01012022 first india new delhi

Chandigarh win just a trailer, Punjab
assembly picture abhi baaki hai: AAP
KEJRIWAL’S PEACE MARCH IN PATIALA
Sharat K Verma
Patiala/Chandigarh:
Buoyed by its success in
the recently-held Chan-
digarh civic body polls,
the Aam Aadmi Party
(AAP) has exuded confi-
dence for the upcoming
Punjab assembly elec-
tions as well.
The AAP Punjab or-
ganized a peace march
in Patiala for the peace
and prosperity of Pun-
jab, which was led by
AAP National Convener
and Delhi CM Arvind
Kejriwal. Party’s Pun-
jab president Bhagwant
Mann and Leader of Op-
position Harpal Singh
Cheema were with him.
Paying obeisance at the
historic Gurdwara
Dukh Niwaran Sahib
and Kali Mata Mandir
they prayed for commu-
nal harmony in Punjab.
Addressing people’s
gatherings, Kejriwal
said only the Punjab’s
‘aam aadmi’ (common
man) can save it. “Three
crore Punjabis will
have to come together
to achieve this,” he said.
Speakingonthisocca-
sion AAP’s Punjabpresi-
dent Bhagwant Mann
said, “Chandigarh taan
jhaakihai,Punjabhaale
baaki hai (Chandigarh
is just a trailer, Punjab
will present the com-
plete picture).
Arvind Kejriwal leads peace march in Patiala, on Friday.
VK TRIPATHI
APPOINTED AS
NEW CHAIRMAN,
CEO OF RLY BOARD
New Delhi: The Appoint-
ments Committee of the
Cabinet (ACC) approved
the appointment of
VK Tripathi, General
Manager, North Eastern
Railway to the post of
Chairman and CEO of
Railway Board, New
Delhi. The committee
has approved a six-
month extension, that is,
upto December 2022. As
per an official statement
from North Eastern Rail-
way, Tripathi did B Tech
(Electrical Engineering)
from Roorkee and joined
railways through the
Indian Railway Service
of Electrical Engineers
(IRSEE) batch of 1983.
His first posting was as
an Assistant Electrical
Engineer on Northern
Railway.
VAX v/s OMICRON
India crosses milestone of 145 crore
Covid jabs as variant cases spike
India saw highest single-day rise of 309 cases of Omicron, taking the tally of such cases
to 1,270, said health ministry. It also recorded 16,764 fresh cases and 220 more fatalities
Mohd Fahad
New Delhi: Union
Health Minister Man-
sukh Mandaviya on Fri-
day said that India has
crossed the milestone of
145 crore Covid vaccina-
tions. “My gratitude to
our doctors, scientists,
healthcare and frontline
workers for displaying
immense grit, determi-
nation & resolve in the
challenging 2021 year,”
he said in a tweet.
On December 4, Ma-
harashtra detected its
first patient with new
Covid variant B.1.1.529
or Omicron. In the last
26 days, the total num-
ber of Omicron cases,
which is more trans-
missible than Delta, the
dominant variants dur-
ing the second wave,
and also has a higher
potential of immunity
escape has surged.
MUMBAI COVID CURBS: NO ENTRY TO
BEACHES, PARKS BETWEEN 5-5 TILL JAN 15
Mumbai: Mumbai Police issued an order under section 144
of the CrPC, prohibiting people from visiting beaches, open
grounds, sea faces, promenades, gardens, parks or similar
public places between 5 pm and 5 am daily till January
15 in view of the prevailing Covid-19 situation. Genome
sequencing at the Kasturba Gandhi Hospital, Mumbai, has
detected the new variant Omicron in nearly one-third of
samples it tested in indication of community transmission.
‘FREE OMICRON TEST’
OFFERED ONLINE IS A
CYBERCRIME: CENTRE
New Delhi: Amid a rise in
Omicron cases, the Minis-
try of Home Affairs (MHA)
has issued an advisory
against cybercriminals
targeting potential victims
by offering them free tests
for detecting Omicron vari-
ant of COVID-19. Further, it
mentioned that fraudsters
send emails regarding PCR
testing for Omicron with
malicious links and mali-
cious files attached.
WOMAN TESTS POSITIVE MID-AIR,
ISOLATES IN PLANE TOILET FOR HOURS
New York: A US woman was quarantined in an aero-
plane bathroom for three hours after testing positive for
COVID-19 halfway through a flight from Chicago to Iceland,
according to media reports. Marisa Fotieo, a teacher from
Michigan, said her throat began to hurt halfway through the
trip on December 19 so she went to the bathroom to per-
form a rapid Covid test which confirmed she was infected,
local news channel WABC-TV reported.
ISRAEL DETECTS 1ST CASE OF ‘FLORONA’,
DOUBLE INFECTION OF COVID & INFLUENZA
Tel Aviv: Israel detected the first case of “florona” disease, a
double infection of COVID-19 and influenza, said Arab News
on Friday. An Israeli newspaper reported that the case of
double infection was found in a woman who entered Rabin
Medical Center this week to give birth. Israel, which led a
world-beating vaccination programme in 2020, will adminis-
ter a fourth dose to elderly residents and care homes staff.
NO EXTENSION OF DEC 31
DEADLINE TO FILE I-T
RETURNS: GOVERNMENT
New Delhi: The government
on Friday announced that
there was no proposal to ex-
tend the deadline for filing in-
come tax returns beyond its
current deadline of December
31. Revenue Secretary Tarun
Bajaj said that December 31,
2021, remained the official
deadline for filing returns.
GST Council
defers rate
hike on textiles
from 5 to 12%
New Delhi: The Goods
and Services Tax (GST)
Council has decided to
defer the hike in tax rate
on textiles from 5% to
12%, announced Union
Finance Minister Nir-
mala Sitharaman on
Friday
.
At a media briefing,
Sitharaman said the
GST meeting was called
under the “emergency
provision”, and that the
GST Council only had a
brief meeting with one
agenda.
“Gujarat FM request-
ed for deferment of deci-
sion taken in the Sept
Council meet on inver-
sion of tax structure,”
she said.
Hike of GST rate on
textiles was to come into
effect from January 1.
I-T raids on SP leader Pushpraj,
other perfume traders’ premises
Kannauj: The Income
Tax department on Fri-
day raided multiple
premises linked to cer-
tain perfume traders,
including a Samajwadi
Party MLC, in Uttar
Pradesh and other plac-
es as part of a tax eva-
sion investigation, offi-
cial sources said.
They said about 30-40
premises spread across
the national capital re-
gion, Kannauj, Kanpur,
Surat, Mumbai and
some other places are
being searched as part
of the operations that
started early morning
with police accompany-
ing the raiding team.
Among the buildings
searched are a residen-
tial building in south
Delhi’s New Friends
Colony and about a doz-
en premises in Mum-
bai, the officials said.
Coming as they do in
the run-up to the assem-
bly polls in Uttar
Pradesh, the tax raids
triggered a political
war of words, with the
SP alleging the search-
es were launched by the
“BJP government”.
In a tweet, the SP said
the Kannauj premises
of its MLC Pushpraj
alias Pampi Jain who
has interests in per-
fume manufacturing
and other businesses
have been raided.
The Directorate Gen-
eral of GST Intelligence
(DGGI),aninvestigation
agency under the Cen-
tral Board of Indirect
Taxes and Customs
(CBIC), had recently
carried out large-scale
raids in Kanpur and
Kannauj and later ar-
rested perfume trader
PeeyushJainand seized
over Rs 197 crore cash,
goldandsandalwoodoil.
IT IS NOT BJP MONEY,
SAYS SITHARAMAN
New Delhi: Union Finance
Minister Nirmala Sithara-
man on Friday said the
nearly Rs 200 crore cash
recovered in tax searches
on perfume maker Peey-
ush Jain is not BJP money,
and that the raid was at the
correct address and not by
an outcome of knocking
at wrong doors. Staunchly
defending the action, she
said the raids, which were
based on actionable intel-
ligence, seemed to have
“shaken” Akhilesh.
NO ONE LIES BETTER
THAN BJP: AKHILESH
Lucknow: BJP leaders
always come to UP flanked
by central investigation
agencies and use raids as
material for their political
speeches, SP chief Akh-
ilesh Yadav said, hinting
that recent raid on a party
leader in Kannauj was
politically motivated. “They
had pre-written speeches
mentioning the raid on SP
leader, how is that pos-
sible? Who gave them that
information even before
the raid?,” asked Yadav.
‘For ages, karsevaks laid
down lives for Ram Mandir’
Ayodhya: Union home
minister Amit Shah on
Friday referred to the
firing on karsevaks (vol-
unteers) in 1990 during
the campaign to build a
Ram Temple in place of
Babri Masjid in Ayod-
hya and asked voters to
question Samajwadi
Party (SP) chief Akh-
ilesh Yadav what was
the need for it when he
comes to seek votes.
Yadav’s father, Mu-
layam Singh Yadav, was
the chief minister when
police fired on the vol-
unteers.
“For ages, a large
number of people sacri-
ficed their lives for the
Ram Mandir in Ayod-
hya. But temple never
came up,” said Shah at
a rally in Ayodhya.
Shah referred to the
ongoing income tax
raids in Uttar Pradesh
and attacked SP saying
there was earlier “ma-
fia raj in Uttar Pradesh”
but now they are sur-
rendering to police.
Home Minister Amit Shah
VIRENDER SINGH
PATHANIA NEW DG
OF COAST GUARD
New Delhi: The Centre
appointed Virender
Singh Pathania as the
new Director General of
the Indian Coast Guard
on Friday. He is currently
posted as the Additional
Director General at the
Coast Guard Headquar-
ters. Virender Singh
Pathania has served the
organisation in various
assignments over the past
three and a half decades.
NEW DELHI l SATURDAY, JANUARY 1, 2022 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNITITLE NO.DELENG/2021/19840 lVol 1 l Issue No.123
OUR EDITIONS: JAIPUR, AHMEDABAD, LUCKNOW & NEW DELHI
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WISHING A SAFE YEAR
Fireworks explode over the Sydney
Opera House and Harbour Bridge as New
Year’s celebrations began in Sydney.
YEAR
HAPPY
2
NEW
2 2
0

CAPITOL
NEW DELHI | SATURDAY, JANUARY 1, 2022
02
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New Delhi: The Delhi
government sanctioned
over `475 crore for in-
stalling 600 LED display
screens along main thor-
oughfares, intersections
and outside metro sta-
tions to disseminate so-
cial messages, govern-
ment policies, pollution
data and other informa-
tion of public interest.
The Expenditure Fi-
nance Committee, in its
last week meeting
chaired by Deputy Chief
Minister Manish Siso-
dia, approved `475.78
crore for the project that
is scheduled to be com-
plete in next one year, of-
ficials said on Friday.
The LED (Light-emit-
tingdiode)screenswillbe
usedfordisplayinggraph-
ics films, pollution data,
socialmessages,informa-
tion on government poli-
cies and other relevant
public interest things.
These could also be
used for disseminating
emergency messages in
case of need to a larger
number of people, they
said.
These screens will
be installed at promi-
nent locations on PWD
roads having ROW
(right of way) 80 feet
and above, intersec-
tions and T points of
roads with ROW 80
feet or more, entry or
exit of Metro station
having heavy footfalls,
revealed official docu-
ments.
Priority will be to
install these screens at
wider roads having
ROW 100 to 200 feet and
roads having large traffic
volume and heavy foot-
falls. The installation is
proposed to be taken up
in phases and the whole
project is slated to be
complete in one year.
The LED screens will
be set up in various ar-
rays, including portrait
screen with unipole
structure, landscape
screen with single dis-
play, tri-side display and
cluster monitors in rec-
tangular shape, the docu-
ments said. —PTI
Delhi to be led by LED
600 big screens to provide public utility info to Delhiites
GOVT’S GIFT TO THE NATIONAL CAPITAL ON NEW YEAR
New Delhi: A 60-year-old woman was arrested
from east Delhi’s Kalyanpuri area for allegedly
supplying illicit liquor, police said on Friday. The
accused has been identified as Nanki Kaur, a
resident of Kalyanpur, they said. On Wednesday,
policemen were patrolling in Kalyanpuri. Around 1
pm, when they reached near mother dairy, they saw
a woman sitting with a polythene bag in her hand,
a senior police officer said. After seeing the police,
the woman started running away with the polythene
bag, but was later apprehended.
ELDERLY WOMAN ARRESTED IN EAST
DELHI FOR SUPPLYING ILLICIT LIQUOR
CRUCIAL READ
New Delhi: A 27-year-old man was arrested for
allegedly withdrawing money from a woman’s bank ac-
count after stealing her ATM
card. The accused has been
identified as Ravi, a resident
of Burari, they said. The
woman had gone to Inderlok
for shopping on Monday.
She had stopped at an ATM to withdraw cash but her
ATM card did not work, a senior police officer said.
Meanwhile, the accused came to the ATM and on the
pretext of helping the woman, stole her ATM card.
New Delhi: Delhi woke up to cold wave conditions
on Friday as the minimum temperature dipped to 3.8
degrees Celsius, accord-
ing to the IMD. The city
was swept by a cold wave
on Thursday as well as
the temperature dropped
sharply to 3.4 degrees
Celsius from 8.4 degrees
Celsius on Wednesday. Similar conditions are likely to
persist for the next few days, the weather department
has forecast.
27-YEAR-OLD MAN HELD FOR STEALING
ATM CARD FROM WOMAN: DELHI POLICE
COLD WAVE SWEEPS THROUGH DELHI AS
MERCURY DIPS TO 3.8 DEGREES CELSIUS
government’s food and
supply department has
started an on the ground
checking exercise to
track ration card benefi-
ciaries who have not
been collecting food
grains for the last three-
four months, officials
said on Friday.
Ration cards that re-
main inactive for three
consecutive months,
which is subsidised ra-
tion is not being collect-
ed by a beneficiary from
fair price shops, are lia-
ble to be cancelled, ac-
cording to the depart-
ment’s officials. They
said that the survey to
check for inactive ration
cards had been started
earlier this month.
“We have initiated an
exercise to start field in-
spection of those benefi-
ciaries who have not
been taking ration regu-
larly for three months. It
is to ascertain the reason
behind their inability to
collect ration and also to
check if there is any fake
beneficiary,” Food and
Supply Commissioner
Neeraj Semwal told PTI
He said that appropri-
ate action will be taken
after the survey.
It has been observed
that there are a number
of beneficiaries who
have not been taking ra-
tion for the last three to
four months. The rea-
sons are not known, Sem-
wal said.
“So, I have asked offi-
cials to visit their places
and ascertain the rea-
sons. If anyone is found
to be a fake case then
their ration card will be
cancelled and a new card
will be added,” he said.
However, the commis-
sioner stressed that no
beneficiary’s ration card
will be cancelled without
valid reason.
Semwal said that all
factors behind not col-
lecting ration will be
thoroughly checked be-
fore any action.
There were over two
lakh applications for ra-
tion cards which have
been put on the pending
list because Delhi’s quo-
ta of 72.77 lakh ration
cards is full, according to
government data.
The Delhi government
distributes free ration to
72.77 lakh beneficiaries
through e-POS (electron-
ic-point of sale) devices
under the National Food
Security Act (NFSA) 2013
and Pradhan Mantri
Garib Anna Kalyan Yo-
jana at across 2,000 fair
price shops. —PTI
Delhi Govt starts survey to check for inactive ration cards
HOUSE THAT!
GOOD NEWS ON HEALTH FRONT
RESIDENT DOCTORS STRIKE CALLED
OFF, RESUME SERVICES: FORDA
New Delhi: Resident
doctors in Delhi, who
have been protesting
over the delay in NEET
PG counselling for two
weeks, on Friday called
off their strike after re-
ceiving assurances from
the government that
their demands would be
looked into, their federa-
tion said. The stir by the
Federation of Resident
Doctors’ Association was
called off at 12 noon.
Patient care had been
affected at several major
hospitals in Delhi in this
period as resident doc-
tors are boycotting ser-
vices to lodge their pro-
test. The federation on
Thursday had sought
withdrawal of police
cases lodged against
some of their colleagues
in the fraternity after a
face off between medics
and police personnel in
the streets on Monday.
On Thursday, a “series
of meetings of FORDA
representatives was held
with multiple Delhi Po-
lice officials. It was high-
lighted by Delhi Police
that they have highest
regard for doctors,” the
federation said in its
statement.
They also assured that
police complaints lodged
against resident doctors
“will be taken care of as
per the legal procedures.
“A virtual meeting of
FORDA members with
all RDAs’ representa-
tives was convened late
in the evening whereby
all the proceedings were
conveyed, all points of
concern were discussed
in details. It was unani-
mously decided to call
off the agitation on 31st
December, 2021, 12:00 pm,
considering various fac-
tors, including patient
care,” it said. —PTI
Delhi records 9 Covid
deaths in December
New Delhi: Nine COV-
ID-19 deaths have been
reported in Delhi in De-
cember so far this year,
the highest count of fa-
talities due to coronavi-
rus infection in the last
four months in the na-
tional capital, accord-
ing to official data.
Delhi had recorded
seven deaths due to
Covid in November,
four in October and five
in September.
The city on Decem-
ber 30 recorded 1,313
fresh Covid cases, the
highest single-day rise
since May 26, while the
positivity rate mounted
to 1.73 per cent, accord-
ing to the data shared
by the health depart-
ment.
No fresh fatality was
reported in the city on
Thursday. On Decem-
ber 27 and December 28,
one death each due to
the infection was regis-
tered, according to offi-
cial figures.
The number of cu-
mulative cases on Mon-
day stood at 14,46,415.
Over 14.18 lakh patients
have recovered from the
infection, as per the lat-
est bulletin. —PTI
TESTING TIMES
A healthcare worker takes a nasal swab sample of a passenger for the COVID-19 testing, in
view of rising Omicron cases at New Delhi Railway Station in New Delhi. —PHOTO BY ANI
HC issues notice
to Delhi Police
High Court on Friday is-
sued notice to Delhi Po-
lice and others on a plea
moved by a husband
seeking custody of his
wife, stating that she has
been sent to Nirmal
Chhaya Nari Niketan
against her wishes.
The Division Bench of
Justice DN Patel and
Justice Anu Malhotra on
Friday sought a response
from all the respondents
including Delhi Police
and the girl’s parents in
the matter and slated it
for January 10, 2022.
Pollution: Plenty of
orders but little gains
New Delhi: Delhi will
remember 2021 as a year
of announcements and
orders but little gains
from the environment
point of view
Stubble burning, ram-
pant firecracker burst-
ing on Diwali and unfa-
vourable meteorological
conditions in the early
phase of winters turned
the city into a gas cham-
ber again.
The thick pungent
haze over Delhi-NCR
smudged landmarks
from view and partially
blotted out the sun for
several days after Diwali,
with green think-tank
Centre of Science and
Environment calling it
one of the longest smog
episodes in the city. —PTI
Representative Image
Federation of Resident DoctorsAssociation President Dr Manish speaks
to the media on calling off the strike against the delay in the NEET
Postgraduate Counselling 2021in New Delhi. —PHOTO BY ANI
MEDICAL OXYGEN INFRA
AUGMENTED IN CAPITAL
AAP FILES PLAINT
OVER ‘UNSAFE’
NDMC HOSPITAL
New Delhi : AAP’s North
municipal corporation
Leader of Opposition
Vikas Goel has submitted
a complaint in Mukherji
Nagar Police Station
against BJP leaders over
the treatment of patients
in the North MCD’s Rajan
Babu Hospital despite the
hospital’s ‘deplorable state’,
informed AAP. “I inspected
the Rajan Babu Hospital
and discovered that
patients are being treated
there despite the hospital’s
deplorable state. The
corporation has also put
up information boards in
this regard, clearly stating
that the building is unsafe,’
said Goel. “Raj Iqbal Singh,
the Mayor of North MCD,
oversees this facility.
Continuing treatment in its
wards after the Corporation
has declared the hospital
building dangerous is
against the Corporation’s
rules,” he added. —Agencies
New Delhi: Amid a
spike in Omicron cases,
the Delhi government
has ramped up medical
oxygen infrastructure
to ensure availability
of the life saving gas,
according to official
data. The government
has also procured
6,000 D-type cylinders.
One D-type cylinder
can hold 46 litres of
oxygen. Such cylinders
were not available in
the city till May 31.
The data showed that
the Delhi Transport
Corporation has over
9,115 cylinders in its
possession. The city
also has Pressure
Adsorption plants that
have a capacity of
producing 99.66 metric
tonnes of oxygen. There
were no such facilities
in Delhi till May 31.
The government will
also be installing
four more plants by
January 5, 2022.Two
cryogenic bottling
plants with capacity
of 12.5 metric tonne
will be commissioned
this week, and these
will have the capacity
to refill 1,400 jumbo
cylinders in a day.
Till May 31, the
government had three
refillers that could fill
about 1,500 cylinders
per day.Delhi has
been seeing a surge
in coronavirus cases
in the last few days
with 1,313 cases being
recorded on Thursday
and the positivity rate
crossing the one per
cent mark. —PTI
The Expenditure Finance
Committee, in its last week
meeting chaired by Deputy Chief
Minister Manish Sisodia, ap-
proved `475.78 crore for the pro-
ject that is scheduled to be com-
plete in next one year
—A Delhi Govt official
KEY POINTS
z Priority will be to
install screens at wider
roads having ROW 100
to 200 feet and having
large traffic volume.
z The LED screens will be
used for displaying graphics
films, pollution data, social
messages, information on
policies and other relevant
public interest things.
z The LED screens will
be set up in various arrays,
including portrait screen
with unipole structure,
landscape screen with
single display.
zThese screens
will be installed at
prominent locations on
PWD roads having ROW
(right of way) 80 feet
and above.
z These could also
be used for emergen-
cy messages in case
of need to a larger
number of people.
YEAR
HAPPY
2
NEW
2 2
0

INDIA
03
First India Bureau
Mumbai: In a rare feat,
Brihanmumbai Munici-
pal Corporation (BMC)
Commissioner Iqbal
Singh Chahal has suc-
cessfully rejuvenated
the BMC finances post
Covid-19. Thanks to
Chahal, BMC’s revenue
collection in the form of
premiums from build-
ers has increased nearly
three-times than that of
the pre-Covid era.
A policy decision tak-
en by Chahal in early
2021 proved to be a mas-
terstroke and has start-
ed paying rich divi-
dends to the BMC. It
was in early 2021 that
the Mumbai civic body
cut by half the hefty
premiums, which the
builders pay to it and
the Maharashtra gov-
ernment for additional
construction rights.
For the last one dec-
ade, the BMC was earn-
ing Rs 3,500 to 4,000
crore per annum from
premiums and other
charges from builders.
In 2020 BMC also not re-
mained untouched by
Covid-19 and subse-
quent lockdowns and
its finances were badly
affected and it could
hardly generate Rs 2,500
crore between April
2020 to March 2021. It
was much below the
previous fiscal’s collec-
tion of Rs 3,800 crore.
By cutting the pre-
mium by half, the civic
body has earned a
whopping revenue of
over Rs 11,000 crore and
it is still counting. The
total collection could go
as high as Rs 15,000
crore by March 2022,
Chahal said.
The BMC Commis-
sioner said that when he
had mooted this propos-
al his senior colleagues
opposed it saying that
slashing the premium
would cripple the BMC
finances further. Cha-
hal said that Mumbai’s
about 600 construction
projects, both re-devel-
opment and greenfield,
had become unviable
due to high premiums.
One of such projects
was Godrej Properties
project in Wadala where
the premium was Rs 500
crore and the developer
was finding it to be un-
viable. But, by giving
50% concession, the pre-
mium dropped to Rs 250
crore and the project
became viable, Chahal
said.
Several big builders
and realtors have hailed
the BMC and its Com-
missioner Iqbal Singh
Chahal saying that
these concessions have
given a big boost to the
real estate industry of
Mumbai. They said that
the 50 per cent conces-
sion given by the BMC
resulted in about a 10
per cent reduction in
cost of the development
of the projects and it
helped attain economic
viability
.
Iqbal Chahal’s decision increases BMC’s revenue
collection thrice more than pre-Covid-19 levels
New Delhi: The India
Meteorological Depart-
ment (IMD) on Friday
predicted isolated
heavy to very heavy
rainfall activity over
coastal Tamilnadu, Pu-
ducherry and Karaikal
during the next 2 days.
“Isolated heavy to
very heavy rainfall ac-
tivity over coastal
Tamilnadu, Puducher-
ry and Karaikal during
next 2 days and de-
crease thereafter.
Strong northeasterly
winds are prevailing
off the coast of Tamil
Nadu in the lower lev-
els,” IMD tweeted.
IMD informed that a
cyclonic circulation
lies over southwest
Bay of Bengal off Sri
Lanka coast at middle
tropospheric level.
“Fairly widespread
rainfall with isolated
heavy to very heavy
rainfall activity is very
likely to continue over
coastal Tamil Nadu
during next 2 days and
decrease thereafter,” it
added.
“The pattern of cy-
clonic circulation is
persisting at 5.8 km of
height and is still close
to the coast and will
move a little bit east-
west direction. So
coastal Tamil Nadu
will get widespread
rainfall,” Puviarasan,
Director of MET De-
partment, Chennai
told reporters.
He added that some
districts including
Chennai will get heavy
to very heavy rainfall.
“We have issued a red
alert for Nagapattinam
and the rest of the
coastal districts in-
cluding Tiruvallur,
Chennai are in the or-
ange category for the
next 2 days.”
New Delhi: The Union
Home Ministry on Fri-
day extended the valid-
ity of the FCRA regis-
tration of NGOs by 3
months till March 31.
However, organisa-
tions such as the Mis-
sionaries of Charity
will not be eligible for
the extension benefits
as their applications for
a renewal of the For-
eign Contribution (Reg-
ulation) Act registra-
tion have already been
rejected, according to a
notice issued by the
Ministry of Home Af-
fairs (MHA).
The Centre, in public
interest, has decided to
extend the validity of
the FCRA registration
certificates of NGOs up
to March 31, 2022 or till
the date of disposal of
their renewal applica-
tions, whichever is ear-
lier, in respect of only
those entities that fulfil
certain criteria, the no-
tice said.
New Delhi: Former
Union Minister Man-
ish Tewari has dis-
missedmediareports
about being asked by
the Chinese Embassy
here to “refrain from
supporting the cause
of Tibet.”
“Neither have I re-
ceived any letter nor
will I demean or di-
minish myself by re-
sponding to such im-
becile missives,”
Tewari said.
The Congress MP
response followed a
media report which
said that the Political
Counsellor at the
Chinese Embassy
had sent an “unusu-
ally worded letter” to
a group of MPs who
had attended an
event organised by
the Tibetan Parlia-
ment-in-exile in the
national Capital.
The embassy ex-
pressed “concern”
over their participa-
tion and asked them
to “refrain from pro-
viding support to the
‘Tibetan independ-
ence’ forces”.
“My attention has
been drawn to a re-
port published in an
English newspaper
today. Neither have I
received any letter
nor will I demean or
diminish myself by
responding to such
imbecile missives.
Had Wang Yi written
perhaps I would have
considered respond-
ing,” Manish Tewari
said.
OMICRON VEXES INDIA FURTHER, MAHA LOGS
450 CASES; TOTAL TALLY MOUNTS TO 1,270
New Delhi: India saw
the highest single-day
rise of 309 cases of the
Omicron variant of the
coronavirus, taking the
country’s tally of such
cases to 1,270, the Union
Health Ministry said on
Friday
.
It also recorded 16,764
fresh Covid-19 cases
and 220 more fatalities
due to the viral disease.
Of the 1,270 patients
infected with the Omi-
cron variant of the vi-
rus,374haveeitherrecu-
perated or migrated, ac-
cordingtotheMinistry’s
data updated at 8 am. Of
the 23 States and Union
Territories that have re-
cordedOmicroncasesso
far, Maharashtra has
registered the highest
number of 450, followed
by Delhi (320), Kerala
(107) and Gujarat (97).
The daily rise in the
number of coronavirus
cases crossed the 16,000
mark after 64 days, tak-
ing the country’s Cov-
id-19 tally to 3,48,38,804,
while the number of ac-
tive cases of the infec-
tion has gone up to
91,361, according to the
data. The death toll due
to the viral disease has
climbed to 4,81,080 with
220 more fatalities, the
data stated.
The country had wit-
nessed 16,156 fresh cor-
onavirus cases on Octo-
ber 27. The 91,361 active
Covid cases account for
0.26 per cent of the total
caseload, while the na-
tional Covid-19 recov-
ery rate was recorded at
98.36 per cent, the min-
istry said. —PTI
Thiruvananthapuram:
Kerala reported 44 new
cases of the Omicron,
informed the State
Health Minister Veena
George on Friday
.
With this, the total
tally of Omicron cases
in the State has risen to
107, stated George.
Speaking about the vac-
cination drive against
Covid-19 in Kerala, the
State Health Minister
said that 98 per cent and
79 per cent of the eligi-
ble population has been
inoculated with the
first dose and second
dose respectively in the
state so far.
Speaking to ANI here
on Friday, George said,
“Total 44 new #Omi-
cron cases reported in
Kerala on Friday, tak-
ing the total tally to 107.
Genomic sequencing
samples are being sent,
sentinel surveillance is
underway
.” —ANI
Mumbai: More than a third of the
positive Covid-19 samples of Mumbai
residents with no travel history detected
between December 21-December 22 are
of the Omicron variant, the Brihanmum-
bai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said
on Friday. Of the 375 samples collected,
37 per cent or 141 were detected to be
of the Omicron and none of these cases
have any travel history. The numbers
suggest how quickly it is spreading.
New Delhi: All samples from metro
cities — that have tested positive for
Covid — are being sent for genome
sequencing, government sources said
today, amid fears over an Omicron-
driven third wave, adding that 18% of
recent samples in India had the new
variant. In Delhi, 50 per cent of the
patients’ samples tested since Decem-
ber 12 had the new variant, said to be
highly infectious.
37% OF LOCAL MUMBAI COVID
CASES ARE OMICRON
OMICRON’S TRANSMISSION IN
DELHI WITH 50% OF CASES
Omicron invades Kerala, 44 fresh
cases reported, total tally rises to 107
A man walks past a mural depicting doctor and coronavirus —FILE PHOTO
Commuters wade through a flooded street during heavy rainfall,
in Chennai on Friday. —PHOTO BY ANI
Manish Tewari
Patna: A day after
Bihar reported its
first Omicron case,
Chief Minister Nitish
Kumar on Friday said
that the third wave of
Covid-19 has begun
and urged people
to remain vigilant.
He also spoke out
opening a genome
sequencing labora-
tory in the State.
“Bihar has recorded
the first Omicron
case. Everyone has
to be alert. The State
is witnessing a sharp
rise in cases, with the
maximum being reg-
istered in Patna and
Gaya. A large number
of people from other
States reside in these
two places, and this
could be a reason
behind the spike in
cases in these areas,”
he told said. “The
third wave has begun
in the State. We are
fully prepared. The
health department
has upgraded hos-
pital infrastructure,”
Kumar said. —PTI
New Delhi: The big-
gest challenge India
will face amid the
Omicron crisis will
be the sudden need
for medical care,
WHO Chief Scientist
Soumya Swamina-
than said. “The surge
is going to be very
fast and many people
are going to be sick,”
she warned with the
new variant of con-
cern already driving
up cases across the
world.
The Omicron
outbreak, which
has triggered fresh
concerns globally and
raised an alarm, will
see the burden shift
from hospitals to the
out-patients depart-
ment, from ICUs to
home-based care, Dr
Swaminathan said.
“People are wor-
ried. You may not
have symptoms but
you would want to
talk to a doctor, you’d
want to see a health-
care worker, and
you’d want advice.
THIRD WAVE
STARTED IN
BIHAR: NITISH
KUMAR
‘SURGE WILL
BE SO FAST,’
WARNS WHO
EXPERT
—FILE PHOTO
CRUCIAL READ
IMA: NEET-PG
COUNSELLING
BEFORE JAN 6
New Delhi: Indian Medi-
cal Association (IMA)
president Sahajanand
Prasad Singh on Friday
said that Union Health
Minister Mansukh Man-
daviya has assured him
that NEET-PG counsel-
ling will start before
January 6, 2022. As per
a press release, “Health
Minister has assured us
that the NEET-PG coun-
selling will start before
6th Jan’2022. There will
be no FIRs on the doc-
tors. There is no need to
panic for Omicron but
all precautions should
be taken by the people.”
HEAVY RUSH AT
SABARIMALA
TEMPLE
Sabarimala: The
Sabarimala Ayappa
temple reopened for the
Makaravilakku festival
on Friday. “Heavy rush
was witnessed today in
Sabarimala today due
to the festival”, said
the Sabarimala Tem-
ple’s Devaswam board
representative on Friday.
As per temple sources,
the temple had opened
yesterday evening and
the devotees are al-
lowed to visit the alter
from today. Earlier, the
temple was closed after
the Mandala pooja on
26 December 2021.
RLYS LAUNCHES
DRIVE TO CURB
ILLEGAL VENDING
New Delhi: In another
step towards improv-
ing passengers’ safety,
the Indian Railways has
started a massive drive
to curb unauthorised
vending in trains and
directed the Railway
Protection Force and
Zonal Railways to expe-
dite their inspections to
deal with the menace.
In an official order, the
Railway board has ad-
vised both the Railway
Protection Force and
the Zonal Railways to
carry out inspections
against unauthorised
vending.
VICE PRESIDENT NAIDU BEGINS FIVE-DAY
VISIT TO KERALA, LAKSHADWEEP
Kochi (Kerala): Vice President M Venkaiah
Naidu arrived at Kochi Naval Airport on Friday
on a five-day visit to
Kerala. Kochi City Police
Commissioner CH
Nagaraju, Ernakulam
District Collector Jafar
Malik, Additional State
Protocol Officer MS
Harikrishnan received
him at the airport. The Vice President left for
Lakshadweep and will return to Kochi on January
2 and attend various events in the city. Naidu will
be in Kottayam on January 3 and will leave for
Nagpur on 4.
COBRA INSPECTOR
DIES BY SUICIDE
IN SUKMA
Sukma: An inspec-
tor posted with the
Commando Battalion
for Resolute Action
(CoBRA) allegedly
committed suicide in
the Sukma district of
Chhattisgarh, informed
the police on Friday.
Inspector Valang, hailed
from Nagaland and was
posted as an inspector
in CoBRA’s 206 Battal-
ion in Burkapal Camp, a
severely Naxal affected
area, said Superinten-
dent of Police Sunil
Sharma. A week ago, he
had returned after leav-
ing home, SP said.
Heavy rainfall in TN, Pondy
for next 2 days, predicts IMD
Haven’t received
any letter: Tewari
Orange alert in
Chennai, Red in
Nagapattinam
for next 2 days
MHA extends
validity of FCRA
registration of
NGOs till Mar 31
YEAR
HAPPY
2
NEW
2 2
0
Iqbal Singh Chahal

PERSPECTIVE
04
Vol 1 Issue No. 123
RNI TITLE NO. DELENG/2021/19840
Printed and published by
Anita Hada Sangwan on behalf of
First Express Publishers. Printed at
Impressions Printing and Packaging
Limited, C-21, 22 Sector-59,
Noida-201301. Published at G-20,
3rd Floor, 309, Preet Vihar, New
Delhi-110092. Phone 011-49846474.
Editor-In-Chief: Jagdeesh Chandra.
Editor: Sharat K Verma
responsible for selection of news
under the PRB Act
YEAR
HAPPY
2
NEW
2 2
0
SPIRITUAL SPEAK
Whatever action is performed
by a great man, common
men follow in his footsteps,
and whatever standards he
sets by exemplary acts, all the
world pursues.
—Bhagavad Gita
IN-DEPTH
Rahul Gandhi
@RahulGandhi
My thoughts are with the people of
Tamil Nadu. Heartfelt condolences to
those who’ve lost loved ones in the
heavy rains. Please stay safe and follow
all government advisory. Take care.
Dalai Lama
@DalaiLama
My favourite prayer says: “For as long as
space endures, And for as long as living
beings remain, Until then may I too
abide, To dispel the misery of the world.”
And, in trying to fulfil that aspiration, I
feel my life has been of some benefit.
TOP TWEETS
LIKE IT OR NOT,
AFSPA TO REMAIN
IN NAGALAND FOR
6 MORE MONTHS
ew days after a high-
powered committee
meeting to discuss
withdrawal of
Armed Forces (Spe-
cial Powers) Act (AFSPA) from
Nagaland, the Central govern-
ment extended the draconian
law’s imposition by six months.
The decision was strongly criti-
cised by the Naga People’s Front,
a member of Nagaland’s ruling
United Democratic Alliance,
which was “aghast and affront-
ed” at the decision. The party’s
reaction must be taken with a
pinch of salt as the Centre must
have consulted the government
before extending the law. The
main tribal body
, the Naga Hoho,
expressed “extreme shock.”
There was an outcry against
AFSPA in the state after six in-
nocent coal miners were killed
in the Mon district on December
4 by the armed forces in a case
of mistaken identity. An in-
quiry into the goofed-up opera-
tion is on. The tragedy reignited
the demand for repeal of AFSPA
which was due to expire today
.
The debate over continuation
of AFSPA in Nagaland has cen-
tred around othering and secur-
ing of the state bordering China.
F
nion Home Min-
ister Amit Shah
made a pertinent
point when,
tongue-in-cheek,
he cajoled Mayawati to step
out of her comfort zone and
start electioneering. At a
rally in Moradabad he said,
“Behenji ki to abhi thand hi
nahi udi hai. Yeh bhaibheet
hain. Behenji, chunav a gaya
thoda baahar nikaliye. Baad
me ye na kehna ki maine
prachaar nahi kiya.” It is in-
deed strange that Mayawati
has yet to step out to smell
the coffee. Her social engi-
neering formula has lost its
edge. Muslims are veering
towards Samajwadi Party,
aware of the fact that the
BSP chief wouldn’t be averse
to joining hands with the
BJP to keep SP out.
As for Brahmins she’s
barely left with Satish
Mishra and his close family.
The party’s Rajya Sabha MP
has addressed a few meetings
of Brahmins, but has no po-
litical base or else, he
wouldn’t have taken the Ra-
jya Sabha route to enter poli-
tics. That leaves Behenji with
only Jatav votes, the caste to
which she belongs, as other
Dalits may be lured by the
BJP and SP. BJP is going all
out to win over Mayawati’s
core Jatav voters too. Former
Uttarakhand governor Baby
Rani Maurya has been roped
in with that intent.
Pinning all her political
hopes on one man---Satish
Mishra---is quite unlike
Mayawati who, like a banyan
tree,doesn’tallowastrongsec-
ond rung leadership to take
root. There are about 86 seats
where the presence of BSP
voters is strong but even in
those seats the party is facing
a challenge due to Mayawati’s
defeatist mindset.
HAS MAYAWATI GIVEN
UP THE FIGHT ALREADY
Pining all her political
hopes on One man-
Satish Mishra- is quite
unlike Mayawati who, like
a banyan tree, doesn’t
allow a strong second
rung leadership to take
root. Party is facing a
challenge in 86 seats due
to her defeatist mindset
U
UNFOLDING 2022
Harness Hope and Happiness
ew Year’s gala time is proba-
bly the most active-minded
holiday, as people evaluate
their experiences to the time
gone by and look forward to
the coming one. Probably we
take our lives more resolute-
ly on New Year. While worry-
ing anxiously about both the
present and the future, we
fundamentally believe that
change is necessary. This
hope for change manifests in
numerous ways in our circa-
dian lives. However, slow but
every step towards progress
shouldremindusthatchange
is achievable if we continue
to bear the brunt for it. Wit-
nessing an era in which,
there are so many reasons
not to have hope for change,
it remains phenomenal that
our contemporary peers are
holding on to the hope that
things will be better, beyond
the shadow of a doubt.
Whenwebasehopeonreal-
ity
,tangiblerisks,andintangi-
ble plans, it results in trust,
which is instrumental in im-
plementinganystrategy
.Hope
recognises and accepts the
harsh truth that failure hap-
pens, challenges are pro-
nounced than plans, and suc-
cess is not assured. Hope
doesn’t define and decorate a
beeline pathway, but it does
guide us through twists and
turns. Hope views the glass as
half full, not half empty
. Hope
reinforces realistic optimism.
Theinvinciblelawsof theuni-
versedonotdemandustobow
down in fear, but beacon us to
practice prudence and perse-
verance and build relation-
ships with empathy and com-
passion with fellow beings.
When we practice hope, it
comes back to basics. We can
start by displaying gratitude.
Reflecting a few minutes each
day
, recounting the positives
in one’s life; even small ones
likeexperiencingamomentof
stillness in the sunshine, ex-
changing greetings to a near-
by
, can refuel us with positivi-
ty
. Envisioning realistic ways
that our times may improve,
can help subside pain and dis-
comfort. Even deep sorrows
canhealwithtime.Inallthese
cases,thestrategyissimple:to
embrace the change by choos-
ing to be mindful, even in the
face of despair.
Medical evidence has cou-
pled positive emotions with
better mental health, longer
life, and greater well-being.
Juxtaposed to it, persistent
anger, worry, and feeling of
fearfulness and hatred in-
crease the risk of developing
the cardiac disease, as these
feelings are associated with
raised blood pressure. Equal-
ly significant is to address
and recognise mood disor-
ders that are frequent in a
stressful and hectic lifestyle.
There is no better time than
now to sit and take on prior-
ity these aspects of our lives.
Acknowledging that we all
are together in this, an aspi-
rational feeling that circum-
stances can improve, that we
can persist, that there is at
least as much good in the
world as bad, helps us har-
ness happiness. From the ce-
lestial bonds that connect us
with one another to the ever-
present vulnerability, we
share as humans in a chaotic
world, our lives are forever
saturated in the possibility of
unforeseen. The human spir-
it is enduring. It has survived
many battles and it remains
hopeful in unprecedented
times such as ours in the pan-
demic. One can find a ray of
joy in being someone’s hope
and it can be equally comfort-
ing. That is the beauty of the
marvel called - the human
heart. Is not it contending to
acknowledge that there can
be good in our lives, even un-
der challenging circumstanc-
es? Realistic optimism is es-
sentially a firm faith that
things will work out in the
future although times are
dingy. Cultivating and shar-
ing this feeling is edifying.
With a New Year ushering
into our lives, many of us are
taking stock of what we’ve ac-
complishedandwhatremains
unfulfilled in our lives. But
instead of beginning a New
Year with visceral and going
hard on ourselves, let us dis-
perse the Lego pieces of the
life’s puzzles we encounter
and engage in self-reflection.
Itisworthstartingagain,may
it be learning a new language,
maybesettingfitnessgoals,or
moving on to a completely
new country
. If a simple expe-
rience of trying a new food
fills us with so much energy,
considermakinganewleapin
life. There are indeed stakes
that always accompany the
new journey
, but it is equally
true that sometimes, we need
to go with the flow and trust
thebiggerplan,ourlivesoffer.
In our journey
, we may know-
ingly and unknowingly in-
spire multifarious people.
Therefore, it is critical to be
benevolent. Unfolding the
miracleof lifeismotivational.
We need to breathe that fresh
air, go out under the blue sky
,
listen to that music of birds
and always give ourselves a
new chance to start again.
Probably this is the message
we see everywhere in nature
when after the dark winters
the grounds sprout with the
new life everywhere.
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY
THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL
N
DR JYOTI JOSHI
The writer is a soft skill, yoga trainer,
business coach and English language
instructor in Germany, Europe
When we practice hope, it
comes back to basics. We
can start by displaying
gratitude. Reflecting a
few minutes each day,
recounting the positives
in one’s life; even small
ones like experiencing a
moment of stillness in the
sunshine, exchanging
greetings to a nearby, can
refuel us with positivity
The human spirit is
enduring has
survived many battles.
One can find a ray of
joy in being someone’s
hope it can be equally
comforting. That is the
beauty of the marvel
called- the human heart

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INDIA
05
New Delhi: Amid the
ongoing row over the
renaming of 15 places
by the Chinese govern-
ment in Arunachal
Pradesh, Congress
leader Rahul Gandhi
on Friday slammed the
Centre and said that
the security of the na-
tion demands wise and
strong decisions, add-
ing that hollow
words will not bring
success.
The Congress leader
also shared a report on
China renaming 15
places in Arunachal
Pradesh, on Twitter.
Just a few days back
we were remembering
India's glorious victory
in 1971. For the security
and triumph of the na-
tion, wise and strong
decisions are needed.
Hollow words do not
bring success! reads
Mr Gandhi's tweet
roughly translated from
Hindi.
The government
said on Thursday that
it has seen reports of
China attempting to re-
name some places in
Arunachal Pradesh in
its own language and
asserted that the bor-
der state has been and
will always be an inte-
gral part of India and
assigning invented
names does not alter
this fact.
In response to a me-
dia query on reports
that China has renamed
some places in
its own language, Minis-
try of External Affairs
Spokesperson Arin-
dam Bagchi said Chi-
na had also sought to
assign such names in
April 2017.
We have seen such
reports. This is not the
first time that China
has attempted to re-
name places in the
state of Arunachal
Pradesh. China had
also sought to assign
such names in April
2017, Mr Bagchi said.
Arunachal Pradesh
has always been, and
will always be an inte-
gral part of India. As-
signing invented names
to places in Arunachal
Pradesh does not alter
this fact, he added.
Media reports said
the Chinese govern-
ment has sought to re-
name 15 places in
its map two days ahead
of implementing new
border law. —PTI
RaGa slams Centre on vaccine
backlog, Chinese standoff
New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul
Gandhi on Friday slammed the Modi
government for not fulfilling its
“promise” to fully vaccinate all eligi-
ble beneficiaries against Covid-19 by
the end of the year. The government
had told the Supreme Court in
June that it
expected
the
entire
eli-
gible
popu-
lation
to be
vaccinated
against
Covid-19 by
end of the year.
“The Centre had
promised
to vaccinate everyone with two
doses of vaccines by end of 2021.
Today, the year comes to an end.
The country is still away from the
vaccine. Another rhetoric bites the
dust,” Gandhi said on Twitter. As on
Friday afternoon, more than
144.67 crore doses of
Covid-19 vaccines
had been adminis-
tered across the
country. More
than 84.51 crore
beneficiaries have
received the first
dose of the vac-
cines, while more
than 60.15 crore
beneficiaries have
been received both the
doses. —PTI
RAHUL GANDHI SLAMS CENTRE FOR
MISSING VACCINATION TARGET
New Delhi: Exports of
India’s agricultural and
processed food products
rose to $20.67 billion in
2020-21 from $16.7 billion
in the previous year, the
Ministry of Commerce
and Industry said on
Friday
.
Non-Basmati rice has
emerged as India’s top
export item among the
many agricultural and
processed food product
exports under Agricul-
tural and Processed
Food Products Export
Development Authority
(APEDA) basket, con-
tributing close to one-
fourth of the total ex-
ports in 2020-21.
Top three products in
the APEDA export bas-
ket in 2020-21 were Non-
Basmati Rice (23.22 per
cent share), Basmati
Rice (19.44 per cent) and
Buffalo Meat (15.34 per
cent) and these products
together account for 58
per cent of total ship-
ments, according to data
released by the Directo-
rate General of Com-
mercial Intelligence and
Statistics (DGCIS).
Benin, Nepal, Bangla-
desh, Senegal and Togo
were the top importers
of Non-Basmati Rice
from India in 2020-21.
Major export destina-
tions for Basmati Rice
in 2020-21 were Saudi
Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Yem-
en and UAE. For Buffalo
Meat exports, the top
importing nations were
Hong Kong, Vietnam,
Malaysia, Egypt and In-
donesia. —ANI
Farmprocessed
foodexportsrise
to$20.6billion
Image for representational purpose only.
T h i r u v a n a n -
thapuram: The new
Special Public Prosecu-
tor appointed in the
2017 case of a Kerala ac-
tor's kidnapping and
sexual assault has quit.
This is the second time,
in almost a year, that a
special public prosecu-
tor has resigned from
the high-profile case.
The first one had quit
just days after the Kera-
la HC rejected the survi-
vor's plea to change the
trial court judge.
The case is at a cru-
cial stage of hearing
with the Kerala High
Court's February 16
deadline to end the case
- after the second exten-
sion of six months -
nearing.
In February 2017, a
woman actor was alleg-
edly kidnapped and
sexually abused on her
way to Kochi for work.
The accused had alleg-
edly filmed the crime.
Malayalam movie star
Dileep, the eighth ac-
cused in the case, was
arrested in July 2017
and released two
months later on bail.
OnWednesday
,thepo-
lice sought a fresh probe
into the scathing allega-
tions by film director
Balachandra Kumar
against actor Dileep.
The director, in his com-
plaint to Chief Minister
Pinarayi Vijayan last
month, alleged that he
had seen the prime ac-
cused in the case Pulsar
Sunni at actor Dileep's
house. —ANI
Kerala actor sex assault case: Second
special public prosecutor quits, 2nd in a yr
Dileep was charged with conspiracy to abduct. —FILE PHOTO
Mumbai: The (ED has
now filed a chargesheet
against Yes Bank found-
er Rana Kapoor, his wife
Bindu Kapoor, and
Avantha group promot-
er Gautam Thapar in
connection with the
money laundering case.
The chargesheet has
been filed at a PMLA
courtinMumbai.Asper
ED reports, some senior
officers of Yes Bank
have also been named in
the chargesheet. The ED
has filed a chargesheet
against Yes Bank found-
er Rana Kapoor and
some other promoters
in the PMLA court in
Mumbai. The
chargesheet is 1300-page
longandincludesnames
of 10 people as accused
in the money launder-
ing case. Rana Kapoor is
currently in judicial
custody
.
Meanwhile, a case
has also been regis-
tered against Kapoor
for illegally providing a
Rs 1900 crore loan to
Gautam Thapar’s Avan-
ta company
. The ED has
also alleged that a Rs
300 crore bribe was
paid to Kapoor for fa-
cilitating loans worth
Rs 1900 crore from Yes
Bank to Gautam
Thapar’s company
. The
charge sheet which has
Rana as the primary ac-
cused also holds names
of someseniorYesBank
officers, who helped Ka-
poor with the loan
transactions. —ANI
184 TERRORISTS KILLED IN JK IN 2021: TOP COP
Jammu: Year 2021
saw the elimination of
a total of 182 terror-
ists, including 44 of
their top commanders
and 20 foreigners, in
100 successful anti-
terror operations by
JK police and secu-
rity forces in the Un-
ion Territory, police
chief Dilbagh Singh
said on Friday
.
The JK director
general of police re-
vealed the number of
total casualties of ter-
rorists a day after the
100th successful anti-
terror operation by
the JK police.
He also said a total
of nine Jaish-e-Mo-
hammad terrorists in-
volved in the attack on
a police bus in Pantha
Chowk were eliminat-
ed in the last 24 hours
while a total of 20 for-
eign terrorists were
killed during the year.
DGP Singh also
said the year saw few-
er infiltration of ter-
rorists from across
the border with the
UT coming across no
instance of any ter-
rorist from Afghani-
stan infiltrating into
the country.
Last night, we com-
pleted 100th successful
operation. In 100 suc-
cessful operations, we
have eliminated 182
terrorists of various
outfits, Singh said.
Money laundering: ED files
chargesheet against Kapoor
HYDERPORA ENCOUNTER ‘TRANSPARENT’: DILBAG
Jammu: Jammu: Jammu and
Kashmir DGP Dilbag Singh on
Friday asserted that Hyderpora
encounter was “transparent” and
that political leaders who have
been questioning the “clean chit”
given to the forces should sub-
mit evidence to the investigation
panels. “We have made it clear
Hyderpora operation was transpar-
ent. If they have evidence, they
should present it to the investiga-
tion panels,” he said at a press
conference on asked about the po-
litical leaders’ comments against
the probe by the local police.
Rana Kapoor
Punjab: Punjab Con-
gress chief Navjot
Singh Sidhu on
Thursday targeted for-
mer chief ministers
Parkash Singh Badal
and Amarinder Singh
for allegedly “looting”
the state over the last
25 years.
He blamed the previ-
ous governments led by
Badal and Singh for
leaving the state with a
heavy debt burden.
“For 25 years, two
chief ministers looted
Punjab,” said Sidhu
while addressing a
gathering in Sanaur.
“They (Parkash Sin-
gh Badal, Amarinder
Singh) left the state in
such a situation that
the youth do not want
to stay here,” he al-
leged, referring to
youngsters’ preference
to go abroad.
He said Punjab is
carrying a heavy debt
burden. The state does
not generate enough
revenue to be able to
meet its total expendi-
ture of `1.40 lakh crore.
It pays `30,000 crore as
interest on debt, he
claimed.
Sidhu said the GST
compensation from the
Centre will stop in June
next year and this will
add to the state’s fiscal
deficit. —PTI
Sidhu attacks Badal, Singh for ‘looting’ Punjab
BLAME GAME
They (Parkash
Badal, Amarinder
Singh) left the
state in such a
situation that the
youth do not
want to stay here
RAISING ISSUES
CRUCIAL READ
LUDHIANA BLAST CASE: NIA TO PROBE
SIKHS FOR JUSTICE MEMBER IN GERMANY
New Delhi: The NIA has registered a case against
Jaswinder Singh Multani, an alleged operative of
the Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) who has been detained
in Germany, for hatching
a criminal conspiracy to
wage war against India and
attempting to revive terror-
ism in Punjab, officials said
on Friday. A case against
Multani, who was detained in Germany last week,
was booked under various sections of the IPC.
GOLD GAINS `144; SILVER JUMPS `
664, SENSEX ENDS 460 POINTS
New Delhi: Gold price in the national capital on
Friday gained Rs 144 to Rs 46,874 per 10 gram
in line with strong international precious metal
prices. The yellow metal
settled at Rs 46,730 per 10
gram. Silver also jumped
Rs 664 to Rs 61,015 per
kg from Rs 60,351 per kg
in the previous trade. Gold
was trading with gains at USD 1,816 per ounce
and silver was flat at USD 23.15 per ounce.
3 TERRORISTS
KILLED NEAR
SRINAGAR: COPS
Srinagar: Three terror-
ists, including a JeM
terrorist involved in
an attack on a police
bus earlier this month,
were gunned down by
security forces during
an overnight encounter
on the outskirts of Sri-
nagar, the police said.
One of the killed terror-
ists has been identi-
fied as Suhail Ahmad
Rather, a JeM terrorist
who was involved in an
attack on a police bus.
TMC RELEASES
CANDIDATE LIST
FOR 4 WB POLL
Kolkata: The TMC on
Thursday announced
its list of candidates
for corporation elec-
tions in Bidhannagar,
Chandannagar, Asansol
and Siliguri, which are
slated to be held on Jan
22, 2022. Of the four,
Asansol is the largest
municipal corporation
with 106 seats, fol-
lowed by Siliguri with
47, Chandannagar with
33 Bidhannagar with
41 wards.
GOVT ANNOUNCES ` 50L EX-GRATIA,
JOB TO KIN OF MARTYRED SOLDIER
Chandigarh: The Punjab government on
Friday announced an ex-gratia grant of Rs
50 lakh and a government job to a fam-
ily member of soldier Jasbir Singh (26),
who was killed during an encounter with
militants. Extending his condolences to the
bereaved family, Chief Minister Charanjit
Singh Channi said Singh’s utmost dedica-
tion to defend the country’s sovereignty,
besides safeguarding its unity and integrity,
will inspire his peers to perform their duties
with far more devotion and commitment.
YEAR
HAPPY
2
NEW
2 2
0

BIZ BUZZ
06
Mumbai: Equity
benchmark Sensex ral-
lied over 450 points on
the last trading day of
2021 on Friday, led by
strong gains in Maruti,
SBI and Bajaj Finance.
The 30-share index
surged 459.50 points or
0.80 per cent to end at
58,253.82. Similarly, the
Nifty rose by 150.10
points or 0.87 per cent
to 17,354.05.
Titan was the top
gainer in the Sensex
pack, rising 3.5 per
cent, followed by Ko-
tak Bank, SBI, Maruti
Suzuki, Bajaj Finance,
HUL, Axis Bank and
Sun Pharma.
On the other hand,
NTPC, Tech Mahindra,
PowerGrid and Infosys
were the laggards.
Bourses in Tokyo and
South Korea were
closed on Friday. —PTI
New Delhi: Ola Elec-
tric has dispatched its
electric scooters to all
who have purchased
and it will be opening
the next purchase win-
dow very soon, Ola
Chairman and Group
Executive Officer Bhav-
ish Aggarwal said on
Friday. The company,
which had in August
this year forayed into
the green mobility
space with the launch
of its electric scoot-
ers, S1 and S1 Pro
priced at
`99,999 and
`1,29,999, re-
spectively,
had post-
poned delivery time-
lines for its much an-
ticipated products cit-
ing global semiconduc-
tor shortage issue.
While thanking all
RTOs (Regional Trans-
port Offices) for work-
ing with the company
holidays to scale up this
new digital process, Ag-
garwal said, “Lots of
learnings for us on var-
ied RTO systems, regu-
lations across states.
Will be faster with reg-
istration in future!
Also, stay tuned for
next purchase window,
opening very soon!!”
—PTI
New Delhi: ITC Ltd
will launch a host of
plant-based meat
products, in anticipa-
tion of the burgeon-
ing demand for meat
substitutesandvegan
meals in India.
The maker of Aa-
shirvaad atta and
Sunfeast cookies is
the first mainstream
consumer company
to enter this segment
inthecountryevenas
Nestle, Unilever, Kel-
logg’s and Cargill
have globally
launchedproductsfor
consumers conscious
about health, animal
wwwelfare and the
environment. —PTI
New Delhi: Pune-
based Serum Insti-
tute of India has ap-
plied for full market
authorisation for
Covishield with the
drug regulator. “The
government of India
now has enough data
for full market au-
thorisation, and
therefore Serum In-
stitute of India has
applied to the drug
regulator and the
ministry of health for
this permission,”
Adar Poonawalla,
SII’s CEO tweeted. He
said that supplies of
Covishield have have
exceeded 1.25 billion
doses. —PTI
New Delhi: Asian De-
velopment Bank (ADB)
has secured a $1 million
grant from Japan Fund
for Poverty Reduc-
tion (JFPR) to be
utilised for
knowledge and techni-
cal support for an ADB-
funded skill univer-
sity
in Assam.
The Japan Fund for
Poverty Reduction
h a s
approved a $1 million
grant to provide key
knowledge and techni-
cal support to the pro-
ject that will help estab-
lish a skill university in
the state of Assam,
the ADB said
on Friday.
The JFPR
grant, together
with a technical assis-
tance grant of $0.15
million from ADB’s
Climate Change
Fund, will support
the $112 million Assam
Skill University (ASU)
Project. The project
was approved by the
ADB on Dec 13 to set up
a skill university in the
state. —PTI
According to the data,
the total area under
oilseeds has increased
sharply to 97.07 lakh
hectares as of
December 31, 2021,
from 80.64 lakh
hectares in the
year-ago period
New Delhi: Area sown
under rapeseed/mus-
tard seed crop is higher
22.46 percent to 88.54
lakh hectare, while the
coverage under wheat
crop remains slightly
lower so far in the on-
going 2021-22 rabi sea-
son, according to the
latest data released
by the Union Agri-
culture Ministry
.
Wheat, the main
rabi crop, has been
planted at 325.88 lakh
hectares as of Friday,
compared with 329.11
lakh hectares in the
year-ago period, it said.
The sowing of rabi
crops like wheat begins
in October and harvest-
ing from April on-
wards.
A c -
cording to
the data, the
total area under oil-
seeds has increased
sharply to 97.07 lakh
hectares as of Decem-
ber 31, 2021, from 80.64
lakh
hectares in the year-
ago period.
Among oilseeds,
rapeseed and mustard
seed were covered in a
m a x i -
m u m
area of about
88.54 lakh hec-
tares in the period un-
der review as against
72.30 lakh hectares in
the year-ago period.
Area sown under
groundnut remained
flat at 3.64 lakh hectare,
linseed at 2.57 lakh hec-
tare, sunflower at 1.01
lakh hectare, safflower
at 0.68 lakh hectare,
sesamum at 0.30 lakh
hectare, and other oil-
seeds at 0.33 lakh hec-
tare in the period, the
data showed.
The rise in the area
under mustard seed
crop is a positive sign
for a country that de-
pends on imports to
meet 60 percent of its
domesticrequirement
and is struggling to
keep retail prices un-
der check amid a glob-
al price rise situation.
In the case of other
major rabi crops, the
area sown under puls-
es remained slightly
lower at 152.62 lakh
hectares as of Decem-
ber 31, 2021, as against
154.04 lakh hectares in
the year-ago period.
Gram, the main rabi
pulse, was grown in a
slightly higher area of
107.69 lakh hectares as
against 105.68 lakh hec-
tares in the year-ago
period. —PTI
MUSTARD SEED
SOWING UP 22%;
wheatslightlydownthis
rabiseason:AgriMinistry
New Delhi: Tax au-
thorities have de-
tected goods and
services tax evasion
of `40,000 crore in
over a year, largely
on account of fake
invoices and fraud
input tax credit
claims.
A host of meas-
ures aimed at plug-
ging loopholes and
preventing such
frauds are set to
kick in from Janu-
ary 1, but a senior
government official
told ET that ade-
quate care was be-
ing taken to ensure
these did not com-
promise with the
government’s ease
of doing business
initiative. The Cen-
tral Board of Indi-
rect Taxes and Cus-
toms had launched
an All-India En-
forcement Drive
from November 9,
2020 through the Di-
rectorate General
of GST Intelligence
and various Central
GST formations.
“More than 5,700
cases, involving an
amount of about
`40,000 crore, have
been detected,” the
official said.
The latest meas-
ures are aimed at
tackling such
frauds, impart bet-
ter payment disci-
pline and also pro-
tect the recipient
who is not always in
a position to ascer-
tain that his suppli-
er has paid the tax
and is vulnerable to
the recovery of in-
put tax credit, when
the tax is not paid
by the supplier.
—Agencies
GST evasion
of `40,000
crore detected
Asian Development Bank gets $1 mn grant
from JFPR for Assam skill university
8 core sectors’ output
grew 3.1% in Nov
Continue to focus
creating infra:APEDA
New Delhi: The
output of eight core
sectors in the
month of Novem-
ber grew 3.1% year-
on-year, according
to data released on
Friday
. It had grown
by 7.5% in October
2021 contracted
by 1.1% in Nov 2020.
The production
of sectors includ-
ing coal, natural
gas, refinery prod-
ucts, fertilisers,
steel and electricity
increased in Nov
2021 over the corre-
sponding period of
last year, data
shows.
Production of
coal increased by
8.2% in Nov 2021
over the corre-
sponding period
last year. Crude oil
production de-
clined by 2.2%, it
had declined by a
s i m i l a r
p r o p o r -
tion in Oct
a s
w e l l .
Petrole-
um refinery
products pro-
duction rose by
4.3% in November.
—PTI
New Delhi: The Ag-
ricultural and Pro-
cessed Food Prod-
ucts Expoart Devel-
opment Authority
said it is focusing on
creating infrastruc-
ture and clusters in
collaboration with
state governments
to promote out-
bound shipments.
Exports of agricul-
tural and processed
food products have
risen to $20.6 bn
during 2020-21 from
$17.3 bn in 2011-12.
Non-basmati rice
contributed close to
1/4th of the total ex-
ports in 2020-21.—PTI
ITC to launch
plant-based
meat products
SII seeks full
authorisation
of Covishield
Sensex gains 459 points
to end year at 58,253
Ola to open bookings
of e-scooters soon
Reliance
acquires 100%
stake in UK’s
Faradion
Mumbai: RIL so-
lar arm will buy
sodium ion bat-
tery technology
provider Faradion
for 100 million
pounds including
debt. Faradion is
one of world’s
leading battery
technology com-
panies. Reliance
will use Faradi-
on’s state-of-the-
art technology at
its proposed fully
integrated energy
storage giga-facto-
ry as part of the
Dhirubhai Amba-
ni Green Energy
Giga Complex pro-
ject at Jamnagar.
Mumbai: The rupee surged 13 paise to close at
74.29 (provisional) against the US dollar on the
last trading session of 2021, tracking positive
domestic equities amid year-end dollar
selling by banks and exporters. At
the interbank forex market, the
l o c a l unit opened up
a t 74.35 and
witnessed an
intra-day high
of 74.10 and a low
of 74.38. —PTI
RUPEE ENDS 2021 ON +VE NOTE;
SETTLES 13 PAISE HIGHER VS $
YEAR
HAPPY
2
NEW
2 2
0

07
NEWS
Election rallies: Covid safety
norms thrown to wind in UP
First India Bureau
Lucknow: Amid con-
cern of UP election ral-
lies being held during
rise of Covid-19 cases
and Omicron Variant,
the Election Commis-
sion of India (ECI) after
holding series of meet-
ing with political par-
ties and officers of the
state said that “all po-
litical parties want as-
sembly election on time
amid strict Covid proto-
col.
The commission has
also decided to extend
polling by one hour
since covid protocol
will slow down the vot-
ing. The Chief Election
Commissioner Shushil
Chandra said that the
commission was com-
mitted to hold free and
fair election with strict
implementation of Cov-
id protocol.
However, despite the
commitment and an-
nouncements, the pre-
vailing ground realities
are completely different
with all political parties
flagrantly violating
covid protocol of physi-
cal distancing the wear-
ing of masks. The CEC
said election rallies un-
derway in UP and the
violation of distancing
norms there are the re-
sponsibilities of the
state government and
the election commis-
sion will take over only
after the poll dates are
announced. “We have
held discussions with
the health secretary
and other officers and
we will definitely issue
the detailed guidelines
once elections are an-
nounced”, Chandra
said.
Recently the Alla-
habad High Court in
view of increasing Cov-
id-19 had appealed to
the election commis-
sion and Prime Minis-
ter Narendra Modi to
postpone the election by
a month or two and also
strictly ban election-re-
lated rallies. The court
observed that “ gram
panchayat elections
and West Bengal assem-
bly elections infected a
lot of people which
caused many deaths
and if rallies are not
stopped, results will be
worse than the second
wave”. Following the
High Court appeal the
commission said it
would review the situa-
tion in Uttar Pradesh.
But after three-day
meeting the commis-
sion has decided to hold
elections on time.
UPCMYogitermsCongasrootof
majorproblemsbeingfacedbyIndia
First India Bureau
Lucknow/Raebareli:
Terming the Congress
party the root of major-
ity of the problems be-
ing faced by the country
,
Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi
Adityanath on Friday
said that with the coop-
eration of able leaders
like, Dinesh Pratap Sin-
gh, Aditi Singh, and
newly joined Rakesh
Pratap Singh, BJP is
working towards the
overall development of
Rae Bareilly and ‘sweep-
ingout’negativityalong
with Congress.
He said this while ad-
dressing a public meet-
ing in Raebareli and
laying the foundation
stone of 381 develop-
mental projects worth
Rs 834 crores
In a fierce attack on
the Congress Party, UP
CM further said, “In
Raebareli, Rana Beni-
madhav Ji never ac-
cepted the foreign rule,
but despite this, why
were the people com-
pelled to wrap a dead
snake-like Congress
around our neck?”
The Congress party
was the root of several
problems being faced by
the country, Yogi com-
mented. Opening an at-
tack on the Cong once
again for falsifying the
existence of Hindu
gods, the Yogi stated, “It
was during the Con-
gress rule in 2005 that
people tried to demolish
Ram Setu. But today,
the public representa-
tives are joining the
BJP one by one because
we respect the faith of
people.”
First India Bureau
New Delhi: As part of
the Azadi Ka Amrit Ma-
hotsav, Power Grid Cor-
poration of India Lim-
ited (POWERGRID) a
Maharatna CPSU under
the Ministry of Power,
the Government of In-
dia commemorated its
landmark achievement
of completion of One
Nation-One Grid-One
Frequency
.
POWERGRID cele-
brated the anniversary
of this momentous oc-
casion on 31st Decem-
ber, 2021 by organizing
a number of events.
The 70 Sub-stations in
India including 07 sub-
stations spread across
Telangana and Andhra
Pradesh along with Re-
gional Headquarters at
Secunderabad were lit
up in tricolour to mark
this momentous
achievement. People
witnessed the projec-
tion of a video film,
which captures benefits
of One Nation One Grid
One Frequency for the
common man, encapsu-
lating views of eminent
personalities of the
power sector on this
achievement. On this
occasion an outreach
activity was also done
to make people aware
about the Azadi ka Am-
rit Mahotsav celebra-
tions marking the 75th
anniversary of India’s
independence and the
progress made by the
nation thereafter.
Medical camps were
also organized for com-
munities living in vi-
cinity of the 70 Sub-
stations spread across
the country. The local
population was to ben-
efited from these medi-
cal camps through free
health checkups. Apart
from this, blood dona-
tion camps were also
organized at various
sub stations across the
nation.
PGCIL celebrates one year of One Nation-One Grid-One Frequency
SUB-STATIONS LIT UP IN TRICOLOUR
WHAT IS ONE NATION ONE
GRID ONE FREQUENCY
Since it’s beginning
Grid management in
India was demarcated
into Northern, Eastern,
Western, North Eastern
and Southern regions.
With time each grid
was connected to the
other, to allow flexible
transfer of power. It all
came together when the
Southern Region was
connected to the Central
Grid, with commission-
ing of 765 kV Raichur-
Solapur Transmission
Line, thereby achieving
‘ONE NATION-ONE
GRID-ONE FREQUEN-
CY’. The Srinagar Leh
Transmission System
was connected to the
National Grid, and was
dedicated to the nation
by PM Narendra Modi
in 2019.
Channi’s NY gift
to Punjab cops
‘Cong destroyed over
500 shellers in Punjab’
Mahesh Kumar
Jalandhar: In a New
Year bonanza for the
Punjab Police person-
nel,PunjabChief Minis-
ter Charanjit Singh
Channi on Friday an-
nouncedaslewof incen-
tivesforthecopsinstate.
In a function held at
the PAP complex here,
the Punjab Chief Minis-
ter said that service in
Armed forces and Po-
lice is a challenging job
and only those people
who have zeal to serve
the country and its peo-
ple join these forces.
He said the state gov-
ernment fully recogniz-
es the immense contri-
bution of Punjab Police
in socio-economic de-
velopment of the state
adding that no stone
will be left unturned for
welfare of Punjab Po-
lice personnel. He said
the state government is
duty bound to make
sure that interests of
cops are safeguarded in
Punjab.
Punjab CM Channi
while accepting a major
demand of cop an-
nounced to restart Uni-
form allowance from
the ensuing New Year.
He said that superior
quality uniform will be
provided to cops for
which total payment
will be borne by the gov-
ernment. He also an-
nounced free bus travel
for any on duty cop in
government buses add-
ing that Police person-
nel will continue to get
13 months’ salary
.
Likewise, he also said
the bomb disposal unit
put their life in peril
during discharge of
their duty so the state
government will pro-
vide risk allowance to
them. He announced to
enhance Diet money for
sportsmen in Punjab
Police from existing Rs
150 to Rs 250 per day
during camps. He also
announced ground ren-
ovation in PAP campus
at a cost of Rs 1 crore to
boost sports.
First India Bureau
Chandigarh: Senior
Aam Aadmi Party
(AAP) leader and LoP in
Punjab, Harpal Singh
Cheema, on Friday ac-
cused the Congress govt
of destroying more than
500 shellers in Punjab
with a top to bottom cor-
rupt and irresponsible
system. As a result, shel-
ler owners and opera-
tors have incurred debts
of crores of rupees and
more than one and a
quarter lakh people
have lost their direct-
indirect employment.
But first the SAD-BJP
and now the present
Congress government,
was not affected by it all
in the slightest.
In a statement issued
on Friday
, Harpal Singh
Cheema said that due to
the negligence and in-
competence of the govt
machinery, even today,
more than 500 shellers
are closed since 2014-15,
that were gravely affect-
ed by 201 variety of Pun-
jab Agricultural Univer-
sity (PAU), in the Kharif
Marketing Season
(KMS) of the years 2009
and 2010. These shellers
have gone on the de-
faulter list in govt re-
cords. Not only did the
sheller owners and op-
erators lose more than
Rs 2,000 crore in invest-
ment, but private and
state-owned banks have
also lost about Rs 350
crore in loans from. For
which first Badal and
Captain and now Chan-
ni govt are directly re-
sponsible, he alleged.
Tele-medicine no longer option but necessity,
says Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh
First India Bureau
New Delhi: Union MoS
Science Technology
Dr Jitendra Singh on
Friday said that Tele-
medicine technology is
going to be the main pil-
lar of India’s future
health care system.
Launching the Tele-
Digital Healthcare Pilot
Program at BHU, Vara-
nasi, Dr Jitendra Singh
said, innovative health-
care solutions like Tele-
medicine could save In-
dia between 4-5 billion
US dollars every year
and replace half of OPD
consultation. He said
that PM Modi’s Digital
Health Mission is the
next frontier to ensure
healthcare delivery is
accessible, available,
and affordable to all,
particularlythepoorliv-
ing in rural terrain. He
saidTelemedicineinthe
countryhasproventobe
cost-effective by about
30%lessthanequivalent
in-person visits. Point-
ing out to very low doc-
tor-patient ratio of one
Doctorper1,457citizens,
Singh highlighted that
Tele-medicine is now a
necessity not an option.
We have held
discussions
with the health sec-
retary and other of-
ficers and we will
definitely issue the
detailed guidelines
once elections are
announced.
—Shushil Chandra, CEC
RALLIES IN UP
 BJP’s ‘Jan Vishwash
Yatra’ will culminate on
January 3.
 SP apart from ‘Vijay
Rath’ has been holding
rallies in all the dis-
tricts.
 Cong is holding Pri-
yanka Gandhi’s women
centric rallies.
‘PerfumePolitics’inUP
snowballsintocontroversy
First India Bureau
Lucknow: With the
ruling BJP and Sama-
jwadi Party trading
charges over IT and
GST raids on busi-
nessmen connected
with perfume indus-
try in Kannauj, the
issue has taken a po-
litical turn in the run
up to UP elections.
While BJP has been
trying to run down
the SP by connecting
it with these raids, the
SP chief Akhilesh Ya-
dav said the BJP has
defamed the whole
perfume industry of
Kannauj which has a
glorious past. Yadav
has been trying to
turn raids into politi-
cal opportunity by ex-
pressing solidarity
with the perfume in-
dustry. Reports indi-
cated that Kannauj
traders were quite
scared of these raids.
Addressing a rally
in Ayodhya, the union
home minister Amit
Shah attacked SP
chief Akhilesh for his
involvement in “per-
fume business rack-
et”. Shah said “foul
smell of itra (per-
fume) is spreading all
over after the raids on
various establish-
ments”. While last
week PM Modi had
indirectly targeted
Yadav for GST and IT
raids on Piyush Jain,
the UP CM Yogi has
been continuously
carrying on campaign
against SP on the is-
sue, which has taken
a further curious turn
after fresh raids on
Friday
.
It may be men-
tioned that in the last
week GST officers
have raided various
establishment of dif-
ferent perfume trader
across the state.
Punjab CM Channi with Police officials at PAP complex in Jalandhar. Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath. —FILE PHOTO AAP’s Harpal Cheema corners Congress over farmers issue.
Due to the
negligence
and in-
competence of the
government ma-
chinery, even to-
day, more than
500 shellers are
closed since
2014-15.
—HARPAL SINGH
CHEEMA, Punjab LoP
In UP politicos are
holding rallies in
absence of Covid
safety protocol
Dr Jitnedra Singh launching the Tele-digital Health Pilot Program.
Tele-medicine is no longer an option
but a necessity. About 65 percent of
India’s rural population have the
doctor-patient ratio as low as one doctor per
25,000 citizens. Telemedicine will save their
time and money.
—DR JITENDRA SINGH, Union MoS Science Technology
YEAR
HAPPY
2
NEW
2 2
0

08
2NDFRONT
A New Year - a beginning - let
us resolve to be kinder and better
this year than the last!
—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO Editor-in-Chief, First India
COURTESY MEET
Health Minister of Madhya Pradesh Vishwas Kailash Sarang called upon Lok Sabha Speaker
Om Birla at his Camp Office in Kota, on Friday.
First India Bureau
New Delhi: Union Ed-
ucation and Skill De-
velopment Min-
ister Dhar-
m e n d r a
Pradhan
w i l l
launch a 100-day-long
Reading Campaign
‘Padhe Bharat’ on Sat-
urday, January 1. The
campaign marks an im-
portant step to improve
learning levels of stu-
dents as it develops
creativity, critical
thinking, vocabulary
and the ability to ex-
press both verbally and
in writing. It helps chil-
dren to relate to their
surroundings and real
life situation.
Children studying in
Balvatika to grade VIII
will be part of this cam-
paign. The reading
campaign will be or-
ganised for 100 days (14
weeks) starting from
January 1 to April 10,
2022. The campaign
aims participation of
all stakeholders at na-
tional and state level
including children,
teachers, parents, com-
munity
, educational ad-
ministrators etc. The
campaign will be con-
tinued for fourteen
weeks and one activity
per week per group has
been designed with the
focus on making read-
ing enjoyable and build
lifelong association
with the joy of reading.
A comprehensive
guideline on Reading
Campaign with age ap-
propriate weekly calen-
dar of activities has
been prepared and
shared with States and
UTs. The activities can
be done by children
with the help of teach-
ers, parents, peers, sib-
lings or other family
members. In order to
make the campaign ef-
fective, the activities
designed have been
kept simple and enjoy-
able so that these can
also be easily conduct-
ed with the materials/
resources available at
home and with the help
of parents, peers and
siblings, in case the
schools are closed.
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: Gujarat
CM Bhupendra Patel
took part in a mega
roadshow in Rajkot city
on Friday to mark the
culmination of the
Good Governance Week
celebrationsinthestate.
The roadshow began
with much fanfare from
Rajkot Airport in the
morning and ended at
Dharmendrasinhji Col-
lege, covering a dis-
tance of 3 km.
BJP state president
and MP CR Patil flagged
off therallyfromtheair-
port, while CM Patel
stood on his seat in an
open jeep during the
roadshow. Rajkot BJP
unit left no stone un-
turnedtoensurethatthe
CM exuded power and
was given a warm wel-
come along with Patil.
Several state minis-
ters, including Minister
of State for Home Harsh
Sanghavi, Rural Devel-
opment Housing Min-
ister Arjunsinh Chau-
han, Minister of State
for Panchayats Brijesh
Merja and Transport
Minister Arvind Rai-
yani also took part in
the roadshow. It passed
through Race Course,
Kisanpara Chowk and
Yagnik Road before end-
ing at the main venue at
the college.
Apart from nearly 50
cars carrying VIPs, at
least 1,000 motorcyclists
and several vintage cars
were also part of the
roadshow, a release stat-
ed. The CM was show-
ered with flower petals
by his supporters.
Thousands of people
and BJP workers wear-
ing saffron coloured at-
tire flocked the route to
greet the chief minis-
ter. As per the release,
people associated with
various social and coop-
erative organizations
and communities greet-
ed the chief minister by
showering flower petals
on the route.
First India Bureau
Chandigarh: Haryana
Government has
launchedMukhyamantri
Pragatishil Kisan Sam-
man Yojana to motivate,
identify and honour pro-
gressive farmers and to
encourage other farmers
to adopt the best farming
practices across the state.
An official spokesper-
son said that along with
getting top quality pro-
duce, farmers who are
adopting latest practices
including water saving,
crop residue manage-
ment, organic farming,
integrated farming sys-
tems and sustainable ag-
riculture would get ben-
efits under this scheme.
Onlineapplicationshave
been invited for progres-
sivefarmerstillJanuary
15, 2022. Interested pro-
gressive farmers can get
themselvesregisteredon
the website www.agri-
haryana.gov.in.
He said that the farm-
er getting first prize at
the state level would be
awarded a cash amount
of Rs 5 lakh. Similarly
,
two second prizes of Rs 3
lakh each and five third
prizes of Rs.1 lakh each
will be given to each pro-
gressive farmer.
He said the Depart-
ment will also felicitate
thefarmersatthedistrict
level. Rs 50,000 will be
givento88farmersascon-
solation prize at district
level. This award will be
given to four farmers
from each district in the
districtlevelcategory
.For
the selection of awards, a
committee has been con-
stituted under the chair-
manshipof DirectorGen-
eral, Agriculture and
Farmers’WelfareDepart-
mentatthestateleveland
Deputy Commissioner at
the district level.
He said that the gov-
ernment has decided to
identifyandhonourpro-
gressive farmers who
have adopted best farm-
ing practices in agricul-
ture and allied sectors
contributing towards
doubling the income of
farmers. Under this
scheme, the selected
farmers will get cash
prizes for their excellent
work in agriculture and
related fields.
Invites online applications for Mukhyamantri
Pragatishil Kisan Samman Yojana
HAYRANA GOVT’S NEW YEAR GIFT TO FARMERS
YEAR
HAPPY
2
NEW
2 2
0
Progressive
farmers will be
honoured at the
state and district
level, says govt
Progressive farmers would get benefits under this scheme.
Pradhan to launch ‘PADHE BHARAT’ campaign today
Padhe Bharat, the 100-day
Reading Campaign marks an
important step to improve
learning levels of students
Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel acknowledging the salute of NCC cadets during the rally.
Guj CM Patel holds roadshow in Rajkot to end
Good Governance Week
RAJKOT ROADSHOW:
PATIL PATEL’S STRONG
MESSAGE TO DISSIDENTS?
First India Bureau
Rajkot: The grand
roadshow organized
to mark the culmina-
tion of Good Govern-
ance Week in Rajkot
on Friday was a po-
litical show of
strength aimed at
BJP dissidents, feel
experts. It was a clear
indication of the fact
that BJP state Presi-
dent CR Patil and Gu-
jarat CM Bhupendra
Patelcansuccessfully
sail through in the
2022 assembly polls.
As per political an-
alyst Arvind Joban-
putra, “There is no
justifiable reason for
the party or the state
government to organ-
ize a roadshow in Ra-
jkot. If it really want-
ed to showcase good
governance, the state
should have put the
AIIMS and the Rajkot
InternationalAirport
projects on the fast
track. Instead, both
projects have slowed
down and are unlike-
ly to be completed be-
fore 2022 polls. These
were dream projects
of former CM Vijay
Rupani. Some lead-
ers from Rajkot and
Saurashtra are dis-
satisfied with the
party’s decision to
send the entire cabi-
net packing and talk-
ing about the ‘no rep-
etition’ theory. They
are not openly speak-
ing or working
against the party, but
the roadshow is a
message to them.”
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: The
staff of city’s Sardar
Patel International
Airport has foiled for-
eign currency smug-
gling out of India. On
suspecting the move-
ment of one passen-
ger, they put his lug-
gage on an X-ray ma-
chine that exposed
the currency that was
being smuggled out
of India. The Cus-
toms department has
arrested three per-
sons with 3.90 lakh
US$ (Rs2,89,96,500).
According to sourc-
es from the Customs
Air Intelligence
Wing, air staff sus-
pected passenger
Sanjay Khogari, so
they asked him to
pass his check-in lug-
gage through the
X-ray machine.
During the pro-
cess, they
found an or-
ange-like ele-
ment and
upon opening
t h e
b a g
found
h i m
carry-
ing 40,000 US$. The
customs team was im-
mediately informed.
They checked the
entry gate’s CCTV
footage and found
Khogari entering the
airport with Rushabh
Moradiya. The offi-
cials soon found Mo-
radiya and, on open-
ing his luggage, the
team found 1,15,000
US$. During the pri-
mary questioning,
they informed offic-
ers about their third
accomplice Gaurang
|Navinchandra. Of-
ficers soon located
the third person and
found 2,00,000 lakh
US$ from his bag.
Customs will produce
them before the court
and seek remand.
Back in April 2018,
the Directorate of
Revenue Intelligence
(DRI) had arrested
two persons with
Rs25.25 lakh worth of
foreign denomination
notes that the duo
was trying to smuggle
out of India.
A customs officer
said, in the smuggling
world, it is called re-
verse smuggling. He
added, “Foreign cur-
rency smuggling
takes place when the
foreign exchange rate
offered by the bank is
lower than the for-
eign exchange
rate charged
by the
H av a l a
market,
a g a i n s t
the smug-
gling of gold or
other consign-
ments includ-
i n g
drugs.”
Customs staff
foils smuggling of
`2.89 cr
AIRPORT OFFICIALS
ARRESTED THREE
PERSONS TRYING
TO SMUGGLE
FOREIGN
CURRENCY WORTH
3 LAKH USD OUT
OF INDIA

NEW DELHI, SATURDAY
JANUARY 1, 2022
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia
facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia 09
oday we have
woken up to a
New Year! The
dice has rolled,
the wheels have
turned and 31st
December 2021
has dipped below the hori-
zon and 01st January 2022
has risen!
Regardless of the Hin-
du calendar or the official
Gregorian calendar that
we adhere to, all of us to-
day feel a bit different, a
lil bit new, hope flickers
even as the storms of
Omicron gather again.
Even as most of us will be
unwillingly deluged with
thousands with forward-
ed HNY messages on
WhatsApp, we will pick
up the phone to call those
people who are special
to us, for whom a for-
warded message
will not suffice or
draft a special mes-
sage for them with
our favourite emoticons!
Why is the new year so
special? Actually, any oc-
casion is – it is an excuse
to be together with our
loved ones, to reach out to
the estranged, bury the
differences and also thank
those who walked with us!
First India also decided to
make the coming of 2022
special as a get-together
was held with friends join-
ing in to sing, dance and
jump with joy to not just
make one evening memo-
rable but to make happy
memories last forever!
More on P 10-11
ANITA HADA
anita.hada@firstindianews.com
T
CITY FIRST
WISHES ALL ITS
READERS A VERY
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
WE BRING TO YOU
GLIMPSES OF THE
SPECIAL
CELEBRATION
HELD AT HOTEL
MARRIOTT, JAIPUR
ON THE OCCASION
OF RINGING IN
2022 AS WE ALL
BID GOODBYE TO
2021!
It’s time for
TWENTY
20 TWO!
Jagdeesh Chandra accorded a floral welcome by First Miss India 2021
Pearl Agarwal at theFirst India event at Marriott as Shweta Mishra,
Gaurav Gaur and Akanksha Bhalla look on smilingly
Shweta Mishra with (L-R) Simran Modi, Riya Suledia, Chahak Bhandula, Tanu Choudhary, Vishakha Mathur, Upadhi Jolotia,
Angel Sain, Rewati Upadhyay, Srishti Khatri, Akanksha Bhalla, Swati Jangid, Megha Kaushik, Megha Shyam, Preeti Singh, Poonam Sharma,
Tripti Arora, Soni Kumari, Himakshi Choudhary, Tanu Choudhary, Sumitra Godara, Khushboo Dahiya, Karishma Tak and Chhavi Suledia
Poonam Sharma, Karishma Tak,
Rishika Chandnani, Kashish
and Chahak Bhandula
—PHOTOS
BY
MUKESH
KIRADOO

T
he New Year brings hope, we
strive to put difficult times be-
hind us and look ahead with
hope- somehow with a changing
year – 2021—to—2022 – it is easier. This
time, we have all put behind a difficult
year, I think all of us were united in
2021 being a year which wrung us out-
mentally, emotionally, physically and
financially- and how we stand on tip-
toes to welcome this new year!
Asweallswayedandswungtomusic
attheMarriott,theover-ridingthought
was to cherish these moments of joy
and carry life with sparkle and festiv-
ity into the coming days. There was a
sense of togetherness and pervading
joy in the evening as love in the other’s
happiness made every second special.
City First brings to each of you happiness,
success, love and togetherness in each of
the 365 days of this year and we also wish
you good health, we pray for the safety of you
– our beloved readers and your loved ones!
FROM PG 9
It’s time for
10-11
ETC
TWENTY
20 TWO!
Jagdeesh Chandra with (L-R) Riya Suledia, Himakshi Choudhary, Karishma Tak, Sumitra Godara, Tanu Choudhary, Soni Kumari, Divya Kasliwal, Swati Jangid, Yogesh Mishra,
Shweta Mishra, Gaurav Gaur, Ashok Singh, Akanksha Bhalla, Pearl Agarwal, Rishee Miglani, Lokesh Sharma, Poonam Sharma, Manmeet Singh, Vania Singh, Mona Gautam and Kartikey Soni Jagdeesh Chandra with (L-R): Manmeet Singh, Vania Singh, Aditi, Sunil and Ashok Singh
(L-R) Rahul Maini, Mohit Mahrishi, Tapan Mudgal and Kumar Gourav
(L-R): Ashok Singh, Gaurav Gaur and Yogesh Mishra
Mona Gautam and Kartikey Soni
during the stunning Bachata performance
Shweta Mishra
Girls enjoying during the ‘blind fold’game
Manmeet Singh woes the audience with his singing
The ravishing divas grooving on bollywood music
Swati Jangid, Divya Kasliwal and Akanksha Bhalla
Tanu
Choudhary,
Srishti
Khatri
and
Vishakha
Mathur
Pearl
Agarwal,
Simran
Modi,
Mansi,
Priya
Yadav,
Khushboo
Dahiya
and
Devanshi
Bugalia
—PHOTOS BY MUKESH KIRADOO

s we bid
adieu to the
year gone by
and wel-
come ‘22 in
all its glory,
we solemnly
hope for love,
warmth, health, joy
and success for all
our dear readers.
While 2021 saw
lockdowns and
curfews, we
wish for ‘22 to
bring along
nothing but joy
and togetherness.
May families reu-
nite, lovers make it
to the altar, dreams
come true and the
world becomes hale
and hearty again.
As we step into
new beginnings, we
urge our readers to
stay safe, healthy and
most importantly,
smile wide and wel-
come 2022 with their
arms wide open.
With love and faith,
City First wishes its
readers a very Happy
New Year.
Miss Rajasthan mod-
els joyfully posed and
welcomed the new
year. With love and
faith, City First wish-
es its readers a very
Happy New Year!
A
NITIKA PANJWANI
mitalidusad01@gmail.com
2021 saw a great fashion and makeup pivot with
people switching to clean beauty, sorbet pastel
tones, bold blazers and not to forget the most
important accessory - face masks. We all
collectively existed somewhere between at-
home loungewear and full-on party mode.
2022 LOVES GLITTER:
Sparkle will always be in trend,
but it’s taking on new forms like
pink smoky eyes recently seen
on Gigi Hadid or a soft-glam look
with a cream glitter eyeshadow
like Saoirse Ronan’s.
BARELY THERE FOUNDATION
Several makeup artists are
switching to make-up bases
with the latest formulas that let
skin shine through, and provide
skincare benefits like hydration
and anti-ageing ingredients.
CRAZY CATSUITS
Catsuits are going to be 2022’s
most unexpected trends to
emerge. Know that everyone
from Hailey Bieber to Lizzo has
already worn it out this year.
ANDROGYNOUS FASHION
The lines between men and
women fashion are blurring. It’s
time to embrace gender-neutral
fashion. We will see more
Gender-Inclusive Fashion Brands
emerging in 2022 which can be
worn by anyone.
FASHION TRENDS THAT
WE ARE PREDICTING TO
GO MASSIVE IN 2022
FIRST INDIA SPOKE TO DELHI’S TOP
FASHION INFLUENCERS/ BLOGGERS TO
TAKE THEIR INPUTS ON THE TOPIC
Hair scarves: whether you love a
feminine old school look or want to
add a little something like an accessory,
the hair scarf has officially made a
comeback. It’s a quick way to add a pop
of colour to your outfit. Baggy clothes:
the last two years taught us a lot but
a very important lesson was that
people love baggy and comfortable
clothes. Lace and satin: the reflective
finish and how comfortably it drapes
against the skin-it’s a timeless classic
and it is here to stay.
FASHION BLOGGER AND YOUTUBER
FASHION AND LUXURY INFLUENCER FASHION INFLUENCER AND BLOGGER
I’m not sure how it happened,
but 2022 is already here. At
least there’s fashion to keep us all
distracted, right? It’s an interesting
moment in fashion as we all were
stuck between athleisure and full-
on party mode. That intersection
calls for both high-shine and raver
looks, as well as comfort-minded
oversized silhouettes and athleisure
finding its way into the evening.
Jackets are becoming about the
size of our collective patience for
this endless pandemic. If you’re
picking up on a ‘90s/early aughts
vibe overall, you’re not wrong.
This year rather than
thinking of trends
as a hard-and-fast
set of rules, embrace
them as ideas and
inspiration to be picked
up and interpret them
in your own way. If
Looking for a new
glamour go-to in 2022,
then try experimenting
with cool wheel,
glitters, drapes and
mixed materials. Go
all-in with accessories
around a knit dress.
BEST OUT OF WASTE!
City First
T
he latest Covid
curbs may have
affected the foot-
fall at the recent-
ly launched Bharat Dar-
shan Park, but visitors’
feedback has already
inspired South Delhi
Municipal Corporation
(SDMC). The civic body
has decided to place the
proposed plan for the
second phase of the
project before its de-
liberative wing soon.
The corporation
has made 22 replicas
from 14 states in
phase I and the park
were opened for the
public on Sunday. In
phase II, SDMC plans to
construct 17 more repli-
cas from other states
and Union territories,
including that of snake
boat race from Kerala,
Nishat Bagh from Kash-
mir, Sheesh Mahal from
Punjab and Lepakshi
from Andhra
Pradesh, said an
official. SDMC
c o m m i s s i o n e r
Gyanesh Bharti
also spoke about taking
up phase II soon during
the inauguration cere-
mony on Saturday
. “We
have prepared the plan
and it will soon be
placed before the stand-
ing committee for con-
sideration,” said an of-
ficial.
On Day 1, 4,227 tick-
ets were sold and the
collection was Rs 5.5
lakh. While the park
will stay closed every
Monday, the collection
was down to Rs 1.3 lakh
this Tuesday due to
rain. The complex had
to be closed due to tech-
nical glitches on
Wednesday
.
Following the new
Covid curbs, only 884
tickets were sold for Rs
80,000 on Thursday
.
SDMC targets to recover
the cost of the project —
Rs 20 crore — within a
year from the ticket sale.
AnofficialsaidSDMC
had been taking all Cov-
id safety measures. “We
are deploying guards
everywhere to not allow
crowding. They are also
checking social distanc-
ing and wearing of
masks,”
—cityfirstdel@gamil.com
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Designer Ritu Beri wished our
readers a very ‘Happy New Year’ in
a slightly different way! She penned
down some beautiful lines - “Life
is like riding a bicycle! To keep
your balance on, one must keep
moving! Hope 2022 is happier
not a roller coaster-like the last two
years have been”.
—PHOTO BY MANOJ KESHARWANI
2022 MAKEUP FASHIONTRENDS
YOU SHOULD TRY NOW!
12
CITY BUZZ
GET VACCINATED
STAY MASKED
The stunning divas welcoming ‘2022’
(L-R) Aaru Nama, Yoshita Arora, Jahnavi Soni, Shruti Sharma, Sangeeta Bhamu and Jyotika Chhatwani
Aaru Yoshita
Sana Grover
Itika Kamra Rose Kawatra
DOING 2022,
with hope love
Sangeeta

Jyotika

01012022 first india new delhi

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