First India-Mumbai Edition-1st November 2022

Jr. Thackeray throws open challenge, demands one-on-one debate!

Mumbai: Former min ister and Thackeray scion - Aaditya Thack eray - on Monday fired salvos, one after the other, on current Maha rashtra leadership and special ly CM Eknath Shinde and challenged him to share a stage with him for a ‘one-on-one’ de bate about the invest ments in the state.

The junior Thacker ay hit at Fadnavis’s claim that all the pro jects that went out of the state, moved during MVA government and denied the allegations. He pointed out that Fox conn project and Vedan ta Foxconn project are completely different.

Addressing a presser, Thacker ay said, “I have nev er heard

such a lie or seen such a misrepresentation. De vendra Fadnavis has received wrong infor mation. The project he mentioned in January 2020, came to Maha

rashtra under the ‘Mag netic Maharashtra’ scheme during Fad navis’ government in 2016. It is a Foxconn company which was go ing to make mobiles in

state. Later the project moved to the US. Al though this project be longs to Foxconn com pany, but there is a dif ference between it and Turn to P8

COLLAPSES IN MORBI

Trying our best for 3L Cr Nanar refinery project in state: Fadnavis

Mumbai: With Shinde-Fadnavis government facing serious flak from opposition and being sur rounded over the TataAirbus project heading to Gujarat, Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis on Monday announed that an ‘Elec tronic Manufacturing Cluster’ will be set up at Ranjangaon in Pune, which the central government has approved. However, Fadnavis made another startling revelation and hinted that the refinery project at Nanar could be split between two states.

ACT OF GOD OR ACT OF FRAUD?

Moni Sharma

Ahmedabad: The death toll in Morbi bridge collapse rose to 141 on Monday, a senior Gujarat police official said, adding that the rescue operation was still underway. Police have registered an FIR on charges of culpable homicide against agen cies given the task of maintenance and opera tion of the bridge. So far, 9 people have been arrested by Gujarat Po lice after interrogation in connection with the tragedy.

The more than a cen tury-old bridge on the Machchhu river in Mor bi, located around 300 km from the state capital Gandhinagar, had reo pened 5 days ago after extensive repairs and renovation. It was

READ Crucial

‘BLUE TICK’ FEE! ‘ONUS ON TWITTER TO STOP SPREAD OF MISINFO’

New Delhi: Twitter is abuzz with reports that users will have to shell out a USD 20 fee for ‘blue tick’, which authenticates identity of account holder. Union MoS for Electronics and Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, “I do not think this is true. This is a challenge for Twitter.”

crammed with people when it collapsed around 6.30 pm on Sunday.

The bridge was reo pened after a private inaugural event and was yet to receive the municipality’s “fitness certificate,” a civic of ficial said. More on P5

l Morbi bridge collapse toll mounts to 141

l 9 arrested so far after the bridge collapse

l Bridge reopened post repairs on Oct 26

l Fitness certificate wasn’t issued: Official l PM Narendra Modi to visit Morbi today

FIR STATES...

The FIR, lodged by ‘B’ division police inspector Prakash Dekivadia, stated that the bridge over the Machchhu river in Morbi town was not in use for nearly 8 months as the local administration had roped in a “private agency” for its mainte nance. The bridge was opened for tourists by the agency despite knowing that their “callous ap proach” in the mainte nance and management of the bridge may lead to human deaths, the FIR stated.

l Russian President

Putin expresses condolences to families of bridge collapse victims

l Dalai Lama, Nepal Prime Minister Deuba express condolences about the incident

l Polish Foreign Minister condoles loss of lives in Gu jarat’s Morbi bridge collapse

l 12

NCB DDG Gyaneshwar Singh gets responsibility of North, West and North-Western zones!

Mumbai: Deputy Di rector General of NCB, Gyaneshwar Singh, who questioned Sa meer Wankhede and others in the Cordelia Cruises case, and found missing links and shortcoming in Wankhede and team’s investigation, has been given a bigger responsi bility as the bureau’s ranges of North, West ern and North-Western states of the nation, will now be directly un der him. Orders in this

regard were issued on Monday.

Singh had investi gated Aryan Khan’s ar rest which proved that Samir Wankhede’s ac tion was directly wrong. Sameer

Wankhede had recently complained to the SC ST Commission for harassing Gyaneshwar Singh in the name of investigation and using caste words, after which now Gyanesh

war Singh has been transferred.

Notably, day after the probe found irregulari ties, the National Com mission for Schedule Caste decided to inves tigate a complaint made by Sameer Wankhede against Sin gh. The commission has also said that till the completion of the inquiry against Singh, no action should be taken against Wankhede by the NCB in the Cordelia case.

‘Father of all investments’, claims DyCM, could be shared between Maharashtra and Kerala, if opposition does not stop creating hurdles in project implementation

Holding a press conference on Monday, Fadnavis strongly criticized the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. He also indicated that the Nanar refinery project may be split between two statesMaharashtra and Kerala - as some people are opposing the refinery project in Nanar. “But we are trying to ensure that this project

NATIONAL

is set up completely in Maharash tra and not shared between two states,” Fadnavis said.

Commenting on the Nanar project, he said, “The upcoming refinery in Maharashtra is the ‘father’ of all investments. Out of this, 75 per cent is owned by central government companies and more than Rs 3 lakh crore will be invested in this project. Also 1 lakh people will get direct employ ment and up to 5 lakh other jobs will be created. But because of the protests carried out by few people, this project could not happen till now. Now, I dont know if it will be set up completely in Maharashtra or broken between states. But we are trying.” Turn to P8

India’s ‘ekta’ causing pain to our enemies, says Modi

First India Bureau

Ahmedabad: PM Nar endra Modi on Monday remembered Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on the latter’s birth anni versary, expressed con dolences to families of aggrieved families who lost their loves ones in Morbi bridge collapse incident on Sunday.

India’s ‘ekta’ causing pain to our enemies, they tried to break it in the past whenever they ruled over us, PM said while observing Sardar Patel’s birth anniv as Ekta Diwas. Remember ing Patel, PM Modi said Rashtriya Ekta Diwas is a tribute to invalua ble role of India’s first home minister in unify ing our nation.

I am in Ekta Nagar but my mind is with the victims of Morbi. Rarely in my life, would I have experienced such pain. On one hand, there is a pain-riddled heart and on the other hand, there is the path to duty.

—Narendra Modi, PM

Banaskantha: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on a three-day visit to Gujarat laid the foundation stones of several water supply projects worth `8,034 crore including the Kasara to Dantiwada pipeline from the main Narmada canal, costing over `1,560 crore. During the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also dedicated to the nation two railway pro jects worth `2,900 crore at Asarva in Kevadia, Gujarat.

New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday said that Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel realised the dream of a strong and united India with his farsightedness, despite attempts by some forces to keep the country divided.

Aaditya Thackeray

NCP CHIEF SHARAD PAWAR ADMITTED TO HOSP AFTER

Mumbai:

president Sharad Pawar was admitted to a private hospital in Mumbai on Monday after he felt uneasy, a

functionary said. He

remain in hospital for

meeting scheduled to begin on November 3, NCP’s general secretary said.

“EMOTIONAL” PM MODI LAYS FOUNDATION OF PROJECTS WORTH OVER `8,000 CRORE

Prime Minister Narendra Modi during Rashtriya Ekta Diwas, celebrated to mark the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, at Kevadia in Narmada district on Monday. PHOTO BY ANI

SARDAR PATEL REALISED DREAM OF A STRONG, UNITED INDIA: HM AMIT SHAH

People gather at the site during a rescue operation after the collapse of a suspension bridge over the Machchhu river, in Morbi district on Monday.

Govt asks CAG to probe ‘illegal’ allocation of projects by BMC

Procurement undertaken by civic body during the COVID-19 pandemic has come under scanner

Mumbai: The Eknath Shinde-led govern ment has asked the Comptroller and Au ditor General (CAG) to conduct an investi gation into the alloca tion of works by the Brihanmumbai Mu nicipal Corporation (BMC) during the COVID-19 pandemic when the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) govern ment was in power.

However, the exact period and the cost of the projects recom mended for investiga tion by the CAG are un clear.

Deputy Chief Minis ter Devendra Fadnavis said “norms of the CAG audit” were being final ized as “corruption was suspected”.

BJP MLA Ashish Shelar alleged, “10 de partments of the BMC had indulged in corrup tion of Rs12,000 crore in tenders and contracts”.

The allotment of a COVID-19 centre by the BMC, the purchase of necessary items, and the distribution of work done illegally will be in vestigated through the CAG, said an official. A priority was given to building facilities and purchasing goods immediately without conducting the tender

process to avoid incon venience to people dur ing the pandemic, he said.

“The state govern ment is finalizing the norms of the CAG audit of some BMC works be cause we suspect cor ruption and loss of tax payers’ money,” said Fadnavis.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), then in op position, has repeatedly accused the erstwhile MVA dispensation of misusing power and causing corruption.

Shinde camp slams Oppn; claims disinfo being spread

First India Bureau

Mumbai: Eknath Shinde supporters on Sunday claimed that an epidemic of disin formation was being spread by the opposi tion to discredit the Shinde-led govern ment in Maharashtra.

Kiran Pawaskar, Spokesperson for the Shinde faction (also known as Balasahe banchi Shiv Sena), said talks of mega projects leaving Maharashtra and moving to other states was baseless.

He was speaking in the backdrop of Airbus and a consortium of Tata firms choosing Va dodara in Gujarat as the site for the Rs22,000 crore C-295 military transport aircraft. This had led to a tussle be tween Maharashtra’s ruling dispensation and the opposition.

“It seems there is an epidemic of disinforma tion being undertaken as a campaign to defame Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his govern ment, which took over just three months ago (in June),” Pawaskar told reporters.

Pawaskar said Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasa heb Thackeray) leader Subhash Desai was in dustries minister for more than seven years (in the 2014-209 Deven dra Fadnavis govern ment as well as under Uddhav Thackeray till June this year), and the latter should make public information on

Dy CM Fadnavis slams Juhi Chawla for pollution tweet

First India Bureau

Mumbai: Actor Juhi Chawla, who seldom tweets controversial statements, has been fired upon by Deputy Chief Minister Dev endra Fadnavis after she recently shared a tweet regarding air pollution in south Mumbai.

Several of her fans gave a mixed reaction to her tweet.

Deputy CM advised Chawla that she should have thought it through a little before tweeting.

In her tweet, the actor had expressed her opin ion about air pollution in some parts of south Mumbai. “Has anyone smelled the air? Earlier,

such a stench could be felt while passing through the drain near Bandra or Worli. But now this stench has spread all over South Mumbai. Day by day we feel that we are living in the sewer because of this stench and air pollu tion,” she had tweeted.

In response, Fadnavis said, “Mumbai is also go ing to change soon. So it is wrong to talk about it in this way. Artistes should think before mak ing such statements.”

CM Shinde faction spokesperson dismisses talk of mega projects leaving Maha and moving to other states as ‘baseless’

projects that have come to the state in his tenure.

He claimed former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray was con fined to his home and not interacting with people, and had not con ducted meetings in con nection project MoUs signed.

“Some Sena leaders (Uddhav faction) are jumping to the conclu sion that the new gov ernment is responsible for the mistakes of the previous one,” Pa waskar alleged.

IRREGULARITIES

Electronics Manufacturing Cluster to come up in Pune

First India Bureau Mumbai: The Cen tre has approved the Electronics Manu facturing Cluster (EMC) at Ranjan gaon in the Pune district under the National Policy on Electronics, after Maharashtra lost five significant pro jects to Gujarat, Tel angana, and other states.

The state government is finalizing the norms of the CAG audit of some BMC works because we suspect corruption and loss of taxpayers’ money.

Shelar alleged a piece of land was purchased from a builder for Rs339 crore though he had bought in only for Rs2-3 crore.

“The centralized pro curement undertaken during the COVID-19 pandemic is suspicious.

We want a thorough probe,” he said.

Earlier in the day, of ficial sources had said the state had asked the CAG to investigate sev eral cases and submit a report as soon as possi ble in order to unravel the truth.

The BJP shares pow er in Maharashtra with the Eknath Shinde fac tion of Shiv Sena.

Union Minister Ra jeev Chandrasekhar on Monday an nounced that an EMC project will be devel oped in Ranjangaon, Maharashtra, at a cost of Rs 500 crore. The EMC is targeted to at tract an investment of over Rs2,000 crore.

“To make Maha rashtra into an elec tronics hub, we have approved an Electron ics Manufacturing Cluster project in Ran jangaon, Pune. The total investment of the government will be about Rs 500 crore,” Minister of State for Electronics and Infor mation Technology Chandrasekhar said

at a briefing. The overall cost for development of the EMC is Rs492.85 crore, out of which Rs207.98 crore will be funded by the government of India and balance contribution of Rs284.87 crore will be infused by the Maha rashtra Industrial De velopment Corpora tion (MIDC).

Deputy Chief Minis ter Devendra Fand navis in a tweet said, “EMC will create a ro bust electronics manu facturing ecosystem in Maharashtra. I am ex tremely grateful to Hon PM Narendra Modi ji as Government of India approves Elec tronics Manufacturing Cluster at Ranjangaon

HC orders hospital to assess report on rape victim seeking to end pregnancy

Mumbai (PTI): The state-run JJ Hospital has been ordered by the Bombay High Court to evaluate a 14-year-old rape vic tim who is seeking to end her 26-week preg nancy.

The hospital’s medi cal board was instruct ed by a vacation bench of Justices Madhav Jamdar and Kamal Khata to submit its re port on November 02.

The bench was hear ing a petition filed by the father of the sexual assault victim, asking permission to termi nate the girl’s 26-week pregnancy.

Pregnancy termina tion after the 20-week period is prohibited by provisions of the Medi cal Termination of Pregnancy Act unless high court approval is obtained.

According to the peti tion, which was submit ted on Monday by advo cates Tanveer Nizam and Mariam Nizam, the victim was allegedly re peatedly raped by her uncle since November 2021.

Only last month,

when the victim com plained of stomach ache and it was discov ered that she was preg nant, did the girl’s fa ther learn about the al leged offence.

An FIR was then filed against the accused on October 24 under the

Pregnancy termination after the 20-week period is prohibited by provisions of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act unless high court approval is obtained

relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

“We direct all con cerned authorities of JJ Hospital to get the survivor admitted in the hospital. The au thorities of JJ Hospital are requested that a medical board be imme diately formed as per provisions of the Medi cal Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971,” the bench directed.

The EMC will be established at Ranjangaon at a cost of `492.85 crore; may attract `2K cr investment to Maha

in Pune district under National Policy on Electronics.”

According to the Deputy CM, the EMC will be established within 32 months and generate 5,000 em ployment opportuni ties. “I am also happy to share that Anchor client M/s IFB Refrig eration Ltd has al ready started its work with a projected in vestment of Rs 450 crore, he added.

Maha cannot take decisions without asking Delhi: Andhare

PM Modi, Union Home Min Shah have assured big projects to Maha, says Shinde

He was speaking at an event to mark Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s birth anniversary at Birla House in Mumbai

First India Bureau

Mumbai: Chief Min ister Eknath Shinde on Monday said de velopment would take place in Maha rashtra and that Prime Minister Nar endra Modi and Un ion Home Minister Amit Shah had given him assurances on the same.

“Prime Minister and

Home Minister have given assurance that big projects will come to Maharashtra. The state will develop further,” the chief minister said on National Unity Day.

He was addressing a gathering after the un veiling of the Indian Postal Department’s special cover on Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s birth anniversary.

“We are here today at this historic Birla House, where Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Mahatma Gandhi used to stay. It is a special day, as it has happened for the first time that a chief minister has vis ited the place where Sardar Vallabhbhai Pa tel took his last breath,” he said, emphasizing Patel’s contribution to India’s freedom.

Shinde also talked about the Statue of Uni ty in Gujarat, which marks the glory of the “Iron Man of India”.

Saying that the “blueprints” for Inde pendence were drawn at Birla House, he

called himself fortu nate to be present at the unveiling.

Assuring that his “coalition government” aimed at all-round de velopment of Maha rashtra, he expressed his desire for “industri alists like Birla” to con tribute to the state’s welfare.

“Everything was stopped due to the pan demic…we want indus trialists like Birla to play a role in Maha rashtra’s prosperity now,” he said.

He further said that the government be longed to everyone and the state should move forward.

First India Bureau Mumbai: Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) deputy leader Sushma And hare has alleged that Chief Minister Eknath Shinde does not have decisionmaking authority and has to go to Delhi every time and ask for further instruc tions.

According to And hare, if the CM tries to speak, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fad navis does not say any thing, gets the mic snatched (from CM) and hands him a ticket (to Delhi).

Andhare also claimed that the Shinde-Fad navis government is running with its head bowed down before Gu jarat, and that the Dev endra Fadnavis, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) are trying to show that Maratha leader ship lacks decision making ability.

“People like Deven dra Fadnavis are needed to lead Maharashtra. Bahujan people here are not able to take leader ship position and chief minister post of Maha rashtra,” she said.

Andhare also criti cized Mumbai BJP President Ashish Shelar. “Shelar is delib erately playing the Hin du-Muslim card so that people do not ask rele vant questions.”

First India Bureau

—Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy CM

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation

CM Eknath Shinde and Dy CM Devendra Fandnavis

CM Eknath Shinde pays tribute to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on his 147th birth anniversary in Mumbai on Monday. —PHOTO BY ANI

Juhi Chawla

Kiran Pawaskar

Seat belts compulsory for all car passengers in Mumbai from today

Police

Mumbai: Wearing seat belt for all pas sengers in a car will become compulsory from today. The Mumbai police on October 14 had is sued an order notify ing that wearing seat belts will be

compulsory for car drivers and passen gers from November 01, 2022.

In its notification, the Mumbai police said that whoever drives a motor vehicle without wearing a safety belt or carries passengers not wearing seat belts shall be punishable.

POCSO court gives maulana

years for sexual assault

girl

First India Bureau

Mumbai: A teacher is expected to act as a protector, observed a special court in Mum bai while convicting a maulana of sexually assaulting an eightyear-old girl who used to go to his house to study the Quran in Arabic.

Special Judge Seema Jadhav, designated to hear cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, on Octo ber 20, convicted the ac cused and sentenced him to 20 years in jail.

The court also re fused to accept the con tention of the accused that he was falsely im plicated in the case due to religious enmity.

The accused was found guilty under Sec tion 376 AB (sexual as sault on a girl below 12 years of age) of the In dian Penal Code and Sec tion 6 (penetrative sexu al assault) of the POCSO Act. The victim was a child of eight years. The accused was not a lay man, but a teacher, said the court in its order.

The informant (victim’s mother) as well as the accused belong to the Muslim community. Even though they follow different sects it is of the main Muslim religion and therefore, the ground of com munal dispute seems to be improbable, said the court. Moreover, no mother would use her child that too female and put her integrity, character and future at stake by making such false allegations, it stated.

“The teacher is ex pected to act as a protec tor. Such heinous acts by the accused would cast a lifelong psycho logical and emotional impact on the victim. He (accused) has preyed on a child of a tender age of eight years and left a permanent scar on her life,” it observed.

As per the complaint,

the victim’s family and the accused lived in the same building in suburban Kurla. The victim used to go to the accused’s house everyday to study the Quran in Arabic.

On May 6, 2019, when the victim had gone for her classes, the accused sexually assaulted her and threatened her with

The teacher is expected to act as a protector. Such hei nous acts by the ac cused would cast a lifelong psychologi cal and emotional impact on the vic tim. He has preyed on a child of a ten der age of eight years and left a permanent scar on her life.

—Special Judge Seema Jadhav, POCSO court

dire consequences if she spoke to anyone about it.

The girl returned home and later told her mother about the as sault, following which a case was registered against the accused.

The accused had claimed that it was a false case filed by the vic tim’s family due to reli gious enmity, as they be long to the Sunni sect while he belongs to the Deobandi sect. He also alleged that the victim and her family members were illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

SEXUAL HARASSMENT CASE AGAINST EDU TRUST CHIEF

First India Bureau Mumbai: Police have registered a case on charges of sexual har assment and atrocities against the chairman of an educational trust in south Mumbai.

The action followed a complaint lodged by a female teacher, said an official on Monday. No arrest has been made so far, he said. A few days ago, the 32-year-old teacher approached the Dongri police in Mumbai with a complaint against the chairman of the educa tion trust where she was working. Accord ing to the woman’s complaint, the accused allegedly abused and harassed her, said the official. Taking serious cognizance of the complaint, the police registered an FIR against the accused, he said. An investiga tion into the case is underway, he added.

FULL OF PRAISES

Mumbai police had said that passengers found not wearing a safety belt will be pun ished as per rules. The Traffic Police had giv en time to all vehicle owners who did not have seat-belt facility in their vehicle to get it install by October 31.

“All motor vehicle drivers and all com muters in vehicles, whoever travels on the road of Mumbai City are hereby informed that, it will be manda

tory for drivers and all passengers to wear seat belts while trave ling from 01/11/2022.

Otherwise, action will be taken under section 194(B)(1) of the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act 2019,” read the notification.

The Union Ministry of Road, Transport and Highway had issued draft rules making it mandatory for car makers to install seat belt alarms in all seats of the cars. Ear

lier, in September, Ni tin Gadkari said that from now on wearing seat belts would be mandatory for all pas sengers in a car, includ ing those on rear seats, and flouting the rule will attract penalty.

His remarks came after former Tata Sons Chairman Cyrus Mis try died in a road accident. Reports of him not wearing the rare seat belt soon made rounds after the accident.

32-year-old woman kills her two children, attempts suicide

First India Bureau

Thane: A 32-year-old woman allegedly killed her two minor children and then tried to commit sui cide in Navi Mumbai of Thane district.

The incident took place in Ghansoli area on Sunday and the rea son behind it was yet to be ascertained, an offi cial from Airoli police station said on Monday.

The woman’s hus band was out for work when she allegedly slit the throats of her fouryear-old daughter and

The woman was admitted to a hospital and the bodies were sent for post-mortem

one-year-old son at their home. When her hus band returned at around 4 pm, he found the two children dead and his wife lying with her wrist

CRUCIAL READ

slit, the official said.

The woman was ad mitted to a local hospital and the bodies were sent to a government hospital for post-mortem, he said.

The police have regis tered a case against the woman, who is still in the hospital, on the charge of mur der and other relevant provisions.

BROTHER OF CONVICT ATTACKS VICTIM’S FAMILY IN NAGPUR

Nagpur: The brother of a man convicted in an unnatural sex case allegedly attacked the complainant’s family with an axe in Nag pur, a police official said on Sunday. The incident took place on Saturday in Parsodi village in Katol, he added. “A man was convicted in a sod omy case involving a minor boy. His brother attacked the minor boy’s kin with an axe, leaving the victim’s mother injured. We have registered a case of attempt to murder in connection with the incident,” he said.

TWO BOOKED AFTER BUSINESS SUPPLIER COMMITS SUICIDE

Thane: Two persons have been booked for allegedly not paying one of their suppliers who committed suicide under distress, a police official said on Sunday. The two had taken building materials from Deepak Katbu but were allegedly dilly-dallying in payment as per the latter’s kin, he said. “Katbu killed himself on October 12 and the complaint was filed by the kin who found a recorded message on his mobile phone blaming the two accused,” he said.

7 PILGRIMS KILLED IN ROAD ACCIDENT IN SOLAPUR DISTRICT

Mumbai: Seven pilgrims were killed when a speeding car rammed into their pro cession on Monday evening in Solapur district. The accident took place around 6.45 pm near Sangola town, about 390km from Mumbai, when a group of 32 pilgrims (warkaris) was on a multiday religious walk (dindi) to temple town of Pandharpur from Jatharwadi in Kolhapur district. As the pilgrims reached Sangola, a speeding SUV rammed into them from the rear, apparently after the driver lost control.

FIFA, AFC want India to host more events: Shaikh Salman

Navi Mumbai on Sun day night.

Speaking to the me dia, Salman said, “FIFA and AFC want to focus on India to host more future events, and over the last few years since I have taken over at the AFC, I think India has played a big role in Asian football.”

SPAIN DEFENDS FIFA U-17 WOMEN’S WORLD CUP TITLE

First India Bureau

First India Bureau

Navi Mumbai: De lighted with India’s ability to host mar quee events, including the FIFA U-17 Wom en’s World Cup, Asian Football Confedera tion (AFC) President, Shaikh Salman Al Khalifa, said both the world and the conti nental body of the sport want the coun try to hold more tour naments.

The FIFA U-17 World Cup was held across three cities namely

Bhubaneswar, Goa, and Navi Mumbai. The AFC president attended the

summit clash between Colombia and Spain at the DY Patil Stadium in

You have hosted two World Cups and the sen ior women’s AFC Asian Cup here. India is a ma jor country in Asia and hopefully it can take its position at the same level in football, in the coming years, he added.

“I have met the new management here, and I will always give all the support I can for India to succeed as a football ing nation. India’s suc cess will be our success in Asia,” said Shaikh Salman.

Navi Mumbai: De fending champions Spain won the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup with a 1-0 victo ry over first-time fi nalists Colombia whose campaign end ed in a heartbreak after an own goal in Navi Mumbai on Sun day night.

Spain emerged the winner after an own goal by Colombian defender Ana Mar a Guzm n Zapata in the 82nd minute of the fi nal at the DY Patil Sports Stadium.

FIFA President Gi anni Infantino, along

side top officials from the Asian Football Fed eration (AFC) and All India Football Federa tion (AIFF), was in at tendance at the venue as Spain eked out a soli tary goal win and re tained the title they also claimed in 2018.

Spain took the lead

with Cristina’s goal, when she scored off the rebound after the Co lombian goalkeeper had stopped it the first time. The two teams also met in the group phase, with Spain win ning 1-0. This was Euro pean giants Spain’s sec ond title.

AFC chief hails nation for its contribution towards Asian football, assures support in future

The Spanish team celebrates its triumph in the FIFA U-17 World Cup at DY Patil Sports Stadium in Navi Mumbai. —PHOTO BY ANI

GAWLI TO COACH INDIA U-20 MEN’S TEAM

Navi Mumbai (PTI): Former India defender Mahesh Gawli has been recom mended to take over as the head coach of the India U-20 men’s team from Shanmugam Venkatesh. The recommendation was made during the All India Football Federation’s (AIFF) technical committee meeting, which was chaired by IM Vijayan. “The committee recommended that former Blue Tigers de fender Mahesh Gawali take over as the head coach of the India U-20 men’s national team in place of Shanmugam Venkatesh, who had earlier tendered his resignation, which was duly accepted,” said AIFF.

Minister for Youth Affairs & Sports Anurag Thakur and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis meet Asian Football Confederation President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa in Mumbai on Sunday. —PHOTO BY ANI

First India Bureau

Move comes after Union ministry issued draft rules for mandatory seat belts in cars.

Thrillers, Upsets Dominate T20 WC as Race for Top 4 remains Wide Open

ended far too quickly for them. Surya single-handedly pushed India’s total to a re spectable 133 but it meant that the bowlers had to pull up their socks in helpful condi tions for swing bowling.

NAIL BITING LAST OVER

The fact tat India could push the match till the last over is a testimony to the discipline their bowlers exhibited on the night; had the fielding been better, it could have been three wins in three games for Team India. Ultimately, the batting brilliance of David Miller and Markram helped the Proteas get the much needed 2 points to climb to the top of the points table. Now, the equa tion is clear for the Indian team - they need to win their games against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe to enter the semis. A blip in either game will make them depend on others or even see them catch an early flight back home!

SIDDHAARTH MAHAN

The writer is a specialist on Sports and Cinema who works as an actor in the Hindi film industry

An essential part of T20 crick et’s mass appeal lies in its ability to spring surprises. Many experts believe that T20 is a format tailor-made for upsets as the shorter the duration of a match, the greater are the chances of less-fancied teams toppling the favourites. The T20 World Cup so far has lived up to this view of cricket’s shortest but most popular format and has produced a range of thrillers and upsets that have kept players, fans and even ex perts hugely entertained but often on tenterhooks.

EXCITING NAIL-BITER

The fact tat India could push the match till the last over is a testimony to the discipline their bowlers exhibited on the night; had the fielding been better, it could have been three wins in three games for Team India. Ultimately, the batting brilliance of David Miller and Markram helped the Proteas get the much needed 2 points to climb to the top of the points table

There have been close fin ishes in Group 1 too. Australia being the defending champi ons were expected to start their campaign on a winning note. But the Kiwis have a knack of turning up at the World Cup super-charged and causing many upsets. The re sult was that the Aussies were pummelled by 89 runs in their first match of the tournament.

RAIN SPOILS THE SPORT

HUMILIATION OF RAPE VICTIMS HAS GONE ON FAR TOO LONG

In both the groups, the tussle to be among the Top 2 is a tough and tricky one. An important factor for the close clashes and last-ball thrillers are the conditions on most Aussie grounds that favor fast bowling in a big way. As the World Championships heads towards its climax over the next week, fans can look forward to a sumptuous feast of exciting cricket and nail biting finishes!!

The most exciting nail-biter was between arch rivals India and Pakistan. It was expected to be a close contest but the 90 thousand plus crowd who added to the thrill of the match were left spellbound by the skill level exhibited in the game. Pakistan is one of the strongest bowling sides of the championship and chas ing a target against them un der lights, when the bowl swings more, is an even more difficult task. Despite major hiccups, a Kohli masterclass saved India the blushes a day before Diwali. His innings was unanimously praised and picked as one of the all-

PROFOUND TRAGEDY STRIKES GUJARAT

time greatest T20 knocks. The victory brought India 2 cru cial points and set their cam paign off to a wonderful start.

PAK SUFFERS A SHOCK

In their next match too, Paki stan suffered a shock defeat to Zimbabwe in a game that they were expected to win easily. The match went down to the wire and batting second, Pa kistan needed just 130 runs. But their middle order wob ble meant that they required 11 runs of the last over with just 4 wickets remaining. A fine over by Brad Evans and a run out on the last ball saw Pakistan fall short by just 1 run. The result put more pres sure on Pakistan as they now depend on other teams to see them through to the semi-fi

nals. Though they have now won against Netherlands, In dia’s loss against South Afri ca on Sunday has jeopardized Pakistan’s hopes of going deep in the championship.

INDIA’S OWN JITTERS

India’s own jitters in the field against South Africa halted the winning momentum they had gained after beating Paki stan and Netherlands. While India won the recent T20 se ries against the Proteas, the World Cup clash was expected to be a tough contest on Perth’s bouncy pitch against tall South African pacers. In dia struggled against the short pitched bowling and ca pitulated meekly. But for Surya Kumar Yadav’s bellig erence, the match would have

Several matches have also been affected by rain and that has made the situation in Group 1 more complex. Eng land lost to Ireland on Duck worth Lewis and then shared points against Australia due to relentless rain in Melbourne. Now, New Zealand and Aus tralia sit pretty at the top of the points table and all fans now expect a real heart-stop per of a contest between Eng land and the Kiwis. The match will virtually seal the semi-fi nal spots from the group.

Ultimately, given the high voltage thrillers and numer ous upsets so far, this is pos sibly the most open T20 World Cup ever. At the half-way stage of the tournament, no team is looking like a clear favourite to lift the trophy. In both the groups, the tussle to be among the Top 2 is a tough and tricky one. An important factor for the close clashes and last-ball thrillers are the conditions on most Aussie grounds that fa vor fast bowling in a big way. As the World Championships heads towards its climax over the next week, fans can look forward to a sumptuous feast of exciting cricket and nail biting finishes!!

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL

Gujarat has just witnessed a heartwrenching trage dy. The suspen sion bridge col lapse in Morbi due to obvious human negligence has snuffed out 141 lives and the irony is that those who died paid Rs 17 per ticket for a fun stroll. The bridge on the Machchhu River, reportedly, had a load-bearing capacity of 100 persons but there were around 400 on it when the tragedy happened. The per son at the ticket counter must have been callously thinking of money and not the limited capacity of the bridge which was allegedly reopened after repair without a fitness cer tificate. The 100-year-old bridge withstood the test of time until after it was opened

The suspension bridge collapse in Morbi due to obvious human negligence has snuffed out 141 lives and the irony is that those who died paid Rs 17 per ticket for a fun stroll. The bridge on the Machchhu River, reportedly, had a load-bearing capacity of 100 persons but there were around 400 on it when the tragedy happened

to the public after repair. Who is responsible for this calamity which has struck when campaigning for As sembly elections is on will be the responsibility of a com mittee formed by the Gujarat government. The Opposition is using the tragedy to ask

questions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was vis ibly moved by the loss of lives in his home state. The attack was led by the Congress which held the state govern ment directly responsible for the tragedy. Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh alluded to the phrase allegedly used by the prime minister to lam poon Mamata Banerjee after a flyover collapsed in Kolkata and asked if the Morbi inci dent was an “act of God or an act of fraud”.

Twenty-seven people died when an under-construction flyover collapsed in Kolkata on March 31, 2016 and the BJP blamed it on corruption in the Mamata-led West Bengal government. Whether Bengal or Gujarat, the corruption angle must be looked at.

The Supreme Court has come to the pro tection of the dignity of rape victims by banning the humili ating two-finger test also known as the virginity test, an “inva sive technique to examine rape survivors”. The Supreme Court held that “it is based on an in correct assumption that a sexu ally active woman cannot be raped. Nothing can be farther from truth” and supports the belief that a woman alleging rape cannot be believed because she is sexually active.

Justice DY Chandrchud, who headed the Bench comprising Justice Hima Kohli, said, “It in stead re-victimises and re-trau matises women. The two-finger test must not be conducted.”

The obnoxious test has gener ally been used to deny women justice and letting rape accused go scot-free. It wrongly presumes that a married or a sexually ac tive woman cannot be raped. The test is common to India, Paki stan and Bangladesh where pa triarchy is prevalent. After to day’s verdict the onus will lie on trial courts and medical officers to ensure compliance.

SPIRITUAL SPEAK

Kiren Rijiju

l Vol 1 l Issue No. 174

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: Anita Hada Sangwan responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act

The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows. Buddha

Jagat Prakash Nadda @JPNadda

Tribute to the great architect of modern India, Iron Man Bharat Ratna Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel ji on his birth anniversary. And best wishes on National Unity Day. Your contribution in the making of ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat’ and your resolve to protect the unity, integrity and sovereignty of the country will always inspire us.

@KirenRijiju

Special thanks to the administrations of Sonitpur and Nagaon Districts and all the Central Armed Forces, Indian Army, Students and BJP team for the massive #RunForUnity at the iconic Kalia Bhomora Setu on #SardarPatel Jayanti.

PM rues attempts to create lingual enmity

Narmada (ANI): PM Narendra Modi on the occasion of Rashtriya Ekta Diwas on Monday said like, in the past, forc es that were perturbed due to India’s progress still exist and campaigns are being run to make one Indian language an enemy of another.

PM’s statement came in the backdrop of con troversy over the recom mendation of a parlia mentary panel to make Hindi the medium of instruction in central educational institu tions. Kerala Chief Min ister Pinarayi Vijayan and Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin had written to PM Modi over the matter.

Modi said, “What would have happened if India did not have lead ership like Sardar Pa tel? What would have happened if more than 550 princely states had not been united? If most of our kings had not shown the culmination of renunciation, then we would not have been able to imagine the In dia we are seeing today.”

‘UNION HOME MINISTER’S

New Delhi (ANI): The Ministry of Home Af fairs (MHA) on Monday declared ‘Union Home Minister’s Special Operation Medal-2022’ for four special opera tions conducted by the security forces in areas of terrorism, border action, arms control, prevention of narcotics smuggling and rescue operations. A

IN THE COURTYARD

SC TO HEAR PLEA ON LINKING UID & ELECTORAL ROLL

New Delhi (Agencies): The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to examine a petition against the Central government’s decision to enable linking of electoral roll data with the Aadhaar ecosystem.

Senior advocate Shyam Divan, representing the petitioner, contended that the right to vote cannot be denied on the ground of not having an Aadhaar card. A bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Abhay S. Oka queried Divan that his argument seems that for one who does not have Aadhaar, voting should not be denied to that person, or even on having Aadhaar, it should not be compul sory.

NOTICE TO GOI, EC ON PIL FOR PRISONERS’ RIGHT TO VOTE

New Delhi (ANI): The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Centre on a plea challenging Section 62(5) of the Rep resentation of People Act which deprives prisoners their right to vote. A bench sought response from the government and Election Commission of India. The PIL filed by one Aditya Prasanna Bhattacharya, pointed out that the wording of Section 62(5) uses ‘confinement’ as the yardstick, thereby, creating several anomalies. Bhat tacharya filing the plea in 2019 challenged 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act 1951 which deprives any person confined to a prison of the right to vote at any election.

RLY EMPLOYEES UNDER DIFFERENT BOARD ZONES TO BE TREATED EQUALLY, RULES SC

New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Monday said that employees working under the Railway Board in different zones or divisions are required to be treated equally and there cannot be any discrimination. The apex court dismissed the appeals filed by the Centre, through the Northern Railways, and others against the November 2019 verdict of the Delhi High Court that directed it to count 50 per cent of service rendered by commission vendors, prior to their absorption, as “qualifying service” for grant of pensionary bene fits.The top court noted that as far as commission vendors working in the western, eastern, southern and south-eastern railway are concerned, pursuant to different orders passed by the Central Administrative Tribunals (CAT) and the high courts, which have been confirmed by the apex court, the issue is held against the Railways.

LAWYERS BOYCOTT WORK TO PROTEST FIR AGAINST FELLOW

Kochi (PTI): Lawyers practising at the Kerala High Court on Monday boycotted work in protest against the registration of a criminal case against the advocates representing Perumbavoor MLA Eldhose Kunnappilly, an accused in a rape case. Vanchiyoor po lice had recently registered a case against Kunnappilly and three of his lawyers for allegedly threatening the survivor in the rape case against the suspended Con gress leader. Police said that the case was registered upon the direction of the court which recorded the statement of the survivor saying that they threat ened her. Kunnappilly was suspended by the Congress saying his explanation with regard to the allegations was not satisfactory.

TREAT CHILDREN WITHOUT BIAS, WITH SENSITIVITY: HC

Bengaluru (Agencies):

The Karnataka High Court has asked the school teachers and staff to treat children without bias and with sensitivity, taking into cognizance the case of two missing girls. The court has also asked the parents to behave in a civilized man ner when kids are around.

The High Court bench on Monday issued a stern warning in this regard. The bench has also taken an undertaking in this connec tion from the headmistress and other staff members of the school and closed the case. The bench had taken up the habeas corpus petition submitted by head mistress PV Sister Clara of Saint Joseph’s Convent in Bengaluru before the court regarding the missing of two girl students.

PREZ MURMU PAYS TRIBUTE TO PATEL ON BIRTH ANNIV

New Delhi: President Droupadi Murmu on Monday paid homage to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on his birth anniversary at Rashtra pati Bhavan on Monday. According to Rashtrapati Bhavan, President Murmu paid floral tributes in front of a portrait of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. This morning, the President visited Sardar Patel Chowk in New Delhi.

MEDAL-2022’

total of 63 police officers having different ranks from Constable to Addi tional Director General of Police have been awarded the ‘Union Home Minis ter’s Special Operation Medal-2022’ on Sardar Patel’s birth anniversary. Those awarded belonged to three states (Telangana, Punjab and Maharashtra) and UTs of J&K and Delhi.

Shah: Patel would have been better PM

1984 riots: BJP leader seeks Truth Commission

New Delhi (PTI): The country would not have faced the many problems it is confronted with today had Sardar Vallabhb hai Patel been made India’s first prime minister, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said here on Monday.

At Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, Shah also said the Modi govt has worked to deepen con stitutional and demo cratic values, and has

KCR is welcome to think he is running an int’l party: RaGa

BHARAT JODO YATRA

Kothur (PTI): In a swipe at the TRS’ bid to emerge as a national player, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Mon day said any leader has the right to imagine his party in whatever way he wants and Telanga na Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is even welcome to think that he is running an international party that is fighting elections in the US or China.

Addressing a press conference here during the ongoing ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ passing through Telangana, Gandhi also ruled out any alliance with the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), asserting that the Congress is dia metrically opposed to everything the Raoheaded party is doing.

“There is absolutely no question of the Con gress having any rela tionship with the TRS. The Congress party has made this very clear.

WILL WIN GUJ POLLS; AAP ONLY IN AIR, NOT ON GROUND: RAHUL Kothur (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday exuded confi dence that his party will win the Gujarat elections, contending that the AAP has only created a buzz in the state purely on the basis of advertisements.

Addressing a press conference here, Gandhi said there was a massive anti-incumbency against the BJP-led government in the state (Gujarat).

strengthened the se curity of the country so no one can now dare cast an evil eye on India’s borders.

“Learn all other languages from around the world but don’t leave your na tive language. Lan guage is a form of expression and not of your intelligence. No one should have infe riority complex in not knowing English,” he told the gathering.

New Delhi (ANI): BJP national spokesperson RP Singh has written to Home Minister Amit Shah requesting the es tablishment of a “Truth Commission” to expose the conspiracy behind the 1984 Sikh pogrom and take cognizance against “real culprits”. RP Singh has also re quested Shah to declas sify all the documents pertaining to the period leading up to Operation Blue Star and the Sikh pogrom later that year. In his letter to the Home Minister, RP Singh ex pressed gratitude to him and PM Narendra Modi for providing jus tice to the Sikhs by sen tencing one of the key conspirators, Sajjan Ku mar behind the bars.

Former Congress MP Sajjan Kumar has been lodged in jail after con viction in 2018 in an other riots-related case. The High Court award ed him a life jail sen tence. Earlier he was acquitted by Karkar dooma Court.

Nadda begins whirlwind tour of Himachal for pro-incumbency votes

Shimla (Agencies):

Aiming to strengthen his bond with the hill state from where he started his political ca reer and grew in the na tional politics, Bharati ya Janata Party (BJP) national President Jag at Prakash Nadda is on a whirlwind tour in poll-bound Himachal Pradesh for pro-incum bency votes.

RAHUL GANDHI PAYS TRIBUTE TO HIS GRANDMOTHER FORMER PM INDIRA GANDHI ON HER 38TH DEATH ANNIVERSARY New Delhi (ANI): Congress MP Rahul Gandhi paid tribute to his grandmother and former Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi on her death anniver sary. He took to Twitter

This confusion is creat ed by the TRS them selves. I will repeat it clearly there is absolute ly no question of any relationship between

and said he would not let her “sacrifice for the country go in vain”. “I carry your love and teachings in my heart. I won’t let your sacrifices for India go in vain,” he tweeted in Hindi

the TRS and the Con gress,” Gandhi said.

Asked about KCR changing the party’s name from TRS to Bharat Rashtra Samithi

captioning the video he posted to pay homage. The video had a number of video clips combined which showed Indira Gandhi delivering her speech and one from her funeral.

(BRS) and the party considering itself a na tional one, Gandhi said any leader has the right to imagine his party in whatever way he wants.

FIGHT AGAINST FAKE NEWS

Setting aside the antiincumbency wave against the party’s gov ernment, his aides say Nadda will be holding 21 election meetings and doorstep canvass ing across the state un der the Vijay Sankalp Abhiyaan till Novem ber 9. He will be holding a major party’s show of strength in the state capital on November 7.

On an average Nadda will be addressing three rallies in a day, he said.

In the previous BJP government (2007-12) in Himachal Pradesh, Na dda resigned as Forest Minister in 2010 when he was picked by the then BJP national pres

ident Nitin Gadkari to join his new team. He was then made the par ty’s national General Secretary.

Nadda started his po litical rally on October 30 from mountainous Kaza in Lahaul-Spiti district. Later, he ad dressed two rallies in Manali and Kullu towns.

This time, the saffron party, with anti-incum bency weighing heavy on its governance amidst dropping of 11 sitting MLAs and many party leaders in the fray as Independents, seems to be banking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s charisma, in stead of flashing its own achievement card.

Social media platforms can play key role: Experts

New Delhi (PTI): A proactive approach by social media platforms to counter fake news will facilitate credible electoral outcomes that will help preserve “free doms”, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said on Monday.

Addressing an inter national conference of election management bodies here, Kumar said social media plat

forms do proclaim that they have content dis play policies, but they also have the “algo rithm power” in play, according to a state ment issued by the Elec tion Commission (EC).

“More early or deeper red flagging of fake news based on known modus operandi and genres is not an unfair expectation from the election management

bodies,” he underscored. Kumar said “such a proactive approach to counter fake news will facilitate credible elec

toral outcomes that will help preserve the ‘free doms’ which the social media platforms re quire to thrive”.

The CEC said free, fair, inclusive, accessi ble and inducementfree elections being a cornerstone of demo cratic polity are also a pre-condition to the peace and developmen tal dividends.

“These threshold concepts embody the understanding that sov ereignty belongs to and flows from the people of a country,” the state ment said quoting him.

Speaking on this oc casion, US Charge d’Affaires Elizabeth Jones said the India-US

relationship is most consequential.

According to the statement, she said the partnership is growing stronger to address glob al challenges and coop erate to bring peace, se curity and prosperity across the world.

She emphasised that both India and the US have significantly con tributed in building up democratic institutions.

The EC has made crit ical achievements in fos tering democratic prin ciples while delving on challenges, Jones said.

Campaigns are being run to make one Indian language enemy of another, says Modi

PM Narendra Modi at the culmination of Aarambh 4.0 during the Rashtriya Ekta Diwas celebrations, in Kevadia on Monday. —PHOTO BY ANI

Amit Shah pays homage to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on his birth anniversary, in New Delhi on Monday. —PHOTO BY PTI

CEC Rajiv Kumar with EC Anup Chandra Pandey and Elizabeth Jones at the inauguration of a two-day international conference.

EMBs expects social media platforms to use their ‘algorithm power, to proactively redflag fake news: CEC Rajiv Kumar

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi with padyatris resumes party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra from Shadnagar on Monday. —PHOTO BY ANI

JP Nadda at a BJP rally in Lahaul and Spiti, on Sunday.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Union Ministers Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan and other dignitaries after paying tribute to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on Monday.

GUJARAT CM BHUPENDRA PATEL TAKES NOTE OF MORBI MISHAP

Morbi (ANI): Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupen dra Patel on Monday took note of the Morbi bridge collapse mishap in Gujarat situation again and visited the city collector’s office on Monday after over 132 casualties were report ed in the incident.

“By reaching the col lector’s office in Morbi early this morning, took stock of the cur rent situation of all matters including search operation, reliefrescue operation, treat ment of the injured and gave necessary instruc tions to the system,” tweeted CM Patel. Ac cording to the latest re ports, the death toll in the mishap had gone up to 132 on Monday morn ing. Gujarat Home Min ister Harsh Sanghavi said that a criminal case has been regis tered in connection with the incident.

PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA MODI TO VISIT MORBI ACCIDENT SITE TODAY

Gandhinagar (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Morbi in Gujarat on November 1, the state chief minister’s office announced on Monday. Prime Minister Modi, who is in Kevadia said that rescue opera tions were underway and

4 held in Mizoram with huge haul of explosives

there would be no laxity in rescue and relief efforts. “The Gujarat Government has been carrying out relief and rescue operations since yesterday. Centre too is extending all help to the State Government,” PM Modi said.

CPI(M) SEEKS ACCOUNTABILITY OF GUJARAT GOVT

New Delhi (PTI): Alleging administrative failure, the CPI(M) blamed the Gujarat government on Monday for the Morbi bridge col lapse, which has resulted in the death of at least 134 people so far. Rescue op erations are in full swing at Morbi, 300 km from state capital Gandhinagar.

Suspension bridge in Odisha closed for one day for repair

Bhubaneswar: Follow ing bridge mishap in Gujarat’s Morbi, Odis ha government woke up and closed down sus pension bridge over Mahanadi river in Dhabaleswar in Cut tack district for one day (Tuesday) to carry out repair works, an offi cial said on Monday. Speaking to media per sons, Cuttack district collector, Bhabani Shankar Chayani, said a technical team had visited the suspension bridge on Sunday and submitted its report. Now, another team led by an additional dis trict magistrate (ADM) has been rushed to the bridge for further ex amination, he said.

“Pak using drones to smuggle arms, drugs”

Srinagar (ANI): Jam mu and Kashmir Direc tor General of Police Dilbagh Singh has as serted that Pakistan has now started a “new game” of smuggling weapons and narcotics through drones.

Addressing media here on Monday, DGP Singh said that the “ne farious designs” of Pa kistan are not hidden from anybody. “Paki stan’s nefarious designs are not hidden from an ybody. In the past few years, they have started playing a new game of using drones to smuggle weapons, narcotics and improvised explosive devices (IED),” DGP Dil bagh Singh said, adding that these are attempts of the LeT terror outfit in collaboration with Pakistani agencies.

He said that the force always counters the drones that neighbour ing Pakistan tries to send to Indian territory.

He said, “Pakistan is now trying to send am munition and narcotics through drones but we always counter them

Adani Transmission wins Climate Action Programme Oriented Award

J&K COPS BUST DRONE DROP IN RS PURA; 2 ARRESTED

Srinagar (ANI): The Jam mu and Kashmir Police arrested two persons for their alleged involvement in dropping ammunition through drones in the general area of the Baspur Bangla RS Pura in the union territory, said po lice. The drone was seen making suspicious move ments in the said area on the intervening night of Thursday and Friday, an official statement issued by the police authorities said on Monday.

and last night one more drone was shot down in the Jammu area. Paki stan is continuously

“ARMY GOT HUGE IMPETUS IN ITS PREPAREDNESS”

Srinagar (PTI): The overall preparedness of the Indian Army has received a “huge impetus” in the 20 months since the ceasefire understanding between India and Paki stan, said Chinar Corps Commander Lt Gen ADS Aujla. However, whenever the opportunity comes, “attempts are being made to infiltrate” from the “other side” but the army is capable to foil such bids or give a befitting reply, said Lt Gen ADS Aujla.

trying to disturb the peace in J-K but our mechanism to counter Pakistan is strong.”

The nabbed accused with seized explosives.

Aizawl (Agencies): In the second significant operation in less than a week, Assam Rifles has seized a large cache of Myanmar-bound tactical and war-like stores, in cluding explosive materi als, from Mizorams Sia ha district and appre hended four persons in connection with the case, officials said on Monday.

A defence spokesman said acting on a tip-off, a joint team of Assam Ri fles and Mizoram Police launched the operation at Tuipang village in Si aha district on Sunday night and seized Myan mar-bound arms, ammu nition and explosives.

“Team had specific in formation about move ment of tactical and warlike stores for insurgents

HUGE CACHE OF ARMS RECOVERED IN JHARKHAND Latehar (PTI): A huge cache of arms and am munitions was recovered from Budha Pahad area in Jharkhand’s Latehar district, police said on Monday. A light machine gun, an INSAS and a self loading rifle and 18 weapons that had been looted from police, besides more than 200 improvised explosive devices were recov ered from the left wing extremists’ bunkers.

based in Myanmar. The security intercepted and searched one Kenbo bike (Chinese made) and one Yodha pickup vehicle and recovered arms and ammunition from them,” he said.

First India Bureau

Ahmedabad: Adani Transmission Ltd (ATL), India’s largest private power distribution com pany and the transmis sion arm of the diversi fied Adani Group, has won the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Climate Action Pro gramme (CAP) 2.0° Ori ented Award in the En ergy, Mining and Heavy Manufacturing category.

This recognition is a significant achievement, given that CAP 2.0° aims to help industries in con tracting climate risk and explore market opportu nities to become climate resilient. The CAP 2.0° Awards are framed on the Climate Maturity model and the European Foundation for Quality Management Model

By

The CAP 2.0° award is an encour aging and responsible recognition of our continuous efforts towards climate change mitigation and improving the productivity and efficiency through a clear focus on sustainability.

(EFQM).

Adani Transmission received this award un der the ‘Oriented’ cate gory. This confirms that the company’s strategy is synchronised with

climate change issues and impacts, climate risk is factored in the company’s Enterprise Risk Management (ERM), competent per sons is handling the

climate-linked portfo lio, and the organisa tion has adopted futur istic GHG emission re duction targets to com bat climate change. ATL received the CAP 2.0° award from Mr Avinash Mishra, Advisor, Natu ral Resources & Climate Change NITI Aayog at the forum in New Delhi.

“The CAP 2.0° award is an encouraging and responsible recognition of our continuous ef forts towards climate change mitigation and improving the produc tivity and efficiency through a clear focus on sustainability”, said Anil Sardana, MD & CEO, ATL. “The organi zational initiatives to become Net Zero, Zero Waste to Landfill (ZWL) and Single Use Plastic Free (SUP) along with focused efforts to achieve them, com bined with the CII-CAP 2.0° award, demon strates our commit ment to climate change mitigation for a sus tainable future.”

IAS Sarneet Kaur Borka is new UP ICDS director

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government has appointed IAS Sarneet Kaur Broka as the new Director of Ut tar Pradesh ICDS. The 2016 batch female IAS officer has joined back after a long maternity leave and has thus been given this responsibil ity. Earlier she served in UPSRTC and has also been the CDO of Basti and Unnao, while her husbandPrathamesh Kumar, an IAS of 2016 batch - is posted as Special Sec retary to the Chief Minister. She also has the responsibility of

ACEO Invest UP. Nota bly, it is said for the duo that they are one of the most harworking and dedicated officers. UP bureaucracy has a total of 18 IAS offic ers of 2016 batch,

which were later paired up with another IAS cadre, due to which 6 IAS officers got entry in 2016 batch UP and their total number has increased from 18 to 24.

The additional charge of UP Women and Child Develop ment (ICDS) was with IAS Kapil Singh, Direc tor, Nutrition Mission, who today handed over his responsibility to the new director IAS Sarneet Kaur Broka.

Officers in the bu reaucracy say that re cently, the government had handed over the additional charge of

Director ICDS from IAS Kapil Singh to IAS Anamika Singh, Secre tary of ICDS. But since she is a senior IAS, she refused stating the post is for junior officers.

Notably, Kapil Singh was given the addition al charge after IAS Dr Sarika Mohan went on foreign trip. Kapil Sin gh is known to be an honest and hardwork ing officer, but with continuous handing and taking back of the charge of ICDS Direc tor time and again has got the tongues wag ging in the bureaucrat ic realm of the state.

ADGP PRASHANK KUMAR GETS AAJ KA KARMAVEER EXCELLENCE AWARD

Lucknow: UP ADGP Prashant Kumar was presented with Aaj Ka Karmaveer Excellence Award for his out standing service in the field of administrative service through a jury in Mumbai recently. Chief Guest on the stage was Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde (Virtual), special Guest was former Union Minister of State, present MP Baghpat Dr Satyapal Singh (IPS), Padma Shri Dr Vidya Vindu Singh, Senior IAS Dr Rashmi

Singh in the presence of IPS Prashant Kumar.

TRYING TO REMOVE IDOL, 5 COPS HURT IN STONE-PELTING

Chennai (PTI): The Tamil Nadu DGP has issued a circular to all the police Commissioners and dis trict police chiefs to grant permission to the RSS to hold its ‘Route Marches’ and public meetings in 51 places across the state on November 6 after taking into account the law and order situation individually.

A circular to this effect, issued on October 29, was produced before Madras High Court judge, Justice G K Ilanthiraiyan by State Public Prosecutor Hasan Mohammed Jinnah, when the contempt applications from the RSS came up for further hearing on Monday. The circular directed the police commissioners and the SPs in the state to grant permission to hold the rally on November 6.

CONSIDER SITUATION, GRANT PERMISSION FOR RSS RALLY: DGP Ballia (Agencies): Five policemen were injured while trying to remove an idol of Lord Hanuman installed on govt land in Ballia on Monday as the locals pelted stones at them. Seven persons have been arrested. A case has been registered against 76 people. The police said the idol was installed on gov ernment land in Bahadur pur Kari village on Sunday night.Police, district administration and the rev enue department reached the spot on Monday after receiving the information. When the officials tried to remove the idol saying that it had been done without government permission, the villagers became furious and started pelting stones at the officials and attacked them with sticks.

Kochi (PTI): Veteran Congress leader and former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy turned 79 on Monday. The senior Congress leader, who is currently staying away from public life owing to ill health, however, celebrated his birthday at Aluva guest house here with his family and senior party leaders. Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan visited the Congress veteran at the guest house in the evening and conveyed his birthday wishes. Vijayan spent around 10 minutes with Chandy and draped a ceremonial shawl on him. Earlier in the day, prominent actor Mammootty visited Chandy at the guest house to wish him on his birthday. Other senior leaders, including Speaker AN Shamseer, visited Chandy at the guest house where Chandy is staying for his treatment.

MOM OF 2 ELOPES WITH PARAMOUR, HUBBY ENDS LIFE

Mysuru (Agencies): A man died by suicide after his wife eloped with her paramour in Hunsur town of Karnataka’s Mysuru district, police said on Monday. An FIR has been filed against the woman on a complaint filed by the de ceased man’s father. As per police, Krishne Gowda has demanded action against daughter-in-law Nethra for compelling his son to end life. Sureshkumar and Nethra lived at Koyampattur colony in Hunsur town with two daughters. While Suresh worked as a labour er, Nethra worked at a facto ry. A month ago, Nethra did not return from work. After all his efforts to locate her failed, Sureshkumar lodged a missing complaint with Hunsur Rural police.

GIRLFRIEND CONFESSES SHE POISONED YOUTH

Thiruvananthapuram (ANI): The girlfriend of a youth who died at Thiruvanan thapuram Medical College Hospital recently con fessed to police that she had poisoned him as her marriage was fixed with another man, police said. Greeshma, the girlfriend of Sharon Raj, confessed that she had given him a poisoned Ayurvedic decoc tion and juice, said ADGP Ajith Kumar. She first gave him what she said was an Ayurvedic medicine and when he said it was bitter, she gave him some juice. After consuming it, Sharon started vomiting and his friend took him back from her house. Sharon was admitted to Thiruvanantha puram Medical College and died on October 25.

A criminal case has been registered in connection with incident: Guj Home Minister

Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel along with State MoS for Home Harsh Sanghavi at Morbi accident site.

J&K GDP Dilbabh Singh at a function. —FILE PHOTO

IAS Sarneet

Kaur Broka

On Monday in Lucknow, Aaj Ka Karmaveer representative, Kun war Pradeep Singh on behalf of Chairman RP Singh and organisation presented the memento and certificate to ADGP Prashant Kumar.

VETERAN CONG LEADER CHANDY TURNS 79, KERALA CM VIJAYAN EXTENDS GREETINGS

ATL wins this award in Energy, Mining & Heavy Manufacturing category

—Anil Sardana, MD & CEO, ATL

INVESTMENT VIA P-NOTES RISES TO `87,813 CR IN SEPT

New Delhi (PTI): Invest ment in the Indian capital markets through partici patory notes rose to `87,813 crore at the end of September, making it the second consecutive monthly increase, as the country witnesses the best growth and earnings among emerging mar kets. According to Sebi data, the value of P-note investments in Indian markets -- equity, debt, and hybrid securities -stood at `87,813 crore in September. Of the total, `79,418 crore was invest ed in equities.

ACTIVE CREDIT CARD NUMBERS CONTINUE TO SLIP IN INDIA

India to better IMF growth forecast: CEA

New Delhi (PTI): Chief Economic Adviser V Anan tha Nageswaran on Mon day said India is expected to clock better growth than IMF’s projections next year aided by enhanced capital formation. Recent ly, the International Mon etary Fund (IMF) projected 6.8% real growth for this year and 6.1% for next year for India.

“I think in fact, the growth rates for the com ing years may be slightly more, slightly better than what these numbers are, because I think there is a possibility that India’s capital formation cycle will do better after one dec ade of retrenchment,” he said.

India’s public digital in frastructure has probably crossed an inflection point and that will also be con tributing to both formali

New Delhi (FIB): The RBI order on discontinuing in active credit cards contin ued to negatively impact the industry size, with HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank seeing a decline in the number of active credit cards. HDFC Bank continued to be the worst affected, with total cards in force down by 1.6 million. Bankers say while the total credit card numbers will normalise soon, they are also look ing to change the strategy with regard to onboarding customers.

BIKAJI FOODS SETS

PRICE BAND AT `285-300/SHARE

New Delhi (PTI): Manu facturer of snacks and sweets Bikaji Foods Inter national Ltd on Monday said it has fixed a price band of `285-300 a share for its `881-crore initial public offering (IPO). The initial share-sale will open for public subscription on November 3 and conclude on November 7, the com pany announced. The IPO will be a pure offer-forsale (OFS) of around 2.94 crore equity shares by its promoters and existing shareholders. Both the promoters -- Shiv Ratan Agarwal and Deepak Agarwal-- are looking to offload up to 25 lakh com pany shares each.

EIGHT CORE SECTOR INDUSTRIES’ OUTPUT GROWS 7.9% IN SEPT

sation of the economy and therefore higher growth, he said. So, he said, maybe there could be 0.5-0.8% ad dition to the 6% baseline numbers. He also said that fiscal policy and monetary

PLI scheme: DoT okays 42 firms for telecom products

First India Bureau

New Delhi: 42 companies including 28 MSMEs have been given ap proval by The Ministry of Com munications un der the PLI scheme for tele com and network ing products.

Of the selected firms, 17 companies have applied for additional incentive of 1% under design-led manufac

First pilot of Digital Rupee to commence today: Reserve Bank

Mumbai (PTI): The Re serve Bank said the first pilot of the Central Bank Digital Currency -- Digital Rupee (Wholesale seg ment) will be launched on Tuesday for transactions in government securities.

The use case for the pilot is settlement of secondary market transactions in gov ernment securities, the RBI said in a statement on Monday.

Nine banks -- State Bank of India (SBI), Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of In dia, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Yes Bank, IDFC First Bank and HSBC -- have been identified for partici pation in the pilot.

AMID FESTIVE

turing criteria.

As per the govt, addition al sales of `2.45 lakh crore is expected to be generated while additional employment of more than 44,000 is likely to be cre ated over the scheme period.

The selected companies include Sam sung, Nokia, Jabil, Rising Star, Flextronics as well as local one’s like HFCL, ITI, VVDN, Tejas Networks etc.

`

policy are usually syn chronised and counterbal ance each other.

On high debt-to-GDP ra tio, he said, sustainability is not a concern and it may reduce with asset moneti

DoT to begin R&D funding by January

First India Bureau

New Delhi: The DoT is likely to approve the first batch of applications by domestic companies seek ing funds for localised R&D activities by January next year, a top official said. “We have started receiving ap plications. So maybe in a month’s time, we’ll start processing them,” DoT sec retary K Rajaraman said. “I would say by January the first batch of applica tions would be approved.”

sation. India can use asset monetisation proceeds to whittle down it’s debt and that will help improve the credit rating, that can be the best fiscal stimulus we can provide, he added.

RBI’S CENTRAL BOARD DISCUSSES PREVAILING ECONOMIC SITUATION

Mumbai (PTI): The Central Board of Direc tors of Reserve Bank of India on Monday re viewed the current eco nomic situation and challenges being faced by the country due to global geopolitical cri ses.

The 598th meeting of the central board was held under the chair manship of Governor Shaktikanta Das, the RBI said in a statement.

“The Board in its meeting reviewed the current economic situa tion, global and domes tic challenges including the overall impact of current global geopoliti cal crises,” it said.

MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS

z The 598th meeting of the central board was held under the chairmanship of Governor Shaktikanta Das

z The board also discussed the functioning of various sub-committees of the central board, ombudsman scheme

H1 fiscal gap at 37.3% of FY aim

First India Bureau

New Delhi: According to government data released on Monday, India’s fiscal deficit for the first six months of this fiscal year through September stood at 6.20 lakh crore rupees, or 37.3% of annual estimates.

The fiscal deficit wid ened from 35% reported in the comparable year-earli er period.

Total receipts stood at 12.04 lakh crore rupees, while overall expenditure

falls 31 paise to close at 82.78/$

Mumbai (PTI): The rupee pared its initial gains and settled 31 paise lower at 82.78 (provisional) against the US dollar on Monday, tracking the strength of the American currency in the overseas market.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened at 82.35 and witnessed a high of 82.32 and a low of 82.80.

It finally settled at 82.78 against the American cur rency, registering a fall of 31 paise over its last close of 82.47.

The Indian rupee depre ciated on Monday amid strength in the US dollar. However, positive domestic equities and weak crude oil prices cushioned the down side, said Anuj Choudhary

- Research Analyst at Sharekhan by BNP Parib as. Moreover, inflows by foreign investors support ed the rupee at lower levels.

“We expect the rupee to trade with a negative bias amid strong US dollar amid increasing odds of an ag gressive rate hike by the Fed on Wednesday. Some recovery in crude oil prices may also weigh on Rupee,” Choudhary added.

SENSEX RECLAIMS 60K, NIFTY TOPS 18K-MARK Mumbai (PTI): Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty ended over 1 per cent higher on Monday, logging their third day of gains amid firm global market trends and fresh foreign fund inflows.The 30-share BSE Sensex rallied 786.74 points or 1.31% to settle at 60,746.59. On simi lar lines, the broader NSE Nifty advanced 225.40 points or 1.27% to end at 18,012.20.From the Sensex pack, UltraTech Ce ment, Mahindra & Mahindra, HDFC, Sun Pharma, HDFC Bank, Larsen & Toubro, Bajaj Finserv and Bajaj Finance were the major winners. Dr Reddy’s, NTPC closed lower.

PV sales may have hit new record in Oct

First India Bureau

New Delhi (PTI): Produc tion of eight infrastructure sectors expanded by 7.9% in September on better show by coal, ferti liser, cement and electric ity segments. In August, the core sectors’ output growth stood at 4.1%.

The production growth of eight infrastructure sec tors -- coal, crude oil, nat ural gas, refinery prod ucts, fertiliser, steel, ce ment and electricity -was 9.6% during AprilSept this fiscal, compared to 16.9% a year ago.

EXPECTED NUMBERS

z According to senior executives as many as 375,000-385,000 cars, sedans and utility vehicles were sold to customers, which brought down inventory in the channel by 25% this month.

z Automakers saw robust demand for new models, especially SUVs

in April to September was at 18.24 lakh crore rupees.

They were 52.7% and 46.2% of this fiscal year’s budget target.

Revenue receipts stood at 11.70 lakh crore rupees, of which tax revenue was 10.12 lakh crore rupees and

OTHER STORIES

AIRTEL 2ND QUARTER

NET PROFIT JUMPS

89% TO `2,145 CRORE

New Delhi (PTI): India’s sec ond largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Monday posted an 89% year-onyear rise in consolidated net profit for sec ond quarter ended September 2022 to `2,145 crore, amid improved average realisa tion per subscriber. The total revenue rose 22% year on year to `34,527 crore during the just-ended quarter, accord ing to a statement. Airtel CEO Gopal Vittal said the company is now rolling out 5G.

non-tax revenue was 1.58 lakh crore rupees.

In May, the government had cut taxes on petrol and diesel to cushion the im pact of a spike in global energy prices. Some econo mists however said wind fall gain tax and additional tax revenue owing to GST over and above the budget will likely provide relief to the fiscal situation.

Revenue deficit was at 3.11 lakh crore rupees or 31.4% of the fiscal year’s budget target, data showed.

AEROFLOT TO LAUNCH FLIGHT SERVICES TO GOA FROM MOSCOW

Mumbai (PTI): Russian flag carrier Aeroflot on Monday said it is set to launch its flight services to Goa from Moscow, starting November 2. The air line currently operates its air services on the Moscow-Del hi-Moscow route twice-a-week with an Airbus A330 aircraft. Aeroflot will fly its Airbus A330 aircraft every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday from Moscow to Goa, offering 28 seats in the business class and 268 in the economy class.

NEW SUPPLY OF RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES

RISE 44 PER CENT TO 3.4 LAKH

IN

New Delhi (PTI): Fresh supply of residential properties is ex pected to rise 44% this year across seven cities to 3.4 lakh units as developers look to tap increase in demand. Anarock data showed that new launches stood at 2.65 lakh units during Jan-Sept this year across primary markets of seven cities -- Delhi-NCR, Mumbai Met ropolitan Region, Bengaluru, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata.The current trends indicate that launches in these cities will exceed 3.4 lakh units in the entire 2022 calendar year, consultant added.

SEBI BANS MEHUL CHOKSI FROM CAPITAL MARKET FOR 10 YRS

LIC PICKS UP OVER 2% ADDITIONAL STAKE IN CAPRI GLOBAL

especially

New Delhi (PTI): Sebi on Monday barred fugitive busi nessman Mehul Choksi from the securities markets for 10 years and imposed a fine of `5 crore on him for indulging in fraudulent trading in the shares of Gitanjali Gems Ltd. He has been directed to pay the penalty within 45 days, as per the Sebi order. Choksi, who was the chairman and managing director as well as part of the promoter group of Gitanjali Gems.

New Delhi (PTI): Life Insur ance Corporation of India (LIC) has raised its stake in Capri Global Capital by 2% over the last few months at an investment of `257.37 crore. Its shareholding in Capri Global has increased from 1,24,00,000 to 1,59,51,171 equity shares, increasing its stake from 7.052% to 9.072%.

Capri Global caters to different segments like MSME, con struction, finance, affordable housing and indirect retail.

KADU-RANA MATTER IS OVER,

First India Bureau

Mumbai: With the dispute between MLAs Bachchu Kadu and Independent MLA Ravi Rana reaching its crescen do and the time limit given by the latter nearing, both legisla tors finally met Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Dev endra Fadnavis late on Sunday night.

During the meeting, Rana apologized and tried to resolve the dis pute. Meanwhile, Fad navis made a revelation by informing the media that Kadu had gone to Guwahati on his call.

“Bachchu Kadu went to Guwahati after I have him one phone call. I called and said that we want to form the gov ernment and we need your support. So it is wrong to question as to what kind of financial

transactions did Bach chu Kadu do? I do not know about the others. However, it is wrong to accuse Kadu like this. As far as I know people who went to Guwahati put their trust in Eknath Shinde”, said the deputy chief minis ter on Monday.

“Yesterday, Chief Minister Eknath Shin de and I discussed the matter at length with

Bachchu Kadu and Ravi Rana. Both agreed that the statements made by them were made in an ger and were not justi fied. However, now both have decided that it is not okay to make accu sations in this way. This matter is over,” he said.

Rana and Kadu had been engaged in a verbal dispute over the past few weeks. The former had accused Kadu of taking

RANA-KADU DISPUTE

RESOLVED: MUNGANTIWAR

Nagpur: Forest Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar, on Monday, said the dispute between former state minister Bachchu Kadu and MLA Ravi Rana

been resolved after me diation by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. “There

an altercation

Kadu and Rana

some disagreement. But now

have

matter). Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis handled the mat ter with restraint, ” said Mungantiwar.

“pachhas khokhe” (50 boxes) to go to Guwahati with Shinde, who split the Shiv Sena in one of the biggest political re bellions in the state. On the other hand, Kadu

Y+ security for 41 MLAs, 10 MPs of CM Shinde faction

Mumbai (PTI): The state government has decided to continue the Y plus security cover to all the 41 MLAs and 10 MPs be longing to Chief Min ister Eknath Shinde’s camp even three months after the new government was formed, an official said on Monday.

This decision was taken based on inputs given by the intelli gence department. A review meeting was held by the state police last week which decid ed to continue the secu rity to these legislators.

The state home de partment has decided to continue providing Y+ security to all the 41 MLAs of Shinde’s camp as well as to 10 MPs. The decision was taken based on inputs given by the intelli gence department, said the police official.

Decision taken by govt at review meeting after input from intelligence dept

had challenged Rana to justify his allegations by November 01, or “face the consequences” as he claimed that seven to eight MLAs had called him to express support.

Under Y+ security, four security personnel will guide the protectee in two shifts along with a security vehicle.

The Maharashtra government recently removed the catego

rized security cover of 25 leaders of the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition of the Uddhav Thacker ay-led Shiv Sena which comprised the Nation alist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress.

Those who lost secu rity cover include sev eral former Cabinet ministers. The security cover of Uddhav Thack

eray, the previous chief minister, and his fami ly has been retained.

The security cover of Nationalist Con gress Party leader Sharad Pawar and his family including his daughter and Barama ti Lok Sabha MP Su priya Sule too has been retained, but that of some other NCP lead ers including Jayant Patil, Chhagan Bhu jbal and jailed Anil Deshmukh has been removed. They have been home ministers in the past.

Rains delay Maha cane

ops by 30 days

First India Bureau

Mumbai: The sugar cane crushing pro cess in Maharashtra, which was supposed to “officially” start on October 15, will be delayed by at least a month, due to rains playing spoilsport, said state cooperative department.

The sugar mills would likely be fully op erational only by midNovember as the sugar cane fields are still wa terlogged, the depart ment officials said. The “retreating monsoon”, which lasted till late Oc tober, inundated sugar cane fields and delayed the harvest.

BY PTI & ANI

The adverse weather conditions affected the mills, too, as only 32 of the 203 sugar mills in the state have begun the

process of sugarcane crushing.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had an nounced earlier this month that sugarcane crushing would begin on October 15, as the production was higher this year. Even though the mills were eager to

begin the process, the weather was not condu cive for it.

The crushing season this year will last for 160 days.

This year, with Maha rashtra witnessing a 2.55 lakh-hectare in crease in area of sugar cane plantation, farm ers had high hopes of increased yields and profits. Last year sugar cane was cultivated on 12.32 lakh hectares.

With India being the second largest producer of sugar in the world, Maharashtra accounts for 60% of the sugar ex ports from the country.

Thanks to the third consecutive monsoon spell in Maharashtra, there was surplus wa ter available which had in turn made farmers choose sugarcane culti vation this season.

Nagpur: Two youths are feared to have drowned in Kan han river in Waki in Nagpur district on Saturday, a police official said. Kunal Lohekar (24) and Nitesh Sahu (27) are part of a group of eight picnickers who had reached the site in the afternoon. “Lohekar started drowning and Sahu tried to rescue him. However, both have gone missing. A search operation involving local fishermen. divers and po lice had to be called off due to darkness,” the official said.

Thane: A bank employee was allegedly robbed of Rs11.75 lakh cash while he was on his way to deposit the money at the bank’s branch in Kalyan city in the Thane district, police said on Sunday. The incident took place on Saturday afternoon, when the employ ee was travelling with the cash from Vasai to Kalyan along with the bank’s security guard on a motorcycle, a police official said. Two unidentified persons on a two-wheeler waylaid the duo at Kalyan naka and snatched the bag containing Rs11.75 lakh cash.

FROM PG 1

Jr. Thackeray...

Vedanta-Foxconn pro ject. Vedanta was Fox conn’s project partner for ‘Semiconductor Chip’, while Fadnavis mentioned the mobile phone project. So my request to Dy CM Fad navis is to please stop misleading Maharash tra. Stop trying to de fame Maharashtra.”

the project is coming to Maharashtra. So did he give wrong information to the assembly? I chal lenge him for a one on one debate on this is sue,” he said.

First India Bureau

Mumbai: For the next fortnight, passengers travelling on the Har bour Line and all sta tions under Central Railway (CR) between Kalyan and Igatpuri will not be able to buy Indian Railway Cater ing and Tourism Cor poration (IRCTC)’s bottled water, Rail Neer.

In a letter to CR, the IRCTC, stated: “Due to

the sudden increase in demand for Rail Neer, owing to the prevailing festive season and break down in production at Ambernath, it will not be feasible to supply Rail Neer at mentioned sec tions from October 29 to November 15.”

There will also be a shortage of Rail Neer at Bhusawal, Manmad, Nasik Road, Solapur, Daund and Ahmednagar stations until November 15.

Available for Rs15 per litre, Rail Neer is an important passen ger amenity, which in certain premium pas senger trains and airconditioned coaches, is

provided to passengers, and included in the ticket.

Currently, Rail Neer monopolizes water sales at railway sta tions; even for local

commuters it is the only packaged drinking water available. Only other option is drinking water vending stalls.

With the special trains launched by CR for festive season, crowds have increased at railway stations, thus increasing the demand for Rail Neer.

Rail Neer is produced at and then distributed from a plant in Amber nath. IRCTC produces 14,500 cartons—each of which have 12 1 litre bottles—of Rail Neer. These are then supplied to static catering unit owners at stations.

He further ques tioned, “If these pro jects left the state dur ing MVA government, why then did you meet the company officials.”

Thackeray also showed Eknath Shinde’s tweet of his meeting with of ficials of the VedantaFoxconn project.

“The project that Fadnavis is talking about is a different pro ject wherein Faxconn officials had visited Talegaon in May 2022. They even inspected the place. If the project went out during our time, why did you all meet them? Did you meet them because you did not get anything?

CM Shinde had said in the state assembly that

Trying our... It is believed that this refinery may be located in parts of Maharash tra and Kerala. “Of course we are trying to make this project com pletely in Maharash tra. So my question to the opposition is that if you are opposing a project with an invest ment of 3 lakh crores, then what right do you have to talk about in vestment in Maharash tra? You have sent this investment back on be half of the govern ment. Maharashtra has suffered a lot due to this. We’re going to set up that refinery pro ject, but we can’t say where it will be. For this, some villages will be excluded and some new villages will be in cluded, but the refinery will be in Maharash tra,” Fadnavis said.

BANK EMPLOYEE ROBBED OF `11.75L CASH BY TWO ON WAY TO BRANCH

TWO YOUTHS FEARED DEAD DUE TO DROWNING IN NAGPUR’S KANHAN RIVER

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde

—FILE PHOTO

Sugar mills are likely to become fully operational only by mid-Nov, say officials

Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis

Ravi Rana

Bachchu Kadu

Love

Belle Paradise

ith 30 final ists from across the country bat tling it out for the cov eted title, the jury had a tough time choos ing the top five.

With Jagdeesh Chandra gracing the evening as the chief guest, the show became more magical!

The scintillating evening in the mesmer ising land of pictur esque beaches and the City of Dreams, began with a lamp-lighting ceremony, followed by various rounds of the grand finale.

Jagdeesh Chandra made it possible for eve ry young girl to dream big with confidence so that she may reach great er heights. While con gratulating all the final ists, he welcomed the audience and said, “We strongly wish to open the gates of opportunity in the fashion and enter tainment industry for many deserving girls. First India and youth are natural allies and we pro mote talent for one and

Famous anchor Sim ran Ahuja set the mood swinging by introducing the finalists of the First

India Queen.

Special Guest for the evening, Deepak Agarw al, MD, Bikaji Group, also congratulated the winners. Many celebri ties and dignitaries graced the mega event.

Before announcing the winners, a special felici tation ceremony under 10 categories was also an nounced. The subtitles bagged were

Miss Beautiful Hair by Kulsum, Miss Beautiful Body by Apoorva, Miss Beautiful Smile by An chal, Miss Photogenic by Suhani, Miss Ira women by Chahat, Miss Talented by Avani, Miss Beautiful Skin by Yoshita, Miss Trending by Neha, Miss Congeniality by Anshika and Miss Best Runway Walk by Marishca.

MITALI

Jagdeesh Chandra with the winners of First India Queen Bhakti Jani (winner), Victoria Fernandez (1st Runner Up), Svara Mandlik (2nd Runner Up), Sanya Hissaria (3rd Runner Up) and Divya Mamnani (4th Runner Up)

Parimal Mehhta greeted by Kavita Chauhan

CLOCKWISE: Simaran Ahuja, Poonam Pandey, Riya Soni, Archana Kochhar and Rehaa Khann

A STAR-STUDDED NIGHT TO REMEMBER

FROM PG 09

Parimal Mehhta, Founder Blancka nvas Pvt Ltd while congratulating the participants also thanked Jagdeesh Chandra and the First India team for giving them the op portunity to showcase this extrava gant event.

First India Queen is a platform of inspiration, learning and stardom for a common girl – coming from different parts of the country. The pageant celebrates inner beauty and talent as much as the physi cal appearance of any contestant, and hence it is in strumental in setting stand ards for evaluat ing and express ing the inner beauty of an Indian woman.

Jayanthi Ballal and Chahak Bhandula felicitating

Hissaria

Bhalla

RELIANCE FOUNDATION AND MIZORAM FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION JOIN HANDS

CITY FIRST

Reliance Founda tion, the CSR arm of Reli ance Industries Ltd (RIL) and Mizoram Football Association have joined hands to expand, transform and create a complete hy per-local pathway and decentralised ap proach to grass roots football in the state through Reliance Foundation Young Champs (RFYC) Nau pang (Children) League.

During the occasion, Nita M. Ambani, Founder and Chairper

son of Reliance Foun dation, said, "Football is a way of life in Mizo ram, woven into its so cial and cultural fab ric. This partnership between RF Young Champs and Mizoram Football Association will provide high-qual ity training to talented young boys and girls. It will enable budding footballers as young as 5 years of age to gain competitive exposure and enhanced play time. I’m excited about the immense possibili ties it will open up for children in Mizoram, a state that is heavily in vested in football. At RFYC, we remain com mitted to unlocking the potential of grass roots football across India and helping as piring footballers achieve their full po tential."

Lalnghinglova Hmar and Tetea Hmar, Hon orary Secretary, Mizo ram Football Associa tion and Executive Committee Member, AIFF, said, “We are ex tremely happy with the partnership forged between Mi zoram Football As sociation and Reliance Foundation and this project can be a gamechanger for Mizoram and Indian Football.

MFA is glad that Reli ance Foundation has been providing a plat form to young kids so that they can bring alive their sports dreams.”

The RFYC Naupang (Children) League will be hosted in 4 locations in Mizoram with 2 mod els of the league struc ture. The Mizoram FA and District FAs will host the leagues in Lunglei and Kolas ib, enabled by RFYC, while 2 Leagues in Aizawl and Champhai will be owned and operated by Reliance Foundation Young Champs. The age categories begin at Under 06 and continue until Under 13 years with multiple game for mats. A minimum of 30 games will be played by the kids.

Overwhelmed with the response on debut: Manish Raisinghan

ASHISH TIWARI cityfirst.mumbai@firstindia.co.in

We have often seen Bollywood movies depict ing romance, comedy, action, drama and a happy ending.

However, making enter taining films about so cial taboos is a different ball game. Making a breakthrough in show biz, television's popular actor Manish Raising han is set to star in his maiden film 'Kahani Rubberband Ki'.

In an exclusive con versation with Ashish Tiwari of First India, he shared about his movie, the real Manish and more.

Speaking on the love he is receiving he shared, “I am in abso lute gratitude for the sparkling debut, kind of reviews from almost all the reviewers and crit ics.

We worked hard to get that look for Aakash the "chomu" character, who was supposed to be this big body small brain loser guy who emerges as a winner by the end of the film. It was great high to see people laugh ing and

to your performance in theatres”

Sharing what made him say yes to the movie he stated, “So while we were looking for the good scripts for my film, we came across quite a few good ones. My Teacher and Guide Swapna Waghmare Joshi heard them all and asked me if I wanted to do the same slow-motion heroic entries and the typical hero roles or open my innings as an "actor" portraying ex actly who I am not and I have never attempted. So Aakash was that character. Absolute nonheroic hero, rather a loser with an absolute "fatichar" luck who keeps getting slapped around by everyone in cluding luck. Also, there was a lot of physical transformation, instead of showing my abs I had

to put on weight. Instead of a good-looking man I had to straighten my hair flat to look the part and most important learn UP accent and get the coming timing right simultaneously. So that thrilled me. The mov ie is on an issue we are all facing and today we live in an era where these issuebased films have taken centerstage”

He added, “And with the above two tickboxes checked I wanted to know the script because if we are talking about this script which is talk ing about a taboo which is gonna make people uncomfortable, the script has to be so clean that people rather get eased out wid this taboo so we work upon it.”

On talking about his upcoming project he shared,” God is Kind

and so are the Produc ers. Not just an actor but I have two projects as a writer/creator as well. So absolutely looking forward to learning and playing this game of sto rytelling in front and behind the camera both”

Asking who is the real Manish Raising han he shared, “Haha play is my favourite word. And I live by it. Let it be my workplace or my personal space, problems come and go. We always have a choice to make our life a battle field and fight, or the second option is to sit back relax and play with love and compassion.

Even in lockdown, I was working sixteen hours a day, if I make it to a bat tlefield I will ear out and not be able to perform, so this whole 'play' keeps my journey of life fun

and games for me and the people around me, so we never get tired and we all play.”

Speaking on how he handles the challenges of his roles he shared, “Indeed it is challeng ing, it's like living a new life every time and it is a brand new study a per son inside out. That's what makes me a travel ler, I am a bad tourist but an awesome traveller, I love to go to places and love there, experience life with the locals, live in hostels, meet other travellers and listen to their journeys. I think that's what is me as an actor "shopping for life" as they say.

The Same applies to my chosen characters. I see how much I will get to 'play' and how much more I get to 'live and learn' through these characters.”

Bipasha shares pregnancy struggles

birth and bring her

the world at any moment. But anyone who thought giving birth was simple

the

Aamir's mother HOSPITALISED

Diwali is a time to celebrate but Aamir Khan went through a major setback during that time. His mother, Zeenat Hussein suf fered a heart attack and was rushed to the Breach Can

Indian Express, "She suffered a heart attack and is currently admit ted in Breach Candy hospital."

riyanka Chopra Jonas who has been in the US for years now is coming back to India after almost 3 years. This will be her first trip after her daughter Malti Marie's birth.

Priyanka Chopra is widely regard ed as one of Indian cinema's most ac complished actresses. Countless mov ie buffs love her because of her strong screen presence and powerful perfor mances. Here is some big news for her ardent fans. The Desi Girl, who is based in the US, is finally coming to India after three long years. She shared her excite ment about the same on social media.

Priyanka is quite excited about re turning HOME, She indicated the same with a post on social media. The star shared a photo of her ticket on Instagram stories, much to the delight of her fans.

who was told

take it easy

The actress spoke all about her pregnan

struggles in her Instagram sto ries. In her IG story, she wrote, “Bedrest ain’t fun when you have so much work to do before baby ar rives. Tell ing my self to just chill… just chill chill”.

To make her next movie 'Bhediya' a huge success, Kriti Sanon is now preoc cupied with its promo tion. Kriti and her 'Bhediya' costar Varun Dhawan are using every strategy at their disposal to make sure their movie is seen by as many people as possi ble, from releasing the film's fascinating teaser posters on social media to luring the au dience with her dancing to its songs. Both actors recently climbed the roof of the theatre to dance to the song 'Thumkesh wari' at the launch of the mov ie's song in Mumbai's Gaiety Galaxy theatre.

Although Kriti-Varun's perfor mance on the roof of the theatre drew a large crowd, it also drew harsh criticism on social media.

Varun and Kriti are viciously mocked online for acting in this way to draw viewers and promote the song. In viral footage, both actors were seen climbing the cinema's roof and showing off their killer moves on 'Thumkeshwari'.

While slamming the actress, one troll commented, 'Kri ti Sanon has turned into a spider-woman.” Anoth er said, “Kriti just can not dance no mat ter how much she tries.”

It was reported ear lier that Hussein was in Panchgani at Aamir Khan's bungalow cele brating the festival of lights along with every one. After suffering a major heart attack, Aamir immediately rushed her to the hos pital in Mumbai.

Aamir Khan who is extremely close to his mother spoke on Moth er's Day about how she influenced his life while growing up. He said in a 2014 inter view, "My mother has been very important in my life, and not just on one particular day. She has been the biggest in fluence on me when I was growing up. She is extremely dear to me, irrespective of which ‘day’ it is."

The actress Bi pasha Basu and her hus band Karan Singh Grover are expecting a child soon. The actress is prepared

Priyanka Chopra

Kriti Sanon

Bipasha Basu

Aamir Khan with mother Zeenat Hussein

Manish Raisinghan

N

Nita Mukesh Ambani with participants of Mizoram Football Association