19022022 first india new delhi

PM Modi meets Sikh delegation at his residence
New Delhi: Prime Min-
ister Narendra Modi on
Friday hosted a delega-
tion of eminent person-
alitiesandspirituallead-
ers from the Sikh com-
munity at his official
residence here. The PM
also took to Twitter to
post a photograph of his
meeting with Uday Sin-
ghfromSriBhainiSahib
of Ludhiana, a spiritual
leaderof NamdhariSect.
The meeting comes
ahead of voting to the
Punjab Assembly on
February 20. In a tweet
PMModisaid,“Metwith
eminentpersonalitiesof
Sant Samaj and Sikh
community
. These were
all the Patwants who
spread the Sikh commu-
nity and culture all over
the country and the
world and served hu-
manity
.”Inavideoof the
meeting shared by the
Prime Minister’s Office
(PMO), the Sikh repre-
sentativeswereseengift-
ing a ‘kirpan’ to the PM.
PM Modi tweeted, “I
am very honoured that
these esteemed person-
alities of the Sikh com-
munity have lauded the
various efforts of the
Central Government.”
“Iwashumbledbythe
kind words from the dis-
tinguished members of
the Sikh community on
various efforts of the
Central Govt. I consider
it my honour that the
respected Sikh Gurus
have taken Seva from
me and their blessings
have enabled me to work
for society”, PM added.
These prominent
Sikhs included Har-
meet Singh Kalka, Pres-
ident, Delhi Gurudwara
Committee; Padma Sri
Baba Balbir Singh Ji
Sichewal (Sultanpur
Lodhi); Mahant Karam-
jit Singh, President Se-
wapanthi, Yamuna Na-
gar; Baba Joga Singh,
Dera Baba Jang Singh
(Nanaksar) Karnal;
Sant Baba Mejor Singh
Waa, Mukhi Dera Baba
Tara Singh Waa, Amrit-
sar; Jathedar Baba Sa-
hib Singh Ji, Kar Sewa
Anandpur Sahib and
several others. —ANI
AHEAD OF PUNJAB POLLS
PM Narendra Modi meets the Sikh Delegation, at Lok Kalyan Marg, in New Delhi on Friday.
NEW DELHI l SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2022 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNITITLE NO.DELENG/2021/19840 lVol 1 l Issue No.171
OUR EDITIONS: JAIPUR, AHMEDABAD, LUCKNOW & NEW DELHI www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
CORONA CATASTROPHE
The Felicity Ace, a massive Panama-flagged cargo ship
carrying thousands of Volkswagen Group vehicles,
caught fire near the Azores islands in the Atlantic Ocean.
The ship’s 22 crew members were successfully evacu-
ated. The ship was transporting 4,000 luxury cars.
SHIP ON FIRE
WITH PORSCHES,
LAMBORGHINIS
ABOARD
Rakesh Gangwal, who along with Bhatia had started
IndiGo at the start of this Millennium but had a serious
fallout in last few years, on Friday resigned as director
from the board of the airline’s holding company, Inter-
Globe Aviation. Gangwal will reduce his stake gradually.
CO-FOUNDER OF
INDIGO RAKESH
GANGWAL RESIGNS
FROM BOARD
LIC LIKELY TO LAUNCH
IPO ON MARCH 11
SENSEX ENDS FLAT,
NIFTY BELOW 17300
A public offering of shares by In-
dia’s state-run Life Insurance Corp
(LIC), set to be the country’s big-
gest ever at $8 billion (Rs 60,000
crore), is expected to open for an-
chor investors on March 11, three
sources with direct knowledge of
the matter told agencies. —P6
Sensex ended 59.04 points or
0.10% lower at 57,832.97, and the
Nifty settled 28.30 points or 0.16%
down at 17,276.30. Sectorally,
except bank and capital goods, all
other indices ended in the red with
oil & gas and realty indices down 1
percent each. P6
 The Karnataka
government on Friday
contended before the
High Court that the hijab
is not an essential reli-
gious practice of Islam
and preventing its use
did not violate Article 25
of the Indian Constitu-
tion, which guarantees
religious freedom.
 Advocate General
Prabhuling Navadgi
said that government
has taken a stand that
wearing hijab is not
an essential practice
under Islam.
 The AG also re-
jected the charge of
some Muslim girls,
who challenged the
Karnataka govern-
ment’s order
on February
5 that barred students
from wearing hijab or
saffron scarves saying
that it violated Article 25
of the Constitution.
 Meanwhile, Kar-
nataka Police has
booked hijab-clad
Muslim students of
Empress Government
Pre-University College
for allegedly taking
part in an “unlaw-
ful assembly” and
showing “disobedi-
ence” towards public
servants. According to
police, 10-15 unidenti-
fied girls have been
booked by cops.
 On the other hand,
male student of a
government PU college
was stopped on Friday
from sporting vermilion
citing the Karnataka
High Court’s inter
order, spark-
ing Bajrang
Dal activists to
stage a protest
against the col-
lege authorities.
HIJAB NOT AN ESSENTIAL
RELIGIOUS PRACTICE OF ISLAM:
KARNATAKA GOVT TELLS HC
GIRLS BOOKED
VERMILION ROW
3 CONVICTS
FROM KOTA
Kota: Among the con-
victs, three belonged
from Rajasthan’s Kota.
Imran, Atiqur Rehman
and Mehndi Hasan
Ansari. Imran ran a
medical store in Patan-
pol and came in contact
with SIMI. The wires of
Jaipur blast were also
connected with Imran.
His input was received
from a terrorist caught
in Jaipur. Mehndi Has-
san Ansari, a resident
of Ghantaghar area,
used to run a breakfast
shop in front of JK Lone
Hospital in Nayapura.
Atiqur Rehman was
caught from Nanta area.
—Bhanwar S Charan
Out of all the convicts who were awarded death penalty,
Usman Agarbattiwala, also convicted under the Arms Act,
was additionally awarded a year in jail under the Arms Act
In this Aug 16, 2008 file photo, suspected militants who were produced by
crime branch for their alleged involvement in 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts.
Ahmedabad: Aspecialcourtdes-
ignatedforthespeedytrialof the
2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts
cases on Friday sentenced 38
of the49convictedtodeath.
Theelevenothersweresen-
tenced to life in jail. Ac-
cording to the defence
lawyers, this is the
highest number of
convicts to be sen-
tenced to death in a sin-
gle case in India’s legal
history. The court of spe-
cial judge AR Patel directed
payment of Rs 1 lakh for the
56 victims who died, Rs 50,000
for those who suffered serious in-
juries and Rs 25,000 for those who
suffered minor ones.
2008
AHMEDABAD
SERIAL BLASTS
VERDICT...
‘HANG 38
TILL DEATH’
11 GET LIFE IMPRISONMENT;
FINE OF `2.85 LAKH IMPOSED
ON EACH OF 49 CONVICTS
56 WERE KILLED, 200 HURT
 Police investigations con-
cluded the IM was a regroup-
ing of the banned SIMI
 In February 2013, 14
accused were booked for dig-
ging a 213-foot-long tunnel
while they were lodged in
Sabarmati Central jail
THE INDIAN MUJAHIDEEN
Ex NSE chief, accused of
sharing info with Himalayan
yogi, interrogated by CBI
New Delhi: The Cen-
tral Bureau of Investi-
gation (CBI) is ques-
tioning Chitra Ram-
krishna, former manag-
ing director and chief
executive officer of the
National Stock Ex-
change (NSE), in con-
nection with a 2018 case
in light of revelations
made by the Securities
and Exchange Board of
India that Ramkrishna
has passed on confiden-
tial information to a
“Himalayan yogi”.
The case pertains to
alleged abuse of the
NSE’s co-location facil-
ity (where brokers can
buy “rack space” for
their servers) to make
gains by getting early
access to the stock mar-
ket. The CBI had booked
Sanjay Gupta, owner of
Delhi-based OPG Secu-
rities Pvt. Ltd, and oth-
ers in the case.
Meanwhile, a lookout
notice has been issued
against Chitra Ram-
krishna, former Chief
Executive Officer (CEO)
of NSE and others for-
merly from the top man-
agement, a move to stop
the accused from leav-
ing the country
.
LOOKOUT
CIRCULARS ISSUED
Chitra Ramkrishna
New Delhi: The Uttar
Pradesh government on
Friday informed the Su-
preme Court that it had
withdrawn 274 notices
issued for recovery of
damages to public prop-
erties during the anti-
Citizenship (Amend-
ment) Act protests.
The state Additional
Advocate General Ga-
rima Prashad conveyed
this to the bench of Jus-
tices D Y Chandrachud
and Surya Kant, which
accepted the same and
appreciated the “fair
gesture”.
The Bench also di-
rected that recoveries
made in consequence of
the proceedings that
had been withdrawn, be
refunded. Though the
state urged the court to
direct status quo on re-
coveries already made
till the Tribunals de-
cide the matter, the
Bench said that when a
proceeding itself is
withdrawn, all conse-
quent actions, too, will
have to go.
UP GOVT INFORMS SUPREME
COURT ON ANTI-CAA PROTESTS:
‘WITHDRAWN ALL
NOTICES ISSUED
FOR RECOVERY
OF DAMAGES’
The state government
also said all subsequent
proceedings would be in
view of enactment of a
new law and would be
referred to Tribunals
constituted under the Act
YOU READ IT FIRST
IN FIRST INDIA
FEBRUARY 12, 2022
I’mworld’ssweetestterrorist:
Kejrijunksseparatistremarks
New Delhi: AAP leader
and Delhi chief minis-
ter Arvind Kejriwal on
Friday responded to al-
legations made by for-
mer party colleague
Kumar Vishwas, saying
he must be the “world’s
sweetest terrorist” who
builds schools and hos-
pitals.
He said Vishwas’
charge that he was
Khalistan supporter
was laughable.
Kejriwal also target-
ted Centre and said that
the government could
not find any evidence
against him, but just
keeps accusing.
“All these corrupts
are calling me terrorist.
I am the first terrorist
in the world who builds
schools for people,
builds hospitals, fixes
electricity. I am the
world’s first “sweet ter-
rorist,” Kejriwal added.
The Delhi CM’s
reaction came after his
ex-partymen Kumar
Vishwas claimed in an
old video that Kejriwal
was supportive of the
Khalistan movement
in the state of Punjab
CONGRESS PUNJAB MANIFESTO
PROMISES ONE LAKH GOVT JOBS
Chandigarh: The Congress on Friday released its manifesto
for the February 20 Punjab Assembly polls, promising
`1,100 per month for women, eight free cooking gas cylin-
ders per year and one lakh government jobs. The party also
promised to end the mafia raj by creating corporations for
the sale of liquor and sand mining. Addressing the media,
state party chief Navjot Singh Sidhu said the party’s govern-
ment will procure oilseed, pulses and corn from farmers.
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal tweeted the satirical cartoon on Friday.
 The emails purportedly
sent out by the IM contained
images from the Gujarat
riots of 2002, and claimed
the bombings were revenge
for the riots and for the
destruction of the Babri
Masjid in Ayodhya in 1992
 56 people were killed and
around 200 were injured
 Ahmedabad was the third
city to be bombed that year,
after Jaipur in May and Ben-
galuru just the day before
 On July 27, similar bombs
were found in Surat
 On July 26, 2008, in
the span of 70 minutes, 22
bombs went off at various
places in Ahmedabad city in-
cluding at Gujarat govern-
ment-run Ahmedabad Civil
Hospital, the Ahmedabad
Municipal Corporation-run
LG Hospital, in buses, on
parked bicycles, and in cars
Russia all set to stage
massive nuclear drills
amid Ukraine standoff
Moscow: The Russian
military on Friday an-
nounced massive drills
of its strategic nuclear
forces, a stark reminder
of the country’s nuclear
might amid Western
fears that Moscow
might be preparing to
invade Ukraine.
Russian President
Vladimir Putin will
personally oversee Sat-
urday’s exercise, which
will involve multiple
practice launches of in-
tercontinental ballistic
missiles and cruise mis-
siles, the Defense Min-
istry said.
Russian President
Vladimir Putin will
personally oversee
Saturday’s exercise
New Delhi Recovered
854
NEW
CASES
607 NEW
DEATHS
04

CAPITOL
NEW DELHI | SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2022
02
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
NEW DELHI: Delhi
Police Commission-
er Rakesh Asthana on
Friday said that
the IED recovered and
neutralized in Old
Seemapuri was meant
to target public places
and such activities are
not possible without lo-
cal support.
Addressing media
persons, Asthana said,
“An IED was recovered
in Ghazipur on Janu-
ary 17, a similar IED
was recovered and neu-
tralized in Old Seema-
puri yesterday. As per
probe, these IEDs were
prepared to target pub-
lic places, such activi-
ties are not possible
without local support.”
He further said the
special cell and investi-
gative teams are trying
to pre-empt every such
incident in Delhi and
expose any local or for-
eign network.
“Special cell and in-
vestigative teams are
on it; we are probing
forward and backward
linkages. We’re trying
to pre-empt every such
incident in Delhi and
expose any local or for-
eign network. I cannot
reveal any further de-
tails which may ham-
per probe,” he added.
Earlier on Thursday,
a timer device with
Ammonium Nitrate
and RDX was used in
an Improvised Explo-
sive Device (IED) re-
covered from a house
in northeast Delhi’s
Old Seemapuri, said
National Security
Guard (NSG).
The elite NSG wing
under the Ministry of
Home Affairs also told
ANI that the IED was
recovered from the
second floor of a house
and its weight was
approximately 2.5 kg to
3 kg.
A Bomb Disposal
Squad (BDS) of the
NSG diffused the IED
soon after it arrived at
the spot around 2.45 pm
following information
regarding the explo-
sive received from the
Delhi Police.
IED WAS MEANT TO TARGET PUBLIC PLACES: TOP COP
ASTHANA SAYS
Delhi Commissioner of Police Rakesh Asthana speaks to the media over an Improvised explosive
device (IED) found in Delhi’s Old Seemapuri in New Delhi. —ANI
Noida: Over 580 people have been penalised for
creating nuisance after consuming liquor at pub-
lic places across Noida and Greater Noida in UP.
The action was taken on Thursday evening on the
instructions of Police Commissioner Alok Singh,
they said. “Action was taken against 589 people who
were found creating nuisance after drinking in public
places across all police station areas in the com-
missionerate,” police said. The offenders have been
booked under IPC section 290 and issued challans
for penalty, the police added.
New Delhi: The air quality in the national capital
on Friday remains in the ‘poor’ category with the
overall Air Quality Index
touching 232 at 8:02 am,
according to the “System
of Air Quality and Weather
Forecasting And Research”
(SAFAR). Several areas in
Delhi, including Delhi University, Lodhi road, Noida,
Mathura Road and Indira Gandhi International
airport (Terminal-3), lodged air quality in the ‘poor’
category.
DRINKING IN PUBLIC: NEARLY 600 BOOKED
FOR CREATING NUISANCE IN NOIDA
DELHI’S AIR QUALITY REMAINS
IN POOR CATEGORY
MOTHER,
DAUGHTER JUMP
INTO YAMUNA
New Delhi: A 32-year-
old woman along with her
four-year-old daughter
jumped into Yamuna
river on Friday morning in
Delhi’s Kalindi Kunj area,
fire officials said. Accord-
ing to the fire department,
they received information at
6.45 am about the incident.
The rescue operation is
underway.
CRUCIAL READ
NEIGHBOUR HELD
FOR RAPING MINOR
IN KIRTI NAGAR
New Delhi: A 14-year-
old girl was allegedly
raped by her neigh-
bour twice in west Del-
hi’s Kirti Nagar area,
police said on Friday.
The accused Servesh
is arrested and sent to
judicial custody under
relevant sections of
the Indian Penal Code
and POCSO Act.
New Delhi: For a
40-year-old Seema
(name changed), a sex
worker in Central Del-
hi’s Garstin Bastion
Road, the Covid-in-
duced lockdowns hit
her daily earnings and
the education of her
two daughters. She
wants to change her life
but can’t read/write
and said she doesn’t
have the skills to get a
job.
Thursday morning,
Seema and 16 other sex
workers from GB Road
were invited to start
learning different skills
at a pink booth. Though
the pink booth is a wom-
en-centric initiative
started by the Delhi Po-
lice to help women file
complaints or get guid-
ance from women offi-
cials, at the GB road, it
has been revamped to
cater to sex workers.
Seema said her part-
ner sold her to a brothel
owner around 20 years
back and she wishes to
leave the place now.
“We had no daily
earning during the pan-
demic. I am still strug-
gling to make ends
meet. My daughters
couldn’t attend online
classes. I am now trying
to learn stitching and
painting. We have been
making handkerchiefs
and scarves. Though
the earning is little, the
booth is a blessing. My
daughters are depend-
ent on me and I don’t
want them to live here
forever. This place is a
great place to start
something new,” said
Seema.
Seema’s friend, a
28-year-old graduate
from Bangalore, was
abandoned by her
friend at the GB road
around 10 years
back. The friend had
cheated her on the pre-
text of providing her
with a job in Delhi but
left her. —Agencies
Pink Booth at GB Road to help sex workers
DELHI POLICE
UP IN THE ARMS
Delhi Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) President, Adesh Gupta along with party leaders and
supporters raise slogans as they stage a sit-in protest against Delhi Chief Minister, Arvind
Kejriwal, at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi —PHOTO BY ANI
2 labourers hurt after
portion of building
collapses in GK: Police
New Delhi: Two la-
bourers got injured
while demolishing a
building in south Del-
hi’s Greater Kailash
area on Friday, police
said.
TheGreaterKailash-1
police station was in-
formed at around 10.05
am that some labourers
got injured after a por-
tion of a building col-
lapsed.
Police reached the
spot and found that
house number E-162
was being demolished
for new construction.
During the demolition
of the second floor, a
portion of the rear
wall suddenly collapsed
and two labourers
were injured in the inci-
dent, Deputy Commis-
sioner of Police (south)
Benita Mary Jaiker
said.
The injured were
identified as Harvesh
(28), who has a major
injury on his head, and
Ajaypal (22), who has a
minor injury on his leg.
Both of them are resi-
dents of Badaun in Ut-
tar Pradesh. They were
shifted to the AIIMS
where they are under
treatment, the DCP
said. —PTI
New Delhi: In a bid to
go green, the New Delhi
Municipal Council
(NDMC) is considering
topurchaseonlyelectric
vehicles for official use
and enforcement drives.
The council has also de-
cided to stop buying and
hiring petrol and CNG
vehicles, officials said.
They added that
NDMC currently has
around 80 electric cars
for official purposes and
a large number of vehi-
cles have been allotted
to the heads of depart-
ments. Also, NDMC ar-
eas have the highest
number of electric
charging stations in
Delhi.
“We have decided to
go completely green and
our mission is to reduce
pollution in and around
the New Delhi area in
the coming days. All
new vehicles that are be-
ing purchased for offi-
cial use are EVs,” a sen-
ior NDMC official, who
did not wish to be
named, said.
Officials said that the
council is also focusing
on measures to ramp up
the electric charging in-
frastructure system in
the Luytens zone. Cur-
rently, there around 30-
35 charging station at
the NDMC building. Be-
sides these, there are
around 60 more across
the New Delhi area.
“The target is 100 sta-
tions by the end of this
financial year. It takes
about 45 minutes-1 hour
to charge a car and the
waiting period will
come down as charging
stations increase,” offi-
cials informed. —Agencies
NDMC to buy e-vehicles
only in bid to go green
SENIOR OFFICIAL SAYS
New Delhi: West district
police station arrested
two persons for allegedly
stabbing an 18-year old
boy at Khyala on Thurs-
day.
As per the police, the
accused was identified as
Anshu, 19, son of Sanjay,
and Bunty, 18, son of
Rinku. The police also
stated that the victim,
Sandeep Suri, resident
of Vishnu Garden, used
to visit Raghubir Nagar
frequently on bike to
meet his friend Gaurav.
Later, some local boys de-
veloped enmity and jeal-
ousy against him. And
hence, a quarrel broke
up which led to the stab-
bing of the victim.Police
also informed that a
teamhasbeendispatched
to apprehend the remain-
ing accused. —ANI
Two arrested
for stabbing
18-year-old
PG, PhD admissions
to be held through
DU entrance test
New Delhi: Delhi Uni-
versity (DU) has clari-
fied that admissions to
its post-graduate and
PhD programmes in the
upcoming academic
session 2022-23 will be
held as per practice and
on the basis of the Delhi
University Entrance
Test (DUET) conducted
by the National Testing
Agency (NTA).
However, the univer-
sity is yet to take a deci-
sion on whether under-
graduate (UG) admis-
sions will take place
through the Central
Universities Common
Entrance Test (CUCET)
or Delhi University En-
trance Test.
“It is notified that ad-
missions to Post Gradu-
ate and PhD pro-
grammes for the aca-
demic session 2022-23
of the University of
Delhi shall be on the ba-
sis of the Delhi Univer-
sity Entrance Test
(DUET) as per past
practice. Further de-
tails related to admis-
sions shall be released
soon,” Registrar
Vikas Gupta said in a
notification dated Feb-
ruary 16. —Agencies
New Delhi: An ad-
vocate was arrested
for allegedly raping
a 20-year-old wom-
an at her residence
in Hauz Khas area
after meeting on a
dating app, police
said. They said the
27-year-old accused
was arrested two
weeks ago and was
released on bail by
court.
The matter came
to light after allega-
tions of police inac-
tion were made on
social media on
Thursday. Accord-
ing to police, an FIR
was registered on
January 20 on the
complaint of the
woman. She alleged
that she was sexu-
ally assault at her
residence by a man
she came into con-
tact with through a
popular dating app,
they said.
The accused, who
hails from Sonepat,
was arrested on
February 2. He was
residing in Old Ra-
jendra Nagar area
in the national capi-
tal, said Deputy
Commissioner of
Police (South) Beni-
ta Mary Jaiker. —PTI
Advocate
arrested
for raping
woman
HC junks PIL against
DMRC-DAMPEL pact
New Delhi: The Delhi
High Court Friday re-
fused to entertain a PIL
alleging that the agree-
ment between a Reli-
ance Infrastructure
subsidiary, Delhi Air-
port Metro Express Pri-
vate Limited and Delhi
Metro Rail Corporation
(DMRC), pursuant to
whichanarbitralaward
of over Rs 4,600 crore
was earlier passed
against the corpora-
tion, was “fraud on pub-
lic money”.
A bench headed by
Justice Manmohan said
the PIL, filed by lawyer
Manohar Lal Sharma
who alleged that the
agreement would result
in the Delhi metro “go-
ing into the hands of
Anil Ambani”, was mis-
conceived, half-baked
and without any basis.
The bench, also com-
prising Justice Navin
Chawla, said the court
cannot examine under
PIL jurisdiction the al-
legations of the peti-
tioner when the con-
tract in question has
been scrutinised by the
high court as well as the
Supreme Court at the
time of testing the va-
lidity of the arbitral
award. —PTI
—REPRESENTATIVE
IMAGE
—REPRESENTATIVE
IMAGE
—REPRESENTATIVE
IMAGE

INDIA
03
JP Nadda bashes Akhilesh
Yadav for harbouring ultras
Ayodhya: BJP’s na-
tional President JP Na-
dda on Friday slammed
Samajwadi Party presi-
dent and Uttar
Pradesh’sformerChief
Minister Akhilesh Ya-
dav for allegedly giving
shelter to terrorists
and withdrawing cases
against them.
Addressing a public
meeting at Fatehganj
in Ayodhya, the BJP
president said, “On 23
November 2007, there
were bomb blasts in
three courts of Uttar
Pradesh. 15 people had
been killed in the blast
and 50 people were in-
jured. Indian Mujahi-
deen took responsibil-
ity for this. In these
cases, the investigating
agencies had caught
one accused from
Azamgarh and one
from Jaunpur. A case
was registered against
them but Akhilesh
withdrewthecasefrom
both the accused in
2012 when he was the
Chief Minister. Later,
the High Court said
whether it is the gov-
ernment’s job to save
terrorists. This is the
real face of SP.” “Akh-
ilesh had protected the
terrorists. I allege that
as a Chief Minister,
Akhilesh gave shelter
to terrorists. He has
misled the innocent
people of Uttar
Pradesh,” he added.
He further took a dig
at Akhilesh for coming
at a rally along with
his father and former
Uttar Pradesh CM Mu-
layam Singh Yadav
saying that it shows
that SP’s ground is
shaken. “The very act
of Akhilesh Yadav to
bring his father (Mu-
layam Singh Yadav) to
address a rally shows
that he is not contest-
ing Uttar Pradesh elec-
tions but is contesting
just to win his own As-
sembly seat,” he added.
The BJP chief said
that he had been in the
government for many
years then why, he
didn’tgiveconstitution-
alstatustoOBCs.“Were
you waiting for the
Modi government for
this work?” he added.
He said the desire of
centuries is being ful-
filledwiththeconstruc-
tion of Ram Temple
and urged voters to ask
them why they put ob-
stacles in the construc-
tion of Ram temple.
“Today people will
come to ask you for
votes. But when they
come to ask for votes,
then definitely ask
them from which
mouth, you have come
to ask for votes. It was
you,itwasyourgovern-
ment who opened fire
on the devotees of Lord
Ram,” he said. —ANI
NADDA VISITS RAM TEMPLE
CONSTRUCTION SITE IN AYODHYA
Ayodhya (UP): Amid the ongoing electioneering for
the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, BJP national
president JP Nadda on Friday visited the construc-
tion site of the Ram temple in Ayodhya. Construc-
tion work of the Ram temple is stated to be in full
swing. Nadda was seen talking about the temple
construction with the workers. The third phase
of the construction of the Ram temple began at
Ramjanmabhoomi in Ayodhya on January 24 with
the laying of the granite stones for the plinth.
BJP National President JP Nadda during his visit to Ram
temple, in Ayodhya on Friday. —PHOTO BY ANI
Lucknow: Defence
Minister Rajnath
Singh on Friday said
while the BJP openly
proclaims of forming
government in Uttar
Pradesh, the Samajwa-
di Party thinks of do-
ing it on the strength
of communal riots.
The Lucknow MP
also lauded UP Chief
Minister Yogi Aditya-
nath for changing the
face of the state in the
past five years through
developmental work.
Lauding the law and
order situation in the
state, Singh said Uttar
Pradesh witnessed not
a single riot during
the Adityanath gov-
ernment.“We say our
government will be
formed on ‘danke ki
chot pe’ but the Sama-
jwadi Party says their
government will be
formed on ‘dangey ki
chot pe’ (on the basis
of riots), said the
Union minister, as-
serting that no one
can dare now to insti-
gate riots in UP .Ad-
dressing an election
meeting in Lucknow
Cantt assembly con-
stituency in favour of
BJP candidate Brijesh
Pathak, Singh said,
“On the whole, our
state is progressing at
a fast pace and when I
look at it, I say our
chief minister has
done a charismatic job.
The size of our econ-
omy which used to be
of Rs 11 lakh crore ear-
lier has increased to Rs
21 lakh crore within 5
years,” he added. —PTI
SP THINKS OF FORMING GOVT IN UP ON
BASIS OF RIOTS: RAJNATH SINGH
Rajnath Singh campaigned for Law Minister Brijesh Pathak on Friday who is contesting the assembly election from Lucknow Cantt seat.
DHARMENDRA PRADHAN
REVIEWS ELECTION PREPS
First India Bureau
Bahraich: In order to
register the victory of
BJPcandidatein allsev-
en assembly seats in
Bahraich, Bharatiya
JantaParty’selectionin-
charge Dharmendra
Pradhan held a review
meet with officials of
BJP
.Out of seven assem-
bly seats in the district,
fourareconsideredtobe
verytoughforBJP
,while
on 3 seats BJP seems to
be comfortable at pres-
ent.A rally of PM Modi
also has been organized
in Payagpur in a bid to
garner votes Feb 22, but
accordingtopoliticalex-
perts, BJP is getting
tough competiton from
the rival parties in these
seats. For now,, Pradhan
wasseendecliningtoan-
swer questions of the
media.
Dharamendra Pradhan
—PHOTO
BY
SUMIT
KUMAR
Imphal: The Congress
has hit out at the BJP
manifesto for Manipur
and released a booklet
named "5 years of dark-
ness" where it claimed
to have outlined with
proof misrule of BJP.
Senior Congress lead-
er and AICC observer
for Manipur, Jairam
Ramesh, described
BJP’s claim of bringing
stability to Manipur as
"hollow" and its zero-
tolerance policy to-
wards drugs as a "joke".
5 yrs of darkness:
Cong’s swipe at
BJP in Manipur New Delhi: The contro-
versy over Punjab CM
Charanjit Singh Chan-
ni's "UP, Bihar de bhai-
ya" comment was re-
flective of an unfortu-
nate systemic and insti-
tutionalised social bias
against migrants
stretching back to the
inception of the Green
Revolution, Congress
leader Manish Tewari
said on Friday, compar-
ing the issue to the ra-
cial tension in US be-
tween African Ameri-
cans and people of Eu-
ropean descent.
The row had flared
after the Channi made a
controversial remark
asking the people of the
state not to let the "bhai-
yas" of Uttar Pradesh
and Bihar rule the state.
‘Bhaiya row’ like ‘black
issue’ in US, says Tewari
Manish Tewari
Sharat K Verma
New Delhi: Ashwini
Kumar has never been a
leader with an immense
hold in the grass-root
and has never been ac-
tive in day-to-day poli-
tics. He has not played
the same role in legal
matters as Kapil Sibal,
Abhishek Manu Singh-
vi or Vivek Tankha. De-
spite this, he continued
to get his work done by
managing some kind of
jugaad within the Con-
gress. He was a Rajya
Sabha member thrice.
Think, how many such
leaders will be there in
Congress or BJP, who
were sent to Rajya Sab-
ha thrice? After this, he
became a minister at
the Center by aligning
his Punjabiyat to Man-
mohan Singh. He left
the Congress just be-
fore the voting for the
ongoing Assembly in
Punjab. Everyone
knows that his stay or
leaving has no effect
on the Congress, but
his resignation is be-
ing covered by the me-
dia as if it has spelt
doom for Congress.
That’s when it seems
that his resignation
has been done under
some plan. By the way,
the immediate reason,
doing the round, is
that he was asking for
a ticket for the assem-
bly in Punjab for his
son, which the Con-
gress did not give.
He realised that even
for him it will be diffi-
cult to get anythin in
Congress, so he became
a part of the ‘big game’
of damaging the Con-
gress, thinking that he
might get something
from there. Congress
leaders have such
greed for trading their
position for favors that
any party is using
them. However, five
days before the polling,
his resignation seems
to be a calculated move
because immediately
after his resignation,
leaders like Ghulam
Nabi Azad, Anand
Sharma, Manish
Tewari, etc. have given
statements saying that
the resignation has
been done under a
plan. However, its ef-
fect will not be seen
now but only after the
election results.
Will Ashwini’s exit really hurt Cong chances in Punjab?
PARTY EXIT AMID CRISIS
Etawah: As high deci-
bel campaigning in UP
has intensified further
after two phases of
polling, an interesting
picture emerged from
Etawah where SP chief
Akhilesh Yadav, his fa-
ther Mulayam Singh
Yadav and his uncle
Shivpal Singh Yadav
were seen together on
the campaign trail for
the first time after
more than five years.
The trio was last
spotted together in
public in October 2016
to flag off “Samajwadi
Vikas Rath” in Luc-
know ahead of the 2017
Assembly elections.
In 2016, Akhilesh
had shown the Sama-
jwadi Party’s exit door
to his uncle Shivpal
due to a family dispute.
Shivpal later formed
his own party Pragat-
isheel Samajwadi Par-
ty (Lohiya). —ANI
Akhilesh,Mulayam,Shivpal
spotted together after 5 years
Kolkata: West Bengal
Chief Minister Mamata
Banerjee’s nephew Ab-
hishek Banerjee won a
major vote of confi-
dence from the Trina-
mool boss on Friday,
renewing his hold on
the party’s No. 2 posi-
tion, after weeks of in-
ternal wrangling.
That Banerjee will
once again be the par-
ty’s All India General
Secretary was an-
nounced after Mamata
held a meeting of the
newly reconstituted Na-
tional Working Com-
mittee — the top deci-
sion-making body of
the party
.
The meeting was held
at Ms Banerjee’s resi-
dence in Kolkata days
after the party swept to
victory in municipal
elections to four major
towns despite talk of
the internal rift.
Besides the endorse-
ment for Abhishek Ba-
nerjee, the Trinamool
chief also signed off on
the appointment of
Congress defectors Su-
shmita Dev and Mukul
Sangma for the han-
dling of the party’s
units in the northeast.
Didi backs nephew
Abhishek, restores
his number 2 status
New Delhi: BJP MP
Varun Gandhi, who has
been in news of late for
consistently targeting
his party, is in attack
mode again, this time
over bank frauds and
the economic offenders
behind them.
Listing names of eco-
nomic offenders Vijay
Mallya, Nirav Modi and
Rishi Agarwal - former
chairman of ABG Ship-
yard currently under
the scanner for a mas-
sive fraud — Gandhi
took a swipe at the Cen-
tre, saying a "strong
Government" is expect-
ed to take
“strong ac-
tion”
against
such cor-
ruption.
Varun’s swipe at
Centre features
`23K cr scam
His stay or
leaving has no
effect, but his
resignation is
being covered
by media as if it
has spelt doom
for Congress
TIGER FOUND
DEAD IN MP’S
KANHA RESERVE
FIRST-EVER
‘DANGER TO LIFE’
ALERT IN LONDON
Mandla: A tiger was
found dead in Kanha
Tiger Reserve (KTR)
in Madhya Pradesh’s
Mandla district, a forest
official said on Friday
The carcass of a big
cat, aged around three
years old, was found
by a patrolling team of
foresters on Thursday,
KTR’s field director S K
Singh said. Prima facie
evidence suggests that
the tiger was killed in
a territorial fight with
another feline.
London: Millions hun-
kered down as Storm
Eunice pummelled
Britain with winds on
Friday, leaving the
streets of London eerily
empty and disrupting
flights, trains and fer-
ries across Western
Europe. The UK capital
was placed under its
first ever “red” weather
warning, meaning there
is “danger to life”. The
same level of alert was
in place across south-
ern England.
CRUCIAL READ
INDIAN NAVY TEST
FIRES BrahMos
CRUISE MISSILE
VISHWAS’ SECURITY
REVIEWED BY
CENTRE: REPORT
New Delhi: Indian
Navy’s warship INS
Visakhapatnam carried
out the test-firing of
BrahMos supersonic
cruise missile off the
western seaboard
on Friday. The war-
ship has now reached
Visakhapatnam to take
part in President’s Fleet
Review on February
21, informed Defence
sources. The missile
was tested from INS
Visakhapatnam which is
the latest warship.
New Delhi: The Central
Government is review-
ing the security of for-
mer AAP leader Kumar
Vishwas and may give
him protection through
a central agency, official
sources said on Friday.
The move came in the
wake of Vishwas’ al-
legations against AAP
convenor and Delhi CM
Arvind Kejriwal. The
government is review-
ing the security of Ku-
mar Vishwas and may
give him protection.
Akhilesh Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Shivpal Singh Yadav
during an election campaign on Thursday. —PHOTO BY ANI
AKHILESH: WILL THOSE WITHOUT
FAMILY BE ABLE TO FEEL PAIN?
Jalaun, Uttar Pradesh: Hitting back at BJP leaders
over their "dynast" jibe against him, Samajwadi Party
(SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Friday said a person who
has a family understands its pain and asked will those
without a family be able to feel the pain of families.
Addressing an election meeting in Jalaun in Uttar
Pradesh, Mr Yadav said, "They are terming me a 'ghor
pariwarvadi' (ultimate dynast). A person who has a
family understands the pain of the family. The BJP lead-
ers do not have any family, will they be able to feel the
pain of families? Only a family person can understand
his responsibility. A family person can understand what
inflation is. People who have families are sitting here
and they can feel (pain of) price rise.
Mamata Banerjee
Ashwini Kumar
Varun Gandhi
BE LESS THIN-SKINNED: THAROOR
JABS GOVT ON S’PORE PM REMARKS
New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Shashi
Tharoor on Friday said it was most unseemly for
the Ministry of External Af-
fairs to “summon” the envoy
of a friendly country like
Singapore over remarks by
their prime minister to their
own Parliament, and asserted
that “we must learn to be less
thin-skinned”. Tharoor’s remarks came after
India on Thursday lodged a strong protest with
Singapore over the comments made by its Prime
Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

PERSPECTIVE
04
Vol 1 Issue No. 171
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
He who experiences the
unity of life sees his own
Self in all beings, and all
beings in his own Self,
and looks on everything
with an impartial eye.
—The Bhagwad Gita
IN-DEPTH
Rajnath Singh
@rajnathsingh
Participated in the road show for
Captain Amarinder Singh ji at Patiala,
Punjab today. The people here want to
create ‘Nava Punjab’ and only the BJP
led NDA can bring the change.
Dharmendra Pradhan
@dpradhanbjp
@narendramodi’s govt. has approved
the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha
Abhiyan #RUSA for FY 2022-27 with
an outlay of `12,929.16 crore to
improve the overall quality of higher
education institutions and strengthen
institutional base.
TOP TWEETS
WHEN A BOY OF 12
REGARDS GODSE AS
A ROLE MODEL, IT’S
TIME TO WORRY
odse wins, Mahatma
Gandhi loses. That
too in Gujarat where
Bapu was born! In
the latest attempt to
idolise Godse and denigrate
Gandhi was made in an elocu-
tion contest held under the aegis
of Gujarat government’s depart-
ment of youth service and cul-
tural activities. Participants
were aged between 8 and 12
years. Students had to choose
from one of the three topics: All
I want is to be a bird and fly in
the sky; I will become a scientist
but will not go to America; and
My Role Model---Nathuram
Godse. No prize for guessing that
the student who spoke of Godse
as a hero won the first prize.
Although there has been a
sustained effort to idolize Godse
while condemning Gandhi, this
is the first such attempt with of-
ficial sanction. Those looking at
Godse as a role model at such a
tender age are being awarded
for worshipping an assassin. Is
that the future of India? The
very thought is scary
.
G
ingapore Prime
Minister Lee
Hsien Loong’s re-
mark that
“Nehru’s India
has become one where, ac-
cording to media reports, al-
most half the MPs in Lok
Sabha have criminal charges
pending against them, in-
cluding charges of rape and
murder, though it is also said
many of these allegations
are politically motivated”. In
his prepared speech Loong
underlined the importance
of MPs with good values and
clean image in a democracy.
He described India’s first
Prime Minister Jawaharlal
Nehru and Israel’s David Ben
Gurion as “exceptional”, of
“great courage”, “immense
culture” and “outstanding
ability”. The comment has
not gone down well with In-
dia lodging its objection with
Singapore’s High Commis-
sioner and calling the com-
ments “uncalled for”.
But what is there to object?
Is the objection to a foreign
leader talking about Indian
lawmakers having a criminal
background, or praising
Nehru? Lawmakers with
shady backgrounds are a
harsh reality about Indian de-
mocracy
. The Association of
Democratic Reforms report
said in 2019 that 43 percent of
newly-elected MPs have crim-
inal charges against them.
The numbers were 26 percent
higher than in 2014.
TheSupremeCourtandthe
ElectionCommissionof India
are both taking a stern view
of increasing criminalization
of politicsbutallpoliticalpar-
ties just can’t do without
them. Yet, the Singaporean
prime minister could have
avoided making the remark.
Invoking and praising
Nehru in the present times,
however, is definitely uncalled
forasitmaynotbetotheliking
of the present dispensation.
What should be praised is
Loong’s appeal for preserving
democraticvaluesasthe“qual-
ityof democracyhingesonit.”
SINGAPORE PM’S
REMARKS IRK INDIA
The Supreme Court and the
Election Commission of
India are both taking a
stern view of increasing
criminalization of
politics but all political
parties just can’t do
without them
S
THE QUINTESSENCE OF
INVENTION DESIGN
omparisons are odious. But,
comparisons are part of life.
A cricket bat isn’t a bat with-
out the willow for reference.
Hence, the equation — a
unique object, or organisa-
tion, halts assessment and
comprehension, because it is
singular. This explains for
human aptitude to ‘invent-
ing’ technologies.
It’s not that animals don’t
invent; they use tools to carve
and manipulate environmen-
tal objects to improve their
quality of life. Chimps, for ex-
ample, peel off twigs to make
better termite traps, while
beavers arrange logs and
sticks to make handy ‘dams.’
Yet, one fact remains: each of
such species does not boast of
a single ‘miracle’ invention.
Most conventionalists, as
the British philosopher-aca-
demicKarlPopperexpressed,
seem to, however, feel that
this simplicity would be per-
plexing, also astonishing, if
we were bound to believe,
with the realists, that the
laws of nature reveal to us an
inner, a structural, simplici-
ty of our world beneath its
outer appearance of great
diversity. The German phi-
losopher Immanuel Kant’s
idealism, likewise, sought to
illuminate this simplicity by
saying that it is our own in-
tellect which imposes its
laws upon nature. Most con-
ventionalists, yet again, treat
this simplicity as our own
creation. For them, however,
it is not the effect of the laws
of our intellect imposing
themselves upon nature,
thus making nature simple
— for they would often reso-
lutely believe that nature is
simple. Agreed that the ‘laws
of nature’ are simple; and,
what most conventionalists
embrace, or espouse, are our
own free creations, or inven-
tions, as also our arbitrary
decisions and conventions.
This is the true perception
of reality, or fundamental
characteristic of the human
species — one that may have
determined our origin during
the evolution narrative. The
supposition — our technolo-
gy is, doubtless, a natural and
inescapable progression, be-
cause we are supposedly the
most intelligent, thinking
species, influenced by every
code of the universe. Our in-
telligence may not always be
rational, but what is impor-
tant is the stunning sequence
of our own biological charac-
teristics. The fact also is we
have our endoskeleton based
onthe‘lever’principle,unlike
large animals that need to be
necessarily viewed in the con-
text of metazoans — earthly,
ratherthanmarinecreatures.
Scholars reckon that a suit-
able comparison for human
technology exists — the
evolved technology of living
organisms. Hence, the big
question—couldwecontinue
to characterise biology as
technology? Maybe, yes. How-
ever,thetruthremainsthatbi-
ological technology has been
shaped by natural selection.
Besides, it’s agreed that our
commonplace templates in-
volveexternalconstraints,yet
the paradox is differences of-
ten arise either from history,
or refined differences in natu-
ral contexts. Such disparities
may, again, be just the right
grist for our own technology
mill, as we move increasingly
towards a position compara-
ble to biological systems —
one that promptly guides ge-
neticelements.Whatdoesthis
connote? That our biological
world includes an array of
technologies — mechanical,
chemical and computational.
The only difference being the
technology fulcrum of bio-
logical chemistry — it needs
analyses, just as much as the
technology of biological com-
putation remains unfath-
omed.
The similarity between en-
gineering and biomechanics,
likewise, is rich enough to
supplyextraordinaryinsights
intobothbiologicalchemistry
and bio-computation. Prokar-
yotes, for example, are bio-
chemical geniuses, directing
chemistry to make their liv-
ing and identifying their
roles; yet, they do extraordi-
narily little orchestration of
external mechanical forces.
Research suggests that the ab-
sence of structural metals, in
biology
, is proof that animals
would be far better off, if only
they had them. You may not
agree with such a hypothesis,
thoughyou’dbetemptedtofor
a reason, or two.
Here’s another analogy.
The pliability of metals ex-
plains for our elevated tough-
ness, but organisms have
found other routes to attain
it. Also, if ‘elasticity’ under-
lies the usage of metals in hu-
man technology
, there’s noth-
ing like the mechanism at
work that would allow an
animal to mend a deformed
tooth. The argument is obvi-
ous — that the metals we use
in our technology, iron and
aluminium, were ignored by
evolution because their poor
presence in seawater holds
no weight when investigated
from a pertinent geological
standpoint. When free oxy-
gen was a scarce commodity,
over three billion years ago,
iron and uranium were deli-
cately soluble, while the great
iron deposits in a part of our
living planet are just enough
evidence of the ‘crystallisa-
tion’ of ‘that’ iron which
helped oxidative photosyn-
thesis to really come of age.
The inference is simple —
as we approach true nano-
technology and biotechnolo-
gy
, cultivated comparisons of
the two will perpetually
transform the way we look at
either paradigm. For all the
good reasons.
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY
THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL
C
RAJGOPAL
NIDAMBOOR
The writer is a wellness physician,
independent researcher and author
The supposition — our
technology is, doubtless, a
natural and inescapable
progression, because we
are supposedly the most
intelligent, thinking
species, influenced by
every code of the universe
SCHOLARS RECKON
THAT A SUITABLE
COMPARISON FOR
HUMAN TECHNOLOGY
EXISTS — THE EVOLVED
TECHNOLOGY OF LIVING
ORGANISMS. HENCE,
THE BIG QUESTION —
COULD WE CONTINUE
TO CHARACTERISE
BIOLOGY AS
TECHNOLOGY?
MAYBE, YES

To Receive Free Newspaper
PDF Daily
Whatsapp:
http://bit.ly/whatsappdelhi
Telegram:
https://t.me/firstindianewdelhi
Click the above link☝ subscribe us on your
preferred platform.

INDIA
05
Mahesh Sharma
Mumbai: There is com-
plete silence in the me-
dia on the biggest bank-
ing scam of the country
.
The media is not ‘inves-
tigating’ the matter and
even trivial things are
not being told to the peo-
ple.Inthisscamof about
23 thousand crore ru-
pees, the maximum
amount of seven thou-
sand crore rupees which
has been defaulted upon
belonged to ICICI Bank.
The bank was also lead-
ing the consortium of 28
banks that gave loans to
ABGShipyard.Butsince
the complaint has been
made by State Bank of
India,thefocusisalsoon
SBI.However,thereisno
mention of ICICI Bank,
eventhoughone-thirdof
the loans are of ICICI,
which had also given
loans for overseas pro-
jects of ABG Shipyard.
ABG Shipyard Com-
pany was given such a
huge loan from ICICI
Bank when Chanda
Kochhar was the head
of this bank. There is a
lot of discussion about
the loan given to Video-
con Company, in which
it was revealed that ICI-
CI Bank gave loan to
Videocon and later Vid-
eocon invested in the
company of brother of
Deepak Kochhar (Chan-
da Kochhar’s husband).
At the same time, a sim-
ilar game seems to have
happened in this case as
well. Arvind Gupta, a
whistleblower and so-
cial activist, has re-
vealed that industrialist
Ravi Ruia through his
son-in-law Nishant Kan-
odia’s company invest-
ed around Rs.400 crore
in Deepak Kochhar’s
company. The question
is, if the loan goes to
ABG Shipyard, what
has it got to do with
Ruia’s investment? The
takeaway is that Rishi
Agarwal, the most
prominent of the own-
ers of ABG Shipyard, is
Shashi and Ravi Ruia’s
own great-nephew.
ABG Shipyad Case: Birds of a feather, flock together?
IN THE COURTYARD RajnathreviewspreparationsofDefExpo
New Delhi: Defence
Minister Rajnath Singh
on Friday reviewed the
preparations for the
12th edition of DefEx-
po-2022 which is sched-
uled to be held in Gan-
dhinagar, Gujarat in
March this year, in-
formed the Ministry of
Defence (MoD). Ra-
jnath Singh appreciated
the arrangements made
by Ministry of Defence
in collaboration with
the Govt of Gujarat and
exuded confidence of a
safe and successful Def-
Expo-2022, said the
press release issued by
the ministry
.
DefExpo-2022 will
now be held between
March 10-14,2022 and
will be held in a hy-
brid format featuring
both physical and vir-
tual stalls, said the
ministry.
Defence Minister while reviewing preparations def expo 2022.
GOVT APPOINTS
NEW IG
ON INDRANI MUKERJEA'S BAIL PLEA,
SC ISSUES NOTICE TO CBI
U’KHAND HC SEEKS
INFO ON CRIMINAL
CASES AGAINST MLAs
New Delhi: Defence
Ministry has ap-
pointed Inspector
General Homesh
Kumar Sharma as
the new Deputy Di-
rector General at the
Indian Coast Guard’s
Western Seaboard
headquarters in
Mumbai. Sharma
has been in charge
of various sea and
aviation installations
of the ICG in his
nearly 35 years of
service. —ANI
New Delhi: The SC on Friday issued notice to the
CBI seeking its response on a bail plea by Indrani
Mukerjea, the
prime accused
in the murder
of her daugh-
ter, Sheena
Bora. Ms
Mukerjea, who
is currently in
judicial custody
of a special CBI court, filed her bail plea last week
but the hearing was postponed to Monday after
the SC failed to receive a copy. Arguing for bail,
senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for
Indrani Mukerjea, told the Supreme Court: “She
has been in jail for six-and-a-half years... this trial
will not even in the next 10 years.” 185 witnesses
have yet to be examined (and) no witnesses have
been examined in the past 18 months,” he told a
bench headed by Justice L Nageswara Rao.
Dehradun: Uttarakhand HC
on Thursday took suo moto
cognizance of the criminal
cases registered against the
MPs and MLAs of the state
and directed the govt to pro-
vide information on the reg-
istered and pending cases to
the court by March 3. There
are a total of 70 MLAs and 8
MPs in the state.
UNITECH CASE: 66
FIRMS IN ED RECORD
SPICEJET ADDS
KHAJURAHO FLIGHT
New Delhi: ED has
named five individuals
and 66 domestic and
overseas firms in its
charge sheet in a money
laundering case against
Unitech Group, the agen-
cy said on Friday. The
federal agency filed the
prosecution complaint on
Thursday here in Rouse
avenue Court naming
promoter of United Group
Sanjay Chandra.
Gurgaon: Union
Civil Aviation Minister
Jyotiraditya M Scindia
inaugurated SpiceJet's
direct flight from Delhi
to Khajuraho in MP. We
aim to construct 100 new
airports by 2025. There
were 6 crore passengers
in 2012, it has increased
to 14 crores, he said.
The airline will operate
flights between Delhi and
Khajuraho twice a week.
KIRIT SOMAIYA HAS LOST HIS
MENTAL BALANCE, SAYS RAUT
Mumbai: On the former Lok Sabha MP Kirit
Somaiya going on a trail to identify assets owned
by Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thack-
eray’s wife Rashmi Thackeray, the Rajya Sabha
MP of the Shiv Sena Sanjay Raut claimed that
the BJP leader has “lost his mental balance”.
Somaiya had alleged that Maharashtra Chief
Minister’s wife own 19 bungalows in the Korlai
village in the Konkan parts of the state, and he
would be going to the area to identify the assets
himself.Speaking to ANI on Friday, Raut said that
Somaiya is “a mad, thief, and dacoit and he is
finding his road to jail”. —ANI
NO DEFAMATORY
REMARKS AGAINST
NOVELIST VIKRAM
New Delhi: The Delhi
High Court on Friday in an
interim order restrained
several historians and
others from publishing
any defamatory content
(online and offline) about
Dr Vikram Sampath,
author of a two-volume
biography of Vinayak
Damodar Savarkar.
Scared of ED action,
Raut adopts 'offence
is the best defence'
strategy against BJP!
Moni Sharma
NewDelhi: Shiv Sena
MP Sanjay Raut is
scared of central agen-
cies. The Enforcement
Directorate (ED) had
sent a notice to his wife
regarding a 10-year-old
transaction. His wife
also appeared before the
ED and said that she
had taken a loan from
an old friend, which has
now been returned.
Even after that, the eyes
of the central agencies
remained on Raut. Lat-
er action was taken by
the central agencies
against one of Sanjay's
close businessman
Praveen Raut. Many
leaders close to Raut are
on the target of central
agencies, for which he
has written a letter to
Rajya Sabha Chairman
Venkaiah Naidu and
other opposition lead-
ers saying that pressure
is being put on him
through central agen-
cies to topple the Maha-
rashtra govern-
ment.
Actually,
Raut is
afraid of
g e t t i n g
caught in
the investi-
gation, so he
is trying to
position him-
self well in ad-
vance. Along with
this, he has also
started intimi-
datingBJP
leaders
also, as a side tactic. He
has adopted a strategy
of attack to defend him-
self. Raut has claimed
that some Maharashtra
BJP leaders will soon be
behind bars. He has
talked about 'three and
half' i.e. three and a half
leaders going to jail.
This means that three
big leaders and one
small leader will be
trapped.
But, on the hindsight,
is he not weakening his
own case by making
such announcements?
After this announce-
ment, if any agency of
the state government
takes action, then it will
be considered as an act
of political vendetta
and it will be easy for
them to get relief from
the court. That's when
it seems that he is pres-
surizing the BJP lead-
ers by intimidating
them that if they want
to survive, then the ac-
tion against Raut will
have to be stopped.
GREEN FLAG TO DEVELOPMENT
PM FLAGS OFF RAIL LINES
IN THACKERAY’S PRESENCE
New Delhi: PM Modi
inaugurated two addi-
tional railway lines con-
necting Thane and Diva
in Maharashtra via
video conferencing on
Friday. He also flagged
off two suburban trains
of the Mumbai Subur-
ban Railway. The inau-
guration was done in
the presence of Maha
governor Bhagat Singh
Koshyari, Maharashtra
CM Uddhav Thackeray,
Deputy CM Ajit Pawar
and Railway Mini Ash-
wini Vaishnaw.
36 new trains were
also inaugurated, out
of which 34 were AC lo-
cal trains. Talking
about the same, PM
said, “From now 36
new locals are going to
run on the Central
Railway. Most of these
are also AC trains. This
is part of the central
govt’s commitment to
expand the facilities of
the local, modernize
the local.” This new
line will give more life
to mumbai.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi flag off during the inauguration of the newly commissioned rail line
between Thane and Diva in Maharashtra, via video conferencing, in New Delhi on Friday.
—PHOTO
BY
ANI
PM Modi to inaugurate Asia’s biggest
Bio-CNG plant in Indore today
PM inaugurates
two additional
railway lines,
34 AC locals
Indore: Nearly 400
buses in Indore will
soon run on Bio-CNG
to be generated from
waste at a plant which
will be virtually inau-
gurated by Modi here
in Madhya Pradesh
on February 19, civic
officials said on
Thursday
.
The plant has been
set up in 15 acres of a
trenching ground of
the Indore Municipal
Corporation in the
Devguradia area with
an investment of Rs
150 crore through the
public-private part-
nership (PPP) mode,
they said.The civic
body has claimed it to
be the largest such
Bio-CNG plant in
South Asia. The plant
is capable of produc-
ing 19,000 kg of Bio-
CNG per day from 550
tonne of wet waste (of
fruits, vegetables, raw
meat, stale food, green
leaves and flowers)
and a part of this gas
produced will soon be
used to run 400 buses
in the city, officials in
the civic said.These
buses are currently
running on diesel and
they would be con-
verted to operate on
Bio-CNG in a phased
manner, they said. In
the first-phase, 55 Bio-
CNG buses will start
running in the city
from this month itself,
they added.According
to an official, the In-
dore Municipal Cor-
poration has not spent
a single rupee on this
plant. —ANI
INDIA INKS
CEPA PACT
WITH UAE
Delhi: India and
the UAE on Friday
inked a landmark
Comprehensive
Economic Partner-
ship Agreement
(CEPA) and unveiled
a roadmap for
expansion of overall
ties at a virtual
summit between
PM Narendra Modi
and Crown Prince of
Abu Dhabi Sheikh
Mohammed bin
Zayed Al Nahyan.In
his remarks, Modi
delved into vari-
ous facets of ties
between India-and
United Arab Emir-
ates and said both
the nations will
stand “shoulder-to-
shoulder” against
terrorism while re-
ferring to the recent
terrorist attacks in
the Gulf country.
Prince Zayed Al Nahyan
Inter-Operable Criminal
Justice System project
approved by goverment
New Delhi: The Modi
Government has ap-
proved the implementa-
tion of the Inter-Opera-
ble Criminal Justice
System (ICJS) project
by the Ministry of
Home Affairs at a total
cost of Rs. 3,375 crore
during the period from
2022-23 to 2025-26.
Under the guidance
of the Union Minister
of Home Affairs Amit
Shah, Phase II of the
ICJS project will be a
step towards ensuring
effective and modern
policing. The project
will be implemented as
a Central Sector
Scheme. The ICJS sys-
tem would be made
available through a ded-
icated and secure cloud-
based infrastructure
with high speed connec-
tivity. National Crime
RecordsBureau(NCRB)
will be responsible for
the implementation of
the project in associa-
tion with National In-
formatics Center (NIC).
The project will be im-
plemented in collabora-
tion with the States and
Union Territories. —ANI
Union Home MInister Amit Shah
Bhupender Yadav
GOVT NOTIFIES GUIDELINES ON
EPR FOR PLASTIC PACKAGING
Taking forward the
clarion call given by
Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi to eliminate
single-use plastics, the
Environment Ministry has
notified comprehensive
guidelines on Extended
Producer Responsibility
(EPR) for plastic packag-
ing, Union Environment
Minister Bhupender
Yadav said. Announcing
the notification of the
new Plastic Waste Man-
agement (Amendment)
Rules, 2022 through so-
cial media late on Thurs-
day night, Yadav said
the guidelines provide a
framework to strengthen
the circular economy of
plastic packaging waste
and promote alternatives
to plastic.
—ANI

BIZ BUZZ
06
Promoted by
AU Small Finance Bank
India’s economy expanded by 8.4% in the second quarter of 2021-22 LIC $8 bn
IPO launch
on March 11
New Delhi: A public
offering of shares
by India’s state-run
Life Insurance Corp
(LIC), set to be the
country’s biggest
ever at $8 billion,
is expected to open
for anchor investors
on March 11, three
sources said. The
book will open for
bidding by other
investors a couple
of days later, the
sources said. LIC’s
IPO is expected to
obtain regulatory
approval by the first
week of March, after
which an indicative
marketing price
band will be set,
said the sources.
The sources said
that the IPO launch
schedule could
change, though for
now the issuer was
working to meet
those timelines.
New Delhi: IndiGo's
co-promoter Rakesh
Gangwal on Friday
resigned from the
board of directors
of parent company
InterGlobe Aviation,
stating that he will
gradually reduce the
equity stake over
the next five years.
Gangwal and his
related entities own
around 37% stake
in this company. “I
have been a long-
term shareholder
in the company for
more than 15 years
and it's only natural
to someday think
about diversifying
one's holdings,”
Gangwal said. —PTI
Gangwal
resigns
from IndiGo
New Delhi: India
and the United Arab
Emirates signed
a broad trade and
investment pact
on Friday that will
eventually cut all
tariffs on each oth-
er’s goods and aims
to increase annual
trade between the
two nations to $100
billion within five
years. The virtual
signing ceremony
marks the first trade
deal sealed by the
Gulf state since it
began pursuing
such pacts last Sep-
tember in a bid to
strengthen its status
as a business hub.
India’s PM Narendra
Modi and UAE de
facto ruler Sheikh
Mohamed bin Zayed
Al Nahyan wit-
nessed the signing
by senior officials
from both nations,
already major trade
partners, during
a virtual summit
between the leaders.
India,UAE eye
$100 bn in
annual trade
New Delhi: Dollar mil-
lionaires or those pos-
sessing a personal
wealth of over `7 crore
rose by 11% to 4.58 lakh
households in India at
the end of the pandem-
ic-hit 2021, as per a sur-
vey. The survey of 350
such dollar millionaires
also indicated that the
number of those who
classify themselves as
happy in per-
sonal and
professional
lives slipped to
66% in 2021,
down from
72% in the
previous year.
The Hurun Re-
port findings on
the dollar mil-
lionaires come
at a time when
there is rising
c o n c e r n
about the
g rowing
inequali-
ty in the
country
with a
population
of over 130
crore.
A re-
cently re-
leased re-
port by non-
profit Oxfam pegged
the wealth of top 100
richest Indians at
$775 billion, and added
that India accounted for
4.6 crore or half of the
overall people on the
planet falling into ex-
treme poverty in 2021.
The report estimated
the number of Indian
dollar millionaires to
increase by 30% to
touch 6 lakh households
by 2026. Mumbai is
home to the largest
number of dollar mil-
lionaires at 20,300
households, followed by
Delhi at 17,400 Kolka-
ta with 10,500. —PTI
MONEY MATTERS
Dollar millionaires in India rise 11%
The number of Indian dollar
millionaires will increase 30% to
touch 6 lakh households by 2026
Metaverse to push data usage
by 20 times in next 10 years
Ind-Ra pegs states’
fiscal deficit at 3.6%
New Delhi: Revising
the outlook on state
finances to “improv-
ing” in FY23 from
“neutral”, India Rat-
ings expects the aggre-
gate fiscal deficit of
the states to come in at
3.6% of their gross do-
mestic product from
3.5% in FY22 on the
back of robust reve-
nue growth. The agen-
cy had earlier forecast
the fiscal deficit of the
states to print in at
4.1%.
The upward revi-
sion is due to the bet-
ter-than-expected
growth in revenue re-
ceipts and higher
growth in the nominal
GDP in FY22, India
Ratings said in a note.
The agency also es-
timates the national
nominal GDP to grow
17.6% this fiscal, high-
er than the previous
estimate of 15.6%.
Accordingly, the
agency expects gross
and net market bor-
rowings by the states
in FY22 to be lower
than at `6.6 lakh crore
and `4.6 lakh crore, re-
spectively
, than its pre-
vious estimate of `8.2
lakh crore and `6.2
lakh crore.
Their gross and net
market borrowings
are estimated at `7
lakh crore and `4.63
lakh crore, respective-
ly, in FY23 due to an
improvement in
states’ aggregate rev-
enue receipts and
higher tax devolution
from the Centre.
The quality of the
fiscal deficit, which is
revenue deficit as a
percentage of fiscal
deficit, is likely to im-
prove in FY22 and
FY23, after deteriorat-
ing in the previous
two fiscals of 2020 and
2021 due to the impact
of the pandemic on
the states’ revenue re-
ceipts. —PTI
New Delhi: The tran-
sition of digital ecosys-
tem to metaverse,
where a person will
feel immersed in a vir-
tual world, will push
data usage by 20 times
across the globe by
2032 and telecom oper-
ators Bharti Airtel and
Reliance Jio are suita-
bly placed to benefit
from the surge in In-
dia, a Credit Suisse re-
port has said. The re-
port said metaverse
has enormous poten-
tial to further expand
screen time and drive
more bandwidth con-
sumption. “Internet
traffic is already 80%
video and has been
growing at a 30%
CAGR. Our team pro-
jects that even modest
metaverse usage could
drive a further 37%
CAGR in the next dec-
ade to 20x current data
usage,” the report
said.
Augmented reality
and virtual reality
technologies are ex-
pected to see a boom as
these are the technolo-
gies that are required
for accessing the
metaverse.
According to the re-
port, while 5G will sup-
port the metaverse eco-
system, the emergence
of 6G will enhance
metaverse use cases.
“While it is too early
to determine the im-
pact of metaverse on
Indian telcos’ reve-
nues, we believe Airtel
(with 17% of revenues
from fixed line) and Jio
are well placed to ben-
efit from surge in data
usage driven by
metaverse in the latter
half of this decade,”
report said. —PTI
New Delhi: The coun-
try’s GDP is likely to
grow at 5.8% in the
third quarter of fiscal
2022, according to an
SBI’s research report.
The country’s econo-
my expanded by 8.4% in
the second quarter of
2021-22, to cross pre-
pandemic levels. How-
ever, the GDP growth in
July-September period
was slower than the
20.1% expansion in the
previous quarter.
The National Statisti-
cal Office (NSO) will
declare the GDP esti-
mates for Q3 FY 2021- 22
on February 28.
“As per SBI Nowcast-
ing Model, the forecast-
ed GDP growth for Q3
FY22 would be 5.8%,
with a downward bias.
The full year (FY22)
GDP growth is now re-
vised downwards to
8.8% from our earlier
estimate of 9.3%,” the
report said on Friday
.
The Nowcasting
Model is based on 41
high frequency indica-
tors associated with in-
dustry activity, service
activity, and global
economy.The real GDP
will be around `2.35
lakh crore more / 1.6%
higher than the FY20
real GDP of `145.69 lakh
crore, the report said.
The report said the
recovery in domestic
economic activity is yet
to be broad-based, as
private consumption
remained below pre-
pandemic levels.
The high frequency
indicators suggest some
weakening of demand
in Q3 also continuing to
January 2022, reflecting
the drag on contact-in-
tensive services. —PTI
GDPLIKELYTOGROWAT5.8%
INOCT-DEC:SBIREPORT
NEED TO BRIDGE GLOBAL
INFRA FUNDING GAP: FM
43% FEWER DOMESTIC
FLYERS IN JAN OVER DEC
Govt focus on making gem,
jewellery sector self-reliant
New Delhi: Indian
Finance Minister Nir-
mala Sitharaman on
Friday emphasised
the need for bridg-
ing the infrastructure
funding gap and
developing innovative
financing mecha-
nisms for an inclusive
growth in the sector.
Participating in a
virtual session on
‘sustainable financing
and infrastructure’
at the ongoing G20
Finance Ministers and
Central Bank Gover-
nors meeting under
G20 presidency of
Indonesia on Friday,
she supported the
efforts being made
for scaling up the
sustainable finance
instruments, with a
focus on improving
accessibility and af-
fordability.
—PTI
New Delhi: Around
64.08 lakh domestic
passengers travelled
by air in January,
approximately 43%
lower than the 1.12
crore who travelled in
Dec, Indian aviation
regulator said on
Friday.The passenger
load factors -- which
means occupancy
rates -- fell for all In-
dian carriers in Janu-
ary as compared to
Dec, the Directorate
General of Civil Avia-
tion (DGCA) stated in
its monthly state-
ment.The load factors
of SpiceJet, IndiGo,
Vistara, Go First, Air
India and AirAsia
India were 73.4%,
66.6%, 61.6%,
66.7%, 60.6% and
60.5%, respectively,
in Jan 2022. The
aviation sector has
been significantly
impacted due to the
travel restrictions
imposed in India and
overseas in view of
pandemic. —PTI
New Delhi: The
country needs a
self-reliant gem and
jewellery sector and
the government has
made it a focus area
to help boost both
domestic as well as
export growth, Com-
merce and Industry
Minister Piyush Goyal
said on Friday. India
wants to make the
gem and jewellery
sector self-reliant.
Therefore, this will be
a focus area both for
domestic growth and
for export promotion.
The Budget 2022 has
paved the road for
the sector to grow
and expand India’s
footprint in the global
gem and jewellery
trade,” the minister
said. —PTI
Vedanta to invest up
to $20 bn in chip biz
New Delhi: Vedanta has
earmarked $15 billion for
foray into the electronic
chip and display manu-
facturing space, and plans
to scale up the investment
to as much as $20 billion.
Vedanta’s group firm
Avanstrate, which will
spearhead the semicon-
ductor business, expects
to roll out electronic chips
and displays from Indian
manufacturing plants by
2025, the official of the
group’s semiconductor
arm said on Friday. “Sem-
iconductor is a long-term
business. We are looking
at about $10 billion on
display. Right now we are
looking at $7 billion in
semiconductors that may
also go up by another $3
billion to further extend
it. First 10 year we have
engaged to invest up to
$15 billion. We will evalu-
ate further investment at
a later stage,” Avanstrate
managing director Akarsh
Hebbar said. Avanstrate
has applied for setting up
a semiconductor plant
and a display manufac-
turing unit.Vedanta has
signed a memorandum
of understanding with
electronics manufacturing
services giant Foxconn
to form a joint venture
company that will manu-
facture semiconductors in
India. —PTI
SENSEX FALLS FOR 3RD DAY, SHEDS 59
POINTS AS PARTICIPANTS CAUTIOUS
Mumbai: Domestic eq-
uity gauges Sensex and
Nifty extended their
losing run for the third
session in a row on Fri-
day as participants re-
mained cautious track-
ing other Asian mar-
kets amid geopolitical
uncertainties in east-
ern Europe. After
swinging about 700
points between gains
and losses during the
session, the BSE
Sensex finally closed
59.04 points or 0.10%
lower at 57,832.97. On
similar lines, the NSE
Nifty edged lower by
28.30 points or 0.16% to
settle at 17,276.30. The
Sensex was dragged
lower by mainly Ultrat-
ech Cement, MM, In-
fosys, Reliance, Bajaj
Finance and Nestle—
dropping as much as
1.88%.
On the index, 17
shares closed in the
negative zone. —PTI
` RALLIES 39 PAISE
TO 74.67 AGAINST $
New Delhi: The rupee
appreciated by 39 paise
to 74.67 against the US
dollar on Friday on
hopes of a diplomatic
solution to the East-
West standoff over
Ukraine. At the inter-
bank forex market, the
local unit opened at
75.03 against the green-
back and witnessed an
intra-day high of 74.60
and a low of 75.05.
The rupee was quot-
ed at 74.67 at 1530 hrs,
registering a rise of 39
paise over its previous
close 75.06. —PTI
New Delhi: Sebi on
Friday intends to seek
more justification and
transparency from
new-age technology
companies when it
comes to pricing their
shares in IPOs. If
the raft of proposals
floated by the market
regulator in a discus-
sion paper are ap-
proved, companies will
have to provide a more
detailed explanation of
how they have priced
their issue, compare
it to pre-IPO share
sales and disclose all
presentations made to
pre-IPO investors.
SEBI PLANS
TOUGHER
PRICING
NORMS FOR
STARTUP IPOs

07
NEWS
GRAND RAM TEMPLE IN AYODHYA
BY 2023, SAYS YOGI ADITYANATH
Mainpuri: Uttar
Pradesh Chief Minister
Yogi Adityanath on Fri-
day said that a grand
Ram temple will be
ready in Ayodhya by
2023. He made the state-
ment during a rally in
the Karhal Assembly
seat where the former
UP Chief Minister Akh-
ilesh Yadav is facing the
Union Minister of state
S P S Baghel.
He also stated that
the Ram temple will be
a ‘Rashtra Mandir’ of
India. Karhal is in the
Mainpuri district of UP
.
The BJP’s UP campaign
had begun with the un-
veiling of the redevel-
opment works of the
Kashi Vishwanath tem-
ple in Varanasi, and the
party is pitching the
construction of the
Ram temple in Ayodhya
in the ongoing polls as
oneof itsmajorachieve-
ments. He during the
rally further said, “The
double engine govern-
ments at the Centre and
the state are giving dou-
ble doses of ration to
the people, and hence
the votes will also go to
the BJP only”.
He also asserted that
the BJP govt has waived
off debt of more than 86
lakh farmers in the
state when the party
came in power in 2017.
We have also given
farmers the facility
of tube wells and an un-
interrupted power sup-
ply
. —ANI
UP POLLS: SAFFRON
PARTY’S PROMISE TO
COMPLETE TEMPLE
Yogi’s announcement
on Ram Temple bears
significance since the
BJP had earlier started
its poll campaigning
with the unveiling of the
redevelopment works
of the Kashi Vishwanath
temple in Varanasi.
Now the saffron party is
promising to complete
the Ram Temple in
Ayodhya by the next
year. He said the state
government has ensured
an uninterrupted supply
of electricity in every
village, town and city.
“Under the double-en-
gine government,
every house has been
illuminated without any
discrimination.”
Yogi says bulldozers will roll again after Mar 10’; predicts SP defeat in Karhal
Karhal: Ahead of the
high-stakes fight for
Mainpuri’s Karhal, Ut-
tar Pradesh CM Yogi
Adityanath on Friday,
warned that his ‘bull-
dozers’ will begin to
roll against ‘SP-pro-
tected goons’ after 10
March. Addressing a
rally at Akhilesh Ya-
dav’s turf - Karhal,
Adityanath claimed
that Yadav had chosen
Karhal as he feared
loss from Azamgarh -
his Lok Sabha constit-
uency. Throughout his
poll campaign, Adity-
anath has flaunted his
government’s crack-
down on illegal prop-
erties - often bulldoz-
ing them. In one such
rally, he accused the
SP govt for allowing
gangsters to erect ille-
gal houses on govern-
ment lands. Vowing
that such acts do not
work under his re-
gime, he said, ‘Some-
times there is a need to
give a direct answer by
not doing too much po-
liticisation’. In re-
sponse, SP chief Akh-
ilesh Yadav suggested
that ‘BJP should keep
its election symbol
bulldozer’.
“Seeing their im-
pending loss in Karh-
al, the Opposition
launched a cowardly
attack on SP Singh
Baghel. But don’t wor-
ry. Remember, we have
acted against those
goons who were pro-
tected by the SP govt. I
have sent all the bull-
dozers for mainte-
nance. After 10 March,
when bulldozers will
start to roll again,
those who are acting
up now will sober
down then,” said Adi-
tyanath. —Agencies
Lucknow: Politics of
opposing Indian culture
will not work anymore,
Uttar Pradesh Deputy
Chief Minister Dinesh
Sharma said on late
Thursday as he hit out
at Opposition parties for
dividing people on caste
and communal lines.
He alleged that the
Opposition leaders, who
were earlier against the
culture of the country,
are now wearing ‘ janeu’
(sacred thread) over
their clothes, visiting
temples and reciting Ha-
numan Chalisa, as he
credited the BJP for
bringing about this
change in the last five
years.
TheseniorBJPleader
heldpublicprogrammes
in Lakhimpur and
Shravasti districts,
drumming up support
for party candidates.
Voting will take place in
Lakhimpur on Febru-
ary 23 and in Shravasti
on February 27.
Sharma accused the
opposition Congress,
Samajwadi Party and
Bahujan Samaj Party
of dividing people on
the lines of casteism
and communalism.
“Today some leaders
of the Opposition are
wearing janeu over
their clothes and are
also announcing their
‘gotras’. They are ring-
ing temple bells and
also reciting Hanuman
Chalisa.
“Earlier, these par-
ties worked to create
differences among the
people by opposing the
culture of India, but
such disgusting politics
of theirs is not going
to work anymore,” he
added. —PTI
Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma.
‘Politicsofopposing
Indianculturewon’t
workanymore’
Chandan Kumar
Lucknow: A 27-year-old
burqa-clad woman, who
is a triple-talaq victim,
is campaigning for the
BJPintheUttarPradesh
assembly polls to make
the Muslim women real-
ise the good work being
done by the saffron par-
ty in the state.
Nida Khan believes
that unlike other par-
ties, the BJP does not
see Muslims as a vote
bank only but considers
them as equals.
Khan, who dons a
burqa, has campaigned
for the BJP candidates
in the first and second
phase of the assembly
elections and is set
tojointhepollcampaign
in other parts of
the state for the other
phases.
She is usually accom-
panied by female mem-
bers of the BJP as well
as members of the par-
ty’s minority cell during
the campaigning.
“I have done door-to-
door campaigning and
held small meetings
with the female voters
for BJP candidates both
in Meerut and Bareilly
. I
will also join the cam-
paigning for the party in
central and eastern UP
districts,” Khan, who
joined the minority
wingof theBJPinJanu-
ary this year, told PTI.
“We move in smaller
groups for door-to-door
campaigning and try to
meet the maximum
number of women vot-
ers in a day
. I inform the
voters about welfare
schemes of the BJP gov-
ernment,” Khan said.
We usually campaign
in areas with consider-
able Muslim voters, the
triple talaq victim said.
When asked about
her reasons for joining
theBJP
,Khan,whohails
from Bareilly, said, “I
have realised that all po-
litical parties be it the
Samajwadi Party, the
Congress or the Bahu-
jan Samaj Party (BSP),
all use Muslims only as
a vote bank. They take
our votes to get to power
and then forget us for
the next five years. This
is why the Muslim com-
munity is one of the
least developed commu-
nities in our society
.
However, this is not the
story in the BJP, where
everyone is considered
as equal.”
“I want the women of
the Muslim community
to realise the good work
of the BJP under CM
YogiAdityanathandPM
Narendra Modi. I am
confident that the social
condition of the Mus-
lims will improve if the
BJP comes to power
againinUttarPradesh,”
she added.
On BJP not giving
tickets to any Muslim
candidate in the assem-
bly polls, Khan said, “I
believe that the decision
for ticket distribution is
done on the basis of
merit and not just on
vote bank in the BJP. I
am sure that the party
will get suitable candi-
dates from the Muslim
community who will get
tickets in future elec-
tions.”
A post-graduate pur-
suing law, Khan came
into the spotlight in 2017
after she filed a com-
plaint of domestic vio-
lence and dowry against
her husband and his
family members. She
hadallegedthatherhus-
band, who comes from
an influential religious
family in Bareilly, gave
her instant triple talaq.
“The harassment I
suffered just after mar-
riage gave me strength
to fight for other Mus-
lim women who are vic-
tims of triple talaq as
well as dowry
,” she said.
Khan said the anti-
triple talaq law passed
by the Centre as well as
the Uttar Pradesh gov-
ernment’s unlawful reli-
gious conversion law
are a “boon for the Mus-
lim women and the soci-
ety
. —PTI
Burqa-clad triple-talaq victim campaigns for BJP in UP polls
UTTAR PRADESH POLLS
Nida Khan campaigning for BJP in Uttar Pradesh.
Darbhanga: A man has
been arrested for tortur-
ing his wife and forcing
her to walk the streets
of a village in Darb-
hanga district on the
suspicion that she was
having an extramarital
affair, a police officer
said on Friday
.
The accused, Ranvir
Sada, was apprehended
on Thursday after a vid-
eo clip emerged on so-
cial media, in which the
woman was seen walk-
ing the roads of Jhajha-
ra village, her head ton-
sured and face painted
black, the officer said.
Investigators were ex-
amining the veracity of
the video clip, he stated.
“The local police have
registered an FIR on the
basis of a statement
given by the victim, who
had faced the ordeal on
February 13. Around 20
people, including her
husband and her-in-
laws, have been named
in the FIR. -—PTI
Woman
tonsured,
paraded
Mumbai: The Enforce-
ment Directorate (ED)
on Friday arrested
Iqbal Kaskar, the jailed
brother of 1993 Mum-
bai blasts mastermind
Dawood Ibrahim, as
part of a probe into a
recently registered
money laundering case
against him, officials
said.
Kaskar, already
lodged in Thane jail in
connection with multi-
ple cases of alleged ex-
tortion, was taken into
custody in the fresh
case. He will be pro-
duced before a special
Prevention of Money
Laundering Act
(PMLA) court that had
issued a production
warrant against him
on February 16, the of-
ficials said. —PTI
Dawood’s
brother
Iqbal held
In Bihar, now only the
deities will be the
owners of temple land
Kumar Prabodh
Patna: The Bihar govt
has begun the process to
make deities owners of
the temple land instead
of priests, Law Minister
Pramod Kumar said on
Friday
. The Law Depart-
ment will soon issue a
circular, removing the
names of priests from
the revenue records to
protect the properties
from unauthorised
claims, Kumar told the
decision that is likely to
have widespread socio-
political ramifications
in the state. “A priest
cannot be treated as
landowner (‘bhuswa-
mi’), and the revenue
records will now have
the name of the deities
of the shrines.”
It would help in deal-
ing with large scale ir-
regularities in temple
land as priests have
been buying and selling
those as owners, he said.
“The Bihar govt will
simply implement the
SC judgment passed on
September 6, 2021. The
SCbenchof JusticesHe-
mant Gupta and AS Bo-
panna had ruled that
‘there is no mandate un-
der the law’ that the
name of pujari or man-
ager is required to be
mentioned in the reve-
nue records since the
deity as the juristic per-
son is the owner of the
land,” he said. -—PTI
Campaigning comes to end in Punjab
as state goes to polling on Sunday
Mahesh Kumar
Chandigarh/Ludhi-
ana: Campaigning
came to an end 48 hours
ahead of the polling day
in the state. The border
state will go to polling
on February 20, Sunday
.
The State Election Of-
ficer and the District
Election Officers issued
orders in this regard on
Friday evening as the
campaigning came to
end at 6 PM.
In Ludhiana, Deputy
Commissioner-cum-
District Election Offic-
er Varinder Kumar
Sharma and Commis-
sioner of Police Ludhi-
ana Gurpreet Singh Bh-
ullar on Friday warned
that any violation of
Model Code of Conduct
in district Ludhiana
would be dealt with
strictly
.
They said that there
will be a complete ban
on campaigning from 6
PM on Friday (February
18) and violation by any-
one would attract strict
action. However, he clar-
ified that there is no ban
on door to door cam-
paigning in the district.
In view of upcoming
elections, District Mag-
istrate Varinder Kumar
Sharma has declared
holiday in all govern-
ment and private
schools of the district
on Saturday (February
19, 2022). He said that
schools cannot hold ex-
aminations tomorrow
andif anyexaminations
were scheduled for to-
morrow, schools would
have to reschedule
them. However the
schools (government
and private), where poll-
ing booths have been set
up, staff responsible for
cleaning work, personal
staff (chowkidar/sewa-
dar) etc would have to
remain present.
The DM has also
banned holding dhar-
nas, protests, holding
meetings, sloganeering,
and assembly of five or
more persons in the dis-
trict.
They also said that
barring the residents of
that particular assem-
bly constituency, there
is a complete ban on
presence of outsiders in
any constituency of the
district and before 6 pm
today
, all persons should
go back to their respec-
tive assembly constitu-
encies.
The DEO-cum-DC
said that formal orders
have already been is-
sued in this regard and
police personnel, re-
turning officers or fly-
ing squads would check
their voter ID cards to
ensure that whether
they are residents of
that particular constitu-
ency or not.
HOLIDAY IN SCHOOLS
RAMIFICATIONS
Yogi Adityanath

COVID-19
UPDATE
WORLD
5,884,499
TOTAL DEATHS
345,268,373
TOTAL RECOVERED
69,802,358
ACTIVE CASES
420,955,230
TOTAL CASES
INDIA
510,937
TOTAL DEATHS
41,977,238
TOTAL RECOVERED
292,060
ACTIVE CASES
42,780,235
TOTAL CASES
08
2NDFRONT
Explore, Dream, Discover-Take
these journeys within and
outside to live life to the fullest.
—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO Editor-in-Chief, First India
Don’t vote in lieu of money
liquor: Mann to voters
Mahesh Kumar
Fatehgarh Sahib:
Aam Aadmi Party
(AAP) Punjab chief
ministerial Candidate
and MP Bhagwant
Mann campaigned in
various assembly con-
stituencies of Fate-
hgarh sahib for AAP
candidates Advocate
Lakhveer Singh Rai
and Gurinder Singh
‘Garry’ Birring. He con-
ducted an election
march in Fatehgarh Sa-
hib and Amloh and ap-
pealed people to vote for
AAP
. Addressing a gath-
ering, Mann said that
February 20 is an op-
portunity to write Pun-
jab’s new destiny. That
is why the people of
Punjab will definitely
form AAP government.
Addressingthepeople
at Sirhind in favour of
Fatehgarh Sahib Candi-
dateLakhveerSinghRai
andforAmlohcandidate
Garry Birring in Mandi
Gobindgarh, Mann said
that Mandi Gobindgarh
usedtobeanIronMandi
of Punjab and used to
provide employment to
peoplefromalloverPun-
jab including Khanna,
Amloh, Sirhind, but to-
day the factories are
closed. He said that we
have to reopen these fac-
tories and generate em-
ployment for the youth.
Mann warned the peo-
ple that corrupt parties
would distribute liquor
and money from today
.
Politicians who are buy-
ing votes today won’t
work for the welfare of
people and Punjab to-
morrow. He said that
they (Corrupt politi-
cians) will get power
withyourvotesandthen
they will forget about
you while indulging in
that power.
First India Bureau
New Delhi: Union Min-
ister of State (MoS) Dr
Jitendra Singh said on
Friday that India is
emerging as the world’s
preferred Start-Up des-
tination due to its vast
unexplored potential
coupled with ease of
business and regulatory
environment provided
by PM Narendra Modi.
He was speaking as
chief guest at “India
First Tech Start-Up Con-
clave-2022” and Awards
Summit here. He said,
the robust ecosystem of
Start-ups will play a
critical role in ensuring
that India achieves its
goal of a $5 trillion
economy by 2025.
The MoS said that in
2016 itself, PMModi had
announced from the
ramparts of the Red
Fort about the Start-Up
initiative, followed by
Stand-Up India and sev-
eral such visionary ini-
tiatives. He said, due to
various schemes, focus
and support system pro-
vided by PM Narendra
Modi, 10,000 Start-Ups
got registered in India
in 2021 alone. He said,
India now has 50,000
plus start-Ups provid-
ing more than 2 lakh
jobs in the country
.
He said the General
Budget of 2022-23 is a
“Futuristic Budget with
scientific vision and
Start-Up incentives”. He
said that announce-
ments of innovative
new initiatives like Dig-
italRupee,DigitalBank-
ing units in 75 districts,
Digital University and
Start-Ups linked to Arti-
ficial Intelligence,
Space Technology, and
Drone Shakti are exam-
ples of digital push and
innovative ecosystem
that the government
wants to promote. He
said, exemption of tax
for Start-Ups up to 2024
and other incentives for
domestic and export
sectors will enable India
to take a lead in Start-
Ups in the World.
Indiaemergingasworld’spreferredStart-Updestination
BIG ACHIEVEMENT
Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh says the
Start-up culture must spread to India’s
B-Towns, as this is now mostly confined to
Bengaluru, Hyderabad and other big cities
Dr Jitendra Singh at “India First Tech Start-Up Conclave-2022”.
Anurag Thakur says AAP actually
means ‘Arvind Anti Punjab’
Raj CM Gehlot
steps in to aid ace
archer Limbaram
Naresh Sharma
Jaipur: Taking a sensi-
tive decision, Rajasthan
CM Ashok Gehlot has
approved financial as-
sistance of ten lakh ru-
pees from the Chief
Minister’s Relief Fund
for the treatment of
well-known archer of
the state, Limbaram.
Limbaram,anativeof
Saraditvillageof Jhadol
tehsil of Udaipur, has
beensufferingfromseri-
ous diseases for some
time. He is currently un-
dergoing treatment at a
hospital in Ghaziabad
due to brain stroke.
As soon as the infor-
mation was received in
this regard after Lim-
baram’s wife sounded
the Chief Minister’s of-
fice in this regard, Ge-
hlot, giving relaxation
in the Chief Minister’s
Relief Fund rules, sanc-
tioned immediate fi-
nancial assistance of
Rs. Ten lakh. Immedi-
ately, on the instruc-
tions of CM, the Princi-
pal Housing Commis-
sioner reached Limbar-
am’s residence located
at Jawaharlal Nehru
Stadium Sports Hostel
in Delhi on Friday,
handed him a check for
the assistance amount
and inquired about his
health.
According to the in-
formation, Limbaram
is suffering from ataxia
- a disease wherein the
brain cells start shrink-
ing. About a year and a
half ago, Limbaram
was also treated at SMS
Hospital in Jaipur. His
neurodegenerative con-
dition and his continu-
ing illness have raised
the concerns of sports
fans, his disciples and
fans. Recently, Limbar-
am had also contracted
Covid. He is the first
archer from India, who
achieved success in the
field of archery at the
world level. Limbaram
has represented India
in many international
championships includ-
ing three Olympic
Games and won medals.
Chandigarh: Union
MinisterAnuragThakur
on Friday slammed Del-
hi CM Arvind Kejriwal
over allegations levelled
by his former associate
and termed Aam Aadmi
Party as “Arvind Anti
Punjab”.
Addressing a press
conference here,
Thakur accused Kejri-
wal of “silence” over
allegations made by a
“founding member” of
the Aam Aadmi Party
who has now moved
away from the party.
“There are some people
whose political appetite
is never satiated. Sev-
eral members of AAP
who were also the
founding members of
the party have leveled
serious charges against
Arvind Kejriwal. And
he has not responded
yet,” he said. —ANI
Anurag Thakur with other BJP leaders campaigning in Ludhiana.
Russia welcomes India’s position on Ukraine situation
New Delhi: Russia on
Friday welcomed In-
dia’s position on the
Ukraine crisis, amid a
spike in tensions be-
tween the NATO coun-
tries and Moscow over
the situation in the
eastern European na-
tion.
The reaction came a
day after India said at
the UN Security Coun-
cil that “quiet and con-
structive diplomacy” is
the need of the hour
and that any step that
could escalate the ten-
sion should be avoided
“We welcome #In-
dia’s balanced, princi-
pled and independent
approach,” the Russian
embassy in India
tweeted.
At a meeting of the
UN Security Council
on the Ukraine situa-
tion, India’s Perma-
nent Representative to
the UN T S Tirumurti
on Thursday pitched
for immediate de-esca-
lation of the situation.
In Delhi, External
Affairs Ministry
spokespersonArindam
Bagchi too said that In-
dia has been support-
ive of an immediate
de-escalation of ten-
sions and resolution of
the situation through
sustained diplomatic
dialogue.
The Ministry of Ex-
ternal Affairs (MEA)
on Wednesday set up a
control room to pro-
vide information and
assistance to Indian
nationals in Ukraine.
In addition, the Indian
embassy in Ukraine
has also set up a 24-
hour helpline for Indi-
ans in the eastern Eu-
ropean nation.
Russia has posi-
tioned around 100,000
troops near its border
with Ukraine besides
sending warships to
the Black Sea for naval
exercises, triggering
concerns among the
NATO countries about
a potential Russian in-
vasion of Ukraine.
Russia has been de-
nying that it plans to
invade Ukraine. —PTI
PM Modi with Russian President Vladimir Putin. —FILE PHOTO
CAPT’S ‘ROUTE-MARCH’ IN PATIALA
SEES PARTICIPATION BY THOUSANDS
Rajnath Singh pitches for Capt Amarinder saying entire India respects him
Ashok Kaura
Patiala: Thousands of
people from Patiala on
Friday joined the route-
march taken out by for-
mer CM Capt Ama-
rinder Singh in his
home constituency
.
Defence Minister Ra-
jnath Singh also joined
Capt Amarinder during
the march. Besides,
Capt’s wife and Patiala
MP Preneet Kaur,
Rohtak MP Arvind
Sharma and veteran
film actor Puneet Issar
(Duryodan of Mahab-
harat television serial)
and several others also
accompanied him dur-
ing the route march.
Addressing the gath-
ering at the conclusion
of the route-march, Ra-
jnath Singh said he had
specially travelled from
Uttar Pradesh to join
Capt Amarinder. He
said, whole nation loved
and respected Capt Am-
arinder’s patriotism
and nationalism.
The Defence Minister
specially mentioned
that Prime Minister
Narendra Modi had spe-
cial respect for Capt
Amarinder. Appealing
to the people to elect
him with a large major-
ity, the Defence Minis-
ter assured, with Prime
Minister Modi’s sup-
port Punjab will make
huge progress under
his (Capt Amarinder’s)
leadership.
He lashed out at the
Congress saying it had
failed the country and
that is the reason some-
one of the stature of
Capt Amarinder had to
leave the party and join
hands with the BJP. He
said, together with Capt
Amarinder, the BJP
will ensure all round
progress of Punjab. He
said, it will be in the in-
terest of the security of
Punjab as well as the
nation.
Capt Amarinder Sin-
gh expressed his pro-
found gratitude to peo-
ple of Patiala for com-
ing out of their homes,
shops and other busi-
ness establishments to
join his route march.
He said he was touched
and overwhelmed by
the love they have al-
ways showered at him.
“I could see each and
every face that showed
great affection and
warmth to me today,”
he said.
Rajnath Singh with Capt Amarinder Singh and Capt’s wife Lok
Sabha MP from Patiala Preneet Kaur, in Patiala on Friday.
Bhagwant Mann campaigning in Fatehgarh Sahib, on Friday.
AAP’s Punjab CM
candidate
campaigns for
party candidates as
campaigning ends
PM SHOULD PROBE ALLEGATIONS
AGAINST KEJRIWAL: CHANNI
Chandigarh: Punjab CM
Charanjit Singh Channi
has urged PM Narendra
Modi to order a probe into
former AAP leader Kumar
Vishwas’ allegations that
Arvind Kejriwal is sup-
porting separatists during
the campaign for the
assembly elections. AAP
leader Raghav Chadha
had already described the
allegations as “malicious,
unfounded and fabri-
cated.” In a tweet, Channi
said, “As CM of Punjab,
I request Hon’ble PM @
narendramodi Ji to order
an impartial inquiry in the
matter of @DrKumarVish-
was Ji’s video”. “Politics
aside, people of Punjab
have paid a heavy price
while fighting separatism.
Hon’ble PM needs to ad-
dress the worry of every
Punjabi, Channi said in a
tweet.On Thursday at a
rally in Abohar, Modi, who
did not name Vishwas in
his speech, had said that
the accusation the poet,
once a close friend of
Kejriwal, had made was
very dangerous and that
it explained his (Kejriwal)
character. Congress
leader Rahul Gandhi at
a rally in Bassi Pathana
had even questioned the
silence of the Delhi CM
over the accusation.Some
Congress leaders includ-
ing Punjab Congress chief
Navjot Sidhu had sought
clarification from Kejriwal
over the allegations of
supporting separatists.
Chadha had asked Vish-
was, If he had any such
information, then why
he remained silent from
2017 till today. —PTI
SUPPORT GROWS FOR NDA IN PUNJAB
Giving relaxation in
the Chief Minister's
Relief Fund rules,
Gehlot sanctioned
immediate financial
aid of `10 lakh
Raj CM Ashok Gehlot

NEW DELHI, SATURDAY,
FEBRUARY 19, 2022
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia
facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia 09
eauty pageants cele-
brate not just beauty
but empower young
girls and women to
stand up, be confident,
raise pertinent issues
and give them a plat-
form for a career and
financial independence. First In-
dia endeavours to do all this and
more, as we celebrate the indi-
viduality and strength of each
participant who becomes a part
of the First India family
.
In a breath-taking beauty
pageant, 26 gorgeous models
competed for the coveted ti-
tle and the responsibility
of representing India at
the international Queen
of Cosmos beauty pag-
eant, emotions ran high
as with true competitive
spirit the girls gave their
best in all the rounds. Af-
ter the introductory
round and the evening
gown sequence, the em-
inent jury selected 13
top participants who
then went in for
the question-an-
swer round. It
was not an easy
choice as each
girl spoke
brilliantly
from her
heart.
Sanskriti Negi was crowned the
winner and Sanskriti Sharma was
the 1st Runner-up. The 2nd Run-
ner-up was a tie between Angela Ku-
mar and Khushi Verma while Aarna
Vishvkarma bagged the Viewer’s
Choice award.
Jagdeesh Chandra congratulat-
ed the winners, he said that re-
gardless of who won, all the
girls were queens and First
India would continue to sup-
port and promote them. First
India is always keen to pro-
vide opportunities to young
local talent in the fields of en-
tertainment, glamour and fash-
ion, he added. He also congratulat-
ed Brand ambassador Rishee Mi-
glani, Show Director Lokesh Sharma
and their entire team for the stupen-
dous success of the event.
Rupa Khurana hosted the event
with her usual grace and pa-
nache. First Miss India Teen
2021 Rayna Sikri also graced
the event. More on P10-11
ANITA HADA
anita.hada@firstindianews.com
Jagdeesh Chandra with (L-R) Lokesh Sharma, Rishee Miglani, Rayna Sikri, Anita Hada, Rupa Khurana with the 26 participants;
Aarna, Aarti, Akansha, Amisha, Amrita, Angela, Ayushi, Bahaar, Dayana, Disha, Kalpana, Kashika, Khushi A, Khushi V, Nivedita,
Palak, Pooja, Priya, Ritiu, Rukmini, Sanskriti N and Sanskriti S, Shruti, Simran, Sweezal and Vioma
Jagdeesh Chandra with the smiling crowned beauty Sanskriti Negi.Also seen are (L-R) Rupa Khurana,
Manju Sharma, Rishee Miglani,Aditi Jaggi,Anita Hada, Priyatam Sogani and Khushi Verma
Jagdeesh Chandra with the winners.(From left) Sanskriti Sharma,
Sanskriti Negi,KhushiVerma,Angela Kumar andAarnaVishvkarma
Sanskriti Negi (Winner), Sanskriti Sharma (1st Runner-up) and Angela Kumar Khushi Verma (2nd Runners-up) AarnaVishvkarma (Viewers’ Choice)
Joyaux De La
Cour nne
THE FIRST INDIA QUEEN OF COSMOS ‘INDIA’- SANSKRITI NEGI, WHO
WILL REPRESENT INDIA AT THE INTERNATIONAL BEAUTY PAGEANT IN
DUBAI ON 10 MARCH 2022 WAS CROWNED IN A GLITTERING CEREMONY
AT FAIRMONT, JAIPUR ON FRIDAY. BUT FOR US, EACH OF OUR 26
PARTICIPANTS IS ‘JOYAUX DE LA COURONNE’ —A JEWEL IN THE CROWN!
B —PHOTOS
BY
SANTOSH
SHARMA

MUKESH
KIRADOO

10-11
ETC
A Galaxy of
BEAUTIES
T
he eminent jury consisted of Manju Shar-
ma ( Chairperson, Eternal Hospital), Pri-
yatam Sogani ( Sogani Jewellers), Rajiv
Kapoor (GM Fairmont), Ruchika Sodhi
(Ace Nutritionist), Aditi Jaggi (Fashion Design-
er), Akansha Bakshi (Fashion and Lifestyle
blogger), Dhirendra Raghav (Businessman),
JD Maheshwari (NS Publicity), Vanish
Chugh (Founder, Sizzlin Scizzors) and Usha
Punia ( Ex-Tourism Minister, Raj).
Chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Khadi
Board Navneet Sehgal, sent across
beautiful contemporary Khadi de-
signer dresses for the winners de-
signed by Aditi Jaggi.
Among the eminent guests who
reached the venue to be a part of
the evening were Preeti Bakshi,
Nikhil Anand, Vishaal Mathur,
Mohit and Anjula Falod, Timsy
Sikri, Farha Ansari, among oth-
ers. Supermodels Tripti Arora,
Muskan Mulchandani, Sim-
ran Kashyap reached to en-
courage the participants.
Hotel Fairmont was the
hospitality partner while
the production was by
Vineet Jain and Gunjan
Singhal designed the
beautiful set.
FROM P9
‘MissTalented’
was bagged by
Palak Shah
‘Miss Photogenic’was
bagged by Sanskriti
Sharma
‘Miss Beach Body’was
bagged by PriyaVinod
Singh
Jagdeesh Chandra felicitates Sai Girdhar. Also seen are
Rupa Khurana and Rishee Miglani
The top 13 selected beauties: (L-R) Sanskriti Sharma, Aarna Vishvkarma, Angela Kumar, Kashika Bassi, Khushi Verma, Priya Vinod Singh, Sanskriti Negi, Simran Mahendrawal, Palak Shah, Khushi Adesra, Bahaar, Amrita Khurana and Rukmini Chaudhary
—PHOTOS
BY
SANTOSH
SHARMA

MUKESH
KIRADOO
Jagdeesh Chandra felicitates Sanjay Sardana. Also seen are
Jagdeesh Chandra felicitates Pawan Goyal. Also seen are
Jagdeesh Chandra felicitates Nikhil Anand. Also seen are
Jagdeesh Chandra felicitates Team Star Entertainment.
Also seen are Rupa Khurana and Rishee Miglani
Jagdeesh Chandra felicitates Vishaal Mathur. Also seen are
Jagdeesh Chandra felicitates Preeti Bakshi. Also seen are
Jagdeesh Chandra felicitates Bharat Gupta. Also seen are
Jagdeesh Chandra felicitates Swaroop Bhati. Also seen are
Jagdeesh Chandra felicitates Vishal Jalani. Also seen are
Khushika felicitated by Rajiv Kapoor,
Ruchika Sodhi and Rupa Khurana
Jagdeesh Chandra felicitates Team Fairmont, Jaipur: Amit, Indu
and Sukhpreet. Also seen are Rupa Khurana and Rishee Miglani
‘Miss Beautiful
Skin’was
bagged by
Khushika Bassi
Palak felicitated by Dhirendra Raghav and Akansha Bakshi
Priya felicitated by Anita Hada
and Rayna Sikri
Sanskriti felicitated by Dhirendra Raghav
and Akansha Bakshi Disha felicitated by Rajiv Kapoor, Ruchika Sodhi and Rupa Khurana
‘Miss Beautiful Smile’
was bagged by Disha
Nareda
‘Miss Beautiful Hair’was
bagged by Ritiu
Bhadauria
Ritiu felicitated by Ruchika Sodhi and Rupa Khurana
Sanskriti felicitated by Aditi Jaggi
‘Miss Fashion Icon’
was bagged by
Sanskriti Negi

19022022 first india new delhi

19022022 first india new delhi

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Similar to 19022022 first india new delhi

Similar to 19022022 first india new delhi (20)

More from FIRST INDIA

More from FIRST INDIA (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (6)

19022022 first india new delhi