First India Bureau

Lucknow: In a major development, the state government has decid-ed to stop physical classes of all private and government-run universities and colleg-es in Uttar Pradesh. The decision has come in the wake of alarm-

ingly rising Covid-19 cases in the state.

In a letter issued by Additional Chief Secre-tary (ACS) Monika Garg dated April 1, 2021 and addressed to Vice Chancellors of all gov-ernment and private universities and Direc-tor, Higher Education, Uttar Pradesh, guide-

lines have been issued for closing down insti-tutions in wake of rise in Covid-19 cases. The letter states that meas-ures need to be followed at institutions where practical examinations were being held.

As per the guidelines, the institutions would be closed in view of lo-cal conditions of spread of Coronavirus for a specific period and on-line classes would be conducted.

Further, in case ex-aminations and practi-cal being underway in institutions, the same would continue in ac-cordance to guidelines

issued by the govern-ment like wearing of masks, use of sanitiz-ers, maintaining social distance, etc.

Before every shift of

exam, the entire prem-ises would be sanitized, use of more than gate for entrance and exit, if present in an institu-tion, arrangements of contactless attendance instead of biometric at-tendance, making of queue by people visit-ing the institution with sings being made at six-feet gap, creating aware-ness amongst teachers, staff and students for not using tissue paper, handkerchiefs, etc.

Covid-19 Impact: All universities & colleges to shut in UPOnly those institutions will remain open where practical examinations are being held, Lucknow University to remain shut till April 10, 2021

WEAR MASK, BEAT COVID-19

First India Bureau

Alappuzha (Kerala):Raising the issue of forced religious conver-sions, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thurs-day accused the ruling LDF and opposition parties for pandering to communal forces and

failing to bring a legis-lation against ‘Love Ji-had’ even though the issue was raised by Kerala High Court way back in 2009.

Tearing into his Kerala counterpart Pinarayi Vijayan, the UP CM alleged that his office was involved in the gold smuggling scam. Addressing a BJP campaign rally for the April 6 state Assembly polls at Haripad in Alap-puzha district, he said the smuggling case was one of the most “shame-ful” incidents in India’s history.

“Development has taken a back seat in Ker-ala because of the Con-gress and Communist Party, who have ruled the state since independ-

ence. The govt machin-ery has failed entirely as you can see how the govt has failed to address the COVID-19 situation in the state,” said the BJP’s star-campaigner.

“Congress and Mus-lim league are in alli-ance. Both fronts are supporting communal parties such as the Popu-lar Front of India and the Social Democratic Party of India. The ji-hadists are posing a huge threat to Kerala but UDF and LDF are turning a blind eye,” he said. “We made an anti-’love jihad’ law in UP then why not in Kerala? In 2009, the Kerala HC had called for a law to ad-dress the love jihad, why has no law been made by both parties?” he asked.

“To ensure the safety of women in Kerala, to ensure that the youth of Kerala get employ-ment, to ensure fair re-turns to farmers and fishermen, elect BJP to power,” he urged.

Attacking the LDF-led government, he said, “The Kerala Public Ser-vice Commission PSC has been degraded to an agency that gives job to party cadres and fami-lies. Those who expected jobs through PSC rank are committing suicide.” He also said that the ab-rogation of Article 370 has helped the people of J&K join the main-stream. Elections in Kerala will be held in a single phase on April 6. The counting of votes will take place on May 2.

YOGI TEARS INTO LDF-UDF NEXUS

The day saw a face-off between BJP and TMC men Mamata caught amidst clash, dials Governor from Nandigram, balms EC for poor law and order situation EC seeks report on matter from local administrationNandigram/Guwa-hati: Despite reporting sporadic incidents of violence, the polling in the second phase of West Bengal Assembly elections remained high. At 5:30 pm, the state has registered 80.43% voter turnout while Assam has re-corded 74.79% turnout.

The hotly-contested Nandigram seat, which saw Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee pit-ted against her former aide-turned-foe Suven-du Adhikari from BJP, saw sporadic incidents of violence and accusa-tions of vote fraud and booth capturing were levelled by both the par-ties. Despite this, both Suvendu and Mamata were confident of their win from the seat.

Mamata visited sev-eral booths across the constituency as sporad-ic incidents of violence and allegations

Turn to P6

BENGAL SEES 80% TURNOUT, ASSAM 75% IN SECOND PHASE

In Assam, PM Modi promises progress on Bodoland issue

Kokrajhar: Prime Min-ister Narendra Modi conducted multiple poll rallies in West Bengal and Assam. Addressing a rally in Assam’s Kokrajhar area, PM Modi accused the previ-ous Congress govern-ments in the state of letting violence go un-checked in the Bodo-dominated areas.

“In the long years of its rule, the Congress

threw Bodoland into bomb, gun and blockade culture. The NDA gifted Bodoland peace and re-spect,” he said.

Drawing an analogy

with football, the PM said the people of As-sam have shown “red card” to the Congress-led Mahajot alliance in the state. Turn to P6

Thirukoyilur: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday hit out at the DMK over its leader A Raja’s alleged vulgar remarks against Tamil Nadu Chief Min-ister K Palaniswami’s mother, saying it showed the party had no regard for women.

The “mothers and sisters” of the state should teach a ‘lesson’ to the DMK in the April 6 Assembly polls by de-feating it, he said.

Addressing an elec-tion rally here, Shah canvassed votes for NDA candidates--those

from the AIADMK, BJP and the PMK,even as he charged the DMK with aiming to romp home in the polls by ‘hook or crook.’

Referring to Raja’s al-leged offensive remarks

targeted at Palaniswa-mi, leader of the BJP’s ally AIADMK, Shah also accused the DMK and Congress of cor-ruption and dynasty. “I saw the statement by DMK leader Turn to P6

Amit Shah Slams DMK Over Raja’s Remarks Against K Palaniswami

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a rally in Kokrajhar.

PM Modi to address two public meetings in Kerala today

Home Minister Amit Shah offers prayers during his visit to Sreemath Guru Sithanandha Devasthanam, in Puducherry.

LUCKNOW l FRIDAY, APRIL 2, 2021 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI NO. UPENG/2020/04393 l Vol 1 l Issue No. 111

OUR EDITIONS: JAIPUR, AHMEDABAD

& LUCKNOW

www.fi rstindia.co.in www.fi rstindia.co.in/epaper/

twitter.com/thefi rstindia facebook.com/thefi rstindia instagram.com/thefi rstindia

People above 45 years of age, posing after getting fi rst dosage of vaccination at KGMU, Lucknow on Thursday.

—PHOTO BY SUMIT KUMAR

Why No Love Jihad Law In Kerala Yet? Asks CM Yogi

The saffron clad leader alleged that LDF & UDF are in a secret agreement to loot Kerala

CM Yogi Adityanath exuding confi dence during his address with Kazhakoottam candidate Shobha Surendran in Thiruvananthpuram on Thursday as he shows victory sign for the upcoming assembly polls in the state.

COVID BLAST IN UTTAR PRADESH

A RAJA DEBARRED FROM CAMPAIGNING FOR 48 HRS BY ECTerming his remarks against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edapaddi K Palanisamy “obscene” and akin to “lowering the dignity of women”, the Election Commission of India (ECI) Thursday reprimanded senior DMK leader A Raja and barred him from campaigning for 48 hours. The EC also delisted his name from the list of star campaigners ahead of the assembly elections scheduled on April 6. “The commission also advises you to be watchful and not to make intemperate, indecent, derogatory, obscene remarks and lower the dignity of women in future during the election campaign,” reads the ECI order dated April 1 and addressed to Raja.

DEREK ALLEGES BOOTH CAPTURINGTMC’s Derek O’Brien writes to EC alleging booth capture by BJP workers. “BJP and their mind games! Won’t work. Trinamool booth agents ROCK SOLID in 354 booths in #Nandigram. We have registered complaints for 10 specifi c booths. All attempts by CRPF to infl uence/intimidate voters not working. People determined to have @MamataOffi cial as their MLA,” he tweeted.

MAMATA THREATENS TO MOVE TO COURT ALLEGING EC’S INACTIONKolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday slammed the Election Commission for “inaction” despite her party lodging several poll-related complaints and threatened to move the law courts over it. “We have lodged 63 complaints since morning. But no action has been taken. We will move court over it. This is unacceptable,” the chief minister said sitting in a wheelchair.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee checks her phone as she arrives at a polling station during the second phase of West Bengal Assembly Polls, at Boyal in Nandigram on Thursday. —PHOTO BY PTI

EC NOTICE TO ASSAM MINISTEREC issued a show cause notice to Assam minister and BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma for allegedly making threatening remarks against opposition leader Hagrama Mohilary.

UTTAR PRADESHLUCKNOW | FRIDAY, APRIL 2, 2021

02www.fi rstindia.co.in I www.fi rstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefi rstindia I facebook.com/thefi rstindia I instagram.com/thefi rstindia

First India Bureau

Lucknow: The Yogi Government has hailed the over-subscription of Green Municipal Bonds of Ghaziabad Nagar Nigam within hours of their launch as a market indicator of peoples faith and confi-dence in its perfor-mance.

The Ghaziabad mu-nicipal corporation had on Wednesday success-fully concluded its mu-nicipal bond issue and raised �150 crore. The

‘green’ bonds were oversubscribed more than four times with 40 bids totalling �401 crore, the officials said, add-ing that the amount will be used for the con-struction of a tertiary sewage treatment plant.

Green bonds are the bonds issued by any sovereign entity, inter-governmental groups and corporates with an aim to utilize the pro-ceeds of the bonds for projects classified as environmentally sus-tainable.

The officials said that the corporation issued bonds of �150 crore which included base is-sue of �100 crore and green issue of �50 crore.“The issue on Wednes-day was oversubscribed more than four times. The listing will take place on the Bombay Stock Exchange on April 8. The corpora-tion has proposed to take up a project for set-ting up a tertiary sew-age treatment plant to further treat secondary treated sewage water.

This water will be sup-plied further to indus-trial units and will help reduce pressure on groundwater resources in the city,” said MS Tanwar, Municipal commissioner of Ghaz-iabad.

These bonds are list-ed with BSE. Earlier, on

December 2 last, LMC had launched its bond and the listing ceremo-ny at BSE was attended by the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

The Rs 200 crore Luc-know Municipal Corpo-ration bond, when it was launched on No-vember 13, 2020, was oversubscribed by 4.5 times and closed at 8.5% coupon rate for 10 years. Lucknow became the ninth city in the coun-try to raise funds through municipal bonds.

Yogi govt hails Ghaziabad Municipal bond with the greenGREEN SHEEN

ACS Urban Development Dr Rajneesh Dube, Spl Secy Urban Development Dr Indramani Tripathi, MS Tanwar Municipal Commissioner of Ghaziabad (wearing a mask) with other offi cials during the launch of Green Municipal bonds.

The artists will get Rs 6000 as monthly

pension with a health cover of Rs 1 crore

MSME Dept sends Rs 629 cr proposal aimed at providing monetary benefits to labourers

FINANCIAL AID FOR INDUSTRIES EMPLOYING MIGRANT WORKERSFirst India Bureau

Lucknow: In a bid to provide economic and social security to lakhs of migrant workers who flocked back to the state amidst the pan-demic, the Yogi Govern-ment has prepared an action plan to provide financial assistance to industries offering jobs to migrant workers.

The plan has been formulated with the ob-jective to provide relief and support to the in-dustries which have of-fered job opportunities to migrant workers in their respective resi-dential areas. Under this, the government will provide monetary aid of Rs 1000 to Rs 2000 per labourer. In this re-gard, the MSME De-partment has sent a Rs 629 crore proposal to the Finance Depart-ment.

Amid heavy influx of over 40 lakh mi-grant labourers from other states following the lockdown, the Adityanath govern-ment worked to pro-vide them jobs ac-cording to their

skills. Subsequently, skill mapping of over 25 lakh labourers was done.

To cater the vulnera-ble migrant labourers, the government initiated the concept of commu-nity kitchens and also took all possible meas-ures to provide them the basics including food, clean potable water, pri-mary healthcare and shelter. About 6.75 crore food packets were also distributed to them dur-

ing the Lockdown. Chief Minister Yogi

has issued directives to provide financial assistance in order to support all the indus-tries that have been

providing job oppor-tunities to the mi-grant workers in the state, similar to the Handloom Industries where a grant of Rs 1000 to Rs 2000 is giv-

en per labourer. This will in turn

generate ample job opportunities at the local level for all the migrant labourers.

Under this scheme, all the migrant workers that have registered themselves on the por-tal of the state govern-ment will also be linked to schemes like Vishwa-karma Shram Samman Yojana and Mukhy-amantri Pravasi Rojgar Yojana.

Yogi SpeaksYogi Speaks

UP CM has greeted actor Rajnikanth

for Dada Saheb Phalke Award.“Heartiest Congratulations to Shri @rajinikanth Ji, one of the greatest actor in the history of Indian Cinema,” he said.

CM Yogi Adityanath has approved �

6765.04 lakhs for the construction of Kukrail River Revival and Water Front Develop-ment Phase-1 (I / D of Drain) in Lucknow.

CM Yogi Adtiyanath has approved Rs

3419.80 lakh for civic and infrastructure work from Padleganj in the northern end of Ramgarh Taal to Maruti Showroom in Gorakh-pur district.

PORTAL TO HELP MIGRANTS

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is a star campaigner of BJP in poll bound south Indian states such as Tamil Nadu amd Kerela.

Yogi govt to better Sanskrit education via NCERTcourse

First India Bureau

Lucknow: Promo-tion of Sanskrit lan-guage has been on the high-priority list of the Yogi-led gov-ernment. To provide better education to students studying in Sanskrit Schools of the state, the govern-ment has now decid-ed to prescribe NCERT course for Sanskrit School stu-dents of class VI and VIII.

Till now only stu-dents of classes 9 to 12 were taught from NCERT books.

However, Sanskrit will remain a com-pulsory subject in the course. With this, students of Sanskrit schools will be able to gain knowledge of Sanskrit as well as Computer and Eng-lish.

The government is continuously work-ing on the moderni-zation of the San-skrit language schools and their upgradation, provid-ing all the necessary facilities to the stu-dents. On the direc-tions of the govern-ment, the Sanskrit Board will teach stu-

dents from class 6 to 8 from NCERT books. Presently, 1164 Sanskrit schools are being operated within the state. There are more than 97,500 stu-dents studying in these schools.

Computer educa-tion along with San-skrit is being impart-ed through comput-ers in all these schools. Last year, computers were in-stalled by the Uttar Pradesh Sanskrit Sansthan in Sanskrit schools of 72 dis-tricts.

This has enabled students studying in the Sanskrit schools to acquire knowledge of Sanskrit and has also ensured that they are not deprived of computer educa-tion either. There-fore, computer, books, cupboards and tables etc. have also been given to Sanskrit schools by the institute.

Gorakhpur, Basti emerge as med studies, treatment hubsFirst India Bureau

Lucknow: To augment the healthcare infra-structure in Uttar Pradesh, the Yogi gov-ernment has decided to set up a medical college in each district of the State.

And a beginning has already been made in this regard from Gora-khpur-Basti divisions of eastern UP, which have emerged as a hub of medical studies and treatment for people of the region.

Prior to this, there was total dependence of patients from the seven districts of the division, in addition to those from the bordering ar-eas of Azamgarh, Mau, Bihar and Nepal on Gorakhpur’s Baba Ra-ghav Das (BRD) Medi-cal College.

Heavy rush of pa-tients at BRD, lack of

treatment facilities and with a disease like en-cephalitis kept the state administration on ten-terhooks in eastern UP since 1977.

The region now has an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Gorakh-pur with world class medical facilities.

There were only 100 seats in the BRD Medi-cal College in Gorakh-pur for MBBS studies in

this zone till 2017. The Yogi Govern-

ment has now increased the number of seats to 150 while introducing another 100 seats for MBBS course at the 500-bedded Basti Medi-cal College.

Medical colleges at Deoria and Sid-dharthnagar are also ready with 100 seats each sanctioned for MBBS course. With un-der-construction medi-cal college at Kushina-gar and proposed medi-cal colleges at Maharaj-ganj and Santakbirna-gar coming into being, 300 more seats for MBBS course will be available for medical aspirants taking the to-tal number of seats in the region to 750.

Even PM Modi gave credit to UP CM for the establishment of AIIMS at the cost of Rs 1000 crore in Gorakhpur.

Destitute women pension scheme adds 1.85L payees

DRDO develops bullet proof wearFirst India Bureau

Kanpur: The DRDO has developed a light-weight bullet-proof jacket that weighs nine kg and meets the quali-tative requirements of the Indian Army, the defence ministry said on Thursday.

Kanpur-based De-fence Materials and Stores Research and De-velopment Establish-ment (DMSRDE), which is one of the laborato-ries of the government-run Defence Research and Development Or-ganisation (DRDO), has developed this jacket, a

ministry statement said.The front hard ar-mour panel bullet proof jacket was tested at Ter-minal Ballistics Re-search Lab in Chandi-garh and it met relevant standards of the BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards),” the state-ment said.

First India Bureau

Lucknow: The Yogi Government’s pension scheme for destitute women has drawn an overwhelming response with the enrolment of approximately 1.85 lakh new beneficiaries.

The scheme provides sustenance to women who have no income of their own. Apart from providing them finan-cial security, the state government has also taken steps under its Mission Shakti cam-paign to empower them and ensure their safety and dignity.

So far around 27.95 lakh destitute wom-en, whose husbands have passed away or who have no one to support them, have been provided pen-sion under the pen-sion scheme for desti-tute. To ensure its maximum reach, the government has abol-ished the age limit the pension scheme.

The objective of the scheme is socio-eco-nomic empowerment of the widows in the state.Working for all-round development of women, has been the priority of the Yogi government.

CM Yogi has initiated Mission Shakti to empower women in UP.

DEPRIVED OF BASICS!

A 28-yr-old Babli sits with her under-treatment son Aniket on footpath near KGMC, as she was asked to come after undergoing COVID Tests on Thursday, which they could not, because of heavy rush. She has been asked to come today, but is unsure of treatment.

CM Yogi has strengthened the medical infra in Uttar Pradesh.

Yogi has directed to give free meals,

stay to 4000 students in 200

Sanskrit schools

UTTAR PRADESHLUCKNOW | FRIDAY, APRIL 2, 2021

03www.fi rstindia.co.in I www.fi rstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefi rstindia I facebook.com/thefi rstindia I instagram.com/thefi rstindia

ONE ARRESTED IN MARCH 29 AGRA GANG RAPE CASE

STF TO FILE CHARGE SHEET AGAINST FOUR ARRESTED PFI ACTIVISTS

15-YR-OLD BOY JUMPS TO DEATH FROM UNDER-CONSTRUCTION BUILDING

Mathura: The STF will file a charge sheet on Satur-day against four alleged Popular Front of India (PFI) activists, booked on sedition charges last year after their arrest enroute to Hathras following an outrage over a rape-murder case there. The charges under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the IT Act have also been filed against the four, identified Siddique Kappan, a journalist from Kera-la; Atiq-ur-Rehman; Masood Ahmad and Alam.

Noida: A 15-year-old boy allegedly jumped to death from an under-construction building here after he was scolded by his parents, who had asked him not to play games on mobile phone, the police said on Thursday. The Class 7 student had gone missing from his home in Sector 110 under Phase 2 police station limits last night after his parents scolded him, officials said.

Agra: A man has been arrested by Ut-tar Pradesh Police in connection with an alleged gang rape case that took place in Agra on March 29. “A woman was alleg-edly gang-raped in front of her husband in Agra on March 29. One person has been arrested in connec-tion with the inci-dent,” said SP City, Agra, Botre Rohan Pramod. “Efforts are on to nab the other ac-cused,” he added.

CRIME ROUND UP

First India Bureau

Lucknow: In a night-marish development, Ut-tar Pradesh reported its highest single-day covid patient-count this year at 2,600. The virus came down heavily especially in Lucknow where 935 people tested positive, with the deadly virus taking nine lives in the state. With this, the state’s infection tally rose to 6,19,783 and the death toll to 8,820.

Meanwhile, the dis-trict court campuses of Lucknow and Kausham-bi were closed after some judges and staff mem-bers tested positive for coronavirus.

However, what stood out during the day was that with the onset of vaccination drive for people above 45 years of age, close to 2.10 lakh got their first dose on Thursday.

Speaking to First In-dia, State Immunisation Officer Dr Ajay Ghai said he was a touch dis-appointed as he expected the figures to rise to

above 3 lakh. “Our count-ing is going on (at 9 pm on Thursday) but till now we have vaxed around 2.09 lakh people in the state. I expected

the figures to be a lot more as we have already made a record of over 4 lakh jabs in a single day,” Dr Ghai said adding that Friday is another impor-

tant day for vaccination.Meanwhile, according

to ACS (Health) Amit Mohan Prasad, the num-ber of active cases in UP has gone up to 11,918, of

which 6,722 are in home isolation, 287 in private hospitals and the rest in government facilities. Total 5,99,045 people have so far recovered.

First India Bureau

Lucknow: Chief Secre-tary Rajendra Kumar Tiwari and his wife Dr Archana Tiwari took the first dose of Covid vaccine at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Civil Hospital on Thursday. He appealed to people above 45 years of age to get vaccinated as soon as possible for defeating corona.

He said it was the world’s largest vaccina-tion programme, and the pace at which vac-cination was being done in India, he was sure that virus spread would be checked.

He said one of the reasons that cases were increasing was when cases declined people also neglected preven-

tive measures. Again 1.5 lakh tests

were done daily and as per instructions of the CM, the number of tests should increase contin-uously.

In public places, railway stations, bus stations, airports, etc. investigation should be done on people com-ing from other states and now monitoring committees had been fully activated again besides positive cases were being monitored through command control centres.

First India Bureau

Lucknow: Union De-fence Minister and Luc-know MP Rajnath Singh is scheduled to arrive on a day-long visit to Luc-know today. Also expect-ed is Union Road, Trans-

port and Highway Min-ister Nitin Gadkari as the two leaders would be inaugurating the newly constructed flyover in Lucknow.

BJP’s Mahanagar unit president Mukesh Sharma informed that

Rajnath Singh will reach Amausi Airport, Lucknow today at 11am, after which, he would leave from Engineering College directly for the inauguration of Mun-shi Pulia flyover and laying of foundation stone of Khurramnagar flyover to Vikasnagar Mini Stadium.

UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Depu-ty Chief Ministers Kes-hav Prasad Maurya and Dr Dinesh Sharma along with other minis-ters, mayor and MLAs of Lucknow are expect-ed to be present on the occasion.

First India Bureau

Kanpur: The Kanpur administration has be-come active in view of rising count of covid pa-tients but condition in government depart-ments is disappointing. Divisional Commission-er Raj Shekhar while on a surprise inspection to

review vaccination work found doctors and sev-eral employees without masks at Ursula Hospi-tal. This was the situa-tion when all depart-ments knew about his visit.

On not finding a help-desk at the hospital, the commissioner issued a show cause notice to the

hospital’s CMS and asked the director to en-sure setting up a help desk. Further taking cognizance of the laxity in wearing mask, he is-sued notice to Shailen-dra Tiwari, for not wear-ing a mask on duty be-sides also reviewing mask enforcement measures.

First India Bureau

Ghaziabad: Ghaziabad district will vote in the first phase of gram pan-chayat elections in the state on April 15 to elect 161 village heads.

Voting will take place between 7 am and 6 pm

at 958 polling booths on 311 polling stations.

Total 5,56,086 voters will exercise their fran-chise. Nominations will be filed on April 3 and 4, DM and Election Officer Ajay Shankar Pandey said, adding that scruti-ny of nomination pa-

pers will be done on April 5 and 6. Candi-dates will be allowed to withdraw their names on April 7 and on the same day, symbols will be allotted to the con-testants. Ample security would be deployed at polling stations, he said.

First India Bureau

Lucknow: While there has been a lot of hullaba-loo in terms of employ-ment in the state, here is some good news for as-pirants willing to serve in UP Police force.

The Uttar Pradesh Po-lice Recruitment and Promotion Board (UP-PRPB) has started the application process from Thursday, to fill in 9534 posts of Sub-Inspectors (SI) in UP Police. The in-terested candidates can apply for the vacancies by logging in to the offi-cial website of UPPRPB at uppbpb.gov.in.

The last date to apply for the posts under UP-PRPB SI Recruitment 2021 drive is April 30, 2021.

The vacancies in-clude 9027 posts for Sub-Inspector Civil Police, 484 posts for Platoon Commander while 23 va-cancies are for PAC and Fire officer aspirants. The interested candi-dates must note that the date for the release of the hall ticket for the exam will be announced on the website. The date for the computer-based test will also be an-nounced on the UPPRPB website later.

First India Bureau

Ballia: Accusing the Congress of backing Mukhtar Ansari, UP Minister Anand Swarup Shukla on Thursday said the Yogi Adityanath government will “drag” him to his state from the Punjab jail.

Ansari, an MLA from Mau constituency, is al-legedly involved in vari-ous cases of attempt to murder, murder, cheat-ing and conspiracy apart from offences un-der the Gangsters Act, lodged in Uttar Pradesh.Talking to reporters here, Swarup, minister of state for Parliamen-tary affairs, said, “The DNA of Congress is standing with anti-so-cial elements especially Islamic terrorists. As per its character, Con-gress is standing with Mukhtar Ansari.”

Covid Spreads Tentacles: Record 2,600 new cases, 9 deaths in stateNearly 2.10L people aged above 45 years get vaxed on Thursday

FUN MALL AMONG SEVERAL ENTITIES SEALED FOR LAXITY

HOSPITALS GETTING SWAMPED IN CAPITAL

Violation of the Covid-19 protocol cost dear for Lucknow’s Fun Re-public Mall. The district admin-istration completely sealed it for violation of covid mandates. Some other entities that faced the hack include Globe Coffee, Kapurthala, Aliganj, Mega Shop, Thakurganj, Gilori Pan Shop, Aliganj, My Bar Headquarter, Gomti Nagar, Panchwati Sweets, Bhoothnath.

At least 717 beds in 10 covid hos-pitals have been arranged in Luc-

know. However, so far, 417 of total 717 beds are occupied by covid positive patients.Out of 186 ICU beds, 166

are already occupied by corona patients. District Judge and Additional District Sessions Judge have also been found infected with the virus.

(Clockwise from L-R) People’s rush at Civil Hospital in Lucknow on Thursday. BJP State President Swatantra Dev Singh getting vaxed. Law Minister Brajesh Pathak taking the jab.

CS RK Tiwari taking the jab on Thursday

Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari at a function. —FILE PHOTO

A doctor seen without mask at Ursula Hospital during Divisional Commissioner Raj Shekhar’s inspection on Thursday

CS Tiwari takes covid vaccine, asks people to follow

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Gadkari in city today

Police recruitment process begins

‘Yogi govt will drag Mukhtar to state’

Panchayat Polls: Ghaziabad district to vote in first phase on April 15

Div Commissioner finds laxity in Ursula

He said whatever was required to control

covid, should be implemented

First India Bureau

Lucknow: In view of poor response from the power consumers, En-ergy Minister Shrikant Sharma on Thursday announced extension of the “one-time settle-ment” (OTS) scheme up to April 15. The scheme, launched on March 1, came to end on March 31. Though the interest

waiver scheme is drain on the exchequer, the UP Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL) has been try-ing to push it because of mounting energy dues.

The minister said consumers could avail of the benefits of OTS to make payment of dues without paying the surcharge on them. He said under the plan 30% of original dues and

present bills would have to be paid at the

time of registration for the OTS. During the

month-long drive the response was extremely poor. But the minister is hopeful that extension would help in recovery of the dues. In fact the non-payment of huge electricity dues has landed the UPPCL in acute financial trouble.

According to infor-mation at least 35% con-sumers have never paid electricity bills. Sources

said of around three crore active or billable consumers, 1.39 crore have never bothered to pay their bills after get-ting the connections over the years and ma-jority of them are con-fined to rural and semi-rural areas with nearly 40,000 in cities. Thus only 65% are regularly paying the bills, com-mented UPPCL officer.

Sources said unpaid bill of Rs 1 lakh each have touched Rs 30,000 crore and the OTS espe-cially targetes this group. With cumulative deficit increasing to about Rs 80,000 crore be-cause of difference of cost of power supply and actual returns, the situation has worsened during last one year due to corona pandemic.

Saddled with mounting dues, UPPCL extends OTS schemePOWER PANGS

—PHOTOS BY SUM

IT KUMAR

l Vol 1 l Issue No. 111 l RNI NO. UPENG/2020/04393. Printed and published by Anita Hada Sangwan on behalf of First Express Publishers. Printed at Amar Ujala Ltd. B-5 Amausi Industrial Area Kanpur Road Lucknow.Published at 98, Friend’’s Colony, Raheem Nagar, Dudouli Road, Madiyaon, Lucknow (UP). Editor-In-Chief: Jagdeesh Chandra. Editor: Anita Hada Sangwan responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act

PERSPECTIVELUCKNOW | FRIDAY, APRIL 2, 2021

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

The life of this world is only the enjoyment of deception. —Quran 3:185

SpiritualSPEAK

MAMATA’S CALL FOR OPPN

UNITY TO SAVE DEMOCRACY

amata Banerjee’s letter to leaders of 15 Opposition parties, including Sonia Gandhi, calling upon them to put up a joint front against the Bharatiya Janata Party which was

undermining democracy, has come a day too late. In her three-page letter, Mamata Banerjee wrote, “I am writing this letter to convey my serious concerns over a series of assaults by the BJP and its government at the Centre on democracy and Constitutional federalism in India.” Besides Sonia she sent her letter to NCP chief Sharad Pawar, DMK president M.K. Stalin, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Pat-naik, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and RJD chief Tejashvi Yadav, Farooq Abdul-lah of the NCP and Mehbooba Mufti of PDP. Left parties are missing from the list. The other notable omission is Mayawati of the Ba-hujan Samaj Party. As most of these leaders harbour political ambitions, Opposition unity appears a distant dream.

Mamata Banerjee’s fears about the threat to democracy and federalism may be genuine but there are questions about the timing of the letter. Why now, why not earlier? Yet her proposal has found acceptance with the NCP, which supported the idea “whole-heartedly”. Even the Congress which is fighting against the Trinamool Congress in the Assembly elections agreed that the BJP wanted “to fin-ish democracy” in the country. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot also agreed with the concerns raised by the TMC chief.

The biggest hurdle in Opposition unity will be the issue of leadership of the united front. Regional satraps, no matter how threatened they are, will come to the party only on their terms. That would mean the Congress having to come down a notch or two to make adjust-ments with the TMC, NCP, SP, RJD, AAP, BJD, DMK, and the YSR Congress. Although the party has been ceding ground to the BJP and is faced with dissensions it still considers it-self as formidable opposition. Leaders of other parties are aware of its weaknesses and may not accept its terms for joining the Op-position alliance in case it does work out. A lot will depend, however, on the poll outcome in West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala.

Mamata wants the idea of the anti-BJP front to be taken up after the assembly elec-tions. As she is locked in a fierce battle in Nandigram for her political survival, today’s vote will not only decide Mamata’s future but also the direction which the country’s politics will take in the coming years. If Constitution-al democracy and federalism have to be pro-tected, Opposition leaders will have to sink their differences, petty egos and not try to pull each other down. A strong and united Opposi-tion against the BJP is the need of the hour.

IN-DEPTH

M

he COVID-19 pandemic has not been the West’s finest hour. Most

Western governments failed to contain the deadly outbreak and the resulting economic damage effective-ly. And by pursuing inward-looking and protectionist policies, they have contrib-uted relatively little to an effective international re-sponse to the coronavirus.

Against this back-ground, some regard the current crisis as a tipping point that will accelerate Asia’s global resurgence. They point out that Asian countries managed the pandemic better than the West did, and argue that the region’s robust and re-silient economic perfor-mance over the past half-century demonstrates the superiority of its govern-ance systems.

In fact, the twenty-first century will belong to Asia only if the region can de-velop unified, collective leadership. Asia is already a major global power, ac-counting for 60% of the world’s population and about 40% of global GDP in purchasing-power-parity terms. And with eight of the world’s 15 most populous countries (China, India, In-donesia, Pakistan, Bangla-desh, Japan, the Philip-pines, and Vietnam), Asia is more than just China.

Moreover, India and Ja-pan – the world’s third and fourth largest economies, respectively, in PPP terms – also are economic super-powers. Over the last 50 years, the per capita in-comes of Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan have risen fast and caught up with Western levels. China, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam are now fol-

lowing the same path. And Asia is expected to contin-ue growing strongly in the coming decades: McKinsey & Company forecasts that by 2040, the region will ac-count for more than half of world GDP and 40% of global consumption.

Skeptics argue that sev-eral domestic challenges could jeopardize the re-

gion’s long-term growth. Some East Asian econo-mies, including China, Ja-pan, and South Korea, have rapidly aging populations that are now shrinking. This means they will no longer enjoy the demo-graphic dividends that pre-viously supported the re-gion’s strong growth.

Naysayers also point to

growing income and wealth inequality, which is undermining social cohe-sion and political stability. And political upheavals may become more likely if authoritarian Asian gov-ernments fail to deliver higher living standards and satisfy growing de-mand for democracy.

But Asian policymakers

have successfully addressed previous obstacles to strong and sustainable growth. East Asian governments in particular have been prag-matic and relatively uncor-rupt. Many have committed themselves to providing im-portant public goods such as education, health care, and information and communi-cation technology infra-structure. Good governance has also supported the effec-tive functioning of markets.

Asian countries have nur-tured competent private sec-tors, too. A well-educated and skilled labor force, along with well-directed economic policies, was key to building up diversified and techno-logically sophisticated ex-port industries. And Asian firms have shown great dy-namism and agility in re-sponding to both the 2008 global financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic.

SOURCE: PROJECT SYNDICATE

IS THE ASIAN CENTURY REALLY HERE?T

TopTWEET

Ravi Shankar Prasad @rsprasadWorld’s largest financial inclusion initiative, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) is empowering poorest of poor across India through its financial services. 42.05 Crore beneficiaries have opened their account under this scheme. #DigitalIndia

Prakash Javadekar @PrakashJavdekarAt 1.24 Lakh Crore, GST collections for the month of March 2021, hit a record high since the introduction of GST. This is the sixth month in a row that GST revenues have crossed Rs 1 lakh cr. India under PM Shri @narendramodi is on the path of Growth, despite the pandemic.

aking another person’s life into your hands is not a good thing because it sits on you in a cer-tain way. A doctor is constantly taking someone else’s life into his or her hands. It is a big thing to carry on your head. If you have sufficiently explored whichever system of medicine, you know your role is not even 50%. The remaining percentage you don’t know what the hell! This is always the experience of the greatest doctors in the world.

If you are a believer in god it is very easy. You look up and say “Shiva, Rama.” Even if a patient dies, after all, they are going into god’s lap, so it’s okay! But when you cannot subscribe to these belief systems but you still see that your role is so small in making things happen, that’s when you realize the presence of grace. The real question and struggle begins for someone who does not know whether to believe or not – someone whose intellect is struggling with both. For some-one struggling with the limita-tions of his own logic and capa-bility, and struggling with the other dimension which doesn’t seem to be tangible, for such a person, the presence of grace becomes absolutely clear in his life. He clearly understands that when he really wants to cross a narrow bridge, nothing can happen here without the help of the other dimension.

The question is, how to in-vite this presence? When we say we are doing sadhana, it

means we are just trying to be-come an invitation to the di-vine. Something beyond your-self begins to function. And allowing it to function – having the sense to do what you can, and to stand by with what you cannot and still be there alert and present, is the whole es-sence of yoga. That is how you become a receptacle or a door-way to grace.

Grace is subtle. If your pres-ence is not there, its presence also will not be there. This is the nature of the divine. This is why most people miss it, be-cause they are mostly absent. Either your thoughts, emotions or activity is ruling you; not your presence. This is the trans-formation that you are trying to bring about with a spiritual practice. Your body, mind, and emotion can follow you but you want your presence to be the dominant thing. But right now, you have made your thought, emotion, and body far more im-portant than yourself. In this upside-down condition, you cannot feel grace.

If you reverse this condition within yourself, suddenly, the ordinary becomes extraordi-nary. Every aspect of life is transported to a completely dif-

ferent experience of life. This doesn’t happen because you believe something. With belief systems, you can imagine; this is the problem with believers. To have a solid logical base and still be open to grace is some-thing that one has to do. If you do not get established in your logical base, you are suscepti-ble to fly off into imagination and think it’s grace.

The mystical and logical, both the realms are equally im-portant. If your logical realm is well established, the mun-dane aspect of your life is well conducted. If the mystical di-mension of your life is open to you, your experience of life is indescribable. Once you have conducted your mundane pret-ty well, it’s time to be open to the mystical. Here, your logic will not work, it will only limit

you. “How do I fight my logic?” You just shun the produce, not the logic industry. You cannot kill the mind, but you can ig-nore the produce. It generates thought, you ignore it. It gener-ates emotion, you ignore it. It generates opinion, you ignore it. It churns up a whole ideolo-gy, ignore it.

If you do that, you will be in a natural state of devotion. De-votion does not mean adulation of someone. Devotion is that which is devoid of yourself. What you call as “myself” right now is just a bundle of thought, emotion and opinion, isn’t it? If you rest these three things, your personality will be ab-sent. Then the life in you will be present. If this is present, you cannot miss grace..

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY

THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL

T

SADHGURU, ISHA FOUNDATION

Ranked amongst the fifty most influential people in India, Sadhguru is a yogi, mystic, visionary and a New York Times bestselling author Sadhguru has been conferred the Padma Vibhushan by the Government of India in 2017, the highest annual civilian award, accorded for exceptional and distinguished service

BECOMING AN INVITATION TO THE DIVINE

THE MYSTICAL AND LOGICAL, BOTH THE REALMS ARE EQUALLY IMPORTANT. IF YOUR LOGICAL REALM IS WELL

ESTABLISHED, THE MUNDANE ASPECT OF YOUR LIFE IS WELL CONDUCTED. IF THE MYSTICAL DIMENSION OF YOUR LIFE IS

OPEN TO YOU, YOUR EXPERIENCE OF LIFE IS INDESCRIBABLE. ONCE YOU HAVE CONDUCTED YOUR MUNDANE PRETTY WELL,

IT’S TIME TO BE OPEN TO THE MYSTICAL

Grace is subtle. If your presence is not there, its presence also will not be there. This is the nature of the divine. This is why most people miss it, because they are

mostly absent. Either your thoughts, emotions or activity is ruling you; not your presence. This is the transformation that you are trying to bring about with a spiritual practice. Your body, mind, and emotion can follow you but you want your presence to be the dominant thing

To Receive Free Newspaper PDF Daily

Whatsapp: https://bit.ly/whatsapplko

Telegram:

https://t.me/firstindialucknow

Click the above link☝ & subscribe us on your

preferred platform.

INDIALUCKNOW | FRIDAY, APRIL 2, 2021

05www.fi rstindia.co.in I www.fi rstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefi rstindia I facebook.com/thefi rstindia I instagram.com/thefi rstindia

THERE’S BJP WAVE IN BENGAL,WE’LL GET 200 PLUS SEATS: MODIWest Bengal: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that the Bharatiya Ja-nata Party (BJP) will get more than 200 seats in the ongoing assem-bly elections in West Bengal.

Addressed an elec-tion rally in Jaynagar town of South 24 Parga-nas district, he said: “Some weeks ago, peo-ple of Bengal were say-ing that BJP will get more than 200 seats. But BJP’s strong start in the first phase makes it clear that the voices of people have received God’s blessing. BJP will get more than 200 seats in Bengal.”

“During the second phase of voting today, people are reaching polling booths in large numbers. Everywhere, there is only BJP. There is a BJP wave in Ben-gal,” he added.

A voter turnout of over 60 per cent till 3 pm was registered in the second phase of polling which began this morn-ing at 7 am. —ANI

PM Modi addresses at an election public rally in Jaynagar on Thursday. —PHOTO BY ANI

New Delhi: Prime Min-ister Narendra Modi on Thursday congratulat-ed megastar Rajini-kanth after it was an-nounced that he will be conferred with the pres-tigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award for 2019 for his stupendous con-tribution to the world of Indian cinema.

Taking to Twitter, PM Modi commented that ‘Thalaiva’ had a body of work few can boast of, along with di-verse roles and an en-dearing personality.

“Popular across gen-erations, a body of work few can boast of, diverse roles and an endearing personality...that’s Shri @rajinikanth Ji for you. It is a matter of im-mense joy that Thalaiva has been conferred with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. Congratulations to him,” he tweeted.

The news of Rajni-kanth’s conferment was announced by Union Minister for Informa-tion and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar ear-lier today. “Happy to an-

nounce #Dadasaheb Phalke award for 2020 to one of the greatest ac-tors in history of Indi-an cinema Rajnikant ji,” Javadekar tweeted.

Speaking about the ‘Robot’ actor’s contribu-tion as an actor, produc-er, and screenwriter, Ja-

vadekar added, “His contribution as actor, producer and screen-writer has been iconic.”

The Dadasaheb Phal-ke Award for 2019 should have been an-nounced last year but was postponed because of the COVID-19. —ANI

A body of work few can boast of: PM on Rajini

MAN COMMITS SUICIDE AFTER KILLING WIFE, KIDS IN ROHININew Delhi: A man allegedly died by suicide after killing his wife and two children in Delhi’s Rohini area. The incident took place in Rohini’s Naharpur on Wednesday night. The man has been identified as Dheeraj Ya-dav (31), a Delhi Trans-port Corporation (DTC) bus driver. He was found hanging from the ceiling

fan in his room. He killed his wife Aarti (28), and two sons Hiten (6) and Atharva (3) before killing himself. “Legal action has been initiated and further investigation is in progress,” the police said. A similar incident was reported earlier in the national capital when a man had allegedly killed his wife. —ANI

3 ARUNACHAL DISTRICTS, NOTIFIED AS ‘DISTURBED AREAS’New Delhi: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has notifi ed Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts and four police stations -- Namsai and Mahadevpur police stations in Namsai district, Roing police station in Lower Dibang Valley district, Sunpura police station in Lohit district of Arunachal Pradesh -- bordering Assam, as ‘disturbed area’ under AFSPA for a further six months until September 30. The jurisdiction of four police stations in districts of AP, bordering the state has been undertaken.

‘NEVER SAID PAWAR SHOULD REPLACE SONIA AS UPA CHIEF’Mumbai: Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut claimed he never said that NCP president Sharad Pawar should replace Congress chief Sonia Gandhi as the UPA chairperson, and added that he had only underscored the need to strengthen the alli-ance. “I have never said Sonia Gandhi should be replaced by Sharad Pawar as UPA chairperson. There is a need to strengthen the UPA for the sake of the country. I just said there is a need to strengthen the opposition alliance. I haven’t criti-cised Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi,” he said.

GST MOP-UP AT ALL-TIME HIGH OF RS 1.23 LAKH CRORE IN MARCHNew Delhi: GST collec-tions remained above Rs 1-lakh-cr mark for the 6th

month in a row in March, rising 27 % annually to record Rs 1.23 lakh crore, the fi nance ministry said on Thursday. The ministry said the steep increasing trend in GST is a clear indication of rapid eco-nomic recovery post pan-demic. Closer monitoring

against fake-billing, deep data analytics using data from multiple sources including GST, income tax and customs IT systems and effective tax adminis-tration have also contrib-uted to steady increase in tax revenue over past few months, it added. The gross GST revenue collected in March 2021 stood at Rs 1,23,902 Cr.

New Delhi: The lawyer of actor-turned-activist Deep Sidhu in connec-tion with January 26 violence, on Thursday, said his client is being made a scapegoat as he is a known face. Ab-hishek Gupta, appear-ing for Sidhu, told the court that “There is a media trial going on. Sidhu was at the wrong place at the wrong time. The FIR says that peo-

ple broke the gates and climbed the rampart at 12:30. He reached there after 2 pm.”

“There was no vio-

lence on his urging. We have videos showing, he was helping the police and asking people to stop,” Gupta added.

Additional Sessions Judge Satish Kumar, ad-journed the matter for April 8. “The names of Sidhu and others were included in the FIR reg-istered in connection with the violence at Red Fort in Delhi,” Police had said earlier. —ANI

In Jan 26 case, Deep Sidhu being made a scapegoat lawyer

Chennai: The Unique Identification Author-ity of India (UIDAI) was on Thursday di-rected by the Madras High Court to hold an internal inquiry to find out how the Pu-ducherry unit of the Bharatiya Janata Par-ty (BJP) got hold of vot-ers’ mobile phone num-bers in the poll-bound Union Territory.

The HC also directed the EC Commission and the police to continue their inquiries into the case and submit a re-port after six weeks. In his petition, A Anand has alleged that voters’ details from Aadhaar were used for the BJP campaign. Anand said that he and other resi-dents of the UT got invi-tation links allegedly from BJP as messages on phones to join booth-level WhatsApp groups. Further, the plea stated that messages were re-ceived only on phone numbers that were linked to Aadhaar cards while numbers not linked to Aadhaar did not receive any mes-sages. —ANI

UIDAI to check if Aadhaar data was accessed

New Delhi: The Karna-taka High Court has al-lowed an investigation against Chief Minister and BJP leader BS Yedi-yurappa in a 2019 brib-ery case that accuses the senior BJP leader of trying to lure the then ruling coalition MLAs with money and a min-isterial berth to topple the government. Jus-tice Michael Cunha on March 31 removed the stay on probe against Yediyurappa for his role in what was termed as ‘Operation Kamala,’ as reported. —ANI

KARNATAKA HIGH COURT ALLOWS PROBE AGAINST BS YEDIYURAPPA

Finance Minister Nir-mala Sitharaman on Thursday faced wide-spread ridicule after she sensationally an-nounced the reversal of her own ministry’s or-der announcing a sharp cut in interest rates on small savings schemes. What became a butt of jokes was Sitharaman blaming an ‘oversight’ for her government’s order slashing interest rates on saving schemes.

Sensing an adverse impact on the BJP’s electoral chances since the decision impacted salaried middle class people, Sitharaman on Thursday wrote, “Inter-est rates of small sav-ings schemes of GoI

shall continue to be at the rates which existed in the last quarter, ie, rates that prevailed as of March 2021. Orders issued by oversight shall be withdrawn.”

Sitharaman faces ridicule for reversal of her ministry order

Rajinikanth

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

New Delhi: Lakhs of farmers, protesting against the three farm laws passed by the un-ion government last year, will march towards the Parliament on foot sometime in the middle of the month of May, said All India Kisan Sab-ha (AIKS) General Sec-retary Hannan Mollah on Thursday.

Mollah told ANI that the march is being or-ganised because “the government is not lis-tening to the voices of the farmers”.

“Modi Government and Parliament are not listening to the farmers then it is our right to go in front of Parliament and raise our demand and we will decide sometime between the middle in the month of May. Thousands of farmers will come to the border first, then march to Delhi on foot,” he said.

The AIKS General Secretary said that the farmers’ march will be peaceful and they will head for the Parliament to express their “grief and pain.” —ANI

Mumbai: Indian equi-ties started the new fis-cal on a strong note on Thursday, with the BSE Sensex surging over 520 points to settle above the 50,000-level on across-the-board buy-ing by participants amid positive global cues. At the closing bell, the 30-share BSE index quoted 520.68 points or 1.05 per cent higher at 50,029.83, driven by gains in banking, IT and energy stocks. Of the Sensex stocks, 25 closed in the green.

Similarly, the broad-er NSE Nifty rose 176.65 points or 1.2 per cent to settle at 14,867.35.

IndusInd Bank, Ko-tak Bank, ICICI Bank, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Fi-nance and Ultratech Ce-ment were prominent gainers. State-run SBI rose 1.7 per cent amid a rally in public sector banks. On the other hand, HUL, Nestle, HDFC Bank, TCS, Titan and Tech Mahindra suf-fered losses.

Meanwhile, the glob-al oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.6 % lower at USD 63.95 per barrel.—PTI

Farmer plan to march towards Parliament

Markets rebound sharply on 1st

day of fiscal

IN THE COURTYARD

A TRUE LEGEND, SAYS AMIT SHAH

LAME EXCUSE, SAYS CONGRESS

New Delhi: A PIL has been filed in the Su-preme Court seeking directions to the Cen-tre and States to con-trol black magic, su-perstition and reli-gious conversion through gifts and monetary benefits. The plea filed by advo-cate and BJP leader Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay has also sough directions to ascertain the feasibil-ity of appointing a Committee to enact a Conversion of Reli-

gion Act to check the “abuse of religion”. “Religious conver-sion by ‘carrot and stick’ and by ‘hook or crook’ not only of-fends Articles 14, 21, 25, but is also against the principles of sec-ularism. “Petitioner states with dismay that the Centre and States have failed to control the menace of black magic, and su-perstition, though it’s their duty under Arti-cle 51A,” said Dubey.

—ANI

Plea in SC to seek direction to control religious conversion

‘OUR FAITH IS NOT SEASONAL’: MODIresponds to criticism on his temple visitWest Bengal: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday tar-geted West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over her criti-cism of his visit to tem-ples in Bangladesh. Ba-nerjee had said that Modi was trying to in-fluence voters of the Matua community after

he visited a temple in Orakandi in Bangla-desh during his recent visit to the neighbour-ing country.

“I sought blessings for the entire country at Orakandi, but Didi got enraged at this,” Modi said at an election rally in Joynagar in South 24 Parganas district. “I of-

fered prayers at the Je-shoreshwari Kali Tem-ple, but Didi is miffed at that. Tell me is it wrong to go to a Kali temple? Our faith in Gods is not seasonal like it is for Mamata Banerjee. We always take pride in our faith and tradition.” The prime minister also attacked Banerjee.

PEOPLE OF ASSAM SHOWED RED CARD TO CONG: PM MODIGuwahati: PM Modi on Thursday said the people of Assam showed the “red card” to the Congress-led grand alliance during the fi rst phase of the Assembly polls on March 27 and gave their approval stamp to the state’s incum-bent “double-engine government”. Ad-dressing an election rally in Kokrajhar, Modi, without nam-ing the Badruddin Ajmal-led All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), said the Congress must be punished for forg-ing an alliance with an inimical force. “People of Assam in the fi rst phase of elections like in a football match showed the ‘red card’ to the Congress-led ‘Mahajot’.” —ANI

Modi congratulates Rajinikanth for Dadasaheb Phalke Award

INDIALUCKNOW | FRIDAY, APRIL 2, 2021

06www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia

Bengal sees...of booth jamming marred the voting pro-cess in the second phase. She slammed the Election Commis-sion for “inaction” de-spite her party lodging several poll-related complaints and threat-ened to move the law courts over it.

The ECI on Thurs-day sought a detailed report from the admin-istration in connection with an incident of vio-lence in Boyal area in Nandigram where TMC chief Mamata Ba-nerjee paid a visit to oversee the polling pro-cess. The WB CM vis-

ited several booths across the high-profile Nandigram constitu-ency, where she is pit-ted against her former lieutenant Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP.

In Assam, “Football is very popu-lar among youth here. If I have to speak in their language, I would say that the people have yet again shown a Red Card to Congress and its Mahajot. People of Assam trust NDA for development, peace, se-curity of the state,” he said.

Continuing his par-ty’s tirade against Con-

gress’ ally in the state, AIUDF, PM Modi said the grand old party has surrendered before “ta-la-chabhi wale”. Pad-lock and key are the election symbol of the AIUDF.

“The Congress and its alliance will be pun-ished for it. We will never allow them to loot the hard-earned peace,” the PM asserted.

Amit ShahA Raja. The kind of statement he made against a deceased woman. I think they (DMK) have no regard for women and want to win this election by

hook or crook,” he said.“In the past, DMK

made such bad remarks against (the late Chief Minister) Jayalalithaa ji. I appeal to the moth-ers and sisters of Tamil Nadu-- teach a lesson to the anti-women DMK in the polls by defeating it,” the BJP veteran said.

The EC, Shah said, has chosen April 6 as the polling day in TN and it coincided with the BJP’s Foundation Day and therefore the NDA will win the polls, he said.

He described Palaniswami as a “son of the soil” and a farm-

er and lauded both the CM and his deputy O Panneerselvam for pro-tecting the people of the state against coronavi-rus.

“We all know DMK and Congress party well. DMK and Con-gress mean corruption, rowdyism, land en-croachment and fur-thering the interests of their sons and daugh-ters and not bothered about people,” Shah al-leged.

Lashing out at Stalin for speaking on corrup-tion, Shah referred to the “2G and Sun TV scam” (BSLN telephone exchange issue) alleg-

edly involving DMK leaders.

“DMK is no more a political party (but) un-officially a business or-ganisation,” he alleged.

Lashing out at the DMK and Congress over the bull taming sport jallikattu, Shah said “it is Rahul Gandhi who had announced banning jallikattu in 2016,” in an apparent reference to the TNCC’s assembly poll promise then.

Stating that Modi had great love for Tamil lan-guage and the people of the state, Shah said the PM has quoted from Ta-mil verses during his

speeches abroad.Modi “has done a lot

of work for Tamil Nadu,” and the Centre had allocated Rs one lakh crore for roads in Tamil Nadu in this budget, besides provid-ing Rs 63,000 crore for Chennai metro phase II. Defence corridor and AIIMS in Madurai are the other initiatives aimd at benefiting Ta-mil Nadu.

Later in the day, Shah participated in a road show at Velayudampa-layam to canvass votes for the party’s BJP can-didate from Aravaku-richi in Karur, K Anna-malai and travelled on

an open top van.In his address, he

said there were two choices before Tamil Nadu--the “corrupt DMK and Congress on one side” and on the other side it was the PM-led NDA “which is fighting the polls for Ta-mil Nadu’s develop-ment.”

“Do you want devel-opment of Tamil Nadu or Udhayanidhi? The time has come that the footsteps of great MGR and Jayalalithaa be fol-lowed for the state’s growth. And only the AIADMK and BJP can do this and no one else.”

FROM PG 1

SANDEEP SHRIVASTAVA EMPANELLED FOR PROMOTION AS CHIEF COMMISSIONER/DG (C&CE) Sandeep Shrivastava has been empanelled for promotion in the grade of Chief Commissioner/DG of Customs and Central Excise (C&CE) in the IRS (Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs) for the panel year 2021.

ROOPAM KAPOOR EMPANELLED FOR PROMOTION AS CHIEF COMMISSIONER/DG (C&CE) Roopam Kapoor has been empanelled for promotion in the grade of Chief Commissioner/DG of Customs and Central Excise (C&CE) in the IRS (Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs) for the panel year 2021.

K V KUMAR EMPANELLED FOR PROMOTION AS CHIEF COMMISSIONER/DG (C&CE) Kanu Verma Kumar has been empanelled for promotion in the grade of Chief Commissioner/DG of Customs and Central Excise (C&CE) in the IRS (Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs) for panel year 2021.

ASHOK EMPANELLED FOR PROMOTION AS CHIEF COMMISSIONER/DG (C&CE) Ashok has been empanelled for promotion in the grade of Chief Commissioner/DG of Customs and Central Excise (C&CE) in the IRS (Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs) for panel year 2021.

J S CHANDRASHEKHAR EMPANELLED FOR PROMOTION AS CHIEF COMMISSIONER/DG (C&CE)J S Chandrasekhar has been empanelled for promotion in the grade of Chief Commissioner/DG of Customs and Central Excise (C&CE) in the IRS (Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs) for panel year 2021.

A K GUPTA EMPANELLED FOR PROMOTION AS CHIEF COMMISSIONER/DG (C&CE) Anil Kumar Gupta has been empanelled for promotion in the grade of Chief Commissioner/DG of Customs and Central Excise (C&CE) in the IRS (Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs) for panel year 2021.

A N GUPTA EMPANELLED FOR PROMOTION AS CHIEF COMMISSIONER/DG (C&CE) Aruna Narayan Gupta has been empanelled for promotion in the grade of Chief Commissioner/DG of Customs and Central Excise (C&CE) in the IRS (Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs) for panel year 2021.

M K SINGH EMPANELLED FOR PROMOTION AS CHIEF COMMISSIONER/DG (C&CE) Mohan Kumar Singh has been empanelled for promotion in the grade of Chief Commissioner/DG of Customs and Central Excise (C&CE) in the IRS (Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs) for panel year 2021.

GURDEEP SINGH EMPANELLED FOR PROMOTION AS CHIEF COMMISSIONER/DG (C&CE) Gurdeep Singh has been empanelled for promotion in the grade of Chief Commissioner/DG of Customs and Central Excise (C&CE) in the IRS (Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs) for panel year 2021.

S M TATA EMPANELLED FOR PROMOTION AS CHIEF COMMISSIONER/DG (C&CE)Srinivas Murty Taya has been empanelled for promotion in the grade of Chief Commissioner/DG of Customs and Central Excise (C&CE) in the IRS (Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs) for panel year 2021.

POWERGallery

By arrangement with: http:// whispersinthecorridors.com

New Delhi: India re-corded a huge spike of 72,330 new cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in the last 24 hours which took the nationwide tally to 12,221,665, Union health ministry data showed on Thursday morning.

The infection also cost the lives of 459 peo-ple in the said time-frame - up from 354 on Wednesday - which pushed the death toll to 1,62,927, the health min-istry data showed.

The number of active cases stood at 5,84,055, after a jump of 31,489 in the last 24 hours.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said that a total of 24,47,98,621 samples have been tested for Covid-19 up to March 31. Of these, 11,25,681 samples were tested on

Wednesday, it added.Over the past few

weeks, India has been

recording a spike in the number of Covid-19 cases, which has been

termed as the second wave of infection by the experts. Last week,

number of cases were close to 60,000, concern-ing the government.

COVID CASES EXPLODE AGAIN AS 72,330 NEW INFECTIONS RECORDED

Graffiti painted on the walls of JJ Hospital to spread awareness on COVID19, in Mumbai on Thursday. —PHOTO BY ANI

VACCINATION THROUGHOUT APRIL, INCLUDING HOLIDAYS: GOVT AMID SURGENew Delhi: Vaccinations will be done throughout the month of April, including holidays, the govern-ment said. It has decided to operationalise both public and private sector vaccination centres for this purpose. All states and Union Territories have been asked to make arrangements for this, taking a significant step to exponentially expand the country-wide vaccination drive. The government has initiated these measures following deliberations with the states and Union Territories on March 31.

Mumbai: The gelatin sticks found in an SUV near industrialist Mukesh Ambani's resi-dence in Mumbai last month were procured by suspended police of-ficer Sachin Waze, NIA sources claimed on Wednesday.

The National Investi-gation Agency (NIA), which is probing the case, has also found that Sachin Waze along with his driver parked the SUV near Mukesh Am-bani's house, the sourc-es told news agency Press Trust of India.

"The gelatin sticks, which were placed in the SUV, were procured

by Waze," a source told.The NIA has CCTV

footage which shows the presence of Sachin Waze at the spot, the sources told PTI.

As a part the probe into the case, the NIA team is going to collect

CCTV footage of the compound of Mumbai police commissioner's office and surround-ing areas, they said, adding that this will establish Sachin Wa-ze's movements and other aspects. —PTI

New Delhi: The En-forcement Directorate (ED) has filed a chargesheet in connec-tion with its money laundering probe against Mumbai-based realty group Omkar Re-altors and Developers linked to alleged illegal diversion of Yes Bank loan funds worth over Rs 400 crore.

In a statement, the central probe agency said the prosecution complaint (charge sheet) has been filed un-der various sections of

the Prevention of Mon-ey Laundering Act (PMLA) before a special court in Mumbai. The charge sheet names chairman of Omkar Re-altors and Developers

Kamal Kishore Gupta, its managing director Babulal Varma, actor-producer Sachin Joshi, who is also the promot-er of Viiking Group, and their companies.

Washington: The Biden administration has alleged that US ex-porters continued to encounter significant tariff and non-tariff barriers that impede the imports of its prod-ucts into India. In its annual 2021 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barri-ers, the US Trade Repre-sentative (USTR) said that while the Indian government pursued ongoing economic re-form efforts, it also con-tinued to promote pro-grammes like ''Make in India'' that favour do-

mestic production over importation.

"Additionally, in 2020, PM Narendra Modi an-nounced the "Self-Reli-ant India" initiative to increase self-sufficien-cy by promoting domes-tic industry & reducing reliance on foreign sup-pliers," the USTR said.

New Delhi: Taking over the investigation into the mysterious death of two minor sis-ters in Kerala’s Walayar in 2017 after allegedly being sexually assault-ed, CBI has registered two FIRs in the case.

The action comes on the orders of the Kera-la HC which had direct-ed the agency to take over the probe without any delay. The eldest girl, 13, was found hanging inside their hut on January 13, 2017 and the younger sister, 9, on March 4.

Police had come to the conclusion that the girls were sexually abused in unnatural way by five persons in-cluding a juvenile till they were forced to kill themselves by the ac-cused by tresspassing into their house.

Pune: The Anti-Cor-ruption Bureau on Thursday arrested a judge of a local court in Maharashtra''s Pune district in connection with a case of bribery, an official said.

The Pune ACB had earlier arrested three persons, including a suspended policeman, in the case, the official said. "Judicial magis-trate (first class) Archa-na Jatkar surrendered before a special anti-corruption court here after her anticipatory bail was rejected," said Seema Mehendale, as-sistant commissioner of police, ACB.

The complainant ap-proached the ACB and lodged a complaint, fol-lowing which Gaikwad was caught red-handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 50,000 on January 13, the official said.

New Delhi: President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday said he is re-covering well after his bypass surgery and thanked doctors and caregivers. The presi-dent said he was touched by messages from citizens and lead-ers from across the country and abroad wishing him speedy re-covery.

“It’s difficult to ex-press in words my grat-itude to you all!,” Ko-vind said. Kovind, 75 , had on Tuesday under-went a cardiac bypass surgery at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

Chennai: India’s an-nual electricity usage fell for the first time in at least 35 years in the fiscal year to March, a government analysis showed, mainly due to lockdowns across the country. Power genera-tion fell 0.2% during the year 2020/21, compared with the previous year, an analysis of daily load despatch data from federal grid operator POSOCO showed, due to lockdowns that re-sulted in a decline in electricity production.

Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh govern-ment ordered all schools and col-leges in Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Betul, Chhindwara, Khargone, Ratlamcities to remain closed till April 15. In view of the rising COVID-19 situation, bus services to and from there will also remain suspended till April 15, govt said.

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTES IN 7 MP DIST CLOSED

Mumbai: Maharashtra govern-ment brought down the rates of coronavirus RT-PCR tests to Rs 500 from Rs 1,000. The charges for rapid antigen tests were also brought down. After the out-break of the pandemic last year, the charges for a RT-PCR test in the state were Rs 4,500.

MAHA SLASHES COVID TEST PRICES BY HALF

BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said the number of beds in district hospitals of the state are being increased by over 15,000 for the treatment of COVID-19 patients. The move comes in the wake of a rise in cases of coronavirus in the state.

MP TO INCREASE BED CAPACITY IN HOSPITALS

ACB arrests court judge in bribery case

Recovering well after bypass surgery: Prez

Annual electricity use down for 1st time in 35 years

‘Arrested cop procured explosives found in SUV’

ED files chargesheet against realty firm owners in Yes Bank fraud case

Suspended police officer Sachin Waze allegedly tried to destroy the CCTV footage and DVRs, NIA sources told news agency PTI.

ED had earlier raided the premises of culprits & arrested all 3.

US exporters still face significant tariff, non-tariff barriers

CBI to handle Walayar rape, death case of 2 minor sisters

NEWSLUCKNOW | FRIDAY, APRIL 2, 2021

07www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia

First India Bureau

Lucknow: Another pe-tition was filed in the Krishna Janmabhoomi Case by advocate Ma-hendra Pratap Singh on Thursday which stated that God Krishna’s stat-ues are buried under the stairs of a small mosque located at the Dewan-e-Khas in Agra Fort. He has requested the court to make sure that these statues are excavated and kept at a safe place in Mathura. The court after hearing the petition has fixed April 19 as the date for next hearing.

Mahendra Pratap Singh, Chairman and Advocate of Sri Krish-na Janmabhoomi Muk-ti Andolan Samiti has

filed a petition in the court of Civil Judge Senior Division Neha Banodia in which he has demanded the re-moval of Shahi Masjid Idgah from the Sri Krishna Janmasthan complex and handing over the entire 13.37 acres of land to the Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi Trust.

In the petition he has demanded that the court through the Ar-chaeological Survey of India or other compe-tent authorities by us-ing scientific methods should excavate the statues buried in the stairs of the small mosque and shifted to a safe place in some part of Krishna Janmasthan Temple Complex.

First India Bureau

Mau: Atul Rai, MP from Bahujan Samaj Party who was elected from the Ghosi seat in the Mau dis-trict has alleged that there is a threat to his life from his MLA Mukhtar Ansari who belongs to the same party. Mukhtar Ansari who is lodged cur-rently in jailed in the Ro-par district of Punjab is soon to be transferred to a jail in Uttar Pradesh on instruction of Supreme Court. Atul Rai who him-self is lodged in the Naini Jail of Prayagraj has af-ter the decision of Su-preme Court has written to DGP Hitesh Chandra Awasthi urging him not to transfer Mukhtar to Naini Jail.

Bahujan Samaj Party MP Atul Rai, who is lodged in Naini jail of Prayagraj on rape charg-es, filed during the Lok Sabha elections of 2019 has alleged in the letter to DGP that MLA Mukhtar Ansari has implicated him in a false case of rape as well as mentioning many cases filed in Vara-nasi, Sonbhadra and Mau. Atul Rail has al-leged that if Mukhtar Ansari is to be trans-ferred to Naini Jail then it would put his life in jeopardy and has urged Additional Chief Secre-

tary, Home, Awanish Ku-mar Awasthi and DGP Hitesh Chandra Awasthi through letters to not shift Mukhtar Ansari to Naini Jail. The Supreme Court had ordered that MLA Mukhtar Ansari, who is lodged in Ropar Jail in Punjab be shifted to Uttar Pradesh jail within two weeks. Mukhtar Ansari was shifted from Banda Jail to Ropar Jail in Punjab in January last year in rela-tion to a case against him for threatening a busi-nessman over the phone.

Another petition filed in Krishna Janmabhoomi case

Mau MP alleges threat to life from Mukhtar Ansari

Lucknow: The sce-nario of panchayats in Uttar Pradesh is changing.

A few years ago, handing over the com-mand of the panchay-at to the eldest of the area in the rural areas was considered to be the most satisfying task, but now the at-mosphere has changed because of the emer-gence of youth and women power, who are ready to take a plunge in rural poli-tics.

On March 28, the villagers of Badegaon in Agra took a deci-sion to make an edu-cated daughter Kalpa-na Singh Gurjar as

the head of the vil-lage.

“If the educated youth including girls can take the mantle, why all the time elder-ly people will become Pradhan. So, the vil-lagers decided to make Kalpana as Pradhan unanimous-ly,” says Mahesh Ku-mar, a villager.

Additional Election Commissioner Ved-prakash Verma says that such initiative can now take place in other villages as well.

“If villagers select young and educated youth as the village head it could save gov-ernment money,” he said. Vedprakash

hopes that this time, compared to the past panchayat elections, a large number of edu-cated youth and wom-en will come and try their luck in village politics.

“This will acceler-ate the developmental works in the villages and strengthen rural democracy,” he said. The old results of panchayat elections suggest that the land-scape of villages is constantly changing.

Villagers are now electing more and more young candi-dates. In 2015, the number of people be-tween 21 and 35 years was about 35.18 per-

cent of the total can-didates who won the panchayat elections, of them women ac-count for 43.8 percent.

The results suggest only 9.6 percent of il-literate candidates won the election. As-sociate Professor of Jai Narain Post Grad-uate College.

Dr Brijesh Mishra said that dynamics of Panchayats have changed where elder-ly people are a mis-fit.

Earlier, panchayats used to be the center of settling mutual quarrels, but now they have become the axis of development.

People are aware about development

and they feel that a young person can be more productive.

“That is why more and more young peo-ple are coming to the panchayats now,” he said. Whatever be the reason but the results of some panchayat elections are telling the story of the change in the think-ing of the society.

For example, in the 1995–96 panchayat elections, the number of candidates between 21 and 35 years was about 37 percent, but in the elections held in 2005 after ten years, 46.61 percent of those who won were under 35 years of age.

CHANGING DEMOGRAPHICS OF RURAL POLITICS: YOUTHS RULE ROOST IN PANCHAYAT ELECTIONS

‘ZERO TOLERANCE’ YIELDS A ZERO

T heir public posturing notwithstanding most governments fail to

walk the talk when it comes to dealing with graft. And a case in point is the over Rs 5 crore Hardoi pension pay out embezzlement. The scam took place in 2016. To identify the black sheep, the government got the matter investigated not once but thrice in the last four years. And the findings of all three inquiry panel were similar. They highlighted the deep rot within the system and pointed

an accusing finger at the then District Magistrate, Hardoi, Superintendent of Police, senior treasury and administration officials. In fact, the last, 2020 inquiry report even went a one step further and recommended proceedings under Prevention of Money Laundering Act against the accused. Heads should have rolled and the guilty put behind bars given the frequent

espousal of ‘zero tolerance for crime and corruption’ by the ruling dispensation. The reports continued to gather dust as the “Mantriji” was apparently too busy with more pressing matters at hand. Till someone drew his attention towards the damning and explosive content of the findings. Shooting the messenger would not serve the purpose lest he spilled

the beans to the media in an election-year. The report had to be given a proper and procedural burial. So, on March 16, 2021, four-years and three inquiries down the line the ‘Netaji’ decided to do what the governments are best at doing set up yet another probe to re-probe the probe-findings of previous probe! —M Tariq Khan

KHAKI SEEKS VOTE, PEOPLE LOSE HOPE

While Khaki has the responsibility of protecting

country’s citizens and their rights without any biases, some officers from the Uttar Pradesh police need to revisit the police manuals as they seem to have forgotten

their roles. In an episode that forces the police department to hang its head in shame, a UP Police sub-inspector names Hariom Rajput was caught live on camera seeking votes for his friend preparing to contest the upcoming Panchayat polls in the state. The video shows that a cop dressed in his official uniform is seeking votes from people during a Holi Milan congregation in Badaun district’s Islampur area’s Lauharpura village. However, the Badaun SSP has taken confidence of the matter and the Daroga sahab has been attached to the headquarter while a Circle Officer has been handed over the probe of the incident. —Vishal Srivastav

POLL APPLICANTS

Applicants gather to collect application form of Uttar Pradesh Gram Panchayat Chunav 2021 ahead of the election, at counters, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, in Prayagraj, Thursday —PHOTO BY PTI

Delhi-Meerut Expressway now completely open for public useFirst India Bureau

Meerut: The Delhi-Meerut Expressway has now completely been opened for public use. Since morning, heavy rush of vehicles could be witnessed plying on the expressway. Moreo-ver, vehicles were also witnessed coming from Dehradun. The opening of the Expressway has provided musch sought relief to people heading for Delhi. Some of the barriers which were placed on the ramp to-wards Dehradun by-pass and Modinagar at

Paratapur Interchange in Meerut have also been removed leading to smooth movement of vehicles.

However, presently barriers have been re-moved just to allow passing of one vehicle at a time. This has been done for ensuring safe-

ty of commuters by way of not allowing excess speed. Once the drivers get used to it, then grad-ually each of the re-maining barriers would be removed.

However, with the opening of the entire expressway from Thursday morning, the count of vehicles on the expressway suddenly increased.

People of Meerut city desiring to go on the ex-press way should head directly for Paratapur Tirahe which will go straight from infront of Sadhguru Dhaba and

HP Petrol Pump and should take a U-turn near Bhudabral village-Rajwah. A board has been put up at the U-turn mentioning the message way for Meerut and Delhi. After the U-turn, commuters should drive back around 500 meters where a loop would ap-pear on the left with a board carrying the name Ghaziabad. From here, commuters post completing the loop area to climb would di-rectly reach the Kashi toll plaza and Dasna be-fore reaching Delhi.

AMBULANCE CONTROVERSYMinister Sidhart Nath Singh pointed that Mukhtar Ansari got an ambulance for his personal use in the opposition party’s government and he even made it bulletproof as per his convenience. BSP MLA Mukhtar Ansari who was lodged in the Ropar Jail in Punjab was taken to Mohali court on Thursday but the use of bullet-proof ambulance for his travel has caught the eye of many with Late BJP MLA Krishna Rai’s wife Alka also tweeting about the same.

Villagers are now electing more and more young candidates. In 2015, the number of people between 21 and 35 years was about 35.18 percent of the total candidates who won the panchayat elections, of them women account for 43.8 percent. The results suggest only 9.6 percent of illiterate candidates won the election.

The petition stated that God Krishna’s statues are buried under the stairs of a mosque located at the Dewan-e-Khas in Agra Fort.

LUCKNOW | FRIDAY, APRIL 2, 2021www.fi rstindia.co.in I www.fi rstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefi rstindia I facebook.com/thefi rstindia I instagram.com/thefi rstindia082NDFRONT

The only people, who don’t have time for anything, are the ones, who have nothing to do!

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

IN THE COURTYARD

First India Bureau

Lucknow: The upcom-ing Uttar Pradesh Pan-chayat Elections 2021 are likely to impact the board exams scheduled to be held around the same time.

The State Election Commission will con-duct the panchayat elections in four stages till May 12, 2021. In view of this, the UP Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad (UPMSP) may change the exam dates of Class 10 and 12 board exams as it clashes with the UP Panchayat Elections 2021.

It has also been re-

ported that the Elec-tion Commission has requested the board to consider postponing the exam dates. The UPMSP had released the schedule for the UP Board exam 2021 on February 10. As per the time table announced by UP Board, the exams are scheduled to be con-ducted between April 24 to May 12, 2021.

The exams will be conducted in two shifts - the morning shift will start from 8 am to 11:15 am and the evening shift from 2 pm to 5:15 pm. But the exams are most likely to be pushed forward in view of the

panchayat elections.According to media re-ports, after the an-nouncement of pan-chayat election dates,

the UP Board officials have now started pre-paring a new schedule for the exams.It has also been report-

ed that the board ex-ams may now be con-ducted in the first week of May. Significantly, the results of the UP

Panchayat elections 2021 will be revealed on May 2.However, no of-ficial announcement has been made by the UP board in this regard yet.

The Allahabad High Court had earlier given directions to the State Election Commission to conduct panchayat elections by April 30.

If panchayat elec-tions are held as per schedule, many state government teachers will be put on election duty. In such a situa-tion, it will not be easy for the board to con-duct the class 10 and 12 exams.

First India Bureau

Pratapgarh: With two more fatalities, the death count due to consumption of spuri-ous liquor in Udaypur area rose to six on Thursday, police said.Ram Pal Saroj (50) and Ram Milan Kori (35) died on Thursday dur-ing treatment, they said.

The police said a sub-inspector and a constable were sus-pended for alleged lax-ity in checking the sale of illicit liquor.

Earlier, senior police official Akash Tomar had suspended anoth-er police official in the case. Dilip Kori (48), his brother Pradeep Kori (35), maternal un-cle Siddhanath (65)

and Ram Kumar Praja-pati (35) died after con-suming liquor on Tuesday.

Three of the victims were from the same family and were resi-dents of Katariya vil-lage. The fourth was from Aahar Bihar vil-lage.

Five people, includ-ing main accused Dab-bu Singh, were arrest-ed in connection with the incident, police said.

Sumit Awasthi

Kanpur: After being ap-pointed as the Commis-sioner of Kanpur Nagar IPS Asim Arun had is-sued a communication describing technology as the weapon of police.

A 7 minute long video was uploaded to the offi-cial Facebook account of the police department in which the Commission-er of Police explained various rights of the po-lice in the Commission-erate and how to dis-charge them.

He instructed the po-lice personnel to use

these rights and nab criminals while not dis-turbing the common people. In the video, he stressed that technolo-gy has to be used in a better way and work in a way that a good image of the police force is

formed among the general public.

The implementation of Commissionerate has meant that police force has many power and have no longer have to wait for the decision of administrative officers for law and order or traf-fic to take action against criminals.

The police personnel will be able to settle sev-eral cases related to Gunda Act, NSA Act, land, etc. Under the Commissionerate the police can take action directly under various sections of IPC .

First India Bureau

Mirzapur: An influen-tial Muslim body in Mir-zapur -- Markazi Sunni Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind -- has said they will not solemnise Muslim mar-riages if dowry will be a part of it.

Terming dowry as “un-Islamic”, committee chairman Maulana Na-jam Ali Khan said that due to the ever-increas-ing demand for dowry, girls are not getting mar-ried in a large section of society. Further, the Muslim body also stated that they would not con-duct a nikah ceremony

where music and dance are happening and DJ is there. “This is against Islam; (we) will boycott such weddings,” the committee members of the Muslim body added.

Custodian of the Mus-lim body, Mufti Abdul Khalik said, “A move-ment has started in Mir-zapur against dowry seekers and those who eat while standing up.

Those who play DJ and fireworks in celebra-tion of marriages will also be boycotted. Mus-lim clerics had earlier also raised objections on the usage of music in weddings.

First India Bureau

Lucknow: A petition has been filed in the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court seeking the implemen-tation of the provisions of the Transgender Per-sons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 in UP.

The petitioner, Sonam Chisthy Alias Sonam Kinnar is seeking a di-rective to the state gov-ernment to constitute the Transgender Wel-fare Board in accord-ance with the Act. The petitioner stated, that the measures laid down by Supreme Court in National Legal Services Authority v. Union of

India must be imple-mented.

The petitioner has highlighted that in Sep-tember last year, there were various news pub-lications indicating that the state government was going to form a Transgender Welfare Board/Kinnar Ayog, but it has not been consti-tuted so far.

It has been pointed

out that the Central gov-ernment had already sought a response from the UP government on the implementation of the Transgender Per-sons Act. “The ministry of social justice and em-powerment, the govern-ment of India has sought report from the UP government regard-ing the implementation of provisions of the Act.

First India Bureau

Lucknow: A writ peti-tion was filed in the Lucknow Bench of Al-lahabad High Court against the rejection of opportunity to amend the online form filed for the recruitment of 69,000 assistant teach-ers which subsequently resulted in their selec-tion being cancelled.

The writ petition which has been filed on behalf of Sandhya Sonkar and others will be heard by the court on April 5.

Advocate Deepak Singh representing the petitioners said that that while filling the online form, the candi-dates of B.Ed. and BTC made an error in filling the marks by consider-ing ‘T’ as a total in the score.

But in fact as per the Education Department, the ‘T’ in the form stood for ‘Theory’ and not

‘Total’ and the absence of this explanation in the recruitment man-date caused confusion to the candidates at the time of filling.

The advocate said that on March 5, 2021, the Education Depart-ment issued a mandate and gave an opportu-nity to rectify many er-rors but did not allow the opportunity to rec-tify the above stated er-ror which resulted in cancellation of some candidates.

He added based on the above facts, the can-didates have decided to file a writ petition against the decition of education department.

Forthcoming Panchayat polls to play spoilsport for board exams

Death count rises to six, 2 more cops suspended

Asim Arun stresses use of technology in a better way

Muslim body no to dowry in weddings

Plea to form Transgender Welfare Board filedTeachers’ appointment: Writ against rejection of amendment filed

EXAMS LIKELY TO BE PUSHED FORWARD; BOARD OFFICIALS PREPARING NEW SCHEDULE

AT A GLANCE

—FILE PHOTO

MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR RAPING 10-YREAR-OLDFIROZABAD: A special POCSO court here on Thursday sentenced a man to death for raping a 10-year-old girl in December 2020, disposing of the case in a ‘record’

three and a half months.Additional Sessions Judge Mridul Dubey, heading the special court set up under the provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexu-al Offences Act, sentenced the accused, Neeraj, a resi-dent of a village under Jasrana police station, to death after convicting him of the offence of rape. Additional Government Counsel Ajumed Singh Chauhan said the offence was committed on December 14, 2020, when Neeraj had lured the girl to a desolate place in his

village and raped her.After hearing both the prosecution and defence counsel, the POSCO court gave its verdict in “record time”, the ADGC added.

HOLY THURSDAY

Continuing with their holy week towards Easter Sunday, St Joseph’s Cathedral Church observed Maundy’s Thursday, which marks last supper of Jesus with an evening service.

Ahtesham Siddiqui

Lucknow: The Cov-id-19 menace has hit the state badly and Uttar Pradesh’s De-partment of Appoint-ment and Personnel is not untouched by it.

The department which has always nev-er let its guard down, is finding it tough to cope with the current crisis as there are slight de-

lays in promotion and deployment of officers promoted to IAS from PCS, sources have said.

One of the examples of this complexity is the promotion issue of Rakesh Kumar Malpa-ni, a 1998-batch PCS of-ficer, who was promot-ed to IAS more than six months ago and was allotted the 2014 batch IAS cadre. Despite be-ing entitled to a higher posting, Malpani is

still holding the post of ADM City, Aligarh, the post he held when he was PCS officer. Mal-pani has not been given a new post by the Appointment

Department. This recent challenge

meted out by the depart-ment has made officers question whether the Appointment Depart-ment is deliberately de-

laying or if there is a genuine issue because of which promotions are not happening.

The bone of conten-tion here could be the lack of communication from the department it-self, sources said.

Twenty one PCS of-ficers of 1998-batch were promoted to IAS on September 23. Most of these officers are still holding the same posts they held before they were promoted.

Senior officials of bu-reaucracy said that the post of ADM is a very junior post and an IAS officer should not be

holding such a junior post and that the Ap-pointment Department should assign a proper position to IAS Rakesh Kumar Malpani. Thirty PCS officers of the 1998, 1999, 2000 batch of PCS cadre were recently rec-ommended to be pro-moted to IAS and it is yet to be seen if they will be assigned a post soon or not.

If the current scenar-io goes on then the PCS officers might become IAS officers but their dream of becoming a district magistrate might still be far for them.

PCS’ promoted to IAS rue delay in proper postingsPATIENCE PAYS

21 PCS officers of 1998-batch were promoted to IAS in Sept; Most of these officers are still holding same posts

SPURIOUS LIQUOR CASE

HEARING ON APR 5

Rakesh Kumar Malpani

—PHOTO BY SUM

IT KUMAR

LUCKNOW, FRIDAYAPRIL 2, 2021

www.fi rstindia.co.in I www.fi rstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefi rstindia facebook.com/thefi rstindia I instagram.com/thefi rstindia 09

YES, I AM A WINNER

iss Iconic Rajasthan by Faspro Fashion Academy one of the most exciting beauty pageants of the Pink City was recently or-ganised on March 20,

with the theme of #Yes-imthewinnner. The pageant ended up selecting the young talent, starting with the winner of Miss Iconic Rajasthan 2021 Divya Shekhawat; followed by the first runner up Priya Agar-wal, second runner up Kiran Jangid, third runner up Pre-rana Chhallani and fourth run-ner up Bhagyashree Mundra. Faspro Fashion Academy by Ravi Sharma is a platform where they nurture young tal-ent and allow them to prove themselves.

While talking about her journey, Divya Shekhawat said, “Since I was very young I had a dream that I want to make my career in the glamour industry, but as I grew up I realized it’s not

an easy task. I’m glad that I came across the platform of MIR, the mentors and whole team is very supportive.”

Priya Agarwal men-tioned, “My journey has been surreal! It was indeed a remarkable experience for me. From auditions to winning the title of MIR 1st runner-up I ended up learning so much. Also, I want to build a legacy that even short girls can be a titleholder.”

Kiran Jangid shared, “Learning from this plat-form was remarkable. For me, the real meaning of win-ning this title is to celebrate the totality of the beauty of a woman. I want to repre-sent my state at the national as well as international level in beauty pageants.”

Prerana Chhallani said, “Modelling is something I con-sistently look forward to. I will forever be grateful to this platform for bringing out

the best in me. Through this plat-form, I have been able to learn patience, share expe-riences and gain knowledge of a lifetime.”

Bhagyashree Mundra men-tioned, “Everyone has a goal in their life, and my goal is to be-

come a successful model, and a good human being

by maintaining posi-tive life ethics as I

am working hard for my goal to see

myself as an in-t e r n a t i o n a l runway model one day.”

M

CITY FIRST BRINGS YOU THE JOURNEY AND EXPERIENCE OF THE WINNERS AND RUNNER-UPS OF MISS ICONIC RAJASTHAN 2021!

KARISHMA GWALANIkarishma.gwalani@firstindia.co.in

From left: Bhagyashree Mundra, Prerena Challani, Uttam Sharma,Divya Shekhawat, Ravi Sharma, Priya Agarwal and Kiran Jangir

Priya Agrawal

Prerena Challani

Bhagyashree Mundra

Kiran Jangir CLOCKWISE: Rewati Upadhyay, Deepshikha Sharma and Divya Shekhawat

10ETC

LUCKNOW | FRIDAY, APRIL 2, 2021www.fi rstindia.co.in I www.fi rstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefi rstindia I facebook.com/thefi rstindia I instagram.com/thefi rstindia

FACE

OF TH

E DAY

ARSHYA KHULLAR, Actor

LEOJULY 24 - AUGUST 23

A senior will repose full faith in you for tackling a man management situation at work. Situation on the

fi nancial front will remain satisfactory, despite rising expenditure. A property issue may create tension on the home front. You will likely have a great time with family.

LIBRA SEPT 24 - OCTOBER 22

A profi table day is also indicated for professionals. There is much that needs to be done, so tighten your

belt. Good health is likely to provide you with oodles of energy and enable you to fi nish your work in a jiffy. Budgetary planning will be required for those going in for a renovation.

ARIESMAR 21 - APR 20

Good diet and regular exercise will keep you both physically and mentally robust. At work, you are

likely to remain in control and see a project to completion. Financially, you remain in a comfortable situation. Shifting into a new house is possible for some.

SAGITTARIUS NOV 23 - DEC 22

Your efforts on the professional front will be noted by those who matter. A child or younger sibling

can make you proud by his or her achievements. Good health keeps you energetic all throughout. A get together can prove expensive and pinch your pocket.

GEMINIMAY 21 - JUNE 21

A new exercise regime may need to be dovetailed to your requirements to benefi t. Your professional

rivals are likely to punch holes in your cost-cutting ideas for a project. Disagreements with a family member is possible. Those proceeding out of town are likely to make good speed.

AQUARIUSJAN 21 - FEB 19

An alternative to your staple diet may prove immensely enjoyable. An argument with senior can make you feel

insecure. You may fi nd the atmosphere on the home front serene and most welcoming. Places of tourist attraction may be on the agenda of those travelling on a pilgrimage.

TAURUSAPR 21 - MAY 20

Self-discipline and not succumbing to temptations will help in maintaining good health. Some of you

may get tied up in offi ce and reach home late today. It may become diffi cult to fi nd time for family today, but you will be able to make up for it later. Give out property on rent.

CAPRICORNDEC 23 - JAN 20

Time has arrived to reap rich rewards of your hard work. Parents or elders may nag you into doing

something you don’t want to, but you will manage to wriggle out of it! Accompanying a family member overseas or out of town cannot be ruled out for some.

VIRGOAUG 24 - SEP 23

A profi table venture is likely to fi ll up the coffers of some businesspersons. You may be held responsi-

ble for a deed that you have not committed at work. Fitness classes will prove immensely benefi cial, especially for those in the middle age group.

CANCERJUNE 22 - JULY 23

On the fi nancial front, a new source of income is likely to be tapped soon that may get your coffers

brimming! Health counselling will do wonders for those longing to come back in shape. You are likely to win much appreciation by completing a task in record time.

PISCESFEB20 - MARCH 20

This is a very positive day, in which you get to achieve much. It is important to get back into the thick of

things on the work front. Family grapevine can be abuzz with the latest gossip about you. Ensure adequate security in a long journey, as stars for travel.

SCORPIOOCT 23 - NOVEMBER 22

Taking up a good health scheme will prove benefi cial. A practical solution may be found for

a complex problem on the profes-sional front. Support of family members is assured in whatever you undertake. Some builders may start thinking in terms of a township soon.

YOUR DAY

Horoscope by Saurabbh Sachdeva

hen we speak of the Chakra sys-tem we are talk-ing about round vibrating disks located along the central line

of the body, vibrating with pranic energy; but anatom-ically speaking it is a net-work. It is believed that chakras are established in the mother’s womb during pregnancy. The fetus’ kun-dalini comes from the crown chakra all the way to the root chakra as it slowly develops. Once the

kundalini reaches the spine, the fetus goes in the head down position, ready for birth. ‘Matariswar-pra-na’ or the pranic energy in the mother’s womb is the same ‘matarishwar- prana’ or the cosmic prana of the big womb of the universe. Ayurveda believes that every individual is the cre-ation of a cosmic energy channelized through ‘Pu-rush-Prakriti’ or ‘male-fe-male’ energy. So in this way we can establish that Chakras are the wheels of life. ‘Rasachakrani’ is the lymphatic system, ‘Rakh-tachakrani’ is the network of capillaries and ‘Ma-jachakrani’ are the nerve plexus.

The Chakra system was a very closely guarded se-cret. It has only been open-ly spoken about in the last 3000 – 1500 years and has been widely adopted the world over. The Gita has a chapter on Yoga, Chakra and Kundalini. In the times of the Mahabharata the chakra system was a privilege that only close disciples were told about by their gurus so that they could attain higher con-sciousness and not misuse it. Some other ancient texts that talk about the chakra system are Yogata-ravali, Shivasamhita and Kashmiri Shaivism. Some amount of self-inquiry and understanding of the char-ka system can help you un-

lock the powerful benefits of this ancient system.

To understand the chakra system we must briefly understand the sci-ence of energy flow in our body or the Nadi system. Nadi is connected to the chakras, it is the chan-nel through which ‘prana’ is flowing. The crown chakra

or Sa-Ha-srara – means thousand-pet-al lotus

Sa is soma or moon / female / lunar energy

Ha is Surya or sun / male / solar energyThe right breath cycle

is Pingala nadi (Ha) is solar energy and left breath is

called Ida nadi (Sa) or lu-nar energy. Srara means to merge forming the central nadi channel, hence form-ing Sa-Ha-srara known as

the crown chakra. This makes our body bilaterally symmetrical.

It is with the knowledge of these and many more complex systems within us that allow us to under-stand our Chakras. The seven chakras are as fol-lows –

1MULADHARA : Root Chakra – The person striving for just sur-

vival is stuck at the root chakra. Color – Red

Weakened Chakra – If you are feeling unground-ed, exhausted and fatigued work on strengthening your root chakra

2 SWADUSHTHANA:Sacral Chakra – A person focused on

self-esteem and self-re-spect is governed by this chakra. Color – Orange

Weakened Chakra – If you are lacking creative energy focus on your sa-cral chakra

3MANIPURA : Solar Plexus – A person wielding and chal-

lenging his or her own will power and abilities is gov-erned by this chakra. Color – Yellow

Weakened Chakra – If you have lowered self-es-teem work on strengthen-ing your solar plexus

4 ANAHATA : Heart Chakra – a person striving for self-disci-

pline is at the heart chakra. Color – Green

Weakened Chakra – If you are feeling a lack of self discipline work on strengthening your heart chakra

5 VISHUDDHAN :Throat Chakra - a per-son governed by the

ability to communicate or lack of is at the throat chakra. Color – Blue

Weakened Chakra – If you are suffering from anx-iety or shyness work on strengthening your throat chakra

6 AJNA : Third Eye – one that is governed by strong intuition is

seated at the third eye. Color – Indigo

Weakened Chakra – If you are feeling a lack of direction or clarity work on strengthening your Third eye chakra

7 S A H A S R A R A :Crown Chakra – One that is in a state of

bliss is governed by the third eye. Color – Violet

Weakened Chakra – If you are feeling disconnect-ed with your spirit work on strengthening your crown chakra

Chakras can be strength-ened by Yoga – specifically suraya namaskar, Medita-tion – specifically So-hum meditation, pranayama and color therapy – by hav-ing more of the color cor-responding to the specific chakra in your environ-ment.

The chakra system can be used for spiritual devel-opment. Modern neuro sci-ence is intimately connect-ed with the ancient Vedic system. Ayurveda says look at man as the incarna-tion of god. Spiritual growth and spiritual devel-opment then becomes your birthright. This growth promotes clarity, compas-sion, love, and a blissful state of being.

DEVYANI SINGHAyurveda, Nutrition and Holistic Wellness AdvocateInstagram: @devyanirathore

AYURVEDA AND THE AYURVEDA AND THE CHAKRA SYSTEMCHAKRA SYSTEMEvery life form has

its own unique neuro-magnetic energy field governed by subtle energies, Nadi and Chakras. But what are these chakras and how can we benefits from them in our daily life?

W

The trailer of Zola, a film based on the infamous 2015 Twitter thread about a wild stripper

road trip was dropped recently and it looks every bit as dra-matic as the thread was. After the film based on the Twitter thread was presented at the Sundance Film Festival last year, A24 is now releasing Zola in theatres and hence a trailer of the same starring Taylour Paige and Riley Ke-ough has now been released.

—Agency

ETCwww.fi rstindia.co.in I www.fi rstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefi rstindia I facebook.com/thefi rstindia I instagram.com/thefi rstindia LUCKNOW | FRIDAY, APRIL 2, 2021

11

By sharing a gorgeous morn-ing view of the Taj Mahal, Bollywood star Abhishek Bachchan on Thursday an-

nounced the wrap of the Agra

schedule of his upcoming film ‘Das-vi’. The ‘Guru’ star took to Insta-gram to share an enigmatic picture featuring one of the seven wonders of the world and gave a quirky twist to the announcement with reference to his 2005 Rani Mukerji co-starrer ‘Bunty Aur Babli’.

—Agency

Bollywood star Rani Mukerji has complet-ed 25 years in the In-dian film industry this

year. Her incredibly success-ful career is punctuated by stellar, award-winning perfor-mances and Rani has surely

given Indian cinema some of

the most iconic and powerful wom-en on screen. The Bengali beauty ruled the box office in the 90s and has given some memorable hits. For the huge icon of Indian cinema, her journey has been about constant learning. But also gives credit to her fans for making her journey so memorable. —Agency

25 yearsCOMPLETED

The two renowned authors of India, Durjoy Dutta fa-mous for his work,

‘If it’s not Forever It’s not Love’, ‘Till The Last

Breath, as well as Ravinder Singh, is known for, ‘I Too Had Love Story’ and ‘Can Love Happen Twice’, have raged a war against each other through their Instagram account. The lat-ter has been ac-cused by Dur-joy, claiming that Ravin-der’s latest book Write me a Love

Story ‘IS THE

SAME STORY!’ as he had dic-tated to Ravinder during the Aaj Tak Literature Festival, where the two met. The netizens have guessed that this could be an April Fool’s prank as an allega-tion such as this could put a huge question mark on the pub-lishing industry as well as on plagiarism. And later it actually turned out as an April fool’s day prank as revealed by the writers.

War of Words

Millie Bobby Brown has been promot-ing her new film Godzilla vs Kong

and which debuts in thea-tres in the US and on HBO Max soon. The Stranger Things actress is seen re-prising her role as Madison Russell from Godzilla: King of Monsters in the new film. During the promotions of the film, Brown recently made a rather surprising revelation as she appeared for an inter-view with MTV.

—Agency

Trailer out!

Over the past few weeks, there has been a rise

in the COVID 19 cases in the nation and many big celebs from Bollywood also have contract-ed the virus. Now, senior composer-singer, Bappi Lahiri also has tested posi-tive for COVID 19, following which he was admitted to the hospital. —Agency

The Dadasa-heb Phal-ke award, the coun-

try’s highest film honour will be presented this year to Rajnikant for his ‘outstand-ing contribution to the growth and development of Indian cinema,’ Information and b r o a d c a s t i n g minister Prakash Javadekar made the announce-ment via his tweet.

—Agency

Bappi Lahiri hospitalised

The Superstar

Bollywood ac-tress and Bharatiya Ja-nata Party’s

MP from Chandigarh Kirron Kher has been diagnosed with blood cancer and is currently undergo-ing treatment in Mumbai. Veteran ac-tor Anupam Kher is-sued an official state-ment on his Twitter handle, that Kirron Kher is suffering from multiple myelo-ma, a type of blood cancer. —Agency

Diagnosed with blood cancer T

he ace film-maker, Rohit S h e t t y shared the

news on social me-dia along with pics of himself wherein he was seen getting his jab of vaccine at the hospital. In the caption, Rohit men-tioned that the only way to fight the deadly virus is get-ting vaccinated and urged everyone to get their dose of vaccination to avoid the widespread of coronavirus.

—Agency

Vaccinated

Wrap Up!Big RevelationBig Revelationhe gorgeous Deepika Padukone is currently busy with the shoot of Shakun Batra’s upcoming untitled film. Lately, she gave a glimpse of her playlist and her favourite song that she often listens to relax in between the shoots. Sharing the video, she wrote, “What are you listening to...!?.” Deepika can be heard saying, “I am a very good DJ. Show you my playlist. No. I’m very possessive about my playlist. Can I play it for you?

That’s my favourite song. I can show you the list. But it doesn’t matter. I mean. Actually, I don’t want to show you the list.” —Agency

T

Big PromotionsBig Promotions

SUSHMITA AINDcityfirst@firstindia.co.in

Rajnikant Rohit ShettyKirron KherBappi Lahiri

Deepika Padukone

Riley Keough

Millie Bobby Brown Rani Mukerji

Book Cover

Abhishek Bachchan

12CITY BUZZ

LUCKNOW | FRIDAY, APRIL 2, 2021www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia

A MAN OF DISCIPLINE AND ECLECTIC INTERESTSCITY FIRST

D r Sanjeev Chopra retired from the posi-

tion of Director, Lal Bahadur Shastri Na-tional Academy of Ad-ministration, on Wednesday, March 31, after a distinguished career in the Civil Ser-vices.

As the Director of the Academy, he left a distinctive mark on the premier institution. A very soft-spoken but wonderfully articulate person, with a lovely gentle smile that helps untangle complicated issues or discussions, he has been an extraor-dinarily inspiring fig-

ure and a bulwark of strength to those in the Academy and for the community outside.

Combining adminis-trative acumen with passionate engage-ment and strong con-

victions, he has in-spired batches of of-ficer trainees, mould-ing them into civil servants, reminding them persistently of what Sardar Patel, while addressing the 1948 batch of IAS offic-ers, had said, “Now it is your duty to serve the people of our coun-

try to the best of your ability. Be fair, be po-lite and firm, prepare yourself well.” Before joining as Director of LBSNAA, Mussoorie, he was the Additional Chief Secretary to the Government of West Bengal in charge of In-dustry, Commerce and Enterprises Depart-

ment, and Director General of ATI, Kolka-ta.

Currently, Dr Chopra is also working on a Mapping the In-dian States of India project, which looks at the interstate bounda-ries, the formation of linguistic states and the meta-narratives of Indian history post-in-dependence. He’s a col-umnist with First In-dia too.With the range of knowledge Dr Chopra carries within him and his diverse engagements one can only salute the man and wish him all the more success and hap-piness in his (active) retirement.

KEEPING DISTRACTIONS AT BAYCity First had a conversation with social media influencers and travellers about the narcotics and how to dismantle these distractions that come in the way!

he human mind is impec-cable. It works 24x7, both con-sciously and subconscious-ly. This super-

sonic, non-tiring work machine also is fickle in attention span. It gets distracted by the swish of a person’s movement and the tin-kle of mobile apps. So how do we lock our-selves out of the vir-tual world? The anti-dote to vying distrac-tions is in the routine we follow in our every-day lives.

City First ignited the conversation, about the drug to dis-mantle the distrac-tions with a group of working individuals

whose part-time job is to be an influencer.

Kiran Kukreja, a senior analyst and a food photographer said, “When I am work-ing, I try to keep my surroundings clear of distracting sources and keep the positive cues like my work planner, sticky notes around. Also, make myself locked out of social media applica-tions for a specific time, to be more en-grossed in my work rather than get divert-ed otherwise.”

But work can be hec-tic and a break be-comes a necessity to power through the dis-tractions.

Akash Pandey, an episodic traveller said, “Let’s face it- most of us have an at-tention span of a gnat! However, applying some time manage-ment techniques, si-lencing notifications

while working can help cope with it. Also, Travelling is one thing that will always pro-vide you with mental peace and might help take a break from so-cial media.”

Whereas, Chhavi Khatri, a student and a budding beauty blog-ger said, “These Insta-gram, Snapchat, What-sApp notifications are the most distracting thing these days. So, when I have to study or have to focus on the ideas for content crea-tion, I just put my phone on silent and shift my focus on what I am doing.”

Lastly, Arushi Ver-ma, a lifestyle influ-encer said, “I always prefer making a ‘To do list’ which is the most easier way to stay away from distrac-tions and complete your tasks on time while switching your internet off.”

MONICA PRABHAKARcityfirst@firstindia.co.in

T

HAPPY B’DAY!

(From top) IAS Anil Kumar Sagar, IAS Lakko Venkateshwarlu and PCS Amar Pal Singh, ADM celebrated their birthdays on Thursday, April 1. We wish them all the best!

PROUD MOMENT!

MEET AND GREET! INSPECTION!

CONGRATULATIONS!

VACCINATED!

APPOINTED!

Lieutenant General Yogendra Dimri took over the charge of General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Central Command on Thursday. Immediately on the assumption of Command, the Army Commander paid tributes at the SMRITIKA War Memorial, Central Command to all soldiers who fell in operations. He later reviewed the Guard of Honour. Lieutenant General Yogendra Dimri carries tremendous operational experience and has the distinction of commanding an Assault Engineer Regiment during ‘Operation PARAKARAM’.

Adding to the tally of Covid vaccine recipients in Uttar Pradesh, IAS Umesh Pratap Singh (L) was administered a vaccine shot on Thursday. The jabbing process was carried out in various hospitals of Lucknow. While Suhas LY, District Magistrate Noida (R) received the first dose of vaccine in Noida. Both the officers were thrilled after getting jabbed. They motivated the others to get vaccinated and cleared the doubts regarding the efficacy of the indigenous vaccines.

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held at the Income Tax Office, Lucknow on Thursday. President, Secretary and various executive board members were unanimously elected for the year 2021-22. The newly constituted Income Tax Bar Association were felicitated on the occasion. DD Chopra was appointed as the President, Bhargava as the Secretary while RK Sabharwal, SN Kohli, Prashant Kapse, Pankaj Sabharwal, Sumit Tewari, Vishal Mehrotra and Sidharth Kohli were appointed as the board members.

Urban Development Minister Ashutosh Tandon paid a courtesy visit to Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya on Thursday in Lucknow.

Saurabh Kumar Srivastava, MLA from Varanasi Cantt along with the General Manager of Jalkal, Kanpur inspected various areas including the Tulsipur ward to solve the drinking water issues on Thursday. Srivastava assured that the problem will be resolved within two days and every citizen will be able to consume clean drinking water. Former councillors Bharat Jaiswal, Ashok Sonkar, councillor Punnu Lal Bind, Aditya Sharma, Biru Yadav were also present among others during the inspection.

Advocate Lalit Mohan Mishra has been elected as the President of the Junior Executive body of the Central Bar Association in s district court of Lucknow. Lalit, who has pursued graduation and LLB from Shia College of Lucknow, not only has been in news for his skills as an eminent lawyer but is famous for contributing his bit for the welfare of the animals in the city.

Dr Sanjeev Chopra

Akash Pandey Chhavi Khatri

Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy, Mussorie

Arushi Verma Kiran Kukreja