07022022 first india new delhi (1)

NEW DELHI l MONDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2022 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNITITLE NO.DELENG/2021/19840 lVol 1 l Issue No.159
Lata Mangeshkar
Anita Hada
ata ji was the voice of independent
India, she was the very soul and
pride of Bharat! She, at 92, leaves
behind a void that no one can fill.
With her unique, soul-stirring voice
she breathed life into lyrics, weaving them
into magical arias and melodies which
bound the nation together as one.
Today
, bereft of its voice…India reels from
shock and goes into mourning. As tributes
pour in from across India and abroad, what
stands out is that today from the highest ech-
elons of power, be it political, financial, or
entertainment to the rickshaw puller or the
farmer in his field … all will be listening to
their favourite Lata songs and every eye will
be moist. As in living, with her going away
too, she binds us together like the ‘Didi’ she
was to all Indians, she was truly the soul of
the nation.
Bharat Ratna Lata Mangeshkar, with her
nationalism, passion for perfectionism,
open-hearted benevolence and one in a mil-
lion voice, is a national icon. Can we think
of a single person who holds in their fan list
five generations of one family? Lata ji is no
more but she will live on forever through her
songs and generations to come will grow up
hearing her mellifluous voice… Meri awaaz
hi pechchan hai… yaad rahe…
L
SEPTEMBER 28, 1929 TO FEBRUARY 06, 2022

PERSPECTIVE
NEW DELHI | MONDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2022
02
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
nown to be extremely down-to-
earth, Lata Mangeshkar once
said her singing wasn’t some
miracle or anything extraordi-
nary, and whatever happened
was God’s will as “many have
sung better than me, but per-
haps they didn’t get as much as
I did”. She was also of the view
that one must not let success go
to the head.
“I am very grateful to God
thatmysuccesshasn’thadadet-
rimental effect on me. My head
could have turned; I could have
thought no end of myself,” she
had contended.“If I amgifted,it
is by the grace of God. Who
could have imagined I would be
so famous? All right, I can sing
butmysingingwasn’tsomesort
of miracle. My singing is noth-
ing extraordinary
. Many have
sung better than me, but per-
haps they didn’t get as much as
I did. It is His kindness alone. So
how could I lose my head?”
These remarks were made in
a book “Lata Mangeshkar...in
her own voice”, written by TV
producer and author Nasreen
Munni Kabir and published by
Niyogi Books in 2009. The book
was based on “Lata in Her Own
Voice”, a six-part documentary
series that Kabir directed in
1991 and was produced by Hy-
phenFilmsLtdforChannel4TV
in the UK.
Based on Kabir’s conversa-
tions with the legendary singer,
the book sheds light on the work
and life of the extraordinarily
gifted, deeply modest and God-
fearing Mangeshkar.Thesinger
also mentioned how she used to
make all kinds of excuses when
she was learning how to sing.
“I was very young and pre-
ferred to play
. I pretended to
have a headache or stomach
ache. It was always something. I
would run from the room where
Baba taught me. Sometimes he
would catch hold of me and
bringmerightback.Iwouldpro-
test saying: ‘I feel shy to sing in
front of you. I’m scared.’
“One day Baba sat me down
andsaid:‘IknowI’myourfather.
But a father is like a guru too.
Always remember - whether a
guru or father is teaching you -
whenyousingyoumustthinkto
yourself you will sing better
than him. Never think how can
I sing in his presence? Remem-
ber this. You must excel your
guru.’ I have never forgotten
Baba’s words,” she said in re-
sponse to a question on lessons
shelearntfromherfather,musi-
cian and theatre artist Deena-
nath Mangeshkar.
Mangeshkar also went on to
sayhowfilmmusicwasn’thuge-
ly appreciated at her home. The
family preferred Classical mu-
sic. “Baba didn’t like films. We
weren’tallowedtogotothemov-
ies - except for films made by the
Marathi filmmaker Bhalji Pen-
dharkar and Calcutta’s New
Theatres. Baba believed their
productionshadgoodmusicand
sensiblestories.Healwaysliked
Saigal Sahib and so did I. At
home I sang his songs, especial-
ly ‘Ek bangala bane nyaara’
from the film ‘President’. I was
allowed to sing Saigal Sahib’s
songs at home but no other film
songs. Nor did I care much for
them,” she said.
So how did Mangeshkar fi-
nally manage to change the
mind of her father, who didn’t
liketheideaof actinginfilmsor
singing for them but loved thea-
tre? As a child, she once con-
vinced one of her father’s disci-
plestoallowhertoportrayarole
in a play
. He reluctantly agreed
and she played her part. But
when Mangeshkar’s father
came to know about it, he was
furious. His wife, however, tried
to calm him down and pleaded
that the child should be left to
have her way
.
“He didn’t say another word
to me. I don’t know what came
over him, but soon after that, he
askedtheplaywrightKothiwale,
who had previously worked
with him, to write a children’s
play for me. Kothiwale wrote
‘Gurukul’inwhichIplayedShri
Krishna and my sister Meena
was Sudama,” she recalled.
She went on to play smaller
roles in films after her father’s
death to support the family be-
fore venturing into full-time
singing. Among her other
loves was photogra-
phy
.
“In 1946, I was
on an outdoor
shoot and
took a picture of someone who
was standing by a river. I be-
came intrigued by photography
.
I told Madhavrao Shinde, the
film editor, about my interest
and he taught me the basics:
how to load film and the kind of
camera I should buy
. The first
stills camera I ever owned was a
Rolleiflex. I bought it for Rs
1,200,” she said.
But Mangeshkar could not
always enjoy photographing
landscapes as “every time I
stepped out of the car to take a
picture,someoneorotherwould
recognise me and start talking
to me. Soon a crowd would gath-
er and I could barely see the
landscape beyond the wall of
fans”. She was also an avid
cricket fan.
“1st Test match I saw was
with my sister Meena at Bra-
bourne Stadium in 1945 or may-
be 1946 - it was a match between
Australia and India.”
Some of the players she liked
andsawthemplay
,includeGary
and Rohan Kanhai (both West
Indies); Richie Benaud, Ray
Lindwall, Alan Davidson and
Neil Harvey (all from Australia)
and India stars like Mushtaq
Ali, Vinoo Mankad, Vijay Mer-
chant, Mansoor Ali Khan Pa-
taudi, Sunil Gavaskar &
Sachin Tendulkar.
WITH INPUTS
FROM PTI
Vol 1 Issue No. 159
RNI TITLE NO. DELENG/2021/19840
Printed and published by Anita Hada Sangwan
on behalf of First Express Publishers. Printed
at Impressions Printing and Packaging Limited,
C-21, 22 Sector-59, Noida-201301. Published
at G-20, 3rd Floor, 309, Preet Vihar, New
Delhi-110092. Phone 011-49846474.
Editor-In-Chief: Jagdeesh Chandra.
Editor: Sharat K Verma
responsible for selection of news
under the PRB Act
SPIRITUAL SPEAK
For our struggle is not against flesh
and blood, but against the rulers,
against the authorities, against the
powers of this dark world and
against the spiritual forces of evil
in the heavenly realms.
—Bible
TOP TWEETS
he mellifluous voice of the
veteran singer, Bharat Rat-
na Lata Mangeshkar, has
gone silent. The Nightin-
gale of India passed away
on Sunday
, leaving a void that cannot
be filled. She dominated the music in-
dustry for decades and will continue
to do so through the treasure trove of
songs she has left behind a treasure
trove of lilting songs for us to live on.
It was the melody of her voice, her
classical training that saw Lata didi,
as she came to be known, emerge at
the top when there were singers like
Noor Jehan, Shamshad Begum, Mee-
na Kapoor, Geeta Dutt and Suraiya.
Each of these singers had their own
appeal but the universal appeal be-
longed to Lata didi’s girlish voice
which could suit most heroines.
The best tribute to Lata didi’s flaw-
less singing was paid by the famous
classical singer Bade Ghulam Ali
Khan who once remarked, “Kam-
bakht kabhi besura gaati hee nahi”.
Theemergenceof LataMangeshkar
as the top playback singer of the six-
ties and seventies also marked a
change in the taste for music due to
the new generation preferring her
voice over that of Shamshad Begum
or Noor Jehan. Lata Mangeshkar be-
gan to rule the mind space of the
youth of that era.
Now that she is no more, having
said adieu to the mortal world at the
age of 92, it would be apt to recall her
song from the film Kinara… “Naam
gum jaayega, chehra ye badal jaayega,
meree awaz hee pehchan hai…” Yes,
her voice was her identity. It deserv-
ingly attracted fans and honours from
far and wide.
It was the melody of her voice,
her classical training that saw
Lata didi, as she came to be
known, emerge at the top when
there were singers like Noor
Jehan, Shamshad Begum, Meena
Kapoor, Geeta Dutt and Suraiya
As a child, Lata once convinced one of her father’s disciples to
allow her to portray a role in a play. He reluctantly agreed
and she played her part. But when her father came to know
about it, he was furious. His wife, tried to calm him down and
pleaded that child should be left to have her way
T
Inspirational
words by Lata
Mangeshkar
I feel God has sent
me to Earth to
sing. I started
singing when I
was five, but I
don’t think I’ve
worked as hard as
many other people
Ibelieveinone
power,andthatis
thehandofGod.I
respectall
religions
As a singer, you
have to bring the
soul to the song
Onehastobefully
committedto
one’scareer.
Otherwise,there’s
nopoint
I’ve always loved
life, irrespective of
all the ups and
downs that have
filled my journey
Iwouldn’tleta
biopicbemadeon
me.That’s
becauseIdon’t
believeinthem.I
don’tlikethem
Bharat Ratna Lata
Mangeshkar ji, who
resides in the heart
of every music lover,
is heartbroken. It is
an irreparable loss to
the entire art world.
May God place the
departed soul at his
feet. Condolences to
the family members.
Jagat Prakash Nadda@JPNadda
Extremely sad at
the passing away of
the doyen of music,
Bharat Ratna Lata
Mangeshkar ji. Her
voice has cut across
genres, regions and
generations, and has
touched the lives of
people across the
globe.
Dharmendra Pradhan@dpradhanbjp
My singing wasn’t some miracle,
and whatever happened was God’s will: Lata didi
NIGHTINGALE LATA DEPARTS FOREVER
MONI SHARMA
The writer is Senior
Sub-Editor at First India
K
‘Ae Mere Watan Ke
Logon’ continues
to be one of the
songs by legend-
ary singer Lata
Mangeshkar that
remains etched in
people’s memory.
The song, com-
posed by C
Ramachandra, was
written by Kavi Pradeep in honour of Indian soldiers who lost their
lives in the 1962 war with China. Lata sang the song in the presence
of former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru at the Ramlila Maidan
in New Delhi, on January 27, 1963 moving him openly to tears. In
2014, on the 51st anniversary of the song, Lata was felicitated and
recalled singing the song and how much it meant to her.
WHEN LATA’S ‘AE MERE WATAN KE LOGON’ MOVED
PM NEHRU TO TEARS: ‘AAJ TUMNE RULA DIYA’
Lata Mangeshkar

Uttarkashi: BJP presi-
dent JP Nadda on Sun-
day said that the party
led Uttarakhand gov-
ernment in the past five
years worked for the em-
powerment of the poor.
Nadda said that the re-
port card of the state
government with works
done for Dalit, down-
trodden,andwomenhas
received an overwhelm-
ing popular response.
At a public rally in Ut-
tarkashi, Nadda said,
“The BJP govt cares for
the poor, oppressed, un-
derprivileged, Dalit, and
women. The BJP worries
about the people living at
the last rung of the socie-
ty
.” Nadda lauded the
achievements of the par-
ty-led Uttarakhand gov-
ernment. He also said
that the Central govt led
by PM Narendra Modi
has since 2014 been work-
ing for the welfare of the
poor, which resulted in
building 11 crore ‘Izzat
Ghar(toilets)’inthecoun-
try
. Nadda said that 5.22
lakh ‘Izzat Ghar’ were
built in Uttarakhand.
“Under the Ujjwala
scheme, about 10 crore
gas connections have
been distributed free of
cost across the country
.
InUttarakhand,3.65lakh
gas connections were
distributed,” he added.
NaddasaidthatPrime
Minister Narendra
Modi-ledCentreensured
annual health coverage
of up to Rs 5 lakh to the
poor under the Ayush-
man Bharat scheme.
“Along with this, Atal
Ayushman Yojana is
also functional in Utta-
rakhand in which
health coverage up to
Rs 5 lakh is being given
annually,” he added.
Taking a dig at the
Congress and the Gan-
dhi family, Nadda said,
“Modi ji talked about
cleanliness from the
ramparts of the Red
Fort. Gandhiji talked
about cleanliness. But
afterward, the Gandhis
who came did not talk
about cleanliness.”
Expressing confi-
dence that the BJP’s
candidate from the Gan-
gotri Assembly constit-
uency
,SureshChauhan,
will comfortably win,
Nadda said, “In politics,
it is easy to understand
the atmosphere. When
the name of candidate
Suresh Chauhan was
taken here, the ap-
plause got louder. This
tells me that you have
made up your mind to
give him your full bless-
ings.” —ANI
The BJP govt in Uttarakhand worked for empowerment of poor: Nadda
BJP CHIEF IN HILL STATE
BJP govt cares for the poor, Dalits,
oppressed, underprivileged and
women, says saffron party’s national
president Jagat Prakash Nadda
BJP National President JP Nadda waves to the supporters during the door-to-door campaign for
the upcoming Uttarakhand Assembly election, in Sahaspur on Sunday. —PHOTO BY ANI
NEW DELHI l MONDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2022 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNITITLE NO.DELENG/2021/19840 lVol 1 l Issue No.159
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NEW DEATHS
THE VOICE THAT BECAME PART OF EVERY HOME
LATA PASSES AWAY AT 92
Swar
Malika
President of India
@rashtrapatibhvn
Lata-ji’s demise is heart-
breaking for me, as it is
for millions the world
over. In her vast range
of songs, rendering the
essence and beauty of
India, generations found
expression of their inner-
most emotions.
I am shocked that the
melodious voice of sing-
ing nightingale Lata Ji
has turned silent. An era
has ended. Tributes to her
on her last journey
—Sonia Gandhi,
Congress President
Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
I consider it my honour
that I have always
received immense affec-
tion from Lata Didi. My
interactions with her will
remain unforgettable.
I grieve with my fellow
Indians on the pass-
ing away of Lata Didi.
Spoke to her family and
expressed condolences.
Om Shanti.
Amit Shah
@AmitShah
Lata didi, with her melo-
dious voice and mesmer-
izing voice, has filled the
lives of every generation
not only in India but all
over the world with the
sweetness of Indian
music. It is not possible
to put into words her
contribution to the music
world. Her death is a
personal loss for me.
Rahul Gandhi
@RahulGandhi
Received the sad news of
Lata Mangeshkar ji’s de-
mise. She remained the
most beloved voice of
India for many decades.
Her golden voice is im-
mortal and will continue
to echo in the hearts of
her fans. My condolenc-
es to her family, friends
and fans.
Bharat Ratna singer Lata
Mangeshkar breathed her last
at 8.12 am on Sunday after suffering
multiple-organ failure on Saturday
night. Confirming her death, Breach
Candy Hospital CEO N Santhanam
attributed the iconic singer’s death to
post-COVID-19 complications
VIPs and
commoners
from all walks of
life attended her
funeral at Mumbai’s
Shivaji Park, which
took place with full
state honours
1 2
eteran singer
Lata Man-
geshkar was laid
to rest at Mum-
bai’s Shivaji
Park with full state hon-
ours on Sunday evening.
Mangeshkar’s pyre was
lit by her brother Hri-
daynath Mangeshkar. PM
Modi paid floral tributes
at the ceremony
.
Keeping in mind the se-
curity concerns with PM
Narendra Modi and Maha-
rashtra CM Uddhav in at-
tendance, the Mumbai
civic body had decided
that Mangeshkar’s crema-
tion would be held at
Shivaji Park.
The Centre announced
two-day national
mourning with National
Flag flying at half mast
CM UDDHAV, SACHIN,
SHAH RUKH AMONG
OTHERS ATTEND RITES
LATA SERVED AS MP
IN RAJYA SABHA,
NEVER TOOK SALARY
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi, Maharashtra Chief
Minister Uddhav Thack-
eray, Indian batting legend
Sachin Tendulkar and actors
Amitabh Bachchan and Shah
Rukh Khan were among the
host of dignitaries from the
world of politics, cricket and
entertainment who paid their
respects to veteran singer
Lata Mangeshkar as she was
laid to rest in Mumbai.
Supported by the BJP, Lata
was elected on November
22, 1999, and was part of
the House till November
21, 2005. In an RTI, it was
revealed that during her
term, she never touched the
allowances and checks she
received as a parliamentar-
ian. All payments that were
made to her were returned.
LATAJI RULED THE HEARTS
OF COUNTRYMEN: GEHLOT
Jaipur: Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot
while condoling death of Lata
Mangeshkar said, “Lataji touched
the heart of every Indian with her
melodious and melodious voice. For
nearly seven decades, she gave new
heights to Indian music. I met Lata
Mangeshkar ji twice in Mumbai. She
had great affection for me. She was
the person who ruled the hearts”.
V
Prime Minister Narendra Modi paying tribute to legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar
during her funeral at Shivaji park in Mumbai on Sunday. —PHOTO BY PTI
Thousands of people attended funeral procession of Lata Mangeshkar as it left from her
residence to Shivaji Park, in Mumbai on Sunday. —PHOTO BY PTI
LATAJI RULED THE HEARTS
OF COUNTRYMEN: GEHLOT
Jaipur:
while condoling death of Lata
Mangeshkar said, “Lataji touched
the heart of every Indian with her
melodious and melodious voice. For
nearly seven decades, she gave new
heights to Indian music. I met Lata
Mangeshkar ji twice in Mumbai. She
had great affection for me. She was
the person who ruled the hearts”.
Congress President
made to her were returned.
BJP CANCELS ITS UP MANIFESTO
LAUNCH FOLLOWING LATA’S DEMISE
Lucknow: The BJP cancelled the launch of its
manifesto for the elections in Uttar Pradesh as a
mark to respect to Lata Mangeshkar, who died at
the age of 92 on Sunday. Meanwhile, during UP
poll campaign, Union Home Minister attended ral-
lies in Baghpat and Amroha where he attacked SP
chief Akhilesh Yadav on the law order issue.
LATA HAD
RECORDED LAST
SONG IN 2019
Lata Mangeshkar re-
corded her last song
‘Saugandh Mujhe Is
Mitti Ki’, composed
by Mayuresh Pai, as
a tribute to the Indian
Army and nation.
It was released on
March 30, 2019.
Aditi Nagar
Ludhiana: Putting an
end to the speculation
andsuspensethatcontin-
ued for months, senior
Congress leader Rahul
Gandhi announced
Charanjit Singh Channi
as the CM face of Con-
gressforthePunjabpolls,
slated for February 20.
“It is not a decision of
Rahul Gandhi but of
Punjab. I can have an
opinion but I can’t de-
cide. People of Punjab
said we want a gareeb
ghar ka CM, I agreed to
it,” said Rahul.
Before the formal an-
nouncement by Gandhi,
a meeting went on for
more than two hours at
a hotel near Rahul Gan-
dhi’s rally venue in Lu-
dhiana, which was at-
tended by senior Con-
gress leaders like
Jakhar, Punjab affairs
in-charge Harish
Chaudhary
, Channi and
Sidhu.
IND GO ONE UP AGAINST WI
Skipper Rohit Sharma brought in a sense of calm
with a sizzling 60 after India’s new spin combination
of Yuzvendra Chahal and Washington Sundar laid the
platform for an easy six-wicket victory over West In-
dies in the first ODI which also happens to be country’s
1000th. First the hosts bundled out West Indies for a
meagre 176 in 43.5 overs as spinners Chahal (4/49
in 9.5 overs) and Washington (3/30 in 9 overs) ran
through their listless line-up and then skipper smashed
60 off 51 balls with hosts chased down the target in
just 28 overs. The Indian cricket team wore black
armband to condole the demise of legendary singer
Lata Mangeshkar on Sunday.
TEAM INDIA WEARS BLACK ARMBANDS
IN HONOUR OF LATA MANGESHKAR
Channi will be
Cong’s Punjab
CM face: Rahul
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi with Punjab CM Charanjit Singh
Channi and Navjot Singh Sidhu at an election rally in Ludhiana.
CM CHANNI TOUCHES
NAVJOT SIDHU’S FEET
ROADSHOW BAN
BY EC CONTINUES
AKHILESH FOR VARSITY
IN VAJPAYEE’S NAME
Soon after the announce-
ment, Channi, who is also
the first Dalit CM of the state,
was seen touching Sidhu’s
feet. Then came the Kodak
moment, Sidhu, the Punjab
Congress chief, cheered the
presumptive CM by raising
his hand in jubilation like
winning boxer’s hand.
The Election Commission on
Sunday reiterated that the
ban on physical rallies and
roadshows will continue to
remain in effect in Assembly
election-bound states, but
granted more relaxations
for physical public meet-
ings in indoor halls and for
outdoor meetings.
Samajwadi Party National
President Akhilesh Yadav
on Sunday promised to
construct a university in the
name of BJP veteran and
former Prime Minister Atal
Behari Vajpayee at his native
village Bateshwar in Bah
assembly constituency of
Agra district.

CAPITOL
04
New Delhi: To provide
last-mile connectivity
and curb pollution, the
New Delhi Municipal
Council (NDMC) will
purchase 1,000 electric
scooters under its app-
based scooter rental
project for the general
public that has been de-
layed due to Covid-19.
The e-scooters will be
set up in two phases at
around 100 locations in
the New Delhi area.
In the first phase, 500
e-scooter will be set up
at 50 charging stations
in a public-private part-
nership (PPP) model
outside metro stations,
bus stops, hospitals,
railway stations and
other public places
from where people can
rent them out for last-
mile connectivity, said
NDMC vice-chairman
Shri Upadhyay
. Tenders
have been floated for
the first phase, added
Upadhyay
.
These e-scooters will
have a range of 80 km
on a full charge and it
can run at a speed of up
to 45 km per hour. “The
e-scooter service will be
operated by a web-based
application. The com-
muters will have to hire
them for a minimum of
15 minutes and will be
charged per minute,”
said Upadhyay
.
He further said that
the NDMC will register
these vehicles at the
transport department
as it requires a license
to operate. —Agencies
New Delhi: The Delhi
government’s biggest
tertiary care health fa-
cility in the trans-Ya-
muna region, Guru Teg
Bahadur Hospital, is
ready for a major over-
haul, with a new ward
block, diagnostic block,
and OPD block coming
up this year.
The new infrastruc-
ture will not only
spruce up the hospital,
but it will add more
than 200 beds, make it
fire safe, and introduce
digitalisation of pro-
cesses to shorten
queues. With Covid cas-
es subsiding again,
work on the new blocks
has picked up.
The 1,920-bed ward
block, and the adjacent
diagnostic block, will
be handed over to the
hospital by contractors
by June. The new blocks
are located next to the
oxygen storage tank for
East Delhi that was set
up in the hospital com-
pound after the second
wave of the pandemic.
“As you know, this
building is very old but
we have an upcoming
block. By June, we plan
to move all our patients
to the new 1,920-bed
ward block. After that,
the government may
plan to demolish this
building. Earlier, this
block was to be remod-
elled. However, the cost
of remodelling was
very high. With the
same cost, a new build-
ing can be made,” said
Dr Subhash Giri, medi-
cal superintendent,
GTB Hospital. The
block was to be complet-
ed last April but got de-
layed by around a
month because of pollu-
tion norms and Covid.
Discussions are on to
create a new super-spe-
ciality block in place of
the main building of
the hospital. The hospi-
tal currently has aro-
und 1,700 beds. —Agencies
New Delhi: Authori-
ties at Jawaharlal
Nehru University per-
mitted schools and cen-
tres to resume offline
teaching and learning
activities for students
from today
.
This comes after the
DDMA allowed higher
education institutes to
resume physical teach-
ing and learning activi-
ties amid declining
cases of coronavirus
disease (Covid-19) in the
national capital.
According to a new
university order, deans
and chairpersons of
various schools, centres
and special centres may
resume offline teach-
ing, learning and aca-
demic activities from
Monday
. —Agencies
Commission for Women
(DCW) and the Delhi Po-
lice have rescued a
12-year-old girl who was
abandoned by her moth-
er and forced into child
labour, according to a
statement issued by the
women’s body
.
The girl from Luc-
know in Uttar Pradesh
was rescued from Del-
hi’s Ashok Vihar on Feb-
ruary 3.
The girl was allegedly
forced into child labour
at the age of 10 and was
made to work as a do-
mestic help by her moth-
er at a Delhi household,
the statement said.
Since then she was
working in Delhi and
that too without any
payment.
The commission got
to know about the case
through an anonymous
source. The commis-
sion, in coordina-
tion with the
Delhi Police,
t r a c e d
the girl and rescued her
from northwest Delhi’s
Ashok Vihar. Immedi-
ately after her rescue,
the police registered an
FIR in the matter. The
girl told her rescuers
that she was made to
work throughout the day
and was never allowed
to go out of the house.
She has been sent to a
shelter home and a DCW
team is in constant
touch with her, the state-
ment said. DCW Chair-
person Swati Maliwal
has also issued a notice
to the Delhi Police, seek-
ing arrests of the cul-
prits. —PTI
University (DU) has
formed an eight-mem-
ber NTA Coordination
Committee for the Cen-
tral Universities Com-
mon Entrance Test
(CUCET), according to a
notification.
The committee is
headed by DU Registrar
Vikas Gupta with Dean)
DS Rawat serving as its
convenor.
Professors Haneet
Gandhi, Dean (Admis-
sions), Sanjeev Singh,
Joint Dean (Admis-
sions), Ajay Jaiswal,
Joint Dean (Admis-
sions), Pankaj Arora,
Dean, Students’ Welfare,
Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur
Khalsa college principal
Jaswinder Singh and
Admission Branch offi-
cial OP Sharma are the
other members of the
panel. Sharma is the-
member secretary of
the committee. This
year, admissions to the
university will be done
through the CUCET.
The committee has
been named as the Na-
tional Testing Agency
Coordination Commit-
tee. —PTI
New Delhi: Indian
Women Hockey team
captain Rani Rampal
has appealed to citizens
of South Delhi to help
civic authorities keep
the area clean and seg-
regate waste at source,
the SDMC said on Sat-
urday. She is the brand
ambassador of the
South Delhi Municipal
Corporation’s civic ini-
tiatives, officials said.
As part of ‘Azadi Ka
Amrit Mahotsav’ cele-
brations, beautiful
paintings on the theme
Indian music are made
on metro pillars in Na-
jafgarh Zone , they said.
Taking forward the
initiative, Rampal, a
Padam Shri awardee,
appealed to the resi-
dents of South Delhi to
segregate waste in dry,
wet and hazardous cat-
egories, and hand it
over to the SDMC dur-
ing door-to-door collec-
tion.
She also urged resi-
dents to stop using sin-
gle-use plastic and
switch to cloth bags in
day- to-day activities, to
cooperate with the cor-
poration in all its Initia-
tives and to register
sanitation and environ-
ment-related grievanc-
es on the SDMC 311 app,
it said. —PTI
New Delhi: Two years
since it opened to the
public, the new Rao Tula
Ram (RTR) flyover is
marred with potholes, a
narrow U-turn, and a
broken divider that
leads to traffic snarls at
the mouth of the stretch
as well as occasional ac-
cidents.
The 2.7-km-long flyo-
ver, branching off the
Munirka flyover and
ending before the Army
Hospital Research and
Referral near Subroto
Park on the Outer Ring
Road, was inaugurated
in 2019 to make the com-
mute from South Delhi
to Indira Gandhi Inter-
national Airport easier.
According to the traf-
fic police, one-two road
accidents on the stretch
are reported in a month
and 12-15 in a year. Po-
lice said around 18 acci-
dents took place on this
stretch in 2021, of which
four proved to be fatal.
A spot check by The
Indian Express found
that while the initial
commute was smooth,
at least five potholes on
the descent lead to slow
vehicular movement
and traffic snarls. A part
of the divider on the
stretch also lies broken,
with small stones and
bricks lying on the road.
Moreover, a U-turn
around 100 metres after
the flyover to head to
Shankar Vihar and
nearby residential colo-
nies like Vasant Vihar
and Subroto Park has
turned into a choke
point — it is too small
for heavy vehicles to
pass through without
hitting the concrete bar-
riers and many get
stuck, causing snarls.
Residents and com-
muters too have raised
complaints: “Vehicles
come speeding from the
flyover and there is al-
ways a fear of a collision
at the U-turn. What is
the need for this poorly
constructed U-turn, wh-
en a proper one under
the Airport Road flyover
is just 300 metres away?”
said Vishwesh Rai, a
commuter. —Agencies
WHAT PLAGUES DELHI’S RAO TULA RAM FLYOVER
ACCIDENT PRONE
One-two road accidents on the
stretch are reported in a month and
12-15 in a year: Traffic Police
New Delhi: A fire broke out in the courtroom of
additional sessions judge at the Karkardooma court
here in the early hours
of Sunday, Delhi Fire
officials said. No one
was injured in the fire.
The firefighting system
of the court was not
working at the time of
the incident, they said. Atul Garg, director of Delhi
Fire Services, said a call about a fire in a courtroom
was received at 3.23 am after which 12 fire tenders
were rushed to the spot.
FIRE BREAKS OUT AT DELHI’S
KARKARDOOMA COURT, NO CASUALTY
CRUCIAL READ
DENSE FOG IN
DELHI, TEMP
SETTLES AT 5.4
DEGREES CELSIUS
New Delhi: Several
parts of the national
capital witnessed dense
fog on Sunday morn-
ing with the minimum
temperature in the city
settling at 5.4 degrees
Celsius, four notches
below the normal, the
India Meteorological
Department said. Ac-
cording to the Safdar-
jung observatory, which
provides representative
data for the city, the
relative humidity was
97 per cent at 8.30 am.
The weatherman
predicted mainly clear
skies for the day. The
maximum temperature
is likely to settle around
21 degrees Celsius.
2 KILLED AS SUV
RAMS INTO TWO
SCOOTERS
New Delhi: Two
motorists were killed
after an SUV rammed
into two scooters
near Atul Kataria
chowk in Gurgaon on
Friday night. Police
said the accused
SUV driver was un-
der the influence of
alcohol at the time of
the incident and also
suffered minor inju-
ries. He was arrested
and later released on
bail. Police said both
the victims suffered
multiple injuries and
were killed on the
spot. The deceased
have been identified
as Sanjeev Kumar,
and Keval(46).
SUNNY DAYS AGAIN
People throng Lodhi Garden on a sunny day to bask in the sun amid cold winter spells in New Delhi.
—PHOTO BY ANI
DCW, police rescue
minor forced into child
labour from Ashok Vihar
E-scooters will be set up in 2 phases at
around 100 locations in national capital
GTB hospital to get infra boost with
new ward, diagnostic OPD blocks
Women hockey team skipper
appeals to keep city clean: SDMC
JNU allows resumption of
offline classes from today
DU forms panel
for CUCET
1K e-scooters for rental:
NDMC plans to curb pollution
New Delhi: Under
the AAP govern-
ment’s single-window
facility, the first pri-
vate electric vehicle
charging point has
been installed at a
south Delhi resident’s
home under BSES dis-
com BRPL area, a
company spokesper-
son on Sunday
.
The single-window
facility seeks to facili-
tate the rapid expan-
sion of charging in-
frastructure for elec-
tric vehicles at private
and semi-public plac-
es like apartments,
group housing socie-
ties, hospitals, malls
and theatres.
The first private
charging point was
installed earlier this
week at DDA Flats in
south Delhi’s Munir-
ka, while the second
one was installed next
to it in east Delhi’s
Vivek Vihar, the BSES
spokesperson said.
“Consumers of
BSES discoms BRPL
and BYPL can get a
private EV charging
point installed
through an online
single-window portal
at their homes, group
housing societies,
multi-storey apart-
ment complexes, RWA
offices, commercial
shops etc., through
the empanelled ven-
dors,” he said. —PTI
First private EV charging point
installed at S Delhi resident’s home
—Representative Image
Swati Maliwal

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Chandigarh: The BJP
on Sunday questioned
the locus standi of Con-
gress leader Rahul
Gandhi to announce
his party’s chief minis-
terial face for the Pun-
jab Assembly polls, say-
ing he doesn’t hold any
position in the party
right now. Rahul Gan-
dhi on Sunday arrived
in Ludhiana for a vir-
tual rally and he will
announce the chief
ministerial face of the
party.
“Rahul Gandhi does
not hold any position
in the party so in what
capacity and authority
will he be announcing
the party’s CM candi-
date today,” Union Min-
ister for Jal Shakti and
BJP leader Gajendra
Singh Shekhawat asked
in a statement.
While choosing the
CM candidate is indeed
the party’s prerogative
but people of Punjab
would like to know
what authority Gandhi
has in the party right
now, other than being
one of the 50-odd MPs
belonging to the Con-
gress, he said. Shekha-
wat said Gandhi had
resigned as the Con-
gress president in 2019
in the aftermath of the
party’s defeat in the
Lok Sabha polls.
BJP QUESTIONS RAHUL’S LOCUS
STANDI TO NAME CONG CM FACE
ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS
Congress Chief Ministerial candidate for Punjab Assembly elections Charanjit Singh Channi with Punjab Congress Chief Navjot Singh
Sidhu, party leader Rahul Gandhi and others at the virtual rally, in Ludhiana on Sunday. —PHOTO BY ANI
EC NOTICE TO BJP UTTARAKHAND FOR
TWEETING RAWAT’S MORPHED PHOTO
MEGHALAYA CM CAMPAIGNS
AGAINST ALLY BJP IN MANIPUR
EC DIRECTS STATES TO PROVIDE ADEQUATE
SECURITY TO POLL STAR CAMPAIGNERS
New Delhi: The Election
Commission has issued a
notice to the Uttarakhand
BJP for alleged violation
of the model code and
asked it to reply within
24 hours for tweeting a
morphed image of former
CM and Congress leader
Harish Rawat, in which
he has been shown as a
Muslim cleric.The action
comes after the Congress
complained to the poll
body on Friday, alleging
that the BJP U’khand
on February 3 tweeted a
morphed image of Rawat.
Guwahati: A Chief
Minister of one state
campaigning in another
may not seem like a
novel idea but the ex-
ample of Meghalaya’s
Conrad Sangma is
a curious one.The
Meghalaya Chief Minis-
ter is on a four-day visit
to Manipur to campaign
against the BJP-led
alliance of which his
party, National Peoples’
Party (NPP), is a part
of.In 2017, the NPP
contested only nine
seats in which it won
four seats - the best
strike rate among all
parties - and emerged
as kingmaker. Without
NPP’s support, the BJP
would not have been
able to form a coalition
government.This time
the NPP is fielding 42
candidates for the 60-
seat assembly, nearly
five times more than
last time. 19 of them
are BJP leaders who
switched sides after
being denied tickets.
The BJP, however, has
played down the NPP
threat. “The NPP is day-
dreaming about emerg-
ing as an alternative to
BJP in Manipur. After
this election, the NPP
won’t exist here. They
have no organisation
base in Manipur, they
only come during elec-
tions,” said Manipur
BJP Vice President
Chidananda Singh.
New Delhi: Days after
shots were fired at the
car of AIMIM chief
Asaduddin Owaisi in
western Uttar Pradesh,
the Election Com-
mission has directed
chief secretaries of
all states to provide
adequate security cover
to star campaigners of
political parties within
their states during the
election period. In a
letter dated February 5
and also marked to state
chief electoral officers,
the EC said it has been
brought to its notice that
the “star campaigners
in the ongoing general
elections to the legisla-
tive assemblies of the
five states have faced
security issues”. The
star campaigners con-
stitute an integral part
of the election process
and their security is of
utmost importance for
ensuring free and fair
elections, the poll panel
asserted. “The commis-
sion has taken cogni-
sance of matter and has
decided that the star
campaigners... appoint-
ed by the politics shall
be provided adequate
security cover,” it said.
BUSINESSMAN
SACRIFICES 101
GOATS TO PRAY
FOR OWAISI
Hyderabad: A
businessman sac-
rificed 101 goats at
Bagh-e-Jahanara in
Hyderabad on Sunday
to pray for the safety
and long life of LS MP
Asaduddin Owaisi.
The event was attend-
ed by Malakpet MLA
and AIMIM leader
Ahmed Balala. This
comes a few days
after MP Owaisi’s car
was shot at while he
was on his way from
Meerut to Delhi.
CEC Sushil Chandra (Centre) with other officials.
INDIA
05
PM MODI SECURITY BREACH
SC’s 5-member panel probing
lapse reaches Ferozepur
New Delhi: The Su-
preme Court appointed
panel, which is investi-
gating the security
breach during Prime
Minister Narendra
Modi’s visit to Punjab
last month, reached
Ferozepur on Sunday
.
Former apex court
judge Justice (Retd.)
Indu Malhotra, who is
heading the panel prob-
ing the security breach,
has arrived at the Piar-
eana village in
Ferozepur, according to
media.
Justice (Retd.) Mal-
hotra earlier reached
Amritsar from Delhi
and then proceeded by
road to reach the Piare-
ana village, sources
added.
Punjab Police have
also reached the spot
with the probe team.
The team is conduct-
ing the probe on the flyo-
vernearPiareanavillage
on the Ferozepur-Moga
roadwherePrimeMinis-
ter Modi’s convoy was
stuck for about 20 min-
utesduetoablockadeby
the farmers earlier on
January 5. —Agencies
PM Modi was stuck on a Punjab highway on Jan 5.—FILE PHOTO
@ianuragthakur
Anurag Thakur
The death of swara
nightingale, Lata ji,
the melody queen, is
such a loss that it is
impossible to com-
pensate. Her passing
away is everyone’s
personal loss. Per-
sonally, she was my
favourite singer who
made a mark with
her singing at every
stage of her life.
@DrSJaishankar
S. Jaishankar
Deeply saddened
by the passing
away of Bharat
Ratna Lata Man-
geshkar ji. She was
the voice of the
country ever since I
can remember. This
is truly the end of
an era.
@VPSecretariat
M. Venkaiah Naidu
I am extremely sad-
dened by the demise
of Lata Mangeshkar
Ji, the Nightingale of
Indian Cinema and
legendary singer.
India has lost its
voice in the death
of Lata ji, who has
enthralled music
lovers in India.
@ImranKhanPTI
Imran Khan
With the death of
Lata Mangeshkar
the subcontinent has
lost one of the truly
great singers the
world has known.
Listening to her
songs has given so
much pleasure to so
many people all over
the world.
@PresRajapaksa
Mahinda Rajapaksa
Rest In Peace Night-
ingale of #India,
#LataMangeshkar.
Thank you for the
decades of entertain-
ment that transcend-
ed borders gave
life to the phrase
‘music is a universal
language.’ My deep-
est condolences.
TRIBUTES
TO LATA
GST council to discuss ATF
inclusion, says FM Sitharaman
New Delhi: Govern-
mentwilldiscussinclu-
sionof aviationturbine
fuel (ATF) under goods
and services tax (GST)
regime in the next
meeting of the council,
finance minister Nir-
mala Sitharamansaid
onSunday
,whilesaying
that rising global fuel
prices is a “concern”.
Interacting with in-
dustry body Assocham,
the finance minister
said that the GST coun-
cil in its next meeting
will take up the matter
of ATF’s inclusion in
the regime.
“It is not with ... (the
Centre) alone, it has got
to go to the GST Coun-
cil. The next time we
meet in the Council, I
will put it on the table
for them to discuss it,”
she said.
When the GST was
introduced on July 1,
2017, amalgamating
over a dozen central
and state levies, five
commodities — crude
oil, natural gas, petrol,
diesel and ATF — were
kept out of its purview
given the revenue de-
pendenceof thecentral
and state governments
on this sector.
The minister was re-
sponding to views ex-
pressed by SpiceJet
Founder Ajay Singh
where he sought the
support of the finance
minister in bringing
ATF into the GST re-
gime.
“Oil is at $90, the ru-
pee is at 75 to a dollar
and, therefore, the civil
aviation sector has be-
come chronically ill.
Your kind support (in
bringingATFintoGST)
in this process will be
extremely helpful,” Mr
Singh said. —PTI
IN THE NEXT MEET

BIZ BUZZ
06
India’s digital currency
to debut by early 2023
New Delhi: India’s
very own official digi-
tal currency is likely to
debut by early 2023,
which will mirror any
of the currently avail-
able private company-
operated electronic
wallets, but with a
change that it will be a
sovereign-backed facil-
ity, a top government
source said.
Finance Minister
Nirmala Sitharaman
in her budget speech
last week talked about
launching a central
bank-backed ‘digital
rupee’ soon.
A top government
source, who wished
not to be identified
said, the digital cur-
rency issued by the
RBI would be num-
bered in units, just like
every fiat currency has
an unique number.
“The units issued in
digital rupee would be
included in the cur-
rency in circulation. It
would not be very dif-
ferent from fiat cur-
rency
. It would be more
like an electronic form
of fiat currency, so in a
sense it would be a
government-mandated
electronic wallet,” the
source said.
The RBI has indicat-
ed that the digital ru-
pee would be ready by
the end of next finan-
cial year, the source
added.
The digital rupee
blockchain, being de-
veloped by the Reserve
Bank, would be able to
trace all transactions,
unlike the current sys-
tem of mobile wallet
offered by private com-
panies.
Explaining further,
the source said that us-
ing electronic wallet
offered by private com-
panies, people current-
ly transfer money to
the private company
who holds the money
on his/her behalf and
pays to a merchant
when there is any
transaction.
“In the case of a dig-
ital rupee instead of
holding a note you will
be holding a digital
currency in your
phone and it would be
with the central bank
and from there it
would be transferred
to any merchant. It is
fully backed by the sov-
ereign,” the source
said.
If the money is
transferred to the e-
wallet of a private
company, then credit
risk of that company
is also attached to the
money besides charges
levied by such compa-
nies.
“Instead of carrying
this wallet, I will carry
money on the phone,”
the source said. —PTI
The units is-
sued in digi-
tal rupee
would be included in
the currency in circu-
lation. It would not be
very different from
fiat currency. It would
be more like an elec-
tronic form of fiat cur-
rency, so in a sense it
would be a govern-
ment-mandated elec-
tronic wallet.
—A top govt source
The digital rupee
blockchain
would be able to
trace all
transactions,
unlike the current
system of mobile
wallet offered by
pvt companies
AdaniGroupformsunitto
setupdatacentreinMumbai
Green bonds to be rupee-denominated:EcoAffairs Secy
New Delhi: Asserting
that the issuance of
sovereign green bonds
is part of the govern-
ment’s overall borrow-
ing programme, Eco-
nomic Affairs Secre-
tary Ajay Seth has said
these rupee-denominat-
ed papers will have long
tenure to suit the re-
quirement of green in-
frastructure projects.
Seth said this is part
of the overall borrow-
ing for the next finan-
cial year.
“At this point of time,
we are looking at the
domestic markets and
rupee-denominated...
the tenure would be
normal like any G-sec
tenure. It would be me-
dium to long term but
not short term. Fund
mobilised will be used
in the infrastructure
sector, which has a re-
quirement of long term
finances,” Seth said.
Before taking a deci-
sion on quantum, Seth
said the RBI will come
out with a framework,
which will have details
about projects or sec-
tors that would qualify
for funding under the
sovereign green bonds.
Besides, he said the
guidelines will have de-
tails related to the mon-
itoring of fund usage in
green or less carbon-
emitting areas and as-
surances for investors.
“This is going to be
purpose-oriented bor-
rowing. We will come
out with a framework
in the coming months.
It’s not a one year in-
strument but there will
be more need for such
an investment, and
more eagerness of the
investors in the area in
the coming years,” he
said. —PTI
Massive capex to boost
eco activity: Fin secy
New Delhi: The gov-
ernment’s massive
capital spending pro-
gramme outlined in
the Budget 2022 will
help crowd-in private
investment by reinvig-
orating economic ac-
tivities and creating
demand, Finance Sec-
retary T V Somana-
than said. Finance
Minister Nirmala Si-
tharaman raised capi-
tal expenditure (capex)
by 35.4% for the finan-
cial year 2022-23 to `7.5
lakh crore to continue
the public investment-
led recovery of the
pandemic-battered
economy. The capex
this year is
pegged at `5.5 lakh
crore.
The spending on
building multimodal
logistics parks, metro
systems, highways,
and trains is expected
to create demand for
the private sector as all
the projects are to be
i m p l e m e n t e d
through contrac-
tors.
Somanathan
said over the
last two years
physical restric-
tions due to Covid
has dented demand
and de-
l a y e d
private
i nv e s t -
ment. —PTI
New Delhi: Ports-to-
energy conglomerate
Adani Group has in-
corporated a new sub-
sidiary to set up a data
centre in Mumbai, one
of the half a dozen cit-
ies that the billionaire
Gautam Adani’s
group has identified
to set up data centres
initially. AdaniCon-
nex Pvt Ltd, a 50:50
joint venture of Adani
Enterprises and Edge-
Connex Europe BV
, on
February 4 incorpo-
rated a wholly-owned
subsidiary Mumbai
Data Centre Ltd, the
Adani group firm said
in a stock exchange
filing.
The new unit will
“undertake business
to develop, operate,
maintain, deal with
data centres, informa-
tion technology (IT)/
information technolo-
gy-enabled services
(ITES)/ cloud, provid-
ing services related
thereto and to under-
take activities associ-
ated with its infra-
structure develop-
ment including land
acquisition and devel-
opment for the said
purpose,” it said.
MDCL will com-
mence its business op-
erations in due course,
it added.
In February 2021,
Adani Enterprises Ltd
had partnered Edge-
ConneX, a leading
data centre operator,
to develop one giga-
watt (GW) of data cen-
tre capacity over the
next decade. The equal
joint venture (JV),
named AdaniConneX,
will focus on building
a network of hyper-
scale data centres in
India, starting with
Chennai, Navi Mum-
bai, Noida, Visakhapa-
tnam and Hyderabad.
A data centre pro-
vides the necessary
secured architecture
wherein computing
and networking equip-
ment is concentrated
for collecting, storing,
processing, distribut-
ing or allowing access
to large amounts of
data.
—PTI
Audi weighs local production of EVs in India
New Delhi: German
luxury carmaker Audi
is evaluating the feasi-
bility of producing
electric vehicles locally
in India while it seeks
to reach threshold vol-
umes for such a step to
be successful, accord-
ing to a senior compa-
ny official. With the
company deciding to go
all-electric globally
from 2033, it is a matter
of time for local pro-
duction of its electric
cars, which has so far
received a robust re-
sponse in India.
“It’s a continuous
evaluation at this point
in time...We are evalu-
ating the acceptability
of electric mobility in
India,” Audi India
Head Balbir Singh
Dhillon told PTI when
asked about the com-
pany’s plans with rival
Mercedes-Benz an-
nouncing to locally as-
semble all-electric EQS
sedan in India from
this year.
He further said,”But
you have to also under-
stand (that) we have, as
Audi India or Audi AG,
already decided that by
2033 we will become an
all-electric car compa-
ny. So, it’s a matter of
time. It’s a question of
when, not if that
whether we will do it.”
In the last seven
months, he said Audi
India has launched five
electric cars in India
and will continue to
sell these throughout
these 12 months.
Audi’s five electric
cars in India are the e-
tron 50, e-tron 55, e-tron
Sportback 55, e-tron
GT, RS e-tron GT. These
have played a key role,
along with its petrol-
powered Q-range and
with A-sedans in the
company recording a
two-fold jump in retail
sales at 3,293 units in
India in 2021 as com-
pared to 1,639 units in
2020.
“So far, it has been
extremely successful.
This is one segment,
which actually has per-
formed even better
than what we initially
anticipated,” Dhillon
said.
However, as far as
the local assembly is
concerned, he said,”We
are evaluating. We
need to reach those
threshold volumes be-
fore we can take a call
that we start making
these cars locally
.”
At the moment, he
said Audi India’s prod-
uct portfolio in the EV
segment is “strong
enough to cater to the
customer needs for
next coming years and
the network is strong
enough to cater to what
our requirements to-
day are”.
—PTI
5 NEW E-CARS
ADANICONNEX
New Delhi: Telecom operator Bharti
Airtel has plans to spend about
`1.17 lakh crore through business
transactions with its subsidiar-
ies like Indus Towers, Nxtra and
Bharti Hexacom, according to a
regulatory filing. The company will
hold an extraordinary general meeting of the
members of the company on February 26 to also
seek their approval for issuing shares to Google for
its about `7,500 crore investment in the company
to buy 1.28% stake. According to the EGM notice,
Bharti Airtel will spend `88,000 crore in business
with mobile tower company Indus Towers, `15,000
crore for availing services of datacentre firm Nxtra
and transaction of up to `14,000 crore with Bharti
Hexacom. —PTI
AIRTEL ROLLS OUT BIG NEW PLAN
WORTH `1.17 LAKH CRORE
New Delhi: Country’s largest lender
SBI has lined up six NPAs for sale
to asset reconstruction compa-
nies (ARCs) to recover dues of
nearly `406 crore. The six NPA ac-
counts put up for sale to the ARCs
are -- Patna Bakthiyarpur Tollway
with outstanding of `230.66 crore; Steel- co
Gujarat Ltd `68.31 crore; GOL Offshore Ltd `50.75
crore; Andhra Ferro Alloys Ltd `26.73 crore; Guru
Ashish Taxfab `17.07 crore and Genix Automations
Pvt Ltd `12.23 crore. “In terms of the bank’s policy
on sale of financial assets, in line with the regulato-
ry guidelines, we place the following accounts for
sale to ARCs/banks/ NBFCs/FIs, on the terms and
conditions indicated there against,” SBI said in the
sale notices for these assets. —PTI
SBI LINES UP 6 NPA ACCOUNTS
FOR SALE TO ARCs
New Delhi: Ahead of initial public
offering (IPO), Life Insurance Cor-
poration (LIC) has last month ap-
pointed six independent directors
on its board to meet regulatory
norms of corporate governance. LIC
appointed former financial services
secretary Anjuly Chib Duggal, ex-Sebi
member G Mahalingam, former SBI Life managing
director Sanjeev Nautiyal, sources said. Besides,
chartered accountant MP Vijay Kumar, Raj Kamal,
and V S Parthasarathy are roped in as independent
directors on LIC’s board. With the appointment,
the total number of independent directors goes up
to 9 and all vacancies are filled. Fulfilling corporate
governance norms is an important element for
filing Draft Red Herring Prospectus with Sebi. —PTI
LIC ROPES IN 6 INDEPENDENT
DIRECTORS ON ITS BOARD
Finance Minister
Nirmala
Sitharaman raised
capital expenditure
by 35.4% for the
financial year 2022-
23 to `7.5 lakh
crore
Gold ETFs attract
`4,814 cr in 2021
New Delhi: Gold
exchange traded
funds (ETFs) re-
mained in favour in
2021 with the seg-
ment attracting
`4,814 crore primar-
ily due to firming of
inflation and elevat-
ed market valua-
tions. Although, the
inflow was lower
compared to `6,657
crore seen in
2020, data with
Association
of Mutual
Funds in
I n d i a
(Amfi) showed.
The global recov-
ery and improved
investor sentiment
resulted in gold
ETF flows sobering
down in 2021 com-
pared to the pan-
demic year.
Quantum Mutual
Fund MD said the
c a t e g o r y
may see
continued
interest in
2 0 2 2
a m i d
sticky
i n f l a -
tion.
—PTI
RBI’S FRAMEWORK
Gautam Adani

07
NEWS
Lucknow: Prime Min-
ister Narendra Modi on
Sunday indicated that
Yogi Adityanath is the
BJP’s choice as the next
chief minister of Uttar
Pradesh, saying if his
government is formed
again he would make up
for the time lost by the
state due to the corona-
virus pandemic.
The PM remarks at a
virtual poll rally went
beyond praise for Adity-
anath for the work done
by the state’s BJP gov-
ernment during his
term – and appeared to
settle the debate over
the party’s CM face.
The virtual rally, his
third recently for UP,
comes just days before
the first phase of poll-
ing in the state on Feb-
ruary 10.
He lashed out at the
main opposition, the
Samajwadi Party, criti-
cising it over the law
and order when it was
in power just before
Adityanath’s govern-
ment was sworn in.
The PM hailed what
the BJP government
has accomplished in the
state and said if there
hadn’t been the pan-
demic over the past two
years, Adityanath
would have done even
better at the job of pro-
viding homes for the
poor under a central
scheme.
The Prime Minister
Modi said he believed
that the people of Uttar
Pradesh will give such
an overwhelming ma-
jority to the BJP for the
coming five years that
Aditynath will get
strength to accomplish
such tasks. —PTI
Mahesh Kumar
Ludhiana: The BJP
has made it clear that
there would be no post
election alliance with
itsformerallyShirom-
ani Akali Dal (SAD)
once the election re-
sults are declared.
Senior BJP leader
and Union Minister
for Urban Develop-
ment and Housing Af-
fairs Hardeep Singh
Puri categorically
said, “That alliance
was a bad marriage. It
was good to part ways
with SAD.” The SAD
did not permit the ex-
pansion of the base of
Bharatiya Janata
Party nor did they al-
low anybody to be-
come develop mass
leader, he added.
He further said that
Akalis even did not al-
low any Sikh leader to
emerge from the BJP.
He was talking to me-
dia persons here. BJP
National General Sec-
retary Dushyant Gau-
tam and party’s Pun-
jab Chief Spokesper-
son Anil Sareen were
also present on the
dais.
In reply to a ques-
tion regarding ED
raids on the relatives
of Punjab CM
Charanjit Singh
Channi, he said that
election does not
mean that any wrong-
doing is allowed.
Moreover we do not
believe in vendetta
politics.
Speaking on the
eleven promises an-
nounced by the BJP
and its alliance part-
ners, Puri said that
these are related to
the revival of the
economy of Punjab.
He also said that BJP
means business and
will deliver whatever
promised.
If BJP led alliance
is voted to power in
Punjab then they
would issue a white
paper on the economy
of the Punjab includ-
ing on the debt of
Rs.2, 81,000 crore. If
this derailment of
economy continues
then nobody will sup-
port or give any credit
to Punjab, he warned.
Answering to a
question, Puri said
that it was a conspir-
acy of the ruling Con-
gress in Punjab be-
hind the hold up of
the convoy of PM
Modi. He said, “Such
chief ministers who
stop the convoy of the
democratically elect-
ed Prime Minister
have no claim on the
post of the Chief Min-
ister. The Prime Min-
ister was coming to
announce a package
of thousands of
crores for Punjab.
Majitha: Two brothers
are slugging it out in
Punjab’sMajithaassem-
bly constituency, with
bothexudingconfidence
of their victory
.
Sukhjinder Raj Singh
aka Lalli Majithia is
contesting on an AAP
ticket, while his young-
er brother Jagwinder-
pal Singh aka Jagga Ma-
jithia is trying his luck
on a Congress ticket.
Majitha assembly
constituency in Amrit-
sar district is consid-
ered as the Shiromani
Akali Dal’s (SAD) bas-
tion as sitting MLA
Bikram Singh Majithia
has been representing
this seat since 2007.
But this time, Bikram
Singh Majithia has de-
cided against contesting
from his home turf and
will now contest from
Amritsar East constitu-
ency to take on Punjab
Congress chief Navjot
Singh Sidhu who is
seeking re-election from
there. The SAD has
fielded Majithia’s wife
Ganieve Kaur from Ma-
jitha seat.
Majitha, part of Ma-
jha region, has been a
high profile constituen-
cy
. It has witnessed pri-
marily a fight between
the Congress and the
SAD in the past but this
time, the AAP is also
posing a challenge to its
contenders. Lalli last
month quit Cong and
joined AAP
. After which
the Cong fielded his
younger brother Jagga
in from Majitha. —PTI
Rishikesh: The CBI has
started an investigation
into alleged irregulari-
tiesinappointmentsand
purchases at the All In-
dia Institute of Medical
Sciences,Rishikeshdur-
ing the tenure of its for-
mer Director Ravi Kant.
A CBI team began its
search and seizure op-
erationsatAIIMS,Rishi-
kesh and seized many
documents, AIIMS Ri-
shikesh PRO Thapliyal
said on Sunday
.
The CBI raids follow
allegationsbysocialand
political organisations
in procurement and re-
cruitments made by for-
mer AIIMS Director.
Before the CBI began
its probe into the case,
the CVC had also con-
ductedadetailedinvesti-
gation into the alleged
irregularities in mate-
rial procurements and
appointmentsmadedur-
ingKant’stenure,AIIMS
official said, requesting
anonymity
. —PTI
Irregularities in
appointments
at Rishikesh’s
AIIMS
Naqvioffers‘chadar’sentbyPM;callshim‘torchbearerofPeace’
Ajmer: Union Minis-
ter for Minority Affairs
Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi
on Sunday termed
Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi a “torchbear-
er of peace” and said
his commitment to in-
clusive empowerment
is the “effective man-
tra” to make India
“Vishwa guru” (world
leader).
Naqvi offered a ‘cha-
dar’ at the Ajmer Sha-
rif Dargah on behalf
of the prime minister
on the occasion of
810th Urs of Khwaja
Moinuddin Chishti
and read out a message
from Modi conveying
his greetings on the oc-
casion.
In his message, the
prime minister said,
“By offering ‘chadar’ at
the Ajmer Sharif, I pay
homage to the great
Sufi saint who gave the
message of humanity
to the entire world.”
Modi relayed the
message of unity in di-
versity being the iden-
tity of India and its
strength.
“The great saints,
mahatmas, pir, fakirs
have played a pivotal
role in strengthening
the socio-cultural fab-
ric of the country in
different periods. In
this glorious tradition,
the name of Khwaja
Moinuddin Chishti,
who gave the message
of love and harmony to
the society, is taken
with full respect and
reverence”
PM Modi said, “The
philosophy and princi-
plesof GaribNawazwill
continue to inspire the
generations to come.”
“Urs, the symbol of
harmony and brother-
hood, will further
strengthen the faith of
the devotees. With this
belief, on the occasion
of annual Urs of Kh-
waja Moinuddin
Chishti at Dargah
Ajmer Sharif I pray for
the country’s happi-
ness and prosperity,”
Modi said in his mes-
sage. Naqvi claimed
that the entire world
was looking towards
Modi as a “torchbearer
of peace” with hope
and confidence.
This is the result of
the blessings of these
Sufi saints and the sup-
port of the society to
Prime Minister Modi,
the Union minister
said.
Naqvi said the life of
Khwaja Moinuddin
Chishti inspires all to
strengthen the com-
mitment to communal
and social harmony
.
“This unity can de-
feat the forces engaged
in the conspiracy to
create a divide in the
society and create con-
flict,” he added. —PTI
TRIPURA TO BREED ENDANGERED VULTURES
Agartala: Tripura’s
forestry department is
embarking on a project
to breed the endangered
vulture specie in Khow-
ai district through pro-
gram for vulture con-
servation and artificial
breeding’.
The decision was tak-
en after it was noticed
that Khowai had higher
concentration of vul-
ture population, said
officials who added that
vultures would be
brought in from other
states to help in the ar-
tificial breeding.
The project would
soon be set up at Padma-
bil area in Khowai dis-
trict with money sanc-
tioned by the central
govt. There would be
artificial breeding by
bringing vultures from
Haryana and then the
offspring would be re-
leased in wild , Divi-
sional Forest Officer
(DFO) of Khowai, Niraj
K Chanchal said.
Recently around 30-40
vultures were sighted
in the district. The scav-
enger bird was almost
extinct in the state, but
the population is on the
rise now due to im-
provement of their hab-
itat by the forest depart-
ment, he said. The Con-
servation Breeding
Program appears to be
the only action, which
could save the vultures
from extinction, PCCF,
D K Sharma said.
If 150 pairs of each of
the three species could
be held and bred in cap-
tivity, it would be possi-
ble to get a derived pop-
ulation of 600 pairs of
each of the three spe-
cies, within ten years of
he programme, he rea-
soned.
Explaining the rea-
sons behind the in-
crease in numbers of
vultures, Chanchal
said, it was observed
that plantation of leafy
Shimul trees on the riv-
er bank helped improv-
ing the habitat, which
had been depleted ear-
lier by de-forestation.
Vultures have also
learnt to adapt to scar-
city of food to some ex-
tent by consuming car-
casses of animals float-
ing on the river. —ANI
ENDANGERED SPECIES
VULTURE’S POPULATION IS
BEEN DROPPING SINCE 90’S
The population of vultures in the Indian subconti-
nent crashed during the 1990s. This was first re-
ported and documented in 1996-97 by the Bombay
Natural History Society (BNHS), while monitoring
raptors numbers in Keoladeo National Park, at
Bharatpur in Rajasthan. The populations of Oriental
White-backed Vulture and Long-billed Vulture had
declined by more than 92% between 1991-93
and 2000. By the year 2007, the population had
declined by an astonishing 99.9 % for Oriental
White-backed Vultures and by 97% for long billed
and slender billed vultures. All three vulture species
were listed by IUCN, the World Conservation Union,
in 2000 as Critically Endangered,’ which is the high-
est category of endangerment , Sharma told media.
PM bats for Yogi as UP CM;
‘willcompensate Covid time’
PM NARENDRA MODI SAYS WILL MAKE UP FOR THE TIME LOST DUE TO PANDEMIC IN DEVELOPMENT OF THE UP
PM Modi virtually addresses Jan Chaupal for the people of Agra, Mathura and Bulandshahr, as UP CM Yogi Adityanath looks on, in New Delhi on Sunday. —Photo by ANI
SAD was bad as an
ally: Hardeep Puri
Hardeep Puri with Punjab BJP spokesman Gurdeep Singh
Gosha (on right of Puri) and other BJP leaders in Ludhiana.
Jagga Majithia(L), Lalli Majithia(R) are contesting from different boats
at high profile Majithia while Bikram Majithiya(M) from Amritsar East.
Union Minister of Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on behalf of PM Modi offers “Chadar” on
the occasion of 810th Urs of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti at Dargah Ajmer Sharif on Sunday.
Siblings pitted against each other in Punjab’s Majitha seat
PROJECTS YOGI AS CM AGAIN
PM Modi also projected Yogi Adityanath as the
next CM while mentioning the Centre’s Ujjwala
scheme that gives free cooking gas connections.
“The women of UP have decided that they have to
make the BJP win and make Yogi ji chief minister
again,” he said. Months back, there was
speculation that Bharatiya Janata Party was
contemplating a new chief minister if it comes to
power in the state. Sunday’s remarks could be
interpreted as the PM’s view that Adityanath is
best suited for the post, if the party wins the
assembly polls. Addressing voters in Mathura,
Agra and Bulandshahr, Modi said the people of
Uttar Pradesh have decided that development will
be the biggest issue in the upcoming elections.

COVID-19
UPDATE
WORLD
57,54,707
TOTAL DEATHS
31,35,20,678
TOTAL RECOVERED
7,56,16,270
ACTIVE CASES
39,48,91,655
TOTAL CASES
INDIA
5,02,008
TOTAL DEATHS
4,04,61,148
TOTAL RECOVERED
12,24,982
ACTIVE CASES
4,21,88,138
TOTAL CASES
08
2NDFRONT
‘LOVE’ wherever your heart takes
you, openly and hundred percent,
‘TRUST’ - with thought and wisely.
—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO Editor-in-Chief, First India
N Korea continues to develop nuclear ballistic missile prog: UN Experts
United Nations: North
Korea has continued to
develop its nuclear and
ballistic missile pro-
grammes including its
capability to produce
nuclear device compo-
nents in vio-
lation of UN Security
Council resolutions,
UN experts said in a
new report.
The panel of experts
said in the executive
summary
o f
the report obtained Sat-
urday night by The As-
sociatedPressthatthere
was a marked accelera-
tion of Pyongyang’s
testing and demonstra-
tion of new short-range
and possibly medium-
range missiles through
January
, incorporating
both ballistic and guid-
ance technologies and
using both solid and liq-
uid propellants .
New technologies
tested included a pos-
sible hypersonic guid-
ing warhead and a ma-
neuverable re-entry
vehicle, the panel said.
North Korea also
demon-
strated increased capa-
bilitiesforrapiddeploy-
ment, wide mobility
(including at sea), and
improved resilience of
its missile forces.
The experts said
North Korea contin-
ued to seek material,
technology and know-
how for these pro-
grammes overseas, in-
cluding through cyber
means and joint scien-
tific research.
A year ago, the panel
said North Korea had
modernised its nuclear
weapons and ballistic
missiles by
flaunting United Na-
tions sanctions, using
cyberattacks to help
finance its pro-
grammes and continu-
ing to seek material
and technology over-
seas for its arsenal in-
cluding in Iran.
Cyberattacks, par-
ticularly on cryptocur-
rency assets, remain
an important revenue
source for Kim Jong
Un’s government,
the experts moni-
toring the imple-
mentation of
sanctions against
the North said in the
new report.
In recent months,
North Korea has
launched a variety of
weapons systems and
threatened to lift the
four-year moratorium
on more serious weap-
ons tests such as nucle-
arexplosionsandICBM
launches. January saw
a record nine missile
launches, and other
weapons it recently
tested include a devel-
opmental hyper-
sonic
missile and a subma-
rine-launched missile.
The Security Coun-
cil initially imposed
sanctions on North Ko-
rea after its first nu-
clear test explosion in
2006 and made them
tougher in response to
further nuclear tests
and the country’s in-
creasingly sophisticat-
ed nuclear and ballistic
missile programmes.
T h e
panel of experts said
North Korea’s block-
ade aimed at prevent-
ing COVID-19 resulted
in historically low lev-
els of people and goods
entering and leaving
the country. Legal and
illegal trade including
in luxury goods has
largely ceased though
cross-border rail traf-
fic resumed in early
January, it said.
–AP
Cong till Feb 20 only, AAP will take
care of Punjab after that: Mann
First India Bureau
Chandigarh/Mohali:
“February 20 will prove
to be a historic day for
Punjab. It will be a day
of change. This time the
people of Punjab will
write a new history and
a new story
. Aam Aadmi
Party (AAP) Punjab
chief ministerial candi-
date Bhagwant Mann
expressed these views
while addressing the
people during his elec-
tion campaign under
‘Mission Punjab 2022’.
On Sunday, Mann
campaignedinfavourof
AAP candidates in Mo-
hali and Dera Bassi as-
sembly constituencies.
Mann reached Balongi
Market,3B2Market,Sec-
tor 79, Phase 11 Market
and Airport Road of Mo-
hali constituency and
urged the people to cast
their vote in favour of
AAP candidate Kulwant
Singh. In Dera Bassi as-
sembly seat Mann visit-
ed Dussehra Ground in
Lohgarh Zirakpur, Dera
Bassi Ramleela Ground
and Lalru Mandi, and
appealed to the people
there to support AAP
.
On this occasion,
along with Mann, AAP
candidate Kulwant Sin-
gh from Mohali and
Kuljit Randhawa, AAP
candidate from Dera
Bassi and several AAP
leaders and workers
werepresent.Peoplewel-
comed Mann enthusias-
tically with flowers and
garlands.
AAP candidates’
electioneering in top gear
Mahesh Kumar
Dakha: AAP candi-
date from Dakha Dr
KNS Kang intensi-
fied his election cam-
paign and visited sev-
eral villages of the
constituency.
Dr Kang, along
with his supporters
visited Jangpur, Mo-
hie, Khandoor, Bal-
lowal, Chaminda,
Sarabha, Latala, Ju-
raha, Ghungrana,
Mehtabgarh, Chap-
par and Mini Chap-
par villages.
He talked about ag-
riculture, the issues
related to water level
going down and stub-
ble burning. Punjab
is a rich agriculture
state where under-
ground water might
not be a major issue
as compared to other
states but is raising
the concern. Rice be-
ing the main crop
grown here has
brought the water
levels down at many
places and today peo-
ple raised this issue
apart from electricity
and Punjab Govern-
ment’s Debt.
While responding
to their concerns Dr
Kang said, “many
new agricultural
ways and techniques
need to be used to
save water and elec-
tricity and to im-
prove farming. Agri-
culture experts need
to be taken along for
this and Punjab is
known for their ex-
pertise.” He also said,
“stubble burning be-
comes a big environ-
mental issue every
year whereas this
can be easily sorted
out.”
Lata’s emotional connect with Dungarpur
First India Bureau
Jaipur: Lata Man-
geshkar was the queen
of melody but in person-
al life, she could not be-
come the ‘queen of Dun-
garpur’. She fell in love
with the scion of the
erstwhile Dungarpur
royal family Raj Singh,
but Raj could not marry
her due to a promise
made to his father.
Former BCCI presi-
dent, cricketer, Raj
Singh was a special
friend of Lata’s brother
Hridaynath. In the
same period, the close-
ness between Lata and
Raj started increasing.
WhenMaharawalLax-
manSinghcametoknow
abouttherelationship,he
denied it. Giving respect
to the decision of his fa-
ther, Raj decided not to
marry for life. Like Raj’s
decision, Lata also de-
cidednottomarryforlife
and this love story be-
came ‘immortal’ forever.
She never married
but she also could not
stay away from love.
She was in love with Raj
who used to call her
Mithu. When Lata and
Raj ’s friendship turned
into love, neither of
them had any idea
about it. Raj was crazy
about Lata’s songs. La-
ta’s craze for cricket is
also not hidden. She of-
ten used to go to the
ground to see Raj play-
ing cricket.
The two used to
meet often
Fond of playing crick-
et, Raj went to Mumbai
to pursue law in 1959.
He was a member of
the Rajasthan Ranji
team since 1955. I met
Lata’s brother Hri-
daynath at the cricket
ground in Mumbai. He
often took Raj home
with him. It was love at
first sight for Raj. Lata
used to be engaged in
recording and couldn’t
get much due to her
busy schedule.
Love was blooming.
Both wanted to get mar-
ried. Raj once told his
parents, “No common
girl will be the daugh-
ter-in-law of the royal
family
.”
Om Birla@
ombirlakota
“Bharat
Ratna” Lata
Mangeshkar
ji gave new
heights
to music
with her rich vocals.
Breaking the barriers
of language, the songs
sung by him reached
every part of the world.
His death is an irrepa-
rable loss to the entire
nation. May God give
peace to the departed
soul. Condolences to
the family and fans.
Arvind Kejriwal@ArvindKejriwal
“The death of the great Lata Man-
geshkar ji of India is the end of an
era of music in India. Her melodious
voice will forever be immortal among all
of us and in the whole world. Praying to the Lord to
place the departed soul at His feet. Om Shanti”
Smriti Z Irani @smritiirani
A national treasure breathed her last this
morning leaving behind memories galore.
Her imprint on our collective conscience
is cherished. As Lata Di’s voice permeates
through every emotion one can celebrate,
the ‘Nightingale’ lives on. I’ve had the privilege of
knowing Didi through the eyes of her family that loves
her for her selflessness, her care. To them I offer my
condolences as I do to her billion fans. Farewell Lata
Di … till we meet again. Om Shanti
Raj Singh was born in the erstwhile Dun-
garpur royal family on 19 December 1935.
He was the younger son of Maharaja Laxman
Singh of Dungarpur. Raj Singh played 86
first-class matches from 1955 to 1971. He
played first-class cricket for 16 years and was
associated with the BCCI for nearly 20 years.
He died on 12 September 2009.
WHO WAS RAJ SINGH
3 Pak smugglers shot
dead along Int’l border
Jammu: Three Paki-
stani intruders were
gunned down on Sun-
day by the BSF as it
scuttled a major narcot-
ic smuggling attempt
and recovered 36 kgs
heroin worth crores of
rupees along the Inter-
national Border in Sam-
ba sector of Jammu and
Kashmir, officials said.
This was the fourth
narcotic smuggling bid
foiled by the BSF troops
along the border this
year, while a total of
nine Pakistani intrud-
ers were eliminated in
various such attempts
in the past one year, In-
spector General of Bor-
der Security Force
(BSF), Jammu frontier,
D K Boora said.
We had a very good
operation the previous
night when the alert
troops eliminated a nar-
cotic smuggling attempt
from Pakistan. The
smugglers tried to take
advantage of the dark-
ness and foggy condi-
tions to smuggle the
huge quantity of nar-
cotics into this side,
Boora, who rushed to
the border outpost
Bainglar where his
troops made the biggest
recovery this year, told
reporters.
Displaying the seized
items, he said the sur-
veillance equipment
picked up the movement
of the smugglers and ac-
cordingly the troops on
the forward duty points
were alerted.
“When they reached
near the border fence,
they were challenged by
the troops and subse-
quently all the three in-
truders were neutral-
ised. The search of the
area led to the recovery
of 36 packets of narcot-
ics, while a pistol with a
magazine and nine
rounds were recovered
from one of the slain in-
truders, the BSF officer
said.
In addition, Rs 9,820
in Pakistani currency
, a
knife and a Pak-made
cough syrup were also
seized from the slain in-
truders, he said.
Lauding his troops
for the success, Boora
said over the past one
year, not a single at-
tempt from Pakistan
had gone unnoticed and
every single attempt
was successfully foiled
by the border guards.
—PTI
Kim Jong-un

NEW DELHI, MONDAY
FEBRUARY 7, 2022
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia
facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia 09
Lata Mangeshkar, the
Nightingale of India, is no
more and as tributes pour in
from across borders we can
only say that Lata didi was
like a flower whose fragrance
spread far and wide,
enriching all!
ith Lata Man-
geshkar’s de-
mise, the
world will
never be the
same again
for music lov-
ers across genera-
tions, though her mag-
ical presence which
has been beautifully
marking the landscape
of music for the past 8
decades or so will con-
tinue to do so as …she
will live on forever…
in her songs.
With her classical
training and virginal
voice, Lata in her 60’s
continued to sing for
actresses in their 20’s
with a wide range of
songs from romantic
ballads to soulful
numbers. She
used to sur-
pass her-
self in pa-
t r i o t i c
songs and
b h a j a n s .
The ‘Ae
mere Wa-
tan ke
l o g o n ’
s o n g
penned by Kavi
Pradeep which moved
the then Prime Minis-
ter Jawaharlal Nehru
to tears is now a leg-
end.
Lata Mangeshkar
was conferred the Da-
dasaheb Phalke Award
in 1989 and the Bharat
Ratna in 2001. In 2007,
the French govern-
ment bestowed Officer
of the Legion of Hon-
our on her. She was the
first Indian to play in
the Royal Albert Hall
in 1974. The Padma
Bhushan was con-
ferred earlier in 1969
and the Padma Vib-
hushan in 1999.
She has received
several awards, includ-
ing three National
Film Awards, 15 Ben-
gal Film Journalists’
Association Awards
and the Filmfare Life-
time Achievement
Award. On her 90th
birthday in September
2019, the Indian gov-
ernment honoured her
with the daughter of
the Nation award. Lata
has recorded songs in
over a thousand Hindi
films across thirty-six
regional Indian lan-
guages and foreign
languages, primarily
in Marathi, Hindi, and
Bengali.
Lata was born in In-
dore to Pandit Deena-
nath Mangeshkar and
his wife Shevanti, Dee-
nanath Mangeshkar,
was a well-known clas-
sical vocalist and the-
atrical performer. The
eldest child of the fam-
ily with sisters Meena,
Asha, and Usha, and
brother Hridaynath,
Lata started her career
at the age of 13 after
her father’s death by
singing for a Marathi
film called Kiti Hasal
(1942), shouldering the
responsibility of her
family
.
Her move to Mum-
bai in 1945 was fol-
lowed by small num-
bers in a few movies
until the big break-
through happened
with Aayega Aanewa-
la picturized on Mad-
hubalainMahal(1949).
The void left by her
demise cannot be ful-
filled, ever.
ANITA HADA
anita.hada@firstindianews.com
Scarce a dry Indian eye
across the world! The
Queen is no more, Long
live the Queen! No
honour, no words can
transcend her super-
human achievements
in quality or the sheer
numbers.
Ever since 1942,
when Lataji sang her
first professional song,
she created about
30,000 flawless songs.
Songs in dozens of lan-
guages and the entire
range of emotion. In
those 80 long years, it
was one song per day
on average. Incredible
feat if one understands
the talent, hard work
and rehearsals that
go into each original
musical creation. The
time-spans dominated
by the greatest singers
like Elvis, Beatles,
Jackson, Mukesh,
Kishore Kumar etc have
been barely 20% of
Lataji’s reign.
Having said that, if
we look at the power
range of emotions in
her songs it leaves us
spellbound. The emo-
tion of her songs have
warmed the cockles
of every heart, be it a
soldier, sister, mother,
lover or child. Today
each one cries silently
for a different emo-
tion, aroused by her
supreme voice. Lataji
will neither be replaced
nor forgotten.
THE
QUEEN
IS NO
MORE!
W
President KR Narayanan awards Bharat Ratna to Lata Mangeshkar in 2001 A young Lata Mangeshkar
The Mangeshkars: Asha, Usha, Hridyanath, Lata and Meena
Former PM Indira Gandhi and Lata Mangeshkar
PM Narendra Modi and Lata Mangeshkar
RAINU SINGH
A treasure trove of Hindi songs on
account of her being the Anchor of a
Musical Show for the longest time.

10-11
ETC
THE NIGHTINGALE OF INDIA IS NO MORE BUT SHE WILL
LIVE ON FOREVER THROUGH HER MELODIOUS
BEAUTIFUL SONGS. LATA MANGESHKAR SANG HER
FIRST SONG IN 1942 AND SINCE THEN FOR 8 DECADES
SHE HAS HELD MILLIONS IN HER THRALL WITH HER
SOUL-STIRRING VOICE AND AS CITY FIRST PAYS
TRIBUTE TO THE EMPRESS OF MUSIC, WE BRING TO
YOU SOME OF THE TRIBUTES WHICH POURED IN
ALONG WITH A GLIMPSE OF JUST A FEW OF OUR
FAVOURITE LATA SONGS…THERE ARE SO SO MANY …
WHICH WE HOLD CLOSE TO OUR HEARTS!
Amitabh Bachchan took to his personal
blog to bid adieu to the melody queen.
“She has left us... The voice of a million
centuries has left us .. her voice resounds
now in the Heavens !” he wrote. “Prayers
for calm and peace ..” the 79-year-old
actor added.
Alka Yagnik said, “I’m out
of the country presently.
Also in no frame of mind
to talk just yet about this.
I am devastated. This is
personal grief for me.”
Condoling the veteran
singer’s demise, she said,
“May my dearest Didi rest
in eternal peace. I will be
living the rest of my life
with her voice, and with
the invaluable moments I
shared with her.”
Kailash Kher
shared his
thoughts while
remembering
the veteran and
said, “Lata Ji
was not just
a human, she
was an embod-
iment of God in
herself. It was a
gift of God for
all of us that
she was born
here.”
Bollywood legend Sha-
trughan Sinha said, “It was
my good fortune to have
been in touch with her
when she was hospitalized.
Not only this, but I was in
the Rajya Sabha during
the same term that she
was in. However, the most
amazing thing is that her
personality was such that
even our ex-Prime Minister
Atal Bihari Vajpayee would
wait to welcome her.”
Radha na bole na bole... Raina beeti jaaye... Naina barse rim jhim.. Tu jahan jahan chalega... O palanhaare tumhre bin...
Allah tero naam...
Jiya jale jaan jale
Hum tum ek kamre...
Baahon mein chale... Tujhe dekha to yeh
Aaja re pardesi...
Didi tera devar deewana..
Inhi logon ne le liya.. Yeh kahaan aa gae hum...
Humko humi
se chura lo..
Yaara
seeli
seeli...
Late Lata Mangeshkar
Zara Aankh mein
bhar lo paani...

12
CITY BUZZ
GET VACCINATED
STAY MASKED
S
hruti Kaushik is
an Indian serial
entrepreneur
from New Delhi.
She is a risk-taker who
left a well-paying job at
Google in 2017 to pur-
sue her dreams of be-
coming an entrepre-
neur.
Her book “The
LinkedIn Blackbook”
is a must-read for any-
body looking to build a
long-term company on
LinkedIn.
She is not only one of
the first online market-
ers in India to embrace
the digital revolution,
but has also aided the
National Informatics
Centre (NIC) of the
Ministry of Skills and
Development with con-
tent development and
other tasks.
Growing up, she had no
Indian role models or
blueprints when she
first started in the web
market in India, so she
had to forge her path.
According to Shru-
ti, “Having no clue
on how to start a
business, get high-tick-
et clients, close deals,
and more made her
struggle a little longer
but it was worth it.”
After building a six-
figure personal brand
as a content marketer,
she’s chosen to take it to
the next level by shar-
ing her expertise with
the rest of the world.
Heartfelt Tribute
City First
T
he birth anniver-
sary of national-
ly renowned
poet, Kavi
Pradeep was on Sunday
,
February 6. He
was an Indian
poet and singer,
well known for
his patriotic
song “Aye Mere
Watan Ke
Logo,” writ-
ten in honour
of the sol-
diers who
perished de-
fending the
country dur-
ing the Sino-
Indian War. A
song that was later
sung by Lata moving
PM Jawaharlal Nehru
to tears.
He received India’s
highest film honour,
the Dada Saheb Phalke
Award, for lifetime
achievement in 1997. It
is quite coincidental
that February 6
is the birthday
of Kavi Pradeep,
a date on which
Lata Man-
geshkar passed
away as well. We offer
our heartfelt condo-
lences to her. Avinash
Pandey, General Secre-
tary, AICC Incharge,
Jharkhand, who was
closely associated with
Kavi Pradeep, paid a
heartfelt tribute to his
spiritual guide on his
birth anniversary.
Sustainable Development!
City First
S
outh Delhi Mu-
nicipal Corpora-
tion has identi-
fied three parks
to be developed as Jal
Shakti Parks after re-
viving existing water
bodies. “The initiative
is inspired by the Cen-
tre’s Jal Shakti Abhi-
yan and the objective
behind developing
these parks is to collect
rainwater and to in-
crease the level of
groundwater. Swings,
gazebo huts and walk-
ing tracks will also be
developed in the
park. To increase the
green cover, more trees
and plants will also be
planted,” said SDMC
mayor Mukesh Suryan.
For now, the corpora-
tionhasinstalled20sew-
age treatment plants.
DAWN OF DEVELOPMENT!
T
he Delhi govern-
ment has ap-
proved seven
s a m p l e
streetscaping pro-
jects, formed a spe-
cial cell of engineers,
and provided a budget
to them to bring the
city’s roadways up to
European standards.
The Public Work De-
partment is working on
nine stretches in nine
districts to make them
models of the “Europe-
an road” standard. This
ambitious project was
envisaged by chief min-
ister Arvind Kejriwal.
“These stretches are be-
ing developed to show
people what European
standard roads will
look like in that par-
ticular district. The
consultants were asked
to develop roads that
are neat and pedestri-
an-friendly. We are not
going to follow the de-
sign of any particular
country,” said a senior
PWD official. Another
official of the project
division said, two out of
the nine consultants
have started work on
the ground. These in-
clude Road Number 59
in Wazirabad and Road
Number 51 near
Mukundpur Chowk.
Self Made Success!
H
elicopter joy
rides, which
have been
a v a i l a b l e
from the Sabarma-
ti Riverfront since
January 1, may
soon be expanded to
ScienceCity
,inAhem-
dabad.
According to the
company’s owners,
Rajiv Gandhi, the di-
rector of AeroTrans
Services Private
Limited is in discus-
sions with the state
government about
expanding the ser-
vice to Science City.
He later added
that the trips will
be overseen by an
Ahmedabad Air Traf-
fic Controller (ATC).
Over these two
days, roughly 15 trips
will be take place,
with over 600 people
having already expe-
rienced the flights.
AeroTrans, now of-
fers business and
tourism charters
from Gujarat, with
prices ranging from
Rs 45,000 to Rs 1.75
lakh per hour.
The speed of the air-
craft ranges from 230
km/ph to 650 km/ph.
“We are looking to
explore a full-fledged
aviation charter busi-
ness. We have single-
piston engine aircraft,
jet aircraft, and heli-
copters,” Gandhi said.
EXTENDING SERVICES
ANNIVERSARY OF A VISIT
TRUE FIGHTER!
City First
Y
ash Dhull, In-
dia’sU19 cricket
captain, stated
thatwinningthe
ICCU19WorldCup2022
was a proud moment
for the country
, adding
that despite England’s
comeback in the title
match on Saturday
, his
teammates kept their
calm. Due to COVID-19,
he was on the verge of
missing the most im-
portant tournament of
his career, just days af-
ter shining in India’s
U-19 World Cup opener.
The captain, who had
the most severe symp-
toms among the five
playerswhotestedposi-
tive on the night of the
second U19 World Cup
gamemissedtherestof
the league’s games.
DELIGHT YOUR LOVE WITH
LUSCIOUS DELICACIES!
Desserts are the universal love
language, whether you’re celebrating
self-love or looking to share it with your
precious ones. This Valentine’s Day try
the new Valentine Special desserts.
t’s officially the
season of love
and deserts, we
are all set to cel-
ebrate the
month of ro-
mance like nev-
er before. This year,
Valentine’s Day falls
on a Sunday, giving
you the whole week-
end to do something
truly special to show
your significant other
how much you care.
You can plan some-
thing intimate at
home. To make your
Valentine’s Day din-
ner exceptional, you
can order in amazing
desserts from the re-
nowned bakeries of
New Delhi like Rose
cafe, The Grammar
Room, Caffe Tonino,
or Le Petit Cafe.
DEVANSHI MUDGAL
cityfirstdel@gmail.com
I
MINI STRAWBERRY-
RHUBARB GALETTES
What could be more in-
timate than making your
loved one their own cus-
tomised galettes packed
with fresh strawberries
and rhubarb? Nothing!
That’s it. Nothing looks
more charming than
these lovely galettes,
which are created with
fresh strawberries and
served warm with ice
cream.
CUPCAKE ROSES
This year, surprise your
sweetheart with a bou-
quet that they can eat!
Do you want to tell your
loved one how special
they are? Purchase a
dozen flowers for them.
Do you want them to
understand how unique
they are? Make a dozen
rose-shaped vanilla cup-
cakes covered with pink
and crimson buttercream
for them.
RASPBERRY AND PIS-
TACHIO SEMIFREDDO
If you’re searching
for anything else than
chocolate and strawber-
ries, this rich,
creamy dessert
is the way
to go. To cut neat slices,
use a large serrated
knife. Substitute equal
amounts of blueberries
or sliced strawberries for
the raspberries.
COCONUT ANGEL
CAKE
Wow, this gorgeous
stunner from your
favourite angel. A velvety
cream cheese frosting is
placed between layers of
light, fluffy cake. Thanks
to its airy triple layers,
this soaring cake is rich
on flavour.
Shruti Kuashik
Yash Dhull with his teammates
Representational image
—FILE PHOTO
Lata Mangeshkar with Kavi Pradeep
Kavi Pradeep
When Queen Elizabeth II,
who on February 6 became
the first British monarch to
complete 70 years on the
throne, and her husband
Prince Philip, arrived in Delhi
in January 1961, thousands
flocked to the Ramlila Maidan
to catch a glimpse of royalty.
On February 6 in 1952,
the Queen, who gained the
throne following the death
of her father, India’s last
emperor, King George VI, paid
her first visit to the country.
It was the first official visit
to India by a reigning British
monarch since the country’s
independence.

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