Jaipur:

Three persons lost their lives in Jaipur due to heat stroke on Tuesday, the health department said, adding that the total number of heat stroke cases climbed to 3965 on Monday.

Those who died were from Agra and Delhi, health officials said.

Meanwhile, two newborn babies admitted to the Government Community Health Centre in Jhalawar district died on Tuesday.

The parents alleged negligence of the hospital management for the deaths, saying that there were no coolers or doctors in the ward.

Block Medical Officer Raees Khan reached the hospital and issued instructions to install four coolers in the ward and appoint doctors for 24-hour duty at the hospital.

Mr Khan said that a probe will be conducted to find out if the newborns died due to extreme heat.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Watch | 50 years ago, India conducted its first ever nuclear test

Fifty years ago, India conducted its first nuclear test in Pokhran, code-named Operation Smiling Buddha. With this India had entered the league of nations with nuclear capabilities.

An article dated May 19th, 1974, says India successfully conducted an underground test with plutonium device in 10-15 kiloton range. It also adds that the then Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission Dr H.N Sethna and Director of The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre DR R Ramanna, who supervised the test, flew to Delhi even without a wash or change to give a full account to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

India said that it undertook this programme to develop its own technology for peaceful use of nuclear energy and it had no intention of going in for nuclear weapons. The groundwork for testing nuclear energy was laid even earlier by renowned Indian scientists Homi J Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai. In 1954, the Department of Atomic Energy was founded, with Bhabha as director.

With Smiling Buddha, India became the first nation to conduct a nuclear test apart from the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. After the nuclear test, there were criticisms that it was an attempt to divert people’s attention from the economic crisis the country was facing in the 1970s.

However, the Atomic Energy Commission chairman said that it was his decision and that there was no political motive,
Even a New York Times article said that “such great talent of resources has been squandered on the vanity of power, while 600 million Indians slip deeper into poverty”.

India also faced significant criticism from many countries including Pakistan, USA, and Canada. Pakistan said that it would never succumb to “nuclear blackmail” or accept “Indian hegemony or domination over the subcontinent”.

India did not carry out further nuclear tests until 1998. In 1998, under the leadership of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, India conducted a series of nuclear tests in Pokhran once again, code-named Operation Shakti.

With this, India declared itself a full-fledged nuclear state.

Script and production: Gayatri Menon

Research: Gayatri Menon and Murali Krishnaswamy

Archive photo courtesy: M. Srinath

Voiceover: Jude Francis Weston

Jaipur:

Fourteen people including senior vigilance officers were trapped after a lift collapsed at the Kolihan mine in Rajasthan’s Jhunjhunu district late last night. Of them, eight have been rescued so far from the copper mine of Hindustan Copper Limited. Efforts are on to evacuate the remaining six still trapped inside.

Doctors at the site suggest all those who were trapped are safe. However, nine ambulances have been on standby outside the mine for any emergency.

The rescued officials will be sent to Jaipur after being given first aid.

The lift was carrying a vigilance team from Kolkata as well as mine officials. It crashed when it was around 577 metres inside the mine.

Earlier, an eight-member team comprising doctors and nurses was sent inside the mine through the exit gate to provide medical help to those trapped.

The trapped officials included Chief Vigilance Officer Upendra Pandey, Khetri Copper Complex unit head GD Gupta, and Kolihan mine’s Deputy General Manager AK Sharma. A journalist who had entered the mine as a photographer with the vigilance team was also trapped.

“The rescue team is engaged and the entire administration is on alert. There is no report of any casualties so far; everyone will come out safely,” assured local MLA Dharmpal Gurjar.

The copper mine at Khetri was established in 1967.

Jaipur:

Six people of a family were killed and two children injured when their car collided with a tractor on the Mumbai-Delhi Expressway in Rajasthan’s Sawai Madhopur on Sunday, police said.

According to the police, the family was going from Khandela in Sikar to the Trinetra Ganesh Temple in Ranthambore when the accident occurred. Assistant Superintendent of Police Dinesh Yadav said that the car was badly damaged and bodies could only be taken out with a hard effort. The two children injured in the accident were first admitted to the Community Health Centre in Baunli village and later were referred to Jaipur.

As per the police, the family was originally from Mukundgarh in Jhunjhunu but currently living in Sikar.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Jaipur:

Rajasthan recorded a voter turnout of 64.6 per cent (provisional figures) in the 13 remaining Lok Sabha seats that went to the polls on Friday. Elections to the state’s other 12 Lok Sabha seats were held in the first phase on April 19.

The final numbers will be released on Saturday as large queues were seen at many polling booths even after 6 p.m., said Chief Electoral Officer, Rajasthan, Praveen Gupta.

In 2019, a turnout of 68.42 per cent was recorded in the 13 seats that went to the polls on Friday, Gupta said.

The Barmer Lok Sabha constituency registered the highest voter turnout at 74.25 per cent, while Tonk-Sawai Madhopur recorded the lowest turnout among the 13 seats at 56.55 per cent.

The bypoll to the Bagidora Assembly seat in Banswara recorded a voter turnout of 77 per cent.

With Friday’s polling, the Lok Sabha elections concluded in all 25 seats in the state. The results will be declared on June 4

In the second phase, elections were held in Tonk-Sawai Madhopur, Ajmer, Pali, Jodhpur, Barmer, Jalore, Udaipur, Banswara, Chittorgarh, Rajsamand, Bhilwara, Kota, and Jhalawad- Baran Lok Sabha constituencies.

While Barmer recorded a slight rise in voter turnout at 74.25 as compared to 73.3 per cent in 2019, Kota also witnessed marginally higher turnout, from 70.22 per cent in 2019 to 70.82 per cent this time.

The break-ups for the other seats are as follows:

* Banswara 72.24 per cent (72.9 per cent in 2019)

* Jhalawar-Baran 68.72 per cent (71.96 per cent in 2019)

* Chittorgarh 67.83 per cent (72.39 per cent in 2019)

* Udaipur 64.01 per cent (70.32 per cent in 2019)

* Jodhpur 63.3 per cent (68.89 per cent in 2019)

* Jalore 62.28 per cent (65.74 per cent in 2019)

* Bhilwara 60.1 per cent (65.64 per cent in 2019)

* Ajmer 59.22 per cent (67.32 per cent in 2019)

* Rajsamand 58.01 per cent (64.87 per cent in 2019)

* Pali 56.8 per cent (62.98 per cent in 2024)

* Tonk-Sawai Madhopur 56.55 per cent (63.44 per cent in 2019)

The 2024 figures are all provisional and subject to change when the final numbers are released by the Election Commission on Saturday.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Tonk:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a day after accusing the Congress of planning to redistribute the country’s wealth in favour of “imposters”, said even listening to Hanuman Chalisa has “become a crime under the Congress”. Speaking at a meeting in Rajasthan’s Tonk district three days before the second phase of the general election, PM Modi recounted an incident in “Congress-ruled Karnataka” where a man was beaten up while listening to Hanuman Chalisa at his shop. He also doubled down on his yesterday’s remarks, saying his flagging the issue has scared the Opposition bloc INDIA.

“Here was a poor man, who was sitting in his little shop listening to Hanuman Chalisa. He was badly beaten up till he was bleeding… This is the way the Congress runs its government in Karnataka,” he said.

“Even practicing one’s faith becomes a problematic… and Rajasthan has first-hand experience of this,” PM Modi said, citing in this connection the Congress leaders’ absence at the consecration ceremony of Ayodhya’s Ram temple.

“The leaders had declined the invitation of the temple committee. So their aides and followers can easily beat up people listening to Hanuman Chalisa,” he said.

PM Modi also referred to his “wealth to imposters” claim that has snowballed into a huge political row and reiterated that the main Opposition party is appeasing the minorities.

“When I came to Rajasthan the day before yesterday, I had presented some truths before the country in my 90-second speech,” PM Modi said.

“This has created panic in the entire Congress and INDI alliance. I had put the truth before the country that Congress is hatching a deep conspiracy to snatch your property and distribute it to its special people. I exposed their vote bank and appeasement politics. After all, why is Congress so afraid of the truth?” the Prime Minister said.

PM Modi had said yesterday that the Congress manifesto promises that if they come to power, “everyone’s property will be surveyed, it will calculate gold belonging to mothers and sisters and then redistribute it. They “won’t even spare your mangalsutra,” he has said at a meeting in Rajasthan.

The Congress has filed a complaint with the Election Commission about the Prime Minister’s speech, seeking immediate action.

The “unprecedented and malicious allegations” are  aimed at “creating enmity between groups, far worse than any ever made by a sitting Prime Minister in the history of India,” the Congress wrote to the Commission. “This cannot go unchecked, unanswered and unpunished,” it had added.

Jaipur:

A voter turnout of close to 58 per cent was recorded in 12 parliamentary constituencies of Rajasthan where polling was held in the first phase of Lok Sabha elections on Friday.

There was no untoward incident during polling in the state, an official said.

The voting percentage on these seats in the 2019 polls was 63.71.

Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Gupta said an estimated 57.87 percent voting (including 0.61% postal ballot) has been recorded in the 12 LS constituencies which went to polls in the first phase.

A total of 2.54 crore people were eligible to vote in the first phase and around 23,000 polling booths were set up, he said.

The officer said the final voting percentage would be available on Saturday after data from all the polling booths are received and complied.

Mr Gupta said there were long queues of voters at polling stations at many places even after 6 pm, the scheduled voting closure time.

Voters started arriving in large numbers at polling stations in urban and rural areas from 7 am onwards to exercise their franchise. There was a steady stream of enthusiastic voters at the polling stations throughout the day.

The highest voter turnout of 65.64 per cent was recorded in the Ganganagar Lok Sabha seat. In 2019 LS election, the voter turnout here was 74.39 percent.

Karauli-Dholpur saw the lowest turnout of 49.29 per cent, against 55.06 percent in 2019.

Jaipur recorded a poll percentage of 62.87. The voting percentage in Bikaner was 53.96, Churu 62.98, Sikar 57.28, Jaipur Rural 56.58, Alwar 59.79, Dausa 55.21, Bharatpur 52.69, Jhunjhunu 51.62 and Nagaur 56.89.

Fbikaner As many as 114 candidates are in the fray in the first phase of elections. There are 25 Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan and the remaining 13 will go to poll in the second phase on April 26.

Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra, Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma, former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot and other leaders cast their votes in the initial hours. Mishra and his wife Satyawati Mishra cast their votes at a polling booth at C Scheme.

“Voting is not only a constitutional right but also the duty of every citizen of India. This strengthens democracy,” the governor said later.

The chief minister exercised his franchise at a polling station at Patnik Jagatpura and expressed confidence that the NDA will win over 400 seats across the country in this general election. He said the people of the state were voting for ‘guarantees’ of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

On the other hand, Pilot said people want change and this election was going to be for a change in the country.

“The BJP had a long tenure of 10 years. Now people are bored and I am convinced that the Congress will win more seats than the BJP in Rajasthan. We will win across the country and the INDIA bloc will get a majority,” he told reporters after casting his vote.

Deputy Chief Minister Diya Kumari also cast her vote in this phase.

Former BJP state president Satish Poonia cast his vote at a polling booth in Rani Sati Nagar in Jaipur during the day.

Elderly citizens and some newly married couples were also seen at the polling booths.

Shivani, a resident of Dampura village in Dholpur district, reached her polling booth before entering the wedlock. Dressed in bridal attire, she also got herself photographed at a ‘selfie point’ after casting her vote.

In Jaipur, a 95-year-old retired naval officer reached a polling station with his family members to vote. He said although he could have chosen the ‘voting from home’ option, he preferred to cast his vote at a polling station.

Newlywed Rohit and Sonia Chaudhary went to a polling station in Jaipur’ Purani Basti to cast their votes. They got married on Thursday night.

However, people in Palawala Jatan village under Dausa lok sabha constituency boycotted elections due to lack of development works in the area.

Villagers say that after delimitation, the village had to remain deprived of development.

Former village sarpanch Rameshwar Gora said that the village lacks means of transportation and other basic amenities and development. “We have been boycotting every election continuously for 4 years,” he said.

Rajasthan Director General of Police Utkal Ranjan Sahoo said tight security arrangements have been made for free, fair and peaceful voting. The Rajasthan Police, along with companies of the Central Armed Forces and Home Guard personnel, has been deployed to maintain peace and law and order.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Neat rows of vegetable and fruit plants in a portion of the 4.50-hectare agricultural land, a 3.3-KV solar power panel running pumps and other electrical appliances, slim polyethylene hoses for drip irrigation, and uniformly spaced trees form part of some innovative practices adopted by farmer Bhanwar Lal Meel at Lalasi village in Rajasthan’s Sikar district.

Mr. Meel, 41, who has studied till Class 12, has made innovations in traditional practices and adopted new techniques to turn farming on his ancestral land into a profitable venture amid the decline in the groundwater level and erratic rainfall. A pond constructed in his field last year, utilising the subsidy under the Prime Minister’s Krishi Sinchayee Yojana, provides an additional support to farming by storing rainwater.

Mr. Meel is among a bunch of farmers in Shekhawati region who have adopted new techniques for optimum utilisation of water and getting remunerative prices for agricultural produce. The expertise at the farmland has led to significant expansion in the sowing area for crops and vegetables, higher yield, and enhanced annual income per hectare of land.

A major concern

The decline in the groundwater level is a major issue for agriculturists in all four districts of Shekhawati — Sikar, Jhunjhunu, Churu, and Neem Ka Thana.

As the production of crops has declined, farmers have started cultivating vegetables, as they can get eight times the yield with just 25% labour compared with traditional farming. The sowing area of vegetables has almost doubled in the last 10 years.

Farmer Mahesh Pachar in Sikar tehsil’s Jheegar Bari village has adopted rainwater harvesting techniques on his seven-acre land and established a climate-controlled polyhouse in an area measuring 1,000 square metres for growing vegetables. “The polyhouse remains vacant only from April to June. The rest of the year, I grow a good quantity of fruits, vegetables, and flowers,” he said.

Sundaram Verma of Danta village has developed techniques to grow crops with less water and conserve water in the arid regions. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 2020 for developing ‘dryland agroforestry’, a method to help tree plantation efforts.

Bhanwar Lal of Sarwari village in Sikar’s Dhod block has established a processing plant for gooseberries grown in his fields and started producing candy, powder, and murabba (sweet fruit preserve), which fetch him an annual profit of ₹15 lakh. Similarly, Dharampal Singh in Jhunjhunu district’s Bharu village has taken up organic farming with the help of vermicompost produced in his 19-acre field.

Increase in income

Agricultural expert Chiranji Lal Maharia, who owns a 10-hectare land in Sikar’s Kudan village, pointed out that the average income of farmers in the region, which was earlier about ₹1 lakh per hectare in a year, has touched about ₹8 lakh a year as a result of the innovative practices and hi-tech applications.

The sowing area of crops has also increased by one-and-a-half times. Besides, the separate agriculture budget started by the previous Congress regime in the State had introduced subsidies for horticulture and farm mechanisation through the purchase of agricultural equipment.

Faced with paucity of water, Mr. Maharia had to take up animal husbandry as an avocation. He also encouraged other villagers to rear sheep and goats.

“I am getting the services of a veterinarian to ensure proper growth of my animals, whose number has crossed 60,” he added. The ‘bakra mandi’ (goat market) in Sikar is one of the biggest in the State, where the annual turnover is estimated at ₹600 crore.

For this year, the Agriculture Department has announced a subsidy of up to ₹1.35 lakh for construction of farm ponds, which may be used for collecting rainwater for irrigation.

Mr. Maharia has led a group of farmers to raise the demand for bringing canal waters for irrigation in the parched fields. He said if a provision of 5,000 cusecs of canal water is made for the 50-lakh acre irrigable land in the region, it will solve the problem of water scarcity and also provide enough drinking water to the 85-lakh population in Sikar division.

The Chaudhary Kumbharam Lift Canal, built under the Indira Gandhi Canal Project, supplies 1,500 cusecs of water to some areas. If the Indira Gandhi Canal is repaired on a war footing, the inflow of water may increase to 15,000 cusecs and a portion of the additional quantity may be allocated to Sikar.

If one cusec of water is allotted per 1,000 acres, the drinking water requirement may be met and fruit and vegetable production can be taken up in 50 lakh acres through drip irrigation. The rearing of sheep and goat will provide additional support, Mr. Maharia pointed out, while calling for the appointment of a panel of experts and framing of water allocation rules. These rules may be made on the lines of allocation coming to Sanchore in southwestern Rajasthan from Sardar Sarovar Dam in neighbouring Gujarat.

The Sikar Sambhag Nahar Lao Sangharsh Samiti has also pointed out some anomalies in a memorandum of understanding signed between the Haryana and the Rajasthan governments last month for ensuring the supply of the latter’s entire share of water as per the 1994 Yamuna Water Agreement.

Sangharsh Samiti chief Bhola Ram said the Rajasthan government should make an attempt to get its full share of water from Tajewala Head and arrange for its supply to Sikar division through pipelines.

In the midst of the demands for bringing water to Shekhawati, Sikar Collector Qummer-ul-Zaman Choudhary said he is encouraging farmers to adopt new cropping patterns. “The establishment of farmer-producer organisations, linkages with cooperatives, and ensuring market accessibility will enhance their income,” Mr. Choudhary said.

Jaipur:

A man in Rajasthan’s Sirohi district allegedly thrashed his 17-year-old daughter to death for not preparing for her school examinations, police said on Saturday.

Accused Fateh Mohammad (42), a resident of Prem Nagar, has been arrested, Deputy Superintendent of Police Pushpendra Verma said.

A preliminary investigation revealed that Mohammad was angry with his daughter, a class 11 student, for not studying for her exams. So, he beat her up with a stick on Thursday, he said.

Based on a complaint lodged by the girl’s uncle, the accused father was arrested on Saturday and the murder weapon was recovered.

According to the DSP, the girl probably died due to internal injuries, however the exact cause of death will be revealed after the post-mortem report comes. 

Ajmer:

A class 12 student in Rajasthan has alleged that her school did not let her appear for board examinations as she had been gang-raped last year. The student, in her complaint, alleged that the school officials told her that the “atmosphere would be spoiled” if she appeared for the exam.

The private school in Ajmer though claims they did not give an admit card to the student as she had not attended classes for 4 months.

The matter came to light when the student approached a teacher at another school, who advised her to call the child helpline number. Ajmer’s Child Welfare Commission (CWC) has filed a case and will take necessary action after the investigation.

CWC chairperson Anjali Sharma said she had spoken to the student about the entire incident. She said that while the investigation is on, their priority is to ensure that the girl can take the exams she missed in March.

The student was raped by her uncle and two other men in October last year. She told Anjali Sharma that the school had then suggested that she study from home as her coming to school could “spoil the atmosphere”. She agreed and had been preparing for her board exams at home.

When she went to collect her admit card, she was told that she was no longer a student of the school. She then realised that the school had barred her from entering immediately after her rape as the parents of other students objected to her presence.

“When I spoke to the girl, she told me that she was dejected as she is a bright student. She had scored 79% in her class 10 board exams,” Anjali Sharma told NDTV.

“The girl could have done well if she had appeared for her 12th boards, but she may lose a year due to the school’s negligence,” she added.