04062022_First India_Mumbai.pdf

RISE IN COVID-19 CASES
Centre expresses concern,
BMC to hike testing five-fold
First India Bureau
Mumbai: The Centre
on Friday expressed
concern over the steady
rise in COVID-19 cases
in Mumbai city and its
suburban areas, and
asked the state adminis-
tration to increase test-
ing and surveillance for
new cases.
In a three-page letter,
Ranjit Bhushan, Secre-
tary
, Ministry of Health
and Family Welfare,
wrote, “There is a spurt
in COVID-19 cases in
some states including
Maharashtra, and cases
have surged from 15,708
cases reported last week
to 21,055 cases in the
week ending on June 03.
The positivity rate has
also increased from
0.52% to 0.73%.”
Bhushan also pointed
out, “Six districts in par-
ticularseemtowitnessa
spurt, including Mum-
bai city (994 new cases),
Mumbai suburban
(2330), Thane (575), Pune
(382), Raigad (120) and
Palghar (55), which re-
quire focused interven-
tion from the state ad-
ministration.”
He advised the four-
fold strategy – Test,
Track, Treat, Vaccinate
– to deal with the rise in
cases, and asked the
statetoencouragenCoV-
appropriate behaviour,
monitor clusters of new
cases, send samples col-
lected from internation-
alpassengersandidenti-
fied health facilities for
genome sequencing.
Meanwhile, BMC
Commissioner Iqbal
Singh Chahal held a vid-
eo conference with civic
officials alongwith Ma-
harashtragovernment’s
Covid task force mem-
ber Dr Sanjay Oka ear-
lier in the day
. “Experts
from IIT Kanpur have
predicted that a fourth
wave of COVID-19 will
hit in July
. Given the re-
cent increase in cases,
the possibility of a
fourth wave cannot be
ruled out.”
The number of daily
COVID-19 tests should
be increased to over
30,000 from the current
8,000 tests, as the rate of
infection has reached
8% which is a warning
sign, he told officials.
“Medical laboratories
should not provide re-
ports directly to any pa-
tient and all daily re-
portsof citizensinfected
by COVID-19 should
only be sent to the BMC.
Strict action will be tak-
en against those con-
cerned in case of viola-
tion,” said Chahal.
Active cases in
Maha cross
5,000, shooting
up 12% in a day
READ
Crucial
Crucial
PRIYANKA
GANDHI TESTS
POSITIVE FOR
COVID-19
New Delhi: Congress
General Secretary
Priyanka Gandhi
Friday tweeted
that she has tested
positive for Covid-19,
just a day after party
chief Sonia Gandhi
contracted the
infection. Priyanka
said, “I’ve tested
positive for Covid-19
with mild symptoms.
Following all the
protocols, I have
quarantined myself at
home. I would request
those who came in
contact with me to
take all necessary
precautions.”
SHIV SENA TO GET CONSOLIDATED MINORITY BACKING?
Renni Abraham
Mumbai: The Shiv
Sena, which abandoned
its ideological alliance
with the Bharatiya Ja-
nata Party (BJP) in 2019
and, formed an allied
government with the
Nationalist Congress
Party (NCP) and the In-
dian National Congress
(INC), is expecting a
windfall of minority
community votes in its
favour in all forthcom-
ing Maharashtra elec-
tions.
Confirming this de-
velopment, a senior
party leader told First
India, “Even before the
Gyanvapi mosque/tem-
ple controversy or the
one stoked by BJP over
the Aurangzeb and
Afzal Khan tombs, the
minority community
had only consolidated
their vote in favour of
the Sena. It is viewed as
the party that can take
on the BJP in the fu-
ture.”
According to a Sena
leader, minority com-
munity representatives
have not only been com-
municating their sup-
port but also, express-
ing their willingness to
reconcile to the Hindu-
tva ideology that the
Shiv Sena propounds.
“It is surprising that
some of the Muslim
leaders have been em-
phasizing that the Sena
must not lose its
groundswell of support
among the Hindu com-
munity,” the Sena lead-
er told First India.
When contacted, a
senior BJP leader-- who
did not disclose identity
for fear of blowback-
-also confirmed the
Muslim support of
Sena. “Our internal as-
sessments on the sub-
ject have also indicated
a tectonic shift among
the Muslim community
that seems to be favour-
ing the Shiv Sena. It is
particularly evident in
urban centres like
Mumbai where civic
elections are imminent-
ly due. We are analyzing
it for implications in
the forthcoming elec-
tions,” he confirmed.
The Shiv Sena and
the BJP, while in alli-
ance in the Maharash-
tra government in 2017,
had engaged in an elec-
toral battle for suprem-
acy during the last BMC
elections. At the time,
while the Sena had
bagged 85 civic council-
lor seats in Mumbai,
the BJP came a close
second with 83 seats.
Unlike 2017 polls, the
Sena will be contesting
forthcoming BMC elec-
tions in alliance with
the NCP, with the Con-
gress also agreeing to
the alliance, in princi-
ple. While this appears
to favour the Sena al-
ready, a Muslim vote
consolidation will addi-
tionally strengthen the
party’s bid to retain its
hold over India’s rich-
est civic corporation.
VOTE BANK
With sway over 52 BMC seats, their
support could turn the tide in favour
of the party in upcoming elections
COVID-19 TALLY
Meanwhile, Maharashtra
on Friday recorded 1,134
new coronavirus infections,
the highest daily rise in
cases since February 24,
and three deaths, the state
health department said. The
tally of active cases rose
12% from 4,559 cases on
Thursday to 5,127 cases,
the next day. Mumbai led
the tally with 763 new
cases, while deaths were
reported in Beed, Solapur
and Pune districts.
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation
—FILE PHOTO
INDIA HITS OUT
AT US REPORT
Vote bank politics
in international
relations: MEA
New Delhi: The Minis-
try of External Affairs
onFridayreactedsharp-
lytotheUSStateDepart-
ment’s report alleging
attacks on minorities in
India, calling it “ill-in-
formed comments” by
senior US officials.
The MEA, in its state-
ment, said, “It is unfor-
tunate that vote bank
politics in practiced in
international relations.
We have noted the ill-
informed comments by
senior US officials. We
would urge that assess-
ments based on moti-
vated inputs and biased
views be avoided,” said
foreign ministry spokes-
personArindamBagchi.
“
As a naturally plural-
isticsociety
,Indiavalues
religious freedom and
humanrights.Inourdis-
cussionswiththeUS,we
haveregularlyhighlight-
ed issues of concern
there, including racially
and ethnically motivat-
ed attacks, hate crimes
and gun violence,” the
official asserted via the
statement.
As pluralistic
society, India
values religious
freedom and human
rights. We have highlighted
issues of concern in US,
like racially and ethnically
motivated attacks, hate
crimes and gun violence.
—Arindam Bagchi,
MEA spokesperson

❍ ‘REFORM, PERFORM, AND TRANSFORM’
ModisharesIndia’s‘progress
mantra’overpast8years
Lucknow: PM Naren-
dra Modi on Friday said
that India progressed on
the mantra of reform,
perform, and transform
while focusing on policy
and stability, coordina-
tion and ease of doing
business. PM Modi’s re-
marks came during his
address at the Ground
Breaking Ceremony 3.0
of theUPInvestorsSum-
mit in Lucknow today
.
The Prime Minister
also congratulated the
youth of Uttar Pradesh
for agreements of in-
vestment of over Rs
80,000 crore.“Today
agreements of invest-
ment of more than Rs
80,000 crore have been
done here. This record
investment will create
thousands of employ-
ment opportunities. I
congratulate the youth
of UP for it as they will
be most benefitted from
it,” he stated.
He said that Indians
should be proud of In-
dia’s growth story
. “Eve-
ry Indian will be proud
of India’s growth story
,
according to which, we
are the fastest growing
economy among the G20
nations, the second-larg-
estnationof internetus-
ers and holds the second
position in the Global
Retail Index,” he added.
PM Narendra Modi with Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh
and UP CM Yogi Adityanath arrive to attend the Ground Breaking
Ceremony @3.0 of the UP Investors Summit, in Lucknow on Friday.
—PHOTO BY PTI
KILLINGS DUE TO ‘KASHMIR
FILES’: JITAN RAM MANJHI
Patna: Former Bihar CM Jitan Ram Manjhi said
the incidents of target killings in Kashmir were
taking place only because of ‘The
Kashmir Files’ movie. “When the film
was released, the BJP forced Nitish
Kumar government to tax free it in the
state. At that time I said that it was a
conspiracy of militants to make the
film. The central government should investigate the
terror links of the makers with militants and take
action against them,” Manjhi said.
RAUT SLAMS
BJP ON KASHMIR
KILLINGS
CONG’S‘KASHMIRI
PANDIT’ TO
CORNER BJP
Mumbai: Shiv Sena MP
Sanjay Raut slammed the
BJP for fetching votes in
the name of
‘Hindutva’
while doing
nothing to
improve
people’s
lives in the
valley. “Today the same
situation has arisen in
Kashmir that was in the
1990s. You fetched votes
in the name of Hindutva.
There is no improvement
in people’s lives despite
the abrogation of Article
370 in JK,” he said.
New Delhi: Congress lead-
er Vivek Tankha, a Kash-
miri Pandit, questioned
the govt’s
inabil-
ity to stop
targeted
killings and
the move-
ment of
Pandits out of the Valley.
Tankha said, “The govern-
ment should ensure there
should be no killing now
and everyone should feel
safe. The gory pictures of
people leaving the valley,
which have come out, are
scary, “ he said.
TARGETED KILLINGS IN KASHMIR
SHAH HOLDS HIGH-LEVEL
SECURITY MEET ON JK
NewDelhi:UnionHome
Minister Amit Shah on
Friday held a high-level
security review meeting
on Jammu and Kashmir
inthewakeof recenttar-
geted killings in the Un-
ion Territory
.
The meeting started
around 3 pm in the pres-
ence of National Secu-
rity Advisor Ajit Doval,
Army Chief Manoj Pan-
de, Union Home Secre-
tary Ajay Kumar Bhal-
la, Jammu and Kashmir
and Lieutenant Gover-
nor Manoj Sinha.
Director-General of
Central Reserve Police
ForceKuldiepSinghand
Border Security Force
chief Pankaj Singh,
JammuandKashmirDi-
rector General of Police
Dilbagh Singh among
other key officials were
part of the meeting.
The meeting was
called as three civilians
andtwosecurityperson-
nel were killed only in
the month of May that
includingKashmiriHin-
dus. Kashmiri Pandits
in Jammu and Kashmir
are holding protests in
Srinagar against the
killings by terrorists.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah exchanges greetings with JK Lt Governor Manoj Sinha and NSA
Ajit Doval as he arrives to hold a review meeting in New Delhi on Friday. —PHOTO BY PTI
MUMBAI l SATURDAY, JUNE 4, 2022 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI TITLE NO. MAHENG/2022/14652 l Vol 1 l Issue No. 29
OUR EDITIONS: JAIPUR, LUCKNOW, NEW DELHI MUMBAI
ED ISSUES
FRESH SUMMONS
TO RAHUL
New Delhi: The ED has issued fresh summons to Congress
MP Rahul Gandhi asking him to appear before the agency
on June 13 in connection with a money laundering case
related to the National Herald newspaper. P5
New Delhi: Mukesh Ambani on Friday regained
his spot as Asia's richest man with $99.7
billion net worth surpassing his rival Gautam
Adani who has net worth of $98.7 billion.
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epapers/mumbai I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstin
MUKESH AMBANI
REGAINS SPOT AS
ASIA'S RICHEST

NEWS
MUMBAI | SATURDAY, JUNE 4, 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: BMC on
Thursday said it has
completed all pre-
monsoon works like
desilting of storm
water drains and
trimming of trees,
among others and it
is fully prepared for
the upcoming mon-
soon. The civic body
said that the situa-
tion would be re-
viewed periodically,
adding that it has
held meetings with
officials handling
major infrastructur-
al projects like Metro
and coastal road
works to ensure that
channels carrying
rainwater from these
construction sites do
not have any
blockage.
Owing to climate
change and correspond-
ing extreme rain events,
theBMCsaidthatincase
of excessive rain, it has
pre-positioned National
Disaster Response Force
(NDRF),ArmyandNavy
teams, including divers.
Moreover, this year,
two additional NDRF
teams will be deployed
for three wards that
cover areas like Bhan-
dup, Powai, Vikhroli
and Ghatkopar, which
are prone to landslides.
On Thursday, a meet-
ing on monsoon prepar-
edness was held at BMC
headquarters at Fort,
chaired by the munici-
pal commissioner.
Farmers give out ‘free’ milk,
burn sugarcane at Puntamba
First India Bureau
Aurangabad: Agitat-
ing farmers in Pun-
tamba village of
Ahmednagar district
distributed milk for
free and burnt sug-
arcane to register
their protest against
the state government
on Friday.
Farmers in the vil-
lage have been staging
an agitation for the last
two days over various
demands, with the ma-
jor point of contention
being no buyers for ex-
cess sugarcane harvest.
In the wake of wide-
spread demonstrations,
Maharashtra Agricul-
ture Minister Dada
Bhuse will meet the
farmersinPuntambaon
Saturday
, said Sarpanch
Dhananjay Dhanwate.
“On the third day of
the agitation today, we
distributed free milk
and burnt sugarcane.
Nearly 300 farmers are
sitting for agitation in
Puntamba. Farmers
who are part of various
organizations, includ-
ing Shetkari Sangha-
tana, have also started
gathering in Puntam-
ba,” stated Dhanwate.
Bhuse spoke to the
agitating farmers over
phone and informed
them that he would
come to meet them on
Saturday
, he said. Farm-
ers have put forth 16 de-
mands, including price
of milk, aid for sugar-
cane cultivators and
free electricity
.
Maharashtra Con-
gress chief Nana Patole
and senior party leader
and state minister Bala-
saheb Thorat met farm-
ers agitating for various
demands at Puntamba.
Addressing media-
persons after meeting
the farmers, Thorat said
hisparty’selectedrepre-
sentatives had placed
similar demands in the
Congress state commit-
tee earlier and these
must be looked into.
Patole said there was
a need to see how invest-
ments can increase in
the agriculture sector,
which could lead to em-
ployment in the state.
“We will have a presen-
tation regarding this for
the state government.
The policy of the Con-
gress is clear. Our party
has been with the farm-
ers, who should grow
socially and economi-
cally
,” he said.
On Thursday
, the pro-
testing farmers distrib-
uted free onions and wa-
termelonsatthesite.The
next day
, they gave out
milk,freeof cost,saying,
“this is being done as the
produce is not fetching a
remunerative price.”
Cong's Nagpur city,district
chiefs resign from post
First India Bureau
Nagpur: In keeping
with the Maharash-
tra Congress' resolu-
tion, the party's
Nagpur city chief
Vikas Thakre and
district rural presi-
dent Rajendra Mu-
lak have resigned
from their post. The
state Congress had
on Thursday passed
a resolution that
mandates the par-
ty's city and district
chiefs who have
completed five years
on the post to tender
their resignation.
Former state minis-
ter Mulak on Friday
said around 17 to 18
district presidents of
the party in Maharash-
tra, who have complet-
ed more than five years
on the post, have ten-
dered their resignation
and the same process
is happening across
the country, he said.
The resolution, pre-
pared by a committee
led by senior leader
Ashok Chavan, was
passed at the party's
Nav-Sankalp Shibir or-
ganised by the state
Congress at Shirdi in
Ahmednagar district.
The Maharashtra
Congress on Thursday
also passed a resolu-
tion stating that it will
form state and district-
level committees to
take stock of political
situation to forge alli-
ances with like-mind-
ed parties for future
elections in the state.
Aspertheresolution,
separate machinery
will be set up for elec-
tionmanagementatthe
state level. The Con-
gressisajuniorpartner
in the Shiv Sena-led
MVA government.
The party will take
appropriate steps as
part of timely election
preparednessforfuture
elections, and it will fo-
cus on organisational
rebuilding in districts
where it can grow, the
resolution stated.
It further said that
the state unit will un-
dertake a special pro-
gramme to apprise the
younger generation
about the Congress'
contribution in the
freedom struggle and
nation building post
Independence.
The resolution
claimed that burning
issues facing the na-
tion are deliberately
sidestepped to create
social tensions.
First India Bureau
Mumbai: With the
Maha Vikas Aghadi
and the Bharatiya Ja-
nata Party (BJP)
choosing not to with-
draw any nomina-
tions for Rajya Sabha
on Friday—the last
day for withdrawals—
the June 10 elections
will now be a fierce
battle between the
Shiv Sena and the BJP
.
The Maha Vikas
Aghadi alliance gov-
ernment in Maharash-
tra comprises the Shiv
Sena, Nationalist Con-
gress Party and
Congress.
Anticipating the pos-
sibility of horse-trad-
ing and attempts to woo
its MLAs, the Shiv Sena
has issued a decree and
asked its MLAs to
reach Mumbai, ahead
of the polls. Arrange-
ments have also been
made for MLAs from
Congress and NCP to
stay at Hotel Trident
located in the Bandra
Kurla Complex (BKC),
—where they will stay
till June 10, barely a
kilometre away
from Chief Minis-
ter Uddhav
Thackeray’s ‘Ma-
toshree’ bungalow.
The party has is-
sued a whip to all its
MLAs not to
stay put
in their
respective constituen-
cies. CM Thackeray is
scheduled to meet all 55
MLAs at his official
‘Varsha’ resi-
dence on
June 06.
As for
nomina-
tions for
the polls,
the Shiv
Sena has
field-
ed four-term MP Sanjay
Raut yet again and Kol-
hapur MLA Sanjay Pa-
war for the two Rajya
Sabha seats in its quo-
ta. The BJP has nomi-
nated Union Minister
Piyush Goyal, former
state minister Dr Anil
Bonde, and former MP
fromKolhapurDhanan-
jay Mahadik. The NCP
has granted a fifth term
to senior leader Praful
Patel, while Congress
has given candidature
to poet Imran Pratap-
garhi from Maharash-
tra.
Earlier, a delegation
of Maha Vikas Aghadi
comprisingNCPleaders
Chhagan Bhujbal, Shiv
Sena MP Anil Desai,
Congress leader Sunil
Kedar, and Satej Patil
met senior BJP leader
Devendra Fadnavis on
Friday morning.
State BJP president
Chandrakant Patil, who
was also present for the
meet, said, “The MVA
presented a proposal
asking us to withdraw
the third candidate in
lieu of a seat in the leg-
islative council elec-
tions on June 20.”
He said that the BJP
offered a counterpro-
posal and asked Shiv
Sena to withdraw its
second candidate from
RS polls in exchange for
the BJP not contesting
one seat in the legisla-
tive council.
Shiv Sena closes ranks, moves MVA MLAs to hotel in BKC
RAJYA SABHA POLLS
lll
With seven
candidates in
fray for six
seats, the state
will move away
from its tradition
of consensual
politics this
election
PLANNED
Agri workers have demanded aid for sugarcane cultivators, electricity. —FILE PHOTO
Maha Cong
leaders meet
protesting
farmers, state
Agri Minister
Dada Bhuse to
visit village today
“On the third day of
the agitation today
(June 03), we distrib-
uted free milk and
burnt sugarcane.
Nearly 300 farmers
are sitting for agita-
tion in Puntamba.
Farmers, who are part
of various organiza-
tions, including Shet-
kari Sanghatana,
have also started gath-
ering in Puntamba.”
—Dhananjay Dhanwate,
Sarpanch, Puntamba village
Party passes resolution stating that it will form
committees to take stock of political status quo
to forge alliances with like-minded parties
Rajendra Mulak Vikas Thakre
Prepared for upcoming monsoon: BMC
Two additional NDRF teams will be deployed for areas like Bhandup, Powai, Vikhroli and Ghatkopar
First India Bureau
Mumbai: After sit-
ting in on a meeting
with Maha Vikas
Aghadi (MVA) gov-
ernment ministers
at senior leader Dev-
endra Fadnavis’ res-
idence on Friday,
Bharatiya Janata
Party’s (BJP) state
chief, Chandrakant
Patil, reiterated the
opposition’s inten-
tion to contest the
sixth Rajya Sabha
seat from Maha-
rashtra.
“We have conveyed
to everyone that the
BJP is a national party
and the Rajya Sabha
seat is important to
us,” said Patil.
“Over the last few
years, the usual prac-
tice has been to allow
candidates to be elect-
ed unopposed, in order
to avoid cross-voting.
The final decision on
who secures the seat is
made logically. How-
ever, we have 30 sur-
plus votes, while the
three parties put to-
gether do not even
cross 30 votes, so our
claim is logical. Also,
in the previous elec-
tion, we did have three
Rajya Sabha candi-
dates from Maharash-
tra,” he said.
The BJP chief said
that at the meeting,
MVA representatives
wanted them to with-
draw the third candi-
date in exchange for
the fifth seat in the leg-
islative council elec-
tions. “The offer was
unacceptable to our
party and so we de-
clined,” said
Patil.
The Shiv Sena has
fielded Sanjay Pawar
as its candidate for the
sixth seat while the
BJP has nominated
Dhananjay Mahadik.
While the latter can
easily ensure the win
of two candidates—
Union Minister Piyush
Goyal and Dr Anil
Bonde— the Shiv Sena
can only ensure the
victory of Sanjay Raut.
BJP firm on contesting
6th RS seat, says Patil
First India Bureau
Aurangabad: Re-
sponding to a ques-
tion whether she
would get an oppor-
tunity to become a
member of the Ma-
harashtra Legisla-
tive Council or the
Rajya Sabha, on Fri-
day, BJP leader and
former Maharashtra
minister Pankaja
Munde said she be-
lieves in making the
best of the available
opportunities.
Munde was in Parli,
her home turf in Beed
district of the state to
pay tributes to her late
father and BJP leader
Gopinath Munde on
his death anniversary
.
People's wish is my
strength.Wewillshort-
ly come to know what
the party decides. Ex-
pecting any opportuni-
ty is not my nature and
I don't try for it. But
making the best of the
availableopportunities
is my nature, she said.
The BJP has fielded
Union minister Piyush
Goyal, former MP
from Kolhapur
Dhananjay Mahadik
and Anil Bonde for the
Rajya Sabha elections
to be held on June 10.
Munde further said,
People come to Gopi-
nathgad (the memorial
of Gopinath Munde) to
express their love to-
wards my father and
not for my speech.
Madhya Pradesh CM
ShivrajSinghChouhan
is scheduled to visit
Parli to pay tributes to
Gopinath Munde,
wherehewouldalsoad-
dress a rally
.
Making best of available opportunities is my nature: Pankaja
Will seek white
paper from
Centre on Maha
GST: Patil
Mumbai: Maharash-
tra BJP President
Chandrakant Patil has
said that he will seek
a white paper from
the Union Minister
of State for Finance
Dr Bhagwat Karad
on the total GST
payment made by the
Centre to Maharash-
tra. Patil’s statement
comes in the wake of
the ongoing argu-
ments between the
Maha Vikas Aghadi
government in the
state and the Centre
over GST dues and
slashing of excise
duty on fuel. Centre
had two days ago
cleared GST dues till
May end of all the
states. Maharashtra
has received over
Rs14,000 crore, high-
est in the country.
People's wishes are my
strength. We will shortly
come to know what the
party decides. Expecting any
opportunity is not my nature
and I don't try for it.
Pankaja Munde, BJP leader
Chandrakant Patil
CM Udhhav Thackeray

First India Bureau
Nagpur: Tempera-
tures crossed 45 de-
gree Celsius in several
parts of Vidarbha in
Maharashtra on Fri-
day
, prompting the In-
dia Meteorological
Department (IMD) to
issue a heatwave
warning for the re-
gion. Ironically
, parts
of the state such as
south-central Maha-
rashtra reported
thunderstorms and
rainfall during the
day
.
The IMD’s Regional
Meteorological Centre
in Nagpur issued a ‘yel-
low alert’ and forecast
heatwaves till June 05
in some areas of Ward-
ha and Chandrapur and
till June 04 in places in
Nagpur and Gondia.
“In the 24-hour peri-
od ending at 8.30 am on
June 03, Chandrapur
recorded a maximum
temperature of 46.8 de-
gree Celsius, Brahm-
puri of 45.3 degree Cel-
sius, Wardha of 45.4
degree Celsius and Nag-
pur of 45 degree Celsi-
us,” an official in-
formed.
Meanwhile, thunder-
storms were reported
at isolated places over
south Konkan-Goa
and districts of Mar-
athawada in south-cen-
tral Maharashtra on
Friday. Weather was
dry over the rest of the
region. The maximum
temperature apprecia-
ble rose over south-cen-
tral Maharashtra and
there was no large
change in it elsewhere
over the region.
The districts which
recorded rainfall of up
to five centimetres were
Kolhapur and Sangli.
According to meteor-
ologists, thunder-
storms accompanied
with lightning, as well
as light to moderate
rainfall are very likely
to occur at isolated
places in the districts
of south Konkan-Goa,
south-central Maha-
rashtra and Maratha-
wada, over the next
five days. It will be ac-
companied by gusty
winds ranging from 30
to 40 kmph.
As per the weather
forecast, generally
cloudy sky will be wit-
nessed in major parts
of Maharashtra with
maximum temperature
hovering around 34 de-
gree Celsius, and mini-
mum temperature of 28
degree Celsius.
MAHARASHTRA
03
READ
crucial
crucial
LADY COP ATTEMPTS SUICIDE
AT POLICE QUARTERS IN GONDIA
SIX LABOURERS KILLED AS TRACTOR-
TROLLEYS OVERTURN IN NASHIK DISTRICT
Maharashtra
Maharashtra
TWO BOOKED FOR FIRING AT MAN ON
SUSPICION OF BEING POLICE INFORMER
THREE PROVIDENT FUND STAFFERS HELD
FOR DEMANDING, RECEIVING BRIBE
Thane: Two members of a gang allegedly
opened fire at a man in Kashimira area of Thane
district, suspecting him to be a police informer
and holding him responsible for the arrest
of a drug trafficker, an official said on Friday.
The incident took place at around 1.45 am on
Thursday near Versova bridge in Bhayandar, but
nobody was injured in the firing. “Suspecting
that the victim was a police informer and believ-
ing that it was due to him that a drug trafficker
has been arrested, the accused duo followed
the car in which he was travelling and fired two
rounds at him,” said the official of Kashimira po-
lice station located under Mira Bhayandar-Vasai
Virar police commissionerate.
Alibag: Three Provident Fund employees from
Raigad were held for allegedly demanding and
receiving a bribe of `3,000, a Maharashtra Anti
Corruption Bureau official said on Thursday. Ac-
counts officer Prashant Pandhurang Tawade, clerk
Rajendra Ramchandra Gaikwad and junior clerk
Rupesh Subhash Deshmukh had allegedly sought
money from a ZP employee for approval
of non-refundable funds and were held in a trap
on Wednesday. An offence has been registered
under Prevention of Corruption Act at Alibag
police station.
Gondia: A lady police constable allegedly attempted
suicide by consuming disinfectant in Gondia city,
police said on Friday. The incident took place in the
quarters of the Gondia city police on Thursday, an
official said. The lady constable attached to the city
police had come to the police station at around 10
am and returned to her room in the quarters situated
close by. Disturbed about some issue, the police
woman allegedly consumed disinfectant and was
rushed to the Government District Hospital, where
her condition is said to be out of danger. The reason
behind the extreme step is yet to be ascertained and
a probe has been launched into the incident.
Nashik: At least six persons were killed and several
injured when two tractor-trolleys carrying labour-
ers and their families overturned and fell on a car in
Nashik on Thursday, police said. The accident took
place on a stretch of Nashik-Kalwan road passing
through the hills near Vani town around 3.30 pm. A
tractor with two trolleys, carrying labourers and their
families including children, attached to it, was on its
way to Vani town when the driver lost control of the
vehicle as the brakes failed. The trolleys overturned
and fell on a car which was standing stationary on
the side of the road.
IMD predicts rain in Maha from June 4-7
WEATHER REPORT
Officials issue yellow alert for
heatwaves in Wardha, Chandrapur,
Nagpur Gondia; thundershowers
likely in south-central regions
Despite imminent monsoon, Vidarbha citizens will not receive any
relief from heat this week. —FILE PHOTO
FORECAST
IN SOLIDARITY
Students of a private art institute in Mumbai paid tribute to Kashmiri pandit Rajni Bala, a
government school teacher, who was shot dead by suspected militants in Kulgam district
of Kashmir on Friday. They presented paintings highlighting the plight of Kashmiri pandits
in the Valley. —PHOTO BY BHUSHAN KOYANDE
First India Bureau
Pune: Arjun Kalyan
and Deep Sengupta of
India won the fifth
round of the 1st
Maharashtra Inter-
national Open Grand-
master (GM) Chess
Tournament here on
Friday, joining Geor-
gian Luka Paichadze
at the top with 4.5
points.
While Paichadze,
who had an all-win
record after four
rounds, was held by In-
dian GM MR Lalith
Babu, Kalyan and Sen-
gupta registered wins
over Aditya S Samant
and Anup Deshmukh
respectively to take
their tally to 4.5 points
and share the lead.
The game between
Paichadze and Lalith
Babu on the top board
saw the two agree for a
draw after 36 moves.
Sengupta was an im-
pressive winner in
the fifth round, outlast-
ing Samant in 53
moves, while Kalyan
humbled Deshmukh in
37 moves.
First India Bureau
Pune: Put on a ventila-
tor support, a patient
suffering from lung
ailment lost his life on
Thursday as the
breathing machine
stopped functioning
allegedly owing to a
power outage. The po-
lice has started prob-
ing the matter.
“The patient—Amesh
Kale—was suffering
from a lung illness for
the past few years. He
was kept on a ventilator
at his house. However,
the electricity distribu-
tion company snapped
the power supply of the
place on May 30 alleging
non-payment of bills.
After that his family
made some temporary
arrangements to restore
the power supply for his
treatment,” an official
of Gandhinagar police
station in Uchgaon said
on Friday
.
Theincidentoccurred
on Thursday night in
Uchgaon village in Kar-
vir tehsil, around 230
kms from here.
On Thursday night,
there was a power out-
age in the area following
rains, due to which the
ventilator stopped work-
ing, leading to the death
of the patient, he added.
Confirming the inci-
dent, Kolhapur Super-
intendent of Police
Shailesh Balkawade
said, “The police de-
partment is conducting
an inquiry into the
death of the patient due
to a power outage.”
According to police,
following Kale's death,
his angry family mem-
bers gathered outside a
local government hos-
pital, where his post-
mortem was conducted,
and demanded action
against the power dis-
tribution company
.
Nanded: A 30-year-old
woman allegedly
killed her infant
daughter and two-
year-old son for crying
incessantly
, and then
burned their bodies in
a field in a village in
Nanded district, police
said on Friday
.
The accused, identi-
fied as Dhurpadabai
Ganpat Nimalwad, was
arrested on Thursday
along with her mother
and brother, who assist-
ed her in disposing of
the bodies of the chil-
dren.
According to an offi-
cial from the Bhokar po-
lice station, the crime
was committed in Pan-
durna village of Nanded
district’s Bhokar taluka
on May 31 and June 1.
“On May 31, Dhur-
padabai allegedly stran-
gled her four-month-old
daughter Anusuya due
to her incessant crying.
The following day
, she
murdered her son Datta
inthesamemannerafter
hecriedoutforfood,”the
official said.
On Wednesday
, the ac-
cused burned their bod-
ies on a pyre in a field
with the assistance of
her mother Kondabai
Rajemod and brother
Madhav Rajemod, both
residents of Mukhed ta-
luka. A case has been
registered against the
three accused under rel-
evant sections of the In-
dian Penal Code (IPC).
On ventilator at home,
patient dies after power cut
The police department is conducting
an inquiry into the death of the
patient due to a power outage.
—Shailesh Balkawade, Kolhapur Superintendent of Police
Kalyan, Sengupta join Luka
Paichadze at top after round 5
MAHA OPEN CHESS TOURNEY
Woman strangles son infant
daughter to death for crying
First India Bureau
Mumbai: A special
POCSO court sen-
tenced a 33-year-old
man to death on Fri-
day for kidnapping,
raping, and killing a
nine-year-old girl in
2019. Reform is im-
possible, said Special
POCSO Judge HC
Shende.
The accused, Vadivel
aka Gundappa Chinna
Tambi Devendra, was
found guilty by the
court on Tuesday,
and the case was ad-
journed for the quan-
tum of sentence.
Special public prose-
cutor Vaibhav Bagade
had sought the death
penalty, claiming that
the accused posed a
threat to society. This
is Vadivel’s second
conviction in a POCSO
case.
This is the second
death sentence pro-
nounced by the same
court in last two days.
On Thursday, the same
judge sentenced a
45-year-oldmantodeath
for raping and murder-
ing a woman inside a
tempo in Sakinaka
eight months ago, de-
scribing the incident as
horrible, diabolic, in-
human, brutal, and
whose very thought
sent dreadful shivers
down my spine.
Mohan Chauhan, the
accused, was sentenced
to death by Judge HC
Shende on two counts:
murder and rape and
inflicting injury that
causes death.
Defence advocate for
Vadivel, Sunanda
Nandewar, said the case
did not fall under the
rarest of rare category.
She also added that the
case was based on cir-
cumstantial evidence.
The child’s body was
recovered a couple of
days after the incident
from a septic tank of a
public toilet not very
far from her home.
The accused was ear-
lier convicted and sen-
tenced to seven years
rigorous imprisonment
for sexually assaulting
another nine-year-old
girl in 2013.
Referring to this,
Bagade further had sub-
mitted, “Similar offence
under POCSO was com-
mitted with a victim
from the same locality.
Hence, he is a threat to
society. This makes it a
fit case to seek death.
His premature release
from jail resulted in this
offence, he has no re-
spect for law and pun-
ishment,thisalsoshows
that no reformative
theory is available to
him. He was convicted
for seven years but was
released in five years
through some scheme.
He committed the sec-
ond act within eight
months,” Bagade said.
Death penalty for Juhu
minor murder accused
Special POCSO Judge HC Shende says ‘Reform is impossible’
Accused burned
both bodies with
the help of her
mother and brother
SCORECARD
Deep Sengupta
Arjun Kalyan
JUSTICE IS SERVED

PERSPECTIVE
04
l Vol 1 l Issue No. 29
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: Jagdeesh Chandra
Editor: Anita Hada Sangwan
responsible for selection of news
under the PRB Act
SPIRITUAL SPEAK
The wise work for the
welfare of the world,
without thought for
themselves.
—Bhagavad Gita
IN-DEPTH
Piyush Goyal
@PiyushGoyal
India insulated from prevailing high
prices of agri commodities globally!
Modi Govt’s timely intervention on
export control yielding result. Wheat
prices well below international rates
sugar prices in control shielding
the common man.
Dharmendra Pradhan
@dpradhanbjp
India’s youth are breaking the mould
and are flourishing in what we often
call unconventional career choices.
Sriya Lenka of Jharsuguda, India’s
first K-pop star and the newest
member of the popular #Blackswan
band is one such talented youth who
has pursued her passion.
TOP TWEETS
MOHAN BHAGWAT’S
ADVICE WON’T
APPLY TO MATHURA
QUTUB MINAR
n the face of it RSS
chief Mohan Bhag-
wat’s advice to Hin-
dus to not go looking
for a Shivling in eve-
ry mosque is a welcome move.
He added that everyone involved
in the Gyanvapi mosque dispute
should sit together and resolve
it with mutual agreement. If
not, then the decision of the
court should be accepted by all
considering the justice system
as sacred and supreme”.
Two points need to be made
here. One, even in the Ram
Janmbhoomi case, dialogue
formed part of the resolution
process before the sacred justice
system pronounced its verdict.
The second point is about Shiv-
ling which, in the present case,
pertains to Gyanvapi mosque.
Will the litigating Hindus stop
raising the issue of Lord Krish-
na’s birthplace at Mathura
where no mention of Lord Shi-
va’s idol has been made yet. Or,
will the Hindu groups stop
claiming Qutub Minar as their
religious place? No, they can’t
be stopped. And the justice sys-
tem knows what should be done.
O
as the Central
Government lost
its plot in Kash-
mir where eight
targeted killings
in 27 days have instilled panic
in the Pandit community?
The fast-deteriorating situa-
tion has caused such fear that
the minority community is
now bent on leaving the Val-
ley as soon as possible. Nearly
half of the 350 migrants have
already moved to Jammu.
They have also started pro-
tests against the govern-
ment’sfailuretoprotectthem.
The BJP government may
find it unpalatable and Vivek
Agnihotri of The Kashmir
Files fame may disagree, but
theangrymigrantsareclaim-
ing the situation to be worse
than in the Nineties and have
warned of an exodus. That
will be a severe blow to the
government’s scheme to re-
settle Pandits in the Valley.
The decision to leave the Val-
ley was taken after terrorists
shot dead Vijay Kumar, man-
ager of a bank located in
south Kashmir.
There is an obvious Paki-
stani hand behind this up-
surge in the killings. The ISI-
trained ultras have adopted
the new tactic of identifying
and then eliminating the soft
targets generally using small
firearms. Indian intelligence
and police agencies’ failure
lies in their inability to pre-
vent these dastardly acts. It is
this lack of intelligence that
has riled the migrants and is
threatening to widen the de-
mographic imbalance.
Sensing the gravity of the
situation, Union Home Min-
ister Amit Shah held a high-
level security review meeting
with National Security Advi-
sor Ajit Doval, RAW chief
Samant Goel, head of Intelli-
gence Bureau Arvind Kumar
and other officials. A firm
response is needed to deter
Pakistan from its jihadi de-
signs in the Union Territory
.
HINDUS IN VALLEY
READY FOR EXODUS
There is an obvious
Pakistani hand behind
this upsurge in the killings.
The ISI-trained ultras have
adopted the new tactic
of identifying and then
eliminating the soft
targets generally using
small firearms
H
f gunsmadepeoplesafer,then
theUnitedStateswouldbethe
safest place in the world. How
many more children have to
diebeforetherightacceptthat
the answer to bad guys with
guns is not good guys with
guns, it’s getting rid of guns. ”
On May 25, the killing of 21
people, including 19 children,
in a primary school in Uvalde
city of Texas has shocked the
wholeof America.Thisheart-
wrenching incident of child
massacre has given rise to
new discussions for the Biden
administration to make con-
certed efforts towards gun
control at the federal level.
Actually America’s 2nd
Constitutional Amendment
(15Dec.1791)enshrinedtoown
a gun as a right to citizens.
Amendment reads: “A well
regulatedMilitia,beingneces-
sary to the security of a Free
State, the right of the people
to keep and bear Arms, shall
not be infringed.” Therefore,
citizens should not be denied
possession of arms. But the
changing scenario has made
it extraneous by eliminating
the concept of regulated citi-
zen. With more than 400 mil-
lion of firearms USA tops the
worldintermsof gunaverage
per capita. The United States,
with only 5 percent of the
world’s population, owns 48
percent of the world’s guns.
That is 89 percent of Ameri-
can have firearms.
According to the Gun Vio-
lence Archive a record 18 mil-
lion guns were purchased in
2020. (40 pct. Purchaser are
women) This fascination of
gunsisnowposingthebiggest
challenge. According to the
report of the Centers for Dis-
ease Control and Prevention’s
forNationalCanterforHealth
Statistics 44,826 people died in
the 2021 and the country suf-
fered $ 300 billion in damage
duetogunviolence.Inthefirst
five months of 2022 there have
been more than 17,499 deaths
in mass shooting incidents
that is 119 deaths per day
.
The tragic 10 person died
and 23 people were injured in
the mass shooting incident in
the Buffalo Super Market and
in subway of NY City in a
month; shook the whole of
America. To stop such vio-
lence, an emergency declared
in New York in July last year,
the state government had
made a provision of spending
Rs1038croreSothatyouthcan
be freed from depression by
creatingemploymentopportu-
nities and they should leave
thepathof diversion-violence.
At the federal level, President
Biden directed the Justice De-
partment to prepare an action
plan on Ghost Gun (Home
MadeGun)andadrafton“Red
Flag Law” to deal with gun
violence. A plan of spending
Rs 37,320 crore for the preven-
tion of gun violence; along
with it was also announced to
send a strike force to effective-
ly curb gun smugglers across
the country
. But the gun fasci-
nation of American citizens
thwarted all efforts of the
Biden administration.
According to the Centre for
Homeland Defence and Secu-
rity, there have been a huge
increaseinincidentsof shoot-
ings in schools which is very
worrying. In the 2021, there
have been 222 incidents, so far
this year there have been 136
incidents in which 27 inno-
cent deaths have occurred.
The recent incident of child
carnage has shocked the
whole of America. President
Biden said in his condolence
message- “To lose a child is
like having a piece of your
soul ripped away
.” He quoted
scripture: “The Lord is near
to the broken-hearted and
saves the crushed in spirit.”
In such situation only the
National Rifle Association (a
strong lobbying organization)
should be expected to play its
positive role in getting rid of
the horrific violence. Notably
theNRAsloganis“Gunsdon’t
kill anyone, people kill each
other.” More than 5 million
citizensareactivemembersof
this association and ever-in-
creasing number is fretting.
According to statistics, NRA
spends more than Rs 1900
crore in lobbying, which is
many times more than gun
controladvocacygroupswhich
thwart the overall efforts of
governments. That’s why the
President said helplessly- “As
a nation, we have to ask, when
in God’s name are we going to
stand up to the gun lobby
.
Undoubtedly gun violence
has inflicted deep wounds on
American society and tar-
nished America’s image in-
ternationally. That’s why
Biden had said- “Gun vio-
lence is an epidemic, an in-
ternational embarrassment
for America, more a public
health crisis than a gun cri-
sis.” (8 April 2021). Whatever,
governments and elite citi-
zens should make concerted
efforts to stop gun violence.
The fascination of Indian
youth towards illegal weapons
is also scaring. Possessing il-
legal arms and posting pics
with weapons on social media
has become the choice of most
of the youth. They consider
gangster as their ideal. Inci-
dents of firing in wedding cer-
emonies have become very
common among youth. News
of illegalarmslike-DesiKatta,
Semi-AutomaticPistol,12bore
gun factories in the Mewat ar-
eas of Bharatpur-Alwar; Noi-
da, Gurugram Faridabad and
Ghaziabad of NCR very com-
mon. The result of all this was
that gangster directly chal-
lenged the law and order situ-
ation in states. E.g. Vikas
Dubey’s Bikru incident in UP
,
Incident of gangster Papla ab-
sconding from the police sta-
tionbyfiringweaponslikeAK-
47 at the police station and the
APencounterinRajasthan.To
deal such situation the GOI
has amended The Arms Act
1959 in the year 2019, in which
the provision of life imprison-
ment has been made in some
offences.Despitethisfrighten-
ingpicture,thesituationinthe
country as a whole under con-
trol due to the strict system of
arms license and continuous
seizures- arrests by the police.
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY
THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL
TEXAS CARNAGE: THE
NATION IN TRAUMA
Fascination of arms in our youth is scaring
GUN CULTURE OF USA
“
I
The recent incident of child
carnage has shocked entire
America. President Biden
said in his condolence
message- “To lose a child is
like having a piece of your
soul ripped away.” He
quoted scripture: “The Lord
is near to the broken-
hearted saves the crushed
in spirit.” National Rifle
Assn is expected to play its
role in curbing the violence
Possessing illegal arms
posting pics with
weapons on social media
has become most youth’s
choice. They consider
gangster as their
ideal. Incidents of
firing in wedding
ceremonies have
become very common
among them. News of
illegal arms in Mewat
areas of Bharatpur-Alwar
NCR are very common
DR SURESH YADAV
The writer is Freelancer and
Commentator on International Affairs

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05
INDIA
Sharat K Verma
New Delhi: The
Bharatiya Janata Party
had three Muslim mem-
bers in the Rajya Sabha.
This time all three have
bid farewell and none of
them will be making a
comeback. Till the last
day of filing nomina-
tions on Tuesday, BJP
declared candidates for
22 seats and no Muslim
candidate is named in it.
In this way
, the BJP will
have one hundred mem-
bers in the Rajya Sabha,
in which there will not
beasingleMuslimmem-
ber.TheBJPalreadyhas
303 MPs in the Lok Sab-
ha, out of which there is
notasingleMuslim.The
BJP did not field any
Muslim candidate even
in the recently held Ut-
tar Pradesh assembly
elections.
However, senior jour-
nalist and former minis-
ter MJ Akbar was a Ra-
jya Sabha MP from Mad-
hya Pradesh. He was
caught in the charge of
‘Me Too’. Several wom-
en journalists accused
him of sexual harass-
ment, after which he
had to leave the ministe-
rial post. Then it seemed
that again he would not
be able to get the mem-
bership of Rajya Sabha.
Similar was not the case
with Mukhtar Abbas
Naqvi. Everyone was as-
suming that he is a min-
ister at the Center and
the Muslim face of BJP
in national politics, so
he will return to the Up-
per House. He is a Rajya
Sabha MP from
Jharkhand. But this
time he too was not giv-
en ticket by the party
. In
his place, the party has
given ticket to Aditya
Sahu in Jharkhand.
It is being said that
Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi
will contest the by-elec-
tion from his traditional
Rampur Lok Sabha seat.
He has been a one-time
MP from this seat. The
seat fell vacant after the
resignation of Sama-
jwadi Party’s Azam
Khan. For the past few
days, Azam Khan has
been expressing dis-
pleasure with his party
- Samajwadi Party
. It is
believed that due to this
public outrage, he was
released from jail after
27 months. Informed
sources say that he can
help the BJP candidate.
If he does not contest
anyone from his family,
then automatically BJP
will be helped. The BSP
has already said that it
will not contest the by-
polls. So, it is possible
that with the help of
Azam Khan, Naqvi-
BJP’s first Muslim MP -
reaches the Lok Sabha.
The third Muslim MP
was Syed Zafar Islam.
He became a Rajya Sab-
ha MP from Uttar
Pradesh in the by-elec-
tion two years ago.
There was a lot of dis-
cussion in Madhya
Pradesh about his role
in bringing Jyotiradi-
tya Scindia closer to the
BJP and toppling the
Congress government.
Then it was believed
that he would get one
more term. He is origi-
nally from Jharkhand
and is engaged in some
political activities there
these days, due to which
there was talk of him
becoming a Rajya Sab-
ha MP from Jharkhand.
But it didn’t happen. In
this way, the three Mus-
lim MPs of the BJP in
the Rajya Sabha were
bid farewell.
BJP bids farewell to remaining Muslim MPs - Akbar, Naqvi Zafar!
MINORITY REDUCED TO ‘ZERO’!
New Delhi (Agencies):
After veteran leader
Ghulam Nabi Azad was
refused the Rajya Sabha
nomination, Congress
interim president Sonia
Gandhi tried to placate
him by offering him the
number two position in
the party. Sources said
the move has failed to
pacify Azad, who re-
fused to take the offer.
According to sources
after Sonia Gandhi's
phone call on Sunday to
Azad both met and dis-
cussed issues regard-
ing the party.
Sources said Azad
was offered the post in
the organisation which
could be number two in
party hierarchy, but the
veteran leader refused
to accept it.
Azad who was de-
nied Rajya Sabha berth
at the last moment is
upset with the party af-
fairs, and has not
shown any interest in
the organisation and
reportedly told Sonia
Gandhi that “new peo-
ple should work as it is
a generational shift in
the party”.
Azad and his support-
ers are also upset with
the way party is func-
tioning in JK and in
recent statewise 'Chin-
tan Shivir' neither Azad
nor his supporters par-
ticipated. This clearly
showed that all is not
well. His supporters
want him to be the face
of the party in the state.
Congress in its ten-
candidate list for the Ra-
jya Sabha denied Anand
Sharma and Azad the
berth and instead nomi-
nated Pratapgarhi.
SoniaGandhireached
out to Ghulam Nabi
Azad and sources said
the move was an effort
to douse the fire and cull
any discontent. Azad
was one of the prime
movers of the G-23.
Tension is also sim-
mering in the party
units in Chhattisgarh
and Rajasthan over out-
siders being nominated
for the Upper House.
The party leaders are
questioning the move,
but the Chief Ministers
have not said anything
against the party's
choice of candidates.
Both states will go to
polls next year.
AZAD REJECTS SONIA’S OFFER TO
BE ‘NUMBER 2’ IN CONG: REPORT
Tension is also simmering in party units in C’garh, Raj over outsiders’ nomination
Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi with senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad. —FILE PHOTO
New Delhi (PTI): P
Chidambaram and Ra-
jeev Shukla of the Con-
gress, BJP’s Sumitra
Valmiki and Kavita
Patidar, former Con-
gress leader Kapil Sibal,
RJD’s Misa Bharti and
Jayant Chaudhary of
theRLDwereamongthe
41 winners declared
electedunopposedtoRa-
jya Sabha on Friday
.
All the 11 candidates
in Uttar Pradesh, six in
Tamil Nadu, five in Bi-
har, four in Andhra
Pradesh, three each in
Madhya Pradesh and
Odisha, two each in
Chhattisgarh, Punjab,
Telangana and
Jharkhand and one can-
didate in Uttarakhand
won without a contest.
Of the 41 winners, 14
are from the BJP, four
each from Congress and
YSR Congress; three
each from DMK and
BJD;twoeachfromAAP
,
RJD,TRS,AIADMK,one
eachfromJMM,JDU,SP
and RLD besides Inde-
pendent Sibal.
Elections were sched-
uled to be held on June
10 to fill 57 Rajya Sabha
seats from 15 states that
will be falling vacant
due to the retirement of
members on different
dates between June and
August. Friday was the
last date for withdrawal
of candidature.
On June 10, elections
will now be held for six
seats in Maharashtra,
four each in Rajasthan
and Karnataka and two
in Haryana. Results
will be declared the
same day
.
Of the 11 candidates
declared elected in Uttar
Pradesh, eight are from
BJP
, one each from AAP
,
JMM,SPandRLD,along
with independent Sibal.
PC, Sibal, Misa among
41 elected unopposed
RAJYA SABHA POLLS
ED again summons RaGa
onJune13inHeraldcase
New Delhi (Agen-
cies): Congress leader
Rahul Gandhi has been
issued a fresh summon
by the Enforcement Di-
rectorate (ED) to join
the investigation in
connection with the
National Herald case.
He will have to record
his statement before
the ED officials on
June 13.
Earlier, he was sum-
moned to appear before
the probe agency on
June 2. Rahul had re-
quested the probe agen-
cy to give him some
time to join the investi-
gation as he was
abroad. Soon after re-
ceiving the summon,
Rahul wrote to the ED
saying he won’t be able
to join the probe on
June 2. He had sought
time from the centre
agency. The ED had
summoned both Sonia
Gandhi and Rahul Gan-
dhi to join the probe.
Bengaluru (Agencies):
The Karnataka Exami-
nation Authority (KEA)
announced on Friday
that students wearing
hijab will not be allowed
toentertheexamination
hall to take the Common
Entrance Test (CET) for
admissions to profes-
sional courses.
The students will
have to remove hijab
before entering the ex-
amination hall. The
KEA has also clarified
that any cloth or dress
which symbolises reli-
gion is not allowed.
TheCETexamination
will be conducted on
lines of SSLC (10th
class) and II PUC exams.
CETwillbeheldonJune
16, 17, and 18. The stu-
dents have been asked to
attend CET with respec-
tive uniforms.
In the backdrop of al-
legations of rampant
corrupt practices in en-
trance exams to posts
of Police Sub-inspec-
tors (PSI) and Associ-
ate Professors, authori-
ties have decided to
ensure fair conduct of
examinations.
Students attending
CET are not allowed to
wear ‘Mangal Sutras’,
nose ring, earring, gold
chain,banglesandother
gold ornaments. The
students have also been
asked not to bring
watches,calculatorsand
any electronic device.
Karnataka: Hijab not allowed in CET exams
A special CBI court here
on Friday turned down
the anticipatory bail ap-
plications of Congress
MP Karti Chidambar-
am, and others in a mon-
ey laundering case reg-
istered by the Enforce-
mentDirectorate,linked
to an alleged Chinese
visa scam.
Apart from the Con-
gress leader, the Rouse
Avenue Court in Delhi
also dismissed the an-
ticipatory bail appli-
cations moved by oth-
er accused persons
in the case including
his chartered account-
ant S Bhaskar Raman
and Vikas Makharia,
the associate Vice
President of thermal
power plant Talwandi
Sabo Power.
On May 30, the court
of Special CBI judge MK
Nagpal had reserved the
order and posted the
matter for Friday
.
In the last hearing,
senior advocate Kapil
Sibal argued that the
alleged transaction is
from 2011 and the ED
registered the case af-
ter a lapse of a long
time. He pointed out
that there was no inves-
tigation all these years.
Karti denied pre-arrest bail
by CBI court in ‘Visa Case’
Waiting period
for Musk’s
deal expired,
says Twitter
Twitter Inc said on Fri-
day the waiting period
under the HSR Act for
Elon Musk’s $44-billion
acquisition of the social
media firm has expired.
Completion of the
deal is now subject to
remaining customary
closing conditions, in-
cluding approval by
Twitter stockholders
and the receipt of appli-
cableregulatoryapprov-
als, Twitter said.
The HSR Act, or the
Hart-Scott-Rodino Anti-
trust Improvements Act
of 1976, requires parties
to report large transac-
tions to both the Federal
Trade Commission and
the U.S. Department of
Justice Antitrust Divi-
sion for review.
The development
comes as Musk said last
month that the Twitter
deal was “temporarily
on hold”, while he
sought more informa-
tion about the propor-
tion of fake accounts on
the platform.
Twitter’s shares rose
about 2% to $40.62 in
premarket trading.
New Delhi (PTI):
Amid a growing de-
mand for shifting
Kashmiri Pandit em-
ployees to safer places
after a series of tar-
geted killings, the
Jammu and Kashmir
administration on Fri-
day made it clear the
employees would not
be moved out of the
Valley but transferred
to safer locations.
Official also said the
recent escalation in
targeted terrorist vio-
lence would not lead to
any change in plans for
holding the annual
AmarnathYatrawhich
is scheduled from June
30-August 11.
The assertion comes
in the wake of a spate
of terror incidents
which included target-
ed killings of civilians.
One of the victim
was Rahul Bhat.
Bhat was a Kash-
miri Pandit migrant
who was employed
under a prime minis-
ter's package.
He who was shot
dead by terrorists on
May 12 at his office in
Chadoora of Budgam
in central Kashmir.
His brutal killing
sparked demonstra-
tion by around 6,000
employees at various
places who demanded
their relocation out-
side the Valley
.
But officials Friday
argued that the Jam-
mu and Kashmir ad-
ministration cannot
be a party to any eth-
nic-cleansing script-
ed from across the
border by agreeing to
the demand of Kash-
miri Pandit employ-
ees to be shifted out
of the Valley.
They also asserted
the killing of soft tar-
gets by terror groups
won't deter them from
holding the annual
Amarnath Yatra.
No shifting of Kashmir migrant employees to
Jammu;AmarnathYatraonschedule:Officials
Jammu-based government employees, posted in Kashmir,
protest for their transfer to their home districts, in Jammu.
WILL FIGHT FOR JUSTICE: STUDENTS
GOVT EMPLOYEES PROTEST
Jammu: A group of government employees,
mostly teachers, staged a sit-in here for the
second day on Friday to press for their transfer
from Kashmir to their home districts in the Jam-
mu region following a string of targeted killings
by terrorists in Kashmir. These employees have
returned to Jammu after their colleague, Rajni
Bala, was shot dead by terrorists at a school in
south Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Tuesday.
The protesters took out a march from the Press
Club to Ambedkar Chowk on Thursday.
Mukhtar Abbas MJ Akbar Syed Zafar Islam
Elon Musk
Cong MP Karti Chidambaram
P Chidambaram Kapil Sibal Misa Bharti

06
INDIA
Uttarakhand Chief
Minister Pushkar Sin-
gh Dhami won the
Champawat Assembly
bypoll by a margin of
over 55,000 votes. This
was a much-needed vic-
tory for Dhami to con-
tinue to remain as the
chief minister as he
had lost the earlier state
Assembly polls.
Meanwhile, UDF
candidate Uma Thomas
won the Thrikkakara
Assembly bypoll, while
BJD candidate Alaka
Mohanty won the Bra-
jrajnagar assembly by-
election.
Dhami secures
CMship, wins
Champawat by
over 55K votes
SAD leader’s murder reason
for Bishnoi-Moosewala enmity
New Delhi: Sidhu
Moosewala’s murder
probe took an interest-
ing turn on Friday
with details emerging
about the alleged in-
volvement of gangster
Lawrence Bishnoi in
the murder. A PTI re-
port said that Bishnoi,
has alleged that
Moosewala was in-
volved in the killing of
Akali Dal leader
Vikramjit Singh on
August 7 last year lead-
ing to his “rivalry”.
Mansa: Amid protests, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann
visited the family of singer Sidhu Moose Wala at
his residence in Mansa on Friday. Heavy police
security was deployed outside the residence of the
Punjabi singer as Mann reached the Moosa village
while locals protested against the visit.
CM MANN MEETS MOOSE
WALA'S FAMILY AMID PROTESTS
New Delhi: Jathedar of Akal Takht, Giani Harpreet
Singh, has been granted ‘Z’ category security by the
Union Home Ministry, officials said on Friday. The
decision to accord country’s second highest category
security to the Sikh religious leader was taken in view of
the enhanced threat perception.
U’khand CM Pushkar Dhami
receives the victory certificate
after winning the Champawat
Assembly by-election, in
Champawat.
New Delhi (ANI):
Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi on Friday ac-
companied President
Ram Nath Kovind to
his ancestral village,
Paraunkh, in Kanpur
Dehat of Uttar
Pradesh.
Governor Anandiben
Patel and Chief Minis-
ter Yogi Adityanath
were also part of visit.
“This land has dev
bhakti (devotion) and
desh bhakti (patriot-
ism). The President is
giving a new direction
to women empower-
ment through Milan
Kendra. This village
will set an example as
a model village”, said
PM Modi.
President Ram Nath
Kovind and Prime Min-
ister Narendra Modi
also visited Milan Ken-
dra Paraunkh village in
Kanpur Dehat earlier
this afternoon.
The Kendra is the an-
cestral house of the
President that was do-
nated for public use and
converted into a com-
munity centre (Milan
Kendra). The Milan
Kendra helps women
get trained in job-ori-
ented courses such as
weaving, stitching, em-
broidery and other
courses.
The PM and Presi-
dent performed puja to
Pathri Devi, a deity
widely revered in the
village.
New Delhi (ANI): Ex-
ternal affairs minister
S Jaishankar on Thurs-
day said India was not
sitting on the fence but
was rather entitled to
its own opinion when it
came to foreign policy.
Just because its take on
global issues was not
agreeable to others, did
not mean India was sit-
ting on the fence, the
minister said.
“I am not sitting on
the fence just because I
don’t agree with you. It
means I am sitting on
my ground,” Jais-
hankar said at
GLOBESEC 2022 Brati-
slava Forum, where he
was talking on the top-
ic, ‘Taking friendship to
the next level: Allies in
the Indo-Pacific’. He
was questioned on In-
dia’s position on the
world stage, and that
non-alignment could
not always be a plausi-
ble option for a world
leader. The statement
came when foreign min-
ister was asked if sit-
ting on fence was an
option for India as an
emerging world leader,
especially with respect
to ongoing Russia-
Ukraine war. India has
still not openly con-
demned Russian inva-
sion of its eastern
neighbour that com-
pleted 100 days since its
launch on Feb 24. Rus-
sianPresidentVladimir
Putin has justified the
invasion as a “special
operation”. Jaishankar
said the world could no
longer be “Eurocen-
tric”, and that Europe
needed to shun that
mindset. “World is
changing new players
are coming,” he said.
Sitting on my ground, not on fence: Jaishankar
GLOBESEC 2022 BRATISLAVA FORUM
S Jaishankar meets Eduard Heger, in Slovakia on Friday.
New Delhi (ANI): PM
Narendra Modi on
Thursday praised Sri
Guru Teg Bahadur for
serving as a shield that
protected India’s faith
and culture from the
brutal assault launched
on it by Mughal emper-
or Aurangzeb.
In an unprecedented
address to the nation
from the Red Fort on the
400th Parkash Purab of
the ninth Sikh Guru,
the PM also defended
the Citizenship Amend-
ment Act (CAA), calling
it a necessary measure
to provide relief and se-
curity to the Sikhs and
Hindus facing religious
persecution in neigh-
bouring countries.
The PM also referred
to Aurangzeb’s order, is-
sued from the Red Fort,
to behead the Sikh
Guru after he had re-
fused to convert to Is-
lam. Theme of religious
persecution also led
Modi to bow before
Guru Granth Saheb.
Jaishankar said the country’s foreign policy was not
based on accepting a “construct” that it had to side with
a power axis, or it belonged to another camp if it did
not side with one. “I (India) am one-fifth of the world’s
population. I am what, today the 5th or 6th largest
economy in the world. Forget the history and civilisation
bit; everybody knows that. I feel I am entitled to have my
own side. I am entitled to weigh my own interests, and
make my own choices. My choices will not be cynical.
They will be a balance of my values,” he added.
I AM ENTITLED TO WEIGH MY OWN
INTERESTS CHOICES: JAISHANKAR
Kalaburagi (K’taka)
(PTI): Seven Telangana
residents of an extend-
ed family, who were re-
turning home from a
vacation from Goa, got
burnt to death as their
bus overturned and
caught fire minutes af-
ter hitting a goods vehi-
cle on the outskirts of
Kamalapura town here
on Friday
.
The bus was carrying
32 passengers, includ-
ing 30 from same ex-
tended family residing
in Hyderabad, Kalabur-
agi district, SP Isha
Pant said. The seven
persons — a man, his
wife and child; and an-
other man, his wife,
child and the woman’s
mother got stuck.
PM Modi hails Sri Guru
Teg Bahadur, defends CAA
CAA cleared the way for Sikhs and religious
minorities in neighbouring countries to ob-
tain citizenship in India. All this became
possible only because our Gurus taught us to hold
humanity above everything else. Love and unity are
parts of our culture. —Narendra Modi, PM
CENTRE TO SET UP ‘PM SHRI SCHOOLS’
TO PREPARE STUDENTS FOR FUTURE
New Delhi: Union Education Minister Dharmendra
Pradhan said that the Centre has been in the process to
establish “PM Shri schools” which aim to prepare stu-
dents for the future and will be a laboratory for the new
National Education Policy (NEP) while addressing the
National School Education Ministers` Conference in Gu-
jarat on Thursday. Pradhan urged that as “We prepare
for the opportunities and challenges of the 21st
century,
we must leverage technology to strengthen our educa-
tion and skilling ecosystem,” highlighting the 5+3+3+4
approach of NEP covering pre-school to secondary,
emphasis on ECCE, teacher training and adult educa-
tion, integration of skill development which are steps for
preparing global citizens of the 21st century.
IN THE COURTYARD
New Delhi: The central
government’s Ministry
of Law and Justice
notified the appoint-
ment of two judicial
officers as additional
judges of the Bombay
High Court on Friday.
Urmila Sachin Joshi-
Phalke, who is presently
principal judge at City
Civil and Sessions Court
in Mumbai, and Bharat
Pandurag Deshpande,
are notified as ad-
ditional judges for one
year. The Supreme
Court collegium had
recommended their
names for elevation to
the Bombay High Court
in September last year.
The central govern-
ment had returned their
files but the apex court
collegium had reiterated
its recommendation
in February. Nearly 11
judges of the Bombay
High Court will retire
this year.
New Delhi (ANI): SC on Friday directed each protected
forest and national sanctuary must have an eco-sensitive
zone of 1 kilometre from notified area. The apex court
also directed to not allow mining within national wildlife
sanctuaries or national parks. It also disallowed any per-
manent structures within the ecosensitive zone. These
were among the various directions which were passed
by the SC in the matter of protected forests.
New Delhi: SC on Friday said construction activity being
carried out by Odisha government at the famed Shree Jag-
annath temple in Puri is necessary in larger public interest
as it dismissed pleas opposing the work. A vacation bench
of Justices B R Gavai and Hima Kohli rejected the PIL with
costs and said the state cannot be prevented from making
necessary arrangements to provide basic facilities to lakhs
of devotees visiting the temple. The top court said there is
no merit in the contention raised by the appellants.
New Delhi: The Delhi HC on Friday, while dealing with a
plea against forced religious conversions, observed that
every person has a right to choose profess any religion
of choice, saying it’s a Constitutional right. Bench of Jus-
tices Sanjeev Sachdeva and Tushar Rao Gedela noted,
“If someone is forced to convert, then it’s a different is-
sue but to convert is a person’s prerogative.” Bench was
hearing PIL moved by lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay.
TWO ADDITIONAL
JUDGES
APPOINTED TO
BOMBAY HC
SC SAYS ECO-SENSITIVE ZONE
‘ESSENTIAL’ IN PROTECTED FORESTS
PILS DISMISSED AGAINST EXCAVATION
WORK AROUND JAGANNATH TEMPLE
‘RELIGIOUS CONVERSION NOT PROHIBITED,
FORCED CONVERSION IS DIFFERENT’
7 charred to death as bus catches fire after collision
New Delhi: PM Narendra Modi has expressed deep grief
over the loss of lives due to a road accident in Karna-
taka’s Kalaburagi district in the early hours on Friday.
“Saddened by the mishap in Karnataka’s Kalaburagi
district. My thoughts are with those who have lost their
loved ones due to this tragedy. I hope that the injured
recover at the earliest. The local administration has been
helping those affected,” the Prime Minister quoted.
PM CONDOLES LOSS OF LIVES IN ROAD
ACCIDENT IN KARNATAKA
President and PM
visit Kanpur rural
Hyderabad Gang-Rape:
1 arrest, 5 accused held
Modi Kovind visit exhibition.
Hyderabad: One per-
son has been arrested
in the gang-rape of a
17-year-old girl inside a
car on Saturday even-
ing in Hyderabad, said
the police. Out of five
people identified, three
are minors, it added.
The crime in the
heart of the Telangana
capital, allegedly in-
volving children and
grandchildren of politi-
cians driving luxury
cars, has triggered
howls of protest. The
police said that the
home minister’s grand-
son is not involved.
“Victim couldn’t re-
veal anything about cul-
prits. She only revealed
one name and special
teams were immediate-
ly formed to arrest
them. CCTV footage re-
covered. We’ve identi-
fied five culprits as per
CCTV footage and as
per the statement of the
victim,” said police of-
ficer Joel Davis.
Huge protest at a po-
lice station this evening
saw shouting BJP work-
ers being carried away.
Police initially regis-
tered a case of “outrag-
ing modesty”.
Visakhapatnam(ANI)
: Around 140 people, in-
cluding women work-
ing in an apparel unit,
in a Special Economic
Zone (SEZ) here fell sick
following a suspected
ammonium gas leak on
Friday
. However, no cas-
ualties have been re-
ported so far. All of
them have been rushed
to the hospital.
The women com-
plained of eyesores and
vomiting, following
which they fainted.
They were first taken to
the health centre in the
zone and later rushed
to hospitals in Anaka-
palli and Visakhapat-
nam. The gas was sus-
pected to have leaked
from Porus Laborato-
ries located outside the
APIIC(AndhraPradesh
Industrial Infrastruc-
ture Corporation) SEZ
at Atchyutapuram, but
its impact was felt in
the apparel unit inside
the economic zone.
Meanwhile, the dis-
trict’s fire officer Lak-
shman Swami said that
a total of 140 people had
been affected by gas
leak. “Reasons behind
leakage not known.”
AMMONIA GAS LEAKS, OVER
140 WORKERS FALL SICK
ALL WORKERS FELL SICK WERE WOMEN WHO WERE WORKING
IN A SEEDS FACTORY THAT IS LOCATED NEXT TO THE LAB
Employees of Porus laboratories waiting to get medical attention
after a gas leaked from the company in Visakhapatnam on Friday.
We are investigating the cause of the gas
leak. I have asked for a report on the inci-
dent. The situation is now under control.
—Gudivada Amarnath, State Industries Minister
—PHOTO BY ANI
SC rules Arya Samaj’s marriage certificate invalid
New Delhi: Arya Samaj is a Hindu reformist
organization and was established by Swami
Dayanand Saraswati in 1875. A bench of
Justices Ajay Rastogi and BV Nagarathna
said that the work and jurisdiction of Arya
Samaj is not to issue marriage certificates.
“Only competent authorities can issue mar-
riage certificates. Bring the original certifi-
cate before the court,” the bench said. The
court’s observations come in a case related
to a love marriage in Madhya Pradesh. The
girl’s family members had lodged an FIR
against the young man accusing him of kid-
napping and raping their daughter, stating
that she was a minor. The young man, in his
petition, had said that the girl was an adult
and that she had decided to get married of
her own free will and right. The marriage
took place in Arya Samaj Mandir.
—FILE
PHOTO
AKAL TAKHT JATHEDAR GETS ‘Z SECURITY’

BIZ BUZZ
07
IDBI privatisation:
Govt may add
Corporate houses
New Delhi (Agen-
cies): The govern-
ment is likely to
include corporate
houses and ask
the RBI to extend
the time frame for
the IDBI Bank’s
privatisation process.
The extension might
allow the new own-
ers to negotiate with
shareholders and
eventually reduce
their stake to 26%.
However, the RBI has
maintained silence
on the decision
to allow industrial
houses in the bidding
process by neither
denying nor approv-
ing the government’s
decision.
Tomato prices
reach `100/kg
in Mumbai
New Delhi (PTI): The
prices of tomatoes
have surged in
southern states and
reached `100 per kg
in Mumbai. Con-
sumers in Mumbai’s
Dadar vegetable
market have to shell
out `80 per kg for
tomatoes while in
most other markets
it sells at `100,
according to various
media reports. Heat
waves in March-April
in key tomato-grow-
ing states Maharash-
tra, Karnataka, and
Andhra Pradesh bad-
ly affected produc-
tion, further driving
up prices across the
country.
PepsiCo to
invest `186 cr on
Mathura unit
New Delhi (PTI):
Food and beverages
major PepsiCo India
on Friday said it will
invest an additional
`186 crore for the
expansion of its
food manufacturing
facility at Kosi Kalan,
Mathura in Uttar
Pradesh to produce
nacho chip brand
Doritos. “As part of
its expansion plan,
PepsiCo India will
increase the capacity
of the state-of-the-art
foods plant by setting
up a new manufac-
turing line, which will
produce one of the
world’s leading nacho
chip brand Doritos,”
the company said.
Hyundai opens
booking for new
‘Venue’
New Delhi (PTI):
Hyundai Motor
India on Friday said
it has commenced
bookings for the
new version of its
compact SUV Venue
which is scheduled
to hit the market later
this month. Custom-
ers can book the new
model at the compa-
ny’s dealerships by
paying `21,000. The
new Venue will offer
customers enhanced
connectivity enable
them to control ve-
hicle functions right
from the comfort of
their homes.
INDIA’SMAYSERVICESGROWTHAT11-YEARHIGH
New Delhi (PTI): In-
dia’s services sector ac-
tivities improved fur-
ther and expanded at
strongest rate in over 11
years in May
, supported
by a substantial pick-up
innewbusinessgrowth,
even as input cost infla-
tion climbed to a record
high, a monthly survey
said on Friday
.
The seasonally ad-
justed SP Global India
Services PMI Business
Activity Index jumped
to 58.9 in May, up from
57.9 in April, amid bet-
ter underlying demand
and strong inflows of
new work.
For the tenth straight
month, the services sec-
tor witnessed an expan-
sion in output. In Pur-
chasing Managers’ In-
dex (PMI) parlance, a
print above 50 means
expansion while a score
below 50 denotes con-
traction.
“The reopening of
the Indian economy
continued to help lift
growth in the service
sector.Businessactivity
rose at the quickest
pace in over 11 years in
May, supported by the
fastest upturn in new
orders since July 2011,”
saidPollyannaDeLima,
Economics Associate
Director at SP Global
Market Intelligence.
The upturn was sup-
ported by a substantial
pick-up in new business
growth as demand con-
tinuedtorecoverfollow-
ing the reopening of the
economy after COV-
ID-19 lockdowns, the
survey said.
The latest results,
however, continued to
signal subdued global
demand for Indian ser-
vices, with new busi-
ness from abroad hav-
ing now declined in
each month since the
onset of COVID-19 in
March 2020.
On the prices front,
the rate of inflation
climbed to the highest
in 16-and-a-half years
of data collection. One-
fifth of panellists sig-
nalled increases, citing
greater food, fuel, la-
bour, material, retail
and transportation
costs.
Despite remaining
optimistic towards the
12-month outlook for
business activity
, firms
remained concerned
that inflationary pres-
sures would dampen
the economic recovery
.
The overall level of op-
timism remained sub-
dued by historical
standards.
On the jobs front, ser-
viceprovidersrefrained
from taking on addi-
tional workers in May
.
“In fact, there was a re-
newed but only margin-
al decline in employ-
ment,” the survey said.
Meanwhile, the SP
Global India Composite
PMI Output Index --
which measures com-
bined services and
manufacturing output
-- rose from 57.6 in April
to 58.3 in May, pointing
to the fastest rate of
expansion since last
November.
Seasonally adjusted SP Global
India Services PMI Biz Activity
Index jumped to 58.9 in May Elevated price pres-
sures continued to re-
strict business opti-
mism. Despite pick-
ing up from April,
the overall level of
sentiment among ser-
vice providers was
historically subdued.
Pollyanna De Lima,
Economics Associate Director at
SP Global Market Intelligence
The white collar job
market continued to
show robust recovery in
May as hiring activity
surged over 40% com-
pared to a year ago amid
recovery across key in-
dustry sectors, accord-
ing to the latest data
fromjobsportalNaukri.
com based on its Job-
Speak Index.
The key sectors that
led the growth were
travel and hospitality
(+352% YoY), retail
(+175%), real estate
(+141%) and insurance
(+126%). Other key sec-
tors that saw an uptick
in hiring trends as com-
pared to last year were
banking and financial
services (+104%), edu-
cation (+86%), automo-
bile (+69%), oil gas
(+69%), fast moving
consumer goods (+51%)
and IT-software/soft-
ware services (+7%).
The data is compiled
from the Naukri.com
based on jobs posted by
over 76,000 clients. The
report shows hiring
trends across industry
sectors, geography, and
experience level.
When compared with
last month, all key sec-
tors showed stabilisa-
tion and continued to
maintain April run
rates in May
.
The demand for tal-
ent in metros and non-
metrosremainedsteady
as all cities indicated a
double-digit y-o-y
growth in May. Among
metros, Delhi (63%) reg-
istered the highest y-o-y
growth closely followed
by Mumbai (+61%), Kol-
kata (+59%), Chennai
(+35%), Pune (+27%),
and Hyderabad (+23%).
White collar hiring activity up 40% YoY in May
When compared
with last month,
all key sectors
showed
stabilisation and
continued to
maintain April
run rates in May
Mumbai (PTI): A fag-
end sell-off dragged
down benchmark indi-
ces in a choppy session
on Friday, with the
Sensex settling 49
points lower.
The 30-share BSE
Sensex, which traded in
the green for most part
of the day, came under
selling pressure to-
wards the end
to close 48.88
points or
0.09% low-
er at
55,769.23.
During
the day,
it hit a
high of 56,432.65 and a
low of 55,719.36.
The broader NSE Nif-
ty also gave up intra-
day gains and dipped
43.70 points or 0.26% to
finish at 16,584.30.
From the Sensex
pack, UltraTech Ce-
ment, Maruti, NTPC,
Bajaj Finserv, IndusInd
Bank, Axis Bank and
MM were the major
laggards.
In contrast, Reliance
Industries, Infosys,
Larsen Toubro, HCL
Technologies, Sun
Pharma, Wipro, TCS
and Hindustan Unile-
ver Limited were
among the gainers.
Market succumb to fag-end
sell-off; Sensex drops 49 pts
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee pared initial gains and settled 3
paise lower at 77.63 (provisional) against the US dollar on
Friday, in line with a muted trend in domestic equities. At the
interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee consolidated
in a narrow range. It opened at 77.47 against the greenback
and finally settled at 77.63, down 3 paise over its previous
close. During the session, the rupee touched an intra-day
low of 77.66 and a high of 77.47.
RUPEE
SETTLES
3 PAISE
LOWER
AT 77.63
AGAINST
USD
ONGC should
have solid
cash flow: SP
New Delhi (PTI): Rid-
ing on the back of surge
in global energy prices,
state-owned ONGC
should have a solid base
to increase investments
over the next 12-18
months on account of
healthy earnings, SP
Global Ratings said on
Friday
.
“Improved cash flow
continues to support
the rating of ONGC”, it
said in a statement.
While ONGC gets
price equivalent to in-
ternational oil rates for
the crude oil it produc-
es from fields such as
Mumbai High, the gov-
ernment fixed price of
natural gas based on a
formula that factors in
global indices.
Forex reserves up
by $3.854 billion
Mumbai (PTI): The
country’s foreign ex-
change reserves in-
creased by $3.854 billion
to $601.363 billion in the
week ended May 27, ac-
cording to RBI data. In
the previous week, the
reserves rose by $4.230
billion to $597.509 bil-
lion. FCA increased by
$3.61 billion to $536.988
billion in the week end-
ed May 27.
Expressed in dollar
terms, the foreign cur-
rency assets include the
effect of appreciation
or depreciation of non-
US units like the euro,
pound and yen held in
the foreign exchange
reserves.
Gold reserves in-
creased by $94 million
to $40.917 billion.
The Special Drawing
Rights with the IMF
rose by $132 million to
$18.438 billion.The
country’s reserve posi-
tion with the IMF also
increased by $18 million
to $ 5.019 billion in the
reporting week.
High in pesticides, countries
send back Indian tea
Kolkata (PTI): Both
international and do-
mestic buyers have re-
jected a series of tea
consignments due to
the presence of pesti-
cides and chemicals be-
yond permissible lim-
its, Indian Tea Export-
ers Association (ITEA)
chairman Anshuman
Kanoria said on Friday
.
Filling up the vacu-
um created by crisis-hit
Sri Lanka in the global
market, Tea Board is
eyeing to ramp up ex-
ports. However, the re-
jectionof consignments
is causing a decline in
outward shipments.
All teas sold in the
country must conform
to the FSSAI norms.
However, most of the
buyers are purchasing
tea that have unusually
high chemical content,
Kanoria said. In 2021,
India exported 195.90
million kg tea. The ma-
jor buyers were CIS na-
tions Iran. The board
is aiming to achieve 300
million kg tea this year.
Kanoria said that many
countries are following
strict entry regulations
for tea. Most of the
countries follow varia-
tions of the EU stand-
ards, which are more
stringent than the FS-
SAI rules.
RBItogofor0.40%
ratehikeinnextmeet
Mumbai (PTI): The
RBI is expected to go for
another rate hike of
0.40% at the scheduled
review of the monetary
policy next week, a for-
eign brokerage said on
Friday. The central
bank’s rate setting pan-
el will follow it up with
a 0.35% hike in rates at
the next review in Au-
gust, or make it into a
0.50% hike next week
and a 0.25% increase in
August, to make the to-
tal quantum of rate
hikes at 0.75%, the re-
port by Bofa Securities
said. On May 4, the RBI
hiked rates by 0.40%,
and Governor Shakti-
kanta Das has already
called a rate hike at the
forthcoming review as
a “no brainer” given the
pressure to maintain its
core mandate of infla-
tion in the targeted
band of under 6%.
Tata Projects
to construct
Noida airport
Mumbai (PTI): Tata
Group’s infrastruc-
ture and construc-
tion arm, Tata Pro-
jects, has bagged the
contract to construct
the upcoming Noida
International Air-
port at Jewar, in Ut-
tar Pradesh.
As part of the con-
tract, Tata Projects
will construct the
terminal, runway,
airside infrastruc-
ture, roads, utilities,
landside facilities
and other ancillary
buildings at the air-
port, Yamuna Inter-
national Airport Pri-
vate Limited said in
a statement. YIAPL
is a 100% subsidiary
of Swiss developer
Zurich Airport Inter-
national AG.
Reasons for rise
Unsold housing stock
rises to 9 lakh units
New Delhi (PTI):
Unsold housing
stock rose margin-
ally by 1% to 9.01
lakh units during
Ja nu a r y - M a rch
2022 across eight
major cities as com-
pared to the previ-
ous quarter on in-
creased new
launches of resi-
dential properties,
according to a re-
port by Credai, Col-
liers India and Li-
ases Foras.
As per the data,
the unsold invento-
ries increased to
9,01,967 units dur-
ing January-March
period of this year
from 8,94,100 units
in the previous
quarter.
Out of the total
unsold housing
stocks across eight
cities during the
first quarter of this
calendar year,
Mumbai Metropoli-
tan Region (MMR)
and Delhi-NCR, the
two biggest proper-
ty markets in India,
contribute 50%.
The MMR ac-
counts for the high-
est share of unsold
inventory at 32%,
followed by Delhi-
NCR (18%) and
Pune (14%).
INCREAMENT

Renni Abraham
Mumbai: Over 4,000
women community
health workers
(CHWs) contracted
with the Brihan-
mumbai Municipal
Corporation (BMC)
secured a partial vic-
tory on their demand
for minimum wages
(as reported in First
India’s May 16, 2022
edition), on Friday.
BMC authorities
conceded a staggered
wage hike of `3,800
on the third day
of their re-launched
agitation.
Confirming this de-
velopment, advocate
Prakash Devdas,
president of the
Mahapalika Arogya
Karmachari Sangha-
tana (MAKS), told
First India, “We were
called for negotiations
by the BMC adminis-
trator, who deputed Ad-
ditional Commissioner
Sanjeev Kumar for the
process. The civic
administration has
agreed to instantly
enhance wages of
CHWs by `2,000 from
this month. A further
`1,000 will be added to
their wages from April
2023. It has also
agreed to discontinue
the TDS deduction of
`900 from their `9,000
monthly emoluments
henceforth.”
CHW employees had
been demanding a min-
imum wage of `15,581
per month, after its un-
ion persuaded the
Bombay High Court to
rule in its favour in
September 2020. As a
result of the Friday
meeting, the BMC
has committed to
enhancing monthly
emoluments from the
current wage of `8,100
(including `900 deduct-
ed as TDS) to `11,000
(effectively `11,900 per
month since the TDS
will no longer be
charged) and a further
enhancement of `1,000
from April 2023.
The women workers
have been agitating
over the issue at the
iconic Azad Maidan
since June 01. They
are awaiting formal as-
surances from the
BMC before they
officially withdraw
their strike.
“Even with the ad-
hoc increment, we have
not withdrawn from
our original demand
for minimum wage
emolument of `15,581,”
Advocate Devdas told
First India.
He added, “In addi-
tion to the agreed en-
hancements offered
today, we are insisting
that the entire `3,000
increment be made ap-
plicable from June 2022
itself. The BMC has
also included another
20 diseases (apart from
the existing 20 diseas-
es) to the incentives
list for detection and
reportage for CHWs.
While the BMC author-
ities claim that this
would lead to a further
enhancement of `5000
per month, we are con-
vinced that the current
incentives are only re-
sulting in cash incen-
tives between `1000
and `3,000.”
First India Bureau
Mumbai: The number
of accidents in Maha-
rashtra have gone up
in the first three
months of 2022 when
compared to the cor-
responding period
last year, and these
may have been the re-
sult of fewer straight
roads and rash
driving on highways,
state transport minis-
ter Anil Parab said on
Thursday.
This year, Maharash-
tra witnessed 11,900 ac-
cidents just between
January to March, as
compared to 29,493 ac-
cidents in all of 2021
and 24,971 accidents
through 2020.
Speaking at an event
where the state govern-
ment's 'faceless RTOs'
scheme was launched to
provide people six ser-
vices related to the sec-
tor online, Parab said a
meeting had been called
to discuss this rise
and enforce mitigating
solutions.
“Maharashtra, sadly
,
has a higher accident
rate. There are a few rea-
sons that we have found
out. Maharashtra has
very few straight roads.
Secondly
,vehiclesarebe-
ingdrivenrashlyonnew
straight roads or big
highways that have
built,” he said.
“In order to reduce ac-
cidents,everytalukahas
been given targets to
identifyblackspots,take
corrective measures. We
will come to know about
the outcome of these
steps after three
months,” he added.
Speaking on the 'face-
less RTO' scheme, Par-
ab said services com-
prising driving licence
renewal, change in
driving licence address,
duplicate driving li-
cence, duplicate vehicle
registration certificate,
change in address, and
NOC for transferring
driving licence or vehi-
cle to another state will
be given online and peo-
ple need not visit RTOs.
08
2NDFRONT
Financial success and emotional
fulfilment – both are equal
measurements of true success.
—Dr Jagdeesh Chandra,
CEO Editor-in-Chief, First India
First India Bureau
Mumbai: Three Indian
Navy personnel were
arrested on Thursday
by the MRA Marg po-
lice for allegedly ran-
sacking a pan shop
and manhandling
three persons in south
Mumbai.
According to police,
the incident took place
between 9.30 pm and 10
pm on Wednesday
.
Rajendra Patil, the
complainant, told police
that he came down from
his building to smoke a
cigarette when he saw
thatsixIndianNavyper-
sonnel were sitting and
consuming alcohol near
their building.
“On seeing them, my
two friends and I asked
them to stop drinking
alcohol there. So, the
Navy personnel left,”
said the complainant.
But 30 minutes later,
they (accused) returned
and assaulted the com-
plainant and two others,
including the owner of a
pan shop, police said.
Subsequently
, the pa-
trolling van of MRA
Marg police arrived at
the spot and one of the
accused, Shivam Muke-
sh, was apprehended
and taken to the police
station. Later the other
two accused were also
arrested.
First India Bureau
Mumbai: After render-
ing 32 years of glori-
ous service to the na-
tion, Indian Navy
ships Akshay and Nis-
hank were decommis-
sioned on 3 June 2022.
The event was con-
ducted at Naval Dock-
yard, Mumbai in a tra-
ditional ceremony
wherein the national
flag, the naval ensign
and the decommission-
ing pennant of the two
ships were lowered for
the last time at sunset.
While INS Nishank
was commissioned on
12 September 1989, INS
Akshay was commis-
sioned a year later on 10
December 1990 at Poti,
Georgia. INS Nishank
and INS Akshay were
part of the 22 Missile
Vessel Squadron and 23
Patrol Vessel Squadron
respectively under the
operational control of
Flag Officer Command-
ing, Maharashtra Naval
Area. The ships were in
active naval service for
more than 32 years and
during their illustrious
journeys participated
in several naval opera-
tions including Op Tal-
war during the Kargil
War and Op Parakram
in 2001.
Admiral R Hari Ku-
mar, Chief of the Naval
Staff, was the Chief
Guest for the function.
Vice Admiral Ajendra
Bahadur Singh, Flag
Officer Commanding-
in-Chief, Western Naval
Command and Vice Ad-
miral Biswajit Dasgup-
ta, were also present for
the ceremony
.
First India Bureau
Latur: A murder case
accused—who was on
the run for the last few
months—allegedly as-
saulted an inspector
when he tried to arrest
the former in Latur
city. The policeman
opened fire in self-de-
fence in which the ac-
cused was injured, an
official said on Friday
.
The incident took
place in Shrinagar area
of the city late night on
Wednesday
, following
which both—the inspec-
tor as well as the ac-
cused—wereadmittedto
a local government-run
hospital.
Based on a tip-off that
theaccused,identifiedas
Narayan Tukaram Ir-
batanwad, was in Shri-
nagar locality of Latur
city
, the police launched
a search operation on
Wednesday
. Police in-
spector Balaji Mohite
laid a trap and appre-
hended Irbatanwad. But
the accused assaulted
Mohite and tried to
strangle him to death af-
ter kicking him.
Mohite was injured in
the attack, but he pulled
outhisservicepistoland
fired in self-defence.
The accused was shot in
the waist.
Both of them were
later shifted to a hospi-
tal. While Mohite has
been discharged from
the medical facility
, the
accused is being treated.
Fewer straight roads, rash driving cause rise in accidents in Maha
This year, the state witnessed 11,900
accidents between January and
March, as compared to 29,493
accidents in all of 2021 and 24,971
accidents through 2020
Police personnel at the site where a speeding tanker carrying propylene gas hit three cars as it
overturns on the Pune-Mumbai Expressway near Bhor Ghat, in Navi Mumbai. —FILE PHOTO
4 DEAD, 5 INJURED AS CAR HITS AUTO
After 32 yrs, INS Akshay,
Nishank decommissioned
INS Nishank was commissioned on 12 September 1989, INS Akshay was commissioned a year later
on 10 December 1990. —FILE PHOTO
The event was
conducted at
Naval Dockyard,
Mumbai in a
traditional ceremony
BMC OFFERS `3.8K PAY HIKE TO CHWs
Nurses of state-run hospitals protesting for wage hike at
Azad Maidan. —PHOTO BY BHUSHAN KOYANDE
Over 4,000 women health
workers had been agitating at
Azad Maidan for increment in
minimum wage since June 01
The women workers have been agitating
over the issue at the iconic Azad Maidan
since June 01. They are awaiting formal
assurances from the BMC before they of-
ficially withdraw their strike. “Even with the
ad-hoc increment, we have not withdrawn
from our original demand for minimum
wage emolument of `15,581,” Advocate
Devdas told First India.
IN ANTICIPATION
Navy personnel held
for creating ruckus
MURDER CASE ACCUSED ATTACKS COP, BOTH GET INJURED
First India Bureau
Mumbai: Maharash-
tra Government has
issued orders to stop
home delivery of liq-
uor started during
the COVID-19 lock-
down.
Retail outlets like
Nature’s Basket on
Friday sent out text
messages to patrons
across Mumbai that
they will not be able to
deliver wine and beer
tocustomersduetothe
orders from the State
Excise Department.
Speaking to the me-
dia,excisedepartment
officials said they the
state home depart-
ment had issued a di-
rective that the home
delivery of liquor was
allowed as a special
case during the COV-
ID-19 lockdown as per
the provisions of the
Disaster Management
Act 2005. The orders
were to be valid until
the lockdown restric-
tions were lifted.
“From April 1, the
government had lifted
all restrictions related
tothelockdown.Hence
the provision of home
delivery for liquor,
beer, mild liquor and
winehavingFL-II,FL/
BR-II and FL/W-II li-
cences under the Bom-
bay Liquor Rules, 1953
automatically stand
withdrawn,” an offi-
cial said.
Interestingly, the
government has
withdrawn the home
delivery when the
COVID-19 cases are
slowly but surely
rising again in Maha-
rashtra.
On Friday, the ac-
tive cases of COVID-
19crossed 5,000 cases,
and union health min-
istry expressed con-
cern over the rise in
new cases and positiv-
ity rates in and
around Mumbai in
the past week.
The BMC has de-
cided to increase the
testing from 8,000 tests
per day to 330 to 40,000
per day and sounded
an alert to the civic
administration to be
ready to scale up if
the cases continue to
rise sharply
.
Home delivery of
liquordiscontinued
From April 1, the government
had lifted all restrictions related
to the lockdown. Hence the provi-
sion of home delivery for liquor, beer,
mild liquor and wine having FL-II, FL/
BR-II and FL/W-II licences under the
Bombay Liquor Rules, 1953 automati-
cally stand withdrawn.
—Excise Department official
Home delivery
of liquor was
allowed as a
special case
during the
COVID-19
lockdown

T
elevision’s dashing couple,
Ankita Lokhande and
Vicky Jain walk away with
the trophy along with the
cash price of 25 Lakhs. The reality
show, Smart Jodi, has managed to win
theaudience’sheartwiththe
celebrity couples’ siz-
zling chemistries. They
were one of the
strongest duos since
the beginning and
managed to beat
Balraj and Deepti
in the finale.
SmartJodistarted
in February with
10 celebrity cou-
ples as they
battled it out to
win hearts with
their chemistry
and perfor-
mance.
eepi-
ka
Padukone
was an excel-
lent representa-
tive of the Indian
cinema at the Cannes
Film Festival. She not only attended
the event as a jury this year, but her excel-
lent fashion choices also made her stand out in
the crowd as well. The actress posted a video compi-
lation of her stint at the Cannes. The video started
with a background voice over, “Deepika Padukone is
undoubtedly one of the big Indian eye-catchers at the
Cannes Film Festival in the French Riviera”. It then
led on to the compilation of Deepika’s several attires
on the remix music of ‘Sound of da police’ a 2000 song
by KRS-One, ‘This is America’ by Childish Gambino
and others. While her fans sent in a lot of praises in
the comments section, one particular praise got every-
one excited. Priyanka Chopra Jonas who was missing
from all red-carpet events made sure to shower love on
her contemporary as she left a heart-eyes emoji in the
comments section.
MUMBAI | SATURDAY,
JUNE 4, 2022
www.firstindia.co.in I https://firstindia.co.in/epapers/mumbai I twitter.com/
thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia 09
A
lia Bhatt is one of the cutest and
most promising actresses in the
industry. She enjoys a massive
fan following on social media and
keeps sharing her stunning pictures
with her fans. However, the actress
had once talked about her style icon.
In a throwback interview with
Filmfare, the actress was asked
about her ultimate style icon to
which she replied, “Kareena Ka-
poor, Sonam Kapoor, and Deepika
Padukone are always well turned
out and have a great sense of
style. Anne Hathaway is an in-
spiration too. She’s always el-
egantly dressed
PC ON
PC ON
DEEPIKA’S
DEEPIKA’S
STINT
STINT
D
S
hilpa Shetty will be
gracing the sets of
Dance Deewane Jun-
iors to promote her
movie, Nikamma. In the
promo, she can be seen hav-
ing a gala time with the
contestants as she danced
with them. In the promo of
the episode, the actress
Shilpa Shetty is seen
seated among the judges
Neetu Kapoor, Nora
Fatehi and Marzi Pe-
stonji. She enjoyed the
power-packed perfor-
mance of the little
kids and even gave a
standing ovation for
their performance.
The movie stars Ab-
himanyu Dassani
and Shirley Setia in
lead roles. It is
helmed by director
Sabbir Khan and
produced by Shab-
bir Khan Films
and Sony Pictures
India.
Smart Jodi
Smart Jodi
Winners!
Winners!
M
ouni Roy is seen cooling
off in the deserts of Tur-
key with her husband
Suraj Nambiar and her
girl gang. The actress took to her
social media to share pictures of
her vacation on her stories.
While she shared a series of pic-
tures with her friends whilst
walking around the streets of
Turkey, what caught their eyes
were her stellar snaps from her
glamorous night out with her
travel buddies. Mouni stunned
in a golden shimmery high-neck
and backless short dress. She
kept her look otherwise simple
with messy open hair and mini-
mal nude makeup. The actress has
always dazzled her fans with her
impeccable fashion sense and this
look of hers has for sure captured
the hearts of the audience.
Mouni
vacations in
Turkey!
GIORGIA LAUNCHES
AYURVEDIC DRINK
G
iorgia Andriani, has joined hands with Svaa
Life and introduced a healthy fitness shot
which is way too beneficial for our body.
The ready-to-drink plant-based collagen
wellness shot IS completely non-sugar, vegan, non-
GMO verified, and gluten-free drinks are created
for effortlessly youthful skin. Giorgia expressed
her emotions and, launching the product, the ac-
tress said, “As a millennial who is living a fast life,
I am always active and on the go.” I need a sustain-
able and natural supplement that can keep up with
my lifestyle and requirements. Svaa Life is a perfect
blend of modern science and the ancient wisdom
of Ayurveda.
AASHRAM
AASHRAM
3 LEAKED !
3 LEAKED !
A
ashram, a series directed by Jha
has gained so much love and
popularity amongst the audi-
ence and is now coming with the
third season. The MX Player original
premiered on the OTT platform on June
3. Just hours after its official release, the
third season leaked on many online sites
and has become available for HD down-
load as well. According to Bollywood-
Life, the series is available on Tamil-
Rockers, Telegram, Filmyzilla, Movier-
ulz and other torrent sites. Such leaks
hugely affect the performance of the
series and many times cause losses to the
makers. However, this is not the first
show that has been leaked.
Mouni Roy
Ankita Lokhande
Alia Bhatt
Priyanka Chopra
Giorgia Andriani
Shilpa
wins
hearts
Shilpa Shetty
ALIA’S
ALIA’S
FASHION
FASHION
INSPIRATION
INSPIRATION

04062022_First India_Mumbai.pdf

04062022_First India_Mumbai.pdf

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