07042022_ First India New Delhi.pdf

‘Family led parties’ hinder progress of nation: PM
“BJP workers are fighting and losing lives. I assure that our fight will
continue till we restore the democratic values in those states.”
New Delhi: Hitting out
at the family-led politi-
cal parties, Prime Min-
ister Narendra Modi on
Wednesday said that
they never allowed the
youth to progress.
Addressing the BJP
workers on the 42nd
foundation of the party,
Modi said that while for
others it is ‘parivar
bhakti’, for the BJP it is
‘rashtra bhakti’.
“Some political par-
ties are working for the
interest of one family.
They are present in
different states but
cover up corruption
and misdeeds of each
other.
“Country has suf-
fered huge losses due to
family-led political par-
ties. And today BJP is
the only party which
has alerted the country
about this and made a
political issue. Today
everyone understands
that family-led parties
are against democracy
,”
Modi said.
Referring to killing
of BJP workers in oppo-
sition-ruled states, PM
said, “BJP workers are
fighting and losing
lives. I assure that our
fight will continue till
we restore the demo-
cratic values in those
states.”
The PM told the party
leaders and workers
that the BJP is working
day and night for the
upliftment of poor,
downtrodden, women
and backwards.
PM Narendra Modi
NEW DELHI l THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2022 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI TITLE NO. DELENG/2021/19840 l Vol 1 l Issue No. 217
Former Amnesty International India chief Aakar Patel moved a Delhi court Wednes-
day after he was stopped by the authorities from boarding a flight to US at the
Bengaluru airport. Patel moved the application before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate
Pawan Kumar seeking the issuance of directions to the CBI to remove and withdraw
the lookout circular. The court issued notice to CBI and wil hear matter on Thursday.
STOPPED FROM
TRAVELLING TO US,
EX-AMNESTY INDIA
CHIEF IN COURT
Pakistan’s Supreme Court has again delayed its ruling on the legality of Prime
Minister Imran Khan’s move to dissolve parliament and call for fresh elections. A
five-judge bench of Pakistan’s top court is hearing multiple petitions challenging
Khan’s dissolution of parliament after parliament’s deputy speaker dismissed a no-
confidence motion moved by the opposition parties, calling it a foreign conspiracy.
PAK SC ADJOURNS
HEARING IN
POLITICAL CRISIS
TILL TODAY
OUR EDITIONS: JAIPUR, AHMEDABAD, LUCKNOW & NEW DELHI www.firstindia.co.in I https://firstindia.co.in/epapers/jaipur I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
FOUR BURNT ALIVE AS 2 CARS
CATCH FIRE AFTER COLLISION
Jhalawar: Four persons
were burnt alive in a road
accident in Raipur police
station area of the district at
around 7.30 pm on Wednes-
day. Head Constable Madan
Gurjar said that both the
cars collided head-on near
Suwas Pulia on the highway
near Raipur. One injured
was admitted to Jhalawar.
The police identified the
deceased Bhuru Singh
and Bhanu, residents of
Dungargaon police station
area of Madhya Pradesh,
and two others were be-
ing identified. Police and
administrative officials and
fire brigade rushed to the
spot. SP Monica Sen and
District Collector Bharti Dixit
took information about the
accident. —Arif Mansoori
Mumbai (Agencies):
Mumbai’s civic body
Brihanmumbai Munici-
pal Corporation (BMC)
on Wednesday claimed
thatacaseof thenewXE
variant of coronavirus
has been detected in the
city
. However, sources
closetotheUnionHealth
Ministry said the ge-
nome sequencing of the
patient’s sample does
not indicate the pres-
ence of the XE variant.
The Mumbai patient
is a 50-year-old costume
designer who returned
from South Africa in
February. She tested
positive for Covid on
March 2, the BMC said
in its release.
However, Health Min-
istry sources denied the
presence of the XE var-
iant. “FastQ files in re-
spect of the sample,
which is being said to
be ‘XE’ variant were
analysed in detail by
genomic experts of IN-
SACOG who have in-
ferred that the genomic
constitution of this
variant does not corre-
late with the genomic
picture of ‘XE’ vari-
ant,” sources said.
INDIA’S FIRST
CORONA XE CASE?
Cases reported from
Mumbai: The patients
with the Kappa, XE variants
don’t have any severe
symptoms so far, says BMC
Sources close to the Union
Health Ministry said the
genome sequencing of the
patient’s sample does not indicate
the presence of the XE variant
1 2
WHAT IS VARIANT XE?

z The new strain was
detected in the UK at
the start of the new
year. Britain’s
health agency
said on April
3 that XE was
first detected
on January 19
and 637 cases
of the new vari-
ant have been reported
in the country so far.

z XE is a “recom-
binant” which is a
mutation of BA’1 and
BA.2 Omicron strains.
Recombinant mutations
emerge when a patient
is infected by
multiple variants
of Covid. The
variants mix up
their genetic
material dur-
ing replication
and form a new
mutation, UK ex-
perts said in a paper
published in British
Medical Journal.

z The World Health
Organisation had said
that the new mutation
XE appears to be 10 per
cent more transmissible
than the BA.2 sub-
variant of Omicron.

z “Early-day estimates
indicate a com-
munity growth
rate advantage
of 10 percent as
compared to BA.2,
however, this finding re-
quires further confirma-
tion,” the global health
body had added.
Spoke to PM about ED lens on Raut
Shah: Objective of Criminal Bill to
protect human rights of citizens
New Delhi (ANI): Un-
ionHomeMinisterAmit
Shah on Monday said
that the Criminal Proce-
dure(Identification)Bill
has been brought with
the sole objective to im-
prove the conviction
rate in the country
, pro-
tect the human rights of
crores of law-abiding
citizens and send a
strong message in the
society by punishing the
criminals.
Responding to the de-
bate on the proposed
Bill in the Lok Sabha,
the Home Minister said,
“Its sole objective was
to improve the convic-
tion rate in the country,
protect the human
rights of crores of law-
abiding citizens and
send a strong message
in the society”.
...says NCP chief Sharad Pawar as Modi-Pawar meeting lasted for 20-25
minutes. Though the NCP has not put out an official statement so far,
Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar said not much should be read into it
New Delhi: Sharad
Pawar, the Nationalist
Congress Party (NCP)
supremo, met Prime
Minister Narendra
Modi in Delhi on
Wednesday. Accord-
ing to reports, the
meeting between the
two leaders held at the
Prime Minister’s Of-
fice in Parliament
lasted for about 20
minutes.
Pawar’s meeting
came in the backdrop
of central agencies in-
tensifying their inves-
tigations against lead-
ers of the ruling Maha
Vikas Aghadi (MVA).
The NCP is part of the
Shiv Sena-led MVA
government along
with the Congress.
The NCP chief later
said he spoke to Modi
about the attaching of
Shiv Sena leader San-
jay Raut’s properties
by the Enforcement
Directorate.
“If a central agency
takes a step like this,
then they’ve to take
responsibility for it…
is this action against
him because he speaks
against the govern-
ment?” Pawar was
quoted as saying by
news agency ANI.
INDIA HAS CHOSEN
SIDE OF PEACE:
EAM ON UKRAINE
PM MODI TO VISIT
JK ON APRIL 24
SHAH TO VISIT WEST
BENGAL ON APR 16-17
India is strongly against the
Ukraine-Russia conflict and
supports the call for an in-
dependent investigation into
reports of civilian killings,
“We are strongly against
the conflict, we believe that
no solution can be arrived
at by shedding blood and at
the cost of innocent lives,”
External Affairs Minister S
Jaishankar told the House.
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi will visit Jammu and
Kashmir on April 24, his
first trip since the abroga-
tion of Article 370, said BJP.
Home Minister Amit Shah
is likely to visit West Bengal
on April 16 and 17, said
sources. This will be his first
trip since assembly polls.
CBI arrests Anil
Deshmukh in
corruption case
Mumbai: The CBI has
arrested former Home
Minister of Maharash-
tra, Anil Deshmukh, in
the corrup-
tion case
registered
a g a i n s t
him. Earli-
er, the
agency had
taken custody of Desh-
mukh’s personal assis-
tant Kundan Shinde
and secretary Sanjeev
Palande, and dismissed
assistant police inspec-
tor Sachin Vaze.
Earlier, the Bombay
HC had refused to hear
Anil Deshmukh’s plea.
Deshmukh challenged
the Special CBI court’s
order that allowed CBI’s
application seeking his
custody in connection
with an alleged corrup-
tion case.
AlQaedachief asksMuslimstouniteoverIndia’shijabrow
New Delhi: Al Qaeda
chief Ayman Al Zawa-
hiri, in a video released
onTuesday
,spokeonthe
hijab controversy in In-
dia and asked Muslims
in the subcontinent to
fight the perceived as-
sault on Islam “intellec-
tually, using the media
andwithweaponsonthe
battlefield”.
Zawahiri’s reference
to a contemporary issue
has also confirmed that
he is alive, contrary to
suggestions that he had
diedof naturalcausesin
2020. Although, even af-
ter the unconfirmed re-
ports of his death, Al
Qaeda had issued many
videos of Zawahiri, in
allof themheonlyspoke
about historical con-
flicts and ideological is-
sues casting a doubt on
whether the videos were
shot in the present time.
In an almost nine-
minute video released
by Al Qaeda mouthpiece
As-Sahab media on
Tuesday
,Zawahirishow-
ered praise on Muskan
Khan, the Karnataka
student who raised slo-
gans of Allah-hu-Akbar
after being heckled by a
right-wing Hindu mob.
Detailed report on P8
CRUCIAL READ
HC STRIKES DOWN CENTRE’S MEMO
REQUIRING SC, HC JUDGES TO OBTAIN
NOD FOR PRIVATE VISITS ABROAD
‘FOUR-FOLD DECLINE IN CROSS BORDER
INFILTRATION IN JK IN LAST 5 YEARS’
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has struck down
a Centre’s memorandum requiring the judges of
the Supreme Court and High Courts to obtain
political clearance for private visits abroad, saying
that such a condition is “uncalled for” in view of
the high offices the judges hold.
New Delhi: There has been a four-fold decline in
the cross border infiltration attempts in Jammu
and Kashmir in the last five years, the Centre
informed the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. As per
the data collated by the Ministry of Home Affairs
(MHA), 136 infiltration attempts were made in
2017 while only 34 attempts occured in 2021. The
cross-border infiltration has decreased signifi-
cantly in Jammu and Kashmir with 143 attempts
in 2018, 138 in 2019, and 51 in 2020. P5
INDIA SENDS
76,000 TN FUEL TO
LANKA IN 24 HRS
UDDHAV: REBEL
AGAINST BJP’S
“GHAR GHAR ED”
New Delhi: As Sri Lanka
goes through a severe
economic crisis, India is
providing fuel to Colom-
bo so that it can meet
some of its immediate
needs and help stabilise
its domestic economy.
In the past 24 hours, at
total of 76,000 tonnes
of fuel were delivered to
Sri Lanka and the total
supply of fuel under
Indian assistance now
stands at more than
2,70,000 tonnes.
New Delhi: Slamming
Maharashtra Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP)
chief Chandrakant Patil
for stating that he will
ask the Enforcement
Directorate to probe
the alleged transfer of
money to bribe voters in
the upcoming Assembly
bypoll in Kolhapur, the
Shiv Sena on Wednes-
day said the people will
have to “rebel” if the
BJP gives “Ghar Ghar
ED” call. P3
FILE PHOTO
Union Home Minister Amit Shah speaks in the Rajya Sabha
during 2nd part of Budget Session in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Ayman Al Zawahiri
Jhalawar SP Monica Sen inspecting the accident spot.
LANKA PREZ
RAJAPAKSA
REFUSES TO
STEP DOWN
Colombo: Sri Lankan
Government on Wednes-
day said that President
Gotabaya Rajapaksa will
not resign under any cir-
cumstances and will face
the current issues, as it
defended the embattled
leader’s decision to en-
force a state of emergen-
cy, which he later revoked
after huge public protests
demanded his resignation
over the country’s worst
economic crisis.
AL QAEDA VIDEO PROVES UNSEEN HANDS
BEHIND HIJAB ROW: KARNATAKA MINISTER
Bengaluru: Karnataka Home Minister Araga Jnanendra
on Wednesday said the video statement released by
Al Qaeda chief Ayman Al Zawahiri on the hijab row
and praising student Muskaan Khan for standing in
defence of headscarf and chanting ‘Allah-hu-Akbar’,
proves involvement of “unseen hands” behind the row.
He said the Home and Police department officials are
keeping a watch on developments and track things in
this connection. Meanwhile, distancing himself from
Zawahiri’s video statement, praising Karnataka col-
lege student Muskan Khan for defending hijab, her
father on Wednesday termed the comments of the
terror outfit’s leader as “wrong”, and said he and his
family were living peacefully in India.

CAPITOL
NEW DELHI | THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2022
02
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DELHI’S COVID-19
VACCINATION
SLOWS DOWN
GOVT BUS CATCHES
FIRE; NO CASUALTY
REPORTED
New Delhi (PTI):
After an uptick
in Covid-19 vacci-
nation in Delhi over
the last two weeks of
March, there has been
a downturn since the
beginning of April with
only 15,961 doses ad-
ministered on average
each day. The dip in the
numbers coincides with
fewer children between
the ages of 12 to 14
years getting vaccinat-
ed. From more than
43,200 shots adminis-
tered to children aged
12-14 on average each
day during the third
week of March (barring
Sunday), the numbers
have come down to
4,932 in April.
New Delhi (PTI): A
government bus caught
fire, which spread
and burnt down a
few shops in south-
west Delhi on Wednes-
day, officials said. They
said they received
information regarding
the blaze in Mahipal-
pur area at 2.21 pm.
Nine fire tenders were
rushed to the area
where the Delhi Trans-
port Corporation
bus caught fire. The
flames were doused by
3.40 pm and cooling
process is underway,
an official said. No one
was injured, he said,
adding that at least
three outlets selling air
coolers were damaged.
New Delhi: Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL) on
Wednesday increased the price of CNG in Delhi by `
2.5 per kilogram, taking the total increase to `6.6 in
five days.With this revision,
the CNG will cost `2.5 per Kg
with effect from today. For
Ghaziabad, Noida and Greater
Noida, the CNG price has
been hiked to `69.18 per kg,
while in Gurugram, it will cost
`74.94 per kg. Meanwhile, fuel
prices have gone up by another 80 paise a litre today.
Petrol and diesel in the past 16 days and after 14
hikes have become dearer by `10 a litre. Petrol in the
national capital crossed the `105 mark today, where-
as, in Mumbai, it has surpassed `120. With the latest
hike in prices, petrol now costs `105.41 per litre in
Delhi, whereas diesel is priced at `96.67 per litre.
CNG PRICE IN DELHI HIKED BY `2.5 PER
KG, INCREASES BY OVER `6 IN FIVE DAYS
CRUCIAL READ
New Delhi (PTI): The
Indian Institute of
Technology Delhi has
signed a memorandum
of understanding
(MoU) with the Delhi
Jal Board to collaborate
on addressing issues re-
lated to water security
.
As part of the MoU,
they will collaborate on
identifying research
development initiatives
in the areas of water
supply and distribu-
tion; wastewater con-
veyance, treatment, re-
cycle/reuse and dispos-
al. “Both sides will
work towards the devel-
opment of policy and
best practice initiatives
for wastewater treat-
ment and its reuse/re-
cycling to achieve the
goal of zero waste dis-
charge into drains and
River Yamuna,” IIT-D
said in a statement.
“IIT Delhi, DJB will
work together to build
shared knowledge plat-
forms and to dissemi-
nate data and informa-
tion products to im-
prove understanding of
water and wastewater
management alterna-
tives for NCT of Delhi…
They will also collabo-
rate to jointly develop
the Smart Operation
and Management
framework for DJB’s
water and wastewater
infrastructure,” it said.
Some other areas of
collaboration include
jointly developing “ef-
fective and efficient
strategies for manage-
ment, improvement and
rehabilitation of DJB’s
Water Distribution and
Wastewater Convey-
ance Systems” and “de-
veloping continuing
education and training
modules for in-service
officers of DJB”.
Udit Prakash Rai,
CEO, DJB, said, “The
MoU seeks to foster a
partnership between
IIT-D and DJB, Govern-
ment of NCT of Delhi,
based on shared inter-
ests in the area of water
and wastewater man-
agement and policy in-
frastructure within the
overarching domain of
water security and sus-
tainability under pre-
sent and future climate
scenarios.” “This MoU
will provide a platform
to facilitate collabora-
tion between IIT-D and
DJB in joint studies, re-
search, training and
data sharing in prob-
lems such as operation
and management, poli-
cy and planning of wa-
ter and wastewater in-
frastructure”, said Pro-
fessor Dhanya CT, De-
partment of Civil Engi-
neering.
IIT-D,JalBoardpartnertoworkonwaterissues
MOU SIGNED
South and east Delhi Mayors had asked meat shops to remain shut during Navratri
MEATSHOPSINDELHIREMAINOPEN
AS OWNERS AWAIT OFFICIAL ORDER
New Delhi (PTI): Most
meat shops in the city
opened on Wednesday
with owners citing an
absence of official or-
der against it, even as
mayors threatened the
meat shop owners a day
earlier to down their
shutters during
Navratri.
No official order has
been issued so far de-
spite the south and east
Delhi mayors on Tues-
day asking meat shops
in their jurisdictions to
remain shut during
Navratri, claiming that
“most people do not
consume non-vegetari-
an food” for nine days.
Yunus Idres Qureshi,
Delhi Meat Association
Vice President, said
that the meat business
across Delhi is func-
tioning as usual as no
official order has been
issued.
“The sale of meat is
anyway impacted dur-
ing Navaratri. Our sale
drops to 20-25 per cent
during Navaratri every
year. We have not re-
ceived any official or-
der asking us to shut
our shops, hence our
business is functioning
as usual. Mayor’s re-
quest is politically mo-
tivated,” he said.
Shopkeepers in
South Delhi including
Jamia Nagar, Zakir Na-
gar, and INA said that if
an official order comes,
they will close their
shops. Several meat
markets remained shut
on Tuesday under fear
of action from the au-
thorities.
On Wednesday, meat
shops in the INA mar-
ket were found open.
There are around 40
shops in the market.
Sanjay Kumar, man-
ager at Bombay Fish
Shop in INA, said: “All
shops are open. Yester-
day we closed them
down as there was a
sense of fear that action
will be taken against us.
We were expecting offi-
cial order by Tuesday
evening. No order has
been issued so far, so we
have opened the
shops.”’
Schoolgirl killed, 2
injured in accident
Paschim Vihar (ANI):
One girl died and two
suffered severe injuries
after meeting with a
road accident in West
Paschim Vihar on
Wednesday, while head-
ing towards their school
in the area.
The deceased girl, iden-
tified as Manisha Ku-
mari age 18 yrs was
taken to the Sanjay
Gandhi Memorial
Hospital, while the oth-
er two injured girls,
namely Kalpana and
Sanjana have
been moved to Balaji
hospital for medical as-
sistance.
“The trio was head-
ing towards their school
via scooty, when they
were allegedly hit by a
car. Upon hitting, the
girl’s vehicle rammed
into a truck carrying
LPG cylinders which
resulted in the death of
one and fatal injuries to
the other two riders,”
said Sameer Sharma,
DCP outer Delhi.
The police have con-
stituted two teams to
trace the owners of
both the vehicles while
they (accused) have
managed to escape.
The police have taken
the offending vehicle
(truck) to its custody.
Further details into the
matter is underway
.
PWD begins monsoon work,
efforts on to avoid waterlogging
New Delhi (PTI): Af-
ter the directions of
Delhi Deputy Chief
Minister Manish Siso-
dia, the Public Works
Department (PWD) has
begun monsoon prepa-
rations works and is go-
ing to install 15 new
pumps at critical loca-
tions to avoid waterlog-
ging and any untoward
incidents. The PWD
has also decided to
complete the first
phase of desilting by
June 15.
In a recently held
meeting, Sisodia who
also holds the PWD
portfolio, directed the
department, which
manages about 1200 km
of roads across the city,
to take necessary ac-
tion and be prepared
for the monsoon so that
no waterlogging inci-
dent takes place on
roads under it during
the rainy season.
Sisodia has also di-
rected concerned chief
engineers to personally
monitor these actions
taken by the divisions
and take immediate
necessary action for
any slackness in the
work, said officials.
SHOPKEEPERS SAY
Lajpat Nagar and
Kalkaji Mandir,
shopkeepers said they
keep their shops closed
during Navaratri every
year. A worker at Kabab
Meat Shop in Kalkaji
said: “Nobody eats
meat during Navaratri
so we keep our shop
close.” Fear spread wide
across meat markets
in the city after SDMC
Mayor Mukesh Suryan
threatened of serious
action.
We were expecting official order by
Tuesday evening. No order has
been issued so far, so we have
opened the shops
—A shopkeeper
Representative Image
Delhi police
licensing unit
going digital
Fire breaks out
at Congress
headquarters
licensing unit of Delhi
Police is going to be in-
tegrated with Dig-
iLocker through NeGD.
Delhi Police commis-
sioner Rakesh Asthana
has given his in-princi-
ple approval to make
all the licenses and reg-
istration certificates
issued by licensing
unit available on Dig-
iLocker in its digital
format. Delhi will be
the first state to be in-
tegrated with Dig-
iLocker, the official
said.
New Delhi: A fire broke
out at All India Con-
gress Committee head-
quarters on Wednesday
,
April 6. Several fire ten-
ders reached the spot
and the blaze was
brought under control
in 30 minutes. The fire
broke out at 24, Akbar
Road, which is Con-
gress’s headquarters in
New Delhi. As per
sources, smoke was
seen coming out from
the office of Mahila
Congress, located at the
party headquarters.
The fire was reportedly
caused by some short
circuit, sources added.
A STEP AHEAD!
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia with German Ambassador to India Walter J Lindner during the
signing of an MoU with Goethe Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan to offer German language courses to government
schools in New Delhi. —PHOTO BY ANI
Delhi riots: Court
junks bail plea of
Meeran Haider
New Delhi (ANI): A
Delhi Court on Tues-
day dismissed the bail
plea of Meeran Haid-
er, an accused in the
North-East Delhi vio-
lence case and was
bookedundersections
of UAPA by Delhi Po-
lice for alleged riots
conspiracy
.
Additional Session
Judge Amitabh Rawat
dismissedthebailsay-
ing there are reasona-
ble grounds for believ-
ing that the accusa-
tions against the ac-
cused Meeran Haider
are prima facie true.
The Court ob-
served, “The role of
accused Meeran Haid-
er and his connectivi-
ty is part of the flurry
of calls on February
24, 2020.”
“On the perusal of
the charge sheet and
accompanying docu-
ments, for the limited
purpose of the bail, I
am of the opinion that
allegations against
the accused Meeran
Haider are prima fa-
cie true,” the Court
also observed.
The Court rejected
the contention of de-
fence counsel Shri
Singhthattheaccused
was not present in
Delhi during the time
of riots.
On this aspect, the
Court said that in a
case of conspiracy, it
is not necessary that
every accused should
be present at the spot.
The contention that
accused works on so-
cio-political issues
and has a lot of quali-
fication including
PhD is not a relevant
consideration while
deciding the bail ap-
plication.
A bail application
must be decided on
facts presented in
chargesheet.
The Court took the
note of the statement
given by protected
witnesses Robert,
Hector, Plantinum,
Bond, James, Alpha,
Aqib Aman, Beeta,
Hotel and Romeo re-
garding the conspira-
cy and other allega-
tions with regard to
accused.
HC stays order against cops
for shooting suspects in knee
Delhi High Court has
stayed the trial court’s
direction for the regis-
tration of an FIR
against the police offi-
cials of Dwarka Dis-
trict.
The court had given
direction for registra-
tion of FIR after consid-
ering the complaints by
three accused in three
different cases who had
alleged that they were
shot in the knee by the
police.
The Additional Depu-
ty Commissioner of Po-
lice (DCP) had chal-
lenged the order of the
trial court before the
High Court. Justice Yo-
gesh Khanna stayed the
order passed by the tri-
al court till the next
date of hearing in view
of the contention raised
by the Delhi Police.
The bench has also di-
rected to issue notice to
three accused persons
namely Deepak Chau-
han, Bablu and Aijaj
through all modes, in-
cluding email/What-
sApp returnable on
September 15, 2022.

INDIA
03
After halal ban, K’taka outfits call for end of ‘Muslim monopoly’ in fruit biz
Bengaluru (Agen-
cies): Even while the
demand for a ban on
halal meat and the use
of loudspeakers in
masjids during azan is
being criticised, some
Hindu outfits in Karna-
taka have now sought
an end to the “monopo-
ly of Muslims” in the
fruit business.
Chandru Moger, Co-
ordinator of Hindu
Janajagruti Samiti in
Karnataka, took to
Twitter and urged
Hindus to buy fruits
from Hindu vendors,
claiming that most
fruit businesses is
done by Muslims.
“There is a monopo-
ly on the fruit business
by Muslims. We are
also seeing that they
are spitting on fruits
and bread before sell-
ing it,” said Chandru
Moger. He said that
these Muslim business-
es are “spitting Jihad”.
“I am urging all Hin-
dus to help end the mo-
nopoly of Muslims in
the fruit business. I also
urge them to only pur-
chase fruits from Hin-
du vendors,” he said.
Hindu right-wing
leader Prashanth Sam-
bargi also shared his
thoughts on boycotting
Muslim fruit vendors.
“The hard work is
done by the Hindu
farmers and the bene-
fits are taken by the
intermediate Muslim
vendor. We’ve done re-
search on this business
cycle and understood
that the Hindu farmer
is at mercy to the unor-
ganised particular
group. To remove this
intermediate in the
business, we’ve created
a campaign,” said Pras-
anth Sambargi.
PEOPLEMUSTREBELIFBJPGIVES
‘GHAR GHAR ED’ CALL: SHIV SENA
Sena dares Enforcement Directorate to begin probe from seats won by BJP MLAs
Mumbai (PTI): Slam-
ming Maharashtra BJP
chief Chandrakant
Patil for stating that
he will ask the Enforce-
ment Directorate to
probe the alleged
transfer of money to
bribe voters in the up-
comingAssemblybypoll
in Kolhapur, the Shiv
Sena on Wednesday said
the people will have to
“rebel” if the BJP gives
“Ghar Ghar ED” call.
In an editorial in
mouthpiece ‘Saamana’,
theSenawonderedif the
ED should probe voters
in the states from where
BJP won elections re-
cently
. The Sena dared
probe agency Enforce-
ment Directorate and
the BJP to start the in-
vestigation from Panaji
and Sakhal (Sanquelim)
seats-theconstituencies
wonbyBJPMLAAtana-
sio Monserrate and CM
Pramod Sawant.
“Chandrakant Patil
hasaniceplantogetvot-
ers probed by the ED. If
‘Har Har Modi, Ghar
Ghar Modi’ slogan is
coupled with ‘Har Har
ED,GharGharED’,then
people will have to re-
bel,” the Sena said.
The Kolhapur North
assembly constituency
bypoll is scheduled to be
heldonApril12.Theseat
fell vacant after the
death of sitting Con-
gressMLAChandrakant
Jadhav last December.
The BJP has fielded
Satyajit Kadam, while
the Congress has given
the ticket to Jadhav’s
wife Jayashree.
On Sunday
, Patil said
he will write to the ED
to probe the alleged
transfer of money into
the accounts of a large
number of voters from
Kolhapur north.
SHIV SENA: BJP
MAN SIPHONED
`58 CR RAISED TO
SAVE INS VIKRANT
Mumbai (Agencies): In a
serious allegation, Raut on
Wednesday said that a BJP
activist and ex-MP Kirit So-
maiya allegedly siphoned
off Rs 58 crore that was
crowd-funded to save
the country's first aircraft
carrier, the erstwhile 'INS
Vikrant'. Raut said that the
revelation has come out
in RTI reply submitted by
Raj Bhavan to an activist
Dhirendra Upadhyay in
March, and exposes the
treason of Somaiya and
his supporters. The activist
had demanded details of
the funds raised from the
public, retired and serving
defence personnel and
officials in an attempt to
save the decommissioned
'Vikrant' from the scrapy-
ard in 2013-2014.
Constitution allows to eat
meat when I like: Mahua
New Delhi (Agen-
cies): Trinamool Con-
gress (TMC) MP Ma-
hua Moitra on Wednes-
day slammed the South
Delhi Municipal
Corporation (SDMC)
for asking meat shops
in its jurisdiction to
remain shut during
the Navratri festival
and said that the
Constitution allows
her to eat meat when-
ever she likes.
“I live in South Del-
hi. The Constitution
allows me to eat meat
when I like and the
shopkeeper the free-
dom to run his trade.
Full stop,” the TMC MP
said in a tweet.
Her statement
CAME after the south
and east Delhi mayors
on Tuesday asked meat
shops in their jurisdic-
tions to remain shut
during Navratra, say-
ing that “most people
do not consume non-
vegetarian food” for
nine days.
Ballia (PTI): A private
school principal was ar-
rested on Wednesday in
connection with the
leak of the class 12 Eng-
lish paper in Uttar
Pradesh, police said.
With the fresh arrest,
the total number of peo-
ple taken into custody
in connection with the
exam paper leak last
week has risen to 51.
Deputy Superinten-
dent of Police of Rasra,
Shivnarayan Vaishya,
said, One Akshay Lal
Yadav, principal of a
private school has been
arrested by Ubhaon po-
lice. A case regarding
the leak of class 12 pa-
per was lodged at Ub-
haon Police station on
Sunday. The case was
lodged on the complaint
of Additional District
Inspector of Schools
Rakesh Kumar Singh.
Those arrested ear-
lier in the case include
the District Inspector
of Schools (DIoS) of
Ballia Brajesh Kumar
Mishra, managers and
principals of private
inter college and three
scribes.
The exam paper leak
ledtothecancellationof
the exam in 24 districts
including Ballia. The
cancelled exam will now
be held on April 13.
Schoolprincipalarrestedforleakof
exam paper in UP, 51 so far: Police
TMC files plaint with EC against
Suvendu for pressurising cops
Kolkata (Agencies):
The Trinamool Con-
gress on Wednesday
filed a complaint with
the ECI against the
Leader of Opposition in
the West Bengal Assem-
bly Suvendu Adhikari,
alleging that he had
beentryingtoputundue
pressure on police offic-
ers for the forthcoming
by-election to the Bally-
gunge assembly constit-
uency in Kolkata.
The complaint has
been filed by the Trina-
moolCongressstategen-
eral secretary and party
spokesman, Kunal
Ghosh, where Ghosh
has appealed that crimi-
nal proceedings be start-
ed against Adhikari. In
a letter to the ECI sub-
mitted at the office of
the Chief Election Of-
ficer (CEO), West Ben-
gal, in Kolkata, Ghosh
referred to an incident
on March 28, 2022 when
Adhikari allegedly went
to Ravindra Sarovar po-
lice station in south Kol-
kata and threatened the
officer-in-charge of the
police station over the
Ballygunge by-poll.
The letter was ad-
dressedtotheCEO,West
Bengal, Ariz Aftab.
Adhikari has, however,
denied all the allega-
tions against him.
The by-election in
Ballygunge has been ne-
cessitated following the
demise of its legislator
and the state panchayat
minister, Subrata
Mukherjee in Novem-
ber last year.
Lankesh
murder trial
to begin on
May 27
Bengaluru (PTI):
More than four
years after journal-
ist-activist Gauri
Lankesh was shot
dead by motorcycle-
borne men outside
her house here, the
trialinthecaseisset
to start on May 27,
the prosecution law-
yer said.
Thehearingof the
caseItwillstartfrom
May 27,” said senior
advocate S Balan.
According to him,
more than 60 law-
yers were engaged
initially by the ac-
cused, and their pe-
titions delayed the
commencement of
the trial.
Balan said 17 ac-
cused including the
alleged kingpin
Amol Kale, shooter
Waghmore and the
motorcycle rider
Ganesh Miskin
would face the trial
while one more ac-
cused is at large.
Gauri’s sister
KavithaLankeshex-
pressed her happi-
ness over the begin-
ning of the trial.
Kolkata (Agencies): In
ordertoensureabsolute-
ly free and fair elections
in the April 12 bypolls
for West Bengal’s Asan-
sol Lok Sabha constitu-
encyandBallygungeAs-
semblyconstituency
,the
Election Commission
has ordered extensive
webcasting of the poll-
ing process, officials
said on Wednesday
. A
senior official from the
office of the state’s
Chief Electoral Officer
told media persons
that webcasting will be
done in 100 per cent
booths in case of Bally-
gunge constituency
, and
51 per cent booths in
case of Asansol Lok
Sabha constituency
.
EC orders extensive
webcasting in
Bengal by-elections
Now,it'stimetouprootcorruption
from Himachal Pradesh: Kejriwal
Mandi (Agencies):
Boosted by its landslide
win in Punjab, the Aam
Aadmi Party (AAP) on
Wednesday launched its
campaignforthestateas-
sembly polls scheduled
by November this year.
Thepartybeganthecam-
paignforthe68assembly
seats from this town, the
home turf of the BJP’s
incumbent Chief Minis-
ter Jai Ram Thakur, by
saying, “It’s time to up-
root corruption from
Himachal Pradesh.”
In a massive show of
strength, the party’s
two Chief Ministers —
Arvind Kejriwal of Del-
hi and Bhagwant Mann
of Punjab — held a
roadshow with the for-
mer pleading with the
public saying, “AAP will
uproot corruption from
Himachal Pradesh too,
if it comes to power”.
“You have given 30
years to the Congress
and 17 years to the BJP
to rule the state, all loot-
ed Himachal. Just give
me five years. If you are
not satisfied, you can
change us,” the AAP’s
national convener said.
Hesaidfirsttheyerad-
icated corruption in Del-
hi, then in Punjab. “Now,
it’s time to uproot cor-
ruptionfromHimachal.”
“We are common peo-
ple, we don’t know how
to do politics. Instead,
we know how to work
for people, build schools
and end corruption. We
have ended corruption
in just 20 days in Pun-
jab. Now, ‘kranti’ (revo-
lution) should happen
in Himachal Pradesh
too,” Kejriwal added.
Chandrakant Patil has
a nice plan to get voters
probed by the ED. If
‘Har Har Modi, Ghar
Ghar Modi’ slogan is coupled
with ‘Har Har ED, Ghar
Ghar ED’, then people will
have to rebel. —Shiv Sena
Major crackdown in JK,
two terrorists shot dead
Srinagar (Agencies):
A major crackdown on
those suspected of
helping separatists
and terrorists in Jam-
mu and Kashmir has
been launched by the
policefollowingaspate
of attacks, officials
said on Wednesday
.
Two terrorists were
killedinananti-terror-
ist operation this
morning in an area
near Tral and Awanti-
pora in the Pulwama
district,thepolicesaid.
The operation was
based on information
providedbyacaptured
man who helped ter-
rorists, they said.
“The police party
came across some sus-
pects who tried to flee.
But they were given a
hot chase. One of them
took out a weapon and
fired but got killed in
effective retaliation by
the police party
,” said
JK Police chief Dil-
bag Singh. he said an-
otherterroristwasalso
killed in the operation.
According to the po-
lice, the killed terror-
ists were involved in
recent civilian kill-
ings including the
killing of a village
chief at Khanmoh.
PAKISTANI TERRORISTS USING LOCAL
COUNTERPARTS TO ATTACK: IGP
A fruit vendor on the side of a road. —REPRESENTATIONAL IMAGE
Mahua Moitra
Arvind Kejriwal
Gauri Lankesh
Suvendu Adhikari
Srinagar (ANI): Explaining the reason behind the in-
crease in the number of encounters of local terrorists,
Kashmir Inspector General of Police
(IGP) Vijay Kumar on Wednesday
said Pakistani terrorists use local ter-
rorists at the front in order to attack
and escape. Definitely. In the recent
encounters, local terrorists were
killed and Pakistani terrorists ran
away. They keep local terrorists at the front and attack
from behind them, IGP Kashmir told media when
asked if Pakistani terrorists are using local terrorists.
BENGAL ASSEMBLY BYPOLL
Karnataka Govern-
ment has enabled
brazen mob rule.
Mobs are deciding
who can sell what,
and who can buy
from whom.
—Asaduddin Owaisi,
AIMIM president
JK teacher suspended for
thrashing Class 4 student
Jammu (Agencies): A
teacher has been booked
and suspended for se-
verely beating a class 4
studentof agovernment
school in Rajouri dis-
trict, officials said.
The teacher, Nisar
Ahmed, allegedly
thrashed two girls in the
school’s classroom.
The incident drew at-
tention of the adminis-
trationandpoliceafterit
was highlighted on so-
cialmedia.Thepeoplein
the area also expressed
anger over the incident.
“Today an informa-
tion through reliable
source was received at
Police Station Budhal
that a girl of Draman,
studying in 4th class in
government middle
school, was severely
beaten by a teacher in
the class room,” a police
officer said.
Following the infor-
mation, an FIR was
lodged under section 342
(wrongfulconfinement),
352 (assault), 323 (caus-
ing hurt), and 506 (crim-
inal intimidation) of the
Indian Penal Code and
section 23 of the Juve-
nile Justice Act, he said.
Taking strict view of
the matter, Rajouri Ad-
ditional Deputy Com-
missioner Sachin Dev
Singh ordered suspen-
sion of the teacher. The
matter is under probe.

PERSPECTIVE
04
l Vol 1 l Issue No. 217
l 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
Health is the best gift,
contentment the best wealth,
trust the best kinsman,
nirvana the greatest joy. Drink
the nectar of the dharma in the
depths of meditation, and
become free from fear and sin.
—Buddha
IN-DEPTH
Amit Shah
@AmitShah
Salute to all the great men who
made BJP a banyan tree by
burning themselves on the 42nd
#SthapnaDiwas of BJP. Under the
leadership of Narendra Modi Ji and
Under the presidency of JPNadda, BJP
is moving towards national welfare
with continuous service. Happy
Sthapana Diwas to all the workers.
Pralhad Joshi
@JoshiPralhad
International Monetary Fund has
acknowledged the significant role of
the flagship scheme introduced by PM
@narendramodi ji during the Covid
pandemic. ‘PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana
has prevented any increase in extreme
poverty levels’, confirms the Study.
TOP TWEETS
WHEN TALOJA JAIL
OFFICIALS TOOK
PG WODEHOUSE
RATHER SERIOUSLY
hese are difficult
times for humour
and satire in our
country. When it
comes to policemen
their sense of humour is gener-
ally limited to the expletives va-
riety
. So it did not come as a sur-
prise to read about Taloja jail
authorities refusing to allow a
PG Wodehouse book to Gautam
Navlakha, a human rights activ-
ist lodged there. This happened
not once but twice. And the rea-
son which they gave was proof
of their pathetic sense of hu-
mour. To the Taloja jail officials
Wodehouse was a security risk.
Wodehouse, who brought a
smile on the faces of millions of
his readers, with his farcical sil-
liness and characters like Jeeves
and his master Bertie Wooster,
would have had a similar effect
on Navlakha. And how could jail
officials see him smiling?
As a wisecrack remarked,
“The jail guys took PG very seri-
ously for the lines he wrote in “A
Damsel In Distress”: He gave the
constable a punch, Where the
latter kept his lunch.
T
everal Secretary-
level officers
against the distri-
bution of freebies
aspromisedbysev-
eralpoliticalpartiesduringthe
recent state Assembly elec-
tions. Some of these parties
like the AAP and the BJP
romped home and are now in
power in Punjab and Uttar
Pradeshwheremaximumfree-
bies were promised. These top
bureaucrats cautioned Prime
Minister Narendra Modi that
if these states did not take a
balanced view they could be
headed the Sri Lanka and
Greece way
. The two countries
find themselves in knots be-
cause of their unsustainable
economicpolicies.Thesestates
should first consider fiscal
healthbeforeopeningthestate
coffers to distribute largesse.
The practice of luring vot-
ershasbeengoingonforalong
time but cannot be sustained
as coffers of most states are
empty and they have few ave-
nues for mobilizing resources.
For instance, Punjab’s econo-
my is cash strapped and it has
a long list of promises to keep.
These include 300 units of free
electricity to each household,
increasing the old age pension
to Rs 2,500 per month and Rs
1,000toeverywomanabovethe
age of 18. All these and others
will require an estimated Rs
5,000 crore a month.
In UP
, BJP played safe and
promised free electricity only
to farmers but even that will
incuracostonthefund-starved
state power corporation. The
party also promised Annapur-
na Rasoi (kitchen) where peo-
ple will get food at subsidized
rates. How many such eateries
willbeopenedandwhatwillbe
the financial burden is not yet
clear. The economy of UP is
bigger and better managed.
DON’T LURE VOTERS
WITH FREEBIES
Several Secretary-level officers against the distribution
of freebies as promised by several political parties
during the recent state Assembly elections. Some of
these parties like the AAP and the BJP romped
home and are now in power in Punjab and Uttar
Pradesh where maximum freebies were promised
S
he rampant corruption at the
highest levels in the Govern-
ment accompanied by non-
performance of the country’s
economy could be attributed
to the present economic woes
of Sri Lanka; and this crisis
now finally knocks at the In-
dian door.
India is apprehensive of
massive influx of Sri Lankan
Tamils to India, if the crisis
is not tackled on a war-foot-
ing. Amidst these develop-
ments, TN CM, MK Stalin’s
arrival in New Delhi on
March 31 to seek a formal go-
ahead for providing financial
help to the Tamils in the
northern part of the island
country, indicate the serious-
ness of the looming crisis.
On her part, India has al-
ready been quietly assisting
Sri Lanka by offering credit
lines to obtain essentials and
also some grants to bail out
from the present mess, be-
lievedtobecreatedbythegov-
ernment due to its incompe-
tence and corruption. In fact,
the island country needs a
political leader like late PV
Narsimha Rao, who had
steered India economic woes
by inducting Dr Manmohan
Singh, a noted economist, to
bail out the country’s econo-
my
. Singh’s sound economic
policies were followed by the
successive governments and
during Singh’s 10-year tenure
as PM, the country’s economy
experienced a robust growth.
On her part, India has been
extending financial assis-
tance to her southern neigh-
bour; beginning with the fi-
nancial assistance of USD
2.415 in January this year. On
March 17, 2022, Sri Lanka re-
ceivedfurtherUSDonebillion
credit line as life line from In-
dia in order to buy urgently
neededessentialitemssuchas
foods and medicines. Apart
from this assistance, under
the SAARC currency swap,
India has offered an addition-
al sum of a USD 400 million
and also deferred an Asian
Clearing Union settlement to
the tune of the USD 500 mil-
lion. Further, India has grant-
ed a new line of credit of USD
500millionforthepurchaseof
petroleum products.
An Australian think tank,
Lowy Institute, has pointed
out that it is unfair to blame
only China for the Sri Lanka’s
economic crisis, the country
was “not engulfed in a Chi-
nese debt trap” as external
debt owed to China was only
about 10% of the debt stock in
April 2021. The country also
hastakenfinancialassistance
from Japan estimated to be
10%, perhaps equivalent to
the Chinese loans. The major-
ity of Sri Lanka’s external
debt stock is owed to interna-
tional capital markets which
accounted for 47% and anoth-
er 22% has been secured from
the multilateral development
banks. With these huge finan-
cial supports, the country’s
economy should have
boomed, but there appears to
be one thing common be-
tween the politicians of Sri
Lanka and Pakistan, both in-
dulge in extravaganza and fol-
low myopic policies. The case
of a brother of ex-president
Mahinda Rajapakse, who has
been indicted on charges of
siphoning off over USD
2,50,000 in state funds to build
a memorial for his parents by
a Sri Lankan anti-corruption
court, is considered just a tip
of iceberg in the country
. Sim-
ilarly, the imposition of or-
ganic farming has reduced
the country’s agricultural
output by almost 50%, thus
leading to food crisis.
Meanwhile, since 2010, the
foreign debt of Sri Lanka has
already reached 88% of the
country’s GDP in 2019. The
situation further worsened
during the outbreak of the
Covid-19 pandemic during
2019-20. During the year, 2021,
the foreign debt rose to 101%
of the nation’s GDP
.The budg-
et deficits have soared from
5% in 2020 to 15% in 2022. In-
stead of generating more re-
sources and revenues, the
government has decided to
print more currency. It was
being done despite the advice
of IMF to stop printing mon-
ey and instead hike interest
rates and raise taxes while
cutting spending.
In 2020, a New York based
agency
, BELLWETHER in its
report had cautioned Sri Lan-
ka’s existing funding sources
did not appear to be sufficient
to cover its debt servicing
needs of USD $4.0 billion in
2021. The ongoing Russian-
Ukrainian confrontation has
also impacted the exports of
tea to 2 countries. With the
sanctions on Russia, the Sri
Lankan economy is now fac-
ing multiple economic woes.
There are reports of riots at
variousgasandfuelfillingsta-
tions to curb the tensions
among people who line up in
queuesandtoeasethefueldis-
tribution. The school exams
arebeingpostponedduetothe
shortage of papers to print ex-
amination papers. The grow-
ing protests in Sri Lanka have
alarmed New Delhi, its eco-
nomic crisis might also ad-
verselyaffectIndia.Spontane-
ous and organized protests by
both political parties and non-
partisan groups over the gov-
ernment’s mishandling of the
economy were reported from
several areas.
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY
THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL
THE SHADOW OF THE SRI LANKAN CRISIS ON INDIA
STALIN RUSHES TO NEW DELHI TO
SEEK CLEARANCE FOR EXTENDING
ASSISTANCE TO TAMILS IN SRI LANKA
T
The ongoing Russian-
Ukrainian confrontation
has also impacted the
exports of tea to 2 countries.
With the sanctions on
Russia, the Sri Lankan
economy is now facing
multiple economic woes.
There are reports of riots at
various gas and fuel filling
stations to curb the tensions
among people who line up
in queues and to ease the
fuel distribution. The school
exams are being postponed
due to the shortage of papers
to print examination
papers. The growing
protests in Sri Lanka have
alarmed New Delhi, its
economic crisis might also
adversely affect India
GOPAL MISRA
The writer is accredited as a journalist
of long and distinguished service with
the Press Information Bureau of the
Information and Broadcasting Ministry
India is apprehensive of massive influx of Sri Lankan
Tamils to India, if the crisis is not tackled on a war-
footing. Amidst these developments, TN CM, MK
Stalin’s arrival in New Delhi on March 31 to
seek a formal go-ahead for providing financial help to
the Tamils in the northern part of the island country,
indicate the seriousness of the looming crisis
A couple with their infant join an anti government
protest during a curfew in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

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INDIA
05
Patna (PTI): The Bi-
har government has
decided to approach
the Centre in order to
get ‘Geographical Indi-
cation’ (GI) tag for
Mithila’s famous Rohu
fish, an official said on
Wednesday.
The state govern-
ment has engaged two
experts to study and
prepare a report on
Rohu fish of the Mithila
region, state fisheries
department director Ni-
shat Ahmed told PTI.
“One of the most dis-
tinguished species of
carp, Rohu fish of the
Mithila region, espe-
cially in Darbhanga
and Madhubani dis-
tricts, is known for its
taste. We have engaged
two experts to study
and prepare a detailed
report on the fish.
“Once the report is
prepared, we will ap-
proach the Union Com-
merce Ministry for
granting GI tag for
Mithila’s Rohu fish,” he
said. A GI tag identifies
a product as originating
from a particular re-
gion. The Mithila re-
gion comprises parts of
Bihar, Jharkhand and
districts of the eastern
Terai of Nepal.
“We are quite hopeful
that Rohu fish of this
region will certainly get
GI tag. This will benefit
those engaged in Rohu
farming in the area as
they will get a global
market and a new iden-
tity
. This will have a di-
rect impact on their in-
come,” Mr Ahmed said.
The Geographical In-
dications Registry has
recently accepted a plea
to rename ‘Bihar
Makhana’ (fox nuts) as
‘Mithila Makhana’.
Bihar’s ‘Katarni
Rice’, ‘Jardalu Mango’,
‘Shahi Litchi’ and
‘Magahi Paan’ have got
GI tag.
Bihar to seek GI tag for Mithila’s Rohu fish
MITHILA’S FAMOUS ROHU
lll
A GI tag
identifies a
product as
originating from
a particular
region. Mithila
comprises parts
of Bihar, J’khand
and districts of
Terai of Nepal
INDIA STANDS FIRM WHEN WORLD
DIVIDEDINTORIVALFACTIONS:MODI
New Delhi (ANI):
Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi on Wednesday
said that India stays
firm with its interest
while being viewed as a
nation that can firmly
speak about humanity
at a time when the en-
tire world is divided
into two rival factions.
The Prime Minister was
speaking on the occa-
sion of the 42nd founda-
tion day of the Bharati-
ya Janata Party (BJP).
“Today, India stands
firm before the world
with its interests with-
out any fear or pressure.
When the entire world
is divided into two rival
factions, India is being
viewed as a nation that
can firmly speak about
humanity,” said PM
Modi in his remarks in
the address through
video conference.
Noting that the 42nd
foundation day of the
BJP is important, the
Prime Minister stated
that the occasion is co-
inciding with the cele-
brations of 75 years of
Independence, ‘Azadi
Ka Amarit Mohatsav’.
“This is a big occasion
for taking inspiration.
Also, the world scenar-
io is fast-changing with
consequences for the
global order. Owing to
this, many new oppor-
tunities are coming up
for India,” added PM
Modi. The Prime Minis-
ter also lauded the BJP
workers for the poll vic-
tory in the recently
held Assembly elec-
tions. “The BJP has re-
turned to power with a
‘double-engine’ govern-
ment in four states a
few weeks ago. After
three decades, the num-
bers of any party in the
Rajya Sabha has
touched the 100 mark,”
stated PM Modi. The
Prime Minister also
stated that there was a
time when people were
in despair. “The people
had accepted that be it
the government of any
party, nothing will be
done for the country.
But today, every citizen
of the country is proud-
ly saying that the na-
tion is changing and
going ahead swiftly,”
said PM Modi. PM Modi
also stated that each
and every worker of the
party is a representa-
tive of the country’s
dreams. He also
stressed that whether
we look from the world
point of view or from
the national viewpoint,
the responsibilities of
each member of the
BJP are constantly
growing. “Each and
every worker of the
BJP is a representative
of the country’s
dreams,” added PM
Modi. The Prime Minis-
ter also stated that from
Kashmir to Kanyaku-
mari, and Kutch to Ko-
hima, the BJP is
strengthening the
pledge of ‘Ek Bharat,
Shrestha Bharat’. The
BJP is celebrating its
42nd foundation day to-
day. The BJP’s earlier
avatar was the BJS
which was founded by
Syama Prasad
Mookherjee in 1951.
Later the BJS was
merged with several
parties in 1977 to form
the Janata Party. In
1980, the National Ex-
ecutive Council of the
Janata Party banned its
members from the ‘dual
membership’ of the
party and the RSS.
New Delhi (ANI):
There has been a four-
fold decline in the cross
border infiltration at-
tempts in Jammu and
Kashmir in the last five
years, the Centre in-
formed the Rajya Sabha
on Wednesday
.
As per the data col-
lated by the MHA, 136
infiltration attempts
were made in 2017 while
only 34 attempts oc-
cured in 2021. The cross-
border infiltration has
decreased significantly
in JK with 143 at-
tempts in 2018, 138 in
2019, and 51 in 2020.
Union Minister of
state for home Nity-
anand Rai shared the
information in the Up-
per House. Giving rea-
son behind the fall in
infiltration, the minis-
ter said the government
has adopted a multi-
pronged approach to
contain infiltration.
This includes multi-
tiered deployment
along the International
Border/Line of Con-
trol, border fencing, im-
proved intelligence and
operational coordina-
tion, equipping securi-
ty forces with advanced
weapons and taking
proactive action against
infiltrators, Rai said.
‘Four-fold decline
in cross-border
intrusion in JK’
INFILTRATION ATTEMPTS
opposition Congress on
Wednesday raised in
the Rajya Sabha in-
creased instances of
hate speeches against
minorities in the coun-
try. Leader of the Op-
position Mallikarjun
Kharge said he has
given notice under rule
267 about instances of
hate speech against mi-
norities and alleged
harassment of scribes
of online media outlets.
Cong alleges hate
speech against
minorities in RS
CBI orders
inquiry against
IOA chief Batra
government has de-
ferred the merger of
telecom firms BSNL
and MTNL due to finan-
cial reasons, Parlia-
ment was informed.
MoS for Communica-
tions Devusinh Chau-
han said that a proposal
for the merger of
Bharat Broadband Net-
work Limited (BBNL)
and Bharat Sanchar
Nigam Limited (BSNL)
is under examination.
Proposal to
merge BSNL,
MTNL deffered
New Delhi: The CBI on
Wednesday registered a
preliminary inquiry
against the president of
the Indian Olympic As-
sociation, Narinder Ba-
tra, and some officials
of Hockey India.
A senior CBI officer
informed ANI that after
getting a complaint
against Batra and other
personnel of Hockey In-
dia, they have regis-
tered a preliminary in-
quiry into the matter.
In the complaint, it has
been alleged that
around Rs 35 lakh of
Hockey India funds
have been spent on the
personal benefits of Ba-
tra,” the officer said.
SC amazed over filing of 60
cases in matrimonial dispute
Identify Rohingyas,
B’deshis in JK: HC
‘In talks with nations for medical
education of Ukraine returnees’
New Delhi (PTI):
Amazed over the fil-
ing of 60 cases against
each other by a sepa-
rated couple in the
last 41 years, the Su-
preme Court on
Wednesday asked
them to go for media-
tion to settle the dis-
pute, saying the “in-
genuity” of lawyers
has to be “marked”.
“What to do. Some
people like fighting.
They want to be in
court always. If they
do not see the court,
they do not get the
sleep,” a bench head-
ed by Chief Justice
NV Ramana said and
asked the counsel for
the separated couple
to go for the media-
tion for an amicable
quietus of the dis-
pute. The bench,
which also comprised
Justices Krishna Mu-
rari and Hima Kohli,
was surprised.
Jammu (PTI): The
Jammu and Kashmir
High Court has given
six weeks to the gov-
ernment to identify
immigrants from My-
anmar and Bangla-
desh who are illegally
staying in the UT.
A bench compris-
ing Chief Justice Pan-
kaj Mithal and Jus-
tice Moksha Khajuria
Kazmi passed the or-
der on a public inter-
est litigation (PIL)
filed by advocate Hu-
nar Gupta seeking
deportation of such
illegal immigrants.
“We direct the sec-
retary home, UT of
JK to consider the
matter and to evolve a
mechanism for the
identification of all il-
legal immigrants and
to prepare a list after
identifying them.
According to gov-
ernment data, over
13,700 foreigners, in-
cluding Rohingya and
Bangladeshi nation-
als, are settled in Jam-
mu and Samba, where
their population has
increased by over
6,000 between 2008
and 2016.
New Delhi: India is in
talks with countries
like Hungary, Romania,
Kazakhstan and Poland
for continuing educa-
tion of students evacu-
ated from Ukraine, Ex-
ternal Affairs Minister
S Jaishankar said.
Responding to a dis-
cussion in Lok Sabha
on the situation in
Ukraine, Jaishankar
said the Ukrainian gov-
ernment too has offered
relaxation for students
for taking two key ex-
aminations in their
medical courses.
He said the Ukraini-
an government has de-
cided there would be a
relaxation for students
with respect to promo-
tion from the third to
the fourth year.
“The mandatory
CROC exam has been
postponed to the next
academic year. As for
the students in the sixth
year, the degrees would
be accorded without
taking the mandatory
CROC-2 examination,”
EAM told the House.
New Delhi: Even as thousands of Indian students
firm up plans to study in universities in the US in the
2022 Fall season, the US embas-
sy in India is planning a change
in the visa application system for
those applying in the summer of
2022. “Last year we interviewed
more students and issued more
student visas in India than ever
before. This year we hope the number of student
visas will be even higher than the 62,000 issued last
year. However, that will also depend on how well
prepared the student visa applicants are,” Donald L
Heflin, minister-counselor in Delhi, said.
Colombo: Former Sri Lanka cricketer and Minister
Arjuna Ranatunga on Wednesday lauded Prime
Minister Narendra Modi for help-
ing Sri Lanka amid its ongoing
economic crisis. Sri Lanka is
battling a severe economic crisis
with food and fuel scarcity affect-
ing a large number of the people
in the island nation. The econ-
omy has been in a free-fall since the onset of the
COVID-19 pandemic. “PM Modi was very generous
to give the grant to start Jaffna International Airport.
India has been an elder brother to us. ” Arjuna said.
New Delhi: Road
Transport and High-
ways Minister Nitin
Gadkari raised concern
over road accidents
and said that India tops
the world in terms of
number of persons
killed in road acci-
dents. Gadkari said,
that based on the WRS
2018 India ranks num-
ber 3 in accidents.
New Delhi: Parliament
has passed the Con-
stitution (Scheduled
Tribes) Order (Amend-
ment) Bill, 2022 with
Rajya Sabha approving
it. Lok Sabha had
already passed the Bill.
The Bill amends the
Constitution (ST) Or-
der, 1950 for inclusion
of certain community
in list of ST in Tripura.
AMERICAN EMBASSY PLANS CHANGES IN
STUDENT VISA PROCESS IN ’22 SUMMER
LANKA MINISTER LAUDS PM MODI FOR
HELPING COUNTRY DURING ECO CRISIS
INDIA HAD MOST
DEATHS IN ROAD
ACCIDENTS: MIN
PARL PASSES
CONSTITUTION
(ST) ORDER BILL
CRUCIAL READ
Security personnel deployed near encounter site. —FILE PHOTO
BJP has emerged
as party of poor,
Dalits: Nadda
New Delhi: BJP chief
JP Nadda on Wednes-
day said under the lead-
ership of Prime Minis-
ter Narendra Modi, the
BJP has now become a
party of the poor, Dalits
and backwards who did
not have a voice so far.
Nadda was participat-
ing in a ‘Shobha Yatra’
here on the occasion of
the party’s 42nd founda-
tion day. Nadda said
that there was a time
when the BJP had just
two MPs in Parliament
and the opposition par-
ties used to make fun
saying “hum do humare
do”. “Today, we have
crossed the 100-mark in
the Rajya Sabha. Con-
gress does not have a
single MP from North-
east. The BJP has gov-
ernment in 12 states,”
Nadda said.
HIGHLIGHTS

z JK received
investment proposals
worth Rs 51,000 crore

z 2,105 ‘migrants’ re-
turned to Kashmir after
repeal of Article 370:
MoS Nityanand Rai

z As many as 87
civilians and 99
security personnel
have been killed in
JK since the repeal
of Article 370

z 4 Kashmiri Pandits
among 14 Hindus
were killed by ultras in
JK since 2019, Rai
said in Rajya Sabha
IN THE COURTYARD
EAM SPEAKS
JP Nadda poses for photograph with Head of Missions to India in
New Delhi on Wednesday. —PHOTO BY ANI
PM Narendra Modi virtually addresses on the occasion of the
party’s 42nd foundation day on Wednesday. —PHOTO BY ANI
World scenario is fast-changing with consequences, owing to this, many new opportunities are coming up for India: PM

BIZ BUZZ
06
Promoted by
AU Small Finance Bank
India-Aus pact will boost trade
TO $100 BN BY 2030: GOYAL
Melbourne (ANI): The
Economic Cooperation
and Trade Agreement
signedbyIndiaandAus-
tralia last week is ex-
pected to boost bilateral
trade between the two
countriestoUSD100bil-
lion by 2030 from the
current USD 26-27 bil-
lion, Union Commerce
and Industry Minister
Piyush Goyal said on
Wednesday
.
Addressing the Uni-
versity of Melbourne
along with Dan Tehan,
Australian Minister for
Trade, Tourism and In-
vestment, in Melbourne,
Goyalsaidbilateraltrade
between India and Aus-
traliaisexpectedtogrow
atamuchfasterratethan
earlierestimated.Earlier,
it was estimated that In-
dia-Australia bilateral
trade would increase to
USD 50 billion in five
yearsafterthesigningof
thetradepact.“Together
this marriage can truly
havefar-reachingdimen-
sions for both our econo-
miesand,if Idaresay
,for
the rest of the world also
wherewecancollectively
engage and have an out-
reach to other parts of
the world,” he said.
GoyalinvitedAustral-
ian businesses to invest
in India. “We offer you
transparency
. We offer
you our trust, and rule
of law.Wearetwodemo-
cratic nations, two peo-
plewholovesports,both
are members of the
Commonwealth,” he
said. The minister also
addressed members of
the business communi-
ty from both countries
at the Melbourne Crick-
et Ground.
Addressing the busi-
ness community
, Goyal
noted that India and
Australia have comple-
mentarities that can
benefit both countries.
Indiahasahugemarket
while Australia has in-
vestible surplus.
He said the India-Aus-
traliaEconomicCoopera-
tion and Trade Agree-
ment(IndAusECTA)will
unlock the huge market
of almost 1.4 billion con-
sumers in India to Aus-
tralian industries.
“We are now one,
that’s what the Unity
Agreement is all about.
And at this watershed
momentinourrelations,
Ithinkit’sonlyappropri-
ate that we break every
barrier between the two
countries whether it’s
movement of goods, ser-
vices,people,technology
,
education,science,medi-
cal knowledge, we break
all these barriers, see
how we can work togeth-
er as true brothers,” Go-
yal said. The minister
said there is huge poten-
tial in areas like textiles,
pharma, hospitality
,
gems and jewellery
, IT,
Startups etc., and Ac-
countancy in Services,
which will create huge
employment in both
countries.
EXPANDING MARKETS
Indian economy to grow at
7.5 % in 2022-23: ADB
New Delhi (ANI):
The Asian Develop-
ment Bank (ADB) on
Wednesday said the
Indian economy is
projected to grow by
7.5 per cent in the
current financial
year and the growth
would accelerate to 8
per cent in 2023-24.
The economic
growth in the coming
years will be sup-
ported by increased
public investment in
infrastructure and a
pickup in private in-
vestment, according
to the Asian Develop-
ment Outlook (ADO)
2022, the latest edi-
tion of ADB’s flag-
ship economic publi-
cation. The outlook
assumes sustained
progress in COV-
ID-19 vaccinations
while also that any
new variants of the
virus would be of
limited severity. It
also factors in the im-
pact of Russia’s inva-
sion of Ukraine, pri-
marily higher global
oil and commodity
prices that will con-
tribute to rising in-
flation and a widen-
ing of the current
account deficit, ADB
said in the report.
“India is on the
path to a sustained
economic recovery,
thanks to the vigor-
ous countrywide
drive to deliver safe
and wide-reaching
COVID-19 vaccina-
tions, which helped
reducetheseverityof
the third pandemic
wave with minimal
disruptions to mobil-
ity and economic ac-
tivity,” said ADB
Country Director for
India Takeo Konishi.
“The Government
of India’s policy to
improve logistics in-
frastructure, incen-
tives to facilitate in-
dustrial production,
and measures to im-
prove farmers’ in-
come will support the
country’s accelerated
recovery,” Konishi
said in the report.
`1.4 trn outflow,
worst sell-off by
FPIs in FY2021-22
New Delhi (PTI):
Foreign portfolio in-
vestors dumped Indi-
an shares worth re-
cord Rs 1.4 lakh crore
in the financial year
2021-22, after pump-
ing in whopping Rs
2.7 lakh crore in the
preceding fiscal,
mainly on account of
sharp surge in coro-
navirus cases, con-
cerns over the risk to
economic recovery
and global turmoil
triggered by Russia-
Ukraine war.
This was the worst
ever exodus by For-
eign Portfolio Inves-
tors (FPI) from domes-
tic equity market.
They withdrew Rs 88
crore in 2018-19, Rs
14,171 crore in 2015-16
and Rs 47,706 crore in
2008-09, data with de-
positories showed.
Moreover, experts
believe that flows from
FPIs are expected to
remain volatile in the
near term given the
headwinds in terms of
elevated crude prices
and inflation.
From April 2021 to
March 2022, FPIs were
net sellers in Indian
equities to the tune of
Rs 1.4 lakh crore.
Petrol, diesel prices hiked by 80
paise; total rise at `10/ltr in 10 days
New Delhi (ANI): With
the fuel prices going up
by another 80 paise a
litre on Wednesday, pet-
rol and diesel in the
past 16 days and after 14
hikes have become
dearer by Rs 10 a litre.
Petrol in the national
capital crossed the Rs 105
mark today
, whereas, in
Mumbai,ithassurpassed
Rs 120. With the latest
hike in prices, petrol now
costs Rs 105.41 per litre in
Delhi, whereas diesel is
pricedatRs96.67perlitre.
In Mumbai, petrol
costs Rs 120.51 per litre
after an increase of 84
paise.
Maruti Suzuki to increase
vehicle prices this month
New Delhi (ANI): In-
dia’s largest carmaker
Maruti Suzuki said on
Wednesday it will hike
vehiclepricesacrossits
range later this month
due to an increase in
various input costs.
“Over the past year,
the cost of Company’s
vehiclescontinuestobe
adverselyimpacteddue
to increase in various
input costs. Therefore,
it has become impera-
tive for the Company to
pass on some impact of
the above additional
costs to customers
through a price hike,”
MarutiSuzukisaidina
regulatory filing to the
stock exchanges.
India's services sector expands fastest in March so far
Mumbai (Agencies):
India’s services sector
expanded at its fastest
pace so far this year in
March as an easing of
Covid-19 restrictions
boosted demand, but el-
evated inflationary pres-
sures clouded business
confidence,aprivatesur-
vey showed.
The SP Global India
Services Purchasing
Managers’ Index rose to
53.6 in March from 51.8
in February
, beating the
52.5estimateinaReuters
poll.
While the index re-
mained above the 50-
mark separating growth
from contraction for an
eighth straight month,
input costs rose at the
sharpestpacein11years.
“The war in Ukraine
exacerbatedlingeringis-
sues in supply chains,
triggering a reaccelera-
tion in inflation across
the Indian service econ-
omy
,” noted Pollyanna
De Lima, economics as-
sociate director at SP
Global.Higherchemical,
fuel, raw materials, re-
tail, transportation and
vegetable prices in-
creased operating ex-
penses,dampeningbusi-
ness confidence.
Domestic demand in-
creased on high
footfall,leading to rising
sales and pushing the
new business sub-index
to a three-month high.
However, internation-
al demand contracted at
its sharpest rate in six
months as the Russia-
Ukraine war affected
supply chains.
Businessexpectations
remained positive on
hopes that a relaxation
in virus containment
measures will support
business activity
. But
concerns about high in-
flation kept sentiment
subdued,broadlymatch-
ing February’s level.
Prices charged rose
marginally as only a few
firms passed the cost
burdenontoconsumers.
“Salesweresomewhat
supported by only mild
adjustments to output
charges, however, with
consumers likely to face
soaringpricesinthecom-
ingmonthsasrisingcost
burdens feed through to
services charges,” added
De Lima.
Mumbai (PTI): Snapping its three-day winning
streak, the rupee tanked 47 paise to close at 75.76
(provisional) against the US dollar on Wednes-
day, tracking a strong American currency in the
overseas market and a negative trend in domestic
equities. Forex traders said the expectations of
rate hikes by the US Fed to rein in decades-high
inflation are keeping the dollar index buoyant, a
key headwind for the Indian rupee. At the interbank
foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at
75.50 against the American currency.
RUPEE DECLINES 47 PAISE TO 75.76
AGAINST US DOLLAR IN EARLY TRADE
Mumbai (ANI): The Indian equities markets bench-
mark Sensex slumped 566 points on Wednesday,
dragged by heavy selling pressure in IT and banking
stocks. HDFC Bank and HDFC slumped for the sec-
ond straight day after the announcement of merger
deals. The share price of HDFC Bank and HDFC had
surged by around 10 per cent on Monday shortly
after the merger deals were announced. However,
scrip has declined sharply in the past two days on
profit booking. HDFC Bank slumped 3.51%to Rs
1550.80. HDFC tumbled 3.26 % to Rs 2536.50.
SENSEX SLUMPS 566 POINTS;
BANKING, IT STOCKS DIP
New Delhi (PTI): The indigenous 4G telecom network
will soon be rolled out across India with the BSNL
planning to install about 1.12 lakh towers throughout
the country, Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said
in Lok Sabha on Wednesday. The minister also said
the internet connection inside trains can be avail-
able only when the 5G network will be rolled out as
communications get disrupted with 4G technology in
trains running with the speed of 100 km per hour. “I
am happy to inform you that the 4G telecom network
is ready for roll out soon ,” Vaishnaw said.
BSNL TO INSTALL 1.12 LAKH TOWERS
FOR ROLLING OUT 4G ACROSS INDIA
Indian Energy Exchange's trade volume jumps by 38%
New Delhi (PTI): In-
dian Energy Exchange
(IEX) clocked a 38 per
cent growth in trade
volume at 1,02,035 mil-
lion units in financial
year 2021-22.
In the last fiscal, the
total market volume
stood at 73,941 MUs
(Million Units).
“Cumulativelyforthe
fiscal year 2022, the ex-
changemarketachieved
an all-time high volume
of 1,02,035 MUs leading
to 38 per cent Y-o-Y
growth,” IEX said in a
statement on Wednes-
day
.
It achieved a volume
of 9,605 MUs in March.
The volume comprised
8,702 MUs in the con-
ventional power mar-
ket, 392 MUs in the
green power market
and 511 MUs (5.11 lakh
certificates) in the REC
market, registering 16
per cent Y-o-Y growth
across all the seg-
ments.
The Day-Ahead Mar-
ketvolumeat5,858MUs
recorded a 4.4 per cent
m o n t h - o n - m o n t h
growth in March. The
average market clear-
ing price in March at
Rs 8.23 per unit was
higher by 85 per cent on
a monthly basis and 102
per cent on a YoY basis.
Volume comprised
8,702 MUs in the
conventional power
market
New Delhi (Angencies): The Competition
Commission of India (CCI) is investigating the
trustee units of State Bank of India, Axis Bank
and IDBI Bank for suspected collusion on fees,
triggering a lawsuit by a group representing
them, documents seen by Reuters showed.Indian
regulations mandate that companies raising debt
appoint a so-called “debenture trustee” to protect
the interests of investors. The trustees charge
a fee from the companies issuing the debt and
make independent due-diligence checks on them.
The three under investigation – SBICAP Trustee
Company, Axis Trustee and IDBI Trusteeship –
are among the leaders in the business in India.
New Delhi (ANI): The Supreme Court on
Wednesday observed that parties will approach
the tribunal led by the Singapore International
Arbitration Centre (SIAC) to resume arbitration
proceedings in connection with the merger deal
of FRL with Reliance Retail. A bench headed by
Chief Justice NV Ramana recorded in its order
that parties will approach the tribunal to resume
arbitral proceedings and the tribunal will con-
sider the termination application by FRL under
Section 32(2)(C) and pass orders. During the
hearing, Senior Advocate Ranjit Kumar apprised
the Court that the parties could not settle on five
words. The Court said that the special leave pe-
tition was disposed of and remarked that there
is no need for the bench to hear this matter.
CCI PROBES TRUSTEE UNITS OF SBI,
AXIS, IDBI ON SUSPECTED FEE CARTEL
AMAZON, FUTURE TO RESUME
ARBITRATION IN S’PORE TRIBUNAL: SC
Govt unlikely to reduce its stake in LIC
New Delhi (ANI):
The Government of
India, which targets
to raise around Rs
60,000 crore by dilut-
ing its 5 per cent
stake in Life Insur-
ance Corporation
(LIC) of India through
an IPO, is unlikely to
further reduce its
stake in the insurer
for at least the next
two years.
Answering ques-
tions from prospec-
tive investors during
roadshows top offi-
cials of LIC clarified
that the Government
of India does not have
any plan of further
dilution of its stake
in the Corporation.
Officials said the Cor-
poration has suffi-
cient capital for the
next two years and
won’t require any
funding support from
the government.
The government
plans to raise around
Rs 60,000 crore by
selling about 31.6
crore or 5 per cent
stake in Life Insur-
ance Corporation of
India through an ini-
tial public offering
(IPO).
EXPECTATIONS
Piyush Goyal with Australia’s Minister Dan Tehan, during their
meeting, in Melbourne.

M Tariq Khan
Lucknow: Lucknow
Development Authority
(LDA) team along with
police have demolished
illegal construction of
mafia Maqbool Ahmad
in New Hyderabad colo-
ny. Sources said that
actions were taken
against illegal con-
struction in Thakur-
ganj and Mahanagar
area as listed buildings
were constructed with-
out permission and
mapapproval.Anapart-
mentinNewHyderabad
under Mahanagar po-
lice station area was de-
molished by LDA team.
It was reported that
any persons were not
present from owners’
side as mafia Maqbool
Ahmad was under-
ground. As many as 10
flats and two shops were
demolished in the build-
ing and building was
constructed without
map approval.
In Thakurganj area
illegal construction of
Fareeda Begum in Sal-
man Garden under
Thakurganj police sta-
tion was demolished.
07
NEWS
BJP’s journey is a surprise for political analysts: Yogi
First India Bureau
Lucknow: The BJP is
the only party that puts
the country above eve-
rything else and its
journey is a matter of
surprise for political
analysts, Uttar Pradesh
Chief Minister Yogi
Adityanath said on
Wednesday
.
At a programme held
at the BJP’s state head-
quarters in Lucknow
on the party’s 42nd
foundation day, Yogi
said whether it was the
BJP government at the
Centre or in the states,
all represent the senti-
ments of every citizen
in the country
.
“The interest of the
nation is supreme for
us. It is the only politi-
cal party in the country
that puts country above
all.”
Following the ideals
of Pandit Deendayal
Upadhyay
, “we strive to
reach the people on the
last rung of the socie-
ty”, Adityanath said.
He said, “The jour-
ney of the BJP is a mat-
ter of curiosity and sur-
prise for the political
analysts of the country
and the world.”
The BJP was the
world’s largest political
party and under the
leadership of Prime
Minister Narendra
Modi and its president
J P Nadda is creating a
sense of faith in the
general public towards
democracy
, he said.
Referring to the ups
and downs in the BJP’s
journey, he said, “The
Bharatiya Jana Sangh
was established in 1952
at the time of the first
general elections in the
country
. Its purpose
was also not to do poli-
tics of power but to cre-
ate a sense of devotion
towards India.”
About to the Ram
Mandir issue, he said,
“No one can doubt the
dedication of BJP
workers towards Ram
Janmbhoomi move-
ment, the biggest cul-
tural movement after
Independence.”
“To save democracy,
the Bharatiya Jana
Sangh, rose above its
party politics and allied
with the Janata Party
.
By this, the Jana Sangh
expressed its commit-
ment to democracy and
India.”
After this “failed ex-
periment”, the BJP was
formed in 1980. “Atal
Bihari Vajpayee, L K
Advani and all those
great men took the
pledge of establishing
the BJP as a party rep-
resenting the feelings
of the country,” Adity-
anath said.
He said during the
gravest epidemic of
this century, the Modi
govt provided free ra-
tions to 80 crore people.
“It is the Modi govt
that saved the lives of
135 crore people during
the pandemic. Tests,
treatments and vac-
cines have been made
available for free. So far,
185 crore vaccine doses
havebeenadministered
in the country
... Except
for India, no other gov-
ernment is giving vac-
cines to its citizens for
free,”he said.
Referring to various
public welfare schemes
of the Central and state
governments, he said,
“The BJP govt gave
benefits of schemes to
every eligible person
without discrimina-
tion.”
ATTACK ON SECURITY GUARDS OF GORAKHNATH TEMPLE CASE
UP ATS NABS SUSPECT,
INTERROGATIONS UNDERWAY
Lucknow: UP Anti-
Terrorist Squad (ATS)
has taken a suspect into
custody from Chhut-
mulpur area for his con-
nection with attack on
Gorakhnath temple.
Police sources here
said that Abdul Rahman
had grocery store in
Chhutmulpur area. It
was reported that ATS
teamhadtakenRahman
into custody and inter-
rogations were under-
way
. Though local police
was unable to provide
any information about
the ATS proceedings, of-
ficials claimed that local
police was informed
about the raids.
Earlier, Ahmad Mur-
taza Abbasi, a chemical
engineer from IIT, had
attacked on security
guards of Gorakhnath
templewithsharpweap-
on. Three security offi-
cials were injured in the
attack and probe was
handed over to Special
Task Force (STF) and
ATS.During investiga-
tion it was revealed that
arrested accused was in
connection with han-
dlers from other coun-
triesandAbdulRahman
was associated with
him. Several sensation-
aldocumentsandvideos
were recovered from the
laptop of Abbasi.
Image for representational purpose only.
Accused shifted to
ATS headquarter
in Lucknow
Lucknow (ANI):
The accused in
the Gorakhnath
Temple attack
case, Murtaza was
on Wednesday
shifted to the Uttar
Pradesh’s Anti-
Terror Squad (ATS)
headquarter in
Lucknow for further
investigation.
The accused was
taken for a medi-
cal examination
before being taken
to Lucknow and his
laptop and mobile
have also been sent
to Forensic Science
Laboratory (FSL)
for an investigation.
First India Bureau
New Delhi: Union Edu-
cation and Skill Devel-
opment Minister Dhar-
mendra Pradhan on
Wednesday delivered
the keynote address at
the India Education
Summit 2022, a dialogue
platform by Google and
Indian Express. He
shared his thoughts on
taking education and
skilling to every Indian,
ways to transform India
into a knowledge econo-
my and the spirit of in-
novationineverypocket
of India. He said that an
estimated 52.5 crore pop-
ulationareundertheage
bracketof 3-23years,out
of whicharound35crore
have access to education
skilling
On bridging the gap,
he said that we must en-
deavour to bring the re-
maining 17-18 crore un-
der the umbrella of
schooling skilling. By
increasing GER, mak-
ing skilling aspirational
and enhancing the eco-
nomic productivity of
young Indians, we can
make India a knowledge
superpower, he further
added. He
expressed his happiness
to get a first-hand expe-
rience of the spirit of
innovation of young
students during the
Pariksha Pe Charcha
2022. Narrating stories
of various students do-
ing innovative work, he
said that confidence,
skills, creativity and in-
tellectual capacity of
our youth has no limits.
Studentschoosingthepathofinnovation:Pradhan
INDIA EDUCATION SUMMIT 2022
Pradhan shared his
thoughts on ways to
transform India into a
knowledge economy
Union Education Skill Development Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
Moreillegalconstructions
demolished in Lucknow
LDA team demolished illegal construction of mafia Maqbool Ahmad.
NEXT 25 YRS CRUCIAL
Cong launches ‘Azadi Gaurav
Yatra’fromSabarmatiAshram
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: The op-
position Congress party
on Wednesday launched
the ‘
Azadi Gaurav Yatra’
from the Gandhi Ash-
ram in Ahmedabad to
commemorate 75 years
of Independence and
showcase the role
played by the party in
the freedom struggle
and the country’s devel-
opment post that, a
kick-off of sorts to the
Gujarat Assembly elec-
tion campaign. A Con-
gress leader said that
party president Sonia
Gandhi and MP Rahul
Gandhi have decided to
organize the yatra “to
remind our new genera-
tions about the sacrific-
es made by our leaders
in achieving freedom
from the British Raj.”
BJP launches bike
rally to reach out
to Gujarat voters
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: The BJP
onWednesdaylaunched
a bike rally from Nikol
area of the city, which
will cover 90 of the 182
constituencies of the
state, where Assembly
elections are due later
this year. At the event,
BJYM President Tejasvi
Surya asserted that the
party will win again on
the strength of young-
sters and the “immense
development” done in
the last 27 years.
Participants of the
rally- ‘Azadi Ka Amrit
Mahotsav Yatra’- will
meet family members
of 1,000 freedom fight-
ers and collect clay
from them over the
next 20 days, Surya
said, before launching
the rally on the occa-
sion of BJP’s 42nd
Foundation Day along
with Chief Minister
Bhupendra Patel.
The bike rally will
reach out to nearly 3
lakh youths with Prime
Minister Narendra
Modi’s ‘New India’
message and that free-
dom fighters should be
respected as the coun-
try is celebrating 75
years of independence,
said Surya.
“We will cover 90 As-
sembly seats during the
next 20 days. Big events
will be organized at 120
places along the Yatra
route. Participants of
this bike rally will also
meet family members
of 1,000 freedom fight-
ers and collect clay from
them,”informed Surya.
Gujarat Congress Chief Prez Jagdish Thakor garlands Mahatma
Gandhi’s statue as former GPCC Prez Amit Chavda, senior leader
Arjun Modhwadia and Gujarat In-charge Dr Raghu Sharma look on.
BJYM Prez
Tejasvi Surya,
CM Bhupendra
Patel flagged off
the rally on
party’s 42nd
Foundation Day
in Ahmedabad
It aims to highlight
party’s role in the
country’s development
post Independence
FINISHING TOUCHES!
An artist gives the final touches to the idols of Lords Jagannath, Balaram and Subhadra,
in Kolkata. —PHOTO BY ANI
CM Patel being honoured by BJYM members.
—PHOTO BY HANIF SINDHI
AFTER BULLDOZERS, DYNAMITE DEBUT

—
PHOTO
BY
HANIF
SINDHI
M Tariq Khan
Lucknow: As if the
havoc caused by
bulldozers razing un-
authorised structures
left, right and centre
was not enough, re-
ports emanating from
Lucknow Develop-
ment Authority (LDA)
now suggest that
explosives would also
be used to implement
CM Yogi’s poll prom-
ise of crackdown
against land mafias.
According to reports,
a team of explosives
expert has been
called from Bhopal
by the development
agency to discuss the
modus operandi for
carrying out con-
trolled blasts to raze
illegal edifices.

08
2NDFRONT
One of the most important
things for happiness is good
health. Greetings on World
Health Day!
—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO Editor-in-Chief, First India
government on Tuesday
introduced a bill in the
Lok Sabha that seeks to
ban funding of weapons
of mass destruction and
also empower the Cen-
tre to freeze, seize or at-
tach financial assets
and economic resources
of people engaged in
such activities.
External Affairs Min-
ister S Jaishankar in-
troduced the Weapons
of Mass Destruction
and their Delivery Sys-
tems (Prohibition of
Unlawful Activities)
Amendment Bill that
also seeks to fulfill In-
dia’s international obli-
gations in this regard.
The bill was introduced
amid din by opposition
members over the re-
peated fuel price hikes.
The Weapons of Mass
Destruction and their
Delivery Systems (Pro-
hibition of Unlawful
Activities) Act, passed
in 2005, only banned
manufacture of weap-
ons of mass destruc-
tion.
“In recent times, reg-
ulations relating to pro-
liferation of weapons of
mass destruction and
their delivery systems
by international organ-
isations have expand-
ed,” Jaishankar said in
the statements of ob-
jects and reasons of the
bill.
He noted that the
United Nations Securi-
ty Council’s targeted fi-
nancial sanctions and
the recommendations
of the Financial Action
Task Force have man-
dated against financing
of proliferation of
weapons of mass de-
struction and their de-
livery systems.
“In view of the above,
there is a need to amend
the said Act to provide
against the financing of
proliferation of weap-
ons of mass destruction
and their delivery sys-
tems so as to fulfill our
international obliga-
tions,” Jaishankar said.
Bill introduced in LS to ban funding
of weapons of mass destruction
Digital dashboard for Ganga Committee Performance Monitoring System launched
First India Bureau
New Delhi: Union Min-
isterforJalShaktiGajen-
dra Singh Shekhawat
launched the ‘Digital
Dashboard for District
Ganga Committees
(DGCs) Performance
Monitoring System’
(GDPMS) on Wednesday
intheaugustpresenceof
Swatantra Dev Singh,
Cabinet Minister for Jal
Shakti, Uttar Pradesh,
who joined virtually
. Di-
rector General, National
Mission for Clean Ganga
(NMCG)ShriG.AsokKu-
mar was also present on
the occasion. The meet-
ingwasalsoattendedvir-
tually by the representa-
tives of over 100 District
Ganga Committees from
across the Ganga Basin.
After launching the
dashboard, the Union
Minister began by talk-
ingaboutthe4Pprinciple
– political will, public
spending, partnership
and people’s participa-
tion to make a pro-
gramme successful. The
Prime Minister has em-
phasized on a number of
occasionstheimportance
of people’s participation
in making Namami
Gange a success, he said.
Shekhawat said that a
lotof workhasbeendone
in sewerage manage-
ment, ghat development,
biodiversity
, afforesta-
tion, spring rejuvena-
tion, wetland conserva-
tionandtheinvolvement
of voluntary organisa-
tions like Nehru Yuva
Kendra Sangathan, Gan-
ga Praharis etc. has been
inspiring. But, still there
is a long way to go and ef-
fortsshouldalsobemade
to sustain the work
which has been done.
The Union Minister
said it is the responsi-
bility of the DGCs in
partnership with vari-
ous organisations to
instill a sense of owner-
ship and duty in the
people to make Ganga
Aviral and Nirmal. “It
is DGCs responsibility
to make sure that assets
created are properly
used and functioning,
no untreated water/
solid waste goes into
Ganga,” he added.
Shekhawat emphasizes on ‘Arth
Ganga Model’ for sustainable
economic model around Ganga River
Khattar gives a bonanza of development projects worth `317 crore to Kurukshetra dist
First India Buraeu
Chandigarh: Haryana
Chief Minister Mano-
har Lal Khattar on
Wednesday gave a bo-
nanza of development
projects, including 91
schemes to Kurukshet-
ra district to be built at
a cost of Rs 317 crore.
Besides, the CM also
inaugurated4MegaPro-
jects built at a cost of Rs
14.30 crore. He reached
Pehowa in Kurukshetra
district where the BJP
Foundation Day Rally
was organized.
The Haryana CM
said that almost all the
demands of the people’s
representatives of are-
as falling in Kurukshet-
ra district namely,
Pehowa, Thanesar, Lad-
wa and Shahabad have
been accepted. He an-
nounced an amount of
Rs 9.50 crore for the de-
velopment of Pehowa
Sarovar. This work will
be done by Kurukshetra
Development Board.
He also announced a
budget of Rs 200 crore
for Kurukshetra Mu-
nicipality and Panchay-
ats. Along with this,
Animal Hospital, Is-
mailabad, Community
Centre in Ladwa, park
named after leader Ish-
war Dayal in Pehowa,
mortuary and 50-bed-
ded Hospital in Pehowa,
new building of Prima-
ry Health Centre in
Ladwa, Rs 21 crore for
25 roads of marketing
board in the district,
construction of new
sector on the side of Na-
tional Highway in
Pehowa, approval of 9
demands related to ir-
rigation, new steel
bridge at Narwana
branch at Rs 24 crore,
150 water recharging
tubewells, Rs 9.50 crore
for Saraswati Tirth, Rs
52 crore to build a stadi-
um for Kurukshetra Cir-
cuit House, Rs 25 crore
for building of sub-divi-
sion Ladwa, and Rs 2
crore for stadium in
Pehowa. He said it is dif-
ficult to list out all the
schemes here, but the
information about the
approved schemes will
be sent to the Deputy
Commissioner.
Besides, the Haryana Chief Minister
also inaugurated 4 big projects built
at a cost of `14.30 crore
16 MPs give White Paper to improve
Handloom,Handicrafts in country
New Delhi (ANI): The
Parliamentary Advoca-
cy Group on Handloom
and Handicrafts, con-
sisting of 16 MPs from
various political par-
ties, released its first
report on Wednesday
and suggested several
recommendations to ex-
tend the benefits of poli-
cies to the beneficiaries.
The report was
named ‘White Paper on
Handloom and Handi-
crafts – Need to decou-
ple from power loom
based textile sector’.
The report highlight-
ed how several policies
are failing to reach the
beneficiaries i.e. the
weaversandtheartisans.
The recommendation
in fiscal measure states
that the government
should provide Rs 18,00
for 6 months in addition
to rations supplied and
PDS based on ID cards
or certificates by local
co-operative societies.
It also recommends
that government should
locateRs500croreunder
PM cares fund to com-
pensate for wage loss to
weavers, artisans, and
craftsmen and to pro-
duce area-based prod-
ucts to enhance their
earning productivity
.
Rajya Sabha MP
Amar Patnaik said that
the non-delivery of the
policies on the ground
creates problems for the
weavers. “Most of the
policies are not reach-
ing the weavers and the
craftsman at the ground
level and that creates a
lot of livelihood prob-
lems for them. This is
one problem that came
to us during the pan-
demic,” he said.
“Despite govt’s ef-
forts such as having e-
commerce platforms, I
think the right kind of
market which I talked
about i.e. exports is to
be increased and it is to
be sold in a niche mar-
ket,” the MP added.
FOUNDATION DAY
z
z
z
z
WHITE PAPER
Union Minister
Shekhawat stated that
the Digital Dashboard
launched today will
help the DGCs in
enhancing people-
river connect.
Gajendra Singh Shekhawat
Manohar Lal Khattar
AL-QAEDA CHIEF RELEASES PROVOCATIVE VIDEO
Aligarh Muslim forum
condemnsterrorhead
Zawahiri’s statement
‘Instilling fear and rebellion in
Muslims totally uncalled for’
First India Bureau
Lucknow: The dreaded
terrorist and head of al
Qaeda Ayman al-Zawa-
hiri in his latest video
on hijab controvercy in
India, has lauded the
Karnataka student
Muskan Khan for chal-
lenging a group of Hin-
dus with slogan of ‘Al-
lah-o-Akbar’ (God is
great) when some stu-
dents had countered the
Burqa clad Muskan on
the college campus with
‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogan in
February
.
The video has come
in the backdrop of heat-
ed debate in the country
with two communities
virtually dagger-drawn
on the issue. The con-
troversy was further
precipitated by Jamia-
Ulema Hind chief Mah-
mood Madni’s decision
to give cash reward of
Rs 5 lakh to Muskan
Khan, whose picture on
social media went viral.
Now a terrorist (Za-
wahiri) has been trying
to provoke the Muslim
community in the coun-
try on the issue.
However, Aligarh-based
Forum for Muslim
Studies and Analysis
(FMSA), headed by Prof
(Dr) Jasim Mohammad
sharply condemning
the statement of the ter-
rorist said “nobody
could be allowed in the
internal matter of the
country and the subse-
quent response from
anyone who supports
al-Qaeda will be op-
posed.” He said since
the matter is pending
before the Supreme
Court so instilling fear
and rebellion in the
minds of Muslims is to-
tally uncalled for.
Ayman al Zawahiri
AL-QAEDA
MAKING
SUBTLE
INROADS
Increasing terrorists’
activities in India under
the banner of Al-Qaeda
and its affiliates are
cause of concern. After
the victory of Taliban in
Afghanistan the Al-Qae-
da has announced to
shift its focus to India,
especially Kashmir under
its Ghazwa-e-Hind (The
Great Battle of India)
narrative.
The recent attack on
Gorakhnath temple by
Ahmad Murtaza Abbasi
is also being seen as in-
creasing role of sleeper
cells being activated for
nefarious activities.
Al-Qaeda had first men-
tioned India as a target
in 1996 when Osama bin
Laden made a reference
to Jammu and Kash-
mir and Assam. The
formation of AQIS was
announced by Al-Qaeda
chief Ayman Al-Zawahiri
in 2014. The group had
close links with Afghan
Taliban chief Haibatullah
Akhundzada. The UP
anti-terrors squad had
succeeded in busting
several terror modules
in the country. While one
Saifullah was killed in
Lucknow few years ago,
three home-grown ter-
rorists were arrested in
Bijnaur. Mufti Faizan of
Bijnaur, arrested by UP
anti-terrorists squad had
spilled the beans. While
Faizan, who was Imam
of Alipura mosque, was
arrested in Bijnaur, Umar
alias Nizam was picked
up in Mumbai and
Zaqwan alias Ehtesham
and Muzzamil alias Zee-
shan nick-named Ghazi
Baba were arrested from
Bihar’s Narkatiyaganj
and Jalandhar (Punjab)
respectively. They had
identified targets in
Bijnaur, Lucknow and
Amroha.
Madarsa education to be
made more relevant in UP
First India Bureau
Lucknow: Yogi Adi-
tyanath government
has decided to reform
Madarsa education and
make it more relevant
for employment and
further studies. It was
reported that focus
will be on important
subjects including
Hindi, English, Science,
Mathematics and Social
Sciences rather than
religious studies which
will align students of
Madrasa in mainframe
education system.
Also, UP government
can eliminate 5339
posts of religious teach-
ers and 6455 teach-
ers out of total 8129
teachers of Madrasa will
be of modern subjects.
The government spends
about 866 crores per
annum on Madrasa. The
number of registered
Madrasas was 558 and
total 8129 teachers and
558 principals were
appointed in it.
The proposal of nec-
essary reformation in
Madrasa education was
passed in meeting of
UP Madrasas education
council chaired by pres-
ident Dr Iftikhar Ahmad
Javed. It was decided
in the meeting that
only one teacher will be
appointed for religious
studies at every class
level. For 1 to 5 standard
four teachers will teach
modern subjects while
one teacher will be there
for religious studies.
Aligarh (PTI): Aligarh
Muslim University on
Wednesday suspended
a professor who referred
to examples of rape in
Hindu mythology during
a forensic science class,
provoking accusations of
hurting religious senti-
ments.
According to AMU offi-
cials, Dr Jitendra Kumar,
an assistant professor at
AMU’s Jawaharlal Nehru
Medical College, made
the references to rape in
mythology while conduct-
ing a class on medical
jurisprudence.
He was served a show-
cause notice asking him
to explain within 24 hours
why disciplinary action
should not be taken
against him. The univer-
sity authorities also set
up a two-member probe
committee, but he was
suspended pending the
outcome of the inquiry, an
official told PTI.
After getting the notice,
the professor apologised.
In a letter to AMU vice
chancellor Tariq Mansoor
on Wednesday, Kumar
said, My intention was not
to hurt religious senti-
ments of any particular
religion and it was done
only to highlight that rape
has been a part of our
society since long.
He said it was an inadver-
tent mistake and assured
that no such incident will
occur in the future.
AMU Prof suspended for
hurting religious sentiments

elf-belief is the most
important thing in life
which helps a person
to fight against all odds
and achieve success in
their lives by leading a
happy and contented
life. One such ravishing diva
Bhagyashree Mundra who
paved her way to the top with
her hard work and dedication
shared her success story with
City First.
Tell us something about your-
self.
Chittorgarh is where I was
born and raised. Art, dancing,
and learning about new things
have always piqued my in-
terest. I consider my-
self to be a positive,
adaptable, artistic,
and lifelong learn-
er. I’m a girl
who enjoys
t r y i n g
n e w
things since you can’t under-
stand how different life is in
another area unless you’ve
experienced it yourself.
Where do you see your-
self after the next 20
years?
It is God’s jurisdic-
tion when it comes to
the future. We make it hap-
pen via our perseverance and
hard effort. I’d like to imagine
myself as a top runway model
who has made a name for her-
self in society. I believe in giv-
ing everything I have in every-
thing I do.
How did your
journey begin?
My career as a
model began at
a college ramp
walk event
when I stepped
up the ramp for
the first time
and realised I
had a future in
the modelling in-
dustry. I am
grateful to Gaurav Gaur and
the entire team for his support
and guidance, he has been a
major support system. I
began working on
myself to improve
my talents and prove
to my parents my love
and enthusiasm for
modelling.
What were some of the bat-
tles you fought and are still
fighting in your journey?
Every person is unique, so in-
stead of getting caught up in
the rat race and
lamenting
what we don’t have, let us re-
joice in what we do have. I’ve
forced myself to grow out
from my shy period and
went from an unsociable
individual to an amicable
one. It’s difficult to grow
up in a culture where
modelling is not seen as a
credible professional op-
tion, and it’s harder to
break preconceptions
and recognise individu-
ality. Believing in one-
self will always assist
you in overcoming ob-
stacles.
NEW DELHI, THURSDAY,
APRIL 7, 2022
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epapers/delhi I twitter.com/
thefirstindia facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia 09
S
BHAGYASHREE
BHAGYASHREE
REBEL FOR DREAMS
REBEL FOR DREAMS
A FEARLESS BEAUTY, PASSIONATE SOUL AND WONDERFUL
WOMAN, BHAGYASHREE MUNDRA FROM CHITTORGARH, IN A
CANDID CONVERSATION WITH CITY FIRST, SHARES HER
MODELLING JOURNEY AND FUTURE PLANS!
SHUBHANSHI PHATHAK
cityfirst@firstindia.co.in

07042022_ First India New Delhi.pdf

07042022_ First India New Delhi.pdf

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07042022_ First India New Delhi.pdf