05012022 first india ahmedabad

BJP to launch ‘One District, One Day’ campaign in Feb
ALL HANDS ON DECK
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: The
Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) plans to roll out
‘One District, One Day’
campaign in the run-up
to the 2022 state legisla-
tive assembly elections.
The party’s state unit
president CR Patil and a
few senior leaders will
spend one day in one
district and address lo-
cal cells and office-bear-
ers. The objective be-
hind the strategy is to
build momentum ahead
of Prime Minister Nar-
endra Modi’s official
launch of the party
campaign in March.
Addressing media
personsonTuesday
,BJP
General Secretary Rajni
Patel said, “State unit
president CR Patil head-
ed a meeting of state of-
fice-bearers, where a
statewide campaign
called ‘One District, One
Day’. Under this pro-
gramme, Patil and sen-
ior state leaders will ad-
dress district-level of-
fice-bearers and work-
ers of various cells.”
He added, “Patil will
spend a minimum of
one-and-a-half day in
each district. Detailed
plan of the campaign
scheduleiscurrentlybe-
ingworkedout.Theidea
behind this programme
is to gear up the state
cadre right from the vil-
lages, taluka, town and
city level. Before this
programme is rolled out
in the month of Febru-
ary, all district and ta-
luka committees have
been asked to complete
their page committee
formations and begin
approaching voters.”
Meanwhile, Patil ad-
dressed BJP office-bear-
ers at ‘Shri Kamalam’
(state party headquar-
ters) in Gandhinagar on
the day
. “We have an
army of party workers,
which Congress lacks.
People are enthusiasti-
cally joining our page
committees because of
Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi’s developmen-
tal work and influence
on people.”
According to party
sources, Modi is likely
to launch the party cam-
paign in March and will
address around 12 pub-
lic rallies in 10 months.
CM Bhupendra Patel and Gujarat BJP Chief CR Patil lit the
inaugural lamp at the ‘Dharmacharya Aashirwad Samaroh’ event
held at Sabarmati Riverfront in A’bad on Tuesday evening.
—PHOTO BY HANIF SINDHI
OUR EDITIONS:
JAIPUR, AHMEDABAD,
LUCKNOW & NEW DELHI
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THIRD TIME
UNLUCKY!
Surge in cases indicative of 3rd
Covid wave in India: Experts
New Delhi: In the ma-
jor Indian cities, the
Omicron variant of
coronavirus is account-
ing for more than 50%
of fresh cases of the in-
fection and the massive
surge in the number of
cases over the last one
week is indicative of a
third wave of the pan-
demic, as is being wit-
nessed in several coun-
tries, Dr NK Arora, the
chairman of Covid
working group of NTA-
GI, said on Tuesday
.
Noting that in major
metro centres and sur-
rounding regions, new
variant of the virus is
accounting for over
50% of fresh cases, Aro-
ra stressed there is no
need to panic. He said
over 80% people in
country have been in-
fected with virus natu-
rally, more than 90%
adults have received at
least one dose of vac-
cine and over 65% are
fully vaccinated. —PTI
NEW CORONAVIRUS VARIANT ‘IHU’
IDENTIFIED IN FRANCE
New Delhi: Scientists in France have identified a
new strain of coronavirus with more mutations
than the Omicron variant. The emergence of
the new variant, which probably originated in
Cameroon, as per the study, harbours both
substitutions N501Y and E484K in the spike
protein. At least 12 cases of the new variant have
been reported near Marseilles.
RAHUL QUESTIONS PM’S ‘SILENCE’ OVER
CHINESE BRIDGE ON PANGONG TSO LAKE
7 YEARS OF BJP’S HARDWORK VISIBLE
IN MANIPUR’S DEVELOPMENT: MODI
New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul
Gandhi on Tuesday questioned the
silence of PM Narendra Modi over
reports of China constructing a
bridge on the Pangong Tso Lake in
Ladakh near the LAC. “PM’s silence
is deafening. Our land, our people,
our borders deserve better,” Gandhi
said on Twitter. He cited a news
report claiming that the Chinese have been constructing
a bridge on Pangong Tso Lake for over two months
which is extremely close to the LAC. More on P5
Imphal: Prime Minister Narendra
Modi on Tuesday addressed a
gathering in Imphal and said that
the Northeast region and Manipur
are playing a greater role in India’s
development. He had earlier
inaugurated several developmental
projects worth Rs4,800 crore in
the poll-bound state of Manipur. He
also laid the foundation stones of 5 National Highway
projects and dedicated to people of Manipur, 2,387
mobile towers. PM said previous govts neglected the
region resulting in alienation of the people from the rest
of the country while 7 years of BJP has transformed the
region in terms of development.
I-T DEPT SEARCHES PREMISES OF UP-BASED
REAL ESTATE PROMOTER CLOSE TO SP
New Delhi: The Income Tax (IT) department conducted
searches at the business premises of real estate company
ACE Group and its promoter Ajay Chaudhary in Delhi, Noida
and Greater Noida among other locations, said sources.
Searches are also being conducted at the premises of
companies dealing in the trade of shoes in Agra, said an
Income Tax official. Incidentally, Chaudhary is said to be
close to Samajwadi Party (SP).
LOCKDOWN WILL BE IMPOSED IF
CASES CROSS 20,000: MUMBAI MAYOR
Mumbai: Mayor Kishori Pednekar on Tuesday
said if daily COVID-19 cases
here cross the 20,000-mark, a
lockdown will be imposed in the
city as per Union government’s
rules. Talking to reporters at her
office in the BMC headquarters,
Pednekar suggested that
citizens wear triple-layer masks
while travelling in public buses
and local trains. More on P6
Malik bites the bullet,
shuns his‘Satya’
‘Bulli Bai’ gets
U’khand girl, B’lore
youth in cop net!
Delhi: 5,481 fresh cases,
highest since May 16
New Delhi: Delhi re-
corded 5481 new Cov-
id-19 cases & 3 deaths in
last 24 hours. The
positivity rate
surged to 8.37%
and Tuesday
saw highest
single-day rise
since May 16.
The fatality
rate now stands
at 1.72 per cent
and the recovery rate is
97.26 per cent.
The rise in COVID-19
cases has prompted
Delhi authorities to im-
pose a weekend
curfew from Fri-
day 10 pm to
Monday 5 am
in the city
. Dur-
ing weekend
curfew, no non-
essentialmovement
will be allowed and all
govt employees, bar-
ring essential services,
will ‘work from home’.
New Delhi: With the
Opposition citing his
remarks about PM Nar-
endra Modi, Meghalaya
Governor Satya Pal
Malik said he lauded
PM’s move to withdraw
the contentious farm
laws and “the PM is on
the right track now”.
Malik maintained
that his remarks quot-
ing Union Home Minis-
ter Amit Shah had been
“misconstrued” and
“Shah did not make any
comment on the PM”
but had “asked me to
keep meeting people &
try to convince them”.
“Actually, Amit Shah
had asked me why do I
keep making state-
ments? But when I told
him govt had to find a
middle path for the
farmers and cannot let
them die, he was very
understanding. He un-
derstood the issue too,”
he said. —Agencies
Mumbai: An engineer-
ing student has been ar-
rested in Bulli Bai case
in which Muslim wom-
en vocal on political so-
cial issues were put on
an online ‘auction’. An
18-yr-old woman, Shwe-
ta Singh, from Uttara-
khand who is suspected
to be the main accused
in the case has also
been detained by Mum-
bai police. Mumbai Po-
lice arrested Vishal Jha
in Bengaluru & sent
him to police custody
till Jan 10. Woman is
also being questioned.
Arrested youth is a co-
accused & was in touch
with the woman. —ANI
I have tested positive for Covid. Mild
symptoms. Have isolated myself at
home. Those who came in touch wid
me in last few days, kindly isolate
urself and get urself tested
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Maharashtra min-
ister Eknath Shinde, Sena MP Arvind Sawant
test Covid-19 positive, Congress leader
Randeep Surjewala too tests positive. P8
Arvind Kejriwal
@ArvindKejriwal
LAUNCHED: INDIA’S 1ST COVID
ANTIVIRAL PILL FOR `1,399
New Delhi: Covid antiviral drug Molnupiravir has
been launched in India at `1,399 for a five-day
course for mild to moderate infection. Amid rising
cases of new Covid variant Omicron in the coun-
try, an expert panel of the Central Drugs Stand-
ard Control Organisation had recently approved
antiviral drug Molnupiravir for restricted use in
emergency situation.
POLL-DANCE!
‘Stampede’ during run
held by Cong in Bareilly
Bareilly: Congress
general secretary Pri-
yanka Gandhi’s ‘Ladhki
Hoon, Ladh Sakti Hoon’
campaign sustained a
jolt on Tuesday when a
‘stampede’ occurred
during marathon or-
ganised by Congress as
part of its poll cam-
paign, leaving 3 girls
injured.
“Permission was giv-
en for 200 children.
However, the number of
those who actually
turned up for the event
was much higher,” City
Magistrate Rajiv Pan-
dey said, adding inci-
dent will be thoroughly
probed and action will
be initiated against the
guilty. “What led to the
near stampede-like situ-
ation? What was the
laxity? How a large
number of children
gathered there, and the
permission given by the
higher education de-
partment are some of
the aspects that will be
probed,” Pandey said.
He claimed organis-
ers had announced a
scooty as first prize for
the marathon’s winner.
Participants were over-
excited to get the scooty
,
leading to pushing and
shoving, and creating a
stampede-like situa-
tion, he said. —ANI
Day after, Satya Pal
Malik says his
remarks about PM
were misconstrued
US SETS GLOBAL RECORD WITH OVER
1 MILLION CASES IN A DAY
Washington: United States reported more than
one million new Covid cases on Monday after the
long New Year’s weekend, according to data from
Johns Hopkins University, as Omicron variant
spread at a blistering pace. There were 1,080,211
new cases in the country, a global record. The
new figure comes a day after top US pandemic
advisor Anthony Fauci said the country was
experiencing “almost a vertical increase” in cases.
AHMEDABAD l WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2022 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/79050 l Vol 3 l Issue No. 42
Three days after China released a propaganda video, pictures have
emerged of a group of Indian Army soldiers proudly hoisting the
Tricolour in the Galwan Valley on New Year’s Day. The photos released by
Union Law and Justice Minister Kiren Rijiju are perceived as a powerful
counter to a video shared by the Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece
Global Times on January 1 trying to spread misinformation.
JHANDA UNCHA RAHE
HAMARA, SAYS INDIA WITH
TRICOLOUR @ GALWAN!

NEWS
AHMEDABAD | WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2022
02
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First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: The West-
ern Railway's
Ahmedabad division on
Tuesday warned people
against flying kites with
metal-coated strings
near railway tracks dur-
ing the upcoming Utta-
rayan festival.
The railway advisory
stated that even trying
to pull a regular kite
string entangled in the
high-voltage overhead
wires can endanger peo-
ple's lives and disrupt
railway traffic.
Uttarayan, a festival
of kites, is celebrated in
Gujarat on January 14,
during which revellers
pull and cut strings of
each other's kites as
part of the celebration.
In order to sharpen
the kite threads--called
"manjha"--people apply
a metal coating over the
thread, which becomes
a good conductor of
electricity
.
Railway tracks across
all sections have been
electrified with 25,000-
volt overhead wires. Ac-
tivities such as remov-
ing kites and strings
entangled in the over-
head traction wires
have been observed, the
advisory stated.
“Kites entangled in
25,000-volt overhead
traction wires can en-
danger human life, as
they can cause wires to
break while pulling out
the threads. This can
seriously disrupt rail-
way traffic and cause
loss of life,” it said.
People are requested
to avoid using metallic
powder in strings while
flying kites near rail-
way tracks and at rail-
way stations, the rail-
way advisory said.
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: Forgood
governance and admin-
istration, a balancing
act between the execu-
tive and elected wings is
verycrucial.Whenthere
is a clash of egos and
show of power, it can
destabilize and strain
the government. For the
same reasons, the cur-
rent state government
has been in the news for
the past two days.
On Monday, a MLA
had to resort to protest-
ing at the old secretariat
campus inGandhinagar
after his request to be
transferred to the state
capital was delayed.
The state health minis-
ter had recommended
the transfer of the de-
p a r t m e n t ’ s
Class III employee on
humanitarian grounds
as his father is bed-rid-
den. However, the
file was approved
by the health de-
partment officers.
The reason
cited for
the delay was the offic-
er’s busy schedule han-
dling the COVID-19 pan-
demic crises, im-
pending third wave
andpreparationsfor
theVibrantGujarat
Global Summit
(VGGS). It was
only when the
MLA sat on
dharna at
the secre-
tariat that
the officer
reached out to the
MLA, cleared his file
and issued
transfer orders.
As if this was not
enough, sources from
the power corridor have
informed First India
that a minister of state
had walked out of de-
partment meetings
thrice to influence and
impress the officers.
The issue being dis-
cussed was taking pos-
session of a piece of
land to set up a sub-sta-
tion. It is unclear wheth-
er the officer was not
respecting the minis-
ter’s suggestion or rec-
ommendation.
Though the meeting
was chaired by a cabi-
net minister and other
senior officers, the min-
ister of state thought it
fit to walk out without
seeking the cabinet
minister’s interven-
tion. Sources said that
it was an indication of
poor coordination be-
tween the executive
wing and elected repre-
sentatives, which in
turn, was not a good
sign for the govern-
ment’s image.
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: The Gu-
jarat government on
Tuesday ordered an in-
quiry into the allega-
tions of irregularities
in an online exam being
held for the recruit-
ment of 300 electrical
engineers and 53 civil
engineers for the state-
run Gujarat Energy
Transmission Corpora-
tion (GETCO), which
began on Tuesday and
will continue for next
three days.
The announcement
came after Aam Aadmi
Party’s state unit youth
wing leader Yuvrajsinh
Jadeja alleged that
some middlemen—in
connivance with gov-
ernment officials and a
private agency con-
tracted to conduct the
exam—to help candi-
dates cheat.
Hours later, Educa-
tion Minister Jitu Va-
ghani told reporters in
Gandhinagar that
Chief Minister Bhupen-
dra Patel has ordered
an inquiry into the al-
legations.
“Our government be-
lieves in transparency.
Nearly 35,000 young as-
pirants are appearing
in this online exam,
which will continue for
three more days. Our
CM has ordered an in-
quiry into the allega-
tions of irregularities.
We will take strict ac-
tion against the guilty,”
said Vaghani, who is
also the state govern-
ment’s spokesperson.
The minister also
said there was no imme-
diate plan to cancel the
online exam, which be-
gan on Tuesday
.
Vaghani defended the
Maharashtra-based
firm, contracted by
GETCO to conduct the
recruitment test, saying
the same agency was
hired earlier for the re-
cruitment of the rail-
way police and also by
some Central PSUs.
“The entire scam is
being run by people
based in Bayad-town of
Aravalli district. The
candidates who have
paid an advance (sum
of money) will only pre-
tend to appear in the
exam, but will not an-
swer any question. In-
stead, people sitting in
a control room will
clickanswersforthem,”
Jadeja claimed at a
press conference earlier
in the day
.
“The middlemen usu-
ally charge Rs20 lakh
from each candidate
and take Rs1-2 lakh as
advance. With the help
of this agency and gov-
ernment officials, the
right answers are
clicked from the control
room on behalf of the
candidate,” he added.
He also alleged that
Aravalli, Banaskantha,
Mehsana, and Sabar-
kantha districts were at
the epicentre of the
scam,whichhasbenefit-
ed “two to three particu-
lar communities”, and
named one Ajay Patel—
who runs a tuition class
in Bayad—as the re-
sponsible party
. Arvind
Patel, who was picked
up for questioning from
the school where he is
serving, rubbished the
allegations.
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: Congress
veteran Arjun Modhwa-
dia has accused the gov-
ernment of favouring
Arcelor Mittal Nippon
Steel (AMNS) by letting
the firm have 24.77 lakh
sq. m land at “throwa-
way prices” in Surat’s
Hazira. He also alleged
that the firm has
grabbed land worth
Rs9,861 crore.
Addressing the media
in Ahmedabad on Tues-
day, Modhwadia said
that the BJP govern-
ment, which takes ac-
tion against ordinary
citizens for encroached
even 100 yards of land
has set aside all rules
and regulations to help
the steel major.
“Earlier AMNS was
given advance posses-
sion of 72.48 hectares
(ha) land by the state
government at an adhoc
price of Rs700 per sq. m
on the condition that the
firm would pay the dif-
ference once the market
value was decided.
AMNS had paid Rs127
crore by calculating 2.5
times the adhoc valua-
tion,” Modhwadia ex-
plained. The firm is yet
to pay the difference.
Now, the state wants
to unlawfully set aside
the recommendations
of thedistrict-levelvalu-
ationcommitteechaired
by the collector and al-
low the sale of land for
Rs1,000 per sq. m. This is
a considerable drop
from the Rs16,520 rec-
ommended by the com-
mittee. After adjusting
the earlier payment of
Rs700 per sq. m is seek-
ing just Rs300 per sq. m
at 2.5 times. By this cal-
culation, the firm will
now have to pay just
Rs54 crore more, mean-
ing it will get the land
for just Rs181 crore, he
added. This will mean a
loss of Rs9,861.74 crore
to the exchequer, he fur-
ther said.
ANOTHER
SCAM?
GOVT ORDERS PROBE INTO
ENERGY DEPT RECRUITMENT
AAP’S YUVRAJSINH ALLEGES PROXIES BEING PAID TO TAKE EXAM INSTEAD OF CANDIDATES
The state government’s spokesperson and education minister, Jitu Vaghani (left) addressed the media hours after AAP’s Yuvrajsinh Jadeja (right) revealed details of the alleged irregularities in a press conference.
BALANCING STUBBORN BUREAUCRATS & EGOTIST POLITICIANS
WORKING TOGETHER
Lack of proper administrative
coordination between the
executive and elected wings
has plagued the govt
Railwayswarnagainstflying
kiteswithmetal-coatedstrings
neartraintracksthisUttarayan
MNS HAS GRABBED LAND WORTH
`9,861 CR: ARJUN MODHWADIA
Gujarat will celebrate Uttarayan on Jan 14. —FILE PHOTO
‘Trying to pull a regular
kite string entangled in
high-voltage overhead
wires can endanger
people’s lives’
‘WHAT UTSAV? NADI IS A MESS’
The encroachment department of Va-
dodara Mahanagar Seva Sadan seized food
stalls obstructing traffic near Siddhanath
Road, Khanderao Market and Kirtisthambh
area. Local councillors of election ward
13 Jagruti Kaka and Dharmesh Patni were
also present with the teams for vacating
the area. Encroachment has increased the
number of accidents. Officials also took
punitive actions against violators.
ROAD SAFETY OVER FOOD

First India Bureau
Rajkot/Vadodara: In a
bid to ensure quick
and complete vaccina-
tion, Rajkot District
Panchayat president
Bhupat Bodar on
Tuesday announced
smart TV sets as a
prize for the top three
district schools whose
strength is 100 or
more students.
Speaking to First In-
dia, Bodar said, “The
idea is to ensure com-
plete vaccination in the
district and safeguard
students from the pan-
demic. From my ac-
count, I will buy the
smart television sets
for the top three schools
who take the lead.”
Bodar said both chil-
dren and parents are
enthusiastic about the
jabs. From 510 second-
ary schools, 219 schools
have a strength of 100
and above.
On the second day of
vaccination for kids,
41,885 children aged be-
tween 15-18 years were
vaccinated in Rajkot.
Similar enthusiasm
was witnessed in Va-
dodara among parents
and children to get the
vaccine dose. As per
information provided
by the Chief District
Health Officer Dr
Surendra Jain, on the
first day of the cam-
paign, 17,858 students
were vaccinated
against the target of
16,000 youth by the
health care system of
the Vadodara district.
Overall, more than
4.94 lakh children in
the age group of 15-18
years on Monday re-
ceived the first dose of
the COVID-19 vaccine
on the first day of the
week-long drive
launched to cover
nearly 36 lakh benefi-
ciaries in the new cat-
egory, the state health
department said.
GUJARAT
03
First India Bureau
Vadodara: In an exam-
ple of how small steps
lead to big gains, the
experimental kitchen
garden set up by teach-
er couple—Narendra
Chauhan and Sushma
Chauhan—at the gov-
ernment primary
school in Dabhoi talu-
ka’s Vayadpur village
20 years ago now feeds
45 children a healthy
,
nutritious diet.
In 2002, the couple de-
cided to use the vast
space at the school to
grow vegetables to in-
cluded in the midday
meal served to the pu-
pils, which they felt was
lacking in some essen-
tial nutrients.
The community came
through too, providing
seedsandlabour.Afence
was erected and a bore
well drilled to ensure
regular water. Some
years, though, the Chau-
hans bore the costs on
their own.
Today
, they grow spin-
ach, fenugreek, carrot,
beet, coriander, garlic,
chili,brinjal,gourd,cau-
liflower,greenonion,red
androundradishamong
others, using only ma-
nure and pesticides,
where necessary
.
In the past two years
alone, the school has
used about 11,000kg of
the produce for the mid-
day meal, and about
1,000kg have been deliv-
ered to the homes of pu-
pils and donors amid the
pandemic.
Ithasalsobecomealo-
cal tourist attraction.
This school feeds kids’ bodies, as well as their minds
SMALL WONDER
The students also learn a useful skill in the kitchen garden.
Brainchild of teacher couple, the
kitchen garden at the govt school in
Dabhoi taluka has been ensuring
adequate nutrition for 20 years
Cloudyweather,lightrainsexpectedover5-dayspan
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: Promi-
nent cities including
Ahmedabad, Gandhi-
nagar, Vadodara and
Surat remained total-
ly dry for the past six
years, with the aver-
age rainfall for Janu-
ary usually negligible.
However, this dry
weathermaynotlast,the
IndiaMeteorologicalDe-
partment said on Tues-
day
.
While the past few
days have brought pleas-
antly nippy weather,
most parts of the state
willwitnessrainfallJan-
uary 05-07, with light to
moderate rain likely
January 06-07.
Usually
, the remains
far from the reach of
westerndisturbancesaf-
fecting northern India
andtheweathersystems
affecting peninsular In-
dia also stay away
.
However, an active
western disturbance
with its induced circula-
tion is arriving shortly
overnorthIndia,leading
to wet weather in Guja-
rat this week. Thursday
could bring particularly
wet weather, IMD said.
Currently
, the entire
stateisexperiencingfair
weather conditions.
Mercury levels are well
abovethenormalvalues,
with day temperatures
reaching30°Coverlarge
swathes of the state and
even the night tempera-
tures are steady in high
teens over most places,
nearly 5-6 °C above the
average.Coastalstations
like Dwarka, Porbandar,
Veraval and Surat are
witnessing minimum
temperatures in the
range of 20 °C or more.
Ahmedabad wit-
nessed a high of 29.9 °C,
two degrees above nor-
mal, and a low of 17.8 °C,
six degrees above nor-
mal, on Tuesday
.
The minimum tem-
perature in Naliya, usu-
ally Gujarat’s coldest
centre in the winter, was
also five degrees above
normal, at 15.5 °C, while
the maximum there was
a toasty 30.8 °C, three de-
grees above normal.
Kids thronged vax centres to get their first jabs in V’dara.
Rajkot announces Smart TVs for
Top 3 100% vaccinated schools
CRUCIAL READ
Surat: After textile traders,
now the city’s footwear
industry are protesting the
proposed hike in GST from
5% to 12%. Traders of the
Footwear Association gath-
ered at Udhna Darwaza
and protested wearing black arm bands. They said that
the incomes have declined during the pandemic. If GST
is raised, it will have a direct effect on inflation. Trader
Swapnil Kothari said that the GST Council’s decision
targets products below Rs1,000, and will thus affect
traders very adversely.
Surat: The railway depart-
ment and the local police
on Tuesday resumed
the demolition of illegal
encroachments on several
parts of the Udhna-Surat
railway line. The work had
begun in August but was stopped after a court order in
the wake of residents’ agitation. On Tuesday, 900 huts
near the Millennium Market were razed in the presence
of a convoy of more than 300 Surat RPF, GRPF and
Surat city police personnel. Meanwhile, railway officials
are also taking steps to avoid future encroachments.
SURAT’S FOOTWEAR INDUSTRY FOLLOWS
TEXTILE SECTOR IN OPPOSING GST HIKE
900 SHANTIES REMOVED IN 4 HOURS
IN SURAT ANTI-ENCROACHMENT DRIVE
A’BAD MAN HELD
FOR SMASHING IN
FRIEND’S FACE
Ahmedabad: Late Sun-
day night, Narol Police
received a call about a
man lying in a pool of
blood. His face had been
smashed in with a rock
so badly, he could not be
identified. On Tuesday,
cops arrested a friend of
the victim, later identified
as Rajkumar Yadav, after
conducting a primary
investigation based on
a complaint filed by the
latter’s wife.
Ahmedabad: A woman
has filed a complaint
against one Vimal
Panchal for threatening
her into resuming their
relationship. The woman
had dated Panchal sev-
en years ago and broken
up with him to marry
someone else. Panchal
on January 01 called the
woman’s husband and
threatened to ‘make her
life hell’ if she didn’t go
back to him.
MAN BOOKED FOR
THREATENING
EX-GIRLFRIEND
Thursday is likely to bring a large spread of rain, IMD said. —FILE PHOTO
HCRESTRICTSENTRYASCASESRISE
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: The Guja-
rat High Court has re-
stricted the entry of peo-
ple in its premises in the
wake of a rise in COV-
ID-19 cases in the state,
and barred the entry of
litigantswhilemakingit
mandatory for those re-
quired to appear in per-
son to carry COVID-19
negative report.
Thecurbswillcomeinto
effect from Wednesday
,
as per a circular issued
by the HC’s registrar
general on Monday
.
According to the cir-
cular, the Chief Justice
has also ordered for the
closure of all the can-
teens located in the high
court premises from
Wednesday
.
Screening has been
made mandatory for all
those entering the court
premises, with strict ad-
herence to social dis-
tancing norm and coop-
eration with the medical
screening team, it said.
“In the matter of ha-
beas corpus petitions,
the corpus shall be pro-
duced by the jurisdic-
tional police authorities
before the jurisdictional
district court to enable
the judges presiding the
bench to interact in vir-
tual mode with the per-
sons so produced,” said
the circular.
TheHChasalsoasked
the advocates’ associa-
tion president to ensure
that the bar library
, ref-
erence library and all
bar rooms are closed by
1 pm every day
, and re-
quested advocates to not
sit in large numbers in
the court premises.
Other precautionary
measureslikedownload-
ingtheAarogyaAppand
avoidinghandshakesare
alsorequiredtobetaken,
apart from following the
government advisory is-
sued from time-to-time,
said the circular.
The high court had re-
sumed physical hearing
from August last year,
after operating online
for nearly a year due to
the pandemic situation.
On Tuesday
, Gujarat
reported 2,265 new COV-
ID-19 cases, its highest
tally in nearly seven
months, raising the total
number of confirmed
cases reported from the
state to 8,37,293. Out of
the fresh cases,
Ahmedabad city ac-
counted for 1,314 cases.
Bars entry of litigants, makes it mandatory for those required to appear in person to carry -ve nCoV report
High Court of Gujarat. —FILE PHOTO
Rajkot: In the wake
of surging COVID-19
cases, the Rajkot city
wing of the National
Students’ Union of In-
dia (NSUI) on Tuesday
demanded shut down
of on-campus teaching
for Classes I to XI.
Members of the
student organization
resorted to chanting
‘Ram dhun’ and other
slogans at the district
education office. A
signed memorandum
in this regard was also
submitted to the DEO.
At least seven mem-
bers were detained
by the police from the
location.
Speaking to First
India, Rajkot city NSUI
President Naren-
dra Solanki said,
“COVID-19 cases are
on the rise and the
pandemic’s third wave
is already here. In
Rajkot city alone, there
are over 30 cases of
infection among school
students. No action is
being taken against
overcrowded school
vans and school auto
rickshaws. Despite
precautions, children
can contract the virus
if elders get infected.
Therefore, we demand
that offline education
be suspended and
online resumed with
immediate effect.”
NSUI WANTS OFFLINE CLASSES SUSPENDED DUE TO SURGE
Seven members were detained on Tuesday.
COVID-19 UPDATE
1,314 MAX
CASES IN
A’BAD
ACTIVE CASES
8,19,287
TOTALRECOVERED
240 MORE
IN A DAY
8,37,293
TOTAL CASES
2,265 CASES
IN A DAY
10,125
TOTAL DEATHS
7,881
02 DEATHS
IN A DAY
OMICRON CASES: 154; NEW: 2
GROWING PAINS
A’bad saw a high
of 29.9 °C, two
degrees above
normal, and a
low of 17.8 °C,
six degrees
above normal

PERSPECTIVE
04
UN TAG GIVES A WIDER PAN TO BENGAL’S BIGGEST
FESTIVAL OF DAUGHTER UMA’S HOMECOMING
Evolution of Durga puja
from the Brahminical
origin began after it
(Durga Puja) became
“Sarbojonin” or
Barowari– which means
when the puja was
organised by a
community for the
masses and this
happened widely in 1919
et us start the year with a
piece of good news which
broke during the middle of
Decemberlastyear.Politics
can wait for a while and
even as the festive season
albeit overshadowed by the
Covid menace continues…
let’s look at what the UNE-
SCO tag for Durga Puja ac-
tually means and we shall
also talk or mention about
a host of other events
which come under the cat-
egory and while we do so,
we would also touch upon
Durga Puja and the Free-
dom Struggle.
UNESCO’S Intergovern-
mental Committee for the
Safeguarding of the Intan-
gible Cultural Heritage put
“DurgaPujainKolkata”on
the Representative List of
the Intangible Cultural
Heritage of Humanity
. The
Committee met virtually
for its 16th Session between
December 13 and 18.
Eric Falt, director of UN-
ESCO, New Delhi, said he
was “confident that this in-
scription will offer encour-
agement to the local com-
munities that celebrate
Durga Puja, including all
thetraditionalcraftspeople,
designers, artists, and or-
ganisers of large-scale cul-
tural events, as well as tour-
ists and visitors… .”
Although celebrated
across the country — and
notably in states like West
Bengal, Tripura, Bihar,
Odisha, Jharkhand, As-
sam, Delhi, Maharashtra,
andUttarPradesh—andin
Bangladesh, the soul of the
10-day annual Sharodotsav
festival actually lies in Kol-
kata, where around 3,500
community Durga Pujas
are organised apart from a
large number of pujas in
Bengali households, apart-
ments and areas.
THE INTANGIBLE
HERITAGE
According to UNESCO,
“cultural heritage does not
end at monuments and col-
lections of objects”, but
“also includes traditions or
living expressions inherit-
ed from our ancestors and
passed on to our descend-
ants, such as oral tradi-
tions, performing arts, so-
cial practices, rituals, fes-
tive events, knowledge and
practices concerning na-
tureandtheuniverseorthe
knowledgeandskillstopro-
duce traditional crafts”.
Intangible cultural her-
itage, according to UNE-
SCO, is “traditional, con-
temporary and living at the
same time”, “inclusive”,
“representative”, and
“community-based”. It is
“an important factor in
maintaining cultural di-
versity in the face of grow-
ing globalisation” — and
“an understanding of the
intangible cultural herit-
age of different communi-
ties helps with intercul-
tural dialogue, and encour-
ages mutual respect for
other ways of life”.
WHAT’S ON THE LIST
The Representative List of
the Intangible Cultural Her-
itageof Humanitycurrently
has 492 elements, UNESCO
saidinitsrelease.Thelistof
Intangible Cultural Herit-
age elements on the UNE-
SCO website includes 13 en-
tries from India.
Besides Durga Puja in
Kolkata (2021), the India
list has: Kumbh Mela
(2017); Nowruz (2016); tra-
ditional brass and copper
utensil-making among the
Thatheras of Jandiala
Guru, Punjab (2014);
Sankirtana of Manipur
(2013); Buddhist chanting
of Ladakh (2012); Chhau
dance, Kalbelia dance of
Rajasthan, and Mudiyettu
of Kerala (2010); Ramman
festival of Garhwal (2009);
and Kutiyattam Sanskrit
theatre, Ramlila, and Vedic
chanting (2008).
The 2021 Representative
List of the Intangible Cul-
tural Heritage of Humani-
ty also has entries includ-
ing Arabic calligraphy,
Uzbekistan’s Bakhshi art,
Congolese rumba, falconry
,
Inuit drum dancing of
Denmark, and the tradi-
tional Italian knowledge
and practice of truffle
hunting and extraction.
Some historians have
also scripted that Durga
Puja had a special place
during the Freedom strug-
gle and invoking Goddess
Durga as the Mother was to
send a message across that
it is the responsibility of
her “sons” to rescue her
when the country is under
the British rule.
In 1882, Bankim Chan-
dra Chattopadhyay wrote
Anandamath and hailed
the association of Goddess
Durga with the concept of
a nation. Around this time
onlyhepennedVandeMata-
ram which went on to be-
come India’s Freedom
movement song. In 1905,
when the British proposed
theDivisionof Bengal,Dur-
ga Puja was very much a
major part of Freedom
Movement. Evolution of
Durga puja from the Brah-
minical origin began after
it (Durga Puja) became
“Sarbojonin” or Barowari–
which means when the
puja was organised by a
community for the masses
and this happened widely
in 1919. And thereafter, the
puja transformed the cele-
bration from a prayer to
sharodotsav… that is the
festival in autumn.
Sarbojonin or Barowari
refers to the public organi-
zation of a religious entity
,
mainly in West Bengal.
Barowari has significance
associated with Durga Puja
festival. The word “Baro-
wari” comes from the San-
skrit words “bar”, which
means public, and Persian
word “wari”, means For.
And subsequently from
then (1919) onwards the
number of sarbojonin Dur-
ga Pujas started increasing
manifold. Several freedom
fighters from the state were
actively associated with or-
ganising Durga Puja. They
believed Durga Puja could
be a platform to motivate
and thereby unite people
for the bigger cause that is
to liberate the country
.
Netaji Subhas Chandra
Bose was directly involved
with both Baghbazar Sar-
bojanin Durgotsav and
Simla Bayam Samity Sar-
bojanin Durga Puja. When
Netaji was Mayor of Cal-
cutta (1930), he donated Rs
500 to the Puja organizers.
Later, in 1938-1939, Netaji
himself became the presi-
dent of Baghbazar Sarboja-
nin Durgotsav committee.
However, since 2016,
Mamata Banerjee’s TMC
government has been or-
ganising the Durga Puja
Carnival — a parade of
popular pujas from Kolka-
ta and adjoining districts
along with cultural exhib-
its at Kolkata’s famed Red
Road to attract global at-
tention towards the festi-
val and uplift tourism.
Following the Unesco’s
tag,theChief Ministersaid
she was “proud and hon-
oured for what we have
achieved”, and took a jibe
at her political opponents
especially the BJP who she
said had “spread lies that I
don’t allow Durga Puja cel-
ebrations in the state”.
In September 2021, West
Bengal chief minister
Mamata Banerjee had re-
quested the UNESCO to
declare Durga Puja as “In-
tangible Cultural Herit-
age” and a global festival.
With this recognition by
UNESCO, the cottage indus-
tries of rural Bengal, devas-
tated by the pandemic, will
again limp back to life.
All Bengali households
consider Ma Durga as their
daughter and the celebra-
tion is a saga where the
daughter visits her father’s
home for the festivities and
after that… on the last
day… that is on Bijoya
Dashami, she returns to
her Kailash.
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY
THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL
L
In September 2021, West Bengal chief
minister Mamata Banerjee had
requested the UNESCO to declare Durga
Puja as “Intangible Cultural Heritage” and
a global festival. With this recognition by
UNESCO, the cottage industries of rural
Bengal, devastated by the pandemic,
will again limp back to life
ROBIN ROY
The writer is Senior Associate Editor,
Free Press Journal, Mumbai and former
Managing Editor, First India
l Vol 3 l Issue No. 42 l RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/79050. Printed and published by Anita Hada Sangwan on behalf of First Express Publishers. Printed at Bhaskar Printing Planet Survey No.148P, Changodar-Bavla Highway, Tal. Sanand, Dist. Ahmedabad.
Published at D/302 3rd Floor Plot No. 35 Titanium Square, Scheme No. 2, Thaltej Taluka, Ghatlodiya, Ahmedabad. Editor-In-Chief: Jagdeesh Chandra. Editor: Haresh Jhala responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act
Piyush Goyal
@PiyushGoyal
Celebrating the Grandeur
of #IndiaAtDubaiExpo with
7 Lakh+ Footfall Footprints
The buzz continues at Flag of
India Pavilion as it achieves
remarkable feat in less than
100 days The iconic India
Pavilion at @Expo2020Dubai
has left the whole world in
awe with our dynamic culture
& futuristic plans.
Dharmendra Pradhan
@dpradhanbjp
The flag of India is on Galvan.
Under what compulsion
does @RahulGandhi support
Chinese propaganda?
Why does Rahulji starts
questioning India’s
sovereignty, integrity and
bravery of the country’s
soldiers on every mysterious
foreign tour? Rahul ji, break
the silence.
TOP TWEETS
SPIRITUAL SPEAK
DO YOUR WORK WITH THE WELFARE
OF OTHERS ALWAYS IN MIND.
—BHAGAVAD GITA
his is poll sea-
son and a great
season for free-
bies. Political
parties are
ready to offer the moon in
order to influence the vot-
ers’ preference. Whether
they stand a chance to win
or not, no political party
is ready to lag behind in
offering allurements to
voters.
In fact they are trying to
outdo one another. The
Congress, which stands no
chance of victory, has of-
fered free scooty and mo-
biles, three free LPG cylin-
ders a year to housewives,
Rs 10,000 monthly hono-
rarium for Asha and Aan-
ganbadi workers, appoint-
ment of 40 percent women
on new government jobs
and Rs 1000 pension to wid-
ows and elderly women.
It is a fairly long list of
promises which are easy to
make but may be difficult
to deliver.
Akhilesh Yadav, who is
leading the Samajwadi
Party into the poll battle
and is the main challenger,
has promised 300 units of
free electricity to house-
holds unmindful of the
state power corporation’s
frail economic health.
He expects Arvind Kejri-
wal’s Delhi formula to
work in UP. The financial
impact of the promise has
obviously not been worked
out. Kejriwal has offered
300 units of free units of
electricity 24x7 to Punjab
voters to better the Con-
gress offer of 200 units.
These promises fall in
the category of allure-
ments or bribing of voters.
Having been adopted by all
political parties, whether
ruling or in Opposition,
nobody raises a question
about the legality of the
practice. The Election
Commission of India also
overlooks it, giving its tac-
it approval. Should it not
frown upon political par-
ties for making pre-poll
promises?
SEASON OF
FREEBIES IS IN
FULL SWING
Akhilesh Yadav,
who is leading the
Samajwadi Party
into the poll battle and
is the main challenger,
has promised 300
units of free electricity
to households
unmindful of the
state power
corporation’s frail
economic health
T

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INDIA
05
Postponing the census is a bad idea!
Anita Hada
New Delhi: So far, the
central government is
saying that it will con-
duct the 2021 Census,
but if the government
postpones it and justi-
fies it in the name of
getting the population
figures from the coro-
na vaccination data,
then, experts believe,
it will be a bad idea.
This is so because only
the number of people
will be known from the
vaccination data,
whereas from the Cen-
sus, many types of
data are made availa-
ble, on the basis of
which the policies of
the government are
made. Without these
figures, the public wel-
fare schemes of the
government are not
possible. At present,
the work is going on
with the 2011 Census
data and the estimates
based on it.
Vaccination data
cannot be a substitute
for Census data. The
Census data shows the
number of houses, SC-
ST data, mother
tongue and two other
languages, as well as
socio-economic data.
The policies of the gov-
ernment are made on
the basis of these so-
cio-economic data.
Since only the popula-
tion numbers will be
known from the vacci-
nation data, therefore
the government
should start Census as
soon as possible.
All the work of the
government has been
happening in the midst
of Corona. If elections
and election rallies in
the states were not
stopped due to Corona,
then what is the point
of postponing the Cen-
sus? Crowds do not
gather during Census
work. The government
is terming employees
conducting the elec-
tions as frontline work-
ers and getting the pre-
caution dose started,
in the same way, Cen-
sus can also be started
by applying precaution
dose to those involved
in the programme.
SIT begins probe, seer
offers to bail out accused
Dehradun: As an SIT
began its probe into the
recent Haridwar event
where hate speeches
were delivered against
Muslims, a seer on
Tuesday said he will
personally secure bail
for anyone booked in
connection with the
case.
Bhooma pithadhish-
war Achyutananda
Teerth asserted this at
the conclusion of a five-
day mahayagya for god-
dess Baglamukhi in Ut-
tarakhand’s Haridwar,
where the controversial
dharma sansad too was
held last month.
At the mahayagya
held at Haridwar’s
Karshni ghat, he urged
seers to sacrifice them-
selves for making the
country a Sanatan Ve-
dic Rashtra.
Panch Dashnam
akhara’s Yati Narasim-
hanand and Niranjani
akhara’s Sadhvi An-
napurna, who are
among those named in
the two FIRs lodged
over the dharma san-
sad, were actively in-
volved in organising
the mahayagya as well,
reports said.
The special investi-
gation team constitut-
ed on Sunday to probe
into the dharma san-
sad began its work on
Tuesday. Two separate
FIRs have been lodged
in this connection but
no arrests have been
made so far. —PTI
‘Bulli Bai’ row: Police
transfers case to IFSO
New Delhi: Delhi Po-
lice on Tuesday said
that the ‘Bulli Bai’ case
had been transferred to
the Special Cell Cyber
Unit/Intelligence Fu-
sion and Strategic Op-
erations (IFSO) unit.
Additional CP, Chin-
may Biswal said, “Un-
derstanding the seri-
ousness of the case, we
have transferred the
case to IFSO unit. In
cases of cyber crime in-
volving companies
from international loca-
tions, it gets difficult for
us. But we are expedit-
ing the MLAT process.”.
The case was first regis-
tered by Cyber Cell,
South East Zone.
Meanwhile, a 21-year-
old engineering student
from Bengaluru has
been remanded to po-
lice custody till Janu-
ary 10. While another
woman, said to be the
main accused, has been
detained by Mumbai
Police. The woman is
being brought to Mum-
bai for investigation.
She will be produced in
Uttarakhand court for
transit remand. —ANI
HARIDWAR HATE SPEECH
Kabul: The Taliban
which has been sanc-
tioned by the UN for ter-
rorism has started hold-
ing talks with neigh-
bouring nations about
returning Afghan
planes that Afghan pi-
lots used to flee to Uz-
bekistan and Tajikistan
after the Taliban took
over in August, accord-
ing to the Taliban move-
ment’s senior officials.
“Over 40 aircraft have
been flown to neigh-
bouring countries, espe-
cially Tajikistan and
Uzbekistan. The negoti-
ations have begun over
the return of the air-
craft,” Islamic Emirate
deputy spokesman Ina-
mullah Samangani was
quoted. The actual num-
ber of Afghan planes
that have travelled to
Central Asian countries
is unknown, although
accordingtocertainesti-
mates, there are over 164
aircraft, as per the news
agency
.“Thegovtsof the
two countries have been
called upon many times
to return the aircraft to
the current Afghan gov-
ernment. Of course,
they made offers, but so
fartheyhavenothanded
themover(aircraft),”the
media quoted defence
ministry spokesman.
—ANI
Taliban negotiating return of Afghan
aircraft with neighbouring countries
BJP worried of caste census!
First India Bureau
New Delhi: While both
the Central Govern-
ment and BJP have said
that castes will not be
counted in the popula-
tion Census, but the way
many state govts have
put pressure on Centre
over this issue and the
fact that Centre is post-
poning 2021 Census, it
also raises a question
whether it is being post-
ponedfor10yearsjustto
avoid caste census? If
theCensusispostponed,
both Centre BJP will
be spared the charge
that they deliberately do
not want to give their
due to other backward
castes and hence are not
conducting the caste
census. It is noteworthy
that the parties doing
politics of OBC are de-
manding a count of
OBCs.
In Bihar, BJP’s ally
Janata Dal-U had de-
manded this and now
CM Nitish Kumar has
announced that Bihar
government will get the
OBC census done at its
own expense. State BJP
leaders are opposing it
but they will not be able
to stop the government
from going ahead. Simi-
larly, in Uttar Pradesh,
SP leader Akhilesh Ya-
dav has announced that
if his government is
formed, he will get an
OBC census done.
Meanwhile,OBCcensus
has started in Chhattis-
garh after HC order.
Yati Narsinghanand Giri
CBI denies reports
of ‘not finding
proof’ in 21 sexual
assault cases
New Delhi: CBI on
Tuesday denied the me-
dia reports claiming
the agency didn’t find
any evidence in 21 cas-
es of rape and attempt
to rape received by the
National Human
Rights Commission
(NHRC).
CBI in a statement
mentioned that it has
been reported in a sec-
tion of media on Mon-
day and Tuesday that
21 instances of Sexual
Assault forwarded by
NHRC, were closed by
CBI alleging that no
evidence of Rape, At-
tempt to Rape, Molesta-
tion, Sexual Assault
was found in those
complaints. News has
been published saying
it to be based on source
input and Second Sta-
tus Report dated 22 De-
cember 2021 submitted
by CBI in the Calcutta
High Court on Post Poll
Violence Cases.
Image for representational purpose only.
‘Beijing’ Janata Party Leaders
busy in election rallies: Kharge
PM’s silence is deafening. Our land, our people, our borders deserve better: Rahul Gandhi
New Delhi: Leader of
Opposition in Rajya
Sabha Mallikarjun
Kharge said: “China is
busy building a bridge
on Pangong Tso to make
it easier to deploy
troops. Meanwhile,
‘Beijing’ Janata Party
leaders led by PM HM
are busy in election ral-
lies. Enemy is at our
gates. PM Modi is tak-
ing a siesta.”
The Congress alleged
that government is si-
lent over China as it has
occupied and set up a
village in “our” terri-
tory in Arunachal
Pradesh and renamed
26-27 places in the state.
On Monday
, the Cong
slammed the govt over
reports of Chinese
troops celebrating new
year at Galwan valley
but later it emerged that
PLA was not present at
the disputed area of Gal-
wan valley
, which is now
a demilitarised zone af-
ter the June, 2020 clash
between the two armies
andsubsequentseriesof
talks between India and
China through proper
diplomatic channels.
It all started after a
video surfaced on social
media site, shared by
the Chinese media,
showing PLA troop cel-
ebrating new year and
unfurling the Chinese
flag, with a caption,
“China’s national flag
rises over Galwan Val-
ley on the New Year Day
of 2022,” which further
read, “the flag was spe-
cial since it once flew
overTiananmenSquare
in Beijing”. —ANI
Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi.
SINGHVI SAYS DON’T RELY
ON CHINESE MEDIA,
CONGRESS EMBARRASSED
New Delhi: In a ma-
jorembarrassmentto
the party, Congress
leader Abhishek
Manu Singhvi on
Tuesday said that In-
dian media should
not fall for Chinese
propaganda after few
reports emerged that
Chinese have hoisted
flag which turned out
to be fake.
Singhvi said,
“Would urge the In-
dian media not to
take the CCP Glob-
al Times propaganda
machinery seriously
.
They are nothing but
an absolute joke espe-
cially in the digital
age,apsyopsthatcan
be easily busted by
few minutes of Goog-
le search.”
But his own party
on Monday attacked
the government on
the same report and
former Congress
President Rahul Gan-
dhi too criticized the
government.
The Congress on
Monday slammed the
govt over reports that
Chinese troops are
celebrating new year
at Galwan Valley
.
IN THE COURTYARD
No non-bailable warrant against Ranaut
in defamation case: Mumbai court
Mumbai: A Mumbai
courttodayrejectedthe
lyricist Javed Akhtar’s
demand for a non-bail-
able warrant against
actor Kangana
Ranaut, his lawyer Jay
Bhardwaj said.
“The court rejected
the demand for issu-
ance of a non-bailable
warrant. The next
hearing will be on Feb-
ruary1atAndheriMet-
ropolitan Magistrate,”
the lawyer said.
Akhtar had filed a
criminal defamation
complaint on Nov 3,
2020, against Ranaut
forreportedlydragging
his name in her fight
with Hrithik Roshan.
NEET-PG: SC to
hear EWS quota
case today
Air India was
facing losses of
`20 cr: Centre
New Delhi: The Su-
preme Court has
agreed to hear the case
relating to reservation
of EWS category in
NEET admissions for
Post-Graduate medi-
cal courses on Wednes-
day after the Central
government sought an
urgent hearing in the
matter. Solicitor Gen-
eral Tushar Mehta, ap-
pearing for the Centre,
mentioned the matter
before a bench of
Chief Justice of India
NV Ramana and Jus-
tices Surya Kant and
Hima Kohli for urgent
hearing.
New Delhi: Air India
was in continuous
losses and the Centre
couldn’t afford further
losses, the Union of
India informed the
Delhi High Court on
Tuesday. There were
losses of approximate-
ly Rs 20 crore everyday
and it could not allow
wastage of more pub-
lic money, the Union
of India lawyer stated.
Air India was in
continuous losses and
the Centre couldn’t af-
ford further losses, the
Union of India in-
formed the Delhi High
Court on Tuesday
.
North-east Delhi violence: High Court reserves
order on bail pleas of six accused in murder case
New Delhi: The Delhi
HC has reserved orders
on the bail pleas moved
by six persons accused
in a case relating to the
North East Delhi violence
in Feb 2020. The ac-
cused were booked
in a case relating to
vandalism, putting fire
to a sweet shop which
caused the death of a
22-year-old man, who
died after sustaining
burn injuries. An FIR
under various sections
of the IPC was registered
against the accused.
Nadda flays KCR Govt for arrest
of Telangana unit chief Bandi
Hyderabad: Amid po-
lice restrictions, BJP
President JP Nadda on
Tuesday paid floral trib-
utes to Mahatma Gan-
dhi’s statue here as part
of the party’s “peace
rally” in protest against
thearrestof BJP’sTelan-
gana unit president Ban-
di Sanjay Kumar.
Highdramaprevailed
on Tuesday evening as
Nadda arrived at the
city airport to partici-
pate in the party rally
but police denied per-
mission for holding it in
view of COVID-19-relat-
ed norms.
Nadda told reporters
at the airport that city
joint commissioner of
police Kartikeya met
him and told him that
the COVID-19 norms
should be adhered to
and that no permission
was accorded for the
event. Nadda said he
told the police official
that he would follow all
COVID-19 norms and go
to Mahatma Gandhi’s
statue accordingly
.
Asserting that he
would follow COVID-19
norms, Nadda said he
requested the police of-
ficial to make necessary
arrangements so that he
can pay his respects at
Mahatma Gandhi’s stat-
ue as per the norms.
The official, however,
expressed his inability
saying he had no per-
mission for it, he said.
“I said you wanted me
to adopt the norms and
I adopted the norms. I
will go as per the norms.
They can tell me where
they feel that I am not
following it. I will fulfil
if there is any short-
coming in following the
norms.” —ANI
FRESH SNOWFALL!
A bench layered with snow as Narkanda receives fresh
snowfall, in Shimla on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY ANI

INDIA
06
New Delhi: Former
Punjab Chief Minister
Captain Amarinder Sin-
gh on Tuesday urged the
Centre to work with the
Pakistan government to
allow pilgrims to enter
Kartarpur Sahib with
an Aadhaar card.
“During my tenure @
PunjabGovtIndia had
announced to bear the
$20 fees for the pilgrims
visiting Kartarpur sa-
hib via the corridor,
however due to Covid
restrictions the passage
was closed. To ensure
‘Khule Darshan Didar’
of the holy shrine, GOP
must implement this de-
cision,” Singh tweeted.
Capt also said, the
BJP is the only party
that can take care of
the state’s securi-
ty and economic
challenges and he
slammed the Con-
gress and AAP of
making poll
p ro m i s e s
w h i c h
can’t be fulfilled.
Amarinder Singh also
claimed his party’s alli-
ance with the BJP and
Shiromani Akali Dal-
Sanyukt for the next
year’s Assembly
polls is in the na-
tional and state’s
interest.
He further
said, “Currently
a pilgrim
m u s t
have a
pass-
port
t o
visit Kartarpur Sahib. I
will urge GOI to relax
this requirement to
work with the Pakistan
govt to allow entry with
an aadhar card. I am
hopeful that both gov-
ernments will agree to
this in the interest of
Nanak Naam Leva
Sangat.”
The Kartarpur Cor-
ridor links Gurdwara
Darbar Sahib in Paki-
stan, the final resting
place of Sikhism found-
er Guru Nanak Dev, to
Dera Baba Nanak
shrine in Gurdaspur
district.
In a major decision,
Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi-led govern-
ment decided to re-open
the Kartarpur corridor
from November 17. It
was closed in
wake of the Covid-19
pandemic.
The visa-free 4.7-kilo-
metre long corridor
joins the Indian border
to Gurdwara Darbar Sa-
hib in Pakistan. It be-
came operational in
2019. —ANI
Amarinder urges Centre to work with Pak Govt
PILGRIMAGE TO KARTARPUR
PM MODI TO RALLY
DESPITE CURBS
Ludhiana: Though the
Punjab government
has closed educational
institutions and imposed
night curfew amid rising
Covid infections, political
rallies including the
one to be addressed by
the Prime Minister at
Ferozepur on Wednesday
are expected to go ahead
as per the schedule. The
BJP said the Wednesday
rally, touted as “the big-
gest ever political rally
in the state” wouldn’t be
affected by curbs.
NEP follows Gandhi’s
‘Nai Talim’: Vice Prez
New Delhi: Vice Presi-
dent M. Venkaiah
Naidu on Tuesday said
that the New Education
Policy follows the ‘Nai
Talim’ of Mahatma
Gandhi by giving im-
portance to the mother
tongue as a medium of
instruction at the
school level.
Addressing Virtually
the Silver Jubilee Cele-
brations of Mahatma
Gandhi International
Hindi University in
Wardha, the Vice Presi-
dent recalled that the
“Nai Talim” proposed
by Mahatma Gandhi in
Wardha in 1937 laid em-
phasis on making moth-
er tongue as the medi-
um of instruction in
addition to free compul-
sory education.
Naidu said that our
Constituent Assembly,
after a long debate, ac-
cepted Hindi as the of-
ficial language and also
accorded constitutional
status to other Indian
languages in the Eighth
Schedule.
AIMPLB defies Surya Namaskar, asks
Muslim students to stay away from it
New Delhi: Opposing
the Central Govern-
ment’s directive to or-
ganize “Surya Nam-
askar” program in
schools on the 75th an-
niversary of Independ-
ence Day, the All-India
Muslim Personal Law
Board (AIMPLB) has
said that it is a form of
“Surya puja which is
not allowed in Islam”.
The programme has
been launched in line
with a tribute to 75
years of India’s inde-
pendence “Azadi ka
Amrit Mahotsav” be-
tween January 1 to
January 7.
In a letter, the Board’s
generalsecretaryMaula-
na Khalid Saifullah
Rahmani on Monday
askedMuslimstudentsto
stayawayfromtheSurya
Namaskar program.
“India is a secular,
multi-religious and
multi-cultural country.
On the basis of these
principles, our consti-
tution has been written,
instructions have been
given to take care of it
in the school curricu-
lum and non-curricu-
lars also. Here the cus-
toms and rituals of the
majority community
cannot be imposed on
all religions,” the state-
ment read.
The Constitution
does not allow us to
teach teachings of a
particular religion in
government education-
al institutions or to or-
ganize celebrations
based on the beliefs of a
particular group, the
statement further said.
—Pic
for
representation
purpose
only
‘MAY LOCK
GOES AWRY’
MUMBAI IF SITUATION
AS COVID-19, ITS VARIANT OMICRON CASES CONTINUE TO RISE LIKE WILDFIRE IN MAHARASHTRA;
STRICTER CURBS LIKELY TO BE IMPOSED IF THINGS GO OUT OF HANDS: CHAHAL, BMC COMMISSIONER
Himanshu Rawat
Mumbai: While viru-
lent third wave of Cov-
id is knocking on In-
dia’s door, Brihanmum-
bai Municipal Corpora-
tion (BMC) commis-
sioner Iqbal Singh
Chahal on Tuesday said
the Covid-19 task force
report suggests that
80–85 per cent of cases
in Mumbai are of the
Omicron variant.
The commisioner
also said that Maha-
rashtra is expressing
the onset of the third
wave of Covid-19. If the
number of Covid cases
rises to 20,000 per day
and things go out of our
hands, then strict re-
strictions will be
clamped in the city
.
Explaining the rising
of cases in the state,
Chahal said, “We are at
the beginning of the
third wave because the
positivity rate has been
increasing since Decem-
ber 21. In the months of
August and September
last year, the positivity
rate was less than 1 per
cent. For the first time,
the positivity rate went
beyond 1 per cent on De-
cember 21, and after 14
days, we are at a positiv-
ity rate of 17.4 per cent.”
While assuring the
presence of adequate
medical resources to
fight the anticipated
thirdwavewithcomplete
preparedness, Chahal
said that there is no need
to panic but people must
remainguardedandcau-
tiousbecausethewaythe
virus is spreading, the
number of cases can be
humungous.
Talking about the im-
position of curbs, Cha-
hal said, “On December
30, 2020, two factors
were discussed in a
Maharashtra is
expressing the onset of
the third wave of
Covid-19. If the
number of Covid cases
rises to 20,000 per
day and things go out
of our hands, then
strict restrictions will
be clamped in the city.
Iqbal Singh Chahal,
BMC commissioner

z Despite huge
Omicron surge, data
signals end of pan-
demic: Scientists

z US sets world daily
record of over 1 mil-
lion Covid cases

z Omicron becoming
dominant strain in In-
dia not a ‘bad thing’,
says expert

z Offline ticket counters
of Taj Mahal, Agra
Fort closed in view of
Covid-19

z Over 80 Kolkata
Police personnel test
positive for Covid

z As Covid-19 spreads,
Punjab imposes night
curfew; schools, col-
leges shut
INDIA GRAPPLES WITH THE HIGHLY MUTATED OMICRON VARIANT
80
DOCTORS,
STUDENTS
AT PATIALA
MEDICAL
COLLEGE
TEST COVID
POSITIVE
50
DELHI’S
AIIMS DOCS
IN ISOLATION
AS COVID-19
CASES
SPIRAL INTO
HOSPITALS
33
HOSPITAL
STAFF IN
LUCKNOW’S
MEDANTA
TEST
POSITIVE FOR
COVID-19
CHHATTISGARH
BANS RALLIES,
SOCIAL EVENTS
Raipur: Chhattisgarh
government on Tuesday
banned rallies, proces-
sions, and social, cul-
tural as well as sports
events in all the districts
of the state in the wake
of surging COVID-19
cases and imposed a
statewide night curfew
from 10 pm to 6 am. A
statement issued by the
Chief Minister’s Office
said, “Ban imposed
on processions, ral-
lies, public gather-
ings, social, cultural
and sports events in
every district.” It further
informed that random
testing for Covid-19 will
be conducted at railway
stations and borders of
the state. “Daily report-
ing of hospital beds,
stock of medicines, and
availability of oxygen,”
read the statement. The
statement further read,
“In districts with a posi-
tivity rate of 4 per cent
or more all schools,
Anganwadi centres,
libraries, swimming
pools, malls, cinemas,
marriage palaces,
hotels, restaurants,
auditoriums should be
closed.
10,860 FRESH COVID-19 CASES IN
MUMBAI, 89% ARE ASYMPTOMATIC
Workers arrange hospital beds for the setup of a COVID
centre in view of rising Omicron cases.
Mumbai: Mumbai on Tuesday saw another huge
jump in coronavirus infections with 10,860 new
cases, 34 per cent higher than yesterday (8,082).
Eighty-nine per cent of these infections are asympto-
matic.Of the total fresh cases, 834 needed hospitali-
sation, the daily bulletin shows, further highlighting
that 52 patients needed medical oxygen too.
SEC TO HOLD MEETING ON BHARAT
BIOTECH’S NASAL BOOSTER DOSE
New Delhi: The Subject Expert Committee (SEC)
of the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) is
expected to meet on Tuesday afternoon to discuss
Bharat Biotech’s application for clinical trials of its
intranasal Covid vaccine as a booster or a third dose.
The Hyderabad-based manufacturer has proposed
the booster dose for those who have been already
been innoculated against COVID with Covishield and
Covaxin vaccines. Bharat Biotech aims to conduct
clinical trials on 5,000 subjects (50 per cent vac-
cinated with Covishield and 50 per cent vaccinated
with Covaxin). The interval between the second dose
and booster dose will be six months, sources said.
EVERY PASSENGER OF CORDELIA TO UNDERGO
COVID TEST ONCE THE SHIP REACHES MUMBAI
Mumbai: Every passenger of the Cordelia cruise ship, which will reach
Mumbai on Tuesday evening, will undergo COVID-19 test as it has been
sent back to Mumbai from Goa with all the passengers after more than
66 out of 2,000 onboard tested
COVID-19 positive. “The ship is
scheduled to arrive in Mumbai
today evening and everyone
onboard will undergo COVID-19
test,” said Brihanmumbai Mu-
nicipal Corporation (BMC) official.
“BMC has constituted a special
team to conduct the test of pas-
sengers on board. Those who test positive will be sent to COVID centres or
hospitals. Those who test negative will be sent to compulsory quarantine,”
the official added.
meeting with Chief
MinisterUddhavThack-
arey
. The new yard-
sticks, unlike the posi-
tivity rate during the
first and second waves,
should be the bed avail-
ability in hospitals and
the requirement for oxy-
gen. The future decision
to impose lockdown will
dependonthesefactors.”
Adding to the data,
Chahal said, “In the last
14 days, though the
number of cases has in-
creased from 100 to al-
most 8,000 now, the hos-
pitalisation rate is not
more than 5 per cent.
Also, these 5 per cent of
infected patients do not
require any oxygen or
ICU beds.”
“Currently, the beds
are being activated in a
phased manner. So far,
out of 30,000 beds, only
14,000 are in use, he said.
“Wehavetakenanum-
ber of steps in order to
curb the spread of Omi-
cron. The measures in-
clude the banning of
public gatherings from 5
pm to 5 am and the clo-
sure of schools from
Class I to VIII. 4.54 lakh
studentsfromClassesIX-
XIIwillbetransportedto
nine jumbo centres for
vaccination. Online
classes will continue,”
Chahal added.
Iqbal Singh Chahal
JAISHANKAR SPEAKS
TO US SECRETARY OF
STATE BLINKEN
New Delhi: In his first
phone calls to his coun-
terparts in the new year,
External Affairs Minister S.
Jaishankar has spoken to
US Secretary of State An-
tony Blinken and Russian
Foreign minister Sergey
Lavrov within 24 hours.
With Blinken, they covered
a range of bilateral and
global issues, including the
situation in the Indo-Pacif-
ic region. The telephonic
conversation took place on
Monday night, Jaishankar
said. “A broad ranging
conversation yesterday
night with @SecBlinken.
Covered current bilateral
issues, Indo-Pacific.
4 OF A FAMILY FOUND
DEAD INSIDE HOUSE
IN LUDHIANA
Ludhiana: Four members
of a family were found
dead inside their railway
quarter in Mullanpur
Dakha of Ludhiana in the
wee hours of Tuesday. The
deceased were identified
as Sukhdev Singh (56),
his son Jagdeep (28),
daughter-in-law Jyoti (24)
and granddaughter Jot (2).
Ludhiana Rural police said
that Sukhdev Singh was
posted as a Mate with the
Railways. The bodies were
first noticed by Sukhdev’s
wife Balbir Kaur, who was
sleeping in the adjoining
room. When she opened
the door of their room, all
four were found dead.
CRUCIAL READ
BJP WILL REGISTER HAT-TRICK WIN IN
UPCOMING GOA POLLS, SAYS CT RAVI
New Delhi: BJP’s national general secretary and party’s
in-charge for Goa CT Ravi on Tuesday claimed that the BJP
will register a hat-trick win in the upcoming Goa Assembly
polls. “BJP will definitely hit
a hat-trick win in Goa. Differ-
ent surveys are showing that
the party will come to power
again and will win the upcom-
ing elections. On issues like
social harmony, law and order
and development, we will contest elections in Goa and will
come in power once again,” said the BJP leader. Ravi said
that BJP will contest elections on all 40 seats.
ISRO EYES GAGANYAAN LAUNCH BEFORE
I-DAY, CHANDRAYAAN 3 BY MID-2023
New Delhi: The Indian Space Research Organisation
(ISRO), India’s space agency, is targeting the launch of first
of the two planned uncrewed flights under the Gaganyaan
mission before Independence
Day this year and the third
lunar mission Chandrayaan-3
by “middle of the next year”,
said the chairperson Dr K Sivan
on Monday. “If you look at the
immediate task at hand this
year, we have many missions to execute. Some of these
are launch of EOS-4 and EOS-6 on board PSLV. Launch of
EOS-02 on board maiden flight of SSLV.

BIZ BUZZ
07
CUREFOODS BUYS OUT FIVE
MORE COMPANIES
New Delhi: Curefoods, a delivery-only
restaurant chain operator has
acquired five direct-to-consumer
brands for undisclosed sums as
part of its plans to significantly
enhance its footprint in India this
year. It has acquired Juno’s Pizza
based out of Mumbai; Bengaluru-
based Cupcake Noggins, organic ice
cream brand Iceberg; Delhi-based Nomad
Pizzas Jaipur-based White Kitchens. —PTI
PIRAMAL CAPITAL TO OPEN
100 BRANCHES
New Delhi: Having access to over 10 lakh
customers post acquisition of DHFL
last year, PCHFL plans to open 100
branches and expand to 1,000
more cities in coming years. The
company plans to expand its
operations to about 1,000 cities in
the next three years, with physical
presence in about 500-600 cities. In
the next 12 months, it expects to open another
100 branches, the company said. —PTI
APPLE HIT $3 TRILLION
M-CAP, THEN SLIPS
New Delhi: Apple Inc on Monday became
the first company to hit a market
capitalisation of $3 trillion, before
ending the day a hair below that
milestone. On the first day of
trading in 2022, the company’s
shares hit an intraday record high
of $182.88, putting its valuation
just above $3 trillion. The stock ended
the session up 2.5% at $182.01, with Apple’s
market cap at $2.99 trillion. —Agencies
KIA INDIA ANNOUNCES TRIM
DETAILS OF CARENS
New Delhi: Automaker Kia India on
Tuesday announced the trim details
and specifications of the Kia
Carens MPV, its fourth offering
in India that was unveiled a few
days back. As per Kia, the MPV
will be available in five different
trim options -- Premium, Prestige,
Prestige Plus, Luxury and Luxury Plus
-- with bookings all set to commence from 14th
January. —PTI
RISING OMICRON CASES
canimpactgrowthby0.3%inMarchqtr
New Delhi: Growth
might be impacted by
up to 0.30 per cent in
the March quarter as
normal economic ac-
tivities come under
pressure due to restric-
tions being imposed by
more states to curb ris-
ing Omicron cases,
economists at the coun-
try’s largest private
sector lender HDFC
Bank said on Tuesday
.
The economists said
they were earlier esti-
mating Q4 growth to
come at 6.1 per cent,
which can get impacted
by 0.2-0.3 per cent be-
cause of the Omicron
threat.
“With states impos-
ing COVID-related re-
strictions (night cur-
few on movement of
people, restaurants al-
lowed at 50 per cent ca-
pacity, offices to oper-
ate at 50 per cent capac-
ity in various states),
economic activity is
likely to get impacted
in Q4FY22,” they said.
The downside risks
at the current juncture
emanate from more
states imposing restric-
tions, the restrictions
extending beyond Jan-
uary 2022 and also a
slowdown in global re-
covery which will
weigh on the exports,
they said in a note.
Experience from pre-
vious waves during the
COVID pandemic sug-
gests that restrictions
are imposed on mobil-
ity as COVID cases rise,
which in turn has an
impact on economic ac-
tivity, they said.
It said the Omicron
cases are spreading at a
faster pace in India and
about 60 per cent of the
overall infections are
reported to be that of
the new variant.
The note also said
that despite the threat
of the Omicron, the ru-
pee will stay range
bound between `74-76
to the greenback, and
added that the RBI will
intervene if the need
arises.
Rate hike expecta-
tions will moderate as
the growth gets impact-
ed and the reverse repo
hike expected in Febru-
ary is also uncertain
now, it said, adding that
the central bank will
continue with its focus
on liquidity normalisa-
tionandcappingyields.
—PTI
PAST EXPERIENCES
The economists
said they were
earlier
estimating Q4
growth to come
at 6.1 per cent,
which can get
impacted by
0.2-0.3 per cent
because of the
Omicron
threat.
AlkaMittalbecomes1st
womantoheadONGC
New Delhi: Alka
Mittal has been ap-
pointed an interim
chairman and man-
aging director of Oil
and Natural Gas Cor-
poration (ONGC), the
first woman to head
the country’s largest
oil and gas producer.
Mittal replaces
Subhash Kumar, an-
other interim head
who retired after
reaching superannu-
ation age on Decem-
ber 31.
“The Appoint-
ments Committee of
the Cabinet (ACC)
has approved the pro-
posal of the Ministry
of Petroleum and
Natural Gas for en-
trustment of the ad-
ditional charge of the
post of chairman and
managing director
(CMD), ONGC to
Alka Mittal, director
(HR), ONGC for a pe-
riod of six months
with effect from Jan-
uary 1, 2022, or till
the appointment of a
regular incumbent to
the post, or until fur-
ther order, whichever
is the earliest,” the
Department of Per-
sonnel and Training
(DoPT) said in an or-
der dated January 3,
2022.
Mittal, 59, is the
first woman to head
an oil and gas explo-
ration and produc-
tion company. A
post-graduate in eco-
nomics and a doctor-
ate in commerce,
Mittal had broken
the glass ceiling in
ONGC by becoming
the first woman to
join the company’s
board on November
27, 2018. Mittal will
superannuate in Au-
gust-end.
“ONGC Director
(HR) Alka Mittal has
been entrusted with
the additional charge
of ONGC CMD, mak-
ing her the first wom-
an to head the Energy
major,” ONGC said in
a tweet.
She has taken over
the charge.
Incidentally
,ONGC
will now have two
full-time woman di-
rectors after govern-
ment headhunter
Public Enterprise
Selection Board
(PESB) selected
Pomila Jaspal for the
post of director (fi-
nance). Jaspal is cur-
rently director (fi-
nance) in ONGC’s
subsidiary, Manga-
lore Refinery and Pet-
rochemicals Ltd
(MRPL).
—PTI
New Delhi: Shopping
on social networks
such as Facebook, Tik-
Tok and WeChat is go-
ing to grow three times
faster than sales from
traditional channels
over the next three
years, according to a
study by Accenture.
Social commerce,
defined as transac-
tions that take place
entirely within the
context of a social-me-
dia platform, will
reach $1.2 trillion by
2025, up from $492 bil-
lion in 2021, the con-
sulting company said.
The trend is being
driven primarily by
Gen Z and Millennial
consumers, who are
expected to account for
62% of the spending.
The most popular
products sold via so-
cial networks include
clothing, consumer
electronics and home
decor. Beauty and per-
sonal care is also see-
ing growth, with on-
line influencers play-
ing a significant role.
The trend offers
good news for mom-
and-pop shops: More
than half of so-called
social buyers surveyed
said they are likely to
support small busi-
nesses over larger re-
tailers and would like-
ly buy from them
again. This may allow
n e w
brands
to build
loyalty
a n d
gain trac-
tion. —Agencies
SL announces $1 bn
eco relief package
Colombo: The Sri
Lankan government
on Tuesday an-
nounced a $1.2 billion
economic relief pack-
age amidst a severe
foreign exchange cri-
sis even as Finance
Minister Basil Raja-
paksa claimed that the
country will not de-
fault on its interna-
tional debt despite the
projection of rating
agencies about its in-
ability to meet the ob-
ligations.
Sri Lanka would
duly pay the $500 mil-
lion international sov-
ereign bond payment
due in a fortnight, Fi-
nance Minister Raja-
paksa told report-
ers.
He said that
229 billion
Sri Lankan
rupees ($1.2
billion) would be
spent to accommodate
the new economic re-
lief package which in-
cludes, among other
measures, a special al-
lowance of `5,000 ($24)
per month to 1.5 mil-
lion government em-
ployees, pensioners
and differently-abled
soldiers from January
2022.
Rajapaksa said that
farmers, who face a
crop reduction by
about 25 to 30 per cent
this harvesting sea-
son, would be offered
subsidies.
“People owning
land below one acre
would be given 10,000
rupees ($49) subsidy to
cultivate food crops,”
Rajapaksa, the young-
er brother of PM Ma-
hinda Rajapaksa said.
For the plantation
sector employees, each
family would be given
15 kgs of wheat every
month, he said. —PTI
India imported $55.7
billion gold in 2021
New Delhi: India
splurged a record $55.7
billion on gold imports
in 2021, buying more
than double the previous
year’s tonnage as a price
drop favoured retail buy-
ers and pent up demand
emerged for weddings
that were delayed when
the pandemic first hit.
The 2021 gold import
bill easily doubled the
$22 billion spent in
2020, and surpassed
the previous high, set in
2011, of $53.9 billion,
according to the official,
who tracks broad import
trends. In volume terms,
India imported 1,050
tonnes of gold in 2021,
the most in a decade,
and far more than 430
tonnes imported in
2020. Gold is regarded
an essential part of the
bride’s dowry in India
and is also a popular
wedding gift. —Agencies
Social commerce,
defined as
transactions that take
place entirely within
the context of a
social-media platform
SENSEX ZOOMS 673 POINTS
TO END DAY IN GREEN
Mumbai: The Indian equities markets witnessed a
strong rally for the third consecutive sessions on
Tuesday with benchmark Sensex surging nearly
700 points led by broad-based buying support.
Investors have become richer by
nearly `5 lakh crore in just two days
of trading in the new calendar year.
The 30 stock SP Sensex of the
Bombay Stock Exchange closed at
59,855.93 points, which is 672.71
points or 1.14 per cent higher
from its previous day’s close
at 59,183.22 points. The
broader Nifty 50 of the
National Stock Exchange
surged 1.02 per cent or
179.55 points to 17,805.25
points. —ANI
RUPEE FALLS 29 PAISE TO
CLOSE AT 74.57 AGAINST $
Mumbai: The rupee on Tuesday slumped 29 paise
to close at 74.57 (provisional) against the US
dollar, tracking the strength of the
American currency in
the overseas market.
Forex traders said
growing
concerns over
the Omicron
variant of coronavirus
and its impact on economic
recovery as well as firm crude oil prices
weighed on the local unit. At the interbank foreign
exchange market, the local currency opened at 74.49
and witnessed an intra-day high of 74.46 and a
low of 74.61 against the US dollar. The local unit
finally settled at 74.57, down 29 paise over
its previous close of 74.28. —PTI
Shopping on social media to hit
$1.2 TRILLION BY 2025
Alka Mittal

Hard work and luck are good
friends - they go hand in hand!
—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO Editor-in-Chief, First India
08
2NDFRONT
First India Bureau
Bengaluru: Bottom
dwellers Puneri Paltan
will take on a struggling
Guj Giants on Wednes-
day in the Pro Kabaddi
League Season 8.
The team from Pune
havejustonewintotheir
name in five attempts
with experienced stars
such as Rahul Chaudha-
ri and Vishal Bharadwaj
failing to make the ex-
pected impact. The Gi-
ants, meanwhile, have
struggleddespitehaving
experienced stars in
their defence.
The absence of Nitin
Tomar and the poor
form of Rahul Chaud-
hari have affected coach
Anup Kumar’s Pune
side in the initial match-
es of the season. Puneri
Paltan has just one win
in the season and has
lost the other matches
with a margin greater
than seven points. The
side’s lack of experi-
ence, despite having
promising young stars
such as Aslam Inamdar
and Mohit Goyat is the
reason why they’ve con-
ceded defeats with big
margins. Baldev Singh’s
renaissance in the right
corner will give Pune
someconfidencethough.
He seemed to have final-
ly grasped an under-
standing of Vishal
Bharadwaj’smovesfrom
the left corner. Together
they will need to control
their young team filled
with exuberance.
Gujarat’smuch-famed
defence have not clicked
so far with just one win
and two ties in five
matches. In Pune’s
Aslam Inamdar and Mo-
hit Goyat, they have a
left and right raider who
can cause inconsisten-
cies in the defensive
shape. Girish Ernak’s
fitness will be key in the
left cover for Gujarat.
His presence usually
givesmoreconfidenceto
the right corner Ravin-
der Pahal. Their usually
reliable cover combina-
tion of Parvesh
BhainswalandSunilKu-
mar is yet to hit form
thisseason.Buttheraid-
ing duo of Rakesh and
Rakesh Narwal have
looked positive in the re-
cent matches which will
give coach Manpreet
Singh confidence going
into the match.
The Gujarat Giants have had two ties in five matches. —FILE PHOTO
Pune team
has just one
win in five
attempts,
while Guj
has
struggled
despite
experienced
defence
First India Bureau
Rajkot: In a shocking
torture case, a 24-year-
old Hemangi Rajesh Ga-
rach is said to have been
brutally beaten by her
aunt and cousin sister.
According to infor-
mation, Hemangi’s
neighbours informed
the police that her aunt
and cousin sister would
regularly beat her. At
times, the duo did not
even give food to He-
mangi.
Hemangi’s mother
took divorce and, she
was living with her fa-
ther. Her father died
sometime back so she,
started living with her
father’s elder brother’s
family in Kanaknagar.
On Monday, when
things went out of con-
trol, Hemangi is said to
have requested her
neighbours from the
terrace to do justice for
her and call the police.
A police complaint is
lodged and, a case is
registered with Thorala
police against her aunt
Ansuya and cousin sis-
ter Shivani.
According to the
complaint, over a
month back, she was in-
jured with heated iron
tongs on the left side of
her neck and beaten
with plastic pipes. On
Monday, a similar inci-
dent occurred and, ac-
cording to neighbours,
she was bleeding from
her mouth.
The police have regis-
tered a case under sec-
tions 324, 328 and 114 of
the Indian penal code
and have arrested An-
suya and Shivani.
“Hemangi has now
been sent to Nari San-
rakshan Gruh. Further
investigations are on,”
said the investigating
officer and PSI at Tho-
rala police station AL
Barasiya to First India.
24-YEAR-OLD WOMAN
TORTURED BY WOMEN
The victim asked neighbours to call the police
from her terrace protect her from aunt, cousin
HIGH COURT SLAMS POLICE FOR
INACTION IN MISSING GIRL CASE
iCreate announces
jury for grand finale
of EVangelise ’21
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: iCreate
(International Centre
for Technology and En-
trepreneurship), India’s
leading innovation-
based start-up incuba-
tor, has announced its
jury for the grand finale
of its maiden EV chal-
lenge, EVangelise’ 21.
The final evaluation
and the announcement
of the top 3 winners will
be done at the Vibrant
Gujarat Start-up Sum-
mit 2022 (VGSS)--a pre-
cursor to the Vibrant
Gujarat Global Summit
to be held January 10-12.
The shortlisted start-
ups will make their
pitches to the jury with-
in five minutes, fol-
lowed by QA session
around the feasibility
and market relevance
of their innovation.
The jury line-up in-
cludes industry leaders
such as Tarun Mehta,
Co-founder CEO
Ather Energy, Stefan
Louis, CEO, Exide
Leclanche, Parag Amin,
Founder and Chief
Mentor, iCreate, Kar-
tikey Hariyani, Found-
er, TecSo
CHARGE+ZONE, Vice
Chairperson of Kinetic
Engineering Limited,
Founder CEO of Ki-
netic Green Energy
Power Solutions Limit-
ed, Anupam Jalote,
CEO, iCreate and other
mentors and leaders
from the industry
.
A total of Rs88.5 lakh
will be given as assured
cash prizes to winners
across four innovation
categories and three
stages. The top 3 win-
ners will get Rs10 lakh,
Rs7.5 lakh and Rs5 lakh
cash prizes respectively
,
besides assured incuba-
tion support of Rs50
lakh each, market con-
nections and industry
mentorship.
EVangelise was a
three-stage,internation-
al challenge over a peri-
od of seven months that
was open to start-ups,
college students, re-
search institutions, in-
dependent innovators
andEVenthusiastswith
innovations pertaining
to sub-components of
two- and three-wheeled
electric vehicles. The
idea of creating a grand
challenge unique to the
EV segment in India
stemmed from the esti-
mated increase in EV
adoption in the commer-
cial market.
Through this, iCreate
is well-positioned to be
an integral part in the
country’s transition to
EVs by fostering inno-
vations that are sophis-
ticated, energy-effi-
cient, and sustainable
for the Indian market.
12 startups won Rs6 lakh in prize money at the idea stage of the event. —FILE PHOTO
NGO sets record
of 700 literary
postcards on SM
First India Bureau
Vadodara : The SaM-
vitti Foundation in Va-
dodara sets the record
of Maximum Literary
Posts made by an NGO
with its unique and in-
novative project--SaM-
vitti Sharing Shine. Un-
der this project, knowl-
edge-oriented quotes,
verses, poems and prose
passagesfromtheworld,
Indian and Gujarati lit-
erary heritage were
creatively conceived
through postcards.
Presented in Hindi,
Gujarati and English
languages, the SaMvitti
Foundation published
postcards on social me-
dia through its multiple
social media accounts-
-WhatsApp, Facebook,
Instagram and Twitter.
A total of 700 postcards
were shared from Janu-
ary 2018 to September
2021. These inspiration-
al postcards were initi-
ated to get the readers
acquaintedwiththerich
tradition of literature,
the ideas of various cre-
ators and thinkers.
“The artistic joy and
experience gained from
reading creative litera-
ture can significantly
contribute to personal-
ity development. Today,
when social media has
evolved into an influen-
tial medium, SaMvitti
undertook this project
with the academic in-
tention of promoting
and disseminating posi-
tivity, commitment and
knowledge in the socie-
ty through this medi-
um,” said Dr Darshini
Dadawala, Founder and
Managing Trustee,
SaMvitti Foundation.
The SaMvitti Foun-
dation was established
on January 5, 2017, to
empower women emo-
tionally and intellectu-
ally through literature.
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: The Gu-
jarat High Court on
Tuesday came down
heavily on the state gov-
ernment and the Sabar-
kantha district police
for failing to trace a
missing minor girl.
It observed, “The po-
lice and government
should have taken this
issueseriously
.If themi-
nor girl is in the wrong
hands, she can become a
victim of human traf-
ficking. It is easy to lure
minors and in some cas-
es families are offered
good money for mar-
riage to men.”
Slamming the officials
forshoddyinvestigation,
the court further stated,
“This is neither a com-
plicated case nor does it
seem to involve history-
sheeters or gangsters. It
seems that the police are
waiting for the missing
girltostartusinghercell
phone or post on social
media so that they can
use it to trace her where-
abouts.”
Police are given 15
days time to submit an
updated Action Taken
Report (ATR) before the
next hearing on Janu-
ary 19.
Dr Darshini Dadawala with the
record certificate and medal.
HITTING THE HIGH NOTES
The first session (left) of the Saptak Music Festival on Tuesday evening saw a vocal performance by Gulam Niyaz Khan with Yashwant Vaishnav on tabla and Zakir Dhaulpuri on harmonium, while
the second session (right) saw Ustad Shujaat Khan performing on the sitar with Sapan Anjaria on tabla. —PHOTOS BY HANIF SINDHI
Strugglers Gujarat Giants, Puneri Paltans to lock horns
PRO KABADDI LEAGUE

AHMEDABAD, WEDNESDAY
JANUARY 5, 2022
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia
facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia 09
t’s a big world
holding the
dreams of
many in its
fists and some
find the right
spirit and path
to steer their dream
into transforming
them into reality
.
Kanishka Bhagat
is one of the names
in the long list of
those achievers.
Bhagat who hails
from Chandigarh
bagged the title of
Miss Confidence at the
First Miss India Teen
2021 and is a teen mod-
el, all at the young age
of 13.
Talking about her
journey as a teen mod-
el, Kanishka said, “Ini-
tially, I was inclined
towards dancing but
for the last 3-4 years, I
have been pursuing
modelling and my jour-
ney from small photo-
shoots to competitions
and beauty pag-
eants has been ex-
tremely beautiful
and enriching. It
has transformed
me as a person
and offered
great opportu-
nities to ex-
plore and im-
bibe more to
excel and
shine.”
Speaking
about the
support she
gets from family, Bha-
gat said, “There is no
greater support system
than the core family in
your life. My parents
are my pillars, support-
ing me both emotional-
ly and financially
.”
Sharing her motiva-
tion to work through
life, she said, “Success
doesn’t taste good with-
out failures as they say
.
My experience has also
been the same. There
are times when you feel
low and locked over the
slow pace of things but
eventually, the bless-
ings of God, parents
and consistent hard
work pays off.”
Lastly, Kanishka
spoke about being in the
First Miss Teen India
pageant and said, “First
miss India teen was a
breakthrough in my life
at such an early age. I
can’t thank the platform
enough for providing us
with such a great oppor-
tunity to nurture and
display our talent.”
MONICA PRABHAKAR
cityfirst@firstindia.co.in
I
Kanishka Bhagat, a 13 year old dancer and a finalist of First Miss India Teen 2021 from Chandigarh
shared her journey with City First about navigating her way in the modelling industry!
BIG DREAMS
BIG DREAMS
BIG DREAMS
Small Steps,
—PHOTOS BY MUKESH KIRADOO

10
ETC
PRIYANKA
KHERA,
Model
FACE
OF
THE
DAY!
Aries
MARCH 21 - APRIL 20
Satisfaction is foreseen
for the image conscious
people trying to achieve
perfect figure and
physique. Your efforts
on the academic front will keep you in
contention. You are likely to spend an
enjoyable time with a close relation
today. Your helping hand to someone
in need will be greatly appreciated.
Gemini
MAY 21 - JUNE 21
A rethink is in order for
those going in for a
heavy investment.
Recovering a loaned
amount from someone
will not pose much difficulty. You will
manage to defuse tensions prevailing at
home by your tactful ways. A work trip
is on the cards for some. Manage to
weave your magic on the one you love.
Leo
JULY 24 - AUGUST 23
Homemakers can
exceed budget in doing
up their homes. An old
friend or a relative is
likely to pay you a visit.
You succeed in putting an ambitious
project on the tracks and cross all
hurdles in making it a success. Love
beckons and promises to give
immense joy and fulfillment.
Libra
SEPTEMBER 24 - OCTOBER 22
Financial worries evapo-
rate as new avenues of
earning open up. You
will put in extra efforts
to complete a task
entrusted to you. Your academic
aspirations may take some time to get
realised. A contentious property issue
may not show any signs of getting
sorted out amicably, so have a backup.
Sagittarius
NOVEMBER 23 - DECEMBER 22
You will manage to
ignore distractions and
interruptions at work to
complete a pending task
in time. Job prospects
for those freshly out of professional
institutes are set to brighten up soon.
Those not in a stable job can expect
permanency. Health will be satisfactory,
as you remain regular in workouts.
Aquarius
JANUARY 21 - FEBRUARY 19
A major purchase may
make a dent in your
savings, but will help in
keeping up with the
flow .Speculation may
not be profitable and you can very well
burn your fingers. Some of you may
get hard pressed to find a good match
for someone eligible in the family.
Spending time with family.
Taurus
APRIL 21 - MAY 20
A lot of time may be
wasted in socialising,
but you will love every
moment of it. You will
succeed in surmounting
the odds to get a stalled job back on the
tracks. Something concerning property
will work out in your favour. A romantic
outing is on the cards and promises
much fun and frolic.
Cancer
JUNE 22 - JULY 23
Spirituality will have a
special allure for you.
Your innovative ideas
on the professional
front are likely to be
well received. Good health will keep
you fit and energetic. You are likely to
expand your social circle. You are likely
to get immense fulfillment in your
current romantic relationship.
Virgo
AUGUST 24 - SEPTEMBER 23
It is one of those days
when you will feel
satisfied with whatever
you do today on the
social front. Those
seeking love may not get lucky, but
persistence will pay! A friend or relative
can touch a sensitive nerve and get you
all upset. A job switch needs to be
considered. Taking care of everything.
Scorpio
OCTOBER 23 - NOVEMBER 22
Sticking to workout
routine may benefit you
on the health front.
Meeting relatives at a
marriage or party
cannot be ruled out. Support from the
family may seem most encouraging
for those aiming an academic pursuit.
A passion-filled evening is foreseen, as
romantic front brightens.
Capricorn
DECEMBER 23 - JANUARY 20
Homemakers will get a
chance to implement
their ideas. You are
likely to be recognised
for your efforts on the
professional front. Chance of a raise is
possible for some. Timely and correct
decision will help you in saving a lot of
money. You will be able to de-stress
yourself completely today.
Pisces
FEBRUARY 20 - MARCH 20
A profitable day for
entrepreneurs is
envisaged. You may be
played upon for
spending on someone
else’s needs and desires. Homemakers
are likely to enjoy the day in the
company of neighbors and friends.
Fatigue threatens in a long journey, but
adequate breaks will keep you going.
YOUR DAY Horoscopeby
SaurabbhSachdeva
Whatsapp Subscription
Subscribe “First India” Daily
E-News Paper For Free On Whatsapp
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the Power Corridors of Gujarat.
o and a half dec-
ades after my
Boarding School
education fin-
ished, I’m still
regularly asked -
“Should we send
our kid to boarding
school?” I suppose people
feel that I can offer them a
unique insight into the
world of residential
schooling, one that per-
haps eludes the vast ma-
jority of folks who attend-
ed regular day school.
Perhaps they’re right.
And then perhaps, it
comes down to common
sense.
That a boarding school
education can be infinite-
ly enriching. That it can
expose a young mind to
limitless possibilities of
self-discovery
. That it can
liberate a student from
many conscious or uncon-
scious constraints. These
are foregone conclusions.
Ones that most people are
aware of.
Having said all of this,
there is one insight I can
offer. And that is, that for
all the wonderfully ex-
ploratory benefits of a
boarding school; these
don’t need to prove to be
assets for each and every
child. Boarding School is
a testing environment.
People used to believe that
as long as a particular
boarding school does not
have bullying, it is well
and good. But even WITH-
OUT bullying or ragging,
it is STILL a testing envi-
ronment. It is a space
where a child needs to be
strong-willed, self-confi-
dent, and self-driven. If
there is a child who is ex-
tremely attached to a
home, isn’t particularly
self-motivated; chances
are that the atmosphere a
boarding school offers
will not sit well with that
student. In the best-case
scenario, that student will
go through the motions
(years) at school not ben-
efitting at all. The worst-
case scenario could be
much more tragic, with
the student developing
many complexes and is-
sues!
So, when it comes time
to send you to ward to
boarding school, it is less
the advice of other people,
less the reputation of a
school, less your own en-
thusiasm as parents that
should determine your
choice - and more your
own child’s disposition,
of which, you should have
a clear, objective, unbi-
ased perception and as-
sessment. ONLY if you
feel that your son or
daughter can ‘handle the
pressures’ of a competi-
tive space where one has
to work immensely hard
to carve out a niche,
should you take the
plunge.
Additionally, parents
should also be aware of
some general truths that
hold of all residential
schools. Focus on Overall
Development rather than
High Marks or Academic
Excellence ALONE: If
your ward and/or you are
set on the IIT/IIM and
Competitive Examina-
tions path post-schooling,
boarding school may not
be the ideal option since
the singular focus of a
boarding school is NOT
maximum academic per-
formance.
Sense of Independence
Can Be Extreme: Some-
times, the freedom and
the sense of independ-
ence that comes with a
boarding school educa-
tion, living away from
home and family since a
very early age, might
manifest in a familial dis-
connect, later on, making
products of a boarding
school unwilling or una-
ble to cohabit with family
.
One should be aware of
this tendency and guard
against it.
Maximum Exposure:
While I have advised
against the ‘negatives’,
the fact remains, very few
homes, or day-school envi-
ronments, can recreate
even a third of the board-
ing school experience in
terms of sheer exposure
to LIFE. It can be life-al-
tering for a student.
Minimum Interference:
Many residential schools
also discourage too much
involvement of parents/
home front in the day-to-
day goings-on with wards
on campus. This is my
view is by and large a
good ideology since an
interference-free environ-
ment teaches students
and learners to become
independent and become
leaders for life.
Skilled For Life: Experi-
ences on the Sports field,
team-building, bonding
over a Trek in the moun-
tains, encountering and
traversing harsh terrain
andchallengesonaCamp-
ing or Cycling Expedition,
all this immense exposure
builds character and inad-
vertently imbibes life-les-
sons in pupils of boarding
schools that then con-
sciously or unconsciously
are applied in different
scenarios throughout
their lives.
Like I said at the begin-
ning, while people may be
able to present many ad-
vantages and disadvan-
tages of a boarding school
education, it is for you as
a parent, to judge what
you feel your child is best
suited to. And if that
means sacrificing a
boarding-school educa-
tion to preserve his or her
well-being. It can be a life-
altering education but it
can unfortunately also be
a scarring one. So THINK
hard before you commit
your child to it.
KARTIK BAJORIA
The author is a Jaipur-based
Communication
Skills Educator Writer
T

ETC
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia AHMEDABAD | WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2022
11
The Government of India has announced vaccination for the 15 to 18-year-old age group against
the covid virus and its variants from January 3. City First interacted with parents from Rajasthan,
Delhi, Lucknow and Ahmedabad to have their opinions on their children getting vaccinated!
ince the authorisa-
tion of the first
COVID-19 vaccines
in December 2020,
millions of people
in the world have
been safely vacci-
nated. More than 10 months
of data show the vaccines
are safe and effective at pre-
venting serious disease or
death due to COVID-19.
Amid concerns over the
new, highly transmissible
Omicron variant of SARS-
CoV-2, additional shots and
boosters are also being au-
thorised for certain groups
to make the protection even
stronger.
The Indian Government
has announced vaccination
for the 15 to 18-year-old age
group against the coronavi-
rus disease from Monday.
But, it is to be noted that
only Bharat Biotech’s indig-
enously-made shot ‘Covax-
in’ will be used for vaccinat-
ing this age frame. Where
some parents showed signs
of relief with the announce-
ment others went helter-
skelter about the risks of
vaccines that they forget to
worry about the risks of the
diseases vaccines prevent.
City First asked parents to
send in personal stories and
testimonials about why
they vaccinate their chil-
dren.
UTTKARSHA SHEKHAR
cityfirst@firstindia.co.in
The Government of India has announced vaccination for the 15 to 18-year-old age group against
COVID
VACCINE
S
W
hile I do educate
myself about my
children’s health
concerns so that I can be
an active participant in
their health care, I also
trust their paediatrician
and the medical commu-
nity as a whole to be the
experts. Being informed
does not mean being at
odds or weird”.
I
think everyone should
immediately register
for the COVID vacci-
nation for for safekeeping
of their children. The new
COVID variant is spread-
ing like wildfire and
children are most at risk.
We must do what we can
to keep them safe. While
I have not registered yet, i
will soon enough. I need
to know my son is safe
out there. —Deepshikha Sharma,Rajastan
T
here are so many
things I cannot
protect my child
from, so I will take every
safe and healthy way to
protect her that I can
find. Vaccinating her
from potentially deadly
diseases is a gift—one
that she needs now that
diseases we thought we
had conquered are start-
ing to come back.”
—BHARTI SAXENA, RAJASTHAN
—RANI THAKUR, UP
T
he omicron vari-
ant has a looming
mirage on all of us
and the new decision to
vaccinate the kids is a
good one. I support it and
I’m going to book the slot
as soon as it’s available.
I hope everyone does it
soon because this is the
only way to overcome
this virus.
—BHUPENDRA SINGH BISHT, UP
W
e were relieved
to learn that
children would
be vaccinated. We are
fully vaccinated and
want our children to be
vaccinated as soon as
possible. And we will
not wait to see how
other children react be-
cause covid is spreading
quickly
and we
want our
children
to be
safe.
—PRIYANKA KASLIWAL, GUJARAT
I
am glad about the
government‘s deci-
sion to vaccinate the
younger generation too.
Since my children have
to attend schools too,
they should be vacci-
nated to better battle the
virus. Although, I will
wait for a little before
booking an appointment
for my child to see how
the initial vaccine drive
works, as a precaution.
But in my opinion we
should encourage each
other for this important
step, After all our chil-
dren is important! —MANUJ BIDALIYA, GUJARAT
PARENTS FEEDBACK
IT’S JAB TIME
IT’S JAB TIME
FOR KIDS
FOR KIDS

05012022 first india ahmedabad

05012022 first india ahmedabad

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