WITH HIS FORCES IN KYIV, PUTIN TO UKRAINIAN MILITARY:

EMPLOYEES ORGS EXPRESS GRATITUDE TO GEHLOT FOR PRE-PENSION SCHEME

First India Bureau

Jaipur: State employ-ees belonging to vari-ous employee organisa-tions met Chief Minis-ter Ashok Gehlot on Friday evening at the Chief Minister’s resi-dence and expressed their gratitude for other announcements includ-ing pre-pension scheme in the state budget.

These employees, from all over the state, said that lakhs of state

employees and their fam-ilies are very happy with the announcement of the implementation of pre-

pension scheme in place of NPS for the employees appointed from January 1, 2004. By taking this his-

toric decision, the Chief Minister has secured his future. An unprecedent-ed initiative has been

taken in this direction from Rajasthan. This will put pressure on the central and other state governments to re-imple-ment the earlier pension scheme for the purpose of employee welfare.

The employees said that there was a demand from them to abolish the New Pension Scheme for a long time. For the first time, any government has understood their agony and has taken such a bold Turn to P10

Members of Rajasthan State Employee Union thanking CM Gehlot (in turban) at CMR.

Over the course of three years, state government has encouraged employees, which will motivate them to discharge responsibilities and perform better, the emplyee organisations said

JAIPUR l SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2022 l Pages 14 l 3.00 RNI NO. RAJENG/2019/77764 l Vol 3 l Issue No. 261

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CORONA CATASTROPHERajasthan Jaipur

NEW CASES201NEW

CASES653 NEW DEATHS0

Washington: US President Joe Biden picked Ketanji Brown Jackson on Friday to be the fi rst Black woman in US history to serve on the nation’s highest court. “I’m proud to announce that I am nominating Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to serve on the SC,” Biden said.

IN A FIRST, BIDEN PICKS BLACK

WOMAN FOR US SUPREME COURT

New Delhi: More than 470 Indian students will be evacuated from Ukraine via Romania, the govern-ment announced on Friday as calls to for rescuing the thousands of stranded Indians in the war-torn country grew increasingly desperate.

OVER 470 INDIAN STUDENTS SET TO

LEAVE UKRAINE VIA ROMANIA

A Ukrainian Army soldier inspects fragments of a downed aircraft in Kyiv, Ukraine on Friday.

OUSTGOVT

Casualties amass on both sides as Russia continues to pitch for its ‘goals’, World leaders appear divided over the issue as voices in support of Russia begin to emerge

Kartikey Dev Singh

Ukrainian forces fought off Rus-sian troops in

the streets of the capital Kyiv on Friday, the sec-ond day of Russian ag-gression, as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused Moscow of tar-geting civilians and called for more interna-tional sanctions. Rus-sia’s Defence Ministry said on Friday its forces had captured the strate-gic Hostomel aerodrome outside the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and landed paratroopers in the area. Hostomel is just 7 kilometers northwest of the Ukrainian capital. The Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said that the Russian airborne forces used 200 helicopters to land in Hostomel and killed over 200 troops belong-ing to Ukraine’s special forces. Ukraine Presi-dent Volodymyr Zelen-skyy said that 137 “he-roes,” including 10 mili-tary officers, had been killed, and one of his advisers said about 400 Russian forces had died. Meanwhile, Moscow has given no casualty count.

WITH HIS FORCES IN KYIV, PUTIN TO UKRAINIAN MILITARY:

RUSSIA READY FOR TALKS IF UKRAINE ‘LAYS DOWN ARMS’

UKRAINE PRESIDENT ZELENSKYY VOWS TO STAY PUT IN KYIV

NOT AFRAID OF TALKS WITH RUSSIA: UKRAINE

HUNDREDS ARRESTED IN ANTI-WAR PROTESTS

RUSSIA EXPECTS INDIA’S SUPPORT AT UNSC

Russia is ready to talk to Ukraine if it ‘lays down

arms’, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday. Lavrov declared that Moscow did not want ‘neo-Nazis’ to govern Ukraine and that Russia only wanted the Ukrainian people to be independent.

Ukrainian President has promised to stay in Kyiv.

Zelenskyy said that he will remain in the country despite Russian “enemy sabotage groups” have entered the country’s capital and marked him and his family as No. 1 and No. 2 targets.

Ukraine wants peace and is ready for talks with Russia, including

on neutral status regarding NATO, Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhai-lo Podolyak told Reuters on Friday, stressing, “Our readiness for dialogue is part of our persistent pursuit of peace.” “If talks are possible, they should be held. If in Moscow they say they want to hold talks, including on neutral status, we are not afraid of this,” he said via a text message.

Shocked Russians turned out by the thousands to decry their

country’s invasion of Ukraine as emotional calls for protests grew on social media. Some 1,745 people in 54 Russian cities were detained, at least 957 of them in Moscow. Meanwhile, United Nations on Friday condemned numerous “arbitrary ar-rests” of people in Russia for protest-ing the country’s invasion of Ukraine and urged their immediate release.

Russia on Friday said it expects support from India at the UNSC

when the global body takes up a crucial resolution on the Russian military operation in Ukraine. Russia’s Charge d’affaires said India has a deep understanding of the reasons that led to the current situation in Ukraine and Moscow is looking for continued sup-port from New Delhi in sync with the special and privileged strategic part-nership between the two countries.

VLADIMIR PUTINRussian President

I once again appeal to the military personnel of the armed forces of

Ukraine. Do not allow neo-Nazis and Ukrainian radical nationalists to use your children, wives and elders as human shields. Take power into your own hands, it will be easier for us to reach agreement.

XI JINPINGChinese President

It is neces-sary to abandon the Cold War mentality and coun-

tries should form a balanced, effective and sustainable Eu-ropean security mechanism through negotiations.

RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGANTurkish President

The EU and other pro-Western [bodies] have failed to take a se-

rious and determined stance at the moment. They are all providing Ukraine with plenty of advice. NATO should have taken a more decisive step.

BASHAR AL-ASSADSyrian President

What is happening today is a correction of history and a restoration

of balance in the global order after the fall of the Soviet Union. Syria stands with the Russian Federation based on its conviction that its position is correct and because con-fronting NATO expansionism is a right for Russia.

JOE BIDENUS President

There is a complete rupture right now in US-Russia rela-tions if they

continue on this path they’re on. The vast majority of the rest of the world is united in opposition to Putin’s attacks on Ukraine. So it’s going to be a cold day for Russia.

TopQUOTE

People fl ee from Ukraine at the Hungarian-Ukrainian border, in Lonya, Hungary on Friday. —PHOTOS BY PTI

A woman reacts as she stands next to her home following a rocket attack in Kyiv, Ukraine on Friday.

Shah confident BJP will cross 300 in UPKaushambhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday exhib-ited confidence over the victory of the Bharati-ya Janata Party in Ut-tar Pradesh Assembly elections by saying that the BJP will win more than 300 seats in a 403 member Assembly.

He also claimed that Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party have already lost the election look-ing at the trends of the last four phases that have voted so far.

“I have travelled across UP in the last four phases of polls. I

can say that SP and BSP have lost the elec-tion looking at the poll-ing so far. With more than 300 seats, BJP will once again form the government in UP,” said Amit Shah while addressing a public rally in Kaushambhi.

CBI arrests ex-bourse chief Chitra’s adviser Anand SubramanianNew Delhi: The CBI has arrested Anand Subramanian, one of the key accused in the National Stock Exchange (NSE) co-location case. CBI had called Anand for questioning in the last three days in Chennai, said sourc-es. Finally, after de-tailed questioning of Anand, the agency found his arrest is re-quired for the ongo-ing case.

CBI probe stated that group operating officer Anand Subra-manian’s appoint-ment was influenced by NSE chairman and MD Chitra Ram-akrishnan. The CBI is probing the alleged

improper dissemina-tion from the comput-er servers of the mar-ket exchanges.

SEBI had earlier observed that the NSE and its top exec-utives violated secu-rities contract norms relating to the ap-pointment of Anand Subramaniam as group operating of-ficer and adviser to managing director.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah being felicitated by UP Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya with a bust of Lord Gautam Buddha at an election rally in Kaushambi on Friday. —PHOTO BY ANI

They (SP and BSP) indulge in appease-

ment politics. Mafias and Bahubalis used to govern Uttar Pradesh during their tenure.

—Amit Shah,Union Home Minister

SENSEX SNAPS 7-DAY LOSING RUN, SOARS 1,328 POINTSMumbai: The Indian stock markets witnessed smart recovery on Friday with benchmark Sensex closing 1,328 points higher, snap-ping 7 days of losing run, as retail investors rushed to bargain buying at lower level. A day after crashing by over 2,700 points, the 30 stock S&P BSE Sensex opened on a positive note at 55,321.72 points on Friday. The Sensex closed at 55,858.52 points, which is 1328.61 points or 2.44 per cent higher from its previous day’s close at 54,529.91 points.

Pay ̀ 4.2K cr to Adani Power within 4 weeks, SC tells Raj discomsNew Delhi: The Su-preme Court on Friday ruled in favour of bil-lionaire Gautam Ada-ni’s power unit, saying state-run distribution companies in Rajasthan have to pay Adani Pow-er Ltd. Rs 4,200 crore and additional interest to compensate for high-er fuel costs.

Adani is fighting multiple court battles against states including Rajasthan, and Hary-ana, seeking compensa-tory tariffs that reflect

the cost of the pricier imported coal it uses to fire its plants. On Fri-day, the Supreme Court ruled that four power retailers have to pay Adani Power the money within four weeks, to clear a backlog in pay-ments due since 2013.

RAJASTHANJAIPUR | SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2022

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BJP MLAS WHO DON’T RETURN iPHONE MAY FACE MUSIC

A list of such MLAs may be sent to BJP state in-charge Arun Singh for further action

Aishwary Pradhan

Jaipur: The issue of iP-hones gifted to the MLAs has created di-lemma for the opposi-tion BJP MLAs who have been directed to return the gadgets. As per party sources, many MLAs did not return the iPhones by Friday and have not abided by the directives.

There is discussion in political corridors that those who have not returned iPhones may face music from the high command. A list of such MLAs may be pre-pared and sent to BJP state in-charge Arun Singh for further ac-tion.

BJP State President Dr. Satish Poonia said , “It felt expedient mor-ally we should return the mobiles. All the BJP MLAs will return the iPhones keeping in view the financial bur-den on the state govt. We have no politics in this, it is a positive ini-tiative,” said Poonia.

POLICE EXTERN 10 CRIMINALS FROM JAIPUR DISTRICT AFTER CAMPAIGN

WOMAN DOES FB LIVE BEFORE ENDING LIFE OVER SON’S HEALTH, PROPERTY ROW

Jaipur: The Jaipur city police have banished 10 known history sheeters, each wanted in many felony charges, from re-entering the district. According to DCP (North) Paris Deshmukh, these habitual criminals are creating fear among the citizens by their repeated criminal acts. The police, therefore, ran a campaign under which they identifi ed such criminals, arrested under Goonda Act and produced them before the magistrate before declaring them externees, he explained. —Satyanarayan Sharma

Pali: A married woman died by suicide by jumping before a moving train at Kerla railway station in Pali on Thursday night. She had, however, gone live on Facebook before taking the extreme step and narrat-ed her grievances. In the nearly 9-minute video, she mentioned property disputes and her 8-year-old son suffering from blood cancer to be the main reasons. After seeing her video, family members rushed to save her but it was too late.

Nathdwara: 10 new members have been appointed in the Shrinathji Temple Board at Nathdwara on the orders of the Governor. Three members from Ra-jasthan, two from Gujarat, three from Maharashtra and two from other states have been appointed for a three-year term. According to an order issued by secretary Vikas Sitaram Bhale, Paresh Parikh, Suresh P Sanghvi and Vinod Goradia from Maha-rashtra, Kokila D. Ambani and Parimal Nathwani of Reliance Group from Gujarat, and Mahendra Singh Singhvi, Madan Lal Paliwal of Miraj Group and Chandresh Zaveri were appointed from Rajasthan. Shiv Charan and Rajesh Kapadia have been made members of the temple board from other states, mentioned the order.

RELIANCE, MIRAJ GROUP OFFICIALS AMONG 10 SHRINATHJI BOARD MEMBERS

NEWS DIGEST

BUDGETSESSION

Question HourMEENA: WORKS UPTO `5L CAN BE GIVEN TO UNEMPLOYED ENGINEERS SANS TENDER

RD&PR Minister Ramesh Meena said that under the MLA LAD scheme, works

up to Rs 5 lakh can be given to unemployed engineers without tender but unemployed engineers in Ajmer have not been sanctioned such works in the last fi ve years. He replied to a question by MLA Suresh Singh Rawat.

RECRUITMENT IS UNDER PROCESS FOR 5,610 VACANT POSTS: RAMLAL JAT

Revenue minister Ramlal Jat said that recruitment is under process

for 5,610 vacant posts. He said a total of 12,331 posts of Patwari are sanctioned, out of which 6,970 Patwaris are working. Jat was replying to a supplementary question.

RECRUITMENT TO 400 POSTS IN AGRI DEPT WILL BE MADE SOON: MURALI LAL MEENA

Recruitment to 400 posts in agriculture dept will be made soon through Rajas-

than Staff Selection Board, Minister of State for Agriculture Marketing Murari Lal Meena informed the House. He said that the Provi-dent Fund (PF) of the employees engaged by the agencies is deducted.

BUDGET FOR ROAD REPAIRS INCREASED FROM `5 CRORE TO `10 CRORE: JATAV

PWD Minister Bhajanlal Jatav said that a budget of Rs 10 crore has been proposed

in each assembly constituency for road construction in the budget. With this amount, they can get repair of 700 km and missing road link work up to 2K km in their areas.

ANGANWADI CENTRES IN THE STATE TO SOON GET COOKED RATION: MAMTA

WCD Minister Mamta Bhupesh assured the House that as per guidelines of the

Centre, the dept will start the process of giv-ing cooked ration instead of raw ration in the Anganwadi centres. Bhupesh said this could not be complied with due to corona.

MLA Pratap Singh Singhvi brought the iPhone of former CM Vasundhara Raje and handed it over to LoP Gulab Chand Kataria. (inset) MLAs were gifted iPhone13 with Budget copy.

—PHOTOS BY SUMAN SARKAR

BJP leaders’ move to return iPhones is a complete sham. Earlier, BJP leaders have taken tablets, laptops and hous-es. BJP leaders are feeling pain because budget of Modi govt failed while of Gehlot govt has come true to public sentiments. —Pratap Singh Khachariyawas, Cabinet Minister

TRAFFIC SNARLSTraffi c arrangements in view of the Budget session around the Assembly premises are often leading to traffi c snarls on roads passing near the Assembly. The snarls are increasing during the offi ce hours.

Naresh Sharma

Jaipur: The opposition BJP on Friday cor-nered Gaupalan minis-ter Pramod Jain Bhaya during question hour and staged a walkout.

While replying to a question asked by Sub-hash Poonia, Bhaya in-formed the house that Rajasthan is the first state in the country where the protection of stray cows has been started by establishing Nandi Gaushalas at every Panchayat Samiti level. The minister said that the process of set-ting up Nandi Gausha-las is going on.

LoP Gulab Chand Ka-taria said that it was the budget announcement of 2019 but still only process is going on.

During the reply of the minister, Kataria wanted to speak but the Speaker called another question and did not al-low Kataria to speak following which the

Opposition BJP staged a walkout.

Speaker Dr CP Joshi advised the MLAs of the opposition that it the minister gave wrong information, then they could bring a Privilege Motion.

‘BHARAT RATNA TO PHULE COUPLE’

MLA OP Hudla sup-ported the protest of Saini Samaj during the budget session. He De-manded to give Bharat Ratna to Jyotiba Phule couple. Along with this,

the Girls College which has been opened in Ma-huva also requested to be named after Savitri Bai Phule. There was also a demand to name the Agricultural Col-lege after Late Harisin-gh Mahuva.

Yogesh Sharma

Jaipur: The ‘Nathi Ka Bada’ reference was again heard during de-bate in the assembly on Friday. BJP MLA Ashok Lahoti said that every child in Rajasthan is questioning whether it is a budget or Nathi ka Bada and said that members here must talk about honesty. Re-acting to this, PHED minister Mahesh Joshi said, “You are right. Whatever you ask for, our budget has it.”

BJP MLA Ramlal Sharma raised ques-tions on discontinuing

the scheme an-nounced by Sachin Pilot as Deputy CM. He said that data shows that the reason for us go-ing out of power was East Rajasthan. “We have only Dholpur seat out of 28 seats in East Rajasthan. The person for whom people voted, if this govern-ment ignores him, then they will have to intro-spect,” he said.

Meanwhile, Chair-person Rajendra Pa-reek said that a lot of time has been wasted and we

must give time in the House now. “The BJP contin-uously cre-ated a ruck-

us in the House over the

REET issue and boy-cotted the proceed-ings,” he said.

In a debate on the Budget, BJP MLA Ashok Lahoti said these announcements will fall flat as the Gov-ernment’s figures are

false. Lahoti said there are Nine advi-

sors of the CM but they are

stuck in

the issue of status as such could not give some advice to the CM.

Khiladi Lal Bairwa said that Rajasthan is swinging after the budget of the magician of politics and this budget will change the picture of Rajasthan.

Deputy LoP Rathore also tried to corner the govt over Rapes issue across Rajasthan. UDH Minister Shanti Dhari-wal also quipped that, “We used to consider the UDH minister as a heavy minister. But in this budget, heavy min-isters became light.”



UPROAR IN HOUSE OVER BUDGET

BJP CALLS BUDGET ‘NATHI KA BADA’Lot of time wasted on this and we must give time to the House for relevant issues: Pareek

the scheme an-

ing out of power

must give time in the House now. “The

ated a ruck-us in the

House over the

BUDGETSESSION

First India Bureau

Jaipur: During the dis-cussion on the Budget in the House, MLA Vas-udev Devnani said that hearing this Budget of the government, he was reminded of a magician in the childhood, who came to the school and made a note of Rs 100 from paper and handed that note in students’ hands. But when the students went to the market, the reality was revealed.

“The same condition is going to happen to the people of the state with this budget. Even if you pat the table now, but that too will not bring any result,” Devnani said. Devnani said that there is three times un-employment in Ra-jasthan as compared to the Centre. 20.67 lakh graduates are unem-ployed in the state, Con-

gress government has given only 39,000 jobs.

The issue of Ma-hamaya temple land of Chomu was raised in the house by MLA Ram-lal Sharma. Sharma said that in the last budget, a luxury bus was announced to make Samod Balaji temple a tourist destination but even after one year, the luxury bus has not run yet. “Government has cheated Balaji who will not forgive the Con-gress government”

Budget reminds me of a Magician from childhood: Devnani

Vasudev Devnani, MLA

Mali community stages sit-in for 11-point demandsZiauddin Khan

Jaipur: Thousands of people from the Mali community from across the state came to gherao the assembly on Friday to press for their 11-point demands. They staged a sit-in near Bais Godam.

For the first time, the people of the Mali com-munity gathered in such large numbers. They said that the Mali society is 12% in the state but they are being ignored. They have nei-ther been given reserva-tion nor Saini welfare board is being made. The government has been informed several times but nothing has been done.

On behalf of the gov-ernment, the Chief Sec-

retary spoke to the del-egation of the Saini so-ciety and assured them to fulfil their demands

at the earliest, after which they postponed their decision to gherao the assembly.

The Mali community gathers in large numbers to stage their protest near Bais Godam circle. —PHOTO BY SUMAN SARKAR

Minister Pramod Jain Bhaya informed that more than Rs 1.57 crore would be spent on every Nandi Gaushala.

‘Black-Bride’ poetry recited by MLA Rita Choudhary

First India Bureau

Jaipur: Bari MLA Gir-raj Singh Malinga deliv-ered an effective address in the House. Malinga kept firmly for the EWS category. “Hostels should be opened at Tehsil level for the students of EWS category. Amenities to

the children of EWS cat-egory should be like the students of other class-es,” said Malinga while drawing the attention of the House towards the problems of the EWS students. Malinga said that budget of CM Ge-hlot is beneficial for every section.

Bari MLA speaks firmly for EWS category

First India Bureau

Jaipur: During the debate on the Budg-et, Congress MLA Rita Choudhary took a poetic jibe at BJP. In the context of the remarks made by BJP State President Satish Poonia com-paring budget to a black bride, Rita said he could not even give a proper simile.

She recited a poem praising and target-ing Poonia and the BJP. “She became the owner of someone’s heart and you kept saying bride is black,” she said. She also highlighted old pension giving ten-sion to the BJP.

Ruckus over Nandi Gaushala; Oppn walks out of Assembly

UKRAINE ISSUE ON MARCH 2The issue of Ukraine was raised in the House by MLA Pushpendra Singh but Speaker Dr CP Joshi said that the government would reply on this on March 2. The Speaker said that he had fi xed the date after discussing with the Leader of the Opposition Gulab Chand Kataria.

HOUSE ADJOURNED FOR 4 DAYS

LAXMAN MEENA RAISES QUESTION ON PHED SCAM IN JAL JEEVAN MISSION

There will be a four-day holiday in the Assembly from Saturday. There will be off on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Ma-hashivratri on March 1. Debate on the budget will continue on March 2 and 3. CM Gehlot will reply on the Budget on March 3.

MLA Laxman Meena raised the issue of irregulari-ties in the PHED. Rs 50 lakh was approved in Jal

Jeevan Mission and he alleged collusion between the contractor and the offi cers. Questions were also raised on the quality of the pipe. “Shoddy pipes were used. Instead of Madhogarh, put a line somewhere else. No action taken despite complaints at higher level. Offi cials showed fake water connections from tap to every house,” he said while demanding high level investiga-tion of scam and action against offi cials.

RATHORE RAPS RAJ GOVT; RAISES ISSUE OF ALWAR, DIDWANA RAPES

Deputy LoP Rajendra Rathore raised the issue of Alwar and

Didwana rapes in the House. Rathore said the law is being fl outed in the state and the gov-ernment should remove the mask off the characters’ faces.

Every child in Ra-jasthan is questioning whether it is a budget

or Nathi ka Bada. Exemptions in elec-

tricity bill beyond ap-prehension of com-mon people. CM is

praising the agricul-ture budget but in re-ality, the agriculture

sector budget has been reduced by Rs 10.

—Ashok Lahoti, MLA BJP

Why you discontin-ued schemes an-

nounced by Former Dy CM Sachin Pilot. We have only Dhol-pur Seat in the East-ern Rajasthan out of 28 seats. The person for whom people vot-ed, if this government ignores him, then they

will also have to in-trospect it.

—Ramlal Sharma, MLA BJP

Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Tikaram Jully said that total of Rs 111.74 crore was paid by the department to widowed women and orphans below 18 years of age under the Chief Minister’s Corona Sahayata Yojana. Total of 15, 564 people of the state have been benefi ted under the scheme, he replied to a question during the question hour.

TOTAL OF `111.74 CR PAID UNDER CM’S CORONA SAHAYATA YOJANA: JULLY



Nirmal Tiwari

Jaipur: RTDC chair-man Dharmendra Rathore held discus-sion with in-charges of all units of Corpo-ration in state through VC.

Rathore took infor-mation of unit from in-charges of all running units & inquired about income & expenditure conditions & number of tourists visiting.

He also inquired since when are units

not repaired & main-tained & facilities like counters, petrol pumps, marriage gardens & ATMs or other facili-ties. Apart from this,

information was also taken from officials of Corporation about sit-uation of loss-making units or closed units.

“RTDC was estab-

lished to provide cheap and comfortable facili-ties to tourists of coun-try and abroad. There-fore, everyone has to unite,” Rathore said

Golden days for tourism ahead:Rathore BACK TO TRACK

2 CONTRACT KILLERS OF LAWRENCE GANG HELD, MASTERMIND IN MALAYSIA

GRATITUDE TO CM GEHLOT: RTDC CHAIRMAN

Ajmer: Police has arrested 2 contract killers from Punjab in a ransom case of `5 crore by fi ring 6

rounds at Ajmer’s petrol pump businessman. Ac-cused are related to Law-rence gang. Police had ar-rested criminal Bhupendra Kharwa & 2 accomplices

lodged in Punjab Jail, who are currently in jail. 2 contract killers Kapil Dev & Manpreet Singh from Punjab came to Ajmer and started threatening. During interrogation, it was revealed that master-mind of the gang is in Malaysia.

Jaipur: Chairman RTDC, Dharmendra Rathore joined press briefi ng on Friday called by Federation of Hospitality & Tourism. This briefi ng was to express grat-itude to CM Gehlot for tourism-friendly budget. Rathore, said the tourism discipline it will give a fi llip to.

Jaipur: Fire broke out at Terminal 2 of Jaipur Interna-tional Airport around 8.45 pm on Friday. According to

information, a welding machine caused a short circuit in the arrival hall. Ensuing smoke and fl ame caused panic among the passengers. Soon the top securi-ty offi cers reached the spot. The

fi re was brought under control in about ten minutes. Meanwhile, passengers at the terminal were sent away. Offi cials of the Adani Group said that there has been no loss of life and an inquiry is being done.

WELDING MACHINE CAUSES FIRE AT JAIPUR AIRPORT, NONE HURT

Jaipur: The dispute that started between Mayor Dr Somya & Commissioner Yagyamitra Singh in JMC

Greater still exists. The Commissioner distanced himself from a meeting called by Mayor on Friday to prepare for the Swachh Sur-vekshan in Jaipur starting

from March 1. In such a situation, the question aris-es whether the Mayor would be able to rank Jaipur among the top cities because it is the responsibility of the offi cers to execute any plan on the ground.Deputy Mayor Puneet Karnawat was present during the meeting. — Ziauddin Khan

DISPUTE BETWEEN MAYOR DR SOMYA & COMMISSIONER YAGYAMITRA CONTINUES

Court notices of Info Panel by speed post nowKamal Kant

Jaipur: From now on court-related mail like notices, sum-mons, judgments, in Raj State Informa-tion Commission will be sent to con-cerned persons by speed posts. Chief Information Com-missioner DB Gupta while addressing the press at Information Commission Centre, on Friday said. Gup-ta said special court will be organised here on May 14 and May 28 providing re-lief to public.

Parents meet BD Kalla, demand online exam

I-T raid: `42 cr income unearthed

First India Bureau

Jaipur: The protest of parents against the ar-bitrariness of private schools of Rajasthan has started increasing.

On Friday, a large number of parents de-manded from Educa-tion Minister BD Kalla to conduct exam online. They said that private schools are pressuriz-ing children & parents to take offline exams.Whereas at present the corona is not complete-ly over. In such a situa-tion, students should get a chance to take the exam in offline as well

as online mode.Parents Ekta Sangh,

Rajasthan State Presi-dent Manish Vijayvar-giya said that the pres-sure of conducting of-fline examinations by private schools is being put on parents. Where-as at present the threat of corona is not over.

First India Bureau

Jodhpur: Undisclosed income of about `42 cr has been exposed in I-T proceedings that lasted for about 4 days at 21 lo-cations of double-A class construction con-tractors of the city.

Both the contractors have surrendered as well admitted. Under the direction of SS Jha, Principal Director, In-vestigation Wing of I-T Department, Ra-jasthan, and under leadership of Addition-al Commissioner of I-T,

Aneshan Jodhpur Kar-nidan, raids were con-ducted at 21 locations of both contractors si-multaneously on Feb 22 in morning, which was completed at 12 noon on Friday. 200 officers-em-ployees from across state participated.

Ashutosh AT Pednekar, Anupama Jorwal, Saurabh Swamy, Sunil Sharma and offi cers concerned during the meeting.

Dharmendra Rathore along with members of Federation of Hospitality & Tourism of Rajasthan.

T Ravi Kanth & MD RIICO meet GOI officials for Raj schemesDr Rituraj Sharma

New Delhi: T Ravikanth, PS Industries & Com-merce, Govt of Rajasthan & Archana Singh, MD RII-CO met senior officials of Govt of India here on Fri-day to seek support for 2 flagship projects of Raj.

Regarding MITRA (Mega Integrated Textile Region and Apparel Park) Scheme of Ministry of Textiles, Govt of India; they met Vijoy Kumar Sin-gh, Addl. Secretary & Shubhra, Trade Advisor and had detailed delibera-tions on the proposed park at Kakani, Jodhpur.

It may be noted that Govt of Raj has submitted a Concept Note to Govt. Of India for a MITRA Park at Jodhpur and will be for-mally submitting a Project Proposal.

Later in the day, PSI, Raj & MD RIICO also met Sec-retary, Department of Chemicals & Petrochemi-cals, Govt of India (GOI).

COURTESY MEET

Regional Passport Offi cer Neetu Bhagotia met Governor Kalraj Mishra on Friday and presented a copy of Regional Passport Offi ce’s magazine ‘Marudhara’. Director of the National Book Trust, Yuvraj Malik, also met Governor and presented a set of books published by the National Book Trust.

Health secy pitches for Shuddh ke liye Yuddh across Raj

Vikas Sharma

Jaipur: On the instruc-tions of Health Min Par-sadi Lal Meena, health department’s secretary

Ashutosh AT Ped-n e k a r held a meeting

with offic-ers of state at

Swasthya Bha-wan on Friday via VC to review schemes & gave necessary instructions.

Pednekar said maxi-mum people must get benefits of schemes. He pitched to make ‘Shud-dh ke liye yuddh’ cam-paign more effective.

Mission Director of

National Health Mis-sion, Jitendra Kumar Soni instructed the of-ficers to connect more people with the Chiranjeevi Health In-surance Scheme.

COVID-19 UPDATE

12,77,702TOTAL CASES

653 IN A DAY

9,535TOTAL DEATHS

0 IN A DAY

ACTIVE CASES

5739

LIGHT, SOUND, ACTIONNIGHT LIFE IS BACK!

There is good news for the tourists visiting the Pink City. Commercial activities, like restaurants, hotels, bars, and the light and sound shows resumed at Nahargarh and Amber Forts in Jaipur on Friday. The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed NGT order issued in November to stop commercial activities at these places.

—PHOTO BY SANTOSH SHARMA

BD Kalla talking to parents.

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CPM in dilemma to choose the less harmful ‘foe’!Mahesh Sharma

New Delhi: It is either Mamata Banerjee who is taking the initiative to form a federal front against the Bharatiya Janata Party’s central government, or it is K Chandrashekhar Rao who is doing so. In fact, both of them have tak-en all the initiatives so far. Mamata Banerjee had gone to Mumbai in December last year to meet Uddhav Thacker-ay and Sharad Pawar, while Chandrashekhar Rao met Uddhav and Pa-war on Sunday. Of the two leaders leading the federal front, Mamata Banerjee is completely against keeping the Congress in this alli-ance, while Chan-drashekhar Rao was against it earlier, but is now showing goodwill towards the Congress party. Mamata also wants to keep the Left Front out of it and this is why the Left Front has started to thwart this attempt.

CPM says that in-stead of Mamata Baner-jee and Rao, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin should take the initiative to form

such a front. Keep in mind that Stalin’s party is an old alliance of Left with DMK. In the last two elections, both the parties fought together. The CPM has played this bet with great care. If Stalin takes any ini-tiative, there will be room for both the Con-gress and the Left. Chandrashekhar Rao will not have any prob-lem with this and Mamata Banerjee will be on the sidelines. But ‘Didi; understands this bet and she feels that Congress is somewhere behind this move. There is also an attempt by the Left to hold this front till next year as the par-ty is looking forward to return to power in Tripura next year. If his government is formed in the two states of Ker-ala and Tripura, then its ‘pressure’ will be more useful.

Karnataka hijab row: HC reserves verdictBengaluru: The Karna-taka High Court on Fri-day concluded hearing all the parties concerned and reserved its judg-ment in the hijab case after 11 days of back-to-back hearing.

The judgment was re-served on the petitions filed by Muslim girl stu-dents challenging action of a govt PU college in denying them entry for wearing a hijab and seek-ing protection of their right to wear hijabs in educational institutions.

The hearing had been taking place since 11 days before the full

bench of Karnataka HC comprising Chief Jus-tice Ritu Raj Awasthi, Justice Krishna S Dixit and Justice JM Khazi.

On Tuesday, the Kar-nataka government had told the court that there is no restriction on wearing hijab with rea-sonable restrictions “subject to institutional discipline”. —Agencies

‘Double-engine’ failed in Manipur: CongressNew Delhi: Ahead of the two-phased Ma-nipur Assembly elec-tions, Former Union Minister and Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Friday took a jibe at the BJP-led Central gov-ernment and said that Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and other union minis-ters have “come and gone” but only 48 per cent of the eligible pop-ulation of the state has received complete COV-ID-19 vaccination.

The Congress leader further stated that

BJP’s ‘double-engine’ government in Ma-nipur has failed the peo-ple of the state.

Manipur will go to the Assembly polls on February 28 and on March 5. The counting of votes will take place on March 10. —ANI

PM & friends ‘broke backbone’ of employment sector: RahulAmethi: Congress lead-er Rahul Gandhi on Fri-day alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his friends have “broken the backbone” of India’s employment.

Addressing an elec-tion rally in Amethi, the Wayanad MP said, “The backbone of India’s em-ployment sector has been broken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his friends. You’ll see in the coming times, the youth of this coun-try won’t get employ-ment, teach them how-ever much you want. No one listened to me dur-ing COVID, but you saw bodies in Ganga.”

As the first four phas-es of the seven-phased Uttar Pradesh Assem-bly elections have been completed and cam-paigning for the fifth phase is on, Rahul Gan-dhi finally hit the ground for electioneer-ing in Amethi during

the fifth phase of elec-tions in the electorally crucial state.

The fifth phase of

voting in Uttar Pradesh will take place on Feb-ruary 27 when 60 assem-bly constituencies will

go to the polls.Questioning the gov-

ernment’s policies over not providing employ-ment opportunities to the people, he said, “Why doesn’t he (PM) talk about employment in his (election) speech-es. When he comes to Uttar Pradesh, then why doesn’t he tell the youth of the state that he will give them employment opportunities?.” —ANI

Rahul Gandhi addresses public rally for UP Assembly polls, in Amethi on Friday. —PHOTO BY ANI

RAHUL TO CAMPAIGN IN MANIPUR FROM MARCH 1 FOR ASSEMBLY ELECTIONSNew Delhi: Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi will hold public meetings in Manipur from March 1 ahead of state Assembly elections, sources said on Friday. Earlier on Feb-ruary 21, Gandhi addressed a public meeting at the Hapta Kangjeibung area in Imphal. On February 5, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, who is the observer of Manipur polls for the party, announced an alliance of six political parties and named it “Manipur Progressive Secular Alliance (MPSA)”.

Judicial custody of Channi’s nephew extendedNew Delhi: A local court on Friday extend-ed till March 10, the ju-dicial custody of Pun-jab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Chan-ni’s nephew Bhupinder Singh Honey in connec-tion with an illegal sand mining case.

Honey was produced before the court by the Enforcement Directo-rate (ED) after the expiry of his 14-day ju-dicial custody in con-nection with a Preven-tion of Money Laun-dering case pertaining to the illegal mining in Punjab. —PTI

Two militants, civilian killed in encounter in J&KSrinagar: Two mili-tants were shot dead by the security forces in an encounter in the Am-shipora area of South Kashmir’s Shopian dis-trict on Friday. A civil-ian was also killed in militant firing during the encounter.

In a statement, Inspec-tor General Of Police Kashmir Vijay Kumar said, “Based on a specif-ic input of police about the presence of (mili-tants) in village Amshi-pora, Shopian, a joint operation was launch during the late night of 24/25-02-2022.” —PTI

Good sign that ‘jobs, inflation’ dominating poll scene: MayawatiLucknow: BSP presi-dent Mayawati on Fri-day said it is a good sign that issues like infla-tion, un-e m p l o y -ment and law and order are now dominating the election scene, and rival parties now find the go-ing tough.

On the last day of campaigning for the fifth phase of Uttar Pradesh polls, the BSP chief said her party is contesting the elections on the issues concern-ing the common people and to bring “good” days of her government back and provide relief to them.

Mayawati had led the BSP government of the state between 2007 to 2012. The fifth phase of polling on 61 seats is slated for Sunday, Feb-ruary 27. —PTI

IN AMETHI

You vote with your eyes closed, Priyanka tells voters New Delhi: Congress general secretary Pri-yanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday came down heavily on the voters in Amethi, the former Grand Old Party bas-tion. Addressing a poll rally, Vadra told voters they voted with their eyes closed. “You are re-sponsible for your situ-ation. You are misled and then vote with your eyes closed,” she told the listeners gathered at the rally.

“Your vote is a very big responsibility. Choose wisely as you may regret for the next five years. It’s time for your develop-ment,” Vadra said.

Rahul and Priyanka are in Amethi on the last day of campaigning for the fifth phase polls. The campaign is a Con-gress bid to reclaim the citadel which was un-conquered till 2019.

Earlier in the day, Pri-

yanka began her cam-paign in Amethi by of-fering prayers at the Sankat Mochan temple.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a rally in Amethi wherein he launched an all out at-tack on the Gandhis.

“The people of Ame-thi already know that (their) family members (a reference to the Con-gress) do not belong to anyone. You have been

loyal to these families for a very long time. But the moment you voted them away, they started cursing your in-tellect by going to Kera-la,” PM Modi said, re-ferring to Rahul Gan-dhi being an MP from Kerala’s Wayanad.

Considered a Con-gress bastion since 1980 when Sanjay Gandhi was elected to the Lok Sabha, Amethi sent prominent members of the Gandhi family to the lower house. Rajiv Gan-dhi and Sonia Gandhi too represented the seat at one point of time.

In 2004, Rahul Gan-dhi was elected to Lok Sabha from Amethi which he represented till 2019 when he was defeated by the BJP’s Smriti Zubin Irani. In fact, the Congress failed to win any of the five seats in Amethi in the 2017 polls. —ANI

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra

Free gas cylinders on Holi, Diwali: Shah in PrayagrajPrayagraj: Ahead of the fifth phase of the As-sembly election in Uttar Pradesh, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday promised the people free gas cylinders in Diwali and Holi.

Speaking at a rally in Prayagraj, Shah said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pro-vided gas cylinders to 1.67 crore houses of Ut-tar Pradesh.

“Now if you vote the BJP government back to power again, then Yogi Adityanath’s govern-ment is will give you one gas cylinder free of cost

on Holi and Deepawali.”Shah also warned the

public from those doing politics on the basis of religion and caste and urged the people to vote for the BJP.

“Those opposing the BJP (Samajwadi Party) have spectacle in their eyes. Through one glass they see caste and through another, they see religion. You and I are not visible in either of the glasses. Those who do politics on the basis of caste and reli-gion cannot do good to the poor and back-wards,” Shah.

He further stated that only BJP-led NDA can do good for poor and backward society under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi.

“After the vaccine was discovered, Akhilesh Yadav tweeted asking the people not to take

the vaccine saying that it is Modi vaccine. He, who ridiculed the COV-ID-19 vaccine, got him-self vaccinated after ten days ‘in the dark’. The third wave was not se-vere because the Modi’s government provided free COVID vaccines to

the people of the coun-try,” said Shah.

Speaking about the development in Uttar Pradesh, Shah said, “Congress, SP and BSP ruled this state for 70 years but the poor did not even get toilets. With the Yogi govern-ment coming to power, toilet facilities were made available and there is ample electric-ity supply.”

The fifth phase of voting in Uttar Pradesh will take place on Feb-ruary 27 when 60 assem-bly constituencies will go to the polls. —ANI Union Home Minister Amit Shah addresses a public rally in Uttar Pradesh. —FILE PHOTO

Prayagraj: Speaking on BJP’s alliance with other parties in Uttar Pradesh, Shah said, “Our alliance with Nishad Party and Apna Dal is a winning alli-ance. All three of us are working for the welfare of backward, poor, downtrodden people of society. Your vote to the Nishad Party and Apna Dal will strengthen Prime Minister Modi.”

‘OUR ALLIANCE IN UP IS WORKING FOR THE WELFARE OF POOR & BACKWARD’

Nongpok Kakching: The silver dust after the euphoria of the Tokyo Olympics success of Sai-khom Mirabai Chanu has long settled in this tiny village made fa-mous by the weightlifter.

Now, as election fever hits here too, the road-side camps of candi-dates belonging to par-ties such as Congress, BJP and JD(U) gather dust every time a vehicle passes through the pot-hole-riddled single lane inter-village road.

For the locals, the up-coming assembly polls are the last opportunity before another cycle of “neglect” sets off, to re-mind all those who made tall promises while fe-licitating Ms Chanu to deliver, with drinking water supply and poor road condition topping the litany of complaints.

“In our village, we don’t have drinking wa-ter supply, not even pipe-lines. So, for our family, we buy drinking water for around `1,000 every

month from water tank-er operators,” Chanu’s mother Saikhom Tombi told media.

The village, which is

about 25 km from Ma-nipur’s capital Imphal, was given hope when ministers and govern-ment officials, who came

to felicitate the weight-lifter after she won a sil-ver medal at the Olym-pics last year, promised the completion of a `1.2-crore water supply project which started in December 2020.

“That has remained a promise only. Work on the project has stopped after just about 15 per cent construction. It is supposed to be complet-ed on March 8, 2022 and there is no chance of it meeting the deadline. Forget ‘Har Ghar Jal’,

the entire village doesn’t even have a single pipe-line,” lamented Ma-yanglambam Kennedy, president of Bright Star Union (BSU), a local youth club.

Like Ms Chanu’s fam-ily, others also buy drinking water with an average monthly bill of around `500-Rs 700 de-pending on the number of members. They de-pend on water from community ponds and a nearby stream for other purposes. —PTI

Mirabai’s village still awaits clean water supplyOLYMPIC MEDALLIST

Olympics silver medallist Saikhom Mirabai Chanu.

HIJAB ROW: UNVEILING ‘WE THE PEOPLE’

ondemn me if I am a Muslim, and curse me if I am a Hindu: For me the hijab controversy is a needless projection of social exclusivity in educa-tion institutions and an il-logical element in common path to progress. Worse, it is a huge time waster as we nit-pick the secular fabric of our character. Those on both sides of the debate, I am sure, lack the stamina to keep up the tempo of the debate past the assembly polls in five states. Ergo, move on with or without hijab, there is no moral police on the prowl.

On the face of it, I am one of the inveterate cynics who refuse walking this or that side. I would love a ‘veil’ or any other facemask if I were to guess that it hides the face

of a beautiful woman with

long hair and I’d hate it if I were to discover a man hiding behind it. Call it the fault of my government school educa-tion where there was no dress code. And each time we cre-ated a ruckus in our school, a few slaps of no consequence were the order of the day. Yet we followed one norm: we’d touch the feet of our teachers on Guru Purnima.

Fast-forward to the pre-sent: levity is banned; and the Constitution of the coun-try is often viewed as a hal-lowed entity consecrated many notches above its sol-emn preamble of “We the people…”. Many debates of-ten ignore that “we” as in “we the people…” is plural and the ‘people’ includes the common entity, India that is Bharat.

Above all, there are ques-tions about faith and belief. After a certain point, both take us beyond reason. The world, however, behaves in the realm of reason. Surpris-ingly, however, faith very strongly twists the way we take a decision. Emotions

overrule everything else – for instance, if asked to choose be-tween parents and the country, who would you prefer? Or, between your god and my atheism, who is greater? No Constitution can decide that. The crucial factor could be the cir-cumstances under which we could

ever be confronted with such extreme questions.

India is very diverse and complex. It has reasons and accompanying faith to be one. We are happy in that state only because India lives. That living and inspir-ing idea thrives in our belief in co-existence. That makes us “we the people.” We are no herds of sheep; we are the proud inheritors of a legacy that elevates us to the level of a striving for the greatest amount of good for the larg-est number of people.

Education’s prime aim is humanism. Those who take the path of openness have to pass the test of tolerance. That’s not easy nor is it taught anywhere. It is felt, imbibed as we go through diverse academic subjects and weigh their gist against reason. That involves a cer-tain amount of disciplining,

a sort of bringing

oneself to a belief ‘all in One, One in all.’ If a group feels a certain dress can bring about the practicality of that ideal, so be it. Yet a dress alone can’t be the highest ideal – we have to put on our think-ing caps.

That’s where ‘hijab,’ ‘du-patta’ or any other headgear come in. Sikhism mandates an attire; minus it, would put it in contradiction with its rich, unique place in history. That’s why Article 25 of the Constitution gives the follow-ers of the faith an exception with regard to their essential attire. One may go on argu-ing against it, but as said ear-lier, we have to have a happy union of reason and belief.

Then, beyond rights, there are certain duties for ‘we the people.’ These are seldom talked about; it is as if ‘we the people’ lives for rights not for duties. The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to the Centre and states on a pe-tition that has sought a law to ensure that citizens fulfill the fundamental duties that are enshrined in the Constitu-tion. The plea, filed by advo-cate Durga Dutt, says that citizens have a duty — as un-derlined under Article 51A of the Constitution -- to uphold the country’s ideals and con-tribute to its growth and bet-terment.

It is difficult to answer how one can by law fulfill one’s duties as per the Constitu-tion and how this can be le-gally binding. Nevertheless, we should watch how govern-ments respond to the Su-preme Court notice.

We should also watch how the Karnataka High Court handles the question of hijab being allowed inside govern-ment schools and colleges which mandate a dress code for students. Let us not forget that an extension of permis-sion to such “symbols of re-ligions” inside education institutions would expose all government wings, armed forces included, to waive all dress rules. And who knows if the issue remains as rele-vant after the election re-sults in five states. Maybe in the end, we’d say what a waste of time it was!

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY

THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL

C

It is difficult to answer how one can by law fulfill

one’s duties as per the Constitution and how this

can be legally binding. Nevertheless, we should watch how

governments respond to the Supreme Court

notice.Nevertheless, we should watch how

governments respond to the Supreme

Court notice

PRASHANT SAXENAThe writer is a freelance

journalist and political analyst

PERSPECTIVEJAIPUR | SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2022


� Vol 3 � Issue No. 261� 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-In-Chief: Jagdeesh Chandra.

Editor: Anita Hada Sangwanresponsible for selection of news

under the PRB Act

SPIRITUAL SPEAK

Set thy heart upon thy work, but never on its reward.— The Bhagawad Gita

IN-DEPTH

Rajnath Singh@rajnathsingh

Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi today delivered the inaugural address at a Webinar on Aatmanirbharta. His

vision has been aptly refl ected in this year’s budget announcements

which have given further impetus to “Atmanirbharta in Defence”.

Piyush Goyal@PiyushGoyal

Good going for goods exportsIndia on track to hit $400 billion & more in FY22. Govt. smoothening processes for our manufacturers

& exporters to seamlessly address growing global demand.

TOP TWEETS

PAES IS NOT ALONE, SPOUSAL VIOLENCE IS WIDESPREAD IN OCCURRENCE

amous model Rhea Pillai is star-crossed in love. She first fell in love with actor Sanjay Dutt but their

marriage ended in divorce. As Dutt’s ex-wife she fell in love with tennis star Leander Paes which also ended in divorce. The couple’s relationship turned ugly when Rhea accused the ten-nis player of domestic violence. Rhea also alleged that her hus-band had borrowed huge sums of money from her even as she footed her daughter’s medical bills. The domestic violence charge was upheld by a Mumbai judicial magistrate’s court which ordered Paes to pay her Rs 1.5 lakh per month.

Holding that Paes had in-dulged in “various acts of do-mestic violence” pointed at the hazards women face in a live-in relationship in a patriarchal so-ciety like ours. The woman in such relationships is vulnerable to “exploitation and abuse”. The verdict may dent Paes’ image.

Despite the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act of 2005, spousal violence is still widespread in India.

F

Promoted by Unique Shri Krishna Builders & Developers LLP

ast year the Su-preme Court criti-cised the Central government for its slow process

of appointing judges to High Courts, which are reeling un-der an acute shortage of judges, and stalling the func-tioning of the “third pillar of democracy to a standstill”. Saying that the government had breached the line by not filling up vacancies, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Jus-tice Hrishikesh Roy pointed out that, “the government authority must realise that this is not how it will work. If you want to bring the judicial system to a standstill, your system will also come to a standstill.” The judges said that the government had “re-duced the number of judges

to almost half the sanctioned strength”.

There indeed seemed to be a deliberate delay by the gov-ernment in approving names of judicial officers cleared by the Supreme Court’s collegi-um. In the case of appoint-ments to the Delhi High

Court judgeship that has not been the case. Following its February 1, 2022 meeting the collegium recommended six names for appointment as judges. The government cleared four of them on Feb-ruary 25 and held back its consent on two. Yet that doesn’t solve the problem of shortage. The Delhi High Court has a sanctioned strength of 60 and after these appointments it will still be short by 26 judges. The short-age of judicial officers is common to all High Courts and the Supreme Court.

The immediate conse-quence of this is increasing pendency of cases and long delays in dispensation of jus-tice. As lower courts also face a shortage of judges, under-trials keep languishing in jail.

FOUR NEW JUDGES NOT ENOUGH FOR

DELHI HIGH COURT

The Delhi High Court has a sanctioned strength

of 60 and after these appointments it will still be short by 26 judges.

The shortage of judicial officers is

common to all High Courts & the

Supreme Court

L

INDIAJAIPUR | SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2022

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Sharat K Verma

New Delhi: In Punjab, the assembly elections have been completed and in Uttar Pradesh too voting has happened in three phases for 172 seats. Many parties have contested elections in these two states, which have been discussed a lot. But there are two parties, for which it has been assumed there are ‘weaklings’ in front of the other ‘powerful’ par-ties. In Uttar Pradesh, the Bahujan Samaj Par-ty was rejected even be-

fore the elections began and for the Akali Dal in Punjab it was already assumed that it was not in the contest. In Uttar Pradesh, it became a con-test of Bharatiya Janata Party vs. Samajwadi Par-ty and in Punjab it be-came a fight of Congress vs. Aam Aadmi Party.

Therefore, for the BSP in Uttar Pradesh and the Akali Dal in Punjab, it was assumed that they are nowhere in the fray and at least this year, their ‘war’ is over. But nothing can be farther from the truth. In Pun-

jab, Akali and BSP have fought elections togeth-er and fought it exceed-ingly well. Victory and defeat have their place but Akali Dal has fought the elections with as-

tounding ‘vigour’. It se-lected the candidates well and fought the elec-tions focusing on their core vote taking care Jat-Sikh voters, who are traditionally inclined

towards the Akali Dal. Keeping in mind. Be-cause of the multi-cor-nered contest, the mar-gin of victory will be less in most places and there is an opportunity for the SAD-BSP alliance.

Similarly, in every pre-poll survey in Uttar Pradesh, it is being told that the vote percentage of Bahujan Samaj Party will hardly reach double digits and there are claims that BSP will get maximum 12-13 per cent votes. Keep in mind that in the last election, BSP got more votes than the

ruling Samajwadi Party in the state amid the BJP wave. SP had 21.82 per cent votes while BSP had more than 22 per cent votes. A large part of this vote is still with Mayawa-ti and a part of the most backward castes who have supported her for the last several elec-tions are also with her. That is why no one should consider that BSP has no role to play. If its performance is better than what the poll surveys have pre-dicted, it will be an alarm bell for the BJP.

Don’t consider SAD, BSP out of race, just yet!

Modi: India exporting defence equipment to over 75 nationsAbout 70% of this year’s defence budget has been kept for domestic industry only: PMNew Delhi: Cyber secu-rity is no longer limited to just the digital world as it has now become a matter of national secu-rity, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday. “Today, India is providing Made in In-dia defence equipment and services to more than 75 countries,” he noted.

“Even during the pe-riod of slavery and im-mediately after Inde-pendence, the strength of our defence manu-facturing was very high. Weapons made in India played a big role in World War II,” he said in his address at the Defence Ministry’s post-budget webinar.

“Although this strength of ours kept on weakening in later years, it shows that there was no shortage of capacity in India then and neither it is there now,” he added.

About 70 per cent of this year’s defence budget has been kept for domestic industry only, he said. —ANI

DEF MINISTRY TO CREATE PANEL TO MONITOR BUDGET SPENDING: SINGHNew Delhi: The Defence Ministry will create a panel with representatives from all three services to monitor its budget spending so that it is fully utilised in time, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Friday. The gov-ernment’s commitment to reducing imports and modernising armed forces with indigenous technolo-gy has been given further impetus in this budget, he said. Singh said he is sure that the Defence Ministry has noted all the valuable suggestions received and deliberated during the we-binar and has also drawn an action plan for time-bound implementation of the budget announce-ments for atmanirbharta in defence. “For promot-ing industry-led research and development (R&D) efforts, I would sanc-tion at least five projects under Make-I during the financial year 2022-23,” he mentioned. —PTI

Mumbai: Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik, who was arrested in Da-wood Ibrahim money laundering case, was on Friday admitted to JJ Hospital in Mumbai.

Earlier in the day, the Enforcement Directo-rate took Malik to the hospital for medical ex-amination. Malik has been remanded to ED custody till March 3, in connection with the Da-wood Ibrahim money laundering case. He was sent to ED custody for seven days by a court in Mumbai in connection with the case. Earlier, ED had sought 14-day custody of the NCP leader from the court. He was ar-rested on Wednesday by the ED.

According to the sources, Malik was not cooperating during the questioning. Soon after his arrest, Malik said that he is not scared and will fight and win.

Earlier this month, the Enforcement Direc-torate conducted raids at the residence of Da-wood Ibrahim's sister Haseena Parkar in Mumbai in connection

with the money laun-dering case. Searches were carried out by the Enforcement Directo-rate at several places

linked to people associ-ated with the under-world in Mumbai, in-formed sources said on Tuesday. —ANI

Nawab Malik hospitalised 2 days after being arrested

MALIK-DAWOOD MONEY TRAIL

In a first, Union Law Secretary elevated as judge of Delhi HCNew Delhi: In a first, a union law secretary has been appointed as a judge of a high court. According to the De-partment of Justice in the Law Ministry, Union Law Secretary Anoop Kumar Mendiratta has been elevated as a judge of the Delhi High Court.

Mendiratta was ap-pointed as judge based on his seniority as a ju-dicial officer, sources in the government said. His name was recently

recommended by the Su-preme Court collegium. Mendiratta was a judi-cial officer in Delhi when he was made the law secretary in October

2019. Even that was a first when a serving dis-trict and sessions judge was made the union law secretary. He was ap-pointed as law secretary on a contractual basis till March 30, 2023.

Besides Mendiratta, three other judicial of-ficers — Neena Bansal Krishna, Dinesh Kumar Sharma and Sudhir Ku-mar Jain — have also been elevated as judges of the Delhi High Court.

—PTI

Is Bitcoin illegal or not, asks SCNew Delhi: The Su-preme Court on Friday asked central govern-ment whether Bitcoin is illegal in the country or not while hearing a matter relating to the GainBitcoin scam.

The court enquiry came while hearing the petition seeking cancel-lation of bail against Ajay Bhardwaj, one of the co-accused among others in this case. Re-

sponding to the court’s question, Additional Solicitor General Aish-warya Bhati said that accused Ajay Bhardwaj

is allegedly involved in the fraud of Bitcoins.

A Bench of Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Surya Kant, meanwhile, directed ac-cused Ajay Bhardwaj to co-operate in the inves-tigation extended his interim protection from arrest till the next date of hearing.

The court listed the matter for hearing after four weeks. —ANI

New Delhi: The Supreme Court is set to review its verdict in a 32-year-old road rage case featuring Congress leader Navjot Sidhu and examine if Sidhu should face tougher charges. The Punjab Congress chief has been given two weeks’ time to respond to the SC notice. Advocate Sidharth Luthra, appearing

for the victim's family, sought punish-ment under graver offences.

P Chidambaram, representing Sidhu, argued that the initial application was only about

quantum of sentence and not nature of offence. Sidhu’s law-yer opposed nature of offence also being questioned after

so many years had passed since the incident. —PTI

Trouble for Sidhu, top court to review road rage case verdict

New Delhi: The Su-preme Court on Friday said it would hear on March 11 the CBI’s plea against the Kerala High Court order granting anticipatory bail to four persons, including a for-mer Director-General of Police (DGP), in a case about the alleged fram-ing of scientist Nambi Narayanan in the 1994

ISRO espionage case.The HC had on Au-

gust 13 last year grant-ed anticipatory bail to former Gujarat DGP R B Sreekumar, two for-mer police officers of Kerala — S Vijayan and Thampi S Durga, and a retired intelligence of-ficial PS Jayaprakash — in connection with the case. —PTI

Apex court to hear on March 11 CBI’s plea against bail to 4

ISRO ESPIONAGE CASE

Over 1,000 officials of CSS protest delay in promotionsNew Delhi: More than one thousand staff members of the Central Secretariat Service (CSS) protested inside the North Block on Fri-day over a delay in pro-motions of staff for over six years now. The protesters insisted on meeting MoS (Person-nel) Jitendra Singh, who was not in his of-fice. The staff at the Minister’s office, how-ever, assured the pro-testing members that their issues would be addressed by March 10.

The issue has been pending for years now and got further delayed. “Regular promotions have been withheld in the Central Secretariat cadres for the past six years quoting pending litigations in the SC.

PM Narendra Modi addresses the post Budget webinar on Defence Sector in New Delhi on Friday.

NCP leader and Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik being brought out of Enforcement Directorate office —FILE PHOTO

New Delhi: Highlighting challenges faced in procuring defence equipment from abroad, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday stressed on promotion of the 'AatmaNirbhar Bharat' and 'Make in India' campaign in defence manufactur-ing. Addressing a webinar on 'Aatmanirbharta in Defence — Call to Action', the PM said, "When we procure weapons from outside, its process is so long that by the time they reach our security forces, many of them become outdated. Its solution is in 'AatmaNirbhar Bharat campaign' and 'Make in India'." The PM mentioned that this year's Union Budget has a blueprint for devel-oping a vibrant ecosystem from research and development for defence manufacturing. —ANI

MODI: BUDGET IS BLUEPRINT FOR DEVELOPING VIBRANT ECOSYSTEM

PM TO ADDRESS WEBINAR ON BUDGET TODAYNew Delhi: PM Narendra Modi will address a post- Budget webinar of the Union Health Ministry on Saturday. Three thematic sessions will be held on Ayushman Bharat Digital Mis-sion, E-Sanjeevani and Telemental Health Prog, a Health Minis-try statement said.

ALLEGATIONS AGAINST MAHA MIN ARE ‘WELL-FOUNDED’, SAYS PMLA COURTMumbai: Prima facie, there are reasonable grounds to believe that allegations against Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik are “well-founded”, observed a special court here while remanding him in the custody of the ED in connection with a money laundering case. Special judge RN Rokade, designated to hear mat-ters related to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), also said that sufficient time is required to be granted for the investigation of the offence and Mr Malik’s custodial interrogation was necessary. The court on Wednesday remanded Mr Malik, a senior NCP leader, in the custody of the ED till March 3. Its detailed order was made available on Friday. —PTI

IN THE COURTYARD

CSS officials waiting outside MoS Jitendra Singh office at North Block in New Delhi.

Anoop Kumar Mendiratta

Paes found guilty of domestic violenceMumbai: A metro-politan magistrate court in Mumbai has held in its order that tennis legend Leander Paes com-mitted various acts of domestic vio-lence against his ex- partner Rhea Pillai.

Model-actor Rhea Pillai had filed case against Leander Paes in 2014. The court directed Paes to pay monthly rent of `50,000, apart from monthly main-tenance of `1 lakh to Rhea Pillai if she chooses to leave their shared resi-dence.

I feel proud to have addressed UAE’s FNC members in Hindi: Birla

New Delhi/Abu Dhabi: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla conquered the hearts and minds of the 40-member Federal National Council (FNC) of the UAE. That too in Hindi.

Birla cherished his address to the FNC members in Hindi.“The eighth schedule of our Constitution recognises as many as 22 Indian languag-es. These languages uphold our unity in diversity, which is unique to the largest democracy in the world. Hindi is our mother tongue. I’m happy to have deliv-ered the speech at the

FNC. It makes me feel proud to have spoken in Hindi on foreign soil,” said Birla.

KHALEEJ TIMES PRAISES OM BIRLA’S SPEECHNew Delhi: Khaleej Times has appre-ciated Om Birla’s speech in Emirates Parliament. Khaleej Times wrote, Birla’s address impressed Emirates MPs. Birla made history by delivering a speech in Hindi. Khaleej Times compared Birla’s speech with ex-PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s speech.

Navjot Singh Sidhu

Sukhbir Singh Badal Mayawati

Leander Paes

—FILE PHOTO

—PHOTO BY ANI

BIZ BUZZJAIPUR | SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2022


Sensex snaps 7-day losing streak; investors’ wealth up by `7.7 trn

BIZ BRIEFS

CEPA to help jewellery, gems sector

Mumbai: The CEPA signed between India and the UAE, will boost the gems and jewellery industry and help the sector achieve the target of $52 billion exports in 2022-23. ‘’On the export front, the CEPA with the UAE will benefi t the gems and jewelry industry the most. With CEPA we are confi dent to achieve the set tar-get of $52 bn gem & jewelry export,” GJEPC said. —PTI

Dairy ind to witness 12% rev growth

New Delhi: The organised dairy industry is likely to witness 12% revenue growth this fi nancial year to reach Rs 1.6 lakh crore, mainly due to recovery in demand for value-added products, steady liquid milk sales and a hike in the retail price, a report said. Revenue of India’s organised dairy in-dustry will rebound a solid 12% year-on-year this fi scal to `1.6 lakh crore.

—PTI

MCL to have record annual production

New Delhi: Coal India on Friday said that its Odisha-based arm MCL is on track to outstrip its annual produc-tion target of 163 MT for the ongoing fi scal. MCL on Thursday breezed past its highest-ever production that it recorded in FY’21, 35 days ahead of FY’22-end. —PTI

Tata in talks with aircraft makersNew Delhi: Planemakers Boeing Co and Airbus SE have met executives from India’s Tata Group in recent weeks to discuss plane or-ders for Air India, two sources said. Airbus declined to comment on dis-cussions it says it “may or may not be having with potential custom-ers”.

—PTI

Formal job creation surged in Dec 2021New Delhi: Around 15.26 lakh new mem-bers joined the ESIC-run social security scheme in December 2021 against 10.39 lakh in November 2021, offi-cial data showed on Friday, giving a per-spective on formal sec-tor employment in the country.

The latest data is part of a report re-leased by the National Statistical Office.

Gross new enrol-ments with ESIC were 10.73 lakh in April, 8.94 lakh in May, 11.07 lakh

in June, 13.23 lakh in July, 13.51 lakh in Au-gust, 13.60 lakh in Sep-tember and 12.08 lakh in October 2021.

June, July and Au-gust figures show an increase in enrolments after easing of COVID-induced restrictions. The NSO report showed that gross en-rolments of new sub-scribers with ESIC were 1.15 crore in 2020-21, compared to 1.51 crore in 2019-20 and 1.49 crore in 2018-19.

The NSO report is based on the payroll data of new subscrib-ers of various social security schemes run by ESIC, the Employ-ees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) and Pension Fund Reg-ulatory and Develop-ment Authority (PFR-

DA).It has been releasing

such data of these bod-ies since April 2018, covering the period starting Sept 2017.

According to the re-port, net new enrol-ments with retirement fund body EPFO stood at 14.60 lakh in Decem-ber 2021, up from 12.17

lakh in Nov 2021.It showed that

from September 2017 to Dec 2021,

around 4.98 crore (gross) new subscrib-ers joined the

Employees’ Provident Fund scheme.

The report, titled ‘Payroll Reporting in India: An Employment Perspective - Novem-ber 2021’, said since the number of subscribers is from various sourc-es, there are elements of overlap, and the esti-mates are not additive.

NSO also said the re-port gives different per-spectives on the levels of employment in the formal sector and does not measure employ-ment at a holistic level.

—PTI

GOOD SIGNS

FM discusses credit-related issues with hospitality, tourism sectorsNew Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Si-tharaman on Friday held a meeting with rep-resentatives from trav-el, tourism and hospi-tality sectors to discuss various credit related issues with them.

The meeting was also attended by senior fi-nance ministry officials and heads of various public sector banks.

“Along with the FM, the meeting was also at-tended by MoS Finance Shri @DrBhagwat-Karad; Finance Secre-tary; Secretaries for Fi-nancial Services, Eco-nomic Affairs & Reve-

nue; chiefs of PSBs & IBA, besides senior of-ficials from @Fin-MinIndia,” the finance ministry said in a tweet.

It is to be noted that Budget 2022-23 had pro-posed to open an addi-tional ̀ 50,000 crore win-dow under the Emer-gency Credit Line Guar-

antee Scheme (ECLGS) to support hospitality and related services sector. Besides, the Budget also proposed to extend the ECLGS by one more year till March 2023 and guaran-tee cover expanded to ̀ 5 lakh crore from `4.5 lakh crore. —PTI

Telecom department writes to TRAI to expedite spectrum viewsNew Delhi: The tele-com department has ap-proached TRAI request-ing it to expedite spec-trum recommenda-tions, after the PMO urged it to work towards the initial launch of 5G by August 15, 2022 and explore possibility of obtaining requisite views from the regula-tor before March.

The market is gear-ing up for roll out of 5G services that will usher in ultra high-speeds & spawn new-age services

& business models.Accordingly, the Tel-

ecom Regulatory Au-thority of India is firm-ing up its recommenda-tions on modalities for auction of spectrum across multiple bands, including pricing, quantum and other con-ditions — preparing the groundwork for upcom-ing 5G auctions. —PTI

Govt mulling PLI scheme for chemical sector New Delhi: Chemi-cals & Fertilisers Min-ister Mansukh Man-daviya on Friday said the ministry is plan-ning to bring PLI scheme for the chemi-cal sector to boost do-mestic production and exports. Addressing a seminar, the minister said the government has launched PLI schemes for different

sectors to make Indian self-reliant.“We are thinking how to bring PLI scheme in the chemical sector. We have started working in this direction,” said Mandaviya. —PTI

New Delhi: Bharti Airtel said on Friday it has agreed to buy a 4.7% stake in telecom infrastructure firm Indus Towers from Vodafone Plc for cash, the company said in a statement. The money paid will be used by Vodafone to clear Vodafone Idea’s pending dues to Indus Towers it-self, per the terms of the deal, the state-ment said. Bharti Airtel did not dis-close the price of the transaction.Under the agreement, the amount paid by Bharti Airtel will be “inducted by Voda-fone as fresh equity in Vodafone Idea Limited (VIL) and si-multaneously remit-ted to Indus Towers to clear VIL’s out-standing dues,” the company said. Bharti Airtel currently holds 41.73% stake in Indus Towers; it would hold more than 46% stake after the completion of the transaction, making it the largest share-

holder. Vodafone Plc currently holds 28.12% stake in Indus Towers. We believe this transaction al-lows Airtel to secure continued strong pro-vision of services from Indus Towers, protects and enhanc-es Airtel’s value in Indus Towers, ena-bles it to receive rich dividends and as also paves the way for subsequent financial consolidation of In-dus Towers in Air-tel,” the company said. It did not dis-close the price of the transaction but add-ed that it would be at an “attractive price”. The sale to Bharti could fetch Vodafone around Rs 2,885-2,936 crore, according to an earlier Financial Express report. Air-tel would buy 4.7% stake or 127.1 million shares in Indus Tow-ers. —Agencies

BHARTI AIRTEL TO BUY 4.7% STAKE IN INDUS TOWERS FROM VODAFONE

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman holds the meeting with the representatives from travel, tourism and hospitality sectors.

New Delhi: A day after suffering their worst session in about two years, benchmark indi-ces Sensex and Nifty rebounded up to 2.5% on Friday, in line with higher global markets as the US and allies put up a united front to punish Russia with harsher sanctions over the Ukraine conflict.

Snapping their sev-en-day losing streak,

the BSE Sensex climbed 1,328.61

points to settle at 55,858.52, while the

NSE Nifty rise 410.45 points to 16,658.40.

Barring HUL and Nestle, all Sensex shares closed with gains -- with Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance, NTPC and Tech Mahindra surging as much as 6.54%. On Thursday, the Sensex had crashed over 2,700 points in its biggest single-day plunge in about two years. —PTI

` REBOUNDS 34 PAISE TO CLOSE AT 75.26/$New Delhi: Rupee appreciated by 34 paise to close at 75.26 (provisional) against US $ on Fri-day. At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened at 75.31 against the greenback and wit-nessed an intra-day high of 75.18 and a low of 75.46. The rupee fi nally ended at 75.26. —PTI

INDIA AMONG WORST LOSERS IN ASIA New Delhi: The ongo-ing conflict between Russia and Ukraine has sent global markets into a frenzy. And just as countries and central banks were recovering from the impact of Cov-id-19 pandemic, the geo-political tensions are likely to further aggra-vate inflationary pres-sures, and a Nomura report suggests that in Asia, India is likely to be among the worst los-ers as a result of this conflict.

Brent crude climbed around 3% after surg-ing above $105 per bar-rel at one point in Thursday’s trade. The report notes that the sustained rise in oil and food prices is likely to

have an adverse impact on Asia’s economies, manifested through higher inflation, weak-er current account and fiscal balances, and a squeeze on economic growth.

“In such a scenario, India, Thailand, and the Philippines are the big-gest losers,” the report says.

India is also likely to be adversely impacted by rising oil prices, giv-en its status as a net oil importer. “Rising crude oil prices are a negative terms-of-trade shock for consumers and busi-nesses and we estimate every 10% increase in oil prices would shave off ~0.20pp from GDP growth,” the report

reads.While the Monetary

Policy Committee in In-dia did opt to continue with its accommodative stance in the latest poli-cy meet, expectations were that the Reserve Bank of India will soon adopt a hawkish per-spective with inflation crossing the upper limit of its tolerance band in the latest reading.

In the meet, the RBI Governor had said that inflation is expected to average 4.5% in FY23. Nomura argues that even in the absence of the current geopolitical tensions, this grossly underestimates the up-side risks to inflation over the coming months. —PTI

RUSSIA-UKRAINE CRISIS India stops buying sunoil as conflict maroons shipments

Coal supply to industries, CPPs will get hampered

New Delhi: About 380,000 tonnes of sunfl ower oil ship-ments from the Black sea region to India are stuck at ports and with producers, and new purchases have stalled after ports suspended operations following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, four deal-ers said.There is no clarity when loading of the cargoes – worth $570 million at cur-rent prices – from Ukraine and Russia will

resume, pushing In-dian buyers to replace sunoil with soyoil and palm oil for March and April shipments, deal-ers said.The Black Sea region accounts for 60% of world sunoil output and 76% of exports, and India is the top global edible oil importer. —Agencies

New Delhi: The Russia-Ukraine military confl ict, which has in-creased energy prices globally, will reduce the propensity to import coal by power plants and will further hamper the supply of fuel to captive power plants and industries like steel, aluminium from state-owned Coal In-dia, ICPPA said on Fri-day. According to the Indian Captive Power

Producers Association (ICPPA), amid rising energy prices globally, electricity producers will pressurise the government for more domestic coal to fulfi ll their demand and this will adversely affect fuel supply to the non-power sector. —PTI

Bilateral payments with Russia unlikely to be impacted

New Delhi: Bilateral payments with Russia may not be impacted even as the US and other western coun-tries have imposed economic sanctions on Moscow. India-Russia bilateral payments are made in the Indian ru-pee. For both imports and exports, payments are made or received in the rupee for ship-ments. —PTI

SpiceJet to start 6 Bangkok flights from March 10 New Delhi: SpiceJet on Friday said it will start six flights between In-dia and Bangkok from March 10 onwards. The airline will be deploy-ing B737 aircraft to op-erate all India-Bangkok flights. The Kolkata-Bangkok flight and the return flight will begin from March 10. The Delhi-Bangkok flight and the return flight will begin from March 10 while Mumbai-Bang-kok flight and the return flight from March 17. —PTI

NEWSJAIPUR | SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2022


Shivendra Parmar

Jaipur: Dainik Bhaskar’s 3-day prop-erty expo began from Friday at Birla Audito-rium wherein Commis-sioner of Rajasthan Housing Board Pawan Arora, the chief guest of the programme, in-augurated the pro-gramme by lighting a lamp. A large number of people have been reach-ing the expo organized

after the effects of the third wave of Corona have subsided. On this occasion, Arora said that it is a good effort on the part of Dainik Bhaskar.

JK Jaju, Chairman of Shubhashish Group, also praised Bhaskar’s Property Expo and said that with such efforts, the customer and the developer get to know each other. Vinod Goel of Mangalam Group was also present.

Bhaskar’s 3-day property expo beginsBOOM IN REAL ESTATE

Promoted by

EXERCISE EASTERN BRIDGE CONCLUDES

The 5-day India and Oman air combat exercise concluded in Jodhpur on Friday. The joint exercise refl ected growing bilateral military cooperation. During the exercise, the Indian Air Force deployed a fl eet of Sukhoi-30MKIs, Jaguar and Mirage-2000 fi ghter jets for the 6th edition of the exercise ‘Eastern Bridge’. On its part, the Royal Air Force of Oman (RAFO) deployed its F-16 jets.

BOY RESCUED AFTER 25 HRS OP, HEALTHYRamesh Sharma & Sitaram

Sikar: A 4.5-year-old boy Ravindra who had fallen into an open bore-well in Sikar district a day ago was rescued on Friday, after 25 hours, officials said. The boy was rescued after dig-ging a tunnel parallel to the borewell, they said, adding that the minor was immediately rushed to a hospital for medical examination.

The rescue operation was carried out for over 24 hours by the officials of SDRF and NDRF. The boy was stuck at a depth of around 50 feet, CO, Reengus, Surendra Sin-gh said. The boy’s move-ments were being moni-tored through a CCTV camera lowered in the borewell, officials said. The child fell into the borewell while playing near his house in Bi-jarniya ki Dhani under Khatushyamji PS.

SDRF and NDRF teams worked round-the-clock to rescue the trapped boy Ravindra. (Inset) Rescue team members taking out boy from borewell on Friday.

SDRF HEAD WRITES TO COLLECTORS, SPS Jaipur: SDRF Com-mandant IPS Pankaj Chaudhary has sent a letter to all the DMs, SPs of the state.In his letter, SDRF Comman-dant Pankaj Chaudhary gave logical sugges-tions and instructions

to these offi cers. In order to save the children, animals and men Pankaj Chaudhary suggested the offi cials to repair the open wells of their area so that such type of incidents could be checked in Ra-

jasthan. IPS Chaudhary suggested to check accident related to rock slip during mining in the state. In his letter, Chaudhary suggested several others things that could check the incidents.

Ravindra was rescued after digging a tunnel parallel to borewell by SDRF and NDRF teams. He fell into borewell Thursday evening.

Dr Rituraj Sharma

Jaipur: A meeting of the selection committee under the chairman-ship of Chief Secretary Usha Sharma was held on Friday at the secre-tariat regarding the 28 posts of Additional SP in ACB. In the meeting, 13 RPS gave interviews for 28 posts.

After the interview, the selec-tion com-mittee has sealed its recommen-dation in an envelope. It will now be placed before CM Ashok Gehlot for a final decision and the order of the selected RPS for this post will be issued by the Home Depart-ment.

Sharma also took a meeting regarding the preparations for the REET exam. The CM announced in his budg-et speech to conduct ex-aminations between July 23 and 24. This was also discussed. Instruc-tions have been given to make tight security ar-rangements so that the paper does not leak.

Thirteen RPS interviewed for 28 posts of ASPs in ACB

Vikram Lot murder case: 7 convicts get lifer

Ravi Sharma

Udaipur: Pronouncing its verdict in the much talked about murder of gangster Vikram Lot, the Additional District Court-IV here on Fri-day sentenced all the convicts in the case to life imprisonment. However, two of the seven convicts are dead now.

According to the prosecution, Prakash and Gajendra Chhapar-wal along with 5 others had attacked brothers Vikram and Sunil Lot over old enmity.

Vikram Lot died while undergoing treat-ment in the hospital. Both the main attackers and the victims were neighbours and belong to the same community.

CONTEMPT NOTICE ISSUED TO PRINCIPAL SECRETARY AND DIRECTOR OF EDU DEPT Jaipur: Advocate Poonam Chand Bhandari has sent a contempt of court notice to PK Goel and Kanaram, the Principal Secretary and Direc-tor of Education department, in the matter of recruitment of computer instructors in the state. Bhandari has explained in the notice that the state has around 14,000 government schools. But strangely, no computer instructor has been appointed in the last 11 years in the state whereas computer science has been made a compulsory subject.

MUNICIPALITY HEAD’S HUSBAND

GETS RELIEF Jaipur: Justice Far-zand Ali of the High

Court on Friday grant-ed a stay on the arrest of the husband of the

Malpura municipal chairperson till the

next hearing on 3rd March. He is wanted for his involvement

in a corruption case. The Anti-Corruption Bureau has arrested a technical assistant and a contractor of

the municipality in the case on 12th January. They were caught red-handed when accept-

ing bribe.

HC ORDERS POSTING TO COP REJECTED FOR SHORT HEIGHTJaipur: Hearing the constable recruit-ment-2019 case, Jus-tice Mahendra Kumar Goel of the High Court ordered the authorities concerned on Friday to give appointment to the petitioner Shivram Chaturvedi within a month’s time. The plaintiff was denied recruitment quot-ing his height lesser than actual. When he was measured again on the court order, it came out that he is tall enough to fulfi l the criterion.

Newly married couple dies in road accidentFirst India Bureau

Churu: A newly mar-ried couple was killed in a road accident in Chu-ru district, police said on Friday. Vishal Chaud-hary (25) and Neha Chaudhary (24) were travelling in a car and it collided with a truck near Bhojasar bus stand on Sardarshahar-Dun-gargarh highway late on Thursday night, Station House Officer of Sardar-shahar police station Balraj Singh Maan said. Both of them were killed in the collision, he added.

Youth dies in PaliIn Sumerpur (Pali), a youth was killed in road accident when a car hit their bike on the Na-tional Highway of Sum-erpur PS. Incident hap-pened when man and woman were going from Sumerpur to Sirohi via Shivganj on a mo-torcycle.

Ready for all help to Rajasthanis in Ukraine: ShekhawatRajiv Gaur

Jodhpur: Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajen-dra Singh Shekhawat on Friday said that they are always ready for all possible help to Rajasthani students and their families trapped in Ukraine. He said that for contact, information and assis-

tance, contact helpline number 91-7026573333. The Union Minister said that India is capa-ble of solving every cri-sis, so they need not panic.

He dedicated Semi Trauma ICU wards equipped with state-of-the-art medical facili-ties at Community Health Centers (CHCs)

in his parliamentary constituency. Shekha-wat said that the PM had given a call to the country and said that jahan beemar, wahan upchar. With this inspi-ration from the Prime Minister, I had also re-solved during the sec-ond wave of Corona that all the CHCs would upgrade one ward.

Teacher attacked with blade by school directorFirst India Bureau

Jaipur : In a shocking incident from Jaipur, a teacher who was teach-ing in the class was at-tacked with a blade. The attacker gave multiple blows to the teacher and injured her shoulder and back with a blade.

Surprisingly, the at-tacker wasn’t an un-known person; he was the director of the same school. The incident is of Gulmohar School in the Malviya Nagar area.

While the teacher was teaching the first-

grade students, school director Sachin Shar-ma came to the class with a blade in his hand. He first attacked her back and then on the shoulder with a blade. On information, the police reached the spot and arrested the accused Sachin. The in-jured teacher was sent to the hospital.

Pawan Arora inaugurating Dainik Bhaskar’s 3-day property expo on Friday while Vinod Goel, JK Jaju, and others look on.

BUNDI TEACHER BOOKED FOR HARASSING STUDENT Lakheri (Bundi): In a private school in Lakheri Shivnagar, the teacher molested and did obscene acts with a 12th student. Student narrated the whole incident to grandfather. She said that the teacher used to call the girl students separately to school on the pretext of the extra class. The girl students were called to the school separately. Later, the girl went to the Lakheri PS and lodged a case under POCSO Act against the teacher. Gajendra Singh Shekhawat dedicating a Semi Trauma ICU ward

equipped with state-of-the-art facilities at a CHC on Friday.

ICU wards with modern facilities

would be ready in all 26 CHCs in the coming days. This would be done with the help of society.

—Gajendra S Shekhawat,Union Jal Shakti Minister

Naveen Joshi

Bhilwara: Rs 7 lakh were looted near Jail Tirahe in broad day-light in Bhilwara. The father and daughter liv-ing in Bapu Nagar were going on a bike to de-posit money in bank when two miscreants came near the jail inter-section and after block-ing the way, robbed the purse from woman and fled. Subhash Nagar po-lice is scanning the foot-age of CCTV cameras to find the accused.

`7 lakh looted from woman

4.5-YR-OLD TRAPPED IN BOREWELL IN THE COURTYARD

Kamal Kant

Jaipur: In a major re-shuffle in the state judi-ciary, more than 200 ju-dicial officers have been transferred on promo-tion from civil judge cadre to senior civil judge cadre. The HC Registrar General came out with three circulars in this regard on Friday.

Mohammad Ashif Ansari has been ap-pointed as Senior Civil Judge cum Chief Met-ropolitan Magistrate of Metro Court-II here.

Brijesh Kumar Sharma has been made the judge of Anti-Corrup-tion Court-II here while Rajiv Chaudhury is new Spl judge of CBI Court-IV.

Similarly, Hemant Singh Baghela was sent as judge POCSO Court-IV Alwar from Regis-trar (Judicial) of Jaipur Bench of High Court while from the Regis-trar (CPC) of the Bench, Chandra Shekhar Shar-ma was sent as dist and Sessions judge in Jodh-pur Metro Court.

More than 200 judicial officers shifted in Raj

COVID-19 UPDATE

WORLD

5,950,920 TOTAL DEATHS

362,012,517TOTAL RECOVERED

64,767,253 ACTIVE CASES

432,730,690TOTAL CASES

INDIA

513,258 TOTAL DEATHS

42,246,884 TOTAL RECOVERED

134,203ACTIVE CASES

42,894,345 TOTAL CASES

Decide- Once and for all; In dithering you lse more than in saying ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’.

—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO & Editor-in-Chief, First India

JAIPUR | SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2022www.fi rstindia.co.in I www.fi rstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefi rstindia I facebook.com/thefi rstindia I instagram.com/thefi rstindia102NDFRONT

POSTAL REG NO. JPC/004/2022-24

Aditi Nagar

New Delhi : After the announcement of pro-viding the benefit of old pension scheme to gov-ernment employees in budget presented by CM Ashok Gehlot led Ra-jasthan government, the Congress is now ‘propagating’ its move across the country. Due to this, on Friday, State Congress in-charge Ajay Maken and State PCC Chief Govind Sin-gh Dotasra held a press conference at AICC Headquarters and de-

manded the Central Government and all the states of the country to implement the old pen-sion scheme.

State in-charge Ajay Maken said “The work done by Gehlot govt should be replicated by Modi government and all the states so that the employees can get the benefit of pension scheme. The govern-ment of the then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee had stopped the pension scheme for the person-nel who were recruited in government jobs af-

ter January 1, 2004 and they were demanding to implement the old pen-sion scheme. I am hap-py that our Congress government has given relief to the employees in Rajasthan by imple-menting this pension

scheme. There will be no third party in this,” Maken said.

Maken added, “The sixth pay scale came in UPA government, which is the best pay scale and the recom-mendations of the sev-

enth pay scale were also established by the Man-mohan Singh govern-ment and after that when the Modi govern-ment came to power, they had termed the 7th pay scale as the last pay scale. There will be no pay scale after this, so the employees should also understand that the Congress protects their rights,” he said.

Ajay Maken said just as there is Mahatma Gandhi Employment Guarantee Scheme in villages, in the same way Indira Gandhi Em-

ployment Guarantee Scheme will be imple-mented in cities, under which employment will be provided for 100 days. He said that today 39% people are living in cities but there is prob-lem of employment. “In such a situation, poor living in cities will also get daily employment for 100 days, Rs 800 crore will be spent on this scheme. Dotasra also counted the impor-tant announcements of the Gehlot govern-ment’s budget in the press conference.

Cong benevolent towards employees & public alike: Maken

GEHLOT GOVT ALWAYS TAKES POSITIVE DECISIONS FOR US: EMPLOYEESFrom pg 1...

and exemplary decision. The employees said that in the budget, from giv-ing the benefit of sev-enth pay scale to the de-prived employees of corporations, boards, undertakings, autono-mous institutions and universities, to removal of the anomaly related to ACP arising due to the order of the year 2017, cadre restructur-ing for promotion and increasing the number of posts along with oth-er announcements, in the last three years, the state government has always taken positive decisions regarding the welfare of employees. These decisions have en-couraged the employ-

ees, which will motivate them to discharge their responsibilities and per-form better.

On this occasion Dr. Subhash Garg, Dhar-mendra Rathore and a large number of per-sonnel were present.

Police offi cials called upon CM Ashok Gehlot to express gratitude for presenting a magnifi cent State Budget-2022-23 at the Chief Minister’s Residence on Friday. Also seen here is Dharmendra Rathore.

Pilot hosts Annual lunch for journos!First India Bureau

New Delhi: Congress leader Sachin Pilot host-ed the Annual Lunch to honour journalists in New Delhi on Friday at his Canning Lane resi-dence. Many veteran journalists including Ra-jat Sharma, Priya Se-hgal, Uma-h a n k a r S i n g h , V i k r a m Chandra, S r i n i v a s Jain, Nidhi Kulpati, Su-mit Awasthi, Adesh Rawal, Rahul Kanwal, Aarti Jairath, Shirin Bhan, Prabhu Chawla, Sumitra Choudhary, Ni-stullah, Preeti Chaud-hary, Renu Mittal, San-jay Mishra, Shweta Sin-gh, Supriya Prasad, Vi-nod Sharma, Amish Devgan, Manohar Vish-noi, Shreeji Manoj, Shobhana Bhartia, Kishore Ajwani, Vivek Srivastava, Sumit Awasthi, Rajeev Tiwari, Alok Mehta, Vinod Shar-ma, Many journalists including Shadab Ahmed, Sanjeev Chopra attended the lunch.

‘Helpline’ Birla brings hope to Indians stranded in Ukraine and their parents back home!

Bhanwar S Charan

Kota: The helpline started on the initiative of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to help Indian students stranded in Ukraine is proving to be extremely helpful. So far, more than 100 students and their par-ents from 15 states have contacted the helpline.

After the military clash between Russia-Ukraine, Speaker Birla started helplines in Delhi and Kota offices to help the students. Students from states like Ra-jasthan, Bengal, H i m a c h a l Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maha-rashtra, Mad-hya Pradesh, Gujarat, Hary-ana, Punjab, Bihar etc. have con-t a c t e d this hel-p l i n e

till Friday night.Information about

students and their par-ents on the helpline has been collected and

m a d e availa-ble to

the Min-istry of External Af fairs. At the

s a m e time, stu-dents and

parents are being in-

formed through What-sApp and phone calls about whatever infor-mation is being re-

leased from the Minis-try of External Affairs and the Indian Embas-sy in Ukraine.

Apart from this, an appeal is also being made to the students to maintain restraint and be patient, take shelter in safe places till help ar-rives and help each oth-er through the helpline.

011-23014011 and 23014022

New Delhi

0744-2505555 and 9414037200

Camp Offi ce, Kota

THE 24-HOUR HELPLINE

Kota: Birla to launch job fair on Mar 4&5Bhanwar S Charan

Kota: A two-day em-ployment and appren-ticeship fair will be or-ganised in Kota on March 4 & 5 by the GoI.

LS Speaker Om Birla will inaugurate the fair on March 4 at the Dussehra Ground in Kota. The fair is being held with the efforts of Birla under the Skill India Mission of the Ministry of Skill Devel-opment and Entrepre-neurship.

Birla had been trying for a long time for such an event in his parlia-mentary constituency. More than 50 firms from Kota, Ajmer, Bhilwara, Gurugram, Ghaziabad & other cit-ies are expected to par-ticipate in the event. Youth will be linked to apprenticeship pro-gram of these firms.

� MORE THAN A HUNDRED STUDENTS HAVE CONTACTED THE HELPLINE� IMPORTANT INFORMATION IS BEING DELIVERED THROUGH WHATSAPP & PHONE

CS USHA SHARMA WRITES TO MEA, SEEKS INFO ON INDIANS

A cting sensitively over the current Ukraine crisis, CS of the State, Usha

Sharma has written a letter to the Minis-try of External Affairs and sought infor-mation about the security arrangements for the various Indians stuck in Ukraine. She also expressed concern over the well-being of several Rajasthanis residing in Ukraine.

RAJ STUDENTS IN UKRAINE REACH OUT TO RAJE FOR HELP

Five students stranded in Ukraine tried to contact Vasundhara Raje’s offi ce and seek help. More than

300 Rajasthani are stuck there. Team Raje had talks with the students through social media. Raje herself took an update about them. Parents of several students have requested Raje to talk to the Centre for help. Now, efforts are being made to help them via social media communication. Right now, efforts are on to locate students whose list will be given to GoI’s control room.

2 PLANES TO REACH ROMANIA TODAY

S tudents and other Indians stranded in Ukraine will be evacuated from Roma-nia, where they are being sent in different vehicles.Two planes will reach Ro-

mania today to bring back Indians. One aircraft will leave Delhi at 9 pm and the second plane will leave Mumbai at 10:30 pm.About 3,000 students are stranded in many areas of Ukraine. US Chairman of REDIO Prem Bhandari is in constant touch with students to assist them. Apart from Rajasthan, he is in contact with the students of other states and making efforts to ensure the safe evacuation.

Om Birla

Jodh: Dotasra reviews new stadium’s workRajiv Gaur

Jodhpur: PCC Chief Govind Singh Dotasra visited Jodhpur on Fri-day & will visit Barmer today. On Feb 27, he will participate in a two-day district residential training programme in Jaisalmer. He reviewed progress of Barkatullah Khan Stadium on RCA Presi-dent Vaibhav Gehlot’s request in a meeting at the Circuit House. In an exclusive conversation with First India News,

Dotasra said that by May, the stadium will be fit for international cricket matches. RCA President Vaibhav Ge-hlot expressed confi-dence about the same.

Parnami preps for Raje’s B’dayBhanwar S Charan / Aishwary Pradhan

Kota / Jaipur : Former state presi-dent Ashok Parna-mi held a meeting of workers at a re-sort in Kota on Fri-day to prepare for former CM Vasund-hara Raje’s birth-day on March 8. This time, Raje will be in Hadoti and pay a visit to Lord Keshavarai in Kes-horaipatan. Hun-dreds of workers and leaders will ar-rive here to con-gratulate Raje.

Former MLAs Prahlad Gunjal, V i d y a s h a n k a r Nandwana, state VP Prahlad Pan-war, ex- UIT Chair-man Ram Kumar Mehta, BJP leader Rupesh Sharma were present in the meeting. A ‘Deep-dan’ programme will also be held on Raje’s birthday.

Abhishek Srivastava

Jaipur: UDH Advisor GS Sandhu on Friday, chaired a meeting of the State level steering committee of Pra-shasan Shehron ke Sang and asked the of-ficers to identify and mark space for the con-struction of multi-sto-rey buildings in the master plan and zonal plan of the cities.

It was informed in the meeting that the government has imple-mented the policy for creating zones for the demarcation of multi-storey buildings but lo-cal bodies did not deter-mine this in the plan.

It may be noted that the HC has directed for this in the Gulab Ko-thari case.

Implementing new design of rainwater re-charge structure, re-newing the master plan as per the vision-2050

was also decided in the meet.

Jaipur’s Vishwesh-war Ji’s Chaukri will become a model in terms of heritage con-servation. UDH Advisor GS Sandhu held a meet-ing regarding conserva-tion of the Walled City.

As the Unesco team may visit in March or April, Sandhu instruct-ed officers for conserva-tion of Vishweshwar Ji ki Chaukri.

Mark space to construct multi-storey bldgs: Sandhu

MASTER PLANS FOR LAXMANGARH, ALWAR

Amaster plan will be made for urban area of Lax-mangarh. State government has appointed Dy

Town Planner of Alwar for a civic survey and for preparing the master plan.The master plan will be made for a period till 2041. The UDH department has issued notifi cations in this regard after the approval of Minister Shanti Dhariwal.

GS Sandhu

GS Dotasra reviews progress of Barkatullah Khan Stadium Vaibhav Gehlot was present.

Ajay Maken and Govind Singh Dotasra —FILE PHOTO

INDIANS WILL BE SAFELY BROUGHT BACK FROM UKRAINE: CMOn the issue of stranded Ra-jasthani students in Ukraine, CM Ashok Gehlot is serious and worried and tweeted in this regard on Friday, saying, “Situation worrisome because of military confl ict between Russia and Ukraine. Thousands of Rajasthanis are stuck in Ukraine. I hope that Indian Embassy will be successful in taking out these individuals from alternate routes. I hope, Indians will be brought back safely from Ukraine too.”

ou can’t help but notice Aarna Vishwakarma – the trailblazing fash-ion model is a savvy force to be reckoned with. The beauty made her runway and won

hearts at First India’s Queen of Cosmos India auditions, win-ning the viewers’ choice award.

Talking about her journey, the beauty said, “Fashion and glamour industry was nowhere close to my mind, I still remem-ber when I was in class 10, I dreamt of becoming a lawyer and started pre-paring for CLAT, time flies. I finished my schooling and one day I received a call from one of my mentors, Kirti Mishra Narang who told me to appear

for QUEEN OF COSMOS INDIA auditions. I met her in the ‘In-ternational supermodel 2022’ organized by Sharad Choud-hary’s ‘Dream Production House’. I took that opportunity and the rest is history. I couldn’t be more grateful to Jagdeesh Chandra Sir and the First India team for their support and guidance.” When asked about her family background, the star replied, “I live with my mother. Unfortunately, I lost my father in 2019. His void can-not be re-placed but my moth-er stands by me like a strong pillar. She

is truly

a source of inspiration.”She further added, “I

wish to make my mom and my country proud by representing myself on international beauty platforms. I didn’t real-ize that so many people, especially from my hometown started to look up to me and I would want them to know that always believe in your-self. Listen to your heart and slay the world!

www.fi rstindia.co.in I www.fi rstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefi rstindia facebook.com/thefi rstindia I instagram.com/thefi rstindia 11

JAIPUR, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2022

YMITALI [email protected]

THE GOLDEN WOMANAARNA

Aarna Vishwakarma, a young model from Bhopal, MP,

recently bagged the prestigious Viewers’ Choice

Award at the Queen of Cosmos-India beauty pageant held at Hotel Fairmont, Jaipur. She is known for her charisma

and mesmerised everyone with her beauty. The list goes

on, but what you need to know is that when Aarna

Vishwakarma puts her energy into something, she’s all the

way in. Even when it comes to phone interviews! This

19-year-old answers every question with frank openness

and no lack of zany charm!

—PHOTOS BY M

UKESH KIRADOO

12ETC

JAIPUR | SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2022www.fi rstindia.co.in I www.fi rstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefi rstindia I facebook.com/thefi rstindia I instagram.com/thefi rstindia

FACE

OF TH

E DAY

SARA, MODEL

LEOJULY 24 - AUGUST 23

Just do whatever you can to cheer everyone up. You will feel fi nancially comfortable and infact you

are in position to invest money in some new venture. Your personality will attract many eligible bachelors. Spend time talking with likeminded people as it will make you feel good.

LIBRA SEPT 24 - OCTOBER 22

You must create an environment of understanding at home. You need a break from day

to tensions and the way to cope up with stress is to meditate. You will succeed in any sort of examination if you put your heart and soul to it. Promotion can be expected.

ARIESMAR 21 - APR 20

You are opportunist and this will make you successful one day. Your spouse is someone who

can do anything for your happiness. There may be delays in property possession and it won’t effect you. You are happy spending whole day at home.

SAGITTARIUS NOV 23 - DEC 22

Don’t make friends for money and status rather make friends who will stick with you forever. You care

about you lover but somehow hesitate in expressing that care. On social front, you may have to spend some extra money in buying gifts for someone for some specifi c occasion.

GEMINIMAY 21 - JUNE 21

This is the best time try something new with life give yourself a new purpose. You will feel

amorous towards your wife. Work on your limitations, there can be no better time than this. You have more opposite sex friends than the same and you may be judged sometimes.

AQUARIUSJAN 21 - FEB 19

You always maintain cordial relationship with everyone. You workout daily to keep yourself fi t. You may start a

side business to earn extra money. You are not a jealous kind and you feel happy for others. You are a very grounded person. You need to break from day to day tensions.

TAURUSAPR 21 - MAY 20

You are a pro in your fi eld and none can beat you. Female Aries are lioness and women around are

often jealous. You give tough competition to people. Many people get inspired by you. You will get special treatment from your dear ones.

CAPRICORNDEC 23 - JAN 20

Best day to buy gold and silver or any precious metal for investment sake. You love to live close to your family.

You are a child at heart and never let this child die. You have a big heart and you always help someone if you can. Video gathering is possible as you miss your social circle like anything.

VIRGOAUG 24 - SEP 23

You are generous by nature and also you are the backbone of your family. Today is a favourable day

for business. Be careful of the words that come out of your mouth. Your lover may fi nally say yes to get married to you.

CANCERJUNE 22 - JULY 23

You make sure to make things work your way. You are most wanted by your friends. Never demotivate

someone even if someone is not capable of doing something. You can have romantic affair in offi ce and a serious one. You will invest money in clothes and accessories today.

PISCESFEB20 - MARCH 20

Take stand where you need to, don’t run in the same direction where everybody else is going. Don’t attack

stress even if you don’t have any. Let go of things that are not in your control. You want to have your own house and you will work hard to make your dream come true.

SCORPIOOCT 23 - NOVEMBER 22

You need help on academic front and you should not shy away from asking. Your spouse may make

you spend more than you expected. Fantastic day for investing money in stock market as you can make fortune. You miss your parents a lot and somewhere fear to loose them.

YOUR DAY

Horoscope by Saurabbh Sachdeva

eggy Darty has published 26 nov-els, numerous ar-ticles and short stories. An award-winning author, her nov-

els, ‘A Mountain to Stand Strong’ and ‘Angel Valley’ were CBA bestsellers, along with numerous no-vellas. She has worked in films, researched for CBS, and has been a popular speaker and workshop leader around the country. ‘When The Sandpiper Calls’ by Peggy Darty, is a story as intriguing as the author and her work. A contemporary Southern cozy mystery with a touch of romance, it is a fast-paced and inspirational look at life choices, conse-quences, second chances and deepening faith. The setting- ‘Summer Breeze’- is a fictional community nestled among the beachside towns stretching from Panama City Beach to Fort Walton. A small town with lots of ru-mours, but most resi-dents have each other’s best interests at heart. Christy Castleman is a pretty, young novelist,

better known as the ‘Mys-tery Lady’. Her first novel is a success and Christy now faces a looming dead-line for her second book. While diligently working on the computer to finish her novel, she is caught up in a real mystery that strikes her Florida town-ship. Out on a walk, she finds a glass bottle, half-buried in the sand, with the ominous message - “Call the police. Someone is trying to kill me”. Then townspeople notice that Marty McAllister, a local realtor, has been missing appointments. Just then, Dr Peter Stewart is found murdered in a neighbour-ing town. Three incidents together cannot be a coin-cidence. As the novel unfolds, readers learn the secrets in characters’ back-grounds, including stolen jewels, an adulterous af-fair, a surgeon changing identities with his cos-metic surgeries. The Sas-sy Snowbirds, a group of lively ladies, deep into charitable services, known for their classy ‘Red Hats’, try to help solve the mystery. Using her research and know-how as a novelist, Christy

jumps in with her fiction-al crime-solving skills. But solving real-life crimes is much more dan-gerous than writing about them, and Christy must fight for her life when she uncovers a shocking truth and the real murderer.

Sub-plots keep the read-ers hooked to the book. Peggy reveals her magical touch in presenting inter-esting characters from different backgrounds and varying age groups. Christy’s rapport with Jack, her former fiance’s dad, is most remarkable. His son died in a racing car accident and both of them are struggling to-gether to accept this trag-ic loss. He treats her like the daughter-in-law he would have had, allowing

her to bring him food, visit him often and guide her along to boost her to-wards a new life. Christy is blessed with a loving extended family, ranging from her benevolent Pas-tor father to a kid brother- who is in Australia trying to “find himself”. A single mother, with two sons, moves to town and Christy steps out of her comfort zone to make her feel wel-comed. Perhaps most sur-prising, satisfying and subtle is the emotional

complexity between Christy and her mother - their interaction- though loving, is always marked by a bit of tension. Her “almost-too-good-to-be-believed” Granny pro-vides respite in her typi-cal country cooking, deep faith, sage advice and her own wisdom about the murder. Her Granny hopes for Christy to find romance, and it isn’t long before she meets the handsome war hero Ma-jor Dan Brockman, who is totally enamoured by her and pursues her with de-votion. In spite of her di-

lemma, Christy finds her-self succumbing to his charms. Her strong yet sensitive vulnerabilities are well brought forth, making her a charming & loved character. “When The Sandpiper Calls’ by Peggy Darty, is an interesting, fun-filled, inspiring, cozy mystery. She combines action with emotional and spiritual journeys in a masterful way. Mystery, romance, and the authentic atmos-phere of Florida’s Emer-ald Coast will leap off the pages and into your heart.”

[email protected]

When The Sandpiper CallsP

DEEPAK’S CORNER

Late Peggy Darty

Taapsee Pannu has been one of the finest actresses in Bollywood who has managed to grab attention with her impressive line of work. The

Saand Ki Aankh actress has collaborated with Anubhav Sinha once again for

his upcoming production – an an-thology that is set against the

backdrop of the pandemic. It is reported that Taapsee

will be seen playing the lead in the short film which will be helmed by Sudhir

Mishra. It will be a socio-political drama that will span across two generations.

—Agency

t was reported that Mouni Roy, Harshvardhan Rane & Meezan Jaaferi will be starring in a football film,

which is being helmed by Sanjay Gupta. The latest up-

date, however, on the film is that while Meezan & Harshvard-han continue to be a

part of the sports film titled ‘Miranda Boys’, the director isn’t re-ally convinced with the casting of the leading actress Mouni Roy.

A source close to Gupta revealed that the filmmaker is un-sure to cast Mouni Roy opposite Harsh-vardhan Rane in the film. Though initially,

the filmmaker had ap-proached Mouni & signed her for the film, but now, the makers are hunting for another actress opposite Rane. Well, Mouni is not on board yet by Gupta’s team, and surprisingly, she hasn’t been informed too that they are searching for her re-placement. —Agency

ETCJAIPUR | SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2022

13

Madhuri in FAME GAME

The day when we finally get to see the great Mad-huri Dixit in her

highly-anticipated Net-flix web series The Fame Game. Directed by Bijoy Nambiar and Karishma Kohli, the Fame Game will also feature Manav Kaul, Sanjay Kapoor, Laksh-vir Saran, Suhasini Muley and Muskkaan Jaferi in pivotal roles. After making a suc-cessful comeback with Hindi films, Mar-athi films and dance reality shows, Mad-huri is ready with her digital debut. While she has proved time and again that she can do it all being a successful actress, producer and dancer she took it to another level when she ventured into the music field with her single ‘Candle’ in 2020. -—Agency

As the Prabhas and Pooja Hegde-starrer ‘Radhe Shyam’ is being readied for its worldwide release,

the makers are prepping up a stage to promote the upcoming love saga.

The makers will have Prabhas, Pooja Hegde, Radha Krishna Kumar and oth-

ers hit the road to participate in nation-wide tours. The release date of ‘Radhe

Shyam’ has been set for March 11. The Radhe Shyam team will in-

teract with the media by holding press meets to keep

up the existing hype around the movie. Tout-

ed to be a love saga, ‘Radhe Shyam’ has

Prabhas as Vikramadi-

tya and Pooja Hege plays Pre-rana.

—Agency

Upcoming Love Saga

It is Shahid Kapoor’s 41st birthday! He is without a doubt one of the best actors in Bollywood and his fans can’t wait to see him in action

with his upcoming movie Jersey super soon! With a career spanning nearly two decades, Shahid has managed to

outperform himself. While he has had his fair share of hits and flops, there have been some mov-

ies that are nothing short of mile-stones. Shahid Kapoor’s little fam-ily, his wife Mira Rajput and kids Misha and Zain always manage to put a smile on our faces.

—Agency

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After months of waiting, fans are finally getting glimpses of actress Anushka Sharma prepping vigor-ously for her return to the screens

in the role of a cricketer in Chakda Xpress. On Friday, Anushka shared a glimpse of her net practice sessions for Chakda Xpress and ended up impressing former female cricketer Jhulan Goswami. Chak-da Xpress will star Anushka in the role of a female cricketer inspired by Jhu-lan Goswami’s life and times. Anushka shared glimpses from the practice sessions where she is seen gearing up to bowl. With the ball in her hand and a pair of sunglasses on her eyes, Anushka looked deter-

mined to hit the bails. —Agency

The film is loose-ly based on the true story of Gangubai, pop-

ularly known as Gan-gubai Kothewali, whose life was docu-mented in the book Mafia Queens of Mumbai written by S. Hussain Zaidi. The film depicts the rise of a simple girl from Kathiawad who had no choice but to em-brace the ways of des-tiny and swing it in her favour.

The story is about Ganga (Alia Bhatt) who hails from an af-fluent family in Kathiawad, Ganga as-pired to become a Bol-lywood actress. At the tender age of 16, she fell in love with Ram-nik Lal they eloped to Mumbai where he sold her to a brothel in Kamathipura for Rs 1000 where she forcefully had to start prostitution. Later, she became a power-

ful brothel madame Gangubai Kathiawadi and won elections of the area where she lived (Kamathipura). Don Karim Lala (Ajay Devgan) became her sworn brother after he beat a man of his gang who raped her. She used to advocate for women’s rights and equal rights for sex workers.

Alia Bhatt has done justice to her role but there is an overdose of Alia on screen as each frame focuses on her. Ajay Devgan’s gangster at-titude comes natu-rally to him and helps the film to have a dra-matic character. See-ma Pahwa deserves this role and many others like this one. She isn’t just made for comedy and she proves that to the en-tire industry. Jim Sarbh is adorable and perfect in his cameo this time.

However one may watch the film for Sanjay Leela Bhansa-li’s direction but it fails to leave a mark.

Tale of pain, anger and victory!

DIRECTORSanjay Leela Bhansali

CAST & CREWAlia Bhatt, Ajay Devgn,

Vijay Raaz, Seema Pahwa, and ensemble

GANGUBAI KATHIAWADI

RATING:

Miranda Boys Lead Actress?

I

KAVITA [email protected]

Gearing up to Bowl

Siddharth Anand’s

FIGHTER

E ver since Hrithik Roshan had announced his collaboration

with Deepika Padukone for Siddharth Anand’s Fighter, the fans have been eagerly waiting to witness their magic on the big screen.

The movie marks their first collaboration together and has got the tinselvile buzzing. Hrithik and Deepika will begin shooting for the movie in June. The shooting was reportedly delayed due to the pandemic and the lead pair’s prior commitments. However, as things are falling into place now. —Agency

SOCIO POLITICAL DRAMA

Madhuri Dixit Nene

Poster of the film

Shahid Kapoor

Anushka Sharma Pooja Hegde Tapsee Pannu

Mouni Roy

HAIDER TURNS 41!

CITY FIRST

Atwo-day Inter-national E-C o n f e r e n c e on “Contempo-

rary Issues and Chal-lenges in Economy, Trade, Employment & Social Inclusion Post Covid-19:2.0” is being organised by the De-partment of Manage-ment Studies, SKIT, from February 25 to

February 26. Prof. Ona Ladiwal and Dr Ravish Pandey were the confer-ence Conveners. Richa Chaturvedi, Dy. Direc-tor Women & Child Wel-

fare Department was the chief guest on the occasion. The program was coordinated by Dr Ravish Pandey.

[email protected]

14JAIPUR | SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2022www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia

CITY BUZZGET VACCINATED

STAY MASKED

Naya Josh, Nayi Udaan!

he 13th edition of the AU Bank Jaipur Mara-thon organised by Sanskriti Yuva Sanstha and World

Trade Park, will be held on March 13, 2022. The

activities have already started in the capital, wherein a pre-event was organised at 5 by OYO Metropolitan, Jaipur on Friday.

Jagdeesh Chandra

and MP Jaipur City, Ramcharan Bohra graced the occasion as special guests and con-gratulated the team for the great initiative that promotes a healthy life-

style. President of San-skriti Yuva Sanstha, Pandit Suresh Mishra; President, World Trade Park, Anoop Bartaria; Senior Vice President Marketing AU Bank

Jaipur, Saurabh Tambi; Former Jaipur Mayor, Jyoti Khandelwal; Con-gress leader Vijaylaxmi Bishnoi; Chairman Vi-pra Board, Mahesh Sharma; Director SGM, JD Maheshwari, Advo-cate HC Ganeshia; Sen-ior IAS Bishnu Charan Mallick; Vishnu Shar-ma; Rajesh Choudhary; Sunil Parwani; Ikbal Khan; Raj Bansal; Arvind Batra; Dr Sa-meer Sharma along with other guests un-veiled the activities cal-endar. This calendar in-cludes the line-up of

pre-events as well as the day of the marathon.

Suresh Mishra, Anoop Bartaria and Saurabh Tambi an-nounced on the occasion the theme of this year’s marathon- “Ab josh naya dikhana hai, fir daud, kyunki badlaav lana hai”.

Before the marathon, there will be a 15-day cel-ebration of health and fitness in the city, which will include events like Mega Boot Camp, Wom-en’s Day Awards, Torch Ceremony and Health & Lifestyle Fest, among various other interest-ing events.

MITALI [email protected]

T

Vijaylaxmi and Dinesh MN celebrated their anniversary on Friday with family and friends. We wish them all the best.

Dr Somya, Mayor, Jaipur Nagar Nigam Greater paid a courtesy visit to Jagdeesh Chandra at his residence on Friday, First India News Senior Editor Sudhanshu Mathur was also present on the occasion.

Jagdeesh Chandra was felicitated by Santosh Vijay, State President, Indian Public Service employees Federation and his team as a gesture of gratitude for the unsurpassable and excellent coverage of the State Budget 2022-23 presented by Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot in the state assembly on February 23. Also present on the occasion were Sant Kumar, Mohammad Saddiq, Sunil Kothari, Virendra Yadav, Narendra Pareek and Ravindra Singh.

Rajasthan High Court Employees Association bid a fond farewell to Chief Justice Akil Kureshi on Friday. President of the association Rituraj Sharma gifted a traditional safa and felicitated the Chief Justice. Also present on the occasion were Ajay Sharma, Chandraprakash Chajeda, Narendra Mathur, Anil Mathur, Kailash Sharma, Archana Jain, Seema Saxena and Ashish Gupta.

MEET AND GREET!

Mohan Singh Tada paid a courtesy visit to former CM Vasundhara Raje at her residence on Friday morning.

VOCAL FOR LOCAL

TAYYARI JEET KI

CITY FIRST

The Swayam Sid-dha Handicrafts Exhibition, held in the City Pal-

ace by the Women’s Unit of Laghu Udyog Bharati, showcased the work of artisans from around India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Central Government inspired the citizens to #Vocal-4Local and #MakeInIn-dia, with the commit-ment of a self-reliant India. On this occasion, MP Rajsamand Diya Ku-mari visited the exhibi-tion and appreciated the craftswork. Organi-zation Gen Secy, Laghu Udyog Bharti Prakash; All India Gen Secy

Ghanshyam Ojha, All India Secy Anju Bajaj, State Gen Secy Mukesh Agarwal, State VP and member of National Board of MSME Anju

Singh, Circle Head of Jaipur Sudhir Garg, Pres-ident of Women’s Unit of Jaipur Sunita Sharma were also present. [email protected]

CITY FIRST

Tayyari Jeet Ki- a seven-day Per-sonality Devel-opment and

Placement Program for newly quali-fied Chartered Accountants is being organised by RNG Founda-tion from February 25 to March 3 at SRNG Auditorium, Jaipur and will help CA’s to enhance their person-ality skills. Speakers

from companies like EY, KPMG, NAV Back office, Genpact, ICICI Bank will motivate the participants and will offer them various po-sitions in their organi-

sations. The workshop be-

gan with knowl-edgeable sessions

by, CA Paresh Gupta and CA Nipun Daga, who taught Confi-dence Building, Goal Setting and Visualiza-tion. CA Amit Kabra, Partner EY shared

traits to crack inter-view in Big 4.

CA Himanshu Goy-al, Chairman RNG Foundation stated that the motive behind or-ganising the said pro-gram is to provide an unbiased platform to young CAs to carve the best out of them, im-prove their personality and work in companies of their choice. The program is being man-aged by Evolve as a knowledge partner.

[email protected]

GREETINGS!

Nirmala Sewani, ace astrolo-ger, popularly known as Guru Maa celebrated her birthday on Wednesday,

February 23 at Panigrahi, Jaipur with family and friends who reached to greet her on her special day, we bring you some more glimpses.

BIRTHDAY BASH!

CHALLENGES IN ECONOMY!

Jagdeesh Chandra greets Ramcharan Bohra. Also seen are HC Ganeshia and Jyoti Khandelwal(L-R) Sunil Parwani, Ikbal, Arvind Batra, Raj Bansal, Mahesh Sharma, Vijaylaxmi Bishnoi, Jyoti Khandelwal, HC Ganeshia, Ramcharan Bohra, Suresh Mishra, Bishnu Charan Mallick, Anoop Bartaria, JD Maheshwari, Saurabh Tambi, Vishnu Sharma & Dr Sameer Sharma

(L-R) Sachin Bhatia, Saurabh Tambi, Mukesh Mishra and Bishnu Charan MallickMini and Priya Mishra

Jagdeesh Chandra with Suresh Mishra and Anoop Bartaria

Jagdeesh Chandra addressing the audience

Diya Kumari with Sunita Sharma, Heena and other members

CA students with their professors

During the session

(L-R) Laxmi Chauhan, Charu Saini and Shweta Khandelwal Nirmala Sewani and Sangeeta Mehrotra

—PH

OTOS

BY

SAN

TOSH

SHA

RMA

—PHOTOS BY MUKESH KIRADOO

WITH HIS FORCES IN KYIV, PUTIN TO UKRAINIAN MILITARY:

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