30122021 first india lucknow

As Mishra gets repatriated, UP gets new CS
BUREAUCRATIC REJIG
Rakesh Ranjan
New Delhi/Lucknow:
Wednesday’s ACC an-
nouncement of the re-
patriation of Union
Secretary for Housing
& Urban Affairs Durga
Shanker Mishra, a 1984
batch UP cadre IAS of-
ficer, who is set to retire
two days later, has
drawn the attention of
one and all for its
unique wording.
The notification
reads, “The Appoint-
ments Committee of the
Cabinet has approved
repatriation of Shri
Durga Shanker Mishra,
lAS (UP:1984) to his cad-
re for his proposed ap-
pointment as Chief Sec-
retary
, Uttar Pradesh by
the State Government
of Uttar Pradesh.”
Normally
, when an of-
ficer is repatriated, the
ACC never states the
posting the officer will
get in his state cadre.
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
Centre, unless there is
something more inter-
esting for his Turn to P8
New UP Chief Secretary Durga Shanker Mishra —FILE PHOTO
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
UP
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.
2 YEARS, NO TON
118
new cases
00
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.
LUCKNOW l THURSDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2021 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI NO. UPENG/2020/80229 l Vol 2 l Issue No. 49

UTTAR PRADESH
LUCKNOW | THURSDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2021
02
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CM YOGI ACCUSES CONGRESS
OF ENCOURAGING TERRORISTS
CHIEF MINISTER YOGI ADITYANATH ALSO ACCUSED PREVIOUS GOVTS
OF LOOTING THE MONEY BELONGING TO THE POOR AND THE NEEDY
First India Bureau
Lucknow: Chief Minis-
ter Yogi Adityanath
made a scathing attack
at the Congress party
on Wednesday over the
Malegaon blast case,
and accused the party
of ‘encouraging’ and
‘nurturing’ the terror-
ists, and for falsely im-
plicating members of
BJP-RSS and other Hin-
du organisations in the
blast case during its re-
gime.
“The Congress has
ruled the nation for
maximum time. In a re-
cent statement by Ma-
harashtra ATS, it was
revealed that BJP and
RSS members were
framed in false cases in
the Malegaon Blast.
“Congress ko desh ke kh-
ilaf is shararat ke liye
maafi maangni chahi-
ye’” he said, adding that
during their govern-
ance, the party played
with the security of the
nation– “Aatankwadi-
yon ko prerit aur poshit
karne wali ye congress,
desh ke saath akise kh-
ilwad kar rahi hai kisi
se chhupa nahi”.
Now they oppose eve-
ry work done by the gov-
ernment for the welfare
of people of the county
led by BJP govern-
ments, he said.
Taking a dig at the op-
position over the recov-
ery of unaccounted
cash in a raid by taxa-
tion agencies, the CM
in his address said that
the previous govern-
ments looted the money
of the poor. “Bundles of
currency notes are com-
ing out from the walls.
Now you would have
understood why the
‘Babua’ had been oppos-
ing demonetisation.”
Yogi Adityanath in
his address, also an-
nounced to increase the
honorarium of the Aan-
ganwadi workers in the
state.
Further giving infor-
mation, the CM said
that his government
also announced the in-
crease the honorarium
of cooks and part time
instructors working in
the Basic Education De-
partment- the honorar-
ium of instructors has
been increased by Rs
2000 and cooks by Rs
500.
Apart from this, two
saris will be given to the
cooks in a year.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath graces a conference of cooks and part time instructors employed in the Basic Education Department of
Uttar Pradesh at the Atal Bihari Convention Centre in Lucknow on Wednesday. Basic Education Minister Satish Chandra Dwivedi, ACS
Navneet Sehgal, Director Information Shishir were also present. —PHOTO BY SUMIT KUMAR
Chief Minister
Yogi Adityanath
has announced that
the the ‘Jhansi Rail-
way Station’ of Uttar
Pradesh will now be
known as ‘Veeran-
gana Laxmibai
Railway Station’.
Yogi further stated
that and soon de-
velopment work will
also be completed
in the upcoming
Ayodhya railway
station which will
have the best in
class facilities.
CM Yogi shas in-
creased the hon-
orarium of cooks
in Basic Education
Department by Rs
500 and part time
instructors by Rs
2000. Amount for
buying apron, head-
cap will also
be sent
directly
to their
bank ac-
count.
Yogi Speaks
Yogi Speaks
GANGA E-WAY @FARRUKHABAD
New med colleges
in Maharajganj,
Sambhal soon
First India Bureau
Lucknow: Uttar
Pradesh government
has approved setting
up of new medical
colleges on public-
private-partnership
mode in Sambhal
and Maharajganj dis-
trict respectively.
These private part-
ners will develop a
minimum 100 - seat
medical colleges and
the state government
will disburse fiscal
incentives as per the
policy
.
For the remaining
districts, applica-
tions are being invit-
ed monthly from in-
terested bidders and
proposals are being
evaluated and ap-
praised in a phased
manner.
These medical col-
leges, once opera-
tional, will add at
least 200 doctors to
the workforce annu-
ally , and generate at
least 1300 jobs as di-
rect employment. It
will increase the bed
availability by at
least 100 beds in Ma-
harajganj and to 300
in Sambhal . The
presence of a medi-
cal college in these
districts will bring
specialized second-
ary care and tertiary
care services closer
to the citizens, reduc-
ing travel time for
advanced treatment
to nearby big cities
by almost 3 hours.
The 16 unserved
districts are --Bagh-
pat, Ballia, Bhadohi,
Chitrakoot, Hamir-
pur, Hathras, Kas-
ganj, Maharajganj,
Mahoba, Mainpuri,
Mau, Rampur, Samb-
hal, Sant Kabir Na-
gar, Shamli, and
Shravasti.
People of
these 16
districts had
to go to other
districts for
treatment
First India Bureau
Lucknow: Chief Min-
ister Yogi Adityanath’s
announcement to give
Rs 500 per month to la-
bourers of unorganised
sector registered on e-
Shram portal has tig-
gered a mad rush
among the sons of toil
making a beeline to get
themselves listed on the
website.
The UP CM is set to
release the first Rs 500
instalment on Decem-
ber 31, to about 2.5 crore
laborers and about 60
lakh registered labor-
ers in the unorganized
sector.
The amount of Rs 500
on a monthly basis will
be paid each month till
March, 2022 in the poll-
bound state.
The idea behind the
registration is to form a
country-wide database
of unorganised sector
workers and the portal
has crossed the 15-crore
mark with over 15.53
enrolments.
The e-Shram portal,
launched on August 25,
had issued over
15.53-crore e-Shram
cards by Tuesday even-
ing,thewebsiteshowed.
The Labour and Em-
ployment Ministry’s e-
Shram dashboard
showed that out of 44.48
lakh registrations on
Monday, Uttar Pradesh
was the State with the
most number of listing,
with 31.60 lakh; fol-
lowed by Bihar with
2.48 lakh and Tamil
Nadu (1.34 lakh).
As the number of reg-
istrations on the e-Sh-
ram portal reached 15
crore on Monday, La-
bour and Employment
Minister Bhupender
Yadav informed in a
tweet that the portal
was clocking 50,000 reg-
istrations on an hourly
basis.
` 500 dole triggers a mad rush for registration on e-Shram portal
WOOING WORK FORCE
On Tuesday, UP registered the most,
`31.60 lakh labourers from unorganised
sector on the Centre’s portal.
e-Shram portal provides various benefits to labourers of the
unorganised sector.
AGRI SECTOR TOPS
Warm welcome awaits
Amit Shah in Ayodhya
First India Bureau
Lucknow: Hectic prep-
arations have been
launched in Ayodhya to
accord warm welcome
Union Home Minister
Amit Shah on Decem-
ber 31. Shah, who will
visit Ram temple and
Hanumangarhi, will ad-
dress a rally at govern-
ment Inter College on
Friday
.
The BJP MLA Ved
Prakash Gupta today
held a meeting of BJP
office-bearers and
workers to review the
preparations. He said
efforts were made to
mobilise people in large
numbers to make the
rally memorable. The
rally will be held in
Ayodhya Sadar assem-
bly constituency pres-
ently represented by
Gupta.
Chief minister Yogi
Adityanath, Deputy
Chief Minister Keshav
Prasad Maurya and
state BJP chief Swatan-
tra Deo Singh are likely
to attend the rally
.
It will be the first
rally by a top BJP lead-
er ahead of the upcom-
ing UP elections. Earli-
er this month national
BJP president JP Na-
dda had visited the tem-
ple town along with
chief ministers of BJP
ruled states to visit
Ram Temple and other
holy shrines.
In August 2020 prime
ministerNarendraModi
had visited the town to
lay foundation stone of
the Ram temple.
Shah had last visited
Ayodhya in 2013 as in-
charge of UP for 2014
Lok Sabha elections.
Under his effective
guidance the BJP had
routed the opposition
parties to win 72 Lok
Sabha seats.
With Ayodhya top in
BJP’s Hindutav agen-
da, Shah’s visit is set to
give further fillip to the
party’s campaign.
SHAH TO INSPECT WORKS IN AYODHYA
Amit Shah offering prayers at Sankatmochan Temple, Varanasi on
Tuesday. —FILE PHOTO
State govt gives ` 21.71cr
subsidy to 42 filmmakers
First India Bureau
Lucknow: More than
Rs 21.71 crores has
been provided as a
subsidy to a total of
42 filmmakers includ-
ing 22 Bhojpuri and
20 Hindi movies un-
der the Film Bandhu
scheme of the Uttar
Pradesh government
on the second day of
Kashi Film Festival.
These films include
Jamai Raja, Wanted,
Prem Ki Ganga, Mis-
sion Pakistan, Hitler,
Patthar Ke Sanam,
Gunda, Bareilly Ki
Barfi, Junction Vara-
nasi and many more.
It is worth noting
that the UP govern-
ment has also an-
nounced a new “Film
Policy” whose objec-
tive is to launch and
expand the positive
image of the state by
promoting its cultur-
al, mythological, his-
torical heritage and
glorious tradition in
the country and
abroad.
Under this policy
, a
better environment
and necessary facili-
ties will be provided
to people associated
with filmmaking.
In a bid to provide
all facilities related to
film production in
one place, ‘Film
Bandhu Uttar
Pradesh’ has been
constituted under the
chairmanship of Ad-
ditional Chief Secre-
tary, Information and
Public Relations De-
partment, of Uttar
Pradesh as a nodal
agency
.
During the event,
the “Film Develop-
ment Fund” has also
been established for
the funding of films,
with which, grants to
regional and Hindi
films will be pro-
duced in Uttar
Pradesh.
Film Bandhu President Raju Srivastava, Actor and MP Ravi
Kishan, ACS Information Navneet Sehgal, Union Minister
Anurag Thakur and others including ‘Dream girl’ Hema
Malini were also present on the occasion.
‘Ganga
Avtaran’ by
Hema Malini
was one of
the key
performances
here
Yogi govt makes
‘record’ payment to
sugarcane growers
First India Bureau
Lucknow: Sugarcane
procurement by the
state government broke
the record of the past
several decades claims
a government commu-
nique.
According to it, he Ut-
tar Pradesh govern-
ment has made a record
payment of Rs 1.51 lakh
crore to more than 45
lakh sugarcane farm-
ers. The payment is
thrice the amount that
was made by the former
Bahujan Samaj Party
government and 1.5
times more than the Sa-
majwadi Party govern-
ment.
Unlike the previous
governments, the Yogi-
led government has ac-
corded priority to en-
suring the payment of
cane prices to the state
farmers.
It is noteworthy that
during Mayawati’s gov-
ernment from 2007-2012,
30 lakh cane farmers
were paid Rs 52,131
crore and during the
Akhilesh regime from
2012-2017, a payment of
Rs 95,215 crore was
made to 33 lakh farm-
ers. The payment that
was made in 10 years
(2007-2017) by the then
BSP and SP govern-
ments, has been made
by the current govern-
ment in just over 4.5
years.
Before 2017, sugar-
cane farmers had to run
from pillar to post for
payment of their dues.
CM Yogi addressing a gathering in Farrukhabad on Wednesday.
CM Yogi at an event in
Gorakhpur on Wednesday.

UTTAR PRADESH
03
First India Bureau
Kanpur: Kanpur metro
was open to public on
Wednesday morning.
For most of the people
it was Joyride as they
thronged tickets count-
er as early as 5:45 am.
The crowd started in-
sisting on entering the
station, forcing the sta-
tion officers to open the
entrance. As soon as the
metro departed from
IIT at exactly 6.03 am,
passengers started
shouting Vande
Mataram, Bharat Mata
Ki Jai and took selfies
besides started running
Facebook live videos on
every station.
Meanwhile, Metro
MD Kumar Keshav also
reached with his team
and traveled in the train
to know the experience
of passengers. As soon
as the metro started, the
enthusiasm of the peo-
ple of Kanpur was so
high that many stations
were crowded. MD Ku-
mar Keshav himself
traveled with the pas-
sengers to know their
thoughts and thanked
many passengers by
giving roses on the first
day. In fact, as the day
progressed, the crowd
of youths increased to
travel in the metros.
Many people had ar-
rived only to see how
their city looked from
the metro running at
high altitude. There
was a smile on the face
of all the officers on see-
ing a more than expect-
ed crowd arriving on
the first day. Now the
officers have empha-
sized on making ar-
rangements, anticipat-
ing more crowds on
December 31 and New
Year and Sunday
.
The completed 9km
long section of Kanpur
Metro Rail Project
stretches from IIT-Kan-
pur to Moti Jheel. The
entire length of the
Metro project is 32km
and it is being built at
11,000 crore. It was
Memorable experience,
after riding new section
of Metro says PM Modi.
First India Bureau
Lucknow: As the big-
gest ever cash seizure
continues, Kan-
pur-based business-
man Piyush Jain’s as-
sociates, their firms,
and several other com-
panies have also come
under the Income Tax
scanner.
On Wednesday, a
team of Directorate
General of GST Intelli-
gence (DGGI), Lucknow
Unit visited the office
of ‘Mayur Vanaspati’ in
Kanpur for verification
of tax evasion allega-
tions. The officials re-
portedly found a false
Input Tax credit of Rs
10 crores. The owner of
the company has ac-
cepted to pay the taxes,
they said. The raid was
conducted on the prem-
ises of Mayur Vanaspa-
ti. Owner of the compa-
ny, Sunil Gupta accept-
ed to pay the taxes, said
the officials.According
to the officials, the own-
er of Mayur Vanaspati,
Sunil Gupta was raided
by the team of DGGI at
his residence and his
office. The team took
important documents
related to Mayur Va-
naspati Industries into
its custody. However,
no arrest has been
made so far. A probe of
the owner of the com-
pany is underway, offi-
cials said. A spate of
DGGI raids in on in Ut-
tar Pradesh. After the
raids at the residence
of Kanpur-based busi-
nessman Peeyush Jain,
Sunil Gupta is the sec-
ond businessman to be
raided. Earlier, DGGI
on Wednesday conclud-
ed the raids at business-
man Peeyush Jain’s
residence in Kannauj.
First India Bureau
Lucknow: Following a
surge in COVID-19 cas-
es, Uttar Pradesh has
been declared as a
COVID-affected state.
Additional Chief Secre-
tary (Health) Amit Mo-
han Prasad in an order
dated Dec 27, said that
the decision has been
taken after assessing
the situation.
Prasad in the order
said that under Section
3 of the Uttar Pradesh
Public Health and Epi-
demic Control Act, 2020,
the entire state has
been declared as
COVID-affected.
The announcement
will be in effect till
March 31, 2022 or till fur-
ther orders are given, It
is pertinent to mention
that the state has im-
posed night curfew in
view of rising Omicron
cases from December 25
onwards. Meanwhile,
amid a spike in cases
and concerns over the
new Omicron variant,
several states have im-
posed fresh restrictions
to curb the spread of in-
fection.The Uttar
Pradesh government
has imposed a night cur-
few from 11 p.m to 5 a.m
from December 25. Also,
the number of people
allowed at weddings has
been capped at 200. CM
Yogi Adityanath in-
structed.
Kanpur Metro Day 1 : People throng metro stations in numbers
JOYRIDE FOR LOCALITES

After being
inaugurated by
PM Modi on
Tuesday, Kanpur
Metro saw mad
rush at all the
stations with
people standing
in queues even
before 6 am The crowd while enjoying thier first metro ride.
MAN HELD FOR
RAPING MINOR IN
FARIDABAD
Faridabad: A 24-year-
old man was arrested
on charges of raping
a minor here, police
said on Wed. Gulshan,
the accused, hails
from Aligarh. He was
produced before the
court, which remanded
him in judicial custody.
On Monday noon, the
eight-year-old girl was
playing near her house.
Gulshan took her to an
old house on the pretext
of buying her toffees
and allegedly raped her.
MISCREANTS TRY
TO RUN OVER
POLICE IN MEERUT
Meerut: Some perpetra-
tors tried to run over a
sub-inspector and con-
stable near Hapur Adda
when they were escaping
from a petrol pump
without paying for it.
Police sources here said
that some miscreants
took petrol from a petrol
pump near Hapur Adda
and they escaped without
paying the fuel price.
Police team nabbed them
after long chase and they
were identified as Amit
and Vishal.
ANOTHER KANPUR TRADER
ONDGGIRADAR
The raid was conducted on the premises of Mayur Vanaspati. Owner of
the company, Sunil Gupta accepted to pay the taxes, said the officials
Visuals from the spot of raid conducted by team of DGGI. —PHOTO BY ANI
Notably, accused Piy-
ush Jain is the brother
of senior Samajwadi
Party leader Pammi
Jain, and allegedly also
the manufacturer of
the ‘Samajwadi Party
perfume’ which SP
chief Akhilesh Yadav
had launched recently.
SP CHIEF
AKHILESH YADAV
ON TARGET
Cash recovered
from bunkers at
Peeyush residence
First India Bureau
Lucknow: An official
witness, accompany-
ing the Directorate
General of GST In-
telligence (DGGI)
raid team at busi-
nessman Peeyush
Jain’s residence in
Uttar Pradesh’s Kan-
nauj, has claimed
that the money was
recovered from the
two underground
bunkers on the
premises.
Speaking to the
media, Amit Dubey
, a
witness who accom-
panied the DGGI
team five-day raid,
said, “The money
was recovered from
two underground
bunkers after much
difficulty
. The family
members also had no
idea about the mon-
ey.” Earlier on
Wednesday, the Di-
rectorate General of
GST Intelligence
concluded the raids
at businessman
Peeyush Jain’s resi-
dence in Kannauj.
The Kanpur-based
businessman was ar-
rested on Sunday un-
der Section 67 of the
CGST Act after the
recovery of unac-
counted cash, gold.
The DGGI further
alleged that it has
seized more than 200
such fake invoices.
First India Bureau
Allahabad: The website
of UP Higher Educa-
tion Service Commis-
sion was hacked on
Tuesday with the hack-
ers replacing the last
name “Allahabadi” of
some renowned poets
with “Praygaraj” in an
“apparent resentment”
of the change of the
name this historical
city, an official said.
The Prayagraj-based
Commission, however,
was able to restore its
Hindi website and the
work is on to restore its
English portal, Com-
mission chairman Ish-
war Charan Vishva
Karma adding that the
commission had no
role to play this.
The renowned poets
and litterateurs whose
last name “Allahabadi”
was replaced by
“Prayagraj” included
Akbar Allahabadi, Tej
Allahabadi and Rash-
eed Allahabadi, the
Commission’s chair-
man said, adding these
names have been cor-
rected in the Hindi
website and the work is
on to correct them in
the English portal of
the Commission. A
complaint about the in-
cident has been lodged
with the Cyber Cell of
the city police to nab
the culprits, Dr Vishva-
karma said.
First India Bureau
Bijnor: Panic triggered
into the area after mis-
creants thrashed police
constable and looted his
INSAS rifle near Bhut-
puri crossing under
Afzalgarh police station
area. Police sources
here said that constable
Lalit Kumar and
homeguard Bheem
Singh were on duty
near Butpuri crossing.
The incident unfold-
ed on Tuesday night A
truck was overturned
near a crossing and
both policemen were
helping in clearing the
traffic there. Mean-
while two miscreants
passed near the cross-
ing and started a brawl
with policemen.
When matters esca-
lated both accused
thrashed constable and
home guard with ille-
gal weapons. After
thrashing a police con-
stable, they looted his
service rifle and es-
caped from the spot.
Meanwhile, a video of
the incident went viral
on social media.
The DGGI seized Rs
194.45 crores of cash,
23 kg gold and 600
kg sandalwood from
businessman Peeyush
Jain’s possession.
Jain has been sent
to 14 days of judicial
custody by a Kanpur
court in the matter.
TOTAL SEIZURE
ONE FOR THE WILDLIFE
Chief Secretary Rajendra Kumar Tiwari released the table calendar on wildlife compiled
by Sanjay Kumar, Secretary, Finance.Additional Chief Secretary Planning Suresh Chandra,
Additional Chief Secretary Excise Sanjay Bhoosreddy, Principal Secretary and Chief Staff Officer
Anita C. Meshram and Staff Officer Dr.Anil Kumar was present on the occasion.
Hackers changed names of
poets on portal: Edu Dept
Moradabad: Foreign liquor worth Rs four crore was
seized during a raid at a warehouse, the district officials
said on Wednesday. Sixty bottles of scotch were recov-
ered from a man in Moradabad district during the raid,
they said. The man upon interrogation revealed he had
purchased the seized scotch whiskey from an overseas
godown owned by a man named Kunal Chawla, District
excise officer RK Singh said. A total of 5240 cartons
of different foreign brands were seized which were
stocked in the warehouse in two trucks and cars. Four
men, identified as Raman, Ranvir, Sunil, and Lalji, who
were present have been arrested, Singh told.
CRUCIAL READ
LIQUOR WORTH RS 4 CRORE SEIZED IN
MORADABAD, 4 NABBED
UP declared as Covid-affected
state after fresh cases surge again
Goons loot insas rifle
of policeman in Bijnor
The policeman
identified as Lalit has
suffered injuries in the
incident and has been
admitted to hospital.
Police have launched
manhunt to nab the
criminals and on video
footage the registration
number of motorbike
was identified and
search was underway.
SEARCH IS
UNDERWAY
118 FRESH CASES IN PAST 24-HOUR
—AMIT DUBEY
—FILE PHOTO

PERSPECTIVE
04
l Vol 2 l Issue No. 49
l RNI NO. UPENG/2020/80229.
Printed and published by
Anita Hada Sangwan on behalf of
First Express Publishers. Printed
at Amar Ujala Ltd. B-5 Amausi
Industrial Area Kanpur Road Luc-
know. Published at 98, Friend’’s
Colony, Raheem Nagar, Dudouli
Road, Madiyaon, Lucknow (UP).
Editor-In-Chief: Jagdeesh Chandra.
Editor: Vishal Srivastav
responsible for selection of news
under the PRB Act
Promoted by First India
News International Pvt. Ltd.
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
JNU CHANGES LANGUAGE IN ICC
CIRCULAR ON SEXUAL HARASSMENT
New Delhi: The Jawa-
harlal Nehru Universi-
ty (JNU) has modified
the language of its pub-
lic invitation for coun-
selling on sexual har-
assment and removed
the line “girls are sup-
pose to know how to
draw a tangible line be-
tween them and their
male friends” that drew
the ire of students and
teachers.
The Internal Com-
plaints Committee
(ICC) of the university
had uploaded the invita-
tion on JNU’s website
saying that it will or-
ganise counselling ses-
sion on sexual harass-
ment on January 17. It
also said that such ses-
sions will be organised
on a monthly basis.
Under the subhead
“why is this counselling
session required”, the
contentious point has
now been replaced with,
“Boys will be coun-
selled to clearly distin-
guish between friend-
ship and behaviour that
may be considered sex-
ual harassment. Girls
will be counselled how
to avoid sexual harass-
ment.”
The move comes a
day after NCW Chair-
person Rekha Sharma
sought withdrawal of
the “misogynist” circu-
lar issued by the uni-
versity.
Under the subhead
“why is the counselling
session required”, the
invite had said that it
will make students
aware about what con-
sists of sexual harass-
ment.
It also said that stu-
dents are being
counselled during the
orientation programme
and on the inception
of each academic year,
and they need to refresh
their knowledge about
the same from time to
time. —Agencies
—REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE
Modi to release
10th installment
of PM-KISAN
scheme
New Delhi: Prime Min-
isterNarendraModiwill
release the 10th install-
mentof financialbenefit
under PM-KISAN
scheme on 1 January
,
2022.
The scheme is aimed
to empower grassroots
level farmers and will
help enable the transfer
of `20,000 crore to more
than10crorebeneficiary
farmer families.
A financial benefit of
`6000 per year is provid-
ed to the eligible benefi-
ciary farmer families,
payable in three equal
4-monthly installments
of Rs.2000each.Thefund
is transferred directly to
the bank accounts of the
beneficiaries. In this
scheme, Samman Rashi
of over `1.6 lakh crore
has been transferred to
farmer families so far.
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.

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
BSF SEIZES YABA
TABLETS WORTH
`1.47 CR, 4 HELD
New Delhi: Slamming
the Congress over the
Malegaon case, BJP
spokesperson Sambit
Patra said the grand-old
party has a hatred for
Hindus. The BJP spokes-
persons remarks came
a day after a witness of
2008 Malegaon bomb
blast case turned hostile
and told the court that
Maharashtra ATS had
forced him to falsely take
UP CM Yogi Adityanath
and five RSS members’
names in the case.
Agartala: The BSF on
Tuesday seized 29,580
Yaba tablets worth Rs
1.47 crore near the
Indo-Bangladesh border
in Tripura. Earlier on
Tuesday night, the BSF
troops confiscated
contraband items worth
Rs 15,78,138. Acting
on specific intelligence
inputs, BSF troops of
Gokulnagar foiled the
trans-border attempt
and apprehended four
Bangladeshi nationals.
ITBP CHIEF GETS
ADDITIONAL
CHARGE OF SSB DG
AKBAR ALLAHABADI’S
NAME CHANGED TO
‘PRAYAGRAJI’
New Delhi: ITBP
chief Sanjay Arora on
Wednesday was given
additional charge of the
post of Director General
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 Director-General of
the SSB in December
this year.
Prayagraj: The suffixes
of renowned Urdu poets
were changed from “Al-
lahabadi” to “Prayagraj”
on the website of the
Uttar Pradesh Higher
Education Services
Commission on Tues-
day, prompting officials
to claim the portal was
hacked.The ‘Allahabadi’
suffix of all writers or
poets was changed to
‘Prayagraj’ on the portal.
These include poets
Rashid Allahabadi. —PTI
‘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 Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and Yadav
had taken the “BJP vaccine” for Covid-19.
CRUCIAL READ IT-dept conducts searches on
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 elections
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

NEWS
07
AFTER CASH,
ILLEGAL BOOZE
BUST NEXT ON
EC RADAR
After Income Tax and GST
raids, guess sleuths of which
other department are going to
flex their muscles soon? The
Excise Department. Yes, the
three-member poll-panel,
presently on stock-taking tour of
UP, has directed the Excise
officials to launch an intensive
crackdown on the illegal stocking
of liquor ahead of state assembly
elections 2022. Free flow of
liquor could be an issue in the
state which is known for cheap
booze and its use to induce
voters is a common practise
adopted by contestants.
According to Excise department
officials, the revenue collected
from liquor suddenly drops down
during the election period. “One
reason for drop in revenue could
be that people stock the liquor in
advance,” quipped one official.
He said that flying squads, one
for each district, have been
formed, which will conduct raids
on the suspected premises after
receiving the complaints to check
illegally stocked liquor. Sample
this: Uttar Pradesh had seen
record seizure of Rs 115.70 crore
cash, 20.29 lakh barrels of liquor
worth Rs 57.69 crore, and
narcotics weighing 2,725 kg
worth Rs 7.91 crore, as per the
progressive data recorded till
yesterday of seizure made by the
Election Commission-appointed
surveillance teams in UP
assembly polls 2017. The
comparative figures for the
detection and seizure of these
illegal inducements in UP during
the 2012 Assembly polls stood at
Rs 36.29 crore cash and over
3,073 litres of liquor worth Rs
6.61 lakh. —M Tariq Khan
SCHOOLS TO
GET 15 DAYS
WINTER
VACATIONS
STARTING FROM
DECEMBER 31
Winter vacation has been
declared in primary and
junior schools in Uttar Pradesh
from 31st December to 14th
January, 2022. According to a
time and motion study order of
the Department of Basic
Education, this winter vacation is
being given for the first time.
Earlier, schools in various
districts have been given holidays
under the orders of the District
Collector. The order will be
applicable from class I to VIII.
Lucknow:Winter vacation has
been declared in primary and
junior schools in Uttar Pradesh
from 31st December to 14th
January, 2022. According to a
time and motion study order of
the Department of Basic
Education, this winter vacation is
being given for the first time.
Earlier, schools in various
districts have been given holidays
under the orders of the District
Collector. The order will be
applicable from class I to VIII.
Council Secretary Divyakant
Shukla has ordered divisional joint
directors of education and DIOS
to strictly implement it. According
to the guidelines, schools will
have to arrange online studies as
an alternative. If anyone in the
school has symptoms of cold,
fever, etc., arrangements should
be made to take him to his house
with the advice of a doctor. Any
event should be held only if it
follows the rules of social
distensing. —Ahtesham Siddiqui
Senior
politician
Rajveer Singh
passes away
First India Bureau
Bareilly: Senior
leader Rajveer
Singh, a former
three-time MP
from Aonla here,
died on Wednes-
day at a hospital in
Noida following
prolonged illness.
He was 83. He is
survived by his
son and a daugh-
ter, family sources
here said. Elected
MP on a BJP ticket
from Aonla con-
stituency in 1989,
1991 and 1998, Sin-
gh also served as
the secretary of
the Bharatiya
Jana Sangh, gen-
eral secretary of
Janata Party, vice
president of UP
BJP and national
president of BJP
Kisan Morcha.
He was consid-
ered a close aide
of former prime
minister Atal Bi-
hari Vajpayee, for-
mer home minis-
ter L K Advani and
former Uttar
Pradesh CM Kaly-
an Singh. He had
joined the Sama-
jwadi Party in
2004. His son
Dhiren Singh
joined the Akhile-
sh Yadav-led party
,
recently
.
Singh was
known for his in-
fluence among
workers at the
grassroot level.
5SP ACTIVISTSARRESTEDFORTRYINGTO
INSTIGATEVIOLENCEATPM’SKANPURRALLY
TheSPhasexpelledallthe5workers,whoaresittingandformerofficebearersofitsyouthbrigade,fromtheparty
Lucknow: Five youth
activists of the Sama-
jwadi Party were ar-
rested on Wednesday
for allegedly trying to
instigate violence and
disrupt PM Narendra
Modi’s rally in Kanpur
on December 28. The SP
has expelled all the five
workers, who are sit-
ting and former office
bearers of its youth bri-
gade, from the party.
The BJP, meanwhile,
launched a scathing at-
tack on the SP, saying
such incidents are
aimed at creating fear
and communal divide
among people ahead of
assembly polls. In Del-
hi, BJP spokesperson
Sambit Patra said that
Modi always considers
the country’s develop-
ment first, and in this
regard he inaugurated
the metro project and
addressed a rally in
Kanpur, but the student
wing of the SP con-
spired to disrupt it.
“Before the start of
the prime minister’s
rally, a video became vi-
ral showing workers of
Samajwadi Party were
damaging car having
BJP posters and Modi’s
picture on it. But in re-
ality they camouflaged
it as BJP car whereas it
actually belonged to SP
worker and the car was
attacked intentionally
at a Muslim- dominated
society to provoke ten-
sions in the city,” Patra
claimed.
Despite all these
provocations, he said it
is appreciable that the
BJP workers showed
patience and did not re-
act. Sukant Sharma,
Sachin Kesarvani, Ab-
hishek Rawat, Niksh
Kumar and Ankur Patel
will be produced before
a court after question-
ing, a senior police of-
ficer said. Station
House Officer (Naubas-
ta) Amit Kumar
Bhadana said that he
was informed about a
purported video show-
ing over 10 youths rais-
ing slogans against the
BJP government and
burning effigies of
Modi. They tried to dis-
rupt law and order dur-
ing the prime minis-
ter’s rally and also van-
dalised a car sporting a
BJP flag and a banner
carrying Modi’s photo,
he added. Taking seri-
ous cognisance of the
video that went viral on
social media platforms,
an FIR was registered
under relevant sections
of the IPC and criminal
law amendment act on
Tuesday
.
SP activists held on charges of conspiring to disrupt PM’s rally.
CCTV EXAMINED
Kuldeep Yadav to
lead Uttar Pradesh
in Ranji Trophy
Kanpur: Indian
spinner Kuldeep Ya-
dav will lead the Ut-
tar Pradesh squad in
the Ranji Trophy.
Karan Sharma has
been named as the
vice-captain of the
squad which includ-
ed the likes of Shi-
vam Mavi and Priy-
am Garg.
“Senior Selection
Committee of our
Association selected
following cricketers
of our state to repre-
sent U.P. Squad for
Ranji Trophy,” Uttar
Pradesh Cricket As-
sociation (UPCA)
said in a statement.
Bhuvneshwar Ku-
mar and Saurabh
Kumar can also be
included in the
squad if they are
available for the
tournament.
UP Squad: Kul-
deep Yadav (C)
Karan Sharma (VC)
Madhav Kaushik,
Almas Shaukat,
Samarth Singh, Har-
deep Singh, Rinku
Singh, Priyam Garg,
Akshdeep Nath, Sa-
meer Choudhary,
Kritagya Singh, Ar-
yan Juyal, Dhruv
Chandra Jurel, Shi-
vam Mavi, Ankit Ra-
jpoot, Yash Dayal,
Kunal Yadav, Prince
Yadav, Rishabh
Bansal, Shanu
Saini, Jasmer, Zee-
shan Ansari, Shi-
vam Sharma, Parth
Mishra.
Ranji Trophy will
start from January
13 with the final of
the tournament to be
played on March 17.
‘PMshouldadmitthatdemonetisationwasafailure’
First India Bureau
Kanpur: AIMIM chief
Asaduddin Owaisi on
Wednesday said Prime
Minister Narendra
Modi’s brainchild initi-
ative of demonetisation
has become a “failure”
as evident in seizure of
a huge pile of cash from
a businessman’s resi-
dence in Uttar Pradesh.
“You should ask the
Prime Minister as to
how so much of cash
was found despite the
demonetisation (of big-
ger notes in 2016). Prad-
han Mantriji, demone-
tization has become a
failure,” he told report-
ers here when his at-
tention was drawn to-
wards the cash seizure
in UP. In multiple raids
by the Income Tax de-
partment and the Cen-
tral Board of Indirect
Taxes and Customs re-
cently, around Rs 257
crore in cash, 25 kg of
gold and 250 kg of sil-
ver were seized from
perfume trader Piyush
Jain’s house in Kanpur,
as well as from his
house and factory in
Kannauj in UP. Owaisi
demanded that the gov-
ernment clearly state
as to who the money
belongs to.
“The fragrance (of
cash seizure) is spread-
ing across the world,”
he added. He demanded
that the Prime Minister
accept that demonetiza-
tion was a failure as
only poor people and
small scale industries
have suffered. “I am ap-
pealing to the Prime
Minister that you
should accept on record
that demonetisation is a
failure” he said.
—REPRESENTATIONAL IMAGE
CASH SEIZURE
SP leader Rahul Gurjar and his
supporters create ruckus in Agra
First India Bureau
Agra: In the welcome
program of SP leader
Rahul Gurjar, the SP
leaders created a ruck-
us. While fussing, he
forgot all the rules and
regulations. The resi-
dents of the city were
upset due to the uproar
created by the SP work-
ers in the convoy of
hundreds of vehicles.
On Wednesday after-
noon, when SP leader
Rahul Gurjar reached
Agra with the post of
SP Lohia Vahini Dis-
trict President, hun-
dreds of youth workers
reached the expressway
with a convoy of vehi-
cles in his welcome pro-
gram. From there, as
Rahul Gurjar’s convoy
proceeded towards the
SP office via Fatehabad
Road, the zealous activ-
ists proceeded with a
ruckus, keeping all the
rules and regulations in
place. The situation was
that the SP workers for-
got the rules and regu-
lations and reached the
selfie point in Tajganj
on Fatehabad Road, cre-
ating a ruckus by climb-
ing the vehicles.
There he showed his
stamina fiercely. The
video of the rioting
done by the Spaniards
is becoming fiercely vi-
ral on social media. The
local people also had to
face a lot of trouble due
to the uproar caused by
the SPs. But no one had
the courage to stop the
uproar, and neither peo-
ple were embracing this
action of the SPs.
The SP workers
forgot the rules
and regulations
reached the
selfie point in
Tajganj on
Fatehabad Road,
creating a ruckus
Thakur takes jibe at SP chief
on Kanpur businessman raids
Ballia: Taking a swipe
at Akhilesh Yadav, Un-
ion Minister Anurag
Thakur said SP chief
was “troubled” over
raids at a perfume trad-
er’s properties but did
not feel for the poor. He
also sought to know
whether Congress pres-
ident Sonia Gandhi,
senior leaders Rahul
Gandhi Priyanka
Gandhi, Yadav had
taken the “BJP vac-
cine” for COVID-19.
Yadav and some oth-
er leaders from rival
parties had allegedly
called India’s two vac-
cines- Covishied and
Covaxin- as “BJP vac-
cines”. The Minister
for Information and
Broadcasting, and
Youth Affairs and
Sports was in the dis-
trict for the closing cer-
emony of All India In-
vitational Prize Money
Football Competition at
Narhi. “If the SP has no
ties with the perfume
trader, why is it trou-
bled? Why is Akhilesh
Yadav saying that the
Income Tax depart-
ment raids will be fol-
lowed by raids by the
Enforcement Directo-
rate and other depart-
ments?” Thakur told
the media on Tuesday
.
“Yadav is feeling for
the perfume trader but
he doesn’t realise the
pain of the poor. The il-
legal money (recovered
from the trader) is
meant for their devel-
opment,” Thakur said.
The minister said the
“fragrance” of Yadav’s
association with the
perfume trader has
spread so much that
the SP chief is unable
to hide it.
SP chief

08
2NDFRONT
The aim of life is growth - physical,
mental, emotional and spiritual- at the
end of the year we simply must look back
to see our growth patterns in the previous year!
—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO Editor-in-Chief, First India
First India Bureau
Lucknow: The UAE-
based retail major Lulu
group on Wednesday an-
nounced an investment
of Rs 500 crore to set up
a food processing plant
in Greater Noida.
The company will set
up 100 per cent ex-
port-oriented food and
agri-produce processing
park in Greater Noida.
At a formal function
held at Uttar Pradesh
Chief Minister Yogi Ad-
ityanath’s office in Luc-
know,thelandallotment
order for 20 acres was
handed over to Lulu
Group Chairman Yusuf
Ali M A, the company
said in a statement.
The Lulu group said
“Rs 500 crore will be the
initial investment in
setting up of this state-
of-the-art unit”. The
plant is expected to gen-
erate direct employ-
ment for 700 people and
indirect employment
for about 1,500 people.
Yusuf Ali briefed the
CM about the various
details of this world-
class facility
, which will
support the agriculture
sector in the state.
The Lulu group will
procure and export
about 20,000 tonnes of
local fruits and vegeta-
bles to their hypermar-
kets around the world.
“Yogi Adityanath un-
veiled the prototype of
the proposed facility,
which is expected to
start operations in eight
months with a turnover
of Rs 3,000 crore,” the
statement said. Yusuf
Ali said the group will
be directly sourcing
from the farmers of UP
,
ensuring better reve-
nues to them. He also
informed that the Rs
2,000-crore Lulu Mall
with the largest hyper-
market is in the final
stages of completion
and will be inaugurated
inthefirstweekof April
2022. The 22 lakh square
feet shopping mall at
Amar Shaheed Path will
have 220 national and
international brands,
3,000 capacity food court
and restaurants, an
11-screen PVR cinema
with a total parking ca-
pacity of 3,000 including
a separate parking
building
First India Bureau
Lucknow: Congress
leader Priyanka Gand-
hi on Wednesday criti-
cised the Yogi Aditya-
nath government over
the thrashing of a Dalit
girl in Amethi. She said
her party will launch
an agitation if the ac-
cused in the case are
not arrested soon. Her
remarks came after a
video purportedly
showing a 16-year-old
Dalit girl being beaten
up and molested went
viral on social media.
Attaching the video
of the incident, Priyan-
ka tweeted, “If the
criminals who commit-
ted this inhuman act
are not caught within
24 hours, then the Con-
gress will work to wake
you up by vigorous ag-
itation.” “This inci-
dent of ruthless
thrashing of a Dalit
girl in Amethi is con-
demnable. @MYOGIA-
DITYANATH Sir on an
average 34 crime inci-
dents against Dalits
take place every day
under your rule and
135 against women, yet
your law and order is
sleeping,” she said.
Amethi DSP Arpit
Kapoor said one ac-
cused has been arrested
while police teams have
been set up to arrest
others. The police had
contacted the girl and
based on her father’s
complaint, a case under
the POCSO Act, SC and
ST (Prevention of
Atrocities) Act was reg-
istered against accused
Suraj Soni, Shivam and
Sakal.
AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi with family members of Arun Valmiki, who was killed in
police custody, in Agra on Wednesday.
UPPOLLS:BJP INDAMAGE
CONTROL MISSION TO
RETAIN BRAHMIN VOTES
PriyankaflaysYogigovtfor
attackonAmethiDalitgirl
Food plant: Lulu group to invest `500 cr
CONGRESS TO FIELD VALMIKI SAMAJ
CANDIDATE THIS TIME, SAYS PRIYANKA
Gyanendra Kumar Shukla
Lucknow: In the run
up to the upcoming as-
sembly elections in UP,
SP and BSP have been
making efforts to woo
Brahmin voters, while
the BJP camp has also
started taking steps to
retain this fraternity in
its side. This is ratified
by the meetings of
Brahmin leaders of UP
with top BJP office
bearers in Delhi.
All political parties
have been keeping an
eye on the Brahmin
vote bank, which ac-
counts for around 12
percent of the total
population of UP. To
make inroads in this
community, SP and
BSP have been organis-
ing Prabudh Sammelan
continuously. At the
same time, Priyanka
Gandhi has also been
adopting an aggressive
style against the Yogi
government by making
the issue of alleged op-
pression of Brahmins.
Political experts be-
lieve that an attempt
was made to create a
narrative from the Vi-
kas Dubey encounter
and all other issues
that the Brahmin com-
munity has been ig-
nored in the Yogi gov-
ernment. Since then,
there has been a com-
petition among the par-
ties to make this politi-
cally significant vote-
bank in their favour.
The discontent of
this community was
also established in
some recent election
surveys, so BJP strate-
gists have started exe-
cuting a special plan
for damage control.
From this perspective,
the meeting of the
Brahmin leaders with
BJP National President
JP Nadda and party’s
UP election in-charge
Dharmendra Pradhan
in Delhi is being seen.
Cabinet minister
Brajesh Pathak, who
attended the meeting,
while talking to First
India about this meet-
ing said, “The opposi-
tion parties are spread-
ing confusion, setting
fabricated narratives,
while special care was
taken of the Brahmin
community in the Mo-
di-Yogi governments.”
He said, “In the dou-
ble engine government
itself, the general class
got 10 percent reserva-
tion, faith centers got
due respect, a large
number of ministers,
MLAs and MPs were
made by the party from
the Brahmin commu-
nity. We all have re-
solved that like every
fraternity, Brahmins
will try together to
give a better message
to the voters.”
BJP National President JP Nadda with leaders of Brahmin community in New Delhi —FILE PHOTO
Party strategists
start executing
special plan to
reach community
members
FLOUTING COVID NORMS
Thousands of people,many without mask,gather at Budh Bazar in Lucknow for shopping onWednesday. —PHOTO BY SUMIT KUMAR
Son-in-law of
friend behind
murder: Cop
First India Bureau
Aligarh: Police
have claimed to
cracked the murder
case of a trader in
Aligarh. The police
said that the con-
spiracy to kill Sand-
eep Gupta was
hatched by his
friend’s son-in-law
Ankush Agarwal.
Police have also re-
covered the vehicle
used in the crime.
Police sources
said that Ankush
Agarwal,son-in-law
of friend of Sand-
eep Gupta, used to
thrash his wife fre-
quently
. Sandeep
had scolded him for
this and he had
grudges against
him for that. Sand-
eep Gupta was mur-
dered on Monday
night. According to
police, CCTV foot-
age confirmed that
a SUV was guiding
shooters at several
places. When regis-
trationnumberwas
searched it was
found that car was
registered in the
name of Ankush
Agarwal.Following
whichthe police
reached Ankush’s
home residence in
Quarsi area but he
was not there.
9 BRAHMIN MINISTERS IN YOGI GOVT
Continued from p1
accommodation in the
state itself.
Mishra’s repatriation
as CS has triggered a lot
of politicalspeculations.
He was once a PS to BSP
supremo Mayawati. So,
it is speculated whether
Mishra’sappointmentis
part of BJP’s outreach
programme to the BSP
leader. In this context, 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
secretary in the belief at
the Centre that Adity-
anath may not measure
up to the stupendous
taskthatlayaheadinUP
.
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 Centre is
seen to have stepped
into managing the state
administration. It could
also be the Centre’s way
of showing Adityanath
his place.
Is appointment BJP’s ploy
to reach out to BSP?
UP secretariat
staff protest
at CM office
IIT Kanpur comes
4th in Atalranking
First India Bureau
Lucknow: The em-
ployees of UP Secre-
tariat demonstrated
at the CM’s Office,
demanding resto-
ration of their secre-
tariat allowance.
The members of
Secretariat Service
Samiti said despite
repeated assurance
neithertheChief Sec-
retary nor the ACS
(Finance) could get
their allowance re-
stored. During Coro-
na period, the allow-
ance of secretariat
employees could not
be increased, but lat-
er all the employees
placed their demand
for increasing their
allowance on which
assurance was also
given by the govern-
ment, but still the em-
ployees were not giv-
en its benefit in the
stipulatedtimewhich
infuriated them.
The agitation came
to an end with the top
officials assuring
them that their de-
mand for restoration
wouldbefulfilled.Ad-
ditional Chief Secre-
tary (Secretariat Ad-
ministration) held
high level talks and
assured for taking a
positive decision on
the restoration of al-
lowance. ACS Giri
Avnish Awasthi was
also present. Member
of Secretariat Ser-
viceOrganizationCo-
ordination Commit-
tee Onkar Nath Ti-
wari said that ACS
(SecretariatAdminis-
tration) and ACS
Avnish Kumar Awas-
thi asked to postpone
the dharna and as-
sured that a decision
would be taken on the
restoration of Secre-
tariat Allowance as
soon as possible.
Kanpur: IIT Kanpur
bagged the fourth spot
in the Atal Ranking of
Institutions on Innova-
tion Achievements an-
nounced on Wednesday
.
The top rank has
been bagged by IIT Ma-
dras followed by IIT
Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT
Kanpur and IIT Roor-
kee.
IISc Bengaluru has
bagged the sixth rank
in the ranking followed
by IIT Hyderabad, IIT
Kharagpur, National In-
stitute of Technology
(NIT), Calicut and Moti-
lal Nehru National In-
stitute of Technology,
Uttar Pradesh.
Atal Ranking of In-
stitutions on Innova-
tion Achievements
(ARIIA) is an initiative
of Ministry of Educa-
tion (MoE) to systemat-
ically rank all major
higher educational in-
stitutions in India on
indicators related to in-
novation, start-up and
entrepreneurship de-
velopment amongst stu-
dents and faculties.
ARIIA evaluate insti-
tutions on parameters
like patent filing and
granted, number of reg-
istered students and
faculty start-ups, fund
generation by incubat-
ed start-ups, specialised
infrastructure created
by institutions to pro-
mote innovation and
entrepreneurship, etc.
Secretariat employees held a meeting in the lobby of Lok
Bhavan regarding their demands in CM’s Office.
Greater Noida Authority CEO Narendra Bhushan handing over the
possession letter to Fair India Export Company’s CMD Yusuf Ali in
presence of CM Yogi at his residence in Lucknow on Wenesday.
—FILE
PHOTO

LUCKNOW, 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 LUCKNOW | 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

30122021 first india lucknow

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