10022022 first india new delhi

First India Bureau
Chandigarh: In Delhi,
the Kejriwal govern-
ment of Aam Aadmi
Party has announced to
regularize the jobs of all
the temporary employ-
ees of the Jal Board.
Delhi Chief Minister
Kejriwal said, “It has be-
come a trend in the
country to privatize gov-
ernment sectors. We
have shown the impor-
tance of public sectors
by improving the condi-
tion of government
schools and hospitals in
Delhi. Today the need is
to reform public sectors,
not to sell them. We can
provide better facilities
to the common people
only by reforming the
government sectors.”
Kejriwal said, “Nowa-
days a norm has been
created in our country
that the government
cannot run government
schools, hospitals and
companies. So, they
hand them over to pri-
vate companies or pri-
vatize them some other
way. The AAP govern-
ment in Delhi has
proved that if the gov-
ernment is honest and
has clear intentions,
then it can successfully
rungovernmentschools
and hospitals and can
also provide good facili-
ties to the people
through government
employees. He said that
the stereotype, that says
that government em-
ployees don’t work once
they are regular, is
false.” He said that he’s
sure that regularised
workers will work just
as hard as before.
In a statement issued
on Wednesday, Aam
Aadmi Party’s Punjab
chief ministerial candi-
date Bhagwant Mann
saidthatthisdecisionof
the Kejriwal govern-
ment has given hope to
thousandsof temporary
employees of Punjab.
Arvind Kejriwal handing over a certificate confirming employment
to an employee, in New Delhi on Wednesday. —PHOTO BY ANI
Kejriwal regularizes DJB contractual staff
FULFILLING THE PROMISE
Sharat K Verma
Khanna: In her first
election campaign in
Punjab for this Assem-
bly elections, Union
Minister Smriti Irani
on Wednesday raised
an issue which has
been haunting the Con-
gress party for the last
over 37 years, the 1984
anti-Sikh riots.
SheattackedtheCon-
gress, accusing it of not
delivering justice to the
victims of 1984 riots
and said it was the BJP
government which put
the guilty behind bars.
Irani also hit out at
Rahul Gandhi for alleg-
edly supporting those
who gave the slogan of
“dividing the country”
and said voting for the
party means voting for
those who want to di-
vide the country
.
Addressing a rally
here in support of par-
ty’scandidate Gurpreet
Singh Bhatti, Irani said
the Congress, when it
wasinpowerattheCen-
tre, failed to ensure jus-
tice to the victims of
1984 anti-Sikh riots.
“When it comes to
justice, who can forget
1984 riots? For 30 years,
those who lost their
own family members
waited for justice.
They kept waiting for
the punishment for
those who were in-
volved in it,” she said.
She asked the Con-
gress why it could not
send those who were
involved in 1984 anti-
Sikh riots to jail. “For
30 years, the justice,
which the Congress
could not deliver, was
delivered by the BJP
government,” she
said.
She said 300 cases
were reopened and
chargesheets were
filed and added, “Those
leaders who stood
shoulder to shoulder
with the Gandhi family
after the riots are today
behind bars.”
She further said that
is why Prime Minister
Narendra Modi said in
Parliament that Con-
gress’ situation is such
that it has become the
leader of the ‘tukde
tukde gang’.
Without naming
Punjab Congress chief
Navjot Singh Sidhu,
she said the Congress
gave the command of
its state unit to a per-
son who hugged the
chief of the enemy
army
.
—With PTI inputs
Union Minister Smriti Irani at Khanna (near Ludhiana) at an election rally in support of party’s
Khanna candidate Gurpreet Singh Bhatti (standing left to Smriti Irani).
Cong failed to deliver justice to victims of 1984 anti-Sikh riots: Irani
BJP TOP GUN’S FRESH SALVOS AT CONGRESS
Union Minister attacks Congress
and its leader Rahul Gandhi for not
delivering justice to the victims of
1984 anti-Sikh riots for over 30 years
KARNATKA HIJAB CONUNDRUM
NEW DELHI lTHURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2022 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNITITLE NO.DELENG/2021/19840 lVol 1 l Issue No.162
OUR EDITIONS: JAIPUR, AHMEDABAD, LUCKNOW & NEW DELHI www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
23-yr-old Kerala trekker Babu was trapped in a ‘fault-
line’ or crevice on a hill at Palakkad district of Kerala.
However, the trekker was finally rescued by Army. The
specialised mountaineering unit of the Army rescued
him from the deep forests of the Palakkad Gap.
The Sensex closed 533 points higher at 61,150 on
Wednesday. The Nifty too rose 156 points to close at
18,212. Mahindra and Mahindra, which gained 4.6%,
Bharti Airtel (3.7%) and Reliance Industries (2.7%)
were among the top gainers in the market. P6
ARMY RESCUES
KERALA
TREKKER,
STUCK ON HILL
SENSEX
CROSSES 61K
MARK AGAIN,
NIFTY AT 18,212
DELHI UNIVERSITY TO
REOPEN ON FEB 17
The University of Delhi will reopen
its gates for physical classes on
February 17, said Prof Rajni Abbi,
DU Proctor. The decision came af-
ter the academic council meeting.
As per the order, those coming to
Delhi from outstations will have to
quarantine for three days.
FIRST PHASE OF UP ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS BEGINS FROM WEST
JATBELTVOTESTODAY
...to seal fate of nine BJP ministers, SP-RLD alliance
Of the total 403 Vidhan Sabha
seats in Uttar Pradesh, the
first phase of voting will take place
on Thursday for 58 constituencies
spread across 11 districts
During last Assembly polls in
2017, BJP bagged 53 seats out
of 58 while Samajwadi Party and
Bahujan Samaj Party got two seats
each and one seat went to RLD
1 2
M Tariq Khan
Lucknow: The first
phase of polls in Uttar
Pradesh on Thursday
will decide the fate of
nine ministers in the
Yogi government.
The 58 seats in the
Jat-dominated western
region would also de-
cide the future of Rash-
triya Lok Dal (RLD)
leader Jayant Chaud-
hary, who has joined
hands with the SP.
In the 2017 Assembly
polls, the BJP had swept
the region riding on the
overwhelming support
of the Jats, the upper
castes and non-Yadav
OBCs and division in
the Muslim votes.
This phase of polling
is extremely crucial
since it includes dis-
tricts in western UP
where candidates in
several constituencies
are facing hostile vot-
ers, mainly due to the
farmers’ agitation.
Bengaluru: A single-
judge bench of the Kar-
nataka High Court on
Wednesday decided to
refer a batch of peti-
tions questioning a ban
on the use of hijab or
headscarf by Muslim
girls in a few pre-univer-
sity colleges in the state
to a larger bench of the
court on account of the
issues raised in the peti-
tions involving larger
constitutional issues.
Meanwhile, the Ben-
galuru Police issued an
order saying that gath-
erings and protests will
be banned near educa-
tional institutions in
the city for two weeks,
i.e., till February 22.
Over 25K Indians ended lives due
to unemployment, indebtedness
in 2018-2020, Govt in Rajya Sabha
New Delhi: The Union
government on Wednes-
day informed the Rajya
Sabha that more than
25,000 Indians died by
suicide due to either un-
employment or indebt-
edness between 2018 and
2020.
As many as 9,140 peo-
plediedbysuicidedueto
unemployment and
16,091 people due to
bankruptcy or indebted-
ness during the time pe-
riod, the government
told the upper house.
The information was
provided by MoS
(Home) Nityanand Rai
in Rajya Sabha. Rai said
that the government fig-
ures are based on data
providedbytheNational
Crime Records Bureau.
According to the data,
suicides among the un-
employed have been in-
creasingandtouchedthe
highest(3,548)inthepan-
demic year of 2020.
While 2,741 ended life
due to unemployment in
2018, 2,851 did so in 2019.
HC refers case
to larger bench
AMIT SHAH VOWS TO MAKE GOA
‘AATMANIRBHAR’, SLAMS CONG
Panaji: Ahead of
Goa Assembly
polls, Union Home
Minister Amit Shah
slammed the Con-
gress for their governance
of ‘instability and anarchy’
when they were in power
in the state, assuring that
the BJP make the state
‘golden’, ‘prosperous’ and
‘Aatma-nirbhar’.
“Today I want to
remember the late
Manohar Parrikar
ji. He had dedi-
cated his entire life for the
development of Goa. In
next five years, apart from
stability and development,
we will also make Goa
‘Aatma-nirbhar’.
 Ahead of the first
phase of voting in Uttar
Pradesh on Thursday,
Prime Minister Nar-
endra on Wednesday,
during an interview
with ANI, said that the
agri laws were brought
in for the benefit of
farmers, but were with-
drawn in the interest of
the people.
 Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, break-
ing his silence on
the Lakhimpur Kheri
incident, said The
state government gave
its consent for what-
ever committee the
Supreme Court
wanted, for
whichever
judge the Su-
preme Court
wanted for
the
probe. The state
government is working
transparently. Centre
didn’t want to inter-
fere.
 Launching a scath-
ing attack on “dynastic
politics”, Modi said it
is a “big threat” and
the “greatest enemy of
democracy”.
 PM targeted the
former Congress chief
and dubbed him as a
“person who does not
listen and does not sit
in the House.”
 Attacking SP-RLD
alliance, PM Modi said,
“We saw the game of
“two boys” earlier
too... They had such
arrogance that
they used the
words ‘Gujarat ke
do gadhe’ (Two
donkeys
from Guja-
rat). Uttar
Pradesh
taught
them a
lesson”.
Protests banned near schools,
colleges in B’luru for 2 weeks
OWAISI REMINDS
PAK OF MALALA
MALALA CALLS
ROW HORRIFYING
Debt-hit UP trader
attempts to kill self
on Fb live, wife dies
AIMIM chief Asaduddin
Owaisi while reminiding
shooting incident on
Malala Yousafzai said
advised Pakistan to mind
its own business as the
country’s foreign minis-
ter commented on girl
education in India over
Karnataka hijab row.
Nobel laureate Malala
Yousafzai took to twitter
on February 9 saying
that ‘refusing to let girls
go to school in their
hijabs is horrifying’.
Baghpat: A trader in UP
went on Facebook live on
Tuesday and took poison,
blaming heavy losses, in
a disturbing video that
has gone viral ahead of
polls in the state. Rajiv
Tomar, a shoe trader in
Baghpat survived but his
wife died.
MODISPEAK BEFORE POLLS
MInisters Suresh Rana, Atul Garg,
Shrikant Sharma, Sandeep Singh,
Kapil Dev Agarwal, Dinesh Khatik,
Dr GS Dharmesh
This phase in west-
ern region would also
decide future of RLD
chief Jayant Chaud-
hary, who has joined
hands with the SP.
UTTAR PRADESH PHASE-1
KEY CANDIDATES
58
Constituencies
11
Districts
2.27
cr voters
623Candidates
in the fray
The Bhartiya Kisan
Union (BKU), which
had spearheaded
the farmer agitation
in the region, has
been working silently
among the farmers and
other communities to
persuade the electorate
to oppose the saffron
party, which, it said, had
termed the protesting
farmers as ‘’Khalistanis,
Pakistanis, and even
terrorists’’.
BKU FACTOR
58
58
Constituencies
Constituencies
11
Districts
2.27
cr voters
623Candidates
in the fray
Union (BKU), which
Kairana, Shamli, Muzaffar Nagar,
Baghpat, Thana Bhawan
KEY CONSTITUENCIES
CORONA CATASTROPHE
NEW DELHI
RECOV-
ERED
1,908
NEW
CASES
1,317 NEW
DEATHS
13

CAPITOL
NEW DELHI | THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2022
02
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RAIN, THUNDERSTORMS BRING
DOWN DELHI’S TEMPERATURE
National capital witnesses heavy rainfall in several parts in early hours of Wednesday
New Delhi: The nation-
al capital has witnessed
a heavy rainfall in sev-
eral parts in the early
hours of Wednesday
.
Earlier in the day, the
India Meteorological
Department (IMD) pre-
dicted thunderstorms
with light to moderate
intensity rain in the na-
tional capital and its
adjoining areas.
“Thunderstorm with
light to moderate inten-
sity rain and gusty
winds with speed of 30-
40 Km/h would occur
over and adjoining are-
as of a few places of
Delhi ( Narela, Bawana,
Alipur, Burari, Karawal
Nagar, Seemapuri,
Safdarjung), Narnaul,
Bawal, Aurangabad,
Hodal (Haryana),
Shamli, Kandhla, Kha-
tauli, Sakoti Tanda,
Hastinapur, Chandpur,
Daurala, Khekra,
Kithor, Garhmuktesh-
war, Pilakhua, Hapur,
Gulaoti, Sikandrabad,
Bulandshahar, Nand-
gaon, Barsana (U.P.),
Tizara, Khairthal, Kot-
putli, Alwar, Nagar,
Laxmangarh (Ra-
jasthan) during next 2
hours,” tweeted IMD.
Meanwhile, some
parts of North India are
likely to be covered in
dense fog, including the
North and North East-
ern states and West
Bengal, Sikkim and
Odisha for the next 24
hours.
—ANI
IMD’s PREDICTION
Wet streets of Delhi after rain in the early hours on Wednesday. —PHOTO BY ANI
Delhi University to resume
physical classes from Feb 17
AIIMS discontinues
Covid testing before
in-person hospitalisation
Farmers’ demands: Delhi BJP stages
protest outside CM Kejriwal’s house
New Delhi: The Uni-
versity of Delhi will be
reopening for physical
classes from February
17, 2022, DU Proctor Ra-
jni Abbi announced on
Wednesday, while ad-
dressing protesting
ABVP activists.
For the past few days,
students and activists
had been protesting in
the Delhi University’s
North Campus, outside
the office of the VC, de-
manding that the uni-
versity reopens physi-
cal classes immediately
.
The protests started a
few days after the Delhi
Disaster Management
Authority gave a green
light to resumption of
offline classes in the na-
tional capital.
Initially organised by
Students’ Federation of
India (SFI), the protests
grew in number with
time and saw presence
of activists from the left
and right wing, along
with students.
On Wednesday, while
addressing protesting
ABVP activists, the DU
Proctor Rajni Abbi an-
nounced that the uni-
versity will reopen on
Feb 17 and a notifica-
tion will soon be issued
from the office of the
vice-chancellor about
the same.
Earlier on Wednes-
day, nine ABVP activ-
ists had launched a
hunger strike at North
Campus demanding re-
opening of colleges. Ac-
tivists from left wing
were also seen protest-
ing for the same in the
campus. Meanwhile,
the Delhi University
Teachers Association is
also protesting in the
campus. —PTI
New Delhi: AIIMS,
Delhi on Wednesday an-
nounced to discontinue
routine COVID-19 test-
ing prior to in-patient
hospitalisation and sur-
geries. AIIMS Medical
Superintendent DK
Sharma in a letter on
Wednesday said in ac-
cordance with current
ICMR’s national guide-
lines, it has been decid-
ed to discontinue rou-
tine Covid-19 testing
prior to inpatient hospi-
talisations & also prior
to any minor or major
surgical or interven-
tional or non-interven-
tional procedures and
imaging in clinically
asymptomatic patients.
His letter states that
OPD or emergency pa-
tients as well as those
patients who were ear-
lier Covid-19 positive
and have since recov-
ered are also included
in these guidelines.
—ANI
New Delhi: Delhi BJP
on Wednesday staged a
protest outside Chief
Minister Arvind Kejri-
wal’s residence over al-
leged non-fulfilment of
farm demands by the
AAP government,
claiming that the farm-
ers are being subjected
to injustice in the na-
tional capital.
Speaking at the pro-
test, Leader of Opposi-
tion in Delhi Assembly
Ramvir Singh Bidhuri
said that Kejriwal had
made several big prom-
ises to farmers before
coming to power, none
of them has been ful-
filled.
The protest, in sup-
port of 12-point de-
mands, was joined by
hundreds of farmers
from rural areas of Del-
hi, said the Delhi BJP.
Bidhuri said Kejri-
wal promised free elec-
tricity for irrigation to
the Delhi farmers but
no free power has been
provided to them.
“In a way, the govern-
ment is stopping farm-
ers. AAP government
prevents farmers from
installing tube well in
his farms. If they some-
how get the tube well
installed, an electricity
connection is not pro-
vided. The farmers are
subjected to this kind of
injustice and crime,” he
said. —PTI
Leader of Opposition Ramvir Singh Bidhuri speaks during protest. —@RamvirBidhuri/Twitter
COMPENSATION INC. TO `10 CR/ACRE
New Delhi: An inspec-
tion by the forest and
wildlife department has
found that the PWD
damaged 80 trees on Vi-
kas Marg near Laxmi
Nagar by carrying out
trenching work for
streetscaping.
The department,
which conducted a
hearing on Tuesday
also found that three
trees were felled with-
out permission, while
the roots of 80 trees
were exposed.
It has now asked the
executive engineer of
the project to appear be-
fore the tree officer in
person during the next
hearing on Friday and
explain why the PWD
twice violated a work
restraining order is-
sued by the forest de-
partment in October
2021.
A forest official, who
is looking into the case,
said a fresh inspection
of the area will be car-
ried out by the depart-
ment on Wednesday, to
assess if more trees
have been damaged.
“No permission was
sought from us... penal
action can be taken
against the PWD, if the
agency is unable to
show due cause,” the of-
ficial said. —Agencies
PWD damages 80 trees in East Delhi
COLOSSAL LOSS

During the
inspection by
the forest and
wildlife
department it
was found that
three trees were
felled without
permission by
PWD
—REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE
University of Delhi —FILE PICTURE
A woman giving sample for COVID-19 test.
NO MORE ONLINE
All India Students
Association (AISA),
Students’ Federation
of India (SFI) and other
student organisations
supporters holding
placards and play
drums as they protest
demanding reopening
of the Delhi University
at North Campus
in New Delhi on
Wednesday.
—PHOTO BY ANI
Only 35%
eligible have
received
precaution
dose in Delhi
New Delhi: The
vaccination drive
in Delhi against
Covid-19 has again
picked up the pace,
with close to 1 lakh
doses being admin-
istered on Monday
and Tuesday, ac-
cording to data
from the govern-
ment’s CoWIN por-
tal. There were
1,01,890 shots ad-
ministered on Mon-
day and 98,255 on
Tuesday
. In compar-
ison, just over 59,800
shots were adminis-
tered on average
each day during the
previous week.
Despite the rise
in the pace, the
number of precau-
tion doses being ad-
ministered remains
low, accounting for
only about 9% of
the shots adminis-
tered on both days.
So far, there have
been 339,330 total
precaution doses
administered in the
city since the drive
was opened up on
January 10. This
means almost 35%
of the total 9,70,000
healthcare workers,
frontline workers,
and people over the
age of 60 years with
co-morbidities have
received the precau-
tion doses.
Almost 70% of
the total shots ad-
ministered on both
days were second
doses, the data
shows. —Agencies
Man’s body stuffed inside gunny
bag found in city’s Burari locality
New Delhi: The body
of a unidentified man
stuffed inside a gunny
bag was found in north
Delhi’s Burari area, the
police said on Wednes-
day
.
The gunny bag was
found at Yamuna
Pushta near Parsiram
Enclave on Tuesday
.
Deputy Commission-
er of Police (North) Sa-
gar Singh Kalsi said a
call about it was re-
ceived around 5 pm.
“When our team
reached the spot, it was
found to be an unknown
male body, aged approx-
imately 30 years, with
no external injuries ex-
cept some blood on the
mouth and on right toe.
The spot was also in-
spected by the crime
team,” he said.
A case of murder has
been registered under
section 302 of Indian Pe-
nal Code, and an inves-
tigation is on to identify
the dead and solve the
case, the DCP said. —PTI
Woman thrashed
for objecting to
smoking in auto
Bail plea dismissed of
accused in a terror case
Gurugram: A woman
was allegedly beaten by
a private bank execu-
tive after she objected to
him smoking inside a
shared auto here, police
said on Wednesday. Ac-
cused Vasu Singh, was
arrested but released on
bail, police said, adding
that the victim -- Suman
Lata -- is recuperating
in a hospital. According
to the complaint filed by
Lata, the incident took
place on Monday eve
when she was return-
ing home in a shared
auto. —PTI
New Delhi: A Delhi
Court has dismissed the
bail plea of a man ar-
rested by Delhi
Police in a case
of alleged
conspiracy to
execute a se-
ries of terror
attacks, includ-
ing in Delhi, to
create instability in the
country
.
Additional Sessions
Judge Dharmender
Rana denied bail to Abu
Bakar, who was arrest-
ed along with some oth-
ers last year.
Thecourtnotedinthe
order passed on Febru-
ary 8 that investigation
in the case was still
on and the period
for concluding
the probe was
already ex-
tended by the
judge earlier.
The accused
had sought relief
on the ground that he
was languishing in Ju-
dicial Custody since
Sept 14, 2021 and was
undertaking not to tam-
per with the evidence, if
any, or intimidate any
witnesses related to the
present case. —PTI
Gurugram: Man jumps in
front of moving train, dies
Gurugram: A man in
his late 20s allegedly
killed himself by jump-
ing in front of the New
Delhi-Ajmer Shatabdi
Express here on
Wednesday morning,
the railway police said.
The man’s mutilated
body was found on the
railway tracks, they
said, adding that his
identity is yet to be as-
certained.
The railway police
was informed around
7:30 am about a body ly-
ing on the tracks be-
tween the Gurugram
and the Garhi-Harsaru
railway stations, offi-
cials said.
A team reached the
spot and collected the
body parts, they said,
adding that the Guru-
gram Railway Police
has filed a case and sent
the body to a mortuary
for an autopsy
. —PTI

INDIA
03
‘Love Jihad’crackdown in BJP manifesto
THE PARTY PROMISES TO HALVE ELECTRICITY BILLS AND FAMILIES FINANCIALLY AFFECTED BY
COVID-19 WILL BE GIVEN RS 25,000. SCOOTIES TO COLLEGE-GOING FEMALES ALSO IN MANIFESTO
Dehradun: Union Road
Transport and High-
ways Minister Nitin
Gadkari on Wednesday
released BJP’s manifes-
to in Dehradun ahead of
the Assembly polls in
Uttarakhand laying a
roadmap for its develop-
ment over the next five
years as a model state.
BJP’s manifesto for
Uttarakhand named,
“Vision Document
2022”, has promised
amendment of the law
of ‘love jihad’ to make it
stricter, including a pro-
vision of 10 years of
rigorous imprison-
ment, Chief Minister
Pushkar Singh Dhami
told media on Wednes-
day
.
Theparty’spollmani-
festo also puts renewed
emphasis on infrastruc-
ture development, tour-
ism,stoppingmigration,
employmentgeneration,
empowerment of wom-
en, farmers, horticul-
ture and dairy develop-
ment.
Releasing the Con-
gress party’s Unnati
Vidhan manifesto, Pri-
yanka Gandhi an-
nounced that the party
will waive off farmers’
debt within 10 days of
coming to power in Ut-
tar Pradesh. —PTI
Lucknow: Congress
general secretary Pri-
yanka Gandhi Vadra on
Wednesday announced
theparty’selectionman-
ifesto in which the party
announced sops for
farmers,covidwarriors,
teachers and medium
scaleenterprises.‘False’
cases against journal-
ists will also be with-
drawn if the Congress
comes to power, Priyan-
ka Gandhi said.
The manifesto is
what the general public
said and wanted, Pri-
yanka Gandhi said.
“Like Chhattisgarh,
farmers’ loans will be
waived as soon as our
government is formed.
Paddy and wheat will be
purchased at 2500 per
quintal and sugarcane
at 400 per quintal. Elec-
tricity bill will be
halved and dues of the
pandemic period will be
waived,” Priyanka said.
The manifesto also
promises to provide
reservation in promo-
tion to members of the
two communities.
The party also prom-
ised to provide the bene-
fit of reservation to peo-
plefromDalitsubcatego-
ries and form a commis-
sion to look into their
needsanddrawaplanfor
the upliftment of ‘pas-
manda’ (poor) Muslims.
The party has also
promised to depute an
SC leader as the home
minister of UP to be able
to curb the rising crimes
againstDalitcommunity
.
The party promised
to provide tribal status
toKolcommunitywhich
is listed as a scheduled
caste in UP. In other
states including Mad-
hya Pradesh, Chhatish-
garh and Jharkhand,
they are a tribe. —PTI
POLLS
U’khand
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari along with Union Minister & BJP’s Uttarakhand election in-charge
Pralhad Joshi, MP Tirath Singh Rawat, State BJP chief Madan Kaushik, and ex-CM Trivendra,
releases BJP’s manifesto for Assembly elections, in Dehradun on Wednesday. —PHOTO BY PTI
AICC General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra with others, releases party manifesto Unnati Vidhan
Jan Ghoshna Patra at UPCC headquarter, in Lucknow on Wednesday. —PHOTO BY PTI
UP: Cong promises farm
loan waiver in manifesto
BADAL: WILL
COMPLETE
RAVIDAS
MEMORIAL
Chandigarh: SAD
president Sukhbir
Singh Badal said
their previous
government had
started work on Guru
Ravidas memorial
at Khuralgarh on
which work was
not completed
by the Congress
government. “After
coming to power,
SAD-BSP would
complete the work
at the earliest,” he
said, while also
reiterating pro-poor
announcements
made by the alliance
earlier. Apart
from attacking
the Congress, he
also attacked AAP
supremo Arvind
Kejriwal stating that
on every crucial
issue his stand was
anti-Punjab.
Cong engages in divisive politics, BJP
focuses on devp: Nadda in U’khand
Kedarnath: BJP na-
tional president JP Na-
dda on Wednesday al-
leged that the Congress
party always engages in
divisive politics, unlike
BJP which never asks
the identity of people
while implementing de-
velopment schemes.
“Congress leaders al-
ways incite fights be-
tween villages, castes
and brothers. Getting
votes after dividing soci-
ety has always been
their way of working.
But BJP never asks your
caste or village. If some-
one is a resident of Utta-
rakhand then it is our
job to ensuretheir devel-
opment,”MrNaddasaid
while addressing a rally
in Kedarnath.
He further asserted
that BJP leaders share
their report cards while
seeking votes, unlike
Congress candidates.
“You must have seen
that any BJP leader who
contests elections talks
about themselves and
the party’s report card.
But have you ever seen
Congress leaders put-
ting forward their re-
port card?” he asked.
Accusing Congress
leaders of benefiting
from the relief that
came in for the 2011 Ke-
darnath tragedy, the
BJP leader said “When
the tragedy hit the state,
Congress leaders ‘ne
malai khai the’ (took
away the benefits from
the relief that came in)
and left everything in
ruins. PM Modi worked
on establishing this
place. A new story of
development has been
written here.” —PTI
JP Nadda

PERSPECTIVE
04
IMRAN GETS LOW-KEY WELCOME IN CHINA
THE OPPOSITION FINALLY JOIN HANDS TO OUST
THE GOVERNMENT IN NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
It is quite known in
Pakistan that during the
tenure of Raheel Sharif
as the army chief, Nawaz
Sharif, was advised to
resign, but he dared the
army to topple him. In
angered Raheel so much
that instead of imposing
martial law, he decided
to control the civilian
government by using the
judiciary and media.
The media was used to
malign the established
political leaders in
cooked-up corruption
cases and the
judiciary ensured
their conviction
he count-down has begun
for the hybrid regime of
Imran Khan in Pakistan
and his recent China visit
could be his last foreign
trip as the prime minister.
Amidst, the two foreign
trips of the country’s most
powerful persons i.e. the
armychief,GeneralQamar
Jawed Bajwa to the USA
andthecivilianprimemin-
ister, Khan, with his minis-
ters to China, the opposi-
tionpartieshavedecidedto
topple the government.
The opposition has de-
cided to oust the Khan and
his party, Pakistan Tah-
reek-i-Insaf (PTI) by a non-
confidence motion in the
Pakistan National Assem-
bly(PNA).Of the342-strong
PNA, the PTI has only 149
members. It means with
the support of the smaller
parties, the Khan govern-
ment can be toppled.
The historical decision
was taken at a luncheon
meeting held in Lahore at-
tendedbythetopleadersof
the opposition parties such
as the co-chairpersons of
thePakistanPeople’sParty
(PPP), Asif Zardari, and
his son, Bilawal Bhutto.
The venue of the high-pro-
filemeetingwastheLahore
residence of Shehbaz Sha-
rif, the president of the
country’s main opposition
party, Pakistan Muslim
League-Noon(PML-N).The
strength of the PML-N and
PPP is 82 and 54 respective-
ly
.Thepresenceof Maryam
Nawaz, daughter of Nawaz
Sharif, has reaffirmed that
it could take place follow-
ing her father’s consent.
Nawaz Sharif, three-time
prime minister, is present-
ly in London for treatment.
It is also believed in the po-
litical circles that he is in
constanttouchwiththetop
PPP leadership.
The low-key welcome of
Imran Khan in Beijing also
indicates that his hosts
were aware of his ‘bleak
political future’. He was
received by a deputy min-
ister in the foreign office,
Wu Jianghao, and could
not meet the president, Xi
Jinping. Khan, who was of-
ficially invited to the inau-
gural ceremony was ac-
companied by his cabinet
colleagues, Foreign Minis-
ter, Shah Mehmood
Qureshi, Finance Minister,
Shaukat Tareen, Planning
Minister, Asad Umar, In-
formation Minister, Fawad
Choudhary and National
security advisor, Moeed
Yusuf. His visit is consid-
ered partially successful
because he could have a
virtual meeting
with the Chi-
nese premier
Li Keqiang. Khan’s request
for a personal audience
was ‘politely’ rejected. He,
however, appreciated the
Khan government’s deci-
sion to offer an $11.6 mil-
lion compensation for the
families of Chinese engi-
neers who were killed and
wounded in a terrorist at-
tack at the Dasu Dam hy-
dropower project last year
in Pakistan. The Pakistani
media is describing Khan’s
mission to lure more Chi-
nese funds and financial
help as a great success, but
he could not obtain a firm
dateregardingXiJinping’s
visit to his country
. Khan’s
request for an additional
USD three billion of loan
was promised, but the
Chinese charge exorbi-
tant interests, almost
eight times than the IMF,
on the recipient countries.
The agenda of Bajwa’s
visit to the USA has not
been disclosed, but it is be-
lieved that he has reas-
sured his American hosts
thatthearmyanditssecret
police, Inter-Services Intel-
ligence (ISI) would main-
tain neutrality in the polls.
President Joe Biden is an
ardent supporter of de-
mocracy and human
rights. Bajwa, perhaps,
might have cited the local
bodies’ elections in the
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,
where the ruling party
, PTI
was trounced. He might
have also assured Penta-
gon, the defense headquar-
ters of America, unhin-
dered access to the coun-
try’s military establish-
ments to the USA despite
theanti-Americanrhetoric
of Khan and his ministers.
It may be noted that in
spite of US exit from Af-
ghanistan on August 15,
2021, Bajwa has been in
constant touch with Amer-
ican and British security
establishment. Earlier, on
September 9, 2021, he had
met, the CIA chief William
Burns, who was assured of
Pakistan’s cooperation
with the USA in the region.
The US Defence Secretary
Lloyd Austin had been in-
structing Bajwa about the
exitof theAmericanforces
from Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, the judici-
ary has also become asser-
tive. The Islamabad High
Court has already asked
the army to dismantle the
business centres estab-
lished in the cantonments.
The case of the audiotape
of former Chief Justice of
Pakistan, Saqib Nissar, in
whichhereportedlyasking
is brother judges to impli-
cate Maryam Nawaz in cor-
ruption cases and ensure
that Nawaz and his daugh-
terdonotgetbailbeforethe
elections. It is quite known
in Pakistan that during the
tenure of Raheel Sharif as
the army chief, Nawaz Sha-
rif, was advised to resign,
but he dared the army to
topple him. In angered Ra-
heel so much that instead
of imposingmartiallaw,he
decided to control the civil-
ian government by using
the judiciary and media.
The media was used to ma-
lign the established politi-
cal leaders in cooked-up
corruption cases and the
judiciary ensured their
conviction. However, this
strategy has finally boo-
meranged, the army has
become neutral and judges
impartial. The opposition
parties are expected to be
more aggressive in the
coming weeks under the
banner of the Pakistan
Democratic Movement.
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY
THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL
T
GOPAL MISRA
The writer is accredited as a journalist
of long and distinguished service with
the Press Information Bureau of the
Information and Broadcasting Ministry
It may be noted that in
spite of US exit from
Afghanistan on August
15, 2021, Bajwa has
been in constant touch
with American and
British security
establishment. Earlier,
on September 9, 2021,
he had met, the CIA chief
William Burns, who was
assured of Pakistan’s
cooperation with the
USA in the region
Vol 1 Issue No. 162 RNI TITLE NO. DELENG/2021/19840 Printed and published by Anita Hada Sangwan on behalf of First Express Publishers. Printed at Impressions Printing and Packaging Limited, C-21, 22 Sector-59, Noida-201301.
Published at G-20, 3rd Floor, 309, Preet Vihar, New Delhi-110092. Phone 011-49846474. Editor-In-Chief: Jagdeesh Chandra. Editor: Sharat K Verma responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act
Nitin Gadkari @nitin_gadkari
Stable and development-oriented
government in Uttarakhand is our
endeavor. Prime Minister Mr. @
narendramodi Ji and Chief Minister Mr.
@pushkardhami. The BJP government
under the leadership of Ji is committed
for the overall development of
Uttarakhand. #UttarakhandWithBJP #Vote4BJP
TOP TWEETS
SPIRITUAL SPEAK
Warn divisive people once, and then warn
them a second time. After that, have
nothing to do with them.
—Bible
Narendra Singh Tomar @nstomar
Pineapple reached the foreign
markets through the fields of
India. There was a 100% increase
in the export of pineapple in April-
December 2021 as compared to
April-December 2013.
ohannesburg –
Imagine that a
crisis emerges
in your home,
workplace, or
community. You neither
created it nor benefited
from it. And yet, you are
bearing the brunt of the
consequences, while those
who did create and benefit
from it continue to make
the problem worse. For Af-
rica, such an egregious
injustice has become all
too real.
Though Africa contrib-
utes only 4% of global
greenhouse-gas emissions
annually, it is among the
regions most vulnerable to
climate change and cli-
mate variability. Already,
climate disruptions and
crises are severely under-
mining human well-being
and economic develop-
ment, and water-related
disruptions pose some of
the most serious risks.
The so-called WASH
(Water, Sanitation, and Hy-
giene) initiative, being
pursued by the Southern
African Development
Community with GWP
support, is also advancing
vital water-related objec-
tives. By installing hand-
washing facilities at bor-
der posts across the region,
the initiative will help to
stem the transmission of
infectious diseases, there-
by facilitating intra-re-
gional trade and economic
activity and, ultimately,
contributing to the realiza-
tion of the African Conti-
nental Free Trade Area.
But, as with all these
initiatives, success de-
pends significantly on
funding. That is why Afri-
can countries and their
international partners
have developed the Water
Investment Scorecard, a
data-driven approach that,
by tracking progress, will
help to sustain pressure on
decision-makers.
Africa did not cause the
climate crisis, but African
leaders are taking the ini-
tiative in developing strate-
gies for coping with it, in-
cluding its impact on the
continent’s water security
and sanitation. The ques-
tion is whether those who
are most responsible for cli-
mate change will put their
money where their mouth
is before it is too late.
SOURCE: PROJECT SYNDICATE
RIGHTING THE INJUSTICE
OF AFRICA’S WATER CRISIS
Africa did not cause the
climate crisis, but
African leaders are
taking the initiative in
developing strategies
for coping with it,
including its impact on
the continent’s water
security and sanitation
J

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INDIA
05
New Delhi: Billonaire
businessman Mukesh
Ambani has regained
the status of Asia’s
richest person, a day af-
ter Gautam Adani had
surpassed the Reliance
Industries Ltd chair-
man on net worth, ac-
cording to Bloomberg
Billionaires Index.
As of February 9,
2022, Mukesh Ambani
is in the 10th spot on the
Bloomberg Billionaires
Index global list with a
net worth of $89.2 bil-
lion. Ambani’s net
worth has eclipsed Gau-
tam Adani’s $86.3 bil-
lion.
The founder of Adani
Group was at the 11th
spot on the list and
holds the status of the
second richest man in
Asia. The development
comes after Gautam
Adani on February 8 be-
came the richest person
in Asia, overtaking fel-
low countryman Muke-
sh Ambani, according
to the Bloomberg Bil-
lionaires Index. Last
week, Gautam Adani
became the richest In-
dian, leaving behind
Mukesh Ambani, ac-
cording to Forbes’ Real-
Time Billionaire’s list.
Last week, both
Mukesh Ambani and
Gautam Adani sur-
passed Mark Zucker-
berg on Forbes’ list of
real-time billionaires
after he lost $29 billion
in net worth as Face-
book owner Meta Plat-
forms Inc’s stock
marked a record one-
day plunge following a
disappointing earn-
ings forecast that
shook the global tech
landscape.
Meanwhile, the
Bloomberg Billionaires
Index has been topped
by Elon Musk with a net
worth of $238 billion.
Musk is followed by
Jeff Bezos, Bernard Ar-
nault, Bill Gates, and
Larry Page.
Ambani is back as Asia’s richest man
New Delhi/Amritsar:
The Border Security
Force (BSF) on Wednes-
day recovered over 4 kg
of RDX, a pistol and
bomb-making items
dropped in two packets
by a drone that flew
from Pakistan into an
Indian farm along the
Punjab border.
A spokesperson of
the paramilitary force
said troops fired after
they heard a buzzing
sound of a suspected
flying object coming
from the Pakistani side
to the Indian side
around 1 am in the Pan-
jgrain area of Gur-
daspur sector.
A search was later
conducted in the wheat
farms of Ghaggar and
Singhoke villages along
the border and the BSF
party recovered two
yellow-coloured pack-
ets, lying about 20 m
apart embedded in the
wet soil, he said.
1st nasal spray
to treat Covid patients
Glenmark launches FabiSpray for adult patients in India
New Delhi: Mumbai
based innovation-driv-
en global pharma com-
pany Glenmark has
launched Nitric Oxide
Nasal Spray (FabiS-
pray) in India, in part-
nership with SaNOtize,
for treatment of adult
Covid-19 patients.
Glenmark received
approval from India’s
drug regulator, Drugs
C o n -
troller General of In-
dia, for spray as part of
the accelerated process.
“Phase 3 trial in In-
dia met the key end-
points and demon-
strated reduction of
viral load of 94 per
cent in 24 hours and
99 per cent in 48 hours.
Nitric Oxide Nasal
Spray (NONS) was safe
and well-tolerated in
Covid-19 patients. Glen-
mark to market NONS
under the brand name
FabiSpray,” reads the
official statement.
New Delhi: India logged 71,365 new coronavirus infections taking the
country's total tally of Covid-19 cases to 4,24,10,976, while the active
cases declined to 8,92,828, according to the Union Health Ministry data
updated on Wednesday. The death count climbed to 5,05,279 with 1,217
fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.
INDIA RECORDS 71,365 NEW COVID CASES
Explosives, gun
smuggled by
Pak drone,
recovered: BSF
Modi has misused Parl for
political gains, says Kharge
New Delhi: Leader of
Opposition in the Rajya
Sabha and senior Con-
gress leader Mallikar-
jun Kharge on Wednes-
day said that PM Naren-
dra Modi misused the
Parliament for political
gains.
Speaking to ANI,
Kharge said, “The
Prime Minister was
only attacking Con-
gress and was not an-
swering questions
raised by the party
. Con-
gress party raised is-
sues like China's ex-
treme aggression, ris-
ing inflation in the
country, unemploy-
ment, crisis arising out
of Pegasus and Covid in
front of the govern-
ment, but the PM did
not say anything on
these issues.”
He further slammed
the Prime Minister stat-
ing that he should have
kept in mind the digni-
ty of the post he is oc-
cupying.
The Prime Minister
should have kept in
mind the dignity of the
post but he talked only
on those issues which
can be used for elec-
tions in five states, if
there is any hate and
anger against Congress,
Mahatma Gandhi, Pan-
dit Nehru and Rahul
Gandhi, he can speak
these things outside the
House and should have
responded to the issues
raised by the Congress
in the House. But the
Prime Minister has
misused the House for
electoral gains.
Mallikarjun Kharge
New Delhi: Con-
gress leader Rahul
Gandhi today took a
jibe at the govern-
ment’s aatmanirbhar
policy pointing out
that the Statue of
Equality was made
in China. He asked if
‘New India is China-
nirbhar’. “Statue of
Equality is Made in
China. ‘New India’ is
China-nirbhar,” he
posted on Twitter
today. According to
the project website,
the 216-feet statue
of Ramanujacharya
was made by a
Chinese corpora-
tion. The contract
for the 135
crore statue was
awarded to China’s
Aerosun Corpora-
tion in 2015.
STATUE OF
EQUALITY
MADE IN
CHINA: RaGa
New Delhi: Glob-
al automaker Toy-
ota Motor and fast
food chain Domi-
no’s Pizza are
among half a doz-
en companies that
have apologised to
India for social
media posts from
their Pakistani
partners express-
ing support for
separatists in
Kashmir, as more
companies got
caught up in the
diplomatic fracas.
The apology
comes after a rare
diplomatic escala-
tion between
South Korea and
India on Tuesday
over social media
posts by Hyundai
Motors’ Pakistani
partner, which
caused an uproar
and calls to boy-
cott the carmaker.
Japan’s Suzuki
Motor, majority
owner of India’s
biggest carmaker
Maruti Suzuki,
Honda Motor and
IsuzuMotor,South
Korea’s Kia Mo-
tors and Yum!
Brands’ KFC also
issued apologies
as criticism grew
on Twitter over so-
cial media posts.
New Delhi: Over 600
Kashmiri Pandit mi-
grant families’ land
has been restored in
the last five years, the
Centre told Parliament
Wednesday, adding that
the government is tak-
ing various steps to en-
sure that such families
can safely return to val-
ley and also can earn
their livelihood with-
out any fear.
“As per the informa-
tion provided by the
Government of Jammu
and Kashmir, the land
of 610 applicants (mi-
grants) has been re-
stored in the last five
years,”Ministerof State
for Home Affairs Nity-
anand Rai informed the
Rajya Sabha.
“Under the JK Mi-
grant Immovable Prop-
erty (Preservation, Pro-
tection Restraint on
Distress Sales) Act,
1997, District Magis-
trates (DMs) of con-
cerned Districts in Jam-
mu Kashmir are the
legal custodians of the
immovable properties
of Migrants. The DMs
are further empowered
to take all steps for the
preservation and pro-
tection of such proper-
ties,” the Minister said.
To ensure that mi-
grant Kashmiri pandit
families do not have
problems to gain custo-
dy of their property, a
portal was also
launched by JK ad-
ministration, it said.
Kashmir
tweet row
entangles
more cos
600 Kashmiri Pandit families’ land restored
New Delhi: Experts
have warned that
the next Covid-19
variant will be
more transmis-
sible, and perhaps,
more deadly. WHO
epidemiologist Dr
Maria Van Kerkhove
stressed that the
future variants will
be in some way
more virulent than
Omicron is now.
NEXT VARIANTS
WILL BE MORE
VIRULENT: WHO
New Delhi: Shiv Sena
MP Sanjay Raut on
Wednesday said that he
has all the evidence to
back up his claims and
would reveal them at
the right time. Raut had
earlier alleged that the
ED has been harassing
him and his family after
he refused to help in
toppling the Maharash-
tra govt. He alleged that
there was a criminal
syndicate involving
the ED and some black-
mailers like BJP’s Kirti
Soumya that he was go-
ing to expose.
The ED officials “are
now reduced to puppets
of their masters”, he
had said and added that
the officials have even
admitted that they have
been asked by their
'bosses' to 'fix' me.
Will expose criminal
syndicate: Sena MP
warns probe agencies
Mumbai: Maha-
rashtra minister
Nawab Malik on
wednesday said
the NCP, Congress
and Shiv Sena will
not only continue
to govern Maha-
rashtra, but will
also come to power
at the Centre by
dislodging the BJP
at the Centre.
BJP’S ILLUSION
THAT WE’LL GET
SCARED: MALIK
Mahesh Sharma
New Delhi: Different
groups have their own
concerns regarding the
next year’s Budget of
the central government.
One of these big con-
cerns is whether the
Central Government
will continue the Prad-
han Mantri Garib Kaly-
an Yojana or will it be
closed? This question is
because the Finance
Minister did not say an-
ything about it in the
general budget. Keep in
mind that at the end of
lastyear,thecentralgov-
ernment had decided to
end this scheme. Then
many states including
Delhi and Uttar Pradesh
announced to imple-
ment this scheme on
their own. Since assem-
bly elections are going
on in five states, the
Center also extended
this scheme by four
months, the limit for
whichwillendonMarch
31. That is, the election
willendinthefirstweek
of March and the
scheme will end on the
last day of the current
financial year. What will
happen after that?
Many experts are
speculating that the gov-
ernment has kept the
budget for procurement
of paddy and wheat
fromfarmersatthemin-
imum support price
(MSP) same as last year,
so it is possible that it
should be carried for-
ward. Keep in mind that
this year the Finance
Minister has made a
provision of two lakh 37
thousand crore rupees
for the purchase of food
grains. Last year it was
Rs 2 crore 42 lakh crore.
However, another fig-
ure in Nirmala Sithara-
man’s budget indicates
that it may be scrapped.
She has reduced the
budget for distribution
of food grains through
Public Distribution
System (PDS) from Rs 2
lakh 10 thousand 929
crore to one lakh 45 920
crore. That is, there has
been a reduction of Rs
65 thousand crores.
That is why it seems
that the Pradhan Man-
tri Garib Kalyan Anna
Yojana may not go be-
yond March 31.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO
GARIB KALYAN YOJANA?
SC GIVES ANTICIPATORY BAIL TO
TRINAMOOL LEADER IN MURDER CASE
DUE PROCESS OF LAW BEING FOLLOWED IN
POLICE ENCOUNTERS: ASSAM GOVT TO HC
AHMEDABAD BLASTS: HEARING ON
QUANTUM OF SENTENCE ON FEB 11
New Delhi: The Supreme Court has granted anticipa-
tory bail to Trinamool Congress leader SK Supiyan,
who was the election agent of
Bengal Chief Minister Mamata
Banerjee in Nandigram during
last year’s assembly elections,
in a murder case. A bench of
Justices L Nageswara Rao
and Abhay S Oka, however,
imposed several conditions while granting the relief
to Supiyan. The top court on February 4 had reserved
its order when the CBI had said that Supiyan has been
running away from the investigation in the murder case
of a BJP worker being probed by it.
Guwahati: Due process of law and all guidelines issued
by the NHRC are being followed in all cases of police
encounters that have taken place in Assam since May
last year, the state government claimed in an affidavit
filed before the Gauhati High Court. In the affidavit
filed in connection with a PIL, the Assam government
informed the court that 28 people have been killed
and 73 others injured in police action from May 10
last year, when Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma
assumed charge, till January 28 this year. The Assam
government on February 7 filed the “detailed affidavit”,
a copy of which is available with PTI, as sought by the
Gauhati HCt, which on Tuesday deferred the hearing of
the PIL related to the encounters till February 10.
Ahmedabad: A special court here on Wednesday
said it will begin hearing arguments on February
11 for deciding on the quantum of sentence for
convicts in the case of 2008 Ahmedabad serial
bomb blasts. The hearing was deferred after a
defence lawyer requested some time to gather
documents before the court begins further pro-
ceedings. The court had on Tuesday convicted
49 people in the case related to the blasts which
had claimed 56 lives. In the verdict, which came
13 years, special judge AR Patel acquitted 28
accused, giving them the benefit of doubt.
IN THE COURTYARD
New Delhi: As many as
4,844 foreigners have
been granted Indian
citizenship in the past
five years, the govt told
the Lok Sabha. In 2021,
the govt granted almost
three times the number
of Indian citizenships
compared to 2020. Ac-
cording to the data, 817
foreigners were granted
Indian citizenship in 2017,
628 in 2018, 987 in 2019,
639 in 2020 and 1,773 in
2021. “The citizenship of
India is governed under
the provisions of Citizen-
ship Act, 1955.
Kohima: The Nagaland State Disaster Management
Authority (NSDMA) has declared a ‘drought of a
moderate nature’ in the entire state for six months
from September 2021 to March this year. The
NSDMA declared the ‘drought of moderate nature’
after taking into account the conditions arising from
rainfall deficiency and poor crop conditions, an of-
ficial statement issued in Kohima.
4,844 FOREIGNERS
GRANTED INDIAN
CITIZENSHIP
‘DROUGHT OF A MODERATE NATURE’
DECLARED IN NAGALAND
CRUCIAL READ
New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar
will begin a six-day visit to Australia and the Phil-
ippines beginning on Thursday. His visit to Aus-
tralia from February 10 to 13 will be his first trip
to that country as EAM. The visit to the Philip-
pines comes over two weeks after the Southeast
Asian country signed a $375m deal with India to
buy 3 batteries of the BrahMos cruise missile.
JAISHANKAR TO VISIT AUSTRALIA,
PHILIPPINES FROM FEB 10-15: MEA
As of Feb 9,
2022, Ambani is
at 10th spot on
Bloomberg
Billionaires
Index global list
with a net worth
of $89.2 bn
Mukesh Ambani Gautam Adani

BIZ BUZZ
06
New Delhi: The gov-
ernment is open to
‘some tinkering’ in the
varied rates and hold-
ing period for computa-
tion of capital gains tax
on shares, debt and im-
movable property, in a
bid to make it simple,
Revenue Secretary
Tarun Bajaj said on
Wednesday
.
Under the I-T Act,
gains from sale of capi-
tal assets, both movable
and immovable, are
subject to ‘capital gains
tax’. The Act, however,
excludes movable per-
sonal assets such as
cars, apparels, furni-
ture from this tax.
Bajaj said the cur-
rent capital gains tax
structure is “too com-
plicated” in terms of
varied rates and period
of holding across the
assets and hence needs
a relook.
“We need to rework
the capital gains
structure for
rates, hold-
ing period…
We would be
open to some
tinkering in it
the next time we
get an opportuni-
ty,” Bajaj said at a
CII event.
Asking the in-
dustry chamber to
also conduct a
study on what
are the prevail-
ing rates of
capital gains
tax across the
world, Bajaj
said, the de-
partment has
already stud-
ied the rates in other
nations like India and
the developed world.
“Number one is rate
and number two is the
period for which it is. I
think it is too compli-
cated... that we have
created. For real
estate, we have made it
24 months, for shares 12
months, for debt it is 36
months. We need to
work on that,” Bajaj
said.
Observing that when
any such tinkering is
brought about,
there would be a seg-
ment of taxpayers who
would stand as gainers,
while there would be a
segment who would
lose out compared to
their present tax provi-
sion, the Secretary
said, adding “that be-
comes the most diffi-
cult part”.
Depending upon the
period of holding an
asset, the long-term or
short-term capital
gains tax is levied.
—PTI
New Delhi: To con-
tain the price rise in
edible oils and oil-
seeds, the states have
been asked to imple-
ment the Centre’s
stock limit order on
the commodities
without causing any
disruption in the
supply chain and im-
pacting the trade, an
official release said
on Wednesday
.
The Union Con-
sumer Affairs Minis-
try on February 3
notified an order ex-
tending the stock
limits on edible oils
and oilseeds for an-
other three months
till June 30 this year
and also specified
the stock limits.
The ministry re-
viewed the imple-
mentation plan of
this order in a meet-
ing with all states
and UTs on Tuesday
.
The states were
also briefed about
the current interna-
tional price scenario
and how the Indian
market is affected by
it, the ministry add-
ed.
—PTI
New Delhi: Amid FY23
Union Budget’s focus
on investments, leading
domestic credit rating
agency Crisil on
Wednesday said that
the capital expendi-
ture is “not as high
as it sounds”.
It, however, was
quick to add that
considering that
governments usu-
ally tend to cut
capex during a crisis,
the government has
maintained its focus on
growth-spurring initia-
tives amid pandemic.
The research wing of
the agency said, if one
excludes the `1 lakh
crore of loans to states
for capex included in
the headline figure of
`7.50 lakh crore or
2.91%, the ac-
tual spend in FY23, will
go down to 2.58% of
GDP, which is barely at
par with the revised es-
timate of FY22.
The report also point-
ed out that the overall
number showing a rise
has been ‘offset’
through a reduction in
internal and extra
budgetary resourc-
es (IEBR), which
funds capex of
central public sec-
tor enterprises
(CPSEs).
IEBR has been
budgeted at 1.82%
of GDP for the next
fiscal, much lower than
the pre-pandemic aver-
age (fiscals 2018-20) of
3.33%, it said, attribut-
ing the same to poor
capex execution by
CPSEs lately
. —PTI
New Delhi: The Su-
preme Court on
Wednesday sought a
response from the Fu-
ture group on Ama-
zon’s plea against the
Jan 5 order of the Del-
hi HC staying the ongo-
ing arbitration pro-
ceedings before
an arbitral tri-
bunal over Fu-
ture Retail’s `
2 4 , 5 0 0 - c r o r e
merger deal with
Reliance.
A bench com-
prising Chief Justice
N V Ramana and Jus-
tices A S Bopanna and
Hima Kohli issued no-
tices to the Future
group firms, FCPL and
FRL and said that it
will hear the matter on
February 23 “without
any adjournment”.
The Delhi HC on Jan
5 had stayed the Ama-
zon-Future arbitration
which is going on be-
fore a three-member
arbitral tribunal over
the latter’s `24,500-cr
deal with Reliance.
During the brief
hearing, the CJI ex-
pressed displeasure
over some media re-
ports on his remarks
made on Tuesday while
declining Amazon’s re-
quest to file written
submission in another
case field by FRL seek-
ing a nod to proceed
with the NCLT permis-
sion of going ahead
with the merger.
—PTI
New Delhi: GAIL (In-
dia) Ltd has pre-poned
the supply of gas from
the US and is looking to
contract more LNG
next year as it doubles
down efforts to secure
affordable energy sup-
plies to meet the needs
of Asia’s third-largest
economy, chairman
Manoj Jain said.
India’s No 1 gas trans-
porting and marketing
firm has long-term liq-
uefied natural gas
(LNG) supply contracts
from the US to Austral-
ia and with Russia, sup-
plementing domestic
gas supplies.
“In 3Q (October-De-
cember 2021) we pre-
poned a couple of car-
goes (LNG shiploads)
from supplies that we
were to receive next
year and we did it again
in the current quarter,”
Jain said.
This because US LNG
costs one-third of the
price of gas available in
the spot or current mar-
ket. GAIL has a 5.8 mil-
lion tonnes per annum
LNG contract with US
suppliers. —PTI
New Delhi: Housing
finance companies are
likely to witness a port-
folio growth at 8-10%
in the current fiscal
and 9-11% in FY 2022-
23, according to a re-
port. After an impact
on their disburse-
ments in Q1 FY2022,
non-banking finan-
cial companies-
housing finance
companies (NBFC-
HFC) saw a sharp
recovery in the
second quarter.
Their on-book portfo-
lio is estimated at Rs
11.6 lakh crore, up 9%
YoY, in the first half of
FY2022.
Going forward, the
g r o w t h
trend is
e x -
pected to continue,
driven by healthy de-
mand in the industry,
increasing level of eco-
nomic activity and in-
creasing vaccination
in the country
.
“We retain our
growth estimate of
8-10% for the on-book
portfolio of HFCs in
FY2022. Further, HFCs
on-book portfolio is es-
timated to grow by
9-11% in FY2023,”
Icra Ratings agen-
cy said. —PTI
New Delhi: India is
witnessing a shift in
mobility trends with
more and more con-
sumers expressing in-
terest in electrified and
hybrid vehicles, as per
Deloitte’s Global Auto-
motive Consumer
Study 2022. More than
a third of Indian con-
sumers have expressed
interest in electrified
and hybrid vehicles, as
the segment sets steam
with India’s focus on
environment friendly,
self-manufactured and
sustainable solutions
post pandemic, as per
the findings of the an-
nual report.
According to the
study, 59% of the In-
dian consumers
were con-
cerned about
c l i m a t e
c h a n g e ,
pollution
levels and
gasoline/
diesel vehicles emis-
sions, indicating that
consumers interest in
the EVs is due to the
perception of
l o w e r
fuel costs, environmen-
tal consciousness, and
a better driving experi-
ence, it noted.
—PTI
Govt may tweak
New Delhi: The ag-
gregate bad loan pro-
visioning by banks
increased in the De-
cember quarter after
falling for the previ-
ous two quarters.
The trend reversal
was mainly on ac-
count of higher
provisioning
by public sec-
tor (PSU)
b a n k s
which fo-
cused on
sequential-
ly improv-
ing the pro-
v i s i o n i n g
coverage ra-
tio (PCR).
For a
s a m p l e
of 29
b a n k s ,
the non-
performing assets
(NPA) provisioning
increased by 4.9% se-
quentially and by
9.7%YoYtoRs31,891.6
crore in the third
quarter. The reading
had peaked in the
March 2022 quarter at
Rs 65,986.9 crore and
had fallen in the two
subsequent quarters
to September.
TheNPAprovision-
ing by PSU banks in-
creased by 5.4% and
19.4% sequential and
YoY respectively at
the aggregate lev-
el to Rs 21,939.5
crore. It
f o r m e d
68.8% of
the total
s a m p l e ’ s
bad loan pro-
v i s i o n i n g
compared with 68.5%
in the previous quar-
ter and 63.2% in the
year-ago quarter. Top
PSU banks including
State Bank of India,
Punjab National
Bank, Canara Bank,
and Bank of Baroda
increased PCR during
the quarter by 60-250
basis points sequen-
tially
. —Agencies
NPA provisioning by
banks sees jump in Q3
New Delhi: Shares of newly listed Adani group firm
Adani Wilmar Ltd extended gains for the second
session surging over 19% on Wednesday on the
back of higher volumes. The stock spiked nearly
38% in the last two sessions. During the day, the
stock surged as much as 18.7% to hit a fresh high
of `314.85 a share on the BSE. At 10.22am, it was
trading at `314, up 18.4% percent from its previous
close. Adani Wilmar price earnings stands at 37.56x,
whereas its peers like Nestle and Britannia Industries
are trading at PE of 81.6x and 54.7x. —PTI
Adani Wilmar stock surges
38% over issue price
Mumbai: Equity benchmark Sensex surged 657
points on Wednesday to reclaim the 58,000-mark
following robust buying in auto, metal and banking
stocks. Strong global cues also
supported the domestic indices,
traders said. The 30-share BSE
Sensex closed 657.39 points
or 1.14% higher at 58,465.97.
Likewise, the NSE Nifty jumped
197.05 points or 1.14% to end at
17,463.80. —PTI
Sensex gains 657 pts, Nifty tops 17,450
SCnoticetoFuturegrouponpleaofAmazon
Shift in mobility trends with
focus on electric, hybrid vehicles
States told to
implement
stock limit order
on oilseeds,oil
GAIL eyes deals to meet
India’s energy needs
Equity MFs log `14,888-cr net inflow in January
New Delhi: Equity
mutual funds attract-
ed a net sum of `14,888
crore in Jan, making
it the 11th consecutive
monthly net inflow.
However, this was
much lower than the
net inflow of `25,077
crore witnessed in De-
cember.
Equity schemes
have been witnessing
net inflow since
March 2021 and the
segment has received
a net inflow of over `1
lakh crore during this
period highlighting
the positive senti-
ments among inves-
tors. Prior to this,
such schemes had con-
sistently witnessed
outflows for eight
months from July 2020
to February 2021 los-
ing `46,791 crore.
Overall, the mutual
fund industry regis-
tered a net inflow of
`35,252 crore during
the period under re-
view compared to a
net outflow of `4,350
crore in December.
The average under
management (AUM)
of the industry rose to
`38.88 lakh crore at
January-end from
`37.72 lakh crore at
December-end.
Within the equity
segment, all catego-
ries saw net inflows
barring value
funds. While the
flexi-cap fund catego-
ry saw the highest net
inflow to the tune of
`2,527 crore. —PTI
HOUSING FINANCE PLAYERS LOAN
PORTFOLIO TO GROW AT 8-10% IN FY22
BUDGET CAPEX NOT AS HIGH
AS IT SOUNDS: CRISIL
CAPITAL GAINS
TAX REGIME

07
NEWS
‘SP’S GOONS A THREAT TO GIRLS’ SAFETY,
ONLY BJP CAN ENSURE LAW ORDER’
He added that the SP govt had stopped old age pensions the amount was distributed among officials
First India Bureau
Lucknow: Uttar
Pradesh Chief Minister
Yogi Adityanath on
Wednesday said that the
wheel of development
must continue to roll in
UP and only the double
engine Govt of UP can
ensure this because “de-
velopment is not possi-
ble without sound law
and order situation and
BJP alone can guaranty
safety and honour of
women, farmers and the
poor.”
Addressing a virtual
rally in Rampur, CM
Yogi said that scores of
people of Rampur have
benefitted from the wide
rangingwelfareschemes
of the BJP Govt in the
last five years. Earlier,
Yogi was scheduled to
address public meetings
virtually in Bareily and
Moradabad also, which
werepostponedforsome
reasons.
He said: “We have
made a record payment
of Rs 1.59 lakh crore to
the sugarcane farmers
inthestateof which2400
crore has gone to farm-
ers of Rampur, which is
much more than what
was paid to them during
10 years of SP’s and BSP
govts.” CM Yogi added
that sugarcane farmers
were paid a mere Rs 653
crore and Rs 1400 crore
during BSP and SP Gov-
ernments respectively
.
He added that the SP
governmenthadstopped
old age pensions and the
amount was distributed
among officials whereas
the BJP Government re-
sumed the pension.
Yogi Adityanath
Party will continue to work
on women safety: Thakur
Lucknow: Hailing the
manifesto of Bharatiya
Janata Party for Uttar
Pradesh Assembly elec-
tions, Union Minister
Anurag Thakur on
Wednesday said that
the party will continue
to work on women safe-
ty for the next five
years.
Thakur while ad-
dressing a press confer-
ence in Uttar Pradesh’s
Lucknow said that the
funds for ‘CM Kanya
Sumangala Yojana’ and
‘CM Samuhik Vivah Yo-
jana’ have been in-
creased in the state.
“BJP to work on women
safety for next five
years, funds for ‘CM
Kanya Sumangala Yo-
jana’ has been in-
creased from Rs 15,000
to Rs 25,000, funds for
‘CM Samuhik Vivah Yo-
jana’ is now at Rs 1 lakh
from Rs 51,000. We will
also give SHG credit
cards up to a limit of Rs
1 lakh,” the BJP leader
stated.
No challan for
tripling on bikes
if voted to
power: Rajbhar
First India Bureau
Lucknow: In a rath-
er bizarre poll prom-
ise, SBSP chief Om
Prakash Rajbhar
vowed to waive chal-
lans for bikes carry-
ing three passengers
if its alliance with
the SP is voted to
power in the upcom-
ing UP assembly elec-
tions. The former UP
minister and presi-
dent of the SBSP,
promised to allow tri-
ple riders on the mo-
torbikes if his party
formed the next gov-
ernment in the state.
Congres wiped out from whole country,
only lurking in mountains: Rajnath Singh
Uttarakhand: Union
Defence Minister Ra-
jnath Singh took a swipe
at Congress stating that
the party has been
wiped out from the en-
tire country
.
He also stated that
Congress is only “lurk-
ing in the mountains”.
“Congress has been
wiped out from the
whole country
. It is only
lurking in the moun-
tains,” Rajnath Singh
said. He took a pot-shot
at the Congress for tak-
ing state CM Pushkar
Singh Dhami lightly
saying “Hamara Push-
kar flower bhi hai aur
fire bhi” (our Pushkar is
a flower as well as fire).
Singh said that Pushkar
Dhami will “neither
stop nor bow ‘’ despite
his simple and gentle
nature.
He lauded Dhami for
exemplary development
in Uttarakhand in a
very short time and
mentioned that the BJP
govt in the state has
passed Rs 1 lakh crore
for the development of
the state in only one
year.
Dehradun: Just a few
days ahead of the
Uttarakhand Assembly
polls, former CM
Bhagat Singh
Koshyari’s relative and
two-time president of
Bindukhatta Bhartiya
Janta Party (BJP)
Mahila Morcha, resigns
from BJP and has
joined Congress on
Tuesday. Maya
Koshyari left the BJP
and joined the
Congress along with
six former office-
bearers. Former Chief
Minister and Congress
candidate from Lalkuan
seat Harish Rawat has
included her in the
Congress. Earlier, in
January, expelled BJP
minister, Harak Singh
Rawat also joined the
Congress party. This is
the second shock that
BJP received within a
month. —ANI
U’KHAND POLLS:
BJP’S MAYA KOSHYARI
JOINS CONGRESS
JK people unhappy with draft
delimitation panel report: Nagma
Jammu: The people in
JK are not happy
with the draft delimi-
tation commission re-
port, All India Women
Congress General Sec-
retary Nagma Morarji
said on Wednesday, as
she lashed out at BJP
over its alleged anti-
people policies and “di-
viding the country on
communal lines.” The
actress turned politi-
cian also condemned
the heckling of a hijab-
clad girl by a group of
men sporting saffron
scarves at a college in
Karnataka and said
such diversionary tac-
tics are employed to
hoodwink the public
from the real issues .
People (in JK) are
not happy with the pro-
posed draft delimitation
commission report. You
have seen hundreds of
BJP workers protesting
and submitting their
resignation (to protest
the proposed merger of
Suchetgarh assembly
constituency on Mon-
day) when the report is
out, you will see more
protests, the Congress
leader told reporters at
the conclusion of her
three-day visit to Jam-
mu. —PTI
Rajnath Singh
Nagma Morarji
Ashok Kaura
Phagwara: A Delega-
tion of Sikh Leaders
belonging to different
Sikh Organisations on
Wednesday met Union
Minister and election
in-charge of Punjab
BJP Gajendra Shekha-
wat in the presence of
BJP Candidate from
Phagwara Vijay Samp-
la. The meeting was
held in a Hotel in Phag-
wara on Wednesday.
The leaders of Sikh Or-
ganisations demanded
immediate release of
Captive Sikhs Youths
detained in jails for a
long time. A Memoran-
dum was handed over to
the Minister who took
the matter seriously as-
sured the Sikh Leaders
to resolve the tangle
soon.Shekhawat and
Sampla told the delega-
tion that Union Govern-
ment led by Prime Min-
ister Narinder Modi is
taking the matter much
seriously and required
action could be taken
soon to release these de-
tainees. Union Minister
Shekhawat immediate-
ly called on Union
Home Minister Amit
Shah and conveyed the
voice of Sikhs Organi-
sations who assured to
act accordingly
. Delega-
tion included Harjinder
Singh Majhi of Darbar-
e-Khalsa and Sukhdev
Singh of Phagwara Al-
liance of Sikh Organi-
zation. They told the
Union Minister that
several Sikhs are spend-
ing their days and
nights in jails which is
completely illegal.
They demanded justice
for Sikhs by releasing
the detainees.
Shekhawat assures release of captive Sikhs
FIRM DEMAND
PAWAR LIKELY TO APPEAR
BEFORE KOREGAON BHIMA
PROBE PANEL ON FEB 23
Mumbai: The Kore-
gaon-Bhima Inquiry
Commissionhasasked
NCP chief Sharad Pa-
war to appear before it
on February 23 and 24
to record evidence in
connection with the
January 2018 violence
at a war memorial in
Pune district of Maha-
rashtra.
The panel had earli-
ersummonedPawarin
2020buthecouldn’tap-
pear before it due to
the coronavirus-in-
duced lockdown.
Apart from Sharad
Pawar,thecommission
willalsorecordtheevi-
dence of the then su-
perintendent of police
(Pune Rural) Suvez
Haq, then Additional
SP
,SandipPakhaleand
the then Additional
Commissioner, Pune,
Ravindra Sengaonkar,
between Feb 21 and
February 25, the judi-
cial commission’s ad-
vocate Ashish Satpute
said on Wednesday
.
The two-member
probe commission of
retired chief justice of
the Calcutta High
Court J N Patel and
former Maharashtra
chief secretary Sumit
Mullick is conducting
aprobeintothematter.
According to the
Pune police, violence
hadbrokenoutonJan-
uary 1, 2018, between
caste groups near the
war memorial during
the bicentennial anni-
versaryof the1818bat-
tle of Koregaon Bhi-
ma.
Dalit organisations
commemorate the vic-
tory of the East India
Company over the
Peshwas of Pune in
the battle because the
British forces, accord-
ing to some historical
accounts, mainly in-
cluded soldiers from
the oppressed
Mahar com-
munity
. But
some right-
wing or-
g a n i s a -
tions had
opposed
the cele-
b r a t i o n ,
leading to the violence
in 2018. One person
had died and several
others,including10po-
lice personnel, were
injuredintheincident.
ThePunePolicehad
alleged that “provoca-
tive” speeches at the
‘Elgar Parishad con-
clave’, held on Decem-
ber 31, 2017, in Pune,
triggered the violence
around Koregaon Bhi-
ma. —PTI
Assam Police suspends
officer for firing at
ex-student leader
Guwahati: Assam Po-
lice have suspended a
sub-inspector and dis-
banded the Anti-Nar-
cotics Squad of Nagaon
district following a
probe in the police fir-
ing on a former student
leader, who was accused
of drug peddling, a sen-
ior official said on
Wednesday
.
The police are also in
the process of complet-
ing the necessary pa-
perwork to transfer the
10 personnel of the dis-
banded squad out of
Nagaon district, in ac-
cordance with the rec-
ommendations of Pa-
ban Kumar Borthakur,
the state’s Additional
Chief Secretary
.
“After getting direc-
tions from the Home
and Political Depart-
ment, Sub Inspector
Pradeep Bania was sus-
pended yesterday. We
also disbanded the An-
ti-Narcotics Squad con-
stituted by the Nagaon
SP,” a senior police of-
ficial told PTI on condi-
tion of anonymity
.
In his report,
Borthakur had recom-
mended transfer of all
members of the squad
and Bania out of Na-
gaon district immedi-
ately
. “Besides, we are
preparing all related
documents to shift the
casetotheCIDof Assam
Police. The government
directed us to transfer
the two cases filed by
Bania and constable
Nilkamal Bora to the
CID,” the official said.
He, however, insisted
the recommendations
made by Borthakur in
the report did not mean
that police were at fault.
—PTI
Clash between rival candidates: Ludhiana poll officer orders
24-hour video surveillance of Cong’s Karwal LIP’s Bains
Mahesh Kumar
Ludhiana: In view of a
recent clash between
supporters of two can-
didates in Atam Nahar
constituency and to en-
sure no such incident
takes place in future,
Returning Officer of 62-
Atam Nagar constitu-
ency has ordered 24-
hour video surveillance
of Lok Insaf Party (LIP)
candidate Simarjit Sin-
gh Bains and Indian Na-
tional Congress (INC)
candidate Kamaljit
Singh Karwal.
District Election Of-
ficer-cum-Deputy Com-
missioner Ludhiana
Varinder Kumar Shar-
ma said on Wednesday
that District Adminis-
tration Ludhiana is
keeping a close tab on
activities of all candi-
dates and warned of
strict action if any per-
son tries to take law
into their own hands.
He said that after ran-
domisation, around
20,000 officials have
been deputed for elec-
tion duty
. He said that to
ensure that the Model
Codeof Conductisprop-
erly enforced, 9 static
surveillanceteamseach,
9flyingsquadteamsand
3 video viewing teams
each have been deputed
in all 14 assembly con-
stituencies of district
Ludhiana.
He said that on the
evening of February 7,
2022, supporters of
Simarjit Singh Bains
and Kamaljit Singh
Karwal had clashed in
Atam Nagar area, after
which strict legal ac-
tion against them was
initiated and an FIR
was registered. He in-
formed that a 24-hour
video surveillance team
has been deputed with
both of them and it
would move with these
candidates at all times
so that such incident
doesn’t occur again.
He assured the resi-
dents that no person
would be allowed to
take law into their own
hands and that all vot-
ers should exercise
their right to vote
without any fear on
February 20, 2022. He
warned of strict action
if any person tries to
disrupt peace and
break rules.
Commissioner of
Police Gurpreet Singh
Bhullar said an FIR
was registered instant-
ly in the recent clash
between supporters of
Simarjit Singh Bains
and Kamaljit Singh
Karwal. He said after
this incident, Joint
Commissioner of Po-
lice (Rural) Ravcharan
Singh Brar immedi-
ately rushed to the spot
and during prelimi-
nary investigation, it
was found that there
was dereliction of duty
by area SHO, who was
immediately suspend-
ed from duty.
VIOLENCE AT WAR MEMORIAL
IN BRIEF
Anurag Thakur
Delegation members with Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.

COVID-19
UPDATE
WORLD
57,85,073
TOTAL DEATHS
32,15,70,474
TOTAL RECOVERED
7,44,63,662
ACTIVE CASES
40,18,19,209
TOTAL CASES
INDIA
5,05,308
TOTAL DEATHS
4,10,12,869
TOTAL RECOVERED
8,92,799
ACTIVE CASES
4,24,10,976
TOTAL CASES
First India Bureau
Patiala: Lambasting
the Congress, the Aam
Aadmi Party (AAP) and
the Akalis for sowing
the seeds of caste and
religious dissension in
the state, Punjab Lok
Congress (PLC) chief
Captain Amarinder Sin-
gh on Wednesday said
the move would back-
fire on these parties,
who were compromis-
ing the peace and secu-
rity of the border state
to further their narrow
political interests.
In a hard-hitting at-
tack on the blatant at
tempt by these parties
to polarize the harmo-
nious Punjab society,
the former chief minis-
ter said the Shiromani
Akali Dal (SAD) had
started the divisive
campaign by announc-
ing a Dalit deputy CM if
elected to power, trig-
gering a mad race to fol-
low suit. The Congress,
which had fallen un-
thinkingly for the Akali
ploy
, will pay for its mis-
take in announcing its
CM face on caste lines,
he warned.
“Have these parties
ever thought about the
consequences such di-
visiveness could have
on a border state like
ours,” asked Captain
Amarinder, adding that
none of these parties
will be able to reap the
benefit of their separa-
tist policies. It will be
the NDA alliance that
will form the govern-
ment in the state, he as-
serted confidently, add-
ing that the PLC-BJP-
SAD Sanyukt coalition
will consolidate the
votes lost by these par-
ties in the coming days.
Interacting with me-
diapersons after a pub-
lic meeting in Sanjay
Colony
, Patiala, the PLC
chief termed as unfor-
tunate the fact that the
Punjab polity was cur-
rently revolving around
casteist and religious
narratives. He recalled
how caste/religion was
never an issue during
his childhood days, but
with these parties play-
ing the caste card, Pun-
jab was, for the first
time, getting divided on
such divisive lines.
In any case, Channi’s
anointment as chief
ministerial candidate
by Rahul Gandhi
amounted to sheer in-
sult for ‘aam aadmi’
(the common man), con-
sidering the crores of
sand mafia money
seized from his kin,
said the former chief
minister.
AmarinderflaysCong,AAP
SADforsowingseedsofcaste
08
2NDFRONT
Of all the things we need to
make peace with - our past and
people who have hurt us - are
the most important for self-growth.
—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO Editor-in-Chief, First India
Rajendra Chhabra
Jaipur: It is a matter of
pride and happiness for
Rajasthan bureaucracy
that a Rajasthan cadre
IAS ‘son of the soil’ San-
jay Malhotra has made
a long jump and found
himself in an important
ministry - Ministry of
Finance - of the Govern-
ment of India as Secre-
tary
. His achievement is
matter of elated sur-
prise for bureaucracy
.
1990 BATCH IAS
OFFICER
Born in Bikaner, 1990
batch IAS Sanjay Mal-
hotra had gone on depu-
tation in January 2020 to
the Power Ministry as
Additional Secretary
,
but in the past 2
years, Malhotra
created won-
ders and
through his
ability and work ethics,
he created such a niche
forhimself thattheModi
government, which is
considered to be ex-
tremely strict and thor-
oughinselectionof offic-
ers,pickedhimupquick-
ly and accorded him the
important position of
Secretary in Finance
Ministry
. He has been
made Secretary of the
Departmentof Financial
Services, which deals in
banking and insurance.
OFFICER WITH A
GOOD RECORD
Inthisway
,Modigovern-
ment is not only bring-
ingtherighttalenttokey
positions but also en-
couragingofficerswitha
good track record to get
elevated positions. Mal-
hotra was empanelled to
the post of Secretary
merely 3 months back in
October 2021 and within
this short period, he has
become a Secretary
. The
post of Secretary
, DFS
fell vacant just 10 days
back when on January
31 former Secretary De-
bashish Panda retired.
Nearly half a dozen sen-
ior secretaries were con-
tenders to this chair but
the Appointment Com-
mittee of Cabinet (ACC)
appointed Malhotra late
on Tuesday night.
EXPERIENCE IN
POWER SECTOR
Malhotra has extensive
power sector experi-
ence, both at the state
and central government
level. He held the reins
of the power sector of
the state for 4 years dur-
ing which he took sev-
eralrevolutionarysteps.
He implemented the
UDAY scheme which re-
sulted in decreasing the
lossof powercompanies
to the tune of Rs 10,000
crore and therefore he is
often called a pioneer of
revolution in the power
sector. In the Centre, he
carried out the task of
Additional secretary in
Power Ministry till No-
vember 2020 and then as
CMD of REC.
Sanjay Malhotra is a
topper of the 1990 batch
IAS as a result of which
he was given his chosen
home state cadre. When
in 1999 Vasundhara
Raje became a minister
in the Vajpayee cabinet,
at that time she called
him to Delhi and hand-
ed the responsibility of
her Ministry to this dy-
namic officer. In the
years 2006-07, he also
held the reins of the Fi-
nance department in
the state and served as
Commissioner, Com-
mercial Taxes also.
This experience of fi-
nance will now be help-
ful to Sanjay in this new
innings in the Ministry
of Finance. There are
still 6 years left to his re-
tirement in February
2028.
The spot in the Fi-
nance Ministry that he
has reached now, only
points to his path to the
chair of Cabinet Secre-
tary of Government of
India in the future.
Sanjay Malhotra: The rise of another ‘son of the soil’!
MATTER OF ELATED SURPRISE FOR RAJ BUREAUCRACY
A saying in Hindi “Poot Ke Pau Palne Mein Hi
Dikh Jaate Hain” applies to Sanjay Malhotra. The
manner in which he has given a glimpse of his
abilities and the way he has earned the trust of
Modi government, it can, therefore, be said that he
is a cabinet secretary material. First India is
therefore waiting for the day when he ascends to
the chair of Cabinet Secretary and this son of the
soil honours the name of Rajasthan everywhere!
SANJAY MALHOTRA
First India Bureau
Jaipur: Condemning
the comments made by
Prime Minister Modi
on the Congress party
in an interview, Ra-
jasthan chief minister
Ashok Gehlot on Tues-
day night said that the
ideology of Congress is
to strengthen the unity,
integrity, and democ-
racy of the country.
He said the whole
country is watching
the condition of the
country that the ideol-
ogy of BJP has created.
“The comments
made by PM Modi are
very unfortunate. Con-
demning a party,
whose leaders like In-
dira Gandhi, Rajiv
Gandhi, Sardar Beant
Singh, Balwantrai Me-
hta sacrificed their
lives for the unity and
integrity of the coun-
try even after inde-
pendence, is very sad,”
he tweeted.
“Today the demo-
cratic institutions of
the country are scared
because of the ideolo-
gy of BJP. School and
college-going children
are worried about their
future due to rising un-
employment. The ide-
ology of BJP has cre-
ated an atmosphere of
mutual distrust, ten-
sion and violence in
the country,” he said.
The CM said that the
identity of India was a
country with unity in
diversity all over the
world, which is getting
tarnished today.
“The countrymen
will completely reject
the fascist ideology of
BJP-RSS,” he added.
CAPT BATS FOR
STRONG TIES WITH
CENTRE GOVT FOR
STATE’S GROWTH
Promising continua-
tion of the development
saga he had initiated in
Patiala during his chief
ministerial tenure, Captain
Amarinder stressed that
the development of the
region and the state
were linked with a strong
Centre-State alliance,
which his party was offer-
ing in coalition with the
BJP and SAD (Sanyukt).
The Prime Minister had
planned to announce Rs
43,000 crore worth of de-
velopment projects at the
Faridkot rally which the
Channi led government
damaged by allowing the
security breach, he added.
“The Prime Minister had
personally told me that
our alliance will transform
Punjab for the better,”
he said, adding that the
NDA can provide a strong
government necessary for
development and security
of the state.
PUNJAB POLLS
Capt Amarinder Singh holding his election symbol Hockey Ball.
Former Punjab
CM says the
move would
backfire on these
parties, who are
compromising
Punjab’s peace
and security to
further their
narrow political
interests
Mann reaches Parliament
to raise issues of farmers
Mahesh Kumar
Chandigarh/New
Delhi: Aam Aadmi
Party (AAP) Punjab’s
state president and
chief ministerial can-
didate Bhagwant
Mann, fulfilling his
responsibility as an
MP in Parliament,
raised various issues
pertaining Punjab’s
farmersinLokSabha.
Mann, on Wednesday
,
left behind his cam-
paigning for the Pun-
jab assembly election
to raise the issue of
sugarcane farmers in
the Parliament.
Mann said that
aboutRs.1.25croreof
sugarcane farmers
for 2020-21 and about
Rs. 20 crore for 2021-
22 have not been paid,
due to which farmers
are very upset. Since,
it takes one year for
the sugarcane crop to
grow fully
, so the fam-
ily of sugarcane
farmers is supported
by this money
throughout the year.
They have to face a lot
of problems because
of delayed payments
and bonuses.
Mann appealed to
the Parliament to pay
the dues of sugar-
cane farmers along
AAP MP Bhagwant Mann in Lok Sabha, on Wednesday.
MANIFESTO OF BJP ALLIANCE FOR
PUNJAB IS DECEPTIVE AND FULL
OF LIES, SAYS BHAGWANT MANN
Chandigarh: AAP’s Punjab
CM candidate and MP
Bhagwant Mann termed the
Election Manifesto, issued
by BJP, Capt Amarinder
Singh and Sukhdev
Singh Dhindsa’s alliance,
as deceptive and full of lies,
saying it has nothing for
farmers, labourers, traders,
industrialists, students
and youth of Punjab. He
said from past experiences
we know that BJP leaders
don’t deliver on their elec-
tion promises by saying
that these are ‘election jum-
las’. In a statement Mann
raised several questions
regarding the 11-point
election manifesto issued
by the BJP, Capt Amarinder
Singh and Sukhdev Singh
Dhindsa for the Punjab As-
sembly polls 2022. Mann
said Capt Amarinder Singh,
who had become an ally of
BJP, had come to power
in Punjab during the 2017
elections by promising
to waive all the debts of
farmers (loans of govern-
ment banks, brokers and
co-operative banks).
with interest and said
that according to the
Sugarcane Act 1996,
the payment has to be
paid within 14 days of
the arrival of sugar-
cane at the mill. If it is
not, then it is to be paid
with interest. There-
fore the government
should follow the law
and pay the prices of
crops to sugarcane
farmers with interest.
Gehlot condemns PM’s comments on Cong,
says our ideology is to strengthen the country
Birla reviews Rajasthan road projects
First India Bureau
New Delhi: The ongo-
ing work on the New
Delhi-Kota portion of
the New Delhi-Mumbai
Expressway being con-
structed under Bharat-
mala project will be
completed by February
next year, Union Trans-
port Ministry officials
apprised Lok Sabha
Speaker Om Birla dur-
ing a review meeting
here on Wednesday
.
After the segment is
completed,travellerscan
reach Kota from New
Delhi in just 4 hours’
time while the vehicles
can ply at the speed of
thatof theRajadhaniEx-
press train, the officials
said.Similarly
,aftercom-
pletion of the work on
the Sohana-Dausa seg-
ment of the Expressway
by this year-end, the dis-
tance between Delhi and
the state capital can be
covered in mere 3 hours,
they added.
The Baroda-Anklesh-
war stretch is also ex-
pected to start by April
this year. The whole pro-
ject is scheduled to be
completed by the end of
2023.Oncefullycommis-
sioned, the travel time
between Kota and Mum-
bai will come down to 12
hours. Later, the Ex-
pressway will be linked
to Jamnagar-Amritsar
Expressway too, the of-
ficials said.
LS Speaker Om Birla holding a review meeting on Wednesday.
Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot

www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia
facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia 09
NEELANJANA JANGID IS A
BEACON OF EASE,
SOPHISTICATION, STYLE AND A
WOMAN WHO LIVES AS MUCH
FOR HER OWN INTERESTS AND
DESIRES AS SHE DOES FOR
CREATING A SENSE OF FAMILY
WITH THOSE SHE CHOOSES. IN
AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
WITH CITY FIRST, THE
STUNNING BEAUTY TALKS
ABOUT FAME, FAMILY AND HER
JOURNEY SO FAR!
The
Joyful
WARRIOR
eelanjana Jan-
gid seems to be
at ease every-
where. Wheth-
er it’s walking
on the ramp,
acing the
hoardings, fashion
shows, or social media
feeds, this 20-year-old
young star, hailing from
Jaipurissurelyaninspi-
ration for the emerging
stars. Self-acceptance,
however, was hard-won.
Now, she’s basking in it.
Being a supermodel
often means having to
deal with photoshoots,
scheduling and travel
that are subject to
change at the 11th hour.
This year, Neelanjana
Jangid is determined to
maintain more consist-
ent routines. Talking
about her modelling
journey, the diva said,
“My modelling journey
started from Elite Miss
Rajasthan. I still re-
member giving audi-
tions and since then
there has been no look-
ing back. I have evolved
so much as a person and
as a model. I’d also like
to thank Gaurav Gaur,
my mentor and director
Elite Miss Rajasthan for
helping me tap my po-
tential. He has always
been so kind and sup-
portive to the entire
team.”
She further added, “I
enjoy modelling be-
cause it gives me a plat-
form to showcase not
just my outer beauty
but inner beauty and
strength both.
When asked who has
been her source of in-
spiration and lifted her
spirits on bad days, Nee-
lanjana said, “There are
no second thoughts, my
mother has always been
my true source of inspi-
ration. Someone who
hasalwaysbeenthrough
my ups and downs. She
is a wonderful human
being and has taught me
so much, truly made me
who I am.
On asking what ad-
vice she’d like to give to
the teens who are now
showing
huge in-
t e r e s t
in the
field of
fashion
and mod-
e l l i n g ,
the shin-
ing star,
Neelanjana
said, “I am a
strong believ-
er of self-love
and confi-
dence. I’d like
all the ravish-
ing girls out
there to go and
slay! Don’t let the
world rule you,
just believe in
yourself keep go-
ing. Face your
fears never be
scared to own
your flaws!
MITALI DUSAD
mitalidusad01@gmail.com
N
NEW DELHI, THURSDAY
FEBRUARY 10, 2022

F
A
C
E
O
F
T
H
E
D
A
Y
10
ETC
MANJIRI JAIN, Designer
LEO
JULY 24 - AUGUST 23
Just do whatever you can
do to cheer everyone up.
You will feel financially
comfortable and infant you
are in position to invest money in
some new venture. Your personality
will attract many eligible bachelors.
Spend time talking with likeminded
people as it will make you feel good.
LIBRA
SEPT 24 - OCTOBER 22
You are very fortunate to
have a great friend circle.
You are very generous by
nature and also you are the
backbone of your family. Today is a
favourable day for business. You may
postpone your study plans. Be
careful of the words that come out of
your mouth.
ARIES
MAR 21 - APR 20
You are opportunist and
this will make you
successful one day. Your
spouse is someone who
can do anything for your happiness.
There may be delays in property
possession and it won’t effect you.
You are happy spending whole day at
home. Help your mothers at home.
SAGITTARIUS
NOV 23 - DEC 22
You need help on academic
front and you should not shy
away from asking. Your
spouse may make you
spend more than you expected.
Fantastic day for investing money in
stock market as you can make fortune.
You miss your parents a lot and
somewhere fear to loose them.
GEMINI
MAY 21 - JUNE 21
This is the best time try
something new with life
give yourself a new
purpose. You will feel
amorous towards your wife. Work on
your limitations, there can be no
better time than this. You have more
opposite sex friends than the same
and you may be judged sometimes.
AQUARIUS
JAN 21 - FEB 19
Best day to buy gold and
silver or any precious metal
for investment sake. You
love to live close to your
family. You are a child at heart and
never let this child die. You have a big
heart and you always help someone if
you can. Video gathering is possible as
you miss your social circle.
TAURUS
APR 21 - MAY 20
You will continue to enjoy
your good health if you
stick to a proper diet and
exercise regime. You may
finally meet your financial savior who
will help you put the pieces at the
right place. Some of you may assist
your family by organizing a function
or an event.
CAPRICORN
DEC 23 - JAN 20
You continue to stay fit and
healthy and there is
nothing to worry as far as
health is concerned.
Because of limit flow of money, your
financial condition is not stable yet.
Your hard in office will bring your
recognition and appreciation from
your senior.
VIRGO
AUG 24 - SEP 23
You are satisfied with your
health and you enjoy that
feeling. Money will flow
into your life to make you
financially stable. Some of you may
earn good name for being consistent
at work. In social life, it’s a good
practice to avoid blaming others for
our own shortcomings.
CANCER
JUNE 22 - JULY 23
You make sure to make
things work your way. You
are most wanted by your
friends. Never demotivate
someone even if someone is not
capable of doing something. You can
have romantic affair in office and a
serious one. You will invest money in
clothes and accessories today.
PISCES
FEB20 - MARCH 20
Take stand where you need
to, don’t run in the same
direction where everybody
else is going. Visit a doctor
if you have any doubts about your
health. Don’t attack stress even if you
don’t have any. Let go of things that
are not in your control. You want to
have your own house.
SCORPIO
OCT 23 - NOVEMBER 22
You may go for a cheat
meal all as a reward for
maintaining good health. If
you have been struggling
with money then that’s a thing of a
past now as money will flow in from
all the directions. In office, you will
support your colleague by sharing
his/her work pressure.
YOUR
DAY
Horoscope by
Saurabbh Sachdeva
ebruary month is very
special. Everyone is
busy finding the per-
fect partner. Love and
relationship occupy
the most important
part of one’s life. Eve-
ryone desires true love. To love
and to be loved is one of the
most basic emotional needs
which is present in every living
creature.
The problem arises after the
honeymoon period of a rela-
tionship gets over. ‘Happily ever
after’ suddenly crashes and
doesn’t seem to exist anymore.
Then we get heartbroken and
nothing in life seems to work.
The good news is, there is a
secret to successful love life. If
we understand the secret for-
mula then we will be able to at-
tract and sustain love in our life
forever. The secret to sustaining
love forever in our life is SELF-
LOVE.
HOW TO LOVE YOURSELF IS
HOW YOU TEACH OTHERS TO
LOVE YOU
Self-love is the unconditional
acceptance of ourselves. It is
taking care of us, on our own,
without expecting anything
from anyone. It is the whole-
hearted acceptance of our mer-
its and demerits. When we love
ourselves, we constantly strive
for our growth and develop-
ment, instead of expecting any-
thing from anyone else. Self-
love induces self-confidence. It
is acceptance and forgiveness.
Our heart is free from all nega-
tive feelings towards anyone. It
is rightly said that one cannot
pour from an empty vessel.
When we start enjoying our
own company and feel peace
within, we find clarity in our
thoughts, and we don’t need any
external validation.
We can't love a person fully
without loving ourselves. Self-
love is the basis to attract un-
conditional love and a prerequi-
site to loving others. We attract
as per our thoughts and vibra-
tions. If we are full of depres-
sion, negativity
, and overthink-
ing, we will attract the same
kind of situations in our life. If
we are filled with exuberance
and joy, then we will again at-
tract the same kind of situa-
tion. Self-love heals heartache
and uplifts emotionally and
spiritually
. Self-love is fulfilling
ourselves with all the love we
deserve. When we are filled
with self-love, we attract people
who love us in the same way
. We
attract what we are. No one can
love us more than we love our-
selves. After all, we can never
attract more than what we are
capable of holding.
BE YOUR REASON
TO SMILE
Self-love saves us from toxic
relations. Many of us get into
depression when our love life
fails to give us the happiness
we deserve. Self-love heals our
hearts and soul. It helps to
move on and let go of all the
toxicity which does not serve
us anymore. Self-love heals a
broken and wailing heart
quickly. When we are sub-
merged in the soothing and di-
vine energy of self-love, we
don't mourn over someone who
doesn’t understand our worth.
We are so self-contented and
our self-respect is so high that
we don't let anyone else tarnish
or damage our self-respect.
Self-love helps us to let go and
move on quickly from adverse
situations that no longer serve
our highest purpose.
Self-love is taking care of
our own body, mind, and soul.
It also involves making diffi-
cult decisions for the better-
ment of ourselves, even if they
appear to be very difficult at
the present.
Self-love is nurturing the
soul and spreading the divine
benediction through our mind
and body. It is accepting the
challenges of life and master-
ing the art to overcome them
with dignity and grace.
If we want to attract un-
conditional love, then we
must have unconditional
love within us. There is a
huge difference between self-
love and being selfish. Strive to
understand the difference, so
that we can offer ourselves the
true divine love which we de-
serve. Blessings or abundance
are bestowed by the universe
when we are filled with self-
love.
In February, when love is in
the air, before expecting any-
thing from anyone else, start
loving yourself. Be your valen-
tine. Be your sunshine and your
reason to smile. Your heart is
full of love and believes me, you
deserve it more than anyone
else.
…..MAKE YOUR PRECIOUS
LITTLE HEART HAPPY
ESHITA SINGH
eshitasingh07396@gmail.com
is in the air
F
LOVE

11
alling in love
happens as
quickly as
falling asleep.
In a jiffy
, your
world goes
from aware
and alert to dreamy
and wandering. Be-
ing in a relationship
with someone you
love is easy. It’s
keeping the ro-
mance alive that
gets tougher and
tougher. And as they
say, actions speak
louder than words.
Now that leaves a lot
of us befuddled,
doesn’t it? Finding
the right gift to con-
vey exactly what
you want to, in a
manner that makes
your sweetheart fall
in love with you all
over again may not
be everyone’s forte.
But as valentine’s
week is going in full
swing across the
world, it has become
easier for couples to
celebrate the days
of love by doing
unique and loving
gestures for each
other. After cele-
brating Chocolate
Day on February 9,
lovebirds are all set
to ring in Teddy
Day with their
partners on Thurs-
day, February 10.
Teddy Day falls on
the fourth day of
Valentine’s Week.
People in love gift
their partners a
cuddly teddy bear
on this day. The
idea is to give your
beloved a plush toy
to express your
love for the person
and make them
happy. After all, a
cute teddy bear can
easily liven up
their distressed
mood and bring a
smile to their faces.
Additionally, some
people consider
teddy bears one of
the most loved
soft toys, and per-
haps that is why
there is a special
day dedicated to
them during Valen-
tine’s week.
MITALI DUSAD
mitalidusad01@gmail.com
F
The Mushy
Teddies are just
another reason,
just another way
to say I care for
you and will be
there forever by
your side. Happy
Teddy Day! As the
love birds all
across celebrate
teddy day today,
City First spoke to
a few readers from
Rajasthan, Delhi,
Uttar Pradesh and
Gujarat to know
their plans for the
much-awaited day
for girls!
I am a die
hard romantic
person. For
me cute gestures
hold a huge part
in any relation-
ship. And so these
days of Valentines
week are also very spe-
cial. I am really looking forward to
my partner gifting me a cute teddy
or may be a keychain or anything
special. —ARUSHI JAIN, RAJ
People in love
gift their part-
ners a cuddly
teddy bear on
this day. And though
teddy’s aren’t a usual
gift for a man, I make
sure to make my partner
super happy and like every
year, this teddy’s day too I have a
surprise for my loved one. A huge
teddy similar to her height.
—MANAV ARORA, GUJ
Teddy bears can
be the sweetest
and most ador-
able things one
can gift their part-
ner. These soft toys
carry a charm that can
make one feel loved. It
symbolises love and inno-
cence we had in our childhood, and
so, teddy bears are gifted to remind
us of the innocent and pure love.
—AKANKSHA ROY, DELHI
in any relation-
ship. And so these
days of Valentines
week are also very spe-
teddy’s aren’t a usual
gift for a man, I make
sure to make my partner
super happy and like every
ner. These soft toys
carry a charm that can
make one feel loved. It
symbolises love and inno-
Most of us are too
busy chasing suc-
cess in our careers
and chasing our
dreams that we forget to
pause for a second and tell
loved ones how much they
mean to us. There is always
this one person who makes
life so much easier and
smooth. Loving relationships
also strengthen your mental
health. Give all the teddy
bears, roses you can, this is
the week to show love.
— SUKANSHA
KULSHRESHTHA, UP
alling in love
happens as
quickly as
falling asleep. Most of us are too
I honestly feel this
week should be cel-
ebrated with your loved
ones. It’s not that whole
year people keep on lov-
ing each other, they fight
and have problems amongst
them. So this week might
add on some love to the
bond by showing affection
through gifts, chocolates,
teddy bears and all things
love. —AKASH PANDEY, UP
I honestly feel this
ETC

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