03032022 first india lucknow

UP GOVT TO BEAR
TRAVEL COST OF
STUDENTS
Kanpur (ANI): Uttar Pradesh
government will make ar-
rangements to ensure that
all UP students returning
from Ukraine reach their
homes safely and free of
cost from Delhi Airport, said
Avnish Awasthi, Additional
Chief Secretary (Home). “All
the students of UP arriving
from Ukraine will reach their
homes safely from Delhi and
the full cost will be borne
by the UP government,”
Awasthi said. The Indian govt
is continuously evacuating
students who were stranded
in Ukraine via neighbouring
countries, he said. Awasthi
added, “The Home Depart-
ment and other departments
of UP have been given the
responsibility of ensuring the
students’ security.”
Have started patrolling Nepal border to
stop Oppn leaders from escaping: CM
First India Bureau
Azamgarh: Address-
ing rallies in Sadar and
Sagadi assembly con-
stituencies of Azam-
garh on Wednesday, CM
Yogi Adityanath said
that the Samajwadi Par-
ty’s development was
only limited to the
boundary walls of ‘Ka-
bristan’ (graveyard).
“It is only in the BJP
government that Azam-
garh is connected with
thePurvanchalExpress-
way, there is a medical
college, a university is
being built in the name
of Maharaj Suhel Dev,
sugar mill is being ex-
panded, electricity and
water being provided to
every ‘majra’,” he said.
The CM took a dig at op-
position parties, saying,
“They(Opposition)have
already made arrange-
ments for their foreign
escape on March 11,
they have booked tickets
because they know the
result. We have started
joint patrolling also at
the Nepal borders.”
YOGI IN AZAMGARH
CM Yogi addresses a rally in Azamgarh on Wednesday.
Rajasthan CM Ashok
Gehlot writes exclusively
for First India on the Old
Pension System.
inside P4
OUR EDITIONS:
JAIPUR, AHMEDABAD,
LUCKNOW & NEW DELHI
www.firstindia.co.in
www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/
twitter.com/thefirstindia
facebook.com/thefirstindia
instagram.com/thefirstindia
LUCKNOW l THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2022 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI NO. UPENG/2020/80229 l Vol 2 l Issue No. 111
If a third World War were to
take place, it would involve
nuclear weapons and be
destructive. Russia would face
“real danger” if Kyiv acquired
nuclear weapons.
—SERGEI LAVROV, Russian Foreign Minister
I say to the Russian oligarchs and corrupt leaders we built billions of dollars of
this violent regime — no more! United States Department of Justice is
assembling a dedicated task force to go after their crimes. We are coming for
your ill-begotten gains. The US and European allies were coming after their
yachts, luxury apartments and private jets. And tonight, I am announcing that
we are joining our allies in closing off our airspace to all Russian flights.
—JOE BIDEN, US President in first State of the Union address
BOMBING UKRAINE,
THREATENING WORLD
Moscow (Agencies):
Russian Foreign Minis-
ter Sergei Lavrov said
on Wednesday that if a
third World War were to
take place, it would in-
volve nuclear weapons
and be destructive, the
RIA agency reported.
A week after launch-
ing its invasion of
Ukraine, Russia said its
forces took control the
first sizable city on
Wednesday, seizing
Kherson, in the south,
as fighting raged
around the country and
Western nations tight-
ened an economic noose
around Russia.
More than half a mil-
lion Ukrainians have
fled the fighting since
Russian attack.
The assault on the
Ukrainian city of Kharkiv
continued even as
Russia said it would be
ready to resume talks
with the Ukrainian side
Russia claims control
over Ukraine’s Kherson;
Another Indian
student in Ukraine
dies due to prolonged
brain-related illness
All Indian nationals in
Kharkiv have been asked to
leave immediately for their
safety. The advisory comes
amid a huge shortage of
public transport
A 40-mile (64-kilometer) convoy of hundreds
of Russian tanks and other vehicles advanced
slowly on Kyiv, the capital city of nearly 3
million people, in what the West feared was a
bid by Putin to topple the government and
install a Kremlin-friendly regime
1 2 3 4
RUSSIA TO PROBE
INDIAN STUDENT’S
DEATH IN SHELLING
Moscow is working to
ensure a safe corridor for
evacuation of Indian stu-
dents stranded in eastern
Ukraine and will launch a
probe into the death of an
Indian student in shelling
in Kharkiv, Russian am-
bassador to India Denis
Alipov said Wednesday.
CHINA HOLDS TALKS
WITH UKRAINE
China is “extremely con-
cerned” about the harm
to civilians in Ukraine,
Foreign Minister Wang Yi
told his Ukrainian coun-
terpart Dmytro Kuleba
during a phone call, in
the latest indication of
Beijing’s desire
to prevent the war’s
further escalation.
KILLED STUDENT’S
FATHER RESPONDS
TO MIN’S REMARK
Father of Naveen re-
ponded to Minister Pral-
had Joshi’s comments
on students failing to
qualify in exams in India.
“Naveen simply could not
afford to study medicine
in India and so went to
Ukraine,” Shekharappa
Gyanagoudar said.
INDIA EVACUATES VIA
MOLDOVA ROUTE
The Indian government
is evacuating its citizens
stranded in Odessa town
of Ukraine. The entire
evacuation process is
being carried out via
Moldova to Romania. The
Indian embassy in Roma-
nia in coordination with
Moldovan authorities is
organising movement.
‘IT’S DUE TO RISING STRENGTH OF INDIA,
WE ARE ABLE TO EVACUATE NATIONALS’
Sonbhadra: Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi on Wednesday (March 2)
said that India is able to evacuate its
stranded nationals under ‘Operation
Ganga’ in Ukraine because of the
country’s ‘rising power’. Addressing
a poll rally in UP’s Sonbhadra, Modi
said, “India will leave no stone un-
turned in bringing back the stranded
nationals from war-hit Ukraine”.
PM MODI SPEAKS TO PUTIN, DISCUSSES
EVACUATION OF STRANDED INDIANS
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
spoke to Russian President
Vladimir Putin on Wednesday and
discussed the issue of safe evacu-
ation of Indians from war-torn
Ukraine. This was the second con-
versation between Modi and Putin
within a week on Ukraine conflict.
VIKTOR YANUKOVYCH, KREMLIN’S PICK
FOR UKRAINE PRESIDENT AFTER WAR
Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who
fled to Russia in 2014, is being prepared by the
Kremlin for a special occasion, The Kyiv Independent
tweeted, citing a report
by the Ukrayinska Pravda,
an online newspaper. The
report, citing Ukrainian
intelligence, said that ac-
cording to one scenario,
Russia will try to declare
him as the “President of Ukraine”. The Kremlin may
be preparing an informational operation or action for
Yanukovych’s return to Ukraine, it said.
Ukrainian soldier passes the site of a fighting with Russian troops in the Ukrainian capital
of Kyiv. (Left) Volunteers from the Territorial Defense Units make Molotov cocktails to use
against Russian troops in Kyiv. Ukraine on Wednesday sharply raised the number of civilians
killed in the Russian invasion to over 2,000 as the country contested Russian claims of
capturing the port of Kherson and reported an escalation in attacks on many cities.
‘3rd World War will involve nuclear weapons’
Indian Girl Students
Out Of Kharkiv With
Russian Help, Boys
Next: Sources
TMC decimates Oppn, wins 102 of 108 civic bodies
Kolkata (PTI): The
ruling Trinamool Con-
gress has recorded a
landslide victory in
the West Bengal mu-
nicipal elections win-
ning 102 of the 108 mu-
nicipalities. Out of the
102 civic bodies won by
the TMC, there is no
opposition in 31 mu-
nicipalities. TMC
chief and West Bengal
Chief Minister Mama-
ta Banerjee congratu-
lated all the winning
candidates of the par-
ty and expressed grati-
tude over the “over-
whelming mandate”.
The Left Front se-
cured its victory in
Taherpur Municipali-
ty in the Nadia dis-
trict. BJP failed to
open its account.
The Congress too
failed to win a single
seat. Surprisingly, the
newly-formed Humro
Party won the Darjeel-
ing Municipality
.
The civic body polls
recorded a 77 per cent
turnout, marred with
violence.
P7
Penultimate phase of polls
moves to Yogi’s stronghold
Lucknow (PTI): The
sixth round of Assem-
bly polls in UP will see
voting for 57 seats on
Thursday, sealing the
fate of political heavy-
weights such as Chief
Minister Yogi Adity-
anath, the Congress’
Ajay Kumar Lallu and
Samajwadi Party’s
Swami Prasad Maurya.
The polling has now
movedtothePurvanchal
region where 111 seats
are up for grabs. There
are a total of over 2.14 cr
voters in this phase. The
districtswherepollingis
to be held are Ambed-
karnagar, Balrampur,
Siddharthnagar, Basti,
SantKabirNagar,Maha-
rajganj, Gorakhpur,
Kushinagar, Deoria and
Ballia. These 57 assem-
bly segments, of which
11 are reserved, are cru-
cial for BJP. In the 2017
polls, it won 46 of these
seats. Among the 676
candidates is Yogi Adi-
tyanath, fighting his
first assembly polls.
UTTAR PRADESH PHASE-6 (TODAY)
57
Constituencies
10
Districts
2.16
crore voters
676
Candidates
in the fray
46
seats BJP
clinched in
2017 polls
7am-6pm
Polling time
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath
(Gorakhpur Urban), Mata Prasad
Pandey (Itwa), Leader of Opposition
in the state assembly
Ram Govind Chaudhary
from Bansdih against
Ketakee Singh (BJP), Vinay
Shankar Tiwari who would
be contesting on SP ticket this time
against Rajesh Tripathi (BJP) from
Chillupar and Rakesh Pandey on
SP ticket from Jalalpur.
KEY CANDIDATES
Caste-based
census,
reservation,
Healthcare
facilities,
unemployment,
inflation, stray
cattle and
infrastructure
development
CRUCIAL
ISSUES

UTTAR PRADESH
LUCKNOW | THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2022
02
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
Balrampur (PTI): In
this UP district, which
sent ex- PM Atal Bihari
Vajpayee to Parliament
for the first time, the
Bharatiya Janta Party
(BJP) appears to be fac-
ing a tough task as it
tries to repeat its clean
sweep on all four assem-
bly seats.
Vajpayee was elected
for the first time as a
Member of Parliament
in 1957 from the Bal-
rampur constituency,
which has four assem-
bly constituencies of
Balrampur, Gaisri,
Utraula and Tulsipur --
all represented by the
BJP at present.
In 2007, the BSP and
the BJP had won two
seats each in Balram-
pur, while in 2012, the
SP had won all the four
seats. In 2017, the BJP
had bagged all the as-
sembly segments here.
“This situation is dif-
ferent this time. It’s un-
likely that the BJP will
retain all the four seats.
On most of the seats, a
direct contest appears
between the BJP and
the SP though BSP and
Congress candidates
are also in the fray,”
said Ansar Ahmad
Khan, Manager of HRA
Inter college in Utraula.
The issues in the dis-
trict, like other dis-
tricts, are development,
stray cattle menace,
payment of sugarcane
dues, but apart from
these caste and reli-
gious factors are also
there, he said.
In Balrampur, a re-
served seat, sitting
MLA Palturam (BJP)
who is also a minister
of state, is being chal-
lenged by SP’s Jagram
Paswan while Con-
gress’s Babita Maurya
is also in the fray
.
The seat has over 4.14
lakh voters including
eight per cent of them
belonging to the gener-
al category, 38 per cent
OBC, 21 per SC/ST and
23 per cent Muslims.
Tulsipur seat also
has maximum 35 per
cent OBC, 23 per SC and
22 per cent Muslims be-
sides others.
Zeba Rizwan, daugh-
ter of former MP Riz-
wan Zaheer, is contest-
ing as an independent
candidate from Tulsi-
pur.
Both Zaheer and his
daughter are presently
in jail in a murder case.
After the denial of SP
ticket, Zeba is in the
fray and her supporters
said she is getting good
support.
While the BJP has
once again fielded
Kailash Nath Shukla,
the SP has given ticket
to two-time MLA Abdul
Mahsood Khan.
“It could be advan-
tage BJP as Zeba dents
SP’s Muslim vote bank.
However, OBC votes
will be decisive,” says
Shamshad Khan, a lo-
cal.
In Gaisri seat, sitting
MLA and former Luc-
know University Stu-
dents’ Union president
Shailesh Kumar Singh
‘Shailu’ is getting a
tough challenge from
SP’s Shiv Pratap Yadav.
It is to be noted thatIn
2017, Shailesh Singh
Shailu managed to win
the seat from Shiv Prat-
ap Yadav by a margin of
2,303 votes. Both Con-
gress and BSP has field-
ed Muslim candidates
on the seat.
BJP keen to repeat 2017 show, faces tough challenge in Balrampur
POLL FEVER

On most
seats in
Balrampur
district there
seems to be
a direct
contest
between the
ruling BJP
and the SP
in oppn
Public listens to CM Yogi’s address in Azamgarh on Wednesday.
YOGI’S LINK
Self-reliance can make India more
powerful in global scenario: Modi
First India Bureau
Sonbhadra: “A mas-
sive campaign like Op-
eration Ganga to evacu-
ate stranded Indian cit-
izens from Ukraine re-
flects our growing
might in the global are-
na, and we will leave no
stone unturned to bring
back every citizen from
the country safely”,
said PM Modi said on
Wednesday
.
Addressing election
rallies, Modi said that
thousands of immi-
grants have already
been evacuated while
four ministers have
been sent as well as In-
dian Air Force (IAF)
planes deployed to
bring back the remain-
ing Indian citizens.
He added: “In the
present global scenario,
India needs to be more
powerful, but it is pos-
sible only when India is
self-reliant with least
dependence on other
countries for its needs.
And you can’t rely on
these dynasts, who
mock India’s self-reli-
ance efforts through
Make in India mission,
humiliate our armed
forces and question
their valour, as well as
spread rumours against
our own vaccines for
Covid, to make India
strong.”
“We ran the fastest
vaccination campaign
and provided free ra-
tion to 80 crore people
for two years during the
Covid pandemic, in-
cluding 15 crore in Ut-
tar Pradesh, a fact
which has stunned the
world. Our Government
is working tirelessly to
ensure that no child
stays hungry in these
challenging times”, he
pointed out.
Despite the fact that
Sonbhadra supplied
electricity to Purvan-
chal region, but many
villages in the region
remained without elec-
tricity, PM Modi said
that people were never
the priority of previus
governments.
E n u m e r a t i n g
achievements of double
engine government, he
remarked: “Sonbhadra
and many other dis-
tricts are endowed with
rich natural resources.
But, the previous gov-
ernments headed by op-
position parties looted
minerals and left people
to fend for themselves.
Our Govt has set up Dis-
trict Mineral Fund from
which States will get
50,000. Besides, a por-
tion of the revenue
earned from minerals
will go to the place it be-
longs to.”
‘Four Ministers , IAF planes sent to Ukraine to help stranded Indians’
PM Modi addresses an election rally in Ghazipur on Wednesday. —PHOTO BY PTI
PM MODI SETS EYES ON RECORD WIN
Addressing a public rally in Ghazipur in UP, PM
Modi exuded confidence in the BJP’s win saying
that every vote will take the party towards victory.
“Each and every vote will take us to record victory
in the Assembly elections. It will give us new
energy to work for the development and growth
of the state. Each vote will give a befitting reply to
‘Pariwarwadi’ parties,” the Prime Minister said.
PM likely to
be in Varanasi
on March 4, 5
Varanasi (PTI):
Prime Minister
Narendra Modi is
likely to be in Va-
ranasi on March 4
and 5, the last two
days of campaign-
ing for the Uttar
Pradesh Assembly
elections.
The BJP’s Vara-
nasi city president
Vidyasagar Rai on
Wednesday said
on day one Modi
will hold a road-
show in the city
area and the next
day he will ad-
dress a public
meeting in Khaju-
ri village in Rajat-
alab.
Polling for the
last phase of the
UP Assembly
election will be
held on March 7
and results will be
declared on
March 10.
PM Modi —FILE PHOTO
Union Home Minister Amit Shah offers prayers at Kashi Vishwanath temple, in Varanasi on Wednesday.
Instead of illegal weapons, UP
now makes missiles, says Shah
Chandauli (PTI):
Union Home Minister
Amit Shah on Wednes-
day said illegal weap-
ons were made earlier
in Uttar Pradesh to
scare and kill people
but now shells and mis-
siles are being manu-
factured to protect the
country.
Amit Shah was ap-
parently referring to
the defence industrial
corridor coming up in
the state.
The Union Home
Minister also listed
various achievements
of the BJP government
led by Chief Minister
Yogi Adityanath in Ut-
tar Pradesh.
Chandauli will go to
polls during the sev-
enth phase on March 7.
“Earlier, illegal
weapons were made in
Uttar Pradesh, which
were used to scare or
kill people. Today,
shells and missiles are
being made here, which
are used to protect In-
dia. This change has
come during the BJP
government,” Shah
said addressing an elec-
tion meeting here.”
Shah also exuded
confidence that the
BJP will win the ongo-
ing assembly elections.
“I have been to
around 150 (assembly)
seats of in UP and seen
the election mood at ev-
ery place. In the first
five phases of the elec-
tions, the SP and the
BSP will be wiped off,
and the people are
working to form the
BJP government. Now,
you have to vote to take
the tally (of seats) be-
yond 300.”
The home minister
said, “In Uttar
Pradesh, one or two
‘bahubalis’ (musclem-
en) are still left, who
will be sent to the jail
after March 10”.
BJP KA BULLDOZER BADE-BADO KI
BOLTI BAND KARATA HAI: CM YOGI
First India Bureau
Mau: CM Yogi Aditya-
nath on Wednesday
slammed the Samajwa-
di Party, accusing it of
being responsible for
scams, fielding terror-
ists, criminals, and or-
chestrating riots every
fourth day during its
regime.
Yogi, who was ad-
dressing public meet-
ings at Madhuban, Gho-
si, Mau Sadar and Mu-
hammadabad-Gohna
assembly constituen-
cies, targeted his guns
on the Samajwadi Party
and said, “few years
ago, mafias dominated
Mau, one of them
crushed Ram-devotees,
Hindus and opened fire
at them. Previous gov-
ernments were at their
mercy, however, today,
we have sent them to
their rightful place.”
Targeting the SP, the
CM commented: “What
was the condition of
Mau five years back?
The mafia and crimi-
nals used to harass the
public, traders.” He also
added that after the for-
mation of the BJP gov-
ernment, the criminals
have vanished from the
state and are begging
for their lives”.
Adding that BJP is
committed to providing
an environment of safe-
ty while ensuring the
development of the
state, Yogi remarked,
“Humara Bulldozer bol-
ta nahi hai par bade-
bade mafiaon ki bolti
band karwa deta hai.”
Yogi arrives to address a public meet for Assembly Elections, in Mau on Wednesday. —PHOTO BY ANI
Va r a n a s i ( A N I ) :
BJP national presi-
dent JP Nadda on
Wednesday promised
to start metro ser-
vices in some dis-
tricts of Uttar
Pradesh including
Agra, Gorakhpur, Va-
ranasi, Prayagraj,
and Meerut in the
next five years if BJP
retains power UP.
He also claimed
that Uttar Pradesh
has marked the low-
est unemployment
rate under Yogi-led
government. “In the
next five years, we’ll
start metro services
in Agra, Gorakhpur,
Varanasi, Prayagraj,
and Meerut. UP has
marked the lowest
unemployment rate
under the Yogi gov-
ernment. Through
MSMEs, more than
three lakh jobs have
been created in the
state,” Nadda said
while addressing a
public rally Varana-
si. Further, Nadda
mentioned the other
development works
done by BJP in UP
and said that the
state stands at sec-
ond position in the
Ease of Doing Busi-
ness ranking.
Nadda addresses traders in
Varanasi on Wednesday.
BJP has sent
them (prev govts)
to their rightful
place, said Yogi
BJP MP Sanghamitra Maurya
booked for violence and loot
Ghazipur (ANI): Af-
ter Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) MP Sang-
hamitra Maurya
came out in support
of her father and Sa-
majwadi Party (SP)
candidate Swami
Prasad Maurya, an
FIR was filed against
her by a BJP leader.
Earlier on Tues-
day
, Maurya’s convoy
was attacked during
a roadshow. The case
has been lodged by
BJP leader Deepraj
Kharwar against
Sanghamitra Mau-
rya, her brother
Ashok Maurya and
30 others for rioting
and looting cash and
gold chains.
The case was regis-
tered under the SC/
ST Act.
Earlier on Tues-
day, Former Uttar
Pradesh Minister
Swami Prasad Mau-
rya, who is contest-
ing from Fazilnagar
as Samajwadi Party
candidate, alleged
that his convoy
was attacked on
Tuesday during elec-
tioneering “by BJP
workers”.
Sanghmitra Maurya
Amit Shah addresses an election rally in Chandauli.
UP Metro set to expand if
BJP voted to power: Nadda

UTTAR PRADESH
03
Governance in Uttar Pradesh goes into sleep mode till March 10
M Tariq Khan
Lucknow: The high
stakes UP elections
2022 are 70 per cent
done with just two
more rounds to go.
While results would be
announced on March
10, like most politi-
cians and pollsters, the
state’s bureaucracy is
also trying to read as to
which way the wind is
blowing in the State. ne
such top bureaucrat is
reportedly sending
‘good morning’ mes-
sages to the chief of a
oppositionparty
,which
has emerged as princi-
pal challenger to the
ruling BJP.
Pissed off over these
unsolicited attempts to
keep him in good hu-
mour, the party supre-
mo is known to have
blocked the ‘eager bea-
ver’ civil servant. Iron-
ically, the same officer
was seen parroting the
UP BJP’s signature
tune ‘aiyenge to Yogi ji
he….’ at a party when
asked about his take on
March 10. Well, he is
not alone, several of
his colleagues in the
‘steel frame’ these days
seem to have ample
time for crystal-ball
gazing. What with the
month-long sev-
en-phased polls having
put governance on
sleep mode as system
doesn’t ‘demand’ that
IAS officers work.
While a lot can be done,
governance suffers for
reasons beyond just
the restrictions of
the model poll code.
The three big reasons
are: curtailed adminis-
trative bandwidth,
weakened accountabil-
ity for ministries / de-
partments, and insuffi-
cient incentives for the
bureaucracy
.
The face of the gov-
ernment at the district
level the collector
or deputy commission-
er or district magis-
trate (different nomen-
clatures in different
states) is also often the
Electoral Officer of the
corresponding constit-
uency. With him/her
p r e - o c c u p i e d
with the elections,
there is little time left
for governance mat-
ters. Moreover, several
senior IAS officers are
posted as election ob-
servers by the EC to
other states, further
reducing the adminis-
trative bandwidth.
Janardan Misra
Lucknow: Days after
the arrest of Luv Saxe-
na, Director of MC Sax-
ena & RR Sinha Memo-
rial Hospital, several
doctors & members of
staff of the hospital
have been found guilty
of illegal admission of
nearly 250 fake patients
to obtain affiliation for
the institution.
The hospital author-
ities and staffers have
also been charged with
trying to extract inter-
nal body-parts of these
fake patients by inject-
ing them with fluids
not prescribed by any
doctor. On February 8
this year, the Dubag-
ga-situated RR Sinha
Memorial Hospital, in
order to bluff a visit-
ing Medical Council of
India (MCI) team, had
admitted nearly 250 la-
bourers asking them to
fake as Inpatient Dept
(IPD) patients in ex-
change for financial
benefits.
It was reported that
more than 15 staff
members including
doctors were involved
in this crime to obtain
affiliation for the insti-
tution. Police are also
looking for contractors
who provided the la-
bourers to the hospital
which kept them hos-
tage for long.
Police have recov-
ered several illegal
documents from the
office and residence of
Dr Luv Shekhar Saxe-
na. Speaking with First
India, Chiranjeev Nath
Sinha, Additional Dep-
uty Commissioner of
Police (ADCP), said
that those who have
been named in the FIRs
will all be arrested
soon. “At present, Luv
Saxena is in judicial
custody. We have
rounded off at least
five people and are in-
terrogating them.
First India Bureau
Agra: As the date for
the end of the Assembly
elections is approach-
ing, preparations for
the counting of votes
are also gaining mo-
mentum. The Agra dis-
trict administration
has said there will be
randomisation of 1200
counting staff on
March 3.
This entire work will
be done at the NIC in
the presence of Agra
District Magistrate Pra-
bhu N Singh. Training
will be given to all the
poll officials for count-
ing of votes on March 9
and the counting of
votes will start from
8amonMarch10. About
60 percent of the voters
exercised their fran-
chise this election. The
District Magistrate said
that 14 tables would be
used for counting of
votes in each assembly
constituency
. There will
be seven tables under
one pandal and four of-
ficials at a table.
First India Bureau
Kanpur: The process
of setting up a diesel
plant at Panki Bhavs-
ingh from plastic waste
has finally started.
Bhopal-based company
Pavitra Waste Manage-
ment has taken 5 tonnes
of plastic waste for
testing in the laborato-
ry. With this it will be
known what quality
diesel could be pre-
pared from the plastic
waste.
To curb air pollution
in the city, there is a
plan to dispose more
and more of plastic
waste for which the Mu-
nicipal Corporation has
signed a contract with
Pavitra Waste Manage-
ment to set up the plant.
If the plant is installed,
not only will pollution
be reduced but 2500 li-
ters of diesel will also
be produced daily
. Rs 1.5
crore will be spent on
the plant. The company
has received NOC from
many departments and
the lab report is await-
ed. Municipal informed
that by next month the
situation will be clear
as to which type of die-
sel will be prepared. .
This diesel can be sold
in the market.
LOK BHAVAN
RR Sinha Memorial Hospital
CRUCIAL READ
Lucknow: UP Congress has received a jolt with one of
it’s prominent face Nakul Lala joining Samajwadi Party.
He had earlier resigned from primary membership of
the party
besides
from the
post of vice
chairman
of RTE
department
of the party.
It may be
mentioned
that Nakul
Lala has
a good
hold in five
lok sabha constituencies around state capital and has
remained incharge of Lakhimpur, sitapur, dhaurhara,
mohanlalganj besides president of Lucknow lok sabha
constituency. His first photograph after joining Sama-
jwadi Party with Akhilesh Yadav showed his clout.
Hardoi: Superintendent of police Rajesh Dwivedi has
denied that Vaishali Yadav was arrested for spread-
ing fake videos about Indians stuck in Ukraine. It was
revealed that the girl in video on social media was not
Vaishali. Dwivedi said neither Vaishali was in viral video
nor she was arrested. He confirmed that Vaishali was
in Romania and trying to return home. Earlier, it was
circulated on social media that the girl in viral video
was daughter of Samajwadi Party (SP) leader and was
trying to spread hatred against Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
LUONLYSTATE
VARSITYINQS
WORLDRANKINGS
Lucknow: The Univer-
sity of Lucknow is the
only State University of
Uttar Pradesh to find
a place in the 2022
QS World University
Rankings among Asian
universities. Quacquarelli
Symonds is the world’s
leading agency to rank
universities and edu-
cational institutions in
global higher education
sector and the world’s
most popular source of
comparative data about
university performance.
VC Prof Alok Kumar Rai
expressed strong com-
mitment to enhance the
quality of education.
LUCKNOW DM
INSPECTS VOTE
COUNTING SITE
Lucknow: Abhishek
Prakash, District Magis-
trate of Lucknow and the
District Election Officer
on Wednesday did the
first randomization of
personnel for the count-
ing of votes for the up-
coming General Election
according to assemblies.
On the occasion, the
District Election Officer
said that for the count-
ing of votes on 10th
March, 14 tables will be
kept in each assembly
for counting of EVM, 2
tables will be kept for
counting of postal ballot/
ETBPS and 3 tables will
be kept in reserve.
FORMER CONGRESS VICE CHAIRMAN
NAKUL LALA JOINS SAMAJWADI PARTY
RUMOURS OF ARREST OF HARDOI GIRL
ON SOCIAL MEDIA, SP DENIES
Shahjahanpur(PTI):
Indians trying to leave
Ukraine were “kicked”
and “dragged” by offi-
cials at the country’s
border, a student has
claimed while adding
that the local people
were very helpful to
them. Anshika, a third-
year MBBS student in
Ukraine’s Vinnytsia,
landed in Delhi at
around 11 pm on Tues-
day and arrived home
in Shahjahanpur on
Wednesday.
“I had given up all
hopes of returning to
India as the situation
there was grave. All of
us were consoling each
other and sharing the
pain,” Anshika told.
While she is thou-
sands of kilometres
away from the war-
torn country, the sound
of siren blaring gives
her the chills bringing
back haunting memo-
ries of the devastation
caused in the city
along the Southern
Bug river she once
called home.
Talking about her
escape, Anshika said,
on February 26, she
along with 50 other
students boarded a bus
from Vinnytsia to
Chernivtsi and
reached there at night
after travelling for
about 10 hours.
Without waiting for
dawn, they walked six
kilometres to reach the
Romanian border. The
sound of firing made
us afraid. We were
walking towards the
Romania border and
praying to God.
In the desperation to
cross the border, some
students fell down and
got hurt and were un-
able to walk.
However, they car-
ried on after taking the
help of others, she
said. ”At the border,
the Ukrainian officials
made those coming
from Ternopil and Iva-
no cities cross the bor-
der first and it was
then that someone
pushed the students,
injuring a girl.
The Romanian Army
even fired in the air,”
she said.
“After this, the
Ukraine officials
kicked the Indian stu-
dents who had fallen
down and they were
also dragged, she said,
adding that the citi-
zens of Ukraine, how-
ever, were very helpful.
We then got entry into
Romania and were giv-
en food, water and a
blanket. Their (Roma-
nians) behaviour was
much better,” she said.
UP student narrates harrowing experience
‘KICKED, DRAGGED AT UKRAINE BORDER’
PM’s morphed photo: HC
denies relief to group admin
First India Bureau
Prayagraj: The Alla-
habad High court dis-
missed a petition seek-
ing quashing of crimi-
nal proceedings
against a whatsapp
group admin in whose
group someone sent a
morphed photo of PM
Modi while observing
that he was a ‘group
admin’ and also a
‘co-extensive member
of the group’.
Justice Mohd Aslam
dismissed the petition
filed by Mohd Imran
Malik who was manag-
ing a whatsapp group
in which one of the
members Najam Alam
sent the morphed pho-
to of PM. Petitioner’s
contention was that
the said message was
not sent by him and it
was sent by one Najam
Alam. He was only the
group ‘admin’.” ”No
case against him was
made out and the pro-
ceeding was liable to
be quashed.” Argued
the petitioner’s coun-
sel. State govt counsel
opposed the petition
and said that liability
of the sender of the
message and that of
the ‘group admin’ is
co-extensive and it can-
not be said no offence
under Section 66 (com-
puter related offences)
of the IT Act was made
out against the peti-
tioner. The court while
dismissing the petition
observed, “From the
perusal of the record it
appears that the appli-
cant was a ‘group ad-
min’ and he is also a
co-extensive member
of the group.
HC GRANTS RELIEF TO
UPSRTC DRIVER
Prayagraj:The Allahabad High Court has
ordered the Managing Director (MD) of Uttar
Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UP-
SRTC) to grant relief including 40 per cent back
wages to a driver who was dismissed in 1991.
single-judge bench of Justice Ajay Bhanot
passed this order while hearing a petition filed
by Lahari Singh. It was charged that on March
8, 1990, the petitioner was taking a UPSRTC
bus from Khurja to Aligarh. An investigation
team boarded the bus and found that 21 pas-
sengers were without tickets. The bill did not
contain any details of 15 passengers who had
boarded the bus. The second charge against
the petitioner was that the scheduled distance
of the bus journey was 306 km. However,
the petitioner and the conductor travelled a
distance of only 26 km causing financial loss to
the UPSRTC. The enquiry officer submitted his
report on April 12, 1991.
Lakhimpur Kheri: Samajwadi Party workers on
Wednesday raised concern about the security of
EVMs kept in the strong room at Lakhimpur Kheri.
They brought LCD TVs and demanded that the LCDs
be connected to the CCTV cameras installed in some
strong rooms which were out of sight. They demanded
that they wanted to keep a close watch on each strong
room and also objected to the vehicles coming con-
tinuously to the FCI godown where the EVMs are kept.
They added that the administration should not have
used the warehouse until the voting process was com-
pleted, as they did not know what was coming inside
the truck and it was difficult to monitor that.
‘DOCTORS, STAFF TRIED TO EXTRACT INTERNAL BODY PARTS’
CRIMESCENEHospital admitted 250
labourers to fake patients
ABSCONDING
DIESEL FROM
PLASTIC
WASTE AT
PANKI
Plan ready for vote counting
at 5 different places in Agra
 Kheragarh Mandi Committee
 Motilal Ramnath Degree College Bhadrauli Bah
 Fatehabad Mandi Committee
 Fatehpur Sikri Mandi Committee
 Galla Mandi Committee Firozabad Road
VOTES WILL BE COUNTED AT
Lucknow(PTI):In the sixth phase, a total of
824 majras and localities have been marked as
vulnerable, while 2,962 polling places have been
considered as critical, it added.The police said a
total of 109 Pink Booths (women booths) have
been made to specially motivate women to vote.
Nineteen women inspectors or sub-inspectors
besides 259 women constables or head con-
stables have been deployed in these booths. All
13,930 polling stations will be covered by the
Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) for the suc-
cessful conduct of the polling in the sixth phase.
259 WOMEN CONSTABLES
DEPLOYED AT 109 PINK BOOTHS
SP’s concerns over strong
room in Lakhimpur Kheri
Dr Luv Shekhar Saxena

PERSPECTIVE
04
THE VEHICLE OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC SECURITY
OLD PENSION SYSTEM
T
he Congress Party and its
Government in Rajasthan
recognizes its duty to pro-
vide socio-economic secu-
rity to the people. A Gov-
ernment employee
serves for 30-35 years
and spends his post re-
tirement life on the basis
of pension. It is there-
fore the duty of any
elected Government to
ensure that the employ-
ees live their life with a
sense of security so that
they can render their in-
valuable contribution to
cause of good govern-
ance. With a view to
strengthening the socio-
economic base of the Gov-
ernment employees, the
Central Civil Services
(Pension) Act, 1972 was im-
plemented which had pro-
vision for an inbuilt pen-
sion/ family Pension, Gra-
tuity and commuted
amount. Unfortunately the
old pension system was
done away with by the Vaj-
payee Government in De-
cember, 2003 and replaced
it with a New Pension Sys-
tem (NPS) w.e.f. 01.04.2004.
The NPS in its current
form is riddled with a num-
ber of problems and the
employees throughout the
country have been demand-
ing for the restoration of
the Old Pension System
(OPS) as the NPS fails to
take care of their current
as well as post retirement
needs. National Human
Rights Commission, CAG
Report No. 13 of 2020 and
the Second National Judi-
cial Pay Commission have
also raised questions about
the efficacy of the NPS in
providing guaranteed so-
cio-economic security to
the employees. Under the
NPS, the hard earned re-
tirement fund of employees
is subjected to the vagaries
of share market which fluc-
tuates at the drop of a hat.
In the event of major in-
ternational crises like
the present Ukraine cri-
sis, the share market no-
sedives thereby increas-
ing the heartbeats of em-
ployees and perennially
putting their social secu-
rity at risk. An employee
cannot work with his full
potential and contribute
to good governance if his
socio-economic security
is threatened. Since the
pension fund is invested in
market which is replete
with risk and provides no
guarantee of return even
after 17 years of implemen-
tation of NPS, it engenders
old age insecurity among
the employees.
In order to protect the
interests of Rajasthan
Government employees
and safeguard their life
after retirement, the
Congress Government in
Rajasthan decided to re-
store the Old Pension
System (OPS) for all the
employees joining gov-
ernment services on or
after 1 January, 2004.
In my budget speech in
the State Assembly on 23
February, 2022, I have an-
nounced to implement the
OPS from the next Finan-
cial Year. This decision has
been hailed not only by the
employees in Rajasthan
but also by the employees
of all the States. Earlier,
Pension was the primary
differentiating factor be-
tween the Government and
the private jobs. The Pay
scales in Government jobs
cannot exceed the pre-
scribed limit. Talented
youths used to accord pri-
ority to government jobs
because guaranteed pen-
sion under OPS provided
security to their future. It
has been observed the in-
terest of talented youth in
Government job dwindled
with the implementation
of NPS. The decision to im-
plement OPS will attract
large number of talented
youth towards government
jobs in future.
It is said about OPS
that it places a lot of fi-
nancial burden on the
governments and forces
them to abandon devel-
opment and welfare
works. These critics fail
to take into account the
fact that the country has
done commendably well
even when the Old Pen-
sion System was in force.
Development and public
welfare works were nev-
er curtailed on account
of OPS.
A number of factors trig-
gered the Government of
Rajasthan to restore the
OPS. In the Old Pension
System, an employee was
guaranteed the right of
pension as half of the last
basic salary plus dearness
relief at the time of retire-
ment and in the case of in-
service death, the employee
and his family was given
economic support in the
form of Death Cum Retire-
ment Gratuity (DCRG). No
such guarantee is provided
in the NPS. Table 1.1 exhib-
its the major difference be-
tweentheOPSandtheNPS.
The fact that the armed
forces have not been in-
cluded in the NPS right
from the beginning, makes
it clear that the OPS ade-
quately provides social se-
curity to them. The NPS
was implemented for em-
ployees in Indian Coast-
guard under the defense
ministry while the employ-
ees of this service work
with the same alertness
and face the same challeng-
es as faced by the person-
nel of armed forces. Simi-
lar services are rendered
by employees of BSF, CISF,
CRPF, ITBP, SSB etc. yet
they have been covered un-
der NPS. The employees of
the central and the State
Governments also dis-
charge their duties with
the same spirit and com-
mitment. Keeping two dif-
ferent systems of pension
is discriminatory and is
against the principle of
natural justice.
In the performance au-
dit of the NPS (Report No.
13 of 2020) the CAG has
come out with revealing
facts regarding the plan-
ning, implementation and
monitoring of the NPS.
The CAG report mentions
that ‘Even after 15 years of
introduction of NPS, rules
on service conditions/re-
tirement benefits in re-
spect of employees covered
by NPS were pending fina-
lization (Para 3.2)’. Raising
objection to the viability of
the fund/scheme, the CAG
in para 3.9 says ‘There was
no indication that actuari-
al evaluation of the fund/
scheme was conducted
once in two years and of
adoption of any other
mechanism to assess the
viability of the fund/
scheme’. Questioning the
implementation of NPS,
the CAG in para 4.1.3 of the
same report stipulates that
‘there was no assurance
that 100 percent of eligible
employees were covered
under NPS despite 15 years
of implementation.’ These
are indeed serious objec-
tions which threaten the
socio-economic security of
the employees. States like
Kerala, Andhra Pradesh,
Assam, Himachal Pradesh
and Punjab have setup
state level committees to
review the NPS in their re-
spective states in view of
the protests by the NPS em-
ployees. The West Bengal
Government has not yet
implemented the NPS.
While preparing the
NPS, no attention was
paid to the pension
amount payable to the
employee after the retire-
ment. This has created a
senseof insecurityamong
the employees through-
out the country
. If the
NPS is so sacrosanct then
why the Second National
Judicial Pay Commission
has, in its report in Febru-
ary 2020, suggested that
NPS should not be imple-
mented in the Judicial
Services.
The National Human
Rights Commission, wrote
to the Central Government
on20December2021,asking
it to setup a committee to
review NPS for the sake of
ensuring the protection of
humanrightsof employees.
The employees appoint-
ed on/after 01.01.2004 and
who have retired now, they
have either not received
any pension or if they have
received any pension then
it is not sufficient to make
their both ends meet.
Therefore it can be said
that NPS failed to achieve
its objective. There was no
provision of family pen-
sion and gratuity in NPS in
the beginning. The Gov-
ernment of India had to
implement the same later.
The State Government
of Rajasthan never com-
promised with the develop-
ment schemes of the State
despite NPS. Likewise, the
development works will
continue in the state even
after the implementation
of OPS. The State Govern-
ment was fully aware of
the anxieties caused by
NPS among the employees.
The Old Pension Sys-
tem provides social and
economic security to the
employees hence, the
Government of Ra-
jasthan decided to restore
OPS in the larger interest
of the employees. It is not
fair to have two catego-
ries of pension schemes
and differentiate among
the employees.
ASHOK GEHLOT
Chief Minister, Rajasthan
In my budget speech in
the State Assembly on
23 February, 2022, I
have announced to
implement the OPS
from the next
Financial Year. This
decision has been
hailed not only by
the employees in
Rajasthan but also
by the employees of
all the States
Contribution of
employee
Pension Guarantee
by Government
Amount of Pension
Dearness Relief
provided by Govt
for mitigating
impact of inflation
Commutation
of Pension
GPF Eligibility
NPS Withdrawal
DESCRIPTION
Nil
Yes
50% of last pay
drawn
Yes
Upto 33%
Yes
Yes
OLD PENSION
SYSTEM
10% of
(Basic pay plus DA)
No
No link with
last pay
No
No option
No
Upto 25% of the
amount deposited
after 2015
NPS
(TIER-I)
l Vol 2 l Issue No. 111
l RNI NO. UPENG/2020/80229.
Printed and published by
Anita Hada Sangwan on behalf of First Express
Publishers. Printed at Amar Ujala Ltd. B-5
Amausi Industrial Area Kanpur Road Lucknow.
Published at 98, Friend’’s Colony, Raheem
Nagar, Dudouli Road, Madiyaon, Lucknow (UP).
Editor-In-Chief: Jagdeesh Chandra.
Editor: Vishal Srivastav
responsible for selection of news under
the PRB Act
SPIRITUAL SPEAK
The peace of God is with
them whose mind and
soul are in harmony,
who are free from desire
and wrath, who know
their own soul.
—Bhagavad Gita
TOP
TWEETS
Grateful to our
airline crew and
pilots for their
service and support
to Government’s
efforts in bringing
our citizens
back home.
#OperationGanga
Smriti Z Irani
@smritiirani
Many people became farmer leaders,
but no one did anything for the farmers.
When our government was formed under
the leadership of Prime Minister Mr.@
narendramodi, first of all, 40 crore were
opened through Jan Dhan accounts, and
then money was deposited directly in the
accounts of farmers.We don’t just say,
we believe in doing.
Jagat Prakash Nadda
@JPNadda

To Receive Free Newspaper
PDF Daily
Whatsapp:
https://bit.ly/whatsapplko
Telegram:
https://t.me/firstindialucknow
Click the above link☝ & subscribe us on your
preferred platform.

INDIA
05
Sharat K Verma
New Delhi: Former
Congress president Ra-
hul Gandhi has started
meeting leaders of oth-
er states in the midst of
the Assembly elections
of five states and start-
ed taking stock of the
organisation and other
works in these states.
According to sources in
theCongress,Rahulhas
started meeting the
leaders of the states in
connection with the
preparations for the
elections to be held this
year.Alongwiththis,he
is also meeting the lead-
ers of the state commit-
tees and encouraging
them for further elec-
tion preparations. He
has met leaders of
Jharkhand and Karna-
taka in this regard and
himself visited Chhat-
tisgarh and Gujarat.
Rahul Gandhi met
all the leaders of
Jharkhand recently. It
is believed that he had
called all the leaders
in view of the condi-
tions after RPN Singh,
who was in charge of
the state for a long
time, joined the BJP.
The new in-charge
Avinash Pandey had
brought all the MLAs,
ministers and party
office bearers and Ra-
hul met everyone. But
the purpose of this
meeting was not only
that the in-charge has
changed and that
there is a possibility
of breakdown in the
state, so Rahul showed
solidarity with every-
one. No, the reality is
far from this since
word in the Congress
is that it is also a sign
of preparation for Ra-
hul’s new role.
That is why after
Jharkhand, a similar
meeting took place
with the leaders of
Karnataka. Almost all
the big leaders includ-
ing former Chief Min-
ister Siddaramaiah,
party leader in Rajya
Sabha Mallikarjun
Kharge, State Presi-
dent DK Shivakumar,
former Chief Minister
Veerappa Moily met
Rahul together. Elec-
tions in Karnataka are
due in May next year.
The meeting with Ra-
hul a year before elec-
tion does not have elec-
toral meaning, but in
connection with the
preparations for Rahul
to become the presi-
dent again. In the com-
ing days, Rahul will
meet leaders of other
states as well.
RAHUL GANDHI ON SILENT MARCH TOWARDS
CONGRESS’ ‘PRESIDENTIAL CHAIR’, YET AGAIN
Mahesh Sharma
Kolkata: West Bengal
would witness a bizzare
development and if this
happens, then it will be
recorded in history that
the meeting of the Leg-
islative Assembly of a
state started at 2 o’clock
in the night. Although
there is time and it is
possible that it can be
rectified, but looking at
the current situation, it
seems that the meeting
of the West Bengal Leg-
islative Assembly will
start on March 7 at 2
AM and Governor
Jagdeep Dhankhar will
address the same. This
has happened due to the
wrong time being typed
in the proposal sent by
the state government to
convene the assembly
session. The proposal
was sent to the Gover-
nor after the cabinet
meeting chaired by
Chief Minister Mamata
Banerjee, in which the
date of March 7 was
written but in case of
time, ‘2 AM’ was writ-
ten instead of ‘2 PM’.
Significantly
, there is
already a dispute be-
tween Governor
Jagdeep Dhankhar and
the state government on
many issues. This issue
came up in the midst of
that controversy. The
Governor approved this
proposal and said that
he would attend the
meeting at two o’clock
in the night and would
be ready to give speeche
and start the session as
the government so de-
sires. Later the Chief
Secretary of the state
HK Dwivedi sent a let-
ter, saying that there
was a typing mistake
and the Governor
should allow the session
to be called from 2
o’clock in the day, but
the Governor turned
down the demand of the
Chief Secretary
. He says
that the Chief Secretary
cannot amend the cabi-
net proposal. This
means that Mamata Ba-
nerjee will have to call
the cabinet meeting
again and send the pro-
posal again. Along with
this, a request will also
have to be made to the
Governor.
Guv Dhankhar proves to be a strong
force before ‘aggressive’ Mamata Govt!
Hyderabad (Agen-
cies): Reiterating his
claim that Telangana
Chief Minister K. Chan-
drasekhar Rao has his
roots in Bihar, state
Congress chief A. Re-
vanthReddyonWednes-
day alleged that Telan-
gana has become slave
in the hands of a group
of IAS and IPS officers
of Bihar origin.
He told a news con-
ference that the Chief
Minister appointed IAS
and IPS officer of Bi-
har origin on key posts
and entrusted each of
them 6-8 departments
to, what he called “loot
the state”.
Revanth Reddy, who
is also a member of
Parliament, said that
while hundreds of peo-
ple of Telangana laid
down lives for separate
state, local officials
were totally ignored in
appointments.
He said this had
caused heartburn
among those who ac-
tively participated in
Telangana movement.
He claimed that the ap-
pointment of officials
from Bihar posed a
grave danger to the very
identity of Telangana.
Reddy alleged that
Chief Minister appoint-
ed Somesh Kumar to
the post of Chief Secre-
tary though the latter
was not eligible for the
top post. He said IPS of-
ficer Anjani Kumar was
made Director General
of Police by sending the
incumbent DGP on
leave. Noting IAS offi-
cials Rajat Kumar,
Arvind Kumar, Jayesh
Ranjan and Sandeep Ku-
mar Sultania, who all
hail from Bihar, were
each holding charge of
several key depart-
ments, he asked how the
Chief Minister found
only these officials eligi-
ble among 157 IAS offic-
ers and 139 IPS officers
in the state.
Revanth Reddy al-
leged that Chief Min-
ister KCR had colluded
with what he called
the ‘Bihar gang’ for
wrongdoings. He
claimed that Somesh
Kumar was rewarded
with the post of Chief
Secretary for deleting
30 lakh voters from the
list of voters when he
was the Commissioner
of Greater Hyderabad
Municipal Corpora-
tion (GHMC).
The Congress leader
also claimed that Dha-
rani portal was togeth-
er developed by the
Chief Minister and So-
mesh Kumar to allow
irregularities in land
administration so that
those close to the TRS
government get thou-
sands of acres of land.
He blamed the ‘flawed’
system for the killing
of two realtors in Hy-
derabad on Tuesday.
The Congress leader
referred to Bihar min-
ister Sanjay Kumar
Jha’s statement criti-
cising him for stating
that KCR has roots in
Bihar. “This shows how
deep are his roots in Bi-
har,” said Revanth Red-
dy. He claimed that
KCR in an interview
had revealed that his
ancestors had come
from Bihar.
Reacting to reports
that KCR has hired the
services of political
strategist Prashant
Kishor, the Congress
leader said this was an-
other proof of ‘Bihar
gang’ conspiring to loot
Telangana.
TELANGANA HAS BECOME SLAVE TO
‘BIHARI GANG’, SAYS REVANTH REDDY
Patna (PTI): The State
Election Commission in
Bihar has declared the
dates or the legislative
council poll. The voting
will be held on April 4
and the result will be de-
clared on April 7.
The polling will be
held for 24 out of 75
seats. The voting on
these seats has been de-
layed by nearly seven
months as the term of
the 24 members expired
in July last year.
Of the 24 seats, three
were vacant since No-
vember 11, 2020, as the
memberswereelectedto
theLegislativeassembly
.
These members are Rit
Lal Ray, Dilip Ray and
Manoj Yadav. Two seats
Darbhanga and Sa-
mastipur fell vacant due
to the death of the sit-
ting members.
As per the election
commission, the polling
was delayed as the rural
local bodies that make
for the majority of the
lectoral college for the
MLC polls were not in
existence at the time.
“Biennial elections to
fill up 24 seats could not
be conducted by
16.07.2021 as the Constit-
uent Local Bodies/Elec-
tors therein were not in
existence at that time.
The Commission vide
letter 21.05.2021 had
sought information re-
garding the existence of
constituentLocalBodies
functioning and their
percentage in the said
Constituencies,”anSEC
statement said.
Bihar MLC poll for 24 seats
on April 4, counting on Apr 7
NCB says probe yet
to be completed in
Aryan Khan drug case
Mumbai (ANI): The
Narcotics Control Bu-
reau (NCB) on Wednes-
day dismissed media re-
ports which inferred
that there was “non-
availabilityof evidence”
against Aryan Khan in
thedrugs-on-cruisecase.
The NCB through a Spe-
cial Investigation Team
(SIT) that was constitut-
ed to look into the drug
nexus leading back to
the cruise, termed all
such media reports as
“mere speculations.”
NCB Deputy Director
General Sanjay Singh,
who is currently head-
ing the SIT on the drugs-
on-cruise case, dis-
missed the reports as
false and said that the
statements made were
not cross-checked with
the agency before being
published.
“Themediareportson
non-availability of evi-
dence against Aryan
Khan are not true and
just speculations. These
statements were not
cross-checked with the
NCB before being pub-
lished,” media reported.
Schools reopen across
Kashmir after 32 mths
Schools in J&K reopen after remaining shut for 32 months due to
Covid and for maintaining law & order post abrogation of Art 370.
Jammu (PTI): All gov-
ernment, private, and
army-run schools in
Kashmir reopened on
Wednesday after a gap
of 32 months.
The authorities in
the second week of Feb-
ruary decided to reopen
schools across Jammu
& Kashmir as the num-
ber of Covid cases
dropped significantly
.
School buses filled
with students made
way to respective
schools across the city
and other parts of the
valley, officials said.
The government has
made it compulsory for
students above the age
of 15 years to be fully
vaccinated for them to
be allowed for attending
in-person classes.
Webcasting at 203
polling stations
Dispur (ANI): The As-
sam State Election
Commission has made
all the arrangements as
the election in 99-Majuli
(ST) assembly constitu-
ency is just a week away
.
The Chief Electoral
Officer (CEO) of As-
sam, Nitin Khade stat-
ed, “As directed by the
ECI, we made all the
arrangements regard-
ing webcasting, which
will be done in all the
203 polling stations of
the Constituency.”
He further stated that
these arrangements are
donetoensureafree,fair
and safe bye-election to
the Assam Legislative
Assembly
, 2022. The poll
proceedingswillbemon-
itored live by ECI, CEO
Assam, District Election
Officer and other con-
cerned officials on duty
.
Khade also said that the
half section of the
CAPF will be deployed
at each polling station
to ensure full-proof se-
curity on poll day
.
ASSAM: MAJULI BYPOLL
Village head
shot dead in
J&K’s Kulgam
Jammu (Agencies): A
panch (village council
member) was shot dead
by militants in J&K’s
Kulgam district on
Wednesday
, police said.
P o l i c e
s o u r c e s
said mili-
tants shot
M u h a m -
m a d
Yaqoob Dar in Kulpora
Srandoo village of Kul-
gam.
“He sustained several
injuries. He was rushed
to district hospital Kul-
gam where doctors de-
clared him dead on ar-
rival,” a source said.
Sources added that
the area has been cor-
doned off for searches.
Vyapam case:
Six get 5-Yr
Jail sentence
New Delhi (PTI):Aspe-
cial CBI court has sen-
tenced six convicts, in-
cluding impersonators,
candidates and middle-
men, to five years in jail
in connection with the
Vyapam case.
The special judge for
Vyapam cases in
Gwalior sentenced Per-
vez Khan alias Pervez
Alam and Pradeep
Upadhyay (impersona-
tors), Rajesh Baghel and
Awadhesh Kumar (can-
didates) and Hari
Narain Singh and Ved
Ratan Singh (middle-
men) to five years of rig-
orous imprisonment.
UPROAR! Guj Guv cuts short his address
Gandhinagar (PTI):
Gujarat Governor Acha-
rya Devvrat had to cut
short his customary ad-
dresstothestateLegisla-
tiveAssemblyonthefirst
day of the Budget Ses-
sion here on Wednesday
after Congress MLAs
caused disruption by
raising anti-BJP slogans
over various issues.
Due to the continuous
sloganeering by nearly
50oppositionMLAs,who
were seen carrying plac-
ards, the governor left
the House after address-
ing it for nearly five min-
utes. His remaining
speech was then tabled
in the House.
As soon as Devvrat be-
gan his address by re-
membering Mahatma
Gandhi,seniorCongress
MLA Virji Thummar in-
terruptedhimandurged
him to first ask the BJP
government to stop eulo-
gising Gandhiji’s assas-
sin Nathuram Godse.
Without paying any
heed to the chaos creat-
ed by the opposition
bench, Devvrat contin-
ued with his address ini-
tially
. But after Thum-
mar, another senior
Congress MLA got up
from his seat and start-
ed shouting slogans
seeking the resignation
of Minister of State for
Home, Harsh Sanghavi,
overtheissueof lawand
order situation and sei-
zureof drugsfromMun-
dra port and different
parts of the state in the
recent past.
Later, other MLAs
also joined the chorus
and started raising slo-
gans against the BJP
government over sever-
al other issues, includ-
ing paper leak of a clerk
recruitment exam, cor-
ruption and harassment
by land mafia. Due to
the chaos, the Governor
cut short his speech and
left the House.
Gujarat Guv Acharya Devvrat addresses Vidhan Sabha House at commencement of 10th session on Wednesday.
The Chief Minister ap-
pointed IAS and IPS officer
of Bihar origin on key
posts and entrusted each of
them 6-8 departments
to“loot the state”.
Revanth Reddy, MP

INDIA
06
Moni Sharma
New Delhi: When Ma-
harashtra government
minister Nawab Malik
was arrested by the
Enforcement Directo-
rate (ED), there was a
lot of chaos in Mum-
bai. There was a meet-
ing at Sharad Pawar’s
house, Mamata Baner-
jee called Pawar, and
later then Pawar went
to meet Chief Minis-
ter Uddhav Thackeray
and it was decided
that the next day the
entire government
would protest in sup-
port of Malik. But the
next day’s perfor-
mance was carried out
only by NCP and Con-
gress. All the minis-
ters of NCP and Con-
gress in the Uddhav
government demon-
strated in front of the
ministry and other
leaders of both the
parties protested in
other parts. In this,
most of the MPs,
MLAs and ministers
of Shiv Sena remained
absent.
Later Shiv Sena MP
Sanjay Raut said in the
manner of clarification
that the entire govern-
ment and Shiv Sena
also stood with Nawab
Malik. But the reality is
that Shiv Sena has dis-
tanced itself from the
issue. According to in-
formed sources, there
are two reasons for this.
The first reason is that
Malik has been arrest-
ed for being close to Da-
wood Ibrahim’s family
members and buying
their property
. And sec-
ondly, the whole matter
of ED is related to Mus-
lims and Shiv Sena
does not want to get en-
tangled in these two is-
sues before Brihan-
mumbai Municipal
Corporation elections
to be held in next two
months. In Mumbai, it
has to unite the votes of
‘Marathi Manush’ and
Hindus. Shiv Sena
knows that it is not go-
ing to get Muslim vote
and if it is seen more
with Malik then Hindu
vote will shift to BJP.
That is why Shiv Sena
has decided to fight
alone by separating
from NCP and Con-
gress. On the other
hand NCP has nothing
at stake in BMC.
Shiv Sainiks worried of getting their hands burnt!
NAWAB MALIK CASE
96.8% ADULTS RECEIVED FIRST DOSE OF
COVID VAX, 81.3% 2ND, CENTRE TO SC
For the population between 15-18 years of age, 74% (5,47,94,459) have been covered with the first dose
New Delhi (ANI): The
Centre on Wednesday
informedtheapexCourt
that96.8percentof adult
populationhavebeenad-
ministered with first
dose of the Covid vac-
cine and 81.3 per cent
have been administered
the second dose.
Additional Solicitor
General Aishwarya
Bhati, representing the
Centre, submitted be-
fore a bench of Justices
L. Nageswara Rao and
B.R. Gavai that
177,50,86,335(177.5crore)
total vaccines have been
administered.
In the adult popula-
tion, 96.8 per cent of the
population (90,92,27,350)
has been covered with
the first dose, and 81.3
percent of the popula-
tion (76,35,65,779) has
been covered with the
second dose. For the
population between 15-
18 years of age, 74 per
cent (5,47,94,459) have
been covered with the
first dose, and 37.1 per
cent (2,74,87,370) with
the second dose. The
precaution dose num-
bers for the adult popu-
lation amount to
2,00,11,377. The figures
are based on data col-
lated on February 28.
The top court was
hearing a plea by Jacob
Puliyel challenging vac-
cine mandates issued by
various state govern-
mentsandseekingdirec-
tion to also disclose post
vaccination data regard-
ing adverse events.
Advocate Prashant
Bhushan, representing
Puliyel, a formermem-
berof theNationalTech-
nicalAdvisoryGroupon
Immunisation, contend-
ed that a person’s funda-
mental right to not take
vaccine cannot be
eclipsed by the govern-
ment only by saying that
person not taking vac-
cine will pose a clear
threat to public health.
Bhushan said: “Even,
I had Covid. But, I have
not taken the vaccine. I
have decided not to take
the vaccine, come what
may
.”
He insisted that ad-
verse effects of Covid
vaccination are not
known, and questioned
why governments are is-
suing vaccine mandates
restricting people from
entering public spaces
by making vaccination
mandatory
. “If one was
infected with Covid (and
got cured), that person
gets better natural im-
munityagainsttheinfec-
tion,” said Bhushan.
BMC chief Chahal
shows income way
amid Covid-19
First India Bureau
Mumbai: The revenue
surplus of the country’s
richest municipal corpo-
ration, Brihanmumbai
Municipal Corporation
continued to boom even
inthetestingtimesof the
ongoingpandemicphase.
BMC’s Municipal
Commissioner Iqbal
Singh Chahal informed
that due to 50 per cent re-
duction in premiums
charged on building pro-
posals between Mar’21 &
Dec’21, BMC had a wind-
fall of nearly Rs 14,000
crore additional income
in last 11 months (due to
increase in volumes
wherein 2,860 new con-
struction projects got ap-
proved, most of which
werenon-viablewithfull
premiums), resulting in
unprecedented jump in
BMC reserves from Rs
78,000 crore to nearly Rs
93,000 crore now.
A real win-win situa-
tion, where the real es-
tate sector (backbone of
Mumbai) is on fast track
now, despite last 2 years
of covid pandemic, re-
sulting in tremendous
boost in employment in
this sector for the next
three years at least.
Pune (PTI): Coming
out in defence of Maha-
rashtraministerNawab
Malik, who has been ar-
rested by the ED in con-
nection with a money
laundering case, NCP’s
state unit president Jay-
ant Patil has said that it
is not mandatory to
seek the resignation of
any minister until the
crime is proven.
Apparently targeting
BJP, Patil said there are
efforts to put the MVA
ministers in trouble.
He was speaking to
reporters on the side-
lines of a party event
here on Tuesday
.
When asked about
BJP state unit chief
Chandrakant Patil’s
statement that his party
willnotallowtheupcom-
ing budget session of
state legislature to func-
tion if Malik continues
to remain a Cabinet Min
despite his arrest, the
NCPleadersaid,“Letthe
BJPputforthitsstandon
Malikduringthesession
and an appropriate an-
swer will be given.” “If
everyday some kind of
action is being taken
against ministers, it is
not mandatory to seek
their resignation. If the
crime against them is
not yet proved, why
wouldthepersongivehis
resignation?” he said.
“In the case of Anil
Deshmukh, we took his
resignation innocently
when he was arrested,
but it was later under-
stood that the allega-
tions against him were
frail,” Patil said.
Malik’sresignationnot
necessary: NCP leader
Pune (PTI): Four per-
sons died of suffocation
while cleaning a septic
tank near a residential
building in Loni
Kalbhor in Pune dis-
trict, said police author-
ities on Wednesday
.
The incident took
place around 11.30 a.m.
The deceased were
tasked with cleaning a
septic tank behind a
residential complex in
Loni’s Kadamwak Vas-
ti, around 20 km from
Pune city
.
“The first victim was
taken out of the tank in
an unconscious state.
He was rushed to a
nearby hospital, where
doctors declared him
brought dead. The oth-
ers were soon taken
out, but had already
died,” said a police sta-
tion official, adding
that the process of
identifying the victims
was on along with fur-
ther investigations
into the matter.
Pune: 4 die of suffocation
while cleaning septic tank
New Delhi (PTI): A
Public Interest Litiga-
tion (PIL) has been
filed in the Supreme
Court seeking to direct
the Bureau of Police
Research and Develop-
ment (BPRD) to collect
data in a time-bound
manner from all the
state police organisa-
tions on investigations
revealing a direct link
between viewing por-
nographic material
and rape.
The petition has
been moved by advo-
cate Nalin Kohli, who
has apprised the Court
about an investigation
by the Police in Assam
into the gruesome
murder of a six-year-
old girl wherein it has
been revealed that the
four perpetrators of
the crime, including
two minor boys be-
tween eight and 11,
were porn addicts.
As a consequence of
this, the Assam Police
has issued guidelines
to be followed by the in-
vestigating officer for
collecting digital evi-
dence while investigat-
ing offences related to
rape, molestation and
other sexual offences.
The petitioner
sought the direction of
the Court to all the
state police organisa-
tions to collect data in
a time-bound manner
on the linkage between
the viewing of porno-
graphic material and
rape and also consider
formulating an SOP by
its police to include
the aspect of viewing
of pornographic mate-
rial while investigat-
ing cases of rape and
sexual assault.
PLEAINSUPREMECOURTOVERDATAON
LINK BETWEEN RAPE,PORNOGRAPHY
CRPF trooper
commits
suicide in J&K
Srinagar (PTI): A Cen-
tralReservePoliceForce
(CRPF) trooper commit-
ted suicide by shooting
himself on Wednesday
in Jammu & Kashmi’s
Srinagar district.
Police sources said
constable Anand Lal of
29 CRPF battalion shot
and killed himself with
his service rifle in the
Sanat Nagar area of
Srinagar city
.
“A case has been reg-
istered in this incident.
“The reason behind
the trooper taking the
extreme step is being
probed,” sources said.
New Delhi (Agencies):
The India Meteorologi-
cal Department(IMD)
on Wednesday forecast
heavy to very heavy
rains for Tamil Nadu
and neighbouring areas
owing to a low pressure
area likely to intensify
into depression.
A low pressure area
formed over southeast
Bay of Bengal (BoB) and
adjoining areas of south
Andaman Sea & Equato-
rial Indian Ocean (EIO)
on Monday evening
moved west-northwest-
wards and lay over cen-
tral parts of south BoB
and adjoining EIO at
8.30 a.m on Wednesday
.
“It is likely to become
a well-marked low-pres-
sure area during the
next 24 hours and con-
centrate into a depres-
sion during subsequent
24 hours,” the IMD said.
‘Heavy,very heavy rain
likely in TN on Mar 3,4’
First India Bureau
New Delhi: One of the
most influential media
conglomerates, Bennett
Coleman and Co. Ltd., is
allegedly being evaluat-
ed for a split, according
to sources. The news
comesastheTimesGroup
iswitnessingaconflictbe-
tween the brothers Samir
JainandVineetJain.The
Jain family owns and op-
eratesTheTimesof India,
India’s largest English
newspaper. Samir Jain,
the elder brother is the
Vice President of the
company while Vineet
JainisservingastheMD.
TIMES GROUP
HEADING FOR
SPLIT?
A health worker gives a Covid-19 vaccine jab to a beneficiary at a vaccination center.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray with Sanjay Raut.
New Delhi: The effec-
tiveness of the Pfizer
COVID-19 vaccine for
children waned quickly
during the Omicron
surge in the US, es-
pecially among those
aged 5 to 11 years, but
the preventive was still
protective against se-
vere disease, according
to a study. Researchers
estimated the effective-
ness of Pfizer vaccine
against COVID cases
and hospitalisations.
‘PFIZER LESS EFFECTIVE
AGAINST COVID IN KIDS’
Mumbai: On the eve of the Budget session of the Maha-
rashtra legislature, senior BJP leader
Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday
said his party is firm on its demand
for the resignation of state minister
Nawab Malik, who has been arrested
by the Enforcement Directorate in
connection with a money launder-
ing case. Fadnavis was speaking to
reporters in Mumbai after chairing a meeting of the BJP’s
members of the legislative Assembly and Council as the
budget session is set to begin from Thursday.
Mumbai: Referring to the arrest of Neil Somaiya, son of
BJP’s Kirit Somaiya for his alleged links with an accused
in the PMC Bank scam, Shiv Sena
MP Sanjay Raut said that father and
son duo will be jailed soon. The Shiv
Sena leader said, “Mark my words...I
repeat: baap beta jail jayenge.
Period. And rest assured, apart from
baap & beta, three central agency
officials and their vasuli agents will
also go behind bars. Maharashtra jhukega nahi!”
FIRM ON DEMAND FOR MALIK’S
RESIGNATION, SAYS FADNAVIS
BAAP BETA JAIL JAYENGE: RAUT
SLAMS KIRIT SOMAIYA, HIS SON
Kochi (PTI): The Ker-
ala High Court on
Wednesday dismissed
Malayalamnewschan-
nel MediaOne's appeal
against a single judge
order upholding the
Centre's decision to
stop its telecast by not
renewing its licence.
A bench of Chief
Justice S Manikumar
and Justice Shaji P
Chaly also rejected
the appeals by some
of the channel's em-
ployees, including its
Editor, as well as the
Kerala Union of
Working Journalists
(KUWJ) against the
single judge's order of
February 8.
The Centre had
banned telecast of the
channel on January
31. This was not the
first time the channel
hasfacedsuchabaron
its operation.
Kerala HC upholds Centre’s
ban on MediaOne TV
BMC had a
windfall of
nearly Rs 14,000
crore additional
income in last
11 months
Nawab Malik

NEWS
07
AI-POWERED
SEARCH ENGINE
TO HELP IN
POLICING
Indian Institute of Technology
Kanpur’s Centre of Excellence
(CoE) has incubated Lucknow-
based thinktank Future Crime
Research Foundation which is
working to develop a first-of-its-
kind AI-powered big data search
engine to help in policing.
According to officials, the search
engine aims to smoothen the
investigation and policing
process. It will integrate data
from all the key stakeholders to
create a search engine that will
help in predictive policing, crime
mapping and analysis apart from
the other services, they said.
With the rise in crime, the police
and intelligence services are
confronted with a major difficulty
in combating it. They are up
against the difficult task of
predicting crime and law-and-
order issues, officials said.
“Frauds and crime are one of the
main social issues. Future Crime
Research Foundation (FRCF) is
developing methods of predictive
policing using Artificial
Intelligence. “Now, we can
understand crime better and
solve them faster,” said Nikhil
Agarwal, CEO, IIT Kanpur’s
Artificial Intelligence and
Innovation-Driven
Entrepreneurship (AIIDE) Centre
of Excellence. The FCRF is
building a platform where data of
all vital organizations and
institutions are linked. With the
click of a button, they will be able
to find detailed data which will
help in the investigation. “We
will collect all necessary data
from many sources and create a
single platform that can execute
data analysis utilizing regression
models, data mining, & artificial
intelligence, as well as providing
insights into the crime pattern
that is unique to a given region,”
said Shashank Shekhar, the Co-
Founder of FCRF. —PTI
`1 CRORE FINE
ON HOUSING
SOCIETY IN GR
NOIDA FOR
WATER
POLLUTION
In its biggest penalty yet for water
pollution, the Greater Noida
Industrial Development Authority
on Wednesday imposed a fine of
Rs 1 crore on a group housing
society for dumping untreated
sewerage into a rainwater drain in
violation of norms. The action has
been taken against Supertech’s Eco
Village One project and the
developer has been directed to
remit the penalty amount within a
week, the Greater Noida Industrial
Development Authority (GNIDA)
officials said. “The sewerage is
diverted into a rain drain without
being treated. It’s not only causing
water pollution but also in violation
of guidelines of the Supreme Court
and the National Green Tribunal,”
GNIDA CEO Narendra Bhooshan
said in a statement. “It’s our
collective responsibility to stop
pollution. Treatment of waste
coming out from residential
societies is mandatory. Strict
action will be taken against those
violating the rules in the future
also,” Bhooshan said. The GNIDA
said it is mandatory for all group
housing societies, institutions &
commercial establishments built
on an area of more than 20,000
square metres in Greater Noida to
set up and run their own STP
(Sewerage Treatment Plant). “The
sewerage coming out of the
society after being treated with
STP should be used for irrigation,
construction etc. The sewerage of
Supertech Eco Village One was
being dumped in the rainy drain of
GNIDA without being treated,” the
GNIDA said. “In view of the water
pollution, the sewer department of
the authority had asked the builder
to start the treatment of sewerage
immediately, failing which the
authority has imposed a fine of Rs
1 crore,” it added. —PTI
BJP BIGGEST LIAR PARTY, ‘BABA’ NOT
ABLE TO SLEEP, SAYS AKHILESH YADAV
Jaunpur (PTI): Sama-
jwadi Party chief Akh-
ilesh Yadav on Wednes-
day threw a broadside
at the BJP terming it
the “biggest liar party”
and accused it of halv-
ing farmers’ income
even though they came
to power with the prom-
ise of doubling it. At an
election meeting in
Jaunpur, he promised
to relax the age limit for
government jobs and
announce vacancies in
the police force if the
alliance led by his party
comes to power in UP.
Yadav sought to
counter the BJP’s “ghor
pariwarwadi (staunch
dynast)” jibe directed at
him, saying, “We accept
that we are family peo-
ple. Whenever family
peoplelikeusstepoutof
our houses, they gener-
ally bring something
like sweets for children.
“Hence, my advice to
‘Baba Mukhyamantri’
(referring to Yogi Adi-
tyanath) is that on
March 10 (the day of poll
results), when he goes
back home, he should at
least take biscuits for
Gullu.” “And you know
who Gullu is,” the Sam-
ajwadi Party chief told
the meeting without
elaborating. Yadav said
the BJP came to power
in the state in 2017 by
promising that the in-
comeof thefarmerswill
be doubled. “But due to
its faulty policies, the
income of the farmers
has not doubled. In fact,
it has halved,” he al-
leged. “The BJP calls it-
self the biggest party in
the world. If its five
years’ work and the
dreams it had shown is
analysed, it would be
found that the BJP is the
biggest liar party in the
world,” Yadav said.
Targeting Chief Min-
ister Yogi Adityanath,
the Samajwadi Party
president claimed that
“the ‘Baba’ is not able to
sleep these days”. He
also accused the BJP of
mismanagement during
the Covid pandemic.
“The BJP imposed a
lockdown during the
pandemic and labourers
working in other states
were forced to walk back
home in Uttar Pradesh.
Many died midway
. At
that time, if anybody
helped the people, it was
the Samajwadi Party
,”
Yadav said. “When the
labourers wanted to go
back home, the govern-
ment turned a blind eye
towards them. They
(BJP)wereunabletopro-
vide medicines and beds
during Covid. Had they
given medicine and oxy-
gen on time, many lives
could have been saved.”
Akhilesh Yadav also
promisedtorelaxtheage
limit for government
jobs. “Owing to the
COVID-19 pandemic,
manyyouthscrossedthe
age limit (for recruit-
ment exam). We will re-
lax the age limit in gov-
ernment jobs. Also, we
will urge Delhi to give
some relaxation in the
agelimitforrecruitment
in the Army
,” he said.
SPchiefsaysBJPcametopoweronpromiseofdoublingfarmers’incomebuthasinsteadhalvedit
Samajwadi Party National President Akhilesh Yadav during a
election campaign at Jaunpur on Wednesday.
—PHOTO BY SUMIT KUMAR
DIG AT CM YOGI
Two held for raping
two minor girls in 2
different cases: Police
Ghaziabad (PTI):
Two men were arrest-
ed on Wednesday for
allegedly raping two
girls -- one a five-year-
old and another of 14
years age -- in two dif-
ferent cases in the
Murad Nagar area of
the district, police
said. The elder girl
has alleged rape by
four or five other ac-
complices of the ac-
cused, police said,
addingitisinvestigat-
ingthematterfurther.
Inthefirstcase,afive-
year-oldgirlwaslured
by her neighbour to
his home when she
visited a shop near
her home to buy
something, police
said. Accused Sandip
living in the Masuri
police station area of
Ghaziabad lured the
child to his home on
the pretext of giving
her money and raped
her, police said. In the
second case, accused
Babloo abducted the
14-year-old girl on his
motorcycle and took
her to a sugarcane
field by Pipe Line
Road in Murad Nagar
and raped her there,
AssistantSuperinten-
dent of Police Akash
Patel said adding that
after the girl reached
home, she alleged
gang-rape by Babloo
& her friends follow-
ing which Babloo was
arrested.
Police
investigating
the case & are
trying to
ascertain the
identity of
other accused
Jayant to join Akhilesh, Mamata
for joint poll rally in Varanasi
Noida (PTI): RLD
chief Jayant Chaud-
hary will be joining Sa-
majwadi Party presi-
dent Akhilesh Yadav
and West Bengal CM
Mamta Banerjee for a
joint poll rally in Uttar
Pradesh’s Varanasi on
Thursday
.
The Rashtriya Lok
Dal (RLD), which is
fighting the UP assem-
bly elections in tie-up
with Yadav’s SP and is
its major ally for west-
ern region of the state,
made the announce-
ment on social media
Wednesday. The joint
rally will be held in Air-
he village in Harhua
block of Varanasi 12 pm
onwards, the RLD said.
Varanasi, the parlia-
mentary constituency
of Prime Minister Nar-
endra Modi, goes to
polls on March 7 during
the seventh and last
phase of assembly polls
in UP. Banerjee, the Tri-
namool Congress su-
premo, had visited UP
earlier on February 7-8
to hold a joint press
conference with Yadav
in Lucknow where she
predicted SP’s victory
against the BJP, like
her party had done in
West Bengal state polls
last year. Banerjee had
tweaked her party’s
poll anthem of “khela
hobe’ to ‘Khela Hoga’
(the game is on) and
stressed if Bengal can
do it (defeat BJP), so
can UP”. Results of the
seven-phase UP assem-
bly polls will be de-
clared on March 10.
MAMATA LEAVES FOR 2-DAY VISIT TO UP
West Bengal CM Mamata
Banerjee before leaving for
Varanasi in Kolkata.
Police seize body of girl found hanging
Muzaffarnagar (PTI):
The Muzaffarnagarpo-
lice on Wednesday
seized the body of a girl
shortly before her cre-
mation after it came to
knowthatshewasfound
dead in her home in sus-
picious condition. Po-
lice said the 19-year-old
girl, a class 11 student,
was found hanging in
her house in Chokda vil-
lage under the Chartha-
wal police station of the
district.Asapoliceteam
reached her house on
information about the
death in suspicious cir-
cumstances, the family
members claimed that
she committed suicide
by hanging herself, an
official said. The police
seized the body and sent
it for postmortem, the
official said. The exact
cause of the girl’s death
can be ascertained only
after the autopsy
, police
said, adding that it is-
conducting a prelimi-
nary probe.
SBSP chief O P Rajbhar faces stiff
challenge from BJP,BSP on home turf
Zahoorabad (PTI):
SBSP chief Om
Prakash Rajbhar is
facing a stern chal-
lenge in this eastern
Uttar Pradesh assem-
bly constituency as he
squares off against
Saiyyada Shadab Fati-
ma of the BSP and
BJP’s Kalicharan Ra-
jbhar in a triangular
contest which many
people here believe
could go right down to
the wire. What makes
the contest interesting
is that the three candi-
dates are sort of veter-
ans in this assembly
segment in Ghazipur
district but their polit-
ical affiliations have
changed this time.
While sitting MLA
and Suheldev Bharti-
ya Samaj Party (SBSP)
chief Prakash Ra-
jbhar, who was a BJP
ally in 2017, has now
joined hands with the
Samajwadi Party
, Fati-
ma, who had been a
Samajwadi Party min-
ister in the state, is
now a Bahujan Samaj
Party (BSP) candidate.
Kalicharan Rajbhar,
who has been a two-
time BSP MLA, is in
the fray this time from
the BJP. If Rajbhar
versus Rajbhar was
tricky enough, Fati-
ma’s entry has made
the contest even more
interesting, setting up
a triangular contest
amid a slew of bipolar
fights between the Sa-
majwadi Party (SP)
and the BJP in this re-
gion. Fatima seems to
be no pushover as she
is hailed by people of
the constituency, cut-
ting across communi-
ties, as someone who
carried out a lot of de-
velopment works
when she won in 2012
and became a minister
in the SP government.
She had joined Shivpal
Yadav’s breakaway
faction Pragatisheel
Samajwadi Party but
with he reconciling
with his nephew Akh-
ilesh Yadav, she was
unable to bag a ticket
from here as the SBSP
tied up with the SP.
Om Prakash Rajbhar
SWITCHES IN LOYALTIES
Duo held for
killing friend
after drinking
liquor
Ghaziabad (PTI): Two
people were arrested
on Wednesday for al-
legedly killing their
friend after he passed a
sarcastic comment on
them while they were
all drinking together,
police said. According
to police, the victim
Vivek Tyagi (34), a res-
ident of Mohammad
Pur Kadeem village in
Modinagar, went miss-
ing on February 2. An
FIR was registered un-
der IPC section 364
(kidnapping or abduct-
ing in order to murder)
in this regard. Acting
on a tip-off, police in-
tercepted a car and ar-
rested Mohit Tyagi and
Ritu Tyagi for the mur-
der. The duo told the
police that they had a
heated argument with
Vivek after he passed
comments against
them. They said they
were consuming alco-
hol and in a fit of rage
hit the victim on his
head. Superintendent
of Police (rural) Iraj
Raja said the duo later
threw the body into
Ganga canal, adding
that the car used in
dumping the body has
been seized.
Man escapes police custody; 6 cops suspended
First India Bureau
Jalaun: Actions were
taken against six police-
men including the in-
spector in charge after a
man jumped into Check
Dam when the police
team raided at Sirsa Ka-
lar police station area.
Police sources said Ajay
Gupta was gambling
when the police team
raided in Sisra Kalar
police station. Police
had taken Ajay & Tanu
into custody but both
had jumped into the
dam and Ajay died later.
Ravi Kumar, superin-
tendent of police has
suspended 6 policemen
including Sirsa Kalar
police station in charge.
Agitated villagers had
protested against the
police department and
demanded stern action
against the policemen.
Senior police and ad-
ministrative officials
rushed to the spot & pac-
ified the situation. —REPRESENTATIONAL IMAGE

COVID-19
UPDATE
WORLD
5,986,736
TOTAL DEATHS
371,820,005
TOTAL RECOVERED
61,455,160
ACTIVE CASES
439,261,901
TOTAL CASES
INDIA
514,246
TOTAL DEATHS
42,338,673
TOTAL RECOVERED
85,680
ACTIVE CASES
42,938,599
TOTAL CASES
08
2NDFRONT
Challenges are gifts- they force us to
open new doors, grow and bloom in
new climates. Embrace them!
—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO & Editor-in-Chief, First India
... TO THE HILT
Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is garlanded during a public meeting for
the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections, in Muhammadabad-Gohna on Wednesday.
Togadia casts doubt
on BJP’s chances
Lucknow:(PTI) For-
mer Vishwa Hindu
Parishad (VHP) chief
Pravin Togadia on
Wednesday said the
BJP may find it tough
to the win the Assem-
bly polls underway in
Uttar Pradesh as
farmers there are dis-
tressed and angry
.
The results of the
seven-phase UP polls
will be declared on
March 10.
Speaking to report-
ershere,hesaidfarm-
ers are waiting for
compensation as well
as a law guaranteeing
Minimum Support
Price, both of which
the BJP-led govern-
ment at the Centre
had not acted upon.
Speaking on stu-
dents stranded amid
the Ukraine-Russia
war, Togadia said
theyshouldhavebeen
brought back by the
Centre by February
15 when it was clear
hostilities would
breakoutbetweenthe
two nations.
The delay has
caused the death of
one student (from
Karnataka) in shell-
ing, which was unfor-
tunate, he said. He
said there were just
45,000 government
medical seats in the
country and courses
were costly
, due to
which students were
pursuing studies in
the sector abroad.
M Tariq Khan
Lucknow: A strong
BSP can ensure a trian-
gular fight in an elec-
tion that has so far been
seen as a bipolar one
between the BJP and
the Samajwadi Party
. A
triangular fight can
mean a split of the an-
ti-BJP votes.
As the period of poll-
ing in the seven-phase-
long UP Assembly elec-
tions approaches its
end, the penultimate
phase of the crucial
polls is scheduled for
Thursday
.
Voting in this phase,
which spans over 10 dis-
trictsand57seats,covers
the Purvanchal belt in
eastern UP 57 assembly
seats from 10 districts
namely Ambedkar
Nagar, Ballia, Balram-
pur, Basti, Deoria, Gora-
khpur, Kushinagar, Ma-
harajganj, Sant Kabir
Nagar and Siddharth-
nagar will go into the
poll on March 3.
The fate of 676 candi-
dates will be locked in
the EVMs on Thursday
.
It will be a real test for
BJP to hold on to its 2017
tally of 46. In 2017, the
BJP had a sizable lead in
districts like Kushi-
nagar and Maharajganj
and many of the seats in
Gorakhpur, Deoria and
Basti districts as well.
Of the 19 seats that
BSP bagged in 2017, 5
seats came from this re-
gion. However, it lost
Jalalpur seat in 2019
by-election to Samajwa-
di Party and 3 of its
MLAs (Ram Achal Ra-
jbhar, Lal ji Verma and
Vinay Shankar Tiwari)
are now contesting on
SP ticket.
Interestingly, CM Yo-
gi’s seat (who is contest-
ing his first assembly
election) will also make
his debut in the state as-
sembly election. He is
pitched against Sama-
jwadi Party’s Sabhavati
Shukla (wife of Upen-
dra Shukla) and Azad
Samaj Party’s Chan-
drashekhar Azad Rav-
an. BSP’s Muslim candi-
date Khwaja Shamsud-
din and Congress’s
Chetna Pandey are also
in the fray
.
Seats of Congress
state president Ajay
Kumar Lallu and Vice
President Virendra
Chaudhary will also go
into the poll in this
phase. While Ajay Ku-
mar Lallu managed to
win his seat of Tam-
kuhi Raj in 2017, Viren-
dra Chaudhary lost by
a thin margin of 2,354
votes. Interestingly, he
stood second for the
fifth consecutive time
(2002, 2007, 2012, 2015
bypoll and 2017).
Gyanendra Kumar Shukla
Lucknow: In UP’s Pur-
vanchal, over 80 per
cent of the 57 assembly
seats in the sixth phase
were held by the BJP
and its allies. Of these,
BJP alone has 46 seats
and allies Apna Dal (S)
and Suheldev Bharati-
ya Samaj Party (SBSP)
have two seats. But this
time the picture has
changed. BJP’s allies
now include the Sanjay
Nishad-led Nishad Par-
ty and Anupriya Pa-
tel-led Apna Dal (S). At
the same time, Om-
prakash Rajbhar’s par-
ty has tied up with SP.
In this phase, BJP is
in fray on 52 seats and
its allies are contesting
on the remaining five
seats. Two candidates
of Nishad Party are
fighting on BJP’s sym-
bol. These include Asim
Kumar from Tamkuhi-
raj and Shravan Kumar
Nishad, son of Nishad
Party’s chief Sanjay Ku-
mar Nishad, from Chau-
ri Chaura seat of Gora-
khpur. Vinay Verma of
BJP-Apna Dal (S) alli-
ance is contesting from
Shohratgarh seat of
Siddharthnagar. Sitting
MLA of Apna Dal,
Chaudhary Amar
Singh, by becoming a
rebel, is presenting a
tough challenge as an
independent candidate.
In four seats, candidates
are contesting on the
symbol of Nishad Party
.
These include Anil Ku-
mar Tripathi from Meh-
dawal, Awadhesh
Dwivedi from Katehri,
Ketki Singh from Bans-
dih, Vivekananda from
Khadda.
In the last assembly
polls, SBSP, in alliance
with the BJP, contested
eight seats and won
four, one of which was
Ramkola in Kushi-
nagar, on which Ra-
mananda Baudh was
elected. This time Ra-
jbhar’s party has got 18
seats in alliance with
SP, of which nine seats
are going to polls in the
sixth phase.
Kushinagar: A day after BSP, BJP turncoat and
now Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Mau-
rya and his daughter and BJP leader Sanghmitra
Maurya were booked for protests in Kushina-
gar, Maurya’s son Utkrisht Maurya was briefly
detained by the police here on Wednesday. The
father-daughter duo was booked after Maurya’s
convoy was attacked in Kushinagar on Tuesday.
Maurya junior was detained after the EC and the
local administration received a complaint that he
was trying to influence voters in the Vishunpura
area in exchange of cash. Kushinagar is set to
vote in the sixth phase of Assembly polls today.
First India Bureau
Lucknow: PM Naren-
dra Modi will be exten-
sively campaigning in
East UP in next few days
tofirmuptheBJP’sposi-
tion on 111 seats going to
polls in remaining two
phasesonMarch3and7.
He will be staying in Va-
ranasi, his Lok Sabha
constituency
, to move
around in Purvanchal,
which seems to have be-
come quite challenging
for the BJP
.
Other top leaders
Home Minister Amit
Shah, Defence Minister
Rajnath Singh and CM
Yogi are scheduled to
concentrate in Kashi re-
gion where battle for
power has intensified.
Similarly
, the SP has
also planned a big show
in Varanasi on March 3.
Akhilesh Yadav, West
Bengal CM Mamata Ba-
nerjee, Rashtriya Lok
Dal chief Jayant Chaud-
hury
, and allies leaders
Om Prakash Rajbhar of
Suheldeo Bharatiya Sa-
maj Party and Krishna
Patel of Apna Dal
(Kamerawadi)aresched-
uled to attend the SP’s
mega show. It would be
firstsuchmajorjointral-
ly and roadshow of the
SP as the UP election
reaches in final phases.
If Ayodhya-epicenter
of Hindutva politics-
was in focus in fifth
round,Kashi(Varanasi),
whereModihasinvested
lotof hispoliticalcapital
in last seven years, has
turnedintobattleground
between the BJP and SP
in the last phase.
Apart from general
development the beauti-
fication of Kashi Vish-
wanath Corridor (KVC)
has turned into major
pollnarrativeof theBJP
.
Recently Modi said in
Varanasi “I really feel
very happy in Kashi and
my mind is relaxed here.
I feel my opponents are
now seeing how much
love the people of Kashi
have for me.”
Like Ayodhya, the bat-
tle for Kashi (Varanasi)
hasturnedhighlypresti-
gious for the saffron bri-
gade as the BJP along
with its allies Apna Dal
(Sonelal) and SBSP had
won all eight seats in
2017. While six seats had
gone to BJP one each
was shared by Anpa Dal
and SBSP
. The SBSP has
now become poll ally of
the Samajwadi Party
.
Kashi has always sent
a strong political mes-
sage to entire east UP
and of 111 remaining
constituencies going to
polls in remaining
phases, the BJP had won
75 which had jacked up
its total tally of 324 in
2017 elections.
It is for this reason the
BJP has been making ef-
fortstoretainthebasein
the region. In 2017 also,
Modi had spent lot of
time in Purvanchal.
GOVT INACTION
Purvanchal in the penultimate
phaseholdsthekeytoUP2022
PM Modi to extensively campaign in
East UP,SP to hold mega road show
Basti, Deoria,
Gkp,Kushinagar
among 10 dists
going to polls
Chief Electoral Officer Ajay Kumar Shukla addresses a press meet
regarding 6th phase of UP polls in Lucknow on Wednesday.
SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar with SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav.
—FILE PHOTO
On Fazilnagar seat, SP has given ticket to former
minister who quit BJP to join SP and is pitched
against Surendra Kushwaha (son of incumbent legis-
lator Ganga Singh Kushwaha). There’s a considerable
Muslim population on this seat and BSP has given
ticket to local Muslim face Ilyas Ansari. The other big
names are Mata Prasad Pandey (former speaker)
from Itwa against Satish Dwivedi, LoP Ram Govind
Chaudhary from Bansdih against Ketakee Singh
(BJP), Vinay Tiwari who would be contesting on SP
ticket against Rajesh Tripathi (BJP) from Chillupar.
TOUGH FIGHT ON FAZILNAGAR SEAT
I really feel very hap-
py in Kashi and my
mind is relaxed here. I
feel my opponents are
now seeing how much
love the people of
Kashi have for me.
Narendra Modi,
Prime Minister
Neck & Neck in Purvanchal
Sixth phase polls: SP, allies
givingtoughfighttoTeamBJP
CASH-FOR-VOTE: POLICE
DETAIN SP MAURYA’S SON
—PHOTO
BY
SUMIT
KUMAR
—FILE PHOTO
—PHOTO
BY
ANI
1982 BATCH IAS TO CELEBRATE REUNION
AT LBSNAA TO MARK 40 YEARS OF SERVICE
Rakesh Ranjan
New Delhi: The
1982-batch IAS officers
will hold a reunion at
the Lal Bahadur Shastri
Academy of Adminis-
tration (LBSNAA, Mus-
soorie) on June 3-4 to
celebrate the 40th anni-
versary of their service.
Some of them may avail
of the optional third-day
stay on June 5.
Top bureaucrat of the
batch and current Un-
ion Cabinet Secretary
Rajiv Gauba may also
grace the occasion and
be part of his batch-
mates on the reunion
day. Indianmandarins
has learned that of 109
officers (serving & re-
tired), 65 have con-
firmed their participa-
tion whereas nine have
regretted their absence
for pressing reasons
with some of them pre-
scheduled to undertake
foreign trips.
Interestingly, the ten-
tative program suggests
that horse riding may
be among the daring
sports activities. The ex-
citing program sched-
ule has one interesting
item: Bed Time: For
those who want to sleep.
The 2nd day (conclud-
ing day) of the reunion
would mark the evening
(called Dinner + Hun-
gama at LBSNAA) will
reportedly be coordi-
nated by former Union
Tourism Secretary
Rashmi Verma and for-
mer Chief Secretary of
UP Deepak Singhal.
Top bureaucrat of
batch, current Union
Cabinet Secy Gauba
may also grace event
Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie.

grew up watching
Dilip Kumar in
tragic roles, he is
my Dad’s favourite ,
but I fell for him
when I watched Ko-
hinoor, what a rol-
licking comedy with none
other than Meena Kumari
and then Ram aur Shyam
and I haven’t found anyone
to date with better comic
timing and swashbuckling
attitude.
If you have watched See-
ta aur Geeta and Chaal-
baaz, you might have a
déjà vu moment or two but
very soon Dilip Kumar will
draw you in and it will be
him all the way, but I sim-
ply must put in a word for
Pran as the totally amazing
diabolic villain, Gajendra.
The music – deep and sin-
ister- whenever Pran steps
into the frame is a delight
as is his stylish attire with
leather boots, jodhpuris
and the moustache.
For me, the movie gives
a glimpse into how child-
hood abuse and trauma can
shape a person’s character
and mark him/her forever
as it does with Ram who is
a scared, timid man unable
to stand him up for himself
or his family while his
twin Shyam is a happy-go-
lucky, confident, daring
and swaggering man. I
would have liked to write
youth but even a big fan of
the thespian like me can’t
stretch the truth so much,
he was close to 45 years but
his acting prowess makes
you forget that.
In spite of Dilip Kumar
in a double role and Pran,
the movie actually does do
justice to both its heroines,
the absolutely beautiful
Waheeda Rehman and the
chirpy pretty Mumtaz,
both are women of spirit
and we are spared the sac-
rifice and sobs. Young
Mumtaz manages to hold
her win despite the strong
and senior co-stars.
And now the music, this
time I have kept the music
for the end because frankly
except for Aaj ki raat mere
dil ki salaami le le (which is
one of my favs); Aayi hain
baharein is a sermon, Main
hun saaqi tu hai sharaabi is
a drag, Balam tere pyaar ki
aag is still tolerable.
I love the scene of the
face-off when Ram (actu-
ally Shyam) refuses the
sign the papers, right from
sliding down the balus-
trade, arrogantly whistling
in Pran’s glowering face,
mimicking the munim to
the point of thrashing Pran
with his own whip in the
shadow of the growling
menacing stuffed tiger as
the metaphor, I like it all
except Nirupa Roy slap-
ping Shyam for bestowing
justice, that I hated.
My all-time favourite
scene is when in the climax
Pran forcibly gets Shyam to
sign the property papers
thinking he is Ram and
brandishing a pistol tells
him to sign his name. Dilip
Kumar does, in Hindi, Urdu
and English with a smi-
ley… wouldn’t you fall in
love with such a hero?
ANITA HADA
anita.hada@firstindianews.com
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia
facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia 09
LUCKNOW, THURSDAY,
MARCH 3, 2022
DOUBLE
DOUBLE
TROUBLE
THIS THROWBACK THURSDAY, WE BRING
YOU RAM AUR SHYAM, WHICH WAS THE
ORIGINAL FLICK TO THE REMAKES WITH
THE SAME PLOTLINE - SEETA AUR GEETA,
CHAALBAAZ AND KISHEN KANHAIYA AND
BELIEVE ME DILIP KUMAR DOES SHOW
THE WAY, EVEN TODAY!
I

03032022 first india lucknow

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Similar to 03032022 first india lucknow

Similar to 03032022 first india lucknow (20)

More from FIRST INDIA

More from FIRST INDIA (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (11)

03032022 first india lucknow