First India-Jaipur Edition-31 May 2020

OUR EDITIONS: JAIPUR & AHMEDABAD

CORONA

23°C - 38°C

ALERT JAIPUR l SUNDAY, MAY 31, 2020 l Pages 12 l 3.00

COVID-19 UPDATE

RNI NO. RAJENG/2019/77764 l Vol 1 l Issue No. 354

INDIA

WORLD

RAJASTHAN

3,68,638 60,90,454 5,185 1,81,796 193 DEATHS

CONFIRMED CASES

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DEATHS

CONFIRMED CASES

DEATHS

8,617

CONFIRMED CASES

1.0

UNLOCK

As we battle out the COVID-19 threat and the long hiatus that clouds the growth of the country, MHA extended lockdown in high-risk zones while allowing partial reopening elsewhere.

Oil tankers move slowly and steadily on the Rohtang Pass Road in Lahaul-Spiti district on Saturday. —PHOTO BY PTI

GRADED EXIT

INDIA OPENS

Night curfew to continue across India from 9 pm to 5 am

ACTIVITIES PROHIBITED AS OF NOW. TO OPEN

BY AUGUST

 INT’L AIR TRAVEL OF PASSENGERS

First India Bureau New Delhi: The government has extended coronavirus lockdown till June 30 and has issued new guidelines for phased-reopening of all activities outside containment zones for the next one month.

The current phase of re-opening, Unlock 1, will have an economic focus, the government said. Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said that the lockdown measures have been relaxed in a graded manner, keeping the overarching objective of containing the spread of COVID-19 in view. The new fifth phase of lockdown is slated to begin from Monday, June 1. Turn on P6

 OPERATION OF METRO RAIL Workers construct wheels of chariots for Lord Jagannaths Rath Yatra, scheduled on June 23, in Puri, which is likely to be held with only a select group of priests and no devotees. —PHOTO BY PTI

PHASE (JUNE 8)

PHASE (JULY)

1

2

Religious places and places of worship for public, hotels, restaurants, other hospitality services, and shopping malls will be permitted to open from June 8.

Health Ministry will issue SOPs for the above activities, in consultation with the Central ministries/ departments concerned and other stakeholders, for ensuring social distancing and to contain the spread of Covid-19.

Schools, colleges, educational/ training/coaching institutions etc, will open after consultations with States and UTs. State Govts/UTs have been advised to hold consultations at the institution level with parents and other stakeholders. Based on the feedback, a decision on the re-opening of these institutions will be taken in the month of July. MoHFW will prepare SOPs for these institutions.

 CINEMA HALLS  GYMNASIUMS  SWIMMING POOLS  ENTERTAINMENT PARKS  THEATRES

NDA 2.0: Modi pens letter and interacts with citizens virtually New Delhi: As the NDA government completes one year of its second term, Prime Minister Narendra Modi listed several achievements and initiatives taken by his government in the past year in an audio message addressed to people of the country.

PM Modi said, “This day last year began a golden chapter in the history of Indian democracy. It was after several decades that the people of the country voted back a full-term government with a full majority.” “Your role

has played a pivotal role in creating this chapter.

In such a situation, this day is an opportunity for me to bow to the citizens of the country and the democratic ethos of

our nation,” said PM Modi.

“Had the situation been normal, I would have got the chance to meet you. Your affection and active support in

the past year have given me new energy and inspiration. During this period, the way you have shown the collective powers of democracy, they have become an example for the whole world,” he added.

PM Modi talked about several important initiatives taken by his government in 2014 as well as India’s demonstration of its mettle through the surgical strike and airstrike.

“Six years ago in 2014, the people of this country voted to bring a Turn on P6, More on P7

 BARS AND AUDITORIUMS  ASSEMBLY HALLS AND SIMILAR PLACES  SOCIAL/POLITICAL/ SPORTS/ ENTERTAINMENT/ ACADEMIC/ CULTURAL/ RELIGIOUS FUNCTIONS/ AND OTHER LARGE CONGREGATIONS

LADAKH STANDOFF: TALKS AT MILITARY, DIPLOMATIC LEVELS

DELHI-MOSCOW FLIGHT RETURNS MID-WAY AS PILOT TESTS POSITIVE

New Delhi: As Indian and Chinese troops remain engaged in a tense border standoff, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday asserted that the government will not allow India’s pride to be hurt under any circumstances even as he said bilateral talks were on at military and diplomatic levels to resolve the row. The Ministry of External Affairs indirectly rejected the offer two days ago, but Singh became the first central minister to speak on India’s position on the issue with clarity. P6

New Delhi: A Moscow-bound special Air India aircraft had to be called back to Delhi mid-way on Saturday after one of the pilots onboard tested positive for the coronavirus infection. The aircraft is currently undergoing the disinfection process at Delhi airport. “The flight was called back to origin airport Delhi after the pilot tested Covid-19 positive. Currently, the aircraft is under the process of fumigation and disinfectant.” an Air India official told ANI. P6

CM’S VC WITH 11,341 VILLAGE- LEVEL REPRESENTATIVES

MGNREGA’s importance proved during Corona: Gehlot  Centre should increase MGNREGA

RELIEF IN PAYMENT OF POWER BILLS

Naresh Sharma

On Saturday, CM Ashok Gehlot provided a major relief to farmers, industries and household consumers by announcing extension of the ongoing relief in payment of electricity bills in state. On 2nd April, Gehlot had announced relief in payment of bills till 31st May, however, since the term of lockdown has been increased, the sensitive Chief Minister has extended the relief period by another month ie till 30th June 2020. Higher education minister Bhanwar Singh Bhati deposited a cheque of over twenty lakh rupees in the Chief Minister Covid-19 Relief Fund on Saturday.

Bhati handed the cheque to CM Gehlot at CMR.

days from 100 to 200, he said  Corona is not yet over, we need to stay together in this fight, Gehlot stressed  Rajasthan top in providing jobs in MGNREGA, migrants also being issued job cards and employed: Pilot Jaipur: Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot turned over a ‘new leaf ’ in state’s administrative

innovation when on Saturday when he interacted with over eleven thousand representatives at village level that included Sarpanchs,

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot during a VC with PHED Minister BD Kalla on Saturday, where Health Minister Dr Raghu Sharma, Rajeeva Swarup, Kuldeep Ranka and Amit Dhaka were present.

Gram Sevaks, Patwaris, BLOs, ANMs, ASHA Sahayoginis and other

gram panchayat level workers, who were playing effective role as war-

riors in fight against corona virus, through a video conference on Saturday, an interaction that has never occurred in the past in this fashion. During the VC, Gehlot stressed on the importance of MGNREGA saying, “The time of COVID-19 pandemic has proved the importance of ambitious employment guarantee scheme MGNREGA initiated by the UPA Government.

Turn on P6

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JAIPUR | SUNDAY, MAY 31, 2020

SATURDAY SHOWERS BRING RELIEF FROM HEAT There was no heat wave in Rajasthan either as light to moderate rains, triggered by a western disturbance, brought some relief from the blistering heat in some parts, the meteorological (MeT) department in Jaipur said. Bharatpur and Nohar in Hanumangarh district received the maximum rainfall -- 64 mm each -- in the 24 hours between Friday and Saturday morning.

Kota was the hottest place in the state with a maximum temperature of 42 degrees Celsius, the MeT department said.

Meanwhile, a man pushes his scooter to cross the street at the JDA circle during a pouring rain on Saturday night.

—PHOTO BY SUNIL SHARMA

Scam in Judiciary: Staff takes pay for Lok Adalats that were not held Nizam Kantaliya Jaipur: Judiciary is trusted to check on corruption in the government. However, it has been found that thousands of judicial employees received two days extra salary without any extra work.

District and Session Judge Umashanker Vyas has given an order against the additional payment in March and April. The employees took this payment for Lok Adalat even though there was no Lok Adalat

—Pic for representational purpose only

held in these months.

In Jaipur, 1356 judicial

employees received payment varying from Rs

1800 to Rs 5600.

A judicial employee said that this scam has been going on for past many years. It has come into light because of corona. “No one raises a voice against it because everyone from top to bottom is involved,” he alleged.

Judicial employees in courts receive honorarium for working in Lok Adalats but even those not eligible received payment in March and April. Gazetted officers including senior Munsarim, executive assis-

tant or private assistant and stenographer grade first also received payments.

The district judge has introduced a new system of salary payment in which Lok Adalat’s payment won’t be paid.

However, there is no word in the letter to High Court registrar about money paid.

Jaipur Bar President Anil Choudhary has written to the member secretary of Rajasthan State Legal Service Authority demanding information on the issue.

7 special trains to run from Jaipur Junction from June 1

Two labourers killed as soil caves in

First India Bureau

First India Bureau

Kota: Two labourers died after soil caved in on them in Rajasthan’s Baran district on Saturday, police said. The labourers were engaged in digging work when the incident took place in the morning in Daulatpura village under Kishanganj police station limits, said SHO Rajendra Meena. Their colleagues pulled them out of the soil and rushed them to hospital where the doctors declared the two brought dead, the station house officer said. The deceased, identified as Surendra Sahariya (22) and Ramjilal Sahariy, belonged to Sahariya tribe.

Their bodies would be handed over to the family members after post-mortem, Meena said.

—PTI

Jaipur: Deputy CM Sachin Pilot has termed the MGNREGA as a blessing for the locally unemployed and migrants in distress. He said that as compared to 33.02 lakh workers employed last year, 42.80 lakh workers are employed in MGNREGA as of May 30, 2020. Pilot said that when all other options of employment are closed, MGNREGA is proving to be a lifeline.

So far 8 lakh migrant workers have also been employed who really need a job to survive. Every day 5000 job cards are being made and so far 1.77 lakh job cards for migrant workers have already been made.

Pilot said that the Met

Jaipur: With the onset of Unlockdown 1.0, the Jaipur Junction is all geared to start 7 special trains from June 1 apart from Railway planning 200 such trains across the country. As of now, only 30 special trains are running in the whole country apart from Shramik special trains.

The Shramik special trains will ply from satellite stations like Kanakpura, Gandhi Nagar, Jagatpura, Khatipura, and Durgapura from June 1.

Jaipur station will only be used for Shramik special trains when in case of no other option. Only the main gate of Jaipur station will be operational

FOLLOWING ARE THE ‘SPECIAL 7’ TRAINS

and all the trains will be operating from platform number 1 and 2. Commuters will have to follow social distancing norms.

There will be yellow and white circles from the main gate to the train. Different gates to board and un-board the train will be

used.

Commuters will only be permitted after thermal screening in the station and they will have to reach the station two hours prior to the train time. No person will be allowed to enter the station to see off a passenger.

Swarms of locusts reach Churu district Churu: Fresh swarms of locusts invaded villages in Churu district here on Thursday night.“Two swarms of locusts reached two villages in Bidasar and Sardarshahar tehsils. Agriculture Department sprayed insecticides with the help of tractor-mounted sprayers and brought them under control,” said Kuldeep Sharma, Agriculture officer, Churu. Pakistan has become a new breeding ground of locusts, entering Rajasthan from adjoining areas in Pakistan, said BR Kadwa, deputy director of agriculture department on May 26.

—ANI

‘MGNREGA is a blessing for migrants in distress’

Sachin Pilot

department has issued a warning for 27 districts for heat wave so he has written to the central government to reduce the working hours in MGNREGA and allow finishing the work by 11 am every day. He said that proper arrangements for water, shade, medical kit, a creche for kids, etc have been made at the workplaces.

Now ‘shramik special’ to ferry workers to workplace: Thakur Thakur urged industry members to contact their workforce and apprise them of upcoming developments in this regard Vaishali New Delhi: In what could be said as government’s ‘mega-initiative’ to breathe life in industries, Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur said on Saturday that another set of ‘Shramik Special’ trains will be run, however this time to facilitate ease of return of workers and la-

bourers to their workplace. Thakur urged industry members to contact their workforce who have reached their native place and apprise them of the upcoming developments in this regard.

While interacting with members of Bharat Chamber of Commerce based in Kolkata, through video conferencing, BJP’s ‘young-turk’

MoS Finance Anurag Thakur

said that a suggestion to extend the scheme to the metro and Tier-II cities is

being considered. Speaking on self-reliance through import substitu-

tion, the minister said that India should increase the mining and export of key minerals like coal and bauxite.

“We need to reduce our reliance on import of coking coal in the future”, he said.

As the economy opens up in a phased manner, the labour-intensive factory and construction units in the western and southern states are facing a shortage of migrated labourers, posing roadblocks to the path of restoring production.

The government ar-

ranged special trains to ferry migrant labourers to their home state after thousands of them were seen walking one state to another along with their family and kids despite the lockdown as they stopped earning with the economic activity coming to a standstill during the lockdown.

The government has announced measures to boost activity. One of these is the extension of a CLSS for middle-income groups to buy affordable housing units till March 31, 2021.

GLOBAL STATE OF AFFAIRS COUNTRY TOTAL CASES

TOTAL NEW DEATHS DEATHS

1,805,270 BRAZIL 469,510 RUSSIA 396,575 SPAIN 286,308 UK 272,826 ITALY 232,664 FRANCE 186,835 GERMANY 183,149 TURKEY 163,103 IRAN 148,950

104,977 28,015 4,555 27,125 38,376 33,340 28,714 8,598 4,515 7,734

USA

+435 +71 +181 +4 +215 +111 +52 +4 +26 +57

WWW.WORLDOMETERS.INFO LAST UPDATED: MAY 30, 2020, 11:30 PM

IN RAJASTHAN DISTRICT

TOTAL CASES

336 53 85 15 99 235 140 104 2 176 104 50 53 356 6 30 1961 74 162 249 124 1476 16 452 446 455 13 135 20 202 157 163 541 14 8504 2 61 50 GRAND TOTAL 8617

AJMER ALWAR BANSWARA BARAN BARMER BHARATPUR BHILWARA BIKANER BUNDI CHITTORGARH CHURU DAUSA DHOLPUR DUNGARPUR GANGANAGAR HANUMANGARH JAIPUR JAISALMER JALORE JHALAWAR JHUNJHUNU JODHPUR KARAULI KOTA NAGAUR PALI PRATAPGARH RAJSAMAND SWAI MADHOPUR SIKAR SIROHI TONK UDAIPUR OTHER DIST. TOTAL OTHER (Italy) EVACUEES BSF

SAMPLE RECEIVED SAMPLE NEGATIVE UNDER EXAMINATION

4558

NEW TOTAL CASES DEATH

+7 — — +7 +7 +25 +4 +1 — — +8 — +3 +17 +1 +1 +29 +2 +7 +3 +3 +34 +4 +12 +2 +41 — — — +15 +10 — +9 — +252 — — — +252

7 2 2 — — 4 2 3 — 4 1 1 — — — — 90 — 2 — 1 19 3 16 8 7 1 1 1 5 3 1 1 8 193 — — — 193

3,95,490 3,82,315

RAJASTHAN JAIPUR | SUNDAY, MAY 31, 2020

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in

BRIEF l Churu: Bhanipura police station has registered a case of gang rape against 4 persons including a ex sarpanch. The victim has been admitted to Bartiya hospital. The gang rape allegedly took place in Jaitsisar village. l Jaipur: Rajasthan University has extended the summer vacations by 15 days. University administration released an order extending summer vacations from 1 to 15 June for teaching faculty. The decision was taken after instructions

by Governor Kalraj Mishra who is de facto Chancellor of the university. l Chittorgarh: Chanderoya plant of Hindustan Zinc has again witnessed death of a worker due to carelessness and negligence. Deceased Ramesh Chandra Maru was working in the plant for 25 years. The workers found the dead body in a slurry reservoir in the morning when they arrived for work.

Although the Hindustan Zinc management claimed death while treatment at hospital.

The workers staged a massive protest and police was called.

The management has assured compensation and job to a dependent.

Such incidents have become a routine and the police is never seen taking any action or investigating the worker deaths on the management once the compensation is paid. l Bagru: SHO Brijbhushan Agrawal arrested the wife Kusum of slain Suresh after the police arrested her paramour in the case for murdering husband Suresh. Interrogation with accused Puran revealed the role of Kusum in the murder who was upset for not being able to meet her lover due to lockdown.

Kusum reportedly suggested Puran a murder video on You Tube to plan for her husband’s murder. l Tonk: Todaraisingh reported a death due to heavy rains in the district. There are reports of trees falling and loss of property.

9 deaths, 252 new cases found on Sat, total 8,617 cases in Raj First India Bureau

Jaipur: The corona positive tally touched 8617 on Saturday with addition of 252 positives. The death toll due to corona also rose to 193 with record 9 deaths in last 24 hours.

Three patients were reported dead from Sirohi, Jaipur and Jodhpur reported 2 deaths each while one each from Pali and Sikar died.

Maximum 41 new cases were reported from Pali followed by 34 from Jodhpur, 29 from Jaipur, 25 from Bharatpur, 17 from Dungar-

SUBASH GARG HOME QUARANTINED

Families of the migrant labourers resting at the migrant labour sheltor home set up by the government.

—PHOTO BY SUMAN SARKAR

pur, 15 from Sikar, 12 from Kota,10 from Sirohi, 9 from Udaipur, 8

from Churu, 7 each from Ajmer, Baran, Barmer & Jalore, 4 each

Leaders bid adieu to ex-state BJP president

Satish Poonia paying respects to Bhanwar Lal Sharma at BJP HQ.

First India Bureau Jaipur: Veteran BJP leader Bhanwar Lal Sharma was cremated on Friday.

PM Modi, BJP president JP Nadda, HM Amit Shah, Governor Kalraj Mishra, CM Gehlot, Deputy CM Sachin Pilot, former CM Vasundhara Raje and

other prominent people expressed their condolences. BJP state chief Satish Poonia said that due to ongoing restrictions senior leaders from Delhi could not come for the funeral but the whole party conveyed respects. Sharma’s body was kept at BJP HQ for the workers to pay last respects.

RBSE releases time table for classes HC disposes off PIL on CM Covid Fund 10th, 12th; exams from June 18 First India Bureau Jaipur: Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education (RBSE) has released the time table of board exams for 10th and 12th class. The examination for class 12th would be held between June 18th and 30th. Social science paper for class 10th would be held on June 29th and Maths on June 30th.

Chief Minister

Ashok Gehlot had held a meeting with education minister and senior officials of the education department following which the board released the time table today. The CM has asked

‘Women, youth can rejuvenate economy’

officials to take all precautions during the exams.

The scheduled time table for Class 12 is as following, Math on June 18, IT and Programming June 19, Geography / Business Studies June 22, Home Science June 23, Painting June 24, Hindi literature, Urdu literature, Sindhi literature, Gujarati literature, Punjabi literature, Ra-

First India Bureau

Man dies in hosp, action demanded

Jaipur: Governor Kalraj Mishra encouraged women entrepreneurs and youth of the state to face challenges with confidence and innovative strategies. He said both women and youth had the potential to rejuvenate economy.

Governor was the chief guest in a webinar organised by CII on the role of women and youth in rejuvenating the economy during Covid-19 crisis.

He stressed that Covid-19 can only be defeated through lockdown, staying at home and social distancing. He said that youth should start their ventures with determination, zeal and low capital.

Kota: In a matter pertaining to a person, admitted in COVID-19 ward in New Medical College in Kota, dying after falling from his bed, Collector of the district, after an independent inquiry, has ordered an inquiry against the concerned compounder Omprakash APO. Action may be taken as a direct consequence to story being broadcasted in First India News Channel.

Initially Medical College Principal was ready to accept negligence, but now he is cornered by civil society to take action.

First India Bureau

Governor Kalraj Mishra

Answering a question Mishra agreed that corona crisis has changed the education scenario and now it needs an online platform. CII women wing president Kiran Poddar, youth wing president Jalesh Arya, CII president Vishal Baid and vice president Sanjay Saboo attended the webinar.

Lack of passenger load continues on sixth day, only 8 flights take off First India Bureau Jaipur: Once again 12 flights from Jaipur had to be cancelled on Friday due to low passenger load.

Earlier, when air traffic resumed on May 25, similar number of flights had been cancelled. However, there was hope that slowly number of passengers would increase. But, even after six days, the situation has not improved.

According to sources, only eight flights operated from Jaipur while 12 scheduled flights had

from Bhilwara & Karauli, 3 each from Dholpur, Jhalawar & Jhunj-

hunu, & Hanimangarh.

2 each from Jaisalmer & Nagaur and one each from Bikaner & Sri Ganganagar Jaipur reported 29 new cases on Friday. 3 cases each were from Ramganj, Shashtri Nagar & Ghat Gate, 2 each from Chaura Rasta,& Sikar Road while one case each was reported from Janakpuri, Malviya Nagar, Galta Gate, Chandpole, Paldi Meena, Kalwad Road, Jagatpura, Jhalana Gujar Ghati, Agrasen Nagar, Johari Bazar, Manoharpur, Choti Chaupar, Dagar Road, Hotel Swagat and SMS hospital.

03

to be cancelled. The maximum number of six flights cancelled belonged to Spice Jet followed by three from Indigo. Spice Jet cancelled its flights for Amritsar

and Indigo cancelled flights for Mumbai even though tickets had been booked.

On the other hand, Air India did not operate a single flight for

Agra whereas Air Asia cancelled two flights for Pune and Bengaluru, respectively.

Till date maximum 11 flights took off from Jaipur on May 26.

jasthan literature, Persian, Prakrit language / typography (English) on 25 June, Sanskrit literature June 26, English literature / typing script (Hindi) June 27, Musicals / Dance Kathak / Instrumental Music June 29, Psychology June 30 The scheduled time table for Class 10 is as following, Social science on June 29, Math June 30

First India Bureau Jaipur: Rajasthan HC has said that CM Covid-19 Relief Fund has been created to fight corona epidemic in the entire state and so HC cannot order to change the fund for any particular area or district.

Bench of CJ Indrajit Mahanty and Justice Satish Sharma has given this order while disposing off PIL filed on

behalf of Devendra Singh Shekhawat filed

by Advocate SK Singh.

PIL said Rs1.25 crore were collected under the Fund in Ajmer out of which 79 lakh were transferred in bank account to relief fund and closed the account on April 29. In PIL it was said that since the amount collected was for Ajmer, it should be used only for Ajmer District.

Vasundhara Raje @VasundharaBJP Hearty congratulations and best wishes to Modi Government 2.0 for completing a successful one year under the visionary and efficient leadership of our popular Prime Minister @narendramodi.

PERSPECTIVE JAIPUR | SUNDAY, MAY 31, 2020

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MODI GOVERNMENT — 2.0

A YEAR OF HISTORIC, BOLD AND TRANSFORMATIONAL REFORMS PIYUSH GOYAL Union Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry

A

India scaled new heights on all fronts in the past one year.

For Indian Railways, 2019-20 was the best year in terms of safety performance with zero passenger fatalities due to accidents. After eliminating all unmanned level crossings, this year, a record number of 1,274 manned level crossings were eliminated (compared to 631 in 2018-19)

s the Modi Government 2.0 completes one year on 30th May 2020, our country has witnessed several landmark decisions. The abrogation of Article 370 along with bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir, passing of the historic Citizenship Amendment Act and more recently, the efficient handling of the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, have demonstrated the firm resolve and achievement of the Government.

India’s efforts to contain and fight COVID-19 have been commended worldwide, and our current rates for infection, death and other indicators like doubling of cases, are amongst the lowest in the world. To fight the economic impact of the pandemic, Government under the leadership of the Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji came out with a sustainable and forward looking economic package, amounting to more than Rs. 20 Lakh Cr. This package provides relief to the poor, opens new vistas for investment, provides the framework for businesses to be future ready and be able to compete. It demonstrates the commitment of the Government to Prime Minister Modi ji’s mantra of ‘Aatma Nirbhar Bharat’, which entails a strong, confident and self-reliant India. Staying true to our tradition of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam”, i.e. the world is one big family, India has unconditionally provided medical supplies including Hydroxychloroquine, to over 120 countries to combat COVID-19, of which 43 countries received it as a grant.

India scaled new heights on all fronts in the past one year. For Indian Railways, 2019-20 was the best year in terms of safety performance with zero

passenger fatalities due to accidents. After eliminating all unmanned level crossings, this year, a record number of 1,274 manned level crossings were eliminated (compared to 631 in 2018-19).

Commissioning of New line, Doubling and Gauge conversion also increased to 2,226 km in 2019-20, which is nearly 50% more than the average annual commissioning achieved during 2009-14 (1,520 km/ year). Punctuality of trains also improved significantly by nearly 10% over last year.

Indian Railways is rightly called the ‘Lifeline of India’, and it has lived up to its name during the lockdown. Indian Railways has ensured uninterrupted 24x7 freight operations of essential commodities like food grains, coal salt,

Indian Railways is rightly called the ‘Lifeline of India’, and it has lived up to its name during the lockdown. Indian Railways has ensured uninterrupted 24x7 freight operations of essential commodities like food grains, coal salt, sugar, milk, edible oil, etc. To ensure the safe return of migrant labourers to their home states, Indian Railways operationalized 3,705 “Shramik Special” trains and carried more than 50 Lakh migrants

sugar, milk, edible oil, etc. To ensure the safe return of migrant labourers to their home states, Indian Railways operationalized 3,705 “Shramik Special” trains and carried more than 50 Lakh migrants. Railways has also distributed over 75 lakh free meals to migrants so far. Fur-

thering Make in India, it also produced PPEs, sanitisers, and reusable face covers.

Government took several steps to promote exports as well as protect the interests of domestic industries. India is also engaging to resolve all outstanding issues with the USA,

South Korea and Japan to boost exports, and working to initiate dialogue with European Union. Prime Minister Modi ji refused to compromise on India’s interests in the RCEP negotiations. To create a level playing field, the average time taken to initiate an anti-dumping investigation was brought down to 33 days. With an objective of reducing excessive dependence on non-essential imports, duty was increased on 89 items, and prohibition/restrictions was imposed on 13 items.

All these decisions were taken keeping in mind the poorest of the poor. Import of Agarbattis, which has a deep cultural, spiritual and economic connect with our society were made restricted, and this small step ensured a livelihood

Which parts of the emerging consensus will survive?

W

hat is the COVID-19 crisis teaching us about the role of the state?

And what lasting lessons will our societies draw from it? It is still very early to be asking these questions, but they cannot be avoided. Postponing their discussion would simply leave the field open for those peddling old obsessions whose time is long gone (if it ever came).

The starting point should be that, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and US President Donald Trump notwithstanding, a new pandemic consensus has been forged on the battlefield. It can be summarized in four propositions.

First, the social value of professions, tasks, and behaviors – the price that should guide policy decisions and individual

choices – often differs from their market value by a wide margin. Sometime around the end of March, much of the world realized that the work of a nurse or a care assistant was worth more – at least at that moment – than the pay they ordinarily receive.

This disconnect is nothing new, but it had been forgotten. By putting the spotlight on the sector where markets perform the worst – health care – the coronavirus pandemic inevitably prompted a welcome reassessment of the relative roles of markets and the state.

Second, only governments can insure against catastrophic risk. Again, it has been known for a long time that the state is the insurer of last resort.

But what had previously remained relatively abstract suddenly became

The coronavirus pandemic inevitably prompted a welcome reassessment of the relative roles of markets and the state

obvious to all. In a situation of generalized stress, only governments (with the help of central banks) can protect citizens, prevent bankruptcies, and limit social fragmentation. Markets are good at tackling mutually offsetting risks, but only the

state can tackle tail risks.

Third, globalization fosters efficiency, but it is the state that must provide resilience. Until recently, it was an article of faith that individual countries could always rely on deep and liquid global markets to access whichever goods they

needed. But then came the shocking realization that these markets could be disrupted by a sudden surge in demand for face masks and respirators, and that China alone accounted for 60% of global exports of protective medical equipment. Little wonder, then, that “health sovereignty” was the first item in the recently announced Franco-German recovery plan for Europe.

Lastly, obstacles to state intervention can be overcome in the event of a once-in-a-century shock.

As the crisis took hold in March, the European Union quickly decided to relax its rules limiting state aid to private companies and to activate an escape clause exempting member states from the fiscal strictures of the Stability and Growth Pact.

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for lakhs of poor Agarbatti makers especially women. India has emerged as a reliable and trustworthy partner globally.

It is worth noting that FDI inflow grew by 18.4% to US$ 73.46 bn. India jumped 14 places to be ranked 63rd in the World Bank’s Doing Business (DB) Rankings.To facilitate investment, 100% FDI under automatic route was permitted for Coal Mining activities (including sales) and Contract manufacturing. To curb opportunistic takeovers/acquisitions of Indian companies, FDI policy was amended.

The COVID crisis has shown us that traders are also frontline warriors.

The philosophy of our Government has always upheld the interests of traders, and a National Traders’ Welfare Board is being set-up. Also, several steps were taken this year to promote start-ups, including tax reforms as well as announcing the creation of a National Startup Advisory Council.

In our post COVID-19 strategy, we have identified 12 priority sectors. The idea is to build on our existing strengths and domestic capabilities and increase share of global exports in priority sectors through facilitation and policy interventions. Work in 3 sectors is in an advanced stage (Furniture, AC, Leather & Footwear). Work is in active mode in remaining sectors.

Shri Veer Savarkar, who was synonymous with courage, patriotism and a commitment to a strong and self-reliant India had said “Calmness in preparation but boldness in execution, this should be watchword during the moments of crisis”. These words vividly illustrate the ability of Prime Minister Modi ji to handle a crisis with a firm and calm approach but with the boldness and courage expected from a true world leader..

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL

Top

TWEET Amit Shah @AmitShah I extend my best wishes to all those celebrating the auspicious occassion of Jyeshtha Ashtami, especially our Kashmiri Pandit brothers and sisters. May Mata Kheer Bhawani bless everyone with good health and happiness.

Dharmendra Pradhan @dpradhanbjp The world has taken note of India’s people-driven fight against #Covid19.

Led by PM Shri @narendramodi, India has tackled the pandemic in more significant ways than others.

The health crisis has binded the nation and has taught us to come together to emerge victorious.

Spiritual SPEAK

Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship. —Buddha

Vol 1 Issue No. 354 RNI NO. RAJENG/2019/77764. Printed and published by Anita Hada Sangwan on behalf of First Express Publishers. Printed at Bhaskar Printing Press, D.B. Corp Limited, Shivdaspura, Tonk Road, Jaipur.

Published at 304, 3rd Floor, City Mall, Bhagwan Das Road, C-Scheme, Jaipur-302001, Rajasthan. Phone 0141-4920504. Editor: Jagdeesh Chandra, responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act

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PM MODI 2.0 FIRST YEAR

‘A tenure full of historic feats’ Full of accomplishment with rare challenges:Nadda

Shah also extended his gratitude to BJP workers for spreading the word of party’s achievements.

New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah congratulated PM Narendra Modi on the first anniversary of his government’s second term. He described the second term of PM Modi as “historic” and claimed that that the ruling government has corrected many “historic wrongs.” “I heartily congratulate the country’s popular Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the successful one year of Modi 2.0. It has been full of historic achievements. I am confident that under your vision and decisive leadership, India will continue to move towards in the progressive direction.”

“Modi Ji has not only rectified many historical wrongs during these six years’ tenure but also has laid the foundation of a self-reliant

MODI NAME HAS A MANTRA: CHOUHAN

India, which is progressing on the path of development by bridging the gap of six decades. This six-year term is an example of parallel coordination, welfare for the poor and economic reforms,” he tweeted in Hindi.

The Home Minister further said, “The reflection of honest leadership and tireless hard work, the unwavering faith of the people of

India in Prime Minister Modi is rarely seen in the world. I salute the people of India for electing the Modi government and becoming co-partners in the achievements.”

Shah also extended his gratitude to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers for spreading the word of the party’s achievements and its welfare schemes in the last six years. —ANI

HC seeks report from Uddhav govt on steps taken for migrants Mumbai: Taking note of the congregation of migrant workers at railway stations and bus stands in Maharashtra as they wait for their return to the home states, the Bombay High Court has sought a report from the Maharashtra government on how it was addressing the issue.

A division bench of CJ Dipankar Datta and Justice K K Tated was on Friday hearing a petition filed by the Centre of Indian Trade Unions, raising concerns over the plight of migrant workers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the petitioner, the migrant workers who have submitted applications for leaving Maharashtra availing the Shramik special trains and buses, have been left in the dark about the status of their applications.

The plea said that till

the time they are to board the train or bus for their native place, they are made to stay in cramped and unhygienic shelters without being provided with food and other essentials.

Additional solicitor general Anil Singh on Friday told the court that the Supreme Court is already seized of a matter pertaining to all issues faced by the migrant workers.

The court took note

IMA’s PASSING OUT PARADE WITHOUT CADETS’ PARENTS Dehradun: For the first time in its history, the Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehradun has decided not to invite parents in the passing out parade of its gentleman cadets due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The passing out parade is scheduled for June 13. “In the passing out parade of gentleman cadets parents will not be

participating. The decision is taken by IMA administration in the light of coronavirus pandemic,” said PRO, IMA Lt Colonel Amit Dagar while speaking to media. According to the Health Ministry, Uttarakhand has so far recorded 716 cases of coronavirus, out of which 609 are active cases , acc to MoHFW.

of this, but said it would still require the state government to file a report by June 2.

“With regard to peculiar local conditions, we consider it fit to call upon the state to file a report indicating how the plight of the migrant workers, who have been assembling at the railways stations, bus stands in Mumbai and places around it are being addressed,” the court said. —PTI

New Delhi: BJP president JP Nadda hailed the PM Narendra Modi-led government for completing the first year of its second consecutive tenure and called it a year of “accomplishment with unimaginable challenges” and added that this government has the capacity to take bold decisions.

“This has been a year of accomplishments and we have also faced unimaginable challenges. The Prime Minister led from the front to give a vision to the country and managed the

This has been a year of accomplishments & we have also faced unimaginable challenges. The PM led from the front to give a vision to the country & managed corona crisis well.

—JP Nadda, BJP President

coronavirus crisis well. Starting from testing facility to developing PPE kits and ventilators in the fight against COVID-19, the country un-

der PM Modi’s leadership is heading towards a self-reliant India. A holistic package was also announced by our government,” he said. —ANI

Second term full of historic reforms, achievements: Yogi

NDA govt has worked with a vision Sabka saath, sabka vikas, said UP CM Yogi.

Lucknow: UP CM Yogi Adityanath extended his good wishes to countrymen and his party workers on completion of first year of NDA government’s second tenure under the ‘glorious leadership’ of PM Modi, stating that it was full of “historic reforms & achievements”.

Adityanath said the NDA government has always worked with the vision of ‘Sabka Sath, Sabka Viswas and Sabka Vikas’ as shown by PM Modi. “The BJP has completed its 1 year of the second tenure under the glorious leadership of PM Modi. It was full of historic achievements powered by the mantra of ‘Sabka Sath, Sabka Viswas and Sabka Vikas.’ —ANI

05

‘India stands at crossroads in 7th year of Modi Govt’ New Delhi: The Congress criticised the Narendra Modi government on completing six years in office, saying the country stood at crossroads in the seventh year and the people were exhausted by the “weight of the government’s sins.”

Addressing a press conference, Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal said, “The first year of the second term of the Modi government has been a year of disappointment, disastrous management and pain.”

He said at the start of the seventh year, India stood at crossroads.

“Citizens are exhausted by the weight of this government’s sins and callous insensitivity to the widespread suffering,” the Congress leader said.

Slamming the government over its performance in last six years, he said, “Over the last six years, India witnessed a steady increase in the politics of distraction and false noise, to the point that it has become a defining mainstay of the Modi government’s administrative style.”

He said while it served the political interests of BJP, it came at an “unprecedented

LEADER SPEAK

economic and social cost” to the nation.

Hitting out at PM, he said “But as we shall see, even the most ordinary expectations of keeping the country running were beyond the capabilities of this government which promised so much & delivered so very little.” —Agencies

‘Of total patients, only 2,100 are in hosps’ New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday, said that out of the total number of COVID-19 cases in the national capital, only 2,100 are in hospitals, while the rest are undergoing treatment at their homes.

“In the last few days, Delhi is witnessing a surge in COVID-19 cases, we accept it. It is a matter of concern, but there is no need to panic.

I want to assure you that your government is four steps ahead of coronavirus,” Kejriwal said.

“Out of the total patients, only 2,100 are in hospitals the rest are undergoing treatment at their homes. 6,600 beds for the patients are ready till date. By June 5, there will be 9,500 beds in Delhi,” he added.

Kejri said that there are 17,386 COVID-19 cases in Delhi, out of which 9,142 are active, 7,846 have been cured/ and 398 have died. —ANI

MASSIVE SANTIZATION DRIVE IN PARLIAMENT HOUSE COMPLEX New Delhi: The Central Public Works Department, New Delhi Municipal Corporation and other agencies undertook a massive sanitization drive in all buildings situated in the Parliament House Complex on Saturday. “The comprehensive drive by the agencies included the sanitization of all indoor& outdoor areas, including individual offices, restrooms, and all common areas,” read an official statement issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat. Lok Sabha Secretariat had conducted a similar exercise on March 21.

‘No complete lockdown’ in Karnataka on May 31

Health workers prepare a temporary set-up of 1450 beds for COVID-19 patients in Chennai.

TWO OFFICIALS AT MEA TEST +VE New Delhi: At least two persons working at the headquarters of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in national capital have tested coronavirus disease positive, people familiar with developments said, as proactive measures are being taken to handle all such cases. A consultant working for the ministry’s Central

Europe division and an officer of the law division have tested Covid-19 positive, the people cited above said on condition of anonymity.

Other staff of the Central Europe division were directed on May 27 to go into self-quarantine for a fortnight and work from home. People, who were in contact with the legal officer,

BOOK ON PM NARENDRA MODI IN 20 LANGUAGES RELEASED BY EX- CJI New Delhi: In a unique web launch with dignitaries present in India and the US, a holistic and comprehensive biography of PM Narendra Modi was released by former Chief Justice of India Justice KG Balakrishnan to mark his completing six eventful years as Prime Minister. Releasing the book `Narendra Modi-

Harbinger of Prosperity and Apostle of World Peace, which is available in 20 languages, Justice Balakrishnan said that every citizen including the common man “wants to know about the life of this great leader & a great visionary.” He also referred to need for people to act responsibly in situation created by COVID-19.

too, were asked to observe self-quarantine from Friday, the people said.”The external affairs ministry has been proactive in handling any Covid-19 positive cases among its employees or consultants in accordance with health protocol laid down by the government,” said one of the people cited above. —ANI

Bengaluru: Karnataka government has relaxed lockdown norms for a single day on May 31. CM BS Yediyurappa’s office said that this decision has been taken keeping in view the interests of the general public of the state.

“There will be no complete lockdown on Sunday (tomorrow) in the interest of the general public of the state. Normal day to day life will continue tomorrow,” the statement from Karnataka Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) read.

According to the Health Ministry, Karnataka so far has recorded 2,781 cases of COVID-19, of which 1839 are active cases. —ANI

NASA PICKS 3 INDIAN FIRMS TO MAKE LOW COST VENTILATOR Washington: NASA has selected three Indian companies to make a low-cost ventilator tailored for Covid-19 patients. The three Indian companies are Alpha Design Technologies Pvt Ltd, Bharat Forge Ltd and Medha Servo Drives Pvt Ltd, the US space agency said in a statement on Friday. The prototype, which was created by NASA’’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineers in just 37 days, received an emergency use authorisation from the US Food and Drug Administration on April 30.

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bird collapses LADAKH STAND-OFF: India, Ibis in heat, rescued

China talking, says Rajnath

Both countries had made it clear that they wanted to resolve the problem New Delhi: India and China are talking to each other at military and diplomatic levels to resolve the Ladakh standoff, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Saturday. Singh’s statement is the first from a senior central minister on the standoff with China at four points along the Line of Actual Control.

Rajnath Singh told that both countries had made it clear that they wanted to resolve the problem.

The Defence Minister also underlined that there was no need for the United States to meditate since the two

VIEWPOINT

countries already had a mechanism to resolve problems and it had been set in motion.

US President Donald Trump this week told reporters that he was “ready, willing and able to mediate” between India and China to help resolve tension

at the border.

The offer has been rejected by foreign ministries of the two countries.

The offer also figured in a conversation between Rajnath Singh and US secretary of state Mark Esper when they spoke last evening.

“I told him that India and China already had a mechanism that if there is any problem between the two countries, it is resolved by military and diplomatic dialogue. That mechanism is in place and the dialogue is on,” Rajnath Singh said.

He also pointed to statements from Beijing on similar lines.”India’s policy has been very clear that we should have good relations with all neighbours. This has been a long standing effort.

But sometimes, circumstances arise with China that things like this happen,” he said.

Railings around the Taj Mahal are partially damaged and can be seen fallen on the floor following the heavy wind and rain in Agra on Friday.

—PHOTO BY ANI

Spl AI flight to bring 132 Indians from Kazakhstan

Nur-Sultan: A special flight of national carrier Air India y departed from Nur-Sultan Airport, Kazakhstan, carrying as many as 132 Indians stranded in the central Asian country due to the coronavirus-induced global travel restrictions.

“Special Air India flight AI 1962 took off from Nur-Sultan today at 1215 hrs evacuating

New Delhi: A Glossy Ibis bird was rescued from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence after it collapsed due to severe heat exhaustion and dehydration, a non-profit wildlife organisation said on Saturday.

Security personnel found the bird near the reception area of the PM House at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg on Friday, a statement from the NGO, Wildlife SOS, said.

The Glossy Ibis is a wading bird belonging to the ibis family and is a migratory species.

They are widely distributed across the world and inhabit wetlands, marshes and ag-

New Delhi: Aviation regulator Director-General of Aviation (DGCA) has launched an investigation into a “serious lapse” after an Air India flight from Delhi to Moscow on Saturday returned midway after its pilot was found COVID-19 infected.

In its initial probe, the DGCA has found that this was a ‘serious lapse’ by the state runcarrier Air India.

“This was a serious lapse and the regulator has asked Air India (AI)

POWER Gallery INDIAN ECONOMIST ABHAS JHA GETS KEY ASSIGNMENT IN WB

Abhas Jha, an Indian economist, has been appointed by World Bank to a key position on climate change and disaster management in South Asia.

SANJAY KUNDU IS NEW DGP OF HIMACHAL PRADESH

Sanjay Kundu has been appointed new DGP of Himachal Pradesh. He is a 1989 batch IPS officer.

ARUN SINGHAL APPOINTED CEO, FOOD SAFETY & STANDARDS AUTHORITY OF INDIA riculture lands.

“Suffering from heat exhaustion and dehydration, the bird was unable to fly. The officials contacted Wildlife SOS which rushed a two-member rescue team to the bird’s aid, the NGO said.

The bird was given oral rehydration solution and was then kept under observation.

DGCA seeks probe as Delhi-Moscow flight returns

RAIN KE SIDE EFFECTS...

VANDE BHARAT MISSION

from PM’s home

06

to file a full report of the incident, and DGCA official is investigating the incident,” a DGCA source said.

The Airbus A320NEO plane, which had departed from New Delhi as a ferry flight (no passengers) for Moscow to bring back stranded Indians was instructed to return to the national capital after it was airborne for 2 hours and 30 minutes.

The flight had had crossed Pakistan, Afghanistan. —ANI

Pradhan & family sing Bande Utkal Janani to honour Corona warriors

132 Indians under # Va n d e B h a r a t M i s sion,” Embassy of India in Kazakhstan tweeted.

This was the fifth repatriation flight from Kazakhstan & first from Nur-Sultan under the second phase of operations of Government of India’s ‘Vande Bharat’ Mission which aims to evacuate stranded Indians home amid the lockdown. —ANI

Bhubaneswar/Delhi: Union Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan along with his family and CM Naveen Patnaik sang, ‘Bande Utkala Janani’, a patriotic Odia song, to express respect and gratitude for the COVID-19 frontline workers.

Patnaik sang the song at his residence for doctors, nurses, police personnel and others who are playing a key role in combating COVID-19. Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan also joined people from Odisha in singing the song from his Delhi residence.

Patnaik had on Friday, sought the coopera-

tion of Pradhan for singing ‘Bande Utkal Janani’, to boost the morale of Odisha’s COVID-19 warriors.

“Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik spoke to Union Minister of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Steel, Dhar-

mendra Pradhan and sought his cooperation on singing of Bande Utkal Janani at 5:30 pm on May 30 to boost the morale of Odisha COVID Warriors,” Odisha CMO tweeted. In video message, Patnaik, while speaking in

Odia, had outlined how several countries regardless of their economic strength have faced difficult situations due to coronavirus crisis. The state has recorded 1,723 confirmed cases and seven fatalities. —ANI

be increased from 100 to 200 days per year. Besides, looking to severely hot weather, relief should be given to the workers by reducing their working hours,” the chief minister said, adding further that so far Rajasthan has been successful in combating with corona virus and the common people from village to city have extended full cooperation and have ensured to abide by the health protocol or other government advisories. He said, “Now, we are making efforts so that economic activities come back on tracks. This

would ensure smooth running of the campaign saving life and livelihood can also run smoothly.”

“Fight against corona is yet not over, so there is no time to grow tired of this. Everyone is required to come together and continue extending cooperation to each other in maintaining the arrangements,” he said.

Gehlot said that the state government was also fighting the attack of locusts in many districts and taking necessary steps to control the damages caused by these insects. Rs. 65 crore have been given

under contingency plan to maintain smooth supply of drinking water to the district administration.

Every district has been allocated Rs 50 lakh. Apart from this, Rs 25 lakh have been approved for every assembly for carrying out drinking water works as per the local needs on recommendation of MLAs. Meanwhile, Deputy CM Sachin Pilot said that Rajasthan was on the top in the entire country in providing employment through MGNREGA. “As on today, approximately 42.80 lakh people have

been employed in MGNREGA in Rajasthan,” he said further stating, “it was the highest number so far. Migrants who have come from outside of the state are also being issued job cards and being subsequently employed under the MGNREGA scheme. 83% of works being sanctioned in MGNREGA were of the personal category. Besides, employed labourers are also being paid on time.”

Medical & Health Minister Dr. Raghu Sharma said that at present the capacity of corona testing has

reached 17,650 per day and in coming days, it will become 25,000 tests per day. He said recruitment process for 2000 doctors has been started. PHED Minister Dr. BD Kalla said there would be no shortage of drinking water in the state during summers stressing that 38,000 hand pumps have been repaired and 3417 new have been approved.

During the VC, Chief Secretary DB Gupta said that dialogue was held from district level to gram panchayat level for effectively dealing with COVID-19. “The ground level feedback

Arun Singhal has been appointed Chief Executive Officer, Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). He is a 1987 batch IAS officer of UP cadre.

S GOPALAKRISHNAN APPOINTED ADDITIONAL SECRETARY, PMO

S Gopalakrishnan has been appointed Additional Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office. He is a 1991 batch IAS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre.

RAJENDRA KUMAR APPOINTED ADDITIONAL SECRETARY, ELECTRONICS & IT

Rajendra Kumar has been appointed Additional Secretary, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology. He is a 1992 batch IAS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre.

SUBIR MALLICK APPOINTED ADDITIONAL SECRETARY & FS, AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH & EDUCATION

Subir Mallick has been appointed Additional Secretary and Financial Adviser in the Department of Agricultural Research and Education. He is a 1989 batch IA&AS officer.

C SRIDHAR APPOINTED JOINT SECRETARY, PMO

C Sridhar has been appointed Joint Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office. He is a 2001 batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre.

ALAKANANDA DAYAL APPOINTED JOINT SECRETARY, AGRICULTURE

Alaknanda Dayal has been appointed Joint Secretary, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare. She is a 2000 batch IAS officer of Punjab cadre.

PALLAVI AGARWAL APPOINTED MEMBER SECRETARY, NMA

Pallavi Agarwal has been appointed Member Secretary, National Monuments Authority (NMA).

She is a 1991 batch IRS-IT officer.

SURENDRA PRASAD YADAV APPOINTED JOINT SECRETARY, DEFENCE PRODUCTION

Surendra Prasad Yadav has been appointed Joint Secretary, Department of Defence Production. He is a 1996 batch IFS officer of the West Bengal cadre.

V RADHA APPOINTED JOINT SECRETARY, DPIIT

V Radha has been appointed Joint Secretary, Department of Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade. She is a 1994 batch IAS officer of the Maharashtra cadre.

Union Minister of Petroleum Dharmendra Pradhan along with wife Mridula, daughter Namisha, son Nishant, father Dr Debendra Pradhan and mother Basanta Pradhan singing the patriotic Odia song.

ATEESH KUMAR SINGH APPOINTED JOINT SECRETARY, MSME

Ateesh Kumar Singh has been appointed Joint Secretary, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. He is a 1994 batch IRTS officer.

MANISH TIWARI APPOINTED JOINT SECRETARY, MHA

Manish Tiwari has been appointed Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs. He is a 1995 batch IRTS officer.

FROM PG 1 MGNREGA’s importance...

At the hour of crisis, this scheme has given support to crores of people in villages throughout the country.

This shows success of this scheme. In such time when people have become unemployed, MGNREGA gave them much needed relief.”

Gehlot demanded that the centre should increase the work days of MGNREGA to two hundred days to provide further job opportunities. “Our demand to the Central Government is that the working days in MGNREGA

and suggestions received during this conference will help in preparing better strategy to fight against corona,” he added.

NDA 2.0:... major change in the country. You voted to change the country’s policy and manner.

During that tenure where surgical strike and airstrike took place, one rank one pension, one nation one tax GST, and better MSP for farmers were also fulfilled. That period was dedicated to fulfilling many needs of the country.” —ANI

Graded exit...

All activities that were prohibited earlier will be opened up in areas outside containment zones in a phased manner, with the stipulation of following Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), to be prescribed by the Health Ministry.

Meanwhile, Lockdown has been extended in West Bengal till June 15. Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh too on Saturday announced lockdown in Punjab, till June 30, with certain more relaxations, subject to the guidelines of the central government. —ANI

TALKING POINT JAIPUR | SUNDAY, MAY 31, 2020

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M

y fellow Indian, This day last year began a golden chapter in the history of Indian democracy. It was after several decades that the people of the country voted back a full term government with a full majority.

Once again, I bow to the 130 crore people of India and the democratic ethos of our nation.

During normal times, I would have been in your midst.

However, the present circumstances do not permit that. That is why, I seek your blessings through this letter.

Your affection, goodwill and active cooperation have given new energy, and inspiration. The way you have showcased the collective strength of democracy is a guiding light for the whole world.

Back in 2014, the people of the country voted for a substantive transformation. In the last five years, the nation saw how the administrative apparatus broke itself free of status quo and from the swamp of corruption as well as misgovernance. True to the spirit of ‘Antyodaya’ the lives of millions have been transformed.

From 2014 to 2019, India’s stature rose significantly. The dignity of the poor was enhanced. The nation achieved financial inclusion, free gas and electricity connections, total sanitation coverage, and made progress towards ensuring ‘Housing for All.’ India demonstrated its mettle through the surgical strike and air strike. At the same time, decades old demands such as OROP, One Nation One TaxGST, better MSP for farmers were fulfilled.

In 2019, the people of India voted not merely for continuity but also with a dream- of taking India to new heights. A dream of making India a global leader. The decisions taken in the last one year are directed at fulfilling this dream.

Today, 130 crore people feel involved and integrated in the development trajectory of the nation.The light of ‘Jan Shakti’ and ‘Rashtra Shakti’ has ignited the entire nation. Powered by the Mantra of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas’ India is marching forward in all spheres.

My fellow Indian, In the last one year, some of the decisions were widely discussed and remain etched in public discourse.

The decision on Article 370 furthered the spirit of national unity and integration. The Ram Mandir judgment, delivered unanimously by the Honourable Supreme Court of India, brought an amicable end to a debate persisting for centuries. The barbaric practice of Triple Talaq has been confined to the dustbin of history. Amendment to the Citizenship Act was an expression of India’s compassion and spirit of inclusiveness.

But there have been many other decisions that have added momentum to the nation’s development trajectory.

The creation of the post of the Chief of Defence Staff was a long pending reform that has improved coordination among the armed forces. At the same time, India has stepped up preparations for Mission Gaganyaan.

Empowering the poor, farmers, women and youth has remained our priority.

PM Kisan Samman Nidhi now includes all farmers. In just one year, more than Rupees 72,000 crore has been deposited in the accounts of over 9 crore 50 lakh farmers.

The Jal Jeevan Mission will ensure supply of potable drinking water through piped connections to over 15 crore rural households.

A huge campaign of free vaccination is being conducted for better health of our 50 crore livestock.

For the first time in our country’s history,

PM MODI SHARES

‘VIKAS YATRA’ OF HIS SECOND-TERM IN OFFICE WITH PEOPLE

Home Minister Amit Shah, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President JP Nadda. —FILE PHOTO

farmers, farm labourers, small shopkeepers and workers in unorganised sector are assured the provision of regular monthly pension of Rs. 3000 after the age of 60 years.

Besides the facility of availing bank loans, a separate department has also been created for fishermen. Several other decisions have been taken to strengthen the fisheries sector.

This will boost the blue economy.

Similarly, it has been decided to constitute a Vyapari Kalyan Board for timely resolution of the problems of the traders. Higher quantum of financial assistance is being provided to more than 7 crore women attached to self help groups. Recently the loans without guarantee for self help groups has been doubled to 20 lakh from the

earlier 10 lakh.

Keeping in mind the education of tribal children, we have begun the construction of more than 400 new Ekalavya Model Residential Schools.

Several people friendly laws have been ushered in during the last year. Our Parliament has broken the decades-old record in terms of productivity.

As a result, whether it be the Consumer Protection Act, the amendment to Chit Fund Law or laws to provide more protection to women, children and Divyang, their passage in the Parliament was expedited.

As a result of the policies and decisions of the government, the rural-urban gap is shrinking. For the first time, the number of rural Indians using internet is 10% more than

the number of urban Indians.

The list of such historic actions and decisions taken in national interest would be too long to detail in this letter. But I must say that every day of this year, my government has worked round the clock with full vigour, taking and implementing these decisions.

My fellow Indian, As we were moving ahead at fast pace in the fulfilment of hopes and aspirations of our countrymen, the Coronavirus global pandemic engulfed our country as well.

While on one hand are powers with great economic resources and state-of-the-art healthcare systems, on the other hand is our country besieged with problems amidst a vast population and limited resources.

Many feared that India will become a problem for the world when Corona hits India. But today, through sheer confidence and resilience, you have transformed the way the world looks at us. You have proven that the collective strength and potential of Indians is unparalleled compared even to the powerful and prosperous countries of the world. Be it clapping and lighting a lamp to the honouring of Corona Warriors by India’s armed forces, Janta curfew or by faithful adherence to rules during the nationwide lockdown, on every occasion you have shown that Ek Bharat is the guarantee for ShresthaBharat.

In a crisis of this magnitude, it can certainly not be claimed that no one suffered any inconvenience or

discomfort. Our labourers, migrant workers, artisans & craftsmen in small scale industries, hawkers and such fellow countrymen have undergone tremendous suffering.

We are working in a united and determined way to alleviate their troubles.

However, we have to take care to ensure that inconveniences that we are facing do not turn into disasters. Hence, it is very important for every Indian to follow all rules and guidelines. We have displayed patience so far and we should continue to do so. This is one of the important reasons for India being safer and in a better state than many other countries. This is a long battle but we have started traversing on the path of victory, and victory is our collective resolve.

In the last few days, a super cyclone has wreaked havoc in parts of West Bengal and Odisha. Here too, the resilience of the people of these states is noteworthy. Their courage inspires the people of India.

Dear friends, At such a time, there is also a widespread debate on how the economies of various countries, including India’s, will recover. However, given the way India has surprised the world with its unity and resolve in the fight against Coronavirus, there is a firm belief that we will also set an example in economic revival. In the economic domain, through their strength, 130 crore Indians can not only surprise the world but also inspire it.

It is the need of the hour that we must become self-reliant. We have to move forward based on our own abilities, in our own way, and there is only one way to do it – Aatmanirbhar Bharat or Self-reliant India.

The recent Rs 20 lakh crore package given for Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan is a major step in this direction.

This initiative will

07

usher in a new era of opportunities for every Indian, be it our farmers, workers, small entrepreneurs or youth associated with start ups.

The fragrance of Indian soil along with the sweat, hard work and talent of our workers will create products that will reduce India’s dependence on imports and will move towards self-reliance.

Dear friends, In this journey of the last six years, you have continuously showered me with love and blessings.

It is the strength of your blessings that has made the nation take historic decisions and progress rapidly in the last one year. However, I am also aware that there is a lot that needs to be done. There are many challenges and problems that our country faces. I am working day and night.

There could be deficiencies in me but there is nothing that our country lacks. So, I believe in you, your strength and your abilities even more than I believe in myself.

The source of strength for my resolve is you, your support, blessings and affection.

Due to the global pandemic this is certainly a time of crisis but for us Indians this is also a time for a firm resolve.

We must always remember that the present and future of 130 crore Indians will never be dictated by an adversity.

We will decide our present and our future.

We will move ahead on the path of progress and victory will be ours.

It is said that, ‘if we have action and duty on one hand, then success is assured in the other hand’.

With prayers for our country’s success, I bow to you once again.

My heartiest wishes to you and your family.

Stay healthy, stay safe!!!

Stay aware, stay informed!!!

Your Pradhan Sevak Narendra Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi. —FILE PHOTO

If we question God for the rain, storm and pain of our life then we must also question him for the sunshine, flowers and happiness!

2ND FRONT

—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO & Editor, First India

POSTAL REG NO. JPC/010/2019-21

JAIPUR | SUNDAY, MAY 31, 2020

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CAN CENTRE SUSPEND STATE GOVTS UNDER THE GARB OF CORONA? t appears that Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s ‘reign’ is not going down well with former Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, and hence when the opportunity presents itself he complains about Uddhav to BJP top leadership and Sangh. The latest developments related to MLC election in Maharashtra made Fadnavis believe that if Uddhav does not get elected to the MLC, he will have to vacate the position.

However, Thackeray junior spoke directly to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and soon the notification for the same was issued in a haste and Uddhav was chosen to the legislative council. If sources are to be believed, after this ‘crushing loss’, Fadnavis suggested to the top BJP leadership that after few cosmetic changes, the 123-year-old Epidemic Diseases Act 1897 can be enforced in Maharashtra, West Bengal and Delhi where Corona is spreading at a fast pace.

Fadnavis hinted that the

I

union government, taking support of the Act, could render the state government’s powerless and take the charge of running the states. After this, the legal experts were consulted and it was found that the central government can not take over the complete rights of the states but it can only take steps to stop the spread which means that the Centre would be able to take only health related policy decisions. Suspecting some ‘threat’, the Delhi government quickly enforced Delhi Epidemic Act 2020 and Maharashtra government enforced Covid-19 Regulation 2020. As such, there is a possibility that if any state government does not enforce the Epidemic Act properly then the Central government can suspend the state government. But this ‘possibility’ is marred with legal ‘entanglements’.

MAMATA’S ANXIETY AND UDDHAV’S FRIENDSHIP he tussle as to how many ‘Shramik Special’ trains will be given to which state had

T

CEC Sunil Arora pays tribute to Bhanwar Lal

FIRST INDIA SUNDAY SPECIAL

Devendra Fadnavis

Uddhav Thackeray

Mamata Banerjee

Shivraj Singh Chouhan

Bhargava was offered the position of Speaker but he declined. In this lockdown crisis, Shivraj has another front opened as he has to get the government bungalows vacated from ministers of Kamal Nath government, since Kamal Nath government spent Rs 38 crore in renovation of these bungalows and now these ‘beneficiaries’ are not vacating their bungalows. However, Kamal Nath himself is vacating the Chief Minister’s residence located at 6, Shyamla Hill and is shifting in his old house.

not even ended that the Amphan cyclone hit West Bengal and Odisha. In this, the railways announced a train from Mumbai to Kolkata. After Amphan, several parts of Kolkata and even the entire state had been badly hit as electricity poles had been uprooted, water logging in cities had occurred and there were pressing issues of electricity and water supply. When Mamata started worrying that if Shramik express brings in more people, how

then will the state make arrangements for them and how will these people be sent to different parts of the state.

Mamata believed that there was some ‘trick’ on Centre’s part and thus, she immediately called Uddhav and sought his help. Mamata argued that in this time, if they come across positive patients, how and where will they keep them. Uddhav on the other hand reportedly told Mamata, “Didi, do not worry. We will speak to the Ben-

gali workers who want to go back and will try to hold them here. We will also try to find jobs for them here so that they stay in Maharashtra”. It was after this that Mamata took a breath of relief.

list and sent it to Delhi for approval. But the BJP high command has not given its green signal to the list. As such this time around it was not easy for Shivraj to finalise the names of ministers, since several individuals who left Congress and joined BJP with Scindia are in line to be provided ministerial positions. And for this, Shivraj had to delete names of several of his loyalists for example his faithful MLA and former leader of opposition Sagar Gopal

TILL WHEN WILL PM LISTEN TO RAHUL ince the time lockdown began, both Sonia and Rahul Gandhi have been giving suggestions to PM Narendra Modi, for example Rs 1,000 direct cash transfer in labourers’ and workers’ accounts. Rahul requested the PM to announce that the stranded migrants will be ferried safely to their homes and after this the buses and shramik trains were started. After this, Rahul said that Rs 7,500 should be di-

BY TRIDIB RAMAN

SHIVRAJ’S ‘RULE’ CONUNDRUM he ‘saffron’ Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan wanted to expand his cabinet on June 1 and after several permutations and combinations, he finalised a

T

Ahmed bhai raps Modi govt, questions its ‘milestone’ GDP growth between Jan-Mar 2020 is 3.1%, lowest in 11 years. And this does not even take into account impact of Corona pandemic, Patel said Dr Anita

Sunil Arora

First India Bureau New Delhi: CEC Sunil Arora paid homage to Bhanwar Lal Sharma, veteran politician and former president of State BJP who passed away on Friday in Jaipur at the age of 95.

“Sh Bhanwar Lal Ji Sharma was one of the stalwarts respected and looked up to across the party lines. He belonged to a generation whose life was embedded in a bedrock of high ethical values, integrity, simplic-

ity of lifestyle and an innate commitment to serve the public good.

For a long time he was an alter ego of Bhairon Singh Shekhawat Sb. I had the opportunity to see this from close quarters when he was a senior Cabinet Minister during 93-98. He had a broad vision of Local Self Government and Urban Development for entire Rajasthan but his heart and soul belonged to the walled city of Jaipur,” Arora reminisced.

New Delhi: Veteran Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Ahmed Patel made a scathing attack on the Union Government on Saturday questioning the ‘milestone’ that the Modi government claimed to achieved on completion of its one year in the second term.

Taking to the microblogging site Twitter, Patel said, “Since 1947 India has been self reliant. British left us with nothing, but successive governments made us self reliant in military

and space capacity, food and milk supply and financial reserves.

After 70 years of India being self reliant, BJP just discovered it’s meaning. Better

late than never.”

In a series of tweets, the Congress stalwart added, “Which milestone is this government celebrating?

GDP growth be-

Ahmed Patel

tween January 2020-March 2020 is 3.1 per cent, lowest in 11 years. And this does not even take into account the impact of the Corona pandemic.

Which milestone is the government celebrating?

The fact that it has failed the poorest during their darkest hour? When Congress President announced, if Centre can’t pay train fares for migrants, did the Railways mislead the nation by saying it paid 85% of the fare? If so, shouldn’t Railways apologise to the nation?”

S

08

rectly deposited in workers’ accounts. The PM was mulling over it when the BJP and Sangh leaders put some pressure that if Congress’s demands are adhered to, then the party would take its credit in front of the public and thus RaGa’s demands have been put in a cold bag.

IN THE END.. ajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiyah Naidu was tensed that when the month long monsoon session of the house will be called in the third week of July, how will the members maintain social distancing. After this, DMK leader Tiruchi Siva gave a suggestion saying that Lok Sabha session should be held with 245 MPs where there are 545 seats for MPs and Lok Sabha MP sessions should be held in Central Hall where more than eight hundred people can sit. It is said that the government is also mulling over this idea.

R

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

‘People faced unbearable hardships, last 1 yr worst’ Naresh Sharma Jaipur: On one hand the Modi government celebrated its completion of sixth continuous years in power, on the other hand Congress stalwart and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot termed the past six years as the time when people suffered most facing unbearable hardships. Gehlot even termed that the first year of Modi’s second term as Prime Minister has been the worst for people, thus far.

Tweeting against the central government, Gehlot, in a series of tweets, said, “The last 6 years of ModiGovt would be remembered as one of those periods in Indian history, when

CM Ashok Gehlot

people suffered most & faced unbearable hardships. The first year of Modi 2.0 has been the worst for the majority of common people in India. Even after 6 years of trial & error on economic front, we still see no silver lining how Govt is going to revive the economy, provide jobs & look after the people, who have no money, no work. A thriving economy under UPA has been completely destroyed by NDA.”

When will Gandhis take a final call on Vadra?

Vaishali New Delhi: The premier opposition party of the country Congress - is in a dilemma. No, the dilemma is not about its current political course and cornering the central government on issues concerning migrants and economy, and the dilemma is certainly not on either Rahul or Priyanka handling the party affairs. This dilemma is more of a family issue, however it has and is affecting the party at large.

It is the personality and image that the

son-in-law of Sonia Gandhi - Robert Vadra - has built up around himself which is the major bone of contention.

This may be a conspiracy of circumstances or for some other reason, Vadra kept himself aloof from politics and although he has campaigned for his brother-in-law Rahul and attended many party functions too, the Gandhi family never really designated a role for him in the political arena. Very recently Robert’s public appearance was noticed by media as a Corona warrior

when he distributed dry ration and shoes to the stranded migrants.

Vadra was probably kept away from politics to keep the ‘dynastic’ tag away, and for a while, it worked too. But when Vadra’s business deals were questioned by media, it built a negative image around him, on which hounded Congress’s opposition.

The ‘mysticism’ surrounding Vadra, which was once a ‘friend’, has quiet literally turned ‘indifferent’ as one after the other court dates waited for the businessman.

But strong-willed Vadra

did not get disappointed and started working to rebuilt or redefine or change his image.

In fact, there is a section of Congressmen who believe that it would have been the best case scenario for the party that Vadra may have been given even a

Robert Vadra

small role for some far flung constituency, where he could be monitored to exhibit a leadership role and show restraint in wielding p o w e r.

This way he could have continued his business and could have avoided the

‘hiccups’. But unfortunately because of some sort uncertainty or confusion in the family, this did not happen.

In this process, Vadra has become the party’s and not family’s ‘loose end’.

And for the metamorphosis to happen, there is just one thing in a country like India that will be acceptable to people - trial by fire, not literally of course!

Vadra will have to whole-heartedly enter into the political arena of a small constituency, may be his hometown Muradabad or any other constituency of his choice, and

keep himself confined till that level. Once a final call is taken on Robert’s political future by Gandhis and the Congress and he is given a clear green signal, then he himself may prefer to vanish from the highheeled society and power circles of New Delhi and play out the time as a common man working on grass root level. Probably then, could he change his fortunes and to prove that he is an ‘asset’ and not a ‘liability’ in the family.

Another important aspect of Robert’s case is that surprisingly by ruling out all

speculations, his wife and Gandhi family scion - Priyanka Gandhi - has always stood with him like a rock in every moment of crisis, even to the extent of accompanying him to drop and pick up Robert from ED office during interrogations. Priyanka’s courage and conviction has really sent a very strong message to the Indian masses, especially the women, that in spite of being in 21st century, she is still committed to traditional Indian values associated with a married woman to be with her husband in all circumstances.

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09

JAIPUR, SUNDAY MAY 31, 2020

Indian Bride with her Bridesmaids wearing designer face masks

SHAADI KARO-NA Outburst of the novel Coronavirus not just hit the ‘pause’ button in most of the people’s lives, but also made the Bride and Groom compromise on their big day!

A couple during their wedding in Bengaluru

NEHAL NAYAR

nehal.nayar@firstindia.co.in

W

igner masks durin A couple wearing des ony their wedding cerem

g

edding day is one of the biggest days of a couple’s life, as they finally take a step forward to take their relationship to the next level. Most of them like to organise this big day in the grandest manner that they can, while some like it minimal. For the former ones, the Coronavirus outbreak has really made them compromise on tying the knot, due to safety measures that are to be kept in mind, and the guidelines by the government, of course.

Since April-July is one of

Mor Banquets and Resort, Jaipur

the peak times for weddings to take place, the pandemic has either made the couples postpone their wedding, or conduct them in an extremely simple way, as the mass gathering has been reduced to only 50 people per wedding. Sad, isn’t it? For the ones who stay away from the couple, won’t be able to make it to the wedding physically, but are sure going to be present virtually, so ‘grand weddings’ are way out of the league at the moment or in the coming few months. But the good thing is that the budget of the people to spend on weddings is going to be reduced big time.

“For the people who are getting married, with a small gathering, of course, we are offering some really good benefits, which would help them have a safe and secure wedding. We will be getting the entire venue sanitized before and after the ceremony and will be providing sanitizers to the guests for their welcome, instead of garlands and other things. The temperature of the guests will be checked, not just of the guests, but of the staff too,” said Lekhraj Jaiswani, owner, Mor Banquets and Resort, Jaipur.

City First got in touch with a few

people from Rajasthan and Gujarat, who got married during this pandemic, and they shared with their experience of the same. Mansi Ajay Mundra from Jodhpur stated, “For me minimalism was beautiful and we wouldn’t have wanted it any other way as we just wished to be together. The day was full of joy, love and positivity, with precautions being taken at all times. My close friends and family members were connected with us through video-calls, while we had out micro-ceremony.”

“Our wedding was originally supposed to take place on 20 April, we had to postpone it indefinitely, owing to the lockdown. We took a call and got married in the presence of just our immediate family members at home on 25 May,” said Stuti Shah from Ahmedabad.

The responsible Bride

A couple during their wedding in Indon

esia

A Bride’s temperature being checked before the ceremony

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JAIPUR | SUNDAY, MAY 31, 2020

10

WORLD ‘NO TOBACCO DAY’

DR MANASWI GAUTAM

T

obacco abuse is the most prevalent and deadly among all substance abuse and leading major public health issue.

34.6% of adults in India are current smokers. Tobacco has an addictive property as it often persists at a higher volume and over a longer duration of time. There is repeated-dose to be taken and unable to cut it out or short.

Craving is so high that the person ignored his personal, professional life and even negative health consequences.

1. A cigarette is rolled tobacco in thin paper release nicotine which is a major psychoactive and addictive product along with 7357 chemical compounds out of which 70 known carcinogens. A cigarette contains 6 to 11 milligram of nicotine and smoking a pack per day lead to 20 to 40 milligram of nicotine absorption per day.

2. Hookah/Shisha bar is popular among youth as a cool place to chill out.

Hookah’s water pipe is used to smoke flavored tobacco and it has the same health hazard as cigarettes even more as a level of nicotine or other harmful chemicals are higher than a cigarette.

3. Smokeless tobacco like Gutka is chewing tobacco made up of betel nut, tobacco, Kattha, paraffin wax, sometimes crushed glass, slaked lime, flavors and many other known carcinogens that have same systemic side effects of smokers and have a higher rate of oral, prostate, pancreatic and cervical cancer.

4. Dissolvable tobacco are smokeless products that melt in the mouth and sell in the form of candy, lozenges, pellets or sticks. Especially to attract teenagers or school students, it has addictive properties and has some negative effect on body.

DR MANASWI GAUTAM,

Director & Consultant Psychiatrist, Gautam Hospital & Research Center

people each year in India (9.5 % of all death). The most common death is in from of cardiovascular disorders (about 48%).

Both smoking and smokeless tobacco can

FA CE OF TH ED AY

5. According to the WHO fact sheet 2018 tobacco kills more than 1 million

to high risk for coronavirus infection and complications.

cause many form of cancers leading to an early and painful death. It is the fourth leading cause of non Communicable disorders.

6. Tobacco abuse decrease

YOUR DAY Horoscope by Saurabbh Sachdeva

the immunity of the body and has Comorbid physical disorders like cardiovascular, hypertension, obesity, chronic respiratory disorders which make them high

7. Tobacco smoking cause hyperplasia, metaplasia, mucus plugging of small alveoli, loss of cilia lead

9. More than 90% of smokers started as teenagers.

10. Environmental tobacco smoke or second-hand smoke also has negative health hazards like chronic respiratory, CVD, lung cancers, the risk to stroke and prone to coronavirus infections. Even opening windows, open air space, ventilating buildings do not eliminate second-hand smoke exposure.

ARIES

TAURUS

GEMINI

CANCER

You may do business related to fitness. If your boss is mentoring you than you must put your blind trust in him/her as they won’t let your fall even if you will feel that way.

You will be able to open up with your parents about things that you have been hiding.

You will feel motivated today and ready to face any challenges. You may feel like doing donation for an NGO or you may involve yourself in some charity work. On work front, you may spend whole day solving project related problems. Your family member may offend you.

If you wish to talk to your boss regarding your concern than make sure to do it when he is in good mood to avoid any misunderstanding. You may think of writing a book which can earn you a decent fame.

Some of you may think of opening a restaurant soon.

There may be temporary struggles in terms of paying your loan payments but that something temporary. Your days will change once your loan has been paid.

Prevent yourself from being a part of any gossip to avoid any kind of public embarrassment.

MAR 21 - APR 20

APR 21 - MAY 20

MAY 21 - JUNE 21

JUNE 22 - JULY 23

LEO

VIRGO

LIBRA

SCORPIO

Diet control is a must for you right now to keep diseases at a distance. You will be able to beat your business rivals in the game but remember your focus should be to win and not to see others loosing.

Your wanderlust will get satisfied as some of you may go on a world tour.

Your financial condition is back on tracks and you are doing fairly well. On academic front, refrain from cheating or being a part of cheating by helping others in an exam. Your spouse may take your out for shopping. Real estate builders will make lots of profit today.

The best advice for you will be to switch your job with one that promises a better salary and perks. Keep away from any scandalous affair. You may take your kids out for picnic today. On social front, you may find yourself mentally occupied with stuff that should not bother you.

You will be very cautious today before spending even a single penny. Your decision making skills will earn you a great reputation in office.

Your fast moving social life may come to a halt as you need time to introspect. A long distance journey will be very comfortable for you.

JULY 24 - AUGUST 23

AUG 24 - SEP 23

SEPT 24 - OCTOBER 22

OCT 23 - NOVEMBER 22

SAGITTARIUS

CAPRICORN

AQUARIUS

PISCES

On family front, an out of world opportunity wait in form of a new house or a foreign trip together. You may buy a new vehicle for a better mode of conveyance. Those moving to a new city may find it bit monotonous in the beginning but things will ease as the time will pass.

Your new venture has started making profits and there is a constant inflow of money. You may be promoted to a higher position in office today. Your family supports you but it may get difficult for them sometimes to understand your ideologies.

Today the goddess of money showers her blessings upon you and you are about to become wealthy. Today is a favourable day for any kind of monetary transactions. You will pamper your spouse will all the expensive goodies. You may take your kids for a far land trip.

If you continue to manage your funds well than you will sail through tough times at ease. If you have applied for a huge amount of loan than sit assured it will be sanctioned.

There may be a family reunion soon.

Stars seems favourable for those who wish to take chances.

NOV 23 - DEC 22

ANCHAL PAREEK, Theatre Artist

risk for infections including coronavirus.

8. Psychiatric problems like anxiety, depression, attention-deficit, mood disorders, substance abuse are two to three times more common among current smokers. Reasons maybe share genetic influence, smoking mask psychotic symptoms, modeling other psychotic patients. Recent analysis shows that tobacco abuse not only has negative physical consequences there is a possible association between suicide and smoking.

Reasons are peer pressure, curious adolescent nature, just to show off, Low self-esteem, family history of smoking, other substance abuse, family or social environment. CVD in younger people are more likely to be caused by tobacco use.

DEC 23 - JAN 20

JAN 21 - FEB 19

FEB20 - MARCH 20

ETC

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JAIPUR | SUNDAY, MAY 31, 2020

DESIGNING

FEELING

‘heaven’ for sister

Adventurous

K

angana Ranaut is designing the interiors of a new house for sister Rangoli Chandel.

Calling it “heaven”, Rangoli shared photos and videos of the house on Instagram.

In the pictures and videos, Kangana can be seen working on the decoration.

The actress covers her face in mock coyness as soon as Rangoli points the camera at her. Rangoli informs that Kangana learnt about her preferences before starting work on the house. “When she asked me what kind of interiors do I like, I said I don’t like torn ,worn out, vintage ,old looking stuff, I don’t know what I like but I want new things to look new, I remember her face, that’s her style vintage, rustic ,worn out and totally purana looking things .... it was out of her comfort zone, she has been incessantly working on this and today when I saw her put finishing touches I was stunned, I can say one thing, this is not a house to me it’s heaven,” shared Rangoli in an Instagram post.

—IANS

P

riyanka Chopra Jonas on Saturday shared a gorgeous sunkissed selfie sporting cherry lips and beaded dangler earrings.

The multi-talented star who owns a production house put out a morning selfie on Instagram wherein she is seen sporting a white collared top, flaunting her cherry red lips and dangler earrings as she embraces her peach glow in the sheer sunlight, while her shiny curls bounce the sunshine. Along with the picture, the The Sky Is Pink actor wrote, “A cherry lip and sunshine...maybe even a earring...I’m feeling adventurous.”

On sharing the gorgeous selfie, the Chopra received heaps of praises from fans and celebrity followers, and the post reached more than 1.9 lakh likes including one for Sussanne Khan. Model Masaba Gupta also chimed in the comment section and adored the beauty of the Baywatch star writing, “Stunning” with a heart emoticon.

Currently, the actor is quarantined in her California house along with singer and husband Nick Jonas and has been quite active on social media. Earlier, Priyanka recalled her parents’ service in the Indian Army as America observed Memorial Day, and she dug out an old picture of her parents in uniform and posted it on Instagram.

—ANI

Priyanka Chopra Jonas; (inset) Her post

Kangana Ranaut

‘Handsome’ calling!

D

eepika Padukone shared a sneak peek of her family whatsapp group, which shows that she has saved husband Ranveer Singh’s name as ‘handsome’.

The actress took to Instagram and shared a screenshot of a chat going on with Ranveer, her parents and also her inlaws. The image also reveals that she has saved her father-in-law’s contact by his full name - Jugjeet Singh Bhavnani.

In the conversation, the family is seen praising Ranveer for a recent interview.

Deepika’s mother Ujjala Padukone is seen telling the actor that his interview was ‘very interesting’ while her father Prakash Padukone found it very ‘candid and informative’. Ranveer’s father found the interview ‘lively’.

Deepika captioned the image: “And this is how we roll... Whenever anyone in the family has a big day, the rest of us tune in.

Like in the case above. Everyone appreciated an interview my husband did recently.”

She shared that there are times she and Ranveer are goaded to do better.

“Similarly there are times when we get pulled up or get given feedback on what we could have done differently or better. And that to us is the most valuable!” she added.

—IANS

HITTING

BACK!

I

n some deeply upsetting news that shocked the globe, US President Donald Trump posted an insensitive tweet in response to the Minneapolis protests, which have been taking place post the death of George Floyd due to police violence. Trump’s words couldn’t be digested by many, who took to Twitter to outrage over the President’s bold claims. Amongst these was Taylor Swift who hit back at Trump with some choice words of her own.

“After stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism your entire presidency, you have the nerve to feign moral superiority before threatening violence?

‘When the looting starts the shooting starts’??? We will vote you out in November. @realdonaldtrump,” Taylor tweeted to her 86.2 million followers. Within five hours, the tweet crossed one million likes and is now the 30-year-old singer’s most-liked tweet ever.

—IANS

GO BAD! A

Naomi Scott

ctress Naomi Scott, who portrays Princess Jasmine in ‘A l a d d i n ’ , says she would love to play a Disney villain. After starring in the 2019 live action musical fantasy film ‘Aladdin’, which is the re-imagination of the 1992 animated classic from Walt Disney Pictures, Naomi wants to go bad on screen. “I would love to actually play a Disney villain! Although this wouldn’t work for me, I would love to play Cruella De Vil. She is not a nice person but so much fun to play, so I would probably love to play a Disney villain,” she said.

But she enjoyed playing Jasmine too.

While shooting for the Guy Ritchie directorial, she had a moment where she was like “Wow! I am Jasmine!” —IANS

11

Deepika Padukone; (inset) Her post

VANILLA CUPCAKES METHOD

Taylor Swift

A memorable way to kick start your festive weekend with the kids and whole family. Fresh hot vanilla cupcakes straight from the oven and into your taste buds.

Prep Time: 30 min

Baking Time: 20 min



Separate the eggs yolks from the egg whites.



Use a hand blender for the egg whites till fluffy and white foamy texture appears.



Separately hand blend the sugar and butter till mixed in well with the butter



Mix in the vanilla essence or extract with the egg yolks and add this mix to the sugar and butter mix.



Followed by adding the egg white mix to combine the three!

DRY INGREDIENT MIX 

Simply, sift the flour and baking soda and add it the wet mixture of the eggs, butter and sugar.



You should have a nice smooth thick dough like result. Scoop out the finished mix into the individual



Cupcake moulds and place them on the cupcake baking sheet.



Heat the oven at 180 degrees for 20 min and enjoy cupcakes with the whole family.

INGREDIENTS 

¾ cup white fine sugar



150 grams butter



3 large eggs



1 cup all-purpose flour



1 tsp vanilla essence or extract



1 ½ tsp of baking soda

Sumeet Kumar Sumeet Kumar is the owner of TIF Kitchen Cafe & Restaurant at Civil Lines. He has 25 years of experience in the hospitality industry, across the world. TIF has an exclusive affordable menu, ranging with cuisines from the Middle East, Italy and Mexico, and imports herbs and spices to maintain the taste.

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JAIPUR | SUNDAY, MAY 31, 2020

12

SETTING IN THE WEST

A day before the sun sets on Lockdown 4.0, Ahmedabad witnessed cloudy weather on Saturday. —PHOTOS BY NANDAN DAVE

—City First Gujarat

VIRTUAL LEARNING

FACEBOOK POST!

WHAT’S HAPPENING!

CITY FIRST

A Uttar Pradesh: National Secretary, AICC, Vivek Bansal, started intense sanitization of Hasanpur, Gadrana and Saroj Nagar in Aligarh, along with the thermal screening and distribution of masks to needy people as a part of preventive measures to fight against the novel Coronavirus. During the occasion, Thakur Somveer, Shyodan Singh Baghel Pradhan, Neeraj Tomar, Moolchand Sharma, Thakur Dhyanpal Singh, Pradeep Rawat, Sagar Singh Tomar, Pinku Baghel, Brajesh Savita and Sunny Prajapati, among others were present.

s a part of the 13th day of the ongoing ‘Online Learning – Children’s Summer Festival, a talk on ‘Theatre’ was held by theatre artistes, Sar-

taj Mathur and Vishal Bhatt on Saturday. During the talk, Sartaj Mathur shared his journey as a theatre actor and then a director, his experience as a workshop director as well as essential elements of theatre.

He said that the two main elements an actor uses to deliver the best performance is ‘voice’ and ‘body’. Voice is of utmost importance in theatre. He believes that until one’s voice comes from the diaphragm, the dialogues will

not have any force. According to him, workshops should primarily focus on voice training for actors first and foremost, and actors must have a good knowledge of the subtext. cityfirst@firstindia.co.in

THE RESCUE SQUAD CITY FIRST, SIROHI

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he non-resident Jain community of Sirohi has come forward to help the people in distress due to COVID-19.

There has been a return of the native workers from other states in large numbers during May. The natives of Sirohi residing in various industrial cities and towns started for their towns by whatever mode they could manage whether buses, trains, bike, cycle or even on foot. According to an estimate, 50,000

migrants reached Sirohi during this period, and the district administration made the best possible arrangements for drinking water, food, quarantine, tests and medicine to them. But due to lack of testing

kits, the testing was getting delayed causing big trouble to all.

Local MP Devji Patel, MLA Sanyam Lodha and Collector Bhagwati Prasad took notice of it and collectively contacted the non-resident

Jain community residing in Ahmedabad and Chennai. The Jain community has been actively supporting their motherland whenever there has been a call from the residents of Sirohi in harsh times.

Without wasting much time, Paras Jain of Chennai and Prakashchand Sanghvi of Ahmedabad responded positively and got 10,000 Viral Transport Media Kit (VTM Kit) delivered to Sirohi. These kits were first approved by the district health officials for use. cityfirst@firstindia.co.in

BUZZ WEBINAR

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webinar featuring renowned celebrity of Bollywood, Govinda and his Daughter Tina Ahuja in conversation with Chairman of JCF, Rajiv Arora and Akanksha Arora is going to be organised by Jaipur Citizen Forum today at 5 pm.

Rajasthan: MLA Kalicharan Saraf started the ‘Parinda campaign’ in the Malviya Nagar assembly constituency with the aim to tie 1,000 Parindas on trees for birds, which ensure they don’t go hungry and thirsty in this scorching heat. Many BJP workers are also contributing to this initiative and are continuously filling the Parindas with water and grains for birds. Till Saturday, 439 Parindas have been installed on trees in the different wards at Malviya Nagar. During the campaign, chairperson of the Women’s Commission, Suman Sharma along with Braham Kumar Saini, Narendra Singh and Anil Sharma among others were also present.

Gujarat: Business is recovering slowly in Ahmedabad, as indicated by the growing number of people visiting stores selling non-essential goods.

—PHOTO BY HANIF SINDHI

Rajasthan: In view of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic across the world, the Physics Department of the School of Basic Sciences of Manipal University Jaipur (MUJ) is going to organise an online international conference titled ‘Current Pandemic and Beyond: A Physicists Response’ on Tuesday. During the conference, leading Indian and global scientists, physicists, structural biologists, sensor technologists, biotechnologists and modelling experts will discuss the COVID-19 pandemic and possible solutions to combat the disease. It will be held from 9.15 am to 12.15 pm. There is no registration fee for attending the conference.

Rajasthan: To enhance the awareness about industry expectations during the current challenges due to Coronavirus, JECRC organised six Keynote Sessions for the students. During the session, the field experts and HR Gurus from various companies helped the students to understand the New Hiring Patterns and New Skillset that would be in demand after the pandemic. The speakers for the keynote sessions were HR Reliance Industries Ltd.- Dr Haresh Chaturvedi, HR Country Head- Amalraj Yetukuri, Technology start-ups InvestorDr Moorthi K Uppaluri, VP & Head HR Berkadia India- Debashish Ghosh, Advocate Dr G Venkatesh Rao and Fashion Designer Raghavendra Rathore.