30122021 first india ahmedabad

CM PATEL LAUNCHES PRE-VGGS
TEXTILE EVENT IN SURAT
VGGS 2022
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: Chief
Minister Bhupendra
Patel on Wednesday in-
augurated a Vibrant
Gujarat Global Summit
pre-event, ‘Weaving
Growth for Textile’ at
the International exhi-
bition-cum-convention
hall in Surat. It was at-
tended by Bharatiya Ja-
nata Party (BJP) state
unit president CR Patil,
Union Minister Darsha-
na Jardosh and other
state cabinet ministers.
A panel discussion
was also carried out by
experts on three topics:
‘Policy Initiatives to Re-
define Textile Sector of
the Country”, ‘Indian
Textile Industries-A
Global Sourcing Hub
Moving towards At-
manirbhar Bharat’, and
‘Future Turn to P6
(From left) Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi, Roads
and Buildings Department Minister Purnesh Modi, Union Minister
of State for Textiles and Railways Darshana Jardosh, BJP state
unit president CR Patil, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and GIDC
chairman Balvantsinh Rajput, at the Weaving for Growth for
Textiles event in Surat on Wednesday.
Panel discussions
held on initiatives
pertaining to the
sector, and Indian
and global markets
NATURE’S
NATURE’S
WHITE
WHITE
CARPET
CARPET
COUNTDOWN TO
BIG SURGE
India heads into intense
but short-lived virus wave
According to Cambridge tracker, nation may see a
spurt in the Covid-19 growth rate within days
Mohd Fahad
New Delhi: India may
see a spurt in the Cov-
id-19 growth rate within
days and head into an
intense but short-lived
virus wave as the high-
ly-infectious omicron
variant moves through
the crowded nation of
almost 1.4 billion.
“It is likely that India
will see a period of ex-
plosive growth in daily
cases and that the in-
tense growth phase will
be relatively short,”
Paul Kattuman, profes-
sor at the Judge Busi-
ness School at the Uni-
versity of Cambridge
which has developed a
Covid-19 India tracker,
wrote in an email. “New
infections will begin to
rise in a few days, pos-
sibly within this week,”
he said, adding that it
was hard to predict how
high the daily cases
could go.
Kattuman and his
team of researchers, de-
velopers of the India
Covid tracker, are see-
ing a sharp rise in infec-
tion rates across India.
The tracker spotlighted
six states as a “signifi-
cant concern” in a De-
cember 24 note, with
adjusted growth rate of
new cases exceeding
5%. This had expanded
to 11 Indian states by
December 26.
‘DATA SUPPORTING VERY HIGH IMMUNE
ESCAPE POTENTIAL OF THE OMICRON’
New Delhi: There is now clear experimental and clinical
data supporting very high immune escape potential of
Omicron, but initial estimates show
the severity of illness being lower than
what was seen in previous outbreaks,
the Indian SARS-COV-2 Genomics
Consortia INSACOG said in its latest
bulletin citing global data. “While
Delta continues to be the most prevalent VOC globally, the
Omicron variant has completely displaced it in southern
Africa and is on track to become the dominant variant in
U.K. and elsewhere,” INSACOG said in its bulletin.
PM MODI VISIT TO UAE
POSTPONED AMID COVID
New Delhi: The visit of Prime
Minister Narendra Modi to UAE,
expected to take place in the
first week of January, has been
postponed amid a spike in Omicron
cases, sources told news agency
ANI. The sources said the PM Modi
was scheduled to visit UAE from
January 6 on his first foreign visit in
the new year.
Meanwhile, Congress leader Rahul
Gandhi left for Italy via Doha on
Wednesday morning. According to
sources, he is expected to be out
of India till January 15.
CORONA
CATASTROPHE
INDIA
GUJARAT
9,195
new cases
302
new fatalities
Mon killings:
Nagaland SIT
to question
Armymen
from today
Pawar: Left Cong,
not ideology of
Nehru, Gandhi’
Kohima: The Special
Investigations Team set
up by the Nagaland gov-
ernment to probe the
Army operation at Ot-
ing village in Mon on
December 4 that left six
coal miners dead will
get access to the sol-
diers involved in the
incident. The govern-
ment had called the in-
cident a case of “mis-
taken identity”. In the
violence that followed
the incident, nine more,
including a soldier,
were killed.
Army sources said
that while the SIT was
yet to take the statement
of anyone, it would have
access starting on
Thursday to “whosoev-
er they want”. It is not
clear how many or who
all be called for ques-
tioning. The soldiers
involved will be called
to depose at the Rainfor-
est Research Institute in
Jorhat, Assam.
Pune: Speaking at the
launch of a coffee table
book on his life Wednes-
day, NCP chief Sharad
P a w a r
said while
he left the
Congress,
he never
d u m p e d
the ideolo-
gy of Mahatma Gandhi
and Jawaharlal Nehru.
Pawar also said he
never wanted to return
to Maharashtra as the
Chief Minister in 1991,
but he “accepted the
challenge”.
Corona changing form, be alert: Shah
Gandhinagar: Union
Home Minister Amit
Shah on Wednesday
said the coronavirus
pandemic cannot be
controlled until the
masses become aware
and follow the guide-
lines issued by the gov-
ernment.
He also appealed to
those in the 15-18 age
group to get them-
selves vaccinated at
the earliest when their
turn begins from Janu-
ary 3.
Addressing a gather-
ing through video con-
ferencing after dedi-
cating and laying foun-
dation stones for vari-
ous developmental
works worth around
Rs 50 crore in his Lok
Sabha constituency of
Gandhinagar, Shah
also asked the admin-
istration to remain
alert about the rising
cases of coronavirus.
“Coronavirus is
once again rising after
changing form. This
time, all of us, be it
municipal corpora-
tions, municipalities,
district panchayats or
state governments,
will have to remain
alert,” the Union Home
Minister said.
CRUCIAL READ
EC MEETS POL
PARTIES IN UP;
LEADERS URGE NOT
TO DELAY POLLS
Lucknow: ECI team
on Tuesday met all
the major political
parties in UP where
many of them urged
ECI to not postpone
or delay 2022 polls in
state, amid concerns
over Omicron variant.
The representatives
of BJP, SP, RLD, BSP
& Congress attended
the meeting. Team led
by CEC Sushil Chan-
dra also held a review
meeting on Wednes-
day with state’s
senior officials.
2 YEARS, NO TON
54
new cases
01
new fatalities
 Indian Test skip-
per Virat Kohli ended
the year 2021 without
scoring a century in
international cricket as
he departed for 18 in the
second innings of the
first Test against South
Africa on Wednesday.
 In 2020 also, Kohli
had failed to reach the
triple-figure mark.
 The Indian skip-
per’s last international
century, his 70th, came
on November 23, 2019
in the day-night Test
against Bangladesh at
Eden Gardens.
 Commentator and
former India batting
coach Sanjay Bangar
said that the key to
Kohli regaining some
of his lost form is
to find options
elsewhere on
the ground
apart from
the key
region
between
point &
cover.
Snow-covered Kedarnath temple complex after
fresh snowfall in Kedarnath. (Inset) Tourists enjoy
amid snow in Ski Resort in Gulmarg of Kashmir.
As hill states experience heavy snowfall, tempera-
ture continues to plummet and cold wave casts its
spell over entire north India.
OUR EDITIONS:
JAIPUR, AHMEDABAD,
LUCKNOW & NEW DELHI
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People not adhering to social distancing norms visit Heritage
street near Golden temple on Wednesday.
Union Home Minister Amit
Shah during Gandhinagar
projects’ launch ceremony
via video conferencing.
AHMEDABAD l THURSDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2021 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/79050 l Vol 3 l Issue No. 36

NEWS
AHMEDABAD | THURSDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2021
02
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Guv Devvrat opens 3-day farmer training camp at Vadtal
First India Bureau
Vadtal: Governor
Acharya Devvrat on
Wednesday inaugurat-
ed the three-day Sub-
hash Palekar Natural
Agriculture Training
for farmers of Central
Gujarat districts at
Vadtal in Kheda dis-
trict. Speaking about
the benefits of natural
farming, he said, “Nat-
ural farming is a radi-
cal change to counter
the ill effects of irra-
tional use of chemicals
on nature. It will be a
turning point in nature
conservation and also
help raise the income
of farmers. The state
government has taken
the lead in this grand
campaign to direct
farmers of Gujarat to-
wards natural farm-
ing.”
The training event is
a joint venture of the
agriculture depart-
ment, farmer welfare
and co-operation de-
partment, ATM project
and natural farming
coordinating commit-
tee, Gandhinagar.
Farmers from Suren-
dranagar and Narma-
da districts including
Central Gujarat will
participate in the work-
shop. On this occasion,
the governor also hon-
oured farmers of vari-
ous districts engaged
in natural farming by
giving away certifi-
cates.
“Natural farming
will help save the envi-
ronment. It will also
increase the income of
farmers, as their pro-
duce will fetch good
prices. Around 3,000
farmers are expected
to attend this three-day
training camp at Vad-
tal. We are hopeful to
take Gujarat towards
becoming a ‘poison-
free’ state,” said Gover-
nor Devvrat.
Governor Acharya Devvrat lighting the lamp at inauguration ceremony.
Traders are protesting the proposed hike in GST from the current 5% to 12%
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: The deci-
sion to hike Goods and
Service Tax from the
current 5% to 12% on
textiles has not gone
down well with traders
in Surat’s 185 textile
markets and
Ahmedabad’s 27, who
have called for a bandh
on Thursday, when the
hike is slated to take ef-
fect.
Gaurang Bhagat,
president of the Maska-
ti Cloth Markets Asso-
ciation said, “The tex-
tile industry is already
going through a rough
patch. It is recovering
from the recession and
setbacks suffered dur-
ing the peak of the pan-
demic last year. The
customer’s purchasing
capacity is being
squeezed and an in-
crease in tax tariff will
be a burden on consum-
ers, which can have a
cascading effect on the
sector’s growth.”
Traders in Surat say
the hike will have a di-
rect impact on produc-
tion costs in a city that
has already seen textile
production fall by 1.5
crore metres from the
earlier norm of 4.5
crore metres over the
past five years.
“We are already reel-
ing under the effects of
inflation. If the govern-
ment insists on increas-
ing GST to 12%, several
small and medium
weavers and factories
will go out of business.
This will cause a 20-
25% hike in the price of
textiles, which will
then have to be borne
by customers,” Mayur
Golawala, a textile trad-
er in Surat’s Sachin
area, told First India.
“As it is, processing
has already fallen by
about 30%. In addition
to severely limiting
purchases of raw mate-
rials, traders are refus-
ing to give job work for
embroidery. We did not
see the high demand
that is normal for the
post-Diwali wedding
season. Plus, traders
from the southern
states have not come
in to purchase stocks
due to the pandemic,”
he also said.Traders
in Ahmedabad and Su-
rat add that they will
continue to protest un-
til the GST Council
withdraws the hike.
Last week, traders
in Surat began to
write 5,000 letters to
Union Finance Minis-
ter Nirmala Sithara-
man, asking for “mer-
cy” and demanding
that the tax slabs re-
main the same.
Traders at the New Cloth Market in Ahmedabad’s Raipur area held a silent protest by candlelight on Wednesday evening.
ALSO IN
SURAT…
Speaking at an
event in Surat held
in the run-up to
the Vibrant Gujarat
Global Summit,
BJP state unit chief
CR Patil blamed
“certain political
parties” for stirring
up dissent among
traders on the is-
sue. “Certain politi-
cal parties are join-
ing trade groups
to wrongly create
problems,” he said.
On the other hand,
Chief Minister Bhu-
pendra Patel, who
inaugurated the
Surat event, said,
“We are aware of
the issue. We have
made a representa-
tion to the Union
Finance Minister
that the hike will be
detrimental to the
industry.”
Cong demands cancellation of CM Patel Rajkot visit programmes
First India Bureau
Rajkot: Rajkot Con-
gress has demanded
cancellation of various
programmesscheduled
for Chief Minister
Bhupendra Patel’s
maiden visit to Rajkot
on December 31.
Patel is slated to be
accompanied by
Bharatiya Janata Par-
ty (BJP) state unit
President CR Patil and
a team of ministers in-
cluding Minister of
State for Home Harsh
Sanghavi, at the Good
Governance Week
gatherings. It will com-
prise a three kilometre
roadshow and a bike
rally of around 1,000
people organized by
the BJP youth wing.
According to Con-
gress members, Patil
was instrumental in
ushering in the second
wave of COVID-19 pan-
demic in Gujarat.
Terming CM Patel ‘Co-
rona Super Spreader’,
they submitted an ap-
plication to Rajkot col-
lector and police com-
missioner on Wednes-
day
.
“When COVID-19
and Omicron cases are
on the rise, it is sad that
the CM wants to do
shakti pradarshan”,
stated a Congress press
release. It further add-
ed, “A large number of
people are bound to
gather for the CM’s
event. The World
Health Organization
(WHO) has already an-
nouncedthatCOVID-19
cases are likely to
surge from January 15,
2022. The Surat police
commissioner has al-
ready imposed Section
144 in the city. Then
why doesn’t Rajkot?
When there is one rul-
ing party in the state,
then what is the reason
for the difference in im-
plementation of law?”
“On one hand, the
government has to take
preventive measures to
control the pandemic,
but it is bent on becom-
ing a super spreader by
organizing such a mas-
sive event,” alleged op-
position leaders.
Meanwhile, prepara-
tions are in full swing
for the roadshow from
Rajkot airport to Dhar-
mendra Singhji Col-
lege, where the CM is
expected to address a
huge gathering. The
road show crew will
feature a DJ band,
floats and also a garba
programme by chil-
dren. Around 100 stag-
es have been erected on
the entire route to wel-
come Patel. Lokarpan
and khatmahurat of
RMC projects worth
Rs82.49 crore will also
be done along with E
-Shram card distribu-
tion to beneficiaries.
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: There
are three wings in the
central government’s
revenue department
where visitors are not
allowed to carry their
mobile phones into the
office premises. Despite
the rule, bureaucrats
are doubly cautious, es-
pecially while dealing
with journalists.
As per the standard
practice, visitors to the
department are asked
to deposit their phones
with the security guard.
Only after that they are
allowed to visit with the
officers. The reason be-
hind such precaution is
to prevent journalists
and visitors from re-
cording conversations
with officers and leak-
ing confidential infor-
mation.
With new gadgets
and technological ad-
vancements for audio/
video recording in the
market, bureaucrats
are careful while deal-
ing with journalists.
One such Indian Reve-
nue Service (IRS) offic-
er, who was posted in
one of the three wings
until recently, was cau-
tious while meeting
with media persons.
Whenever a journalist
or informer paid him a
visit, he would never
take a seat and instead
used to converse with
them while standing.
He would also walk
around in his chamber
to avoid being caught
on camera/spy cam car-
ried inside by any visi-
tor or journalist. His
behaviour set tongues
wagging among junior
officers and other staff-
ers of the wing, who
used to discuss the of-
ficer’s fear of sting op-
erations.
Recently, a senior
IAS officer has become
a topic in the power
corridors due to his
practice of holding
conversations with vis-
itors while standing. In
the state secretariat,
excluding the Chief
Minister’s Office
(CMO) office, in no oth-
er government office
are visitors asked to
deposit their mobile
phones with security
personnel. But, accord-
ing to rumours, the of-
ficer in question too
fears getting recorded
on camera.
When bureaucrats prefer standing to avoid getting recorded
To prevent visitors or
journalists from catching
them on camera, officers ask
them to deposit their mobile
phones at security
LIVING IN FEAR
nCoV, Omicron
cases rising, cancel
VGGS: Congress
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: The
Congress on Tues-
day demanded the
cancellation of Vi-
brant Gujarat 2022
Summit to be inau-
gurated by Prime
Minister Narendra
Modi on January 10
in view of the rise in
COVID-19 cases and
the Omicron scare.
The opposition
party asked if dele-
gations coming
from foreign coun-
tries to participate
in the summit will
be quarantined for a
week as per Union
government rules in
place to curb the
pandemic.
Cases of COVID-19
are increasing, espe-
cially those of its
new variant Omi-
cron. In such circum-
stances, is it neces-
sary to conduct such
a show? The summit
should be cancelled
or else it will be a
s u p e r - s p r e a d e r
event, former Guja-
rat Congress chief
Siddarth Patel said.
The responsibility
of the state govern-
ment is to save peo-
ple from falling prey
to the pandemic but
this government is
going about organis-
ing events that will
further infect people
and put them at risk
of losing their lives,
he said.
“For people arriv-
ing here from other
countries, the Cen-
tral government has
made seven-day
quarantine compul-
sory
. Will foreign del-
egations be quaran-
tined here? If the
quarantine rule is
strictly followed, no
representatives from
other countries will
come for such a sum-
mit,” he said.
Sources in the
state government
said there was no
plan to cancel the
event at this time.
On Tuesday, Guja-
rat added 394 more
cases to the COV-
ID-19 tally, while the
state currently has
78 cases of the Omi-
cron variant.
State says
no plan to
cancel the
event at this
time
Siddharth Patel —FILE PHOTO
AFTERCANDLELIGHTVIGIL,CLOTH
MARKETSTOSHUTFOR1DAY
—PHOTO
BY
HANIF
SINDHI
Around 4,000 placards, 6,000 flags, 10,000 BJP caps, 300
banners have been printed by Rajkot BJP for CM Patel’s visit.

GUJARAT
03
SENTENCED TO LIFE, CONVICT
HURLS FOOTWEAR AT JUDGE
Sujit Saket was convicted of raping, murdering a 5-year-old girl in Surat in April
First India Bureau
Surat: A Surat court on
Wednesday sentenced a
27-year-old man to life
imprisonment “for the
remainder of his natu-
ral life” in a case of
rape and murder of a
five-year-old girl in
April this year.
After the court of
special POCSO judge PS
Kala pronounced the
sentence, the convict,
Sujit Saket, got enraged
and hurled his slippers
towards the judge. But,
the footwear missed the
target and fell near the
witness box.
According to the
prosecution, the con-
vict, a native of Madhya
Pradesh, raped and
murdered the girl—the
daughter of a migrant
labourer—on April 30.
On finding the child
alone, the convict kid-
napped her under the
pretext of getting her a
chocolate.
He took the girl to an
isolated place where he
raped her and then
strangulated her to
death, as per the prose-
cution.
An FIR was lodged
against the man under
relevant provisions, in-
cluding the Protection
of Children from Sexu-
al Offences (POCSO)
Act, at Hazira police
station here.
The court took into
account statements of
26 witnesses examined
by the prosecution and
also considered 53 docu-
mentary evidences be-
fore pronouncing the
order.
First India Bureau
Surat: Ahead of the
Uttarayan festival
next month, kite sell-
ers in Surat are ex-
pecting good sales af-
ter facing losses last
year due to the COV-
ID-19 pandemic.
Traders in Surat
say the sector has re-
covered and business
is booming, leading to
hopes of turning a
good profit this year.
“Trade has shot up
compared to last year.
The price of kites has
also gone up by 20-
25% due to an in-
crease in the cost of
raw materials, this
year,” said Jayesh
Manjawala, who owns
a 75-year-old kite
business.
“The price of paper
used to make kites
has increased, and
thread costs have in-
creased by about
Rs15-20. Like every
year, this year too,
kites in different de-
signs and messages
are doing the rounds
in the market ahead
of the Uttarayan kite
festival,” he said.
According to sell-
ers, the business
faced a 50% loss last
year due to the COV-
ID-19 pandemic, but
looking at the footfall
of customers this
year, they are expect-
ing huge sales this
year.
Naresh Chhatriwa-
la, another kite seller,
said that the market
ambience is great as
compared to the last
three years. “We have
been witnessing an
increase in sales of
kites since Diwali,”
he added.
Increase in prices won’t stop kite sales from soaring
UTTARAYAN

Businesses on
recovery path
after hit due to
nCoV last year;
demand
growing since
Diwali despite
higher prices
caused by hike
in production
costs
Active tally 1.9K as Guj adds 548 cases Man nabbed practising
medicine without licence
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: Guja-
rat reported 548 new
COVID-19 cases on
Wednesday
, crossing
the 500-mark for the
first time after more
than six-and-a-half
months, raising its
overall tally to
8,30,505, while one
more patient suc-
cumbed to the infec-
tion in Porbandar,
the health depart-
ment said.
The state had last re-
ported more than 500
cases at 544 on June 10.
On June 9, 644 corona-
virus cases were re-
ported in Gujarat.
Gujarat has wit-
nessed a sharp jump
in its daily COVID-19
cases over the last few
days, recording 177 in-
fections on Sunday
, 204
on Monday, 394 on
Tuesday and now 548.
As against 548 new
cases, only 65 patients
recovered in the last 24
hours, which pushed
up the state’s tally of
active cases to 1,902.
As many as 11 pa-
tients are critical, the
department said. The
death toll rose to 10,116
with one more fatality
during the day, it said.
With 278 new cases,
Ahmedabad district
has recorded an over
five-fold jump in daily
infections in the last
four days, it added.
Surat recorded 80
new cases, followed by
Vadodara at 39, Anand
23, Rajkot 27 and Khe-
da 21 cases, among
other districts.
Gujarat also re-
ported 19 new cases
of the Omicron vari-
ant of COVID-19, rais-
ing the overall tally to
97, the health depart-
ment said. Forty-one
of these patients have
recovered.
As many as 1.94 lakh
people were vaccinat-
ed against COVID-19
on Wednesday, taking
the number of doses
administered so far in
the state to 8.90 crore,
it said.
The state is review-
ing plans for the Vi-
brant Gujarat Global
Summit, due to begin
January 10. However,
as of now, there are no
plans to cancel it.
The Gujarat High
Court Association has
requested the Chief
Justice to set up a test-
ing booth on court
premises with an eye
to the increasing cases.
Meanwhile, the
Ahmedabad civic body
has filed police com-
plaint against three
people for breaching
quarantine guidelines
after arriving from
high-risk countries.
First India Bureau
Vadodara: A Special
Operations Group
(SOG) team has appre-
hended a bogus allo-
pathic doctor practicing
medicine without a val-
id degree in Makarpura
area of the city
. Officials
seized medical instru-
ments, allopathic medi-
cines, medical books
and other material from
the clinic.
On December 27, the
team received informa-
tion about Vishnu
Devprasad Kushwaha,
who was dispensing
medical advice without
a license in Mahalaksh-
mi Nagar behind the
Makarpura bus depot.
They were told that he
had been running the
shop and even giving
people medicines.
They then raided the
shop with a medical of-
ficer. They found
Kushwaha running the
illegal clinic from the
placeandalsoconfirmed
that he did not have any
valid medical degree.
On investigating fur-
ther, police discovered
that he had received ed-
ucation only till Class
XIIinBihar.Kushawaha
had later secured admis-
sion into the Council of
Electro-Homoeopathic
System of Medicine and
received a certificate by
appearing for an exami-
nation at home.
“The curriculum is
not council-recognized.
Despite that, Kushwaha
opened the clinic with-
out any license and had
been practicing medi-
cine for the past four
years,” said an official.
They have registered
a case against the ac-
cused under various
sections of the Indian
Penal Code (IPC), Sec-
tion 15 of the Indian
Medical Council Act,
1956 and Section 30 33
of the Gujarat Medical
Practitioners’ Act, 1963.
COVID-19 UPDATE
278 MAX
CASES IN
A’BAD
ACTIVE CASES
8,18,487
TOTAL RECOVERED
64 RECOVERED
IN A DAY
8,30,505
TOTAL CASES
548 CASES
IN A DAY
10,116
TOTAL DEATHS
1,902
01 DEATH
IN A DAY
OMICRON CASES: 97; NEW: 19
Fire at wood crate
factory in Ahmedabad,
no injuries reported
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: A fire
broke out at a wooden
crate manufacturing fac-
tory located on Naroda-
Dehgam road in
Ahmedabad early on
Wednesday morning. As
many as 14 vehicles of
the fire brigade reached
the spot following the
blaze and it was brought
under control by high-
ranking officials and au-
thorized personnel.
The fire spread fur-
ther due to the wooden
objects on the factory
premises and caused
heavy damage. Cooling
operations were initiat-
ed by the fire brigade to
contain the fire and pre-
vent it from recurring.
The Ahmedabad fire
department received a
message at around 5 am
about the fire that had
begun blazing at a man-
ufacturing factory
called Shiv Timber
Mart and KN Patel
Co. near GEB station on
Naroda-Dehgam road.
After reaching the
spot, fire brigade offi-
cials were successful in
containing the blaze
within an hour. The
reason for the fire is yet
to be ascertained.
Owing to many fire
incidents occurring in
the state, the Gujarat
High Court has been
hearing its suo motu
petition on fire safety
and preventive meas-
ures implemented in
public as well as pri-
vate structures.
Firefighters put out the blaze in about an hour.
A’bad could see long testing lines again, given that it accounted for 50% of the day’s additions.
Vishnu Devprasad Kushwaha in police custody.
Kites in different designs and messages are doing the rounds in the market ahead of Uttarayan. —FILE PHOTO
WITCH DOCTOR GETS 20
YEARS’ RI FOR RAPE
First India Bureau
Devbhumi Dwarka:
A special court in
Devbhumi Dwarka
district sentenced a
witch doctor to 20
years of rigorous im-
prisonment for rap-
ing a minor on the
pretext of treating
her for an ailment.
The Protection of
Children from Sexual
Offences (POCSO) Act
courtof additionaldis-
trict judge DD Bud-
dhadev on Tuesday
sentenced Bharat Son-
gara to 20 years of rig-
orous imprisonment
andfinedhimRs10,000.
The judge also or-
dered the district au-
thority to pay Rs5 lakh
to the victim under a
government compen-
sation scheme.
The incident re-
portedly took place
at Bhatvadia village
in Kalyanpur taluka
of the district in
March 2019.
The 14-year-old vic-
tim’s parents had ap-
proached Songara as
the girl had been un-
well. On one such oc-
casion, he took the
girl to an isolated area
behind a temple in
her parents’ absence
and raped her on the
pretext of treating
her, it was stated.
When the victim’s
parents questioned
her about the change
in her behaviour, she
told them about the
abuse, following
which a case was reg-
istered.
—FILE
PHOTO

l Vol 3 l Issue No. 36
l RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/79050.
Printed and published by Anita Hada
Sangwan on behalf of First Express
Publishers. Printed at Bhaskar
Printing Planet Survey No.148P,
Changodar-Bavla Highway, Tal. San-
and, Dist. Ahmedabad. Published at
D/302 3rd Floor Plot No. 35 Titanium
Square, Scheme No. 2, Thaltej Taluka,
Ghatlodiya, Ahmedabad.
Editor-In-Chief: Jagdeesh Chandra.
Editor: Haresh Jhala
responsible for selection of news
under the PRB Act
PERSPECTIVE
04
Rajnath Singh
@rajnathsingh
A positive indigenisation list of sub-
systems components has been
notified by the Department of Defence
Production as part of the MoD’s
efforts to achieve self-reliance in
defence manufacturing and minimise
imports by DPSU.
Nirmala Sitharaman
@nsitharaman
“The over `1.49 trillion tax refund
made between 1 April and 27
December has gone to 14.5 million
taxpayers…refund of `50,793 crore
has been issued in 1,42,48,302
cases and corporate tax refund of
`98,504 crore has been issued in
2,19,357cases.”
SPIRITUAL SPEAK
My soul melts away for
sorrow; strengthen me
according to your word!
—Bible
IN-DEPTH
TOP TWEETS
COVID CASES
ARE RISING,
HOSPITALS TO
FACE ANOTHER
CHALLENGE NOW
ountry is all geared
up to face Omicron,
or is in the process of
putting up its defenc-
es against the vari-
ant which is multiplying at a
rapid pace. Though not lethal,
there have been only a few fa-
talities due to Omicron, it is
feared that its spread could lead
to further mutation of the virus.
As the highly infectious virus
spreads in the country
, the Cam-
bridge University’s India track-
er has warned that India was
likely to “see a period of explo-
sive growth in daily cases and
that the intense growth phase
will be relatively short”. Cam-
bridge University has developed
a Covid-19 India tracker. Over
9,000 new cases were reported in
the country on Wednesday
. With
cases rising hospitals will once
again be under strain. Hopefully
,
people won’t be denied medical
care due to shortage of beds and
we are better prepared this time
Young and old will rush for
vaccines now. Are there enough
jabs available?
C
his is one decision
of the Central
g o v e r n m e n t
which should be
neither politi-
cised nor criticised as it only
aims to promote Indian mu-
sic. Whether it is classical or
filmy Indian music has its
own melodious charm which
enthrals all of us, and also
some foreigners. The minis-
try’s joint secretary Usha
Padhee’s letter to airlines
and airport operators ex-
plains the reasons why in-
stead of foreign Indian music
should be played. “Music
played by most of the airlines
across the globe is quintes-
sential of the country to
which the airline belongs, for
example, jazz in American
airlines or Mozart in Austral-
ian airlines and Arab music
in an airline from the Middle
East.” The letter rightly
pointed out that Indian mu-
sic is seldom played in flights
operating on domestic or in-
ternational air routes.
Urging all airport opera-
tors and airlines to play In-
dian music at airports and
when airborne, the Civil
Aviation ministry pointed
out the rich heritage of In-
dian music and Indians are
generally proud of it. If one
goes by the joint secretary
Padhee’s letter, the music
played in other airlines is
classical (jazz and Mozart).
Therefore, playing classical
Indian music, hopefully both
instrumental and vocal, will
be a welcome move. Those
who do not relish classical
music should also be provid-
ed the option of listening to
film music of their choice.
The government must si-
multaneously promote train-
ing in classical music. Look
back and you will wonder
who’s there to replace MS
Subbulakshmi, Kumar Gan-
dharv, M. Balamuralikrish-
na, Girija Devi, Bhimsen
Joshi, Kishori Amonkar and
a host of other stalwarts or
come anywhere close.
CIVIL AVIATION STRIKES
THE RIGHT CHORD
The ministry’s joint
secretary Usha
Padhee’s letter to
airlines and airport
operators explains the
reasons why instead
of foreign Indian music
should be played
T
IS STRATEGIC
COOPERATION WITH
CHINA POSSIBLE?
Under these circumstances,
we don’t really have the
luxury of focusing exclusively
on competition or picking
fights for domestic political
gain. The risks to global
health and prosperity are too
high. Escaping the dangerous
path of competition without
cooperation will require
sustained leadership on both
sides and from all sectors of
society. There is no guarantee
of success, but there is no
alternative to trying
romclimatechangeandrising
inequality to the pandemic
and the digital revolution,
there is ample common
groundforrivalpowerstopur-
sue mutually beneficial forms
of collaboration. Unfortunate-
ly
, the opposite has happened,
raising doubts about the cur-
rent recovery and the world’s
future health and prosperity
.
Looking at the economic
landscape as 2021 draws to a
close, one cannot help but no-
tice the emergence of new ob-
staclestoarobustrecovery
.The
United States, Europe, China,
and others face a growing list
of remarkably similar short-
and longer-term challenges.
The pandemic remains the
most immediate concern.
Without full global vaccina-
tion, new COVID-19 variants
will continue to emerge, po-
tentially forcing governments
to renew partial or full lock-
downs. The coronavirus thus
represents a permanent drag
on the recovery
.
A second challenge is the
blockage of global supply
chains, which, together with
supply-sideshiftsinlabormar-
kets, has created persistent
inflationary pressures unlike
anythingseeninoveradecade.
Withoutcross-bordereffortsto
resolvesupplybottlenecksand
shortages, central banks may
be forced to curtail today’s
surging demand by tightening
monetary policy
.
Anothercommonissueisthe
complex task of properly regu-
lating the digital technologies
and sectors that now account
for an increasingly large share
of most economies. Regulators
in Europe, the US, China, and
India have been intensifying
their efforts on this front, writ-
ing new rules for data security
,
access, and usage, and launch-
inginvestigationsintopotential
abuses of market power, espe-
cially by the mega-platforms.
As the financial sector shifts to
digital payments and curren-
cies, and as new entrants
emerge in credit, insurance,
and asset-management mar-
kets, there is an urgent need to
adaptregulationstoensurefair
competition, access to valuable
data, and financial stability
.
It is no secret that a sub-
stantial share of incremental
wealth creation in recent dec-
ades has occurred in technol-
ogy sectors such as e-com-
merce, payments, fintech, and
social media. The result has
been high concentrations of
new wealth, which in turn
raises concerns about undue
influence over policy. Such
worries are particularly evi-
dent in the US and China,
even though the two coun-
tries have very different sys-
tems of governance, and thus
different channels through
which influence is exercised.
Similarly, although the ter-
minology differs in the US
and China, both countries are
struggling to reverse rising
income and wealth inequality
and declining social mobility
.
In the US, many politicians
speak of delivering more in-
clusive growth. In China, the
government has launched a
new campaign to achieve
“common prosperity
.”
Heated debates in both
countries about how best to
pursue these goals reflect con-
cerns that an excessive or
overly narrow approach to
redistribution could adverse-
ly affect economic efficiency
and dynamism.
The similarity between
these national policymaking
efforts suggests that the US
and China have a common in-
terest in establishing new
rules of engagement in the
global economy and the finan-
cial sector. Both must adapt to
the new realities implied by
the digital revolution and
shifting global power balanc-
es. There is also a clear need
for new agreements to limit
the offensive use of digital
and cyber technologies, and
to free up benign cross-border
flows of technology (in
health, education, and other
sectors) that are at risk of be-
ing blocked by national-secu-
rity considerations.
Finally, there is the global
challenge of climate change.
Without the free and friction-
less movement of the neces-
sary technologies and financ-
ing, the world will have no
chance of limiting global
warming to 1.5° Celsius above
pre-industrial levels. Here,
too, success will depend on
whether the US and China
can work together.
Withsomanycommonchal-
lenges, one might have expect-
ed the world’s leading powers
to pursue a difficult but rea-
sonable balance between stra-
tegic competition and strate-
gic cooperation. After all, both
China and the US would ben-
efit from acknowledging that
theyhavecompellingcommon
interests, not just unavoidable
disagreements.
But, for the most part, this
has not happened. Although
US President Joe Biden and
Chinese President Xi Jinping
recently agreed to carve out
space for cooperation on cli-
mate change and the energy
transition, the US nonethe-
less has doubled down on stra-
tegic competition, citing na-
tional-security concerns.
We are still a long way from
enjoying the free flow of tech-
nology needed to reduce glob-
al emissions to net-zero by
mid-century. On the Chinese
side, US strategy is seen as an
effort to impede or even re-
verse China’s economic and
technological progress. Amer-
ica’spartisanpolarizationand
social divisions are presented
as evidence of a failing politi-
cal and economic system.
WWW.PROJECT-SYNDICATE.ORG
F
MICHAEL SPENCE
The writer is a Nobel laureate in economics,
is Professor of Economics Emeritus and
a former dean of the Graduate School of
Business at Stanford University
The pandemic
remains the most
immediate concern.
Without full global
vaccination, new
COVID-19 variants will
continue to emerge,
potentially forcing
governments to
renew partial or
full lockdowns

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INDIA
05
Rakesh Ranjan
New Delhi: The secre-
tary-level reshuffle of
eight IAS officers ef-
fected on Monday is
seen to show a signifi-
cant trend.
First and foremost,
the reshuffle opened up
the opportunity for up-
ward mobility for 1990
batch IAS officers who
have been waiting for
Secretary-level post-
ings at the Centre.
Pankaj Jain, an As-
sam-Meghalaya cadre
1990-batch IAS officer
became the first benefi-
ciary of the reshuffle
from his batch. His ap-
pointment as Secretary,
Ministry of Petroleum
Natural Gas, might
have enthused his
batchmates because the
ministry is viewed as
an important one. His
elevation from the rank
of Additional Secretary
in the Department of
Financial Services, an-
other key ministry, may
be indicative of the ad-
ministration’s confi-
dence in his ability
.
Further, even as sev-
eral officers from the
1989 batch have been
awaiting their turn for
Secretary-level posting,
Manoj Joshi (a Kerala
Cadre IAS) was named
as the successor to Dur-
ga Shanker Mishra who
was set to hang his
boots coming Friday as
Secretary of the Hous-
ing Urban Affairs but
in a sudden move the
Centre on Wednesday
evening announced
Mishra’s repatriation
to cadre as state chief
secretary
.
To help familiarize
Manoj Joshi with his
new assignment, he
was first appointed as
OSD before taking over
the charge from Mishra
who made a sort of re-
cord of serving for the
eight consecutive years
in the Ministry as Joint
Secretary, Additional
Secretary, and Secre-
tary. Joshi was earlier
working as Special Sec-
retary in the Ministry
of Food Processing In-
dustries.
Further, Joshi’s
batchmate Rohit Ku-
mar Singh, a Rajasthan
cadre IAS officer, was
appointed as Secretary,
Department of Con-
sumer Affairs. Singh
has also spearheaded
the newly carved-out
special-purpose Secre-
tariat for ‘Azadi Ka Am-
rit Mahotsav’ as Special
Secretary
.
Singh has replaced
Ms. Leena Nandan who
was laterally appoint-
ed/shifted to the key
ministry for Environ-
ment, Forests, and Cli-
mate Change
(MoEFCC). Ms. Nan-
dan joins the batch of
three secretaries given
new responsibilities on
a lateral-shift basis. Ms.
Nandan will take over
from the outgoing Sec-
retary (MoEFCC)
Rameshwar Prasad
Gupta retiring this
coming Friday
.
Further, Sanjay Ku-
mar Singh, a 1987-batch
MP cadre IAS officer,
was appointed as Secre-
tary, Ministry of Steel.
This post has fallen va-
cant after the appoint-
ment of his batchmate
Pradeep Kumar Trip-
athi as DOPT Secretary
.
While moving to Steel,
Singh will hand over
the charge of Secretary,
Department of Admin-
istrative Reforms
Public Grievances, and
Department of Pen-
sions Pensioners Wel-
fare to V Srinivas, a
1989-batch Rajasthan
cadre IAS officer, work-
ing in the same depart-
ment as Special Secre-
tary
.
Rajeev Ranjan
(lAS:1989:MP) has been
appointed as Secretary,
National Commission
for Backward Classes
in the rank pay of
Secretary to the Gov-
ernment of India at a
time when the back-
ward classes issue is
politically hot. Cur-
rently, he is Special Sec-
retary, Department of
Expenditure, Ministry
of Finance.
The appointment of
former Chief Secretary
of Punjab Ms. Vini Ma-
hajan, a 1987 batch of-
ficer, as Union Secre-
tary for the Department
of Drinking Water and
Sanitation has drawn
attention for a few rea-
sons.
First, she is the only
one in the lot to be
brought from the cadre
state as a fresh entrant.
Secondly, ever since
Capt Amrinder Singh’s
Govt was toppled and
Capt joined hands with
BJP, it was presumed
that the Centre would
induct Ms. Mahajan
into the next round of
secretary-reshuffle as
she has been close to
Captain. It may be not-
ed that her husband
Dinkar Gupta, ex-DGP
of Punjab, may be the
next whom the Centre
may draft as DG in a
Central Paramilitary
Force or a Central Po-
lice Organization.
Among all, Bharat
Lal’s appointment was
very interesting. The
1988-batch Indian For-
est Service officer was
picked up as the next
Secretary of the Lokpal
Secretariat vice Brij
Kumar Agarwal who is
set to complete his term
of the contract this
coming Friday. Inter-
estingly, among all the
appointments, the noti-
fication on Lal’s was
full of officialese.
It didn’t escape any-
one’s notice that Lal got
a fresh lease of career a
month ahead of his re-
tirement(i.e.31.12.2021).
His contractual ap-
pointment was done for
a period of one year be-
yond the date of his su-
perannuation on usual
terms and conditions
applicable to re-em-
ployed Central Govern-
ment officers.
Interestingly, Lal’s
appointment was con-
trary to what officials
generally believed.
Many have expected
him to become the next
Secretary of the De-
partment of Drinking
Water Sanitation
where he worked as Ad-
ditional Secretary for a
long and handled the
most ambitious pro-
grams of the drinking
water pipelines.
However, it is pointed
out that Lal had often
missed out on opportu-
nities for better place-
ment. Considering the
Lok Pal institution is an
important one, there is
enough reason for Lal
to be happy
.
Secy-level reshuffle indicates consolidation entry of 1990 batch of IAS
READING BETWEEN LINES
New Delhi: Union Min-
ister Gajendra Singh
Shekhawat on Wednes-
day said the BJP is
ready for virtual elec-
tion rallies and the par-
ty will follow the Elec-
tion Commission’s
guidelines issued re-
garding polls in the
wake of the emergence
of Omicron variant of
COVID-19 .
Speaking to media
persons here, Shekha-
wat said, “Conducting
elections is the respon-
sibility of the Election
Commission. The EC is
holding talks with the
health secretary and
the experts over the
pandemic situation of
the country. The elec-
tion commission will
make a decision on elec-
tion rallies and we will
follow the guidelines.”
He slammed Punjab
Chief Minister Charan-
jit Singh Channi for al-
leging BJP of creating
panic over the pandem-
ic situation after the
rise in the cases of
COVID across the coun-
try ahead of the Assem-
bly elections.
“Centre has not is-
sued any fresh guide-
lines over COVID-19 ,
but many states have
done it unilaterally
. I
think Channi sahib is
pointing towards AAP
andKejriwal,”headded.
Shekhawat says BJP ready
for virtual election rallies
He slammed Channi for alleging BJP is creating panic over pandemic situation
ANDHRA PRADESH BJP PROMISES LIQUOR
AT `50 A BOTTLE IF VOTED TO POWER
Amaravati: The BJP in Andhra Pradesh has prom-
ised to offer liquor at `50
per bottle, besides several
initiatives. BJP Chief Somu
Veeraju, lashing out at CM
YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and
opposition Telugu Desam
Party, Veerraju said the po-
litical forces in the state failed to develop the state.
New Delhi: Karnataka Congress president DK Shiva-
kumar on Wednesday scolded a man for trying to take
a selfie with him in Mandya district. In a clip shared
by ANI, he can be seen grabbing the mobile phone of
the man and moving the device away from his face.
Shivakumar later cited the assassination of former PM
Rajiv Gandhi to defend his act. He said one cannot be
sure what the other person is carrying in his hand.
“You know what happened to Rajiv Gandhi. Some-
times, human anger and emotions come out, nothing
wrong in that,” he was quoted as saying by ANI.
New Delhi: A day after the Federation of Resident Doc-
tors’ Association (FORDA)
proposed three demands
to end the protest over
the delay in NEET-PG
counselling and alleged
manhandling of doctors
by the police, it decided on
Wednesday to continue the
strike until the police issue a ‘’written apology for their
behaviour’’, according to FORDA President Dr Manish.
SHIVAKUMAR SCOLDS MAN FOR TRYING TO
TAKE SELFIE WITH HIM, CITES RAJIV GANDHI
FORDA CONTINUES STRIKE, SEEKS
WRITTEN APOLOGY FROM DELHI POLICE
NEWS DIGEST
MLA Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi
gets ‘Z’ category security by MHA
New Delhi: Punjab
MLA Rana Gurmit
Singh Sodhi, who
recently joined the
BJP from Congress
has been given ‘Z’
category security
in Delhi and Pun-
jab, said a MHA of-
ficial on Wednesday
.
“We have provided Z
category security to So-
dhi in Delhi and Pun-
jab. He was given secu-
rity on December 26,”
said senior MHA
official.
Sodhi, an MLA
from Guru Har
Sahai in
Ferozpur district
joinedBJPonDe-
cember 21 ahead of the
Punjab Assembly elec-
tions which are slated
for early next year.
Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
DECISION ON SEAT-SHARING
FOR PUNJAB POLLS SOON
MANIPUR MINISTER LETPAO
HAOKIP JOINS BJP IN DELHI
New Delhi: Union Minister of State
Som Parkash on Wednesday said that
the seat-sharing with BJP alliance
parties will be decoded in two to three
days. His statement came after BJP
announced its alliance with Cpt Ama-
rinder Singh’s party and former Akali
Dal leader Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa’s
new outfit for upcoming Punjab polls.
New Delhi: Manipur minister and NPP
leader Letpao Haokip on Wednesday
joined BJP in the presence of Union
minister Bhupender Yadav. NPP is
BJP’s ally in Manipur and Hakoip is the
youth affairs and sports minister in the
BJP-led govt. Hakoip joined the BJP in
presence of party’s national spokesper-
son Sambit Patra the Union minister.
In blow to Sidhu,
Congress won’t
announce CM
face in Punjab
Chandigarh: In a blow
to Punjab Congress
chief Navjot Singh Sid-
hu, who is said to have
been positioning him-
self asthechief minister
candidateof Congressin
the state, a senior party
leader confirmed ru-
mors that Congress
won’t announce a CM
face for the upcoming
stateassemblyelections.
Sunil Jakhar, Chair-
man of campaign com-
mittee of Punjab Con-
gress, said party will
contest under a “joint
leadership”. The move
is aimed at balancing
caste equations in the
state and preventing in-
fighting within the par-
ty. The top faces of the
party in Punjab come
from diverse communi-
ties, aimed at strength-
ening numbers by tap-
ping into vote banks of
all electorally signifi-
cant groups.
Sidhu had demanded
that his party declare a
chief minister candi-
date as recently as
Wednesday morning.
—ANI
IN THE COURTYARD
Court seeks Centre’s report on 68
fishermen arrested by Sri Lankan Navy
Chennai: Madurai
bench of the Madras
HC sought a detailed
report from the Cen-
tral govt about the
steps taken to bring
back the 68 fishermen
who were arrested by
the Sri Lankan Navy
.
An advocate from
Rameshwaram moved
a petition before the
Madurai bench regard-
ing the recent arrest of
68 fishermen from
Rameshwaram and
Pudukkottai.
In the petition, he
has stated that when
Gujarat fishermen
were shot by the Paki-
stan Navy, the Central
govt immediately sum-
moned the Pakistan
HighCommissionerfor
India and registered its
condemnation.
Rape convict sentenced to
life, throws shoe at judge
Surat: A court in Surat
today sentenced a
27-year-old man to life
imprisonment “for the
remainder of his natu-
ral life” in a case of
rape and murder of a
five-year-old girl in
April this year.
After the court of
specialPOCSOjudgePS
Kala pronounced the
sentence, the convict,
Sujit Saket, got enraged
and threw his slippers
towards the judge. The
footwear missed the
target and fell near the
witness box. According
to the prosecution, the
convict, a resident of
MadhyaPradesh,raped
and murdered the girl
on April 30. The victim
was the daughter of a
migrant labourer.
Case can’t be
stopped as others
not charged: SC
New Delhi: Criminal
proceedings against an
accused cannot be
stopped merely be-
cause some of the per-
sons who might have
committed the offenc-
es are not charge-
sheeted, SC said while
hearing an appeal filed
by Suvarna Coopera-
tive Bank Ltd against a
Karnataka HC order.
WITH MISHRA REPATRIATED AS ‘UP
CS’, CENTRE’S POLITICS ROLLS ON
Rakesh Ranjan
New Delhi: Wednes-
day’s ACC announce-
ment of the repatria-
tion of Union Secretary
for Housing Urban
Affairs Durga Shanker
Mishra, a 1984 batch UP
cadre IAS officer, who is
set to retire two days
later, has drawn the at-
tention of one and all
for its unique wording.
The notification
reads, “The Appoint-
ments Committee of
the Cabinet has ap-
proved repatriation of
Shri Durga Shanker
Mishra, lAS (UP:1984)
to his cadre for his pro-
posed appointment as
Chief Secretary, Uttar
Pradesh by the State
Government of Uttar
Pradesh.”
Normally, when an
officer is repatriated,
the ACC never states
the posting the officer
will get in his state cad-
re.
The wording of the
notification suggests
that the central govern-
ment is repatriating
Mishra because the
state government has
‘proposed’ to make him
the CS and therefore the
centre was complying
with a request from the
UP government. Not
surprisingly
, the Centre
issued another notifica-
tion extending Mishra’s
service by a year.
Not unusual because
both the central and UP
governments are run by
the same party. It is
quite likely that both
governments might
have consulted each
other on the issue and
might have felt that
Mishra may be more
useful as the CS since
the state is scheduled to
face elections in a few
months that appears in-
creasingly complex for
the ruling dispensation.
Since Mishra will re-
place Rajendra Kumar
Tiwari (1985 batch IAS)
as state CS, it may be
considered necessary to
bring Tiwari to the Cen-
tre, unless there is
something more inter-
esting for his accommo-
dation in the state itself.
Mishra’s repatriation
as CS has triggered a lot
of political specula-
tions. He was once a PS
to BSP supremo
Mayawati. So, it is spec-
ulated whether
Mishra’s appointment
is part of BJP’s out-
reach programme to the
BSP leader. In this con-
text, it is pointed out
that when the BJP won
the state election last
time, there was a plan
then to make Mishra
the state chief secre-
tary in the belief at the
Centre that Adityanath
may not measure up to
the stupendous task
that lay ahead in UP.
However, to maintain
the public image of har-
mony within the party,
the Centre scuttled its
own plan as it had scut-
tled the plan to make
Manoj Sinha the CM.
But, now, in the face
of an impending elec-
tion, the state CM finds
himself on a weak wick-
et having estranged a
lot of party workers
and leaders. So the Cen-
tre is seen to have
stepped into managing
the state administra-
tion. It could also be the
Centre’s way of show-
ing Adityanath his
place.
Durga Shankar Mishra

INDIA
06
COVID RAISES ITS UGLY HEAD AGAIN
IN MUMBAI, 2.5K CASES IN 24-HRS
Mumbai: With the ris-
ing case of Covid-19 in
Mumbai, Aditya Thack-
eray, who is the Guard-
ian Minister of the city,
chaired a meeting.
In the meeting, BMC
Commissioner Iqbal
Singh Chahal, Mumbai
Mayor Kishori Ped-
nekar and other health
officials were also pre-
sent. Mumbai reported
2,510 Covid-19 cases in
the past 24 hours an 82
per cent jump over
Tuesday’s 1,377 cases.
Mumbai is prepping for
a massive rise in Covid
cases. “Covid restric-
tions must be complied
with by all. If hotels are
violating Covid-19 pro-
tocols and restrictions,
action will be taken
against them,” Aaditya
said. —ANI
Kolkata: West Bengal
chief minister Mamata
Banerjee said on
Wednesday schools and
colleges in the state
could be closed for some
time amid rising num-
ber of Covid-19 cases.
Banerjee held an ad-
ministrative meeting
wherein she asked offi-
cials to review the cur-
rent pandemic situa-
tion in the state and
also begin identifying
containment zones in
Kolkata given the high
rate of infection in the
city
.
Educational institu-
tions reopened in the
state on November 16
after a gap of about 20
months.
Bengal on Tuesday
witnessed a massive
jump in single-day Cov-
id-19 cases having
logged 752 infections,
up from 439 reported on
the preceding day. Of
the 752 fresh cases, Kol-
kata accounted for 382
infections, followed by
North 24 Parganas with
102. On Monday, Kolka-
ta recorded 204
infections, the state
health bulletin data
showed. —PTI
New Delhi: Amid the
rise in cases of Omi-
cron variant of corona-
virus, CRPF on Wednes-
day has reactivated
their Covid care centre
in Bawana in Delhi.
The 50-bed dedicated
Covid care centre in
Bawana has been reac-
tivated. A Covid moni-
toring cell at CRPF
headquarters and at 23
other establishments of
the force has been acti-
vated.
Total 99.74 per cent
CRPF personnel are
fully vaccinated, the re-
maining cannot be ad-
ministered vaccines
due to comorbidities.
CRPF will administer
booster dose to all per-
sonnel. —ANI
Didi mulls shutting
schools as Covid-19
cases rise unabated
Amid Omicron
threat, CRPF
reactivates its
Covid facility
Dr Dangs Lab as central lab conducted tests in
all 3 trial phases of Corbevax vaccine: Dr Dang
Action will be taken if hotels, restaurants violate Covid-19
norms, says Maha Environment Min Aaditya Thackeray
New Delhi: With the
Drug Controller General
of India (DCGI) approv-
ing two new COVID-19
vaccines and one anti-
viral drug for emergency
use on Tuesday, Dr
Arjun Dang, CEO, Dr
Dangs Lab, welcomed
the announcement and
said they feel immensely
proud “to have been a
part of this momentous
journey as the central lab
of choice for an end-to-
end services” concerning
Corbevax vaccine. “Dr
Dangs Lab conducted
screening, safety and
several immunogenic-
ity tests for all the three
phases of the Corbevax
which were multi-centric,
ensuring seamless man-
agement, timely submis-
sion of results. —ANI
OPS urges Stalin to take ‘appropriate action’
to curb spread of Omicron in Tamil Nadu
Chennai: All India
Anna Dravida Munnetra
Kazhagam (AIADMK)
Coordinator and former
deputy Chief Minister
O Panneerselvam on
Wednesday urged Tamil
Nadu Chief Minister MK
Stalin to take “appropri-
ate action” to curb the
spread of the Omicron
variant of Covid-19 in
the State. Panneersel-
vam said, “The number
of Omicron confirmed
cases in Tamil Nadu
has risen to 45 on
Wednesday. Doctors
expect schools, colleg-
es, Government offices,
banks, private offices
and factories to ensure
100 per cent face
masks and adherence
to community spaces.”
“Therefore, I urge the
CM to take appropriate
action to prevent the
further spread of the
Omicron,” he added.
Lucknow: A shock-
ing viral video of a
man thrashing a
Dalit minor girl in
Uttar Pradesh’s Am-
ethi has triggered
outrage, prompting
the police to register
a case and make an
arrest. Two men
were arrested in Am-
ethi on Wednesday
for assaulting a
16-year-old Dalit girl
in Raipur Phulwari
town on suspicion of
theft, police said.
The video shows
two men holding the
teenaged girl to the
floor while a third
rains blows on the
soles of her feet with
a stick. The girl was
reportedly accused
of theft; three wom-
en seen in the video
are heard question-
ing her. She cries out
in pain, but the blows
don’t stop. At one
point, the man hit-
ting the girl drags
her on the floor,
grabs her by the hair
and shakes her in a
brutal show.
In a statement
shared on Twitter by
the official handle of
Amethi Police, Circle
Officer Arpit Kapoor
has said they have
registered a case un-
der the Protection of
Children from Sexu-
al Offences (POCSO)
Act and the SC/ST
(Prevention of Atroc-
ities) Act and arrest-
ed one Naman Soni
so far. He added that
the other accused in
the case will be ar-
rested soon.
Condemning the
incident, Congress
leader Priyanka Gan-
dhiVadrahastrained
guns at the Yogi Gov-
ernment. —PTI
2 held in UP after
video of girl being
tortured goes viral
Thiruvananthapuram: A 19-year-old youth was
stabbed to death allegedly by the owner of a
house, which he broke into early on Wednesday,
police said. The accused later surrendered at the
nearby police station and admitted that he killed
the youth suspecting him to be a thief.
Anish George, a native of Pettah in the heart of
the city, was killed by Lalu, who also hails from
the same place. According to the accused, the
shocking incident took place by around 3.30 am.
Lalu said he woke up to some noise in one of the
rooms on the first floor of the house and found
George there. Suspecting him to be a thief, he
attacked the person using a sharp weapon. —PTI
KERALA TEEN STABBED TO DEATH IN
ALLEGED ROBBERY ATTEMPT
New Delhi: Refuting
media reports on the
price of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’s new
Merc-Maybach S650
guard-armoured cars,
sources in the know
stated that the cars cost
lesser than the appar-
ently inflated prices
quoted in some media
reports. Sources added
that the price was in
fact “a third” of the
range of prices being
quoted in various me-
dia portals.
Earlier, some media
portals reported that
the top of the line May-
bach S650 guard which
had enhanced security
features was in excess
of Rs 12 crore.
However, decisions
makers privy to infor-
mation of this particu-
lar security upgrade
told ANI on the condi-
tion of anonymity that
media reports were
quoting an inflated
priceandalsoexpressed
concern that specula-
tion on security fea-
tures of this particular
car was not in the na-
tional interest. —ANI
New Delhi: The In-
come Tax Department
carried out search-and-
seizure operations on 22
December on two prom-
inent business groups
of Raipur and Korba,
engaged in the busi-
nesses of manufactur-
ing iron and steel prod-
ucts, coal washery
.
As per an official re-
lease, the search action
covered more than 35
premises spread over
Raipur, Korba, Bilaspur
and Raigarh districts of
Chhattisgarh.
During the course of
the search action
against one of the
groups, various incrim-
inating documents and
digital evidence were
found, including a par-
allel set of cash books.
The preliminary analy-
sis of these parallel sets
of cash books revealed
a systematic record of
unaccounted transac-
tions of more than Rs.
200 crore.
Later, it came to light
that certain entities of
this group were in-
dulged in hiding re-
crods of actual produc-
tion and unaccounted
sales made in cash. In
the case of one such en-
tity, a parallel set of
books of account bore
evidence of transac-
tions of about Rs.50
crore, which is not re-
flected in the regular
books of account. —ANI
New Delhi: The Indian
army, along with the
National Security
Council Secretariat
(NSCS), established a
Quantum Lab to spear-
head research and
training at the Military
College of Telecommu-
nication and Engineer-
ing (MCTE) in Madhya
Pradesh’s Mhow. Gen
MM Naravane, the
Chief of Army
Staff, was also briefed
on the developments
during his recent visit
to Mhow.
Military College of
Telecommunication
Engineering (MCTE) is
a leading government
college based in Mhow
which provides an ar-
ray of academic cours-
es and events. —ANI
Chennai: Apple suppli-
er Foxconn Technology
Group on Wednesday,
said that it is restruc-
turing its local manage-
ment team, after the re-
cent mass food-poison-
ing incident at Sripe-
rumbudur factory’s off-
site dormitory facility.
An Apple spokesperson
said Foxconn’s Sripe-
rumbudur facility
placed on probation.
In a statement on
Wednesday, Foxconn
said that all employees
will continue to be paid
while “necessary im-
provements” are under-
taken before restarting
operations.
Foxconn said it will
continue to provide
support for staff as they
return to work. “We are
also restructuring our
local management team
and our management
systems to ensure we
can achieve and main-
tain the high standards
that are needed,” a
statement by Foxconn
Technology Group said.
— Agencies
Mahesh Sharma
New Delhi: PM Naren-
dra Modi repealed the
three agriculture laws
by putting his reputa-
tion at stake and agreed
to accept everything the
farmers said.
But the demand for
removal of Union MoS
for Home Ajay Mishra
alias Teni Maharaj from
the government was not
accepted. The farmers
kept pushing for this
and the entire Opposi-
tion was adamant about
this in Parliament but
the government did not
budge. Teni Maharaj
was definitely kept out
of someeventsandsome
days from Parliament
but he was not removed.
BJPbelievesthatTeni
Maharaj will mobilise
Brahmin votes in UP
, so
hewasnotremoved.Sig-
nificantly, the BJP is
worrying over the Brah-
min vote. In the areas of
Purvanchal and Bun-
delkhand, there is news
of Brahmins getting an-
gry with the BJP
.
Only then, on the pre-
text of the ‘Prabudh
Varg Sammelan’, the
BJP had organised
Brahmin conferences
and now a committee of
Brahmin leaders has
been formed, which will
go to the area and con-
vince the angry Brah-
mins. Ajay Mishra has
also been included in
this committee.
A meeting of Brah-
min leaders was held at
the residence of Union
Minister Dharmendra
Pradhan in Delhi, in
which this committee
was formed. Apart from
Teni Maharaj, Deputy
CM Dinesh Sharma,
Minister Shrikant Shar-
ma and Jitin Prasad are
also included in this.
CONGRESS HAS
HATRED FOR
HINDUS: SAMBIT
New Delhi: Slamming
the Congress over the
Malegaon case, BJP
spokesperson Sambit
Patra said it has a hatred
for Hindus. His remarks
came a day after a wit-
ness of 2008 Malegaon
blast case turned hostile
and told court that Maha-
rashtra ATS had forced
him to falsely take UP
CM Yogi Adityanath.
ITBP CHIEF GETS
ADDITIONAL
CHARGE OF SSB DG
New Delhi: ITBP chief
Sanjay Arora on Wednes-
day was given additional
charge of DG SSB. The
MHA issued an office
memorandum directing
to refer to the subject and
to convey the approval of
the competent authority
that consequent upon the
superannuation of Kumar
Rajesh Chandra as DG of
SSB in Dec this year.
‘WHY TROUBLED’: MINISTER’S JIBE AT
AKHILESH ON UP BUSINESSMAN RAIDS
Ballia: Taking a swipe at Akhilesh Yadav, Union
Minister Anurag Thakur said the Samajwadi Party
(SP) chief was “troubled” over raids at a perfume
trader’s properties but did not feel for the poor. He
also sought to know whether Congress president
Sonia Gandhi, senior leaders Rahul Gandhi and Pri-
yanka Gandhi Vadra, and Yadav had taken the “BJP
vaccine” for Covid-19.
CRUCIAL READ I-T dept conducts searches at
business houses of Chhattisgarh
Sources clarify on car
added to PM’s security
New Delhi: Taxpay-
ers who have not
e-verified their ITRs
for 2019-20 fiscal
can complete the
verification process
by February 28, 2022,
as the Income Tax
department has given
a one-time relaxation.
As per law, an
ITR, filed electroni-
cally without a digital
signature, has to be
verified electronically
through Aadhaar OTP,
or net-banking, or
code sent through
demat account, pre-
validated bank ac-
count and ATM within
120 days of filing the
return. —PTI
FOR INCOME
TAX RETURNS,
THIS DEADLINE
IS IMPORTANT
Army sets up
lab at Mhow to
boost research
and training
Apple puts Foxconn’s
facility on probation
Will Teni Maharaj successfully mobilise
Brahmin votes for BJP in UP polls?
Maharashtra Minister Aaditya Thackeray holds a meeting at the BMC office to review the situation.
Ajay Mishra alias Teni Maharaj
MASS FOOD POSIONING IN TN
CM Patel...
of Value Addition in
Textile Sector Transit-
ing Textiles to Smart
Manufacturing’.
Southern Gujarat
Chamber of Commerce
and Industry (SGCCI)
President Ashish Guja-
rati said, “The aim be-
hind organizing the
event is to brainstorm
strategies to take the
textile industry of In-
dia to the global market.
Through presentations
of different schemes
initiated by the Centre
and state government,
the textile industry will
receive more benefits.”
Speakingattheevent,
CM Patel highlighted
the importance of the
textile industry saying,
“Roti, kapda, makan
(food, clothes and shel-
ter) are economic neces-
sities, so the sector is
always important. New
technologies are being
adopted with the chang-
ing times. Textile has
become a big hub in
providing livelihoods. I
am confident that the
textile industry will de-
velop new skills.”
Other dignitaries
present at the event in-
cluded Secretary of Un-
ion Ministry of Textiles
Upendra Singh, Textile
Commissioner Roop
Rashi Mahapatra, Plan-
ning Commission mem-
ber (ST) Dr VK Saras-
wat, National Associa-
tion of India President
Ashok Juneja.
FROM PG 1

BIZ BUZZ
07
New Delhi: Waves of
foreign portfolio invest-
ments worth over
`51,000 crore splashed
into the Indian market
in 2021 as overseas in-
vestors turned net buy-
ers of domestic securi-
ties for the third
straight year while ex-
cess global liquidity
and other factors
steered the ebb and
flow of their investing
ways.
With the global fi-
nancial system still
flush with liquidity,
emerging market as-
sets, especially equi-
ties, might well remain
the preferred invest-
ment avenue for many
more months to come,
experts opined.
As the equities siz-
zled during most of
2021, that also saw
economy slowly com-
ing back into the recov-
ery path, Foreign Port-
folio Investors (FPIs)
turned net buyers but
their investment is
much less compared to
net inflows of `1.03
lakh crore in 2020. And
last year's quantum
was lower than `1.35
lakh crore investments
made by them in 2019.
Mirroring the roller-
coaster ride for foreign
portfolio investment
flows in the Indian
market this year, FPIs
emerged as net buyers
for six months, includ-
ing three months con-
tinuously starting from
Jan. In June, August
and Sept also, these in-
vestors made net in-
vestments and the re-
maining six months
witnessed net FPI out-
flows. Excess liquidity
in the global financial
system, resurgence of
concerns over the coro-
navirus pandemic, ris-
ing global inflation as
well as higher valua-
tion of Indian equity
markets are among the
mix of factors that in-
fluenced FPIs.
Data with the deposi-
tories showed that
overseas investors
pumped in `26,001
crore into equities,
`23,222 crore into debt
segment and `1,848
crore in hybrid instru-
ments.
This took the total
net inflow between Jan-
uary and December 28,
2021 to `51,068 crore.
About the relatively
lower FPI inflows this
year, Milind Muchhala,
Executive Director at
Julius Baer, cited
strengthening of the
dollar index, outflows
from various emerging
markets, including In-
dia, and profit-booking
on account of the coun-
try being a large out-
performer in compari-
son to other emerging
markets till the end of
September quarter, as
the key factors. —PTI
Excess liquidity in the global
financial system, rising global
inflation are among the mix of
factors that influenced FPIs
FPIs’ net investments cross
FBI STATS
DATA SHOWED
26,001
crore rupees
investors pumped
into equities
23,222
crore rupees
into debt
segment
`51,000crin2021
Air India lenders
offer `35,000 cr
in loan to Talace
New Delhi: Lenders
to Air India have of-
fered to extend more
than `35,000 crore to
the Tatas at a weight-
ed-average yield of
4.25% - the rate at
which the sovereign
borrows for a year.
Tata Sons-promoted
Talace, which will be
taking over Air India
following privatisa-
tion, had invited bids
for a one-year general
purpose loan of
`23,000 crore from the
airline’s existing lend-
ers. This includes
`18,000 crore for tak-
ing over Air India’s
debt and an additional
`5,000 crore for initial
operating costs.
The weighted-aver-
age yield of 4.25% is
the cut-off rate at
which the government
last raised one-year
money through an
auction of 364-days
treasury bills.
“It is an overwhelm-
ing response consider-
ing that the loan is
unrated and unse-
cured and yet the pric-
ing is near sovereign,”
said an executive at
one of the lenders,
which has sanctioned
nearly `3,000 crore.
“Further, it shows
lenders’ confidence in
the Tatas despite them
informing banks that
it would be at least six
months before they
can make any projec-
tions for the busi-
ness.” —Agencies
Sensex drops 91
points, Nifty at
17, 214
Mumbai: Equity benchmark Sensex dropped by near-
ly 91 points on Wednesday due to profit booking in
HDFC Bank, SBI and ITC after a two-day rally
.
The 30-share index ended 90.99 points or 0.16 per cent
lower at 57,806.49 in a volatile trade.
The broader Nifty fell by 19.65 points or 0.11 per
cent to 17,213.60.
SBI was the top loser in the Sensex pack, shed-
ding over 1 per cent, followed by ITC, NTPC, Tech
Mahindra, Tata Steel, Kotak Bank and MM.
Ontheotherhand,SunPharma,IndusInd
Bank, Dr Reddy's and Bajaj Finserv were
among the gainers. —PTI
Date extended to
complete online
verification of FY’
2019-20 ITRs
New Delhi: Taxpayers
who have not e-verified
their ITRs for 2019-20
fiscal can complete the
verification process by
February 28, 2022, as
the Income Tax depart-
ment has given a one-
time relaxation to as-
sessees.
“In respect of all
lTRs for Assessment
Year 2020-21 (fiscal 2019-
20) which were upload-
ed electronically by the
taxpayers within the
time allowed… and
which have remained
incomplete due to non-
submission of ITR-V
Form… the Board…
hereby permits verifi-
cation of such returns
either by sending a duly
signed physical copy of
ITR-V to CPC, Bengalu-
ru through speed post
or through EVC/OTP
modes.
“Such verification
process must be com-
pleted by February
28,2022,” the CBDT said.
This relaxation shall
not apply in those cas-
es, where during the
intervening period, I-T
department has al-
ready taken recourse to
any other measure for
ensuring filing of tax
return by the taxpayer
concerned after declar-
ing that the return has
not been filed, it added.
—PTI
I-T dept eases norms for
personal hearing via VC
New Delhi: The in-
come tax department
has brought in chang-
es to the existing face-
less appeal scheme,
easing the process for
taxpayers wanting a
personal hearing
through video confer-
ence while appealing
against a tax demand
by the department.
The Central Board of
Direct Taxes (CBDT)
on December 28, noti-
fied the ‘Faceless Ap-
peal Scheme, 2021’ and
said that the Commis-
sioner (Appeals) shall
allow the request for
personal hearing via
video conference and
communicate the date
and time of hearing to
the appellant through
the National Faceless
Appeal Centre. —PTI
New Delhi: Over 4.86 crore Income Tax Returns
for 2020-21 fiscal have been filed so far includ-
ing over 18.89 lakh ITRs filed on Dec 28 alone,.
“A total of 4,86,34,306 #ITRs have been filed
upto 28.12.2021 including 18,89,057 #ITRs hav-
ing been filed on the day itself,” the department
tweeted giving details of ITRs filed for Assess-
ment Year 2021-22 (2020-21 fiscal year). —PTI
4.86 CR+ ITRS FILED FOR FY21 SO FAR,
NEARLY 19 LAKH FILED ON DEC 28
Ahmedabad most affordable housing
market; Mumbai unaffordable
NewDelhi:Ahmedabad
is the most affordable
housing market among
eight major cities while
Mumbai is unafforda-
ble due to high EMI to
total income ratio, ac-
cording to Knight
Frank.
According to Knight
Frank’s Affordability
Index 2021 report re-
leased on Wednesday,
Indian markets are at
their decadal best in
terms of housing af-
fordability
.
Decline in house
prices and multi-dec-
ade low home loan in-
terest rates have helped
improve housing af-
fordability in 2021, it
added.
The affordability
index indicates the
proportion of in-
come that a house-
hold requires, to fund
the equated monthly
instalment (EMI) of a
housing unit in a par-
ticular city
.
So, the index level of
40 per cent for a city im-
plies that on an aver-
age, households in that
city need to spend 40
per cent of their in-
come to fund the EMI
of housing loan for that
unit.
An EMI to total in-
come ratio over 50 per
cent is considered unaf-
fordable.
Knight Frank said
that the affordability
ratio in Delhi-NCR
improved maxi-
m u m ,
from 38
percent
in 2020
to 28 per cent in 2021.
“All markets, except
Mumbai, are recorded
to be well below the
threshold of affordabil-
ity set at 50 per cent ra-
tio,” it said.
A h m e d a b a d
emerged as the most af-
fordable housing
market in
the coun-
try with
an afford-
a b i l i t y
r a t i o
of
20 per cent followed by
Pune at 24 per cent in
2021.
Mumbai’s affordabil-
ity ratio stood at 53 per
cent. But, the city’s af-
fordability has im-
proved the most since
2011.
The affordability in-
dex of Hyderabad
stood at 29 per cent, and
Bengaluru 26 per cent.
Both, Chennai and Kol-
kata scored 25 per cent.
—PTI
Indian travellers indulged in
‘workcation’ mode this year
New Delhi: Indian
travellers were busy in-
dulging in ‘workcation’
-- working away from
home in a scenic loca-
tion -- this year as they
tried to adapt and make
up for lost vacations
while working remote-
ly after the coronavirus
pandemic upended
travel and tourism sec-
tor in 2020, according to
OYOTravelopedia2021.
Around 65% of re-
spondents in India
have travelled in the
past six months and a
majority of them visit-
ed their loved ones,
while some went for a
getaway from their dai-
ly routines and trav-
elled for leisure.
“Nearly 48% of Indi-
ans worked from home
during the year, out of
which a whopping 85%
preferred taking work-
cations or working
away from home in a
scenic location. And
o u t
o f
these, 61% took a work-
cation,” according to
Travelopedia 2021.
Interestingly, nearly
27% took a month-long
workcation. Hill sta-
tions ranked top on the
list of spots for these
work and travel trips,
followed by many who
visited their home-
towns and beach desti-
nations. It was found
that with mass vacci-
nation drives, travel
intent and confidence
among Indians is back
with 60% of respond-
ents have planned va-
cations for the winter
holiday season. —PTI
Around 65% of respondents have travelled in
the past six months and a majority of them
visited their loved ones while some went for a
getaway from their daily routines
APPROVED LIMITS

First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: Two mi-
nor boys and a woman
were killed and nearly 10
other people injured
when their multi-utility
vehicle (MUV) rammed
intoastationarytruckin
Ahmedabad district on
Wednesday morning, po-
lice said.
The MUV has been
transporting a delega-
tion of students from a
state-level judo cham-
pionship that was held
in Vapi when the acci-
dent occurred. The
passengers were stu-
dents and teachers
from three schools in
Rajkot, namely
, SNK
School, Shree Krishna
School and Shree Sard-
ar school, who were on
their way home after
the competition. The
teamwasledbytheRa-
jkot sports officer.
TheMUVhitthetruck,
parked on a roadside,
from behind near Ba-
godara town on a state
highway
, an official from
Bagodara police station
said, adding that the
MUV driver did not see
the truck due to heavy
fog.
Two school-going boys
and a woman were killed
in the accident, he said.
One of the boys has
been identified as Har-
shal Padhiyar, the son of
the Congress party’s so-
cial media coordinator
Bhargav Padhiyar.
Around 10 other passen-
gers of the MUV were
injured, the official said.
The injured were first
rushedtoBagodaraCom-
munity Health Centre
and those critical were
later shifted to the
Ahmedabad Civil Hospi-
tal for further treatment.
As soon as word of the
accident spread, the
Ahmedabad district col-
lectorandRuralSuperin-
tendentof Policereached
theaccidentspottocheck
on the situation. Gujarat
Sports University Vice-
ChancellorDrArjunsinh
Rana,andSportsAuthor-
ity of Gujarat Secretary
AnjanabenPatelalsovis-
ited the injured at the
Civil Hospital.
Chief Minister Bhu-
pendra Patel has an-
nounced Rs4 lakh com-
pensation for the family
of the deceased and
Rs50,000 for the injured.
Theaimoflifeisgrowth-physical,mental,
emotionalandspiritual-attheendofthe
yearwesimplymustlookbacktoseeour
growthpatternsinthepreviousyear!
—Jagdeesh Chandra,CEO Editor-in-Chief,First India
08
2NDFRONT
3 KILLED, 10 INJURED AS MUV
RAMS INTO TRUCK IN A’BAD
First India Bureau
Bharuch: In order to
help citizens with reso-
lutions of their griev-
ances, Bharuch district
Collector Tushar Sum-
era will do launching an
online system on Janu-
ary 01, 2022. Under the
new system, district
head will be able to re-
view grievances filed
and also the responses
offered by respective de-
partment officials.
Designated officers
will be posted in each of
thedepartmentssuchas
education, urban devel-
opment, environment,
among others. “As soon
as citizens come to the
office, they will meet the
deputy revenue officer.
He will study the case
and decide on the time
frame to be slotted for
the grievance or matter
accordingly. They will
also be given colour
codes such as green, yel-
low and red to present
the difficulty of the is-
sues and also if several
departments are in-
volved,” asserted the
collector.
He further stated that
any applicant will be
able to access the infor-
mation pertaining to
his/her grievance on-
line. “Our software will
display the route, sta-
tus, days, and conten-
tion of the issue, which
will enable me to solve
the problem. It will not
only do away with red-
tape but also showcase
the performance of
each department and its
officers. At the end of
the month, a review
meeting on the same
will be held. This will
improve work efficien-
cy and lend it a corpo-
rate touch,” Sumera
told First India.
The collector also
plans to extend a
scheme to widow and
senior citizens next
year. “Under the ‘Har
Ghar Dastak’ scheme,
we will visit each house-
hold and conduct a sur-
veyof widows. Schemes
such as widow pension,
senior citizen pension,
and Rashtriya Kutumb
Yojana will be awarded
to applicants. All they
will need to do is give
their signatures to our
officials on their door-
step. We plan to cover
the entire district by
February 2022,” added
the officer.
BHARUCH COLLECTORATE TO DO AWAY WITH RED TAPE
Collector Tushar Sumera
plans to launch online
system for resolution of
citizens’ grievances
COLLECTOR CONNECT
Sumera on a field visit Bharuch CollectorTushar Sumera
DELEGATION OF SCHOOL KIDS HAD BEEN RETURNING FROM VAPI TO RAJKOT AFTER JUDO COMPETITION
The MUV driver could not see the parked truck due to fog.
TRAGEDY
A woman and two
schoolboys, including
Harshal Padhiyar—the
son of the Congress
party’s social media
coordinator Bhargav
Padhiyar—died in the
accident, an official
said, adding that 10
more passengers of
the MUV were injured.
The injured were first
rushed to Bagodara
Community Health
Centre and those criti-
cal were later shifted
to the Ahmedabad
Civil Hospital for
further treatment.
Agri Min orders crop-damage
survey after off-season rains
Exiled Tibetans call for Beijing
Winter Olympics 2022 boycott
Bhavesh Barot
Himmatnagar: Region-
al Tibetan Youth Con-
gress (RTYC), a group of
exiledTibetans,whohad
embarkedonabikerally
from Bengaluru on De-
cember 10, arrived in
Himmatnagar on Tues-
day
, on their way to Del-
hi.Ridingwiththeobjec-
tive of raising the voice
andseekingsolidarityof
people, they have called
for the boycott of the up-
coming Beijing Winter
Olympics, 2022.
While talking with
media persons Tsering
Chomphel, President of
RTYC, said, “The bike
rally’s main aim is to
draw people’s attention
toChina’segregiousand
apparent human rights
violations in Tibet and
east Turkestan --both of
which are under Chi-
nese rule.”
He further stated,
“Eightnationsincluding
theUSAandtheUKhave
declaredtheirintentions
to boycott the Olympics
on political grounds.
And we hope that India
too will join the cause
and boycott the Beijing
Winter Olympics, 2022.”
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: In the
wake of the recent
rains, which hit 32 talu-
kas, Agriculture Minis-
ter Raghavji Patel has
ordered his department
to carry out a crop-dam-
age survey even before
farmers demanded com-
pensation.
This season, farmers
have sown pulses like
chana (horse gram and
chickpea), cotton and
grains on a large scale—
cropsthatdonotrequire
much irrigation. So,
there are fears that
Tuesday’s out-of-season
rainfall, which ranged
between1mmand1inch
(25 mm) across 32 talu-
kas, could adversely af-
fect the sown crops.
In an effort to in-
crease proactive partici-
pation in farmers’ is-
sues, Minister Patel has
also started making sur-
prise visits to farms and
speaking directly with
them. He then shares
the farmers’ problems
and suggestions with
this department and
asks them to take cor-
rective measures as
needed. However, even
these steps do not seem
to be enough.
Onion farmers, who
have begun to bring
their harvests for sale in
the state’s market yards,
are bemoaning the fall
in prices in the whole
markets.
“Farmers are hardly
fetching 30-40% of the
production costs of on-
ions this year,” Bhavna-
gar market yard presi-
dent Narendrasinh Go-
hil said, adding, “In ad-
dition, this year, even
the yield per hectare has
fallen, so onion farmers
are being adversely af-
fected and going into
losses.”
“Normally, half an
acre of land yields
about 2,000kg of on-
ions. This has now fall-
en to 1,000-1,200kg. Fur-
ther, production cost
per 20kg is about
Rs10,000—far more than
the Rs275-375 farmers
have been netting for
onions in the wholesale
market,” said Niteshb-
hai Patel, a farmer from
Bhavnagar.
TIDYING UP!
Volunteers
participated in
a cleanliness
drive on the
banks of
Sabarmati
River as
part of ‘Nadi
Mahotsav’
celebration
near Vasna
barrage in
Ahmedabad
city on
Wednesday
morning. The
drive will
continue till
December 31.
Agriculture Minister Raghavji Patel meeting citizens of Jamnagar
district. —FILE PHOTO
Members of RTYC hope India will answer their call for boycott of the Olympics
DEADLINE FOR LAND RE-
SURVEY EXTENDED BY A YEAR
Gandhinagar: The state
has decided to extend the
deadline for land re-survey
by a year, until December
2022. The government
has assured farmers that
each and every objec-
tion application will be
addressed and justice
will be done.Making the
announcement, Revenue
Minister Rajendra Trivedi
said, “Some farmers are
creating a false hue and
cry over the re-survey is-
sue. In fact, after the land
survey was completed,
only 5% of farmers or
landowners had objected
to the land survey. A
re-survey is underway to
satisfy them.”Any village
with more than 100 objec-
tions is termed a cluster.
The department has
declared 68 such clusters,
from where it had received
11,884 applications
objecting to the surveys.
Minister further said that
there are a total of 95 lakh
land survey numbers in
the state after the land
details were put in public
domain inviting objections
from landowners. Only
5,28,000 farmers and
landowners had demand-
ed a re-survey.The state
government has received
40,000 e-objections, of
which 38,000 re-survey
are completed satisfac-
torily. Most were internal
family disputes, especially
dealing with splitting land
owned by a joint family
among siblings. —FIB
—PHOTO
BY
HANIF
SINDHI

AHMEDABAD, THURSDAY
DECEMBER 30, 2021
09
n ace model and a
stunning fashion afi-
cionado, Akanksha is a
young woman with
vivid dreams and a
fierce passion to
achieve all that she
aims for. She walks with grace,
poses with panache and moves
like melodies. As she swayed to
the new track, ‘Aag Laga Do’,
she left a lot of mouths gawking
in absolute awe and fascination.
In conversation with City First,
Akanksha spills the beans
about her career trajectory, her
experiences with ‘Aag Laga Do’,
and the next chapter of her life.
In just ten days, Bhalla’s video
had over 5.1 million views. This
is her debut item number after
5 years in the modelling indus-
try, and it is safe to say it has
received a great response from
the public. While expressing im-
mense gratitude, Akanksha
said, “Kamal Kumawat, Direc-
tor; Rahul Meena from V pro-
duction; Vidhi Joshi, choreog-
rapher; Monish Raja; Vashika
Sethi, make up artist and the
entire team did a fabulous job
that led to the success of the
video.” She further added,
“Since my journey started,
Gaurav Gaur, my mentor and
director Elite Miss Rajasthan,
has been my greatest support.
He has helped me tap my poten-
tial at every step of my life.”
When asked whom she looked
up to as her inspiration, the
diva said,” Priyanka Chopra.
She is someone I can connect to.
Deepika Padukone and Nora
Fatehi were her inspirations for
this video in particular.
The entire crew was from Ra-
jasthan and I had a terrific time
with them.”
When questioned about her
ambitions, she stated that mod-
elling is both her profession and
her passion. She’s hoping to
widen her horizons with these
videos, and she’s already gotten
several offers in the 10 days
since her debut.
Aag Laga Do..
SUPERMODEL AND
ACTRESS,
AKANKSHA
BHALLA IS
SETTING NEW
BENCHMARKS
WITH HER
NEW MUSIC
VIDEO, ‘AAG
LAGA DO’
THAT HIT 5.1
MILLION
VIEWS IN JUST 10
DAYS. CITY FIRST
IN CONVERSATION
WITH AN
UNFETTERED
SPIRIT, BHALLA!
MITALI DUSAD
mitalidusad01@gmail.com
A
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia
facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
Akanksha Bhalla with Kamal Kumawat and Rahul Meena

ETC
10
I STILL WONDER WONDER
BEAUTIFUL STORY
Kim Taehyung aka V has come a long way.While this living legend’s name will be carved with
gold in the history of music as the phenomenon that changed the world and thoughts of society!
Kim Taehyung, he’s not
just a singer or a BTS
group member for me
but my comfort place
my safe zone. The
person who comforts
me( many people out
there) with his voice/
music. The person who
wants everyone to be
healthy and happy and
has a warm heart. That
boxy smile makes me
forget all my pain, sor-
rows and gives me the
strength to never give
up on anything. This hu-
man is my universe.
—AMRIN
CHOUDHARY
saw a glorious
dream of a charm-
ing Merman com-
ing from the wild
ocean. The gor-
geous, untamed
man adorned shiny
, silky
hair that blew lusciously in
thebreeze.Wallowedonadol-
phin’s tail, he hummed such
dulcet and melodious words,
causing the violent nature of
the sea to yield to his hymn,
civil on the tunes of his melo-
dies. Even the stars plunged
slapdashtohearthatglorious
creature’s rhythm.
Then, just like the first
snowfall, he arrived on
earth, blessing the world
with his charm five days af-
ter Christmas, our little
Winter was born!
In the city of Bisan-dong,
a human is just as pure as a
love song.
He was brought up and
raised in the embrace of
his beloved grandma,
years passed day by day
and that temple of love
left the boy alone to stay
.
It’s true that over time
Kim Taehyung has trans-
lated his experiential
curve from his foetus self to
the most strongest man
alive. From the blue and
grey air of debut days, his
singing, dancing and musi-
cality now shimmied in bril-
liant excellence. Over the
years, he has battled hate
and mastered the warfare to
tackle down haters who
come his way. Today, he
stands unbeatable in the
world of artistry where peo-
ple would pay an arm and a
leg just to watch him per-
form. Regardless, of how he
caterpillarly evolved to a but-
terfly, armies are still going
to protect him and nurture
him with all the purple love
their hearts can contain!
He received his first au-
thorised accreditation for
music composition in 2015
for co-writing and co-produc-
ing the song ‘Hold Me Tight’
from ‘The Most Beautiful
Moment in Life, Part 1’.
Nothing expresses the dis-
tress of a lonely lover than
the soft and slow track and
uniform knocking element
of ‘Hold Me Tight’. The lyr-
ics feel like home for people
who have ever felt a touch of
love and loss. This song de-
picts a constant sense of
time rushing out while also
trying to hold it back. At
such a young age, Taehyung
did nothing less than a mind-
blowing job with this. With
‘Hold me Tight’ to his most-
streamed song ‘Sweet Night’
reflects the breathy
, ethereal
tone of Taehyung’s unique
voice. There is a strong sense
of vulnerability, dainty and
fragility in this song which
expresses perfectly the frag-
ile but real fear of missing,
of losing a chance, of letting
go of someone you must hold
on to. The “fragile truth” has
to be taken with care and one
pair of hands can’t do that
anymore. Apart from the
meaning V’s soulful voice
has intimated this soft truth
with a delicate elegance in
the most beautiful way
.
I
UTTKARSHA SHEKHAR
Cityfirst@firstindia.com
with his charm five days af-
ter Christmas, our little
Winter was born!
a human is just as pure as a
love song.
raised in the embrace of
his beloved grandma,
curve from his foetus self to
the most strongest man
—ART
WORK
BY
UTTKARSHA
SHEKHAR
AND
DISHA
AJMANI

ETC
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia AHMEDABAD | THURSDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2021
11
WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR
WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR
THE NEW YEAR?
nd moment hustles are the
best, especially when it’s
New Year. Our not so per-
fect plans must never be
perfect perhaps so that we
always have room for im-
provement. Just a couple
of days ago all of us were prepping
up for Christmas or not perhaps we
were just waiting for this season to
begin. Now that we have almost
stepped into the next year, I am
pretty sure that we must have
thought for something or the
thought of thinking about a plan
must have come at least once in our
minds.
Whatever the plan may be, let’s
just remember this moment right
here, right now, all the changes that
we have adapted this year, all that
we have lost and gained with an-
other year and all the things that
are waiting for us which are not too
far now.
WITH NEW YEAR JUST AROUND THE
CORNER, MOST OF US ARE EXCITED AS
WE ARE GOING TO STEP INTO A NEW
JOURNEY. HOW ARE WE PLANNING TO
KICK OFF 2021? HOP INTO A COUPLE OF
DISCOS AND DANCE THE NIGHT OFF OR
SPEND A SERENE EVE THANKING OUR
STARS FOR BLESSING US? CITY FIRST GOT
IN TOUCH WITH PEOPLE WHO SHARED
THEIR PLANS TO WISH 2021 GOODBYE!
SUSHMITA AIND
sushmita.aind@firstindia.co.in
E It’s hard to choose some-
times, I don’t know what
will bring me joy partying or
visiting my parents. I haven’t
seen them for long now be-
cause of the travel ban but I am
hopeful and willing to see them,
maybe that would bring me joy!
—BASHAR RAHME
We are definitely going
to the Church, spend
some time thanking the
Lord, which we do not often
do. apart from that, yes we
love to party, just a small
together with my brothers and
close friends.
—RISHY AND TARUN MATHEW
I am going to just lay
down and overthink most
probably, kidding. I love
partying but because of the
restrictions i am planning to
sit at home, binge watch, talk to
my best of friends, thing, retro-
spect and just have a soulful day.
—MONA BHARDWAJ
Dance the night off? I
wish that would have
been an option. But,
nonetheless, some food and
beverages and a whole lotta
good music and me singing
with all my might as I welcome
the new year.
—SYMROZ DEBARA
I’ll be pretty much doing
what I do most of the time.
Sit and reflect and watch
the world go by and most
importantly enjoy my cup of
tea. That’s important. Most
things that happen in my daily
life shape me. Appreciate the daily
tidings. —NADEEM KHAN
I am hoping that this year
would be more challenging
because that’s what interests
me. I strongly believe challeng-
es make one mentally strong.
So, I will be prepping up for all of
that with a huge party! Fun is all a
part of it indeed.
—ZEBA MIRZA

12
CAKES AND COCKTAILS!
T
anisha Mo-
han’s Delhi
based social-
ite celebratedher
birthday with much
pomp and show at Ophe-
lia at the Ashoka,
Chanakyapuri, New
Delhi on Wednesday
.
The party went on till
wee hours saw guests
tapping their feet on
scintillating music,
along with savouring
scrumptious canapes
and exotic cocktails.
Many renowned person-
alities including Rid-
dhima Kapoor Sahani,
Vikram Sharma, Aman-
preet Wahi and others
graced the celebration
with their presence.
POLLO ALLA
TOSACANA
MEET AND GREET!
CHRISTMAS BLAST!
Former Chief Election
Commissioner Sunil
Arora with Advocate
Rajesh Tandon at his
residence in New
Delhi on Wednesday.
RajeshTandonpaid
acourtesyvisitto
SunilAroraonhisway
backfromatourof
holyplacesnamely
NainaDevi,Golden
TempleandFatehgar
sahab, his two sons
Mayank and Anupam
accompanied him.
The official handle of the Police Families Welfare Society shared glimpses of the Fancy
Dress competition held recently. The event was for Delhi Police children on the theme of
Christmas. All the children participated wholeheartedly and enjoyed it a lot.
DEVELOPING WORTH AND
VALUES WITH WASTE!
Parth
A
fter a wait of 22
months, the
Bharat Darshan
Park at Punjabi
Baghwasfinallythrown
open to the public after
its inauguration. The
garden, which has a rep-
lica of 22 historical
monuments from 14
states, is remarkable in
many ways. The venue
also has solar trees to
satisfy its energy re-
quirements. This is the
first part of India in
which replicas of 22 his-
torical monuments are
displayed in one place
beautifully and attrac-
tively
. The monuments
were constructed with
scrap and waste mate-
rial like old vehicles,
fans, iron rods, nuts
bolts, etc, which
were lying unused
andabandonedatSDMC
stores. These replicas
have been made under
the waste to art initia-
tive.
The park is based on
the concept of ‘waste-to-
wealth’ where replicas
of historical monu-
ments are made. ‘Unity
inDiversityisthetheme
of the park, where the
diversified culture and
rich heritage of India
are reflected through
monuments.
The park will be pow-
ered by solar panels, it
will also host a 1.5-km
walking track, a
specified children’s
zone, and an amphi-
theatre.
A separate zone has
been earmarked to es-
tablish stalls to organise
cultural programmes
and, food courts. A sen-
ior official overseeing
the project implementa-
tion said that the provi-
sion of audio tours and
selfie points have been
made in the park.
MISS TEEN DIVA 2021:
GRAND FINALE!
CITY FIRST
T
he grand finale of Miss
Teen Diva pageant 2021
was held on Wednesday
,
December 29 at Kingdom
of Dreams, Gurugram. 36 Ravish-
ing models competed for the cov-
eted crown! Jagdeesh Chan-
dra graced the occasion as
the special guest.
Miss Teen Diva 2021 is In-
dia’s largest teen pageant and
a national qualifier for the
world’smostrenownedpageants,
includingMissTeenInternation-
al,MissTeenUniverse,MissTeen
Earth,andMissTeenMultination-
al. Miss Teen International India’s
Rashi Parasrampuria, Miss Teen
Universe India’s Wachi Pareek,
Miss Teen Earth India’s Aish-
warya Vinu Nair, and Miss
Teen Multinational India’s
Sayali Ayre will crown their
successors. The winners
were yet to be crowned till
we went to print. Stay tuned
for the detailed report in
City First tomorrow! First
India has become the Title
Sponsor for Miss Teen Diva
and Glamanand Super-
model India 2022!
(L-R) Tanishqa Bhosale, Tanya Sinha, Tanvi Malhara,
Anisha Sharma, Divija Gambhir and Nishi Bhardwaj
Divija and Anisha
—PHOTOS BY MANOJ KESHARWANI
Zoya Afroze
Uber-stylish chef Ravi Bajaj took over the steaming kitchens
of Taj Mahal Hotel, New Delhi to curate a special menu for the
guests for Christmas and New Year’s eve. He presided over as the
guest chef and presented his glorious ‘Pollo alla Tosacana’ dish.
Tanisha Mohan with a guest
Ravi Bajaj and
Ambreen Khan with friends
Vikram Sharma
and Riddhima Sahani
Amanpreet wahi
and Krishna Somany
Anjalee Kapoor with her friends
Tanisha Mohan, Riddhima Kapoor with guests
Ambreen Khan
and Shampa Kamath Rahul Vohra and Ambreen Khan
Mrs H.E. Ganbold Dambajav, Mrs Mr Shombi Sharp,
Ravi Bajaj, Arun Sundararaj with guests
Replica of Taj Mahal Replica of Hawa Mahal
Replica of Sanchi Stupa Replica of Konark Temple
Replica of Victoria Memorial
Pushpita Singh, Ambreen Khan
and Shruti Kumar
—PHOTOS BY SHAZID CHAUHAN
CITY BUZZ
GET VACCINATED
STAY MASKED

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