08012022 first india new delhi

COVID SURGE: CENTRE TELLS DELHI, ADJOINING
DISTRICTS TO RAMP UP HEALTH FACILITIES
New Delhi: Amid a
surge in Covid cases,
Union Home Secretary
Ajay Bhalla has asked
Delhi and neighbouring
districts to immediately
strengthen health infra-
structure, maintain
buffer stocks of essen-
tial drugs and ensure
that oxygen supply
equipment is fully func-
tional.
At a meeting con-
vened to review the
COVID-19 situation in
the national capital and
adjoining districts on
Thursday, Bhalla also
favoured ramping up of
testing in all districts of
Delhi-NCR where the
number of tests is low.
The home secretary
stressed that the health
infrastructure in all
districts of Delhi-NCR
should be immediately
strengthened to be able
to deal with any en-
hanced requirement, an
official statement said.
Further, it should be
ensured that oxygen
supply equipment is
fully functional and
buffer stocks of essen-
tial drugs are main-
tained, he said in the
meeting.
The meeting was con-
vened in view of the
recent surge in corona-
virus cases, especially
those of the Omicron
variant of the virus, in
Delhi-NCR.
Bhalla reviewed the
COVID-19 situation and
preparedness in Delhi-
NCR, which includes
the national capital and
nine bordering districts
in Uttar Pradesh and
Haryana.
Keeping in view the
close-knit urban struc-
ture of the NCR, he em-
phasised that it is nec-
essary for all concerned
authorities in the re-
gion to come together to
tackle the virus and
have a unified strategy
.
Bhalla said due to the
high transmissibility
of the Omicron variant,
no stone should be left
unturned to deal with
the surge in cases and
immediate steps should
be taken to further
strengthen the monitor-
ing and containment
mechanism. —PTI
Ajay Bhalla asks
Delhi & neighbouring
districts to
strengthen health
infrastructure
WEEKEND
CURFEW IN DELHI
FROM TODAY
New Delhi: The
unprecedented rise
in Covid cases has
forced the Delhi
government to put
in some measures
like weekend curfew
to check the rise of
infection. Delhi’s
weekend curfew will
begin from 10 pm
on Friday and will be
in effect till 5 am on
Monday. The regular
night curfew will
continue to remain
in force.
NEW DELHI l SATURDAY, JANUARY 8, 2022 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNITITLE NO.DELENG/2021/19840 lVol 1 l Issue No.130
OUR EDITIONS: JAIPUR, AHMEDABAD, LUCKNOW & NEW DELHI www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
The Indian economy remains on track to regain its position as the world’s fastest-
growing major economy. The growth in the gross domestic product (GDP) of 9.2
per cent in April 2021 to March 2022 fiscal (FY 2021-22) given by the National
Statistical Office (NSO) in its first advance estimate compares with 9.5 percent
expansion forecast by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) last month. P6
Equity benchmark Sensex rebounded 143 points on Friday, boosted by
gains in the index majors Reliance Industries, TCS and ICICI Bank amid a
mixed trend in global markets. The 30-share index ended 142.81 points or
0.24 per cent higher at 59,744.65. Similarly, the NSE Nifty rose 66.80 points
or 0.38 per cent to close at 17,812.70. P6
INDIA’S GDP TO RISE
9.2% IN CURRENT
FY, ADVANCE
ESTIMATES SHOW
SENSEX ENDS THE
DAY 143 POINTS
HIGHER, NIFTY
ABOVE 17,800
No remorse,did right
thing: Bulli Bai creator
SC allows admissions
with 27% quota for
OBCs,10% for EWS
Transfer of Dalit land to trust in
Ayodhya illegal: Revenue Court
New Delhi: Neeraj
Bishnoi the main ac-
cused behind the ‘Bulli
Bai’ app used by right-
wing extremists to
‘auction’ Muslim wom-
en - showed no remorse
for his actions during
police interrogation,
sources said on Friday.
Instead, he claimed
to have done what he
thought was “right”.
Bishnoi, 21, and a
second-year BTech stu-
dent from an institute
in Bhopal, was arrested
by Delhi Police from
Assam’s Jorhat district
yesterday. Officials
said they had recov-
ered the device used to
create the app that was
hosted on GitHub, a
Microsoft-owned soft-
ware-sharing platform.
Sources said Bish-
noi, a resident of As-
sam, had been tracked
down via digital sur-
veillance of a Twitter
handle - @bullibai_ -
that he created, and
which has now been
suspended.
New Delhi: The Su-
preme Court on Friday
gave its nod to the Na-
tional Eligibility cum
Entrance Test-Under-
graduate and Postgrad-
uate (NEET-PG) admis-
sions while upholding
the 27 per cent quota
for OBCs and 10 per
cent for the economi-
cally weaker sections
(EWS) for 2021-22.
A Bench of Justices
DY Chandrachud and
AS Bopanna while
passing the judgment
stated that the validity
of the criteria deter-
mined by the commit-
tee would prospectively
be subject to its final
order.
The court said it will
hear the matter in
detail in the third week
of March.
Ayodhya: The Assis-
tant Record Officer
(ARO) court in Ayodhya
has declared a govern-
ment order transfer-
ring nearly 21 bigha
(52,000 square metres)
of Dalit land to Mahari-
shi Ramayan Vidyap-
eeth Trust (MRVT) on
August 22, 1996, void
after finding the trans-
fer to be “illegal”. The
court has now vested
the land, free from all
encumbrances, in the
state government.
It, however, did not
recommend any action
against the trust since
there was no forgery in-
volved. In the flurry of
these land deals, one set
of transactions had
raised questions of pro-
priety and conflict of
interest. Some buyers
were closely related to a
couple of officials in-
volved in probing the
seller, Maharishi Rama-
yan Vidyapeeth Trust,
for alleged irregulari-
ties in land transfer
from Dalit residents.
Mohd Fahad
New Delhi: The Union
Health Ministry, in a
notification, on Friday
said that all interna-
tional travellers will
need to undergo 7-day
mandatory home quar-
antine on arrival in In-
dia, even if they test
negative for Covid-19 at
the airport. They will
then have to undertake
an RT-PCR test on the
8th day of arrival in the
country.
The cumulative Cov-
id-19 vaccine doses ad-
ministered in India
surpassed 150-crore
mark on Friday. Union
Health Minister Man-
sukh Mandaviya term-
ing the feat as a “his-
toric achievement”.
Glimpse of India’s first multi-dimensional adventure sports expedition conducted by
the team of National Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports (NIMAS) in France.
FLYING INTO INDIA FROM OVERSEAS?
7-DAY HOME QUARANTINE
MANDATORY UPON LANDING
Visitors flout COVID-
appropriate behaviour as they
walk through the market area
of Chandni Chowk, in New
Delhi on Friday.
JAIPUR LIT FESTIVAL
NOW FROM MARCH 5
Jaipur: Teamwork Arts, the
producer of the iconic Jaipur
Literature Festival, rescheduled
the 15th edition of the Festival
on Friday. Previously scheduled
for the end of January, the
Festival will now be held from
March 5 to 14, 2022. P12
ADVENTURE SPORTS EXPEDITION
...even if the passengers test
negative for Covid-19 at airport
They will then have to undertake an RT-PCR
test on the 8th day of arrival in the country
India crosses
150-crore Covid
vaccination mark,
informs PM Modi
CORONA
CATASTROPHE
NEW DELHI
17,335
NEW CASES
09
NEW FATALITIES
BRITAIN CALLS IN MILITARY TO HELP
WITH HOSPITAL COVID STAFF CRUNCH
THE CASE
MCA SHUTS OFFICE FOR 3 DAYS AFTER
STAFF TESTS POSITIVE; CASES IN BCCI
London: Britain’s Ministry of Defence on
Friday said that it had begun the deploy-
ment of the military to support hospitals
experiencing staff shortages and extreme
pressures due to record Covid-19 cases
in the country. The government said that
200 Armed Forces personnel had been
made available to support the National
Health Service for the next three weeks.
Britain has reported over 150,000 new
cases each day over the last week.
To get over the land laws
which barred acquisition of
agriculture land belonging
to Dalit persons by a non-
Dalit, MRVT used a Dalit
person named Ronghai
employed with the trust
as a conduit to buy land
parcels in Barhata Manjha
village from about a dozen
Dalit villagers in 1992.
Supreme Court has
also decided to accept
the recommendations
of the Ajay Bhushan
committee and stick to
Rs 8-lakh criteria for
identifying Economically
Weaker Sections for the
current session.
New Delhi: The Mumbai Cricket As-
sociation (MCA) was on Friday forced
to shut its office for three days after 15
of its staff members tested positive for
COVID-19. A few cases have been re-
ported in the BCCI office too, it has been
reliably learnt. The Cricket Centre is the
headquarters of the Board of Control for
Cricket in India (BCCI), which is situated
in the plush South Mumbai area. The
MCA operates from the same building.
NEET-PG
Accused Neeraj Bishnoi
SC directs to preserve
all records related to
PM Modi’s Punjab visit
The Supreme
Court bench
headed by Chief Justice
NV Ramana on Friday
asked the Registrar
General of the Punjab
and Haryana High Court
to forthwith secure and
preserve all records
relating to the visit of
Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi to Punjab on
January 5. The bench
also comprising Justic-
es Surya Kant and Hima
Kohli said that Director
General of Chandigarh
and an NIA official will
assist the Registrar
General (RG) in collect-
ing the records.
Appearing for the
petitioner, senior
advocate Maninder
Singh said it was not a
law and order issue, but
one of national security.
Appearing for the
Centre, Solicitor
General Tushar Mehta
backed the demand to
seize and secure visit
records.
Punjab Advo-
cate General
DS Patwalia said the
petition which “reeks of
politics”, but “Punjab
is not taking it lightly”.
PM Modi’s Punjab visit
JAIPUR l THURSDAY, JANUARY 6, 2022 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI NO. RAJENG/2019/77764 l Vol 3 l Issue No. 211
OUR EDITIONS: JAIPUR, AHMEDABAD, LUCKNOW & NEW DELHI
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The Pune police on Wednesday took custody of controversial godman Kalich-
aran Maharaj from Raipur in connection with an alleged inflammatory speech
case registered against him and five others last month. He was brought to
Pune following a transit remand granted by a Raipur court. Later in the day,
a Pune court sent Maharaj in one-day police custody till Thursday.
BSE Sensex gained 367.22 points (0.61 per cent) to reclaim the 60,0
and end at 60,223.15 while the Nifty 50 rose 120.00 points (0.67 per
settle above the 17,900 mark at 17,925.25. Earlier in the day both th
had begun on a choppy note moving in a narrow range in the openin
the gains on Wednesday were led by Bajaj Finserv and Bajaj Finance
PUNE COPS ARREST
KALICHARAN
MAHARAJ FROM
CHHATTISGARH
SENSEX RISES 367
PTS TO RECLAIM
60K-MARK, NIFTY
ABOVE 17,900
3rd arrest in case
of app hosting
doctored photos
New Delhi: A team of
cyberpoliceofficialsfrom
the Mumbai Crime
Branch Wednesday ar-
rested one more accused
from Uttarakhand for al-
legedly posting obscene
and derogatory content
on an application, which
hosted doctored photo-
graphs and objectionable
commentstargetingMus-
limwomeninthecountry
.
Theaccusedwasiden-
tified as Mayank Rawat,
21, a student who was in
touch with the other ac-
cused in the case, Shwe-
ta Singh, 18, and Vishal
Kumar Jha, 21.
The police said the
threearepartof alarger
team.
58,097
New Delhi: India on
Wednesday reported
58,097 fresh COVID-19
cases in the last 24
hours, 55 per cent
higher than Tuesday’s
37,379 cases. This is
twice the number seen
only four days ago.
The country report-
ed some 9,000 cases on
December 28, so the
count has now gone up
more than six times in
just eight days. India
has 2,135 cases of the
Omicron variant - the
most in Maharashtra
with 653 cases, fol-
lowed by Delhi with
464 cases.
The weekly positiv-
ity rate is 2.60 per cent;
daily positivity rate is
4.18 per cent. Positivi-
ty rate is the percent-
age of all Covid tests
that are actually posi-
tive. It will be high if
the number of positive
tests is high, or if the
number of total tests
is low.
Several states have
announced restric
tions like night curfew
as Covid cases contin
ue to rise.
...new covid cases
clocked in country
NEW HO
ISOLAT
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Wednesd
revised g
for hom
mild/asy
Covid-1
 Acc
new gu
patien
isolati
discha
days
posit
 P
patie
for 3
and
tinu
The
re-t
hom
is o
lin
61
a
M
a
I
CORONA
CATASTROPHE
RAJASTHAN
1,883
NEW CASES
1,138
NEW CASES IN JAIPUR
PMNOTSAFEINPUNJAB!
MODI SKIPS FIROZPUR RALLY OVER ‘SECURITY BREACH’
AS PROTESTERS BLOCK FLYOVER ENROUTE
The PM landed in Bathinda on Wednesday, from where he was to go to
National Martyrs Memorial at Hussainiwala by helicopter. Due to rain
and poor visibility, the PM waited for about 20 minutes for the weather to clear
1
When the weather didn’t improve, it was
decided that he would travel by road.
Later, he had to return to Bathinda airport
2
Later, he had to return to Bathinda airport
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi’s (in circle) cavalcade
was stranded on a flyover
for 20 minutes as protesters
blocked his way in Punjab.
Mohd Fahad
New Delhi: Prime Min-
isterNarendraModican-
celled his programme in
Punjab on Wednesday
after a massive security
breach left him stuck on
ahighwayfor20minutes
because of protesting
farmers. In a spiralling
row in election season,
the BJP accused Pun-
jab’s ruling Congress of
“murderousintentions”.
Visuals from Bathin-
da showed the Prime
Minister’s convoy on
the flyover, surrounded
by Special Protection
Group (SPG) personnel.
PM Modi was seen wait-
ing in a black armoured
Toyota Fortuner ringed
by SPG officers. Barely
a few feet from his car
were clusters of people
and policemen. Images
tweeted by a BJP work-
er showed posters held
up as the PM’s car drove
by
. A BJP bus following
the convoy was heckled
by protesters.
PM Modi cut short
his visit and returned
to the airport.
MHA SEEKS REPORT
FROM PUNJAB GOVT
New Delhi: The Minis-
try of Home Affairs has
sought a report from
the Punjab government
asking how the PM’s
cavalcade was stranded
on a flyover for over 15
minutes due to a protest,
when his programme
had been duly com-
municated to the state
police. “Such dereliction
of security procedure in
the Prime Minister’s visit
is totally unacceptable
and accountability will
be fixed,” tweeted Union
Home Minister Amit Shah.
QUIT: AMARINDER TO PUNJAB CM CHANNI
Chandigarh: Former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder
Singh slammed the state’s Charanjit Singh Channi
government. “Complete failure of law and order in
Punjab, CM and HM Punjab, in particular. When you
cannot provide smooth passage to the Prime Minister
of the country and that too just 10km from the Pakistan
border, you have no right to stay in office and should
quit!” read his tweet.
I had been up till
late night over-
seeing security
arrangements for rally.
The PM’s road plans were
made at the last minute,
he was earlier supposed to
travel by helicopter
Charanjeet Channi, Punjab CM
We in BJP want
to know who in
the Punjab gov-
ernment gave informa-
tion about the prime min-
ister‘s route to individuals
who planted themselves
atop the flyover?
Smriti Irani, Union Minister
Apne CM ko
thanks kehna, ki
mein Bhatinda
airport tak zinda
laut paaya
Narendra Modi,
Prime Minister to officials
before leaving Punjab
Hospital Staffers arrange beds as part of preparations for the
third wave of COVID-19 in Coimbatore.
Men walk on a road during season’s first snowfall, on the outskirts of Srinagar. Kash
suspension of air traffic to the valley as authorities carried out snow-clearance ope
A PARADISE CALLED K
New Delhi: Pilot error
was the likely cause for
thechoppercrashthatled
to Chief of Defence Staff
General Bipin Rawat’s
deathlastmonth,sources
said on Wednesday
.
Sources said the Mi-
17V5 helicopter carry-
ing Gen Rawat, his wife
Madhulika,and12other
armed forces personnel
- from the Sulur Air
Force base in Tamil Na-
du’s Coimbatore to the
Defence Staff Services
Colleges in Wellington
- crashed after a CFIT, or
Controlled Flight Into
Terrain, occurrence.
CFIT occurs when an
airworthy aircraft,
while under the com-
plete control of the pi-
lot, is inadvertently
flown into terrain, wa-
ter, or an obstacle.
According to the
IATA (International Air
Transport Association),
the term refers to acci-
dents in which in-flight
collisions with terrain,
water, or another obsta-
cle occur without indi-
cation of loss of control.
The United States’
FederalAviationAdmin-
istrationsaysCFITis‘’...
an unintentional colli-
sion with terrain
(ground,mountain,body
of water, or an obstacle)
while an aircraft is un-
der positive control.”
CDS Rawat crash: Pilot error
in cloudy weather,says report
YOU READ IT FIRST INDIA ON DECEMBER 9, 2021
RATIO OF DIRECT RECRUITMENT & PROMOTION IN JUNIOR SER
OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT STATE SERVICE WILL BE 50-50: CABI
Naresh Sharma
Jaipur: Several impor-
tant policy decisions
were taken during the
Cabinet
meeting
chaired by Chief Minis-
ter Ashok Gehlot on
Wednesday through
video conference from
the CMR. The Cabinet
has given its approval
for amendment in the
Rajasthan Rural Devel-
opment State Service
Rules-2007. At present,
there is a provision to
fill 75% of the posts of
junior pay series of Ra-
jasthan Rural Develop-
ment State Service by
direct recruitment,
which will be modified
by this decision and ra-
tio of direct recruit-
ment and promotion
can be made 50-50. With
this, 50% posts of jun-
ior pay series of Ra-
jasthan Rural Develop-
ment State Service will
be filled through pro-
motion of additional
development officers.
With this Cabinet de-
cision, more number of
posts will be available
for the promotion of As-
sistant and Additional
Development Officers
and the vacant posts of
Development Officers
in the department can
be filled quickly by pro-
motion. Also, the prob-
lem of vacancies of De-
velopment Officers will
be solved. Promotion of
Additional Develop-
ment Officers to the
post of Development Of-
ficer will also increase
the morale and efficien-
cy of Village Develop-
ment Officers.
The Cabinet also ap-
proved amendments to
Miscellaneous Service
Rules to remove the pro-
vision of being placed
on probation for one
year on promotion of di-
rect recruits. Turn to P8
CM Ashok Gehlot

New SOP will be
released soon.
Govt worried about
increasing
infection. It is
necessary to have
both doses of vax.
There will be no
lockdown, but govt
will take strict
measures, said
Khachariyawas
LAPSE IN PM'S SECUR
SERIOUS MATTER: GE
First India Bureau
Jaipur: Rajasthan
Chief Minister Ashok
Gehlot has termed the
lapse in the security of
the Prime Minister, a
serious matter. Tweet-
ing about t
hlot said,
twoPrime
India, In
and Rajiv
been ass
ter which
given the
bilityof
the Pri
Special
have be
SPGAc
securit
CM questions why
SPG and IB allowed
PM convoy to go on a
route where farmers
were protesting
You read it in First India on January 6, 2022
FIR IN PUNJAB AGAINST 150 PEOPLE; HOME
MINISTRY TEAM VISITS FIROZPUR FLYOVER
CHANNI: SECURITY
ROW EXCUSE TO TRY
PRESIDENT’S RULE
FLYOVER VIDEO
SHOWS ‘BJP
ZINDABAD’ SLOGANS
Ferozepur: An FIR against 150 unknown persons
for blocking the national highway that led to security
breach during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit
to Punjab. Meanwhile, The three-member team Home
Ministry team, which includes S Suresh, Inspector-Gen-
eral of the SPG spent 45 minutes at the flyover. Earlier,
Punjab DGP Siddharth Chattopadhyaya and 12 other
senior officials were called by centre for questioning.
New Delhi: The allega-
tions surrounding PM’s
security breach, which
left him stuck on a
highway in Punjab for 20
minutes on Wednesday,
are part of a “conspiracy”
to defame the state and
tray at imposing Presi-
dent’s rule in Punjab, CM
Charanjit Channi said.
New Delhi: A video
showed a group of BJP
workers standing barely
a few metres from the
PM’s car. In the clip, a
group carrying a BJP flag
is seen shouting slogans
of “BJP Zindabad” while
standing dangerously
close to PM’s car with
SPG forming a shield.
1
2
4
3

CAPITOL
NEW DELHI | SATURDAY, JANUARY 8, 2022
02
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New Delhi: The Na-
tional captial on Friday
recorded 17,335 new
Covid-19 cases with an
alarming positivity
rate. Delhi’s Health
Minister Satyendar
Jain said that there was
a positivity rate of
around 17 per cent.
He said Delhi is the
first to witness a surge
in infections because
most of the internation-
al flights come to the
capital.
“That is the reason
we have implemented
stricter measures to
contain the spread of
COVID-19 as compared
to other states. Some
people may say that
this is not needed but it
is better than repent-
ing later,” Jain told re-
porters.
On the World Health
Organisation terming
the Omicron variant
of coronavirus “not
mild”, the minister said
only experts will be
able to tell if it is mild
or not. —PTI
SHEHNAI BANQUET HALL TURNS AS COVID
CARE CENTRE WITH 100 OXYGEN BEDS
New Delhi: In view of the
rising cases of COVID,
the Delhi government
made operational once
again the Shehnai Ban-
quet Hall as COVID care
centre opposite the LNJP
Hospital. The government
is making the COVID care
centres operational in
the national capital one
by one as the number
of cases are rising every
day. The organization
“Doctors for You” is run-
ning several COVID care
centres in the national
capital on behalf of the
Delhi government. —ANI
Shehnai Banquet Hall
OPD services, all centres to continue to function
with restricted registrations at AIIMS Delhi
New Delhi: The All
India Institute of Medical
Sciences (AIIMS) Delhi
on Friday informed that
as a contingency action
plan OPD services at
the hospital and in all
Centres will continue to
function with restricted
registrations limited to
only prior appointment
patients (new and follow-
up). As per a circular,
“OPD services in AIIMS
hospital and all centres
will continue to function
with restricted registra-
tions. All speciality clin-
ics to be stopped for the
time being and speciality
clinic follow up patients
will be registered within
follow-up appointments
slots only.” The cir-
cular further stated,
“All routine in patient
admissions and all
routine procedures, non-
essential surgeries will
be temporarily stopped
till further orders.” —ANI
ADEQUATEARRANGEMENTS
IN PLACE TO ENFORCE
CURFEW: AUTHORITIES
New Delhi: Delhiites
will stay put at their
homes for two days as
the 55-hour-long week-
end curfew kicks in
from 10 pm on Friday,
with the authorities say-
ing adequate arrange-
ments have been made
to enforce the curfew
across the city to arrest
the spread of the coro-
navirus.
The weekend curfew,
during which the move-
ment of people, except
those involved in essen-
tial services and those
covered under the ex-
empted categories, will
remain restricted for 55
hours.
In view of a surge in
the number of fresh cor-
onavirus cases due to its
Omicron variant, the
Delhi government an-
nounced the weekend
curfew on Tuesday.
During the weekend
curfew, only those in-
volved in essential ser-
vices and those facing an
emergency situation will
be allowed to step out of
their homes. Those ven-
turing out will have to
produce e-passes issued
by the government or
valid identity cards.
“We have made ade-
quate arrangements to
enforce the weekend cur-
few. There will be a strict
vigil at markets, on the
roads, colonies and other
public places,” a senior
official said. —PTI
New Delhi: The contro-
versy surrounding the
government-backed col-
leges flared up yet again
as teachers slammed
the city government for
not releasing full
grants.
The Delhi University
Teachers’ Association
(DUTA) members on
Friday held a ‘Jan Sun-
wai’ and a protest dur-
ing which teachers
from the 12 colleges,
which are fully funded
by the government,
shared their woes while
other panelists, too,
questioned the govern-
ment.
AAP MLA Atishi had
earlier in a statement
said the government
had released the
funds well ahead of
time but alleged finan-
cial mismanagement in
colleges.
Hem Chand Jain,
Principal of Deen Dayal
Upadhyaya College,
said, “Our college re-
quired Rs 37 crore for
paying salaries and for
maintenance work. But,
we received a grant of
only Rs 22 crore. We
were also supposed to
give arrears under the
seventh pay commis-
sion, but the govern-
ment refused money
.”
He countered Atishi
saying, “...These are
false allegations.” —PTI
DUTA members protest over grants, salaries
JAN SUNWAI
lll
AAP MLA Atishi
had earlier in a
statement said
the government
had released the
funds well ahead
of time but
alleged financial
mismanagement
in colleges
AAP declares 1st list of candidates
for Goa Assembly elections
Panaji: Former BJP
ministers Mahadev
Naik, Alina Saldanha
and lawyer-turned-poli-
tician Amit Palekar fig-
ure in the Aam Aadmi
Party’s (AAP) first list of
10 candidates released
on Friday for the upcom-
ing assembly polls in
Goa.
The AAP’s state in-
charge, Atishi, has ap-
proved the list of 10 can-
didates whose constitu-
encies are spread across
both North Goa and
South Goa districts.
The Delhi-based outfit
has become the second
party, after the Congress,
to announce its first list
of nominees for the Goa
polls. The Congress’s
first list also featured 10
candidates.
Palekar will contest
from the St Cruz assem-
bly constituency, while
Vishwajit Krishnarao
Rane, who was earlier in
the BJP, is in fray from
Poriem.
Former BJP minister
Naik will contest from
Shiroda, while AAP lead-
er Satyavijay Naik has
been fielded from Valpoi.
Premanand Nanoskar,
who was earlier with the
MaharashtrawadiGoman-
tak Party (MGP), is the
AAP nominee from
Dabolim. Former BJP
minister Saldanha, who
joined the Arvind Kejri-
wal-led party last month,
is seeking to enter the
assembly from the Cor-
talim seat.
Former Goa Pradesh
Mahila Congress chief
Pratima Coutinho is the
AAP nominee from Na-
velim. —PTI
AAP announces
more candidates
for Punjab polls
New Delhi: AAP on
Friday released its
eighth list with three
candidates for the
upcoming Punjab As-
sembly Elections. As
per the list, Raman
Arora will be contest-
ing from Jalanadhar
Central, Fauza Singh
Sarari from Guru Har
Sahai and Deep Kam-
boj from Abohar. In
2017 assembly polls,
Congress won an
absolute majority in
the state by winning
77 seats and
ousted the SAD-BJP
government after 10
years. —PTI
DELHI CIVIL DEFENCE
VOLUNTEER KILLS SELF
New Delhi: A Delhi Civ-
il Defence volunteer
hanged herself in Outer
Delhi’s Holambi Kalan
area allegedly after be-
ing harassed by two
of her col-
leagues, police
said.
The inci-
dentof awom-
anfoundhang-
ing near Metro
Vihar was report-
ed to police around
5.30 pm on Wednesday,
they said. Police said the
woman worked at SDM
Narela office where she
was posted as civil de-
fence volunteer three
weeksago.Thebodywas
taken to BJRM hospital
for autopsy and later re-
turned to the family
.
During the enquiry, the
familyraisedallegations
against another Delhi
Civil Defence volunteer
named Suresh Gautam.
Thevictim’sfamilyal-
leged Gautam was har-
assing her. She had also
filedacomplaintagainst
him because of
his “bad inten-
tions” to-
wards her
but another
volunteer
n a m e d
Vikram tore
the complaint
papers,saidDeputy
Commissioner of Police
(Outer North) Brijendra
Yadav. “We have taken
the complaint from the
family and registered a
case of abetment of sui-
cide against the two
men,” he said. Gautam
works as a diary dis-
patcher at the office
whileVikramalsoworks
in the same office, police
said,addingthematteris
being investigated. —PTI
DELHI’S AIR QUALITY IMPROVES TO
‘POOR’ FROM ‘VERY POOR’
TIHAR JAIL INMATE SWALLOWS
MOBILE PHONE FEARING SEARCH
New Delhi: The air quality in the national capital
improved to ‘poor’ from ‘very poor’ category on
Friday, a day after the national capital experienced
intermittent rain spells, with the overall Air Quality
Index (AQI) at 273, according to the System of Air
Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SA-
FAR). High winds and intermittent rains are likely
during January 5 to 8 which is expected to improve
AQI through strong dispersion and wet deposition.
New Delhi: An under
trial prisoner at Tihar
jail swallowed a cell
phone when the jail
staff was approaching
for search on sus-
picion, DG (Prison)
Sandeep Goel told ANI on Friday. “On January 5,
one inmate of Jail no.1, Tihar swallowed a mobile
phone when our staff approached him for search
on suspicion,” said the jail official. “He was sent
to DDU hospital. Though his condition is fine so
far, but mobile is still inside,” added Goel.
TWO KILLED, TWO RESCUED AFTER
HOUSE COLLAPSED IN DELHI
New Delhi: Two peo-
ple have died and two
have been rescued af-
ter a house collapsed
in Delhi’s Begumpur
area in the early hours
on Friday, informed
Delhi Fire Service. As per Delhi Fire Service,
two people have died while two others have
been rescued from debris. Out of the two
who were rescued, one is severely injured
while the other one has suffered minor
bruises. “Fire services received information
regarding the incident at around 4:15 am.
CRUCIAL READ
Health clinics at
Govt schools to
open next week
New Delhi: Health clin-
ics for routine check-ups
as well as mental health
counselling will start
functioning at govern-
ment schools in the city
next week.
Of the 20 schools iden-
tified for the pilot pro-
ject, the clinics will be-
gin functioning in 10
from January 12 and in
the other 10 from Janu-
ary 17. The setting up of
health clinics is a new
project of the Delhi gov-
ernment, along the lines
of its flagship mohalla
clinics. —PTI
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain
Migrants fear
lockdown,
loss of
livelihood
New Delhi: With a
surge in coronavi-
rus cases in Delhi
and its neighbour-
ing cities, migrant
workers and daily
wagers fear another
round of lockdown
could push them
into a severe finan-
cial crisis from
which they might
never recover.
Delhi has al-
ready announced
weekend and night
curfews, among
other restrictions
to check crowding,
as the city reports
a record rise in cas-
es months after a
second wave
wreaked havoc on
its health system
and led to a lock-
down, leaving
many jobless.
“My family is not
worried about con-
tracting the virus.
The poor never get
it. We are more
worried that if
there is another
lockdown, we will
not survive a finan-
cial crunch,” Mee-
na Devi, a migrant
labourer in Kara-
val Nagar, said.
—PTI
DDMA ASKS DMS TO NUMBER ALL SHOPS WITHIN 24 HOURS
New Delhi: In view of
the violations of the odd-
even formula for opening
of shops dealing in non-
essential items, the Delhi
Disaster Management
Authority (DDMA) Fri-
day asked all district
magistrates to number
all shops under their ju-
risdictions by Saturday.
The authority also di-
rected the district magis-
trates and officials to
ensure that only one
weekly market is allowed
to open in a municipal
zone following all Covid
protocols. The DDMA in
its earlier order on De-
cember 28 had directed
that shops and establish-
ments dealing in nones-
sential goods and servic-
es, malls and weekly
markets would be al-
lowed to open on alter-
nate days as per odd-even
system depending on
their numbers. —PTI
Delhi has around
31,498 active cases and
only 1,091 hospital
beds are occupied.
When we had an equal
number of cases last
time, around 7,000
beds were occupied
—Satyendar Jain,
Health Minister
17,335 & COUNTING...
IN VIEW OF RISING COVID CASES, THE
DDMA HAS IMPOSED A WEEKEND
CURFEW IN THE NATIONAL CAPITAL
Delhi witnesses surge in infections because most of the international flights come to national capital, says Satyendar Jain
—FILE PHOTO
—REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE

INDIA
03
Sharat K Verma
Chandigarh: The Con-
gress party had played
a master stroke in Pun-
jab. Captain Amarinder
Singh was removed and
Charanjit Singh Chan-
ni was made the Chief
Minister. Congress had
played its trump card
by appointing the first
Dalit CM of the state.
This gave Congress a
huge advantage over
other parties.
The Akali Dal had
taken a gamble to win
Dalit votes by aligning
with the Bahujan Samaj
Party and the Aam Aad-
mi Party had laid its
cards for the Dalit vote
by announcing the ap-
pointment of the Dalit
Deputy CM. In the
meantime, Congress ap-
pointed a Dalit Chief
Minister and turned
the entire chessboard
around. But since then
the Congress appears to
be in a bid to loose its
winning bet.
The Dalit vote has
the strongest arithme-
tic in the social equa-
tion from Punjab and
this group has the high-
est aspiration for pow-
er. About 34% of the
state’s population be-
longs to the Dalit com-
munity and the feeling
of social and political
hegemony has become
very strong in this com-
munity for some time
now. But since all the
parties are led by the
Jat Sikh community,
which accounts for 16%
of the population, Dal-
its remained behind in
political participation
despite social upheaval.
Congress gave a big
message by making a
Dalit CM, which can be
of great benefit to it in
the next elections.
However, Congress’
own leaders claim that
the next election will
not be fought in the
name of Chief Minister
Channi, but in the name
of the party and the
MLAs will decide the
Chief Minister after the
election.
It simply means that
if the Congress wins
the election, Channi
will not be the Chief
Minister. Because even
during his Chief Minis-
terial tenure, if the
dominant population of
the state—especially
the Jat Sikh and Jat
community leaders—
are not allowing his
name to be announced,
then how will they al-
low him to become the
Chief Minister after the
elections.
It will not be very dif-
ficult for Dalit voters to
understand this. It may
be noted that State Pres-
ident Navjot Singh Sid-
hu, State Deputy Chief
Minister Sukhjinder
Singh Randhawa and
Election Campaign
Committee President
Sunil Jakhar have put
pressure on the Con-
gress high command
that Channi should not
be projected as CM face.
If Congress doesn’t
project Channi as CM
face then it will be a big
mistake.
Today the leaders
who are putting pres-
sure on the high com-
mand do not have the
status of gathering
mere five per cent votes
for the party
.
The Jat Sikh popula-
tion is 16 per cent,
whose vote traditional-
ly goes to the Akali Dal
and the remaining rad-
ical-minded vote is go-
ing to the Aam Aadmi
Party from the last two
elections.
This time Captain is
a separate contender
for this vote. So, if Sid-
hu, Randhawa and
Jakhar can get even
five per cent of this vote
to the Congress, it will
be a big deal.
But if the Congress
fights by declaring
Channi as the Chief
Minister, the majority
of Dalit votes will be
guaranteed. Hindu up-
per caste and OBC votes
will also join the Con-
gress then.
CONGRESS IS LOSING ITS HARD EARNED ADVANTAGE IN PUNJAB!
Kavita Pant
New Delhi: The bien-
nial elections to the Ra-
jya Sabha will be held
in March-April, but
from now on, lobbying
and manipulation for it
has started. Although
the maximum contend-
ers for the Rajya Sabha
are from West Bengal,
but there is no election
this year.
In Bengal, six seats
are falling vacant in Au-
gust next year. There-
fore, Mamata Banerjee
and her team can keep
the leaders from out-
side engaged till then.
However, the most in-
teresting elections to
the Rajya Sabha are to
be held in Bihar and
Jharkhand and this will
happen because the
Congress is hoping for
one seat each in both
the states. There will be
bi-annual elections for
five seats in Bihar and
by-election on one seat.
Since the seat for the by-
election is of Janata
Dal-U, that seat will go
to JDU’s account. Out
of the remaining 5
seats, 3 seats will go to
the ruling coalition and
2 will go to the RJD-
Congress-Left alliance.
Last time both the seats
went to the account of
RJD, so this time Con-
gress is asking for one
seat. The problem with
RJD is that its vacant
seat belongs to Misa
Bharti and Tejashwi Ya-
dav is compelled to send
his sister to Rajya Sab-
ha again.
Tejashwi wants Con-
gress to leave its seat
this time and it will get
one seat in 2024. Con-
gress, on the other
hand, says that it has
one seat in 2024 because
its leader Akhilesh
Prasad Singh is retir-
ing. That seat was won
by Congress in 2018.
Then he did not get the
seat in 2020, so this time
he has a claim. Who will
be the Congress candi-
date, it is not decided
yet but the party is pres-
surising for the first
seat. It is being said that
Tejashwi has said that
he will talk to Rahul
Gandhi about this.
On the other hand,
the Congress has 18
MLAs in the Jharkhand
Assembly and govern-
ment of Hemant Soren,
formed after the 2019 as-
sembly elections, is
running with Congress
support. In the 2020
polls, the founder of
Jharkhand Mukti Mor-
cha, Shibu Soren was
sent to Rajya Sabha. It
was decided at that time
that the Congress would
get the seat next time
i.e. in 2022. However,
now CM Hemant Soren
is pressurising Con-
gress to leave the seat.
Two seats are falling
vacant in the state, out
of which one seat will
go to the BJP and the
other will go to JMM-
Congress-RJD alliance.
JMM has been able to
win one seat on its own.
But the support of
Congress is necessary
to run the government,
so there is a tussle going
on. Even there the can-
didate of Congress is
not fixed but Congress
wants to confirm it by
claiming the seat. After
that the party high com-
mand will make some-
one a candidate.
LOBBYINGFORRAJYASABHASTARTSNOW!
THE BIENNIAL ELECTIONS TO THE UPPER HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT WILL BE HELD IN MARCH-APRIL THIS YEAR
Mahesh Sharma
Lucknow: In Uttar
Pradesh, the Bharatiya
Janata Party has an-
nounced an alliance
with its two allies, but
the seat-sharing delib-
erations have not hap-
pened yet. Even though
elections can be an-
nounced any day now,
despite this, seat alloca-
tion has not been done
so far. It is being said
that BJP has kept silent
due to the demand for
seats of both the allies.
This time the BJP has
tied up with the Nishad
Party, whose leaders
Sanjay Nishad and
Praveen Nishad like to
haggle much. Their sta-
tus is higher than that
of Suheldev Bharatiya
Samaj Party leader Om-
prakash Rajbhar, who
left the alliance.
It may be recalled that
the Nishad father-son
duo defeated Yogi Adi-
tyanath in Gorakhpur
seat.
After becoming the
Chief Minister, Yogi
had left the Gorakhpur
Lok Sabha seat and
when the by-election
was held, Praveen Ni-
shad had challenged on
behalf of SP and won
the election. After that
BJP took the initiative
and took Nishad father-
son with them and
fought with their alli-
ance in the 2019 Lok
Sabha elections. That is
why Nishad Party is
bargaining more, ask-
ing for more seats. In-
terestingly, last time in
2017 the Nishad Party
had fought on 72 seats
alone and won only 1
seat. The BJP wants the
Nishad Party to fight on
the same number of
seats it had given to Ra-
jbhar’s party in the last
election.
In the last election,
Rajbhar’s party was
given eight seats by the
BJP
, out of which it won
four. This time BJP
wants to give an almost
similar number of seats
to Nishad Party but Ni-
shad father and son duo
are not ready for it.
Another BJP ally,
Anupriya Patel’s Apna
Dal, had fought on 11
seats last time and won
nine. This time she
wants to fight on at least
15 seats. The BJP had
left a total of 19 seats in
the alliance last time,
while this time there is
pressure on it to leave
30 seats.
WOOING THE DALITS
Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO NAQVI,
AKBAR AND ZAFAR ISLAM?
The term of 3 Muslim
RS MPs from BJP—
Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi,
MJ Akbar and Syed Zafar
Islam—is ending this
year. Akbar is RS MP
from Madhya Pradesh &
Naqvi from Jharkhand.
3 seats are falling vacant
in MP, out of which 2
are of BJP and this time
also it will get these. But
the question is, will BJP
send Akbar to RS again?
He had to resign as Un-
ion Minister after allega-
tions leveled by women
journalists. So his return
seems difficult. Naqvi
is Union Minister &
party’s Muslim face after
Shahnawaz Hussain was
sent to Bihar. There-
fore BJP can send him
again to RS. But the big
question is whether he
will again be sent to RS
from Jharkhand or from
any other state? 2 seats
are getting vacant in
Jharkhand and both are
of BJP. Naqvi & Mahesh
Poddar are retiring. Out
of this, BJP will get only
one seat this time. If BJP
gives that one seat to
an outsider & that too
to a Muslim leader, it
will have a big political
impact. It is worth men-
tioning that BJP wants
to topple Hemant Soren
govt and form its own
govt.Therefore, prefer-
ence is likely to be given
to a local leader in RS
polls. He can be a tribal
or non-tribal. Naqvi can
be sent from MP instead
of Akbar. Naqvi is retir-
ing in April and polls will
be held in his home state
UP in July. There are 13
seats falling vacant. The
results of Assembly polls
will decide how many
seats BJP will get out
of that. Secondly, Syed
Zafar Islam is also in RS
from UP & his seat is
falling vacant. So BJP
may not send two Mus-
lims from UP together in
the Rajya Sabha.
WHY IS BJP’S SEAT EQUATION
UNSOLVED & STUCK IN UP?
Swatantra D Singh, Dharmendra Pradhan & Sanjai Nishad. —File
PM’s security
breach: Thakur
questions Congress
Lucknow: Union Min-
ister Anurag Thakur on
Friday questioned the
“silence” of Congress
president Sonia Gandhi
and other top opposi-
tion leaders over the
security lapse during
dra Modi’s Punjab visit.
It says a lot about
their intention and the
people of the country
want to know it, the In-
formation and Broad-
casting minister said
while also lamenting
“absurd” statements of
the Punjab Congress
leaders over the matter.
Speaking at Doordar-
shan’s two-day conclave
on “Kitna Badla UP”,
Thakur also hailed the
Yogi Adityanath gov-
ernment for “running
bulldozers on proper-
ties of those who used
to bulldoze people till
yesterday” Promising
that the BJP govern-
ment will inaugurate
the upcoming Ram tem-
ple in Ayodhya within
two years, Thakur ruled
out any impact of Con-
gress general secretary
Priyanka Gandhi’s out-
reach to women voters
in the poll-bound Uttar
Pradesh. “The people
have a right to know the
reason behind the si-
lence of all of them,” he
asserted. —ANI
Anurag Thakur
In a scathing attack on
former Chief Minister
Captain Amarinder
Singh, Punjab Con-
gress president Navjot
Singh Sidhu on Friday
termed Amarinder as
Centre’s “parrot” and
warned BJP to stop
playing politics or
they will get a benefit-
ting reply referring to
the growing chorus
for the imposition of
the President’s rule in
the state.
Haryana CM Manohar
Lal Khattar on Friday
demanded dismissal of
Charanjit Singh Channi-
led govt & holding of
election under the Pres-
ident’s Rule. He alleged
that Cong dispensation
was unable to ensure
law & order in the state
citing Wednesday PM
“security breach” as
evidence.
SIDHU CALLS CAPT
AMARINDER
CENTRE’S‘PARROT’
KHATTAR FOR
PREZ RULE IN PB
DURING ELECTION
HABIB SAYS SORRY
AS FIR FILED OVER
SPITTING ON HEAD
Lucknow: A police case has
been filed against hairstylist
Jawed Habib for spitting
on a woman’s head during
a seminar in western UP’s
Muzaffarnagar town earlier
this week. The complaint
has been filed by the wom-
an on whose hair Habib
spat during the workshop,
the police said. The video
of the incident which took
place at a workshop con-
ducted by the hairstylist on
Monday was widely shared
on social media, leading to
massive criticism. In the
video, Habib is heard telling
the audience, “If there is
a shortage of water, use
saliva”. —ANI
ASHOKA CO-FOUNDERS
STEP DOWN AFTER
FRAUD CHARGES BY CBI
New Delhi: Ashoka Uni-
versity co-founders Vineet
Gupta and Pranav Gupta
have stepped down from
the boards and commit-
tees of the university, after
they were named in a case
involving alleged swindle of
Rs 1,626 crore by the CBI.
The brothers face charges
involving criminal conspira-
cy & forgery. The University
has denied any link to the
case, which involves the
Chandigarh-based pharma-
ceutical company Parabolic
Drugs promoted by the Gup-
tas. The agency has accused
the brothers of cheating the
Central Bank of India & 11
other banks. —ANI
IN THE COURTYARD
MARITAL RAPE A CRIME OF CRUELTY IN
INDIA, SAYS DELHI GOVT TO HIGH COURT
New Delhi: Delhi Government on Friday told Delhi HC that
marital rape has already been covered as a crime of cruelty
under IPC. Appearing for Delhi Government, advocate Nan-
dita Rao said that marital rape is a crime of cruelty in India
and married and unmarried women are kept differently
under every single law. She also apprised the Court that
an FIR had been registered under Section 498A IPC on the
complaint of one of the petitioners, who claimed a victim of
repeated marital rape. —ANI
HC STAYS CWC’S ORDER TO SHIFT
ORPHAN KIDS WITHOUT VALID REASON
Jabalpur: The Madhya Pradesh HC has stayed an order
issued by the state-run CWC in Sagar to shift three out
of 44 children from Saint Francis Orphanage to some
other place without any reason amid the chilly weather
and pandemic. The court has sought a report on the
issue from the CWC of Sagar district within two weeks,
and has served three weeks returnable notices to the
state government, the Women and Child Welfare Dept
among others. While hearing a petition challenging the
shifting of children from the orphanage, Justice Nandita
Dubey on Thursday said, “I deem it proper to direct the
authorities not to shift the children right now”. “’There is
nothing on record as to under what circumstances and
what provision the children are being shifted from the
orphanage to some other place,” court order read. —ANI
China renaming places in AP
won’t change our status: Rijiju
Itanagar: Union min-
ister Kiren Rijiju has
dismissed China re-
naming some places in
Arunachal Pradesh and
asserted that renaming
of places in India by
someone outside the
country will not change
their status.He also said
that such renaming will
not be acceptable to any-
one. “Arunachal’s
names were given by
the country and that is
acceptable to all. Our
traditional names, our
community’s identity
will remain forever. If
someone outside gives
some new names, that
will not change our sta-
tus,” he told. —ANI
Kiren Rijiju
PSB: FM reviews
performance
New Delhi: Union Fi-
nanceMinisterNirmala
Sitharaman on Friday
held a meeting with
CMDs of public sector
banks to review their
performance. She as-
sessed various steps
taken by PSBs in imple-
menting pandemic-re-
lated measures initiated
by GoI & RBI. —ANI

PERSPECTIVE
04
Vol 1 Issue No. 130
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
There is nothing lost or
wasted in this life.
—Bhagavad Gita
IN-DEPTH
Dharmendra Pradhan
@dpradhanbjp
Despite the onslaught of negative
propaganda manufactured by the
opposition, PM Shri @narendramodiji’s
popularity amongst people has only
soared to greater heights! PM Modi has
emerged as the most impactful popular
person in India in 2021 in a survey.
Piyush Goyal
@PiyushGoyal
Held a review meeting to deliberate
on ways to further strengthen
India’s Textiles ecosystem. Our
textiles industry has competitive
comparative advantages and must
further aim for more ambitious targets
to realise its true potential.
TOP TWEETS
UP GOVT’S POWER
MOVE TO PLEASE
FARMERS TAKE
AKHILESH HEAD ON
t is raining bonanza
for people in Uttar
Pradesh. The state
government’s deci-
sion to halve power
tariff for more than 13 lakh
farmers is a big relief. Instead of
Rs 2 per unit which the agricul-
turists pay on metered at pre-
sent, they would be paying Re 1.
The relief is expected to fetch
necessary rewards for the BJP
in due course of time as farmers
were believed to have turned
hostile towards the party over
the three farm laws and the
Lakhimpur Kheri murders.
The financial relief will de-
volve a financial burden on the
cash-strapped UP Power Corpo-
ration. To offset that, the gov-
ernment has agreed to give a Rs
1000 crore subsidy to UPPCL
against Rs 12,000 crore sought
by the corporation last year.
The move also somewhat
matches Akhilesh Yadav’s prom-
ise of 300 units of free electrici-
ty to all the power consumers.
However, given UPPCL’s fi-
nancial health, there is bound to
be some concern over supplying
power at subsidised rates.
I
n a relief to doc-
tors the Supreme
Court has cleared
the way for NEET-
PG counselling. It
has upheld the 27 percent
reservation for Other Back-
ward Classes (OBC).
The more ticklish issue of
Rs 8 lakh annual income cri-
teria for 10 percent reserva-
tion for economically weaker
section (EWS) has been al-
lowed for the time being but
the court will examine the Rs
8 lakh minimum annual in-
come criteria in March.
The judgement will apply
prospectively on future ad-
missions. The court will es-
sentially be looking into the
feasibility of Rs 8 lakh cap.
The quota for OBC and EWS
was introduced in July 2021.
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi called it a “landmark”
decision. The quota was in-
troduced after the notifica-
tion for exams.
The decision ran into legal
hurdles after the Supreme
Court asked the Centre about
the basis for fixing Rs 8 lakh
as the income criteria for
EWS category as the limit
was the same for the OBCs.
As the reservations will ap-
ply across all state and Cen-
tral government medical col-
leges, the court asked in an
earlier hearing if it was rea-
sonable to apply the same
income criteria on small
town candidates and those
from metros. With the Centre
agreeing to revisit the crite-
ria to determine the EWS
future NEET admissions are
likely to be hassle free.
Resident doctors in vari-
ous Delhi hospitals went on
strike in the last week of De-
cember to protest against the
delay in NEET-PG counsel-
ling for admissions.
The postponement of
counselling due to litigation
resulted in zero admissions
to PG courses adding to the
shortage of doctors in hospi-
tals.
REAL ISSUE IN NEET-PG
CASE IS UNRESOLVED
The judgement will
apply prospectively on
future admissions. The
court will essentially be
looking into the feasibility
of Rs 8 lakh cap. The
quota for OBC and
EWS was introduced
in July 2021
I
ENDTHEECONOMIC
BLOCKADE OF AFGHANISTAN
s the Western world emerges
from a holiday season made
less festive by COVID-19, mil-
lions of children in Afghani-
stan are starting 2022 facing
theprospectof famine,illness,
and a lost education. Seldom
has a human tragedy been so
extensively foretold. But the
same governments now rush-
ing to apply humanitarian
bandages to Afghanistan’s
open wounds are steadfastly
refusing to switch on the eco-
nomic life-support systems
needed to avert catastrophe.
Even before the Taliban re-
turned to power last August,
Afghanistan topped the global
roster of humanitarian emer-
gencies. Successive droughts
and escalating conflict had
left one-third of the country’s
population facing acute food
insecurity. Aid agencies
warned they were in a race
against time as winter ap-
proached. Now, United King-
dom’s Disasters Emergency
Committee believes race is
close to being lost.
The numbers are harrow-
ing. Some 23 million people in
a country of 39 million are in
a state of humanitarian emer-
gency
. The UNICEF estimates
that over one million Afghan
children are at risk of dying
from malnutrition and hun-
ger-related disease.
Human development is in
freefall as gains of last two
decades unravel. Donor-fi-
nanced Sehatmandi health
programme, which provides
vital child maternal health
services across 31 of Afghani-
stan’s 34 provinces, is under
immense pressure, putting
fragile gains in child survival
at risk. An education system
that had served 9 million chil-
dren, including 3.6 million
girls, and provided employ-
ment opportunities to female
teachers now is crumbling.
Some of the blame for Af-
ghanistan’s unfolding crisis
rests squarely with the new
Taliban government. Policy-
making is mired in abject con-
fusion, and factional disagree-
ments have stymied the hu-
manitarian response. The de-
cision to prohibit girls from
attending secondary school,
which the Taliban now denies
is official policy, undermines
the national self-interest, and
mixed messages on women’s
employment have compound-
ed poverty
.
But government incompe-
tence is only part of the story
.
When the Taliban took power,
the foreign aid that financed
three-quarters of all govern-
ment spending was stopped
overnight, leaving millions of
teachers, health workers, wa-
ter and sanitation engineers,
and public officials unpaid.
The entirely predictable col-
lapse of social infrastructure
has fueled the humanitarian
catastrophe.
In the name of denying the
Taliban recognition, Afghani-
stan has been subjected to an
economic blockade. The US
has frozen $9 billion of Af-
ghanistan’s foreign-currency
reserves and invoked sanc-
tions legislation to prevent
banks from transferring
funds to the country. Citing
“guidance from the interna-
tional community” (which
means strictures from the
United States and Europe) the
International Monetary Fund
suspended a planned emer-
gency loan and withheld ac-
cess to a new issue of special
drawing rights, the Fund’s
reserve asset. Support
throughWorldBank-adminis-
tered Afghanistan Recon-
struction Trust Fund, which
had been largest funding
source for government budg-
et, has all but dried up.
The consequences have
been entirely predictable. Ac-
cording to IMF, Afghan econ-
omy is set to contract by
around a third. The banking
system has all but collapsed,
leaving businesses without
capital and farmers without
markets. Liquidity has been
sucked out of the economy,
destroying livelihoods. Infla-
tion is rampant, while cur-
rency devaluation has left the
country unable to finance im-
ports of medicine, machinery
,
and food. Over half the popu-
lation already was living on
less than $1.90 a day – the in-
ternational poverty line – be-
fore the Taliban takeover.
That figure now could surge
to a world-beating 97%.
The UN has responded to
the crisis by issuing a “flash
appeal” for humanitarian
aid.Donorshavenowpledged
over $1 billion. But even if
the money arrives, it only
will be a band-aid on a bullet
wound. Without economic
recovery and restored public
services, Afghanistan will
become trapped in a down-
ward spiral of hunger, pov-
erty, and human-develop-
ment reversals.
PROJECT-SYNDICATE.ORG
A
KEVIN WATKINS
The writer is former CEO of Save
the Children UK, is a visiting professor
at the Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa at the
London School of Economics
Western governments
urgently need a plan for
supporting recovery that goes
beyond humanitarian aid.
The US should unfreeze
Afghanistan’s foreign-
currency reserves. Sanctions
regimes should be amended to
facilitate non-humanitarian
aid, the recovery of the
country’s banking system,
and the operations of
Afghanistan’s central bank
Beyond a desire to
punish the Taliban,
the motives behind
the economic blockade
are unclear. Western
govts have insisted on a
representative
government that
guarantees a broad
spectrum of human
rights, many of which
were not upheld by
previous Afghan
governments

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INDIA
05
Nagpur: Nagpur Police
Commissioner Amitesh
Kumar on Friday said
that some Jaish-e-Mo-
hammed terrorists con-
ducted a recce of impor-
tant places including
Rashtriya Swayamse-
vak Sangh headquar-
ters and Hedgewar
Bhavan in Maharash-
tra’s Nagpur.
Kumar informed that
the security has been
beefed up at the Rash-
triya Swayamsevak
Sangh headquarters
and Hedgewar Bhavan.
Addressing a press con-
ference in Nagpur to-
day, the Police Commis-
sioner said, “Yesterday,
we received informa-
tion that a few Jaish-e-
Mohammed terrorists
conducted a recce of
some places in Nagpur.”
“They conducted rec-
ce on the Sangh head-
quarters building in
Nagpur. It is understood
that recce has been done
not only at the Sangh
headquarters but also at
important places in
Nagpur,” he said.
“The Rashtriya Sway-
amsevak Sangh is head-
quartered in Nagpur
where Sarsanghchalak
Mohan Bhagwat and
important office bear-
ers of the Sangh reside.
There is also Hedgewar
Bhavan at Reshimbagh.
It is understood that
Jaish-e-Mohammed
did recce of important
places including these
two places,” the Police
Commissioner stated.
He said that photos of
these places have been
taken and security
has been tightened in
the case. —ANI
JeM conducted recce of RSS HQ: Cops
SECURITY TIGHTENED IN NAGPUR
New Delhi: India re-
ported 1,17,100 new cas-
es of COVID-19 on Fri-
day, nearly 8 days after
the country crossed the
10,000 mark, as the vi-
rus continued to spread
at an unprecendented
pace, largely driven by
the Omicron variant,
which is now present in
26 states. As many as 302
deaths were reported in
the 24-hour period.
This is the first time
in seven months that
daily cases crossed the
one-lakh mark in the
country
. On June 6, 2021,
India had reported
1,14,460 new cases. The
28 per cent jump in new
casesreportedtodayhas
pushed the country’s to-
tal caseload to 3.52 crore.
Maha, one of the
worst-hit states by the
Covid pandemic, added
36,265 today. Of these,
20,181 were reported in
Mumbai alone. Chief
Minister Uddhav
Thackeray will take a
decision on lockdown
in Mumbai, state health
minister Rajesh Tope
has said. Delhi report-
ed over 15,000 cases of
coronavirus in 24 hours
– the highest since May
8. The national capital’s
daily cases jumped a
whopping 41.5 per cent
in a day as 15,097 infec-
tions were detected in
the city
. —PTI
1.17 LAKH FRESH COVID-19 CASES IN INDIA
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), India’s top medical body, said that ‘the Omicron variant is the predominant circulating strain’
New Delhi: The gov-
ernment on Friday
termed as misleading
media reports stating
that the Union Health
Health Ministry has
suggested to the Elec-
tionCommissionthat
there is no cause of
alarm or concern in
view of very few cas-
es of Omicron in poll-
bound states.
These reports
have a very high ten-
dency to start a mis-
information cam-
paign in the midst of
a pandemic, the Un-
ion Health Ministry
said in a statement.
Some media re-
ports are suggesting
that Union Ministry
of Health has in a
meeting with the
Election Commission
of India (ECI) yester-
day suggested that
the 'Covid situation
in the country is
nothing to be worried
about' and 'there is no
cause of alarm or
concern in the view
of very few cases of
Omicron in the poll
bound states'. Such
reports are highly ill-
informed,misleading
and far from the
truth, the ministry
said. The Union
Health Secretary, in
his meeting with the
ECI on Thursday
, pre-
sented the overall
global and domestic
status of spread of
Covid, as well as Omi-
cron, in the country
.
The Union Health
Secretary presented
the overall global and
domestic status of
spread of Covid, as
well as Omicron, in
the country
. —PTI
Informed EC on
Covid situation:
Health Ministry
DEBUNKS MEDIA REPORTS
New Delhi: Central
Government has so
far given 11 crore free
COVID-19 vaccine doses
to West Bengal for its
fight against Coronavi-
rus, said PM Narendra
Modi on Friday while
inaugurating the second
campus of Chittaranjan
National Cancer Institute
(CNCI) in West Bengal’s
Kolkata. “Over 1,500
ventilators and 9,000
oxygen cylinders have
also been provided. 49
PSA Oxygen Plants are
also functional.”
PM: CENTRE HAS
SO FAR GIVEN 11
CR FREE VAX TO WB
Panaji: Pratapsingh
Rane, former Goa CM
and Congress veteran,
was accorded perma-
nent status of a cabinet
for his service to the
coastal state. CM
Pramod Sawant said the
decision to accord him
the honour was taken as
Rane has completed 50
years as a legislator in
the Goa Assembly dur-
ing the current tenure.
Rane, also a former
speaker, currently rep-
resents the Poriem As-
sembly segment as a
Cong MLA.
Sawant said the state
cabinet had resolved
that those persons who
have completed 50 years
as MLA, and were for-
mer CMs or former
speakers, would be giv-
en such a status in the
future. The move comes
days after Rane's son,
Vishwajit, who is in
charge of the state's
health ministry
, said he
would defeat his 11-time
MLA father by 11,000
votes, following which
theCongressannounced
the senior Rane's name
from Poriem again.
The 87-year-old MLA
had been the longest-
serving CM (16 years)
having had multiple
terms till 2007 on differ-
ent occasions. —PTI
Ranegets‘lifetimestatus’inGoacabinet
Lucknow: Samajwadi
Party chief Akhilesh
Yadav took a fresh
swipe at the BJP, sug-
gesting the party hold a
‘jan maafi (apology)’
yatra across poll-bound
Uttar Pradesh instead
of the ongoing ‘jan vish-
waas (trust)’ yatra.
“The people will not for-
give them,” he said at a
press conference.
The ruling BJP has
been holding six differ-
ent yatras across the
state that started in the
last week of December.
He also took a swipe
at CM Yogi Adityanath
over his statement that
he is ready to contest
next month’s Assembly
election from any seat
his party decides; this
follows speculation Adi-
tyanath could contest
from either Ayodhya or
Mathura, both of which
are temple towns. —PTI
‘BJP should seek apology, hold
‘jan maafi yatra’: Akhilesh Yadav
11 terrorists killed in
J-K so far this yr: IGP
Srinagar: As many as
11 terrorists have been
gunned down in JK
in the new year so far,
and most of them were
top commanders of
JeM and LeT, said IGP
Kashmir, Vijay Ku-
mar on Friday.
Earlier this morning,
three terrorists were
neutralized by security
forces in the encounter
that broke out late
Thursday evening in
Jammu and Kashmir’s
Zolwa Kralpora Cha-
doora area of Budgam.
IGP Kashmir said, “We
had got the intel that
three terrorists of the
JeM are hiding. The In-
dian Army and the JK
police held the joint op-
eration. The firing
started. After that, the
CRPF also joined the
operation.” —PTI
Hyderabad: India un-
der PM Narendra Modi
is leading the 21st cen-
tury's digital revolution,
Union Minister Jiten-
dra Singh said here
while delivering the in-
augural address at the
two-day 24th national
conference on e-govern-
ance that began on Fri-
day
. He said, India has
emerged as a data pow-
erhouse in the world
and it is taking all steps
under the leadership of
the Prime Minister for
data protection through
legislative and other
measures. Dwelling on
the conference theme
'India's techade' digital
governance in a post
pandemic world, he
said, digital India has
helped easy access to
services for millions of
people, particularly the
needy in the country
.
He said, whether it's
issuance of Aadhar
card, driving licence,
birth certificate or pay-
ment of electricity bill,
water bill, or income tax
return, these can now be
processed via digital In-
diaplatformfastereas-
ily and even in villages,
these things are being
done through common
service centres. —PTI
India under PM Modi
leading 21st century’s
digital revolution: Singh
New Delhi: Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien
on January 6, Thursday,
wrote to the Parliamen-
tary Standing Committee on
Home Affairs for a discus-
sion on the secret app called
“Tek Fog”, saying the matter
“has serious ramifications
and could jeopardise national security”.
Srinagar: PDP president
Mehbooba Mufti on
Friday paid tributes at
the grave of her father
and party founder Mufti
Mohammad Sayeed in
JK’s on his sixth death
anniversary and alleged
that authorities prevent-
ed party workers from
visiting. Later, Mehbooba
took to Twitter to thank
everyone who remem-
bered her father.
Mumbai: Mumbai Mayor
Kishori Pednekar reacted
to BJP leader Jiten Ga-
jaria’s alleged tweet on
CM Uddhav Thackeray’s
wife and said that BJP is
passing derogatory com-
ments on the daughter-in-
law of Shiv Sena founder
Balasaheb Thackeray who
helped BJP become a big
name in politics.
Mumbai: The Govern-
ment Railway Police
(GRP) here received a
call threatening “bomb-
ing” of the Chhatrapati
Shivaji Maharaj Termi-
nus (CSMT) and Kurla
railway station here,
a senior official said
on Friday. The call,
which was traced to
Jabalpur in Madhya
Pradesh, turned to be a
hoax, he added.
Srinagar: Weather condi-
tions in Kashmir contin-
ued to improve even as
minimum temperature
in most places of they
valley stayed close to the
freezing point. Srinagar
recorded a minimum
temperature of 2.6
degrees Celsius, up from
0.3 degrees Celsius on
the intervening night of
Wednesday and Thurs-
day. Gulmarg recorded
a low of minus 5.5 de-
grees Celsius compared
to previous night’s 3.5
degrees Celsius.
CAN ‘JEOPARDISE NATIONAL SECURITY’:
DEREK O’BRIEN ON ‘TEK FOG’ APP
MEHBOOBA PAYS
TRIBUTES AT
FATHER’S GRAVE
ROW OVER BJP
LEADER’S ‘MARATHI
RABRI DEVI’ JAB
RLY COPS RECEIVE
THREAT CALL,
TURNS TO BE HOAX
KASHMIR SEES
REPRIEVE FROM
COLD WEATHER
Gold declines
Rs 301; silver
tumbles Rs 402
New Delhi: Gold in the
national capital on Fri-
day tumbled Rs 301 to
Rs 46,415 per 10 gram in
line with a decline in
international prices of
the precious metal,
along with a rupee ap-
preciation. The rupee
appreciated by 11 paise
to 74.31 against the US
dollar in the opening
trade on Friday
. —PTI
Beneficiaries register themselves for getting a dose of COVID-19 vaccine during a vaccination drive amid the surge in COVID-19 cases,
at Dispensary, Sundar Nagari, in New Delhi on Friday. —PHOTO BY ANI
Pune: The railway police in Maharashtra's Solapur
apprehended a couple travelling with the body of
their 16-month-old daughter, who had allegedly
been sexually assaulted and strangled to death,
an official said on Friday. The police on Thursday
caught the duo from a Gujarat-bound train at
Solapur station with the body of the toddler.
MAH COUPLE SEXUALLY ASSAULT, KILL
16-MONTH-OLD DAUGHTER: POLICE
CRUCIAL READ
HIGHLIGHTS
 K’taka Minister R
Ashoka tests +ve
 Covid patients get
fruit basket with ‘Get
Well Soon’ message
from Mamata Banerjee
 173 more passen-
gers, who arrived in
Amritsar from Rome,
test +ve
 22 people includ-
ing tourists, SDM test
positive for COVID-19
in Manali
 In Assam, ‘curfew’
for non-vaccinated
persons from Jan 15:
CM Himanta
CHALLENGE
Thingsundercontrol:BMCCommissionerChahal
First India Bureau
Mumbai: Amid rising
coronavirus cases in the
financial capital, BMC
commissioner Iqbal
Singh Chahal said on
Friday there is no need
to impose stern curbs at
this time as things are
under control.
Mumbai has already
banned large gatherings
and also put restrictions
on the number of people
that can attend events.
No lockdown and no fur-
ther restrictions are
planned even if cases
were to rise, Commis-
sioner Iqbal Singh Cha-
hal said while interact-
ing with the media.
He claimed majority
of the new cases are
asymptomatic and that
only a small number of
people are currently re-
quiring hospitalisation.
People who are double
vaccinated and getting
infected with Omicron
rarelyleadtohospitalisa-
tion or needing oxygen.
“Out of around 1,900
infected patients in 186
Mumbai hospitals, 96
per cent are on oxygen
support and are unvac-
cinated,” Chahal said.
The proportion of seri-
ous cases with a single
dose of COVID-19 vac-
cination is around 3-4
per cent. Most patients
who needed medical
help were not vaccinat-
ed, he added.
He also said, “The
best thing about omi-
cron is that it takes the
space of delta variant,
which was lethal, which
would take you to oxy-
genated and ICU venti-
lator beds very fast.”
Sharing the data on
immunisation, the
Commissioner said
that Mumbai’s vaccina-
tion performance is the
best in the country. So
far, the city has vacci-
nated 98 per cent of the
total population with
the second dose of
COVID-19 vaccine.

BIZ BUZZ
06
New Delhi: India is
likely to overtake Ja-
pan as Asia’s second-
largest economy by
2030 when its GDP is
also projected to sur-
pass that of Germa-
ny and the UK to
rank as world’s No3,
IHS Markit said. “In-
dia’s nominal GDP
measured in USD
terms is forecast to
rise from $2.7 trillion
in 2021 to $8.4 trillion
by 2030,” IHS Markit
Ltd said. “This rapid
pace of economic ex-
pansion would result
in the size of Indian
GDP exceeding Japa-
nese GDP by 2030,
making India the
second-largest econ-
omy in Asia-Pacific
region.” —PTI
New Delhi: New re-
strictions in India due
to rising Covid-19 cases
could lower the nation’s
economic growth by
about a quarter of a
percentage point in the
current fiscal year, ac-
cording to HSBC Hold-
ings Plc. “Economic
cost will be there, but
hopefully it will just be
about a third or lower
than the economic cost
of previous waves,”
HSBC economist Pran-
jul Bhandari said Fri-
day in an interview on
Bloomberg TV
. “For the
full year ending March
2022, GDP growth could
be 25 basis points lower
than we had earlier es-
timated.” —Agencies
New Delhi: Bharti
Airtel has informed
the telecom depart-
ment that it will not
opt for conversion of
interest on deferred
spectrum and adjust-
ed gross revenue dues
into equity
.
“In furtherance to
the earlier communi-
cation dated October
25, 2021 and in refer-
ence to the notifica-
tion dated October 14,
2021 issued by the DoT
to the Company, we
wish to inform you
that the Company has
confirmed to DoT that
it will not avail the op-
tion of conversion of
the interest on de-
ferred spectrum and
AGR dues into equity
,”
said the telco in a reg-
ulatory exchange on
Friday
.
The second largest
telco is expected to pay
dues worth `43,980
crore AGR dues of
which it has paid
`18,004 cr. —PTI
New Delhi: The Con-
federation of Indian
Industry (CII) has cau-
tioned against “knee-
jerk reactions” to the
Covid-19 pandemic
such as localised lock-
downs being imposed
by states, saying these
could be disruptive.
The government
should opt for coordi-
nated restrictions to
ensure recovery is not
hit, said TV Naren-
dran, CII president,
urging the government
to spend more if re-
quired to support the
economy
.
“The request from
industry to the Centre
and states is to not have
knee-jerk reactions...
Our request is that we
should not have too
many localised lock-
downs,” he said.
The Omicron variant
of Covid-19 “is a con
cern and is spreading
very rapidly” but re-
quires a coordinated
response.
“That’s why I
say it’s impor-
tant to
avoid lo-
cal dis-
r u p -
tions
b e -
cause
sometimes there are
different interpreta-
tions locally
, could be at
a district level or at a
level of a city or a town.
That can be a bit dis-
ruptive,” he said.
Narendran said the
industry is well pre-
pared to deal with the
Covid-19 situation.
“Even during
wave two, the
supply of
essentials
was not
as dis-
t u r b e d
as it
was dur-
ing wave
one... all
the online
delivery systems, the
companies, the ecosys-
tems they are all work-
ing with very strong
protocols. So, we can
make sure that the sup-
ply chains are well-
oiled and going on,” he
said. The high-contact
intensive sectors like
tourism and many ser-
vices sectors have been
impacted by the pan-
demic and there is a
need to address that to
solve the consumption
problem, he said.
“The personal bal-
ance sheets have been
impacted by Covid.
Many people have ei-
ther had shrinkage of
income, loss of jobs
and an increase in ex-
penditure because of
the health spends...
consumption is strug-
gling to come back on
track,” he said.
—Agencies
HDFC, ICICI BANK START
E-CUSTOMS DUTY FACILITY
New Delhi: HDFC Bank’s integration with
Central Board of Indirect Taxes and
Customs (CBIC) ICEGATE platform
has gone live, allowing customers
to pay for their customs duty
directly via the bank. With this,
the bank will offer customers the
convenience of directly paying
customs duty by selecting HDFC
Bank, the lender said. Private sector lender
ICICI Bank also said it now facilitates online
payment of customs duty. —PTI
SENSEX REBOUNDS 143
POINTS; NIFTY ENDS
ABOVE 17,800
Mumbai: Equity benchmark Sensex
rebounded 143 points on Friday,
boosted by gains in index majors
Reliance Industries, TCS and
ICICI Bank amid a mixed trend
in global markets. The 30-share
index ended 142.81 points or
0.24 per cent higher at 59,744.65.
Similarly, the NSE Nifty rose 66.80 points or
0.38 per cent to close at 17,812.70. —PTI
GLOBAL BRANDS IN INDIA
HAVE MUTINY AT HAND
New Delhi: From Unilever Plc to Colgate-
Palmolive Co, consumer goods
makers in India are facing
distribution blues that have
nothing to do with pandemic-
induced shortages and
bottlenecks. The trusted
middlemen that brands have
traditionally relied on to reach
millions of small neighborhood stores are
in revolt. It’s a mutiny that the multinationals
have invited upon themselves.
New Delhi: India’s
economy will return
to growth in 2021-22
and expected to grow
9.2% as against a con-
traction of 7.3% in the
previous fiscal, the
first advance esti-
mates by the National
Statistical Office
(NSO) released on Fri-
day showed.
The estimated
growth in real GDP is
lower than RBI’s pro-
jection of 9.5% made
in its monetary policy
committee meeting.
Nominal GDP,
which will be used as
the base for FY22 re-
vised estimates in the
upcoming budget, is
seen growing 17.6% as
against the 14.4%
growth used during
the budget estimates
for FY22.
Gross Value Added
(GVA) is expected to
rise by 8.6% com-
pared to a contraction
of 6.2% in FY21.
“However, these are
early projections for
2021-22,” the Ministry
of Statistics Pro-
gramme Implementa-
tion said.
As per the ministry,
the actual perfor-
mance of various in-
dicators, actual tax
collections and ex-
penditure incurred
on subsidies in the fol-
lowing months, fresh
relief measures for
the vulnerable sec-
tions (such as provid-
ing free food grains
which has now been
extended till March
2022) and other meas-
ures, if any, taken by
the government to
contain the spread of
Covid-19 would have a
bearing on subse-
quent revisions of
these estimates.
India’s GDP rose
20.1% in the first
quarter of the fiscal
year and 8.4% in the
second quarter. Agri-
culture is estimated
to grow 3.9% in FY22
compared to a growth
of 3.6% in FY21 while
m a n u f a c t u r i n g
growth is estimated at
12.5% as against a
contraction of 7.2%
last fiscal. —PTI
GOVT FORECASTS FY22
ECONOMIC GROWTH AT
Avoid knee-jerk reactions, local
lockdowns: CII president
AIRTEL NOT TO
AVAIL OPTION OF
CONVERTING
INTEREST ON
DUES TO EQUITY
New Delhi: India’s
largest IT firm
Tata Consultancy
Services (TCS) on
Friday said its Board
will consider a buy-
back proposal on
January 12. “...the
Board of Directors
will consider a pro-
posal for buyback
of equity shares of
the Company, at
its meeting to be
held on January 12,
2022,” a regulatory
filing said. —PTI
TCS to consider
buyback
proposal on
January 12
New Delhi: Finance
Minister Nirmala
Sitharaman on Fri-
day chaired a meet-
ing with chiefs of
public sector banks
and assessed their
readiness to tackle
any possible disrup-
tions due to the Omi-
cron variant. In a
tweet, the Finance
Ministry said dur-
ing the meeting with
CMDs/MDs, held
through virtual
mode, the minister
also reviewed vari-
ous steps taken by
PSBs in implement-
ing pandemic-relat-
ed measures initiat-
ed by the govern-
ment and RBI.
“During the
r e v i e w
meeting,
F M
Smt. @
n s i -
thar-
aman assessed vari-
ous steps taken by
PSBs in implement-
ing pandemic-relat-
ed measures initiat-
ed by GoI and RBI
and readiness to
tackle possible fu-
ture disruptions
that may occur due
to the ongoing vari-
ants of the #COV-
ID19 pandemic,” it
tweeted.
The ongoing third
wave to the highly
infectious Omicron
variant of coronavi-
rus has led to vari-
ous domestic rating
agencies lowering
India’s growth fore-
cast for the current
fiscal.
India Ratings and
Research cut its
forecast to 9.3%,
from 9.4 per cent
earlier. —PTI
FMSitharamanreviewsPSB’s
readinesstotackledisruption
New Delhi: Mukesh
Ambani could launch
his telecom firm Reli-
ance Jio’s IPO this
year for an enterprise
value of nearly $100
billion, brokerage
firm CLSA said in a
research note. RIL’s
telecom arm
Reliance
Jio may
see an
IPO /
sepa-
r a t e
l i s t -
ing, af-
ter the
r e c e n t
33% stake sale
to 13 inves-
tors, includ-
ing nearly
10% to Face-
book and 8% to
Google in 2020,
CLSA analysts said.
Reliance Jio is the
country’s largest
telecom service
provider with
a mobile sub-
scriber base
of 426.5 mil-
lion at the
end of Octo-
ber 2021.
CLSA said
the list-
ing of Reliance
Jio separately
could be a cat-
alyst for the
telecom sector
in India. “We
believe likely Reli-
ance Jio IPO will be a
sector valuation cata-
lyst with leader’s pre-
IPO $20 billion deals
valuation itself at 10x
EV/Ebitda when our
pick Bharti Airtel
with leading Arpus
(Average revenue per
user) and 15% CAGR
in consol Ebitda
trades at 25% dis-
count on EV/Ebitda,”
it said. Analysts at
CLSA value Reliance
Jio at $99 billion EV
at 11.5x EV/Ebitda,
which includes $5 bil-
lion EV for JioFiber.
—Agencies
Reliance Jio IPO may
be launched this year
India’s economy
may overtake
Japan’s by 2030
HSBC sees virus
surge slowing
Indian economic
growth this year
9.2%
The estimated
growth in real
GDP is lower
than Reserve
Bank of India’s
projection
of 9.5%
TV Narendran said that the
government should opt for
coordinated restrictions to
ensure recovery is not hit
TV Narendran
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I
twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I
instagram.com/thefirstindia

07
NEWS
First India Bureau
Ghaziabad: Chairman
KVIC Vinai Kumar Sax-
ena launched the coun-
try’s first Mobile Honey
Processing Van at Vil-
lage Sirora in Ghazi-
abad, on Friday
.
The Mobile Van has
been designed in-house
by KVIC at its Multi-
disciplinary Training
Centre, Panjokehra, at a
cost of Rs 15 lakh. This
mobile honey process-
ing unit can process up
to 300 KG of honey in 8
hours. The van is also
equipped with a testing
laboratory, that would
instantly examine the
quality of honey
.
The Mobile Honey
Processing Van comes
as a major development
under KVIC’s Honey
Mission which aims at
training beekeepers,
distributing Bee Boxes
to farmers and helping
rural, educated as well
as unemployed youth to
earn extra income
through beekeeping ac-
tivities. In line with
Prime Minister’s dream
of “Sweet Kranti”
(Sweet Revolution)
though honey produc-
tion, the KVIC has come
up with this unique in-
novation to enable bee-
keepers and farmers to
get fair price of their
honey produce.
Innovative Mobile Honey Processing Van
TO SUPPORT FARMERS BEEKEEPERS
lll
It has been
designed to
process honey
at their
doorsteps and
save them the
hassle cost of
taking the honey
to processing
plants
SOON PEOPLE COMING TO AYODHYA WILL SAY
‘MUSKURAIYE AAP AYODHYA MEIN HAIN’: YOGI
UP CM SAYS AYODHYA’S DEVELOPMENT IS BEING ENVISAGED AS A SPIRITUAL CENTRE, GLOBAL TOURISM HUB AND A SUSTAINABLE SMART CITY
Any lapse in security of PM is
unacceptable: Raghav Chadha
AAP leader says every vote given to Kejriwal will lay
foundation for a peaceful and prosperous Punjab
Mahesh Kumar
Chandigarh: AamAad-
mi Party’s (AAP) co-in-
charge of Punjab affairs
Raghav Chadha said on
Friday that any lapse in
security of the Prime
Ministerisunacceptable.
Commenting over
the security breach of
dra Modi in Punjab on
Wednesday, Chadha
said that any lapse in
security of the PM is
unacceptable. The AAP
leader said that every
State Government must
provide the highest lev-
el of security for the
Prime Minister.
He said that Punjab is
land of Gurus and the
people with bad inten-
tions who are trying to
disturb the peace here,
should know that Pun-
jabis are connected
through hearts. Men-
tioning about a recent
bomb blast at Ludhi-
ana courts, Chadha
said every time be-
fore the elections,
some people try to
disturb the atmos-
phere of Punjab to
take political advantage
by creating fear and
panic among people.
Chadha said that be-
fore the 2017 polls too,
there were incidents of
sacrilege and bomb
blasts. But the Congress
govt failed to punish the
culprits behind the in-
cidents of sacrilege,
bomb blasts and shoot-
ing. So, this time to cre-
ate atmosphere of fear
and panic again, anti-
Punjab forces are carry-
ing out the incidents of
sacrilege of religious
scriptures and bomb
blasts.
IT’S NOW TIME FOR 4S-SPEED, SKILL,
SCALE AND STANDARDS: PIYUSH GOYAL
First India Bureau
New Delhi: On the com-
pletion of 75 years of
Bureau of Indian Stand-
ards (BIS), Union Minis-
ter Piyush Goyal said,
“It’s now time for 4S-
Speed, Skill, Scale and
Standards.”
BIScompleted75glori-
ousyearsof itsexistence
on January Thursday
.
BIS came into existence
as Indian Standards In-
stitution (ISI) in 1947.
Through its core activi-
ties of Standardization
and Certification, BIS
has been contributing to
national economy from
past 75 years.
Union Minister Pi-
yush Goyal congratulat-
ed the institution and all
associated with it via
video conferencing.
Addressing the offic-
ers of Ministry of Con-
sumer Affairs, Food and
Public Distribution and
BIS, Goyal said, “PM
Narendra Modi before
even becoming the Chief
Minister of Gujarat gave
the concept of 3S- Speed,
Skill and Scale. It’s time
now to change it to 4S –
Speed, Skill, Scale and
Standards.” He said that
aswecelebrateAzadiKa
Amrit Mahotsav, it’s a
nice coincidence as well
as an opportunity to re-
flect that in the words of
Prime Minister it’s the
beginning of ‘
Amrit Kal
of Azadi’. “Both the Na-
tionandBISwillbecom-
pleting 100 years in 2047
so it’s going to be a great
opportunity for BIS to
planandchartoutour25
year agenda from now
until 2047. How we will
contributetomakeIndia
a world power and a su-
per power and a great
nation,” he said.
RUCKUS AT AAP’S
PRESSER IN
JALANDHAR OVER
TICKET ALLOTMENT
Jalandhar: A ruck-
us took place on Fri-
day at a press confer-
ence held by Aam
Aadmi Party Punjab
incharge Raghav
Chadha in Jaland-
har. Reportedly a fist
fight broke out
among workers and
protesters over tick-
et distributions. The
fight broke out today
evening, in a video
shared, activists
could be heard
chanting slogans
against Raghav
Chadha and also
showed him black
flags. However, Ra-
ghav Chadha did not
give any reaction
and left from the
press conference.
Party workers
were indignant
over the ticket
given from Ja-
landhar Central
and the ticket to
Jalandhar West.
First India Bureau
Lucknow/Ayodhya:
Uttar Pradesh Chief
Minister Yogi Adity-
anath said on Friday
that the day is not far
when people coming to
Ayodhya will say
‘Muskuraiye Aap Ayod-
hya Mein Hain’. He dis-
tributed tablets and
smartphones to 2,000
young students in Ayo-
dhya.
“We are providing
smartphones and tab-
lets to one crore youth
of the state. Parents of
many poor children
find it difficult to afford
tablets and smart-
phones, and due to
COVID-19, these gadg-
ets have become more
of a basic need than a
luxury. Hence, our gov-
ernment has decided to
bear the cost of these
gadgets to educate and
empower our future
generations,” he said.
Addressing a public
gathering, he said,
“Ayodhya’s develop-
ment is being envisaged
as a spiritual centre,
global tourism hub and
a sustainable smart
city. The day is not far
when you will say that
‘Muskuraiye Aap Ayod-
hya Mein Hai’. Our ef-
forts to turn Ayodhya
into a city with a tradi-
tional soul and modern
facilities are progress-
ing on a war footing.”.
Along with distribut-
ing the tablets/smart-
phones to the students,
CM Yogi inaugurated
phase one of the Intel-
ligence Traffic Manage-
ment System at a cost of
Rs 49.74 crores and the
Kalash Kunj residential
project of Ayodhya De-
velopment Authority
.
He further added that
the tablet will be used
not only for studies but
also for online competi-
tive exam preparations.
A total of 10,000 stu-
dents from the state
have been selected, who
are preparing for any
competitive examina-
tion. The state govern-
ment is providing free
coaching facilities to
them.
CM Yogi said that Na-
tional Education Policy
is being implemented
from this session,
through which students
can connect themselves
with the latest technol-
ogy
. To provide top-class
study material to the
students, the state gov-
ernment has signed an
MoU with Indian IT gi-
ant Infosys.
Smartphones/tablets
have such a facility that
the youth can know the
schemes of the central
and state government
and will be able to ad-
vance their career.
No one can break my
bond with Yogi: Maurya
First India Bureau
Lucknow: Amid a
perception of differ-
ences between them
over the question of
leadership ahead of
2022 Assembly polls,
Uttar Pradesh Depu-
ty CM Keshav Prasad
Maurya has said that
his relationship with
CM Yogi Adityanath
is “so strong” that
“no force in the world
can break it.”
Speaking at DD UP
conclave on Friday in
Lucknow, Maurya
said, “I think those
who question my re-
lation with the CM
are trying to act in-
nocent. When my fa-
ther had died, CM
Yogi went to my
house. When there
was a wedding in my
family, the CM came
to bless the children.
His relationship with
me is so strong that
no power in the world
can break it.”
Ahead of the 2022
state elections, Mau-
rya said, “I am sure
that the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP)
will get more than
300 seats in the up-
coming elections and
there will be prosper-
ity in the state. Vot-
ers of the state have
vowed that they will
vote for Lotus (BJP
election symbol).”
The caste barriers
were broken in the
state in 2014 when we
got 73 MPs as Naren-
dra Modi was in the
heartsof people.Even
in 2017 and 2019, after
the opposition came
together, the face of
PM Modi was the fac-
torthatledtoathump-
ing victory
. The Oppo-
sition parties must
stop daydreaming for
the next elections,”
said Maurya.
UP CM Yogi Adityanath offers sweets to Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya during the celebration of
BJP victory in UP by-elections at the party office in Lucknow. —PHOTO BY ANI
Muslims grossly discriminated, exploited in UP: Owaisi
First India Bureau
Lucknow: AIMIM
president Asaduddin
Owaisi on Friday as-
sailed the so-called
secular parties for do-
ing nothing for the up-
liftment of 19% Mus-
lim community in UP.
Releasing a report on
the condition of Mus-
lims:Situatingdevelop-
ment of Muslims in Ut-
tar Pradesh policy im-
plications- here on Fri-
day Owaisi told media-
men that there has
beenno“appeasement”
of Muslims in UP but
they have faced “delib-
erate discrimination”
and “exploitation”. All
political parties are re-
sponsible for keeping
them backward.
Owaisi said Muslim
community has been
passing through acute
socio-economic crisis
over the decades and
successive govern-
mentsof Congress,BSP
,
SP and BJP had done
nothingforthem.Point-
ing out that BJP’s slo-
ganof Muslimappease-
mentwasmisleadingas
the data in the report
indicatedthattheircon-
dition had gone down
from bad to worse.
The AIMIM presi-
dent said even back-
ward Muslims, who
were covered under
Mandal commission
report, had not been
given allocated reser-
vation in the govern-
ment jobs. Owaisi,
who has announced
to contest at least 100
assembly seats in Mus-
lim-dominated areas,
said the community
had been living in ut-
ter deprivation in
the state.
The Muslim community has been
passing through acute socio-economic
crisis over the decades and successive
governments of Congress, BSP, SP and BJP
had done nothing for them. —Asaduddin Owaisi
Asaduddin Owaisi
AyodhyaMahantissues
‘Fatwa’againstCongress
on PM’s security issue
First India Bureau
Lucknow: Even as
lapse in security of
Prime Minister Nar-
endra Modi during
his Punjab has
turned into political
controversy in elec-
tion-bound UP, a Ma-
hant of Ayodhya has
issued “Fatwa”
(edict) against the
Congress.
Jagat Guru Param-
hans Acharya of Ta-
paswi Chavni said in
a video recorded mes-
sage that “from today
Congress should not
be considered as a po-
litical party but as
terrorist organisa-
tion”. He said the
Congress had
hatched a conspiracy
for the assassination
of the Prime Minis-
ter during his Punjab
visit. The Mahant
has called upon the
people to keep away
from the Congress
which is threat to the
nation. The Mahant
edict was viral on so-
cial media on Friday
.
The tug-of-war be-
tween BJP and Con-
gress has also taken
curious turn with Ut-
tar Pradesh Chief
Minister Yogi Adity-
anath and other BJP
leaders taking on the
Congress. CM Yogi
terming lapse as
“conspiracy against
the nation”, said in
“the Punjab episode
has exposed that Con-
gress has no respect
for democratic and
federal setup and also
the constitution. The
country is not going
to forget the conspir-
ators”. Yogi also
sought apology from
the Congress for not
following the consti-
tutional provisions.
Defence Minister
Rajnath Singh, ex-
pressing concern over
securitylapse,saidthe
people will not forgive
the Congress for its at-
titude. However, the
BJP MLA from
Bithoor (Kanpur) Ab-
hijit Singh Sanga is-
sued veiled threat to
Sikh community on
his twitter handle.
However,whentrolled
on the micro blog he
immediately issued
clarification.
The Congress has
also hit back by ac-
cusing the BJP of
“targeting a Dalit
chief minister of
Punjab”. The Con-
gress is thus trying
to turn table on the
BJP.
Paramhans Acharya

08
2NDFRONT
Be free with your authenticity,
regardless of how others perceive
you or it!
—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO Editor-in-Chief, First India
First India Bureau
New Delhi: Defence
Minister Rajnath Singh
on Friday flagged-in In-
dia’s first multi-dimen-
sional adventure sports
expedition conducted
by National Institute of
Mountaineering and
AlliedSportsinFrance.
Conducted in No-
vember 2021, the expe-
dition team was led by
the NIMAS Director,
Colonel Sarfaraz Singh.
The team comprised
of 12 people – eight
Army personnel and
four youths of
Arunachal Pradesh.
Defence Min Singh
interacted with some of
the members of the
team present in New
Delhi. He distributed
appreciation certifi-
cates and commended
the team for completing
the expedition without
anyinjuriestothemem-
bers. The team leader
presented the ice-axe,
marking the flagging-in
of the expedition team,
to the Raksha Mantri.
Defence Secretary Dr
Ajay Kumar and other
officials of Ministry of
Defencewerepresenton
the occasion.
The expedition team
carried out over 250
kilometres of winter
trekking in the Alps
Mountain Ranges,
which included Tour
DeMontBlanctrekcov-
ering the French, Swiss
and Italian Alps. The
paragliding team con-
ducted 19 jumps/flights
on the valley floor of
the Alps from different
mountain locations. It
was followed by 975
kilometres of cycling
from Alps Mountain
Ranges to English
Channel near Dunkirk
viaFrance,Switzerland
and Belgium. The cy-
cling activity was car-
ried out in extreme cold
weather condition
where the team cycled
on an average of 09-10
hours/day without any
logistic vehicle.
The Multi-dimen-
sional Expedition cul-
minated with 12 deep
scuba dives in the Med-
iterranean Sea. The
hoisting and unfurling
of the Tricolour was
carried out by the team
during each adventure
activity in air, land and
underwater. The team
leader, qualified in
mountaineering, cy-
cling, paragliding and
scuba diving, partici-
pated in all activities.
First India Bureau
New Delhi: Uttar
Pradesh has been
ranked as the best state
in water conservation
efforts for 2020, Union
minister Gajendra Sin-
gh Shekhawat an-
nounced on Friday
. The
Ministry of Jal Shakti
awarded Rajasthan and
Tamil Nadu second and
third ranks, respective-
ly, for their work and ef-
forts towards water con-
servation.
Addressing the 2020
National Water Awards,
the Minister for Jal
Shakti said the country
required 1,000 billion
cubic metres of water
per year to cater to its
agriculture, irrigation,
industrial and domestic
requirements.
“The usage of water
is increasing but its
availability is decreas-
ing. Rainfall patterns
are changing... By 2050,
the demand for water
would rise from 1,000
billion cubic metres to
1,400-1,500 billion cubic
metres. So, we must
move ahead with a posi-
tive attitude and take
effective steps,” Shek-
hawat said.
Muzaffarnagar in Ut-
tar Pradesh received
the best district award
in the northern zone fol-
lowed by Shahid Bhagat
Singh Nagar in Punjab.
In South, Thiru-
vananthapuram in Ker-
ala was awarded the
best district followed by
Kadapa in Andhra
Pradesh. East Cham-
paran in Bihar and God-
da in Jharkhand were
awarded first and sec-
ond ranks among dis-
tricts in the East zone
while Indore in Madhya
Pradesh ranked first in
the Western region. Va-
dodara in Gujarat and
Banswara in Rajasthan
won a joint second rank.
In the North East zone,
Goalpara in Assam and
Siang in Arunachal
Pradesh were recog-
nised for their water
conservation efforts.
Kumar Pramod
Patna/New Delhi:
Amid rise in Covid cas-
es, the Bihar govt has
ordered to keep all
schools, colleges, coach-
ing centres, and hostels
closed till January 21.
“All schools, colleges,
coaching centres, and
hostels will remain
closed till Jan 21,” the
Bihar govt said. The
govt and private offices
will function with a
50% attendance.
Earlier this week, the
Bihar govt had imposed
a fresh curb by imple-
menting a statewide
night curfew from 10
pm to 5 am from Janu-
ary 6 to 21.
Meanwhile, the Na-
tional Health Mission
officials have refuted a
Bihar man’s claims of
having taken 11 shots of
COVID vaccine. Union
health authorities on
Friday said that the Co-
WIN portal that is used
for the COVID-19 vax
process doesn’t allow
multiple registrations
on a single Aadhaar ID.
The clarification fol-
lows claims by an
84-year-old man in Bi-
har’s Madhepura dis-
trict that he has taken
11 shots of the vax. “As
per records on Co-Win,
only one person name
Brahmdeo Mandal, age
85 has been jabbed, that
too with a unique Aad-
haar number.” NHM
Director, Vikas Sheel
tweeted. —with ANI inputs
‘Dil ki Police’ address
queries on Twitter
New Delhi: As week-
end curfew come into
force in Delhi from Fri-
day, the Delhi Police
took to Twitter to ad-
dress people’s queries
regarding the latest re-
strictions to curb the
spread of COVID-19.
The police, through
its official Twitter han-
dle, on Thursday said
keeping the infection in
mind, weekend curfew
have been imposed in
Delhi from Friday
.
“If you have any
questions related to it,
#DelhiPolice will an-
swer them...Please drop
your queries in com-
ments or tweet it to us
using #CurfewFAQ,” it
tweeted.
The force further
said it will answer all
queries related to the
weekend curfew, be it
on “what is exempted
and what is not...Do you
need an e-pass? Or are
you eligible for inter or
intra-state travel?” an
official said. —PTI
Rajnathflags-inIndia’sfirstmulti-dimensionaladventuresportsexpedition
Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh flags-in India’s first multi-dimensional adventure sports expedition
conducted by NIMAS in France. —PHOTO BY PTI
Lockdown-like curbs in Bihar;
schools,colleges to shut till 21
Meanwhile National
Health Mission
officials debunks
Bihar man’s claim
of having taken 11
shots of vax
Bihar already imposed night curfew on Jan 6. —FILE PHOTO
27,600 families receives financial
assistance under MMPUY: Khattar
First India Bureau
Chandigarh: Out of
91,900 as many as 27,600
families who had par-
ticipated in the Antyo-
daya Gramodaya Uday
Mela organized by Har-
yana Govt’s Mukhy-
amatri Parivar Utthan
Yojana (MMPUY) have
already received the re-
quired assistance
from the Haryana
CM ML Khat-
tar’s Govt.
While Ad-
dressing a
presser on
Friday, Hary-
ana CM ML
Khattar said that three
years ago, Parivar
Pehchan Patra scheme
was implemented to en-
sure delivery of Govt
services and benefits.
Based on income verifi-
cation, data of 1,48,000
households with an an-
nual income of less
than Rs. 1 lakh was pre-
pared.
The third phase veri-
fication of income of
the families has been
completed and the
work of verifica-
tion of the fourth
phase of income
verification be-
tween Rs. 75,000
to Rs. 1 lakh is
still going on,”
shared Khat-
tar.
UP bags first, Raj second
Tamil Nadu third prize
Union Minister of Jal Shakti, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat announced the ‘3rd National Water Awards-2020’. —PHOTO BY PIB
The usage of water is increasing but its avail-
ability is decreasing. Rainfall patterns are
changing. By 2050, the demand for water
would rise to 1,400-1,500 billion cubic metres. We
must move ahead with a positive attitude and take ef-
fective steps. —Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Union Jal Shakti Minister
UNION JAL SHAKTI MIN GAJENDRA SINGH SHEKHAWAT ANNOUNCES BEST STATE IN WATER
CONSERVATION; HE SAYS INDIA REQUIRE 1,000 BILLION CUBIC METRES WATER PER YEAR
3RD
NATIONAL
WATER
AWARDS
CM ML Khattar
WILL PRESSURISE UNION GOVT TO START
VACCINATION OF YOUNG CHILDREN: GEHLOT
Naresh Sharma
Jaipur: Even though
he is down with Covid,
the will to see a ‘Nirogi
Rjasthan’, amid Covid
scare, appears to have
given zeal to Rajasthan
Chief Minister Ashok
Gehlot as on Friday, he
chaired a VC regarding
vaccination and Covid
situation in the state.
Raj CM has said that it
has been proved that
vaccination is the most
effective way of preven-
tion from Covid. “In
such a situation, it is
very important to get
every age group vacci-
nated. Young children
are being vaccinated in
many countries of the
world. Thus the Centre
should start vaccina-
tion of young children
in India soon and in-
crease the scope of
booster dose, because
co-morbid patients are
found in every age
group,” CM Gehlot said
while addressing the re-
view meeting from
CMR on Friday
.
Raj CM Gehlot said
that children are the fu-
ture of the country.
“The country has a
large child population.
They must be vaccinat-
ed and protecting their
health should be our top
priority. Experts be-
lieve that after a certain
time the effect of the
vaccine starts decreas-
ing and patients with
diabetes, hypertension,
BP, heart-related co-
morbidities are found
in all age groups. In
such a situation, the
Centre should allow
booster doses for every-
one,” he said. Raj CM
said that Rajasthan is a
model state in the coun-
try in terms of vaccina-
tion and So far, more
than 92% people have
been given the first dose
of the vaccine and
about 78% have been
given the second dose.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot
l Create an environment for no
mask-no entry, inform people about
post-covid problems, Raj CM said
l Mock drill of new oxygen
plant on January 9 and 10
RAJ CM REVIEWS COVID VACCINATION

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