JAIPUR l WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7, 2021 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI NO. RAJENG/2019/77764 l Vol 2 l Issue No. 299

OUR EDITIONS: JAIPUR, AHMEDABAD

& LUCKNOW

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New Delhi: The Maha-rashtra government Tuesday moved the Su-preme Court challeng-ing the Bombay High Court order directing the CBI to conduct a pre-liminary inquiry within 15 days into the allega-tions of corruption and misconduct levelled by former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh against ex-Home Minister Anil Deshmukh. We have filed an appeal on behalf of state government against the Bombay High Court of yesterday, said Maharashtra stand-ing counsel Sachin Pa-til. After the High Court order on Monday, Desh-mukh, a veteran politi-cian from Vidarbha, re-signed from the state goverment. Turn to P6

Maha govt moves SC against Bombay HC

Centre should define unified SOP for Covid Control: CM

Naresh Sharma

Jaipur: Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has writ-ten a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi stressing the need for integrated and ho-listic efforts in the country for effective control over Covid-19 infection. In the letter,

the Chief Minister has urged the Prime Minis-ter that the Central Government should set the Unified Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for control of Covid in the country and introduce vaccina-tion for all people above 18 years of age.

“There is a lack of co-

ordination among the states regarding differ-ent strategies of Covid control, on inter-state issues like mandatory Covid test for travel, lockdown, night curfew, operation of education-al institutions etc due to which there is a state of confusion and fear in the public,” he said and urged the Prime Minis-ter to overcome this situ-ation and said that for this, there is a great need for holistic and integrat-ed efforts in the country.

Gehlot said that in the last one month, there has been an un-precedented increase in the number of Covid infected patients in al-most all the states of the country including Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and the number of patients has again climbed to the same position as in September 2020.

Turn to P6 CM Ashok Gehlot

WEST BENGAL: EVMS, VVPATS FOUND IN TMC LEADER’S HOUSE; SECTOR OFFICER SUSPENDEDNew Delhi: The Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday suspended a polling offi cer in Uluberia Uttar in West Bengal’s Howrah district after spare Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter

Verifi able Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines were allegedly found at a political leader’s house, an offi cial of the election watchdog said. The EC offi cial did not name the leader, but Chiran Bera, Bharatiya

Janata Party (BJP)’s candidate from Uluberia Ut-tar, claimed the machines were found at the resi-dence of Goutam Ghosh, who is ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC)’s booth president in the area. “A few villagers saw two vehicles outside the leader’s house and inquired. Turn to P6

MIGHT BECOME COVID ‘SUPER SPREADER’: GOVT

New Delhi: A senior of-ficial in the Central gov-ernment, during a Secre-tary-level meeting over the COVID-19 situation in the country on Mon-day, expressed apprehen-sion that the ongoing Kumbh might become a “super spreader”, ac-cording to a top source in the government.

The source said the government is worried about the Kumbh and discussed this at a high-level meeting on Monday.

“If the government does not decide to end Kumbh before the stip-ulated time, it may be-come a COVID-19 ‘su-per spreader’,” a mem-ber in the high-level meeting said.

“The government is forming a team that will appeal to all with the help of sadhus and religious leaders to en-sure pilgrims, who are visiting the Kumbh, wear masks and follow social distancing,” the source told ANI.

“At the same time, the government also sug-gested that a message should be given through TV and radio, and post-ers should be put up at public places to create awareness Turn to P6

COVID-19 SPREADING FASTER, NEXT 4 WEEKS VERY CRITICAL

ALLOW VACCINATION FOR ALL ABOVE 18: IMA URGES PM

New Delhi: The Health Ministry on Tuesday confi rmed that Covid is spreading faster than ever before while terming the situation in Chhat-tisgarh to be a cause of concern. The Health Ministry offi cials said that Chhattisgarh’s Durg was among the top 10 districts with high active COVID cases. Stressing the need for RT-PCR tests, the Health Secretary said we have asked state governments to increase the percent-age of RT-PCR tests. Meanwhile, Dr VK Paul, Member-Health, Niti Aayog said,”Warnings were given that the situation should not be taken for granted. We can still control the pandemic, peo-ple’s participation vital to control 2nd wave of pandemic, next four weeks very critical for us.”

New Delhi: Amid an unprecedented surge in COVID-19 cases in the country, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggesting that vac-cination be allowed for all people above the age of 18 years. “At present, we are vaccinating the population above 45 years. Turn to P6

COVID UPDATE Daily rise in new coronavirus infections in India remained above 90,000 for the third consecutive day on Tuesday

India administered record 43 lakh doses of Covid-19 vaccine on Tuesday, so far 8.31 crore doses given

Modi govt asks all its employees aged 45 years and above to get Covid vaccine

Katrina Kaif tests positive for Covid-19, under home quarantine

Migrants responsible for spread of coronavi-rus in Maharashtra: Raj Thackeray

Howrah: Hitting out at West Bengal Chief Min-ister Mamata Banerjee, Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi on Tuesday claimed that the TMC supremo was “heaping abuse” on him as she is “frustrated” over her party’’s impending de-feat in the assembly elec-tions. Addressing a pub-lic meeting at Dumurja-la here, he claimed that people in Bengal are

speculating that the TMC will disintegrate after its defeat on May 2, the day scheduled for counting of votes.

Turn to P6

TMC may disintegrate after May 2, says PM Modi in Howrah

CRPF receives threat mailnaming Shah, AdityanathNew Delhi: The Cen-tral Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Mum-bai received a threat mail a few days ago naming Union Home Minister Amit Shah and UP CM Yogi Adityanath and the security force has informed the agen-cies concerned, said CRPF sources.

“We have forwarded the email to the con-cerned agencies of Ma-harashtra and the Cen-

tre. They are working on it and we will work as per their instructions,” said

Kuldiep Singh, CRPF DGP regarding the threat mail on Tuesday.

Amit Shah Yogi Adityanath

Vaccination of people over 18 years of age should begin soon, Gehlot demands from Modi

Third phase of polling endsVoting for more than 750 constituencies spread across four states and one union territory concluded on Tuesday. The fi nal poll-ing percentage recorded in the following states is — Assam (82.33%), Kerala (70.29%), Tamil Nadu (65.19%), West Bengal (77.68%), and Puducherry (78.90%).

JUSTICE NV RAMANA FORMALLY APPOINTED AS NEXT CJI

SENSEX, NIFTY END MARGINALLY HIGHERNew Delhi: President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday formally appointed Supreme Court judge, Justice NV Ramana, as the next Chief Justice of India (CJI). Justice Ramana will assume charge as the 48th CJI on April 24, a day after the retirement of incumbent CJI Sharad Arvind Bobde. CJI Bobde, who succeeded Justice Ranjan Gogoi as the country’s topmost judge in November 2019, nominated Justice Ramana as his successor last month, through a letter to the Union law ministry. 63-year-old Justice Ramana’s tenure as CJI will end on August 26, 2022. He was appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court in February 2014.

Mumbai: Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty ended marginally higher on Tuesday, tracking high volatility amid concerns over the economic impact of the second wave of coronavirus infections in the country. After swinging around 646 points during the day, the 30-share BSE Sensex settled 42.07 points or 0.09 per cent higher at 49,201.39. The broader NSE Nifty advanced 45.70 points or 0.31 per cent to 14,683.50.

mustREAD

CHIEF MINISTER WRITES A LETTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER

KUMBHPilgrims not wearing masks and failing

to maintain social distancing is a common sight at the Kumbh in Haridwar.

Anil Deshmukh

RAJASTHANJAIPUR | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7, 2021

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Laxman Raghav 

Nagaur: Nagaur has secured first position in the state by provid-ing 100 workdays em-ployment to 1.17 lakh families in the year 2020-21. The district has secured third posi-tion at the national level ranking of MN-REGA based on the data of different pa-rameters.

The achievement was made by the dis-trict team led by col-lector Dr Jitendra Soni and Zila Parishad CEO Jawahar Chaud-hary.

Chaudhary in-formed that the dis-trict has also achieved the first position in seeding of Aadhaar card of registered la-borers under Mahat-ma Gandhi NREGA

scheme. Similarly, the district has secured the second position in the state in generation of man-days.

Nagar has created 293.95 lakh man-days during the year 2020-21 in the MNREGA.

He said that in the last two years, the number of beneficiar-ies of 100 workdays has increased by 4 times in Nagaur.

Nagaur dist 3rd in country in MGNREGA worksMAJOR ACHIEVEMENT

Raj police not communicating with women commission: Panel ChiefRajesh Gusai

Jaipur: A National Commission for Women team led by chairper-son Rekha Sharma held a meeting with DGP ML Lather and other police officers on Tuesday at the PHQ about the crime of women.

Sharma said that the cases sent by the Com-mission were pending and for a long time the Commission did not get a response from the po-lice department on these matters, due to which she along with the Com-mission officials had to

come here to discuss these matters.

A delegation of BJP leaders had on March 24

met Sharma in New Delhi and submitted a memorandum regard-ing increasing crime

against women in Ra-jasthan. Sharma said that many problems are arising due to lack of interaction between the commission and the po-lice department. Apart from this, as there is not state commission for women, there is a prob-lem in stopping crime against women. She is expected to meet CM Gehlot in this regard.

To reduce communi-cation gap with the po-lice department, a copy of cases from the com-mission would also be sent to the SP con-cerned.

NCW team led by chief Rekha Sharma held a meeting with DGP ML Lather and other police offi cers on Tuesday at the PHQ.

DR RAGHU HOLDS OVER A DOZEN MEETINGS IN SAHADA, SEEKS VOTES ON DEVELOPMENT

Naveen Joshi

Bhilwara: Health min-ister Dr Raghu Sharma on Tuesday addressed more than 1 dozen Nuk-kad meetings in sup-port of the party candi-date in Sahara assem-bly constituency of Bhilwara.

Sharma, who is the minister in-charge of Bhilwara and a star campaigner, highlighted the achievements of the Congress government and urged people to vote in support of the Con-gress party candidate.

The first meeting was held in Biliyakala vil-lage which was followed by another meeting in Deoli village during where he targeted the BJP saying democracy is under threat under the BJP rule at the centre.

Former chairman of the state seeds corpora-tion Dharmendra Rathore said that the BJP is adopting foolish tactics to prevent candi-dates from contesting elections.

Dairy chairman Ramlal Jat, district president Rampal Shar-ma, Pradhan Shyam Lal Gurjar, former Pradhan Bhanwar Garg also ad-dressed the meetings.

BY-ELECTIONS IN THREE SEATS ON APRIL 17

Health Minister Dr Raghu Sharma, Dharmendra Rathore, Ramlal Jat, Rampal Sharma and others addressing public in support of Gayatri Trivedi on Tuesday.

First India Bureau

Bhilwara: Minority Affairs Minister Saale Mohammed arrived in Bhilwara on a one-day stay on Tuesday.

Saleh Mohammed addressed public meetings of the Mus-lim community at half a dozen places. Saleh Mohammad, who came to campaign in favour of Congress candidate Gayatri

Devi in the Sahada as-sembly by-election said that democracy is

the biggest crisis in the country today. He said that Congress has

been fighting to save democracy.

Minister Saleh Mo-hammed addressed public meetings at the Hamirgarh, Sahada located Bari Dargah, Koshithal and Raipur. Minister of Minority Affairs Saleh Moham-med, who reached to campaign in Sahada, briefed about the work done by the state gov-ernment for the mi-nority community.

Saleh Mohammed campaigning for Congress candidate Gayatri Devi in Sahada on Tuesday.

Aishwary Pradhan

Jaipur: State BJP presi-dent Satish Poonia has constituted a committee headed by former state president Arun Chatur-vedi in connection with the death of the priest in Dausa.

The team, comprising Jaipur MP Ramcharan Bohra, state vice presi-dent Mukesh Dadhich, district president Ratan Tiwari, Brij Kishore Upadhyay apart from Chaturvedi left for Ma-hawa, Dausa on Tuesday.

Party leaders will meet the family mem-bers of the priest and hold a dharna demand-ing justice for him.

Targeting CM Ashok Gehlot, Poonia said that he tweets on political matters promptly to get

political mileage but he is not bothered and sen-sitive enough towards incidents like this.

Poonia said people are not safe in Congress gov-ernment’s rule. He also targeted the government over recovery of three dead bodies of girls in Aspur.

Meanwhile on the 41st Foundation Day of BJP on Tuesday, PM Naren-dra Modi virtually ad-dressed the party work-

ers across the country where he shared views about party’s policy and ideas.

Party workers in Ra-jasthan heard Modi’s address from BJP state office and at all the man-dals across the state. The address was attend-ed by Satish Poonia, Alka Gurjar, Chan-drashekhar, Arun Chaturvedi, Rajendra Rathore, Mayor Dr Somya among others.

Ajaypal happy as his speech wins praiseFirst India Bureau

Jaipur: Smile spread on the face of Sardar Ajaypal Singh after his address was praised by women leaders. On the occasion of BJP’s Foundation Day, Singh in his vote of thanks speech of 3 minutes highlighted facts about BJP’s history of devel-opment and also PM Modi and the sacrifice of the BJP family. Many members of Ma-hila Morcha came to him and praised his speech that led to smile on Singh’s face.

After the speech, Sin-gh also took feedback from others about it, but coincidentally the women members praised him without him asking.

Cong fighting to save democracy: Saleh

First India Bureau

Jaipur: Transport min-ister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas on Tuesday targeted BJP state president Satish Poonia accusing him of speaking lies with re-gards to the matter re-lated to the party’s rebel candidate Ladulal Pital-iya. Pitaliya filed nomi-nation for bypolls in Sahara assembly con-stituency of Bhilwara and withdrew it under the pressure from the party. However, he met Poonia yesterday and assured support to the party candidate.

On Tuesday, Khacha-riyawas hit out at Poo-nia for his statements which he gave after the meeting with Pitaliya. He said that Poonia has

rejected the audio which has conversation between BJP whip Jogeshwar Garg and

VHP leader of Bhilwara but people across the state have listened to the audio.

Pratap Singh Khachariyawas attended an event organised at Statue Circle on the occasion of World Table Tennis Day.

Pitliya case: Khachariyawas says Poonia spreading lies

KHACHARIYAWAS SHOWS HIS TT MOVES!

First India Bureau

Jaipur : Sanyukt Jain Samaj Sangharsh Mor-cha has demanded from Municipal Corporation closing of slaughter-houses and meat shops on Mahavir Jayanti fall-ing on April 25. It may be noted that though on April 3, government had instructed all mu-nicipal commissioners, municipal councils and municipalities of the

state to ensure that all slaughterhouses and meat shops remain closed on April 25, how-ever, as per the informa-tion no steps have been taken this regard.

Convenor of the Mor-cha, Advocate Poonam Bhandari, and others demanded all munici-palities to issue notices to slaughterhouses and meat shops to observe a complete shut-down on the occasion.

Jain body: Shut all meat shops on Mahaveer Jayanti

Poonia forms panel to look into killing of priest in Mahawa

First India Bureau

Dausa/Kota: Four per-sons including a senior manager and a chief cashier of UCO bank were arrested in Dausa and Kota districts in 2 separate cases of graft.

Ramchandra Meena, the senior manager of UCO bank posted at Manpur branch had de-manded Rs 6,000 bribe from the complainant in lieu of passing a bank loan of Rs 80,000.

The accused had paid Rs 70,000 loan amount to the complainant and kept Rs 10,000 on hold,

ACB DGP BL Soni said. The matter was set-

tled at Rs 5,000 and the chief cashier Deepak Kumar Khandelwal was caught while taking the bribe from the com-plainant for releasing the amount following.

Both of them were ar-rested under the pre-

vention of corruption act and search opera-tion at their residences was launched.

In Kota, the ACB ar-rested a revenue clerk and a fourth grade em-ployee while taking bribe of Rs 8,000.

The accused, posted in the district collector-ate, had demanded the bribe for a land record related official work. The clerk Yogendra Sin-gh Chauhan asked the complainant Moham-mad Rizwan to meet the fourth grade employee Babulal, who demanded the bribe amount.

4 including 2 bank staff held in 2 separate graft cases by ACB

First India Bureau

Udaipur: An elderly woman was mauled to death by a panther in Udaipur district. The body of Navli Bai, 65, who had gone to forest area to feed cattle on Monday evening was found on Tuesday morn-ing, near Mudi village.

When she did not re-turn till late, her family members started look-ing for her. The muti-lated body was found this morning, ACF Dev-endra Tiwari. Body was handed over to family after postmortem.

Udpr woman killed by panther

Sharma, who is the minister in-charge of Bhilwara and a star campaigner, highlighted the achievements of the Congress government

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Woman accuses lab staffer of molestationFirst India Bureau

Jaipur: A woman was allegedly molested by the staffer of a private laboratory in the San-ganer area of Jaipur where she had gone for X-ray. She alleged that there was no female staff in the X-ray room and the male staffer forced her to take off

her clothes. When she opposed, he molested her. She narrated the incident to her family following which a case was lodged against the employee Omprakash alias Kunal.

Recently a woman was allegedly raped by a male nursing staff in ICU of a private hospi-tal in Vaishali Nagar.

‘Sarvodaya Vichar Pariksha’ in Sept Jaipur: Minister of State for Sanskrit Edu, Dr Subhash Garg said that an effort will be made to increase par-ticipation of students in the ‘Sarvodaya Vichar Pariksha’. He informed that children will be provided with certifi-cates and books related to Mahatma Gandhi’s life. The examination is proposed to be conduct-ed in September 2021.

JDA gets Rly nod for works on 22 Godown elevated road

First India Bureau

Jaipur: The Jaipur De-velopment Authority has received the long awaited permission from railway for carry-ing out construction works in the railway land near 22 godown for Sodala elevated road.

The road related construction works near 22 godown will now start. Along with it, the works near

Ram temple will also start soon.

The Jaipur Develop-ment Authority has connected the elevated road from Ambedkar circle to 22 godown.

For the construction works near Ram tem-ple, the traffic will have to be diverted for which the Jaipur Develop-ment Authority will write a letter to the Deputy Commissioner of Police traffic.

RAJ HIGH COURT GRANTS BAIL TO PAPLA’S GIRL FRIEND ‘JIYA’Jaipur: Rajasthan HC has accepted the bail plea of Jiya, the girlfriend of gangster Papla Gurjar, who was arrested from Maharashtra’s Kolhapur on 28 January. She has been in Alwar jail since February 4. The HC has accepted the bail plea and she will be released on bail in a day or two. Her counsels Ankit Garg and Mahesh Gupta said that Jiya had been working as a gym trainer in Kolhapur where she met Papla Gurjar. They said that Papla had introduced himself as a scion of a royal family of Rajasthan. She was in love with him without knowing that he was a criminal. They informed that she has not been involved in any criminal activities with him.

COURT ACCEPTS APPLICATIONS OF DR SOMYA AS COUNCILLOR, JMC GREATER MAYORJaipur: District and Sessions Judge, Jaipur met-ropolitan-I Uma Shankar Vyas has accepted the applications by the state in both election petitions challenging election of Dr Somya as councilor, JMC Greater Mayor. In applications, government has made a request to remove district election offi cer (collec-tor)- Jaipur & returning offi cer (SDM) Sanganer as parties in petitions. Government said that allegations have been levelled against Dr Somya only, DEO & re-turning offi cer have no role therefore there is no need to make them parties. Advocates AK Jain and Aditya Jain said that in one petition fi led by Pinki Yadav, election of Gurjar as councilor from Ward-87 of JMC Greater has been challenged on the ground of Gurjar having names in voter lists at two places.

PIL FILED IN RAJ HC AGAINST ‘NIGHT CURFEW’ IN STATEJaipur: On Tuesday, Advocate SK Singh fi led one PIL in HC of Rajasthan, challenging the notifi cation of Home Department of the State on grounds that night curfew will hamper economy. It is further mentioned that guide-lines are fl outed where there is election rally or religious function like Kumbh and on the contrary people of the State are being deprived of doing business due to night curfew. It is bet-ter that curfew should be in morning from 11 am to 5 pm instead 8 pm to 6 am. Government must focus on educating people to wear mask. Matter is likely to be listed on April 9.

REET EXAM: HC NOTICE TO BABUS TO INCLUDE RAJASTHANI LANGUAGEJodhpur: The Rajasthan High Court has issued a notice to the Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary of the Department of Education and the Board of REET Exam on the PIL fi led for the inclu-sion of Rajasthani language in the proposed REET-2021 teacher recruitment exam. The next hearing of the case will be held on May 12. Chief Justice Indrajit Mahanty and Vineet Kumar Mathur heard the PIL fi led by senior journalist Padam Mehta and Kalyan Shekhawat, professor of Rajasthani language at Jayanarayan Vyas Uni-versity. In the language section of the teacher recruitment eligibility test, the candidates can choose Hindi, English, Sanskrit, Urdu, Punjabi, Sindhi and Gujarati as their language to answer, but Rajasthani is not included in it. During the 2011 census, 4.63 crore people of the state were registered for speaking the Rajasthani language. Local language of the state should be given equal importance.

IN THE COURTYARD

Farmers will directly pay to panels for farm works: AroraFirst India Bureau

Jaipur: Farmers will have to bear the cost of works like unloading of commodities from vehi-cles, filtering, grading and stuffing as per the approved rate list in ag-riculture produce mar-kets during the procure-ment on MSP.

RAJFED MD Sushma Arora informed that

earlier, farmers used to make payments for such works to contrac-tors but now the farm-

ers will directly pay to the committee.

She said that the ar-rangement was made after complaints of ir-regularities in pay-ment. Directions in this regard have already been issued on 22 Feb-ruary.The officer said it will improve and strengthen the system of procurement of crops on MSP.

Raj sees 2K plus new cases in a day while state capital reports max 413

First India Bureau

Jaipur: Rajasthan re-ported 2,236 new Cov-id-19 cases and 13 fatali-ties on Tuesday, taking the state’s infection tal-ly to 3,43,990 and the death toll to 2,854. Jaipur reported the highest number of 413 new cases, followed by Udaipur with 367 and Jodhpur with 201.

A total of 3,24,996 Cov-id patients have recov-ered from the disease so far, and the number of active cases at present is 16,140, the report said.

Five deaths were re-ported from Jodhpur, two each from Kota and Jhalawar and one each was registered in Chit-torgarh, Dungarpur, Ra-jsamand and Udaipur, according to an official report here on Tuesday.

13 FATALITIES WERE RECORDED ON TUESDAY WITH MAXIMUM FIVE IN JODH

WITH CORONA SPREADING AT FAST PACE...

� WORLD HEALTH DAY

Health Min Dr Raghu greets everyone for better health!First India Bureau

Jaipur: Health Minister Dr Raghu Sharma has congratulated the people of the state and health-related medical person-nel on World Health Day (7 April) and wished for everyone’s better health. The World Organization has set this year’s theme as “Build a fairer, health-ier world”.

Dr Sharma said that the state government is making every effort to develop the concept of ‘health for all’. “With the objective of providing free health insurance to every family of the state by the state govern-ment, registration has been started for this by

implementing the CM Chiranjeevi Health In-surance Scheme. Its benefits will start from May 1,” he said.

“In order to bring Ra-jasthan to the forefront in the country in the medical field, it has been announced to im-plement the Rajasthan Model of Public Health in the budget of this fi-nancial year in accord-ance with the spirit of WHO,” he said.

Minister said that Co-rona has affected all the countries of world se-verely. The risk of co-rona has not yet been completely avoided. He appealed to the public to pay special attention to Covid-19 norms.

TESTING,VACCINE TIMES!

Amid spurt in fresh cases, state expands Covid-19 vaccine access to 45 plus; where people wait in a queue for corona testing, a medic inoculates vaccine to a man in Jaipur on Tuesday.

PRISONERS REFRAINED FROM MEETING KIN TILL APRIL 19Jaipur: Prisoners in jails across Rajasthan have been refrained from meeting their families in person till April 19 but will con-tinue to stay in touch with them through monitored phone call and video conferencing. DG, Prisons, Rajeev Dasot said, “Re-cently the state government has issued various Covid guidelines amid a surge in Covid cases. Since positive reports of prisoners in few jails have come to light and taking into consideration the health of the prison inmates, jail administration has decided that till April 19, prisoners have been refrained from meeting their families in jails across state but they will be able to stay in touch with their kin through monitored 5 minutes phone call & VC.”

TRANSPORT STAFF GETS JAB Covid vaccination camps have been started in all regional & district transport offi ces on the instructions of CM Ashok Gehlot. Pratap Singh Khachariyawas said that after CM’s instructions, 5,059 people connected with transport have been vaccinated on April 5 & 6.

—PHOTOS BY SUM

AN SARKAR

COVID SURGE HITS FLIGHT OPERATIONSKashiram Choudhary

Jaipur: The fear of Co-rona & imperative of keeping a Covid nega-tive report have brought the aviation sector back to square one. Flight op-erations gradually be-gan to be on par with the previous year.

But after March 15, the situation has dete-riorated again. Airlines now abruptly cancel some flights due to re-duced passenger load. Airlines had given a schedule of operating 41 flights in summers, but only 38 flights are being operated daily. Go Air, SpiceJet & Air Asia flights are being can-celled intermittently.

4,36,696 people get 1st jab 47,592 people get 2nd jab

4,84,288 PEOPLE GET VACCINATED IN THE STATE ON TUESDAY

PERSPECTIVEJAIPUR | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7, 2021

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� Vol 2 � Issue No. 299 � 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 Sangwan responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act

NEW COVID VARIANTS CHANGED

THE GAMEt the end of 2020, there was a strong hope that high levels of vaccination would see humanity finally gain the upper hand over SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes

COVID-19. In an ideal scenario, the virus would then be contained at very low levels without further societal disruption or sig-nificant numbers of deaths.

But since then, new “variants of concern” have emerged and spread worldwide, putting current pandemic control efforts, including vaccination, at risk of being derailed.

Put simply, the game has changed, and a successful global rollout of current vaccines by itself is no longer a guarantee of victory.

No one is truly safe from COVID-19 until everyone is safe. We are in a race against time to get global transmission rates low enough to prevent the emergence and spread of new variants. The danger is that variants will arise that can overcome the immunity con-ferred by vaccinations or prior infection.

Genetic mutations of viruses like SARS-CoV-2 emerge frequently, but some variants are labelled “variants of concern”, because they can reinfect people who have had a pre-vious infection or vaccination, or are more transmissible or can lead to more severe disease.

There are currently at least three docu-mented SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern.

Similar mutations are arising in different countries simultaneously, meaning not even border controls and high vaccination rates can necessarily protect countries from home-grown variants, including variants of con-cern, where there is substantial community transmission.

If there are high transmission levels, and hence extensive replication of SARS-CoV-2, anywhere in the world, more variants of con-cern will inevitably arise and the more infec-tious variants will dominate. With interna-tional mobility, these variants will spread. Reducing community transmission is vital. No single action is sufficient to prevent the virus’s spread; we must maintain strong pub-lic health measures in tandem with vaccina-tion programs in every country.

Each time the virus replicates, there is an opportunity for a mutation to occur. And as we are already seeing around the world, some of the resulting variants risk eroding the ef-fectiveness of vaccines.

That’s why we have called for a global strat-egy of “maximum suppression”.

Public health leaders should focus on ef-forts that maximally suppress viral infection rates, thus helping to prevent the emergence of mutations that can become new variants of concern.

Prompt vaccine rollouts alone will not be enough to achieve this; continued public health measures, such as face masks and physical distancing, will be vital too. Ventila-tion of indoor spaces is important, some of which is under people’s control, some of which will require adjustments to buildings.

SOURCE: THE CONVERSATION

IN-DEPTH

A

nline transla-tion tools have helped us learn new languages, communicate

across linguistic borders, and view foreign websites in our native tongue. But the artificial intelligence (AI) behind them is far from perfect, often replicat-ing rather than rejecting the biases that exist within a language or a society.

Such tools are especially vulnerable to gender stere-otyping, because some lan-guages (such as English) don’t tend to gender nouns, while others (such as Ger-man) do. When translating from English to German, translation tools have to de-cide which gender to assign English words like “clean-er”. Overwhelmingly, the tools conform to the stereo-type, opting for the femi-nine word in German.

Biases are human:

they’re part of who we are. But when left unchallenged, biases can emerge in the form of concrete negative attitudes towards others. Now, our team has found a way to retrain the AI be-hind translation tools, us-ing targeted training to help it to avoid gender ste-reotyping. Our method could be used in other fields of AI to help the technology reject, rather than repli-cate, biases within society.

BIASED ALGORITHMSTo the dismay of their crea-tors, AI algorithms often develop racist or sexist traits. Google Translate has been accused of stereo-typing based on gender, such as its translations pre-supposing that all doctors are male and all nurses are female. Meanwhile, the AI language generator GPT-3 – which wrote an entire ar-ticle for the Guardian in

2020 – recently showed that it was also shockingly good at producing harmful con-tent and misinformation.

These AI failures aren’t necessarily the fault of their creators. Academics and activists recently drew attention to gender bias in the Oxford English Dic-tionary, where sexist syno-

nyms of “woman” – such as “bitch” or “maid” – show how even a constantly re-vised, academically edited catalogue of words can contain biases that rein-force stereotypes and per-petuate everyday sexism.

AI learns bias because it isn’t built in a vacuum: it learns how to think and act

by reading, analysing and categorising existing data – like that contained in the Ox-ford English Dictionary. In the case of translation AI, we expose its algorithm to bil-lions of words of textual data and ask it to recognise and learn from the patterns it de-tects. We call this process machine learning, and along

the way patterns of bias are learned as well as those of grammar and syntax.

Ideally, the textual data we show AI won’t contain bias. But there’s an ongo-ing trend in the field to-wards building bigger sys-tems trained on ever-grow-ing data sets. We’re talking hundreds of billions of words. These are obtained from the internet by using undiscriminating text-scraping tools like Com-mon Crawl and WebText2, which maraud across the web, gobbling up every word they come across.

The sheer size of the re-sultant data makes it impos-sible for any human to actu-ally know what’s in it. But we do know that some of it comes from platforms like Reddit, which has made headlines for featuring offen-sive, false or conspiratorial information in users’ posts.

SOURCE: THE CONVERSATION

Google Translate vulnerable to gender stereotyping

O

You have been born anew, not from perishable but from imperishable seed, through the living and abiding word of God. —Peter 1:23

SpiritualSPEAK

TopTWEET

Dharmendra Pradhan @dpradhanbjpBengal has decided to demolish Didi’s dictatorship.Bengal has decided to make the ‘Pishi—Bhaipo’ answer for their crimes. Cooch Behar’s rousing welcome for PM @narendramodi ji reverberates with similar echoes of #BJPAnbeAsolPoriborton heard across the length of Bengal.

Piyush Goyal @PiyushGoyalHeld an extensive review & discussed ways to improve transparency, effectiveness & efficiency of Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) by capacity enhancement & warehouse modernisation. CWC will play a pivotal role in realising our shared vision of an Aatmanirbhar Bharat.

ur weakened economy continues to place pressure on executives to predict and measure the re-turn on the huge dollars they invest in marketing and advertis-ing campaigns across industries. With malls running empty, new fields of study on consumer be-haviour are being invented to understand the mindsets rele-vant today. Brain science is influ-encing how business managers handle marketing for their prod-ucts or service and with advance-ment in technology, ‘Neuromar-keting’ is allowing us to literally see into people’s brains.

The blend of ‘neuroscience’ and ‘marketing’ implies the merging of two fields of study. The first study on neuromar-keting was performed by Dr. Montague, a scholarly Profes-sor at Baylor College in 2003, where he asked a gaggle of in-dividuals to drink either Pepsi or Coca Cola while their brains were scanned in an MRI ma-chine. It was interesting to note that the conclusion of the study did not enable us in finding a rationale for a way how our brain handled brand choices; instead showcased different parts of the brain that lit up if people were consuming the brand that they knew.

It was pretty controversial when it was first introduced twenty years back, and since then it has come a long way. This field of study is now gain-ing rapid credibility and re-spect among advertising and marketing professionals all over the world. The power of influence that neuromarketing is holding now, has become vi-tal for the companies from a point of view of achieving im-plicit insights that determine the decision-making process and information about the con-sumer behavior.

Although there are also crit-ical arguments against neuro-marketing’s intervention into the privacy of customers, it is expected that with this method, more and more effective cus-tomer segmentation will be-come a real possibility. This in

turn, will lead to improved brand consciousness!

For too long, both marketers and advertisers have relied on ancient ways to make and as-sess effective advertising cam-paigns. Millions of rupees are poured each year into develop-ing products that will never see the light of day. Countless cam-paigns are failing to draw in consumer attention and suc-cessfully impacting our memo-ry banks. So, could neurosci-ence be the holy grail for all marketeers? Can neuromarket-ing achieve developing predic-tive models which will explain why we buy anything? These are some questions that make some people smile in excite-ment and others cringe.

For decades, market re-search methods have aimed to elucidate and predict the effec-tiveness of varied advertising campaigns. And over time, it has become imperative to un-derstand human emotions that have become strong mediators of how we process messages, understand and model cogni-tive responses. With this chal-lenging context, the invention of neuroimaging systems has offered exciting alternatives to understand the vacillating con-sumer behaviour. Such tech-niques have finally allowed us to realize valuable insights from the subconscious process, explaining why a message eventually succeeds or fails.

In a virtual world of today, where we shop relentlessly on-

line, the influence of neuro-marketing on product design seems extremely evident. The design of a product and its presentation are the first im-ages that we see and if we map this with neuro tools like MRI and EEG, we will be able to de-tect which brain regions get activated first. Since this pro-cess takes place in the subcon-scious mind, its reliability is higher than when respondents are simply giving verbal de-scriptions of their preferences. In a study conducted by Rei-mann, Zaichkowsky, Neuhaus,

Bender, and Weber in 2010, it was discovered that an attrac-tive and aesthetic representa-tion of a product in form of its design or packaging increased the activation of the nucleus accumbens and the ventrome-dial prefrontal cortex - which are responsible for emotions in the decision-making process and the cognition of rewards.

While the sector of neurosci-ence has grown dramatically within the last decade, it’s not yet fully penetrated the dark and reclusive hallways of advertis-ing research academia. Now, why is that? For starters: only a few marketing professionals have formal training in neuro-science. Second and more im-portantly, marketing research-ers have long feared the general public outcry against ethical and privacy issues. As a result, few scientific neuromarketing studies on advertising effective-ness have been published.

Neuromarketing definitely needs to become mainstream. Advertising agencies should start understanding the impor-tance of predicting the effec-tiveness of campaigns by using brain-based tools like eye track-ing, EEG, or MRI. Marketers are just awakening to this sci-ence by unveiling the brain cir-cuits involved in seeking, choos-ing, and buying a product. Neu-romarketing is indeed here to stay...And it needs to be incu-bated to evolve like humans.

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY

THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL

HAVE YOU NEURO – SOLD YOUR PRODUCT YET?

O

For too long, both marketers and advertisers have relied on ancient ways to make and assess effective advertising campaigns. Millions of rupees are poured each year into developing products that will never see the light of day. Countless campaigns are failing to draw in consumer attention and successfully impacting our memory banks. So, could neuroscience be the holy grail for all marketeers? Can neuromarketing achieve developing predictive models which will explain why we buy anything? These are some questions that make some people smile in excitement and others cringe

IN THE VIRTUAL WORLD OF TODAY, WHERE WE SHOP

RELENTLESSLY ONLINE, THE

INFLUENCE OF NEUROMARKETING ON

PRODUCT DESIGN SEEMS EXTREMELY

EVIDENT. THE DESIGN OF A PRODUCT AND ITS

PRESENTATION ARE THE FIRST IMAGES

THAT WE SEE AND IF WE MAP THIS WITH NEURO TOOLS LIKE

MRI AND EEG, WE WILL BE ABLE TO DETECT

WHICH BRAIN REGIONS GET ACTIVATED FIRST

DR DIVYA JAITLY

She is a TEDx Speaker, Integrated Communication Specialist, Leadership Mentor, Public Speaking Coach, Image Consultant & Renowned TV Anchor in India

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USA SAYS INDIA “GETTING THE JOB DONE” ON CLIMATENew Delhi: The US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry praised India as a world leader in renew-ables as he began talks with government leaders aimed at cutting carbon emissions faster to slow global warming. India is the world’s third big-gest emitter behind the United States and China

and is under pressure to commit itself to net zero emissions by 2050, in line with pledges made by several other coun-tries. “India is getting the job done on climate, pushing the curve,” Kerry said. “You (India) are indisputably a world leader already in the deployment of renewable energy.” —Agencies

BILATERAL COOPERATION ENCOURAGING: S JAISHANKARNew Delhi: Terming India-Russia relations as “time tested”, External Affairs Minister S Jaishan-kar on Tuesday said the partnership between the two countries is important for global peace, secu-rity and stability. After holding a discussion with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Mr Jaishankar in his opening remarks, said, “We are both cognizant of the multi-polar and rebalanced nature of international relations today. We both understand the importance of our relationship to global peace, security and stability.” —ANI

NEW REVENUE SECY IN MAJOR BUREAUCRATIC RESHUFFLENew Delhi: In a major reshuffl e at the Centre on Tuesday, senior IAS offi cial Tarun Bajaj was ap-pointed as new Secretary, Revenue, in the Finance Ministry, while Ajay Seth replaces him as Secre-tary, Economic Affairs. Bajaj, a 1988-batch Indian Administrative Service offi cial who had earlier served as Additional Secretary in Prime Minister’s Offi ce, was serving as Secretary, Economic Affairs since April 30, 2020, & had taken additional charge of Secretary, Revenue, after the superannuation of incumbent Ajay Bhushan Pandey. —Agencies

100 BIRDS FOUND DEAD AMID 2ND WAVE OF BIRD FLU IN HIMACHALShimla: Around 100 migratory birds have been found dead in Pong Dam Lake after the outbreak of a second wave of bird fl u in Himachal Pradesh. Bird fl u had fi rst been confi rmed among migratory water-birds at Pong Dam Lake Wildlife Sanctuary in January that left around 5,000 birds dead in a month. It was

contained in February but has now resurfaced since late March beginning with the discovery of a dozen bird carcasses in the sanctuary on March 25. Chief Wildlife Warden Archana Sharma said National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases confi rmed the presence of H5N8 avian infl uenza among the samples. —PTI

DIDI SCORED OWN-GOAL IN POLITICS AFTER HER KHELA IN NANDIGRAM: PMTaking a jibe at Chief Minister Mamata Ba-nerjee amidst the third phase of West Bengal assembly polls on Tues-day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said she has scored an ‘own goal’ in politics like in foot-ball after her ‘khela’ in Nandigram.

Addressing a public meeting in Cooch Be-har, the Prime Minister said, “Didi, people say you play a lot of foot-ball. Didi, the day you did ‘khela’ at the polling booth in Nandigram, the same day the coun-try knew that you have lost the elections. You have already scored an own goal in politics like in football!”

“Didi, you are not proud that West Bengal is seeing more than 80 per cent voter turnout. It means that you are losing. Recently, you (Mamata Banerjee) ap-pealed for Muslim unity and said their votes should not divide. It shows that the Muslim vote bank, which you considered as your strength, has slipped out of our hands,” he said.

The third phase of polling is underway in 31 Assembly constituen-cies including eight in Hooghly, seven in How-rah and 16 in South 24 Parganas. There are 205 candidates in the fray in this round of polling.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi greets supporters during an election campaign rally for BJP candidate ahead of state legislative assembly election at Dumurjala stadium in Kolkata on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY ANI

Union Home Minister Amit Shah —FILE PHOTO

ASSEMBLY POLLS

Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwashas changed meaning of secularism: Modi

New Delhi: Attacking the Opposition, PM Narendra Modi said that “Sabka Saath, Sab-ka Vikas, Sabka Vish-was” has changed the meaning of secularism.

Addressing BJP workers on the occasion of its 41st foundation day, Modi said: “Parties, who were wearing a mask of false secular-ism, are finally being unmasked. For them

secularism means plan-ning, policy and favour for few. But “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas” has changed the meaning of secularism.”

Modi added that re-gional parties who had been formed to fulfil lo-cal aspirations, had be-come family-based par-ties later, while BJP means defeating dynas-ty-based politics. —ANI

CHALO PALTAI: PM TO PEOPLE OF BENGAL

PM SHOWS COMPASSION AT RALLY

Kolkata: Amidst the third phase of West Bengal Assembly polls on Tuesday, Prime Minister Nar-endra coined the slo-gan “Chalo Paltai” (let us make the change). Addressing a public meeting in Cooch Behar, Prime Minister said, “For 10 years, women, Dalits, back-ward classes, farmers and tea workers were subjected to injustic-es, but Didi (Mamata Banerjee), you were just an onlooker. —ANI

Cooch Behar: PM Narendra Modi asked his team of doctors to treat a woman who faced some issues due to dehydration at an election rally in Cooch Behar. PM, while addressing the rally, halted his speech and directed his medical team to assist a woman who was feeling unwell at the venue. The PM also asked the vol-unteers at the rally to immediately provide water to the woman.

Shah urges people to vote for peace, prosperity & devp

New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday ap-pealed to the voters of West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Puducherry to ex-ercise their franchise in huge numbers.

Shah requested the voters of Union Terri-tory Puducherry to show up to vote for a corruption-free and pro-gressive government.

“I appeal to all the voters of Puducherry to vote in large numbers for a corruption-free and progressive govern-ment,” the Union Minis-ter tweeted. He appealed to the people of West Bengal to vote for peace, prosperity, and develop-ment of the state.

“Only a strong and de-cisive leadership can make Bengal self-reliant by ensuring peace, pros-perity and development in the state. So, be sure to vote and be a partner in the development of Bengal,” he said in a subsequent tweet.

Urging people of As-

sam to participate in the festival of democ-racy, he said, “Today is the third and final phase of voting in As-sam. I appeal to all vot-ers to cast their votes in maximum numbers while ensuring their participation in this fes-tival of democracy.”

“Elections are taking place in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal. I request the people in these places to vote in record numbers, par-ticularly the young vot-ers,” tweeted PM Modi.

Polling began at 7 am on Tuesday for one of the busiest days in the ongoing Assembly elec-tion in all four states and one Union Territo-ry - West Bengal, As-sam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.Polling is being held for a total of 475 of the total 824 assembly constitu-encies across the states of Assam, Kerala, Ta-mil Nadu, West Bengal and the Union territory of Puducherry.

Do cast your votes today, India is counting on you: Rahul Gandhi

Higher turnout is good for UDF: Tharoor

DMK-Cong alliance set for landslide victory, says Chidambaram

BJP demands probe into EVM recovery

New Delhi: With poll-ing taking place for as-sembly elections in four states and a Union Ter-ritory, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tues-day urged people to cast their vote, saying “In-dia is counting on you”.

Polling was held for 31 seats in the third of the eight-phase West Bengal assembly elec-tions, while 40 seats are at stake in the final and third phase of the as-sembly elections in As-sam. Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry are voting on Tuesday in single-phase assem-bly elections. “Do cast your votes today- India is counting on you,” Ra-hul Gandhi tweeted.

In a tweet, Congress general secretary Pri-yanka Gandhi Vadra said, “As polling begins

in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, I re-quest my sisters and brothers to go out and vote in large numbers and ensure a strong, progressive and pros-perous future for them-selves.”

In a Facebook post, she also urged people in Assam to vote in large

numbers and strength-en the democratic pro-cess. “Brothers and sis-ters in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, it is time to exercise your democratic right, Go Vote! for peace and progress,” the Congress tweeted from its official Twitter handle. —ANI

Thiruvananthapuram:Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday said higher turnout for the Kerala Assembly Elec-tions indicate a victory for the United Democrat-ic Front (UDF) adding that it is “too little too late” for Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijay-an to remember Lord Ayyappa just ahead of the polls.

After casting his vote in Thiruvanan-thapuram, Tharoor said, “The turnout has been very high... which is unusual for Kerala. As a general rule when the turnout is high UDF will prevail. The other parties are more cadre-based, so be it rain or bad voter turnout they will come and vote whereas UDF voters are regular folks.” —ANI

Sivagangai: The secu-lar and progressive alli-ance of the DMK and Congress is all set for a landslide victory in Ta-mil Nadu said senior Congress leader P Chid-ambaram after casting his vote at a polling booth in Chittal Achi Memorial High School in Kandanur in Siva-ganga district on Tues-day.

“Our secular pro-gressive alliance is all set for a landslide vic-tory as people of Tamil Nadu want a change,” he said to the media af-ter casting his vote.

#TamilNaduElec-tions | Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram casts vote in polling booth Chittal Achi Me-morial High School in Kandanur, Sivaganga

district“Our secular pro-

gressive alliance is all set for a landslide vic-tory as people of Tamil Nadu want a change,” he says.

Polling across 234 As-sembly constituencies in 38 districts of Tamil Nadu started at 7 am. A total of 3,998 candidates are in the poll fray. —ANI

New Delhi: Union Min-ister Prakash Ja-vadekar demanded a full enquiry after elec-tronic voting machines (EVM) and voter-verifi-able paper audit trails (VVPAT) were recov-ered from a TMC lead-er’s residence in West Bengal’s Howrah on Tuesday ahead of the third phase of state As-sembly polls.

Briefing the media-persons, Javadekar said, “Today is the third phase of polling in West Bengal. And yet, anoth-er TMC attempt has been exposed. Last night in Uluberia, from the residence of TMC leader Gautam Ghosh, four VVPATs and EVMs were found and confis-cated. Machines were brought by car, which was on election duty.”

“It is more serious be-cause today is voting. EC has taken action not to use those machines and suspend the officer. But this may be a bigger thing than it seems. So we demand that there should be a full inquiry of these VVPATs and EVMs found in his house,” he added.

Meanwhile, ECI has suspended the sector of-ficer on Tuesday. —ANI

Prakash JavadekarCong leader P Chidambaram shows an inked fi nger.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi —FILE PHOTO

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Kumbh might...amongst masses that the pandemic is not over yet,” the source added. However, the Centre is not consider-ing prematurely ending the holy congregation. The government also asked for ideas from the officials to curb the spread of the infection.

Sources added that the government is plan-ning to run a “Healthy Fear for Corona” mis-sion to ensure that the fear of the disease re-mains in the people and they feel discouraged to flout the established health norms.

There will be three

major bathing dates (shahi snan) on April 12, 14 and 27 during the Kumbh Mela this year.

Kumbh is held peri-odically at four different locations in India -- Na-shik, Haridwar, Praya-graj, and Ujjain -- every four years. In normal circumstances, Kumbh continues for nearly four months but this year due to the COV-ID-19 pandemic, the du-ration of the congrega-tion has been curtailed to one month. —PTI

Allow vaccination...In view of the rapid spread of the second wave of the disease, we

suggest that our vacci-nation strategy be geared up with imme-diate effect and on a war footing,” the IMA said in its letter. The IMA also suggested that private sector fam-ily clinics should be included actively in the vaccination drive along with private hospitals.

Maharashtra govt...The high court had said that this was an “ex-traordinary” and “un-precedented” case which warranted an independent inquiry. Singh, in his plea filed on March 25, sought the CBI probe against Desh-

mukh who, he claimed, had asked police offic-ers, including suspend-ed cop Sachin Waze, to extort Rs 100 crore from bars and restaurants. Deshmukh has denied any wrongdoing. —PTI

TMC may...Maintaining that the TMC dispensation has institutionalised “ease of crime and ease of loot”, the prime minister said that a BJP govern-ment, instead, will pro-vide people “ease of liv-ing and business”. —PTI

Center should...“For this reason, Covid control needs to be

made more effective,” he said. Gehlot has once again urged the Prime Minister that for this, Covid vaccination should be started for all persons above the age of 18 years since at pre-sent vaccination is be-ing done for people above 45 years of age in the country only. The Chief Minister said that due to the steps taken by the State Government, Rajasthan is among the leading states in the country in Covid con-trol and vaccination.

West Bengal...When they came to know that the sector of-

ficer has come, they informed me,” said Bera. The EC official said the suspended sec-tor officer had gone to the leader’s house, who is his relative, along with the machines. Af-ter the matter came to light, villagers staged a protest in the area. A police contingent had to be sent to the spot to disperse the crowd and bring the situation un-der control. “We have suspended the sector officer. The EVMs and VVPAT machines, which were recovered, were kept as reserve,” the official said, re-questing anonymity.

FROM PG 1

AJAY SETH POSTED AS SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC AFFAIRS Ajay Seth has been posted as Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance. He is a 1987 batch IAS officer of Karnataka cadre.

GYANESH KUMAR POSTED AS SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS Gyanesh Kumar has been appointed as Secretary, Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs. He is a 1988 batch IAS officer of Kerala cadre.

ALI RAZA RIZVI POSTED AS SECRETARY, DEPT OF PUBLIC ENTERPRISESAli Raza Rizvi has been posted as Secretary, Department of Public Enterprises, Ministry of Heavy Industries. He is a 1988 batch IAS officer of HP cadre.

INDEVAR PANDEY POSTED AS SECRETARY, DEPT OF ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS Indevar Pandey has been posted as Secretary, Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances and Department of Pensions and Pensioners Welfare. He is a 1988 batch IAS officer of West Bengal cadre.

ANJALI BHAWRA IS SECRETARY, DEPT OF EMPOWERMENT OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES Ms. Anjali Bhawra has been posted as Secretary, Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. She is a 1988 batch IAS officer of Punjab cadre.

JATINDRA NATH SWAIN POSTED AS SECRETARY, DEPT OF FISHERIES Jatindra Nath Swain has been appointed as Secretary, Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying. He is a 1988 batch IAS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre.

POWER Gallery

By arrangement with: http:// whispersinthecorridors.com

New Delhi: Reiterat-ing the ‘Nation First’ mantra, Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi on Tuesday stated that the Bharatiya Janata Party has always worked on the idea of “the party is bigger than the indi-vidual and the nation is bigger than the party”.

“The BJP has always worked on the mantra of the party is bigger than the individual and the nation is big-ger than the party,” said PM Modi while ad-dressing party work-ers on BJP’s 41st Sthapna Diwas (Foun-dation Day). “This tra-dition has continued since Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee and runs till date,” the Prime Minister added.

PM Modi also lauded the contribution of

stalwarts Lal Krishna Advani and Murali Manohar Joshi in shaping and expanding the party.

He went on to say that our government

has fulfilled Syama Prasad Mookerjee’s vi-sion (of one India) by scrapping Article 370 and giving Kashmir the Constitutional right.

PM Modi was virtu-

ally addressing the par-ty workers across the country on the occa-sion of BJP’s 41st “Sthapana Diwas”.

The BJP evolved from the Bharatiya

Jana Sangh which was founded by Syama Prasad Mookherjee in 1951. Later Jana Sangh was merged with sev-eral parties in 1977 to form the Janata Party.

‘NATION IS BIGGER THAN THE PARTY’Reiterating ‘Nation First’ mantra, PM stated on BJP’s Foundation Day that party is bigger than individual

New Delhi: Union Educa-tion Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank on Tuesday lauded the fourth edition of 'Pariksha Par Charcha' that will be held on Wednesday at 7 pm virtually where lakhs of students will directly con-nect with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and can ask him questions on reducing exam stress.Speaking to ANI, Pokhriyal said almost 14 lakh participants had registered themselves in the contest for the 'Pariksha Par Charcha' 2021, adding that 10.5 lakh students, 2.6 lakh teachers, and 92,000 parents have enthusiasti-cally participated in the creative writing contest. —ANI

New Delhi: A Delhi court Tuesday granted bail to former TMC MP KD Singh who was ar-rested by Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case. Special Judge Geetanjali Goel directed him to furnish a bail bond of `5 lakh, with 2 similar sureties.

Singh was arrested in January under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

Singh was TMC’s Ra-jya Sabha MP, but has not been involved in the party affairs for quite some time. ED had car-ried searches at Singh’s premises and those linked to him in Sep-tember, 2019 in 2 PMLA cases. —ANI

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi today slammed the gov-ernment over the Ra-fale fighter jet deal, saying karma is the ledger of one's action and no one can escape it. He said this after a French media report claimed that 1.1 mil-lion Euros was paid to a "middleman" by the aircraft manufacturer, a charge that was de-nied by the BJP as baseless.

Rahul Gandhi has been alleging that com-missions have been

paid in the Rafale deal, which the government has denied.

Congress said Rahul Gandhi's often repeat-ed allegations of cor-ruption in the deal

were proved correct after the French media report. "Karma = The ledger of one's actions. Nobody escapes it. #Ra-fale," Rahul Gandhi said on Twitter.

BJP National President JP Nadda along with other leaders listen to Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually on the occasion of the party’s Sthapna Diwas at the party headquarters, in New Delhi on Tuesday. — PHOTO BY ANI

‘PARIKSHA PAR CHARCHA’ WITH PM MODI TODAY

MAHARASHTRA LETTER BOMB ISSUE

‘After Deshmukh, Maha CM should also step down’Mumbai: Union Minis-ter Ramdas Athawale on Tuesday said Maha-rashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray lost the mor-al ground to continue to be in power and should immediately resign.

“Anil Deshmukh stepped down but he should have stepped down earlier. Not just this, Chief Minister Ud-dhav Thackeray also has lost the moral ground to continue to be in power and should im-mediately resign,” Atha-wale told ANI. He added that this was the first time a police officer, who is supposed to pro-tect people, has been in-volved in such activity.

The Union Minister questioned why Desh-mukh did not resign before and did so only after Mumbai HC or-dered a CBI Inquiry into the allegations made by former Mum-bai Police Commission-er Param Bir Singh. Slamming the Maha Vikas Aghadi govern-

ment for its misman-agement of the COV-ID-19 situation, Atha-wale said, “The state government has completely failed in controlling the dete-riorating COVID-19 situation. Maharash-tra is the number one contributor on a dai-ly basis.” —ANI

Washington: The IMF on Tuesday pro-jected an impressive 12.5 per cent growth rate for India in 2021, stronger than that of China, the only major economy to have a positive growth rate last year during the COVID-19 pandemic.

IMF, in its annual World Economic Out-look ahead of the an-nual Spring meeting with the World Bank, said the Indian econo-my is expected to grow by 6.9 per cent in 2022.

Notably in 2020, In-dia’s economy contract-ed by a record eight per cent, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said as it projected an

impressive 12.5 per cent growth rate for the country in 2021.

China, on the other hand which was the only major economy to have a positive growth rate of 2.3 per cent in 2020, is expected to grow by 8.6 per cent in 2021 and 5.6 per cent in 2022.

Chief Economist at IMF Gita Gopinath said, We are now pro-jecting a stronger recov-ery in 2021 and 2022 for the global economy compared to our previ-ous forecast, with growth projected to be 6 per cent in 2021 and 4.4 per cent in 2022 .

In 2020, the global economy contracted by 3.3 per cent. —PTI

Uddhav Thackeray (L) Ramdas Athawale (R)

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi —FILE PHOTO

Ghazipur: In the last few days Covid-19 has spread at a rapid pace breaking the earlier re-cord of Covid numbers in the last seven to eight months. For the first time in the country, more than one lakh in-fections are being re-ported in a single day. But in spite of the dan-ger posed by the pan-demic, the farmers are adamant to continue their protest against the new farm laws. Asked about the surge, Rake-

sh Tikait told: “We will not let the Centre make the farmers’ protest an-other Shaheen Bagh movement. Lockdown may be imposed in the country, but the farm-ers’ stir will continue. —Agencies

Rakesh Tikait

IMF projects India’s growth rate to jump to impressive 12.5% IN 2021

‘Won’t end farmers stir even if there’s lockdown’

Bail to ex-TMC MP KD Singh in money laundering

RaGa attacks govt on Rafale jet deal

New Delhi: Com-munist Party of India (Marxist) has demanded an enquiry into the Rafale deal after a French media report claimed that 1.1 million was paid to a "middleman" by the aircraft manu-facturer. BJP has denied the allega-tion as baseless.

CPI(M) DEMANDS ENQUIRY

कारायालर आबकारी आरुक्त, राजस्ान, उदरपुर

देशी मददरा, दिदेशी मददरा एिं बीरर की कमपपोदजट ररटेल ऑफ दुकानों के अनुज्ापत्र हे्तु आिेदन एिं ई-नीलामी आमंत्रण बाब्त सूचना फेज-V

क्रमांक :-प.32(बी)(1)आब /एल/2021-22/2616 दिनांक :06.04.2021

1. सर्वसाधारण को सूचित चकया जाता है चक चरत्तीय रर्व 2021-22 के चिए राजय में आबकारती बन्ोबसत हेतु ्ेशती मच्रा, राजस्ान चनचम्वत मच्रा (RML), भारत चनचम्वत चर्ेशती मच्रा (IMFL) एरं बतीयर कती ररटेि ऑफ ्ुकानों (कम्ोचजट ्ुकानों) के अनुज्ा्त्र जारती करने के चिए आबकारती नतीचत 2021-22 के अनुसार भारत सरकार के उ्क्रम एम.एस.टी.सी. चिचमटेड के माधयम से ई-नतीिामती (ई-बोिती) आयोचजत कती जा रहती है। फेज-I में ्ांि च्रसतीय ई-नतीिामती च्नांक 03.03.2021, 04.03.2021, 05.03.2021, 09.03.2021 एरं 10.03.2021, फेज-॥ में ्ो च्रसतीय ई-नतीिामती च्नांक 19.03.2021 एरं 20.03.2021, फेज-III में एक च्रसतीय ई-नतीिामती च्नांक 24.03.2021 एरं फेज-IV में एक च्रसतीय ई-नतीिामती च्नांक 01.04.2021 को सम्न्न हो िुकती है।

2. चरत् (आबकारती) चरभाग के ्त्रांक ्.4(1) चरत् / आब / 2021 च्नांक 06.04.2021 के द्ारा ई-नतीिामती से शेर बिती मच्रा ्ुकानों के चिए चनम्नचिचित प्ारधानों हेतु सरतीकृचत ्ती है: -

क. शेर बिती कम्ोचजट मच्रा ् ुकानें चजसके चिए ् ूर्व के चकसती भती फेज में अगर बोिती िगाई गई एरं बा् में बेकआउट कती सस्चत बनती है तो ऐसती कम्ोचजट मच्रा ्ुकानों के चिए मूि नयूनतम ररजर्व प्ाईस एरं मूि कम्ोचजट फतीस में कोई ्रररत्वन नहीं चकया गया है।

ि. उ्यु्वकत के अचतररकत शेर बिती कम्ोचजट मच्रा ्ुकानों के चिए मूि नयूनतम ररजर्व प्ाईस एरं मूि कम्ोचजट फतीस प्तयेक में ्ो श्ेणतीयों में 35 प्चतशत एरं 20 प्चतशत छूट ्ेते हुए 65 र 80 प्चतशत राचश चनधा्वररत कती गई है। इस हेतु कम्ोचजट मच्रा ्ुकानरार संशोचधत नयूनतम ररजर्व प्ाईस र संशोचधत कम्ोचजट फतीस चरभागतीय रेरसाईट https://www.rajexcise.gov.in ्र ्चश्वत है।

ग. अमान्त रादश- आबकारती एरं मद्यसंयम नतीचत 2021-22 के चबन्ु संखया 2.7 में अमानत राचश के बारे में प्ारधान चकये गये हैं। ्रनतु चकसती भती फेज में एक बार यच् चकसती कमपपोदजट मददरा दुकान के चिए बोिती्ाता द्ारा बेकआउट चकया गया है तो ऐसती कम्ोचजट मच्रा ्ुकानों के चिए चनम्नचिचित प्कार से अमानत राचश चनधा्वररत कती जातती है। शेर ्ुकानों के चिए अमानत राचश ्ूर्वरत रहेगती।

श्ेणी अमान्त रादश (रु.)रर्व 2021-22 के चिए 50 िाि रू्ये तक मूि नयूनतम ररजर्व प्ाईस रािती ्ुकान

2,00,000

रर्व 2021-22 के चिए 50 िाि रू्ये से अचधक एरं 2 करोड़ रू्ये तक मूि नयूनतम ररजर्व प्ाईस रािती ्ुकान

3,00,000

रर्व 2021-22 के चिए 2 करोड़ रू्ये से अचधक मूि नयूनतम ररजर्व प्ाईस रािती ्ुकान

5,00,000

3. फेज-V में चनम्नचिचित चतच् अनुसार ई-नतीिामती (ई-बोिती) आमंचत्रत कती जातती है :-

क्र.स. नीलामी की ददनांक आिेदन करने की अंद्तम द्तद्1 10.04.2021 09.04.2021

नतीिामती का समय ्ूरा्वनुसार प्ातः 11.00 बजे से सायं 04.00 बजे तक रहेगा। नतीिामती एक काय्व च्रस में नयूनतम ्ांि घणटे कती होगती एरं उसके ्शिात् जब तक बोिती िगतती रहे तब तक 10 चमनट के अन्नत चरसतार (indefinite extension) तक जारती रहेगती।

4. आिेदनः- फेज-V के चिए आरे्न कती प्चक्रया च्नांक 07 अपे्ि 2021 को प्ातः 11:00 बजे से प्ारमभ है त्ा चनधा्वररत नतीिामती कती च्नांक से एक च्न ्ूर्व को रात 11:59 ्ती.एम. तक िािू रहेगती।

5. यच् आरे्क द्ारा च्नांक 12.02.2021 के ्शिात https://www.mstcecommerce.com ्र ्ंजतीकरण कराया है तो उनहें ्ृ्क से ्ंजतीकरण कराने कती आरशयकता नहीं रहेगती। ्ूर्व में आरंचटत यूजर आई.डती. र ्ासरड्ड के माधयम से ई-नतीिामती हेतु आरे्न कर सकते हैं। यच् ्ूर्व में ्ंजतीकरण नहीं कराया है तो https://www.mstcecommerce.com ्र जाकर चनःशुलक ्ंजतीकरण करा सकते हैं।

6. सफि बोिती्ाता H1 के चकसती कारण से बैकआउट होने ्र चद्ततीय उच्चतम बोिती्ाता H2 को सफि बोिती्ाता H1 द्ारा प्सताचरत राचर्वक गारनटती राचश ्र उस मच्रा ्ुकान को िेने हेतु अरसर च्या जायेगा त्ा चद्ततीय उच्चतम बोिती्ाता H2 द्ारा सहमचत ्ेने ्र ्ूर्व में उलिेचित प्चक्रया अनुसार राचश जमा कराने ्र उसके ्क्ष में अस्ाई अनुज्ा्त्र कती सरतीकृचत जारती कती जारेगती।

H2 द्ारा उ्यु्वकत अरसर के बा् सहमतती नहीं ्ेने ्र उसे उसकती सरयं द्ारा बोिती गई कतीमत H2 ्र मच्रा ्ुकान ्ेने का अरसर च्या जारेगा। यच् इस कतीमत ्र भती H2 द्ारा मच्रा ्ुकान नहीं िती जातती है तो उसकती अमानत राचश जबत कर H3 को क्रमशः H1 एरं H2 द्ारा प्सतुत प्सताचरत राचर्वक गारनटती राचश ्र उस मच्रा ्ुकान को िेने हेतु अरसर च्या जायेगा।

तृततीय उच्चतम बोिती्ाता H3 द्ारा सहमचत ् ेने ् र ् ूर्व में उलिेचित प्चक्रया अनुसार राचश जमा कराने ्र उसके ्क्ष में अस्ाई अनुज्ा्त्र कती सरतीकृचत जारती कती जारेगती। H3 द्ारा उ्यु्वकत अरसर के बा् सहमतती नहीं ्ेने ्र उसे उसकती सरयं द्ारा बोिती गई कतीमत H3 ्र मच्रा ्ुकान ्ेने का अरसर च्या जारेगा। यच् इस कतीमत ्र भती H3 द्ारा मच्रा ्ुकान नहीं िती जातती है तो उसकती अमानत राचश जबत कर िती जायेगती।

7. सफि बोिती्ाता द्ारा सम्ूण्व धरोहर राचश च्नांक 16.04.2021 तक जमा करानती होगती। 8. सफि बोिती्ाता को ‘दनरायारर्त अदरिम िाद्याक गारनटी रादश’ एरं ‘दनरायारर्त कमपपोदजट फीस की

नरून्तम 50 प्रद्तश्त रादश’ च्नांक 20.04.2021 तक जमा करानती होगती। 9. एम.एस.टती.सती. हेल्-डेसक ्र काया्विय समय में माग्व्श्वन चिया जा सकता है।10. अनय शततें ्ूर्वरत रहेंगती।उ्यु्वकत के संबंध में चरसतृत च्शा-चन्देश, शततें त्ा अनुज्ा्न हेतु उ्िबध ्ुकानों कती चनधा्वररत सूिती मय चरररण चरभागतीय रेबसाईट https://www.rajexcise.gov.in एरं एम.एस.टती.सती.चिचमटेड कती रेबसाईट https://www.mstcecommerce.com ्र उ्िबध है।

आबकारती आयुकत, राजस्ान उ्य्ुर।

Rituraj Sharma

Jaipur: Chief Secre-tary Niranjan Arya on Tuesday instructed dis-trict collectors to imple-ment the Chief Minis-ter Chiranjeevi Health Insurance Scheme as a flagship scheme of the state while giving it the highest priority.

Reviewing the imple-mentation of various schemes with division-al commissioner and district collectors through video confer-encing, Arya said that Chiranjeevi scheme is an important move to-wards universal health insurance coverage and

the officers should en-sure its effective imple-mentation.

He asked the officers to make people aware about the importance and explain its specifics

to the people so that all the families can benefit from it.

Arya also directed the officials to speed up covid-19 vaccination.

The chief secretary

also conducted a review of the districts having more than six months old cases on the Ra-jasthan Sampark Portal and instructed to dis-pose of the cases.

Vimal Kothari

Jaipur: A man has been arrested at Jaipur International Airport upon his arrival from Dubai for allegedly try-ing to smuggle in gold worth Rs 21.36 lakh, of-ficials said on Tuesday.The 23-year old Hasam Salim Surani flew down from Dubai with 461.1 gram of gold concealed in a dessert maker ma-chine kept in his trolley bag. It was seized on Monday night, ML

Shera, assistant com-missioner of the de-partment, said.

“On examination, one metal disc painted with black colour was found fitted in the de-sert maker with its mo-

tor. On being detached and then cut this casted disc with the help of an electric cutter, the offic-ers noticed yellow met-al-reinforced inside the disc. The gold was then separated,” he said.

Surani, a resident of Gujarat, told the cus-toms officials that he belongs to a very poor family and that an un-known person in Dubai had handed him over the machine to be deliv-ered to someone outside Jaipur airport.

First India Bureau

Jaipur: The Enforce-ment Directorate has filed a preliminary in-quiry into the silver theft case of Vaishali Nagar, official sources said on Tuesday. The ED will summon Dr. Su-nit Soni, the complain-ant after the charge sheet is filed and ques-tion him about the source of about 1500 kg silver.

As per sources, the ED will investigate the matter considering that all three boxes were filled with silver. The stolen silver is valued around Rs 3 crore.

First India Bureau

Jodhpur: Four officials of Jodhpur’s Phalodi jail, including its super-intendent, were on Tuesday suspended for facilitating the escape of 16 prisoners, a senior official said.

The four officials of the Phalodi sub-jail were suspended follow-ing a preliminary in-quiry into their roles in the escape of the pris-oners on Monday night, Jodhpur Range’s Depu-ty Inspector General (Jail) Surendra Singh Shekhawat said. The suspended officials

were identified as Act-ing Jailer-cum-Head Warder Nabi Bux and warders Sunil Kumar, Madanpal Singh and Madhu Kumari. Only these four suspended of-ficials were at the duty when the prisoners escaped and they cooked up a story of the inmates fleeing the jail after throwing chilly powder in their eyes, DIG Shekhawat said. The four have been sus-pended on the charges of dereliction of duty and negligence besides facilitating the escape of the prisoners, he added. —PTI

First India Bureau

Rajasthan: As many as 4 accidents happened on Tuesday in different districts of the state. One such accident oc-curred on Sabla Marg in the wee hours of Tuesday, where two youngsters riding a bike were hit by a truck. Both of them including the bike were trampled by the truck. The bodies lay under the truck for long before Sabla Police Officer Manish Kumar Khoiwal and the police team reached the spot on the information.

Another such acci-dent happened in Sawai Madhopur where an un-controlled dumper

crushed a young man on the way at the Pan-chayat tiraha outside the village panchayat office of Baunli police station area of the dis-trict. The 20-year-old Shivraj Rager parked his motorcycle. At the very moment, the speeding dumper hit him causing his head to get crushed under its wheel.

Another accident happened in Jaipur, a cement-laden trailer hit a truck filled with do-mestic gas cylinders at the rear in front of the Balaji temple on Jaipur-Ajmer Highway 8. The khalasi of the truck died on the spot.

Meanwhile, in tribal-

dominated Khetrali Khada village of Nana police station area of the district, 2 persons including a teenager, died on the spot while 5 were injured on Tues-day morning when a tractor-trolley carrying workers overturned in order to save a child coming from the front.

According to Nana police officer Bhanwar-lal Mali, Devaram and Neetu Kumari died on the spot whereas Savita, Pintu, Komal, 4, Khetu , 6, and Moti were in-jured. Police reached the spot and admitted the injured to Beda Hos-pital. The bodies were handed over to the fam-ilies after post-mortem.

NEWSJAIPUR | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7, 2021

07www.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

First India Bureau

Jaipur: The Covid-19 Pandemic has caused a major setback to the tourism sector. All the stakeholders of the tourism industry should work in tandem to overcome these chal-lenging times. The re-cently announced Rs500 crores budget under the Tourism Development Fund of the State will indeed go a long way in reviving tourism in the state by building infra-

structure and develop-ing new tourism spots.

Rs200 crore of this budget has been set aside for marketing and

promotion. This was stated by the Minister of State for Tourism, Government of Ra-jasthan, Govind Singh

Dotasra. He was speaking at a

webinar on ‘Rajasthan Tourism: Opportunities & Way Forward’ organ-

ized by Rajasthan Tour-ism, in association with FICCI Rajasthan State Council.

Giving the example of the recently held Shekhawati Festival, he said that the Shekha-wati region has numer-ous tourist attractions like Salasar Balaji and Khatu Shyam Ji tem-ples. This area will be developed as a tourism circuit. Dotasra also emphasized the need for the safety of tour-ists.

‘Need collective efforts to rebuild tourism’ OPPORTUNITIES & WAY FORWARD

Kota: A 22-year-old driver was burned to death after two trucks caught fire following a collision here on Tues-day, police said.

Shouken, a resident of Hindoli town in Bun-di district, died after two trucks, one loaded with marbles and the other with fruits, caught fire following a head-on collusion around 2.30 am on Kota-

Jhalawar road, Sub-In-spector at Udhyog Na-gar Police Station, Mo-hammed Ibrahim said.

After the collision, Shouken got stuck in the cabin and was charred to death. The helper in the truck managed to jump out of the vehicle and sus-tained minor injuries in the process, he added.

The truck was report-

edly heading to Odisha after loading marbles from Rajsamand.

The driver and the helper in the other truck escaped from the spot after the accident, Ibrahim said.

Shouken’s body was handed over to his fam-ily members later on Tuesday after a post-mortem and a case has been lodged for further investigation, he added.

First India Bureau

Jaipur: For proper management of drink-ing water system in summers, vacation and leaving headquarters without prior permis-sion is banned for the officials and employees of the Department of Water Supply. If an of-ficer is found absent at his headquarters with-out prior permission, then action might be

taken against him. Additional Chief Sec-

retary Sudhansh Pant said that the responsi-bility of Public Health Engineering Depart-ment for uninterrupted drinking water supply increases during the summer season. All of-ficers and employees have been instructed to follow these instruc-tions strictly. This schedule will be fol-lowed till July 15.

Man held for smuggling gold worth `21.36 lakh in Jaipur

Implement CM Chiranjeevi Health Insurance Scheme with top priority: CS

Phalodi jail break: 4 officials suspended

Yellow metal-reinforced inside the disc painted with black

Tourism Minister Govind Dotasra addressing Webinar on Tuesday.

CS Niranjan Arya, Sudhansh Pant and Siddharth Mahajan during the meeting.

Six killed in separate road accidents in Raj on Tuesday

Young driver charred to death in truck collision in Rajasthan

No leave or vacay for PHED employees

`3 crore silver theft case: ED to probe source

BRONZE IN HAND

Rajasthan handball team recently participated in 49th Senior Men National Handball competition held at Indore, Madhya Pradesh. They bagged the bronze medal.

Naresh Sharma

Jaipur: Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has said that the life values of Mahatma Gandhi, are inspiration for the whole world. “His life is such a treasure of prin-ciples which can guide us in every field. His views have become more relevant in today’s circumstances. Mahat-ma Gandhi Institute of Governance and Social Sciences would be es-tablished in the state with the aim of assimi-lating the teachings of ‘Bapu’ and playing a role in governance and social work,” Gehlot

said while addressing the unveiling ceremony of Gandhiji’s statue at Hanumangarh District Electorate campus and state level conference of Gandhian and volun-tary organisations through video confer-ence from CMR on Tuesday on the con-cluding day of Dandi March.

Gehlot said younger generation should play a constructive role in society and country by adopting Gandhi’s life values, principles and ideals. “For this, inno-vations like creating Youth Peace Army can be done in the state so

that more and more youth can be associated with Gandhi’s philoso-phy. It is our endeavor that Rajasthan should become focal point of the country towards ad-vancing Bapu’s ideas and philosophy of life,” he said.

Gehlot said that peace and non-violence cell has been formed in the state to bring Bapu’s life philosophy to the people. “Now it is being

made Directorate of Peace and Non-Vio-lence. Sarvodaya thought test will also be organised soon. Mahat-ma Gandhi Institute and Mahatma Gandhi Darshan Museum will be built in Jaipur’s Cen-tral Park,” he said.

Gehlot targeted the BJP and RSS on the cur-rent situation of the na-tion and said that RSS and BJP have now adopted Gandhi. “When

after 10-20 years, they will need Pandit Nehru, and if it suits them, they will adopt him too. But as of now, they pass whatever remarks on him,” Gehlot said, fur-ther adding, “Gandhi is more relevant today, than in his time. The state of the nation can-not be expressed in mere words. People can’t talk on phone and agencies like ED, CBI and IT are being used to make or break govern-ments. They don’t real-ise that people know all and will provide them with right reply when the time comes. May the almighty give them brains. We have differ-ent paths, but we are not enemies.”

UDH Minister Shanti Dhariwal said that many countries of the world gained independ-

ence, inspired by Gan-dhi’s non-violent move-ment. “The events be-ing organised by state government on 150th birth anniversary of Gandhiji will inspire the younger generation to assimilate Gandhi’s life philosophy and his teachings,” he said.

Art and Culture Min-ister Dr BD Kalla said that historic Dandi march inspires the achievement of goals through non-violent movement. He said that the younger generation should follow the path given by the father of nation. Chief Secretary Niranjan Arya said that Mahatma Gandhi advo-cated an egalitarian so-ciety. He proved through his movements that the biggest problem can be solved in a non-violent way, he said.

STATUE UNVEILED; CONFERENCE OF GANDHIAN & VOLUNTARY ORGS

Gandhiji’s life values inspirational for entire world, says CM GehlotWhen after 10-20 years, they will need Pandit Nehru, and if it suits them, they will adopt him too, Gehlot remarks on RSS and BJP

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot

OPPOSITION TARGETS GEHLOT GOVT

Bhanwar S Charan

Kota: Lok Sabha Speak-er Om Birla on Tuesday appealed to the people to wear masks and fol-low the Covid-19 guide-lines. “One should step out of their homes only when it is very impor-tant, wear a mask, get vaccinated and follow Corona guidelines. Vac-cination should be made a public cam-paign,” he said. “In order to avoid infec-tion, it is necessary that we take all preventive

measures. We ourselves should be safe and in-spire others to remain safe as well. Only by taking precautions will we be able to prevent

infection,” he said. For vaccination, social in-stitutions, various soci-eties & public repre-sentatives should joint-ly campaign, he added.

First India Bureau

Jaipur: The last rites of the former IAS Nar-esh Sharma, who passed away on Mon-day, were performed on Tuesday at the Taron ki Koot Mokshadham in Jaipur. Prominent dig-nitaries present on the occasion included sub-ordinate board chair-man Hari Prasad Shar-ma, IAS Gajanand Sharma, Pradeep Bord, NK Gupta, Anil Vyas & others, who also paid floral tributes to him. The condolence meet-ing was held on Tues-day at Lal Bahadur Marg, East Colony Park at the JLN Marg.

Over the years I have realised that one quality that all successful people have in

common is of persistence.—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO & Editor-in-Chief, First India

JAIPUR | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7, 2021www.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 rstindia082NDFRONT

POSTAL REG NO. JPC/010/2019-21

Naresh Sharma

Jaipur: Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has ap-proved necessary amendments in the Ra-jasthan Investment Pro-motion Scheme (RIPS) -2019 and RIPS-2014 to implement the an-nouncements made in the budget for the pur-pose of smooth estab-lishment of industries and promoting invest-ment in the state. Fol-lowing this, the Finance Department has issued orders.

With this approval provided by the Chief Minister, investors will

get the benefit of vari-ous packages for enter-prise establishment. In the Rajasthan Invest-ment Promotion Scheme-2019, the invest-ment limit has now been reduced to 50 percent under the ‘Dr. B. R. Ambedkar SC-ST Entre-preneur Incentive Spe-cial Package’. The maxi-mum grant has been in-creased from 150 percent to 200 percent of eligible fixed capital invest-ment. Also, 5 percent interest subsidy (maxi-mum Rs. 25 lakh) or 15 percent capital subsidy (maximum Rs. 2 crore) will be given every year

for 5 years. Special Incu-bation Centres will be run for SC-ST entrepre-neurs. To take advan-tage of this package, SC-ST entrepreneurs will be required to have 100 percent capital invest-ment in proprietorship firm and minimum 51 percent capital invest-ment in partnership firm and private limited company.

On investment in Ex-tremely Backward, Backward and Tribal areas under RIPS-2019, all the benefits under the ‘Dr. B. R. Ambedkar SC-ST Entrepreneur In-centive Special Package’ will be given to entre-preneurs. It has also been added to the ser-vice sector of RIPS-2019

to attract more invest-ment in the field of jams and jewellery. Health care sector and API (ac-tive pharmaceutical in-gredients) have also been encouraged by adding them to the thrust sector of RIPS-2019.

Similarly, in RIPS-2019, the condition for minimum land require-ment for resorts and amusement parks will be reduced from 5 acres and 10 acres respective-ly to 2 acres for resorts and 2.5 acres for amuse-ment parks. Further-

more, the employment grant to equipment manufacturing units of solar and wind energy has been increased from 75 percent to 90 percent. The development of in-frastructure along with plant, machinery and equipment have also

been added in RIPS-2019 for grant of interest subsidy.

In order to promote e-vehicles in the state, e-charging and sweeping stations have been add-ed to the service sector and thrust sector of RIPS-2019, which will provide them additional benefits in addition to interest subsidy/capital subsidy. The investment limit for production of e-vehicles will be re-duced from Rs 50 crore to Rs 25 crore. These sec-tors have also been in-cluded in the thrust sec-tor to provide additional benefits in addition to interest subsidy / capi-tal subsidy to make sports goods, electronic and other toys within

the state instead of im-porting them from abroad. Investment lim-it has been reduced from 10 crore to 5 crore to in-crease investment in plug and play office complex. Also, the ser-vice sector units of MS-MEs have now been pro-vided with the facility to apply at the district level itself.

It is worth mention-ing that the working pe-riod of Rajasthan In-vestment Promotion Scheme- 2014 was only till March 31, 2021, but some units could not start production in the plan period. To give re-lief to such units, its du-ration was extended by two years till March 31, 2023.

Boosting investment: CM approves reforms in RIPS-19 & RIPS-14

Ravi Sharma

Udaipur: AICC Gener-al Secretary and Ra-jasthan in-charge Ajay Maken on Tuesday, reached Rajsamand to establish coordination between party workers and office-bearers for the Assembly bypolls.

Maken made it clear that his major objec-tive is not only to en-sure the victory of the party in all the three by-elections, but also to unite the workers and office bearers. Maken also reacted to the is-sue of BJP rebel candi-date Ladu Lal Pitliya on Sahada assembly seat and made it clear that in democracy, it is very unfortunate that BJP is using its power unjustly.

He made it clear that the Congress party would win all these three assembly seats on the basis of develop-ment work done by the Gehlot government in the last two and a half

years. Earlier on reach-ing Dabok Airport in Udaipur, Maken was ex-tended a warm wel-comed by the Congress workers. From airport, Maken reached Hotel Maruti Nandan in Nathdwara, where Con-gress officials and workers greeted Mak-en. Ministers Arjun Bamania and Pramod Jain Bhaya were also present on the occasion.

Maken also held a confidential meeting with Congress workers of Rajsamand. This was the first time that Mak-en was seen alone pro-moting the party candi-

dates in the election. Earlier, Maken had twice reached Udaipur after becoming the State in-charge. He was then accompanied by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, PCC president Govind Singh Dotasra and former Deputy CM Sachin Pilot.

Maken would single-handedly formulate a strategy for the Con-gress party in the battle of Rajsamand. It is ex-pected that Maken will go to campaign for the party candidates in Sa-hada and Sujangarh as-sembly seats after Ra-jsamand.

My aim is not only to win bypolls, but also to unite workers: Maken

INDESCRIBABLE BEAUTY!

Jagdeesh Chandra undertook a day’s trip to Srinagar on Tuesday to view the wondrous sight of more than 15 lakh tulip plants at the renowned Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip garden, the world’s second largest, spread over 30 hectares. It is situated on the foothills of Zabarwan Range with an overview of Dal Lake. The Tulip festival is open till April 7 and tourists are thronging to the venue. He also visited the Dal Lake area to take stock of the current situation in Srinagar especially after the abrogation of Article 370. He says, “370 is only a part of history now. Kashmir is sprinting back to normal very fast. Thousands of tourists are visiting the beautiful state, all 5 star hotels are fully booked. Revenge tourism in the aftermath of corona is visible. Today, Kashmir is beautiful and peaceful. It is truly heaven on earth.”

First India Bureau

Jaipur: Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has said that the 2,429 Corona positive cases in Ra-jasthan in one day and crossing the figure of one lakh in the entire country is extremely worrying. “It is fright-ening to see a 40 % in-crease in the number of infected patients in a single day in the state. These may increase fur-ther,” Gehlot said as he warned that the state government could take more stringent meas-ures to control the sec-ond wave of Corona and all people would have to cooperate in it.

Gehlot held an open meeting for about two and a half hours with senior medical experts, high officials of the con-cerned departments and district level officials on

the status of infection, control and vaccination status of Covid-19 through video confer-ence at the Chief Minis-ter’s Residence late on Monday night. More than 4 lakh people joined this live broad-cast and around 30,000 people responded. He invited suggestions and feedback on helpline 181 and 0141-2922272 as well. Gehlot expressed his happiness over vaccina-

tion of 5.44L people on Monday. “This is a big achievement for Ra-jasthan, because it is the largest number of vac-cinations in a day in all states of the country. We have to accelerate the pace of vaccination campaign, only then will we be able to control the Corona spread. Even after vaccination, it is necessary to comply with other health proto-cols including wearing

masks,” he said. In the meanwhile, CM Gehlot has directed to consti-tute a high-level com-mittee with an aim to complete the recruit-ment process in various state services on time. This panel will recom-mend recruitment in a smooth manner as per the calendar set by RPSC & State Staff Se-lection Board & will sub-mit its report to State government in a month.

TRANSITION SPEED WORRISOME, SAYS CMStrictly follow the Corona guideline, Gehlot appeals to people

CM Ashok Gehlot chaired the Covid-19 Review Meet via video conference at CMR on late Monday night wherein, Niranjan Arya, Dr Subhash Garg, Abhay Kumar, Siddharth Mahajan, ML Lather, Akhil Arora, Vaibahv Galriya, Bhawani Singh Detha, Mahendra Soni, Raja Babu Panwar, Dr Sudhir Bhandari and Dr Virendra Singh were present.

Vikas Sharma

Jaiipur: The count-down for new Chair-man of Rajasthan Elec-tricity Regulatory Com-mission (RERC) has begun & several ‘retired top officials’ are in fray for the same. Retired IAS BN Sharma, Yadu-vendra Mathur, JC Ma-hanty, MS Maske & Gu-jarat RERC Chairman Anand, in total, 50 indi-viduals are in the run up to the chair, say a few reliable sources.

Make Covid vaccination a public campaign, says LS Speaker Birla

Race for RERC Chief: Top retd officers in fray

Last rites of former IAS Naresh Sharma performed

Jaipur: CM Ashok Gehlot has approved the proposal to extend the period of amnesty scheme implemented on February 24, 2021 till June 30, 2021 for the recovery of out-standing tax on vehi-cles in the state.

Gehlot has also ap-proved another pro-posal to extend the

duration of the am-nesty scheme for the disposal of pending cases of overloading till June 30, 2021.

The Chief Minister had announced the amnesty schemes dur-

ing the State Budget 2021-22, according to which the Transport Department had noti-fied these schemes for a period till March 31, 2021. The amnesty scheme for collecting

outstanding tax on ve-hicles has been suc-cessful. In first 22 days of implementation of the scheme, the out-standing tax of Rs 25 crore was recovered by waiving Rs 8.64 crore penalties. Ex-tending period of both the schemes will ben-efit more people, an official added.

CM extends period of Amnesty Scheme

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot called upon Governor Kalraj Mishra at Raj Bhawan on Tuesday and discussed about the current situation of Corona in the state during the courtesy meet.

SC-ST entrepreneurs will get special package benefits

Party workers extend a warm welcome to AICC General Secretary, Ajay Maken at the Dabok Airport in Udaipur on Tuesday.

Om Birla releases the Steam Week Poster in presence of Gopal Ram Manda, Mukesh Saraswat and members of Allen Student Welfare Society in Kota on Tuesday.

THE PACKAGE

t was an evening filled with glamour and glitz at the grand Fashion Connect Season-9 held in Dubai on 20th March, where Grand Finale

designer Rehan Ahmed Baley launched his magnificent col-lection of The Mysterious Af-fair from his fabulous brand ‘Tebra’.

Rehan Ahmed, who is an award-winning designer pre-viously have done an enor-mous number of Fashion Shows and Fashion Weeks nationally and Internation-ally, like Qatar Tourism Show, India Fashion London to name a few. He has also re-ceived the best designer award in India Fashion Week London and has showcased in three consecutive seasons of The Fashion Connect.

This time, he showcased his collection ‘The Mysteri-ous Affair’ which is on the theme black, that is crafted

beautifully on the Italian net with crystal work and Swarovski Stones for which he is known. The collection showcased various gowns of black colour, designed beauti-fully with

It was indeed a magical and dreamy show when models walked down the ramp, adorning such distinguished and beautiful creation by a talented designer like Rehan Ahmed Baley.

City First shares the glimpses of Rehan Ahmed Baley’s collection ‘The Mysterious Affair’, launched in the grand Fashion Connect held in Dubai!

JAIPUR, WEDNESDAYAPRIL 7, 2021

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 09

MYSTERIOUSLY AMAZING

I

KARISHMA GWALANIKarishma.gwalani@firstindia.co.in

Designer Rehan Ahmed Baley with models

Lokesh Sharma and Rishee Miglani with the models of Tebra Models showcasing the collection of Tebra

ollowing the pre-scribed CORO-NA-19 guidelines, the tiger reserve restarted on July 1st, 2020 after lock-down from March

to June 2020 with sanitized safari vehicles, maintain-ing social distancing, tem-perature check, and with a limited number of people in a tour. Again, after the regular monsoon break from July to September 2020 the Ranthambore Na-tional Park eventually geared up and reopened in its full swing from October 2020 last year.

Ranthambore Tiger Re-serve contributes heavily to the economy also. At one time the tourist influx was only about 4,000 visitors in 1985, and catapulted to over 4.5 lakhs by 2017, re-sulting in revenues of al-most Rs 23 crore annually, which made it the highest-earning wildlife park in India.

However, as per Ranth-ambore Tiger Reserve of-ficial data, today in 2020-21 with a total number of 1,93,092 local and foreign tourists as compared to 2019-20 with a good num-ber of about 4 lakh 35k visitors visited in the re-serve show that this tour-ist hotspot is also impacted massively by the pandem-ic.

From April 2019 to March 2020 total number of foreign tourists visited were 142953. But the con-stantly changing govern-ment’s pandemic guide-lines have impacted wild-life tourism heavily with the arrival of foreign tour-ists most uncertain as tourist visas were not be-

ing issued, and the total revenues are no longer at their peak. As a higher de-cline in April 2020 to March 2021, the number of for-eign tourists who visited the reserve was merely 591 in number.

Similarly, the local tour-ist graph too plunged from 292433 tourists in 2019-20 to 192501 tourists visited be-tween April 2020 to March 2021.

As a side effect of the pandemic, many people de-pendent on wildlife tour-

ism became jobless. Guides and local safari vehicle drivers moved back to their villages to sustain their living. And those who did not have farm-lands have undergone a great hardship. The rise in poaching has also been seen during the pandemic as people turned to wild-life for earning money and feeding their families.

When I asked if there are any deaths of wild ani-mals due to pandemic, Ti-kam Chand Verma, Ranth-

ambore Tiger Reserve’s Chief Conservator of For-est & the Field Director informed me that no such cases have been seen so far. Animals are not affected due to covid. In fact, poach-ing is more hazardous than any pandemic for ani-mals, he emphasized. Ver-ma further said that pres-ently there are about 70 ti-gers in the Reserve which is six more than 64 (includ-ed 45 adult tigers and 19 cubs) in the year 2017.

To avoid any kind of refunds, the State Forest Department has issued an order which has come as a big relief to tourists who did booking for safaris on-line across Rajasthan’s national parks between 18 March and 30 June 2020, as they can now avail themselves the safari ser-vice till 30th June 2022. Opening the national park after a big gap or halt this year has been a sigh of re-lief for everyone, espe-cially, gypsy drivers and tour guides. I can say in the end that tourists who all are visiting the nation-al park are coming here with the same enthusiasm as pre-corona days, but with masks on the faces this time.

10ETC

JAIPUR | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7, 2021www.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

ANUBHA JAINcityfirst@firstindia.co.in

Ranthambore National ParkA splendid abode for Tiger Lovers

“POACHING IS MORE HAZARDOUS THAN ANY PANDEMIC FOR ANIMALS”

Plunge during a pandemic: with merely 591 foreign tourist arrivals in the tiger reserve, the total revenues are no longer at their peak!

F

Ranthambore is acclaimed globally for its ancient fort and the National Park/Tiger Reserve. The sturdiest Ranthambore fort has been declared as a UNESCO world heritage site in 2013. The Ranthambore Tiger Reserve or extensive dry deciduous Abhay Forest is spread over an area of about 1700 sq. km which includes Ranthambore National Park and its nearby sanctuaries like the Sawai Mansingh Sanctuary, Kaila Devi Sanctuary along with many villages in and around the area. About 1,113 sq. km area of the Tiger Reserve is preserved as the core area and 298 sq. km is noti-fi ed as a buffer zone. The core is noted as a critical area and buffer is a peripheral area to foster co-exist-ence with local people while ensuring the protection of the National Park. Among this total area, only 18% has been kept for tourism purposes and the Tiger Reserve is divided into 10 zones.

FACE

OF TH

E DAY

ARIS FERNANDES, BLOGGER

LEOJULY 24 - AUGUST 23

Those ailing can expect their condition to improve. Those feeling restless in a particular job will be able to

settle down in time. Interruptions on the domestic front are foreseen that will not allow you to do your own thing. You may fi nd it diffi cult to complete all the paperwork.

LIBRA SEPT 24 - OCTOBER 22

Peak physical fi tness will make even strenuous activities seem like child’s play. Bad mood of a family

member may spoil the domestic environment. A holiday promises much rest and rejuvenation. Dilly-dallying may let a property deal slip out of your hands.

ARIESMAR 21 - APR 20

Fingers may be pointed at you for something you are not responsible for at work. You can fi nd yourself

fi tter with regular exercises. This is the time to strengthen the family bonds. A prime property may come into your name. Someone may do for you more than what was expected.

SAGITTARIUS NOV 23 - DEC 22

Those struggling to fi nd a solution to a workplace problem will succeed. A forthcoming family event is

likely to raise your spirits. Those dealing with property issues may need to be careful not to get into legal hassles. A get together is likely to prove refreshing.

GEMINIMAY 21 - JUNE 21

You continue to stay fi t and healthy and there is nothing to worry as far as health is concerned.

Because of limit fl ow of money, your fi nancial condition is not stable yet. Your hard in offi ce will bring your recognition and appreciation from your senior.

AQUARIUSJAN 21 - FEB 19

A deliberate attempt at saving is the only way you can repay your loans. Work front may appear a bit too

demanding, but you will be able to handle it well. A family get-together will provide an excellent opportunity to meet people you have not met in years. You will get ample opportunities.

TAURUSAPR 21 - MAY 20

You will manage to showcase your professional skills to those who matter. Playing your

cards well in a family situation will get you the support and attention you crave for. Taking possession of a new house may become a reality for some.

CAPRICORNDEC 23 - JAN 20

Those on medication will fi nd a distinct improvement in their condition. You can feel overworked on the

professional front. Spouse can expect a helping hand. Settling down in a new house is indicated for some. An invitation to a party or function may provide you an opportunity.

VIRGOAUG 24 - SEP 23

New dimensions open up on the professional front as you handle more than one project. Your health

consciousness will keep you hale and hearty. Pending things on the home front may hinder offi cial work. Those looking to buy property are likely to get one at bargain price.

CANCERJUNE 22 - JULY 23

Those experiencing a cash crunch will manage to overcome it by tight budgeting. You may feel

hesitant to broach a contentious issue with a rival at work. A family member may prove annoying by not doing your bidding. Good returns can be expected in property.

PISCESFEB20 - MARCH 20

Assistance of colleagues will help complete a project much before time. A family youngster is likely to make

you proud. Don’t be hasty in matters pertaining to property. An entertaining time with near and dear ones is foreseen. An expected raise or bonus is on the cards for some.

SCORPIOOCT 23 - NOVEMBER 22

A friend will come to the rescue in bailing you out of a fi nancial situation. Inculcating physical

workouts in your lifestyle will benefi t health. A family get together can fi nd you into your element. You will have enough to invest in a suitable property.

YOUR DAY

Horoscope by Saurabbh Sachdeva

—PHOTOS BY ANUBHA JAIN

A bankable actor, a star per-for mer,

and a dream merchant, su-p e r s t a r Ayushmann Khurrana is all rolled into one. After de-livering a trail of block-buster enter-tainment to t h e Indian audi- e n c e s Ayushmann Khurrana has started the script reading ses-sions to prepare for his forth-coming film Doctor G co-star-ring Rakul Preet. Doctor G is a campus comedy where Ayush-mann is donning the doctor’s coat for the first time in his career. —Agency

BLESSED CHILD

The ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ fame Henry Golding and

his wife Liv Lo have been blessed with their first child. Lo, who is a

yoga instructor and a blogger, shared the happy news on Monday on Insta-gram, saying the baby was born on March 31, without revealing the name or gender. “On March 31st our lives changed forever. Link in bio of leaving Instagram for #maternityleave (for the time being). I’ll prob be up during mid-night breastfeeds checking in on you, but otherwise, I’ll be back,” she wrote alongside a string of pictures. —Agency

American actor Kate Winslet has opened up about a stigma in Hol-

lywood that can create obstacles for gay actors and said that she knows “at least four” actors “hiding their sexuality” due to ‘homophobia’ in the industry. The actor said, “I cannot tell you the number of young actors I know, some well-known, some starting out, who are terrified their sexuali-ty will be revealed and that it will stand in the way of their being cast

in straight roles. Now that’s f***ed up.” —Agency

ETCwww.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia JAIPUR | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7, 2021

11

MRS

UND

ERCO

VER

adhika Apte will be seen in and as Mrs Undercover - playing an under-cover agent she ticks the box of an intriguing and interesting role again. The recently released poster for the film shows the torso of a woman in a red saree with a revolver tucked on her waist, triggering the anticipation to see Radhika in the film. A source close to the actress shared, “The re-cently announced project of Radhika Apte, Mrs Undercover was shot in Kolkata and keeping in mind the restrictions of Covid, the schedule only

had her travel from the hotel to the shoot location and back. Shooting at a stretch for 35 days with no break, the actress couldn’t explore much of Kolkata this time as her schedule only focused on shoot.” —Agency

GENEROUS ACT

Hiding

DOCTOR G PREP BEGINS

Indian playback singer Raja Hasan was in the Pink City on Sunday, April 4, to attend a mu-

sical grand finale of Jaipur Idol Season-5. In an exclu-sive interview with City First, Raja Hasan shared his love for music and jour-ney of being a finalist of ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007’ to one of the most versatile singer.

While talking about his visit in the Pink City, the singer said, “After almost 2

years, I got the chance to come back to my state Ra-jasthan. I missed the love and hospitality of people here.”

“I’m really happy to see that almost every city is providing the platforms for people to showcase their tal-ent. Being from Bikaner, I’m am glad to see my state providing great opportuni-ties to the young singers. Now, people have different platforms to spread their wings and live their pas-sions,” he said.

Talking about his pro-jects, Raja said, “There are several projects in the pipe-line. One of them is the ‘Prayagraj’ web series; for which I am the music com-poser and singer.”

Lamborghini Urus

Kartik Aaryan, the actor who rose to fame for his ‘Pyar ka Punchnama’ movie has gifted him-

self a new and rather expen-sive ride - Lamborghini Urus. The actor took to Twitter to announce the news, “Kharid li.... Par main shayad mehengi cheezon ke liye bana hi nahi hoon” Aaryan’s new ride has been priced from `3.15 crore (ex-showroom, India) but some reports say that the actor paid half a crore extra to get fast delivery of the SUV. Apart from the Urus, Aryan also has several exotic cars such as BMW and Mini brands in his garage. —Agency

The versatile one

Spread no hate

As a sea of protests continues to engulf the US, the latest celebrity to come out in solidarity was none other than Rihanna. The pop icon joined a bunch of protestors in New York City

who were protesting Asian hate. The singer walked the NYC streets with a bright green and pink placard that read ‘Stop Asian Hate’. Rihanna was not mobbed by fans at the protest as the singer almost concealed her identity as she joined Asian American Pacific Is-lander communities. Rihanna accompanied her assis-tant Tina Truong as they protested hate crimes in the US. Thanks to Tina Truong, we got to see multiple photos and vid- eos of Rihanna from the pro- test. —Agency

Varun Dhawan has been busy shooting in Arunachal Pradesh for Bhediya with his team and his wife Nata-

sha Dalal is also spending time with him there. Amid this, the couple has gone ahead to contrib-ute Rs 1 Lakh as relief assistance to fire victims of Tirap District in AP recently. Thier pictures went viral on social media after they of-fered assistance. —Agency

It was only last month that we saw a new ro-mance flourishing! And looks like these lovebirds are getting serious with each passing day. We’re talking about Bridg-

erton star Phoebe Dynevor and Saturday Night Live’s Pete Davidson. The duo have been visiting the US and UK to spend time with each other and their bond only seems to grow stronger. Pete, who was once en-gaged to pop star Ariana Grande, was even spotted in the UK with Phoebe. —Agency

Lovebirds

KARISHMA GWALANIkarishma.gwalani@firstindia.co.in

Radhika Apte

...Liv Lo’s post

Liv Lo & Henry Golding

Varun Dhawan & Natasha Dalal

Tina Truong’s post

Rihanna

Phoebe Dynevor

Kate Winslet

Rakul Preet

Kartik Aaryan

Raja Hasan

—PH

OTO

BY M

UKES

H KI

RADO

O

R

12JAIPUR | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7, 2021www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia

CITY BUZZ

CELEBRATION OF ARTS

CITY FIRST

melange of programmes will be or-ganized on the o c c a -sion of

Jawahar Kala Kendra (JKK) Founda-tion Day on 8 April from 4 pm onwards. The programmes are being organized by the

Department of Art & Culture, Government of Rajasthan and JKK. The grand celebration

will begin with a unique astropho-tography work-shop conducted by photographer,

Anchit Natha. Similarly, an art camp began on Tuesday, the works of which will be presented in an exhibi-tion. The play ‘Ek Ac-

tor ki Maut’ directed by Saurabh Srivastava will also be staged. The

programme will be in-augurated by the Min-ister of Art & Culture,

Government of Ra-jasthan, Dr BD Kalla.

cityfirst@firstindia.co.in

CITY FIRST

The Asian Stu-dent Association at St. Thomas University was

officially ratified by the STU Students’ Union recently. The idea for the ASA came to found-er Sydona Chandon in her living room when talking to Manvi Wal-ter, another founding member and the presi-dent of the organisa-tion.

Both are already

members of the stu-dent government at STU. Chandon, a third-year student from Jamaica, is vice-president of the Black Student Association, on the board of the STU International Stu-dents’ Association and next year’s STUSU vice-president education. Walter, a second-year student from India, was recently elected next year’s social inclusion representative for STU-

SU.One day in January

2020, they were talking about their current

projects with STU and what they wanted to see in the future. “We

were discussing the lack of representa-tion in terms of an as-sociation that would provide a platform for Asian students’ needs and concerns,” said Chandon, who is half-Black and half-Indian.

cityfirst@firstindia.co.in

Newly elected

TRANSCENDING INDIAN CULTURECITY FIRST

To engage stu-dents in Indian culture and cre-ate awareness

about educational ac-tivities, Yoga Science, Yoga Medicine, India’s Heritage, Tourism, Management, Agricul-tural Development, En-vironment, Holistic Health, Tribal and Trib-al Employment - Swa-balamban and Ayurve-da, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed be-

tween Dev Sanskriti University, Haridwar and Mohanlal Sukhadia University, Udaipur.

Chinmay Pandya, Vice-Chancellor of Dev Sanskriti University and Prof America Sin-

gh, Vice-Chancellor of Mohanlal Sukhadia University have decid-ed to take back the stu-dents towards our tradi-tional roots and knowl-edge.

cityfirst@firstindia.co.in

CITY FIRST

A successful in-ternational we-binar was con-ducted by Su-

jeet Singh, Associate Vice President, Infosys UK, Industry Advisory Council at Rajasthan Institute of Engineer-ing and Technology, Jaipur on Monday. Prof. Anoop Singh Poonia, chairman, RIET Jaipur welcomed Sujeet Singh. There were around a hundred participants who took part in the we-

binar. The webinar aimed to discuss the im-pact of Covid-19 in to-day’s digital world and how it has affected on-line services, remote working, operations,

data security and cloud adoption. The webinar also discussed the top technologies trends like stack strategically, mir-rored word, and many more. cityfirst@firstindia.co.in

CITY FIRST

About 45 MG owners in Jaipur got together to raise funds for the un-derprivileged chil-

dren, wherein 18 MG own-ers also participated in the first-ever MGCC-I rally in the Pink City, Jaipur. The rally was or-ganised by MG Car Club

Jaipur, an owner-driven car community. All of the proceeds from the event went to the

Jaipur-based NGO ‘In-dian Women Impact’. The

meet-and-greet event raised funds to help uplift underpriv-ileged children with Indian Women Impact.

Ashutosh (Chief Experi-ence Officer) and Alop (Chief

Curator) have taken honorary positions as MGCC officers for MGCC-I Jaipur Centre. They will spearhead the future events held by MGCC-I in Jaipur. cityfirst@firstindia.co.in

SAD DEMISE

WHAT’S HAPPENING!

RAJ: Go Nirvana- The Subhadra Devi Foundation has been helping stray animals from the agony of being hungry and left unattended during their period of sickness. The Foundation has gifted the Jaipur city a free burial service for the stray animals so that they are not left estranged.

WORLD HEALTH DAY!

Health is a fundamental human right. This World Health Day marks an important benchmark in our lives, as we have faced the pandemic and our war with the virus isn’t over yet. Prioritize your health. Let’s move ahead ‘Together for a fairer, healthier world’. Take care!

RAJ: Gajendra Varma’s latest song, Tera Ghata Chapter-2 was released on YouTube on Sunday. Directed by Lakhwinder Singh, the video portrays the emotional and heartbreaking journey of love from the voice of a struggling artist. The video has been shot at various locations in Rajasthan.

GUJ: Parul University successfully put together another of its grand start-up boosting events, the Vadodara Start-up Festival, which is designed to provide a strategic platform for creating an entrepreneurship ecosystem in and around

Vadodara and the State of Gujarat. This year’s festival marked the second edition of this event which brought together some of the most prominent personalities including the First Woman IPS Officer Dr Kiran Bedi.

A

CITY FIRST

Going for a cup of coffee is a social ritual for many.

E ve r yo n e has a fa-v o u r i t e café they like to vis-it, take time to en-joy drink-ing coffee and talking to others a r o u n d them. At J a w a h a r Kala Kend-ra, the ‘Cup of Joy’ ini-tiative has been born from the recognition that coffee is an im-portant part of our daily lives and everyone is en-titled to it. In-dian Coffee House sup-ports this beauti-ful old tradition of paying for two cof-fees but consuming only one. The other coffee can be availed by someone later who would be served a coffee for free. The cashless system of ‘Cup of Joy’ was in-

augurated on 10 March by the Minis-ter of Art and Cul-ture, Government of Rajasthan, Dr BD Kalla. Now one can

digitally pay for a ‘Cup of Joy’ and they will be given a

receipt for the same.

D i r e c t o r -General, JKK,

Mugdha Sinha said: “This con-

cept of ‘suspended coffee’ is not new. It originated in Naples in Italy where if you feel happy you pay for two coffees – one for yourself and one for someone who comes after.”

cityfirst@firstindia.co.in

CUP OF JOY

MGCC-I RALLY

Webinar on COVID

Mugdha Sinha interacting with the artists

Artists preparing their clay at the art camp

Sydona Chandon, Manvi Walter and Alex Nguyen

America Singh and Chinmay Pandya

—PHOTO BY SANTOSH SHARMA

During the proceeds-handover ceremonyMG owners flagging off the rally