First India-Jaipur Edition-16 July 2020

OUR EDITIONS: JAIPUR & AHMEDABAD

CORONA

28°C - 38°C

ALERT JAIPUR l THURSDAY, JULY 16, 2020 l Pages 12 l 3.00

COVID-19 UPDATE

WORLD

5,83,649 1,35,71,432 DEATHS

MAHARASHTRA 10,928 DEATHS 2,75,640 CASES

CONFIRMED CASES

DELHI 3,487 DEATHS 1,16,993 CASES

RNI NO. RAJENG/2019/77764 l Vol 2 l Issue No. 40

INDIA

24,915 9,68,117 DEATHS

CONFIRMED CASES

TAMIL NADU 2,167 DEATHS 1,51,820 CASES

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RAJASTHAN

530

DEATHS

GUJARAT 2,080 DEATHS 44,648 CASES

26,437

CONFIRMED CASES

KARNATAKA 933 DEATHS 47,253 CASES

GAME ON IN RAJ

AS PLAYERS SHOW THEIR MOVES!

Game of Thrones seems to be on in the desert state after Rajasthan’s political scene heated up when Sachin Pilot showed his rebellious streak, forcing CM Ashok Gehlot to sack his deputy, while alleging that the entire Pilot camp was playing in the hands of BJP. Hours after rebelling, Pilot said he was not joining the BJP, but kept all guessing by not spelling out his future course of action. However, in what may come as a surprise, Rahul Gandhi’s statement at NSUI event, “If anybody wants to leave the party they will. It opens the door for young leaders like you,” gives a clear message that it is not possible to bury the hatchet now!

Pilot involved in horse trading, says Gehlot Kartikey Dev Singh Jaipur: In a rare and daring attack on his former deputy and PCC Chief Sachin Pilot, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday directly accused Pilot of being involved in horse trading.

The Congress veteran leader surprised everyone by claiming that he has the proof of horse trading in the state during Rajya Sab-

ha polls. Interacting with reporters, the chief minister, however, did not mention Pilot by his name but said the “former Pradesh Congress Committee president” was himself doing the deal . Our deputy chief minister and PCC president himself was doing the deal and was giving statements that no horse-trading was taking place. What clarification are you giving when you your-

self were involved? he asked. “Speaking good English or giving a byte is not everything,” Gehlot said.

The veteran politician said he has proof that horse trading was being committed to topple his government. Gehlot reiterated that “he (Pilot) would have performed quite good had he “struggled in his youth” while also hitting out at the national media saying Turn on P6

India-EU partnership vital for global stability: Modi New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that India-European Union partnership can play an important role in “economic reconstruction” as new problems have emerged globally after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Addressing the 15th India-EU summit, he said there is a need for more cooperation among democratic nations to deal with economic problems. “After COVID-19, new economic problems emerged globally. For this, we feel the need for more cooperation among

democratic nations. Today, both the health and prosperity of our citizens are facing challenges. There are different types of pressures on the rules-based international order. Thus,

the India-EU partnership can play an important role in economic reconstruction, and in building human-centric and human-centric globalisation,” he said.

Turn on P6

Leaders going means chance for youth: RaGa New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi while addressing student leaders associated with Congress’ students wing NSUI said that those young leaders who are quitting the party are actually in a way opening doors for the newer young leaders.

Citing sources, ANI reported that while addressing NSUI meeting on Wednesday, the former Congress President said, “If anybody wants to leave

the party they will. It opens the door for young leaders like you.” It is speculated that Rahul Gandhi took a dig on Sachin Pilot who has rebelled against Congress. In the virtual NSUI National Office Bearers’ meeting apart from Rahul Gandhi, KC Venugopal was also present.

However, later Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala told ANI that “this story is factually incorrect”. —ANI

I am still a Congressman, not joining BJP: Pilot New Delhi: Former Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot on Wednesday said that he is “not” joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

“I am not joining BJP,” said Pilot while adding “attempts to link me to the BJP are to malign me in the eyes of the Congress highCommand.” He pointed out that he had worked hard to defeat the BJP. “I have worked hard to

make Congress win in Rajasthan. Why will I work against my own party? I am still a member of the Congress party,” he insisted. “I would like to serve the people of Rajasthan,” he said categorically.

Regarding his next course of action, he said he will have to discuss with his followers about his next course.

The comments came a day after he was sacked as Rajasthan

Deputy Chief Minister and Pradesh Congress Committee chief by the party.

Meanwhile quashing Gehlot camp’s claims, Pilot said, “I did not have any communication with Congress president Sonia Gandhi ji and Rahul Gandhi ji.

Priyanka Gandhi ji spoke to me over phone.

It was a personal conversation. It did not lead to any resolution.

—Agencies

What first: Raj Cabinet reshuffle or a trust vote?

Yogesh Sharma Jaipur: In an ongoing political turmoil in Rajasthan Congress, now the million dollar question being asked in political circles is whether going by the advice or recommendation of chief minister Ashok Gehlot to reshuffle his Cabinet, Governor Kalraj Mishra, by giving his consent or approval, will administer the oath to new ministers or will advice or insist Gehlot to first take the vote of trust in the state Assembly, keeping in mind Sachin Pilot’s claim that Gehlot government has

Governor Kalraj Mishra offers sanitizer to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot at Raj Bhawan. —FILE PHOTO

now been reduced to minority and also keeping in view BJP’s Tuesday press conference that before expanding his Cabinet,

Gehlot must prove his majority on the floor of the House.

Notably, Rajasthan BJP’s entire core group consisting of Gulab

Chand Kataria, Satish Poonia, Rajendra Rathore, V Satish, Chandrashekhar and also a natural ally Hanuman Beniwal addressed a

joint press conference on this subject on Tuesday.

According to sources, now Governor Mishra is applying his ‘mind’ and also asking for a legal opinion on this sensitive issue.

Even if the Governor, who has a BJP background, wishes to advice the Chief Minister to prove his majority in the House, he will require at least a written memorandum or a personal request by some BJP delegation alleging that Gehlot government has lost its moral authority to rule, because it is believed that the present Congress government has lost its majority stature. Turn on P6

RAJASTHAN JAIPUR | THURSDAY, JULY 16, 2020

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A NEW ORDER

A day after Sachin Pilot was sacked as Rajasthan PCC chief, posters congratulating newly appointed PCC chief Govind Singh Dotasara have come up at PCC headquarters in Jaipur on Wednesday.

—PHOTO BY SANTOSH SHARMA

CONG GOVT HAS LOST MAJORITY AND WILL ULTIMATELY FALL: POONIA

Police arrests 3 for kidnapping car driver, stealing goods

Jaipur: Amid the oneon-one battle between the two Congress stalwarts in the state, BJP is an avid viewer watching each development simultaneously preparing its strategy eventually to unfold at the right time. Meanwhile, after Sachin Pilot openly declared that he had no intention of joining BJP and 19 dissidents being issued notices the BJP lashed out at Congress. National Vice President OP Mathur said that the whip is valid only in the assembly and has no relevance outside it. He said speaker CP Joshi understands everything and should know that the rich traditions of the house are being insulted. OP Mathur said that whip has no validity on MLAs attending or absconding a

Jaipur: Shipra Path Police station has solved the case of a driver kidnapping while he was asleep in his car. Police arrested three accused from Pachar village on Kalwad Road. Arrested Devraj Singh is from Bharatpur, Deshraj Yadav hails from Phagi while Gajendra Singh is from Rupvas in Bharatpur. Police seized three stolen cars, one power bike, one pistol, and four cartridges from the accused.

Police Commissioner Anand Srivastava said that the accused had kidnapped driver Ashok at gunpoint and had taken him to Govindpura in Kalwad. They locked the driver in a desolate room and took away his car which had the victim’s mobile, 1500 cash and some documents.

Aishwarya Pradhan

From left: Rao Rajendra Singh, Arun Chaturvedi, Satish Poonia, Gulab Chand Kataria and Rajendra Rathore during a meeting at BJP headquarters in Jaipur on Wednesday.

legislative party meeting. He pointed out that there were many MLAs absent from the CLP meeting but only 19 MLAs have been issued notices.

Mathur said that when Pilot has come out openly the only reason to cajole Pilot is the fear of failing in eventual floor tests by Con-

gress. He said that Sachin tried to meet Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi but was unsuccessful. This failure led to the present scenario. He advised the dissident Congress MLAs to seek legal advice. Mathur evaded a direct answer to Pilot joining BJP. He said that if Pilot is uncom-

fortable he can join BJP. He called it an internal dispute of Congress resulting in a large number of people wanting to leave the party now.

Meanwhile, state chief Satish Poonia said that as the main opposition party we are mulling over our role in the present scenario. He said the Congress gov-

Man kills wife with axe, held

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

First India Bureau Sri Ganganagar: A husband axed his wife to death at their home in Nehra Nagar. The husband Bhanwar Lal Nayak absconded after committing the crime and later was arrested. Police said that the accused killed his 60-year-old wife with an axe while she was asleep in the night. The body has been kept in a mortuary for further legal process.

From left: Deputy Chief Whip Mahendra Singh Chaudhary, Chief Whip Mahesh Joshi, Fairmont GM Rajiv Kapoor, Events Organisation Mandap’s Dhiren Singh wishing Mahesh Sharma, Vice President Shiv Vilas on his 48th birthday on Wednesday.

ernment has lost the majority and will ultimately fall. He said 2022 out 107 have gone with Pilot while 3 out of BTP and 13 independents too have moved away. He said the government has used SOG as a fear factor and plans to disqualify the dissidents but the legal and constitutional remedies were open. He refused, demanding a floor test.

LOP Gulabchand Kataria said that issuing notices was out of the purview of the assembly. All such matters in the past have been struck down by the courts. He said that Congress has been divided vertically.

Deputy LOP Rajendra Rathore said that the issued notices are unconstitutional. He called the act unprecedented in the democratic history of the nation.

First India Bureau

Election dept to get its own building in Jaipur soon

Rituraj Sharma Jaipur: The election department will have its own building in Jaipur. At present, it is situated in the state secretariat.

The state government has allotted a 3368 square meter plot worth Rs 25 crore for free of cost. Chief Election Officer Praveen Gupta informed that meeting will be held with PWD officials to discuss building construction for which budget will be

Man gets 20 year RI for raping minor in Bhilwara First India Bureau Bhilwara: In the rape case with a minor in the Gulabpura area of Bhilwara a year ago, the POCSO court number 2 has considered the accused as a convict and sentenced him to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment. The court has also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the convicted youth.

Special Public Prosecutor Shruti Sharma said that the grandfather of the victim had registered a complaint

in the Gulabpura police station on August 21, 2019, that Mohammad Arif had raped her minor granddaughter. After filing the case, the police presented a challan against the accused in the court.

On the basis of 22 witnesses and 41 documents, the court has sentenced Arif to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment.

NO ACTION BY AUTHORITIES

Encroachment continues to create chaos in Chomu Vinod Kumar Sharma Chomu: The situation of the city administration officials is such that the encroacher is now being asked whether the encroachment is done on the road or not.

Even when the colony residents are showing the map, the officials are avoiding the action against the encroacher.

When the locals complained to the MLA in this regard, he too instructed to take action in the matter.

‘OFFICERS OBEY THE ORDERS OF MLA’S FATHER MORE THAN THE MLA’

“MLA Ramlal Sharma had asked the officials to take action”, a local resident told on the condition of anonymity. But the MLA’s father called the authorities and refused to take action. When asked about the MLA’s father, he said that “I was misled, which is why I refused the authorities”.

The case is of the Bagdon ka Mohalla in

The person concerned has been asked to submit a map of his plot and other documents. Action will be taken after checking the documents to find the encroachment.

SHUBHAM GUPTA, Municipal Executive Officer

ward 6 of Chomu, where Sitaram Bupla has en-

croached the area on the road, due to which people are facing a lot of problems in passing from there. The narrow road left for movement is also filled with rainwater and mud.

Locals Ravi Mehta and Sunil Sharma said that a memorandum was submitted to the Executive Officer on June 25, demanding the removal of encroachment. The officials visited the spot after so many days on July 14 but returned without taking any action.

A view of the waterlogged road in Chomu on Wednesday.

—PHOTO BY VINOD KUMAR SHARMA

sought from the election commission of India.

According to him, the building will also house the national SVEEP centre. The State election commission (SEC) may also be given a floor here so that workrelated to the Election department and SEC can be done at one place.

Parliament and assembly elections are conducted by election department whereas the SEC conducted local bodies and panchayat elections.

Govt approves `1.47 crore for drinking water project

Diya Kumari

First India Bureau Rajsamand: Efforts made by MP Diya Kumari have bore fruit. She had been demanding the DPR for a drinking water project based on the Chambal water project.

The Gehlot government gave administrative, financial, and technical approval of Rs 1.47 crore for the project. Diya Kumari said that she will try her best to get the work on DPR started as soon as possible so that the actual project could take shape on the ground providing relief to the thirsty people of the area. The project will benefit the adjoining areas of Bhim and Devgarh. This project is part of phase 2 and package 1 of the ChambalBhilwara project. The drinking water project is part of the PHED drive to provide drinking water to the area.

RAJASTHAN JAIPUR | THURSDAY, JULY 16, 2020

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With 866 new cases, tally crosses 26k mark ‘Har Ghar Dastak’ drive to curb cases

First India Bureau Jaipur: Number of Coronavirus cases crossed the 26,000 mark by an unprecedented surge of 866 new corona positives in a single day taking the toll to 26,437 along with 6 deaths on Wednesday. Two deaths each were reported from Jaipur and one death each was reported from Ajmer, Bharatpur, Jhunjhunu & Udaipur.

Maximum cases were reported from Jodhpur with a count of 171 new cases, followed by 164 cases from Alwar, 138 from Pali, 95 from Jaipur, 53 from Nagaur, 41 from Ajmer, 24 from Barmer, 33 from Kota, 22 from Sirohi,19 from Rajsamand, 12 from Jhunjhunu, 11each from Churu & Jalore, 9 each from Bharatpur & Bhilwara, 7 from Sikar, 6 from Sri Ganganagar, 5 each from Bikaner, Dholpur, Sawai Madhopur & Udaipur, 4 from Tonk, 3 each from Dausa, Hanumangarh

Fire brigade workers sanitize the cremation ground after cremation of a Covid-19 victim in Ajmer on Wednesday.

—PHOTOS BY NADEEM KHAN

& Karauli, 2 each from Dungarpur & Jaisalmer, one each from Banswara, Baran, Chittorgarh & Jhalawar.

The cumulative district wise tally of the corona positives on Wednesday is as follows – Ajmer 831, Alwar 1452, Banswara 106, Baran 77, Barmer 766, Bharatpur 2004, Bhilwara 309, Bikaner 1066, Bundi 30, Chittorgarh 216, Churu

453, Dausa 227, Dholpur 877, Dungarpur 496, Ganganagar 92, Hanumangarh 142, Jaipur 4097, Jaisalmer 120, Jalore 721, Jhalawar 385, Jhunjhunu 471, Jodhpur 4223, Karauli 160, Kota 890, Nagaur 1001, Pali 1692, Pratapgarh 151, Rajsamand 411, Sawai Madhopur 137, Sikar 716, Sirohi 700, Tonk 218 and Udaipur 916 along with 167 pa-

tients who are residents from other states and countries.

So far 19502 patients have recovered after treatment and 18930 have been discharged from various hospitals of the state. There are a total 6405 active cases under treatment cases in the state. There are 6307 migrants in the state who reported to be positive.

Jodhpur: In view of increasing number of corona cases in state, police have launched a campaign named Har Ghar Dastak in Jodhpur to control the spread of infections.

The drive was launched on Tuesday

by Jodhpur Commissioner Jose Mohan and DCP Dharmendra Kumar at Mahamandir.

“Under this campaign, policemen will visit the residences of infected citizens and check whether quarantine norms are being followed. COVID-19 patients have been placed under home isolation but many are complaining that they don’t adhere to the prescribed rules. This new campaign will ensure that the infection does not get worse than it already is,” he said. —ANI

I-Day gala to be a low-key affair in Raj Dr Rituraj Sharma

my will give performance. Choreographer Bhanu Bharti used to train school children for cultural performance every year.

Ordinary citizens would not be invited and only selected distinguished persons and corona warriors would be present in the stadium. As per central government’s guidelines senior citizens and freedom fighters would also not be invited.

CS asked official to maintain social distanc-

ing for which minimum people should be invited. He asked PWD officials for measurement of the stadium to decide how many people can be accommodated while maintaining distance of six feet between two.

The jail band may not be called instead army band is likely to give performance.

This was first meeting regarding preparations for the Independence Day, another meeting would be called in coming days.

Jaipur: The state level Independence Day programme this year will be a low key affair due to COVID 19. The school children will not give performance and only selected guests would be invited. Senior citizens and freedom fighters too will not be invited.

Chief Secretary Rajeeva Swarup gave these instructions in review meeting of preparations for state

level Independence Day programme.

The chief secretary told officials that school

Cop, patwari arrested taking bribe

Police recover illegal doda-post worth `1.5 crore, smuggler arrested in Ajmer

First India Bureau

Subham Jain

Jodhpur: ACB arrested a Baap Police station posted head constable Bhagirath Vishnoi accepting bribe of Rs 5,000 which he had demanded in for helping in a case.

Meanwhile, ACB caught a patwari Ramjilal while accepting bribe of Rs 1000 in Barauni village of Tonk.

ACB’s additional SP Vijendra Singh informed Radhakishan Gurjar of Motuka village had filed the complaint.

Ajmer: Jawaja police arrested a smuggler and recovered illegal dodapost (opium poppy) worth Rs 1.5 crore and a vehicle. SHO Jawaja police station Kanwarpal Singh claimed that it was the biggest haul of this year.

Deputy SP Heeralal Saini said that head constable Ranjit Singh had informed the SHO about illegal doda post being transported in a truck coming from

children will not give cultural performance instead artists from Sangeet Natak Acade-

Jawaja police team with the arrested smuggler and his truck.

Udaipur. The SHO informed senior officials and put up blockades outside police station to intercept the truck.

However, when the

truck did not slow down two constables risked their lives to put up barricades in front of the truck. The driver tried to drive through

but had to stopp because one of the barricades got stuck in truck’s wheel.

The driver tried to flee but constables Ranjit Singh and Ramraj got hold of him. The driver identified him as Sunil Vishnoi from Jodhpur.

The police searched the truck and found 2951 kg doda post in 151 plastic sacks. The driver did not produce license or permit for transportation of the material. The police have registered case under NDPS act.

How ‘Broken Tail’ paved way for a Tiger reserve!

Nirmal Tiwari Jaipur: The broken tail tiger has a special place in the history of Hadoti, which paved way for laying the foundation of Mukundara Hills Tiger Reserve.

Broken Tail was born 21 years ago on July 15, 1999.

However, he stepped on to Hadauti’s turf many years later.

Unfortunately, four years later Broken Tail died in an accident on 15 July, 2003, which was also his birthday.

On that fateful day, it jumped in front of Rajdhani Express during early morning hours, as he moved out of Ranthambhore to enter Darrah forests and came on railway track between Kota and Jhalawar.

While, the Broken Trail died but his death paved way for Mukundara Tiger Hills Reserve.

Wildlife conservator Anil Rogers informed that Broken Trail’s first and last photograph after the accident was taken by Ravindra Sin-

gh Tomar of Hadauti Natural History Society.

Years of hard work finally bore fruits when Mukundara got the status of tiger reserve in 2013. Five years later, first tiger was relocated here in 2018.

Today, there are six tigers including 2 adults, 2 female and 2 cubs here. And, few more are awaited.

Mukundara is third tiger reserve while efforts are ongoing to create tiger reserve in Kumbhalgarh and Ramgarh.

—PHOTOS BY SUMAN SARKAR

Wednesday reported 6 deaths, two of which were reported from Jaipur while one each were from Ajmer, Bharatpur, Jhunjhunu & Udaipur

Health worker collecting sample of judicial staff at Session court for corona testing on Wednesday.

CJ holds virtual meet, orders courts to resume from July 20 Shivprakash Purohit Jodhpur. The judicial work deferred due to the ongoing corona epidemic from July 11 will resume from July 20. A decision to this effect was taken after a virtual meeting held under the chairmanship of CJ Inderjit Mohanty. This virtual meeting was at-

tended by Judges, AG. Bar Association and Bar Council from both Jaipur and Jodhpur divisional benches.

It was decided that the judicial work should be kept suspended for Thursday and Friday and that regular hearings will begin from Monday. The meeting decided that there will

be a provision of hearing by virtual or personal presence. Both the options will be given to advocates as per their convenience.

Provision for one party appearing personally while another through VC will also be possible. No separate times for VC like earlier will be fixed.

I-T raid on 3 business groups ends, officials return with seized spoils Kashiram Chaudhary Jaipur: Amid the political crisis in the state the Income tax raid on three business groups including two CM Gehlot supporters ended after three days of extensive search.

The teams returned to Delhi on Wednesdaywith documents and data, recovered from various raids. The I-T officials evaded giving precise information about the confiscated cash, jewelry and documents.

Officially the officials denied seizing any cash or jewelry. But sources say that the action on premises of OM Metals Group is over and the officials seized Rs 2 crore cash while from jewelry

showroom they confiscated jewelry worth Rs 70 lakh. The IT officials had raided premises located in Jaipur, Delhi, Mumbai and Kota. It had raided a total 43 premises across the country.

PERSPECTIVE JAIPUR | THURSDAY, JULY 16, 2020

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IN-DEPTH

THE LONG WAIT FOR T20 WORLD CUP

T

he biggest disruption that Covid-19 pandemic has caused is to the sporting calendar. Novak Djokovic took the risk by hosting a charity tennis tournament but had to abandon it after he and some players tested positive. Chess is being played in the virtual world with half the thrill. Soccer returned to the stadiums minus the roar of the game’s ardent fans.

Cricket is taking tentative steps to make a comeback with West Indies playing England in England in empty stadiums under a new set of rules necessitated

by Covid-19 after nearly half of 2020 has flown by. If the pandemic hadn’t struck we would have been dissecting performances of teams and players in the Indian Premier League, along with analyzing India’s prospects in the Twenty20 World Cup. In April the Board for Control of Cricket in India decided to postpone the tournament indefinitely in view of Covid-19.

Cricket, after all, is Indians’ joie de vivre and they eagerly await the T20 World Cup which was scheduled to be held in Australia from September 18 to November 15. With the pandemic giving no respite, there are chances of the 16-team tournament being postponed. If the International Cricket Council so decides, the BCCI is ready with a threemonth window from September to November to conduct. The ball is in the ICC’s court which, as Sourav Ganguly has said, “is trying its level best to host the World Cup because it is a huge revenue earner” just as IPL is to the BCCI. Until then cricket lovers will have to wait with fingers crossed.

Rajasthan political fiasco and the archaic law of political defections DHRUV GUPTA Advocate, Supreme Court of India

A

INDIA CEMENTING BOND WITH EU

W

hether due to the coronavirus pandemic of which it is regarded as the source or its aggressive postures in the South China Sea, many countries are increasingly turning away from China. The deepening tension between the US and the Communist country is hastening the rebuilding of a new and reformed world order in which India is set to play a leading role. The India-European Union Summit which Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed virtually on Wednesday has to be viewed in this changing dynamic.

The EU and other world countries, which were heavily dependent on the Chinese supply chain before the pandemic outbreak, are now looking at India, among the largest democracies, as a new business hub. The prime minister had tweeted hoping that the summit “will further strengthen our economic as well as our cultural linkages”. Modi said in his address at the summit, “In the post-COVID world, there have been new challenges in the economic world globally. To solve this, democratic countries must come together,” in an oblique reference to undemocratic China.

The summit lays the foundation for a bigger role for India, which is scheduled to host the G20 meet in 2022, in the fast-changing world. There is a vast scope for India-EU partnership in technology and on climate, in the information and communications technology sector for strategic autonomy in the digital sphere. Pharmaceutical and health are the other sectors where the EU and India can forge a long term partnership. As Modi said, the joining of hands by EU and India “can play an important role in building human-centric and human-centric globalization”.

The act introduced the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution of India, providing for disqualification of members who voluntarily give up their membership of the political party or vote or abstain from voting, contrary to the directions of their party

midst the ongoing political fiasco in Rajasthan, which culminated in the removal of the Deputy CM and the Rajasthan PCC President from his ranks, one cannot help but draw parallels with recent and similar political disorders in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh and look to the law to understand where the lacunae lay.

The public projection by the rebelling elected Members of the Rajasthan State Legislature, of having withdrawn the support to the State Government is not the first attempt of its kind and certainly not the last.

The history of what is now known as ‘political defection’ can be traced, as far back as, to the days of the Montford Reforms, however, it was the most infamous case of “Aya Ram, Gaya Ram”, where one Gaya Lal crossed the floor of the house several times within a fortnight, which provided the impetus to push for a law on anti-defection.

The “Committee on Defections”, set up in 1967 under the chairmanship of Shri. YB Chavan, the then Union Home Minister, to study the ills of political defections noted that the lure of office played a dominant part in the decisions of legislators to defect. Accordingly, the Committee recommended that a member should be bound to the party under whose aegis he/ she wins the election and therefore, such a defector should be barred from holding a ministerial post. After two unsuccessful attempts at introducing the law prohibiting political defections, in the years 1973 and 1978, it was finally introduced by the Constitution (Fifty-Second Amendment) Act, 1985.

The act introduced the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution of India, providing for disqualification of members who voluntarily give up their membership of the political party or vote or abstain from voting, contrary

to the directions of their party. However, interestingly, renunciation of membership of the legislature was not specified as a ground for disqualification. Further, while the law permitted a ‘split’ of at least one-third members from the party, no prohibition on post-defection appointment to ministerial posts was prescribed.

These problems were addressed subsequently under the Constitution (Ninety-first Amendment) Act, 2003, whereby, while party ‘split’ was prohibited altogether, the appointment to ministerial posts was restricted till such time the remaining term of the member expired or he was re-elected to the house, whichever was earlier. It is the latter part of the amendment which continues to be problematic, in as much as, despite disqualifying members for defection, the option to be re-elected in by-polls and then hold a ministerial post remains open for them. The example of Vishwajit Rane, a member of INC who, post his election, resigned from his party and joined the BJP and became a minister under the government, is an instance which highlights the need for amendment of this provision.

Another loophole in the law of anti-defection, as stated above, is that the law does not prohibit resigna-

ANOTHER LOOPHOLE IN THE LAW OF ANTIDEFECTION, AS STATED ABOVE, IS THAT THE LAW DOES NOT PROHIBIT RESIGNATIONS AS MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURES

tions as Members of the Legislatures but in fact, subjects it to the decision of the Speaker or the Chairperson, as the case may be. Consequently, the practice of mass resignations of members are frequently adopted to allege that the ruling government does not have the requisite numbers to continue to enjoy the support of the House. Although the State variants of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business of the State Legislature generally provide for moving of motions of no-confidence demonstrating a lack of confidence in the Council

THE POLITICS OF A COVID-19 VACCINE

T

he global toll of the COVID-19 pandemic is enormous: more than a half-million lives lost, hundreds of millions out of work, and trillions of dollars of wealth destroyed. And the disease has by no means run its course; hundreds of thousands more could well die from it.

Not surprisingly, there is tremendous interest in the development of a vaccine, with more than a hundred efforts under way around the world. Several look promising, and one or more may bear fruit – possibly faster than the several years or longer it normally takes to bring a vaccine on line.

But even if one or more vaccines emerge that promise to make people less susceptible to COVID-19, the public-health

04

problem will not be eliminated. As any medical expert will attest, vaccines are not panaceas.

They are but one tool in the medical arsenal.

No vaccine can be expected to produce complete or lasting immunity in all who take it. Millions will refuse to get vaccinated. And there is the brute fact that there are nearly eight billion men, women, and children on the planet. Manufacturing eight billion doses (or multiples of that if more than one dose is needed) of one or more vaccines and distributing them around the globe could require years, not months.

These are all matters of science, manufacturing, and logistics. They are sure to be difficult.

But the politics will be at least as challenging.

For starters, who will pay for any vaccine? Com-

Even if one or more vaccines emerge that promise to make people less susceptible to COVID-19, the public-health problem will not be eliminated

panies will expect to recoup their investment in research and development, along with the costs of production and distribution.

That is already tens of billions of dollars (and possibly much more) – before the question of profit is even introduced. There is also the related question of how companies that develop a vaccine will be compensated if they are re-

quired to license the patents and know-how to producers elsewhere.

The toughest political question of all, though, is likely to concern access.

Who should receive the initial doses of any vaccine? Who determines who is allowed into the queue and in what order?

What special advantages accrue to the country where a vaccine is developed? To what extent will wealthier countries crowd out poorer ones?

Will countries let geopolitics intrude, sharing the vaccine with friends and allies while forcing vulnerable populations in adversary countries to the back of the line?

At the national level, every government should start to think through how it will distribute those vaccines it produces or receives. One idea would be to administer

it first to health-care workers, followed by police, firefighters, the military, teachers, and other essential workers.

Governments must also consider what priority to give those at higher risk of developing serious complications from COVID-19, such as the elderly and those with preexisting conditions. Should a vaccine be free to some or all?

Recent history reinforces this skepticism.

COVID-19 emerged in China and quickly became a worldwide problem. Responses, though, have been mostly along national lines. Some countries have fared relatively well, thanks to their existing public health systems and political leadership; with others, it has been just the opposite.

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of Ministers, the provisions are seldom resorted to and instead, the mechanism of mass resignations are adopted to reduce the numerical strength of the Government, thereby, shifting the onus on the Government to prove that it continues to enjoy the confidence of the House.

On the judicial front, it has been time and again observed and reiterated by the highest Court of the land that unprincipled defection is political and social evil. It is perceived as such by the legislature. The antidefection law must recognize the practical need to place the proprieties of political conduct above its theoretical assumptions of intellectual freedom.

The issue can, therefore, be resolved by making suitable amendments to the existing legislative framework, and simultaneously, by casting a corresponding obligation on the political parties to recognize the necessity for basic political morality and their obligations to one another, equally. Unless the problem is addressed in the sphere of political morality, coupled with suitable amendments being made to the law, State elections will lose their importance, thereby, affecting the quasi-federal structure of the Constitution.

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL

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TWEET Nirmala Sitharaman @nsitharaman The Partial Credit Guarantee Scheme (PCGS) was revamped under the #AatmanirbharBharat Package to support the liability side of NBFCs by providing a 20% portfolio guarantee to Public Sector Banks for the purchase of Bonds/ Commercial Papers rated AA and below issued by NBFCs. Piyush Goyal @PiyushGoyal With a vision to foster a futureready workforce, today marks #5YearsofSkillIndia Mission. As envisaged by PM @NarendraModi ji, this initiative is empowering nation’s youth with market-relevant skills, training skill seekers beyond classrooms & helping them fulfil their dreams.

Spiritual SPEAK

But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!

—Amos 5:24

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Priyanka chides UP govt on law & order situation Citing a kidnapping case, the Cong leader challenged the Yogi govt New Delhi: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday slammed Yogi Adityanath government over deteriorating law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh, citing a kidnapping case in Kanpur.

In a Facebook post, she said a young man was kidnapped by miscreants in Kanpur and his family was asked for a ransom for his release.

“The family collected Rs 30 lakh by selling their house and wedding jewellery. At the behest of the police, the family handed over the bag full of money to the kidnappers and the police could neither catch the miscreants, nor their son could be freed,” she said.

The family members of the kidnapped man are distraught, the Congress general secretary in-charge UP East added. “This is a case from Kanpur where such a big incident had taken place a few days ago.

Now you can imagine the state of law and order in UP from this,” Priyanka Gandhi said, referring to the Vikas Dubey episode.

Dubey, a wanted criminal, was shot dead on Friday last by police,

This is a case from Kanpur where such a big incident had taken place a few days ago. Now you can imagine the state of law and order in UP from this.

—Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Congress leader

INDIA LOSING POWER AND RESPECT EVERYWHERE, SAYS RAHUL New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday launched a fierce attack on the government's foreign policy, saying the country is losing power and respect everywhere and the current dispensation does not know what to do. “India's global strategy is in tatters.

We are losing power and respect everywhere and the Government of India (GOI) has no idea what to do,” he tweeted. He cited a report that claimed that Iran has dropped India from the Chabahar rail project, citing funding delays. who claimed he was trying to flee after the car carrying him from Ujjain overturned on an isolated stretch of the highway on the out-

skirts of the city.

Dubey was wanted in connection with the ambush in Kanpur's Bikru village past midnight on July 2, killing

eight policemen who had come to arrest him.

In a tweet, Priyanka also attacked the Uttar Pradesh government over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

According to media reports, first it was stated that the report of a deceased person was negative for coronavirus and the body was handed over to the person's family. Then it was said the report was positive, but the ambulance came to take the body after 16 hours, she said.

This happened in the home district of the CM in Gorakhpur, she said.

“Is this how the UP government is fighting coronavirus?” the Congress leader said.

05

Now Muslim leaders slam Oli’s Ayodhya statement Lucknow: After Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli's statement on 'real' Ayodhya being in Nepal, drew flak from Hindu saints and related outfits, it is now the Muslims leaders who have spoken out against the statement.

Iqbal Ansari, a plaintiff in the Babri title suit, said: “If Lord Hanuman gets angry on this issue, he will destroy Nepal with one stroke of his mace. After all, wherever Ram goes, Hanuman follows him.”

He said that the Nepal Prime Minister probably was not aware of the importance of Ayodhya in the country and in the world. “If he comes to Ayodhya, he will realise its importance and significance,” he said. Muslim cleric, Maulana Saif Abbas, also condemned the statement made by Oli and said that it was 'unfortunate and unacceptable'. He claimed that the Nepal Prime Minister was making such statements at the behest of China and Pakistan in an attempt to create unrest in India.

“Oli should not allow himself to become a puppet in the hands of others,” he said. Maulana demanded that Oli should immediately withdraw his statement and apologize. —Agencies

Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio met Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday in the national capital.

Follow all agreed protocols for border mgmt: India New Delhi: In the fourth round of military-level talks between the two countries that lasted nearly 15 hours, the Indian Army conveyed a “very clear” message to the Chinese side that status quo ante must be restored in eastern Ladakh, government sources said on Wednesday.

During the course of marathon military discussion, the Indian military also asked the Chinese army to adhere to all protocols, mutually agreed upon by both sides to resolve the border tensions and bring back the peace and tranquillity along LAC. “It was clearly conveyed to China that it must follow all the rel-

INDIA DISCUSSES TIES WITH RUSSIA

evant provisions of agreements and protocols that govern management of the border by both the sides,” the sources said. The talks began at Chushul post on the Indian side at 11: 30 am on Tuesday and ended at around 2 am on July 15. The meeting went on for 14.5 hours.

Fourth round of the

military-level talks held at a designated meeting point in Chushul on Indian side of LAC. Lt Gen Harinder Singh, Commander of Leh-based 14 Corps led Indian delegation, while Chinese side was headed by Major General Liu Lin, Commander of the South Xinjiang military region. —Agencies

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KEJRIWAL THANKS OPPN FOR SUPPORT Says, COVID-19 situation in Delhi is better than June, but war against the disease has not been won yet New Delhi: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said the current COVID-19 situation in the national capital is better than what it was in June, but the war against the disease has not been won yet.

He said had the Delhi government fought the virus alone, it would have "failed" and therefore his dispensation sought cooperation from the BJP-led Centre, NGOs, and other organisations.

"Our first principle was that this fight cannot be won alone," Kejriwal said. The chief minister said the AAP government will continue its preparations to deal with any spike in COVID-19 cases.

Addressing an online media briefing, the

3 LAKH TESTS DONE IN LAST 24 HOURS

chief minister said according to the Centre's formula, Delhi was expected to have 2.25 lakh cases by July 15, but at present, there are only 1.15 lakh cases.

As the COVID-19 cases had started rising in the first week of June, it was expected that there would be 1.34 lakh

Made in India 5G: Jio ties up with Google Mumbai: Reliance Jio has designed and developed a complete 5G solution from scratch and the same will be ready for trials as soon as 5G spectrum is available, Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) Chairman Mukesh Ambani said, adding that the company is partnering with Google to build a value-engineered Android-based smartphone Operation System.

With RIL announcing an indigenous build Operating System for its 5G solutions, it would mean bad news for Chi-

nese telecom giant Huawei, which had eyes on setting up its infrastructure in India, the world’s second-largest telecom market. Ambani said the 5G solution can be ready for field development next year.

“Jio has designed and developed a complete 5G solution from scratch. It will be ready for trials as soon as 5G spectrum is available and can be ready for field deployment next year,” Ambani said addressing the 43rd Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the company virtually. —ANI

active cases by July 15, but till date, there are only 18,600 active cases in the city.

"We are in better situation today, as compared to June, but it does not mean we have won the war (against COVID-19). We have yet to go a long way.

"There may be a spike

ernment, the Centre, other organisations and all political parties, he said and thanked the BJP the and Congress for their cooperation.

The chief minister said the Delhi government worked on three principles after realising that the fight against the COVID-19

Safety of women, children top most priority of Modi govt: Amit Shah New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Wednesday that the safety of women and children is the top most priority of the Narendra Modi government.

The home minister’s comments came in the wake of the government launching a portal a few months ago for registering cyber crime complaints online.

“The safety and security of women and children is the top most priority of Modi government. There is also a special provision on cy-

CBSE class 10 results out: Over 91% students pass exams New Delhi: Girls outshone boys yet again in class 10 examination, results of which were announced by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Wednesday, recording a pass percentage of 91.46.

There has been a marginal increase of 0.36 per cent in the pass percentage as against last year. However, the number of students scoring above 90 per cent and 95 per cent have reduced this year by 3 per cent and 1 per cent, respectively.

The board did not announce any merit list

again in COVID-19 cases. We don't have to be complacent. We will not sit idle. We will have to be fully prepared," Kejriwal said.

The 'Delhi Model', which was recently praised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is based on collective efforts by the AAP gov-

pandemic cannot be won alone.

"If the Delhi government had thought it would win the fight against coronavirus alone, we would have failed. Our first principle was that this fight cannot be won alone.

"Our second principle was that we did not criticise our critics for their views about our work. We improved things after somebody flagged it. The third principle was that we did not accept defeat.

Had we accepted defeat, there would have been a surge in the numbers of deaths," he also said.

According to Kejriwal, the government scaled up testing for COVID-19 aggressively and daily 20,000 to 23,000 tests are being conducted in Delhi. —ANI

this year in view of the exceptional circumstances amid the COVID-19 pandemic. While girls have achieved a pass percentage of 93.31, pass percentage of boys and transgenders is 90.14 and 78.95, respectively.

Over 1.84 lakh scored

above 90 per cent and more than 41,000 students scored above 95 per cent marks. A total of 18.73 lakh students appeared in the exam, out of which 17.13 lakh passed. A total of 1.5 lakh student have been placed in compartment. —PTI

So at the moment, everyone in Jaipur and New Delhi is waiting for the Governor’s decision on this critical issue as to what will be the first event, ie Cabinet reshuffle or trust vote? Meanwhile, CM Gehlot and his friend, philosopher and guide and Rajasthan AICC incharge Avinash Pande are holding ‘close door’ discussions on this issue. It is also possible that even without being asked by the Governor, a ‘confident’ Gehlot may make a suo-moto request to the Governor to convene a special two-three day session

of the state Assembly to prove his majority in the House. Interestingly, this would also give a befitting reply to Pilot supporters who had demanded a floor test on Tuesday.

SHAH CHAIRS MEET

06

POWER Gallery KAUN BANEGA SBI CHIEF

Arjit Basu Arjit Basu who is presently MD SBI is also a strong contender for the post. Professionally he is very sound but one minus point is he is retiring in November. One can wait and watch.

DA TO CENTRAL EMPLOYEES TO REMAIN FROZEN UNTIL 2021?

Dearness Allowance (DA) to the employees and officers of the Government of India is expected to remain frozen until 2021, according to sources.

WILL DR ANUP WADHAWAN MOVE TO UTTARAKHAND?

Latest information says that Uttarakhand Chief Secretary Utpal Kumar Singh, whose term expires on August 1, is not getting extension. In case he is denied extension, Secretary Commerce Dr Anup Wadhawan may be asked to return to the parent Uttarakhand cadre to take over as CS. Informed sources said that Dr Wadhawan is unwilling.

RAJESH BHUSHAN TO TAKE OVER AS NEW HEALTH SECRETARY ON AUG 1

Rajesh Bhushan will be taking over the charge as Secretary, Department of Health and Family Welfare on August 1, 2020 after the expiration of the extended term of Preeti Sudan in July this year.

VIJAY THAKUR SINGH TO RETIRE IN MEA

Secretary (East) at the Ministry of External Affairs, Ms. Vijay Thakur Singh is superannuating in September. She is 1985 batch IFS officer.

M K SURANA LIKELY TO GET EXTENSION AS CMD, HPCL

The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas is likely to move an extension proposal of Mukesh Kumar Surana to the post of Chairman-cum-Managing Director, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL). Surana, whose tenure is ending in March, 2021, may get extension upto April 30, 2022.

SC COLLEGIUM MEETINGS NOT HELD SINCE MID-MAY DUE TO COVID-19

The meetings of Supreme Court Collegium had not been taking place since Mid-may due to COVID-19 situation.

Amit Shah

bercrime.gov.in to report cyber crimes against women and children. You can visit the portal to report any such incident,” he tweeted.

This portal is an initiative of the central government to facilitate victims and complainants

to report cyber crime complaints online. This portal caters to complaints pertaining to cyber crimes only with special focus on cyber crimes against women and children. The complaints reported on this portal are dealt by law

enforcement agencies and police based on the information available in the complaints.

It is imperative to provide correct and accurate details while filing complaint for prompt action, an official said. —PTI

Ashok Lavasa VCs must attend virtual named as new conference: Dhankhar The ViceADB vice-prez Kolkata: Chancellors (VCs) of all New Delhi: Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa is set to join the Philippines-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) as vice president.

Lavasa still has over two years left in his term at the ECI. He would have retired as the Chief Election Commissioner in October 2022. As CEC, he would have conducted Assembly elections in UP, WB, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa, among other states.

His premature exit puts his colleague Sushil Chandra next in the line of succession. —ANI

universities in West Bengal must attend the virtual conference "and desist partisan stance", Jagdeep Dhankhar, Governor, West Bengal said here on Wednesday.

"Keeping student welfare uppermost in mind, VCs must attend virtual conference and desist partisan stance. Taking positive approach for the sake of education and students had an over reach. "Political Caging" of education would be disastrous and suicidal," tweeted Dhankhar.

Along with his tweet, he also shared the pic-

ture of a letter written

by CM Mamata Banerjee to the Governor that read, "I would like to inform you that the VCs and universities are governed by their own statute and rules. They take guidance from the Higher Education Department as their administrative department." —ANI

Corona pandemic. Our colleagues have been trapped in BJP’s web.

Fights do happen in politics, of ideology, policies, programs, but those fights can be understood. You want to leave you can go since with 2/3 majority, but you indulge with BJP in centre and involve in hob-nobbing, strike monetary deals with them,” Gehlot said.

The Chief Minister said that those who are murdering democracy are seated in Delhi and indulged in horse trading. “Congress ensured Democracy survived in

India for seventy years and did not let the nation become like Pakistan, but these people are murdering Democracy. The entire majority is seated with us but they are engrossed in horse trading,” he said.

Gehlot also stressed that had he not decided on keeping the Congress MLAs in hotel during Rajya Sabha elections, the game being played today would have been played then.

On the question of ED and Income Tax action in state, Gehlot said, “why were these raids called? Will you use CBI, ED and I-T to

threaten people? Where is Democracy headed? I am a third time Chief Minister, I have been in politics for forty years and this new generation is our future and we love them. I had said once that the leadership in nation had to go through hardships over the past forty years when they were in their youth. Hence after 40 years we are alive in politics. Those who claim we do not like the new generation are wrong and there are examples too. I had said if they had seen hardships, then it would not have pained them so much.

DR. VIDHU P. NAIR IS NEW INDIAN AMBASSADOR TO TURKMENISTAN

Dr. Vidhu P. Nair has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to Turkmenistan. The 2002 batch IFS officer, is presently Director in the External Affairs Ministry.

BHOLE AMIT GUNVANT APPOINTED OSD TO SANJAY SHAMRAO DHOTRE

Bhole Amit Gunvant has been appointed as Officer on Special Duty to Sanjay Shamrao Dhotre, Minister of State for Human Resources Development. He is a 2010 batch ICAS officer.

SIMANCHALA DASH GETS ONE YEAR EXTENSION IN ED

Principal Special Director in ED Simanchala Dash has been given one year extension in his tenure.

He is 1988 batch IRS (IT) officer.

TWO IAS OFFICERS GET NEW ASSIGNMENTS IN MP

Jagdeep Dhankhar

Sachin Sinha has been appointed as Principal Secretary, Panchayat and Rural Development and Mal Singh Bhayadiya is now Additional Commissioner, Revenue and Ujjain Division in Madhya Pradesh.

ASHOK LAVASA TO JOIN ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK

Ashok, Election Commissioner in the Election Commission of India, will be joining as Vice President for Private Sector Operations and Public Private Partnerships in Asian Development Bank. He is whispered to be succeeding present incumbent Diwakar Gupta whose tenure is ending on August 31. Lavasa is a 1980 batch retired IAS officer of Haryana cadre.

FROM PG 1 What first...

However, a seasoned and sensitive Kalraj Mishra has yet not taken a ‘final call’ on this issue and the possibility of some ‘political call’ from New Delhi at the eleventh hour informally advising the Governor to ask Chief Minister for a trust vote, is not ruled out.

Meanwhile, CM Gehlot, during his Tuesday meeting with the Governor, has already reportedly furnished a list of 109 MLAs supporting his government but the Governor’s reaction or response is not known.

Pilot involved... “it is supporting those who are involved in murdering democracy”. terming the developments to be unfortunate, Gehlot said that the people had mandated a strong government and he had hoped to provide good governance to people. “You have seen how we have wporking for people in

They became central ministers, PCC Chief but fail to understand, that they would have worked better had they gone through the hardships,” Gehlot said.

India-EU...

Apart from the current challenges, the Prime Minister said that longterm challenges like climate change are also a priority for both India and the EU. “In our efforts to increase the use of renewable energy in India, we invite investment and technology from Europe. I hope that through this virtual summit our relations

will gain momentum,” he said. Terming India and the European Union “natural partners,” Prime Minister Modi called for creating an action-oriented agenda to foster the partnership and said he is committed to making relations “deep and comprehensive” “Due to COVID-19, we had to postpone India-EU summit. It is good that we are able to come together today through a virtual medium. Like you, I am also committed to making our relations deep and comprehensive,” the PM said. —ANI

NEWS JAIPUR | THURSDAY, JULY 16, 2020

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ABRAR FILLS THE AIR WITH POSITIVITY! WE HAVE NUMBERS, ALL WILL BE GOOD Naresh Sharma Jaipur: Speaking on the dispute among the Congress party in the state during his visit to Hotel Fairmont, Congress MLA Danish Abrar said, “The official communication by Sachin Pilot yesterday is in front of everyone.

So whatever will happen will be for good. As far as the government is concerned, it was in majority numbers yesterday and we are still holding the ground with more numbers. It is clear that the Congress government will remain in power strongly for the remaining three and a half years.”

Commenting on the notices issued by the

Speaker, Abrar said, “The notices are issued

by Assembly Speaker CP Joshi, which is a part of routine proceedings that need to be carried out. The notices will be replied and the people who have gone will also return, eventually.”

“When Sachin Pilot was removed from the positions of Deputy Chief Minister and PCC Chief, the party president also told that the decision of the high command is final.

Whatever decisions were taken yesterday are by the high command as per the feedback. It is a tradition of Congress that when the high command makes a decision, it is acceptable to everyone.”

z Why are you angry with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot?

I’m not angry with him. I’m not demanding any special power or privilege. All I wanted was that Congress government in Rajasthan worked towards delivering the promises we made in the run up to the elections. We ran a campaign against illegal mining leases by Vasundhara Raje government forcing the then BJP government to cancel those allotment.

After coming to power, Gehlot ji did not do anything, instead walked the same path.

People are removed from posts, not from the party.

They will return.

—Danish Abrar, Congress MLA

When asked about the MLAs inside the hotel and are they enough, Abrar said, “If you think that there are not enough MLAs, then I, Danish Abrar, MLA from Sawai Madhopur, assure you that for the majority you need 101, but we have 109 inside the premises available right now.”

Talking about MLAs from the Pilot side and Pilot’s presence in the

party, he said, “Whatever decisions are being taken are in front of everyone and it has never been said that Pilot and other MLAs have been removed from the party. It is true that he has been removed from the posts.”

About the constitutional relevance of sending notices, Abrar said, “Only the legal experts would be able to tell if sending notices

was correct or not, but I don’t believe that Chief Whip Mahesh Joshi and Speaker CP Joshi could have committed such a mistake.”

The MLA added, “If Pilot wishes to return, the decision of the high command will be followed. Also, I would like to clarify that the Congress government is in the majority and will remain in the majority with the people present inside. The media has termed the whole matter as an ego clash, but there is nothing like that.”

After reaching Hotel Fairmont, MLA Gurmeet Singh Kunnar said, “Holing up is not good in any party, but nothing can be done if it

MY SELF-RESPECT WAS HURT, POLICE SERVED NOTICE WITH SEDITION CHARGES, SAYS PILOT In first interview given to India Today magazine after being sacked by Congress, Sachin Pilot makes it clear that he is not joining BJP z But Ashok Gehlot claims you were plotting with the BJP to topple his government.

There is no truth in these allegations. I have worked hard to make Congress win in Rajasthan. Why will I work against my own party? z But when the CLP meeting was called

by Ashok Gehlot on July 13, you skipped

it. You could have raised it there. Instead, you defied the party whip.

My self-respect was hurt. The state police served me a notice which had sedition charges. z Now that you have been unceremoniously sacked, do you think you can survive within the Congress?

Let the feeling sink

in. It has not even been 24 hours. I’m still a Congressman.

I have to discuss with my followers about my next course of action. z Will you join BJP? BJP leaders have said their doors are open for you.

Let me make it clear.

I’m not joining the BJP. All I can say at the moment is that I

happens. There is no doubt that Sachin Pilot worked hard for the party for 6 years, but every state president has to do it. Pilot took the decision in haste as he had a lot of time ahead in his career to eventually lead the state.”

MLA Chetan Dudi said, “When there is a communication gap, such small misunderstandings take place.

The talks are in progress, that is why the PC of Sachin Pilot, which was scheduled for the morning, has been postponed. I think that there will be positive results of the dialogue till evening and our MLAs, including Pilot, would be back with us.”

will continue to work for my people. z Are you in touch with BJP leaders?

There are reports that you met Om Mathur and Jyotiraditya Scindia?

I have not met any BJP leader. Have not met Scindia in six months. I have not met Mathur either. z Did the Gandhis reach out to you to address your grievances? Did you try to meet them in last one week?

I did not have any communication with Congress president Sonia Gandhi ji and Rahul Gandhi ji. Priyanka Gandhi ji spoke to me over phone. It was a personal conversation.

It did not lead to any resolution.

07

WILL ‘HANUMAN CHALISA’ CALLER TUNE COME TO RESCUE PILOT CAMP?

O

nce bitten, twice shy seems to be the ‘flavour’ of the season, at least for Pilot camp. The Special Operations Group of the state police had tapped the mobile phones of legislators to learn of their ‘involvement’ in the horsetrading episodes and just three days after being served the notice, the Pilot camp has now changed their contact numbers. The rebels, as they are being called, have been provided with new sim cards so that the legislators can contact with their ‘men’ in the state. However, it is now reported that although 2-3 MLAs have switched off their phones, the intelligence wing has taken out details of the calls made by these new numbers! While the detail of the caller tune is one thing, another aspect is that former PCC Chief and deputy CM Sachin PIlot have now installed a caller tune on his number, which is a first for Pilot. And going by the current situation Pilot is in, it appears that the caller tune is ‘suiting with the time’ since he has put up ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ as the caller tune.

‘FISSURES’ BURIED?

E

ven as a major upheaval has occurred in the PCC, there are some ‘fissures’ still visible in the party’s front organization. With the advent of social media, people have found a platform to ‘vent’ their frustrations and anger mainly due to the reason that they would get support from like-minded individuals, easily. One such incident occurred recently when a senior Sewa Dal member took to one such platform and vented his frustration towards education minister. The man posted, “Sudh Chodiye Mantriji, Karyakartao ki Suniye” ( Stop dreaming dear minister, hear out the party workers).

Interestingly, sources reveal that even certain sections of the party workers have not been too happy with the way leaders kept them at bay and thus causing frustration. However, it is now believed that with the coming of new PCC Chief Govind Singh Dotasara, and all the committees being dissolved, there is a fresh chance of ‘constructing’ the PCC and DCC again in order to provide respite to party’s workers.

—Yogesh Sharma

ADDITION-NULL: ‘GOOD GOVERNANCE’ GOES FOR A TOSS AS BABUS REEL UNDER ‘EXTRA WORK BURDEN’?

Rajendra Chhabra Jaipur: Even after a ‘jumbo’ transfer list of IAS in Rajasthan, the issue pertaining to ‘additional charge’ has not been addressed properly. At the senior level, nearly a dozen officers have to carry out additional responsibilities of other departments in conjunction with their own departments. There are some cases, where the officers have been given more than one department and during the recently conducted transfers, there was a chance to end this ‘system’, however, the situation is still abysmal.

The prime example of ‘additional charge system’ is of Bhaskar A Sawant who is the Principal Secretary of the important UDH departments. The original work associated with this post is such that an officer has to devote his/her full time to the department but the state government has handed him the reins of sports and youth affairs as well whereas there is no

Bhaskar Sawant

Kunji Lal Meena

Mugdha Sinha

Ajitabh Sharma

Alok Gupta

connection between UDH and sports departments.

This is the reason that Sawant is the Chairman of the sports council, Chairman of Rajasthan Housing Board and in the new list, he has been made the CMD of Jaipur Metro.

In a nutshell, Sawant is Chairman of three institutions and Principal Secretary of two departments!

Similar is the fate of Kunji Lal Meena who was appointed as Principal Secretary Agriculture Department but with that, he was also given additional charge of the Cooperatives Department. The Agriculture Department, with a staff of over fifteen thou-

sand, is in itself a fullfledged department and thus handing him additional charge of an equally important and ‘big’ department fails to be logical. It is important to note here that the Agriculture Department and Cooperative Department were divided in 1994 and for the past 26 years, even the Secretaries of both the departments are IAS. Now after Naresh Pal Gangwar, Kunji Lal Meena has been given ‘dual responsibilities’ which is not right.

Mugdha Singh has the responsibility of Arts and Culture along with being the DG of Jawahar Kala Kendra and this responsibility was given to her af-

ter shifting her from the Science and Technology department. But after her transfer, giving her the charge of the old department (Science and Technology) is laughable and illogical.

Similarly, Principal Secretary Energy Ajitabh Sharma - is Chairman of three discoms, Chairman os RERC and Chairman of Energy Development Board (EDB) and in the new transfer list, the MD of EDB - Piyush Samariya - was removed and the additional charge of MD was handed to Ajitabh. Simply put, even Ajitabh is overburdened.

Alok Gupta’s case is

unique in itself. To bring him into ‘mainstream’ from a ‘cold bag’ posting, he was made Principal Secretary, Tourism but it is interesting to note that he has been given the additional charge of Tourism Department’s Director and CMD RTDC. This is a unique development in the bureaucratic world and now Alok Gupta is the one-man army in the Tourism Department.

Even Secretary Finance, Prithviraj is ‘all in one’ for the Excise department as he is CMD of RSBCL and Chairman and GM of Ganganagar Sugar Mills.

The position of MD

RSMML, posted in Udaipur, is an important post as this Corporation is the ‘breadwinner’ for the state government and therefore, an experienced and senior IAS is always made MD here. However, the current government has changed two MDs, and now Udaipur Divisional Commissioner - Vikas Sitaram Bhale - has been given the additional charge of the Corporation raising a question on the future of the Corporation.

After ‘jumbo’ transfer list on July 2, the DOP issued orders of more additional charges. Only recently Akhil Arora was appointed Principal secretary and now the state government has been given

the additional charge in Information and Technology department, where he was in the previous government also, and notably, it was then that the IT department was marred with controversies.

Similarly, Naveen Mahajan has been given DIPR, TAD to Gayatri Rathore, Director RAJCOMP to Abhimanyu Kumar, Naresh Pal gang war as Chairman handloom Corporation, Babulal Meena as Commissioner- Mid Day Meal, Ashutosh Pednekar as Commissioner DMIC, Chanmayee Gopal as Joint Secretary Forest and KB Pandya has been given the additional charge of Director Petroleum in addition to his original posting as Director Mines.

All in all, the system of countless ‘additional charges’ to officers for ‘good governance’ is not the right precedence. Neither do the officials take interest in their additional charge nor do they carry out any of their work seriously and thus, these departments suffer.

Be compassionate with the aged and understanding with the young- you have been one and will be the other.

—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO & Editor, First India

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2ND FRONT JAIPUR | THURSDAY, JULY 16, 2020

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Pilot should admit his mistake, not try to topple Gehlot govt: Pande Notices has been put up at residence of 19 MLAs for not attending CLP meet Aditi Nagar Jaipur: Even as the Congress party maintained that all doors have still not been closed for Pilot, even though notices have been issued to the ‘rebel’ MLAs under Sachin Pilot, Rajasthan Congress in-charge Avinash Pande on Wednesday gave a piece of advice to Pilot to admit his mistake and not make an attempt to topple the Ashok Gehlot government.

“May God give Sachin

Pilot wisdom and he doesn’t try to topple govt. He should admit his mistake. Doors were always open for him for talks, even today. But, now he seems to have moved ahead of all this, so these things don’t matter now,” he said.

His remarks came after Pilot made it clear that he will not join the BJP. Pilot alleged that some leaders in Rajasthan were trying to fuel speculation that he will join the BJP. Moreover, The Ra-

May God give Sachin Pilot wisdom and he doesn’t try to topple govt.

He should admit his mistake. Doors were always open for him for talks, even today. But, now he seems to have moved ahead of all this, so these things don’t matter now. —Avinash Pande

Avinash Pande

jasthan Congress has put up notices at the residences of Hemaram Choudhary and Gajendra Singh Shaktawat for not attending

the recent Congress Legislative Party meetings and asked them to respond within two days.

Notices have been pasted at Choudhary’s

residence in Gudamalani, Barmer and Shaktawat’s residence in Vallabhnagar.

They, along with 17 other party members,

‘STOP ACCEPTING BJP GOVT’S HOSPITALITY, RETURN HOME’ Naresh Sharma Jaipur: Senior Congress leader Randeep Surjewala on Wednesday asked dissident leader Sachin pilot to stop accepting a BJP government's hospitality if he does not wish to join that party and ‘return home’ in Jaipur to discuss grievances.

The reference was to reports that the MLAs close to the rebel leaders are holed up in hotels in Gurgaon of Haryana, where the BJP is in power. He also repeated the party's appeal to Pilot,

asking him to come back to the family.

I have seen Pilot's statement in the media that he will not join the BJP. If you do not want to go to the BJP, stop accepting the hospitality of the BJP immediately, he told reporters outside a Jaipur hotel where party MLAs backing Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot are lodged since Monday.

He told reporters that Pilot should free the Congress M L A s w h o

Come, sit and talk in the family: Surjewala to team Pilot

are staying in two luxury hotels and under the security of the Haryana Police. Surjewala said the party leadership spoke to Pilot several times but he and the other Congress MLAs did not come to attend the Congress Legislature Party meetings.

Our young colleague Sachin Pilot was requested several times by the party leadership with an open heart to come and speak on the party forum if he has differences

with the chief minister or any other leader, the Congress chief spokesperson said. He said Pilot should "return home in Jaipur" and should speak on the party forum. I would also suggest other Congress MLAs that they should not avoid returning.

Come, sit and talk in the family. This will be the proof of your true allegiance and commitment to the party, Surjewala said. Surjewala said Congress gave Pilot many post at young age, which probably no other leader in any party got, be it the Congress or the BJP.

A notice outside the residence of Indraj Gurjar and 18 other MLAs. —PHOTO BY SUMAN SARKAR

have to respond to the notice within two days. “Notices have been issued to 19 rebel MLAs, including Sachin Pilot, yester-

Gehlot-Pande eyeing by-polls in 19 ‘rebel’ constituencies?

Aditi Nagar

Jaipur: As Rajasthan Assembly notices were pasted at the homes of rebel Congress legislators, a parallel functioning of holding bypolls has been started in the state. By-polls would be conducted in 19 assembly constituencies in case ‘rebels’ deny coming back and Assembly Speaker, after hearing the reply to notices sent, decides on disqualifying them.

Therefore, while on one hand, party is keeping hopes high that the men would return, it has also initiated a ‘hushed up’ search for next contenders in case

Don’t fall in BJP’s trap: Khachariyawas to rebels Yogesh Sharma Jaipur: Transport Minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas has said that the symbol on which a candidate wins an election is above all. Those who have won the election on the symbol of Congress party, the laid principles say that they should not ditch the symbol and the party, he added.

K h a ch a r i yaw a s, while appealing to dis-

sident party MLAs, said that those falling into BJP trap should clearly understand that the people voted for them for good governance and fight against BJP’s atrocities and injustice.

He lauded the work done by the Congress government in the state during the last one and half years. The work done by the state government in containing coronavirus has been hailed internationally. He said that the state govern-

Pratap Singh Khachariyawas during the press conference on Wednesday.

—PHOTO BY SANTOSH SHARMA

ment was busy serving the people while the Modi government has been using agencies like IT and ED to in-

timidate Congressmen by unjustified raids.

The Transport Minister said that Haryana Police is not letting the

Congress MLAs to come out of the hotel in Manesar. He also alleged that a team from Delhi has come to Rajasthan with crores of cash for horse trading on the initiation of the state unit of the BJP. Many people in the state know about this cash rich team and this team will not be spared.

He said no attempts to dislodge Gehlot government on the lines of Madhya Pradesh will be allowed at any cost in Rajasthan.

Khachariyawas reminded that Rajasthan is land of Maharana Pratap and Panna Dhay and people here are known for self respect, valour, sacrifice, power and honesty. He said that BJP must understand that if they try to dislodge a government elected by votes using currency notes then the people will not let them enter villages for their bad deeds. He called the whole act an insult to democracy.

RHB’S ‘BUMPER’ SALE

ANOTHER ‘FEATHER IN THE HAT MOMENT’ FOR RHB

1,773 houses worth `238 cr sold in 18 days Shivendra Parmar

Jaipur: Riding on the ‘success wave’ of past months, the Rajasthan Housing Board has yet again registered a record sale under the Wednesday Auction festival’s ‘Housing for all in installments’.

This Wednesday, 371 houses were sold in the state, resulting in a revenue of Rs 59 crore to the Board.

Along with this, 225 peo-

ple participated in the e-auction to purchase 11 shops for the newly developed Ayush Market (drug market) in Pratap Nagar. These shops sold up to five times the stipulated minimum selling price. Interesting, one of these shops- Shop number 5 - whose minimum bid price was Rs 68,500 per square meter was sold at the rate of Rs 3.10 lakh per meter!

With the sale of these 11 shops, the Board has received a revenue of Rs 8.

33 crore. Now, in view of the huge trend of buyers, the remaining

People visiting Dawa Bazar (Ayush Market) site.

shops will also be sold through e-auction next month. Notably, these 11 shops of AYUSH market were sold through eauction for which 225 people laid a bid.

“There is a lot of enthusiasm among people for the housing scheme on installments. On this Wednesday, 56 houses in Jaipur Circle I, 93 houses in

Jaipur Circle II, 17 houses in Jaipur Circle III, 63 houses in Alwar Circle, 24 houses in Kota Circle, 8 houses in Jodhpur Circle I, 58 houses in Jodhpur Circle II, 18 houses were sold in Bikaner circle and 34 houses in Udaipur circle from which the board received a total revenue of Rs 59 crore from them,” said Pawan Arora, Commissioner RHB. Arora informed that under the Wednesday Auction Festival, 215 new houses have been added to the housing scheme in installments for all. “Moreo-

day,” Assembly Speaker Dr CP Joshi said on Wednesday.

“Notice has been issued to Sachin Pilot and 18 other party members,

for not attending Congress Legislative Party meetings. If they don’t respond within 2 days, then it will be considered that they are withdrawing their membership from CLP,” Pande said. Meanwhile, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) has also issued notice to Sachin Pilot and 18 other party members, for not attending Congress Legislative Party (CPL) meetings.

Pande maintained on Wednesday that it was up to the Speaker to decide what action to take if the replies to the notices were not satisfactory.

ver, residential and commercial premium properties will be auctioned from July 20 to 22, 2020. It consists of 4 residential plots in Pratap Nagar of Jaipur, 3 residential plots in Mansarovar, 2 residential plots in Dadabadi, Kota, 1 residential plot in Mukta Prasad Nagar of Bikaner and 4 commercial plots in Pratap Nagar, Jaipur, 3 commercial plots in Jhulelal Market (Food Court) and 4 commercial plots in Commercial Belt-B of Mansarovar will be sold through e-auction,” Arora said.

CM Ashok Gehlot with Avinash Pande.

polls happen. Once the formal disqualification of these MLAs is announced, process to find a candidate will be initiated. Interesting, highly placed sources reveal that a handful of seats, even BJP workers are trying to get themselves selected on Congress ticket! However, there is another faction to this entire

—File Photo

development that claims that the entire development is kept hushed up and only let out in the ‘warring section’ so as to ‘break away’ few MLA’s from Pilot camp on the basis of fear that they would not get anything in return of showing their loyalty to Pilot and loose their MLA status too.

A’bad sanitizer firm moves SC over ‘arbitrary’ 18% GST

SK Singh

Vivek Laxman Das Hundlani

First India Bureau

ing that the DirectorGeneral of GST Intelligence circulated a list of 62 such manufacturers over 12 per cent GST and directed officials to take action.

Expressing fears of being exploited by the GST, he contended that manufacturers of these sanitizers come under the HSN code 3004 and not HSN code 3808, which is applicable to makers of insecticides.

This act is “arbitrary and against the Principle of Equability and infringement of Article 14 of the Constitution.” This matter is likely to be listed in the next week.

New Delhi: An Ahmedabad-based manufacturer of alcohol-based hand sanitizers has moved the Supreme Court challenging the “arbitrary” levy of 18 per cent Goods and Service Tax (GST) on such firms instead of 12 per cent charged during the pre-GST period.

Regent Health Care’s Director Vivek Laxman Das Hundlani filed the plea “on the discriminatory approach of Government of India.”

The firm’s advocate SK Singh cited a July 7 news item in a business daily stat-

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CHEER ON Cheerleaders may not be intrinsic to Indian sports but they are here to stay in their native avtaar!

KARISHMA GWALANI karishma.gwalani@firstindia.co.in

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heerleaders was primarily an American concept till the IPL came to India bringing with it cheerleaders, cricket without borders, moolah and politics!

Of course, since it was India, the cheerleaders were graced with ‘sanskaar’ as they danced, jumped and twisted to keep the spirits high, of the players and the audience in their native avtaar!

With the present pandemic situation, there is not much to cheer about in the world of sports as of now though with the BCCI hoping to host the IPL 2020 in the September-October window if the T20 World Cup is postponed, City First brings a bit of cheer into your world!

So, those who had some aspirations of becoming a Cheerleader, there is hope yet. It may not be a long term career but there are certain skills that it can teach you which will guide you through your life. At the outset, let me warn you cheerleaders have to be physically very fit! You will learn to work in a team and the tips to be a good mentor. Fitness will become a mantra and you will shy

away from bad habits to keep up with your physically gruelling schedule and workouts!

Cheerleaders have amazing flexibility, athletic skills and sheer stamina.

Being positive is a critical part of being a cheerleader and you can easily become an influencer with the popularity you are sure to get. Cheerleading helps to develop a great sense of self-confidence and fearlessness; after dancing in front of thousands of fans, there is not a lot which can faze you!

Professional cheerleading opens many doors, offering a bridge to other careers, especially in the field of entertainment. So, go for it!

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UPS AND DOWNS OF A

RELATIONSHIP

A

s much as fans might want their favorite shows to run forever, all good things must come to an end, a fact that’s particularly true for network sitcoms. And after nine seasons and nine years, How I Met Your Mother, created by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, closed out its run on CBS in 2014 (after premiering in 2005), finally solving a television mystery that lasted for almost a full decade.

For nine years, Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor), Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders), Lily Aldrin (Alyson Hannigan), Marshall Eriksen (Jason Segel), and Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris) navigated life and love in New York City, all of which was set within the larger story of how Ted met the mother of his children. However, the show’s series finale stirred up some serious controversy after years of buildup when it aired in the spring of 2015, so we’re here to tell you why HIMYM’s grand finish felt, to many fans, like more of a splutter. After all this time, here’s the full explanation of How I Met Your Mother’s big ending.

From its very first episode, How I Met Your Mother made its mark on the television landscape by taking a typical sitcom and turning it directly on its head. Rather than simply tell the story of Ted Mosby, a Manhattan-based architect looking for love in all the wrong places, it places his tale within the context of a much-older Ted in 2030 telling his children the story of, well, how exactly he met their

mother. Voiced by Bob Saget (for some reason), Older Ted leads both his kids and the audience through the full story of how he met their mom, as well as all of the obstacles he encountered along the way.

This complex framework gave the show a unique spin and its mythology. Between Ted forgetting important details (like an ex-girlfriend he refers to as “Blahblah”) or his attempts to sanitize his past (“eating a sandwich” has nothing to do sandwiches whatsoever), this is a show that requires you to watch it in order and to pay attention, or you might have trouble understanding the intricate narrative.

Ultimately, How I Met Your Mother is a show about love, and during nine seasons, the five main characters experience plenty of ups and downs in their relationships. As the main character, Ted is a hopeless romantic, and in the very first episode, he spots Robin across the room and immediately falls for her.

The two ends updating throughout the show’s second season, but when they realize they want completely different things out of life, they ultimately split up and remain good friends. Afterward, both date other people, and Ted’s parade of girlfriends continually drum up suspense about which one might be “the Mother.”

As the most stable couple of the group, Lily and Marshall get engaged right at the start of the show, and despite a small blip where Lily leaves Marshall to attend art school in California,

the two get married and have children, marking every major life milestone together.

However, the show’s least likely couple ended up being one of its most important. Even though Barney Stinson spends the majority of the show operating as the world’s biggest womanizer, he eventually falls in love with commitment-phobic Robin, and the two get engaged as the show moves towards its conclusion.

Robin and Barney weren’t planned from the beginning, but thanks to palpable chemistry between Harris and Smulders, the writers decided to craft a storyline involving the two, and the rest was history.

Despite intense contract negotiations between CBS and the stars of How I Met Your Mother (Jason Segel, for example, reportedly almost walked away from the show to pursue his successful film career), the show was ultimately renewed for a ninth and final season, which kicked off during the fall of 2013 and concluded in the spring of 2014. Throughout its entire run, HIMYM made a name for itself thanks to its unconventional choices and unusual framework, and the show seriously upped the ante for its final season, making the risky choice to center almost the entire 24-episode season around the weekend of Robin and Barney’s wedding (with a few notable exceptions).

This structure was a gamble, and in the end, many viewers wondered why HIMYM made such a risky choice for its final season. Despite cameos from

stars like Lin-Manuel Miranda and returning turns from previous guest stars like Scrubs’ Sarah Chalke, Twin Peaks’ Kyle MacLachlan, and Once Upon a Time’s Jennifer Morrison, the uneven final season — which featured an entire episode in rhyme, as well as a tone-deaf conclusion to Barney and Marshall’s slap bet — felt stretched out and inconsistent for most fans, and the final blow of the finale was still yet to come.

Despite an uneven final season, there was at least one standout episode during HIMYM’s swan song, and that was the sixteenth episode of the season and 200th episode of the show overall, “How Your Mother Met Me.” After audiences officially met the Mother, played by the incredibly endearing Cristin Milioti (a Broadway ingenue who would go on to star in projects like Black Mirror and Modern Love) at the end of the eighth season, they clamored for more, and this episode provided all of the Mother backstory fans needed. Finally, viewers got the chance to see the entire narrative of the show through the Mother’s perspective. The episode perfectly contrasts her life with Ted’s, as she grieves the tragic loss of her boyfriend and moves on with her life, culminating in a heartfelt performance of Edith Piaf ’s “La Vie En Rose” — which, as it happens, she performs on a balcony right next to Ted’s hotel room. The episode was roundly praised by critics, marking a rare bright spot in HIMYM’s troubled final season.

As the show came to its conclusion, audiences wanted to see how their favorite characters ended the series, and the show’s most lovable couple, Marshall and Lily, had an eventful journey to the finish line. Throughout the series, Marshall, a bighearted lawyer who wants to save the environment, and Lily, a kindergarten teacher with a passion for art, always worked towards their goals while supporting one another, and their ending ultimately proved perfect for the inseparable sitcom couple.

After moving out of the show’s signature apartment — which Lily, Ted, and Marshall had shared for most of the se-

JAIPUR | THURSDAY, JULY 16, 2020

ries — Marshall takes a job as a judge, a choice which causes some serious distress between the couple during the ninth season as they argue over Marshall’s job prospects just as Lily is offered a job opportunity in Rome. However, they manage to do both, living in Rome for a year before returning to New York, where Marshall takes a vacant position left behind by a judge in Queens. With three children — their youngest daughter, Daisy, was conceived during the final season — the two continue their lives together, and Marshall eventually runs for a position on the New York Supreme Court.

As much as fans might want their favorite shows to run forever, all good things must come to an end, a fact that’s particularly true for network sitcoms.

And after nine seasons and nine years, How I Met Your Mother, created by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, closed out its run

10

on CBS in 2014 (after premiering in 2005), finally solving a television mystery that lasted for almost a full decade.

FA CE OF TH ED AY

Sources: https://www.looper.com/175440/the-ending-of-how-i-met-your-mother-finally-explained/

YOUR DAY Horoscope by Saurabbh Sachdeva

ARIES

TAURUS

GEMINI

CANCER

Abstention from voting for the important business changes should be avoided. If you are working on a commission then be rest assured that your income will be steady. Any hurdles arising on the professional front, will be faced by you without any fear.

Abolish any wrong practices in business and walk on the righteous path and then see ht miracles.

You will see your career graph rising no matter how whats the situation is around you. Your wife is your backbone and she doesn’t let you fall no matter what, she is your guardian.

Prattling in matters where your opinion is not welcomed must be avoided. You earn well and you don’t run away from your responsibilities. You are a strong person who has seen many struggles in the past and have reached here where you are today standing brave.

Noble causes catch you attention and you are always committed to such deeds. You will make best possible choice as far as your career is concerned just make sure you are fully interested in the same.

Somebody may over praise your spouse and you may feel insecure.

MAR 21 - APR 20

MAY 21 - JUNE 21

JUNE 22 - JULY 23

LEO

VIRGO

LIBRA

SCORPIO

Gratuity can be expected by some, for other finances are in place. You will feel proud of your kid’s achievements and will go around telling everyone possible. You are a strong one when it comes to managing domestic chores and no one can beat you in managerial skills.

Hyperactive behaviour is not always negative sometimes you can use to achieve something not achievable by others. Those of you working for media companies will be happy with your salaries and for those who have been expecting their dues will get them on time.

Flinching with the fears in professional life doesn’t suit you, be courageous and learn to take your stands. You have some amazing friends and they are always there for you whenever you need them in happiness or sorrow. You are in love and distance doesn’t matter to you.

Pacify the situation rather aggravating because peace is more wonderful than anything. On professional front, luck favour you and you will always get out of ay trouble easily.

An important assignment must be taken care off and you should do it with full on dedication.

JULY 24 - AUGUST 23

AUG 24 - SEP 23

SEPT 24 - OCTOBER 22

OCT 23 - NOVEMBER 22

SAGITTARIUS

CAPRICORN

AQUARIUS

PISCES

Intuit before taking any big decision in business related matters as you have a very strong intuitive power. You will give some money to your friends to help him/her and be rest assured you will surely get it back. Some relative comments may bother you but kindly don’t bother.

Harrowing tales effect you too deeply so avoid such kind of entertainment.

Excellent opportunities are coming your way as a result of excellent effort you made in the past.

You will do some fun filled activities with children today. It took lots of efforts to reach where you are today.

A Groovy appearance is going to win your spouse’s heart all over again. You will spend some money today after long time in doing some decoration of the house. Unexpected support is on the cards on the business front. You will have a long conversation with your lover today.

Dwindle hopes have never helped anyone therefore be motivated and stay positive, you never know when your time will change for good.

Initiates taken in work will give your fruitful results today. You have an excellent health and you eat expensive and healthy stuff.

NOV 23 - DEC 22

UNNATI MALHARKAR, Influencer

APR 21 - MAY 20

DEC 23 - JAN 20

JAN 21 - FEB 19

FEB20 - MARCH 20

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C

harlize Theron virtually appeared on the episode of ‘The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon’ and opened up about how she’s talking about the Black Lives Matter movement with her adopted daughters Jackson, 8, and August, 5. “The day I became a parent, I just vowed that I would always tell them the truth— in a way that they could handle,” the 44-year-old actress said. “I feel like this is such an important moment for them—for all of us.”

The Oscar winner then spoke about how her children, who are both Black, have an awareness and how parents can “forget how aware our kids are.”

“I wanted them to know what this was all about, what happened to George Floyd and to so many other Black bodies that have died from this violence,” Theron continued. “I wanted them to have an awareness of how unfair and how unjust all of this is.”

—Agency

11

STATE OF AWARENESS

Charlize Theron

GOOD NEWS!

8 YEARS OF COCKTAIL

D

G

ood news for Selenators, as the singing sensation Selena Gomez dropped a brand new video. Gomez teamed up with Trevor Daniel and dropped the stunning visual for their collaboration, Past Life. The music video, which released on Tuesday, shows the artists practising social distancing on Instagram Live amidst the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. Fans are then taken on a gorgeous journey of various landscapes around the world.

Directors Vania Heymann and Gal Muggia show viewers gorgeous shots of water, the mountains, the desert and more.

“I’m trying to be honest with my happiness/ Don’t know why I’m bad at this,” Daniel sings on the track. “And I don’t want to sit all in my sadness/I know it’s a habit of mine,” Gomez sings. “Perfect, perfect timing/I start but I don’t know how to end,” she continues. SuddenSelena Gomez ly, the camera stops and zooms in on Selena, taking viewers on a visual journey.

—Agency

eepika and Diana’s chemistry as friends in the film Cocktail was so easy that you felt that they weren’t performing on screen. Recently, as Cocktail completed 8 years, we found a heartfelt note penned by Diana Penty on Deepika’s personal website.

Diana wrote, “Deepika Padukone was one of my firsts. As my first co-actor in my first ever film, she made quite an impact, allaying my fears and giving me a memorable initiation into a world I had no clue about.

It’s important to remember that I was young, a professional model, who was suddenly plunged into a new universe that was filled with so many unknowns.

Deepika had many films under her belt by then, a rising star and yet she was so warm, with a smile that always made you feel welcome and part of the crew. I am still blown away when I see her transform into the many memorable characters. To cherish the movie and her character, Deepika changed her name on social media to Veronica.

—Agency

Diana Penty

WEIRD DEEPIKA

CORONA NEGATIVE Anupam Kher with his mother Dulari

J

JAIPUR | THURSDAY, JULY 16, 2020

ust a few days back, Anupam Kher shared the news that his mother Dulari and brother Raju Kher, sister-in-law and niece had tested positive for COVID 19 and fans of the actor had taken to social media to pray for them. While Anupam’s brother and his family are home quarantined, his mom Dulari was admitted to the isolation ward of Kokilaben Hospital. Now, the senior star took to social media to share the latest health update about his mother’s well-being and also shared an important message.

Taking to Twitter and Instagram, Kher wrote, ‘Felt like Sharing with you

what I am feeling these days. Mom is trying to be her spirited self in the hospital although is not feeling hungry. Raju, Reema & Vrinda are home quarantined. Parents are so selfless. One must verbally tell them again and again that you love them. For them and for your own self ! #DulariRocks #Love #Selfless #Parents” With this, in the video, Anupam informed his fans that his mom was told that she has an infection and not COVID 19. But he also added that his mom understands as there are a lot of people surrounding him.

Meanwhile, his brother Raju and his family are taking care of themselves. A few days back, he also had undergone the test but it turned out negative. —Agency

A

Deepika Padukone and her posts

mid the lockdown, Deepika Padukone is spending time at home with hubby Ranveer Singh.

Often, the adorable couple gives fans a glimpse of their quarantine and it leaves everyone swooning. She kicked off an ‘Ask Me Anything’ session on Instagram to interact with her fans. Many questions were sent to Deepika and one of them included a curious fan asking about the actress’s weird talents. Seeing the same, Deepika had the coolest reply and it is bound to leave fans curious.

To this, the Chhapaak star shared that she would fly down to Bangalore to meet her parents Prakash and Ujjala Padukone and sister Anisha. The

actress has been spending time at home and not heading out at all. Deepika was last seen in Chhapaak. The film received critical acclaim but did not do well at the box office. Now, she will be seen in Shakun Batra’s next with Ananya Panday and Siddhant Chaturvedi.

—Agency

CITY BUZZ

BFF and More!

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What special care do you take of your pets during the rainy season, City First talks to pet lovers across to get special tips!

JAIPUR | THURSDAY, JULY 16, 2020

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CITY FIRST RAJASTHAN & GUJARAT

W

e all love our pets. Cats, Dogs, rabbits, parakeets add charm to our lives while keeping us healthier.

The maintenance of pets is an entirely different matter though. Not only do they have to be fed (naturally) and taken for walks but also groomed, kept clean, free from lice and other myriad stuff.

Come monsoon and the care has to be much more due to the humid season. Pets are prone to several infections in this weather. Cold, cough and pneumonia are your usual culprits.

Dogs usually suffer from Malassezia which causes itchy skin rashes and burns, whereas cats are prone to respiratory infections. We must try and avoid getting our pets wet in the rain and keep them as dry as possible.

Also, Vets say that it should be a priority to get our pets de-wormed by, as they are most susceptible to worms in the rainy season. Worm infection can lead to anaemia, general debility anorexia and dullness of coat. Also, many pets suffer from ‘Storm anxiety’, be sure to keep them warm and secure during a storm.

Major things to keep in mind is to keep their coat dry. Can use rain gears, also dog shoes. De-worm your pet. Give clean and boiled water. Food as per your vets’ instructions. Indulge in indoor activities like fetch game, tug of war, running indoors etc.

Also mental stimulation games like dog puzzle. Hide and seek. Enjoy monsoons with your furry buddy!

—SEEMS BHARUCHA

Keep them active Just as we have a workout routine, even pets need to stay active. A safety tip for dogs in the rainy season would be to use powders and medicated liquids to get rid of worms and ticks. Keep your pet’s fur dry and use an ideal rain gear as and when required Offer a diet rich in fibre. Boil water before you give it to your pet dog for drinking.

Create a secure resting space for the pooch to tackle fear caused by thunder.

—REENA S TANK

Pets are very delicate. I realized that when I got my first pet cat ‘June’.

They need a lot of care and more so during the monsoon season. So, for her comfort, I avoid turning on the AC and bathing her very often. I have also taken to ensure that no bugs enter the house from the windows, usually in the evening. What everyone can do is just keep their pets clean, dry and safe and let them enjoy the season.

Pets also need as much care in rainy seasons as we humans need. I have a cat as my pet.

I make sure that his paws are clean and he is groomed well whenever he comes back home.

I try to feed him with boiled water as they are also infection-prone in this weather. I also avoid giving him excess meat and oily food. These fur buddies just need this extra little care and love.

—S.AISHWARYA

HAPPY B’DAY!

Union Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal (left) and Degana MLA Vijaypal Mirdha celebrated their birthday on 15 July, Wednesday. We wish them all the best!

—SHERINAZ ENGINEER

—POOJA VASAVA

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: LOVE ACROSS GENERATIONS!

Vimla Lodha, mother of Anil Lodha celebrated her 80th birthday with simplicity on Wednesday with Jagdeesh Chandra and her family members. Seen here are (from left) Sunil Lodha, greatgrandchildren Vagmi and Manit, Anil Lodha and Pradeep.

Firstly let them enjoy the rains the wet mud, run around. Post every outdoor visit/walks ensure the paws are washed & dried. A warm chicken broth with veggies will make up for the much-needed immunity in the seasonal changes.

Vimla Lodha with her great-granddaughter Vagmi.

RAJASTHAN: The CBSE class 10 results came out on Wednesday and the students of Maharaja Sawai Bhawani Singh School have done wonders. Hemakshi Bansal bagged the first position with 98.2% while Nehal Sarraf and Shalini Nakwal secured the second and third position.

RAJASTHAN: State president of all India Yadav Youth Women Wing, Kusum Yadav and Ex-chairman Ajay Yadav welcomed new Commissioner of Greater Nagar Nigam, Jaipur Dinesh Kumar Yadav and Commissioner in vigilance Rakesh Yadav on Tuesday.

IN THE PINK CITY! RAJASTHAN: Amid the ongoing political upheaval in Rajasthan, Rajendra Rathore Deputy, LoP got a few minutes at home which he preferred to spend with his beloved grandson Vishwaraj, taking the time to feed him ice cream and the smile on the face of the doting grandfather is proof of the immediate relaxation he experienced in this loving moment!

RAJASTHAN: Prabha Khaitan Foundation, in association with Siyahi, is going to organise an event, ‘Apni Bhasha Apne Log’ with Former Cabinet Minister, Government of Rajasthan, Bina Kak in conversation with Nand Bhardwaj on the stories of Vijaydan Detha, today at 6 pm, on zoom. The program aims to celebrate local/ regional literature and personal narratives to promote Rajasthani literature.

RAJASTHAN: A Jaipur based event company ‘Pink Concepts’ is going to release ‘India Kids Fashion Walk- Go Virtual’ on 18 July, where child models will be seen walking as on-ramp from their own house. CEO of Pink Concepts, Aman Verma shared that a huge number of kids from different cities of India have participated in our show.