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JAIPUR l SATURDAY, MAY 15, 2021 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI NO. RAJENG/2019/77764 l Vol 2 l Issue No. 337

OUR EDITIONS: JAIPUR, AHMEDABAD & LUCKNOW

PM OPENS TREASURY FLOOD GATES FOR FARMERS`1.35 LAKH CR DISBURSED SO FAR UNDER PM-KISAN SCHEME PM SAYS VIRUS RAPIDLY SPREADING IN RURAL AREAS, WARNS STATES AGAINST OXY HOARDERS Kavita Pant & Aditi Nagar

New Delhi: Prime Min-ister Narendra Modi on Friday said the Centre has transferred around Rs 1,35,000 crore so far under the PM-KISAN scheme with the pay-ment of eighth instal-ment on Friday and is also procuring higher quantity of paddy and wheat at MSP to boost farmers’ income.

For the first time, farmers in West Bengal have joined the scheme and about 7 lakh Bengal farmers received their first installment today.

“All farmers, especial-ly from Punjab, are satis-fied with the scheme. I have seen many videos of farmers expressing their satisfaction on so-cial media,” PM said.

Out of total amount disbursed since launch

Turn to P6, More on P5

RECOVERIES OUTNUMBER DAILY CASES, 2+ CR CUREDNew Delhi: India’s dai-ly COVID-19 recoveries have outnumbered the daily new cases, taking the total recoveries to over two crore, the Un-ion Health Ministry said on Friday.

This is the third time in the last four days that recoveries have out-numbered daily cases. India’s cumulative re-coveries have surpassed 2 crore (2,00,79,599) with 3,44,776 patients recu-perating in a day.

Ten states account for 71.16% of the new recoveries.A total of 3,43,144 new coronavi-rus infections were reg-istered in a day. Howev-er, the daily positivity rate slightly declined to 20.08%, the ministry said. Turn to P6

BLACK FUNGUS HAS CLAIMED 52 LIVES IN MAHARASHTRA SO FARMumbai: As many as 52 people have died due to Mucormy-cosis, a rare but dangerous fungal infection, in Maharashtra since COVID outbreak last year, a senior health department offi cial said on Friday. Mean-while Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said on Friday, “Awareness and early diagnosis can help curb spread of the fungal infection.”

WHO urged wealthy coun-tries to stop inoculating chil-dren and adolescents against Covid and instead donate vaccines to poorer nations.

No decision yet on pending CBSE class 12 exams

Vaccine purchase should be centralised, distribution decen-tralised: Rahul Gandhi

7,900 MT oxygen delivered via Oxygen Express trains to 12 states thus far, says Railways.

To West Bengal farmers, the benefit has begun to reach for the first time. Today, lakhs of farmers in West Bengal have got their first instalment. Gradually when the names of farmers are sent to the Centre, the number of beneficiaries will increase —Narendra Modi, PM

THE SAMMAN RASHI

History will judge Bengal: Dhankhar during Assam visitGuwahati: It is a mat-ter of “shame” for West Bengal that its people are taking refuge in other states fearing vi-olence, Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar said on Friday. “Noth-ing can be more shame-ful for us than people of West Bengal taking shelter in other states,” Governor said while visiting areas of As-sam bordering Bengal to meet people from state camped there.

On Saturday he would visit places in Nandigram, where post-poll violence was allegedly reported.

On Friday he inter-acted with those who had taken refuge in a camp at Agomoni area of Dhubri. The Gover-nor, who is involved in

a running feud with Chief Minister Mama-ta Banerjee over law and order situation, said history will judge the bureaucracy of West Bengal, police and administration.

“History will judge the bureaucracy of West Bengal, police and administration... This is such an issue, where nobody has the right to play politics,” Dhankar said. “I do not understand till when will the tussle with the Governor, central forc-es, central government continue. I have seen that in Cooch Behar. I feel ashamed to speak to you on this.” He said he was not in favour of confrontation but champions coopera-tion. —Agencies

BLACK EID: 12 DIE IN KABUL MOSQUE BLAST

Cyclone Tauktae: Red alert in 5 Kerala districts

Kabul: A bomb ripped through a mosque in northern Kabul during Friday prayers, killing 12 worshippers, and wounding 15, Afghan police said. No one imme-diately claimed responsibility for bombing, the latest in a surge in violence as US and NATO troops have begun their fi nal withdrawal from the country, after 20 years of war. According to Afghan police spokes-man, Ferdaws Faramarz, the bomb exploded as prayers had begun. Mosque’s imam, Mofti Naiman, was among the dead, the spokesman said and added that the initial police investigation suggests the imam may have been the target. Taliban spokesman Zabi-hullah Mujahid denied any insurgent connection. —AP

Thiruvananthapuram: Five districts of Kerala were put under a red alert on Friday by IMD in view of the developing low-pressure areas over Lakshadweep and the Arabian sea that are expected to intensify into Cyclone Tauktae. In the revised weather forecast, IMD sounded a red alert for heavy to extremely heavy rainfall in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha and Ernakulam districts today. “The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams have been posted in nine districts of Kerala particularly in coastal areas Turn to P6

Create spl plan to prevent spread in Jaipur: CM

First India Bureau

Jaipur: Expressing deep concern over the continuous increase in the number of Covid patients in state capital, Jaipur, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday directed the officials to formulate a special plan to prevent the spread of infection.

He instructed to

strengthen the arrange-ments for containment zones, testing, contact tracing and other meas-ures in entire Jaipur district to control the infection.

In a high-level review meeting on corona in-fection, lockdown and availability of resourc-es, Gehlot said that number of active cases in Jaipur in last three

weeks has increased from 18,000 to more than 51,000 which is a matter of great concern. Look-ing at the situation, he directed the officials to

devise a new strategy for effective prevention of the infection.

For this purpose, a high level meeting of senior officials will be

held with health minis-ter Dr Raghu Sharma and minister of state for health Dr Subhash Garg on Saturday.

CM expressed con-cern over occurrence of cases of black fun-gus in Covid patients and instructed officials to prepare appropriate medical protocols for prevention of the dis-ease and share it with the doctors up to the district hospital and CHC level.

He said that it is very important to identify the black fungus in the early stages and give

proper treatment to the patients, so that the dis-ease does not take seri-ous form in the patients. Gehlot also asked the officials to ensure ade-quate availability of medicines related to this disease.

CM said there are nearly 2 lakh active cas-es in state but around 1.25 lakh are from only 7 districts and therefore a new strategy is need-ed to handle the situa-tion. Most of the cases are in Jaipur, followed by Jodhpur, Udaipur, Alwar, Bhilwara, Sikar and Kota. Turn to P6

High-level meeting with Dr Raghu & Dr Garg will be held on Saturday; Gehlot said number of active cases in Jaipur in last 3 weeks has increased

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot

PETROL, DIESEL PRICES RISE AGAIN, REACH RECORD HIGHS

SENSEX ENDS MARGINALLY HIGHER; NIFTY BELOW 14,700

Petrol and diesel prices on Friday touched record high levels across the country after rates were increased for the fourth time this week. Petrol price was hiked by 29 paise/litre & diesel by 34 paise/litre. Rates had already crossed `100-mark in several cities in MP, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. Rajasthan levies highest VAT on petrol in the country.

Equity benchmark Sensex ended marginally higher after a choppy session on Friday as concerns over economic impact of 2nd wave of Covid & pace of vaccination weighed on investor sentiment. 30-share BSE index ended 41.75 points or 0.09 per cent higher at 48,732.55, the broader NSE Nifty fell 18.70 points or 0.13 per cent to 14,677.80.

West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar

8th

`20,000 cr

7 lakh

`1.15 lakh cr

`6000

installment of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme given to farmers

given to about 9.5 crore benefi ciaries

farmers of West Bengal started getting benefi t from Friday.

has been transferred to farmer benefi ciaries under the scheme.

given per year, payable in 3 equal 4-monthly installments of `2000 each

DR FAUCI: MOVE TO EXTEND VAX GAP REASONABLE

MAHA TOPS WITH 42,582 NEW CASES, KERALA REPORTS 39,955

GOA HOSP TOLL RISES TO 75 AS 13 MORE DIE DUE TO O2 DEARTH

New Delhi: Indian government’s decision to extend the dura-tion between the fi rst and second dose of the Covishield vaccine is a “reasonable approach”, the United States’ top infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci said in an interview to ANI. Fauci said the government’s move would help ensure that more people receive at least one dose of the vaccine.

I ndia counted 3.43 lakh new cases of the novel coronavirus on Thursday, and 4,000

deaths. Maharashtra contributed 42,582 new cases, while Kerala reported 39,955. Uttar Pradesh is no longer in top 5 contributors. Andhra Pradesh has stepped in with more than 22,000 cases. Maharashtra contributed 882 deaths, while 344 came from Karnataka.

A s many as 75 Covid patients died in last 4 days at Goa Medical College and Hospital,

the state’s largest Covid facility, owing to “logistic issues” in supply of medical oxygen. The toll climbed up with the death of 13 more patients on Friday. On Thursday, 15 deaths were recorded, on Wednesday 21 people died, and on Tuesday, 26 had lost their lives.

SPUTNIK V TO COST `995.4/DOSE IN INDIA New Delhi: Dr Reddy’s Labora-tories on Friday launched vac-cine Sputnik V in India and the imported vaccine is priced at `995.4 per dose. The first dose of Sputnik V, also the first foreign-made vaccine used in the coun-try, was administered in Hy-derabad as part of a limited pi-lot project. The vaccine is cur-rently the second most expen-sive Covid-19 jab in the country.

The first consignment of im-ported doses of Sputnik V land-ed in India on May 1, Turn to P6

COVID HIGHLIGHTS Deepak Sapra, Global Head of Custom Pharma Services receives fi rst jab of Sputnik V, at Dr. Reddy’s Lab in Hyderabad. —ANI

CORONA CATASTROPHE

INDIA

3,43,144 New cases

4,000 New fatalities

RAJASTHAN

14,289New cases

155New fatalities

RAJASTHANJAIPUR | SATURDAY, MAY 15, 2021

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First India Bureau

Jaipur: A police consta-ble and two of his friends, including a woman, were killed when a truck hit them on late Thursday night as they were to celebrate the birthday of the cop. The accident took place around 2 am near Ba-darwas Tiraha in Man-sarovar area, the police said. The truck driver fled from the spot.

Jagdish Chaudhary, 33, a police constable posted at the Sodala po-lice station of Jaipur

Police Commissioner-ate, picked up his friend Nikhil Sharma, 24, from Pancholi Vi-har Colony in Sodala. Sharma was a law stu-dent and practiced in

the High Court.Thereafter Chaud-

hary, who was original-ly from Phagi tehsil of Jaipur, picked up Gay-atri alias Meenu, 30, a resident of Vatika in Sanganer at around 9 pm. The families, how-ever, got news of their deaths in the early hours of Friday. The police identified the de-ceased by looking at the ID card of Jagdish who was driving the car.

Police constable and 2 friends out to celebrate birthday killed in accident

CELEBRATION TURNS TRAGIC

Vasundhara Raje@VasundharaBJP

Hearty congratula-tions to all of you

on the city of lakes ‘Udaipur Foundation Day’. This city, which has become a bridge

of culture with the view of water, forest and land, still holds its own identity in the world with its unique pole-steps, orchards and tradi-tions such as seven festivities and nine

festivals.

TimeTWEET

Govt doing the best to save lives: DotasraSatish Poonia along with 25 MPs of the state should get oxygen and other necessary resources from the CentreFirst India Bureau

Sikar: PCC president Govind Singh Dotasra on Friday retaliated against allegations of corona mismanage-ment levelled on the state government by BJP state president Sat-ish Poonia. Dotasra, however, lauded efforts of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and said that Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has also said that Birla is providing full support, whenever needed.

Addressing a press conference at his resi-dence in Sikar, Dotasra said that the state gov-ernment is making the best arrangements to save the lives of people from corona, which PM Narendra Modi him-self has praised many

times. However, oxy-gen, medicines and vaccines dependent on the Central govern-ment are not being made available on time.

In such a situation, instead of doing poli-

tics, Poonia along with 25 MPs of the state should get oxygen and other necessary re-sources from the Centre.

When the state re-quired 705 metric tonne of oxygen, 366 metric

tonne of oxygen was be-ing provided to the state. And now, when 795 metric tonne of oxy-gen is required for co-rona patients, only 366 metric tonne is being transported.

Govind Singh Dotasra addressed a press conference at his residence in Sikar on Friday.

‘WHERE IS MODI?’

‘RAJ TOP IN VAX, THEN WHY BLAME CENTRE?’

7-year-old lured & raped by neighbour, manhunt launched for accused

Ensure no one dies of corona: Shekhawat

First India Bureau

Jaipur: Leader of Op-position Gulab Chand Kataria on Friday held the Ashok Gehlot gov-ernment responsible for the mismanagement, days after the ruling Congress blamed the centre for the same. He said that the chief min-ister and the leaders of his party should stop ac-cusing the center.

Kataria said Ra-jasthan topped in the vaccination for people above the age of 45, which was started by the centre, but the state government said noth-ing about this.

“The responsibility of administering vac-cines to people in the age group of 18-44 was also with the state gov-ernment but the gov-ernment is proving to be a laggard in this and rather blaming the cen-tre,” he said, while re-jecting allegations against the centre.

First India Bureau

Jaipur: A seven-year-old girl was raped by a neighbour after luring her with a candy in an area under Bhatta Bas-ti police station late Thursday night. On the complaint of victim’s mother, the police filed a case under the POC-SO Act and other crim-inal sections. The ac-cused is absconding.

According to police, the victim was playing outside her house on May 12 and she reached home in the evening crying. The victim’s mother said that the

accused often used to come to their house. According to the po-

lice, the accused’s chil-dren used to play with the victim.

First India Bureau

Jaisalmer: Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajen-dra Singh Shekhawat visited the Pokran on Friday to check the Cov-id arrangements. He monitored CHCs at Falsund, Bhaniyana, Sankra and Pokran and talked to the medical authorities. He also checked the vaccine ward and sampling work at the Pokran CHC and gave required guidelines to the offi-cials. Shekhawat said

that all the medical au-thorities should take ac-tive participation in caring for the patients and ensure no one dies due to corona.

GOOD NEWS!

Female Panther LK3 was spotted with her three cubs at Jhalana Leopard Safari in Jaipur on Thursday night. The family was captured in a camera trap near a water hole.

CORONA CURE ON THE WHEELS! The train coaches converted into isolation wards are waiting near Jaipur junction as the situation is getting grimmer with increasing demand for beds for Covid-19 patients.

—PHOTOS BY SUMAN SARKAR

STATEMENT OF DR RAGHU CHILDISH AND IRRESPONSIBLE: SARAFFirst India Bureau

Jaipur: Former Minister and BJP MLA Kalicharan Saraf on Friday termed a statement of health minister Dr Raghu Sharma as very child-ish and irresponsible where he had held the Centre responsible for deteriorating law and order situation in the rural areas of the state due to lack of vaccina-tion. Saraf said that the role of the leaders of the Congress party has been very negative since the early period of the pandemic.

“Congress leaders have been misleading

the entire nation about vaccine from the be-ginning. When the vac-cine fi rst arrived in the country, they tried to create an atmosphere of fear and confusion Black marketing of oxygen, ventilators, injections and beds is at a peak in the state due to government mismanagement and hundreds of patients are dying every day in the state,” he said.

Rathore demands relief in electricity bills

Jodhpur CP cycles to monitor city

First India Bureau

Jaipur: Deputy lead-er of opposition Ra-jendra Rathore has demanded from the state government to provide relief to peo-ple in electricity bills.Rathore said that that commercial and in-dustrial activities stalled due to the sec-ond wave of corona and looking at this, permanent charges, late fees etc. in the electricity bills of 1.52 crore consumers of

Jaipur, Jodhpur and Ajmer DISCOMs should be waived for at least 3 months from April to June.

BJP MLA Kalich-aran also demanded from the government to give relief in elec-tricity bills.

First India Bureau

Jodhpur: Commis-sioner of Police Jose Mohan rode on a bicy-cle in civil dress and set out on the streets of the city to take stock of how police-men are maintaining the Corona guideline

along with law and order in the city on the occasion of Eid on Friday. He reached Jalori Gate Eidgah via several police sta-tion areas. Policemen stationed outside Eid-gah did not even rec-ognize him and stopped him there.

MAN SHOT DEAD OVER OLD ENMITY, BROTHERS INJUREDBundi: A man was murdered over an old enmity and his two brothers received critical injuries in Bundi district’s Naniwa area on Friday. Gopal Gurjar, Kalyan Gurjar and Kashiram Gurjar were returning to their village when the several assail-ants attacked them with sharp edged weapons near Nohra Ghati. While Gopal died on the spot, Kalyan and Kashhiram received critical injuries and were admitted to Kota district hospital, deputy SP Kailash Chand Jat said. He said that there was an old enmity between two families over a murder case. The main accused is a habitual offender and he along with his accomplices executed the murder.

CP Jose Mohan on cycle stunned police personnel on duty as they could not identify him.

Jagdish Chaudhary

Rajendra Rathore

Kalicharan Saraf

Gulab Chand Kataria

Gajendra Singh Shekhawat takes stock of health services at Shergarh.

The accident took place around 2 am

near Badarwas Tiraha in

Mansarovar area

COVID-19 UPDATE

TOTAL CASES

8,35,814 CASES IN A DAY

14,289TOTAL DEATHS

6,472DEATHS IN A DAY

155

ACTIVE CASES

2,12,753

RECOVERED TOTAL

6,16,589RECOVERED IN A DAY

13,270

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

3 Indigo & 2 Air India fl ights operated on Friday whereas SpiceJet, Air Asia and Go Air fl ights were all cancelled

RMSCL to purchase Azithromycin, Paracetamol, Levocetirizine, Zinc Sulphate & Ascorbic Acid for corona kit

12 fl ights & direct fl ight to Dubai from Jaipur International

Airport cancelled on Friday due to low

passenger load

56,501 people got vaccinated in a day

in all categories; 39,272 got the fi rst dose while 17,229

got the second dose

CMHO Jaipur-I Dr Narottam Sharma was made incharge of all covid activities in city, he has new duty of CMHO-II too

The state government has

issued orders for the purchase of drugs

used in black fungus disease

2

6

4

1

5

3

VAX DRIVE IN STATE IS

PARTIAL IN NATURE: RAMLAL

BJP spokesperson Ramlal Sharma blames the vaccination drive in

state to be partial in nature. He said that

neither the hospitals are offering proper medical

facilities nor the vaccination centres have

doses. Those people who are not registered

on the site are being offered the dose at their

home. But people who have registered are

returning empty-handed & also demanded probe

& strict action against those who found guilty.

CHIEF WHIP PERFORMS YAJNA TO WARD OFF CORONAVIRUSChief whip Dr Ma-hesh Joshi on Friday performed yajna at his residence on Akshaya Tritiya for the protection from corona. Usually, in politics, BJP leaders are seen performing such acts but this time a secular Congress leader gave message of Hindu-tva. Joshi chose the day when Akshaya Tritiya & Eid were celebrated to-gether. He is Congress MLA from Hawa Mahal constituency where a large number of popula-tion is minority.

SHOCKING! TAKE SERVICES OF QUACKS TO TREAT PATIENTS, CONG SANGOD MLA URGES MINISTER

ACongress MLA wrote to Health Minister Dr Raghu Sharma, urging him to avail services of

quacks to treat Covid patients in rural areas. On Thursday, Sangod MLA Bharat Singh Kundanpur said as doctors can’t reach 40k villages so services of quacks should be utilised as people have faith in them. While many people have died from the infec-tion in medical colleges, there is hardly only one or two people who could have died under the supervi-sion of quacks, he said advocating amid pandemic.

Three accused in the police custody in Ajmer on Friday.

Bikaner412

Sikar674

Alwar1368Bharatpur

575

Jodhpur708Ajmer496

Jaisalmer496Chittor417

Kota773Jaipur

2823Udaipur688

Dausa341

First India Bureau

Bikaner: Higher educa-tion minister Bhanwar Singh Bhati on Friday reviewed the arrange-ments at community health centres and Covid centres in Gajner & Sri Kolayat.

He held a meeting of officials to ensure com-pliance of Covid norms, particularly in villages in view surge in cases in rural areas and also re-viewed ‘Ghar Ghar Aus-hadhi Yojana’ status. “If there is any problem, the district level officials should be informed im-mediately,” he instruct-

ed. Bhati informed that a 30-bedded Covid centre has been established in

Sri Kolayat & patients are being treated there. Edu Min also inspected

health centres in Gajner where a 10-bedded care centre has been set up.

First India Bureau

Kota: Efforts are being made by the city police to compel people to fol-low the strict lockdown to reduce the growing threat of Corona. In view of the problem of patients during the lockdown, emergency medical services, hospi-tals for emergency ser-vices and auto services are being made availa-ble at major places. The traffic police is imple-menting a new system from Saturday that will give all auto drivers a chance to operate in turns. Traffic DSP Kaluram Verma said that about 10,000 autos are operating in the city. With this rule, around 10,000 auto drivers in the city will get a chance to function.

First India Bureau

Ajmer: The ACB in Ajmer on Friday held two contractual em-ployees of a dispensary and a student doing in-ternship with Rs 2,500 that they allegedly took in lieu of Covid testing.

SP Sameer Singh said that complainant Tarun Aggarwal complained that one of the accused Sawan Rathore, intro-duced him as a com-

pounder of JLN hospi-tal & came home to col-lect samples demanding Rs 3k for three samples to be checked at JLN Hospital Ajmer but the deal was fixed at Rs 2,500. They told that the samples were to be handed over to Naveen Damore and a contrac-tual computer operator at Gulab Badi PHC and were to pay Rs 200/sam-ple. The ACB team ar-rested Naveen also.

First India Bureau

Jaipur: The High Court has ordered a stay on the removal of the con-tractual staff appointed under PPP mode at the PHC. While issuing this order, Justice Ashok Kumar Gaur has sum-moned the reply from the Health Secretary, Mission Director NHM, CMHO Jhunjhunu and others. This petition was filed by Kamlesh Saini and others. After this order, there is now a ban on the removal of ANM, Lab Technician, GNM,

Computer Operator, Pharmacists, Ward-boys and Medical Offic-ers engaged with the placement agency. Ad-vocate of the petition,

Ram Pratap Saini, told the court

that the peti-tioner in Jhunj-hunu has been

working on the various model

CHC-PHC for almost two years on the post of ANM, Lab Technician, Computer Operator, GNM, Wardboy, Phar-macist, Medical Officer. They are now being re-moved, despite good work in Covid crisis.

NGO provides oxy plants to a health centre in JodhJodhpur: With the as-sistance of Maharaja Shri Agrasen Welfare Society, the Urban Community Health Centre received the Oxygen Plant on Thursday at Resi-dency Road in the city. Jodhpur City MLA Manisha Panwar thanked the authori-ties and associated representatives for it. Maharaja Shri Agra-sen Welfare Soci-ety convenor Umesh Leela and Secretary

Surendra Chamariya said that the people are in trouble due to lack of oxygen. Both these oxygen plants will produce 10–10 i.e. 20 cubic meters of oxygen per hour, which will be suffi -cient for 24 hours for 50 patients. CMHO Dr Balwant Manda stated that 60 oxygen-rich beds have been ar-ranged in Residency Dispensary, which will soon be scaled up to 100 beds.

TWO NURSING STUDENTS HELD FOR BLACK MARKETING OF OXYGEN CYLINDERSBhimganj police station of Bhilwara has arrested two nursing students for the black marketing of oxygen cylinders. According to the police, Hemraj Meena, the father of Durgesh Meena after being discharged, was taken to the village for Durgesh took two cylinders to village at rate of Rs 15k/cylin-der where his father was on oxy support.

HC stays contractual staff removal orders

Bhati takes stock of Covid care centre arrangements in Gajner & Sri Kolayat

3 in ACB net for taking money for Covid-19 tests

Autos to lend helping hand for combating Covid in Kota

Bhanwar Singh Bhati distributes PPE kits, N-95 masks, sanitizers, 2 oxygen concentrators to the doctors of the Community Health Centre in Sri Kolayat on Friday.

Col Rajyavardhan Rathore@Ra_THOReRajasthan government after being exposed by media on mismanage-ment of life-saving ventilators in coronavirus crisis; we do not have trained staff, ventilators have been given on rent and this ventilator is dangerous for patients.

CHAOS...

Selected CHOs for Jaipur throng CMHO offi ce violating Covid norms on Friday. —PHOTO BY SUMAN SARKAR

TOO F A RF A RF A RF A RF A RTOO LITTLE

3.60L DOSES ARRIVE FOR 18 PLUS ON THURSDAY

First India Bureau

Jaipur: In Rajasthan, the vaccination of peo-ple aged 45 plus can stop anytime due to less vac-cine doses. According to sources, only 5.4 lakh doses are left in state, out of which 3.5 lakh doses are those which govt has bought directly from company for those be-tween 18-44 years.

Health Minister Dr. Raghu Sharma said on Thursday that the state received only 1.49 cr doses from Central govt, for people 45 plus. Out of these, 1.42 crore doses have been applied yet, while 2.15 lakh doses have been given to the Army. From May 1 till now, 5.96 lakh people aged between 18-44 years have been vaccinated. In such a situation, due to lack of doses, there was a crisis on vaccination.

Covid Vaccine Update In City No vaccination was

done in area of CMHO-I, while vaccination took place at 42 sites under CMHO-II

Vaccine doses did not reach the vaccination sites in the city

Vaccination for ben-efi ciaries of both the categories remained affected on Friday

MASS INOCULATION DRIVE! Health workers feel relieved after the much awaited vaccine van reached JK Lon hospital on Friday. (L) The consignment of Covid-19 vaccine doses arrive

CMHO warehouse, Sethi Colony in Jaipur on Thursday. —PHOTOS BY SUMAN SARKAR

WORK IN PROGRESS! Oxygen plant being set up at the SMS hospital in Jaipur on Friday. —PHOTO BY SUMAN SARKAR

RAJASTHANJAIPUR | SATURDAY, MAY 15, 2021

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PERSPECTIVEJAIPUR | SATURDAY, MAY 15, 2021

04www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia

� Vol 2 � Issue No. 337 � RNI NO. RAJENG/2019/77764. Printed and published by Anita Hada Sangwan on behalf of First Express Publishers. Printed at Bhaskar Printing Press, D.B. Corp Limited, Shivdaspura, Tonk Road, Jaipur. Published at 304, 3rd Floor, City Mall, Bhagwan Das Road, C-Scheme, Jaipur-302001, Rajasthan. Phone 0141-4920504. Editor-In-Chief: Jagdeesh Chandra responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act

s a Muslim, at least once a year I go on pil-grimage to Mec-ca, Islam’s holi-

est city, located in Saudi Arabia. Muslims perform the short “Umrah” pilgrim-age at any time of the year, and there could be over 19 million pilgrims each year. I have also been to Mecca a couple of times for “Hajj” – the annual major pilgrim-age. Held once a year, this is a mass gathering of over 2.5 million Muslims.

Both the Umrah and Hajj pilgrimages weren’t possi-ble for most of 2020 due to the outbreak of the COV-ID-19 pandemic.

However, Saudi Arabia as a whole has fared well in handling the pandemic. It’s had low mortality rates and minimal social and econom-ic disruption. There’s been widespread testing and vac-cine access. This allowed it

to open up for pilgrims.

TEST AND QUARANTINEFor starters, the Saudi au-thorities required foreign pilgrims to have a negative PCR test result. These had to be taken within 48 hours be-fore arrival in Saudi Arabia.

Upon arrival, all pil-grims either had to do a mandatory quarantine at a government approved ho-tel for six days, or take a PCR test after 48 hours of quarantine and, if it was negative, could leave the hotel. Travellers from countries categorised as “high-risk” were required to do a mandatory seven day quarantine, but also needed to have a negative PCR test upon completion.

In addition, all pilgrims who wanted a permit to en-ter Haram – the Grand Mosque of Mecca – needed to have a COVID-19 vacci-

nation certificate.It’s important to use all

these measures as they add layers of protection and prevent situations from be-coming super-spreader events. A negative PCR test

alone may not be enough. There’s always the risk of a false negative for technical reasons or due to fraud. There have been reports of large numbers of travellers testing positive at their des-

tination points after testing negative at departure.

SOCIAL DISTANCINGBefore COVID-19, there would be congestion and crowding. This time the

flow of people within the Grand Mosque was well or-ganised. A limited number of worshippers were al-lowed in at a time and there was clear demarcation to ensure physical distanc-ing. Police and mosque or-derlies monitored and di-rected the pilgrims.

Face masks – which pro-vide a barrier and keep the new coronavirus from spreading – were manda-tory. Harsh penalties were imposed on anyone not wearing a mask or trying to enter the Haram without a valid permit. Daily text messages reminded us about the penalties and public health measures.

The markedly restricted number of pilgrims – to 50,000 a day from a huge capacity of hundreds of thousands – made it easier to manage people and en-force measures.

SOURCE: THE CONVERSATION

Lessons from Mecca on containing COVID-19A

If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change. —Buddha

SpiritualSPEAK

TopTWEET

Piyush Goyal @PiyushGoyalHad a fruitful discussion with US Trade Representative @AmbassadorTai focusing on India & US working together on Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) waiver. This will ensure affordable COVID-19 vaccines for all.

Adhir Chowdhury @adhirrcincThe flotilla of corpses on the holy #GangaRiver exposed the uncouth face of #NewIndia , I ask the Chest-Thumping govt. why THE MUCH TOUTED NIRMAL AND ABIROL DHARA of #Ganga turned into an obnoxious and chilling horror of floating dead bodies much to the pleasure of vultures.

he ray of hope regarding peace across the western border and normalization of relations between the two neighbours has be-come a victim of power politics in Pakistan with the hawks all set to put every spoke to ensure that the process does not take off. In a departure from the past, the “status quoists” do not belong to the uniformed fraternity only but a strong group of hawks has emerged among the nation’s polity as well. The leading voice of hawks in civies is the Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mo-hammad Qureshi who was also instrumental in forc-ing Imran Khan to take a U-turn as regards resump-tion of trade with India was concerned. There ap-pears to be a divide among the power blocks in Paki-stan. While Gen Qamar Bajwa is behaving like a moderate, desiring a para-digm shift in Indo-Pak re-lations, Qureshi on the other hand is busy creat-ing an impression that the ball is in India’s court and any talks with India are subject to India agreeing to restore status quo in Jammu & Kashmir. Is the entire exercise genuine or façade with the duo trying to enact Jekyll and Hyde?

There is no doubt that the India Policy of Pakistan is conceived in the Army Head-quarters known as General Headquarters (GHQ) and not by the Foreign Ministry, a usual practice among democ-racies. Is the authority of the all powerful Army Chief be-ing challenged? There is no denying the fact that a very strong group of hardliners exists in the Pakistan Army. The group is least interested in improving relations with India which literally would mean losing the Army’s par-amountcy in the affairs of Pakistan. For any General to venture to cross the Rubicon, it is mandatory to take into confidence and win over the Hawks within the Army.

In the past Gen Zia and Gen Musharraf attempted to offer a hand of friend-ship to India but both took their time to stabilize themselves and assume

firm control of the Army. While Zia took nine years and Musharraf five to sta-bilize themselves and offer an olive branch to arch ri-val India, Gen Bajwa dared to do it just after three years and that too when on an extended tenure. Obvi-ously, he has failed to take the status quoists on board. The status quoists enjoy the support of the lower ranks and large sec-tion of junior officers, a group highly radicalized, which perceives the move as a surrender to India.

In order to ensure that Ba-jwa’s vision of a shift from geo-strategy to geo-econom-ics does not see the light, the hawks have floated a narra-tive that it is India which needs peace with Pakistan rather than the vice-versa. Bajwa found it easy to enun-ciate his vision but is finding it extremely hard to manage

the same. The hawks are sell-ing the idea that India is a bigger beneficiary of peace due to its declining economy and various internal chal-lenges as well as the threat from the Chinese. As per them, it is the opportune mo-ment to force India to roll back 370/35A. Bajwa knows

that the hawks are day-dreaming, living in a fool’s paradise and evading reality but finds himself isolated among the hawks.

Bajwa to convince the hawks has gone to the ex-tent of letting out certain state secrets which are usually not revealed. Dur-

ing an Iftaar party hosted for the foreign diplomats he revealed that hectic back door negotiations are going on between the In-dian National Security Ad-visor Ajit Doval and the DG ISI of Pakistan. This revelation is necessitated to give weight to Bajwa’s narrative because when the persons negotiating enjoy status and confi-dence of respective nation-al leadership and also have direct access to them gives credence to the fact that both nations are serious and sincere towards the peace process and these are not rendezvous for ex-change of pleasantries and social niceties.

India on the other hand is desirous of an end to cross border terrorism and eradi-cation of poverty from the South Asian region. India recognizes Pakistan as the

main stumbling block and perceives negotiations with the adversary a necessity for the same. India therefore has never shied away from talks or negotiations with Paki-stan beginning with the com-posite dialogue in 1998 till as recently as August 2015 as a fallout of the Ufa statement between PM Modi and PM Nawaz Sharif. Every time the hawks in Pakistan succeeded in derailing the peace pro-cess. That’s why despite de-siring peace India has to be very cautious.

The leader of the hawks Shah Mohammad Qureshi on the other hand is deter-mined to upset the apple-cart. In a latest interview with a Turkish news agen-cy in Istanbul he said, “If India is willing to re-visit some of the decisions it took on August 5, 2019, Pa-kistan will be more than happy to engage, sit and talk and resolve all out-standing issues.” Though he was wanting to sound less hawkish the contents of his statement were ob-vious. It was a blatant at-tempt to interfere in In-dia’s internal matters and sell the hawkish narrative of India being a bigger beneficiary and hence keen on talks. He further stated, “So, when the In-dian leaders expressed an interest in recommitment, we welcomed it. And that has, in my view, lowered tensions and has gone well on both sides. Sensible ele-ments on this side and on that side have welcomed this new development.” A highly spin-doctored state-ment to support the hawk-ish narrative at home.

During the above- men-tioned interview, he not only contradicted himself but also the Army Chief Gen Bajwa. Only a couple of days back in another interview to a Turk-ish television network, TRT, he categorically rejected the speculations of any “secret talks” between Pakistan and India through backdoor channels or third - party in-volvement. Obviously, hawks are not ready for the change in status quo and Bajwa has to do a lot of homework to tame them. He may be forced to use the Chanakya’s policy of “Saam Daam Dand Bhed” (Accord, Price or Incentive, Punishment, Creating dis-cord). Best option for India is to wait and watch and not be in any hurry.

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY

THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL

THE HAWKS IN PAKISTANT

In the past Gen Zia and Gen Musharraf attempted to offer a hand of friendship to India but both took their time to stabilize themselves and assume firm control of the Army. While Zia took nine years and Musharraf five to stabilize themselves and offer an olive branch to arch rival India, Gen Bajwa dared to do it just after three years and that too when on an extended tenure. Obviously, he has failed to take the status quoists on board. The status quoists enjoy the support of the lower ranks and large section of junior officers, a group highly radicalized, which perceives the move as a surrender to India

THE LEADER OF THE HAWKS SHAH MOHAMMAD QURESHI ON THE OTHER HAND IS DETERMINED TO

UPSET THE APPLECART. IN A LATEST INTERVIEW WITH A TURKISH NEWS AGENCY IN ISTANBUL HE

SAID, “IF INDIA IS WILLING TO RE-VISIT SOME OF THE DECISIONS IT TOOK ON AUGUST 5, 2019,

PAKISTAN WILL BE MORE THAN HAPPY TO ENGAGE, SIT AND TALK AND RESOLVE ALL OUTSTANDING ISSUES.” THOUGH HE WAS WANTING TO SOUND LESS HAWKISH THE

CONTENTS OF HIS STATEMENT WERE OBVIOUS

BRIG VETERAN ANIL GUPTA

The author is a Jammu based veteran, political commentator, columnist, security and strategic analyst

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INDIAJAIPUR | SATURDAY, MAY 15, 2021

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New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the coronavirus pan-demic is rapidly spreading in rural are-as, as he urged citizens to take precautions, wear masks and main-tain social distance to check spread disease that has claimed at least 2.6 lakh lives.

The government, he said, is working on “war footing” to control the second wave of in-fections and is setting up new hospitals and

oxygen generating plants while augment-ing supplies of medi-cines and vaccines. He emphathised with the pain of the countrymen who have lost dear ones recently in the COVID battle. “The pain that many people have gone through, I have felt the same pain. I am feeling the same.” “We are fighting with all our might... We are over-coming obstacles in re-sources in the fight against the second wave of corona,” he said.

He asked states to crack down on black market-ing of medicines and other essential items.

He asked states to crack down on black marketing of medicines and other essential items. “I want to warn you about corona. This pandemic is spreading fast in rural villages. Every government is taking efforts to stop this,” he said.

He was speaking at the release of the 8th installment of financial benefit under the PM-KISAN scheme via vid-eo conference.

“India is not a coun-try to lose courage. Nei-ther India, nor Indians will lose courage. We will fight and we will win,” Modi empha-sised. —ANI

Pain that many people have gone through, I have felt the same pain.

PM asks states to crack down on black marketing of medicines and other essential items

PM: Facing invisible enemy, virus rapidly spreading in rural areas

PM Modi interacting with the farmer-benefi ciaries during the release of the 8th installment of fi nancial benefi t under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme, through video conferencing, in New Delhi on Friday. —PHOTO BY ANI

BSF-BGB JAWANS EXCHANGE SWEETS AT BORDER ON EIDSiliguri (West Bengal):On the occasion of Eid ul-Fitr the Border Guarding Force (BSF) 51 battalion exchanged sweets with 18 Border Guard Bangla-desh (BGB) at the Fulbari Indo-Bangladesh border. BSF Deputy Comman-dant (DC) SS Meenaa 51 battalion was present at the programme. Earlier, on Thursday, the Indian

Army and Pakistan Army celebrated Eid-Ul-Fitr on the Line of Control (LoC) at Poonch-Rawalakot Crossing Point and Mend-har-Hotspring Crossing Point in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir. “The gesture was appreci-ated by both the armies and is expected to pro-mote goodwill and mutual trust,” Army said.

REBEL YSRCP MP HELD OVER ‘HATE SPEECHES’Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh CID Friday ar-rested the ruling YSR Congress Party MP from Narsarapuram, Raghu Rama Krishna Raju, for allegedly making “hate speeches” against certain communities. A statement from CID said: “MP from Narasapur Raghu Rama Krishna Raju has been arrested at his residence at Hyderabad. There was information against Raju, stating that he has been indulging in hate speeches against certain communities and promoting disaffection against the government.”

NAXAL KILLED IN ENCOUNTER WITH POLICE IN DANTEWADADantewada: A Naxalite was killed during an exchange of fi re with the Dantewada District Re-serve Guard here at Mustalnar village on Friday morning. According to the district Superintendent of Police Abhishek Pallav, a Naxalite was killed today around 7: 30 am his body has been recov-ered. “In exchange of fi re at Mustalnar, Police Station Geedam between Maoists and Dantewada DRG at 7:30 am, a body of a 20-year Maoist has been recovered,” he said. He further said that two country-made weapons, two kg IED, recovered.

KP SHARMA OLI SWORN IN AS NEPAL PRIME MINISTERNew Delhi: K P Sharma Oli was sworn in as Nepal’s Prime Minister on Friday, days after he lost a crucial vote of confi dence in Parliament. President Bidya Devi Bhandari administered the oath of offi ce and secrecy to Oli, 69, as the 43rd prime minister of Nepal at a ceremony at Shital Niwas, the presidential palace.

Oli was appointed as prime minister by the president in his capacity as leader of the largest political party in Nepal’s House of Representatives. He was reappointed to the post on Thursday night as the Opposition parties failed to secure majority seats in Parlia-ment to form a new government.

HC denies interim protection to Kalra

Stay on Telangana govt order to stop ambulances

Plea for disclosure of trials data

Didi: Centre dilly-dallied over PM-KISAN amount transferKolkata: As farmers in west bengal re-ceived the first install-ment of funds under the PM-KISAN scheme on Friday, CM Mamata Banerjee hit out at the centre, ac-cusing it of dilly-dal-lying over the trans-fer of funds to benefi-ciaries in the state.

In an open letter to farmers, Banerjee also said the decision to extend the benefits of the scheme to eligi-ble farmers in Bengal was a result of her government’s “con-tinuous fight”.

“In 2018, the West Bengal government had started the Krishak Bandhu scheme that went on to become a model for the entire country. Af-ter this in 2019, the

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi was launched. Com-paratively, the state’s programme is better because it offers more benefits to farmers....we are planning to add incentives to our scheme in the near

future,” she said.Prime Minister

Narendra Modi on Friday released the eighth installment of over Rs 20,000 crore to more than 9.5 crore farmer beneficiaries under the scheme. —ANI

Chitrakoot: Three prisoners were shot dead inside the Chitra-koot district jail on Fri-day, police said. The three inmates gunned down in the district jail at Ragauli were identi-fied by police as Anshu Dixit, Merazuddin alias Meraj Ali and Mukeem Kala, belonging to Sita-pur, Ghazipur and Shamli in Uttar Pradesh.

“Dixit shot dead Ali and Kala, and held some other prisoners at gun-point and threatened to kill them. He was later killed in an exchange of fire with police,” Chi-trakoot Range Inspec-tor General of Police K Satyanarain said.

Asked how did a fire-arm reach Dixit inside the jail, the IG said, “A judicial probe of the in-cident has been or-dered. Only after the probe, it can be conclud-ed how weapon reached inside the jail.”

Jailor S P Tripathi, however, had earlier said Dixit had snatched the service revolver of

a jail staff when the of-ficial had intervened in an argument among the inmates. The IG said all three inmates were hardcore criminals and had several criminal cases pending against them.

Taking note of the in-cident, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ordered a probe into the incident by a joint team of Divi-sional Commissioner D K Singh, Chitrakoot IG Satyanarain and DIG (Prison) Sanjeev Trip-athi. The chief minister also demanded the probe report at the earli-est. The situation inside the jail is now under control, they added. —PTI

Lucknow: After a se-ries of reports showing dead bodies being dumped in rivers in Ut-tar Pradesh and Bihar due to fear of COVID-19 infection, Chief Minis-ter Yogi Adityanath on Friday (May 14) ordered patrolling by the Disas-ter Response Force (SDRF) and the Provin-cial Armed Constabu-lary (PAC). The chief minister ordered SDRF and PAC to patrol rivers and ensure that bodies

are not dumped in the rivers.

The order comes af-ter hundreds of floating corpses were spotted in Ganga in Ghazipur.

“All those who died deserve cremation with respect. The state gov-ernment has already sanctioned funds for performing the last rites,” Adityanath was quoted as saying by PTI. “No one should be al-lowed to dispose of bod-ies in rivers due to reli-

gious traditions,” he added.

The CM further said that the “rivers get pol-luted due to bodies of

human beings and ani-mals” while his govern-ment is running a cam-paign for the cleaning of rivers.

He said in areas on banks of rivers, com-mittees including vil-lage development offic-ers and village heads should be formed to ensure that no one dumps bodies in rivers.

He said that if need-ed, a fine may be im-posed at the local level to prevent it. —ANI

New Delhi: A Supreme Court lawyer has moved the top court seeking directions to utilise PM Cares Fund to procure COVID-19 vaccine, and install oxygen plant/ generators for 738 dis-trict hospitals where medical services are available free of cost for COVID-19 patients.

The petitioner, advo-cate Viplav Sharma also prayed that Members of Parliament (MP) and Members of Legislative Assemblies (MLAs) of of all States should be directed to spend their MP/MLA funds “in a disciplined manner with full transparency to best serve their re-spective constituency.

—Agencies New Delhi: A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court to make public the segre-gated data of clinical trials of COVID-19 vac-cines administered un-der the Emergency Use Authorisation granted by the Drugs Control-ler General of India. Former member of Na-tional Technical Advi-sory Group on Immu-nisation Dr. Jacob Puliyel, represented by advocate Prashant Bhushan, asked the court for the same.

Hyderabad: The Tel-angana High Court on Friday (May 14) stayed an order by the state government banning the entry of ambulanc-es from other states. The order comes after Telangana Police were directed by the state government to stop all ambulances carrying COVID-19 patients that do not have prior per-mission. Earlier, pa-tients from AP died in ambulances after the Telangana Police did not permit them.

Kerala: The High Court here has asked the Centre to suggest the date by which COVID vaccines could be made available for Kerala.

A Division Bench of the Kerala HC consisting of Justice Raja Vijayara-ghavan and Justice M.R. Anita issued the direc-tion on a Public Interest

Litigation seeking to issue directions to the Centre to set aside its liberalised pricing and Accelerated National COVID 19 Vaccination

strategy, which, accord-ing to the petitioners, provided for differential pricing for the vaccine supplied to Centre and the State governments.

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday refused to grant any interim protection from arrest to Busi-nessman Navneet Kalra in connection with a case relating to the allegedly hoarding of oxygen concentra-tors in some restaurant in South Delhi.

A single-judge bench of Justice Subramoni-um Prasad refused to grant any interim relief to Kalra and ad-journed the matter for further hearing on May

18. Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Sing-hvi, appearing for Navneet Kalra, pressed for granting interim protection to his client but could not convince the court. —ANI

New Delhi: The Na-tional Students Union of India (NSUI) has filed a ‘missing person’ report with the Delhi Police against PM Modi and several of his Cabinet ministers, ac-cusing them of run-ning away amid the Covid-19 crisis.

The move by the stu-dent wing of the Con-gress came just two days after a similar complaint was filed against Union minis-ter Amit Shah over the ‘disappearance of the country’s Home Minis-ter at the time of the

pandemic’. The latest missing person report was filed by NSUI Gen-eral Secretary Nagesh Kariyappa against Modi, Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman, Piyush Goyal, Smriti Irani, S. Jaishankar, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Dharmendra Pradhan, Narendra Singh Tomar, Prakash Javadekar, and many more at the Par-liament Street police station.

The complaint, said BJP leaders were last seen during the Assem-bly elections in West Bengal. —ANI

The dead deserve respect: CM Yogi

IN THE COURTYARD

Plea in SC seeks directions to utilise PM Cares

NSUI files missing plaint against Modi

Chitrakoot prison shootout: 3 inmates killed, probe ordered

New Delhi: Hours after Delhi Police Crime Branch offic-ers visited the office of the Indian Youth Congress, former Congress chief Ra-hul Gandhi on Fri-day slammed the government saying the rescuer is always greater than the one who kills.

In a tweet in Hindi, Rahul Gandhi said, “The rescuer is al-ways greater than the one who kills.” He used the hash tag, I stand with IYC.

His remarks came after some Delhi Po-lice officers arrived at the IYC office to enquire how it has been managing to provide medicines, oxygen cylinders and several other things required by Covid pa-tients.

According to IYC members, officers of the Delhi Police Crime Branch arrived at the IYC office on Raisina Road in Central Delhi around 11 a.m.

—PTI

Rescuer is greater than one who kills: RaGA

KERALA HIGH COURT ASKS FOR DEADLINE FOR SUPPLYING VACCINE

MAMATA WRITES TO PM MODI

Yogi Adityanath

INDIAJAIPUR | SATURDAY, MAY 15, 2021

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PS TO RAILWAY MINISTER, DR GUPTA GETS PREMATURE REPATRIATION Dr Ravi Kant Gupta, Private Secretary to Railways, Commerce & Industry Minister, has been accorded premature repatriation to his parent cadre. He is an IRS-IT officer.

6 ICAS OFFICERS OF 2011 BATCH PROMOTED TO JAG Six officers of Indian Civil Accounts Service (ICAS) of 2011 batch have been promoted to the Junior Administrative Grade (JAG). The officers are: Dr. Richa Pandey, Padamsing Pradipsing Patil, Neeraj Kulhari, Vaibhav Chandrakant Ghalme, Mrs. Laboni Das Dutta and Harprit K Singh. Four of the promoted officers have been given new posting following promotion. Dr Richa Pandey has been posted as Deputy CGA, Office of CGA, New Delhi; Padamsing Pradipsing Pati as Director (A/cs), Department of Fertilizers, New Delhi; Vaibhav Chandrakant Ghalme as Controller of Accounts, Ministry of Home Affairs, New Delhi and Mrs. Laboni Das Dutta is appointed as Controller of Accounts, Ministry of PPG&P, New Delhi upon promotion to the JAG.

TWO IAS OFFICERS GET NEW POSTING IN W BENGAL Mrs. Ayesha Rani A has been appointed as District Magistrate, Dakshin Dinajpur and C Murugan as Chief Executive Officer, West Bengal Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (WBIIDC).

SEVEN EDS OF NATIONALISED BANKS ELIGIBLE FOR MD & CEO, SBI As many as seven Executive Directors of nation-alised banks are eligible for the post of Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of State Bank of India (SBI) during the financial year 2021-2021. They are: Shanti Lal Jain, Ajay K. Khurana (both Bank of Baroda), PR Rajagopal (Bank of India), Debashish Mukherjee, Manime-khalai A (Canara Bank), Ajay Kumar Srivastava (Indian Overseas Bank), and Vijay Dube (Punjab National Bank).

D SENTHIL PANDIYAN APPOINTED AS JOINT SECRETARY, AYUSH D Senthil Pandiyan has been appointed as Joint Secretary, Ministry of AYUSH. He is a 2002 batch IAS officer of Uttarakhand cadre.

MS NIRUPAMA KOTRU APPOINTED AS JOINT SECRETARY, COAL Ms Nirupama Kotru has been as Joint Secretary & FA, Ministry of Coal. She is a 1992 batch IRS-IT officer.

BHASKAR VERMA APPOINTED AS JOINT SECRETARY, NMA Bhaskar Verma has been appointed as Member Secretary, National Monuments Authority (NMA), Ministry of Culture. He is a 1995 batch ICAS officer.

MS LILY PANDEYA APPOINTED AS JOINT SECRETARY, CULTURE Ms Lily Pandeya has been appointed as Joint Secretary, Ministry of Culture. She is a 1998 batch IRPS officer.

MAYANK TEWARI APPOINTED AS JOINT SECRETARY, DEFENCE Mayank Tewari has been appointed as Joint Sec-retary, Department of Defence. He is a 1993 batch IRSME officer.

MS NAZLI JAFRI SHAYIN APPOINTED AS JOINT SECRETARY, DEFENCE Ms Nazli Jafri Shayin has been appointed as Addl. FA & Joint Secretary, Ministry of Defence (Fi-nance). She is a 1999 batch IA&AS officer.

MS INDIRA MURTHY APPOINTED AS JOINT SECRETARY, EARTH SCIENCES Ms Indira Murthy has been appointed as Joint Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences. She is a CSS officer.

POWERGallery

By arrangement with: http:// whispersinthecorridors.com

Create spl...For this, arrangements of human resources should be ensured as per the requirement.

Dr Raghu Sharma said that separate strat-egies and action plans for urban and rural ar-eas are required to deal with the covid situation.

Chief secretary Niranjan Arya briefed the CM about the dia-logues being held with the central government officials for the ar-rangement of oxygen.

PM opens...of the scheme in Febru-ary 2019, Modi said around Rs 60,000 crore

has been transferred during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is helping farmers in these difficult times.

The Prime Minister on Friday released the eighth instalment of Rs 20,667 crore to more than 9.5 crore farmers under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme via video-con-ference.

He said the PM-KISAN scheme was launched to help farm-ers, especially small and marginal ones, in meeting their input costs.

The Prime Minister

said around 10 crore farmers have received the 8th instalment.

“To West Bengal farmers, the benefit has begun to reach for the first time. Today, lakhs of farmers in West Bengal have got their first instalment. Gradually when the names of farmers are sent to the Centre, the number of beneficiar-ies will increase,” he added.

Overall, around 11 crore farmers have re-ceived around Rs 1,35,000 crore under the PM-KISAN scheme so far, Modi said, add-ing that about Rs 60,000

crore has been trans-ferred during the COV-ID-19 pandemic. —ANI

Recoveries outnumber...India’s total active case-load has decreased to 37,04,893 and now com-prises 15.41 per cent of the country’s total cas-es. A net decline of 5,632 cases has been re-corded in the active caseload in a span of 24 hours.

The National Mortal-ity Rate currently stands at 1.09 per cent, the ministry said.

A total of 4,000 deaths were reported in a span of 24 hours.

Ten states account for 72.70 per cent of the new deaths. Maharash-tra saw the maximum casualties (850). Karna-taka follows with 344 daily deaths.

The cumulative num-ber of COVID-19 vac-cine doses adminis-tered in the country is nearing 18 crore, the ministry said.

A total of 17,92,98,584 vaccine doses have been administered through 26,02,435 ses-sions, according to the provisional report till 7 am. More than 20 lakh vaccination doses were administered in a span of 24 hours. —PTI

Sputnik V...and received regulatory clearance from the Cen-tral Drugs Laboratory, Kasauli, on May 13, ac-cording to Dr Reddy’s Laboratories. The vac-cine has an efficacy of over 91 per cent, accord-ing to a publication in scientific journal The Lancet. This means it has the ability to bring down symptomatic Cov-id-19 cases by over 91 per cent in those vacci-nated compared with those who have not re-ceived a Covid vaccine.

“The imported doses of the vaccine are pres-ently priced at an MRP of Rs 948 + 5 per cent

GST per dose, with the possibility of a lower price point when local supply begins,” it said in a statement.

Currently, the import-ed dose is priced at a maximum retail price of Rs 948 along with 5 per cent GST, which amounts to Rs 995.4 per dose. “With the rising cases in India, vaccina-tion is our most effective tool in our battle against COVID-19. Contributing to the vaccination drive in India is our biggest priority right now to help Indians be healthy and safe,” Dr Reddy’s Co-Chairman and MD G V Prasad said.

Cyclone Tauktae...and hilly terrains in-cluding those in Idukki district that in the past has witnessed land-slides due to heavy rain,” said an NDRF of-ficial. Meanwhile, dis-trict administrations have directed people in disaster-prone areas to relocate and temporary relief camps and the evacuation process have been started.

For Saturday, a red alert has been issued for 5 districts Malappuram, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kannur and Kasargod while remaining dis-tricts put under orange alert. —ANI

FROM PG 1

India receives shipment of ventilators, Remdesivir from EU member statesNew Delhi: Amid the COVID-19 crisis in In-dia, an aircraft carry-ing a shipment of venti-lators, Remdesivir and medical equipment from EU member states, arrived in New Delhi on Friday.

External Affairs Min-istry (EAM) spokesper-son Arindam Bagchi ac-knowledged the contin-ued solidarity shown by European countries in-cluding Germany, Neth-erlands, and Portugal.

“EU solidarity and cooperation continues. Aircraft arrives carry-ing 223 ventilators,

25000 vials of Remdesi-vir and other medical equipment from Ger-many, 30000 vials of Remdesivir from Neth-erlands and 5500 vials of Remdesivir from

Portugal. Value support of our EU partners,” EAM spokesperson.

Earlier today, India welcomed the arrival of 5.6 million masks from Kazakhstan.

Price hike in anti-Covid supplies due to import of raw materials: ChinaNew Delhi: China on Friday said the prices of some of the COV-ID-19 medical supplies like oxygen concentra-tors being procured by Indian companies from Chinese manufacturers have gone up as they had to import raw mate-rials to meet the excess demand from India. Re-sponding to a question from the official media here on India’s Consul General in Hong Kong Priyanka Chauhan’s re-cent remarks calling on China to stop surging prices of medical sup-plies to India, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chu-nying told a media briefing that China has been encouraging its companies to meet In-dia’s procurement to meet the country’s surge in corona cases.

Soaring prices of medical supplies like oxygen concentrators and disruption of cargo flights to India are slow-ing arrivals of medical goods, Chauhan said this week. On price in-creases, especially of the oxygen concentra-tors, the Chinese for-eign ministry spokes-person said that the feedback from the Chi-nese manufacturers suggests that they had to import raw materials to meet the demand. —ANI

New Delhi: President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday extended wishes on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr and said that the festival is an occasion to strengthen the spirit of fraternity and reded-icate ourselves to the service of humanity.

“Eid Mubarak to all fellow citizens! This fes-tival is an occasion to strengthen the spirit of fraternity and rededi-cate ourselves to the service of humanity. Let us resolve to deal with Covid-19 by follow-ing the guidelines and to work for the well-be-

ing of the society and the country,” the Presi-dent tweeted.

Earlier Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi ex-tended Eid-ul-Fitr greetings and expressed hope to overcome the global pandemic and work towards human welfare. —PTI

Focus on curbing Covid in Goa: NaddaNew Delhi: BJP chief JP Nadda has asked Goa’s CM Pramod Sawant and Health Min-ister Vishwajit Rane to keep aside their differ-ences and focus on con-trolling the Covid pan-demic in the state.

Amid the worsening situation in Goa, differ-ences between Sawant and Rane over Covid management have come to the fore.

The central leader-ship of the party be-lieves that it will harm the BJP a year ahead of the state Assembly polls. The Assembly

polls are likely to be scheduled in the first quarter of next year.

Taking note of re-ports of differences be-tween the Chief Minis-ter and the Health Min-ister, Nadda spoke with them and suggested that they reconcile. —PTI

Govt increases import of TocilizumabNew Delhi: As many as 30,000 vials of To-cilizumab, a drug often prescribed by doctors to treat COVID-19 patients, were im-ported to India within 11 days by the Central government to cater to the increasing demand across the country due to rising cases. Sources of the Union Chemical and Fertilis-ers Ministry told. —ANI

Remdesivir supply from EU.

Anti-Covid supplies.

Kerala extends lockdown till May 23 to curb virusKerala: Amid the ris-ing COVID-19 cases in Kerala, the state gov-ernment on Friday stat-ed that the total lock-down announced from May 8 to May 16 earlier, will now be extended till May 23 in order to contain the massive spread of the virus. CM Pinarayi Vijayan said that the decision to ex-tend the lockdown was taken in view of high test positivity rates in districts. The state is currently under a 9-day complete shutdown to bring down the daily caseload. —ANI

Prez Kovind urges people to work for well-being of society

JP Nadda

Modi extends greetings on Akshaya TritiyaNew Delhi: Prime Min-ister Narendra Modi on Friday greeted people on the auspicious occa-sion of Akshaya Tritiya on Friday. “May this fes-tival associated with fulfilling auspicious works strengthen our resolve to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic,” he tweeted. Modi also greeted people on the occasion of Lord Parshuram’s birth anniversary.

Crime Branch questions IYC chief over Covid aidSrinivas was questioned over ‘illegal distribution of Covid medicines’New Delhi: A team of Delhi Police Crime Branch on Friday visit-ed the office of the In-dian Youth Congress (IYC) to question Srini-vas BV, the national president of the IYC, who has been at the forefront of Covid relief efforts.

The questioning was in connection with al-leged “illegal distribu-tion of Covid medicines, etc”, police said. Police had earlier approached AAP MLA Dilip Pandey in connection with the same issue.

Police say they are acting on the court’s di-rections. Delhi Police spokesperson Chinmoy Biswal had earlier said, “On a writ filed by Dr Deepak Singh about

politicians involved in the illegal distribution of Covid medicines, etc, the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi has directed Delhi Police to conduct an enquiry. In compli-ance with directions of Hon’ble High Court, an enquiry is being con-ducted from several concerned persons.”

Names given by peti-tioner Singh, chairman of the non-profit Hru-daya Foundation, in his complaint to police in-clude Pandey, Srinivas as well as BJP MPs Gau-tam Gambhir and Sujay Vikhe, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Congress MLA Mukesh Sharma. —ANI

IYC National President Srinivas BV.

IAF aircraft carrying oxygen cylinders arrivesChennai: Amid shortage of the life saving gas due to the massive surge in COVID-19 cases across the country, four IAF aircraft arrived in Chennai on Friday morning carrying oxygen cylinders from Sin-gapore. As per the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), Chennai Customs, ensured their smooth and swift clearance.

z Chhattisgarh govt to pay for education of children who lost parents to corona

z Delhi reports 8,506 new COVID-19 cas-es, lowest number in over a month

z A temporary 500-ICU bed facility has been set up at Delhi’s iconic Ram Leela Maidan to help ac-commodate critically ill Covid patients.

z Rajya Sabha com-mittees can’t meet online, Oppn told. Rules stand in way.

z Delhi govt to extend help to orphans,

families who lost earning member.

z Maharashtra govt to ask Bharat Biotech to reserve 50% doses made in Pune plant for state, says Ajit Pawar

z Karnataka Home Minister converts his residence into Covid care centre

z After at least 11 Covid patients died at Ruia Hospital in Tirupati on May 10 due to oxygen short-age, Andhra scaled up efforts to procure sufficient oxygen to meet requirement.

CORONA: KEY HIGHLIGHTS

NEWSJAIPUR | SATURDAY, MAY 15, 2021

07www.fi rstindia.co.in I www.fi rstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefi rstindia I facebook.com/thefi rstindia I instagram.com/thefi rstindia

PRESS CONFERENCE TURNS INTO GRIEVANCE CELL FOR THIS PANELIST!

The BJP leaders faced a piquant situation during the virtual

press conference of state BJP president Satish Poonia on

Thursday. Party’s TV panelist Fateh Singh Gurjar explained his problem before the start of the press conference. Gurjar told the leaders that he was standing for the last 2 hours at mini health bhawan but not getting important medicine. At this, another TV

panelist Lakshmikant told him with confi dence that he would talk to offi cer concerned Alok Ranjan. What happened after that no body knows. But after a few moments, Gurjar again joined the virtual press conference and shared his plight with Poonia. The state president consoled him and assured him to look into the matter and talk to him after the press conference was over.

—First India Bureau

IS ROOM NUMBER 1036 JINXED?

The jinx attached to room number 1036 in the main

building of the state secretariat is not getting removed. When Ashok Singhvi was in the secretariat, the room was jinxed from that time. He was suspended after being charged in the high-profi le mines bribery case. He was reinstated after 3 years but did not get posting in the secretariat

and retired from Indira Gandhi Panchayati Raj Institute. When Ashwini Bhagat became CEO, he got this room but on the instructions of ECI, Anand Kumar replaced him as the new CEO. When Sudhansh Pant returned to Rajasthan from the Centre, he got this room but within 2 months his services were temporarily handed over to the Centre and the room remained deserted for more than 7 months. After that Naveen Jain and retired IAS KC Verma got this room. Since when Pant returned from the Centre, he has been working from a room on the second fl oor. As such the

room number 1036 is empty for almost 1 year and the corridor remains silent.

—First India Bureau

PRO Jaipur MoD@PRODefRjsthn

Online Registration for #ArmyRecruitment

Rally at Ajmer commences from

14th May to 27th Jun http://joinIndianarmy.nic.in. Rally scheduled from 11th July to 2nd

Aug 2021

TWEETTime

FOR WAR ON CORONA

`10 CROREby Prem Singh Bajor for oxygen plants in districts

`1 CROREby former CM Vasundhara Raje for medical infrastructure in Jhalrapatan constituency

1 YEARsalary by JMC Greater Congress councillor Divya Singh

50 OXYGENconcentrators to Nokha hospital by philanthropist and Narsi Group MD Narsi Kularia

108 OXYGENconcentrators across country by Vipra foundation on Parshuram Jayanti

10 OXYGEN10 oxygen concentrators by BJP leader Danaram Chaudhary in Sanchore

6 OXYGEN6 oxygen concentrators by ex-MP Badri Ram Jakhar to Mathania and Bawdi hospitals

1,000 PACKETfood daily and medicines by Ratan Singh Jhalay

First India Bureau

Jaipur: The sacred fes-tival of Eid-ul-Fitr was celebrated with joy but within strict lockdown restrictions in the state. The Eid prayers were performed large-ly in the houses with very less people seen on the road. In the mosques, only the Imam and the manage-ment committee offi-cials offered prayers to get the world rid of Co-rona epidemic.

Most of the people greeted each other through phone and so-cial media, instead of hugging each other. On the occasion of Mithi

Eid, Muslim families made other delicious dishes including the kheer in the hous-es and there was no round of feasts. Earli-er on Thursday, Mus-lim religious leaders had appealed to the

people of the society to offer Eid prayers at their homes and its im-pact was seen on Fri-day. The Idgah at Delhi Bypass and at the mosque located at Johri Bazar remained empty on Friday.

The mosque at Johri Bazaar is seen illuminated on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan. The pandemic however, forced everyone to stay at home & celebrate the occassion with family to contain the virus spread. However, a few were seen extending Eid greetings. —PHOTOS BY SANTOSH SHARMA

AT HOME

MOST OF THE PEOPLE GREETED EACH OTHER THROUGH PHONE AND SOCIAL MEDIA AND MUSLIM

FAMILIES ENJOYED VARIOUS DELICIOUS DISHES

—PHOTO BY SUMAN SARKAR

Decision on 10th, 12th exam after JuneFirst India Bureau

Ajmer: There will be no examination of class 10th and 12th due to the present condi-tion of the corona cri-sis. Dr. DP Jaroli, Chairman of Board of Secondary Education, said on Friday that 10th and 12th examina-tions will be conducted separately after the situation normalises. Dr. Jaroli demanded from the govt that the teachers be considered corona Warriors and should be vaccinated on priority basis.

Army to set up 90-bed hosp in Bikaner Laxman Raghav

Bikaner: With the in-creasing infection of coronavirus and covid patients in Bikaner, In-dian army is now prepar-ing to take over 90 beds of the PBM hospital.

Union minister and Bikaner MP Arjun Ram Meghwal has started coordination with SBI and the army for estab-lishing a 90-bed unit in the ENT building of the PBM Hospital.

An informal conver-

sation among Army of-ficials, principal of the medical College and

the superintendent of the PBM Hospital was held on Friday and of-

ficial talks are likely to take place on Saturday.

After the clearance from the state govern-ment, the help of the army will be taken.

Covid patients, who are not able to get ad-mission in MCH will be admitted to this wing.

Meghwal was also present during the visit to the hospital today. He said that SBI founda-tion is providing mate-rial and doctors and nursing staff will be provided by the army.

Arjun Ram Meghwal addresses a press conference on Friday.

First India Bureau

Sikar: A man and a woman died by suicide in Joravar Nagar’s Rail-way Gate No. 90 near Kanwat village in Sikar district. An abandoned scooty has also been found at the suicide spot. Talking about the suicide, Thoi station in charge Sangita Meena and DSP Girdhari Lal Sharma said that the deceased man, Mahen-dra Bavaria is a resi-dent of Sethon Ki Dha-ni village in Bhadwadi station jurisdiction, Thoi.

SIKAR TRADER ROBBED OF `35 LAKH Sikar: In the Lakshmangarh village of Sikar, a man was robbed of 35 lakh rupees in daylight on Friday. Businessman Ratanlal’s grandson Ankit of the Sanwarmal Ratanlal fi rm located in the grain warehouse, was going to his house after carrying all their income from the shop. Meanwhile, four dacoits attacked him near Sureka Bhavan and snatched the money. When his father and uncle came to rescue, they were also attacked.

Lovers jump before train in Sikar, die

Action will be taken if hosps charge more: PSKFirst India Bureau

Udaipur: Transport Minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas said all government and pri-vate hospitals will have to attend the patients and no hospital can deny treatment to any patient. During his visit to Udaipur, the Minister said that the govern-ment has decided the rate of treatment by pri-vate hospitals and no hospital can take more charges. “Appropriate action will be taken if the hospitals take more than the fixed charges,” he told reporters.He visited ESIC hospi-tal in Chitrakoot Nagar and reviewed arrange-

ments & said that it is the responsibility to treat patients and no pa-tient can be denied treatment.

“A patient can be re-ferred if the condition is serious,” he said, add-ing that misbehaving

with patients or their family members is also not tolerable. District Collector Chetan Deora, SP Rajiv Pachar, Princi-pal of RNT medical col-lege Dr Lakhan Poswal and other officers also accompanied him.

Pratap Singh Khachariyawas shows a thumbs up sign to boost the morale of a patient at ESIC Hospital, Udaipur on Friday.

‘GEHLOTJI IS ROLE MODEL FOR ALL’

Togetherness with loved ones, a feeling of safety and security – nothing can beat this feeling of

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

JAIPUR | SATURDAY, MAY 15, 2021www.fi rstindia.co.in I www.fi rstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefi rstindia I facebook.com/thefi rstindia I instagram.com/thefi rstindia082NDFRONT

POSTAL REG NO. JPC/010/2019-21

Rajendra Chhabra

Jaipur: Probably for the first time in the his-tory of Tax Board- Ajmer, the outgoing Chairman of the Board ‘relinquished’ the post as no new Chairman was appointed.

Girraj Singh retired on April 20, as the Chair-man of the Tax Board. Usually, the government appoints the new Chair-man before the retire-ment of the sitting Chairman or gives the

additional charge of the post to the Chairman of Revenue Board.

However, this time, the government neither appointed the new Chairman nor gave the charge to the Revenue Board Chairman, R Ven-kateswaran, who him-self has not attended his office after April 1.

The post of Tax Board Chairman is held by an officer belonging to the cadre of ACS or Princi-pal Secretary, but no of-ficial of this seniority is

available for this post at present. Due to the Cov-id-19 induced lockdown,

most of the government offices are closed and hence, the government

feels no urgency to ap-point the Chairman of the Tax Board.

Three officers of ACS cadre- Veenu Gupta, Pawan Kumar Goyal and Rajeshwar Singh, are currently posted outside the Secretariat, but none of them is willing to go to Ajmer.

Below the rank of ACS, a total of 19 Princi-pal Secretaries are there, but almost all of them are currently hold-ing important posts. The post of Principal Secre-tary in some of the im-portant departments, like Rural Development

& Panchayti Raj Depart-ment, are falling vacant & in such a situation, it is difficult to spare any of the officers to be as-signed the responsibility of Tax Board.

Around half a dozen Principal Secretaries are ‘over- burdened’ & holding additional charge of other depart-ments. Recently, Akhil Arora was given the ad-ditional charge of Medi-cal & Health Depart-ment due to deepening Covid-19 crisis.

In a first, a significant post ‘relinquished’ in absence of a befitting ‘successor’THE WAIT CONTINUES...

The post of Tax Board Chairman

is held by an officer

belonging to ACS or Principal Secretary cadre, but no official of this seniority is

available

First India Bureau

Jaipur: Health Minis-ter Dr Raghu Sharma on Friday, gave special guidelines to the direc-tors and controllers of all Medical Colleges for quick diagnosis of the problems being faced by infected patients and their families in 'Covid Dedicated' hospitals and to further improve the arrangements at the hospitals.

According to the guidelines, 'Covid Dedi-cated' hospitals have been advised to set up an triage area, where doctors examine before admitting new patients,

counsel them properly for home isolation and hospitalise only in case of an emergency. The area should have oxy-gen supply from the pipeline, oxygen cylin-ders, oxygen concentra-tors, etc.

Medical Education Secretary Vaibhav Gal-riya said all the private and state hospitals have been instructed to up-date information of bed availability daily on the

RajCovid Info portal and display the related information in the wait-ing area of the hospital.

In all 'Covid Dedicat-ed' hospitals, the 'Round the Clock' duty of phy-sicians will be ensured. He also advised that while inspecting wards, all doctors should talk to the patients and their relatives positive-ly to help enhance their confidence. The names and contact informa-tion of all the doctors taking care of the pa-tients should also be pasted in each ward so that the patient can contact the doctors in case of any problem.

First India Bureau

Kota: Lok Sabha Speak-er Om Birla on Friday, asked people to follow all Covid-19 guidelines to break the chain of infec-tion. He said that the Co-rona pandemic is a big crisis which can be over-come by collective efforts.

Birla, while speaking to social workers and intellectuals of Kesho-raipatan area through VC, said their role is important in making people aware of the is-sue of Corona infection.He asked them to set up a team of volunteers for the same.

Expressing concern on surging infection in rural areas, the LS Speaker said that people must stay at home, wear face masks and main-

tain social distancing to keep themselves and others safe from infec-tion. He said that the second wave is more dangerous and deadly.

Greeting people on Akha Teej and Eid, he said that India is the country of fairs and fes-tivals and people cele-brate them in harmony.

However, this time, the Corona pan-demic has turned the enthusiasm into sor-row as many people have lost lives.

New Delhi: UK-based conglomerate SRAM & MRAM through its In-dian partner ATD Group has inked a pact with Rajasthan govern-ment to install 60 oxy-gen generator plant in the next two months to fight the COVID-19 pan-demic. As many as 200 members from the team of SRAM MRAM are working round the clock towards procur-ing oxygen concentra-tor to India. So far, 200 units of oxygen concen-trator, oximeter and 10,000 units of oximeter have been airlifted from Malaysia. Sailesh La-chu Hiranandani, Chairman, SRAM & MRAM Group while ex-pressing his views said that he endeavours to provide help to the peo-ple of India & have been pushing teams to work round the clock. —PTI

Set up triage area at Covid hospsto help patients: Dr Raghu

Follow Corona norms to break virus chain: Birla

SRAM teams up with ATD for med support

Govt to install oxy plants in 59 cities: DhariwalFirst India Bureau

Jaipur: The Rajasthan government has issued the work order to set up oxygen plants in nine cit-ies, which will benefit 5,786 oxygenated beds in government hospitals. After the plants are made functional, oxygen will be made available daily through pipes or through 10,125 cylinders.

UDH Minister Shan-ti Dhariwal said that

97 metric tons of oxy-gen will be made avail-able daily through these plants.

Kishangarh, Beawar, Sumerpur, Kotputli, Ku-chamancity, Sojatcity, Bhinmal are among lo-cal bodies where the oxygen plants will be set up in the first phase. The state government issued expression of in-terest on direction by the Chief Minister.

He said that firms

have been shortlisted for establishing plants in 59 cities. The plants will be established in Ajmer, Bharatpur, Bhilwara ( for supply-

ing to 171 beds each), Bikaner (229 beds), Jaipur (857 beds), Jodh-pur, Kota (600 beds each), Udaipur (343), Alwar (86 beds), Bhi-wadi (43 beds) and Bar-mer (29 beds).

Apart from them, the plants will be set up in Chittorgarh, Pratap-garh, Dausa, Dungar-pur, Tonk, Dholpur, Jais-almer, Jhalawar, Jhalra-patan, Makrana, Rajsa-mand, Sawaimadhopur,

Gangapur city, Abu Road and Nathdwara.

In these cities, the plants will have the ca-pacity to supply oxygen to 57 beds each whereas, the capacity will be of supplying oxygen to 29 beds in Sujangarh, Nimbahera, Ratangarh, Sardarshahar, Naval-garh, Merta city, Fatehpur, Deoli, Surat-garh, Pipar City, Shah-pura (Jaipur), Reengus, Pilani and Bamanwas.

• Oxygen cylinders & oxygen concentrators will be available 24 hrs in triage area • Hosp In-charge & the resident will have to inspect the ward once a day • Name & phone number of docs will be inscribed in each ward.

Health Minister Dr Raghu Sharma discusses Corona management with Minister in-charge of Ajmer District, Lal Chand Kataria via video- conferencing on Friday, wherein, top administrative and police offi cials of Ajmer district and doctors were also present.

Govt to act stringently against black marketeers of drugs: CMFirst India Bureau

Jaipur: Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Fri-

day, said that the State government would take strict ac-

tion against hoarding and black marketing of medicines and oth-er essential items. Ge-hlot, in a social media post, said that even in the critical circum-

stances of the global Corona pandemic, some

people are commit-ting the evil act

of hoarding and black

market-i n g

and the State government would take strict action against such people.

In view of the shortage and black marketing of medicines in Rajasthan, the State government is not able to move towards self-sufficiency of manu-

facturing medicines for serious diseases. Pres-ently, there are about 300 companies related to manufacturing of medi-cines in the state, but there are no companies manufacturing medicines for serious diseases.

There is a huge short-age of about half a dozen medicines and injections used in treating the Cov-id-19 infection. These medicines are being or-dered from other states or abroad. Regarding Rem-desivir itself, the State government has said that obstacles are being cre-ated to allow them to come from the states where these companies are in place. At present, there is shortage of Rem-desivir Injection, tocili-zumab, unilastin, methyl-prednisolone, enoxaparin injection, piperacillin tazobactam, and ampho-tericin B injection.

THESE MEDICINES OF CRUCIAL SIGNIFICANCE ARE BEING ORDERED FROM OTHER STATES OR ABROAD FOR COVID PATIENTS

GGG

VISIT VACCINATION CENTRES WHEN APPOINTMENT IS CONFIRMED: CM GEHLOT

Rajendra Chhabra

P rincipal Secre-tary to CM, Kul-deep Ranka had

recently shared his Corona experience with CM and Dr. Raghu Sharma in a VC and now his self-thought combination of Naturopathy, Ayurveda and Yoga has become a hit on Social media. First the video of the VC went viral and now his tips on combating Corona successfully through traditional methods are generat-ing lakhs of likes and thousands of posi-tive comments on so-cial media platforms. Such is the goodwill of the media-shy gen-tleman Ranka that he has already got quite a following and has

become a hit on So-cial media. His video has sent a signal of positivity in these difficult times. In this context, some-one remarked that now he is not Kul-deep but Dr. Kuldeep Ranka. Many VIP cu-rious corona patients are likely to knock Ranka’s door for ‘desi’ solutions.

Dr.(!) RANKA SHOWS THE WAY!

Om Birla

Kuldeep Ranka

Shanti Dhariwal

CM Ashok Gehlot

The offi ce of Tax Board in Ajmer. —FILE PHOTO

Gehlotsays

This video is heart- wrenching. Dr Deepika

Arora was pregnant & she contracted Covid-19. Now she is not among us, but has conveyed an important message to everyone to take the Covid-19 infection seriously. I extend my heartl-felt tributes to Dr Deepika and express my sincere condolences to her family.

Best wishes on the occa-sion of #Akshayatriya and

#Parshuram_Jayanti. The occasion of Akshaya Tritiya is considered to bring in hap-piness and prosperity into our lives, but this year we are facing a serious challenge in the form of Corona pandem-ic. In such a situation, people have willingly postponed their marriages on this auspicious occasion.

Ashok Gehlot @ashokgehlot51

‘Round the Clock’ Physicians will

be deputed at Covid dedicated hospitals.

anu Choudhary, a trailblazing model who was born and brought up in Ghaziabad, Ut-tar Pradesh be-came one of the most exciting faces to watch from the model-ling industry. Ta-nu’s confidence and the way she embraces her natural looks has helped solidify her as a role mod-el for girls and young women.

When asked about her journey,

she shared. “I was born in a small town in Ghaziabad and completed my educa-tion there only. After that, I moved to Jodhpur with my parents.” She further add-ed, “I was always a bright student. Coming from a conservative family and city, it was inconceivable for me to think of fashion and modelling as my ca-reer. Everyone in my fami-ly opposed it. My real strug-gle began from there. I re-member not telling my parents about the auditions I was appearing for, only my brother knew. Later, when I got selected in Miss Elite Rajasthan, my par-ents believed in me and gave me wings to fly and follow my passion. I came to Jaipur for a week-long training program.

I was awarded as Elite Miss Rajasthan Rising Star which completely changed

my life. I am an in-dependent woman living in Jaipur now and I can’t be more proud of what I have become.”

“I met Gaurav Gaur, Director Elite Miss Ra-jasthan, he is my mentor who not only believed in me but helped me tap my potential. He showed me the right path and guided me at every step of my journey so far. I can’t be more grateful to him”, Tanu said.

The model’s mantra of self-love makes her the per-fect fit. She strongly be-lieves in fighting for a world where every girl chooses her future. Well, Tanu was very fortunate to have learned so much at a young age and she’s now using those experiences as a platform to speak truth to others.

Tanu Choudhary from Jaipur earned a name and fame in the field of fashion and modelling. In an exclusive interview with City First, Tanu talks about changing perceptions within the

industry, her journey so far and the barriers that still need to be broken!

You Only Live Once

MITALI DUSADmitalidusad01@gmail.com

T

JAIPUR, SATURDAY MAY 15, 2021

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10ETC

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FACE

OF TH

E DAY

SHREYA KINGER, Model

LEOJULY 24 - AUGUST 23

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.

LIBRA SEPT 24 - OCTOBER 22

This is the time to become serious about getting in shape and start eating healthy. You have limited

income as of now and that could trouble you but don’t worry the times will change. Due to no work pressure in offi ce, you could spend more time with near and dear ones.

ARIESMAR 21 - APR 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.

SAGITTARIUS NOV 23 - DEC 22

You will continue to enjoy your good health if you stick to a proper diet and exercise regime. You may

fi nally meet your fi nancial savior who will help you put the pieces at the right place. Some of you may assist your family by organizing a function or an event.

GEMINIMAY 21 - JUNE 21

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.

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

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

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

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

You may go for a cheat meal all as a reward for maintaining good health. If you have been struggling

with money then that’s a thing of a past now as money will fl ow in from all the directions. In offi ce, you will support your colleague by sharing his/her work pressure.

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

Your optimism will keep you going and you will fi nd yourself in absolute peace. The more time you invest

in a project completion, the better it will in terms of monetary gains. In social life, avoid venting your anger on some who is younger or elder to you.

YOUR DAY

Horoscope by Saurabbh Sachdeva

Supreme dicta-torship. Nazi Germany, un-der the blind leadership of Hitler, hell-bent

upon annihilating, the very ex-istence of the Jews from the face of the Earth. Meticulous planning. All resources uti-lized with stopwatch precision. Utter disregard of life. Gas Chambers. Torture cells. Bon-fires of little children. Mass Graves. Cattle trains suffocat-ingly stuffed with human be-ings. Blind autocracy.

80 years hence, 2020!The Dark Era ???Open Democracy. Complete

Freedom. Man is liberated. Educated. Every luxury at hand. Independence to take any action.

Look what we have brought upon ourselves... An invisible, insignificant, little virus, has brought us down to our knees-- complete disregard of life. Peo-ple again dying, like cattle. Pyres burning everywhere. Pa-tients dying... not in Freight trains, but luxurious hospitals. Gasping for a breath of pure air. Utter chaos. Greed. Corrup-tion. Complete disregard of hu-man life. Where is humanity headed? Abysmal degradation of moral & human values.

‘Night’ is a 1960, autobio-graphical book by Elie Wiesel, based on his Holocaust experi-ences with his father, in the Nazi German Concentration camps at Auschwitz and Bu-chenwald in 1944-45, towards the end of the Second World War in Europe. It’s a harrow-

ing, heartbreaking and brutal memoir, and an unforgettable account by a teenage survivor. His narrative is subjective, highly touching and personal. By applying techniques like irony, contrast and foreshad-owing, he talks about the emo-tions he experienced in the concentration camps.

“We must take sides. Neu-trality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence en-courages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when hu-man dignity is in jeopardy, na-tional borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion

or political views, that place must- at that moment- become the centre of the universe”.

In a substantive new preface, Elie reflects on the enduring im-portance of ‘Night’, and his life-long, passionate dedication to ensuring that the world never forgets man’s capacity for inhu-manity to man. It marks the cru-cial first step in Wiesel’s project to bear witness for those who died. The book first published in 1955, is a constant reminder of man’s capacity for inhuman-ity. It was originally named “And The World Remained Si-lent”. He was awarded the No-bel Peace Prize in 1986. Ironi-cally, when it comes to survival, it’s the animal instinct that wins, not cares, not empathy, not relations. It’s a story of sur-vival, strength, loss, of grief.

How can such events happen in a modern Western country? Did such a world exist- where live babies were thrown into chimneys as useless stuff. How

would it be to travel in a cattle train, heaped on each other with no breathing space? How is it to steal a piece of dried bread from one’s father, or worse to kill him for it? Imag-ine the pain of a 13-year-old boy as he narrates, “An SS came towards us, wielding a club. He commanded: ‘Men to the Left. Women to the Right’. Eight words. Eight simple, short words. Eight words were spoken quietly, indifferently, without emotions. It was the last I saw of my mother and three sisters”.

‘All that was left was a shape that resembled me. My soul

had been invaded and devoured by a black flame’. ‘I was the ac-cuser. God, the accused. My eyes had opened, and I was alone, terribly alone in a world without God, without Man, Without Love, Without Mercy’.

Elie Wiesel survives, an empty shell of a man until 11th April 1945, the day the Ameri-can Army liberated the camp. Millions of Jews were slaugh-tered. The Nazis in Germany, set out to build a society in which there simply would be no room for Jews. It is obvious that the war which Hitler and his accomplices waged was a war, not only against Jewish

men, women, children but also against Jewish religion, Jew-ish culture, Jewish tradition and therefore Jewish memory.

The modern world watched on!

Do you want this past to be-come your future???

Elie Wiesel’sNIGHT

DEEPAK’S CORNER

DEEPAKdeepaklifemusings@gmail.com

1940

Late Elie Wiesel

A festival that holds im-portance across the globe is Eid-Al-Fitr. As the world celebrat-

ed the auspicious occasion in the comfort of their homes, Bollywood celebs also have been extending warm wishes to all. Among them, Anushka

Sharma, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Karan Johar, Sid-

harth Malhotra, Kiara Ad-vani and many others

have shared heartfelt wishes for peace and

safety for all amid the trying times of the COVID 19 pan-demic. The stars have been doing their bit amid the pandemic for the needy and today, they all wished for peace on Eid

across the world.—Agency

The film released on an OTT platform. Radhe is the story of a turf war in Mumbai’s

drug-peddling scene when a new lord – a guy called Rana (played by Randeep Hooda) enters the picture, and a sus-pended cop Radhe (played by Salman Khan) is called in to bust this deadly racket that has led to an outbreak of ad-diction and deaths among the city’s youth.

In this film, Salman Khan brings back the memories of the 2009 hit film Wanted. With Prabhudeva back behind the camera, Khan has the license

to go ahead with his one-lin-ers and unnecessary action. Disha Patni was no surprise in this film, except for her fit body nothing is impressive about her in the entire film. Jackie Shroff would have done far better if he would have declined this role. Ran-deep Hooda hands down are the best in the entire film, it’s a testament to his acting chops that he manages to in-fuse a certain menace to his character. Even while he is

relegated to strutting down the streets of Mumbai and conducting his business from ramshackle warehouses, there is a badass swagger you can’t ignore. In short, he’s the only real character in an oth-erwise over-the-top, larger-than-life drama.

It’s all in all Salman Khan film where he can be easily noticed making a mockery of science and logic. A must watch the film only if you are a BHAI fan.

ETCwww.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia JAIPUR | SATURDAY, MAY 15, 2021

11

Comments Turned OffA

s the conflict between Pal-estine and Israel worsens, Israeli actor-film producer Gal Gadot’s ‘unity of Isra-

el’ post sparked outrage on social media, with Twitterati slamming her and accusing her of being a ‘propaganda’ tool for Israel. Be-cause of the backlash, she had to disable Twitter comments. The ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ star shared on Twitter that she is heartbroken to know that her country is at war. —Agency

Katie Holmes and her boyfriend, Emilio Vi-tolo Jr, who were dat-ing for 8 months, have

decided to call it quits. A spokes-person for the actress told US Weekly, “The pair have parted ways amicably but remain friends.” As per the report, the

duo’s relationship couldn’t work out because of their busy professional lives. An insider told the outlet, “Ka-tie and Emilio really en-joyed their time together — it just simply didn’t work out.”

—Agency

Kendall Jenner re-cently appeared on Vogue’s Open Minded series

and revealed her toxic relationship with social media and all the diffi-culties that it comes with. The model while talking about her social media consumption hab-its, referred to them as be-ing “addictive.” Also shed-ding light on how it affects her anxiety, Kendall mentioned that the amount of negativity that these platforms bring has certainly affected her anxiety more. —Agency

Body image ISSUESP

riyanka Chopra Jonas shared her thoughts on whether body image issues affect her or not. She admit-

ted that constant body scrutiny does affect her. “I am growing old-er and naturally, my body will change. And it is with everyone. But I have accepted it and now okay with the way it is looking

now.” Priyanka further said that body shape

should never be an issue and one

should be hap-py in what he or she is do-ing.

—Agency

Super-Powered Couple

akul Preet Singh is a self-made star. In over just seven years since her Bollywood debut, in the 2014 film ‘Yaariyan’, she has negoti-ated well the uphill task of dealing with the out-sider tag and is today

one of the busiest actresses in the Hindi film industry. The ac-tress attributes her success to her ability to not be cowed down, or be scared of losing stardom. “Ultimately it boils down to when people start ap-preciating your work,” Rakul said.

—Agency

Hard work pays offR

DIRECTORPrabhudeva

CAST & CREWSalman Khan, Disha

Patani, Randeep Hooda, Jackie Shroff RATING:

KAVITA CHAUHANcityfirst@firstindia.co.in

RADHE- YOUR MOST WANTED BHAI

Addictive

Eid Mubarak!

Didn’t Work Out

Since the time Disney bought 20th Century Fox and prepared for anoth-er ‘Fantastic Four’ film from Wonder Studios, fans have been captivated by

the possibility of real-life couple John Kra-sinski and Emily Blunt taking on the roles of super-powered couple Mr Fantastic (a.k.a. Reed Richards) and The Invisible Woman (a.k.a. Sue Storm). The theory by the fans of the couple showing on-screen chemistry has been shut down. This happened when the 38-year-old British actor appeared on ‘The Howard Harsh Show’ to promote ‘A Quiet Place Part II,’ and was asked by the longtime radio host if she was going to appear as the titular comic book character. —Agency

It’s almost a year since the world w i t n e s s e d

Abhishek Ba-nerjee deliver-ing a superb performance in the crime-thrill-er series, Pataal Lok. On his Pataal Lok days, Abhishek shares, “Sudip sir went to watch Stree in theatre one day and he called me next day saying that he

wanted me to try for Hatoda Tyagi!! He said, ‘He saw a maniac in my eyes’. It was a shocker, I didn’t expect that, I stared at my-self in the mirror looking for the maniac in me.” —City First

‘Together’, a drama written by Uto-pia writer Dennis Kelly will be starring Jame McAvoy in the lead role. The UK-based film, directed

by Emmy and B A F TA - w i n -ning director Stephen Daldry, follows the jour-neys of its char-acters during the lockdown, beginning in March 2020.The film depicts a forced revalua-tion between a husband and wife.

—Agency

Ra g h a v J u y a l , an actor-dancer,

has requested assistance from the government and officials in charge of his home state, Utt-a r a k h a n d , which lacks ad-equate medical facilities to combat the in-creasing num-ber of Covid-19 cases. He said,

“People are dying outside hospitals, in am-bulances and cars outside hospitals. There’s a huge scarcity of ventilators, O2 beds, oxy-gen cylinders.” —Agency

One year anniversary

Together

Immediate Help

John Krasinski & Emily Blunt

Rakul Preet Singh

Priyanka Chopra Jonas

Gal Gadot

Katie Holmes

Kendall Jenner

Abhishek Banerjee

Kiara Advani

Raghav Juyal

James McAvoy Salman fans- For your eyes only!

12JAIPUR | SATURDAY, MAY 15, 2021www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia

CITY BUZZGET VACCINATED

STAY MASKED

GUJ: Social worker Manoj Bhavsar distributed drinking water to relatives of covid-19 patients and also provided food to frontline corona warriors, staff members of 108 ambulance and other medical staff who are working at Asarwa Civil Hospital, Ahmedabad on Thursday, May 13.

Delhi-based Nanak Shahi Sansar organisation engaged in human service since the pandemic affected our lives. Jaspreet Singh Matta, an active member informed about the same. He further informed that people who are unable to cook or get meals 3 times a day in Delhi, their organisation looks after them. Their organisation has provided Ayurvedic immunity boosters Giloy, Ashwagandha & Kadha to Covid positive patients who are home quarantined for free.

RAJ: Pehchan organised a blood donation camp on Thursday at Shyam Nagar, Jaipur. In the light of the massive vaccination drive for Covid-19 for people of the 18-45 age group, there could be a shortage of blood at the blood banks. To ensure that there is a sufficient supply of blood, the blood donation camp was set up. Pehchan has been constantly spreading awareness by distributing masks and sanitisers to the underprivileged people of society.

WHAT’S HAPPENING!

IN THE CITY!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

RAJ: During these days of need, the Maharishi Dayanand Social Welfare Foundation began a campaign to provide ration support to 2000 families in need. Under the campaign, ration was distributed to over 400 families on the occasion of Eid. It was done by Savera Tak, Daya Dev Tak, and Chetan Chunky. The distribution was organized smoothly in collaboration with JAR. In the next four days, it will be carried out in various Jaipur slums and villages.

The pandemic has hit us all, but, what keeps us sane is our belief in ourselves, our families and most importantly Allaah. The celebration of Eid at home might have put a full stop to the hustle but strengthened the bond. There’s no better way to enjoy the festive delicacies with our loved ones, our family!

Sunil Kumar celebrated his birthday on Thursday, May 13 at home with his family. We wish him all the best! Also seen with him are his wife Kusum, son actor Prathm and Kanishk Kumar.

RAJ: NAV Backoffice, an IT-enabled service provider distributed Rs 3000 cash honorariums each to 400 healthcare professionals across various hospitals in Jaipur and also served a special thank you lunch to 600 nurses and allied healthcare professionals to mark International Nurses Day on Wednesday, May 12.

BOLLYWOOD through Bollygeek

AKSHARA DANGAYACH

Prabha Khaitan F o u n d a t i o n hosted a session with Diptakirti

Chaudhuri as part of their series of literary events, The Write Cir-cle on Thursday. Via moderator Jugal Mody, the session covered as-pects of Chaudhuri’s book, Bollygeek: The Crazy Trivia Guide to Bollywood. The author stated that his mother gave him a Bollywood trivia gene, which made him a huge fan of Hindi cinema. Chaud-huri worked as a travelling sales-man for 7-8 years, giving him the op-portunity to see and enjoy a wide range of films.

In response to recent films, the author claims that Hindi cin-ema has become much more international and that it now has a regu-

lar one-story-telling strand. Pankaj Sach-deva and Trisha Gupta were coined as great inspirations to the au-thor. The book is a long

descriptive note of Bollywood through fascinating venn diagrams, time

graphs, and pie charts, as the session reveals. The author seemed to be a vibrant individual who, as Mody puts it, is “Mar-keter by day, Nerd by night.”

cityfirst@firstindia.co.in

IT’S IN THE FAMILY!On this International Family Day, City First brings to you two familes of Rajasthan, who are known for their generations of contribution!

he family is the small-est building block of society, and no doubt, the most important one as well! International Family Day highlights the importance of fam-

ilies as a basic unit of society. May 15 was decided to be celebrated as International Family Day by the United Nations General Assembly in 1993. On this family day, we salute those families, who, from generations, are giving their contributions to the country.

TKARISHMA GWALANIkarishma.gwalani@firstindia.co.in

A PATRIOTIC FAMILYMore than 8 men from the family of Aazam Ali Khan, from village of Dhanuri, Jhunjhunu have served in the Indian army. The family is known for being one of the longest military serving families. The tradition was started by their ancestors and is still running by the younger ones. This is the third generation in this family, fight for our country and keeping the tradition alive. Their family members also fought the Kargil war among many others. This family is renowned in the Kayamkhani community and across the world for its devotion and service to the nation. The family has also donated their land for martyr memorial.

THE FAMILY OF MUSICIANSThe family of Ustad Bade Ghazi Khan Sahab Manganiyar from Barmer

have been associated with folk singing for generations. The art has been passed onto everyone in the family. The members of this family have given their performance worldwide and are recognised by many

musical communities across the world. They are also known for playing the oldest string instrument of Rajasthan- Kmaicha. It is a

500-year-old instrument with almost no recognition in the modern music industry; however, this family is dedicated to not letting this

instrument vanish into vain. The eldest member of the group is Luna Khan (80) and the youngest one is 12 years old Kamal Khan.

EID CELEBRATIONS!—PHOTO BY NAIM KHAN

CITY FIRST

In yet another interna-tional felicitation, Rashtradoot was named the winner of

a Silver Stevie Award in the ‘Most Valuable Corpo-rate Response to COVID-19’

category at the annual Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, mak-ing it the first and only print

publication from India to ever win a Stevie in the award’s history. Nick-named the Stevies for the

Greek word for “crowned,” the winners will be celebrat-

ed during a virtual awards ceremony on Wednesday, July 14. Rashtradoot won in the COVID-19 Response cat-egory for its initiative “Stand Tall with Rashtra-doot”.

Launched last year at the onset of the pandemic, the

humanitarian initiative “Stand Tall with Rashtra-doot”, focused on ensuring that all stakeholders of the newspaper – from employees and hawkers to readers, con-tributors and journalists – were not impacted by the pandemic. cityfirst@firstindia.co.in

INTERNATIONAL FELICITATION

—PHOTO BY HANIF SINDHI

Mother celebrating Eid with children in Ramganj bazar, Jaipur

Children enjoying Shirkhurma during Eid at Teed-darwaja, Ahmedabad

The family of Gazi Khan, Kamal Khan andNimbuda Lok Music Instituion

The family of Aazam Ali Khan Kayamkhani

Diptakirti Chaudhuri

...his book

—PH

OTOS

BY

MUK

ESH

KIRA

DOO