16032022 first india new delhi

‘TERRORIST’ ALLEGATIONS: KEJRIWAL HITS
BACK AT CONGRESS AND BJP-RULED CENTRE
New Delhi (ANI): At-
tacking the Congress
and the BJP-ruled Cen-
tre, Kejriwal hit back at
the Congress and the
BJPon‘terrorist’allega-
tion on Tuesday and
said the public and the
court gave the answer to
those who called the
Aam Aadmi Party
(AAP) leader a terrorist.
Taking to Twitter, Ke-
jriwal said, “People al-
ready gave the answer to
thosewhocalledmeater-
rorist. Today
, the court
also gave them the an-
swer.” The Delhi High
Court on Tuesday re-
fused to entertain a peti-
tionseekinganinvestiga-
tion against the AAP na-
tional convenor Arvind
Kejriwal alleging that he
has links with banned
organisation Sikhs For
Justice (SJF) and other
Khalistani forces.
It is pertinent to men-
tion that days ahead of
the Punjab assembly
polls, the outgoing
Chief Minister Charan-
jit Singh Channi had
alleged that the banned
organization ‘Sikhs for
Justice’ is in touch with
AAP. Channi wrote to
Union Home Minister
Amit Shah seeking an
investigation over the
matter. Following this,
Shah assured Channi
that the Centre took the
matter seriously and he
would look into this.
AAP registered a
landslide victory in the
Punjab polls with 92
seats, pushing most of
its rivals to the mar-
gins. Congress had won
18 seats in the 117-mem-
ber Assembly
.
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.
Freedom fighters
above any title:
GoI in Lok Sabha
New Delhi: The mar-
tyrdom of freedom
fighters including
Bhagat Singh, Sukh-
dev and Rajguru is a
fact and is not depend-
ent on the presumed
presence or absence of
official records, the
government said in
Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
In a written reply, MoS
Ajay Kumar Mishra
said the heroes who
lost their lives during
the freedom struggle
have become martyrs
for the cause of attain-
ing the independence
of India. P8
COURT RELIEF
WEARING HIJAB NOT AN ESSENTIAL
ISLAMIC PRACTICE, RULES K’TAKA HC
Bengaluru: A full
bench of the Karnataka
High Court on Tuesday
dismissed a batch of pe-
titions filed by Muslims
girls from pre universi-
ty (PU) colleges in the
Udupi region of the
state seeking the right
to wear hijabs or head
scarves along with uni-
forms inside class-
rooms.
“We are of the consid-
ered opinion that wear-
ing of the hijab by Mus-
lim women does not
make up an essential re-
ligiouspracticeinIslam-
ic faith,” the full bench
said in the gist of its or-
der that was read out by
the Karnataka chief jus-
tice Ritu Raj Awasthi.
“We are of the con-
sidered opinion that
the prescription of a
school uniform is a rea-
sonable restriction
constitutionally per-
missible which the stu-
dents cannot object to,”
said the full bench also
comprising Justice
Krishna S Dixit and
Justice JM Khazi, add-
ing, “there was no ma-
terial placed on record
to prima facie show
that wearing the head-
scarf was an essential
religious practice.”
The court also said
that school uniform will
cease to be a uniform if
hijab is also allowed.
NEW DELHI lWEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2022 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNITITLE NO.DELENG/2021/19840 lVol 1 l Issue No.196
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.
New Delhi: India will start vaccinating kids in the age group of 12-14 years from
March 16, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has written to Chief Secretaries of
all states. Only Corbevax would be used for the beneficiaries of age group 12-13 & 13-
14 years, Bhushan said. Corbevax has been included as the third vaccine against virus
and will be available at centres where free vaccination is available, stated Bhushan.
VACCINATION OF
12-14-YEAR-OLDS
STARTS TODAY
New Delhi: The Supreme Court is likely to pronounce its verdict on Wednesday on
a plea by ex-servicemen association seeking implementation of One Rank-One Pen-
sion as recommended by the Bhagat Singh Koshyari Committee with an automatic
annual revision, instead of the current policy of periodic review once in five years. A
bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud had reserved its verdict on February 23.
SC TO PRONOUNCE
VERDICT ON ONE
RANK ONE
PENSION TODAY
A leader, who is a part
of G21, also said that
the new party president
should lead the party in
the manner as was done
by Sonia Gandhi in the
year 2000. “Though Sonia
Gandhi is the (interim)
president, it is virtually
(being) run by KC Venu-
gopal, Ajay Maken and
Randeep Surjewala. There
is no accountability fixed
on them. Rahul Gandhi is
not the president. But he
operates from behind the
scene and takes decisions.
He does not communicate
openly. We are party’s
well-wishers and not
enemies,” he added.
The manner in which the hijab row at the Govt (PU) colleges
unfolded since Dec 2021 gives scope to the theory that “un-
seen hands” precipitated the situation, the court said in its
order. “The way, hijab imbroglio unfolded gives scope for the
argument that some ‘unseen hands’ are at work to engineer
social unrest and disharmony,” the High Court stated.
PLEA FILED IN SC
CHALLENGING HIGH
COURT VERDICT
‘HIDDEN HANDS’ THEORY MAY BE TRUE, HC
SAYS ‘CULPRITS BE BROUGHT TO BOOK’
FREEDOM OF
RELIGION NOT
ABSOLUTE IN INDIA
WON’T GO TO
COLLEGE WITHOUT
HIJAB: PETITIONERS
Unlike the US and Australia
where freedom of religion
is defined in absolute
terms, the freedom of
religion under the Constitu-
tion of India is subject to
restrictions, the bench
stated in an order on Tues-
day while rejecting pleas to
protect the right of Muslim
girls to wear the hijab in
the state’s junior colleges.
The Karnataka High Court’s
verdict to uphold the ban
on hijab in educational
institutions in the state
makes them feel betrayed
by their own country, said
the Muslim girls who had
filed a petition against the
decision. “It is total injus-
tice what we got today,”
one of the petitioners said
at a Press conference.
HC also calls for speedy and effective investigation into the provocations for the protests
Every one should abide by the
verdict of the three-judge bench
of the high court.
I appeal to the
people, leaders of
all communities,
parents, teachers
and students to accept the order
and cooperate in imparting
education to students, in
accordance with the court order.
—B Bommai, Karnataka CM
Basic argument in favour
of hijab is that wearing it
is freedom of
expression and it
is a fundamental
right. But the court
prima facie has
found that the same article 19
(2) of the fundamental right
also provides for reasonable
restrictions.
—RS Prasad, BJP leader
The stay on hijab ban is a
very disappointing judgment.
On one side, we
make big claims
on women’s
rights & their
empowerment &
on another, we don’t even give
them the right to wear whatever
they want; this right shouldn’t
be with the courts.
—Mehbooba Mufti, PDP chief
The court’s judgement should be welcomed. The
dress code of the school and college must be
followed by everyone.
—Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister
Wearing Hijab is an essential practice in Islam.
Karnataka HC’s verdict is a bad judgment. We
hope that justice will prevail in the Supreme Court.
—Senior advocate AM Dhar, Petitioner, hijab row case
Hope attempts to push Muslim
women into four walls of house
fail. Young Muslim
women have
the capability to
contribute and
play a great role
in nation building as well as
looking after their families, just
like their “other sisters.
—Arif Mohammed Khan,
Kerala Governor
The Preamble mentions liberty
of thought, expression, belief
and worship. It is
my right to decide
the essentiality
for my religion.
Gijab is an act of
worship. If a Muslim woman
says that hijab is essential for
faith then not even a Muslim
can raise questions on that.
—Asaduddin Owaisi, AIMIM chief
My greatest concern in the hijab
controversy is education and
law and order. The
Karnataka high
court has given a
judgement but the
responsibility for
education, law and order and
communal harmony is still with
the government of Karnataka.
—DK Shivakumar,
Karnataka Congress chief
Sonia Gandhi fires
5 State Cong chiefs
after poll drubbing
New Delhi: In what
could be termed as an
attempt to ‘awaken’ the
party leaders and instill
in them that the Con-
gress high command
was serious about the
party
, INC President So-
nia Gandhi on Tuesday
initiated organizational
changes as were man-
dated by the Working
Committee and asked
the party presidents of
five states — Uttar
Pradesh, Uttarakhand,
Punjab, Goa and Ma-
nipur — to tender resig-
nations. Congress per-
formed poorly in the
latest assembly polls.
Notably, the Gandhis
scions’ ‘blue-eyed boy’
navjot Singh Sidhu,
who was Punjab Con-
gress president, has
also been directed to re-
sign. Sonia Gandhi’s
move is a follow-up to
the Congress leader-
ship meeting on Sunday
to discuss the latest poll
drubbings.
The Congress Work-
ing Committee said So-
nia Gandhi would re-
main chief and author-
ised her to take “effec-
tive and immediate
steps” to address organ-
isational issues.
Senior Congressman
Kapil Sibal said that the
developments of CWC
meet did not surprise
him. “For a party after
eight years, since 2014,
to say that we will have
a Chintan Shivir to find
out the reasons for this
debacle, if for eight years
a political party and the
leadership is not aware
of the reasons for its
decline; is awaiting for a
Chintan Shivir to find out,
is living in cuckoo land:
Keeping its eyes shut to
the reality that confronts
us. In this Party, history
has it that every year the
president used to change.
It’s only recently that
we have had this long
tenure,” Sibal said.
LEADERSHIP IN
CUCKOO LAND,
GANDHIS SHOULD
STEP ASIDE: SIBAL
CRUCIAL READ
NO DECISION YET ON NATIONWIDE
NRC: CENTRE IN LOWER HOUSE
New Delhi: The Centre has not yet taken any
decision to prepare the National Register of Indian
Citizens for the entire country, Union Minister
Nityanand Rai said in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, add-
ing, that on the direction of the Supreme Court,
the supplementary list of inclusions and the list
of exclusions for the NRC in Assam have been
published on August 31, 2019.
SC TO HEAR PLEA CHALLENGING
ASHISH MISHRA’S BAIL TODAY
New Delhi: During the hearing of a plea challeng-
ing bail to accused Ashish Mishra, son of Minister
of State Ajay Mishra Teni, in the Lakhimpur Kheri
violence, the Supreme Court on Tuesday was
informed that a prime witness in the case was
attacked. Following this, the apex court stated that
it will constitute the Bench which heard the case
earlier to preside over the matter, and listed it for
today (Wednesday, March 16).
PAKISTAN AGAIN
SEEKS JOINT PROBE
NOTHING BUT AN
ACCIDENT, SAYS US
Islamabad: Pakistan’s Foreign
Minister Shah Mahmood
Qureshi rejected as “incom-
plete and insufficient” the
response by India’s Defence
Minister Rajnath Singh, and
once again demanded a joint
probe into the incident.
Washington: The US has said
there is no indication that fir-
ing of a missile from India was
anything other than accidental.
“We have no indication as our
Indian partners said this inci-
dent was anything other than
an accident,” Ned Price said.
Missile system ‘very reliable’: Govt
on accidental firing into Pakistan
New Delhi: The Indian
government on Tues-
day informed the par-
liament that a formal
“high-level inquiry”
has been ordered into
the March 9 incident of
the “inadvertent” re-
lease of a missile from
India into Pakistan’s
territory. Defence Min-
ister Rajnath Singh
said that the accident
happened during rou-
tine maintenance and
inspection at around 7
pm. Stressing that the
government attached
“highest priority” to
the safety and security
of weapons systems, he
assured the house that
the missile system is
“very reliable and safe”.
The Minister said
that the government
has “taken serious
note” of the incident
and ordered a formal
high-level inquiry
.
Zelenskyy says no to NATO
Kyiv: Ukraine’s Presi-
dent Volodymyr
Zelenskyy appears to
have accepted that his
country will not be-
come a member of
NATO, one of the de-
mands made by Rus-
sia before it invaded.
According to a
translation of his
comments in a speech,
Zelenskyy said that
Ukraine had “real-
ized” it would not be-
come part of the West-
ern military alliance.
“For years we’ve
heard the opposite,
open doors, However,
it is not,” he said on
Tuesday according to
Ukrainian news out-
let, Trukha. “Our peo-
ple understand this,
and we are beginning
to count on our own
strength,” he added.
Media outlet Nexta
quoted Zelenskyy as
saying, “We realised
that Ukraine will not
become a member of
NATO. We understand
this, we are adequate
people.” “Kyiv needs
new formats of inter-
action with the West.”
Ukrainian President claims his country had ‘realised’ it
would not become part of the Western military alliance
OVER 22,000 INDIANS
BROUGHT BACK: EAM
PM INTERACTS WITH
EMBASSY OFFICIALS
New Delhi: Over 22,000 Indian
citizens have returned home
safely from war-torn Ukraine
despite the challenges posed,
External Affairs Minister S
Jaishankar informed Parlia-
ment on Tuesday adding that
a large number of students
elected to stay back despite
several advisories.
New Delhi: PM Narendra Modi
on Tuesday interacted with var-
ious stakeholders and embassy
officials from Hungry among
other countries neighbouring
Ukraine, involved in Operation
Ganga and asserted that India
has always acted with alacrity
to assist its citizens during any
international crisis.
Modi backs The
Kashmir Files at
BJP meet
New Delhi (Agencies):
Amidst a row over the
recently released film
The Kashmir Files,
Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi Tuesday
slammed the “ecosys-
tem that is involved in
burying the truths” and
urged BJP lawmakers
to stand up for those
who “bring out the
truths and facts that
have been suppressed
for years.” This reluc-
tant practice has led to
the delayed recognition
of Mahatma Gandhi as
well, PM added.

CAPITOL
NEW DELHI | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2022
02
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Government floats tender for setting up 500 charging points or 100 charging stations in city
New Delhi (PTI): From
July, Delhi will have at
least 879 electric vehicle
(EV) charging points
across the national capi-
tal, the highest in any
state or city in India.
Not just that, Delhi
will also offer the cheap-
est EV charging rates at
about `2 per unit, or
even less, when com-
pared to other states
where the cost of charg-
ing an EV could be up to
`15 per unit.
Announcing these de-
cisions at a press confer-
ence on Monday, power
minister Satyendar
Jain also said his gov-
ernment has floated a
tender for setting up 500
charging points or 100
charging stations, and
these will be ready in
the next three months.
“A total of 100 public
charging stations with
500 charging points will
be developed across Del-
hi in the next three
months. The charging
stations will be open to
the public by June 27
this year. Electric vehi-
cle owners will be
charged under `2 per
unit for charging their
vehicle as compared to
the rate of `10-15 per
unit in other states. The
bidding criteria was
kept as the lowest ser-
vice charge so that con-
sumers in Delhi get the
best possible and com-
petitively determined
service while charging
their electric vehicles.
At least, 12 bidders
came forward for the
tender and the winning
bid was at the rate of
`-(minus)3.60/unit.,”
Jain said.
CRUCIAL READ
MAN HELD FOR SNATCHING PHONE
OF FORMER MP VIJAY GOEL
SIX NEW DENGUE CASES RECORDED
IN DELHI, 48 SO FAR THIS YEAR
New Delhi: One person has been arrested for alleg-
edly snatching the mobile phone of former BJP MP
Vijay Goel near Red Fort,
police said on Tuesday.
The accused identified as
Sajan had sold the phone
for `2,200. According to
police, at around 6.45 pm
on Monday, a man came
towards Goel’s car and snatched the
phone from the ex MP’s hand before fleeing. The
case has been registered under Sections 356 and
379 of IPC.
New Delhi: Delhi has recorded six new dengue cases
over the past week, taking the infection count to 48 so
far this year, showed the
weekly report released by
the three municipal corpora-
tions. The number is cause
for concern if one takes into
account the fact that dengue
cases had never overshot the 10-case mark, in the
January to March period, in the past six years.
New Delhi (PTI): Del-
hi’s State Wetland Au-
thority (SWA) has re-
ceived requests from
land-owning agencies
to “remove” as many as
221 waterbodies from
the official list of 1,043
waterbodies identified
and geo-tagged by the
Delhi government over
the last two years, cit-
ing ongoing develop-
ment work or existing
finished structures at
the spot where the wa-
ter bodies once stood.
Of the requests, 215
locations come under
the Delhi Development
Authority (DDA) and
the other six belong to
the Delhi Jal Board
(DJB).
Delhi lieutenant gov-
ernor (LG) Anil Baijal
has taken strong objec-
tion to removal of cer-
tain bodies, said offi-
cials, adding that he
held a review meeting
with members of vari-
ous government depart-
ments, experts and
SWA officials on Thurs-
day
.
An expert committee,
comprising of at least
two wetland experts, is
now likely to review the
status of these water
bodies, officials said.
Data shared by SWA
with the LG during the
meeting showed among
the 221 spots, 62 water
bodies currently have a
building at the site.
Trim the official waterbodies list by 221, authority told
OBJECTION RAISED
FIRE BREAKS OUT
IN USMANPUR, NO
CASUALTIES
ABOVE NORMAL
TEMPRECORDED
IN DELHI
New Delhi: A fire
broke out at a
waste warehouse in
Usmanpur, late on
Monday night. About
10 fire tenders
reached the spot to
douse the blaze. BS
Chauhan, fire station
officer said, “Fire
has been brought
under control and no
casualties have been
reported in the inci-
dent that happened
late at night.”
New Delhi: Delhi is
likely to see clear
skies and a maxi-
mum temperature of
around 34 degrees
Celsius Tuesday,
according to the
India Meteorological
Department (IMD)
forecast. With warm
days setting in,
above normal mini-
mum and maximum
temperature were
recorded over the
past 24 hours.
IN A FIRST, BIRDERS SPOT
RARE BRAMBLING IN BHONDSI
New Delhi: In a first for Delhi and the National
Capital Region, a non-breeding male Brambling was
sighted in Bhondsi area of Gurugram district by a
group of birdwatchers on
Sunday. Experts said the
sighting was extremely
rare as the bird is usually
found in northern Europe
and in India, where it is
sighted in the western Himalayas, Kashmir Valley or
in the higher reaches of Himachal Pradesh. Birders
said the sighting could be a vagrant bird, since it is
not known to be found in the plains.
Drive to check sale
of adulterated food
New Delhi (PTI): The
Delhi government’s
Food Safety Depart-
ment has directed offi-
cials to conduct special
drives to ensure that
adulterated food prod-
ucts are not sold during
Holi, officials said on
Tuesday
.
A circular has also
been issued by the de-
partment in this con-
nection, they said.
“It has been decided
by the Commissioner,
Food Safety to conduct
special drive during the
Holi season to lift both
surveillance and legal
samples of sweets, espe-
cially GUJIYA and re-
lated items,” the circu-
lar issued by the depart-
ment said.
Officials said it is of-
tenseenthattradersand
other people engaged in
the food business use
adulterated products or
stale food items during
the festival season.
This special drive
will continue for a few
days even after Holi, of-
ficials said.
NDRF HQ to come up at Vasant Vihar
PWD identifies 86 spots to
install 600 LED screens
Delhi Public Works De-
partment (PWD) has
identified about 86 dif-
ferent locations across
the city, including at
borders, railway sta-
tions and Metro sta-
tions, to install 600 LED
screens through which
it will inform citizens
about the policies and
initiatives undertaken
by the government for
the welfare of people.
Of the 86 locations
identified, 34 screens
will be installed at the
New Delhi, Old Delhi
and Nizamuddin rail-
way stations, 16 at
Kashmere Gate and
Sarai Kale Khan ISBT,
12 on Airport Road and
72 on Delhi borders
such as Tikri, Auchan-
di, Lampur, Singh,
Ghazipur, Badarpur
and others.
Besides, about 76
LED screens will be in-
stalled at around 19
Delhi Metro stations
and all ring roads, junc-
tions and other places
in the city with high
footfall.
The objective behind
installing the LED
screens is to highlight
the work done by the
government and spread
awareness about new
schemes, while also dis-
playing public hel-
plines, Covid updates,
the importance of Cov-
id protocols, pollution
data, graphic films, so-
cial messages, informa-
tion regarding policies,
and other relevant de-
tails of public interest.
Public-oriented in-
formation regarding
doorstep delivery, hos-
pitals and dispensaries
allotted for Covid
treatment with the
number of beds availa-
ble, oxygen, ventilator
facility and others will
also be displayed, offi-
cials said.
New heritage park to
be thrown open soon
North Delhi Munici-
pal Corporation is
planning to throw
open its newly devel-
oped Heritage Park on
March 20. Located
near the Parade
Ground, the Heritage
Park is sandwiched
between two historic
monuments — the Red
Fort on one end and
the Jama Masjid on
the other.
A senior north cor-
poration official said
the 1.75 acre plot was
developed in two phas-
es and MPLAD (Mem-
bers of Parliament Lo-
cal Area Development)
funds have been uti-
lised to develop the
public park.
In the first phase, an
area of about 1.75
acres was developed at
an estimated cost of
`7.65 crore while the
second phase took up
the 2.25 acres at an es-
timated cost of `10.03
crore.
New Delhi (PTI):
The Centre told the
Delhi high court
that it would con-
sider the request to
reopen the mosque
portion of the Niza-
muddin Markaz for
offering prayers
during the upcom-
ing festival of Shab-
e-Baraat, the holy
month of Ramzan.
The HC, on
March 11, asked the
Centre to clarify its
stand as to what ob-
jection it has to
fully reopening the
N i z a m u d d i n
Markaz, which has
remained sealed
since March 2020,
over alleged viola-
tions of Covid-19
norms during a
Tablighi Jamaat
event.
Justice Manoj
Ohri directed the
petitioners to file
an plea before the
station house offic-
er of the police sta-
tion concerned,
seeking permission
to open the 3 floors
of the Markaz, so
that Muslims can
offer prayers dur-
ing Shab-e-Barat,
Ramzan.
DELHI WILL HAVE LARGEST EV CHARGING
NETWORK, LOWEST RATE PER UNIT: GOVT
The drive will continue for some days even after holi.
ELECTRIC TWO WHEELERS DOMINATE
SALE OF ELECTRIC VEHICLES IN CITY
New Delhi (PTI):
Electric two-wheelers
areseeingamini-boom
in the national capital,
with their sale contrib-
uting 55 per cent of the
total such vehicles reg-
istered since January
this year, official data
showed. ccording to
government data,
10,707 electric vehicles
were registered be-
tween January and
March 14 this year,
with 5,888 of them be-
ing e-two wheelers.
The remaining 45 pc
registered electric ve-
hicles are e-rickshaws,
e-car, e-bus, electric
light goods carrier, and
e-carts. In January,
1,760 electric two
wheelers were regis-
tered, while in Febru-
ary their number rose
to 2,383. The trend
shows that the demand
of e-bikes and e-scoot-
ers is increasing in the
city, which is a positive
indicator in terms of
shifting private trans-
port from vehicles run
by fossil fuels to those
run on electricity
.
Delhi Development Au-
thority has allowed the
“change of land use” in
Vasant Vihar for the es-
tablishment of the
headquarters for the
National Disaster Re-
sponse Force, officials
have said.
The authority has ap-
proved the change of
land use of 0.6769 hec-
tares (6769.60 sqm) in
Vasant Vihar from resi-
dential to government
for the establishment of
NDRF headquarters,
said DDA officials.
“As of now, it has no
permanent office space
for the establishment of
its headquarters. Due to
non-availability of
proper office space, it is
very difficult to install
National Emergency
Communication Plan at
headquarters NDRF,”
said a DDA official.
To overcome this is-
sue, the establishment
of the headquarters at
New Delhi is the need
of the hour, he said. It is
also important from the
operational point of
view to reduce response
time and to coordinate
with other government
departments and stake-
holders, added the offi-
cial. A public notice
will be issued for invit-
ing objections or sug-
gestions from people
under section 11A of
the Delhi Development
Act, 1957.
NDRF, a specialised
force constituted for the
purpose of special re-
sponse to a threatening
disaster situation or
disaster, was formed
under the Disaster
Management Act, 2005.
Will consider
plea to open
Markaz: Centre
—REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE
GATHA JANG-E-AZADI
Artistes perform during the ‘Gatha Jang-e-Azadi’ programme organised by the Delhi
Government, at Central Park, Connaught Place, in New Delhi on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY ANI
FOR HOLI
—REPRESENTATIVE
IMAGE

INDIA
03
UP results & Yogi’s Cabinet: The BJP has to satisfy many groups this time
Lucknow (Agencies):
After a stupendous vic-
tory in the Uttar
Pradesh elections, hec-
tic parleys have begun
in the Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) over cabi-
net formation. Yogi Adi-
tyanath was in the capi-
tal on Sunday to discuss
the details with JP Na-
dda, Amit Shah and
Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi.
Sixty MLAs can be-
come Ministers in the
Uttar Pradesh cabinet.
The first and foremost
question is whether the
Cabinet will have a cen-
tral BJP imprint or Yogi
Adityanath’s imprint,
as he is the main archi-
tect of the victory
.
Yogi may have a big-
ger role to play unlike
the last time in 2017,
when he had lesser free-
dom. However, Amit
Shah’s deputation as an
observer also means
that the Centre doesn’t
want to give him a free
hand as there was a lot
of resentment against
his style of functioning
in the previous term.
WILL THE GOVT
HAVE DEPUTY
CHIEF MINISTERS?
There are many ques-
tions on everyone’s
minds with respect to
the Yogi 2.0 Cabinet.
Will the government
have Deputy Chief Min-
isters? Will it abolish
the post altogether or
will the number be in-
creased to include more
caste groups such as
SCs and minorities?
Will the state follow the
Karnataka model of no
Deputy Chief Minister?
Keshav Prasad Mau-
rya lost the election
from Sirathu. Will he
continue as Deputy
Chief Minister if the
party decides to have
one? Technically, he is
still a member of the
Legislative Council and
can be made a Deputy
Chief Minister even
though he is not an
MLA. Or, will the party
accommodate him in
the organisation?
Will Dinesh Sharma
be replaced as Deputy
Chief Minister? There
were reports of people
not being happy with
his behaviour. Will he
be replaced by ex-Guja-
rat bureaucrat AK
Sharma, a Bhumihar
Brahmin, who is con-
sidered close to Modi?
WHAT ABOUT
A JAT OR SC
DEPUTY CM?
In any cabinet forma-
tion, the caste composi-
tion of the state, the
caste break-up of MLAs
who have won on the
party’s ticket, and re-
gion-wise representa-
tion are the key deter-
mining factors. Since
Lok Sabha polls are two
years away, the larger
picture also needs to be
taken into account.
As per the popula-
tion, Uttar Pradesh has
around 20% upper
castes, 19% Muslims,
10% Yadavs, 21% Sched-
uled Castes and 30%
Non-Yadav OBCs.
In terms of the com-
position of the House,
as per calculations by
Arvind Kumar, 33% of
the MLAs belong to the
upper caste, 38% are
OBCs, 21% are SCs, 8%
are Muslims and 1% are
Sikh or others.
Most of the BJP’s
MLAs are Brahmins
(45), followed by
Thakurs (43) and Kur-
mis (27). Jatavs (19) and
Pasi (non-Jatav; 18)
have also won in good
numbers.
Twenty-one MLAs
fromtheBania/Vaishya
community, 12 from
Maurya and eight Jats
have also won on BJP
tickets. The one Muslim
candidate from ally
Apna Dal has lost the
election.
BJP workers apply gulal on UP CM Yogi Aityanath after his victory in UP Assembly polls during a
celebration at the party office, in Lucknow on Thursday. —FILE PHOTO
The Brahmins have
backed the BJP in large
numbers (89% as per
the Centre for the Study
of Developing Socie-
ties) despite reports
of disillusionment and
neglect. A Brahmin
Deputy Chief Minister
is likely to be inducted.
Dinesh Sharma could
be replaced by Brajesh
Pathak, who joined
the party after leaving
the BSP just before
the 2017 polls, as per
reports.
THE BJP CAN'T
IGNORE BRAHMINS
BJP still unsure about Goa
CM; Sawant to meet Nadda
Panaji (PTI): With the
BJPunabletogetafixon
its chief ministerial
nominee in Goa, five
days after election re-
sults returned the saf-
fron outfit as the single
largest party
, just one
short of the majority
mark, caretaker Chief
MinisterPramodSawant
isheadedforthenational
capital to meet BJP na-
tional chief JP Nadda.
“I am going to Delhi
to meet the party Presi-
dent,” Sawant told re-
porters at the Assembly
complex here, after tak-
ing oath as a re-elected
legislator.
The BJP has 20 MLAs
in the 40-member Goa
Assembly
, just one short
of a simple majority.
The ruling party, how-
ever, has received let-
ters of unconditional
support from three In-
dependent MLAs and
the two-member Maha-
rashtrawadi Gomantak
Party (MGP).
While Sawant was
sworn-in as a caretak-
er Chief Minister by
Governor P.S. Sreed-
haran Pillai on March
12, BJP legislators
have not formally cho-
sen their legislative
party leader so far.
On Monday, the top
BJP leadership appoint-
ed Union ministers Nar-
endra Singh Tomar and
L Murugan as observer
and co-observer, respec-
tively
, for the election of
the leader of Goa’s leg-
islative party
.
Meanwhile, amid re-
ports of a rivalry be-
tween Sawant and his
now former Health Min-
ister Visjwajit Rane in
the race for the top
chair, Rane’s wife, new-
ly-elected MLA Deviya
Rane, created a flutter
on Tuesday by saying
that her husband, like
any elected legislator, is
ready to accept the top
chair.
“Of course, any elect-
ed representative can be
ready and he (Visjwajit
Rane) is a very experi-
enced politician. But the
final decision is of the
central committee,”
Deviya Rane told report-
ers after she was asked
if her husband is ready
to take up the top post.
She, however, said
that there is no dissent
over the choice of chief
minister within the
BJP, adding that the de-
cision is left to the par-
ty’s high command.
“The party will de-
cide, its central leaders
will decide... Whatever
they decide is the final
decision,” she said, as
she blamed mediaper-
sons for ‘fabricating’ a
‘rift’ between Rane and
Sawant.
JP Nadda Pramod Sawant
Akhilesh Yadav
Akhilesh Yadav
claims his party
won 304 seats
in UP elections
Lucknow: Samajwadi
Partychief AkhileshYa-
dav on Tuesday claimed
that the SP-led alliance
had got 51.5 per cent of
the postal ballots in the
recent UP Assembly
election, and that it won
304 seats on this basis.
“The SP-alliance got
51.5percentof thepostal
ballotvotes,whichmeans
thattheSPregisteredvic-
toryon304seats,”hesaid
in a Hindi tweet.
“This is telling the
truthaboutthevictoryof
the SP-led alliance in the
election.Thankstoevery
government employee,
teacher and voter, who
cast their postal ballot.
“Therulingpartyshould
knowthatdeceitdoesnot
give any strength,” said
Yadav, targeting BJP
,
which won the election
with 255 seats.
‘Bihar model’ reaches Manipur,
but will it be any good for JDU?
Moni Sharma
New Delhi: There are
many models of gov-
ernance emerging in
the country these days.
Narendra Modi showed
the Gujarat model to
the people of the coun-
try. Before that there
was Andhra model of
Chandrababu Naidu,
which no state in the
country followed. Later
Arvind Kejriwal made
the Delhi model and
went to many states
with it but it ‘claimed
success’ was found in
Punjab. Now Delhi mod-
el will be implemented
in Punjab, which Kejri-
wal’s party leaders are
calling Kejriwal Model
of Governance. Now
the discussion of a Bi-
har model has started,
which Chief Minister
Nitish Kumar calls de-
velopment with justice.
His party’s national
general secretary KC
Tyagi has said that the
Bihar model has shown
its effect in Manipur.
Remember, JD(U) has
won six seats in Ma-
nipur, which by any
measure, is an amazing
performance.
In some states of the
Northeast, the Janata
Parivar parties, espe-
cially the JDU, have had
an impact. JD(U) had
six MLAs in the cur-
rent Arunachal
Pradesh assembly, who
joined the Bharatiya
Janata Party. BJP says
that all those people be-
longed to its party, who
fought on JDU ticket.
Although the discus-
sion is that a senior
leader of JDU sacri-
ficed the party for his
personal interest. How-
ever, in Nagaland too,
JD(U) MLAs have been
winning and switching
sides. Now six MLAs of
the party have won in
Manipur, so whatever
be the ‘model’ present-
ed before people prior
to election, the chal-
lenge is the same and
that is to keep everyone
together. Although BJP
has got majority and it
does not need support,
yet the JDU has given
support to BJP. But it is
difficult to guarantee
that all the MLAs will
continue in JDU in the
coming times.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar with newly-elected JDU MLAs
from Manipur. —FILE PHOTO
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra with other senior Congress leaders.
Of course, any elected representative can be
ready and he (Visjwajit Rane) is a very ex-
perienced politician. But the final decision
is of the central committee. Whatever they decide is
the final decision.
Deviya Rane, Poriem MLA
Sidhu’s circus drives voters away from Congress?
Sharat K Verma
Chandigarh: As much
as Arvind Kejriwal is
happy with the victory
of the Aam Aadmi Par-
ty in Punjab or Captain
Amarinder Singh is
happy after the defeat
of the Congress, the
state president Navjot
Singh Sidhu is even
more upbeat. No one
has congratulated and
expressed happiness on
AAP’s victory like him.
Sidhu, in his first reac-
tion after the results,
said that the people of
Punjab have taken an
extremely good deci-
sion. The way Prime
Minister Narendra
Modi expresses grati-
tude to the people on his
victory, thanks them
and congratulates
them, in the same way
Sidhu has thanked to
the people of Punjab on
the victory of AAP. He
has congratulated the
people of Punjab for a
very good decision and
thanked them for voting
for the change.
Think, if a party has
such a leader and that
leader is the head of the
state unit, then what
would have happened if
that party had not lost?
It is not known whether
the Congress high com-
mand has considered
this or not, but it is a
general impression that
Navjot Singh Sidhu is
the main reason behind
this bad defeat of Con-
gress in Punjab. For the
last one year, the party
was converted into a
circus. He and his advi-
sors first attacked Cap-
tain Amarinder Singh
and later on Charanjit
Singh Channi. No one
has done as much defa-
mation to one’s own
government as Sidhu
did. ‘Sidhu’s circus’
drove the voters of Pun-
jab away from the Con-
gress and that is why
Sidhu himself lost. The
Congress high com-
mand does not know
how much information
is available about Sid-
hu’s cricketing career,
but the fact is that he
used to fight with the
captain there too and
the record of getting
four players run out in
a match is also in Sid-
hu’s name. He got four
players run out in a
match in Sharjah and
himself got out without
scoring any big score.
Priyanka Gandhi
Vadra chairs review
meet on UP poll rout
New Delhi (ANI): Con-
gress’s Priyanka Gan-
dhi Vadra is holding a
meeting to review the
party’s decimation in
the politically crucial
Uttar Pradesh. The
50-year-old was put in
charge of Uttar Pradesh
soon after she joined
politics and tasked with
building the party from
ground up. Four years
down the line, despite
her high voltage “Ladki
hoon lad sakti hoon” (I
am a girl and can fight)
campaign, the party
managed to get only two
seats in the state, down
from seven in 2017. The
Congress general secre-
tary in-charge of Uttar
Pradesh is at the party’s
war room at Delhi’s Gur-
dwara Rakabganj Road.
She is chairing a meet-
ing, which is being at-
tended by the top state
leaders of the party
.
Malik’s plea for
release from
custody nixed
Mumbai (Agencies):
TheBombayHighCourt
on Tuesday rejected a
plea by Ma-
harashtra
M i n i s t e r
Nawab Ma-
lik seeking
his release
from judicial custody
after his arrest by the
Enforcement Directo-
rate (ED) in an alleged
money-laundering case
arising out of a tainted
land deal around 20
years ago.
Rajiv Gandhi’s
killer Perarivalan
released on bail
Chennai (PTI): After
serving 31 years of
prison term, the Rajiv
Gandhi assassination
case convict AG Perari-
valan came out of
Chennai’s Puzhal Cen-
tral Jail on bail on
Tuesday.
Speaking to media
persons outside the jail
premises, Perarivalan
and his mother Ar-
putham Ammal
thanked everyone “who
stood with them in their
fight for justice”.
T’gana to bear edu cost
of Ukraine-returnees
Hyderabad (Agen-
cies): AftertheUkraine-
returned medical stu-
dents are unable to re-
turn to their colleges,
the Telangana govern-
ment has offered to bear
expenses of their edu-
cation in India.
Considering the
plight of students, Tel-
angana government
has decided to bear the
cost of education of
Ukraine-returned stu-
dents. “We will write to
the centre about this is-
sue and help these stu-
dents. These kids can’t
go back to Ukraine, and
nor can we discontinue
their education. We
will help them com-
plete their education
here,” Telangana chief
minister K Chan-
drashekar Rao said.
TN anti-NEET Bill will be
sent for Prez assent: Guv
Chennai: Tamil Nadu
Governor RN Ravi on
Tuesday assured Chief
Minister MK Stalin
that the anti-NEET Bill
adopted recently by the
state Assembly would
be forwarded to the
Centre for Presidential
assent.
Stalin called on Gov-
ernor Ravi at the Raj
Bhavan in Chennai and
urged him to expedi-
tiously send the Bill to
exempt Tamil Nadu
from the purview of the
NationalEligibilitycum
Entrance Test for get-
ting Presidential assent,
an official release said.
OnFebruary8,theTa-
mil Nadu Assembly had
adopted once again the
anti-NEET Bill and sent
it Raj Bhavan for getting
Presidential assent.
New Delhi (PTI): Con-
gress’ Lok Sabha whip
Manickam Tagore on
Tuesday hit out at senior
leader Kapil Sibal for
his remarks against the
leadership by accusing
him of speaking RSS-BJP
language. “Why the RSS
and BJP wants Nehru-
Gandhi’s out of the lead-
ership? It’s easy to kill
Congress then it’s easy to
destroy the idea of India
(sic). Sibal knows it but
why he is speaking the
language of RSS/BJP,”
Tagore said on Twitter.
CONG LEADER HITS
OUT AT KAPIL SIBAL
K Chandrashekar Rao RN Ravi

PERSPECTIVE
04
Vol 1 Issue No. 196
RNI TITLE NO. DELENG/2021/19840
Printed and published by
Anita Hada Sangwan on behalf of First Express
Publishers. Printed at Impressions Printing
and Packaging Limited, C-21, 22 Sector-59,
Noida-201301. Published at G-20, 3rd Floor, 309,
Preet Vihar, New Delhi-110092.
Phone 011-49846474.
Editor-In-Chief: Jagdeesh Chandra.
Editor: Sharat K Verma
responsible for selection of news under the
PRB Act
SPIRITUAL SPEAK
It is easy to see the faults of others,
but difficult to see one’s own faults.
One shows the faults of others like
chaff winnowed in the wind, but one
conceals one’s own faults as a
cunning gambler conceals his dice.
—Buddha
TOP
TWEETS
Women’s Handball Team Scripts
History! Jr. Women’s Team
defeated Thailand 41-18 in the
Finals to win India’s maiden
gold medal and finished on top
of Asian Jr. Championships.
With this #TeamIndia also
qualified for 1st time for @
ihf_info Women’s Jr. World
C’ships 2022.
Anurag Thakur
@ianuragthakur
Rajnathsingh_in
@RajnathSingh_in
For balanced
development in India, it
is necessary that along
with GDP, HDI i.e.
Human Development
Index also increases.
This challenging task
is not possible without
the participation of
women.
W
hen will Congress wake up
from its slumber? March 10
should have been consid-
ered by Congress as a Day
of Awakening! After the
drastic slide in its tally in
general elections, it is now
in power only in Chhattis-
garh and Rajasthan and is
a player in the coalition
governments in Maharash-
tra and Jharkhand!
“Change or it will be the
endgame”… this was the
feeling from several party
stalwarts on Thursday
.
The brother-sister duo
was also held responsible
for the high-drama deci-
sions taken in Punjab, in-
cluding the humiliating
ouster of Amarinder Singh
days and putting up a Dalit
leader Charanjit Singh
Channi as the CM face
which now looks like the
entire exercise backfired
and boomeranged and it
insteadalienatedthestate’s
politically dominant Jat
Sikhs who finally came out
and voted in favour of
Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP
.
The Congress’ extremely
poor show in the Assembly
elections of 5 states has
added to a series of deba-
cles which has raised sev-
eral serious questions
about the political exist-
ence and future of the
Grand Old Party. In Pun-
jab, one of the big states
that it ruled, the Congress
witnessed a huge 15 per-
cent swing against it.
The Aam Aadmi Party,
which “swept” (literally)
the elections, emerged as
the strongest party and
also led in terms of gain in
votes with a huge 19%
swing in its favour. The
BJP had a much smaller
swing of +2%.
The AAP mainly benefit-
ed (almost 19%) from the
combined huge 21% drop in
votes of the Congress, Aka-
li Dal and smaller parties.
Some G-23 leaders, who
had sought (an organisa-
tional) overhaul over the
last 2 years, now again
raised questions on Rahul
Gandhi’s leadership and
again pitched for “re-
forms”. Party leader
Shashi Tharoor, who was
part of the G-23 group, said
it is clear that change is
unavoidable. “’All of us
who believe in INCIndia
are hurting from the re-
sults of the recent Assem-
bly elections. It is time to
reaffirm the idea of India
that Congress has stood for
and the positive agenda it
offers the nation. “And to
reform our organisational
leadership in a manner
that will reignite those ide-
as and inspire the people.
One thing is clear - Change
is unavoidable if we need to
succeed,” he tweeted.
The strategy of Priyan-
ka Gandhi Vadra is also be-
ing questioned also field-
ing some controversial
candidates in UP has put
the high command on a
sticky wicket. Priyanka’s
ambitious Ladki Hoon, Lad
Sakti Hoon campaign has
too fallen on its face. Apart
from the internal differ-
ences, rift and uphill chal-
lenges, Congress’ defeat
has literally pushed down
its stakes as the principal
opposition party with
Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP
now sitting comfortably in
two states and can easily
and rightfully stake its
claim as the main challeng-
er to the Saffron Power!
GOA POLLS
In Goa too, the Assembly
election results proved to
be extremely disastrous for
the Congress; it registered
a huge 6% swing against it.
No other party saw such a
damage swing. And mind
it… the most notable gain
in the coastal state was
that of the Revolutionary
Goa Party (RGP). The new-
ly created RGP witnessed a
10% rise in vote share,
leaving the AAP, Trina-
mool Congress, and Maha-
rashtrawadi Gomantak
Party (MGP) behind.
UTTAR PRADESH POLLS
In Uttar Pradesh, India’s
most politically vital and
crucial state, the Congress
failed to create a ripple and
make any visible impact
despite a “high-octane”
campaign led by Priyanka
Gandhi Vadra.
UTTARAKHAND POLLS
In Uttarakhand, even as
there was a slight glimmer
of hope… It was here that
Congress had expected a
comebackoratleastexpect-
ed to give a photo-finish
fight and finally it was here
that the party saw a rise in
its vote share. The party
emerged as the biggest
gainer in terms of votes --
withasubstantial5%swing
in favour of the party (Con-
gress) -- but since only 2%
of this came from the Saf-
fron might, but the Con-
gresscouldnotbeattheBJP
and had to remain content
withbeingthesecondparty
.
MANIPUR POLLS
West, north or even east…
there’s no change in the
sad saga of the Congress.
It turned out to be equally
catastrophic in Manipur
for the country’s oldest po-
litical party as its vote
share eroded by 19% and
thus reducing the party’s
tally strength to less than
half of what it was in the
2017 Assembly elections.
However, strangely, the
huge swing and people’s
anti-Congressmooddidnot
materialise things for the
Saffron party but it went to
other parties instead…
NPP got 12% and JDU gar-
nered 11% thus making it
(JDU) the new second
(joint… mind it) largest
party in the eastern state.
Looking back, it may be
revealed that the electoral
fortunes of the Congress
took a downward trend in
the last round of elections
in 5 crucial states in 2021 as
it failed to make a mark in
Assam, Kerala, West Ben-
gal, Tamil Nadu and Pu-
ducherry
. However, it man-
aged a slight consolation
prize in the form of a part-
ner in the DMK-led alliance
in Tamil Nadu. In West
Bengal, the Grand Old Par-
ty was down to a cipher!
However, on Sunday’s
crucial CWC meeting what
was the outcome? The (per-
haps only) question was
repeated: Who was respon-
sible for the Opposition
party’s massive debacle?
Sonia Gandhi went on to
harp on the “sacrifices” is-
sue. She went on to say if
the CWC members — all
her nominees — thought
she and her children were
responsible for what hap-
pened to the Congress,
they (the three of them)
were willing to ‘sacrifice’
and ‘step away’. Remem-
ber, Rahul Gandhi’s resig-
nation letter which he had
tweeted in July 2019 after
the humiliating defeat in
the Lok Sabha polls… It
also spoke of ‘sacrifices’ as
he virtually put the onus
of defeat on his party col-
leagues, writing how he
“stood completely alone”
in his fight against Prime
Minister Narendra Modi.
Again the word “Sacri-
fice” was the Parivar’s
main weapon. How long
will they harp on “Sacrifice
sentiment”? However, the
question that hangs heavy
in the air, especially for the
Congress is that if the Gan-
dhis are not responsible for
the party’s crisis or rather
humiliating debacle, who
is? Now, this sentence in the
CWC statement actually
takes the cake… “Congress
party represents the hopes
of millions of Indians
against political authori-
tarianism prevailing in the
country today, and the par-
ty is fully conscious of its
immense responsibility”.
If so, where were “those”
millions who voted in this
election? Why were they in-
visible? See the above vote
shares which I explicitly
mentioned… and to round
up and substantiate the ar-
gument against this state-
ment…The Grand Old Par-
ty also says it is “fully con-
scious of its immense re-
sponsibility,” if that is
true… the statistics don’t
really show how it is fully
conscious.
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY
THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL
Shashi Tharoor
@ShashiTharoor
All of us who believe in
INC India are hurting
from the results of recent
Assembly elections. It is
time to reaffirm the idea
of India that Congress has
stood for and the positive
agenda it offers the nation.
And to reform our organi-
sational leadership in a
manner that will reignite
those ideas and inspire the
people. One thing is clear
- Change is unavoidable if
we need to succeed.
ROBIN ROY
The writer is Senior Associate Editor,
Free Press Journal, Mumbai and
former Managing Editor, First India
GRAND OLD CONG PLAYS
‘RIP’ VAN ‘WRINKLE’?
LET’S
RECAP…
IN UP,
CONGRESS
MANAGED
2.33% VOTES,
2 SEATS
(OUT OF 399
SEATS IT HAD
CONTESTED)
IN 2022 POLLS
CONGRESS
MANAGED
6.2% AND 7
SEATS (OUT
OF 114 IT
CONTESTED)
IN THE 2017
ASSEMBLY
ELECTIONS!
THE CONGRESS’ EXTREMELY POOR SHOW IN
THE ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS OF 5 STATES HAS
ADDED TO A SERIES OF DEBACLES WHICH HAS
RAISED SEVERAL SERIOUS
QUESTIONS ABOUT THE POLITICAL
EXISTENCE AND FUTURE OF THE
GRAND OLD PARTY. IN PUNJAB, ONE
OF THE BIG STATES THAT IT RULED, THE
CONGRESS WITNESSED A HUGE 15
PERCENT SWING AGAINST IT
(Top) Congress supporters holding party flags
stage a sit-in protest demanding non-
resignation of the party Interim President
Sonia Gandhi and Congress party leaders Rahul
Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, outside the
party headquarters, in New Delhi on Sunday.
The Aam Aadmi Party, which
“swept” (literally) the elections,
emerged as the strongest party
and also led in terms of gain in
votes with a huge 19% swing in
its favour. The BJP had a much
smaller swing of +2%. The AAP
mainly benefited (almost 19%)
from the combined huge 21% drop
in votes of the Congress, Akali Dal
and smaller parties

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INDIA
05
Tushar Kumar
New Delhi: There are a
total of seven national
parties in India at pre-
sent, but their number
may increase in the
coming days. After the
assembly elections in
five states, the Aam
Aadmi Party is very
close to the destination
in the race to become a
national party and if all
goes well, AAP will get
the status of a national
party by the end of this
year. Aam Aadmi Party
will meet at least one of
the standards set by the
Election Commission
for being a national par-
ty this year. It has got
the status of a regional
party in three states and
assembly elections in
Gujarat and Himachal
Pradesh are due at the
end of the year, where
AAP has to contest.
According to the
Election Commission,
the first criterion is to
get two per cent of the
Lok Sabha seats i.e. 11
seats, while AAP has
only one Lok Sabha MP
- Bhagwant Maan - who
has resigned as he is go-
ing to become the Chief
Minister of Punjab. The
second criterion is to
get six per cent votes in
four states and four
seats in the Lok Sabha.
This is also not possible
yet. The third criterion
is to achieve regional
party status in four
states. According to
this, if a party gets six
percent votes in the
state elections and its
two MLAs win, it may
beconsidered a national
party and AAP hopes it
will complete it by the
end of this year. It cur-
rently enjoys the status
of a regional party in
Goa, Punjab and Delhi.
Despite this, the fast-
est record of getting the
status of the national
party the fastest will
not be in the name of
Aam Aadmi Party
. This
record has become in
the name of National
People’s Party (NPP)
formed by PA Sangma.
The NPP was formed in
2013 and got the status
of a national party in
2019. Aam Aadmi Party
was formed a year be-
fore this. The NPP is the
first party in the North-
east to get the status of
a national party. It is a
regional party recog-
nized in four states-
Meghalaya, Manipur,
Arunachal Pradesh and
Nagaland. It has a gov-
ernment in Meghalaya
and this time it has be-
come the main opposi-
tion party in Manipur.
Apart from BJP, Con-
gress, Trinamool Con-
gress, CPM, CPI and
BSP
, NPP is the seventh
party to have national
party status. Sharad Pa-
war’s NCP had also be-
come a national party at
one time, but later it
was stripped of its sta-
tus. Now again Pawar’s
party is in this race and
a new entrant in this
race is Nitish Kumar’s
Janata Dal U, which has
won six seats in Ma-
nipur. It has regional
party status in Bihar
and Manipur and will
try to achieve regional
party status in Megha-
laya and Nagaland in
the 2023 elections. JD(U)
has been winning in Na-
galand and has six
MLAs in the present
Arunachal Pradesh as-
sembly as well. So, three
parties AAP, JDU and
NCP are in the race to
become a national party
.
2022: THE YEAR FOR NEW ‘NATIONAL PARTIES’?
‘Nepotism’ would not be
encouraged in BJP: PM
New Delhi: Prime Min-
ister Narendra Modi
said on Tuesday that it
was his decision not to
field children of BJP
MPs in the recent state
elections, in which the
party won in four states.
“Several MPs and
party leaders were seek-
ing tickets in the recent-
ly concluded elections
for their children and
many of them were de-
nied. BJP MPs’ children
did not get tickets to
contest because that
comes under dynastic
politics. They did not
get tickets because of
me,” PM said at the first
weekly meeting of BJP
MPs after the party’s
election wins.
The comments were
seen in reference to BJP
MP Rita Bahuguna
Joshi’s son Mayank,
who joined the Sama-
jwadi Party just before
polls after being denied
a BJP ticket to contest
in Uttar Pradesh.
INDIA FOCUSES ON HI-TECH AGRI TO HELP FARMERS
New Delhi (ANI): With the purpose of making farmers self-reliant the government has
decided to make agriculture hi-tech in this year’s Union Budget. It is a high priority
sector for India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The government has made provisions
to develop it in a new way by moving beyond traditional farming. From rural housing to
chemical-free agriculture, a five-kilometer-wide corridor along the Ganges, and water
for irrigation in Bundelkhand through the Ken-Betwa link project, all of this ensures that
the Budget caters to the needs of every Indian. A new public-private partnership (PPP)
scheme will be launched to deliver digital and high-tech services to farmers.
Over 300 died
while cleaning
sewers in last
5 years: Govt
New Delhi (PTI): No
death has been reported
for engaging in manual
scavenging but 325 peo-
ple have lost their lives
in accidents while un-
dertaking hazardous
cleaning of sewer and
septic tanks in the last
five years, the govern-
ment said on Tuesday.
Family members of 276
people who died during
the said period have re-
ceived compensation,
MoS for Social Justice
and Empowerment
Ramdas Athawale said
in reply to a question in
the Lok Sabha.
“No death has been
reported due to engag-
ing in manual scaveng-
ing (which is lifting of
human excreta from
insanitary latrines as
defined in Section 2(1)
(g)of theMSAct,2013),”
Athawale said in a writ-
ten response.
He said 325 people
have died due to acci-
dents while undertak-
ing hazardous cleaning
of sewer and septic
tanks during the last
five years.
The highest number
of such deaths have
been reported from Ut-
tar Pradesh at 52 fol-
lowed by Tamil Nadu
43, Delhi 42, Haryana 33
and Maharashtra 30.
Covid-19 spreading its
tentacles in US again?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party national president JP Nadda being
felicitated by Union Ministers Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh during the BJP parliamentary party
meeting at Ambedkar International Center in New Delhi on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY ANI
Tit for tat, Russia sanctions
Biden, several top US ofiicials
Birla chides Giriraj for
interrupting colleague
Why is Didi hurt over
UP Assembly results?
Clear Govt stand on rail
privatisation: Oppn in LS
Moscow: Russia’s For-
eign Ministry said on
Tuesday that US Presi-
dent Joe Biden and a
dozen other top officials
had been banned from
entering the country in
a reciprocal response to
US sanctions.
The measure, which
also applies to Secre-
tary of State Antony
Blinken and Defence
Secretary Lloyd Austin,
“is the consequence of
the extremely Russo-
phobic policy pursued
by the current US ad-
ministration”, the Rus-
sian Foreign Ministry
said in a statement.
New Delhi: Lok Sabha
Speaker Om Birla on
Tuesday chided Union
Minister Giriraj Singh
for intervening in the
reply of his junior col-
league, saying that any
question in the Lower
House and its supple-
mentary should be an-
swered by the same
Minister.
The Speaker’s com-
ment came when Singh
stood up to reply to the
second supplementary
question of his Rural
Development Ministry
during Question Hour
after junior Minister
Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti
replied to the first one.
“Honourable Minis-
ter, this is not proper.
Either the MoS or the
Cabinet minister
should reply to all the
questions. Not one after
another. You should not
intervene. Let the MoS
(Jyoti) complete the an-
swers,” he said.
Mahesh Sharma
New Delhi: Even
though his party could
not form the govern-
ment, former UP CM
Akhilesh Yadav is not
seen as hurt as TMC su-
premo and West Bengal
CM Mamata Banerjee is
over the Assembly elec-
tion results of UP. Akh-
ilesh also raised the is-
sue of EVM malprac-
tices at many places but
he is not an aggressive
attacker like Mamata is.
Didi accused of mal-
practices in the Uttar
Pradesh elections by
holding a press confer-
ence and said that the
vote has been ‘looted’.
Mamata also demanded
that forensic examina-
tion of EVMs should be
done while also accus-
ing the administration
and the Election Com-
mission of wrongdoing.
Just think, in the midst
of all these allegations,
did Mamata Banerjee
herself not win the elec-
tion last year?
The BJP also accused
Mamata’s party of loot-
ing vote. Yes, there was
no allegation of EVM
malpractices, even
though there were votes
from EVMs and Mama-
ta got a landslide victo-
ry. So therefore, the
question remains as to
why is Mamata so hurt?
Is it that she got hurt
because she went to
campaign twice and
still nothing happened?
Keep in mind that UP
is the only state outside
Bengal where Didi went
for campaigning. De-
spite holding a joint
rally and a joint Press
conference with Akh-
ilesh, the BJP managed
a huge victory. It is be-
ing said that Didi be-
lieved SP would come
out victorious an there-
fore she had gone to be-
come a participant in
the win. She is seeing
this as a denial for her-
self even in the largest
state of the country
.
New Delhi: Opposition
membersonTuesdayac-
cused the government
of indulging in jugglery
of railway fi-
nances and
sought to
know whether
it intends to
privatise the
Indian Rail-
ways after Air India. Ini-
tiating the debate on
DemandforGrants2022-
23 for Railway in Lok
Sabha, Congress mem-
ber K Suresh accused
the government of run-
ning the railways in an
inefficient manner.
“... The intention of
this government is pri-
vatising the
Indian Rail-
ways also. Air
India already
sold.Nownext
step of this
government is
Indian Railways. That
will happen very soon,”
Suresh said, asking the
RailwayMinisterwheth-
er the Indian Railways
will remain under Gov-
ernment of India or not.
UN CHIEF SAYS IN CONTACT WITH
COUNTRIES INCLUDING INDIA, CHINA
New York: Underlining how Ukraine is being “decimated
before the eyes of the world”, UN chief warned that a melt-
down of the global economy due to the conflict is provoking
a hunger crisis. “It is time to stop the horror unleashed and
get on the path of diplomacy and peace”, he said, noting that
he had been in close contact with countries including China,
France, Germany, India, Israel and Turkey.
Washington (Agen-
cies): A wastewater net-
work that monitors for
Covid-19 trends is warn-
ing that cases are once
again rising in many
parts of the US, accord-
ing to an analysis of
Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention
data by Bloomberg.
More than a third of
the CDC’s wastewater
sample sites across the
US showed rising Cov-
id-19 trends in the peri-
od ending March 1 to
March 10, though re-
portedcaseshavestayed
near a recent low. The
number of sites with
rising signals of Covid
cases is nearly twice
what it was during the
Feb. 1 to Feb. 10 period,
when the third wave
was fading rapidly
.
It’s not clear how
manynewinfectionsthe
signs in the sewage rep-
resent and if they will
turn into a new wave, or
will be just a brief bump
on the way down from
the last one.
HIGHLIGHTS
l India logs 2,568 new Covid-19 cases, 97 Covid
deaths In 24 Hours: Centre
l 16.29 crore Covid vaccine doses supplied to 98
countries, says Government
MALDIVIAN PREZ THANKS INDIA FOR
‘GENEROUS AID’ DURING PANDEMIC
New Delhi (PTI): Maldivian President Ibrahim Solih has
thanked India for its help during the pandemic, highlight-
ing that India donated vaccines and generously aided
the island nation on many occasions. During an address
to the people of his country on Sunday, President Solih
thanked Maldives’ friendly bilateral partners who assisted
it in Covid-19 response efforts. “I take this opportunity
to highlight India, Japan, USA, UAE, China, Bangladesh,
WHO and some of the UN agencies for their support,”
President Solih said. “In the last two years, India has
generously aided us on many occasions,” he noted.
CRUCIAL READ
LANKA-INDIA TO
TO SIGN $1 BN
BAILOUT PACKAGE
INDIA IN TALKS TO
BUY DISCOUNTED
RUSSIAN OIL
Colombo: Sri Lanka’s
Finance Minister Basil
Rajapaksa on Tuesday
left for New Delhi to ink
a fresh USD 1 billion
bailout package with
India, amid a crippling
economic meltdown
staring at the island
nation. Rajapaksa left
for India for a two-
day official visit for
crucial talks for broader
financial assistance to
tide over Sri Lanka’s
economic crisis.
New Delhi: India is
exploring options for
buying Russian crude
oil, authorities said on
Tuesday, with prices
plunging to record lows
in the wake of a global
backlash to the Ukraine
conflict. New Delhi
enjoys historic ties
with Moscow, hosting
a rare overseas trip
by President Vladimir
Putin late last year, and
has called for an end to
the violence in Ukraine.
IN THE COURTYARD
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on
Tuesday stayed till further orders
the January 31 order of the Centre
banning telecast of Malayalam news
channel ‘MediaOne’ on security
grounds. A bench of Justices DY
Chandrachud, Surya
Kant and Vikram
Nath said that
the news and
current affairs
channel will
continue its
operations as
it was oper-
ating prior
to the ban
of telecast.
New Delhi: More than 6,000 cases
of atrocities against the Scheduled
Caste community are pending in
Gujarat courts. Several of the cases are
pending for more than 10 years. The
information was shared in the ongoing
Budget Session of Assembly.
London: Britain’s top court on Monday
refused WikiLeaks founder Julian As-
sange permission to appeal against a
decision to extradite him to the US to
face spying charges. The court said it
refused because the case “didn’t raise
an arguable point of law.”
SC STAYS CENTRE’S BAN
ON MediaOne CHANNEL
OVER 6K CASES OF ATROCITIES
ON SC PENDING IN GUJ COURTS
ASSANGE DENIED PERMISSION
TO APPEAL BY UK’S TOP COURT
Secretary-General
Antonio Guterres
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla
—FILE PHOTO
Mamata Banerjee with Akhilesh Yadav. —FILE PHOTO

BIZ BUZZ
06
Promoted by
AU Small Finance Bank
No plans to introduce
cryptocurrency: Govt
New Delhi (PTI):
There is no plan to in-
troduce cryptocurrency
by the government,
Minister of State for Fi-
nance Pankaj Chaud-
hary informed the Ra-
jya Sabha on Tuesday
.
Currently, cryptocur-
rencies are unregulated
in India, he said in a
written reply
.
“RBI does not issue
cryptocurrency. Tradi-
tional paper currency is
a legal tender and is is-
sued by RBI in terms of
provisions of RBI Act,
1994. A digital version
of traditional paper
currency is called Cen-
tral Bank Digital Cur-
rency (CBDC),” he said.
RBI is currently
working towards a
phased implementation
strategy for introduc-
tion of CBDC and exam-
ining use cases which
could be implemented
with little or no disrup-
tion, he said in another
reply
.
Introduction of
CBDC has the potential
to provide significant
benefits such as re-
duced dependency on
cash, higher seignior-
age due to lower trans-
action costs, etc, he
added.
Printing of notes
have declined over a pe-
riod of time, he said,
adding, during 2019-20
notes worth `4,378 crore
were printed which
came down to `4,012
crore in 2020-21.
Replying to another
question, he said, finan-
cial health of the coun-
try includes many fac-
ets. “Stable stock mar-
ket along with well-
functioning and sophis-
ticated market infra-
structure is one indica-
tor to assess a country’s
financial health. The
stock markets are in-
dicative of economic
growth in the medium
to long term as the stock
prices reflect the mar-
ket’s expectation on fu-
ture corporate earn-
ings/profitability and
hence the underlying
confidence in econo-
my,” he said.
However, he said, in
the short run, the stock
markets are mostly
driven by the economic
and geopolitical events.
Exchanges levy ex-
change transaction fees
upon the broker which
may be passed down to
clients, he said, adding,
the transaction fee is
mentioned in the con-
tract note issued to cli-
ent by the broker.
Over `53,600 crore GST
compensation yet to be
released this fiscal: FM
New Delhi (PTI):
Over `53,600 crore of
GST compensation
for the current fiscal
is yet to be released
to the states, FM Nir-
mala Sitharaman
said on Tuesday
.
So far this fiscal,
`96,576 crore has
been released to the
states on account of
GST compensation,
and an additional
`1.59 lakh crore has
been given as back-
to-back loan to make
good the revenue
shortfall on account
of GST implementa-
tion.
The compensation
amount to be paid
from the compensa-
tion fund is arrived
at by levying cess on
top of the highest tax
slab on luxury, de-
merit and sin goods.
“Centre is com-
mitted to release full
GST Compensation
to the States/UTs as
per GST (Compensa-
tion to States) Act,
2017 for the transi-
tion period by ex-
tending the levy of
Compensation cess
beyond 5 years to
meet the GST reve-
nue shortfall as well
as servicing the loan
borrowed through
special window
scheme,” she said.
Giving details of
GST compensation
yet to be released to
the states for current
fiscal ending March,
the minister said
`53,661 crore is yet to
be released for the
2021-22 fiscal.
RBI WORKING ON STRATEGY
BI-MONTHLY
Govt to make ‘calibrated
interventions’ to keep
fuel prices under control
New Delhi (PTI):
The government on
Tuesday said it is
keeping a close
watch on evolving
geopolitical develop-
ments and would
make ‘calibrated in-
terventions’ to keep
fuel prices under
control to safeguard
the interest of the
common man.
Minister of State
for Finance Pankaj
Chaudhary said
crude petroleum and
natural gas, fuel
power subgroup in
the WPI is directly
related to the fluctu-
ations in the prices
of crude oil.
To a question in
the Rajya Sabha on
whether the govern-
ment will cut excise
duty to keep fuel
price escalation due
to the Ukrainian cri-
sis in control, Chaud-
hary said the public
sector oil marketing
companies take ap-
propriate decisions
on pricing of petrol
and diesel in line
with their interna-
tional product pric-
es, exchange rate,
tax structure, inland
freight and other
cost elements etc.
“Government is
keeping a close
watch on these fac-
tors and the evolving
geopolitical develop-
ments and would
make calibrated in-
terventions as and
when required to
safeguard the inter-
ests of the common
man,” he said. India
relies on overseas
purchases to meet
about 85% of its oil
requirement, mak-
ing it one of the most
vulnerable in Asia to
higher oil prices.
Govtprovidingfinancialhelp
tosetupdairiesacrosscountry
Centre is providing fi-
nancial assistance to
set up dairies across
the country through
various schemes, in-
cluding dairy process-
ing and infrastructure
development fund and
the national pro-
gramme for dairy de-
velopment, Union
Minister Sanjeev Baly-
an said.
Speaking in the Lok
Sabha, Balyan said the
objective of the Dairy
Processing and Infra-
structure Develop-
ment Fund is to cre-
ate and strengthen
milk pro-
c e s s i n g
and val-
ue ad-
d i -
tion
infrastructure for
dairy cooperative,
multi-state dairy coop-
erative, milk producer
companies, National
Dairy Development
Board and its subsidi-
aries, registered self-
help groups and farm-
er producer organisa-
tions. Under this
scheme, the minister
added, NABARD rais-
es funds and disburses
them as loans to NDDB
and National Coopera-
tive Development Cor-
poration (NCDC)
for
onward disbursement
to the end borrowers.
NDDB has also been
allowed to give loans to
end borrowers from its
own resources. The
central government
provides a 2.5% inter-
est subsidy for such
loans, he said in the
Lower House.
Activities supported
under this scheme in-
clude infrastructure
for milk processing
plants, milk transpor-
tation system and mar-
keting infrastructure,
among others.
Tata Motors to invest `15K crore in EVs
Aurangabad (PTI):
Tata Motors is plan-
ning to invest `15,000
crore in the EV seg-
ment in the next five
years, a top company
official has said.
The company, which
is a leader in the newly
emerging EV segment
with offerings such as
Nexon, is also planning
to develop around 10
more new offerings in
the segment, President
for Passenger Vehicles
Business of Tata Mo-
tors Shailesh Chandra
said.
“As far as future is
concerned, in next five
(years) we will invest
`15,000 crore in electri-
fication. We are going
to work on nearly 10
products with different
kind of body styles,
price, driving range op-
tions,” Chandra said.
The company had
raised $1 billion in
funding from private
equity major TPG in its
EV division, valuing
the business at $9.1 bil-
lion.
Chandra said there
is a need to accelerate
the development of the
EV ecosystem with
charging facilities, and
affirmed the compa-
ny’s commitment to
develop the same.
It has a network of
nearly 400 charging sta-
tions in Maharashtra,
of which 15-20 are in
Aurangabad and this
needs to be expanded,
Chandra said.
Meanwhile, the offi-
cial also shared that
the ownership profile
on EVs is undergoing
change, with more buy-
ers opting for the elec-
tric variant as their
first car.
“When we launched
(electric) car, that time
the people using this as
their first car were
only 20-25%. Today this
has increased to 65%,”
he said.
Tata Motors has sold
22,000 EVs till now and
if the impact of so
many vehicles were to
be assessed in terms of
carbon dioxide emis-
sions, it is akin to plant-
ing 1.5 lakh trees, he
said.
No power crisis in India, says Power minister
New Delhi (PTI): In-
dia is not facing any
power crisis as the in-
stalled electricity gen-
eration capacity stood
at 395.6 GW against the
peak demand of 203
GW recorded in 2021-
22, Parliament was in-
formed on Tuesday
.
“There is no power
crisis in the country
. As
on Feb 28, 2022, the in-
stalled generation ca-
pacity is around 395.6
GW, which is sufficient
to meet the demand of
electricity in the coun-
try. The peak demand
experienced during the
current year was only
203 GW,” said Power
Minister R K Singh.
The minister also
said that as per the in-
formation compiled by
the CEA, the import of
coal reduced to 22.7 MT
during 2021-22 (April-
Jan) as against 39 MT
during 2020, mainly
due to high imported
coal price in the int’l
market. The shortfall
in imported coal has
been compensated
through the enhanced
supply of domestic coal
i.e. from 442.6 MT dur-
ing 2020-21 (April-Jan)
to 547.2 MT during
2021-22 (April-Jan).
BIZZ BRIEFS
OVER 8.22 CR TAXPAYERS IN FY20
New Delhi (PTI): India had 8.22 crore taxpay-
ers, which include individuals and corporates,
in 2019-20. “Total number of taxpayers for AY
2020-21 is 8,22,83,407. The projected total
population of the country as on March 1, 2021
.... Was 136.30 crore,” FM Nirmala Sitharaman
said. The number of taxpayers include persons
who pay income tax and corporate tax and who
have either filed a Return of Income or in whose
case tax has been deducted at source.
BANKS RECOVER OVER `7.34 LAKH
CRORE TILL DECEMBER 2021
New Delhi (PTI): Banks recovered over `7.34
lakh crore in the past six years and the first six
months of the current fiscal year, the govern-
ment said in Parliament on Tuesday. During the
past six financial years and the first six months
of the current financial year, banks have effected
an aggregate recovery of `7,34,542 crore, in
non-performing assets and written-off loan
accounts, including those reported as fraud.
NABFID TO COMMENCE OPERATIONS
FROM FINANCIAL YEAR 23 Q1
Mumbai (PTI): The National Bank for Financing
Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID) will
begin its operations from the first quarter of
the next financial year, its chairman K V Kamath
said on Tuesday. NaBFID was set up by the
government last year as a development financial
institution (DFI) to support the development
of long-term infrastructure financing in the
country.
SOFTBANK EXECUTIVES TO QUIT
PAYTM, POLICY BAZAAR BOARDS
New Delhi (PTI): Japanese investor Softbank
will pull out its representative from the boards of
Indian listed entities Paytm and Policy Bazaar as
part of its global policy, a source said. There will
be no change in investment made by Softbank
in these companies, the source said. Softbank
managing partner Munish Verma is currently a
board member in both Paytm Poilcy Bazaar.
SENSEX SNAPS 5-DAY WINNING RUN, FALLS 709 PTS
Mumbai (PTI): Equity benchmarks
Sensex and Nifty halted their five-day
rally on Tuesday and settled deep in the
red, mirroring weak global markets, with
decline in index heavyweights Reliance
Industries, Infosys and HDFC Bank.
Despite opening with gains of over 200
points, the 30-share Sensex turned
highly volatile and tumbled 709.17 points
or 1.26% to close at 55,776.85. During
the day, the benchmark index plunged
1,067.07 points or 1.88% to 55,418.95.
The broader NSE Nifty also declined
208.30 points or 1.23% to close at
16,663.
RUPEE FALLS 6 PAISE TO
76.60 AGAINST DOLLAR
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee surrendered
its early gains to trade 6 paise down
at 76.60 against the $ on Tuesday as
investors turned cautious ahead of
the US Fed meeting amid growing
uncertainty over the Russia-Ukraine
conflict. Besides, heavy selling in do-
mestic equities and continued foreign
capital outflows put pressure on the
domestic unit, forex traders said.
MNC e-comm
giants violating
FDI norms: CAIT
New Delhi (PTI): In-
dia’s largest traders’ as-
sociation CAIT on Tues-
day said few multina-
tional e-commerce gi-
ants with a heavy arse-
nal of funding are at-
tempting to flout for-
eign investment guide-
lines for the sector and
demanded strict en-
forcement action.
Releasing a whitepa-
per on the e-commerce
policy, the CAIT said e-
commerce entities have
“structured their rela-
tionship as marketplace
with sellers in a such a
way that they are in a
position to control ei-
ther seller on their plat-
form or the inventory
and also escape the
scrutiny of the enforce-
ment agencies.”

07
NEWS
First India Bureau
New Delhi: Inonemore
step towards increasing
the promotion of indig-
enousgamesinthecoun-
try
, Centre has given a
major fillip to sports in-
frastructure.
Minister of Youth Af-
fairs Sports Anurag
Thakur, on Tuesday in-
formed the Lok Sabha
that under Khelo India
scheme of his ministry
12 sports infrastructure
projects of various cate-
gories have been sanc-
tioned, 28 sports acade-
mies have been accred-
ited and 44 Khelo India
Centres (district level)
and one Khelo India
State Centre of Excel-
lence have been ap-
proved in the State of
Maharashtra. He also
said that the Sports Au-
thority of India (SAI)
runs 2 National Centres
of Excellence (NCOE),
one Indigenous Games
and Martial Arts School
(IGMA) and 14 Adopted
Akharas in the State of
Maharashtra. In addi-
tion to this the ministry
also implements a num-
ber of schemes in the
Himalayan Region
aimedatbroad-basingof
sports and promotion of
excellence in sports. Un-
der the Khelo India
Scheme, 77 sports infra-
structure projects of
various categories have
been sanctioned in the
Himalayan Region
amounting to Rs 506.13
crore. In addition, under
the “Enhancement of
SportsFacilitiesatJK”
(PMDP) programme of
the Government, 30
sports infrastructure
projects as well as sports
equipment have been
sanctioned in the Hima-
layan UTs of Jammu
Kashmir and Ladakh
amounting to 273.85
crore”,Thakurinformed
Lok Sabha.
Thakur also men-
tioned that, ‘Sports’ be-
ing a State subject, the
responsibilitytodevelop
special facilities to en-
courage meritorious
children and youth in
rural areas so that they
also get an opportunity
toplayinnational/inter-
national competitions
andrepresentthenation
rests primarily with the
respective State/Union
TerritoryGovts.TheUn-
ion Government supple-
ments their efforts.”
Centre has given indigenous sports another filip: Thakur
EK BHARAT SHRESHTHA BHARAT PROGRAMME
Union Minister Anurag Thakur. —FILE PHOTO
India evacuated foreign nationals also from Ukraine: Jaishankar
New Delhi: In line
with India’s principle
of Vasudhaiva Kutum-
bakam, foreign nation-
als were also evacuated
from conflict-torn
Ukraine and brought
to New Delhi, said Ex-
ternal Affairs Minister
S Jaishankar on Tues-
day
.
Speaking in Rajya
Sabha on the situation
in Ukraine and Opera-
tion Ganga, Jais-
hankar said, “In line
with India’s principle
of Vasudhaiva Kutum-
bakam, foreign nation-
als were also evacuated
from conflict zones and
brought to India. They
included 147 citizens of
18 countries. Many
Ukrainian nationals
that are family mem-
bers of Indian nation-
als have also been evac-
uated.” He also said
that as tensions in-
creased, the Indian
Embassy in Ukraine
started a registration
drive for Indians in
January 2022 and as a
result, around 20,000
Indians registered.
“Most Indian na-
tionals were stu-
dents pursuing
medical studies in
Ukrainian univer-
sities dispersed
throughout the
country,” he said.
J a i s h a n k a r
noted that more
than half the stu-
dents were in univer-
sities in eastern
Ukraine that borders
Russia and has
b e e n
the epicentre of the
conflict so far. “Stu-
dents hail from 35
states/UTs of India
with over 1,000 stu-
dents each from Ker-
ala, UP, Haryana,
Tamil Nadu, Guja-
rat, Maharashtra,
Bihar and Ra-
jasthan,” he added.
After Russia’s
f o r c e s
launched military op-
erations in Ukraine on
February 24, the Gov-
ernment of India
launched Operation
Ganga to bring back
stranded Indian na-
tionals from conflict-
torn Ukraine.
Jaishankar high-
lighted the advisories
issued to Indian citi-
zens in Ukraine to
leave Ukraine in view
of ongoing tension be-
tween Moscow and
Kyiv.
“In view of the
continued buildup of
tensions in February,
the Embassy issued an
advisory on February
15, advising Indians in
Ukraine whose stay
isn’t essential, to leave
the country temporar-
ily
. It also advised Indi-
ans not to travel to
Ukraine or undertake
non-essential move-
ments within
Ukraine,” he said.
“Further advisories
were also given on Feb-
ruary 20 and 22. Air
bubble instructions
then imposed were im-
mediately lifted in con-
sultation with the
Ukrainian side to in-
crease the number of
direct flights. Around
4,000 Indians departed
from Ukraine by di-
rect/indirect flights till
February 23,” Jais-
hankar stated.
He further stated
that despite the gov-
ernment efforts, a
large majority of stu-
dents elected to con-
tinue staying in
Ukraine.
First India Bureau
Lucknow: With “ben-
eficiaries’ schemes”
playing significant role
in the success of BJP in
UttarPradeshAssembly
Elections, Prime Minis-
ter Narendra Modi has
constituted a group of
central ministers to
study these schemes
and create larger narra-
tive to be taken to the
people across the coun-
try
. Moves are afoot to
createawarenessamong
the beneficiary class,
which has come to be
known as “labharthis”
in UP
.
No doubt the BJP’s
new M-Y factor “Mahila
and Yojana” has out-
smarted Samajwadi
Party’s M-Y (Muslim-
Yadav) combination in
winning the assembly
elections.
Since the BJP has
reaped rich electoral
dividend from its wel-
farism, which has trans-
lated into loyal voter
base across all social
segments, plans are be-
ing chalked out to take it
further to other states
going to polls later this
year(Gujarat,Himachal
Pradesh) and early next
year in MP, Chhattish-
garh and Rajasthan.
Mayawati slams
‘Age of Flattery’
Lucknow (PTI): BSP
chief MayawationTues-
daysaiditisatoughtask
to stick to the mission of
Babasaheb Ambedkar
in this “age of flattery”
and asserted that her
party
, through its move-
ment, is taking this mis-
sion forward.
In a statement is-
sued on the occasion
of the birth anniversa-
ry of the party’s found-
er Kanshi Ram, she
said the BSP move-
ment has taken a
pledge to help crores
of Dalits, people from
the backward class and
other sections of the
society, who were ig-
nored, stand on their
feet. “This will be a
true tribute to Kanshi
Ram,” she said.
“In the current,
‘chamcha yug’ (age of
flattery), sticking to the
mission of Babasaheb
Bhimrao Ambedkar is
not an ordinary thing.
It is due to the Bahujan
movement that the BSP
accomplished historic
successes in UP. We
will continue our strug-
gle in the future, while
following our princi-
ples,” she said.
The BSP chief added
that Kanshi Ram had
kept alive the self-re-
specting nature of
Ambedkar’s ‘manavta-
vadi abhiyan’ (human-
istic campaign), and
struggled throughout
his life and made innu-
merable sacrifices.
Court awards death penalty
to man for honour killing
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: After
finding a man guilty of
carrying out the honour
killing of his sister and
her husband in 2017, the
Ahmedabad additional
district sessions judge
on Tuesday awarded
him the death penalty
.
While pronouncing
the judgement, Addi-
tional District Sessions
Judge JA Thakkar ob-
served, “The accused
HardikChavdahascom-
mitted a grievous crime.
When the victim was
murdered, she was four
months pregnant, and
for such a crime, the
court cannot show any
leniency or sympathy.
The accused deserves
severe punishment,
and so, in ‘rarest of
rare’ cases, he is award-
ed the death penalty.”
Aided by eye-wit-
nesses, forensic evi-
dence, public prosecu-
tor AL Gulbani with
convinced the court
that the accused had
committed a heinous
crime.
Oppn accuses Nitish of insulting Speaker
Kumar Prabodh
Patna: The alleged in-
sult of Bihar assembly
Speaker Vijay Kumar
Sinha by Chief Minister
Nitish Kumar paralysed
the House where ruckus
created by the opposi-
tion over the issue
forcedrepeatedadjourn-
ments of the proceed-
ings on Tuesday
.
Strangely
, both Sinha
and Kumar chose not to
attend the House which
was in turmoil over the
showdown between the
two on the previous day
.
While the speaker re-
mained seated inside
his chamber, meeting
MLAs who dropped in
out of curiosity, the
chief ministerwasaway
in Maner Sharif, a Sufi
shrine on the outskirts
of the state capital,
where he ducked que-
ries from journalists
about the stalemate
with a cryptic smile.
MLAs of the RJD, the
principal opposition
party, had come to the
House wearing black
badges as a mark of pro-
test against what they
saw as a slight inflicted
on the Chair by the head
of the government.
They were further
provoked upon seeing
senior BJP leader Prem
Kumar in the Chair,
when the House first as-
sembled at 11 AM, and
after being adjourned
till 2 PM met for the
post-lunch session.
PROMOTING SPORTS
2 women Naxals
killed in encounter
with security forces
Raipur (PTI): Two
women Naxals were
gunned down in an en-
counter with security
forces in Chhattisgarh’s
Dantewada district on
Tuesday, a senior offi-
cial said.
The face-off took
place in a forest near
Gorli-Mutheli villages
under Katekalyan po-
lice station limits, about
400 km from the state
capital Raipur, when a
joint team of security
forces was out on a
search operation, In-
spector General of Po-
lice (Bastar range)
Sundarraj P told PTI.
There were specific
inputs about the pres-
ence of cadres of Ped-
aras LOS (local organi-
sation squad) and
Katekalyan Area Com-
mittee formations of
Maoists in the forests of
Jiyakortha, Gorli,
Mutheli and Danikor-
tha villages along the
border of Dantewada
and Sukma districts.
Hence, a joint squad
of personnel belonging
to the District Reserve
Guard (DRG) from Suk-
ma and Dantewada,
CRPF’s 230th battalion
and Chhattisgarh
Armed Force (CRPF)
was sent to the area, he
said.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. —FILE PHOTO
BSP supremo Mayawati arrives at the party office in Lucknow to
pay tributes to BSP founder Kanshi Ram on the occasion of his
birth anniversary on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY SUMIT KUMAR
Hardik Chavda was
found guilty of
stabbing his pregnant
sister and her husband
to death in 2018
347 Guj Govt
teachers on
unofficial leave
G a n d h i n a g a r
(PTI): As many as
347 teachers of
state-run primary
schools in Gujarat
had gone on unau-
thorised leave
without informing
the authorities in
the last five years,
the state govern-
ment informed the
legislative Assem-
bly on Tuesday
.
At least 99 out of
347 teachers had
moved abroad dur-
ing the period of
their unauthor-
ised absence from
duty, state Educa-
tion Minister Jitu
Vaghani told. The
data was shared by
the minister in a
booklet of “uns-
tarred questions”
in response to a
question by Cong
MLA Punja Vansh.
ASSEMBLY POLLS 2022
BJP’s M-Y OUTSMARTS SP’s
M-Y FORMULA IN WINNING UP
MAN HELD FOR
OFFENSIVE
POST
Noida (PTI): A
24-year-old man
was arrested on
Tuesday in Uttar
Pradesh’s Gautam
Buddh Nagar for
allegedly posting
objectionable picture
of Chief Minister
Yogi Adityanath and
former CM Mayawati
on social media,
officials said. The
accused had shared
the morphed picture
of Adityanath and
Mayawati on Face-
book on March 13,
they said. The local
Jewar police had
lodged an FIR on
its own after taking
note of the reaction
of several social
media users over the
post, officials said.
BJP’S SOCIAL MEDIA TEAM PLAYED A CRUCIAL ROLE
Lucknow (ANI): In Ut-
tar Pradesh Assembly
elections, BJP once
again created history
and won with a thump-
ing majority, the credit
for this victory goes to
everyone from the BJP’s
central leadership to the
state leadership along
with the social media
team of the BJP. The a
team played an impor-
tant role in the elections.
BJP came up with many
election songs like “Jo
Ram ko laye hai hum
unko layenge”, “UP mein
baba ba” “Mandir ab
banane hai bhagwa rang
chadhne laga hai”.

COVID-19
UPDATE
WORLD
60,69,240
TOTAL DEATHS
39,39,19,718
TOTAL RECOVERED
6,06,04,582
ACTIVE CASES
46,05,93,540
TOTAL CASES
INDIA
5,16,005
TOTAL DEATHS
4,24,46,171
TOTAL RECOVERED
33,886
ACTIVE CASES
4,29,96,062
TOTAL CASES
08
2NDFRONT
Festivals are joyful as they bring
us together submerging our
sorrows and flowering us with
happiness.
—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO Editor-in-Chief, First India
CBIprobeinABGShipyardcasedelayed
by somestatesincludingMaha:Govt
government on Tues-
day said investigations
in the ABG Shipyard
case were delayed be-
cause some state gov-
ernments including
Maharashtra had
withdrawn the agen-
cy’s power to probe
and their approval for
the case came much
later.
Replying to a query
in Rajya Sabha, Fi-
nance Minister Nirma-
la Sitharaman said
there was no delay by
the Centre in taking ac-
tion after identifica-
tion of fraud by the
State Bank of India fol-
lowing the forensic re-
port from Ernst
Young.
The minister also
took a dig at the previ-
ous UPA government
and said eight times
money was given to
ABG Shipyard, a com-
pany that was going
through restructuring.
“There was not one
credit enhancement af-
ter 2014,” she said, add-
ing it is the “biggest
fraud perpetrated”.
Sitharaman’s reply
came in support of
Minister of State for
Finance Bhagwat
Karad, who was reply-
ing to a question from
SP member Sukhram
Singh Yadav, over de-
lay in the CBI investi-
gations in the ABG
Shipyard matter.
Yadav also wanted to
know the action taken
against the officials,
who had neglected the
probe.
Karad said 24 banks
had provided a total
loan of Rs 14,350 crore
to ABG Shipyard
which included 10
banks from the public
sector, five from the
private sector, five
from financial institu-
tions and two foreign
banks. The lead bank
was ICICI Bank.
“The loan given to
this company in 2005-06
was Rs 1,547 crore
when there was UPA
government. After that
from 2006 to 2014, eight
times loans totalling
Rs 18,800 crore were
provided and that time
it was UPA govern-
ment,” he added.
This was objected to
by Congress member
and leader of opposi-
tion Mallikarjun
Kharge.
While Priyanka
Chaturvedi of Shiv
Sena said fraud in the
ABG Shipyard matter
was declared in April
2019 and the first FIR
was lodged on Febru-
ary 7 this year.
“Why there was so
much delay and wheth-
er the reason was that
the Gujarat govern-
ment was protecting
them,” she asked.
On this, the finance
minister, who was pre-
sent in the upper
house, intervened and
said though ICICI was
the lead bank of the
consortium several
public sector banks
had also granted loans
to ABG Shipyards.
“There was a foren-
sic audit report which
was received by SBI,
which was done by
Ernst Young and that
was submitted in Janu-
ary 2019,” she said.
Banks have an insti-
tutional way of going
through forensic audit
reports and that fraud
identification commit-
tee in SBI took five
months over it.
“I would not want to
say that it was delayed
there at that point of
time,” she said adding
five months later on
June 19, 2019, they rec-
ognised it as fraud.
SBI has given the
whole detail to the Cen-
tral Bureau of Investi-
gation (CBI) on Novem-
ber 8, 2019.
FRESH SALVOS
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman speaks in the Rajya Sabha, in New Delhi on Tuesday.
FM said there was no delay by
the Centre in taking action after
identification of fraud by the SBI
following the forensic report
Discountonliquor
price:HCnoticeon
pleabyliquorvendors
New Delhi (ANI): The
Delhi High Court on
Tuesday issued notice
on petitions moved by
liquor vendors chal-
lenging the single judge
bench order dismissing
the applications seek-
ing a stay of the Excise
Commissioner order
prohibiting a discount
on the price of liquor in
the national capital.
The division bench of
JusticeMuktaGuptaand
Neena Bansal Krishna
issued the notice to the
Delhi Government
which was accepted by
Counsel for the Delhi
government. The bench
listed the petition for
hearing on Monday
. Sen-
ior Advocate Mukul
Rohtagi’s counsel ap-
pearingforthepetitioner
argued that the order is-
sued by the Excise Com-
missioner was arbitrary
as he has no power to is-
suesuchanorderamend-
ing the policy
. He has no
power to change the pol-
icy but to implement it.
He further argued
that the vendors have a
right to give discounts
according to the new ex-
cise policy and the gov-
ernment can’t change
the rule when the order
has been initiated.
SINGLE BENCH
ORDER CHALLENGED
New Delhi (PTI):
The martyrdom of
freedom fighters in-
cluding Bhagat Sin-
gh, Sukhdev and Ra-
jguru is a fact and is
not dependent on the
presumed presence
or absence of official
records, the govern-
ment said in Lok
SabhaonTuesday
,as-
sertingthattheirstat-
ure is far above any
award, title or status.
In a written reply
to a question from a
member, Union Min-
ister of State for
Home Ajay Kumar
Mishra said the he-
roes who lost their
lives during the free-
dom struggle have
become martyrs for
the cause of attain-
ing the independ-
ence of India.
Mishra said the
martyrdom of these
freedom fighters
and their invaluable
contribution to In-
dia’s freedom strug-
gle form an inalien-
able part of the dis-
course of the coun-
try’s fight for free-
dom and is well
known in India’s
history
.
“Their martyr-
dom in the supreme
national cause of
independence is a
fact and is not de-
pendent on the pre-
sumed presence or
absence of official
records. Their stat-
ure is far above any
award or title or sta-
tus accorded in this
regard,” he said.
BJP MP Jyotir-
may Singh Mahato
had put forth que-
ries on whether the
government has
given martyr status
to heroes like Bha-
gat Singh, Rajguru,
Sukhdev who lost
their lives in the
freedom struggle.
The minister said
the nation will al-
ways be grateful to
Shaheed Bhagat
Singh, Sukhdev and
Rajguru who laid
down their lives for
a better future of In-
dia and their names
will always be writ-
ten in golden words
in the annals of In-
dian history
.
“The government
and the entire na-
tion recognise their
invaluable contribu-
tion during the free-
dom struggle for the
attainment of In-
dia’s independ-
ence,” he said.
StatureofBhagatSingh,
Sukhdev,Rajgurufarabove
anytitle:GovtinLokSabha
WB government criticised in Lok Sabha
Sibal doesn’t know ABC of Cong: Gehlot
Jaipur: Rajasthan CM
and Congress leader
Ashok Gehlot on Tues-
day slammed his party
colleague Kapil Sibal for
demandingthatthe‘Gan-
dhis should step aside
from the leadership role
and give a chance to
someone else to lead the
grand old party
. Criticis-
ing Sibal, Gehlot said
that the Supreme Court
lawyer isn’t a person
from Congress culture.
Lambasting his party
colleague,Gehlot,whois
considered to be close to
the Gandhi family, said
that“Sibalisarenowned
advocate who entered
Congress he was not
rubbed like a worker in
Congress culture. Sonia
ji and Rahul ji have him
a lot of chances and he
got a place in the Union
Cabinet directly
. It’s not
expected from a person
who doesn’t know ABC
of Congress to give such
statements. He does not
understand the basic
spirit of Congress. Con-
gress has made sacrific-
es for the country before
and after independence,
Kapil Sibal forgets this.”
Gehlot said that no
person from the Gandhi
family became the
Prime Minister, Minis-
ter and Chief Minister
for the last 30 years.
“Still, the people of the
country want that only
Gandhi family can keep
the Congress united.
The country is with the
Gandhi family. The
country wants the Gan-
dhi family. Sibal talks
like this in frustration,
it is incomprehensible.
What Kapil Sibal has
thought is beyond com-
prehension. At a time
when the party could
not win, the leaders
should have shown uni-
ty. Party workers will
never like it,” he said.
He said the Congress
organization is in every
house.“Congressorgani-
zation will never end,
those who talk of ending
it,willeventuallyendup.
Congresswillbetherefor
the next century also.
The DNA of the country
andtheDNAof Congress
are one. We talk about
peace and harmony
.”
West Bengal govern-
ment came under fire
from BJP members in
Lok Sabha over alleged
irregularities in the im-
plementation of a cen-
tral scheme to build
homesforruralpoorand
the “lack” of interest in
developing sports infra-
structure in the state.
BJP member Arjun
Singh from Barrackpur
accusedtheWestBengal
governmentof “looting”
funds allocated under
the Pradhan Mantri
Awas Yojana-Grameen
(PMAY-G)anddepriving
“genuinepeople’’of ben-
efitsundertheinitiative.
“Funds are sought
under the scheme after
clicking photographs in
front of fully built
homes,” Singh said dur-
ing the Question Hour,
amid protests from Tri-
namool members led by
Sudeep Bandyopadhyay
.
Minister of State for
Rural Development Sad-
hvi Niranjan Jyoti said
the government has tak-
en serious note of some
stateschangingthename
of the scheme after tak-
ing money from the Cen-
tre under PMAY-G.
Singh claimed that
BJP members in West
Bengal feel that they be-
long to some other
country as the state gov-
ernment had been ig-
noring their requests
for convening meetings
of Disha committees
for better implementa-
tion of central schemes.
“Disha committee
meetings are not being
held. We are not aware
of any Disha commit-
tees in the state,” Singh
said, referring to the
District Development
Coordination and Mon-
itoring Committee.
Kolkata (PTI): LoP
Suvendu Adhikari in W
Bengal on Tuesday de-
manded a court-moni-
tored probe by the CBI
into the murders of
two councillors, one
of TMC and other of
Congress, in North 24
Parganas and Purulia
dists respectively.
The BJP MLA said his
party would stand by
the two families. Two-
time TMC councillor of
Panihati Municipality,
Anupam Dutta, and
four-time Congress
councillor of Jhalda
Municipality, Tapan
Kandu, were shot
dead in separate inci-
dents on March 13.
ADHIKARI SEEKS
CBI PROBE INTO
MURDER OF TWO
COUNCILLORS
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader in the Lok Sabha
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Tuesday demanded a
court-monitored CBI probe into the killing of party
councillor Tapan Kandu and the mysterious death of
student activist Anis Khan in West Bengal. A four-time
Congress councillor of Jhalda Municipality in West
Bengal’s Purulia district, Kandu was shot dead on
Sunday. Raising the issues during Zero Hour in the
Lok Sabha, Chowdhury alleged the ruling party in West
Bengal Trinamool Congress was involved in the murder
of Kandu in collusion with a section of the police.
DEMAND CBI PROBE INTO WB CONGRESS
COUNCILLOR’S MURDER: CHOWDHURY
Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot.

here’s a famous
saying that Only
Advocates and
Painters can
turn white into
black, but Navya
Tiwari, a model
and law student
from Kota, Ra-
jasthan has proved
this statement
wrong by shades of
her amazing person-
ality.
She was born and
raised in Kota.
Navya was not born
strong but made
strong, she aspires to
be a successful young
lady who works as a
lawyer.
Her life’s ambition is
to spread positive energy
and inspire people to be
better versions of them-
selves wherever she goes.
Whether a lawyer or a
model, she wants to be
self-sufficient and dedi-
cated to her work.
When asked about her
journey Navya said, “I’ve
faced a lot of challenges
when I was starting my
journey as a model. I’ve
gone through a lot of
criticism and judge-
ments, of whether I’ll be
able to balance both as-
pects of my life or not.
But according to me, this
is a test of your attitude.
I’m always ready to re-
ceive criticism, and actu-
ally embrace it since it
helps me to improve in
my job, and become a
better model. I’ve al-
ways been eager to learn
from the professionals,
and I don’t take any crit-
icism personally. I sim-
ply take it as an opportu-
nity to become a better
model–something that
you try to achieve.”
“To be honest, I’ve
never had any particular
sources of inspiration
because I feel that learn-
ing may come from any
place. I also make an ef-
fort to learn from every-
one I meet since I feel
that we can all benefit
from each other’s experi-
ences. However, I learnt
a lot from Gaurav Gaur
during my Elite Miss Ra-
jasthan beauty pageant.
A short message I’d
want to send to eve-
ryone out there is
to always believe
in yourself and
put yourself
first.” “Work on
yourself and
strive to be the
best version
of yourself
at all times.”
She added.
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia
facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia 09
NEW DELHI, WEDNESDAY,
MARCH 16, 2022
UTTKARSHA
SHEKHAR
cityfirst@firstindia.co.in
T
SHADES OF
NAVYA
—PHOTOS
BY
MUKESH
KIRADOO
SUPERMODEL NAVYA
TIWARI BORN AND BROUGHT
UP IN KOTA, RAJASTHAN,
IN AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
WITH CITY FIRST, GIVES
A SNEAK PEEK ABOUT HER
JOURNEY AS A LAWYER
AND A MODEL!

16032022 first india new delhi

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