03082022_First India_Mumbai.pdf

India is first priority,
says Maldives Prez
New Delhi: India and
Maldives on Tuesday
signed agreements to
push the bilateral part-
nership to the next level
in field of infrastruc-
ture and connectivity
.
These agreements
were signed during the
visit of Maldives Presi-
dent Ibrahim Moham-
ed Solih. Solih also
held a meeting with
PM Narendra Modi.
Both leaders partici-
pated in virtual “pour-
ing of first concrete”
ceremony of the USD
500 mn Greater Male
Connectivity Project
(GMCP) being built un-
der the grant and con-
cessional loan support
from India.
PM Narendra Modi and Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih
witness exchange of MoU at Hyderabad House in Delhi on Tuesday.
Ex-min Uday Samant’s
convoy attacked in Pune
First India Bureau
Mumbai/Pune: A day
after newly appointed
Shiv Sena Spokesper-
son Babanrao Thorat
exhorted party workers
to attack vehicles of
Chief Minister Eknath
Shinde-led rebel MLAs,
Shiv sainiks went on a
rampage on Tuesday.
The convoy of former
higher and technical
education minister in
the Maha Vikas Aghadi
(MVA) government,
Uday Samant, was at-
tacked in Pune, with
enraged sainiks break-
ing his car’s rear wind-
shield.
Speaking to a local
news media channel,
Thorat said, “Uddhav
Thackeray had advised
restraint, as Turn to P5
New BJP entrants upbeat as party cadre is downcast
Renni Abraham
Mumbai: Barely a
monthafterreturningto
power in Maharashtra,
following a 2.5-year hia-
tus, the Bharatiya Jana-
ta Party (BJP) cadre in
Mumbai strangely
exhibits abject
f r u s t r a t i o n
over apparent
political ma-
neuverings
by state’s
Deputy Chief
Minister Dev-
endra Fad-
navis.
A former BJP MLA’s
comment within a BJP
party meeting is poign-
ant to appreciate this ris-
ing tide of depression in
the BJP cadre level. The
MLA (name withheld on
request), while offering
his commiseration, ad-
vised a party compatriot
to try leaving the BJP
and join up
either the
C o n -
g r e s s ,
ShivSena
or Na-
tional-
i s t
Congress Party (NCP).
“After that (defecting), it
will become easier for
you to return to the BJP
fold and easily secure a
top party post since this
is the political trend be-
ing followed in our par-
ty
.”
Brewing resentment
within the BJP in Maha-
rashtra is evident even
as senior party leaders
like Kirit Somaiya, at
the forefront of expos-
ing corruption among
opposition party leaders
including Shiv Sena’s
MP Sanjay Raut (now in
ED custody), MLA Anil
Parab (whose resort in
Konkan faces imminent
demolition action) has
failed to find suitable ac-
commodation with the
BJP for a top post
himself. Somaiya
had secured the
second highest votes
among elected MPs of
the six parliamentary
constituencies in Mum-
bai city in 2014, but still
lost out on a seat in the
2019 Lok Sabha elec-
tions.
Only a couple of days
back the firebrand BJP
leaderlaunchedapublic
broadside against for-
mer Congress Guardian
Minister of the Maha
Vikas Aghadi (MVA)
government for Mum-
bai city Aslam Sheikh
(also housing minister)
who faces imminent ac-
tion from the Enforce-
ment Directorate (ED).
And yet, Sheikh held a
late-night meeting with
Fadnavis on Sunday
through controversial
BJP leader Mohit Kam-
boj.
The political circuit is
rife about former state
Chief Minister Ashok
Chavan being on the
verge of shifting his loy-
alties to the BJP to avoid
similar prosecution in
the Adarsh scam case.
Although, the Rahul
Gandhi loyalist rejected
any such possibility, on
Monday
.
Such political maneu-
vers may be aimed at
shoring up numbers of
MLAs supporting the
BJP in Maharashtra.
However, most top posts
in BJP are being doled
out to recent entrants
into the party fold such
as Rahul Narwekar
(from MNS) who was ap-
pointed speaker of the
state legislature, Pravin
Darekar (MNS leader
who was made leader of
the Vidhan Parishad)
and Radha Krishna
Vikhe Patil (Congress)
who bagged housing
minister post during
Fadnavis’ tenure as CM.
This does not bode well
for BJP
, said a source.
Most BJP newbies are likely to be includ-
ed in the Maharashtra council of minis-
ters to be sworn in this Wednesday. The
list of recent entrants to the BJP being rewarded is
endless. For the BJP cadre, political rehabilita-
tion options are very limited, almost like a mi-
rage. Allegations that BJP has become a laundry
to clean tainted politicians have also gained
ground.” —A source
Ascent of recent
defectors through
the ranks has not
gone down well with
loyal party cadre
CBI-ED synergize for Nat’l Herald raids in 12 cities
Renni Abraham
Mumbai: The Central
Bureau of Investiga-
tion (CBI) swung into
action on Tuesday
launching search and
seizure operations at
the National Herald
House in Delhi and 11
more cities including
Lucknow, Mumbai, in
connection with a
money laundering
case.
A source confirmed
that synergies between
the CBI and the En-
forcement Directorate
(ED) led to the sharing
of actionable data
gleaned through the
multiple rounds of
questioning of Indian
National Congress
President Sonia Gan-
dhi and Rahul Gandhi
by the latter. It resulted
in the raids conducted
on the National Herald
offices on Tuesday.
On condition of ano-
nymity, a Bharatiya Ja-
nata Party (BJP) Mem-
ber of Parliament
(MP)—who is attending
the ongoing Parliamen-
tary Monsoon Ses-
sion—said, “It was a
rather pleasant sur-
prise that there were
no disruptions from
the opposition benches
in the wake of the na-
tionwide raids being
conducted by the cen-
tral agencies. We ex-
pected that from the
Congress MPs, but they
allowed both houses of
Parliament to conduct
the day’s affairs
smoothly. Though,
some protests were wit-
nessed outside the Na-
tional Herald House
building in Delhi where
a raid was underway.”
The BJP has issued
instructions to all its
MPs to remain present
in both the houses in
full strength Turn to P5
We have issued
instructions as
part of our
house floor management
plan for the Lok Sabha
tomorrow (Wednesday),
when the opposition
benches are likely to cre-
ate large-scale distur-
bances.
—BJP leader
Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel stand guard
outside the Herald House during the ED raid in New Delhi, on
Tuesday —ANI PHOTO
As officials conduct search seizure
operations, BJP anticipates
Parliament disruptions on Wednesday
Uday Samant
Dy CM Devendra Fadnavis
Justice Delivered: Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri killed
BIDEN’S
BIGGEST
BLOW!
Zawahiri had been on the run for
20 years since the 9/11 attacks
Ayman took over Al Qaeda after
Osama Bin Laden died on 2011
Biden says Al Qaeda chief Zawahiri
was killed in a CIA drone strike
Moni Sharma
Washington: The Unit-
ed States on Tuesday
killed al-Qaeda leader
Ayman al-Zawahiri in a
drone strike in Afghani-
stan, US president Joe
Biden confirmed. The
CIA carried out an op-
eration killing Ayman
al-Zawahiri outside Ka-
bul on Sunday
.
“(Ayman al-Zawahi-
ri) carved a trail of
murder and violence
against American citi-
zens. Now justice has
been delivered and this
terrorist leader is no
more,” Biden said.
Zawahiri was standing
on the balcony of a safe
house when a drone
fired 2 missiles at him.
It’s a tribute to President
Biden’s leadership, to the
members of the intelli-
gence community who
have been working for decades for
this moment, and to the counter-
terrorism professionals who were
able to take al-Zawahiri out with-
out a single civilian casualty.
—Barack Obama, Former US President
TALIBAN SPOKESMAN
CONFIRMS STRIKE
In a statement after
the attack, Taliban
spokesman Zabihullah
Mujahid confirmed that a
strike took place on Sunday
night in Kabul. He strongly
condemned the operation,
calling it a violation of
“international principles.”
THE MEGA
ACTION PLAN
Officials said Zawahiri was
on the balcony of his Kabul
residence when he was
targeted with two Hellfire
missiles on July 31, adding
that President Biden gave
his go-ahead to the opera-
tion on July 25.
ELIMINATION
IMPACTS INDIA
Zawahiri had tried to get
into Kashmir with little or
no success. He had in past
criticised many countries for
supporting India. In June, he
issued statement threatening
attacks on Delhi, Mumbai,
UP with suicide bombers.
2 MISSILES AND NO BLAST...
DID US USE SECRET WEAPON?
Zawahiri was killed by 2 missiles fired at his Kabul home
-- but pictures showed no sign of an explosion, and US
officials say no one
else was harmed.
That points to use
again by the US of
the macabre Hellfire
R9X, a warhead-
less missile
believed equipped
with six razor-like blades extending from the fuselage that
slices through its target but does not explode.
l Zawahiri’s death
would bring “clo-
sure” to families
of the 3,000 people
killed in US on 9/11
l The US continues
to defend American
people against those
who seek to do us
harm
l Members of his
family were pur-
posely not targeted,
were not harmed
BIDEN
SPEAKS
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MUMBAI l WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3, 2022 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI TITLE NO. MAHENG/2022/14652 l Vol 1 l Issue No. 89
OUR EDITIONS: JAIPUR, NEW DELHI MUMBAI
CAA WILL BE
IMPLEMENTED
AFTER VACCINE
DRIVE: SHAH
CHANNELS
TAKEN OFF
AIR FOR CODE
VIOLATION: MIN
New Delhi: Home Minister Amit Shah on
Tuesday said that govt will implement CAA
once the ongoing Covid vaccination drive
in country is over. WB BJP leader said that
Shah told him during meeting at the Parl. P5
New Delhi: Nine television channels were
taken off air for a specified time period
between 2017 and 2022 for programme
and advertising code violation, IB Minister
Anurag Thakur informed LS on Tuesday. P6
SC SEEKS REPLY OF CENTRE, CVC GO FIRST CAR GOES UNDER PLANE
New Delhi: The court issued notices to the respondents,
including Centre, CVC and the present ED Director, based
on as many as 8 petitions, including ones filed by
Congress leaders Randeep Surjewala and Jaya Thakur.
New Delhi: A car belonging to Go First airline went under
an IndiGo A320neo aircraft at the Delhi airport on Tuesday,
narrowly avoiding collision with the plane’s nose wheel,
sources said.The DGCA will investigate this incident soon.
BSE SENSEX 58,136.36 20.86 | NSE NIFTY 17,345.45 5.40

NEWS
MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3, 2022
02
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epapers/mumbai I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
First India Bureau
Mumbai: A research
team led by Professor
T I Eldho of IIT Bom-
bay (IIT-B) have found
a technique to detect
hazardous micro and
nano plastic particles
in the air. Microwave
radiations have been
used by the team to
identify the presence
of the ‘killer’ plastic
in the air.
The new technique
was devised by the team
led by Professor Eldho
in collaboration with
Dr Anil Lonappan of
the Mangosuthu Uni-
versity of Technology,
South Africa. The tech-
nique can be used to
detect and manage
threats posed by the
presence of hazardous
micro and nano plastic
in the air.
Journal of Hazard-
ous Materials, a re-
nowned publication in
the field of Environ-
mental Science and En-
gineering also men-
tioned the study in one
of its articles.
The newly-invented
technique of detecting
hazardous plastic using
the microwave radia-
tions leverages changes
in the electrical charac-
teristics of materials
when placed inside a
microwave cavity to
identify the substance.
The research team is
further looking forward
to develop portable
gadgets that can help to
identify contaminants
in the air.
“Our studies are
based only on four poly-
mer types. Other types
of environmental plas-
tic pollutants too are
present in the air. The
sample size over there
was small, as the vol-
ume of sample placed
inside the microwave
cavity plays a crucial
role,” professor Eldho
highlighting the limita-
tions of the study
.
Use of microwave
technology for detect-
ing nano particles of
plastic is conducted
with the help of a setup,
where microwave cavi-
ty is attached to a net-
work analyser. Network
analyser is an instru-
ment that can measure
various electrical pa-
rameters.
The air sample is then
placed inside the cavity
through which a high
frequency microwave is
passed. The researchers
then record the varia-
tions in electrical pa-
rameters due to present
of plastic polymers.
IIT-B team develops tech to detect hazardous plastic particles in air
NATION’S TARGET
lll
Tech leverages
changes in the
electrical
characteristics
of materials
when hit by
microwave
radiation to
identify
presence of
contaminants
USAGE
RautFIR:Who’s calling, copsask
First India Bureau
Mumbai: The Mumbai
police investigating
the criminal intimida-
tion case against Shiv
Sena MP Sanjay Raut
are awaiting the origi-
nal audio recorded by
the woman complain-
ant. We will submit
the audio to the foren-
sic science laboratory
in Kalina to identify
the caller, said an of-
ficial on Tuesday
.
A First Information
Report (FIR) was regis-
tered against Raut on
Sunday under various
sections of the Indian
Penal Code (IPC). It in-
cluded insulting the
modesty of the woman
on a complaint lodged
by a witness in a money
laundering case being
probed by the Enforce-
ment Directorate (ED),
claiming she was
threatened.
Recently, an audio
clip in which a male
voice can be heard
threatening a woman
using foul language
went viral.
The official said the
complainant had sub-
mitted the audio clip to
the police in a pen drive,
but the police want the
original audio which
was recorded in 2016.
“Once we get hold of
the original recording,
we will seek the help of
the Forensic Science
Laboratory (FSL) to es-
tablish the identity of
the caller,” he said.
Police have invoked
sections 504 (insult
with intent to provoke
breach of the peace),
506 (Punishment for
criminal intimidation),
and 509 (intending to
insult the modesty of a
woman) of the IPC in
their FIR against Raut.
The complainant reg-
istered her statement
with the police on Sun-
day. She was provided
security as requested.
The woman had ap-
proached the police
claiming she was given
rape and murder threat
in a typed paper, which
was inserted in a news-
paper delivered to her
on July 15.
The ED arrested
Raut on Sunday night
in connection with a
money laundering case
emerging from a chawl
redevelopment scheme
in Mumbai. He was re-
manded in the probe
agency’s custody till
August 04 by a Preven-
tion of Money Launder-
ing Act (PMLA) court
in Mumbai on Monday
.
Once we get
hold of the
original re-
cording, we
will seek the help of the
Forensic Science Labo-
ratory (FSL) to establish
the identity of the caller.
—Mumbai police official
THE COMPLAINT
Police seek to
identify the male
caller’s voice by
sourcing the
original audio
recorded in 2016
‘Opposition wasn’t
targeted like this even
during Emergency’
First India Bureau
Mumbai: The Shiv
Sena on Tuesday
slammed the Bharati-
ya Janata Party (BJP)
over the arrest of
Sanjay Raut by the
Enforcement Directo-
rate (ED), saying such
targeting of the Op-
position did not hap-
pen even during the
Emergency imposed
by the then prime
minister Indira Gan-
dhi.
In an editorial in
the party mouthpiece
‘Saamana’, the Sena
said “democracy and
a country perish if
the Opposition is not
treated with respect.”
Raut was arrested
by the ED on Sunday
night in connection
with a money laun-
dering case emerging
from a chawl redevel-
opment scheme in
Mumbai. He was re-
manded in ED custo-
dy till August 04.
The Sena said Raut,
a Rajya Sabha MP and
‘Saamana’ executive
editor, was arrested
out of political re-
venge and many
“false proofs” were
produced to frame
him in the alleged
Patra chawl case.
Had Raut aligned
with the BJP, he too
would have got
‘cleaned’ in its wash-
ing machine, said the
editorial.
BJP MP termed Maha
govt‘Ek Duje Ke
Liye’: Supriya Sule
First India Bureau
Mumbai: Nationalist
Congress Party
(NCP) leader Supriya
Sule on Tuesday said
a Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) MP has
described the Eknath
Shinde-led govern-
ment in Maharash-
tra as Ek Duje Ke
Liye—a wordplay on
the title of the fa-
mous 1981 film.
Currently
, Chief Min-
ister Shinde and Deputy
CM Devendra Fadnavis
of the BJP are the only
members of the state
cabinet but their portfo-
lios are not decided yet.
“Today
, I was talking
to a Lok Sabha member
of BJP who described
the Maharashtra gov-
ernment as ‘Ek Duje Ke
Liye’. This comparison
is something I would
have never thought of,”
said Sule, the Lok Sabha
MP from Baramati in
Pune district.
Sule said Shinde and
Fadnavis are running
thegovernmentatatime
when the state is facing
various challenges, in-
cluding the loss of crops
due to excess rains, and
the mounting debt of
farmers, among others.
“Earlier (when the
Maha Vikas Aghadi
government was in
power), there was a sys-
tem of guardian minis-
ter for every district
whom we used to con-
tact and take help to re-
solve a local issue,” the
NCP leader said.
Sheallegedthatconfu-
sion prevails in the new
government in the ab-
sence of ministers and
even senior officials are
clueless.
Earlier, the Shiv Sena
hadusedthe‘EkDujeKe
Liye’ terminology to de-
scribe the Shinde-Fad-
navis government.
Sule’s swipe comes
against the backdrop
of the delay in
expanding the cabinet
even a month after the
new government of
Shinde and the BJP
coming to power.
BMC invites bids for `6K cr
road concretization projects
First India Bureau
Mumbai: Mumbai:
The Brihanmumbai
Municipal Corpora-
tion on Tuesday said
it has invited five ten-
ders worth a cumula-
tive Rs5,800 crore for
the concretization of
400km roads within
the next two years to
make Mumbai “pot-
hole free”.
Officials said since
the tenders for different
road projects have been
invited together, the
civic body expects that
big, well-known state-
and national-level firms
with experience of con-
structing highways will
participate in the ten-
der process.
In a detailed presen-
tation before Chief
Minister Eknath Shin-
de last week, BMC
chief Iqbal Singh Cha-
hal had said the civic
body had already com-
pleted 989.94km con-
cretization, with an-
otherand 236.58km of
concretization for
2022-23 underway at a
cost of Rs 2,200 crore.
BMC proposes to un-
dertake concretization
of 400km roads this
year, and the remain-
ing 423km next year, he
had added.
Accordingly, five ten-
ders were invited for
71km roads in Mumbai
city at a cost of Rs1,194
crore, 70km roads in
eastern suburbs at a
cost of Rs811 crore, and
three tenders in west-
ern suburbs to concre-
tize 275km of roads at a
cost of Rs3,801 crore.
The tender condi-
tions include the use of
mechanized slip-form
paver technology, QR
codes to enable people
to follow the progress,
and the presence of out-
lets that will allow
storm-water run-off.
The works will have a
24-month deadline, and
a 10-year defect liability
period clause. A fifth of
the contract cost will be
paid by the civic body
after the period ends.
Activists of
rival Shiv Sena
groups clash
in Dombivili
First India Bureau
Thane: Hundreds of
activists of the Shiv
Sena’s rival factions
clashed at the party’s
office in Dombivili
town on Tuesday, po-
lice said.
Police said, photo-
graphs of Chief Minis-
ter Eknath Shinde and
his MP son Dr Srikant
Shinde were removed
from the party office.
Activists of the Shin-
de faction had arrived
at the office during the
day to hang the photo-
graphs back on the
walls, but supporters of
Uddhav Thackeray
reached there and a
clash erupted, an offi-
cial said. The local po-
lice rushed to the scene
and brought the situa-
tion under control.
In the end, Shinde’s
supporters managed to
hang the photographs
on the wall.
Cong urges Dy CM Fadnavis to scrap
Mumbai ward delimitation, demarcation
First India Bureau
Mumbai: A delegation
of Congress leaders
met Deputy Chief
Minister Devendra
Fadnavis on Tuesday
,
demanding the scrap-
ping of demarcation
and delimitation of
civic wards in poll-
bound Mumbai.
Without naming the
Shiv Sena, Congress
leaderandformerUnion
minister Milind Deora,
who led the delegation,
said it was “immoral”
and against the Consti-
tution to undertake de-
limitation and demarca-
tion of wards for the
benefit of one party
.
The Shiv Sena-ruled
Brihanmumbai Munici-
pal Corporation had in-
creased the number of
civic wards from 227 to
236 by merging, splitting
and redrawing bounda-
ries. The civic body last
week held a lottery to
decide reserved seats in
the Other Backward
Classes (OBC) and other
categories ahead of the
polls due this year.
The BMC is the coun-
try’s most prestigious
and richest civic body
and the elections for it
should be held in an im-
partial manner, Deora
said.
“So for free and fair
polls, we met Fadnavisji
and demanded that the
delimitation and demar-
cation of wards be
scrapped,” he said.
MLAs Amin Patel,
Zeeshan Ahmad, the
party’s leader in the
BMCRaviRajawerealso
present at the meeting.
MOVING PARTS
Milind Deora
The civic body is aiming to make Mumbai pothole-free in 2 yrs.
—
FILE
PHOTO

Mumbai: Mumbai re-
corded 105 swine flu
cases (H1N1) in July
this year as compared
to two cases recorded
in June. While only
three swine flu cases
were reported in the
first 10 days of July,
there has been a
sharp increase of 102
cases from July 11 to
July 31.
The data released by
Brihanmumbai Munic-
ipal Corporation's
(BMC) public health de-
partment also revealed
that the city reported
109 H1N1 cases this
year till July 31, of
which 105 cases (96%)
were reported only in
the month of July
.
Dr Behram Pardiwa-
la, Director of Internal
Medicines, Wockhardt
Hospitals, said, “Symp-
toms of the H1N1 flu
are the same as those of
the seasonal flu. On the
OPD basis, I have seen
six to seven cases in two
weeks. The elderly peo-
ple with comorbidities
and pregnant women
must take extra care as
the immune system is
weaker and hospitalisa-
tion is needed.”
As the H1N1 cases
are increasing in the
city, the BMC’s public
health department has
issued an advisory for
the citizens to take pre-
ventive measures. Ac-
cording to the advisory,
people should cover the
nose while sneezing
and coughing with a
handkerchief or tissue,
they should wash their
hands often with soap
and water, avoid touch-
ing eyes, nose or mouth,
should avoid visiting
crowded places. Pa-
tients are also advised
not to take self-medica-
tion and consult a near-
by BMC health post/
dispensary/hospital
immediately for treat-
ment if there is a his-
tory of high fever, dif-
ficulty in breathing, or
blue color of skin or
lips. Treatment should
not be delayed because
it leads to complica-
tions and risks of
death.
Besides this, BMC
also informed that
Mumbai reported 563
malaria cases, 65 lepto-
spirosis cases, 61 den-
gue cases, 679 gastro
cases, 65 hepatitis cases
and two chikungunya
cases in July
.
MAHARASHTRA
03
First India Bureau
Mumbai: Two women
have been arrested
for allegedly trying
to sell a newborn girl
for Rs4.5 lakh in the
central suburb of
Sion here, police said
on Tuesday.
The social service
(SS) branch of the
Mumbai police appre-
hended Julia Fernan-
dez (35) and Shabana
Shaikh (30) while they
were trying to sell the
15-day-old infant at a
nursing home in the
Gandhi Market area of
Sion on Sunday, an of-
ficial said.
According to the po-
lice, the complainant,
Jayprakash Jadhav,
who is working with an
adoption centre in
Pune, received infor-
mation that a woman
from Mumbai was
looking to sell a new-
born and he alerted the
woman and child wel-
fare authorities in
Pune.
The Mumbai police
were informed about
this and the SS branch
set a trap. During a tel-
ephonic conversation
with the complainant,
Fernandez had de-
manded Rs4.5 lakh, of
which Rs4 lakh was to
be given to the biologi-
cal parents of the in-
fant, while the rest
were her fees, she had
claimed, the official
said.
Fernandez asked the
complainant to come to
the nursing home and
when he reached there
with a woman consta-
ble posing as his wife,
the infant was brought
out and as soon as the
money was handed
over, the two women
were nabbed, the offi-
cial said.
The accused have
been booked under
charges pertaining to
human trafficking and
under relevant sec-
tions of the Juvenile
Justice (Care and Pro-
tection of Children)
Act, he said.
The investigations
have revealed that Fer-
nandez had been ar-
rested by Mankhurd
and Wadala police for
similar offences in the
past, the official said.
Fernandez has
claimed that the new-
born belongs to a
couple in Delhi, who
left the baby in her
care, he said, adding
that the police have
initiated a search for
the parents.
First India Bureau
Thane: Two persons
were arrested from Ut-
tar Pradesh in connec-
tion with the murder of
a woman in Maharash-
tra’s Bhiwandi town,
police said on Tuesday
.
The police on Monday
apprehended Satyam
Suresh Singh (24) and
Avdesh Shyamsingh
Shiaghar (35) from Ra-
sulabad in Uttar
Pradesh, senior inspec-
tor Madan Ballal of Nar-
poli police station said.
The high-decom-
posed body of an uni-
dentified woman in her
30s was found wrapped
inablanketanddumped
in a drain in Valpada
area of the town on July
26, following which a
case of murder was reg-
istered, he said.
During the probe, the
police found that the
victim had been in a
live-in relationship
with Singh, who had
not reported to work
since July 01, the offi-
cial said.
According to the po-
lice, Singh would come
home drunk from work
and beat up and harass
the victim.
Singh killed the wom-
an with the help of four
of his associates on
July 01, dumped her
body in a drain and
then fled the town, the
official said.
While two of the ac-
cused have been arrest-
ed, the police are on the
lookout for the others.
Juvenile greater flamingo flies from Mumbai to LRK in 25 hours
First India Bureau
Mumbai: It just took
25 hours for a radio
tagged juvenile great-
er flamingo to cover a
500km distance from
Mumbai to the Little
Rann of Kutch, a
study by Bombay Nat-
ural History Society
(BNHS) said.
BNHS, so far has sent
four radio-tagged fla-
mingos from Mumbai to
Gujarat.
Celebrating this feat,
BNHS on July 29 tweet-
ed, “Our fourth radio-
tagged flamingo reach-
es Gujarat—Lester, a
juvenile greater flamin-
go, named after famed
naturalist Capt CD
Lester, has reached Lit-
tle Rann. The bird cov-
ered the 500km distance
in 25 hours.”
Scientists had cap-
tured as many as six
flamingos at a high-tide
roosting site between
January and April. So-
lar-powered GPS-GSM
tags were later put on
the birds, after which
they were released.
The scientists found
out that these flamingos
were roaming in the vi-
cinity of Thane Creek
Flamingo Sanctuary
and the adjoining wet-
lands, which is a well-
known spot for bird lov-
ers. Thousands of fla-
mingos are seen in the
area between Septem-
ber and May
.
BNHS,alongwithMa-
harashtra Forest De-
partment is conducting
the study as a part of
Mumbai Trans Harbour
Link (MTHL) impact as-
sessment project to
know how the area is be-
ing utlilised by migrat-
ing greater and lesser
flamingos.
BNHShasreleasedfla-
mingoes named Mc-
Cann, Salim and Hum-
ayun after geo tagging
them. While McCann
landed at Ghogha near
Bhavnagar, Salim too
wasfoundinthevicinity
of Bhavnagarinthenext
24 hours of their respec-
tive flights.
BNHS released anoth-
erflamingonamedHum-
ayun on July 2 and is
tracking its movements.
BNHS has so far released four
flamingos—all equipped with
solar-powered GPS trackers
HIGH-SPEED FLIGHT
The study will
help in planning
better
conservation
strategies for the
migratory birds
which includes
studying their
migrations paths
as well
2 women held for trying to
sell newborn girl for `4.5L
Police apprehended the duo at a nursing home in Mumbai’s Sion area
FOR SALE!
Fernandez had de-
manded Rs4.5 lakh,
of which Rs4 lakh
was to be given to the
biological parents of
the infant, while the
rest were her charges,
she had claimed, the
official said. Fernandez
asked the complainant
to come to the nurs-
ing home and when
he reached there with
a woman constable
posing as his wife, the
infant was brought
out and as soon as the
money was handed
over, the two women
were nabbed, the of-
ficial said.
First India Bureau
Jalna: A woman in
labour was forced to
give birth outside a
primary health cen-
tre (PHC) after doc-
tors and allied staff
were absent from
the facility in a vil-
lage of Jalna dis-
trict, an official said
on Tuesday.
The incident took
place at the PHC in
Wadigodri village in
Ambad tehsil on Sun-
day, and the adminis-
tration initiated ac-
tion against four doc-
tors and four other
employees attached to
the centre on Monday,
he said.
A proposal will be
sent to the district col-
lector to terminate the
contract of Dr Vithal
Jadhav, while incre-
ments of health work-
ers VN Gaikwad and
TS Ahire will be
stopped,districthealth
officer(DHO)DrVivek
Khatgaokar said.
A departmental in-
quiry has been initi-
ated against taluka
health officer Kailash
Kagne for negligence,
he said, adding that
show cause notices
were issued to four
other staffers of the
centre.
These officials
were absent from the
centre and the wom-
an was forced to give
birth to her baby out-
side the facility, the
official said.
A similar incident
took place in the PHC
at Dahipal village in
the tehsil and details
have been sought
about the officials
there, he said.
A strong message
will be sent to all 44
PHCs and government
hospitalsinthedistrict
andactionwillbeiniti-
atedagainstemployees
who remain absent.
Absent medics pulled
up after woman gives
birth outside PHC
Departmental inquiry has been launched
against health officer for negligence; show-
cause notices issued to four other staffers
2 men arrested in
connection with
woman’s murder
Highly decomposed
body was found in a
drain on July 26;
victim had been in a
relationship with one
of the accused
HEALTH SCARE
Mumbai registered 105
cases of swine flu in July Mumbai (PTI):
All 15 suspected
monkeypox samples
from Maharashtra
have tested negative
for the viral disease,
a senior health de-
partment official said
here on Tuesday.
Eight cases of
monkeypox have
been reported so
far in India, Union
Health Minister
Mansukh Madaviya
said earlier in the
day. We had sent
samples of 15 sus-
pected patients from
Maharashtra for test-
ing and the results
of all of them are
negative, Dr Pradip
Awate, surveillance
officer of the health
department, said.
The samples were
tested at the National
Institute of Virology,
Pune and Kasturba
Hospital in Mumbai,
he added.
Nagpur: At least
21 cases of swine
flu were reported in
Nagpur district in
the last three days,
a civic health official
said on Tuesday--a
considerable jump
from the six seen
between January
1 to June 30. “The
patients with H1N1
flu symptoms started
reporting from the
second week of July.
Twenty-eight persons
were detected with
swine flu from the
second week of July
till the month end,”
said the Nagpur
Municipal Corpora-
tion (NMC) official.
Of them, 21 cases
were reported in the
last three days of
the month. The NMC
official said health
department person-
nel visit homes or
hospitals to know the
health status of such
patients and then
trace their contacts.
Monkeypox:
15 samples
from Maha
test negative
Nagpur logs
21 cases in
three days
SYMPTOMS OF H1N1 INCLUDE FEVER, COUGH, SORE THROAT, THROAT
IRRITATION, BODY ACHE, HEADACHE, DIARRHOEA AND VOMITING

PERSPECTIVE
04
l Vol 1 l Issue No. 89
l RNI TITLE NO.
MAHENG/2022/14652 Printed
and published by
Anita Hada Sangwan on behalf of
First Express Publishers. Printed
at Dangat Media Pvt Ltd, No.22,
Dighe MIDC, Vishnu Nagar,
TTC Industrial Area, Dighe, Navi
Mumbai-400701. Published
at Plot No. 3 Scheme C of
Manglorean Garden Home, CHS
Limited, Survey No. 5, 6C (Part)
Ville Parle East, Mumbai 400057.
Editor-In-Chief: Dr Jagdeesh Chandra
Editor: Anita Hada Sangwan
responsible for selection of news
under the PRB Act
SPIRITUAL SPEAK
A gift is pure when it is given
from the heart to the right
person at the right time and
at the right place, and when
we expect nothing in return.
—Bhagavad Gita
IN-DEPTH
Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
This is an outstanding
accomplishment. It indicates the
collective resolve of the people of
India to embrace new technologies
and make the economy cleaner. Digital
payments were particularly helpful
during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nirmala Sitharaman
@nsitharaman
UPI records 6 billion transactions in
July, highest ever since 2016
TOP TWEETS
UNCERTAINTY
OVER UNIFORM
CIVIL LAW
CONTINUES
TO PERSIST
Parliamentary panel
visited Goa to study
its 155-year-old Por-
tuguese-era personal
law. The panel said
that a review of the law can be
undertaken only after a “sizea-
ble majority” of the population
seeks changes to the existing
law. This, in a way, is a shift in
earlier policies of the govern-
ment to interfere with the per-
sonal laws of communities.
In a written reply in the Rajya
Sabha on July 28, the Union Law
Minister Kiren Rijiju said that
the “government has requested
the Law Commission of India to
undertake examination of vari-
ous issues relating to uniform
civil code and to make recom-
mendation thereon”. Earlier on
July 22 he stated in the Lok Sab-
ha that no decision had been
taken on the implementation of
uniform civil code.
On the other hand, the Uttara-
khand government has formed
a committee to formulate a uni-
form personal law for the state.
There should, however, be lit-
tle ambiguity about BJP’s com-
mitment to bring a uniform per-
sonal law.
A
drone-fired mis-
sile eliminated
Ayman al-Zawahi-
ri, one of the two
al-Qaida master-
minds of the vicious Septem-
ber 11, 2001 attack on Ameri-
ca’s iconic World Trade Cen-
tre. The heir to Osama bin
Laden, who was hiding in
Kabul, carried a bounty of US
$25 million on his head. The
killing of al-Zawahiri took
the Taliban government by
surprise and has left al-Qaeda
without a commanding fig-
ure at the top. Osama bin
Laden was earlier killed in
Pakistan in a meticulously
planned attack. Several other
important al-Qaeda leaders
were killed in 2020.
The daring drone strike
coming inside the Taliban-
controlled Kabul proved
America’sresolvetofinishoff
al-Qaida’s leadership and its
commitment to root out ter-
rorism. For one of the plan-
ners of the 9/11 attack and his
family there could not have
been a safer haven but for
America’s stand that it will
not allow Afghanistan’s terri-
tory to be used by terrorists.
This targeted killing by the
US, which did not involve any
collateral damage, could be a
setback to al-Qaeda and also
keep the Taliban in check but
IslamicStateof IraqandSyria
(ISIS) has not yet been wiped
out.Boththegroupshavebeen
trying to increase their influ-
enceinAfghanistanandthere
wasariskof abloodyconfron-
tation between them.
Zawahiri’s killing will
bring relief to the world but
with Pakistan still consid-
ered a safe hideout along with
Afghanistan, Islamic terror
could raise its ugly head.
There is also the Somalia-
based al-Shabab group which
can export terror. It is Paki-
stan, infamous for being a
nursery of terrorists, which
has to be watched.
9/11 ATTACK ON WTC
FINALLY AVENGED
Zawahiri’s killing will bring
relief to the world but with
Pakistan still considered a safe
hideout along with
Afghanistan, Islamic terror
could raise its ugly head. There
is also the Somalia-based
al-Shabab group which can
export terror. It is Pakistan,
infamous for being a
nursery of terrorists, which
has to be watched
A
WARY TMC GEARS UP TO
UPGRADE IMAGE, ORGANISATION
tripping “tainted” Partha
Chatterjee of all government
and party posts and the quick
“fix” move to do so by the
“jolted” party clearly has the
imprint of new age leader-
ship of the party
. A close look
will clearly reveal the tussle
between the Old School and
Young Turk(s) of the organi-
sation.
Abhishek who has been
“preparing” himself for big-
time, was recently seen to be
extra proactive especially in
the post-Chatterjee episode.
Following embarrassment
the party faced after the re-
cent ED searches which yield-
ed quite a fortune and liter-
ally gold mines, Abhishek
was quick to make the move
and make the announcement
to not only distance the party
from Chatterjee but also talk
of the party’s zero tolerance
towards corruption and et al.
Even as time and again
youngAbhishekhasbeensur-
facing,theoldguardsofarhas
beenhavingtheirway
.Of late,
the Yuvaraj of TMC has been
seen to be the party’s face and
at times the policy spokesper-
son too. Surprising though in
the presence of Didi, it was
Abhishek who appeared to
makethe“surpriseannounce-
ment” that the party (TMC),
which had spearheaded the
opposition fight during the
presidential elections, would
not back a Margaret Alva, the
joint vice-president nominee
andmoresurprisingly
,Mama-
ta, who Opposition leaders
said had committed to stand
with them, was not in the Big
Picture.
Also, after Chatterjee was
oustedasaminister,itwasAb-
hishek (again) who chaired a
disciplinary committee meet-
ing, where it was decided that
Chatterjee would be removed
as TMC secretary general. In
abidtodisplayahumaneface,
the same day itself, Abhishek
called on protesters agitating
against the school scam, in-
cluding the job aspirants and
assured them that the govern-
ment was with them.
It may be noted here that
even as there was some buzz
of reported “tension” be-
tween Abhishek and Mamata
earlier this year… especially
around the time of the civic
polls, it is clear and obvious
that Abhishek’s move… be it
on Chatterjee or Alva has his
aunt’s clear endorsement!
Also, it may be noted how
Mamata in the Chatterjee
episode kept herself away
from the matter even as ED
was unearthing the moun-
tain of wealth. It was also re-
ported that the TMC supremo
apparently did not take Chat-
terjee’s calls in distress. Also,
Abhishek’s rain-drenched
speech on the TMC’s July 21
Martyrs’ Day show had
pegged strongly on the fact
that the party would crack
the whip on wrongdoers!
Some senior leaders feel
that Abhishek is (trying to)
follow in his aunt’s imprint
and create an image so that
Mamata can entrust more re-
sponsibilities on him. How-
ever, Abhishek too has his
share of detractors. Earlier,
the Diamond Harbour MP’s
actions and statements drew
flak and were hugely criti-
cised by senior party leader
and MP Kalyan Banerjee who
called Abhishek’s statements
a “challenge to the state gov-
ernment” and declared that
he did not consider the
34-year-old his leader. Chal-
lenging Abhishek’s bid to
contain the Covid surge
through his Diamond Har-
bour model, Banerjee had
asked, “What model? There is
onlyonemodel,whichMama-
ta Banerjee has come up with
… Abhishek is basically lend-
ing an advantage to the BJP.
If Abhishek Banerjee can
win Tripura and Goa, then I
will accept him as a leader.”
Meanwhile, a wary TMC in
order to spruce up its house
announced on Monday major
organisational reshuffle in
the party
. Most district presi-
dents and chairpersons have
been replaced. Political ana-
lysts believe that the dark
episode of Chatterjee has
hugely prompted the rejig.
However, putting up a brave
front, TMC claimed that the
changes were not accelerated
due to the recent incidents.
Chatterjee’s ouster will
soon prompt the party to go in
foraCabinetrejigtooandnew
faces are expected. According
to the party
, MP Kakoli Ghosh
Dastidar is the new president
of the Barasat organisational
district, replacing Ashani
Mukhopadhyay, the Barasat
Municipality chairman who
is considered close to Partha
Chatterjee. Shaoni Singha
Roy
, a former Congress MLA,
is the new president of Mur-
shidabad and Baharampur
organisational districts. MP
Khalilur Rahman has been
retained as the president of
the Jangipur organisational
district.
Also, on Monday, The West
Bengal Cabinet approved
creation of seven new dis-
tricts in the state and this
will take the number of dis-
tricts in West Bengal to 30
from the existing 23.
States keep carving out
new districts and the general
idea is that smaller units
would make governance eas-
ier and would benefit the
masses as they would get ac-
cess to government and the
administration. Earlier, in
April 2022, Andhra Pradesh
CM Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy
(virtually) created 13 new dis-
tricts in his state, fulfilling an
assembly election promise
made in 2019. According to
Census 2011 figures, almost 4
million people lived in each
of West Bengal’s 23 districts
on average — among the
highest in the country. Fol-
lowing the Chatterjee epi-
sode, the TMC is working
overtime to fix its image and
the party is trekking that ex-
tra mile to take initiatives.
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY
THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL
S
Earlier, in April 2022,
Andhra Pradesh CM Y S
Jagan Mohan Reddy
(virtually) created 13 new
districts in his state,
fulfilling an assembly
election promise made in
2019. According to Census
2011 figures, almost 4
million people lived in each
of West Bengal’s 23 districts
on average — among the
highest in the country.
Following the Chatterjee
episode, the TMC is working
overtime to fix its image and
the party is trekking that
extra mile to take initiatives
Also, after Chatterjee was
ousted as a minister, it was
Abhishek (again) who chaired
a disciplinary committee
meeting, where it was
decided that Chatterjee
would be removed as TMC
secretary general. In a bid
to display a humane face, the
same day itself, Abhishek
called on protesters agitating
against the school scam,
including the job aspirants and
assured them that the
government was with them
ROBIN ROY
The writer is Senior Associate Editor,
Free Press Journal, Mumbai and former
Managing Editor, First India

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05
INDIA
Tablets worth
`6.6-cr seized in
Mizoram, 1 held
Aizawl (PTI): Metham-
phetaminetabletsworth
Rs 6.6 crore were seized
and one person was ar-
rested in Mizoram on
Tuesday
, police said in a
statement.
A joint team compris-
ingCID(SpecialBranch)
of Mizoram Police and
Border Security Force
(BSF) personnel raided
Sairang village near
Aizawl and seized 30,000
tablets, it said.
A 54-year-old resident of
Hunthar locality of
Aizawl was arrested for
possessing the drugs.
‘LIKE QUATTROCCHI
FILING CASE
AGAINST BOFORS’
MET CM FOR TRADE
MATTERS: MLA
KUMAR JAIMANGAL
Guwahati: CM Himanta
Biswa Sarma took to Twitter
to share pictures in which
Jaimangal is seen with Un-
ion Minister Pralhad Joshi
in his presence. Sarma said
an FIR by the Congress
MLA was akin to Congress
asking Quattrocchi to file a
case against Bofors.
Ranchi: Kumar Jaimangal
on Tuesday said he had
met Assam CM Himanta
Biswa Sarma along with
Union Minister Pralhad
Joshi to discuss trade-re-
lated matters. He said, “The
tweet by Pijush Hazarika
was deleted, if it was true
why he deleted it?”
Allegations against Sarma
baseless: Pijush Hazarika
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma
Guwahati (ANI): As-
sam Minister Pijush
Hazarika on Tuesday
said that Congress MLA
Kumar Jaimangal’s
claim about Assam
Chief MinisterHimanta
Biswa Sarma planning
to topple the JMM-Con-
gress coalition govern-
ment in Jharkhand is
“baseless”.
Hazarika also said he
had deleted no tweet of
his as claimed by Con-
gress MLA Jaimangal.
Pijush Hazarika said,
“FIR filed by Congress
MLA Kumar Jaimangal
is baseless. It was prov-
en today he met CM
Himanta Biswa Sarma
and Pralhad Joshi in
Delhi in connection
with his state’s issues.
Even, he accepted that.
His allegations are base-
less and not at all true.”
Moga: The court of chief judicial magistrate Preeti Sukhi-
ja in Punjab’s Malout sent gangster Lawrence Bishnoi
to 10-day police custody in an
attempt to murder case on Mon-
day. Bishnoi is also an accused
in the singer Sidhu Moose Wala
murder case. SSP, Moga, Gulneet
Khurana, said that Bishnoi was
brought for questioning in an attempt to murder case
filed in December 2021, in which the police had arrested
a sharpshooter from Bishnoi’s gang, Monu Dagar.
GANGSTER LAWRENCE BISHNOI SENT
TO POLICE CUSTODY FOR 10 DAYS
WOMAN THROWS SHOES AT PARTHA
CHATTERJEE NEAR HOSPITAL
Kolkata: A woman from West
Bengal’s Amtala area on
Tuesday made an attempt to
throw her shoes at suspended
Trinamool Congress leader
Partha Chatterjee when the
latter was being escorted out of
a hospital here by Enforcement
Directorate (ED) officials.
NO REMARKS
AGAINST
CHILDREN,
FAMILY: HC
New Delhi: Delhi
High Court declined
the appeal of Mint
newspaper in relation
to its alleged defama-
tory article against
YouTuber Gaurav
Taneja, saying people
can be criticised
for their opinions,
actions but their chil-
dren or family should
not be dragged into
it. A Division Bench
said journalistic
freedom cannot be
extended to people’s
houses and making
comments on their
families, reiterating
an earlier observation
wherein the court
said calling someone
a ‘child abuser’ with-
out proof is offensive.
IN THE COURTYARD
‘WILL FORM BENCH
ON EARLY HEARING
OF HIJAB VERDICT’
CBI REPLY SOUGHT
ON BAIL PLEA OF
DON’S CLOSE AIDE
DISPROPORTIONATE ASSETS CASE:
SHIVAKUMAR MOVES HC AGAINST CBI
New Delhi: A plea seeking
an early hearing of peti-
tions against the Karnataka
HC order for upholding a
ban on Hijab in education
institutes was mentioned
before Supreme Court
before the bench headed
by CJI NV Ramana. CJI
NV Ramana said that he
will constitute a bench and
mentioned that one of the
judges was not well and
asked the petitioner to wait.
New Delhi: Rouse Avenue
Court of Delhi has sought
the response of the Central
Bureau of Investigation on
a bail plea of Ajay Ramesh
Nawandar, allegedly an
aide of gangster Dawood
Ibrahim’s close associate
Chhota Shakeel, recently
arrested in connection with
an alleged bank fraud of
Rs 34,615 crore by Dewan
Housing Finance Corpora-
tion Limited (DHFL).
Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court issued a notice to
CBI on a petition by state Congress chief DK Shivakumar
seeking to quash the FIR in a dispro-
portionate assets case against him.
Senior counsels BV Acharya and
CH Jadhav submitted that the FIR
filed on October 3, 2020 was illegal.
Prior approval of the competent
authority under Section 17 ‘A’ of the
Prevention of Corruption Act has to be done. they claimed.
New Delhi: The Union
Government on Tuesday
informed that it has de-
cided to fill up the exist-
ing vacancies of Central
Armed Police Forces and
Assam Rifles by December
2023. “There were a total
of 84,659 vacancies in
the Central Armed Police
Forces and Assam Rifles
till July 31, 2022, and the
government has decided
to fill up existing vacancies
by December 2023,” MoS
Nityanand Rai said.
84,659 VACANCIES
IN ARMED FORCES,
GOVT TO FILL IT BY
DEC 2023: MOS RAI
MONKEYPOX: HEALTH MINISTER
ADVISES PEOPLE NOT TO PANIC
New Delhi (ANI): In
the wake of the rising
cases of Monkeypox in
the country, Union
Health Minister Man-
sukh Mandaviya on
Tuesday assured citi-
zens not to panic and
said that an awareness
campaign is being run
in collaboration with
the State governments
to prevent the spread of
the infection.
Speaking in Rajya
Sabha today during the
ongoing Monsoon ses-
sion of the Parliament,
the Union Minister
said, “There is no need
to be afraid of monkey-
pox, an awareness cam-
paign is being run in
collaboration with the
state governments:
Public awareness is
very necessary in the
context of monkeypox.
We have also formed a
task force under the
chairmanship of a
member of NITI Aayog
on behalf of the Gov-
ernment of India.”
“On the basis of the
observations of the
task force, we will as-
sess and study the fur-
ther action to be taken.
If the State govern-
ment of Kerala needs
any kind of help from
the Central govern-
ment, it will be given.
Also, an expert team of
the Central govern-
ment is guiding the
state government from
time to time,” he said.
MansukhMandaviyasaysawarenessdrivebeingrunincollaborationwithStategovts
Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya speaks in Rajya Sabha during the
Monsoon Session of Parliament, in New Delhi on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY ANI
New Delhi (ANI): Un-
ion Minister of Parlia-
mentary Affairs Pral-
had Joshi on Tuesday
said that a meeting
will be held on August
5 regarding the up-
coming Vice-presiden-
tial polls.
Addressing the me-
dia persons after at-
tending the BJP Parlia-
mentary Party meeting,
Joshi said, “We will be
meeting again on Au-
gust 5 regarding vice-
presidential polls.”
The Bharatiya Jana-
ta Party Parliamentary
party meeting began on
Tuesday morning in the
Parliament Library
Building in the pres-
ence of BJP national
president Jagat
Prakash Nadda.
Meanwhile, on the
culture ministry organ-
ising a ‘Tiranga bike
rally’ from Red Fort to
Parliament on Wednes-
day morning for MPs,
Joshi ssaid it was a cul-
tural ministry pro-
gramme and not of his
party as he asked MPs
of all parties to join it.
BJP meet on Vice-Presidential
polls on August 5: Pralhad Joshi
Rajnath Singh, Dharmendra Pradhan, Piyush Goyal, Mansukh
Mandaviya and JP Nadda attend BJP Parl Party meeting, at the
Parl Library building, in New Delhi on Tuesday.
GURUMUKHI IS
NOT A LANGUAGE,
RATHER A SCRIPT
FOR PUNJABI
LANGUAGE: RAI
New Delhi: The Ministry of
Education on Tuesday clari-
fied that Gurumukhi is not a
language, rather it is a script
for the Punjabi language. In
a written reply to a question
in Parliament, BJP MP
Nityanand Rai said, “As per
information from Ministry
of Education, Gurumukhi
is not a language, rather a
script for Punjabi language.
National Education Policy,
2020 focuses on promotion
of all Indian Scheduled/
Non-Scheduled Languages
and other languages.”
OVER 4,000
ARRESTED FOR
‘PROMOTING
ENMITY’
‘ONE LAKH
APPLICATIONS
PENDING FOR
CANADA’
New Delhi: BJP Lok
Sabha member Gopal
Shetty urged the gov-
ernment to take up the
issue of pending visa
applications, particu-
larly of students, with
embassies of foreign
countries. Shetty said
several students, who
had returned to India
during the pandemic
and the Ukraine war,
were finding it difficult
to get visas to pursue
studies abroad.
New Delhi: The Minis-
try of Home Affairs on
Tuesday said between
2018 and 2020, a
total of 4,794 peo-
ple were arrested in
offences connected
with promoting enmity
between groups on
grounds of religion,
race, place of birth
etc.The government’s
reply came in a series
of questions asked by
Trinamool Congress
MP Mimi Chakraboty.
81 CHINESE
NATIONALS
GOT ‘LEAVE
INDIA NOTICE’
New Delhi: The
government in-
formed Parliament
that 81 Chinese na-
tionals were given
‘Leave India Notice’
from 2019 to 2021.
MoS Nityanand Rai
said 726 Chinese
nationals were
placed in adverse
list for violating
visa conditions
and other illegal
activities.
Mahesh Sharma
Mumbai: Shiv Sena
chief Uddhav Thacker-
ay has literally no con-
trol over the party and
he is not able to handle
situations despite get-
ting time. It can be as-
sumed that at first he
did not get to know or he
could not understand
the MLAs, so the MLAs
ran to Guwahati and
Thackeray lost power.
But now that he has got
more than a month’s
time, still he could not
bring back even a single
MLA and on the contra-
ry some of the remain-
ing leaders are also leav-
ing the party
. On the
other hand, there is the
example of
Sharad Pa-
war, who
got every
rebel MLA
to return to
the party and
that too with-
in four days.
Uddhav
T h a cke r ay
himself is
neither able to handle
the MLAs and leaders
of the party nor does he
have any
leader to manage the
rebels. Now it is report-
ed that the MLA whom
he had made the deputy
leader of the party - Ar-
jun Khotkar - is also
switching sides and
going with the Eknath
Shinde faction. Simi-
larly
, Nihar Thackeray
,
son of Uddhav’s elder
brother Bindu Mad-
hav Thackeray
,
has extended
support to
E k n at h
Shinde.
Think,
the rebellion of Shiv
Sena MLAs started on
June 20 and a new gov-
ernment was formed on
June 30, which has not
been expanded yet. De-
spite this, MLAs are
still leaving the party
from under the noses
of Uddhav Thackeray,
his son Aditya Thack-
eray, wife Rashmi
Thackeray and sole ad-
visor Sanjay Raut. In
other parties, after get-
ting so much time, a
strong leader gets the
rebel MLAs back.
Uddhav truly has no control on MLAs!
CHINKS IN THE ARMOUR
Uddhav Thackeray
Leader of the Opposition in theWest BengalAssembly SuvenduAdhikari
meets Union Home Minister Amit Shah, in New Delhi on Tuesday.
New Delhi (ANI): West
Bengal Leader of Oppo-
sitionSuvenduAdhikari
on Tuesday met Union
Home Minister Amit
ShahinParliamenthere.
The meeting comes in
the backdrop of swift
political developments
in Trinamool Congress-
ruled West Bengal. Fol-
lowing a massive re-
cruitment scam in the
state the ED conducted
raids and recovered
crores in cash and kind.
Partha Chatterjee, who
was then a minister in
the state government,
was accused of corrup-
tion and arrested.
Following the raids,
the Mamata Banerjee
government was forced
to remove Chatterjee
from her cabinet and is
set to induct new faces.
WB LoP Adhikari
meets Amit Shah,
briefs on Chatterjee
‘CASH KEPT IN FLAT
IN MY ABSENCE’
Kolkata: Arpita
Mukherjee, a prime
accused in the multi-
crore West Bengal
School Service Com-
mission scam, on
Tuesday claimed the
massive amounts of
cash recovered from
her two residences
were parked there in
her absence. “The
money recovered was
parked in the flats in
my absence and with-
out my knowledge,”
Mukherjee said.

—PHOTO BY ANI
CBI-ED....
on Wednesday
, in antici-
pation of major disrup-
tions expected by the
party
. “We have issued
instructions as part of
our house floor manage-
ment plan for the Lok
Sabha tomorrow
(Wednesday), when the
opposition benches are
likely to create large-
scale disturbances.”
BJP leader Subrama-
niam Swamy had initi-
atedlitigationbeforethe
Supreme Court. Subse-
quently, the apex court
had ordered a Special
Investigation Team
(SIT) probe, following
which it directed the ED
to lodge a case and carry
out investigations into
the National Herald
case of alleged money
laundering.
A CBI advisory re-
garding the ongoing
search and seizure op-
erations was still antici-
pated at the time of go-
ing to press.
Ex-min...
he did not want his par-
ty workers to be caught
up in police actions.”
After the incident, Sa-
mant told mediaper-
sons, “I escaped safely,
thanks to God. I only
want to ask why people
were armed with base-
ball bats and stones? I
was following the entou-
rage of Chief Minister
Eknath Shinde when
my vehicle stopped at a
red-light signal. These
Sena activists following
our convoy took advan-
tage of the situation and
attacked my vehicle.”
According to sources,
the Sena activists kept
screaming ‘Gaddar,
Gaddar’ (traitor, trai-
tor).
Samant noted that he
had not detoured from
the CM’s route of travel
and added, “The CM en-
joys Z security, while I
have Y security
. I will
not respond to com-
ments made by people
who have not escaped
with their life as I have
today
. What do the par-
ents of those who get
injured by a head injury
(due to the stone attack)
feel? Were they follow-
ing my convoy or the
CM’s?”
Incidentally, former
cabinet minister Aadi-
tya Thackeray had also
addressed a rally in the
vicinity of the incident
earlier in the day
.
FROM PG 1

06
INDIA
Sharat K Verma
Mumbai: Maharashtra
Chief Minister Eknath
Shinde had claimed on
July 28 that the cabinet
would be formed in
three days. He had said
that there has been a
delay in the oath of
ministers but now eve-
rything has been decid-
ed and the cabinet will
be expanded in three
days. When he said this,
it was believed that
the period of
three days is get-
ting completed
on July 30 and
on the same day
it is going to be a month
since he took oath, so
that day, the group of
ministers would take
oath. But the July 30
deadline passed several
days back and till now
there is no positive
movement in this re-
gard. Meanwhile, Shin-
de traveled to Delhi six
times in a month.
Now it is being said
that after the hearing in
the Supreme Court on
August 3, the expansion
of government will be
undertaken. Earlier, the
deadline of July 11 was
given, on which the
hearing was to be
held in the Su-
preme Court.
Everyoneknows
that nothing is
to happen in
this hearing
and the membernone of
the MLA of his camp
will loose their member-
ship. Yet sometimes in
the name of presiden-
tial elections, and some-
times in the name of
hearings, the expansion
of government is being
postponed. For more
than a month, the gov-
ernment of two people
is running. That is why
it is also being said that
this is not a coincidence,
but an experiment, to
see how long a govern-
ment of two people can
last i.e. for how long the
MLAs and common peo-
ple tolerate this.
What happened to Shinde’s claim?
GOVT OF 2 PEOPLE
Eknath Shinde
Jabalpur hosp's fire NOC
hadexpired;4docsbooked
Jabalpur (ANI): The
Jabalpur Police have
registered an FIR
against five people, in-
cluding four doctors, in
the Jabalpur Hospital
fire incident that left at
least nine persons dead,
police said on Tuesday
.
Superintendent of Po-
lice Akhilesh Gaur said
that the FIR was regis-
tered against five people
in the connection with
the hospital fire inci-
dent. The manager of
New Life Multi-Speciali-
ty Hospital, identified as
Ram Soni and four doc-
tors : Dr Nishit Gupta,
Dr Suresh Patel, Dr San-
jay Patel and Dr Santosh
S have been charged un-
der sections 304, 308, 334
of theIndianPenalCode.
The sections pertain
to causing death and
hurt through negli-
gence. “The premise of
the hospital has been
sealed and evidence is
being technically ana-
lysed. We have got video
records also that have
been sent to the cyber
team,” he further said.
Rescue operation underway after a fire broke out at New Life
Multispeciality Hospital, near Damoh Naka in Jabalpur on Monday.
—PHOTO BY ANI
9 TV channels taken
off air: Anurag Thakur
New Delhi (PTI): Nine
television channels
were taken off air for a
specified time period
between 2017 and 2022
for programme and ad-
vertising code viola-
tion, Information and
Broadcasting Minister
Anurag Thakur in-
formed LS on Tuesday
.
In reply to a question,
Thakur said the Minis-
try of Information and
Broadcasting had also
issued directions to
block 94 YouTube-based
news channels and 19
social media accounts,
websites mobile ap-
plications under IT (In-
termediary Guidelines
Digital Media Ethics
Code).
Anurag Thakur
I-T raids at 40
locations linked
to Tamil Film
producer Anbu
Chennai (ANI): In a
massive crackdown, the
I-T Dept carried out
raids at multiple loca-
tions believed to be
linked to financier and
Tamil Film Producer
Anbu Chezhiyan.
According to sources,
the I-T sleuths were car-
rying out raids at 40
places including Chen-
nai, Madurai since 5
am. At Chennai, a team
of sleuths reportedly
also raided a location at
Nungambakkam Kam-
thar Nagar area. Chezi-
yan reportedly lives in
the area. The raids
come just 5 months af-
ter Chezhiyan’s daugh-
ter’s grand wedding in
Chennai which was
graced by celebrities
from across India.
Margaret
Alva’s letter
to the MPs
on V-P poll
New Delhi: Opposi-
tion’s candidate for the
Vice President’s post,
Margaret Alva has
written a letter to the
MPs across the party
lines and said this V-P
election should be seen
as a referendum on how
Parliament is being run.
“I’ve written to Mem-
bers of Parliament,
across parties, explain-
ing why I think the VP
election on Aug 6th is
not just another elec-
tion, but must be seen as
a referendum on how
Parliament is being run.
The MPs have the power
to bring about change.
I’ve urged them to use
thatpower,”shetweeted.
In the letter, she said
the Vice President’s
election, in which only
members of Parliament
vote, is not just another
election. “It must be
seen as a referendum on
the manner in which
Parliament is being run
and the breakdown in
the fundamental demo-
cratic process of build-
ing consensus on im-
portant national issues,
in which you, as the
representative of the
people, are an impor-
tant stakeholder.”
New Delhi (ANI): Un-
ion Home Minister
Amit Shah on Tuesday
said a new India is be-
ing shaped under the
leadership of Prime
Minister Narendra
Modi, who has en-
hanced India’s honour
internationally and
made it indispensable
to the world.
Addressing ‘Tiranga
Utsav’ to honour the
creator of the national
flag, Pingali Venkayya,
Shah also appealed eve-
ryone to make the ‘Har
Ghar Tiranga’ cam-
paign a grand success
by hoisting the tricol-
our from their homes
and uploading its image
as their profile picture
on social media ac-
counts.
“The dream of a new
India is coming up un-
der the leadership of
Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi. Now, the
whole world is looking
towards India with re-
spect. Between 2014 and
2022, Prime Minister
Modi has enhanced In-
dia’s prestige in the
world.
“Today the world
does not take any
decision on any is-
sue unless Prime
M i n i s t e r
Modi gives
his opin-
ion,” he
said.
A new India is being shaped under
Modi’s leadership,says Amit Shah
PM CHANGES HIS
PROFILE PIC TO
INDIAN FLAG
New Delhi: PM Narendra
Modi on Tuesday changed his
profile picture on his social
media handles to ‘Tiranga’
ahead of Independence Day
celebrations. “It is a special
2nd August today! At a time
when we are marking Azadi
Ka Amrit Mahotsav, our na-
tion is all set for #HarGharTi-
ranga, a collective movement
to celebrate our Tricolour.
I have changed the DP on
my social media pages and
urge you all to do the same,”
tweeted PM Modi. He even
called upon all citizens
to turn the ‘Har Ghar
Tiranga’ campaign
into a mass move-
ment by hoisting or
displaying national
flag at homes
between
August 2
August
15.
—ANI
Amit Shah along with Ashwini Vaishnaw, G Kishan Reddy,
Meenakashi Lekhi Arjun Ram Meghwal, releases Amar Chitra
Katha during Tiranga Utsav in New Delhi on Tuesday.
PM Narendra Modi
A wild elephant stuck in the middle of an overflowing Chalakudy river following heavy monsoon
rains in the region, at Athirappilly in Thrissur on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY PTI
KERALA MONSOON FURY
Red alert in 8 dists, over 700
people moved to relief camps
Kochi (ANI): With the
Met department pre-
dicting heavy-to-ex-
tremely heavy rainfall
in most parts of Kerala,
the state government
Tuesday sounded a red
alert in eight out of 14
districts for next three
days. Elsewhere in Ker-
ala, heavy-to-very
heavy rain has been
predicted on these days.
Red alert has been de-
clared in central and
north Kerala districts,
which have already
been battered by inces-
sant rain since Sunday
.
Officialreportsquoted
12 deaths in the latest
bout of heavy monsoon
rain since Sunday; three
of them in landslides in
Kannur, Kottayam and
Idukki districts. Two
fishermen have been re-
ported missing at Chav-
akkad in Thrissur. Tour-
ist destinations have
been closed, fishermen
warned against ventur-
ing into sea and night-
time travelling to hilly
regionsrestrictedaspart
of precautionary steps.
As per the report of
the Central Water Com-
mission, water level in
five rivers has crossed
danger mark. They in-
clude Pamba Mani-
mala, which had over-
flowed during the dev-
astating floods of 2018.
HC DIRECTS KOCHI
CIVIC BODY TO TAKE
SAFETY MEASURES
Kochi: Kerala HC directed
the officers of the Disaster
Management Authority and
the Corporation of Kochi that
they must ensure every nec-
essary measure is taken
completed on a war footing
in the wake of heavy rains.
Court also observed that this
will not cause deleterious
consequences to the citizens
in the next one or two days
as heavy rains expected.
LANDSLIDE EXPECTED
IN FOREST; PEOPLE
CAUTIONED
Kannur: The disaster
management authorities on
Tuesday advised the citizens
to be cautious as they
suspected a landslide in the
Kannavam forest here. After
the incessant rainfall in Kera-
la, water from the mountains
in the forest gushed up in
Nedumpoil town in Kannur
district, following which
Kanjirapuzha and Nellanikal
rivers are overflowing.
Met department warning should be taken
seriously. In the districts where the red alert
has been sounded, extremely heavy rain up
to 200 mm in 24 hours is predicted. Such continued
heavy downpour has potential to wreak havoc.
—Pinarayi Vijayan, Chief Minister Kerala
COMMONWEALTH GAMES HIGHLIGHTS
RANK COUNTRY TOTAL

1 AUSTRALIA 33 23 26 82

2 ENGLAND 26 27 17 70
3 NEW ZELAND 13 7 5 25
4 CANADA 8 12 19 39

5 SOUTH AFRICA
5 4 4 13
6 INDIA 5 4 3 12
MEDALS TALLY
LONG JUMPERS MURALI
AND YAHIYA IN FINALS
National record holder
Murali Sreeshankar
topped the men’s long jump
qualification round to storm
into the finals along with
Muhammed Anees Yahiya,
who qualified as eighth
best, at the Games.
SPRINTER DUTEE CHAND
FAILS TO MAKE 100M SEMIS
Indian sprinter Dutee Chand crashed
out of the CWG after finishing 27th
overall in the preliminary
heat races. The national
record holder (11.17s)
clocked a disappointing
11.55 seconds to finish
fourth in heat number 5.
Dutee has a season’s best of 11.40s
which she had clocked during the
National Inter-State Championships.
VIKAS BAGS SILVER IN
WEIGHTLIFTING IN 96KG
Indian weightlifter Vikas Thakur won
a silver medal in the CWG 2022.
This is his third medal in
Commonwealth Games.
He took India’s medal
tally to 12. The Indian
weightlifter won silver
in Men’s 96kg event.
He lifted a total of 346kg -- 155kg
snatch and 191kg clean jerk. He
went for 187kgs and lifted it as well.
HARJINDER WINS BRONZE IN
71 KG WEIGHTLIFTING
Indian weightlifter Harjinder Kaur
claimed a bronze medal in the
women’s 71 kg com-
petition at the Com-
monwealth Games. The
25-year-old from Mehas
village near Nabha
in Punjab lifted 93 in
snatch and 119 in clean and jerk for
a below-par total of 212 kg in the
competition.
LAST UPDATE 11:40 PM
Commonwealth Games 2022
INDIA WINS GOLD IN
MEN’S TT, LAWN BOWLS
Birmingham: The Indian men’s table tennis team
secured the gold medal after defeating Singapore
3-1 in the final. Sathiyan and Harmeet then went
on to win their respective single’s matches, while
veteran paddler Sharath Kamal endured a defeat.
Indian women’s team - Nayanmoni Saikia, Pinki,
Lovely Choubey and Rupa Rani Tirkey - scripted
history as they won a gold in Lawn Bowls final.
(T) Team India pose
for picture after
winning the gold
medal in table tennis
men’s team event.
(B) Team India pose
for photos after
winning the Lawn
Bowls Womens
Fours final match.

07
Commodity Price Change % Chg
GOLD 51,887.00 289.00 0.55 (Per 10g)
SILVER 58,480.00 841.00 1.41 (Per 1kg)
COMMODITIES
Currency Price Change % Chg
USDINR 78.65 0.41 0.4049
GBPINR 95.8628 0.9048 0.9350
CURRENCIES
Chip shortage continues to haunt MSI
New Delhi (PTI): Maruti
Suzuki could not produce
51,000 units in the April-
June quarter owing to the
ongoing chip shortage situ-
ation, according to a senior
company official.
The country’s largest car-
maker, which sold a total of
4,67,931 vehicles during the
June quarter, noted that the
semiconductorshortageisa
challenge in planning its
production activities.
“The electronics compo-
nentshortagesarestilllimit-
ingourproductionvolumes.
Inthisquarter(Q1),thecom-
pany could not produce
51,000 vehicles,” MSI CFO
Ajay Seth said.
Limited visibility on
availability of electronics
components is a challenge
in planning our production,
he stated.
Seth noted that the com-
pany’s supply chain, engi-
neering, production and
sales teams were working
towards maximising the
production volume from
available semiconductors.
“The supply situation of
electronic components con-
tinues to remain unpredict-
able,” he lamented. With
demand remaining robust,
the company’s pending or-
der backlog has touched the
3.5 lakh unit-mark.
FAILED TO REACH TARGET IN JUNE QUARTER
NOTABLE
CHALLENGES

z Limited visibility on
availability of electronics
components is a
challenge in planning our
production, MSI CFO said.

z Input cost pressure, led by
the inc in commodity prices,
was another challenge.
PLI SCHEME FOR FOOD
PROCESSING SEC
WOULD BOOST GROWTH
Chennai : The govt’s PLI
scheme with an outlay of
`10,900 crore for the food
processing
sector would
boost the
industry’s
growth in the
coming years. CII Chairman of
Foodpro 2022 B Thiagarajan
said the food processing in-
dustry has been growing at an
annual growth rate of 11.18%.
The ministry of food process-
ing industries has earmarked
`10,900 crore under the PLI
scheme for the sector. —PTI
FMCG SECTOR
RECOVERS ON URBAN
DEMAND: REPORT
New Delhi: The country’s
FMCG industry reported a
10.9% growth in terms of
value in the
June quarter,
helped by a
rise in con-
sumption even
though the rural markets
remained sluggish in non-food
segments, says a report.
Data analytics firm NielsenIQ
on Tuesday said the overall
consumption has revived as
unit volume has increased on
a sequential basis in the April-
June quarter. —PTI
BANKS WRITE OFF LOANS WORTH ` 10 LAKH
CRORE IN LAST 5 YEARS
New Delhi: Banks have written off loans worth about `10 lakh
crore in the last five financial years, Parliament was informed on
Tuesday. During 2021-22, the write-
off amount came down to `1,57,096
cr compared to `2,02,781 cr in the
previous year. In 2019-20, the write-
off was worth `2,34,170 crore, down
from `2,36,265 crore, the highest in
five years recorded in 2018-19. During
2017-18, the write-off by banks stood
at `1,61,328 cr. In all, bank loans to the tune of `9,91,640 cr have
been written off in the last five years—2017-18 to 2021-22. —PTI
TRUST ASSET MANAGEMENT AIMS TO COLLECT
`500-CRORE VIA NEW MONEY MKT FUND
New Delhi: Trust Asset Management is aiming to collect up to
`500 crore through its new money market fund, its top official
said on Tuesday. The money market
fund is an open-ended debt scheme
investing in money market securities.
This is also the fifth addition to the fund
house’s fixed income product portfolio.
Sandeep Bagla, CEO, Trust Mutual Fund,
said the asset management firm is tar-
geting to raise `300-500 crore through
the new scheme — TrustMF Money Market Fund. —PTI
OTHER STORIES
Zomato shares jump
nearly 20% after June
quarter earnings
New Delhi (PTI): Shares of online
food delivery platform Zomato on
Tuesday jumped nearly 20% after
the company said its loss in June
quarter almost
halved. The stock
climbed 19.96%
to settle at `55.60
— its upper
circuit limit — on
the BSE. At the NSE, it zoomed
19.97% to `55.55. The company’s
market valuation also climbed
`7,283.52 crore to `43,777.52
crore on the BSE. In traded volume
terms, 803.27 lakh shares were
traded at the BSE and over 52.88
crore shares at the NSE.
business
BRIEFS
New Delhi: WhatsApp has
banned over 22 lakh Indi-
an accounts in June on
the basis of complaints
received via its grievance
redresal channel and
through its own mecha-
nism to detect violations.
This is higher than 19 lakh
such accounts banned by
WhatsApp in May, 16 lakh
accounts in April, and
18.05 lakh such accounts
in March. The new, tough-
er IT rules, which came
into effect last year, man-
date large digital plat-
forms (with over 50 lakh
users) to publish compli-
ance reports every month,
mentioning the details of
complaints received and
action taken. —PTI
Mumbai: A Kotak Mahin-
dra Bank arm is targeting
to raise up to `1,500
crore to invest in private
equity and venture capital
funds. Kotak Investment
Advisors said it is launch-
ing the Kotak India Alter-
nate Allocation Fund (KI-
AAF), a ‘fund of funds’,
which is targeting to raise
`750 crore with a green-
shoe option of another
`750 crore. It will invest
across PE/VC funds in
multiple sectors, including
consumer, technology,
healthcare and financials,
KIAL said. —PTI
KIAAF TO RAISE
`1,500 CR TO INVEST
IN PE, VC FUNDS
WHATSAPP BANS
OVER 22 LAKH IND
ACCOUNTS IN JUNE
New Delhi: The US is ex-
pecting India to address
small trade barriers and
facilitate the export of
non-genetically modified
soyabean and speciality
soyabean products, a sen-
ior US diplomat said. The
US is hoping that trade
barriers — such as high
tariff structure, FSSAI re-
quirements for non-GM
soyabean products, label-
ling and phytosanitary is-
sues — are removed or
reduced to facilitate soya-
bean trade and ease of
doing business. —PTI
US HOPES INDIA WILL
ADDRESS SMALL
TRADE BARRIERS
New Delhi: GST regis-
tered businesses with an-
nual turnover of `10 crore
or more will have to gen-
erate e-invoices for B2B
transactions from October
1, the finance ministry
said. Currently, business-
es with turnover of `20
crore and above are re-
quired to generate elec-
tronic invoice for all B2B
transactions. The CBIC on
August 1 notified lowering
the e-invoice threshold to
`10 crore and above from
October 1. The GST Coun-
cil had decided to imple-
ment electronic invoice in
a phased manner. —PTI
E-INVOICE MUST FOR
B2B DEALS WITH `10
CRORE + TURNOVER
There’s no
collapse in `:
FM Sitharaman
New Delhi (PTI): Amid
concerns over the decline
in the value of the rupee
against the US dollar, Fi-
nance Minister Nirmala
Sitharaman on Tuesday as-
serted there is no collapse
of the unit and it is actually
finding its natural course.
Sitharaman informed
the Rajya Sabha that the
RBI is continuously moni-
toring the local currency
and intervening only if
there is volatility
.
“The RBI interventions
are not so much to fix the
value of the Indian Rupee
because it is free to find its
own course,” she said.
Replying to supplemen-
taries, she said interven-
tions that are happening
from the RBI side are more
for containing volatility
that is happening between
the Indian rupee and the
US dollar and so on.
“Even the interventions
being made by RBI are not
so much to determine the
value - increase or de-
crease, of the Indian rupee.
It is not for that. It is more
to avoid the volatility and
allow it to find its course.
“India, like many other
countries, is not pitching
its currency at a level ex-
traneously. So the ways
and which we want to
strengthen... The RBI and
the Ministry are fairly en-
gaged in it,” she said as
members expressed con-
cerns over the decline in
the value of the Indian cur-
rency. On
suggestions
that NRIs should be al-
lowed to make remittances
in foreign currency, she
said it is not an assurance
that the Ministry of Fi-
nance will give but she can
only pass the suggestion to
the RBI.
Sitharaman said the ru-
pee has seen more fluctua-
tions against the US dollar
but its performance is bet-
ter than its peers. “We have
withstood the impact of
the US Fed’s decisions
much better than any other
peer currencies,” she said.
RAJYA SABHA TOLD
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee
jumped 41 paise to close at
78.65 (provisional) against the
US dollar on Tuesday buoyed
by persistent foreign fund
inflows into capital markets
and softening crude oil prices.
At the interbank forex market,
the local unit opened strong
at 78.96 against the green back
and
witnessed an
intra-day high
of 78.49 and a low of
78.96. It finally ended at 78.65
against the American currency,
a rise of 41 paise over its
previous close. In the previous
session, the rupee had closed
at 79.06 against the US dollar.
` JUMPS 41 PAISE TO
CLOSE AT 78.65 AGAINST $
Sensex, Nifty up for
5th consecutive day
Mumbai (PTI): The
benchmark BSE Sensex
and Nifty closed mar-
ginally higher in a vola-
tile trade on Tuesday as
gains in FMCG, power
and energy stocks
helped the indices ex-
tend gains for a fifth
straight day.
The 30-share BSE
benchmark ended 20.86
points or 0.04% higher
at 58,136.36 with 16 of its
constituents ending in
the red.
The broader NSE Nif-
ty ended at 17,345.45, up
5.40 points or 0.03%.
Among Sensex constitu-
ents, IndusInd Bank,
Asian Paints, NTPC,
Maruti, Hindustan Uni-
lever, State Bank of In-
dia, Mahindra Mahin-
dra and Power Grid
were among the biggest
gainers.
However, Tech Mahin-
dra, HDFC, Larsen
Toubro, Tata Steel and
HDFC Bank were the
biggest laggards.
New Delhi (PTI): SpiceJet
on Tuesday said it has en-
tered into an agreement
with the Airports Authori-
ty of India and cleared all
outstanding principal dues
of the airport operator.
With this, SpiceJet will
no longer remain on 'cash
and carry' at AAI-run air-
ports across the country
and will revert to advance
payment mechanism for
daily flight operations, the
airline's statement noted.
The Centre-run AAI had
in 2020 put SpiceJet on a
'cash and carry' basis as the
carrier was unable to clear
its previous dues.
In the 'cash and carry'
model, the airline has to
make daily payments to the
AAI for various charges --
navigation, landing, park-
ing, and others -- to operate
flights. SpiceJet said on
Tuesday: In another big
boost for the airline, AAI
will release SpiceJet's INR
50 crore bank guarantee
following the airline clear-
ing all its principal dues.
This will result in addition-
al liquidity for the airline.
SpiceJet clears all dues with AAI
‘CASH CARRY’
EXPLAINED

z The Centre-run AAI had
in 2020 put SpiceJet on a
‘cash and carry’ basis as the
carrier was unable to clear
its previous dues

z In this model, the airline has
to make daily payments to
the AAI for various charges
New Delhi (PTI): Gautam
Adani's group on Tuesday
said the `212 crore worth
of spectrum it has bought
in a millimetre wave band
will be used to create a pri-
vate network to support its
businesses data centres.
Adani Data Networks
Ltd (ADNL), acquired the
right to use 400MHz of
spectrum in the 26GHz mil-
limetre wave band for 20
years.
Adani Group plans to
use the airwaves for its
data centres as well as the
super app it is building to
support businesses from
electricity distribution to
airports, and gas retailing
to ports.
The newly acquired 5G
spectrum is expected to
help create a unified digi-
tal platform that will accel-
erate the pace and scale of
the Adani group's digitisa-
tion of its core in-
frastructure,
primary in-
dustry and
B2C business
portfolio, the
group said in a
s t a t e -
m e n t
Tues-
day
.
Adani to use
mmWave 5G to
create digital
platform
RBI’s
FINANCIAL
INCLUSION
INDEX RISES
Mumbai (PTI): The
RBI’s composite finan-
cial inclusion index (FI-
Index) capturing the ex-
tent of financial inclu-
sion across the country
rose to 56.4 in March 2022,
showing growth across
all parameters.
The index captures in-
formation on various as-
pects of financial inclu-
sion in a single value
ranging between 0 and
100, where 0 represents
complete financial exclu-
sion and 100 indicates full
financial inclusion.
“The value of FI Index
for March 2022 stands at
56.4 vis-a-vis 53.9 in March
2021, with growth wit-
nessed across all the sub-
indices,” the RBI said in a
statement.
The FI-Index compris-
es three broad parame-
ters — Access (35%), Us-
age (45%), and Quality
(20%) with each of these
consisting of various di-
mensions, which are com-
puted based on several
indicators.
New Delhi (PTI): The
country’s unemployment
rate in July fell to 6.80%,
the lowest level in the last
six months, amid rising ag-
riculture activities during
monsoon, according to
Centre for Monitoring In-
dian Economy (CMIE)
data. The unemployment
rate dropped to 6.80% in
July from 7.80% in June,
the CMIE data said.
Rural unemployment de-
clined 6.14% to 272.1 mil-
lion last month from 265.2
million or 8.03% in June, it
said.
On the other hand, ur-
banunemploymentjumped
to 8.21% in July from 7.80%
in June as the number of
jobs fell both in industry as
well as services.
The employment in ur-
ban India fell by 0.6 mil-
lion, from 125.7 million to
125.1 million, according to
the CMIE data.
Unemployment lowest in
6 months at 6.80% in July

First India Bureau
Mumbai: A court has
granted bail to four
men arrested for alleg-
edly demanding mon-
ey from a Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP)
MLA Rahul Kul, un-
der the pretext of
helping him secure a
ministerial position in
the Maharashtra gov-
ernment.
The metropolitan
magistrate court passed
the order on Monday
, a
copy of which was made
available on Tuesday
. It
noted that the investiga-
tion in the case is almost
complete and hence
there was no need to de-
tain the accused in jail
further. It added that the
accused persons can be
releasedonbailwithcer-
tain conditions imposed
on them to ensure there
is no tampering with
prosecution evidence.
The accused persons
Riyaz Shaikkh, Nandk-
ishor Singh, Yogesh
KulkarniandSagarSan-
gavai were arrested by
thepoliceandbookedfor
cheatingandimpersona-
tion. The court directed
the four accused to be
released on a bond of
Rs25,000 each. It also
stipulated that they ap-
pear before the con-
cerned police station
onceaweektillthefiling
of chargesheet.
08
2NDFRONT
And effective leader recruits a
Team, which understands his
vision and policy of work and then
lets them go ahead on their own.
— Dr Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO Editor-in-Chief, First India
Pune (PTI): A row has
erupted over naming a
garden after Chief
Minister Eknath Shin-
de in Pune, leading to
the cancellation of its
scheduled inaugura-
tion on Tuesday
, and
the public amenity
will now be christened
after Shiv Sena stal-
wart late Anand
Dighe.
The garden, which
was slated to be inaugu-
rated by Shinde during
his visit here, was devel-
oped by former Shiv
Sena councillor Pramod
Bhangire in Hadapsar’s
Mohammadwadi area
on land belonging to the
Pune Municipal Corpo-
ration (PMC).
Bhangire,athree-time
councillorfromthearea,
claimed he has devel-
oped the garden with his
own funds and named it
after Shinde. As the
movetonamethegarden
after Shinde drew flak
from activists, Bhangire
saiditsinaugurationhas
been cancelled.
“It has been decided
to name the garden af-
ter Anand Dighe. A pro-
posal to this effect will
be sent to the PMC’s
naming committee,”
Bhangire said.
Shinde, who is on a
tour of Pune, sought to
downplay the entire is-
sue.
Civic activist Vinita
Deshmukh, in a video
statement, said at a
time when the city is
facing several issues
such as those related to
water supply and pot-
holes, Shinde seems to
have different priorities
and wants to inaugu-
rate a garden named
after him.
DY CM HOLDS REVIEW MEETING FOR DHARAVI PROJECT
Satish Nandgaonkar
Mumbai: The Dharavi
Redevelopment Pro-
ject (DRP)—which was
shelved by the Maha
Vikas Aghadi (MVA)
in October 2020—is
back on the drawing
board of Deputy Chief
Minister Devendra
Fadnavis.
On Tuesday
, Fadnavis
conducted a one-on-one
review meeting about
the impending project
with IAS officer SVR
Srinivas, Metropolitan
Commissioner, Mumbai
Metropolitan Region
Development Authority
(MMRDA) at the Man-
tralaya. The Dy CM as-
sured that he will follow
up with the Centre to
get railway land re-
quired for the project.
Prior to his appoint-
ment in MMRDA, Srini-
vas was heading the
special purpose vehicle
(SPV) set up by the Fad-
navis-led government
for implementing the
DRP
.
On July 29, Shiv Sena
MP Rahul Shewale—
who joined the Eknath
Shidne camp last
month—had also met
Union Railway Minister
Ashwini Vaishnaw and
submitted a memoran-
dum to transfer 45 acres
of railway land to Maha-
rashtra government for
the project.
In his two-page letter,
Shewale had said that
the Union Ministry of
Railways had agreed to
transfer a 45-acre land
parcel to the Maharash-
tra government for
Rs800 crore. An agree-
ment to the effect had
been signed in February
2019. Thereafter, the
state government trans-
ferred Rs800 crore to the
account of Railway
Land Development Au-
thority (RLDA) on June
15, 2019, but the land has
notbeentransferredyet.
Vaishaw had assured
Shewale that within a
month the transfer
would take place.
Speaking to First In-
dia, Advocate Rajendra
Korde, President of the
Dharavi Redevelopment
Committee,said“Frank-
ly
, we have heard succes-
sive governments talk
about redevelopment
since 2004. But, we are
tiredof waiting.Thelast
time, Seclink Group had
won the bid, and we
were hopeful that it
would be awarded the
project. We will support
sectoral development,
but the government has
to decide on the techni-
cal feasibility
.”
When contacted,
Nilang Shah, Chairman
and Managing Director,
Seclink Group, said,
“The matter is sub ju-
dice. We hope that the
new government will
reversetheMVAgovern-
ment’s decision, which
was taken arbitrarily
.”
On Tuesday, Devendra Fadnavis held
a review meeting with IAS officer SVR
Srinivas, who was formerly in-charge
of the project’s special purpose vehicle
Roweruptsovernaming
gardenafterCMShinde;
inaugurationcancelled
CM Eknath Shinde at a cattle farm during his visit to Pune, on
Tuesday. —PHOTO BY PTI
Four men get
bail in `100
crore demand
for cabinet
berth case
New Delhi (PTI): The
Supreme Court Tues-
day came down heavi-
ly on the Maharashtra
Wakf Board for re-
moving Attorney Gen-
eral KK Venugopal as
its counsel. It heard a
batch of pleas relating
to legal questions on
the donation of land
by Muslims and its po-
sition under ‘wakf’
laws, saying, “This is
not the way you be-
have with the Attor-
ney General (AG).”
The Attorney Gener-
al said his last-minute
removal is an “unwar-
ranted attempt to inter-
fere in the due adminis-
tration of justice” and
“clearly is an act of con-
tempt of court.”
“I am very much dis-
turbed after seeing your
(AG’s) letter. What are
you (Wakf Board)
thinking? Is this the
way you deal with the
Attorney General for
India?” asked Chief
Justice NV Ramana, af-
ter taking note of Venu-
gopal’s letter.
“I sincerely apolo-
gize,” responded the
counsel for the Wakf
Board.
At the outset of the
hearing, the bench, also
comprising Justice
Krishna Murari and
Justice Hima Kohli was
told by Venugopal that
he had been removed
from the case and a
letter to this effect was
circulated.
SC slams Wakf Board for removing AG as counsel
In a letter AG
Venugopal alleged
it was ‘an attempt
to interfere with
admin of justice’
First India Bureau
Mumbai: Leader of
Opposition Ajit Pa-
war on Tuesday de-
manded that the state
government provide
immediate assistance
to farmers from Mar-
athwada and Vidarb-
ha whose land has
been damaged due to
heavy rains.
He led a delegation of
opposition leaders in a
meeting with Governor
Bhagat Singh Koshyari,
in which they submit-
ted a list of 21 demands,
including Rs75,000 per
hectare compensation
for rain-hit farmers,
and Rs1.5 lakh per hec-
tare for horticultural
farmers.
Speaking to reporters
thereafter, Pawar said
Marathwada and Vid-
arbha regions received
heavy rains mid-July,
due to which the fertile
layer of soil has been
washed away
.
“Several farmers will
not be able to till their
land for the next couple
of days because of the
loss of fertile layer. The
state should make some
provisions for such
farmers,” the NCP lead-
er said.
Cash crops like
soybean and cotton
were destroyed in
Marathwada and Vid-
arbha, and farmers
have lost almost every-
thing, he said.
“If farmers need to
carry out another
round of sowing, the
state should provide
seeds that take less time
to grow. Such measures
can ease the farmers’
woes,” Pawar said.
The rains have also
damaged supporting in-
frastructure such as
drip irrigation materi-
al, wells, power trans-
formers, and roads con-
necting to major cities,
and even killed cattle.
The state needs to
change some rules and
provide financial assis-
tance to such farmers,
the former deputy chief
minister said.
Meanwhile, Pawar
slammed Chief Minis-
ter Eknath Shinde for
allegedly violating a Su-
preme Court directive
banning speeches after
10 pm.
During his visit to
Aurangabad a couple of
days ago, Shinde deliv-
ered a speech after 10
pm in Kranti Chowk.
“Shinde is the chief
minister and he should
control his supporters.
How can he deliver a
speech after 10 pm when
there is a ruling against
such late-night speech-
es?” Pawar said.
“What will a local po-
lice official do if the
chief minister ignores
such rules?” he asked.
Ajit Pawar urges govt
to provide assistance to
rain-affected farmers
Maha LoP
addressed
the press
after meeting
Guv, handing
over list of 21
demands
Several farmers will not be able to
till their land for the next couple of
days because of the loss of fertile lay-
er. The state should make some provisions
for such farmers…. Cash crops like soybean
and cotton were destroyed in Marathwada
and Vidarbha, and farmers lost almost ev-
erything…. If farmers need to carry out an-
other round of sowing, the state should pro-
vide seeds that take less time to grow. Such
measures can ease the farmers’ woes.
—Ajit Pawar, Leader of Opposition
NCP leaders Ajit Pawar and Chhagan Bhujbal meet with Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh
Koshyari, in Mumbai on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY ANI
CRUCIAL READ
WOMAN HELD FOR STEALING JEWELLERY FROM A RELATIVE
MAN ARRESTED FOR MURDERING WIDOW WOMAN IN JALNA
TRUCK CARRYING
CHEMICAL
OVERTURNS
MOTHER, SON DIE
AFTER BEING HIT
BY BEST BUS
Palghar: A 26-year-old woman has been arrested for allegedly stealing gold jewel-
lery from her relative’s house. A woman had last month lodged a complaint stating
that her house had been ransacked while she was away and ornaments worth over
Rs7.4 lakh were missing, senior inspector Vilas Supe of Nalla Sopara police station
said on Tuesday. Based on CCTV footage, the cops zeroed in on a woman—who
turned out to be the sister-in-law of the complainant’s son—and nabbed her.
Jalna: A 31-year-old man was arrested in Jalna on Monday for allegedly killing
a widow, and dumping her body under a bridge in Bodhlapuri village on Sunday,
an official said, adding that the woman’s face was smashed beyond recognition.
“We identified the woman as Gangabai Kale, a 45-year-old widow from Limboni
village. Our probe zeroed in on Mahadev Kudkar of Ghansawangi tehsil, who was
in a relationship with the deceased. He confessed to killing her on Saturday night.
Thane: A container
truck transporting
23,000 ltr of hydrogen
peroxide overturned at
7.15 am on the busy
Ghodbunder Road in
Thane city on Tuesday
morning, resulting in
a massive traffic jam,
officials said. Following
the incident, the chemi-
cal leaked on the road,
emitting a foul odour.
The driver of the con-
tainer truck was injured
and taken to a hospital.
Sion: Bus driver of a
BEST bus has been
booked for killing a
mother and her seven-
year-old son at Sion
Koliwada on Monday
afternoon. While the son
died on the spot, the
mother succumbed to
her injuries after being
brought to the Lokman-
ya Tilak Municipal
Hospital (Sion Hospital).
The incident took
place around 01.15 pm
on Monday.
CNG, PNG TO GET
DEARER; MGL
REVISES PRICE
Mumbai: Mahanagar
Gas Limited (MGL) is
has increased the price
of Compressed Natural
Gas (CNG) by `06/kg
and Domestic Piped
Natural Gas (PNG) by
`04/SCM in and around
Mumbai, effective from
midnight of August 02,
2022. The revised MRP
inclusive of all taxes of
CNG will be `86/kg and
domestic PNG price will
be `52.50/SCM in and
around Mumbai.
Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis reviews Dharavi redevelopment project with MMRDA Metropolitan
Commissioner SVR Srinivas on Tuesday.
DHARAVI REDEVT PROJECT TIMELINE
1995: Sena-BJP govern-
ment pursues redevelop-
ment based on developer
Mukesh Mehta’s blueprint;
project fails to take off
2004: CM Vilasrao
Deshmukh-led Cong-NCP
government pursues
project; global tenders in-
vited fail to get response
October 2018: Devendra
Fadnavis government
sets up Dharavi Rede-
velopment Authority to
execute project; global
tender for single lead
partner invited
January 2019: Dubai-
based Seclink Group
emerges highest bidder
with a bid of Rs7,200
crore, beats Adani Infra
and Developers-led con-
sortium’s bid of Rs4,529
crore
March, 2019: Seclink
Group given Letter of In-
timation as lead partner;
Letter of Award never
issued
May 2019: BJP govern-
ment seeks legal opinion
of state advocate general
whether 45-acre of rail-
way land constitutes
extra benefit for preferred
bidder
November 2019: Maha
Vikas Aghadi government
comes to power
October 2020: Based on
legal opinion, DRP tender
is scrapped, government
decides to re-invite bids;
Seclink consortium files
petition before Bombay
High Court

www.firstindia.co.in I https://firstindia.co.in/epapers/mumbai I twitter.com/
thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia 09
MUMBAI, WEDNESDAY,
AUGUST 3, 2022
he Photogenic Face
Around was organ-
ised on the third day
of Miss Rajasthan
Finale Week by Fu-
sion Group and in as-
sociation with 5 by
metropolitan MGF mall on
Tuesday
. During the occasion,
Fashion Photographer Vasu
Jain snapped the beauty of
Rajasthan and also played the
role of the jury for the selec-
tion of the captivating face.
Yatendra Negi, Mukesh
Mishra, and Pramod Sharma
were also present as guests of
honour in the photogenic
round.
For the photogenic round,
Miss Rajasthan Mansi
Rathore, Kashish Akashmi,
Bhavna Vaishnav, Preksha
Purnam, Anjali Jodha, Sejal
Arora, Kumkum and Jyothika
Chatwani gave detailed infor-
mation about photography
poses.
Organisers Yogesh Mishra
and Nimisha Mishra in-
formed that the final week of
this 24th edition of Miss Ra-
jasthan has started, these
7-days of grooming, experts
of the national and interna-
tional levels will groom the
finalists of Miss Rajasthan
through different grooming
sessions. They further shared
that one-month groom-
ing and training will
be given to all the
girls in the final
week of Miss Ra-
jasthan through
different activities.
The grand fina-
le will be held on
August 6 at BM
Birla Auditori-
um. Royal Collec-
tion of Kolkata’s
FamousDesigner
Nirmal Saraf,
Ellen College of
Group as well
as the top
looks by
G e e t u
Sachdeva
D i r e c t o r,
Sparsh Salon
will be show-
cased.
UTTKARSHA SHEKHAR
uttkarsha.shekhar@firstindia.co.in
T
Priyanka, Rashi, Sanjana, Sunita, Sidhi, Pranjal, Khushi, Tuba, Bhavika, Khushboo, Gargi, Asha and Suhani
—PHOTOS
BY
SANTOSH
SHARMA
(L-R) Pranjal, Paridhi, Sanjana, Riyaanshi and Sunita

03082022_First India_Mumbai.pdf

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