First India Gujarat For Gujarat Today Epaper 21 March 2020 edition

1. OUR EDITIONS: JAIPUR & AHMEDABAD CORONA ALERT 20°C - 35°C www.fi rstindia.co.in I www.fi rstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/ thefi rstindia I facebook.com/thefi rstindia I instagram.com/thefi rstindia AHMEDABAD l SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 2020 l Pages 14 l 3.00 RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/16208 l Vol 1 l Issue No. 114 Mumbai: Snapping its four-day losing streak, equity benchmark Sensex rallied over 1,627 points on Friday in line with global stocks as governments across the world took drastic measures to combat the economic blowback of Covid-19. The cases of coronavirus are increasing rapidly across the world with the count crossing 245,749 globally. India has so far reported 223 cases. Global death toll rose to 10,080 on Friday. GLOBAL DEATH TOLL ROSE TO 10,080 ON FRIDAY SENSEX HALTS 4-DAY CORONA CARNAGE Madrid: Coronavirus toll in Spain rose to 1,002 on Friday after another 235 people died in the past 24 hours. Number of cases soared to 19,980 after another 2,833 infections were confi rmed over same period. SPAIN VIRUS DEATH TOLL SOARS PAST 1,000: MINISTRY Ending a horrific chapter in the gang rape and murder of Delhi medic, Nirbhaya, 4 convicts were finally hanged on Friday FIR registered against singer Kanika Kapoor for violating norms of self isolation under provisions of Epidemic Act ‘JUSTICE HAS PREVAILED’ Raje, Dushyant go First India News into self-quarantine Jaipur/New Delhi: Former Chief Vasundhara Raje said on Friday that she and her son BJP MP Dush- yant Singh have gone into self-quarantine after attending singer Kanika Kapoor’s party . Kapoor has become the first Bollywood ce- lebrity to test positive for coronavirus in the country and says she’s under complete quar- antine & medical care. Raje tweeted that she and Dushyant were go- ing into self-isolation. “While in Lucknow, I attended a dinner with my son Dushyant and his in-laws. Kanika, who has unfortunately tested positive for COV- ID-19 was also a guest,” Raje said. Clampdown in Bhilwara as six positive cases reported New Delhi: ‘Justice has prevailed,’ Prime Minister Modi said on Friday while calling for a unit- ed effort to build a na- tion where the focus is on women’s empower- ment while ensuring dignity and safety for them. The Prime Minister’s message came soon af- ter the execution of the four convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya and murder case. Tak- ing to Twitter, the Prime Minister advo- cated for creating a na- tion which lays empha- sis on equality and op- portunity . “Justice vailed. It is of utmost importance to ensure dignity and safety of women. Our Nari Shak- ti has excelled in every field. Together, we have to build a nation where the focus is on women empowerment, where there is an emphasis on equality and opportu- nity,” Modi tweeted. Rajasthan Minister Narendra gang-rape Vasundhara Raje, Dushyant Singh had attended a dinner in Lucknow recently where Bollywood celebrity singer Kanika Kapoor was also a guest. Vasundhara Raje @VasundharaBJP While in Lucknow, I attended a dinner with my son Dushyant & his in-laws. Kanika, who has unfortunately tested positive for #Covid19 was also a guest. As a matter of abundant caution, my son & I have immediately self-quarantined and we’re taking all necessary precautions. has pre- Nirbhaya’s mother Asha Devi and father Badrinath Singh after the convicts were hanged till death after a 7-year-long legal battle, at their residence, in New Delhi on Friday. Turn on P9 TOTAL RECALL Finally they have been hanged, it was a long struggle. Today we got justice. This day is dedicated to the daughters of the country. I thank the judiciary and govern- ment. JHUNJHUNU SEALS BORDERS The case pertains to the brutal gang- rape and killing of a 23-year-old paramedical student in a moving bus on the night of December 16, 2012, by six people including a juvenile in the national capital. The woman had died at a Singapore hospital a few days later. Jhunjhunu administra- ton has decided to seal borders with adjoining districts. Decision has come after 3 people tested positive for coro- navirus on Thursday. First India News Pradesh. The step has been taken after three doctors and nursing staff of a pri- vate hospital here were found to be coro- na positive. Report of 11 person- nel of this hospital has come negative while that of 8 is yet to come. All 25 patients are put on isolation. —Asha Devi three Bhilwara: After find- ing six coronavirus positive patients in Bhilwara, the district administration imposed a here, along with seal- ing all its borders con- necting other districts of Rajasthan and Nee- much in Turn on P9 PATIENT COUNT IN INDIA SURGES TO 223 KAMAL NATH RESIGNS: IT IS OVER TO BJP NOW IN MADHYA PRADESH has curfew New Delhi: The total number of COVID-19 cases in India has now climbed up to 223, including 32 foreign- ers, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday. “The total number of positive cases of COVID-19 in India now stands at 223, includ- ing 32 foreigners. Four people have died so far, one each in Delhi, Karnataka, Punjab and Maharashtra,” said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. As many as 23 people have been cured of the lethal infection which has claimed over 10,000 lives globally. Markets were shut down post-noon to implement the prohibitory orders in Bhilwara. ed the resignation of Ka- mal Nath and asked him to continue as the care- taker chief minister till the new CM takes charge,” a Raj Bhawan official told PTI. In his resignation let- ter, Nath said, “In my 40-year- long public life, I have always done poli- tics of purity and valued democratic norms and given priority to it. But what transpired in the last two weeks is a new chapter of devaluation of democratic values.” Madhya Bhopal: Over 15 months after he took over as the chief minister of Mad- hya Pradesh, Kamal Nath resigned from the top post on Friday . His move comes a day after the Court directed that a floor test be conducted in Madhya Pradesh As- sembly to prove that the Congress government led by him enjoys ma- jority in the House fol- lowing the rebellion by 22 MLAs of his party . Nath submitted his resignation to Gover- #RAJASTHANALERT Supreme CM Ashok Gehlot sanitises his hands before entering the CMO to hold a video conference with District Collectors and SPs. MP CM Kamal Nath addresses media in Bhopal on Friday. his resignation to the governor at the Raj Bha- wan here around 1 pm on Friday . “The governor accept- nor Lalji Tandon at the Raj Bhawan here this afternoon Tandon accepted. Nath had submitted —PTI which Turn on P9 COVID 19: 7 positive cases, 189 samples tested, 148 negative NEW FACILITIES First India News They will be placed under institutional or home quarantine, as required, she added. She also said that the state’s first two COV- ID-19 patients, identi- fied on Thursday in Ra- jkot and Surat, are on ventilators but in a sta- ble condition. She said that there is no need to worry since, across the world, all fa- talities have been in persons older than 60 years, while all the cas- es in the state are in un- der 35 years of age. ports have been sent to the National Insti- tute of (Pune) for confirma- tion. At the Ahmedabad international airport, the state health depart- ment has screened 559 passengers, whom are under home- quarantine and 63 are under guided quaran- tine. State Principal Secre- tary (Health) Jayanti Ravi told the press on Friday that her depart- ment is closely monitor- ing positive cases and Virology Gandhinagar: In less than 24 hours, Guja- rat has gone from zero to seven in the number of confirmed positive cases of COVID-19, with three being re- ported in Ahmedabad, two in Vadodara and one each in Rajkot and Surat. So far, 189 suspect- ed cases have been tested in the state, 148 of which have come back negative. Some of the 34 samples that are awaiting final re-       492 of those under quarantine to ensure the virus does not spread in clusters. All seven confirmed cases in the state have a history of foreign travel, and recently visited the Middle East, Spain, Finland, US, UK and Sri Lan- ka. The health de- partment is also trac- ing anyone who has come into contact with the patients and examining Visually impaired tailors at the Blind People’s Association in Ahmedabad create masks, which will be distributed for free. them. —PHOTO BY HANIF SINDHI Turn on P9

2. NEWS AHMEDABAD | SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 2020 02 www.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 COVID-19 ODISHA CM NAVEEN PATNAIK REQUESTS MODI TO POSTPONE NPR, CENSUS-RELATED WORK IN A LETTER TO PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA MODI, PATNAIK SAID MOBILISATION FOR CENSUS AND UPDATION OF THE NATIONAL POPULATION REGISTER ACROSS THE COUNTRY WOULD POSE A GREAT RISK FOR FIELD FUNCTIONARIES AND PEOPLE O Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. —FILE PHOTO disha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday urged Prime Minister Modi to postpone Na- tional Population Reg- ister and Census-relat- ed activities in wake of the COVID-19 scare. In a letter written to Prime Minis- ter Modi, Patnaik said: "We are all at present fighting against novel corona- virus (COV1D-19) pandemic. All ef- forts of state machinery are directed towards containment of COVID-19. As mobilisation for Census and other concerned activities shall pose a great risk for field functionaries and people as well, I would rather suggest to postpone the scheduled Census and related activities in the country ." The first phase of house listing for Census enumeration and updation of the population register was due from 1 April to 30 September 2020. "I am apprised of the fact that about 30 lakh enumerators and supervisors in the country will be involved in collecting data by vis- iting each household during the INCREASING NO. OF CASES Narendra first phase. This has to be preced- ed by elaborate training, aware- ness campaign and related activi- ties," Patnaik wrote. The Chief Minister urged the Cen- tral government to review the pro- posed Census and take an appropri- ate decision in the interest of people. The total number of COVID-19 cases in India has now climbed up to 195, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday morning. The dead- ly virus has claimed four lives in the country so far. As many as 19 people have been cured of the infection in the country . The disease has claimed over 10,000 lives globally . PM DISCUSSES WAYS TO CHECK SPREAD OF CORONAVIRUS WITH CHIEF MINISTERS of a global pandemic like coronavirus is not appropriate. It is essential that each and every Indian remains alert and cautious,” he said. Studies of the countries hit by the pandemic have revealed that it exploded after a few days, and the number of people infected by it grew at a very rapid pace, he pointed out. New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday deliberated ways to check the spread of coronavirus with chief ministers of various states. Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan and top health ministry offi cials were also present in the meeting held via video link. The meeting, which started at 4pm, was still on. Sources in the government said besides discussing ways to check the spread of the virus, issues such as capacity building of the states and extending training to local health offi cials could also come for discussion. Punjab CM Amrinder Singh, Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath were among those who attended the video conference. The prime minister has been pitching for involvement of people and local authorities to check the spread of the virus. In his address to the nation on Thursday, Modi highlighted the scale of coronavirus’ impact and noted that there is a view that India has averted the crisis and all is well. “This mindset is not correct. Complacency in respect —ANI —Agencies Rupani govt’s `633cr budget proposal for transport approved First India News higher penalty collection. In the beginning of the calendar, there were 1.40 lakh applications pending with Regional Transport (RTOs) across the state; 1,22 lakh of these have been cleared. In addi- tion, the RTOs have also cleared 2.07 lakh of the 2.30 lakh applications for driving licences. While only the RTOs were allowed to issue licences earlier, now polytechnics and ITI have also been permit- ted to issue licences. This has reduced the waiting period, as well. buses. The House ap- proved the transport de- partment’s budget pro- posal of Rs633 crore. “There are 125 cities and towns, and 18,000 villages, some of which are remote and located on hills. Yet, the state’s transport reach them,” he said, adding, “The state gov- ernment has developed many bus depots on the PPP model. These ultra-modern stops have all sorts of facilities, including de- partmental multiplexes and food parks. Eight such bus ports have been devel- oped, with one each at Ahmedabad’s Mandir and Ranip, Va- dodara’s Makarpura, Surat’s Adajan, as well as Mehsana and Ra- jkot.” The state government plans to develop some 132 bus stops. Foundation stones have already been laid for 31 new stations; and of the 79 meant to be upgraded, work has al- ready begun on 39. He added that the number of registered vehicles in the state, which was 37.97 lakh in 1995-96, has now risen by 2.65 crore. Last year, the state government decided to abolish regional trans- port checkposts at all entry points to the state and the transport de- partment encouraged transporters to pay charges online. This has resulted in a 10.04% revenue increase. In the first four months, the state government has collected Rs100 crore, he said. Now the state govern- ment is levying fines for the violation of Motor Vehicle Act online. This has also resulted in a CORONA SUPERVISION Gita Gandhinagar: transport department under Chief Minister Vijay Rupani’s govern- ment has been success- fully serving vehicle owners and passen- gers, 24 lakh of whom use the Gujarat Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC) to commute every day. Transport minister RC Faldu while replying to the budget proposal dis- cussion said that trans- port services 99.06% of the state geo- graphically through 8,490 The Offices services bus cover stores, —FILE PHOTO Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.

3. GUJARAT AHMEDABAD | SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 2020 03 www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia 47 UNDER QUARANTINE FOR CONTACT WITH STATE’S POSITIVE CASES CORONA OUTBREAK SEC 144 IMPOSED IN 9 DISTRICTS First India News ernment has put 47 peo- ple under quarantine for coming in direct contact with just the first five cases that test- ed positive. Meanwhile, there has been dissent among the doctors of the Civil Hos- pital in Asarwa on prop- er location for the quar- antine ward. Some doc- tors say that, with the isolation ward current- ly on the ninth floor, suspected cases of COV- ID-19 come into contact with many other pa- tients on their way to quarantine. “This puts thousands of patients, whose immunity is al- ready compromised, at risk,” one doctor said, requesting anonymity. The hospital is cur- rently awaiting gov- ernment permission to set up a separate out- patient ward for sus- pected COVID-19, Civil Hospital Medical Su- perintendent Dr GH Rathod said. Sunday . The move, announced by Prime Minister Nar- endra Modi during a na- tional address on Thurs- day , seeks to keep people indoors between 7am and 9pm on Sunday in a bid to stall the spread of the novel coronavirus. State transport (ST) bus- es, those under the BRTS (Bus Rapid Transport System), and city buses Janta curfew on Sunday Only take away services from hotel & restaurants: DyCM Nitin Patel PAAN SHOPS SHUT TO DETER SPITTING The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) on Friday ordered the closure of paan shops in the city to discourage spitting in public spaces, a habit, officials believe, is responsible for spreading COVID-19. The move comes at a time when the fine for spitting in public has been hiked from Rs500 to Rs1,000. “We have caught at least 4,500 violators and collected Rs20 lakh in fines,” Commissioner Vijay Nehra said, adding that closure of shops selling paan and paan masala was an added measure since the fine was not enough to deter spitting in public. Ahmedabad: Section 144 of the Criminal Pro- cedure code has been imposed in at least nine districts as a precau- tionary measure to con- trol the spread of COV- ID-19. The legal provi- sion which prohibits assembly of five or more people, holding of public meetings and carrying of firearms among other things came into force in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Surendranagar, Rajkot, Kutch, Dahod, Banaskantha and Por- bandar on Saturday evening. Ahmedabad Commissioner AShish Bhatia issued a state- ment saying that the police would take legal action against anyone found guilty of gather- ing in groups of more than four. The move comes at a time when the state gov- JAIL AUTHORITIES TAKE PRECAUTIONS Authorities of the Sabarmati Central Jail have set up a separate quarantine barracks, to offset any chance of coronavirus infections on the premises. In addition, prisoners will be allowed “e-interviews” with their families, as a means to keep visitors to a minimum. MK Nayak, Superintendent of Sabarmati Central Jail, said authorities will also check the travel history and medical history of all new prisoners and include this information in their medical report. “We have also arranged e-interviews with prisoners’ families to avoid exposure to the outside,” he added. —PHOTOS BY HANIF SINDHI Ahmedabad Fire and Emergency Services personnel spray the house of the city’s first COVID-19 patient with medicated water. Police GOVT BUSES OFF THE ROADS FOR ‘JANTA CURFEW’ Gandhinagar: Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Ru- pani on Friday said no government buses will ply on Sunday in view of the ‘Janta curfew’ on IKDRC SUSPENDS TRANSPLANTS The Institute for Kidney Diseases and Re- search Centre (IKDRC) has decided to imple- ment ‘Common Consensus Guidelines for Infection Prevention and Control’ at its Civil Hospital, Asarwa premises from Thursday. The institute, which deals primarily with liver and kidney transplants, decided to postpone elec- tive and non-life saving surgeries to prevent any possible COVID-19 infection until further notice. “We have invoked this protocol to nul- lify possible infection at the first stage itself. The preventive guidelines will remain in force until further notice,” said Dr Vineet Mishra, Director, IKRDC-ITS. —PHOTO BY NANDAN DAVE People line up outside the DMart store in Satellite to stock up on groceries and other essentials. observe Janta curfew on that day to contain the spread of the vi- rus,” he said. in Gujarat. Services of ST, BRTS and city buses will remain shut during Sunday. We all need to will all be off the roads during the Janta curfew, the CM said.“There is Lal Darwaja and Bhadra Fort area of Ahmedabad. First India News March 21, delivery and takeaway services will not be affected. Similarly , the govern- ment has also restrict- ed entry to the secre- tariat until March 29; only those with “urgent matters” and “prior ap- pointments” will be al- lowed in. All district- level Janseva Kendras will remain closed from Saturday . Patel said that all stores in malls, other than those selling gro- ceries and medicines, will be closed from Sat- urday . —PHOTO BY NANDAN DAVE The Gandhinagar: state government, as part of its precaution- ary measures against Novel Coronavirus, has announced that people may purchase month’s groceries from Fair Price Shops in ad- vance. The state will also release a month’s pension in advance to senior citizens, the vis- ually impaired, and others falling under similar categories. Deputy Chief Minis- ter Nitin Patel, who is City on lockdown tomorrow a Free mask distribution outside Jama Masjid on Friday. into need to be taken to en- sure that the virus does not spread.In addition, while hotels and restau- rants will be shut from measures that also the state’s health minister, was part of a high-level chaired by Chief Minis- ter Vijay Rupani at Gandhinagar, to look meeting First India News house masks and sanitiz- ers for free to those under home-quar- antine. The civic body is ready to sup- ply every essential item, be it grocer- ies, milk or vegeta- bles to any family that agrees to adopt voluntary quarantine, he also said. Further, AMC has appointed one staff- er to supervise each home-quarantined person in order to ensure that home quarantine order is not breached. Seven persons have so far been caught breaching quarantine have been taken to an AMC-controlled facility in Sola. to supply Ahmedabad: The Ahmedabad Munici- pal Corporation has announced that the city, including all All parks and gar- dens, food streets and bazars, will re- main shut on Sun- day, in keeping with the ‘Janta Curfew’ announced Prime Minister Nar- endra Modi Thursday. In addition, AMC commissioner Vijay Nehra on Friday an- nounced that all civic centres, com- plaint centres and Aadhar card centres will also remain shut until March 31. He added AMC workers have been going house to home- by on for home- and that

4. GUJARAT AHMEDABAD | SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 2020 04 www.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 Locusts caused `18 cr damage Districts of Banaskantha and Patan hit, state government pays compensation to farmers GSRTC bought 4,009 buses worth `395cr First India News worth were acquired by the state corporation. At the expense of Rs19,07,500 each, 500 minibuses were procured in 2018-19. The corporation also bought 1,619 chassis diesel 10-me- tre buses in the same year at the cost of Rs13,94,000 each. In 2019-20, 1,640 chassis diesel 10-metre buses were purchased with each bus costing Rs17,10,000. It also bought 250 minibuses in 2019-20 and paid Rs19,45,000 each for them. Rs153.91 crore First India News cent area on how to deal with locust attacks. He also talked about a re- gional control room, which has been set up to handle such crises and an awareness cam- paign about locust at- tacks in affected areas. The state government also has provisions of sprayer-mounted vehi- cles and tractors to spray insecticides on locusts. At the peak of the lo- custs’ attacks on crops, the state government in coordination with the central locusts control wing to successfully control the attacks in affected areas. Gandhinagar: The Guja- rat State Road Transport Corporation purchased a total of 4,009 minibuses and diesel chassis 10-metre buses worth Rs395 crore in last two years to meet the transport fleet shortage in the state. On Friday, Transport Minister RC Faldu in the House said that buses worth Rs242.03 were bought in 2018-19, and, in 2019-20, buses NUMBERS GAME Lo- (GSRTC) Gandhinagar: custs wreaked havoc on crops worth crores of rupees in Banaskantha and Patan districts in December and January . As a result, the state government paid Rs18 crore to the farmers for loss of income due to damaged crops, said Agriculture Minister RC Faldu at the Assem- bly on Friday . In response to MLA Gulabsinh Rajput and Geniben Thakor, Faldu stated that as of Janu- ary 31 2020, standing crops in Banaskantha and Patan districts crore Patan district were paid Rs 50,000 compen- sation. Furthermore, minister also elaborat- ed on the training pro- vided to field staff along the desert adja- ers who had suffered losses due to the locust havoc stood at 9,020. Of these, 9,012 farmers of the Banaskantha dis- trict were paid Rs 18.73 crore as compensation and eight farmers in which the standing crops were planted, 120 hectare falls in Patan district and 14,726 hec- tares in Banaskantha district. Faldu added that the total number of farm- spread on 14,846 hec- tares was damaged by locusts in December and January . The crops which were damaged included castor, cumin seeds and mustard. Out of 14,846 hectares on the Number of RTIs drop by 26% in state in a year First India News Surtis protest surge in mosquito population First India News Ahmedabad: The num- ber of Right to Informa- tion (RTI) applications in the state have de- creased by 26% in 2019- 20, as compared to last year. As per data tabled at the Assembly, the highest number of RTIs were received by the Panchayat and Home department. In the annual report of the Gujarat Informa- tion Commission, the department revealed figures for 2018-19. Ac- cording to the report, the commission re- ceived 9,653 appeals and 809 complaints which 8,174 appeals and 808 complaints were re- solved. “It is worrisome that there is a decline in the number of RTI applications state. This shows that there is no transparen- Surat: Bogged down by a sudden surge in mosquitoes in the city’s’ Kapodara area, residents and the lo- cal councillor con- ducted a protest at the Varacha zonal of- fice of the Surat Mu- nicipal Corporation on Friday. The pro- testers have demand- ed that the civic body find an immediate solution to the mos- quito menace. In response, SMC Standing committee chairman Anil Gopla- ni told First India, “We have made spe- cial arrangements to minimize the popula- tion of mosquitoes. In the coming days, all eight zones will be provided with a trac- tor and a JCB to re- TOP THREE We have deployed a team against waterborne diseases in that area. The team visits each area and does fogging and spray work. People who re- main careless about mosquitoes will be sent a notice and strict action will be taken against them. —Dr Ashish Naik , Deputy commissioner for health, SMC of were attacked for filing RTIs. Those attacked had asked for informa- tion from the Panchay- at department, which could be a reason for the decrease in applica- tions,” added Jog. cy and that depart- ments are refusing to give information,” said Pankti Jog of Mahiti Adhikar Gujarat Pahel. “Around 50 incidents have been reported wherein and drainage canals are the prime sources of the increased num- ber of mosquitoes.” move all the dirt from the canals passing through the city. We have learnt that water in the applicants

5. INDIA AHMEDABAD | SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 2020 05 www.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 ‘THE NATION GOT JUSTICE TODAY’ I am feeling satisfied today because finally our daughter has got justice. The whole country was ashamed of this crime, said Nirbhaya’s mother Asha Devi A girl stands outside Tihar jail with a poster in her hands. People gather outside Tihar jail during the execution of convicts. It’s a day for all women of country: Nirbhaya’s father New Delhi: After the SC dismissed the peti- tion of Nirbhaya gang- rape case convict Pawan Gupta against the rejec- tion of his mercy plea by the President and seeking stay on execu- tion, the victim’s moth- er Asha Devi on Friday said that “the nation has got justice.” “I am feeling satisfied today because finally our daughter has got justice. The whole coun- try was ashamed of this crime. Today the nation has got justice,” Asha Devi, Nirbhaya’s moth- er said while speaking to reporters. thanked the court for rejecting the “delaying tactics.” “The daughters have got jus- tice. Those people who have been with us for the past seven years...I want to thank the peo- ple of our country who supported us. The sun that rises tomorrow will be written in history . I want to thank the judici- ary that Nirbhaya got justice today . I want to thank the President. I want to thank the court for rejecting the delay DAY FOR DAUGHTERS New Delhi: As the four death row convicts in the Nirbhaya case were hanged in Tihar Jail here, Nirbhaya’s father Badrinath Singh said that this day is for all the women of the coun- try . “Not just Nirbhaya, it is a day for all women of the country... Today, all people will say that they are happy as Nirbhaya has got justice. Our law- yers stood with us all the time. In the end, we won because we were just,” Badrinath Singh told media here. Nirb- haya’s mother Asha Devi said. “We will appeal to the SCourt to lay down guidelines so that the delay tactics used in Nirbhaya’s case are not repeated in other cases. Nirbhaya’s Asha Devi further said, “Today, I can say that I am proud of my daugh- EXAMPLE SET She country’s tactics. Finally , I want to thank two of our law- yers,” she said. “There is a hearing on March 23. We will appeal to SC to lay down guidelines so that delay tactics used in Nirbhaya’s case are not repeated in oth- er cases. The process of availing legal remedies by death row convicts should be time bound,” Asha Devi said. —ANI ter that because of her people know me as Nirb- haya’s mother. If she would have been present today, then I would have been known as a doctor’s mother, but now I am known as Nirbhaya’s mother... My dharma as a mother has been ful- filled today .” —ANI mother Nirbhaya rape & murder case victim’s parents along with advocate Seema Kushwaha & others react after convicts’ execution. Nirbhaya’s ancestral village in UP celebrates execution Convicts didn’t bathe, skipped breakfast before hanging ‘IT WILL CREATE FEAR AMONG CRIMINALS’ SWIFT JUSTICE REQUIRED, SAY LAWYERS ‘HANGING SENDS STRONG MESSAGE’ ‘MUKESH WISHED TO DONATE ORGANS’ New Delhi: The father of the 25-year-old woman who was raped by a cab driver in 2014, said, “Their hanging sends a strong message to society & will create fear among the criminals. It will help in reducing such crimes, however, much more is needed to be done to curb the sexual offences against women.” —ANI New Delhi: According to several lawyers, the law is both corrective & retribu- tive but swift justice is also required in rarest of rare cases, where there is no scope for reforma- tion. “We have become accustomed to having this sense of righteousness without looking at it from a social justice viewpoint. sr adv Geeta Luthra said. Ballia: The residents of the Nirbhaya’s an- cestral village here in Ballia celebrated the execution of the capital punishment to the four death row convicts who were hanged till their death at Tihar jail early morning on Friday . All four death row convicts - Akshay Singh Thakur, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma, and Mukesh Singh - were hanged till death at Tihar Jail around 5:30 am this morning. The villagers including the family members Nirbhaya took to the streets playing drums and trumpets and danc- ing to the beats. “We have been wait- ing for this day for more than seven years. The dark night is over and a new day has begun. Not just Nirbhaya but wom- en of the country have got justice today,” the grandfather of Nirb- haya said. —ANI New Delhi: The four death row convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang- rape and murder case, who were hanged in Tihar jail early morn- ing on Friday, did not take a bath and also skipped their breakfast, the last meal, before the execution of sentence. According to offi- cials, two of the con- victs- Mukesh Singh and Vinay Sharma, had their dinner on time. On the other hand, Ak- shay Singh Thakur and Pawan Gupta did not have their dinner. The convicts were given regular updates on the midnight hearing in the court. The convicts were wearing the same clothes they were wear- ing last night when they were hanged, sources told. After the hanging, the bodies were taken from Tihar Jail to Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospi- tal for post mortem at around 8:20 am. —ANI of Police personnel outside Tihar jail during the execution of four men convicted of Nirbhaya rape and murder case in New Delhi on Friday morning. Ravi Shankar Prasad @rsprasad Justice has prevailed. It is of ut- most importance to ensure dignity and safety of women. Our Nari Shakti has excelled in every fi eld. Together, we have to build a nation where the focus is on women empowerment, where there is em- phasis on equality and opportunity. Ajit Pawar@AjitPawarSpeaks Though delayed, justice is fi nally served to Nirbhaya. Let this be a lesson to all, signify- ing crimes against women would never be tolerated in this country. May her soul rest in peace! #NirbhayaVerdict #NirbhayaGetsJustice Diya Kumari@KumariDiya After seven long years, the dawn of justice for India’s daughter #Nirbhaya! This is a victory for Nirbhaya’s parents & every Indian who fought in their own way to bring justice for Nirbhaya. NirbhayaNyay- Divas #NirbhayaGetsJustice Smriti Irani Union Minister “This is a message to all those who think they can commit crimes against women and escape the law,” Irani told media persons. “I have seen the struggle of a mother for years. Today, I greet this day with aplomb for Nirbhaya as she fi nally received justice.” Nitin Gadkari @nitin_gadkari Nirbhaya has got Justice. Let us always remember that anyone who outrages the dignity of women will not be forgiven. Let us create #NewIndia where every woman is respected and given equal opportunity. Gautam Gambhir @GautamGambhir Hanged till death! Finally! I know we are late Nirbhaya. #NirbhayaJustice

6. PERSPECTIVE 06 AHMEDABAD | SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 2020 www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia Why only population control can ensure our survival You cannot cap human activity because that will amount to capping human aspirations IN-DEPTH A tale of two resignations N SADHGURU, ISHA FOUNDATION o one expected a change in Madhya Pradesh so soon. But a change of guard is taking place in the state barely 15 months after Congress had dislodged Shivraj Chouhan-led Bharatiya Janata Party government from power through electoral victory . By success- fully exploiting fissures in the Congress, the BJP has now paved the way for Shivraj to make a comeback albeit through the back door. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath made futile attempts to retain power but could not delay the inevitable. Certain of defeat, he tweeted his resignation on Friday, ahead of the floor test ordered by the Su- preme Court, with a barb against the “power- hungry, ambitious Maharaj” who was reject- ed by the voters and 22 “greedy MLAs influ- enced by him”. The countdown began on March 11 when Jyotiraditya Scindia met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, resigned from Congress and was immediately inducted into the BJP . What followed was windfall for the BJP as 22 Con- gress legislators, including six ministers, loyal to Scindia also put in their papers, mak- ing it easy to oust Kamal Nath-led govern- ment from power. The BJP did not woo Scindia in a day. It must have been watching the developments in the Congress ever since Kamal Nath was sworn-in as chief minister and the scion of Gwalior royalty was bypassed for the state party president’s post he so keenly coveted but which Kamal Nath did not agree to part with. Scindia waited for 14 months before snapping his ties with the Congress. So for Kamal Nath to call Scindia power-hungry and ambitious is grossly unfair. The truth is that it was a power tussle between Scindia and Ka- mal Nath in which the former is having the last laugh. By refusing to accommodate Scin- dia, Kamal Nath has only eroded the Con- gress’s future prospects in the state. As the factional feud intensified over the year leading to Scindia’s resignation, the party’s central leadership remained a mute spectator as it avoided taking sides. A weak, indecisive central leadership is leading Con- gress to its decimation. The old versus new guards has been the Congress’ sore point for a long time now. Should Sonia Gandhi lead the party or should it be either Rahul Gandhi or Priyanka is still being debated? Last year when Rahul tried to rid the party of dynastic tag it was the old guard which thwarted his move and convinced Sonia Gan- dhi to be the interim president. This was a setback for the new guard --- Scindia, Mukul Wasnik and Mallikarjun Kharge and others. Sadly , dissension is threatening the grand old party’s existence but even after the jolt suf- fered in Madhya Pradesh the Congress is un- willing to reinvent itself. Ironically, the Con- gress has opted for status quo, unlike the BJP whose leadership is ready to chop and churn. Ranked amongst the fifty most influential people in India, Sadhguru is a yogi, mystic, visionary and a New York Times bestselling author Sadhguru has been conferred the Padma Vibhushan by the Government of India in 2017, the highest annual civilian award, accorded for exceptional and distinguished service I have been at any number of conferences where people talk of various dangers that we are facing, such as water and environmental conserva- tion, but what pains me is, no government wants to address the most fundamental prob- lem – population. In the early 20th century, the world’s pop- ulation was 1.6 billion people. Today, a century later, we are 7.2 billion people. We are pro- jecting that by 2050, we will be 9.6 billion people. I think this is just irresponsible repro- duction of humanity. In In- dia, in 1947, we were 330 million. Today, we are 1.2 billion. It doesn’t matter how many trees you plant, how many policies you change, what kind of tech- nologies you bring, there is simply no solution unless we put a cap on human pop- ulation. Either we control our popu- lation consciously, or nature will do it in a very cruel man- ner. This is all the choice there is. In India particularly, right now, 60% of our land is ploughed, just to feed these 1.2 billion people. Our farm- ers, with rudimentary, to- tally ramshackle infra- structure, are producing food for over one billion people. This is an absolute- ly commendable fact, but still the man who produces food is not eating properly. That is not a commendable fact; that is not something to be proud of.The people who produce food for all of us, the rice or wheat that we are eating today, their own children don’t eat a full stomach. This is essen- tially because we have not taken the responsibility of deciding, “Okay, this much land – how much population can we support?” It definitely cannot support an endless growth of human population. PLANET IS NOT MADE ONLY FOR HUMANS This idea that the planet is made only for human beings is a very gross idea. It has been put into people’s minds, saying that “you are created in God’s image”. I am sure even a worm is thinking God looks like a large worm! Not for ecological reasons, just for the sake of your humanity , you need to un- derstand, every creature on this planet has a complete life of its own. Even an insect has a total life of its own – a whole lot of things are hap- pening in his life. Just be- cause someone is smaller or looks different from you, thinking he has no right to live and only you have a right to live here, is a very gross way to exist for humanity . Humanity devoid of human- ity, that’s what humanity is to- day. Unless humanness is brought forth, I don’t think things like controlling human population consciously will happen. Of course govern- ments have to make policies, but they cannot enforce these kinds of things in a democracy . It can only be done by a cam- paign and by bringing the nec- essary awareness, but definite- human aspirations. You can only cap human population. TAKING CHARGE OF BIRTH In 1947, the life expectancy of an average Indian was 32 years. To- day , it has crossed 65. So we took charge of death, but we should have also taken charge of birth. Today , you neither have enough buses, land, toilets, temples or even a sufficient piece of sky for 1.2 billion people. The only thing we can do is – are we going to adjust our population to the resource that we have? That is something that every human being can do if the necessary education and awareness is brought into their lives. If that investment is made, we don’t have to plant trees. The planet is not in peril, it is human life which is in peril. This is something human beings need to understand. I hope we wake up to this fact and do what is needed. Ecological green technologies, all these things are definitely needed, but addressing the most funda- mental thing, that we have mul- tiplied four times over and we have done nothing about it, and are still continuing to multiply, is the biggest problem. The planet is not in peril, it is human life which is in peril. This is something human beings need to understand Humanity devoid of humanity, that’s what humanity is today. Unless humanness is brought forth, I don’t think things like controlling human population consciously will happen ly people in the government have to put that idea forth. Pri- vate agencies and NGOs can do something, but still, govern- mental action is needed. Talking about ecology, land conservation or water conser- vation without controlling hu- man populationis just not going to make a difference because the kind of impetus that is there in the form of science and tech- nology is making every human being hyperactive. You cannot cap human activity because that will amount to capping conservation, Parents, cut screen time while stuck at home Top TWEET Dharmendra Pradhan @dpradhanbjp Prepare, don’t panic! Government has launched a WhatsApp-based MyGov Corona Helpdesk for alerting and educating the citizens about the #NovelCoronavirus.Just text ‘Hi’ on WhatsApp at 9013151515 & get automated response to your queries related to #Covid19. BREAK: PREVIOUS DAILY SCREEN TIME LIMITS The American Academy of Pediatrics warns par- ents that letting children spend too much time watching TV shows or playing video games on any device can make them more anxious, reduce their ability to control impulses and disturb their sleep. How much screen time varies by age. The doctors’ group advises avoiding all screen time, aside from video chats, for babies and toddlers up to 18 months old, and sets gradually in- creasing limits after that. Between the ages of 2 and 5, for instance, the academy estimates that kids can safe- ly get up to an hour of daily screen time, as long as their parents or caregivers join in. It advises parents of kids 6 and up to consistently lim- it time spent using digital media and to make sure that screen time doesn’t displace sleep or physical activity . As of now, there’s little compelling evidence back- ing up concerns over the dangers of screen time for preschoolers, in particular. So when the parents of lit- tle kids let their child watch a video to make it possible for the grownups to make dinner or take a phone call, there’s no rea- son to beat themselves up. Because American Acad- emy of Pediatrics doesn’t include video chatting as part of a child’s total screen time, it’s a good option to ramp up now, even for the very youngest. Some re- search suggests that babies can learn new words when they engage in a video chat but not from prerecorded videos. Video chatting can help kids stay connected with their friends or mem- bers of their extended fam- ilies whom they no longer can see in person. Consider using it to read stories, play the Go Fish card game or just talk about day’s events. bedtime routines is really important for young chil- dren – those 5 years old and younger. Research indicates that kids with consistent bedtime routines do better in school and tend to behave better than their peers. Studies suggest that even babies get less of the sleep they need if they in- teract with screens at night. The same goes for preschool-aged kids – those between 3 and 5 years old. Using any digital device at bedtime is correlated with losing about half an hour of sleep for children between 8 and 17 years old. Remember, if your kids sleep better, they’re likely to behave better too. That will make it easier for your entire family to handle whatever happens next. FOR FULL REPORT LOG ON TO WWW.PROJECTSYNDICATE.ORG Prakash Javadekar @PrakashJavdekar Happy to announce the grant of Environmental approval to Nardave Irrigation Project in Sindhudurg District, which shall irrigate around 10,000 hectares of land, thus benefiting a huge number of farmers. @moefcc @ PIB_India @PIBMumbai or watch ital media while eating or during any kind of family gathering. But I think it might sometimes be worth bending this rule. Whether they’re coming home from work outside the home, teleworking or simply spending the day taking care of their chil- dren, all parents need some time to decompress or tack- le household chores. BEND: MOST RESTRICTIONS ON WHERE AND WHEN TO USE DEVICES The American Academy of Pediatrics also advises par- ents to create tech-free zones and common situa- tions at home. For exam- ple, the doctors’ group says that kids, especially little ones, should never use dig- Studies suggest that even babies get less of the sleep they need if they interact with or watch screens Spiritual SPEAK KEEP: UNPLUGGED BEDTIME However, one rule I consider worth keeping even when schools, day care centers and workplaces are shut- tered is unplugging from tech at bedtime. Sticking to No purifier equals knowledge, and in time the man of perfect discipline discovers this in his own spirit. —Bhagavad Gita at night. G Vol 1 G Issue No. 114 GRNI NO. GUJENG/2019/16208. Printed and published by Anita Hada Sangwan on behalf of First Express Publishers. Printed at Bhaskar Printing Planet Survey No.148P, Changodar-Bavla Highway, Tal. Sanand, Dist. Ahmedabad. Published at D/302 3rd Floor Plot No. 35 Titanium Square, Scheme No. 2, Thaltej Taluka, Ghatlodiya, Ahmedabad. Editor: Jagdeesh Chandra, Resident Editor : Darshan Desai, responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act

7. INDIA AHMEDABAD | SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 2020 07 www.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 MP POLITICAL CRISIS BJP leader Shivraj Chouhan and Narendra Tomar are the front-runners POWERGallery ‘Kamal’ set to bloom after Nath WHO WILL BE NEW DG OF BSF? Who will be new DG BSF ? Names of RPF DG Arun Kumar, SSB DG Kumar Rajesh Chandra and 1986 batch IPS offi cer of Jharkhand cadre K N Chaubey are said to be in the panel. New Delhi: With the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh col- lapsing, speculation is rife on who would be the BJP’s choice for the chief minister’s post: Shivraj Singh Chou- han, Narendra Singh Tomar or some dark horse. The state is set to get a BJP-led government now as the 18-day-long political drama ended on Friday with chief minister Kamal Nath’s resignation. Chouhan has been chief minister thrice. He had the longest ten- ure as the state CM dur- ing 2003-2018, before Nath wrested the chair from him. He is perce- cived as the front-run- ner for the post, but the million-dollar question is whether the top BJP leadership would fa- vour him. “Looking at the way the BJP takes a decision these days, no one can say confidently that a par- ticular stands a good chance. Because such decisions are now taken in the Congress-like command style’, a BJP source told PTI. MP ADVOCATE GENERAL RESIGNS DR SUMEET JERATH APPOINTED SECRETARY, OFFICIAL LANGUAGE Dr Sumeet Jerath, Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, has been appointed as Secretary, Department of Offi cial Language. He is a 1985 batch IAS offi cer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre. NARAYAN RAJU CONTINUES AS SECRETARY, LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT TILL MAR 2021 Re-employment period of G Narayan Raju as Secretary, Legislative Department on contract basis, has been extended for a period of one year beyond upto March 31, 2021. MS ARUNDHATY GHOSH APPOINTED DIRECTOR GENERAL, POSTAL SERVICES Ms Arundhaty Ghosh, Member (Operations), Postal Services Board, has been appointed Director General Postal Services after promotion to this grade. She is a 1986 batch offi cer of Indian Postal Service. BJP leaders Shivraj Singh Chouhan, VD Sharma, Gopal Bhargava and others celebrate after Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath resigned from his post, at state party headquarters in Bhopal on Friday. —PHOTO BY PTI BJP preparing to form govt as Nath resigns MLA PRADEEP JAISWAL SET TO JOIN BJP WILL APPOINTMENT OF LT GEN RANK OFFICER AS DG, Territorial Army set a precedent? Will it be a precedent now that the DG of Territorial Army will be only of Lt Gen rank. It seems so. P P P dia in Delhi and said all those legislators who have resigned will win in the upcoming elections. Earlier, reacting to Kamal Nath’s resigna- tion, Scindia said: “To- day the people have won in Pradesh. We will regain public confidence and go on the path of public service again.” Delhi, after which there is speculation about the next CM of the state. Sources say that a strategy was chalked out in this meeting about the formation of the government Madhya Pradesh. The cabinet formation was also discussed at this meeting. Meanwhile, Scindia interacted with the me- Delhi: The New Bharatiya Janata Party has intensified the exer- cise to form the govern- ment soon after the Ka- mal Nath government collapsed in Madhya Pradesh. A round of meetings has started from Delhi to Bhopal. A similar meeting took place at the residence of Union Minister Nar- endra Singh Tomar in leadership WHO WILL BE NEW MD OF SBI? Who will succeed P K Gupta as MD of the State Bank of India. Three offi cials said to be top contenders are -Ashwini Bhatia, Partha Sengupta and Alok Chaudhury. individual in Madhya ‘high- TENURE OF ALOK RANJAN AS CVO, BHEL EXTENDED The tenure of Alok Ranjan as Chief Vigilance Offi cer, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), has been extended for a period of two years upto April 2, 2022. He is a 1991 batch IPS offi cer of MP cadre. PM Modi urged caution to deal with coronavirus: LS Speaker Court sends Rana Kapoor to judicial custody till April 2 VINAYAK GARG IS ALSO CVO, IREDA Vinayak Garg, CVO, ITDC, has been entrusted an additional charge of CVO, Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited (IREDA) for a period of nine months. He is a 1994 batch IRSEE Offi cer. New Delhi: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Friday said that Prime Minister Modi had in his address to the nation urged peo- ple to exercise caution to prevent spread of coronavirus and not feel scared. He asserted that parliament was with PM’s address to the nation. The Speaker said the entire world is dealing with the crisis posed by coronavirus and India is also making all its possible efforts. “Prime Minister in his address to the na- tion appealed to people to exercise caution and not feel scared so that their faith is main- tained,” he said. The Speaker said that PM in his address on Thurs- day told about ways to prevent the spread of corona and announced programme of Janta Curfew on Sunday . “The Parliament is with the Prime Minis- ter’s address to the na- tion. All parties are in agreement,” he said. The Speaker said it Mumbai: The session’s court in Mumbai on Friday sent Rana Ka- poor, former managing director (MD) chief executive officer (CEO) of YES Bank, to judicial custody till April 2. This came after the Enforcement Direc- torate (ED) submitted before the court that it does not need Kapoor’s custody any further. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has also moved a pro- duction warrant to take Kapoor into cus- tody. The CBI had filed a case against Kapoor for allegedly obtaining illegal gratification by acquiring a property in New Delhi from Gautam Avantha group. In ex- change, YES waived the industrial house’s dues and ad- vanced new loans. The former banker was arrested March 8 by the ED un- der the provisions of Prevention of Money Narendra MADHYA PRADESH GOVT EXTENDS TENURE OF RTD DISTT & SESSIONS JUDGE ABDUL JABBAR KHAN IN NPP The Madhya Pradesh Govt has extended contractual period of Retired District and Sessions Judge Abdul Jabbar Khan for the post of Member (Judicial) till the disposal of cases in the Grievance Redressal Authority for Narmada Package Projects from April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021. and SUSPENSION OF TARUN JOHRI REVOKED, GETS POSTING The suspension of Tarun Johri has been revoked and he has been posted as Chief Conservator of Forests in Arunachal Pradesh. He is a 2000 batch IFS offi cer of AGMUT cadre. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla speaks to the offi cals as he reviews preparedness in wake of the coronavirus pandemic, at Parliament House Complex, in New Delhi on Friday. —PHOTO BY PTI LS passes bill relating to 5 IIITs in PPP mode was a feature of coun- try’s democracy that in the times of difficulty, everyone works togeth- er. Members in the House expressed con- cern over the economic impact of the threat of coronavirus especially on the vulnerable and poor sections. Parliamentary fairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said that the Eco- nomic Response Task Force set up the gov- ernment will look at various issues. Rana Kapoor FOUR IAS OFFICERS GET NEW ASSIGNMENTS IN HARYANA Bhupinder Singh has been appointed as Director, Welfare of Scheduled Caste & OBC and Dusmanta Kumar Behera was made Director, Medical Education & Research and Rajnarayan Kaushik is Secretary, Haryan Public Service Commission. Besides, Mahavir Singh was posted as Additional Deputy Commissioner, Kaithal and Secretary, RTA, Kaithal. Laundering (PMLA) and was since in the probe agency’s custody. Kapoor court on Friday that he is suffering from asth- ma, and because of his age, he is vulnerable to coronavirus. The court has asked the jail au- thorities to take appro- priate precautions on this count. Act ing to the debate on the Indian Institutes of In- formation Technology Laws (Amendment) Bill, HR Development Minister Pokhriyal said that a “beautiful” mod- el had been created for the first time with the participation of the Centre, states and the industry to training to students. New Delhi: The Lok Sabha on Friday passed a bill that seeks to de- clare five Indian Insti- tutes of Information Technology (IIITs) in Public-Private Partner- ship (PPP) mode at Su- rat, Bhopal, Bhagalpur, Agartala and Raichur as institutions of national importance along with existing 15 IIITs. Reply- Thapar’s told the Bank Af- on VINAY SRIVASTAVA APPOINTED PART-TIME GOV DIR ON IRCTC BOARD Ministry of Railways has appointed Vinay Srivastava as a Part-time Government Director of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited with immediate effect till he holds the post of Executive Director (PSU), Railway Board or until further orders, whichever is earlier. impart JUSTICE DONE, BUT WHAT ABOUT NIRBHAYA FUNDS: CONGRESS New Delhi: After the hanging of four convicts in the Nirbhaya rape and murder case, the Con- gress on Friday said that justice has been done but delay in the whole process showed the weakness of the system. The opposition party also claimed rise of crimes against women in last fi ve years even as the COURT SENDS ACCUSED IN J-K DSP TERRORIST LINKS CASE TO CUSTODY New Delhi: A Delhi court has remanded a man to ten-day police custody in connection with a case against the suspended J&K DSP Davinder Singh, who is accused of trying to assist terrorists to trav- el outside the Union Terri- tory. Additional Sessions Judge Dharmendra Rana on Thursday granted the remand, allowing Delhi UPSC DEFERS INTERVIEWS OF CIVIL SERVICES (MAIN) EXAMINATION, 2019 Due to the prevailing conditions caused by the Novel Corona Virus (COVID–19), as a precautionary measure, the Union Public Service Commission has deferred the Personality Tests (Interviews) of the candidates of the Civil Services (Main) Examination, 2019 scheduled from March 23, 2020 to April 3, 2020 until further orders. New dates for the Personality Tests (Interviews) will be informed to the candidates in due course. HC REFUSES TO ENTERTAIN KUNAL KAMRA’S PLEA New Delhi: Delhi HC on Friday refused to entertain a petition fi led by stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra challenging the ban on fl ying imposed on him by the Indigo, Vistara and other airlines. Kamra today approached the Delhi HC on an urgent basis claiming he has now been banned by all the fi ve major airlines of the country from fl ying. A bench of Justice Naveen Chawla, while refusing to pass any interim direction on the plea, raised objection on Kamra’s actions observing that such kind of behaviour cannot be accepted on a fl ight. Nirbhaya funds to be spent on women’’s safety remains unused. “We need reforms in laws as justice was delayed and the family had to fi ght a lonely battle,” said Congress spokesperson Ami Yagnik. Congress MP Chhaya Verma demanded a check on cybercrime since women many a times fall victim. Police to question the accused Imran Shafi Mir. According to Delhi Police, some inputs were re- ceived through a reliable source that a group of individuals, likely linked to a terror outfi t operating in Jammu and Kashmir, was planning a terrorist attack on protected persons in Delhi and other parts of the country.

8. TALKING POINT 08 AHMEDABAD | SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 2020 www.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 VHP cancels shobha yatras on Ram Navmi in wake of corona Ram Navmi in wake of corona VHP international working president Alok Kumar said that all big processions planned to celebrate Ramjanmbhoomi verdict, mandating construction of Ram temple, have been postponed and cancelled as of now temples and pray. No big gatherings have been planned, “ added Kumar. Milind Parande, secretary-general, VHP said norms set by states as guidelines to combat COVID-19 will be followed in letter and spirit. The duration of the celebration process is between March 25, the first day of the new year by the Hindu calendar till April 8. “We have asked our ‘kaaryakartas’ not to take out shob- ha yatras and rath yatras. This is what we had planned be- fore the coronavi- rus outbreak. It was supposed to take place in two lakh villages. We have downsised the num- ber of people but the maximum num- ber of villages will be covered. We will follow the norms and rules set by each state and we will take care of le- gal aspect as well for these small gath- erings,” Parande. As for the ceremony of shift- ing Ramlalla to a temporary ture is concerned, it is looked after by Ramjanmbhoomi Teerth Trust. DIVYA HEMNANI that New Delhi: The Vishwa Hindu Pari- shad has cancelled the Shobha Yatras and rath yatras it had planned to cel- ebrate on the first Ram Navami post- Ramjanmbhoomi verdict. The deci- sion has been neces- sitated by the health hazards social gath- erings pose in the wake of the corona- virus outbreak. In addition to this, the RSS-affili- ate will have a quiet ceremony of shift- ing Ram Lalla to the new fibreglass structure so that construction of the temple could be ex- pedited. Speaking to ANI, VHP international working president Alok Kumar said that all big proces- sions planned to celebrate janmbhoomi dict, mandating construction Ram temple, have been postponed and cancelled as of now. This would take place on March 25. “We have asked people in groups to congre- gate in their local A woman wearing a protective mask sits near an near deserted bank of River Ganga in the wake of coronavirus pandemic, in Varanasi on Friday. —PHOTO BY PTI Capacity to manufacture 1.5 cr masks a day,production on: Govt Dassault stops production of Rafale jets amid COVID-19 New Delhi: The pro- duction of Rafale fighter jets for India at the Dassault Aviation facility has been stopped till March 31 in view of the French government’s precau- tionary measures to contain coronavirus spread, IAF sources told ANI, adding that this will have “no ef- fect” on the arrival of French govt to tackle COVID-19. Indian Air Force personnel are training at six differ- ent places in France,” said sources. “There will be no ef- fect on the arrival of the first batch of these fighters in India in May this year. The fu- ture deliveries can get affected only if the COVID-19 issue gets prolonged for a longer period. India has al- ready received the five India-specific Ra- fale combat jets on which our pilots are training,” they added. the first batch of jets in May this year. The deliveries can get affected only if the COVID-19 lockdown in France is prolonged. “The work in Dassault Aviation facility pro- ducing Rafale fighter jets for India has been stopped till March 31 in view of the meas- ures taken by the already started. There is no shortage of masks. There is no dearth of gloves. Sanitiser available in the country as per its requirement,” Mandaviya said during the Question Hour. Replying to a query, he said, “We are taking initiatives that there should not be a crisis- like situation in the country .” to meet the demand is available, Chemical and Fertiliser and Shipping Minister Mansukh Lal Mandaviya told the Up- per House. “We have more than 100 units in the country for manufacturing of masks. We have done a survey ... per day 1.5 crore mask manufac- turing capacity is in the country .Production has New Delhi: India has a capacity to manufac- ture 1.5 crore masks a day and the production has already started to ensure there is no cri- sis-like situation amid coronavirus outbreak, the government said in RS on Friday . Besides, there is no dearth of gloves or med- icines and adequate quantity of sanitisers Ram- ver- added is of struc- small Kshetra PM MODI WILL AGAIN ADDRESS NATION: PC ‘PM SHOULD HAVE ADDRESSED NATION EARLIER’ SHAHEEN BAGH PROTESTERS TO CONTINUE PROTEST METRO SERVICES WILL BE CLOSED ON SUNDAY: DMRC CENTRE EXTENDS VISAS OF FOREIGNERS IN INDIA New Delhi: Congress MP and former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said that that Prime Minister would have ‘no option but to again address the nation and an- nounce tougher social and economic meas- ures’ to contain the spread of COVID-19. While supporting PM Modi’s initiative to observe a ‘Janta curfew’, Chidambaram told reporters, “I think the Prime Minister was testing the waters. He would be compelled to come back in a few days to announce tougher social and economic measures which I also tweeted on Thursday.” “I have the feeling that the PM will come back in the next few days to announce tougher social and economic measures,” he tweeted. New Delhi: Congress MP and former Union Minister Kapil Sibal on Friday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to call a ‘Janta cur- few’ on Sunday, March 22 from 7 am to 9 pm in an attempt to combat the spread of Coronavirus is a right deci- sion but he should have addressed the nation earlier. “As far as the PM’s speech was concerned, it was fi ne as a Prime minister should address the nation. Maybe he could have addressed the nation earlier. What he said in the speech was very little. He asked the people to come out at their balconies on March 22 at 5 pm and clap (for the medical staff), of course, we should clap our hands but also join hands as well,” Sibal told ANI. With regard to the Coronavirus outbreak in the country, he said that information is still awaited as to how many people are affected by it as the testing facili- ties are not completely on the ground. New Delhi: The Delhi Metro services will be closed on Sunday in view of the ‘Janata curfew’, offi cials said. The total number of coronavirus cases in the national capital on Thurs- day rose to 14, according to the Delhi Health Department. In view of the ‘Janata curfew’ to be observed on March 22, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has decided to keep its services closed, the DMRC said in a statement on Friday. “The move is aimed at encouraging public to stay indoors and maintain social distancing, which is essential in the fi ght against COVID-19,” it said. Calling for “resolve and restraint” to fi ght coronavirus, PM Modi on Thursday asked the entire country to observe ‘Janta curfew’ on Sunday. In a nearly 30-minute national broadcast, he asked people to stay indoors and work from home as much as possible while underscoring the dangers of coronavirus. New Delhi: The Centre has decided to ex- tend till April 15 the regular visa and e-visa of those foreigners who are currently in India and unable to leave the country due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. According to a Union Home Ministry notifi cation, a number of foreign nation- als are in the country since imposition of travel restrictions and are unable to exit the country during the validity of their visa. “Regular visa, e-visa or stay stipulation of all foreign nationals which have expired or would be expiring during the period from March 13 (midnight) to April 15 (midnight) would be extended till midnight of April 14 on ‘Gratis’ basis after making online ap- plication by the foreigner. New Delhi: The women protesters in Shaheen Bagh will continue with their protest on Sunday, the day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged people to remain inside their houses under a self- imposed curfew. The women have been blocking a side of a road connecting southeast Delhi to Noida since mid-December to protest against the amended citizenship law. On Monday, the Delhi government said gatherings with more than 50 people were not allowed in the wake of the novel coro- navirus pandemic. The size of gatherings has since been reduce to 20 people. “It also applies to Shaheen Bagh,” Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had said. Design: Abhishek Gupta

9. SPORTS AHMEDABAD | SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 2020 09 www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia Japan welcomes Olympic flame as doubts swirl over Games ished cherry blossom. “Children planned to welcome the Olympic flame, but we decided to scale it down, giving priority to their safety,” Mori said. The actual torch relay begins on March 26, starting from the J-Vil- lage sports complex in Fukushima that was commandeered as a base by workers scram- bling to contain the fall- out from the nuclear meltdown. “The Olympic flame relay is the biggest event ahead of the Olympics. It is very important for us to carry it out at any cost,” said Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro ahead of the ceremony . But organisers have been forced to scale back what should have been a key event to raise awareness and excite- ment ahead of the July 24 opening ceremony . While spectators are allowed to watch from the roadside, fans have been urged to “avoid forming crowds”, with organisers warning there could be a change of programme in the event of “excessive congestion”. Daily arriv- al and departure ceremo- nies are closed to the pub- lic and all torch-bearers will have their tempera- tures taken before par- ticipating in the relay . Higashimatsushima: The Olympic flame ar- rived in Japan Friday to a muted reception, what should have been a joy- ous celebration dramat- ically scaled down due to the coronavirus pan- demic that has cast doubt over whether the Tokyo Games can even go ahead. The flame landed on a special charter flight into Matsushima Air Base in Miyagi province, chosen as part of the “Recovery Olympics” to showcase the region’s revival after the 2011 earthquake, and nuclear meltdown. Former Olympians Saori Yoshi- da and Tadahiro Nomu- ra collected the flame from the aircraft and took it to a cauldron in the shape of a cherry blossom on a stage in front of selected guests. But some 200 local children that were due to welcome the flame were kept away as part of what called the “heartbreak- ing” decision to pare back events as the world battles the virus that has killed nearly 10,000 people. After a speech by chief organiser Yoshiro Mori, the former Olympians lit the cauldron with the torch, also designed to represent Japan’s cher- had organisers tsunami Japanese Tokyo 2020 Olympics chief Yoshiro Mori, center, followed by three-time Olympic gold medalists Tadahiro Nomura and Saori Yoshida, right, carries the Olympic flame during the Flame Arrival Ceremony at Japan Air Self-Defense Force Matsushima Base. Muto —Agencies In self-isolation, I have found some freedom: Mary Kom Mary has self-isolated at her Delhi residence since returning from Jordan Sindhu continued to play on at All Eng despite Covid-19 scare England is among the most- affected by virus outbreak, which has caused more than 9,000 deaths across the world “I am chilling, doing my exercises, taking care of my fitness and playing with my chil- dren after being away from them for almost one month,” Mary said. “That’s the best part of this isolation, I am with my family through the day without having to think of anything. My appeal to everyone is don’t panic, try and stay at home if you can and spend time with your family ,” she said. “In my case, I have felt a sense of freedom with this isolation. I have re- alised that I am not feel- ing the stress of a daily schedule right now.” The six-time world champi- on is also a sitting Rajya Sabha MP . New Delhi: The COV- ID-19 pandemic has iso- lated her from the world outside but iconic Indi- an boxer MC Mary Kom says the forced slow- down of life as usual has also redefined the mean- ing of freedom for her. Mary Kom has self- isolated at her Delhi residence since return- ing from month’s Asian Olympic Qualifiers in Jordan where she booked her- self a second Olympic berth. The precautionary measure was necessi- tated by a training trip to Italy before landing in Jordan even though the entire Indian team got COVID-19 negative cer- tificates from the IOC. the this not play this match back, what do you say?’” Sindhu’s fa- ther PV Ramana said. “Only Sindhu, Lak- shya (Sen) and Sikki (Reddy) and Ashwini were there in second round. We decided to stay back and play, Vimal also said let’s play . The rea- son was when we are already here so one more day won’t make any difference,” he added. The advisory caused signifi- cant confusion and concern among the top Indian shut- tlers, who were in Birmingham for the tourna- ment with Paru- palli Kashyap sending an SOS to the government asking for clarity on the situation. —PTI New Delhi: PV Sindhu was given the choice of pulling out of All Eng- land Championships after the Indian govern- ment’s travel restric- tions came into force but the Olympic silver- medallist decided to play on despite the cha- os triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. On March 11, the gov- ernment issued a re- vised travel advisory, cancelling all visas till April 15 and making it clear that Indian na- tionals returning to the country from affected countries quarantined for 14 days. England is among the most-affected by coro- navirus which has caused more than 9,000 deaths across the world. “When the travel ad- visory came on March 11 night, the next morn- ing Gopi coach Pullela ichand) had told us that ‘this has come so let’s and go —PTI All work and no play: `8 cr sports funds lie unused First India News FUND ALLOCATION AND EXPENDITURE BAI instructs employees to work from home New Delhi: The Bad- minton Association of India (BAI) on Friday announced its office will shut down from March 23 owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. BAI is the latest Nation- al Sports Federation (NSF) to shut down its premises in the wake of novel coronavirus out- break. “In the wake of the Corona Virus out- break and the adviso- ries issued by the Sports Ministry and Govern- ment of India guide- lines for safety meas- ures, BAI has decided to shut down their office from March 23, “ a re- lease said. Funds allocated (` crore) 11.07 Funds used (` crore) Funds pending (` crore) Ahmedabad City 2018-19 2019-20 2018-19 2019-20 4.15 6.21 3.13 4.86 1.02 Rural Gandhinagar: Almost 30% of state govern- ment funds meant for sports development in Ahmedabad city and ru- ral areas, are lying un- used. Over the past two years, the state has allo- cated Rs28 crore for this purpose, of which Rs8 crore remains unused. MoS sports Ishwars- inh Patel in a written reply to MLA Imran Khedawala that the funds have not been used “due to ad- ministrative reasons”. In 2018-19, Rs11.07 cr had been set aside for the de- velopment of sports and 7.56 6.43 1.12 6.68 4.73 2.31 would be current means has Rs4.86 crore left over from 2018-19 and Rs1.02 cr in current financial year. In son, Rs7.56 cr was set aside for rural areas in 2018-19, of which Rs 6.43 cr was used. The next year, only crore of the Rs 6.68 crore allocated for rural areas was utilized. fiscal. the This city to purchase required sports equipment in Ahmedabad city, while Rs7.56 cr had been set aside for rural areas. Similarly, in 2019-20, Rs4.15 cr was earmarked for Ahmedabad city, while Rs6.68 crore was allocated for rural areas. Against Ahmedabad city , Rs 6.21 cr was utilized in 2018- 19, and Rs 3.13 cr in the outbreak, compari- admitted (national Gop- Rs 4.73 that, in —Agencies FROM PG 1 ‘Justice has... Seven years after a young medical student was gang-raped and tor- tured on a moving bus in Delhi, a crime that shocked India, four of her killers were hanged at 5.30 am on Friday. The pre-dawn execution took place less than two hours after the Su- preme Court dismissed the final petition of the convicts. In the hours before that, the convicts had also petitioned the Del- hi High Court, where their lawyer cited coro- navirus for the lack of proper documents for a clared them dead, said Tihar Director General Sandeep Goel. “The bodies will now be sent for postmortem at the DDU Hospital. post-mortem will be videographed,” a jail spokesperson said.Officials said the men, who have not left any will, were told about the updates from court late on Thursday night. the first execution since 2015. The convicts were woken at 3.30 am, around the time they learnt they had reached the end of the road in courts. Hundreds of po- lice personnel were de- ployed outside the jail to control a crowd that waited to celebrate the hangings, first in India in a rape case since Dhananjoy Chatterjee was executed for the rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl in 2004. A doctor inside Tihar Jail examined the bod- ies of the four men after the hanging and de- believed in develop- ment. I was given an opportunity for a peri- od of five years to give a new identity to the state,” he said. Parliament is on. I was sitting next to Dushyant the other day for 2.5 hours. There are two more MPs who are in self-isolation. The ses- sion should be de- ferred.” Later, O’Brien himself went self-quarantine. hurriedly-filed appeal. Akshay Thakur, 31, Pawan Gupta, 25, Vinay Sharma, Mukesh Singh, 32, were hanged at Delhi’s Tihar Jail, where they spent the last few hours in iso- lation in separate cells, barely eating. They hardly slept and refused a last meal or any last wish, said officials. One of them begged for his life as he was led to the gallows. The entire jail was on lockdown since last night, and officials said, few other prison- ers in Asia’s largest prison facility could sleep a wink ahead of nounced his resigna- tion. During the press conference, he also ac- cused the BJP of killing the democratic values by conspiring against his government and blamed former Con- gress leader Jyotiradi- tya Scindia for the cur- rent political crisis in the state. “I have decid- ed to submit my resig- nation to the governor. But I will continue to work for the welfare of the people...I did the politics of value,” he said. “I took over as the CM on December 17, 2018. During my politi- cal career, I have always sary precautions, she said in a tweet. There were reports that the singer landed in Lucknow from the United Kingdom and was admitted in a city hospital after showed signs of flu. In a statement re- leased on Instagram, the 41-year-old ‘Baby Doll’ singer said she de- veloped signs of flu in the last four days. Reacting to the news, Trinamool MP Derek O’Brien said in a tweet, “This gov- ernment is putting us all at risk. The PM says self-isolate yourself but 26, and The process COVID 19... She stated that the Rakjot patient had land- ed in Mumbai and trav- elled by train to Rajkot, where he met many peo- ple while attending two to three social func- tions. The Rajkot health team is tracing all those who may have come into contact with this person, since they will all need a mdical check- up. she into Kamal Nath... In the letter, he also con- gratulated new chief minister of the state and said he will also ex- tend help in the devel- opment of the state. Be- fore submitting his res- ignation, dressed a press confer- ence, where he an- Raje, Dushyant... As a matter of abun- dant caution, my son and I have immediately self-quarantined we’re taking all neces- Congress Nath ad- and

10. Books are the doorway to knowledge, we get a chance to peep into the thoughts of people who lived centuries ago. 2NDFRONT —Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO & Editor, First India 10 AHMEDABAD | SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 2020 www.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 A MAN WHO DOESN’T MINCE HIS WORDS: SPEAKER TRIVEDI First India News IAS, IPS set to transfer post Assembly session First India News allowed a few dull mo- ments in the House. He mostly chose to re- main a silent specta- tor when ministers responded with infor- mation their districts taluka- wise, something the MLAs had not asked for. It was only after the ministers finished with their answers that Trivedi chose to put forth his observa- tion once or twice by telling them that talu- ka-wise answers had not been asked for. At one point, he even as far as to say that, “When I ask for over- all data and not talu- ka-wise, follow the instruction. If any MLA has a problem with it, I will handle it.” When Unjha MLA Ashaben Patel entered the House late, her ques- tion had passed, to which the Speaker com- mented, “You should give up the practice of coming late.” Gandhinagar: In a major reshuffle, sen- ior bureaucrats in the state will, in all likeli- hood, be transferred after the conclusion of the Assembly ses- sion or by mid-April. According to sources, with upcoming local body polls, at least 30 to 40 Indian Adminis- trative Service (IAS) officers are likely to be transferred, while around 40 to 50 IPS officers may be trans- ferred or receive a promotion. The reshuffle which will take place within the next few weeks may mean that Rajiv Gupta, who is currently serv- ing as additional chief secretary of Forest and Environment depart- ment and is also the secretary of the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nig- am Limited, is likely to be posted elsewhere. Similarly, Milind Tor- vane, secretary of Eco- nomic Affairs and Vi- The Gandhinagar: Speaker of the House Ra- jendra Trivedi is known for his sense of humour. So much so, that when the House is discussing serious issues, he doesn’t let any MLA or minister sneak anything past him and calls them out on it immediately . On Friday, a discus- sion on the supply to fair price shops was going on when senior MLA Nimaben Acha- rya mentioned that the administrative ex- penses of fair price shops had increased. She then inquired whether the govern- ment was considering a plan to compensate those expenses by in- creasing incentives or by other means. In re- sponse to her ques- tion, state minister for Food, Civil Sup- plies, Consumer Af- fairs, Cottage Indus- try Dharmendrasinh State allocates `250 cr for Ukai lift irrigation project First India News GIRL POWER regarding New Sachibalaya Building Gandhinagar. pul Mitra, additional chief secretary of the Department of Labour and Employment are also up for a transfer. As per reports, two to three municipal com- missioners transferred from the lot, while two IAS offic- ers are likely to go to Delhi on deputation. Since DGP vanand Jha is set to retire in April, the state will soon have a new DGP . Two names currently in the race for the post are that of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) direc- tor-general Asthana, who has not been cleared from the CBI bribery case yet and Ahmedabad po- lice commissioner Ashish Ahmedabad branch DCP Dipen Bhadran is likely to receive a transfer or- der and will be re- placed by Gandhina- gar SP Mayur Chav- da. At least 30 IPS of- ficers are likely to get transferred with pro- motion post the As- sembly session. Rakesh Speaker of the House Rajendra Trivedi. minister Jayesh Radad- ia tried to rein in the situation by saying that in the last two years the state government has increased the commis- sions of fair price shop owners twice. He added that the government shall take note of Acha- rya’s suggestion. Meanwhile, Speaker also called out CM Vijay Rupani, when he snagged his attention and stated, Jadeja said that the government will mull over the suggestion. This reply didn’t go down well with the Speaker Trivedi who immediately interrupt- ed and asked Jadeja what he thought should be his answer when a senior MLA makes a suggestion. Before the confused minister of state could have anoth- er foot-in-the-mouth moment, state cabinet “MLA Jagdish Pan- chal is not looking for information on bene- fits of papaya cultiva- tion, but wants to know whether the state conducts any surveys to gather in- formation about the profit earned by farm- ers against the subsi- dy extended by the government for papa- ya cultivation.” During the Friday session, the Speaker Six Cong MLAs return to city from Jaipur First India News training during their stay there. A few MLAs are coming to Gujarat to attend to urgent mat- ters. They will be back in a day or two,” said Dhanani. He added that due to the ongoing COV- ID-19 scare, all MLAs will be screened and re- quired to procure a health fitness certifi- cate declaring them as ‘Corona-free’ after med- ical examination by the Raj govt. Deputy CM Nitin Patel announced fore entering the As- Sodhi assures no Amul shutdown in light of fake post First India News tweeted: “It seems some- body spreading this news which is fake and none of our milk chill- ing centre or procure- ment activities are going to close down. Rather we are procuring more.” The post circulating on social media claimed that Amul was shutting down its milk procure- ment and chilling cen- tres which created panic among consumers and milk producers. will be Bhatia. crime Shi- the Furthermore, MLA Chhotu Vasava and his son Mahesh Vasava, have gone underground after their meeting Amit Chavda and Shaktisinh Gohil. Fisheries minis- ter Parshottam Solanki, who is currently bedrid- den and Gandhinagar MLA Shambhji Thakor, who has hand tremors, will now be allowed to vote via a third person after the returning of- ficer approved their ap- plications on Friday . sembly. Raghu Jashu Patel have been asked to stay back at Jaipur for further training since they will be voting for the first time. “Their ses- sions are boring now and we want to re- turn. But we cannot do that, due to the threat from our oppo- sition. We will be back from Jaipur only on March 25-26,” one lawmaker said. Meanwhile, Desai and Ahmedabad: Leader of Opposition Paresh Dhanani returned to the city from Jaipur accompanied by five Congress MLAs on Friday. The MLAs, who were staying at Shiv Vilas resort since last week included five legislators who won on the Congress’ mandate and had re- signed last Sunday. “All MLAs were given Gandhinagar: Gujarat State Assem- bly on Friday passed budget proposals de- partments of tribal development, and women and child development. A provi- sion of Rs250 crore has been made for a lift irrigation project at Ukai dam, said Trib- al Development Minis- ter Ganpat Vasava. Vasava told the House that the state govern- ment has sanctioned Rs250 crore for fiscal 2020-21 for a lift irriga- tion project at Songadh- Uchhal-Nizar over Ukai dam. The total cost of the project is estimated to be Rs962 crore. Another irrigation project in Central Gu- jarat is for the Kadana reservoir. A pipeline is to be laid down to draw water from the reservoir to fill 74 lakes and 12 canals in Dahod district. This project will be com- pleted at an approxi- mate cost of Rs223 The Paresh Dhanani forest that all MLAs return- ing from should undergo man- datory screening and medical check-up be- Jaipur Nirbhaya Fund for Guj Sakhi Centres rises to `6.79 cr in 2019-20 opment of forest and al- lied activities in the state. It was increased to Rs1,743 crore for 2020-21. The state govt had also allocated Rs10 crore for forest and grass development in Kutch dist. Under the project, land grass will be grown over an area of 1,557 hectares and 40 godowns will be established crore and a provision of Rs103 crore has been made for the fi- nancial year 2020-21. In South Gujarat, a Rs511 crore lift irrigation Kakrapar-Gordha-Vad project has been sanc- tioned for which Rs70 crore funds have been al- located, Vasava said. For 2019-20, the state had made a provision of Rs1,410 crore for devel- Anand: The managing director of Gujarat Co- operative Milk Market- ing Federation Limited (GCMMF) RS Sodhi took to his Twitter han- dle on Thursday to quash rumours that Amul was shutting down its chilling cen- tres and ceasing milk procurement activities. The clarification came on heels of a fake post circulating on so- cial media. In his post, Sodhi mentioned that the federation’s brand Amul was in fact in- creasing its production to meet the expected surge in demand. He Vaibhavri ben Dave GOOD NEWS First India News while replying to a question raised by MP Parimal Nathwani. She said that the OSC Scheme has been in place under the Nirbhaya Fund since April 1, 2015. To date, the Centre has ap- proved 728 OSCs in 724 districts across the country, of which 680 OSCs have be- come operational. As per the information provided House, the Centre re- leased Rs45.88 lakh in 2015-16, Rs38.82 lakh in Rs1.27 crore in 2017- 18, Rs5.62 crore in 2018-19 and Rs6.79 crore in 2019-20. LS passes bill relating to five IIITs in PPP mode New Delhi: The funds sanctioned by the Centre to Gujarat’s to the One Stop Centres (OSCs), known as Sakhi Cen- tres, has seen a spurt over the past five years. In these centres received Rs 45.88 lakh; this fig- ure has gone up to Rs6.79 crore as of 2019-20. In the past five years, the Centre re- leased a Rs14.54 crore to the 33 OSCs in the state, Un- ion Minister Smriti Irani said in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, First India News stitutions among the top 1,000 in QS world university rankings in 2015, the number was 48 now. Pokhriyal said that the institutions were also figuring among top 100 and top 50 in rank- ings and were also forg- ing ahead in research. Noting that the IIITs will need to meet the prescribed quota re- quirements, he said the curriculum is decided in consultation with the industry . figured The bill intends to declare the remain- ing five IIITs along with the existing 15 Indian Institutes of Information Technol- ogy in PPP mode as ‘Institutions of Na- tional Importance’ with powers to award degrees. It will entitle them to use the no- menclature of Bach- elor of Technology (B.Tech) or Master of Technology (M.Tech) or Ph.D. degree as is- sued by a university. bate on the Indian Insti- tutes of Information Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2020, Human Resource Devel- opment Ramesh Pokhriyal said that a “beautiful” mod- el had been created for the first time with the participation of the Centre, states and the industry to training to students. He said while place- ments at some insti- tutes were 100 per cent, it was 70 per popularly Laws Surat:The Lok Sabha on Friday passed a bill that seeks to de- clare five Indian In- stitutes of Informa- tion Technology (II- ITs) in Public-Private Partnership mode at Surat, Bho- pal, Bhagalpur, Agar- tala and Raichur as institutions of na- tional importance along with existing 15 IIITs. Replying to the de- 2015-16, Minister in the (PPP) impart total of rankings of institu- tions since the Naren- dra Modi government came to power. He said while five in- 2016-17, cent overall in the II- ITs. The minister said that there had been significant improve- ment in international

11. www.fi rstindia.co.in I www.fi rstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefi rstindia facebook.com/thefi rstindia I instagram.com/thefi rstindia 11 AHMEDABAD, SATURDAY MARCH 21, 2020 Anushka Sharma asked people to follow social dis- tancing in her Tweet. She wrote: “To all of us citizens of India, this is the time to adhere to and abide by the preventive and precautionary directives stated by the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modiji for us to fi ght against Corona virus (Covid 19). Do follow the JANTA CURFEW on March 22: a self-curfew from the people, for the people, from 7am to 9pm.” DOORIYAAN ACHHI HAIN... In the wake of a spurt in COVID-19 cases across the country, several B-wood celebs joined hands with the Maharashtra govt and released a public service announcement to share precautionary measures to defeat the virus Anushka Sharma TOP TWEETS! Alia Bhatt T cha skta hai,” said Ajay Devgn towards the end of the video and it ends with Aksh- ay Kumar saying, “agar har ek naagrik in niyamo ka paa- lan karke apna yogdaan de, to saath milkar yakeenan hum is khatre ko taal sakte hain.” The public service an- nouncement is an initia- tive by director Rohit Shetty’s film company Rohit Shetty Picturez in collaboration with Ma- harashtra Govern- ment. On the other hand, right after Minister Modi urged citizens to observe a social curfew on March 22, many stars took to social media to express support to his initiative. —Agency sambhavna sabse zyaada hai,” said Arjun Kapoor. Actor Ayushmann Khur- rana, is seen urging people to not crowd at public places and stay at home as much as possible. “Bina hath dhoye apne aakho ya chehre ko na chhuye, agar aapko khaasi bukhar ya saans lene me dik- kat ho to kisi k sampark me naa aye aur doctor se mile,” said Alia Bhatt in the video. “Suraksha k prati humara ek kadam kayi zindigiya ba- he video starts with legendary actor Am- itabh Bachchan’s in- troductory about the virus fol- lowed by other ac- tors sharing one pre- cautionary measure each. While senior actor Anil Ka- poor is seen spreading aware- ness about handwashing, Madhuri Dixit Nene is seen speaking on the precaution- ary measures to be taken while coughing or sneezing. ‘Gully Boy’ actor Ranveer Singh, on the other hand, is seen asking people to use al- cohol based hand sanitizers at places that lack the facility to wash hands with water. Fitness expert and actor Shilpa Shetty threw light on the necessity to consume a nutrient-rich meal and cut- ting down on fatty food items. Varun Dhawan asked people to avoid unneces- sary travelling and to maintain a minimum distance of 1 metre from sick people. “Bacho aur bu- zurgo ka khaas khayal rakhe kyuki inki sankramit hone ki Preity Zinta Preity Zinta tweeted: “Good morning folks ! I hope & pray that everyone supports & follows the #Janata- Curfew on 22 March from 7am- 9pm as suggested by our PM @narendramodi This is the only way we can fi ght the #covid19 virus & safeguard ourselves & our country #jaihind #stayhome #besafe #ting.” speech Dia Mirza wrote: “Wholeheartedly welcome the Prime Minister’s idea of a #JanataCurfew. These are extraordinary times and it requires our united response to this pandemic. And yes, a BIG salute to the frontline health workers who are relentlessly fi ghting this virus for us #Covid19.” Prime Dia Mirza Amitabh Bachchan Madhuri Dixit Nene

12. HOLLYWOOD AHMEDABAD | SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 2020 www.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 CUSTODY BATTLE A 12 In a war-zone A Angeles neighbours over the towering bamboo plants in her driveway . The ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ star shared the informa- tion in a new video for Architectural Digest, in which she gives viewers a tour of her cosy Hollywood home. At one point, Johnson took the cameras into her yard, where she points to the tall bamboo plants lining her out- door space, said they have become a point of contention with her next door neigh- bours. She said: “Bam- boo grows so crazy fast. My neighbours are in a war with me about how high the bamboo in the drive- way is growing, be- cause why would I want people to see in my house? So they can just shove it.” —IANS ctress Dakota Johnson openly tling her Los is bat- old Shiloh, and 11-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox. Angelina wants to ban Jen from meeting her chil- dren. Not only does she want “Jen be banned from seeing her kids”, but Ange is also reportedly filed a new evaluation against Brad. A source quote reads, Angelina has “filed for a new child custody evalua- tion against Brad.” The ap- parent move has come as a huge blow to everyone, in- cluding Jolie-Pitt kids. The outlet also insists Brad was hoping the di- vorce comes through by May. But the new develop- ment has got him ques- tioning what else he could possibly do to prove the kids are his number one priority. The new report makes its way online after Brad was spotted bonding with friend Alia Shawkat over burgers. The two were spotted at a burger joint in LA sharing a laugh over a meal. fter claimed Jennifer Aniston helped Brad Pitt’s daughter Shiloh Jolie-Pitt land an acting gig, sourc- es claim Angelina Jolie has banned the Friends alum from meeting her children. Just recently, a report claimed that Jennifer An- is ton was growing close to Shiloh Jolie-Pitt. Friends alum apparently helped Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s daughter bag an acting gig in her upcom- ing Hollywood project pro- duced by Jennifer. Now, a new claim suggests the claims in the unconfirmed report hasn’t gone down well with Angelina. The Eternals star is rumoured to be seeking sole custody of her children. Angelina and Brad are parents to six children - 18-year-old Mad- dox, 16-year-old 15-year-old Zahara, 13-year- reports has The Pax, —Agency Angelina Jolie Dakota Johnson DON’T PANIC Quarantine ANXIETY A up about “experiencing severe anxiety”. The singer took to Instagram and ex- plained how meditation has helped her keep anxiety in check. A few days ago, Camila Cabello took to her Instagram stories and urged fans to take care of their mental health during self-quar- antine. Now, the Havana hitmaker has confessed she has been battling severe anxiety Mendes’ lady love revealed she has been meditating to keep her anxi- ety under control. Sharing a pic- ture from one of her meditation sessions, Camila explained she kept her troubles with anxi- ety because she was try- ing to be okay . S be stupid amid the coronavirus pandemic. The 18-year-old singer took to Twitter to follow up her decision to postpone some shows last week, sharing that all her remaining ‘Where Do We Go?’ North American tour dates would be rescheduled. Eilish announced that her upcoming tour was rescheduled due to Coronavirus. to pay attention to guidelines from officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Don’t panic, but don’t be stupid. It (coronavirus) is a really big deal right now and it is not a joke. I know because a lot of us haven’t seen it with our eyes - what it’s been doing and who it’s been affecting - it’s hard to understand that it’s real. But it really is real, and I’ve seen a lot of young people out in the world, all over the place, going to the club or going to the beach, just going out and hanging out. It’s really irre- sponsible,” she said. Eilish went on to note that the trend for ‘social distancing’ is eve- ryone’s responsibility because peo- ple should consider the older, weak- er people around them. She also suggested fans stay in- side as much possible. inger Billie Eilish has scrapped all remaining dates of her current tour while urging fans not to mid Coronavirus outbreak, Camila Cabello confesses ‘ex- periencing severe anxiety’ Camila Cabello has opened lately. Shawn She made a more personal nouncement on her Instagram Story timeline, telling followers an- Billie Eillish —IANS Camila Cabello —IANS FACE OF THE DAY YOUR DAY Horoscope by Saurabbh Sachdeva ARIES MAR 21 - APR 20 TAURUS APR 21 - MA Y 20 GEMINI MA Y 21 - JUNE 21 CANCER JUNE 22 - JUL Y 23 Your family will appear most responsive to your needs today. Your understanding nature towards someone’s suffering will be highly appreciated. You must consider taking your friend’s advice in the matter of love. Please take very good care of your health. Carefully read your work documents and specially those which involve your signatures. At workplace not everyone like us no matter how good we are so that should never bother you. Academically, help others to an extent you don’t anduo creating trouble for yourself and anyone else. Today no matter how much you spend on what, luckily all the money will fl ow back to your life as today you are blessed with money. Never let someone’s words defi ne who you are, people often get jealous from someone having true potential. Take care of your family along with you. Do not leave any stone unturned when it comes to excelling in studies. Focus on improving your concentration power if you are feeling distracted lately. You will feel like fi nishing all the pending work at home. There will be positive changes in your environment. LEO JUL Y 24 - AUGUST 23 You seem to always solve problems for others and help them out. You have started working in the direction of achieving your targets. Your planning for building a house will turn out to be good. It may get diffi cult for you to deal with the fi rm opinion, folling them will be harder. VIRGO AUG 24 - SEP 23 LIBRA SEPT 24 - OCTOBER 22 Avoid taking any loan rather believe in yourself and you will fi nd a way to deal with things. Your spouse may be a bit stubborn about some idea and sometimes you should give in. You will change your accommodation to gain more security. You feel the need to clarify. SCORPIO OCT 23 - NOVEMBER 22 If you looking for monetary help then the help shall be provided. Today you will work really hard in whatever you will do with hundred percent dedication. Sometimes you agree with family and sometimes you don’t but remember that doesn’t make anyone bad, take things easy. You can expect a fi nancial boost in form of salary increment or getting money back from the borrower. Keep following the path you have chosen to have a good health. Your ability to handle issues at hand will get you recognised professionally Avoid blaming. SAGITTARIUS NOV 23 - DEC 22 Social gathering will lighten up your mood today. Sometime you becomes a shopaholic and once you start you don’t pay attention to what is important and what not, luckily for you today you are blessed with money as well as sensibility to judiciously use your dough. CAPRICORN DEC 23 - JAN 20 You may spend all your time running behind money but it will come to you only when you stop running after it and invest more time in doing what you like. If you have a spoilt kid then its time to mend there ways by doing counselling. You may take a loan to buy your dream house. AQUARIUS JAN 21 - FEB 19 PISCES FEB20 - MARCH 20 You must take responsibility of things rather than relying on others as sometimes others can take advantage of it. You may have opinion difference with your parents but take it lightly. In social life, avoid venting your anger on some who is younger or elder. You recently have controlled your hunger to shop and these days you have limited yourself to only buying the bare essentials. You will help your spouse on the home front to take some burden off his/her shoulders. Your love may not give the kind of attention you have been waiting for. ASHI SINGH, Actress

13. ETC AHMEDABAD | SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 202013 www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia DEATH PENALTY SPEAKUP AS JUSTICE UNFOLDS ITSELF WITH THE HANGING OF THE NIRBHAYA CONVICTS, IT RAISES A QUESTION WHETHER THIS DEATH PENALTY WILL BE A DECENT DETERRENT TO ENSURE SUCH CASES ARE NOT REPEATED This decision will act as a deter- rent and it is for the people to know that they can’t disregard women to the extent of raping and murdering her. The historic judgement is evident enough for the people of this Nation to have trust in law but this delayed justice need to be looked into waiting for 8 long years. It’s just too much, however, I still support and stand along with the fact that the decision given bye our tem- ples of law and Justice is really in the very right perspective. —DR PRAMILA SANJAYA Hence, in no way is India dishonoring or is in breach of its international or do- mestic obligations by contin- uing death penalty as a pun- ishment. A genuine problem with the cases of death penalty is the elaborate and extensive framework of law which leads to a major slowdown in the process of reaching a fi- nal verdict. It is respected that death penalty is an ir- revocable punishment and hence adequate time needs to be taken to reach such conclu- sions. However, what is sug- gested is the establishment of fast track courts for offences which lay down capital pun- ishment as a possibility . This will come with its own cost with respect to the logistics of the judiciary, nonetheless it is an extremely important measure to fulfil the basic purpose of the punishment, which is increased deter- rence. As convicts of the Nirbhaya case were hung at dawn on 20th March 2020, the day to follow brings a ray of hope with this landmark execu- tion. It puts out an extremely bold message that such crimes deserve punishment as strin- gent as death penalty and that there is no escape from law irrespective of the vari- ous appellate possibilities. It re-installs our faith in the ju- diciary and serves as a warning to those who think that such piti- less crimes can be committed or will be tolerated in the society . GARIMA ARORA cityfirst@firstindia.co.in T he execution of death penalty against the convicts of the con- troversial 2012 Nirb- haya gang rape and murder case opened up the debate on capital punishment in the country. The question that arises is whether death pen- alty is a morally and legally acceptable punishment in a contemporary world which highly advocates for protec- tion of basic human rights such as the right to life. Whether is it actually solving the objective with which it was introduced. The purpose behind legis- lating such a harsh punish- ment which eventually leads to taking away of one’s right to life is that of deterrence. Death penalty is often criti- cized to be not as deterrent a measure as it should be, the reason being that it does not take place immediately and involves a long appealable process. It is well noted that previously there have been death penalties for such grave crimes, however the growth rate of such heinous crimes hasn’t gone down. The prob- lem here is that we are view- ing the situation from a single angled lens. We tend to ignore the fact that these crimes might actually be taking place on a much higher and larger scale if such deterrent effective punishments were to be completely abol- has The well deserved and simultaneous hangings of the four convicts will definitely be a deterrent against such crimes in the future. Unfortunately the process took more than seven years. Had this case been decided in seven months, the deterrence factor would have been far more. But I feel that it’s better late than never, so, hat’s off to Judiciary. —ROOPA MEHTA means that such rights can be reasonably restricted by the procedure established by law. Capital punishment is one such procedure established by law which restricts the right to life. The Indian judi- ciary has already adjudicated that it is reasonable to re- strict Article 21 in the ‘rarest of the rare’ cases. The Consti- tution of India under Article 51 puts an obligation to re- spect international treaties however it has been upheld by the courts that domestic law will prevail over interna- tional treaty obligations. Moreover, India would have said to be violative of such obligations if it were to com- pletely do away with the right to life without any reasonable explanation. ished. It is this deterrent ef- fect that makes awarding of capital punishment prefera- ble over life imprisonment in cases involving extreme bru- tality and inhumane offenses. It is believed that such pun- ishments also weave a gener- al thought in the public that bad things happen to those who do bad and reversely good things happen to those who do good. Another point of opposi- tion against death penalty is that it is said to be violative of Article 21 of the Indian Constitution along with In- dia’s international treaty ob- ligations which together ad- vocate for right to life for all human beings. It is important to understand the fact that the fundamental rights en- shrined in the constitution are not absolute. This essen- tially The hanging of the Nirbhaya rapists is a deterrent to poten- tial rapists, that no matter how hard they try, they will sooner or later be hanged and not even God can help them. However, only deterring the men is not sufficient as many of them are ignorant because of movies so we should teach them what is right and what is wrong, so that they know that one should not harass women not only because they will be hanged but because it is NOT GOOD. —DR MAMTA SHARMA The hanging of Nirbhaya rapists brought to a close a horror story whose dark echoes have lasted for over seven years. It will certainly have a deterrent value be- cause this case exemplifies the degree of torture which is unparalleled. First and foremost a case of rape- a heinous gang rape that caused death with brutal- ity. It shows that those people were a menace. It is a historical day and it will send a strong message across specially to potential criminals. —APRA KUCHHAL I believe that the hanging of Nirbhaya’s rapists is justi- fied and it was the most appropriate punishment for the gruesome act of brutal- ity they committed. It will deter such acts in the future because people will think a thousand times before raping someone. They will shudder thinking of the repercus- sions. To create a better world, we need to stop this from the grass root. —VIJAY LAXMI BISHNOI Inputs by Nehal Nayar, Kirti Chauhan & Karishma Gwalani

14. CITY BUZZ AHMEDABAD | SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 2020 14 www.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 OFF THE BEATEN PATH CITY FIRST S ummer is here. The time when temperatures rise and peo- ple dread going out in the swel- tering heat. But with the summer holi- days just around the cor- ner, there are a few wacky things you could do as a family and enjoy your time together. Not now of course! After the corona scare is taken care of and life resumes its pace, you can head out of town to relax and unwind. Unlike the con- ventional hotel room, pool/ amusement park vacation you usually go on, you could opt for more offbeat experienc- es the state has to offer. Here is a sneak peek.. cityfirst@firstindia.co.in  PALITANA- WORLD’S FIRST VEGETARIAN CITY In 2014, Palitana became the world’s fi rst city to be declared legally vegetarian. In deference to Jain faith, buying or selling meat, fi sh or eggs here is a punishable offence. Palitana is a mahat- irtha, the most sacred pilgrimage site for Jains, where the fi rst tirthankara Rishabhdev or Adina- tha meditated atop Shatrunjaya Hill and delivered his fi rst sermon. His son Chakravarti Samrat Bharat built the fi rst Jain temple at Palitana and 23 Jain tirthankaras visited Shatrunjaya hill. Hence, the entire hill is considered holy and worshipped as Giriraj (King among Mountains). From 11th century onwards nearly 900 temples were built on the hill over generations, most dat- ing to the 16th century. Palitana is thus hailed as ‘the world’s largest temple complex’ too. HOW TO GET THERE: A two-hour climb from Taleti, the base to the summit of Pali- tana, 54 km southwest of the nearest airport Bhavnagar TIMINGS: Sunrise to sunset, the gate closes at 6 pm JAMBUR- GUJARAT’S LITTLE AFRICA A remote village near Gir, discover a community that’s African in origin but Gujarati in speech and demeanour. The Siddis are believed to be descendants of East African slaves, sailors, serfs and mercenaries, mostly supplied by Arab traders to the Portuguese and Indian royal families such as the Nawabs of Junagadh. Over the centuries, little of their past remains; their only link being the rhythm of African drumbeats and sounds accompanying their traditional dance, dhamaal, usually showcased on request at resorts in Gir. HOW TO GET THERE: By road or train. Nearest railway stations are Junagadh and Veraval. Located near Gir Forest National Park (40.8 km) INDRODA PARK - DINOSAUR RELICS India’s answer to Juras- sic Park, the Indroda Dinosaur and Fossil Park in Gandhinagar has the distinction of being the only dinosaur museum in the country. Set up by the Geological Survey of India and run by the Gujarat Ecological And Research Foundation, the park is home to fossilized remains and petrifi ed eggs of dinosaurs. The actual nesting grounds are at Raiyoli where one can see the remains of dinosaur fossils and eggs, life-size replicas and a 3.5m fossilized snake that fed on Sauropod eggs. HOW TO GET THERE By road is a good option. TICKETS Rs30 (for entry), Rs30 (for parking) TIMINGS 8 am to 6 pm (Mon- day closed) SOLDIERS IN WHITE! MEME SUPREME! In times of corona quarantine, City First brings you a special series of memes to cheer you up and provide that much-needed dose of laughter. All we ask is that you keep calm, stay safe and laugh out loud! RAINU SINGH cityfirst@firstindia.co.in N Nurses, Medical Pros) will be akin to ignoring soldiers fighting on the war front. These heroes and heroines are fighting an in- visible enemy that has caused more economic ruin in a few days than the entire WWII. Trillions of dollars have evaporated in plunging values of stocks, gold, oil, and commodities, while vari- ous jobs and businesses have been lost forever. Governments are pumping money in unprece- dented sums to keep their econo- mies afloat. Amidst this chaos, these ‘Soldiers in White’ are spending sleepless nights in hos- pitals taking care of panic-strick- en patients, carrying out millions of urgent tests, administering ot to appreciate the ster- ling service being ren- dered by these brave ‘Sol- diers in White’ (Doctors, the link in this chain of conta- gious Coronavirus. By unneces- sarily rushing to hospitals, you are depriving the virus-affected from an emergency treatment. These rough times are not about self preservation alone; it’s a time when we all have to stand united behind these ‘fighters’ , conquer this enemy, and make this period more tolerable for all. As the world stands on an edge, let us salute these ‘Soldiers in White’! drugs, and above all, exposing themselves to this deadly virus. Isn’t this akin to soldiers tak- ing the bullets on their chest for the nation? The society at large must lend support to these brave men and women, by not over- whelming them. Please go into self-isolation if the symptoms are mild and curable at home. The testing kits, ICU facilities, venti- lators, etc are miniscule in pro- portion to the populations. A life saved, means breaking