13032022 first india new delhi

Buoyed by its Punjab success, AAP to
contest Himachal Assembly polls too
EXPANSION PLANS
First India Bureau
New Delhi: Buoyed by
its grand success in
Punjab, the Aam Aadmi
Party (AAP) announced
on Saturday that it has
decided to contest all
the 68 seats in the
Himachal Pradesh As-
sembly scheduled to be
held this year end.
Senior AAP leader
and Delhi Health Min-
ister Satyendar Jain
said on Saturday: “We
already have party set-
up in each of the 68 as-
sembly segments and
now we will consolidate
further.”
As part of its strate-
gy to expand the elec-
toral footprint in
Himachal, the party
would also be contest-
ing the local body polls
in Shimla next month,
he added.
According to Jain,
AAP has received feel-
ers from some leaders
within the Himachal-
ruling Bharatiya Jana-
ta Party (BJP) and the
state’s prime opposi-
tion, Congress.
AAP Supremo and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal with senior party
leader and Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain. —FILE PHOTO
To expand its
footprint in state,
AAP also plans to
contest civic polls in
Shimla next month
NEW DELHI l SUNDAY, MARCH 13, 2022 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI TITLE NO. DELENG/2021/19840 l Vol 1 l Issue No. 193
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.
The board of trustees of EPFO today slashed the interest rate to 8.1% for 2021-22,
the lowest rate since 1977-78, when it was 8%. The interest rate was 8.5 per cent in
2020-21. The decision was taken during the meeting of the EPFO’s central board of
trustees, which was held in Guwahati. Labour Minister Bhupender Yadav said that the
interest rate was finalised keeping in mind prevailing international conditions.
PROVIDENT FUND
RATE SLASHED
TO FOUR-DECADE
LOW OF 8.1%
US President Joe Biden has nominated an Indian-origin political activist Shefali
Razdan Duggal as his envoy to the Netherlands. Along with several other administra-
tive as well as diplomatic positions, the White House made this announcement on
Friday. Duggal has served as the National Co-Chair of Women for Joe Biden, and as
a Deputy National Finance Chair at the Democratic National Committee.
BIDEN NOMINATES
INDIAN-ORIGIN
SHEFALI RAZDAN
AS DUTCH ENVOY
New Delhi: The Con-
gress’stopdecision-mak-
ing body
, the Congress
Working Committee or
CWC, will meet at 4 pm
on Sunday
, three days af-
ter a huge defeat in state
polls, and is likely to ad-
vance internal elections
scheduled in September
amid renewed questions
about its leadership,
sourcessaidonSaturday
.
The Congress faced a
wipe-outinstateelection
results declared on
Thursday
.
Congress on Saturday
eveningcategoricallyde-
nied that the Gandhis -
Sonia Gandhi, Rahul
Gandhi and Priyanka
GandhiVadra-aregoing
to resign at its top deci-
sion-making body
, Con-
gress Working Commit-
tee meeting.
Meanwhile, Punjab
CM-designateBhagwant
Mann met Governor
Banwarilal Purohit at
Raj Bhavan in Chandi-
garh on Saturday morn-
ing, where he staked
claim to form the gov-
ernment in the state.
In Goa, Chief Minis-
ter Pramod Sawant on
Saturday afternoon sub-
mittedhisresignationto
Governor P S Sreed-
haran Pillai at the Raj
Bhavan to pave the way
for the formation of a
new government.
CONG HUDDLE OVER POLL DEBACLE
CWCMEET
TODAY
Cong polls issue may
advance at 4 pm meeting
Congress denies
Gandhis may resign
Now, BJP focus on Gujarat
The defeat revived searing criticism of the Gandhi family and growing clamour for a complete
overhaul and a leadership change by number of party leaders - a demand that was so far confined
to the “G-23” or group of 23 “dissenters” who had written to Sonia Gandhi two years ago.
PM Narendra Modi holds roadshows
in state’s Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar
PM Modi attends convocation
at Rashtriya Raksha University
1 2
First India Bureau
G a n d h i n a g a r :
Prime Minister Nar-
endra Modi on Satur-
day said that Gandhi-
nagar is becoming a
‘vibrant place ‘ for
education, stressing
that the city is incu-
bating ‘one of its
kind’ varsities.
Delivering the con-
vocation address at
the Rashtriya Rak-
sha University, Pm
Modi said: “Today,
Gandhinagar is be-
coming a vibrant
place for education.
There are many uni-
versities, includng
two, which are the
first of its kind in the
whole world. Foren-
sic Science Universi-
ty is nowhere in the
whole world.”
PM also stated that
Gandhinagar is the
only city with a Chil-
dren’s University
.
Union Minister
Amit Shah along
with Governor Acha-
rya Devvrat and
Chief Minister Bhu-
pendra Patel were
also present.
AMIT SHAH LAUNCHES
DANDI CYCLE YATRA
Ahmedabad: Union Home Minister Amit
Shah on Saturday flagged off ‘Dandi
Cycle Yatra’ on the occasion of the
92nd anniversary of the Dandi March
in Ahmedabad. The Dandi Cycle Yatra,
organised by Gujarat Vidyapith, left
for Dandi from Kocharab Ashram in
Ahmedabad. The Dandi March or Salt
Satyagrah was organised by Mahatma
Gandhi from the Sabarmati Ashram in
Ahmedabad to the village of Dandi in
the state’s coastal area. The Salt Satya-
grah was a part of Mahatma Gandhi’s
non-violent movement against British
rule. The movement started on March
12, 1930, and ended on April 5, 1930.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi during roadshow from Usmanpura to Navrangpura stadium in Ahmedabad on Saturday evening. Earlier,
PM Modi along with Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel held a roadshow in an open-air jeep in Gandhinagar. —PHOTOS BY HANIF SINDHI
Union Home Minister Amit Shahalong with BJP MP Narhari Amin and others.
Odisha: 22 injured as BJD
MLA rams car into crowd,
leader assaulted later
ACB DETECTS 758%
DISPROPORTIONATE
ASSETS OF RFC
MANAGER
Bhubaneswar: Chilika
BJD MLA Prashant
Jagdev was reportedly
assaulted after he al-
legedly rammed his car
into a crowd in Odisha’s
Khurda district Satur-
day afternoon. At least
22 persons, including
seven police person-
nel, were injured in the
incident, police officials
said. According to the
police, a huge crowd,
including BJP sup-
porters, had gathered
outside the Banapur
Block Development
Office (BDO) for the
block chairperson elec-
tion when the incident
occurred. Jagdev, who
was driving an SUV,
was initially stopped by
the crowd as he tried to
drive through the heav-
ily crowded road. Local
residents then pulled
him out of the car and
assaulted him.
Navin Sharma
Jaipur: The Anti
Corruption Bureau on
Saturday detected 758%
disproportionate assets
of Kailash Chand Bunkar,
Manager Rajasthan
Financial Corporation,
Kishangarh. The bureau
teams conducted raids and
searches at three locations
on the instructions of ACB
Headquarters. According
to the preliminary
assessment of the FIR,
Bunkar is estimated to
have acquired assets of
more than Rs 6.50 crores,
which is 758 percent more
than his legal income.
After verification, it was
found to be a case of
earning disproportionate
assets and a case number
88/2022 was filed.
Ukraine mosque
housing civilians
shelled, destroyed
Pakistan seeks joint probe
after India misfires missile
RSS says fanaticism
growing in the name
of the Constitution
Mariupol (Agencies):
A mosque in the south-
eastern Ukrainian port
city of Mariupol, where
80 civilians were taking
shelter, has been shelled
by Russian forces,
Ukraine’s foreign min-
istry said on Saturday
.
“The mosque of Sul-
tan Suleiman the Mag-
nificent and his wife
Roxolana (Hurrem Sul-
tan) in Mariupol was
shelled by Russian in-
vaders. More than 80
adults and children are
hiding there from the
shelling, including citi-
zens of Turkey,” the
ministry wrote on its
Twitter account.
It did not specify
when the shelling took
place. Contacted by AFP
,
Turkish foreign minis-
try in Istanbul said it
had “no information”.
However, the Ukrain-
ian embassy in Ankara
told AFP it had alerted
Turkey’s foreign minis-
try to the attack, with-
out specifying when or
whether it had received
any response.
On Monday
, the Turk-
ish consulate in the
southern port of Odes-
sa had issued a tweet
urging Turkish citizens
to take shelter in the
mosque “with a view to
be being evacuated” to
Turkey
.
Islamabad (Agencies):
A day after India ac-
knowledgedthata“tech-
nical malfunction led to
the accidental firing of a
missile”whichlandedin
Pakistan, Islamabad on
Saturday demanded a
joint probe to accurately
establish the facts sur-
rounding the incident.
The Ministry of De-
fence had also expressed
“relief that there has
beennolossof lifedueto
the accident” and said a
Court of Inquiry had
been ordered.
Pakistan’sMinistryof
Foreign Affairs, in a
press release, said: “We
have taken note of the
Press Statement by the
Indian Press Informa-
tion Bureau’s Defence
Wing regretting the ‘ac-
cidental firing’ of the
Indian origin missile
into Pakistani territory
on 9 March 2022 due to
“technical malfunction”
and decision to hold an
internal Court of In-
quiry
.”
Statingthatthe“grave
nature of the incident
raises several funda-
mental questions re-
garding security proto-
cols and technical safe-
guards against acciden-
tal or unauthorized
launch of missiles in a
nuclearized environ-
ment,” Pakistan assert-
ed that “such a serious
matter cannot be ad-
dressed with simplistic
explanationprofferedby
the Indian authorities.”
There is “growing re-
ligious fanaticism”
in the country in the
guise of “Constitution
and religious freedom”
and “elaborate plans by
a particular community
to enter the government
machinery”, the RSS
said in its 2022 annual
reportreleasedonSatur-
day
.TheSanghhascalled
for “all-out efforts with
organised strength” to
“defeat this menace”.
“The formidable form
of growing religious fa-
naticism in the country
hasraiseditsheadagain
inmanyplaces.Thebru-
tal murders of activists
of Hindu organisations
in Kerala, Karnataka
are an example of this
menace. Series of das-
tardly acts revealing
communal hysteria, ral-
lies, demonstrations, vi-
olation of social disci-
pline, custom and con-
ventionsundertheguise
of the Constitution and
religious freedom, incit-
ing violence by instigat-
ing meagre causes is in-
creasing,” the annual
report said.
Attacks also
intensify
around Kyiv
‘RUSSIA SENDING
MORE TROOPS’
Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelenskyy on
Saturday claimed that
Russia was sending new
troops after incurring
the biggest losses that
it had seen in decades.
Addressing the nation,
Zelenskyy asked Russia
to uphold the ceasefire
so that evacuations from
Mariupol could success-
fully be carried out.
People work around what Pakistani security sources say is the
remains of a missile fired into Pakistan from India.

CAPITOL
NEW DELHI | SUNDAY, MARCH 13, 2022
02
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A senior official of the Delhi Fire Services said information regarding the blaze near pillar number 12 was received at 1:03 am
New Delhi (PTI): Sev-
en people, including
three children, were
killed in a blaze that rav-
aged through the shan-
ties in northeast Delhi
in the early hours of
Saturday
.
Two minors, Roshan
(13) and his sister Dipi-
ka (9), of same family
were killed in the fire.
Five other deceased
were from another fam-
ily
.
They were identified
as Babloo (32), Ranjit
(25), Reshma (18), Pri-
yanka (20), and Shahan-
sha (10).
Santu, the 58-year-old
grandfather of Roshan
and Dipika, said, “The
fire started around 12.30
am when we were sleep-
ing. We have no idea
from where and how it
started. We have only
one room. We came out
of shanty when the fire
broke out to save our
lives.” A senior official
of the Delhi Fire Ser-
vices said information
regarding the blaze
near pillar number 12 of
Gokulpuri village was
received at 1:03 am.
Thirteen fire-tenders
were rushed to the spot,
he said, adding that the
fire was finally brought
under control around 4
am.Seven charred bod-
ies were recovered from
the site, the official said.
Around 60 shanties
were affected and 30 of
them were completely
gutted in the fire, he
added. Additional Dep-
uty Commissioner of
Police (northeast) De-
vesh Kumar Mahla said
the reason behind the
fire is yet to be ascer-
tained. He said teams
from the Forensic Sci-
ence Laboratory (FSL)
at Rohini also visited
the spot.
A case under sections
285 (Negligent conduct
with respect to fire or
combustible matter)
and 304A (Causing
death by negligence) of
the IPC has been regis-
tered at Gokulpuri Po-
lice Station.
Further sections will
be added after the re-
ports of fire department
and FSL team, a senior
police officer said. Some
people received minor
injuries in the incident,
police said.
7 killed as fire breaks out in
shanties in northeast Delhi
People gather at the incident site where a massive fire gutted several shanties at Gokulpur village.
New Delhi (PTI): Af-
ter seven people were
killed in a slum fire
in northeast Delhi’s
Gokulpuri area on
Saturday, CM Arvind
Kejriwal announced
a compensation of
`10 lakh for the kin
of adult deceased
persons, `5 lakh in
case of minor de-
ceased and `25,000 to
those whose shanties
were gutted. The an-
nouncement came
during the CM’s visit
to the spot. He took
stock of the situation
and interacted with
the affected people,
before announcing
the compensation.
“When I woke up
this morning, I came
to know that a fire
here killed seven peo-
ple and many shan-
ties were burnt. I am
deeply saddened
with this incident. I
pray to God that the
deceased rest in
peace.
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal interacts with the people.
New Delhi (ANI): IPL
franchise Delhi Capi-
tals on Saturday un-
veiled the official jer-
sey for the 2022 season.
Delhi Capital’s jersey
has an equal dash of
red and blue which ex-
udes youthful and vi-
brant energy
. While the
red symbolises the
team’s on-field courage,
the blue stands for bal-
ance and composure.
The tiger, an intrinsic
part of the DC logo, is
bigger and bolder in the
jersey
. The first jerseys
were given to select DC
fans at the team’s home
ground – the Arun Jait-
ley Stadium in New
Delhi. Additionally, se-
lect children from the
city, the DC Cubs, were
given official jerseys
too. “It’s a new cycle of
the IPL, and we can’t
wait to see our players
in this brand new jer-
sey,” said Vinod Bisht,
Interim CEO, Delhi
Capitals. “Supporting
this team in its quest
for glory is our fan
army, so it’s only fitting
for us to make them a
part of our journey in
every step.”
Delhi Capitals will
kickstart their season
on March 27 against
Mumbai Indians at the
Brabourne Stadium.
DC unveil new jersey ahead IPL 2022
NEW LOOK

The jersey has
an equal dash
of red & blue
which exudes
youthful and
vibrant energy.
The tiger is
bigger and
bolder in the
jersey
Delhi Capitals unveils new jersey for IPL 2022 on Saturday.
22K+applications
forSpecialHousing
Scheme2021
New Delhi (PTI): Over
22,000 applicants have
registered themselves
for the DDA Special
Housing Scheme 2021,
which closed on March
10, officials said. The
scheme was launched
on Dec 23 last year.
“A total of 22,179 ap-
plicants have registered
themselves for the
scheme, out of which
payments of 12,253 ap-
plicants have been con-
firmed and the final
figure is being recon-
ciled with banks,” a
senior official said.
The deadline to apply
for the DDA Special
Housing Scheme 2021
ended on Thursday, he
said.
Previously, the last
date to apply for the
scheme was February 7.
This was the second
scheme of the housing
authority for 2021, the
first one being offered
early last year.
As many as 18,335
flats of different catego-
ries in Dwarka, Narela,
Rohini and Jasola,
among other places,
were offered under the
DDA Special Housing
Scheme 2021. These
flats are those which re-
mained “unsold in pre-
vioushousingschemes”
of the urban body
.
Delhi Secretariat renovation
approved with `35.99 cr budget
New Delhi (PTI): The
Delhi government has
approved a budget of
`35.99 crore for the ren-
ovation of the offices of
Chief Minister Arvind
Kejriwal and his other
Cabinet colleagues at
the secretariat, a gov-
ernment order said.
According to govern-
ment officials, the PWD
has been given the task
of renovation of these
offices located inside
the Delhi Secretariat.
The PWD has also is-
sued an order in this
connection. “In pursu-
ance of the proposal of
Engineer-in-Chief PWD
titled renovation of of-
fices of CM and minis-
ters at Delhi Sachiva-
laya at an estimated
cost of `35,99,44,400, I
have been directed to
convey administrative
approval and expendi-
ture sanction for carry-
ing out the above work,”
PWD Deputy Secretary
(Works) Anil Bhola
said.
Officials said that the
proposal in this connec-
tion was prepared and
tabled for approval on
February 24 this year.
Currently, Kejriwal and
his Cabinet, along with
other bureaucrats and
officials, work from
their offices at the Delhi
Sachivalaya, which is
also known as Players
Building, situated near
the IGI Stadium.
“Now since the ad-
ministrative approval
has been given and ex-
penditure amount has
also been sanctioned,
the work on the renova-
tion of offices at the sec-
retariat will commence
soon. The rendering
process will now be-
gin,” a PWD official
said on Saturday
.
Nepalesemanarrested
forrapingstep-daughter
Gurugram (PTI): A
40-year-old Nepalese
man was arrested for
allegedly raping his
minor step-daughter
and threatening to kill
her. The accused was
produced in a city
court on Saturday and
was remanded in judi-
cial custody, police
said. According to the
complaint filed by the
victim’s mother, she
married the accused
five years ago, a year
after the death of her
first husband. Since
then, she was living
with the accused and
her four children at a
rented house here. The
complainant stated
that she worked as a
maid in houses and
that her husband, the
accused, was unem-
ployed. As she reached
home on Thursday
night, her 11-year-old
daughter informed her
about the rape and
threat.
The doctor, who ex-
amined the victim,
confirmed that she had
been raped.
Stepsbeingtakentoensure
safe Holi on campus: DU
New Delhi (PTI): With
the festival of colours
approaching, the Delhi
University said it along
with senior officials of
the Delhi Police would
ensure safety and secu-
rity of everyone on
campus during Holi.
According to the var-
sity, it has already initi-
ated steps towards elab-
orate internal and ex-
ternal security arrange-
ments to counter any
possible act of ‘’hooli-
ganism or rowdy con-
duct’’ in the name of
Holi, particularly those
targeting women stu-
dents. “In coordination
with law and order au-
thorities, proctorial
board, dean students’
welfare office and secu-
rity personnel, the uni-
versity is determined to
maintain strict vigil
and enforce discipline
so that nothing unto-
ward happens under
the garb of festivities,”
said a senior varsity of-
ficial. Strictest possible
disciplinary action
shall be taken to curb
any act of hooliganism
and disturbance during
Holi under the provi-
sions of the University
Statues and Ordinanc-
es, he said.
Sushil Kumar to coach Tihar Jail
inmates on fitness, wrestling
New Delhi (ANI): Two-
time Olympic winner
Sushil Kumar who is
currently lodged in the
national capital’s Tihar
Jail will coach fellow
prison inmates in wres-
tling and impart fitness
tips to them, officials
said. Tihar Jail’s Direc-
tor-General Sandeep
Goyal told ANI on Sat-
urday that permission
has been granted to
Sushil Kumar in
this regard and
till now, about
six to seven pris-
oners are being
trained by Su-
shil Kumar who
holds classes in-
side the jail complex.
Director-General of
Delhi Prisons Sandeep
Goel said that prisoners
who want to be coached
by Sush- il Kumar
c a n n o w
take l e s -
sons from
him.
The Tihar Jail ad-
ministration said that a
plan had been previ-
ously chalked out to in-
volve Sushil in sports
activities but due to the
third wave of COVID-19
it was put on halt.
Jail officials say that
since Sushil Kumar is a
trained professional
wrestler, all the jail in-
mates will also take fit-
ness and wrestling
classes from him. Re-
ports, including an
assessment of the
impact of such ac-
tivities on prisoners’
mental health, are sent
to the jail superinten-
dent regularly
.
New Delhi (PTI):
Delhiites woke up
to a sunny morn-
ing on Saturday
with the mini-
mum temperature
settling at 15.6 de-
grees Celsius,
normal during
the season, the
IMD said. The rel-
ative humidity
was recorded at
70% at 8.30 am.
The city’s air
quality remained
in the “moderate”
category. The Air
Quality Index
(AQI) read 158 at 9
am, according to
the CPCB.
New Delhi (PTI):
CM Arvind Kejri-
wal posted a cryp-
tic tweet on Satur-
day, asking if Lak-
shadweep Admin-
istrator Praful K
Patel is being
made the next Lt
Governor of Del-
hi. Anil Baijal is
the current Lieu-
tenant Governor
of Delhi. “Is Mr
Praful Patel, Ad-
ministrator of
Lakshdweep, be-
ing made the next
LG of Delhi?” Ke-
jriwal tweeted.
Delhi records
min temp of
15.6 degree C
Is Praful Patel
being made next
Delhi LG:Kejriwal
Delhi Secretariat FILE PICTURE
WOMEN POWER
Bollywood actors Yami Gautam & Neha Dhupia visit Delhi Commission for Women and had
an engaging conversation with DCW chairperson Swati Maliwal. @SwatiJaiHind/TWITTER
—PHOTO
BY
ANI
CM ANNOUNCES `10
LAKH EX-GRATIA FOR KIN
OF ADULT DECEASED

INDIA
03
Sharat K Verma
New Delhi: The tone of
the leaders of the Aam
Aadmi Party has
changed. After AAP’s
massive victory in Pun-
jab, party leaders have
started saying that the
‘Kejriwal Model of Gov-
ernance’ has been cho-
sen by the people. Keep
in mind that earlier
Delhi model was dis-
cussed in AAP’s public-
ity
. Before that, when
Narendra Modi came
onto the national politi-
cal scene to contest the
generalelections,hehad
shown the Gujarat mod-
el to the whole country
.
ButtheBJPdidnotlabel
it as Modi model of gov-
ernance, rather it ws
termedtheGujaratmod-
el. The way the Gujarat
model was discussed in
public sphere, the same
waytheDelhimodelwas
being discussed, prior to
assembly results.
But after the election
results, AAP leaders
have started calling it
the Kejriwal model.
Soon after initial trends,
DelhiDeputyChief Min-
ister Manish Sisodia
said it was a victory for
“governance on the Ke-
jriwal model”. After a
while, Raghav Chadha,
in-charge of Punjab, re-
peated the same line. So,
now the name of the
Delhi model has been
changed to Kejriwal
model, which the Aam
Aadmi Party will capi-
talizeonintheassembly
elections in two states -
Gujarat and Himachal
Pradesh - to be held later
thisyear.Children’sedu-
cation, women’s earn-
ings, ration to the poor
and care of everyone’s
health are being told to
be the merits of this
model. The way Nitish
Kumar had talked about
development with jus-
tice in Bihar, even
thoughdevelopmenthas
not really happened,
similarly development
with justice is being
talked about under the
Kejriwal model.
What is the Kejriwal model of governance?
New Delhi (Agen-
cies): India and China
have agreed to "main-
tain stability on the
ground", while working
towards a mutually ac-
ceptable solution to re-
solve the dispute at the
Line of Actual Control
(LAC), the Indian De-
fence Ministry said on
March 12, a day after
the two countries held
the 15th round of mili-
tary-level talks.
The Corps Com-
mander-level meeting
was held at Chushul-
Moldo border on the
Indian side, nearly two
months after the last
round of talks took
place. While both the
countries will hold fur-
ther talks to resolve the
row in eastern Ladakh,
it was decided to main-
tain the stable position
in the western sector.
The two sides "agreed
to maintain the securi-
ty and stability on the
ground in the western
sector in the interim.
They agreed to main-
tain dialogue via mili-
tary and diplomatic
channels to reach a mu-
tually acceptable reso-
lution of the remaining
issues at the earliest",
the statement said.
Both, India and Chi-
na, reaffirmed that
such a resolution would
help restore peace and
tranquility along the
LAC in the western sec-
tor and facilitate pro-
gress in bilateral rela-
tions, it added.
"The two sides car-
ried forward their dis-
cussions from the pre-
vious round held on
12th January 2022 for
the resolution of the
relevant issues along
the LAC in the western
sector. They had a de-
tailed exchange of
views in this regard,
in keeping with the
guidance provided by
the state leaders to
work for the resolu-
tion of the remaining
issues at the earliest,"
the Defence Ministry
further said.
Pune (ANI): Mumbai
police have issued a no-
tice to BJP leader Dev-
endra Fadnavis, asking
him to appear before
theminconnectionwith
a case of alleged illegal
phone tapping. Fad-
navis, who is the Leader
of Opposition in the Ma-
harashtra Assembly,
has been summoned to
the BKC Cyber Cell at 11
am on Sunday
.
In a press confer-
ence on Saturday, Fad-
navis said, "I was home
minister [of Maha-
rashtra] earlier. And
even if a fake case has
been registered, I will
go [to the police].
"But as Leader of Op-
position, I have some
privileges and no one
can ask me the source of
information," he added.
Former Maharash-
tra chief minister Dev-
endra Fadnavis also
said that he was sur-
prised that the state
government "did noth-
ing for six months" on
the transfer posting
scam. "Instead, they
want to catch someone
who exposed this
scam," he told report-
ers in Mumbai.
Jalandhar (PTI): The
remains of around 17-18
slaughtered cows were
allegedly found in Pun-
jab’s Tanda Urmar in
Hoshairpur district on
Saturday, triggering
tension in the area, the
police said.
Following the inci-
dent, which allegedly
took place last night,
right-wing organisa-
tions gathered before
noon on Saturday and
sat on a dharna near the
site, blocking the Ja-
landhar-Pathankot Na-
tional Highway, the po-
lice added.
The Railway Police
has lodged an FIR
against unidentified
persons under IPC sec-
tion 295-A (insulting re-
ligious beliefs) and un-
der the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals Act.
Bengaluru (PTI): Sen-
ior Congress leader and
MLC CM Ibrahim on
Saturday said he has re-
signed from the prima-
ry membership of the
party, and was inclined
to join the JD(S).
The senior politician,
however, said he will
announce his decision
to join the regional par-
ty after discussing with
the JD(S) leadership,
including former Prime
Minister HD Deve Gow-
da, in a couple of days.
Reacting to the pos-
sibility of Mr Ibrahim
joining JD(S), Deve
Gowda said the party
will discuss and take a
decision.
"I'm resigning from
the primary member-
ship of the Congress. I
have sent a signed letter
to Sonia Gandhi (Con-
gress National Presi-
dent)," Mr Ibrahim told
reporters.
New Delhi (PTI): Two
days after the Bahujan
Samaj Party registered
its lowest ever tally of
only one seat in the cur-
rent Uttar Pradesh As-
sembly election, party
chief Mayawati blamed
the “casteist agenda” of
the media, and an-
nouncedherpartywould
boycott TV debates.
In a series of tweets,
Mayawati claimed the
media’s attitude hurt
the party’s chances in
the elections.
“Theworkdonebythe
media during the UP as-
semblyelectionstoharm
the Ambedkarite BSP
movement by adopting
casteist hatred and hate-
ful attitude in the direc-
tionof theirbossesisnot
hiddenfromanyone.Me-
dia’s propaganda show-
ing ‘BSP as BJP’s B
team’ drove away Mus-
lims and anti-BJP vot-
ers from it,” Mayawati
said on Twitter.
Agartala (PTI): A
woman allegedly be-
headed her 50-year-old
husband and kept the
blood-soaked head in a
plastic bag at the fami-
ly's temple in Tripura's
Khowai district in the
early hours of Saturday
,
a police officer said.
While Khowai Superin-
tendent of Police Bhan-
upada Chakraborty said
the reason behind the
killing is not yet known,
the couple's elder son
said his mother has de-
veloped a psychological
disorder recently and
underwent treatment by
a local occultist.
Delhi CM Kejriwal with Punjab CM-designate Bhagwant Mann.
UP poll: A fight
of several firsts!
BJP workers apply gulal on UP CM Yogi Adityanath after
his victory in UP Assembly polls. —FILE PHOTO
BJP leader and former Maha CM Devendra Fadnavis.
Mahesh Sharma
Lucknow: Histori-
cal results have come
in Uttar Pradesh.
This is the first time
after more than three
decades that a party
has returned to pow-
er for the second
time in a row, and for
the first time since
independence, that a
Chief Minister has
won for the second
time in a row after
completing five years
in office. This time
the Uttar Pradesh
elections were also
historic in the sense
that for the first time
such a face-to-face
contest took place
and more than 95 per
cent of the seats were
divided between only
two parties. The vote
percentage is defi-
nitely divided be-
tween some parties
but only BJP and SP
have got seats.
While BJP in-
creased the vote per-
centage compared to
the last assembly
elections, the vote
percentage of SP in-
creased by about 15
percent. Till now it
had got highest 28
percent votes but
this time it got close
to 35 percent votes.
The Bahujan Samaj
Party remained at a
respectable level of
13-14 per cent of the
vote. But this vote
percentage did not
work in terms of
seats. About 96-97
per cent of the 403 as-
sembly seats in the
state are divided be-
tween the BJP and
the SP alliance. The
remaining three-
four per cent seats
are divided among
dozens of parties
like BSP, Congress,
MIM, JDU, VIP.
K’TAKA CONG
LEADER CM
IBRAHIM
QUITS PARTY
CM Ibrahim
—REPRESENTATIONAL IMAGE
15TH ROUND OF LAC TALKS
INDIA,CHINAAGREETOMAINTAIN
STABILITY IN WESTERN SECTOR
Both sides agreed to maintain dialogue via military and diplomatic channels to reach a
mutually acceptable resolution of the remaining issues at the earliest, New Delhi said
BSF SEIZES PAK
FISHING BOAT IN
KUTCH CREEK AREA
A village near the India-China border. —FILE PHOTO
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: The
Border Security Force
(BSF) recovered a
boat abandoned by Pa-
kistani fishermen in
the creek area along
the Indo-Pak border
near Kutch district of
Gujarat on Friday,
said an official. Upon
seeing BSF patrol ves-
sels, Pakistani fisher-
men, who had entered
Indian waters illegal-
ly in the Sir Creek
area, abandoned their
boat and fled to their
side of the maritime
border by taking ad-
vantage of marshy
terrain and rough sea
weather, said a release
by the BSF.
The BSF found fish-
ing nets, food, fishing
equipment and drink-
ing water from the
seized boat, the re-
lease said. Following
the seizure, the bor-
der guarding force
launched a thorough
search operation of
the area, but did not
find anything suspi-
cious, it said.
The BSF appre-
hends Pakistan fisher-
men and their boats at
regular intervals from
the creek area.
While Indian fisher-
men are barred from
entering the creek due
to security reasons,
those from Pakistan
often enter the Indian
side in search of a bet-
ter catch.
Fadnavis to appear before Mumbai
police today in phone-tapping case
SUMMONED FOR
EXPOSING MVA GOVT,
SAYS FADNAVIS
The notice is
served to me
because I exposed
the MVA govern-
ment. I demand that
the investigation of
this [phone tapping
case] should be
handed over to the
Central Bureau of
Investigation [CBI].
‘Tripura woman
beheads
husband, keeps
head at Temple’
Punjab’s Tanda town tense
after cow carcasses found
J&K: Jawan, home on leave, killed
by terrorists; 4th attack in 3 days
Srinagar (ANI): A
CRPF jawan, who was
home on leave, was
killed by terrorists in
Shopian district of
Jammu & Kashmir
this evening. This is
the fourth attack by
terrorists in the last
three days.
Mukthar Ahmad,
the Central Reserve
Police Force person-
nel, died of his inju-
ries while on way to
the hospital. Police
said the area has been
cordoned of to track
down attackers.
“Terrorists fired
upon one CRPF per-
sonnel namely
Mukhtar Ahmad
Dohi of Shopian. He
succumbed to his in-
juries while on way to
the hospital. Area cor-
doned off. Further de-
tails shall follow,”
tweeted Jammu &
Kashmir police.
Will boycott TV debates over
‘media campaign’: BSP
The standoff between the India and China
erupted on May 5, 2020. Each side currently
has around 50,000 to 60,000 troops along
the LAC in the sensitive sector

PERSPECTIVE
04
Vol 1 Issue No. 193 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
aharashtra is
witnessing a fa-
miliar script of
the Income-Tax
D e p a r t m e n t
raiding 20 places in the
state, 12 of which belong to
those close to Shiv Sena
leader and Chief Minis-
ter’s son Aaditya Thacker-
ay and Anil Parab. Parab
also belongs to Sena and is
a minister in the Maha Vi-
kas Aghadi (MVA) govern-
ment. Searches by the I-T
Department are aimed to
unearth alleged tax eva-
sion by the Sena leaders.
Nationalist Congress Par-
ty’s Nawab Malik, Anil
Deshmukh, Eknath
Khadse, Ajit Pawar, his sis-
ters and son all have been
targeted by the IT Depart-
ment and the Enforcement
Directorate. Malik and
Deshmukh are in jail. Sena
claims that despite being
given a list of corrupt BJP
leaders the investigative
agencies have not acted
against them.
The MVA partners have
repeatedly alleged that the
BharatiyaJanataPartywas
using the two central agen-
cies, along with the CBI, to
topplethestategovernment.
Countering the charge,
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi, in his victory speech
referredtothe“corruptpeo-
plewiththeirecosystemare
trying to stop investiga-
tions”.LastmonthBJPstate
president Chandrakant Pa-
til claimed that the MVA
government “will fall after
March10”.InNovemberlast
year Union minister Naray-
an Rane also predicted the
fallof theMVAgovernment
by March. The manner in
whichI-TandEDarespread-
ing their tentacles around
NCP and Sena leaders, the
BJP soothsayers could well
be proved right. Fall of the
MVA government may well
be a matter of time.
With all BJP warnings
being month specific the
MVA government, which is
in its third year in office,
better beware the Ides of
March!
M
MVA GOVT, BEWARE THE IDES OF MARCH! Amit Shah @AmitShah
On this day in 1930, Gandhiji added a
golden chapter to the history of Indian
independence movement by launching
Dandi Salt Satyagraha from Sabarmati
Ashram against the black salt law
of foreign rule. Today, on the 92nd
anniversary of Dandi March, I bow to all the Satyagrahis of
the Salt Satyagraha.
Piyush Goyal @PiyushGoyal
The last one year of celebrations of 75
years of Independence has given us
a unique opportunity to cherish our
glorious history, culture heritage. Let’s
continue to take pride in New India’s
journey keep the spirit of the
@AmritMahotsav high. #1YearofAmritMahotsav
TOP TWEETS
SPIRITUAL SPEAK
Whatever living beings there may be — feeble or
strong, long, stout, or of medium size, short, small,
large, those seen or those unseen, those dwelling far or
near, those who are born as well as those yet to be
born — may all beings have happy minds. —Buddha
RUSSIA-UKRAINE CONFLICT MISINFO
ABUNDANCE LEADS TO PANIC BUYING IN INDIA
e are living in an era
which is called the infor-
mation age. Information
means knowledge or facts.
But not every piece of in-
formation that reaches us
needs to be correct. In this
era where the influence of
social media is increasing
rapidly
, with a large popu-
lation spending maximum
time on various social me-
dia platforms, the ex-
change of information is
bound to happen rapidly.
With this, the time to scan
the truth of the informa-
tion that is becoming in-
creasingly viral is almost
over. That is the reason,
the era is also known as
the post-truth era.
In this era, several
times there is a possibility
of spreading misinforma-
tion. These days we are
consuming a new form of
information in the war be-
tween Ukraine and Rus-
sia. The battle between
these two countries is be-
ing fought on social media
platforms, many times
more than on the ground.
This is the reason why the
fight between these two
countries has also been
proclaimed as an informa-
tion war.
From the day Russia an-
nounced the attack on
Ukraine, Russia also
launched an information
war. But as this war pro-
gresses, Ukraine now
seems to be winning this
new age war on the web at
least with the help of the
United States as most of
the social media plat-
forms are under the influ-
ence of the US and other
Western countries, in
such a situation, when
West has imposed many
sanctions on Russia re-
garding this war, then
how can Russia’s upper
hand in information war
be heavier than Ukraine?
Reports about
Ukraine’s digital army
have also been in the fore-
front against Russia.
Hundreds of volunteer
hackers have gathered
and have started giving a
befitting reply to Russia’s
information war by form-
ing a group of their own.
Many experts have start-
ed saying that these hack-
ers of Ukraine seem to be
more effective attackers
than any paramilitary un-
less, of course, a nuclear
threat comes true.
But during the informa-
tion war, the kind of infor-
mationorinformationthat
is being repeatedly made
public through Ukraine is
proving to be false or fake.
It is not that Russia, de-
spite limited means, is not
able to do propaganda
against Ukraine.
It is also making public
many types of informa-
tion about Ukraine in a
limited range. The kind of
information that is being
shared again and again
about its opponent in this
war from both sides, this
war has now become
“Misinformation War”.
Attempts are being
made by Russia to destroy
the status of Ukraine all
over the world. Russia also
seems to be trying that
through its misinforma-
tion, the Ukrainian people
and the army there should
lose courage. Ukraine, on
the other hand, is also con-
stantly sharing false infor-
mation against Russia to
gain the sympathy of the
world and keep the morale
of its citizens in the war.
This is not the first
time that misinformation
through social media
platforms have been
spread to gain points dur-
ing a battle. We have seen
many such examples be-
fore. Because most of peo-
ple are not interested in
knowing the truth of the
information that they
got. Therefore, the ten-
dency of hastily forward-
ing has started increas-
ing rapidly these days.
Due to this, the busi-
ness of misinformation
has also cemented. The
same phenomenon is vis-
ible in the war between
Russia and Ukraine. In
such a situation, as vigi-
lant citizen, we have to try
to bridge the gap between
this information and mis-
information being shared
on social media platforms.
If we can do this, then we
will also be able to make
this new world of infor-
mation better. Otherwise,
the war of perception will
doom every possibility of
peace and harmony left in
this world.
PANIC BUYING
The ongoing war between
Russia and Ukraine since
February 24 is now show-
ing effects all over the
world. Even though
bombs and gunpowder are
raining thousands of kilo-
meters away from India,
the bad effect of war is
starting to take place here
too. According to reports,
after Russia’s attack on
Ukraine, people in India
have started to panic buy-
ing. Especially in the case
of edible oil, people are
buying and stocking more
than necessary
.
FEAR SPREADING
AMONG PEOPLE DUE
TO VIRAL FAKE
MESSAGES
According to a report, peo-
ple are afraid that due to
this corrosion, there may
be a shortage of edible
oils. Fake messages going
viral on WhatsApp that
there may be a shortage of
edible oils in the market
due to unrest are adding to
the panic buying. After re-
ceiving the messages. Peo-
ple in India have bought as
much as 20 litres of edible
oil at one go.
INDIA’S OVER 90%
SUNFLOWER OIL
COMES FROM
RUSSIA, UKRAINE
The price of edible oil in
India has increased by
more than 20 percent in
the last one month. In the
midst of such a surge in
prices, viral fake mes-
sages are promoting pan-
ic buying. India depends
on imports to a large ex-
tent in terms of edible
oil. In the case of edible
oil, two-thirds of India’s
requirements are met by
imports. Talking about
sunflower oil, India is al-
most completely depend-
ent on Russia and
Ukraine in this matter.
More than 90 percent of
India’s total sunflower oil
import comes from these
two countries.
THE SUPPLY OF ALL
OTHER EDIBLE OILS
WON’T BE AN ISSUE
Although experts believe
that there is no need to
panic, because even if
there is, there will be a
shortage of sunflower oil
only. There is no problem
in the supply of all other
edible oils like palm oil,
soya oil, mustard oil,
groundnut oil etc. There-
fore, there is no need for
panic buying.
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY
THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL
W
This is not the first time that
misinformation through
social media platforms have
been spread to gain points
during a battle. We have
seen many such examples
before. Because most of
people are not interested in
knowing the truth of the
information that they got.
Therefore, the tendency of
hastily forwarding has
started increasing rapidly
these days. Due to this, the
business of misinformation
has also cemented. The same
phenomenon is visible in the
war between Russia and
Ukraine. In such a
situation, as vigilant
citizen, we have to try to
bridge the gap between this
information and
misinformation being
shared on social media
platforms
Reports about Ukraine’s digital army have also
been in forefront against Russia. Hundreds of
volunteer hackers have gathered and have
started giving a befitting reply to Russia’s
information war by forming a group of
their own. Many experts have started saying
that these hackers of Ukraine seem to be more
effective attackers than any paramilitary unless,
of course, a nuclear threat comes true
MOHD FAHAD
The writer is a Jaipur-based journalist
and alumnus of Mass Communication
Research Centre, Jamia Millia
Islamia University

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Dayal Upadhayaya Gra-
meen Kaushalya Yojana
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rallies across the coun-
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the Ministry of Rural
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of the economy
. The pro-
grammehasanoutcome
led design with guaran-
teed placements for at
least 70% trained candi-
dates and is moving to-
wards minimum man-
datory certification.
The DDU-GKY pro-
gramme is being imple-
mented in 27 states and
3 UTs for rural poor
youth with an emphasis
on placements. More
than 871 PIAs are train-
ing rural poor youth in
close to 611- job roles
through more than 2381
training centers. Cumu-
latively 11.52lakh youth
have been trained and
7.15 lakh youth have
been placed till 28th Feb,
2022.
A total of 40.3 lakh
candidates have been
trainedunderRSETIsin
64 courses (59 National
Skill Qualification
Framework (NSQF)
aligned and 5 MoRD ap-
proved) and 28.39 lakh
candidates have been
settled till 28th Feb, 2022.
Nearly 5000 women spread awareness about under-nutrition
EDUCATING RURAL WOMEN

Women
candidates from
DDU-GKY
RSETIs
participate in
more than 100
rallies under the
Azadi Ka Amrit
Mahotsav
campaign
5000 trainees organised more than 100 ‘Kuposhan Se Azadi’ rallies across the country.
The net satisfaction with the Modi govt was three times higher than that of the Yogi govt
Uttarakhand: After Dhami loses,
speculations over CM post
Ludhiana Police bust inter-
state gang of drug smugglers
Dehradun (PTI): With
uncertainty prevailing
over Pushkar Singh
Dhami’s return to the
chief minister’s post
following his defeat in
the Uttarakhand As-
sembly polls, specula-
tion begun once again
in the media here
about who might re-
place him.
At least half a dozen
names have begun do-
ing the rounds as Dha-
mi’s likely replace-
ment, including Chau-
battakhal MLA Satpal
Maharaj, Srinagar
Garhwal MLA Dhan
Singh Rawat, former
chief minister Triveda
Singh Rawat, who did
not contest the polls
this time, and Didihat
legislator Bishan Singh
Chufal.
However, Trivendra
Singh Rawat categori-
cally ruled himself out
of the race. Names of
former Union minister
Ramesh Pokhriyal Nis-
hank, Union Minister
of State for Defence
Ajay Bhatt and Rajya
Sabha MP Anil Baluni
are also afloat.
Several names invar-
iably become a butt of
media speculation in
Uttarakhand whenever
the prospect of a
change of guard emerg-
es in the state.
They were projected
as probable choices for
the top office when
Trivendra Singh Rawat
was replaced by Tirath
Singh Rawat and again
when the latter was re-
placed by Dhami.
However, on both oc-
casions, the BJP sprang
a surprise by choosing
someone who was out
of the range of media
speculation.
Mahesh Kumar
Ludhiana: In yet an-
other breakthrough,
Ludhiana Commission-
erate Police have busted
an inter-state drugs
peddling gang involved
in supply of Ganja, opi-
um and poppy husk into
Punjab. The police have
arrested four members
of this gang along with
the recovery of 2.04
quintals of Ganja, 3 KG
Poppy Husk, and 500
Grams of opium, which
was being pumped into
Punjab from Oddisa.
Divulging the de-
tails, Commissioner of
Police Gurpreet Singh
Bhullar said that on a
tip off CIA Staff-I had
laid a trap on GT Road
Sahnewal when they
stopped two truck bear-
ing number PB 23M
5617, and PB10 CW 6731
coming from Mandi
Gobindgarh side. He
said that on the search
of the truck in pres-
ence of ACP (Detective)
Harbinder Singh, the
Police recovered 2.04
quintals of Ganja, 3 kg
poppy husk and 500
grams of opium.
The police appre-
hended truck drivers
Avninder Singh and
Pushpinder Singh, both
residents of Village
Kehra, Ludhiana along
with truck owners Kul-
deep Singh and Gurjeet
Singh, both residents of
Fagehgarh Sahib.
The CP said that dur-
ing the investigation the
accused revealed that he
had been carrying out
this smuggling network
in the garb of transpor-
tation business. They
delivered medicines and
tyres to Bhubaneswar,
Odisha from there.
Govt initiatives start-
ups in water sector
New Delhi (PTI):
UnionMinisterHard-
eep Singh Puri on
Saturday launched
the India WaterPitch-
Pilot-Scale Start-up
Challenge’, under
which the govt will
select 100 start-ups
and they will be pro-
vided with Rs 20 lakh
each as funding sup-
port as well as men-
torship.
According to the
Ministry of Housing
and Urban Affairs,
the new initiative
aims at empowering
start-ups in the water
sector to grow
through innovation
and design that will
drive sustainable eco-
nomic growth and
generate employ-
ment opportunities.
The initiative was
launched at an event
here by Union Hous-
ing and Urban Af-
fairs Minister Hard-
eep Singh Puri under
the ministry’s Atal
MissionforRejuvena-
tion and Urban
Transformation(AM-
RUT) 2.0.
Puri emphasised
on the important role
being played by the
start-ups and assured
them of full and ac-
tive support from the
government, accord-
ing to a statement
from the ministry
.
Start-ups are the
flavour of the season,
as the number of uni-
corns’ in the country
has jumped.
CHANGE OF GUARD
Pushkar Singh Dhami
New Delhi (PTI):
The CBI has exam-
ined Mumbai Police
Commissioner San-
jay Pandey in con-
nection with its
probe against former
Maharashtra home
minister Anil Desh-
mukh in a corruption
case, officials said
Saturday
.
Pandey was ques-
tioned for nearly six
hours on Friday over
the allegations of at-
tempting to influence
former commission-
er Param Bir Singh to
withdraw his com-
plaint against Desh-
mukh while the Bom-
bay High Court was
hearingthecase,they
said.
The agency has
booked Deshmukh
and unidentified oth-
ers under IPC sec-
tions related to crimi-
nal conspiracy and
section of Prevention
of Corruption Act for
“attempt to obtain
undue advantage for
improper and dishon-
est performance of
public duty”.
In his letter to
Chief Minister Ud-
dhav Thackeray
, after
he was removed from
Mumbai Police Com-
missioner’s post, Par-
am Bir Singh had al-
leged Deshmukh al-
legedly asked Sachin
Waze, a Mumbai po-
lice officer now
sacked in Antilia se-
curity breach case, to
allegedly extort over
Rs 100 crore a month
from bars and restau-
rants of Mumbai,
they said.
“The Preliminary
Enquiry prima facie
revealed that a cogni-
zable offence is made
out in the matter,
wherein the then
Home minister of
Maharashtra, shri
Anil Deshmukh and
unknown others have
attempted to obtain
undue advantage for
improper and dishon-
est performance of
their public duty
,” the
CBI FIR has alleged.
CBI examines
Mumbai Police
Chief Pandey
UP VOTERS CHOSE DEVELOPMENT
OVER RAM TEMPLE, HINDUTVA
Lucknow (PTI): Devel-
opment and govern-
ment functioning were
among the top priori-
ties for voters in the Ut-
tar Pradesh Assembly
elections while the Ram
temple and Hindutva
did not weigh much in
the minds of people
while exercising their
franchise, a post-poll
survey has highlighted.
The study said the
net satisfaction with
the Narendra Modi gov-
ernment at the Centre
was three times higher
than that of the Yogi
Adityanath govern-
ment in Uttar Pradesh,
indicating the Modi
magic helped the BJP
return to power for the
second consecutive
term.
The Lokniti-CSDS
poll survey also points
to a new group of ben-
eficiaries of welfare
schemes such as Kisan
Samman Nidhi, Ujjwala
Scheme, PM Awas Yoj-
na and free ration root-
ing for the ruling coali-
tion, irrespective of
caste and religious con-
siderations.
Another important
fact that emerged in the
comprehensive data
collection was that al-
laying all pre-poll ap-
prehensions, the BJP
got more support
among farmers, Brah-
mins, and also in-
creased its outreach
among Scheduled
Castes, even among
Mayawati’s core vote
bank Jatavs.
The BJP-led coalition
broke over three dec-
ades old record by get-
ting re-elected for a sec-
ond consecutive time
in UP under Chief Min-
ister Yogi Adityanath.
On how reliable the
survey was in terms of
size and geographical
coverage, Sanjay Ku-
mar, Professor and Co-
Director of Lokniti
programme at the Cen-
tre for the Study of De-
veloping Societies, told
PTI that it was a com-
prehensive sample, an
important factor for
any survey to be accu-
rate.
Thirty-eight per cent
of responders said de-
velopment topped their
priority
, 12 per cent said
changing or removing
the government guided
them to the polling
booth and 10 per cent
listed functioning of
the government as
their consideration.
Surprisingly the
Ram Mandir and Hin-
dutva issue found fa-
vour only among 2 per
cent of the responders
and so was the case
with the topic of stray
animal menace raised
by the opponents prom-
inently to put the Adi-
tyanath government on
the mat.
Even during cam-
paigning, it was noticed
that though the con-
struction of the Rama
temple in Ayodhya was
talked about but it was
not a dominant poll nar-
rative even in Ayodhya,
where the competing
parties raised the issue
of development more
prominently
.
Even in Dhannipur
village that comes un-
der the Bikapur assem-
bly segment in Ayod-
hya, where five acres
have been allotted after
the Supreme Court or-
der for building up of a
new mosque, the matter
related to day-to-day life
found more favour.
CONG CONTESTED 399 SEATS
IN UP, LOST DEPOSIT IN 387
First India Bureau
New Delhi: The
Congress which got
a drubbing in Ut-
tar Pradesh lost
deposit in 387 of
the 399 seats that it
contested. The party
managed to win just 2
seats in the recently
concluded elections
that was won by the
BJP. The BSP which
contested all the 403
seats lost deposit in
290. The BJP contest-
ed in 376 seats and
lost deposit in 3 while
the SP contested 347
seats and lost deposit
in 6. However the
BJP’s ally Apna Dal
(S) and Nishad did
not lose their deposits
in the 27 seats the
parties contested
between themselves.
The SP’s partners
SBSP and Apna Dal
(K) contested in 25
seats and lost deposit
in 8. In all, 4,442
candidates con-
tested the elections
and 3,552 lost their
deposits. The rules
say that a candidate
loses deposit when he
or she fails to secure
one-sixth of the total
valid votes polled in a
constituency. In 2017,
the Congress won six
seats and this year it
was just two. Even the
vote share dropped to
2.4 per cent in com-
parison to the 6.1 per
cent in the previous
elections. These num-
bers indicate that the
strike rate of the Con-
gress was just 0.5 per
cent. The campaign
by the Gandhis could
not even manage a
decent showing in
their bastions of Rae
Bareli and Amethi.
148 CANDIDATES, 1 WIN: CONGRESS
WOMEN CANDIDATES FAIL TO MAKE MARK
Zafar Irshad
Lucknow: The Congress’
star women candidates,
who entered the election
fray as a symbol of strug-
gle with the slogan Ladki
Hoon, Lad Sakti Hoon’,
secured less than 3,000
votes each and had to
even forfeit their depos-
its. Living up Priyanka
Gandhi’s promise to give
40 per cent of the tickets
to women candidates,
the Cong fielded 148 of
them, of which only one
Congress Legislature
leader Aradhana Mishra
Mona secured victory.
From Unnao’s Sadar
seat, the Congress had
fielded Asha Devi, the
mother of a rape victim.
The grand old party had
also engaged its team of
workers from Rajasthan
and Madhya Pradesh to
campaign for her. How-
ever, Devi bagged only
1,555 votes.On Devi’s
electoral defeat, her
daughter told PTI, My
mother has definitely lost
the election, but we want
to support the struggle
of women and victims,
and become their voice.
We will not back off.”
—FILE PHOTO

COVID-19
UPDATE
WORLD
60,59,497
TOTAL DEATHS
38,95,71,901
TOTAL RECOVERED
6,01,23,569
ACTIVE CASES
45,57,54,967
TOTAL CASES
INDIA
5,15,833
TOTAL DEATHS
4,24,31,513
TOTAL RECOVERED
40,529
ACTIVE CASES
4,29,87,875
TOTAL CASES
08
2NDFRONT
MANY PARTIES MAY
MERGE IN BJP
In this changing
weather, it seems the
yellow Sunlight has
also changed to saffron.
When the ballot box
opened on March 10, the
hopes of many parties
were also dashed. Even
though the BJP stunned
its opponents with its
trot but many questions
still remain unan-
swered. As a Congress
leader says, “Modi’s vic-
tory is friable from
within because, before
the latest poll results of
5 states, BJP already
had 399 seats out of to-
tal 690 seats. Now after
the results, it is left with
356 seats i.e. 43 seats
have been reduced.”
But it should also be
asked as to what hap-
pened to the morale of
the Congress in Punjab
where it handed over
the victory to AAP. How
did the call of victory in
U’khand turn into an
outcry of defeat? Why
did the public reject Pri-
yanka’s ‘ladki hoon lad
sakti hoon’ chant in
UP? Therefore, today
there is a need for intro-
spection not by the BJP
but by the Congress,
whose many big leaders
are still ready to break
away. With the opposi-
tion flag-waving in 4 of
these 5 states, the BJP
plans to merge at least 3
parties into its Saffron
fold by end of this year.
Mayawati is said to be
ready for this, who, in
this polls transferred 70
to 80 percent of her core
vote bank directly to the
BJP. Her eyes are on an
honorable farewell
from politics. Her eyes
are on President post
but if she does not get
it, she may agree on the
post of VP
. This way she
will get rid of all the
cases and will be able to
live a peaceful constitu-
tional life. If this hap-
pens, she may be ready
to merge her party BSP
with BJP. More or less
same is the case with
Nitish. His first attempt
was to become the face
of Opp unit at Centre.
He again contacted PK
in this regard, explored
the possibilities for
himself, but if the plan
does not materialise,
then he too may easily
surrender to the saf-
fron. If he is made the
Prez or VP, he may be
ready to merge his par-
ty JDU with the BJP as
JDU’s influence is now
limited to Bihar only
.
HINTS OF BIG
CHANGES IN BJP
ORGANISATION
As per sources, there
may be changes in
BJP leadership before
polls in HP. High com-
mand can play bets on
Nadda in HP and Dhar-
mendra Pradhan’s
name is in discussion
for BJP Prez in place of
Nadda. But if Nadda re-
fuses, another face can
get chance in HP. As per
sources, BJP can play
bets on Anurag Thakur.
BL Santosh may also be
changed from the post
of Gen Secy of BJP and
NN Tripathi may re-
place Santosh. At pre-
sent, Tripathi is han-
dling the responsibility
of Gen secy in Bihar
and Jharkhand. On the
other hand, this matter
is also being considered
in the high command as
to how much free hand
should be given to Yogi
in UP and how can there
be better coordination
between Yogi and Sunil
Bansal? Meanwhile,
there are talks of chang-
ing UP BJP Chief Swa-
tantra D Singh as well.
‘ONE NATION, ONE
ELECTION’
SPECULATION
INTENSIFIES
This old idea of ‘One
Nation, One Elec-
tion’ of PM Modi has
started making waves
again after the bumper
victory of BJP in four
states. Modi has been
saying in the past that
‘Parliamentary elec-
tions and assembly elec-
tionsof allstatesshould
be held simultaneously,
this will save a lot of
money for the country
.’
PM Modi came up with
this idea about four
years ago. More than Rs
60,000 crore were spent
on 2019 LS polls alone. It
is said that ECI also
agrees with this opin-
ion of PM, but to do so,
a consensus will need to
be created among other
political parties.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN
TO MUKESH SAHNI?
What will happen to
Mukesh Sahni,
who repeatedly cursed
the BJP? Will BJP give
him a dressing down?
Mukesh Sahni’s Vi-
kassheel Insaan Party
i.e. VIP is a popular
party among the Mal-
lahs-Nishads of Bihar
which is currently a
part of NDA in Bihar.
But despite this, Sahni
violated the accepted
conventions of NDA
and fielded 53 candi-
dates from his party in
this UP election. Sahni,
who took oath of oust-
ing BJP from power in
UP, forgot this time that
he had tasted power in
Bihar only because of
the BJP. The power of
making him MLC again
is also in the hands of
BJP. It should be noted
that Sahni’s VIP party
had 4 MLAs in Bihar,
out of which one Musa-
fir Paswan passed away
.
There are 3 left who can
join BJP anytime, be-
cause it was the BJP
who made them contest
the election with the
symbol of VIP. Then
what will Mukesh Sah-
ni do? To harbour en-
mity for someone who
gives you shelter?
STONE PELTING
AND LATHICHARGE
IN SIRATHU!
On day of counting
of votes on March
10, everyone’s eyes were
fixed on Sirathu seat in
UP where Deputy CM
KP Maurya and Dr Pal-
lavi Patel of Apna Dal
Kameravadi were face
to face. All eyes were on
this hot seat, then the
counting of votes was
stopped late in the even-
ing and after that Kes-
hav and Pallavi sup-
porters clashed with
each other. Police re-
sorted to lathi charge to
control the matter. Only
then Yogi called offi-
cials saying, “There
should not be any rig-
ging in counting of
votes and work should
be done honestly”.
IS SENA COMING
CLOSER TO BJP?
Shiv Sena chief and
Mah CM Uddhav
Thackeray is a bit ill
these days. Anyway his
real concern is to estab-
lish his son Aaditya in
politics. It is said that he
often talks to the leaders
of other parties to keep
getting hints. Uddhav’s
real concern is actually
about stand of NCP
, an
ally in his govt. Uddhav
feels that Sharad Pawar
himself is not so com-
fortable and open to ac-
cept Aaditya. At the
sametime,whenhewent
to meet Modi last year
with his son Aaditya, he
found Modi’s attitude to-
wards son very positive.
Perhaps this is reason
why these days Uddhav
is once again increasing
closeness with BJP
.
FIRST INDIA SUNDAY SPECIAL
BY TRIDIB
RAMAN
The author is a journalist
and political commentator
and views expressed are
his personal
Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves to supporters during roadshow in Ahmedabad after BJP’s victory. Uddhav and Aaditya Thackeray.
Enjoy winning but remember to
take failures in the right spirit if
you desire long-term success.
—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO Editor-in-Chief, First India
Lotus set to bloom across JK
in next state polls: BJP leader
Jammu (PTI): Buoyed
by the electoral suc-
cess of the BJP in four
states, Ravinder Rai-
na, the president of
the party’s Jammu and
Kashmir unit, on Sat-
urday said the “lotus”
will bloom across the
Union Territory in the
next Assembly polls.
Lotus is the poll
symbol of the Bharati-
ya Janata Party (BJP).
Raina said the party
is confident of achiev-
ing its target of win-
ning over 50 seats to
form the next govern-
ment in Jammu and
Kashmir.
“The BJP govern-
ment under the leader-
ship of Prime Minis-
ter Narendra Modi
reached out to all sec-
tions of the society, ir-
respective of their re-
ligion and region. Peo-
ple love and support
the BJP and we are
confident that the lo-
tus will bloom in both
the regions (Kashmir
and Jammu) in the
next Assembly polls,”
he told reporters at the
party office here.
Several leaders, in-
cluding Sanjeev Bali,
the son of prominent
National Conference
(NC) leader and for-
mer minister Bodh Raj
Bali, and Other Back-
ward Class (OBC) lead-
er Raju Ram, joined
the saffron party in
the presence of Raina
on Saturday.
Bulldozing a resur-
gent rainbow coalition
led by the Samajwadi
Party (SP), the BJP
stormed back to power
in Uttar Pradesh and
also retained Uttara-
khand, Manipur and
Goa, while Arvind Ke-
jriwal’s Aam Aadmi
Party (AAP) scripted a
stellar victory in Pun-
jab, winning a three-
fourths majority.
HIGH ON HOPES
122 former MPs,
MLAs in Punjab
lose security cover
Mahesh Kumar
Chandigarh: Addition-
al Director General of
Police (security) has or-
dered the withdrawal
of security cover of 122
former MPs and MLAs
in Punjab.
The order was issued
dated March 11, soon
after the Punjab Chief
Minister-designate
Bhagwant Mann met
the Director general of
police (DGP) and the
chief secretary of Pun-
jab after the Legislator
party meeting. Punjab
ADGP (security) in a
letter to the Superinten-
dent of Police (SSPs)
and Police Commis-
sioners (CP) across the
state ordered the with-
drawal of security from
122 politicians.
The list includes
names of senior Con-
gress leaders, who got
security cover under
the previous govern-
ment along with the
names of Congress
MLAs who won the As-
sembly elections this
time from their seats
but would no longer be
the cabinet ministers.
Apart from senior
leaders of BJP, Shirom-
ani Akali Dal (SAD),
former AAP MLAs, for-
mer cabinet ministers
and former Assembly
Speakers were also on
the list.
Former minister Am-
rinder Singh Raja War-
ring, who won from Gid-
derbaha seat, will lose
his security cover of 21
personnel, which is the
highest on the list.
The second on the list
is former finance min-
ister Manpreet Badal
who lost the election
from Bathinda Urban,
will lose 19 security
personnel.
—With ANI inputs
NEET-PG cut-off reduced by
15% to fill up vacant seats
PFI member
held in money
laundering
case
New Delhi (PTI): The
Enforcement Directo-
rate has arrested a PFI
member from Kerala’s
Kozhikode airport while
he was trying to flee the
country as the agency
probes him in a money
laundering case linked
to alleged raising of for-
eign funds for “anti-na-
tional”activities,official
sourcessaidonSaturday
.
The authorities at the
airport had intercepted
Abdul Razzak BP
, a divi-
sional president of the
Popular Front of India’s
Perumpadappu unit in
Malappuram, on March
9, acting on an Enforce-
ment Directorate look-
out circular (LOC) is-
sued against him.
The next day, the
agency produced him
before a special Preven-
tion of Money Launder-
ing Act (PMLA) court
in Lucknow which re-
manded him to seven
days of ED custody, the
agency officials said.
Premises linked of
Razzak and others were
searched by the federal
probe agency in Decem-
ber last year and “in-
criminating documents
were seized.”
New Delhi (PTI): To
fill up vacant post-
graduate medical
seats, the Union Health
Ministry has directed
the National Board of
Examinations to re-
duce the cut-off by 15
percentile across all
categories for NEET-
PG 2021.
In a letter to NBE Ex-
ecutive Director Minu
Bajpai, Member Secre-
tary of the Medical
Counselling Commit-
tee (MCC) B Srinivas
said, “After due discus-
sion and deliberations,
it has been decided by
the Health Ministry in
consultation with
NMC to reduce the cut-
off by 15 percentile
across all categories
i.e. the qualifying per-
centile for general cat-
egory may be reduced
to 35th percentile, for
PH(Genl) to 30th per-
centile and for re-
served category (SC/
ST/OBC) be reduced to
25th percentile.”
Nepal PM thanks India for evacuating
four Nepalese citizens from Ukraine
Kathmandu (PTI):
Nepal’s Prime Minister
Sher Bahadur Deuba
on Saturday expressed
gratitude to Indian
Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi and his gov-
ernment for evacuat-
ing four Nepalese na-
tionals stranded in
Ukraine amidst the
military offensive by
Russia.
The evacuation of
the Nepalese students
was done as part of In-
dia’s ‘Operation Gan-
ga’ that was launched
to bring back the Indi-
ans stuck in Ukraine
after Russia launched a
military attack on Feb-
ruary 24.
“Four Nepali nation-
als have just arrived in
Nepal from Ukraine via
India. Thank you Prime
Minister @naren-
dramodi and the Gov-
ernment of India for
the assistance in repat-
riating Nepali nation-
als through the #Opera-
tionGanga,” Deuba said
in a tweet on Saturday
.
Nepal PM Sher Bahadur Deuba
Punjab CM-designate Bhagwant Mann makes victory sign.
JK BJP chief Ravinder Raina BJP prez JP Nadda. —FILE PHOTO

ard work beats tal-
ent when talent
fails to work hard,
and Sofia has
proved this state-
ment right by her
hard work and
zeal to become a successful
individual!
Born and brought up in
Durgapur, Sofia moved to
Mumbai to follow the path
of her dreams! When asked
about her journey the diva
said, “I remember partici-
pating in a lot of dance
competitions in my child-
hood, my mom always en-
couraged me to pursue my
dreams. When I was in
high school my professors
pushed me to get into mod-
elling and acting, they re-
minded me of my good
height and features time
and again, the rest is his-
tory then.”
Talking about her acting
journey she shared, “Eure-
ka moment when it dawned
upon me that I wanted to be
an actress. It somehow feels
like it’s always been there,
the acting ka keeda, during
my college day I took acting
lessons and worked in thea-
tre for five years straight. I
also bagged an award for
Best Writer on National
Level. I’ve done three music
videos, my first break was
for the T-Series”.
When asked about her
habits, likes and dislikes
she said, “I am an emotion-
al eater (A BIG ONE). Back
in my High school days, I
was fat. My favourite junk
food is Pani-puri. It’s my all-
time favourite. Besides eat-
ing, reading is one of my
favourite hobbies, I love Ra-
punzel a lot! That book has
inspired me to follow my
dreams and I would say ‘lis-
ten to your heart and don’t
give up. Try to build your
empire with the stones, hat-
ers throw on you.”
The stunning star said
that she was pretty over-
weight in her school days
but looking at the beauty,
one cannot believe the
same. Her constant hard
work and dedication
towards staying fit
has been a huge
source of inspira-
tion for so many
around. She
looks forward
to earning a
huge name
and fame in
the model-
ling and act-
ing indus-
try with
h e r
c h a r m
a n d
p a s -
sion.
H
UTTKARSHA
SHEKHAR
cityfirst@firstindia.co.in
Supermodel
Sofia
Parveen,
born and
brought up
in West
Bengal and
currently
working for
her dreams
in Mumbai,
gives a
sneak peek
about her
journey as
an actor and
model in a
conversation
with City
First!
09
NEW DELHI, SUNDAY,
MARCH 13, 2022
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia
facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
SUPER GIRL
SOFIA

10
ETC
F
A
C
E
O
F
T
H
E
D
A
Y
RUGEES VINI, Model
ARIES
MAR 21 - APR 20
Rewards and
recognition
will come your
way for your
involvement in a
social endeavour.
It’s a very good
day to take
calculated risks in
financial matters. Those suffering from
chronic ailments may find remarkable
improvement in their health with home
remedies.
LIBRA
SEPT 24 - OCTOBER 22
It is good day to
confess your love
as stars appear
favourable. Your
sole dependency
on friends may
fail to bring any
respite from
loneliness today.A
sound financial health of businessmen
would enable to give monetary benefits to
employees. Today you will enjoy the trust
of senior management.
TAURUS
APR 21 - MAY 20
You will succeed
in resolving
disputes with
family members,
normalizing ties.
You will remain
much in demand
on social front.
You need to
stand by romantic partner during testing
times to make the relationship stronger.
Seek opinion of expert before opting for a
health supplement.
SCORPIO
OCT 23 - NOVEMBER 22
A sound
monetary
position would
enable you to
keep pace with
changing times.
Avoid raising
controversial
issues at
home to maintain harmony. Successful
implementation of new ideas and projects
would add to your prestige on the
professional front.
GEMINI
MAY 21 - JUNE 21
Develop a good
adaptability
to handle
pressurized
situation on
professional
front. Paying
special attention
to plan your
career would give immense joy. You are
likely to get clearance or approval for
your construction plans. You find things
moving in the way you want them.
SAGITTARIUS
NOV 23 - DEC 22
Distant relatives
may drop in
for a surprise
visit. Investment
antiques and
jewellery would
bring handsome
financial gains.
On professional
front, recognition for good work would
motivate you to work harder. Those
awaiting an affirmation on romantic front
are likely to get lucky today.
CANCER
JUNE 22 - JULY 23
Avoid being
indulgent in your
spending to
balance budget.
Continue to put
in efforts at work
and you will
see promising
opportunities
coming your way. Matrimonial match for
siblings will bring happiness for entire
family. You will get a good price for your
property.
CAPRICORN
DEC 23 - JAN 20
Chances of
being misled
by competitors
in business are
high, so remain
alert. You may
get a chance to
pursue old hobby.
Health tips from
an expert will enable you to get closer
to your fitness goals. Your generous
behavior would enable to enjoy some
lovely moments with family.
LEO
JULY 24 - AUGUST 23
Don’t give a firm
commitment
in financial
matters before
considering
the viability
of the project.
You succeed in
completing an
important project well before deadline.
Disagreements on the family front are
foreseen. Be careful about the legal
apprehensions regarding properties.
AQUARIUS
JAN 21 - FEB 19
Seniors will be
appreciative of
your creative
inputs. Seek
the opinion
of your family
before finalizing
a property deal.
An impromptu
invitation to a function from an
unexpected friend is likely to be received.
Your bold initiatives wil bring back
passion in romantic relationship.
VIRGO
AUG 24 - SEP 23
Yoga would
help in raising
energy levels and
improve your
metabolism.
Some of you are
going experience
emotional
fulfillment on
romantic front. Place emphasis on
domestic affairs to enhance the domestic
tranquility and harmony. Associate
yourself with a humanitarian group.
PISCES
FEB20 - MARCH 20
Your hard work
and dedication
are likely to
be noticed
by seniors,
paving way for
promotion or
increment. Better
to consult an
expert in financial matters before making
an investment. Family will be supportive
of career aspirations. A promising day
overall as you stay in the limelight.
YOUR
DAY
Horoscope by
Saurabbh Sachdeva
IN THE HEART OF
TRAGIC OPTIMISM
ur mother’s
generation
at large are
fearful of be-
ing in a con-
stant happy
state be-
cause they await the
low depths of sorrow
that lurk on the other
side of their euphor-
ic times. And more
often than not, they
feel guilty for experi-
encing joy and being
the ‘happy puppy’ in
good times.
On the other side,
someone like me is
fiercely independent
and passionately sad
through the highs
and lows that life has
to offer!
Hence, we hover
above the borderline
of self – destruction
and melodramatic ex-
pressions. Well, the
truthisthatthereisan
interesting duality to
life, and this is exhib-
itedbyeverythingthat
nature has to offer:
• Love and hate
• Joy and sorrow
• Darkness and light
• Life and death
• Good and evil
Some people like to
focus on one side over
the other and pretend
that the other side
does not exist. They
camouflage their
emotions under the
garb of being con-
tent, gratitude and
having no expecta-
tions at all…But in
reality
, they are living
in a bubble free from
elemental virtues of
honesty, candour and
acceptance.
In my opinion,
LIFE is a business
and you are the CEO
who decides whether
this business of liv-
ing is going to be easy
or difficult.
In 1940s, Psychia-
trist and psychother-
apist Viktor Frankl
had developed a con-
cept called logothera-
py, after surviving
Nazi concentration
camps. His experi-
ence and theories are
detailed in his book,
“Man’s Search for
Meaning.” He be-
lieved that humans
are motivated by
something called a
“will to meaning,” He
emphasised that life
can have meaning
even in the most
wretched circum-
stances and the moti-
vation for living
comes from finding
that meaning.
And therefore, I to-
tally believe that life
weaves a tragic triad
of human existence
thatcannotbeescaped:
Pain, guilt and death.
I’m sure you are
thinking that this ar-
ticle is going too dark
now, but trust me that
this will open new
doors in your thought
process. It is obvious-
ly tempting to take a
pessimist’s view of
life and scoff at opti-
mism in general. The
void that is created by
pain and suffering
and the loss that can
smoothly make us
fall into the apparent
meaninglessness pit!
I propose a solid
case for tragic opti-
mism in this world,
precisely because of
our innate ability to
find meaning, despite
the tragedies that
surround us. It re-
minds of Milton’s
saying, “our minds
can make hell out of
heaven, or heaven out
of hell.”
It is our own duty,
to not let what hap-
pens or what will
happen, turn us down
the road of the pessi-
mist, the fatalist, the
defeatist and the
doomsday expert.
We are innately
blessed with atremen-
douscapacitytotrans-
mute life’s negative
aspects into
something
construc-
tive — to
make the
best out
of any
g i v e n
circum-
s t a n c e .
F r a n k l
witnessed
itintheconcentration
camps, exemplified
in those who held on
to their humanity /
dignity and showed
virtue even in the
heart of darkness.
Even during those
darkest of times, he
preached, “Say yes
to life in spite of eve-
rything.”
WE ALL SEE IT,
DON’T WE?
• In someone who still
makes a point of smil-
ing, laughing and jok-
ing…even when
they’ve been given a
morbid diagnosis.
• In those who use
their suffering as a
fuel for their creativi-
ty, or an opportunity
to grow stronger and
exercise resilience.
• In the one’s who take
immense responsibil-
ity and grab life by the
horns, no matter
how many times
they fail.
• In the spouses
who find
more than
just sor-
row in
the ab-
sence of
his part-
ner
.
Life is indeed full
of surprises…good,
bad, sweet, bitter and
we can choose to face
life with an attitude
that is steadfast to
make the best of its
pleasures and its
pain alike.
The word ‘opti-
mism’ has been de-
rived from the Latin
word ‘optimum’ that
simply means “the
best”. Life will cer-
tainly throw some-
thing at you, so bear
it with an attitude
that makes you
stronger, rather than
weaker.
• Don’t let your suffer-
ing go waste, turn
them into stories of
success and resilience.
• If you have experi-
enced guilt, use it to
grow and change into
a better person.
• Reflect upon a deep
understanding for the
fleetingness of life,
spur yourself to take
responsibility and
meaningful action.
Remember, Life is a
precious gift and the
world is increasingly
getting full of pessi-
mists…It could sure-
ly do with a few more
optimists!
O
DR. DIVYA JAITLY
She is a TEDx Speaker,
Integrated Communication
Specialist, Leadership Mentor,
Public Speaking Coach, Image
Consultant Renowned TV
Anchor in India

ETC
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia NEW DELHI | SUNDAY, MARCH 13, 2022
11
The Jaipur Literature Festival commenced with the formal dinner at the gardens of
Rambagh Palace, Jaipur on Wednesday. Ashok Rathore, Area Director Jaipur Ajmer
Region and General Manager Rambagh Palace, said it was indeed an honour and a
privilege for Rambagh Palace, Jaipur to host the iconic celebratory welcome dinner
for the much-awaited Jaipur Literature Festival 2022 - an exquisite evening that had
the country’s glitterati in attendance. This year they hosted the gala cocktail dinner at
their lush, verdant newly launched venue - The Botanist and curated an unforgettable
experience that was truly second to none.
SOME MORE
GLIMPSES!
receded by a
power-packed
day 2 on-
ground, with
speakers from
across the Indi-
an subconti-
nent the world, Satur-
day marked another
memorable day at the
15th Jaipur Literature
Festival.
The day kicked off
with a soulful introduc-
tion to His Holiness the
14th Dalai Lama by writ-
er, television producer-
director, documentary
film-maker, and person-
al student of the Dalai
Lama for whom he man-
ages the Foundation for
Universal Responsibili-
ty
, Rajiv Mehrotra.
The session spoke
about the harmony be-
tween the mind, body,
and soul. Mehrotra
sharedacombinationof
breathingexercises,cor-
recting body posture,
andafewtipstokeepthe
mind at peace. Morning
Music was graced by
The Aahvaan Project
where the group pre-
sented a philosophy of
love, humanity, and
kindness and created a
space for harmony with
their unique ability of
storytellingthroughmu-
sic.
The Festival hosted a
panel discussion featur-
ing Founder Creative
Directorof JanaviIndia,
Jyotika Jhalani; Fash-
ion Designer Manish
Malhotra; Principal De-
signer and Director at
DesignwiseIndiaMukul
Goyal; IP lawyer and
Strategist, Safir Anand;
IP Counsel, Hindustan
Unilever Ltd, Viji Mal-
kani, in conversation
with MD, Teamwork
Arts and Festival Pro-
ducer, Sanjoy K Roy
. The
panel launched Safir
Anand’sbookChrysalis,
aninsightfulcoffeetable
book, which serves as a
tribute to corporate big-
wigs who form the cov-
eted client list of the law
firm Anand and Anand.
Talking about the Festi-
val, Malhotra said, “It’s
always a pleasure to be
here because it’s a Festi-
val from his (Sanjoy’s)
heart. It all starts from
there!”
MITALI DUSAD
mitalidusad01@gmail.com
P
Unique convergence of words and
COMPELLING IDEAS
Manish Malhotra in conversation with (L-R) Jyotika Jhalani,
Mukul Goyal,Viji Malkani, Safir Anand and Sanjoy Roy
Mukesh Mathur, LP Pant and
Manoj Muntashir
Pooja
and
Minakshi
Mukesh and Gobind Gurbani
Anubhav Tyagi, Olivia Fraser, William Dalrymple,
Ashok Rathore, Sanjoy Roy and Walter Lindner
Manisha Arora, Rajiv Arora, Timmi Kumar,
Akanksha Arora and Tarang Arora
Vijit Singh and Ashok Rathore with guests
Ajay Singh, Apurv Kumar, Vijit Singh, Ambika Kumari Rajnish Pardal
Gorgeous beauties pose for a pic
Musical performance at Rambagh
GM Ashok Rathore welcoming the guests Sanjoy Roy and Namita Gokhale with a guest
Haider Ali Zaidi and his wife Sanjoy Roy raises a toast
Ashok Rathore, Sanjoy Roy and Saurabh Kakkar with guests
Shumaila,
Neha,
Khushboo
and
Geesha
Janina, Elena, Clara, Sophia and Vera
Rafeek Khan greets
Shashi Tharoor
Shashi Tharoor in conversation with
Manu S Pillai and Ira Mukhoty
Shaurya and Emma
Kavita Chauhan with Tusharika Singh
Satinder Pal Singh, Rajiv Arora,
Khalid Khan and Ranvijay Singh Rathore
—PHOTOS BY MUKESH KIRADOO
—PHOTOS
BY
MUKESH
KIRADOO

SUNIL
SHARMA
Jyotika Diggi

CITY FIRST
N
ational HR Confer-
ence- Awards 2022
was organised at
Max Tower, Noida
on Saturday in which Data
Group of Industries won
two prestigious awards.
Vanita Bhanot, Data Group
HR Head received awards
in Noida on behalf of the
group along with Shipra
Saxena.
Best pandemic manage-
ment award was given to
Data Group, their practic-
es for the safety of employ-
ees, automated attendance
system work from home
culture and supporting
employees with various
medical facilities and vac-
cination. The best
HR centric CEO
award was also
given to Dr
Ajay’s data
which was also ac-
cepted by Vanita
Bhanot.
Chairman of
Data Group Babulal
Data said that these
awards are testimo-
nials of our best
employee welfare
practices and supporting
society in difficult times.
cityfirst@firstindia.co.in
12
CITY BUZZ
GET VACCINATED
STAY MASKED
ach person must
live their life as a
model for others,
and Tulip Sehgal,
a 22 years old pas-
sionate influencer
from Gurgoan has
made a place for herself in
the modelling world with
perseverance hard work.
This little girl has proved
that successful people are
not gifted they just work
harder, then succeed on
purpose. When asked
about her journey Tulip
shared, “Modelling was
not my first rodeo, after
completing my course of
International makeup, got
offers from the modelling
industry, realised
that putting my
professional
pictures
content on
s o c i a l
m e -
dia which helped me gain-
ing followers which
turned me into fashion,
lifestyle travel influ-
encer.
what is some of
the battles you
fought you
are still
fighting?
Getting up every day
and thinking about
what new should I try to
surprise my followers. I
try my best to engage
with my followers
so that they can re-
late to my content.
Talk about some of
your achieve-
ments?
Raised single-handedly by
my mother it was quite
difficult for me to chose
decide which pro-
fession should I
step into? As I
had I still have
a lot of responsi-
bilities on my
shoulders. Working
with renowned brands
like lifestyle, Vero Moda,
Forever 52 was always a
dream to me but my
hard work dedi-
cation made it
possible for me.
DELHI-BASED
MODEL AND
SOCIAL MEDIA
INFLUENCER,
TULIP SEHGAL
SHARED HER
LIFE JOURNEY
AND STRUGGLES
WITH CITY
FIRST
BEAUTY
WITH A
PURPOSE
UTTKARSHA SHEKHAR
uttkarsha.shekhar@firstindia.co.in
E
CITY FIRST
A
rt Centrix Space
l a u n c h e d
BRINK, their
first exhibition
of the season, on Friday
.
The exhibition featured
24 works by 7 contempo-
rary Indian artists in-
cluding Bhargav Barla,
Bholanath Rudra,
Ganesh Gohain, KP
Pradeepkumar, Neeraj
Patel, Shalina Vichitra
and Tom Vattakuzhy.
The title, BRINK, gener-
ates a sense of being at
the edge of something
powerful where reimag-
ining and revaluation
of actions and practices
are not only imperative
but critical. The exhibi-
tion talked about the
meaning of events and
a sense of something
inevitable, it poses
questions like - can it be
controlled and can such
interventions generate
a paradigm shift both
historically and psycho-
logically? BRINK hopes
to create a sense of har-
mony within binaries
despite the pauses,
gaps, reversals and par-
adoxes between them.
Monica Jain, the cura-
tor-director of Art Cen-
trix Space said, “The
curatorial premise
-BRINK, primarily fore-
grounds the idea of the
artist being a harbinger
of change - one who is
painfully aware that life
has presented an un-
precedented opportu-
nity for the world to
come together with ur-
gency to achieve some-
thing never possible
singularly so far”.
WORLD OF COLOURS
A
lthough plan-
ning a trip alone
isn’t very inter-
esting, it can
certainly be more ab-
sorbing. It takes a lot of
effort to identify the
right tourist destination
that would give you all
that you expect on a hol-
iday
. Once you have the
destination decided, you
need to further your re-
search to find out the
important tourist places
in the destination. If
your plan is to visit Del-
hi during your holidays,
City First brings you the
top 3 mindboggling tour-
ists spot to help you with
your plan.
RED FORT
The Mughal era in India
is symbolised by the Red
Fort. Built-in 1638, the
Fort is a stunning land-
mark that captures your
attention and displays
Mughal architectural
beauty
. Red Fort’s 33-me-
ter-high walls are an-
other unique feature of
the fort.
HUMAYUN’S TOMB
Humayun’s Tomb is a
monument created by
Queen Haji Begum, Hu-
mayun’s widow, in the
year 1570. The monu-
ment was designed with
Persian architecture in
mind. This structure,
which was built during
early Mughal rule in In-
dia, is similar to the
world-famous Taj Ma-
hal. It is open for visits
every day of the year.
The best time to view
Humayun’s Tomb would
be in the late afternoon.
SWAMINARAYAN
AKSHARDHAM TEMPLE
You can visit the temple,
the world’s largest Hin-
du temple, regardless of
your religious beliefs.
Apart from the base,
which was made of con-
crete, the entire struc-
ture was made of gran-
ites and marbles from all
over the world. The
structure is a work of
art in terms of architec-
ture. The temple, muse-
um, various parks, and a
large cultural centre are
all located on the 12
acres of property, and
they all shed light on In-
dia’s traditions and cus-
toms.
GET SET GO DILLI!
SHUBHANSHI PATHAK
cityfirstdel@gmail.com
Grocery Shopping Made Easy
CITY FIRST
E
ast Delhi Municipal
Corporation opened
its online portal to
accept applications
for running battery oper-
ated facilities in areas
under its jurisdiction. It
will allow five carts in
each ward for selling
packed eatables like
cakes, muffins bread
and buns, and soft
drinks. The selection
of vendors will be done
through
a lottery.
The project aims to in-
crease self-em-
ployment
opportuni-
ties for those
with no other
source of income.
Also, only resi-
dents of east Del-
hi can apply for
the mobile cart
services, officials
said, adding these e-
carts won’t be al-
lowed in commercial
areas or on notified com-
mercial roads to avoid con-
gestion. Applicants will
need to pay a registration
fee of Rs 10,000, followed by
a processing fee of Rs 1,000
and a license fee of Rs
15,000 annually
. The e-cart
must be registered under
Delhi’s transport depart-
ment for commercial/
vending activity of the sale
of packed food items, ac-
cording to the guidelines
issued by the civic body
.
FELICITATION!
Tulip Sehgal
During the felicitation ceremony
Humayun’s Tomb
Red Fort
Shalina Vichitra
Tom Vattakuzhy
Ganesh Gohain,Tom Vattakuzhy with the guest
Guests during the art exhibition
An art lover
—PHOTO
BY
MANOJ
KESHARWANI

13032022 first india new delhi

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