09012024_First India Newspaper Jaipur.pdf

ARCHITECTS OF MODI’S ‘NAYA RAJASTHAN’
A low-profile JP Gupta-Sudhansh Pant team will
effectively implement PM & CM’s ‘mandate’in Rajasthan!
Rajendra Chhabra
Ahmedabad
ujarat’s Addi-
tional Chief Sec-
retary (Finance),
Jagdish Prasad Gupta, is
likely to go on inter-state
deputation to his home
state of Rajasthan to
helm the Chief Minis-
ter’s Office (CMO) as
ACS. According to
sources, the BJP top
brass has decided to
send Gupta to Ra-
jasthan to steer the
CMO, as CM Bhajan
Lal Sharma is new to the
administration.
“Gupta is a trusted aide and
has vast experience in the
administration,” a source
said. He is a 1991 batch IAS
officer of the Gujarat cadre
and has always served in the
state cadre. He is scheduled
to retire in July 2025.
Known as a polite and mild-
mannered bureaucrat, Gupta
isregardedasaveryefficient
administrator who keeps a
low profile but delivers the
desired results. Also, he is
very skilled in dealing with
politicians and political fig-
ures and does not hold a
confrontational attitude.
Though JP Gupta and Sud-
hansh Pant are batchmates,
Gupta is senior to Pant. Inci-
dentally, Sudhansh Pant is
also a low-profile, efficient,
and silent worker. In this
way, both are like-minded
people who will effectively
implement Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’s and Chief
Minister Bhajan Lal Shar-
ma’s mandate in Rajasthan.
According to sources, Ra-
jasthan CMO is now work-
ing on a Gujarat CMO mod-
el where Narendra Modi’s
trusted 1979 IAS cadre of-
ficer Kuniyil Kailashnathan
is virtually running the show
of CMO as Chief Principal
Secretary to Gujarat Chief
Minister Bhupendrabhai Pa-
tel, a post specifically creat-
ed for him after his retire-
ment in 2013. Kailashna-
than, popularly known as
KKinGujarathasbeenserv-
ing the Gujarat CMO since
Narendra Modi’s chief min-
isterial days and is consid-
ered as an ‘operational and
coordination link’ between
the CMO and the PMO.
JP Gupta is from the Dausa
district of Rajasthan and
studied mechanical engi-
neering before he took up
civil services. In Gujarat, he
has always held prime post-
ings from the beginning. He
has been DDO, Kutch,
which is the largest district
of the state and also Rajkot
Municipal Commissioner.
At the state level, he was
commissionerofValueAdd-
edTax(VAT),whenthestate
sales taxes were transitioned
totheVATregime.Again,he
was the special commis-
sioner of the state GST. He
hadalongtenureascommis-
sioner ofTransport where he
had introduced many re-
forms like computerisation
of all check posts across the
state. He also served as the
commissioner of health.
Along with being ACS (Fi-
nance),Guptaisalsoholding
theadditionalchargeofMD,
Sardar Sarovar Narmada
Nigam Ltd (SSNNL), which
has built the Narmada Dam
and operates the state’s larg-
est project.
CM Bhajan Lal Sharma Jagdish Prasad Gupta Sudhansh Pant
PMO is likely to closely monitor all Central
govt schemes and administrative reforms!
G
PM Narendra Modi
Jaipur, Tuesday | January 9, 2024
RNI NUMBER: RAJENG/2019/77764 | VOL 5 | ISSUE NO. 214 | PAGES 12 | `3.00 Rajasthan’s Own English Newspaper
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thefirstindia thefirstindia thefirstindia
Jaipur, Tuesday | January 9, 2024 02
13days
to go
RamAayenge
RamAayenge
I urge people across the
country to initiate a
massive cleanliness
campaign at all small and
large pilgrimage sites
from January 14, a week
before the grand
construction of the Ram
temple, until January 22.
Every temple should
witness a cleanliness drive
from January 14 to 22.
NARENDRA MODI, PRIME MINISTER
Donations from
devotees touch
`5000 crore
Devotees, both
in India and from
around the world,
have generously contributed
to the construction of the
grand Lord Shri Ram temple
in Ayodhya. The devotion of
Ram’s followers is evident in
the temple’s funding, which
has surpassed `5000 crore.
The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi
Teerth Kshetra Trust reports
that `3200 crore has already
been deposited into the
dedication fund account.
As of December, donations
exceeding `5000 crore have
poured in for the construction
of Lord Ram’s temple.
Gujarat’s
fragrance at
Ayodhya
A special 108-foot-long
incense stick is being
taken from Vadodara,
Gujarat to Ayodhya for the
consecration ceremony of Shri
Ram Temple. The incense stick
weighing 3610 kg is on its way
to Ayodhya via Rajasthan and
has reached Agra. Hundreds of
people thronged the highways
after seeing the incense stick
and started raising slogans
of Jai Shri Ram. According to
Viha Bharwad, a resident of
Vadodara who has made the
incense sticks, the agarbatti
will last for about one and a
half months and will spread its
fragrance over an area of 50
kilometres. —Mukesh Kiradoo
he Ram Mandir move-
ment has been consid-
ered a big issue in the
politics of both Uttar
Pradesh and the country.
However, in reality, the
politicisation of this is-
sue started way back in
1948, a year after India gained inde-
pendence. Then, for the first time in
history, the Ram temple was used in
elections, and Congress sought votes
in the name of Hindutva to defeat a
rebel. From then till date, politics over
Ram Temple has been creating a stir
from time to time in UP.
After independence, Congress was
the first party to promise the construc-
tion of the Ram Temple. Along with
that, the party also made a promise that
the Babri Masjid would be removed
and the Ram Tem-
ple would be built
in its place. The
Congress gave the
party ticket to Baba
Raghav Das, a Hin-
du leader and social
reformer. Baba Ra-
ghav Das swore that
he would free the
Ram Janmabhoomi
from heretics. Be-
fore the by-election,
posters were put up
in Ayodhya, in
which Acharya
Narendra Dev was
shown as Ravana
and Congress candidate Baba Raghav
Das was represented as Ram.
In 1934, the Socialist Party was born
within the Congress having people like
Ram Manohar Lohia to Acharya Nar-
endra Dev. This section often clashed
with the main Congress and by 1948,
this tussle increased further and the
Socialists separated themselves from
the Congress. Not only this, 13 MLAs
from the Socialist faction also resigned
from the UP Assembly. After this, the
by-election was announced and
Faizabad had become a hot seat. From
here, socialist thinker Acharya Naren-
dra Dev was in the fray, who was
among the 13 socialist MLAs who had
resigned.
At that time Govind Ballabh Pant
was the Chief Minister of UP, Pandit
Jawaharlal Nehru was the Prime Min-
ister and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was
the Home Minister.Acharya Narendra
Dev was a resident of Faizabad and
had a stronghold in this area. Baba Ra-
ghav Das was pitted against Narendra
Dev. It may be noted that the birthplace
of Raghav Das is Eastern UP and there
is a medical college in his name in in
Gorakhpur. His ashram is in Barhaj
town of Deoria but Baba Raghav Das
was not identified as a religious saint
but as a Gandhian and social worker.
He is also called the Gandhi of Purvan-
chal and ‘Hanuman’of Saint Vinoba’s
Bhoodan movement.
ASHOK SINGHAL: A LEADER OF
RAMJANMABHOOMI MOVEMENT
AFTER INDEPENDENCE
Back then there were two types of
leadership that were effective in mak-
ing the Ram Mandir movement suc-
cessful. On the one hand, there was the
leadership of people like Ramchan-
dradas Paramhans and Ashok Singhal
who were present on the stage, while
on the other hand, there were those
who worked silently in the back-
ground. They may have been in the
background, but their contribution has
been unmatched towards the move-
ment. Thakur Gurudutt Singh and Mo-
ropant Pingle are foremost among
such heroes.
In 1948 the Congress government
banned the Sangh and in protest
against this move Ashok Singhal
started a movement with some volun-
teers. The police arrested him and sent
him to jail. Later after coming out of
jail, Singhal joined RSS and remained
engaged in religious and national
work. He remained in Kanpur for a
long time during his missionary life.
From 1975 to 1977, an Emergency
was imposed and along with it, a ban
was imposed on the RSS in the coun-
try. During this period,Ashok Singhal
kept mobilizing people against the
dictatorship of the then Prime Minis-
ter Indira Gandhi. After the Emer-
gency, Singhal was made the prant
pracharak of Delhi by the RSS.
SINGHAL’S FIRM RESOLUTION
It is said thatAshok Singhal made a firm
resolvein1992,standingonthebanksof
the Saryu river, to install the statue of
Ram Lalla inAyodhya. Singhal had said
in an interview, “We dedicated every-
thing to build Ram temple in Ayodhya.
Asfarasdemolishingthemosqueiscon-
cerned, we did not go with the intention
of demolishing it. Whatever happened
that day was a part of the reconstruction
work of the temple.” After the disputed
structure was demolished, many leaders
including Ashok Singhal were arrested
and a case was registered on the orders
of the government against him. Despite
thesechallenges,Singhalremainedreso-
lute, asserting that his life was dedicated
to Ram, and he steadfastly lived in ac-
cordance with the principles associated
with Ram till his death in 2015.
T
PANKAJ SONI
The writer is
Associate Editor
at First India
After visiting Dandak Van and receiving blessings from all the saints, Lord Rama
descended on Chitrakoot in his divine Pushpak Vimana. After giving a darshan to
the awaiting sages, Lord Rama then took flight at high speed over the Yamuna River
THE RAM MANDIR MOVEMENT
WAS PLANNED IN 1982
I
n the year 1984, Ashok Singhal
organised a Dharma Sabha at Vigyan
Bhawan in Delhi and during this meet-
ing, a plan was prepared to take forward
the Ram Mandir movement. From here
Singhal started making the complete plan
and began involving Kar Sevaks with him
and this plan finally materialised in 1992
when Singhal led the Kar Sevaks, who
demolished the Babri Masjid structure on
December 6. Singhal mobilised 50,000
Karsevaks from across the country and
all of them took an oath to construct
Ram Temple at the Ram Janmabhoomi.
Singhal worked tirelessly to take the Ram
Mandir movement to every village in the
country and this was the reason that in
1992, people reached Ayodhya even from
those areas where vehicles did not ply.
THE 1948 U.P.
BY-ELECTION
AYODHYA
After independence, Congress was the first party to
promise construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya. Along
with it the party also promised that Babri Masjid would be
removed and Ram Temple would be built in its place
THAT CHANGED THE POLITICS
OF
RamAayenge
RamAayenge
P2
SENSEX
71,355.22
670.93
BSE
21,513.00
197.80
NIFTY
Aishwary Pradhan
Jaipur
Chief Minister Bhajanlal
Sharma said that self-re-
liance in energy produc-
tion is very important to
provide relief to common
people through various
public welfare schemes.
He directed officials to
prepare a roadmap for the
future keeping in mind
energy needs of the state.
Sharma said that in last
years, due to various rea-
sons, the supply from the
coal mines allotted to Ra-
jasthan located in Chhat-
tisgarh was disrupted. P8
First India Bureau
New Delhi
Cooperation Minister
Amit Shah on Monday
said around 241 Primary
Agricultural Credit Soci-
eties(PACS)haveopened
Jan Aushadhi Kendras
across country that will
ensure rural poor and
farmers too avail benefit
of generic medicines at
affordable rates. So far,
govt’s JanAushadhi Ken-
dras were largely opened
in cities benefiting the
urban poor. Now this
benefit is being extended
to rural poor, he said ad-
dressing during ‘National
PACS Mega Conclave’.
First India Bureau
New Delhi/Male
India High Commission-
er to Maldives Munu Ma-
hawar met with Dr Ali
Naseer Mohamed, Am-
bassador at Large at
MoFA, Maldives, on
Monday to discuss bilat-
eral issues, hours after
Maldives Envoy to India,
Ibrahim Shaheeb was
summoned by the Minis-
try of External Affairs
here amid the ongoing
row over derogatory re-
marks by some Maldivian
ministers on PM Modi’s
Lakshadweep visit. A
massive row was trig-
gered last week after the
Maldives deputy minis-
ter, along with other cabi-
net members and govern-
ment officials, made dis-
paraging and unsavoury
references to Modi’s visit
to Lakshadweep. P5
Prepare State
for future energy
needs, says CM
‘241PACSoperating
JanAushadhiKendras’
Maldives envoy reaches MEA
amid row over anti-Modi remarks
Union Home Minister
Amit Shah to visit
Jammu today, hold
security review meet
BilkisBanocase:
SCquashesearly
releaseof11lifers
First India Bureau
New Delhi
The Supreme Court on
Monday overturned the
Gujarat government’s
decision to release the 11
convicts who raped
Bilkis Bano and killed
her family during the
2002 Gujarat riots. Hold-
ing Bilkis Bano’s request
challenging the remis-
sion as maintainable, a
bench of Justices BV Na-
garathna and Ujjal Bhuy-
an said the Gujarat govt
was not the appropriate
govt to pass the remis-
sion order as the trial was
held in Maharashtra.
Bench said, “The rule
of law must be preserved
unmindful of the ripples
of the consequences.”
The convicts, who will
have to surrender to the
jail authorities within 2
weeks and undergo the
sentence of life term,
were wrongly granted re-
mission by the Gujarat
government, SC said.
Advocate and human rights
activist Vrinda Grover speaks
to the media outside the
Supreme Court on Monday.
 May 2022 order was
obtained by fraudulent
means, missed facts: SC
 Bench asks convicts
to surrender to the jail
authorities in 2 weeks
Convicts can move to
the Maharashtra
government for the
remission of their
sentences in future
WELFAREFORALL!
 PM Modi affirms Govt’s holistic
approach to support the farmers
 No eligible person should be
deprived of welfare benefits: Modi
 The ‘Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra’
reaches 11 crore people in 50 days
Moni Sharma
New Delhi
Noting that his govern-
ment has made all-round
efforts to ease the difficul-
ties of farmers and each
beneficiary has received
`30,000 crore under PM
Kisan Samman Nidhi,
PM Narendra Modi on
Monday said that the gov-
ernments in the past had a
“narrow ambit” of the is-
sues linked to farmers.
The PM, who interacted
with beneficiaries of
‘Viksit Bharat Sankalp
Yatra’ via video confer-
encing on Monday, said
that aim ofYatra is that no
eligible beneficiary is left
out of the govt schemes.
“Since launch of ‘Viksit
Bharat Sankalp Yatra’,
over 12 lakh new benefi-
ciaries have applied for
free gas connections un-
der the Ujjwala scheme.
Over 2 cr health check-
ups have been conducted,
1 cr people have been
screened for Tuberculo-
sis,” PM Modi said.
Modi will hold bilateral meetings with World
Leaders, followed by a meeting with CEOs of
top global corporations at Mahatma Mandir in
Gandhinagar today morning. At 3 pm, PM will
inaugurate Vibrant Gujarat Global Trade Show
Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacts with the beneficiaries of
the ‘Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra’ via VC, in New Delhi on Monday.
INDIA IS A ‘GREAT FRIEND’ OF BANGLADESH,
SAYS PM SHEIKH HASINA AFTER HER VICTORY
Dhaka: Describing India as a “great friend” of
Bangladesh, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
on Monday said the two neighbours, India-
Bangladesh have resolved many problems bilaterally,
a day after she won an overwhelming majority in the
general elections and secured a record fourth straight
term. The 76-year-old leader, who has been ruling the
strategically located South Asian nation since 2009,
won a fifth overall term in the one-sided election on
Sunday, which witnessed a low turnout. MORE ON P7
Spoke to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and
congratulated her on her victory for a historic
fourth consecutive term in the Parliamentary
elections. I also congratulate the people of Bangladesh
for the successful conduct of elections. We are
committed to further strengthen our enduring and
people-centric partnership with Bangladesh.
Narendra Modi @narendramodi
 India and Maldives row
escalates, EaseMyTrip
suspends flight bookings to
islands with immediate effect
 MakeMyTrip’s new cam-
paign for beach holidays
 All travel agents in
Panchkula “temporarily
cancelled” all bookings to
Maldives amid diplomatic
row between the 2 nations
 After tourists, now trad-
ers call for Maldives boycott
as backlash over the anti-
Modi remarks deepens
 Israeli embassy in India
pitched for promoting tour-
ism in Lakshadweep
CELEBRATING PRAVASI
BHARATIYA DIVAS!
MAJOR HAPPENINGS
Amit Shah addressing audience
at Vigyan Bhawan on Monday.
EAM S Jaishankar
FRENCH PM ELISABETH BORNE
RESIGNS AHEAD OF RESHUFFLE
French PM Elisabeth Borne resigned
on Monday as part of a significant
reshuffle by President Emmanuel Ma-
cron ahead of Parliament elections.
GERMAN FOOTBALL LEGEND
‘DER KAISER’ PASSES AWAY
Franz Beckenbauer - nicknamed ‘Der
Kaiser’, German soccer great who
helped his country win WC both as
player & coach, died at 78 on Monday.
The DGCA revises duty time for flight crew, raises
weekly rest periods to 48 hrs, extension of night hrs,
limiting night landings to only 2 as against 6 earlier
19°C
8°C
Min
Humidity 64%
Max
Mostly cloudy weather
with a shower in spots
FORECAST
 20 trains delayed as
Delhi wakes up to cold
Monday morning, tem-
perature at 5.3 degrees
 Heavy rain in parts of
Chennai, causes traffic
jams, more showers
expected ahead
 Due to western dis-
turbances, IMD predicts
hail storm, rain alert for
Rajasthan today P3
Tripti Gautam & Sunil Sihag
Sri Ganganagar/Jaipur
Cong candidate Rupin-
der Singh Kooner on
Monday won Karanpur
Assembly poll, defeating
BJP minister Surender
Pal Singh TT by 11,283
votes. Kooner bagged
94,950 votes while Singh
got 83,667. “I am thank-
ful to Karanpur people
who voted for me,” said
Rupinder, whose late fa-
ther Gurmeet Singh ear-
lier held seat, told after
winning polls. Governor
Kalraj Mishra on Mon-
day accepted the resigna-
tion letter of MoS (Inde-
pendent Charge) Suren-
der Pal Singh forwarded
by CM BL Sharma with
immediate effect. P8
Cong’s Kooner wins from
Karanpur, defeats BJP min
Rupinder
Singh Kooner
Surender Pal
Singh TT
Governor Mishra
accepts Surender
Pal’s resignation

www.firstindia.co.in firstindia.co.in/epapers/jaipur thefirstindia thefirstindia thefirstindia
02
13days
to go
RamAayenge
RamAayenge
I urge people across the
country to initiate a
massive cleanliness
campaign at all small and
large pilgrimage sites
from January 14, a week
before the grand
construction of the Ram
temple, until January 22.
Every temple should
witness a cleanliness drive
from January 14 to 22.
NARENDRA MODI, PRIME MINISTER
Donations from
devotees touch
`5000 crore
Devotees, both
in India and from
around the world,
have generously contributed
to the construction of the
grand Lord Shri Ram temple
in Ayodhya. The devotion of
Ram’s followers is evident in
the temple’s funding, which
has surpassed `5000 crore.
The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi
Teerth Kshetra Trust reports
that `3200 crore has already
been deposited into the
dedication fund account.
As of December, donations
exceeding `5000 crore have
poured in for the construction
of Lord Ram’s temple.
Gujarat’s
fragrance at
Ayodhya
A special 108-foot-long
incense stick is being
taken from Vadodara,
Gujarat to Ayodhya for the
consecration ceremony of Shri
Ram Temple. The incense stick
weighing 3610 kg is on its way
to Ayodhya via Rajasthan and
has reached Agra. Hundreds of
people thronged the highways
after seeing the incense stick
and started raising slogans
of Jai Shri Ram. According to
Viha Bharwad, a resident of
Vadodara who has made the
incense sticks, the agarbatti
will last for about one and a
half months and will spread its
fragrance over an area of 50
kilometres. —Mukesh Kiradoo
he Ram Mandir move-
ment has been consid-
ered a big issue in the
politics of both Uttar
Pradesh and the country.
However, in reality, the
politicisation of this is-
sue started way back in
1948, a year after India gained inde-
pendence. Then, for the first time in
history, the Ram temple was used in
elections, and Congress sought votes
in the name of Hindutva to defeat a
rebel. From then till date, politics over
Ram Temple has been creating a stir
from time to time in UP.
After independence, Congress was
the first party to promise the construc-
tion of the Ram Temple. Along with
that, the party also made a promise that
the Babri Masjid would be removed
and the Ram Tem-
ple would be built
in its place. The
Congress gave the
party ticket to Baba
Raghav Das, a Hin-
du leader and social
reformer. Baba Ra-
ghav Das swore that
he would free the
Ram Janmabhoomi
from heretics. Be-
fore the by-election,
posters were put up
in Ayodhya, in
which Acharya
Narendra Dev was
shown as Ravana
and Congress candidate Baba Raghav
Das was represented as Ram.
In 1934, the Socialist Party was born
within the Congress having people like
Ram Manohar Lohia to Acharya Nar-
endra Dev. This section often clashed
with the main Congress and by 1948,
this tussle increased further and the
Socialists separated themselves from
the Congress. Not only this, 13 MLAs
from the Socialist faction also resigned
from the UP Assembly. After this, the
by-election was announced and
Faizabad had become a hot seat. From
here, socialist thinker Acharya Naren-
dra Dev was in the fray, who was
among the 13 socialist MLAs who had
resigned.
At that time Govind Ballabh Pant
was the Chief Minister of UP, Pandit
Jawaharlal Nehru was the Prime Min-
ister and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was
the Home Minister.Acharya Narendra
Dev was a resident of Faizabad and
had a stronghold in this area. Baba Ra-
ghav Das was pitted against Narendra
Dev. It may be noted that the birthplace
of Raghav Das is Eastern UP and there
is a medical college in his name in in
Gorakhpur. His ashram is in Barhaj
town of Deoria but Baba Raghav Das
was not identified as a religious saint
but as a Gandhian and social worker.
He is also called the Gandhi of Purvan-
chal and ‘Hanuman’of Saint Vinoba’s
Bhoodan movement.
ASHOK SINGHAL: A LEADER OF
RAMJANMABHOOMI MOVEMENT
AFTER INDEPENDENCE
Back then there were two types of
leadership that were effective in mak-
ing the Ram Mandir movement suc-
cessful. On the one hand, there was the
leadership of people like Ramchan-
dradas Paramhans and Ashok Singhal
who were present on the stage, while
on the other hand, there were those
who worked silently in the back-
ground. They may have been in the
background, but their contribution has
been unmatched towards the move-
ment. Thakur Gurudutt Singh and Mo-
ropant Pingle are foremost among
such heroes.
In 1948 the Congress government
banned the Sangh and in protest
against this move Ashok Singhal
started a movement with some volun-
teers. The police arrested him and sent
him to jail. Later after coming out of
jail, Singhal joined RSS and remained
engaged in religious and national
work. He remained in Kanpur for a
long time during his missionary life.
From 1975 to 1977, an Emergency
was imposed and along with it, a ban
was imposed on the RSS in the coun-
try. During this period,Ashok Singhal
kept mobilizing people against the
dictatorship of the then Prime Minis-
ter Indira Gandhi. After the Emer-
gency, Singhal was made the prant
pracharak of Delhi by the RSS.
SINGHAL’S FIRM RESOLUTION
It is said thatAshok Singhal made a firm
resolvein1992,standingonthebanksof
the Saryu river, to install the statue of
Ram Lalla inAyodhya. Singhal had said
in an interview, “We dedicated every-
thing to build Ram temple in Ayodhya.
Asfarasdemolishingthemosqueiscon-
cerned, we did not go with the intention
of demolishing it. Whatever happened
that day was a part of the reconstruction
work of the temple.” After the disputed
structure was demolished, many leaders
including Ashok Singhal were arrested
and a case was registered on the orders
of the government against him. Despite
thesechallenges,Singhalremainedreso-
lute, asserting that his life was dedicated
to Ram, and he steadfastly lived in ac-
cordance with the principles associated
with Ram till his death in 2015.
T
PANKAJ SONI
The writer is
Associate Editor
at First India
After visiting Dandak Van and receiving blessings from all the saints, Lord Rama
descended on Chitrakoot in his divine Pushpak Vimana. After giving a darshan to
the awaiting sages, Lord Rama then took flight at high speed over the Yamuna River
THE RAM MANDIR MOVEMENT
WAS PLANNED IN 1982
I
n the year 1984, Ashok Singhal
organised a Dharma Sabha at Vigyan
Bhawan in Delhi and during this meet-
ing, a plan was prepared to take forward
the Ram Mandir movement. From here
Singhal started making the complete plan
and began involving Kar Sevaks with him
and this plan finally materialised in 1992
when Singhal led the Kar Sevaks, who
demolished the Babri Masjid structure on
December 6. Singhal mobilised 50,000
Karsevaks from across the country and
all of them took an oath to construct
Ram Temple at the Ram Janmabhoomi.
Singhal worked tirelessly to take the Ram
Mandir movement to every village in the
country and this was the reason that in
1992, people reached Ayodhya even from
those areas where vehicles did not ply.
THE 1948 U.P.
BY-ELECTION
AYODHYA
After independence, Congress was the first party to
promise construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya. Along
with it the party also promised that Babri Masjid would be
removed and Ram Temple would be built in its place
THAT CHANGED THE POLITICS
OF

First India Bureau
Bhilwara
About 150 protestors
were booked under the
Rajasthan Honour of
Dead Body Act, 2023 in
Bhilwara on Monday af-
ter they sat with the dead
body on road of an acci-
dent victim while de-
manding compensation
and a government job for
her kin. The saidAct pro-
visions for action against
those people who disre-
spect the dead body by
keeping it on road.
SP Shyam Singh said
that an elderly woman
identified as Nandu Bai,
wife of Nandlal Mali, a
resident of Malikheda
MahilaAshram in the dis-
trict, died after being hit
by a minibus near Love
Garden on Sunday.
The crowd gathered at
the spot and blocked the
road by keeping the body.
On receiving the infor-
mation SHO reached the
spot and cases under sev-
eral Sections of IPC and
Rajasthan Honour of
Dead Body Act, 2023
were filed against over
150 protesters.
RAJASTHAN 03
www.firstindia.co.in firstindia.co.in/epapers/jaipur thefirstindia thefirstindia thefirstindia
DEVNANI FLAGS OFF 8 ROTI-MAKERS FOR AYODHYA
Ajmer sends roti-making machines for Ram Mandir
Rescued panther
at Nahargarh
centre dies
Nirmal Tiwari
Jaipur
A female panther died in
Nahargarh Rescue Centre
on Monday. Last year, on
May 16, the female pan-
ther was rescued from
Amagarh in critical con-
dition. The seriously ill
female panther was hav-
ing continuous seizures.
The leopard stopped tak-
ing food for the last 4-5
days. On January 4, her
blood sample was sent to
the State Disease Diag-
nostic Centre. On Mon-
day morning the female
panther died in the rescue
centre. Last rites of leop-
ard were performed after
post-mortem.
First India Bureau
Ajmer
he Chapati
making ma-
chines ofAjmer
will also make rotis in the
food prasad being pre-
pared for the people in
Ayodhya for the Ram
Temple consecration cer-
emony later this month.
Assembly Speaker
Vasudev Devnani on
Monday flagged off the
machines in Ajmer. He
said that the departure of
machines from Ajmer to
Maa Sita Bhojan Shala
will bring good fortune.
Speaker Devnani said
that the idol of Lord Ram
will be installed in Ayod-
hya Ram temple on Janu-
ary 22 and these ma-
chines will play their part
in the ceremony by pro-
viding chapatis for the
people in Ayodhya.
“This Temple has been
a dream of Indian citi-
zens and the Hindu com-
munity for centuries and
the final work of its com-
pletion and the fulfiling
of this dream is going to
be done under the great
leadership of Prime Min-
ister Narendra Modi,”
Devnani said.
Vasudev Devnani said
that the city of Ayodhya
is going to become the
largest relegious and pil-
grimage site in not only
the country, but the entire
world.
Assembly Speaker
Vasudev Devnani in-
formed that eight ma-
chines have been sent at
the time, for making cha-
patis in Ayodhya’s Maa
Sita Bhojan Shala from
Ajmer.
Vikas Sharma
Jaipur
The sudden fire in SMS
Medical College on
Monday morning once
again raised questions
about the working style
of the entire administra-
tion. After an explosion,
a fire broke out in the
cold storage of the micro-
biology lab of the college
and within no time it took
a huge form.
On receiving the infor-
mation, police and fire
brigade vehicles reached
the spot and controlled
the fire after about three
hours. Medical Minister
Gajendra Singh Khinvsar
reached the college and
directed to investigate
the entire incident. He
along withAdditional CS
Medical Shubhra Singh
and Medical Education
Commissioner Shivpras-
ad Nakate took stock of
the incident site.
During this, Khinvsar
said that prima facie it
seems light that the fire
was caused by the short
circuit.
According to the college
administration, ad-
vanced-level testing re-
lated to TB, Swine Flu
and Covid is done in
here.
The place where the
fire broke out was a cold
storage. Apart from this,
genome sequencing of
COVID-19 was also
done in this lab.
Nirmal Tiwari
Jaipur
The percentage of tour-
ists coming to every re-
gion of the country for
religious tourism includ-
ing Rajasthan, is 90 per-
cent. However, in Rajast-
han, this average is 95
percent.
A record 16.06 crore
tourists came to Ra-
jasthan in the first 11
months of the year 2023,
out of which 15 crore
were those who came ex-
clusively for religious
tourism. Of these, about
75 lakh visited the tick-
eted monuments, while
about 20 lakh visited the
monuments under ASI
and nearly 50 lakh visited
the jungle safari, zoo and
biological parks.
Apart from these, most
of the tourists come to
Rajasthan to visit temples
and other religious plac-
es. Due to such devotees
cum tourists, the travel
trade in Rajasthan has
taken a leap.
As after visiting tem-
ples and religious places,
these tourists do other ac-
tivities, due to which
more than 30 lakh people
associated with the indus-
try get employment.
Some of the leading
religious destinations in
the state included Sikar
with 2.40 cr devotees at
Shri Khatu Shyamji,
Jaipur with 1.65 cr devo-
tees at Shri Govind Devii,
Shila Mata, Ajmer with
1.31 cr at Pushkarji and
Khwaja Garib Nawaz,
Chittor with 1.26 cr devo-
tees at Shri Sanwaliyaji,
Sawai Madhopur with
1.25 cr at Shri Trinetra
Ganesh and Bharatpur
with 1.04 cr at Brij Chau-
rasi temple.
Vasudev Devnani flagging off the machines in Ajmer on Monday.
(L) Fire broke out at SMS hospital on Monday. (R) Gajendra Singh
Khimsar and Shubhra Singh visiting SMS hospital in Jaipur.
The Mob held a demonstration
with the dead body on Monday.
The drone was spotted flying near the Shahgarh sector.
Tourists at the Jantar Mantar in Jaipur on Monday. SANTOSH SHARMA
As the inauguration
of Ram Temple nears,
Ayodhya evolves into
a global religious and
pilgrimage site. This
collaboration
between Ajmer and
Ayodhya reflects the
unity in diversity that
defines India’s rich
cultural tapestry
T
FI TOON
SHEKHAR
Sacred Spectacle
Flag hoisting ceremony for the Urs of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti Dargah in Ajmer on Monday.
ANAND SHARMA
State’sculturalrichnessdrawsover
15crreligioustouristsin11months
About 95% tourists visit Raj for spiritual reasons
RELIGIOUS TOURISM
Cold Wave, Dense Fog Affect Daily Life
IMD predicts hail storm,
rain alert for Raj today
SANTOSH SHARMA
Severe Cold Wave
in various parts
of Rajasthan
continued on
Monday. MeT
stated that due
to the western
disturbances,
light rain
accompanied by
hail is likely in
the eastern parts
of the state.
Fire at advanced testing lab in
SMS, Minister orders probe
Govt approves expansion
of health workforce in Raj
Mobbookedforprotesting
withadeadbodyinBhilwara
Pak drone along with
small parachute found
Vikas Sharma
Jaipur
Medical and Health
Minister Gajendra
Singh held a meeting
of the Medical and
Health Department
and Medical Educa-
tion Department at
Swasthya Bhavan on
Monday.
In the meeting, he
approved the propos-
al to increase 2713
posts of contractual
nurses, female health
workers and CHOs
advertised in the
years 2022 and 2023
under the National
Health Mission. Now
the proposal for re-
cruitment to a total of
9890 posts will be
sent to the Rajasthan
Staff Selection
Board.
Additional CS,
Medical and Health
Shubhra Singh in-
formed that in the year
2023, out of 1588
posts of contractual
nurses, 750 posts will
be increased, out of
2058 posts of contrac-
tual female health
workers, 1000 posts
will be increased. Be-
sides, out of 3531
posts of Community
Health Officer (CHO),
963 posts have been
increased with a total
of 4494 posts.
Suryaveer Singh Tanwar
Jaisalmer
BSF soldiers intercepted
a drone on the India-Pak-
istan border near Jais-
almer. This is the first
time a Pakistani drone
has been caught near the
Jaisalmer border.
A small parachute and
a pigeon were attached to
the drone. The drone was
flying quite low, and the
soldiers ran and grabbed
it. The BSF jawans alert-
ed the Shahgarh police.
This Pakistani drone
was spotted flying near
Kharia BOP in the Shah-
garh sector of the India-
Pakistan border late Sat-
urday evening. It has
been reported that the
drone will be sent to Del-
hi for inquiry.

Kamalkant Sharma
Jaipur
ABVP organised Amrit
Mahotsav event on Mon-
day at BirlaAuditorium to
commemorate the 75th
year of Akhil Bharatiya
Vidyarthi Parishad
(ABVP). RSS regional
campaigner Nimbaram,
ABVP national organiza-
tion general secretary
Prafulla Prakash Chand,
Sunil Bansal and ABVP
alumni were present.
ABVP’s national co-
organisation minister
Prafulla Akant also at-
tended the program. UDH
Minister Jhabar Singh
Kharra along with Bal-
mukundacharya and
thousands of ABVP
workers were present in
large numbers at the Birla
Auditorium. The RSS
provincial pracharak
Nimbaram on this occa-
sion said that the only stu-
dent organization which
remains active 365 days is
ABVP. And at present,
there is no area of the
country where ABVP is
not present. He empha-
sized the vital 5 points
which include tree plant-
ing, water conservation,
ban on plastic, social har-
monyandconsumptionof
Swadeshi goods.
Laxman Raghav
Bikaner
Total 25 villages falling
under te Bikaner range
has been declared crime-
free. In this commenda-
ble initiative, IG Om-
prakash Paswan of the
Bikaner Range acknowl-
edged the effective strate-
gies implemented across
these villages.
Recognizing the ef-
forts of local representa-
tives, including women,
the IG highlighted role of
community dialogue in
resolving issues and
achieving positive results
through police-public co-
ordination. SP Tejaswini
Gautam emphasized the
significant role of women
in fostering this collabo-
ration. The police ex-
pressed gratitude to all
representatives, signaling
a united front against
crime. This move aims to
inspire more communi-
ties to actively participate
in making their villages
crime-free.
First India Bureau
Jaipur
The SOG of Rajasthan
Police on Monday arrest-
ed two miscreants wanted
in the leaked paper case of
the Junior Engineer Re-
cruitment Exam 2020.
The accused, Sachin
and Ramhans, had been
evading arrest since their
complicity surfaced dur-
ing the investigation.This
development adds to the
tally of 28 individuals ar-
rested in connection with
the case. Police officials
stated that the two appre-
hended suspects are being
interrogated. The relent-
less pursuit by the SOG
reflects the authorities’
commitment to ensuring
accountability in the ex-
amination process and
bringing all involved par-
ties to justice.
First India Bureau
Sri Ganganagar
Six persons hailing from
Sri Ganganagar were
killed in a road accident
on Chautala road in Har-
yana. The mishap oc-
curred near Shergarh vil-
lage. The victims, five
from a family, were go-
ing to Hisar to attend a
funeral when their car
rammed into a tree.The
accident unfolded in
Dubwali, leaving all oc-
cupants fatally injured.
The bodies have been
placed at the Civil Hos-
pital in Dubwali. This
devastating mishap
serves as a poignant re-
minder of the importance
of road safety measures
to prevent such tragic
losses on our highways.
First India Bureau
Jaipur
The illegal construction
for the farmhouse scheme
on about 08 bighas of pri-
vately owned agricultural
land in Morija village of
Chomu in Zone-13 was
completely demolished
by JDA at initial stage.
While another illegal con-
struction of a tin shed in
Santo ki Dhani of Morija
Road was stopped by de-
molishing.
Chief Controller of En-
forcement Dharmendra
Yadav said that in Morija
village of village Chomu,
located under the jurisdic-
tion of Zone-13, in district
Jaipur, about 08 bighas of
private agricultural land
was levelled without the
approval of JDA.
Bharat Dixit
Jaipur
Governor Kalraj Mishra
has given assurance to
speed up the recruitment
process in the University
of Rajasthan.
He said that this matter
will also be discussed
with the government
soon. Mishra attended
the 78th Foundation Day
Celebration of Rajasthan
University as the chief
guest. Deputy CM and
higher education minis-
ter Prem Chand Bairwa,
MP Ramcharan Bohra,
MLA Kalicharan and
others also attended the
programme.
VCAlpana Kateja pre-
sented the history of the
university and highlight-
ed the achievements. She
also talked about the
problems being faced in
the educational system
due to the ongoing short-
age of teachers inside the
university. The Governor
gave assurance to speed
up the recruitment pro-
cess after talking to the
government.
Deputy CM Prem-
chand Bairwa also said
that the recruitments
would be resolved at the
government level as soon
as possible. On the occa-
sion, Kalicharan Saraf
announced to give Rs 20
lakh to the university
from the MLA fund.
POST MORTEM OF IAS TRANSFER LIST
‘Controversial’babus ‘shuffled’, young-guns given responsibilities!
Rajendra Chhabra
Jaipur
n IAS put on
APO, two IAS
put on ‘punish-
ment posting’ in Depart-
mental Enquiry and re-
moval of fifteen Collec-
tors from field postings
are some of the highlights
oftheIAStransferlistthat
was released on Friday.
Half a dozen IAS of 2021
batch have been given
posting for the first time
whereas this is also a
highlight of the transfer
list that all 9 IAS of 2017
batch will be going in the
field as Collectors togeth-
er for the first time. Ad-
ditionally, this has also
happened for the first
time that female Collec-
tors have been appointed
in seven districts.
Tarachand Meena is a
promotee IAS of 2011
batch and was one of the
favoured officials of the
previous govt. Such was
thesituationthattheprevi-
ous govt appointed him
firstasChittorgarhCollec-
tor and then as Udaipur
Collector. However, what
irked the bureaucrats and
general public alike was
that he was given the ad-
ditional charge of MD -
RSMML and Director -
Mines at Udaipur itself.
While the entire bureau-
cracy was surprised at this
development then, the
new govt has now put
TarachandMeenaonAPO
through the transfer list
released on Friday.
Anil Kumar Agrawal
and OP Bairwa have been
removed from their posi-
tion as Dholpur and Tonk
Collector respectively and
have now been posted on
the lacklustre posting of
Commissioner, Depart-
mental Enquiries. Anil
Kumar was suspended in
2016 and remained so till
2018. In July 2022 he was
posted as Dholpur Collec-
tor, however, during the
elections he courted con-
troversy. Similarly, Om
Prakash Bairwa, in a de-
sire to make his son con-
test the assembly polls,
openly engaged in politics
and complaint was made
in this regard to election
commission.
The previous govt also
showed extra faith in Ma-
haveer Prasad Meena
(2013 batch) and appoint-
ed him as Collector in the
first go. He had reached
Kota in Oct 2023 and his
actions were reported
against by BJPand within
two months of his Kota
posting, the new govern-
ment has called him from
Kota and appointed him
on a ‘cold bag’posting as
MD of Bunkar Sangh.
Gaurav Agrawal, a na-
tiveofJaipur,ismeritorious
and capable official. He is
the topper of 2014 IAS
batch.After doing M.Tech
and MBA, he had left for
HongKong to work in the
private sector on a hefty
pay. However, he returned
to India and became an
IAS.Thepreviousgovtdid
not use Gaurav’s full capa-
bilities and he was put on
APO four times over the
past five years. The new
govt, according honour to
Gaurav, has posted him as
Jodhpur Collector. Ravin-
dra Goswami, who has
becomeCollector(Bundi)
for first time, had carried
out a stint in DoPas JS for
2 years. Then he showed
his capabilities while
serving as Bundi Collec-
torlast6months.Thenew
govt has given him a good
jump and appointed him
as Kota Collector. It is
considered a huge honour
if an official is appointed
as Collector of divisional
hqs like Kota.
It is considered impor-
tant as a career move for
IAS that officials of one
batch become Collectors
together. In Friday’s trans-
fer list, seven young IAS
of 2017 batch have been
appointed as Collectors.
Moreover,afterstayingon
APO for a long time, all 6
IAS of 2022 batch have
also been given their first
posting. Three officials
havebeengivenadditional
charge as well. DC of
Udaipur - Rajendra Bhatt
- has been given responsi-
bility of MD, RSMML,
butTarachand Meena also
has charge of Director-
Mines, and this responsi-
bilityhasnotbeengivento
anyone though Meena has
beenputonAPO.Thusthe
post has fallen vacant.
A
RAJASTHAN 04
Raj Uni turns 78
Willspeeduprecruitment
processinRU:GuvMishra
Governor Mishra inaugurates Foundation Day
Governor Kalraj Mishra inaugurating an auditorium during the 78th Foundation Day celebrations
of Raj Uni in Jaipur on Monday. Dy CM PC Bairwa and MP Ramcharan Bohra are also seen.
RSS Pracharak Nimbaram during the lighting of the lamp in ABVP’s
Amrit Mahotsav in Jaipur on Monday. SANTOSH SHARMA
Public representatives from 25 crime-free villages being honored, in presence of IG Om Prakash
and SP Tejaswini Gautam, in Bikaner on Monday.
Governor Kalraj Mishra during 78th Foundation Day celebrations
of Rajasthan University in Jaipur on Monday.
YOUTH MUST COME FWD
FOR VIKSIT BHARAT: GUV
Governor Kalraj
Mishra stressed on
universities to iden-
tify themselves as centers
of quality education for
‘Viksit Bharat-2047’ also to
prepare themselves as per
global needs. He said that
university should develop
itself with fundamental vision
of educational quality and
research in such a way that
parents from foreign coun-
tries are eager to send their
children to India. He has also
called upon youth associ-
ated with higher education
to come forward and play
an important role in taking
resolution for Viksit Bharat.
12-YEAR-OLD STUDYING IN CLASS 7TH
GIVES BIRTH TO
A BABY IN SIROHI, FIR LODGED AGAINST UNKNONW
Sirohi: A 12-year-old minor in seventh grade has
given birth to a son. When she developed a stomach
ache at school, her family took her to the hospital,
where she lost consciousness. The doctors at the hospital de-
livered the eight and a half month pregnant girl. Both are cur-
rently under the care of doctors and are in good health. The
family members filed a case against the unnamed person
under the POCSO and other sections. However, the family
members disagree this. According to reports from informants,
a 59-year-old neighbor raped the girl. However, the authori-
ties are avoiding disclosing any information about the case.
TWO HELD FOR SMUGGLING DRUG IN CAR, 360GM SMACK `6.50L CASH SEIZED
Jhalawar: Late on
Sunday night, a
roadblock operation
in Jhalawar led to the ap-
prehension of Sheikh Ahmed
and Govind Lal Meghwal in
a high-end vehicle by a team
from Dug police station.
Authorities seized 360 grams
of smack and Rs 6.50 lakh in
cash from the suspects. The
recovered smack is valued
at Rs 80 lakh in the inter-
national market. SP Richa
Tomar revealed that, as part
of the 100-day action plan,
the police headquarters is
actively executing a targeted
campaign against illegal
substances and firearms.
The car, a Tata Tiago with a
Madhya Pradesh registra-
tion number, was halted and
thoroughly searched during
this initiative. Gangdar Police
is currently conducting a
comprehensive inquiry into
the incident, with Constables
Brijesh Kumar and Ramesh-
war Singh playing pivotal
roles in the operation.
Spa centre vandalised, girl abducted for denying service
First India Bureau
Barmer
In a distressing turn of
events, a spa center in
Barmer fell victim to
vandalism when three in-
dividuals, denied servic-
es, wreaked havoc, set it
ablaze, and abducted a
female staff member.
The miscreants de-
manded inappropriate
acts from the girl, reject-
ing the owner’s plea for a
mere massage service, the
miscreant vandalised the
spa centre and abducted
the girl. During this time,
the mobile phone of one
of the accused was left ly-
ing in the spa centre,
which proved useful dur-
ing the investigation.
Theadministrationcame
onalertmoderegardingthe
entire matter. At 4 in the
morning the girl was found
in Baytu after 65 km.After
thisthepoliceheavedasigh
of relief. The incident took
place at 11 pm in Palia,
Utarlai Road, Kalji of RII-
CO police station, Barmer.
The owner said, “I have
beenrunningthespacenter
for one and a half months.
Such an incident has hap-
pened for the first time”.
ABVP remains active
365 days: Nimbaram
25 villages declared crime-free in Bkn range
Two more held in
JEn recruitment
paper leak case
Six of a family
enroute a funeral
die in road mishap
JDA razes illegal
construction in
Morija near Chomu
ABVP’s Amrit Mahotsav in Birla auditorium
CRIME
ROUNDUP
Vandalised Spa centre in Barmer on Monday.
ELECTRICIAN POSTED
IN AEN OFFICE FALLS
IN ACB NET FOR `2K
Rajsamand:
The ACB team
of Rajsamand
nabbed an Electrician,
Ashok Sharma posted
at the Railmagra AEN
office, while
accepting
a `2000
bribe. The
com-
plainant
reported
the ordeal on Jan 2, citing
delays in transferring a
well’s electrical connection
to his name. Frustrated by
stagnation, the com-
plainant alleged Ashok
Sharma demanded `2000
for resolution. After the
complaint was validated,
the ACB squad nabbed
the accused Sharma red-
handed while accepting a
bribe. Ashish Choudhary
INAFIRST,REINSOFSEVEN
DISTTSGIVENTOFEMALES
For the first time,
the reins of seven
districts have been
handed to female Collec-
tors namely - Somya Jha
- Tonk, Kalpana Agrawal
- Kotputli- Behror, Anjali Ra-
joria - Pratapgarh, Shweta
Chauhan - Kekri, Pushpa
Satyani - Churu, Shubham
Chowdhri - Sirohi, Chinmai
Gopal - Jhunjhunu.

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SALIENT FEATURES OF TEMPLE
Trust shares stunning pictures of Ram Mandir
ANI
Ayodhya
he Ram Janmb-
hoomi Teerth
KshetraTruston
Monday shared stunning
pictures of the Ram Tem-
ple premises in the night-
time. Here is the pano-
ramic view of Jatayu’s
statue installed on Kuber
Fort at the Ram Temple
premises in Ayodhya.
The pictures show the
hectic pace at which the
construction of the much-
awaited Prabhu Shree
Ram temple at the birth-
place of Lord Ram is be-
ing carried on. The temple
featuresexquisitelycarved
figures of deities, gods,
and goddesses adorning
the pillars and walls.
The photos of the inner
sanctum of temple show
its beauty and radiance
during night time.
The night time illumi-
nation lights up the entire
premises and the beauty
of the temple gets high-
lighted even more so.
The Ram Mandir is a
three-storied shrine, with
each floor standing at a
height of 20 feet. It has a
total of 392 pillars and 44
doors.
The Garbhagriha is the
innermost sanctum of the
temple, where the deity is
to be enshrined. In the
sanctum sanctorum will
rest the idol depicting the
child form of Lord Ram
(Ram Lalla) and the first
floor will have a Shri
Ram Darbar.
A glimpse of the statue of ‘Jatayu’ at Shri Ram Janmabhoomi
Temple, in Ayodhya on Monday. ANI
T
First India Bureau
New Delhi
Online travel company
MakeMyTrip on Monday
announced the launch of
a ‘Beaches of India’cam-
paign after seeing more
than a 3,400 per cent
jump in searches related
to Lakshadweep. This
came after the recent
Maldives controversy.
“We have observed a
3,400 per cent increase in
on-platform searches for
Lakshadweep ever since
Honorable PM’s visit,”
the travel company post-
ed on ‘X’, formerly
known as Twitter.
“This interest in Indian
beaches has inspired us
to launch a ‘Beaches of
India’ campaign on the
platform with offers and
discounts to encourage
Indian travellers to ex-
plore the country’s stun-
ning beaches. Keep
watching this space!.”
Amid the online boy-
cott Maldives campaign,
the Delhi-based Ease-
MyTrip travel company
has also opted to halt all
flight bookings to the is-
land nation.
This decision comes in
response to derogatory
remarks made by now-
suspended ministers
against India and Prime
Minister Narendra Modi,
stemming from his recent
visit to Lakshadweep.
ANI
Hamirpur
The BJP has kicked off
its campaign for the up-
coming Lok Sabha elec-
tions, starting with a spe-
cial meeting for officials
in the Hamirpur parlia-
mentary constituency.
Union Minister Anur-
ag Thakur, the star speak-
er, led the charge, target-
ing both the Congress
and the AAP for their al-
leged shortcomings, par-
ticularly corruption. He
launched a scathing at-
tack on the Congress and
AAP, accusing them of
being “two sides of the
same coin” when it
comes to corruption.
“Aam Aadmi Party
leaders are behind bars on
the issue of corruption
and Arvind Kejriwal is
presenting that corruption
is not happening, every-
one knows which party
has promoted corruption.
Kejriwal is silent on the
corruption of Congress
and Congress is silent on
the corruption of Kejri-
wal. Congress, AAP—
two thieves are now com-
ing together as cousins,”
the Union Minister said.
“The Modi govern-
ment at the Centre will
set records in the upcom-
ing elections and hoist its
flag on more than 400
seats,” the Union IB
Minister added.
Agencies
New Delhi
The Union Health Minis-
try on Monday said the
country reported 605 new
Covid-19 cases and four
deaths in the last 24 hours.
The four new fatalities
were reported from Ker-
ala, Karnataka and Tripu-
ra, according to the min-
istry data.
On Sunday, five deaths
were reported in total —
from Maharashtra, Kera-
la and Jammu Kash-
mir.
Meanwhile, the total
number of active cases
further fell to 4,002 from
Sunday’s 4,049.
As of now, the total
number of coronavirus
cases in India, since the
initial outbreak in Janu-
ary 2020, has reached
4,50,18, 739, while the
overall death toll has
risen to 5,33,396.
The new JN.1 sub-
variant is a descendent of
the Omicron subvariant
known as BA.2.86 or
Pirola, with Kerala being
the first state to report a
case.
A total of 682 cases of
the JN.1 have been re-
ported from 12 states
across the country till
January 6, according to
sources.
Kerala, Karnataka wit-
nessed JN.1 variant cas-
es, while Delhi, Gujarat,
Maharashtra, Tamil
Nadu, Rajasthan, Telan-
gana, Odisha and Hary-
ana were also affected, as
per the Indian SARS-
CoV-2 Genomics Con-
sortium (INSACOG).
Agencies
Kanker
A ruling BJP corporator
has been gunned down
by hitherto-unidentified
assailants in this
restive district of
Left-wing extrem-
i s m - a f f e c t e d
Bastar division,
police said.
The Pakhanjur
Nagar Panchayat’s erst-
while president Asim
Rai was targeted late
Sunday. A dispute is un-
derway these days at the
panchayat and voting is
scheduled next Monday
on a no-confidence mo-
tion against its President.
Last evening, Rai par-
ticipated in a Viksit
Bharat Sankalp camp at
Pakhanjur. He re-
turned home and
then set out again.
At about 2000 hrs,
while he was rid-
ing a two-wheeler
in the vicinity of
Purana Bazaar, two per-
sons on a motorbike ap-
proached him from the
rear, the pillion rider shot
Rai in the head and the
duo absconded.
Agencies
Chandigarh
A day after BJP chief Na-
dda hinted at going alone
in Haryana for Lok Sabha
polls, its coalition partner
the Jannayak Janta Party
(JJP) asked its workers to
gear up for ‘Mission Du-
shyant 2024’ to make
party leader and Deputy
CM Dushyant Chautala
thenextCM.Atanevenin
Gharaunda,JJPstatechief
Nishan Singh said the
party has achieved many
milestones due to the hard
work of its workers.
Agencies
Hyderabad
The BJPin Telangana has
announced in-charges for
all 17 Lok Sabha constit-
uencies for the coming
elections. State BJP chief
G Kishan Reddy on Mon-
day appointed Lok Sabha
political in-charges for all
the constituencies.
All eight newly-elect-
ed BJP MLAs and a Ra-
jya Sabha MP are among
those made in-charges.
RajyaSabhaMPKLax-
man has been appointed
in-charge for Secun-
derabad LS constituency,
represented by Kishan
Reddy,whoisalsoaUnion
minister. The party has
named MLATRaja Singh
asin-chargeforHyderabad
constituency,whichisrep-
resented by AIMIM chief
Asaduddin Owaisi.
First India Bureau
Ghazipur
The statue of Hari-
narayan Rai Chaudhary,
founder ofAsht Shaheed
Inter College, was un-
veiled. Bharat Express
News Network Chair-
man, MD and Editor-in-
Chief Upendra Rai par-
ticipated as the chief
guest in this pro-
gramme. He offered
floral tributes to Hari-
narayan Rai Chaudhary.
During the unveiling of
the statue, the venue
started resonating with
Vedic chanting.
Agencies
Lucknow
UP CM Yogi Adityanath
on Monday stressed on
preparing a regional in-
dex of education, health,
economic condition of
families and industry.
Addressing a meeting
here on Monday, the
chief minister discussed
the ongoing efforts, cur-
rent results and future
policy towards fulfilling
the resolve of making the
state a state with a tril-
lion-dollar economy.
In the meeting, the
Principal Secretary of the
Planning Department
and representatives of the
finance sector consulting
company Deloitte gave
detailed information
about the current state of
the economic environ-
ment of the state and the
possible future results,
expectations of the in-
dustry, etc., sector-wise.
CONG TO TAKE A CALL TO
ATTEND CONSECRATION
Thiruvananthapuram:
With the consecration
ceremony of Ram
temple in Ayodhya on Janu-
ary 22, Congress leader and
Deputy CM of Karnataka, DK
Shivakumar on Monday said
his party will soon arrive on
a decision about attending
it. He said this soon after
arriving here to take part in
an award distribution func-
tion. “We are all Hindus and
what’s wrong in going for the
function. It’s not a private
place it’s a public one. The
AICC will soon arrive on a
decision about attending the
function,” said Shivakumar.
Health, economic index of UP’s
families to be prepared: Yogi
Yogi Adityanath said that UP’s total GDP, which was Rs 16.45 lakh
crore in 2021-22, has now surged to Rs 22.58 lakh crore in 2022-23.
Upendra Rai unveils the statue
of Harinarayan Rai Chaudhary.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi takes a stroll at Bangaram Atoll, in Lakshadweep last week. FILE
EaseMyTrip suspends all Maldives flight bookings after row
MALDIVES ROW
3,400%jumpinsearchesrelated
toLakshadweeppostcontroversy
ISRAELPITCHESFORPROMOTINGTOURISMINLAKSHADWEEP
New Delhi: Israeli em-
bassy in India pitched
for promoting tourism
in Lakshadweep, amid a
row between India and the
Maldives over disparaging
remarks made by Maldivian
ministers after PM Modi's
visit to the islands. “We were
in #Lakshadweep last year
upon the federal govern-
ment's request to initiate the
desalination program. Israel is
ready to commence working
on this project tomorrow. For
those who are yet to witness
the pristine and majestic un-
derwater beauty of #lakshad-
weepislands, here are a few
pictures showing this island's
enchanting allure,' Israeli
embassy wrote on X.
“MALDIVES CHOOSING
CHINA OVER INDIA IS
MATTER OF CONCERN”
Kolkata: Senior
Congress MP and
Leader of Opposition
in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan
Chowdhury on Monday said
that it is a matter of concern
that the Maldives with which
India has close relation-
ship for decades, is of late
preferring China over its
nearest neighbour. Maldiv-
ian President Mohamed
Muizzu is in China on a five-
day state visit from Monday
during which he is due to
hold talks with his Chinese
counterpart Xi Jinping and
sign several agreements to
bolster the bilateral ties.
2 thieves Cong APP are
coming together: Thakur
India reports 605 fresh
Covid-19 cases, 4 deaths
Union Information Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur
speaks to media persons in Hamirpur, on Monday. ANI
PTI
New Delhi
The Aam Aadmi Party’s
candidates for the Janu-
ary 19 Rajya Sabha elec-
tions former Delhi Com-
mission for Women chief
Swati Maliwal, ND Gup-
ta and Sanjay Singh filed
their nominations here on
Monday, officials said.
The six-year term of
Sanjay Singh, Sushil Ku-
mar Gupta and ND Gup-
ta ends on January 27.
Maliwal’s name has been
nominated by the party to
replace Sushil Gupta.
AAP has renominated
ND Gupta and jailed par-
ty leader Sanjay Singh
for their second terms.
The three filed their
nominations at the Delhi
transport commissioner’s
office in Civil Lines.
AAP’sMaliwal,NDGupta
SanjaySinghfilenominations
AAP’s Rajya Sabha candidates Swati Maliwal (top), Sanjay Singh
and ND Gupta (R) filing nominations on Monday. ANI
Total active cases fell to 4,002 from Sunday’s 4,049. FILE
JJP in Haryana
hints at going
alone in election
Telangana BJP’s
in-charges for
Lok Sabha seats
Harinarayan Rai
Chaudhary’s
statue unveiled
BJP corporator shot
dead in Chhattisgarh

n the morn-
ing of Janu-
ary 8, the
E l e c t i o n
Commission
in Dhaka confirmed that
Sheikh Hasina had won the
2024 elections. As a result,
Hasina will serve as Bang-
ladesh’s PM for another 5
years. She was first sworn
in as PM in 1996 and was
re-elected in 2009, remain-
ing in power since. Ever
since the elections were an-
nounced in Bangladesh,
New Delhi has been keenly
watching the happenings as
Bangladesh is strategically
extremely important to In-
dia on many counts. The
twocountriessharea4,100-
km border and deep cul-
tural, economic, and his-
torical ties.
In the larger perspective,
Hasina’s win will remain
beneficial to India in almost
all aspects like the national
security and the economic
fronts. In this article, we
shall focus on what Sheikh
Hasina’s win means for In-
dia, especially in the strate-
gic sectors. As far as New
Delhi’s national security is
concerned,SheikhHasina’s
government… so far… has
been extremely coopera-
tive.
Earlier, Bangladesh was
known to house and report-
edly harbour several anti-
India elements and Islamist
jihadist groups. However,
duringHasina’sadministra-
tion, the machinery has
comedownheavilyonsuch
groupseffectivelytoIndia’s
benefit. India’s security
agencies havereceivedalot
of help and cooperation
from their counterparts in
Dhaka as far as curbing
anti-India activities in the
neighbouring country is
concerned.
It may be recalled that it
was under Hasina’s tenure
that Dhaka signed the his-
torical 1974 Land Bound-
ary Agreement (LBA),
which settled the 4,096-kil-
ometre-long border dispute
between the countries. On
the other hand, for New
Delhi, the return of the
Bangladesh Nationalist
Party (BNP), led by Khale-
da Zia, who is under house
arrest as a convict of graft
charges,wouldhavespelled
trouble. This is mainly so
because Zia, the former
Prime Minister of Bangla-
desh, was seen as hostile to
New Delhi.
New Delhi had also en-
tered an Extradition Treaty
with Bangladesh in January
2013 (during Hasina’s rule)
to address the security con-
cerns and beef up mutual
trust between the two coun-
tries. During the tenure of
the previous Bangladesh
government led by Khaleda
Zia, New Delhi faced chal-
lenges on the terrorism
front. India had also men-
tioned about the same in its
Annual Report 2004-2005
that “India has from time to
time, expressed concern”
over the activities of the ter-
roristgroupsoperatingfrom
“theterritoryofBangladesh
through diplomatic chan-
nels, as also in the bilateral
meetingsbetweenIndiaand
Bangladesh.” However, the
then Bangladesh regime
had denied harbouring “In-
dian insurgent groups” on
its soil.
The region is poised in a
reportedly palpable situa-
tion especially with a dete-
riorating situation in Myan-
mar, Dhaka in the current
perspective will play a very
crucial role in maintaining
peaceintheregion,because
Manipur… placed next to
Myanmar is already sim-
mering for the last so many
months.
Former IndianAmbassa-
dor Ashok Kantha was
quoted as telling the Hindu-
stanTimes,“Dhakaissensi-
tive to India’s security con-
cerns. It realises that as long
as New Delhi’s security is
not compromised, it can go
ahead and do business with
China. It is important to
keep this in mind.”
Economically speaking,
Hasina’sreturnwouldmean
an economically stronger
neighbour which is always
good news. It may be noted
thatBangladeshhasrisento
become the second-largest
economy in the region. To
support this statement, we
need to mention in this con-
text that the GDP of Bang-
ladesh was $460 billion in
2022, more than Pakistan’s
$375 billion!
Also, Delhi and Dhaka
shareseveralcloseeconom-
ic ties most of which have
been fostered mainly in the
recent past. The two na-
tions’ bilateral trade has
been $14.2 billion in 2022-
23 and $8.13 billion in
2021-22. Bangladesh has
beenthefifthlargestmarket
for Indian goods, as per the
IndianExpress,onlybehind
the United States, the UAE,
theNetherlands,andChina.
Also, in Hasina’s regime,
connectivityhas beengiven
priority and as a result, it
has improved connectivity
between our northeast re-
gion and the capital of
Bangladesh, Dhaka. New
Delhi, it may be recalled,
has also offered more than
$7 billion in Line of Credit
to Bangladesh since 2010
forinfrastructureanddevel-
opment projects.
The Ministry of External
Affairs of India had said in
November 2022 that Bang-
ladesh is India’s biggest
trade partner in the South
Asia region and New Delhi
was the second biggest
trade partner of Bangladesh
in Asia. Besides this, coop-
eration in the power sector
has also become one of the
USPs of the India-Bangla-
desh relations of late.
“Despite Covid-19 relat-
ed disruptions, bilateral
trade grew at an unprece-
dented rate of almost 44%
from $10.78 billion in FY
(FinancialYear) 2020-21 to
US$ 18.14 billion in FY
2021-22. Exports to Bang-
ladesh touched above US$
16bnasagainst$9.6billion
the previous FY. India is
Bangladesh’s largest export
destination in Asia,” the
MEA had also said.
To further the ties be-
tween both countries, Dha-
ka has also allowed India to
use four of its ports to trans-
port goods. Hasina has on
several occasions main-
tained a supportive stance
towards the administration
of India’s current political
scenario. Hasina’s ties with
India have been deeper and
that is not for nothing.
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY
THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL
TOP
TWEETS
SPIRITUAL SPEAK
We are what we think. All that
we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts, we make
the world.
BUDDHA
For Bangladesh PM
Hasina, New Delhi means
a lot. It is the place that
gave her refuge for 6
years following the 1975
massacre of her family, in
which her father Mujibur
Rehman was assassi-
nated. For the record, way
back on August 15, 1975,
as many as 18 members
of her family were assas-
sinated. Hasina escaped
the wrath of the killers as
she was in West Germany
during the violence.
Scared and scarred…
Hasina realised that there
was no point in return-
ing home and hence she
came down to Delhi in
late 1975 with her family
(husband and two chil-
dren). She stayed at 56
Ring Road, Lajpat Nagar-3
for a brief while and later
at Pandara Road near
Pandara Market. Then in
May 1981 Hasina ended
her exile (in Delhi) and
returned to Bangladesh.
Illegal migration is another
challenge and a major
headache for New Delhi.
“The Indo-Bangladesh
border is marked by a
high degree of porosity
and the checking of illegal
cross border activities
and illegal migration from
Bangladesh to India have
been major challenges,”
said the annual report of
the Union Home Ministry
for 2021-22. As the Indian
government decided
to implement the CAA,
Sheikh Hasina had in 2020
reportedly questioned the
need for such an Act.
However, Gowher Rizvi,
advisor to Bangladeshi
PM Sheikh Hasina, had
told India Today in 2018,
that his country would
take back all Bangladeshi
nationals living illegally in
India only “If India suc-
cessfully proved that the
illegal immigrants are
Bangladeshi nationals”.
Thus, Hasina’s win would
give New Delhi enough
reasons to cheer about.
HASINA’SVICTORY:WHY
INDIASHOULDBEHAPPY?
Delhi and Dhaka share several close economic ties
most of which have been fostered mainly in the
recent past. The two nations’ bilateral trade has
been $14.2 billion in 2022-23 and $8.13 billion in
2021-22. Bangladesh has been the fifth largest
market for Indian goods, as per the Indian
Express, only behind the United States, the UAE,
the Netherlands, and China
IN-DEPTH
A JUDGMENT WHICH
BILKIS BANO HAS
BEEN FIGHTING FOR
MALDIVES MINISTERS
STOOP LOW ON PM
n a judgment that would assuage the hurt,
humiliation, and trauma suffered by Bilkis
Bano when she was allegedly raped by 12
men and seven of her family members murdered dur-
ing the 2002 Gujarat riots. In 2008 a Greater Mumbai
special judge convicted 11 of the accused to life im-
prisonment. The convicts were, however, granted
remission by the Gujarat government and they
walked out of jail to a rousing welcome. Bilkis Bano
then began her long legal battle to get the remission
order reversed.
Justice BV Nagarathna, who headed the division
Bench, and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan on Monday ordered
the return of the men to jail. In her judgment Justice
Nagarathna wrote, “A woman deserves respect how-
soever high or low she may otherwise be considered
in society or to whatever faith she may follow or what-
ever creed she may belong to. Can heinous crimes
against women permit remission?These are the issues
that arise,” a judgment with a healing touch.
I
aldives suspended its 3 ministers for mocking
photographsofPrimeMinisterNarendraModi
from Lakshadweep and ridiculing him on so-
cial media but not before they caused a lot of damage
totheircountry’sinterests.Whilemakingthereprehen-
sible remarks the three deputy ministers forgot that
Indians formed a major chunk of tourists who visited
the island nation. With nationwide outrage at the of-
fensive comments, the Maldivian government should
expect the number of Indian tourists to drop substan-
tially. India has an
equally enchanting
island in the form of
Lakshadweep, a Un-
ion territory, waiting
to be explored by In-
dians. The Prime
Minister batting for
the Union territory as
a tourist destination
will go a long way in
luring Indian tourists
to the shores of Lak-
shadweep. Celebri-
ties, who have criti-
cised Maldivian min-
isters, should lead the
way.
What the three
ministers have also
done is to further sour
relations with India.
The strains began to
show after the new
president, Mohamed
Muizzu, asked India
towithdrawitstroopsstationedthereimmediatelyafter
he was elected to office. Known to be close to China,
Muizzu then announced his plans to travel first to Bei-
jing instead of New Delhi as had been the practice
earlier. The pro-China leaning of Muizzu is a cause of
deepsecurityconcernforIndia.Maldivesisofstrategic
importance for India. Therefore, containing China’s
growing influence is India’s primary objective.
Over the years China has emerged as a major eco-
nomicpartnerofMaldivesand,itisfeared,thatBeijing
coulduseitseconomicclouttodislodgeIndiaasMale’s
third-largest trading partner.
M
Knowntobecloseto
China,Muizzuthen
announcedhisplans
totravelfirstto
Beijinginsteadof
NewDelhiashad
beenthepractice
earlier.Thepro-China
leaningofMuizzuisa
causeofdeep
securityconcernfor
India.Maldivesisof
strategicimportance
forIndia.Therefore,
containingChina’s
growinginfluenceis
India’sprimary
objective
O
I would be in London (United Kingdom)
from 8th to 10th January, during which
I shall hold a bilateral meeting with
my UK counterpart, Mr Grant Shapps. Looking
forward to discuss a wide range of defence,
security and industrial cooperation issues.
Rajnath Singh
@rajnathsingh
Good to speak to my dear friend FM
@a_schallenberg of Austria after
the New Year. Recall last year’s visit
to Vienna. Exchanged views on the situation
in Ukraine and Gaza, especially in light of my
recent travels.
Dr. S. Jaishankar
@DrSJaishankar
l Vol 5 l Issue No. 214 l RNI NO. RAJENG/2019/77764. Printed and published by Anita Hada Sangwan on behalf of First Express Publishers. Printed at Bhaskar Printing Press, D.B. Corp Limited, Shivdaspura, Tonk Road, Jaipur. Published at 304, 3rd Floor,
City Mall, Bhagwan Das Road, C-Scheme, Jaipur-302001, Rajasthan. Phone 0141-4920504. l Editor-In-Chief: Dr Jagdeesh Chandra l Managing Editor: Pawan Arora l Editor: Anita Hada Sangwan responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act
PERSPECT VE 06
DELHI MEANS A
LOT FOR HASINA
Robin
Roy
The writer is Senior
Journalist and former
Managing Editor, First India

NEWS 07
SBI RESEARCH REPORT
Income inequality has declined lately
First India Bureau
New Delhi
new study by
SBI Research
has revealed
that income inequality
has declined in recent
years, supporting the
trend of upward migra-
tion through increased
income and the ascent of
the Indian middle class.
The report quoting
CBDTdata, states that the
IncomeTaxbaseiswiden-
ing by the year and the
number of persons filing
Income Tax Return in-
creased to 74 million in
AssessmentYear 2022-23
from 70 million in AY
2021-22. For the Assess-
mentYear2023-24,atotal
of 82 million Income Tax
Returns have been filed
till 31 December 2023.
The SBI report further ob-
serves that ITRs filed by
individual taxpayers earn-
ing between Rs 5 lakh and
Rs 10 lakh climbed by
295% in the assessment
years (AY) 2013–14 and
2021–22, showing a posi-
tive trend of migration to
higher range of gross total
income. The number of
ITRs filed by people earn-
ing between Rs 10 lakh
and Rs 25 lakh has also
increased by nearly 3
times (291%.) during the
same period.
Gini Coefficient is one
of the most widely used
measures of income ine-
quality. The Gini Coeffi-
cient score lies between 0
and 1, where complete
equality would result in a
Gini Coefficient of zero
and complete inequality
would result in 1.
REPRESENTATIONAL
A
New Delhi: Medium-
pacer Abin Matthew
claimed the spotlight
with his maiden five-
wicket haul as Puduch-
erry’s bowlers delivered
an outstanding perfor-
mance, securing a com-
manding nine-wicket
victory over hosts Delhi
in their Ranji Trophy
opener on Monday.
Ranji Trophy:
Pondicherry score
victory over Delhi
Rome: Pope Francis
called Monday for a uni-
versal ban on the “des-
picable” practice of sur-
rogate motherhood, as he
included the “commer-
cialisation” of pregnancy
in an annual speech list-
ing threats to global
peace and human digni-
ty. He lamented that
2024 had dawned at a
time in history in which
peace is “threatened.”
Pope calls for ban on
surrogacy in global
roundup of threats
Manila: Police have
dug up 7 bodies in a
shallow grave amid co-
conut trees in Lanao del
Norte province in the
southern Philippines,
police said Monday
adding that the bodies
of the 7 men women
were recovered after
villagers discovered the
grave. An investigation
is underway to identify
the alleged abductors.
7 bodies found in
shallow grave in
Philippines
Canberra: Ten people
were injured on Monday
after a light plane
crashed on a small island
in Australia’s Great Bar-
rier Reef. The plane was
returning to the runway
on Lizard Island, about
1,600 km northwest of
Brisbane, shortly after
taking off on a sched-
uled service to Cairns.
10 injured in plane
crash on Aus’s Great
Barrier Reef island
IN BRIEF
Tokyo: The death toll
reached 128 in the cen-
tral Japanese prefecture
of Ishikawa, six days
after a series of earth-
quakes of up to 7.6
magnitude struck the
prefecture and its vicin-
ity. 560 people suffered
injuries due to quakes.
Japan earthquake:
128 killed, 195 missing
Israelshiftstodeadlierstrikes
onIran-linkedtargetsinSyria
Israel Hezbollah on collision course for a war neither wants
Agencies
Beirut
Israel is carrying out an
unprecedented wave of
deadly strikes in Syria tar-
geting cargo trucks, infra-
structure and people in-
volved in Iran’s weapons
lifeline to its proxies in
the region, as per sources.
The sources, including
a Syrian military intelli-
gence officer and a com-
mander in the regional
alliance backing Damas-
cus, said Israel had shifted
strategies following the
Oct. 7 rampage by Hamas
fighters into Israeli terri-
tory and the ensuing Is-
raeli bombing campaigns
in Gaza and Lebanon.
Although Israel has
struck Iran-linked targets
in Syria for years, includ-
ing areas where Lebanese
armed group Hezbollah
has been active, it is now
unleashing deadlier, more
frequent air raids against
Iranian arms transfers and
air defence systems in
Syria, the sources said.
The commander in the
regional alliance said Is-
rael had abandoned the
unspoken “rules of the
game” that previously
characterised its strikes in
Syria. Neither Israel nor
Hezbollah want war with
each other, but the two
are on a collision course,
underscored by the assas-
sination of a senior Hez-
bollah commander.
Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon on Monday.
Indian envoy conveys
PM Modi’s greetings
ANI
Dhaka
India’s High Commis-
sioner to Bangladesh
Pranay Verma on Mon-
day called on Bangladesh
Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina. During the meet-
ing, he conveyed the
warm greetings of Prime
Minister Narendra Modi
and India to Sheikh Hasi-
na on her election victo-
ry, sources told ANI.
Indian Envoy Verma
stressed that India will
continue to support the
people of Bangladesh in
realising their vision of a
stable, progressive and
prosperous nation, guid-
ed by their long-standing
friendship and inspired
by their shared sacrifices
in the Liberation War.
Hasina’s party secured
victory in 223 seats to
form government in the
elections held on Sunday.
Pannun calls for shutdown of airports
Agencies
New Delhi
Khalistan leader Gurpat-
want Singh Pannun con-
tinued his incendiary
provocation of violence
against India on Monday,
calling for shutdown of
airports from Amritsar to
Ayodhya ahead of the
January 22 Ram temple
Pran Pratishtha ceremo-
ny. The legal counsel of
the outlawed Sikhs for
Justice (SFJ) group also
exhorted Muslims in the
country to “oppose” the
ceremony, and urged
them to carve out ‘Ur-
duistan’ from India.
“From Amritsar to
Ayodhya, shut down air-
ports. Now is the time,
Muslims, you carve out a
country Urduistan from
India,” Pannun said in a
fresh video message re-
leased on Monday.
Threatening that the
ceremonyisgoingtohave
a “global consequence”,
Pannun said, “every Mus-
lim must protest”.
Alaska Airlines cancels more
than 200 flights after FAA order
Agencies
Washington
AlaskaAirlines (ALK.N)
said it had canceled 170
flights on Sunday and a
further 60 on Monday,
after the U.S. Federal
Aviation Administration
(FAA) ordered the
grounding of 171 Boeing
(BA.N) 737 MAX 9 air-
planes to run inspections.
U.S. officials have re-
covered a panel that blew
off anAlaskaAirlines air-
liner triggering a partial
grounding of Boeing’s
737 MAX 9 and sending
shares in the planemaker
tumbling on Monday.
AdanisecuresredemptionofUSD
750mnbondsaheadofmaturity
Agencies
New Delhi
Adani Green Energy on
Monday announced a
plan to ensure redemp-
tion of its USD 750 mil-
lion bonds eight months
ahead of their maturity,
in an effort to boose in-
vestor confidence in
the company’s finan-
cial health.
The Adani Group
company had raised USD
750 million through issu-
ance of NCDs (non-con-
vertible debentures)
which will mature in
September this year.
‘’Adani Green Ener-
gy Limited (AGEL) to-
day announced the re-
demption plan for the
USD 750 million 4.375
notes due 09 September
2024 (Holdco Notes),’’
the company said in a
statement.
Sharing a break-up,
AGEL said a USD 169
million has been put
through the reserve ac-
counts and internal ac-
cruals, while another
USD 300 million has re-
cently been invested by
TotalEnergies through a
joint venture.
India Women eye maiden T20I series
triumph over Australia in last hurrah
Agencies
New Delhi
The culmination of a long
and mixed home season
brings the Indian wom-
en’s cricket team one last
opportunity to register a
maiden T20I series tri-
umph over Australia at
home when the two sides
square off in the series-
decider here on Tuesday.
With the three-match
affair levelled 1-1, Har-
manpreet Kaur’s India
have a chance to beat
the reigning world
champions Australia in
their own den and kick
off the 2024 T20I World
Cup year in style.
India have only one
series win to show
against Australia’s four
in their five-series bilat-
eral T20I history. How-
ever, having registered
historic wins in one-off
Tests earlier this season
against both Australia
and England, India would
want to make this one
last opportunity count.
Winners of Mr Jaipur
Physique C’ship honored
Varun, Esha seal Oly
quota places with golds
First India Bureau
Jaipur
Rajya Sabha MP Neeraj
Dangi, Rajasthan State
Bodybuilding Associa-
tion President Naveen
Yadav, and Organisation
Secretary Vishal Singh
Rathod handed out tro-
phies to the winners of
the Mr Jaipur and Phy-
sique Championship held
at Pink City Press Club.
Dheeraj Kumar won first
in 55 kg, Radheshyam in
60 kg, Manish in 65 kg,
and Mahfooz in 70 kg.
Ram Shankar was first in
75 kg, Sanyog Singh in
80 kg, Sanjay Khan in 85
kg, and Saurav Kumar in
the weight category of
more than 85 kg. Dixit
Yadav took first place in
Mass Physique.
PTI
Jakarta
Young Indian shooters
Varun Tomar and Esha
Singh on Monday se-
cured two Olympic quota
places for the country
with gold medals in the
men’s and women’s 10m
Air Pistol events of the
Asian Qualifiers here.
The duo’s qualification
took the total number of
Indian shooters bound for
Paris to 15, equalling the
highest-evertallythatwas
achievedinTokyoGames.
India can add more to
the group headed for the
Games in July-August
thisyearwhentheremain-
ing qualifiers are held.
India secured six med-
als on Monday, including
two team golds, at the
continental event’s open-
ing day. The 20-year-old
Tomar shot 239.6 in the
final to claim the top po-
sition, whileArjun Chee-
ma won the silver medal
with a score of 237.3.
Mongolia’s Davaakhuu
Enkhtaivan (217.2) won
the bronze medal.
Middle East Crisis
ISRAELI STRIKE
KILLS COMMANDER
Beirut: An
Israeli strike on
south Lebanon
on Monday killed a
senior commander
in Hezbollah’s elite
Radwan force, three
security sources told
Reuters.The security
sources identified him
as Wissam al-Tawil,
the deputy head of a
unit within the Radwan
force. They said he
and another Hezbollah
fighter were killed when
their car was hit in a
strike on the Lebanese
village of Majdal Selm.
“This is a very pain-
ful strike,” one of the
security sources said.
Another said, “things
will flare up now.”
ADANITOINVESTOVER
`42KCRINTAMILNADU
Chennai:The multi-
business Adani
Group has decided
to invest a whopping Rs
42,768 crore in Tamil Nadu
in renewable energy, cement
manufacturing, data centre,
city gas distribution gener-
ate 10,300 employment
opportunities. It announced
this decision on Monday.
HASINA EMPHASISES STRONG TIES WITH INDIA
Dhaka: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
outlined her plans for the country’s international
relations and highlighted the strong bond between
Bangladesh and India. She expressed gratitude towards
India, emphasising its pivotal role in supporting Bangladesh
during critical moments in history. In a press conference, she
responded to a question about her plans for Bangladesh’s in-
ternational engagement and the ties with India, saying, “We
consider India our next-door neighbour. I really appreciate
that we have a wonderful relationship with India.”
India’s High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pranay Verma calls on
Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina and congratulates her for winning
the election for the fifth term in the national election, on Monday.
Pannun also calls
Ram Mandir unholy,
ungodly, unrighteous,
and urges Muslims to
opposeopeningevent
Khalistan leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun
India’s skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and Australian skipper Alyssa
Healy pose for a photo with the trophy in Navi Mumbai.
Mr Jaipur and Physique Championship held at Pink City Press Club.
(L-R) Indian shooters Rhythm
Sangwan, Esha Singh Surbhi
Rao pose for photos, Monday.
An Investigator examines the fuselage plug area of Alaska Airlines
Flight which was forced to make an emergency landing.
REPRESENTATIONAL

Govt schemes ensure a dignified
life to the commom man, says Birla
First India Bureau
Kota
ok Sabha
Speaker Om
Birla on Mon-
day, said that the Central
and State Governments
have run various schemes
to ensure a dignified life
to the common man.
“It is the responsibility
of social workers and
government officials and
employees to help the
eligible people become
self-reliant by providing
them the benefits of the
schemes,” he said.
Birla was addressing a
‘Viksit Bharat Sankalp
Yatra’Camp organized in
Mundla village of Sangod
assembly constituency,
Birla said that in the last
nine years, many such
schemes havetakenshape
which have changed the
lives of the poor and de-
prived people.
Om Birla addresses the gathering during the ‘Viksit Bharat
Sankalp Yatra’ camp at Moondla village in Kota on Monday.
L
08
If you find yourself asking mentally, ‘Is there any
harm in doing this?’ – there usually will be.
Dr Jagdeesh Chandra, CMD Editor-in-Chief
THOUGHT OF THE DAY
Postal Reg No. JPC/004/2022-24
Polarizationofnon-BJP
votescouldn’tbestopped
Pankaj Soni
Jaipur
After forming the gov-
ernment, BJPfailed in the
first political test held on
Karanpur seat. There
were four main reasons
behind the failure. The
first and most important
reason for this was that
BJP failed to stop the po-
larization of non-BJP
votes. AAP’s Prithipal
Singh, who was at No.2
in 2018 Assembly polls,
got only 11,912 votes this
time. After MLA Gur-
meet Kooner’s demise,
Congress, played a big
‘Sympathy card,’ made
his son RS Kooner its
candidate. Rupinder was
seen leading right from
the beginning. In all the
by-elections held in Ra-
jasthan in last 5 years, all
other equations have
failed before the ‘Sym-
pathy card.’ Rupinder
gave a crushing defeat to
Minister Surendrapal
Singh TT.
Talking about caste
equation, BJP failed to
win over its core OBC
voters in this poll. In As-
sembly polls, very few
tickets were given to the
OBC voters in Bikaner
division. Its effect was
also visible in Karanpur.
Here its effect was visible
in other OBC castes in-
cluding the ‘Kumawats.’
The biggest lesson for
BJP from Karanpur’s de-
feat is that one can’t be
assured about LS polls of
2024 based on results of
Assembly polls. Separate
micro planning is neces-
sary for every election.
Jaipur: Former
CM Ashok
Gehlot and
Congress State
President GS Dotasra,
while congratulating
Rupinder Singh Kooner
on the victory, said that
this mandate is a slap
on the dictatorship of
BJP. At the same time,
BJP State President
CP Joshi said that he
will review the reasons
for the defeat. “The
public defeated the
pride of BJP. Victory of
Rupinder Singh Kooner
is victory of the people
of Srikaranpur.” “This
election has given sev-
eral messages...The ar-
rogance of BJP and the
manner in which they
have abandoned moral-
ity...it is like a slap by
the people to BJP” said
Ashok Gehlot. Mean-
while, PCC Chief GS
Dotasra stressed that
the Srikaranpur election
victory will boost enthu-
siasm among Congress
workers. Meanwhile,
BJP State President
CP Joshi also spoke on
defeat in Sri Karanpur
assembly elections and
said, “We will review the
reasons for the defeat.”
Yogesh Sharma,
Naresh Sharma
Aishwary Pradhan
Jaipur
Chief Minister Bhajan
Lal Sharma, on Monday,
participated in PM Nar-
endra Modi’s address on
the ‘Viksit Bharat
Sankalp Yatra’ and ben-
eficiary dialogue pro-
gramme through VC
from the CMO.
During this, the Prime
Minister interacted with
the beneficiaries present
from the states like
Chhattisgarh, Andhra
Pradesh, Mizoram, Pun-
jab, Uttar Pradesh etc. It
is noteworthy that till
January 6, 7,402 camps
of Viksit Bharat Sankalp
Yatra have been organ-
ised in rural and urban
areas of Rajasthan.
Health check-ups of
more than 47 lakh peo-
ple, 3.52 lakh Kisan
Credit Cards, and about
24.33 lakh Ayushman
Bharat cards have been
issued in the camp. Ra-
jasthan ranks fourth in
the progress of ‘Viksit
Bharat Sankalp Yatra.’
PTI
Jodhpur
The Centre’s ‘Viksit
Bharat Sankalp Yatra’
(VBSY) has picked up
pace in Rajasthan after a
delayed start due to the
‘Model Code of Con-
duct’ahead of the assem-
bly elections, Union
Minister for Jal Shakti
Gajendra Singh Shekha-
wat said.
According to the min-
ister, the yatra started in
the state on December
16 and since then it has
managed to climb to the
eighth position in the
country covering
5,59,762 beneficiaries
so far.
“The yatra is PM Nar-
endra Modi’s dream to
reach the last mile of ben-
eficiaries who are yet to
receive the benefits of the
various government
schemes in each village
of the country”, Shekha-
wat told PTI.
The yatra’s primary
objective is to ensure that
welfare schemes reach
the beneficiaries at the
grassroots level and the
government has taken up
the initiative on a mission
mode in Rajasthan after
the new BJP govt took
charge, he said. “People
are flocking to camps or-
ganised across Raj to reg-
ister themselves for vari-
ous schemes,” he said.
First India Bureau
Jaipur
Rajasthan Assembly
Speaker Vasudev Dev-
nani has constituted the
Housing Committee in
the 16th Rajasthan As-
sembly and nominated
fourteen members in-
cluding the Chairman.
MLA Pushpendra Sin-
gh has been nominated as
Chairman of the Com-
mittee constituted by
Devnani under Rule 249
of the Rules of Procedure
and Conduct of Business
of Rajasthan Assembly.
Devnani has included
MLAs SS Rathore,
Shrichand Kriplani, Kes-
aram Chaudhary, Phool
Singh Meena, Sandeep
Sharma, Shobha Chau-
han, JK Gothwal, Ma-
hendra Jeet Singh Malvi-
ya, Anil Kumar Sharma,
Brijendra Singh Ola, Ti-
karam Jully, Rajkumar
Roat and Chandrabhan
Singh Chauhan in panel.
A bulletin to this effect
has been issued by Prin-
cipal Secretary of theAs-
sembly, MP Sharma.
First India Bureau
Jaipur
BJP State President CP
Joshi attended the virtual
telecast of the pro-
gramme of PM Modi’s
interaction with the ben-
eficiaries of Bharat
Sankalp Yatra and inter-
acted with the beneficiar-
ies after innspecting the
camp at JMCG Jagatpura
Zonal office. “The coun-
try is continuously be-
coming stronger due to
the schemes of Modi
government,” he said.
Ziauddin Khan
Jaipur
Industries Minister Ra-
jyavardhan Rathore said
that his aim is to have
strong economic devel-
opment in Rajasthan.’
“There should be a bet-
ter environment for in-
vestment in the State.The
investors should get ben-
efits of all schemes at
their doorstep,” he told
reporters at Udyog Bha-
wan. He said that the Gu-
jarat model will be imple-
mented in Rajasthan also.
“Like industries in Gu-
jarat are developing with
each passing day, the in-
dustrial sector will be de-
veloped in Rajasthan on
the same lines,” he said.
He said that Vibrant
Gujarat led to industrial
development in Gujarat
and the development in
Rajasthan will be done
on Gujarat pattern.
KOONER’S VICTORY
IS VICTORY OF THE
PEOPLE: GEHLOT
Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma virtually attends Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address on
‘Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra’ and beneficiary dialogue programme from the Chief Minister’s Office
in Jaipur on Monday. Abhay Kumar, T Ravikanth were also present.
Diya Kumari CP Joshi being welcomed during the ‘Viksit Bharat
Sankalp Yatra’ camp held at Bagru in Jaipur on Monday.
Gajendra Singh Shekhawat interacts with women associated
with Self Help Groups during the ‘Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra’
camp held at Pokhran village in Jaisalmer district on Monday.
Rajyavardhan Rathore lays the foundation stone for expansion
of 128 km long rising pipe in Hathoj, Bhagwati Nagar in Jaipur.
l BJP’s gamble for ministerial post also
backfired l Kooner was leading from the
beginning due to the ‘sympathy card’
VBSY is PM’s dream
to reach last mile
of beneficiaries,
says Union Minister
CM listens to PM’s interaction
with VBSY beneficiaries via VC
Modi govt’s schemes fortifying
the country, says CP Joshi
Devnani forms
14-member
Housing Panel
for MLAs
Viksit Bharat in mission mode in
Rajasthan: Union Min Shekhawat
Gujarat Model to be adopted in Raj: Rathore
WILL MAKE RAJASTHAN A LEADER IN
ENERGY SECTOR: HEERALAL NAGAR
DY CM WCD MINISTER
DIYA CHAIRS DEPT MEET
V-P, BIRLA AT PRABODHAN
EVENT ON JANUARY 16
COMMITTED TO MAKE DEPT’S FUNCTIONING TRANSPARENT: KHARRA
SPECIALATTENTIONWILLBEGIVEN
TOPROTECTNATIVECOWS:KUMAWAT
Jaipur: Energy Minister Heeralal
Nagar said that a special action plan
will be prepared and work will be
done to make Rajasthan leader in the en-
ergy sector. “We will all face this challenge
together. It will be
our endeavor to
make Rajasthan
the leader in the
energy sector. For
this, a special ac-
tion plan will be prepared and work will be
done,” he said. On coal shortage problem,
he said, “It is expected that soon there will
be uninterrupted supply of coal,” adding
that every possibility will be explored in the
field of power generation.” Vikas Sharma
Jaipur : Deputy CM
and WCD Minister,
Diya Kumari took a
review meeting of the Wom-
en and Child Development
Department at Secretariat
instructed the officials
that 50 model Anganwadi
centres should be set up
in the state under the first
100-day action plan. One
Anganwadi centre in each
district should be developed
as a model centre where all
basic facilities should be
made available.
Jaipur: A one-day
orientation pro-
gramme for newly
elected members of 16th
Rajasthan Assembly will
be held in State Assembly
on Jan 16. The inaugural
ceremony will take place at
10:30 am. The chief guest
of the ceremony will be
Vice- President, Jagdeep
Dhankhar. The chief guest
of closing ceremony will be
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Bir-
la. Both programmes will be
presided over by Assembly
Speaker Vasudev Devnani.
CM BL Sharma will also be
present.
Jaipur: UDH Minister Jhabar Singh Kharra said he is committed to making the
functioning of the department transparent and corruption free. Kharra took charge
of office in Secretariat on Monday. During this, he told First India that there are
complaints regarding the tenure of previous govt and answers will be sought from officials
regarding the complaints. He also said that programmes will be organised in Ramlala’s
Pran Pratistha Mahotsav in Ayodhya and urban local bodies across the State will organise
the ‘Deepotsav’ programmes to mark the occasion. Kharra also appealed to the citizens
of the State to celebrate this occasion like Diwali. “One should participate in historical mo-
ments by lighting lamps in the courtyard of their homes,” he said. Abhishek Shrivastava
Jaipur: Animal Husbandry Minis-
ter Jora Ram Kumawat said that
special attention will be given to
protection of cows in Raj. While thanking
the cow shelter operators, he appealed to
the people not to
leave the cows as
strays and to be
sympathetic to-
wards them. After
assuming office
in the Secretariat, Kumawat said that every
effort would be made to bring the state to
the leading position in the field of animal
husbandry. His family, acquaintances, and
officials congratulated Kumawat on assum-
ing charge. Vinod Singh Chouhan
First India Bureau
Jaipur
Governor Kalraj Mishra
and V-P Jagdeep
Dhankhar on Monday,
condoled the
demise of
J u s t i c e
Navrang Lal
Tibrewal,
the former
acting Guv of Raj and
acting CJ of Raj HC. Guv
Mishra prayed to the Al-
mighty to provide peace
to the departed soul.
Dhankhar took to his so-
cial media account about
his demise prayed for
peace to departed soul.
First India Bureau
Jaipur
Chief Minister Bhajanlal
Sharma while addressing
the review meeting of the
Energy Department at
the CMO, directed the of-
ficials to prepare a road-
map for the future keep-
ing in mind the energy
needs of the State. The
CM said that self-reli-
ance in energy produc-
tion is very important to
provide relief to the com-
mon people through var-
ious public welfare
schemes. “Public interest
is paramount for the State
Government. At present
our power companies
have a debt of about Rs
90,000 cr. A huge part of
the budget is going to-
wards repaying this debt.
Whereas the State has
immense natural resourc-
es in renewable energy
sector. With proper poli-
cy formulation and im-
plementation in this area,
the Energy Dept can gen-
erate resources and em-
ployment on a large scale
for State’s development,”
the CM said, adding that
“The focus of department
should be on giving con-
crete results instead of
manipulation of data.”
Self-reliance in energy is formula
for progress and prosperity: CM
Analysis
Congress supporters celebrate the party’s win in the Karanpur
Assembly by-election, in Karanpur on Monday. ANI
CM Bhajan Lal Sharma chairs a review meet of Energy Dept at
CMO in Jaipur. Heeralal Nagar, Sudhansh Pant are seen.
In competition to the ‘Sympathy card,’ BJP threw
the card of development through power in polls, but
this also appeared to backfire. Instead of benefit-
ing from this, Surendrapal Singh TT appeared to be facing
loss. There was a discussion among the general voters
that without becoming MLAs, they are making ministers,
which means that our vote has no value. However, BJP
strategists believe that if TT had not been made a minister,
perhaps the margin of defeat could have been greater.
FOR THE FIRST TIME ACROSS THE COUNTRY,
SUCH AN EXPERIMENT FAILED
KARANPUR
POLLS
V-P, Guv condole
demise of Justice
NL Tibrewal

JAIPUR, TUESDAY | JANUARY 9, 2024
Glamour | Fashion | Bollywood | Hollywood | Lifestyle
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09
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09012024_First India Newspaper Jaipur.pdf

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