12012022 first india new delhi

Smriti Irani underlines the need to
ensure women’s dignity on social media
First India Bureau
New Delhi: Union Min-
ister Smriti Irani has
underlined the need to
ensure women’s dignity
on social media. She
said that she, along
with the Ministry of
Electronics and Infor-
mation Technology and
the Department of Tel-
ecommunications, is
working to ensure wom-
en’s security on the In-
ternet and social media
platforms.
Interacting with the
staffers of a media or-
ganization, Irani said
that irrespective of
their religions, the
women have been de-
nied their dignity on
the social media.
She said: “she said:
“Women, irrespective
of their religion, have
been denied their dig-
nity on social media
platforms. I am grate-
ful that the police are
investigating this is-
sue. I am absolutely
confident that those
who are guilty will be
punished. My desire is
also this… I had the
privilege of engaging
with the Supreme
Court Justices… to en-
sure that we expedite
cases. The law provides
for an expeditious pro-
nouncement. But there
has been laxity given
the burden on the
courts of our country.
But I am hopeful that
between the police sys-
tem and the judiciary,
more and more cases
where women receive
justice are brought to
light. I want to use this
platform to say that
this is an issue on
which, irrespective of
our politics, we need to
come together.”
FAIR DEAL TO FAIRER SEX
Union Minister Smriti Irani
POLITICAL SCENE HEATS UP
AHEAD OF ASSEMBLY POLLS
Sharat K Verma
New Delhi: Former
Punjab MLA Arvind
Khanna & several other
politicians from the
state joined BJP on
Tuesday as the party as-
serted that it will write
a new chapter in re-
gion’s electoral history
with its success.
Khanna, a business-
man and two-term for-
mer MLA, had not been
much active politically
after quitting the Con-
gress some years back.
Kanwarveer Singh
Tohra, grandson of for-
mer SGPC president
Gurcharan Singh
Tohra, Gurdeep Singh
Gosha, who was with
Akali Dal, and Dharam-
veer Sareen joined BJP
in presence of Union
ministers Gajendra Sin-
gh Shekhawat and Har-
deep Singh Puri.
Welcoming them,
Shekhawat, who is the
BJP’s in-charge for the
Punjab assembly polls
slated for Feb 14 said
their presence will
boost the BJP. The party
will write a new chapter
in the state’s electoral
history, he asserted.
Shekhawat also alleged
that its rivals using the
state machinery foiled
PM Modi’s proposed
rally in the state last
week. It would have
been the state’s biggest
rally, he claimed.
Kavita Pant
Lucknow/New Delhi:
In a massive jolt to BJP
& Yogi Adityanath just
before UP polls, a min-
ister and 3 MLAs quit &
joined the party’s main
challenger, Akhilesh
Yadav. Swami Prasad
Maurya, a top minister
& backward caste lead-
er in Yogi govt, posted
his resignation on
Twitter. Soon after he
went public, 3 more
MLAs, Roshan Lal Ver-
ma, Brijesh Prajapati &
Bhagwati Sagar an-
nounced their resigna-
tions. Reports suggest
Maurya may take a few
more ministers and
MLAs with him.
As Maurya’s letter
emerged on Twitter,
Akhilesh tweeted a pic
with him, welcoming
him and his support-
ers. Later Verma too
declared he was leav-
ing BJP with Maurya.
MANY FROM PUNJAB
JOIN BJP!
UP MINISTER, 3 BJP
LEADERS QUIT!
NOT QUIT BJP YET: SWAMI PRASAD MAURYA
NEW DELHI l WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2022 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNITITLE NO.DELENG/2021/19840 lVol 1 l Issue No.134
OUR EDITIONS: JAIPUR, AHMEDABAD, LUCKNOW & NEW DELHI www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
Global economic growth will dip sharply from 5.5% in 2021 to 4.1% in 2022
and 3.2% in 2023, even as India’s annual growth is projected to be 8.3% in the
current fiscal year, 8.7% in 2022-23, and 6.8% in 2023-24, according to the
World Bank’s Global Economic Prospects Report, released on Tuesday. The
report also flagged the risks posed by growing inequality and rising inflation.
Supreme Court on Tuesday observed that resolution passed by Maharashtra
Assembly suspending 12 BJP MLAs, is prima facie “unconstitutional” as such
a suspension cannot operate beyond six months owing to a constitutional bar.
The MLAs were suspended on July 5, 2021 for 1 year after State govt had
accused them of “misbehaving” with presiding officer in Speaker’s chamber.
GLOBAL ECONOMY
HEADS FOR A SHARP
SLOWDOWN, INDIA TO
GROW AT 8.3%: WB
WORSE THAN
EXPULSION’: SC ON
1-YR SUSPENSION OF
MAHA BJP MLAS
Ex-Congress leader Arvind Khanna, President Panth Ratna Jathedar Gurcharan Singh Tohra
Memorial Trust Kanvar Singh Todha, SAD leader Gurdeep Singh Gosha & ex-councillor of Amritsar
Dharmveer Sareen, join BJP in presence of Union Ministers Gajendra S Shekhawat & Hardeep
Singh Puri in New Delhi on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY PTI
Swami Prasad Maurya (L) joins Samajwadi Party in presence of
party chief Akhilesh Yadav, in Lucknow on Tuesday.
Though I have met Samajwadi
President Akhilesh Yadav but I will
take a call to join any party after dis-
cussing with my supporters and well-wishers.
—Swami Prasad Maurya
MAYAWATI WON’T CONTEST UP
ASSEMBLY POLLS: BSP MP
Lucknow: Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister
Mayawati will not contest the upcoming As-
sembly election in the
State, Bahujan Samaj
Party (BSP) MP Satish
Chandra Misra said on
Tuesday. “Former Chief
Minister Mayawati and
I will not contest the
Assembly elections,”
BSP MP Satish Chandra
Misra told news agency
ANI. Commenting on
Samajwadi Party’s chief Akhilesh Yadav’s claim
that his party will win 400 seats, Mishra said, “If
Samajwadi Party does not have 400 candidates,
how will it win 400 seats?” “Neither SP nor BJP
will come to power, BSP is going to form the govt
in Uttar Pradesh,” he added. —ANI
UP: NCP JOINS SP; IN TALKS
WITH CONG, TMC FOR GOA
Lucknow: NCP president Sharad Pawar on
Tuesday said his party would contest the
state elections in
UP as part of the
Samajwadi Party-
led alliance. He also
said 13 members
of Legislative
Assembly in UP
will be joining SP.
Talking to reporters,
Pawar said people
of UP are looking for
parivartan (change), adding it will happen. He
added NCP is in talks with Mamata Banerjee’s
TMC and Congress to fight Goa Assembly
polls together. “TMC, NCP & Congress are
holding discussions. We have given our
choice of seats to them. A decision will be
made soon,” Pawar said. Meanwhile, in Goa
Congress tied up with GFP, a regional outfit,
while TMC found a regional partner in MGP.
Delhi orders WFH for pvt offices
New Delhi: All private
offices in Delhi shall be
closed, except those
which have been ex-
empted, the DDMA said
in its revised guide-
lines. The private offic-
es, which were till now
operating with 50%
workforce, have been
asked to follow the prac-
tice of work from home.
Meanwhile, India
logged 1,68,063 new cor-
onavirus infections tak-
ing the total tally to
3,58,75,790 which in-
cludes 4,461 cases of
Omicron, according to
the Union Health Min-
istry data updated on
Tuesday. —ANI
More on P2 & 5
z Active cases highest
in 208 days in India.
z All int’l passengers
coming to India must
mandatorily quarantine
at home for 7 days, fol-
HIGHLIGHTS
CORONA
CATASTROPHE
NEW DELHI
21,259
NEW CASES
12,161
RECOVERED
23
NEW
DEATHS
lowed by RT-PCR test on
the eighth day.
z Lata Mangeshkar ad-
mitted to ICU after testing
+ve. Nitin Gadkari also +ve
z PM enquires about
health of Mangeshkar &
Bihar & Karnataka CMs.
z Goa Dy CM Manohar
Ajgaonkar tests positive,
admitted to hospital.
z US breaks hospitalisa-
tion record as Omicron
surges.
India test fires
BrahMos
Supersonic
Cruise Missile
New Delhi: India suc-
cessfully test-fired
BrahMos Supersonic
Cruise missile from the
Indian Navy’s INS Vi-
sakhapatnam warship
on Tuesday
. The missile
was tested from INS Vi-
sakhapatnam which is
the latest warship of
the Indian Navy induct-
ed recently. ‘Advanced
sea to sea variant of
BrahMos Supersonic
Cruise missile was test-
ed from INS Visakhapa-
tnam today
. The missile
hit the designated tar-
get ship precisely’,
DRDO official said. The
missile is a joint ven-
ture between India and
Russia where Defence
Research and Develop-
ment Organisation
(DRDO) represents the
Indian side. ‘The sea to
sea variant of the mis-
sile was test-fired at the
maximum range and
hit the target ship with
pinpoint accuracy’, the
official added. —ANI
Shah recalls Shastri’s
‘selfless patriotism’
New Delhi: Union
Home Minister Amit
Shah on Tuesday re-
membered former PM
Lal Bahadur Shastri on
his 56th death anniver-
sary
.
Taking to Twitter, the
Home Minister said,
“Former Prime Minis-
ter Bharat Ratna Lal
Bahadur Shastri Ji,
through his firm leader-
ship in a challenging
time, instilled a sense of
unity from soldiers to
farmers and set an ex-
cellent ideal of how self-
less patriotism can pro-
tect the country and
serve the public”. “Sa-
lute to such a great pa-
triot,” Shah tweeted in
Hindi. Vice President M
Venkaiah Naidu, BJP
National President JP
Nadda, Congress leader
Rahul Gandhi and a
host of politicians re-
membered the former
PM on his death anni-
versary on Jan 11. —ANI
CRUCIAL READ
CBI TO SC: MAHA MAKING JOB TOUGH
IN PROBE AGAINST ANIL DESHMUKH
CS, DGP ‘SKIP’
MEET: DHANKHAR
SEEKS REPLY
New Delhi: The SC said that it is a ‘very disturbing sce-
nario’ in Maharashtra, where ex- Mumbai Police Com-
missioner Param Bir Singh, has no faith in police force,
which he headed recently, & state government has no
faith in CBI. CBI informed top court that state is creating
several stumbling blocks in its probe against former HM
Anil Deshmukh. Senior advocate Puneet Bali, represent-
ing Singh, submitted that his client is being targeted.
Kolkata: Expressing his
displeasure, WB Gover-
nor Jagdeep Dhankhar
sought clarification from
CS Hari Krishna Dwivedi
& DGP Manoj Malviya
for ‘skipping’ a meeting
scheduled with him on
Monday. Dhankhar had
summoned them to brief
him about an incident
involving BJP LoP Suv-
endu Adhikari. “Stunned
at farcical identical
messages ‘as directed’
& premise of meeting
boycott with Guv by CS
@MamataOfficial & DGP
@WBPolice. CS/DGP
directed to indicate by 5
PM today under whose
‘directions’ messages
were sent,” he tweeted.
KERRY TO VISIT
INDIA SOON
SENSEX JUMPS
3RD DAY IN A ROW
New Delhi: US special
envoy for climate John
Kerry & India’s Union
Environment Minister
Bhupender Yadav had
a telephone conversa-
tion and discussed the
prospect of the meeting
soon, keeping in mind
the evolving Covid-19
situation, in order to take
CAFMD forward.
New Delhi: Bulls man-
aged to sustain grip on
Dalal street on Tuesday
as Indian equity markets
ended the volatile session
in green for third straight
day. After fluctuating 408
points, BSE Sensex index
closed 221 points or
0.37% higher at 60,617,
while Nifty50 settled at
18,056 levels, or 0.29 %.
IPL: Tata Group
replaces Vivo
as title sponsor
New Delhi: One of In-
dia’s largest business
conglomerates, the Tata
Group, is all set to re-
place Chinese mobile
manufacturer Vivo as
I PL’s title sponsor from
this year, the event’s
governing council de-
cided in a meeting.
BCCI Secretary Jay
Shah stated, “We are
truly happy that India’s
largest & most trusted
business groups has be-
lieved in IPL growth
story & together with
Tata Group, we will
look to take Indian
cricket and IPL forward
to greater heights.”
—PHOTO
BY
PTI

CAPITOL
NEW DELHI | WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2022
02
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New Delhi: The ongoing
probe into the "Sulli
Deals" case has revealed
that around 30 Twitter
handles were misused
for uploading the mor-
phed pictures of Muslim
women for their purport-
ed "auction", the Delhi
police said on Monday.
The Delhi police is try-
ing to identify the mem-
bers of the group which
the 26-year-old Indore
youth Aumkareshwar
Thakur too was a part of,
an official said.
They said Thakur had
deleted the contents of
his laptop, and his laptop
and phones along with
those of Niraj Bishnoi,
the creator of the "Bulli
Bai" app and arrested
earlier by Delhi police
from Assam, have been
sent to the National Fo-
rensic Science Lab to as-
certain their contents
and access details.
While awaiting the fo-
rensic lab report, the po-
lice are trying to identify
other members of the
group misusing the
Twitter handles, they
said.
Accused Thakur, who
is alleged to be the crea-
tor of the derogatory app
which targeted Muslim
women, from Indore in
Madhya Pradesh was ar-
rested on Saturday
night, they said. —PTI
New Delhi: The Delhi
High Court Tuesday re-
fused to entertain a PIL
seeking to restrain Delhi
government from using
public funds on adver-
tisements allegedly in-
tended to project indi-
vidual functionaries and
Aam Aadmi Party
(AAP).
A bench of Chief Jus-
tice D N Patel and Jus-
tice Jyoti Singh said that
as a committee has al-
ready been formed by
the central government
in pursuance to direc-
tions of the Supreme
Court to take cognisance
of such violations and
the petitioner’s com-
plaint is also filed before
the panel, it sees no rea-
son to entertain the peti-
tion.
“The petition is dis-
posed of. The petitioner
is granted liberty to ap-
proach an appropriate
forum if he has any
grievance,” the bench
said. Petitioner Kumar
Piyush Pushkar, an ad-
vocate, said on Decem-
ber 25, 2021, he was per-
turbed and appalled to
see the full-sized front-
paged advertisement by
Delhi government wish-
ing Christmas to citi-
zens, which was pub-
lished in almost all the
mainstream newspa-
pers. —PTI
Orphanage children leaving as they discharged after completing their isolation period at Covid care center, Commonwealth Games
Village Sports Complex in New Delhi —PHOTO BY ANI
CRUCIAL READ
New Delhi: A ‘lucky’
green jacket of a
27-year-old snatcher
has put him behind
the bars for allegedly
stealing and later
selling stolen mobile
phones to passengers near railway stations and bus
terminals on the pretext of a false story, police said on
Tuesday. Accused Faraz, a resident of Kucha Rehman,
Ballimaran, who was previously involved in seven
cases of snatching, hurt and Arms Act registered at
different Police station of the district, they said.
Police has arrested
seven passengers
for allegedly trying
to travel on fake
documents from the
city airport, officials
said on Tuesday. One agent has also been arrested in
connection with the incident, police said. The ac-
cused agent is identified as Pankaj alias Kamal. The
passengers have been identified as Armandeep Singh,
Amritpal Singh, Jagdeep Singh, Gurwinder Singh,
Rahul Jangra, Deepak and Manbeer, they said.
POLICE NAB MAN ACCUSED IN SNATCHING
IN DELHI FROM HIS ‘LUCKY’ JACKET
7 HELD FROM DELHI AIRPORT FOR TRYING
TO BOARD ON FAKE DOCUMENTS: POLICE
DELHI WINS PRIZES
AT ‘INDIASKILLS
COMPETITION'
New Delhi: A team from
Delhi participated in the
first ‘IndiaSkills Com-
petition’ held here and
bagged prizes, an official
statement said. The team,
comprising 22 members
in 18 different skills,
competed at the competi-
tion. The Delhi contingent
competed in skills such
as electrical installations,
fashion technology, 3D
digital game art, among
others.
New Delhi: A 20-year-
old man from Bihar was
arrested from Rajinder
Nagar in Delhi’s Central
district for allegedly
staging his own kidnap-
ping and demanding
a ransom of `20 lakh
from his father to repay
his debt incurred due to
gambling. The accused
has been identified as
Mehtab Hashimi, said
deputy commissioner of
police Shweta Chauhan.
MAN HELD FOR
STAGING HIS OWN
KIDNAPPING
New Delhi: Delhi Uni-
versity (DU) has offi-
cially notified materni-
ty leave for its ad hoc/
contractual staff, a
long-standing demand
of the teachers at the
university
. The decision
was taken on December
17 last year.
“The Executive
Council…approved the
recommendations of
the Committee consti-
tuted in compliance of
the UGC letter…dated
September 12, 2012 re-
garding grant of Mater-
nity Benefit as per pro-
vision of Maternity
Benefit Act (Amend-
ment) 2017 to Ad hoc/
contractual staff of the
university and its col-
leges,” Registrar Vikas
Gupta said in a notifica-
tion dated January 4.
“Accordingly, paid
maternity leave may be
granted to such Ad hoc/
contractual women
teaching and non-teach-
ing employees engaged
for a fixed term by the
University/Colleges for
a maximum period of
26 weeks within the pe-
riod of such fixed term
engagement. Further,
in line with the letter
from the UGC to the
University dated Sep-
tember 12, 2018, the eli-
gibility for maternity
leave may be made
available for women
with less than two sur-
viving children,” he
said.
The notification said
it was “further resolved
that the implementa-
tion of the benefits of
maternity leave would
not put Ad hoc/contrac-
tual staff of the univer-
sity and its colleges to a
disadvantageous posi-
tion”.
The long-standing de-
mand of the DU Teach-
ers’ Association was
brought to fruition fol-
lowing the report sub-
mitted by a five-mem-
ber committee under
Prof Dr Kamala
Shankaran of Campus
Law Centre, Faculty of
Law, constituted in Jan-
uary last year to decide
on the matter. —Agencies
DU notifies maternity leave for ad hoc, contractual staff
FRUITION FOLLOWS
THE DECISION WAS TAKEN ON
DECEMBER 17 LAST YEAR
‘Sulli Deals’ group misused
about 30 Twitter handles
HC junks PIL to restrain city govt
from using public funds for ads
WORKFROMHOME
THE DELHI GOVERNMENT HAS DIRECTED THE CLOSURE OF ALL PRIVATE OFFICES AMID RISING NUMBER OF
COVID-19 CASES. THE PRIVATE OFFICES — OPERATING WITH 50% WORK FORCE, HAVE BEEN ASKED TO
FOLLOW WORK FROM HOME. AN ORDER ISSUED BY DDMA ALSO DIRECTED FOR CLOSING OF RESTAURANTS
AND BARS. HOWEVER, RESTAURANTS ARE ALLOWED HOME DELIVERY AND TAKE AWAY FOOD ITEMS.
New Delhi: The Confed-
eration of All India Trad-
ers (CAIT) on Tuesday
wrote a letter to Delhi
Lieutenant Governor
Anil Baijal on DDMA’s
ban on city businesses to
work from offices and
sought an appointment
to discuss the issue.
The Delhi Disaster
Management Authority,
which is headed by Bai-
jal, in an order on Tues-
day directed closure of
all private offices, except
those in exempted cate-
gories, amid COVID-19
cases. The private offic-
es, which were till now
operating with 50 pc
workforce, are asked to
work from home.
In the letter, CAIT Na-
tional Secretary General
Praveen Khandelwal
said the DDMA directive
will have adverse impact
on businesses as approx-
imately there are more
than 3 lakh offices in
Delhi providing employ-
ment to lakhs of people
“Instead of closure, it
will be appropriate if 50
pc capacity of the em-
ployees is allowed to
work maintaining man-
datory social distance
and observing Covid
safety protocols,” Khan-
delwal suggested. —PTI
government will launch
online yoga and pranay-
am classes for COVID-19
patients in home isola-
tion from January 12,
Chief Minister Arvind
Kejriwal said on Tues-
day
.
He also said that this
initiative will be the
first of its kind in the
world.
There will be eight
classes of one hour
each from 6 am to 11 am
and 4 pm to 7 pm under
the the “Dilli ki Yogsha-
la” programme, the
chief minister said dur-
ing an online briefing.
“To help patients who
are recovering at home,
the Delhi government
has brought forward a
one of a kind pro-
gramme. The pro-
gramme will be unique
in itself throughout the
globe. In my under-
standing, we are the
first to design some-
thing like this,” he said
during an online brief-
ing. —PTI
New Delhi: Of the 136
Covid patients at the
LNJP Hospital at pre-
sent, 130 had come for
treatment of other prob-
lems and tested positive
at the time of admission,
Chief Minister Arvind
Kejriwal said on
Tuesday.
After reviewing
the situation at the
Lok Nayak Jai
Prakash Narayan
(LNJP) Hospital, he
said only six pa-
tients had come to
the health facility
for treatment of Covid,
and added that the third
wave of the pandemic is
“very mild” as com-
p a re d
t o the
deadly wave in April last
year.
“During the last wave,
a large number of people
had been hospitalised for
treatment of Covid. This
number is very low this
time. Around 2,000 Cov-
id patients are under-
going treatment at
hospitals. I believe
the number of peo-
ple who have come
for treatment of
coronavirus only
is very low,” Ke-
jriwal told report-
ers. —PTI
New Delhi: Owners of
restaurants and bars in
Delhi on Tuesday ex-
pressed dismay over the
DDMA’s decision to sus-
pend dine-in facilities in
the city and said many
businesses may have to
shut shop as takeaway
services alone cannot
cover expenses like rent
and staff salaries.
They said it is an “in-
justice” that restaurants
and bars in the city are
being closed when road-
side eateries are open
and Metro trains and
buses are running at full
capacity.
They also urged the
Delhi Disaster Manage-
mentAuthoritytoreview
its decision.
Manpreet Singh, treas-
urer of the National Res-
taurants Association of
India, said restaurants
and bars have not yet
fully recovered from the
setbacks of the previous
lockdowns and these
fresh restrictions will
only worsen things. —PTI
Traders’ body urges LG
to reconsider ‘work
from home’ order
Online yoga classes for
Covid patients in home
isolation from today
CENTRE ASSURED COVID
CURBS ACROSS NCR: KEJRIWAL
‘OF 136 COVID PATIENTS AT LNJP, 130 HAVE OTHER
ISSUES, TESTED POSITIVE AT TIME OF ADMISSION’
OWNERS OF RESTAURANTS UNHAPPY OVER
SUSPENSION OF DINE-IN FACILITIES
New Delhi: The
Centre’s representa-
tives have assured the
Delhi government that
Covid-related curbs
imposed in the capital
will be replicated across
the NCR, Chief Minis-
ter Arvind Kejriwal on
Tuesday, noting that
it is difficult to predict
when the third wave of
infections will peak. He
said the government
had to impose restric-
tions out of compulsion
and reiterated that a
complete lockdown will
not be implemented.
The chief minister
also said Delhi is
likely to record around
20,000 Covid cases on
Tuesday. “At a meeting
of the Delhi Disaster
Management Authority,
we told the representa-
tives of the Centre that
the restrictions should
be implemented in the
entire NCR and not
just in Delhi. They have
assured us that restric-
tions implemented in
Delhi will be replicated
in the region,” Kejriwal
told reporters at the Lok
Nayak Hospital. —PTI

INDIA
03
Anita Hada
Lucknow: The assem-
bly elections of five
states are being de-
scribed as the semi-fi-
nals of 2024 and at the
same time these elec-
tions are being consid-
ered as semi-finals for
the Congress party as
well. However, that is
not entirely true. The
‘semi-finals’ will be
held next year i.e. 2023,
when assembly elec-
tions will be held for
half a dozen states from
South to North and East
to West. By law, this
election is not even a
quarter-final for the
Congress, but they will
be more of a qualifier
as their results will de-
cide whether Congress
will go to play in the
next rounds or not.
Therefore, whatever be
the case, this time the
Congress will have to
perform well in the elec-
tions of five states.
These elections are
being deemed as ‘elec-
tion qualifiers’ for the
Congress because the
party will not be able to
stay in its present form
if the Congress does not
perform well. Till now
the leaders of the Con-
gress party are leaving
or the party is being
broken, like in Megha-
laya of Northeastern
states. But the party’s
poor performance in
these five states will
lead to a huge division.
The leaders who were
writing letters to the
Congress President till
now are all sitting on
the edge and watching
on the spectacle. As
soon as the Congress
loses, all will come out
firing on the leadership
and it wouldn’t be a sur-
prise if there would be
a split in the Congress
like that in 1969. At that
time it was Indira Gan-
dhi, she had charisma,
which made her Con-
gress stand after that
partition. But this time
if such a division hap-
pens, then the Congress
of those who will be
‘different’, will become
the real Congress.
This will happen be-
cause major leaders
who have left the Con-
gress are planning this
part and successful
election strategist
Prashant Kishor is sup-
porting them. Satraps
like Mamata Banerjee
and Sharad Pawar are
waiting for the defeat of
the Congress party and
‘jilted’ old leaders of
Congress are in touch
with him. From Ghu-
lamNabiAzadtoAnand
Sharma, Kapil Sibal
and Bhupinder Singh
Hooda, many leaders
are sitting ready.
Prashant Kishor has al-
ready given the theory
that unlike other re-
gional parties, the Con-
gress does not belong to
any one leader, but the
Gandhi family is the
custodian of this party
.
On the other hand, the
central government
and the ruling party
have the goal of creat-
ing a separate Con-
gress-mukt Bharat.
The good thing for
Congress is that out of
the five states where
elections are being held
this time, it can win
elections in the remain-
ing four states except
Uttar Pradesh. This will
not happen because of
the Congress’s own pol-
itics, but because of the
situation in these states
and the internal strife
of the BJP, these four
states are showing fa-
vourable conditions for
the Congress. Consider-
ing it as a qualifier, Con-
gress fights it in a do or
die style as only then
there will be a possibil-
ity that it will be able to
play the next round.
UPCOMING STATE ELECTIONS A QUALIFIER FOR CONGRESS!
ASSEMBLY ELECTION 2022
Krishna Bhakti
of Arjun Munda!
Sharat K Verma
New Delhi: The leaders
of the Bharatiya Janata
Party usually have little
or no skill or quality
other than politics, or-
ganization, campaign-
ing etc. There will be
very few leaders who
have a passion for music
or sports. Three-time
Chief Minister of
Jharkhand, Union Min-
ister Arjun Munda is
one of the few leaders
who have a passion for
music and keeps trying
his hand in sports as
well. He plays golf in
Jamshedpur and in Del-
hi and also organizes
golf tournaments in his
home town of Jamshed-
pur,inwhichaselectfew
get a chance to partici-
pate. He has been sing-
ing songs in front of the
people close to him and
he also knows how to
play many instruments.
For the first time, he has
made a public display of
his talent. Like the ear-
lier album, a video of
him has been released,
in which he is singing a
soulful song related to
the love of Krishna and
Radha written in the
style of Amir Khusro.
The name of the song
writer is unknown but it
has been sung by almost
every major classical
singerof modern.Arjun
Munda has sung this
song with full devotion.
So, he has introduced
his other talent apart
from politics. Secondly,
he has shown devotion
to Krishna at a time
when the political im-
portance of Mathura
has started increasing
after Ayodhya. Can this
video of Arjun Munda
in Krishna Bhakti give
him an edge in
Jharkhand politics too?
Only time will tell!
How branding Rashmi Thackeray as
Maha’s ‘Rabri Devi’ a compliment
& not an insult to Maha CM’s wife!
Kavita Pant
Mumbai: A bizarre
kind of politics is being
done in Maharashtra
these days. BJP’s social
media cell chief Jiten
Gajaria compared CM
Uddhav Thackeray’s
wife—Rashmi Thack-
eray—to former Bihar
CM Rabri Devi. This in-
furiated Shiv Sena lead-
ers and the furious lead-
ers termed it an insult
to Rashmi Thackeray
.
Justimagine,howisit
an insult to compare
Rashmi to the first wom-
an CM of a major state
like Bihar and a woman
politicianwithaspotless
political life? It is cer-
tainly a fact that Rabri
Devi was less educated,
but she was Bihar’s CM
for almost 8 years and
except for the first few
days, she conducted in
politics diligently and
ran the government.
Actually Jiten Gajar-
ia had posted a photo of
Rashmi with remarks:
‘Marathi Rabri Devi’.
Since then, there has
been an uproar in en-
tire Maharashtra. The
police filed a case
against him and after
interrogating Jiten for
four hours they re-
leased him.
Kishori Pednekar, a
leader of Shiv Sena and
Mayor of Mumbai, be-
came extremely agitat-
ed over the develop-
ment and said, “Who is
Jiten Gajaria? He
switched from NCP to
BJP like a kangaroo
and today he is making
such derogatory re-
marks about the women
of Maharashtra, about
Rashmi Bhabhi!” In re-
sponse to Mumbai May-
or, BJP’s Ram Kadam,
instead of criticizing
Kishori’s remark, said
that police didn’t take
any action when a min-
ister in Maharashtra
government had made
derogatory remarks
about Hema Malini.
This means, even in the
eyes of the BJP, this
comparison is an inde-
cent remark!
This is about the up-
per caste, cosmopolitan
and so called ‘educated’
section of the society
who still considers it to
be indecent to be com-
pared to a backward
caste woman from a
backward state, who is
not facing any charges
andwhohasbeentheCM
of Bihar for eight years.
Actually this is not an
insult to Rashmi Thack-
eray
, but to Rabri Devi,
whichwasdonebyaBJP
leader first, & thereafter
the Shiv Sainiks joined
in. Surprisingly
, all lead-
ers of Bihar are also
keeping silent. The
Thackeray family is also
not saying anything,
while late Bal Thacker-
ay’s father Prabod-
hankar Thackeray him-
self wrotethathisances-
tors had left Bihar and
reached Maharashtra.
A TALE OF TWO WOMEN
Rabri Devi Rashmi Thackeray
IN THE COURTYARD
SUPREME COURT RESERVES VERDICT
ON PLEAS OF FUTURE GROUP FIRMS
New Delhi: The SC on Tuesday reserved verdict on a batch
of pleas filed by Future Group firms against a Delhi HC
order declining stay on an arbitration tribunal decision re-
fusing to interfere with the EA of the Singapore International
Arbitration Centre (SIAC). “We reserve the order. All the
four SLPs (special leave petitions) are over. A lot of home-
work for us. Anyway I will not write lengthy judgement,” a
bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana said. Initially,
the bench, also comprising justices A S Bopanna and Hima
Kohli, suggested to the counsels for Amazon and the Future
group firms that the single judge bench of the Delhi HC be
allowed to hear the statutory appeals of the Future group
against the final arbitral award of the SIAC. The bench said
that the pleas, which are arising from the EA’s award and
are pending before it, may not be relevant now as the final
award of the SIAC has “already been passed”.
HATE SPEECH ROW: SC TO HEAR PLEA
SEEKING INDEPENDENT PROBE TODAY
New Delhi: Supreme Court will hear a petition on
Wednesday seeking an independent inquiry into the
Dharam Sansad hate speech case for allegedly inciting
violence against the minority community. A bench headed
by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana will hear the matter
today. A petition was filed by former High Court judge and
senior advocate Anjana Prakash, and journalist Qurban
seeking the arrest and trial of the ones who made the hate
speech and allegedly incited violence against the minority
community at Haridwar Dharam Sansad conclave. Earlier
on Monday, the top court had agreed to hear the petition
and assured senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for
the petitioner that it will be heard without delay. The hate
speeches were allegedly delivered between December 17
and 19, 2021, in Haridwar by Yati Narsinghanand and in
Delhi by ‘Hindu Yuva Vahini’. —ANI
SC DISPOSES OF PLEA AGAINST BLOCKING
OF ROADS DUE TO FARMERS’ PROTEST
New Delhi: Taking into account that farmers’ protest
against three agriculture laws has ended and roads blocked
due to it are opened, the SC on Tuesday disposed of a PIL
of woman resident of Noida who sought direction to ensure
that the road between Noida to
Delhi is kept clear so that the
passage is not affected. A Bench
headed by justice Sanjay Kishan
Kaul disposed of the PIL saying
it has now become infructuous
beacuse of the clearance of
roads. Noida resident Monicca
Agarwaal had filed the plea in
the apex court and alleged that
her travel to Delhi is taking two hours instead of normal
20 minutes. She had contended that despite the various
directions passed by the apex court to keep the to and fro
passage clear (the road), the same had still not happened.
DELHI HC ISSUES NOTICE TO TWITTER AND
GOVT OVER ARTI TIKOO’S PETITION
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court Tuesday asked the Centre
and Twitter to respond to a plea by a journalist challenging
the microblogging site’s decision to block her access to
her account for allegedly violating its rules against hateful
conduct. Justice Rekha Palli
issued notice to Twitter Inc and
Ministry of Electronics and
Information Technology on the
petition by journalist Aarti Tikoo,
founder and editor-in-chief of
news portal ‘the news indian’,
seeking quashing of Twitter’s
December 15, 2021 decision by
which her account was locked
apart from deletion of her tweet of that day. The high court
dismissed as not pressed, the interim application seeking
access to her Twitter account and said you can manage
without Twitter for some days.
CALCUTTA HIGH COURT REVISES ITS
ORDER ON GANGASAGAR MELA
Kolkata: A two-member committee has been constituted to
monitor adherence to COVID-19 protocols during the Gan-
gasagar mela which began on 8 January this year, said the
Calcutta High Court on Tuesday. Further, the court stated
that only those who have been
administered with two doses of
COVID-19 vaccine and has the
certificate of second dose will
be permitted to enter the mela.
Only those having negative RT-
PCR report not earlier than 72
hours will be permitted to enter
the mela, added the court. Ear-
lier on 7 January, the Calcutta
High Court had given go-ahead to Gangasagar Mela on
Friday with certain conditions after the State Government
decided to go ahead with the Ganga Sagar Mela after taking
necessary measures to contain COVID-19.
Arjun Munda
Mahesh Sharma
New Delhi: The Elec-
tion Commission has in-
creased the limit of elec-
tion expenditure ahead
of theassemblyelections
to be held in five states.
Now in big states, the
candidate of Lok Sabha
willbeabletospendRs90
lakh and the candidate
of Vidhan Sabha will be
able to spend Rs40 lakh.
For small states, the ex-
penditure limit in the
Lok Sabha polls will be
Rs75 lakh and in the Vid-
han Sabha it will be Rs28
lakh. But this beckons a
question as to why has
the Election Commis-
sion thought of increas-
ingtheexpenditurelimit
of aLokSabhacandidate
from Rs70 to 90 lakh? For
thelasttwoyears,thena-
tional income of the
country has been stag-
nated or is negative. The
income of the common
people has decreased in-
stead of increasing.
Then by what logic has
the election expenditure
limit been increased at
this time? The old Rs70
lakh limit was also a lot,
butraisingittoRs90lakh
will further reduce the
chances of common peo-
ple contesting elections.
Shouldn’ttheElection
Commission take meas-
urestokeepthatexpend-
iturewithinalimit?And
if the expenditure limit
is being increased,
shouldn’t the govern-
mentortheCommission
takemeasurestoprovide
for contesting elections
to ensure a level playing
fieldforall?HastheElec-
tion Commission no-
ticed that election ex-
penditure has increased
or people are spending a
lot in elections, so the
limitonelectionexpend-
iture should be in-
creased?OrhastheCom-
mission seen the figure
that now more crorepa-
tishavestartedreaching
the Lok Sabha than be-
fore, so the limit of elec-
tion expenditure should
be increased? Many or-
ganisations have as-
sessed that the chances
of winning the election
of crorepati candidates
are many times higher
than that of candidates
from the lower strata of
financial background.
Therefore, the Commis-
sion should stop this, or
else the Parliament will
become a club of mil-
lionaires and billion-
aires, where they will
makepoliciesforthetril-
lionaires and not for the
common people.
Dangers of raising poll spending limit!
`90 LAKH
up from `75 lakh for
big constituencies
`70 LAKH
hiked from `54 lakh for
smaller constituencies
HIKE FOR
PARL POLLS
`40 LAKH
for big states, up
from `28 lakh
`28 LAKH
for smaller states from
previous `20 lakh
HIKE FOR
ASSEMBLY POLLS
Nothighcommand,peoplewillchoosePunjabCM:Sidhu
Punjab: Congress Pun-
jab President Navjot
Singh Sidhu on Tues-
day said that it’s the
people of Punjab who
will decide the Chief
Minister and not the
party high command.
The remark is likely to
irk party high com-
mand and especially
the party’s state unit.
Sidhu made the state-
ments during an inter-
action with reporters as
the state is scheduled to
go for assembly polls on
February 14.
People of Punjab will
decide who will be the
CM. Who told you that
the(Congress)highcom-
mand will make the
CM?,”Sidhuquestioned.
“Do not have a false
implication in your
mind. People of Punjab
will choose MLAs and
they alone will decide
who will be the Chief
Minister,” the Congress
Punjab President fur-
ther added.
During the interac-
tion, what raised eye-
brows was also the ab-
sence of Chief Minister
Charanjit Singh Chan-
ni and former party
State president Sunil
Jakhar’s photographs
in the banner. The ban-
ner included the photo-
graphs of Congress
president Sonia Gan-
dhi, Rahul Gandhi and
Priyanka Gandhi.
During the presser, he
launched his ‘‘Punjab
Model’, which accord-
ing to him would bring
power back in the hands
of people. He asserted
that his ‘Punjab Model
2022’ will create not only
more jobs but will also
generate revenue and
plug revenue pilferages.
Sidhu also lashed out
at his bête noire Captain
Amarinder Singh and
said that the former CM
shouldresign.“TheCap-
tain himself is round. I
challenged him to play
for 15 minutes with a
stick and ball. He can
barely stand. He should
retire,” Sidhu said.
—Agencies
Navjot Singh Sidhu

PERSPECTIVE
04
wami Vivekanandji was a yuga-
drishti sannyasi and an inspira-
tion for youth. He was such a rare
personality who not only saw and
tested his era but constantly
worked to awaken the youth and
inspired them to do something
new.Makingthemantraof Katho-
panishad-- ‘Uttishtha Jagrat
Prayapya Varan Bodhat’ his mot-
to, he exhorted the youth to ‘arise,
wake up self and others and do
notstopuntilthegoalisachieved’.
It was at the core of his saying
that the youth should come out of
the darkness of ignorance and
move forward towards the acqui-
sition of knowledge. Along with
getting rid of all the superstitions
and perverted evils of society
, he
also called upon the youth to be
free from all such bondage, due to
whichthemindbecomesdormant
and tends towards unrestrained.
The entire life of Swami Vive-
kananda is the path of the ideal
for youths. His thoughts awaken
enthusiasm among the youth. In
his writings, he has always be-
lieved that youth is a bundle of
strength and courage. If the
youth is determined to do some-
thing with their mind, then they
can take the nation towards ex-
cellence. Swamiji was a great
scholar of the Vedas and the
Upanishads. He made them ac-
cessible to the youth by taking
them into their original implica-
tions rather than the traditional
meanings. He had written, “I
want many such young sannyasis
who spread in the villages of In-
dia and get consumed in the ser-
vice of the countrymen.” In fact,
by “young sannyasi”, he meant
such youths who work for the
country and society by being
committed and by keeping a goal.
I also believe that he has continu-
ously revealed the meaning of
Shastras, Puranas and Vedas
through his contemplation in
which youth can reach heights in
their life by aiming positively to-
wards life.
Swami Vivekananda’s philoso-
phy of Vedanta became famous
not only in India but all over the
world because it has a psycho-
logical explanation of these three
philosophies-Dvaita,Vishishtad-
vaita and Advaita. I have perused
his Vedanta philosophy continu-
ously and have found that his vi-
sion of the rituals and knowledge
of the Vedas is so simple, that the
meaning of life is revealed in it.
Through Vedanta philosophy, he
also taught the youth of the coun-
try in a way to not to deviate from
the path of religion and to always
walk on the right path.
Swamiji was a great orator. At
the young age of 30, he addressed
the Dharma Sansad while repre-
senting Sanatan Dharma on be-
half of India in the Vishwa Dhar-
ma Mahasabha held in Chicago
in 1893.
The Vedanta philosophy of In-
dia, full of spirituality, reached
America and Europe only due to
the oratory of Swami Vivekanan-
da. Many may be surprised to
know that he was given only 2
minutes to speak, but when his
eloquent speech was made, peo-
ple were mesmerized and full of
enthusiasm and they wanted to
listen to him in every session of
the Dharma Mahasabha, he dom-
inated with his power.
He said in the Dharma Mahas-
abha, “I am proud that I belong to
a country which has given refuge
to the persecuted people of all
religions and all countries.
While negotiating the sublime
expressions of life in the narra-
tives related to Indian culture and
religion through the verses of the
Bhagavad Gita, he said that the
present conference, which is one
of the most sacred gatherings till
date, is in itself related to the
teachings of the Gita that “who-
ever comes to me, no matter how
I reach him. People take different
paths, face difficulties, but they
reach me in the end.
Swami Vivekananda, who
considered the Bhagavad Gita as
the mantra to live life, even said
that the youth should play foot-
ball instead of reading the Gita.
If we go to his intention behind
this, it would seem that along
with empowering the youth, he
had an emphasis on empower-
ing the country and society
through them.
He said that the nervous sys-
tem of the youth should remain
strong. If there is a healthy body,
then only an excellent mind will
reside in it. If the mind is strong,
then there is no desire or success,
which cannot be achieved. He
wrote, “Most of the youth want
to lead a successful and meaning-
ful life, but they are not physi-
cally ready to achieve their goal’.
Therefore, later he appealed to
the youth to become fearless and
make themselves physically fit.
If we go into his motto of moti-
vating youth power, then we will
also find that he, while calling
experience as the best
teacher, has emphasized
on constant learning
as long as there is life.
This is how suc-
cesswillbeachieved.
He said that every
work has to pass
through three
stages- ridicule,
opposition, and
a c c e p t a n c e .
That is, people
will first make
fun of you. Then
they will oppose you and in the
end, they will approve of you.
He had a deep connection with
Rajasthan. He got the name Vive-
kananda only in Rajasthan. If
you read his biography, it will be
known that Raja Ajit Singh of
Khetri had brought him from
Mount Abu in his hospitality.
Later, from Khetri he went to
Chicago for the Vishwa Dharma
Sammelan.
Earlier he was known as Nar-
endranath Dutt and Vividis-
hananda. Ajitsinhji first ad-
dressed Swamiji as Vivekananda
after finding his wonderful
knowledge, philosophy, energy,
and spirituality. His picture of
the Chicago conference is still an
inspiration to the youth, in which
he is wearing a Rajasthani saf-
fron safa, cloak, Kamar bandh
presented by the Khetri King.
Swami Vivekananda had im-
mense faith in the youth power.
That is why he did the work of
awakening the youth by travel-
ling across India. There was a
wonderful positive emotion in
his thoughts. He reached Chica-
go 6 weeks ago for Dharma Ma-
hasabha, but all the money he
had was exhausted. Severe cold,
no warm clothes, and no proper
identity card to enter the Dhar-
ma Mahasabha.
In spite of all these difficul-
ties, he did not lose his patience
and represented India there. All
this is inspirational for the
youth. While targeting the youth,
he has also said that religion is
the art of cultivating the intui-
tion of the human being. By this,
we are bound in the discipline.
Religion is not bondage but the
path of liberation.
Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore
once said that if you want to
know India, read Vivekananda.
In him, you will find a person
with immense optimism and no
negative attributes. I also believe
that if the youth works with a
positive mindset, then there is no
work in life in which they cannot
achieve success. I believe that
Swami Vivekananda Jayanti is
celebrated as Youth Day because
he was a wonderful young ascetic
of sharp intellect. He was the big-
gest inspiration of the youth. An
incident of his life is very touch-
ing in which once a woman came
to him and told him that she
wanted to marry him and wanted
him to have a bright son like him.
Swamiji had said quickly on this
that I am a sanyasi. How can I get
married? If you want, make me
your son. This will not break
even my “sanyas” and you will
also get a son like me. It is said
that on hearing this, the foreign
woman fell at the feet of Swami
Vivekananda and said, ‘You are
like God!’ It is true, Swami Vive-
kananda was just like a god in
our nation. He never deviated
from the path of his religion
under any circumstances.
He always inspired the
youth power through In-
dian culture and spirit-
uality
. Every time I read
about that great man,
Swami Vivekananda, I
find life being interpret-
ed in new meanings. To-
day on the occasion of
his birth anniversary, let
us salute him and imbibe
the ideals given by him.
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY
THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL
He had written, “I want
many such young sannyasis
who spread in the villages of
India and get consumed in
the service of the
countrymen.” In fact, by
“young sannyasi”, he meant
such youths who work for
the country and society by
being committed and by
keeping a goal. I also believe
that he has continuously
revealed the meaning of
Shastras, Puranas and
Vedas through his
contemplation in which
youth can reach heights in
their life by aiming
positively towards life
S
The entire life of Swami
Vivekananda is the path
of the ideal for youths.
His thoughts awaken
enthusiasm among the
youth. In his writings, he
has always believed that
youth is a bundle of
strength and courage. If
the youth is determined
to do something with
their mind, then they can
take the nation towards
excellence. Swamiji was
a great scholar of the
Vedas and the Upanishads
KALRAJ MISHRA
The writer is Governor of Rajasthan
INSPIRATIONAL
SAINT OF
YOUTH
IT WAS AT THE CORE OF SWAMI VIVEKANAND’S
TEACHINGS THAT THE YOUTH SHOULD COME
OUT OF THE DARKNESS OF IGNORANCE AND
MOVE FORWARD TOWARDS THE ACQUISITION
Vol 1 Issue No. 134
RNI TITLE NO. DELENG/2021/19840
Printed and published by Anita Hada Sangwan
on behalf of First Express Publishers. Printed
at Impressions Printing and Packaging Limited,
C-21, 22 Sector-59, Noida-201301. Published
at G-20, 3rd Floor, 309, Preet Vihar, New
Delhi-110092. Phone 011-49846474.
Editor-In-Chief: Jagdeesh Chandra. Editor:
Sharat K Verma responsible for selection of
news under the PRB Act
Delighted to host Mr. Yeo
Han-koo, @TradeMin_KOR
to discuss ways to
strengthen the India-Korea
economic relationship.
Discussed key issues
related to bilateral trade
investments, reviewed
progress on CEPA
upgradation deliberated
on ways to fast-track trade
negotiations.
Piyush Goyal
@PiyushGoyal SPIRITUAL SPEAK
I consider that our present
sufferings are not worth
comparing with the glory
that will be revealed in us.
—Bible
TOP
TWEETS
Border Roads Organization
is the lifeline of road
connectivity for the border
areas of our country.
People appreciate them
some people even
complain but they continue
to work tirelessly and
serve the nation with
smiles. I had interacted
with them at the Daporijo-
Taksin Road.
Kiren Rijiju
@KirenRijiju

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INDIA
05
Lyngkhong: Nearly 90
residents of this village
located along the zero
line on the Indo-Bangla-
desh border live in dan-
ger of their village be-
ing could be cut off
from the rest of the
country, as work on a
border fence being built
150 yards inside the In-
dian border is near
completion, village el-
ders said on Sunday
.
At Lyngkhong village
in East Khasi Hills dis-
trict, the foundation for
the single line fence has
been built but the fenc-
ing has been stopped
due to protests of the
residents. However as
yet the authorities have
not agreed to either not
build the fence or build
it on the zero line itself.
Dabling Khongsdir,
the matriarch of Lyng-
khong and one of the
landowners here, said,
“It is not fair that our
village will fall outside
the territory of India
once the fence is built.
We do not feel safe.”
“We have lived here
since time immemori-
al...The government
should do something
for our safety and well-
being,” she said.
Dabling has reasons
to feel insecure. Her
house is barely a few
feet away from the zero
line and the border pil-
lar that separates her
and those living in
Bangladesh. Although a
camp of The BSF is lo-
cated at Lyngkhong, Da-
bling said ‘anti national
elements’ do take ad-
vantage of the porous
border and wanted that
the fence come up as
soon as possible.
Temporarily, the vil-
lage has set up a fence
made of bamboo to sep-
arate themselves from
Bangladesh since last
year in view of the pan-
demic, she said. —PTI
Meghalaya villagers claim risk of being cut off
BORDER FENCE NEARS COMPLETION

Contractors
engaged to build
fence had cut
them off last
year itself but
protests by
villagers forced
the authorities
to put project
on hold
New Delhi: Lok Sabha
Speaker Om Birla on
Tuesday inspected the
Parliament House com-
plex to take stock of the
health safety measures
and other preparations
put in place in light of
the recent spike in Cov-
id-19 cases.
Birla visited the Cov-
id-19 testing facility set
up in Parliament House
for the Members of Par-
liament, officers and
staff of the Lok Sabha
and Rajya Sabha Secre-
tariats and reviewed
the facilities and prepa-
rations there. He direct-
ed officials to immedi-
ately address any re-
quirements of mem-
bers and officials that
were felt necessary
.
He also directed offi-
cials concerned to put
in place all precaution-
ary measures to check
the spread and keep
track of positive cases.
He also interacted
with doctors and direct-
ed that all additional
resources may be made
available on priority
.
“Necessary arrange-
ments for the 2022
Budget session of Par-
liament are being
made in order to facili-
tate performance of
the constitutional re-
sponsibilities of MPs,”
Birla said. —ANI
Kolkata: A Border Security Force (BSF) Constable
of 159 Battalion died in the line of duty on Monday
while trying to prevent trans-border crimes. While
performing duties at Hariya Nallah area in the
early morning hours on January 10, Constable
Vivek Tiwari spotted the cattle being smuggled
by some miscreants across the Hariya Nallah. He
challenged the criminals by firing from his rifle
and alerted a colleague, who was about 80 metres
away. The BSF in a statement said that in dense
fog he tried to chase the criminals on his own in
the nallah without waiting for the other person-
nel, but he was overpowered by the criminals and
drowned in the nallah. —ANI
New Delhi: The on-
going probe into the
“Sulli Deals” case has
revealed that around 30
Twitter handles were
misused for uploading
the morphed pictures of
Muslim women for their
purported “auction”.
Delhi Police is trying to
identify the members
of the group which the
26-year-old Indore youth
Aumkareshwar Thakur
too was a part of. —PTI
New Delhi: Arun Kumar
Chatterjee has been
appointed as the next
Ambassador of India to
the Kyrgyz Republic, the
Ministry of External Af-
fairs said in a statement
on Tuesday. At present,
the Indian Foreign Ser-
vice (IFS) officer of the
1992 batch is serving as
Additional Secretary in
the Ministry. —ANI
New Delhi: In order to
strengthen health infra-
structure in the country,
PM Narendra Modi will
inaugurate 11 medical
colleges in Tamil Nadu
on Wednesday via video
conferencing. According
to PMO, MBBS seats
have been increased
by 79.60 per cent and
the number of PG seats
increased by 80.70 per
cent during the last
seven years. —ANI
Panaji: A day after two
BJP MLAs resigned
from the party, Govind
Gaude, an independent
legislator and the state’s
Art and Culture Minister
on Tuesday resigned as
MLA and said that he
would be joining the BJP
later in the day. “I have
decided that I will contest
upcoming elections on a
BJP ticket,” Gaude said.
BSF CONSTABLE KILLED IN MALDA BY
TRANS-BORDER CATTLE SMUGGLERS
SULLI DEALS
GROUP USED 30
TWITTER HANDLES
ARUN MADE NEXT
ENVOY TO KYRGYZ
REPUBLIC
PM TO INAUGURATE
11 MEDICAL
COLLEGES TODAY
GOA MIN RESIGNS
AS INDEPENDENT
MLA, TO JOIN BJP
New Delhi: Government has extended the deadline
for filing income tax returns to March 15, accord-
ing to a notification issued by the department of
revenue of the Finance Ministry. The income tax
department also tweeted about the extension of re-
turn filing deadline.The deadline has been extended
due to difficulties being faced by the taxpayers
because of Covid, the notification said, adding that
it has also been done due to problems being faced
while e-filing of various audit reports under the
provisions of the Income Tax Act 1961. —PTI
GOVT EXTENDS INCOME TAX RETURNS
FILING DEADLINE TO MARCH 15,2022
CRUCIAL READ
AMID COVID STORM, BIRLA INSPECTS PARL
Necessary arrangements for the 2022 Budget Session of Parliament are being made, says LS Speaker
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla inspects sanitisation work and preparedness in view of the surge in
Covid-19 cases reported among the Parliament staff, in New Delhi on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY ANI
‘India to witness sharp
spike in Covid cases’
New Delhi: With the
high transmissibility
of the Omicron vari-
ant of Covid-19, India
is likely to witness a
sharp spike in the
number of cases in the
coming days, however,
following Covid-appro-
priate behaviour and
vaccination could help
contain the spread of
the disease, noted a top
health expert.
India reported more
than 1.5 lakh new Cov-
id-19 cases for the
third consecutive day
on Tuesday
. The coun-
try reported 1,68,063
new Covid-19 cases in
the last 24 hours, the
ministry of health and
family welfare in-
formed today
.
Speaking to ANI,
chairman of Covid-19
Working Group of Na-
tional Technical Advi-
sory Group on Immu-
nisation (NTAGI) Dr
NK Arora said, “The
peak will depend on
the virus transmis-
sion, and how well the
community adheres to
the Covid-appropriate
behaviour. If the Cov-
id norms are violated,
a faster and taller peak
is likely to occur. On
the other hand, vacci-
nation and adminis-
trative actions like
night curfews, and
weekend curfews
tend to flatten the
curve.”
“The way that the
IIT Kanpur model has
shown, it looks like,
the transmission is
taking place very ac-
tively and we should
be reaching our peak
in the near future.
But it is likely to last
for several weeks be-
fore it subsides,” he
added. —ANI
 Thousands Set To
Throng Bengal De-
spite Covid As High
Court Allows Holding
Gangasagar Mela
 COVID-19: Ha-
ridwar administra-
tion bans holy dip
in Ganga on Makar
Sankranti
 30 inmates of
Mumbai’s Arthur
Road Jail test posi-
tive for COVID-19
 120 policemen
in Mumbai tested
Covid positive,
including 1 death,
in last 24 hours.
 TN CM Stalin
receives precaution
dose of COVID-19
vaccine
 Kerala reports
9,066 new Covid
cases, 2064 re-
coveries, and 19
deaths today
 Delhi Cases
Could Peak In 48
Hours, Says Health
Minister
 Molnupiravir not
to be included in
Covid-19 clinical
management proto-
col as of now
 Omicron to
infect more than
half of Europe’s
population in 6-8
weeks - WHO
 China locks
down third city,
raising affected to
20 million
 Pfizer CEO says
shot targeting Omi-
cron to be ready in
March
 Post-Covid
parosmia robs
24-year-old from
Nagpur of all good
smells
HIGHLIGHTS
MIN TO HOLD
MEETING
WITH DOCS
New Delhi: Union
Health Minister Man-
sukh Mandaviya will
hold a virtual meeting
with all Indian Medi-
cal Association (IMA)
leaders and senior
doctors across the
country on Covid-19
management at 11.30
am on Wednesday. Ac-
cording to the Health
Ministry, 9,84,676
precautionary doses of
the Covid vaccine were
administered on Mon-
day. “9,84,676 ‘Pre-
caution doses’ of Covid
vaccine administered
— 5,19,604 healthcare
workers, 2,01,205
frontline workers, and
2,63,867 over 60 years
administered additional
doses on the first day
of rollout,” as per the
Government. India has
recorded 1,68,063 new
cases in the last 24
hours.
Rijiju pans actor for lewd
remark against Nehwal
New Delhi: Condemn-
ing actor Siddharth’s
tweet on Olympic med-
allist Saina Nehwal,
Union Law Minister
Kiren Rijiju on Tuesday
said that a cheap com-
ment on such an icon
personality depicts a
person’s ignoble men-
tality
.
Rijiju said that Saina
is a steadfast patriot be-
sides being an Olympic
medallist. Quoting Ne-
hwal’s tweet, Rijiju
said, “India is proud of
@NSaina for her out-
standing contributions
in making India a sport-
ing powerhouse. She is
a steadfast patriot be-
sides being an Olympic
medallist.”
Meanwhile, ace shut-
tler’s father Harvir Sin-
gh Nehwal demanded
actor Siddharth’s apol-
ogy for his alleged de-
rogatory remarks
against the badminton
player. — Agencies
Centre gets 6th extension
to frame rules for CAA
Before murder, Sushil
fired at dogs: Chargesheet
New Delhi: Ministry of
Home Affairs (MHA)
has been granted exten-
sion for the sixth time
from the Parliamentary
Committees on Subor-
dinate Legislation in
the Rajya Sabha and the
Lok Sabha to frame the
rules for the Citizen-
ship (Amendment) Act,
2019, said sources.
The Parliamentary
Committees gave their
nod another time to ex-
tend rules for the CAA
taking cognizance of a
request made by the
MHA.
A senior government
official told ANI that “it
is confirmed that the
extension to frame CAA
rules has been granted
by the Parliamentary
Committees”. —ANI
Police has filed fresh
chargesheet in the
Chhatrasal Stadium
brawl case, where they
have mentioned that
Olympic medallist wres-
tler Sushil Kumar, on
the date of the incident,
fired on a dog as it was
barking, however, the
bulletdidnothitthedog.
The chargesheet said
that accused Anil Dhi-
man, Praveen Dabas,
Praveen alias Choti and
Rahul alias Dhanda and
their associates have
abducted victim Ravin-
dra alias Bhinda, Amit
Kumar, deceased Sagar,
Sonu alias Jaibhagwan
and Bhagat alias Bhag-
tu from Shalimar Bagh,
Delhi and Model Town-
III, Delhi with motive to
kill them. — ANI
Goyal holds meet
with Bhutanese
counterpart
Just an act,
apologized for it:
Jawed on spitting
New Delhi: Commerce
and Industry Minister
Piyush Goyal on Tues-
day held a meeting with
Minister for Economic
Affairs of Bhutan Ly-
onpo Loknath Sharma
and discussed ways to
strengthen ties.
Both the leaders also
discussed ways to fur-
ther enhance India’s
role as Bhutan’s devel-
opment partner espe-
cially in nurturing a ro-
bust startup ecosystem.
New Delhi: Hairstylist
Jawed Habib on Tues-
day appeared before the
National Commission
for Women (NCW) in
connection with the vi-
ral video that showed
him spitting on a wom-
an’s head.
Meanwhile, NCW
Chairperson Rekha
Sharma expressed dis-
satisfaction over apolo-
gy and denied that it
was a show of “act” add-
ing that it was “demean-
ing” to the woman.—ANI
Concerned by China’s attempt to
intimidate: US on row with India
Washington: The US is
concerned by China’s
attempt to “intimidate”
its neighbours, includ-
ing India, as Washing-
ton believes that Bei-
jing’s behaviour in the
region and around the
world could be “destabi-
lising”,theWhiteHouse
has said asserting that
US will continue to
stand with its partners.
The remarks of
White House Press Sec-
retary Jen Psaki came
ahead of the 14th round
of military-level talks
between India and Chi-
na. Asked about China’s
aggressive behaviour
on its border with India
and if the topic came
during America’s talks
with China or Washing-
ton sending any mes-
sage to Beijing, Ms Psa-
ki, said that the US con-
tinues to monitor the
situation along the In-
dia-China border. —PTI
CURRENT SITUATION
‘STABLE’: CHINA
AHEAD OF TALKS
Beijing: China said that
the current situation on
the border areas with India
was “stable” as it con-
firmed that the 14th round
of talks to discuss the
disengagement process
will be held on Wednes-
day. The remarks from
Beijing came a day after
sources in the security es-
tablishment in New Delhi
said that India is looking
forward to “constructive”
dialogue with China. —PTI
—FILE PHOTO

BIZ BUZZ
06
‘Govt mullseasingcurbsonsome
New Delhi: India is
considering easing
scrutiny on cer-
tain foreign di-
rect investment,
according to peo-
ple familiar with
the matter, after
rules mainly
aimed at China cre-
ated a bottleneck for
inflows.
Currently, PM Nar-
endra Modi’s govern-
ment scrutinizes all
investment proposals
from companies that
are either based in
countries that share a
land border with In-
dia or have an inves-
tor from one of these
n a - tions. It
is now considering ex-
empting proposals
where the so-called
beneficial ownership
is less than 10%,
which means the in-
vestor may be from a
neighboring country
but holds only a small
stake in the firm pro-
posing the invest-
ment.
The move is being
considered after pro-
posals worth $6 billion
were stuck amid the
red tape, the people
added.
The government
had imposed curbs on
such investments
amid a bloody border
standoff with China
and also avert risks of
opportunistic takeo-
vers. The move slowed
down the approval
process with propos-
als from the neighbor-
ing nations including
China and Hong Kong
piling up.
Apart from delay-
ing, the restriction
had also complicated
deal-making for inves-
tors. Relaxing the
rules will broaden the
pool of investors that
capital-hungry Indian
firms can tap, as local
firms increasingly
turn to large global in-
vestors to fund their
growth.
As of Nov 2021, over
100 proposals are
awaiting clearance
from the government,
with around a quarter
of them of over $10
million each.
—Agencies
CURBS DUE TO BORDER STANDOFF
INDIA WILL LEAD GLOBAL
GROWTH RATES IN THIS
DECADE: CHANDRASEKARAN
Bengaluru: India will
lead the global growth
rates significantly in
this decade as the econ-
omy fully opens up
post-pandemic, said N
C h a n d r a s e k a r a n ,
chairman, Tata Sons.
He added that the pan-
demic has not really
impacted the long-
term growth trajectory
of the country
.
“It (pandemic) has
just delayed it because
the fundamental fac-
tors- whether it is the
formalisation of the
economy, the youth or
more people coming
into the middle-in-
come group, all of this
is totally intact. Also,
the policy reforms be-
fore the pandemic,
during and now that is
happening, are all go-
ing to be tailwinds,”
said Chandrasekaran.
He also remarked
that though pandemic
has meant accelera-
tion in certain aspects,
such as, digital trans-
formation and adop-
tion of digital way of
life, however, he cau-
tioned that this adop-
tion has not
been equi-
table.
“If you
take edu-
c a t i o n ,
for example, all the ur-
ban kids who have ac-
cess to tech devices
and have access to
digital infrastructure
could do online school-
ing. But, equally a
large number of kids
in the rural areas or
poor people didn’t
have access to devices
and didn’t have access
to the digital infra-
structure, which is a
big problem. And they
are last taught. Years
of schooling have
been lost, or at
least a couple of
years have been
lost for these
people,” he add-
ed.
—Agencies
It (pandemic) has just de-
layed it because the funda-
mental factors- whether it is the
formalisation of the economy, the
youth or more people coming into the
middle-income group, all of this is
totally intact. Also, the policy re-
forms before the pandemic, dur-
ing and now that is happen-
ing, are all going to be tail-
windst.
—N Chandrasekaran, chairman,
Tata Sons
Indian economy to see 9.5%
growth this fiscal: Virmani
New Delhi: The Indian
economy is likely to
register a growth of
9.5% in this financial
year, former chief eco-
nomic adviser Arvind
Virmani said on Tues-
day
.
Addressing a virtual
event organised by in-
dustry body PHDCCI,
Virmani said that gov-
ernment expenditure
and exports have
peaked, but so far pri-
vate consumption has
notrecoveredduetothe
COVID-19 pandemic.
“The current finan-
cial year’s growth will
be higher and close to
9.5%. And this decade’s
(FY21-FY30) average
growth will be 7.5%
plus minus 0.5%,” he
said. According to the
recent government
data, the Indian econo-
my is estimated to grow
at 9.2 pc in 2021-22, as
against 7.3 pc contrac-
tion in 2020-21.
The RBI has lowered
the growth projection
for the current finan-
cial year to 9.5%, while
the International Mon-
etary Fund (IMF) has
projected a growth of
9.5% in 2021, and 8.5%
in the next year. —PTI
GDP GROWTH +VE
India’s policies should be pro-innovation: Kant
New Delhi: India’s
policy regime should
be pro-innovation,
light touch and pro-
gressive if it wants its
entrepreneurs to grow
and prosper, NITI Aay-
og CEO Amitabh Kant
said, though challenges
of cyber security, land
acquisition and huge
pendency of court cas-
es remain.
“My view is that
your policy regime
should be pro-innova-
tion, light touch and
progressive. You
should benchmark
yourself against the
world’s best and even
better than the world’s
best,” he said.
According to Kant,
India is creating three
unicorns a month and
this has been possible
because young entre-
preneurs are tapping
into huge data availa-
ble and using it to tech-
nologically leapfrog.
“The challenge, as
we grow along, will be
the challenge of cyber-
security and India
needs to equip itself for
cybersecurity. Indians
will trust the digital
means,” Kant said.
“India needs to real-
ly work a lot on cyber
security so that we are
ready to meet future
challenges and that’s
critical to my mind,”
he added. —Agencies
USE SATELLITES FOR LAND RECORDS
Govt to own
35.8% in VI after
converting dues
New Delhi: Govern-
ment will own 35.8 per
cent stake in Vodaone
Idea as the company’s
board approved con-
version of dues into
equity
. The company’s
board decided to con-
vert full amount of
interest related to
spectrum auction in-
stallments and adjust-
ed gross revenue dues
into equity
.
Debt-ridden Voda-
fone Idea (VIL) has de-
cided to opt for con-
verting about `16,000
crore interest dues li-
ability payable to the
government into eq-
uity which will
amount to around
35.8% stake in the
company
.
If the plan goes
through, then the gov-
ernment will become
one of the biggest
shareholders in the
company which is
reeling under a debt
burden of about `1.95
lakh crore.
Post the preferen-
tial allotment of
shares promoter
shareholders would
hold around 28.5 per
cent (Vodafone Group)
and around 17.8 per
cent (Aditya Birla
Group). —PTI
VI will issue shares
to the govt at `10/
share and it will
result in dilution to
all the existing
shareholders of the
Company
AUM share of SIP linked mutual
funds at a record high in December
New Delhi: The share
of assets under man-
agement (AUM) of the
funds linked to the sys-
tematic investment
plans (SIPs) reached a
record 15% of the AUM
of the mutual fund (MF)
industry in December
2021, the data from the
Association of Mutual
Funds in India (AMFI)
shows. The SIP AUM
grew by 34.6% annually
in the past five years
compared with the 18%
growth in the total MF
AUM.
At `5.6 lakh crore, the
SIP AUM was nearly a
quarter of the AUM of
equity MFs and 2% of
the total market capi-
talisation of Indian eq-
uities. According to in-
dustry estimates, near-
ly 90% of SIP inflows
are deployed in the eq-
uity funds.
In 2021, the SIP linked
funds saw an inflow of
`1.1 lakh crore. The SIP
monthly book size ex-
panded in each of the
eight months to Decem-
ber. In the past five
years, the cumulative
SIP inflow was `4.9 lakh
crore, 1.6 times higher
than the flow of foreign
portfolio investors
(FPIs). Average ticket
size of a SIP investor
was `2,303 per account
and its portfolio value
was about `1.2 lakh at
the end of December
2021.
The equity MFs had a
strong inflow of `41,906
crore in the Dec 2021
quarter. Of this, 30%
was mopped by new
fund offerings. Conse-
quently, the retail AUM
including equity
, hybrid
and solution oriented
funds, touched `18.3
lakh crore. —Agencies
UIDAI open to ‘partial
authentication’: CEO
New Delhi: The
Unique Identification
Authority of India
(UIDAI) is open to
looking at solutions
that can enable ‘par-
tial authentication’
where needed, and is
keen to get feedback
from the industry
about the demand for
such solutions, its
CEO Saurabh Garg
said on Tuesday
.
“We are also open to
looking at what is
called partial authen-
tication. Some people
might only want to
verify the age, they are
not looking at any-
thing more than that.
“These are things
that we also want to
get feedback from the
industry...what is the
kind of demand there
is, and we can accord-
ingly create...might be
just the age you want
to verify,” Garg said.
—PTI
SENSEX TAKES WINNING RUN TO 3RD DAY, UP 221 PTS
Mumbai: Continuing its winning run
for the third session in a row, the BSE
benchmark Sensex added another 221
points to revisit the 60,500-level on
Tuesday, helped by buying
mainly in IT and financial
shares.
After early hiccups, the
30-share benchmark
remained poised
throughout the session
and went on to hit the day's
high of 60,689.25. It finally
ended 221.26 points or 0.37 per cent
higher at 60,616.89.
Likewise, the NSE Nifty gained 52.45
points or 0.29 per cent to
end at 18,055.75.
On the Sensex chart,
HCL Tech, HDFC,
Tech Mahindra,
TCS, RIL, Sun
Pharma and SBI were
the major gainers, rising
as much as 4.3 per cent.
—PTI
India is
considering easing
scrutiny on cer-
tain foreign di-
the matter, after
rules mainly
aimed at China cre-
ated a bottleneck for
Currently, PM Nar- tions. It
stake in the firm pro-
posing the invest-
CURBS DUE TO BORDER STANDOFF
The
move is
being considered
after proposals
worth $6 billion
were stuck amid
the red tape
Chinese investment’

07
NEWS
New Delhi: With COV-
ID-19 restrictions in
place ahead of Uttara-
khand Assembly elec-
tions, the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) has
now decided to make
use of technology and
has decided to deploy
one IT expert in every
constituency of the
state to expedite the
party’s meetings, vir-
tual rallies, campaigns
and other programmes.
The decision of the par-
ty comes after the Elec-
tion Commission of In-
dia barred political par-
ties from organizing
roadshows and rallies
till January 15.
The IT experts will
facilitate uninterrupt-
ed meetings and other
programmes that the
party will be holding
online.
Uttarakhand General
Secretary Kuldeep Ku-
mar told ANI that the
party is fully ready to
carry out all important
meetings at booth and
state level virtually
.
“The party has
planned everything. As
per our preparations,
we can give a one-way
address to 1,000 people
simultaneously
. At least
500 people can be taken
on an interactive virtu-
al platform,” Kumar
said.
He further said that a
studio will be opened in
Dehradun to serve as a
central link of all vir-
tual meetings and pro-
grammes. “The studio
will be ready in a day or
two,” Kumar said.
—ANI
New Delhi: After the
Election Commission
of India (ECI) banned
physical rallies till Jan-
uary 15 in the five poll-
bound states due to a
surge in COVID-19 cas-
es, the Congress is gear-
ing up to conduct vir-
tual rallies.
According to the Con-
gress sources, a green
room will be set up at
the party headquarters
in Delhi, the state capi-
tals and several dis-
tricts of the poll-bound
states so that the lead-
ers can virtually con-
nect with the people.
Green rooms will also
operate from the resi-
dences of Sonia Gandhi
and Rahul Gandhi, the
sources said.
The Congress will
also use social media
platforms for its digital
campaign. Twitter will
be used to set the narra-
tive from the latest data
and Facebook and Ins-
tagram will be used on
several issues. Live
video content will be
put up on social media
platforms.
The party sources
stated that the party
will pay special atten-
tion to the content of
the digital rallies. The
content will be new, at-
tention-grabbing and
energizing to engage
the general public.
There is also a pro-
posal to hold virtual 3D
rallies of big leaders,
which is yet to be final-
ized, the sources stated.
The Congress will
also use local culture,
language and folk songs
during the rallies to
connect with the peo-
ple. —ANI
ASSEMBLY
ELECTION
2022
UTTARAKHAND, UTTAR PRADESH,
GOA, MANIPUR AND PANJAB
First India Bureau
Lucknow: Drawing
flak from Opposition
parties over his ‘80 vs
20’ remark, UP CM
Yogi Adityanath on
Tuesday tried to clar-
ify his statement say-
ing that 80 percent
are those who are of
positive thinking,
who have faith in na-
tionalism, good gov-
ernance, and securi-
ty
. The remaining 20
percentarethosewho
sympathise with the
mafia, rioters, and
terrorists and oppose
state’s development.
Taking a jibe at
Akhilesh Yadav over
hisremarkondreams
of LordKrishna,Yogi
said that Lord Krish-
na must have cursed
them for instigating
riots in the state
when the govern-
ment was formed. He
also lambasted the SP
chief for his allega-
tion of taking credit
for development say-
ing, “Like Lord
Krishna is coming in
dreams, similarly he
must be dreaming of
development. It’s
their remorse that
they didn’t do any de-
velopment work.”
Making a fierce at-
tack on the Congress
party, he further said
that on one hand,
Congress was ob-
structing the revival
of Somnath temple
and on the other
hand it was imple-
menting Article 370
in Jammu and Kash-
mir. “It was Congress
who had called Lord
Ram and Krishna a
myth. The Samajwa-
di Party and the Ba-
hujan Samajwadi
Party were support-
ing them,” he said.
First India Bureau
Lucknow: Nationalist
Congress Party (NCP)
and Shiv Sena have
also thrown their hats
in the ring and decided
to contest UP assembly
elections 2022.
On Tuesday, NCP
chief Sharad Pawar
said talks are on with
like-minded parties to
give a joint fight to
oust BJP from power
while Shiv Sena
spokesperson and MP
Sanjay Raut said that
his party will contest
at least 50 seats in UP
and he will soon visit
the state.
Former Congress
leader from UP Siraj
Mehndi joined NCP in
Mumbai on Tuesday.
Regarding Uttar
Pradesh, NCP chief Pa-
war said his party will
contest the election
with the Akhilesh Ya-
dav-led Samajwadi
Party (SP) and other
smaller parties. “The
people of Uttar
Pradesh are looking
for a change. We will
surely see the change
in the state. Communal
polarization is being
done in Uttar Pradesh,
ahead of Assembly
elections. The people
of UP will give a befit-
ting reply to this,” the
veteran politician said
during the press con-
ference.
Dehradun: The upcom-
ing Uttarakhand As-
sembly elections are
based on the contest
between the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) gov-
ernment’s development
works and the misdeeds
of previous Congress
rule in the state, said
Chief Minister Push-
kar Singh Dhami.
Briefing media per-
sons, the chief minister
said, “This election is
between our ‘kaam’ and
their (Congress) ‘kar-
nama’. Everyone has
seen what they did
when they were in pow-
er before 2017. In this
election, we will publi-
cize the development
works done by our gov-
ernment under the
leadership of Modi Ji.”
On Election Commis-
sion’s restrictions re-
garding COVID-19, Dha-
mi said, “We will follow
all the guidelines issued
by the Election Com-
mission. We are fully
prepared and fully con-
fident of winning this
election.”
Uttarakhand will go
to the Assembly polls in
a single phase on Febru-
ary 14.
On Saturday, Chief
Election Commissioner
Sushil Chandra an-
nounced the poll sched-
ule for five states in-
cluding Uttarakhand.
The counting of votes
in Uttar Pradesh, Goa,
Punjab, Manipur and
Uttarakhand will be
held on March 10. —ANI
BJPtodeployITexpertsatall
U’khandseatsforvirtualrallies
Cong too in virtual campaign
mode, gears up for big battle
‘80Vs20’means
‘positivevs
negative’:Yogi
NCP to contest UP polls in alliance
with SP, Shiv Sena also in the race
BJP’s‘kaam’ to take on Congress’
‘karnama’ in U’khand polls: Dhami
PUNJAB ASSEMBLY ELECTION 2022
Mahesh Kumar
Ludhiana: The Pun-
jab unit of the BJP has
alleged a scam worth
crores in the “Nirman
Fund” scheme by Con-
gress Legislators.
BJP’s Chief Spokes-
person Anil Sarin said
on Tuesday that a
scam worth crores by
the Congress Legisla-
tors in Punjab Nir-
man scheme has been
unearthed where the
Congress MLA’s in-
dulged in rampant
corruption and flout-
ed all guidelines and
rules while distribut-
ing funds under the
scheme.
Sarin said that un-
der the scheme funds
worth Rs 15 crores
were allocated to each
MLA for distribution
to the Schedule Caste,
Backward class and
economically disad-
vantaged for repair of
houses. The amount
which could be given
to an individual recip-
ient was Rs 10,000 to
Rs 35,000 under the
scheme. A list was
made by the Congress
leaders flouting all
rules of May 18, 2021
guidelineswithnames
of relatives, workers
of Congress, and fa-
vourites included as
beneficiaries.
Chandigarh: Shirom-
ani Akali Dal (SAD)
leader, Bikram Singh
Majithia, who was
granted interim bail in
a drugs case, slammed
Punjab Chief Minister
Charanjit Singh Chan-
ni and other Congress
state ministers on
Tuesday alleging a
“conspiracy” to frame
him to save them-
selves.
“For the first time
in history, four DGPs
were changed in three
months. The Chief
Minister along with
other ministers creat-
ed a conspiracy to
frame me, to save their
posts. But I always
stand by the truth and
law,” Majithia said on
Tuesday while ad-
dressing a press con-
ference in Chandi-
garh. The SAD leader,
booked by Punjab po-
lice under the Narcot-
ic Drugs and Psycho-
tropic Substances
(NDPS) Act , was
granted interim bail
by Punjab and Hary-
ana High Court on
Monday
.
Duringthepresscon-
ference, Majithia, with
folded hands, thanked
the courts and the judi-
cial process. “Like eve-
rylaw-abidingcitizen,I
have always followed
the due process and
will continue to do so,”
he said. —ANI
Punjab BJP alleges
scam worth crores
in“Nirman Fund”
PunjabCM,Congress
ministersconspired
toframeme:Majithia
Sidhu presents vision of Punjab Model if Cong wins
‘SAD saved Channi’s bro,now Channi has repaid debt’
First India Bureau
Chandigarh: Present-
ing his vision on vari-
ous subjects, Punjab
Pradesh Congress Com-
mittee(PPCC)President
Navjot Sidhu has said
that regularizing liquor
trade, sand mining and
Cable TV network
would be top priority of
the Congress if it forms
government in Punjab.
Sidhu said the state
will create a liquor cor-
poration of its own to
sell and regulate the liq-
uor industry in Punjab.
An appropri-
ate tax re-
gime to be
introduced
such as Ex-
cise and
VAT for
streamlinedrevenuecol-
lection. Since, the VAT
has been kept out of the
GST ambit, therefore,
it is very important
for the state’s own
income which will
not go to the pocket
of theCentralGovern-
ment and stop ex-
cise leakages, he
added.
He said the state-run
Corporation will have
their own production
and Government-run
distilleries across the
state. This is the most
benevolent practice of
states like Tamil Nadu
to pocket revenue for
the state and keep
check on the corrupt
liquor supply. Further,
opening of govern-
ment run liquor
stores will help in
generating employ-
ment for our people.
First India Bureau
Chandigarh: AAP Pun-
jab President Bhagwant
Mann has said that AAP
has been saying from
the very first day that
the Channi government
has colluded with Badal
family in drug case be-
cause Badals had saved
Charanjit Channi’s
brother in City Centre
scam and now Channi
has returned the favour
by saving Bikram Singh
Majithia in drug case.
Mann said that the
Channi government did
nothing in their 111
days regime and even
failed to maintain
the law and or-
der in Pun-
jab. That’s
why the peo-
ple of Punjab
have made up
their minds to
support the
Aam Aad-
mi Party
in the up-
c o m i n g
A s s e m -
bly elec-
tions.
Addressing a press
conference on Tuesday,
Mann accused
Charanjit Sin-
gh Channi
of taking a
light and
time pass
action against Bikram
Majithia in a drug case.
He said that there was a
‘deal’, between Channi
and Badal family, in
place even before the
FIR that Congress gov-
ernment would file a
weak case against Ma-
jithia and no concrete
action would be taken.
That’s why Congress
government did not ar-
rest Majithia even after
FIR or the rejection of
his anticipatory bail
from Mohali District
Court.
Punjab BJP Chief Spokesperson Anil Sarin (C) addressing a
press conference in Ludhiana, on Tuesday.
SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia (centre) addresses a press
conference, in Chandigarh on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY ANI
Sharad Pawar
Pushkar Singh Dhami
Navjot Sidhu
Bhagwant Mann
Yogi Adityanath
COVID CURTAILED CAMPAIGN

COVID-19
UPDATE
WORLD
55,15,031
TOTAL DEATHS
26,08,62,686
TOTAL RECOVERED
4,50,01,165
ACTIVE CASES
31,13,78,882
TOTAL CASES
INDIA
4,84,213
TOTAL DEATHS
3,45,70,131
TOTAL RECOVERED
8,21,446
ACTIVE CASES
3,58,75,790
TOTAL CASES
08
2NDFRONT
Centre secures approval for export of Indian mangoes to USA
First India Bureau
New Delhi: The Cen-
tral Government has
secured the approval of
the United States De-
partment of Agricul-
ture (USDA) for export
of Indian mangoes to
the USA in the new sea-
son. Consumers in the
United States (US)
would now have access
to excellent quality
mangoes from India.
According to the Min-
istry of Commerce and
Industry, the export of
Indian mangoes has
been restricted by the
USA since 2020 as USDA
inspectors were unable
to visit India for inspec-
tion of irradiation fa-
cilities due restrictions
imposed on interna-
tional travel because of
Covid-19 pandemic.
Recently
, in pursuant
to the 12th India – USA
Trade Policy Forum
(TPF) meeting held on
November 23, 2021, the
Department of Agricul-
ture and Farmers Wel-
fare and US Department
of Agriculture (USDA)
havesignedaframework
agreement for imple-
menting the 2 Vs 2 Agri
market access issues.
Under the agree-
ment, India and the US
would follow joint pro-
tocol on irradiation for
India’s mango exports
and pomegranate ex-
ports to the US and im-
port of cherries and
Alfalfa hay from the US.
A revised work plan
has been worked out,
including phase-wise
transfer of oversight of
preclearance of Irradi-
ation treatment to India
as agreed upon between
both the countries.
As part of the mutual
agreement, India will be
able to export mangoes
to the USA in the mango
season commencing
with the Alphonso vari-
ety of mangoes by
March onwards. Nota-
bly, there is a huge ac-
ceptance and consumer
preference of Indian
mangoes in the USA as
India had exported 800
Metric Tonnes (MTs) of
mangoes to the USA in
2017-18 and the export
value of the fruit was
USD 2.75 Million.
Similarly, in 2018-19,
951 MT mangoes of USD
3.63 Million were ex-
ported to USA and 1,095
MT of USD 4.35 Million
of mangoes were ex-
ported to USA in 2019-20.
As per estimates re-
ceived from the export-
ers, the export of man-
goesin2022,maysurpass
the figures of 2019-20.
The USDA approval
would pave the way for
exports from traditional
mango production belts
suchasMaharashtra,Ut-
tar Pradesh and Andhra
Pradesh and Telangana.
Department of
Agriculture and
USDA have signed
a framework
agreement for
implementing
the 2 Vs 2 Agri
market access
issues
MHA wary of morphed
VIDEOS FROM PAKISTAN
New Delhi: Ahead of
polls, the Ministry of
Home Affairs (MHA)
has said it is “on its
toes” in a bid to counter
fake and morphed vid-
eos being pushed into
the country for circula-
tion from across the in-
ternational borders
during the upcoming
elections to five states.
A senior MHA officer
said that a bunch of op-
eratives were working
on behalf of Pakistan’s
ISI agency and generat-
ing fake and morphed
videos to destabilize
normalcy in the coun-
try during elections. He
said that Indian Cyber-
crime Coordination
Centre (I4C) of MHA
basically prevents mis-
use of cyber space for
furthering the cause of
extremist and terrorist
groups.
“We are coordinating
with I4C, Indian Com-
puter Emergency Re-
sponse Team (CERT-
In), cyber volunteers
and other concerned
agencies to stop the
spread of videos that
could disrupt peace in
the country,” he said.
On Sunday, Delhi Po-
lice identified 46-Paki-
stan-based Twitter han-
dles which were en-
gaged in spreading a
fake video in which
culprits tried to show
that a Cabinet meeting
was discussing a matter
which is “against Sikh
community”.
He added that after
smuggling narcotics
and explosives from
drones, Pakistan is
spreading morph vide-
os in the politically sen-
sitive Punjab region.
The intelligence agen-
cies are keeping watch
morphed videos of In-
dia-China released in
cyberspace.
“We request people to
be careful and verify
such sensitive contents
before posting on social
media or forwarding it
on WhatsApp and Tele-
gram. They can also re-
port about such infor-
mation on the MHA
website” he added.
Aftergettingrequests
from various agencies
and state police regard-
ing Telegram channels
spreading hate and mis-
information in the form
of videos and pictures,
they have got them
blocked. —ANI
MISUSE OF CYBER SPACE BY TERRORISTS
President’s bodyguards during
a rehearsal for Republic Day
parade at Rajpath, in New Delhi
on Tuesday.
—PHOTO BY ANI
PRESIDENT’S PRIDE
Raj urges Centre’s intervention on coal
issue as Congress couldn’t tame Baghel
New Delhi: Afterfailing
to elicit the desired re-
sponse even after writ-
ing to the Congress’ in-
terim chief Sonia Gan-
dhi, Ashok Gehlot’s Ra-
jasthan government has
approached the Centre
to pursue Chhattisgarh
C M B h u p e s h
Baghel to clear land per-
missions for the next
phaseof miningatParsa
East and Kente Basan
Block, said sources.
“Due to shortage of
domestic coal and ris-
ing prices of imported
coal, Rajasthan wants
to secure fuel for the
long term from the
three blocks located in
Chhattisgarh for its
power generation
assets,” the
source added. As
per sources, Ra-
jasthan’s additional
chief secretary for en-
ergy Dr Subodh Agar-
wal on December 31
wrote to the Ministry of
Environment, Forest
and Climate Change
(MoEFCC)SecretaryRP
Gupta for necessary
clearances and land al-
location for the exten-
sion of PEKB block
from the Chhattisgarh
g o v e r n - ment.
In the
letter,
Agarwal stressed that it
is critical to get the 1136
hectare of land for
PEKB Block from
Chhattisgarh for the
smooth operations of
thermal units of state
utility Rajasthan Rajya
Vidyut Utpadan Nigam
Limited (RRVUNL).
Last month, the For-
est Advisory Commit-
tee of the MoEFCC ap-
proved a proposal for
the next phase of min-
ing in the PEKB Block,
as the coal reserve
in the first
phase
is exhausted. However,
Congress party veteran
Ashok Gehlot has not
yet received desired
clearances from his
young party colleague
Bhupesh Baghel’s
Chhattisgarh govern-
ment.
—ANI
A’bad IPL franchise gets green signal with LoI
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla
reviews Kota Airport works
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: IPLGC,
the Indian Premier
LeagueGoverningCoun-
cil, has approved CVC
Capital’s bid for the
Ahmedabad IPL fran-
chise on Tuesday after
some delay and issued a
letter of intent (LoI) to
theteamconfirmingthat
itisformallypartof IPL.
Teams will get 10-14
days to pick players be-
foreauctiononFebruary
12 and 13 in Bengaluru.
RPSG group and pri-
vate investment firm
CVC had successfully
bid for Lucknow and
Ahmedabad IPL fran-
chises last October.
However, the LoI was
delayed after it emerged
that CVC had invest-
ments in betting compa-
nies in Europe. Al-
though the firm has no
such operations in In-
dia, where betting is il-
legal, the country’s
cricket board wanted to
confirm the legal rami-
fications before giving
it the go-ahead. IPLGC
approved the bid on
Tuesday, after a thor-
ough legal inspection.
“Yes, the Ahmedabad
franchise has received
their letter of intent.
HardikPandyahasbeen
appointed as the captain
of the franchise,” a sen-
ior IPL source.
First India Bureau
New Delhi: Lok Sabha
Speaker Om Birla re-
viewed the progress of
Kota Airport with the
AAI officials on Tues-
day
. He asked the offic-
ers that the issue of di-
version should be re-
solved at the earliest.
The meeting was
heldinBirla’schamber
inParliamentbuilding.
AAI Chairman San-
jeev Kumar said that
the land for Kota air-
port has not yet been
transferred by state
govt and due to the is-
sue of diversion, the
work is still pending.
He said that the diver-
sion is a state subject.
Birla said that AAI
shouldimmediatelyre-
solvetheissueof diver-
sion by coordinating
with the concerned de-
partment of the Ra-
jasthan government.
He said that all the
obstacles should be re-
moved immediately af-
ter talking to the Ra-
jasthan govt so that the
project of a well-
equipped airport in
Kota can be completed.
On World Youth Day, we
remember Swami Vivekananda
not only for his ideals, thinking,
and contributions but also for
his deep faith in the youth!
—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO Editor-in-Chief, First India
Hardik Pandya
Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel
Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot
LS Speaker Om Birla with AAI officials.

NEW DELHI, WEDNESDAY
JANUARY 12, 2022
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia
facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia 09
BLOSSOMING FLOWERS
Astha Jagwani is a young jewellery designer, whose label today is known for its subtle combination of
unique contemporary pieces and the vintage charm of the classic world. In a candid interview with City
First, the artist talks about her new collection ‘Zahra’ and her journey so far!
ewellery by Astha Jag-
wani is a fashion jewel-
lery label established
by a young designer
Astha Jagwani. She
amalgamates touches
of European designs
with Indian styles and sees end-
less potential in taking the two
cultures and entwining them.
BorninMumbai,andbrought
up in a creative environment of
Jaipur, this creativity wasn’t
new to her. Her passion in this
fieldsparkedataveryyoungage
when she used to sit and do art
anddesignprojectsinhermoth-
er’sofficewhilethelatterworked
on her fine jewellery
, designs
and gemstones. Her mother and
sister, both successful jewellery
designers played a strong influ-
ence on her creative and artisti-
cally diverse childhood.
Today
, her iconic collections
include ‘The Jaali collection’,
‘The Crystal Collection’ and
‘Vintage Coin Collection’ to
name a few. A few best-seller
pieces from these collections
have also been adorned by Hol-
lywood celebrities such as the
evergreen Tyra Banks, Bolly-
wood celebrities such as Sonak-
shiSinha,NargisFakhri,Ileana
D’Cruz , Radhika Apte and the
stunning Deepika Padukone.
About her latest collection
‘Zahra’,Asthasaid,“Itwasborn
during Covid times. We wanted
everyone to have a ray of hope
and resilience, just like flowers
do.” ‘Zahra’ in Arabic stands for
blossoming flowers. This word
brings out the essence of all
kinds of bright and beautiful
flowers. Ranging from the hum-
ble wildflowers to fragrant
blooms, they are celebrating
each of these in their collection.
She further added, “Be it the
beautifulaesthetics,gentleshad-
ed strokes of colour, their re-
silient petals or strong
grounded roots, flowers
alwayscometoblossom,
reassuringgrowthand
a life full of hope, no
matter what the cir-
cumstances are.
We have so much
to learn from
them because
where flow-
ers bloom,
so does
hope.”
MITALI DUSAD
mitalidusad01@gmail.com
J
Astha Jagwani
Kumari Vijayashree Shaktawat

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