First India Bureau

Ahmedabad: A new terror module was un-covered by Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) after city police commissioner Sanjay Srivastava re-ceived a line of chatter from an intelligence agency a few days ago. As per the investigation conducted by officials, the fire incident at the cloth market in Kalu-pur area of the city on March 20 this year, was an act of terrorism.

A team led by assis-tant commissioner of

police (ACP) DP Chu-dasama successfully decoded chatter, “Kalu-pur wala kaam ho gaya hai” (The work in Kalu-pur is done).

According to offi-

cials, the mastermind behind the crime may have been a suspected Inter-Services Intelli-gence (ISI) agent. The suspect allegedly paid three accused Rs1.50

lakh to carry out the ar-son in the market.

During primary in-vestigation, the DCB team discovered that only one incident had occurred in the Kalu-

pur police station area in the recent past, which was the fire inci-dent. Goods worth Rs45 lakh were destroyed in the fire, which engulfed 10 to 15 shops. Two ac-cused were arrested by DCB for the arson, namely Bhupendra Pravin Vanzara and Anil Khatik, after offi-cials learnt that the fire was not an accident but arson from the CCTV footage. The third ac-cused Athik Pal tested positive for COVID-19 and will be formally put into custody post recov-ery. Turn to P6

The two accused Bhupendra Vanzara and Anil Kathik in DCB custody.

Officials received

chatter from intelligence

that the Revdi Bazaar blaze had been an

act of terrorism

masterminded by a foreign

suspect

A’bad DCB identifies market fire as terror plot, nab 2CAT’S OUT OF THE BAG

AHMEDABAD l THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 2021 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/16208 l Vol 2 l Issue No. 131

OUR EDITIONS: JAIPUR, AHMEDABAD

& LUCKNOW

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Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani, the second richest person in

India, is ranked 24th on the global list

of billionaires with a net worth of USD

50.5 billion.

Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani

dethrones Chinese business tycoon Jack Ma. Reclaims his spot as Asia’s richest

person. Ambani, the richest person in India and Asia,

is ranked 10 on the global billionaires’ list.

Chairman of the Poonawalla Group and founder of the Serum Institute of India, Cyrus Poonawalla ranks seven on the list of Indian bil-lionaires, 169th on the Forbes list of the world’s billionaires.

Ambani trumps Jack Ma

NET WORTH OF

USD 84.5 billion

NET WORTH OF

USD 50.5billion

JUDGE PULLS UP POLICE FOR ‘HASTE, CALLOUS ATTITUDE’ IN PROBENew Delhi: A Delhi judge Wednesday pulled up the Delhi Police for its investigation into the burning of a mosque during the riots in northeast Delhi in February last year, ob-serving that the police proceeded in a “hurried and unholy haste”.

On the last date of hearing in the case, Ad-ditional Sessions Judge Vinod Yadav had asked the police to submit a status report and the original DD (Daily Dia-

ry) entry of the FIR in which the police claimed to have registered the complaint regarding the arson at Madina Masjid.

Turn to P6

READmustmust

EC REMOVES 8 RETURNING OFFICERS OF KOLKATA SEATSKolkata: The Election Commission has re-moved returning offi cers of eight constituencies in the city that will go to the polls in the last two phases of the West Bengal assembly elections on April 26 and 29, an offi cial said on Wednesday. New offi cials have already been appointed in the Chowringhee, Entally, Bhowanipur, Beliaghata, Jorasanko, Shyampukur, Kashipur-Belgachia and Kolkata Port assembly segments, he said. Chief Electoral Offi cer Ariz Aftab described the transfer of the eight returning offi cers “as a routine move since they had held their posts for more than three years”. Sources in the poll panel said complaints were received against the offi cers for alleg-edly favouring the ruling Trinamool Congress.

EC ISSUES NOTICE TO MAMATA

SACHIN WAZE IN POLICE CUSTODY TILL APRIL 9Mumbai: A Mumbai court on Wednesday ex-tended the NIA custody of suspended Mumbai police officer Sachin Waze till April 9 in the case of an explosives-laden SUV found near industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence and the death of busi-nessman Mansukh Hi-ran. Waze was arrested by the National Investi-gation Agency (NIA) on March 13.

He was on Wednes-day produced before special NIA court judge P R Sitre, who extended his custody to the probe agency till April 9.

The NIA had sought the extension of Waze’s remand for further probe into the case.

Two other accused in the case -- suspended po-lice constable Vinayak Shinde and cricket book-ie Naresh Gor -- were remanded to 14-day judi-cial custody by the court.

The court also al-lowed the CBI to ques-

tion Waze in connection with its preliminary enquiry into the allega-tions of corruption lev-elled by senior police officer Param Bir Singh against former Maha-rashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh —PTI

Sachin Waze

Record single day surge; workplace vaccination on cards from April 11

New Delhi: India has recorded a massive surge of 115,736 Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours. With this, the na-tion has seen the big-gest-ever daily surge, taking the tally to 12,801,785, according to MoHFW. India is now the 4th-worst hit coun-try in terms of active cases and also witnessed a grim record of second-most fatalities due to covid-19 in a single day in 2021, which stood at 631. According to an analysis, the second wave of Covid-19 has the potential to turn deadli-er than the first wave.

The government will allow COVID-19 vacci-nation at public and pri-vate workplaces having about 100 eligible bene-ficiaries from April 11 across states and Union territories.

Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan in a let-ter to the chief secretar-ies said a substantial proportion of popula-tion aged 45 years and above is in the organised sector of the economy and is involved in formal occupation in offices (government and pri-vate) or manufacturing and services. Turn to P6

BJP will win over 200 seats in WB, says Amit Shah

Maoists release photo of abducted commando

Raipur: The outlawed Maoists have released an image of the abduct-ed jawan Rakeshwar Singh Manhas of the CoBRA battalion -- an elite jungle warfare unit of the CRPF -- on Wednesday indicating that he is safe in their custody. The rebels on Tuesday had expressed their willingness for ne-gotiation had sought that a mediator is appointed by the government to se-cure the jawan’s release.

Turn to P6

New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who held road-shows across Bengal on Wednesday, once again repeated that BJP would win over 200 seats in the state. “I’m confident that Rajib Banerjee will win with majority. On 2nd May, BJP will form government with over 200 seats. Mamata Banerjee’s frustration can be seen in her speeches and her be-haviour,” he said.

Shah also said that the BJP is confident of winning 63 to 68 seats in the first three phases of elections held in West Bengal so far.

Polling has been com-pleted in 91 of the 294 assembly seats Turn to P6

‘ENCOUNTER SPECIALIST’ PRADEEP SHARMA SUMMONED BY NIAMumbai: Former police offi cer and “encounter specialist” Pradeep Sharma was called by NIA for questioning in connection with the Mukesh Ambani terror scare case. Sharma, now 58, is no stranger to controversy, from being dismissed for alleged underworld links to being charged and later acquitted in the fake Lakhan Bhaiyya encounter case. Pradeep Sharma is said to be the mentor of Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Waze who has been arrested by the NIA in the Ambani terror scare case.

PUNJAB: NIGHT CURFEW IN ALL DISTRICTS, NO POLITICAL RALLIESChandigarh: As Covid cases continue to remain high in the state, Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday ordered a total ban on political gatherings till April 30 and said that violators, including political leaders, will be booked under the DMA and Epidemics Act. CM also announced extension of night curfew from 9 PM to 5 AM, which was earlier imposed in 12 districts, to the entire state and reduced the number of attendees at funerals/cremations/weddings to 50 people indoors and 100 for outdoor events. Wearing of masks has been made mandatory for all government employees while in offi ce.

MAHA RAISES ALARM BELLS OVER COVID VACCINE SHORTAGEMumbai: Maharashtra on Wednesday said that the state was running short of Covid vaccines and urged the Centre to send in additional stocks. The state has 13 lakh doses of Covaxin and Covishield in stock, which according to its estimates will be exhausted in three days. “We cannot afford to slow down the pace of vaccination. We need to gener-ate immunity in population and we are ready to vaccinate up to 5 lakh or even 6 lakh people a day,” Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope said.

Tripura CM Biplab Deb tweets he has tested positive for Covid-19 Bengaluru imposes Sec 144 to curb Covid spread Karnataka adminis-ters over 50 lakh with Covid-19 vaccine Raipur district is being declared a containment zone from 6 pm on 9th April till 6 am on 19th

April. All the borders of the district will remain sealed during this period With non-essential businesses shut till April 30 in Maharashtra, the migrant workers are looking to return to their home states which could potentially swell the corona cases in home states of these workers

COVID UPDATE

Domjur: Union Home Minister Amit Shah had lunch at the home of a ‘rickshawala’ at Domjur in Howrah district on Wednesday after winding up a road show at Domjur assembly constituency. Shah had a simple fare of rice, dal, vegetables and salad made by the womenfolk of the house.

CRPF OFFICIALS HARASSING VOTERS AT SHAH’S BEHEST: DIDIBaneswar: West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Con-gress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday alleged that the CRPF personnel are harassing voters in the state at the behest of Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Addressing a rally in Cooch Behar district, she accused personnel of the central force of molesting women and beating people during the ongo-ing assembly elections. “They are obstructing electors to cast their votes. Union Home Minister Amit Shah has instructed them to do so,” Banerjee alleged.

INDIA HAS WORLD’S THIRD HIGHESTNO. OF BILLIONAIRES: FORBES

MUKESH AMBANI GAUTAM ADANICYRUS

POONAWALLA

NET WORTH OF

USD 12.7 billion

DELHI RIOT MOSQUE ATTACK

New Delhi: The Election Commission issued a no-tice to West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday for her alleged appeal to Muslim voters while campaigning in Hooghly to not allow their votes get split among different political parties. She has been asked to respond to the notice within the next 48 hours.

NEWSAHMEDABAD | THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 2021

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BJP MLA SETS UP HOSPITAL, GETS REMDESIVIR FROM SMCGargi Raval

Ahmedabad: The rest of the state might be facing a shortage of Remdesivir, the in-jectable drug used to treat COVID-19, but there is one hospital in Surat that has no such issues despite being barely 48-hours-old. It seems to help that this hospital is run by a BJP (Bharati-ya Janata Party) leg-islator, who says he is procuring the drug from the Surat Mu-nicipal Corporation and “some NGOs.”

Even as Chief Min-ister Vijay Rupani on Tuesday promised Su-rat 800 additional beds “in the coming days”, MLA from Majura in Surat Harsh Sanghvi managed to set up a 100-bed hospital in two days with the help of 72 people.

“We set up the hos-

pital to meet the need for more beds. Treat-ment here will be free

since most patients will be poor people. Last time (year) also,

we set up a hospital and we treated around 1,500 people. We had

given them 528 Remde-sivir injections and 38 doses of Tocilizum-

ab,” Sanghvi told First India.

“Like that time, we are now getting injec-tions and other supplies from the SMC and some NGOs. All the services and medicines in the hospital will be provid-ed free of cost to in-pa-tients,” he added.

Sanghvi’s apparent altruism has not gone down well with the op-position Aam Aadmi Party.

AAP state presi-dent Gopal Italia said, “This is a tall claim by the BJP MLA. The real question is what are the chief minister and health minister doing when citizens are dying due to the unavailability of medicines? COVID-19 is not new any more. We are now back to square one after a whole year. The gov-ernment is still clue-less.”

The makeshift hospital has 100 beds.

TEXTILE MKT SEES SCARCITY OF TESTING

KITS, VACCINES

‘No ICU beds, ventilators available at SVP Hospital’

First India Bureau

Surat: The Surat Mu-nicipal Corporation closed testing centres for COVID-19 in the textile market area on Wednesday, forc-ing traders there to return home after health workers said the 300 Rapid Anti-gen Test (RAT) kits they had brought had run out. Meanwhile, some vaccination centres also downed shutters due to insuf-ficient supplies.

Given that the Ring Road textile market has been demarcated as a “superspreader zone”, the SMC has regulated entry there, with police being de-ployed to prevent any-one without a nega-tive test report from entering.

“The market has a floating crowd of two lakh every day. We have to show a nega-tive test result before entering but very few arrangements have

been made. Besides, vaccines are only be-ing given to those above the age of 45, and most workers here are under 45 and hence do not qualify. The SMC needs to pro-vide sufficient staff, medication, testing kits and vaccine in the area,” Sanjay Jag-nani, member of Vya-pari Pragati Sangh, told First India.

“We have asked city and district authori-ties as well as Deputy CM Nitin Patel to pro-vide sufficient staff and medicines in this area but so far we have not received any response,” he added.

First India Bureau

Ahmedabad: Congress Member of Parliament (MP) Shaktisinh Gohil on Wednesday took to his Twitter handle and issued grievances re-garding the unavaila-bility of beds at govern-ment-run Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (SVP) Hospital.

“ICU beds or ventila-tors are not available for COVID-19 patients any-where in Ahmedabad. I spoke to established pri-vate hospitals and also the government-run SVP Hospital, and not a single ICU bed or venti-lator is available for pa-tients. @vijayrupanib-jp. We request (the gov-ernment) to immediate-ly pay attention to this,” he tweeted.

Later, the MP posted a video message express-ing concern over the ris-

ing number of COV-ID-19 cases in the state. “I received many calls yesterday (on April 06) regarding hospitaliza-tion for COVID-19, and I couldn’t find a single ICU bed in SVP or any other leading private hospital. I urge the gov-ernment that there is nothing costlier than human life, and it must provide ICUs/ventila-tors, if they are needed. There must be immedi-ate arrangement. The government claimed to have a 1,200-bed hospi-

tal, but that has only 300 ICU beds, and it is all chaotic,” he said.

Quoting the Delhi High Court, Gohil im-plied that it was not “proper” for the govern-ment to sell or donate the vaccines to other countries when Indians were not receiving ac-cess to it. “I request Gu-jarat CM to talk with the prime minister, if need-ed. We cannot leave our people at mercy of God. This is not a political comment but a heartfelt request. We must think for the betterment of the crisis being faced by Gujaratis,” he said.

First India Bureau

Vadodara: A day after the Gujarat High Court recommended that the state go into lockdown, at least temporarily, the Samagra Vadodara Vepar Vikas Associa-tion too has demanded a week-long lockdown in the city to control the spread of COVID-19.

Notably, the Rajkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry had also called for the state to impose lockdown to curb COVID-19, as re-

ported in First India’s Monday edition.

Samagra Vadodara Vepar Vikas Associa-tion convener Paresh Parikh told First India that a lockdown is a need of the hour to break the chain of in-fection in the city, which has been seeing triple-digit numbers for the past few days. So, 79 various trade associa-tions have made an oral submission to the dis-trict administration as well as the state govern-ment to impose lock-

down of a week, to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.

“We are well aware that the economic situa-tion is not good for the state as well as individu-al traders. But, at this time, instead of think-ing about the economy or our finances, we need to pay attention to the larger picture to save hu-man lives,” Parik added.

While he ruled out vol-untary lockdown, stating that it is very difficult for any association of this size to come to a consen-sus on the issue, he stated that all members of the association would abide by a government deci-sion to go into lockdown.

Meanwhile, even as the government decides

on the next course of action, many associa-tions across the state have started shutting down voluntarily. For instance, the Associa-tion of Chanasma Town in Patan district insti-tuted a 13-day lockdown from April 5, with only essential services being made available from 8 am to 1 pm. Any trader found violating this shutdown is being fined Rs1,000. Medical shops, however, remain open.

Similarly, Surendrana-gar is also under lock-down for a week, with essential services, gro-ceries and milk available only in the morning. The Rajkot Used-Car Associa-tion and the Gomata vil-lage of Gondal taluka

have also voluntarily shut down to control the COVID-19 spike.

Deesa town has also reportedly imposed weekend curfew from 6 pm on Saturday to 6 am on Monday.

Anand district’s De-mol, Rupiyapura, Piplav, Sarsa, Virsad, and Mal-ata, Dahod’s Fatepura village are among the villages that have decid-ed to impose voluntary lockdown for a week over the past three weeks. Further, late Wednesday evening, the Nadiad Nagarpalika president Ranjanben Vaghela appealed to the people to shut shops and other establishments from 4 pm to 6 am from April 08 to April 18.

Now, Vadodara traders demand lockdown STEPPING UP

Vadodara's Mangal Market is usually crowded. —FILE PHOTO

Congress MP Shaktisinh Gohil

Several villages have already shut down, to curb the spread of COVID-19

MERCURY TO SOAR

W ith dry weather per-sisting in

the state over the past few days, as per India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) forecast, a cyclonic circulation over southwest Rajasthan & its neighboring re-gion at 0.9 km above mean sea level has persisted. This circu-lation may result in a weather change in the next week. Cur-rently, most of the regional centres have reported maximum temperatures higher than 40 degree Celsi-us.

On Thursday, Ahmedabad recorded a maximum tempera-ture of 40.4 degree Celsius, which was two degrees above normal. The mini-mum temperature re-mained at 24.7 degree Celsius. While Amre-li recorded the high-

est maximum tem-perature in the state at 41.1 degree Celsi-us, Valsad recorded the lowest minimum temperature at 14.5 degree Celsius. No

huge changes in tem-peratures are likely in Gujarat and Sau-rashtra- Kutch re-gions in the next 4-5 days, dry weather will persist.

First India photojournalist Hanif Sindhi spotted a woman carrying two pots of drinking water for her family on the Sarkhej Dholka highway, 5 km

away from Ahmedabad on Wednesday. Walking a distance of 5 km to her home in Bajrawad vil-lage, people struggle to get access to potable wa-ter during summers.

MP Gohil requested CM Vijay Rupani to

remedy the situation at the earliest and aid

COVID-19 patients

MEANWHILE, HOSPITALS IN MAJOR CITIES COMPLAIN OF SHORT STOCKS OF THE INJECTABLE DRUG

Medics turned away people who came to be tested for COVID-19.

GUJARATAHMEDABAD | THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 2021

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First India Bureau

G a n d h i n a g a r /Ahmedabad: Days af-ter Additional Secre-tary (Health) VG Van-zara issued a notifica-tion directing oxygen manufacturers to set aside 60% of their production for the healthcare sector, the producers say that medical demand for oxygen, which has seen a 400% jump in the past month, is likely to increase fur-ther. This rise in de-mand is a direct effect of the recent surge in the number of COV-ID-19 cases.

“While the notifica-tion said 60%, we have been instructed orally to prepare to send 100% of our production to hospi-tals,” Jignesh Shah, the

owner of Hilltone Medi-cal Oxygen told First India. “This shows that the government is gear-ing up to face a worsen-ing situation in terms of COVID-19.”

He further explained that, pre-pandemic, the daily oxygen require-ment at the state’s hos-

pitals was about 100 metric tonnes. “Since the beginning of March 2021, this demand has grown to 400-450 metric tonnes per day.”

The state now has a total of 61 medical oxygen manufactur-ers, up from 33 prior to the onslaught of

the novel coronavirus. These 61 firms have a total daily production capacity of 970 metric tonnes, which can fill 27,762 cylinders of oxygen per day.

“Gujarat has also no-tified that vehicles car-rying medical oxygen should be treated on par

with ambulances, to en-sure uninterrupted sup-ply of oxygen to neigh-bouring states,” Guja-rat’s Food and Drug Control Administration (FDCA) Commissioner Dr HG Koshia said.

Justifying the in-crease in the price of medical oxygen, Dr Ko-

shia said that the hike was an outcome of poor infrastructure for unex-pected growth in medi-cal oxygen demand.

“While Gujarat has the capacity to supply oxygen to neighbour-ing states, we have to hire transport facili-ties from Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Mad-hya Pradesh and oth-er states—and these firms have begun to charge four times the normal rates for transport vehicle. As a result, local manu-facturers are com-pelled to increase the medical oxygen pric-es,” he said.

His only worry is that, if the demand for medical oxygen rises further, the state risks running short of trans-port facilities.

State’s medical oxygen demand set to witness manifold rise: Guj govtO2 demand in healthcare sector has already seen a four-fold increase in the past month

AMPLE SUPPLY

The demand for oxygen has grown to 400-450 MT per day, up from 100 MT before the pandemic.

Is Gujarat hiding real numbers on nCoV deaths?

nCoV patient gets multiple-organ infection, recovers

First India Bureau

Gandhinagar: Dis-crepancies in the government’s data on COVID-19 death toll—first report-ed shortly after the pandemic hit the state last year—have report-edly witnessed a surge, alongside the number of cas-es over the past month.

Observers say the numbers published on the state health department’s dash-board do not match with the actual death figures.

In Ahmedabad, staff members re-sponsible for trans-porting bodies said that they work in three different shifts.

“In the first shift, 12 patient bodies are received from the top floors, which are released to their re-spective families. Most deaths occur at night or early in the morning. Despite the fear of contract-ing the virus, all em-ployees carry out their duties. Those who get infected re-turn to work post

recovery,” one such staffer, who did not want to be named for fear of profes-sional blowback, told First India.

The death toll has risen in the last 15 days alone. Before that, there was hard-ly one death per day and now 35 deaths occur on an average daily. However, the government claims that only seven deaths occurred on Wednesday, this per-son added.

In Rajkot, the time taken for a pa-tient’s body to be handed over to fam-ily members has climbed up to three to four hours after death. A video that has gained traction on social media clar-ifies that people have had to wait to receive the bodies of their loved ones and to conduct funerals.

A similar situation has been witnessed in Surat as well. Ac-cording to govern-ment figures, 24 pa-tients died in Rajkot in the last 24 hours, meaning that one pa-tient died every hour on an average.

First India Bureau

Ahmedabad: A 67-year-old man was treated for infection in the lungs, kidneys and brain after recov-ering from COVID-19 in the city. Kishores-inh Jadeja tested pos-itive for novel coro-navirus and under-went intensive treat-ment at a hospital for 120 days.

Post recovery, con-tracted fibrosis in his lungs, and was referred to Radiance Hospital, where he began treat-ment under Dr Ajay Shah. The patient was then found to be suffer-ing from infections in other organs of the body besides the lungs such as the brain and kidneys. A puncture was also reported in

the lungs and Jadeja’s body became swollen and his muscles weak-ened. He was placed on ventilator support for fibrosis, to help his lungs undergo a com-plete respiratory over-haul to correct the in-fection.

Dr Paras Patel, ICU specialist at the hospi-tal, said, “During treat-ment, Jadeja also had convulsions but his health gradually im-proved. It was decided that he would continue his treatment at home for 20 days to prevent any other infection.”

With the assistance of a new fibrosis drug in the market, the spe-cialist doctors and staffers and his trust in their medical knowl-edge, Jadeja recovered and returned home.

A body being cremated according to nCoV protocols.

Jadeja and his team of doctors.

First India Bureau

Ahmedabad: Given the ongoing shortage of beds at government hospitals for COVID-19 patients in the city, the state on Wednesday decided to shut the evening Out Patient Department (OPD) un-til April 30 and in-crease the bed capaci-ty in MediCity (Civil Hospital Asarwa cam-pus). The new build-ings of the kidney and cancer centres will now be converted into dedicated COVID-19

hospitals and a total of 500 beds will be set up for patients.

Chief principal sec-retary to the chief min-ister K Kailashnathan chaired a high-level meeting on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the current situation, inflow of COVID-19 pa-tients and infrastruc-ture at the Civil Hospi-tal campus. It was at-tended by health com-missioner Jayaprakash Shivhare, Civil Hospi-tal superintendent Dr JP Modi and other de-partment heads.

Following the meet-ing, Dr Modi told the media, “It was decided that the evening OPD at Civil Hospital will be discontinued till April 30. Also, the new buildings of kidney and cancer hospitals will be converted into dedicated COVID-19 fa-cilities. The kidney hospital on Manjush-ree Mill compound has already started treat-ing nCoV patients and 30 patients were shift-ed to the building on Wednesday. The plan is to increase its capacity

to 400 beds.”Currently, there are

over 1,400 beds reserved for COVID-19 patients in MediCity (Civil Hospital Asarwa). Of those, around 1,270 beds are oc-cupied and on an aver-age 100- 200 patients are referred to Civil Hospital for treatment very day.

Sources say the state government also plans to increase the number of beds at the Sola Civil Hospital by 400 and that centres to treat patients with mild or no symp-toms will be reactivat-ed, if needed.

Civil Hosp shuts evening OPD till April 30, bed capacity to go up CRISIS MANAGEMENT

Surging COVID-19

numbers compelled

top officials to meet and

plan for additional

health infrastructure

in A’bad

LOOKING FOR A WAY OUT

With the COVID-19 situation worsening by the day and rumours of an impending lockdown doing the rounds constantly, many migrants have started to make a beeline out of Ahmedabad, as can be seen from the crowds at the city’s Kalupur Railway Station, on Wednesday. —PHOTO BY HANIF SINDHI

Chief principal secretary to the CM, K Kailashnathan chaired a level meeting to discuss the current situation.

GUJ SEES 3,575 CASES, 22 DEATHS IN 24 HRSFirst India Bureau

Gandhinagar: The COVID-19 situation in Gujarat continued to worsen on Wednesday, when the state report-ed 3,575 new cases of infection in the 24 hours ended 5 pm. With this, the state’s total case load is at 3,28,453, the health de-partment said in a re-lease. The day also brought 22 more fa-talities, pushing the

death toll to 4,620 since March last year.

Surat accounted for 10 of the day’s deaths, while Ahmedabad lost six pa-tients, and Banaskantha, Bhavnagar, Mahisagar, Mehsana, Panchmahal, and Vadodara each had one death.

At 804, Ahmedabad city registered the most new cases in the state in 24 hours, followed by 621 cases in Surat, 395 in Ra-jkot, 351 in Vadodara, 198 in Surat district, 111 in

Patan, and 106 in Va-dodara district. Jamna-gar city recorded 96 cas-es, followed by Rajkot district (96), Jamnagar district (79), Bhavnagar city (66) and Mehsana district (66). Cases were also reported in Gandhi-nagar city (40) and dis-trict (39), Kutch (38), Ma-hisagar (37), Panchma-hal (33), Kheda (32), Morbi (31), Dahod (29), Banaskantha (26), Bhavnagar (24), Bharuch (22), Junagadh district

(22) and city (21), Amreli 20, Ahmedabad (19), Anand (19), Narmada (19), Sabarkantha (19), Valsad (19), Navsari (15), Devbhumi Dwarka (14), Gir Somnath (13), Suren-dranagar (11). Six dis-tricts reported fresh cases in single-digits: Botad (9), Tapi (5), Ara-valli (3), Chhota Udep-ur(3), Dang (3), and Por-bandar (2).

With 18,684 active cas-es, Gujarat’s recovery rate has fallen to 92.90%.A baby is tested for COVID-19 in A’bad. —PHOTO BY HANIF SINDHI

—FILE PHOTO

—FILE PHOTO

l Vol 2 l Issue No. 131 l RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/16208. Printed and published by Anita Hada Sangwan on behalf of First Express Publishers. Printed at Bhaskar Printing Planet Survey No.148P, Changodar-Bavla Highway, Tal. Sanand, Dist. Ahmedabad. Published at D/302 3rd Floor Plot No. 35 Titanium Square, Scheme No. 2, Thaltej Taluka, Ghatlodiya, Ahmedabad. Editor-In-Chief: Jagdeesh Chandra. Editor: Anita Hada Sangwan responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act

PERSPECTIVEAHMEDABAD | THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 2021

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ver the past dec-ade, selfies have become a main-stay of popular culture. If the

#selfie hashtag first ap-peared in 2004, it was the release of the iPhone 4 in 2010 that saw the pictures go viral. Three years later, the Oxford English Dic-tionary crowned “selfie” word of the year.

We use selfies for a vari-ety of purposes, ranging from social to professional. According to a 2018 survey, 82% of United States adults under 34 had posted a selfie on social media. Until the pandemic hit pause on pub-lic gatherings, an entire industry was dedicated to generating selfie events and museums.

Given this tremendous reach and popularity, the last four years have seen the phenomenon begin to receive attention within

the cognitive sciences. As recent studies have shown, including a recent one I led, the way we take selfies – and the specific camera angles we choose – varies depending on what we in-tend to do with them.

LEFT BIASSince the 1970s we have known that in historical western portraiture, artists favoured depicting the left cheek of their sitters, par-ticularly when painting women. A 2017 study showed that when it comes to taking selfies, people tend to angle their smartphone in order to photograph their own left cheek too.

Patterns have also been detected in the way selfie-takers position their cam-eras vertically. Another 2017 study of selfies posted on Tinder found that when looking to hook up, women most often choose to shoot

their selfies from above, and men from below.

FACIAL EXPRESSIVITYMost “how to take the best selfie” guides emphasise

that photographing your face at an angle and from above makes you look better.

This is borne out by a study of Tinder selfies wherein the authors deter-mined that men taking self-

ies from below was, partly, out of an attempt to appear taller and therefore more masculine. Women taking selfies from above, mean-while, was said to achieve the opposite, and make

them look shorter and more feminine.

Elsewhere, research has looked at the early trends in selfie poses and how some were about angling and composing your face so as to look thinner and more vulnerable – which is also equated with being more attractive.

In trying to explain why a historical painter might have preferred the left side of their sitter’s face, re-searchers explored several possibilities. These ranged from whether the artist was left or right-handed, where the sitter sat in rela-tion to the painter, or whether there was, in fact, a superiority of the left visual half-field in facial recognition: in other words, might a profile painted to the left of the canvas be more easily per-ceived?

SOURCE: THE CONVERSATION

What your choice of selfie angle says about youO

To live a pure unselfish life, one must count nothing as one’s own in the midst of abundance. —Buddha

SpiritualSPEAK

TopTWEET

Smriti Z Irani @smritiiraniContinuing @BJP4Bengal’s campaign in the state, addressed public meetings at Falakata, Jalpaiguri & Phansidewa in North Bengal. People across all 3 constituencies are eagerly awaiting the establishment of a BJP Sarkar in West Bengal. #BanglayBJP

Ravi Shankar Prasad @rsprasad#Cabinet approves Production Linked Incentive Scheme for air conditioners & LED lights which is another step towards the vision of #AatmanirbharBharat. Incentives worth `6238 cr to be provided over 5 yrs for manufacturing of these products in India & will create 4 lakh jobs.

CURBS ON PRESS FREEDOM CAN DROP IN GDP

he importance of a free press to a thriv-ing democracy is well-known. But what is its importance to a thriving economy?

We have found evidence attacks on press freedom – such as jailing journal-

ists, raiding their homes, shutting down printing presses, and using libel laws to thwart reporters – have measurable effects on economic growth. Our research team – spanning economics, journalism and media – used rankings on press freedom from the US-based Freedom House and data on econom-ic growth to examine 97 countries from 1972 to 2014.

We found countries that recorded a decrease in press freedom also experienced a 1%-2% drop in real gross domestic product growth.

Our findings affirm other economic studies showing the institutions that uphold a “rule of law” are strongly associated with stronger eco-nomic performance. Our work took into account education, labour force and physical capital.

Perhaps our most significant – and unexpected – finding is the long-term economic impost of un-dermining a free press.

Freedom House’s own research suggests “press freedom can rebound from even lengthy stints of repression when given the opportunity”.

“The basic desire for democratic liberties, in-cluding access to honest and fact-based journalism, can never be extinguished,” the research found.

But this rebound does not translate to the econo-my. In nations where freedoms were removed, and then restored, economic growth did not fully recover.

That is a significant point at a time when econom-ic frustration is contributing to waning enthusiasm for democracy, increasing distrust of legacy media and the rise of populist and authoritarian govern-ments taking action to control the news media.

Throughout Asia, there has been a tightening of press freedoms.

In Hong Kong, new security laws threaten to snuff out independent media. In Myanmar, publi-cations have been silenced and journalists arrest-ed. In Malaysia, journalists have been harassed and jailed for criticising the government. In the Philippines, respected investigative journalist Ma-ria Ressa has been detained ten times in two years and convicted of “cyberlibel” under controversial laws. In India, the world’s largest democracy, the Modi government has curbed press freedoms.

These are not just issues for other countries.We acknowledge our work is a macro-level study,

examining broad statistical associations, finding many relationships that are notable at the 1% level of significance. These cannot, and should not, be a replacement for nuanced analyses of specific contexts, cultures and media models.

We also acknowledge that Freedom House is just one of a number of international bodies that keeps track of people’s access to political rights and civil liberties. The organisation uses a specific US-centred view to look at individual freedoms – in-cluding the right to vote, freedom of expression, equality before the law – that can be affected by state or nonstate actors.

But it does factor in the ability of journalists to report freely on matters of public interest, and show the connection with economic prosperity.

SOURCE: THE CONVERSATION

IN-DEPTH

Trenowned electrical company, with its unique operations, has created a stir in the Indian mar-ket. Most of its systems and pro-cesses are very finely tuned. The seed for this was planted 10 years back. A few good and ca-pable employees were employed for a new project. But in a short span, the old staff who had been associated with the company for long years and experienced staff complained about these new employees, that they were not capable enough and by em-ploying fast means and short cuts, they wanted to move ahead. They were also criticized of not being too trustworthy. Their only interest was to find out newer things employing shortcuts. The management de-cided to bring a solution by hav-ing a dialogue with both, the old and new employees, but it did not bear any fruit. Instead, the friction between the two only increased day by day. The com-pany decided to seek help of a professional management agen-cy for the matter.

The management agency em-ployed an in-depth approach, whereby they had a heart-to-heart dialogue with both, the old and new employees. The employees seeing the impartial approach of the management, shared their thoughts with open minds, without any con-straint. The conclusion was true, mind-boggling. The fact of the matter was that old employ-ees wanted their work and their jobs intact, they didn’t want any turbulence in their set regime. The new employees would do their assigned tasks very quick-ly, efficiently, and intriguingly, to which the old employees had serious reservations. As a reac-tion to this, they did not guide the new employees appropri-ately in their work. To overhaul the issue, the company manage-ment employed a stern ap-proach and handed over the critical workings of the com-pany to the new employees, and old employees given routine tasks, which is also required for

company growth.The fact is,many times, the

reason for the company’s de-growth lies in its employees. To maintain their esteemed posi-tions in the company, many times employees take decisions that are detrimental for the fi-nancial growth of the company. This streak of insecurity is es-pecially seen in big corporate setups, especially in the top leadership positions. Leaders are worried about their per-sonal portfolios and insecure about losing their positions most of the time. To maintain their strong foothold, they en-gross themselves in internal politics. Their prime work ide-ally is to see the progress of the organization but, unfortunate-ly, the inter-personal competi-tion takes away most of their precious time.

India has a different work culture. Instead of cooperation and support, competition is more prevalent. In foreign countries, an employee is as-signed a specific task. Every employee has only a specific task to perform. Whereas in India, one employee does mul-tiple tasks. Here, an employee who can do multi-tasking is in high demand. Why are compa-nies not capable of taking care of their employees for a longer spell or vice versa, why do em-

ployees do not work in a par-ticular company for longer spans? This is a worrisome topic in most big corporate or small business houses. The main reason behind it is the company culture, the old em-ployees or the company’s boss/ manager.

It is most often seen that the boss does not give the benefit of his knowledge and expert know-how to the employee who works under him. He trains him with a few things but the master key, he keeps with him-self. This comes in the forefront when he is not present in the

office, then it adversely affects work. But such people derive pleasure out of this. Such con-servative managers are of the mindset that knowledge cannot be spread free of cost and if their juniors learn everything, then what will remain in their control? Such insecurity occu-pies their minds constantly.

When the new generation be-gins work, they start with a fresh splurge of enthusiasm and dreams filled in their eyes. With fresh thoughts, they are determined to do something in-novative. But in the corporate culture, at the beginning itself, when they do not get the de-sired support from the old man-ager/ employee, they get disil-lusioned and totally disappoint-ed, which eventually serves detrimental for the company.

The leadership in every com-pany should utilize their maxi-mum time in keeping a far-sighted approach, aiming at the progress of the company. They should give more freedom to the employees working under them so that operations take place more smoothly. The boss should systematically keep away from small, minute matters, and should hand over the responsi-bility of taking routine deci-sions to their team members.

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY

THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL

JOB INSECURITY – STALLING THE GROWTH OF THE COMPANY

A

The management agency employed an in-depth approach, whereby they had a heart-to-heart dialogue with both, the old and new employees. The employees seeing the impartial approach of the management, shared their thoughts with open minds, without any constraint. The conclusion was true, mind-boggling. The fact of the matter was that old employees wanted their work and their jobs intact, they didn’t want any turbulence in their set regime

INDIA HAS A DIFFERENT WORK CULTURE. INSTEAD

OF COOPERATION AND SUPPORT, COMPETITION IS MORE PREVALENT. IN

FOREIGN COUNTRIES, AN EMPLOYEE IS ASSIGNED A

SPECIFIC TASK. EVERY EMPLOYEE HAS ONLY A

SPECIFIC TASK TO PERFORM. WHEREAS IN

INDIA, ONE EMPLOYEE DOES MULTIPLE TASKS.

HERE, AN EMPLOYEE WHO CAN DO MULTI-TASKING

IS IN HIGH DEMAND

BHAVESH UPADHYAY

BUSINESS/ HR EXPERT

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J-K AUTHOR SOLIHA SHABIR ENTERS INDIA’S WORLD RECORDSSoliha Shabir from Dal-gate in Srinagar added her name in “India’s World Records” as the youngest and fi rst author in Jammu and Kashmir “who has recreated the life of Habba Khatoons poetry.” “Zoon is the fi rst book that has recreat-ed the theme of Habba Khatoon’s poetry and essence,” said Shabir.

22-year-old Shabir has so far written three books, ‘In the lawn of dark’, ‘Obsolete- The poem Market’, ‘Zoon -- The heart of Habba Kha-toon’. Besides pursuing her Masters in English Literature, she continues her writing. She said that she started writing from age of 15 and in her ninth class.

PROCESS TO FORM STATE MINING CORPORATION: GOA CMPanaji: As the state looks to restart mining oper-ations, which have been non-functional for more than two years, the process to form a state min-ing corporation has begun. When asked about the progress regarding the setting up of a corporation to oversee the functioning of the mining industry, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Wednes-day said, “The process to form state mining cor-poration has begun, and currently it is underway.” Sawant had proposed the formation of a state mining corporation in his budget speech.

JUSTICE NV RAMANA TO TAKE OATH AS CJI ON APRIL 24New Delhi: Justice NV Ramana, who is all set to assume charge as the 48th Chief Justice of India on April 24, is a fi rst-generation lawyer having an agricultural background and his judgments are known for clear dictums including his recent judg-ment that ended a year-long internet ban in Jammu and Kashmir in 2020 after the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019. Accepting the recommenda-tion made by the outgoing CJI SA Bobde, retiring on April 23, the President has appointed Justice Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana as the 48th CJI.

WATER TAXIS, ROPAX FERRIES TO BE PART OF PUBLIC TANSPORTNew Delhi: Water taxis and ROPAX ferries will soon be part of Mumbai’s public transportation. Wa-ter taxis on 12 routes and ROPAX ferries services on four routes will be operational soon by De-cember. Union Minister of State for Ports, Shipping and waterways Manuskh Manadaviya chaired a meeting in this regard on

Tuesday evening and to Review the Urban Water Transportation projects for Mumbai. Speaking to ANI, Mandaviya said, “Modi (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) Ji has started working fast towards the potential in the maritime sector as you can see Hazira to Goga ROPAX ferry as an example.

PM TO STUDENTS: EXAM A PERFECT OPPORTUNITY TO TIGHTEN YOURSELF UPNew Delhi: Prime Min-ister Narendra Modi on Wednesday interacted with students, teachers and parents during ‘Pariksha Pe Charcha 2021’ via video confer-encing wherein he ad-vised students not to give exams under any pressure in order to per-form in a better way.

“We have been living amid coronavirus for the past one year. I had to leave behind the urge to meet you all and come to you via a new format. To not meet you in person, to not experi-ence your enthusiasm is a huge loss for me,” PM Modi during the first virtual edition of ‘Pariksha Pe Charcha’. He listened to questions from two students over how to tackle the pleas-ure of exams.

The Prime Minister said, “Earlier parents used to be connected with children on many subjects and also were comfortable. Nowadays parents are involved with children for only their career, studies and celebrations.”

“If parents are more involved then they un-derstand the interest, nature, tendency of the children and fill the shortcomings of the children,” PM Modi ad-vised. —ANI

PM Narendra Modi interacts with students, teachers & parents during ‘Pariksha Pe Charcha 2021’, via VC, on Wednesday. —ANI

PM to release Hindi version of ‘Odisha Itihaas’New Delhi: PM Modi will release the Hindi translation of one of the most adored books of the famous Odiya author ‘Utkal Keshari’ Dr Harekrushna Mahtab. The translated version of ‘Odisha Iti-haas’ will be unveiled on Friday, April 9, from Ambedkar Internation-al Center, Janpath, New Delhi. Shankarlal Purohit has translated

the book, which was previously only availa-ble in Odia and Eng-lish. Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minis-ter, and Bhartruhari Mahtab, MP(Lok Sab-ha), Cuttack, will also be present. Harekrush-na Mahtab Foundation hosted an event to cel-ebrate the launching of the Hindi version. The release by PMO read, “Prime Minister Shri

Narendra Modi will re-lease the Hindi transla-tion of the book ‘Odis-ha Itihaas’ written by ‘Utkal Keshari’ Dr Harekrushna Mahtab on 9th April 2021 at 12 noon from Ambedkar International Center, Janpath, New Delhi. The book, available in Odia and English so far, has been translated into Hindi by Shri. Dharmendra Pradhan

will also be present on the occasion.

Meaqnwhile, PM Modi on Wednesday said the production-linked incentive scheme for white goods (air-conditioners and LED lights) is yet an-other initiative that will strengthen the movement to create an “ A a t m a n i r b h a r Bharat” (self-reliant India). —ANI

KERRY MEETS PM, SAYS US TO FACILITATE ACCESS TO GREEN TECH

NIA TO RECORD PARAM BIR SINGH’S STATEMENT IN SACHIN WAZE’S CASE

ANTILIA BOMB SCARE CASE

New Delhi: US Special Presidential Envoy on Climate John Kerry met PM Narendra Modi on Wednesday and noted that the US would support India’s climate plans by facilitating affordable access to green tech-nologies and requisite finance. PM Modi said that India is com-mitted to meeting its nationally determined contributions under the Paris Agreement and that it was among the few countries on track to meet these commitments. PMO release said Kerry briefed the PM on his “fruitful and produc-tive discussions” over the last two days in India. He positively noted India’s climate actions including its ambitious renew-able energy plans. He briefed PM about upcoming Leaders’ Summit on Climate scheduled for April 22 and 23. —ANI

Mumbai: Former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh has been called by National Investigation Agency (NIA) to record a statement in Sachin Waze’s case. An NIA source had confi rmed that statements of offi cers are being recorded to have clarity on the functioning of the Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) and Sachin Waze in particular. Singh is third in the series of Offi cers to record statements. —ANI

SC to hear pleas of Maha govt, Anil against HC orderMumbai: The Supreme Court will on Thursday hear the pleas filed by Maharashtra govern-ment and its former home minister Anil Deshmukh who have challenged the Bombay High Court order di-recting a CBI probe into the allegations of cor-ruption and miscon-duct levelled against him by former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh. As per the cause list up-loaded on the apex court website, both the pleas would come up for hearing on Thursday before a bench compris-ing Justices Sanjay Kis-han Kaul and Hemant Gupta.

In its plea filed in the top court, Maharashtra government has ques-tioned the procedure adopted by high court saying the state was heard on question of maintainability of the pleas seeking CBI inves-tigation against Desh-mukh on allegation of corruption, and the or-der too was reserved on that issue, but the court finally ended up direct-ing the probe.

Maoists ready to negotiate, ask for mediator to release jawanBijapur: The banned Communist Party of In-dia (Maoist) issued an open letter on Tuesday mentioning its willing-ness to negotiate with the Central govern-ment. The banned outfit also proposed the Cen-tre announce mediators in order to release the captivated jawan.

“In the Bijapur at-tack, 24 security per-sonnel lost their lives and 31 of them injured. One jawan is in our cus-tody. Four People’s Lib-eration Guerrilla Army personnel lost their lives. We are ready to negotiate with the gov-ernment. They can an-nounce mediators. We will release him (cap-tive jawan). Police jawans are not our ene-mies,” read the letter.

Meanwhile, the Di-

rector General of Cen-tral Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Kuldiep Singh said that security forces fought with 700-750 trained Naxals, broke the ambush and neutralised more than 28-30 Naxals, secured weapons and rescued injured jawans in the Bijapur.

Family demands re-

lease of captured CRPF jawan; locals block Jammu highway

Locals blocked the Jammu-Akhnoor high-way on Wednesday de-manding the release of CRPF jawan Rakesh-war Singh Manhas. Manhas’ family mem-bers joined the protest to ensure his release.

—ANI

Communist Party of India (Maoist)

USE FREE TIME TO INCREASE CURIOSITY ABOUT PRODUCTIVE THINGS, PM MODI TELLS STUDENTS DURING ‘PARIKSHA PE CHARCHA 2021’

New Delhi: In a big de-velopment, the Delhi High Court on Wednes-day ruled that wearing a mask is mandatory even if a person is driving alone. The high court stated that a mask acts as a ‘suraksha kavach’ which would prevent the spread of COVID19.

The Delhi High Court held that wearing of a mask while driving alone in a private vehi-cle is mandatory during COVID-19 times. Justice Prathiba M Singh also refused to interfere with the Delhi govern-ment’s decision to im-pose challans for not wearing a mask while driving a private vehi-cle alone and dismissed the pleas. —ANI

New Delhi: The Mone-tary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday kept the repo rate unchanged at 4 per cent while main-taining an ‘accommoda-tive stance’. The reverse repo rate was also kept unchanged at 3.35 per cent following a unani-mous decision by the six-member committee headed by RBI Gover-nor Shaktikanta Das.

Following the RBI MPC outcome, the benchmark equity indi-ces ended higher with the S&P BSE Sensex rallying 460.37 points (0.94 per cent) to finish at 49,661.76 and the broader Nifty 50 ad-vancing 135.55 points (0.92 per cent) to end at 14,819.05. —ANI

New Delhi: A Delhi Court on Wednesday granted exemption from personal appear-ance to former union minister P Chidambar-am and his son Karti for the day in the INX Me-dia scam-related money laundering case.

Special Judge M K Nagpal granted relief to the Chidambaram’s

after an application in this regard was moved by their lawyer, saying the accused were busy in the Assembly elec-tion campaign in Tamil Nadu.

The accused were summoned by the court on 24 March after tak-ing cognisance. —ANI

New Delhi: A petition has been filed in the Delhi High Court seek-ing direction to consti-tute a body to screen and ban all non-film songs available on the internet having ob-scene/vulgar content with immediate effect. The petition also seeks

direction to constitute a regulatory authority/censor board to censor/review the non-film songs, their lyrics and videos which are made available to the general public through various media platforms like Television, YouTube, etc. —ANI

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Wednesday agreed to hear on April 9 the Centre’s plea seeking closure of cases against two Italian marines ac-cused of killing two Indian fi shermen off the Kerala coast in February 2012. The bench agreed to hear the plea on Friday.

Delhi HC mandates wearing mask

RBI keeps interests rates unchanged

INX Media scam: Courts exempts Chidu, son from appearing in person

Plea in HC seeks ban on all vulgar non-film songs

SC WILL HEAR ‘ITALIAN MARINES’ MATTER ON APRIL 9

IN THE COURTYARD

Sachin Waze

WAZE WAS POSTED IN CIU: MUMBAI POLICE

CBI TO RECORD STATEMENT OF JAISHRI PATIL

Mumbai: Controversial po-lice offi cer Sachin Waze, now suspended, was reinstated in the Crime Intelligence Unit in June last year on the insistence of then Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh despite the strong objection raised by then Joint CP (crime), as per a report submitted by Police.

Mumbai: The CBI has regis-tered a preliminary enquiry (PE) into the allegations of corruption and misconduct levelled by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh against ex-Maha-rashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh. CBI will also record a statement of com-plainant Dr Jaishri Patil.

A’bad DCB...After tracing the two-wheeler vehicle on which the three accused arrived in Revdi Bazaar to pour petrol on shops and set them on fire, they were able to appre-hend Amraiwadi resi-dent Vanzara. He confessed to the crime and informed the DCB that the plot had been planned and exe-cuted online after he came in contact with a Bababhai Ali’s Babab-hai company during the lockdown last year.Vanzara was reported-ly in a deep financial crisis and Bababhai of-fered to bail him out if

he murdered a person. The former asked for a weapon to carry out the crime and was asked to contact a per-son in Madhya Pradesh for the same. When Vanzara realized he had to pay Rs25,000 for the weapon, he asked Bababhai for the mon-ey, who transferred the amount. He then trav-elled to Madhya Pradesh to collect the weapon but was caught by police in Kheda while returning home and thrown in prison for a week.After his release, Van-zara established con-tact with Bababhai,

who asked him to carry out the arson attack. Therefore, he sought the help of his friend Anil Khatik and Athik Pal to torch shops in the cloth market on March 20. On digging deeper, it was uncovered that Mumbai-based Kanti Angadia had received Rs15,00,000 from Dubai-based Khoja company, from which Rs1.5 lakh were transferred to Vanzara in Ahmedabad.According to officials of the DCB technical surveillance team, Bababhai mostly con-ducts operations from Karachi, but his loca-tion constantly changes

from one nation to an-other on the internet.

Judge pulls...The court observed that the officer did not inves-tigate the matter and this “shows the callous attitude of the police in investigation”.

On February 25 last year, rioters allegedly broke into the mosque in Shiv Vihar after a power cut in the area and set two LPG cylin-ders on fire kept inside, causing an explosion. A saffron flag was later planted atop the mosque, allegedly by a local, who has been named in the complaint

along with two others.

BJP will...in the state, which will see five more phases of elections.

“The Bharatiya Ja-nata Party estimates that it will surely win 63 to 68 seats in the first three phases of elec-tions and gain a huge lead over the Trinamool Congress, Communists and the Congress,” Shah said.

The saffron party will also gain leads in the rest of the phases and cross the target of winning 200 seats, he told reporters after hav-ing lunch at a local BJP

supporter’s modest home here in Howrah district. —PTI

Record single...“In order to increase the access of vaccine to these populations, COVID-19 vaccination sessions may be organ-ised at work places (both public & private) which are having about 100 eligible and willing beneficiaries by tagging these work places with an existing COVID vaccination centre,” Bhushan said in the letter. He said the states can initiate due consultations with private/public sector

employers and man-agement to prepare for launch of work place vaccination.

Maoists release...Earlier a caller who identified himself as a Maoist leader had contacted some journalists in south Bastar claiming that the detained Cobra jawan is “safe and will not be harmed” in their confinement.

The missing jawan is in the captivity of the Maoists after the Bi-japur ambush that killed 22 troopers, in south Chhattisgarh on Saturday.

FROM PG 1

INDIAAHMEDABAD | THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 2021

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Tamil Nadu: Tamil Nadu reported close to 4,000 new Covid-19 infections (3,986 to be exact) in 24

hours, which took the state’s tally to 911,110 cases, according to state government’s health bulletin on Wednesday. This is the highest spike in daily new cases for the state this year. Also,

17 people lost their lives due to the infection, which pushed the death toll in the state to 12,821. The ac-tive caseload in Tamil Nadu jumped by 2,145 cases and currently stands at 27,743, the bulletin said.

COLLEGIUM HEADED BY JUSTICE BOBDE NOT TO DISCUSS SC JUDGES? Tenure of present CJI Justice S A Bobde is coming to an end on April 23. Insiders say that Collegium presently headed by Justice Bobde is unlikely to discuss appointment of SC Judges.

C CYLENDRA BABU TO BE DGP IN TAMILNADU?If all goes well 1987 batch IPS offi cer C Cylendra Babu is going to succeed J K Tripathy as DGP of TamilNadu in June .

BAGAULI IS NEW SECRETARY TO UTTARAKHAND CM Shailesh Bagauli has been appointed the Secretary to the Uttarakhand Chief Minister.He is 2002 batch IAS offi cer.

BOMBAY HC TO GET 10 PERMANENT JUDGES The Supreme Court Collegium has approved the proposal for the appointment of 10 Additional Judges – Justice Avinash Gunwant Gharote, Justice Nitin Bhagawantrao Suryawanshi, Justice Anil Satyavijay Kilor, Justice Milind Narendra Jadhav, Justice MG Sewlikar, Justice VG Bisht, Justice Debadwar Bhalchandra Ugrasen, Justice MS Jawalkar, Justice SP Tavade, and Justice NR Borkar – of Bombay High Court as Permanent Judges.

SC COLLEGIUM APPROVES APPOINTMENT OF 5 PERMANENT JUDGES IN KERALA HC The Supreme Court Collegium has approved the proposal to appoint Justice Conrad S Dias, Justice PV Kunhikrishnan, Justice TR Ravi, Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas, and Justice Gopinath P as Permanent Judges in Kerala High Court. They are now Additional Judges in the high court.

SC COLLEGIUM APPROVES APPOINTMENT OF JUSTICE VS KAPOOR AS PERMANENT JUDGE CHHATTISGARH HCThe Supreme Court Collegium has approved the proposal for the appointment of Justice Vimla Singh Kapoor, Additional Judge of Chhattisgarh High Court, as Permanent Judge of that High Court.

ABHISHEK NARANG APPOINTED AS DEPUTY SECRETARY, CULTUREAbhishek Narang has been appointed as Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Culture. He is a 2008 batch IRS-IT offi cer.

NEERAJ KUMAR POSTED AS MD, HARYANA TOURISM CORPORATIONNeeraj Kumar has been posted as Managing Director, Haryana Tourism Corporation. He is a 2011 batch IFS offi cer of HP cadre.

A K GUPTA SHIFTED TO MINISTRY OF FOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRIESAshok Kumar Gupta, Under Secretary presently posted in Department of Economic Affairs is transferred and posted to Ministry of Food Processing Industries.

THREE IAS OFFICERS GET NEW RESPONSIBILITY IN BIHARKanwal Tanuj has been posted as Director, Information & Public Relations, Bihar and handed over an additional charge of MD, Bihar Samvad Samiti, while Udyan Mishra was made District Magistrate, Katihar. Besides, Manish Kumar, Commissioner, Tirhut Division, was given additional charge of Commissioner, Darbhanga Division.

MANDEEP SINGH RANDHAWA APPOINTED AS DIRECTOR, PORTS & SHIPPING Mandeep Singh Randhawa has been appointed as Director in the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways. He is a 2006 batch IPS offi cer of UT cadre.

POWERGallery

By arrangement with: http://whispersinthecorridors.com

New Delhi: The sec-ond wave of Covid, is in which the numbers are skyrocketing, is hitting younger people and children - unlike the first round when the elderly, and those with co-morbidities were seen to the most vulnerable sections. Data from the Union health ministry shows 79,688 children have been infected in the five states affected worst by the virus.

Currently there is no vaccine for children. A testing of AstraZeneca vaccine of children in the UK has been sus-pended over reports of the vaccine being linked to blood clotting, which has led to seven deaths in the European nation.

In Maharashtra, 60,684 children have been infected with Cov-id between 1 March and 4 April. Of these chil-dren, 9,882 are under the age of five years.

In Chhattisgarh, 5,940 children have been infected by the disease - 922 of them are below the age of five. —ANI

COVID SURGE HIT CHILDREN HARDCURRENTLY THERE IS NO VACCINE FOR CHILDREN. A TESTING OF ASTRAZENECA VACCINE OF CHILDREN IN THE UK HAS BEEN SUSPENDED OVER REPORTS OF THE VACCINE BEING LINKED TO BLOOD CLOTTING

Raipur: As novel coro-navirus cases surge across Chattisgarh, its Raipur district authori-ties on Wednesday de-clared the whole dis-trict as Covid-19 con-tainment zone from 6pm on 9th April till 6 am on 19th April.

"All the borders of the district will remain sealed during this peri-od," said Raipur district collector S Bharathi Dasan.

Medical shops will be allowed to open as per their timings. Children appearing in exams can do so with requisite per-mission. Milk and newspapers will be available in the morn-ing from 6 am to 8 am and in the evening from 5 pm to 6.30 pm. Hospi-tals and ATMs will re-main open. "People are advised not to delay treatment," said Chhat-tisgarh HM Tamradh-waj Sahu. —ANI

Raipur declared containment zone, bordersto be sealed

New Delhi: Two Judo-kas who were set to compete at the ongoing Asia Oceania Judo Championships, have tested positive on their second test after arriv-ing at Bishkek, Kyr-gyzstan. They don’t have any major symp-toms but have been quarantined to a safe facility. Following the positive reports, the In-dian team has pulled out of the competition.

A 19-member team of

15 athletes and four coaches had left India for the Olympic quali-fier competition. The

judokas underwent four rounds of testing between March 30 and April 5.—ANI

INDIAN JUDOKAS PULL OUT OF ASIA OCEANIA MEET IN KYRGYZSTAN

Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with team of athletes before Olympic qualifi er competition

New Delhi: Gangster-t u r n e d - p o l i t i c i a n Mukhtar Ansari’s brother on Wednesday (April 7) alleged that the former was subject-ed to inhuman treat-ment while bringing him from Punjab to Banda jail in Uttar Pradesh. Afzal Ansari, who is a BSP MP from Ghazipur, said that it would have been better had he been shot dead at a road crossing.

However, the UP gov-ernment said that a medical examination of Ansari was done and that no health issues were found. ‘Inhuman treatment was meted to Mukhtar while being shifted from Punjab to Banda jail. In over 15 hours journey, he was not given water and food on the way and was also denied medical aid. Due to this, he became unwell and reached Banda jail in a semi-unconscious state,’ Afzal Ansari was quot-ed as saying by PTI.

Afzal Ansari, how-ever, did not elaborate on how he came to know under what con-ditions his brother was transported. ‘The Yogi govT has left behind Britishers by such acts. Contrary to the jail manual, Mukhtar has been kept in isolation barrack. Those who have to protect laws are creating terror. It would have been better that he was made to stand at some road crossing and shot dead,’ he added.

After Mukhtar Ansa-ri reached Banda jail, the UP government re-leased a statement. —ANI

NO FOOD, WATER GIVEN TO ANSARI, ALLEGES BROTHERNew Delhi: The Union

Cabinet apprised of a Memorandum of Un-derstanding (MoU) signed between the Na-tional Atmospheric Re-search Laboratory (NARL) and the Re-search Institute for Sus-tainable Humano-sphere (RISH), Kyoto University of Japan for

academic and research cooperation. According to an official release, the MoU, signed in No-vember last year, shall enable NARL and RISH to continue their coop-eration in areas of at-mospheric science and technology, collabora-tive scientific experi-ments, campaigns and

related modelling stud-ies utilising the re-search facilities of RISH and NARL.

This MoU would lead to mutual utilisation of facilities such as the Middle and Upper at-mosphere (MU) radar in Shigaraki, Japan, the Equatorial Atmos-phere Radar (EAR) in

Kototabang, Indonesia and complementary in-struments available from RISH, and the Mesosphere-Strato-sphere-Troposphere (MST) radar and com-plementary instru-ments available at NARL. This arrange-ment was formalised in 2008. —ANI

MoU between India, Japan to continue cooperations in atmospheric science

New Delhi: Indian Railways is going to start four Shatabdi trains and one Duronto special train from April 10 for passengers. Rail-ways Minister Piyush Goyal in a tweet has said, dedicated in the service of passengers, 4 Shatabdi Special, and a Duronto Special Train are being started by the Indian Railways. These services will start from 10 April to 15 April, which will en-sure convenient, and safe travel. —ANI

New Delhi: As a good-will gesture, the Indian Army handed over a teenager boy who had inadvertently crossed over the Line of Control into the Indian side back to the Pakistan army. The 13-year-old Mousin, had inadvert-ently crossed over. —ANI

Indian Railways to start 4 Shatabdi trains, 1 Duronto

Indian Army sends back PoK boy who crossed over LoC

New Delhi: EMI rates will remain the same as the Reserve Bank of In-dia has kept the repo rate unchanged at 4%, sticking to its accom-modative monetary policy amid concerns that rising COVID-19 in-fections could derail the country’s economic re-covery. The reverse repo rate stands at 3.35%. Making the an-nouncement, RBI gov-ernor Shaktikant Das informed that the pro-jection of real GDP growth for 2021-22 is re-tained at 10.5%.

“The recent surge in COVID19 cases adds un-certainty to the domes-tic growth outlook amid tightening of restric-tions by some state gov-ernments,” he added.

The central bank has slashed the repo rate by a total of 115 basis points (bps) since March 2020 to soften the blow from the pandem-ic. This follows 135 bps worth of rate cuts since the beginning of 2019.

This came amid a sharp new wave of Cov-id-19 cases in several states. —ANI

Interest rates unchanged as RBI keeps repo rate at 4%

TAMIL NADU REPORTS CLOSE TO 4,000 NEW COVID-19 INFECTIONS

Bengaluru: In light of the rising number of COV-ID-19 cases in Karnataka, the Bengaluru Police has ordered a ban on the use of swimming pools and gyms within the city limits. As per the order, the restrictions include swimming pools located in apartment complexes. Gyms will not be allowed to function at over 50 per cent capacity. The state government has also imposed Section 144 of the CrPC in the city, banning gatherings at party halls, apartment and residential complexes.

COVID-19: SECTION 144 IN BENGALURU, USE OF SWIMMING POOLS BANNED

NORMS VIOLATED

Sitalkuchi/Kolkata: The BJP’s West Bengal president Dilip Ghosh on Wednesday alleged that he suffered injuries after Trinamool Con-gress activists attacked his car with bombs and bricks in Cooch Behar district, a charge denied by the ruling party.

Saffron party work-ers sat on a dharna out-side the Chief Elector-al Officer’s office in Kolkata demanding ac-tion against the cul-prits.Cooch Behar dis-trict will go to polls on April 10.

TMC workers attacked car: Dilip Ghosh

TALKING POINTAHMEDABAD | THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 2021

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I n the five years since Zaha Hadid’s passing, much has been written

about the glorious and tow-ering legacy the fabled Brit-ish-Iraqi architect left be-hind. Thinking about what she started, though, is more instructive.

Born in Baghdad, Iraq in 1950, Hadid – aka the Queen of Curve – fundamentally altered the contours of mod-ern architecture and design. She shattered gender stereo-types too by, in 2004, becom-ing the first woman to re-ceive the Pritzker prize – the highest award in her field.

As the world grapples with how to respond to the climate crisis, architecture is in the spotlight. The built environment is responsible for almost 36% of global en-ergy consumption. Cement alone causes 8% of global emissions.

In this context, Hadid’s most valuable contribution is the inspiration she repre-sented and the innovation she embodied. She con-ceived of modernity as an incomplete project, to be tackled. And she demon-strated to students not just how to imagine revolution-ary forms but, crucially, how to bring them to life.

PROBLEM SOLVINGThe seductive nature of Hadid’s buildings means that the approach she took to sustainability is often

overshadowed. It also wasn’t an explicit aspect of her early works, but rather be-came so later on in her ca-reer, in projects including the Bee’ah Headquarters in Sharjah, and Eco-park sta-dium in London. In 2015 she memorably highlighted sus-tainability as a defining challenge of her generation and stated that “architects had solutions”.

Hadid was a problem solv-er. From the outset she was unique in harnessing both technology and talent, through her groundbreak-ing interdisciplinary re-search group. She was one of the early adopters of a fully digitized 3D design process. When virtual real-ity became a thing, her prac-tice was one of the first to adopt that too.

This ability to make things happen was hard won. As a student at the Ar-chitectural Association in London in the mid-1970s, Hadid turned heads from the start with her other-worldly ideas. But it took her over a decade to get her designs realized. It was with her first big commission – the 1993 Vitra Fire Station in Germany – that the world finally got to see up close the power of her architectural imagination.

The Danish architect Bjarke Ingels (founder of Bjarke Ingels Group, one of the most dynamic contem-porary architectural prac-tices) described visiting Vitra Fire Station as an “eyeopening experience” that brought to life the kind of visual impossibilities people usually only dream of. For all its ambition,

though, the Vitra building was criticized as unsuitable by the firemen who occu-pied it.

Undeterred, Hadid went on to create daring, experi-mental designs for London’s Millennium Dome exhibi-tion spaces and the Serpen-tine Gallery’s annual sum-mer pavillion. She gave Innsbruck a new landmark – the Bergisel Ski Jump – and became the first woman to ever design an American art museum, with her iconic Rosenthal Center for Con-temporary Art in Cincin-nati.

IMMEASURABLE INFLUENCEAlthough her career had be-gun with that infamous tag of her buildings being un-buildable, Hadid rapidly es-tablished herself as a radi-cal architect by creating a strong and unique design statement globally. Hadid expanded her global brand and her reach to product de-sign, fashion and jewellery.

In Canadian architectural historian Despina Stratiga-kos’s book, Where Are the Women Architects?, Hadid explained how she survived and fought sexism in her profession. Her inspiring at-titude and professional de-meanour was gender-neu-tral. She was able to switch between femininity and masculinity as required to survive and excel in what is a ruthless and ultra-compet-itive business.

In this way, even though her projects saw her labelled a starchitect, Hadid’s ideas set her apart from the old

school. They opened a radi-cally new path for later gen-erations, like this year’s Pritzker laureates, Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal.

Her presence continues to be felt across the contempo-rary design and architec-ture worlds. With around 1.2 million Instagram follow-ers, Zaha Hadid Architects is now the most followed ar-chitectural practice in the world. Her sinuous lines and captivating shapes have been referenced by set de-signers on trendsetting movies including Black Panther.

Her words – especially the famous quote, “There are 360 degrees. Why stick to one?” – have stuck with ar-chitects in China and de-signers in Germany and In-dia. Her principles have fostered new possiblities in architectural research, thinking and process.

In every way, Hadid re-mains a muse. She was re-bellious and defiant. She embraced the unimagina-ble. Known for provoking controversies, even her crit-ics agreed to the fact that without Hadid, architecture would be less interesting.

When she won the Pritz-ker prize in 2004, the jury noted how consistently she defied convention. Even if she’d never built anything, they said, Zaha Hadid would have radically expanded the possibilities of architec-ture. She was lauded as an iconoclast, a beautiful mind. As the critic Joseph Giovan-nini put it at the time, “Rare-ly has an architect so radi-cally changed and inspired the field”.

ZAHA HADID

Her mind left its mark, more than

her buildings

LAKSHMI PRIYA RAJENDRAN

Senior Research Fellow, Future Cities, Anglia Ruskin University

SOURCE : THECONVERSATION.COM

Changsha Meixihu Culture and Arts Centre, in Hunan province, China. Designed by Zaha Hadid Architects in 2019.

—JASON_X.J / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

The Daxing International Airport in Beijing, China —HAO WEN ON UNSPLASH, FAL

Zaha Hadid’s groundbreaking design for the Vitra Fire Station in Weil am Rhein, Germany.

—KAMIENCZANKA / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM The Nanjing International Youth Cultural Center by Zaha Hadid in Nanjing, China. —DENYS NEVOZHAI / UNSPLASH, FAL

Life is made up of hundreds of experiences for humankind, what makes it unique is an individual’s perception and learning.

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

AHMEDABAD | THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 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

Rupani scoffs at ‘fake news’ of son’s wedding as reason for no lockdownFirst India Bureau

Gandhinagar: Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Wednesday scoffed at memes going viral that he had stopped short of impos-ing a lockdown despite rising Covid-19 cases since his son Rushabh’s wedding had been planned in near future.

Furious by the memes that instead of a lockdown his govern-ment went in for ex-tending the night cur-few in 20 cities of the State, Rupani ridiculed all speculations and as-serted that arresting the coronavirus spread was his top priority.

The memes on social media attributed the Chief Minister’s reluc-tance to announce a lockdown to his son’s wedding. One meme made fun of him stat-ing: “There won’t be any lockdown in the

state, because I have my son’s wedding sched-uled.”

Rupani tweeted, “These are baseless speculations. There was no plan for my son’s wedding in May. These are fake news on social

media. The complete at-tention of the State Government is on con-taining the spread of Covid-19 in Gujarat.”

Rupani became a butt of jokes and memes on the social media after the Gujarat High Court

urged the State to con-sider a lockdown of three-four days to break the chain of the virus. After this, there was widespread speculation of an impending lock-down that even pro-voked panic buying by

people in various mar-kets.

The Chief Minister, however, later said his government would not take any measure that would put the people to hardship, while making every possible effort to

fight the spread of Cov-id-19.

So instead of any lockdown, the State Government advanced night curfew timings by one hour and imposed it across 20 cities, instead of just four major cities earlier. This was decid-ed at the meeting of the core committee, com-prising the Rupani, Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, Chief Sec-retary Anil Mukim and Principal Secretary (Health) Jayanti Ravi, among others.

Stating that things had gone out of control, the Gujarat High Court on Tuesday asked the State to impose a cur-few for three or four days or in the weekend given the unprecedent-ed surge in Covid-19 cases averaging over 3,000 a day. The court had opined that the sit-uation called for a lock-down.

After HC directive to consider lockdown in view of Covid surge, CM expanded night curfew to 20 cities

First India Bureau

Ahmedabad: With the Gujarat Govern-ment in no mood to bring in another ex-tended lockdown or a

weekend curfew, it seems to have decided to pull up socks in en-forcing Covid-19 safe-ty protocols.

As an evidence, the Gujarat police have col-

lected fines worth Rs 2.66 crore in 4 days from people failing to wear masks and those spit-ting in public places, according to an official press release.

Officials said on Wednesday that the fine was collected be-tween April 2 and April 5, with a penalty of Rs 1,000 each on on viola-tors of the mask rule. On an average around 6,600 people were fined every day for violating the mask rule and spit-

ting in public. The action follows

Gujarat Director-Gen-eral of Police Ashish Bhatia’s instructions to officials to strictly en-force the coronavirus-related SOPs, a press statement said.

“A penalty of Rs 2.66 crore was collected in four days from 26,761 people found moving out without mask or spitting in public,” an official said.

As many as 1,300 FIRs under section 188

of the Indian Penal Code were also regis-tered during this period against people who failed to adhere to the directives issued by the administration to curb the viral spread, it was stated.

At least 2,410 persons were also arrested for flouting Covid-19 relat-ed rules and guidelines. Besides, 2,373 vehicles were seized for curfew violations in 4 major cities during this peri-od, the release said.

Guj cops penalise mask violators with ̀2.6 cr fine in 4 daysThe police also arrested 2,410 persons for flouting Covid-19 related rules and guidelines between April 2 and April 5

—FILE PHOTO

COVID CRACKDOWN

400 checkdams, 10 dams filled with Narmada waters First India Bureau

Gandhinagar: The Gujarat Irrigation Department claims to have filled 400 check-dams, 67 village ponds and 10 dams by pumping 2,761 mil-lion cubic feet (mcft) of Narmada water through the SAUNI (Saurashtra Narma-da Avtaran Irriga-tion) scheme.

According to the de-partment, this was pos-sible with the large res-ervoirs in Saurashtra already filled up to 42% capacity to meet the water needs of the re-gion.

Officers of Rajkot and Bhavnagar irriga-tion circles claimed they had started oper-ating four pipeline link canals of SAUNI in February-end and by April 7, pumped 2,761 mcft water.

They said dams like Aji-I, Machhu-I, Nyari-I, Veri, Machhu-III,

Khodapipar and Nayka have been filled with Narmada water to meet drinking water needs of cities like Rajkot and Jamnagar and towns like Gondal and Dhrol.

Similarly, water has been pumped to Kani-yad and Krushnasagar dams to meet drinking water needs of Botad town. Ponds like Devd-hari, Shanala, Vanala, Tarnetar, Tikar, Dud-hai, Sarva, Sarsana have also been filled to augment availability of drinking water in villages.

Officials claimed that the Rajkot and Jamnagar municipal corporations ap-proached the State Government request-ing Narmada water be pumped into dams supplying drinking water to these cities. The government asked irrigation de-partment to leverage the SAUNI pipeline.

Hit-and-run case accused Atul surrenders First India Bureau

Surat: The owner of the well-known Atul Bakery in Surat, Atul Vekariya, on Wednes-day surrendered at the Umra police station in the hit-and-run case in which he had knocked to death a 29-year-old woman driving his lux-ury SUV in an allegedly drunk state.

He was put through the first rapid antigen test for Covid-19 that found to be positive for the virus. An RT-PCR test is awaited. He will be treated at the New Civil Hospital under po-lice station before being produced in a court.

Highly intoxicated Vekaria, driving his luxury Ford Endeavour on the University road

rammed into three ve-hicles on the Udhna Magdalla road on March 26. Urvashi Chaudhary, who was sitting on a parked mo-ped, was killed in the accident. She had come to have coffee with her brother Niraj, who was parking his moped, when the incident oc-curred.

Police reached the

spot and arrested Veka-riya. He was produced in the court the next day and ordered to be released on Rs 15,000 bail. Police waited for his medical report for being intoxicated and it came out positive.

Since the deceased woman was a tribal, an offence under the SC/ST Act was also regis-tered against Vekariya.

First India Bureau

Surat: The Crime Branch has arrested 5 persons in the April 2, 2021, murder and rob-bery case in Dumas and recovered material worth Rs 2.46 lakh from them, two pistols and Rs 1 lakh cash. They were picked up from Kharwasa Road.

Primary investiga-tion revealed that Pratap Ginda had made a call to a woman in Mumbai on March 27. She informed that her sister lived in Dumas and her neighbour Bhu-pendra Patel has around Rs 3 crore at his home, which he got af-ter selling land.

The robbers reached Dumas and met Chetnaben and did recce of the de-ceased’s house. They stole two bikes from Puna area for the crime. When they en-tered the house, Bhu-pendra came to know about it and robbers killed them.

The investigation also revealed that they had plans of making a robbery of Rs 160 crore in a bungalow at Mum-bai-Badlapur highway and that they effected this robbery to organise some resources for the big catch.

Five held for murder & robbery in Dumas

The accused persons.

RARE SIGHTING?

Bay-backed shrike bird spotted on Kanjari village road on the outskirts of Ahmedabad city on Wednesday morning.

HC commutes death to life sentence in 2017 rape and murder of 4-yr-oldFirst India Bureau

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High Court has commuted death penalty given to an ac-cused person to life imprisonment in a 2017 case in which a four-year-old girl was murdered after being raped and sodomised in Anand district.

A division bench comprising Justice AK Desai and Justice AS Supehia observed that the case did not fall under the catego-ry of rarest of rare case and a capital punishment was un-warranted.

So the court decid-ed to commute the sentence to life im-prisonment for the of-fence punishable un-der Section 302 of the IPC, while other di-rections of a lower court were retained.

Anand Additional

Special Judge for POCSO Court had found Raju alias Rajeshbhai Vaghri guilty in the 2017 mur-der rape and sodomy case and sentenced him to death for the offence punishable under Section 302. For the Section 376 of-fence, the court had slapped a life sen-tence.

Other punishment included 10 years jail for offence under Sec-

tion 377 and 5 years imprisonment under Section 363. The trial court had found this the rarest of rare case and awarded death sentence.

The accused had not challenged the trial court order but the provision of Section 368 of Criminal Proce-dure Code empowers the high court to con-firm the sentence or pass any other sen-tence under the law.

Gujarat High Court. —FILE PHOTO

These are baseless specula-

tions. There was no plan for my son’s wedding in May. These are fake news on social media. The complete atten-tion of the State Government is on containing the spread of Covid-19 in Gujarat.

—-Vijay Rupani, Chief Minister of Gujarat

—PHOTO BY HANIF SINDHI

Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani with his son Rushabh. —FILE PHOTO

AHMEDABAD, THURSDAYAPRIL 8, 2021

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pring season is here and this season brings a sudden change in our wardrobes. All our winter clothes go back to the almirahs and we start looking for the latest and trendy clothes that suit us in summers. So here we are, to guide you about the latest fashion which will make you stand out from the crowd. Bottoms dif-fer according to the oc-casion like sometimes we wear jeans, shorts, pants or skirts but what

makes them complete are the ‘Tops’. In this arti-cle, you will get to know the latest designs of tops

to complete your look and bring out the Diva in you.

1. PEPLUM TOPPeplum-style first grew popular in the mid-19th century and traces its roots to Greece. It refers to a tu-nic or long garment with a flap of fabric folded and belted around the waist. It is back in fashion again and is one of the trendiest tops of 2021.

2. SWEETHEART NECK TOP: This season, the neckline game is very strong, and the style that is ruling the hearts is the ‘Sweet-heart’ neck. The crowd is obsessed with show-

ing off their collarbones and sweetheart neck is the best option to do that.

3. HIGH-NECK TOP:Want to look sexy without revealing cuts? The high-neck top trend is gaining very high attention these days. With its decent look, it can be carried anywhere. Whether it is your work-place or an informal gather-ing, this style never let you down.

4. WRAP TOP:Your wardrobe will be in-complete if you will not shop for a wrap top this sum-mer. It includes a cute knot and a high level of versatil-ity that makes you look cute and sexy at the same time.

5. SMOCKED FIT TOP:Smocking is an embroidery technique used to gather fabric so that it can be stretched. This is a supere-lastic style that fits you so but doesn’t let you feel un-comfortable or immobile. If you are looking for an op-tion to look ‘Smockingly’ hot this season, do not give a second thought and grab this style.

6. PUFF-SLEEVE TOP:This is a bold and delicate style at the same time which helps you to express your girly side. Denim, hoop ear-rings and stylish footwear, this is enough to make you look fabulous with a puffed-sleeve top. This is a retro trend but gaining more im-portance this year.

On the On the TOPTOPCITY FIRST BRINGS YOU THE LATEST TRENDS OF ‘TOPS’ TO MAKE YOU SHINE AND LOOK STUNNING ON EVERY OCCASION THIS YEAR.

SMANSI BACHANIcityfirst@firstindia.co.in

10ETC

AHMEDABAD | THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 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

FACE

OF TH

E DAY

PRAGATI DUGAR, Software Engineer

LEOJULY 24 - AUGUST 23

Your performance at work will be commendable. Your own happiness is in your hands today. Spouse may

need her space, respect that. This is a favourable day for completing pending jobs. Financially, no problems are foreseen. It is best to avoid outside food.

LIBRA SEPT 24 - OCTOBER 22

A family youngster is likely to do you proud. A business trip is indicated and will achieve much.

Your strategy to promote yourself on the professional front will bear fruits. You may need to speed up things on the academic front to remain ahead. The day fi nds you in your element.

ARIESMAR 21 - APR 20

Success is foretold on the academic front. Your reputation is likely to boost your image on the social

front. On the work front, you will manage to keep your superiors in good humour. A good day to spend time with family. Good planning will see you complete a task.

SAGITTARIUS NOV 23 - DEC 22

Good performance on the academic front will help enhance your reputation at work. Some favourable

developments on the social front are foreseen. Buying new furniture or a major appliance is possible. With good networking, a prized posting can be yours. A healthy phase of life begins.

GEMINIMAY 21 - JUNE 21

Getting into a favourable situation on the academic front is possible. Good luck promises to brighten your

day. Some positive changes can be expected on the home front. This seems a good day for job seekers. New avenues for earning open up as you get more determined.

AQUARIUSJAN 21 - FEB 19

A new deal is likely to come through and give you a taste of success. Those fond of travelling may get their

chance soon. This is the time when you enjoy yourself with a new group of friends or colleagues. A change of job is likely to give you better salary and perks.

TAURUSAPR 21 - MAY 20

Excellent opportunities may knock at your door. Professionals will be able to give their best in a new

situation. Financially, this day may prove lucky for you, so go ask for the raise that is keeping you on tenterhooks. Don’t take any chances with your health today.

CAPRICORNDEC 23 - JAN 20

You are likely to take up someone’s cause and earn appreciation from all quarters on the social

front. Remaining on the good side of those who matter on the academic front will help you achieve much. Good tidings of your well wishers will keep you going.

VIRGOAUG 24 - SEP 23

You may wait for someone’s invitation for a trip. Your professionalism in handling problem areas

will be appreciated. Tenant troubles are foreseen for some house owners. You will fi nd family life more than fulfi lling. A senior is likely to put in a good word for you to the higher ups.

CANCERJUNE 22 - JULY 23

Your desire for an exciting time on the social front is likely to be fulfi lled today. Those looking for buying a

house can get a good bargain. Appreciation is in store for some homemakers. A professional victory is yours if you play your cards well today.

PISCESFEB20 - MARCH 20

You will have to be more focussed on the academic front. You may get busy organising something on

the social front. You may need to put your ideas into action, if you want to prove yourself. A party may be thrown in your honour at work. Your good performance will be noticed.

SCORPIOOCT 23 - NOVEMBER 22

You will manage to achieve what you had aimed for on the academic front. A celebration can fi nd you in

your element today. Praise and honour are likely to greet you in something that you have managed to achieve. You will be a pillar of strength to a friend or associate.

YOUR DAY

Horoscope by Saurabbh Sachdeva

amosa is probably the most loved snack in India. With a rich spiced potato filling, it comes in both fried and baked

avatar. But, did you know that samosa has also got fillings like onion, cheese, lentils, meat and much more? Today, we shall ex-plore exactly that along with delving into its rich history.

HISTORY & FACTSThe word ‘samosa’ seems to be sketched from the Persian word sanbosag meaning anything trian-

gular, which is currently referred to as sambusak in Arabic. In Medieval Ara-bic recipe books, it’s also spelt as sambusaj or san-busaq. The legend has it that samosa originated in the Middle East and Cen-tral Asia. Its popularity then spread across Africa, South and Southeast Asia. Interestingly, the word san-busaj was first found in a 9th-century poem by the Persian poet named Ishaq al-Mawsili. Later, Abolfazl Beyhaqi (995-1077), an Ira-nian historian, mentioned samosa in one of his writ-ings ‘Tarikh-e Beyhaghi.’ The word samoosa is used in South Africa.In the middle ages, the world’s greatest travellers, scholars, warriors took sa-mosa recipes with them that somehow encouraged other countries to come up

with their unique ver-sions. That’s how, in Spain, the sanbusak became the empanada. Later, the Span-ish took the empanada to Central America and so on. All this while, the stuff-ing of the samosa kept al-tering according to the lo-cal taste. So while in some parts of Spain, empanadas are stuffed with tuna fish

and tomato, in Bari (South of Italy), the stuffing is of mackerel fish.

TYPEA samosa can be counted in the family of pastries and Chinese dumplings because all these food items have fillings in them. In fact, a croissant from the West can be called

its close cousin.

SAMOSA IN INDIAIt’s believed that samosa was introduced to Indians post the invasion of the Central Asian Turkic dy-nasties in the region.Amir Khusro (1253–1325), a scholar and the royal poet of the Delhi Sultanate, once wrote how the prince and nobles truly enjoyed samosa with a filling of ghee, meat and onions.Similarly, the famous 14th-century traveller named Ibn Battuta wrote about the ruler Muhammad bin Tughluq and his favourite samushak or sambusak which he liked with a stuff-ing of minced meat, al-monds, pistachios, wal-nuts, and spices.

SAMOSA’S MODERN-DAY COMPONENTSAll we need today to make samosa, at least in India, is all-purpose flour aka mai-da and for the filling, it’s majorly boiled potatoes, green chillies, coriander seeds, chilli powder, salt to taste, onions (optional), peas (optional), garam masala along with a couple of more spices according to one’s taste.The modern-day samosa is served with a variety of options like green chut-ney made of coriander leaves and/or mint leaves, chhole sabji, kadhi, yo-

ghurt (dahi), tamarind chutney, tomato ketchup, and much more.

TYPES OF INDIAN SAMOSASBengal’s Shingaras: These Bengal-style samosas are usually eaten in a sweet form called narkel er shin-gara (coconut shingara), with a filling of khoya dipped in sugar syrup.

Their savoury version is filled with potato, peas, on-ions, diced almonds, or other vegetables. Fulkopir shingara (shingara filled with cauliflower mixture) is another popular varia-tion. Its non-vegetarian version is called mangsher shingara (mutton shinga-ra) and macher shingara (fish shingara).

ABOUT CAULDRON SISTERSRatika & Richa Khetan, two Sisters, started Cauldron Sisters in 2015. It started as an exotic food gift hamper business, but their love for food encouraged them to start culinary workshops, food deliveries, and slowly and gradually it turned huge as restaurants and cafes started approaching them for consultancy.

THE HISTORY OF SAMOSAS

S

ETCwww.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 AHMEDABAD | THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 2021

11

NEW NEW ROLEROLE

ngelina Jolie will be stepping into choppier waters with her next film Those Who Wish Me Dead. Helmed

by Taylor Sheridan, the film’s first look starring Angelina Jol-ie dropped on Wednes-day. The actress will be taking on the role of an expert firefighter trained to parachute into a blaze. Based on Michael Koryta’s novel of the same name, Those Who Wish Me Dead is set amid a wild-fire in the Montana wilderness.

—Agency

A Signature HerbalSignature Herbal

Healthy living is one of the prime con-cern for each one of us. To promote

the use of organic and ayurvedic products to es-tablish a healthy living, actress Prachi Tehlan and Singer MD Desi Rockstar launched ‘Signature Herb-al’ at the Grand Uniara Hotel, Jaipur on the occa-sion of World Health Day.

Prachi Tehlan shared her secret of leading a healthy life by insisting upon her interest in sports and not skipping meals. she further says, “When we skip our meals, our body does not receive the nourishment that it re-quires. Fats are important for our body as well. But, we must also keep track to burn those fats to stay fit.”

MD Desi Rockstar em-phasized upon exercising. He said, “We must know our body types and exer-cise according to our lim-its. So that we do not over-work ourselves and build our muscles.”

SOMEDAY

CITY FIRST

After her web show ‘ D e l h i C r i m e ’

won the Best Dra-ma Series award at the International Emmy Awards last year, the versatile actress’ debut di-rectorial venture, ‘Someday’ has been selected for the 51st Annual USA Film Festival’s Interna-

tional Short Film and Video Compe-tition. The short film, directed by Shefali, has been shortlisted in the finalist category of the Oscar-accredit-ed film festival and will undergo the final round of judg-ing next week. ‘Someday’ is a sto-ry of two women, united by the um-bilical cord, sepa-rated by a door.

Justin Bieber and wife Hailey Baldwin need no reason to display their affection and

love for each other. Recently, the Canadian pop singer did just that as he dropped an en-dearing selfie with Hailey in it. In the photo, Justin can be seen resting his face on Hai-ley’s shoulders as the super model snaps up a picture. Justin remarked his bet-ter half as his best friend as he captioned the photo, “Go best fwend.”

Best Friends

SHE DID IT!H

old up, there’s a new billionaire! Kim Kardashian has officially been listed by Forbes as a billionaire. The reality star and entrepreneur has now officially joined the World’s Billionaires list for the first time ever. Thanks to her beauty and shapewear brands, Kim Kardashian

seems to have successfully climbed the ladder and entered the billionaires club. With Kylie Jenner los- ing her billionaire spot, Kim Kardashian is now the first Kardashian-Jenner sibling to become a bil- lionaire. Kim’s worth has gone up from $780 million in October to the current $1 billion. —Agency

SUSHMITA AINDcityfirst@firstindia.co.in

Angelina Jolie

MD Desi Rockstar and Prachi Tehlan

...Justin Bieber’s post

Hailey Baldwin

Poster of the Short Film

AdipurushFitness freak

CITY FIRST

Tiger Shroff has given out major fitness in-spiration to the audi-ence, time and again.

His gym trainer, Rajendra Dhole who has been with the actor for a long time, spills some beans about the actor’s love for a chiselled body. He revealed that “The actor has a mini gym at his place, due to the onset of the lock-down”. He also added the fact that “During the lockdown, when gyms were closed, Tiger had managed to buy a limited set of equip-ment at his own place.”

—Agency

—PH

OTO

BY S

UMAN

SAR

KAR

It’s a wrap

Never-before-seen

Konkana Sen Sharma and Ar-jun Rampal have completed

the shooting of Aparna Sen’s upcoming directo-rial project ‘The Rap-ist’. Indian film critic and trade analyst Taran

Adarsh confirmed the news on his IG handle. The much-awaited film deals with the complex themes of sexual vio-lencea and restorative justice while exploring the aftermath of a dark.

—ANI

Kanye West’s doc-u m e n t a r y which has been in the making

since quite some and as per reports the project may have been picked up by Netflix for a whop-ping amount. Accord-ing to Billboard, West’s documentary has been picked up by Netflix for USD 30 million and that

it will feature the rap-per’s never-before-seen footage. —Agency

seems to have successfully climbed the ladder and entered the billionaires club. With Kylie Jenner los- ing her billionaire spot, Kim Kardashian is now the first Kardashian-Jenner sibling to become a bil- lionaire. Kim’s worth has gone up from $780 has gone up from $780 million in October to million in October to the current $1 billion. the current $1 billion.

Fitness Fitness freakfreak

iger Shroff has given out major fitness in-spiration to the audi-ence, time and again.

His gym trainer, Rajendra Dhole who has been with the actor for a long time, spills some beans about the actor’s love for a chiselled body. He revealed that “The actor has a mini gym at his place, due to the onset of the lock-down”. He also added the fact that “During the lockdown, when gyms were closed, Tiger had managed to

CITY FIRST

Sunny Singh is a fa-miliar face for many of us. From playing pivotal

roles in cult favourite films like Pyaar Ka Punchnama and Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety, to now get-ting into the avatar of Lax-man for his upcoming film Adipurush, the actor has had phenomenal growth.

Sunny Singh opens upon the preparation he has done for Adipurush, “As a child, I had watched Ramayan along with my parents. I didn’t focus much on the characters but the story was enough to keep me invested.”

AdipurushUSD 30 million and that

CITY FIRST

Sroles in cult favourite films like Pyaar Ka Punchnama and Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety, to now get-ting into the avatar of Lax-man for his upcoming film Adipurush, the actor has had phenomenal growth.

Sunny Singh opens upon the preparation he has done for Adipurush, “As a child, I had watched Ramayan along with my parents. I didn’t focus much on the characters but the story was enough to keep me invested.”

Tested Negative

Recently, Jac-queline Fer-n a n d e z ’ s Ram Setu co-

star Akshay Kumar had tested positive for Covid-19. 45 crew members of the film had tested positive too, which halted the shooting of the film for the time being. We learn that Jac-queline had under-gone test as a precau-tionary measure and was in isolation till the results. —Agency

Jacqueline Fernandez

Tiger Shroff

Taran Adarsh’s post

Kanye West

Sunny SinghKim Kardashian

12AHMEDABAD | THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 2021www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia

CITY BUZZ

GUJ: A special ambulance for the vaccination of senior citizens and underprivileged people was arranged by local corporator Karan Bhatt in the Maninagar area of Ahmedabad city on Wednesday.

SUCCESSFUL TREATMENTCITY FIRST

IVF Center of Geetanjali Medi-cal College and Hospital brought happiness in the lives of a couple with the help of

Vitro fertilization reproductive technology, which helps in con-ceiving a child for difficult cases. Recently, a 35-year-old Jalore resi-

dent, who complained of ovary cancer, has con-ceived in the first phase of treatment at the IVF cen-

tre of GMCH after 20 years of marriage, which in itself

is nothing short of an achieve-ment. The treatment was success-fully done by the IVF department’s HOD Dr Pooja Gandhi and her team and the cancer of the ovary of the patient was treated by can-cer surgeon Dr Ashish Zakhetia, Dr Arun Pandey and medical spe-cialist Dr Ankit Aggarwal and Dr Renu Mishra.

cityfirst@firstindia.co.in

SHAKTI

n the occasion of World Health Day, Harshika Pareek, the founder of Helping Hands Innayati Or-ganisation has taken a pledge to increase

awareness among women re-

garding hygiene, especially, during the mensuration pe-riod. With the poster launch of Shakti on Wednesday at Hotel Renest, Jaipur, she has urged the public to join her in the mission of reaching out to the rural areas and educate women about sanitary nap-kins and sanitation across Rajasthan. Munesh Gurjar, Mayor of Jaipur Municipal Corporation was the special guest during the event. Addi-tional SP Sulesh Choudhary, Additional SP Suneeta Mee-na, Renu Saini (Congress Dis-

trict General Secretary), CIA Ekta Raj (Gandhinagar Ma-hila Police Station), CI Santra

Meena (Shyamnagar police station), Gyanendra G

Mishra (Director, Aware Public), Dr Pan-kaj Sharma (Director P

Square Group), CK Shar-ma (Director Max Institute),

Anita Meena and Shubham Brambhatt were present dur-ing the event as guests of hon-our. Along with Harshika, the guests have offered their sup-port to take this mission for-ward.

cityfirst@firstindia.co.in

Awareness programme

CITY FIRST

A corona aware-ness pro-gram was o r g a n -

ised on Wednes-day under the aegis of Seedart and AU Small Fi-nance Bank at areas of

Jagatpura and Jhalana Dungri, where more than 200 people were made aware of the

precautions. The campaign

Advisor of Se-edart, Dr Prami-

la Sanjay shared that the program is

going on since Janu-

ary, more than 5,000 people have been made aware of the disease. The program is being executed under the leadership of Ruchi Sharma, coordinator of this program and C P Sharma, national co-ordinator.

cityfirst@firstindia.co.in

Jagdeesh Chandra launched the poster of MilJayega Smart Vehicle Sticker on Wednesday at his residence. Neeraj Bharadwaj and Seema Malhotra, Nisha Bagga from Community for Safer Roads, NGO, Bhawna from Hunar Foundation NGO and Girish, Wassim, Surendra, Rohit from the All India Motor Driving School Association were all present during the launch. This Smart Vehicle Sticker is an innovative solution for driver and vehicle safety and has been recommended by the Transport Department (Road Safety Cell) Rajasthan. Seen with him are Wassim Qureshi, Surendra Kumawat, Rohit, Ambika Sharma, Seema Malhotra, Nisha Bagga, Jyoti and Neeraj Bhardwaj. —PHOTO BY SUMAN SARKAR

Jagdeesh Chandra congratulated the team and also launched the poster of an upcoming International Conference and Red Diamond Achiever Award 2020-21 at his residence on Wednesday. The event is scheduled to be held on April 11 at Suresh Gyan Vihar University, Jaipur. Seen here with him are Dr Nisha Mathur, Founder President and Chairman Bhavya Foundation; Parmila Bedi Brand Ambassador Rajasthan Bhavya foundation and Rajni Shree Bedi, President Bhavya Foundation.

POSTER LAUNCHED!

SUSHMITA AINDcityfirst@firstindia.co.in

O

WHAT’S HAPPENING!

IN THE CITY!

RAJ: On the occasion of World Health Day, Geetanjali Dental and Research Institute organised a free dental treatment counselling camp in Matoon, Rajasthan on Wednesday. The camp executed under the leadership of Dr Nikhil Verma, Dr Sharada Bishnoi, Dr Rinkin Hans and team, benefited 116 people.

RAJ: Success Land Education Hub held a seminar on language education on Sunday. Langauge experts shared their insights about different languages. Director Naresh Singh Amera further explained that English, German, French and Dutch will be taught at the institute.

 A two-in-one art exhibition of Bottle Art and Freehand Mandalas is being organised from April 8-14 at the Sukriti Gallery in Jawahar Kala Kendra (JKK). The exhibition will be inaugurated at 4.30 pm today and will be open to the public from 5 pm to 6 pm. The exhibition is being organised by senior civil servant and artist, Mugdha Sinha. ‘Bottle is Canvas’ is her first solo exhibition of bottle art.

Minister of Art & Culture, Government of Rajasthan, Dr BD Kalla will inaugurate the celebrations of Jawahar Kala Kendra Foundation Day on April 8 at Jawahar Kala Kendra.

During the awareness campaignRenu Saini, Munesh Gurjar, Harshika Pareek,Panjak Sharma and Shubham Brambhatt

During the poster launch: Harshika Pareek, Anita Meena, Renu Saini,Sulesh Choudhary, Pankaj Sharma, CK Sharma and Dr Anjali Sharma

The team of GMCH Doctors

—PHOTOS BY SUMAN SARKAR