15032022 first india lucknow

UP may have three Dy CMs this time
WITH FRESH FACES IN YOGI CABINET...
First India Bureau
Lucknow: Yogi Gov-
ernment 2.0 is expected
to have a fair share of
new and dynamic
young leaders even as
the party leadership
has reportedly decided
not to accommodate 11
ministers, who lost, al-
though there maybe an
exception, through
‘back door.’ The State
capital is set to witness
hectic political activity
just ahead if Holi as
several rounds of meet-
ings will be held to vet
and fine-tune members
of the Yogi cabinet 2.
Chief Minister elect
Yogi Adityanath has
already met Prime
Minister Narendra
Modi and other senior
BJP leaders in New
Delhi and is believed to
have discussed with
them the broad con-
tours of government
formation and the
structure of the new
state cabinet. Turn to P2
UP’s CM designate Yogi Adityanath called on Prime Minister
Narendra Modi in Delhi after BJP’s resounding victory in recently
concluded Assembly elections in the state.
New Delhi: (Agen-
cies): India will start
vaccinating children
aged 12 to 14 years from
March 16 as it expands
its COVID-19 vaccina-
tion coverage, Union
Health Minister Man-
sukh Mandaviya an-
nounced on Monday.
The condition of co-
morbidity for people
aged 60 and above to get
a precautionary dose
will also be removed.
Everyone in that age
category can now take
booster shots.
The COVID-19 vac-
cine to be administered
would be Corbevax
manufactured by Bio-
logical Evans, Hy-
derabad.
Making the an-
nouncement in Hindi
on social media plat-
form Koo, the minister
said, “If the children
are safe then the coun-
try is safe! I am happy to
inform you that the
COVID-19 vaccination
of children in the age
group of 12 to 13 and 13
to 14 is starting from
March 16. Also, every-
one aged 60+ will now
be able to get precau-
tion doses.”
He also urged the
families of children
and people in the age
group of 60+ to get vac-
cinated. All those above
14 years of age are al-
ready being vaccinated.
VACCINES FOR AGE GROUP
12-14 FROM TOMORROW
Boosters for all above 60 as condition of comorbidity gone
LUCKNOW l TUESDAY, MARCH 15, 2022 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI NO. UPENG/2020/80229 l Vol 2 l Issue No. 123
OUR EDITIONS:
JAIPUR, AHMEDABAD,
LUCKNOW & NEW DELHI
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AFTERPOLL
FEVER,IT’S
HOLIFLAVOUR
INPMMODI’S
VARANASI
Artists perform at Dashash-
wamedh Ghat on the
banks of Ganga, ahead of Holi
festival, in Varanasi.
—PHOTO BY PTI
Union Government after due
deliberations with scientific bodies has
decided to start COVID19 vaccination
for 12-13 yr and 13-14 yr age groups (those born
in 2008, 2009 and 2010. i.e those who are
already above 12 years of age) of the population
from 16th March 2022
—Statement by the health ministry
WHO ALL ARE ELIGIBLE AND WHEN
WILL THEY GET THEIR SHOTS?
The Health Ministry an-
nounced that those born in
2008, 2009, and 2010, i.e,
those who are above the
age of 12, will be eligible
for their Covid-19 vaccines
from March 16. Currently,
the population above 14
years of age are being ad-
ministered Covid-19 vac-
cines under the ongoing
inoculation programme.
WHICH VACCINES
WILL BE USED FOR
THIS AGE GROUP?
WHAT TECHNOLOGY
THAT CORBEVAX
HAS BEEN BUILT ON?
According to the Health
Ministry, Corbevax,
that is manufactured by
the Hyderabad-based
Biological-E, will be used
to inoculate kids in this
age group. Corbevax is
India’s first indigenously
developed Receptor Bind-
ing Domain (RBD) protein
sub-unit vaccine. On
February 21, India’s drug
approval agency granted
emergency use authoriza-
tion to Corbevax.
Corbevax, a protein sub-
unit Covid-19 vaccine,
is one that is built on
the traditional sub-unit
vaccine platform. Instead
of the whole virus, the
platform triggers an im-
mune response by using
fragments of it, like the
spike protein. The sub-
unit vaccine contains the
harmless S-protein, and it
produces antibodies, such
as white blood cells, that
fight the infection.
Russia asks China for weapons
for Ukraine, creating new row
Washington (Agen-
cies): Russia has asked
China for military and
economic aid for its war
in Ukraine, US media on
Sunday
. Beijing refused
to directly address the
reports, instead accused
the US of maliciously
spreading “disinforma-
tion”overChina’srolein
the Ukraine war.
A Chinese spokesper-
son said, “The US has
been spreading disin-
formation targeting
China on Ukraine, with
malicious intentions.”
The request for
equipment is not new
and was made soon af-
ter Russia launched an
offensive in Ukraine,
US official said.
Centre seeks Parl nod for additional
gross spending of `1.58 lakh crore
Tata Sons Chief
Chandrasekaran
new Air India
chairman
Court sends
ex-NSE chief
to two-week
judicial custody
New Delhi (Agencies):
Tata Group has an-
nounced Natrajan
Chandrasekarana will
be the chairman of Air
India, with his appoint-
ment confirmed by the
board on Monday
.
Earlier in the month,
Tata group had an-
nounced Turkey’s Ilker
Ayci as the chief execu-
tive of Air India, but
that appointment was
met with a lot of opposi-
tion in India.
Ayci had later de-
clined the offer.
New Delhi: Former Na-
tional Stock Exchange
(NSE) chief Chitra
Ramkrishna, accused
of being involved in
grave lapses at India’s
largest stock market --
including sharing con-
fidential information
with an individual she
dubbed a “Himalayan
yogi” -- has been sent to
jail for 14 days. “Every
prisoner is the same.
She can’t be a VIP pris-
oner. Rules can’t be
changed,” judge San-
jeev Aggarwal said.
New Delhi (PTI): The
government on Mon-
day sought approval
from Parliament to
spend an extra Rs 1.07
lakh crore in the cur-
rent fiscal.
Meanwhile, Fi-
nance Minister Nir-
mala Sitharaman pre-
sented a Rs 1.42 lakh
crore budget for the
union territory of
Jammu and Kashmir
for the year 2022-23 in
the Lok Sabha. The
Minister also pre-
sented the supple-
mentary demands for
the year 2021-22 total-
ling Rs 18,860.32
crore for the Union
Territory.
China rubbishes
US claim, calls it
‘disinformation’
FM presents
J&K Budget
Fire at a residential building in Kyiv caused by Russian strike.
RUSSIA DAMAGES
NUKE POWER LINE
A high-voltage power line
to Ukraine’s Chernobyl
nuclear plant was dam-
aged by Russian forces
not long after electricity
supplies were restored.
BUDGET SESSION PART-2
India hammered Sri Lanka by 238 runs in second
and final Test in Bengaluru on Monday to complete
a 2-0 series whitewash. Resuming the third day at
28 for one, Sri Lanka ended their second innings at
208 all out after captain Dimuth Karunaratne scored
a fine 107. Pacer Jasprit Bumrah (3/23) and spinner
R Ashwin (4/55) shared seven wickets among
themselves for India.
INDIA CLEAN SWEEP SL
BRIEF SCORE
INDIA: 252 and
303 for 9 declared.
SRI LANKA: 109; 208
all out in 59.3 overs
HIJAB BAN: K’TAKA
HC VERDICT TODAY
The Karnataka High Court
three-judge bench of Chief
Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and
Justices Krishna S Dixit and
JM Khazi will deliver judgment
at 10:30 am on hijab ban case.
AK Sharma,AsimArun,
Baby Rani Maurya
tipped to be the new
deputies,say sources

UTTAR PRADESH
LUCKNOW | TUESDAY, MARCH 15, 2022
02
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NEW FACES MAY EMERGE AS
MINISTERS IN NEW CABINET
Continued from page 1
According to sources,
unlike 2017 when two
Deputy Chief Ministers
— Dinesh Sharma and
Keshav Prasad Maurya
— and 47 Ministers
were sworn in, some top
leaders want to have
three deputy CM’s this
time keeping in mind
the aspirations of its al-
lies and caste group.
Foremost among them
is the former Governor
of Uttarakhand and the
new BJP MLA from
Agra Rural seat Baby
Rani Maurya. Grape-
vine is abuzz that Mau-
rya may the key post of
a Deputy CM being a
woman and a Dalit face
of the party
.
Another name which
is being rumoured for
the second Deputy CM
post is that of BJP State
Chief and Minister in
Yogi Government, Swa-
tantra Dev Singh.
A near consensus has
emerged on some prom-
inent new and young
faces this time. Among
the frontrunners for
ministerial berths in
the new cabinet are
Aparna Yadav, Pankaj
Singh, Shalabh Mani
Tripathi, Aseem Arun,
Rajeshwar Singh and
Dayashankar Singh.
Aparna Yadav, daugh-
ter-in-law of Mulayam
Singh Yadav, joined the
BJP just ahead of the
Assembly polls. She
didn’t contest the polls.
She will likely be one of
the party’s candidates
for the upcoming elec-
tions to the Legislative
Council.
Pankaj Singh (43), the
party’s MLA from Noi-
da, defeated SP’s Sunil
Choudhary by a huge
margin of 1,81,513
votes. Shalabh Mani
Tripathi, who served as
the media advisor to
Yogi in the first term,
won elections from the
Deoria seat by a margin
of 40,655. Asim Arun,
an IPS officer who ap-
plied for a voluntary
retirement scheme
ahead of the polls, won
polls on a BJP ticket
from Kannauj. He de-
feated SP’s Anil Kumar
Doharey by a margin of
6,090 votes.
Shrikant Sharma, Sid-
harth Nath Singh,
Brijesh Pathak are
among others who will
be retained, sources
said.
Asim Arun (Centre), former Kanpur Commissioner of Police, is tipped to get a ministerial berth.
HUDDLE BEGINS
Adityanath calls on President
Ram Nath Kovind in New Delhi
Lucknow (PTI):
Uttar Pradesh Chief
Minister Yogi Adity-
anath on Monday
called on President
Ram Nath Kovind
during his first visit
to the national capital
after the BJP regis-
tered a thumping vic-
tory in the state as-
sembly polls.
Adityanath earlier
also met senior BJP
leader and Union
minister Nitin Gad-
kari.
“Yogi Adityanath
called on President
Ram Nath Kovind at
Rashtrapati Bhavan,”
the president’s office
tweeted and posted
pictures of the meet-
ing.
The Uttar Pradesh
chief minister had
also met Prime Minis-
ter Narendra Modi,
Defence Minister Ra-
jnath Singh, Union
Home Minister Amit
Shah, party chief J P
Nadda and other sen-
ior leaders here on
Sunday
.
Yogi Adityanath’s
meeting with PM Nar-
endra Modi had lasted
for more than 100 min-
utes and he is believed
to have discussed the
broad contours of
government forma-
tion and the structure
of the new state cabi-
net.
CM-designate Yogi Adityanath meets President Ram Nath
Kovind in New Delhi on Monday.
KASHMIR FILES TAX FREE IN UP
First India Bureau
Lucknow: Days after
electing Yogi govern-
ment with a thumping
majority for a record
second time, Uttar
Pradesh is all set to wit-
ness another battle for
the Legislative Council
(UP MLC election).
The notification for the
36 Legislative Council
(MLC) seats in the state
will be issued on Tues-
day, while voting will be
held on April 9 and re-
sults will be released on
April 12.
The Election Com-
mission of India (ECI)
had on February 6 re-
scheduled the Uttar
Pradesh MLC polls de-
ciding to hold polls for
36 seats under 35 local
authorities’ constituen-
cies at one go on April 9
and not on March 3 and
7 as notified earlier.
The ECI decision was
based on the plea of
several political parties
which urged it to re-
schedule the biennial
MLC polls till the ongo-
ing exercise for the sev-
en-phase assembly elec-
tion in the state was
over.
Voting for 30 seats
will take place in the
first phase and six in
the second phase. The
nominations for the
first phase will start
from March 15 and will
continue till March 19.
Scrutiny of nomina-
tion papers will be held
on March 21, while
nominations can be
withdrawn till March
23.
At the same time,
nominations for six
seats in the second
phase will start from
March 15 and March 22
is the last date for filing
nominations. Scrutiny
of nomination papers
will be held on March
23. Nominations can be
withdrawn on March
25.
Voting for both phas-
es will be held on April
9 and the results will be
out on April 12.
For the ruling BJP,
which came back to
power with a two-third
majority in the just con-
cluded Assembly elec-
tions, it will be an op-
portunity to make itself
the single-largest party
in the House, and there-
by enjoy a majority in
both the Houses of U.P.
Legislature.
“A meeting was held
at the party office in
this regard, and 3-5
names of probable can-
didates have been in-
vited from each seat,”
said UP BJP’s general
secretary JP S Rathore.
According to the offi-
cial website, of the
100-member U.P. Legis-
lative Council, current-
ly the BJP has 35 MLCs,
SP has 17 and the BSP
has four MLCs.
The Congress, Apna Dal
(Sonelal) and NISHAD
party have one member
each in the U.P. Legisla-
tive Council.
The Teachers’ group
has 2 MLCs, while the
Independent group
(‘Nirdal Samooh’) and
Independents have 1
MLC each.
Post victory in assembly polls, BJP eyes majority in Vidhan Parishad
NEXT STEP

The Vidhan
Parishad
elections
would be held
on April 9 in
one go.
Earlier these
polls were
scheduled to
take place on
March 3 and
March 7
Representative picture.
WE WERE CONFIDENT OF WINNING WITH
FULL MAJORITY: AJAY MISHRA ‘TENI’
Union Minister Ajay Mishra Teni on Monday
said that the BJP was sure that it will get a full
majority in the state Assembly election under the
leadership of PM Narendra Modi and CM Yogi
Adityanath.Teni, the minister of state for home
affairs, said, “Had the government not maintained
law and order situation, we would not have won
the election in UP. We were confident that under
the leadership of PM Narendra Modi and UP CM
Yogi Adityanath, we will get full majority in UP”.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH
CM-elect Yogi Adityanath met Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Minister for Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari, Union
Minister of Education and Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Dharamendra Pradhan, Minister of Sports, Youth
Affairs and Minister of Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur during his visit to New Delhi on Monday.
CIVIL AVIATION
DEPT ORGANISES
HIGH TEA FOR YOGI
First India Bureau
Lucknow: The Civil
Aviation Department
of UP has become the
first department of the
state to organize a wel-
come party at Amausi
Airport on Monday in
the honor of Uttar
Pradesh CM-designate
Yogi Adityanath after
latters success in as-
sembly polls.
The programme was
organized at the State
Hangar of Amausi Air-
port in which govern-
ment pilots and techni-
cal staff as well as Ad-
ditional Chief Secre-
tary CM / Civil Aviation
SP Goyal, Director of
Civil Aviation, Kumar
Harsh were present.
Further Amit Singh,
Secretary to CM, IAS
Visakh, Special Secre-
tary to CM, Additional
Director PCS Vishwab-
hushan Mishra were
also present in the event
When the CM re-
turned from New Delhi
to Lucknow he was wel-
comed by SP Goyal on
behalf of the Civil Avia-
tion Department of the
state.
From left to right: Vishwa Bhushan Mishra, Addl Director
(Admin), Kumar Harsh, Director Civil Aviation, Vishakh G, Former
Director, Civil Aviation, CM-elect Yogi Adityanath, SP Goel ACS
(CM and Civil Aviation) and Secretary(CM) Amit Singh.
The event was
organised after
the CM landed in
Lucknow after his
New Delhi visit
New Govt: Amit Shah,
Rajnath Singh appointed
as observers for UP, UK
New Delhi (PTI):
Union ministers Amit
Shah and Rajnath Sin-
gh have been appointed
as the BJP’s observers
for government forma-
tion in the states of Ut-
tar Pradesh and Uttara-
khand, the party said
on Monday
.
Home Minister Amit
Shah will be assisted by
BJP vice president
Raghubar Das as co-ob-
server and Union Min-
ister Meenakshi Lekhi
will assist Rajnath Sin-
gh for selection of the
leader of the legislature
party in Uttarakhand.
Union ministers Nir-
mala Sitharaman and
Narendra Singh Tomar
have been appointed as
observers for selection
of the leader of the leg-
islature party in Ma-
nipur and Goa.
UnionMinisterKiren
Rijiju is the co-observer
for Manipur and his
cabinet colleague L
Murgan is the co-ob-
server for Goa.
These top-notch lead-
ers of BJP are expected
to visit the states as-
signed to them in the
coming few days.
Amit Shah
Rajnath Singh
NIRMALA GETS MANIPUR, RIJIJU GOA

UTTAR PRADESH
03
Soon on returning from New Delhi after meeting the party top brass on Monday
YOGIMEETSCORE GROUP TOPLAN
SANKALPPATRA IMPLEMENTATION
First India Bureau
Lucknow: Immediately
on his return from New
Delhi, Chief Minister
elect Yogi Adityanath
held a meeting of the
party’s core group at his
5-Kalidas Marg resi-
dence on Monday
. The
meeting lasted a couple
of hours.
At the Lucknow meet-
ing, CM Yogi is under-
stood to have shared
notes and the discus-
sions he had with the
party brass in Delhi.
Those who attended the
meeting included depu-
ty CMs Keshav Prasad
Maurya and Dinesh
Sharma, UP BJP chief
Swatantra Dev and gen-
eralsecretary(organiza-
tion) Sunil Bansal, par-
ty’s UP in-charge Radha
Mohan Singh.
The core group dis-
cussions basically were
on how to fulfil the com-
mitments the BJP had
made in its sankalp pa-
tra(manifesto). Besides,
aspects of governance
were also discussed.
Transport depart-
ment officials have al-
ready started working
on a plan to implement
free bus ride to women
above 60 years. Several
other commitments like
free scooty to women,
free gas cylinders to
women enrolled with
Ujjawala scheme on
Holi and Diwali, free
power supply to farmers
for irrigation would
have to be cleared by the
cabinet. Increasing the
term of punishment for
love jihad would have to
be cleared by the new
assembly
.
The date for the elec-
tion of the BJP legisla-
tive party leader is go-
ing to be the first step
towards the formation
of the new government.
After the election, the
leader is expected to
meet the governor to
stake claim to form the
government. This pro-
cess would be followed
bythedatefortheswear-
ing-in ceremony
.
Jankipuramlootculpritinjuredin
retaliatoryfiring,ornamentsrecovered
First India Bureau
Meerut: Communal
tension prevailed in Zaf-
rabad village in Sardha-
na tehsil after brawl be-
tween two communities
over a minor issue. It
was reported that sever-
al persons were injured
in stone pelting, cross
firing and baton fight
during brawl.
Police said a scuffle
started after heated ar-
gument between Liya-
qat, husband of village
Pradhan Naima and
Ankur, BJYM official,
near the village. When
matter escalated both
parties started hurling
stones and thrashing
each other.
It was alleged that Li-
yaqat and his brother
Islamuddin opened fire
on Ankur and his sup-
porters in which Har-
veeri, wife of Surajmal,
Ankur, Sandeep and
Ratan were injured.
The police took five
miscreants into custody
and interrogations were
underway
. Police force
was deployed in the vil-
lage.
First India Bureau
Lucknow: Joint team
of Crime Branch, Ma-
diaon police and Janki-
puram police nabbed a
notorious criminal in-
volved in loot in trader’s
house in Jankipuram
and recovered coun-
try-made pistol, cartag-
es and looted ornaments
from him.
Police said acting on
tip-off police team inter-
cepted motorbike-borne
suspect during vehicle
checking drive near
CDRI palace at APJ Ab-
dul Kalam Road but he
opened fire on police
team.
In retaliatory firing
the criminal was in-
jured and a coun-
try-made pistol, cartag-
es and looted ornaments
were recovered from
him. The arrested crim-
inal was identified as
Pankaj Verma native of
Rang Bedan town under
Paliya police station in
Lakhimpur Kheri.
More than 10 crimi-
nal cases under theft,
loot, Gangster Act
charges were registered
against him in several
police stations and he
police was trying to nab
him from long time.
Pankaj Verma was
also involved in Rs 40
lakh loot at trader Rishi
Gupta’s house in Shyam
Vihar Colony in Madia-
on area, two days back.
They had looted Rs 20
lakh cash and orna-
mentsof Rs20lakhafter
taking Rishi Gupta
and his family on gun
point.
CRUCIAL READ
Lucknow: UP State Electricity Council Engineers’ As-
sociation and State Junior Engineers’ Association, UP
protested against the corruption spread at the highest-
level in the energy corporations and the atmosphere
of fear being generated at the lower level and submit-
ted a joint memorandum after cornering the thermal
project heads and managing directors of DISCOMs
across the state. In Lucknow, power engineers and
junior engineers gathered at the DISCOM headquarters
in large numbers and presented a memo to the MD.
LAWYER HANGS
SELF TO DEATH ON
COURT CAMPUS
Azamgarh: A lawyer
committed suicide due
to prolonged illness in
a local court here. Po-
lice said Satish Chan-
dra Rai (47) was stamp
seller at Central Bar
Association office near
local court. He was
found hanging from
a ceiling fan in court
premises in morning.
Sanjay Singh, Sidhari
police station in-charge
said a suicide note was
found near the body
that mentioned that he
committed suicide due
to prolonged stomach
disease. He appealed
to provide help to his
family.
GOEL ASKS COPS
TO ENSURE COVID
PROTOCOL IN FESTS
Lucknow: Mukul Goel,
Police Commissioner UP
Monday issued instruc-
tions to Commissioner-
ate in Lucknow, Gautam
Buddh Nagar, Kanpur
Nagar and Varanasi,
Additional DGP Railway
/ Security, all Zonal
Addl DG of Police, all
Regional Inspector Gen-
eral of Police / Deputy
Inspector General of
Police and SSP / SP to
ensure that ahead of the
upcoming festivals like
Holi, Holika and Shab-e-
Barat and in view of the
Covid-19 situation, all
the SOP/guideline issued
by the Centre be strictly
followed.
ENGINEERS PROTEST CORRUPTION IN
POWER CORPORATIONS ACROSS STATE
First India Bureau
Lucknow: The second
meeting of the “Board
of Governing Body” of
the Society formed for
the operation of the In-
stitute of Forensic Sci-
enceswhichiscurrently
being constructed in the
state’s capital of Luc-
know was held under
the chairmanship of
Awanish Kumar Awas-
thi, ACS Home at Lok
Bhavan. In the meeting
attendedbyMukulGoel,
DGP instructions were
given to prepare an ac-
tion plan for starting
teaching work in Uttar
Pradesh State Institute
of Forensic Sciences,
Lucknow.
The state government
has been steadily up-
ping its efforts to start
academic related works
in the premises of the
Institute of Forensic
Sciences by academic
session 2023-24 and ef-
forts are on to start start
diploma and certificate
courses from June-July
this year in another
building until the con-
struction of the main
buildings are done.
In the meeting of the
Governing Body of UP
State Institute of Foren-
sic Sciences, Lucknow
Society, there were also
discussions on the nom-
ination of three experts
in the forensic field and
instructions have been
giventosendthepropos-
al in this regard imme-
diately for higher ap-
proval. In the meeting,
in order to expedite the
construction works of
the institute, approval
was given for the release
of the second install-
ment of Rs. 50 crore. In
the earlier agreement,
AKTU had decided to
give Rs. 200 crore with-
out interest to the insti-
tute and the installment
of Rs 50 crore were
made available to the ex-
ecuting institution, for
the use of the construc-
tion work.
Instructions were giv-
en to expedite the work
of preparation of rules
for selection and qualifi-
cation of educational
and non-academic cad-
res of UP State Institute
of Forensic Sciences,
Lucknow. Further dis-
cussions were held for
the speedy appointment
of the 131 posts created
in the institute by the
state government.
‘Ready action plan for forensic institute’
GOVERNING BODY MEET
ACS Home Awanish Awasthi, DGP Mukul Goel and other officials
at the meeting in Lucknow on Monday.
Metrorailstaffers
fetedfor goodwork
First India Bureau
Lucknow: Kumar
Keshav, Managing Di-
rector, UPMRC hon-
oured the employees
with‘Employeeof the
Month’ award for De-
cember,2021,January
and February 2022.
UP Metro Rail Cor-
poration Limited con-
ferred the ‘Employee
of the Month’ award
to Ranjit Kumar, Sec-
tion Engineer, (Dec,
2021), Kiran Rathor,
SCTO, (Jan 2022),
Krishna Kant Pokhri-
yal, Maintainer Elec-
trical (Feb 2022) for
best performance.
Ranjit Kumar,
Kiran Rathor, Krish-
na Kant Pokhriyal, if-
ulfilled their duties
towards UPMRC with
fullefficiencyandser-
vice. Kumar Keshav,
while congratulating
the winners, said,
“Everyone associated
with UPMRC is a pil-
lar of strength for us
and is committed to
giving the city the
best travel experience
with a single mission.
These winners have
impressed all of us
with their dedication
and diligence and
they deserve the
praise and congratu-
lations for this
award.”
Communalspark:5
held in Meerut village
COLOURS OF LIFE
Varanasi
Masan
Holi being
celebrated at
Harishchandra
Ghat in full
festive fervour,
on Monday.
—PHOTO
BY ANI
SHAH IN CITY

PERSPECTIVE
04
Vol 2 Issue No. 123
RNI NO. UPENG/2020/80229.
Printed and published by
Anita Hada Sangwan on behalf of
First Express Publishers. Printed
at Amar Ujala Ltd. B-5 Amausi
Industrial Area Kanpur Road Luc-
know. Published at 98, Friend’’s
Colony, Raheem Nagar, Dudouli
Road, Madiyaon, Lucknow (UP).
Editor-In-Chief: Jagdeesh Chandra.
Editor: Vishal Srivastav
responsible for selection of news
under the PRB Act
SPIRITUAL SPEAK
Be strong and courageous. Do
not be afraid or terrified
because of them, for the LORD
your God goes with you; he will
never leave you nor forsake you.
—Bible
IN-DEPTH
Narendra Modi
@narendramodi
My best wishes @BarackObama
for your quick recovery from
COVID-19, and for your family’s
good health and wellbeing.
Piyush Goyal
@PiyushGoyal
Expanding India’s Vaccine
Access. From March 16 onwards,
COVID-19 vaccines will cover those
in the age groups of: 12-13 yrs,
13-14 yrs. People above the age 60
can get a precautionary dose. Modi
Govt continues its relentless efforts
to protect life of every Indian.
TOP TWEETS
LAW NEEDED TO
GOVERN LIVE-IN
RELATIONSHIP FOR
SOCIETY’S GOOD
s the society grapples
with the issue of live-
in relationships and
the weakening of the
institution of mar-
riage, the Punjab and Haryana
High Court has voiced concern
over the increasing number of
adolescents between the age
group of 18 and 21 entering into
live-in relationships and then
approaching courts to seek “pro-
tection for life and liberty”. Jus-
tice Amol Rattan Singh pointed
to the need for legislation to pre-
vent impressionable minds from
starting living together only to
later regret their decision. The
judge pointed out that the conse-
quences of such fragile ties are
traumatic both for the couple
and their parents.
It is often the woman who is
the victim of live-in as they are
the ones who get physically and
emotionally exploited. In an im-
portantordertheSupremeCourt
had said, “The legislature must
consider this issue and enact
separate legislation so that pro-
tection for women and children
born out of live-in relationships
can be provided”. It’s time to en-
act a law on this complex issue.
A
ven after the party
is in a tailspin af-
ter a humiliating
rout in five states
where Assembly
elections were recently held,
Congress Party can’t imagine
a life without the Gandhis-
--Sonia, Priyanka and Rahul.
At the Congress Working
Committee meeting on Sun-
day Sonia Gandhi offered to
“stepback”alongwithdaugh-
ter Priyanka and son Rahul,
but CWC members rejected
her offer. In shocking elector-
al setbacks the party was re-
duced to two MLAs in Uttar
Pradesh where Priyanka
Gandhi Vadra was in-charge,
in Punjab it was down from 59
to 18 as Rahul Gandhi allowed
Navjot Singh Sidhu to turn
the party into a circus. In Goa
the party’s tally went down
too. It was only Uttarakhand
where reposing trust in Har-
ish Rawat helped the Con-
gress increase its seats and
vote share but not enough to
form a government.
The Group of 23, compris-
ing discontented senior lead-
ers, feels that Rahul does not
have the political acumen to
lead the party against the BJP
.
These leaders want Sonia to
take the helm. Others want to
see Rahul in the lead role.
Come August and the party
may get a new president but
chancesof anon-Gandhimak-
ing it to the top is unlikely
. Dif-
ferences between regional
leaders of the party don’t help
matters.AnupbeatBJPiscon-
fidentof winningthe2024Lok
Sabha elections and remain-
ing in power till 2029.
After a string of losses, the
party has to face elections in
GujaratandHimachalPradesh
laterthisyear.Thedespondent
mood in the Congress camp
does not augur well.
CONGRESS STARES
AT BLEAK FUTURE
At the Congress Working Committee meeting on
Sunday Sonia Gandhi offered to “step back” along
with daughter Priyanka and son Rahul, but CWC
members rejected her offer. In shocking electoral
setbacks the party was reduced to two MLAs in UP
where Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was in-charge, in Punjab
it was down from 59 to 18 as Rahul Gandhi allowed
Navjot Singh Sidhu to turn the party into a circus
E
he two-week-old Ukrainian
war enters into a crucial
phase if the pathogens in the
laboratories were released
causing a much bigger trail
of death unleashed by the
manmade Corona Virus in
2019, which was leaked from
a Chinese facility in Wuhan.
The issue was brought before
the UN Security Council dur-
ingthesecondweekof March
when the Russian represent-
atives raised the issue before
the UN Security Council. The
US Ambassador to the United
Nations, Linda Thomas-
Greenfield, however, has
countered the Russian alle-
gations that the US-Ukraine
collaboration has been for
the past several years for de-
veloping the bio-weapons.
The big powers did not
agree to set up an interna-
tional team for conducting an
enquiry about the allega-
tions. During the Covid-19,
which was leaked from a
similar facility from a Chi-
nese facility in Wuhan could
never be probed. It may be
recalled that the laboratory
in China was set up with
French collaboration. It had
received liberal funding from
various American proxies,
including the Bill Gates
Foundation. Instead of tak-
ing the allegations seriously,
the UN officials stated that
“They do not have any evi-
dence of the existence of any
such facilities.” However, the
Chinese Ambassador, Zhang
Jun, supported the Russian
statement and asked that it
should be properly ad-
dressed. He not only rejected
the US charges that “Beijing
spreads disinformation.”,
and stated that the US main-
tains or supports biological
research institutions around
the world. And he called for
diplomatic efforts between
Moscow and Kyiv to acceler-
ate the peace negotiations.
Thomas-Greenfield
counters the Chinese
Thomas-Greenfield coun-
tered the Chinese allegations
by stating that the US has
long supported legitimate
medical research to help of-
ficials counter disease
outbreaks.“These facilities
make it possible to detect and
diagnose diseases like Cov-
id-19, which benefit us all.
She further claimed that
“The United States has as-
sisted Ukraine to do this
safely and securely. This is
work that has been done
proudly, clearly, and out in
the open.”
The Growing
Apprehension
With the Russian-Ukrainian
War entering into the third
week, the use of biological
weapons could not be ruled
out. During the past few days,
this apprehension is being
repeatedly stated in various
forums in the UN as well as in
the American state depart-
ment. The Russian allegation
has triggered off worldwide
attention towards the allega-
tion that the bio-weapons that
the USA and Ukraine were
being secretly developed.
The US-led western powers
do not subscribe to these al-
legations, but it is being
pointed out that the US rep-
resentatives, however, have
vehemently denied. However,
it is being stated that the
United States has helped
Ukraine in converting its sev-
eral laboratories that had
been involved in the former
Soviet Union’s biological
weapons program into public
health facilities.
Earlier, the issue came up
before the international me-
dia when a Russian spokes-
person, Zakharova, stated
that Russia had documents
showing the Ukrainian
health ministry had ordered
the destruction of samples of
plague, cholera, anthrax and
other pathogens before Feb
24, when Russian forces
moved into Ukraine. Earlier
in 2020 in similar bio-warfare
accusations, the U.S. embas-
sy in Kyiv had issued a state-
ment saying its involvement
was to ensure “dangerous
pathogens do not fall into the
wrong hands.” On March 6,
Moscow’s foreign ministry
had tweeted that Russian
forces found evidence that
Kyiv was “Eradicating traces
of the military-biological
programme in Ukraine,” fi-
nanced by the Pentagon.
The issue of bio-warfare
has been dominating since
the spread of Covid-19,
which is believed by a section
of people that it was being
developed as a part of some
bio-warfare, but this man-
made virus suddenly leaked
from a Chinese facility liber-
ally funded by the Western
powers. It is also quite
known that the classical bio-
warfare agents could be
made much more efficiently
than their natural counter-
parts, with even the simplest
genetic techniques; thus,
with modern biotechnology,
it becomes possible to create
completely a new range of
biological weapons.
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY
THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL
THE USE OF BIO-WEAPONS
EUROPE UNDER THE THREAT OF
PANDEMICS, IF UKRAINIAN BIO-LABS
RELEASE THE DEADLY VIRUSES
T
GOPAL MISRA
The writer is accredited as a journalist
of long and distinguished service with
the Press Information Bureau of the
Information and Broadcasting Ministry
She further cautioned the
world that accused, Russia
was using the UN Security
Council meeting to spread
‘disinformation’ about its
conduct in the ongoing war in
Ukraine and said Moscow may
be planning to use chemical or
biological weapons as the
conflict continues into its third
week. She further stated, “We
believe Russia could use
chemical or biological agents
for assassinations, as part
of a staged or false flag
incident, or to support tactical
military operations.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield,
US Ambassador to UN
We have sought an emergency
meeting to discuss the Ukraine-
US joint venture which has
enabled Ukraine to obtain bio
weapons and chemical
weapons. They could be
triggered off any moment.
Western colleagues are going to
be saying now that all of this
information is fake and
Russian propaganda. But this
is self-delusion.
Vassily Nebenzia,
Russia’s UN Ambassador
Two-week-old Ukrainian war enters into a crucial
phase if pathogens in laboratories were released
causing a much bigger trail of death unleashed by
manmade Corona Virus in 2019, which was
leaked from a Chinese facility in Wuhan. The issue was
brought before UN Security Council during the 2nd
week of March when Russian representatives
raised the issue before UN Security Council

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New Delhi (ANI): The
Delhi High Court on
Monday observed that
the Habeas Corpus plea
of extradited gangster
Abu Salem challenging
hisextraditionbyIndian
authorities is not main-
tainableasthepetitioner
was awarded a sentence
by a competent court.
The court has grant-
ed time to his counsel to
take instruction to
withdraw the plea. The
bench of Justice Sid-
harth Mridul and Jus-
tice AK Mendiratta said
that they are of the
view this petition is not
maintainable and asked
the counsel for the peti-
tioner if he would with-
draw the petition or
they shall dismiss it.
Thereafter, Advocate
S Hariharan sought
timetotakeinstructions
towithdrawthepetition.
The court adjourned the
petition for May 2022.
Earlier, the counsel had
sought four weeks’ time
on the ground that an-
otherpetitionispending
before the Supreme
Court. The Court had
asked the Central Govt
to file an affidavit.
The counsel argued
that the conviction and
sentence awarded by the
trial court has been
challenged.
Salem’s Habeas Corpus
not maintainable: HC
INDIA
05
Samyukta Kisan Mor-
cha (SKM) will hold a
nationwide protest on
March 21 to protest
against the Centre for
not fulfilling its prom-
ises, including setting
up of a panel on MSP
and withdrawal of cas-
es against farmers, its
functionaries said on
Monday
.
It was decided after a
day-long closed
door meeting
was held at
the Gan-
d h i
P e a c e
F o u n -
d at i o n
at Deen Dayal Upad-
hyay Marg here.
SKM leaders and
members reviewed the
progress made so far by
the Centre on the prom-
ises made to farmers,
including setting up a
panel on MSP.
“There has been no
progress in fulfilling
the promises made by
the Centre to farmers
on the issue of forming
a panel on MSP to make
legislation on it, with-
drawal of cases against
farmers and expulsion
of Union minister Ajay
Mishra Teni from the
Cabinet.
“So the SKM has de-
cided to hold a nation-
wide protest at district
and block level on
March 21 against the
central government for
non fulfilling promis-
es,” senior SKM mem-
ber Abhimanyu Kohar
told PTI.
The SKM, an umbrel-
la body of 40 farm un-
ions, had spearheaded a
year-long agitation
against the Centre’s
three farm laws.
It had suspended the
stir on December 9 last
year after the govern-
ment revoked the con-
tentious laws and
agreed to consider its
six other demands, in-
cluding withdrawal of
cases registered against
farmers during the agi-
tation, a legal guaran-
tee on MSP and com-
pensation for kin of
farmers who died dur-
ing the protest.
NON-FULFILMENT OF PROMISES TO FARMERS
SKM to hold nationwide protest
on Mar 21 against Central Govt
SKM members with others farm leaders, in New Delhi on Monday.
Farmer unions had
called off their
demonstrations on
December 9, 2021
JK: Commission finalises delimitation
draft, invites suggestions till March 21
Srinagar (PTI): The
Jammu Kashmir De-
limitation Commission
on Monday placed a
draft with the proposed
changestoassemblyand
parliamentarysegments
in the Union territory in
the public domain and
invited suggestions till 5
pm on March 21.
The most recent draft
includes small changes
that were made to the
earlier drafts after ob-
jections raised by Na-
tional Conference (NC)
MPs and suggestions by
Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) MPs.
The commission is
tasked with redrawing
boundaries of assembly
constituencies post the
splitting of the state
into two Union territo-
ries — Jammu Kash-
mir and Ladakh — on
August 5, 2019.
While the National
Conference (NC) has
termed these changes
largely “cosmetic”, the
state unit of the BJP had
earlier stated that the ex-
ercise is a “logical move”
to ensure political em-
powermentof theregion.
The changes include
the renaming of cer-
tain constituencies.
However, suggestions
on redrawing of con-
stituencies have not
been accepted by the
commission.
This includes the re-
naming of the Habba
Kadal assembly constit-
uency
,whichwasearlier
included in Srinagar
South. The Larnoo con-
stituency will now be
called Kokernag, to rep-
resent the larger area.
Likewise, the Anantnag
East seat will hence-
forth be Shangus-
Anantnag East. The
Mughalmaidan seat in
Kishtwar has been re-
named Inderwal. The
BJP MPs had also sug-
gested renaming the
Anantnag-Rajouri par-
liamentary seat and
Anantnag-Poonch but
that has not been accept-
ed by the commission.
In a public notice, the
commission said: “The
Delimitation Commis-
sion has published in
the Gazette of India,
Extraordinary and in
the Union Territory of
Jammu Kashmir Ga-
zette, both dated 14th
March, 2022 its propos-
als for the delimitation
of Parliamentary and
Assembly Constituen-
cies in the UT of Jam-
mu Kashmir for the
purpose of elections to
the House of People and
the Legislative Assem-
bly for the Union Terri-
tory. The Commission
invites objections and
suggestions in relation
to the same.”
The commission has
provided only a week
for the general public to
provide their feedback
on the proposals in the
draft that it will take up
in public sittings in Sri-
nagar and Jammu on
March 28 and 29.
The location and tim-
ings of the hearings will
be notified separately,
the commission said.
Members of the Jammu Kashmir Delimitation Commission. —FILE PHOTO
Punjab CM-designate Bhagwant Mann tenders his resignation
from Lok Sabha membership to Speaker Om Birla.
Mann resigns as
MP day before
oath ceremony
New Delhi (ANI): Pun-
jab Chief Minister-des-
ignate Bhagwant Mann
on Monday resigned
from the Lok Sabha, a
day before his swear-
ing-in ceremony
.
An MP from the San-
grurconstituencyinPun-
jab since 2014, the Aam
Aadmi Party (AAP) lead-
erhandedhisresignation
to Speaker Om Birla.
“The people of San-
grur have showered me
with so much love for
many years, many
thanks for this. Now I
have got an opportuni-
ty to serve the whole of
Punjab. I promise to the
people of Sangrur that
in a few months, their
voice will be heard
again in the Lok Sab-
ha,” he had said in Koo.
On his last day in the
House as an MP, Mann
told media, “I will miss
this House. Punjab has
given me a huge respon-
sibility
. I promise to the
people of Sangrur that
a bold voice for them
will echo soon in this
House.”
The AAP scored a
landslide victory in the
Punjab Assembly elec-
tionswith92seatsoutof
117 seats that saw many
giants like former Chief
Minister Amarinder
Singh, incumbent Chief
Minister Charanjit Sin-
ghChanniandCongress
state chief Navjot Singh
Sidhu lose.
Mann, 48, who was
the party’s Chief Minis-
terial candidate, will
taketheoathonWednes-
day at the freedom fight-
er Bhagat Singh’s vil-
lage, Khatkar Kalan.
Chandigarh: At least
40 acres of wheat crop
is being ploughed for
swearing-in ceremony of
AAP’s Chief Minister-des-
ignate Bhagwant Mann,
who sports a yellow
turban for his reverence
to legendary freedom
fighter Bhagat Singh to
whom he calls his ‘only
idol, only mentor and
only hero’, to be held in
the icon’s ancestral ma-
ternal village in Khatkar
Kalan on March 16, it is
learnt on Monday.
40 ACRES OF WHEAT
FIELDS BEING
CLEARED FOR EVENT
Gogoi suspended from Assy
for disturbing Guv’s Speech
Guwahati: Independ-
ent MLA Akhil Gogoi
was on Monday sus-
pended from Assam As-
sembly for repeatedly
raising the issue of em-
ployment to one lakh
youths as promised by
the BJP government
during the address of
Governor Jagdish
Mukhi on the first day
of the Budget session.
Speaker Biswajit
Daimary asked Gogoi
to leave the House for
the duration of the
Governor’s speech.
Akhil Gogoi didn’t
leave the House and
showed a placard, fol-
lowing which Mar-
shals dragged him out-
side. The Governor
continued to read his
38-page speech.
Mukhi said, “To fulfil
oneof thekeypollprom-
ises,thegovernmenthas
setinmotiontheprocess
to provide one lakh jobs
to our youth.”
Akhil Gogoi
Gangster
Chhota Rajan's
aide arrested
Mumbai (PTI): The
Anti-Extortion Cell of
Mumbai Crime Branch
arrested an aid of gang-
ster Chhota Rajan on
Sunday. The gangster
was identified as Arafat
Arif Lokhandwala.
A country-made re-
volver and 28 rounds of
live bullets were also
seized from the posses-
sion of the gangster.
Earlier, the Mumbai
Crime Branch had got
information that Arif
was about to come to the
Byculla area. As soon as
the accused reached the
place, he was arrested.
Chandigarh (PTI): Am-
arinder Singh on Mon-
day held the Gandhis
totally responsible for
the rout of the Congress
in the Assembly polls,
claiming that the party
was “comfortably
placed”inPunjabbefore
he was unseated as
Chief Minister.
In a statement a day
aftertheCongressWork-
ing Committee (CWC)
took stock of the drub-
bing received by the
party in five states, Mr
Singh took digs at the
“pompous” state Con-
gress president Navjot
Singh Sidhu and the
“corrupt”CharanjitSin-
ghChanni,whoreplaced
him as Chief Minister.
After his ouster as
Chief Minister last
year, Amarinder Singh
left the Congress and
floated his own Punjab
Lok Congress.
He slammed the CWC
for trying to put the
blame for the Congress
defeat in Punjab on him
instead of “gracefully
admitting” their “own
blunders”.
“The Congress has
not only lost in Punjab
but also in UP, Uttara-
khand, Goa and Ma-
nipur and the Gandhis
are entirely to blame
for the party’s shameful
defeat,” he said.
People across India
had lost faith in Gan-
dhis,” he said, refer-
ring to Congress presi-
dent Sonia Gandhi, Ra-
hul Gandhi and Priyan-
ka Gandhi Vadra.
New Delhi: Congress
leader Sunil Jakhar said
today that the party's dis-
astrous Punjab campaign
was a combination of
compounding one mis-
take after another and
bad choices driven by
senior leaders mislead-
ing the Gandhis. Reeling
off a long list of problems
that he said could have
been handled otherwise,
Mr Jakhar said the defeat
was scripted by Harish
Rawat; the former Ut-
tarakhand Chief Minister
was Punjab in-charge.
SENIOR LEADERS
MISLEAD GANDHIS:
CONG’S JAKHAR
Gandhis entirely to
blame for Congress
rout in Punjab: Capt
Gargi Raval Patel
Gandhinagar: After
85 lions succumbed to
the canine distemper
virus (CDV) in 2018, the
state government had
commissioned develop-
ment of a vaccine to
protect the big cats. In
a question posed by
Sayajiganj MLA Jiten-
dra Sukhadia at the on-
going assembly session
on Monday, state Forest
Environment Minis-
ter Kiritsinh Rana re-
plied that the clinical
trial of the vaccine was
currently underway.
“The project was
awarded to the Gujarat
Biotechnology Re-
search Centre, which
has prepared a vaccine
formula. Currently, the
clinical trial of the vac-
cine is being conduct-
ed,” stated Rana.
The state govern-
ment also informed the
legislative assembly
that a total of 283 lions,
lionesses and cubs have
died in the last two
years. It is to be noted
that Gir is the only
abode of the Asiatic li-
ons in the world.
Responding to a set
of questions from Con-
gress legislators, Rana
said that 159 deaths
took place in 2020 and
124 in 2021. These com-
prised 68 lions, 73 lion-
esses and 142 cubs.
“Of the 283 deaths, 29
were due to unnatural
causes, like falling in
open wells or getting
hit by vehicles or
trains. There were no
deaths due to poach-
ing,” the minister said,
adding that conserva-
tion and protection
steps were being taken,
including starting a
‘lion ambulance’ and
appointing vets in for-
est areas.
Clinical trial of CDV vaccine for lions underway
Deshmukh's bail
rejected in money
laundering case
Mumbai (PTI): A spe-
cial court on Monday
rejected Maharashtra
ex-Home Minister Anil
Deshmukh’s bail in a
money laundering case.
The Nationalist Con-
gress Party leader will
continue to be lodged at
the Arthur Road Jail.
Deshmukh was ar-
rested by the ED on Nov
1 after being questioned
for 12 hours. He was
sent to its custody till
November 6. On Decem-
ber 29, the Central agen-
cy filed a supplementa-
ry charge sheet before
court against Desh-
mukh and his two sons.
His plea mentions,
“He is a victim of gross
persecution and harass-
ment meted out to him
at the hands of certain
unscrupulous vested in-
terests for blatantly
malafide considera-
tions.” He has listed
medical ailments and
stated that trial is un-
likely soon.
On January 18, the
special Prevention of
Money Laundering Act
courtrejectedhisdefault
bail.Hehadfiledforstat-
utorybailonthegrounds
that no cognisance was
taken by the court of the
charge sheet by the ED.
Anil Deshmukh

INDIA
06
dissolved oxygen level
of River Ganga, which
is a parameter to assess
the health of the water
body, has been found to
be within acceptable
limits of the bathing
criteria, the govern-
ment said on Monday
.
Minister of State for
Jal Shakti Bishweswar
Tudu said none of the
Ganga stretches are in
priority category I to IV
and only two stretches
are in category V with
Biological Oxygen De-
mand (BOD) ranging
between 3 and 6 mg/l as
per CPCB categorisa-
tion of polluted stretch.
Category I is consid-
ered to be the most pol-
luted with high amount
of BOD while category
V is considered to be the
least polluted.
According to the
CPCB data for 2021, the
water quality of Ganga
indicates that dissolved
oxygen (DO) has been
found to be within ac-
ceptable limits.
“The comparison of
median data of water
quality parameters viz.,
DO, BOD and Faecal
coliforms (FC) of year
2014 and 2021 shows
that DO has improved
at 31 locations BOD at
46 locations and FC at 23
locations, respectively,”
he said.
GANGA RIVER WATER FIT FOR BATHING
FLOWING CLEAN
lll
Category I is
considered to be
the most
polluted with
high amount of
BOD while
category V is
considered to
be the least
polluted
3 WAVES OF COVID LEFT 21.5M
IN TOURISM INDUSTRY JOBLESS
New Delhi (PTI):
Around 21.5 million
people, involved in the
tourism industry, have
lost their jobs due to the
three waves of Covid-19
that first hit the coun-
try in early 2020, Union
Tourism Minister G
Kishan Reddy said on
Monday
.
Reddy said tourist ar-
rivals in the country
were down by 93 percent
during the first wave of
Covid-19 outbreak, 79
percent in the second
wave and 64 percent
during the third wave.
“We have conducted a
study on the impact of
the pandemic on tour-
ism. As per the study,
there were 14.5 million
job losses during the
firstwave,5.2millionjob
losses in the second
wave and 1.8 million job
lossesinthethirdwave,”
he said in Lok Sabha
during Question Hour.
Reddy said 38 million
people were involved
with the tourism indus-
try before the pandemic
hit the country. The
minister said the tour-
ism economy was down
significantly during the
three waves of corona-
virus, which hit this
sector badly not only in
India but across globe.
He, however, said
with the administering
of 180 crore doses of
Covid-19 vaccines, the
government was hope-
ful that there would be
improvements in the
tourism sector.
To help this sector,
Reddy said, an interest-
free loan of Rs 10 lakh is
given to travel and tour-
ism stakeholders and
up to Rs 1 lakh to tourist
guides.
“I appeal to all state
governments to help
the tourism sector in
whatever way they
can,” he said.
INT’L FLIGHTS TO
OPERATE WITH
100% CAPACITY
FROM MARCH 27
New Delhi (ANI): The
services of all interna-
tional passenger flights
will resume by March
27, Union Civil Aviation
Minister Jyotiraditya
Scindia informed Rajya
Sabha on Monday. The
minister made the
announcement during
Question Hour as the
Upper House assembled
for its second part of
the Budget Session after
one month’s break. “All
regular international
flights will operate in
100 per cent capacity by
March 27 as the corona-
virus situation in India
has improved now,”
Scindia said. The gov-
ernment had banned all
international scheduled
flights for a week start-
ing March 23, 2020. The
ban stretched for nearly
two years in the midst of
a raging pandemic.
9 States not
reduced VAT
on petrol,
diesel: Puri
Birla hopes for result-oriented
discussion by MPs in House
Indian music in airlines not must: Centre
New Delhi (PTI): Un-
ion minister Hardeep
Singh Puri on Monday
informed the Rajya Sab-
ha that nine States, in-
cluding Maharashtra
and Kerala, have not
reduced VAT on petrol
and diesel.
The Petroleum and
Natural Gas Minister
also informed the house
that fuel prices have
gone up by over 50 per
cent in many countries
but have remained sta-
ble and risen by a mere
5 per cent in India.
“All elected repre-
sentatives should be re-
joicing at the fact that
the prices of petrol paid
by the consumer have
remained steady during
the period from April 1,
2020 to March 31, 2021,”
he told the house.
Replying to supple-
mentaries during Ques-
tion Hour, he said levy-
ing of taxes is done go-
ing by the situation at
that point of time and
were raised at the time
of the pandemic.
New Delhi (PTI):
Ahead of the com-
mencement of the sec-
ond half of Budget Ses-
sion, Lok Sabha Speak-
er Om Birla on Monday
expressed hope for a
healthy and result-ori-
ented discussion.
“The second half of
the Budget Session of
Parliamentiscommenc-
ing today. I hope with
the active participation
and positive contribu-
tion of the members of
the House, healthy and
result-oriented discus-
sion for the welfare of
people will take place,”
Birla tweeted.
Amid declining Cov-
id-19 cases in the coun-
try
, the Rajya Sabha and
Lok Sabha are set to re-
sume their normal sit-
tings for the second part
of the Budget Session.
However, the two
Houses will continue
with most of the restric-
tions, following the Cov-
id-19 protocol.
Centre is not planning
to make it mandatory
for airlines and airports
to play Indian music in
their flights and termi-
nal premises, Minister
of State for Civil Avia-
tion VK Singh said on
Monday
.
The Ministry of Civil
Aviation (MoCA) had
on December 27 asked
all airlines and airports
to consider playing In-
dian music in their
flights and terminals.
The Indian Council
of Cultural Relations
(ICCR) had on Decem-
ber 23 requested Minis-
ter Jyotiraditya Scindia
to promote Indian mu-
sic in flights operated
by Indian carriers.
During the current
Parliament session,
when Congress Rajya
Sabha MP Ambika Soni
asked “whether govern-
ment proposes to make
it mandatory for Indian
airlines and airports to
play Indian classical or
light vocal and instru-
mental music”, Singh
replied in the negative
in his written reply
.
HIGHLIGHTS
l India sees lowest daily
Covid cases (2,503) since
beginning of pandemic
l PM Modi wishes former
US President Barack Obama
quick recovery from Covid
l Ultraviolet radiation
equipment installed in Rajya
Sabha to curb Covid spread
Every Cong leader
responsible for loss
in 5 States: Kharge
New Delhi (ANI): Sen-
ior Congress leader
Mallikarjun Kharge on
Monday said that the
Gandhi family alone is
not responsible for the
recent drubbing of the
party in the five Assem-
bly States and there was
no need for Sonia Gan-
dhi to resign as party
president.
Kharge said that dur-
ing the meeting of the
Congress Working
Committee, the mem-
bers told Sonia Gandhi
that the Gandhi family
alone could not be held
responsible for the loss
in Uttar Pradesh, Utta-
rakhand, Punjab, Ma-
nipur and Goa.
Rajya Sabha Leader
of Opposition Mallikar-
jun Kharge said, “We all
told Sonia Gandhi that
she alone is not respon-
sible for the defeat in
five States, every State
leader and MP is re-
sponsible, not Gandhi
family
.”
RAWAT TAKES
ONUS FOR U’KHAND
POLL DRUBBING
New Delhi (ANI): Former
Uttarakhand CM and senior
Congress leader Harish
Rawat on Monday took
responsibility for the defeat
of the party in Uttarakhand
Assembly elections. As the
chairman of the Congress
party’s campaign committee,
Rawat apologised to every
member and leadership
in the working commit-
tee. Rawat said, “All of
us thought that we were
winning in Uttarakhand...
being the chairman of the
Campaign Committee, I take
responsibility for the defeat. I
apologized to every member
and leadership in the work-
ing committee. I have also
apologised to public before.”
Post Assembly polls win: BJP MPs
give rousing welcome to PM in LS
New Delhi (PTI):
Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi was given a
rousing welcome by
BJP members in the
Lok Sabha on Monday,
the first day of the sec-
ond part of the Budget
Session that began days
after his party’s impres-
sive performance in the
assembly polls.
The Prime Minister
entered the House min-
utes after the proceed-
ings began and immedi-
ately all MPs belonging
to the BJP gave him a
standing ovation and
thumped desks while
chanting “Modi, Modi”.
All Union ministers,
including Amit Shah
and Rajnath Singh,
joined the ruling party
MPs in welcoming the
Prime Minister to the
House.
This is the first time
that the House is meet-
ing after the BJP’s over-
whelming victory in the
recent series of assem-
bly elections held in
February-March.
PM Narendra Modi being welcomed by the BJP MPs in Lok Sabha in New Delhi on Monday.
Govt: `418.70 cr spent so far on
redevelopment of Central Vista
government has so far
spent Rs 418.70 crore on
the redevelopment of
Central Vista Avenue
along Rajpath stretch-
ing from Vijay Chowk to
India Gate, and the first
phase of the project is
targeted to be complet-
ed by May this year, the
Rajya Sabha was in-
formed on Monday
.
On December 2, 2021,
the Union ministry of
housing and urban af-
fairs had informed the
Lok Sabha in a written
reply that the redevel-
opment work was ex-
pected to be completed
by December 2021 and
the estimated cost was
Rs 608 crore.
The Republic Day pa-
rade this year was held
on the redeveloped Ra-
jpath as the stretch re-
quired for the same
was completed first un-
der the Central Vista
Avenue redevelopment
project.
IN THE COURTYARD
CRUCIAL READ
New Delhi: A woman has been asked
by the Supreme Court to respond to
her husband’s plea seeking divorce on
the grounds that she is “not a female”
according to medical reports and he
feels cheated.
Justices Sanjay
Kishan Kaul and
MM Sundresh
on Friday asked
the woman to
file a reply to
her husband’s
petition challenging a Madhya Pradesh
HC order of July 29, last year.The medi-
cal history of the woman shows “penis
+ imperforate hymen”, so she is not a
female, the Supreme Court said.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on
Monday said its earlier order regarding
ex-gratia of Rs 50,000 to the family
members of those who lost their lives
due to Covid-19 pandemic is “very
clear” and the payment is to be made
for each death.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on
Monday issued notice to Centre on a
plea challenging the Ayush Ministry’s
Advisories and Guidelines which em-
powered the State Government in the
prescription of Arsenic Album 30 as a
homeopathic immune booster.
WIFE IS NOT FEMALE: HUSBAND
APPROACHES SC FOR DIVORCE
COVID: ORDER OVER EX-GRATIA
PAYMENT ‘VERY CLEAR’, SAYS SC
SC ISSUES NOTICE TO CENTRE
OVER HOMEOPATHIC BOOSTER
CANADA: 5 INDIAN
STUDENTS KILLED
IN ROAD ACCIDENT
OMAXE LIMITED:
INCOME TAX DEPT
CONDUCTS RAIDS
50% OF MLAs IN
UP HAVE CRIMINAL
CASES, SAYS ADR
Toronto: Five Indian
students were killed in a
road accident in Canada
after the passenger van
they were travelling
in collided with a
tractor-trailer on the
Ontario highway on
Saturday, Indian High
Commissioner to
Canada Ajay Bisaria
said on Monday.
New Delhi: The
Income-Tax Department
conducts searches on
45 premises of Omaxe
group in Delhi-NCR,
Chandigarh, Ludhiana,
Lucknow and Indore
and Rs 12 crores
recovered in cash. The
search began at 7 am
on Monday at various
office locations.
Lucknow: Every second
MLA elected to the 18th
UP Assembly has a
criminal record, accord-
ing to data released by
Association for Demo-
cratic Reforms, reports
Arvind Chauhan. Of 403
candidates, 205 have
declared criminal cases
against them, the ADR
data showed.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla chairs the meeting of the Business
Advisory Committee in New Delhi on Monday. —PHOTO BY ANI
SIKH PASSENGERS NOW ALLOWED TO
CARRY KIRPANS WITHIN AIRPORTS
New Delhi (PTI): Aviation security regulator Bureau of
Civil Aviation Security has permitted Sikh aviation sector
employees to carry kirpan on person within the airport
premises, a document stated. The BCAS order on March
4, banning Sikh aviation sector
employees from carrying kirpan
on person within any Indian
airport premises, was criticised
by leading Sikh body Shiromani
Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee
(SGPC). Subsequently, on March
12, the BCAS removed the ban. In
the March 4 order, the BCAS said, “Kirpan may be carried
only by a Sikh passenger, on his person, provided the
length of the blade does not exceed six inches and the
total length does not exceed nine inches”.
—PHOTO BY ANI

NEWS
07
DOCTOR WINS
HEARTS; SAVES
NEWBORN’S LIFE
BY GIVING CPR
Agovernment doctor who
resuscitated a newborn by
giving her a mouth-to-mouth
procedure for several minutes
has earned the gratitude of the
baby’s family. Dr Surekha,
posted at a community center in
Agra, saved the newborn’s life by
giving the baby mouth-to-mouth.
Seeing this passion, Doctor wins
hearts resuscitating newborn
with mouth-to-mouth and her
colleagues present there made a
video of this entire incident,
which went viral on social media.
A woman named Khushboo was
brought to the Community
Health Center in Etmadpur town
of Agra after she went to labour.
She had a normal delivery and
gave birth but due to prolonged
labour, the baby was weak and
had breathing difficulty. Initially,
the nurse had given basic
treatment to the baby, but that
did not work then finally, she
proceeded to give the baby
mouth to mouth respiration for a
few minutes. The child was not
able to breathe properly. During
this, Dr. Surekha did everything
to save the child. However, the
newborn was not cleaned after
delivery and his body was
covered with blood. But, without
worrying about all these, Dr.
Surekha immediately started
giving mouth-to-mouth also
known as CPR to the child. For
the first 6 minutes, the newborn
did not react, but after doing this
for about seven minutes, she
was able to resuscitate the baby.
Dr. Surekha said she felt very
good when the baby responded
and began crying after minutes
of resuscitation. “Being a mother
myself, I can understand the
feeling of the mother, who was
passing through a difficult time
when the baby was not crying
after birth, she said with relief.
—Preeti Nagia
KDA FINALLY
BULLDOZES
ILLEGAL
STRUCTURES ON
GOVT LAND
The Kanpur Development
Authority (KDA) on Monday
finally took the initiative to free
land worth crores of rupees that
had been illegally occupied and
sold by the land mafia. Three years
ago, a complaint against a person
named Pangu Yadav was filed
through IGRS for illegally
occupying KDA land and selling it.
A case in the matter was also filed
in the year 2020, but no action had
been taken against the accused for
the past 2 years. This changed only
when the matter came to the notice
of the higher authorities, who
ordered the immediate demolition
of illegally constructed structures
on government land. After the
action was ordered by the Vice
Chairman of KDA, bulldozers of
KDA demolished the illegally
constructed structures and
reclaimed the illegally occupied
land on Monday. —Sumit Awasthi
MAYAWATI BLAMES MUSLIM VOTERS FOR BSP’S DEBACLE
First India Bureau
Lucknow: BSP is at the
crossroads in Uttar
Pradesh politics. With a
declining vote bank dur-
ing the last three elec-
tions, the survival of
the party is at stake. It is
not that only Muslims
and Brahmins, who had
propelled her to power
with full majority in the
2007 assembly election,
have deserted the BSP
in the 2022 election,
Mayawati’s core Dalit
vote has also been show-
ing signs of departure
to the BJP since 2014
Lok Sabha elections. Af-
ter the 2022 results, even
Mayawati accepted that
Dalit voters shifted to
BJP because of the fear
of the arrival of the
“Jungle raj” of the Sa-
majwadi Party
.
The CSDS-Lokniti
poll survey has indicat-
ed that 21% Jatavs
(Mayawati’s communi-
ty) and 41% non-Jatavs
(Dalits) have supported
the BJP. Now the BSP
has been lamenting that
Muslims did not sup-
port the party
. The BSP
spokesman Dr M H
Khan tweeted that the
BJP could not be defeat-
ed by M-Y (Muslim-Ya-
dav) combination but
by M-D (Muslim-Dalit)
tie-up. In another tweet,
Dr Khan said “if 22%
Dalits and 20% Mus-
lims join hands then
BJP could be defeated.
But in 2022 election 8 %
Yadav and 20% Mus-
lims went with the SP.”
He said Muslims should
think that four percent
of Yadavs had gone
with the BJP. Hoping to
re-play the Dalit-Brah-
min-Muslim card,
Mayawati had fielded 88
Muslim candidates
against 66 of the SP.
The election data in-
dicated that there was a
division of votes on at
least three dozen seats
in West UP where Mus-
lim candidates of the
two parties faced each
other. But on those
seats, where the SP can-
didate was from non-
Muslim, the communi-
ty had gone with him
ignoring the BSP’s mi-
nority nominee. On
some seats in west UP,
the personal popularity
of Muslim BSP candi-
dates has also influ-
enced the community’s
voting preference. If
BSP has got a total of
1.17 crore votes it is not
just of the Dalit com-
munity but it included
Muslims also.
I n t e r e s t i n g l y,
Mayawati has accused
the Muslim community
of not supporting her
party
,butsheissilenton
Brahmin support which
stayed away from the
BSP. The Brahmin face
of BSP general secre-
tary SC Mishra had
launched a massive
drive to win over the
community before the
commencement of the
election process. He had
started the drive from
Ayodhya after paying
tributes at the Ram
Temple. But 89% Brah-
min community
, despite
much-publicized anger
against the Yogi govern-
ment, went with the
BJP. While losing the
election in 2012, the BSP
had won 80 seats with
around 25% vote. But in
2017 the number went
down to 19 with a 23%
total vote share. In the
2019 Lok Sabha election
when SP-BSP joined
hands, she got ten seats
with a 19% vote. Mus-
lims had fully supported
the alliance.
Mayawati —FILE PHOTO
BSPchiefclaimsthepollresultwasalessonforher
fortrustingtheMuslimcommunityandthere
wouldbeachangeinBSP’sMuslim-centricagenda
DISENCHANTMENT BECAUSE OF HER
SOFT POSTURING TOWARDS BJP
After 2019 Lok Sabha elections there had been
disenchantment in the community because of
her soft posturing towards the BJP, which led to
desertion of around half a dozen Muslim MLAs in
2021 to SP. She was largely seen as playing sec-
ond fiddle to the BJP in UP and keeping quite on
Muslim issues. The BSP was absent from NRC-
CAA protests also. The UP narrative against BSP
in the community was set in during CAA protest.
It is for this reason the community has veered
round to the view instead of “indirectly support
the BJP via BSP, it should directly support it”.
DANCING THE SACRED
A religious procession in Moradabad on Monday on the occasion of Ekadashi ahead of Holi. —PHOTO BY PTI
College ‘tampering’ with drain
Sumit Awasthi
Kanpur: Even though
the Yogi government is
set to be formed once
again in the state, the
influential people seem
to have no fear of Baba’s
bulldozer.IntheSachen-
di Bhauti area, allega-
tions have been leveled
against a college admin-
istration of illegal en-
croachment on the land
of others by changing
the direction of govern-
ment drain, besides the
powerful are also alleg-
edly usurping the land
of village society
.
As per reports, there
was a dispute regarding
the construction of a
new drain other than
the government’s drain
just behind PSIT Col-
lege under the Sachendi
police station area. Ti-
lak Singh, a resident of
the Bhauti area had sent
a complaint letter to the
Sub-Divisional Magis-
trate demanding meas-
urement of the drain. It
may be mentioned that
a government’s drain is
running just behind the
Sachendi Bhauti area.
Tilak Chauhan al-
leged that the manage-
ment of PSIT College
was changing direction
of the government
made drain by con-
structing a new drain.
In this area, there exist
several land pattas
bearing Araji number
455/476/477/503/463, a
significant portion of
which was allegedly be-
ing used for construc-
tion of the drain, and
when owners of these
land protested, they
were threatened.
PROTESTED THEN THREATENED
Sub-inspector injured in accidental
firing by his own service weapon
ATS arrests 2 miscreants for
anti-national terror activities
First India Bureau
Varanasi: Sub-inspec-
tor (SI) Manish Singh
(36), posted at Chitaipur
police station, was se-
verely injured after be-
ing shot by his own ser-
vice revolver. The bul-
let hit his head and he
was rushed to BHU
Trauma center where
his condition was stat-
ed to be critical.
It was speculated that
SI Manish Singh tried
to commit suicide due
to a family feud but he
refused any such asser-
tions. He said that the
bullet fired accidentally
while he was cleaning
his weapon. Police have
taken his official pistol
and investigations are
underway. Manish Sin-
gh had joined the police
force in 2012 and resides
with his wife and son at
Shaktipeeth colony in
the Sarnath area.
Arjun Singh, Sar-
nath police station in-
charge here said that SI
Manish Singh was se-
verely injured in pistol
firing. He was shifted
to the BHU trauma
center where his condi-
tion was still critical.
Investigations were
launched to clarify the
reason behind the fir-
ing, he said adding that
further actions will be
taken on grounds of
the probe report.
First India Bureau
Lucknow: Anti-terror-
ist Squad (ATS) arrest-
ed a miscreant involved
in anti-national activi-
ties while preventive
actions were taken
against two other per-
sons in the Deoband
area of the Saharanpur
district. UP ATS has ar-
rested Inamul Haq alias
Inam Imtiyaz, a native
of Patna village under
the Gawa police station
area in Jharkhand. Ina-
mul Haq was connected
with several miscreants
from Pakistan, Bangla-
desh, and Afghanistan
through social media
platforms. ATS has also
taken preventive ac-
tions against Mohamad
Furkan Ali and Nabeel
Khan. In another inci-
dent, ATS arrested
criminal Kurban Ali
carrying a reward of Rs
25,000 involved in anti-
national activities from
Kanpur district. Mean-
while, UP Special Task
Force (STF) has arrest-
ed a criminal Chetan
Jadaun carrying a re-
ward of Rs 25,000 near
Gowardhan crossing
Mathura. Over 25 crimi-
nal cases under loot, at-
tempt to murder, en-
croachment, Gangster
act were registered
against him a reward
of Rs 25,000 was an-
nounced on his arrest.
—REPRESENTATIONAL IMAGE —REPRESENTATIONAL IMAGE
SUICIDAL ACT?
Special Task
Force arrested a
criminal carrying
a reward
of Rs 25K
TWO HELD IN UP TOWN
WITH 20 KG ‘CHARAS’
Maharajganj (PTI):
Two people were ar-
rested with 20.5 kg
charas worth Rs 2.1
crore in Maharajganj
district, police said.
Bechu (28) and San-
jeev Kumar (26), both
from Maharajganj,
were arrested near
Baba Mandir area of
Shyamdeurwa on
Sunday night, Super-
intendent of Police
Pradeep Kumar Gup-
ta said. One member
of thegangescaped
a hunt is on to nab
him, Gupta said. The
2accusedwerebooked
under the Narcotics
Drugs and Psycho-
tropic Substances
Act, he said, adding
that an investigation
is on in the matter.
—REPRESENTATIONAL IMAGE
—REPRESENTATIONAL IMAGE

COVID-19
UPDATE
WORLD
60,67,404
TOTAL DEATHS
39,21,81,409
TOTAL RECOVERED
6,05,49,545
ACTIVE CASES
45,87,98,358
TOTAL CASES
INDIA
5,15,907
TOTAL DEATHS
4,24,41,449
TOTAL RECOVERED
36,138
ACTIVE CASES
4,29,93,494
TOTAL CASES
08
2NDFRONT
Circumstances are seldom
perfect, you will often be ill-
equipped but continue to work
towards your aim.
—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO Editor-in-Chief, First India
First India Bureau
Lucknow: Rashtriya
Lok Dal (RLD) chief
Jayant Chaudhary has
dissolved all units and
fronts of the party in UP
with immediate effect.
“
Aspertheorderspassed
by RLD chief Jayant
Chaudhary
,party’sstate,
regional, and district
units and fronts in Uttar
Pradesh immediately
,”
the RLD tweeted.
Thepartywill holdits
first meeting of its UP
legislators in Lucknow
on March 21. The RLD
woneightseatswhilethe
SP won 111 seats in the
state elections. Jayant
Chaudhary’s party’s
vote share in the state
was 2.89 per cent while
the SP registered a vote
share of 32.1 per cent.
Ahead of the polls,
Chaudhary had said he
hadturneddownanoffer
to join the BJP alliance.
“We are not a ‘chavan-
ni’ (coin) that will flip.
The BJP should not take
us lightly
. We don’t
changeourdecision,”he
had said at the time.
“Where were they when
the incident in Lakhim-
pur Kheri occurred?
Where were they when
people were lathich-
arged and stopped from
going to Hathras?,” he
had asked.
RLD chief dissolves all party units in UP with immediate effect
MAJOR CHANGE

The party will
hold its first
meeting of its
UP legislators in
Lucknow on
March 21. It has
won eight seats
in the elections Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Jayant Chaudhary. —FILE PHOTO
Modi masks in
high demand
Prayagraj (ANI):
Ahead of Holi, mar-
kets in Prayagraj wit-
nessed growing de-
mands for PM Modi
masks.
According to shop-
keepers, the victory
of BJP in the Assem-
bly polls has given a
boost to the demands
of Modi masks. The
markets are full of
PM Narendra Modi
masks, Gulaal (co-
lours), and Pichkari
(water guns).
“Due to Covid-19
pandemic, people did
not have the enthusi-
asm to celebrate Holi.
After the conclu-
sion of the Assembly
polls, people have,
however, become
more excited. The de-
mand for Modi masks
is high and the sales
are also good. Unlike
the last two years,
business is doing well
this time,” a shop-
keeper said.
“This year Holi
will be celebrated
with saffron colour,”
he added.
“People are asking
for Modi masks. Elec-
tionsareoverandthis
time Holi is going to
be good. Sales have
increased.Thereisno
inflation,” said anoth-
er shopkeeper Mo-
hammad Naseem.
A man wearing a Modi mask at a stall in Prayagraj.
DespiteSaffrontsunami in UP, the Samajwadis trumped other parties to register a cleansweepin5districts
NEW BASTIONS OF SP ALLIANCE
GIVE BJP FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Gyanendra Kumar Shukla
Lucknow: Even as the
BJPgarneredamajority
inmaximumdistrictsof
UP
, for the saffron camp
and BSP
, those five dis-
tricts will continue to
haunt for a long time
where SP has made a
clean sweep.
By winning all the ten
seats of Azamgarh, the
Samajwadi Party has
made it its impregnable
bastion.Insevenseatsof
Ghazipur, five seats in
Ambedkar Nagar, three
seats in Kaushambi and
Shamli each, no other
party could open its ac-
count except the SP alli-
ance.
Despite the BJP wave
in the year 2017, BJP
could get only Phulpur
Powai seat in Azamgarh
district. Arunkant Ya-
dav, son of Bahubali Ra-
makant Yadav, was a
BJP MLA. But this time
Ramakant Yadav him-
self joined SP and con-
tested from this seat and
defeatedBJP’sRamsurat
Rajbhar. BSP had four
seats and SP had nine,
butthistimealltheseats
have been captured by
SP
. Durga Prasad Yadav
won the election for the
ninth time from Sadar
seat of Azamgarh. The
result of Sirathu seat of
Kaushambi district was
the most surprising.
Here Pallavi Patel of SP
alliancedefeatedKeshav
Prasad Maurya, who
was DyCM by a margin
of about 7,000 votes.
Ambedkar Nagar dis-
trict was considered a
strong stronghold of
BSP
,fromhereMayawati
has won the election of
MPandMLAinthepast.
The BSP had won Kateh-
ri, Akbarpur, Jalalpur
seatsinthelastelections
while the BJP was suc-
cessful in winning Tan-
da and Alapur seats. At
that time the SP could
not even open account
here. But BSP turncoats
Ram Achal Rajbhar, Lal-
ji Verma and Rakesh
Pandey dramatically
changed the electoral
scenario here. The SP
capturedallthefiveseats
here. Ram Achal Ra-
jbhar won Akbarpur,
Lalji Verma Katehri,
Tribhuvan Dutt Alapur,
RammurthyVermaTan-
da and Rakesh Pandey
won Jalalpur. In Ghazi-
pur,theSPalliancemade
a clean sweep on all sev-
enseats.SBSPchief Om-
prakash Rajbhar won
from Zahuradabad, Be-
diram of his party won
from Jakhanian seat.
SP Nahid Hasan de-
feated Mriganka Singh
of BJP by over 28,000
votes in Kairana seat of
ShamliinWestUP
,where
BJP raised the issue of
migration vigorously
. In
Thana Bhawan seat,
Ashraf Ali Khan of RLD
beat Sugarcane Minister
Suresh Rana by over
10,000votes.BJP’ssitting
MLA from Shamli Tejen-
dra Nirwal lost to
Prasanna Choudhary of
SP-RLD alliance.
SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav at a rally in Azamgarh. —FILE PHOTO
Lucknow: SP can-
didates who won in
Azamgarh district were
Sangram Yadav from
Atraulia, Kamalakant
Yadav from Didarganj,
Hriday Narayan Patel
from Sagdi, Alam Badi
from Nizamabad, Nafees
Ahmed from Gopalpur
and Akhilesh Yadav from
Mubarakpur; whereas,
from the reserved seats
of Mehnagar Lalganj,
Pooja Saroj and Bechai
Saroj won respectively.
Lucknow: Nagendra
Pratap Singh Patel
was given a chance
in place of BJP’s
sitting MLA Sanjay
Singh from Chail seat
in Kaushambi, but
he was defeated by
Pooja Pal of SP. The
sitting MLA of BJP, Lal
Bahadur, was given
the opportunity from
Manjhanpur reserved
seat, but was defeated
by Inderjit Saroj of
the SP.
THE LIST OF
RED CAP
WINNERS
CHAIL GOES
TO SP’S
POOJA PAL
Three sitting women MLAs of BJP lost the
election in Ghazipur. BJP’s sitting MLA
Sunita Singh was defeated by Om Prakash
Singh, who was a minister in the SP
government, from the Zamania seat here.
Muhammadabad’s sitting MLA Alka Rai
was defeated by Mukhtar Ansari’s nephew
Suhaib Ansari. Subhash Pasi, a two-time SP
MLA from Saidpur reserved seat, was in the
fray from BJP this time. But he could not
make a hat-trick of victory, he was defeated
by Ankit Bharti of SP.
Lucknow: Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) on Mon-
day constituted a three-member committee
to review the party’s performance in recently
concluded Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.
The committee after deliberating over the is-
sue will submit its report to party chief Jayant
Chaudhary. “A three-member committee has
been formed to review Uttar Pradesh assembly
polls which include Rajendra Sharma, Ashwini
Tomar and Jinendra Narwar,” read the tweet
by RLD.
BJP’S GHAZIPUR LOSS
PANEL FOR STOCK TAKING
Swami alleges
foul play with
EVM votes
Lucknow (PTI): For-
mer state minister Swa-
mi Prasad Maurya, who
lost the UP assembly
polls, on Monday al-
leged foul play in the
election, saying some
“big game” took place
after the voting.
“Inballotpapervoting
SP got victory on 304
seats and BJP on 99 only
.
But in the EVM voting
BJP won elections. This
means some big game
tookplace,”Mauryasaid
in a tweet in Hindi.
Mauryahadjoinedthe
SP just before election
afterresigningfromBJP
.
Hehadcontestedfrom
FazilNagarseatandlost.
There is a speculation
that Maurya might be
fieldedbyAkhileshfrom
Karhal (Mainpuri) after
he resigns from there.
HOLI REVELRIES ON HIGH
(Clockwise from top left) Devotees carry the palanquin of Shiva and Parvati during a procession on Ekadashi ahead of the festival of Holi, at Kashi Vishwanath Temple in
Varanasi on Monday. School teachers pose for photos after playing with colours at a school in Moradabad on Monday. Devotees celebrate Holi at Bankey Bihari Temple in
Vrindavan on Monday. Sadhus smear colour on each other on the ocaasion of Ekadashi ahead of the festival of Holi in Ayodhya on Monday. —PHOTO BY PTI

DUBAI: The First In-
dia Fashion Connect
Season 11 held at Oaks
Ibn Battuta Gate Hotel
on March 12, Saturday
was anunprecedented
success with the best
of fashion, culture
and heritage celebrat-
ed on the First India
Ramp.
The show began
with Jagdeesh Chan-
dra welcoming the VIP
guests who had come to
watch the amazing show
and be a part of the First In-
dia initiative. Jagdeesh
Chandra welcomed the audi-
enceandsaidthatfashionand
glamour provide a glimpse
into the age-old culture and
heritage of a nation and at
the same time give employ-
ment to a huge number of
people. It is a major industry
today in every country
. He also
appreciated the efforts of
brand ambassador Rishee
Miglani, show director Lokesh
Sharma and the First India
team.
Sheikh Mohammed Bin
Makioum Al Maktoum of the
royal family of Dubai
graced the occasion as
the chief guest. He was
accompanied by
Yaqoob Al Ali, execu-
tivedirectorandprivate
advisor in his Highness of-
fice Sheikh Juma Bin Mak-
toum Al Maktoum.
It was a matter of privilege
that the renowned cricketer
and former captain of the In-
dian cricket team Mohammad
Azharuddin was also one of
the esteemed guests for the
evening as was Ashley Rebello,
Costume designer, who dresses
none other than the superstar
Salman Khan.
The Sheikh appreciated the
efforts of Jagdeesh Chandra
and First India in bringing
such amazing events to Dubai.
The master of ceremonies
Rupa Khurana welcomed all
the guests and dignitaries to
the amazing season 11 of one
of India’s best single-day fash-
ionshows,theFirstIndiaFash-
ion Connect. The first design-
ers to showcase the
event was Mohit
Falod. Followed by
an amazing collection
of Wrickie Angrish
as the models walked
in the creations of
Jaipur Dori next, it
drew appreciation
from the audience.
The next design-
er to showcase
amazing design on
the ramp was Shiv-
ayu and Karigiri
Studio. And the
grand finale by
Suneet Varma
was surreal and
breathtaking.
Entire collec-
tions showcased
in the Fashion Con-
nect were complete
with bridal wear,
holiday mood, sem-
iformal, formal
and each aspect of
fashion covered
during the one
and half hour
glitzy show on
the ramp.
LUCKNOW, TUESDAY,
MARCH 15, 2022
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia
facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia 09
THE FIRST INDIA FASHION CONNECT SEASON 11 HELD AT OAKS
IBN BATUTTA GATE HOTEL, DUBAI ON SATURDAY WAS A
UNIQUE FUSION OF TRADITIONAL AND MODERN
COLLECTIONS THAT CELEBRATED INDIA’S HERITAGE.
BESIDES THIS, A BEAUTIFUL MERGING OF THE CULTURES
OF UAE AND INDIA WAS ALSO SEEN ON THE RAMP!
ANITA HADA
anita.hada@firstindianews.com
Jagdeesh Chandra with (L-R) Ayan Chugh, Lokesh Sharma, Rishee Miglani, Akansha Bakshi,
Yaqoob Al Ali, Rupa Khurana, Mohd. Azharuddin, Ashley Rebello, Anita Hada and Fadi Sallit
Jagdeesh Chandra extends a warm floral welcome to HH Sheikh Mohammed
Bin Makioum Al Maktoum, as Rupa Khurana and Rishee Miglani look on
Jagdeesh Chandra extends a warm floral welcome
to Yaqoob Al Ali, also seen are Rishee and Rupa
Jagdeesh Chandra accords a welcome to Mohd. Azharuddin,
also seen are Rishee and Rupa
Jagdeesh Chandra welcomes Ashley Rebello,
also seen are Rishee and Rupa
Suneet Varma with his models as the finale
designer of Fashion Connect Season 11
—PHOTOS BY SANTOSH SHARMA
Connexions du cœur

10
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/
twitter.com/thefirstindia
facebook.com/thefirstindia
instagram.com/thefirstindia
ETC
he curtains
for the 15th
edition of the
Jaipur Litera-
ture Festival
dropped on
Monday. This
year, the event hosted
around 600 speakers,
artists and performers
from all across the In-
dian subcontinent and
the world. Teamwork
Arts the producer of
the ‘greatest literary
show on earth’ has
launched a new NFT
collection on the con-
c l u d i n g
day of the Festival.
The collection in-
cludes fifteen stun-
ning moments to
celebrate the land-
mark 15th edition
of the Festival.
The moments
have Amitabh
Bachchan, Dalai
Lama, Aamir Khan,
Honourable Former
President of India
Late APJ Abdul Kal-
am, Late Rishi Kapoor,
Shatrughan Sinha and
many other notable
names.
Tourism Minister
of Rajasthan, Vishv-
endra Singh said, “I
am delighted that the
Jaipur Literature Fes-
tival is returning on-
ground in the Pink
City.” The Festival
launched a curated
NFT drop on abris.io.
In another session
on a concluding day,
‘The Camel with a
Japi’ was launched
with the author Ur-
vashi Warman, Prin-
cipal of the Palace
School in conversa-
tion with Apra Kuch-
hal. The book has been
brought out by the Pal-
ace School, Jaipur
and is written under
Narendra Modi’s vi-
sion of Ek Bharat
Shreshth Bharat.
This unique tale
chronicles the journey
of four friends who,
along with their teach-
ers and guest faculty
from France, under-
take an exciting expe-
dition that takes the
reader from the dry,
barren desert of Ra-
jasthan to the lush
green forests of As-
sam.
From debates rang-
ing from language,
war, politics, envi-
ronment to cli-
mate change, gender
issues, business, sci-
ence and technology,
history, cinema, art
and travel, the Festi-
val featured conversa-
tions on a wide variety
of topics. Also, it had
numerous events
namely A Majestic
Heritage Evening at
Amer Fort and The
Jaipur Music Stage
among others in the
Pink City
.
Luminaries from
THE OLD AND NEW
THE OLD AND NEW
Each year literary
festivals take place in
many parts of the
country to draw large
numbers of readers,
writers, playwrights,
and editors, who gather
to exchange ideas with
like-minded people.
Most festivals feature
opportunities to meet
and polish your skills
with your favourite
authors and include
extensive storytelling
sessions and other
engaging activities for
children and young
adults, to encourage a
true love of reading.
Jaipur Literature
Festival 2022 is a
magnificent festival of
ideas which
concluded on
Monday at Hotel
Clarks Amer.
MITALI DUSAD
mitalidusad01@gmail.com
T
Apra Kuchchal in conversation with Urvashi Warman
Simon Mundy addressing the crowd
on the topic ‘Climate Conservation’ Suraj Dhingra, Ajay Pal Lamba and Satish Mehta
Auloopi Tambi
Saanvi Agarwal
Monica
and
Kavya
Karuna Parikh
(L-R) Shobhaa De, Sapna, Nikita and Poorvi Singhal
—PHOTOS
BY
MUKESH
KIRADOO

SUNIL
SHARMA

ETC
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia LUCKNOW | TUESDAY, MARCH 15, 2022
11
THE DOG FEST:
A PAW-FECT DAY!
ajority of dog lovers are very
clear regarding the delight
that comes with sharing their
lives with their canines. The
pleasure of snuggling up to a
furry friend cannot be traded
for anything else. They add
real joy and unconditional love to your life.
In order to celebrate such great bond be-
tween people and their pets, First India and
International Dog Bazaar organised a Mega
Dog show on Sunday where more than 500
dogs of over 60 breeds participated in the
competition and 120 pups were adopted.
Jagdeesh Chandra welcomed the dog lov-
ers from across the city and motivated them
to care for the pets as members of their own
family.
Director, First India News Virendra Choud-
hary also greeted all the dog owners and
congratulatedViren Sharma for the wonder-
ful show. Addl Police Commissioner, Jaipur
Haider Ali Zaidi, IG Sandeep Chauhan and
DIG Rahul Kotaki, Elite Miss Rajasthan Di-
rector Gaurav Gaur and Ashok Singh from
Big Boss Studio were also present for the
event. The show was followed by a dance
performance and a dog fashion show, a
drawing competition spreading the mes-
sage of anti-cruelty was also organised.
—PHOTOS
BY
MUKESH
KIRADOO

RISHABH
SAINI
Jagdeesh Chandra with (L-R) Gaurav Gaur, Ashok Singh Srishti Khatri,
Akanksha Bhalla, Lakshay Choudhary, Virendra Choudhary, and Viren Sharma
Jagdeesh Chandra congratulate the winning dog, ‘Mr K’ and his owner
Dron Parikh. Also seen are Virendra Choudhary, Lakshay Choudhary,
Viren Sharma, Swati Tandon and Rajiv Sachdeva
Akanksha Bhalla with Chow Chow
Jagdeesh Chandra with Palak
During the ramp walk
Jagdeesh Chandra with Parul Kathuria and coco and Richa Juneja
Komal and Nitu Khanchandani with Joulin
Jagdeesh Chandra
walks the ramp holding
the cute Apso
Jagdeesh Chandra greeted by Viren and Isha
Sharma. Also seen is Ashok Singh
The handsome Rottweiler
with his owner
Jagdeesh Chandra with Viren Sharma, Isha Sharma, Ashi,
Kaustubhi, Paridhi, Ishita, Vinnie, Ashwina and Team Paws
During the mega dog show
KAVITA CHAUHAN
cityfirst@firstindia.co.in
M
Somya Goyal
Khushi Ajwani with Jerry
Aanchal

12
CITY BUZZ
GET VACCINATED
STAY MASKED
Bollywood actress Malaika Arora was spotted filming in
various lovely heritage spots in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan’s golden
city, on the occasion of Josh Creatothon’s Creation Marathon
on Sunday. Following successful events in Pondicherry and
the Maldives, this marathon was held in Jaisalmer, where
Malaika delighted 15 Josh creators from around the country
with her attendance and participated in a variety of initiatives
with various groups of content makers throughout this time.
MALAIKA IN THE GOLDEN CITY!
THE CELEBRATION OF WOMANHOOD
All Inner Wheel Clubs of Lucknow, in association with Ekana Sportz city, organised a women’s car rally to mark womanhood ‘Stree Shakti’ from the 1090 Chauraha to Ekana stadium. The Association President Saroj Katiyar and District Chairman Archna Bajpai
of the ‘INNER WHEEL CLUB,’ Lucknow’s largest voluntary women service organisation, were the event’s major guests. —PHOTOS BY ASHOK DUTTA
UPGRADING CITIES!
The Lucknow Development Authority will now solicit direct
comments from citizens in the capital’s parks on how to
address the city’s problems. LDA VC has constituted a review
committee under the leadership of Secretary Pawan Gangwar
so that people visiting the parks may scan and email their
recommendations immediately. The parks in Lucknow will be
upgraded based on the suggestions received from the public.
Holi Milan
Celebrated With a Pomp
CITY FIRST
T
he All India Mar-
wari Mahila Sami-
ti held a grand
Holi Milan event at
Gymkhana Club, on
Monday. The pro-
gramme included a
number of tourna-
ments, as well as a num-
ber of enjoyable games
that the committee’s
ladies participated in.
On this occasion, the
committee’s chairper-
son, Rekha Lath, stated
that the committee or-
ganises social events
from time to time, in
which disadvantaged
women are assisted as
per their requirements,
and that they strive for
the enjoyment and in-
teraction of the commit-
tee’s women. Such pro-
grammes are also es-
tablished for this
reason.
Over 70 women at-
tended the presenta-
tion, including mem-
bers including Secre-
tary Shalini Singhal,
Vice President Rita Mit-
tal, Treasurer Anurad-
ha Bansal, Bindu Bala,
Pratibha Aggarwal,
Chitra, Asha, Sushila,
Anuradha Agarwal,
Monika, and others.
Makeup For Your Nails!
Makeup has now been extended to the nails. Nail art is the newest
craze in the fashion industry, and it's taking it by the storm.
he term 'nail
art' refers to
the practice
of adorning a
person's nails
with a varie-
ty of materi-
als available on the
market. Today's tech-
nology allows one to
show off the designs
of one's choice on his
or her nails. Nails
have grown into the
ultimate way of ex-
pressing one's creativ-
ity, rather than just
layers of keratin.
CityFirsthadacon-
versation with one
of the leading nail art-
ists in Lucknow, Agriti
Khurana on how her
life is as a nail artists
along with a bonus of
tips to keep your hands
young and beautiful!
What equipment
and techniques do
you find most effec-
tive when working
on the more intri-
cate nail designs?
Freehand and 3D
nail art has always ap-
pealed to me. So I used
to do nail art with a
toothpick when I first
started, but now I use
nail art brushes and
dotting tools for such
nail arts. You'll also
need good lighting
and a calm location
for these nail arts.
How do you keep
abreast of the latest
nail products,
trends, and tech-
niques?
I try to have my re-
search mode on at all
times since it's critical
to know what's fresh.
Because this is an ar-
tistic profession, there
is always something
fresh and unique to be
found. Google, fashion
publications, and so-
cial media are the
most helpful in keep-
ing me informed.
How do you ensure
that clients are not
injured while you are
performing mani-
cures and pedicures?
Before beginning
work, I always strive
to make my customers
feel at ease and inform
them that they may
contact me at any mo-
ment if they have any
concerns. It's critical
to keep the client's
skin protected during
filing to avoid skin
cuts and apply oil after
the procedure is done.
As a Nail Artist,
what suggestions
would you give to
people on taking
care of their hands?
It is essential to
keep your nails clean.
So it's crucial to clean
your nails regularly
and keep them in
good form. I recom-
mend rubbing the
nails with cuticle oil
regularly to keep
them healthy
.
What do you look
for when suggesting
suitable nail treat-
ments for clients?
There are less odds
of needing treatment
if you keep your nails
healthy and practise
oil massage regularly
.
There are several
nail creams on the
market nowadays that
you may apply daily
. If
you have a fungal in-
fection, you should see
your doctor right away
since it may be quite
hazardous.
DEVANSHI MUDGAL
cityfirst@firstindia.co.in
T
LDA VC IAS Akshay Tripathi Secretary IAS Pawan Gangwar
Agriti Khurana
HOLI MILAN SAMAROH! Hemant Sharma,
TV9 News
Director hosted
a ‘Fagotsav’
pre-holi party
at his residence
in Noida on
Monday. It was
an evening of
togetherness
and bonhomie
as everyone
enjoyed in
true holi
spirit, leading
politicians,
bureaucrats
and journalists
attended the
get-together.
More in City First
Tomorrow.
—PHOTOS BY SHAZID CHAUHAN
Jagdeesh Chandra with Ram Gopal Yadav and Hemant Sharma Rajiv Shukla, Hemant Sharma, Anuradha Prasad and Veena Sharma
Isha Sharma, Rubika Liyaquat,
Hemant Sharma and Atul Agrawal
Vandana and Navneet Sehgal

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