First India Mumbai 05022023.pdf

❍ CIVIC BODY PRESENTS RS52,619 CR BUDGET, 14.5% HIGHER THAN LAST YEAR; RS50,000 CR-MARK BREACHED FOR FIRST TIME
BMC to dip into its FDs to fund development works
First India Bureau
Mumbai: Weeks after
Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi spoke here
about “funds being
locked in banks”, the
Brihanmumbai Munici-
pal Corporation on Sat-
urday said it would look
towardssomeof itsfixed
deposits--cumulatively
worth more than
Rs88,000 crore--to fund
development projects.
The country’s richest
civic body on Saturday
presented a Rs52,619.07
crore budget for the me-
tropolis, with Adminis-
trator Iqbal Singh Cha-
hal saying it was the
“first time in BMC his-
tory that the budget esti-
mates have crossed
Rs50,000 crore”.
Chahal also said the
civic body’s fixed depos-
itsstoodatRs88,000cr.As
per the budget docu-
ment, the BMC will with-
draw Rs7,400 cr from its
FDs for the coastal road
project, as well as con-
struction of Goregaon-
Mulund link road and
sewage treatment plants,
Rs5,376 cr for other ex-
penditure and Rs5,970
crore for “internal tem-
porary transfers”.
The civic chief also
said the BMC will also
use money from the
Rs15,600 crore infra-
structure fund that has
been created by levying
a host of premiums.
PM Modi, during his
visit to Mumbai on Jan-
uary 19, when he inau-
gurated metro lines and
laid foundations stones
of projects worth Rs
38,000 crore, had spoken
about the need for budg-
eted money to be spent
on stated objectives.
Hinting at the break-
ing of civic FDs to speed
up development works,
Modi had said the future
of the country’s finan-
cial capital would not be
bright if development
funds are used for cor-
rupt practices or funds
are locked up in banks
and there was a tenden-
cy to stall projects.
Big infrastructure projects cannot be
accomplished by levying tax on the public.
Ultimately, these FDs are made from
public money. Hence, if we have to give the public
concrete roads, coastal roads, STPs, etc., we will
spend from that. —Iqbal Singh Chahal, BMC Commissioner
BMC Administrator IS Chahal addresses the media after the civic
body's budget presentation on Saturday.
—PHOTO BY BHUSHAN KOYANDE
MORBI BRIDGE CASE:
GUJ COURT REJECTS
BAIL PLEAS OF ALL 7
Morbi: A sessions court
in Gujarat denied bail to 7
arrested in connection with
the Morbi bridge collapse
incident that left 135 people
dead in October, last year.
Justice PC Joshi rejected
bail pleas of 7 accused,
including 2 managers of
the Oreva Group.
READ
Crucial
Crucial
SIT FILES 935-PAGE
CHARGESHEET AGAINST
FORMER ANDAMAN CS
New Delhi: The SIT probing
a gangrape case against
former Andaman and
Nicobar Islands CS Jitendra
Narain, has filed a 935-page
chargesheet against him and
three other accused. The
team examined 90 witnesses
and scientific, electronic
evidence in the case.
RAIDS AT CHENNAI
FIRM LINKED TO LOSS
OF VISION, DEATH IN US
Chennai: The Central
Drugs Standard Control
Organisation and TN’s Drug
Controller conducted a
late-night raid on Chennai-
based Global Pharma
Healthcare on Friday after
US authorities flagged a
possible contamination in a
line of eye drops.
HM Amit Shah lays foundation stone of IFFCO’s fifth
Nano Urea plant, in Deoghar on Saturday. Nishikant
Dubey, Deepak Prakash others are also seen here.
‘SHAHI’ PRAYERS
FOR PROSPERITY!
Union Home Minister Amit Shah along with his wife Sonal Shah offers prayers to Lord Bholenath, at
the Baidyanath Dham, in Deoghar on Saturday. Also seen here are Nishikant Dubey and other priests.
The percentage of
Adivasis declining in
Jharkhand under Hemant
Soren govt, says Amit Shah
Soren government is
the most corrupt in
the country, says HM Amit
Shah at ‘Vijay Sankalp Rally’
First India Bureau
Deoghar: Union Home
Minister Amit Shah on
Saturday offered
prayers at the Baba
Baidyanath Dham tem-
ple in Jharkhand's De-
oghar. Home minister
offered prayers at the
temple with his wife,
Sonal Shah.
Addressing BJP's 'Vi-
jay Sankalp Rally' rally
here, he said the popula-
tion of Adivasis has de-
ceased from 35 per cent
to 24 per cent due to
massive infiltration
from across the interna-
tional border. He al-
leged that infiltrators
were grabbing land in
the state after marrying
tribal women.
“The Hemant Soren
government is the most
corrupt in the country.
Resources are being
looted using railway
wagons and tractors.
People will unseat this
govt from power in the
state,” he said. More on P5
SHAH LAYS FOUNDATION FOR
`450 CRORE NANO UREA PLANT
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on
Saturday laid the foundation stone of a
`450-crore nano urea plant and township
of the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative
(IFFCO) in Jharkhand’s Deoghar. This will be
India’s fifth nano urea plant. PM Modi inau-
gurated the world’s first nano urea plant in
Gujarat last year, according to IFFCO. “Nano
urea will benefit farmers and it is already be-
ing exported to five countries,” Shah said.
BJP will win all the
14 Lok Sabha seats
in the State in the
elections next year.
—Amit Shah, Union Home Minister
SHOCKER IN THAR
Will Adani’s `60,000
cr solar project MoU in
Rajasthanbecancelled?
Aditi Nagar
New Delhi: The Adani
group has suffered mas-
sive losses to the tune of
100 billion dollars after
the recent Hindenburg
report, effectively stall-
ing the group's upward
trajectory. But even as
the battle rages on, to
beat the 'propaganda'
against the company,
and the fight is being
fought on technical
terms in the report; the
markets remain volatile
towards Adani group
and in such an environ-
ment, it now seems that
after an 'international
strike' on the group,
now reins are being
pulled for a home grown
'domestic strike'.
In what could be
termed as a shocking
newsfromDelhi,wordin
'selectcircles'inthepolit-
ico-businessrealmof the
nation is that there is an
immense pressure to
cancel Adani Group's
MoUwithRajasthangov-
ernment. In this regard,
it is believed that proba-
bly a signal is coming
from the Congress high
command. Few days
back, the Gehlot govern-
ment had signed a MoU
with Adani group worth
`60,000 crore for Solar
Project in Rajasthan.
During the program,
Gautam Adani himself
gaveaspeechinthepres-
ence of Chief Minister
Ashok Gehlot to encour-
age investors coming
from outside the State.
Now there is a distur-
bance in the industrial
sector due to the possi-
bility of cancellation of
this MoU. However, this
aspect can be discussed
during Gehlot's visit to
Delhi on Sunday
.
According to the
sources connected with
the high command,
there could possibly be
a discussion at the level
of Rahul Gandhi.
ADANI ENTERPRISES SHELVES
$122 MILLION BOND PLAN
Adani Enterprises Ltd. has shelved a plan to raise as
much as Rs 10 billion ($122 million) via its first-ev-
er public sale of bonds following a market rout, accord-
ing to people familiar with the matter. The flagship firm
of Gautam Adani’s empire had planned the public note
issuance for January, working with Edelweiss Financial
Services Ltd (EDEL.NS), AK Capital, JM Financial, and
Trust Capital, but activity has now stopped, the report
said, citing people familiar with the matter.
Adani Group’s with-
drawal of its Follow on
Public Offer (FPO) will
have no affect on the In-
dian economy’s image or
macroeconomic funda-
mentals, Union finance
minister Nirmala
Sitharaman
said on
Saturday.
THE ADANI GROUP CRISIS
WILL HAVE NO IMPACT ON
ECONOMY’S IMAGE: FM
30 NOVEMBER 1945
TO 4 FEBRUARY 2023
PADMA BHUSHAN
AWARDEE, SINGER
JAYARAM DIES
Chennai: Days after
her fans celebrated the
President conferring the
Padma Bhushan on noted
singer Vani Jayaram, she
passed away at her home
in Chennai on Saturday.
The cause of her death
is not yet known. One of
immortal voices of South
Indian film industry, Vani
Jayaram rendered songs
in 19 languages.
Court releases
Sharjeel Imam
and 10 others
New Delhi (ANI): A
court here on Saturday
discharged 11 people in-
cluding student activ-
ists Sharjeel Imam and
Asif Iqbal Tanha, who
participated in anti-
CAA protests, in the
2019 Jamia Nagar case,
saying they were made
“scapegoats” by police
that dissent has to be
encouraged, not stifled.
Court said investiga-
tive agencies need to
discern the difference
between dissent, which
has to be given space,
and insurrection that
should be quelled.
OUR EDITIONS: JAIPUR MUMBAI
MUMBAI l SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2023 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI TITLE NO. MAHENG/2022/14652 l Vol 1 l Issue No. 269
BJP APPOINTS
DHARMENDRA
PRADHAN K’TAKA
POLL IN-CHARGE
New Delhi: The BJP on Saturday appointed Union minister
Dharmendra Pradhan its in-charge for upcoming Karnataka
assembly polls, a party statement said. TN BJP unit President K
Annamalai will be co-incharge for high-stakes polls where both
ruling party, Congress have launched intensive public outreach.
OPPN PARTIES
RUNNING AWAY
FROM DISCUSSION
IN PARL: THAKUR
Jammu: Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Saturday said govt has
nothing to hide on Adani issue and Opposition parties are creating
a ruckus in Parl to evade debate on people-friendly budget. Oppn
insulted President Droupadi Murmu by stalling a discussion on
motion of thanks to President’s address, they apologise to her. P5
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IN A FIRST: SUPREME COURT CELEBRATES 73RD FOUNDATION DAY
NO CASE IS BIG OR SMALL, SAYS CJI
Moni Sharma
New Delhi: Address-
ing a gathering to com-
memorate the 73rd an-
niversary of the Su-
preme Court of India
on Saturday, CJI DY
Chandrachud said,
“For the Court, there
are no big or small cas-
es -every matter is im-
portant. Because it is
in the seemingly small
and routine matters in-
volving the grievances
of citizens that issues
of constitutional and
jurisprudential impor-
tance emerge. In at-
tending to such griev-
ances, the Court per-
forms a plain constitu-
tional duty
, obligation,
and function.”
Chief Justice of Sin-
gapore Supreme Court
Sundaresh Menon also
attended the program
anddeliveredalecture
on “The Role of
the Judiciary in
a Changing
World”. Jus-
tice Menon
said, adding
that truth
decay refers
to the “prolifera-
tion of misinfor-
mation and de-
valuation of
truth which
attacks the
justice sys-
tem.”
CJI DY Chandrachud with Singapore SC CJ Sundaresh Menon,
Justices SK Kaul, KM Joseph and Ajay Rastogi on Saturday.
Supreme Court
of India is the
busiest courts of
the world and judges
here are the most hard
working ones.
—Sundaresh Menon,
Singapore SC Chief Justice
TOP COURT GETS 5 NEW JUDGES; ITS
TOTAL STRENGTH REACHES 32 NOW
5
judges were appointed to the Supreme Court
on Saturday with the Centre clearing the names
recommended by the Collegium on December
13 last year. Once they take oath early next week, the
strength of the apex court will go up to 32 judges.
z RAJASTHAN HC CJ
Justice Pankaj Mithal
z PATNA HC CJ
Justice Sanjay Karol
z MANIPUR HC CJ
Justice PV Sanjay Kumar
z PATNA HC
Justice Amanullah
z ALLAHABAD HC
Justice Manoj Misra
NEW ACTING CJs OF
RAJASTHAN, PATNA
AND MANIPUR HCs
z RAJASTHAN HC:
Justice Manindra
Mohan Shrivastava
z PATNA HC: Chakrad-
hari Sharan Singh
z MANIPUR HC:
MV Muralidaran
No judiciary vs Centre
tussle,says Kiren Rijiju
Prayagraj: Hinting at the recent talks that the judiciary
was at loggerheads with the government on the issue
of collegium system, Union law minister Kiren Rijiju
on Saturday clarified that “there is no judiciary versus
govt tussle in the country”. “The people who elect
the government are supreme, and the entire system
is being run as per the Constitution,” said Rijiju while
speaking at 150th foundation day of Allahabad High
Court Bar Association on Saturday.
Kiren Rijiju interacts with Justice Krishna Murari during
150 years of Allahabad HCBA at Prayagraj on Saturday.

NEWS
MUMBAI | SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2023
02
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Will file police complaint
against BMC’s public utility,
its contract firms: Somaiya
First India Bureau
Mumbai: Continuing
his attack on Brihan-
mumbai Municipal
Corporation (BMC),
Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) leader and for-
mer MP Kirit Somaiya
said that he will lodge a
formal police com-
plaint against Brihan-
mumbai Electric Sup-
ply and Transport
(BEST) public utility,
and also against pri-
vate firms and contrac-
tors associated with
the civic body.
Kirit Somaiya in a
tweet on Saturday said,
“COVID ki Kamai. To-
day 3:30 pm I along with
100 Workers/Drivers
will file a complaint at
Colaba Police Station
against BEST, Kish Cor-
porate Services of
Kishori Pednekar and
MP Enterprises for
cheating fraud Forgery
and robbing employees
of salaries, provident
fund.” Somaiya earlier
on Wednesday an-
nounced that he will
expose “one more scam
of the civic body”.
“COVID ki KAMAI”
Exposing One more
scam of BMC. 2.30 pm
today, I will be meeting
Labour Minister
Suresh Khade at Man-
tralaya Mumbai to sub-
mit a detailed com-
plaint,” the BJP leader
said in a tweet.
Last month also So-
maiya alleged corrup-
tion on part of BMC in
procuring Remdisivir
injections during the
Covid-19 pandemic.
But, the Maharashtra
Lokayukta exculpated
the BMC of any “irreg-
ularity” or “non-trans-
parency” in a complaint
filed by the BJP leader.
First India Bureau
Mumbai: In a scathing
attack on Chief Minis-
ter Eknath Shinde-led
Maharashtra govern-
ment for its drubbing
in recently held MLC
polls in the state,
‘Saamana’, the official
newspaper of the Shiv
Sena’s Uddhav Thack-
eray faction said that
the educated people
have rejected the rul-
ing alliance of BJP and
the Balasahebanchi
Shiv Sena.
Saamana in its latest
editorial said, “The re-
sult of the election of
the five Legislative
Council seats of the
state is the mandate of
the people of Maha-
rashtra. BJP got only
one seat out of five.
The BJP-Shinde alli-
ance was defeated.
These results will put
a brake on the falsity
of the Fadnavis-Shin-
de government.”
The party said that
the BJP-Shinde alli-
ance was rejected by
educated people of the
state as only they exer-
cised their vote in the
recently concluded Ma-
harashtra Legislative
Council (MLC) elec-
tions on five seats.
The results brought
cheers to the tripartite
alliance of Maharash-
tra Vikas Aghadi
(MVA) as they won
three of five seats and
an upset time for the
ruling alliance of
Bharatiya Janata Par-
ty- Balasahebanchi
Shiv Sena led by Chief
Minister Eknath Shin-
de, who were facing
their first polls after
joining hands in June
last year.
The results are also
seen as a setback for
the BJP-Shinde gov-
ernment as they
bagged only the Kon-
kan seat. BJP candi-
date Dnyaneshwar
Mhatre trounced MVA-
backed nominee Bal-
aram Patil from the
Konkan teachers’ leg-
islative council con-
stituency.
Reacting to this, the
Uddhav Thackeray
camp in its mouthpiece
said that the credit be-
longs to the winning
candidate Mhatre more
than BJP as the party
got a ‘readymade’
candidate.
“Dnyaneshwar Mha-
tre from Kokan constit-
uency (Teacher) defeat-
ed sitting MLC Balar-
am Patil. In this, Mha-
tre deserves more
praise than BJP as he is
not a native BJP man.
They got a ‘readymade’
candidate and luckily
they won,” it said.
Results of MLC
polls will put
brakes on false
Fadnavis-Shinde
government, says
editorial in
Uddhav-Sena
mouthpiece
UBT CAMP SAYS
CM Eknath Shinde (right) and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis attend a meeting. —FILE PHOTO
‘Chavandidnothave
experience,hadn’t
servedasMLAhere’
First India Bureau
Pune: Nationalist Con-
gress Party leader Ajit
Pawar said that the rea-
son for the discord be-
tween him and then Ma-
harashtra chief minis-
ter Prithviraj Chavan
was that the latter had
no experience of the
state’s politics.
Pawar was deputy
chief minister when
Chavan headed the Con-
gress-NCP alliance gov-
ernment between 2010
and 2014. Asked about
the talk of discord be-
tween him and Chavan
during an interview at
an event organized re-
cently
, Pawar said
Chavan had never
worked even as an MLA
in the state as he was
mostly based in Delhi.
“Prithviraj Chavan
had never worked as an
MLA here. He was not
aware of what kind of
treatment we had re-
ceived from people in
power. He had no experi-
ence of the state cabi-
net,” the NCP leader
said.
“He had been working
in the PMO and there is
a difference between the
statepoliticsandpolitics
in Delhi,” Pawar added.
Chavan, who was a min-
ister in the Manmohan
Singh government, be-
came chief minister af-
ter Ashok Chavan re-
signed over the Adarsh
scam allegations.
Even though the NCP
and Congress were al-
lies, certain issues
cropped up and as a re-
sult “some people” felt
proximity to political ri-
vals while the NCP ap-
peared as “remote” to
them, Pawar added.
BJP names candidates
for by-elections to two
Assembly seats in Pune
First India Bureau
Pune: TheBharatiyaJa-
nata Party (BJP) on Sat-
urday announced the
names of candidates for
the upcoming bypolls to
Kasba Peth and Chinch-
wad Assembly constitu-
encies in Pune district.
While it nominated He-
mant Rasane from Kas-
ba Peth constituency in
Pune city
, it fielded Ash-
wini Jagtap from
Chinchwad seat in
neighbouring Pimpri-
Chinchwad township.
The byelections,
scheduled to be held on
February26,wereneces-
sitated due to the recent
death of sitting BJP
MLAs - Mukta Tilak
from Kasba Peth and
Laxman Jagtap from
Chinchwad. Ashwini
Jagtap is the wife of late
Laxman Jagtap.
After Rasane’s name
was announced by the
party
, his followers and
BJP workers burst fire-
crackers in the city
.
Rasane also performed
‘aarti’ at the Shrimant
Dagdusheth Halwai
Ganpati temple.
Talking to reporters,
Rasane said, “Senior
BJP leader and Deputy
Chief Minister Deven-
dra Fadnavis tried hard
for unopposed elections
to these seats, but other
parties do not appear to
bekeen.ButIassureyou
that the BJP will win
with a record margin.”
Fadnavis tweeted:
“Wishing all the success
to candidates declared
by BJP for the bypolls;
Hemant Rasane (Kasba
PethAssemblyConstitu-
ency) and Ashwini tai
Jagtap (Chinchwad As-
sembly Constituency).”
GLOATING
RENEWED ATTACK ON EX-MIN PARAB
BJP state Vice-President Kirit Somaiya shared a
Central government order seeking Rs2.5 crore
environmental compensation from Shiv Sena leader
Anil Parab in the Sai Resort scam. The order dated
January 12, was issued by the Ministry of Environ-
ment, Forest and Climate Change (Coastal Regula-
tion Zone) in which it notified the Maharashtra State
Pollution Control Board to realize environmental
compensation from the resort situated in Ratnagiri.
The order notified Parab to pay the environmental
compensation within 15 days of the issue of that
order, i.e. January 12. Somaiya shared the order
stating, “The government started the attachment pro-
cess of Anil Parab properties to recover Rs2.5 crore
penalties for illegal construction of Sai Resort.”
‘Educated people rejected Fadnavis-Shinde in Maharashtra’
‘SharadPawarhadwarnedUddhav’
First India Bureau
Pune: Could Uddhav
Thackeray have pre-
vented the fall of the
Maha Vikas Aghadi
last year? Nationalist
Congress Party leader
Ajit Pawar has
claimed that the for-
mer chief minister
ignored warnings of
an upcoming rebel-
lion in his Shiv Sena
for as long as six
months.
“Pawar saheb (Na-
tionalist Congress
Party president
Sharad Pawar) him-
self had informed
Thackeray. Pawar sa-
heb had even phoned
Thackeray and told
him about it (possible
rebellion in Shiv
Sena). However, Ud-
dhavji had said he
trusts his MLAs and
was confident they
will not take such an
extreme step,” Ajit
Pawar, who was
Thackeray’s deputy
CM in the tripartite
MVA government,
told a local media
house late on Friday
evening.
“There was an at-
tempt to break the
trust of (Sena) MLAs.
We can say some peo-
ple remained unatten-
tive,” he said without
elaborating.
He did, however,
add that he had heard
murmurs six months
before the actual re-
bellion in June 2022.
“I had warned Ud-
dhavji about it. Ud-
dhavji said he had
also heard the same
and told me he would
speak to Eknath Shin-
de. He (Thackeray)
had said it was an in-
ternal party issue and
that he would resolve
it,” claimed Ajit Pa-
war, whose party was
one of the constitu-
ents of the MVA along
with the Congress
and the Shiv Sena.
A section of MLAs
of the undivided Shiv
Sena, led by then-Cab-
inet minister Eknath
Shinde, had rebelled
against Thackeray’s
leadership in June
last year, leading to
the collapse of the
MVA coalition govern-
ment. The rebel MLAs
then teamed up with
the Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) to form a
government under
Shinde’s leadership.
NO URGENCY
Heard murmurs
6 months before
actual revolt, but
Thackeray was
‘confident’
MLAs would not
take any extreme
step: Ajit Pawar
Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray are seen in conversation. —FILE PHOTO
RSS defamation
case: Order on
RaGa’s plea on
March 04
Thane (PTI): A Bhi-
wandi court that is
hearing a case of al-
leged defamation filed
by Rajesh Kunte, a local
worker of the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh,
against Rahul Gandhi
on Saturday said it
would pass order on the
Congress leader’s plea
seeking permanent ex-
emption from appear-
ance on March 04. Gan-
dhi has sought exemp-
tion on the grounds that
he is a resident of Delhi
and a Lok Sabha mem-
ber, and that the trial
can proceed in his ab-
sence as he would be
represented by his law-
yer. Kunte in 2014 filed
the case against Rahul
Gandhi over the latter’s
speech at an election
campaign rally in Bhi-
wandi on March 06,
2014, where he allegedly
said, “the RSS people
had killed (Mahatma)
Gandhi”.
Conspiracy to
oust family
from Congress,
Satyajeet says
Rejected: Raj
Thackeray’s
discharge plea
in 2008 case
First India Bureau
Nashik: Newly elected
Independent MLC from
Nashik graduates’ con-
stituency, Satyajeet
Tambe on Saturday al-
leged that some state
Congress leaders con-
spired to deny him a
ticket. He said the
wrong candidature
forms were provided to
his father, then-incum-
bent Congress MLC Su-
dhir Tambe, and it was
all part of a conspiracy
to drive his family out
of the party
.
“The AB forms we re-
ceived on January 12
were not for the Nashik
graduates’ constituency
but Aurangabad teach-
ers’ constituency and
Nagpur teachers’ con-
stituency
,” he alleged.
Both forms were
signed by the state Con-
gress chief (Patole), he
added.
Sangli (PTI): A local
court in Sangli district
onFridayrejectedMaha-
rashtra Navnirman
Sena (MNS) chief Raj
Thackeray’s plea seek-
ing discharge in a 2008
case related to a protest
organized by his party
workers. MNS workers
had staged protest in
Shirala in the district
against Thackeray’s ar-
rest in Mumbai, and a
case was registered over
unlawful assembly and
breachof peace.TheFIR
named Thackeray and
nine others. Assistant
public prosecutor Ranjit
Patil opposed the dis-
charge plea and stated
thatitcannotbedecided
till all the witnesses are
deposed. The court up-
held his argument, Patil
said in a statement here.
MNS had staged a
state-wide agitation de-
manding preference for
Marathi youth in rail-
way jobs and Thacker-
ay had been arrested
over the issue.
I had warned
Uddhavji
about it. Ud-
dhavji said he had also
heard the same and
told me he would speak
to Eknath Shinde. He
(Thackeray) had said it
was an internal party
issue and that he would
resolve it.
—Ajit Pawar, NCP leader
Kirit Somaiya —FILE PHOTO
Ajit Pawar —FILE PHOTO

MAHARASHTRA
03
Insurer told to pay out `30 lakh
claim for building slab collapse
First India Bureau
Thane: The Additional
District Consumer Dis-
putes Redressal Com-
mission here has or-
deredSBIGeneralInsur-
ance Co. Ltd to pay a
complainant Rs30 lakh
for damages to his flat
duetoslabcollapsewith-
in 45 days, or pay an ad-
ditional 9% per annum
until realization.
Deepak Golikar told
the commission that he
had bought a flat in Navi
Mumbai and availed a
loanof Rs45.68lakhfrom
SBI in August 2019. At
thetime,theinsurerhad
approached him with a
housing policy
, for Rs30
lakh from August 2019 to
August 2029.
On December 01, 2020,
a slab collapsed in the
building, damaging his
flat and causing him to
move into rental accom-
modation. Following the
accident, the complain-
ant filed for the claim,
which was rejected by
the insurance company
.
The commission ob-
served that the surveyor
report had stated that
the slab collapse had
taken place due to use of
inferiorqualitybuilding
material.
Whenever insurance
is taken on any property
,
the bank and insurance
company carefully veri-
fy all documents to as-
certain the life of the
structure, it noted.
Considering the evi-
dence, there was no
ground to repudiate
the insurance claim, it
said in the order passed
on January 20, and
made available on Fri-
day, the commission
also ordered payment
of Rs 50,000 towards
the loss of esteem and
costs of litigation to
the complainant.
350 ‘original’ stones found, tagged for rebuild
Aurangabad (PTI):
About350stonesthatfell
possibly due to landslide
from the ‘Nane Darwaja’
of the historic Raigad
Fort have been retrieved
and will be used to re-
buildthestructurebased
on architectural points
from the time, an expert
involvedintheworksaid
on Saturday
.
Situated in the Sahy-
adri mountain range,
RaigadFort,some370km
from here, was made the
capital of the Maratha
Empire in 1674 on the
coronation of Chhatra-
pati Shivaji Maharaj.
As per the book “Shri-
mad Raigirau” by Gopal
Chandorkar, the Nane
Darwaja was an octroi
collection point at the
fort and the structure
may have collapsed due
toalandslideatthetime,
conservation architect
Varun Bhamare said.
“We searched for the
arch and bracket stones
that fell from the struc-
ture in the valley below
and managed to retrieve
around 350 of them.
These have been num-
bered by us after identi-
fying their position in
the original structure.
Work to fix them accord-
ingly to recreate the
structure has begun,”
Bhamare said.
A channel cut into the
stene to ensure water
flowing downhill did not
harm Nane Darwaja has
also been found and the
mudandsludgecovering
it has been cleared so it
can drain water as origi-
nallyintended,headded.
Theaerialmappingof
Raigad Fort is also com-
plete and some 350 sites
that existed during the
reign of the legendary
warrior-king have been
identified, Bhamare
said. All these works to
restore Nane Darwaja
havebeenundertakenby
the Raigad Development
Authority
, he added.
Raigad Fort was made the capital of the Maratha Empire in 1674.
COMMUNITY COLLABORATIONS
The highly
anticipated
Kala Ghoda
Arts Festival
began in
Mumbai on
Saturday,
under the
theme Past
Forward,
after a gap
of two years
due to the
pandemic. It
will run till
February 12.
—PHOTO
BY BHUSHAN
KOYANDE
Consumer Disputes Commission also
ordered payment of `50,000 towards the
loss of esteem and costs of litigation
NO TAKE-BACKS
Tube seized from accused has blood on it
First India Bureau
Mumbai: Police have
found a new piece to the
puzzle of 22-year-old
MBBS student Sadich-
ha Sane’s murder, offi-
cials said on Saturday
.
Cops have found
blood stains on a float-
ing tube seized from
the home of lifeguard
Mittu Singh, the prime
accused in the case, is
lodged in Mumbai’s Ar-
thur Road Jail since his
arrest last month.
Officials say that
Sane, who went miss-
ing in November 2021,
died after falling on the
rocks at Bandra Band-
stand during a tussle
with Singh, who then
took a floating tube and
dragged her body
into the sea before
returning.
Singh has previously
told the police that she
died after he ended up
“pushing her during a
scuffle” and suffered
injuries to her head.
Police suspect that the
blood found on the tube
came from Sane’s head
wound.
The blood stains will
be matched with that
of Sane’s kin for identi-
fication and other de-
tails as part of the in-
vestigation, the official
added.
Mumbai police and
Navy team had con-
ducted a search earlier
in the sea along Bandra
Bandstand to locate
Sane’s body but in vain.
Blood stains will be
matched with that of
Sane’s kin for
identification as part of
the investigation
Navy divers and the Mumbai
police conducted a joint search
for Sane’s body in the sea late
last month. —FILE PHOTO
‘Pay local tax,
get bonus
`10L accident
insurance’
Latur (PTI): In a bid
to increase revenue,
the authorities of a vil-
lage in Latur district
have decided to pro-
vide accident insur-
ance coverage of Rs10
lakh to those villagers
who completely pay
off the tax charged by
the local panchayat.
This novel decision
was taken during a
gram sabha meeting
held at Panchincholi
village located in
Nilanga tehsil on
Friday.
Panchincholi sar-
panch Geetanjali Ha-
numante presided over
the meeting, where her
predecessor Shrikant
Salunkhe proposed a
resolution that person-
al accident insurance
cover of Rs10 lakh will
be provided to the vil-
lagers on 100% pay-
ment of the panchayat
tax.
His resolution was
welcomed by all mem-
bers and passed unani-
mously.
“The population of
Panchincholi village is
5,947 and there are
around 930 tax payers.
This decision was tak-
en to motivate the vil-
lagers towards paying
their taxes,” Salunkhe
said. Some other reso-
lutions aimed at the
development of the vil-
lage were also passed
during the meeting, he
said.
The structure,
believed to have
collapsed in the
17th century, is
set to be
reconstructed
RAIGAD FORT’S NANE DARWAJA
SADHICHHA SANE MURDER
—FILE
PHOTO
Mirch Masala
FIRST INDIA SUNDAY SPECIAL
BY TRIDIB RAMAN
The author is a journalist and political
commentator and views expressed are his personal
This question is being
raised again and
again in the corridors of
power in Delhi that after
the construction of Ram
Temple in Ayodhya — to
be completed by the
year end — what will
be the next agenda for
the BJP? An ideologue
associated with the
Sangh says that neither
the Sangh nor the
BJP lacks issues. Now
‘Uniform Civil Code’
and ‘Population Control
Bill’ are to come, whose
threat can be heard
anytime after 2024.
However, in a written
reply in Parliament, Law
Minister Kiren Rijiju had
said the government
had requested the 21st
Law Commission to
undertake an examina-
tion of various issues
relating to uniform
civil code and to make
recommendations. “The
term of the 21st Law
Commission ended on
August 31, 2018. As per
the information received
from the Law Commis-
sion, the matter related
to uniform civil code
may be taken up by the
22nd Law Commission
for its consideration,” he
had said. The implemen-
tation of a uniform civil
code was a poll promise
made by the ruling BJP
in the 2014 and 2019
Lok Sabha elections.
Speculation has intensified regarding
the re-merger of the Janata Parivar,
wherein the Janata Dal (U), RJD, JD(S),
INLD and the Rashtriya Lok Dal, the lead-
ers of the opposition unit, get together
to form the old Janata Dal or some
coordination can be established between
them. When the saffron camp came to
know about this, its emissaries became
active, its strategists contacted Tejashwi
and told him that ‘if he only
leaves Nitish’s side, BJP
is ready to make him
the Chief Minister of the
state.’ A clear formula
was worked out that
RJD, being the largest
party, should submit
claim to the Governor to
form Tejashwi’s gov-
ernment. When
the time comes
to prove ma-
jority in the house, BJP will walk out, as
it once did when Mulayam’s government
was in UP. But sources tell that Tejashwi
flatly refused to get trapped in this saf-
fron trap. After this, Nitish’s statement
also came to the fore that ‘he will not go
with BJP till death.’ Nitish also made it
clear to Tejashwi that ‘he will leave the
Chief Minister’s chair for Tejashwi in
July-August and will become active in
central politics’. Now it is possible that
the central agencies may file several
serious cases against Tejashwi in the
month of May-June. It is said that these
cases are related to the time when
Tejashwi Yadav became the deputy
CM of the state for the first time. The
BJP hopes that Nitish will hardly be
able to support Tejashwi on
the matter of corruption,
and thereafter, the only
option before Tejashwi
would be court.
What the upcoming
assembly elections
in Karnataka mean for the
BJP is known from the
Union Budget presented in
the Parliament on Wednes-
day as the irrigation
scheme worth Rs 65,000
crore was announced for
Karnataka. In any case,
the recent opinion polls
conducted by the party
in Karnataka have raised
eyebrows in the BJP
leadership. So, to ensure
its victory in the upcoming
State Assembly elections,
party strategists want to
forge an electoral alliance
with JD(S), a major party
in the state. In this regard,
when BJP strategists ap-
proached HD Deve Gowda,
he bluntly said that ‘he
can think of post-poll
alliance with BJP.’ But the
biggest problem before
BJP strategists is that
Deve Gowda is more or
less saying the same thing
to Congress. Deve Gowda
has an old friendship
with Congress President
Mallikarjun Kharge. So,
even though Deve Gowda
did not go to Kashmir at
the conclusion of Rahul’s
Bharat Jodo Yatra, he did
issue a letter in support of
Rahul, much to the dismay
of the saffron strategists.
So, these people have
recently approached Ku-
maraswamy, son of Deve
Gowda, who is said to be
more inclined towards BJP
than Congress. So, while
father Deve Gowda was is-
suing letters in support of
Rahul, son Kumaraswamy
was voicing his mind on
a local TV channel that
‘the country does not like
Rahul Gandhi’.
The latest Union Budget has tried its best to cater
to the non-Yadav OBC castes, considering that
this current Union Budget will prove to be the last
full-time budget before the 2024 general elections. In
a way, this is a completely election budget, in which
provision has been made for an additional budget
of Rs 2 lakh crore for the free ration scheme for the
poor. If the claims of reliable sources associated with
the central government are to be
believed, then the present govern-
ment may announce the general
elections ahead of time in order
to implement the ‘One Nation,
One Election’ programme. These
elections can be held along with
the possible assembly elections of
nine States. Keeping this idea in
mind, ‘Pradhan Mantri Vishwa-
karma Kaushal Samman Yojana’ has been launched
in the budget and it is believed that this scheme is
going to benefit the non-Yadav OBC castes across the
country, especially in UP. In UP alone there are more
than 52% OBC castes, even if Yadavs are excluded
from this, then this figure remains at 42%, which is a
group of more than 140 castes and this group plays
an important role in defeating or winning a candidate
in elections. In the 2014 general elections also, the
OBC castes played the most important role in forming
the BJP government.
Iltija Mufti, the elder daughter of former Jammu and
Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, is said to
be all set to enter politics. In recent times she has
been seen walking
in step with Rahul
Gandhi in his Bharat
Jodo Yatra. Fluent in
Hindi, English and
Urdu languages,
Iltija did her school-
ing from a boarding
school in Shimla, then
graduated from Delhi
University and went
to London’s Warwick
University for her
post graduation. After
returning from there,
she worked in a think
tank in Delhi, then started working for ‘Gulf News’.
After the abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir, Iltija
started making her video blog regularly — ‘Aapki
Baat with Iltija.’ Even when asked, she says — ‘No, I
don’t want to do politics,’ but no tell for sure what her
future plans really are.
LOK SABHA ELECTIONS 2024: BJP
‘JUGGLING’ TO HELP OBC CASTES
WILL ILTIJA MUFTI ENTER POLITICS?
BJP TO RAISE UCC,
POPULATION
CONTROL ISSUES
TEJASHWI ON SAFFRON TARGET VIA CENTRAL AGENCIES!
K’TAKA POLLS: JD(S) KINGMAKER FOR BJP OR CONGRESS?

PERSPECTIVE
04
l Vol 1 l Issue No.269
l RNI TITLE NO.
MAHENG/2022/14652
Printed and published by
Anita Hada Sangwan on behalf of
First Express Publishers. Printed at
Dangat Media Pvt Ltd, No.22, Dighe
MIDC, Vishnu Nagar, TTC Industrial
Area, Dighe, Navi Mumbai-400701.
Published at Plot No. 3 Scheme C
of Manglorean Garden Home, CHS
Limited, Survey No. 5, 6C (Part) Ville
Parle East, Mumbai 400057.
Phone 022-46031417.
Editor-In-Chief: Dr Jagdeesh Chandra
Editor: Kartikey Dev Singh
responsible for selection of news
under the PRB Act
Jagat Prakash Nadda
@JPNadda
BJP’s determination to win in Tripura,
the holy land of Mother Adishakti
Tripurasundari, is being expressed
in the enthusiasm of the people.
#VijaySankalpJansabha
Jyotiraditya M. Scindia
@JM_Scindia
Inaugurated the new Multi-level Car
Parking facility at @aaichnairport with
Dr Murugan_MoS, Sh @TThenarasu,
Sh TR Baalu Dr @KanimozhiDMK.
The new facility aligns with our
“whole of aviation” approach to
provide a time-saving, seamless travel
experience to passengers.
SPIRITUAL SPEAK
This one is for all those
times you made an excuse
for not accomplishing
your goals.
—Bhagavad Gita
IN-DEPTH
TO DISCIPLINE A
STUDENT, USE
OF FORCE MAY
BE REQUIRED
pare the rod and
spoil the child was an
accepted adage until
corporal punish-
ment came to be con-
sidered an offence. Sometimes
teachers used excess and unjus-
tifiable force which physically
harmed students and even left a
few physically challenged. Wor-
ried parents sought legal help to
stop corporal punishment of
their children in schools but
courts have only defended “use
of reasonable degree of force”
to discipline a child.
The Goa High Court is the lat-
est to rule that a teacher can use
force in school to correct a child
so long as it is done without any
mala fide intention. The court
overturned the conviction of a
primary school teacher for beat-
ing a student for drinking water
of another student after finish-
ing her own.
Exposing teachers to criminal
prosecution for corporal pun-
ishment is definitely not a good
idea for maintaining discipline
in schools. That, however, does
not allow short-tempered teach-
ers to cross the line of reasona-
ble degree to deal with errant
pupils.
TOP TWEETS
S
n innocuous-look-
ing balloon hover-
ing at a height of
about 60,000 feet
over American
missile fields in Montana has
led to a diplomatic row be-
tween the US and China. It
has led to US Secretary of
State Antony Blinken to
abruptly call off his visit to
Beijing. The high-level meet-
ing was to take place after
several years in an attempt to
mend ties between the two
countries. China reluctantly
acknowledged that it was its
balloon which had strayed
into American airspace but
said it was meant for moni-
toring weather and offered
regret. American officials,
including those from the Pen-
tagon, insisted that it was
meant for surveillance and
was equipped with the neces-
sary equipment for the pur-
pose. Blinken described the
intrusion as “a violation of
our sovereignty” and called
it an “unacceptable as well as
an irresponsible action”.
The spy balloon marks a
new low in the ties between
China and the US. It also rais-
es the question about a bal-
loon’s use for spying when
China, like several other
countries, has advanced sat-
ellites to monitor activities in
other countries. Use of bal-
loons for surveillance is as
old as World War-II. The Japa-
nese used balloons to drop
incendiary bombs over US
targets. The Americans and
Russians also used it during
Cold War days. The problem
with the Chinese balloon is
that Americans are hesitant
to shoot it down for fear of
falling debris causing inju-
ries to people. The Chinese
incursion is being interpret-
ed as a message about the ex-
tent Beijing is ready to go to
show its strength. Talks,
meanwhile, might take place
at a later date.
USING A BALLOON
TO SPY OVER US
An innocuous-looking
balloon hovering at a
height of about 60,000 ft
over American missile fields
in Montana has led to a
diplomatic row between the
US and China. It has led to
US Secy of State Antony
Blinken to abruptly call
off his visit to Beijing
A
WHY EVEN IN THE AGE OF AI,
SOME PROBLEMS ARE JUST TOO DIFFICULT
mpowered by artificial intel-
ligence technologies, comput-
ers today can engage in con-
vincing conversations with
people, compose songs, paint
paintings, play chess and go,
and diagnose diseases, to
name just a few examples of
their technological prowess.
These successes could be tak-
en to indicate that computa-
tion has no limits. To see if
that’s the case, it’s important
to understand what makes a
computer powerful.
There are two aspects to a
computer’s power: the num-
ber of operations its hard-
ware can execute per second
and the efficiency of the algo-
rithms it runs. The hardware
speed is limited by the laws of
physics. Algorithms – basi-
cally sets of instructions – are
written by humans and trans-
lated into a sequence of op-
erations that computer hard-
ware can execute. Even if a
computer’s speed could reach
the physical limit, computa-
tional hurdles remain due to
the limits of algorithms.
These hurdles include
problems that are impossible
for computers to solve and
problems that are theoreti-
cally solvable but in practice
are beyond the capabilities
of even the most powerful
versions of today’s comput-
ers imaginable. Mathemati-
cians and computer scien-
tists attempt to determine
whether a problem is solva-
ble by trying them out on an
imaginary machine.
AN IMAGINARY
COMPUTING MACHINE
The modern notion of an al-
gorithm, known as a Turing
machine, was formulated in
1936 by British mathemati-
cian Alan Turing. It’s an im-
aginary device that imitates
how arithmetic calculations
are carried out with a pencil
on paper. The Turing ma-
chine is the template all com-
puters today are based on.
To accommodate computa-
tions that would need more
paper if done manually, the
supply of imaginary paper in
a Turing machine is assumed
to be unlimited. This is
equivalent to an imaginary
limitless ribbon, or “tape,” of
squares, each of which is ei-
ther blank or contains one
symbol.
NOT EVERY PROBLEM
CAN BE SOLVED
Many problems are solvable
using a Turing machine and
therefore can be solved on a
computer, while many others
are not. For example, the
domino problem, a variation
of the tiling problem formu-
lated by Chinese American
mathematician Hao Wang in
1961, is not solvable.
The task is to use a set of
dominoes to cover an entire
grid and, following the rules
of most dominoes games,
matching the number of
pips on the ends of abutting
dominoes. It turns out that
there is no algorithm that
can start with a set of domi-
noes and determine whether
or not the set will completely
cover the grid.
KEEPING PROBLEMS
REASONABLE
A number of solvable prob-
lems can be solved by algo-
rithms that halt in a reason-
able amount of time. These
“polynomial-time algo-
rithms” are efficient algo-
rithms, meaning it’s practi-
cal to use computers to solve
instances of them.
Thousands of other solv-
able problems are not known
to have polynomial-time al-
gorithms, despite ongoing
intensive efforts to find such
algorithms. These include
the Traveling Salesman
Problem.
The Traveling Salesman
Problem asks whether a set
of points with some points
directly connected, called a
graph, has a path that starts
from any point and goes
through every other point ex-
actly once, and comes back to
the original point. Imagine
that a salesman wants to find
a route that passes all house-
holds in a neighborhood ex-
actly once and returns to the
starting point.
THE COST OF
KNOWING EXACTLY
The best-known algorithms
for NP-complete problems
are essentially searching for
a solution from all possible
answers. Traveling Salesman
Problem on a graph of a few
hundred points would take
years to run on a supercom-
puter. Such algorithms are
inefficient, meaning there
are no math shortcuts.
Practical algorithms that
address these problems in
the real world can only offer
approximations, though the
approximations are improv-
ing. Whether there are effi-
cient polynomial-time algo-
rithms that can solve NP-
complete problems is among
the seven millennium open
problems posted by the Clay
Mathematics Institute at the
turn of 21st century, each
carrying a prize of US$1 mn.
NEW COMPUTATION
FORM BEYOND TURING
Could there be a new form of
computation beyond Tu-
ring’s framework? In 1982,
American physicist Richard
Feynman, a Nobel laureate,
put forward the idea of com-
putation based on quantum
mechanics.
In 1995, Peter Shor, an
American applied mathema-
tician, presented a quantum
algorithm to factor integers
in polynomial time. Mathe-
maticians believe that this is
unsolvable by polynomial-
time algorithms in Turing’s
framework. Factoring an in-
teger means finding a smaller
integer greater than 1 that
can divide the integer. For ex-
ample, the integer 688,826,081
is divisible by a smaller inte-
ger 25,253, because 688,826,081
= 25,253 x 27,277.
SOURCE: THE CONVERSATION
E
Can a full-fledged
quantum computer be
built to factor integers
and solve other
problems? Some
scientists believe it can
be. Several groups of
scientists around the
world are working to
build one, and some
have already
built small-scale
quantum computers.
Nevertheless, like all
novel technologies
invented before, issues
with quantum
computation are
almost certain to arise
that would impose
new limits
LIMITS TO COMPUTING: A COMPUTER SCIENTIST EXPLAINS...
Empowered by artificial intelligence
technologies, computers today can engage in
convincing conversations with people, compose
songs, paint paintings, play chess and go, and
diagnose diseases, to name just a few examples
of their technological prowess

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05
INDIA
PATENT INFRINGEMENT: FIRM TO PAY `2 CR
AS DAMAGES FOR CONTEMPT OF COURT
JAMIA NAGAR VIOLENCE: 11 DISCHARGED,
COURT SAYS BOOKED AS ‘SCAPEGOATS’
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has directed a firm
to pay Rs 2 crore as damages to pharma giant Pfizer
Inc for committing “wilful” and “contumacious”
contempt of court by disobeying its order. The court
said if the director of the firm, Triveni Interchem Pvt
Ltd, fails to pay the amount in two weeks, he shall be
taken into custody and detained in a civil prison for
two weeks at Tihar jail here. The court, in an interim
order, had restrained the firm from making, selling,
distributing, advertising, exporting or importing or
dealing with any product having compound ‘Palbo-
ciclib’ or any pharmaceutically acceptable salt as it
would infringe the patent of plaintiff Pfizer.
New Delhi: A local court on Saturday discharged 11
people, including student activists Sharjeel Imam and
Asif Iqbal Tanha, in the Jamia Nagar violence case,
saying as the Delhi Police was unable to apprehend the
actual perpetrators, it booked the accused as “scape-
goats”. The court, however, ordered framing of charges
against one accused, Mohd Ilyas. “Marshalling the facts
as brought forth from a perusal of the chargesheet and
three supplementary chargesheets, this court cannot
but arrive at the conclusion that the police were unable
to apprehend the actual perpetrators behind the com-
mission of the offence, but surely managed to rope the
persons herein as scapegoats,” the court said.
CHARGESHEET FILED AGAINST EX-ANDAMAN
CHIEF SECY,3 OTHERS IN GANGRAPE CASE
New Delhi: The special investigation team probing a
gangrape case against former Andaman and Nicobar
Islands chief secretary Jitendra Narain, has filed a
935-page chargesheet against him and three other
accused. The team examined around 90 witnesses and
scientific, electronic, technical and biological evidence,
which will be crucial in the case. Narain and former
labour commissioner Rishi Raj are the prime accused
in the gangrape of a 21-year-old woman. The SIT has
filed the chargesheet under 10 sections of the Indian
Penal Code, including gangrape, criminal conspiracy,
criminal defamation among others against four ac-
cused, including Narain. The investigation is still on.
First India Bureau
New Delhi: Union En-
vironment Minister
Bhupender Yadav on
Saturday launched the
‘Save Wetlands Cam-
paign’ in the presence
of Gopa Chief Minister
Pramod Sawant. This
campaign is structured
on a “whole of society”
approach for wetlands
conservation, enabling
affirmative actions for
wetlands conservation
at all levels of the soci-
ety and involving all
strata of the society
.
This campaign over
next one year will in-
clude sensitizing people
of the value of wet-
lands, increasing the
coverage of wetland mi-
tras and building citi-
zen partnerships for
wetlands conservation.
Two publications
were also released dur-
ingtheoccasion,‘India’s
75 Amrit Dharohar- In-
dia’s Ramsar Sites
Factbook’ and ‘ Manag-
ing Climate Risks in
Wetlands — A Practi-
tioner’s Guide. The
factbook is a one-stop
resource of information
on our 75 Ramsar Sites,
including their values,
threats they face and
management arrange-
ments. The practition-
er’s Guide on Climate
Risk Assessment pro-
vides step-wise guid-
ance on assessing the
site-level climate risks
and integration of adap-
tation and mitigation
responses into the wet-
land management plan.
Yadav interacted with
wetlands managers of
states and heard their
experiences about
achievements and chal-
lenges. In his address,
the Union Minister
highlighted the critical
role played by the wet-
land ecosystem in secur-
ing the ecological, eco-
nomic and climate secu-
rity
. He also mentioned
about various green ini-
tiatives taken by the
Government in the
budget 2023 under the
leadership of Prime
MinisterNarendraModi
including Amrit Dharo-
har, MISHTI, PM PRAN-
AM, Green credit and
Green Growth aligned
with Mission LiFE.
Yadav also highlight-
ed the achievements of
thecountryinlastabout
9 years under the lead-
ership of Prime Minis-
ter Narendra Modi dur-
ing which country has
not only developed eco-
nomically but also with
ecological balance. The
Minister also empha-
sised on the importance
of strengthening com-
munication, education,
awareness and partici-
pation for conservation
of the wetlands.
Bhupender Yadav launches ‘Save Wetlands Campaign’
WETLANDS CONSERVATION
Jammu (PTI): Union
minister Anurag Singh
Thakur on Saturday
said the government
has nothing to hide on
the Adani issue and ac-
cused opposition par-
ties of creating a ruckus
in Parliament to evade a
debate on the “people-
friendly” budget.
He alleged that they
had insulted President
Droupadi Murmu by
stalling a discussion on
the motion of thanks to
the president’s address
and demanded that they
apologise to her.
“We want discussion
on President’s address
and 2023-24 budget
which will guide India
from ‘Amrit Kaal to
Swarnim Kaal’ and will
lay the foundation of
New India but the Oppo-
sition is running away
from discussion,”
Thakur told media here.
Parliament was ad-
journed for the second
consecutive day on Fri-
day without transact-
ing any business after
the Opposition stepped
up demand for inde-
pendent investigation
into the allegations of
fraud against Gautam
Adani’s companies that
triggered an unprece-
dented stock crash.
Responding to query
onOpposition’sdemand,
Thakur said, “The
banks, LIC and RBI have
alreadymadetheirstate-
ments clear, while the
govt has nothing to
hide.” “The role of the
Oppositionisveryunfor-
tunate.Theirresponseto
the speech of the presi-
dent is condemnable as
they repeatedly humili-
atedher.Theyshouldim-
mediately apologise to
her,” he said.
Thakur said the Op-
position was rendered
speechless by the “peo-
ple-friendly” budget
and instead of having a
discussion on it, they
are creating a ruckus.
New Delhi (PTI):
Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi will on Mon-
day inaugurate a green-
field helicopter produc-
tion facility of state-run
aerospace behemoth
Hindustan Aeronautics
Limited (HAL) in Kar-
nataka’s Tumakuru
that will initially pro-
duce light utility heli-
copters (LUHs).
The defence ministry
billed the 615-acre fac-
tory as India’s largest
helicopter-manufactur-
ing facility and it has
been planned as a one-
stop solution for the
country’s chopper re-
quirements.
Officials said the
HAL plans to produce
more than 1,000 heli-
copters in the range of
three to 15 tonnes, with
a total business of
more than Rs 4 lakh
crore over a period of
20 years.
Deoghar (ANI): Union
Home Affairs Minister
and Cooperation Minis-
ter Amit Shah on Satur-
day said that with the
recently released Union
Budget 2023-24, the Cen-
tre has made provisions
and allocated adequete
fund for the registra-
tion of over 2 lakh mul-
ti-dimensional Primary
Agricultural Credit So-
cieties (PACS).
He said that the PACS
have been created to en-
sure that there remains
no ‘panchayat’ which
would lack a dairy or a
fishery cooperative so-
ciety
. “To promote coop-
eration, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi has in-
troduced several
schemes in the recently
released Union Budget
2023-24.. The previous
tax of 26 per cent which
was used to be levied on
cooperation in the field
of production, has now
been lowered to 15 per
cent. We have also con-
stituted a Ministry of
Cooperation to check
which all panchayats
lack milk and fisheries
society,” Shah said.
Amit Shah was ad-
dressing a function af-
ter laying the founda-
tion stone of a nano
urea plant of the Indian
Farmers Fertiliser Co-
operative (IFFCO) in
Jharkhand’s Deoghar,
and said, “After the for-
mation of the Ministry
of Cooperation, we set
up a data bank for Coop-
eratives across the
country to identify
which Panchayats do
not have PACs, dairy, or,
a Fishery cooperative
society
. Hence, after five
years, there will be no
panchayat that does not
have a PACS.”
New Delhi (PTI): The
Enforcement Directo-
rate has questioned and
recorded the statement
of Alankar Sawai, a
close aide of Congress
leader Rahul Gandhi, in
a Prevention of Money
LaunderingAct(PMLA)
case in which TMC
spokesperson Saket
Gokhale was recently
arrested by the agency
in Gujarat, the Enforce-
ment Directorate offi-
cials said. Sawai was
questioned and also
confronted with
Gokhale in Ahmedabad
over three days earlier
this week, they said.
New Delhi (PTI): The
Congress on Saturday
released its first list of
21 candidates for the
Nagaland assembly
polls, fielding its state
unit chief K Therie
from Dimapur-I.
The list was released
after a meeting of the
Central Election Com-
mittee, headed by party
chief Mallikarjun
Kharge.
“The Central Elec-
tion Committee of the
Congress has selected
the candidates for the
ensuing elections to the
Legislative assembly of
Nagaland,” an official
statement said.
Among the other can-
didates in the party’s
first list are S Amento
Chisti from Dimapur II
(ST), V Lasuh from Di-
mapur III (ST), Akavi
Zhimomi from Ghaspa-
ni-I and Rosy Thomas
from Tenning (ST).
Chandigarh (PTI):
Suspended for her al-
leged anti-party activi-
ties, Congress’ Patiala
MP Preneet Kaur Satur-
day said the party is wel-
come to take whatever
decision it wants but as-
serted she always gave
her best to the party
.
The Congress on Fri-
day suspended her and
also asked her to ex-
plain why she should
not be expelled for “an-
ti-party activities”.
Kaur is the wife of
former chief minister
Amarinder Singh, who
joined the BJP after
leaving the Congress.
“The Congress is wel-
come to take whatever
decision it wants. I have
always given my best to
the party and to the peo-
ple who have repeatedly
elected me. I owe it to
them and will continue
to serve them, as al-
ways. I derive my
strength from my peo-
ple. Everything else is
secondary,” Kaur said
on Twitter on Saturday
.
Meanwhile, PPCC
chief Amrinder Singh
Raja Warring accused
Preneet of weakening
the Congress in Patiala,
andsaidsheshouldleave
the party on her own.
“It would have been
better if Preneet Kaur ji
quit the party on her
own. She left no stone
unturned in weakening
the Congress in Patia-
la,” claimed Warring.
The Congress’ disci-
plinary panel secretary
Tariq Anwar had said
the action against Kaur
follows complaints
against her from the
PPCC chief Warring.
Union Minister highlights role played
by wetland ecosystem in securing the
ecological, economic climate security
Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav. —FILE PHOTO
Congress announces first list of
21 candidates for Nagaland polls
India’s largest helicopter
facility to open in K’taka
Adequate funds for over
2 lakh agri societies: HM
No panchayat will
lack milk dairy,
fisheries society in
next 5 years: HM
Amit Shah with Jharkhand BJP chief Deepak Prakash, MP Nishikant
Dubey and others at Vijay Sankalp Maharally, in Deoghar on Saturday.
To promote cooperation, Prime Minis-
ter Narendra Modi has introduced
several schemes in the recently re-
leased Union Budget 2023-24.
—Amit Shah, Union Home Affairs Minister and Cooperation Minister
Prime Minister
Narendra Modi to
inaugurate facility
on Monday
MARTIN TO DISPLAY F-21 JET, OTHER
PLATFORMS AT AERO-INDIA 2023
SOUTH CENTRAL RLY
GETS `13,786 CR IN
UNION BUDGET
PM MODI PRAISES BILL GATES FOR
TRYING HIS HANDS TO MAKE ROTI
New Delhi: US defence major Lockheed Martin will
showcase its F-21 fighter jet, S-92 multi-role helicop-
ter, MH-60R Romeo multi-mission chopper and anti-
tank weapon Javelin, among others, at the upcoming
Aero-India exhibition in Bengaluru. The 14th edition
of Aero-India will be held at Bengaluru in Karnataka
from February 13 to 17. Almost all leading aerospace
companies around the world are expected to attend
the event at Air Force Station, Yelahanka.
Hyderabad (PTI): South
Central Railway on Friday
said it was sanctioned a sum
of Rs. 13,786.19 crore for
year 2023-24 compared to
Rs. 8,349.75 crore for year
2022-23, nearly 65 per cent
increase over last year's
allocation in the Union
Budget. A press release
from the SCR said Rs
3,374.44 crore was allotted
for doubling, third line and
bypass line works compared
to Rs 1,531 crore last year.
New Delhi: PM Narendra Modi on Saturday lauded
Billionaire Bill Gates for trying his hands to make roti.
The PM advised him to make millet dishes as well.
Gates posted a video on Instagram where he was seen
making a roti along with popular blogger Eitan Bernath.
Sharing the video on his Instagram story, PM Modi said,
“Superb!” He also said that the latest trend in India is
millets, which are known to be healthy. “There are many
millet dishes too which you can try making,” Modi said.
ED grills Rahul
Gandhi’s aide
in PMLA case
Congress welcome to take whatever
decision it wants,says MP Preneet Kaur
Patiala MP Preneet Kaur comes out of Parliament on Friday.
LOGJAM IN PARLIAMENT
SHAH ON UNION BUDGET 2023-24
OPPN RUNNING AWAY FROM
DISCUSSION: ANURAG THAKUR
Anurag Thakur with JK Lt Guv Manoj Sinha in Jammu.
SMRITI SLAMS CONG FOR
DISRUPTING PARL HOUSES
BUDGET 2023 TO PROVIDE
JOBS TO YOUTH: MoS RAI
Kolkata (PTI): Union Minister Smriti
Irani on Saturday slammed the Con-
gress for disrupting the proceedings in
Parliament demanding
an independent investi-
gation into the allega-
tions of fraud against
billionaire Gautam
Adani’s companies that
triggered an unprec-
edented stock crash. She alleged it is
a reflection of the animosity the party
has towards President Droupadi Mur-
mmu from the day she took office.
New Delhi (ANI): Minister of State
(Home) Nityanand Rai on Saturday
said that Union Budget 2023-24
presented by Finance
Minister Nirmala Sithara-
man will provide job
opportunities to youths
in the country with the
resolution of ‘Sabka
Sath, Sabka Vikas’. MoS
Home Nityanand Rai addressed a press
conference in Agra on Budget and said
that this budget outlines the develop-
ment of all sections of the society.
IN THE COURTYARD

06
INDIA
JAWAN INJURED IN
LANDMINE
EXPLOSION IN JK
MAN CARRYING
BULLETS HELD AT
KOLKATA AIRPORT
CHHATTISGARH:
MAN KILLED IN
TIGER ATTACK
ACQUITTED IN GANG
RAPE CASE, MAN
HELD FOR MURDER
Jammu: An army soldier
was injured on Saturday in
a landmine explosion along
the LoC in JK’s Poonch.
Officials said that the explo-
sion took place in Kerni sec-
tor of Poonch on Saturday.
“The explosion apparently
occurred accidentally around
11.15 a.m., today. The
injured soldier was airlifted
to the command hospital in
Udhampur,” they said.
Kolkata: A man was ar-
rested at the Netaji Subhas
Chandra Bose International
Airport in Kolkata for
carrying four bullets in his
hand baggage. The arrest
took place late Friday night
during routine checking
while the man, identified
as Mohammad Ghalib, was
attempting to board a Ben-
galuru-bound Air Asia flight,
sources said on Saturday.
Korba: A 37-year-old
man was killed in an
attack by a tiger in Manen-
dragarh-Chirmiri-Bharatpur
district of Chhattisgarh,
forest officials said on Satur-
day. The incident took place
at Kachod village under Kol-
hari circle of Manendragarh
Forest Division on Friday
evening. The deceased, iden-
tified as Budhram Agariya,
was a local resident.
New Delhi: A man, who
was acquitted in the 2012
Chhawla gang-rape and
murder case, was arrested
along with his associate for
allegedly killing an auto-rick-
shaw driver in Dwarka. The
accused Vinod and his as-
sociate Pawan were arrested
for stabbing one Anar Singh
(44) to death in Dwarka’s
Sector-13 area early on
January 26, police said.
Patna: The Jehanabad Police in Bihar arrested a man,
absconding for the last eight months, under POCSO Act
on Saturday. The accused, identified as Sanjay Kumar
Verma, is husband of Manju Kumari Verma, former
JD-U district president. Poonam Chaudhary, the SHO of
woman police station, confirmed the development. She
said that an FIR was registered in August last year where
Sanjay Kumar Verma was co-accused. He was facing the
charge of shielding the main accused Sunil Kumar and
Bittu Kumar, the police said.
FORMER JD(U) LEADER’S HUSBAND
ARRESTED UNDER POCSO ACT
CRUCIAL READ
First India Bureau
Jammu: Union Minis-
ter Anurag Thakur and
the LG of Jammu and
Kashmir Manoj Sinha
on Saturday launched
the third Khelo India
Winter Games mascot,
theme song and jersey
.
The Winter Games
are scheduled to be held
from the 10th to the 14th
of this month. Approxi-
mately 1500 athletes
across the country will
participate in the games
that will take place in
Gulmarg and will be
played across nine
sports events. Thakur
mentioned, “The Winter
Games, being hosted
hereinGulmarginJam-
mu and Kashmir em-
bodies the visions of the
Honourable Prime Min-
isterNarendraModi-on
the one hand it has giv-
en a chance to the youth
of the valley to not just
participateintheGames
but also to witness an
enthralling sporting
competition with play-
ers from all across the
country, in the comfort
of their home town and
it also acts as a spring-
board for talented ath-
letes to showcase their
sporting prowess.”
The Khelo India Win-
ter Games started in
2020 and it is supported
by the Ministry of
Youth Affairs and
Sports and is organized
by the JK Sports
Council as well as the
Winter Games associa-
tion of the JK.
Thakur added, “In
places like Shopian,
where till not so long
ago the youth was mis-
led into performing acts
of stone pelting, taking
drugs and indulging in
such activities.”
Sports Minister Anurag Thakur launches mascot, theme song and jersey
3rd KHELO INDIA WINTER GAMES
lll
Khelo India
Winter Games
will be held from
10th to 14th this
month at
Gulmarg in
Jammu
Kashmir Anurag Thakur and JK Lt Guv Manoj Sinha at the launch ceremony in Jammu on Saturday.
USandIndiaare‘trusted
partners’:IndianEnvoy
Washington (ANI):
The United States and
India are looking at
each other as trusted
partners and their trust
is seen in the initiative
on Critical and Emerg-
ing Technology (iCET),
Indian Ambassador to
US Taranjit Singh
Sandhu said.
Sandhu said, “US and
India are looking at
each other as trusted
partners that trust is
being reflected in the
iCET. The iCET is a his-
toric beginning that
provides a platform for
both sides to move
ahead together in the
field of technology
. He
also said the relation-
ship between US and
India strengthened af-
ter Prime Minister Nar-
endra Modi made his
first visit to the US in
2014 and after President
Joe Biden came into
power, the interaction
between the two coun-
tries and areas of dis-
cussion widened.
“One of the pillars of
the India-US relation-
ship has been technol-
ogy which includes in-
novation startup cul-
ture. All that comes to-
gether through the ini-
tiative on iCET and
iCET takes it much
further ahead,” he said.
He also stated, “The
initiative on Critical
and Emerging Technol-
ogy (iCET) is a unique
initiative because this
is perhaps the first time
that not only the admin-
istration but academia
the scientific commu-
nity have all come to-
gether.”
Earlier, National Se-
curity Advisor Ajit Dov-
al made an official visit
to Washington from
January 30-February 1.
He was accompanied by
senior government of-
ficials and leaders of
Indian industry
.
Indian Ambassador to US says this trust is seen in the iCET initiative
Ambassador of India to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Delegates during the first G20 Employment Working Group
meeting, in Jodhpur on Saturday. —PHOTO BY ANI
INDIA RELIABLE FRIEND OF SRI
LANKA: MoS MURALEEDHARAN
Colombo: India is always a dependable
partner and a reliable friend of Sri Lanka,
Union Minister of State (MoS) for External
Affairs V Muraleedharan
said on Saturday. His re-
marks came as he attended
Sri Lanka’s 75th Independ-
ence Day. Several other
foreign dignitaries also at-
tended the event. Muraleed-
haran said he was happy to represent India
at “friendly neighbour” Sri Lanka’s 75th
Independence Day celebrations.
HILLARY TO PAY RESPECTS TO
SEWA FOUNDER IN GUJ TODAY
Ahmedabad: Former US Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton will be on a two-day
visit of Gujarat from Sunday and will par-
ticipate in programmes of
the Self-Empowered Wom-
en's Association (SEWA)
founded by social worker
and Gandhian Ela Bhatt
who died in November last
year. Hillary will pay tribute
to Bhatt in Ahmedabad and interact with
SEWA members on Sunday, while on
Monday she will visit Dhrangadhra.
Top priority areas
discussed in G20
Employment meet
New Delhi (Agencies):
With all G20 countries
showing interest and
commitment in con-
structively working to-
wards the objective of
the three priority areas
of Addressing Global
Skills Gaps, gig and plat-
formeconomyandsocial
protection and Sustain-
able Financing of Social
Security set by the Indi-
an Presidency
, the first
G20 Employment Work-
ing Group meet conclud-
ed on Saturday
.
The three-day meet-
ing of the Indian Presi-
dency, led by the Minis-
try of Labour and Em-
ployment, had the man-
date of addressing pri-
orities of labour, em-
ployment and social is-
sues for strong, sustain-
able, balanced, and job-
rich growth for all.
The EWG meetings
beganonThursdaywith
panel discussion on ‘Ex-
ploring Strategies for
Global Skills and Quali-
fications Harmonisa-
tion and developing a
Framework for Com-
mon Skill Toponomies’.
Welcoming the dele-
gates at the G20 Em-
ployment Working
Group in Jodhpur, Un-
ion Minister Gajendra
Singh Shekhawat called
upon the members of
the international com-
munity in the opening
session of the second
day to strive together to
make meaningful pro-
gress in creating more
opportunities for de-
cent work and inclusive
growth for all people.
The 3-day meet
of Employment
Working Group
was held from
Feb 2-4 in
Jodhpur
UP: 12 PPS officers shifted, 1 IAS gets addl charge
Dr Ahtesham Siddiqui
Lucknow: The Uttar
Pradesh Government
has given the additional
Labor Department to
Principal Secretary
PWD-II IAS Ajay Chau-
han. This department
was running vacant af-
ter the retirement of
ACS Suresh Chand of
the Labor Department.
IAS Suresh Chandra re-
tired on 31 January
. Af-
ter which the govern-
ment has given the ad-
ditional charge of 1998
batch IAS Ajay Chau-
han here.
On the other hand,
after the transfer of 11
IPS officers, 12 PPS of-
ficers have been trans-
ferred to make better
law and order in the
government. Ghazi-
abad, PPS Mahesh Tya-
gi ACP Noida, PPS
Navina Shukla DSP
Gonda, PPS Santosh
Kumar DSP Shravasti,
PPS Rajiv Dwivedi DSP
Aligarh, PPS Pawan
Gautam ACP Noida,
PPS Ajit Kumar ACP
Ghaziabad, PPS Shahi-
da Nasreen Circle Of-
ficer Aligarh, PPS
Daddan Prasad DSP
Sonbhadra, PPS Satya
Prakash Sharma has
been made ACP LIU
Agra.
New Delhi (PTI): A day
after its plant was in-
spected by Indian drug
regulatory bodies over
allegations that its eye
drop was linked to vi-
sion loss in the US, Ta-
mil Nadu-based Global
Pharma Healthcare has
been asked to stop man-
ufacturing all ophthal-
mic products till the in-
quiry is completed, of-
ficials said on Saturday
.
A three-member
team each from the Cen-
tral Drugs Standard
Control Organisation
(CDSCO) and the State
Drug Controller visited
the plant in Tamil Na-
du's Kancheepuram, 40
km from Chennai, on
Friday after the com-
pany recalled the eye
drop.
The teams have also
collected samples of eye
drop — Artificial Tears
— which were exported.
The eye drop is not sold
in India.
TN Pharma firm
recalls eyedrops
from US market
after complaints
PFI member held
for‘conspiring
against govt’ in MP
Bhopal (ANI): The
Madhya Pradesh Police
have arrested a member
of the banned PFI outfit
from Bhopal for alleg-
edly conspiring against
the government and in-
dulging in unlawful ac-
tivities, officials said on
Saturday
.
Officials said the ar-
rest was made on Friday
in connection with a
case registered by the
state police’s Special
Task Force (STF) last
year. The member iden-
tified as Wasid Khan, a
Sheopur district resi-
dentof MadhyaPradesh,
absconded in the case
registered at STF.
“PFI member Wasid
Khan (26), a resident of
Sheopur, was arrested
under Indian Penal
Code (IPC) sections
121A (conspiracy to
wage war against govt),
153B (assertions preju-
dicial to national inte-
gration) and 120B (crim-
inal conspiracy) besides
the provisions of the
Unlawful Activities
(Prevention) Act,” offi-
cials said.
Khan was associated
with the PFI and had
been attending the or-
ganisation’s various
programmes and secret
meetings since 2017.
“He used to participate
in secret meetings of
PFI and was in contact
with senior officials of
the organisation,” the
official said. After the
arrest, he was produced
before the court which
sent him to police re-
mand till February 8.
IAS Ajay Chauhan
Blast near Sunny
Leone’s fashion show
Imphal (PTI): A pow-
erful explosion took
place on Saturday near
the venue of a fashion
show event in Imphal
which actress Sunny
Leone is scheduled to
attend on Sunday, an of-
ficial said.
However, no injuries
were reported in the in-
cident that took place in
Hatta Kangjeibung area
of Manipur’s capital.
The blast took place
100 metres from the
venue at around 6.30am
on Saturday
.
It is not yet clear
whether the explosion
was caused due to an
improvised explosive
device or a grenade, he
said.
No militant outfit has
claimed responsibility
for the explosion so far.
PT Usha cries while complaining about
encroachments at her athletics school
Thiruvananthapuram:
Legendary Indian ath-
lete and president of the
Indian Olympic Associ-
ation PT Usha on Satur-
day complained about
encroachments at her
athletics school at Bal-
ussery near Kozhikode.
Usha said this was
noticed at the 30 acre
facility of her school
which has several girls
who are inmates.
“We have seen some
constructionthathasbe-
gun in our property that
was given to us for the
school. I have lodged a
complaint with CM
Pinarayi Vijayan. We
havetobeverycarefulas
therearegirlsandhence
safety and security are a
must,” said Usha.
After the complaint,
the work was stopped.
Usha added that this
has happened after she
recently became a nom-
inated member of the
Upper House.
We have to be
very careful as
there are girls
and hence safety and
security are a must.
—PT Usha, Legendary Indian
athlete and president of the Indian
Olympic Association

business
BRIEFS
New Delhi: The 49th
meeting of the GST Coun-
cil is scheduled to be held
in New Delhi on February
18, 2023, according to a
tweet posted by the coun-
cil. The GST Council
meeting will be chaired by
Union Finance Minister
Nirmala Sitharaman. The
49th GST Council meeting
is likely to take up issues
relating to taxation on
‘pan masala’ and ‘gutka’
companies, setting up of
appellate tribunals, and
GST levy on online gam-
ing, casino, and horse
racing. —ANI
49TH GST COUNCIL
MEET TO BE HELD
ON FEBRUARY 18
New Delhi: India has been
going big on electronic
manufacturing for the last
few years and in Decem-
ber 2022, Apple became
the first company from the
country to export smart-
phones worth USD 1 bil-
lion in a month. According
to a recent article, Decem-
ber was the record month
for the industry with mo-
bile phone exports of over
Rs10,000 crore. Prime
Minister Narendra Modi’s
vision for 2023 is to have
mobile phone exports with
the segment featuring in
the top 10 export category
from India, Minister of
State for Electronics
and IT Rajeev Chan-
drasekhar said. —ANI
IND MOBILE EXPORTS
SET TO ZOOM TO
RECORD HIGH
New Delhi: Proposed allo-
cation of Rs7,000 crore in
the 2023-24 budget for
phase three of the eCourts
Project will enhance judicial
institutions and efficiency
while ensuring courts reach
every citizen, Chief Justice
DY Chandrachud said Sat-
urday. Addressing the 73rd
anniversary of establish-
ment of the Supreme
Court, he said that during
the COVID-19 pandemic
period, the top court adopt-
ed video conferencing of
court proceedings to reach
out to people. —PTI
‘BUDGET ALLOCATION
TO ENHANCE
JUDICIAL EFFICIENCY’
Mumbai: Reliance Jio on
Saturday launched its True
5G services in Haridwar
from Har Ki Pauri, taking
the total number of Jio
True 5G cities to 226
across the country. The
telecom company said
starting today, Jio users in
Haridwar would be invited
to the Jio Welcome Offer
to experience unlimited
data at up to 1 Gbps+
speeds, at no additional
cost. Haridwar becomes
the second city in the state
after the capital city Deh-
radun to get Jio True 5G
services, according to a
company statement. —ANI
NOW JIO LAUNCHES
5G SERVICES
IN HARIDWAR
On February 1, 2023, Fi-
nance Minister Nirmala
Sitharaman presented the
Union Budget 2023-24 to
Parliament.
ast year was filled
with unpredicta-
ble and tumultu-
ous global events
whose adverse ef-
fects percolated
right down to the individu-
al level. The Union Budget
of 2023-24 was projected to
include a relief for the mid-
dle and lower income class
as well as push for infra-
structure and job growth.
The Budget has delivered
on most of these expecta-
tions. The current govern-
ment has done a splendid
job of ticking all checkbox-
es by providing benefits to
almost everyone be it the
rural poor, youth, an aver-
age middle class man, sen-
ior citizens, corporates as
well as startups.
Let us look at some of
the hits and misses of this
budget.
HITS
z Benefits for the common
man: The most awaited part of
the budget -Direct Taxes- did
not disappoint. The middle
class happily welcomed the
proposal of hiking rebate
under section 87A from ` 5
lakh to `7 lakh in the new tax
regime. Under the new tax
slabs, individuals enjoy the
benefits of lower taxes. For
example, an individual with an
annual income of `9 lakh will
have to pay only `45,000 as
opposed to ` 60,000 currently.
Even the ultra rich benefit from
the proposal to reduce the
highest surcharge rate from
37% to 25%.
z Saving schemes: Deposit
limit for senior citizens’ sav-
ings scheme doubled from `15
lakh currently to ` 30 lakh. One
type saving scheme for women
introduced for deposit upto `2
lakh at 7.5% interest rate.
z Huge infrastructure push:
The expected capital expendi-
ture will be `10 lakh crore, up
33% year over year. Effective
government capital expen-
ditures will total `13.7 lakh
crore, or 4.5% of GDP, which is
favorable for the capital goods
and infrastructure sector.
z Fiscal deficit target
maintained: Government has
maintained prudence and set
the deficit target for the current
fiscal year to be 5.9%, a reduc-
tion of 50 basis points from
this year’s target of 6.4%.
z Focus on rural sector:
There was a major focus on
rural development in this
budget as the Union Finance
Minister announced that the
agricultural credit target will
be increased to ` 20 lakh
crore with a focus on animal
husbandry, dairy, and fisher-
ies. Allocation for PM Awas
Yojna increased by a whopping
66% to over `79,000 crore
which will enable the required
infrastructure push as well as
job creation.
z MSME support: While it
was expected that the credit
guarantee schemes brought
in during the pandemic will be
phased out, a revamp of the
schemes has been proposed in
this budget. With an invest-
ment of `9000 crore, a revised
credit guarantee scheme for
MSMEs would go into effect
on April 1, 2023. This will
allow for an additional `2 lakh
crore in collateral-free credit
guarantees, which will allow
for a 1% reduction in the cost
of borrowing. For MSMEs that
are still recuperating from the
effects of the epidemic, this is
wonderful news.
z For enhancing ease of doing
business, more than 39,000
compliances have been reduced,
over 3,400 legal provisions de-
criminalized. Green Growth was
one of the seven focus areas
of the Budget `35,000 crore
capital investment was provided
towards energy transition and
net zero objective.
z No bad news is good news:
No change in long term capital
tax gain which was expected to
increase.
MISSES
z No change in deductions:
A few expectations which
were missed in the Budget
were increase in Standard
Deductions by salaried
individuals and increase in
deduction level under 80C. As
the government is pushing
to make the New Tax Regime
as the default regime, the old
tax regime did not see any
significant upgrades.
z Big blow for insurance
companies: This is a big
negative for insurance compa-
nies as the incentive of getting
deductions on insurance
premiums will no longer look
attractive. Insurance poli-
cies are often bought for tax
planning which will reduce in
future. Plus curbs on exemp-
tions involving high-value
insurance policies announced
in this budget will also impact
large ticket policy sales. The
exemption benefit has been a
major factor in the insurance
industry’s growth in India.
Huge chunks of policies are
still sold during the tax plan-
ning season of January
to March.
z Boost for PLI scheme
missing: No new sectors were
introduced as part of produc-
tion linked incentives to boost
manufacturing which was
widely anticipated.
Let us now look into the
details of announcements
under broad categories.
PERSONAL INCOME
TAX
The New Tax Regime is
now the default Tax Re-
gime. However, citizens
can continue to use the
old one too. The Proposed
Slab is as below:
z Exemption Rebate in-
creased to `7 lakh from `5
Lakh i.e. there is no tax on
income up to `7 Lakh
z Individuals with income of
`15.5 lakh and above are eligi-
ble for standard deduction of
`52,500 in the new tax regime
as opposed to `50,000 in the
old regime.
z Currently, the highest rate is
42.74% income tax under the
new regime. The Budget has
proposed to reduce the highest
surcharge from 37% to 25%
in the new tax regime, thereby
reducing the rate to maximum
of 39%.
z Limit on tax exemption for
leave encashment is increased
from 3,00,000 to 25,00,000
OTHER MAJOR
CHANGES
z Basic customs duty rates to
be reduced from 21% to 13%
z Taxes on cigarettes hiked
by 16%
z Basic import duty on com-
pounded rubber increased to
25% from 10%.
z Customs duty on kitchen
electric chimney increased to
15% from 7.5%
z The Budget proposes to in-
crease the limit for presumptive
taxation for MSMEs and certain
professionals to `3 crore and
`75 lakh, respectively.
z New cooperatives that com-
mence manufacturing activity
till March 2024 to attract lower
tax rate of 15%
SAVING SCHEMES
z Senior Citizen Savings
Scheme: Maximum investment
limit increased from `15 lakh
to `30 lakh.
z Mahila Samman Bachat
Patra: One-time small savings
scheme announced for women
which accepts a maximum
`2 lakh deposit for two-year
period with fixed interest of
7.5%.
INFRASTRUCTURE
z The capital account
expenditure is estimated to
be `10 lakh crore forming
3.3% of GDP, an increase of
33% YoY
z The outlay for Pradhan
Mantri Awas Yojana is being
increased by 66% to over
`79,000 crore.
z 50 additional airports, heli-
ports, water aerodromes, and
advanced landing zones are
proposed to be revitalized.
z 100 critical transport in-
frastructure projects for steel,
ports, fertilizer, coal, foodgrain
sectors have been identified
with an investment of `75,000
crore (`15,000 crore from
private sources)
z Railway outlay budgeted at
`2.40 Lakh Crore which is the
highest ever. It is over 9x times
that of FY14.
EDUCATION
z Eklavaya Model Residential
Schools: In the next three
years, the Centre will recruit
38,800 teachers and support
staff for 740 schools serving
3.5 lakh tribal students
z A National Digital Library
for children and adolescents
will be set up for facilitat-
ing the availability of quality
books across geographies,
languages, genres and
levels and device-agnostic
accessibility.
z 100 labs for developing
apps using 5G services will
be set up in Engineering
institutions. Labs will cover,
among other things, applica-
tions like Smart Classrooms,
Precision Farming, Intelligent
Transports Systems, and
Healthcare in order to realize
the new range of options,
business models, and job
potential.
z In top educational institu-
tions, 3 centers of excellence
for AI will be established with
the objectives of “Making AI
in India” and “Making AI Work
For India.”
CLEAN ENERGY
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
This budget provides for
`35,000 crore capital in-
vestment towards
energy transition and net
zero objective and energy
security. `19,700 crore
was allocated to the Na-
tional Hydrogen Mission.
The objective is to reach
hydrogen production ca-
pacity of 5 metric million
tonnes by 2030.
HEALTHCARE AND
OTHER WELFARE
SCHEMES
z From Jan. 1, 2023, PM
Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana is
being implemented to supply
free food grain to all Antyo-
daya and priority households
for one year.
z Health spending has
been given an allocation of
`88,956 crores, an increase
of 2.7% or `2,350 crores
from FY23’s allocation of
`86,606 crores.
z The budget allocates
`7,200 crores to the Ayush-
man Bharat– Pradhan Mantri
Jan Arogya Yojna (PMJAY),
an increase of `743 crores
or 11.5% from FY23 when it
received `6,457 crores.
z The Pradhan Mantri Poshan
Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN)
has received `11,600 crores
in funding, an increase of
`1,366 crores or 13.4% from
the `10,234 crores provided
in FY23.
z Alongside the 157 medi-
cal colleges that have already
been operating since 2014, 157
additional nursing colleges will
open.
IN CONCLUSION
The current government
has chosen an inclusive
approach while presenting
its last Union Budget be-
fore the general elections.
The focus of the budget
was on stabilising macro-
economic factors and pro-
viding a strong impetus to
growth and job creation.
With a strong emphasis on
infrastructure, health, ag-
riculture, and green initia-
tives, the budget has made
bold and forward-looking
promises. If executed well,
India is unquestionably
set up for significant
growth and stability, with
benefits for all citizens.
The Union Budget ’23
L
`
Hits Misses
AMOUNT IN NEW
RS LAKHS SLABS
0 to 3 Nil
3 to 6 5%
6 to 9 10%
9 to12 15%
12 to 15 20%
Above 15 30%
New Delhi (ANI): The In-
dian government launched
PradhanMantriFasalBima
Yojana (PMFBY) in 2016 to
address the issue of farm-
ers’ inability to get crop in-
surance due to lack of mon-
ey
, high premium rates, and
capping. The scheme has
completed six years of its
implementation.
The PMFBY is aimed at
giving farmers a simple
and affordable crop insur-
ance option to ensure com-
prehensive risk coverage
for crops against all natu-
ral risks from pre-sowing
to post-harvest and provide
adequate claim amounts.
The demand-driven
scheme is available to all.
In this scheme, it has be-
come easier for the farmer
to report crop loss within
72 hours of any incident
through Fasal Bima App,
Citizens Service Centre, or
nearest agriculture officer.
During this period,
claims of more than
Rs1,24,223 crore have been
paid to more than 11.73
crore farmer applicants.
Farmers had paid a premi-
um of about Rs 25,185 crore.
That is, the farmers have
received almost five times
the premium paid (received
Rs493 on payment of Rs100
premium) as claims.
The most important
change had been that in-
stead of 50%, the Centre
now gives a 90% share in
the subsidy for crop insur-
ance to farmers of north-
eastern states.
Indian govt focuses on
empowering farmers
Next e-auction of
FCI wheat under
OMSS to be held
on Feb 15: Govt
New Delhi (PTI): The next
e-auction for the sale of FCI
wheat to bulk consumers
like flour millers under the
Open Market Sale Scheme
(OMSS) will be held on Feb-
ruary 15, the Food Ministry
said on Saturday
.
State-run Food Corpora-
tion of India (FCI) has been
mandated to sell 25 lakh
tonnes of wheat from buff-
er stock to bulk consumers
under the OMSS to contain
rising prices of wheat and
wheat products in country
.
The first sale of wheat
through e-auction was held
on February 1-2. About 9.2
lakh tonnes of wheat was
sold from FCI depots in 23
states. The plan was to hold
a weekly e-auction every
Wednesday
. In a statement,
the Food Ministry said,
“The second sale of wheat
through e-auction will be
held throughout country
on February 15.”
‘Budget’s main focus is growth;
Mum should be liking proposals’
Mumbai (PTI): Union Fi-
nance Minister Nirmala
Sitharaman on Saturday
said growth is the main fo-
cus of the budget for FY24
presented by her recently
.
The budget proposals es-
tablish both fiscal consoli-
dation and growth, espe-
cially inclusive growth,
Sitharaman said during
her maiden interaction
with stakeholders outside
the national capital since
presenting the budget on
February 1.
“Growth is the main fo-
cus. We want to sustain that
recovery, sustain that
growth,” Sitharaman, ac-
companied by the top min-
istry officials at the out-
reach event, said. She gave
credit for ensuring growth
to the people of the country
,
whoabsorbedtherelief and
policymeasuresintroduced
by the government since
the onset of the pandemic
to make India the second-
fastest growing economy
.
The finance minister
said it was the “express de-
sire” of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi to continue
with the elevated public
capital expenditure, due to
which she has proposed a
higher outlay of Rs10 lakh
crore under the head.
She also thanked the
budget-making team for
making it possible to de-
vote such a high quantum
of resources for the task
amid the myriad challeng-
es like the need for fiscal
consolidation. “Mumbai
should be liking it (the pro-
posals),” Sitharaman said.
FINANCE MINISTER SAYS...
We want to sustain that recovery, sustain that
growth. Mumbai should be liking proposals.
—Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Finance Minister
07
Commodity Price Change % Chg
GOLD 56,580 1115.00 1.93 (Per 10g)
SILVER 67,600 2604.00 3.71 (Per 1kg)
COMMODITIES
*Rates till the edition went to print.
Currency Price Change % Chg
USDINR 81.86 0.34 00
GBPINR 100.05 1.39 00
CURRENCIES

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