23012022 first india new delhi

Modi asks DMs to make plans
to take govt benefits to people
New Delhi: Prime Min-
ister Narendra Modi on
Saturday asked dis-
tricts magistrates of
various districts to
work on time-bound
targets.
“We have to reach 100
per cent saturation be-
tween service and fa-
cilities for each district
with a time-bound tar-
get and create a road-
map of short visions
for districts that can be
completed in next two
years,” the Prime Min-
ister said in an interac-
tion with district mag-
istrates via video con-
ferencing. He further
asked the DMs to plan
10 such tasks that can
be completed in the
next three months
which improve the
ease of living of
people.
“Similarly, plan
five such tasks that
you can club with
Azadi Ka Amrit Ma-
hotsav,” the
PM added.
PM Modi
also asked
districts
m a g i s -
trates to
find the
hidden potential of
their respective dis-
tricts. The ‘One dis-
trict, one product’ is
based on the po-
tential of dis-
tricts, the PM
noted.
More on P5
OUR EDITIONS:
JAIPUR, AHMEDABAD,
LUCKNOW & NEW DELHI
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NEW DELHI l SUNDAY, JANUARY 23, 2022 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI TITLE NO.DELENG/2021/19840 l Vol 1 l Issue No.145
CORONA
CATASTROPHE
NEW DELHI
11,486
NEW
CASES
14,802
RECOVERED
45
NEW DEATHS
FLAKES
CHILL
&
ourists amid snow flakes at the
Ridge in Shimla on Saturday. Shimla
received fresh snowfall as mercury
dropped below zero. The streets and
houses were seen covered under white
blanket in the Himachal capital as the Mall
Road was flooded with overjoyed tourists.
T
NOT ABIDING
WITH GANDHI!
Preparations underway at redeveloped Central Vista Avenue for Republic Day celebrations.
Mohd Fahad
New Delhi: Abide
with Me — Mahatma
Gandhi’s favourite
hymn,whichusedtobe
played at the end of the
Beating Retreat cere-
mony on January 29,
on the eve of Gandhi’s
death anniversary —
has been dropped from
the ceremony this year.
It’s exclusion in 2020
hadcreatedafurorefol-
lowing which it was
reinstated last year.
The official list of
the26tunestobeplayed
in the Beating Retreat
ceremony does not
mention Abide with
Me. The hymn had
been played every year
during the ceremony
since 1950 but dropped
in 2020. The hymn, by
Henry Francis Lyte, is
set to the tune of Even-
tide by William Henry
Monk.
Beating Retreat
marks the end of near-
ly week-long festivities
of the Republic Day
,
which used to begin on
January 24 earlier, but
starting this year, they
will begin on January
23, the birth anniver-
sary of Netaji Subhash
Chandra Bose.
Gandhi’s favourite hymn, Abide With
Me, dropped from Beating Retreat again
The hymn had been played every year
during the ceremony since 1950 but
dropped in 2020 and reinstated last year
after its exclusion created a furore
Union Home Minister Amit Shah distributes pamphlets to people
during a door-to-door campaign for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh
Assembly election in Kairana on Saturday. —PHOTO BY ANI
AMIT SHAH BEGINS CAMPAIGN FROM KAIRANA...
Holds door-to-door campaign
with ‘new devpt wave’ vision
Kairana: Union Home
Minister Amit Shah on
Saturday held a door-to-
door campaign in UP’s
Kairana ahead of as-
sembly elections in the
state. He interacted with
thepublicandaddressed
the media saying, “A
new wave of develop-
ment can be seen across
the state. Several roads,
airports, medical col-
leges have been built.
Every poor household
now has a gas connec-
tion, toilets, electricity,
Ayushman Bharat Yo-
jana card, free vaccines
& free ration during Co-
rona pandemic”.
Shah also interacted
with people who had mi-
grated from Kairana in
2014 but have now reset-
tled back to the city
.
Kairana is a municipal
board and a city in the
Shamli district of UP
.
BJP’S ATTEMPT
TO TAB THE HINDU
VOTE VIA KAIRANA
‘EXODUS’ CLAIM
The alleged “exodus”
of Hindus from Ut-
tar Pradesh’s Kairana
before 2017 - a claim
widely debunked as a
communal bogey - took
centre-stage with door-
to-door campaign. The
choice of Kairana is seen
as significant given how
BJP leaders have alleged
that a large number of
Hindus were forced to
migrate from the area
due to threats during
the Samajwadi Party
rule, making it a big poll
issue in 2017. In the
recent election rallies,
the subject has made a
comeback courtesy of
the party’s top leaders
who claimed there has
been an improvement
in law and order in the
state under Yogi regime.
ANALYSIS
NOW OFFICIAL FROM SAMAJWADI PARTY:
AKHILESH YADAV TO FIGHT FROM KARHAL
Lucknow: The Samajwadi Party (SP) put to rest the specula-
tion about party chief Akhilesh Yadav contesting polls, con-
firming that he will be fielded from Karhal in
Mainpuri. The announcement was made by SP
national general secretary Ramgopal Yadav.
“I am making a formal official announcement
now. Our national president Akhilesh Yadav
will contest from Karhal, and he will win
with massive mandate,” Ramgopal
Yadav said at a press conference
where Akhilesh was also present.
POLL RALLY BAN EXTENDED TILL JAN 31,
SMALL MEETINGS OK IN SOME AREAS
New Delhi: The ban on roadshows and rallies for state
polls was extended till the end of this month on Saturday
by the Election Commission but with certain relaxations
for the first two phases of voting due on February 10 and
14. The decision came after the election body held a meet-
ing earlier in the day with the Union Health Secretary and
the Chief Health Secretaries of the five states to review the
restrictions given surge in coronavirus cases.
OWAISI DECLARES NEW FRONT, IDEATES
2 CMs & 3 DY CMs FOR UTTAR PRADESH
Lucknow: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM)
president Asaduddin Owaisi announced alliance in UP with
Babu Singh Kushwaha and Bharat Mukti Morcha. “If the
alliance comes to power there will be 2 Chief Ministers,
one from OBC community and another from Dalit commu-
nity. There would be 3 Deputy Chief Ministers including
from Muslim community,” he told a press conference.
Meanwhile, BJP
IPL THIS YEAR
TO BE HELD IN
INDIA WITHOUT
CROWD: REPORT
The Indian Premier
League (IPL) 2022
season will be held in In-
dia, top Board of Control
for Cricket in India (BCCI)
sources confirmed. The
COVID-19 subsides in the
country, then the board
will go ahead with hosting
the IPL 2022 in India.
“IPL 2022 will be held in
India and the tournament
will be staged without
crowds in attendance.
Likely venues for IPL
2022 are Wankhede
Stadium, Cricket Club
of India (CCI), DY Patil
Stadium in Mumbai and
if needed, we can look
at Pune as well,” the
Myanmar: Suu
Kyi’s party
lawmaker gets
death sentence
Naypyidaw: A closed
military court in Myan-
mar has sentenced a
lawmaker from Aung
San Suu
Kyi’s Na-
t i o n a l
League for
Democracy
(NLD) party
and a prominent democ-
racy activist to death.
The NLD’s Phyo Ze-
yar Thaw, who was ar-
rested in November,
was sentenced to death
for offences under the
country’s Counterter-
rorism Law.
Militant killed
in encounter in
J&K’s Shopian
Srinagar: A militant
was killed in an encoun-
ter with security forces
in Jammu and Kash-
mir’s Shopian district
on Saturday
, police said.
Acting on informa-
tion about the presence
of militants in Kilbal
area of the south Kash-
mir district, security
forces launched a cor-
don and search opera-
tion when the militants
fired on them. The iden-
tity and group affilia-
tion of the slain ultra is
being ascertained.
Mumbai: At least six
peoplediedand23others
were injured after a fire
brokeoutataresidential
building in South Mum-
bai early on Saturday
.
The fire broke out at 7.28
am on the 18th floor of
the 20-storey Kamala
Building in Tardeo area.
Of thoseinjured,three
are said to be critical and
havebeenadmittedtothe
Intensive Care Units of
nearby hospitals. The in-
jured were taken to Nair
Hospital, Kasturba Hos-
pitalandBhatiaHospital.
Preliminary reports sug-
gested the fire could have
been caused because of a
short circuit.
Minister Aaditya
Thackeray visited fire
site. Maharashtra gov-
ernment announed Rs 5
lakh ex-gratia for kin of
the deceased. More on P8
in Mumbai high-rise fire
6 Dead, 23 Injured
PM:`2LAKH
EX-GRATIA
FORKINOF
DECEASED,
`50KFOR
INJURED
2nd episode of Delhi
Police’s podcast to air today
First India Bureau
New Delhi: ‘Kissa
Khaki Ka’, the second
episode of one-of-a-
kind podcast series by
Delhi Police is focused
on Republic Day this
time. The second epi-
sode of ‘Kissa Khaki
Ka’, to be aired digital-
ly on Sunday
, three
days before January
26, will focus on the
role of Delhi Police in
making the Republic
Day celebration suc-
cessful, yearafteryear.
Delhi Police Com-
missioner Rakesh
Asthana said, “The
relationship between
Police and Citizens is
one of constant en-
gagement. When in
need, people look up
to us for support,
help, lending our ears
to their problems,
stories.”
Rakesh Asthana
PM Narendra Modi

CAPITOL
NEW DELHI | SUNDAY, JANUARY 23, 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: In order to
understand the impact
of the COVID-19 pan-
demic on the psycho-
logical and emotional
behaviour of school
children, the Delhi gov-
ernment has decided to
conduct a large-scale
survey, said Delhi Dep-
uty CM and Education
Minister Manish Siso-
dia on Friday
.
According to a press
release, the government
said, “Being away from
schools for a long time
is leading to mental
stress and fear among
them. To understand
this situation and to in-
vestigate the effects on
children’s mental and
emotional state during
COVID, the Kejriwal
government is going to
conduct a large-scale
survey
.” On the basis of
the findings of this sur-
vey and recommenda-
tions of experts on the
same, Delhi’s famous
‘Happiness Curricu-
lum’ will be updated, so
that the mental and
emotional well-being of
school-going children
can be taken care of. In
this regard, Deputy
Chief Minister Manish
Sisodia gave instruc-
tions to the concerned
officials on Friday
.
In a statement, he
said, “This is for the
first time that such a
survey is being con-
ducted. Along with chil-
dren, the study will also
focus on analyzing the
changes in parenting
style, psychological and
emotional state of par-
ents, as children have
spent most of their time
during lockdown with
them, in the past two
years. Along with stu-
dents and parents,
teachers have also seen
many changes in their
routine and teaching
styles. This survey will
analyze this aspect too.”
‘’Happiness Curricu-
lum has played an im-
portant role in main-
taining mental and
emotional wellbeing of
students studying in
our schools. With the
help of this study and
help from experts, we
will modify the Happi-
ness curriculum by in-
troducing new chap-
ters, stories and activi-
ties, so that students
can learn to be stress-
free in challenging situ-
ations like a pandemic,”
Sisodia added. –ANI
Survey to understand pandemic impact on schoolchildren
COVID EFFECT

Being away from
schools for a
long time is
leading to
mental stress
among them.
This is for the
first time that
such a survey is
being conducted
CESL FLOATS `5,500 CR TENDER FOR 5.5K E-BUSES
New Delhi: The state-
run Convergence En-
ergy Services Ltd
(CESL) on Thursday
launched a 5,500 crore
tender to procure 5,580
electric buses. A PSU
under the ministry of
power, CESL has float-
ed the single tender for
5,450 single-decker and
130 double-decker e-
buses.
The tender floated
was the outcome of the
“Grand Challenge”
plan for e-buses which
was initiated in June
last year by the minis-
try of power and NITI
Aayog. It was ideated
after several state gov-
ernments floated ten-
ders with unstructured
standards for e-buses
and failed to get bid-
ders.
Gauging the lack of
uniformity in the tech-
nical and financial
specifications, the Cen-
tre decided to aggre-
gate the demand of a
few big cities as an ex-
periment, which was
then termed as the
grand challenge.
The grand challenge
was open for nine cit-
ies with a population
of more than 4 million,
but ultimately five
were able to meet the
set requirements in
terms of finances and
paperwork.
Now under the pro-
gramme, Kolkata will
get 2,000 pure electric
buses, Delhi and Ben-
galuru will have 1,500
e-buses each, while Hy-
derabad will get 300
and Surat 150 such zero
emission buses.
The first set of buses
will start coming from
July this year and the
buses will go to cities
as per the depot infra-
structure readied by
them. All the buses
will have to be de-
ployed maximum by
March 2024, a senior
CESL official said on
condition of anonymi-
ty
. Documents showed
that out of the five
cities, Delhi currently
is in the most
advanced stage of up-
grading all its depots
with electric charging
infrastructure for the
buses. –Agencies
Representative Image
CESL CEO SAYS
WILL PAY ATTENTION TO BRING
ECONOMY BACK ON TRACK: GOVT
Economy has suffered great losses in past 2 years due to COVID: Finance Minister
New Delhi: The Delhi
government has started
working on the upcom-
ing Delhi Budget 2022-
23, said a press release.
To take stock of the
preparations, Deputy
Chief Minister and Fi-
nance Minister Manish
Sisodia, conducted a
high-level review meet-
ing with the officials on
Friday
.
Sisodia said that Del-
hi budget 2022- 23 will
be special and will fos-
tertheeconomicgrowth
of the national capital.
“The budget will be
prepared by keeping
all the needs of Delhi
residents in mind,” he
added.
Along with this,
based on the findings of
various studies con-
ducted by the planning
department, we are
trying to understand
what innovative ways
can be introduced to
boost the capital’s econ-
omy and increase job
opportunities.”
“The economy has
suffered great losses
in the past two years
due to the COVID pan-
demic. We will give spe-
cial attention to bring-
ing the capital’s econo-
my back on track. Delhi
Budget 2022-23 will also
be very important re-
garding industrial de-
velopment. In this
budget, the Kejriwal
Government will focus
on developing Delhi
as a hub for business
and services.’’ Sisodia
added. –ANI
DELHI BUDGET 2022-23
Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Manish Sisodia.
SISODIA SAYS
City wakes up to light rain, min
temp drops to 10 degrees Celsius
New Delhi: With light
showers, Delhiites
woke up to a rainy day
on Saturday morning.
The minimum tem-
perature in the national
capital dropped to 10.0
degrees Celsius. Mean-
while, the air quality in
the national capital on
Saturday remained in
the ‘very poor’ category
according to the System
of Air Quality and
Weather Forecasting
and Research (SAFAR).
“AQI today indicates
‘Very Poor”. It is likely
to rain on January 22
and 23 with gusty wind
leading to wet deposi-
tion and strong disper-
sion resulting in signifi-
cant improvement of
AQI to ‘Poor’. From the
24th onwards, air qual-
ity is likely to degrade
gradually due to low
wind speed and weak
ventilation of pollut-
ants,” SAFAR said in a
bulletin.
Earlier, the India Me-
teorological Depart-
ment (IMD) had predict-
ed light intensity rain
over and adjoining are-
as of the entire Delhi
and national capial re-
gion (NCR). –ANI
AIR QUALITY REMAINS IN ‘VERY POOR’
DESPITE RAINFALL, AQI AT 342
New Delhi: The air quality in the national capi-
tal remained in the ‘very poor’ category despite
overnight rainfall, with an overall Air Quality Index
(AQI) at 342 on Saturday morning, according to
the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting
And Research (SAFAR). The levels of PM 2.5 and
PM 10 were recorded at 148 in the ‘very poor’ and
238 in the ‘moderate’ category respectively. –ANI
MAN STABBED FOR
MISBEHAVING
WITH WOMAN
MAN KILLS WIFE
OVER SALE OF
FLAT IN SAKET
New Delhi: A 30-year-
old man was stabbed
in his eye by a person
whose wife he had
allegedly misbehaved
with, police said.The
incident took place in
west Delhi’s Tagore
Garden area Thurs-
day when Bablu was
stabbed in the eye by
an ice puncher.
New Delhi: A 57-year-
old man allegedly killed
his wife over the issue
of selling of their flat
in south Delhi’s Saket
area, police said on
Saturday.The incident
took place on Friday.
The victim, Shashi
Lata Pandey (52), was
found lying on the floor
inside the bedroom.
New Delhi: A Delhi court has sought a report from
a senior police officer after a rape victim alleged that
she was being pressured to
sign certain documents in his
office, with the court saying
that investigating agencies
cannot conduct themselves
out of the bound of due pro-
cess of law. The 22-year-old
woman had moved the court
alleging rape by a head constable, claiming that he
used her as a honey trap to arrest a wanted criminal,
and sought action against him.
WOMAN ALLEGEDLY RAPED BY COP
FORCED TO WITHDRAW PLAINT
CRUCIAL READ
Delhi riots: Evidence against
Shahrukh Pathan deferred
New Delhi : A Delhi
Court deferred the pro-
ceeding of prosecution
evidence against Shah-
rukh Pathan in a case
related to northeast
Delhi violence.
The Court had last
month directed the
commencement of trial
in the matter. Addition-
al Sessions Judge Am-
itabh Rawat deferred
the proceedings against
Shahrukh Pathan and
listed the matter for
February 21, 2022.
The case was being
heard through video
conferencing (VC) and
no witness was sum-
moned. Witnesses are
not examined when the
hearing takes place
through VC.
Defense counsel said
that none of the wit-
nesses was summoned.
The Court has ad-
journed the proceed-
ings for February 21.
He told the witness will
be summoned only if
the physical hearing
starts by the next date
of hearing. –ANI
Clubhouse case:
Lucknow man to
join investigation
New Delhi: The Delhi
Police on Saturday said
an 18-year-old man from
Lucknow will be join-
ing the investigation in
connection with a chat
on the Clubhouse appli-
cation wherein objec-
tionable were passed
against women.
The man is identified
as Rahul Kapoor, who
had registered himself
with the user-ID ‘Bis-
millah’ on the app.
Kapoor claims that
he created an audio
chat room on Club-
house on the instruc-
tions of a person identi-
fied as ‘Sallos’, Deputy
Commissioner of Po-
lice KPS Malhotra said.
The officer said Ka-
poor also told the team
that he handed over the
chat room’s moderator
key to ‘Sallos’. –PTI
‘Operation
Sajag’ results
in 24% less
PCR calls
New Delhi: The
northwest district
of Delhi Police said
police control room
calls have reduced
by 24 per cent after
the launch of ‘Op-
eration Sajag’ in
October last year.
According to the
police, 8,006 crimi-
nals and anti-social
elements, including
robbers and snatch-
ers, are arrested
since the launch of
the operation.
In order to curb
the incidents of
street crime, the
northwest district
police had launched
‘Operation Sajag’
on October 4. The
initiative involves
area domination ex-
ercises, special
combings and in-
tensive checking at
pickets, police said.
Patrolling was
also enhanced by
adding more patrol
bikes in the area for
controlling street
crimes and appre-
hending criminals.
The operation fo-
cussed on dark and
vulnerable stretch-
es, highways viz.
Ring Road, Inner
Ring Road and GT
Karnal Road, slum
and cluster areas,
especially along the
railway lines, mar-
ket places, parks,
malls etc., Deputy
Commissioner of
Police (northwest)
Usha Rangnani
said. –PTI
Activists seek arrest of JNU
molestation case accused
New Delhi: Women and
student activists Friday
staged protests to de-
mand the arrest of the
accused in the alleged
molestation case on the
Jawaharlal Nehru Uni-
versity campus earlier
this week.
Activists from All In-
dia Democratic Wom-
en’s Association, Demo-
cratic Youth Federation
of India and Students’
Federation of India pro-
tested in front of the
Delhi Police Headquar-
ters against alleged ‘’po-
lice inaction’’ in the
matter.
The alleged incident
happened On January
17 near the VC House
when a man riding on a
motorcycle tried to drag
a female student, when
she was walking in the
VC road, towards the
forest and attempted to
rape her.
“Such incidents being
reported and casually
handled by the police
must be condemned,”
the protesters said in a
statement.
Later in the day, the
JNUSUtookoutamarch
to demand the arrest of
the accused. –PTI
HIGHLIGHT
—REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE
—FILE PHOTO

INDIA
03
NETAJI'S CITY OF JOY ERRUPTS IN JOY
A tram decorated with flowers and photographs of Netaji runs on a city street on the eve of the
birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose in Kolkata on Saturday. —PHOTO BY PTI
New Delhi: In a mas-
sive global win for In-
dia, foreign countries
and social media giant
YouTube has clamped
down on anti-India
proxies just ahead of
Republic Day
.
The Govt of India
now hopes that the ac-
counts banned on Jan 20
will have a similar fate.
Almost a month later,
the Government of In-
dia, through the Minis-
try of Information and
Broadcasting, banned
20 YouTube channels
and two websites on De-
cember 21. YouTube has
now banned 19 of these
channels globally and
further taken steps
against websites which
were propagating fake
news. —ANI
YouTube bans 19 channels
over 'anti-India' propaganda
Udhampur: General
Officer-Commanding-
in-Chief, northern com-
mand, Lieutenant
General YK Joshi on
Saturday lauded the
armed forces of the
country and said that
the troops displayed
boldness in standing up
to "aggressive designs"
posed along the Line of
Control(LoC) and Line
of ActualControl(LAC).
"The troops of our
Armed forces have dis-
played boldness in
standing up to the ag-
gressive designs posed
along the LoC and LAC
in Jammu and Kashmir
and Ladakh," GOC-in-C
Joshi said. A top army
officer while addressing
at northern command
investiture ceremony
here on Saturday said,
"There has been a reduc-
tion in terrorism-relat-
ed incidents, stone-pelt-
ing activities and pro-
tests as a result of tire-
less efforts of the secu-
rity forces and the peo-
ple of J&K."
Lt Gen YK Joshi
thanked the armed forc-
es for their efforts. —ANI
Troopsshowedboldnessalong
LAC in‘aggressivedesigns’:Joshi
Punjab BJP to file complaint
over ‘inflammatory speech’
Chandigarh: The Pun-
jab BJP is keen to file a
complaint with the Elec-
tion Commission over
anallegedinflammatory
speech made earlier this
weekbystateCongchief
Navjot Singh Sidhu’s
aide Mohammad Musta-
fa. Mustafa who is a
retired IPS is hus-
band of the Con-
gress party’s
Malerkotla candi-
date in Punjab polls,
Razia Sultana.
“I am appalled that
such a statement was
made by a former police
officer.Thisisinflamma-
tory and anti-Muslim as
well as anti-Hindu. Was
this statement made to
orchestrate riots? It is
unacceptable,” said BJP
spox Shazia Ilmi. —ANI
HERE TO SAVE PUNJAB, PEOPLE
WITH US, SAYS FARMERS' BODY
Chandigarh:
The determination
to contest elections
in Punjab was taken
as individuals wished
us to clear the “filth”
created by political
events, a key member
of farmer group which
is contesting the polls
told media. Samyukta
Samaj Morcha Chief
Balbir Singh Rajewal,
whereas ruling out
an alliance with Aam
Aadmi Party, was
additionally crucial of
the Arvind Kejriwal
get together’s chief
ministerial alternative,
Bhagwant Mann. “We
are here to save Punjab,
to improve the system.
The situation in Punjab
is getting worse.
Children here have lost
hope. They are migrat-
ing in large numbers
due to unemployment,”
Rajewal stated. —ANI
MANN CHALLENGES CHANNI TO FIGHT FROM DHURI
New Delhi: Ahead of the
Punjab Assembly Polls, Aam
Admi Party’s CM candidate
Bhagwant Mann challenged
Congress’ Charanjit Singh
Channi to face him in his poll
constituency Dhuri and asked
the Punjab CM to issue an of-
ficial statement on the recent
ED raids at the residence of
his relatives. “If Channi Sa-
hab wants to contest against
me, I invite him to Dhuri. He
must give a statement on
illegal property papers
worth Rs56 cr found
in his name.” said
Mann. —ANI
fa. Mustafa who is a
retired IPS is hus-
gress party’s
Malerkotla candi-
Chandigarh:
The determination
to contest elections
in Punjab was taken
PUNJAB
FORMER GOA CM LAXMIKANT PARSEKAR
QUITS BJP, TO CONTEST AS INDEPENDENT
Panaji (Goa): Former
Goa Chief Minister and
now former BJP leader
Laxmikant Parsekar on
Saturday resigned from
the BJP and announced
that he would be contest-
ing as an independent in
the upcoming assembly
polls. The three-term
MLA and former state
BJP president, who has
represented the Mandrem
constituency in North Goa
since 2002 until his defeat
in 2017 has said that he
was taken for granted by
the party and ignored in
favour of a non-perform-
ing MLA. Parsekar added
that during his tenure as
CM he got caught up in
admin work which “wid-
ened the gap” between
him and his voters. —ANI
Panaji (Goa): Goa TMC
on Saturday has written
to the Election Commis-
sion, complaining about
"illegal and wrongful"
harassment by a EC’s
flying squad that van-
dalised flex and banners
at the party office in
Panaji around midnight
on Friday
.
The Goa TMC
alleged that a
group of armed
police officers ac-
companied by four uni-
dentified individuals in
plainclothes, pertaining
tobeEC’s"FlyingSquad"
enteredthepartyof-
fice around 11.10
pm on Friday
.
TMC in its letter
allegedthat“Flying
Squad” wrongfully and
forcefully tore down
hoardings and glow
board. —ANI
Goa TMC alleges EC
barged into its office
Panaji around midnight
The Goa TMC
group of armed
police officers ac-
enteredthepartyof-
fice around 11.10
pm on Friday
.
TMC in its letter
allegedthat“Flying
GOA
GOA
New Delhi: Republic
Day 2022: The Indian
Army on Saturday is-
sued a statement and
said this year’s Republic
Day parade will have 16
marching contingents,
17 military bands and 25
tableaux of various
states. Giving more up-
dates, the Army said
that it will be represent-
ed by a mounted column
of cavalry, 14 mecha-
nised columns, six
marching contingents
and a flypast by ad-
vanced light helicopters
of its aviation wing at
the Republic Day pa-
rade-2022 (RDP-2022).
The Army further
added that the mecha-
nised columns of the
Army will show one PT-
76 tank, one Centurion
tank, two MBT Arjun
MK-I tanks, one APC
TOPAS armoured per-
sonnel carriers, one
BMP-I infantry fighting
vehicle and two BMP-II
infantry fighting vehi-
cles.
The Army also stated
that the six marching
contingents of the Indi-
an Army will be of Ra-
jput Regiment, Assam
Regiment, Jammu and
Kashmir Light Infantry
,
Sikh Light Infantry,
Army Ordnance Corps
Regiment and Para-
chute Regiment.
“One marching con-
tingent each of the In-
dian Air Force and the
Indian Navy will also
participate in RDP-2022
with overall 16 march-
ing contingents from
other forces,” the Army
said in a statement. —PTI
RDP to have 25 tableaux, 16 marching contingents
REPUBLIC DAY

Indian Army
says Republic
Day parade will
have 16
marching
contingents, 17
military bands &
25 tableaux of
various states
—FILE PHOTO
Kochi (Kerala): Kerala
High Court restrained
police from arresting
Malayalam Actor
Dileep till January 27 in
a case registered by the
Crime Branch of Kera-
la Police for allegedly
threatening the investi-
gation officials probing
the Actress Assault
Case of 2017.
The court also direct-
ed the accused people
including Dileep to re-
port before the investi-
gation officer from 9 am
till 8 pm on January 23,
24 and 25. Court also
said that they shall be
available for interroga-
tion and further inves-
tigation.
Court issued this in-
terim order on an an-
ticipatory plea filed by
Dileep. Court will con-
siderthisnextonJan27.
Single Bench of Jus-
tice P Gopinath also
made it clear that "any
attempt to subvert the
investigation will result
in declining bail. I am
very very serious and
that any violation will
be dealt with seriously.
Don't attempt to do any-
thing unnecessary.
Don't even think about
it. Petitioner shall fully
co-operate with investi-
gation. Senior Public
Prosecutor shall place a
report of any material
of investigation in a
sealed cover."
Crime Branch of Ker-
ala Police registered a
new case against movie
actor Dileep and five
others on Jan 9 for al-
legedly threatening the
investigating officials.
They were booked
under several sections
of IPC.
The case pertains
that an actress who
worked in Malayalam,
Tamil, Telugu films and
was allegedly abducted
and molested inside her
car by a group of men
who had forced their
way into the vehicle on
the night of February
17, 2017. —ANI
New Delhi: A petition
wasfiledintheSupreme
Court seeking direction
to the Election Commis-
sion of India to seize
election symbols and
deregister political par-
tiesthatpromisedtodis-
tribute irrational free-
bies from public funds.
In his PIL advocate
Ashwini Kumar Upad-
hyay claimed political
parties' arbitrarily
promises or irrational
freebies to lure voters in
their favour.
It claimed that prom-
iseof irrationalfreebies
frompublicfundsbefore
elections could unduly
influence the voters,
shake the roots of a free
and fair election.
"Direct and declare
that promise/distri-
bution of irrational
freebies from the
public fund be-
foretheelection
to lure voters is
analogous to the
Bribery and
Undue Influ-
ence under
Section 171B
and Section
171C of the IPC," the
plea stated.
It further sought di-
rection to the ECI to in-
sert an additional condi-
tion: "political party
shall not promise/dis-
tribute irrational free-
bies from the public
fund before the election"
inparas6A,6Band6Cof
the Election Symbols
Order1968.
—ANI
KERALA HC RESTRAINS
ACTOR DILEEP’S ARREST
Court directs
Dileep, accused
to report before
investigation
officer
IN THE COURTYARD
Prosecutor
suggests
police to
appeal
Kottayam (Kerala):
Following a local
court acquitting Bish-
op Franco Mulakkal in
the nun rape case, the
special public pros-
ecutor on Saturday
gave a legal opinion
to police to file an
appeal against the ac-
quittal. Kerala Police
sought legal opinion
after Franco Mulak-
kal was acquitted by
the court. Following
this, the special public
prosecutor gave the
legal opinion to the
Kottayam district po-
lice chief. Last week,
the Kottayam court
acquitted Bishop
Franco Mulakkal in
the nun rape case.
—ANI
PIL filed by political
parties in SC against
freebies during polls
DELHI HC REUNITES INTER-CASTE
MARRIAGE COUPLE; ASSURES SECURITY
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court reunited an inter-
caste marriage couple while directing Delhi Police to
ensure the security of the wife of the petitioner. The
bench of Justice Siddhartha Mridul and Justice Anup
J Bhambhani directed the Delhi Police to lodge Ms
Meena, wife of the petitioner, at Nirmal Chhaya Home
at Jail Road Hari Nagar under the care and custody of
Inspector Nisha Sharma of Janak Puri Police Station.
The bench made it clear, in its order that Inspector
Nisha Sharma shall be personally responsible to
escort Ms Meena to Nirmal Chhaya and her lodging
there. Court said the Superintendent is directed not to
permit any person at Nirmal Chhaya Home.
ORISSA HC ASKS FOR STATUS REPORT
ON VIOLENCE IN DHINKIA STEEL PLANT
MADRAS HC DIRECTS TO HOLD LAST RITES
IN TAMIL NADU SCHOOLGIRL’S SUICIDE CASE
Bhubaneswar: The Orissa high court on Thursday
asked the state’s home dept to submit a status re-
port on the ground situation in Dhinkia village, the
proposed site of a 13.2 million tonne per annum
integrated steel plant by Jindal Steel Works (JSW)
in Jagatsinghpur dist, where a face-off between
villagers and police left more than two dozen
persons injured six days ago. Justice RK Patnaik
sought the home dept’s status report on the issue
while hearing a PIL filed by Kuni Mallick and four
others seeking a probe into the “police atrocities”
committed on the residents of Dhinkia.
Chennai: The Madras High Court's Madurai bench
on Saturday directed the parents of the 17-year-old
girl who died by suicide on Wednesday - after al-
leging abuse by her school warden and attempts to
convert her to Christianity - to collect her
body and carry out the last rites
on Saturday. The girl's father
had moved the court seeking
a probe by a team from CID
in addition to requesting a
second post-mortem.
Malayalam Actor Dileep

PERSPECTIVE
04
Vol 1 Issue No. 145
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
Elevate yourself through
your own efforts, and not
degrade yourself. For, the
mind can be the friend and
also the enemy of the self.
—Bhagavad Gita
IN-DEPTH
Rajnath Singh
@rajnathsingh
Had a wonderful interaction with the
NCC cadets taking part in Republic
Day Camp 2022. India’s youth have
tremendous potential and NCC helps
them in harnessing their energy into
serving the country the society.
Exhorted them to realise their dreams.
Pralhad Joshi
@JoshiPralhad
India Gate does not celebrate a national
war and could, at best, be an ad-hoc
memorial for India’s fallen,” writes
retired chief of naval staff Shri Arun
Prakash. He explains why ‘relocating
the #AmarJawanJyoti to National War
Memorial is logical’.
TOP TWEETS
NO POLL RALLIES
TILL JAN-END A
RELIEF FOR FUND
STARVED PARTIES
he Election Commis-
sion has extended
the ban on election
rallies till January-
end but doubled the
five person limit for door-to-door
campaigning. It will be a relief
for parties facing resource
crunch. It is also a much better
way to connect with the people
than addressing a gathering of
a few thousand from some dis-
tance or from a hydraulic plat-
formfittedinabuscalled“rath”.
Direct contact with voters was
the usual form of campaigning
in the past, besides workers
with hailers moving around on
rickshaws seeking votes for a
candidate. Those were the days
when party’s did not have big
budgets for elections.
Watching Union Home Minis-
ter Amit Shah going door-to-
door in Kairana campaigning
for Mriganka Singh, the BJP
candidate, was a refreshing
sight. Will senior leaders of oth-
er parties follow suit, especially
Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav?
Mayawati has so far not moved
out to address any rally. To ex-
pect her to go house-to-house
will be a bit too much.
T
fter a long wait of
decades, Netaji
Subhas Chandra
Bose is getting his
rightful place in
India’s history
. The BJP gov-
ernment has announced that
Bose’s statue will be installed
at India Gate in a tribute to
the charismatic leader. Till
the time it is installed a holo-
gram of Bose will be installed
at the place on January 23.
The decision should assuage
the feelings of Bengal which
felt hurt at the dropping of
its tableau from the Republic
Day parade.
Despite being a firebrand
leader and a brilliant orator,
Bose’s sterling contribution
in India’s freedom was denied
his due recognition by the
Congress. That had been the
case from the very beginning
as Mahatma Gandhi was be-
lieved to have favoured Jawa-
harlal Nehru over Bose. Gan-
dhi and Bose also disagreed
on the means to be adopted
for attaining freedom. The
contrast lay in Gandhi-Nehru
believed in passive non-vio-
lent resistance, while Bose
was of the view that the Brit-
ish could be driven out only
through violent means, or as-
sertive nationalism. He has
been an emotive issue in In-
dian politics ever since he
gave his famous “you give me
blood, I shall give you free-
dom” call to people.
The decision has pleased
Netaji’s daughter Anita Bose
Pfaff who described the deci-
sion “very remarkable” but
called for revival of Netaji’s
values and ideas in everyday
life. Netaji stood for secular-
ism, unity and equality. Ne-
taji’s grandnephew Chandra
Kumar Bose also said that
following the freedom fight-
er’s ideals of secularism and
communal harmony will be
the best tribute to him. Both
his ideals reflected in his In-
dian National Army
.
REVIVING IDEALS OF
BOSE IS IMPORTANT
BJP government has
announced that
Bose’s statue will be
installed at India Gate in a
tribute to the charismatic
leader. Till the time it is
installed a hologram of
Bose will be installed
at the place on
January 23
A
mong the greatest novels of
the 20th century is “One Hun-
dred Years of Solitude” by the
Columbian author, Gabriel
Garcia Marquez. It is a daz-
zling, creative work of geni-
us. He was awarded the Nobel
Prize for literature in 1982.
I met Marquez twice. The
first time in New Delhi was
in March 1983. Next in Ha-
vana in 1985. Both times in
the company of the very dis-
tinguished legendary Cuban
leader and statesman, Mr Fi-
del Castro.
I was familiar with the
names of a few Latin Ameri-
can writers. I got to know Oc-
tavio Paz when he was an am-
bassador of Mexico to India
from 1962 to 1968. He was
awarded the Nobel Prize for
Literature in 1990. I was ac-
quainted with Tagore’s
friendship with the famous
Argentinian literary celebri-
ty Victoria Ocampo. I spent a
few minutes with her in 1968
in her palatial home, San
Isidro outside Buenos Aires. I
had accompanied Prime Min-
ister Indira Gandhi on her
nine-country tour of South
America in 1968. The PM hon-
oured Victoria Ocampo with
an honorary degree on behalf
of Shantiniketan University
.
I met Pablo Neruda the
Chilean Nobel Laureate in
Warsaw in 1971 when I was
ambassador to Poland. Neru-
da’s meeting with Nehru in
the 1950 is not worth recall-
ing. The politician and the
poet did not take to each oth-
er. In his memoirs, Neruda is
viciously critical of Jawaha-
rlal’s indifference and lack of
interest in what Neruda was
telling him. I find these ob-
servations highly prejudiced.
Nehru was a man of great
courtesy
.
I began this article with
references to Gabriel Garcia
Marquez. I have much more
to write about him. The prov-
ocation for doing so was pro-
vided by an article in the In-
dian Express on Thursday,
January 20.
In early 1990, Marquez has
a secret affair with Susana
Cato, “a writer and journalist
who worked with Garcia Mar-
quez”. Cato gave birth to a
daughter, whom her ‘parents’
named Indira. She is at pre-
sent in her early thirties and,
“uses her mother’s name”
Marquez died in Mexico
City in 2014. He was born in
Colombia on March 6, 1928.
His wife, Mercedes Barcha
had been married for 5 dec-
ades Marques was known for
his disturbing virility
.
The “Express” article has
caused some excitement. Is
Susan Cato named after In-
dira Gandhi? In India, tens of
thousands of girls are named
Indira. If Susan Cato is
named after Indira Gandhi,
she is very fortunate.
In December 1982 Leonid
Brezhnev, President of USSR
died in Moscow. Indira Gan-
dhi attended his funeral.
Among others, she met Fidel
Castro and Marquez at the
funeral. It was decided be-
tween Indira Gandhi and Fi-
del Castro that Marques be
invited to the Summit of the
Non-Aligned Movement be-
ing held in March 1983 in
New Delhi. Marquez came to
the meeting of the NAM
Summit as a member of the
Cuban delegation and was
much in demand.
During the pandemic, the
millionaires have become bil-
lionaires. The planet’s ten
richest men are, Elon Musk,
Jeff Bezos, Bernard Arnault
and family, Larry Ellison,
Larry Page, Mark Zucker-
berg, Bill Gates, Sergey Brin,
Steve Ballmer, and Warren
Buffet. The collective wealth
of these 10 grew from dollars
700 billion to dollar 1.5 tril-
lion. Musk’s fortune grew by
1,000%, Bill Gate’s by a mod-
est 30%. During the same pe-
riod 160 million people were
forced into poverty
.
40 billionaires were added
to the existing list in India.
Their combined fortune is
almost dollar 700 billion,
more than the poorest 40% of
the population. 84% of house-
holds suffered income de-
cline. Inequality contributed
to the deaths of at least 21,300
people each day or more than
one person every 4 seconds.
These figures are provided
by Oxfam International.
In my younger days, I was
a reasonably accomplished
Tennis player. I am now an
accomplished Grand-slam
watcher on TV From 1988 to
1992 I was president of the
All India Tennis Association.
Sir Andy Murray, whom I
have admired for over 9 years.
He is a Stout-hearted Scots-
man. He became the first Brit
to win Wimbledon since Fred
Perry did so in 1936. Among
the Indian Tennis players,
Sania Mirza stands out. Alas!
She will be retiring soon.
The ongoing Melbourne
Grand slam was almost ru-
ined by the unnecessary tan-
trums of the great Novak
Djokovic. He had no business
to go to Melbourne without
being vaccinated. The Aus-
tralian Tennis establishment
came out with an egg on its
face. They should have de-
ported Novak the moment he
arrived in Melbourne.
TheMelbourneGrandslam
has bounced back, with the
unpredictable genius Nick
Kyrgios providing brilliant
but erratic Tennis. The crowd
adores him- win or lose.
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY
THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL
About Marquez, pandemic billionaires
and Melbourne Grand slam...
ALL STORIES ABOUT MARQUEZ TEND TO HAVE A TOUCH OF MAGICAL REALISM
A
In early 1990, Marquez
has a secret affair with
Susana Cato, “a writer
and journalist who
worked with Garcia
Marquez”. Cato gave
birth to a daughter, whom
her ‘parents’ named Indira.
She is at present in her
early thirties and, “uses
her mother’s name”
During the pandemic, the
millionaires have become
billionaires. The planet’s ten
richest men are, Elon Musk,
Jeff Bezos, Bernard Arnault
and family, Larry Ellison,
Larry Page, Mark
Zuckerberg, Bill Gates,
Sergey Brin, Steve Ballmer,
and Warren Buffet. The
collective wealth of these 10
grew from dollars 700 billion
to dollar 1.5 trillion. Musk’s
fortune grew by 1,000%, Bill
Gate’s by a modest 30%.
During the same period
160 million people were
forced into poverty
K NATWAR SINGH
The author is Former Minister
of External Affairs of India
(From Left) Natwar Singh,
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
and Fidel Castro.

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INDIA
05
Mahesh Sharma
New Delhi: The Con-
gresspartyhasgiventhe
slogan of ‘Ladki Hoon,
Lad Sakti Hoon’ (I am a
girl, I can fight) in Uttar
Pradesh and is contest-
ing the elections on the
same slogan. Priyanka
Gandhi Vadra has giv-
en this slogan and
has started giv-
ing 40 percent
tickets to
wo m e n
as per
her promise. Although
she herself is not con-
testingtheelections, itis
also being suggested in
social media that the
Congress party should
change the slogan to
‘Ladki hoon lad sakti
hoon’. However, the
question is if the girls of
Uttar Pradesh can fight,
can’t the girls of Punjab
do so? Why is the Con-
gress party not giving
this slogan in Punjab
andgivingticketstogirls
in the same proportion
there too?
In Punjab, the Con-
gress party has declared
candidates for 86 seats
out of 117 seats. Of
these, only 8% tickets
have been given to wom-
en; a sharp contrast
from Uttar Pradesh’s
forty percent tickets! If
Congress feels that
women are emerging as
a separate electorate
group and Priyanka
Gandhi Vadra’s face can
bring them with Con-
gress by freeing them
from the constraints of
caste, religion etc. then
it should be tried in
Punjab also. If the Con-
gress is not doing this,
then it simply means
that it will do such ex-
periments only in those
states where it sees the
failure of these experi-
ments to be certain. If
there is no chance of
winning the election in
Uttar Pradesh, then
make the girls fight and
where there is a possi-
bility of winning the
election, give tickets
according to the politi-
cal equation.
WHY CAN'T GIRLS 'FIGHT' IN PUNJAB?
CONGRESS' ‘LADKI HOON, LAD SAKTI HOON’ CAMPAIGN
LANKA: INFLATION
SKYROCKETS AND
FOOD PRICES HIGH
MAOISTS BLOW UP,
TORCH MOBILE
TOWERS IN GIRIDIH
2 BUSES GUTTED IN
SURAT, RAJKOT, NO
CASUALTIES
WITH A FINAL BLAST,
BRO CONCLUDES
EXCAVATION WORK
Colombo: Sri Lanka’s
benchmark inflation rate,
measured by the National
Consumer Price Index,
accelerated to 14 per
cent in December 2021,
up from 11.1%, the govt
statistics office said on
Saturday, amidst a severe
a foreign exchange crisis.
Food prices jumped 6.3%
while non-food prices
rose 1.3 per cent in De-
cember, as per the NCPI.
Giridih: Maoists blew up
a mobile phone tower
and torched another one
in Jharkhand’s Giridih
district in the early hours
of Saturday, police said.
The incidents marked the
first day of the “resistance
week” being observed by
the Maoists to protest the
arrest of their top leader
Prashant Bose, a police
officer said.
Ahmedabad: Two buses
were gutted in separate
incidents of fire that took
place in Rajkot and Surat.
However, no casualties
were reported, officials said
Saturday. A city bus caught
fire in Rajkot’s Bhakti-
nagar locality on Saturday
morning. There was no
passenger travelling in
the bus when the blaze
erupted, a fire department
official said.
New Delhi: The BRO on
Saturday completed the ex-
cavation work on the Sela
Tunnel Project -- located in
the West Kameng district
of Arunachal Pradesh. The
BRO managed to achieve
the feat amidst inclement
weather and heavy snow-
fall. Final blast for 980-me-
tre long tunnel (Tunnel 1)
was conducted by DGBR Lt
Gen Rajeev on Saturday.
CENTRAL VISTA AVENUE IS READY WITH
NEW EFFECT, SAYS UNION MINISTER PURI
New Delhi: Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs,
Hardeep Singh Puri, on Saturday, said that Central Vista
Avenue is completely ready
with its new effect. Talking to
ANI at Central Vista Avenue,
Puri said that after the redevel-
opment, the green coverage
has been increased. “Central
Vista Avenue itself has been
widened. Now, the walkways are of 12 to 15 kilometres.
The water bodies have been cleaned. It’s a new effect”, the
Union Minister added.
BHOWMICK, ASIAD MEDALLIST WHO GAVE
UP BEER TO BE FOOTBALL LEGEND, DIES
Kolkata: Subhash Bhowmick, the 1970 Asian Games
bronze medallist footballer, passed away early Saturday
morning at 72. He was suffer-
ing from renal ailments and,
according to his family sources,
he recently had a chest infec-
tion also. One of those very
few Indian footballers post the
Class of 50s and 60s to have an
Asian Games medal, Bhowmick was undergoing dialysis
but remained sprightly until about a month ago, still har-
bouring hopes to return to the maidan in the future.
CRUCIAL READ
GOOD GOVERNANCE
.... says PM Modi; direct emotional connect between administration public needed, he adds
New Delhi: PM Naren-
dra Modi interacts with
district magistrates
(DMs) from various
parts of the country on
implementation of key
government schemes
on Saturday, said aspi-
rational districts are
now eliminating the
barriers to the progress
of the country and they
have become accelera-
tors for growth instead
of impediments.
PM Narendra Modi
also urged district mag-
istrates to implement
‘Vocal for Local’ in their
respective districts.
“For this, you will have
to identify the skill of
your respective district
and make the value
chain stronger,” he
said.
As per the NITI Aay-
og bulletin, the Aspira-
tional Districts Pro-
gramme essentially is
aimed at localizing Sus-
tainable Development
Goals, leading to the
progress of nation.
The Prime Minister
also said, “On the one
hand, earlier, the budg-
et kept increasing,
plans kept on making,
economic development
also kept happening in
the figures, but even af-
ter 75 years of inde-
pendence, many dis-
tricts in the country
remained behind. Over
time these districts
were tagged with back-
ward districts.” —ANI
PM Narendra Modi interacts with the District Magistrates of various districts via video conferencing, in New Delhi on Saturday.Also seen here is Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel.
Over3.37Lnewcases,Omicrontally10k+
A total of 488 deaths were reported in country in the last 24 hours, increasing count to 4,88,884
New Delhi: India has
logged 3,37,704 new Cov-
id cases on Saturday,
while the country’s
Omicron tally has
jumped to 10,050 -- up by
3.69% from Friday. The
new Covid cases show a
slight dip as the coun-
try reported 3,47,254
new cases on Friday
.
60% deaths in ‘3rd
wave’: Max study
A study by a private hos-
pital has said that 60%
of the patients who died
during the current wave
of pandemicwereeither
partially or fully unvac-
cinated. The study by
Max Healthcare said the
deaths reported were
largely among those
aged over 70 and those
suffering from multiple
co-morbidities such as
kidney diseases, heart
diseases, diabetes, can-
cers etc. —PTI
OMICRON CONCERN
TOP 5 STATES
STATE CASES
MAHARASHTRA 48,270
KARNATAKA 48,049
KERALA 41,668
TAMIL NADU 29,870
GUJARAT 21,225
Sharat K Verma
New Delhi: The Cen-
tral Government has
given an affidavit in the
Supreme Court that the
vaccine is not manda-
tory
. That is, no one can
be forced to get the vac-
cine administered to
prevent Covid. Govt has
also said that no citizen
can be asked for a cer-
tificate vaccination.
That is, if someone
does not have a certifi-
cate of vax, then on this
basis he/she cannot be
stopped from any work
nor can they be denied
any benefit.
Assam: CM Himanta
Biswa Sarma has said
that those who have not
yet been vaccinated
should stay at home. He
said that people can nei-
ther go to the hotels nor
to the parks without be-
ing jabbed. Similarly, in
Haryana: Children will
not be able to go to
school, who have not re-
ceived the jabs.
Chandigarh: Admin-
istration has gone a step
further than this. People
are being fined for going
out without getting the
vaccine shot. It has also
been said that govt em-
ployees will not get sala-
ry if the vaccine is not
administered.
Think, are these
things not in the eyes of
the central govern-
ment? Is the court not
seeing this position?
Why are people being
coerced when the vac-
cine is not mandatory
or the vaccination cer-
tificate is not manda-
tory? Why isn't the
government making
some categories of ex-
emptions, like those
made in other coun-
tries of the world?
Vaccine is not mandatory yet state
govts forcing people to get jabbed!
In Punjab, Cong
has declared
candidates for
86 seats. Only
8% tickets have
been given to
women; contrast
from UP’s 40%
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra
PM Modi took direct feedback about the prog-
ress and present status of implementation of
government schemes and programmes in the
districts. It is aimed at achieving saturation of
various schemes by various depts in the districts
in mission mode, in convergence with all stake-
holders. “The work done in aspirational districts
is a matter of study for big universities. In the last
four years, there has been an increase of 4 to 5
times in Jan Dhan accounts in almost every district
of the country. Almost every family has got a toilet,
electricity has reached every village,” he added.
FEEDBACK OVER PROGRESS OF
GOVT SCHEMES IN DISTRICTS
PM SPEAKS TO DMs
Dists eliminating barriers,
becoming accelerators of the
country’s progress
Learn from each
others success,
evaluate challenges
Plan 10 tasks that can be
completed in 3 months
which improve ease of living
Plan 2 tasks that you
can club with Azadi
Ka Amrit Mahotsav
We have to reach
100% saturation be-
tween service and fa-
cilities for each dis-
trict with a time-
bound target and cre-
ate a roadmap of
short visions for dis-
tricts that can be com-
pleted in next 2 years.
—Narendra Modi, PM
Moni Sharma
New Delhi: It is being
said that Aparna Ya-
dav wanted to contest
from Lucknow Cantt
seat and logically,
Akhilesh Yadav
shouldn't have had
any problem with
this. After all, Apar-
na had contested
from this seat in the
2017 elections and
lost by a huge margin
of about 34 thousand
votes. She was defeat-
ed by Rita Bahuguna
Joshi of BJP and the
vote difference be-
tween the two was 20
per cent.
Later, Joshi became
an MP from Alla-
habad, and a by-elec-
tion was held on this
seat, in which BJP's
Suresh Chandra Ti-
wari won. This time
Aparna Yadav did not
contest and the vote
difference between
the SP and the BJP be-
came 30 per cent.
So, this time if
Aparna wanted to
fight, she could have
been given a seat.
Even if she would
have won, there would
not have been any
challenge to Akhilesh
Yadav and if she was
defeated, it would not
have mattered much.
Despite this, Akhile-
sh did not stop her
and let her go to BJP.
Therefore it is being
said in political cir-
cles that the reason is
be something else for
her joining BJP.
Keep in mind that
along with Mulayam
Singh, both Akhilesh
Yadav and Prateek Ya-
dav are embroiled in
the disproportionate
assets case. It is pos-
sible that Aparna Ya-
dav wants to get some
relief for her husband
Prateek Yadav by join-
ing BJP party
.
Has Aparna joined BJP to
safeguard her husband?
Aparna Yadav with her husband Prateek Yadav.
She has been
praising Modi
and Yogi time.
Reason that she
would not be
given ticket will
be last as there
is no bar on no.
of members of
Mulayam family
to fight polls
HIGHLIGHTS
l PM MODI WISHES
MALDIVES
PRESIDENT SOLIH
SPEEDY RECOVERY
FROM COVID
l Former Prime Minister
HD Devegowda tests
positive for Covid-19
l UP SCHOOLS TO
REMAIN SHUT TILL
JAN 30 TO PREVENT
FURTHER SPREAD
OF COVID-19
l Pune to not reopen
schools from Monday
l ODD-EVEN RULES
FOR VEHICLES
REINFORCED AS
CASES SURGE IN
NEPAL
l Those who have
contracted Covid are
eligible for vaccination
including precaution
dose only after 3
months post-recovery
l POSTMEN DELIVER
MEDICAL KITS
TO PATIENTS IN
ISOLATION IN GAYA
l Schools with high
cases closed for one
week in Pakistan
l DELHI POSITIVITY
AT 16%, HALF OF A
WEEK AGO, BUT 45
DEATHS
NO TANTRUMS! A medic takes a swab sample of a child for test
amid a surge in cases at Govt JP hospital in Bhopal on Saturday.
OUCH! Woman reacts while receiving a dose in Patna on Saturday.

BIZ BUZZ
06
Y
ou may think the
metaversewillbea
bunch of intercon-
nected virtual
spaces – the world
wide web but ac-
cessed through virtual re-
ality
. This is largely cor-
rect, but there is also a
fundamental but slightly
more cryptic side to the
metaverse that will set it
apart from today’s inter-
net: the blockchain.
In the beginning, Web
1.0 was the information
superhighway of connect-
ed computers and servers
that you could search, ex-
plore and inhabit, usually
through a centralized
company’s platform.
Around the turn of the
millennium, Web 2.0 came
to be characterized by so-
cialnetworkingsites,blog-
ging and the monetization
of user data for advertis-
ing by the centralized
gatekeepers to “free” so-
cial media platforms, in-
cluding Facebook, Snap-
Chat, Twitter and TikTok.
Web 3.0 will be the foun-
dationforthemetaverse.It
willconsistof blockchain-
enabled decentralized ap-
plications that support an
economy of user-owned
crypto assets and data.
OWNING BITS
Blockchain is a technolo-
gy that permanently re-
cords transactions, typi-
cally in a decentralized
and public database called
a ledger. Bitcoin is the
most well-known block-
chain-based cryptocur-
rency
. This decentralized
recording system is very
difficult to fool or control.
Public blockchains, like
BitcoinandEthereum,are
also transparent – all
transactions are available
for anyone on the internet
to see, in contrast to tradi-
tional banking books.
Today, you could use a
smart contract on the
blockchain to establish
your ownership of a digi-
tal object, such as a piece
of art or music, to which
no one else can claim own-
ership on the blockchain
— even if they save a copy
to their computer.
Items like artwork and
music on a blockchain are
nonfungible tokens
(NFTs). Nonfungible
means they are unique
and not replaceable. Im-
portantly
, you could use a
smart contract that says
youarewillingtosellyour
piece of digital art for
US$1 million in ether, the
currency of the Ethereum
blockchain. When I click
“agree,” the artwork and
the ether automatically
transfer ownership be-
tween us on the block-
chain.
What does this block-
chain crypto-asset stuff
have to do with the
metaverse? Everything!
Tostart,theblockchainal-
lows you to own digital
goods in a virtual world.
You won’t just own that
NFT in the real world,
you’ll own it in the virtual
world, too.
In addition, the
metaverseisn’tbeingbuilt
by any one group or com-
pany
.Differentgroupswill
build different virtual
worlds, and in the future
these worlds will be inter-
operable – forming the
metaverse. As people
move between virtual
worlds – say from Decen-
traland’s virtual environ-
ments to Microsoft’s –
they’ll want to bring their
stuff with them. If two
virtualworldsareinterop-
erable,theblockchainwill
authenticate proof of
ownership of your digital
goods in both virtual
worlds.Essentially
,aslong
as you are able to access
your crypto wallet within
avirtualworld,youwillbe
able to access your crypto
stuff.
YOUR WALLET
So what will you keep in
your crypto wallet? You
will obviously want to
carry cryptocurrencies in
the metaverse. Your cryp-
to wallet will also hold
your metaverse-only digi-
talgoods,suchasyourava-
tars, avatar clothing, ava-
tar animations, virtual
decorations and weapons.
What will people do
with their crypto wallets?
Amongotherthings,shop.
Just as you likely do on
the web now, you will
be able to purchase
traditional digital
goods like music, mov-
ies, games and apps.
You’ll also be able to
buy physical-world
itemsinthemetaverse.
Also, just like you can
use ye old leather wal-
let to carry your ID,
crypto wallets will be
linkable to real-world
identities, which could
help facilitate transac-
tions that require legal
verification, such as
buying a real-world car
or home.
BIG BUSINESS
Lastly, if the
metaverse is money,
then companies will
certainly want to play
too. Companies like
Meta will provide large
platformswherepeople
willwork,playandcon-
gregate.
Major brands are
also getting into the
NFT mix, includ-
ing Dolce Gab-
bana,Coca-Cola,
Adidas and
Nike. In the fu-
ture, when
you buy a
p h y s i c a l
world item
from a com-
pany, you
might also
gain ownership
of a linked NFT
in the metaverse.
India's Forex Reserves rise
by $2.22 bn to $634.96 bn
Mumbai: India’s for-
eign exchange (forex)
reserves rose by $2.229
billion to $634.965 bil-
lion for the week ended
January 14, 2022, the
Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) data showed.The
forex reserves had de-
clined by $878 million
in the previous week.
According to the
RBI’s Weekly Statisti-
cal Supplement, all cat-
egories of the forex
reserves increased
during the week ended
January 14, 2022. The
forex reserves consist
of foreign currency as-
sets, gold, SDRs and
reserve position in the
International Mone-
tary Fund (IMF).
The foreign curren-
cy assets rose by $1.345
billion to $570.737 bil-
lion. Expressed in US
dollar terms, the for-
eign currency assets
include the effect of
appreciation or depre-
ciation of non-dollar
currencies like Euro,
UK’s Pound sterling,
Japanese Yen held in
the foreign exchange
reserves. The foreign
currency assets had
declined by $497 mil-
lion to $569.392 billion
during the week ended
January 7. Value of In-
dia’s gold reserves rose
by $726 million to
$39.770 billion for the
week under review. In-
dia’s Special Drawing
Rights (SDRs) with the
IMF rose by $123 mil-
lion to $19.220 billion.
India’s reserve po-
sition with the IMF
rose by $36 million to
$5.238 billion during
week ended January
14, 2022. —ANI
$570.737
$39.770
$19.220
BILLION FOREIGN
CURRENCY ASSETS
BILLION VALUE OF INDIA’S
GOLD RESERVES
SDRS WITH
INTERNATIONAL
MONETARY FUND
COMPOSITION OF INDIA’S FOREX RESERVES
Mumbai: ICICI Bank
on Saturday said its
net profit rose to Rs
6,194 crore ($833 mil-
lion) in the third quar-
ter of the current fi-
nancial year, posting a
year-on-year growth of
25 per cent.
The bank’s core
operating profit (profit
before provisions and
tax, excluding treas-
ury income) increased
by 25 per cent year-on-
year to Rs 10,060 crore
($1.4 billion) in the
third quarter of 2021-
22 from Rs 8,054 crore
($1.1 billion) in the
quarter ended Decem-
ber 31, 2020.
Net interest in-
come increased by 23
per cent year-on-year
to Rs 12,236 crore ($1.6
billion) in October-De-
cember 2021 quarter
from Rs 9,912 crore
($1.3 billion) in the cor-
responding period of
previous year.
The bank’s net in-
terest margin stood at
3.96 per cent in Q3 of
2021-22 compared to
3.67 per cent in Q3 of
2020-21 and 4.00 per
cent in the quarter
ended September 30,
2021.
Non-interest in-
come, excluding treas-
ury income, increased
year to Rs 4,899 crore
($659 million) in Q3 of
2021-22 from Rs 3,921
crore ($527 million) in
Q3 of 2020-21. The re-
tail loan portfolio grew
year and 5 per cent se-
quentially, and com-
prised 61.3 per cent of
the total loan portfolio
at December 31, 2021.
Including non-fund
outstanding, the retail
loan portfolio was 51.3
per cent of the total
portfolio at December
31, 2021.
The Bank had a net-
work of 5,298 branches
and 13,846 ATMs as on
December 31, 2021.
The net non-perform-
ing assets declined by
10 per cent sequential-
ly to Rs 7,344 crore
($988 million) at De-
cember 31, 2021 from
Rs 8,161 crore ($1.1 bil-
lion) at September 30,
2021. The net NPA ratio
declined to 0.85 per
cent at December 31,
2021 from 0.99 per cent
at September 30, 2021.
—ANI
YES Bank Q3 profit
surges 76.8 per cent
to Rs 266 cr
Mumbai: Private
sector lender YES
Bank on Saturday
announced Rs 266
crore net profit for
the third quarter of
the current finan-
cial year, which is
76.8 per cent higher
when compared
with Rs 151 crore
profit recorded in
the corresponding
quarter of last year.
The company’s
net profit is 18.2 per
cent higher from its
previous quarter’s
profit of Rs 225
crore.
YES Bank’s total
net income dipped
by 31.5 per cent to Rs
2,498 crore in Octo-
ber-December 2021
quarter as against
Rs 3,648 crore re-
corded in the corre-
sponding period of
previous year. The
lender’s net interest
income fell by 31.1
per cent to Rs 1,764
crore in the quarter
ended December 31,
2021. The company’s
non-interest income
plunged by 32.5 per
cent to Rs 734 crore
in the third quarter
of the current finan-
cialyear. Thebank’s
Gross NPA ratio im-
proved to 14.7 per
cent in the third
quarter of the cur-
rent financial year
as against 15.0 per
cent in the previous
quarter. The bank’s
improved NPA ratio
was due to a sub-
stantial drop in slip-
pages.
ICICI Bank net profit rises
25 per cent to Rs 6,194 crore
INFRA AT A GLANCE
IS KING
METAVERSE
CRYPTO
IS MONEY
Major
brands like
Dolce Gabbana,
Coca-Cola, Adidas and
Nike are getting into
the NFT mix.
Source: www.theconversation.com

07
NEWS
BJP GOVTTRYINGTO DESTROY PEOPLE’S RIGHTS:RAHUL GANDHI
New Delhi: Congress
leader Rahul Gandhi
on Saturday hit out at
the BJP-led Central
government and al-
leged that it is trying to
“destroy the rights of
the public from the be-
ginning”.
The Congress MP in
a series of tweets said
that the world’s largest
democracy is nothing
without fundamental
rights. “What’s the
point of the world’s
largest democracy
without public rights?
The Modi government
has been trying to de-
stroy the rights of the
public from the begin-
ning. Can you even im-
agine India without
these rights including
the fundamental
rights?” he said.
He further said that
transparency is anoth-
er name of democracy
and people have the
right to question it.
“Right to Informa-
tion- Transparency is
another name of de-
mocracy. People have
the right to question
and get answers. RTI
was also given by UPA.
Which of these rights
does the PM object to?
And why?” he asked.
“Right to food - so
that no one has to face
hunger. Right to Educa-
tion - Today every child
goes to school, making
a better tomorrow for
himself and for the
country. Right to Em-
ployment- Despite the
BJP’s staunch opposi-
tion, the UPA gave em-
ployment security to
the public. This helped
the countrymen even
in the difficult times of
COVID-19,” he added.
Addressing the me-
dia while launching
the party’s youth mani-
festo for Uttar Pradesh
Assembly Elections,
Rahul Gandhi had crit-
icized the BJP govern-
ment for depriving the
youth of opportunities.
“About 880 youth lost
a job in Uttar Pradesh
every 24 hours while 16
lakh youths lost jobs in
the last 5 years.” Stress-
ing more on the job sce-
nario Rahul said, “PM
Modi promised 2 crore
jobs every year which
did not happen. Why?
This is because India’s
assets are going to two-
three capitalists.”
“There are no hollow
words of the Congress
party, the thinking is
that a strategy for the
future of the youth of
UP, how we will get you
employment, how we
will get you employ-
ment, it should be told.
Not that we should tell
you that brother, we
will give you 10 lakh, 20
lakh, 30 lakh, 40 lakh
jobs, but how Congress
will give it, we have
written this in this
manifesto,” said Con-
gress’ Rahul Gandhi.
Rahul Gandhi said
that the manifesto is all
about ‘UP youth’s vi-
sions’, which has been
drafted after consult-
ing the youths of the
state. —ANI
What’s the point of
world’s largest democ-
racy without public
rights? Modi govt has been
trying to destroy rights of
public from the beginning.
Can you even imagine In-
dia without these rights
including?”
—Rahul Gandhi, Congress leader
CONG LEADER’S FRESH SALVO AT GOVT
RAJIVRANJANANGRYASJDU,
BJPFAILTOTIE-UPFORUPPOLLS
New Delhi: As Janata
Dal (United) failed to
cobble an alliance with
Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) for the upcoming
Uttar Pradesh assembly
polls, Janata Dal United
(JDU) national presi-
dent Rajiv Ranjan Sin-
gh on Saturday ex-
pressed displeasure
against Union Minister
and party MP RCP
Singh over the
matter.
JDU presi-
dent Rajiv
Ranjan Singh
released the
list of candi-
dates for 26 seats for the
upcoming Uttar
Pradesh Assembly polls
today in the national
capital.
Speaking on the occa-
sion, Rajiv Ranjan Sin-
gh said, “RCP Singh, a
Minister in the Union
Cabinet from our party,
had informed us earlier
that a discussion re-
garding the Uttar
Pradesh polls was held
with BJP leaders Amit
Shah, JP Nadda and
Dharmendra Pradhan.
He had said that BJP is
ready for an alliance.
That is why we kept
waiting.” —ANI
JDU National prez vents anger against RCP Singh as JDU, BJP fail to stitch alliance in UP
RESENTMENT
24 Goa MLAs have switched
parties in last 5 years:Report
Panaji: As many as 24
legislators in Goa,
which is 60 per cent of
the total strength of the
40-member state As-
sembly, have switched
parties in the last five
years, a report by an or-
ganization has said.
The Association of
Democratic Reforms
(ADR) said in its report
thatwiththis,Goahasset
auniquerecord,whichis
“unparalleled”inthehis-
toryof Indiandemocracy
.
“In the 5 year tenure
of the current Assembly
(2017-2022),asmanyas24
MLAs have changed
their parties, which is 60
per cent of the total
strength of the House. It
hasneverhappenedany-
where else in India. A
clear reflection of utter
disrespect to the man-
date of voters. A callous
approach to ethics and
discipline overborne by
uncontrolled greed at its
worst,”thereportstated.
It said the list of 24
MLAs does not include
the names of Vishwajit
Rane, Subhash Shirod-
karandDayanandSopte,
who had resigned as
Congress MLAs in 2017,
and joined the ruling
BJP
, before contesting
elections on its tickets.
Ten Congress legisla-
tors had crossed over to
the BJP in 2019. They
included the then lead-
er of opposition Chan-
drakant Kavlekar
(Quepem constituency).
Other Congress
MLAswhohadswitched
over to the BJP are -
Jennifer Monserrate
(Taleigao), Francisco
Silveria (St Andre), Fil-
ipe Nery Rodrigues (Ve-
lim), Wilfred Nazareth
Menino D’sa (Nuvem),
Clafasio Dias (Cun-
colim), etc. —PTI
First India Bureau
Chandigarh: Haryana
Chief Minister Mano-
har Lal Khattar has said
that the Saraswati river,
which has been extinct
for many years, will be
rejuvenated with the
construction of Adi
Badri Dam. From time
immemorial, religious
beliefs will also be re-
vived with the rejuvena-
tion of Saraswati river,
along with this the area
will also develop as a
pilgrimage site.
Khattar said this
while speaking at the
Memorandum of Un-
derstanding (MoU)
signing ceremony held
for the construction of
Dam at Adibadri in the
presence of Himachal
Pradesh Chief Minister
Jai Ram Thakur at
PWD Rest House,
Panchkula on Friday
.
HimachalCMThakur
said that Adi Badri Dam
would meet the require-
ment of irrigation and
drinking water for both
states. Due to the flow of
water in the Saraswati
river, this area will be
developed from the
point of view of reli-
gion and tourism. PM
Modi has also expressed
his desire for the revival
of the Saraswati river
many times in pro-
grammes.
Haryana and Himachal states join hands
SARASWATI RIVER REJUVENATION

Neighbouring
states join
hands to
rejuvenate the
Saraswati
River that got
extinct with
construction of
Adi Badri Dam
CM Khattar (2nd L) with his Himachal CM Jai Ram Thakur (3rd R).
Exorcist arrested for raping minor girl in Raj
Cong is trying to disturb
peace of Punjab:Chadha Kota: A 45-year-old
man practising exor-
cism was arrested in
the neighbouring Jhal-
awar district for raping
a minor girl brought to
him by her parents to
get her rid of some
physical ailments, po-
lice said on Saturday.
Accused Raghuveer
Meghwal raped the girl
on Wednesday evening
after sending her par-
ents to a nearby village
to bring some material
for performing various
rituals to rid the girl of
the evil spirit, Station
House Officer (SHO)
Kirdar Ahmed of the
Kawai police station in
Jhalawar district said.
After the girl’s par-
ents returned with all
the material for the ex-
orcism, they found
their daughter in all
the more abnormal
condition and on being
asked, she told her par-
ents what the man had
done with her, SHO
Kirdar Ahmed said.
The girl’s parents
later lodged a com-
plaint and the man was
arrested on Friday af-
ter the girl was medi-
cally examined and her
statement recorded be-
fore a magistrate, he
further said.
The accused has
been remanded in judi-
cial custody by a Jhala-
war court, he said. —PTI
K’taka CM to convene
all-party meet in Feb
Bengaluru: Karnataka
Chief Minister Basa-
varaj Bommai on Satur-
day said he would con-
vene an all-party meet-
ing in the first week of
February to discuss in-
ter-state water disputes.
The Chief Minister
alsosaidthegovernment
would fight the issue of
interlinkingof riverspo-
litically and legally
.
To a query on the Kar-
nataka government’s
stand on the Hogenak-
kal Phase-2 project, al-
legedly proposed by the
Tamil Nadu govern-
ment, Bommai said,
“WhetheritbeHogenak-
kal or the interlinking
of rivers, as a govern-
ment we had faced such
questionsinthepast.We
have opposed the inter-
linking of rivers in the
Supreme Court. We will
fight it politically and
legally
.” —PTI
Mahesh Kumar
Chandigarh: AAP’s
Punjab affairs co-in-
charge Raghav Chadha
has expressed displeas-
ure over the provocative
statement of Moham-
mad Mustafa, principal
advisor to PPCC presi-
dent Navjot Sidhu and
said that in the time of
election Congress, un-
der some nefarious con-
spiracy, is trying to dis-
turb the atmosphere of
Punjab. Congress lead-
ers and their advisers
aremakingsuchprovoc-
ative statements to dis-
turb the peace of Pun-
jab. Chadha said such
statements are against
Punjab, Punjabi and
Punjabiyat. He alleged
that Mustafa was close
to both Chief Minister
Charanjit Singh Chan-
ni and PPCC chief Nav-
jot Singh Sidhu.
Raghav Chadhi
RAIN WALK
Union Minister and UP Election co-in charge Anurag Thakur walks his way towards the
BJP state HQs at Vidhan Sabha Marg during a cold rainy day in Lucknow on Saturday.
SHAMEFUL ACT
Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai
Representational photo tweeted by Rajasthan Police.
JDU national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh. —FILE PHOTO
POLL VAULT

IS YOGI IN DANGER
FROM LOVED ONES?
Is UP CM Yogi Adity-
anath savoring his
estranged feelings in
this election battle? The
planhasbeenlaidtosur-
roundYogiinhisstrong-
hold itself. On one hand,
BhimArmychief Chan-
drashekhar Azad has
dentedtheDalitvotesby
announcing that he will
contest against Yogi
from Gorakhpur. At the
sametime,Yogiisalsoat
loggerheads with a big
leader of Nishads, San-
jay Nishad, because the
newschannelwhichhad
shown the sting opera-
tion of Nishad is consid-
ered very close to Yogi.
Now look at the exam-
ple, the election chariot
of the newly launched
Hindi news channel of
this channel group was
to be
flagged
off by the channel head,
butthisworkwasfinally
completed by Yogi. Ni-
shad is saying that ‘Tere
rehte loota hai chaman
bhagwan, kaise maan
lun ki tera ishara nahin
tha’. Because Nishad
voters are decisive in de-
ciding the victory or de-
feat of a candidate in
Gorakhpur. This time
the ticket of Radha Mo-
han Agarwal, a four-
timeBJPMLA,hasbeen
cut for fielding Yogi
from Gorakhpur. Agar-
wal’s dissent is natural.
WHY DID PARRIKAR’S
SON BECOME A REBEL?
Utpal Parrikar, son
of late Manohar
Parrikar, an honest BJP
andverypopularinGoa,
has opened a front in
Goa against his father’s
favourite party
. To carry
forward his father’s leg-
acy
,Utpalwaspolitically
active in Panaji for the
past several years. He
was also ready to bat on
the saffron pitch but at
the last moment comes
in the picture Devendra
Fadnavis, the in-charge
of Goa. Utpal was in
constant touch with
the local BJP lead-
ers and the local unit of
the party
. Fadnavis
wanted Utpal to come
and meet him and re-
quest for a ticket. Utpal
was also adamant that
he would not go to meet
Fadnavis until the party
announced his name
fromPanaji.WhenUtpal
did not turn up to meet
Fadnavis, his ticket was
cut and the ticket was
given to a staunch oppo-
nent of Parrikar from
the Panaji seat.
NOW ALLIES ARE
SHOWING THEIR
EYES!
Recently
, BJP organ-
ized a PC in Luc-
know to show the unity
of its alliance partners
in UP. JP Nadda and
Dharmendra Pradhan
had also reached Luc-
know. Anupriya Patel
of Apna Dal (Sonewal)
and Sanjay Nishad of
were also seen with Na-
dda and Pradhan. Anu-
priya was made to talk
to Shah on phone. Anu-
priya repeated demand
of 20 tickets for herself.
Shah told Anupriya -
‘You are like my young-
er sister, your honour
will be fully protected’.
So 18 seats for Apna Dal
(Sonewal) and 10 for
Sanjay Nishad were fi-
nalised. Whereas earli-
er BJP was to leave 15
seats for Anupriya and
only 4 seats for Nishad.
Anupriya attended this
press conference only
after getting a solid as-
surance from Shah.
Now BJP has to give its
won seat to An-
upriya. 2
seats of Be-
naras and 1
Rampur are
being left
for Anupri-
ya. Apna
Dal (S) is
field-
ing
a Muslim candidate
from Rampur. Anupri-
ya can also get a seat in
Lucknow. Sanjay Ni-
shad has also got the lot-
tery. He has a shortfall
of eligible candidates to
be contested on 10 seats,
so 5 tickets have come
directly in possession
of those with money
.
SONIA’S ADVICE TO
SIDHU
Sonia Gandhi was to
discuss seat wise
with the senior Con-
gress leaders of Punjab
regarding ticket distri-
bution in Punjab. But
Sidhu became so ag-
gressive in this Zoom
meeting that Sonia had
to postpone the meeting
in just 10 minutes.
Sources tell that as soon
as the meeting started
and as soon as Sidhu
did not like any
name, he started
blaming that claim-
ant citing police cas-
es, doubtful charac-
ter etc. Sonia was so
enraged by these simi-
les of Sidhu that
she asked sen-
ior party leader Sunil
Jakhar to explain to
your Sidhu how these
election meetings are
held. ‘First of all, sit to-
gether and finalize a
name on each seat, then
I will join the meeting.’
Saying this, Sonia dis-
connected the Zoom
meeting.
CAPTAIN’S
DILEMMA!
Former Punjab CM
Captain Amarinder
Singh is now directly
urging his close people
tojointheBJP
.Inameet-
ing of his close ones,
Captain has made it
clear that he does not
know what the future of
hisformedpartyisgoing
to be after the Punjab
elections. Either it will
remain or they will
merge it with BJP
, so
they should think of
joining BJP
. In this elec-
tion, Captain wants his
daughter to contest,
while his wife Preneet
Kaur wants to field her
son. Now it has been
agreedbythecouplethat
why should not both son
and daughter be given
tickets. But Captain Sa-
hib is afraid that if both
his son and daughter
lose the election, then
who will take his politi-
cal legacy forward?
LOTUS GRAPH!
Has the rising graph
of the Lotus party
affected by evil eye of
the opponents? If sourc-
es are to be believed,
Amit Shah, the number
two of the central govt,
recently sought time to
meet at least 3 opposing
CMs and expressed his
desire to consult with
them regarding the pos-
sible Presidential elec-
tion in July
. These CMs
are Jagan Mohan Reddy
of Andhra, K Chan-
drashekhar Rao of Tel-
angana and Naveen Pat-
naik of Odisha. Shah
was surprised when the
three CMs said more or
less the same thing
about the possible meet-
ing. ‘Let the result of UP
come first, then we will
see what to do with the
required numbers’. Is it
just a coincidence or a
sign of future politics?
SP SETTLED THE
ACCOUNT WITH
JAYANT!
As soon as Akhilesh
Yadav has come to
know about Chhote
Choudhary i.e. RLD
chief Jayant Choud-
hary’s saffron plans, he
is slowly gnawing the
wings of Chhote Choud-
hary
. The seat of Anoop
Shahar which was fixed
for RLD was given to
NCP, in Bijnor also SP
fielded its candidates.
Siwalkhas seat of
Meerut was fixed for
RLD, from there Akh-
ilesh fielded RLD’s
Ghulam Muhammad on
SP ticket.
...AND FINALLY
Akhilesh, who spe-
cializes in politi-
cal disguises, has out-
done his uncle Shivpal,
who is well-versed in
politics. Where earlier
the uncle was demand-
ing 10 seats from his
nephew. When neph-
ew’s stature rose, un-
cle’s demand came to 6
seats, Akhilesh has
made it clear to his un-
cle that he can give par-
ty ticket to him only.
This time if govt is
formed, he should get
his old ministry also,
which he had in 2012.
COVID-19
UPDATE
WORLD
56,05,292
TOTAL DEATHS
27,69,65,616
TOTAL RECOVERED
6,49,24,168
ACTIVE CASES
34,74,95,076
TOTAL CASES
INDIA
4,88,911
TOTAL DEATHS
3,63,01,482
TOTAL RECOVERED
21,13,338
ACTIVE CASES
3,89,03,731
TOTAL CASES
FIRST INDIA SUNDAY SPECIAL
BY TRIDIB
RAMAN
The author is a journalist
and political commentator
and views expressed are
his personal
Yogi Adityanath Sonia Gandhi
Utpal Parrikar Amit Shah
New Delhi: Union
Home Minister Amit
Shah on Saturday said
that the delimitation
process in Jammu and
Kashmir has started
and soon elections will
be held soon.
Speaking virtually at
the launch of the Dis-
trict Good Governance
Index in Jammu and
Kashmir, he said, “De-
limitation has started
and soon elections will
be held. I have given as-
surance in Lok Sabha
that as soon as the situ-
ation becomes normal
in Jammu and Kash-
mir and statehood will
be given back to Jam-
mu and Kashmir.”
Shah slammed lead-
ers for doing propagan-
da and said that they
are doing this for their
own political benefits.
“Many leaders have
been talking false and
doing propaganda. I
want the youth to ask,
crores of investment
have been coming,
tourists have been
coming and they are
doing propaganda for
their own political ben-
efits. The democracy
has reached grass root
level that is why they
do this propaganda and
youth should not listen
to them,” he said.
“Today is an import-
ant day also for the
country as what has
started from Jammu
and Kashmir will be
going to other parts of
the country. I want to
say to the people of
Jammu and Kashmir
that the Union Territo-
ry is going through a
transformation that
Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi has always
thought of,” Shah add-
ed as he hailed PM Mo-
di’s vision for the UT.
“There has been a
change after 2019, there
were 87 MLAs in Union
Territory and only three
families were ruling but
today there is 30000 pub-
lic representatives.
These families said that
after the abrogation of
370 the situation in Jam-
mu and Kashmir has
worsened but I want to
tell them there has been
a 40% decrease in ter-
ror-relatedincidentsand
an87percentdecreasein
killings,” he said. —ANI
Delimitation started,pollssooninJK:HM
Says delimitation process in JK
has started polls will be held
Says leaders are into propaganda
for their own political benefits
Mumbai fire:PM Modi
announces ex-gratia of
`2 L for deceased’s kin
Two detained in death of Kalol
taluka family in Canada
New Delhi: Prime
Minister Narendra
Modi on Saturday an-
nounced an ex-gratia
of Rs 2 lakh each
from Prime Minis-
ter’s National Relief
Fund (PMNRF) to the
next of kin of those
who lost their lives in
the Mumbai residen-
tial building fire in
Tardeo and Rs 50,000
for those injured.
Brihanmumbai
Municipal Corpora-
tion (BMC) has said
that six people died
in the fire that broke
out inside the 20 sto-
rey Kamala building
in Mumbai on Satur-
day morning. The
BMC further in-
formed that 16 in-
jured people are ad-
mitted to the various
hospitals while seven
have been treated
and discharged.
“An ex-gratia of
Rs. 2 lakh each from
PMNRF would be giv-
en to the next of kin
of those who have
lost their lives due to
the building fire in
Tardeo,Mumbai.The
injured would be giv-
en Rs. 50,000 each,”
the PMO tweeted
quoting the PM.
“Saddened by the
buildingfireatTardeo
in Mumbai. Condo-
lences to the bereaved
families and prayers
with the injured for
the speedy recovery
,”
the PMO tweeted.
A level 3 fire had
broken out in the res-
idential building.
DCP Saurabh Tripa-
thi said that 21 fire
tenders were rushed
to the spot to douse
out the fire. —ANI
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: The
Ahmedabad Crime
Branch on Saturday
picked up two persons
from Kalol taluka, offi-
cials said, adding that
the visa agent and sub-
agent may have guided
the family that froze to
death near the US-Cana-
da border on illegal im-
migration.
Policehavealsoseized
the laptop of the agent,
and are looking into its
contentstoseeif theduo
detainedforquestioning
“helped” other people
get into the US or Cana-
da in a similar manner.
While US and Cana-
dian authorities have
not yet publicly revealed
the identities of the four
members of a family
who froze to death after
having walked 30-40km
in -40 degree weather,
Gandhinagar district
collector Kuldeep Arya
on Saturday evening
confirmed that the fam-
ily was from Nava Dhin-
gucha village in Kalol
taluka.
“Villagerssaythatthe
familywasinCanadaon
a valid visa,” Collector
Arya said, adding that
local authorities were
yet to contact any rela-
tives of the family
.
First India Bureau
Jaipur: Terming the
merger of Amar Jawan
Jyoti with eternal flame
at National War Memo-
rial in New Delhi as an
attempt to change his-
tory, Rajasthan CM
Ashok Gehlot on Satur-
day questioned what
was the problem for the
Modi government if
two different flames
kept burning in honour
of the martyrs. He said
that a golden history is
made by doing great
deeds. Gehlot said that
the move is beyond eve-
ryone’s comprehen-
sion.
“If two different
flames kept burning in
honour of the martyrs,
then what was the prob-
lemfortheModigovern-
ment? It is an insult to
martyrdom to extin-
guish the Amar Jawan
Jyoti, which has been
paying homage to the
martyrs for 50 years,”
Gehlot tweeted.
“Doingsuchmisdeeds
is an attempt to change
history, but the Modi
government should un-
derstand that such ef-
forts do not change his-
tory
,butagoldenhistory
has to be made by doing
great deeds,” he said.
Amar Jawan Jyoti: It’s a bid to
change history,says Raj CM
Union Home Minister Amit Shah at the virtual launch of
District Good Governance Index in Jammu and Kashmir.
08
2NDFRONT
THE TRAGEDY
RISING GRAPH
To understand and enjoy life,
one has to seek and accept both -
light and dark, the negative and
positive and then we become ‘WHOLE’!
—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO Editor-in-Chief, First India
Ashok Gehlot

ndia is known for its
diversity all over the
globe. Its culture,
languages and cloth-
ing attract people
from all over the
world. Ethnic cloth-
ing is just one of the things
that makes India unique and
distinguish one part of India
from the other. Jaipur Kurti
is the most authentic website
one of the leading brands in
women’s ethnic Indo west-
ern wear, consisting of Kur-
tis, dresses, suit sets, bottom
wear, loungewear and many
more. The brand is known for
its subtle combination of out-
standing traditional silhou-
ettes with a modern twist.
Jaipurkurti.com is one of the
leading brands in women’s
ethnic Indo western wear,
consisting of Kurtis, dresses,
suit sets, bottom wear, loung-
ewear and many more.
The latest collection
launched by brand
‘Jaipurkurti.com’ is inspired
by the art of ‘BLUE POT-
TERY’. This collection brings
the hue of blue into your
wardrobe. From flared dress-
es to Anarkalis that come in
different styles and vivid col-
ours. Someone rightly said
‘’Blue is the colour of the
sky which represents our
limitless imagination.’’
Even sunsets also look beau-
tiful when we add blue cloudy
sky which makes it look
bright just like this collec-
tion. Anuj Mundhra, Founder
M.D.of thebrandjaipurkur-
ti.com added this while nar-
rating the thought process
behind this blue pottery
collection.
The Crusade is styled
and directed by famous
Bollywood stylist Ab-
himanyu Singh Tomar
assisted by Arpita
Parihar and is
shot by photog-
raphersManan
Kulshrestha
and Yash Jan-
gid.Thecinematog-
raphy was done by
Dipesh and Divesh
fromDStudios.Mini-
malaccessoriesfrom
Brand Guls Gallery
Satara blended
beautifully with the
theme. Within a
short period, the
brand has gotten
great recognition by
the industry
.
Jaipur Kurti brings the hue of blue and soothing pastels
into your wardrobe with its latest collection inspired by
the art of ‘Blue Pottery’. City First gives you a sneak- peek
into the exclusive Collection and encourages you to
unleash your creativity with these kurtis.
NEW DELHI, SUNDAY
JANUARY 23, 2022
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia
facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia 09
LIMITLESS
IMAGINATION!
UTTKARSHA SHEKHAR
uttkarsha.shekhar@firstindia.co.in
I

10
ETC
hile undertaking an
investigative study
commissioned by
Brooke India, the In-
dia chapter of UK-
based equine charity
Brooke, the writer
came to know about several
fascinating facts about don-
keys, the beasts of ultimate
burden. The study titled
“Hidden Hide” is about the
Donkey Hide Trade (DHT)
going on illegally in India.
While the Study reveals
that the illegal donkey hide
trade is bringing donkeys on
the verge of extinction in In-
dia, the investigation re-
vealed following lesser-
known facts about donkeys:-
COSTLY DONKEY MILK
Can you guess what the price
of 1 litre of donkey milk is?
Any wild guesses? It sells up
to Rs 7000/litre as it is a very
good immunity booster and
very close to human milk.
The people who are allergic
to bovine milk can easily di-
gest donkey milk. And hold
on, a big surprise about don-
key milk is on the way. An
Iranian university is con-
ducting research on the ef-
fects of Donkey Milk on the
COVID-19 patients and early
signs are positive. Mean-
while in India, the National
Research Centre for Equines
(NRCE) has sent a proposal
to the Food Safety and Stand-
ards Authority of India (FS-
SAI) to recognize donkey
milk as a food product.
DONKEY BLOOD ENERGY DRINK
FOR ATHLETES
The investigation in Andhra
Pradesh pointed out that
some athletes, specially
sprinters, drink blood of
donkeys to enhance their
stamina and energy. The in-
vestigation revealed that
donkey blood is sold for Rs
4000/litre in Andhra.
DONKEY URINE
Most people laugh at people
who drink cow’s urine for
medicinal and religious pur-
poses. But, do you know
some people drink donkey’s
urine too as a cure for sev-
eral ailments. Donkey’s
urine costs upto Rs 500 per
litre. It is used in Siddha
medicine. Benefits of donkey
urine therapy have been
mentioned by researchers as
a remedy for people suffer-
ing from insanity, epilepsy
and seizures. The mode of
intake of this urine is men-
tioned as drinking it as it is.
Besides, donkey urine is also
helpful in curing diabetes
and diseases caused by
worms.
DONKEY DUNG
Donkey’s dung is a very good
natural manure that helps
crops grow. Vijay Shankar
Singh, a farmer in Alampur
village of Bihar’s Rohtas dis-
trict, said that ever since he
has started donkey’s dung in
his farms the crop produc-
tion has increased as com-
pared to past when he used
to use chemical fertilizers.
DONKEY MEAT
In several localities of
Andhra Pradesh and Telan-
gana donkey meat is eaten
there as people, including
doctors, are obsessed with
donkey meat believing it to
have medicinal values that
cure several ailments includ-
ing complex sex drive among
men folks. In Tadepalli local-
ity of Andhra Pradesh (vis-
ited by this author) several
meat sellers openly sell don-
key meat despite ban by the
government. Hundreds of
donkeys are butchered on
every Thursdays and Sun-
days there. The Andhra
butchers procure these don-
keys from other states and
illegally bring them to
Andhra for butchering and
selling their meat. Gopal R.
Surabathula, Founder- Secre-
tary of the Animal Rescue
Organization, is pursuing a
legal battle to get the illegal
sale of donkey meat and
slaughter of donkeys
stopped. “If the slaughtering
of donkeys continues at this
pace, 10 year down the line,
the entire donkey population
would be wiped out,” Sura-
bathula said.
DONKEY HIDE (SKIN) TRADE
Brooke India (BI) has got
this Investigative Study con-
ducted on the Donkey Hide
Trade (DHT) going on ille-
gally in India. The Study, ti-
tled “The Hidden Hide” was
conducted by this writer. A
drastic decrease in the don-
key population across the
country was the trigger for
this Investigative Study
, com-
missioned by BI. From the
2012 Livestock Census until
the latest Livestock Census
of 2019, the donkey popula-
tion has decreased by 61.23
per cent. China is directly
and indirectly to blame for
the fall in the donkey popula-
tion not only in India but
across the globe as donkey
hide (skin) is used for manu-
facturing Ejiao, a traditional
Chinese medicine.
Ejiao is donkey hide gela-
tin or ass-hide glue obtained
from the skin of a donkey by
soaking and stewing. Ejiao is
an ingredient to treat differ-
ent types of illness such as
bleeding, dizziness, insomnia
and dry cough. It is also a
health fad, believed to pro-
long life, increase sex drive
and maintain beauty
, and has
seen an explosion in demand
for China’s rising middle
class. Several previous stud-
ies, conducted in several
countries, categorically men-
tion that the soaring demand
for donkey hides in China for
Ejiao has left the global don-
key population in crisis.
Alarmed by the drastic de-
crease in the donkey popula-
tion in India, BI conducted
this investigative undercover
study. The final report of
this Study has been submit-
ted with the Animal Hus-
bandry Commissioner.
SHARAT K VERMA
sharatkverma@gmail.com
SOME INTERESTING ASPECTS OF DONKEYS
GOOD BONDING WITH FELLOW DONKEYS
Donkeys love to live in pairs. In any
herd, donkeys develop their friendly
donkeys with fellow donkeys and they
love to stay with them. Several donkey
traders told this writer that if they
sell one donkey to anyone, they have
to sell pair’s other donkeys otherwise
they refuse to work, no matter how
much you beat them up, they would not
work at all.
MALE DONKEYS WOO FEMALES
Another interesting fact came to
light during this investigation that
if female donkeys are kept in a
herd, the male donkeys start woo-
ing them and often compete with
fellow males to catch the attention
of females. If the herd’s owner
takes away females, the males “go
on strike” and refuse to work at any
cost.
DONKEYS ARE NOT DUFFER
Unlike the common be-
lief, donkeys are not duf-
fers but intelligent spe-
cies. Contrary to horses,
donkeys can go to a par-
ticular destination on
their own and you need
not to guide them. More
surprisingly, they return
to their place on their
own after unloading the
goods they carry. Last
year (2021), Brooke In-
dia conducted a work-
shop in Delhi on the top-
ic Donkeys Intelligent
Species. At this work-
shop, experts proved
that donkeys are not duf-
fer but intelligent. So
next time when you
equate someone with a
donkey to insult him, it
is not the insult of that
person but an insult of
the donkey.
W
LESSER-KNOWN FACTS ABOUT DONKEYS

he ongoing
p a n d e m i c
might have
shifted the
runways to a
digital plat-
form but, the
trends have been the
rayof sunshineamid
the gloom of lost
physical catwalks.
As the year tran-
scends into the re-
turn of work from
home and quar-
antines, the
trend of do-
p a m i n e
d r e s s i n g
had to take
the lead. Do-
pamine dress-
ing aka feel-good,
mood-boosting dress-
ing, is the new black
with colours like tangy
orange and lemon yel-
lowtakingcentrestage.
Here are four ways to
dress up in dopamine.
POWER SUITING
Suits in any season are
always a hit. They are
structured, bold and
when paired with
some colour look ul-
tra-chic. A fierce crim-
son blazer or a royal
blue pantsuit can be
the spirited choices for
a wardrobe makeover
or even a dandelion in-
spired yellow suit to
induce a happy mood.
SNAZZY FOOTWEAR
Footwears are the star
of any ensemble and
since dopamine dress-
ing is all about incor-
porating colour, heels
in different colours
can be your go-to solu-
tion. Block, platform
and stilettos in col-
ours like burnt or-
ange, hot pink and in
styles like knitted and
a mule could be a great
new addition.
EYE CATCHING
OUTERWEAR
Jackets, blazers, coats,
in colours like green,
blue and pink are the
new game-changers.
The good old denim
works great but to add
colour and elevate
mood try silk jackets
as it adds sheen and
luxe or pastel suede to
add the oomph factor.
COZY KNITWEAR
Since the winters are
in an uproar, add col-
ours to your turtleneck
in shades of yellow,
maroon, green and or-
ange. They attract
warmth, cosiness, and
a wave of happy mood
while you attend work
from home zoom
meetings.
OPAMINE
RESSING
ETC
11
DOPAMINE DRESSING MEANS FEEL-GOOD, THESE
DRESSING STYLE ARE THE NEW TREND IN THE
FASHION WORLD. THE COMBINATION OF BLACK
WITH BRIGHT COLOURS IS TAKING CENTRE STAGE
MONICA PRABHAKAR
mitalidusad01@gmail.com
T

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