01062022_First India_Mumbai.pdf

Sonia Gandhi moves deftly to ensure Mukul Wasnik’s RS entry
Renni Abraham
Mumbai: Congress
President Sonia Gandhi
surprised senior party
leaders in Maharashtra
by nominating rank out-
sider Imran Pratap-
garhi to the Rajya Sabha
from there, while field-
ing close Maharashtra
confidant Mukul Was-
nik from Rajasthan.
However, insiders say
, it
was all part of a well-
thought-out strategy
.
Even as Muslim lead-
ers including Hussain
Dalwai, Naseem Khan,
and Maharashtra Min-
ister of Ports Develop-
ment Aslam Sheik, and
other senior leaders
from Maharashtra were
left aghast at the choice
of Pratapgarhi, those in
the know say it was the
only sure-shot winning
route for Wasnik.
“It was Wasnik him-
self who asked to be
fielded from Rajasthan
on the assumption that
CM Ashok Gehlot
(known as the magician
or Jadugar) can easily
ensure two RS candi-
dates for the Congress
there. Besides, Wasnik
enjoys excellent equa-
tions with Gehlot while
the Maharashtra Con-
gress (44 MLAs) is be-
sieged by Sharad Pa-
war’s party, the
NCP (53
MLAs),” the Congress
insider told First India.
Sonia’s disillusion-
ment with the state Con-
gress dates back to No-
vember 2019, just before
the Maha Vikas Aghadi
(MVA) alliance was
formed combining the
Shiv Sena, NCP and
Congress parties for the
ostensible pur-
pose of
kee ping
the BJP
out of
power in the state.
According to the in-
sider, however, “Sonia
Gandhi had sent her
trouble-shooter-in-chief,
Ahmed Patel to commu-
nicate to party MLAs
the high command’s de-
cision not to join the
MVA as it included the
Shiv Sena. Patel’s police
security team had to
make a hasty exit using
the back door of the
party office at Dadar,
where around 20-odd
MLAs turned violent af-
ter being told of the
party decision.”
The revolt was engi-
neered by Pawar who
literally hijacked Con-
gress MLAs, and black-
mailed the Congress
highcommandintojoin-
ing the MVA alliance.
Explaining this, a
current minister in the
MVA government said,
“We had already been
out of power for five
years (2014-2019) during
the BJP-SS regime. Let-
ting go of the opportu-
nitytocometopowerfor
anotherfiveyearswould
have meant the end of
our political careers. A
majority of us would
have revolted and
merged with the NCP
.”
Sonia Gandhi is
aware of the ground re-
ality in Maharashtra,
where her party has a
very limited share of po-
litical power, and chose
to ensure the RS victory
of her chosen few. The
fateof Priyanka’scandi-
date — Imran Pratap-
garhi — is left to the un-
certain political winds
in Maharashtra.
Reposes faith in Rajasthan warhorse
Ashok Gehlot; sends Priyanka’s man
Pratapgarhi to face Maharashtra
strongman Pawar’s onslaught
Sonia Gandhi is aware of the ground reality
in Maharashtra, where her party has a very
limited share of political power, and chose to
ensure the RS victory of her chosen few.
Uddhav assuages MVA sentiments, transfers out GAD head
Move follows
several
complaints to
CMO made by
ministers,
particularly in
respect to GAD
Renni Abraham
Mumbai: The MVA gov-
ernment on Monday ef-
fected two major IAS
transfers, including that
of NitinGadrewhotakes
over as Additional Chief
Secretary (General Ad-
ministration Depart-
ment, or GAD) from Su-
jata Saunik, who has
been moved out of this
post and made Addition-
al Chief Secretary (Ad-
ministrative Reforms &
Operations Manage-
ment).
First India had recent-
ly reported on the profes-
sional rivalries existing
between senior bureau-
crats as also the bureau-
cratic stonewalling faced
by political alliance part-
ners in the Shiv Sena-led
Maha Vikas Aghadi
(MVA) government.
With the Rajya Sabha
elections nearing, Chief
Minister Uddhav Thack-
eray seems to have tried
to assuage ruffled feath-
ersinhisalliance,follow-
ing several complaints to
his office regarding non-
cooperation over re-
quests and communica-
tions made by ministers
for personnel of their
choice, particularly in
respect to GAD.
The transfer orders
were issued by Maha-
rashtra Chief Secretary
Manukumar Srivastav
onTuesdayandmarkthe
end of the long tenure of
SujataSaunikastheACS
(services) in GAD.
A senior IAS officer
told FI, “These transfers
andreshufflesarearegu-
lar feature of the IAS ser-
vice; nothing much must
be read into it.”
However, another IAS
officer,said,“Itwasasur-
prise. While she did im-
plement a few reforms in
the system, in the recent
past, she’s been seen as
rigid and a bit whimsi-
cal.”
However, as previous-
lyreported,factionalism
has been rampant at the
state Turn to P6
Factionalism has
been rampant at the
state secretariat
“Mantralaya”,
where 2 basic
formations are
believed to be at
work
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epapers/mumbai I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
MUMBAI l WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1, 2022 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI TITLE NO. MAHENG/2022/14652 l Vol 1 l Issue No. 26
OUR EDITIONS: JAIPUR, LUCKNOW, NEW DELHI MUMBAI
BORDER TALKS SOON! INDIA AND CHINA ON TUESDAY AGREED
TO HOLD NEXT ROUND OF SENIOR COMMANDERS’ MEETING AT
AN EARLY DATE TO ACHIEVE COMPLETE DISENGAGEMENT FROM
ALL FRICTION POINTS IN EAST LADAKH TO CREATE CONDITIONS
FOR RESTORATION OF NORMALCY IN BILATERAL TIES
UNION HOME MINISTER AMIT SHAH ON TUESDAY SAID NARENDRA
MODI GOVERNMENT HAS DONE MORE WORK IN EIGHT YEARS OF ITS
RULE FOR MAKING FARMERS SELF-RELIANT THAN WAS
ACCOMPLISHED EVER BEFORE AND ITS AGRICULTURE-FRIENDLY
SCHEMES HAVE BECOME THE REAL POWER OF FARMERS
RAJYA SABHA ELECTION: THE RAJYA SABHA ELECTIONS 2022, TO BE
HELD ON JUNE 10, IS CRUCIAL AS IT COMES AHEAD OF THE
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION SLATED FOR JULY. ABOUT 57 RAJYA SABHA
SEATS WILL HAVE TO BE FILLED THIS YEAR FROM 15 STATES,
INCLUDING UP, MAHA, TN, BIHAR, AP, AND RAJASTHAN P5
TEACHER SHOT DEAD
AT KULGAM SCHOOL
Kulgam:Aschoolteach-
er—shotatbyterrorists
in JK’s Kulgam — died
of the gunshot injuries
on Tuesday
, the police
have said. The teacher
has been identified as
Rajni Bhalla. The inci-
dent comes amid a spate
of attacks on non-locals
in the union territory
,
and also weeks after pro-
tests over the killing of a
Kashmiri Pandit, Rahul
Bhat, and a TV artist
Ambreen Bhat. Rajni
wasfromSambaDistrict
of Jammu province. A
government teacher
working in Kulgam area
of South Kashmir, she
lost her life in a despica-
ble targeted attack. My
heartgoesouttoherhus-
band Raj Kumar the
rest of her family
.
PM TRANSFERS
`21K CR TO OVER
10 CR FARMERS
THAKUR EXUDES CONFIDENCE IN BJP’S
RETURN TO POWER IN HIMACHAL
MODI LAUDS
MUDRA YOJNA
BENEFICIARY
PM BREAKS PROTOCOL
FOR MOM’S SKETCH
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi released Rs 21,000
crore to more than 10
crore beneficiary farmers
under the Pradhan Mantri
Kisan Samman Nidhi
(PM-KISAN) scheme.
This transfer is 11th
installment under the
PM-KISAN scheme. Modi
interacted with benefi-
ciaries of different govt
schemes at the event.
Ahead of Himachal polls, CM
Jai Ram Thakur on Tuesday
exuded confidence in return
of BJP govt to power in the
state, he said that under lead-
ership of Modi, our govt has
completed 8 years in country,
relation between PM Modi
people of state is very strong.
PM Narendra Modi on
Tuesday virtually inter-
acted with a beneficiary
of the Pradhan Mantri
MUDRA Yojana hailing
from Mehsana in Gujarat
and appreciated him for
choosing to be a “job cre-
ator” instead of becoming
a “job seeker”. Pradhan
Mantri MUDRA Yojana
was launched by PM in
2015 to provide loans up
to `10 lakh to small and
micro enterprises.
During his roadshow here, PM
Modi stopped his car to accept
a painting of his mother made
by a girl. A huge crowd flocked
across road leading to Ridge
Maidan to have a glimpse of
Modi. A girl named Anu was
holding a painting of Modi’s
mother Heeraben. PM stopped
his cavalcade, get out of his
car and approached the girl.
PM MODI IN SHIMLA: EVENTS TO MARK 8 YEARS OF HIS GOVT
‘MY GOVT HAS ZERO-TOLERANCE
POLICY FOR CORRUPTION’
Earlier people talked about ‘atki-latki-bhatki’ schemes, Modi takes a jibe at Congress
Shimla: Corruption
was viewed as an essen-
tial part of government
before 2014, PM Naren-
dra Modi said on Tues-
day and asserted that
India saw a sea change
in the last eight years
due to the BJP-led dis-
pensation’s zero-toler-
ance towards graft. At
the rally in Shimla’s
RidgeMaidan,PMModi
said that after coming
to power, his govt
pruned 9 cr fake names
from list of beneficiar-
ies of various schemes.
“We have transferred
over `22 lakh crore to
the bank accounts of
beneficiaries of various
schemes through direct
benefit transfer,” the
PM said.
Modi said that before
2014, there was news
about scams but now
his govt’s devp schemes
and zero-tolerance
against corruption are
discussed. Before 2014,
corruption was viewed
as an essential part of
govt. India exported
Covid vaccines to vari-
ous countries and HP’s
Baddi unit played a vi-
tal role in manufactur-
ing jabs, plan to build
medical college in every
dist of country, he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves at crowd during a public rally at Ridge Maidan in Shimla on
Tuesday. Himachal Pradesh CM Jai Ram Thakur Union Minister Anurag Thakur are also seen.
Earlier people
used to talk about
‘atki-latki-bhatki’
schemes, nepotism
and scams. But time
has changed. Today
people talk about the
benefits of govern-
ment schemes. Today
India’s start-ups are
being talked about
globally. Even World
Bank talks about
India’s Ease of Doing
Business.
—Narendra Modi,
Prime Minister
2 TERRORISTS
KILLED IN JK
KASHMIRI PANDITS
WARN OF MIGRATION
Pulwama: Two terrorists,
Shahid Rather Umar
Yusuf were killed in an
encounter in Awantipora in
South Kashmir on Tuesday.
Shahid was involved in
killing of a woman named
Shakeela of Aripal a govt
employee Javid Ahmed
of Lurgam Tral, said Vijay
Kumar, IGP Kashmir.
Kulgam: Kashmiri Pandits
on Tuesday warned of
“mass relocation” if
the government fails to
provide a strong solution
within 24 hours for the
killings of innocents by
terrorists in the valley.
They staged a sit-in in Sri-
nagar, demanding justice
for teacher better safety.
Omar Abdullah @OmarAbdullah
Another targeted attack against a
migrant government teacher in Kulgam area
of South Kashmir. Reports of her condition
are conflicting. Praying that she survives
the attack.
Rajni Bala was shot at allegedly by terrorists in Kulgam district.
Relatives daughter of deceased teacher mourn her demise,
at their residence in Samba on Tuesday. —PHOTOS BY PTI
‘UNFORGETTABLE RESPONSE’ COMING: LG
JK LG, Manoj Sinha, vowed an ‘un-
forgettable response’ would be given
to her killers and their sympathisers.
‘Deepest condolences to bereaved
family. Terrorists their sympathizers
will be given unforgettable response
for dastardly attack,’ said Sinha.
Seventh targeted
killing this month
THOUSANDS BID TEARFUL
GOODBYE TO MOOSE WALA!
A large number of
crowd thronged on
Tuesday to pay final
respects to Punjabi
singer Shubhdeep
Singh aka Sidhu
Moose Wala, who was
shot dead on Sunday.
SAD Amritsar President
Simranjit Singh Mann
and Punjab Congress
chief Amrinder Singh
Raja Warring also
attended the last rites,
in Mansa district.
Meanwhile, Delhi
Police on Tuesday
obtained the custody
of jailed gangster
Lawrence Bishnoi,
named as a suspect in
the daylight murder of
Moose Wala for 5 days.
More on P6
Mukul Wasnik

First India Bureau
Mumbai: Even as
Prime Minister Nar-
endra Modi addressed
the Garib Kalyan
Sammelan in Shimla
to mark the comple-
tion of eight years of
his government, Ma-
harashtra Chief Min-
ister Uddhav Thack-
eray said the state has
made a huge contri-
bution in ensuring
that both Central and
state schemes reached
the end beneficiaries.
It is important to for-
get partisanship and
politics and bring bene-
fits to the people, Thack-
eray said, adding, that
he was happy and satis-
fied that these schemes
had been successfully
delivered to the benefi-
ciaries by the adminis-
trative machinery at the
state, district and taluka
levels.
As part of an online
event where PM Modi
interacted with benefi-
ciaries from across the
country
, Thackeray and
his deputy Ajit Pawar
alsointeractedwithben-
eficiaries of various
Centralschemesfrom15
districts in the state.
Thackeray said the
state has a 40% share in
Centrally sponsored
schemes, and the state
administrative system
has ensured that the
benefits of these
schemes reach the ben-
eficiaries.
He said five lakh hous-
es were constructed un-
der Pradhan Mantri
Awas Yojana in Maha-
rashtralastyear,and
another five lakh
willbeconstructed
this year for
which funds
worth Rs3,500
crore have
been made
available.He
said 19 lakh
families will
get drinking
water and
tapcon-
nectionsin2022-23,under
the Jal Jeevan Mission,
for which funds worth
Rs1,900 crore have been
allocated.
Crediting the state’s
administrative machin-
ery, Thackeray said the
participation and
planned implementa-
tion by the state ma-
chinery has played a
key role in taking cen-
tral schemes like Prad-
han Mantri Matru Van-
dana Scheme, and the
Swacch Bharat Scheme
(rural and urban) to the
people.
NINE NDRF TEAMS DEPLOYED
First India Bureau
Nashik: A religious
meet convened on
Tuesday in Nashik to
debate a controversy
on the birthplace of
Lord Hanuman had to
be deferred due to al-
tercations between
participating sadhus.
Police had to inter-
vene to restore peace
and order, said offi-
cials.
The ‘dharmasabha’
was called after spiritu-
al leader Kishkindha
Mathadhipati Swami
Govindanand Saraswa-
ti recently claimed
Kishkindha (believed to
be in latter day Hampi
area in Karnataka) was
the birthplace of Hanu-
man and not Anjaneri
in Nashik, as is widely
believed.
He had challenged
those not in agreement
with him to present
proof, after which sad-
hu-mahants from here
decided to convene a
religious meet.
However, the plan by
Govindanand Saraswati
to arrive in Anjaneri
from Trimbakeshwar
leadingaprocessionwas
opposed by the former’s
residents and sadhus
who believed this could
vitiate the atmosphere.
On Tuesday, the
‘dharmasabha’ started
off on a heated note
first over seating ar-
rangements, and then
on other issues, includ-
ing taunts aimed at
each other.
When one spiritual
leader was introducing
himself, Mahant Su-
dhirdas of Lord Kalar-
am temple here report-
edly called him a “Con-
gressi”, leading to ver-
bal clashes between two
groups, resulting in
Mahant Sudhirdas rais-
ing a mike stand threat-
eningly
.
Meanwhile, followers
of Govindanand Saras-
wati claimed he was not
allowed to place his
views at the meet, lead-
ing to further verbal
clashes that threatened
to spiral out of control,
which forced the police
to intervene to restore
normalcy, said some
participants.
Mumbai (PTI): A
coastal management
body in Mumbai on
Tuesday issued a
show cause notice to
Union Minister of
Micro, Small Me-
dium Enterprises
Narayan Rane re-
garding his bunga-
low in Juhu area of
Mumbai for alleged
violations. Accord-
ing to an official,
Coastal Regulatory
Zone (CRZ) norms
have not been ad-
hered to by Rane.
Earlier, the city civic
body had also issued a
notice to Rane’s ‘Aa-
dhish’ bungalow over
alleged unauthorized
construction and re-
jected his proposal for
its regularization.
The latest notice, is-
sued on May 24 by the
district- level Coastal
Management Commit-
tee, has asked M/s Art-
line Properties Private
Limited to attend a per-
sonal hearing before
the collector at 11 am
on June 10.
It has asked to explain
“why this said construc-
tion should not be treat-
ed as beyond permissi-
ble FSI (floor space in-
dex) and an unauthor-
ized construction and
therefore, a violation of
the CRZ NOC (no objec-
tion certificate) dated
July 11, 2007?”
The notice has been
issued for the alleged
violation of the CRZ
norms, on the basis of a
complaint made to the
director, environment
and secretary, of the
Maharashtra Coastal
Zone Management Au-
thority (MCZMA).
Notably, the Artline
Properties Pvt Ltd was
amalgamated and
merged with another
company in which
Rane and his family
held shares.
“If you remain ab-
sent or fail to file an
explanation, the com-
mittee will presume
that you have nothing
to say in the matter and
proceed to take an ap-
propriate decision or
action on its own mer-
its,” the notice said.
NEWS
MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1, 2022
02
First India Bureau
New Delhi: The Su-
preme Court on Tues-
day said Maharash-
tra’s former Home
Minister Anil Desh-
mukh, arrested in
connection with a
money laundering
case, is at liberty to
file an application be-
fore the Bombay High
Court for early listing
of his pending bail
plea.
A vacation bench of
Justices Ajay Rastogi
and BV Nagarathna
said it hopes and trusts
the matter would be
taken up for hearing ex-
peditiously by the high
court.
Senior advocate Ka-
pil Sibal, appearing for
Deshmukh, said the pe-
titioner is 73 years old
and requests that his
pending bail plea,
which was filed in
March, be heard by the
high court.
“The petitioner
(Deshmukh) is at liber-
ty to file an application
for early listing of his
bail application,” said
the bench.
The top court ob-
served that the bail ap-
plication was listed be-
fore the high court on
three occasions and it
appeared that the mat-
ter could not be heard
due to paucity of time.
This court cannot fix a
date for the high court,
the bench observed oral-
ly during the hearing.
Deshmukh was ar-
rested by the Enforce-
ment Directorate (ED)
in November 2021, and
is currently in judicial
custody
. On April 08, the
high court had ad-
journed the hearing on
Deshmukh’s bail appli-
cation while deprecat-
ing the practice of seek-
ing urgent hearings of
bail pleas citing medi-
cal emergencies.
The Nationalist Con-
gress Party (NCP) lead-
er had filed a petition in
the high court after a
special court rejected
his bail plea earlier.
He has sought bail on
grounds of his ailing
health and termed the
ED’s case “false and
frivolous.”
The ED in its affida-
vit opposed the bail plea
and alleged that Desh-
mukh was the master-
mind behind the con-
spiracy and that he had
misused his official po-
sition as home minister.
First India Bureau
Mumbai: A police-
man has been arrest-
ed for allegedly ac-
cepting a bribe of
Rs70,000 from a man
for not registering an
FIR against him, po-
lice said on Tuesday.
A team from the An-
ti-Corruption Bureau
(ACB) on Monday
caught Assistant Po-
lice Inspector Swapnil
Babanrao Masalkar
(35) of Khar police sta-
tion while accepting
the bribe amount from
the complainant, said
an official.
The accused called
the complainant to the
police station and said
an FIR would be filed
against him and that if
he wanted to avoid it,
he would have to pay a
bribe. Masalkar was
arrested under rele-
vant sections of the
Prevention of Corrup-
tion Act, and an inves-
tigation is underway.
The complainant
owns a building in
Khar, which the civic
body had identified as
dilapidated and issued
notices.
He had covered the
structure with iron
sheets, but some shop-
keepers lodged a police
complaint against him
for hindering their
businesses at the build-
ing, said the official.
Mumbai (PTI):
M a h a r a s h t r a
Navnirman Sena
(MNS) chief Raj
Thackeray was on
Tuesday admitted
to Mumbai’s Lila-
vati Hospital
where he will un-
dergo hip surgery
on Wednesday,
confirmed a party
leader.
Earlier this
month, Thackeray
,
53,hadsaidhewould
be undergoing sur-
geryforhiskneeand
back problems. He
will undergo the hip
surgery today
,” said
MNS leader Nitin
Sardesai.
He was also set to
go to Ayodhya on
June 05, but he has
put the plan on hold.
‘State had a big share in implementing Central schemes’
FOR THE PEOPLE
lll
As the BJP
celebrates 8
years of Modi
sarkar, Chief
Minister Uddhav
Thackeray said
Maha rashtra
implemented
schemes
without
bias
CM asked MoS Karad
to restore 2% interest
subvention scheme on
short-term crop loans
SC allows Deshmukh to
file bail plea in Bombay HC
Cites paucity of time as reason for no hearing
of the matter, despite being listed thrice
The Enforcement Directorate’s case is that while
serving as the state home minister, Deshmukh
misused his official position and collected
Rs4.70 crore from various bars in Mumbai
through Sachin Vaze, a police officer who has
been dismissed. However, Deshmukh has re-
futed these allegations.
THE CASE
The ‘dharmasabha’ was called after spiritual leader
Kishkindha Mathadhipati Swami Govindanand
Saraswati recently claimed Kishkindha (believed
to be in latter day Hampi area in Karnataka) was
the birthplace of Hanuman and not Anjaneri
in Nashik, as is widely believed. Among those
who attended were Kailas Swami Mutt’s Swami
Samvidanand Saraswati, Shauche Guruji, Purohit
Sangh president Satish Shukla.
THE CASE
Highlighting that the MCZMA had called for reports
from Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai
(MCGM), the notice said the, “bungalow has a
built-up area for FSI 1 and the OCC granted by
the MCGM was 2,810.80 sq metre”. The excess
areas beyond the approved plan by the MCGM was
1,461.61 sq metre. The FSI now being consumed
for the built-up area on site as on date is 2.125 (ex-
cess of 1.125 above the FSI 1 permitted), it added.
OVER THE LIMIT
Raj Thackeray
hospitalized;
to get hip
surgery today
Cop caught taking
`70K in exchange for
not registering FIR
Meet to debate birthplace
of Lord Hanuman deferred
Notice to Union Min Narayan
Rane over CRZ norms violation
Sadhus clashed
over the subject
at the gathering
(dharmasabha) in
Nashik, where
police had to
intervene and
restore peace
His Juhu
bungalow has
come under
scanner for
violation of
permissible FSI
limit, as well as
unauthorized
construction
Lord Hanuman’s statue at the Anjaneri Fort temple in Nashik.
Union Minister Narayan Rane
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray
Anil Deshmukh

MAHARASHTRA
03
Man arrested for abetting suicide
of 15-year-old girl in Palghar dist
Palghar: A man has
been arrested for al-
legedly abetting the
suicide of a 15-year-
old girl at a village in
Palghar, police said
on Tuesday.
The girl allegedly
hanged herself at her
home in Dahanu area
of the district on
Monday, a police offi-
cial said.
The body was sent
for post-mortem and a
case under section
306 (abetment to sui-
cide) of the IPC was
registered against the
20-year-old accused,
who is a resident of
Ganjad in Dahanu,
he said.
The accused was a
friend of the victim
and they quarrelled
with each other on
several occasions for
petty reasons, the offi-
cial added.
Bombay High Court directs govt, unis to have uniform exam pattern
Mumbai: The Bombay
High Court on Monday
directed the govern-
ment and universities
to decide on the uni-
form exam pattern
across the state. The
plea was heard by a
bench of Justices
Milind Jadhav and Ab-
hay Ahuja.
According to the
court’s verdict, petition-
ers have to file a repre-
sentation with the gov-
ernment, and the gov-
ernment to convene a
meeting with the peti-
tioners and universities
to resolve the issues,
with the universities to
follow the same exam
pattern across the state.
A Public Interest Liti-
gation (PIL) was filed for
uniformity in the exam
patternandtimelydecla-
ration of results after
therewasnoconsistency
in the exam pattern
throughout Maharash-
tra’s universities.
Students from Maha-
rashtra’s colleges and
universities had peti-
tioned the Bombay High
Court for uniformity in
exam mode,
as well as an announce-
ment of results on
time. The petition was
filed by law students
Balusha Bhasal and
Kalpesh Yadav.
Students of all univer-
sities of Maharashtra
demanded for online ex-
amination, but as indus-
tries and placements
were not in favour they
agreedtoconductoffline
mode. Different univer-
sities have adopted a dif-
ferent pattern of exami-
nation as per their con-
venience, and varsities
such as University of
Mumbai have already
conducted the examina-
tion for many courses.
Students from Universi-
ty of Mumbai still feel
theyhavefacedinjustice
already
.
Despite the fact that
the state’s Higher Edu-
cation Minister, Uday
Samant, and vice chan-
cellors of all Maharash-
tra universities agreed
on April 25 to conduct
exams in a uniform
manner, few universi-
ties continued to con-
duct them in different
ways, such as offline or
online, descriptive or
MCQs. Kalpesh Yadav,
the petitioner, said,
“Universities were con-
ducting the examina-
tion as per their need.
This was a complete in-
justice for students
across the universities
inMaharashtra.Wewel-
come the decision by the
Bombay HC and it is a
great victory for the stu-
dents of universities in
Maharashtra. We will
file the representation
tomorrow, and the deci-
sion for the uniformity
in the examination will
be made on June 01.”
A PIL was filed for
uniformity in the
exam pattern and
timely declaration
of results after there
was no consistency
in the examination
pattern throughout
Maharashtra’s
universities
UNIVERSITY EXAMS
WORLD NO TOBACCO DAY
Urging people not to smoke, school kids observed World No Tobacco Day by holding a demonstration with placards and ‘No
Smoking’ paraphernalia, at Fort area in Mumbai on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY BHUSHAN KOYANDE
Man sends threat mail
to CMO,Sena’s Gorhe
First India Bureau
Mumbai: Deputy
Chairperson of the
Maharashtra Legis-
lative Council
Neelam Gorhe, on
Monday said that
she and the Chief
Minister’s Office
(CMO) received
a threatening email
over the state
government’s re-
cent decision urging
gram panchayats
to ban widowhood
rituals.
After the email was
received, Ahmedna-
gar Superintendent
of the Police, Manoj
Patil, has been asked
to take strict action,
said the Shiv Sena
leader in a statement.
A police investiga-
tion has revealed that
the person who sent
the mail may be men-
tally unsound, she
added.
Earlier this month,
Ahmednagar district
Guardian Minister
Hasan Mushrif had
asked gram sabhas in
the state to follow the
example of Herwad
village in Kolhapur
district to ban rituals
of widowhood. Later,
the Stree Aadhar Ken-
dra, office of the dep-
uty chairperson, held
a meeting of social
activists and organi-
zations in Pune, San-
gli, Satara, Kolhapur
and Ratnagiri. After
the gatherings, an
Ahmednagar-based
man allegedly sent an
email asking that
such programmes not
be held.
The Herwad gram
panchayat in Shirol
taluka of Kolhapur
district passed a
resolution on May 05
banning customs like
removing a widow’s
mangalsutra, toe ring,
wiping vermilion and
breaking her bangles
as part of widowhood
rituals.
Herwad gram panchayat of Kolhapur district passed a resolution on May 05 banning
widowhood customs. —FILE PHOTO
Investigation revealed him to be mentally unsound
Reservation in wards jolts
BMC stalwarts as polls near
First India Bureau
Mumbai: Several sen-
ior leaders from the
Brihanmumbai Mu-
nicipal Corporation
were jolted by the lot-
tery draw reserving
236 civic wards for
women, scheduled
caste and scheduled
tribe released by the
civic body’s adminis-
tration. Half of all
reserved wards have
been kept aside for
women.
These means that
several stalwarts—in-
cluding former Con-
gress group leader in
the BMC, Ravi Raja,
former BJP group lead-
er Prabhakar Shinde,
Shiv Sena’s Standing
Committee Chairman
Yashwant Jadhav, for-
mermayorVishwanath
Mahadalkar, BEST
committee chairman
Ashish Chemburkar,
and Amey Ghole—will
be forced to change
their wards.
While others found
their wards reserved
for women, Chem-
burkar’s ward has been
reserved for a Sched-
uled Caste councillor.
Former Mayor Kishori
Pednekar, who was
elected from ward
number 206, was fortu-
nate to retain her ward
as it was reserved for
General category
.
After the BMC’s term
ended in March, the
Maha Vikas Aghadi
government had ap-
pointed Commissioner
Iqbal Singh Chahal as
the administrator and
decided not to hold lo-
cal body elections till
the OBC quota issue
was decided by the Su-
preme Court. However,
on May 05, the apex
court said that the con-
stitutional mandate to
hold elections after
every five years cannot
be delayed and directed
the State Election Com-
mission to start the
process and issue a no-
tification within a
week.
Accordingly
, the SEC
issued the notification
framing the timelines
for the process. The 14
municipal corpora-
tions then scheduled
their lottery draws for
reserving the wards for
women and SC/ST for
Tuesday
.
Like Mumbai, mu-
nicipal corporations in
Navi Mumbai, Thane,
Vasai Virar, Kalyan-
Dombivli, Ulhasnagar,
Pune, Pimpri-Chinch-
wad, Nashik, Kolhapur,
Akola, Amravati, Nag-
pur, and Solapur also
declared their reserved
wards ahead of the
polls. Aggrieved par-
ties can register their
suggestions, or objec-
tions with the adminis-
tration till June 06.
BACKGROUND
Move comes
after Supreme
Court said that
Constitutional
mandate to hold
elections every
five years cannot
be delayed
33-yr-old man strangles girlfriend,
kills self later in Dombivili town
Thane: A 33-year-
old man allegedly
strangled his girl-
friend to death
before killing him-
self in Dombivili
town of Thane dis-
trict, police said on
Tuesday.
The incident took
place in the early
hours of Sunday
when Anil Salunke, a
resident of Chandwad
in Nashik, had gone to
meet the victim Lalita
Kale (28) at her apart-
ment, an official said.
Salunke allegedly
strangled Kale with a
nylon rope and used
the same to kill him-
self. The bodies were
found in the apart-
ment on Monday, he
said.
Salunke was alleg-
edly upset that the vic-
tim was marrying an-
other man and had
come to the town on
Saturday night to
meet her for the last
time, the official said.
The bodies were
sent for post-mortem
and a case was regis-
tered in this regard at
Manpada police sta-
tion, he added.
Anil Salunke, a
resident of Nashik,
was allegedly upset
that the victim
was marrying
another man
WIDOWHOOD
RITUALBAN
RESERVATION NO OF RESERVED
WARDS
RESERVED WARD LIST
FORWOMAN
Scheduled Caste 15 8
Scheduled Tribe 2 1
General 219 109
Total 236 118

PERSPECTIVE
04
l Vol 1 l Issue No. 26
l RNI TITLE NO.
MAHENG/2022/14652 Printed
and published by
Anita Hada Sangwan on behalf of
First Express Publishers. Printed
at Dangat Media Pvt Ltd, No.22,
Dighe MIDC, Vishnu Nagar,
TTC Industrial Area, Dighe, Navi
Mumbai-400701. Published
at Plot No. 3 Scheme C of
Manglorean Garden Home, CHS
Limited, Survey No. 5, 6C (Part)
Ville Parle East, Mumbai 400057.
Editor-In-Chief: Jagdeesh Chandra
Editor: Anita Hada Sangwan
responsible for selection of news
under the PRB Act
SPIRITUAL SPEAK
Trust in the Lord with all
your heart, and do not lean
on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge
him, and he will make
straight your paths.
—Bible
IN-DEPTH
Dharmendra Pradhan
@dpradhanbjp
The bond of trust between Hon. PM @
narendramodi ji and people of Odisha is
phenomenal. Mothers, sisters, farmers
citizens from all walks of life joined me at
Barahipur in Cuttack to bless PM Modi on
#8YearsOfGaribKalyan and listen to his
address at the Garib Kalyan Sammelan.
Smriti Z Irani
@smritiirani
The name of Lokmata Ahilyabai Holkar ji
is counted in history as a ruler devoted
to public welfare. His contribution in the
protection and restoration of Sanatan
culture is invaluable. Tributes to such a
great heroine on her birth anniversary.
His dedicated life as an efficient
administrator is exemplary.
TOP TWEETS
THE LEAKED VIDEO
OF GYANVAPI
MOSQUE AND
FOUR PETITIONERS
t is a case fit for M.
Hercule Poirot, the
Belgian detective
made famous by Aga-
tha Christie. The
case in point is that of the leaked
video recording of the Gyanvapi
mosque done by the court-ap-
pointed commission. The pur-
ported videos claiming proof of
Hindu symbols in the mosque
reached some media houses
soon after they were received by
Rekha Pathak, Manju Vyas, Sita
Sahu and Laxmi, the four wom-
en petitioners. They have now
threatened to return the survey
report. The videos were meant
for the eyes of the presiding of-
ficer only
. The petitioners insist
that they had not opened their
packets and demanded action
against the person responsible
for the leak.
The court is believed to have
received 117 requests for copies
of videos. It is not known how
many of them actually got a
copy. Besides finding out the
person who leaked the video
there is also the issue of a leaked
report being accepted by the
court.
I
ajni Bala, a
36-year-old school
teacher,waskilled
right outside her
school in Kulgam
on Tuesday. She belonged to
the minority Kashmiri Pan-
dit community
. This was the
third targeted killing in the
month of May. A Kashmiri
Pandit, Rahul Bhat, working
in the JK administration,
was killed in his office in
Budgam district on May 12. A
policeman and a woman TV
anchor, both Muslims, also
fell to terrorists’ bullets in
May. That is not very flatter-
ing about the situation in
Jammu and Kashmir which
is under Governor’s rule even
if security forces are able to
take out terrorists in retalia-
tory actions. Pandits want
their own killings to be pre-
vented instead of police
avenging their murders.
That is no consolation for
the Pandit community which
was looking forward to a
peaceful rehabilitation in the
land of their forefathers. Af-
ter Bhat’s killing an angry
protester wanted to know if
this was the normalcy the
government talks about.
They feel like pawns in the
ongoing political game. Bhat
was one of the thousands of
Pandits who returned to their
roots under the Prime Minis-
ter’s Rehabilitation and Re-
turn Scheme of 2008. They
were provided with a high
security area for residence.
ForthePakistan-sponsored
terrorists in the Valley find-
ing a soft target like a woman
teacher or government offi-
cial is the easiest thing to do.
More such killings will un-
dermine Pandits’ trust in the
government’s assurance of
safety
. Already there is a sen-
timentthattheBJPwasdoing
politics over their plight to
securevotes.Thegovernment
needs to do a lot more to make
them think otherwise.
TARGETING RESOLVE OF
GOVERNMENT, PANDITS
For the Pakistan-sponsored
terrorists in the Valley finding a
soft target like a woman
teacher or government official
is the easiest thing to do.
More such killings will
undermine Pandits’ trust
in the government’s
assurance of safety.
Already there is a sentiment
that the BJP was doing politics
over their plight to secure votes
R
ilip Ghosh, national vice-
president of the BJP, has
been recently given organisa-
tional responsibilities in
seven states and a Union ter-
ritory even as there are ru-
mours in the Saffron camp
that the central leadership
may have done “this” in Ben-
gal to give the leadership a
free hand and enough room
to exercise their power.
Ghosh’s new assignment is
to oversee and strengthen the
party’s booth organisations
in Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar,
Manipur, Meghalaya, Assam,
Tripura and Andaman ahead
of the crucial 2024 Lok Sabha
polls. He will be functioning
as a member of the commit-
tee which will spearhead the
move. The committee also has
BJP’s national chief JP Na-
dda and general secretary (or-
ganisation) BL Santosh.
About75,000boothshavebeen
identified for the purpose.
ItmaybenotedthatGhosh’s
term as the Bengal BJP presi-
dent ended prematurely after
the “outcome” of crucial As-
sembly polls in May 2021.
A closer look though would
reveal that the BJP had
grown under Ghosh’s leader-
ship when the party’s Lok
Sabha tally rose from two in
2014 to 18 in 2019 and from
three seats in the 2016 Assem-
bly elections to 77 in the 2021
Assembly elections!
In the 2014 Lok Sabha elec-
tions, while the TMC gar-
nered 39.05% vote share,
BJP’s percentage vote share
was pegged at just 17.02%, a
gain of +10.88 per cent.
In the 2019 general elec-
tions the TMC’s vote share
went up to 43.3 per cent… up
by 3.48 per cent…but the real
newsmaker was the BJP with
a whopping vote share of 40.7
per cent up by 22.76%!
The corridors of BJP HQ in
West Bengal were then buzz-
ing with the leadership capa-
bilities of Ghosh and “final-
ly” the “Saffron might” start-
ed believing that there’s hope
for the party in West Bengal.
With that belief, the party
hadputinallitsmightintothe
crucial Assembly elections in
2021… and several TMC lead-
ers also made a beeline to join
the BJP sensing prospects for
the Saffron camp.
However, all zeal was over
by May 2, 2021 when despite a
high-octane campaign, the
BJP failed to get anywhere
closertothethree-figuremark.
It was obvious that some
heads were to roll and it
seemed all was not well in the
party’s state unit.
Trouble started way back
On July 2, 2021, when Ghosh
said he was unaware of LoP
Suvendu Adhikari’s trip to
Delhi and what transpired
between him and Amit Shah
and Harsh Vardhan.
Ghosh’s comment was
seen by political analysts as
a sign of the growing rift be-
tween two camps in the Ben-
gal BJP
, one led by Ghosh and
the other by Adhikari.
Then again in the first week
of June in 2021, Adhikari had
visited Delhi to meet Prime
MinisterNarendraModi,Amit
Shah, BJP national president
JP Nadda. Even then, Ghosh
hadsaidhewasunawareof the
trip and its reasons.
After that Delhi trip in
early June, Adhikari said he
had informed the state BJP
general-secretary, Amitava
Chakraborty
. Adhikari, how-
ever, refused to comment
when he was told about
Ghosh’s claim that he was
unaware of the former’s visit
to Delhi.
If you thought this was not
enough… sample this…
Bengal BJP’s current presi-
dent Sukanta Majumdar and
his predecessor Dilip Ghosh
on April 25, 2022 publicly trad-
ed barbs over their (political)
experience at a time when the
partyisplaguedbyinfighting.
Ghosh had even quipped
that Majumdar was new to
politics.
“Everyone begins politics
as inexperienced. When I be-
came the state president, I
had been an MP for two-and-
a-half years. I had political
experience of two-and-a-half
years. When Dilipda began,
he had experience between
six months and a year,” Ma-
jumdar told the media.
In response to Majumdar’s
jibe, Ghosh said the party
had made a “42-year-old
youth” as the state president.
“Ididn’tsay(thatMajumdar
is inexperienced), he (Majum-
dar) himself did,” Ghosh said.
“I’m always with him. Our
party has made a 42-year-old
youth the chief of a state
where we have so many MPs
and MLAs. In other parties,
one isn’t named a chief unless
he/sheisold.Theseyoungpeo-
ple will work for the party for
the next 50 years,” he added.
All this has obviously not
gone down well with the cen-
tral leadership especially at a
time when there is so much
Bengal BJP could do on
Ground Zero given the fact
that CBI is grilling TMC hon-
chos for the SSC, coal and cat-
tle scams and it was time the
Saffronpartytookoutmassive
rallies to mobilise mass opin-
ion on these issues… however,
the party is haunted by in-
fighting especially at the top.
Earlier this month, when
Shah had visited Bengal, Ma-
jumdar and Adhikari were
seen with him all along.
Ghosh was, however, invited
to specific programmes and
was not present at the dinner
party hosted by BCCI chief
Sourav Ganguly at his Beha-
la residence. BJP’s central
leadership must realise that
whatever may have happened
in the Assembly elections in
2021, but the party cannot af-
ford to take the Lok Sabha
lightly especially when it had
a good standing in 2019 and
2024 is not far away!
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY
THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL
OHMY‘GHOSH’!
The curious case of Bengal BJP
D
BJP’s central leadership
must realise that whatever
may have happened in the
Assembly elections in 2021,
but the party cannot afford
to take the Lok Sabha lightly
especially when it had a
good standing in 2019 and
2024 is not far away!
ROBIN ROY
The writer is Senior Associate Editor,
Free Press Journal, Mumbai and former
Managing Editor, First India
ABOUT GHOSH’S TERM
AS BENGAL BJP PREZ

z A closer look though would
reveal that BJP had grown
under Ghosh’s leadership
when party’s LS tally rose
from 2 in 2014 to 18 in
2019 and from 3 seats in
2016 Assembly polls to 77
in 2021 Assembly polls

z 2014 LS polls: While TMC
garnered 39.05% vote
share, BJP’s % vote share
was pegged at just 17.02%,
a gain of +10.88%

z 2019 general polls: TMC’s
vote share went up to
43.3% up by 3.48% but real
newsmaker was BJP with
a whopping vote share of
40.7% up by 22.76%
NEW ASSIGNMENT
Ghosh’s new assign-
ment is to oversee
and strengthen the party’s
booth organisations in
Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar,
Manipur, Meghalaya, As-
sam, Tripura and Anda-
man ahead of the crucial
2024 Lok Sabha polls. He
will be functioning as a
member of the commit-
tee which will spearhead
the move. The committee
also has Bharatiya Janata
Party’s national chief JP
Nadda and general sec-
retary (organisation) BL
Santosh. About 75,000
booths have been identi-
fied for the purpose.

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05
INDIA
Will Stalin’s politics also change?
Moni Sharma
New Delhi: Although,
one may say that it is
not a major news and
that there is no need to
draw any conclusion
from this, but despite
this, the news is politi-
cally significant that
Vice President Venkai-
ah Naidu unveiled a
statue of DMK founder
M Karunanidhi in
Chennai. He had un-
veiled the 16 feet tall
statue in the premises
of Multi Super Special-
ty Government Hospi-
tal in Omandurar Es-
tate. A hundred meters
away from this place,
Karunanidhi’s statue
was earlier installed,
which was demolished
35 years ago at the time
of MG Ramachandran’s
death. In this sense, this
place and the idol have
great importance. On
this occasion, Venkaiah
Naidu also expressed
his opinion on the lan-
guage dispute and said
that no language should
be imposed on anyone.
Remember how eve-
rything that happened
in the Karunanidhi
family in the last four
years happened at the
hands of the members
of the Nehru-Gandhi
family
. When Karunani-
dhi’s statue was to be
unveiled at the DMK
headquarters in Decem-
ber 2018, MK Stalin
called Sonia Gandhi
and gathered all the op-
position leaders. Simi-
larly, when Stalin’s au-
tobiography was re-
leased in February this
year, he called Rahul
Gandhi for it. Even
when the party office
was to be inaugurated
in Delhi, he called So-
nia Gandhi. But now
suddenly he invited
Venkaiah Naidu to his
program and now po-
litical observers believe
that this move will defi-
nitely bring some
change in politics. Ven-
kaiah Naidu may also
benefit from this ‘asso-
ciation’ with Stalin as
the election of the Vice
President is also due in
the next two months.
Whatever it is, this pro-
gram is of special im-
portance politically
.
Tamil Nadu CM and DMK chief MK Stalin. —FILE PHOTO
Sharat K Verma
New Delhi: After the
Nav Sankalp Shivir of
the Congress in
Udaipur, three big lead-
ers have left the party.
Sunil Jakhar left the
party during the camp
itself, followed by
Hardik Patel and later
when Kapil Sibal was
nominated for Rajya
Sabha as SP candidate,
it was found that he had
left the party on 16 May
itself. Just imagine,
what a big setback it has
been for Congress as
three big leaders have
left the party within two
weeks, but the Congress
party has become so im-
mune to such setbacks
that it does not mind
such developments. In a
way, the party has be-
come ‘shock proof’. And
perhaps that is why,
there is no concern or
any thought in Con-
gress about it. The Con-
gress is not ready to ac-
cept that there is some
shortfall or deficiency
in it, due to which the
leaders are leaving.
However, the process
of leaders leaving the
Congress is not going to
stop yet and party lead-
ers are also aware of
this. After the an-
nouncement of Rajya
Sabha candidates, a
new round will begin
when some leaders will
leave the fold. Before
that, one of the leaders
who is ready to switch
sides is Kuldeep Bish-
noi. He is a MLA from
Haryana and is report-
edly in touch with the
BJP. He has already met
BJP leaders and is
ready to resign from
Congress and Vidhan
Sabha. There is even a
discussion that BJP can
field him as the third
candidate of Rajya Sab-
ha so that the game of
Congresscanbespoiled.
However, there is a de-
mand from his side that
he wants to contest his
wife Renuka Bishnoi on
a BJP ticket from his
vacant seat and wants a
guarantee of a Lok Sab-
ha seat for himself.
Navjot Singh Sidhu,
who was removed from
the post of Punjab Con-
gress President, is also
not going to stay in Con-
gress for long. Courtesy
of the Aam Aadmi Par-
ty government, looking
at the way he is being
informed in Patiala
Jail, it seems that he can
join AAP
. It is being told
that in Patiala Jail, he is
being given rosemary
tea in the morning and
chamomile tea is being
given at night. Lactose
free milk, soy milk, tofu,
nuts etc. are being given
instead of paneer in the
food. To say, this diet is
being given to him on
the recommendation of
the Medical Board made
on the order of the
court, but in reality he
had ensured these fa-
cilities for himself by
meeting Chief Minister
Bhagwant Mann even
before the Supreme
Court’s decision.
However, it is not that
hewilldecidetoleavethe
Congressimmediatelyor
while in jail. He will de-
cideonlyafterhisrelease
from jail, but before that
hiswifeandformerMLA
Navjot Kaur will contin-
ue to handle his political
work. It is believed that
he is not going to contest
the next Lok Sabha elec-
tions on a Congress tick-
etandif hedoesnotgoto
AAP
,hewillreturnhome
to BJP
, which perhaps
would be the last option
before him.
After Patel, Jakhar and Sibal, who is next for Congress?
GRAND OLD PARTY LOSING ITS BIGWIGS
Kapil Sibal Sunil Jakhar Hardik Patel
Polling ends for Odisha, Kerala,
U’khand Assembly by-elections
New Delhi (Agencies):
The voting for the three
Assembly seat — Cham-
pawat, Thrikkakara
and Brajrajnagar —
ended peacefully on
Tuesday
.
Around 69 per cent
polling was recorded till
5 p.m. in the by-election
to Brajrajnagar assem-
bly segment in Odisha’s
Jharsuguda district,
Odisha Chief Electoral
Officer (CEO) SK Loha-
ni said.
Despite rain and
strong storm, Uttara-
khand’s Champawat As-
sembly constituency
witnessed 64.08 per cent
voter turnout in the by-
election. The voting be-
gan in all 151 polling
stations at 7:00 am.
The by-election will
decide the fate of four
candidates, including
Chief Minister Pushkar
Singh Dhami.
In Kerala, the final
voting figures of 68.75%
in the by-election to the
Thrikkakara Assembly
constituency held on
Tuesday eventually fell
below last year’s Assem-
bly election voter turn-
out of 70.39%.
Student police cadets take selfies with UDF candidate Uma Thomas
at a polling booth during the Thrikkakara Assembly bypolls, in Kochi
on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY PTI
RAJYA SABHA POLLS
Sitharaman, Surjewala, Maken
other leaders file nominations
New Delhi (PTI): Un-
ion Finance Minister
Nirmala Sitharaman,
BJP’s OBC Morcha
chief K Laxman, Con-
gress leaders Randeep
Singh Surjewala, Ajay
Maken and Rajeev
Shukla and media bar-
on Subhas Chandra
were among those who
filed their nominations
on Tuesday for the June
10 Rajya Sabha polls.
The elections are be-
ing held to fill 57 Rajya
Sabha seats from 15
states that will be fall-
ing vacant due to the
retirement of members
on different dates be-
tween June and August.
While 11 seats are
falling vacant in Uttar
Pradesh, six members
each are retiring from
Tamil Nadu and Maha-
rashtra, five from Bi-
har and four each from
Andhra Pradesh, Ra-
jasthan and Karnata-
ka. Three members
each from Madhya
Pradesh and Odisha,
two each from Telan-
gana, Chhattisgarh,
Punjab Jharkhand and
Haryana, and one from
Uttarakhand are also
retiring.
Scrutiny of the nomi-
nations will be done on
June 1, while the last
date for withdrawal of
candidature is June 3.
Results will be declared
on June 10.
The BJP currently
has 95 and the Congress
29 MPs in the 245-mem-
ber House.
The BJP announced
22 candidates for these
polls and will support
one Independent candi-
date each from Ra-
jasthan (Chandra) and
Haryana (media hon-
cho Kartikeya Sharma).
Though the party’s
list of candidates in-
cludes the names of
Union ministers like
Piyush Goyal and Si-
tharaman, some other
prominent names such
as that of minister
Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi,
and senior leaders Vi-
nay Sahasrabuddhe
and OP Mathur are
missing.
In the Congress,
there have been several
voices of discontent
emerging from within
the party over the
choice of candidates.
In Karnataka, while
Sitharaman is seeking
re-election, actor-politi-
cian Jaggesh (BJP), a
former MLA and MLC,
is contesting his first
election to the Upper
House of Parliament.
Among the others
who filed papers during
the day from the state
are BJP’s third candi-
date and outgoing MLC
Lehar Singh Siroya, and
former MP D Kupendra
Reddy from the JD(S).
Congress candidates
— former Union Minis-
ter Jairam Ramesh and
state general secretary
Mansoor Ali Khan —
filed their nominations
on Monday
.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman files nomination papers for Rajya Sabha elections in the presence of Karnataka CM
Basavaraj Bommai, BS Yediyurappa and others, at Vidhanasoudha in Bengaluru on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY PTI
UTTAR PRADESH: EIGHT BJP LEADERS,
ONE INDEPENDENT FILE NOMINATIONS
Lucknow (PTI): Eight BJP leaders and an independent can-
didate filed their nominations for the Rajya Sabha elections
in the presence of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adity-
anath here on Tuesday. Those who submitted their papers
included BJP’s OBC Morcha national president K Laxman,
former state party chief Laxmikant Vajpayee, Mithilesh Ku-
mar, Radha Mohan Das Aggarwal, Surendra Singh Nagar,
Baburam Nishad, Darshana Singh and Sangeeta Yadav. The
independent candidate who filed his nomination papers
on Tuesday is Mauni Falhari Bapu, the office of the chief
electoral officer of UP said in a statement.
Graft case: Jain sent to
ED’s custody till June 9
New Delhi (Agen-
cies): Delhi’s Health
Minister Satyendar
Jain was on May 31
sent to Enforcement
Directorate’s custody
till June 9 in a money
laundering case by a
court here which noted
that his interrogation
was required to un-
earth the alleged larg-
er conspiracy.
The ED had on May
30 arrested the Aam
Aadmi Party (AAP)
leader under the crimi-
nal sections of the Pre-
vention of Money
Laundering Act
(PMLA).
Special Judge
Geetanjli Goel issued
the remand order after
Solicitor General Tush-
ar Mehta, appearing
for the ED, sought Mr.
Jain’s custodial inter-
rogation for 14 days.
Satyendar Jain
CBI SAYS NO
CLOSURE REPORT
FILED AGAINST JAIN
New Delhi: The Central
Bureau of Investiga-
tion on Tuesday refuted
reports claiming that the
agency has filed a closure
report against Chief
Minister Arvind Kejri-
wal’s cabinet minister
Satyendar Jain in the
Disproportionate Assets
(DA) case. “No closure
report has been filed
against Satyendar Jain,” a
CBI official told media.
KEJRIWAL BACKS
JAIN, SAYS ‘EPITOME
OF HONESTY’
New Delhi: Delhi Chief
Minister and AAP con-
venor Arvind Kejriwal on
Tuesday termed the case
against Satyendar Jain
‘fraud’ while saying that
Jain was the “epitome of
honesty.” Kejriwal said
that he had personally
studied the case filed by
ED and felt that the Delhi
minister was framed in
order to settle political
scores.
ED questions
Farooq Abdullah
for 3 hours in
JKCA scam case
Srinagar (Agencies):
Former JK Chief Min-
ister and Lok Sabha
member Farooq Abdul-
lah was questioned by
the Enforcement Direc-
torate (ED) for over
three hours on Tuesday
in connection with the
JK Cricket Associa-
tion (JKCA) scam being
investigated by the
agency
.
The National Confer-
ence chief reached the
ED office in the Rajbagh
locality of Srinagar at
around 11 am.
Before reaching the
ED office, Abdullah
told reporters, “I won’t
say much about the
summons. There are
elections to be held
and they will trouble
us till then.”
ED had summoned
Abdullah on May 27 at
its Srinagar office in
connection with the
case. The 84-year old
National Conference
leader had earlier re-
corded his statement in
the same case in 2019.
The National Confer-
ence said the veteran
leader would continue
to cooperate with the
authorities like he has
done in the past.
Abdullah was the
president of JKCA from
2001 to 2012.
Panthers Party chief
Bhim Singh dies at 80
Founder of Jammu and
Kashmir National Pan-
thers Party Professor
Bhim Singh passed
away in Jammu on
Tuesday, May 31, after
being unwell for about
a month. He was 81.
The former legislator
hailed from Udhampur
district’s Bhugterian
village. He has left be-
hind his wife Jai Mala
and son Ankit Love,
who lives in London.
Singhbreathedhislast
at GMC Hospital here.
Expressing his condo-
lences, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi tweeted,
“Prof Bhim Singh Ji will
be remembered as a
grassrootsleaderwhode-
voted his life for the wel-
fareof JammuandKash-
mir. He was very well-
read and scholarly
. I will
always recall my interac-
tionswithhim.Saddened
by his demise. Condo-
lences to his family and
supporters. Om Shanti.”
PM MODI CONDOLES
DEMISE OF JK’S NPP
CHIEF BHIM SINGH
Jammu (ANI): Prime Min-
ister Narendra Modi on
Tuesday expressed con-
dolences on the demise
of Jammu and Kashmir
National Panthers Party
founder Bhim Singh. Tak-
ing to Twitter, he said, “He
was very well-read and
scholarly. I will always
recall my interactions with
him. Saddened by his de-
mise. Condolences to his
family and supporters.”
Shah remembers Ahilyabai
on her 297th birth anniv
New Delhi (ANI): Un-
ionHomeMinisterAmit
Shahtodayremembered
thewarriorqueenof the
Maratha empire, Ahily-
abai Holkar on her 297th
birth anniversary for
her service to ‘Sanatan
Dharma’ by renovating
many temples from
Somnath to Kashi.
“There is an incom-
parable contribution of
Lokmata Ahilyabai
Holkar ji in the preser-
vation of Sanatan cul-
ture. She did a wonder-
ful service to ‘Sanatan
Dharma,” the Home
Minister said in a tweet.
Amit Shah

06
INDIA
BJP gets `477
crore and
Congress gets
`74 crore
New Delhi (Agen-
cies): The BJP received
contributions of over
`477.5 crore in finan-
cial year 2020-21, and
Congress over `74.50
crore, just 15% of the
funds received by the
ruling party.
According to the con-
tribution reports of 2
parties put in public
domain by the ECI on
Tuesday, BJP received
`4,77,54,50,077 from
various entities, elec-
toral trusts and indi-
viduals. According to
the contribution report
of Congress, it received
`74,50,49,731 from vari-
ous entities and indi-
viduals.
Parties have to file
report of contributions
to EC received in excess
of `20,000 as per provi-
sions of election law.
GST WAS
INTRODUCED IN
COUNTRY WEF
JULY 1, 2017
Goods and Services
Tax was introduced in
the country with effect
from July 1, 2017 and
states were assured for
compensation for loss
of any revenue arising
on account of imple-
mentation of GST as per
the provisions of the
GST (Compensation to
States) Act, 2017 for a
period of five years.
For providing compen-
sation to States, Cess is
being levied on certain
goods and the amount of
Cess collected is being
credited to Compensa-
tion Fund. Compensation
to States is being paid
out of the Compensation
Fund with effect from
July 1, 2017. Bi-monthly
GST compensation to
States for the period
2017-18, 2018-19 was
released on time out of
the Compensation Fund.
HARDIK TO JOIN BJP ON
JUNE 2: SPOKESPERSON
Ahmedabad: Former Congress leader
Hardik Patel will join BJP on June 2
in presence of Gujarat party president
CR Patil, state party spokesperson
Yagnesh Dave said on Tuesday. Hardik
Patel had recently praised BJP’s
decision-making capacity and style of
functioning, while severely criticising the Congress
leadership. Patel had joined the Congress in 2019.
Uddhav...
secretariat “Mantra-
laya”, where two basic
formations are believed
to be at work. Another
IAS officer noted, “The
current transfers are
indicative of the CM’s
keenness to assuage
sentiments within his
MVA alliance.”
A senior Congress
leader told First India,
“The CMO attempted
very little in the form of
relationship-building
over the last 2.5 years,
which was a tragedy
. In
any alliance govern-
ment, each and every
momentmustbeexploit-
ed to better political re-
lationships by the CMO
through personal meet-
ings with fellow minis-
ters, Members of Parlia-
ment and Members of
the Legislative Assem-
bly
, and Members of the
Legislative Council.
The initiative must
come from the CMO for
improved political ties
within the alliance.”
FROM PG 1
CONTRIBUTIONS
REPORTS BY THE ECI
Srinagar (PTI): Kash-
mir is an essential part
of Prime Minister Nar-
endra Modi’s New In-
dia journey, Union
Minister of State in
PMO Jitendra Singh
said on Tuesday.
Singh said that a
three-tier system of
government has been
introduced for the first
time in Jammu and
Kashmir in 70 years
and it will not be long
before people get to see
and feel the benefits of
such a system.
“Kashmir is an essen-
tial part of PM Modi’s
New India journey
. It is
time to avail of the enor-
mous new openings ini-
tiatedoverthepasteight
years, which are shap-
ing the destiny of 135
crore Indians under the
able guidance of Prime
Minister Narendra
Modi,” he said while ad-
dressing an event at
Budgam.
Titled ‘Gareeb Kalyan
Sammelan’, the event
was organised at the Bi-
hishte Zahra Park to
mark the eight years of
the Modi-led govern-
ment at the Centre.
The Union minister
deliberated on different
centrally sponsored
schemes and different
initiatives launched by
the Modi government to
ensure equitable devel-
opment of people of
Jammu and Kashmir,
something which they
had been deprived of for
longfornofaultof theirs.
Singh also distribut-
ed benefits among the
beneficiaries under
Mudra, PM Svanidhi,
Ayushman Bharat,
PMAY-G and various ag-
riculture and horticul-
ture related schemes.
The event was also ad-
dressed by Prime Minis-
ter Modi through virtu-
al mode from Shimla.
‘JK essential part of Modi’s New India journey’
GAREEB KALYAN SAMMELAN
GOVT RELEASES RS 86,912
CRORE GST DUES TO STATES
The Centre on Tuesday
released the entire
amount of Goods and
Services Tax (GST) com-
pensation payable to
States up to May 31, 2022
by releasing an amount
of Rs 86,912 crore, dip-
ping into its own coffers
beyond the Rs 25,000
crorebalanceintheGST
Compensation Fund.
The Finance Ministry
said this is being done to
assist the States in man-
aging their resources
and ensuring that their
programmes, especially
the expenditure on capi-
tal, is carried out suc-
cessfully during the fi-
nancial year.
Now, the States are
only owed compensa-
tion under the GST re-
gime for one month —
June 2022, the Ministry
noted. States had been
guaranteed a certain
level of revenue for the
first five years of the
GST regime that was
launched in 2017.
“This decision has
been taken despite the
fact that only about Rs
25,000 crore is available
in the GST Compensa-
tion Fund. The balance
is being released by the
Centre from its own re-
sources pending collec-
tion of Cess,” the Minis-
try said in a statement.
In April, the Ministry
had pegged outstanding
GST compensation dues
to States for 2021-22 at
Rs 78,704 crore, equiva-
lent to four months of
such accruals. So dues
had been remitted to
States for the eight-
month period of April
2021 till November 2021,
but had been pending
since December 2021.
Citing an inadequate
balance in the GST
Compensation Cess ac-
count, the Ministry had
said the pending
amount will be released
“as and when amount
from cess accrues in the
compensation fund”.
Indo-Pak ‘water
talks’ conclude on
a positive note
States asked to send
suspected Monkeypox
samples for testing
Amid reports of back-
channel talks to break
the stalemate in the bi-
lateral relationship, In-
dia and Pakistan con-
cluded a two-day meet-
ing of the Permanent
IndusCommission(PIC)
comprising Indus Com-
missioners of the two
countries in New Delhi
on Tuesday
.
TheIndiandelegation
at the 118th meeting of
the PIC was led by AK
Pal, the Indian Commis-
sioner for Indus Waters,
while the visiting Paki-
stani delegation was
headed by Syed Muham-
mad Mehar Ali Shah,
the Pakistan Commis-
sioner for Indus Waters.
During the meeting,
the annual report of the
PIC for the year ending
31 March 2022 was final-
ised and signed, the
Ministryof ExternalAf-
fairs (MEA) said.
The meeting was held
in a cordial manner. The
commission appreciat-
ed the commitment of
the two sides to interact
frequently and resolve
issues through bilateral
discussions under the
Indus Water Treaty
.
The Union ministry of
health and family wel-
fare on Tuesday issued a
setof guidelinestostates
andUnionterritories on
the management of the
Monkeypox disease. So
far, there is no reported
case of monkey pox in
India. The guideline has
beenissuedamidarapid
rise in cases worldwide.
The ministry said
clinical specimens
would have to be sent to
the apex laboratory of
the National Institute of
Virology (NIV)), Pune,
through Integrated Dis-
ease Surveillance Pro-
gramme network.
It said contacts of sus-
pects should be moni-
tored at least daily for
the onset of signs or
symptomsforaperiodof
21 days (as per case defi-
nition) from the last con-
tact with a patient or
their contaminated ma-
terials during the infec-
tious period.
MOOSEWALA MURDER
Delhi HC agrees to hear Bishnoi’s
plea citing ‘fake encounter’ fears
The Delhi High Court
will on Wednesday hear
the plea filed by jailed
gangster Lawrence
Bishnoi, named as a sus-
pect in the sensational
murder of famed Pun-
jabisingerSidhuMoose-
wala,allegingapprehen-
sion of a fake encounter
by the Punjab police for
‘political mileage’.
Through his counsel
Vishal Chopra, Bishnoi
approached the high
court after a NIA court
of Patiala House Court
junked his plea on Mon-
day
.Intheplea,hesought
a direction to the Delhi
Police and the Tihar Jail
authorities to ensure all
necessary security ar-
rangements for him.
Punjab police has al-
leged that Bishnoi was
involved in the murder.
DELHI POLICE GETS 5-DAY CUSTODY
OF JAILED GANGSTER LAWRENCE
ANOTHER SINGER
REQUESTS
SECURITY COVER
New Delhi: The Delhi Police on
Tuesday obtained the custody of
jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi,
named as a suspect in the day-
light murder of Punjabi singer-
cum-politician for five days. His
custody has reportedly been
obtained in connection with an old case. According
to sources, the Special Cell of the Delhi Police will
interrogate Bishnoi in connection with Moose Wala’s
murder. Earlier in the day, Bishnoi moved the Delhi
high court after claiming a day ago that he feared
being killed in a fake encounter by police.
New Delhi: Just as
thousands thronged
Punjabi singer Sidhu
Moose Wala’s cremation
a day after his gruesome
murder, another Punjabi
singer has revealed that
he too has received
death threats. According
to sources, 31-year-old
Mankirt Aulakh has
requested the Punjab
police to increase his
security cover citing a
threat to life.
ASTRAZENECA
VAX COULD
INCREASE RISK
London: A correlation be-
tween a first dose of the
AstraZeneca vaccine and
a small but significant rise
in cases of the serious
neurological condition
Guillain-Barre syndrome
(GBS), has been identi-
fied. Researchers said
they are yet to understand
the cause of the link.
However, they noted that
the small numbers of GBS
cases observed appear
similar to increases previ-
ously seen in other mass
vaccination campaigns.
Bill to swap Guv with
CM as Chancellor in
WB likely next week
Kolkata (Agencies):
The proposed Bill to re-
place the Governor
with the Chief Minister
as the chancellor of all
state-run universities
in West Bengal will be
tabled in the Assembly
for clearance during the
forthcoming Monsoon
Session starting June
10, sources said.
Going by Trinamool
Congress’ numerical
strength in the Assem-
bly, the state govern-
ment will have no prob-
lem in getting the pro-
posed Bill passed with a
comfortable majority
.
However, the state
government will then
have to send the Bill to
Governor Jagdeep
Dhankhar for his as-
sent. State Education
Minister Bratya Basu
has already said that in
case the Governor re-
fuses to clear the Bill,
the state government
will pass an ordinance
to bring the changed
system into practice.
Dhankhar himself
has slammed the move,
calling it a diversionary
tactics by the state.
Cops ordered not to arrest Vijay Babu till Thursday
JK: Prez awards Kirti
Chakra to slain cop
New Delhi: President
Ram Nath Kovind on
Tuesday awarded Kirti
Chakra to Jammu and
Kashmir Police Consta-
ble Altaf Hussain Bhat
posthumously for his
gallant act, raw courage,
utmost dedication and
commitmenttodutyand
supremesacrificeforthe
nation.
Altaf Hussain Bhat
was the only officer
among others from the
IndianArmyandarmed
forces to receive Kirti
Chakra posthumously
from the President at
the Defence Investiture
Ceremony in the Rash-
trapati Bhavan. Altaf
Hussain Bhat was de-
puted to ensure the
safety and security of
protected functionaries
in Jammu and Kash-
mir’s Ganderbal dis-
trict. On October 6,
2020, a protected person
visited his family at
Nunner and was about
to proceed to his safe
accommodation at PDC
Colony Kangan when
he was targeted by ter-
rorists, who indiscrimi-
nately fired at him.
Kochi (Agencies): In
major relief for actor
producer Vijay Babu,
whoisaccusedof rapeby
an actress and presently
on the run, the Kerala
High Court on Tuesday
askedthepolicenottoar-
rest him till Thursday
,
whenhisbailpleawillbe
considered again.
The court was in-
formed by Vijay Babu’s
counsel that he will be
arriving from Dubai on
Wednesday
.
The court also chided
the police and the pros-
ecution, saying that he
might be a star for
some, but for the court,
he is an ordinary per-
son and that the police
is trying to stage a dra-
ma for the media by ar-
resting him as soon as
he arrives from Dubai.
It said as soon as he
arrives from abroad, he
should present himself
to the police probe team,
but should not be ar-
rested till Thursday
.
Dr Jitendra Singh addressing an event “Gareeb Kalyan Sammelan” in JK’s Budgam on Tuesday.

BIZ BUZZ
07
India’s growth
projection
being revised
Kolkata (PTI): The
IMF is in the process
of revising India’s
growth projection for
2022, which could be
lower than its earlier
forecast of 8.2%,
amid risks of a global
stagflation, an official
said.In April, the IMF
had lowered India’s
growth projection to
8.2% as compared to
9% estimated in Jan.
By 2023, the country
is expected to grow
at 6.9%, it said. “IMF
is currently revising
India’s growth fore-
cast for 2022, which
may be lower than
8.2%. This is work
in progress at the
moment,” IMF said.
Private telcos
to hike tariffs
in H2
London (AP): The
country’s top three
private telecom op-
erators will resort to
another round of tar-
iff hike in the second
half of the current
fiscal and will close
FY23 with a revenue
growth of 20-25%,
a report said on
Tuesday. A growth in
average revenue per
user is essential for
the industry to invest
in the network and
spectrum, and if they
do not do so, it can
result in poor service
offerings, domestic
rating agency Crisil’s
research wing said in
a report published on
Tuesday.
No plans to ban
or curb exports
of basmati rice
New Delhi (PTI): The
govt has no plans to
ban or impose curbs
on export of either
basmati or non-bas-
mati rice as the
country has sufficient
supplies and prices
are under control, a
senior official said on
Tuesday. “There is
no move to regulate
export of any kind
of rice. There is
enough supply in our
godowns and even
with private traders.
Domestic prices are
also under control as
of now,” the official
said. India had
exported non-bas-
mati rice worth $6.11
billion in 2021-22.
Sugar production
rises 15% to
35.24 mn tons
New Delhi (PTI):
Sugar production
in India, the world’s
largest producer and
second-largest ex-
porter, rose 15% to a
record 35.24 million
tonne till May 30 in
the ongoing 2021-22
marketing year on
higher output. Sugar
production stood at
30.63 million tonne
in the year-ago peri-
od. The sugar output
achieved so far is
much higher than
the total output of
31.12 million tonne
in the entire 2020-21
marketing year.
AURoyaleprogrammeextendedtosalariedbusinesssegments
Mumbai (FIB): AU
Small Finance Bank,
the largest Small Fi-
nance Bank and one of
the fastest-growing re-
tail Banks in India, has
launched two new prod-
ucts under its affluent
banking programme
AU Royale – ‘AU Royale
Salary’ and ‘AU Royale
Business’ Current Ac-
count.
The affluent segment
in India is consistently
growing. As the Hurun
India Wealth Report
2021 estimates, Indian
millionaire (USD)
households are set to
rise by 30% over the
next five years. As this
segment is experienc-
ing a steady growth, its
expectationsfrombank-
ing are ever evolving.
Considering this, AU
Bank had launched its
Royale programme de-
signed specifically to
cater to the everyday
banking requirements
of this segment. While
theBankwasalreadyof-
fering customized pre-
miumproductsforHNIs
and NRIs, now it has
launched niche prod-
ucts, ‘
AU Royale Salary’
and ‘AU Royale Busi-
ness’, specially curated
for the salaried and
business class respec-
tively
.
Commenting on the
launchMr.UttamTibre-
wal, Executive Director,
AU Small Finance Bank
said, “Over the years,
we have seen growing
interest from the afflu-
ent segment towards
our personalized ser-
vices and higher re-
turns. While we have
been a preferred choice
of Bank for the self-em-
ployed business class,
the number of salaried
class customers has
gradually started grow-
ing as we increase our
footprint in Metros
Tier-I cities. As we have
strategically expanded
our range of services
acrossthebankingspec-
trum, with ‘AU Royale
Salary’ and ‘AU Royale
Business’, we are ex-
panding our class lead-
ing solutions to differ-
ent segments of the af-
fluentcustomers.Inline
with our commitment
to bring Badlaav in
Banking, we shall con-
tinue to enhance our
proposition and deliver
unparalleled value to
our customers.”
The AU Royale Busi-
ness Current Account
offers family banking
which allows grouping
of business and family
accounts. While the Re-
lationship Managers
provides end-to-end per-
sonalized banking, cus-
tomers can avail a host
of benefits offered by a
feature Rich Royale
Business Signature
Debit Card. Other ben-
efits include best in
class Merchant Solu-
tions(QR,PoS,Payment
gateway); preferential
pricing on banking
products; choice of Ac-
count Number and do-
mestic airport lounge
access.
TheAURoyaleSalary
Savings account offers
familybankingforupto
five family members
and exciting cashback
of upto1%onSignature
Debit Card spends.
While a dedicated rela-
tionship manager pro-
vides support all the
banking needs, custom-
ers can avail a host of
other benefits like com-
plimentary movie tick-
ets on BookMyShow;
low currency mark-up
on international trans-
actions and 75% dis-
count on Lockers.
Customers wanting
to enroll for AU Royale
programme can visit
www.aubank.in or visit
the nearest branch of
AUSmallFinanceBank.
AU Small Finance Bank has launched two new
products under AU Royale – ‘AU Royale Salary’
‘AU Royale Business’ Current Account
GDPGROWS8.7%INFY22,
4.1% IN JAN-MARCH QTR
New Delhi (PTI): In-
dia’s economy grew by
4.1% in the January-
March quarter of 2021-
22, pushing the annual
growth rate to 8.7% on
account of better per-
formance by manufac-
turing, mining and con-
struction sectors, offi-
cial data showed on
Tuesday
.
In the previous fiscal
2020-21, the economy
had contracted by 6.6%
as the COVID-19 pan-
demic disrupted busi-
ness activities.
China had registered
economic growth of
4.8% in the first three
months of 2022.
The 4.1% expansion
during the January-
March period of 2021-22
is the lowest quarterly
growth in the last fiscal.
The growth was 20.1%,
8.4%, and 5.4%, in the
first, second and third
quarters, respectively,
as per the data released
by the National Statisti-
cal Office (NSO).
The GDP had grown
by 2.5% in the January-
March quarter in the
previous year.
The NSO, in its sec-
ond advance estimate
released in February,
had projected the GDP
growth during 2021-22
at 8.9%.
The Economic Sur-
vey tabled in Parlia-
ment in February had
estimated the GDP
growth for the current
fiscal (2022-23) in the
range of 8 - 8.5%.
According to the NSO
data, India’s real GDP
grew to `147.36 lakh
crore from `135.58 lakh
crore in 2020-21.
In the previous fiscal 2020-21, the economy had contracted by 6.6 per
cent as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted business activities
Lowest qtr growth
Recent steps to
cut inflation by
0.4%: SBI report
New Delhi (Agen-
cies): The recent cuts
on excise duty and im-
port taxes could result
in the easing of infla-
tion by 35-40 bps as
stated in SBI’s re-
search report.
The CPI inflation
for the ongoing month
of May could come
down by 10 bps from
the earlier projection
to 7.0%. The full im-
pact of the govern-
ment’s move will re-
flect in upcoming
months.
In current fiscal, the
retail-based inflation
is expected to average
at 6.5%-6.7%.
“Considering the
conservative budget-
ary estimates for FY23
the net fiscal implica-
tion could be around
`66,000 crore to `17.27
lakh crore from `16.61
lakh crore in FY23 BE.
But with higher nomi-
nal GDP estimates, fis-
cal deficit as % of GDP
can still be contained
closer to 6.4%-6.6% in
FY23,” stated the State
Bank of India (SBI) re-
port.
New Delhi (PTI): The
Centre has cleared the
entire GST compensa-
tion payable till date by
releasing`86,912croreto
states,thefinanceminis-
try said on Tuesday
.
Of this, `25,000 crore
is released from the
GST compensation
fund and the balance
`61,912 crore is being
released by the Centre
from its own resources
pending collection of
cess. Of the total com-
pensation released,
`17,973 crore is towards
April and May dues,
`21,322 crore towards
February-March dues
and `47,617 crore is the
balance of compensa-
tion payable up to Janu-
ary 2022.
“The government of
India has released the
entire amount of GST
compensation payable
to states up to May 31,
2022 by releasing an
amount of `86,912 crore.
This decision was taken
to assist the states in
managing their re-
sources and ensuring
that their programmes
especially the expendi-
ture on capital is car-
ried out successfully
during the financial
year,” the ministry said.
Centre clears entire GST
compensation dues till date
India’stextilesexports
highest-everinFY22
dia recorded its high-
est-ever textiles and
apparel exports in the
financial year 2021-22
at $44.4 billion, the
government said on
Tuesday
.
The exports tally,
which also includes
handicrafts, indicates
a substantial increase
of 41% and 26% over
corresponding figures
in FY21 and FY20, re-
spectively
.
USA was the top ex-
port destination for
the country’s textiles
and apparel ship-
ments accounting for
27% share, followed by
the European Union
(18%), Bangladesh
(12%) and UAE (6%).
“In terms of prod-
uct categories, the ex-
port of cotton textiles
was $17.2 billion with
39% share registering
a growth of 54% and
67% during 2021-22
over FY21 and FY20,
respectively,” an offi-
cial statement said.
Per capita income in FY
22belowpre-COVIDlevel
dia’s annual per capita
income at constant pric-
es remained below the
pre-COVID level at
`91,481 in 2021-22, offi-
cial data showed on
Tuesday
.
However, the per cap-
ita income based on Net
National Income (NNI)
at constant price grew
by 7.5% in FY22 over the
previous year.
The per capita in-
come at constant price
was `94,270 in 2019-20
before it dipped to
`85,110 in 2020-21 on ac-
count of the disruption
in economic activities
caused by COVID-19
pandemic and subse-
quent lockdowns.
At current prices, the
per capita income rose
by 18.3% to `1.5 lakh
during in 2021-22 fiscal.
The per capita in-
come at current prices
had dipped to `1.27 lakh
in 2020-21 from ` 1.32
lakh in 2019-20.
The per-capita in-
come is a crude indica-
tor of the prosperity of
a country
.
Mandatory 6 airbags to hit
small car market adversely
New Delhi (PTI):
Maruti Suzuki India
(MSI) wants the govern-
ment to reconsider the
proposal to make six
airbags mandatory in
passenger vehicles, say-
ing the norm will ad-
versely hit the already
shrinking small car
market and may even
impact jobs in the auto
sector going ahead.
The auto major noted
that the regulation
would largely impact
the cost-sensitive entry-
level car segment.
“So, the fear is that
due to this (six airbags)
the market will become
smaller. The car manu-
facturing sector is im-
portant because it is a
big creator of employ-
ment. When the car
sells in the market it
creates many jobs —
drivers, maintenance,
repairs, accessories
etc,” MSI Chairman RC
Bhargava stated.
India sends
40K MT-diesel
consignment
to Sri Lanka
Colombo (PTI): India
on Tuesday said it has
delivered one more con-
signment of 40,000 met-
ric tonnes of diesel to
Sri Lanka to help ease
the acute fuel shortage
in the debt-ridden is-
land nation which is
grappling with its worst
economic crisis.
India on May 23 deliv-
ered around 40,000 met-
ric tonnes of petrol to
Sri Lanka.
“Powering #SriLan-
ka !!!! A shipment of
40,000 MT of diesel sup-
plied under #Indian as-
sistance reached #Co-
lombo yesterday (Mon-
day) evening,” the Indi-
an High Commission
tweeted.
India and Sri Lanka
signed a $500 million
Line of Credit Agree-
ment for the purchase
of petroleum products
on February 2, 2022.
Sensex snaps 3-day rising streak
Mumbai (PTI): Equity
benchmarks declined
on Tuesday after a
three-day rally, with the
Sensex falling 359.33
points amid selling in
index majors HDFC, Re-
liance Industries and
Infosys.
The 30-share BSE
Sensex went lower by
359.33 points or 0.64% to
settle at 55,566.41. Dur-
ing the day, it tanked
556.6 points or 0.99% to
55,369.14.
The broader NSE Nif-
ty declined 76.85 points
or 0.46% to end at
16,584.55.
LIC SHARES DECLINE OVER 3% AFTER EARNINGS
New Delhi (PTI): Shares of LIC on Tuesday declined over 3%
after the company posted a 17% decline in consolidated net
profit for the fourth quarter ended in March 2022. The stock
declined 3.05% to settle at `811.50 on the BSE. During the day,
it tanked 3.23% to `810. At the NSE, it fell by 3.21% to end at
`810.85. In volume terms, 2.22 lakh shares were traded at the
BSE and over 43.73 lakh shares at the NSE during the day.
` slips 12 paise to
close at 77.66/$
Mumbai (PTI): The
rupee depreciated
12 paise to close at
77.66 (provisional)
against the US dollar
on Tuesday. At the
interbank foreign
exchange market, the
rupee opened lower
at 77.65 against the
greenback and finally
settled at 77.66,
down 12 paise over
its previous close.
During the session,
the rupee touched
an intra-day low of
77.70 and a high of
77.62.
Core sector
output expands
by 8.4% in April
New Delhi (PTI): Eight
infrastructure sectors
grew by 8.4% in April
against 62.6% expan-
sion in the year-ago pe-
riod, according to offi-
cial data released on
Tuesday. The output of
eight infrastructure
sectors of coal, crude
oil, natural gas, refin-
ery products, fertiliser,
steel, cement and elec-
tricity had expanded by
4.9% in March 2022. The
output of crude oil con-
tracted by 0.9% against
a 2.1% decline in April.

08
2NDFRONT
A good leader keeps his head in an
emergency but a great leader
recognises the problem before it
becomes an emergency.
—Dr Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO Editor-in-Chief, First India
Woman held for throwing her 6 kids into well, booked
First India Bureau
Mumbai: The police
registered a case of
murder against a
woman on Tuesday
who allegedly killed
her six children by
throwing them into a
well at a village in
Raigad district fol-
lowing domestic dis-
cord, an official said.
The accused, identi-
fied as Runa Chikhuri
Sahani (30), threw her
children, aged between
18 months and 10 years,
includingfivegirls,intoa
well in Kharavali village
in Mahad taluka, around
100km from Mumbai, on
Monday afternoon, and
later attempted suicide
but was saved by local
residents. The woman
was brought to the police
stationbylocals.Shewas
arrested and booked for
murder, the official said
and claimed that the
woman has confessed to
the crime.
The children, aged
between 18 months and
10 years, drowned be-
fore villagers could pull
them out. The bodies of
the children were fished
out from the well.
BMC engineers install 30-tonne
bridge in 17 days in Dharavi
First India Bureau
Mumbai: The engi-
neering department
of the Brihanmumbai
Municipal Corpora-
tion has demolished
an old bridge on a cul-
vert that connected
Dharavi to Mahim
railway station and
built a 30-tonne
bridge in a record 17
days, restoring vehic-
ular traffic on the
stretch from June 1.
The civic body had to
close traffic on a 20m-
long and 16m-wide old
bridge on the covered
culvert flowing from Da-
dar to Dharavi, causing
traffic congestion to in-
crease. Local MLA and
stateeducationminister
Varsha Gaikwad then
met BMC officials and
urged them to find at
least a temporary solu-
tion to the problem.
Additional Munici-
pal Commissioner (Pro-
jects) P Velarasu accom-
panied by Deputy Mu-
nicipal Commissioner
(Infrastructure) Ulhas
Mahale and his team
visited the spot person-
ally on May 11. He then
asked the engineering
team to dismantle the
dilapidated old bridge
and construct a tempo-
rary bridge to tide over
the monsoon months.
Bridges department
decided to dismantle
the old bridge at night
from May 13 to May 17.
The team then com-
menced the work of in-
stalling the 16m-wide
temporary bridge
weighing 30 tonnes on
May 18, and completed
it on Tuesday
.
Shut since early
May, it will be
reopened for light
motor vehicles
today
FINDING SOLUTIONS
A permanent bridge will be constructed after due process post-
monsoon.
From June 01,first e-bus on
Pune-Ahmednagar route
First India Bureau
Mumbai: The
Maharashtra
State Road
T r a n s p o r t
Corporation
(MSRTC) on
Monday an-
nounced that it
will launch its
first-ever electric
bus on the Pune-
Ahmednagar route.
The electric bus ser-
vice will be launched
on June 1—the day
when the state-run
t r a n s p o r t a t i o n
agency will enter
the 75th year of its
operations.
MSRTC said in a
statement that the
new e-bus, christened
as “Shivaee”, will be
launched in the pres-
ence
of Chief Minister Ud-
dhav Thackeray, Dep-
uty Chief Minister
Ajit Pawar, and other
dignitaries at the cor-
poration’s regional of-
fice in Pune.
According to the re-
lease, Laxman Kevate,
the conductor of the
first bus that operated
on the Pune-Ahmed-
nagar route on June 1,
1948, will flag-off
MSRTC’s maiden
e-bus “Shivaee”.
Besides, a
charging sta-
tion will be in-
augurated by
Ajit Pawar in
the regional of-
fice premises of
the corporation.
The state-owned
transport body is go-
ing to operate six daily
services, with a 12-me-
ter long e-bus, having
a seating capacity of
43 passengers. The e-
bus is free of noise
and pollution, with a
battery capacity of 322
kv and a top speed of
80 kmph. The MSRTC
will gradually add
more e-buses to its
fleet.
The
Maharashtra
State Road
Transport Corporation
will run six daily e-bus
services with a seating
capacity of 43
passengers
READ
crucial
crucial
SHOPKEEPER’S SON FROM
MAHA CRACKS UPSC EXAM 2021
6-YEAR-OLD CHILD FOUND DEAD, MOTHER
UNCONSCIOUS IN MIRA ROAD HOTEL ROOM
Maharashtra
Maharashtra
NEWBORN BABY GIRL FOUND IN TRASH
CAN, SEARCH ON TO NAB THE ACCUSED
STRIKING NURSES HOLD TALKS WITH
MAHA MEDICAL EDUCATION MINISTER
Mumbai: A two-day-old infant was found in a
trash can in Mahim on Tuesday. The investiga-
tion has revealed that an unidentified person
threw the infant in the trash can at Machi Bazar
in Mahim's cloth market area. Mahim police
station has registered a case against an unknown
person under section 318 of India Penal Code.
Meanwhile, the police is searching for the person
through CCTV footage. Similarly, a few days ago
a 15-day-old child was abandoned by his mother
in the Marine Drive area.
Mumbai: Maharashtra Minister Amit Deshmukh
on Tuesday met a delegation of nurses of govern-
ment hospitals, who have been on strike since
May 28, an association of nurses said. Over
15,000 nurses from state-run hospitals, includ-
ing 1,500 in Mumbai, went on strike to protest
the state government’s decision to outsource the
recruitment of nurses. MSNA general secretary
Sumitra Tote said a decision on whether to con-
tinue the strike will be taken after meeting with
state medical education minister.
Latur: A shopkeeper's son from a village here in Ma-
harashtra has cracked the civil services examination
2021. Rameshwar Sudhakar Sabbanwad, a resident
of Handarguli village in Udgir tehsil of Latur, secured
202nd rank in results announced by the Union Public
Service Commission (UPSC) on Monday. He did his
schooling from the Jawahar Navoday Vidyalay in La-
tur and did his graduation in engineering from Pune.
According to Sabbanwad, he cracked the UPSC exam
in his second attempt. His father is a shopkeeper and
mother a housewife.
Thane: In a suspected suicide bid, a six-year-old girl
was found dead and her mother lying unconscious in
a hotel room in Mira Road area, a police official said
on Tuesday. The police suspect that the woman and
her husband had entered into a “suicide pact”. The
woman’s husband has been missing following the
incident on Monday, he informed. The couple was
under debt and had sold their flat in Vasai area, the
official from Mira Road police station said.
SAFEGUARDING LIVES
A healthcare
worker
administers
a dose of
COVID-19
vaccine to a
man at the
Gateway
of India, in
Colaba area, as
Brihanmumbai
Municipal
Corporation
(BMC)
initiates new
vaccination
drive centres at
various tourist
spots in the
city.
—PHOTO BY BHUSHAN KOYANDE
At 711, Maharashtra
logs highest daily
jump in 3 months
Mumbai (PTI): Maha-
rashtra on Tuesday
recorded 711 new cas-
es of COVID-19, a
sharp rise from 431
logged the previous
day and the highest
daily count since Feb-
ruary 27, while one
more patient suc-
cumbed to the
i n f e c t i o n
even as
the active
t a l l y
i n c h e d
closer to
the3,500-
mark, the
health de-
partment said.
With these additions,
the state’s overall COV-
ID-19 tally rose to
78,87,086, while the
death toll increased to
1,47,860, the depart-
ment said in a bulletin.
On Monday, the state
had recorded 431 fresh
cases, but zero fatality
.
The tally of 711 cases
registered in a 24-hour
period was the highest
since February 27 when
the state had recorded
782 infections.
Mumbai alone logged
506 fresh cases, the bul-
letin said, accounting
for a major chunk of
the new patients in the
state.
The sole COV-
ID-19-linked
fatality dur-
ing the day
was report-
ed from Na-
shik district,
the bulletin
said, adding that
Nandurbar,Dhule,
Jalna, Latur, Akola,
Buldhana and Gondia
districts have zero ac-
tive cases currently
.
The bulletin said 366
people recovered in the
last 24 hours, taking
their cumulative num-
ber to 77,35,751 and leav-
ing the state with 3,475
active cases.
Parts of Maharashtra receive pre-monsoon showers
First India Bureau
Mumbai: Some parts
of Maharashtra, in-
cluding Satara and
Beed, have received
pre-monsoon showers
in the last 24 hours,
an India Meteorologi-
cal Department (IMD)
official said on Tues-
day
.
According to satel-
lite observations re-
corded early Tuesday
morning, the cloud
patch over the South
East Arabian Sea is ex-
pected to move towards
Kerala and Karnataka,
said KS Hosalikar, sen-
ior scientist at the IMD
in Pune, in a Twitter
post. “Some areas of
Maharashtra, includ-
ing Satara and Beed
districts, reported per-
monsoon showers
along with thunder in
the past 24 hours, he
tweeted, adding “Good
sign for South
region.”
A satellite picture
shared by Hosalikar
showed a thick cloud
cover over the Lakshad-
weep islands, Maldives
and western parts of Sri
Lanka. —FILE PHOTO
Some areas of
Maharashtra,
including Sat-
ara and Beed districts,
reported per-monsoon
showers along with
thunder in the past 24
hours.
—KS Hosalikar, senior
scientist at the IMD
Satellite picture showed a thick cloud cover over Maldives,
Lakshadweep islands as well as western parts of Sri Lanka

09
www.firstindia.co.in I https://firstindia.co.in/epapers/mumbai I twitter.com/
thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
TRUE BEAUTY IS ENHANCED BY HONESTY AND DEDICATION TOWARDS
WORK AND SOCIETY AS A WHOLE. ONE SUCH MESMERIZING
CHARISMA IS VAIBHAVI KOHLI FROM DELHI WHO BELIEVES IN THE
SAME. CITY FIRST SPOKE TO VAIBHAVI ABOUT HER MODELLING
JOURNEY AND HERE ARE SOME EXCERPTS OF THAT CHIT CHAT
escribe your-
self and what
would you say
are some vital
skills or char-
acteristics to
have to make it in the
modelling world?
My name is Vaibhavi Kohli
and I was born in Delhi. I
currentlystayinFaridabad.
I am a model by profession.
IgraduatedfromDelhiUni-
versity and have done di-
ploma in French. I have al-
waysbeenabrightstudent.
I taught students for some
timeandalsoworkedinthe
corporate sector. My little
sistermotivatedmetomake
videos on TikTok. Hence,
myjourneyasamodelstart-
ed on TikTok where I had
70k followers but then it got
banned in India.
Modelling is a profession
that requires a lot of disci-
pline and regularity
. Every-
thingneedstobemaintained
from skin to hair to diet.
If you could go in the
future and tell your-
self one thing about
your career what
would it be?
Iwouldaskmyself tobe
careful while trusting
people quickly in the
fashionindustry
.Itis
so because not all of them
are genuine and they might
have twisted intentions. I
wouldadvisemyself towork
as hard as possible as there
are no shortcuts to success.
What inspired you to
become a model?
My partner encouraged me
topursuemodellingbecause
hesawamodelinme.Hehas
been my trainer and sup-
porter.Oneneedssupportto
pursue something like this
be it a partner or someone
fromthefamily
.Ibelievethat
the right guidance
and dedication
make every-
thing possible.
Even my sister
has been my
pillar of
s t r e n g t h
throughout
my journey
.
Now every-
one is happy
to see me suc-
ceed in my ca-
reer.
What was the biggest
rookie mistake you
made when you started?
Initially
, I made multiple
wrong choices when it
came to certain profession-
al associations. However,
luck was always by my
sideandIsailedsuccess-
fullythroughitall. My
dedication helped
me and I feel it
stands important
to be honest with
your profession.
What has been the most
memorable or re-
warding moment
in your career?
There are so
manynumerous
m e m o r a b l e
moments in
my career.
When I
won the
F r e s h
Face Brid-
al Contest in
Chhatarpur,
Bhopalwith
my makeup
artist and during a live
show in Kurukshetra
are my best memories.
However, the most
memorable moment
for me is when peo-
ple remember me
as a famous
model.
DHANUSHREE VYAS
cityfirst@firtsindia.co.in
D
VIVACIOUS
VIVACIOUS
VAIBHAVI
VAIBHAVI
MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY,
JUNE 1, 2022

10
ETC
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VAN GOGH FOR ME IS THE SYNONYM OF ART, HE NOT ONLY
PAINTED THE ICONIC STARRY NIGHTS BUT HAS REDEFINED THE
BEAUTY OF NATURE. FOR VINCENT VAN GOGH, FANTASY AND
REALITY MERGED AFTER DARK IN SOME OF HIS MOST ENDURING
PAINTINGS, WITH HIS ARTS HE TRIED EXPLAINING HIS VISION
TOWARDS THE NEW WORLD THAT WAS TAKING BIRTH IN THE
BEAUTIFULLY CREATIVE MIND OF THE OLD MASTER.
MAGIC OF
VAN-VISION!
ith his bright
sunflowers,
s e a r i n g
wheat fields
and blazing
yellow skies,
he described
his perception of light.
“Oh! that beautiful mid-
summer sun here,” he
wrote to the painter
Émile Bernard in 1888
from the south of
France. “It beats down
on one’s head, and I
haven’t the slightest
doubt that it makes one
crazy
. But as I was so, to
begin with, I only enjoy
it.”
The art Gogh was
also bedazzled with
night, as he wrote to his
brother Theo that same
year: “It often seems to
me that the night is
much more alive and
richly coloured than
the day....The problem
of painting night
scenes and effects on
the spot and actually by
night interests me
enormously.”
His art involved a
breakdown in the rela-
tion between thought,
emotion, and behav-
iour. A beautiful feeling
away from fierce reality
and personal relation-
ships into fantasy, delu-
sion, and a creative
sense of mental frag-
mentation.
Through magnificent
art he described the
daylight or Starry night
wonderfully as the dia-
monds flowing in the
river of a colourful
world, he also gave the
world many of its most
treasured paintings.
His 1888 Sunflowers,
says critic Robert
Hughes, “remains
much the most popular
still life in the history
of art, the botanical an-
swer to the Mona Lisa.”
And van Gogh’s vision-
ary landscape The Star-
ry Night, done the next
year, has long ranked as
the most popular paint-
ing at New York City’s
Museum of Modern Art
(MoMA). This inspired
the museum, in collabo-
ration with Amster-
dam’s Van Gogh Muse-
um, to mount the exhi-
bition “Van Gogh and
the Colors of the Night”
(through January 5,
2009). It will then travel
to the Van Gogh Muse-
um (February 13-June
7, 2009).
“The van Gogh we
usually think of, that
painter of the most au-
dacious, crazy, passion-
ate, frenzied, unleashed
bursts of brushwork,
may be more evident in
his daylight paint
ings,” shared by
MoMA’s curator
for the show,
Joachim Pissar-
ro, great-grand-
son of the French
I m p re s s i o n i s t
Camille Pissarro.
Throughout his
creative career, his
life before art had a
significant impact on
his self-perception. Van
Gogh couldn’t get rid
of his remorse at be-
traying his family, and
he felt continually like
a burden on his broth-
er, Theo.
His creative talents
were supported by his
patrons and established
his own artistic style.
This amazing minded
creator tried to interact
with the world through
his magical views and
brushes. His relation-
ships with his art went
straight into the heart
of real art admirers.
Along with his grow-
ing mental troubles, he
had a surge of growth
in the latter half of his
life. His life before art
held a heavy influence
over his self-perception
throughout his artistic
career. Van Gogh could
not escape his sense of
guilt from failing his
family and constantly
felt like a burden on his
brother, Theo, who
sponsored his artistic
endeavours. Through
Theo’s encouragement
and work as an art deal-
er, Van Gogh developed
his own artistic style
and met other popular
artists from his time.
His friendships along
with his developing
mental issues lead to an
incredible discovery in
the world of art. And
we as his fans are dying
to learn more about
him and his remarka-
ble journey as an artist.
“But in paintings such
as the Arles café at
night, his touch is more
restrained and you re-
ally see his intelligence
at work. Despite all the
mental anguish and de-
pression he experi-
enced, van Gogh never
ceased to enjoy an as-
tonishingly clear self-
awareness and con-
sciousness of what he
was doing.” It was a
misconception about
him that Van Gogh was
a rough and ready chro-
momaniac person driv-
en by his instincts to
render what he saw al-
most as quickly as he
saw it, the artist’s twi-
light and night scenes
are actually elaborate
constructions that also
call on his vast liter-
ary knowledge.”
It seems that van
Gogh never
dreamed his
p a i n t i n g s
would become
such fixed
stars in the art
firmament. In
1890, less than
two months
before he end-
ed his life
with a pistol
shot, he
wrote to a
Paris newspa-
per critic who
had praised his
w o r k .

Like his paint-
ings, van Gogh’s
biography has gone
into legend. He was
born in 1853 in the
Netherlands; his father
was a minister and his
uncles, successful art
dealers. He was dis-
missed while working
as a missionary in
southwest Belgium for
being too zealous and
failed as an art sales-
man by being too hon-
est. When he took up
drawing and painting,
his originality offended
his teachers. One stu-
dent later de-
scribed the scene
at the Antwerp
Academy where
van Gogh en-
rolled: “On that
day the pupils had
to paint two wres-
tlers, who were posed
on the platform,
stripped to the waist.
Van Gogh started paint-
ing feverishly, furious-
ly, with a rapidity that
stupefied his fellow stu-
dents. He laid on his
paint so thickly that his
colours literally
dripped from his can-
vas onto the floor.”
He was prompt-
ly kicked out of
the class.
Van Gogh himself
hinted at this in a let-
ter to his sister Wil,
written in 1888
as he was
painting
his first
star ry
n i g h t
canvas. He was in-
spired, he said, by im-
agery in the poems by
Walt Whitman he was
reading: “He sees...un-
der the great starlit
vault of heaven a some-
thing which after all
one can only call God—
and eternity in its place
above the world.”
Well, as a big Van
Gogh fan I want to say
Van Gogh is the wizard
that has driven the
world through the mag-
ic of his brush and I am
lucky to be a part of
this euphoria.
W
UTTKARSHA SHEKHAR
uttkarsha.shekhar@firstindia.co.in
Artworks inspired by Van Gogh

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