala Ahmedabad: The state government has accused the Ahmedabad Medical Association (AMA) of not acting in public interest. The attack by the health department before the High Court comes less than 48 hours after Chief Minister Vijay Rupani appealed to the Indian Medical Association to extend support in treating patients infected by the novel coronavirus.

AMA had moved a petition before the High Court pleading it to direct the state government to increase sample testing to 90,000 per

ALL THE WASTE

Passengers into Ahmedabad line up to be tested. On Saturday, the state refuted AMA allegations that COVID-19 patients have to travel from one district to another for testing.

—PHOTO BY HANIF SINDHI

day. The state government in reply has asked the court to not give any

direction on this prayer, since any direction would benefit the appli-

cant association as it has a vested interest.

Going a step further,

the Health Department stated before the high court that if the applicant association had public interest at its heart it would be providing treatment free or at negligible costs to COVID-19 patients. On the contrary, the high court had to direct the

medical fraternity to reduce hospital charges. Instead of doing so, the association is demanding that 90,000 samples be tested per day--which would lead to direct benefits to members of the applicant association, it said.

The state has also refuted AMA allegations that COVID-19 patients have to travel from one district to another for testing.

In reply to another petition, one regarding the management of biomedical waste, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation said it is now handling two to five tonnes of bio-medical waste a day.

03

Online classes to resume on Monday First India Bureau Ahmedabad: A section of the Self Finance School Management Association announced Saturday late evening that online teaching would resume from Monday, even as the group continues its legal battle in the state high court.

The Progressive School Management Association has announced that its members will resume online teaching in Ahmedabad, Surat and Saurashtra.

Schools have also started informing parents through messages on WhatsApp. The surprise decision comes 24 hours after Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama announced that the state would provide online classes even to private schools students. He had

—FILE PHOTO

said the state planned to tie up with regional channels use social media platforms to this end.

He had added that the department would also include English-medium students.

Those familiar with the situation say this could have built pressure on self-financed schools to review their stand. However, Saturday’s announcement has left the management of several other schools unhappy.

2.5 inches soak Bodakdev, AMC to conduct free Black flag protest against Gota as rain batters A’bad chest CT scan for Hardik Patel in Vadodara —PHOTO BY HANIF SINDHI

probable nCov cases First India Bureau

Saturday evening’s rain left commuters battling waterlogged streets in Ahmedabad’s Gurukul area.

First India Bureau Ahmedabad: Just 30 minutes of rain left many pockets of Ahmedabad waterlogged and major junctions jammed with traffic.

With the city seeing good rainfall after about two weeks, parts of Ahmedabad received more than two inches of rain between 5 pm and 6 pm on Saturday. Gota topped the list with 65.5mm of rain. Bodakdev followed, with 64mm.

The city received an average of 27.93mm of

rainfall on Saturday.

The Akhbarnagar underpass was shut after it flooded completely. The Madalpur underpass also witnessed some

Surat’s Umarpada received 106mm of rain between 4 pm to 6 pm on Saturday flooding with a foot of water, but continued to remain open.

Surat’s Umarpada taluka received 106mm of rain between 4 pm and 6 pm. Through the day, it

received 193mm of rain—the highest in the state. Waghai in Dang district received 101mm of rainfall, followed by Mahudha of Kheda which received 93mm.

At present, there is a cyclonic circulation about 1.5km above mean sea level over the South Gujarat region and its neighbourhood. Another system, a trough running from Saurashtra and Kutch to Punjab between 4.5km and 7.6km above mean sea level also persists. These are expected to bring good rains across the state.

Ahmedabad: Accepting that Chest CT (computed tomography) scans provide more accurate results than antigen tests in the case of the novel coronavirus, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation on Saturday announced that it would conduct these tests at no cost for persons suspected of being infected by the Sars-CoV-2 virus.

While the civic body has been testing aggressively, most of these have been antibody rapid tests, which are notorious for being wildly inaccurate. Since they often give false negative and false positive results, many patients who have undergone the tests have tested negative, despite showing all the symptoms of COVID-19.

AMC officials say the introduction of the free Chest CT is

AMC office.

—FILE PHOTO

an attempt to mitigate the issue.

“If a person showing COVID-19 symptoms tests negative in the antigen test, he or she can take the CT scan at any urban health centre, provided on the prescription of medical officers at the health centre. The patient will get a prescription at the urban health centre and private X-ray centres will perform the test at no cost,” a medical officer said.

It is to be noted that many experts do not favour this test as it is more expensive and expose patients to radiation, albeit in small quantities.

Giving the dead a final helping hand Masuma Bharmal Jariwala Bhavnagar: The usual first reaction to finding out someone has tested positive for COVID-19 is to stay away from them.

In some cases, people go so far as to cutting off communication with the infected patient. However, a small group in Bhavnagar is going above and beyond the call of duty to perform the last rites of COVID-19 patients.

Kirtibhai Mistry is about 60 years old. For the past month or so, he has been involved in performing last rites of patients who succumbed to the SarsCoV-2 virus in Bhavnagar. He is joined by a number of volunteers

Senior citizens prepare the body of a COVID-19 patient for last rites, providing an essential service at a time when close relatives stay away for fear of contracting an infection.

who are in their fifties and older. There are also a few younger volunteers.

Speaking to First India, Mistry said, “All our volunteers are members of either the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh, Vishva Hin-

du Parishad or Hindu Jagran Manch. We decided to help when we found out that there were many who had breathed their last due to the novel coronavirus whose families could not be with them on their final journey.

Looking at the circumstances, many a times it is impossible for the family members to join the deceased due to various reasons or they too are home quarantined.

In such a situation, we feel this is a part of our duty and we help them.”

When asked if there were any cases where families did not want to come for the last rites, Mistry said, “In two cases, immediate family members could not join.

So they requested us to do everything required.

Our main goal is to be a part of someone’s sorrow. How can there be a feeling of hesitation, when everyone is our family member?”

Locals have lauded the group’s efforts. “I term them as real Corona warriors. I salute their noble act,” said Dr Tejas Doshi.

There are nine crematoria in Bhavnagar, of which only three have been permitted to perform last rites of COVID-19 victims. So far Bhavnagar has reported 23 deaths.

First India Bureau Vadodara: As part of his state-wide tour ahead of the upcoming by-elections in Gujarat, working president of the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee Hardik Patel is visiting temples, meeting party leaders and supporters. However, he does not seem to be welcome everywhere, with a social worker in Vadodara protesting against him on Saturday.

Local activist Sanjay Panchal waved a black flag when Patel reached the Kashi Vishwanath Mahadev temple for prayers.

Previously,

Patel in Vadodara on Saturday.

Panchal has also filed a written application with the police, asking that their ban Patel’s entry.

“In 2015, 14 members of the Patel community lost their lives due to the Patidar agitation.

Plus, Hardik Patel is facing many cases including sedition. If he enters the city, there

will be a violation of Section 144 of Indian Penal Code,” Panchal had said earlier.

Panchal was nabbed Patel’s supporters, who handed him over to the local police.

Meanwhile, after finishing prayers at the temple, the Patidar leader met residents of Sanjaynagar slum. The slum is under redevelopment, for which the land has been allocated to private builders. Residents of the slum have been demanding housing units or house rent until they are given possession of a house.

Patel has extended his support to the slumdwellers.

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IN-DEPTH

BOLLYWOOD’s N EW RACKET EXPOSED

A

fter nepotism and insider versus outsider debate another murky facet of Bollywood, that of fake social media followers of film stars, has come to light. The suspected culprit is said to be Chtrbox.

Its website describes Chtrbox (pronounced Chatterbox) as “the leading platform for brands to discover & collaborate with all kinds of talented influencers in India. For influencers, we help you with campaigns and sponsorships from some of the best brands, agencies, and start-ups…” This makes it a leading marketing company of social media influencers. Some of these influencers resorted to the unethical practice of paying certain platforms for inflating their followers to influence consumer choices or build a strong social base.

Some experts believe that such manipulation, whether purchased or accidental, doesn’t help because fake followers don’t interact.

The misuse was revealed when actor Bhoomi Trivedi complained to Mumbai Police about a fake Instagram account, unravelling a racket in identity theft by some marketing companies operating on social media platforms. Two individuals have been arrested and an actress and a fashion designer are expected to be interrogated by the Mumbai Police.

There is nothing new about identity theft for inflating social media numbers by marketing companies. Facebook’s “impersonation” feature was meant to prevent that. In early 2019 Facebook deleted 2.2 billion accounts deemed fake. Twitter also removed millions of fake accounts during the same time.

KARGIL VIJAY: MAKING OF A HISTORY MAJ GEN CP SINGH, RETD The writer is a scholar soldier accredited with MA, MSc, LLB, MBA, M Phil (Def Mgt) and M Phil (International Strategic Affairs)

I

CRIMINALS IN UP HAVE NO FEAR

C

hief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s chest thumping over ridding Uttar Pradesh of criminals will never stop. Ironically, nor will criminals stop reminding him and his thoroughly corrupt police force that they have no intention of quitting the state, notwithstanding the encounters. And they have the temerity to cock a snook at the government because of their nexus with criminals. This was exposed in a terrible way in Kanpur’s Bikru village when a notorious criminal Vikas Dubey, who enjoyed police and political patronage over the years, gunned down eight cops with some help from a policeman who acted as his informer.

Truth be said, the system has collapsed in UP. The deterioration started under Samajwadi Party rule and has now reached its nadir. Role of some bureaucrats and BJP ministers could also come under cloud for their proximity with Vikas Dubey and his henchmen.

Another example of police-criminal nexus came from Kanpur where a young lab technician was kidnapped. The police persuaded the man’s father to pay the ransom amount and assured him that they’ll nab the kidnappers at that moment. The plan went awry as the criminals fled with the ransom even as police watched. The technician was later killed. Suspension and transfers followed.

These actions don’t lead to behavioural change in the person donning the uniform.

Rescue of a child kidnapped in Gonda and gunning down of his kidnapper is a rare bright spot.

After 21 years, the victory of the Indian Army and indomitable gallantry of Indian soldiers deserve a round of applause and standing ovation from all

n early 1999, I was posted in Army Headquarters. My parent unit was in J&K, so I volunteered to go to my unit as Commanding Officer. In May, while waiting for my posting, I decided to go on a short leave to meet my parents before going to J&K. Those days, there were no mobile phones. When we returned back, I found the posting order pasted on my door to report to the unit forthwith. Reports of limited war in Kargil had started pouring in. The next day I was on the train to Jammu, unmindful of the family affairs, all left to my wife to take care. Though stressed, she didn’t ask any questions and bid farewell to me with a smile of a good Army wife, wedded to “Olive Greens.” From Jammu, I set course to my unit and reached the operational location of the unit at sunset. The Adjutant came out of the underground control room and said “Welcome to the unit in OP VIJAY, Sir! We are at war!!”

The war took place between May to July 1999 in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kargil district. Fighting went on till July 26. Since then, this day is being observed as KARGIL VIJAY DIWAS. .

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s famous bus ride to Lahore in January 1999 added to confidence-building measures and bonhomie between the two neighbours. As they were attending the Lahore Summit in 1999 to de-escalate tensions, Pakistani troops had started infiltrating into the Indian territory across the Line of Control. Such deceitful and cunning action amounted to a stab in the back.

The conflict is believed to have been orchestrated by the then Pakistan Army Chief, General Pervez Musharraf without the knowledge of the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. It began with the infiltration of both Pakistani troops and terrorists into Indian territory. They posi-

tioned themselves in key locations that gave them a strategic advantage of having a complete view of NH1 and even open fire on Indian convoys, to intercept the traffic flow. The plan was to take advantage of vacant Indian posts along the L-O-C in a crippling “first-strike.”

Dovetailed with this master plan was a parallel ignition of the Kashmir insurgency, to dissuade the Indians from moving troops from Kashmir into the theatre in retaliation; and the threat of a nuclear response, if escalation was envisaged in India crossing the border.

The victory came at a high price. The official death toll on the Indian side was 527, while that on the Pakistani side was between 357 and 453. This restraint shown by India in not escalating the conflict into a full-blown war, in fact, put tremendous international pressure on Pakistan to finally withdraw from the Kargil heights. Major diplomatic achievement was that the US played a key role in defusing the crisis. International opinion rallied around India, due to the justness of its cause. Even Pakistan’s allweather ally, China, remained completely neutral. India had proven itself to be a responsible nuclear power.

PM ATAL BIHARI VAJPAYEE’S FAMOUS BUS RIDE TO LAHORE IN JANUARY 1999 ADDED TO CONFIDENCEBUILDING MEASURES AND BONHOMIE BETWEEN THE TWO NEIGHBOURS

The Kargil War affected the Indian security establishment like a Sunami. Once war is over and the soldier is soon forgotten till the enemy comes knocking down, yet again. The expenditure on preparing well equipped, a combatready force of deterrence is soon considered as a burden on the exchequer. The defence requirements are every time relegated in priority for other populist schemes. Defence forces being disciplined organizations never raise their voice.

The modernisation is slowed,

The open secret to reopening the economy T

he future of the world economy is becoming clearer. At the outset of the pandemic, there were lively disagreements over whether the lockdown and other measures were warranted, or whether the economic costs were too high. Now, it is increasingly evident that economic activity will resume fully only after lockdown restrictions have been given time to work. Otherwise, COVID-19 will continue to spread, making a sustained and rapid economic recovery all but impossible until the arrival of effective, widely available vaccines.

When the coronavirus first began to spread beyond China, triggering an immediate, sharp reduction in the level of economic activity and employment where lockdowns were im

04

posed, epidemiologists tried to educate the public (and the authorities, in many cases) about what would come next. They warned that the virus would not be sufficiently contained until its R number –the average number of people infected by a sick person – is less than one. At exactly one, each sick person infects one other, and the number of COVID-19 cases remains constant over time. An R number below one, scientists explained, could be achieved much faster with tighter restrictions and effective testing and contact tracing to isolate positive cases.

In locations where shelter-in-place orders and other measures have been allencompassing, outbreaks have been stabilized, and the R number has dropped within just two or three

weeks. In some places, COVID-19 cases surged exponentially early on, leading to self-quarantine being more common. And because a high percentage of people in hotspots complied with the lockdown recommendations and tracing and testing (likely out of fear), the epidemic curve was quickly dampened.

By contrast, in locations where lockdown restric-

tions were initially mild or nonexistent, fewer people took steps to avoid contact or prevent transmission of the virus, or were more casual about such precautions, and cases duly increased. To be sure, additional location-specific factors have influenced the spread of COVID-19. But the clear takeaway from around the world is that the scope of lockdown re-

strictions, and the degree to which they are followed, is the single-most important factor in weathering and then recovering from the pandemic.

Unfortunately, in the United States, in particular, popular resistance to restrictions mounted just when continued public compliance was needed.

Some politicians and commentators insisted that the

economic costs of saving a life were too high relative to the costs inflicted on those suffering a loss of income or medical care for other conditions. This burst of public pressure won the day. Despite epidemiologists’ warnings, the initial lockdown restrictions were relaxed too soon in many US states.

Worse, as soon as these reopenings began, many people returned immediately to their old habits, ignoring recommendations for social distancing, avoiding crowds (especially indoors), wearing a mask, hand washing, and other preventive measures.

Factories reopened, and many retail establishments and other services resumed operations, albeit at reduced capacity.

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border areas development is put on backburner, training is economised and welfare measures are drastically curtailed. We only wake up suddenly, when the enemy challenges once again like it has happened in Aksai Chin after 20 years and then the entire nation turns towards defence forces and want them to get Victory (nothing less) at all costs.

That time reminding of past neglect of defence preparedness is considered antinational. This cycle of apathy continues again and again.

I revisited Kargil in 2015 to pay tributes to the “Kargil Heroes” before I hang my uniform.

I stayed for a night at Kargil, to imbibe the valiant spirit that’s still in the Kargil ambiance. I was briefed at the Kargil Brigade HQ and also saw the short film on KARGIL VIJAY. As I stood at Kargil Memorial and looked at the dominating peak in front, my head went up with pride and my hand went up to salute the brave hearts that made the impossible happen. Today, on KARGIL VIJAY DIWAS, the whole nation of 130 crore joins me to salute the valour and sacrifices of brave Indian soldiers at Kargil. JAI HO!!!

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL

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TWEET Dharmendra Pradhan @dpradhanbjp Modi Govt is working to ensure that the poor and vulnerable are provided with all-round assistance in these difficult times. Beneficiaries from across the country thank PM @ narendramodi for extending financial aid & free ration to the needy under PMGKY .#AatmanirbharBharat

Piyush Goyal @PiyushGoyal Co-chaired 14th Joint Economic & Trade Committee virtual meeting along with UK Secretary of State for International Trade, Elizabeth Truss.

Reaffirmed our shared commitment to an Flag of IndiaFlag of United Kingdom FTA & towards that, Early Harvest deals in a staged manner. @TrussLiz

Spiritual SPEAK

We are kept from our goal not by obstacles, but by a clear path to a lesser goal.

—Bhagavad Gita

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Bihar floods claim 18 lives, nearly 1mn affected About 3.46 lakh people in Darbhanga have been affected by the deluge, which makes it one of worst-hit districts in the entire region ASSAM FLOODS

Schools, govt buildings submerge in Nagaon district Police personnel work in a flooded police station in Darbhanga.

An aerial view of flooded Bind Toli area along the banks of River Ganga, following incessant rain in Patna on Saturday. —PHOTOS BY PTI

Patna: The floods in Bihar claimed at least 18 lives and hit as many districts in the northern parts of the state, leaving nearly one million affected by the deluge, the state’s disaster management department said.

Heavy rainfalls caused the rivers to swell, leading to breach in embankments at

more than one place.

The state government said repair work would resume only after twothree days, during which the downpour is expected to become less intense.

In the meantime, help will be sought from the Indian Air Force so that relief material could be dropped for people marooned in

Goyal reviews steps to promote ‘Make in India’ in Railways New Delhi: Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal on Saturday, reviewed the steps to promote ‘Make in India’ products in the procurement process for the Railways and the Union government.

“Minister of Railways and Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal reviewed the steps to promote Make in India products in the procurement process of Indian Railways as well as Government of India. During the meeting, Piyush Goyal urged to take measures to generate confidence in industry of corruptionfree and transparent procurement environment on Indian Railways,” according to a press statement from the Ministry of Railways. It was felt that encouragement needs to be given to such vendors who can supply higher locally manufactured content. It was also suggested to create a FAQ section and a helpline number so that vendors may get clarity on various issues relat-

THE AGENDA

has borne the brunt accounting for seven of the deaths.

It is home to about 1.43 lakh people affected by the floods, out of whom, more than 5,000 have so far been evacuated and taken to safer places by two teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), and one of the SDRF. Darbhanga also has

the largest number of people hit by the floods, which has affected 3.46 lakh population there.

So far, 9.46 lakh people have been hit by the deluge across the state.

A total of 22 teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) are involved in the rescue operations, which

have resulted in safe evacuation of 93.89 lakh people so far, out of whom more than 12,000 have taken shelter at 22 relief camps.

In addition, 271 community kitchens are functioning, catering to about 1.15 lakh people. Water also inundated the National Highway 28, bringing traffic to a halt. —PTI

ing to procurement process, the statement added. Goyal emphasised the need to do Railways goods and services procurements of approximately Rs 70,000 crore on GeM platform. —ANI

Shri Ram Nath Kovind, completes three years in office today,” it said in a tweet.President Kovind, along with the First Lady expressed their gratitude towards all those who are safeguarding the health of the nation in spite of grave risk to them and their families, the Rashtrapati Bhavan said in a series of infographics.

Nagaon: As the floods continue to wreak havoc in Nagaon district’s Raha area, several schools, water supply project and other government buildings have been submerged in the floodwaters here.

The water level of the rivers -- Borpani, Kapili, Kalang of this area is flowing above the danger mark while hun-

dreds of villages here have been hit by floods including Magurgaon, Aamtala, Kamargaon, etc.

In absence of drinking water facility, locals in the region are fetching water through hand pumps on a daily routine.Floods have wreaked havoc in various districts of Assam for the fourth time this year.

Border Standoff: Israel pledges support to India New Delhi : In the growing list of allies who have pledged support to India for its border crisis in Ladakh, Israel could be a game changer given that, its announcement for ‘all possible help’ in Ladakh has saw a complete withdrawal of Chinese troops from Patrol Point 15 along the LAC. In a telephonic exchange between defence minister, Rajnath Singh and his Israeli counterpart Lt Gen Benjamin Gantz, they discussed ‘possibilities of further strengthening the defence engagements.’ Rajnath Singh invited greater participation of

STORY SO FAR

Army vehicles carrying military goods on Manali-Leh highway for Ladakh stationed in Kullu.

Israeli companies in defence manufacturing given the now liberalized foreign direct in-

vestment norms. Meanwhile, discussions with French defence minister for an India visit is

also underway.

Also, he Indonesian defence minister, Prabowo Suianto, is ex-

2 terrorists killed in encounter with army

PRESIDENT RAM NATH KOVIND COMPLETES 3 YEARS IN OFFICE New Delhi: President Ram Nath Kovind completed three years in office on Saturday with the Rashtrapati Bhavan noting that he guided the country in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic and met nearly 7,000 people, including soldiers and scientists, during the year. “The President of India,

places, which have become inaccessible.

According to the bulletin issued by the state’s disaster management department, West Champaran district, situated along the border with Nepal and through which flows the Gandak river, originating in the neighbouring country and currently in full spate,

Flood hit villagers stage a protest for relief packets in Gopalganj.

Srinagar: A top commander of the Lashkare-Taiba (LeT) was among two terrorists killed in an encounter with security forces on the outskirts of Srinagar on Saturday, the police said.

The encounter ensued when the terrorists opened fire on a search team. Security forces launched a cordon-andsearch operation in the

Army jawans show victory sign after returning from an encounter site at the Ranbirgarh area on the outskirts of Srinagar.

Ranbirgarh area on the outskirts of the city this

PM REVIEWS IMPLEMENTATION OF PM-SVANIDHI SCHEME New Delhi: PM Narendra Modi reviewed the implementation of the PM-SVANidhi Scheme of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs earlier on Saturday. It was informed over 2.6 lakh applications have been received, over 64,000 have been sanctioned and over 5,500 have been disbursed.

Prime Minister Modi expressed satisfaction on the use of end-to-end IT solution through a web-portal and mobile app for the administration of the scheme to ensure transparency, accountability and speed.

morning following specific information about

the presence of terrorists there, a police official said. He said as the forces were conducting the search, terrorists fired upon them. The forces retaliated, triggering a gunfight.

Terrorists were identified as Ishfaq Rashid and Aijaj Bhat. Security forces have recovered an AK-47 rifle and a pistol from the site of the encounter. —PTI

FAKE FOLLOWERS SCAM: POLICE RECORD OFFICIALS’ STATEMENTS Mumbai: Mumbai police crime branch recorded the statements of the CEO and COO of influencer marketing company Chtrbox in connection with the social media influencer scam. The police have sought details of the nearly 30,000 influencer accounts they handle from the Andheri-based company. So far the

police have arrested two persons for allegedly running websites which sell fake followers and likes.

The police said that they recorded the statements of the top officials of Chtrbox that also deals with social media influencers and manages brands to understand the relationship between social media managers and brands.

pected to visit New Delhi coming Monday to discuss regional issues and expansion of de-

fence ties with new joint naval exercises. Tensions escalated between India and China after differences crept up at Pangong Tso lake, over modalities of withdrawal and claims on the border, during the disengagement process following an ambush attack by Chinese troops on Indian soldiers last month. The strategic Depsang plains has also become a sore point now, where Chinese troops are stopping the Indian army from carrying out patrols to points 10-13, cutting of an over 700 sq km area that was previously patrolled by teams from both sides. —Agencies

Air Force gets new heads for crucial commands New Delhi: The Indian Air Force (IAF) has made key appointments in its different commands all across the country including formations that look after operations along the borders with China and Pakistan.

Air Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari has been appointed as the head of the Delhi-based

Western Air Command which looks after both the crucial borders, with China in Ladakh & all along Pakistan from Ladakh up to Bikaner in Rajasthan. Chaudhari would be assuming charge of the new office on August 1, replacing Air Marshal B Suresh who is superannuating after a brief tenure of nine months there. —PTI

KIN DEMAND CBI PROBE INTO KANPUR LAB TECH MURDER Kanpur: A day after the Kanpur police stated that lab technician Sanjeet Yadav was kidnapped and later killed, his family members demanded a CBI investigation as they are not satisfied with UP police probe. “I am demanding a (CBI) investigation into my brother’s kidnapping & murder case.

Police have arrested the accused, but they could not save my brother and now, they are not able to find the his body . I am not happy with the UP police investigation hence I want CBI investigation,” said Ruchi Yadav, sister of Sanjeet Yadav.

INDIA COVID-19 UPDATE

POWER Gallery

If detected & treated on time, the infection can be cured, he tweeted

MP CM Chouhan tests+ve, in hospital

Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Saturday said that he has tested coronavirus positive.

Chouhan, 61, shared the news on Twitter in the early hours. He was admitted to a COVID-19 designated private hospital in Bhopal, a BJP leader said.

“I had symptoms of COVID-19. In the test report, I was found positive. I appeal to all my colleagues that whoever has come in my contact to get tested for coronavirus. My close contacts should move to quarantine,” Chouhan said in a tweet.

In another tweet, the CM said that if detected and treated on time, COVID-19 infection can be cured.

“I have been reviewing the status of coronavirus infection in the state every evening since March 25. Now I will try to review the

hours, the Tests Per Million (TPM) has increased to 11,485 and the total testing capacity has climbed to 1,58,49,068.

India crossed the 13 lakh mark of patients on Friday, overtaking Brazil to become the second country after US with a high concentration of cases. The country’s Covid-19 tally surged past 13 lakh, just two days after it had crossed the 12L mark.

situation through video conferencing as much as possible,” he said.

Chouhan also said that in his absence, the meeting to review the

formed of the correct status by the concerned PSB in a time bound manner. Facts are being ascertained & verified. @DFS_India @FinMinIndia," said Anurag Thakur.

The tweet said the tea seller is finding it difficult to run his home due to lockdown. According to the tweet, he went to bank for a loan, he was told he has a debt of Rs 50 crore in his name.

Another Twitter user shared about his problem of pending GST

dra Singh, Medical Education Minister Vishwas Sarang and Health Minister Prabhuram Choudhary. State BJP’s media in-charge Loken-

Anand Kumar Jha has been appointed Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. He is a 2010 batch IRS-C&CE officer.

ALOK KUMAR IS NEW AGM, WESTERN RAILWAYS

Alok Kumar has joined as AGM, Western Railways in Mumbai. He is a 1984 batch IRSME officer.

New Delhi: India reported a spike of 48,916 coronavirus cases on Saturday, according to the Health Ministry.

The total COVID-19 positive cases stand at 13,36,861 including 4,56,071 active cases, 8,49,431 cured/discharged/mig rated.

With 757 deaths in the last 24 hours, the cumulative toll reached 31,358.

Maharashtra has reported 3,57,117 coronavirus cases, the highest among states and Union Territories in the country. —ANI

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who has been lashing out at the Centre relentlessly, on Saturday attacked the ‘anti-poor’ government for what he said was earning a profit during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The former Congress president’s tweet came after the railways ministry said the Indian Railways generated Rs 429.90 crore revenue through fares collected for Shramik Special trains till July 9.

“There are ‘clouds’ of

Nodal officers posted in these divisions will have five days camp in the district under their charge and implement these arrangements effectively, the statement added. —ANI

registration case at the minister's official handle.Yuvraj Tiwari tweeted "I have applied GST Registration vide ARN AA320720012761T pending since 17th July 2020. No one is taking any action."

Anurag Thakur issued directions to the concerned GST zone to look into the matter.

"Yuvraj, Immediate action will be taken to resolve your issue. @ cbic_india," reads a response by the Minister to another tweet.

What if people die?: CM Uddhav warns against lifting lockdown Mumbai: Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray strongly backed and justified his decision to not rush in to lift restrictions that are put in place to contain the spread of Covid-19, adding would those demanding lifting of the lockdown take responsibility for the fatalities.

“There are several smart people speaking against lockdown… Fine, we will open everything for you but unfortunately if the people die due to this, will you take responsibility?

ANOOP SINGH APPOINTED AS OSD (ROFR) IN FOREST HEAD OFFICE IN AP

dra Parashar said that Chouhan was shifted to COVID-19 designated Chirayu Medical College and Hospital in the state capital.—PTI

Benefitting during a disaster: RaGa slams Centre amid crisis

Anurag Thakur takes to Twitter to resolve grievances of common man New Delhi: Stepping into the shoes of late BJP leader Sushma Swaraj, Union Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur is now addressing the problems of the common man through his social media handle.

When a tweet mentioning the ordeals of a tea seller who was finding it difficult to get a loan reached him, the minister promptly responded that grievances will be resolved.

"Rajkumar will be in-

ANAND KUMAR JHA APPOINTED DEPUTY SECRETARY, PETROLEUM

After my reports for COVID-19 turned out to be positive, I got admitted at the Chirayu Hospital following doctor’s advice.

All the necessary tests have been conducted. I am completely healthy.

Total cases in India surge to 13,36,861

‘FOCUS ON CORONA NOT PUBLICITY’

that the action plan should be prepared on the points directed at the review meeting and the same should be implemented by the Mandalayukta concerned in his/her Mandals.

coronavirus situation will be held by Home Minister Narottam Mishra, Urban Development and Administration Minister Bhupen-

DEPUTY

Vijay Kumar has been appointed Deputy Secretary in the Department of Sports. He is a 2007 batch IPS officer of AGMUT cadre.

Shivraj Singh Chouhan @ChouhanShivraj

UP CM directs sr officers to review med facilities in 4 dists Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath directed the senior officials of the state to take stock of medical facilities regarding coronavirus treatment in Kanpur and Jhansi on Saturday and in Prayagraj and Mirzapur on Sunday.

According to a statement by Uttar Pradesh government, the CM directed the State’s Chief Secretary and Additional Chief Secretary to review medical facilities in Mandals (divisions) of Kanpur and Jhansi today and in Prayagraj and Mirzapur tomorrow. The Chief Minister directed

Vivek Kishore has been appointed Director in the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways. He is a 1999 batch IPS officer of AGMUT cadre.

VIJAY KUMAR APPOINTED SECRETARY, SPORTS

4.2L samples tested in 24 hrs, capacity at an all-time high: Ministry New Delhi: India on Saturday tested a record number of 4, 20,000 samples in a single day, to detect the coronavirus infection among the population.

This is the first time that the country has carried out tests on such a large number of samples in 24 hours since Friday morning, the Union health ministry’s Covid-19 data indicated.

With 4,20,898 samples tested in the last 24

VIVEK KISHORE APPOINTED DIRECTOR, ROAD TRANSPORT & HIGHWAYS

VETERAN SPEAK

An ambulance leaves the residence of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan for Chirayu Hospital in Bhopal.

—PHOTO BY PTI

06

AHMEDABAD | SUNDAY, JULY 26, 2020

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Anoop Singh, who is waiting for posting, has been posted in the newly created post of OSD (ROFR) in the office of Principal Chief Conservator of Forest.

He is a 1991 batch IFS officer of AP cadre.

RP SISODIA APPOINTED AS INQUIRY COMMISSIONER IN ANDHRA PRADESH

RP Sisodia, who is waiting for posting, has been posted as Commissioner of Inquiries, General Administration Department in Andhra Pradesh. She is a 1991 batch IAS officer of the AP cadre.

By arrangement with : http:// whispersinthecorridors.com

Rahul Gandhi @RahulGandhi

Rahul Gandhi

the disease, people are in trouble, one can make benefits - the antipoor government is

There are ‘clouds’ of the disease, people are in trouble, one can make benefits - the anti-poor government is earning by turning a disaster into profit. earning by turning a disaster into profit,” Rahul Gandhi tweeted in Hindi.

Human trials for vaccines underway in six cities New Delhi: Volunteers across the country are being administered the i vaccine candidates against the coronavirus developed by Bharat Biotech International Limited and Zydus Cadila.

Bharat Biotech and Zydus were granted permission for Phase I and II clinical trials of Covaxin and ZyCoV-D respectively and the pharmaceutical companies have said the

first doses of their vaccine candidates were administered to volunteers on July 15. A third vaccine candidate developed

by Oxford University and backed by AstraZeneca Plc will soon be tested in India.

Covaxin, which has been developed in collaboration with ICMR and the NIV, will be tested at 12 institutes, including (AIIMS) in Delhi and Patna, and PGI Rohtak.

Women lawyers urge HM Shah to help ‘financially drained’ advocates New Delhi: Over 2,000 women lawyers from across the country have urged Union Home Minister Amit Shah to come to the aid of “financially drained” advocates amid the COVID-19 pandemic and to improve the infrastructural facilities of the virtual courts.

The women lawyers, in a representation sent to the Home Minister on Friday, requested him to take steps to provide financial assistance to the advocates under the Disaster Management Act on reasonable terms and conditions. A copy of the representation has also been sent to the Prime

Amit Shah

Minister’s Office, the Law Minister, and the Finance Minister. The women lawyers started a signature campaign for the representation on July 21, which received responses from over two thousand advocates within a short span of 40 hours. Senior advocate Meera Khadakkar and Archana Pathak Dave are also among the signatories.

The Supreme Court, on July 22, took suo motu cognizance of the issue and asked the Union of India, Bar Council of India, and others to file their response.

“Most of the advocates do not have proper infrastructure and electronic gadgets such as laptops, scanners, good wi-fi for better bandwidth, and even dedicated spaces in the associations to participate in virtual hearings in virtual courts effectively,” the statement said. —ANI

FROM PG 1 Ayodhya: Ahead... the construction of the Ram Temple comes ahead of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s expected visit to lay the foundation stone of the Temple in Ayodhya on August 5.

The construction of the temple will start with the ceremony to lay the foundation stone.

A trust member had said that in view of the coronavirus pandemic, only 200 people would attend the ceremony and all social distancing norms will be followed at the event. —ANI

ISIS terrorists...

The current leader of AQIS is Osama Mahmood, who succeeded the late Asim Umar AQIS is reportedly planning retaliation operations in the region to avenge the death of its former leader, it said.

According to the report, One member state reported that the ISIL Indian affiliate (Hind Wilayah), which was announced on May 10, 2019, has between 180 and 200 members .

It said that there are significant numbers of ISIL operatives in Ker-

ala and Karnataka states.

In May last year, the Islamic State (also known as ISIS, ISIL or Daesh) terror group claimed to have established a new “province” in India, the first of its kind announcement that came after clashes between militants and security forces in Kashmir.

The dreaded terror outfit, through its Amaq News Agency, had said that the Arabic name of the new branch is “Wilayah of Hind” (India Province).

A senior Jammu and

Kashmir police officer had rejected the claim.

Prevously, ISIS attacks in Kashmir were linked to its so-called Khorasan Province branch, which was set up in 2015 to cover “Afghanistan, Pakistan and nearby lands”. — PTI

Surat to...

Rajkot (65), Bhavnagar (41), Junagadh (37), Banaskantha (34), Surendranagar and Gandhinagar (29 each), and Bharuch, Mehsana and Dahod (25 each).

Gir Somnath 23 cases and Patan has 21.

After testing

13,944 samples in 24 hours, the state now has 12, 795 active cases, with 87 patients on ventilator support. The state government for the second consecutive day has tried to establish that it is doing better than 10 other states that have more positive cases in a day.

Meanwhile, Vadodara tested 602 samples, of which 94 came back positive. There are now 795 active cases there, with 139 patients on ventilator support and 41 on BiPAP machines

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I

ndian and Pakistani armies fought the Kargil War in MayJuly 1999 in the Kargil district of Kashmir and elsewhere along the Line of Control (LoC).

India launched ‘Operation Vijay’ to clear the Kargil sector of infiltration by the Pakistani sol-

diers and Kashmiri militants on the Indian side of the Line of Control.

Kargil was the first televised war viewed extensively by the country. The day is observed on July 26 every year in honour of the Kargil War Heroes.

Here is how the war unfolded:

 3-15 May 1999

 10 June 1999

Indian army patrols detect intruders atop Kargil. In fact, it was actually a shepherd, Tashi Namgyal, who had first informed the Indian army about the infiltration.

 25 May 1999

The army acknowledges that 600-800 infiltrators have crossed the LoC and are stationed in and around Kargil.

The Indian army moves more troops from Kashmir to Kargil.

 26 May 1999

India retaliates. The Indian Air Force launches air strikes against the infiltrators.

 27 May 1999

Flight Lieutenant K Nachiketa’s MiG 27 flames out and he lands in Pakistan where he is taken in as a prisoner of war. A MiG-21 which was being flown by Sqadron Leader Ajay Ahuja is shot down over the LoC, and Ahuja is killed in action.

 31 May 1999

Then-prime minister Atal Bihar Vajpayee declares that it is a ‘war-like situation’ with Pakistan.

 1 June 1999

Then-defence minister George Fernandes stirs up controversy by offering a ‘safe passage’ for the intruders back to Pakistan.

—Pakistan beefs up attacks and bombs National Highway 1 —Diplomatic efforts from countries like France and USA begin as they hold Pakistan responsible for crossing the LoC.

 3 June 1999

Pakistan hands over Flight Lieutenant K Nachiketa to India as a ‘goodwill gesture’

Pakistan returns the mutilated bodies of six soldiers of the Jat regiment.

 13 June 1999

India recaptures the strategic Tololing peak, changing the course of the war.

—Vajpayee visits Kargil.

 15 June 1999

US President Bill Clinton urges Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif through a telephonic conversation to pull his troops out of Kargil.

07

On this day in 1999, India successfully took command of the high outposts that had been lost to Pakistan. India marks Kargil Vijay Diwas today to commemorate its victory over Pakistan in the conflict that took place in the mountains above Kargil on the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. It has been 21 years since the Indian Army, with the help of the Indian Air Force (IAF), wrested back the glaciated heights of Kargil, in the Ladakh sector, from the Pakistan army

Kargil Vijay Diwas

 20 June 1999

The Indian Army captures point 5140, completing their capture of Tololing peak.

 23-27 June 1999

US General Zinni visits Islamabad, urging Sharif to retreat.

Indian soldiers during Kargil

war, Jammu & Kashmir.

Preparing for another round

of shelling.

 4 July 1999

Indian Army Recaptures Tiger Hill —Clinton meets Sharif in Washington DC. Clinton tries to persuade Sharif to pull his troops back.

 11 July 1999

Pakistani troops start to retreat. India recaptures major peaks in Batalik.

 12 July 1999

Nawaz Sharif addresses the nation through a televised address explaining the pullout and proposes talks with Vajpayee.

 14 July 1999

Vajpayee declares ‘Operation Vijay’ a success. Government sets condition for talks with Pakistan

 26 July 1999

The Kargil war officially comes to an end.

—In this war, India lost 407 officers and soldiers, while Pakistan lost 696.

ors gun during Kargil War.

Indian army soldiers fire Bof Victorious soldiers of 17 Jat in Mushkoh Valley.

CONCEPT: DIVYA HEMNANI DESIGN: SITARAM SHARMA

Indian soldiers stockpilling artillery shells near Kargil.

Indian soldiers after winning a battle.

Indian artillery in the Batalik sector.

I am unable to understand how do people get bored. The world is massive full of interesting things to know and learn about, go ahead!

2ND FRONT

—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO & Editor, First India

AHMEDABAD | SUNDAY, JULY 26, 2020

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NITISH AND BJP ENTANGLED IN THE TUSSLE FOR SEATS dne ka shouk rakhti hai duniya magar, Titliuo ke pankh noch leti hai, sab samajhti hai yeh parsukoon chiraiya, jo rehti hai asma mein, par ghosle kahi aur banati hai. Now, take the case of MLC elections in Bihar where swords are still drawn between JDU and BJP. In Bihar, the JDU and BJP have to share 12 legislative council seats and the saffron party wants the formula for 6-6 seats to be discussed, as the BJP has to leave one of its seat for Ram Vilas Paswan’s LJP as well. At present, JDU has 71 MLAs in the Bihar Legislative Assembly and BJP

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has 53, so Nitish wants to share the seats in the same proportion, therefore in the MLC, he wants to retain 7 seats while leaving 5 seats for BJP. Since there are only 2 LJP MLAs in the state assembly, Nitish feels that the Paswan brothers should not claim their MLC seat. In this quarrel between JDU and BJP, two ministers of the Nitish government, Ashok Chaudhary and Neeraj Kumar, have come under fire, as both were MLAs, whose membership has expired and without being a member of any House, no one can continue in the post of minister for more than 6 months, that is, both of them have till October.

Meanwhile, for the upcoming Bihar elections, Nitish knows that his par-

Nitish Kumar

OFF SIDE

FIRST INDIA SUNDAY SPECIAL

BY TRIDIB RAMAN

ty’s strike rate is lower able to win only 116 than the BJP’s, so he seats out of 143. Anywants at least 20 more way, Bihar is the only seats for his party in state in the entire Hindi seat sharing. While the belt (Rajasthan, MadBJP is willing to give hya Pradesh, Delhi, UP, 107 seats to JDU, BJP Jharkhand), where till wants to contest on 98 now the BJP has not seats and wants the LJP been able to make its to contest on 38, howev- CM, a point that has aler, Nitish is apparently ways bothered the safnot too happy with the fron party. But Nitish formula. Moreover, he knows it, and thus is not happy with the wants to take every step BJP giving much prefer- in a calculated ence to Paswan’s party. manner.

In the last Lok Sabha elections i.e. 2019, Nit- PILOT’S ish, BJP and LJP con- ‘PILOT tested on the basis of PROJECT’ 17-17-6 seats, in which n RaBJP and LJP won all jasthan, their seats, but Nitish Sachin Picould not do hold on to lot is said to Kishanganj constituen- have the supcy losing it to Congress. port of 18 rebel Even in the 2010 assem- MLAs of Conbly elections, BJP won 91 seats out of 100 seats for its share, while Nitish’s party was Sachin Pilot

I

gress, but now a debate has arisen among Pilot camp MLAs whether Pilot should side with BJP or form a separate party. Most of the Pilot supporter MLAs want Pilot to do hard bargaining with BJP in the same way as Jyotiraditya Scindia and try to get the best deal possible. At the same time, some of his other supporting MLAs are of the opinion to form a separate party.

T h e y t h i n k that if such a party is for med, m a n y young and strong leaders of the Con-

gress party, angry over the behaviour met to them in the grand old party, can join forces with Sachin. For example, Milind Deora from Maharashtra, Jitin Prasad from UP, Pradyot Deb Burman from Tripura can join Pilot’s new party, i.e. Pilot’s party can polarize angry leaders from Rahul.

Needless to say that this new party of Sachin will also suit the BJP, so the BJP can help Sachin openly in this venture.

BHUPENDRA YADAV’S BIHAR ecently, a news had spread like wildfire that Manoj Sinha could be made the incharge of Bihar BJP by appointing him as the party general secretary, but soon after the news, Bhupendra Yadav quickly took control of the damage and Vivek Thakur, a Bhu-

R

TRYING TO DRIBBLE BJP ‘PASS’ RAHUL FUMBLES

Guj CM calls him copycat for praising Himachal Govt’s ‘one district, one product’ idea as his own Darshan Desai Ahmedabad: Though this time in praise of a BJP Government, just one tweet by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday left him with egg on his face with Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh Chief Ministers coming down on him like a ton of bricks.

As often without adequate research, Gandhi appreciated an initiative by the BJP-ruled Himachal Pradesh Government to launch a survey to select one product from every district for targeted development under “one district, one product” theme, but claimed he floated it the first.

His twitter message said he “had suggested this sometime

back.” This cost Gandhi dearly with Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and Uttar Pradesh’s Yogi Adityanath taunting him for trying to “appropriate” others’ initiatives.

In his tweet, Gandhi tagged a report that stated the Himachal in-

This is a good idea. I had suggested it some time back. Its implementation will need a complete change of mindset.

Rahul ji, Copying Gujarat’s initiatives and selling them as your ideas does not show your smartness. I don’t expect you to know details of anything, but your scriptwriters should know better!

How about a ‘One defeat, One reinvention’ policy for you?

Rahul Gandhi

Vijay Rupani

dustries department is conducting a baseline survey in all districts to select one district, one product for centrallysponsored Micro and Small Enterprises Cluster Development Programme.

“This is a good idea. I had suggested it some time back. Its imple-

mentation will need a complete change of mindset,” he stated.

Rupani’s tweet was acerbic. He stated, “Rahul ji, copying Gujarat’s initiatives and selling them as your ideas does not show your smartness.

I don’t expect you to know details of any-

thing, but your scriptwriters should know better!”

He taunted him more, “How about ‘One defeat, One reinvention policy for you?” While Rupani has precious little to show, he attached a screenshot of former Gujarat CM Anandiben

Patel’s Twitter post where she had announced a similar concept of “one village, one product” in 2016.

Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath also took to Twitter, stating in Hindi, “It seems his (Gandhi’s) memory has weakened or already is.

If he tries a little, he may recollect that ‘one district, one product’ scheme was in the BJP’s UP manifesto for 2017 assembly election. And this scheme is proving a boon f0r small-scale industries and workers.”

Although it is true that Rahul Gandhi had talked about this idea in February 2017, this was only after the UP manifesto in January the same year and Anandiben Patel’s concept in February 2016.

mihar leader who is the son of Dr CP Thakur, was sent to the Rajya Sabha. If MLC elections are held in the first week of August, then Devesh Thakur, a former journalist and belonging to Bhumihar caste and said to be close to late Arun Jaitley, could be made MLC from Bihar.

According to sources, these days, two young leaders of Bihar, Tejashwi Yadav and Chirag Paswan are being ‘handled’ by Bhupendra Yadav. In the Bihar assembly polls 2015, BJP gave party tickets to 54 Yadavs, made many Yadav leaders (like Ram Kripal Yadav) as ministers at the Centre, yet the Yadavs continued to cling to the Lalu Yadav’s RJD. Hence, Bhupendra Yadav devised a new formula that if needed, BJP can take

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help of Tejashwi to form government in the state. A successful experiment was conducted of this idea by BJP in Haryana when it took help of Jat leader Dushyant Chautala to form government there. Now in Haryana, the Jats are enjoying power and the BJP is also making inroads in the community. So if Nitish did sway to ways other than that of the BJP, the saffron party apparently will not shy from calling Tejashwi.

The author is a journalist and political commentator and views expressed are his personal

Bhupendra Yadav

HC reserves verdict on IIM-A aspirant’s plea First India Bureau Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High Court has reserved its verdict on a petition filed by a student, Raghav Gupta, who has challenged the admission process of the Indian Institute of M a n a g e m e n t , Ahmedabad (IIM-A) claiming that undue weightage is given to personal interview.

The high court had last month asked the management institute to keep one seat vacant till it decides on Gupta’s plea challenging his non-inclusion in the list of successful candidates for admission. The arguments of Gupta’s counsel Naveen Pahwa and IIM’s advocate Nandish Chudgar concluded on Friday.

The aspirant candidate contended that he had an excellent CAT score of 99.95

percentile, but fell a little short in securing a berth for IIM-A’s flagship Post Graduate Programme in management. He is a commerce graduate from Ahmedabad University.

Gupta has questioned the admission process saying that IIM-A gives undue weightage to personal interview, which is as much as 50% of total points. The final selection is done on basis of personal interview (50%), Analytical Writing Test (AWT) (10%), CAT score (25%) and Application Rating (15%) He said besides 99.95% in the CAT 2019 examination, he ranked in the top 110 students across the country.

However, when the IIMA declared its admission list, his name was missing.

GIRL POWER

MICA’s class of 2022 has women on top in all programs First India Bureau Ahmedabad: MICA, which claims to be the only non-profit residential institute in the Asia-Pacific region teaching strategic marketing and communication, where the class 2022 has a huge majority of female students in its various academic programs. What also complements the gender diversity here is that as many as 50 per

cent of the teachers are women.

In the new class of 2022, nearly 90 per cent of the students in Fellow Programme in Management (FPM) are females, followed by 70 per cent in Crafting Creative Communications (CCC) and 55 per cent in the institute’s flagship Post Graduate Program (PGP).

There are as many as 119 women and 97 male students in the

Majority of students in the incoming batch of MICA, Ahmedabad, are females.

new batch of PGP, while the corresponding number in the outgoing batch was 103 female students against 113 males.

For the FPM doctoral programme, there are seven females and one male student, whereas for CCC, 27 out of the total 41 students are women and 14 men.

Speaking about the increase in the representation of females, Dr Shailendra Raj Mehta,

President and Director, MICA, told a section of the media, that admissions were completely based on merit irrespective of the gender.

He said women were generally more creative and so they might have stood out in the MICAT entrance test.

In fact, Mehta pointed out that a substantial proportion of the faculty members in the Institute are women. According to him, al-

most 50 per cent teachers are women.

MICA’s Dean Preeti Shroff is elated. She says they are delighted to see the growing number of female students represented across all programmes at MICA. Shroff pointed out that these qualified women professionals arrived from all over the country and contribute to a women-friendly campus, caring community and exciting academic learning culture.

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From damsel in distress to stuntwomen, Bollywood actresses have done it all, but very few female stars have done the action genre successfully.

City first jumps into the action with the recent stars who nailed it!

MAIN TERI HERO KARISHMA GWALANI karishma.gwalani@firstindia.co.in

T

here was a time when actresses, in Hindi films, were just required to dress well, look pretty and cry at the director’s cue. The action and stunt heroines were few and far in between. But that’s not nearly enough for Bollywood actresses of this generation! As the films and roles available for actresses have evolved, so have the actresses approached for these films. From taking up horse-riding to learning combat sports and martial arts, these days, actresses go the whole hog in preparing for a role. Let me tell you, as they look stunning in their Hot Avatars, they look dangerous, ready to stab your heart in action avatars. From Sonakshi Sinha in ‘Force 2’ and ‘Akira’ to Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in ‘Dhoom 2’ recent Hindi films where female leads took to action

are breaking the stereotype on screen.

Let’s look at the list of actresses who showed off their action avatar on the big screen. Sonakshi Sinha had to undergo rigorous training for her role as a woman seeking revenge against a corrupt cop (Anurag Kashyap), in Akira. And her efforts seem to have paid off.

While a ten-day course in archery is no big deal for a trained athlete, Deepika made the effort

to do it for her role as Mastani. She refused the option of having the scenes shot with a professional archer and her face being super-imposed on her in post-production. Way to go, D! Playing a boxer convincingly is not an easy task, but it did not daunt Priyanka Chopra. The spunky actress went through a gruelling fitness regime for this role, which included running miles, strength training, pushups in freezing weather and of course, boxing.

Director Neeraj Pandey’s spy thriller featured one of the most impressive action sequences choreographed for a woman actor Taapsee Pannu in recent times.

The Pradeep Sarkar directed crime thriller ‘Mardaani’ saw Rani Mukerji play a cop, out to solve a human trafficking case.

Kabir Khan’s action thriller ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ saw Katrina Kaif play a Pakistani spy on the run with Salman Khan, an Indian RAW agent. The film made more than 186 crore at the box office.

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ARIES

MAR 21 - APR 20 Think calmly about everything you are about to start doing. Unwavering good luck will see you through to success. Conduct conversations in a calm tone and restrained emotion. Prepare for an attempt for financial frauds, which may be fatal to your stability if you allow them. Do not expect an expeditious resolution of problems related to your plans to come easily. Now is the time to make changes that will bring you good advantage and tranquillity in the coming months. Positive changes are possible if you anatomize your actions & are careful in your words.

TAURUS

WEEKLY JULY 26 TO AUGUST 1

KRITI SANON’S BIRTHDAY FALLS ON 27TH JULY. THE COMING YEAR IS GOOD FOR EXPERIMENTING WITH A NEW LOOK OR MANNER. SHE SHOULD NOT DWELL ON THE PAST BUT LOOK AHEAD TO WHAT THE FUTURE WILL BRING. UNEXPECTED CHANGES IN PLANS OR EVENTS ARE LIKELY

AHMEDABAD | SUNDAY, JULY 26, 2020

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LIBRA

SEPT 24 - OCTOBER 22 There may be disagreements in your family that you can evade to avoid depression caused by some of the exchanged offensive words.

Your successes are secured if you do not make mistakes because of your lack of inattention. You do tend to hide your real emotions, but soon you will feel like saying it like it is. Your patience and perseverance will be put to the test. Do not rush and think about your intentions and plans once again. Think about the new ideas you were offered to save yourself from downfall and losses.

SCORPIO

APR 21 - MAY 20

OCT 23 - NOVEMBER 22

You may find yourself in a deeply pensive and philosophical mood, turning various events and conversations over and over in your mind to try and get to the bottom of a dilemma. Those of you in real estate and trading will be successful. There will be new people in your life who will bring new ideas and opportunities for revelation. What you need now more than ever are calmness and patience.

Some recent proposals may incur financial losses.

It is time to be practical in a very considerate way, a message from the universe – you need to change.

Soon you may find yourself determined to make your feelings known. Go easy on yourself and be patient. You will be at the right place at the right time and to be successful, you just need to follow your intuition. Soon you’ll have an urge to make changes in your attitude toward one particular person. Build your new plans. You will improve your financial status unexpectedly, with tasks that you’ll accept and finish with finesse. If you had any grand plans for a social outing/traveling, then you may have to scale them down substantially.

GEMINI

MAY 21 - JUNE 21 If you have been considering how to tell someone just how you feel, you may get a lot of help from the energy emanating from the planets. If you are in a partnership you will be successful because it will make it easier for you to overcome the difficulties on your way. It is better to quit unconsidered journeys because you may miss important meetings with the potential for future success. Some sort of bonus money may come your way if you play your cards right. Give yourself a chance to change when and if necessary.

SAGITTARIUS NOV 23 - DEC 22

You are emotional but at the same time stable.

Try not to share your ideas and impressions with even your most credible friends because you will be creating problems for yourself. Think about your next steps well and do not hurry to proceed with their conversion. It’s important not to lend money at this moment. Don’t make travel plans.

The planets promise you excellent self-confidence and spiritual harmony if you remember that selfassessment benefits you. This period is favorable for the realization of your wishes.

CANCER

CAPRICORN

Your prosperity and recognition are awaiting you, despite the difficulties you face. The energy of the stars may cause you to act irrationally when really, you need to calm down and be patient.

There seems to be a lot of pushing and shoving around this period, not only in your general environment but also in your family. Now you may feel quite emotional, but you are lacking a sense of clarity. Evaluate and discuss your new ideas.

This is the perfect time to arrange an outing. Do not insult or criticize for no reason.

The planetary alignment encourages you to express how you feel and if you have been suppressing particular emotions, you may find that you can no longer hold them back another moment. Passed up opportunities for materialization at this moment are to your detriment because success is up to you and you should not miss it right now. Show self-control and don’t embark on new activities, even if someone’s tempting you. The period is filled with plans and new hopes.

LEO

AQUARIUS

You cannot guess what someone is thinking, so you will just need to be patient and wait until you get a clearer perspective. There is no need to struggle for you to be successful. You feel in harmony with yourself emotionally. Follow your heart, and the money and opportunities will follow naturally. Consider whether you’re doing unsolicited good in order not to win an enemy.

This is not a time to stay at home and read or watch television, commit yourself to positive change. Don’t travel if it is not urgent.

Your ideas will be supported if tactically and not too insistently put them up for discussion. Do not overestimate your strengths so you can keep the prosperity on your side. If you overdo your desire to achieve order or your pedanticism, you will only complicate the relationships with people around you. Soon you will have an extra boost of confidence, which puts you in quite a mood and draws people to you with whom you are happy to interact and genuinely at ease. Now is the time to put your money where your mouth is.

JUNE 22 - JULY 23

JULY 24 - AUGUST 23

VIRGO

AUG 24 - SEP 23 Be patient and wait while the thread of your life quietly unravels to reveal you are a true path. You will feel the envy brought about by your success, which is ordinary and should not bother you. Don’t forget to have faith that what you are working on will be successful. Do not let emotions ruin your achievements so far. Your plans could need restructuring. Panels advise you not to travel long distances. Stop looking at the way things were, and analyze how much you have at present, then consider what you want to do with your future.

DEC 23 - JAN 20

JAN 21 - FEB 19

PISCES

FEB20 - MARCH 20 If you are nervous, do not argue or quibble, rather exercise the peace of mind, otherwise you risk creating serious problems. Persistence and patience are always rewarded. If you have arranged an outing soon, it may not go strictly according to plan. Consider how to make the necessary changes to your life happen smoothly.

Creative moneymaking opportunities are likely to come your way via the internet or some other computer-based network you are involved with.

Try not to over-analyse your current status.

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AHMEDABAD | SUNDAY, JULY 26, 2020

An emotional watch DIL BECHARA DIRECTOR Mukesh Chhabra

KAVITA CHAUHAN

CAST Sushant Singh Rajput, Sanjana Sanghi, Saif Ali Khan, Swastika Mukherjee, Saswata Chatterjee and Sahil Vaid

cityfirst@firstindia.co.in

E

k tha raja ek thi rani, dono mar gaye khatam kahani—-Dil Bechara.

The film is a remake of the 2014 Hollywood drama that was based on John Green’s young adult novel The Fault In Our Stars.

The film is Sushant Singh’s only posthumous release which showcases him as an ebullient young boy (Manny), who is aware that the end is near but perseveres to live in the moment.

He teaches Kizie Basu (Sanjana Sanghi), his girlfriend,

Late Sushant Singh Rajput

D Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton

G

...still from the film

who too has cancer, to do the same. In the end, as the narrative pays a teary-eyed tribute to Manny, it is hard to detach the sequence from Singh’s reality, and the corelation is affecting and ab-

surd, to say the least.

Sanjana Sanghi who makes her debut in a leading role gives a confident performance. The supporting cast, especially Swastika Mukherjee and Saswata

Chatterjee as Kizie’s parents are superb. The cameo of Saif Ali Khan can be given a miss.

As a film, however, Dil Bechara lacks depth and the feeling of fragility that is at the centre of a story like this. The film is by no means perfect but it is not one without feelings. It is surely going to make you weep.

SANJANA’S REACTION

HAPPY ANYWHERE

wen Stefani and Blake Shelton are kicking off their week with new music. The 50-year-old Stefani and the 44-year-old Shelton dropped their sweet song ‘Happy Anywhere’ on Friday, July 24. In the tune, Shelton sings about how he’s always been on the move; however, he suggests he’s found his home with Stefani. And as long as they’re together, it doesn’t really matter where they are. The lyrics read: “I’m running wide open/I was born with my feet in motion,” the couple, who has been dating since 2015, belts out in the chorus. “But since I met you, I swear/I could be happy anywhere/Any map dot location/ You’re always my destination/ You’re the only thing that I’m chained to/I could be happy anywhere/I could be happy anywhere with you. —Agency

RATING:

Sanjana Sanghi

uring the Me Too wave that had hit Bollywood, Sanjana Sanghi and Sushant Singh Rajput names too had cropped up as reports suggested that Sushant, allegedly inappropriately misbehaved with Sanjana on the sets of their film Dil Bechara.

Back in 2018, Sanjana Sanghi took to her social media channel to dismiss all such reports and clarified

that no such incident took place as she clarified in a tweet that read, “I’d like to clarify that no such incident took place with me. Let’s put an end to these conjectures.”

Now since Sushant Singh Rajput’s demise, Kangana Ranaut has been supporting Sushant and calling out names for sabotaging his career and in the latest, Kangana’s Twitter handle has questioned Sanjana’s delayed response to rumors of harassment that had

surfaced against Sushant Singh Rajput. Reacting to Kangana’s claims, Sanjana Sanghi talked about the Me Too allegations as she said that ‘nobody has the authority’ to judge if her response was fast enough or not. In an interview, Sanjana had said that she has said more than enough and after Sushant was allegedly accused of Me Too, Sanjana said that she had given a clarification which should have been enough.

—Agency

STOP

BULLYING!

I

t has been a while since online trolling and cyberbullying have become common wherein anonymous accounts target any account user on social media and send out hate comments. This is extremely common with Bollywood

Surgery went PERFECTLY

Q

ueen of comedy Chrissy Teigen just announced via Instagram that she might have another breast reduction surgery. The topic came up after the 34-year-old cookbook author gave her fans a look at her outfit of the day.

The Cravings star modelled a few necklaces and said, “We’re working the jewels today.” She then began pulling at her top. “This is supposed to go over each t-tty, but my dash are too low,” she said. “And yes, they are still huge. I think I honestly will do it again and have them make them smaller. I did not expect that they would still be this large.” Teigen underwent surgery to have her breast implants removed. She even received a cake from Luke and Meghan that featured a tombstone with words “RIP 2006 – 2020.”

—Agency

Chrissy Teigen

celebs who often become a target of online trolls. So to put an end to online bullying, Sonakshi has now teamed up with Mission Josh and a few other cyber experts and launched a campaign, ‘Full Stop To Cyber Bullying.’

Taking to social media, Sonakshi shared a video in which she raised her voice against Cyber Bullying and harassment.

She informed that she is teaming up with Maharashtra Police for an initiative called ‘Mission Josh’ wherein they will raise awareness about online bullying, mental health, harassment, and more. The goal of the campaign is to bring more awareness towards the subject and various important aspects so that the trollers, harassers, bullies are aware of the consequences as well as legal actions that can be taken against them on committing any kind of Cyber harassment while sitting behind the screen. The first interaction will air on the 26th of July.

—Agency

Sonakshi Sinha

Bhumi Trivedi

Fake Followers

ALERT!

M

umbai Police’s Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) on Friday recorded the statements of Chtrbox CEO Pranay Swaroop and his wife Julie Kriegshaber in connection with the fake social media followers scam involving Bollywood celebrities. Meanwhile, Chtrbox issued a public statement, saying, “We would like to state that on July 24, 2020, Chtrbox Founder and CEO Pranay Swarup and Chtrbox COO Julie Kriegshaber, met with the Special Investigation Team, Mumbai, to guide and support the authorities in their investigation.” Chtrbox is one of the leading social media influencers marketing companies in India.

Investigators have questioned as many as 25 people as part of the probe. The Mumbai Police is set to record the statements of fashion blogger Ankita Arora and actress Ashi Sharma sometime soon. Summons are expected to be issued to more social media marketing companies, celebrities, and brands in the coming days.

Two individuals identified as Kashif Mansoor and Abhishek Davade, have been arrested so far while police are on the lookout for three more people in connection with the case. The matter first came to light after singer Bhoomi Trivedi’s complaint to the police about a fake Instagram account which led investigators to a business based on identity theft.

A preliminary probe revealed that celebrities paid certain portals and service providers to inflate their social media followers and likes.

Accused Kashif Mansoor revealed during interrogation that Ankita Arora and Ashi Sharma are his clients, sources said.

—Agency

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AHMEDABAD | SUNDAY, JULY 26, 2020

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NO FEAR, LIVE ON

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oping with all the recent market transitions has been challenging.

But with so much time spent in this situation has led to a lot of knowledge and ideas about understanding and working around a global pandemic like the current one. I look at it just like another situation or a hurdle at work, nothing more but giving it all the due attention to help our brand grow as a market leader in the coming future. The sales have certainly gone for a dip but there is still enough demand for us and we try to touch and reach clients we plan to.

Undergoing and accommodating to all new marketing

DURING THE DAY!

and sales strategies as well as making a safe environment for clients to tour and attend meetings, I think this is going to be a way of life we ll soon be used to. And I am hopeful the impact is momentary, the real estate market would be soon better again and would see tremendous growth once people feel safe to be out and vaccine is available. I feel instead of taking a break from work people should work on business innovations and try fresh ideas and experiment more in these times, and thus be more competition ready once things resume to normal.

By Shraddha Dadhich Model and Sales Manager

DEARLY DEPARTED! GUJARAT: The 91st webinar on the theme ‘Who Moved My Cheese’ was organised by The Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Saturday, where expert speaker, Founder of Financial Supermarket Group, CA Gaurav Singhvi gave important guidance in the direction of continuous change to succeed in life.

RAJASTHAN: Renowned neurologist Dr BM Sharma, father of Dr S M Sharma, Additional Principal SMS Medical College, breathed his last on Saturday. He was 88 years old and had been unwell for quite some time. He had headed the Neurology department at SMS hospital and was very popular with his patients and young residents.

A unique application ‘My Edukos’, created

by Shaiphali Saxena (CEO, Founder & Investor) and Hritisha Rewadia (CEO and Founder) is going to launch today at 6 PM. It is an education app featuring courses like Film Making, Opera, Playback Singing, Photography, Acting, Drama & Theater, Visual Arts, Wildlife & Fashion Photography, Fashion Designing and many other artistic subjects.

ROYALTY WITH SAFETY CITY FIRST

A

fter months of staying indoors, people are now looking for options within their city to relax and rejuvenate. Be it a staycation with family and friends, a solo workstation or even a micro birthday or anniversary celebration, heritage hotels are a great choice.

Narain Niwas Palace, a heritage hotel in Jaipur, brings to you an experience of royal luxury coupled with all necessary measures for your protection.

Prithvi Kanota, Managing Director, Narain Niwas says, “Narain Niwas Palace’s highest pri-

ority is the health, safety and security of all its patrons. To limit the spread of Covid-19, our hotels are following all the latest recommenda-

tions and advice from the WHO. We have reviewed and strengthened our existing health and safety processes. Our expert teams have conducted

extensive deep-cleaning and disinfection. We want to ensure that you feel completely safe and have peace of mind. cityfirst@firstindia.co.in

IVF IS SAFE IN PANDEMIC CITY FIRST

RAJASTHAN: The members of ‘Sukhmani Seva Society Bani Park’ read ‘Sukhmani Sahib’ online for the benefit of the whole world on Saturday. They prayed: “Waheguru Ji save the world now from the havoc of Corona and protect everyone”.

Rajasthan: Santokba Durlabhji Memorial Hospital is going to be live on Facebook with Senior Consultant, Nephrology Department, Dr Piyush Mathur today at 11 AM, where he will share the information about kidney Transplant. The session is going to be moderated by Dr Sanjana Bhojwani.

O

n the occasion of World IVF Day, a webinar was organised

by Mahatma Gandhi Hospital, Sitapura, where Head of the Department of Childhood Diseases, Dr Usha Shekhawat shared that the children with disabilities are increasing in the younger genera-

tion. During the seminar, Child Pathologist,

Dr Manisha Choudhary said that the ba-

bies born with the IVF technique are like normal children. They do not have any congenital malformations. If an IVF patient becomes corona positive, then a procedure for IVF can be performed after coming negative. She said that the IVF procedure can be done if the IVF patient is also a cancer patient. cityfirst@firstindia.co.in

Bombay Masala Sandwich

TWEETED!

PROCEDURE n Grind all the

masala ingredients in a jar, grind it till it comes in a powdered form.

n Spread butter on a

bread slice evenly.

n Apply Green Chut-

ney on one slice.

VARTIKA JAIN On the occasion of Naag Panchami, Rukshmani Kumari tweeted, “May Lord Shiva shower his divine blessings upon all of us on this auspicious day of #NaagPanchami May he keeps us safe, healthy and gives us the strength to stay away from all evil. #NagaraPanchami #NaagPanchami2020 #NagaPanchami”

n Use Tomato

Ketchup on the other slice.

TV ARTIST AND COOKERY EXPERT

n First, apply a layer

REQUIRED INGREDIENTS

of Cucumber, then Spread Bombay Masala on this.

FOR MASALA

n 1/4 Bowl of Any Kind of Potato

Namkeen. ( Aloo Bhujia )

n Then apply another

layer of boiled potatoes cut in slices, again apply Bombay Masala.

n 1 Table Spoon Roasted Cumin

HAPPY B’DAY!

Powder.

n 1 Teaspoon Red Chilli Powder. n 1 Teaspoon Salt.

MLA Virat Nagar, Indraj Singh Gurjar celebrated his birthday on 25 July, Saturday. We wish him all the best!

n Then apply thin

n 1 Teaspoon Black Pepper Powder. n 1 Teaspoon Chat Masala. n 1 Teaspoon Mint Powder. n 1 Teaspoon Dry Coriander Powder.

FOR SANDWICH

n Butter - According

To Requirement.

n 4 slices of bread n Green Chutney n Tomato ketchup

slices of tomatoes then again apply Bombay Masala.

n Now add the last

layer of onion slices and again sprinkle Bombay Masala on it. n Add Zero Number

Namkeen. Now cover this with the slice on which we had put green chutney. Press it slightly.

n Cut it in six pieces. n Now garnish the

sandwich with Bombay masala and zero number Namkeen and add a little bit of chutney and ketchup on the top.

n Enjoy this sand-

wich with special masala

n Hope this dish

soothes your taste buds