23062022_First India Mumbai.pdf

NCP Chief Sharad Pawar would prefer
elections than allow BJP to take the reins
Renni Abraham
Mumbai: If Nationalist
Congress Party (NCP)
chief Sharad Pawar has
his way, mid-term polls
are imminent in Maha-
rashtra, unless the Shiv
Sena can stem the tide
within its party and
wean away five to six re-
bel MLAs from among
the 32-odd MLAs cur-
rently under the sway of
Eknath Shinde.
“There have been reg-
ular rumours about the
imminent collapse of
the MVA government
for the past 2.5 years but
nothing happened. The
difference now is that a
large chunk of the Shiv
Sena MLAs have aban-
doned their party and--
more importantly-
-Chief Minister Uddhav
Thackeray,” a senior
political leader told
First India.
“The logical political
move here for the MVA
government is to go to
the people and seek a
fresh mandate on the
back of immense sym-
pathy that would accrue
to the three parties, par-
ticularly for the Shiv
Sena.”
In his social media ad-
dress on Wednesday
, CM
Thackeray was clearly
speaking to the Maha-
rashtra electorate and
played the victim card
with aplomb, an indica-
tion that mid-term polls
may be his preferred
way forward as well.
A senior BJP leader
disagrees with this as-
sessment.
“The BJP will seek
the Maharashtra gover-
nor’s assent to prove our
majority Turn to P5
NCP chief will push for
mid-term polls if BJP
makes a bid for power,
while BJP wants to
rule for a year before
elections
NCP chief Pawar along with NCP MP Supriya Sule and Maha
Minister Jayant Patil leaves after meeting Congress Leader Kamal
Nath, at Yashwantrao Chavan Centre in Mumbai on Wednesday.
—PHOTO
BY
BHUSHAN
KOYANDE
Afghanistan earthquake kills 1,000 people, deadliest in decades
6.0 magnitude earthquake’s tremors were felt over 500 km by 119
million people across Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, EMSC said
Kabul (Agencies): An
earthquake of magni-
tude 6.1 killed at 1,000
people and injured 1,500
in Afghanistan early on
Wednesday, officials
said, adding that 1500
people are likely to be
injured according to
state-run Bakhtar News
Agency. Quake struck
about 44 km (27 miles)
from the city of Khost,
near Pakistani border,
USGC said. The state-
run Bakhtar news agen-
cy reported the death
toll and said rescuers
were arriving by heli-
copter. Abdul Wahid
Rayan, wrote on Twitter
that 90 houses have been
destroyed in Paktika
and dozens are believed
trapped under rubble.
Rescue efforts are likely
to be complicated as
many international aid
agencies left Af after
the Taliban takeover.
Destruction caused by an earthquake in province of Paktika, eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday. Helicopter evacuates injured after earthquake on Wednesday.
Most of the
confirmed
deaths were in
the eastern Afghan
province of Paktika,
where 255 people had
been killed and more
than 200 injured. In
Khost province, 25 peo-
ple had been killed and
90 taken to hospital.
—Salahuddin Ayubi,
Ministry Official
MAHA
CRISIS
DEEPENS
READY TO RESIGN
...BUT CAN YOU PROMISE ME
SAINIK AS SUCCESSOR: UDDHAV
Uddhav’s speech was livestreamed after 30
Sena MLAs wrote to Guv backing Shinde
Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, CM
Uddhav Thackeray test Covid-19 positive
Moni Sharma
Mumbai: Uddhav
Thackeray, fighting a
revolt that has endan-
gered his govt in Maha-
rashtra,saidonWednes-
day he is “ready to re-
sign” anytime, but can
you promise me next
CM will be from Shiv
Sena, but stopped short
of announcing his res-
ignation as CM. Sena
chief saidhewas“hurt”
at his own party men
turning on him. “De-
spite Pawar Saheb’s and
Kamal Nath’s support,
if my own people don’t
want me to be CM then
what should I do? I don’t
know if I can call them
my people,” he said.
CM LEAVES FROM
CMR AFTER SPEECH
Must quit unnatural
alliance, says Eknath
after Uddhav’s speech
Shivendra Parmar
Guwahati: Eknath
Shinde, Sena rebel
who has triggered po-
litical crisis in Maha,
on Wednesday under-
lined that it is vital to
get out of “unnatural
alliance” of Sharad
Pawar’s party Cong
for party’s survival.
Statement comes af-
ter alliance partners
in MVA, say sources,
suggested that rebel
leader be named CM.
“Inlast2.5years,Sena
has only suffered
other parties have
benefitted,” he said.
Rebel Shiv Sena MLA Eknath Shinde with other MLAs at a
hotel, in Guwahati on Wednesday.
To save the
party and the
Shiv Sainiks, it
is vital that the unnatu-
ral alliance be junked.
It is important to make
this decision in the in-
terest of Maharashtra.
—Eknath Shinde,
Shiv Sena rebel
I HAVE 40 MLAs:
SHINDE IN ASSAM
Eknath Shinde on
Wednesday claimed
that 40 party MLAs have
reached Assam and said
that they will carry Balasa-
heb Thackeray’s Hindutva.
Remarks came as specula-
tion is rife that Shinde with
MLAs might join BJP.

z Will quit as Chief Minister
if even one of the disgruntled
MLAs says he doesn’t want
me as the Chief Minister

z Sharad Pawar and Kamal
Nath phoned me saying they
want me to continue as CM

z Getting calls from MLAs
who have gone with Shinde;
claiming that they were
forcibly taken by Shinde

z Shiv Sena can never be
separated from Hindutva
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray addresses a press
conference from the Chief Minister’s residence on Wednesday.
KC: IT’S AN INTERNAL ISSUE AND PARTY
LEADERSHIP CAN SORT IT OUT EASILY
WILL FIGHT: PRIYANKA CHATURVEDI
SANJAY RAUT TO UDDHAV THACKERAY
‘HAD TO BE WITH
WITH CONG, NCP’
SENA MLA: I WAS
GIVEN INJECTIONS
“It’s an internal issue of Sena and the party leader-
ship can sort it out easily. The problem is BJP’s
attitude of using money and agencies to poach the
MLAs. I think Shiv Sena will survive,” Congress MP
KC Venugopal on Maha political situation said.
Shiv Sena MPs Sanjay Raut and Priyanka Chatur-
vedi on Wednesday tweeted messages of fight-
ing back after Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray’s
live address. Raut said Deshmukh claiming that he
was kidnapped, situation took a dramatic turn.
Uddhav said that I had
no administrative ex-
perience. I did what I did
to fulfil promise of dad.
We had to join hands with
Cong, NCP with whom
we fought for 25 years.
Sena MLA Nitin
Deshmukh, who was
with Shinde in Surat on
Wednesday said that
people had forcibly taken
him to a hosp and was
administered injections.
India’s digital sector valuations to
cross USD 1 trillion by 2025: Modi
New Delhi (ANI): In-
dia supports innovation
across every sector and
its digital sector valua-
tions will cross USD 1
trillion by 2025, said PM
Narendra Modi on
Wednesday as he under-
lined the role of BRICS
countries amid global
focus on post covid re-
covery
.
The PM made these
remarks at the opening
ceremony of the BRICS
Business Forum being
hosted by China in a
virtual mode. “BRICS
was established with
the belief that this
group of emerging
economies could
emerge as engines of
global growth,” said PM
Modi in a recorded key-
note speech. He also em-
phasised that India’s
success is based on
technology-led growth
with innovation and
startups.
Modi to attend 14th
BRICS summit in a
virtual mode today
and tomorrow
P4
BSE SENSEX 51,822.53 709.54 | NSE NIFTY 15,413.30 225.50
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MUMBAI l THURSDAY, JUNE 23, 2022 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI TITLE NO. MAHENG/2022/14652 l Vol 1 l Issue No. 48
Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik met Pope Francis in Vatican City
on Wednesday. The CM is leading a high-level delegation to
Rome, Dubai. Delegation is scheduled to visit WFP HQ in Rome
to share Odisha’s “transformational journey” in food security.
DRAUPADI MURMU SWEEPS TEMPLE FLOOR
New Delhi: The Centre has accorded a Z+ security cover to
NDA’s prez candidate Draupadi Murmu who will file her
nomination on June 24. The leader of Odisha started her
journey by performing puja in the temple on Wednesday. P5
OUR EDITIONS: JAIPUR, LUCKNOW, NEW DELHI MUMBAI
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will pay a three-day visit to
Germany and the United Arab Emirates beginning Sunday.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said PM Modi will
visit Germany from June 26 to June 27 to attend G7 summit.
NAT’L HERALD CASE: RaGa’S 50 HRS, 5 DAYS WITH ED
ED officials asked me secret
of my energy: Rahul Gandhi
New Delhi: Recounting
how he handled the
marathon questioning
sessions with ED, Con-
gress MP Rahul Gandhi
on Wednesday said that
agency’s officers were
surprised by his pa-
tience and endurance.
While addressing party
workers at Delhi head-
quarters, he said that he
never felt alone in the
office even though he
was sitting in a 12/12 ft
room with 3 ED officers.
I answered questions,
checked all answers,
and didn’t leave my
chair much, he said,
adding that on the last
day officers asked him
how he has so much pa-
tience. Gandhi said ED
officers asked him at
night how he was able
to sit upright in the
chair for over 11 hours
without being tired, as
they were tired. “I
thought let me not tell
them the real reason, I
told them I do Vipas-
sana. You have to sit for
long hours in that, you
get used to it,” he said.
Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, KC Venugopal, Adhir
Ranjan Chowdhury, P Chidambaram, Salman Khurshid and others at a satyagraha against the ED
questioning Rahul Gandhi and Agnipath Scheme, at AICC HQ, in New Delhi on Wednesday.
I wasn’t
alone in the
room, all you
Congress workers were
with me. All those who
believe in freedom
were also with me.
—Rahul Gandhi,
Congress leader
New Delhi: The ED on Wednesday
accepted Congress president Sonia
Gandhi’s written request seeking defer-
ment of summons for Wednesday. The
agency has however given her four
weeks to appear before it. Sonia had
written to ED seeking postponement till
she recovers completely.
RAHUL SPEAKS
ON AGNIPATH
CONG MPs, MLAs
GATHER IN DELHI
Rahul Gandhi on
Wednesday alleged
that the Centre was
“weakening” the army
through the ‘Agnipath’
scheme, and said
PM Modi will have to
withdraw the military
recruitment initiative
just like the farm laws
were rolled back.
Congress MPs and
the legislators from
across the country gath-
ered at the party head-
quarters in New Delhi to
express solidarity with
Congress leader Rahul
Gandhi, who has been
questioned by the ED
for 5 days, party leaders
said on Wednesday.
ED ACCEPTS SONIA GANDHI’S REQUEST
FOR DEFERMENT OF SUMMONS

First India Bureau
Mumbai: Maharash-
tra Chief Minister Ud-
dhav Thackeray on
Wednesday night
moved from his offi-
cial residence “Var-
sha” in south Mumbai
to his family home
“Matoshree” in subur-
ban Bandra, hours af-
ter offering to quit the
top post amid the re-
bellion by Shiv Sena
leader Eknath Shinde.
TheCM’smovecomes
amid high drama as the
political crisis that has
rocked his government
after Shinde’s revolt two
days ago, showed no
signs of ebbing.
Shiv Sena leaders like
Neelam Gorhe and
Chandrakant Khaire
were present at “Var-
sha” when Thackeray
was leaving the official
residence.
Party workers
raised slogans and
showered petals on the
CM as he left his offi-
cial house along with
his family members at
around 9.50 pm.
Earlier, bags con-
taining his personal
belongings were seen
being loaded in cars.
During a “Facebook
Live” session earlier
in the evening, Thack-
eray had said he would
be leaving “Varsha”
and residing at “Ma-
toshree”.
Thackeray, who also
heads the Shiv Sena,
had moved to “Varsha”
after becoming the
chief minister in No-
vember 2019.
However, Shiv Sena’s
chief spokesperson
Sanjay Raut asserted
Thackeray will not re-
sign following the rebel-
lion by a section of par-
ty MLAs, and main-
tained the ruling Maha
Vikas Aghadi (MVA)
will prove its majority
in the Assembly if re-
quired.
The NCP and the Con-
gress are also part of
the MVA.
NEWS
MUMBAI | THURSDAY, JUNE 23, 2022
02
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First India Bureau
Surat: Even as Shiv
Sena’s rebel MLAs
shifted base from here
to Guwahati on Wednes-
day morning, the local
unit of the Aam Aadmi
Party has alleged that
Surat Police tortured
the dissident MLAs
while they were at the
Le Meridien hotel here.
AAP’s Gujarat unit
chief Gopal Italia has
alleged that he has in-
formation that a few
Shiv Sena MLAs
brought from Maha-
rashtra on Tuesday
night, including Bal-
apur MLA Nitin Desh-
mukh, were threatened,
and tortured by the lo-
cal police on orders
from “BJP leaders”.
He has further al-
leged some had wanted
to return to Maharash-
tra but were not allowed
to do so.
Surat Police Commis-
sioner Ajay Tomar was
not reachable for com-
ment.
Aurangabad (PTI): Po-
lice stepped up secu-
rity at the residences
of Shiv Sena minis-
ters Abdul Sattar and
Sandipan Bhumre in
Maharashtra's Au-
rangabad city who are
camping with their
party colleague and
rebel leader Eknath
Shinde in Guwahati,
in view of a protest
held on Wednesday
.
The MLA from the
Sillod constituency, Ab-
dul Sattar, is a Minister
of State for Revenue in
the Uddhav Thackeray-
led government.
Bhumre, the MLA from
the Paithan constitu-
ency, holds the EGS
portfolio.
Earlier in the day,
Shiv Sena workers
staged a protest in
Kranti Chowk area of
the city demanding ac-
tion against rebel Shiv
Sena MLAs camping in
Guwahati.
“Considering the sit-
uation, we have in-
creased security at the
residences of Bhumre
and Sattar,” a senior po-
lice officer told PTI.
At least five MLAs
from the Aurangabad
district are camping
with Shinde in Guwa-
hati.
Shiv Sena spokesper-
son and MLC Ambadas
Danve said people have
faith in the leadership
of Sena president Ud-
dhav Thackeray
.
“We stand with Ud-
dhav Thackeray
. We are
against those who leave
the party,” he said at
the spot of the agitation
held at Kranti Chowk
in Aurangabad city
.
A woman Sena work-
er demanded that
Thackeray sack rebels
from the party
.
Renni Abraham
Mumbai: The BJP
played a tacit role
over the last two-and-
a-half years by fo-
menting the unrest
within the Shiv Sena,
exasperated in no
small measure by the
multiple cases regis-
tered against Sena
leaders like Transport
Minister Anil Parab.
Thackeray’s chief
strategist, Parab spent
the better part of
Wednesday ensconced
within the office of the
Enforcement Directo-
rate in south Mumbai.
Eknath Shinde and
many of the rebel
MLAs—who seek a rap-
prochement with the
BJP ostensibly on the
premise of ‘Hindut-
va’—are more con-
cerned about their own
political careers that
may be impacted if they
fail to toe the BJP line.
This was again evi-
dent on Wednesday
when Sena Member of
Parliament Bhavna Ga-
wali also wrote to
Thackeray seeking his
“understanding” on be-
half of the dissenters
and urging that no ac-
tion be taken against
them.
Gawali herself is
hard-pressed to explain
to the ED the origin of
Rs7 crore that she had
reported stolen from
her Mumbai office, and
faces the prospect of ar-
rest in the case. Pratap
Sarnaik, another Sena
rebel, had similarly
made an impassioned
written plea to the CM
earlier for a rapproche-
ment with the BJP even
as his case before the
ED was pending.
Meanwhile,Shinde,is
clear about his strategy
to invoke the late Bala-
saheb Thackeray and
his own mentor from
Thane, the late Anand
Dighe—both of whom
he is leveraging while
unofficially seeking to
take over the Shiv Sena
party himself.
First India Bureau
Mumbai: While Shiv
Sena’s Urban Develop-
ment Minister and now
rebel leader Eknath
Shinde has repeatedly
claimed that he has the
support of 46 MLAs, a
letter submitted by his
camptoDeputySpeaker
of Maharashtra Legis-
lative Assembly Narha-
ri Zirwal on Wednesday
is signed by just 34. This
raises questions on
whether the dissenters
can evade the ambit of
the anti-defection law
which requires two-
thirds, or 37 of 55 MLAs.
Even as the rebel
group moved its base
from Surat in Gujarat to
Guwahati in Assam on
Wednesday morning,
the Shiv Sena first at-
tempted to persuade the
MLAs to return to
Mumbai. When that
failed, Sena spokesper-
sonSanjayRauttweeted
that the Maharashtra
Vidhan Sabha was
headed for dissolution.
This was an attempt to
frighten MLAs into
worrying about the
prospect of fresh elec-
tions just 2.5 years into
their terms, but did not
have the desired effect,
either.
Eventually
, Shiv Sena
Chief Whip Sunil Prab-
hu dispatched letters
asking MLAs to report
in person to Varsha, the
official residence of
Chief Minister Uddhav
Thackeray, by 5 pm or
face disciplinary action.
Minutes after Prab-
hu’s letter—a copy of
which is in First India’s
possession—found its
way to the media, Shin-
de’s group also released
a letter on Shiv Sena
Legislature Party’s let-
terhead claiming that
Shinde continued to be
the leader of the legisla-
ture party and that the
appointment of Ajay
Chaudhari was illegal.
Dated June 21, it also
proclaimed rebel MLA
Bharat Gogawale as the
Chief Whip and deemed
Sunil Prabhu’s appoint-
ment as illegal.
The letter also states
that the undersigned
were “dissatisfied” that
the party formed the
MVA government with
two parties ideological-
ly opposed to it, after
securing votes as a Se-
na-BJP alliance in 2019.
They further distanced
themselves from the
“corruption in the gov-
ernment” and the ar-
rests of former home
minister Anil Desh-
mukh and minority af-
fairs minister Nawab
Malik, both from the
NCP
.
In reply to the ques-
tion on whether he has
37 Shiv Sena MLAs
among the 46 support-
ing him, Shinde said
“Absolutely
.”
Asked why he was not
approaching the Gover-
nor if he had 37 MLAs,
he said he will decide
the next course of ac-
tion at a meeting on
Wednesday evening.
CMThackeraymovesoutofofficialresidenceforfamilyhome
WILL REMAIN MAHA CHIEF MINISTER,
SAYS SENA’S SANJAY RAUT
Renni Abraham
Mumbai: The end
may be near for the
Maha Vikas Aghadi
(MVA) government
but it’s not coming
this week, despite
Chief Minister Uddav
Thackeray having lost
the faith of a majority
of his party MLAs,
led by urban develop-
ment minister Eknath
Shinde, following the
vertical split within
the Shiv Sena. “The
government will not
collapse within this
week,” a Sena leader
told First India on
Wednesday. Later
in the evening, CM
Thackeray also indi-
cated as much when
he said that Governor
Bhagat Singh Koshy-
ari had asked him to
personally hand over
any communication in
the wake of the cur-
rent crisis. Given that
both have contracted
COVID-19, such a
meeting is unlikely in
the immediate future.
MVA SEEKS TO DEFER INEVITABLE
COLLAPSE OF MAHA GOVT
Shiv Sena workers gather outside Matoshree, the private residence of Maharashtra CM Uddhav
Thackeray, to show their support. —PHOTO BY PTI
Shinde claims 46 MLAs’
support, but 34 sign letter
AADITYA THACKERAY
TWITTER BIO RUMOUR
FAKE, CLARIFIES MP
INTEL WARNED MAHA
GOVT OF DISSENSION TWO
MONTHS AGO
RS POLL SUPPORT TO
SAMBHAJIRAJE COULD
HAVE AVERTED UNREST?
With political turmoil in Maharashtra threatening to
topple the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, a fake
screenshot showing state cabinet minister Aaditya
Thackeray’s Twitter bio went viral on Wednesday.
The screenshot showed that Thackeray had removed
the title ‘Maharashtra Environment Minister’ from
his Twitter bio. However, Shiv Sena MP Priyanka
Chaturvedi later clarified that the title had not been a
part of Aaditya Thackeray’s Twitter bio at all. “He did
not have his minister status ever on his Twitter bio.
Fact check,” she tweeted.
Sources in the Maharashtra Police have claimed that
the State Intelligence Department (SID) had informed
the state government that eight to 10 of its MLAs,
including Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde, were in touch
with Opposition leaders. After the Sena failed to
gauge rising dissension among its party members,
it has called into question Chief Minister Uddhav
Thackeray’s hold on the party. According to sources,
SID officials passed on confidential information to
the government around two months ago. However,
no action was taken on it.
By choosing not to support royal family scion
Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati in the Rajya Sabha elec-
tions, the Shiv Sena played a major role in the pre-
sent crisis in the party as well as the MVA govern-
ment, say political analysts. Had the Sena backed
the Independent candidate and not fielded Sanjay
Pawar, all candidates would have been elected to
the Upper House of the Parliament. This would have
helped in keeping peace among party MLAs and
Independents. The party had offered Sambhajiraje
membership of the party in exchange for its sup-
port, which he had declined.
Security stepped up at
homes of 2 rebel mins
Central bodies worsened
unrest stirred up by BJP
Thackeray’s chief strategist,
Anil Parab spent most of
Wednesday in the office of
the Enforcement Directorate.
—PHOTO BY BHUSHAN
KOYANDE
Abdul Sattar. Sandipan Bhumre
CM: Drop cases against
protests, nCoV violations
First India Bureau
Amid speculation
that Wednesday’s
cabinet meeting
could be the last one
chaired by Chief Min-
ister Uddhav Thack-
eray before he ten-
ders his resignation
amid the ongoing po-
litical uproar, the Ma-
harashtra cabinet
has decided to drop
cases of nCoV viola-
tions, and criminal
cases against politi-
cal and social pro-
tests.
Several cases
were lodged
against stu-
dents and
unemployed
youth under
the provi-
sions of the
D i s -
a s -
ter Management Act
and Indian Penal Code
for violations of COV-
ID-19protocolsbetween
March 21, 2020, and
March 31, 2022. Given
thatthesecasescancre-
ate hurdles during job
interviews, passport
verification, and other
character verification
procedures, the cabinet
on humanitarian
grounds has decided to
withdraw these cases,
officials said.
Similarly
,thecabinet
also cleared a home de-
partment proposal to
withdraw cases
against political
and social pro-
tests in which
charge sheets
were filed before
December 31,
2021.
Did Surat
cops torture
Sena MLAs?
AAP Guj chief Gopal Italia.
More MLAs arrive in Guwahati, where hotel becomes fortress
Caption: Rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde with other MLAs during a meeting, in Guwahati on
Wednesday. —PHOTOS BY PTI
Supporters of rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde outside his residence, in Thane on Wednesday.

MAHARASHTRA
03
First India Bureau
Mumbai: Maharash-
tra’s capital city as
well as the entire
coastal region may
witness some intense
rainfall activity next
week.
Accordingly, the In-
dia Meteorological De-
partment (IMD) has is-
sued an orange alert for
the coastal subdivision
for a five-day period.
This advisory, which is
the second-highest level
of weather warning,
urges the residents to
‘be prepared’ for rough
weather conditions.
According to the IMD
forecast, the new wet
spell will be driven by a
combination of an off-
shore trough and strong
westerly winds along
the west coast that will
bring in moisture-laden
winds over to the re-
gion.
It will lead to wide-
spread rains and thun-
derstorms, along with
heavy to very heavy
rainfall in isolated plac-
es across the Konkan
belt—including the dis-
tricts of Mumbai,
Thane, Raigad, Ratna-
giri and Sindhudurg—
for the next five days.
The IMD has predict-
ed heavy to very heavy
rainfall in isolated
areas of Mumbai until
June 25. Cloudy skies
will loom over India’s
financial capital during
this time frame. Due
to the heavy rainfall
predictions, a continu-
ous ‘yellow watch’
would be in effect for
the districts of Mum-
bai, Thane and Palghar
till June 25.
HEAVY TRAFFIC IN SOUTH MUMBAI
DUE TO COASTAL ROAD WORK
SEX WORKER ATTACKED IN BHIWANDI;
CASE REGISTERED AGAINST 4 PEOPLE
THREE HELD FOR SHOOTING, INJURING
MAN DURING THEFT ATTEMPT
24-YR-OLD HELD FOR DUPING GROCERY
STORE OWNER OF OVER `3 LAKH
Mumbai: Heavy traffic was observed in South Mumbai
from Haji Ali Dargah to Charni Road due to ongoing
work on the upcoming Mumbai Coastal Road project.
Traffic snarls were also witnessed at Netaji Subhash
Chandra Bose Road at Girgaon Chowpatty. Meanwhile,
on Wednesday, light to moderate rains are predicted
in the city suburbs with a possibility of heavy to very
rainfall at isolated places. According to the data shared
by the BMC, the city area received 54.59 mm rainfall
while the eastern suburbs were drenched in 39.59 mm
rains till Tuesday morning.
Palghar: Three people were arrested for allegedly
shooting and injuring a man during a theft attempt
in Palghar district, police said on Wednesday. The
incident took place around 9.45 am on Tuesday at
Shanbar Naka area, where the accused shot the vic-
tim with a country-made weapon, senior inspector
Vilas Chowgule of Pelhar police station said. The ac-
cused allegedly tried to steal a bag containing cash
to the tune of `50,000 and shot the victim when he
resisted. Four police teams were formed and the
accused Uvesh alias Javed Shamim Khan, Ravindra
Ankush Nigudkar and Saddam Karamhussein Khan,
were apprehended within 12 hours of the attack.
Mumbai: The Malad Police arrested a 24-year-old
former Paytm service agent who duped a grocery
store owner of over `3 lakh on the pretext of servic-
ing the Paytm machine. The service agent, accord-
ing to the Malad cyber unit, had copied the OTP that
the grocery store owner had received on his mobile
phone and then withdrew the payment made to the
grocery store owner through various fake bank ac-
counts. The accused, identified as Nilesh Ghosalkar,
had left Paytm before the lockdown and is currently
working for the Freecharge mobile banking app as
a field sales agent.
CRUCIAL READ
Thane: A 23-year-old commercial sex worker was
allegedly attacked by four people on Sunday in Bhi-
wandi. The incident took place over a monetary dis-
pute. An official from Bhiwandi police station said,
“The incident took place in Bhiwandi town of Thane
district on Sunday and based on a complaint filed
by the victim we registered a case against a couple
and two other persons under relevant provisions on
Tuesday, June 21.” The accused allegedly pulled the
woman by her hair, dragged her out of her house
and beat her up, the victim said in the complaint.
First India Bureau
Mumbai: As Maha-
rashtra’s COVID-19
positivity rate shot up
to 10.64% by June 21
and weekly positivity
rates in districts of
Mumbai, Palghar,
Thane and Pune sur-
passed the state aver-
age, experts have
urged vigilance.
According to Dr
Shashank Joshi, expert
member of the COV-
ID-19 task force, people
need to learn how to live
with the virus.
“We have seen two-
and-a-half years of
COVID-19andnowthere
is a need to learn to live
with this disease. There
is a need to remain vigi-
lant but to refrain from
panicking,” he said.
The state saw a 36%
rise in COVID-19 cases
in June 15-21, when
26,344 cases were regis-
tered. According to a
health department re-
port submitted to the
cabinet meeting on
Wednesday
, Mumbai ac-
counts for 54% of all
COVID-19 infections in
the state. There are
14,146 active cases in the
city
, followed by 5,569 in
Thane,2,113inPuneand
1,046 in Raigad.
As for the positivity
rate, it was 16.12% in
Mumbai, 15.87%,
14.94% and 13.87% for
Palghar, Thane and
Pune respectively
.
First India Bureau
Mumbai: The Mum-
bai Cricket Associa-
tion (MCA) will award
`1 lakh each to 48
groundsmen for their
efforts during the
Indian Premier
League (IPL). The
proposal is expected
to be approved at the
MCA’s Apex Council
meeting.
The three venues –
MCA-Wankhede Stadi-
um, MCA-BKC ground
and DY Patil Stadium
has been home for ten
IPL teams for two
months. While the two
stadiums – Wankhede
and DY Patil – hosted
IPL league games, the
MCA-BKC served as a
daily practise ground
for four teams.
The MCA felt that
groundsmen deserved a
special reward for their
efforts throughout the
summer.Manygrounds-
keepers worked over-
night shifts to prepare
practise and match
grounds. The MCA was
pleased that there
wasn’t a single com-
plaint about pitches de-
spite matches being
played daily in the gru-
elling April-May heat.
The Indian board had
earlier announced a
cash prize of `1.25 crore
for curators.
“We’ve witnessed
somehighoctanegames
and I would like (to)
thank each one of them
for their hard work, `25
lakh each for CCI,
Wankhede, DY Patil and
MCA, Pune, `12.5 lakh
each for Eden and Nar-
endra Modi stadium,”
Board of Control for
Cricket in India (BCCI)
secretary Jay Shah had
said.
REWARD FOR HARD WORK
48 groundsmen to receive `1 lakh each from MCA
MCA intends to reward ground staff
for their efforts in keeping the pitches
in good condition during the IPL
Mumbai and
Thane among
districts to be
lashed with
heavy showers
The MCA felt that groundsmen deserved a special reward for their efforts throughout the summer.
MONSOON
WATCH
Ratnagiri will be
placed on an orange
alert until June 25,
while Raigad and Sind-
hudurg will both re-
ceive the same warn-
ing until June 28 and
June 29, respectively.
Some improvement
will follow thereafter,
and these districts’
warning levels will be
brought down to a yel-
low watch till June 25.
nCoV positivity rate in 4
distsmorethanMahaavg
Mumbai accounts for 54% of
all current positive cases in
Maharashtra. —FILE PHOTO
Mumbai was put on high alert as a precaution to heavy
rainfall. —PHOTO BY BHUSHAN KOYANDE
Coastal Maha on orange alert,
heavy rains from 21-25: IMD
MoretroubleforAnilDeshmukh:ED
allows Waze to become approver
First India Bureau
Mumbai: Adding to
the troubles of for-
mer state minister
Anil Deshmukh, the
Enforcement Direc-
torate (ED) on
Wednesday allowed
former Mumbai po-
lice officer Sachin
Waze to become an
approver in the mon-
ey laundering case
involving him.
The court is sched-
uled to conduct the
hearing on Thursday
with Waze as witness.
Waze had filed a peti-
tion in the special
PMLA court on May 25
to become an approver,
to which the ED filed its
reply and allowed him
to turn approver. The
hearing is to be held in
the court tomorrow.
Waze has also been
approved by the Cen-
tral Bureau of Investi-
gation (CBI) for becom-
ing a witness in anoth-
er case of corruption
involving Deshmukh.
Both Deshmukh and
Waze are in judicial
custody in separate
cases by the National
Investigation Agency
(NIA) and the ED, re-
spectively
.
NIAarrestedWazein
March in connection
with the investigation
into the recovery of ex-
plosives from a car
parked near Reliance
Industries Chairman
Mukesh Ambani’s
house in Mumbai.
Waze is the prime ac-
cused of placing an ex-
plosives-laden vehicle
near ‘Antilia’ in Mum-
bai on February 25.
Deshmukh was ar-
rested on November 01
in connection with ex-
tortion and money
laundering allegations
levelled against him by
the former Mumbai Po-
lice Commissioner
Param Bir Singh.
In a letter to Chief
Minister Thackeray in
March last year, Singh
had alleged that Desh-
mukh was involved in
several wrongdoings,
including asking
Sachin Waze to collect
`100 crore from bars
and restaurants in
Mumbai.
Maha min Parab appears
before ED for second day
in money laundering case
First India Bureau
Mumbai: Maha-
rashtra Transport
Minister Anil Par-
ab appeared before
the Enforcement
Directorate (ED)
for the second day
in a row on Wednes-
day in connection
with the alleged
money laundering
case against him.
According to an of-
ficial, Parab arrived
at the ED office
around 3.45 pm for
questioning in con-
nection with the al-
leged violation of
coastal regulation
zone provisions in
the construction of
the Sai resort in the
Dapoli beach area of
Ratnagiri district.
He was questioned
by the central agency
for more than 10
hours on Tuesday,
and was summoned
on Wednesday morn-
ing as well. However,
in view of the politi-
cal developments in
the state, he had
sought more time to
appear before it.
The ED had raided
Parab’s premises and
those allegedly
linked to him in
May
, after registering
a fresh case under
the Prevention of
Money Laundering
Act (PMLA) against
him and others. How-
ever, the Shiv Sena
leader denied any
wrongdoing.
Sachin Waze
First India Bureau
New Delhi: The Cen-
tral Bureau of Inves-
tigation (CBI) has
booked Dewan Hous-
ing Finance Ltd, its
former CMD Kapil
Wadhawan, Director
Dheeraj Wadhawan
and others in a fresh
case involving `34,615
crore, making it the
biggest bank fraud
probed by the agency,
officials said on
Wednesday.
Following registra-
tion of the case, a team
of over 50 officials from
the agency carried out
coordinated searches in
Mumbai at 12 locations
belonging to the accused
listed in the FIR. It also
includesSudhakarShet-
ty of Amaryllis Realtors
andeightotherbuilders.
The bank has alleged
that the company had
availed credit facility to
the tune of `42,871 crore
between 2010 and 2018
from the consortium un-
der various arrange-
ments. But, it started
defaulting on commit-
ments of repayment
from May
, 2019 onwards,
informed officials.
The accounts were de-
clared non-performing
assets (NPAs) at differ-
ent points of time by
lender banks. When
DHFL was hit
by investi-
g a -
tion in January 2019 af-
ter media reports on al-
legations of fraud by di-
version of funds, round-
tripping and siphoning
of funds surfaced, the
lenders held a meeting
on February 01, 2019.
The members ap-
pointed KPMG to con-
duct a special review
audit of DHFL from
April 01, 2015 to Decem-
ber 31, 2018.
CBI books DHFL,
ex-CMD and dir in
`35Kcrbankfraud
Anil Parab —PHOTO BY BHUSHAN KOYANDE
Court is slated to
hear the money
laundering case
involving the
former minister
today
TWIST IN THE TALE
Team of 50
officials raided
12 locations
belonging to
the accused
THE REPORT

PERSPECTIVE
04
COMPILED AND EDITED BY
SHASHIKANT SHARMA AND SHWETA SHARMA
l Vol 1 l Issue No. 48 l RNI TITLE NO. MAHENG/2022/14652 Printed and published by Anita Hada Sangwan on behalf of First Express Publishers. Printed at Dangat Media Pvt Ltd, No.22, Dighe MIDC, Vishnu Nagar, TTC Industrial Area, Dighe, Navi Mumbai-400701.
Published at Plot No. 3 Scheme C of Manglorean Garden Home, CHS Limited, Survey No. 5, 6C (Part) Ville Parle East, Mumbai 400057. Editor-In-Chief:DrJagdeeshChandraEditor: Anita Hada Sangwan responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act
UNTOLD STORIES OF PM MODI - PART 11
‘MODI HAI TO MUMKIN HAI…’
NOT VIP,
BUT AAM
AADMI’S PM
SURGICALSTRIKE
ON VIP CULTURE
Axing the subsidy on canteen
food and the end of the Lal Batti
ne of the days, PM Modi decided to have lunch
at the Parliamentary canteen. He visited the
canteen that serves MPs and ordered food. As
he was having his meal, he pondered, “For this
same food, people outside are shelling out Rs
50 or Rs 100 per plate. Whereas here it is being
consumed for Rs 8 or Rs 10. What does this
mean? What privileged class do we belong to, I
want to know, that we can’t pay for the food we
eat? This has to stop.” And so it was. That was
the last day of canteen
subsidy for MPs.
For Modiji, the poor
man comes first. His
concern was that when
the poor man can pay
Rs 50 for a plate of food,
why should an MP get it
for Rs 5? Thus what had
been a long standing-
issue was sorted by PM
Modi to build an egali-
tarian society
.
And talking of the
privileged class, PM
Modi questioned, and
literally detested the
“LAL BATTI” culture.
The Lal Batti, in Indian
psyche, has come to be
associated with the
might of the political
class and the tremen-
dous public inconven-
ience caused when peo-
ple have to wait in traf-
fic due to road blocks or
make way for VIPs in
cars flashing the Lal Batti. PM Modi ques-
tioned why should anyone, including the Pres-
ident, the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice
of India, be distinguished from the rest of
their brethren with the red beacon? “Every
Indian is special”, was the clarion call.
O
NARENDRA MODI,
THE FAKIR...
s a pracharak in 1970s, Narendra bhai was a
frequent visitor to my place. This incident is
about a cold winter morning. I woke up early
and after saying my prayers I went out for a
whiff of fresh air when I found someone sleep-
ing on the hard bench outside in the porch. The
person’s cloth bag was hanging by the wooden
board and he was sleeping peacefully
. I was ab-
solutely shocked to find that it was none other
than Narendra bhai and I immediately woke
him up. Almost shrieking I asked “Why did you
not wake us up? Why did you have to sleep out-
side on this hard bench?”
As soft and humble as he is, he said quietly
“It was in the middle of the night when I
reached. I could have
woken you up but I did
not want to trouble
you.” He would always
address my wife as be-
hen (sister). Then he
continued “More than
you, my knocking at
midnight would have
caused trouble for be-
hen. She would have got
busy making arrange-
ments to ensure a com-
fortable stay for me
with cooking and mak-
ing the bed. I simply did
not have the heart to put
her to so much incon-
venience so late in the
night.”
Today when I look
back, I can see Naren-
dra bhai’s face, shining
like that of a fakir. Is
there any power that
could have stopped a
person as caring, as self-
less, as simple and with
so much inner strength from becoming the
PM? None. Even today our PM is just as con-
siderate and humble as Narendra bhai.
TO BE CONTINUED…
A
YOU READ PART-10 ON JUNE 16, 2022
LESSONS FROM
THE PERFECT
PRIME MINISTER
e would often guide the
karyakartas about how
to behave in society, giv-
ing practical tips as well
as moral guidance. He
would say “Always re-
member that people are
watching us. Since we are working in
the society
, with people, we must think
and ponder - how is it that people see
us?” Narendra bhai then illustrated
his point with an example. He said that
once he had gone to someone’s house
and was offered tea. As he started hav-
ing tea, he realised that the entire fam-
ily assembled in the room where he
was. He began to wonder “After all
why are they here?” After a few mo-
ments of observation and trying to
make sense of the situation, the an-
swer dawned upon him. The karyakar-
ta who was accompanying him was
slurping down the hot chai. It is in-
deed a loud, recurrent and embarrass-
ing sound that comes when you suck
in hot tea almost in bubbles - a long,
loud “shhwooop”. Modi bhai immedi-
ately took cognizance of the situation
and instructed the karyakarta regard-
ing tea etiquette. Possessing proper
etiquette is absolutely essential for a
karyakarta, who is a public personal-
ity, he said. Thus, Modi bhai gave a
loving as well as strict lesson to all the
karyakartas and said one should make
a conscious effort to ensure there is no
slurping, at home or in public. Such
display of improper manners only
brings on embarrassment as in this
case all the family members gathered
listening to the sound to find out
“Who’s having tea?”
At a personal level, it was Naren-
drabhai who taught me how to iron a
shirt. I was the office co-incharge at
Maninagar office. Narendrabhai used
to live there and we used to have lunch
together. It was my routine to iron all
my clothes myself. One day he ap-
peared all of a sudden with his kurta
inhishandandsaid“Wouldyouplease
iron this for me?” I said “Yes absolute-
ly
. Why not?” Now as I started, he im-
mediately gave me a handy, practical
tip on how to iron with perfection. He
said “This is not the way to do it. I will
show you how it’s done.” It is the front
side of the shirt that matters. So when
you iron, always ensure that the front
of the kurta or shirt is done nicely and
crisply
. The back doesn’t show, so do
the front first.
This is how Narendra bhai stands
out as a leader. He is a very aware and
a conscious leader who tries to bring
up the level of every person associat-
ed with him. This is possible only be-
cause he keeps a keen eye on people
and their welfare is his priority
. With-
out proper etiquette, it isn’t possible
to lead a successful public life. How
one conducts oneself socially is of ut-
most importance!
H
PM MODI DETESTS THE
“LAL BATTI” CULTURE
P
M Modi detested the
“LAL BATTI” culture. PM
Modi questioned why
should anyone, including the
President, the Prime Minister,
the Chief Justice of India, be
distinguished from the rest
of their brethren with the
red beacon? “Every Indian is
special”, was the clarion call.
NARENDRA BHAI USED
TO VISIT MY HOME OFTEN
A
s a pracharak in 1970s,
Narendra bhai was a
frequent visitor to my
place. One day, I woke up early
and went out for a whiff of
fresh air when I found someone
sleeping on hard bench outside
in the porch. I was absolutely
shocked to find that it was none
other than Narendra bhai.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi

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New Delhi: The En-
forcement Directorate
has attached immova-
ble and movable assets
valued at Rs 26.93 crore
belonging to EMTA
Coal Ltd and its part-
ners and Directors in a
coal block case. The at-
tached property is in
the form of Bank Ac-
count Balances,
Fixed Deposit Balances
and Mutual Fund hold-
ings. These properties
belong to EMTA Coal
Ltd and its partners
and Directors Ujjal Ku-
mar Upadhaya, Sang-
eeta Upadhaya, Sujit
Kumar Upadhaya-- and
their family members
under the PMLA, 2002.
05
INDIA
READ
Crucial
Crucial
AMIT SHAH TO
ATTEND NATIONAL
CONCLAVE TODAY
New Delhi: Union
Minister for Home Affairs
Amit Shah will attend a
conclave in the national
capital on Thursday,
which will discuss
various issues related to
Scheduled and Multi-
State Urban Co-operative
Banks and Credit Socie-
ties and will also felicitate
Urban Cooperative Banks
that have completed 100
years of service to soci-
ety. Shah will be the Chief
Guest at the National
Conclave of Scheduled
and Multi-State Urban
Co-operative Banks.
ANIL VIJ TESTS
COVID POSITIVE
FOR THE 2ND TIME
Chandigarh: Haryana’s
Home and Health
Minister Anil Vij on
Wednesday tested covid
positive. “I have tested
corona positive today.
I have isolated myself.
I request all those who
have come into contact
with me for the last few
days to get themselves
tested,” the 69-year-old
senior BJP leader said
in a tweet.Vij had taken
part in an International
Yoga Day function at
Ambala Cantonment on
Tuesday.
K’TAKA LEADER
CAUGHT ON CAMERA
SLAPPING TEACHER
Bengaluru: A Janata
Dal (Secular) leader has
been caught on camera
slapping the principal
of a college in Karna-
taka. The politician, M
Srinivas, was on a visit
to a college and report-
edly got angry after the
principal was not able to
provide a clear answer
about the ongoing
development work for
a computer lab. The
incident took place in
Mandya on June 20 and
the video is now going
viral on social media.
GOVT APPROVES
SETTING UP BRO
CAFES FOR TOURISTS
New Delhi: Ministry
of Defence (MoD) has
approved the setting up
of wayside amenities at
75 locations across 12
States and Union Territo-
ries on different sections
of roads with the Border
Roads Organisation
(BRO).The amenities
are intended to provide
basic amenities to the
tourists on different
sections of roads which
will lead to boosting
economic activities in
border areas, besides
generating employment.
Opposition’s puzzling silence
on ED’s action against Congress
Sharat K Verma
New Delhi: Congress is
fighting alone against
the ongoing Enforce-
ment Directorate (ED)
action against Sonia
and Rahul Gandhi. Al-
most all the opposition
parties have remained
silent on this. Even the
allies of Congress and
the parties involved in
UPA are not saying any-
thing on this. Usually
the opposition parties
take a stand against the
action of the central
agencies and support
each other. But this time
no one is supporting
Congress. Apart from
the sporadic statements
of a few leaders, the
Congress has not got
much support. Keep in
mind that when the CBI
raided RJD leader Lalu
Prasad and his family in
the past, the Congress
hadopposeditandmade
allegations against the
central government.
But Lalu’s family is si-
lent in the interrogation
of Rahul Gandhi and
Lalu himself has not
given any statement.
Keep in mind that al-
most all opposition par-
ties are facing the action
of central agencies.
From Mamata Banerjee
to Sharad Pawar and He-
mant Soren to Lalu Pras-
adandAkhileshYadavto
MK Stalin, all family
membersandpartylead-
ers are under the control
of centralagencies.Then
the question is whether
the parties are silent out
of fear or are there any
political reasons? It is
possible that on this pre-
text, the opposition par-
tiesarefeelingthatif the
Congress is upset then
theycandotheirpolitics.
It is also being said that
even the Congress did
nottrytotaketheopposi-
tionpartiesalongorfora
common movement on
this. All the opposition
leaders had reached Del-
hi only on Tuesday to at-
tend the meeting called
by Mamata Banerjee but
no one saw the need to
meet Rahul and support
him. On the third day of
Rahul’s interrogation,
Akhilesh Yadav made a
comment in a shady
style, in which he did not
name anyone but said
that the opposition
should be ready to face
the action of central
agencies.
DRAUPADIMURMUOFFERS
PRAYERS AT JAGANNATH TEMPLE
Mayurbhanj: National
Democratic Alliance’s
(NDA) Presidential can-
didate Draupadi Mur-
mu offered prayers at
Rairangpur Jagannath
Temple in Odisha’s
MayurbhanjonWednes-
day morning. She also
offered prayers at a Shi-
va Temple in Mayurb-
hanj’s Rairangpur after
which she swept the
floor of the temple.
In addition, Murmu
visited a tribal worship
place called ‘Jahira’ on
Wednesday
. Draupadi
Murmu, a tribal woman
leader,wasdeclaredBJP-
led NDA’s presidential
candidate. She is a for-
mer Governor of
Jharkhand and a former
Odisha minister and is
NDA’s pick against
Yashwant Sinha, a for-
mer Union Minister, the
joint opposition candi-
date for the July presi-
dentialpolls.Sheislikely
to file her nomination on
June 25, said sources on
Tuesday
.Murmusaidshe
was surprised to learn
about her candidature
andwasunabletobelieve
it and noted that she will
work according to the
powers of the President
enshrined in the Consti-
tution. she said she will
reach out to members of
the electoral college for
their support. “I am sur-
prised, I was not able to
believe it. I am thankful,
do not wish to speak
much,” Draupadi Mur-
mu, a former Jharkhand
Governor, said.
“Whatever powers of
President are enshrined
intheConstitution,Iwill
work accordingly
,” she
saidinresponsetoaque-
ryaboutherprioritiesif
she is elected as presi-
dent.Thevotingforpres-
idential elections will be
held on July 18. If elect-
ed, she will be the first
tribal President of India
andthecountry’ssecond
female President.
NDA’s candidate also offered prayers at a Shiva Temple in Mayurbhanj’s Rairangpur after which
she swept the floor of the temple. In addition, Murmu visited a tribal worship place called ‘Jahira’
PRESIDENT POLLS
National Democratic Alliance (NDA)’s presidential candidate Draupadi Murmu being congratulated
after the declaration, in Mayurbhanj. —PHOTO BY ANI
MANJHI, CHIRAG
PASWAN SUPPORT
NDA’S MURMU
JD(U), LOK JAN
SHAKTI SUPPORT
TO MURMU
New Delhi: Janata Dal
(United) has formally
announced its support
for the NDA’s presiden-
tial candidate Draupadi
Murmu for the upcom-
ing election. Taking to
Twitter, JD (U) national
president Rajiv Ranjan
(Lalan) Singh announced
it on Wednesday. He
wrote, “Janata Dal (U)
welcomes and sup-
ports the candidature of
Draupadi Murmu ji. My
heartiest congratulations
on being nominated for
the presidential election.”
Mayurbhanj: After the an-
nouncement of Droupadi
Murmu as the NDA can-
didate for the Presidential
poll, Bihar’s two Dalit
leaders former CM Jitan
Ram Manjhi and Chirag
Paswan have announced
support to her. Manjhi on
Wed tweeted “Our sister
Droupadi Murmu is a
pride of tribal people. I
would like to congratulate
her as NDA has declared
her candidate for the
highest post of the
country. He also added
the ‘Modi Hai To Mumkin
Hai’ to his tweet.
YASHWANT SINHA
TO FILE NOMINATION
ON JUNE 27
New Delhi: Yashwant Sinha,
a former Union Min and the
joint opposition candidate for
the prez election will file his
nomination on June 27 in the
Parliament with five sets of
nominations.Lok Sabha MP
from Kerala, N K Premchan-
dran said, “We have already
decided to file the nomination
on June 27 at 11.30 am. He
will be filing the nomination
and it will be supported by all
the opposition parties.”
DISCONTENT GROWS IN CPI(M) OVER
SUPPORT TO YASHWANT SINHA
Kolkata: Discontent has started brewing in the CPI(M) over
the party high command’s decision to support Yashwant
Sinha’s candidature as the unanimous opposition candidate
for the Prez polls. The anger
over the candidature of Sinha,
who resigned as the Trinamool
Congress’s national vice- presi-
dent to contest the Prez polls,
is especially acute in the Bengal
brigade of the CPI(M), for whom
the TMC is still the foremost
political rival in the state. The
discontent was ignited by a comment from the CPI(M) RS
member, Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, the party’s sole Parlia-
mentary representative from Bengal, to a section of the media.
CUET-UG from July
15; Registration open
New Delhi: With an as-
pirant being allowed to
appear in upto nine pa-
pers, resulting in 54,000
subject combinations,
the Common University
Entrance Test-Under-
graduate (CUET-UG)
will be the longest en-
trance exam to be con-
ducted from July 15 to
August 10, 2022. Over 11
lakh candidates have
registered for the first
edition of CUET. Na-
tional Testing Agency
(NTA) has also reopened
the registration and cor-
rection window for two
days – July 23 to July 24.
As per the notification
released on Wednesday,
CUET-UG will spread
over 10 days, starting
from July 15. There will
be no CUET papers on
July 17, 2022 due to the
NEET-UG.
ED FILES CHARGE
SHEET AGAINST
ONLINE GAMING
New Delhi: ED has filed
a prosecution complaint/
charge sheet
against two
people for
allegedly oper-
ating “PP Poker
Online Gaming App” and
placing illegal bets and
gambling, ED said on
Wednesday.The persons
who have been charge-
sheeted were identified as
Hardeep Singh and Ankur
alias Rahul Khanna, both
the residents of Kolkata.
Earlier on April 6, the ED
had arrested Hardeep and
Ankur under the provi-
sions of PMLA, 2002.
Coal block case:
ED attaches assets
worth `26 crore
Chandigarh: The
Bharatiya Janata Party
scored a big win
Wednesday in Haryana
municipal elections,
claiming 22 of the 33
seats it contested, al-
though it did lose two
president’s posts in
Karnal, which is chief
minister ML Khattar’s
home turf. Overall, the
results for 46 municipal
councils were well in
favour of the ruling
BJP and its ally, Dushy-
ant Chautala’s Jannay-
ak Janata Party (JJP),
which bagged three
seats. Rivals Aam Aad-
mi Party won just one
president’s post - in Ku-
rukshetra’s Ismailabad.
Independentcandidates
claimed 19, including in
Hansi, Narwana, Nar-
naul, Tohana, Bhiwani,
and Hodal, with the In-
dian National Lok Dal
(INLD) getting one. The
BJP’s presidential seat
wins included councils
in Gohana, Jind, Jhaj-
jar, Bahadurgarh,
Charkhi Dadri, Kalka,
Sohna, Kaithal, Palwal,
and Fatehabad. Gaurav
Bedi, the son of CM
Khattar’s advisor Kris-
han Bedi, lost from
ward number 9 of of
the Shahbad municipal
committee.

❍ HARYANA CIVIC POLLS
Results: BJP wins 22 president’s
seats, independents 19, AAP 1
Krishan Lal Lamba of BJP celebrating after winning Kalka MC
President elections with a margin of 8,364 votes.
New Delhi: India and
Australia on Wednesday
agreed to explore means
to grow connections and
opportunities between
the defence industrial
bases of the two coun-
tries as well as to in-
crease the resilience of
supply chains and deliv-
er capabilities to their
respectivedefenceforces.
This was agreed dur-
ing the bilateral meeting
between Defence Minis-
ter Rajnath Singh and
the visiting Australian
Deputy Prime Minister
andMinisterforDefence
Richard Marles. India is
also set to participate in
Australia’s Indo-Pacific
Endeavour exercise in
October 2022. The two
ministers reviewed the
existingdefencecoopera-
tion activities which
have been increasing de-
spite the challenges of
the COV pandemic and
discussed ways to en-
hance further coopera-
tion. The ministers re-
viewed the defence and
security pillars of the
India-Australia Compre-
hensive Strategic Part-
nership.Theyreaffirmed
their commitment to the
implementation of the
Comprehensive Strate-
gicPartnershipbasedon
mutual trust and under-
standing, common inter-
ests and shared values,
democracy and rule of
law. They welcomed the
growing diversity and
frequency of defence ex-
ercises and exchanges
between the two coun-
tries and undertook to
build upon operational
engagements through
the India-Australia Mu-
tual Logistics Support
Arrangement, accord-
ing to a joint statement
issued by the defence
ministry
.
India, Australia expand defence industrial coop
SHARED OBJECTIVE
lll
Defence Minister
Rajnath Singh
had a bilateral
meeting with the
visitingAustralian
Deputy Prime
Minister and
Minister for
Defence Richard
Marles
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh receiving the Deputy Prime
Minister and Defence Minister of Australia, Richard Marles ahead
of bilateral talks, in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Pawar would...
in the legislature once
theMVAgovernmentad-
mitstohavinglosttheirs.
We have already demon-
strated it twice; in both
the Rajya Sabha and Vid-
han Parishad elections.
The very fact that the
MVA has not moved a
proposal to elect a new
speakerof thestatelegis-
lature for a year since
Nana Patole resigned
clearly shows that they
donothavethemajority
,”
this BJP leader said. He
added that the BJP’s
strategyforMaharashtra
wouldbetoinstallitsgov-
ernment at least a year
beforethestateassembly
elections slated for 2024.
Pawar, who has been
assessing the political
situation over the last
twodays,droppedinVar-
sha, the CM’s official
residence along with his
MP daughter, Supriya
Sule,onWednesdayeven-
ing.
“Pawar is clear that he
will call for mid-term
pollsthemomentthereis
an indication that the
BJP is instigating a
change of government
(as is being witnessed
now) in Maharashtra.
This is to checkmate the
BJP gambit and retain
power in the state until
the assembly polls,” an-
other leader said.
For the moment, both
the Congress and the
NCP have authorized
Thackeray to take any
steps--including install-
ing a new CM from his
party--neededtoquellthe
rebellionintheShivSena
and continue the MVA’s
political run, even if just
for the short term.
FROM PG 1

06
INDIA
Mahesh Sharma
Lucknow : There is sus-
pense about senior Sa-
majwadi Party leader
Azam Khan.Herefused
to contest any family
members from Rampur
Lok Sabha seat. Al-
though SP has given
ticket to his close aide
Asim Raza from this
seat and under his pres-
sure also decided to give
Rajya Sabha to Kapil
Sibal, but despite that it
is being said that Azam
Khan can do some dif-
ferent politics. Its deci-
sion will be taken after
the by-election of Ram-
pur Lok Sabha seat. If
SP wins then it may be
possible that Azam
Khan will do politics of
SP for some more days
but if SP candidate does
not win then it will be
decidedthatAzamKhan
will step aside from SP.
If the SP candidate does
not win, it will mean
that he did not work
hard for his victory
.
There is a direct fight
on Rampur seat. If SP
does not win, BJP will
win and then it will be
assumed that Azam
Khan has paid the debt
of relief from cases to
some extent. After this,
informed sources say
that he can go to Bahu-
jan Samaj Party. BSP
leaders have been invit-
ing him for a long time.
He and his family know
that now aggressive
politics cannot be done
against the BJP by stay-
ing with the SP as be-
fore. He has been in jail
for 27 months and he
knows that BJP’s anger
will cost him dearly as
Yogi Adityanath’s gov-
ernment has been elect-
ed in the state till 2027.
Apart from this, it is
also a factor that Akh-
ilesh Yadav’s uncle
Shivpal Yadav is doing
different politics. His
politics is also going to
harm SP. It is being told
that Shivpal is doing
the work of link be-
tween BSP and Azam
Khan. Keep in mind
that at the time of re-
lease of Azam Khan
from jail, Shivpal had
gone to receive him.
However, after June 26,
there may be some big
change in the politics of
Uttar Pradesh.
What will be Azam Khan’s political future?
PRESTIGE BATTLE
ASSAM FLOOD
55 lakh people affected across
32 districts, toll rises to 89
Guwahati (ANI):
The flood situation in
Assam continued to
remain grim with ris-
ing water levels of
the Brahmaputra and
Barak rivers inun-
dating fresh areas in
the State and impact-
ing over 55 lakh peo-
ple across 32 dis-
tricts, officials said
on June 22.
89 people have lost
their lives since mid-
May due to deluge,
they said. Chief Min-
ister Himanta Biswa
Sarma travelled to
Nagaon by train to
review the situation
in flood-hit areas in
the district, the offi-
cials said, adding he
was also scheduled to
visit a few relief
camps there. Nagaon
was severely affected
by the current wave
of floods with over
4,57,381 people com-
ing under the impact
of the deluge and
15,188 inmates have
taken shelter in 147
relief camps.
Nagaon was affected
by the wave of floods
with over 4,57,381
people under the
impact of deluge
Himanta Biswa Sarma
@himantabiswa
‘‘Undertook a train
journey from Guwahati
to flood-affected areas in
Chaparmukh and Kam-
pur. The journey enabled
me to take a closer look
at the areas ravaged by
flood along the railway
tracks, which will help
us in taking informed
decisions and intervene
accordingly.’’
SEVERAL DISTRICTS FLOODED
As the floodwaters of Kopili have inundated large areas in
Nagaon district, necessary steps will be taken to prevent the
recurrence of such calamity in the future, he said. Sarma
Assuring them all possible help, I asked district administra-
tion to ensure adequate relief to the affected people be on
stand-by, he said. The flood situation in three districts of the
Barak Valley - Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi.
ANIMAL DEATHS
At least 26 of the total 233 camps have been inundated by the
floodwater in Kaziranga National Park with 11 animals dying
due to drowning. In Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, 14 of the total
25 camps have been inundated though there are no reports of
animal deaths. Large-scale erosion of river banks was reported
from Baksa, Biswanath, Bongaigaon, Chirang, districts.
RELIEF
MATERIALS
DISTRIBUTED
Relief materials were dis-
tributed from 825 delivery
points among flood-hit
people who have not
taken shelters in the relief
camps. According to the
bulletin of the Central Wa-
ter Commission (CWC),
the Kopili river was flow-
ing above the danger level
at Kampur in Nagaon dis-
trict, and the Brahmaputra
at Nimatighat, Tezpur,
Guwahati and Dhubri.
ASSAM
TRANSPORT
MINISTER CAMPS
IN SILCHAR
Transport Minister
Parimal Suklabaidya has
been camping at Silchar in
Cachar and monitoring the
flood situation in the Barak
valley with the local MLAs,
deputy commissioners
and senior officials of the
three districts. Meanwhile,
Ambassador of Japan to
India Satoshi Suzuki
expressed sympathy to
the families who lost
their beloved ones.
New Delhi: Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways and
Ayush, Sarbananda Sonowal on Wednesday visited the relief camp
set up at Phulaguri Higher Secondary School in Nagaon district of
Assam to meet flood-affected people of the region. Sonowal visited
the district to assess the support provided and interact with the af-
fected people. He extended his heartfelt condolences to the families.
SONOWAL
VISITS
FLOOD
RELIEF
CAMPS
Amarnath holy cave receives fresh snowfall ahead of yatra
Srinagar (ANI): With
much awaited annual
Amarnath yatra just 12-
days away, fresh light
snowfall was recorded
around the holy cave
shrine in south Kash-
mir Himalayas on Sat-
urday as local Meteoro-
logical office has fore-
cast inclement weather
till June 21.
“Fresh snowfall of
one to two inches was
recorded at Panjtarni,
including Amarnath
cave on Saturday morn-
ing,” a Met official said
and added the weather
is likely to remain er-
ratic till June 21. Pan-
jtarni is located 40 kilo-
metres from Pahalgam
base camp and 15 kilo-
metres ahead of the
last halt camp of
Sheshnag on the way to
the 3,880-metre-high
holy cave shrine. The
yatra takes place from
the twin routes of Pa-
halgam in south Kash-
mir and Baltal in Gan-
derbal district of cen-
tral Kashmir.
This year it will start
on June 30 and culmi-
nate on the day of Rak-
sha Bandhan on August
11. The annual yatra
was canceled in 2020 as
well as 2021 due to Covid
and only symbolic
‘Chhari Mubarak’ was
taken to the cave shrine
by the Mahant Deepend-
era Giri Ji and Sadhus.
In 2019, it was cut short
following intelligence
inputs of terror threats
ahead of the Centre
scrapping Article 370
in Jammu and Kash-
mir. This year so far 2.5
lakh yatris have al-
ready registered for the
pilgrimage. According
to officials this year the
yatra will be one of the
biggest in the history
of JK as around 6-8
lakh pilgrims are ex-
pected to arrive on the
pilgrimage.
Fresh snowfall
of one to two
inches was
recorded at
Panjtarni,
including
Amarnath cave
on Saturday
morning, a Met
official said
Bengaluru: CM Basa-
varaj Bommai is a re-
lieved man after the
visit of PM Modi to Kar-
nataka as it has put an
end to the rumours
about a change of lead-
ership in the state.
Modi praised Bom-
mai at a public rally and
sent a message that the
developmental activi-
ties in the state would
continue under the lead-
ership of Bommai,
bringing the curtains
down on the
leadership
change talk
in the state.
Modi stated
that Karna-
taka will
scale
great-
e r
heights under the lead-
ership of Bommai
and the central
govt would
stand by him.
Sources in the
party said that
the message
given by Modi
is clear that
there will be
no change of
leadership
for the upcoming assem-
bly elections as the state
has already entered the
election year. BJP lead-
ers directly or indirectly
took potshots at Bom-
mai, questioning his
leadership abilities and
organisational skills.
The mixed results in the
MLC elections, his fail-
uretowinLingayatdom-
inated constituencies
raised many questions.
BommaigetsreliefduetoPMsupportinK’taka
New Delhi (ANI): Five
police personnel and a
home guard were
stabbed by a 29-year-
old man identified as
Bharat Bhati inside
the Cyber Cell Police
Station in Delhi’s
Shahdara area Wednes-
day afternoon.
A constable who was
stabbed in the chest is
critical while four oth-
ers are said to be in a
stable condition. The
home guard sustained
multiple stab wounds.
According to police,
Bhati came as a com-
plainant to the station
and started attacking
the staff with a sharp
weapon. He was subse-
quently overpowered
by the personnel posted
at the police station.
5 COPS, 1 HOME GUARD
STABBED IN POLICE STATION
IN THE COURTYARD
New Delhi: Tejaswin Shankar, India’s high jump
national record holder, has approached the Delhi High
Court following his exclusion from the 2022 Common-
wealth Games squad. The writ petition moved through
Adv Malak Bhatt is listed for the hearing on Wednesday
and would be taken up later in the day. He was not
included in the list of 37 names picked by the federa-
tion that held a selection committee meeting last week.
In the plea, the petitioner contended that the Athletics
Federation (AFI)’s decision to exclude him from the
CWG squad is arbitrary, illegal, and against national
interest. The Delhi-based Shankar is studying business
administration at Kansas State University.
TEJASWIN SHANKAR MOVES DEL HC
AGAINST CWG SQUAD EXCLUSION
Kochi: Malayalam movie
producer and actor Vijay
Babu was on Wednesday
granted anticipatory bail
by the Kerala High Court
in a rape case against
him. Justice Bechu Kurian
Thomas granted Babu the
relief subject to the condi-
tions that he shall appear
before the police from
June 27 to July 3, shall
not intimidate the actress-
victim or her family, he
shall not leave Kerala and
if he has been issued a
fresh passport, he shall
surrender the same. The
court said if Babu is ar-
rested by the police, he
shall be released on bail.
HC GRANTS
ANTICIPATORY
BAIL TO VIJAY
BABU
UP TO SC: DEMOLITIONS CARRIED OUT
FOLLOWING DUE PROCESS OF LAW
New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh Govt has informed the
Supreme Court that recent demolitions of properties
carried out in the state
were done following
due process and were
in no way related to
taking action against
persons accused of
rioting.The govt has
taken action against rioters as per a different set of
statutes, the UP govt stated. “It was only after due ser-
vice and providing adequate opportunity under Section
27 of the Act that the illegal construction was demol-
ished by the Prayagraj Development Authority.
‘Purple revolution
has shifted focus to
agri-tech startups’
New Delhi: Union
Minister of State Sci-
ence Technology;
Minister of State
Earth Sciences; MoS
PMO, Personnel,
Public Grievances,
Pensions, Atomic
Energy and Space,
Dr Jitendra Singh
said that “Purple
Revolution” has
shifted focus to Agri-
tech StartUps.
In an exclusive in-
terview to a national
weekly magazine, Dr
Jitendra Singh said
that due to high
monetary returns,
farmers in hilly are-
as of Jammu and
Kashmir are switch-
ing from traditional
farming to aroma
crops like lavender
in a big way. He add-
ed that aroma crops
are both drought and
pest resistant, and
CSIR is providing all
kind of technical
support for promot-
ing this Agri Start-
up boon in the UT.
The Minister in-
formed that CSIR is
also planning to in-
troduce the aroma
crops in other hilly
States with similar
climatic conditions
like Uttarakhand,
Himachal Pradesh
and in North-East-
ern States.
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday
directed the Delhi Police to provide all assistance
to the petitioner/mother and her minor daughter
(victim) to get medical treatment for pregnancy,
if the victim so desires and to ensure that the
foetus sample is preserved for the DNA profiling
of accused. The bench of Justice Jasmeet Singh
on June 20, directed the Station House Officer
(SHO) of Sultanpuri Police station to provide all
assistance to the petitioner and her minor daugh-
ter to get medical treatment for termination of
pregnancy if the victim so desires. The SHO shall
further ensure that the foetus sample is preserved
for DNA profiling of the accused, said the court.
VICTIM OF RAPE ALLOWED TO
TERMINATE PREGNANCY:DEL HC
Union Minister Dr Jitendra
Singh briefing the media
on “Purple Revolution''
in JK, at New Delhi on
Wednesday.

BIZ BUZZ
07
BRIEF
in
in
DoT SCRAPS
SPECTRUM USAGE
CHARGE FLOOR RATE
No purchase of
coal from Russia:
Tata Steel
New Delhi (PTI): Tata
Steel has not made any
purchase of PCI coal
from Russia post its
April announcement of
severing business ties
with Russia amid the
ongoing conflict with
Ukraine, a company
spokesperson said on
Wednesday. On April
20, Tata Steel had said
it would stop doing
business with Russia.
To ensure business
continuity, all its steel
manufacturing sites
in India, the UK and
the Netherlands have
sourced alternative sup-
plies of raw materials
to end its dependence
on Russia. “Tata Steel
would like to issue a
clarification in view of
the incorrect informa-
tion floating around in
some sections of the
media with respect to
the buying/ importing
of coal from Russia,”
the spokesperson said.
A deal for supply of
75,000 tonne of PCI
coal was finalised in
March 2022 and the
contract became effec-
tive weeks before Tata
Steel’s April announce-
ment. The shipment
was received in May
2022 to honour the
business commit-
ment made before the
announcement. “Post
the announcement, Tata
Steel has not made any
fresh purchase of PCI
coal from Russia. As a
responsible corporate,
we have and will contin-
ue to remain committed
to our stated stance and
resulting obligations,”
the spokesperson said.
New Delhi (Agencies): The
Department of Telecom-
munications (DoT) has
scrapped the 3% floor on
spectrum usage charge
(SUC), a move that will be
a big relief to telcos as it
would sharply reduce their
future outflows towards
these statutory fees. “The
weighted average is to be
derived by the sum of the
product of spectrum hold-
ings and applicable SUC
rate, divided by (a telco’s
) total spectrum holding,”
the Department of Tel-
ecommunications said in
an order, dated June 21, on
SUC computations. “Unlike
earlier SUC computation
orders, there is no mention
of the 3% floor rate this
time round, which implies
it has been removed,” said
a senior executive of a top
telco.
INDIAN CARRIERS FLEW 1.20 CRORE PASSENGERS ON THE LOCAL ROUTES IN MAY
Domestic air traffic grows 5x
Mumbai (PTI): Domes-
tic air passenger traffic
saw a strong recovery
in demand as Indian
carriers flew 1.20 crore
passengers on the local
routes in May, logging
nearly five-fold year-on-
year volume growth,
DGCA data showed on
Wednesday
.
Domestic air passen-
ger traffic in May 2021
stood at a meager 21-
lakh, as per the DGCA
data.
Of the total 1.20 crore
passengers flown by the
domestic carriers in
May 2022, market leader
IndiGo transported
around 70 lakh with
57.9% market share, fol-
lowedbyMumbai-based
carrier Go First with
12.76 lakh passengers,
accounting for 10.8% of
total domestic traffic.
The two full-service
carriers -- Air India and
Vistara, which are part
of the Tata Group along
with no-frills AirAsia
India -- carried 8.23 lakh
and 9.83 lakh passen-
gers, respectively
, in the
previous month.
AirAsia India flew
6.86 lakh passengers
across the domestic
routes in May 2022, the
DGCA said.
During the report-
ing month, budget
carrier SpiceJet
delivered the
h i g h e s t
load factor
at 89.1%
followed by
Go First at
86.5%, as per the
monthly data.
In aviation parlance,
passenger Load Factor
or Seat Factor is a meas-
ure of how much of an
airline’s passenger car-
rying capacity is used
or average percentage
of seats filled in an air-
craft. In terms of OTP,
AirAsia India, had its
maximum number of
flights operating on
time with an OTP of
90.8% across four key
airports.
Vistara had the sec-
ond best OTP at 87.5%
in the month under re-
view, DGCA said.
At present DGCA
publishes monthly on-
time performance of
domestic airlines from
four metro airports --
Delhi, Mumbai, Ben-
galuru and Hyderabad.
Indian assistance,not
‘charitable donations’
Colombo (PTI): Sri
Lanka’s Prime Minister
Ranil Wickremesinghe
on Wednesday told Par-
liament that financial
assistance provided by
India are not “charita-
ble donations” and the
island nation facing se-
vere economic crisis
must have a plan to re-
pay these loans.
Sri Lanka has been
facing the worst eco-
nomic crisis since inde-
pendence in 1948 which
has prompted an acute
shortage of essential
items like food, medi-
cine, cooking gas and
fuel across the island
nation.
“We have taken loans
amounting to $4 billion
under the Indian credit
line. We have requested
more loan assistance
from our Indian coun-
terparts. But even India
will not be able to con-
tinuously support us in
this manner. Even their
assistance has its lim-
its. On the other hand,
we too must have a plan
to repay these loans.
These are not charita-
ble donations,” Wick-
remesinghe told Parlia-
ment in an update on
the government’s miti-
gation measures taken
so far.
Wickremesinghe said
Sri Lanka is now facing
a far more serious situ-
ation beyond the mere
shortages of fuel, gas,
electricity and food.
“Our economy has
faced a complete col-
lapse. That is the most
serious issue before us
today. These issues can
only be resolved
through the reviving of
the Sri Lankan econo-
my. In order to do this,
we must first resolve
the foreign reserves cri-
sis faced by us,” he said.
He said it is no easy task
to revive a country with
“a completely collapsed
economy
, especially one
that is dangerously low
on foreign reserves”.
Mumbai (PTI): With
the COVID-19 pandem-
ic disrupting the sales
process, around 73%
of sellers surveyed are
using technology at
least once a week to get
access to real-time
data to drive sales,
says a report. Compa-
nies are increasing
their appetite for data-
based insights to bet-
ter gauge buyer intent
and drive greater
sales, especially
amidst the ongoing
‘great reshuffle’ when
buyers and sellers are
constantly consider-
ing shifting roles, the
LinkedIn sixth edition
of the ‘APAC State of
Sales 2022’ report stat-
ed. In fact, 84% sales
professionals in India
have lost at least one
deal to an important
decision maker chang-
ing roles in the past
year alone.
Therefore, access to
the right intel has be-
come mission-critical
for sales functions
across the board, the
report opined.To avoid
these repercussions,
three in four (73%) sell-
ers in India are now
using sales tech at
least once a week to get
access to accurate real-
time data, indicating
the growing prefer-
ence for CRM systems
and sales intelligence
tools in the industry, it
said.
Findings also sug-
gest that younger (un-
der 35 years) profes-
sionals are leading this
tech-savvy shift, given
that they are 1.2 times
more likely to use CRM
tools for over 3 hours
in a week as com-
pared to their
older (over 35
years) counter-
parts.
But as more busi-
nesses turn to tech,
sales managers must
seek ways to deal with
the impending chal-
lenge of ‘dirty data’,
with 2 in 5 sellers (46%)
and CRM users (38%)
identifying incomplete
and inaccurate data as
their largest challenge,
it suggested.
“Over the past two
years, the rise of re-
mote work has acceler-
ated the use of technol-
ogy across industries.
Our data shows that
three-quarters (73%)
of sellers in India to-
day are relying on
sales technology at
least once a week,
which clearly means
that data is driving the
future of sales,”
LinkedIn Sales Solu-
tions for India Head
Abhai Singh said on
Wednesday
.
APAC STATE OF SALES REPORT
Sensex falls after 2 days,
ends 710 points down
Mumbai (PTI): Equity
indices slipped in the
negative territory on
Wednesday after a two-
day breather, with the
BSE Sensex tumbling
709.54 points following
weak trends in global
markets. Unabated for-
eign fund outflows also
played spoilsport for
the bourses.
The 30-share BSE
Sensex tanked 709.54
points or 1.35 per cent
to settle at 51,822.53.
During the day, it de-
clined 792.09 points or
1.50 per cent to
51,739.98.
The NSE Nifty fell
225.50 points or 1.44 per
cent to end at 15,413.30.
From the Sensex pack,
Tata Steel, Wipro, Reli-
ance Industries, In-
dusInd Bank, HCL
Technologies, Bajaj
Finserv, Titan and Ba-
jaj Finance were the
major laggards.On the
other hand, TCS, HUL,
PowerGrid and Maruti
Suzuki India were the
gainers.
ITC FMCG biz
consumerspend
over `24K cr
New Delhi (PTI): ITC
recorded an annual con-
sumer spend of over
`24,000 crore in FY22 in
the FMCG business,
wherein the company
operates with over 25
mother brands in seg-
ments including food,
personal care, educa-
tion and stationery
.
The FMCG business
of ITC has grown at an
“impressive pace” over
the past several years
and achieved impres-
sive market standing in
a relatively short span
of time, said the com-
pany which still gets
around half of its reve-
nue from tobacco busi-
ness.
ITC portfolio of “over
25 world-class Indian
brands, largely built
through an organic
growth strategy in a
relatively short period
of time, represents an
annual consumer spend
of over `24,000 crore
and reach over 200 mil-
lion households in In-
dia,” the annual report
said.
Annual consumer
spend is the sum which
a consumer spends fi-
nally on buying goods.
TRAVEL INDUSTRY WANTS
AIR SUVIDHA SCRAPPED
New Delhi (Agencies):
With massive delays
in visa processing by
Schengen countries,
US and some other
countries disrupt-
ing travel plans, the
travel industry has
sought the govern-
ment’s intervention to
alleviate the situation.
The Travel Agents
Association of India,
an umbrella organisa-
tion representing over
2,500 travel compa-
nies, has written to the
government, flagging
multiple issues and
asking the Ministry of
External Affairs swift
action to ease require-
ments in a bid to boost
travel. Apart from a
request lift the manda-
tory pre-fill air suvidha
form for all incoming
passengers, the TAAI
has also asked the
government for exten-
sions of free visas to
India and reinstate-
ment of e-visas for all
countries, including
UK and Canada to
boost inbound tour-
ism. Terming the air
suvidha requirement
as an “encumbrance”
that are “hamper-
ing the growth of the
travel sector,” Travel
Agents Association of
India has requested
“the same should be
immediately scrapped.
TO GET ACCESS TO REAL-TIME DATA
` PLUNGES BY 27 PAISE TO
RECORD LOW OF 78.40/$
Mumbai (PTI): The
rupee declined by 27
paise to a record low
of 78.40 (provisional)
against the US dollar
on Wednesday due
to unabated for-
eign fund outflows
and losses in the
domestic equities.
A stronger green-
back overseas also
weighed on the rupee
sentiment. At the
interbank foreign
exchange market,
the local currency
opened flat at 78.13
against the green-
back and witnessed
an intra-day high of
78.13 and a low of
78.40. The domestic
unit finally ended at a
record low of 78.40,
down 27 paise over
its previous close. In
the previous session,
the rupee had settled
at 78.13 against $.
GOLD DECLINES `205;
SILVER DOWN BY `926
Mumbai (PTI): Gold
price in the national
capital region on
Wednesday fell by
`205 to `50,487 per
10 gram in line with a
decline in international
rates of the precious
metal, according to
HDFC Securities. In
the previous trade, the
yellow metal settled at
` 50,692 per 10 gram.
Silver also tumbled
by `926 to `59,959
per kg from `60,885
per kg in the previous
trade. In the interna-
tional market, gold
was quoting lower
at $1,825 per ounce
while silver was trad-
ing flat at $21.28 per
ounce.
Colombo (PTI): An
Indian government del-
egation led by CEA V.
Anantha Nageswaran
will arrive here on
Thursday to assess
Sri Lanka’s economic
conditions and exam-
ine whether another
tranche of financial
package needs to be
disbursed to the island
nation, which is in the
midst of an unprec-
edented economic
turmoil. The delegation
led by Nageswaran will
stay for three hours
and hold talks with
President Gotabaya
Rajapaksa and Wick-
remesinghe.
Chennai (PTI): The
Tamil Nadu govt on
Wednesday dispatched
the second consign-
ment of relief worth
`67.70 crore to the
economic crisis-hit Sri
Lanka. A cargo ship,
carrying the relief ma-
terial, was flagged off
from the Thoothukudi
port. About 14,712
MT rice worth `48.30
crore, 250 tonne of
Aavin milk powder
valued at `7.50 crore
besides `11.90 crore
worth of life-saving
drugs were shipped.
The relief material was
being sent due to the
initiative of CM Stalin.
Indian delegation
to visit SL today
TN sends 2nd
consignment
73% Indian sellers rely on sales tech at least once a week

08
2NDFRONT
Flowers are food and medicine for the
soul, they just make things better, and
people happier!
— Dr Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO Editor-in-Chief, First India
Renni Abraham
Mumbai: With Maha-
rashtra in a furore
over the Shiva Sena
rebellion, the state’s
bureaucratic appara-
tus had downtime on
a cabinet-meeting day
for the first time in a
long time.
However, the ru-
mour mill worked
overtime, especially
within the IAS commu-
nity, as well as Maha-
rashtra cadre officers
in the CMO and other
important state gov-
ernment departments.
“The weekly cabinet
meeting days are typi-
cally preceded by hectic
lobbying, with ministe-
rial aides, MLAs and
every stakeholder in the
government crowding
bureaucrats’ offices to
push their pet issues
through to the council
of ministers or to final-
ize preparatory work for
cabinet notes. This
week, the day saw no
such activity,” a senior
secretariat official told
First India.
Even as actual pro-
ductivity was put on the
backburner, the rumour
mill worked overtime
about possible political
scenarios that could
emerge this week.
“While many bureau-
crats could take it easy
on Wednesday
, the more
conscientious secretar-
ies, joint secretaries and
the like would have
spent the time paying at-
tention to their own de-
partments and the pend-
ing work there,” said
another bureaucrat.
For Mantralaya babu-
dom, it is a given that
governments come and
go while they remain
safe on their respective
bureaucratic perches.
The only aspect that
worries both Indian Ad-
ministrative Service
(IAS) and Indian Police
Service (IPS) officers is
the possibility of poten-
tially being transferred
out of their posts.
“Only those perceived
to be close to the ruling
dispensation would be
distressed over their
prospectsinthecaseof a
change in government.
They had only just ce-
mented their positions
within the MVA dispen-
sation after a period of
two-and-a-half years of
constant speculation of
a government collapse
and, suddenly
, they’ve
had the rug pulled out
from under their feet,”
this person added.
MANTRALAYA’S BABUDOM TAKES IT EASY, AS POLITICS BOILS OVER
WAITING WATCHING
lll
Bureaucrats
were relatively
free on the
weekly cabinet
day amid
turmoil in the
state govt,
although
rumour mills
worked
overtime
Jio-bp to power Nexus
Malls’ electric vehicle journey
First India Bureau
Mumbai: Nexus Malls
has partnered with
Jio-bp, a Reliance In-
dustries Ltd and bp
fuel and mobility
joint venture, to roll
out electric vehicle
(EV) charging sta-
tions and battery
swapping stations
across its portfolio of
17 malls in 13 cities.
“As part of this part-
nership, Nexus malls
will be installed with
24x7 charging infra-
structure for two and
four-wheeler EVs,” Jio-
bp said in a statement.
In the first phase,
from June 2022, the
charging stations will
be available at Nexus
malls in Navi Mumbai,
Bengaluru, Hyderabad,
Pune, and Ahmedabad.
Jio-bp is developing
an ecosystem that will
benefit all stakeholders
in the EV value chain.
Last year, the company
established two of In-
dia’s largest EV charg-
ing stations.
“To accelerate EV
adoption, Nexus will
encourage the compa-
ny’s customers to
charge vehicles at their
malls amongst other en-
vironmentally con-
scious initiatives,” the
statement said.
The JV’s electric mo-
bility business, offering
charging infrastructure
toIndianconsumers,op-
erates under the brand
Jio-bp pulse. With the
Jio-bp pulse mobile app,
customers can easily
find charging stations
nearby and seamlessly
charge their EVs.
Leveraging the best
of Reliance and bp’s
strengths in electrifica-
tion, the company is
creating a charging eco-
system that will benefit
all the stakeholders in
the EV value chain.
In the first phase, the
charging stations will
be available at Nexus
malls in Navi Mumbai,
Bengaluru, Hyderabad,
Pune and Ahmedabad
EV charging stations and battery
swapping stations will be installed by
Jio-bp across Nexus Malls’ properties
RebelMLAsshelterinAssam,
CMsaysstateneedsrevenue
First India Bureau
Guwahati: Hours af-
ter a group of Maha-
rashtra MLAs led by
dissident Shiv Sena
leader Eknath Shinde
reached Assam and
were put up in a lux-
ury hotel, Assam
Chief Minister Him-
anta Biswa Sarma on
Wednesday said that
he welcomes all to
visit Assam as the
state needs revenue to
deal with the devas-
tating flood.
He also said, without
elaborating, that he will
be happy if Assam be-
comes an “internation-
al political epicentre”.
Guwahati has many
luxury hotels and if the
rooms are full, “we
shouldbehappyasitwill
bringinrevenue.Wewill
earn through GST and
we need it during these
difficult times in the
state,” Sarma said.
Altogether 55 lakh
people in 32 districts of
the North-eastern state
are now affected by
floods, with 89 having
lost their lives.
In response to a ques-
tion, he said, “Why
should there be any
controversy regarding
their visit? We welcome
all tourists to visit the
state now as we need
funds to deal with the
floods. Why should we
turn away Goddess Lak-
shmi when most of our
hotels are empty or
have low occupancy?”
Asked whether he
would meet the dissi-
dent MLAs, Sarma said
that there is no need for
him to do that, adding
that he is busy dealing
with the flood situation.
“I will be happy if the
state becomes an inter-
nationalpoliticalepicen-
tre. I urge all to visit the
state so that we can earn
revenue,” he said.
Meanwhile, when
asked why they had
come to Guwahati,
Shinde said, “It’s a nice
place.”
Security personnel keep vigil outside the hotel where dissident MLAs of Maharastra are staying, in
Guwahati, on Wednesday. —PTI PHOTO
2 kids die as tanker
crashes into them at
Mumbai traffic signal
Mumbai (PTI): A
three-year-old boy
and his two-year-old
cousin were killed
when a tanker trans-
porting bitumen hit
them while they
were waiting at a
traffic signal to
cross a busy street
in suburban Chem-
bur, police said on
Wednesday.
Rishi and Srishti
Gupta were killed
when they were cross-
ing the road near a
hotel on Tuesday af-
ternoon, an official
said, adding that
Srishti’s mother Ran-
jana suffered injuries
to her legs.
“Ranjana, Srishti,
and Rishi were stand-
ing at a traffic signal
to cross the road when
the tanker driver lost
his control over the
vehicle which
rammed into the trio.
They were rushed to a
hospital by local peo-
ple where Srishti and
Rishi were declared
dead,” the official
said.
Tanker driver Ra-
jendra Purohit was ar-
rested under various
sections of the Indian
Penal Code (IPC) in-
cluding 304-A (caus-
ing death by negli-
gence). Further inves-
tigation is underway,
the official added.
Ranjana was tak-
ing Srishti (2) for a
medical check-up
with a doctor and
asked Rishi (3) to ac-
company them there
Chitale gets bail over online post against NCP chief
First India Bureau
Thane: More than a
month after she was
arrested for allegedly
sharing an objection-
able post about Na-
tionalist Congress
Party (NCP) chief
Sharad Pawar on so-
cial media, a Thane
court granted bail to
Marathi actor Ketaki
Chitale on Wednes-
day.
District Judge HM
Patwardhan granted
bail to her on a surety
of Rs20,000.
With this, Chitale
will be able to walk out
of the Thane Central
Jail, where she is cur-
rently lodged, said her
advocate Yogesh Desh-
pande.
On May 14, 2022,
Thane police had ar-
rested Chitale for shar-
ing on Facebook a Mar-
athi verse, which alleg-
edly referred to Pawar
in a derogatory way
.
Police at Kalwa in
Thane had registered
the offence against her
under various sections
of the Indian Penal
Code (IPC) for her post
on Pawar.
The offence was reg-
istered under Section
505 (2) (statements con-
ducting to public mis-
chief), 500 (defama-
tion), 501 (printing or
engraving matter
known to be defamato-
ry) and 153A (promot-
ing enmity between dif-
ferent groups on
grounds of religion,
race, place of birth,
residence, language,
among others). In his
complaint, Swapnil
Netke had alleged that
the post was likely to
lead to trouble between
political parties.
The 29-year-old actor
is currently facing over
20 FIRs regarding the
Facebook post.
THE CASE
Marathi actor to be released from
Thane jail on a surety of `20,000
Ketaki Chitale in police custody. —FILE PHOTO
HC extends interim protection of
IPS Rashmi Shukla till July 06
First India Bureau
Mumbai: The Bom-
bay High Court on
Wednesday extend-
ed till July 06 the in-
terim protection
from arrest granted
to IPS officer Rash-
mi Shukla in a phone
tapping case.
A bench of Justices
Nitin Jamdar and NR
Borkar restrained the
Mumbai police from
taking any coercive ac-
tion against Shukla in
connection with an
FIR registered against
her at the Colaba po-
lice station in Febru-
ary this year in the
case of alleged phone
tapping.
In a plea filed
through advocate Sa-
meer Nangre, Shukla
claimed she had been
falsely implicated in
the case and that the
FIR was politically
motivated.
The FIR was regis-
tered following a com-
plaint lodged by sen-
ior police officer Rajiv
Jain, accusing Shukla
of having put the
phone numbers of
Shiv Sena MP Sanjay
Raut and NCP leader
Eknath Khadse under
surveillance.
Earlier, a division
bench of Justices
Prasanna B Varale
and Shriram M Modak
had granted interim
relief to Shukla.
On March 04 this
year, another bench of
the high court had
granted protection
from arrest to Shukla
till March 25 in anoth-
er plea filed by her,
seeking to quash an
FIR lodged against her
at the Bund Garden
police station in Pune.
The Pune FIR is in
connection with the al-
leged illegal phone tap-
ping of state Congress
president Nana Patole.
The IPS officer has
claimed she has
been falsely
implicated in a
phone tapping case
IPS Rashmi Shukla
Maharashtra Secretariat (Mantralaya). —FILE PHOTO

S
hilpa Shetty, who was last seen in
Nikamma, is all set to make her de-
but in Rohit Shetty’s cop universe
with the Indian Police Force. Mean-
while, the actress recently revealed that it
was her son Viaan Kundra who convinced
her to join the project and that he is the only
reason she is doing the film. In an interview
with the Press Trust of India, Shilpa said
her son Viaan Raj is a huge fan of Ro-
hit’s films and the ten-year-old was
more excited about the show than
her. “I told my son that Rohit Shetty
has offered me a role and he jumped
and he said, ‘Mumma you have to do
it for me’. When I saw the excitement
on his face, I was so happy. He is
such a big fan of Rohit. I always tell
Rohit this is something I did for him
(my son).” The actress also recalled
that when she was told that Rohit
Shetty wants to cast her in his next
project, she thought that someone
was pulling a prank on her.
K
iara Advani is one of the
most gorgeous actresses of
the current generation. Ki-
ara and Varun Dhawan are
leaving no stones unturned to pro-
mote their film along with their co-
stars Anil Kapoor, Neetu Kapoor
and Maniesh Paul. The actress is
making heads turn with her fash-
ion game during the promotion.
Even on Wednesday, she left her
fans speechless with the white bod-
ycon dress that she wore and we bet
you cannot take your eyes off her.
In the pictures, Kiara Advani
stylishly poses for the camera wear-
ing that white-coloured bodycon
dress. The dress had a tube neck
and looked lovely on her. The ac-
tress left her hair open and flaunted
her no-makeup look. She completed
her look with golden pumps. Indeed
she was a sight to behold.
www.firstindia.co.in I https://firstindia.co.in/epapers/mumbai I twitter.com/
thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia 09
MUMBAI, THURSDAY,
JUNE 23, 2022
Deepika to join
Deepika to join
Atlee’s Jawan
Atlee’s Jawan
hah Rukh Khan is taking
all the right moves to en-
sure that the 30th year of
his career will be the big-
gest ever since his acting
debut on June 25, 1992.
The actor kicks off 2022
with Pathaan on January 25, fol-
lowed by Jawan on June 3 and fi-
nally, Dunki during the Christmas
weekend.
According to the sources,
Deepika Padukone will be
making a brief appear-
ance in this action-
packed entertain-
er, fronted by SRK with Nayantha-
ra, Sanya Malhotra, Rana Daggu-
bati and Sunil Grover. “Deepika
has been in talks with SRK and
Atlee for a while now and she is
poised to make a short yet impor-
tantappearanceinthefilm.Shehas
agreed in principle though the pa-
perwork remains,” revealed a
source close to the development.
ShahRukhKhanwasinHyderabad
recently with his director and ac-
cording to our source. Shah Rukh
Khan and Atlee met the actress and
even discussed the dynamics of her
character as also the shoot dates.
S
A
ll eyes are on Tara Sutaria, Arjun Ka-
poor, John Abraham, and Disha Patani
ever since they have been roped in for the
action-thriller Ek Villain 2. The movie is
a spiritual sequel to Mohit Suri’s 2014 film Ek
Villain which starred Sidharth Malhotra, Shrad-
dha Kapoor, and Riteish Deshmukh in pivotal
roles. Ever since the makers had announced the
sequel, fans have been eagerly waiting for the
highly-anticipated movie. It is backed by Ekta
Kapoor’s Balaji Motion Pictures and Bhushan
Kumar’s T-Series . Now, the cast of Ek Villain 2-
Tara, John, and Arjun have finally kickstarted
the promotions of the film in the city. However,
Disha was missing from the promotional event.
The Heropanti 2 actress aces the boho-chic style
with high-heeled white boots and an edgy nose
ring. On the other hand, the 2 States star kept
it effortlessly stylish in a navy blue tee-shirt
which he wore with a maroon leather jacket,
and to complete his look, he added a pair of
black sunglasses. Coming to John, he sported
an all-black outfit as he wore a black zip-up
hoodie and sweatpants.
S
onam Kapoor is one of the most popular
actors in the tinsel town of Bollywood. In
her career, she has featured in several
memorable films like Raanjhanaa and
Neerja among others. Speaking of which, yes-
terday, on the 21st of June, Raanjhanaa
clocked 9 years. The Aanand L Rai directo-
rial featured Sonam alongside Dhanush and
Abhay Deol. Taking to her Instagram sto-
ries a few moments back, Sonam Kapoor
shared director Rai’s post for Raanjha-
naa. In the post, one could see a still
from the film, featuring Dhanush and
Sonam’s characters, Kundan and
Zoya respectively
. Sharing the picture,
Aanand L Rai wrote a sweet note on
the occasion as well. As soon as he
shared the post, it was flooded with
likes and comments. Sonam too com-
mented on his post some time back, as
she wrote, “The best (red heart emojis)”.
GLAM
GLAM
IT UP!
IT UP!
9 YEARS OF
9 YEARS OF
RAANJHANAA
RAANJHANAA
EK VILLAIN 2
EK VILLAIN 2
PROMOTIONS
PROMOTIONS
Sonam Kapoor Ahuja
His post...
Kiara Advani
Her post...
Tara Sutaria
Her post...
Deepika Padukone
Shilpa Shetty Kundra
MOTHER-SON DUO!

F
A
C
E
O
F
T
H
E
D
A
Y
SHATABDI BOR, Blogger
LEO
JULY 24 - AUGUST 23
Health tips from an expert
will enable you to get closer
to your fitness goals.
Chances of being misled by
competitors in business are high, so
remain alert. Your generous behavior
would enable to enjoy some lovely
moments with family. Love comes your
way as friendship turns into romance.
LIBRA
SEPT 24 - OCTOBER 22
Some of you are going to
experience emotional
fulfillment on romantic
front. Yoga would help in
raising energy levels. Place
emphasis on domestic affairs to
enhance the domestic tranquility and
harmony. It is a wonderful day to
build new connections.
ARIES
MAR 21 - APR 20
Investment antiques and
jewellery would bring
handsome financial gains.
On professional front,
recognition for good work would
motivate you to work harder. Efforts
made to improve looks or personality
will bring desired results. Health will
be satisfactory.
SAGITTARIUS
NOV 23 - DEC 22
Your hard work and
dedication are likely to be
noticed by seniors, paving
way for promotion or
increment. Family will be supportive of
career aspirations. A promising day
overall as you stay in limelight without
any efforts. Harsh words may create a
rift in your romantic relationship.
GEMINI
MAY 21 - JUNE 21
A sound financial health of
businessmen would enable
to give monetary benefits
to employees. Your sole
dependency on friends may fail to
bring any respite from loneliness
today. It is good day to confess your
love as stars appear favourable for
positive reply.
AQUARIUS
JAN 21 - FEB 19
You will succeed in resolving
misunderstanding with
family members,
normalizing ties. Seek
proper valuation of the property you
are planning to buy. You will remain
much in demand on social front. You
need to stand by romantic partner
during testing times.
TAURUS
APR 21 - MAY 20
You succeed in completing
an important project well
before deadline.
Disagreements on the
family front are foreseen. Be careful
about the legal apprehensions in the
property you are planning to buy.
Your intuition will save you from a
tricky spot today.
CAPRICORN
DEC 23 - JAN 20
Those suffering from
chronic ailments may find
remarkable improvement
in their health with home
remedies. Today you will enjoy the
trust of senior management. Minor
domestic disputes may snowball into
a major row, so give attention to the
family.
VIRGO
AUG 24 - SEP 23
Implementation of new
ideas and projects would
add to your prestige on the
professional front. A sound
monetary position would enable you
to keep pace with changing times.
Avoid raising controversial issues at
home to maintain harmony. Your rela-
tionship requires you to be tactful.
CANCER
JUNE 22 - JULY 23
You will have an awesome
day today .Continue to put
in efforts at work and you
will see promising
opportunities coming your way.
Matrimonial match for siblings will
bring happiness for entire family. You
will get a good price for your
property.
PISCES
FEB20 - MARCH 20
Paying special attention to
plan your career would
give immense joy. You are
likely to get clearance or
approval for your construction plans.
You find things moving in the way
you want them. Gifting something to
your beloved is likely to make the day
memorable.
SCORPIO
OCT 23 - NOVEMBER 22
Seek the opinion of your
family before finalizing a
property deal. An
impromptu invitation to a
function from an unexpected friend is
likely to be received. Your bold
initiatives on romantic front bring
back passion and spark in romantic
relationship.
YOUR
DAY
Horoscope by
Saurabbh Sachdeva
10
ETC
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he definition of
'asana' is a pos-
ture that is sta-
bleandpleasant.
You should feel
c o m f o r t a b l e
whendoingyoga
asanas.Whatisthedefini-
tion of comfort? When
you don't feel the body
. If
you are sitting in some
odd positions then
you feel those
parts of the
body
, painfully
.
Your focus is
more on the dis-
comfort there.
When you do any
asana,whatyoufeelfirst
is discomfort. But if you
take your mind through
it,youwillfindthatinjust
afewminutesthediscom-
fort has disappeared and
you don't feel the body
.
You feel an expansion or
infinity in the postures.
How should a posture
be done? Get into a posi-
tion and let go of the ef-
fort. What happens then?
Infinity abides in you. So
each asana should be
done keeping in mind
that the goal of this is not
justthecorrectnessof the
posture, but to feel an ex-
pansion within. This is
the most important thing
in yoga asanas. The pur-
poseof yogaisnotonlyto
keep a good physical
shape but also to experi-
enceinfinityandtimeless
expansion within. And
that starts happening to
you with some practice.
The other definition
of yoga is to get back
from the scenery to the
seer. Slowly take your at-
tention from outside to
inside. First, from the
environment, bring your
attention to the physical
body. Then go one step
further because even
the body is the
scenery and take
your attention
to the mind.
Now when you
witness the
thoughts that are
coming into the
mind, even that becomes
the scenery. Go deeper.
So movement from the
scenery to the seer, to the
one who is seeing every-
thing is another defini-
tion of yoga.
Whenever you experi-
ence joy, ecstasy, bliss
and happiness in life,
knowingly or unknow-
ingly you are abiding
like the seer. Otherwise,
at other times, you are
with different activities
of the mind, and you are
lost in them.
THE MODULATIONS
OF THE MIND
What are these different
activities of the mind? The
modulations of the mind
are of five forms; some are
problematic and some are
not. These are:
Pramana: when the mind is
engaged in wanting proof
Viparyaya: means wrong
understanding
Vikalpa: means an imagi-
nary notion, not conforming
to reality
Nidra: which means sleep
Smruti: living in memory
These five vrittis or
modulations of the
mind drain the poten-
tial of a human being.
Having control over
these modulations of
the mind is what yoga is
all about. They are like
horses. If the reins of the
horses are in your hands,
then you can give them
direction, but if you are
at the mercy of the horse
then it takes you wher-
ever it goes. So it is said,
'Yogah chitta vritti niro-
daha' - Yoga is that which
arrests the modulations
of the mind. When you
practice an asana, the
goalistofeelcomfortable
and then feel the expan-
sion; not by wanting to
feel, but by letting go; by
not 'doing' something. So
the first step in yoga is to
let go, to relax and the
last step in yoga is also to
let go and relax.
YOGA!
YOGA!
T
THE
TRUTH
ABOUT
As we celebrated the International Yoga Day on June 21, the Yoga enthusiasts and for all the
readers out there, City First brings to you the real Truth about Yoga by Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Yoga is that which gives you pleasure and comfort
GURUDEV SRI SRI
RAVI SHANKAR
(Global Humanitarian
and Spiritual Leader)

23062022_First India Mumbai.pdf

23062022_First India Mumbai.pdf

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