26082022_ First India New Delhi.pdf

High drama at Rajghat after biting suspense at CM’s residence
First India Bureau
New Delhi: Accompa-
nied by more than 50
AAP MLAs, Delhi CM
Arvind Kejriwal head-
ed to Rajghat on Thurs-
day, to pray at the Ma-
hatma Gandhi memo-
rial there, after a sus-
penseful gathering at
his residence where one
question hanged on eve-
ryone’s mind – how
many party MLAs had
reached?
Rajghat was soon wit-
ness to another drama:
BJP’s Yuva Morcha ac-
tivists pouring Ganga-
jal to “purify” the Gan-
dhi Samadhi. The BJP
youth wing’s leader Ab-
himanyu Tyagi said,
“The reason behind our
pouring Ganga Jal is
that AAP is earning
money by perpetrating
a scam in selling liquor
and trying to save them-
selves by using Bapu’s
name. They should have
realised that Bapu was
against alcohol.”
On Wednesday, the
AAP alleged that four
of its MLAs had been
offered Rs 20 crore each
to defect to the BJP and
another Rs 25 crore to
bring other MLAs
along. While the BJP
denied these charges,
asking the AAP to pro-
vide its proof Turn to P2
CM Arvind Kejriwal arrives at Rajghat along with 53 party MLAs. AAP MLAs coming out of the CM’s residence after their meeting.
‘THERE IS A SERIAL KILLER WHO
HAS COMMITTED SIX MURDERS’
Amid all the drama, Kejriwal posted a cryptic tweet later
in the evening, saying media is asking for evidence.
“There is a serial killer who has committed six murders
in similar pat-
tern. He attempted
another murder
in the same patter
this time. He failed
with similar pattern
in a murder this
time.“The victim is
saying he attacked
him and I saw it. But
the entire media is
asking for evidence from the victim. There is an eyewit-
ness, the pattern is there, at least arrest him. The police
will gather the evidence,” he wrote.
Sonali Phogat’s death: Goa
Police lodges murder case
2-yr extension to ‘lateral
entry’ joint secretaries
Bilkis case: Notice
to Guj on remission
of 11 convicts
US journalist
deported from
Delhi airport
Panaji: The Goa Police
on Thursday registered
a murder case to probe
the death of BJP leader
Sonali Phogat. The
42-year-old actor-turned-
politician died of a sus-
pected heart attack in
GoaonTuesdaywithher
family questioning the
circumstances leading
to her death. Goa Police
DG Jaspal Singh said
they will interrogate
BJP leader and actor
Sonali Phogat’s two as-
sociates Sudhir Sagwan
and Sukhwinder Wasi
after her post-mortem
report mentioned that
there were “multiple
blunt force injuries” on
her body
. The Goa Police
had registered a charge
of murder against the
two associates after the
post-mortem report was
issued.
Section 302 (murder)
of theIndianPenalCode
was added to the case re-
lated to the death of the
42-year-old leader.
Sagwan and Singh,
who had accompanied
Phogatwhenshearrived
in Goa on August 22,
were named as accused.
New Delhi (PTI): The
Centre has given two-
year extension to six
‘lateral entrants’ who
were inducted as joint
secretaries in central
government ministries
in 2019, sources said.
The government had
advertised 10 vacancies
for joint secretaries, but
only nine were short-
listed from more than
6,000 applicants and
only eight joined.
While Arun Goel, JS
DPIIT, resigned after
two years and returned
to the private sector,
Amber Dubey who
joined the Civil Avia-
tion Ministry has de-
sired to return to the
private sector after
three years.
Those who have giv-
en extensions as joint
secretaries are Sujit Ku-
mar Bajpayee (Environ-
ment, Forest and Cli-
mate Change), Saurabh
Mishra (Ministry of
Finance), Rajeev Sak-
sena (Economic Af-
fairs), Dinesh Day-
anand Jagadale (New
and Renewable Ener-
gy), Suman Prasad Sin-
gh (Road Transport and
Highways) and Bhush-
an Kumar (Ministry of
Shipping).
New Delhi (ANI): The
Supreme Court on Thurs-
day issued notice to the
Gujarat government on a
plea challenging the re-
mission granted by the
State to 11 convicts who
had gang-raped Bilkis
Bano and murdered her
family members during
the 2002 Godhra riots.
A bench of Chief Jus-
tice of India NV Ramana
and Justices Ajay
Rastogi and Vikram Nath
sought a response from
the Gujarat government
and posted it for hearing
after two weeks. It also
asked petitioners to
make 11 convicts party in
the case.
New Delhi (PTI): Amer-
ican journalist Angad
Singh was deported to
New York soon after he
landed here on Wednes-
day night, his mother
claimed in a Facebook
post.
Singh, who produces
documentaries for Vice
News with a focus on
Asia, was on a personal
visittoIndia,hismother
Gurmeet Kaur said.
My son, an American
citizen who travelled 18
hours to Delhi to visit us
inPunjab,wasdeported.
Put in the next flight
back to New York, Kaur
said, adding they did not
give a reason.
POWER CENTRE
A view of Parliament House, Rashtrapati Bhavan and other buildings in New Delhi on Thursday.
ASSEMBLY’S
SPECIAL, STORMY
SESSION TODAY
New Delhi: The Delhi
Assembly’s special ses-
sion convened Friday is
likely to be a stormy af-
fair amid a slugfest over
central probe agencies’
action in the Kejriwal
government’s excise
policy and the AAP ac-
cusing the BJP of trying
to lure its MLAs.
New Delhi (PTI): India
on Thursday rejected
China's objection to an
Indo-US military exer-
cise in Uttarakhand in
October.
India's reaction came
after China's defence
ministry, referring to
the planned exercise,
said it was firmly op-
posed to any third party
"meddling" in the border
issue. The 18th edition
of the exercise "Yudh
Abhyas" is scheduled to
take place from Oct 14 to
31 in Auli.
"I do not understand
the reference to third
party interference. The
India-US exercise is
something completely
different and I do not
know what colour has
been given that it is tar-
geted there or it is violat-
ing any existing agree-
ment," External Affairs
Ministry spokesperson
Arindam Bagchi said.
His comments came
when asked at a media
briefing about the re-
marks on the exercise by
a spokesperson of Chi-
na's Ministry of Nation-
al Defence (MND)
In his remarks, Senior
Colonel Tan Kefei said
he hoped that India will
abide by the bilateral
agreements not to hold
military drills near the
Line of Actual Control
(LAC).
"The two sides should
stick to the agreements
(signed) in the past and
obviously that did not
happen," Bagchi said in
retort.
India rejects China’s objection to
Indo-US military drills in U’khand
EMA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi
—PHOTOS
BY
PTI
—PHOTO
BY
PTI
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epapers/delhi I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
NEW DELHI l FRIDAY, AUGUST 26, 2022 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI TITLE NO. DELENG/2021/19840 l Vol 1 l Issue No. 357
OUR EDITIONS: JAIPUR, NEW DELHI & MUMBAI
MARKETS
SETTLE LOWER
ON FAG-END
SELL-OFF
GOVT RESTRICTS EXPORT OF WHEAT FLOUR
New Delhi: The government on Thursday decided to put restrictions on the
export of wheat or meslin flour to curb rising prices of the commodity. The
decision was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic
Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi here.
Mumbai: Equity benchmarks ended lower on
Thursday as a fag-end sell-off wiped out early
gains, with IT and bank stocks playing spoilsport
amid monthly derivatives expiry. The Sensex ended
310.71 points lower.
OUT ON BAIL,
SUSPENDED BJP
LEADER T RAJA
HELD AGAIN
Hyderabad: Telangana BJP MLA T Raja Singh was
arrested on Thursday for allegedly making derogatory
remarks about Prophet Mohammed in April, said
the Hyderabad police, which had issued two notices
under CrPC, which allows arrest without a warrant.
BSE SENSEX 58774.72 310.71 | NSE NIFTY 17522.50 82.50
INDIA AIMS TO
ROLL OUT 5G BY
OCTOBER 12
ACB NABS SHO,
DEO, THREE
OTHERS
New Delhi: India is
gearing up for the roll
out of 5G services by
October 12, Union
Communications,
Electronics and
Information Technology
Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw
said on Thursday.
Jaipur: The ACB nabbed
Govindgarh SHO in
Jaipur Harinarayan
Sharma for taking `6
lakh bribe, Barmer DEO
Kesardan Ratnu & 2
brokers with `50,000
bribe, and Vijay Chhabra,
an RSRTC operator,
Hanumangarh Depot with
`40,000 bribe.
PM NARENDRA MODI
TO VISIT GUJARAT
ON SATURDAY
BHUPENDRA
CHAUDHARY IS NEW
UP BJP CHIEF
New Delhi: Prime Minister
Narendra Modi will
inaugurate Smriti Van in
Bhuj, which celebrates the
spirit of resilience shown
by people following the
2001 earthquake in Gujarat,
during his two-day visit to
the state from Saturday.
New Delhi: The BJP on
Thursday announced several
top-level appointments
in various states. In
a significant political
play, Bhupendra Singh
Chaudhary, a minister in the
UP govt and a member of
the Legislative Council, has
been made its UP President.
READ
Crucial
Crucial
Home Minister Amit Shah chairing a review meeting on J&K security, in New Delhi on Thursday.
Also seen are J&K LG Manoj Sinha, NSA Ajit Doval and Home Secy Ajay Bhalla. —PHOTO BY ANI
AmitShahreviews
J&K security at
high-level meeting
New Delhi (ANI): Un-
ion Home Minister
Amit Shah on Thurs-
daychairedahigh-level
meeting to review the
security situation in
Jammu and Kashmir.
The meeting started
around 3 pm at the
Home Ministry in pres-
ence of National Secu-
rity Advisor Ajit Dov-
al, Union Home Secre-
tary Ajay Bhalla, Jam-
mu and Kashmir Lieu-
tenant Governor
Manoj Sinha, Army
Chief Manoj Pandey,
Jammu and Kashmir
Manoj Sinha and Re-
search and Analysis
Wing Chief Samant
Goel. Central Reserve
Police Force (CRPF) Di-
rector General Kuldiep
Singh, Border Security
Force (BSF) chief Pan-
kaj Singh and National
Investigation Agency
(NIA) Director General
Dinkar Gupta also at-
tended the meeting
which was held in hy-
brid mode.
Jammu and Kash-
mir Director General
of Police Dilbagh Sin-
gh was also present at
the meeting.
It is learnt that Shah
was apprised about the
condition of cross-bor-
der infiltration, the
present situation of
terrorism in Jammu
and Kashmir and oth-
er issues linked to it.
INFILTRATION BID FOILED ALONG LOC
IN J&K’S URI, 3 INTRUDERS KILLED
Srinagar (Agencies): An infiltration bid on the Line of
Control (LoC) in the Uri sector in Kashmir was foiled
by the Army on Thursday in which three intruders were
killed. Official sources said that alert troops of the Army
foiled the infiltration bid on the LoC in the Kamalkote
area in Uri. “Intruding terrorists were challenged after
which an encounter took place in which three terrorists
were killed. “Arms and ammunition have been
recovered from the slain terrorists. Searches are now
going on in the area,” sources said.
Raids on RJD
leaders is BJP’s
anger: Nitish
Patna: A day after the
CBI raids on five leaders
of the RJD in Bihar, CM
NitishKumarjustgavea
smile in answer to ques-
tions of waiting media-
persons. “You would see
what will happen in fu-
ture,” Kumar said while
hinting that the BJP top
leadership ‘acted in an-
ger’. The leaders of Ma-
hagathbandhan are ex-
pectingmoreraidsinthe
future, said sources. Nit-
ish along with deputy
CMTejashwiwenttothe
statue of socialist leader
BP Mandal to pay grati-
tude on his birth anni-
versary
.
Woman gang-raped by 5
men at Jaipur Rly Station
Satyanarayan Sharma
Jaipur: A married
woman was allegedly
kidnapped and gang-
raped by five men in a
railway yard at Jaipur
Junction on Wednes-
day night. The victim
and her husband had
to board a train. “The
woman came out of the
station to take food for
her husband, while he
waited. She met five
men from whom she
inquired about a res-
taurant. On the pretext
of taking her to a res-
taurant, the miscre-
ants took the victim
towards railway yard
and gang-raped her,”
police said.

CAPITOL
NEW DELHI | FRIDAY, AUGUST 26, 2022
02
Twin towers to be razed on
schedule: Noida Authority CEO
Noida (PTI): The final
review of preparations
for demolition of Su-
pertech’s illegal twin
towers was done on
Thursday and they will
be razed as per schedule
on August 28 at 2.30 pm,
Noida Authority CEO
Ritu Maheshwari said.
The Noida Authority,
which functions under
the Uttar Pradesh gov-
ernment, is overseeing
the demolition of the
nearly 100-metre-tall
structures in Sector
93A of the city
.
Maheshwari visited
Emerald Court and a
meeting was held with
all stakeholders includ-
ing local residents’
groups concerned.
“The meeting was to
get an overview of the
preparations, technical
aspects of demolition
and compliances left to
be completed for the
safe demolition of the
towers,” the senior IAS
officer said. Mahesh-
wari said, “The twin
towers would be demol-
ished at 2.30 pm on Au-
gust 28 in compliance of
the order of the Su-
preme Court.” Officials
of the Central Building
Research Institute, the
Supreme Court-ap-
pointed technical ex-
pert, also attended the
review meeting and
said there will be no de-
lay in the demolition.
“We wanted the resi-
dents to be satisfied
with the preparations.
They said they are non-
technical people but are
more than satisfied by
the preparations,”
CBRI’s scientist D P Ka-
nungo said.
He said the CBRI is
also satisfied with the
planning and prepara-
tions done by demoli-
tion firm Edifice Engi-
neering and its expert
South African partner
Jet Demolitions.
PREPARATIONS DONE
‘ONLY GOD CAN STOP US’
Noida: “Nobody but God can stop us now,” the project manager responsible
for the demolition of Supertech’s illegal twin 40-storey towers today said as he
explained how the structures, taller than the Qutub Minar, will be demolished
in seconds on Sunday. All final preparations are done, Mayur Mehta, a Project
Manager at Edifice Engineering which is responsible for the demolition, told
reporters. Noida Authority CEO and Noida Police Commissioner also visited
the site today to take stock, Mehta said, adding that all the floors have been
wired with explosives today. “We have today connected the explosives on each
floor to the wire and will set them off by pressing a button from 100 meters
away,” he said. Such a big demolition has never happened in India before, he
added, though the company has done bigger ones in Africa. Mehta said the
dust will remain for 12-15 minutes after the demolition but the debris.
family of a 16-month-
old boy who suffered
fatal injuries due to a
fall and was declared
brain dead at the
AIIMS in Delhi donat-
ed his organs, offering
a fresh lease of life to
two patients.
According to doctors,
the boy was the young-
est organ donor at the
AIIMS.
His kidneys and liver
were transplanted in
two other kids, while
his heart valves and
corneas have been
banked at the AIIMS,
they said.
The boy, Rishant, suf-
fered a fall and was se-
riously injured on Au-
gust 17. His father, Up-
inder, a private contrac-
tor, took him to a near-
by private hospital in
Jamuna Park. He was
transferred to the Jai
Prakash Narayan Apex
Trauma Centre at the
AIIMS the same after-
noon.
“The child was born
to donate. He fought for
eight days after suffer-
ing severe head injury.
He had sustained se-
vere head injury and
CT scan showed irre-
versible severe damage
to the whole brain,” Dr
Deepak Gupta, Profes-
sor of Neurosurgery at
AIIMS, told PTI. He was
declared brain dead on
August 24.
The grief stricken
family was counselled
by the doctors and
transplant coordina-
tors of the Organ Re-
trieval Banking Organ-
isation (ORBO) at
AIIMS and they were
informed about organ
donation.
After counselling,
the family agreed to do-
nate his organs and tis-
sues, doctors said.
The retrieval of or-
gans began at 2 AM on
Thursday and contin-
ued till 5 AM.
Both kidneys have
been transplanted in a
five-year-old boy at the
AIIMS and liver has
been transplanted in a
six-month-old girl at
the Max Hospital. His
heart valves and cor-
neas have been banked
at the AIIMS.
16-month-old boy who suffered fatal injury
after fall becomes youngest organ donor
LIFE SAVER
TAKING OVER COMMAND
Lt Gen Dhiraj Seth assumed the command of Delhi Area from Lt Gen Vijay Kumar Mishra,
in New Delhi on Thursday. —PHOTO BY ANI
“Rishant was the sixth and youngest child. I
was busy leaving for work on the morning of the
fateful day and couldn't even hold my baby in my
arms. It breaks my heart
that we have lost him. But
when we came to know
about organ
donation, I felt that if his
organs can save the lives of
others, then I must donate them," the father said.
"We donate food, clothes, money to the needy.
Today our child is no longer with us, only his
memories and body remains," said Upinder.
Nearly 6,700 corruption cases
probed by CBI pending court trial
New Delhi (PTI): Near-
ly 6,700 corruption cas-
es probed by the CBI
were pending trials in
different courts, 275 of
them for more than 20
years, according to the
latest annual report of
the Central Vigilance
Commission (CVC).
A total of 1,939 cases
were pending trials for
more than 10 years and
up to 20 years, 2,273 for
more than five years
and up to 10 years, 811
for more than three
years and up to five
years and 1,399 cases
for less than three
years, as on December
31, 2021, it said.
“The Commission,
during monthly meet-
ings with CBI, takes
note of the large num-
ber of cases pending
trial in different courts
for long periods, said
the CVC annual report
2021. As on 31.12.2021,
6,697 cases were pend-
ing trial, out of which
275 cases are more than
20 years old, it said.
Besides, a total of
10,974 appeals and revi-
sions were pending in
high courts and the Su-
preme Court.
Of the total of 9,935
appeals, 9,698 were in
high courts and 237 in
the Supreme Court.
There are 1,039 revi-
sion pleas pending in
the high courts, the
report stated.
Out of 10,974 appeal
and revision pleas
pending in high courts
and in the apex court,
361 were pending for
morethantwentyyears,
558 for more than 15 but
less than 20 years, 1,749
for more than 10 but
for more than five but
for more than two but
less than five years and
1,823 for less than two
years, it said.
As many as 645 cor-
ruption cases were
pending investigation
by the CBI, 35 for more
than five years, the re-
port said. Of the total
cases, 60 were under
probe for over three
years but less than five
years, 71 for more than
two years but less than
three years, 162 for
more than one year but
less than two years and
317 for less than a year,
said the report tabled in
Parliament in the re-
cently-concluded ses-
sion and made public
on Wednesday
.
CENTRAL VIGILANCE COMMISSION
HIGHLIGHT
Mundka double
murder case of
‘mistaken identity’
New Delhi (PTI):
Police have formally
arrested a man who
was lodged in Man-
doli jail in connec-
tion with a double
murder that took
place earlier this
week, officials said
on Thursday
.
Police identified
the arrested man as
Ankesh Lakra, a resi-
dent of Mundka vil-
lage and said the
murders may have
taken place due to
mistaken identity
.
On Monday, two
men were killed and
a person sustained
injuries after a cou-
ple of unidentified
people opened fire at
them in west Delhi’s
Mundka area. The
victims were resi-
dents of JJ Colony in
Bakkarwala.
Mangal (60) and
Joginder (42) were
brought dead to the
hospital, while Mo-
han Lal (62) is under-
going treatment, po-
lice said.
CCTV footage had
showed two men
aged between 25 and
28 years coming from
Bakkarwala village
at 9.05 pm and run-
ning back after a few
minutes.
Police had regis-
tered a case at Mund-
ka station and dur-
ing investigation,
they interrogated a
man near the crime
spot and he said he
had been receiving
extortion calls for a
month. Following
this, the police had
added Section 120-B
(criminal conspira-
cy) of the Indian Pe-
nal Code.
Police said the
man they quizzed
may are the killers’
target but they ended
up opening fire at
MangalandJoginder.
However, this is yet
to be confirmed, they
said.
Inter-state gang dealing in
illegal firearms busted,
two arrested: Delhi Police
Delhi Police on Thurs-
day said it has busted a
gang dealing in illegal
firearms with the ar-
rest of two men alleg-
edly sourcing weapons
from Madhya Pradesh
and supplying those in
the Delhi-NCR, Hary-
ana and western Uttar
Pradesh.
Pramod Kumar (35)
and Rohtash (31), both
of Uttar Pradesh, have
already supplied more
than 500 firearms in the
Delhi-NCR in three
years. They were ar-
rested in Delhi, the po-
lice said, adding they
have been booked under
sections of the Arms
(Amendment) Act, 2019.
The police said 12
good-quality pistols and
45 live cartridges were
seized from them.
Deputy Commission-
er of Police (Special
Cell) Jasmeet Singh
said, “Our team has
busted an interstate
gun-running racket by
arresting two arms sup-
pliers. Both of them
were arrested in the
evening of August 22
near the Modi mill bus
stop on Captain Gaur
Marg in New Delhi
where they had come to
supply firearms and
ammunition to one of
their contacts.”
They are members
of an interstate arms
syndicate led by a Mad-
hya Pradesh-based il-
legal arms manufac-
turer, he said.
“During interroga-
tion, they disclosed that
they received the con-
signment of the seized
pistols and cartridges
from an arms manufac-
turer-cum-supplier of
Sendhwa in Madhya
Pradesh,” the senior of-
ficer said. The accused
used to procure semi-
automatic pistols for Rs
10,000 and single-shot
pistols for Rs 3,000 a
piece from MP and sell
them for Rs 25,000 and
Rs 6,000 respectively, he
said.
Delhi police arrested 2 notorious firearms suppliers and
recovered 12 pistols and 45 live cartridges from them, in New
Delhi on Thursday. —PHOTO BY ANI
NOIDA CEO Ritu Maheshwari speaks to the media in Noida on
Thursday. —PHOTOS BY PTI
Barricades used to block a
road leading to the Supertech
towers in Noida.
‘WAS OUR YOUNGEST CHILD’
HC won’t stay Agnipath,
asks Centre to file reply
Delhi HC on Thursday
refused to stay the Cen-
tre’s Agnipath Scheme
for recruitment in the
armed forces and asked
the central government
to file its reply on a
batch of petitions chal-
lenging the scheme.
tice Satish Chandra
Sharma and Justice
Subramonium Prasad
granted four weeks to
the Centre to file the re-
sponse. The court asked
the Centre to file a con-
solidated reply on peti-
tions challenging the
scheme and separate
replies on those pleas
which have challenged
the recruitment pro-
cesses in accordance
with the previous ad-
vertisements in the
Army, Navy, and Air
Force before the intro-
duction of the Agnipath
Scheme. Counsel for
one of the petitioners
urged the court to stay
the operation of the
scheme till the petitions
are decided.
The court, however,
refused to stay the
scheme saying that it
was not passing any in-
terim order.
Advocate Prashant
Bhushan, appearing for
some other petitioners,
said the court may say
that the appointment
through the Agnipath
Scheme will be subject
to the outcome of the
writ petitions.
An aspirant gets himself registered under the Agnipath
recruitment scheme in Poonch in J&K. —PHOTO BY ANI
High drama at...
the latter held a meet-
ing of its nine-member
Political Affairs Com-
mittee and then sched-
uled a meet of all party
MLAs at 11 am the next
day at Kejriwal’s house
as a show of strength.
Hours before the
Thursday meeting was
to start, some AAP lead-
ers claimed that 6-7
party MLAs were not
reachable by phone. As
11 am drew closer, anxi-
ety started to spread,
with over a third of the
MLAs not reaching the
CM’s bungalow at Civil
Lines on time.
Finally at noon, the
AAP said that all its
MLAs who were sup-
posed to make it to the
meeting had reached
Kejriwal’s house and
that the AAP govern-
ment was stable.
FROM PG 1
CM Kejriwal prays at the
Gandhi Memorial at Rajghat on
Thursday after the meeting of
party MLAs at his house.

CAPITOL
03
Kejriwal questions source of
`800 crore ‘offered’ by BJP to
40 AAP MLAs
New Delhi (PTI): Delhi
Chief Minister Arvind
Kejriwal on Thursday
questioned the source
of the Rs 800 crore alleg-
edly offered by the BJP
to 40 AAP MLAs for
switching sides and as-
serted that his govern-
ment is stable.
After a meeting of
the Aam Aadmi Party
(AAP) legislators at his
residence, Kejriwal,
along with his MLAs,
went to Rajghat to pray
for the failure of the
Bharatiya Janata Par-
ty’s (BJP) “Operation
Lotus”.
“They (BJP) offered
Rs 20 crore each to our
MLAs. They have kept
Rs 800 crore for toppling
the Delhi government.
But the citizens of the
country want to know
about the source of this
money
. Is it from GST or
the PM CARES Fund?
Have some of their
friends given them this
money?” he asked.
The chief minister
said his deputy Manish
Sisodia, who is being
probed by the CBI for al-
leged corruption in the
Excise Policy 2021-22,
has been named in a
“false FIR”.
“Even mattresses and
walls at Sisodia’s resi-
dence were searched by
the CBI but not even a
single unaccounted pen-
ny was found. No objec-
tionable documents or
jewellery were found.
We were thinking why
was this happening
with us since they also
know that Sisodia is an
extremely honest man
and a patriot who has
worked on education in
the national capital,” he
said.
Reiterating Sisodia’s
claims, Kejriwal said a
day after the CBI’s
raids, the deputy chief
minister was ap-
proached by the BJP
with an offer of the
chief minister’s post.
“The next day after
the raids, they sent a
message to Sisodia that
you leave Kejriwal, get
some MLAs and come
to us. We will topple the
Delhi government and
close the CBI, ED cases
against you. I think I
would have done some
good deeds in my past
life that I have got a
companion like Siso-
dia. They were offering
him the chief minis-
ter’s post but he re-
fused. He rejected their
offer,” Kejriwal said.
He further alleged
that the BJP is “offering
Rs 20 crore each” to
AAP MLAs with a de-
sign “to topple the Delhi
government”.
“I am extremely hap-
py that no MLA has
yielded under pressure.
I want to tell the people
of Delhi that they have
voted for a hardcore
honest government,”
Kejriwal said.
CM Kejriwal with party MLAs
pays homage to Mahatma
Gandhi and prays for the
failure of BJP’s ‘Operation
Lotus’ at Rajghat in New Delhi
on Thursday. —PHOTO BY PTI
AAP MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj addresses a press conference on Thursday. —PHOTO BY PTI
n Says Manish
Sisodia named
in ‘false FIR’
n ‘Extremely
happy that no
MLA has yielded
under pressure’
n Stage set for
stormy Assembly
session today
BJP on Thursday sprin-
kled ‘Ganga jal’ on Ra-
jghat after AAP legisla-
tors had visited the me-
morial, and its MP
Manoj Tiwari took the
point further by com-
paring Arvind Kejriwal
to Joseph Goebbels and
accusing him of lying
repeatedly
.
The Delhi unit of the
BJP also hit out at the
AAP, saying its various
allegations were like a
“movie script” meant to
mislead the public on
the “scam” in Delhi’s
now-scrapped excise
policy 2021-22.
The BJP alleged that
by visiting Mahatma
Gandhi’s memorial Ra-
jghat, AAP supremo Ke-
jriwal has desecrated
the place and the BJP
workers sprinkled
‘Ganga jal’ there to “pu-
rify” it. Reacting to the
AAP’s claims that the
BJP was trying to poach
its MLAs with an offer
of Rs 20 crore each to
switch sides, Tiwari
said that everyday the
AAP was coming up
withold“moviescripts”
to divert the public
from the real issue.
“This is a total flop
show of the AAP. Kejri-
wal ji you have to speak
on the excise policy but
your silence on this is-
sue says a lot. You al-
ways come up with the
same old, worn-out
movie script to divert
public attention.
Arvind, you have be-
come a descendant of
Goebbels, who used to
think that if you keep
telling the public a lie,
they will start believing
it as a truth,” Tiwari
said. Goebbels was the
propaganda minister in
Adolf Hitler’s Nazi gov-
ernment.
BJP ‘purifies’ Rajghat with
Ganga jal, hits back at AAP
New Delhi (PTI):
BJP’s “Operation Lo-
tus” has failed in Delhi,
the AAP said on Thurs-
day, asserting that it
will stay in touch with
its MLAs to ensure they
do not get influenced by
the saffron party
.
The AAP also alleged
that 40 of its Delhi
MLAs were targeted by
the BJP with an offer of
Rs 20 crore each to
switch sides, even as all
the 62 of its legislators
were accounted for dur-
ing a meeting at Chief
Minister Arvind Kejri-
wal’s residence here.
AAP chief spokesper-
son Saurabh Bhardwaj
said the country has
seen BJP’s tactics of
luring MLAs of other
parties in states such as
Maharashtra and Goa.
“We are glad that ‘Op-
eration Lotus’ failed in
Delhi. We have recently
seen in other states be it
Maharasthra or Goa
how the BJP lured
MLAs and tried to top-
ple governments, but it
has not been able to do
that in Delhi,” he told
PTI. “We will stay in
touch with our MLAs
and ensure they don’t
get influenced. We will
keep an eye on the BJP
and its future actions,”
he added.
After the meeting at
his residence, Kejriwal
and all of his party’s
MLAs went to Rajghat
to pray for the failure of
the BJP’s “Operation
Lotus”.
Responding to the
BJP’s allegations on the
Delhi government’s
now-scrapped excise
policy, Bhardwaj said
the saffron party first
needed to fix its narra-
tive on the issue “They
should decide whether
it is a Rs 1 crore scam or
a Rs 1.5 lakh crore
scam,” he said.
BJP’s ‘Operation Lotus’ has failed
in Delhi: Saurabh Bhardwaj
New Delhi (PTI): Aam
Aadmi Party (AAP)
MLA Atishi on Thurs-
day lambasted Prime
Minister Narendra
Modi for not addressing
“big problems” in the
country like inflation
and instead focusing on
bringing down state
governments.
Addressing a press
conference after the
MLAs’ meeting, Atishi,
who is AAP’s political
affairs committee mem-
ber, said, “India is going
through a crisis. There
are many big problems
in front of India. But it
is very sad that PM Nar-
endra Modi does not
have time to solve big
problems. Instead, PM
Modi’s entire energy
and hardwork are fo-
cused on how to bring
down state govern-
ments.CBIandEDraids
are being conducted.”
PM Modi’s focus
on bringing
down state
govts: Atishi
‘WE HAVE SEEN’
53 of 62 AAP MLAs attend meeting at CM’s house
The AAP MLAs at CM Kejriwal’s residence for the 11am meeting on Thursday. —PTI PHOTO
New Delhi (PTI): A
total of 53 AAP MLAs
out of 62 attended a
meeting convened by
party supremo and
Delhi Chief Minister
Arvind Kejriwal on
Thursday to discuss
alleged poaching at-
tempts by the BJP,
sources said.
The meeting that
was scheduled to be-
gin at 11 am was con-
cluded within a few
minutes, they said,
adding that all the 62
legislators of the Aam
Aadmi Party (AAP) in
Delhi were contacted
ahead of the meeting
at Kejriwal’s resi-
dence.
The sources said at
least a dozen AAP
MLAs had gone in-
communicado ahead
of the meeting.
BJP supporters hold a protest in New Delhi on Thursday against
Manish Sisodia and his alleged corrupt excise policy. —PTI PHOTO
Supreme Court-ap-
pointed Central Em-
powered Committee
(CEC) has said the city
government’s Panchay-
at Department has al-
lotted forest land for the
construction of a world-
class skill centre and
Delhi Skill University
in Jaunapur in south
Delhi without prior ap-
proval from the central
government.
According to the For-
est (Conservation) Act,
1980, prior permission
of the central govern-
ment is required for de-
reservation or diver-
sion of forest land for
non-forestry purposes.
The CEC said it had
written to the Delhi
chief secretary in July
last year seeking clarifi-
cation on the matter
and that the city gov-
ernment was yet to pro-
vide a reply “despite
repeated reminders”.
It said the forest land
measuring 37.11 acres
in Jaunapur, since
transferred to the De-
partment of Training
and Technical Educa-
tion, for constructing
the proposed skill cen-
tre and Delhi Skill Uni-
versity, has been shown
as “residential” in the
records of the Delhi De-
velopment Authority
.
“The forest land has
been allotted for non-
forest use by the Direc-
tor, Panchayat, Govern-
ment of NCT Delhi,
without the prior ap-
proval of the central
government in viola-
tion of the Forest (Con-
servation) Act, 1980 and
various orders of the
Supreme Court,” it said
in a communication,
dated August 22, to the
Delhi chief secretary
.
“The Principal Chief
Conservator of Forest,
Delhi, re-confirmed
that the 37.11 acres of
land in Jaunapur is
part of the notification
issued in 1996 under
Section 4 of the Indian
Forest Act, 1927,” the
communication read.
Forest land allotted for Skill University without approval
PARL PANEL REPORT
STRICT INSTRUCTIONS
 The CEC has asked the PCCF to ensure that
the land use of the forest land be changed to
“forest” in all government records, including
those of DDA and the Revenue Department.
 It also asked the PCCF to direct the depart-
ments concerned to not allot any forest land for
non-forestry purposes without the approval of
the central government and the Supreme Court.
New Delhi (PTI):The
Delhi High Court has
granted bail to a
19-year-old rag-picker
in a case concerning
the communal clashes
in Jahangirpuri on the
eve of Hanuman Jay-
anti earlier this year.
Justice Yogesh Khan-
na noted that the ac-
cused, who was in cus-
tody since April, was
not identified in the
CCTV footage and was
not required for the
purpose of investiga-
tion and thus admitted
him to bail on a person-
al bond of Rs 20,000
with one surety of the
like amount.
The court, while re-
leasing the accused,
directed him to main-
tain peace in the vicin-
ity and not leave the
area of the national
capital region without
prior permission of the
trial court. It also asked
him to provide his con-
tact number/address to
the police.
Delhi High Court grants bail
to 19-yr-old rag-picker

l Vol 1 l Issue No. 357
l RNI TITLE NO. DELENG/2021/19840
Printed and published by
Anita Hada Sangwan on behalf of
First Express Publishers. Printed at
Impressions Printing and Packaging
Limited, C-21, 22 Sector-59,
Noida-201301. Published at G-20,
3rd Floor, 309, Preet Vihar, New
Delhi-110092. Phone 011-49846474.
Editor-In-Chief: Dr Jagdeesh Chandra
Editor: Anita Hada Sangwan
responsible for selection of news
under the PRB Act
PERSPECTIVE
04
Nitin Gadkari
@nitin_gadkari
It is our government’s effort to
reach out to every last person in the
society and develop them and we are
committed to it.
Smriti Z Irani
@smritiirani
Met the UK Minister for Women
Baroness Deborah Stedman-Scott on
the concluding day of G20 Ministerial
Conference on Women Empowerment
in Bali. She was extremely appreciative
of PM @narendramodi Ji’s leadership
towards enhancing women’s welfare.
SPIRITUAL SPEAK
Death is as sure for that
which is born, as birth is
for that which is dead.
Therefore grieve not for
what is inevitable.
—Bhagavad Gita
IN-DEPTH
PEGASUS
SPYWARE: MUCH
ADO ABOUT
NOTHING, SAYS
APEX COURT PANEL
n a relief to the Cen-
tral government a
Supreme Court-ap-
pointed committee to
probe into the
Pegasus spyware scandal has
concluded that it did not find the
spyware in any of the 29 mobile
phones it examined. Instead, the
committee said in its report, that
some other malware was found
in five of the 29 mobiles. Headed
by former Supreme Court judge,
Justice RV Raveendran, the com-
mittee submitted its report to
the court. It means that the Cen-
tre did not snoop on hacks. The
committee’s only comment
against the government was that
it did not cooperate with the in-
quiry
. A three-judge bench of the
court headed by the outgoing
Chief Justice of India NV Ra-
mana said that the report may be
uploaded on the court’s website.
The sophisticated spyware
was alleged to have been used to
spy on journalists and impor-
tant functionaries in India. The
Guardian claimed that the
Pegasus was used in at least 50
countries, many of whom de-
nied using it.
TOP TWEETS
I
he Jharkhand
Mukti Morcha
(JMM)-led coali-
tion government
is in the doldrums
as CM Hemant Soren faces
disqualification as MLA for
allegedly granting himself
andhisaidesmininglicences.
By doing so Soren is said to
have violated section 9-A of
theRepresentationof Peoples
Act, the basis on which the
BJP is seeking his disqualifi-
cation. A letter from the Elec-
tion Commission of India to
Governor Ramesh Bais in a
sealed envelope purportedly
suggests Soren’s disqualifica-
tion. The chief minister said
he did “not know anything as
of now about any order for
me”. In any case he is unlike-
ly to accept the EC verdict
without a challenge. Soren
has the option of challenging
the decision in a court and ap-
pointing someone else to run
the government.
It is now being speculated
that the Bharatiya Janata
Party may take advantage of
the unstable situation and
form a government of its
own. The party is said to be
counting on Congress legisla-
tors, some of whom cross-
voted in the elections for
President. Three others were
caught with unaccounted
cash in West Bengal. They
were subsequently arrested.
The Jharkhand govern-
ment is a coalition of JMM
(30), Indian National Con-
gress (16), RJD (1) and NCP
(1). The BJP has 26 MLAs. To
form a government it has to
carry out a Maharashtra-like
Operation Lotus to wean
away the Congress legisla-
tors. Given the state of disar-
ray the Congress is in, it may
not be impossible.
The charge against Soren
is serious. The chief minis-
ter, however, said that the
BJP was blatantly misusing
ED and the CBI.
JHARKHAND CM
FACES TOUGH TIMES
SA letter from the Election
Commission of India to
Governor Ramesh Bais in
a sealed envelope
purportedly suggests
Soren’s disqualification.
The chief minister said he
did “not know anything
as of now about any
order for me”.
T
IS A GLOBAL RECESSION
INEVITABLE?
he Big Question is a regular
feature in which Project Syn-
dicate commentators con-
cisely address a timely topic.
In this Big Question, we
ask Jeffrey Frankel, Anne O.
Krueger, Jim O’Neill, and
Stephen S. Roach how steep
the world economic down-
turn is likely to be.
JEFFREY FRANKEL
No. A global recession is en-
tirely avoidable.
True, the odds of a down-
turn are much higher than
usual in Europe, which has
been hit hard by reduced sup-
plies of Russian natural gas;
China, where COVID-19 lock-
downs already turned growth
negative in the second quar-
ter; and other countries, in-
cluding emerging-market
economieswithdebttroubles.
Even the US economy is ex-
periencing a slowdown. I still
maintain that the two con-
secutive quarters of negative
GDP growth reported by the
Bureau of Economic Analy-
sis do not signify that a US
recession started in the first
part of 2022. There are three
reasons for this. First-quarter
GDP will be revised on Sep-
tember 29, and second-quar-
ter GDP on August25; other
indicatorslikegrossdomestic
income (GDI) and employ-
ment were positive; and the
recession ruling is up to the
National Bureau of Econom-
ic Research. But rising inter-
est rates and the gloomy out-
look among America’s trad-
ing partners do mean that a
US recession is more likely
than usual at some point over
the next two years. But a
“global recession”? The Unit-
ed States is not the only place
where a negative growth rule
is not an agreed criterion for
defining recession.
Consider global GDP
. It has
been rare in the postwar pe-
riod for global growth to fall
below zero even for a single
quarter, let alone two. Not
even the severe downturns of
1974 and 1981 qualified. Even
in times of apparent reces-
sion, negative growth in ad-
vanced economies is usually
outweighed by still-positive
growth among emerging-
market and developing econ-
omies. (Two exceptions were
the 2008 global financial cri-
sis and the 2020 pandemic-
induced recession.)
ANNE O. KRUEGER
When the COVID-19 pandem-
ic began, people cut their
spending. Although unem-
ployment rose and supplies
fell sharply due to pandemic
containment measures, much
of the potential income loss
was offset by government
policies. In the United States,
itevenpaidtobeunemployed.
The result was that per-
sonal savings shot up. When
COVID-related restrictions
were later relaxed, demand
increased rapidly. Supply-
chain disruptions, the time
needed to restart production,
and continuing worker short-
ages resulted in significantly
slower supply responses.
The Fed’s balancing act is
difficult: Some, but not too
much, dampening of de-
mand is warranted. At the
same time, inventories (in-
creases in which partly re-
flected stockpiling during
supply shortages and will
inevitably be run down) are
beginning to accumulate and
retail sales are losing some
momentum. Whether the
Fed’s policy tightening will
check demand growth just
enough as supply increases
will determine whether in-
flationary or recessionary
pressures dominate in the
US. If policymakers’ judg-
ment is correct, the US could
re-attain the Fed’s target in-
flation rate and satisfactory
growth without falling into
recession.
JIM O’NEILL
In contrast to the common
practice in Western econo-
mies, a global recession is not
really defined as two consecu-
tive quarters of negative GDP
growth, because in many
large emerging economies,
suchasIndia,suchconditions
rarely arise. Even if many
Western economies are expe-
riencing back-to-back quar-
ters of negative growth, we
can end up with a “global”
recessioninwhichworldGDP
growth averages around 2%.
Over the past 25 years, the
US and China between them
often have accounted for
more than 80% of annual
global GDP growth. So, if
these two economies are both
in their respective versions
of recession, then that will
virtually guarantee a global
downturn. Given their cur-
rent weaknesses and chal-
lenges, such a scenario is
quite possible.
But I am less convinced of
this than I probably was a
few months ago. That is be-
cause there is creeping evi-
dence that the inflationary
surge has – at least so far –
been transitory, with com-
modity prices easing and
measures of long-term infla-
tion expectations quite sta-
ble. If this continues, central
banks will become less hawk-
ish and will not have to weak-
en their economies further to
stabilize prices.
STEPHEN S. ROACH
Notwithstanding the pitfalls
of forecasting anything these
days, my cracked and worn
crystal ball sees a global re-
cession occurring in the next
year.
For me, recession risk as-
sessment has always been a
two-step process: the stall-
speed alert and the impacts
of inevitable shocks. Econo-
mies – whether of single
countries or the world as a
whole – approaching the stall
speed lack the resilience to
withstandtheblowof shocks.
For the global economy
, the
last five recessions have all
occurred when world GDP
growth fell below the 2.5%
threshold. That represents a
one-percentage-point short-
fall from the post-1980 aver-
age of 3.5%. As such, when
global growth falls into the
2.5% to 3.5% range, my rule
is to sound a stall-speed alert.
The lower half of that range,
2.5% to 3%, is especially omi-
nous – a perfect predictor of
global recession.
Source: project-syndicate.org
T
Just as the world economy
appeared to be recovering
from the impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic,
headline GDP growth has
decelerated sharply or turned
negative in several leading
economies in 2022. And with
annual inflation in many
countries fast approaching
double digits, it is not easy to
see where global growth will
come from.
The International
Monetary Fund now
projects that global GDP
growth will slow from
6.1% in 2021 to 3.2%
in 2022 and 2.9% in
2023. That is a
momentous deceleration.
But it still leaves world
growth unlikely to meet a
two-negative-quarters
threshold.

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INDIA
05
Sharat K Verma
Patna: Bihar Chief
Minister Nitish Ku-
mar’s national cam-
paign will start next
month as there is a
meeting of the national
executive of his party,
Janata Dal-United
(JDU). This meeting
will be held in Patna on
September 3 and 4, in
which Nitish Kumar
will be positioned as
PM material on behalf
of the party
. Although a
similar positioning has
been done in the past as
well, but it is being said
that a ‘proposal’ can
also come in this meet-
ing. Informed leaders
of the party say that the
proposal can be accept-
ed in the meeting of the
National Executive that
if the opposition par-
ties agree, then Nitish
Kumar will be an-
nounced as the prime
ministerial candidate.
Keep in mind that
JD(U) is not taking any
initiative from its side
nor is it giving the mes-
sage that Nitish Kumar
is anxious to become
the prime ministerial
candidate. Unlike Delhi
Chief Minister Arvind
Kejriwal, Nitish and his
party are being very
careful. The party’s na-
tional president Rajiv
Ranjan Singh alias La-
lan Singh said that Nit-
ish Kumar has no ambi-
tion to become the
prime ministerial can-
didate but if the opposi-
tion parties ask, he will
be ready forit. Party
Parliamentary Board
President Upendra
Kushwaha said the
same thing in a differ-
ent style. He said JD(U)
would not create any
hurdle in opposition
unity
. That is, if the op-
position parties say
then Nitish will be the
contender and if the op-
position parties decide
the name of any other
leader, then JDU will
support the united op-
position.
It’s a very smart trick
and suits Nitish’s na-
ture perfectly
. He never
prefers to take the first
step and thus exposing
himself, rather he cre-
ates such situations
that others take the ini-
tiative. However, Nitish
Kumar will come to
Delhi after the party’s
national executive
meeting. After break-
ing rapport with BJP
and forming govern-
ment with RJD and
Congress, he has not
come to Delhi yet.
Tejashwi Yadav and La-
lan Singh had definitely
visited Delhi and said
that after the formation
of the cabinet, Nitish
will come to Delhi and
meet Sonia and Rahul
Gandhi.
It is possible that Nit-
ish will come to Delhi
only after the party’s
executive meeting and
meet both the top Con-
gress leaders. Apart
from the courtesy meet-
ing, the common politi-
cal strategy of the op-
position will also be
discussed then. It is be-
ing told that Nitish Ku-
mar and Arvind Kejri-
wal can also meet at
that time and K Chan-
drashekhar Rao can
also meet Nitish in Del-
hi. He is also likely to
meet Sharad Pawar.
WillNitishbeginhisPrimeMinisterial‘campaign’fromnextmonth?
EYES ON 2024
PMSecuritybreach:SCpanel
holdsFerozepurSSPresponsible
New Delhi (ANI): The
SupremeCourtonThurs-
day said that the five-
member committee ap-
pointedbyithassaidthat
Ferozepur SSP failed to
discharge his duty
though the sufficient
forceswereavailabledur-
ing Prime Minister Nar-
endra Modi’s Punjab
visit on January 5.
tice NV Ramana and
Justices Surya Kant
and Hima Kohli said
while reading from the
committee’s report that
the committee headed
by a former top court
judge, Justice Indu Mal-
hotra, said there should
be an oversight commit-
tee for periodic revision
of ‘Blue Book’.
“The Ferozepur SSP
failed to discharge his
duty to maintain law
and order. He failed to
do this even though suf-
ficient force was avail-
able and even though he
wasinformedtwohours
in advance that Prime
Minister will enter that
route,” it said.
The apex court said it
will send the report of
the five-member com-
mittee to the Centre for
appropriate action.
There are remedial
measures and safe-
guards needed for the
Prime Minister’s secu-
rity, said the bench
while reading the com-
mittee’s report.
The Supreme Court
had earlier set up a
five-member Commit-
tee headed by a retired
top court judge, Jus-
tice Indu Malhotra to
probe into the security
lapse during Prime
Minister Narendra
Modi’s Punjab visit.
Cong presidential poll likely
to be deferred by few weeks
New Delhi (Agencies):
The election for Con-
gress president is likely
to be postponed for a
few weeks, sources said
on Thursday, and the
final schedule will be
decided in the Congress
Working Committee
(CWC) meeting sched-
uled on August 28.
Sources said that it
was likely that instead
of the election process
to get completed by
September 21, the
whole process may
now be completed in
October or November.
The decision on the
new schedule will be
taken by the Congress
Working Committee
(CWC) on Sunday.
Sources also said that
the new decision to de-
fer has been taken
since the party leaders
will be busy in ‘Bharat
Jodo Yatra’, which will
commence on Septem-
ber 7 and the Gandhis,
including Sonia Gan-
dhi are abroad.
The Congress has
called a meeting of its
Working Committee on
August 28 to decide the
poll schedule for the
party president’s post.
Owaisi demands
T Raja’s arrest
Hyderabad (ANI): De-
manding arrest of sus-
pendedBJPMLATRaja
Singh, AIMIM chief
Asaduddin Owaisi on
Thursday said protests
in some parts of the city
were a direct result of
the alleged hate speech
by the BJP party leader.
He said AIMIM MLA
Ahmed bin Abdullah
Balala and the party’s
corporators of Greater
Hyderabad Municipal
Corporation have been
working all night to de-
escalate the situation.
Some of the sensitive
areas of the city have
witnessed sporadic
Owaisi tweeted that
after his intervention
into the matter, 90 pro-
testers were detained by
police on Wednesday
night at Shalibanda of
Old City
, Hyderabad.
The series of tweets
read, “On my represen-
tation to DCP South, 90
protesting youth from
Shah Ali Banda and
Asha Talkies have been
released. AIMIM MLA
Ahmed bin Abdullah
Balala and our corpora-
tors have been working
all night to de-escalate
the situation. I have
been in touch with them
and the police too.”
SC agrees to take relook
at its PMLA verdict
Supreme Court on
Thursday agreed to
have a relook at its ver-
dict upholding the Pre-
vention of Money Laun-
dering Act (PMLA) and
said “prima facie” the
two aspects of not pro-
viding an Enforcement
Case Information Re-
port (ECIR) and rever-
sal of the presumption
of innocence require
reconsideration.
The apex court said
this as it agreed to hear
a plea seeking a review
of the judgment that
had upheld the Enforce-
ment Directorate’s (ED)
powers relating to ar-
rest, attachment of
property involved in
money laundering,
search, and seizure un-
der the PMLA. It also
issued notice to the
Centre.
At the same time, a
bench headed by Chief
Justice N V Ramana
said the object of the
PMLA is noble and the
offence of money laun-
dering is serious, add-
ing the court is com-
pletely in support of
prevention of black
money and money laun-
dering and that the
country cannot afford
such types of offences.
The bench was hear-
ing a plea filed by Karti
Chidambaram.
Phogat death:
‘CBI probe if
family wants’
Chandigarh: Haryana
Chief Minister Mano-
har Lal Khattar on
Thursday said the state
is open to ordering a
probe by the Central
Bureau of Investiga-
tion (CBI) in the mur-
der case of Sonali Pho-
gat, an actor and BJP
leader, in Goa. “If
that’s what the family
wants, we will do it,”
he told reporters in
Chandigarh.
He also said that as
per the family’s wishes,
a part of her viscera
will be examined at a
government lab in
Chandigarh, besides
Goa. “The most impor-
tant thing is to heed by
the family’s wishes.”
Bihar CM Nitish Kumar with Lalu Prasad Yadav. —FILE PHOTO
There was security lapse during PM’s Punjab visit on January 5.
RAJ CM GEHLOT
TOP CHOICE
Rajasthan CM Ashok
Gehlot has emerged as
the top choice for the
Congress president’s post.
Sources have said that
Sonia Gandhi had request-
ed him to contest during
a meeting which she held
before heading abroad
for medical checkup and
treatment. The Gehlot
camp has not confirmed
the development, but
sources have confirmed
that the Congress is look-
ing beyond the Gandhis
for the top post. Gehlot
himself has said that these
things were coming up in
the media and he had no
knowledge of it.
IN THE COURTYARD
SC APPOINTED TECH PANEL COULDN’T FIND
PEGASUS SPYWARE ON SUBMITTED PHONES
New Delhi: The Supreme Court appointed committee to
probe into the allegations regarding use of Pegasus spy-
ware by the Govt of India has concluded that the spyware
was not found in the 29 mobile
phones examined by it. A bench
after examining a voluminous
report submitted by the three-
member expert committee, noted
that while some malware was
found in 5 of the 29 devices,
the same was not Pegasus.“We
are concerned about technical committee 29 phones were
given... in 5 phones some malware was found but the tech-
nical committee says it cannot be said to be Pegasus. They
say it cannot be said to be Pegasus,” the bench remarked.
WB COAL MINING:
CUSTODY PAROLE TO
GURUPADA MAJI
SC AGREES TO
RELOOK SWEEPING
PMLA JUDGMENT
New Delhi: The Delhi High
Court on Thursday granted
custody parole to Gurupada
Maji, accused in a money
laundering case linked to an
alleged coal mining scam in
West Bengal. Maji is one of the
partners of Anup Majee, the
kingpin of illegal coal mining
business activities in West
Bengal The court granted
parole to Maji till September 3.
Maji has approached the Delhi
HC for interim bail stating his
mother was expired a few days
ago and his presence is neces-
sary for rituals in his town.
New Delhi: The Supreme
Court on Thursday said
that prima facie two issues
relating to the provisions
of the Prevention of Money
Laundering Act (PMLA) need
to be reconsidered. A bench
issued notice to the Centre
on the two issues. The two
issues which the court prima
facie finds to reconsider is
judgement upholding various
provisions of the PMLA
including non-providing of
Enforcement Case Investiga-
tion Repor and reversal of
presumption of innocence.
DELHI HC DISMISSES
WHATSAPP, FB PLEAS
AGAINST CCI PROBE
TEESTA’S BAIL: GUJ
GOVT GETS MORE
TIME TO REPLY
New Delhi: The Delhi high
court dismissed the appeals
of WhatsApp and Facebook
on Wednesday, August 25
against an order rejecting
their challenge to a probe
ordered by the Competition
Commission of India (CCI)
into the instant messaging
platform’s updated privacy
policy of 2021. A bench of
Chief Justices Satish Chan-
dra Sharma and Subramo-
nium Prasad said the single
judge’s order was well-
reasoned and the appeals
are devoid of merits.
New Delhi: The Supreme
Court has listed the hearing
of activist Teesta Setalvad’s
bail plea in connection with
the Gujarat 2002 riots case to
August 30. The hearing was
postponed after solicitor gen-
eral Tushar Mehta, appearing
on behalf of the Gujarat gov-
ernment, sought additional
time to make some correc-
tions in the government’s
response to the case. Initially,
a three-judge bench led by
Justice UU Lalit had asked
Mehta to submit the response
at 2 pm on Thursday.
JHARKHAND CHIEF MINISTER HEMANT SOREN’S OFFICE OF PROFIT
JHARKHANDGOVERNORRECEIVES ECIRESPONSE
Ranchi: Jharkhand
Raj Bhavan has re-
ceived the opinion of
the Election Commis-
sion of India (ECI) on
CM Hemant Soren’s of-
fice of profit matter.
The letter in this re-
gard was received by
Jharkhand Raj Bhavan
on Wednesday. The
hearing in the Hemant
Soren mine leasing
case, in which the BJP
has accused him of ex-
tending himself a min-
ing lease and sought
his disqualification as
an MLA, was conclud-
ed in the ECI on Mon-
day.
The ECI on Tuesday
sent its opinion to
Jharkhand Governor
which was received by
Raj Bhavan on Wednes-
day. Sources said that
the letter by ECI was
received by Jharkhand
Governor Ramesh Bais
office, but details of the
ECI opinion can’t be re-
vealed as it is sent in a
sealed cover. On August
12, the legal team of
Soren concluded its ar-
guments before the
Election Commission
following which the
BJP — the petitioner in
the case — gave a re-
joinder. On August 18,
the two sides submitted
their written submis-
sions to the poll panel.
On Thursday Nishikant
Dubey, BJP Member of
Parliament from God-
da, Jharkhand, tweeted
that the letter from the
ECI has reached the Raj
Bhavan.
CEC recommends Hemant
Soren’s disqualification as MLA
SOREN DISMISSES RECEIVING ECI REPORTS
Ranchi (ANI): CM Hemant
Soren on Thursday dis-
missed reports of receiving
any communication from
the ECI or Governor with
regards to his disqualifica-
tion as an MLA on the office
of profit matter. The CMO
released a statement after
several media reports made
the rounds that ECI has sent
a report to the governor
about Soren’s disqualifica-
tion. “The Chief Minister is
apprised of several media
reports about ECI send-
ing a report to Honorable
Governor -Jharkhand ‘ap-
parently recommending his
disqualification as an MLA’.
No communication in this
regard has been received
by CMO from either ECI or
Governor,” read statement.
Ranchi: The Chief
Election Commission
has sent a letter to
Jharkhand Governor
Ramesh Bais recom-
mending cancellation
of the Assembly mem-
bership of CM He-
mant Soren. He will
then have to resign
from the post of chief
minister. Former
Jharkhand CM
Raghubar Das and the
BJP have been de-
manding disqualifica-
tion of Soren as MLA
in an office of profit
matter. They accused
Soren of extending a
mining lease to him-
self. Terming it as vio-
lation of the office of
profit and Representa-
tion of the People’s
Act, the BJP and
Raghubar Das have
written a letter to the
governor. With the is-
suance of the Gover-
nor’s order on the in-
structions of the Elec-
tion Commission,
Soren’s membership
will end. In such a
situation, Soren may
have to resign as the
CM. However, the
JMM-Congress alli-
ance which is led by
Soren has a majority
in the Assembly. So,
after the resignation
he can again stake
claim to form the gov-
ernment. An an-
nouncement in re-
gard to the EC’s rec-
ommendation is ex-
pected after that. It is
not clear whether
Soren has also been
disqualified from con-
testing elections. The
lease of a stone quar-
ry in Angada block in
Ranchi was issued in
the name of Soren
which he had surren-
dered later.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren

INDIA
06
Mahesh Sharma
New Delhi: Nanda-
muri Taraka Rama Rao
ie NTR was the most
wondrous leader of
Andhra Pradesh and a
super star of Telugu
films. When he formed
the party, he formed the
government with a big
majority in the very
first election. Later his
son-in-law Chandraba-
bu Naidu took over his
party during his life-
time. Then some of
NTR’s children also
helped Naidu as NTR
had married a woman
much younger than
him and decided to
hand over the leader-
ship of the party to her.
Despite this, it is a fact
that Chandrababu
Naidu’s capture of the
party was not liked by
many in NTR’s family.
Only when Jr NTR has
become active, it is be-
ing said that history
can repeat itself.
Jr NTR is a super star
of Telugu films and is
the grandson of NTR.
His father Nandamuri
Harikrishna was a
Member of Parliament.
NTR Junior met former
BJP National President
and Union Home Minis-
ter Amit Shah in Hy-
derabad recently. It is
being told that Shah has
asked him to become ac-
tive in politics again. If
he comes back into ac-
tive politics, BJP can
make him the party
face. Keep in mind that
there is no place for
Junior NTR in his
grandfather’s party
TDP.
There, Chandrababu
Naidu’s son Nara Loke-
sh has taken over. Only
then is it possible that
NTR Jr. joins the BJP
and becomes a pivot of
Telugu politics. In
Andhra, the direct con-
test is between Jagan
Mohan Reddy’s YSR
Congress and TDP.
Will Junior NTR repeat NTR’s history?
NEW KID IN THE BLOCK
‘RAJU SRIVASTAVA
CONTINUES TO BE
ON VENTILATOR’
2 CHILDREN DIE
OF MYSTERIOUS
FEVER IN INDORE
New Delhi: Raju Srivas-
tava is on ventilator and
continues to recover
“slowly”, the renowned
comedian-actor’s wife
Shikha Srivastava
said on Thursday. In
a statement issued on
Srivastava’s official
Instagram page, Shikha
said the stand-up artist
is “stable”. “Raju Sri-
vastava Ji’s condition is
stable and he continues
to recover slowly. He is
on the ventilator at the
moment,” she said. Ear-
lier in the day, several
media publications had
reported that Srivas-
tava, 58, had gained
consciousness 15 days
after he was admitted to
the Intensive Care Unit
(ICU) of AIIMS follow-
ing a heart attack here.
Indore: Two brothers,
one five years old and
another two years old,
died due to a myste-
rious fever in Indore
district while another
sibling was in critical
condition, a health
official said on Thurs-
day. Civic officials have
sealed an illegal clinic
run by a quack who had
treated them initially.
Shivansh (5) and Yuvraj
(2), of Baigram village,
50 km from here, died
on Wednesday. Both
had fever but it was not
clear if the cause was
viral infection or bacteria
and experts were exam-
ining the case, said BMO
Dr Faizal Ali. Yuvraj’s
twin brother was under
treatment at a govern-
ment hospital here.
New Delhi: Given the task of its organisational
affairs in West Bengal Telangana, BJP general
secretary Sunil Bansal will
be on a 3-day visit to the
eastern state from August
28. Sources said he will
attend a training pro-
gramme in Bengal where
BJP leaders from different
parts of the state will
participate, giving Bansal a chance to interact with
the start party’s functionaries at one place.
BJP GENERAL SECRETARY SUNIL BANSAL
TO VISIT BENGAL FROM AUGUST 28
Srinagar: Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief
Minister and National Conference (NC) president,
Farooq Abdullah denied of
differences which could
lead to the breaking up
of the People’s Alliance
for Gupkar Declaration
(PAGD). Replying to a
question about Wednes-
day’s resolution passed
by the provincial committee of the NC that said the
party would on its own contest all the 90 Assembly
seats during the JK polls, Abdullah said, “Many
would want an end to PAGD, but the alliance will
not be affected.”
NO DIFFERENCES, GUPKAR ALLIANCE IS
INTACT, SAYS FAROOQ ABDULLAH
CRUCIAL READ
‘WORK WITH PASSION TO ENSURE
INDIA 2047 IS MORE PROSPEROUS’
Tells Prez Droupadi Murmu to 175 IAS officers of 2020 batch in an interaction
New Delhi (ANI): 175
IAS officers of 2020
batch, currently deput-
ed to various ministries
and departments as As-
sistant Secretaries,
called on President
Droupadi Murmu at
Rashtrapati Bhavan on
Thursday
.
Addressing the offic-
ers, the President said
as civil servants, they
have an important role
to play in the emergence
of India as a global hub
of knowledge, supply-
chain, innovation, tech-
nology-development
and various other fields.
At the same time, India
has to strengthen the
leadership position it
has taken in the areas of
socially inclusive and
environmentally sus-
tainable development.
Pointing to the fact that
by 2047, officers of 2020
batch will be among the
senior-most decision
makers, the President
said that by working
with passion and pride,
they can ensure that the
India of 2047 will be
much more prosperous,
strong and happy
. She
said for shaping that In-
dia of 2047, they have to
work witha modernand
service-oriented mind-
set. She noted that Mis-
sion Karmayogi is a ma-
jor initiative to make
civil servants more
modern, dynamic and
sensitive in approach.
President Murmu
said with tremendous
growth in infrastruc-
ture, it has become easi-
er to reach remote parts
of the country
. She said
it is expected from civil
servants to reach the
last person or the most
deprived person in their
area of responsibility
and improve her living
condition. They can
open up opportunities
for those who are not
aware of the welfare
schemes or develop-
ment programmes. She
reminded them that any
welfare initiative can be
rated truly successful
only if its benefits reach
the poor, the downtrod-
den and such other peo-
ple at the lowest strata
of society
. She said civil
servants should try to
reach such underprivi-
leged people. Under-
privileged should not be
put into the difficulty of
reaching them for help.
India condemns
‘horrific attack’
on Rushdie
New Delhi: India
wished author Salman
Rushdie a speedy recov-
ery and condemned the
‘horrific attack’ on the
writer. “India has al-
ways stood against vio-
lence and extremism.
We condemn the hor-
rific attack on Salman
Rushdie and we wish
him a speedy recovery,”
external affairs minis-
try spokesperson Arin-
dam Bagchi said Thurs-
day afternoon. Rushdie
suffered three stab
wounds to his neck and
four to his stomach.
4 held after gang-rape
victim kills self in UP
Sambhal (PTI): Four
persons were arrested
after a 16-year-old gang-
rape victim hanged her-
self to death here, po-
lice said on Thursday
.
While one of the ac-
cused was arrested on
Wednesday, three oth-
ers were nabbed on
Thursday, they said.
The girl took the ex-
treme step after alleged-
lybeingpressuredbythe
families of the accused
for a settlement, accord-
ing to police officials.
Superintendent of
PoliceChakreshMishra
on Thursday suspended
the investigating officer
in the case.
Police said the post-
mortem report con-
firmed hanging to be
the cause of the girl’s
death. Police had lodged
an FIR and initiated in-
vestigation after the
girl’s family members
lodged a complaint on
August 15 alleging she
was gang-raped.
After she killed her-
self, the family mem-
bers told the police that
families of the accused
were forcing her to en-
ter into a settlement
which pained her.
Uniqueness prevails: Odisha CS gets another extension
Rakesh Ranjan
Bhubaneswar: For the
first time in its 22 years
rule, the Naveen Pat-
naik Government in
Odisha has extended a
Chief Secretary’s term
not once but twice.
With the Centre approv-
ing the request to ex-
tend the services of CS-
Suresh Chandra Ma-
hapatra, 1986 batch IAS
officer, for another six
months the uniqueness
prevails.
This is the second
time that Mahapatra’s
tenure has been extend-
ed. He got six months
extension beyond his
retirement due on Feb-
ruary 28, 2022, and now
his tenure endd on Feb-
ruary 28, 2023.
Odisha bureaucracy
was abuzz with talks
that the government
took this step as it did
not want to consider
Pradeep Kumar Jena,
Development Commis-
sioner, for the CS post.
For the first time in its
22 years rule, the
Naveen Patnaik Gov-
ernment in Odisha has
extended a Chief Secre-
tary’s term not once but
twice. With the Centre
approving the request
to extend the services
of CSSuresh Chandra
Mahapatra, 1986 batch
IAS officer, for another
six months the unique-
ness prevails.
This is the second
time that Mahapatra’s
tenure has been extend-
ed. He got six months
extension beyond his
retirement due on Feb-
ruary 28, 2022, and now
his tenure endd on Feb-
ruary 28, 2023.
Odisha bureaucracy
was abuzz with talks
that the government
took this step as it did
not want to consider
Pradeep Kumar Jena,
Development Commis-
sioner, for the CS post.
Back in February spec-
ulations were rife that
the Chief Minister
wanted to bring back
Union Secretary for
Corporate Affairs
Rajesh Verma, a 1987
IAS officer of Odisha
Cadre, as the state’s
next CS instead of con-
sidering PK Jena. Re-
portedly, back then ei-
ther Centre or Verma
himself wanted more
time to get relieved
from Central deputa-
tion and this con-
strained Patnaik to ac-
cord the first-ever ex-
tension in Odisha to a
CS in January 2022.
President Droupadi Murmu with the IAS officers at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Thursday.
BE SENSITIVE TO PEOPLE: PRESIDENT’S ADVICE
New Delhi: Presi-
dent Droupadi Mur-
mu said civil servants
should try to reach
underprivileged peo-
ple, and reminded
them that welfare ini-
tiatives can be rated
truly successful only
if their benefits reach
those in the lowest
strata of society
.
Addressing a group
of 175 Indian Admin-
istrative Service offic-
ers of the 2020 batch,
President Murmu
said it was expected
from civil servants to
reach the last person
or the most deprived
person in their area
of responsibility and
improve their living
condition.
Rameshwar Thakur
is HPPSC chairman
Shimla (PTI): IPS of-
ficer Rameshwar Sin-
gh Thakur was on
Thursday appointed
as the chairman of
the Himachal Pradesh
Public Service Com-
mission,daysafterthe
state government can-
celledHPPSCmember
Rachna Gupta’s ap-
pointment to the post
without any clarifica-
tion.
“In exercise of the
powers vested in him
under Article-316 of
the Constitution of In-
dia, the Governor,
Himachal Pradesh, is
pleased to appoint
Shri Rameshwar Sin-
gh Thakur, IPS, as
Chairman, Himachal
Pradesh Public Ser-
vice Commission for a
term of six years from
the date on which he
enters upon his office
or until he attains the
age of 62 years, which-
ever is earlier,” the
notification issued by
state’s Chief Secre-
taryRDDhimanread.
In a notification on
August 17, the state
government had ap-
pointedRachnaGupta
as its chairperson,
and the oath-taking
ceremony was sched-
uled next morning.
The ceremony was,
however, called off at
the eleventh hour.
This move drew
criticism from the Op-
position with LoP in
assembly Mukesh Ag-
nihotri demanding an
explanation from CM
Jai Ram Thakur.
It is expect-
ed from civ-
il servants
to reach the
last person or the most
deprived person in
their area of responsi-
bility.
—Droupadi Murmu, President
Suresh Chandra Mahapatra
FAMOUS SCIENTIST SAMIR V
KAMAT APPOINTED DRDO SECY
New Delhi: Distin-
guished scientist
Samir V Kamat was on
Thursday appointed
as Secretary of the
Department of Defence
Research and Develop-
ment and Chairman of
the Defence Research
and Development
Organisation (DRDO),
according to a Person-
nel Ministry order.
Kamat, who is Director
General, Naval Systems
Materials, at the
DRDO will succeed
G Satheesh Reddy
who has been named
as scientific adviser
to Defence Minister
Rajnath Singh. DRDO
is the research and
development wing of
the Defence Ministry.
The Appointments
Committee of the
Cabinet (ACC) has ap-
proved the appointment
of Kamat as Secretary
of the Department
of Defence Research
and Development and
Chairman of DRDO
from the date of his
assumption of charge
till he attains age of
60 years, it said.
Technology revolution has empowered
India’s democracy: Lok Sabha Speaker
Halifax: Lok Sabha
Speaker Om Birla on
Thursday said that the
IT revolution has played
a significant role in em-
powering democracy in
avastcountrylikeIndia.
He made this remark
while addressing the
workshop on “
A People’s
Parliament: Accessibili-
ty through Innovation”.
Om Birla is leading the
Indian Parliamentary
delegation to the 65th
Commonwealth Parlia-
mentary Conference be-
ing held in Halifax in
Canada.
Observing that the
hopesandaspirationsof
people in a parliamen-
tary democracy are ex-
pressedthroughthePar-
liament,MrBirlaopined
that people see the Par-
liament as a medium of
transformation in their
socio-economic status.
“Therefore, as the su-
preme representative
body, it is the responsi-
bility of the Parliament
to act according to the
expectations and aspira-
tions of the people,” he
said. Mr Birla urged del-
egatestobuildaprosper-
ous, inclusive and en-
lightened society so that
the benefits of develop-
ment could reach the
last person in the queue.
Speakingonthesuccess-
fuldemocraticsystemin
India, Birla said, “The
peopleinIndiahavecon-
sistently reposed their
faithindemocraticinsti-
tutions through free and
fair elections in the 75
years since independ-
ence. The increasing
voterturnoutintheelec-
tionshasprovedthatthe
people consider democ-
racy as the best form of
governance.”
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla addresses the Indian diaspora in
Toronto. —PHOTO BY ANI

07
Commodity Price Change % Chg
GOLD 52,297.00 402.00 0.76 (Per 10g)
SILVER 56,191.00 711.00 1.26 (Per 1kg)
COMMODITIES
Currency Price Change % Chg
USDINR 79.93 0.07 0.08
GBPINR 94.61 0.38 0.40
CURRENCIES
Hiringincreasesby29%inApril-June2022
Employers increased hir-
ing by 29% in April to June
2022, as compared to a 20%
increase in the previous
quarter, findings from the
quarterly hiring tracker
released by job site, Indeed,
have revealed.
The tracker also found
that 37% of all jobseekers
looked for a job or a job
change during the quarter,
as compared to 46% during
the previous quarter.
“Sectors such as IT,
healthcare, E-commerce
will continue to grow and
with the advent of 5G, we
will see a sharp rise in tel-
ecom jobs as well in the
next few quarters,” said
Sashi Kumar, Head of
Sales, Indeed India.
IT/ITeS continued to
lead all sectors, with 91%
of the employers in the sec-
tor hiring during the quar-
ter (83% in the previous
quarter). Tech roles found
favour as the most in-de-
mand for the quarter.
INDEED TRACKER
FINDINGS FROM
THE REPORT
 The tracker found that
37% of all jobseekers
looked for a job or a job
change during the quarter,
as compared to 46% in
previous quarter.
 IT/ITeS continued to lead
all sectors, with 91%
of the employers in the
sector hiring during the
quarter.
SUGAR EXPORT MAY
DECLINE 28.57% TO
8 MN TONNES
New Delhi: The country’s
sugar exports are likely to
decline by 28.57% at around 8
million tonne
in the 2022-23
season on
expected
lower opening
balance stock and higher di-
version for ethanol. However,
whether to permit export un-
der an open general licence or
prevailing quota system will be
decided after assessing price
situation once the sugarcane
crushing ops begin. —PTI
BHARTI TELECOM
ACQUIRES 3.33%
STAKE IN AIRTEL
New Delhi: Bharti Airtel
promoter Bharti Telecom
will buy a 3.33% Airtel stake
from Singtel
for about
`12,895 crore
in 90 days’
time. Bharti
Group chairman Sunil Bharti
Mittal’s family and Singtel are
co-investors in Bharti Telecom
(BTL). Singtel in a statement
said that after the transaction,
Singtel Group is expected
to own an effective stake of
29.7% in Bharti Airtel. —PTI
ESIC SCHEME ADDS
15.47 LAKH NEW
MEMBERS IN JUNE
New Delhi : Around 15.47 lakh
new members joined the ESIC-
run social security scheme in
June 2022,
according to
official data
released on
Thursday. It
showed that the gross new
enrolments with ESIC rose
to 1.49 crore in 2021-22,
from 1.15 crore in 2020-21.
According to the report, net
new enrolments with retire-
ment fund body EPFO stood at
18.36 lakh in June 2022. —PTI
INDIA POST GEARING
UP TO PROVIDE
SERVICES AT DOORSTEP
New Delhi: India Post is work-
ing on projects and technolo-
gies to provide government
services at the
doorstep and
add 10,000
post offices
this year to
enhance its reach. Depart-
ment of Posts Secretary Aman
Sharma at a CII conference
said that the government has
provided the department with
`5,200 crore for the moderni-
sation of the post offices using
technology. —PTI
HERO ELECTRIC PARTNERS WITH JIO-BP FOR
CHARGING, BATTERY SWAPPING FOR EVs
New Delhi: Hero Electric on Thursday said it has partnered with
Jio-bp for charging electric two-wheelers. As per the collabora-
tion, the customers of Hero Electric will
get access to the widespread charging
and swapping network of Jio-bp, which
is also open to other vehicles, the elec-
tric two-wheeler maker said in a state-
ment. The companies will bring the best
of their global learning in electrification
and apply them to the Indian market, the
statement added. —PTI
OTHER STORIES
business
BRIEFS
New Delhi: Hyundai Mo-
tor India on Thursday said
it has commenced book-
ings for Venue N Line, its
second product under the
performance-oriented N
Line range, as it looks to
cater to the customers
looking for sporty vehi-
cles. The compact SUV
comes with various exteri-
or and interior changes to
give it a sporty styling, in-
spired by motorsport. In
September last year, the
automaker introduced the
i20 N Line in the country.
The model comes with a
1-litre turbo petrol engine
mated with seven-speed
DCT (automatic) trans-
mission. —PTI
New Delhi: LIC has dilut-
ed its stake in Nagpur
Power Industries by
over 2% through open
market sales, bringing
down its stake to 8.33%.
LIC said its shareholding
in Nagpur Power Indus-
tries has diluted from
10.56% (13,82,743
shares) to 8.33%
(10,90,747 shares) of the
paid-up capital of the
company. There is a de-
crease of 2% in holding
during the period from
Sept 30, 2021, to Aug 24,
2022, at an average cost
of `58.94, LIC said. —PTI
LIC DILUTES STAKE
IN NAGPUR POWER
INDUSTRIES
HYUNDAI MOTORS
OPENS BOOKINGS
FOR VENUE N LINE
New Delhi: Indian Oil Cor-
poration, the nation’s larg-
est oil firm, on Thursday
committed `2 lakh crore
to achieve net zero carbon
emission target by 2046,
chairman S M Vaidya
said. The firm’s oil refin-
ing and petrochemicals
business has a total emis-
sion of 21.5 million
tonnes of CO2, he said.
The firm plans to decar-
bonise refining and petro-
chemicals operations
through energy efficiency,
electrification and fuel re-
placement, he said. —PTI
IOC EYES NET ZERO
CARBON EMISSIONS
BY 2046
New Delhi: Sebi on
Thursday came out with
the disclosure framework
for asset management
companies, mandating a
scheme-wise disclosure
of investments in securi-
ties of entities that are ex-
cluded from the definition
of “associate”. This came
after Sebi, earlier this
month, amended mutual
fund rules to remove the
applicability of the defini-
tion of “associate” to
sponsors that invest in
various companies on be-
half of the beneficiaries of
insurance policies or such
other schemes. —PTI
SEBI COMES OUT
WITH DISCLOSURE
REQ FOR AMCs
*Rates till the edition went to print.
India’s strong economic
growth offers room for the
Reserve Bank of India to
raise rates by another 60
basis points as the central
bank seeks to stamp out
high inflation, DBS Group
Research said in a note on
Thursday
.
India’s gross domestic
product (GDP) in the first
quarter of current fiscal
year likely surged 16%
year-on-year based on most
leading indicators, the re-
search house estimated.
Favourable base effect after
the onset of Delta coronavi-
rus variant last year will
additionally lift the year-
on-year GDP numbers, Ra-
dhika Rao, senior econo-
mist at DBS Group Re-
search, wrote in the note.
It expects India’s first
quarter (April-June)
growth to be at 16%. The of-
ficial GDP is expected to be
issued on August 31. It
maintains an overall FY23
growth forecast at 7%,
whichwillseeIndiaemerge
as the fastest-growing
economy in Asia this year.
“Resumption in service
sector activity added to the
momentum, besides manu-
facturing,” Rao said.
Broad-based improve-
ment in vaccination rates
and relaxation of lock-
downs benefited urban
consumption, while unem-
ployment rates returned to
pre-pandemic levels, Rao
said. On the investment
side, “lead indicators have
been encouraging.”
India’s retail inflation
rate has remained above
RBI’s upper tolerance limit
for seven straight months.
“Public capex is likely to
be a bigger support in this
cycle as private sector par-
ticipation might be in the
slow lane, due to rising in-
put prices and renewed un-
certainty over the global
growth outlook,” Rao
wrote.
WHAT DOES THE
REPORT SAY...
 India’s gross domestic
product (GDP) in the first
quarter of current fiscal year
likely surged 16% year-on-
year based on most leading
indicators, the research house
estimated.
 Favourable base effect after
the onset of Delta coronavirus
variant last year will
additionally lift the year-on-year
GDP numbers.
 It expects India’s first
quarter growth to be at 16%.
The official GDP is expected to
be issued on August 31.
5G in India by
October 12, says
Vaishnaw
Union IT minister Ashwini
Vaishnaw on Thursday
said that 5G services will
be launched in India by Oc-
tober 12 after which it will
be scaled further in cities
towns. “Our expectations
are that 5G should reach in
every part of the country
in the next two to three
years. We’ll ensure that it
remains affordable. The in-
dustry is focusing on both
urban as well as rural are-
as,” he said.
“We are planning to roll
out 5G services rapidly, tel-
ecom operators are work-
ing in that regard instal-
lations are being done.
Hopefully, we should be
launching 5G services by
October 12 then would
further scale up in cities
towns,” he added.
The DoT has received
payment of around `17,876
crore from service provid-
ers -- Bharti Airtel, Reli-
ance Jio, Adani Data Net-
works and Vi for spectrum.
INDIA’S STRONG ECONOMY MEANS
RBI CAN HIKE RATES
ONCE AGAIN
No threat to India’s
creditworthiness:SP
New Delhi (PTI): India
has built up buffers against
cyclical difficulties and has
ample foreign exchange re-
serves to withstand pres-
sure on credit worthiness,
SP Global Ratings said.
SP Sovereign Inter-
national Public Finance
Ratings Director Andrew
Wood said the country has
a strong external balance
sheet and limited external
debt, making debt servic-
ing not so expensive.
“The country has built
up buffers against cyclical
difficulties like those,
which we are experiencing
right now,” Wood said.
He said the rating agen-
cy does not expect the near-
term pressures to have a
serious impact on India’s
credit worthiness.
“We are expecting a
strong level of GDP growth
of 7.3% this fiscal,” he said,
adding the rupee exchange
rate movement against the
US dollar has been moder-
ate. Wood said India has
“ample buffer” in its for-
eign exchange reserves and
the forex kitty is expected
to recover to $600 billion by
the end of this year. Forex
reserve stood at $570.74 bil-
lion as of August 12.
The US-based agency has
a ‘BBB-’ rating on India
with a stable outlook.
STRONG EXT
BALANCE SHEET
 SP Sovereign
International Public Finance
Ratings Director Andrew
Wood said the country has
a strong external balance
sheet and limited external
debt, making debt servicing
not so expensive.
New Delhi (PTI): Telecom
companies will not require
any approval from authori-
ties for laying cables or in-
stalling mobile towers or
poles over private proper-
ties, according to new Right
of Way Rules notified by
the government recently.
The govt also notified rules
for using electric poles, foot
over bridges etc for instal-
lation of small mobile ra-
dio antennas or laying
overhead telecom cables
along with charges to ease
roll out of telecom net-
works specially 5G service.
No approval
needed for laying
telecom infra
India restricts export of wheat flour
New Delhi (PTI): The gov-
ernment on Thursday de-
cided to put restrictions on
the export of wheat flour to
curb rising prices of the
commodity
.
The decision was taken
at a meeting of the Cabinet
Committee on Economic
Affairs (CCEA), chaired by
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi.
The decision of the Cabi-
net “will now allow to put a
restriction on the export of
Wheat Flour which will en-
sure a curb on rising prices
of wheat flour and ensure
food security of the most
vulnerable sections of the
society,” an official state-
ment released on Thursday
said.
The Directorate General
of Foreign Trade (DGFT)
will issue a notification to
this effect.
Wheat flour exports
from India have registered
a growth of 200% during
April-July 2022 compared
to the corresponding peri-
od in 2021.
The increased demand
for wheat flour in the inter-
national market led to sig-
nificant price rise of the
commodity in the domestic
market.
RBI MPC Member Goyal
lauds govt’s reforms push
New Delhi (PTI): Eight
years of systemic econom-
ic reforms under the Modi
govt have increased India’s
macroeconomic stability
and its capacity to with-
stand any external shocks,
RBI Monetary Policy Com-
mittee (MPC) Member
Ashima Goyal has said.
“Just before the Modi
govt came in, the country
was facing serious macroe-
conomic instability after
the global financial crisis.”
“After 8 years of systemic
reforms, the economy has
been able to ride out more
severe global shocks with
macroeconomic stability, a
healthy financial sector,
food security and a govt and
industry that have learnt to
work together,” she said.
Sensex falls 311 pts on Thursday
Mumbai (PTI): Equity
benchmarks ended lower
on Thursday as a fag-end
sell-off wiped out early
gains, with IT bank
stocks playing spoilsport.
After remaining in the
positive territory for most
part of the trade, the BSE
Sensex suddenly came un-
der selling pressure during
the last half-hour of the
session, declining 310.71
points or 0.53% to settle at
58,774.72. Similarly, the
broader NSE Nifty dropped
82.50 points or 0.47% to end
at 17,522.45.
From the Sensex pack,
Bajaj Finance, IndusInd
Bank, Infosys, Tata Consul-
tancy Services, Axis Bank,
Power Grid, NTPC, Larsen
Toubro and HDFC were
the major laggards.
Maruti Suzuki India,
State Bank of India, Dr
Reddy’s and Titan were the
gainers.
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee declined by 7 paise to close at 79.93
(provisional) after moving in a narrow range against the US
dollar on Thursday. At the interbank foreign exchange market,
the domestic currency opened at 79.80 per dollar. It hovered
in a range of 79.80 to 79.93 during the session. The domestic
unit finally settled at 79.93, down 7 paise over its previous
close of 79.86.
` GOES DOWN 7 PAISE TO CLOSE AT 79.93
AGAINST US DOLLAR

08
2NDFRONT
Lalit K Jha
Washington: India for
thefirsttimeonWednes-
day voted against Rus-
sia during a procedural
vote at the United Na-
tions Security Council
on Ukraine, as the
15-member powerful
UNbodyinvitedUkrain-
ian President Volody-
myr Zelenskyy to ad-
dress a meeting through
a video tele-conference.
This is for the first
time that India has vot-
ed against Russia on
the issue of Ukraine,
after the Russian mili-
tary action began in
February. So far, New
Delhi has abstained at
the UN Security Coun-
cil on Ukraine, much to
the annoyance of the
Western powers led by
the United States.
Western nations, in-
cluding the US, have
imposed major eco-
nomic and other sanc-
tions on Russia follow-
ing the aggression.
India has not criti-
cised Russia for its ag-
gression against
Ukraine. New Delhi
has repeatedly called
upon the Russian and
Ukrainian sides to re-
turn to the path of di-
plomacy and dialogue,
and also expressed its
support for all diplo-
matic efforts to end the
conflict between the
countries.
India currently is a
non-permanent mem-
ber of the UNSC for a
two-year term, which
ends in December.
On Wednesday, the
UNSC held a meeting
to take stock of the
now six-month-old con-
flict. As the meeting
began, Russian Ambas-
sador Vassily A Neben-
zia requested a proce-
dural vote concerning
Ukrainian President’s
participation in the
meeting.Following
statements by him and
Ferit Hoxha of Alba-
nia, the Council invit-
ed Zelensky to partici-
pate in the meeting via
video tele-conference
by a vote of 13 in favour
to one against. Russia
voted against such an
invitation, while China
abstained. —PTI
DIPLOMATIC DARE
FOR FIRST TIME,
INDIA VOTES AGAINST RUSSIA
IN THE PAST
India calls for immediate cessation of hostilities
United Nations
(PTI): Calling for an
immediate cessation
of hostilities in
Ukraine, India reaf-
firmed that it advo-
cates dialogue and
diplomacy to end the
Russia-Ukraine war.
India’s Permanent
Representative Ruchi-
ra Kamboj, speaking
during a Security
Council meeting, said
it is in collective in-
terest to work con-
structively towards
seeking an early reso-
lution to the war.
“We continue to re-
iterate that the global
order is anchored on
international law, the
UN Charter and re-
spect for territorial
integrity and sover-
eignty of states,” she
said. “India continues
to advocate for an im-
mediate cessation of
hostilities and an end
to violence. We en-
courage talks be-
tween Ukraine and
Russia. Prime Minis-
ter Narendra Modi
has himself, more
than once, spoken to
them in this regard,”
she said.
“India remains
deeply concerned
over the situation in
Ukraine,” she said.
CANAL CHAMPION
CLOUDED DESERT
Monsoon clouds gather over the Bikaner Fort on Thursday. —PHOTO BY PTI
GADKARI OUTRAGED AT
‘NEFARIOUS CAMPAIGN’
First India Bureau
New Delhi: Road
Transport and High-
ways Minister Nitin
Gadkari on Thursday
hit out at its detrac-
tors for “concocting”
his statements for a
“nefarious and fabri-
cated” campaign for
political mileage.
The BJP veteran’s
tweets came amid re-
ports that both the
BJP leadership and
leaders of the Sangh
were upset with him
for his “repeated”
public statements,
which were seen as
having embarrassed
the government and
the party
. The reports
also suggested that
Gadkari was dropped
earlier this month
from the BJP parlia-
mentary board, the
party’s apex deci-
sion-making body,
because his repeated
jibes at the party
and government at
the Centre had ended
up annoying the RSS
leadership.
On Thursday, Gad-
kari posted the series
of tweets expressing
his annoyance at what
he called a “fabricated
campaign” against
him.
“Today, once again,
efforts were being
made to continue the
nefarious fab-
ricated cam-
p a i g n
against me
for politi-
cal mileage
on my
behest by
some section of main-
stream media, social
media and some per-
sons in particular by
concocting my state-
ments…I will not hes-
itate to take them to
the law in the larger
interest of our Gov-
ernment, Party and
millions of our hard-
working Karyakar-
tas,” the minister
posted, along with a
video of his
speech at the
launch of a
book in the
n a t i o n a l
capital on
Tuesday
.
FIELD TRAINING FOR 16 IAS
OFFICERS OF 2021 BATCH
Ahtesham Siddiqui
Lucknow: The Uttar
Pradesh government
has issued a posting or-
der for field training of
16 IAS officers of 2021
batch who are undergo-
ing training at Lal Ba-
hadur Shastri National
Academy of Adminis-
tration, Mussoorie.
After the completion
of their Professional
Courses Phase 1, the of-
ficers have to join as As-
sistant Magistrates for
training.
Among these trainee
IAS officers, Jagriti
Awasthi has been post-
ed as Assistant Magis-
trate at Meerut, Ankita
Jain at Rae Bareli,
Sarthak Agarwal at
Prayagraj, Shashwat
Tripurari at Gorakh-
pur, Krishna Kumar
Singh at Ayodhya, Di-
vya Mishra at Hardoi,
Prakhar Kumar Singh
at Azamgarh, Jagat Sai
Rolpally at Banda,
Marunali Avinath Joshi
at Aligarh, Pooja Gupta
at Agra, Dhruv Khadia
at Mathura, Kanti Raj
at Saharanpur, Shahid
Ahmed at Jhansi,
Kandarkar Kamal
Kishor at Varanasi, Ha-
shikha Singh at Mo-
radabad and Himanshu
Gupta at Kanpur.
Give justice to
Bilkis Bano, says
Priyanka Gandhi
New Delhi (PTI):
Congress leader Pri-
yanka Gandhi Vadra
on Thursday de-
manded justice for
Gujarat riots survi-
vor Bilkis Bano and
said the government
has made its stand
clear with its silence
on the release of 11
people convicted in
the 2002 case of her
gangrape and mur-
der of her seven fam-
ily members.
The 11 convicts
were released on Au-
gust 15 under the Gu-
jarat government’s
remission policy af-
ter serving 15 years
in jail. “The govern-
ment has made its
stand clear (‘sarkar
ne lakeer kheench li
hai’) by keeping si-
lent on on the release
of 11 people convict-
ed of rape, comments
expressing welcome-
support for them on
camera,” Priyanka
Gandhi said in a
tweet in Hindi.
RAHUL DENOUNCES ‘HOLLOW
SLOGANS’ LIKE 'BETI BACHAO'
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Rahul
Gandhi on Thursday demanded justice
for Gujarat riots survivor Bilkis Bano and
alleged that those giving
hollow slogans like ‘Beti
Bachao’ are “saving
rapists”. “Those giving
hollow slogans like
‘Beti Bachao’ are saving
rapists,” Gandhi said in
a tweet in Hindi. “Today, the question is
about the respect and rights of the women
of the country. Give justice to Bilkis Bano,”
the former Congress chief said.
Cong presidential poll likely to
be postponed a few weeks
New Delhi (ANI): Elec-
tion for the Congress
President is likely to be
postponed a few weeks
and the final schedule
will be decided in the
Congress Working
Committee(CWC)meet-
ing scheduled on Au-
gust 28, party sources
said on Thursday
.
The Congress party
had completed the in-
ternal election process
till August 20. The party
had announced that the
election for the post of
president will be held
between August 21 and
September 20 but de-
spite several attempts,
Rahul Gandhi has not
cleared his stance.
Sources said the pro-
cess seems to remain
stuck since Rahul is not
willing to contest the
election for the post of
Congress president, al-
though all the efforts to
convince him are still
going on.
If the logjam contin-
ues, there may be an at-
tempt to agree on one
of the names of the
leaders like Ashok Ge-
hlot, Mallikarjun
Kharge, KC Venugopal,
Kumari Shailja and
Mukul Wasnik.
RAHUL’S REFUSAL
DPR of bullet
train project
‘not rejected’
New Delhi (PTI):
The Ministry of
Railways on Thurs-
day denied reports
that the feasibility
report of Delhi-
Varanasi bullet
train project has
been rejected, as-
serting that its
DPR is still under
consideration.
“No decision has
been taken on DPR
of Delhi-Varanasi
High Speed Rail.
Railway Ministry
has no issue with
the DPR,” it said.
CONTENDERS
Life is a series of tests, we decide
that does it show our weakness or
discovers our strength!
—Dr Jagdeesh Chandra,
CEO Editor-in-Chief, First India
Russian bombardment of residential area in Nikopol on Monday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses the Security Council on Wednesday.
Raj CM visits flood-hit Hadoti, says ERCP is solution
Bhanwar S Charan, Gul
Mohd and Ayushi
Vijayvargiya
Kota/Baran: Chief
Minister Ashok Gehlot
on Thursday conducted
an aerial survey of the
flood-hit areas following
heavy rainfall and met
affected people. Gehlot
took stock of the situa-
tion in Bundi, Kota and
Baran districts. His tour
to Jhalawar was called
off later in the after-
noon due to bad weather
conditions. Gehlot is
proposed to visit Man-
drayal town in Karauli
on Friday to take stock
of the villages sub-
merged in flood waters
of Chambal river.
Speakingtothemedia
aftertheaerialsurveyin
Baran, Gehlot lashed
out at the Centre and de-
mandedthattheEastern
Rajasthan Canal Project
(ERCP) be declared a na-
tional initiative. He said
had it been constructed,
the flood water from the
Kota barrage could have
been used in 13 districts
and flooding avoided.
“What are the hurdles
in declaring the ERCP a
national project, the
Centre must answer,”
Gehlot said. He appreci-
atedrescueeffortsbythe
administration, Army
,
NDRF, and SDRF.
Appreciating UDH
minister Shanti Dhari-
wal for the Chambal
river front project, Ge-
hlot said that the project
has saved some areas.
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot conducting aerial survey of the flood-hit areas following heavy rainfall.
Gehlot praises Dhariwal for Chambal river
front; assures all help to affected people

www.firstindia.co.in I https://firstindia.co.in/epapers/delhi I twitter.com/
thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia 09
NEW DELHI, FRIDAY,
AUGUST 26, 2022
TWINING
TIDES!
Good vibes happen on the tides and
best of fashion happen on vacation,
City First brings to you the adorable
fashion from vacation!
s summer is slip-
ping away very
fast with the
pleasant and
balmy rain and I
still can’t believe
that August is al-
most gone. It is true when
we say ‘Summer means
happy times and good
sunshine, perfect weath-
er to heal and relax, but
ever wonder what we can
wear to make ourselves
shine in the scorching
heat in the day during the
vacation time. Because
Vacation has no fixed
time, when all else fails,
take a vacation. The sea-
son is the same. We’re the
ones who are changing.
Packing for a warm-
weather trip means
smashing the right bal-
ance between cosy and
trendy, and creating cute
beach vacation out-
fits that look ef-
fortless–which,
ironically, can
be stressful.
The idea of
an escape is to
de-stress and
have fun, so
instead of get-
ting fraz-
zled
over what to wear to the
beach and beyond during
your next trip, take style
inspiration from some of
the best-dressed ladies
under the sun.
Cropped or Traditional
White Tee, Cropped Trou-
sers, Bucket Hat, Multi-
faceted Mini Skirt, Pair
Of Blue Jeans there are
so much to choose from
but remember when on
vacation less is more.
Leaving all chic sexy out-
fits at home and choosing
comfort is a top priority.
Wearing matching sets
set is breezy enough for
the beach but elevated
enough for sightseeing or
seaside dinner. Just dress
it up with minimalist
heeled sandals.
If you wish to avoid
feeling hot or cold, layer-
ing is the way to go. This
way you can take some-
thing off when you start
to overheat and put some-
thing on when you feel
chilly.
In addition, layered
outfits always look more
stylish. For example, a
cute dress paired with a
comfy cardigan and a
lightweight scarf will
look great on you and
keep you cosy during
your trip.
UTTKARSHA SHEKHAR
uttkarsha.shekhar@firstindia.co.in
A

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