��
� Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2021-2023
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� INDORE � BHOPAL � UJJAIN � MUMBAI � PUNE
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126 test
+ve in city
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������
Number of positive cases
of Covid-19 has increased
over 100 again after 41 days.
As many as 126 patients
tested positive out of 1,894
sample reports received on
Thursday. Over 100 cases
was recorded on January 9
when 145 were tested posi-
tive.
Rate of positive patients
was recorded at 6.65% and
the total number of posi-
tive patients reached 58490.
No death was reported due
to which the total number
of deaths remained 927 so
far. According to the bul-
letin released by the
CMHO, reports of total
samples received till Thurs-
day was 8,16,480. As many
as 1,755 samples were tested
negative on Thursday.
Department has taken
1973 more samples for test-
ing including 1575 for RT-
PCR.
As many as 483 patients
are getting treatment in
various hospitals of the
city. Total 57,080 patients
have been discharged so far.
RAIL ROKO STIR
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Have not leaked anything to
media, police tell Delhi HC
���������
Delhi Police on Thursday
told the Delhi High Court
that they have not leaked
any material to the media in
relation to its probe in the
FIR against climate activist
Disha Ravi for her alleged
involvement in sharing a
toolkit backing the ongoing
farmers' protest. The court
was hearing Ravi's plea to
������������
restrain police from leaking
to the media any probe ma-
terial in relation to the FIR
lodged against her.
The submission was
made before Justice
Prathiba M Singh by Solic-
itor General Tushar
Mehta, appearing for the
police. The court asked the
police to file an affidavit
containing its submission
Cong leaders clash
over bandh call
������������������
������
A meeting of the Congress
party to chalk-out strategy
for Saturday’s half-day
bandh turned ugly when
two leaders clashed at the
party office in the presence
of former minister PC
Sharma, on Thursday. Son
of DCC president Anil
Mishra and Congress
leader Dhamendra Rai
were involved in the clash.
When the meeting was ini-
tially started, both Mishra
and Rai were sitting togeth-
er. When the question came
about closing of shops, Rai
pointed at Mishra and asked
whether Mishra’s liquor
shop will also be closed’. On
this both of them had heated
arguments which turned
into a clash.
Former mayor Vibha Pa-
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that it has not leaked any
material relating to the in-
vestigation to the media.
Since there were no
counsels representing the
News Broadcasting Stan-
dards Authority (NBSA)
and some of the media
houses named in Ravi's pe-
tition, the court issued no-
tice to them and said it will
hear the matter on Friday.
The petition has also
sought to restrain the me-
dia from publishing the
content or extract of any
private chats, including
those on WhatsApp, be-
tween her and third par-
ties. Ravi said she is "se-
verely aggrieved and preju-
diced by the media trial
surrounding her arrest
and the ongoing investiga-
tion, where she is being
viscerally attacked by the
respondent 1 (police) and
several media houses".
tel and others tried to paci-
fy them but nobody paid at-
tention to their pleas.
After much rumpus, fi-
nally they calmed down
and just after that the meet-
ing was dissolved.
When asked, media coor-
dinator Narendra Saluja
refused such ‘ruckus’ oc-
curred between the two
Congress leaders. He
claimed: ‘It is a work of Op-
position, which wanted to
kill harmony of the party
and wanted to create confu-
sion’.
������������
����
She claimed that her arrest
from Bengaluru on Feb 13 by
a Cyber Cell team of Delhi
Police was "wholly unlawful-
ly and without basis".
She also contended that in
the present circumstances,
it was "highly likely" that
the general public will per-
ceive the news items "as be-
ing conclusive as to the guilt
of the petitioner (Ravi)". "In
these circumstances, and to
restrain the respondents
from further violating her
privacy, her reputation, and
her right to a fair trial, the
petitioner is moving present
petition," the plea has said.
Her petition has alleged
that investigative matters
have been leaked to the me-
dia and the press briefings
by the police are "prejudi-
cial" and "grossly violative
of her right to a fair trial
and presumption of inno-
cence". ������������
I-T sleuths raid
20 premises of
Cong MLA Daga
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The income-tax department
sleuths on Thursday raided
business and residential
premises of Congress legis-
lator and businessman Nilay
Daga. According to sources,
the business of Dagas is
worth Rs 1,000 crore.
The I-T sleuths have come
across several irregularities
during the initial probe of
the records. The evidence,
the income-tax department
has laid their hands on, may
bring to light tax evasion
worth crores of rupees. It
happened for the first time
in the state that the income-
tax department raided the
premises of a legislator.
Apart from Nilay, the resi-
dential and business premis-
es of his three brothers
Neeraj Daga, Shreyansh
Daga and Kaushik Daga
were also raided.
������������
Clean chit to ex-CJI Gogoi; charge was part of ‘plot’
����������
���������
The Supreme Court on
Thursday once again ab-
solved the then Chief Jus-
tice of India Ranjan Gogoi
of the charge of sexual ha-
rassment of a staff member
posted at his residence.
A Bench of Justices S K
Kaul, A S Bopanna and V
Ramasubramanian accept-
ed the report of a commit-
tee headed by former Apex
Court judge A K Patnaik
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The retail price of regular
petrol also breached the Rs
100 per litre mark in state’s
many districts on Thurs-
day. The fuel rates were in-
creased for the tenth day in
a row. Price of regular
petrol went past Rs 100-
mark in fourteen districts
of the state including
Rewa, Dindori, Umaria,
Sheopur, Shahdol, Satna,
Neemuch, Panna, Chhat-
tarpur, Chhindwara, Shiv-
puri, Burhanpur, Balaghat
and Alirajpur on the day.
Anuppur district was the
first to have breached the
mark in the state. In the
next few days other dis-
tricts would follow the cue.
In Bhopal, petrol costs Rs
98.96 per litre.
While the premium
petrol, which attracts high-
Puducherry Lt Guv
asks CM to prove
majority on Feb 22
��������
����������
The Congress government
in Puducherry will have to
prove its majority in the as-
sembly on February 22 with
Lt Governor Tamilisai
Soundararajan on Thurs-
day ordering the floor test,
hours after assuming
charge vowing to function
in accordance with the Con-
stitution.
The development came
days after a ruling party
MLA resigned, becoming
the fourth to quit the as-
sembly since last month,
bringing down the num-
bers of the Congress-DMK
alliance to 14 in the 33-
member House with an ef-
fective strength of 28.
Soundararajan,
Telangana Governor hand-
the
ed additional charge of the
UT on Tuesday following
the removal of Kiran Bedi,
issued the direction to
Chief Minister V ��������������
Narayanasamy after the
opposition, which also has
14 MLAs, petitioned her,
saying the government has
been reduced to minority
and it should prove its
strength on the floor of the
assembly.
Gowtham goes to CSK for Rs 9.25 cr
���������� �������
�����������������������
��������
All-rounder Krishnappa Gowtham
was on Thursday bought by Chennai
Super Kings (CSK) in the ongoing
mini-auction of the Indian Premier
League (IPL). Kolkata Knight Riders
(KKR) opened the bidding for
Gowtham at his base price of Rs 20
lakh but was eventually picked by
CSK for Rs 9.25 cr. Star wicket-keeper
batsman Mohammed Azharuddeen
was sold to Royal Challengers Banga-
lore (RCB) for Rs 20 lakh.
������������������������������������������������
holding that a con-
spiracy cannot be
ruled out in the
sexual harassment
charges levelled
against Justice
Gogoi in April
2019.
The Patnaik com-
mittee report said
it could be because
of the tough stand
taken by the then CJI on ju-
dicial and administrative
matters.
In its order, the court said
����������������
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tricts on Thursday. Rs 100 per liter but now even
Diesel and petrol rates the regular petrol is being
were hiked for the tenth sold at Rs 100.”
day in a row. Global oil pro- The rising crude oil
ducers have to ease pro- prices during the last few
duction cuts since higher weeks are hurting the frag-
prices are impacting de- ile global economic recov-
mand in Asia’s third ery due to significant de-
largest economy. Madhya mand contraction, which
Pradesh levies 33 per cent might even mirror the im-
plus Rs 4.5 a litre and 1 per pact of COVID-19 in its ini-
cent cess on petrol. On tial stages. The price-sensi-
diesel, it charges 23 per tive consumers are affect-
cent plus Rs 3 per litre and ed by rising petroleum
1 per cent cess. product prices. It also af-
Petrol pump dealers Asso- fects demand growth,
ciation president Ajay Singh which could potentially
said, “In Madhya Pradesh, impact the delicate aspira-
er taxes, had crossed the retail price of regular petrol tional economic growth
100 mark a few days back, has breached Rs100 per litre trajectory not just in India
the regular petrol price fol- barrier in many districts. but in other developing
lowing the same pattern Earlier, the retail price of countries as well, Ajay
crossed the figure in 4 dis- premium petrol had crossed Singh added.
���������������� METRO MAN
Army joins search JOINING BJP
����������
for missing people
���������
In a shot in
the arm for
������������������ the army from Jabalpur. the BJP in the
������ The SDRF team does not upcoming
have suitable equipment to Kerala As-
A team of army personnel enter the tunnel and search sembly elec-
on Thursday joined search for the missing persons. tions, ‘Metro
and rescue operation of
three missing persons of
The army team joined the
SDRF team and went into
Man’ E Sreedharan on
Thursday announced his
the Bansagar canal bus ac- the tunnel equipped with decision to join the party.
cident in Sidhi district. oxygen cylinders, search He is likely to do so during
The SDRF, police and dis- lights and other diving the party’s Vijay Yatra,
trict administration till equipment. On Thursday, which gets kicked off on
date recovered 50 bodies the team did not get any Sunday in the run-up to the
from canal water while one clue about the missing peo- polls due in May.
died in the hospital. Three ple. Modi has bent backwards
people are still missing and Now, the joint team will to accommodate the 88-
to search them, the district start search operation on year-old Sreedharan, as
administration has called Friday morning.
�������������
the party has an age cut-off
of 75 years, under which
�������������������
veterans like Advani and
Joshi were shown the door.
The ‘Metro Man’ told re-
����������������������
����������������
����������������������
porters from his hometown
Malappuram that only for-
malities remain and he is
�������
�������������� amenable to contesting the
������������������ election, if the party wants.
�������������� "I have been living in Ker-
������ ala for last 10 years, since my
retirement. I have seen dif-
ferent governments come
���������������������
and go but they have all been
��������������������
��������������� found wanting. I am joining
��������������������� the BJP to be able to con-
����������������� tribute my mite, using my ex-
������������������������������������������������������������� perience," he said, explain-
���������������������������������������������������� ing why he opted for the BJP.
������������������������������������������������������ ������������
������������ Nathan Coulter-
Nile were picked
Uncapped player Shahrukh Khan up by Mumbai In-
was bagged by Punjab Kings. dians for Rs 3.2
Shahrukh had his base price of Rs 20 crore and Rs 5
lakh but he went to Punjab Kings for crore respectively.
Rs 5.25 crore. Delhi Capitals, RCB, Indian pacer
and Punjab Kings all made the bids Umesh Yadav was
for him, but in the end, the winning ������������� bought by Delhi
bid was made by Punjab Kings. Capitals for Rs 1
Rajat Patidar was sold to RCB crore and Sheldon Cottrell, Alex
for Rs 20 lakh while India spinner Carey, Sam Billings, and Kusal Per-
Piyush Chawla was picked by Mum- era all went unsold. Meanwhile,
bai Indians for Rs 2.4 cr. Bangladesh South African all-rounder Chris Mor-
bowler Mustafizur Rahman was sold ris became the most expensive player
to Rajasthan Royals for Rs 1 crore
while New Zealand pacer Adam
at an IPL auction after he was bought
by Rajasthan Royals for Rs 16.25
Milne and Australian all-rounder crore. �������������������
Justice Patnaik ac- Gogoi. The court noted that also have led to the hatching
knowledged a an Intelligence Bureau re- of the conspiracy. "Two
wider conspiracy port submitted to the Jus- years have passed and the
behind the sexual tice Patnaik committee had possibility of recovery of
harassment stated that some people electronic evidence is un-
charges levelled were unhappy with Gogoi likely.
against retired CJI because of his tough stand The three-member com-
Gogoi. on finalisation of NRC-As- mittee headed by CJI SA
Justice Patnaik sam and this could have Bobde has already submit-
said he did not been part of the plot to de- ted a report. Suo motu, the
have the mandate fame him. case is closed and proceed-
to probe the con- The Justice Patnaik com- ings are disposed of. There
spiracy as already a 3-judge mittee is also reported to is no requirement to keep
committee headed by Jus- have said that Gogoi's tough the case going on”, the
tice Sharad A Bobde had decisions to streamline the court said in its order clos-
given a clean chit to Justice top court's registry could ing the case.
2 INDORE CITY
FREE PRESS
FRIDAY | FEBRUARY 19, 2021 | INDORE
Bookings for Mhow-Ratlam DEMU begins
INDORE: The tickets bookings for Mhow-Ratlam special DEMU train started from
Thursday. Two pairs of DEMU trains will restart from next Saturday. The Advance
Reservation Period (ARP) for ticket bookings of train no. 09347/09348 Mhow-Ratlam is
kept at 10 days.

IIM Indore signs MoU RTO men on hyper

Doc misbehaves
with Ayush team; cop
'inaction' alleged checking drive
with MCTE, Mhow
OUR STAFF REPORTER
Indore IIMI will develop
OUR STAFF REPORTER
Indore

A doctor in Bhawarkuan area misbe-

IIM Indore signed an MoU
with Military College of
Telecommunication Engi-
neering (MCTE), Mhow on
Thursday.
Valid for a period of three
years, the MoU was signed
by Director of IIM Profes-
sor Himanshu Rai, and Lt
General MU Nair, SM, Com-
mandant, MCTE, Mhow.
Mentioning that this is the
first MoU with the Army,
Rai said that this would
prove to be valuable and
would encourage close co-
operation amongst the de-
fence, academia and indus-
try to interact closely.
"The partnership is envis-
aged to be mutually benefi-
cial for both institutions.
haved and manhandled a team of
AYUSH doctors who reached his day
care centre for inspection, on Thurs-
short capsule courses day, over a complaint made to CM
Helpline.
in contemporary The accused doctor allegedly tore the
management skills documents of the team members and
abused them along with misbehaving
for the foreign with the lady doctor. The victim doc-
students hosted by tors also alleged that the police didn't
provide any help to them after the inci-
MCTE and will dent.
provide assistance in According to District AYUSH officer
Dr Himmat Singh Dawar, our team in-
research in the field cluding Dr Garima Mandloi and Dr
of Big Data Analytics Sachin Shah had reached The Day Care
and Vaccination Centre at Bholaram
and Predictive Ustad Marg to probe over a complaint
Analytics based made against the centre in CM
Helpline.
problem solutions "A complaint was made against Hema
Pardesi and it was mentioned that she
didn't have any eligible degree and also OUR STAFF REPORTER many as 130 buses at Dhar Road and
Online Rural Engagement prescribed allopathic medicines but
Pardesi claimed to have a BHMS de-
Indore Khandwa Road during the drive
against passenger buses violating

For MCTE, it will be an op-
portunity to leverage the
expertise of the faculty and
research scholars of IIM in
the field of management
studies. For the faculty
650 STUDENTS WILL DO A
members at IIM, it would
provide an opportunity to
connect to practical reality
in the relevant research and
developmental activities
thereby enriching the do-
Programme starts
lenges of Covid19 and Be-
yond.
TELEPHONIC SURVEY OF There are 1.33 lakh
schools in India; out of
13,000 RESPONDENTS which 69 per cent are in
FROM RURAL AREAS OF the urban region and 31
per cent in the rural areas.
THE 52 DISTRICTS OF 94 per cent of the govern-
ticipants which enables
them to make quick and
correct decisions, connect
to the ground and be sen-
sitive.
"We tracked and mapped
all the learners and con-
ducted various digital and
gree. When Dr Garima and Dr Sachin
reached the spot, Dr Anil Ghai came
there and misbehaved and manhandled
them and abused them," Dawar said.
He added that the victim doctors
lodged a written complaint against the
doctor but police didn't take any action.
"We also called the ASP, SP, and ADM to
inform them about the incident and to
get help in the matter but they couldn't
take call," The AYUSH officer added.
Continuing the action against pas-
senger buses, officials of Regional
Transport Office hit the roads con-
secutively for the second day on
Thursday and seized two buses for
over crowding.
Moreover, the officials also sus-
pended the fitness certificates of
two buses for violating the norms.
According to ARTO Archana
Mishra, "We have checked on as
norms. We have slapped challans to
as many as 31 buses and collected
fines of Rs 62,500."
She said that permits of two buses
were cancelled as their emergency
exits were blocked with net and
speed governors were also tem-
pered.
ARTO Nisha Chouhan, RTI Ravin-
dra Singh Thakur and others were
also present during the action.

Evening rain brings relief

main expertise', he said.
Lt. Gen. Nair shared his
delight over signing the
MoU with IIM Indore.
"MCTE hosts almost 20-30
foreign students from 10 to
12 different foreign coun-
tries. Short capsules in con-
temporary management
skills designed for these for-
eign students by IIM, Indore
will go a long way in foster-
ing good relations between
the countries", he said.
The MoU will also focus
on joint research, joint case
studies, with special focus
on big data analytics and in
implementation of predic-
tive analytics based prob-
lem definitions with the as-
sistance and expertise pro-
vided by IIM Indore.
MADHYA PRADESH
Indore
The orientation of the
Rural Engagement Pro-
gramme (REP) 2021 took
place at IIM Indore on
Thursday.
This time, the pro-
gramme is being conduct-
ed in online mode, where-
in the participants would
be conducting a telephon-
ic survey of around 40,000
participants from rural
areas of 52 districts of
Madhya Pradesh.
The subject of this year's
REP is 'School Education
in Rural Madhya Pradesh:
Overcoming the Chal-
ment schools are in rural
areas in Madhya Pradesh,
while just 6 per cent are in
urban areas. There are 98
lakh students enrolled in
both elementary and sec-
ondary levels; however,
just 30 per cent have ac-
cess to a smartphone. Ma-
jority of the students
(65%) have access to radio
and television (60%). IIM
Indore REP participants
would be able to analyse
the initiatives taken by
the Government to pro-
vide obstacle-free educa-
tion to the school students
in rural areas.
Principal Secretary
Rashmi Arun Shami, not-
ed that the REP will pro-
vide learning to the par-
non-digital initiatives
with tag #AbPad-
haiNahiRukegi. These in-
cluded State Wide Radio
Programme, Digital
Learning Enhancement
Programme, Teacher
Training through DIK-
SHA, TV Broadcasts like
Swayamprabha, What-
sApp based assessments
and HumaraGhar, Humar-
aVidyalay '', she said.
The participants also got
an opportunity to interact
with Jami, who spoke on
the topic-'School Educa-
tion in India: Challenges
and Opportunities'. Shi-
tanshu Shukla shared his
views on 'New Initiatives
for School Education in
Madhya Pradesh'.
OUR STAFF REPORTER
Indore
Citizens on Thursday got relief from
soaring temperature as the weather
took a U-turn and city received light
showers. Sky remained cloudy
throughout the day and it rained in
the evening which pulled the day tem-
perature again below the normal tem-
perature.
According to meteorological depart- wind discontinuity in the lower levels over West Madhya Pradesh."
ment officials, the weather would re- over Central India with moisture in- However, maximum temperature on
main the same on Friday. flow from Bay of Bengal. It is likely to Thursday was recorded at 28.4 de-
"Due to the change in weather, the move southwestward and persist dur- grees Celsius which was one degree
day and night temperature will drop ing the next 24 hours. Under its influ- Celsius below the normal while the
and will give a sense of chill once ence, light to moderate rainfall at a night temperature was recorded at
again," meteorological department of- few places with isolated thunder- 15.5 degrees Celsius which was three
ficials said adding "There is a strong storm, lightning, and hail very likely degrees Celsius above the normal.

Governor in city, to take

part in 3 functions
STSF's role in leopard
shooting questioned
Probe may be taken away
soon from strike force
OUR STAFF REPORTER
Indore
The state Tiger Strike Force (STSF)
of Madhya Pradesh with leopard
state status still hasn't been able to
find the hunter who mercilessly shot
the leopard with 42 shrapnels. While
STSF blames the local authorities
for negligence in the matter prior to
their investigation, questions about
their investigation team and
progress have also been raised in the
the case.
STSF officers have been asked to
send a report on the incident. Ac-
cording to departmental sources, the
investigation may soon be taken
away from the STSF.
On July 10, 2020, the leopard was
found in the injured severely in the
Nayapura range. It was reported by
Rohitaswa Pandey and then rescued
by forest department.
A quarter of a month later, the city
scan was done, in which the leop-
ard's head was found to have 42
shrapnel. After that investigation
began on hunting incident. But four
times within seven months, the in-
Covid shot for
Infantry School
Commandant
1800 given Covid vaccine
at Military Hospital so far
MHOW (FPNS)
Vaccination drive against
Covid 19 started on Feb-
ruary 15 at the Military
Hospital in Mhow with
the help of the state
health department.
Infantry School com-
mandant Lt Gen Anan-
thanarayan received the
vaccine on Thursday
morning. He reached the
hospital at about 11:30 on
Thursday and Military
Hospital's Brigadier Shar-
Soil testing before
plantation this year
FOREST DEPT WANTS TO
INCREASE SURVIVAL
RATE OF SAPLINGS
OUR STAFF REPORTER
Indore
Lakhs of saplings are planted
in the forests every year, but
thirty to forty per cent of the
plants die or they do not grow
properly. Now the forest de-
partment has decided that soil
testing of each location will be
Collecting samples
There are about 20 to 30 main
plantation sites in the Indore
forest division, which have
been identified by the depart-
ment. Soil samples are being
collected from here. After in-
vestigation, the department
will determine plant species at
these places. Based on that,
plants will be planted in these
places.
Will conduct soil test

OUR STAFF REPORTER
Indore
Governor Anandiben Patel
arrived in the city on
Thursday on a three-day
stay. She will participate in
three functions on Friday
and Saturday.
Patel was given a warm
welcome at Devi Ahilyabai
Holkar Airport by Water
Resources minister Tulsir-
am Silawat. On this occa-
sion MP Shankar Lalwani,
vice-chancellor of Devi
Ahilya University, Renu
Jain, divisional commis-
sioner Dr Pawan Kumar
Sharma, IG Harinarayan
Chari Mishra, collector
Manish Singh, DIG Manish
Kapooria and other offi-
cers were present.
The Governor will attend
various programmes in the
city on 19 and 20 February.
According to the scheduled
programme, Governor Pa-
tel will leave for Devi
Ahilya University on Fri-
day at 10.55 am. She will
participate in the annual
convocation ceremony of
Devi Ahilya University
from 11 am. At 3 pm, from
the Devi Ahilya University
campus, she will virtually
participate in the convoca-
tion programme of Dr
Ambedkar Social Science
University, Mhow. At the
end of the programme at
4.30 pm, Governor Patel will
leave for the Residency
Kothi and stay the night
here.
Governor Patel will at-
tend the second convoca-
tion ceremony of Symbio-
sis University of Applied
Science at Bada Bangarda
at 10 am on Saturday. After
the end of the programme,
she will leave for Ujjain by
11 am.
department.
Complainants alleged that the team
has been protecting the accused.
There have been complaints regis-
tered with the Ministry of Forest
and Environment and the Wildlife
Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) in
Girl commits suicide
Indore: A 25-year-old girl allegedly
committed suicide by hanging himself
from the ceiling of her residence in
Khajrana area on Wednesday night.
No suicide note was recovered from
the spot.
According to the police, the deceased
has been identified as Swati, a resi-
dent of Suraj Nagar area of the city.
She was found hanging by one of her
family members when she was rushed
to the hospital but she could not be
saved. She was employed as a HR man-
ager in an advisory company. It was
the marriage anniversary of her par-
ents on Wednesday. The police are tak-
ing the statement of the deceased to
know the reason for her suicide.
vestigation has been handed over to
different authorities.
Neither the hunter has been found
nor the gun has been discovered.
STSF has been investigating since
November 2020. But no progress has
been reported yet.
Indore-Amritsar train to
restart on Feb 23
OUR STAFF REPORTER
Indore
The bi-weekly special train be-
tween Indore-Amritsar will be
operational again on 23 February,
according to a railway official.
Train number 09325 Indore
Amritsar Special Express, will
depart from the city at 19.45 hrs
on Tuesdays and Fridays, and
will reach Amritsar at 21.00 the
next day. Similarly, train num-
ber 09326, Amritsar-Indore Spe-
cial Express will restart on Feb-
ruary 25, and it will start from
Amritsar on Thursdays and
ma received him on his
arrival at the hospital and
showed him the facilities
at the hospital. He said
that so far 1800 Army per-
sonnel have received the
vaccine.
Sundays at 01.50 hours and will
reach the city at 00.55 hours the
next day.
The train will have halts at De-
was, Maxi, Shajapur, Beawara
Rajgarh, Ruthiai, Guna, Shiv-
puri, Gwalior, Agra Cantt,
Mathura, Faridabad, Hazrat
Nizamuddin, Ghaziabad,
Meerut City, Muzaffarnagar,
Deoband, Sararanpur, Yamu-
nanagar Jagadhri, Jamadhri
from both directions. The train
will have one second AC, five
third AC, nine sleepers and four
general class coaches.
done before plantation. This
work will be completed by
April, so that more saplings
survive.
About 8-10 lakh saplings are
planted in the Indore, Choral,
Mhow and Manpur ranges
coming under the Indore for-
est division. At present,
foresters plant any species
without conducting a soil test.
As a result, many of the
saplings do not survive.
On the instructions of Divi-
sional Forest Officer (DFO) Dr
Kiran Bisen, the soil is being
tested in most of the sites be-
fore the plantation to be held
in June. College of Agricul-
ture is helping in soil testing.
This work is to be completed
by the forest workers before
April.
The amount of potassium,
minerals, zinc, manganese in
the soil will be found through
the testing so that these short-
comings can be suplemented
through manure.
A
ccording to the
rules, soil testing
has to be done be-
fore planting
saplings.Through this, the
soil deficiencies will be
filled with manure. Soil-
friendly plant species will be
planted at the said location.
� AK SRIVASTAVA, SDO
Indore Forest Division
To register the name in the
Guinness Book, one crore plants
were planted in the state in 2016
and six crore saplings in 2017 in
a day, which included 22 lakh
plants in both years in the In-
dore forest division.
In 2018, the Congress govern-
ment was formed, and it con-
ducted an investigation to
know the reality of these plan-
tations, in which the number of
plants was found less in many
places. However, later the de-
partment had re-planted new
saplings in place of those that
had died.

DOC IN THE DOCK FOR ILLEGAL ADVTS ON MANIKBAGH BRIDGE

IMC SLAPS IMC officials said they received a
complaint that Dr M Hablani, who
RS 3K FINE runs a clinic in Manik Bagh area, has
pasted flex and put up hoardings on
the pillars of the Manikbagh Bridge.
DRIVING SCHOOL An FIR has been registered against
him at Juni Indore police station
ALSO FINED along with a spot fine of Rs 3,000. The
team also imposed a spot fine of Rs
OUR STAFF REPORTER 2,000 on a car driving training insti-
Indore tution owner.
IMC has recently decorated the
Indore Municipal Corporation walls below the bridge with art and
lodged an FIR against a doctor in the designs as well as painted the rest of
Manikbagh area for illegally pasting the walls, officials said.
advertisements on the pillars of Being extra cautious for the
Manikbagh Bridge. A car driving Swachhata Survekshan 2021, corpo-
school was also fined. ration commissioner Pratibha Pal
had issued orders that no one will be
allowed to paste any pamphlet, flex
etc anywhere in public space with-
out the consent of the property own-
er or without permission of IMC.
The IMC has also decided to lodge
FIR against persons found violating
the order.
"IMC will lodge an FIR against vi-
olators under Madhya Pradesh Sam-
patti Virupan Nivaran Adhiniyam,
1994 for pasting banners and posters
in public places," said Pal.
"They make the area look untidy
and spoils the beauty of the city. IMC
is making murals on the walls in
many areas to make the city look
neat and clean," said Pal.

������������������������
������������������������
1,599 plots worth Rs 3,250cr freed from clutches of land mafia: Collector
������������������
������
In a major crackdown against land mafia in
the city, police booked 17 accused for land
fraud worth more than Rs 3,250 crores and
two of them, Mukesh Khatri and Shridhar
Kadam, were arrested by MIG police and
Khajrana police respectively. The police
raided many places in Khajrana area on
Thursday night in search of the accused.
DIG Manish Kapooria said that six FIRs
(four in Khajrana police station and two in
MIG police station)were registered late on
Wednesday. Khajrana police station staff
registered four FIRs against Dilip Sisodiya,
Naseem Haidar, Kamlesh Jain, Omprakash
Dhanwani, Deepesh Kumar Vora, Keshav
Nachani, Jitendra Dhawan, Rajeev Dhawan,
Dhreedhar Kadam, Ramsevak Pal, Ghulam
Sattar and Rameshchandra Jain. MIG police
booked Surendra Sanghvi, Prateek Sanghvi,
Vimal Lohariya, Pushpendra Nema, Ran-
veer Singh Sudan and Mukesh Khatri.
The police have registered the case
against the accused in connection with the
fraud in Nandanagar Sahkari Sakh
Sanstha, Heena Palace Colony and Pushp
Vihar Colony. They have been accused of
preparing registry of plots that had al-
ready been sold by using forged documents
in Nandanagar Sahkari Sakh Sanstha.
HOPE FOR GENUINE
PLOT HOLDERS
With the FIRs and arrests there is hope for
the genuine plot holders. Collector Manish
Singh said that 1,599 plots estimated to be
worth Rs 3250 cr. is being liberated from the
clutches of land mafia. Now, a committee
will look into the matter and hand over the
plots to the legal owners of these colonies.
IMC's week-long campaign for resolving problems
IMC DIARY
������������������ problems. IMC officials said
������ complaints about new tap con-
nections, complaints of dirty
The Indore Municipal Corpora- water, work of leakage and
tion has started a seven-day restoration, complaints about
campaign from Thursday till pipeline leakage, boring / hand
February 24 to resolve the prob- pumps, etc are received and
lems of citizens regarding wa- their proper resolution will be
ter supply and other related done under the camp.
Barwani RTO wakes up
after Sidhi bus tragedy
���������������
�������
In the wake Sidhi Bus
tragedy which has claimed
life of 51 people so far---
the Barwani regional
transport office intensi-
fied their checking drive
against buses. On Thurs-
day, department teams led
by the regional transport ����������������������������������������������������������������
officer (RTO) Ritu Agraw-
al verified documents and
����������������������������������������������������������
�������������������������������
fitness certificates of
more than 20 buses at Reva
Circle. seized a bus with registra-
During the drive, team tion number MP-41/P5114
COPS INSTALL REFLECTORS ON TRACTOR, BULLOCK-CART
KHETIA:•After the tragic bus accident
in Sidhi there is spurt in police action in
Khetia, situated on the border of Madhya
Pradesh.
Police station in-charge Santosh Sawale
checked the buses and took actions
against passengers who were not wear-
ing masks and were not following social
distance.
Reflectors were installed on the tractor
and bullock carts. Constables, assistant
Four FIRs registered in Khajrana police station, two in MIG police station: DIG
����������
�������������
GENUINE PLOT HOLDERS OF PUSHPA VIHAR
AND AYODHYA PURI HAD MET CM
T he victims of the Pushpa Vihar and Ayodhyapuri had met Chief Minister
Shivraj Singh Chouhan on the sideline of Pipliyahana flyover inauguration
ceremony on January 6. They had urged CM to do justice with them. Immedi-
ately, the CM had instructed collector Manish Singh to look into the matter and
act in favour of the victims.
LIQUOR SHOP FINED
INDORE: A team of IMC imposed spot fine of Rs 21,000 on a liquor shop for
spreading untidiness in surrounding and selling water pouches. The team
reached the liquor shop at Rajiv Gandhi Square and imposed a fine of Rs
21,000. They also seized 50 sacks of water pouches which the shopkeeper
was selling. In a separate drive, the team of IMC imposed a fine of Rs 8,000
on a grocery shop in Joshi Mohalla and a fine of Rs 5,000 on another shop in
the same area for using non-standard polythene. Team also seized 7kg of
such polythene from the shops.
DEMOLITION
INDORE: A team of IMC demolished illegal construction made over a land
of 70,000 Sq ft in Chitrakoot Nagar on Thursday. IMC officials said that land
owner Omprakash Bhati and colonizer Irfan were doing construction of five
buildings.
TALL CLAIMS
Despite the tall claims
of administration a case
of overloading came to
light three days ago as
Kotwali police took ac-
DRIVE TO CONTINUE... tion after more than 20
people were found sitting
���������������� in a four-wheeler coming
���������������������� from Pati. In this case,
���������������� the court has punished
�������������������� the drivers with a fine.
������������������ The locals and passen-
���������������� gers claimed that it's next
������������������� to impossible to curb
����������������� overloading in public
��������������� transport.
EYEWASH
Recalling bus carnage in-
cident at Balsamud village
which was found plying on August 21, 2011 in which
without a permit. two bus drivers entered
into a brawl over bus de-
parture timings at Bar-
wani bus stand, locals
added that RTO drive
against errant bus drivers
are just eyewash. After
Balasamud incident, the
government had imple-
mented a number of
norms, but are department
or bus operators really
concerned about imple-
mentation of the same, lo-
sub-inspector PC Ingle were part of ac- cals rued.
tion.
����������� �
With this, the two-decades-long wait of the
genuine plot owners would be over, the col-
lector added. Following clear directives
from the Chief Minister, a joint team of rev-
enue, co-operatives and police is probing the
plot allotment at Pushpa Vihar located op-
posite Hotel Radisson blu, Ayodhyapuri lo-
cated at LIG square and Heena Palace locat-
ed in Khajrana area and the other colonies.
PRIORITY LIST OF LEGAL
OWNERS TO BE PREPARED
Singh said that a committee of coopera-
tives department will investigate the entire
matter and prepare the priority list of legal
owners of the plots. The plots will be given
to the legal owners who were plot holders
before 2010-11. Singh said in case of double-
registry of plots the second registry would
be cancelled and the money would be re-
funded to the buyer by the illegal coloniser.
If need be buildings owned by illegal
coloniser\land mafia would be razed, the
collector added.
COMPLAINTS OF MAHALAXMI NAGAR,
GANDHI NAGAR TO BE ADDRESSED
Talking about the pending complaints of
Mahalaxmi Nagar and Gandhi Nagar Grih
Nirman Society, collector Singh admitted
that there are numerous complaints about
Mahalaxmi Nagar. We will prepare a prior-
ity list of the legal owners. If required the
amount would be refunded to them. About
the Gandhi Nagar Grih Nirman Society,
Singh said that the board of directors of
the society will be dissolved and then the
action would be initiated against them.
Also, the complaints of the plot holders or
members of the society would be ad-
dressed.
Lack of timely medical care
�������������������
claims life of minor boy
���������������
��������
A 14-year-old boy who con-
sumed some poisonous liq-
uid died after failing to get
treatment on time at
Udaigarh situated commu-
nity health centre on
Thursday.
Deceased is identified as
Salam, son of Lalu, a resi-
dent of Pratap hamlet un-
der Udaigarh police station
limit in Alirajpur district.
His parents accused non-
availability of doctor and
failing to get treatment on
time cost Salam’s life.
Deceased family members
informed that Salam con-
sumed some pesticide at his
place. His family members
took him to a community
health centre immediately,
but despite waiting for
more than one-and-a-half
hour no doctor turned up to
see him.
At around 9.30 am,
AYUSH Dr Shikha Sharma
came to the centre and be-
Unseasonal rain
damages crops lying
in fields, market yards
��������������� damaged the harvested
��������� wheat and gram crops kept
in the field. The rainwater
An hour long spell of rain covered the roads of the dis-
caused by gusty winds, trict and the nearby villages.
heavy showers and black The harvested crops lying
clouds drenched the district in the open in the fields and
on Thursday afternoon. market yards also suffered
The unseasonal rain has extensive damage. The hail
and shower brought
down the tempera-
ture of the area.
The increase in the
moisture in the
soaked crops would
lead to the rejection
of the crops and
wheat during the pro-
curement by govern-
ment at MSP.
At this moment, the
rains will not only af-
fect the growth of the
plant but also affect
the colour of the crop
too.
The world weather
satellite images and
national weather
service for the Sar-
darpur area reported
little or no rainfall
over a week.
FREE PRESS
������ � �������� �������� � ������
Youth booked for
firing a bullet
������������������ Deepak who had allegedly
������ opened fire on Ishant with a
firearm. Preliminary inves-
Police booked a person for tigation revealed that Deep-
allegedly opening fire on ak had an argument with a
him in front of a hotel in hotel staff in the afternoon
Lasudia area late on Thurs- and possibly he reached
day night. Police claimed there to threaten the person
that the accused has been when he found Ishant out-
identified but he could not side the hotel and he re-
be arrested till the filing of
the report.
portedly fired a bullet with
a firearm.
Lasudia police station in According to TI Patel, the
charge Indramani Patel suspect was captured in a
said the incident took place CCTV installed near the
in front of Hotel Silver Key spot. A case under the rele-
near Bombay Hospital vant section has been regis-
around 9.45 pm. The ac- tered and a search is on for
cused has been identified as the accused.
Sheetla Patle made CEO,
Smart City Indore
�������������
CEO, district panchahyat Dewas, Sheetla Patle has
been appointed CEO, Smart City Indore. Patle has
replaced Aditi Garg, who has been made CEO dis-
trict panchayat Burhanpur. The state government
on Thursday transferred four IAS officers. CEO dis-
trict Panchayat Burhanpur Kailash Vankhede was
sent to Rashtriya Madhymic Siksha Abhiyan,
Bhopal as additional project director.
Man tweaks meter,
pilfers power; fined
������������������
������
A team of west Discom conducted a drive against electric-
ity theft in Taatpatti Bakhal area and imposed fine of Rs 5
lakh on the consumer.
Officials said that it was discovered that one Mohammed
Azam had tweaked the smart meter and managed to pilfer
electricity worth lakhs of rupees.
Officials said that when the team raided Azam's place,
they found four air-conditioners, two geasers and 13 other
similar type of equipment guzzling electricity. In all, as
many as 40 appliances were operational in the house and to-
gether these gadgets consumed electricity up to 28 kilo volt.
Following this, the team imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh on him.
gan treatment. After pro- ly called local MLA
viding primary treatment, Kalawati Bhuria and nar-
she decided to refer him to rated the entire incident.
the district hospital, mean- MLA then called up Jobat
while, Salam breathed his SDM Rajvir Singh and chief
last. block medical officer Dr
Family members claimed Amit Dalal.
that they brought Salam to CBMO Dr Dalal informed
the health centre anticipat- me that Dr Laxmi Chopra
ing doctors here could save had to go out for some fami-
him, but even after waiting ly work. She informed Dr
for more than one-and-a- Sawan Ajnar about her
half hour no doctor came to non-availability. Dr Ajnar
the centre to treat dying who is staying inside the
Salam. health centre campus has
As per the duty chart, Dr to make a quick response in
Laxmi Chopra was sup- the case.
posed to have been present According to the informa-
at the centre, but she was tion, 6 posts of doctors are
not available there. Salam’s sanctioned for Community
father Lalu and other fami- Health Center Udaigarh,
ly members alleged that the but only Dr Moti Singh and
child did not get timely Dr Sawan Ajnar are present
treatment due to lack of a here. CBMO Dr Amit Dalal
doctor. He accused the doc- himself posted at Bori. Dr
tors of negligence and de- Jyoti Jamra and Dr Naren-
manded action against the dra Mori Jobat are on at-
guilty doctors. tachment, but their salaries
The kin of the deceased released from Udaigarh.
shared their ordeal with The original posting of both
the janpad president Mani- is also from Udaygarh Com-
bai Ajnar, who subsequent- munity Health Center.
Three TIs reshuffled in city
INDORE: DIG reshuffled three police stations in charge in
the city on Thursday night. DIG Manish Kapooria has re-
leased an order to transfer Tejaji Nagar police station RNS
Bhadoriya to Juni Indore TI while Juni Indore TI Bharat
Singh Thakur was transferred to police lines. Inspector
RD Kanwa will be the TI of Tejaji Nagar police station.
Kanwa was sent to Tejaji Nagar from DRP lines.
�������������
FREE PRESS
������ � �������� �������� � ������
UJJAIN WEATHER
MAXIMUM: 31.2°C, MINIMUM: 12.8° C
HUMIDITY
MORNING: 78 per cent, EVENING: 40 per cent
SUNRISE: 6.47 am , SUNSET: 6.25 pm

������������������������������������ Rly accepts demands,

�����������������������������������
���������������
�������
Municipal commissioner
Kshitij Singhal on Thurs-
day took stock of the sani-
tation arrangements in
Bangali Colony, Sindhi
Colony, Saket Nagar and
Subhash Nagar.
The residents of the ar-
eas complained about the
lack of cleanliness in the
areas and alleged that the
sanitation workers are not
cleaning drainages and
gardens of these areas
properly.
Irked at witnessing GVP
points, the commissioner
asked the residents to keep
the area clean and don’t
throw garbage in open oth-
erwise legal action will be
taken against them.
����������������������
Earlier, he inspected In-
tegrated Solid Waste Man-
agement (ISWM) System’s
Command-Control Room.
Against the reservation system
WRMS calls off
������������������
relay hunger strike
���������������
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����������������������
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�������������������������������������������������������� �������������������������������������� ������������
��������������������
�������������������
����������������� ����������������������������������������������
��������������� ������������� ������������������� ������������������ ����������������������
����������� ������������� ���������������� ��������������
����������� ��������� ��������������� The demands of the
� ���������������������������������
�����������������������
����������������������������������
�������������� ����
����������� ��� �������
A loan camp held by UMC concluded on
Thursday. A total of 411 eligible street ven-
�������������������
�������������
������ WRMS which are accept-
ed include the issuance of
dors received loans of Rs 10,000 and 107 loan ����������������� The relay hunger strike of orders for 10 per cent in-
���������������������������������������� ������������� �� ���������������
���������������������������������� �������� ������� applications were sanctioned on the last day workers of Western Rail- take quota of the track
������������������������������������ of the camp. During the camp SBI, BOI, BOB, ������� way Mazdoor Sangh mentor which will allow
������ ������
���������������������������� HDFC, ICICI, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra (WRMS) in front of Rat- the adjustment of the
�����������������������������������
������������ � ��� Bank, AU Small Finance, UCO, Union Bank and instructed control lam railway divisional of- track mentor to other de-
������������� and some other banks took part. room officials to keep a fice for five days was partments, station mas-
������������������������������
��������������������������������� ���� ������ ��� ���� strict watch on move- called-off. ter, passenger guard and
����������������������� ������ �������� Singhal checked litter collection vehicles ments of garbage collec- WRMS’ divisional secre- junior engineer (K&Wag-
the mapping of through the ISWM system tion vehicles. tary BK Garg said that on) promotion order, is-
senior divisional person- sue of track maintainer
nel officer Harshad GP 2800 promotion order,

Cong to take out rally today Shourya Yatra to be Vaniya and other railway to conduct examination

Rajput Karni
officials handed over a let- for promotion from
ter of acceptance of de- pointsman to rank of a

in support of bandh call taken out today mands at the dharna site. freight train in ranker

Sena to take out

The railway employees quota, cancellation of ex-
encountered many prob- amination due to corrup-
��������������� chy is being created every- ���������������� sion worship will also be lems of different cate- tion in departmental ex-
������ where and the government ������� performed at Malhar Mar- gories working under the amination, voluntary

rally on Feb 21
���������������
������
Rajput Karni Sena ‘Mool’
will organise a huge rally
and public meeting on Feb-
ruary 21 on issues like
SC/ST Act and reserva-
tions on economic
g r o u n d s. • • O r g a n i s e r s
claimed that over 1 lakh
people of Rajput communi-
ty from across the state
will take part in the rally.
Sena’s functionaries ar-
rived here recently and dis-
cussed with the local unit
about the preparations for
the event.
Cricketer Ravindra Jade-
ja has also been invited as
a guest. State president
Shivpratap Singh
Chauhan said that rally
will start from Nanakheda
Stadium at 12 noon and
will culminate into a pub-
lic meeting at Dussehra
Maidan.• •
The founder of Shri Ra-
jput Karni Sena Lokendra
Singh Kalvi and national
president Mahipal Singh
Makrana will be present.• •
State organising secre-
tary Jaswant Singh Runji,
state secretary Vijaypal
Singh Chauhan, district
president Ishwar Singh
Jhala along with officials
of the Karni Sena were
present in the meeting.•
���������������
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�������������������
The members mulled
over the decrease in rep-
resentation of the gen-
eral class in gover n-
ment services and poli-
tics due to the reserva-
tion system.• Rajput
Kar ni Sena is demand-
ing that only a candi-
date from general class
should be entitled to
contest elections from a
general seat. Along with
this, the first time bene-
ficiaries of this system
must not avail the perks
of it the next time.
�����������������
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They also requested the
government to restore the
assets of the Rajput soci-
ety so that they can pro-
ceed with development
works of hostel and other
infrastructures.• • Along
with this, that Ghattia
tehsil should be renamed
as Pratap Nagar.• • The
duration of 10 per cent
reservation given to the
upper caste society
should be 5 years, they de-
manded.
The District Congress
Committee has called an
‘Ujjain Bandh’ on Febru-
ary 20 against the price
hikes of the gas cylinder
and fuel.
According to Congress
spokesperson Vivek Soni,
the common man is reeling
under price hikes of fuel
and gas cylinder and is feel-
ing the pinch in the pocket
due to the burden imposed
by the inflation and slow-
down in the economy.
An atmosphere of anar-
1 more person
tests positive
in city
���������������������
���������������
������
On a positive note only 1
person tested positive for
corona taking the number
patients to 5,212 on
Wednesday. The toll is 103.
As per the medical bul-
letin issued at 11 pm, out of
196 sample reports received
on the day, 1 person (from
has failed to rescue the
economically weaker sec-
tions from poverty. There-
fore, on the instructions of
PCC president Kamal
Nath, a city Bandh will be
called under the leader-
ship of city Congress pres-
ident Mahesh Soni and
district Congress presi-
dent Kamal Patel. On Feb-
ruary 19, a rally will also
be taken out from the Con-
gress office, which will tra-
verse across the city, urg-
ing the general public to
observe the Bandh.
Workshop on Computer Science
and self-reliant university held
���������������
������
A workshop on the Role of
Computer Science to-
wards Self-reliant Univer-
sity was organised at the
Vikram University’s Insti-
tute of Computer Science.
Addressing the pro-
gramme, vice-chancellor
Prof Akhilesh Kumar
Pandey said that comput-
er science has the same
importance in the higher
education which the heart
has in human being’s
body. He said that a num-
ber of job-oriented cours-
es will soon be launched
in the varsity.
Institute’s director
Umesh Kumar Singh said
that 10 different impor-
tant cells had been set-up
tand Mandir at Gudari
On birth anniversary of Square at 9am, Gawde
Chhatrapati Shivaji, the added. Women, men and
Kshtriya Maratha Samaj children of the community
(KMS) will take out will participate in the ya-
Shourya Yatra to pay re- tra which will pass
spect to Shivaji. through Kanthal, Satigate,
KMS president Yash- Gopal Mandir, Patni Bazar,
wantrao Chouhan and sec- Gudari, Mahakal Square
retary Anil Gawde in- and will end at Malhar
formed that, the procession Martand Mandir at Gudari
will be taken out from Mu- square.
nicipal Corporation prem- Chahavan and Gawde
ises at Agar Road at 11am urged the community
after performing worship members to participate in
of statue of Shivaji. the programme to make it
Before taking out proces- successful.
�������������������������������������������������������������
����������������� ���������
Academic and skill up- certificates with degrees
gradation- activities will will be awarded along
be organised in various with 62 employment-ori-
cells established in accor- ented courses, he added.
dance with the Aat- Proctor and special
manirbhar• Bharat Ab- guest for the event
hiyan. All the courses con- Shailendra Kumar Shar-
Ratlam division. Due to transfer.
the failure of resolution Railway administration
of the issues, the WRMS has also given consent to
under the leadership of provide funds for reliev-
BK Garg and president ing work on spas and
Rafiq Mansuri sat on a grounds, repair of rail-
hunger strike.• way houses and railway
On finding out about the institutes.
hunger strike, divisional WRMS’ Ujjain branch
railway manager, Ratlam secretary Abhilash Na-
was directed by Western gar and president SK Ya-
Railways general manag- dav have described the
er Alok Kansal to resolve hunger strike as a victo-
the problems and also ac- ry of the employees and
cept all the demands from have thanked all the rail-
the WRMS zonal presi- way employees for their
dent Sharif Khan Pathan. support.
Rail Roko Andolan
remains ineffective
in Ujjain
Ujjain: The nationwide
mi and highlighted the Rail Roko movement for
significance of the Vagde- protest against the three
vi and river form of God- agricultural laws re-
dess Saraswati. mained ineffective in Uj-
Pandey also planted jain due to heavy police
saplings along with teach- and fire brigade deploy-
ers and students in the ment on Thursday. Object-
campus. To protect the ing to the agricultural
trees, the teachers of the laws, farmers’ organisa-
institution adopted the tions had announced a na-
trees and pledged to take tionwide movement to im-
care of them. In memory pede the railway system
of his late father Dayal across the country on
Ladhani, the teacher of Thursday.
the institute Lokesh Lad- The Railways had also
hani, provided 10 tree made full preparations on
guards for the protection its behalf to neutralise
of these trees. the movement. Heavy po-
The objectives of the lice force was stationed at
programme were laid out the railway station prem-
by Kamal Bunkar and the ises. RPF personnel in-
entire event was coordi- sured peace at the places
nated by Brahmadutt as the railway tracks were
Shukla. It was conducted also being constantly
by Pragya Singh Tomar monitored. No untoward

A national convention of the Savarna Samaj was

organised at Mahananda Nagar. Convener
Rakhi Mishra told that the event was held to high-
Ujjain
City) test-
ed corona
COVID-19
for the development of
students in the institute.
ducted in the institute are
value-added, under which
ma elucidated the impor-
tance of Basant-Pancha-
and Ramji Yadav present-
ed the vote of thanks.
incident was reported till
the evening.

light the violation of the rights of the Savarna so- positive.

DISTRICT
ciety. Savarna Morcha president Sanjeev Singh
slammed several political parties including the
Overall, 47
patients,
UPDATE
Central government for discrimination against the 18 of them symptomatic,
upper castes. He said that for the last 17 years, he are under treatment. Sam-
has been fighting for the interests of the upper ples of 1, 70, 057 persons
castes under the banner of the organisation. At the have been taken across the
same time, the political parties of the country are district so far and no report
also taking advantage of the Constitution by mis- is awaited. With 5 more dis-
leading the Dalits. State president of Mahila Karni charged on the day, the total
Sena Urmila Tomar also participated in the said number of corona winners
event and appealed to stay organised and united. has gone up to 5,062.
NGOs demand strict action against bus accident accused
���������������
��������
Kalam Sarvdharm Organisation
(KSO) members handed over a
memorandum in the name of
Chief Minister for taking action
against the responsible persons
for Sidhi Bus accident in which
over 51 passengers lost their lives.
��������������������������
over on Thursday to nayab tehsil-
������������������������
Organisation head Sameer Khan
demanded strict action against
such bus operators who did not fol-
low the traffic rules, he also de-
manded to get install speed gover-
nors in public buses.
Indira Nagar Vikas Samiti’s head
Mangesh Shrivastava demanded
the state government to impose Mo-
tor Vehicle Act strict across the

MTMC reviews arrangements The memorandum was handed dar Uddhav Derari at Kothi Palace.

������������������
state to curb such incidents.

PANCHANG 19.2.2021
for Mahashivratri festival BLOs reach wards to resolve claims (UTTARAYAN)
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& objections on electoral rolls ����� ����������������������������������

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physical verifica- �� ��������������
For the forthcoming tion of the list. ��
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Ujjain Municipal The BLOs while ���� ��������
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Corporation (UMC) considering the ����
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mary voters’ list taining to the list ���� ����
��������������� the collector said that amid arrangements was made. was released by the from ward num-
������� Covid outbreak time it is SP Satyendra Kumar local election office ber 9, 15 and 8 ap- � �
�
very challenging to ensure Shukla, ADM Narendra in all the wards of proached to for-
� �
Collector and Shri Ma- hassle-free ‘darshan’ for Suryavanshi, municipal city. Objections and mer area corpora-
hakaleshwar Temple Man- devotees. commissioner Kshitij claim were invited tor Jagdish Pan-
agement Committee At present Covid cases Singhal, ASP Amarendra in the voter lists chal, who collect- � � � � �� � � � � �� � � � � � � � � �
(MTMC) president again on the rise in Indore, Singh, Mahanirvani Akha- published till Febru- �������������������������������������������� ed information RUNNING CLASSIFIED
Asheesh Singh on Thurs- so arrangements will have da head Vineet Giri, Deep- ary 15, 2021, as many and forwarded it
������������������������ DISPLAY CLASSIFIED 7 DAY 500/-
day reviewed the arrange- to be made in compliance ak Mittal, Asheesh Pujari, aware locals and for resolution. 50/- SQ.CM. B/W.
15 DAY 1000/-
30 DAY 1500/-
ments for Mahashivratri with Covid protocols, he UDA CEO Sujansingh public representatives pre- the electoral rolls. They Many public representa- 75/- SQ.CM.
(MINIMUM SIZE 1X3) DISPLAY CLASSIFIED
festival. said. Rawat and priests of the sented claims and objec- asked the local election tives and BJP workers
Addressing the meeting A blueprint of the temple were present. tions after inspection of team of UMC to resolve were present.
FREE PRESS CALL- 9425082195
 �������������� �
Ajay Singh urges traders to support Cong bandh
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Western disturbances to restrict
mercury’s upward trend
BHOPAL: A series of West- mercury will be restricted
ern disturbances will run a but there will not be a ma-

�������������������������������������
‘relay race’ commencing jor drop in temperature, he
February 20 till month-end, added. Many parts of the
however, it would not have state witnessed fluctua-
any major effect on Madhya tions in day and night
Pradesh. The disappear- temperature on Thurs-
ance of clouds will restrict day. Pachmarhi and
the temperature rise in the Mandla recorded the
Then Rajput was legations against him. Af-
ter the BJP’s return to pow-
should get the transport
department or not
July, Rajput got the trans-
port department through
department for long time
after the by-poll results
state, said weatherman.
GD Mishra, senior metro-
highest drop in the mini-
mum temperature. With

minister, today he is er, Rajput has been given

on same position
������������������
������
The state transport depart-
ment has again invited se-
vere criticism after the Sid-
hi bus tragedy.
The department is always
in the limelight because of
corruption. Whether it is
about extortions at the
checkpoints or about corrup-
tion in RTO offices, the de-
partment always brings a
bad name to the government.
During the Congress rule,
when the income-tax depart-
ment raided the offices and
residential premises of the
colleagues of former chief
minister Kamal Nath, the
transport department stole
newspaper headlines.
The transport depart-
ment was on top of all the
departments as the major
amount of money was col-
lected from there.
During the Congress rule,
a sum of Rs 58.9 crore was
the charge of the transport
department.
cropped up. Rajput got the
food and civil supplies de-
partment after he had de-
his clout.
He resigned from the min-
istry as he completed six
were out. He was not made
a minister as he stuck to
his demand for the trans-
logical department officer,
said that the series of west-
ern disturbance would not
3.0 degree Celsius fall,
the night temperature in
Pachmarhi and Mandla
When the BJP had re-
turned to power a dispute
fected from the Congress
to the BJP, but when min-
months without being a
member of the House.
port department.
Rajput, however, got the
bring about any major
change in MP’s weather.
settled at 9.0 degree Cel-
sius 8.0 degree Celsius re-
over whether Rajput istry was expanded in Rajput was not given any department he wanted to. Only the upward trend of spectively. Meanwhile.
collected from that depart-
ment. The income-tax de-
partment has mentioned
about it in its report.
At the time of collecting
such a huge amount of
money from the depart-
ment, all the rules and reg-
ulations were thumbed
down. The transport de-
partment’s check posts
have become a business
centre for the government.
According to reports,
about 2,500 people are en-
gaged through private agen-
cies for those checkpoints.
They extort money from the
truck drivers passing by
those check posts.
Although everyone knows
about it, nobody dares to
stop this illegal practice.
Interestingly, when the is-
sue of extortion at the
checkpoints came up dur-
ing the Congress rule,
Govind Singh Rajput was
the transport minister.
The BJP used to make al-

15 Allen Indore students

selected for INMO
������������������
������
The results of the first
stage of Indian Olympiad
Qualifier in Mathematics
(IOQM) for the Internation-
al Mathematics Olympiad
have been released.
Brajesh Maheshwari, di-
rector of the Allen Career
Institute, said that the stu-
dents selected in this exam
jointly organised by Mathe-
matics Teachers Associa-
tion of India, Indian Asso-
ciation of Physics Teachers
and Homi Bhabha Center
for Science Education, have
now qualified for the Indi-
an National Maths
Olympiad. In all, 15 stu-
dents of the Allen Career
Institute Indore have been
selected for INMO. This in-
cludes 7 students of classes
VIII to X and 8 students of
classes XI and XII. It is note-
worthy that only two stu-
dents of class 9, Ved Lahoti
and Soham Gupta, who
have been selected from
Madhya Pradesh, are stu-
dents of Allen Indore. In
the nationally declared re-
sults, 198 students of Allen
Career Institute have been
selected for INMO.
Brajesh Maheshwari
said that in view of Covid,
IOQM was conducted in
place of pre-RMO and
RMO examination this
year. The examination
was held on 17 January. A
total of 1,115 students
qualified for INMO in this
examination.

Rail roko agitation sees

minimal impact in state
������
Police on Thursday detained
around 200 demonstrators
for trying to stop the trains
as part of the four-hour ‘rail
roko’ protest against the
Centre’s three farm laws.
The Samyukta Kisan Mor-
cha — an aggregate of
farmer unions — had an-
nounced the nationwide rail
blockade on Thursday to
press for its demand to re-
peal the farm laws. “Rail
roko’ agitation passed off
without any untoward inci-
dent and negligible or mini-
mal impact on running of
trains in the state.
SP Gwalior informed that
around 65 protesters from
Gwalior and around 30 pro-
testers from Dabra were ar-
rested for trying to stop the
trains. Police and the rail-
way police force flouted
their move and detained
them before they could stop
the train. Similar protests
were held in Jabalpur, Sala-
matpur, Vidisha, Harda and
many other places of the
state. • State police and rail-
way police had made
arrangements to check
farmers from disrupting
the movement of train.

Ujjain News in Brief

Rajput Community releases

matrimonial brochure
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Vehicle rally to be taken out today

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Narmada Jayanti celebrations today

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6 EDIT INDORE | FRIDAY | FEBRUARY 19, 2021
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: An
honest man can never surrender
an honest doubt.
― WALTER MALONE

FREE PRESS No time limit for women to

expose sexual predators
FOR FREE FLOW OF TRUTH

Petrol at Rs 100 a litre

calls for lower taxes
W
ith petrol prices crossing the important psycho-
logical barrier of Rs 100 a litre in Rajasthan on
Wednesday, there is bound to be a public hue and
Legal Eagle cites or attempts to excite disaffection
towards the Government established
by law in India by words, either spo-
ken or written, or by signs, or by visi-
cry for reducing the pump prices of petrol and diesel, the OLAV ALBUQUERQUE ble representation, or otherwise’. The
latter retailing only a couple of rupees behind petrol.
The relentless rise in the price of petrol in recent weeks words used are identical to the offence
is ascribed to the recent increase in the global crude oil of defamation. But the Supreme

I
prices following the revival of the world economy after ronicallly, the M J Akbar defama- minated in her confirmation as a Court has laid down that only acts
the coronavirus-induced disruption. There is no deny- tion case has destroyed his reputa- judge being recalled. which incite violence against the state
ing that the Centre and the states between them collect tion, with a Delhi magistrate’s Earlier, Magistrate Samar Vishal is- are seditious.
enormous sums of money by way of taxes and cesses on court conceding Priya Ramani’s de- sued summons to journalist Priya Ra- According to records from the Na-
petroleum products. The total combined levies are about fence that the former minister did not mani but granted her bail in October tional Crime Records Bureau (NCRB),
60 per cent of the end-price of petrol and 54 per cent of have a ‘sterling reputation’ after 16 2018 after M J Akbar filed a defama- which has only been collecting data on
diesel. For instance, for a litre of petrol costing Rs 100 in women had accused him of misbehav- tion case. His successor Vishal Pahuja sedition cases since 2014, there were
Rajasthan on Wednesday, the Centre collected Rs 33 by ing with them. A woman has the right referred the case to the district and 47 cases of sedition in 2014, which rose
way of customs, excise, additional excise and cesses. The to put out her story (about sexual ha- sessions judge, Rousse Avenue, New to 70 in 2018. However, while police
Rajasthan government received on the same litre of rassment) in public even after Delhi, for its transfer to another court across India’s 28 states indiscrimi-
petrol Rs 36 in ad valorem taxes plus additional road cess decades, the court opined, unwitting- in October 2020 because his court was nately slap sedition charges on indi-
of Rs 1.50. On diesel, the Centre realised Rs 32 per litre ly upholding the ‘Me Too’ movement a special court for cases against viduals, most accused are discharged.
while Rajasthan received Rs 35. While the ad valorem is which began in 2006 and reached In- MP/MLAs. Meanwhile, the Delhi high Since 2016, there has been a conviction
a value-added tax increasing with the rise in the basic dia in 2018. court transferred 200 judicial officers, in just four sedition cases.
price of petrol and diesel, special cesses levied by the What has escaped most people’s no- including Pahuja, so that Pandey took The law has its roots in the late 19th
states further push the retail price higher. For example, tice is this subordinate court opined over. Day farmers’ violence. So, a Delhi century, when it was introduced by
Maharashtra has a special cess of Rs 10 a litre on petrol there was no bar of limitation for a Another interesting aspect of this magistrate’s court’s observations that the British to silence dissenters
and Rs 3 on diesel. Given the inordinately high taxes on woman to complain in public about case is two senior women advocates, sedition could not be used to suppress against its colonial rule. Since then,
petrol and diesel, it will be natural for the demand for a sexual harassment at the workplace Rebecca John and Geeta Luthra, were dissent is logical. Section 124A has been misused
reduction in these to be voiced in the coming days. How- because the dignity of a woman could pitted against each other. During the Nearly one year ago, Justice D Y against national icons including Bal
ever, since the non-BJP governments too impose a high not be curtailed by a man’s right to testimony of Wahab in December Chandrachud declared during a pub- Gangadhar Tilak, Annie Besant, Bha-
burden of taxes, the issue may not gain traction in the reputation, which, in this case, Akbar 2019, one of Geeta Luthra’s assistants lic lecture that “blanket labelling” of gat Singh, Lala Lajpat Rai, and, per-
public sphere. It may be left to various civil society had forfeited. In a nutshell, a woman’s kept laughing derisively in the court dissent as “anti-national” or “anti- haps, most notably, Mahatma Gandhi.
groups to take up the grievance of the middle and lower- right to life and dignity overrides M J room. “Throughout Wahab’s testimo- democratic” strikes at the “heart” of Just as the law of defamation can be
middle class, which will feel the pinch of high petroleum Akbar’s so-called right to a ‘sterling ny, she and many of the interns kept the country’s commitment to protect misused by the rich-and-powerful like
prices. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister, anticipating the reputation’. turning to each other and laughing, A woman has the Constitutional values and promote de- M J Akbar and former Supreme Court
There is no bar of limitation under sometimes covering their mouths
public demand for reducing taxes on petrol and diesel, on
the Indian Penal Code of 1860 to lodge with their books,” a news report in
right to put out liberative democracy. Just as Priya Ra- judge Swatanter Kumar in 2014 to si-
lence their alleged victims, sedition
Thursday sought to transfer the blame on the previous mani has the right to free speech, so
governments for not doing enough to reduce reliance on a criminal complaint—unlike civil The Wire had said. her story (about too do the farmers and those who sup- can be used as a tool to silence critics.
the imported crude oil. The country now imports 85 per cases—but chances of acquittal rise
with delay. In rape cases, evidence
While lawyers strive to win cases for
their clients, derisive laughter during
sexual port them but not vicious Khalistanis The Supreme Court rightly dismissed
who want to dismember India. Subramaniam Swamy’s PIL to de-
cent of its energy needs. Had we diversified into solar
and wind, hydro and nuclear energy and thus cut the oil such as semen is washed off, resulting a witness’ deposition in court can be harassment) in This could be one reason why a Del- criminalise defamation, which would
imports substantially, there would not have been any in rapists being acquitted for lack of construed as demeaning the dignity of public even after hi additional sessions judge, Dhar- permit irresponsible journalism. But
evidence. the court itself. More so, when all the the Law Commission of India, in its
need for such steep taxes. He listed the hugely stepped-up
The Priya Ramani case does not lawyers are women and the witness decades, the mendra Rana, granted bail to two men
facing a sedition charge for allegedly consultative paper on August 30, 2018,
progamme for solar and wind power energy generation
undertaken in the last six years, expressing the hope that crystallise into a legal axiom for other herself is a woman. Magistrates can court opined, sharing a Facebook post related to the has said the time has come to reword
courts because magistrates’ courts do uphold the dignity of their own courts the law of sedition because saying
by 2030, the share of renewable energy would be 40 per
not lay down the law. Whether the Del- by admonishing such alleged undigni- unwittingly Delhi police amid the ongoing farm-
things like India is not a safe place for
cent of the total energy consumed in the country. Modi ers’ protest in the nation’s capital not-
also said that the percentage of ethanol mixed in petrol hi high court and later, the Supreme fied conduct. Or even referring the upholding the ing the law “is a powerful tool in the women is neither seditious nor anti-
Court will uphold the reasoning of ad- matter to the high court, for initiation
was to be raised from the current 8.5 per cent to 20 per
ditional chief metropolitan magis- of contempt action because the actors
‘Me Too’ hands of the state” and “cannot be in- national.
And journalists like Priya Ramani
cent by 2025, providing an alternate source of income to voked to quieten any disquiet under
farmers. Also, the share of natural gas in the energy bas- trate Ravindra Kumar Pandey re- in this drama were lawyers who rep- movement which the pretence of muzzling the miscre- and Ghazala Wahab may agree with
ket was to be increased from the current 6. 3 per cent to mains to be seen. Unlike Bombay high
court judge, Pushpa Virendra Ganedi-
resented top-notch journalists.
Though unrelated to this case, sedi-
began in 2006 ants.” that.
Sedition, as described under Section
15 per cent. In order to prevent the cascading effect of
levies on petroleum products, the Centre was keen to wala, Pandey has upheld women’s tion is defamation of the state where and reached 124A of the Indian Penal Code, refers The writer holds a PhD in law and is a
bring these in the ambit of the GST, the PM said while rights. Ganediwala defanged POCSO an accused tries to incite violence India in 2018. to ‘an act that brings or attempts to senior journalist-cum-lawyer of the Bombay
virtually inaugurating a couple of oil and gas projects in by three insensate verdicts, which cul- against the state such as the Republic bring into hatred or contempt, or ex- high court.
Tamil Nadu on Thursday morning. Meanwhile, Petrole-
um Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s call to the petrole-
um-producing countries to step up production by lifting
ONE FLEW OVER THE NEST #Rs16.25 LETTERS
the cuts imposed during the coronavirus pandemic is un-
likely to be heeded. The pent-up demand in the global
FRIDAY'S SWIPE TO THE
economy following the long slowdown due to the pan- South African all-rounder Chris Morris becomes IPL's costliest foreign player, bought by Rajasthan Royals for Rs 16.25 crore EDITOR
demic has to work itself out before a stability in demand Press Trust of India@PTI_News
and supply of crude oil can be restored. Besides, the oil Partisan tool?
exporters too need to make up for the shortages in rev- Chris Morris was valued at Rs 10 crore by RCB in 2020. He took 11 wickets in nine games. Today he's been purchased for Rs 16.25 crore by RR. Ref.: ‘Kiran Bedi gets her
Jamie Alter@alter_jamie comeuppance at last’
enues due to the disruption caused by the pandemic. But
the government cannot be unmindful of the inflationary (February 18). It took close
With Chris Morris going for 16.25 Cr to RR, @rajasthanroyals bad decisions continue.. this is almost 1 crore per wicket he will take.
impact of higher prices of petrol and diesel, since these to five years to get rid of
@dhanurgupta
have a cascading effect on the general priceline. This Puducherry’s Lieutenant
would cause a double-whammy for the middle-income Atmanirbhar ki dajiya udd rahi hai Indian players are going unsold in Indian premier league
Governor Kiran Bedi. Her
groups, which would be called upon to pay through their Haroon@Haroon64706806
role made one believe that
nose both for running their two- and four-wheelers she was not a constitutional
and/or relying on public transport. Prices of everyday Funny thing RCB bid up to 9.25 crore to buy him back. Clown Management head but an active member
items such as vegetables and pulses, sugar, etc., are Shaurya Rathore@Shaurya_Rathod of the Bharatiya Janata
bound to increase if the retail prices of diesel stay high. Party. She was needed to
Even though consumer inflation is under control, should With this money Chris Morris (16.25 cr ) can now starts his own PSL... frustrate the elected
@shrinihal5 government and now that
high-energy prices distort the general priceline, public
hue and cry for reduction in POL levies will be hard to ig- the job is done, the party
nore. Both the Centre and the states together should re- decided to get rid of her.
duce the levies on petrol and diesel, in order to bring the The trend of the ruling
retail prices a tad lower than the key mental barrier of
Rs 100 a litre. No, consumer psychology cannot be ig-
The journey of Mithun Chakraborty, from Jorabagan to Bollywood to politics party using governors to
play partisan politics is still

‘Bhoomiputra’ to help BJP tread

nored either. going strong in Kerala,
Maharashtra, and West
FPJ ARCHIVES Bengal.
JANUARY 27, 1963 Bidyut Kumar Chatterjee
Fuelling rage

‘Agneepath’ in Bengal polls?

Ref: 'Petrol 100.13, not out'
(February 18). The BJP has
been in power for the last
six years and the Prime
Minister is pointing
Having lived through such trying times, which
Opinion
fingers? Remember the KG
good friends helped him see through, Mithun has basin scam and wastage?
always been someone who stands by people. He The base cost of petrol is
has campaigned for the veteran CPM leader Sub- Rs 30, Central and state
ROBIN ROY hash Chakraborty and also campaigned for taxes are Rs 33 and Rs 20
Pranab Mukherjee when the former President respectively. Why are the
fought from Jangipur. He has been the most PM and CM not reducing

Nation pledges to preserve freedom
NEHRU LAUNCHES VOLUNTEER
FORCE FOR RURAL AREAS
THE FPJ NEWS SERVICE
The inauguration of the All India Village Volunteer Force this
morning by Prime Minister Nehru highlighted the Republic Day
celebrations in the country.
... Elsewhere in the country, people celebrated the Republic Day
with a pledge to defend the country's honour, sovereignty,
freedom and integrity.
The pledge was taken at public meetings at various State
capitals and other centres. Unlike in previous years, this year's
celebrations were devoid of the customary pomp and
pageantry obviously because of the national emergency
brought about by the continuing Chinese threat to the nation's
security.
R
SS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s visit to Mithun
Chakraborty’s Mumbai house earlier this
week cannot to be dismissed as a mere
courtesy call. Isn’t it more than a ‘coincidence’
that the actor, who was shooting in Lucknow was
back in Mumbai on Tuesday and the RSS strong-
man happened to be in Mumbai too, after his Bi-
har visit?
The visit lasted for around one hour and 45 min-
utes and was described by sources as a breakfast
meet. A person like Bhagwat has his visits and
itineraries planned well in advance and these are
not agendas that can be modified at whims and
fancies.
The actor, too, told a channel later that he had a
spiritual connect with the saffron big man and
when asked about the forthcoming West Bengal
elections, Mithunda, as he is fondly known,
laughed a bit as he told the correspondent, “Mu-
jhe jo kehna tha mainey keh diya, aap ko jo sama-
jhna hai aap samajh lo”.
It may be recalled that the three-time national
award-winning actor had also paid a visit to the
RSS headquarters in Nagpur in 2019.
Mithun Chakraborty may have been a nomi-
nated Trinamool MP from Rajya Sabha, but his
political affiliations have all been apolitical, if
one could say so. He has made more friends both
in filmdom and in ‘rajneeti’, than foes.
It may be recalled that in his heyday, he had ral-
lied in support of the writer Salim when the lat-
ter launched his company Aftab Films. Mithun
was per se the mainstay for Salim in several films,
to ensure that his ventures were distributed be-
cause by then, Gouranga Chakraborty alias Rana
Rez alias Mithun Chakraborty was a mega star of
the eighties and he could ensure the saleability of
any film. He had once said it was difficult for him
to get job, being a Bengali, hence the moniker
Rana Rez!
Bollywood has always been cruel to ‘outsiders’
‘available’ star campaigner for one and all. the huge taxes on fuel? The
He continues to enjoy enormous clout across per capita income of UK is
Bengal and is the original ‘Dada’, even as his enig- $39,000 and of India, $1,877
matic aura remains intact. or one could say, petrol
Equally beloved by the urban and rural popu- price in the UK is Rs 123
lace, the have-nots look up to him as a real-life while that in India is Rs
hero who has scripted his success story with 100. In terms of
sheer hard work. He’s their zero-to-hero man. comparative purchasing
They draw hope from his success and see him as power, Indian consumers
the great survivor. For both rural and urban Ben- pay five times more for
gal, Mithun is synonymous with hope and confi- petrol than the UK. And the
and that is why the cult film ‘Disco Dancer’, dence. He can strike a chord with all of Bengal reason? No, crude oil prices
which ran for 25 weeks at a stretch and is still a with the same elan and ease. have not gone up.
rage in Russia, never even got a nomination, leave Not only does he continue to be a box-office Ramswarth Acharya
alone a popular film award. But this could not draw to this day but he has been an exemplary cit-
dampen his spirit. Mithun went on to win three izen too. He has been the highest individual tax- Answer evident
national awards and after four decades, he con- payer between 1986 and 1991, in recognition of Ref.: ‘Will electing a new
tinues to act in critically acclaimed films like which he was made the ambassador of the party chief help arrest
Tashkent Files. ‘Voluntary Disclosure of Income’ scheme for five drift in Congress?’
From being branded as a ‘dark-skinned’ actor, years. It is said that it was his ‘zidd’ to achieve this (February 18). There is no
he evolved to be known as the dusky, sexy Bengali feat to prove the fact that one of India’s poorest doubt that a new party
babu! But Bollywood continued to be rude to him, people could become one her richest, through chief will come with fresh
dubbing him the poor man’s Amitabh. However, hard work. ideas and energy, much
none of this could deter the Bengali babu who
continued to go from strength to strength.
His yeoman service in the field of thalassaemia
eradication in Bengal is another feather in his
needed in the grand old
party, but the bigger
In several interviews, he has said that after los- cap. question is whether the
ing his brother, he grew closer to his family but To come back to the Bharatiya Janata Party, it is
then, had to leave Kolkata because of his political actually running out of time. It may be recalled
Gandhi family trio is
ready to pass on the baton
affiliations. that Union Home Minister and BJP national chief to another. If lack of
His journey from Jorabagan in north Kolkata to Amit Shah had dared Chief Minister Mamata action on that long letter
2021 has been an epic one. After a dream debut Banerjee that the BJP would field a ‘bhoomipu- by the group of 23 leaders
which earned him a national award, he landed in tra’ CM candidate and with Sourav Ganguly is any indication, then we
Mumbai, seeking to claim his place under the sun falling ill and having been ‘ruled out’, the saffron know the answer -- that
in the film industry. But the trouble was, people camp is frantically in search of a saleable face, power is too strong a glue
were not ready to accept a dark-complexioned which could cut across the terrain of Bengal. And for the Gandhis to let go. If
hero, choosing to remain in the dark about this if the Bhagwat-Mithun ‘talks’ fructify, it may be a they are satisfied with
dark horse in the waiting. win-win situation for the BJP in Bengal. winning some elections
The actor has often spoken of a friend who got With that, Mithun’s life story would come full here and there and remain
him a membership at Matunga Gymkhana, en- circle too, just like in the movies. on the fringes, then
abling him to take care of his bare necessities for absolutely no one can help
quite some time. The writer is Senior Associate Editor, Free Press, Indore. them.

Letters should be limited to 150 words and must be sent via e-mail. Letters may be edited for clarity or space. E-mail: fpindore@gmail.com
Cong wins Mohali municipal corporation
CHANDIGARH: The ruling Congress in Punjab won the Mohali municipal corporation polls on Thursday while the SAD and the BJP
failed to open their accounts. After the final counting of votes, the Congress won 37 wards while independents bagged the
remaining 13, officials said. With this, the ruling party registered victory in seven municipal corporations and emerged as the leading
party in the Moga municipal corporation, where no party got a clear majority. Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu's brother
Amarjeet Singh Sidhu, who is the Congress' mayoral candidate, won from ward number 10 of the Mohali municipal corporation.
NATION 7 FREE PRESS
FRIDAY | FEBRUARY 19, 2021 | INDORE

Tikait to farmers: Be ready to Sugar mills may sabotage

News from South

BJP plans to woo UP farmers

sacrifice your standing crop
AGENCIES / Hisar he said.
OUR BUREAU
New Delhi

The BJP has assigned the

Asserting that they won't re-
turn home till the farm laws
are repealed, Bharatiya
Kisan Union leader Rakesh
Tikait on Thursday said
Two container of snake venom worth neary farmers should be ready to
Rupees 24 crore, seized by BSF from Indo- sacrifice their standing crop
for it.
Bangladesh Border at Ghunsi in South Dinajpur Tikait said the government
district of West Bengal PTI should not be under the im-
pression that the movement
Unable to bear abuse, farmer against the laws will end as
commits suicide farmers will go to their vil-
lages to harvest their crop.
COIMBATORE: A farmer died by suicide on his "Even if you have to set
farm near here early Thursday as he was your standing crop on fire,
apparently upset over the torture and abusive you should be prepared for it.
language allegedly used by a private financial firm The government should not
for not repaying a loan, police said. In a letter harbour this impression that
purportedly written by him and recovered from
his house, the 30-year-old Anandan said the
employees of the financial firm had used abusive
language for the delay to repay the Rs 45-lakh Voting rights to people stationed outside their constituency
loan, the police said.
SC notice to Centre, EC
Advocate couple killing:
Telangana HC seeks report
HYDERABAD: Taking serious note of the brutal
AGENCIES
New Delhi
killing of advocate couple in broad daylight, The Supreme Court Thurs-
Telangana High Court on Thursday directed the day sought response from
state government to submit status report and the Centre and the Elec-
ensure thorough investigation in a time-bound tion Commission on a plea
manner. A division bench comprising Chief seeking voting rights
Justice Hima Kohli and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy through postal ballot for
ordered notices to the state government people stationed outside
directing it to submit a report on the gruesome their constituency, includ-
murder of Gattu Vamana Rao and Nagamani in ing NRIs.
Peddapalli district. The bench took suo motu A bench headed by Chief
cognisance of the incident saying "murders have Justice S A Bobde issued
shaken us all". notices to the Ministry of
Law and Justice and the
Sudhakaran stokes controversy poll body seeking their
replies on the petition.
with remarks on Vijayan "What kind of plea is
KASARAGOD: Senior Congress leader K this? Sitting in England
Sudhakaran has once again courted trouble with you will vote here? If you
his alleged derogatory remarks against Kerala can't care enough to go to
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his family your constituency why
background. This is the second time within a
fortnight that the Congress MP from Kannur has
targeted the CM and his father. Slamming
Sudhakaran for his 'casteist' remarks against
Vijayan, CPI(M) leader K K Ragesh said he creates Mamata-Shah war of words hots up
nuisance wherever he goes. He was addressing a
meeting in nearby Periya on Wednesday where he
made the remarks. The remarks evoked criticism Central minister promises 33% reservation for women if voted to power
from several quarters, including his own party.
farmers will return home. We
will harvest crops and contin-
ue our agitation at the same
time," he said addressing a
"mahapanchayat" at Kharak
Poonia village of Hisar.
"There will be no 'ghar wap-
si' till then," he said.
Tikait also asked farmers to
should law help you," said
the bench also comprising
Justices A S Bopanna and
V Ramasubramanian.
The apex court also en-
quired whether Parlia-
ment and the government
have the right to fix a place
for voting.
Advocate Kaleeswaram
Raj, appearing for the peti-
tioner, told the court that
there is a system of postal
ballot papers which is lim-
ited to only a few people.
The apex court was hear-
ing the plea filed by S
Sathyan seeking voting
rights for students, Non
Resident Indians or NRIs
and other people stationed
outside their constituency
at the time of elections.
be ready for the next call of
the unions spearheading the
stir.
"Keep your tractors filled
with fuel and facing towards
Delhi's direction. You can get
a call to move at any time,
that will be decided by the
committee (farmers unions),"
4,500 live cartridges
seized in north
Delhi; 6 held
NEW DELHI
Six members of a syndicate supply-
ing ammunition illegally were ar-
rested with 4,500 live cartridges, po-
lice said on Thursday.
Police claimed that it is one of the
biggest haul of cartridges in the na-
tional capital.
Deputy Commissioner of Police
(Special Cell) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav
said six people were arrested by the
northern range of Delhi Police's Spe-
cial Cell and 4,500 live cartridges
were seized from them.
Yadav said the first arrest in the
case was made on February 14.
A trap was laid near Mukundpur
flyover on Outer Ring Road where
Ramesh arrived in a car and hand-
ed over a white plastic bag to
Deepanshu.
Tikait said after Haryana,
they will be holding panchay-
ats in other parts of the coun-
try, including West Bengal,
Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and
Gujarat.
While earlier farmers had
given a call for a "tractor ral-
ly" in Delhi, Tikait said the
next time, they will go to the
national capital with their
agricultural implements.
Addressing the gathering,
Haryana BKU chief Gurnam
Singh Chaduni alleged, "If
new agricultural laws are im-
plemented, crops will be pur-
chased at arbitrary prices
and farmers will be forced to
even sell their land."
Fuel issue: Patole threatens
to stall films of Big B, Akshay
BHANDARA
Maharashtra Congress
chief Nana Patole on
Thursday said if actors
Amitabh Bachchan and
Akshay Kumar do not take
a standon the issue of fuel
price hike, then screening
of their films and shoot-
ings would not be allowed
in the state.
Talking to reporters here,
Patole said Bachchan and
Kumar had tweeted about
fuel price rise during the
previous UPA government,
but are now silent on the is-
sue.
The prices of branded or
task of wooing the agitat-
ing farmers of western UP,
who are mostly jats, to
Union Minister of State
Sanjeev Balyan, a Jat
leader from Punjab who
participated in all 11 round
of talks the government
held with the farmers.
The private sugar mills in
the region may, however,
sabotage the BJP's plans to
win back the farmers since
they have not paid the sug-
arcane dues of the farmers
that were around Rs 10,174
crore until last September
and swelled to nearly Rs
13,000 crore.
These mill owners also
forced hands of the UP gov-
additive-laced petrol,
which attracts higher tax-
es, have crossed the Rs 100-
mark in some places, in-
cluding Maharashtra. In
Mumbai, petrol is now
costing Rs 96.32 a litre and
diesel Rs 87.32.
Patole said the common
man has been affected a lot
by the increase in prices of
Shabnam now approaches
UP Governor for mercy
SRAWAN SHUKLA / LUCKNOW
ernment of Yogi
Adityanath in not raising
the sugarcane prices that
are fixed at Rs 315 a quintal
for common variety and Rs
325 for advanced varieties.
This may also pose further
trouble to the BJP, which is
in power in both the Centre
and the state.
Balyan was assigned the
responsibility after a meet-
ing with Home Minister
Amit Shah and national
BJP President J P Nadda
here on Tuesday. He had a
first preliminary round
with 20 Jat leaders from the
western UP at his residence
here on Wednesday and
their meeting decided to
call meetings of the Khap
(community) leaders to sit
with them and listen to the
issues.
petrol and diesel.
Filmstars like Amitabh
Bachchan and Akshay Ku-
mar, through their tweets,
had earlier criticised the
fuel price rise during the
Manmohan Singh-led gov-
ernment, he said.
Why are they silent now
on the rising petrol and
diesel prices? he asked.
"If they do not take a
stand now on the injustice
meted out by the Modi gov-
ernment, we will not let
any films (screening) or
shootings of Amitabh
Bachchan or Akshay Ku-
mar in Maharashtra," the
Congress leader said.
hours to convince her. Fi-

Estranged Kerala BJP leader

ARITRA SINGHA / Kolkata
Sobha not to contest polls
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The 'estranged'
War of words between BJP and
TMC continues unabated. Ad-
dressing a public rally at
top leader of the Kerala unit of the BJP, Sobha Namkhana in South 24 Par-
Surendran, on Thursday made it clear that she will ganas, Union Home Minister
not be contesting in the upcoming assembly polls. Amit Shah said that the BJP
"I have made the decision not to contest the doesn’t want to just form a gov-
upcoming assembly polls and I have informed this ernment in West Bengal but
to the leadership also. But I will campaign for the wants to improve the state's sit-
party," said Sobha to the media here. She made uation by ousting the ruling
her first public appearance in a long time when Mamata Banerjee government.
she joined the ongoing protests by youths in front “If voted to power, we will im-
of the Secretariat. plement the Seventh Pay Com-
mission. The BJP government
Biennial polls to 5 seats of AP will provide more than 33 per
cent reservation to women in
legislative council on March 15 West Bengal and will also start
NEW DELHI: Biennial elections to five seats of special schemes for fisher-
the Andhra Pradesh legislative council will be held men,” said Shah, after paying
on March 15, the Election Commission said on homage at Kapil Muni Ashram
Thursday. The poll panel also announced that
bypolls to one seat each of the Karnataka and the
Slugfest over bomb attack on TMC min nal ‘Parivartan Yatra’.
The CM attacked BJP leaders Even as her mercy petition
nally, she signed the appli-
cation for mercy petition
PVisiting
olitical slugfest started over the bomb attack on West Bengal
minister Jakir Hossain on Wednesday late evening.
the injured minister at SSKM hospital, Chief Minister Mamata
and said they bring food from
"five-star hotels and for photo
sessions eat at poor people’s res-
has been rejected by the
President Ram Nath Kovid,
Shabnam Ali has filed a
addressed to the UP Gover-
nor Anandiben Patel for
pardon.
Banerjee alleged that the attack was purposely done to kill the idence". Incidentally, South 24 fresh mercy petition before The Rampur Jail Superin-
minister. “A particular political party was pressuring Jakir to join Parganas district has 31 assem- the Uttar Pradesh Gover- tendent PD Salonia said
them. Since Jakir didn’t listen to them, they tried to kill him. We want bly constituencies and is consid- nor Anandiben Patel. that the two counsels had
a proper investigation into this,” said Banerjee. ered to be a Trinamool Con- Two Counsels of Shab- come to meet Shabnam.
gress’ citadel. nam met her on Thursday They have handed over a
in Gangasagar. Countering the ganas. Amit Shah inaugurated Actor Hiraan defects to in Rampur Jail on Thurs- fresh mercy petition which
claims of Shah, Mamata stated the fifth phase of BJP’s 'Parivar- BJP: Another Bengali actor, day. They held talks with is being sent to the honor-
that the BJP-led central govern- tan Yatra' from Kakdwip and Hiraan Chatterjee, joined the her and suggested filing a able Governor Anandiben
ment didn’t do anything for the said his party will develop Gan- BJP at a public rally of Amit fresh mercy petition. Patel.
development of Gangasagar. gasagar to a tourist spot. Chief Shah. Soon after defecting to Initially, Shabnam had re- Article 161 of the Consti-
“BJP didn’t do anything for Minister Mamata Banerjee chal- the saffron camp, the actor fused but her Counsels con- tution of India empowers
West Bengal. Even during Am- lenged Shah to defeat TMC MP said that the defection was vinced her that she should the Governors of States to
phan, they didn’t give proper fi- Abhishek Banerjee first before necessary to bring "positive file an appeal to the UP Gov- grant pardon.
nancial assistance. The TMC contesting against her. change in West Bengal". This ernor, who is also a female Earlier, her 12-year-old
government had developed Gan- Interestingly, Shah was seen development comes a day after and may look at it sympa- son Taj had appealed to the
gasagar and Sagar island,” she having lunch at a refugee's noted actor Yash Dasgupta thetically. President to forgive and
said at a rally in South 24 Par- house before flagging off the fi- joined the BJP. It took Counsels three pardon her.

Death due to poison, BSY to bring Bill on love

Andhra Pradesh legislative council will also be held MAJLIS IN MEMORY CID begins probe
on March 15. The bypolls were necessitated
following the death of sitting MLCs. The biennial OF MIRZA ATHAR, into bomb attack
elections are being held as four members of the ASHFAQUE ON FEB 21 suggests autopsy on Bengal minister

jihad in Budget session

AP legislative council are retiring on March 29. LUCKNOW
5,500 smart classrooms in 6 As per the tradi-
tion followed
months at govt college: Dy CM every year, a ma-
BENGALURU: Karnataka would convert 5,500 jlis in memory of
classrooms in government colleges into smart Khatib-e-Akbar
classrooms in the next six months, Deputy Chief Maulana Mirza
Minister of the state Dr C N Ashwath Narayan Athar and Khati-
said on Thursday. The exercise is part of bul Irfan
promoting digital learning in higher education, the Maulana Mirza
Deputy Chief Minister, who holds the Higher Muhammad Ashfaque will be held at
Education Portfolio, said. Speaking after launching Bara Imambara of Nawab Asafuddu-
the newly built gym and the annual cultural alla. The eminent and famous
activities in the government arts college, he said Maulana from Iran Maulana Ayatul-
the smart classrooms would be featured with lah Sayyid Muntazir Mehdi Sahab
high-speed internet providing students with the will address the majlis.
state-of-the-art tablets and adoption of integrated Maulana Mirza Athar Sahab has
learning management system (LMS). the distinction of leading the Majlis
in Mughal Masjid of Mumbai during
Guj RS bypolls: BJP nominees Muharram for fifty years and has a
record in Limca Book of Records for
set to win unopposed this achievement. He was considered
AHMEDABAD: BJP candidates on Thursday filed the one of the most influential spiri-
nominations for bypolls to two Rajya Sabha seats tual leaders of Shias.
in Gujarat and are expected to be declared
winners as the Congress did not field any
candidate, an official said. Thursday was the last
day for filing nominations. As the main opposition
party in the state did not field any candidate, two
SC stays pvt buses in
BJP candidates are expected to be declared
winners in the elections scheduled for March 1,
returning officer C B Pandya said. "BJP's Dinesh
Jim Corbett Tiger Reserve
Anavadiya and Ram Mokariya and their two OUR BUREAU
dummy candidates submitted their papers. We New Delhi
have not received any nominations from
Congress," he said. The Supreme Court on Thurs-
day stayed the Jim Corbett Na-
Andhra Assembly Speaker's wife tional Park's decision to allow
buses of a private operator in
set to become Sarpanch core area of the tiger reserve in
AMARAVATI: Tammineni Vanisri, wife of Andhra Uttarakhand on a petition by
Pradesh Assembly Speaker Tammineni Sitaram Advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal
won a Sarpanch post in the third phase Panchayat that it violates the Wildlife Pro-
elections. Vanisri won the Sarpanch post of the tection Act.
Togaram village in Amadalavalasa Mandal in A Bench of Chief Justice
Srikakulam district. Out of 1,460 votes, 1,123 Sharad Arvind Bobde and Jus-
were cast in the election. Out of this, Vanisri got tices AS Bopanna and V Rama-
808 votes compared to the runner up's 298 votes. subramanian issued notices to
Likewise, in East Godavari district, an MLA's the Centre, Uttarakhand Gov-
mother won a Sarpanch post. ernment, National Tiger Con-
servation Authority, National
DALIT GIRL
OUR CORRESPONDENT / Lucknow
Initial post mortem report of
the two minor Dalit girls,
who died under mysterious
circumstances in Unnao,
suggested death due to some
poisonous substance.
A panel of three doctors
conducted the post mortem
on Thursday. They told the
police that some poisonous
substance was found in
their body and it may be the
cause of the death. Doctors
said samples and viscera
have been sent to the lab to
ascertain the type of poison.
Taking serious note of the
mysterious deaths, the Uttar
Pradesh Chief Minister
Board of Wildlife and the offi-
cials of the Jim Corbette Na-
tional Park.
The petitioner alleged that for-
est officials of the State in order
to provide wrongful gain to a
private sector company has al-
lowed them to ply their private
buses within the core area of the
Tiger reserve in an order issued
on December 23, 2020.
He said by issuing the order,
the Director of Jim Corbett Na-
tional Park has not only violated
the law of the land but also com-
promised with the safety, protec-
tion and conservation of the
tiger, which is India's national
animal.
Yogi Adityanath has issued
directives for free treatment
of the 17-year-old third girl.
The state government will
bear all her medical expens-
es. The third girl has been
admitted at Regency Hospi-
tal in Kanpur. The Chief
Minister has also directed
the DGP H.C. Awasthi to
submit a detailed report
about the incident, which
may rock the budget session
on Friday. Heavy police force
has been deployed in Babu-
raha Village under Asoha
Police Station when Sama-
jwadi Party supporters held
demonstrations and sat on a
dharna along with villagers.
Police have put up barriers
and denied entry to anyone
in the village, including me-
dia persons.
Bill Gates, Malala among speakers at Jaipur Lit Fest
FP CORRESPONDENT / JAIPUR
Hailed as the 'greatest liter-
ary show on Earth' and the
‘Kumbh of Literature’, the
14th edition of the Jaipur
Literature Festival 2021
gets underway from Friday
in its new virtual avatar.
The inaugural keynote ad-
dress will be delivered by
renowned author Sir Ian
Blatchford, Director and
Chief Executive of the Sci-
ence Museum Group and
Dr Tilly Blyth, Head of Col-
lections and Principal Cu-
rator, Science Museum,
London. The Festival will
be held from February 19 to
28 and will feature over 300
KOLKATA: The CID on
Thursday started a probe
into the bomb attack on
West Bengal Minister Jakir
Hossain, who along with 21
others was seriously in-
jured in the blast at Nimtita
railway station in Murshid-
abad district on Wednesday
night. A team of forensic
experts visited the railway
station on Thursday and
collected evidence.
Chief Minister Mamata
Banerjee on Thursday visit-
ed the SSKM hospital,
where the Minister of State
for Labour Department and
other injured are under
medical treatment. The
Chief Minister said that she
handed over the investiga-
tion to the Criminal Investi-
gation Department, and
they began the probe.
STAR ATTRACTIONS
speakers and performers
representing around 25 In-
dian and 18 international
languages and over 23 na-
tionalities as well as major
literary awards ranging
from the Nobel, the Man
Booker, the Pulitzer, the
Sahitya Akademi, DSC
Prize for South Asian Liter-
SHANKAR RAJ
Bengaluru
Despite courts frowning
and some governments tak-
ing a few steps back, the BS
Yediyurappa government
in Karnataka has decided
to introduce a bill against
"love jihad" in the upcom-
ing budget session.
This was stated by State
BJP president Nalin Ku-
mar Kateel who dismissed
rumours of confusion in
the BJP. "We have success-
fully enacted the cow
slaughter ban after getting
the bill passed in both the
houses of the legislature.
ature, JCB Prize for Litera-
ture.
Speakers at the Festival
this year include American
business magnate and co-
founder of Microsoft Cor-
poration Bill Gates; Ameri-
can economist, public poli-
cy analyst and Nobel Laure-
ate Joseph Stiglitz; Pak-
Now, we will enact a law
against love jihad in the
budget session," he said in
Vijayapura.
Despite Kateel's asser-
tions, there is deep division
in the Yediyurappa cabi-
net. Two months ago, the
cabinet was divided over
the issue. The then law
minister JC Madhuswamy
had dismissed talks on a
law on love jihad, but home
minister Basavaraj Bom-
mai had maintained that
Karnataka would frame
rules on the lines of those
under consideration or in-
troduced by other BJP-gov-
erned states.
istani activist for female ed-
ucation and Nobel Laureate
Malala Yousafzai; Man
Booker Prize-winning au-
thor Douglas Stuart; jour-
nalist and Pulitzer awardee
Jeffrey Gettleman, to name
a few.
Author and Jaipur Litera-
ture Festival Co-Director
Namita Gokhale said, “�The
virtual edition of Jaipur
Literature Festival 2021 is
an absorbing immersive ex-
perience where we en-
counter an outstanding ros-
ter of great writers from
around the world. The chal-
lenges and disruptions of
2020 have transformed into
the triumphs of 2021.”
8 NATION
FREE PRESS
FRIDAY | FEBRUARY 19, 2021 | INDORE
LOCKDOWN IN 4 MAHA DISTRICTS