First india ahmedabad edition-16 june 2020

CORONA
ALERT
AHMEDABAD l TUESDAY, JUNE 16, 2020 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/16208 l Vol 1 l Issue No. 201
25°C - 34°C
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JAIPUR & AHMEDABAD
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COVID-19
UPDATE
GUJARAT
1,506
DEATHS
24,104
CONFIRMED CASES
RAJASTHAN
301 DEATHS 12,981 CASES
INDIA
3,42,365
CONFIRMED CASES
9,896
DEATHS
MAHARASHTRA
3,128 DEATHS 1,10,744 CASES
TAMIL NADU
UTTAR PRADESH
DELHI
1,400 DEATHS 42,829 CASES
WORLD
4,37,054
DEATHS
80,60,443
CONFIRMED CASES
Rupani government makes petrol, diesel dearer by `2/litre
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: Chief
Minister Vijay Rupa-
ni’s government has
decided to increase the
cost of petrol and die-
sel by Rs2 per litre.
The hike, which comes
in the form of Value
Added Tax (VAT),
comes at a time when
oil companies have al-
ready been increasing
the prices of these fu-
els at steady intervals.
The decision is aimed
at enabling the state to
recover revenue losses,
but the cascading ef-
fect will hit inflation,
at a time when citizens
are already burdened
because of the COV-
ID-19 pandemic and
the ensuing lockdown.
Prior to announcing
the increase in VAT on
petrol and diesel Depu-
ty Chief Minister and
Finance Minister Nitin
Patel said that the state
is likely to suffer reve-
nue losses to the tune of
Rs26,100 crore.
He added that, for
the current fiscal, the
state government had
estimated GST collec-
tion of Rs55,560 crore.
However, thanks to
the lockdown and its
after-effects, this col-
lection is likely to re-
main less than Rs
45,000 crore--Rs10,000
crore less than the
original estimate.
The state’s monthly
VAT collection from
petrol and diesel is usu-
ally Rs2,400 crore. How-
ever, the sale of these
fuels was negligible in
April and May. With
trade and Turn on P6
Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel
with Adhia Committee’s final report. —FILE PHOTO
A keeper of the
Woburn Safari
Park in Britain
feeds a tower of
giraffes, as the
park reopened
on Monday
for the first
time since the
lockdown. Road
Safari opened
for visitors with
online booking
facility while
respecting
social distancing
guidelines.
AWAITING
VISITORS
Estimated loss (` in crore)
n GST
n VAT ON PETROL AND DIESEL
n STAMP DUTY
n MOTOR VEHICLE TAX
n ELECTRICITY DUTY
`10,000
`8,500
`4,300
`2,000
`1,300
REVENUE LOSS CM APPROVES 25
TOWN PLANNING
SCHEMES IN 3 MTHS
Chief Minister Vijay
Rupani in the past three
months has approved
25 town planning
schemes, of which six
are draft schemes in
Ahmedabad and one is
a preliminary scheme.
In these schemes, at
least 22 hectares of
land will be reserved
for public purposes
including playground
and EWS housing.
—PHOTO BY PTI
State government
likely to suffer
`26,100 cr revenue
loss this year despite
hike in fuel prices
RELEASED BY PAK
Total lockdown in 4 dists
of Tamil Nadu till June 30
Chennai: The Tamil
Nadu government has
been advised on scaling
down lockdown relaxa-
tions and preventing the
further spread of coro-
navirus,amemberof an
expert committee said
here on Monday follow-
ing a consultative meet-
ing with Chief Minister
K Palaniswami.
Amid continuing
surge in the number of
fresh coronavirus cases
in the State, Dr P Kuga-
nantham, a senior epi-
demiologist and mem-
ber of the 19-member
expert committee on
COVID-19 set up by the
government, said: “We
have given advice (to
the government) on cut-
ting down relaxations
and (further) prevent
the spread of virus and
the government will
take a decision.”
The panel had about
an hour and a half dis-
cussionwithPalaniswa-
mi, Deputy Chief Min-
ister O Panneerselvam,
Health Minister C Vi-
jayabaskar and other
top state officials.
This is the fifth meet-
ing of the expert com-
mittee with the govern-
mentandseveralexperts
including Dr Soumya
Swaminathan, chief sci-
entist with WHO and Dr
Prabhdeep Kaur, public
health expert Turn on P6
‘India-Nepal bound
by roti and beti’
New Delhi: Rejecting
Nepal’s territorial
claim, Defence Minis-
ter Rajnath Singh as-
serted on Monday that
the Lipulekh-Dharchu-
la road falls very much
in India and conveyed
the Modi government’s
willingness to sort out
the “misunderstand-
ing” with the neigh-
bouring country
through dialogue.
Singh stressed
on the centuries-
old ties between
the two coun-
ties, not-
ing that they were not
only social, geographi-
cal, historical and cul-
tural but also spiritual.
India can never for-
get this reality and Indi-
ans can never have any
bitterness towards Ne-
pal, the defence minis-
ter added.
“Our relations are
not only of this
world, but also of
the ‘other world’
and they cannot
be changed even
if someone wish-
es so,” he said at
Turn on P6
Two officials of Indian
High Commission
Islamabad/New Del-
hi: Two officials of In-
dian High Commission
in Pakistan, who went
missing and were re-
portedly arrested earli-
er on Monday, have been
released and are back at
the Indian mission,
sources said on Monday.
India had earlier in
the day summoned Paki-
stan’s Charge d’affaires
Syed Haider Shah and
issued a demarche over
the reported arrest of
two officials in Islama-
bad.Thesourcessaidthe
demarche made it clear
that there should be no
interrogation or harass-
ment of the Indian offi-
cialsandtheresponsibil-
ity for the safety and se-
curity of the concerned
diplomaticpersonnellay
squarely with the Paki-
stani authorities.
Pakistan was asked to
return the two officials
along with the official
car to the High Commis-
sion immediately.
TheIndianHighCom-
mission in Pakistan had
said in the morning that
two of its officials were
missing and the matter
had been taken up with
Islamabad.
“Two Indian High
Commissionofficialsare
missing since morning
while on official work.
The matter has been tak-
en up with the Pakistani
authorities,” Akhilesh
Singh, First Secretary
and spokesperson, Indi-
an High Commission
had told ANI. Turn on P6
Syed Hyder Shah, Pakistan’s Charge d’affaires to India leaves from
MEA. He was summoned after two Indian officials working with Indian
High Commission in Islamabad went missing. —PHOTO BY ANI
2 MINOR EARTHQUAKES STRIKE
GUJARAT’S BHACHAU REGION
New Delhi: Gujarat on Monday experienced
two minor earthquakes at around 1 pm, a
day after the region was hit by a 5.5
magnitude quake. The 4.6 magnitude
earthquake struck 15 kilometers North-
North East of Bhachau at 12:57 pm. It was
followed by another jolt of 3.6 magnitude
about 11 km of Bhachau at 1.01 pm.
MODI TO SPEAK WITH CMS ON JUNE 16, 17
New Delhi: Amid an unabated rise in coronavirus cases in the country, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi will hold a fresh round of consultations with chief ministers on Tuesday and
Wednesday on ways to check the spread of the virus as India exits the lockdown. On Tuesday
afternoon, Modi will hold a video-conference with chief ministers, Lt governors and
administrators of 21 states and Union territories. These include Punjab, Kerala, Goa, Uttarakhand,
Jharkhand, the northeastern states and some UTs. The prime minister will interact with chief
ministers of 15 states and the LG of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday. These include high case
load states like Maharashtra, West Bengal, Delhi, Karnataka, Gujarat, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. P2
12-day period of
intense lock-
down, starting
from June 19, will cover
Chennai, Kanchipuram,
Chengalpattu and Tiru-
vallur dists.
EK PALANISWAMI,
Tamil Nadu CM

NEWSAHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, JUNE 16, 2020
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Gargi Raval
Gandhinagar: The
Congress party in
Gujarat may be
down, but it is cer-
tainly not out. The
state unit, which
went into a position
of defence after eight
of its MLAs resigned,
is now in offence
mode. Its many meet-
ings in the bastions
of the defectors have
been aimed at boost-
ing voter confidence
in the Congress. Now,
those in the know
say the Rajya Sabha
elections, slated to
be held this coming
Friday, might bring a
major surprise to
both major political
parties in the state.
Last week, Amit
Chavda, president of
the Gujarat Pradesh
Congress Committee
(GPCC) stated that
the party has not giv-
en up hope of win-
ning the two seats--
for which it has field-
ed candidates--in the
upcoming Rajya Sab-
ha elections.
He pointed out that,
in 2017, senior BJP
minister BJP minister
RC Faldu made a mis-
take and his vote was
disqualified.
Those in the know
say that Chavda ex-
pects the same to hap-
pen this time as well.
“Unintentionally
or intentionally,
there may be some
votes that will be dis-
qualified. And that’s
not counting cross-
votes. The two candi-
dates fielded by the
Congress, Shaktis-
inh Gohil and Bhar-
atsinh Solanki, have
the responsibility to
win their seats,” said
a senior source.
Chavda has already
stated that Gohil, who
was nominated by the
party’s top brass, is to
be given first prefer-
ence. Now, with eight
MLAs having resigned,
Solanki will be falling
short.
“Yes, Solanki is fall-
ing short of a few
votes,” the source told
First India, “but BJP
has fielded three can-
didates despite not
having sufficient num-
bers. There is a chance
that some BJP MLAs
from north Gujarat
and Saurashtra may
indulge in cross-vot-
ing. The Congress is
already is in contact
with some of these
BJP MLAs.”
It is to be remem-
bered that, although
the BJP is consid-
ered to be a tightly
run ship, Shankers-
inh Vaghela caused
considerable damage
to this image in 1995-
96, when the then-
BJP leader revolted.
With Vaghela still ac-
tive in state politics,
there is always the
possibility that some
dissatisfied BJP law-
makers could hit the
party’s hopes in the
upcoming polls.
The source further
said that top leaders of
the Congress party’s
state unit will meet on
Monday and Tuesday
to discuss the RS polls.
While Solanki is active
in reviving his con-
tacts among his own
caste, former chief
minister Madhavsinh
Solanki has also taken
up his cause and is ac-
tively contacting some
BJP MLAs.
Hardik Patel has
already made a pub-
lic statement that
lawmakers from Va-
dodara and Sabar-
kantha are in touch
with the Congress
party as they are dis-
satisfied with BJP.
BY POINTING OUT THAT RC FALDU’S VOTE WAS DISQUALIFIED IN 2017, GPCC
CHIEF SUGGESTS THAT THE UPCOMING RS POLLS MIGHT BRING SURPRISES
New Delhi: Amid an
unabated rise in coro-
navirus cases in the
country, Prime Minis-
ter Narendra Modi
will hold a fresh
round of consulta-
tions with Chief Min-
isters on Tuesday and
Wednesday on ways
to check the spread
of the virus as India
exits the lockdown.
On Tuesday after-
noon, Modi will hold a
video-conference with
chief ministers, Lt gov-
ernors and administra-
tors of 21 States and
Union territories.
These include Punjab,
Kerala, Goa, Uttara-
khand, Jharkhand, the
northeastern States
and some UTs.
He will interact
with chief ministers
of 15 States and the
LG of Jammu and
Kashmir on Wednes-
day. These include
high case load States
like Maharashtra,
West Bengal, Delhi,
Karnataka, Gujarat,
Bihar and Uttar
Pradesh.
The two-day virtual
meet comes against the
backdrop of the rising
number of coronavirus
cases in the country.
India saw a jump of
over 11,000 novel cor-
onavirus cases for the
third consecutive day
on Monday, taking
the total number of
infections to over 3.32
lakh, while the toll
rose to 9,520 with 325
more deaths.
Under “Unlock 1”,
several relaxations
have been made for
public and businesses
to ensure that econom-
ic activities hit by the
lockdown gather mo-
mentum.
Ahead of his meet-
ing with chief minis-
ters, the prime minis-
ter had on Saturday
reviewed the steps
being taken to con-
tain the COVID-19
pandemic in areas
with high case load
and the road map for
effective manage-
ment of the situation.
Modi had suggested
that the home minister
and the health minister
convene an emergency
meeting with the Delhi
Lt governor and chief
minister and other of-
ficials to plan a “coordi-
nated and comprehen-
sive response” to han-
dle the challenge posed
by rising cases of COV-
ID-19 in Delhi.
The meets suggest-
ed by the prime min-
ister took place on
Sunday. This would
be the prime minis-
ter’s sixth round of
consultation with the
chief ministers, the
last being on May 11.
Home Minister Amit
Shah spoke with all the
chief ministers over
telephone in the last
week of May, just be-
fore lockdown-4 was to
end.
BJP failed to provide
Narmada water: LoP
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: Now
that Prime Minister
Narendra Modi has
completed his first
year in office for a
second consecutive
term, a campaign to
create awareness
about the work done
by the Central gov-
ernment has been
initiated by the
Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP). In a bid
to underline the suc-
cess of the govern-
ment’s tenure, a let-
ter has been penned
by PM Modi, which
will be distributed by
party leaders and
supportersinvarious
parts of the country.
BJP state unit pres-
ident Jitu Vaghani
visitedpeople’shomes
in Bhavnagar and dis-
pensed the letter by
the prime minister
along with mask and
sanitizers to them.
The letter contains
details of the Centre’s
initiatives such as the
scrapping of Article
370 of the Constitu-
tion, bringing the sit-
uation in Jammu and
Kashmir under con-
trol, among others. It
also underlines its
commitment to de-
feating novel corona-
virus and bringing
the nation’s economy
back on track.
ThePMhasalsoap-
pealedtothepeopleto
respect the ‘Atma
NirbharBharatAbhi-
yan’ that will be
aimed at increasing
the manufacturing
capacityof thenation
therebyprovidingem-
ployment to people.
In the last one week,
two virtual meetings
have been conducted
by two union minis-
ters Prakash Ja-
vadekar (Forest and
Environment) and Ni-
tin Gadkari (Road
Transport & High-
ways) with district of-
fice bearers of the
state party unit. All
memberswerebriefed
about the initiative’s
successful implemen-
tation and the govern-
ment’s modus oper-
andi to put the coun-
try’s growth on the
fast track.
Horn-tooting BJP starts
‘AWARENESS PUSH’
Exit Lockdown:
PM Modi to connect
with CMs virtually
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: The
BJP government
has failed to give
Narmada water
across Gujarat, al-
leged Leader of the
Opposition, Paresh
Dhanani.
He accused the in-
cumbent BJP of hi-
jacking the Narmada
project for political
gain. “The Congress
government envis-
aged the Narmada
project as a lifeline of
Gujarat. As much as
85% of work on the
dam was completed
under non-BJP gov-
ernments. Yet, the
BJP government is
always making
claims to the project
for political gain.
The government
has failed on every
front,” asserted
Dhanani.
He further
said that the
Kutch region has
not yet received wa-
ter so far. “Why
isn’t the govern-
ment diverting Nar-
mada water to
Kutch instead of
letting it flow into
the sea? The govern-
ment is clueless
about the actual
work. They have
snatched the public
mandate given to
Congress by power,
position, and mon-
ey but I have faith
in the people of Gu-
jarat. In the 2017
election, the BJP
was stopped at the
nervous nineties,”
Dhanani said in
Gandhidham on
Monday.
He added that peo-
ple are rejecting BJP
leaders. “When the
people are raising
their voice against
the BJP in such time,
the voices--the choic-
es--are being wiped
away. But days are not
far when the people
will crush the lotus
symbol and the BJP
party.”
On the topic of the
upcoming Rajya Sab-
ha election, another
Congress leader Ar-
jun Modhwadia said
the BJP has always
engaged in horse-
trading. “In 2017,
they had pur-
chased 14 Con-
gress MLAs.
This time they
have done the
same. We will
win two seats
this time. We
have strate-
gies for the
same,” said
Modhwadia.
He will interact with
CMs of 15 States and
the LG of J&K on
Wednesday
BJP state unit president Jitu Vaghani handing the letter by PM Modi to voters.
Amit Chavda, president of the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee.
CHAVDA VERDICT
Cong to bounce back with RS polls
Paresh Dhanani, LoP

First India Bureau
G a n d h i n a g a r :
Three persons, in-
cluding two fisher-
men were killed by
lightning in Gir-
Somnath district,
while three others
have been hospi-
talized. Lightning
has also killed
about a dozen
heads of cattle,
even as 15 districts
reported rainfall.
Lilia taluka in
Amreli district re-
ceived the most
rainfall in the state
with74mm.Valsad’s
Dharampur came in
second with 62mm
of rain, while Am-
reli taluka had
50mm of rain.
Parts of the Gir
forest received as
much as 5 inches of
rain in just one
hour. With Kodinar
taluka in Gir-Som-
nath district receiv-
ing 48mm of rain,
the Droneshwar
dam is overflowing.
However, this is
good news for the 15
villages that are lo-
cated downstream
of the dam.
Seasonal rivers
are flowing at two to
three times their
normal rate, creat-
ing flood-like situa-
tions. The Nagnesh
and Nagadiya Sahi
river are in a flood-
like situation and
Ranpur village has
been cut off from its
nearby areas.
GUJARATAHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, JUNE 16, 2020
First India Bureau
Rajkot: Owing to a
surge in COVID-19
positive cases, people
from other districts
have started coming
to Rajkot for medical
assistance. In order to
accommodate this in-
flow of patients, the
local administration
decided to look at pri-
vate hospitals as po-
tential COVID-19
treatment centres.
But, when a private
hospital named Sahy-
og situated on the Ma-
vdi Road expressed
interest in treating
COVID-19 positive pa-
tients, it encountered
opposition from the
residents in the area.
In fact, in order to
showcase their dis-
pleasure at the poten-
tial arrangement, resi-
dents took to the streets
on Monday. It has also
been learnt that they
plan to make a repre-
sentation before the col-
lector to ensure that the
Sahyog Hospital is not
turned into a COVID-19
hospital.
Mavdi councillor Vi-
jay Vak said, “Rajkot’s
biggestvegetablemarket
is located in this area.
There are around 2,000
vegetable vendors sell-
ing their produce here.
The area is also a resi-
dentialonewithcongest-
ed by-lanes. All we ask is
that instead of allowing
SahyogtotreatCOVID-19
patients,theadministra-
tion engages other big
hospitals away from the
residential areas. People
here are not against
treatment of COVID-19
patients here, but only
feel that it should be the
last resort.”
Sofar,apartfromCivil
Hospital, a COVID-19 fa-
cility has been set up at
one private hospital in
the city. However, their
contract with the gov-
ernment ended on Mon-
day. That was why Sahy-
og Hospital showed in-
terest in starting a COV-
ID-19 facility, but local
opposition has put the
matter on hold. This has
left Civil Hospital as the
only option for novel
coronavirus patients.
Mavdi residents against private hospital as COVID-19 facility
Class XII General Stream gets average results
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: The
Gujarat Secondary
and Higher Second-
ary Education Board
(GSHSEB) on Monday
declared the results
of Class XII General
Stream examinations
for the academic year
of 2019-20. Students
from rural areas out-
performed those from
urban areas in the ex-
aminations this year.
Of the total number
of students who ap-
peared for the exams,
76.27% cleared them
successfully.
For the second con-
secutive year, Patan
topped the pass percent-
age of all 33 districts
with 86.67% students
clearing the exams. Fe-
male candidates fared
better than their male
counterparts with pass
percentages of 82.20%
and 70.97% respectively.
Last year, the overall
pass percentage was
73.27%. Patan district
led in the previous aca-
demic year’s results too.
Theleastrankeddistrict
this year was Junagadh
with a result of 58.26%.
TheSoniexamination
centre in Banaskantha
was the top-scoring cen-
tre with a pass percent-
age of 97.76% and the
last in this category was
Dolasa centre of Gir-
Somnath district. There
was a marked improve-
ment in the number of
schools with 100% re-
sults -- 269 as compared
to 222 schools last year.
About 3,71,771 of the
3,73,159 enrolled candi-
dates appeared for the
exams, which were con-
ducted at 476 centres
across the state. Of
these, 2,83,624 candi-
dates passed, while
89,535 failed.
Around 454 students
secured the A1 grade in
the Gujarati language
paper but 80,064 have
failed the exam. Stu-
dents fared better in the
English language paper,
with 56 students scor-
ing the A1 grade and
5,585 failing. In a shock-
ingly low result, almost
33% of students who ap-
peared for the Hindi
language paper failed.
A GSHSEB officer
said that none of these
students will be provid-
ed the result mark-
sheets due to the coro-
navirus outbreak. The
board plans to come up
with a procedure in this
regard in 10 days and
accordingly inform the
respective District Edu-
cation Officers.
Top-scorers from HB Kapadia school pose with their grades in Ahmedabad on Monday.
76.27% of candidates who took the exam passed, Patan tops in terms of pass percentage with 86.67% even as girls outdo boys across the state
Surat district leads the pack
with 189 A1 grade students
3 killed by
lightning as
15 districts
receive rain
The overall result
secured by stu-
dents from the Surat
district stands at
80.66%, which is one
percent lower than
the last academic
year of 2018-19. The
district is ranked
ninth in the entire
state for this academ-
ic year. Out of the to-
tal 522 A-1 grade stu-
dents in the state this
year, 189 students be-
long to the Surat dis-
trict. The district has
also fared well in the
number of students
securing the A2
grade with 2,614 stu-
dents, the highest in
the state. Of the total
number of students
who appeared for the
examinations from
the district, 5,941 se-
cured the B1 grade,
8,994 received the B2
grade.
A’bad defies govt efforts to drop
case numbers, 300 is new normal
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar:Dashing
any hopes of the state
government that new
teams would bring
COVID-19 under con-
trolinAhmedabad,the
city has neither seen a
drop in cases nor in fa-
talities. Even on Mon-
day, the city accounted
for 57% of the 514 new
cases recorded around
the state, and 71% of
all deaths.
Ahmedabad’s rural
areas are not being
spared either, with 34
new cases taking the to-
tal to 605. Dholka ac-
countedfor13of thenew
cases, while Viramgam
accounted for seven.
Daskroi, Dhandhuka,
and Sanand each ac-
counted for four new
cases and Bavla and
Mandalhadoneeach.As
many as 127 cases are
stillactiveinthisregion,
and three more fatalities
in the past 24 hours has
taken the death toll to 41.
Statewide, there are
now 24,104 cases with a
death toll of 1,506.
There are 71 patients on
ventilators and 5,855
are stable. The state has
tested 4,942 samples-
-the lowest this week--in
the past 24 hours.
In Surat, anyone who
had any recent dealings
at the Mahidharpura
diamond market has
been asked to self-iso-
late for 14 days, after
one person tested posi-
tive there. In addition,
the regional nodal of-
ficer handling the out-
break has also tested
positive and is receiv-
ing treatment at the
Civil Hospital. Two
more doctors, including
a private practitioner,
have also been infected.
In Vadodara, 489 pa-
tients are under treat-
ment, with 91 on oxy-
gen, and 34 on ventila-
tors. In Bharuch, dis-
trict nine persons have
tested positive, eight of
whom are from Jam-
busar town. The ninth
is from Dambha village.
In Saurashtra, about
half a dozen persons
have tested positive, all
with travel history of
either Ahmedabad, Su-
rat or Mumbai, hinting
that Unlock 1.0 may be
aiding the spread of
the virus to less-affect-
ed areas.
The state has tested just 4,942 samples in 24 hours. —FILE PHOTO
Chudasama ‘confronted’ by
citizens on social media
NSUI workers detained by cops amid
protest demanding mass promotion
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: The Na-
tional Students’ Un-
ion of India (NSUI) on
Monday held protests
across the state de-
manding mass promo-
tion of college stu-
dents. A few protest-
ers near KK Shastri
CollegeinAhmedabad
were detained by po-
lice. The union organ-
ized protests before 50
colleges in the state.
Due to the novel coro-
navirus pandemic, the
academic sessions of
all colleges and univer-
sities have been sus-
pended since March.
Therefore, examina-
tions have also been put
off indefinitely by col-
leges. Therefore, the
NSUI demanded that
mass promotion be
granted to college stu-
dents. “All students
studying at the Gujarat
University should be
granted a promotion to
the next year. Since, the
state education minis-
ter has asserted that the
next academic year will
not commence before
August, it is high time
that mass promotion is
given to students,” said
Nikhil Savani, General
Secretary of NSUI.
“The Guj University
has declared that it will
conduct a 100% online
admission process for
the next academic year.
But, several students
havebeenfacingdifficul-
ties in getting through
the process. Also, since
the university has not
conducted examina-
tions, it must return the
exam fees to the stu-
dents,” said Saiyad Sub-
han, Secretary of NSUI.
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: Amid
the COVID-19 out-
break, more and
more elected repre-
sentatives have begun
to engage with citi-
zens through social
media platforms.
However, this did not
bode well for state
education minister
Bhupendrasinh Chu-
dasama on Monday.
Not only was he ques-
tioned by angry par-
ents of school chil-
dren about the lack of
exemption from
school fees, he was
also confronted by a
few college students,
who asked him to
grant mass promo-
tions to college stu-
dents based on merit.
In a post on his Face-
book account, Chudasa-
ma had appealed to citi-
zens to follow all guide-
lines of the COVID-19
protocol.
The post received a
lot of attention from
parents of school chil-
dren, college students
including Parth Par-
mar, who commented
with a request to put off
the final year college
exams and grant mass
promotion to final- year
students on merit.
A private school
teacher, who did not dis-
close his identity due to
professional blowback,
requested the minister
to instruct private
schools not to ask teach-
ers to report to school
for online classes, but
allow them to work
from home as they did
before Unlock 1.0.
Bhupendrasinh Chudasama. —FILE PHOTO
The protesters were held during their silent protest.
People protested at Rajkot’s Sahyog Hospital at Monday.
NO TAKERS
With people still staying indoors, this pair of boats lie upturned and unattended along the
Sabarmati River in Ahmedabad on Monday. —PHOTO BY NANDAN DAVE
CAUSE & EFFECT
I studied for five to six hours
per day and used dance as
stress relief. I’ve scored 98.9
percentile and am happy with my re-
sult. I hope to become an IAS officer.
— Gayatri Gurjar, Commerce Stream
—PHOTOBYNANDANDAVE—PHOTOBYNANDANDAVE

G Vol 1 G Issue No. 201 G RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/16208. Printed and published by Anita Hada Sangwan on behalf of First Express Publishers. Printed at Bhaskar Printing Planet Survey No.148P, Changodar-Bavla Highway, Tal. Sanand, Dist. Ahmedabad.
Published at D/302 3rd Floor Plot No. 35 Titanium Square, Scheme No. 2, Thaltej Taluka, Ghatlodiya, Ahmedabad. Editor: Jagdeesh Chandra, responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act
PERSPECTIVEAHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, JUNE 16, 2020
DEATH SNATCHES
A TALENTED
CINE ACTOR
t will be inappropriate to re-
peat the clichéd ‘those whom
God loves, die young’ for the
talented Sushant Singh Rajput
for the simple reason that his
was not a case of natural death. He was
only 34, too young to die the way he did
and leave his family, fans and fellow ac-
tors mourning. Sushant committed sui-
cide by hanging on Sunday, June 14.
On June 3, 2020 Sushant Singh Rajput re-
membered his mother in an emotional Insta-
gram post. He wrote, “Blurred past evaporat-
ing from teardrops/ Unending dreams carv-
ing an arc of smile/and a fleeting life, nego-
tiating between the two…Maa”. The post had
2,523,472 likes and garnered over 1.5 lakh
comments. He had 11.2 million followers on
Instagram, yet somewhere deep down he was
lonely. That makes one thing clear, virtual
world offers no support to a tormented mind.
The young strapping actor who gained
fame, but no recognition from a nepo-
tism-infested film industry, for essaying
memorable roles in Chhichhore, MS Dho-
ni: The Untold Story, Kai Po Che, Kedar-
nath, Raabta and a few others, tragically
ended his life one doesn’t know why.
Some say he was suffering from depres-
sion as he did not get due recognition
from an industry. Others like Kangana
Ranaut blame mafia-like groups which
have a stranglehold on the film industry
and ensure that artistes not in their camp
are hounded out as the cause.
His shocked co-actors and fans find it hard
to believe that Sushant committed suicide as
it went against what he said in Chhichhore. In
the film Sushant plays an engineer whose son
tries to commit suicide by jumping off a high
rise. To aid his son’s recovery, he recounts his
own journey as an engineering student and
howheovercameoddswiththehelpof friends.
The message he conveys through the film was
not to commit suicide in any situation. Ironi-
cally in real life Sushant could not fight the
demons in his mind, and those out hurting the
morale of young artistes in Bollywood.
Sushant was a man of varied interests,
astrophysics being one of them. He was
a science buff, wrote director Abhishek
Kapoor. He concluded his note with, “stay
interstellar”. An astrophysicist Dr Karan
Jani had this to say, “Our conversations
would go into the abstracts from String
theory to Sartre…I rarely get such in-
sightful conversations…”
Whatever may have led Sushant to take the
extreme step, the fact is that depression is the
second leading cause of death in India. The
problem with depression is that many people
shy away from mentioning it, while others
are unaware of the condition which is often
confused with sadness and pessimism.
Sushant has passed on to join other
stars on the firmament. A quote aptly de-
scribes his demise, “Destiny plays its
cards in a way that no one can compre-
hend.” The show will go on.
IN-DEPTH
I
CA Raghavan made a name
for himself as a distinguished
diplomat representing the
country as the High Commis-
sioner to Pakistan and Singa-
pore, both countries with
strong historical connections
to India. His book on Paki-
stan ‘ The People Next Door:
The Curious History of In-
dia’s Relations with Paki-
stan’ is hailed as a classic
story of two nations divided
by contesting ideologies and
an arbitrary line which takes
no account of natural align-
ments. Earlier his work ‘At-
tendant Lords: Bairam Khan
and Abdur Rahim, Courtiers
and Poets in Mughal India’
received the Habib Memorial
Prize from the Indian Histo-
ry Congress in 2017.
Post his superannuation, as
Chairman of the ICWA he is
still very active in the academ-
ic and literary circuits giving
regular talks and presenta-
tions on issues concerning In-
dia’s neighbourhood and her
security. But this column is to
discuss another dimension:
that of TCA Raghavan as a pro-
fessional historian, and his
tribute to three distinguished
history scholars: Jadunath
Sarkar, GS Sardesai, and
Raghubir Sinh. As students of
history, we are aware of the
seminal contributions of all
threeof them:JadunathSarkar
(1870-1958) on the Mughals, GS
Sardesai (1865-1959) on the
Marathas and Raghubir Sinh
(1908-1991) on the Rajputs. His-
tory Men is a tribute to the his-
torical scholarship, collabora-
tion, and friendship between
these three scholars of Indian
history, but also shows and
highlights the various factions
of the Indian History Con-
gress, the public and private
scandals of the university sys-
tem, the petty intrigue, and
cunning employed by col-
leagues to oust each other from
government committees and
public honours.
Although Sardesai was
the eldest of the three, it was
Jadunath Sarkar who was
the centre of this triangular
association with the bulk of
the extant correspondence
consisting of letters between
him and GS Sardesai on one
axis, and with Raghubir
Sinh on the other. We have
fewer letters between Sard-
esai and Sinh. Their collab-
oration was for understand-
ing India’s past in the later
Mughal period, and this re-
quired that Sarkar had ac-
cess to records of the Mara-
tha sources, and Sardesai
for the Persian sources on
Marathas as the two forces
were opposed to each other,
but also intertwined.
Raghubir’s research was on
Malwa in Transition or a
Century of Anarchy (1698-
1766). So their interests and
their tracts were quite com-
plementary.
Sardesai had joined the ser-
vice of Baroda state immedi-
ately after his graduation from
Elphinstone College in 1888
and was soon asked to be the
tutor to the young prince, but
his passion for historical re-
search was so strong that he
sought retirement after putting
in 37 years as Sardesai master.
He moved to Kamshet, in 1925
as a small village near Pune
where his brother, a doctor had
built a bungalow, and he wrote
the eight-volume Marathi Riya-
sat and the two-volume British
Riyasat, which established his
reputation in Maratha history
– within the state, but it was his
lecture on Maratha History at
the Patna University which fi-
nally established his reputa-
tion. These were published at
Sarkar’s insistence as the Main
Currents of Maratha History.
The youngest of the three,
Raghubir Sinh, was also un-
like the two senior academic
dons in the sense that he was
not middle class, but the
heir to a state which was en-
titled to an eleven gun salute
and the title of His High-
ness. And what led him to
study history was the Bol-
shevik Revolution in Russia
which led to the overthrow
of Tsar Nicholas. That even-
ing, his father advised him
‘no one knows what the fu-
ture holds, and it is possible
that the princely states will
face great change, and may
well come to an end. It is
therefore essential that you
should be fully educated,
and learn to stand on your
own feet’.
And thus he became a histo-
rian, first, ding his Ph.D. and
publishing Pre medieval India
(in Hindi ) in 1931, with Ja-
dunath Sarkar endorsing he
book with fulsome praise ‘ it
strikes a new line by locating
History not as a ‘ record of
cores and follies of mankind,
but as a movement of human-
ity. He attempts to give us the
philosophy of Indian history –
the why and how of things –
during that period, and I this
way distinctly enriched our
vernacular literature ‘. And
then Sarkar agreed to be his D
Litt guide and the work Malwa
in Transition saw the light of
the day.
History Men then goes on
to describe History as Disci-
pline, Struggle and Herit-
age, and in each of these
chapters, the historical per-
spective and nuance of these
three scholars come to the
fore. A great read for all
those who want to look at
history from the lens of In-
dian historians!
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY
THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL
HISTORY MEN!
T
History Men is a
tribute to the
historical
scholarship,
collaboration,
and friendship
between these
three scholars of
Indian history,
but also shows
and highlights
the various
factions of the
Indian History
Congress, the
public and
private scandals
of the university
system, the petty
intrigue, and
cunning
employed by
colleagues to oust
each other from
government
committees and
public honours
History Men then
goes on to describe
history as discipline,
struggle and heritage,
and in each of these
chapters, the
historical perspective
and nuance of these
three scholars come
to the fore. A great
read for all those who
want to look at history
from the lens of
Indian historians!
ovember 1959.
Film director
Alfred Hitch-
cock is at his
commercial
and critical peak after
the successes of Vertigo
(1958) and North by
Northwest (1959). So
what does he do next? A
black-and-white made-
for-TV movie hastily
shot, with no big-name
actors and a leading ac-
tress who takes a show-
er, and … well, we’ll
come to that.
Psycho (1960) remains
Hitchcock’s most celebrat-
ed film. But it is really two
films, glued together by the
most iconic scene in cine-
ma history.
Part one is a run-of-
the-mill morality tale.
Marion Crane (Janet
Leigh) steals $40,000
from her Phoenix em-
ployee, and goes on the
run. Guilt-stricken, she
pulls into a deserted mo-
tel and chats with the
owner, Norman Bates
(Anthony Perkins).
He seems friendly
enough – he makes her
sandwiches and talks fond-
ly about his mother – and
Marion resolves to return
the money.
Part two is a whodun-
nit. Marion’s sister (Vera
Miles) and her lover
(John Gavin) investigate
her disappearance, and
trace her steps back to
the motel. Soon, they be-
gin to have suspicions
about Norman.
THRILLER WITH
A TWIST
Audiences saw things in
Psycho that had never been
shown before on screen. A
toilet flushing. A murderer
who goes unpunished. A
post-coital Leigh, lying on
a bed, dressed only in white
underwear, while Gavin
stands topless over her.
All of Hitchcock’s trade-
mark obsessions are on
show: voyeurism, the dom-
inant matriarchal figure,
the blonde heroine, the un-
trustworthy cop.
Over his career, Hitch-
cock had always flouted
Hollywood’s Production
Code, those rigid rules that
had been in place since the
1930s that prohibited on-
screen nudity, sex and vio-
lence. Nowhere is Hitch-
cock’s brazen censor-defy-
ing clearer than in Psy-
cho’s “shower scene”.
Hitchcock, the master of
suspense, never actually
shows knife slicing flesh.
Everything is implied,
through liberal doses of
chocolate sauce, hacked
watermelons, Bernard
Herrmann’s screeching
violins, and Leigh’s blood-
curdling screams.
In one 60-second scene,
Hitchcock shatters all the
rules. It’s the most famous
of all bait and switches:
you expect one thing, but
get another. Up to that
point, no film had killed
off its lead character so
early in the story (nowa-
days, such an audacious
twist shows up every-
where, from The Lion King
to Games of Thrones). As
Leigh slides down the
blinding white tiles, arm
outstretched, a new kind
of cinema is born: twisted,
shocking, primal.
INVENTING THE
CINEMA EVENT
Hitchcock famously or-
dered cinemas to not let
anylatecomersintoscreen-
ings of Psycho, to keep the
element of surprise.
Previously, cinema-go-
ers could wander into a
film midway through,
watch the last half, and
then stick around for the
restart to catch up on what
they had missed. When
your leading lady is butch-
ered 45 minutes in, the film
makes little sense if you
arrive late – hence Hitch-
cock’s decree.
FOR FULL REPORT LOG ON TO
WWW.THECONVERSATION.COM
Hitchcock’s famous fright film broke all the rules
N
Hitchcock, the master of suspense, never actually
shows knife slicing flesh. Everything is implied,
through liberal doses of chocolate sauce, hacked
watermelons, Bernard Herrmann’s screeching
violins, and Leigh’s blood-curdling screams Know that all creatures
have evolved from this
twofold energy, and Brahman
is the origin as well as the
dissolution of the entire
universe. —Bhagavad Gita
Spiritual
SPEAK
Top
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@dpradhanbjp
Digitally inaugurated Indian Gas
Exchange Ltd. @IgxIndia, India’s
ﬁrst automated national-level
gas trading platform, as a part of
PM Shri @narendramodi’s vision
of establishing next-gen energy
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make India a gas-based economy.
Piyush Goyal
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of society, ramping up medical
infrastructure & enforcement of
lockdown are some major steps
taken as #IndiaFightsCorona
The author is an IAS &
Director, Lal Bahadur
Shastri National Academy of
Administration Mussoorie
and Honorary Curator, Valley
of Words: Literature and Arts
Festival, Dehradun
DR SANJEEV
CHOPRA

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INDIAAHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, JUNE 16, 2020
Bhopal: Madhya
Pradesh Police regis-
tered an FIR against
Congress veteran Dig-
vijaya Singh and 11
others on Monday in a
case of circulation of
an alleged “edited”
video of Chief Minis-
ter Shivraj Singh
Chouhan’s old state-
ment on the liquor pol-
icy of the previous Ka-
mal Nath government.
Singh said he had no
objection to the FIR
against him, but the po-
lice should also investi-
gate the source of the
video and who “edited”
it. On Sunday night,
leaders of the ruling
BJP submitted a com-
plaint to the police, de-
manding that an FIR be
lodged against Singh
for tweeting the alleged
“edited” video.
In the video, Chou-
han is purportedly seen
commenting on the liq-
uor policy of the previ-
ous Kamal Nath
government.”On the
basis of the complaint,
a case has been regis-
tered against 12 people,
including Digivijaya
Singh and Avinash Kad-
be (MP Congress’ social
media coordinator),”
Additional Superinten-
dent of Police Nishchal
Jharia told PTI. They
have been charged un-
der IPC Sections 500
(defamation), 501 (print-
ing or engraving matter
known to be defamato-
ry), 505 (2) (public mis-
chief) and 465 (forgery),
the official said.Jharia
said the FIR was regis-
tered after the com-
plaint received from
BJP leaders was found
to be “right” in prelimi-
nary investigation.
“Further action would
be taken after the inves-
tigation, he said.
Reacting to the devel-
opment, Digvijaya Sin-
gh said the BJP is upset
as he raised an issue of
cheating in CM’s con-
stituency.
“The BJP has been
fuming and is per-
turbed since I wrote to
Chouhan that tribals in
his constituency Budh-
ni were duped of Rs 450
crore by his agents. No
action was taken dur-
ing Chouhan’s (previ-
ous) tenure. I wrote to
him that if no action
would be taken, I will be
forced to sit on a dharna
at the CM’s residence,
Singh told reporters.
He also demanded an
FIR against those who
duped the tribals in
Chouhan’s constituen-
cy. “I dont have any ob-
jection to the FIR
(against him), but it
should be investigated
what is the source (of
video) and who edited
this? The BJP and Modi-
Shah bhakts edited Ra-
hul Gandhi’s video and
circulated it and are
running fake news.
Action should also be
taken against them,”
he said. State Congress
president and former
Chief Minister Kamal
Nath criticised the ac-
tion against Digvijaya
Singh. “The BJP gov-
ernment is continu-
ously showing its ma-
licious thinking by
taking oppressive ac-
tion against Congress
leaders in the state,
Nath said.
He said the BJP gov-
ernment is setting a
“wrong tradition” in
the state.BJP are con-
stantly doing dirty poli-
tics against Congress
leaders and trying to
spoil their image, they
have made false com-
plaints against Digvi-
jaya Singh over a viral
video, he said. —PTI
FIR against Digvijaya Singh over ‘edited’ video of MP CM Chouhan
IN CONTROVERSY
New Delhi: Congress
leader Rahul Gandhi
took a swipe at the gov-
ernment
using a
quote of
world-re-
n o w n e d
physicist
A l b e r t
Einstein
on Monday, saying the
only thing more danger-
ous than ignorance is
arrogance.
“Thislockdownproves
that: ‘The only thing
more dangerous than ig-
norance is arrogance’,”
hewroteonTwitterquot-
ing Einstein.
Gandhi also shared a
graph that showed how
the four lockdowns have
flattened the wrong
curve of the economy,
instead of COVID-19
deaths, which are rising
in the country.
The former Congress
president has been crit-
ical of the govern-
ment’s handling of the
coronavirus pandemic
by imposing lock-
downs, which he has
claimed as failure as
they have not given
the desired results. He
has also accused the
government of arro-
gance and not listen-
ing to the voice of the
opposition. —ANI
‘Arrogancemoreviciousthanignorance’The Congress leader also shared a graph that showed how the 4 lockdowns have flattened the wrong curve of the economy
RAGA QUOTES EINSTEIN TO ATTACK GOVT ON COVID-19 LOCKDOWN
‘No Delhi lockdown
is being planned’
New Delhi: No reimpo-
sition of lockdown is
being planned in Delhi,
tweeted Chief Minister
Arvind Kejriwal, quell-
ing rumours of a possi-
ble shutdown amid a
sharp rise in the coro-
navirus cases in the na-
tional capital.
The first nationwide
lockdown was imposed
on March 25 to stem
the spread of the dis-
ease and since then it
has been extended four
times. Presently, the
lockdown is only in
containment zones till
June 30.
“Many people are
speculating whether
another lockdown in
Delhi in being planned.
There are no such
plans,” said CM Kejri-
wal. Earlier in the day,
Home Minister Amit
Shah chaired a meeting
of all the parties of Del-
hi to discuss the corona-
virus crisis in the city.
The government said
that the Centre and the
AAP dispensation have
agreed on an immedi-
ate action plan to in-
crease capacity of beds,
increase testing and
other important initia-
tives. However, no par-
ty at the meeting sug-
gested a reimposition
of lockdown to tackle
the rise in coronavirus
cases. —Agencies
Hyderabad: Telangana
gave permission to IC-
MR-approved private
labs and diagnostic cen-
tres to conduct Covid-19
tests and capped the
cost of test at Rs 2,200.
The government also
capped treatment cost
at private hospitals.
The cost per day for ad-
mission in isolation
ward in a private hospi-
tal has been capped at
Rs 4,000. Treatment
without ventilator in
ICU room has been
capped at Rs 7,500 per
day while treatment
with ventilator in ICU
has been capped at Rs
9,000 per day. “If any lab
or diagnostic centre or
any private hospital is
found exploiting people
or patients by over-
charging, we will take
strict action like seizing
the facility or blacklist-
ing it,” warned CS So-
mesh Kumar. —ANI
COVID-19 test: TS fixes rates for pvt hosps
A view of a wholesale vegetable market showing no respect to social distancing guidelines, during ongoing COVID-19 lockdown in Jammu on Monday. —PHOTO BY PTI
New Delhi: The SC
pulled up automobile
associations, including
Federation of Automo-
bile Dealers Associa-
tions (FADA), noting
that its order on relaxa-
tions for sale and regis-
tration of BS 4 vehicles
has been flouted by
dealers.
A bench headed by
Justice Arun Mishra
and also comprising
Justice S Abdul Nazeer
and Justice Indira Ba-
nerjee was hearing a
case related to the re-
laxation in the sale and
registration of vehicles,
compliant with BS 4
emission norms.
The bench said that
its earlier order on re-
laxations for sale and
registration of BS 4 ve-
hicles has been appar-
ently flouted by auto-
mobile dealers. The
apex court observed
that it had allowed the
sale and registration of
1.05 lakh BS 4 vehicles,
but 2.55 lakh vehicles
have been sold since
then.The top court
sought the details of the
sale and registrations
of vehicles by FADA by
Friday. The court also
asked the Ministry of
Road Transport to sub-
mit details of BS 4 vehi-
cles sold and registered
after the court's March
27 order. —Agencies
SC pulls up auto industry
bodies for flouting orders
Mumbai: In a relief
to both domestic and
international air-
lines, the Bombay
High Court allowed
them to fill up middle
seats, in compliance
with the May 31 circu-
lar issued by the Civil
Aviation, on the con-
dition that passen-
gers wear ‘wrap
around’ gowns and
that standard operat-
ing procedures
(SOPs) issued by the
Directorate General
of Civil Aviation
(DGCA) are followed.
A division bench of
Justices S J Kathawal-
la and S P Tavade
passed the judgement,
through vc, on a plea
filed by Air India pilot
Deven Kanani, who
alleged that national
carrier Air India had
violated social dis-
tancing norms while
evacuating Indians
stranded abroad on
special flights. The
plea was submitted
through advocate Ab-
hilash Panickar.
On June 4, the
bench had reserved
the matter for final or-
der. In its interim or-
der, the court had di-
rected all domestic
and international air-
lines to comply with
the DGCA rules till its
final hearing. —Agencies
Airlines can book
middle seats, says HC
Mumbai: The Coun-
cil for Indian School
Certificate Exami-
nations (CISCE) in-
formed Bombay HC
that it will not force
students to appear
for remaining exam-
inations for Class 10
and 12 in July, 2020.
The Council said
that students can ei-
ther appear for
pending exams as
per the revised
schedule or they
could opt out of the
remaining exams, in
which case the final
results will be based
on performance in
internal assessment
or pre-board exams.
CISCE class
10, 12 pupils
can opt out of
pending exams
IN THE COURTYARD
New Delhi: External
Affairs Minister Dr S
Jaishankar said that In-
dia is an essential
source of ''trusted tal-
ent'' for the global econ-
omy, and human re-
sources are at the core
of India's engagement
with the world.
“India is today a crit-
ical source of trusted
talent and competitive
skills for the global
economy. Human re-
sources are at the core
of our engagement
with the world,” he
said at the keynote ad-
dress of 3rd Annual
Conference, Protectors
of Emigrants.
“The focus of the
conference would be to
focus on the policy and
practices pertaining to
all aspect of migration.
And this is a very im-
portant responsibility
and one that has ac-
quired even greater re-
sponsibility in the light
coronavirus pandem-
ic,” he added.
He said that the focus
of the government has
been to provide better
opportunities and wel-
fare measures to pro-
spective migrants.
We have been en-
gaged in negotiation
with the foreign govern-
ments to provide ease
of travel and opportu-
nity through migration
and mobility agree-
ments,” he added.
Protectors of emi-
grants can grant emi-
grant clearance under
Emigration Act, 1983.
‘Indiasourceoftrusted
talentforglobaleconomy’
CM SPEAK
Dr. S. Jaishankar addresses the inaugural session of the 3rd
Annual Conference of Protectors of Emigrants in New Delhi.
OVER 57.7L TESTS DONE SO FAR: ICMR
OOO
STORY SO FAR

INDIAAHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, JUNE 16, 2020
New Delhi: IMD on
Monday, stated that fair-
ly widespread to wide-
spread rainfall is likely
to continue over Maha-
rashtra, Chhattisgarh,
West Bengal and Sik-
kim,Odisha,Jharkhand
and Bihar during the
next two-three days.
It also stated that an
east-west trough runs
from northwest Ra-
jasthan to Gangetic
West Bengal at lower
tropospheric levels and
an east-west shear zone
is seen from Sub-Hima-
layan West Bengal to
north Konkan across
the cyclonic circulation
over southeast UP,
south MP, north Mad-
hya Maharashtra be-
tween 3.1 and 5.8 km
above mean sea level.
“Under the influence of
above systems, fairly
widespread to wide-
spread rainfall very
likely to continue over
Maharashtra, Chhattis-
garh, West Bengal and
Sikkim, Odisha,
Jharkhand & Bihar
during next 2-3 days;
Scattered heavy rain
and isolated extremely
heavy falls over Konkan
and Goa, isolated very
heavy falls over central
India and Bihar,
Jharkhand and Ganget-
ic West Bengal during
next 2-3 days,” IMD fur-
ther stated. —ANI
MONSOON ACTIVE OVER
WEST, CENTRAL, EAST INDIA
WILL BANSAL BE APPOINTED
COMMISSIONER, GCC?
Name of Pankaj Kumar Bansal is doing the
rounds for the post of Commissioner, Greater
Chennai Corporation (GCC). He is a 1997 batch
IAS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre.
HOW MANY 1987 BATCH IPS
OFFICERS WILL JOIN GOI?
It is said that out of the total empanelled 15 IPS
officers of the 1987 batch, only a couple of offi-
cers are expected to join the GoI. Others are said
to be comfortable in their respective states. Many
of them are already DGP in their states.
THREE 1988 BATCH IPS OFFICERS
HOLDING INDEPENDENT POSITION
While about half a dozen IPS officers of the
1986 batch are waiting in the wings, three 1988
batch IPS officers are holding independent
assignments. They include Jharkhand cadre
IPS officer SN Pradhan, who is DG NDRF, West
Bengal cadre IPS officer Ram Phal Pawar, who
is DG NCRB and Gujarat cadre IPS officer Atul
Karwal, who is Director National Police Acade-
my, Hyderabad.
BNN MURTHY RELIEVED TO
JOIN KARNATAKA CADRE
The Government of Andhra Pradesh has relieved
BNN Murthy in order to join Karnataka cadre
on inter- cadre deputation for a period of three
years. He is a 2007 batch IFS officer of AP cadre.
NO IPS OFFICER FROM UP
EMPANELLED AS DG IN GOI
No IPS officer of the 1987 batch from Uttar
Pradesh, has been empanelled for holding either
DG or equivalent post despite having had four
eligible officers of this batch.
THREE VACANCIES OF SPECIAL
DIRECTORS IN ED
There are currently three vacancies of Special Di-
rector located at Mumbai, Delhi and Chandigarh
in ED. There are reports that the vacancies may
be filled up in a couple of months.
FORMER IAS OFFICER TO JOIN
PATANJALI GROUP?
Former 2005 batch IAS officer of UP cadre, Na-
gendra Prasad Singh is likely to join the Patanjali
Group in Haridwar.
FOUR AGMUT CADRE IAS OFFICERS
TRANSFERRED TO DELHI
Four officers of AGMUT cadre have been trans-
ferred to Delhi Government. They are: Gaurav
Singh Rajawat, Vikram Singh Malik, Avinash
Kumar and Monica Priyadarshini.
TANMAY KUMAR IS ALSO DIRECTOR,
NHPC LIMITED
Tanmay Kumar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Pow-
er, has been appointed as Government Nominee
Director on the Board of NHPC Limited. He is a
1993 batch IAS officer.
TWO CENTRALLY DEPUTED IAS
OFFICERS ATTACHED TO DELHI GOVT
Two IAS officers, who are on deputation to Govt
of India, are being attached to Delhi govt in order
to tackle increasing cases of COVID-19. They are:
SCL Das and Sajjan Singh Yadav. Das is a 1992
batch IAS and presently posted as DG, Hydrocar-
bons, in the Ministry of Petroleum and Yadav, a
1995 batch IAS is Joint Secretary, WCD. It is said
that the HM has reportedly directed attachment
to these two IAS officers to Delhi Govt.
VINAY AMBADE GIVEN ADDL CHARGE
OF CHAIRMAN, RRB, CHANDIGARH
Vinay Ambade, presently posted as Chairman,
Railway Recruitment Board, Jammu, has been
assigned additional charge as Chairman, Railway
Recruitment Board, Chandigarh.
POWERGallery
Mumbai: In a district-
wise forecast, the Indi-
an Meteorological De-
partment (IMD) issued
an orange alert for
Mumbai, Thane and
Palghar for Monday
and Tuesday. The IMD
warned of very heavy
to extremely heavy
rainfall along the west
coast of Maharashtra
and the southern state.
The National Disaster
Management Authori-
ty (NDMA) of India
also warned the citi-
zens of incessant rain-
fall quoting IMD. Or-
ange alert has been is-
sued to warn the citi-
zens to be prepared.
The remaining dis-
tricts of the west coast,
parts of central Maha-
rashtra as well as iso-
lated areas of Vidarbha
and Marathwada are
also to receive inces-
sant rainfall. Heavy
rainfall at isolated plac-
es is likely in Goa &
Konkan region during
the next 24 hours. It has
been three days since
the monsoons have ar-
rived in southern Ma-
harashtra. —ANI
Orange alert
issued for
Mum,Thane
and Palghar
New Delhi: Mahant
Deependra Giri, the cus-
todian of the holy mace
of Lord Shiva, has an-
nounced the schedule
for the Chhari-Mubarak
rituals for this year’s
Amarnath Yatra and
said the pilgrimage will
be “a low-key affair” in
view of the coronavirus
pandemic.
“Mahant Deependra
Giri Ji told that this year
Yatraisgoingtobealow-
key affair keeping in
view of COVID-19 pan-
demic,” a press release
said on Monday. Giving
details of the Chhari-
Mubarak pooja, he said
that as per traditions,
‘Bhoomi-Pujan’, ‘Navg-
rah Pujan’ and ‘Dhawa-
jarohan’ rituals, that
mark the commence-
ment of the Amarnath
Yatra, will be performed
at Pahalgam on ‘Ashad-
Purnima’ on July 5.
After performing
Chhari-Pujan at
Dashnami Akhara Sri-
nagar on of ‘Nag-Pan-
chami’ on July 25, Ma-
hant Giri will carry the
holy mace to the holy
shrine of Swami Amar-
nath to have ‘Darshan’
on the auspicious occa-
sion of ‘Shravan-Purni-
ma’ on August 3. —ANI
Mahant announces
Chhari-Mubarak
pooja calendar
AMARNATH YATRA
Amaravati: Telugu De-
samParty(TDP)chief N
Chandrababu Naidu
has written letters to the
kin of 15 victims, who
lost their lives in the LG
Polymers gas leak trag-
edy in Visakhapatnam,
and assured them finan-
cial assistance of Rs
50,000 each.
In his letters, the
TDP chief said that he
had planned to person-
ally meet the victims’
families to hand over
Rs 50,000 financial as-
sistance to each of
them but the govern-
ment was not giving
him permission to visit
Visakhapatnam. He
added that one flight
was cancelled when he
was about to go to the
port city. The TDP lead-
ers will be visiting all
the bereaved families
and assistance would
be directly deposited to
their bank accounts.
He further said the
kin of victims that the
loss caused couldn’t be
compensated. Styrene
gas, which leaked from
gas plant of LG Poly-
mers in RR Venkata-
puram village in Vi-
sakhapatnam district
on May 7, had claimed
over 10 lives and had left
several people ill. —ANI
Naidu writes to kin of 15 victims,
announces `50,000 assistance
VIZAG GAS LEAK
N Chandrababu Naidu
New Delhi: The Delhi
HC issued notice to
Delhi government on a
plea seeking quashing
of a circular dated
March 25 suspending
legal consultation of
the inmates with advo-
cates of their choice in
Delhi prison in view of
COVID-19 pandemic.
The petition, filed by
lawyer Ajit P Singh
through advocate Lav
Kumar Agrawal, is
seeking to allow legal
interviews between jail
inmates with the advo-
cates of their choice.
A division bench of
Chief Justice DN Patel
and Justice Prateek Ja-
lan asked Delhi gov-
ernment to file a reply
on the petition and
listed the matter for
hearing on June 29.
The petitioner sub-
mitted that the circular
issued by the Director
General (Prison), who
is working under the re-
spondent government,
hasviolatedArticle21of
theConstitutionof India
by not allowing the in-
mates of Delhi Prison to
take legal advice & con-
sultations via personal
meetings & peruse their
casesbywayof Advocate
of their choice. —ANI
Delhigovt’sreplysoughtoninmates’plea
Rajouri: Pakistan on
Monday, violated cease-
fire along the Line of
Control (LoC) in Sun-
derbani sector of Ra-
jouri district on Mon-
day, the army officials
informed.
The ceasefire viola-
tions by Pakistan took
place at 2.30 pm. The
Indian Army is retaliat-
ing befittingly.
On June 14, one Indi-
an Army jawan lost his
life in unprovoked
ceasefire violation by
the Pakistan Army in
Poonch sector of Jam-
mu and Kashmir, offi-
cials told ANI. —ANI
Pakistan violates
ceasefire along
LoCinSunderbani
Rupani
government...
industry yet to bounce
back, even after Unlock
1.0 was implemented,
the state fears it will lose
Rs8,500 crore from VAT.
The state govern-
ment’s monthly man-
datory expenses of
salaries and pensions
amount to Rs4,000
crore. It has already
borrowed Rs6,000
crore to pay these
bills over the past two
months, sources say.
The Finance Minis-
ter clearly stated that
the economy will take
at least six to eight
months to get back on
track. Until then, reve-
nue collection will be
less than normal. Even
after increasing VAT on
petrol and diesel, the
state is likely to have to
borrow Rs24,000-25,000
crore to meet expenses
due to the massive reve-
nue loss. There will be
an adverse impact on
development work too.
Two officials...
The incident took place
days after two Pakistani
officials at Pakistani
High Commission in
New Delhi were deport-
ed for espionage activi-
ties in India. —ANI
‘India-Nepal...
a BJP’s virtual rally for
Uttarakhand, the state
in whose border region
the road has been built.
“These are no ordi-
nary ties and we are
bound by ‘roti’ and
‘beti’ (livelihood and
marriage). No power in
the world can break it,”
Singh said.
The bilateral ties be-
tween the two countries
came under strain after
Singh inaugurated a
80-km-long strategical-
ly-crucial road connect-
ing the Lipulekh pass
with Dharchula in Ut-
tarakhand on May 8.
Nepal’s Parliament
had on Saturday unani-
mously voted to amend
the Constitution to up-
date the country’s new
political map, laying
claim over three strate-
gically key areas, in-
cluding Lipulekh, along
the border with India.
“If the Lip-
ulekh-Dharchula road
has given rise to some
m i s u n d e r s t a n d i n g
among the people of Ne-
pal, I believe we can sit
together to address it.
We can do it through di-
alogue,” the defence
minister said.
Singh, however, reit-
erated India’s stand
that the 80-km road had
been built in Indian ter-
ritory, while acknowl-
edging that this had
caused some misunder-
standing in Nepal.
The road will shorten
the duration of the
Kailash Mansarovar
pilgrimage by six days,
according to Singh.
Nepal had reacted
sharply to the inaugu-
ration of the road,
claiming that it passed
through Nepalese terri-
tory. India rejected the
claim asserting that the
road lies completely
within its territory.
Nepal had last month
released the revised po-
litical and administra-
tive map of the country
laying claim over the
strategically key areas,
more than six months
after India published a
new map in November.
At pains to highlight
the deep ties between
the two countries, the
defence minister spoke
about the valour of the
Gorkha regiment,
whose soldiers are most-
ly drawn from Nepal,
and noted that its battle
cry is “Maha Kali, Aayo
Gorkhali” (Goddess
Kali, Gorkhas are here).
“HowcantheIndia-Ne-
pal relations be broken?”
he asked. “No matter
how much fencing one
does across Dharchula,
these ties cannot be end-
ed,” he said.
The government has
also been working to re-
duce India’s depen-
dence on imports in the
defence sector by boost-
ing domestic manufac-
turing and exports of
defence equipment. It
has set an export target
of USD 5 billion by 2024,
he said.
According to Singh,
India has progressed a
lotunderthesixyearsof
Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi-led NDA gov-
ernment and its econo-
my had become fifth
largestintheworldfrom
the ninth earlier. —PTI
Total lockdown...
with Indian Council for
Medical Research- Na-
tionalInstituteof Epide-
miology here took part
inthemeetingthrougha
virtual link.
On Sunday, Tamil
Nadu registered 1,974
new coronavirus cases
pushing the overall tal-
ly to 44,661 and 38 peo-
ple died of the virus,
raising the fatality
count to 435 in the state.
Dr V Ramasubrama-
nian, a member of
the expert committee,
said the rise in the num-
ber of cases was on ex-
pected lines.
Though there was
‘psychological stress’ &
several people feared
the pandemic, they did
not take adequate pre-
cautions and it was a
dichotomy, he said.—ANI
FROM PG 1
THE FORECAST 23% SURPLUS RAIN IN ODISHA
“Under the influence of above sys-
tems, fairly widespread to widespread
rainfall very likely to continue over
Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, West
Bengal and Sikkim, Odisha, Jharkhand
and Bihar during next 2-3 days; Scat-
tered heavy to very heavy falls and
isolated extremely heavy falls over
Konkan and Goa,” the IMD stated.
Bhubaneswar: Odisha received 23
per cent surplus rainfall against
normal 79.2 per cent between June 1
to June 15 this year, said HR Biswas,
IMD Bhubaneshwar director on
Monday. “Odisha received 97.4 mm
rainfall i.e. 23 per cent access rain
against normal 79.2 per cent from
June 1 to June 15.
Commuters wade through a water-logged road after heavy downpour in Patna. Mumbai would continue to receive heavy rains.
A motorist rides through a flooded street in Puri.

TALKING POINTAHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, JUNE 16, 2020
THREE WAYS CORONAVIRUS MAY
PERMANENTLY CHANGE OUR LIVES
he realisation that life is go-
ing to change for a good
while is starting to take hold.
To flatten the curve of the
COVID-19 outbreak, radical
measures of social distanc-
ing are currently being rolled out in
an increasing number of countries.
People are being urged – or instruct-
ed – to isolate themselves at home. In
many countries, schools are closed.
The same is true of theatres, bars,
and cinemas. Travel for both leisure
and business is advised against. Bor-
ders are shutting.
Most people presume that all these
measures to combat the virus will be
temporary, and that at some point —
in two, six, or perhaps 12 months —
life will be back to normal and busi-
ness as usual. To some extent, this
may be true. But many changes could
well be permanent.
Social systems, be it whole econo-
mies or individual organisations,
are inert and very hard to change.
Over time, firms develop into com-
plex and bureaucratic structures,
with so many ingrained routines
that they are almost impossible to
change. Economies too follow a
largely path-dependent trajectory.
This means that they usually resist
radical change, and instead follow a
path which more often than not is
triggered by a small event or histor-
ical accident. Even if the Democrat-
ic presidential candidate, Bernie
Sanders, and his supporters might
like to see it, the US will never
become Denmark.
But in times of fundamental crisis,
a window of opportunity for change
opens up. Sometimes, this window of
opportunity is purposefully lever-
aged to change the course of action.
For example, in the wake of the
Fukushima disaster in 2011, Chan-
cellor Angela Merkel decided, quite
haphazardly, that Germany would
discontinue its reliance on nuclear
power. In other cases, revolutionary
change happens almost by accident,
as was the case with the fall of the
Berlin Wall.
Research in the social sciences has
long made the observation that socio-
political change often occurs in sud-
den bursts: a social system remains
stable for a long period of time, until
an external shock disrupts it and sets
in motion a new trajectory.
Coronavirus may well be such an
external shock, fundamentally re-
shaping some areas of how we live
our lives. Rather than simply bounc-
ing back and reverting to the pre-
coronavirus state, some changes
may be permanent. In three areas of
our economic lives, changes brought
about by coronavirus may well
prove much more long-lasting than
currently anticipated.
T
SOURCE: THE CONVERSATION CONCEPT: DIVYA HEMNANI DESIGN: SITARAM SHARMA
Social systems, be it whole economies or individual organisations, are inert and very
hard to change. Over time, firms develop into complex and bureaucratic structures, with
so many ingrained routines that they are almost impossible to change
Industry disruption
Business travel
Working remotely
B
usiness travel is often consid-
ered critical for the success of
whole organisations and the ef-
fectiveness of running them. It is cer-
tainly true that face-to-face meetings
help build relationships and trust,
which is often crucial for making a
project succeed. But now that busi-
nesses and other organisations are
being forced to radically cut down or
stop business travel, they may realise
that it’s not so essential after all – as
long as they find working. Now that
employees have to rely on Skype or
Zoom calls, rather than flying around
the globe to meet in person, they may
realise that video conferencing is a
good alternative: one that is more
flexible, family-friendly, and more en-
vironmentally sustainable. Employers,
meanwhile, will see the possibility for
drastic cost-cutting. So in the future,
we may see significantly lower levels
of business travel.
F
lexible working arrangements
are more and more widespread.
But extensive working from
home is considered bad for individu-
als, because they tend to work more
hours. It also has downsides for
organisations, because it raises co-
ordination costs and critical advan-
tages of being physically present are
lost, such as building relationships
and a team spirit.
For these reasons, there are signs
that the classic physical office space
has recently witnessed something of
a revival: some pioneers of working
remotely have called their work-
ers back to the office. But now that
working remotely is a necessity, both
employers and employees will have to
build competencies and work out how
to do it effectively. Individuals will
be forced to build new routines, and
organisations will have to find ways
to create online spaces for colleagues
to interact outside of formal meetings.
Good workplace relationships are
critical for innovation and the resil-
ience of an organisation. It remains to
be seen what might act as the virtual
water cooler – a place where col-
leagues meet, gossip, and innovate.
Coronavirus may force us collec-
tively to become better at working
remotely, which could then emerge
as a viable alternative to working in
downtown offices.
M
any industries were
already undergoing sig-
nificant disruption before
coronavirus hit. The measures
taken to fight coronavirus will
accelerate these seismic shifts.
Streaming services, for example,
threaten the business model
of established content creation
and distribution, and Amazon
is becoming a dominant super-
disrupter of a wide variety of
industries.
The “stay-at-home-economy”
necessitated by coronavirus will
dramatically accelerate the shift
from the old to the new, making
questions of market concentra-
tion and the possible need for
regulation even more important.
Change will come from both the
demand and the supply side. An
increasing number of people will
start using these services, and
start liking them, and becoming
loyal customers. And the supply
side will also change. Incumbents
will be weakened and might even
go out of business, and disrup-
tors will continue to invest from a
strengthened position.
In other fields the change will be
equally dramatic and possibly
for good. For example, higher
education has been slow in
moving into the online teaching
space, but now that the sector is
forced to deliver modules online,
universities are unlikely to totally
revert back to the previous status
quo. There are huge opportuni-
ties offered by online education
– in terms of new markets for
students and cheaper delivery
thanks to economies of scale.
Change happens in bursts, and
coronavirus may constitute a
critical external shock transform-
ing parts of our lives. While we
think of the current changes to
our lives as temporary, they may
well be permanent.

Darshan Desai
Surat: Gujarat con-
tinues to surprise.
Days after the Civil
Hospital in
Ahmedabad faced
strong strictures
from the Gujarat
High Court for its
mishandling of Cov-
id-19 care, there are
numbers emerging
from Surat to testify
that more patients
have recovered and
less succumbed to the
deadly virus at the
government facility
there than the private
ones.
The difference is evi-
dent. The recovery rate
of Covid-19 patients at
the Surat Civil Hospital
is 66.78 per cent and the
fatality rate 3 per cent
while private hospitals
-- despite all reputation
-- show a recovery per-
centage of 45 per cent
and mortality of 6 per
cent. (See graphic)
According to offi-
cial numbers from
the Civil Hospital,
2,481 patients were
treated there till June
12. Of these, 1,657 pa-
tients recovered and
80 died, while the rest
are under treatment.
Surat Municipal Cor-
poration’s Health De-
partment informs that
as on the same date, 89
out of 197 patients
treated at the private
designated Covid hospi-
tals recovered and 12
died.
Only 8 out of 408
active patients at the
Civil Hospital are on
ventilators, while
more than 15 out of
96 active patients in
private hospitals are
on ventilators. The
condition of others is
also critical.
Against this, corona
patients have to cough
up anywhere from Rs 5
lakh to Rs 12 lakh for
treatment at the private
hospitals, though the
Covid rates have been
capped by the govern-
ment.
When a Covid-19 pa-
tient is admitted at a
private hospital, thou-
sands of rupees are
billed for X-ray, sonog-
raphy, CT scan, lab ex-
aminations and medi-
cine, which have not
been regulated. After
these examination re-
ports, a corona test is
done.
If the report is pos-
itive, they charge
from Rs 5 lakh to Rs
12 lakh depending on
the condition of the
patient. The same
checks are done at
the Civil Hospital,
but the charges are
very nominal if not
free. (See graphic)
Doctors and other
paramedical staff
work in three shifts at
the Civil Hospital and
over 70 doctors are in-
volved in treating pa-
tients in one shift.
Surat Civil Hospital
Superintendent Dr
Preeti Kapadia said,
“People don’t need to
panic. We are doing
good treatment. The
government is giving
us all the resources.
The entire hospital is
working as a team to
treat the patients of
Corona.”
Experience is important but
don’t allow it to become a hurdle
to take up new challenges in
unchartered territories.
—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO & Editor, First India
AHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, JUNE 16, 2020www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
08
2NDFRONT
This govt facility beats pvt hospitalsTHECORONARECOVERYRATEATSURATCIVILHOSPITALIS66%,WHILEITISJUSTABOUT45%INPRIVATEFACILITIES
First India Bureau
Dahej: An FIR for
culpable homicide
has been filed against
seven officials of Ya-
shaswi Rasayan, the
chemical factory
where an explosion
left 10 workers dead
and 77 others injured
on June 3. All work-
ers were migrants.
The police com-
plaint was filed
against Atalbhai Ku-
mar Mandal, a con-
tractual employee, Ma-
hesh Galchar, tank
operator, Bharat
Agrawal, production
in charge, Dharam
Thummar, the unit
head, Alok Panda, in
charge of keeping Di-
methyl Sulphate,
Mitesh Patel, the liq-
uid storage farm area
head, and Yunus Khal-
iwala, the security in-
charge, under various
provisions of the In-
dian Penal Code, in-
cluding culpable homi-
cide due to negligence
and negligence.
The complaint
states that in the
event leading to the
blast of the tank
filled with chemicals
at Yashaswi Pvt Ltd
that is located inside
Dahej SEZ, Bharuch
on June 2, Mahesh
Galchar told
Atalbhai Mandal to
empty the two tanks
that stored Nitric
acid and Dimethyl
Sulphate into stor-
age tanks and asked
him to attach the
connecting hoses.
But the hoses were
cross-connected and
some 18 ton of Nitric
acid had been mixed
with 25 ton of Dime-
thyl Sulphate.
FIR slapped on Dahej
firm for killer blast
Teacher
held with
fake
currency
Three held for ‘cheating
doctor of `59,000’
74% people in A’bad, Surat, 13 other
cities for one more phase of lockdown
First India Bureau
Godhra: A gov-
ernment school
teacher was held
with fake currency
with a face value
of Rs 12,300 in
Panchmahal dis-
trict, police said on
Monday.
Ramkishan Pa-
tel (40) was held on
atip-off fromPava-
gadh village on
Sunday night and
65 fake notes were
seized from his car,
Inspector PN Sinh
said. “Fifty notes
were of 200 denom-
ination, 13 notes of
100 denomination
and two notes of
500 denomination.
Patel, a resident of
Lunawada taluka
in Mahisagar dis-
trict, was handed
over to the special
operations group
of Panchmahal po-
lice for further
probe,” he said.
“Primary probe
has revealed Patel
is a teacher at a
govt school in Kav-
ali village in
Panchmahal. He
acquired these
notes from one
Mukesh of
Lunawada and in-
tended to circulate
it,” said SOG in-
spector KP Jadeja.
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: Days af-
ter an Ahmedabad-
based doctor was alleg-
edly cheated of Rs
59,000 under the guise
of being offered a VIP
phone number, the
Ahmedabad Cyber
Crime Cell arrested
three persons in the
case, claiming that the
group has been running
the racket since Decem-
ber 2018.
An FIR was lodged at
Cyber Crime Cell police
station in Ahmedabad
on June 13 by 57-year-
old Dr Vishwamohan
Thakur, a resident of
Adani Shantigram near
Vaishno Devi circle in
the city, who had al-
leged that he was cheat-
ed of Rs 59,000 on Janu-
ary 20 after being prom-
ised a VIP number from
an accused claiming to
be a representative of
telecom major Airtel.
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: As many
as 74 per cent of the
citizens believe that a
one-month complete
lockdown in high vi-
rus load districts, in-
cluding the worst-af-
fected Ahmedabad
city and Surat in Gu-
jarat, is needed to
contain the Covid-19
spread in India, ac-
cording to a LocalCir-
cles survey.
LocalCircles poll in
14 high virus load dis-
tricts suggest that ma-
jority of the citizens in
these districts are in
favour of a one month
complete lockdown.
The top 15 districts
with highest virus load
as identified by Niti
Aayog include Mumbai,
Delhi, Chennai,
Ahmedabad, Thane,
Pune, Indore, Kolkata,
Jaipur, Surat, Hy-
derabad, Aurangabad,
Jodhpur, Gurugram
and Chengalpattu.
LocalCircles asked
citizens in 14 districts
whether a one month
complete lockdown is
needed in their respec-
tive district at this junc-
tion to contain the
spread of Covid-19, per-
centage of citizens that
responded with a yes
were Delhi (79 per cent),
Mumbai (64 per cent),
Chennai (61 per cent),
Ahmedabad (73 per
cent), Thane (50 per
cent), Pune (60 per
cent), Indore (67 per
cent), Kolkata (52 per
cent), Gurugram (59 per
cent), Jaipur (53 per
cent), Surat (57 per
cent), Aurangabad (80
per cent) and Jodhpur
(75 per cent).
With the average
number of Covid-19
cases in India rising to
approximately 11,000
per day, and the health
infrastructure unable
to cope in most places,
people were asked if a
complete one-month
lockdown needs to be
implemented in these
top 15 districts which
currently contribute
64 per cent of the cas-
es in India.
First India Bureau
Surat: It is often that
relatives at the Surat
Civil Hospital are
left in suspense about
the conditions of
their near and dear
ones fighting the
deadly coronavirus.
The reason? Un-
manned inquiry
desk.
A family member of
one of such patients
told First India, plead-
ing anonymity, “I don’t
receive any informa-
tion from the desk. I
get to know his condi-
tion once a day with
the help of one of my
familiar doctors.”
He said family mem-
bers of other patients
also face this difficulty
and said the hospital
must make the neces-
sary arrangements.
Member of anoth-
er family whose pa-
tient is admitted at
the Civil hospital,
says, “Where should
we go to find out
about the condition
of our family mem-
ber admitted in criti-
cal condition to the
hospital? We don’t
get any information
from the inquiry
desk. We are con-
stantly worried and
this issue should be
sorted immediately.
When asked, Civil
Hospital Superinten-
dent Dr Preeti Kapa-
dia said, “Employees
are assigned rota-
tion-wise duty. But if
they report absent, I
will investigate the
matter. We will also
allocate three medi-
cal officers for this.”
Here, patients’ relatives run from pillar to post
COVID CARE
Hospital Patients Treated Discharged Deaths
Government 2481 1665 80
Private 197 89 12
GOVERNMENT VERSUS PRIVATE HOSPITALS
 Ward cost Rs. 9000 per day.
 HDU cost Rs.Rs. 12,600 per day.
 Isolation+ICU cost Rs. 18,050 per day.
 Ventilation+Isolation+ICU cost Rs. 21,850 per day.
 Ward cost Rs.4500 per day.
 HDU cost Rs. 6,750 per day.
 Isolation+ICU cost Rs. 9000 per day.
 Ventilation+Isolation+ICU cost Rs. 11,250 per day.
RATE IF PATIENT GOES TO
PRIVATE HOSPITAL HIMSELF
RATE IF PATIENT REFERRED BY
THE MUNICIPAL CORPORATION
Venus Hospital 75
Mahavir Hospital 75
BAPS Hospital 75
Prannath Hospital 75
Sparkle Hospital 45
TOTAL BEDS AVAILABLE
AT PRIVATE HOSPITALS
We have come know
about exorbitant
charges taken by some
private hospitals and we
are looking into it on
priority. As for better re-
covery, it depends when
the patient reaches a
hospital.
—Banchhanidhi Pani, Surat Municipal Commissioner
It isn’t right to com-
pare private hospitals
with government, it is
too early. Government
hospitals get large num-
ber of patients as against
the private ones. The stage
at which a patient reaches
the private facility should also be seen.
—Dr Parul Vadgama, Indian Medical Association, Surat
15 HOTSPOT
Anxious relatives of patients at Civil Hospital.
Ahmedabad and Surat are among those accounting for 64% cases.
Doctor interacting with a patient at a private hospital in Surat.

AHMEDABAD, TUESDAY
JUNE 16, 2020
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia
facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia 09
JAI HO!After all these years here is the real reason behind
the split of Nicole Scherzinger and Lewis Hamilton
ith the return of
the singing reality
show ‘The Masked
Singer’ in the
United Kingdom,
the question
about Nicole
Scherzinger, one of the
judges of the show, has
made headlines again with
the question ‘What was the
REAL reason behind the
split of her and Lewis
Hamilton?
The couple met back in
2007, and after an on-and-
off dating for a few years,
they split up in 2016, as
their relationship faced a
lot of problems since the
couple was in a long-dis-
tance relationship. Lewis
had also previously
mentioned that the re-
lationshipwas“tough
to hold down” be-
cause of the distance.
Later in 2017, Lewis
mentioned that they
had parted ways as
their relationship got
in the way for his love
of cars.
He said, “My cars
are my babies. I used to
say when I had a girl-
friend, ‘I’m taking one
of the girls out, so you
can come if you want,
but you come second
when it comes to the
cars.’”
Later when Nicole
was asked about the
same, she said, “I
don’t see anything
negative, I think it’s
quite natural
when people sep-
arate and go their
own ways and
you just have to
be adult about it
and just always
wish the other per-
son happiness, suc-
cess and love like sincerely
and I do.”
Nicole Scherzinger is an
American singer, actor,
dancer and songwriter,
and rose to fame as the lead
singer of the ‘Pussycat
Dolls’, one of the world’s
best-selling girl groups of
all time. Whereas, Lewis
Hamilton is a British rac-
ing driver, who had won
his first World Drivers’
Championship in 2008.
Scherzinger, the lead
singer of the Pussycat
Dolls, wrote the English
version of ‘Jai Ho! (You
Are My Destiny)’, the
song appeared on the re-
release of the group’s
second studio album
Doll Domination (2008).
Scherzinger was hesitant
at first, stating in an inter-
view that, “ I was scared
to death to touch it,
afraid for people to
hear it before I even
wrote it.”
Scherzinger put her
“heart into writing
the lyrics and put
in themes from the
film Slumdog Mil-
lionaire. Love
and destiny were
elements from
the movie that
she put into the
track”. She stat-
ed that she
“prayed every
night to do
this right.”
JAI HO!After all these years here is the real reason behind
the split of Nicole Scherzinger and Lewis Hamilton
ith the return of
the singing reality
show ‘The Masked
Singer’ in the
United Kingdom,
the question
about Nicole
Scherzinger, one of the
judges of the show, has
made headlines again with
the question ‘What was the
W
NEHAL NAYAR
nehal.nayar@firstindia.co.in
... with Lewis Hamilton
Nicole Scherzinger

10
ETCAHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, JUNE 16, 2020www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
FACEOFTHEDAY
PRIYA SHARMA, Model
YOUR
DAYHoroscope by
Saurabbh Sachdeva
LEO
JULY 24 - AUGUST 23
You will spend a very
comfortable relaxing day
today. Life is good and easy
for you though you
sometimes struggles with emotions
but thats normal. Your spouse will
surprise you with good food today.
Your patience will pay on academic
front. You’re an introvert.
LIBRA
SEPT 24 - OCTOBER 22
You will spend majority of
your day in taking care of
your spouse and kids and
catering to their needs. You
will deliver all the work expected
from you on time and you can expect
magical results. Never see yourself
with doubt, have faith in yourself and
be confident.
ARIES
MAR 21 - APR 20
On professional front, you
networking skills will be
really helpful for you.
Someone in your
environment will boost your morale.
Look for long term benefits rather
than concentrating on the short ones.
An outing with family with prove to
be very educational in nature.
SAGITTARIUS
NOV 23 - DEC 22
You are socially sometime
involved in backbiting and
you must refrain at all costs
from doing that as it can
cause permanent damage to your
relationships. You always feel
emotional secure and for you letting go
of things that aren’t good for you is
easy. You will make a good parent.
GEMINI
MAY 21 - JUNE 21
You can expect good
returns from your
business. You like to serve
people and do the best you
can for them. You will soon get a
hike in salary. You will be a part of a
big project which will be very famous
and so will you be alongside. You
may have many social affairs.
AQUARIUS
JAN 21 - FEB 19
It will be good for you to go
on a business trip as it will
be good change for you. You
will successfully fetch a
good price for your property. Your kid
will help you if there is any financial
requirement. Life will bring many
exciting opportunities to your life but
its you who needs to understand.
TAURUS
APR 21 - MAY 20
It will be good for your
health if you stay miles
away from stress or do
some exercises that will
help you to remain more calm.
Family is your one big strength and
they will always stand by you. For
students, you must give your
everything to your assignment.
CAPRICORN
DEC 23 - JAN 20
Keep growing in the
business of self improve-
ment as someday you will
do something big and will
make everyone proud. You must
introduce yourself to new fitness
programs if the current ones have
stop challenging you. Family is your
strength as well as your weakness.
VIRGO
AUG 24 - SEP 23
You need not worry about
your finances as they are
in safe hands. You must
not wait for someone to
motivate you, trust yourself and
derive motivation from within. Keep
your ego in check on professional
front to avoid any unnecessary
problems. Don’t spoon feed anyone.
CANCER
JUNE 22 - JULY 23
You will outsmart your
colleagues in office today.
You may feel tempted to
do something big for
someone but your must also keep in
mind your limits. Your professional
life is good full of fun ad well as
challenges and you get learn
something new everyday.
PISCES
FEB20 - MARCH 20
Your stars support a lot of
travelling, may be within
the country or outside
depending on your pocket,
You may take help from your father
as far as career advice is concerned
as he always tends to give you the
right advice. You will achieve all your
goals as far as you focus.
SCORPIO
OCT 23 - NOVEMBER 22
Life is good for you and
you always tends to
express gratitude to the
almighty. You are brave
just like a lion and your capabilities
speak for yourself. Your efforts on
business front won’t go waste. Make
sure to do whatever it takes to keep
your relationships straight.
DEDICATION, PROFESSIONALISM
AND COMPASSION FOR SUCCESS!
Mumbai: India’s largest
interior decoration compa-
ny, Mumbai based Narsi
Group has achieved yet an-
other feat and that also dur-
ing the real difficult times
of Covid-19 epidemic. Narsi
Group has successfully fin-
ished the complete interior
work of Pune based Cov-
id-19 Care Centre, run by
renowned Wipro Group.
Narsi Group under its
CMD, Narsi Kularia has
many feathers on its deco-
rated cap but this assign-
ment was a challenge in it-
self as the interior work of
the hospital was to be com-
pleted in 45 days which is a
tough task even during nor-
mal days. Completing it in
a stipulated period when
the coronavirus epidemic
was unleashing itself in
Maharashtra was a huge
challenge.
The situation was fur-
ther aggravated as all the
labour involved in the inte-
rior work had reverse mi-
grated to their homes thus
making the job an uphill
task. CMD, Narsi Kularaia
and Group Director, Jag-
dish Kularia took the job of
interior decoration of a 504
bedded COVID dedicated
hospital as a mission. They
both were aware of the
challenges like shortage of
labour, all markets closed
and no means of transport.
Another big challenge was
to maintain social distanc-
ing on the site, to keep the
labour safe from the infec-
tion, which would make the
progress of the work slow.
But Narsi and Jagdish Ku-
laria went ahead and fin-
ished the assigned job in-
cluding the completion of
ICUs and ventilators within
45 days. CEO Atish too
played an important role in
meeting the deadline. It was
the result of perfect leader-
ship under Narsi and Jag-
dish Kularia that their team
could perform and deliver
in total adverse conditions.
Maharashtra Chief Min-
ister, Uddhav Thakre digi-
tally inaugurated the dedi-
cated Covid-19 Care Centre,
while WIPRO CEO, Rishad
Premji and Senior Vice
President, Hariprasad
Hegde were present at the
centre. Narsi Group was fa-
cilitated during the func-
tion for its professionalism.
Senior VP Hariprasad
Hegde handed over an
appreciation letter to
Siddarth Sharma of the
Narsi Group for completing
the work of 504 bedded hos-
pital in a record time of
only 45 days.
It is noteworthy that the
largest interior decoration
group today, Narsi Group,
started its journey in 1986
with only 5 people which
now boasts of employing
thousands of workers work-
ing across the globe. CMD
Narsi Kularia attributed
the success to the dedica-
tion and professionalism of
his team which took the job
as a mission and ensured
that it was completed in 45
days as per the commit-
ment. Narsi Kularia said
that he was proud of every
member of his team who
has accomplished this dif-
ficult task in most adverse
and demanding conditions.
Narsi Kularia said that
there is a special satisfac-
tion in the hospital project
as it would serve humanity
when it needs attention and
care. Another point worth
mentioning is that Narsi
Group has been involved
with the Skill India scheme
for a good time now and has
successfully trained thou-
sands of young people by
paving way for them to get
employed.
Group Director, Jagdish
Kularia also credited the
success of the project to his
team members who worked
24x7 and made the working
site their home for the
whole period. He said, it is
hard work of such people,
which makes the Narsi
Group what it is today. Jag-
dish Kularia said he finds
himself to be lucky to have
led such a dedicated team.
Both Kularia brothers have
many dreams to make true
and are eagerly awaiting
for the corona crisis to pass
over so that they can con-
tinue their march towards
success which is carved out
of dedication, hard work
and professionalism with
compassion at the core of
every activity.
LUNARAM DARJI
cityfirst@firstindia.co.in
Narsi Kularia
Jagdish Kularia

B
eyoncé penned a power-
ful open letter, demand-
ing justice for Breonna
Taylor, who was shot fa-
tallybypoliceinherownhome.
The songstress wrote the letter
to Kentucky Attorney General,
Daniel Cameron, and called for
criminal charges against three
cops involved in Tay-
lor’s shooting.
B e y o n c é
urgedCam-
eron to
“take swift
and deci-
sive action
in charging
the officers” in-
volved in the
shooting. On March
13, Taylor, who was stud-
ying to become a nurse, was
shot eight times by cops.
It was reported that
the cops were conducting a
narcotics investigation; how-
ever, no drugs were found at
her Louisville home. “Three
months have passed and zero
arrests have been made, and no
officers have been fired,” the
‘Crazy In Love’ singer wrote in
the letter. She further asked
Cameron to take concrete ac-
tion to prove that a black wom-
an’s life matters. “Your office
has both the power and the re-
sponsibility to bring justice to
Breonna Taylor, and demon-
strate the value of a Black
woman’s life,” she wrote.
—Agency
R
eese Witherspoon has been making the
headlines ever since she confirmed Legally
Blonde 3 on the cards with director
Mindy Kaling coming on board
to write the film’s script. While the
actress is gearing up for her up-
coming projects, she has an
important view on life and
death. Reese Witherspoon
shared the same with her
co-star Nicole Kidman
revealing that she does
not fear death. The ‘Little
Fires Everywhere’ actress
claimed she knows where
she’s going after death so it
doesn’t scare her.
Nicole recalled a time in
which she told Reese that
she often thinks about
death and asked her, “Do
you ever think about
dying? Because I
think about it all
the time.” To
which she had
a very calm re-
sponse.
—Agency
ETCwww.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia AHMEDABAD | TUESDAY, JUNE 16, 2020
11
aking cues
from her own
experience,
actor Deepika
Padukone on
Sunday reit-
erated the
need to talk, communi-
cate and reach out to
those who may be de-
pressed or battling
from mental illnesses.
The post comes
within hours of the
sudden demise of ac-
tor Sushant Singh Ra-
jput, who allegedly
committed suicide by
hanging himself at his
Bandra residence in
Mumbai. Deepika
shared a written state-
ment on Twitter,
which read: “As a per-
son who has had a
lived experience with
mental illness, I can-
not stress enough
about the importance
of reaching out.”
She urged her le-
gion of followers to
“talk, communicate,
express and seek help”
during such an hour
of need.
The ‘Padmaavat’ ac-
tor wrapped up the
post by assuring no-
body is alone in this
battle, and there is al-
ways a “hope.”
“Remember, you are
not alone. We are in
this together. And
most importantly
there is hope,” the
statement read.
The 34-year-old ac-
tor has always been on
the frontline when it
comes to spreading
awareness about the
importance of mental
health.
Padukone started
voicing her opinion on
the importance of
mental health through
her foundation ‘The
Live Love Laugh Foun-
dation’ (TLLLF) in
June 2015. Through
the platform, the actor
keeps launching na-
tionwide awareness as
well as destigmatisa-
tion cam-
paigns.
—ANI
YOU’RENOT
ALONE’
‘REMEMBER,
T
DEMANDINGJUSTICE
Your office has both
the power and the
responsibility to bring
justice to Breonna Taylor, and
demonstrate the value of a
Black woman’s life.
CONCERNED!
P
laying the role of Aunt May in
Spider-Man series, Marisa
Tomei regrets the decision of
taking up mother roles. Even
thoughtheSpider-Manfranchiseisas
bigasitgets,theactresshasconcerns
about the kind of roles that she has
pickedforherself.MarisaTomeiplays
AuntMay,amotherfiguretoTomHol-
land aka Peter Parker in the MCU
moviesandtheactresswillonceagain
be seen playing the role of a mother
in her upcoming movie ‘The King of
Staten Island’. —Agency
‘IknowwhereI’mgoing’
A
lia Bhatt de-
lighted her
fans by
sharing her
picture of enjoying
‘Sunlight Sunday’ as she
wakes up in the morn-
ing.
The ‘Gully Boy’ star
put out a post on Ins-
tagram wherein Alia
is seen all smiles and
it seems like the pic-
ture is the ‘High-
way’ actor’s wake
up picture as she
has a pillow kept
by her side. In
the snap, Alia
looks gorgeous as she em-
braces her peachy glow and
the dimpled cheek, while
the sunlight falls into her
luscious strands and face
making her glow even
more.
Along with the picture,
the ‘Dear Zindagi’ actor
wrote, “happy sunlight
Sunday.”
Alia also thanked Anush-
ka Sharma and said that
she inspired Alia to go on
sunlight hunt in my house,
“ p.s - thank you my dearest
@anushkasharma for in-
spiring me to go on sunlight
hunt in my house May the
light always be with you. (
and me ) .” (along with two
sunshine emojis)
Anushka too was quick
to hit like and wrote in the
comment section, “always
count on me for random in-
spiration.” (with grinning
squinting Face, two hearts
and a hugging face emoji)
The post on the photo-
sharing platform garnered
more than 5 lakh likes from
fans and celebrity follow-
ers including Bhumi Ped-
nekar.
Lately, Bhatt has been
quite active on all her so-
cial media accounts. —ANI
ALIA SHARES SUN-KISSED PICTURE
Deepika Padukone
Marisa Tomei
Reese Witherspoon
Beyonce
Alia Bhatt
..her post

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