First India-Mumbai Edition-02nd October 2022

MAHATMA GANDHI MAKES APPEARANCE AT UNITED NATIONS

5G REVOLUTION IN INDIA!

New Delhi: October 1, 2022 will be remem bered as a historic day for the 21st century In dia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said as he gifted the 5G service to over 130 crore Indi ans on Saturday at the 6th edition of India Mo bile Congress.

He said the vision of his govt for ‘Digital In dia’ was founded on four pillars - the cost of de vices, digital connectiv ity, data cost and digitalfirst approach. 5G will help in real-time moni toring of disasters, pre cision agriculture, and minimising the role of humans in dangerous industrial operations such as in deep mines, offshore activities, the govt has underlined.

Stating that the 5G technology will revolu tionise the telecom sec tor, PM pointed out that India was dependent on other countries for 2G, 3G and 4G technologies. But with 5G, India has created a new history. “India is setting a glob

TO COVER IND

BY MAR 2024: MITTAL Airtel CEO Sunil Mittal said that Delhi, Varanasi, Mum bai, Bangalore will get 5G from now & 5G will be in all homes by March 2024.

BIRLA:

al standard in telecom technology for the first time”, he remarked. In dustry leaders - Mukesh

MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS

z 5G is said to be 20 times faster than 4G speed once the pan In dia rollout is complete

z India’s biggest ever auction of telecom spectrum received a record `1.5 trillion

z Ambani’s Jio cornering nearly half of airwaves sold with an `88,078 crore bid

Ambani, Sunil Mittal, Kumar Mangalam Bir la, also expressed their views on this occasion.

THE ENTIRE COUNTRY WILL GET ACCESS TO JIO 5G BY DECEMBER 2023, SAYS AMBANI

RIL chairman Mukesh Am bani has confirmed that all cities and villages and every corner of the country will get access to Jio’s 5G services by December 2023. Jio will rollout its true 5G services in 4 cities by Diwali. These cities include Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai. As per the ministry, 13 cities will get 5G first (across operators). These cities include Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Gandhinagar, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Jam nagar, Lucknow, and Pune.

READ Crucial

Jamia suspends nine students over violence

New Delhi (PTI): The Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) University has suspended nine stu dents for “spoiling” the peaceful academic en vironment of the cam pus, days after a scuffle broke out between two groups, resulting in a student sustaining bullet injuries.

HISTORY-SHEETER

VISITS AILING MOTHER, HELD

Mumbai: A man accused of involvement in several house-breaking thefts was arrested from Bandra on Saturday when he reached Mum from Guj to see his ailing mother.

Karamat Ali was held on a tip off that he would be in Dharavi, said a Sakinaka police station official.

Those suspended in clude Nauman Ali, a student of LLM semes ter-3, who had suffered a superficial injury on the scalp after being shot at by another group of students.

Meanwhile, police have also apprehended

nine people in connec tion with the case, in cluding some of the stu dents suspended by the university.

In notices issued on Friday, the chief proc tor accused the students involved in the brawl of “politicising” an issue and “making it a re gional scuffle between the students of western UP and Mewat region”.

Indore declared clean city for 6th consecutive time

New Delhi: Indore emerged as clean city of India for the 6th time in a row while Surat has scored a hattrick as the second clean est city since 2020. Navi Mumbai is the third cleanest city while NDMC, which houses the county’s most pow erful people, has slipped to 9th position in 2022 from being 5th cleanest city last year and 8th in 2020. President Murmu released ranking of ULBs on cleanliness pa rameters for ’22 on Saturday. More on P2

5G technology will greatly benefit India. It is likely to benefit the Indi an economy by `36.4 trillion ($455 billion) between 2023 and 2040, a recent re port by a global industry body representing mobile network operators estimated. —Experts

UP: 27 people, including 11 children, died as a tractor-trolley overturned

Kanpur: Over 27 peo ple, including 11 kids and 11 women, died as a tractor-trolley over turned on the road in UP’s Kanpur on Satur day. Over 30 others were injured who are being treated at a hospital. It met with an accident as the tractor-trolley over turned in Ghatampur area in Kanpur district.

President Droupadi Murmu, PM Modi, LS Speaker Om Birla, HM Amit Shah, Union Min ister Rajnath Singh, Ut tar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath expressed grief over the accident.

MOM PLEASE DON’T CRY!

Shinde camp appoints ‘Yuva Sena’ exec panel

First India Bureau

Mumbai: The Shiv Sena faction led by Ma harashtra Chief Minis ter Eknath Shinde on Friday appointed exec utive committee mem bers of the ‘Yuva Sena’, the party’s youth wing. Most of the new postholders are family members of rebel MLAs.

Aaditya Thackeray, son of former Chief Minister and Shiv Sena President, Uddhav Thackeray, who heads the other faction of the party, leads the Yuva Sena. Samadhan Sarvankar, Raj Kulkar ni, Raj Surve and Pray ag Lande were appoint ed in-charges for the Yuva Sena’s Mumbai unit.

Sarvankar, a former councillor of the Mum bai civic body, is son of Mahim MLA Sada Sarvankar, a key mem ber of the Shinde-led rebel camp.

Surve is son of Ma

gathane MLA Prakash Surve, while Lande is son of Chandivali MLA

ter Dada Bhuse, was ap pointed in-charge for North Maharashtra, while Vikas Gogavale, Rupesh Patil and Ram Rane were named incharges for Raigad, Rat nagiri and Sindhudurg.

Gogavale is related to Mahad MLA Bharatsh et Gogavale.

Kiran Sali and Sachin Bangar were ap pointed in-charge for Western Maharashtra.

PM MODI, CM YOGI ANNOUNCE EX-GRATIA AID

PMO announced compensation of Rs 2 lakh each to the kin of deceased, Rs 50,000 to the injured in the ac cident. Uttar Pradesh government also an nounced compensation of Rs 2 lakh each to the kin of deceased. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ban's tractor-trolley's to carry people, this decision comes after Kanpur acci dent and they will be used only for agricultural works and action will be taken for breaking the rules.

Mum cops take custody of Shakeel kin Salim Fruit

Mumbai (PTI): Mumbai police on Saturday took the custody of Salim Iqbal Qureshi alias Salim Fruit, a rela tive of fugitive gang ster Chhota Shakeel, from the National Investigation Agen cy (NIA) as part of the probe into an ex tortion case.

Dilip Lande. Avishkar Surve, son of Maharashtra minis

Nitin Lande, Viraj Mahmunmar, Manit Chougule and Rahul Londe were appointed Yuva Sena in-charges for Thane, Navi Mum bai and Palghar. Turn to P5

Qureshi was in ju dicial custody in connection with a case registered by the NIA against fugi tive gangster Da wood Ibrahim and

his aides for various illegalities.

“The Anti Extor tion Cell (AEC) of Mumbai Crime Branch took his cus tody in the Turn to P5

Rebel group led by Shinde has often slammed former CM Uddhav Thackeray for dynastic politics. —FILE PHOTO

Most new members are related to rebel MLAs in the CM’s faction

Delhi

DEL: POLLUTION CHECK MUST TO

FROM OCT 25

New Delhi: Vehicle owners will not be provided fuel at petrol pumps in Delhi without showing a valid pollution under control certificate from October 25, Environment Minister Gopal Rai said at meeting of officials from environment, transport and traffic depts on Saturday.

United Nations: In a first, Mahatma Gandhi made a special appearance at the United Nations, sharing his message on education at the world organisation as it commemorated the International Day of Non-Violence on the occasion of the Indian leader’s birth anniversary.

ARREST

PM IMRAN

Islamabad: A magistrate in Islamabad issued an arrest warrant for Pakistan’s former PM Imran Khan on Saturday. Warrant was issued by Senior Civil Judge Rana Mujahid Rahim after Imran didn’t appear in court in a case filed against him for threatening a judge.

New Delhi: Air Marshal SP Dharkar on Saturday took charge as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of IAF’s Eastern Air Command. Senior IPS officers Sujoy Lal Thaosen and Anish Dayal Singh were appointed as new director generals of CRPF and ITBP respectively.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani, Union Ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and Devusinh

Chauhan, Bharti Enterprises Founder and Chairperson Sunil Bharti Mittal and Aditya Birla Group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla during the launch of 5G services in India at the 6th India Mobile Congress, at Pragati Maidan, in New Delhi on Saturday.

PM Narendra Modi launches 5G services in India

Jio 5G services to rollout in four metro cities by Diwali

Airtel says that 8 cities will get 5G access from now

Top bizmen say India will get 6G by end of the decade

The revolution in the telecom sector is proof that if the intentions of the government are correct, it takes no time for citizens’ intentions to change. 2G ki niyat aur 5G ki niyat mein yehi farak hai.

—Narendra Modi, Prime Minister

5G services will be available in over 200 cities in the coming 6 months and attempts are being made to make 5G available in 80-90 per cent of the country in the next 2 years.

—Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Telecom Minister

5G unlocks the potential of other technologies like Artificial Intelli gence, Internet of Things, Robotics, Blockchain, and Metaverse. PM Modi’s leader ship has raised India’s prestige & power glob ally like never before. Mukesh Ambani, RIL Chairman

Poornima Mishra and Moni Sharma

Mukesh Ambani & Akash Ambani.

Ambani with Mahendra Nahata at HFCL stall at the IMC pavilion.

NEW CHARMING LOOK OF PM MODI!

Mother reacts as her innocent daughter consoles her after accident. A tractor-trolley fell into a pond near a village in Kanpur, UP on Saturday.

FIR against NCP’s Bhujbal, 2 others for dire threat to man

Bal Thackeray stars in rival Sena rally teasers

Salary hike order for cops in Gadchiroli in two days: Fadnavis

First India Bureau

Nagpur: Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minis ter Devendra Fad navis here on Satur day said that an order raising the salaries of police officers as signed to the Naxaliteaffected Gadchiroli district would be is sued within two days.

The decision to raise the salaries of police officers, posted in the Naxalite-affected district, by one-and-ahalf times was pending for long

Mumbai: Police have registered a case against former Ma harashtra minister Chhagan Bhujbal and two others on the charge of threat ening to kill a man.

He had forwarded videos to the senior Nationalist Con gress Party leader in which the latter al legedly spoke against Hindu reli gion, an official said.

The First Informa tion Report in this connection was regis tered at Chembur po lice station late Friday night. “Based on the complaint filed by the man, an offence under IPC section 506 (2) (criminal intimida tion) and 34 (common intention) was regis tered against Bhujbal and two others,” the official said.

“The complainant said that he was threat ened for forwarding two videos to Bhujbal,

A video of the NCP leader talking trash about Hinduism was in his possession

in which the latter al legedly spoke against Hindu religion,” he added.

The case is being in vestigated by unit -6 of the Mumbai crime branch. Bhujbal cur rently represents the Yeola Assembly con stituency in Nashik district. He had earlier served as the deputy chief minister of Ma harashtra. He recently faced backlash for questioning the dis playing of Goddess Saraswati portraits in state schools.

Speaking at an event earlier this week, Bhujbal de manded that the por traits of social reform ers like Jyotiba Phule, Shahu Maharaj and BR Ambedkar be dis played in schools.

First India Bureau

Mumbai: Late Balasa heb Thackeray’s voice and the ‘bow and ar row’ party symbol were the centrepieces in the Dussehra rally teasers issued by both the Uddhav Thacker ay and Eknath Shinde factions of the Shiv Sena.

While Thackeray will address his rally at Shivaji Park in central Mumbai on October 05, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde will address his group’s rally at MMRDA Ground in Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) on the same evening.

“Thackeray will speak in his capacity as party chief, while Shinde, too, will address his rally as Sena chief,” said Kiran Pawaskar, a spokesper son of the rebel faction.

The Thackeray fac tion released its Dusseh ra rally teaser on Friday. It featured a snippet of an old speech by Bal Thackeray, where the party founder addressed the crowd as “All my

Hindu mothers, brothers and sisters who have gathered here”.

On Thursday, the Shinde-led faction re leased a teaser of their rally, claiming it would be an event of the ‘Shiv Sena’. A 20-second vid eo, tweeted by Shinde, has Bal Thackeray’s voiceover where the late leader is heard say ing the saffron flag of Shivaji, Shiv Sena and Hindutva “should con tinue to flutter”.

“Shiv Sena’s Dusseh ra rally—BKC, Bandra, Mumbai,” another voiceover said.

The video has images of Bal Thackeray, Shin de and Shinde’s mentor Anand Dighe.

With Dussehra just days away, posters of rallies by the two fac tions have been put up across Mumbai city.

While Shivaji Park can house 40,000 chairs,

the MMRDA ground can accommodate up to 1 lakh chairs. “So ours will be a bigger rally. We are working on how to manage the logistics as we are expecting people from all over the state,” said Sheetal Mhatre, Shinde group’s spokes person.

Sanjay Shirsat, MLA from the Shinde camp, said more than 20,000 party workers from Au rangabad will arrive for the rally, and 500 buses have been booked for the purpose.

MLC Manisha Kay ande, associated with the Uddhav camp, said party workers have already set out for Mumbai.

IN DEVOTION

Hand over your drones, Nashik police tell people

First India Bureau

Nashik: Police has or dered residents to de posit the drones with nearby police stations after two incidents of drones flying near de fense establishments were reported.

The order was issued by city Police Commis sioner Jayant Naik navare on Friday.

According to the cas es registered with Upna gar police station on August 27 and Adgaon police station on Sep tember 24, unauthorized drones were spotted fly ing over the Combat Army Aviation School and Defence Research and Development Or ganization (DRDO) facil ity near Ojhar, respec tively.

As per the order is sued by the commission er, private drone owners

and operators in the city should immediately hand over their drones to the police stations un der whose jurisdiction they live or do business.

Whenever they want to use a drone they would need to take per mission from police, use the drone under police supervision by paying a fee and return it to the police station after use.

The order will not be applicable to drones owned by government, semi-government and defence establishments.

Earlier during the day, Fadnavis, who han dles the home portfolio and is the guardian minister of this eastern Maharashtra district, held a meeting of the District Planning Com mittee in Gadchiroli.

Speaking to the me dia, he said that a deci sion to raise the salaries of police officers in the district by one-and-ahalf times was still pend ing. The decision has been taken now and the salary hike order will be issued by Monday.

The first phase of Konsari sponge iron project and its subse quent phases with in vestment of Rs18,000 crore will get approval by April 2023, the depu ty CM informed.

A special mining cor ridor will be created to tackle the traffic conges tion caused by mining vehicles and trucks, he said, adding that a spe cial compensation pack age will be given to the people affected by the Meddigatta irrigation project on MaharashtraTelangana border.

Maha team visits Delhi to replicate night shelters

HIGH PRAISE

Navi Mumbai ranks as 3rd cleanest city in India in Swachh Survekshan 2022

First India Bureau

New Delhi: The city of Navi Mumbai bagged the third position in the Central govern ment’s annual cleanli ness survey results an nounced on Saturday.

While Indore bagged the top rank for the sixth consecutive time, it was followed by Surat of neighbouring Gujarat state and Navi Mumbai.

Maharashtra also managed to secure top positions in other cate gories of the survey.

In the category of best performing states in ‘Swachh Survekshan Awards 2022’, Madhya Pradesh secured the first position, followed by Chhattisgarh and Ma harashtra.

Indore and Surat re tained their top posi tions in the big cities category this year, while Vijayawada lost its third spot to Navi Mumbai. In the category of cit ies having a population fewer than one lakh, Ma harashtra’s Panchgani

was ranked number one, followed by Chhat tisgarh’s Patan (NP) and Maharashtra’s Karhad.

Maharashtra’s Deolali was adjudged the country’s cleanest Can tonment Board.

Among the states hav ing fewer than 100 urban

local bodies, Tripura has bagged the top rank, according to the survey results.

Haridwar was ad judged the cleanest Gan ga town in the category of more than 1 lakh pop ulation, followed by Var anasi and Rishikesh.

Bijnor was ranked the first among Ganga towns with fewer than one lakh population. It was followed by Kannauj and Garhmukhteshwar respectively.

President Droupadi Murmu on Saturday gave away the awards to the winners at an event in the national capital also attended by Union Housing and Ur ban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri among others.

The 7th edition of ‘Swachh Survekshan’ was conducted to study the progress of the Swachh Bharat Mission (urban) and rank the urban local bodies (ULBs) based on various cleanliness and sanita tion parameters.

New Delhi: A team from Maharashtra’s state level shelter monitoring committee visited night shelters in the national capital to understand their structure, operation and maintenance, ac cording to a statement issued by the Delhi Ur ban Shelter Improve ment Board (DUSIB).

“I like how the DUSIB is operating the night shelters. We are im pressed by the semi-puc ca shelters and will ask our government to con sider replicating the Delhi model of porta cabin shelters, because of the serious space con straint in Mumbai. We also appreciate the GPSenabled mobile app to track the location of grievances and calls for help,” said Ujjwal Uke, a former IAS officer and a member of the Maha rashtra panel.

The team visited a women’s shelter in Niza muddin area and also at tended a gathering to share their experience.

VIDEO WARS

Screengrabs of Thackeray and Shinde faction Dussehra rally teasers.

Both videos released by the groups had his picture and voiceover along with info on event locations

First India Bureau

Former minister Chhagan Bhujbal —FILE PHOTO

Devendra Fadnavis. —FILE PHOTO

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena Raj Thackeray and his wife Sharmila performed an aarti while offering prayers at Sai Temple, in Shirdi on Saturday. — PHOTOS BY ANI

First India Bureau

DUSIB has put together portable structures to provide

to the homeless in Delhi.

PHOTO

The

‘Make action plan for waste mgmt near Mum coastal line’

National Green Tribunal directs MCZMA to make budgetary allocations for scientific handling of waste

First India Bureau

Delhi/Mumbai: The National Green Tribu nal (NGT) has direct ed the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Manage ment Authority (MC ZMA) to prepare a time-bound action plan and to issue di rections for scientific handling of waste in Mumbai city. The move is aimed at pre venting damage to the environment near the coastal road.

The tribunal’s direc tions came on Septem ber 28 during a hearing of the plea seeking di rection for remedial ac tion against damage to the environment near the coastal road from Wadala to Mahul, close to Chembur to CST free way. Debris has been added to the salt pan, making an island out of it which is affecting the mangroves, which are important for Mumbai city, stated the plea.

Unauthorized struc tures are against CRZ regulations issued un der Environment (Pro

Annu Kapoor cheated of `4.36 lakh in KYC fraud

tection) Act, 1986, stated the plea.

Earlier, the tribunal had sought a factual and action-taken report from a six-member joint com mittee of MCZMA, Cen tral Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Maha rashtra Pollution Con trol Board (MPCB), State Environment Impact Assessment Authority

(SEIAA), Maharashtra, Brihanmumbai Munici pal Corporation (BMC) and the concerned dis trict magistrate.

A bench headed by Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel said, “The report shows that there have been unchecked viola tions by way of en croachments, construc tion of bunds, other il

Cocaine worth `4.9 cr seized from woman at Mumbai int’l airport

First India Bureau

CRUCIAL READ

POLICE TRACES TWO MINORS, REUNITE THEM WITH KIN

Mumbai: Actor Annu Kapoor lost Rs4.36 lakh to an online fraudster on the pretext of updating his Know Your Cus tomer details with a leading private sector bank, but prompt action by the police will en sure he receives Rs3.08 lakh back, an official said on Saturday.

According to an Oshiwara police station official, Ka poor received a call from a man posing as an employee of the bank on Thurs day who said he needed to update his KYC form, after which the actor shared his bank de tails and One Time Password.

“Some time later, the caller trans ferred Rs4.36 lakh from Kapoor’s ac count to two other accounts in two transactions. How ever, the bank im mediately called up the actor to inform about the transac tion and also told him his account was compromised,” he said.

Kapoor immedi ately approached cops and banks in which money was transferred.

Mumbai: The Customs Department at the Mumbai international airport arrested a woman passenger for trying to smuggle co caine worth Rs4.9 crore by hiding it in the cavity of her san dal, an official said on Saturday.

The incident took place on Thursday, in which 490gm of cocaine was recovered from her.

The woman was inter cepted by the Customs officials at the Chhatra pati Shivaji Maharaj In ternational Airport on the basis of suspicion. During the search, the officials found the co caine ingeniously con cealed in a special cavity made in her sandal, stat ed the Mumbai Customs Department in a tweet.

In another incident, the Directorate of Reve nue Intelligence seized crystal methampheta mine and cocaine worth Rs1,476 crore. The drugs were hidden in cartons of imported oranges. A total of 198kg of crystal methamphetamine and 9kg of cocaine were seized at Vashi.

legal structures, as well as dumping of de bris, in violation of en vironmental norms and to the detriment of the environment, particu larly mangroves. How ever, the committee has not indicated the violators of CRZ notifi cation and also not mentioned the action taken or proposed

Two held from Gujarat in Mum shootout case

Mumbai: Two people were arrested from Gujarat in connection with a shooting inci dent that took place on late Friday night in Kandivali West, Mum bai, a police official said on Saturday.

According to the po lice sources, the two ac cused were nabbed by Unit XI of the Crime Branch. The accused had fired indiscrimi nately, which led to the death of one Ankit Ya dav while three persons were injured.

“The accused had fled to Borivali on a scooter and then to Gu jarat. A Crime Branch team comprising Asst Inspector Mansigh Pa til and API Ghone ar rested the accused from Gujarat,” DCP (Detec tion-1) Sangramsingh Nishandar said.

Mumbai (PTI): The Supreme Court has given the go-ahead for landscaping and under ground parking works under the coastal road project in Mumbai, said Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Com missioner Iqbal Singh Chahal on Saturday. The court’s order on Friday was “very encouraging” and BMC will complete the project in November 2020 as per the sched ule, said Chahal. He shared a report which said the SC has allowed the corporation’s applica tion seeking to amend

against such violators.”

The bench further said that the recom mendations to remove unauthorized dumping of waste, illegal en croachments and ac ceptance of restorative areas, made in the re port are to be followed.

“The MCZMA has to prepare a time-bound action plan with budg

the court’s October 2020 order. The 2020 order had allowed reclama tion of sea only for road construction. To ease traffic congestion, the civic body is construct ing a 10.58-km long road along the western coastline of the city.

etary support in the matter and also issue directions for the scien tific handling of waste,” stated the bench.

The tribunal also di rected the Mumbai salt commissioner to take necessary action in the matter. It also appoint ed the state principal secretary as the super visor of the resolution.

Two bike-borne men go on shooting spree; 1 dead, three injured

Mumbai: A 26-year-old man was killed and three others were in jured after two motor cycle-borne men alleg edly fired at them in Kandivali area of Mumbai, on Saturday.

The incident, which police say was the result of personal animosity, happened around 11.30pm on Friday at La ljipada on Link Road.

“The two accused came on a motorcycle and fired four rounds, in which one person was killed and three others injured. The vic tims were standing in a group when the miscre ants fired at them and fled from the spot,” Dep uty Commissioner of Police (Zone-11) Vishal Thakur said.

The deceased was

identified as Ankit Ya dav. Sonu Paswan, the prime accused in the case, was well acquaint ed with the victim. Dur ing the Krishna Jan mashtami celebrations last month, a quarrel erupted between the two, and it is suspected that Paswan committed the crime to exact revenge on Yadav, he said.

A case under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 302 (murder) and others, as well as the Arms Act, was registered against the accused, who have not been arrested so far, police said.

Thane: Four people of a family including a couple and two daughters suffered burn injuries in a blaze that broke out in their home in Dombivali area of Thane dis trict, a civic official said on Saturday. The incident took place in the morning when Prasad Patil, his wife Preeti, and two of his daughters were sleeping. “The fire was doused and the injured were hospitalized,” Namedeo Chaudhary, an official of the fire brigade department of Kalyan Dombivali Municipal Corporation.

Thane: Child Protection Unit (CPU) of the Thane Crime Branch played an important role in reuniting two missing children with their parents. The missing ones included a 15-yearold boy from Raigad, who was found loitering around Matunga railway station, and a 10-year-old boy who went missing from Malegaon in Nashik. “We have reunited 28 missing children with their parents since April this year.” Sub Inspector Sandeep Khade of CPU said.

THREE BOOKED FOR DUPING TWO JOB SEEKERS OF `12 LAKH

Thane: Police have registered a case against three people at Kalyan in Thane district for allegedly duping two youths of Rs12 lakh on the false promise of giving govern ment jobs to them. Sanjay Thorat (55), a doctor, filed the complaint. The accused have been identified as Suresh Apte, Bharat Deshmukh and a person named Rathod, an official of Kolsewadi police sta tion in Kalyan said on Saturday. “The trio promised a job for the doctor’s son in Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) as a clerk and took Rs2,00,000 from him,” he added.

MAN BOOKED AFTER HIS DOG KILLS ANOTHER CANINE

First India Bureau

Pune: Preparations are in full swing to de molish the old bridge in the busy Chandni Chowk area of the city late on Saturday night till the wee hours of Sunday morning, said district officials on Saturday. Police per sonnel were deployed to the spot early on Saturday morning.

The controlled explo

sion to demolish the bridge has generated a lot of curiosity among local residents.

The razing of this bridge is reportedly part of an ambitious project aimed at improving traf fic at the Chandni Chowk junction—it cur rently faces severe traf fic snarls, especially dur ing the morning and evening peak hours. As per the plan, a flyover will be constructed in

place of the bridge, while National High ways Authority of India

(NHAI) and local civic authorities are involved in the work.

Thane: A dog adopted by a man killed another dog in the Vasant Vihar area of Thane district, after which a case under section 289 (neglect concerning animal) and 337 (rash and negligent act that could endanger life) were registered against him at the Chitalsar Police Station. An official from the police station said, “The accused’s dog killed another dog while out on a walk on September 29. No arrest has been made so far and further probe is underway.”

Thane: A 45-year-old woman was stabbed to death in Bhiwandi in Ma harashtra’s Thane district on Saturday afternoon, a police official said. The victim, identified as Savita Salve, is a civic employee, the Bhiwandi Town police station official said. “Some persons came to her home and stabbed her to death. A police team is at the site and efforts are on to nab the accused,” Senior Inspector CR Kakade said.

Palghar: At least seven people were injured on Saturday when lightning struck a house amid heavy showers in a village in the Palghar district, officials said. The injured persons, including a five-year-old child, were admitted to a government hospital in Gorhe village. The incident occurred at around 5pm when a bolt from the sky struck the house of Nitesh Wagh in Sange village.

Officials said that a team of Edifice Engi neering—the company

that had demolished Noida’s Supertech Twin Towers in August end— along with NHAI au thorities, will carry out the demolition of the bridge.

The area will be cor doned off after 11pm on Saturday as the explo sion to demolish the bridge is scheduled to take place around 2am on Sunday, they said.

Vehicular movement in the area will be stopped from 11pm to 8am, said Rahul Shrirame, Deputy Com missioner of Police (Traffic).

“During this period,

lightweight vehicles can use alternative roads to travel, while heavy vehi cles will be halted. Vehi cles moving from Satara towards Mumbai will have multiple options to commute in the city. Commuters can use the old Katraj Tunnel, Nav ale Bridge, Warje exit and later join Somatane Phata to travel to Mum bai,” explained Shrirame.

“Travellers from Mumbai can exit at So matne Phata, Baner route to enter the city before resuming their journey towards Sata ra,” he said.

First India Bureau

FOUR OF A FAMILY SUFFER BURN INJURIES IN BLAZE

WOMAN CIVIC BODY STAFF STABBED TO DEATH IN BHIWANDI

SEVEN PEOPLE INJURED AS LIGHTNING STRIKES VILLAGE IN PALGHAR DISTRICT

A committee had made recommendations to remove illegal encroachments, debris. —FILE PHOTO

SC GIVES APPROVAL FOR LANDSCAPING, UNDERGROUND PARKING WORKS

Iqbal Singh Chahal

First India Bureau

First India Bureau

Contraband recovered from the passenger. —ANI PHOTO

Ashok Gehlot has been an active, reliable, astute leader

self to make India a Perma nent, veto wielding member of the United Nations Securi ty Council. The brutal reality is that the Peoples Republic of China will always exercise its Veto to keep India out. If I am not mistaken, President Biden in one of his speeches said that India and Brazil should be Permanent members of the Security Council .

The reality is somewhat what more complicated. Any expansion of the Council must include a country from Sub-Saharan Africa and the Muslim world. Who from Af rica- Nigeria, Ethiopia or South Africa. From the Mus lim World the contenders will be Indonesia, Pakistan, Egypt.

WORLD FACING CLIMATE CHANGE

IN-DEPTH

ANNEXATION OF UKRAINE’S AREAS GIVE CONFLICT A SERIOUS TURN

India, in a few years will become the most populous country in the World. Yet, no one is seriously talking about it. No talks of birth control, none of population control. Yes, poverty has been vastly eradicated but the quality of life has not improved. Educational standards are low. The legal system needs to be made more efficient. Civil case go on for decades. We have some of the best doctors in the world but the hospitals are in need of drastic up gradation

K NATWAR SINGH

The author is Former Minister of External Affairs of India

What a week the Congress par ty has all but made a laugh ing stoke of itself. Ashok Ge hlot has landed himself in serious trouble. He is 71. A come back is unlikely.

He has been an active, reli able, astute leader, with a mass following. I have known him for over forty years and have great affection and re gard for him. I these four dec ades he did not put a foot wrong. The ‘neutral’ Sonia Gandhi obviously knows Dante Well, who wrote, nine hundred years ago, “The hot test places in Hell are reserved for those who in time of great moral crisis maintain their neutrality.” She shed her neu trality in no time. So long as she lives, she will have deity status. She is an expert at back seat driving. Can she revive the Congress? No.

PRESIDENTSHIP OF THE CONGRESS PARTY

Of the 2 contenders for Presi dentship of the Congress par ty, Mallikarjun Kharge and Shri Shashi Tharoor, I have never met the former. He is 80 years of age. The younger vot ers will certainly not opt for him. Shashi Tharoor , I have known him for several years.

INDIA TAKES A BIG STEP FORWARD

He is fine orator and an out standing author. He deserves to win. But he will not. He does not have the blessings of Mother Superior. Besides, un like Kharge he is not rooted in the Congress. Oddly none of the G-23 are supporting him.

Digvijaya Singh has been deprived of the President ship by Shri Kharge, who did not play fair with the former CM of Madhya Pradesh. He would have, as President put some life in Congress. Sur prisingly, he made one seri ous mistake. As far as I know, he did not meet Shrimati So nia Gandhi. He paid the price.

The Lok Sabha elections are to be held in 2024. At present the Congress paty had fifty two members in the Lok Sab ha. That number is not likely to go up as of now. Not with Kharge at the helm. PM Nar endra Modi will remain Prime Minister till 2029. His interna tional standing is high. Within India he faces no challenge.

BHAGWAT MEETS

UMER AHMED Shri Mohan Bhagwat, the head of RSS, made headlines when he met Imam Umer Ahmed Illyas a few days back. It was a courageous and wise move. It would have given mil lions of Muslims, much com fort. How many non-RSS non BJP Indians recall the fact that during the rule of the Bhartiya Janata Party, since 2014, not a single communal riot has occurred. This is an amazing achievement.

The ‘neutral’ Sonia Gandhi obviously knows Dante Well, who wrote, nine hundred years ago, “The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who in time of great moral crisis maintain their neutrality.” She shed her neutrality in no time. So long as she lives, she will have deity status. She is an expert at back seat driving. Can she revive the Congress? No

JAISHANKAR MADE INDIA PROUD AT UN

The External Affairs Minis ter, Jaishankar has done India proud at the United Nations and during his visit to Wash ington. He did not mince words, without flouting diplo macy. I would give him high marks for his stellar perfor mance. One caveat. He is over optimistic about the United States genuinely asserting it

The most alarming problem the World is facing, is climate change. One has only to look at the havoc rain and hurri canes are playing in Florida, Georgia and South Caroline. In Switzerland, glaciers are melting, in Italy rivers are drying up. For nature’s fury no easy answers are in sight.

RECENT FLOODS IN PAKISTAN

The recent floods in Pakistan have been calamity. As often happens the poor have been worst hit. Pakistan is a near bankrupt country. Only the rich Islamic countries can provide funds to rebuild the infrastructure, colleges, schools, hospitals, indus tries. It’s a long haul.

POPULATION, A CONCERN IN INDIA

India, in a few years will be come the most populous coun try in the World. Yet, no one is seriously talking about it. No talks of birth control, none of population control. Yes, pov erty has been vastly eradicat ed but the quality of life has not improved. Educational standards are low. The legal system needs to be made more efficient. Civil case go on for decades. We have some of the best doctors in the world but the hospitals are in need of drastic up gradation.

The great Jawaharlal Nehru is to some extent re sponsible for India becoming an over populated country. Soon after taking over, he made the astounding pro nouncement that India was an under populated country. By the time of his death it was on the road leading to over population.

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL

India moved to a higher trajectory in mobile connec tivity with the launch of 5G tech nology on Sunday. India may not be the first country to have the advanced technology, but one can take pride in the fact that we are not watching the technological advancements from the sidelines and cele brating the ultra high-speed internet which will unlock the potential future technologies.

It will also “unleash new eco nomic opportunities and soci etal benefits giving it the po tential for being a transforma tional force for Indian socie ty.” Its economic impact also cannot be underestimated.

The rapidity with which India has reached this mile stone speaks volumes about Prime Minister Narendra

The Prime Minister’s pitch for Aatmnirbhar Bharat ensured that the experience of 2G, 3G and 4G technologies was not repeated. While for technologies India was dependent on foreign support, 5G is home grown. An elated Prime Minister hailed the event as “historic” as “India is setting global standards for the first time”

Modi’s Digital India cam paign which focused on digi tal connectivity, affordability of devices and data and his focus on internet for all. Af fordability will help mobile penetrate the rural market.

The Prime Minister’s pitch for Aatmnirbhar Bharat en

sured that the experience of 2G, 3G and 4G technologies was not repeated. While for technologies India was de pendent on foreign support, 5G is home grown. An elated Prime Minister hailed the event as “historic” as “India is setting global standards for the first time”.

The push given to the tel ecom sector under the Aat manirbhar Bharat saw mo bile manufacturing units grow from two in 2014 to around 200 now. Indian hand sets are now competing with the best. In the process India has also become a major ex porter of mobile phones. The 5G launch is especially nota ble as it was not dogged by any controversy as had hap pened with 4G when the spec trum auction was mired in allegations of corruption.

Even as countries are reeling under eco nomic crisis, RussiaUkraine conflict ap pears to be expand ing. Cocking a snook at the US, Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed four regions of Ukraine and attracted more sanctions after referendums which were strongly contested by Kyiv. The retaliatory US sanc tions will be on 278 members of Russian parliament and 14 peo ple linked to its defence indus try. Simultaneously, the Euro pean Commission proposes to impose a ban on export of hitech goods and a ban on imports from Russia. Sanctions imposed so far have not deterred Russia from enlarging the conflict.

The annexations have led Ukraine to push its efforts for an early membership of NATO which, for some reason, has got delayed. Membership of NATO would mean that the western al liance will get automatically sucked into the conflict to defend a member. With Putin saying that his threat to use nuclear weapons should not be treated as a bluff, it must now be taken seriously in view of these developments.

TOP TWEETS

Anurag Thakur @ianuragthakur

In this nationwide campaign till October 31, more than 100 lakh kg of plastic and other waste items will be collected and disposed of with public participation.

l

No.

1 l

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

SPIRITUAL SPEAK

A man is not called wise because he talks and talks again; but if he is peaceful, loving and fearless then he is in truth called wise.

Buddha

Amit Shah @AmitShah

A giant leap towards Digital India. The launch of 5G services by PM @ narendramodi Ji will take connectivity in India to the next level. With limitless possibilities & myriad benefits, 5G will serve as a major transformative force and form the bedrock for economic opportunities.

PM Modi leads trends across digital space with brand value worth `413 cr

PM's brand value shoots up by `86 crore in comparison with 2020 evaluation

First India Bureau

New Delhi: Check Brand has released data analyzing the online sentiments for top politi cians in India and evalu ated more than 100 mil lion online impressions for the report. One of the most impactful and new trendsetters on various digital platforms, such as Twitter, Facebook,

Google search, Wikipe dia, YouTube, Insta gram, Google Trends etc, is the famed politi cian across the world"Narendra Modi".

Even in the face of fierce resistance from numerous political and social groups, Prime Minister Modi has emerged as the most powerful leader. PM Modi has changed the political brand anoma ly once again by mak ing a humongous jump with a jaw-dropping Rs 413 crore worth of 'Digi tal Brand Value', in

2022. The figure is Rs 86 crore higher than the last valuation in 2020, assessed by Check Brand, an innovative digital platform to measure and enhance political brands and ministries.

CheckBrand's initial evaluation, completed in October 2020, deter mined that PM Modi was the most popular politician, with approx imately 100 trends re lated to him circulating in the public sphere. The study, which was done in the second

quarter of 2020, includ ed the top 95 political figures as well as 500 renowned figures. Ac cording to CheckBrand,

BHARAT JODO YATRA IN KARNATAKA

over 10 crores of data from various digital platforms were decod ed, and PM Modi scored a 70% Brand Score &327

Rahul Gandhi resumes Yatra from Tondavadi Gate in Chamarajanagar

RAIN DELAYS RAHUL'S

crores digital brand value in 2020.

PM Modi's brand worth has boosted sig nificantly since 2020, despite unprecedented opposition from a range of social groups, includ ing massive farmer pro tests across India over new farm policies; Modi has been able to cope with this extreme hos tility remarkably by re versing them.

Amit Shah and Arvind Kejriwal hold the other two places among the three politi cians.

Union Home Minis ter Amit Shah has maintained the same position as of 2020, i.e. second on the Check Brand political cata logue. Though his Brand value has in creased as compared to 2020, diving deep into the data in terms of en gagement, reach, and sentiment analysis, CheckBrand concludes Shah's brand worth is Rs 96.8 crore which was previously Rs 88.2 crore.

Examining the social media platforms, CheckBrand found that

with close to 5 Million followers on Instagram, more than 30 Million followers on Twitter along with 4,007,136 views on Youtube, Amit Shah is rising high on social media platforms creating his own im pact. He has gained hu mongous popularity all over the web by high lighting his official vis its and daily activities on digital media.

Chief Minister Of Delhi has secured the third position on the CheckBrand catalogue of Top Politicians.

Gundlupet (ANI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday re sumed the Bharat Jodo Yatra from Tondavadi Gate in the Gundlupet region of Karnataka's Chamarajanagar.

The Yatra led by Ra hul Gandhi resumed along with a large num ber of people on Satur day, after it was delayed by rains in the morning.

Saturday marked the Yatra's 24th day, which began at 6.30 am and will reach its first break point at Kalale Gate near Servo Motors at 10 am. After resuming from Kalale Gate at 4.30 pm, the Congress leader walk to Chikkayana Chatra Thandavapura in Mysore by 7 pm.

The participants of the 3,500-km march from Kanyakumari to Kashmir were sched uled to stay opposite the Maharaja Institute of Technology (MIT) in Thandavapura of Mysore at night.

The march was aimed to cover as many as 12 states in five months. It recently reached Kar nataka on Friday (Sep tember 30) and will be here for the next 21 days before moving north.

The Padyatra (march) will cover a distance of 25 km every day.

New Delhi: Soon after filing his nomination for the Congress President poll to be held on October 17, Mallikarjun Kharge resigned as the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. He told the grand old party’s working President Sonia Gandhi that he is quitting from the post in the upper house, in line with the Congress’s “one person, one post” rule announced at the Udaipur Chintan Shivir. He sent a letter to Sonia Gandhi last night. Sonia Gandhi, the chairperson of the Congress parliamentary party, will now appoint a new leader and convey the decision to the Rajya Sabha Chairman.

As the Congress picks its first non-Gandhi president in 25 years, Kharge, 80, is the candidate backed by the Gandhis and is almost certain to be elected. After the resigation of Mallikarjun Kharge as Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, senior leaders P Chidam baram and Digvijaya Singh are learnt to be the front-runners to take on the mantle of Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha.

BHARAT JODO YATRA Gundlupet (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi led ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ on Saturday was delayed due to rains in Karnataka. The march on its second day in the state was affected by the torrential rains in Gundlupet. According to the Congress party sources, the Yatra was supposed to start at 6.30 am on Thondavadi in Chamara janagar district today. Indian National Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh tweeted, “The 24th day of #BharatJodoYatra that was to start from Begur at 6:30am has been delayed due to rains. The rains ar rived after a gap of 15 days and will benefit farmers.

Bengaluru: Senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid on Saturday joined issue with Shashi Tharoor, who has said his electoral competitor in the AICC presidential poll, M Mallikarjun Kharge was a “candidate of continuity” and of “status quo”, while those wanting change in party should vote for him. Khurshid, who is among the leaders who have backed Kharge, also indicated that if consensus emerges on the poll, it will be good; if not and election does take place on October 17, there will be no regrets. “Shashi says this (Kharge) has elements of continuity, his (Tharoor’s) has elements of change. But continuity and change are subjective terms, relative terms”, Khurshid said. “I think that the very fact that we are having this elec tion is reemphasis of continuity with change because it’s not the first time that we are having elections. And that elections in the past have had certain features; this has its own fea tures. So, for us this is all welcome”, he said.

IT’S KHARGE VS THAROOR AS TRIPATHI’S NOMINATION REJECTED

New Delhi: Congress Central Election Authority chair man Madhusudan Mistry has announced that the final contest for the post of Congress president will be between Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor. Former Jharkhand minister K N Tripathi’s nomination for the

V-P Dhankhar greets the nation on the eve of Gandhi Jayanti

First India Bureau

New Delhi: Vice Presi dent Jagdeep Dhankhar has greeted people on the eve of Gandhi Jayanti.

The V-P’s message read: “I extend my heartiest greetings and good wishes on the occa sion of Gandhi Jayanti, the birth anniversary of our Father of Nation.

One of the most influ ential personalities of modern India, Mahat ma Gandhi remains the moral anchor and bea con of hope for the en

world. Every genera tion must rediscover Mahatma Gandhi in its own way. The many dangers facing the world today — from poverty to climate change to wars – can be successfully tackled by appropriately utilizing the principles enunci ated by Gandhi Ji.

Congress presidential poll was rejected on Saturday by Mistry. The three had filed nominations on Friday, the last day of the process. Mad husudan Mistry, while ad dressing a press conference at the Congress headquarters in Delhi, said, “a total of 20 forms were received during

the nomination process and four of them were rejected”. While Kharge submitted 14 forms, Tharoor submitted five and Tripathi one. Mistry said Tripathi’s form was rejected as the signature of one of his proposers did not match and another propos er’s signature was repeated.

FROM PG 1

Mum cops... extortion case. Al leged (Dawood) Ibra him aide Riyaz Bhati was held in this case earlier. The case is based on the com plaint of a business man that Bhati and Qureshi alias Fruit extorted cash and a high-end car from him,” he said.

Shinde camp... Lande is son of Chief Minister Shinde’s close associate Gopal Lande.

Rushi Jadhav and Vitthal Patil were ap pointed in-charges for Vidarbha in eastern Maharashtra, while Dipesh Mhatre and Prabhudas Naik will hold the equivalent post in Kalyan and Bhi wandi (Thane district).

Abhimanyu Khotkar and Avinash KhapePatil were appointed in-charges for Marath wada. Khotkar is re lated to former Sena minister Arjun Khotkar.

IN THE COURTYARD

tire humanity in these troubled times. His Satyagraha and non-vi olent struggle against injustice has inspired millions across the

On the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, let’s pray for a peaceful world that is free of vio lence, extremism, ter rorism and all form of discrimination.”

HC GIVES RELIEF TO AZAM KHAN, PUTS ARREST ON HOLD

Prayagraj: In a relief to SP leader Azam Khan, the Allahabad High Court has put his arrest on hold.

The court also sought a reply from the UP govt. A person named Baqur Khan brought the case to the fore. The matter pertains to the disappearance of machines used for construction in 2017 for which a case was registered on September 19, this year.

MUMBAI | SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2022 05INDIA www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epapers/mumbai I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia Interestingly, the Shinde camp has often criticized the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena for promoting dy nastic politics.

RSS DEFAMATION: HEARING AGAINST RaGa ON DEC 3 Thane: A court at Bhiwandi in Thane district on Saturday adjourned till December 3 this year hearing in the defamation case filed against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi by an activist of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. On the next date, the court will also hear Gandhi’s plea for permanent exemption from appearance in the case.

SC TO HEAR ED’S PLEA SEEKING TRANSFER OF GOLD SMUGGLING CASE ON OCTOBER 10

New Delhi: The Supreme Court will hear on October 10 the ED's plea seeking transfer of gold smuggling case from Kerala to Karnataka court. The ED has moved a plea earlier in the Supreme Court seeking to transfer of trial in the case pending, before the Special Court for PMLA Cases, Ernakulam to a Special Court for hearing PMLA cases in Karnataka. The ED sought transfer of the trial on the ground that the concerned respondents are being intimidated through threats and false cases by senior officials of Kerala Police and state govt at the behest of the other respondent, in order to thwart and derail the trial.

ON A STICKY WICKET?

Does Captain’s one last ‘innings’ left in him?

Mahesh Sharma

New Delhi: Does any oner remember SM Krishna? It was recent ly covered in papers that he was ill and ad mitted to Manipal Hos pital. Do you recall how he left the Congress and joined the BJP at the age of 85. Think, what can be said if a person after being in one party till the age of 85, leaves it and goes to another party? Con gress made him the Chief Minister, made

him a minister at the Center and also made him the Governor. But in 2017 at the age of 85,

that did not happen. It was also said that the son-in-law had gone to the BJP with the inten tion of saving the fam ily from central agen cies but that too did not happen. There was an income tax raid on the son-in-law and one day the son-in-law, fed up with the investigation, committed suicide.

he joined the BJP. When he went to BJP, it was said that he would be sent to Rajya Sabha but

The way 85-year-old SM Krishna went to BJP in old age, in the same way Captain Ama rinder Singh has also joined BJP at the age of

80. He also engaged in anti-BJP politics throughout his life and was in Congress almost the entire time. In his old age, it seems that he wants to secure his son’s political career in BJP and himself be come governor. His wife Preneet Kaur is an MP from Patiala and she is 77 years old. So, BJP will not give them a ticket in 2024, but their son can be contested.

Till then Captain will sit quietly, waiting to get something.

Capt Amarinder Singh meets PM Narendra Modi. —FILE PHOTO

PM Narendra Modi called on former President Ram Nath Kovind and greeted him on his birthday, in New Delhi on Saturday. Also seen here are Savita Kovind and Swati Kovind.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

—FILE PHOTO

SATYENDAR JAIN’S PLEA AGAINST TRANSFER OF MONEY LAUNDERING CASE DISMISSED

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Saturday dismissed a plea by minister Satyendar Jain challenging lower court’s order to transfer money laundering case against him to another court. The court said all facts were duly considered by Principal District and Sessions Judge while transferring the case and it cannot be held that the decision suffered from any illegality or needed interference. The court said in view of circumstances, the ED had an apprehension that justice may not be done and was of the opnion that such an apprehension was to be seen from party's point of view and not that of the judge.

Vice Prez Jagdeep Dhankhar.

KHARGE QUITS RS POST; CHIDAMBARAM, DIGVIJAYA SINGH LIKELY TO BE RS LOP

“CONTINUITY WITH CHANGE,” SALMAN KHURSHID JOINS ISSUE WITH THAROOR

Rahul Gandhi with supporters during party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, in Chamarajanagar on Saturday.

People greet Rahul Gandhi in Chamarajanagar, on Saturday.

Blood donation our responsibility to help each other: Mandaviya

New Delhi (ANI): More than 2.5 lakh people have voluntarily donat ed blood under the Rak tdaan Amrit Mahotsav, said Union Health Min ister Mansukh Man daviya on Saturday add ing that it has strength ened the noble cause of humanity which will help immensely in sav ing many precious lives.

While addressing the celebration of the Na tional Voluntary Blood Donation Day held at AIIMS, New Delhi, Mandaviya said, “The success of Raktdaan Amrit Mahotsav has strengthened the noble cause of humanity which will help im mensely in saving many precious lives. Blood do nation is a noble cause and given our rich cul ture and tradition of Seva and Sahyog, on the National Voluntary Blood Donation Day, let us all pledge to be al

ways there for someone else and donate blood regularly.” Accentuat ing the importance of blood donation, the Health Minister said Blood donation is Seva and, it is our responsi bility to help each other.

“India’s COVID-19 re sponse was inspired by the rich tradition of lok bhagidari and have

IN THE COURTYARD

J&K: DRUG PEDDLER DETAINED, BOOKED UNDER PIT NDPS ACT

Jammu: An alleged drug peddler was detained from Doda district of J&K. Ghat Doda resident Vijay Kumar alias “Pandit”, a habitual drug peddler, was booked under provisions of illicit trafficking in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (PIT NDPS) Act, a police spokesperson said. He has been lodged in Bhaderwah district jail on the orders of the Jammu divisional commissioner.

C’GARH GOVT OFFICIAL HELD FOR SEEKING BRIBE FROM FARMER

Raipur: The Anti-Corruption Bureau has arrested an official of Chhattisgarh horticulture department in Raipur for demanding a bribe from a farmer for releasing the subsidy amount, an official said on Saturday. The anti-graft agency arrested Paramjeet Singh Gurudatt on Friday for allegedly demanding 50 per cent of the subsidy amount received by the farmer under a government scheme, he said.

MOTHER-DAUGHTER DUO AMONG 3 DIE IN CHHATTISGARH LIGHTNING STRIKE

Raigarh: A 60-year-old woman, her daughter and a man were killed after being struck by lightning in Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh, police said on Saturday. The incident took place at Kesla village under Lailunga police station limits late Friday evening. The deceased were identified as Khulaso Sarthi (60), her daughter Kamla (30) and Sukhiram Banjara (34), all residents of Lailunga, he said.

SRINAGAR JOURNO ARRESTED ON RAPE CHARGES

Srinagar: The local police has arrested a “journalist” from Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag district after a woman accused him of raping her. According to the complaint, accused journalist Nadeem Ahmed Ganie lured the victim through his WhatsApp group made for people seeking help and forced her into a sexual relationship after sedating her fraudulently.

9

5 RSS LEADERS IN KERALA GIVEN CENTRAL SECURITY

New Delhi: The Centre has accorded a Y category security cover to five RSS leaders in Kerala in view of possible threats to them, official sources said on Saturday. The names of the RSS leaders are understood to have been found on the radar of the PFI after central probe agencies recovered documents in this connection during the recent crackdown on the Islamic organisation.

showed the way to man age the pandemic and in turn led to world's largest COVID vaccination exer cise,” he said.

He said that Raktdaan Amrit Mahotsav was aimed to blood dona tion, blood distribution and blood management.

The Union Health Minister also felicitated voluntary blood donors

and States/UTs that have done exemplary work, rare blood group donors, regular Single Donor Platelets (SDP) donors, women blood donors, regular volun tary blood donors.

The mega voluntary blood donation drive, Raktdaan Amrit Mahot sav was started by Man daviya on September 17.

LS panel to hear plea on disqualification of Sisir

New Delhi (ANI): The Parliamentary panel for Privileges has sum moned Lok Sabha mem ber of Parliament Sisir Adhikari to appear be fore it on October 12 in reference to the plea filed by TMC demand ing his disqualification as a Lok Sabha MP.

In June this year, TMC parliamentary party leader Sudip Ban dyopadhyay had writ ten to the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla de manding Adhikari's disqualification citing certain anti-party ac tivities. The Speaker

has further sent it to the parliamentary panel for its examination. Most recently, Sisir Adhikari defied the whip of TMC and went ahead to cast vote during the Vice President of India elec tion which was held on August 6. TMC had an nounced that they would abstain from vot ing during this election.

2.5 LAKH DONATE BLOOD UNDER ‘RAKTDAAN MAHOTSAV’

New Delhi (PTI): Over 2.5 lakh people donated blood during the 'Raktdaan Amrit Mahotsav' which began on September 17 and concluded on National Voluntary Blood Dona tion Day on Saturday. The mega voluntary blood donation drive, Raktdaan Amrit Mahot sav was kickstarted by Mandaviya on Septem ber 17. A new world record was achieved on the first day of the camp with over 87 thousand donations. While ad dressing the celebration of the National Volun tary Blood Donation Day held at AIIMS here on Saturday, Union Health Minister Man sukh Mandaviya said that Raktdaan Amrit Mahotsav was aimed to blood donation, blood distribution and blood management.

Tamil Nadu police commences sealing of PFI offices in Chennai

Chennai (ANI): The Tamil Nadu Police on Saturday commenced sealing the offices of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI) in the state after Chief Secretary V Irai Anbu issued a notification terming the PFI and its associates as unlawful associations.

PFI Tamil Nadu Head Office doors has been broken in front of Chen nai Corporation Offi cials and Police Offi cials. Officials are checking the docu ments and the bills in side the PFI Headquar ters. The officials were seen sealing the PFI

headquarters in Purasi vakkam, Chennai

On Friday, Vadodara Police and Gujarat An ti-Terror Squad sealed a madrasa linked to the Popular Front of India.

The madrasa was linked with the All In dia Imams Council (AIIC) is associated with PFI and was banned on Wednesday by the Centre.

The Central govern ment banned the PFI, its associates, and affili ates as an unlawful as sociation with immedi ate effect for a period of five years under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

Goa: Goa CM Pramod Sawant on Saturday said the auctioning of eligible iron ore mining leases in the state will get over by November 2022, but it would take one year after that to begin the extraction of fresh ore. Sawant said this one-year period is required to complete all the formalities.

The mining in Goa had come to a standstill in March 2018 after the apex court quashed the second renewal of iron ore mining leases given to 88 companies in Goa in 2015, and prohibited the extraction of fresh ore.

The state has now put up four iron ore mining leases for auction. This is for the first time in Goa’s mining history that leas es are being awarded through auctioning.

Desecration case: Sikh bodies hold protest march in Phagwara

Patna: Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav has asserted that he was not in a hurry to oc cupy the highest seat of power in the state and advised leaders of his RJD to refrain from speaking on the issue. He was re acting to RJD state pres ident Jagadanand Sin gh’s recent statement that the young leader will become the CM by next year, which con sternated some leaders in the JD(U).

Punajb (PTI): Activ ists of some Sikh bodies held a protest march here on Saturday de manding the arrest of those behind the dese cration of Sikh reli gious book ‘Gutka Sa hib’ in August. They also demanded that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) be consti tuted to probe the case.

Pages of ‘Gutka Sa hib’ were found scat tered under a tree near the old civil hospital building here on August 31. Police had registered a case under relevant sections, including 295-

A (deliberate and mali cious acts, intended to outrage religious feel ings of any class by in sulting its religion or religious beliefs), of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against unidentified

BJP leader blames KCR for unkept promises in T’gana

Ahmedabad (PTI): Delhi CM and Aam Aad mi Party (AAP) nation al convener Arvind Ke jriwal on Saturday said his party would build government-run schools in each village and get Narmada water to every corner of Kutch district if it came to power after the Gujarat Assembly polls likely to be held in December.

Kejriwal, who along with Punjab CM Bhag want Mann is on a twoday visit to the state,

CHANGE OF GUARD

was addressing a rally in Gandhidham town in Kutch district.

“In Delhi, students of govt-run schools be longing to poor families are securing admis sions in medical and engineering courses. But in Gujarat, I have learnt the ruling BJP is shutting down govern ment schools in Kutch,” Kejriwal claimed.

Hyderabad: BJP lead er K Lakshman on Sat urday, attacked Telan gana CM K Chan drashekhar Rao and said that he is starting a national party just to divert public attention from the unfulfilled promises of TRS govt.

“The promises he made to the people of Telangana are unful filled. All groups of peo ple are angry with him.

people in the matter. The protesters took out a march from the Singh Sabha Gurdwara, Sabzi Mandi to the site near the old civil hospi tal building where the pages were found.

So to divert the public attention, the TRS par ty is trying to showcase itself as a National Par ty. It is a corrupt party ruled by a family,” Lak shman said.

UP IAS officers transferred in bureaucratic reshuffle

Lucknow: Nine IAS of ficers have been trans ferred once again in the bureaucracy of Uttar Pradesh. According to the new transfer orders, Meerut commissioner

IAS Surendra Singh has been replaced by Ba reilly commissioner

IAS Selva Kumar J as Surendra Singh has been appointed as Sec retary to New Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor.

Meanwhile, IAS Sarika Mohan has been posted as the Bareilly commis

IAS Surendra Singh IAS Selva Kumar J

sioner. Moreover, ACEO of Noida Authority IAS Praveen Mishra has been appointed as Sec retary of Namami Gange project while in his place, 2017 batch

IAS Prabhas Kumar, who was serving as CDO Rai Bareily, has been appointed as ACEO Noida Authority. CDO in Rae Bareli IAS Pooja Yadav has been

made Joint Magistrate Chitrakoot, whereas 2019 batch IAS Sumit Ya dav has been appointed new CDO of Muradabad.

Moreover, Mu radabad CDO IAS Anand Vardhan has been made ACEO Great er Noida Authority.

Along with this, Noi da Authority CEO Ritu Maheshwari has been given additional charge of Greater Noida Au thority CEO, while Sec retary ICDS Anamika Singh has been given additional charge of Di rector ICDS.

TWO SENIOR IAS OFFICERS RETIRE IN UTTAR PRADESH

I n Uttar Pradesh’s bureaucra cy, 2 senior officers retired on Friday evening i.e. 30th September. The retired IAS are Alok Tandon of 1986 batch, who was posted on Central deputation as Secretary, Mines and Dimple Verma, posted as ACS Youth Welfare. Notably, Dimple Verma is wife of ADG Law & Order, IPS Prashant Kumar Meanwhile, PCS Ram Shankar SDM Ayodhya, IPS Om Prakash Singh and IPS Radhe Mohan Bhardwaj have also retired.

SANYUKTA SAMADDAR REMOVED FROM POST OF NCR COMMISSIONER

S ometimes some decisions are made in the bureaucracy of Uttar Pradesh which no one can even notice, especially the transfers of officers are also kept confidential. Sanyuk ta Samaddar, a 1999 batch woman IAS officer posted at the center, has been removed from the post of NCR commissioner. According to the informed sources of the bureaucracy, this decision has been taken under some compul sion, because the Election Commissioner has sent a notice to Sanyukta asking her as to why did she not attend the Election Oberver Training. She has been made in the observ ers for elections to be held in Gujarat, and its training the IAS officer was called to Delhi by the Election Commission.

Jamshedpur: To inculcate confi dence among women revellers during Durga Puja festival, the East Singhbhum district police has deployed ‘Shakti Squad’ women mobile police force to keep vigil on eve teasers and miscreants in the steel city of Jam shedpur, an offic er said.

Senior Superin tendent of Police, Prabhat Kumar, Additional Dis trict Magistrate (L&O), Nandk ishore Lal flagged off the “Shakti Squad” on Friday, who will patrol around the city on 25 pink scoot ies during the fes tival.

The objective was to ensure safety of women, who could move around puja pan dals without fear, the SSP said.

Union Health Minister said blood donation has strengthened humanity’s cause

Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya lighting the lamp at the National Voluntary Blood Donation Day, as part of countrywide Raktdaan Amrit Mahotsav, in New Delhi on Saturday. —PHOTO BY ANI

Police outside the sealed PFI office in Chennai. —PHOTO BY ANI

Members of Sikh bodies holding protest in Phagwara on Saturday.

Arvind Kejriwal

‘Auctioning of mining leases in Goa to get over by Nov’

Spl squad for women’s safety during Durga puja

Not in a hurry to become CM of Bihar: Tejashwi

Ahtesham Siddiqui

Gujarat: Kejriwal promises schools in each village, Narmada water in Kutch

INDIAN COMPANIES TO PARTICIPATE IN HAVANA FAIR

‘5G TO USHER IN INCLUSIVE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION’

New Delhi: Indian companies from different sectors including consum er goods, pharmaceuti cals, medical devices, as well as Electric Vehicles will be participating in the Havana Fair FIHAV2022. The delegation of the Indian companies is being led by the Indian Econom ic Trade Organization (IETO) to Havana from De cember 14-18. This fair is taking place after a gap of two years due to the glob al lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic.

—PTI

TAX AUDIT FILING: DEADLINE EXTENDED TILL OCTOBER 7

New Delhi (PTI): India Inc welcomed the launch of 5G services by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Satur day, terming it a milestone in the country’s telecom revolution that will help usher in inclusive digital transformation.

Sanjiv Bajaj, President, CII, said, “With this launch, we are moving towards an inclusive digital transfor mation ensuring that digi tal technologies are univer sally available, accessible, and adoptable, enabling meaningful and safe use of the Internet and digital services for all.”

New Delhi: The income tax department on Satur day extended the due date for filing tax audit report for fiscal 2021-22 by 7 days till October 7. “On consideration of difficul ties faced by the taxpayers and other stakeholders in the filing of reports of au dit for the Assessment Year 2022-23, Central Board of Direct Taxes has decided to extend the due date for filing of various reports of audit for the Assessment Year 202223, which was Sept 30, 2022, to Oct 7, 2022,” an official said.

—PTI

UPI TRANSACTIONS UP OVER 3% AT ALMOST 7 BN IN SEPT

Assocham Secretary General Deepak Sood said the ultra-high speed inter net will be a catalyst for transformative innovation in a host of key sectors like education, health and agri culture. “It would also un leash many more entrepre neurs to explore new areas of businesses riding on the success of Digital India.

The unveiling of 5G tech nology will ensure a seam less, efficient and transpar ent way of working in com ing times,” he added.

FICCI President Sanjiv Mehta said 5G will facili tate both ease-of-doingbusiness and ease of living.

OTHER STORIES

INDIA’S LARGEST POWER PRODUCER NTPC OUTPUT SURGES 15.1 PER CENT IN FIRST HALF OF 2022-23

New Delhi: India’s largest power producer NTPC recorded an output of 203.5 BU from April to September 2022 period, registering an increase of 15.1 per cent when compared with 176.8 BU recorded in the corre sponding period of the last year, as per data released by the Ministry of Power. The high generation growth indicates improved performance and an increase in demand for pow er in the current year, the ministry said in a statement. NTPC Rihand (3000 MW) in Uttar Pradesh is the top performing thermal power plant with 90.22 per cent Plant Load Factor (PLF) between April to September 2022. —ANI

New Delhi: UPI transac tions increased by more than 3% to 6.78 billion in September from a month prior, as per the data re leased by NPCI on Satur day. The total number of digital financial transac tions based on the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) in August 2020 was 6.57 bil lion. According to figures from the National Pay ments Corporation of India (NPCI), there were 6.78 billion transactions last month, totalling Rs 11.16 lakh crore, up from Rs 10.73 lakh crore in August.

India handled 6.28 billion UPI transactions of Rs. 10.62 lakh cr in July. —PTI

COAL INDIA OUTPUT UP 20% IN FIRST HALF OF FY 2023

OFFICE LEASING UP 97% IN JAN-SEP IN 6 CITIES; MAY HIT RECORD IN 2022

New Delhi: Gross leasing of office space nearly doubled to 40.6 million square feet during January-Sep tember across 6 major cities on pent-up demand driven largely by technology and co-working firms, according to Colliers. The absorption of office space stood at 20.6 million square feet in the year-ago period across 6 cities -- Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Mumbai & Pune. The previous high was seen in 2019 at 44.8 mn square feet.

—PTI

RETAIL PRICES OF ESSENTIAL FOOD ITEMS

SPIKE SIGNIFICANTLY

New Delhi: The average retail prices of essential food items, including rice, wheat and atta, have significantly increase in the last one year. The prices of wheat and atta have gone up considerably in the last few months and as per traders in wholesale markets in the na tional capital, wheat rates have seen a spike crossing a record Rs 2,560 per quintal due to slower supplies and robust demand. —PTI

New Delhi: Continuing to maintain the double digit growth in production be ginning FY23, Coal India Limited (CIL) closed the first half of the current fiscal with 299 million tonnes (MTs) output. This is a sharp upward swing of 49 MTs, the highest incremental growth for any period. Compared to 250 MTs of first half in last year, the growth was 19.7%. All CIL’s subsidiar ies recorded growth with BCCL topping at 31.3%, it said.

—PTI

Can’t afford to lose sheen of bankruptcy code, says Fin Min

New Delhi (PTI): Union Minister Nirmala Sithara man on Saturday said in solvency law cannot lose its “sheen”. Sitharaman, who is in charge of finance and corporate affairs minis tries, was speaking at a function in the national capital to mark the sixth annual day of the Insolven cy and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI).

Speaking about the Code over the last six years and the way forward, she also said that “we cannot have stress signals go unno ticed”. IBBI is a key institu tion in the implementation of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), which provides for a mar ket-linked and time-bound resolution of distressed firms. The code came into force in 2016.

National Company Law Tribunal President Chief Justice (Retd) Ramalingam Sudhakar and Competi tion Commission of India (CCI) Chairperson Ashok Kumar Gupta, among oth ers, were present. As many as 1,934 corporate debtors have been rescued through the Code till June this year. These include 517 through resolution plans, 774 through appeal or review

Sept GST collection at `1.48

lakh cr, the third highest ever

New Delhi: The Goods and Services Tax (GST) reve nue in September this year saw a 26% year-on-year jump at ` 1.48 lakh crore, the third highest ever col lections crossing the ` 1.40 lakh crore mark for the sev enth consecutive month on robust business activities despite global economic slowdown.

While the gross GST rev enue collection in Septem ber at `1,47,686 crore — re flecting actual business transactions undertaken in August -- is `2,314 crore short of ` 1.50 lakh crore, both government officials and industry experts ex pect to cross the mark next month on enhanced pri mary sales during the festi val season.

GST monthly collections stabilising above Rs1.4 lakh crore for seven months in a

CENTRE FOR MONITORING INDIAN ECONOMY REPORT

row would provide more headroom in the fiscal front, said MS Mani, partner at Deloitte India. “The collec tions in the next three months are expected to be even more robust due to the higher consumption expect ed during the festive season and the extension of the mandatory e-invoice proto col to taxpayers having

India jobless rate drops to 6.43% in Sept

Mumbai: India’s unem ployment rate has drasti cally dropped to 6.43 per cent in September due to an increase in labour par ticipation in the rural and urban areas, according to data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Econo my (CMIE).

During August, India’s unemployment rate surged to a one-year high of 8.3 per cent as employment se quentially fell by 2 million to 394.6 million.

“In September, the un employment rate has fallen significantly with an in crease in labour participa

tion in both urban and ru ral areas,” CMIE managing director Mahesh Vyas told PTI over the phone on Sat urday. The unemployment rate in the rural areas fell

to a new sur vey that shows workers probably don’t need to be in nearly a third of the appointments they attend.

Employees spend about 18 hours a week on average in meetings, and they only decline 14% of invites even though they’d prefer to back out of 31% of them.

turnover above `10 crore from October 1,” he added.

“It is noteworthy that these collections reflect supplies made in August. With the festive season coming up, the GST collec tions can further be expect ed to go up in the coming months,” Abhishek Jain, Partner Indirect Tax at KPMG in India said.

‘INFLATION AT MANAGEABLE LEVEL’

New Delhi:Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said inflation is at a manageable level. Her comments came a day after RBI hiked interest rate by 50 basis points to tame inflation. “Inflation is at a manageable level,” she said here. On Friday, RBI retained its inflation projec tion for FY23 at 6.7 per cent amid geopolitical concerns triggered by Russia-Ukraine war, and expected inflation to be under control from January. The central bank is mandated to keep retail inflation in a band of 2-6 per cent. Inflation has remained above RBI’s upper tolerance level of 6 per cent since January 2022. Last month, infla tion touched 7 per cent.

or settlement and 643 through withdrawal. In value terms, around 69 per cent of distressed assets, which entered the process under the Code, have been resolved, as per IBBI.

Public cloud services market to reach $165.2 bn

to 5.84 per cent in Septem ber from 7.68 per cent in August, while in the urban areas it dropped to 7.70 per cent against 9.57 per cent in the previous month, ac

cording to the data. The nearly 8 million in crease in labour participa tion is a sign that the econ omy of the country is doing well, Vyas added.

New Delhi: The public cloud services market in the Asia-Pacific region is likely to reach $165.2 Bil lion in 2026, according to an IDC report. The firm expects the Asia/Pacific public cloud market to grow at higher year-overyear (YoY) rate at 31.4 per cent this year, in compari son to 30 per cent in 2021, as cloud migration contin ues to accelerate. Infra structure as a service (IaaS) will achieve a mar ket value of $80.7 billion and make up 48.8 per cent of the Asia/Pacific public cloud market in 2026.

CAR MAKERS LOG SALES GROWTH IN SEPTEMBER

New Delhi: Festive season and new launches geared the passenger vehicle sales last month as car majors in India logged sales growth last month as compared to the previous year’s corre sponding month.

Maruti Suzuki India Lim ited that makes cars and also light commercial vehi cles logged a total sales of 176,306 units last month, up from 86,380 units sold in September 2021. As per Maruti Suzuki, the shortage of electronic components had a minor impact on the production of vehicles, mainly in domestic models.

UNITS SOLD LAST MONTH

z Tata Motors total domestic sales increased by 44% to 80,633 units in September

z The last month sales numbers for Honda Cars India stood at 11,047 units, MG Motors — 3,808 units and Skoda Auto India — 3,543 units

(Above) Sunil Bharti Mittal (Left above) UP CM Yogi Adityanath with Vice chairman of Bharti Enterprises Rakesh Bharti Mittal and others during an event to launch 5G services in Varanasi. (L) Mukesh Ambani with HFCL Founder and MD Mahendra Nahata at Pragati Maidan.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman addresses during the Foundation Day celebrations of IBBI in New Delhi on Saturday.

PM Narendra Modi with Union Minister Ashwini Vaisnaw and Akash Ambani at the 6th India Mobile Congress at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi.

PHOTOS BY PTI

PM Modi, Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani.

BY TRIDIB

HOW DID KHARGE’S FATE

PLAY ITS MASTERSTROKE?

Politics is indeed a bundle of coinci dences. Mallikarjun Kharge had tried earli er also that the Gandhi family should hand over the presidential responsibility to him, but then only one name was running in the minds of Sonia and Ra hul. Ashok Gehlot’s de votion to the Gandhi family is known as an example in Congress.

Those who wanted Mukul Wasnik, were then lobbying in So nia’s court that making a Dalit President would send a positive mes

Kharge a bad candi date?’ Apart from this, Kharge also has very good relations with the leaders of G-23, so the presence of Anand Sharma to Manish Ti wari was recorded at the time of his nomina tion. Kharge also has very good relations with leaders of other opposition parties, such as Sharad Pawar and Sitaram Yechury. They are included in the list of his integral friends. He is also popular in the Rajya Sabha as the Leader of the Opposi tion party. He resigned from the post of LoP in the Rajya Sabha on Sat urday, in keeping with the sentiments of

RAHUL GANDHI DISPLEASED WITH ASHOK CHOUDHARY

Recently, when Nit ish was in Delhi and he was to have a one-to-one meeting with Rahul Gandhi, he also took his Minister Ashok Choudhary along with him in this meeting. Re member that Choud hary used to be the State President of Bihar Con gress. Later, he left Con gress and joined JDU, and became a Minister in the Nitish govern ment. At that time, this move annoyed Rahul. But Choudhary had

to meet Rahul, the ex pression on Rahul’s face changed. Sensing the gravity of the mat ter, Nitish dismissed Choudhary from this meeting and he talked one-to-one with Rahul. If sources are to be be lieved, after the meet ing concluded, Rahul also refused to appear in photographs with Choudhary to be cap tured as a courtesy. So, Choudhary later tweet ed, sharing a photo of this courtesy meeting with Rahul. When peo ple searched the reality of this photo, it came to light that it was an old picture of him with Rahul, in which both are seen donning the winter at

IS TIWARI PREPARING ‘SAFFRON?’

anish Tewari, the leader of the G-23 rebel

group of Congress, has been wandering alone in the political entangle ment since the sudden demise of his ‘Godfa ther,’ Ahmed Patel. At one point in time, the discussion was in full swing that Tiwari has joined hands with AAP and at present, he is in close contact with AAP supremo Arvind Kejri wal. But according to his habit and strategy, Kejriwal put the warm relationship between himself and Manish on the ‘back- burner.’ Be cause, it is a wellthought-out strategy of Kejriwal that he does not want to include any famous or big leaders in

Night-jar bird saved, released in Mum forest

First India Bureau

Mumbai: A dehy drated night-jar bird was rescued from a residen tial complex situ ated in the And heri area of Mumbai by a team of wildlife activists and vol unteers belong ing to NGO Res gink Association for Wildlife Wel fare, informed a forest depart ment official.

The bird showed signs of “capture myopathy” --a con dition of inflicted stress and physical exertion, informed Pawan Sharma, founder president of RAWW and hon orary wildlife war den of Maharash tra Forest Depart ment.

The night-jar bird might have ventured there in search of prey and might not have been able to move out, he said.

“The bird was dehydrated and showing symp toms of capture myopathy,” said Dr Priti Sathe, who medically exam ined the bird. It was released after healing.

the AAP. Those who join are sidelined. Since Cap tain Amarinder Singh, the political guru of Manish’s recent times, has caught up with the BJP, there are constant speculations that soon er or later Tiwari will also join the BJP. Man ish wants to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Ludhiana this time, so he knows that without the help of the Captain, it is not possi ble for him to win the election from there.

CAPTAIN ASKING FOR TICKET FOR SON

joined the BJP. The Captain feels that he is not getting as much value in the BJP as he expected. But he has conveyed his feelings to the BJP top brass that he wants his son Raninder Singh to get a BJP ticket from the Pa tiala Lok Sabha seat in the coming 2024 elec tions. Patiala’s current MP Preneet Kaur is also disillusioned with Congress, she is Cap tain’s wife, but report edly, the husband and wife haven’t been shar ing a much cordial rela tionship for a long time. However, Captain is hopeful that his wife will leave the Patiala seat for their son de spite all her differences with the husband. For BJP, all 24 Lok Sabha seats are carry signifi cance. Anyway, they do not have any big Sikh face in Punjab, so it

...AND FINALLY F ormer NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, who was once PM Modi’s ‘blue-eyed boy,’ is now looking for a new role for himself. Although the Modi government has made him the new Sherpa of the G20, Kant is not said to be happy with his new role. If sourc es are to be believed, Kant’s heartfelt wish was that Modi should give him a post, where in, he at least gets the status of a Minister of State. Now, there are indications that Kant is in touch with sev eral big corporate houses, where he wants some big re sponsibility for him self. If his intention is to convey this to the government, then he has succeeded in his attempt.

COGENT EVIDENCE MUST: NIA COURT

Judge AM Patil acquits IRF member Arshi Qureshi in unlawful activities case

Mumbai : While ac quitting an employee of Islamic preacher Zakir Naik-led Islam ic Research Founda tion (IRF), a special National Investiga tion Agency (NIA) in Mumbai observed on Saturday that the sto ry may be attractive, but it must be proven by “cogent evidence”.

The accused was nabbed in 2016 for alleg edly indoctrinating youngsters into joining the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Judge AM Patil on Friday acquitted Arshi Qureshi, who worked at the IRF, now banned, of all the charges against him for lack of evi dence. A detailed order

was made available on Saturday.

Qureshi was arrested in 2016 following a com plaint filed by the father of an alleged ISIS mem ber, Ashfaq Majid, after he went missing and informed his sister that he joined the terror out fit.

The NIA had charged Qureshi under various sections of the Unlaw ful Activity (Preven tion) Act (UAPA) for his alleged involvement in unlawful activities, in spreading hatred against India and for providing support to the proscribed terrorist organization ISIS by furthering its activities.

Special Public Prose cutor, Sunil Gonsavles, said the case is related to the indoctrination of

UNFAIR

RUN

Ashfaq Majid and his associates into extreme Jihadi ideology by a group of like-minded youths from Kerala and some members of the IRF, who motivated and radicalized Ashfaq and his associates to join ISIS.

He had submitted that another accused, Abdul Rashid Abdulla, used to conduct classes for the group of miss ing youths at Ashfaq’s house.

However, Qureshi’s lawyers, TW Pathan and IA Khan, claimed that the NIA’s FIR was an “afterthought and concocted at a belated stage” as the case was already being probed by two police stations (in Kerala).

The court noted the

theory of conversion of two witnesses to Islam by Qureshi also came under the shadow of doubt because of the testimony of these wit nesses in their crossexamination.

They categorically deposed that Qureshi did not express any ob jectionable things or statement to them and they have no any com plaints against the ac cused, adding that the evidence of other wit nesses too is not suffi cient to prove the charge.

“In these circum stances, it can be in ferred that prosecution has failed to prove the charges against Qureshi and therefore, he is entitled to be ac quitted,” it added.

Mum-Ahd Vande Bharat Exp gets 96% occupancy

According to Western Railway, of the total 1,123 seats, 1,086 were booked between Mumbai and Gandhinagar

Mumbai: More than 96% of seats of the Vande Bharat Ex press were booked during its first com mercial run between Mumbai and Gandhi nagar on Saturday, a Western Railway

(WR) official said.

The train was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Gandhinagar on Friday morning. He also trav elled on it from Gandhi nagar to Kalupur sta

tion in Ahmedabad. According to WR Chief Public Relations Officer (PRO) Sumit Thakur, a Vande Bharat train has 1,123 seats, in cluding 104 seats in the executive chair car and

TRAIN

1,019 seats in the chair car. Of these seats, all 104 seats in the execu tive chair car and 982 seats in the chair car were booked during the maiden ride between Mumbai and Gandhina

gar.

The booking for the new train had opened only on Thursday. The train will run six days a week except on Sun days. Passengers will have to shell out Rs1,275

for a chair car ticket and Rs2,455 for an ex ecutive chair car ticket for the GandhinagarMumbai Central jour ney.

For the Mumbai Cen tral-Gandhinagar jour ney, a chair car ticket will cost Rs1,440 and an executive chair car tick et will cost Rs2,650. The difference in the fare for two journeys was due to catering charges, said an official.

During the maiden run of the train be tween Ahmedabad and Mumbai stations on Friday, 313 passengers, excluding media per sons, travelled on it.

CRUCIAL READ

Palghar: Three persons were arrested for being in volved in highway robberies in Palghar district, informed a police official on Saturday. The operation was conduct ed after multiple complaints were received with regards to robberies taking place in the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway, informed Crime Unit II Senior Inspector Sahuraj Nanavare. “Three people were arrested and 13 mobiles worth Rs2.08 lakh were recovered from them. They are involved in several crimes,” he said.

Gondia: A 40-year-old man was killed by a tiger suspected to be a man-eater in the Bhandara district on Friday morning. The man went to his paddy field in Kanhalgaon in Lakhander tehsil at around 9.30am, informed Roshan Rathod, a forest official. His body was recovered some 500 m away."We suspect the tiger might be CT-1, which had killed a man on September 21, ” said the forest depart ment official.

Pune: A 60-year-old autorickshaw driver was killed after a tree fell on his vehicle owing to heavy rains in Pune on Friday, said a police official. Jagjit Singh Sangar was driving his au torickshaw in the Ramnagar area of Yerawada around 4.30 pm when a tree fell on the vehicle, an inspec tor from Yerawada police station said. The tree was removed and the man was extricated, but he died on the spot, he said. According to fire brigade, they got at least 70 calls about trees falling in the city.

First India Bureau

First India Bureau

3 ARRESTED FOR ROBBERIES ON MUM-AHD HIGHWAY

MAN-EATER TIGER SUSPECTED OF KILLING FARMER

TREE FALLS ON AUTORICKSHAW, DRIVER KILLED

PM Modi flags off Vande Bharat Express between Gandhinagar and Mumbai at Gandhinagar Station, on Friday. —FILE PHOTO

RAMAN

The author

Rahul GandhiMallikarjun Kharge

CAmarinder Singh Amitabh Kant

Manish Tewari

Greetings on Gandhi Jayanti. The Father of the nation still guides

Chandra,

Asha Parekh has always been one of my favourite stars, partly because she brought strength to her roles, something extra deep and definitely because of her classic and graceful style. I adored her for her panache as she carried off those tight-fitting kurtas, with matching jewellery, and puffed-up hair with flowers as she traipsed on hills with her male costars. The Jubilee Girl who has giv en the maximum number of hits from that era was the highest paid among her colleagues and was con sidered lucky was also a notable dancer. Asha was the first female Chairperson of the Censor Board. She is the founder of the Asha Parekh Hospital in Santacruz and was the Director and producer of hit TV shows like Kora Kagaz and Kangan.

On-screen and off-screen she has charted her own path be yond the stardom and refused to be boxed in by narrow defini tions.

From her first film opposite Shammi Kapoor- Dil deke Dekho Asha was confident and created magic in the hands of Nasir Hussain, go ing on to star in hit movies like Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai, Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon, Teesri Manzil, Baha ron Ke Sapne, Pyar Ka Mausam and Caravan. She was glamour personified, wooing the audience with her gorgeous eyes, sense of style, pouting lips and ir resistible charm. But then in films like Badan, Chirag, Main Tulsi tere aangan ki, Pagla kahin ka and Kati Patang she showcased her talents as a consummate actress. Asha was not just consid

ered lucky but also shared great chemistry with all her heroes, hold ing her own among the male stars and male-dominated films. Asha could carry off any role with aplomb, she could be comic, defiant, tragic, romantic- everything that the screen demanded of her. She worked with all the stars and made many heroes into stars. She got along well with all her colleagues too remain ing friends with Waheeda and Helen even today and Nanda till her last breath. Asha Parekh remains grace ful, beautiful and charming and as one looks at her even today the Ziddi Asha peeps through from the spar kling eyes.

The Dadasaheb Phalke Award for 2020 was conferred to veteran Bollywood actress Asha Parekh in New Delhi on September 30. It is the highest recognition in the field of Indian cinema. We celebrate the star of the yesteryears who is an icon in the true sense!

ANITA HADA anita.hada@firstindianews.com

President Droupadi Murmu felicitates Asha Parekh with Dada Saheb Phalke Award, also seen is Union Minister Anurag Thakur

The disintegration of Joint Families

- SOCIO-ECONOMIC FALLOUTS

The joint family sys tem is said to be first associated with the settling down of the Ary ans in different parts of the World and similar institutions were practically all over the World. When the pasto ral stage was over and the people began to live a set tled life by tilling the soil, constructing the house and maintaining the patrimony, the joint family system came into existence. Diffi culties of communication and travel compelled all the members of the family to live together and carry on jointly the family occupa tion in agriculture or trade. In most other parts of the World, while the joint fam ily system has disappeared, in India, it still continues and is considered essential for survival and progress.

While the individualistic outlook is growing among the people, the joint family is still seen as the tradition al, perfect and beloved fam ily in Indian society. An Indian family is considered a strong, stable, flexible and enduring social unit. How ever, this idea is gradually fading away leading to the disintegration of the joint family system and the emergence of the 'nuclear family' mainly in urban In dia, where the households are shrinking in size with just three to four members and hardly any senior citi zens. The rapid growth of population led to an imbal ance of man and land equa tion and rapid industriali sation led to the flow of rural population to the ur ban areas. People migrated to urban areas for jobs and a better standard of living breaking their relation ships with the family lead ing to the disintegration of

FACEOFTHEDAY

the joint family system in India. It’s ironic that while modern indus tries triggered national growth, yet invaded the joint family system which was a symbol of socialism and the backbone of Indian society. The joint family system is compatible with our socio-economic system and supplemented by most religions.

Several factors have con tributed to changing the joint family like the new judicial system, edu cation, and chang ing attitudes of people have played a special role in disintegrating joint families. To day, the importance of the family as a means of social control is dimin ishing due to the influence of individual ism, individu al freedom, attachment to material pleasures, etc. Individual re lationships are becoming more contrac tual. The use of law, police, and courts for social con trol is on the rise. Thus individu al growth and free dom, desire for selfreli ance espe

cially children and women in the house have predomi nantly accelerated the dis integration of joint fami lies.

The disintegration of joint families and the sub sequent advent of the nu clear family system have contributed to various problems in society; ne glect of parents by chil dren, increase in incidents of crime, dis

cultural heritage, neglect of social obligations and family responsibilities, cracks in the bondage and souring relationships of parents and siblings, lack interest and enthusiasm in the festivals and social cum family functions. The dis appearance of the joint family system and nuclear families becoming the norm has further reduced the availability of alter

tems. This breakdown in the family support system has got manifested, to an extent, in the rising num ber of suicides and fratri cides.

The joint family system ensured the subsistence of each member of the family and is the perfect example of optimisation as every member in the family is given work according to his abilities. The consumption

YOUR DAY

Horoscope by Saurabbh Sachdeva

ARIES

MAR 21 - APR 20

Develop a good adaptability to handle pressurized situation on professional front. Paying special attention to plan your career would give immense joy. You are likely to get clearance or approval for your construction plans. You find things moving in the way you want them.

LEO

JULY 24 - AUGUST 23

You will succeed in resolving misunderstanding with family members, normalizing ties. You will remain much in demand on social front. You need to stand by romantic partner during testing times to make the relationship stronger. Seek opinion of expert before opting for a health supplement.

SAGITTARIUS

NOV 23 - DEC 22

Distant relatives may drop in for a surprise visit.

Investment antiques and jewellery would bring handsome financial gains. On professional front, recognition for good work would motivate you to work harder. Those awaiting an affirmation on romantic front are likely to get lucky.

TAURUS

APR 21 - MAY 20

Avoid being indulgent in your spending to balance budget. Continue to put in efforts at work and you will see promising opportunities coming your way. Matrimonial match for siblings will bring happiness for entire family. You will get a good price for your property.

VIRGO

AUG 24 - SEP 23

Yoga would help in raising energy levels and improve your metabolism. Some of you are going experience emotional fulfillment on romantic front. Place emphasis on domestic affairs to enhance the domestic tranquility and harmony. Associating yourself with humanitarian group would benefit you.

CAPRICORN

DEC 23 - JAN 20

Chances of being misled by competitors in business are high, so remain alert. You may get a chance to pursue old hobby. Health tips from an expert will enable you to get closer to your fitness goals. Your generous behavior would enable to enjoy some lovely moments with family.

economy of resources. The system is like social insur ance for the old, sick and incapacitated and fosters social virtues like a sac rifice, affection, coop eration, teamwork, the spirit of selfless ness and broadmind edness. The joint fam ily system is a true representation of so cialism as everyone in the joint family works according to his capabili ties but obtains according to his needs. It promotes a sense of unity and solidar ity among the members and strengthens the family unit for its existence and survival.

There are not too many factors against the joint family system especially in the Indian environment as it’s been a time-tested sys tem. However, the system does encourage idlers, hin ders individual personali ty development and free dom and self-reliance of children and women.

GEMINI

MAY 21 - JUNE 21

Don’t give a firm commit ment in financial matters before considering the viability of the project. You succeed in completing an important project well before deadline. Disagree ments on the family front are foreseen. Be careful about the legal apprehen sions in the property you are buying.

LIBRA

SEPT 24 - OCTOBER 22

It is good day to confess your love as stars appear favourable for positive reply. Your sole dependency on friends may fail to bring any respite from loneliness today.A sound financial health of businessmen would enable to give monetary benefits to employees.

AQUARIUS

JAN 21 - FEB 19

Senior management will be appreciative of your creative inputs on professional front. Seek the opinion of your family before finalizing a property deal. An impromptu invitation to a function from an unexpected friend is likely to be received. Your bold initiatives on romantic front bring back passion.

While the system is break ing down in cities, it still largely prevails in the vil lages, especially among ag ricultural families. The current socio-economic en vironment, law and order situation and need for the support system to run a household effectively and happily warrant bigger nu clear families if not larger joint families. The mid path lies in smaller joint fami lies or enhanced patterns of nuclear families which would meet the aspirations of new generation children and women and the old also take care of the older gen eration who needs family support in their most cru cial stage of life. A new so cial trend is emerging where the family is joint for all external dealings and economic ventures but re tains the individuality of smaller households within for providing an opportu nity to its younger mem bers and respecting their freedom and self-reliance.

CANCER

JUNE 22 - JULY 23

Rewards and recognition will come your way for your involvement in a social endeavour. It’s a very good day to take calculated risks in financial matters. Those suffering from chronic ailments may find remarkable improvement in their health with home remedies.

SCORPIO

OCT 23 - NOVEMBER 22

A sound monetary position would enable you to keep pace with changing times.

Avoid raising controversial issues at home to maintain harmony. Successful implementation of new ideas and projects would add to your prestige on the professional front. It is a wonderful day to build new connections.

PISCES

FEB20 - MARCH 20

Your hard work and dedication are likely to be noticed by seniors, paving way for promotion or increment. Better to consult an expert in financial matters before making an investment. Family will be supportive of career aspirations. Harsh words may create a rift in your romantic relationship.

RAJESH

COFFEE

Kriti Sanon has grabbed all the limelight after the teaser of her and Varun Dhawan starrer Bhediya has been released. On Saturday she shared a quirky video of her to celebrate World Coffee Day.

In the video which Kriti Sanon shared, we can see her on a shooting set right outside her vanity van. She looks lovely in a white spaghetti strap top which she paired with loose floral printed shorts. She holds a pink coffee mug in her hand and can be seen dancing and enjoying herself. A member of her steps out of her vanity van and interrupts her. Sharing this video, Kriti wrote, “To all Coffee Lov ers! Happy World Coffee Day. Introducing debu tant @aasifahmedofficial ! Wait for the bloopers.. coming up next!”

FRIENDS WITH HER EXES

Rashmika Mandanna opened up about her relationship with ex-partners. The actress also stated that she is happy about maintaining a healthy rela tionship with her former boyfriends. When asked what would be her response if she runs into the current partners of her exes at a party, she replied with a ‘hi.’ She said in an in terview with Mirchi Plus, “With my exes also, I am still friends. I sort of like meet their families, their pre sent, current, future, past, every thing.” While agreeing that this is not a very good trait, Rashmika added, “But I have a very good

Prioritizing Mind and Body

Deepika Padukone is one of the most loved actresses in Bollywood. In a re cent interview with Vogue Arabia, the star yet again opened up about her men tal illness.

Deepika Padukone said that her experience with mental illness has brought her to this space today. She quipped that she prioritizes her mind and body over everything else. But she also said that some times one needs to go through these experiences. Talking about her mental health journey, the actor said, “You come into this world thinking that if you want to be a successful actor, you have to be all of these things. And then you discover along the way that you can also do it

Richa Chadha and Ali Fazal’s prewedding festivities kick-started and the couple has been sharing the most gorgeous pictures on Insta gram. Richa and Ali have now shared pictures from their cocktail party, and they look nothing less than royalty in the latest pictures.

Richa Chadha looked every bit like an elegant bride in her custom-made Kresha Bajaj saree. Ali Fazal complemented his bride with a regal sher wani by Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla. The couple hosted family and friends from across Delhi with about 300 guests in attendance. Richa donned jewel lery that was custom-made for her by an ancestral Bikaneri jeweller family.

riyanka Chopra has been treating fans with numerous pictures from her trip to Washington DC. The actress interacted with US Vice President Kamala Harris, at the Democratic National Committee Women’s Leadership Forum, and pictures from the event have surfaced on social media. The pictures show Priyanka looking beautiful in a yellow dress and matching heels, as she interviewed US Vice President Kamala Har ris. During the interaction, Priyanka also shared that in her career of 22 years, she received equal pay as her male co-actor for the first time this year. Priyanka also took to her Instagram stories to share glimpses

aif Ali Khan and Hrithik Roshan starrer Vikram Vedha finally released in theatres yesterday, and it has created quite a buzz. Ahead of the movie’s release, a special screening of the film was held on 26 September, and it was attended by Kareena Kapoor Khan. Speaking about Vikram Ved ha, Kareena Kapoor Khan said that everything about the movie is amazing- right from the storytelling to Hrithik and Saif’s per formances. “It’s abso lutely fantastic. The storytelling, the perfor mances, just every thing about the movie. Also, I love watching these commercial movies. I think Saif and Hrithik are just outstanding in the film. Everyone should watch it, and I’m sure everyone is going to watch it,” said Kareena.

Kriti Sanon

Priyanka Chopra

Her post...

Her post...

Kareena Kapoor Khan

Deepika Padukone

roducers Ashutosh Gowariker, Sunita Gowariker, di rector Mridul Toolsidass and child actor Varun Buddhadev attended the 68th National Film Awards 2020 in Delhi. They received two hon ours for their film ‘Toolsidas Junior’Best Hindi Film and Special Mention in the Child Actor category for Varun Buddhadev. The special ceremony to honour the awar dees was held on Sep tember 30 in New Del hi.

Ashutosh Gowarik er who won his second National Award ex pressed his delight saying, “Toolsidas Junior has been my first production ven ture which offered a platform to a young new director, and this win feels like valida

TOOLSIDAS

P SURIYA WINS BIG!

Junior’s victory

tion to encourage more filmmakers to tell their stories. I am ex tremely grateful to Bhushan Kumar and to the entire team of the film to make it pos sible. Also, a big thank you to the Jury.”

Director Mridul Toolsidass shares, “The feeling is beyond surreal! Toolsidas Junior is not only my

first film but also a re flection of my child hood as the story is a tribute to my father and his journey. I hope

I’ve made my father proud by honouring his love for snooker and the values he be stowed me with.”

It is the year of Suriya and the number of hits he has provid ed within the year is commend able. The actor has now been commemorated for his perfor mance in the 2020 drama, Soorarai Pott ru. Suriya was awarded the Na tional Award for Best Actor for the Tamil Film. The award was given by the President of India, Indira Droupadi Murmu on Friday in the country’s capital, Delhi. After his grand victory, Suriya expressed how honoured and humbled he was to have been bestowed with

such a prestig ious distinction.

The Jai Bhim actor revealed, “Huge honour. Truly grateful to the National Film Award jury and the Government of India. A lot of emotions are running through my mind. I have a lot of people to thank...Getting goosebumps. Tru ly a moment which I will never forget.”

“I have a lot of people to thank. To begin with, there is Sudha. The film gave a lot of hope to peo ple during COV ID-19 times. Then, of course, I thank my wife, Jyothika.”

Bharat24 CEO Jagdeesh Chandra felicitates celebrities at ITSA 2022 Awards

Com which was graced by some of the most prominent per sonalities of the en tertainment industry. The awards night was held with the aim to felicitate different types of content on digital platforms that have been winning the hearts of people.

It may not have been long after the na tional news chan nel Bharat24 was launched, but it al ready has been creat ing its influence over the industry. The starry night was graced by none other than Jagdeesh Chan dra, Bharat24 CEO and Editor In Chief and Manoj Jagyasi Bharat24 Chief Busi ness Officer. Both of them not only made the event special through their pres ence but also hon oured celebrities with awards. Right from Best Supporting actor (Hindi), Best Support ing Actor (regional series), Best Support ing Actor (short film) and various other such nominations were given out by them. The channel was the supporting media partner at the recently held Indian Television Streaming Awards 2022 of Indi an Television Dot

The awards show that was conducted in JW Marriot, Mum bai, saw several celeb rities including Jim Sarbh, Amruta Sub hash, Neena Gupta, Asha Negi, Surya Sharma, Akshay Oberoi, Tanvi Azmi, Neelu Koli, Nakuul Mehta and others attend the glamorous affair.

Talking about the recently launched na tional news channel during the event, Jagdeesh Chandra said, “Bharat24 is a new discovery in the area of news televi sion. It is going to be the best news channel across the nation. We are progressing real ly fast and I have the belief that we will successfully be able to promote independ ent journalism and it will be a real national news channel, in all the states of the coun try. It will not be like any other channel which is mainly seen

as NCR or New Delhi channel. We will cov er the entire nation, be the voice of the na tion.”

He further added, “We promote talent from all walks of life, be it journalism, en tertainment, fashion. In totality, we are ea ger to promote talent in every area.”

Bharat24 Chief Business Officer, Manoj Jagyasi also spoke about the chan nel while congratulat ing the winners of the award. He said, “This is the first news chan nel that has a network of 4000 reporters. The flow of the news is natural and uninter rupted. That is the sole reason why we are getting so much love from the people because they are get ting what they want through the channel.”

Actor Salman Khan mourned the death of his body double Sa gar Pandey and shared a heartfelt note on his so cial media, thanking him for his hard work.

Sagar Pandey was Sal man Khan’s body double in more than 50 films which included films like Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Tubelight, and more.

Sharing a picture of them on the sets of Ba jrangi Bhaijaan, Salman Khan wrote, “Dil se shukar adda kar raha hoon for being there with me. May your soul rest in peace broth er Sagar. Thank you, #RIP #Sagar Pandey”.

Prashant Walde, the body double of Shah Rukh Khan confirmed that Sagar passed away while working out in the gym. He was taken to the hospital where he was de

clared dead by the doctors. “Sagar was working in the gym when he suddenly collapsed. He was immediately taken to the Hospital at Jogesh wari East, Mumbai. That’s where he was de clared dead. I am quite shocked.” Prashant re vealed.

ASHISH TIWARI

Jagdeesh Chandra felicitates Ragi Jani. Also seen is Manoj Jagyasi. Jagdeesh Chandra with Manoj Jagyasi

Jagdeesh Chandra and Manoj Jagyasi addressing the media

Jim Sarbh, Malishka and Sudhanshu Pandey

Amruta Subhash, Malishka and Sudhanshu Pandey

Jagdeesh Chandra addressing the media. Also seen are Manoj Jagyasi and Ashish Tiwari

Vishal Kotian

Neena Gupta, Umesh Shukla and Anil Wanwari

Jagdeesh Chandra and Manoj Jagyasi with the awardees

Jagdeesh Chandra and Manoj Jagyasi with the awardee

President Droupadi Murmu felicitates Sunita Gowariker. Also seen is Anurag Thakur

Sunita Gowariker and Mridul Toolsidass

President Droupadi Murmu feliciates Mridul Toolsidass. Also seen is Anurag Thakur

President Droupadi Murmu felicitates Suriya

Salman Khan

His post...