First India-Mumbai Edition-3rd December 2022

ED ARRESTS

GUJARAT

POLLS: MODI STEPS UP ATTACK ON CONGRESS

‘THEY WORKED WITH BRITISH FOR SEVERAL YEARS’

Ahmedabad: PM Nar endra Modi on Friday accused Congress of dis owning Sardar Vallab hbhai Patel and said it absorbed a “slave men tality” after working with the British prior to Independence.

He was speaking at a campaign rally at Sojitra town in Gujarat’s Anand district where voting will take place in the sec ond phase of the state Assembly elections on December 5. The Con gress’s “policy” of incit ing one community, caste or religion against another weakened Gu jarat, Modi said.

“The Congress has a problem not only with Sardar Patel but also with the unity of India because their politics is based on the policy of divide and rule while Patel believed in uniting everyone. Due to this stark difference, Con gress never considered Sardar Patel as their own,” the PM said.

Just because the statue has been built by Modi, Patel became un touchable for you? I am sure that people of Anand district will punish Congress for insulting Sardar Patel.

—Narendra Modi, Prime Minister

WILL SUPPORT ‘FRIEND’ MODI DURING INDIA’S G20 PRESIDENCY, SAYS BIDEN

New Delhi: US President Joe Biden on Friday said he is looking forward to “supporting his friend” PM Narendra Modi during India’s G20 presidency. “Together we will advance sustainable and inclusive growth while tackling shared challenges like the climate, energy, and food crises,” he said, calling India a “strong partner” of the United States.

KEY ROLES FOR FORMER CONG LEADERS IN BJP

SHERGILL NATIONAL SPOKESPERSON; CAPTAIN, JAKHAR ARE EXEC MEMBERS

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Chief!

Hardworking, humble: Modi, Shah, others greet JP Nadda

P

New Delhi: The BJP on Friday appointed Jaiveer Shergill as the party’s national spokesper son. He resigned as the Congress national spokesperson in August this year. Further, former Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh and Sunil Jakhar were made BJP national executive members. Sunil Jakhar joined BJP in May. P5

BJP GOVT MEANS DEVELOPMENT & PEACE, SAYS SHAH

Gandhinagar: Union HM Amit Shah while address ing rallies in poll bound Gujarat said on Friday that BJP govt means devp, peace. If the young generation of Gujarat has not seen curfew then behind it is the rule of law and peace established by the BJP. People of Gujarat

With CJI next to him, VP Dhankhar asks questions over SC undoing NJAC Act

6 women among 7 people die as part of limestone mine collapses in C’garh

Thiruvananthapuram: Adani Group on Friday moved Kerala HC seeking the assistance of central forces to continue with construction at the Vizhinjam seaport in Thiruvananthapuram which was marred by protests.

`100 CR EXTORTION

CASE: DESHMUKH’S

BAIL PLEA DEFERRED

Mumbai: The Bombay HC on Friday postponed the hearing on the bail petition filed by former Maharashtra Home Minister and NCP leader Anil Deshmukh till December 6 in connection with `100 crore extortion case filed by the CBI.

SC QUASHES HC ORDER

GRANTING ANTICIPATORY

BAIL TO NAMBI ACCUSED

Mumbai: The Supreme Court on Friday quashed the Kerala High Court order granting anticipatory bail to four people including a former DGP in the case related to the alleged frame-up of scientist Nambi Narayanan in the 1994 ISRO espionage matter.

New Delhi: Amid standoff between Govt & Col legium over judicial ap pointments, VP Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday raised questions over undoing of NJAC Act & wondered if a constitu tional amendment unan imously passed by Parl reflecting will of people can be undone by SC.

lage under Nagarnar po lice station area, around 12 km away from Jagdal pur, the headquarter of the district, a police offi cial here said. “The vic tims were digging soil in the mine when a part of it caved in, due to which they got trapped under the debris,” he said.

DOUBLE TROUBLE!

SpiceJet & IndiGo int’l flights divert safely due to snags

New Delhi: Snags led 2 int’l flights being oper ated by Indian carriers on Friday to divert to alternate airports.

SpiceJet: Boeing 737 MAX flying from Jed dah to Calicut safely landed in Cochin after carrying out three low pass, which allowed ATC to verify whether the landing gear lever was down and locked, say sources. IndiGo: Airbus A320 winging its way from Kannur to Doha diverted to Mum bai because of one of the three hydraulic sys tems failing. DGCA is probing both the cases.

Maha ministers’ Belagavi visit not a good idea: Bommai

letter

First India Bureau

Mumbai/Belagavi:

Even as Maharashtra ministers Chandrakant Patil and Shambhuraj Desai pushed back their visit to Belagavi--origi nally slated for Decem ber 03--to December 06, Karnataka Chief Minis ter Basavaraj Bommai

has warned against the trip.

Patil and Desai have been appointed by the Maharashtra govern ment to coordinate with the state’s legal team in the ongoing row over the border dispute with the south ern state. The duo are slated

to

Our Chief Secretary has written to the Chief Secretary of Maha rashtra. In the given situa tion it is not good for (Patil and Desai) to visit here and hence, they should not come here. We have already com municated to them. The Kar nataka government will con tinue to take steps which were

In a tweet in Marathi, Patil said some Ambed karite organisations have urged them to re main present in Bel gaum on the occasion of Mahaparinirvan Diwas, the death anniversary of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar.

“Accordingly, I and coordinating minister Shamburaj Desai will visit Belgaum on De cember 3 and hold dis cussions. Let’s meet up. Discussions surely will lead to a way,” Patil had tweeted earlier with a

Their

Maharashtra, since its inception in 1960, has been entangled in a dis pute with Karnataka over the status of Bel gaum district and 80 other Marathi-speaking villages, which are in the control of the south ern state.

BORDER ROW

meet with leaders of the Maharashtra Eki karan Samiti (MES),

from the Mad hyavarti Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti seek ing a meeting with him and Desai.

visit comes at a time when the Supreme Court is hearing a case on the issue.

Chandrakant Patil and Shambhuraj Desai were originally meant to have met local leaders today, but visit pushed to Tuesday

taken in the past.

—Basavaraj Bommai, Karnataka CM

ADANI GROUP MOVES HC SEEKING CENTRAL PROTECTION AT PORT

The second phase voting in Gujarat will take place on December 5

Manish Desai

Prime Minister Narendra Modi greets while being garlanded by BJP leaders, workers during a public rally for the second phase of the Gujarat Assembly elections, in Patan on Friday. PHOTO BY ANI

stand firmly with the BJP.

M Modi and several top leaders on Friday greeted BJP chief JP Nadda. PM Modi wished him, “a long and healthy life” and praised him for infusing “new enthusiasm and energy” in the ruling party. HM Shah greeted him saying, Happy Birthday Nadda ji, party is continuously getting stronger due to your efficient leadership and organizational skills.

BJP National President Jagat Prakash Nadda turns 62 on Friday. Nadda is an Indian lawyer and politician serving as the president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since 20 January 2020.

CHHATTISGARH

CM’S DEPUTY SECY SAUMYA

California: Singer-politician Sidhu Moose Wala’s murder mastermind Goldy Brar has been detained in California. Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann has confirmed that Goldy has been detained and he will be brought back to India soon. P6

Raipur: ED on Friday arrested Saumya Chaurasia, a deputy secretary rank officer posted in Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel’s office, in connection with a money laundering investigation into an alleged coal levy scam in state, sources said.

ACTOR NORA FATEHI APPEARS BEFORE ED IN SUKESH CASE

New Delhi: Amid ongoing probe in `200 cr extortion case linked to conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar, actor Nora Fatehi on Friday appeared before the officials of the ED. The 30-year-old has been earlier questioned in the case linked to the conman.

MOOSE WALA MURDER MASTERMIND GOLDY CAUGHT

Jagdalpur: Seven per sons were killed after some portion of a lime stone mine collapsed on them at their village in Bastar district of Chhat tisgarh on Friday, police said. The deceased in cluded six women, they said. The incident took place in Maalgaon vil

VP Jagdeep Dhankhar, CJI Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud & Abhishek Singhvi at 8th Dr LM Singhvi Memorial Lecture in Delhi on Friday.

Rescue and search operation underway after the collapse of a limestone mine, in Bastar on Friday.

PHOTO BY ANI

Priority to Deshmukh bail plea over med condition: HC

Taking cognizance of ex-min’s ‘degenerative illness’, Court to hear plea on Dec 06

First India Bureau

Mumbai: In a relief to former minister Anil Deshmukh, the Bom bay High Court on Fri day said priority should be given to his bail plea in considera tion of his medical condition. Deshmukh has sought bail in a corruption and mis use of official position case being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Deshmukh, 74, ap proached the high court after a special CBI court rejected his bail plea last month. He sought bail both on medical grounds as well as on merits.

When the plea was heard on Friday, Desh mukh’s counsel Vikram Chaudhari told a single bench of Justice MS Karnik that the former minister was being treated but he suffers from several ailments that require constant treatment and care.

“He needs to be re leased. He is a chronic patient,” said Chaudha ri.

General Anil Singh, ap pearing on behalf of the CBI, opposed the same and said he is getting proper treatment in jail

keeps changing,” said Singh.

After hearing the matter briefly, the court said it would hear the bail plea on merits.

“I am satisfied that we can proceed with the hearing on merits and give it priority. This is my prima facie opinion that priority should be given. One of the medi cal ailments (that Desh mukh is suffering from) is degenerative,” said Justice Karnik.

The court said it would hear the plea on December 06.

The Nationalist Con gress Party (NCP) lead er has been in jail since November last year af ter his arrest by the En forcement Directorate (ED) in a money laun dering case. In April this year, he was arrested by the CBI in the corrup tion case.

Audit for pvt colleges on alleged overcharging

Mumbai: Amid rising complaints of several autonomous colleges in the state overcharg ing fees to students, while offering profes sional courses under the traditional arts, commerce and science streams that are not covered under the Fee Regulatory Authority (FRA), The state gov ernment has decided to conduct random fi nancial audits of pri vate colleges.

“We will take a re view of such colleges. Even as they are award ed autonomy; it is re lated to academics. The government is bearing the salary expenditure of their staff. It is im portant to inspect if academic autonomy is used to gain monetary benefits by charging ex orbitant fees.” an offi

Even colleges that have been awarded autonomy may come under scanner

cial from The higher and technical education department said.

Also, the state govern ment is contemplating different ways to reim burse fees of students coming from reserved categories and studying in deemed universities, following a court order in such a case.

For this purpose, about 10 percent of the

private colleges will be randomly selected for the audit. It will be ob served if these colleges are charging more than the fee amount as fixed by the FRA and if ir regularities are found, actions would be taken accordingly.

Along with colleges offering professional courses covered under the FRA, The higher and technical education department will be con ducting a review of au tonomous colleges of fering professional courses under the core streams of arts, com merce and science.

whenever required.

“His present medical condition needs to be as certained. Medical con dition is not static...it

He is currently in ju dicial custody and lodged at the Arthur Road prison.

PRESIDENT MURMU SIGNS MHADA ACT AMENDMENT BILL

Mumbai: More than 50 buildings in Mumbai that were declared dangerous but whose redevelopment was stuck have got relief now that President Droupadi Murmu has signed the bill amend

ing the Maharashtra Housing and Area De velopment (MHADA) Act 1976, Deputy Chief Minister Deven dra Fadnavis said. President Murmu signed the amendments in the MHADA Act 1976, giving preference to the owner or the tenants of

a residential building to submit a proposal for redevelopment once it is categorized by the civic body as being too

SIX MEDICAL INTERNS BOOKED FOR RAGGING

Nagpur: A day after they were suspended from their internship at the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMC&H) in Nagpur over allega tions of ragging, six MBBS students have now been booked by the police.

A case under section 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and other rele vant provisions of the Indian Penal Code and Maharashtra Prohibi tion of Ragging Act has been registered, an of

ficial from Ajni police station said.

A student, in the first year of the MBBS course at the college, had sent a secretly re corded video of the in cident--which allegedly took place in April--to the Central Anti-Rag ging Committee, follow ing which the accused were sus

pended on Wednesday.

After receiving the video along with the student's complaint, the central committee di rected the GMC&H ad ministration to initiate action.

dangerous to live in, Fadnavis explained.

If the residents or owner fail to submit any proposal for its re development, MHADA, the apex public body constituted under the MHADA Act, has now been empowered to take the project in its hands

for the same, Fadnavis tweeted further.

The president has cleared the way for the redevelopment of 56 buildings that had been paying cess, and whose redevelopment was stuck despite being cat egorized as dangerous structures.

WR plans `264 cr of fences to stop Vande Bharat animal hits

Mumbai (PTI): The Western Railway (WR) on Friday said it would install fences along the MumbaiAhmedabad route by May next year to stop animals from straying onto the tracks and getting run over.

The move coming in the backdrop of the pres tigious Vande Bharat Express hitting cattle four times since its

launch on September 30.

Addressing a press conference at the rail way zone’s headquarters at Churchgate here, WR General Manager Ashok Kumar Misra said ten

ders have been invited for the construction of the fences on the 620-kil ometre-long route, which is expected to cost Rs264 crore.

The third semi highspeed Vande Bharat Ex press, flagged off by Prime Minister Naren dra Modi on September 30 between Gandhinagar in Gujarat and the coun try’s financial capital, has hit cattle four times.

CRUCIAL READ

Raut blasts BJP, govt over remarks on Shivaji

Rajya Sabha MP warns of ‘avenging insults’ to Maratha warrior king; calls out K’taka CM Bommai for border row

First India Bureau

Nashik: Criticizing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for main taining “silence” over alleged objectionable remarks made against Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj by some pub lic figures, Rajya Sab ha MP Sanjay Raut on Friday warned “in sults” to the Maratha warrior king will be avenged.

Talking to reporters

in Nashik on Friday, Raut said while the BJP is sensitive to comments perceived as insulting to Prime Minister Naren dra Modi, the party re mains quiet when it comes to remarks made against the 17th century Maratha warrior king, a revered figure in Maha rashtra.

Maharashtra Gover nor Bhagat Singh Ko shyari, BJP Spokesper son Sudhanshu Trivedi and state Tourism Min

ister

Raut also attacked the

At an election rally in Gujarat, Con gress President Mallikarjun Kharge compared Prime Minister Modi with demon king Ravan. The PM termed it as an insult to Gujarat and made it a big is sue in the elections. In fact, I also did not like (Kharge) calling Modi as Ravan, but in Maharashtra, the same BJP and the Shinde faction are silent on insults to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

— Sanjay Raut, Shiv Sena - UBT leader

dispensation, but the state government has no self-respect.

The Shiv Sena (Ud dhav Balasaheb Thack eray) leader was react ing to the Karnataka

government’s move to release water to some villages in Jath tehsil in Sangli district of Maha rashtra. The tehsil is known to face water shortage.

HELD

Mumbai: Pradyumn Yadav (25), president of the city unit of the National Student Union of India was taken into custody by Mumbai police for allegedly cutting birthday cake with a sword-like weapon, an official said on Thursday. According to sources, A video of Yadav was celebrat ing his birthday with his supporters near the Vikhroli railway station. Police booked Yadav under relevant sections of the Arms act as well as Mumbai Police Act taking suo motu cognizance.

Latur: Acting on a tip-off, police raided Dongargao and Boragao river basins under the jurisdiction of Jalkoat police sta tion and booked nine persons for illegal sand mining. Equipment, stolen resources worth Rs34 lakh were seized, police said. While one man was found stealing sand using his tractor in Boragaon, eight were arrested in the raid at Dongargaon around 3 am on Friday, Two offences have been registered under the IPC and Subor dinate Minerals Act, 2013.

Mumbai: The police on Friday arrested a 49-year-old man for allegedly threatening and attempting to extort Rs2 crore from the manager of a construction site in the western suburb of Kandivali here, an official said. The accused had allegedly come to the site, where the complainant worked as a manager, and threatened to stop the construction activity unless he was paid a bribe of Rs2 crore. He later settled for Rs1 crore. A trap was laid near the site and the accused was caught red handed while accepting Rs5 lakh, the official said. A case under section 384 (extortion) and other relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code has been registered, he added.

Additional Solicitor

THREE OF FAMILY KILLED IN ROAD CRASH

MAN HELD FOR ATTEMPTING TO EXTORT `2 CR FROM CONSTRUCTION SITE MANAGER

NSUI MUMBAI CHIEF CUTS CAKE WITH SHARP WEAPON,

NINE HELD FOR SAND MINING IN LATUR DISTRICT

Palghar: A family traveling to Mumbai from Gu jarat collided with a truck, resulting in the death of three of their members, including an 80-yearold man. The accident happened on MumbaiAhmedabad highway in Palghar district. A police official informed that the family was returning to Kalyan in Thane district after attending a mar riage in Gujarat. Their car collided with a truck at Dhanivari village. The bodies were sent for postmortem to a government hospital and the local police are investigating.

Mangal Prabhat Lodha faced criticism for their recent remarks on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj which were deemed as offensive.

Eknath Shinde-led gov ernment over the fester ing Karnataka-Maha rashtra border row and said the chief minister of Karnataka “spits” on the face of the current

First India Bureau

FIRED UP!

Navy personnel practise for the upcoming Indian Navy Day celebration 2022, at The Gate Way of India, in Mumbai on Thursday. Navy Day is marked on December 04 each year to recognize the achievements and role of the Indian Navy in the country's security. —PHOTO BY ANI

First India Bureau

Former Home Min Deshmukh has been lodged in Arthur Road jail since Nov last year. –FILE PHOTO

First India Bureau

2018 embargo on single-use plastic partially rolled back

de and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fad navis chaired a meeting with the environment department.

The notification also allows plastic items less than 50 microns and items less than 60 grams per square metre for packaging purposes.

Plea to rule 2019 CRZ order illegal admitted

First India Bureau

Mumbai: Four years after it completely banned plastic items, the state government has decided to allow some single-use plas tic items, such as straw, plates, cups, glasses, forks and bowls as long as they are made from com postable polymers.

Often seen as a viable alternative to conven tional plastics, com postable polymers mim ic the former’s positive qualities such as barri er properties, durabili ty and shelf stability but can be broken down, unlike synthetic poly mers that have had a

GLIMMER OF HOPE

According to the United Nations, plastic accounts for 85% of all marine litter, and by 2040, it will nearly triple, adding 23-37 million metric tons of waste into the ocean per year. However, the Association of Compostable Products in India says that the domestic market is seeing “significant growth” in the compostable plas tic packaging material sector, led by growing awareness and benefits from using sustainable and eco-friendly products that leave no harmful footprints behind.

negative impact on the environment and hu man health.

The government has also allowed non-woven polypropylene carrybags, specifically those made from materials weighing more than

Adani Electricity to power two Mum

Metro lines

60gsm (grams per square metre) with a thickness of less than 50 microns.

The partial rollback will bring relief to re lief to plastic manufac turers, traders and us ers of plastic such as

restaurants, shops and businesses across the state. The notification was issued by the envi ronment department on Wednesday, while the decision was taken on Monday after Chief Minister Eknath Shin

“The packaging mate rial shall be more than 50 microns thickness. In case the thickness of plastic sheets impairs the functionality of the product, the packaging material shall be of less than 50 microns,” it says.

However, it does come with a rider that manu facturers will have to secure certificates from Plastic Engineering and Technology (CI PET) and Central Pollu tion Control Board (CPCB) for manufac ture and trade of such items.

The current iteration of the 2018 ban already allowed compostable plastic carriers for in dustries such as Solid Waste Management (SWM).

First India Bureau Mumbai: The Na tional Green Tribu nal (Pune) has ac cepted a plea to de clare the 2019 Coast al Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification illegal, ultra-vires and violative of Ar ticle 14 and 21 of the Constitution. Inci dentally, the CRZ no tification, came into force in 2021.

In a plea filed by NGO Vanashakti, it was stated that rather than protecting the en vironment, the 2019 CRZ notification re moved various envi ronmental protections bestowed under CRZ 2011.

While admitting the plea on Thursday, the NGT also directed the issuance of notic es to the Union Minis try of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, and the Na tional and Maharash tra Coastal Zone Man agement Authorities, respectively.

The tribunal said that the plea has

50 new BEST double-decker e-buses to ply from Jan 2023

Mumbai: The Brihan mumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) Undertaking plans to launch 50 new double-decker ebuses in a phased manner beginning January 14, 2023.

The body was sup posed to introduce new double-decker electric buses in September, but delay in the certification process has hindered the plan.

Mumbai: The Met ropolitan Region Development Au thority (MMRDA) has collaborated with Adani Elec tricity Mumbai Ltd to power two Metro lines—Metro 2A (Dahisar-DN Na gar) and Metro 7 (Dahisar E-And heri E). The total power to be used by these lines annual ly comes to around 120 million units.

With multiple elec tricity distributors in Mumbai city, the pow er supply sector is a complex structure.

These include the state-owned Brihan mumbai Electric Sup ply and Transport (BEST), Maharashtra State Electricity Dis tribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) along with the two major private play ers Tata Power and Adani Electricity.

“In the last few years, power-inten sive establishments such as airports, data centres, hospitals, metro networks, soft

ware parks, and ho tels are choosing Adani Electricity as their supplier. This is due to reliable and sustainable power supply at competitive tariffs supported by customer-centric ser vices,” said a spokes person from Adani Electricity.

“We are pleased to support MMRDA and Mumbai Metro’s commuters with our sustainable solutions being a key differen tiator to help reduce our customers’ car bon footprint,” he added.

Adani Electricity meets close to 2,000 MW of power de mand in Mumbai’s largest and the most efficient power dis tribution network.

“Process of getting ap proval for the new dou ble-decker e-buses is on. We are hoping that it will be completed soon,” said Lokesh Chandra, Gen eral Manager of BEST.

“BEST wants to intro duce 50 new doubledecker e-buses in the current financial year.

First lot of nearly 10 double-decker e-buses

Delay in certification process pushed plan from September this year

will be introduced on January 14” added Chandra. The undertak ing will phase out all existing double-decker

buses by June 2023. Cur rently, there are 45 dou ble-decker diesel buses running in the city on different routes.

Further, in order to improve connectivity, BEST will also start a cab service soon. The body has begun the pro cess of floating tenders to invite agencies which can provide environ ment-friendly e-cabs with drivers. Those ve

hicles will bear the BEST logo and accept bookings from bus pas sengers using the Chalo app. BEST plans to in troduce 500 cabs by June 2023. All traditional me ters will soon be re placed by smart meters by September 2023.

BEST will also set up 330 EV charging sta tions at 55 locations across Mumbai city for the public.

SMALL MIRACLE

Local NGO lodged complaint on ground that it removes environmental protections

pointed out that the special protections granted to Greater Mumbai in CRZ 2011, have been severely di luted. The plea states that CRZ 2011, laid

special emphasis on Greater Mumbai on subject matters rang ing from “construc tion of roads, solid waste disposal sites, slum rehabilitation scheme, redevelop ment of dilapidated buildings,” among others.

“But the entire sec tion, except protection of open spaces and construction of sew age treatment plan, was deleted in the 2018 draft notification and also the 2019 notifica tion,” it added.

MSEDCL eases name transfer procedure

First India Bureau Mumbai: After receiv ing a directive from Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribu tion Company Ltd (MSEDCL) has simpli fied the procedure fol lowed for changes made to names on elec tricity bills after sale of flats, shops or any other commercial es tablishments.

This step was taken as part of the state govern ment’s ‘Ease-of-living’ initiative.

In the earlier process, after paying stamp duty and registration for a new flat, a person was required to submit an ap plication to the power utility firm with all rel evant documents.

Officials then con ducted checks at the site and asked the new owner

to pay relevant fees, etc.

“Now, things have been simplified and one need not venture out of home to submit any ap plication,” informed an official. The process, which took weeks before will now be over in a matter of days.

The stamp duty and registration department is linked to the MSED CL’s IT system. Now, of ficials will send a SMS with charges for name transfer, which will be reflected in next bill au tomatically, he added.

Woman gives birth on Mumbai-bound local train

child are safe and in sta ble condition.

A resident of Atgaon area of Shahapur talu ka, Preeti boarded the train to Mumbai from Atgaon station early in the morning.

First India Bureau

Titwala: A woman gave birth to a child aboard a local train bound for Mumbai from Kasara on Thursday.

According to Titwala Lohmarg police offi cials, the mother Preeti Vakchaure and the

Interestingly, she in tended to get to a hospi tal in Mumbai for a check-up when she started experiencing la bour pains at Titwala railway station.

After hearing her cry for help, passengers in the women’s coach im mediately informed the Railway police about Preeti’s condition.

A team of women Government Railway Police (GRP) and Rail

way Police Force (RPF) immediately reached the spot.

With their assistance, the woman successfully gave birth to a healthy child. Both the mother

Their

her unique delivery. In November a simi lar incident occured in neighbouring state of Rajasthan, where a woman gave birth to a child on a moving train.

A brick kiln worker boarded the RatlamMathura MEMU train back to his village along with his pregnant wife.

She went into labour after the train left Hindaun station and soon after gave birth to a baby boy.

The woman received assistance from other female passengers on board the train. She was taken to a hospital after the train arrived at Bayana station.

Move will bring relief to Maha manufacturers and traders, as well as restaurants, shops and businesses

Synthetic polymers have a negative impact on the environment and human health. —FILE PHOTO

The National Green Tribunal will investigate claims of special protections dilution granted to Greater Mumbai.—FILE PHOTO

and her newborn were then taken to a nearby private hospital for ob servation by the police personnel.

actions, which were recorded in the

CCTV camera footage of Titwala railway sta tion, were shared on social media platforms.

Netizens hailed the police officials for their assisting Preeti with

Swift response by Mumbai Govt Railway police personnel helps; both mother and child under obs at pvt hospital

Screengrab of CCTV footage showing GRP and RPF personnel assisting the woman.

First India Bureau

First India Bureau

BEST also set to introduce 300 cabs under its service by June next year. —FILE PHOTO

UKRAINE-RUSSIA WAR WORSENING SITUATION

ahead in the south towards Odesa, the one vital port on the Black Sea which the Ukrainians still hold. The likelihood of a renewed Rus sian offensive is high, though one cannot predict the gains it could make, or in what time frame.

A successful Ukrainian counter offensive aided by NATO (an additional $400 million in military aid by US including refurbishing 45 T-72 tanks and missiles for HAWK air defence systems for Kyiv) pushing the Rus sians back to their own terri tory. The Ukrainian offensive has made sizeable gains both in the east and in the south. Buoyed by their success, and replenished with western arms and freshly trained re servists, the Ukrainians could continue their offen sive to recapture the lost ter ritory. A complete Ukrainian victory, in the near term, at least, could be difficult.

IN-DEPTH

CHANCE FOR NEW DELHI TO PLAY A PIVOTAL ROLE IN WORLD AFFAIRS

Chinese President Xi Jinping and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz oppose Russia’s threats to use atomic weapons in Ukraine. Scholz even warned that Moscow risked “crossing a line” in the international community by resorting to nuclear force. As the G- 7 leaders reiterated its stand against Moscow’s war in Ukraine, the foreign ministers of the group said any use of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons by Russia would be met with severe consequences. Most members of G- 20 and India also suggest for a diplomatic solution, through talks to the Russian-Ukraine conflict.

Russia’s broad interests in Ukraine: Russia has deep cultural, economic, and po litical bonds with Ukraine that go back centuries with approximately more than ten million ethnic Russians liv ing in Ukraine. Ukraine go ing NATO or Western orbit way is viewed as a security threat to Russia as well as its standing as a great power. The city of Sevastopol is home port for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, the dominant mar itime force in the region and any loss of control over it is detrimental to Russian stra tegic interests. Russia and Ukraine have been largest trading partners with Russia having relied on Ukrainian pipelines to pump its gas to customers in Central and Eastern Europe for decades, and it paid Kyiv billions of dollars per year in transit fees. Russia was keen to pre serve its political influence in Ukraine but the current President Zelenskyy definite ly isn’t the right man. The Russo-Ukrainian conflict has been ongoing since February 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine and supported pro-Russian sepa ratists. The conflict escalated on 24 Feb 2022 when Russian

President Putin sent troops into Ukraine from the north, south and east claiming to “demilitarise and de-Nazify Ukraine. In reality it was framed as an attempt at en suring neutral status and preventing NATO from gain ing a foothold in Ukraine.

Current situation and Impact: After months of war, both armies are ex hausted and depleted. The continual attrition has taken a toll on men and equipment, even though Ukraine has re ceived aid and trained re servists to make up their losses and Russia’s partial military mobilization would make another 2,00,000 or so conscripts available to fill their tired and ragged lines. The civil population is suffer ing with Millions of civilians unable to return home. Many still in the country are forced to live without access to food, water, health care, and other essential supplies. With Over 17,000 causalities, in cluding 6,500 killed and 6.5 million people internally dis placed, the war is getting hei nous. Increasing food and fuel prices have an immedi ate impact on the poorest people in developing coun tries, causing hunger and suffering for families. Ukraine is historically a large exporter of grain and the current war is increasing food insecurity and contrib uting to the risk of famine in the world.

Some possibilities in the current scenario with im

After months of war, both armies are exhausted and depleted. The continual attrition has taken a toll on men and equipment, even though Ukraine has received aid and trained reservists to make up their losses, Russia’s partial military mobilization would make another 2,00,000 or so conscripts available to fill tired, ragged lines

plications: With winter set ting in and then the melting snow and slushy ground of spring a pause can be expect ed around December or so till March. Both sides may like to make maximum gains and perhaps even bring the war to a conclusion before that but it seems difficult to pre dict the timelines or even the manner in which the war could end. The war is swing ing between extremities with no clear evidence where it’s heading. But some of the likely possibilities are: - Rus sians launch a renewed offen sive with 200,000 recently mobilized conscripts to at tain their military aims and regain the territory lost to Ukrainian counter-attacks have pushed them back from some of the occupied territo ries. They could even push

Another possibility is that the war becomes an intermi nable frozen conflict, with neither side being able to change the status quo. Both sides dig in along the posi tions they hold which be comes the Line of Contact. There could be a stalemate along the line held by Rus sian and Ukrainian troops along which low intensity fighting could continue in terminably. Ukraine may not like it, but would be un able to change the overall picture.

In another possibility of worst case scenario is a NATO - Russian conflict wherein in the fog of the war crossing of a “Red Line” which could be the use of a chemical, biological or a nu clear weapon, or maybe even a particularly devastating at tack on a civilian target could draw NATO into the conflict. A more pragmatic view sug gests NATO will continue to prop up Ukraine with infu sions of arms and aid, which will keep the conflict going. After all, this state suits them where they can continue to weaken Russia “to the last Ukrainian” without being directly involved. Neither does Russia want a direct confrontation with NATOone in which they may lose. This scenario may be seri ously viewed by both sides but the last G- 20 Summit where the world leaders in cluding China have stressed “the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmis sible” makes the chances of this scenario dim.

DIGITAL INDIA MARCHES AHEAD

Five years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Digi tal India initiative in 2015, the country contin ues to make steady progress in the digital world. That it can be an enabler and benefi ciary was best proved by the COWIN app which tracked all vaccinations during the Cov id pandemic. They later be came useful documents for travelers in particular and also for people in general.

Now comes the Digi Yatra app which will enable flyers to forget about collecting their boarding passes at the airport. From Thursday, pa perless entry to select air ports has been introduced.

Seven airports will be cov ered in the first phase of the

Seven airports will be covered in 1st phase of the paperless entry initiative starting with New Delhi, Bengaluru and Varanasi.

Remaining 4 airportsHyderabad, Kolkata, Pune and Vijayawada - will get the facility in March 2023

initiative starting with Del hi, Bengaluru and Varanasi. Remaining four airports - Hy derabad, Kolkata, Pune and Vijayawada - will get the fa cility in March 2023. Subse quently, all the airports will have this technology. This will be made possible by Digi

Yatra, facial recognition soft ware, for entry into airports. The technology will gradu ally make ID cards and board ing passes redundant.

DigiYatra envisages con tactless and paperless move ment of travellers through various checkpoints includ ing entry, security check ar eas and aircraft boarding. The technology uses facial features to establish identity. To avail the facility, a passen ger will have to register his/ her details on DigiYatra app using Aadhaar and a photo.

The government has also introduced the E- rupee as a form of transaction. The ecurrency is not much differ ent from other UPI based wal lets except that the limit on holding digital rupee is much more than in other wallets.

Having taken over the G20 Presidency from Indonesia for the first time, India will host 19 of the world’s largest economies and the Euro pean Union in September 2023. India occupying the top seat at the summit will affirm its im portance in global affairs. While making India’s image more lus trous, the G20 Presidency will also make the BJP stronger for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. What India can achieve during its G20 Chairmanship, however, is much more than that. This of fers New Delhi the best opportu nity to showcase its ancient Hindu culture and philosophy. It can narrow the North-South divide by emerging as the “voice of the global South”, which broadly refers to regions in Asia, Latin America, Africa and Oce ania, for inclusive development. The External Affairs Minister has said that New Delhi will work to “depoliticise” the global supply of food, fertilizers and medical products. “As the moth er of democracy, India’s G20 Presidency will be consultative ... collaborative… and decisive.

‘Kuwa Tok’ locality residents had to travel a trail-like raw path to get there. In rainy weather, this road was impassable due to excessive mud and soil erosion. As a result, crops could be damaged and accidents could occur. #MGNREGA was used to facilitate this inaccessible path.

l Vol 1 l Issue No. 206 l RNI TITLE NO.

MAHENG/2022/14652

Printed and published by Anita Hada Sangwan on behalf of First Express Publishers. Printed at Dangat Media Pvt Ltd, No.22, Dighe MIDC, Vishnu Nagar, TTC Industrial Area, Dighe, Navi Mumbai-400701. Published at Plot No. 3 Scheme C of Manglorean Garden Home, CHS Limited, Survey No. 5, 6C (Part) Ville Parle East, Mumbai 400057. Phone 022-46031417.

Editor-In-Chief: Dr Jagdeesh Chandra

Editor: Kartikey Dev Singh responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL

Dharmendra Pradhan @dpradhanbjp

The world trusts and acknowledges the prowess of this #NewIndia. There’s no spin to it. One can ignore it due to his/her political alignment. 130 crore+ Indians see India’s G20 Presidency as an opportunity to showcase their best. Congress is free to show what it is best at.

Shandilya Giriraj Singh @girirajsinghbjp

SPIRITUAL SPEAK

Those who cling to perceptions and views wander the world offending people. Buddha

COL RAJESH BHUKAR

The author is a Post Graduate in International Studies, Alumni of Defense Services Staff College, Wellington and College of Combat, Mhow

CONG HAS ACCEPTED DEFEAT: MODI

PM says that Congress alleging tampering of Electronic Voting Machines is an indication that it has already accepted defeat

Ahmedabad (PTI):

Prime Minister Naren dra Modi on Friday said the Congress alleging tampering of Electron ic Voting Machines is an indication that it has already accepted defeat in the Gujarat Assem bly elections.

Voting for 89 seats in the first phase of the Gujarat elections took place on Thursday.

“The way Congress has started blaming EVMs after yesterday's voting in Kutch, Sau rashtra and south Guja rat, it is evident the op position party has con ceded defeat and has accepted that the BJP will win the election.

Alleging EVM tamper ing is an indication the Congress is on its way out,” said Modi.

He was speaking at a rally in Patan where voting will be held along with remaining 92 seats on December 5.

“The Congress knows only two things, abuse Modi ahead of polls to please the voters and then blame EVMs after voting. This proves the Congress has accepted defeat,” he said.

He also slammed past Congress governments for ‘widening' the rift between the rich and the poor in the country and “looting” the funds meant for the welfare of the poor.

SC: COLLEGIUM SYSTEM SHOULD NOT BE DERAILED

New Delhi: The apex court has said the colle gium system should not be derailed on the basis of statements of “some busybody”. Amid divi sions in judiciary and its dispute with govt over the system under which judges appoint judges to courts, it said it does not want to comment on what a few former SC judges are now saying about the mechanism.

Ahmedabad (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday alleged that the Congress only believed in ‘atkana, latkana aur bhatkana’ (stalling, delay ing and misleading), and said those who looted poor people in the coun try were now abusing him for putting an end to corruption. He also alleged that the previous Congress govern ments never showed any interest in bringing the Narmada river water to the parched regions of Gujarat as the party was only interested in doing those works where there was scope to indulge in corruption. Modi was addressing a rally in Kankrej village of Banaskantha district, where voting for the second phase of Gujarat Assem bly polls will be held on December 5.

NOD TO CBI FOR LR AGAINST NIRAV MODI’S KIN

New Delhi: The CBI on Friday told the Su preme Court it has got the Centre’s go ahead to move a Mumbai court for issuance of letters rogatory (LR) to a Singapore court for obtaining evidence against Mainak Mehta, the brother-in-law of fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi, who is an accused in the PNB fraud case.

New Delhi (PTI): The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Manipur government to pay Rs 200 crore as environmental compensation for improper management of solid and liquid waste. A bench headed by chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel said remedial action cannot wait for an indefinite period, nor loose-ended timelines without account ability can be a solution. It said the responsibility of the state is to have a comprehensive time-bound plan with tied-up resources to control pollution. The bench, also comprising Justice Sudhir Agarwal and expert member A Senthil Vel, said it is high time the state realised its duty to the law and to citizens and adopts further monitoring at its own level.

TELANGANA MLAS POACHING: 3 GET INTERIM RELIEF

Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Friday granted interim protection from arrest to three persons who are co-workers of a person facing probe in the case of alleged conspiracy to poach TRS MLAs. The three persons, all employees of a private hospital here, moved the High Court seeking bail, anticipating their arrest by Telangana police.

QUTUB MINAR ROW: COURT TO PASS ORDER ON DEC 12

New Delhi: A court here will on December 12 pass an order on the review plea to its earlier order dismissing an intervention application on the Qutub Minar row. The intervention appli cation, filed in an appeal seeking the restoration of Hindu and Jain deities in an alleged temple complex inside Qutub Minar, was dismissed by the court on Sep 20.

Vadgam (PTI): Vad gam, an SC-reserved Assembly segment in Gujarat, is considered an easy seat to win for the Congress owing to its demographic profile with high number of Muslim and Dalit voters. But retaining it will not be easy for sitting MLA Jignesh Mevani, who is contesting from the grand old party this time, as it has become a four-cornered fight with the entry of AAP and AIMIM. Although Mevani himself is confident of his victory, the BJP and political analysts feel otherwise.

Mehsana (PTI): BJP leader and for mer deputy chief minister Nitin Patel’s name features prominently in poll ral lies in his home turf Mehsana ahead of the Gujarat assembly elections, despite the Patidar heavyweight not being fielded by his party this time. The party’s banners across the state usually have five faces on it Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the front, Amit Shah and JP Nadda on one side, and Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and CR Patil on the other. But in Mehsana, Nitin Patel also features in the posters, a proof of his popularity in the district. The BJP has fielded its Mehsana city unit president Mukesh Patel from the segment for the up coming assembly elections.

MAINPURI BYPOLLS

UP Minister hits out at Akhilesh & Shivpal for remarks against BJP

Mainpuri (ANI): Akh ilesh Yadav will turn old but never return to pow er, said Tourism and Culture Minister of Ut tar Pradesh, Jaiveer Singh, on Friday react ing to the Samajwadi Party chief’s alleged jibe at Deputy Chief Minis ters Keshav Prasad Mau rya and Brajesh Pathak.

The Samajwadi lead er has alleged that both the deputy chief minis ters of UP have been eyeing an opportunity to become CM, but have “failed”. Addressing a public rally supporting party candidate Asim Raza in Rampur ahead of the bypolls, Akhilesh Yadav said: “There are two Deputy CMs in the state. Both of them are

looking for an opportu nity to become CM. We have come to give them an offer.”

“Take 100 MLAs from us, we are with you, be come CM whenever you want,” the Samajwadi Party chief offered Maurya and Pathak.

He also said the BJP government of the state

should not be so harsh on the Opposition party believing it would be come “vindictive” when it returns to power.

Reacting to the SP leader's statements dur ing an election cam paign, Jaiveer Singh mocked Akhilesh Yadav for having fallen on hard times.

Lucknow (PTI): Akhilesh Yadav will neither become chief minister nor will he be able to make anyone get that position, Ut tar Pradesh Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya said Friday responding to the SP president’s “offer”. At a rally in Rampur a day earlier, Yadav claimed the two deputy CMs — Kes hav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak — wanted to become CM. He offered to support them if they joined the Samajwadi Party along with 100 BJP MLAs. “What is the use of holding the deputy CM position when you can not even transfer a chief medical officer,” he said.

INDIA AT WORLD STAGE

Ahmedabad (PTI): An intense battle of prestige is on between the BJP and the Congress over the control of the minor ity and Dalit-dominated Danilimda Assem bly constituency in Ahmedabad, which the saffron party has never won since the seat came into existence a decade back. The BJP is hopeful of breaking the jinx this time as it is pinning hopes on the division of Congress's votes in the seat that is all set for a four-cornered contest with the entry of the AIMIM and the AAP into the fray.

Ahmedabad (PTI): A voter turnout of 63.14 per cent was recorded in the first phase of Gujarat Assembly elections covering 89 seats across 19 districts of Saurashtra-Kutch and southern regions of the state, the Election Commission said on Friday. In the 2017 Assembly election, the voter turnout in the first phase covering the same 89 constituencies stood at 66.75 per cent. Polling for the first phase, in which the electoral fate of 788 candidates was locked in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), was held on Thursday.

Shergill thanks PM after being appointed BJP’s national spokesperson

New Delhi (ANI):

Newly appointed BJP spokesperson and For mer Congress leader Jaiveer Shergill on Fri day expressed his grati tude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president JP Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday.

Earlier on Friday, the BJP appointed former Congress leader Jaiveer Shergill as its national spokesperson. “I express my heartfelt gratitude to Prime Minister Naren dra Modi, BJP national president JP Nadda and Home Minister Amit Shah for appointing me as the national spokes person of the world’s largest party,” Jaiveer Shergill tweeted.

The BJP appointed nine senior leaders for key national roles in the party, including Capt Amarinder Singh, with immediate effect.

As per the statement, former Punjab CM Ama rinder Singh, former MP Sunil Jakhar, and Minister of Jal Shakti in the UP govt Swatantra dev Singh have been ap pointed as members of the National Executive.

“India ready to take its place at global top tables”

New York (ANI): India is ready to take its place at global top tables nclud ing G-20 and the UN Se curity Council presiden cy as the country is will ing to bring solutions to the table, India’s Perma nent Representative to the UN Ruchira Kamboj said on Friday.

During the press briefing, when asked about UNSC reforms and India’s permanent seat at the security coun cil, Kamboj said, “India is ready to take its place

at the global top tables as a country that is willing to bring solutions to the table. One of the central

tenets of our foreign policy is human-centric and which will remain the same.” India has

of the countries that held the responsibility earlier staging a “high voltage drama” as is being done now. India on Thursday assumed the Presidency of the G-20 with Prime Minister Narendra Modi making a strong pitch for “fundamental mindset shift” to benefit humanity as a whole and saying the country will work to further promote “oneness”.

been one of the leading voices for the long-stand ing reforms due in the UNSC, stating that it

surely deserves a posi tion at the highest level of the UN as a perma nent member. Proposals

to restructure the secu rity council which now has five permanent members and ten elected to two-year terms, have been around for over two decades, but have hit a stalemate in the UN General Assembly.

Ambassador Kamboj told reporters that even as the world grapples with a pandemic and multilateralism is un der stress, India has emerged on the interna tional stage as a rally ing point of hope.

MANIPUR GOVT TO PAY `200 CRORE FOR IMPROPER SOLID & LIQUID WASTE MGMT

India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ruchira Kamboj.

G20 PRESIDENCY ROTATIONAL, INEVITABLE; GOVT INDULGING IN ‘HIGH DRAMA’: CONGRESS

GUJARAT RECORDS 63.14% TURNOUT IN FIRST PHASE, DOWN FROM 66.75% IN 2017

CONGRESS ONLY BELIEVES IN STALLING, DELAYING, MISLEADING, SAYS PM MODI

MEHSANA MLA NITIN PATEL NOT CONTESTING BUT STILL A FACTOR IN DISTRICT

New Delhi (PTI): A day after India assumed the leader ship of the G-20, the Congress on Friday attacked the Modi government, saying the presidency was rotational and inevitable with none

Samajwadi Party National President Akhilesh Yadav addresses an election rally, in Jaswantnagar, on Friday. —PHOTO BY PTI

PM Narendra Modi addresses BJP’s Vijay Sankalp convention for Assembly polls at Sojitra, in Anand, on Friday. —PHOTO BY PTI

Jaiveer Shergill

“YOU WILL NEITHER BECOME CM, NOR BE ABLE TO MAKE ANYONE”

MEVANI CONFIDENT OF WINNING FROM VADGAM SEAT AGAIN

BJP HOPES TO TROUNCE CONGRESS IN DANILIMDA SEAT

BJP supporters wave party flags during PM Narendra Modi’s election campaign roadshow for the Gujarat Assembly elections, in Ahmedabad, on Friday. —PHOTO BY PTI

VP visits WW-II memorial in Kohima memorial in Kohima

Kohima (PTI): Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar visited the historic World War-II memorial here on Fri day and paid his tribute to the valiant soldiers who made their su preme sacrifice in the line of duty.

Dhankhar, who is ac companied by his wife, is on his maiden visit to

the north east state af ter assuming office in August this year.

“Humble tributes to the valiant soldiers who laid down their lives fighting here in 2nd World War. This memorial is reminder of innumerable sacri fices. Their act of brav ery and selflessness will continue to inspire

BHARAT JODO YATRA

generations,” Dhankhar wrote in the visitor’s dairy at the war memo rial. He left for Delhi Friday after visiting the war memorial. Dhankhar inaugurated the 10-day-long 23rd Hornbill Festival on Thursday evening at Kisama. He also held closed door meetings with state Governor

People who have left Cong should not be welcomed back: Ramesh

Jairam Ramesh, who is Congress’s media head, also termed Union Minister Scindia as a 24 carat traitor

New Delhi (PTI): Con gress leader Jairam Ramesh on Friday said people like Kapil Sibal who maintained a “dig nified silence” after leaving the party could be allowed to return, but not the ones like Jyotira ditya Scindia or Him anta Biswa Sarma.

Ramesh, who is the Congress’s media head, also termed Union min ister Scindia as a “24 carat traitor.

Asked what would be the party’s stand if any of the renegade leaders wished to return, Ramesh told PTI, “I think the people who have left the Congress should not be welcome back. “There are people who left and abused the party, so they should not be taken back. But there are people who left the

party with dignity and have been maintaining a dignified silence on the Congress party and its leadership,” he said.

Ramesh was speaking on the sidelines of Con gress leader Rahul Gan dhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra which reached Agar Malwa in MP on Friday.

“I can think of my for mer colleague and a very good friend Kapil Sibal who left the party for some reason, but he has maintained a very dignified silence on the Congress party, unlike Mr Scindia and Mr Him anta Biswa Sarma,” Ramesh said.

Goldy Brar to be brought to India: Bhagwant Mann

Ahmedabad (PTI): Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said here on Friday that gangster Goldy Brar, the mastermind behind the brutal murder of singer Sidhu Moosewa la has been detained in the US, and he will “def initely be brought to India” and be in the cus tody of the Punjab Po lice “very soon”.Brar was detained by the California police which have contacted the In dian govt and Punjab police about it, he said.

MOOSEWALA’S

FATHER WELCOMES DETENTION OF BRAR

Chandigarh (PTI):

Murdered Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala’s father on Friday welcomed the news of detention of gangster Goldy Brar, the prime accused in the case, by the US authori ties. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann con firmed in Ahmedabad that Brar has been detained by the police in California and that he would “definitely be brought to India”.

TWO DOGS WELCOME RaGa WITH BOUQUETS IN MP’S AGAR MALWA

New Delhi: A pair of dogs wel comed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi with bouquets when he stopped for tea during the party’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ in Madhya Pradesh’s Agar Malwa district on Friday. The dogs, Lizho and Rexy, held a basket of bouquets with the messag es “Chale Kadam, Jude Vatan” and “Nafrat Chhodo, Bharat Jodo,” and handed it over to Gandhi.

AICC asks Cong Assam chief to send names of absentees

Guwahati (ANI): A let ter from the AICC may have brought to light a brewing internal rift in the Assam Pradesh Con gress Committee as it has revealed that many state Congress leaders are choosing to keep themselves away from the state’s ongoing ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’.

In the letter, under signed by AICC member and senior Congress leader Jitendra Singh, the president of Assam

Pradesh Congress Com mittee (APCC), Bhupen Kumar Borah, has been directed to draw up a list of party leaders who skipped the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, Assam.

“I have been joining the Yatra from time to time and have noticed that some APCC office bearers, executive members, DCC, block president, OBs and leaders have neither at tended this Yatra nor have not made any ef

forts to make this his toric march a success,” Singh wrote in his let ter.

Citing the AICC let ter, the Congress’ state unit has issued a letter to all leaders and execu tive members of the APCC, saying that AICC general secretary Singh and APCC president Bo rah were not satisfied with the non-participa tion of some state party leaders in the ongoing ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’.

Prof Jagdish Mukhi, Chief Minister Neiph iu Rio and his cabinet colleagues at Raj Bhavan.

Mukhi and Rio bid farewell to the vice president at the Assam Rifles helipad. “Thank you for visiting Naga land, Hon’ble Vice President of India Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar Ji

@jdhankhar1. Your gracious presence at the opening of the #HornbillFestival2022, the #FestivalOfFesti vals, made the occasion more special. We hope you will visit us again,” Rio posted on Twitter conveying gratitude to the vice-president on behalf of the people of the state.

Humble trib utes to the val iant soldiers who laid down their lives fighting here in 2nd World War. This memorial is reminder of innumerable sacrifices.

Shraddha case: FSL team in Tihar for Aaftab’s post-narco test analysis

New Delhi (ANI): A four-member team of the FSL on Friday reached Tihar Jail for a post-narco test analysis of Aaftab Poonawalla, accused in the Shrad dha Walkar murder case. Official sources said that a team of four including two senior scientists and two sup porting staff along with the case investigating officers arrived at Cen tral Jail No.4 for a ‘posttest interview’ with Aaftab at around 11.30 am, and the exercise was on.

Ludhiana blast conspirator Singh arrested: NIA

New Delhi (ANI): The NIA has arrested ab sconding Dec 2021 Lu dhiana Court building blast conspirator and wanted terrorist Har preet Singh from Delhi airport soon after his ar rival from Kaula Lum pur, Malaysia, the agen cy said on Friday. An as sociate of Lakhbir Singh Rode, a Pak-based selfstyled Chief of the ISYF, Harpreet was one of the conspirators of the De cember 2021 Ludhiana Court Building blast.

33 senior officers to go on foreign tour

Lucknow: To make the UP Global Investment Summit 2023 a grand success, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is sending a team of officers from the bureaucracy on a foreign trip.

As many as 33 senior officers going on for eign tours have to bring more foreign investors to UP by promoting the development works and schemes of the state along with holding road shows abroad.

USA and UK from Dec 9th to 15th: IAS officers

Shashi Prakash Goyal (ACS CM), Arvind Ku mar (ACS Infrastructure and Industrial Develop ment), Prashant Trivedi (ACS Finance), IRTS Amit Singh (Secretary CM)

Australia and Singa pore from December 13 -14 : IAS officers

POLYGRAPH AND NARCO TEST RESPONSES SAME: DELHI POLICE

New Delhi (ANI): Both the narco analysis and a polygraph test of Aaftab Amin Poonawala, who is accused of murdering his live-in girl friend Shraddha Walkar and dismembering her body has revealed similar responses to the information gathered by Delhi Police so far in its investigation of the case, officials said on Friday. Delhi police sources said that Aaftab was fully cooperative during his narco as well as his polygraph tests.

The team during the post-test interview was carrying out a detailed analysis of replies he gave in his polygraph

and narco tests earlier.

He was also cross-ques tioned on the replies to eliminate the possibility of any lie, said sources.

CRUCIAL READ

4 CHARRED TO DEATH IN LORRY-CONTAINER COLLISION IN ANDHRA PRADESH

Kakinada: Four persons were charred to death after a sand-laden lorry collided with a diesel container in Andhra Pradesh’s Kakinada district, police said. The accident took place on the Chennai-Kolkata national highway near Dharmavaram village of Prathipadu block in the wee hours of Friday. The driver of the lorry lost control and crossed the road divider on the national highway and rammed into a stationary diesel container, resulting in the accident. The impact of the collision was so intense that it resulted in the explosion and the drivers’ cabins of both trucks were completely gutted in the fire, said police.

MAN BOOKED FOR KEEPING ELEPHANT WITHOUT LICENCE

Uttar Pradesh: A man has been booked for keeping an elephant in UP’s Jaunpur district without taking a proper licence, an official said on Friday. Divisional Director (Forestry) Praveen Khare said Dubey was rearing an elephant without a licence in Sidhavan village under Rampur police sta tion area. Khare said on the basis of this information, Forest Inspector Nandlal Yadav reached the spot & asked Dubey for the licence and other documents is sued by the Chief Conserva tor of Forests, but he could not present the documents.

MAN IMPALED ON IRON ROD ON BOARD DELHI-KANPUR TRAIN

New Delhi: A passenger onboard the Nilanchal Express from Delhi to Kanpur was killed after an iron rod broke through the glass window and pierced his neck. The incident took place around 8.45 am Friday between Danwar and Somna in Aligarh, in the Prayagraj division of the North Central Railways. The passenger, Harikesh Dubey, died on the spot. The rod had pierced through his neck and through the wall into the next compartment, narrowly avoiding further injuries to the passengers seated there.

CBI ARRESTS ONE FOR BLACKMAILING US-BASED ECONOMICS PROFESSOR

Deepak

(Prin cipal Secretary Basic Education), Subhash

FIFA WORLD CUP

Germany crash out despite win over Costa Rica

lll

The win however could not save the four-time champions from an early departure as Germany suffered its second straight exit

Qatar (ANI): Costa Rica and Germany played a see-saw encounter in a Group E clash that saw Germany beat Costa Rica 4-2 at the Al-Bayt Stadium on Friday in the ongoing FIFA World Cup.

The win however could not save the fourtime champions from an early departure as Ger many suffered its second straight exit. They had also failed to reach the 2018 edition’s round of 16. Germany were ahead with a 1-0 lead over Cos

ta Rica but the central American team came out all guns blazing in the second half as they

found the back of the net twice through Yeltsin Tejeda in the 58th min ute and Juan Pablo Var

gas in the 70th minute.

A late resurgence from Germany led by Kai Lu kas Havertz saw them score three goals in the last 20 minutes to win the match. Havertz scored in the 73rd and 85th min utes while Niclas Full krug found the back of the net in the 89th min ute to secure a 4-2 win.

The Germans took the lead almost immediately after the kickoff, with Jamal Musiala testing Kaylor Navas from out side the box.

New Delhi: The CBI has busted a racket of “sextor tionists”, arresting one who allegedly blackmailed an economics professor at California University into shelling out USD 48,000 threatening him with making public his sexually explicit video chats with a female gang member, officials said. Based on information received from the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the US, CBI arrested Rahul Kumar, a resident of Delhi’s Asola, while the search for his purported girlfriend who lured the professor into sending explicit videos on Facebook chat is going on, the officials said on Friday.

IPL announces new tactical substitute rule from 2023 season

New Delhi: The BCCI is planning to introduce tactical substitutions and could make an ap pearance in the upcom ing IPL 2023. The tactical substitutions concept was introduced by the BCCI for the first time during this year’s Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in October-Nov. “Also note that from IPL 2023 Sea son a strategic concept will be introduced to add a new dimension to IPL, wherein one substitute

Chennai: Former West Indies allrounder Dwayne Bravo has announced his retirement from the IPL

player per team will be able to take a more ac tive part in an IPL

match. The regulations pertaining to the same will be issued shortly.”

Kumar

Chandra Sharma (Principal Secretary Provisional Education), Mayur Maheshwari (CEO UP SIDA), Ritu Maheshwari (CEO Noida), Prathamesh (ACEO Invest UP) Mexico, Brazil, Argenti na from December 9 to

December 14: IAS offic ers Manoj Kumar Singh (APC), Dr. Rajneesh Dubey (ACS Livestock), Sanjay R Bhoosreddy (ACS Sugar, Sugar cane), Sanjay Prasad (Principal Secretary CM), Kumar Harsh (Special Secretary CM)

—Jagdeep Dhankhar Vice President

VP Jagdeep Dhankhar and his wife Dr Sudesh Dhankhar, Jagdish Mukhi and Neiphiu Rio in Kohima on Thursday.

as a player, but he will continue his journey with the league and his franchise Chennai Super Kings (CSK) as a bowling coach for next season of the league. Chennai Super Kings had parted ways with veteran all-round er Dwayne Bravo and released the West Indian ahead of the IPL mini-auction.

Jairam Ramesh addressing media on Friday.

Ahtesham Siddiqui

SP Goyal Durga Shanker Sanjay Prasad

OFFICERS GOING ON FOREIGN TOUR

Germany’s Serge Gnabry celebrates with teammate Thomas Müller after scoring a goal during the match against Costa Rica.

—PHOTO BY ANI

BRIEFS

WORLD MUST START BRACING FOR LOW INFLATION: RAJAN

New Delhi: India’s smart TV market recorded a 38% year-on-year growth in shipments during the July-Sept quarter, mainly driven by festive season supplies, multiple new launches, discount events & promotions, said a re port. According to the re port, global brands led In dia’s smart TV segment with a 40% share, fol lowed by Chinese brands with a 38% share. While the Indian brands showed the fastest growth, dou bling their share to 22% of the total smart TV shipments. —FIB

OIL MIN TO SEEK COMPENSATION FOR PETROL, DIESEL LOSS

New Delhi: The global economy could go back to a low inflation regime and central bankers pursuing restrictive monetary po lices should keep that in mind, said Raghuram Ra jan, a former governor of India’s central bank.

Central banks must ask themselves if their poli cies were nimble enough when inflation shifted from low to a high regime, said Rajan.

“We should be prepared to potentially go back to low inflation regime,” he said Friday in a conference organized by the Bank of Thailand and the Bank for International Settlements.

New Delhi: The oil minis try will seek compensa tion from the finance min istry for the losses stateowned fuel retailers in curred on holding petrol and diesel prices in the last eight months despite a spike in cost of raw ma terial, a top official said on Friday. Indian Oil Cor poration (IOC), Bharat Pe troleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) posted a combined net loss of `21,201.18 crore in AprilSeptember. —PTI

MARUTI SUZUKI TO HIKE VEHICLE PRICES FROM JANUARY

“We need to examine what constrained us, Rajan said. “We need to assess if we didn’t recognise infla tion building or we were actually waiting for our in struments to play out, wanting to preserve them for the next time.”

Therefore, it is impor tant for central banks to

OTHER STORIES

TOP TALKING POINTS

z Former RBI governer Raghuram Rajan said that global economy could go back to a low inflation regime and central bankers pursuing restrictive monetary polices should keep that in mind

day to pursue policies that provide for changes in in flation dynamics over time, he said, adding that head winds, including de-glo balisation, slow growth in China and K-shaped recov ery in emerging economies

ONGC, IOCL, VEDANTA’S BONDS WORTH $1.9 BILLION MATURE IN FINANCIAL YEAR 24: MOODY’S

Hyderabad: Three major oil and gas companies- Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC), IOCL and Vedanta Resources Limited together have around $1.9 billion of rated US dollar bonds maturing next year, rating agency Moody’s Investor Services has said. Capital markets are volatile and investor appetite remains selective, so refinancing risks will remain elevated particularly for high-yield is suers such as Vedanta, which accounts for around 47% of the upcoming bond maturities, it opined in a report. —PTI

WESTLIFE TO ADD 300 MCDONALD’S RESTAURANTS BY 2027

z Central banks must ask themselves if their policies were nimble enough when inflation shifted from low to a high regime

z It is important for central banks today to pursue policies that provide for changes in inflation dynamics over time

can hurt growth.

Amid volatile times, Ra jan said, emerging market central bankers have done a wonderful job in antici pating the need to raise in terest rates and it has “served them well.”

‘Need to scale up R&D, innovation in

field of advance materials’

New Delhi (PTI): Invest ing in advanced materials innovation is investing in India’s future, NITI Aayog member V K Saraswat said on Friday while stressing on the need for scaling up R&D and innovation in the field.

Saraswat said the time is now ripe for India to harness indigenous devel opment of advanced mate rials, thereby reducing imports.

According to him, ad vanced materials are tech nology enablers, and revo lution in this field will be driven by computational materials, big data, ma chine learning, multi-scale modelling, and other new technology paradigms.

Saraswat also elaborated on the applications of tita nium, graphene, rare earth and smart materials.

He also mentioned about the energy applications of advanced materials start ing from energy genera tion, conversion.

‘Food processing sector critical for Indian economy, job creation’

New Delhi (PTI): Niti Aayog CEO Parameswaran

Iyer on Friday said the food processing sector is critical for the Indian economy as well as job creation and stressed on ramping up production and exports of processed items.

Iyer said there is a need to encourage the MSME sector to enter the food pro cessing sector, which he described as a very impor tant sector for the health of the economy and people.

He underlined that food processing can boost farm ers income and also help in achieving nutritional goals. Iyer said there is a need to augment primary processing at farm level.

Stating that food securi ty has become important in the current global context, he said the government has taken a number of steps in this regard.

The Niti Aayog CEO highlighted that there has been a steady growth in ag riculture. On the food pro cessing front also, Iyer said a number of initiatives have been taken by the gov ernment, including the PLI scheme.

“This is a very, very im

Markets settle lower after 8 days of rally

Assocham asks RBI to moderate rate hikes

New Delhi: Maruti Suzuki India will increase the prices of its vehicles ‘sub stantially’ from next month as it looks to offset the impact of rising input costs and make provi sions to update the model range to conform to stricter emission norms which kick in from April 2023. MSI said it contin ues to witness increased cost pressure driven by overall inflation and re cent regulatory require ments. MSI makes maxi mum effort to reduce cost and partially offset the in crease, it has become im perative to pass on some of the impact through a price increase. —PTI

MERCEDES-BENZ

DRIVES IN GLB, EQB MODELS IN INDIA

New Delhi: Westlife Foodworld, the master franchisee of Mc Donald’s restaurants for West and South In dia, is looking for an almost three-fold jump in sales up to `4,500 crore in the next five years by 2027, mainly on the back of network expansion, om nichannel approach, according to company officials on Friday (December 2, 2022). As part of network expansion, Westlife Foodworld will add around 300 McDonald’s restaurants in the next five years, in which 60 per cent of the new stores are likely to be in the southern region and the rest in the western zone, said the company in its ‘Vision 2027’. —PTI

INDIA’S COAL PRODUCTION RISES

17% IN APR-NOVEMBER

New Delhi: The country’s coal production increased 17% to 524.20 million tonnes in the April-Novem ber period of the ongoing fiscal. India’s coal output was at 447.54 million tonnes in the year-ago period. In a bid to augment coal production capacity, the government has put 141 new coal blocks for commercial mines auction and has been engaging regularly with various coal companies in the country and monitor ing their production, the coal ministry said in a statement.

The all-round efforts made to enhance the domestic coal out put and despatch have shown extremely good results. —PTI

New Delhi (PTI): Industry body Assocham on Friday asked the Reserve Bank, which has hiked the key policy rate by 190 basis points since May, to moder ate the interest rate hikes so that it does not have ad verse impact on nascent economic recovery.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikan ta Das headed six-member rate setting panel is sched uled to meet for three days from Monday to take a call on the next set of monetary policy. The central bank is scheduled to announce the decision of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) on December 7 (Wednesday).

“At most the new rate hike should not exceed the 25-35 basis points band,” Assocham said in a letter.

Mumbai (PTI): Equity benchmark indices ended lower on Friday, halting their eight-day rally, amid a weak trend in global mar kets and emergence of profit-taking.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 415.69 points or 0.66% to settle at 62,868.50. During the day, it tanked 604.56 points or 0.95% to 62,679.63.

The broader NSE Nifty dipped 116.40 points or 0.62% to end at 18,696.10.

Among the Sensex pack, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hindustan Unilever, Maru ti, Nestle, HDFC, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finance and

‘NEED TO ENCOURAGE’

z Niti Aayog CEO Iyer said there is a need to encourage the MSME sector to enter the food processing sector, which he described as a very important sector for the health of the economy and people

z He underlined that food processing can boost farmers income

portant program of the government, which is re ally looking to incentivise investment, but manufac turing in very critical stra tegic sectors such as food processing,” he added.

The Niti Aayog CEO said that the year of the millet is going to start in less than a month.

Civil aviation min issues guidelines for incentives in drone production

New Delhi (PTI): The civ il aviation ministry has notified the operational guidelines for the Produc tion Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for drones and drone components.

The government has ap proved the PLI scheme with an outlay of `120 crore and the scheme is to be im plemented during the 202223 to 2024-25 period.

Power Grid were among the major laggards. Tata Steel, Dr Reddy’s, Tech Ma hindra, IndusInd Bank and HCL Technologies were among the winners.

INDIAN RUPEE FALLS 9 PAISE ON FRIDAY TO CLOSE AT 81.35 AGAINST US DOLLAR

Mumbai (PTI): The rupee pared its initial gains and settled down by 9 paise at 81.35 (provisional) against the US dollar on Friday as the support from weak dollar was negated by weak domestic markets and a surge in crude oil prices. Forex traders said foreign fund out flows also weighed on investor sentiments. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened at 81.11, but pared the gains and ended at 81.35, down 9 paise over its previous close. During the day, the local unit witnessed an intraday high of 81.08 and a low of 81.35. On Thursday, the rupee appreciated by 4 paise to close at 81.26 against the US dollar.

AI resumes direct B’luru-San Francisco flights

New Delhi: MercedesBenz India on Friday launched two seven seat er sports utility vehicles — GLB and EQB — in the country priced between `63.8 lakh & `74.5 lakh. The three trims of the GLB range are priced at `63.8 lakh, `66.8 lakh and `69.8 lakh respec tively. The full electric EQB 300 4MATIC is tagged at `74.5 lakh. For the first time, it is offering three powertrains, a pet rol, diesel, and an electric for customers. —FIB

New Delhi (FIB): Air In dia on Friday resumed di rect services from Bengal uru to San Francisco and now the airline has 37 nonstop flights every week be tween various Indian and US cities.

In a release, the airline said it is resuming the nonstop flight connecting Ben galuru to San Francisco. The flight will operate thrice a week on Fridays, Sundays and Wednesdays with the Boeing 777-200LR aircraft. The service start ed on Friday.

“The direct distance be tween Bengaluru and San

Francisco is 13,993 km ap prox. And the cities are dia metrically at opposite ends of the world with a time zone change of approx. 13.5 hours. The total flight time on this route will be of

more than 17 hours de pending on the wind speed on that particular day,” the release said. With the re sumption of services, Air India now has 37 non-stop flights per week between

VISTARA STARTS PUNE-SINGAPORE DIRECT FLIGHTS

New Delhi (FIB): Full service carrier Vistara has started direct flights between Pune and Singapore. The airline said it will operate 4x weekly flights on this route using its A321neo aircraft.

“The inaugural flight departed from Pune at 0210 hours (IST) and arrived in Singapore at 1030 hours (GMT),” it said.

India and the US. Currently, the airline op erates non-stop flights from Delhi to New York, New ark, Washington DC, San Francisco and Chicago and from Mumbai to Newark.

The PLI will be extended only to companies engaged in the manufacturing of drones and drone compo nents in India.

The total PLI per manu facturer is capped at ` 30 crore.

Wheat sowing up 5.36% in 2 months of rabi season

New Delhi (PTI): Area sown to wheat has in creased by 5.36% annually to 211.62 lakh hectares in the first two months of the ongoing rabi (winter) sea son, with higher coverage being reported in Ra jasthan, Bihar and UP, ac cording to the agricultural ministry data on Friday.

Sowing of wheat, the main rabi crop, begins in October and harvesting in March-April. Besides wheat, rice and pulses, such as gram, urad as well as oilseeds such as ground nut and mustard are also grown in this season.

SUGAR

PRODUCTION MARGINALLY UP AT 47.9 L TN IN OCT-NOV

New Delhi (PTI): India’s sugar production has increased mar ginally to 47.9 lakh tonnes in the October-November period, according to industry body ISMA. In a statement, ISMA said that production of sweetener till 30th November in the current 2022-23 marketing year is 47.9 lakh tonnes as against 47.2 lakh tonnes in the corresponding period of the last year.

First India Bureau

2ND FRONT

GREENER PASTURES: NASHIK, NANDED VILLAGERS TO LEAVE MAHARASHTRA?

Lack of development being

Mumbai/Nashik/ Nanded: The resur gence of the Maha rashtra-Karnataka border row seems to have spurred dissi dents in other border districts to action. Sev eral villages in Nand ed have reiterated their demand to be merged with Telanga na, while the northern Nashik district wants to leave Maharashtra for Gujarat.

Chintaman Gavit, chief of the Nationalist Congress Party’s unit in Nashik’s Surgana talu ka, attributes this to the “apathy” of the Maha rashtra government, which has led to a lack of development in the area.

“Even after 75 years of Independence, many vil lages and hamlets in Surgana taluka do not have basic amenities. If you cannot develop these villages, merge them with Gujarat,” Gavit

as main reason for demanding to be merged with Guj, Telangana, respectively

Several held after black-flag protest against Guv in Pune

KAKINADA

said on Friday, adding that he had presented a memorandum to this ef fect to tehsildar Sachin Mulik on November 30.

While this follows close on the heels of Kar nataka Chief Minister

Basavaraj Bommai’s claim that villages in Maharashtra’s Jat tehsil in wanted to merge with his state, Gavit insists the move is not political.

Meanwhile, residents of 25 villages in the bor

der district of Nanded have renewed an old de mand to be allowed to merge with Telangana.

Baburao Kadam, a for mer sarpanch of the Babdi Bandhara village (7km from the border)

This does not have anything to do with any politi cal party. Residents of Subhash Nagar, Dolare, Alangun and Kathipada vil lages have come to gether for this de mand and there are many others. Guja rat’s Dharampur ta luka is 15km away and Wasda is 10km away. We frequently go there and we have been seeing the dif ference in develop ment for years now.

—Chintaman Gavit, Surgana taluka chief, NCP

who had led a drive of 40 villages to pass a resolu tion to merge with Tel angana, claims the neighbouring state does more for residents in the area than Maharashtra. “The Maharashtra

government is yet to give us decent roads. On the other hand, farmers in Telangana get free seeds, and government also gives round-the-clock power supply and com pulsory MSP implemen tation,” he said.

Back in Nashik, Gavit further laments the lack of basic infrastructure such as irrigation and healthcare.

In border areas of Gu jarat, there are good roads, reliable electricity supply, and better health, water and transport fa cilities, he claimed.

He also received phone calls from people in Dhadgaon and Nav apur in Nandurbar who endorsed the demand of inclusion in Gujarat, Gavit claimed. Border areas of Nashik and Nandurbar districts are predominantly tribal.

“We have convened a meeting at Pangarne vil lage on December 04 to decide the next course of action," he said.

First India Bureau

Pune: Several mem bers of the Swarajya organisation were de tained by the Pune po lice on Friday for wav ing black flags at gov ernor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, as the row over his comments on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj continues.

Koshyari has been facing massive criticism because of a comment he had made at a func tion. "Earlier, when you would be asked who is your icon - Jawaharlal

Nehru, Subhas Chandra Bose and Mahatma Gan dhi used to be the an swers. In Maharashtra, you need not look else where as there are so many icons here. While Chhatrapati Shivaji Ma haraj is of olden days, there are BR Ambedkar and Nitin Gadkari," the governor had said. Since then, opposi tion parties and sever al members of the Bal asahebanchi Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde have been calling for his res ignation.

KIDS ARE UNSAFE 9-year-old boy found dead in Nashik

Pune: Achieving full recovery after being infected by the Zika virus, a 67-year-old man in Pune city has been medically cleared after he showed no symptoms of the dis ease, said state Health Department authori ties on Friday.

The man, who hails from Nashik and had a travel history to Surat in neighbouring Gujarat, was found infected with the virus last month.

“He had come to Bavdhan area in Pune on November 06, but had gone to Surat later.

On November 16, he visited Jehangir Hospi tal (in Pune) for treat ment of fever, cough, joint-pain and fatigue. Tests conducted in a

private laboratory on November 18 con firmed he was infected with the virus,” it said.

Further tests at the premier National Insti tute of Virology (NIV) in Pune further con firmed the infection, they added.

“In the backdrop (of the infection), the Health Department has intensified epide miological survey in

Pune city and Bavdhan area,” it said.

In July this year, a seven-year-old girl was found infected with Zika virus in Palghar district near Mumbai.

The Zika virus dis ease is transmitted through the bite of an infected Aedes mos quito, which is also known to transmit in fections such as den gue and chikungunya.

First India Bureau

Nashik: A nine-yearold boy was found dead, with his right hand and left little fin ger missing, near the Manmad-Daund rail way tracks in Nashik district, a police offi cial said on Friday, adding that area resi dents have demanded capital punishment for those involved in his alleged murder.

Lokesh Sunil Son awane had gone missing on the evening of No vember 30 while out on a rented bicycle. His fami ly and neighbours searched for him for hours, and filed a police complaint when they had no luck finding him

themselves, the official added.

“We found the body of the Class IV student on Thursday morning in a thicket near a filtration plant along the ManmadDaund railway tracks. The right hand and the little finger had been cut

VIRAL DISEASES

NMMC identifies 4 measles-affected areas

Efforts on to curb infection spread in Juhu Gaon, CBD Belapur, Karave and Pawne

Navi Mumbai: Amid the measles outbreak sweeping Maharash tra, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corpora tion (NMMC) has identified four affect ed areas in the city, namely Juhu Gaon, CBD Belapur, Karave and Pawne.

In response to the spread of viral infec tion, the civic body plans to administer an additional dose of vac cinations to children

between six months and five years of age.

According to local of ficials, Navi Mumbai has witnessed a limited number of measles cas es due to continuous vaccination from the beginning. However, the outbreak’s impact has been observed in 11 places under the mu nicipal area. Efforts to control the spread of measles infection in three areas have been successful. Out of the remaining eight areas, four have been declared

as “measles-affected”.

“Vaccination is an ef fective measure for mea sles control, and, for that purpose, emphasis should be placed on vac cination in a more com prehensive manner. More focus should be given to measles-affect

ed areas where measles patients are found,” said Municipal Commission er Rajesh Narvekar.

A special meeting of the NMMC Routine Im munization Task Force was held in view of in creasing incidence of measles in various cit

ies. Efforts to control the spread of disease were discussed.

Meanwhile, the state Health Department has also formed a state-level task force headed by Dr Subhash Salunke to tackle rising measles cases, an official state ment said.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) inoculated over 1,162 children against the viral infection on the first day of its Out break Response Immu nization drive.

The tally of measles cases reported in Maha rashtra between Janu ary 01, 2022 and Novem ber 30 stands at 754 and death toll at 18.

off. There were scratches on the face as well,” he said, adding that the rail way police--under whose jurisdiction the body was found--and the po lice in Manmad city, where the case was filed have both launched an investigation.

Mumbai: Two Class VIII students have been booked for alleg edly gang-raping their 13-year-old classmate in Mumbai’s Matunga area, an official said on Friday.

“The incident took place inside their classroom at a civicrun school on Monday, when their fellow classmates stepped out of the classroom for dance practice,” an of ficial of Matunga po lice station said.

“The incident left the girl rattled and she shared her ordeal with her family members, who lodged a com

plaint,” he said. Based on the com plaint, the police regis tered a case against the boys under the IPC sec tions for gangrape of a woman under 16 years of age and under rele vant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The duo has been sent to a juvenile deten tion centre in Mumbai.

Mumbai (PTI): Ma harashtra on Friday recorded 50 cases of COVID-19, raising the tally of infec tions to 81,35,900, an official from the state health depart ment said.

The toll remained unchanged at 1,48,407, while the count of re coveries rose to 79,87,133 after 63 pa tients recovered from the infection during the day, he said.

This is the third con secutive day that the state has reported zero fatality, the official said, adding that the fatality rate stands at

1.82% and recovery rate is at 98.17%.

Of the latest infec tions, Mumbai recorded five fresh cases, while Pune saw 17, he said. With this, the state cur rently has 360 active

cases, the official said.

At least 9,843 swab samples were tested in the state in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of tests con ducted in the state so far to 81,35,900.

First India Bureau

First India Bureau

First India Bureau

been sent to juvenile detention as cops investigate case lodged under IPC, POCSO

Protesters detained for showing black flags to Governor Koshyari.

—PHOTOS BY ANI

Marilyn Gore

cited

Giving does not only pre cede receiving it is the reason for it. It is in giv ing that we receive be lieves, Apoorva Sharma who is also one of the finalists of the First In dia Queen shares her shared her uphill adventure of being a hero from zero.

“I’m 21 years old and currently pursuing a Master’s in clin ical psychology.

I am a profes sional singer, sports per son, dancer and model. As a sports freak, I have learned lead ership quali ties that took me forward to wards my projects. Each one of them teaches me something and providing knowledge to underprivileged children is one of them” the diva expressed.

Like every other girl from a small town, Apoorva has also faced many bar riers, speaking more about it she said, “In Gwalior, women are not able to choose any thing for themselves, So, I decided to pro vide self-employment for women with the help of our Aviation Minister, Jyotiraditya Scindia. I be lieve in being a helping hand to people who are not fortunate enough. I am also a brand ambas sador of Swachhata Sarvekshan by Nagar Nigam Gwalior.”

Stated about her achievements diva added, “I started my journey in 2019 when I won my first pag eant, JCI Miss Gwalior. But it was very difficult for me to pur sue my passion. Then I won Ru baru Miss Cosmopolitan World India 2021, giving me the oppor tunity to represent our country, India, on a global stage. I am blessed with one more achieve ment this year, which is Miss Body Beautiful in First India Queen 2022 and I am very thank ful to Dr Jadeesh Chandra Sir for providing me with this golden op portunity to be a part of First India Queen.”

“I believe in being a helping hand to people who are not fortunate enough” stated Apoorva Sharma, one of the finalists of First India Queen during a chit-chat session with City First

MRIDULA SHARMA cityfirst@firstindia.co.in

A LOOK INTO INVISIBLE DISABILITIES

International

This year the focus is on Non-Visible Disabilities (NVD).

The majority of people suffer from NVD as they go unnoticed, or unattended, even if sus pected to exist. For 13 years I have been the Ex ecutive Director of DISHA, a leading institution for children with disabilities. These years gave me an in sight into visible & invisi ble disabilities, but at the same time, they have also raised myriad questions, some of which I will at tempt to address.

Though difficult to ac cept by most people, NVD is an inveterate illness that impairs day-to-day ac tivities such as going to school, work or socializ ing. 80-90% of people have NVD in some form. Being invisible to normal percep tion, they are not easy to spot. Such people do pur sue successful lives/ca reers but at a reduced po tential. The very concept of “disability” is falla ciously looked upon as some sort of “stigma”, al though such denials are a disability in themselves.

As common examples of NVD, I can mention Lazi ness, Compulsive lying & Hypochondria limit crea tivity and cause abnormal anxiety.

Some suffer from obses sive-compulsive disorder

(OCD) where recurrent & persistent thoughts and feelings cause repetitive ritualized behaviour.

OCD can be caused by fear, superstition or inse curity, to name a few.

Most such NVDs are picked up at an early age and their causes are too many to mention. These drawbacks are mostly ig nored because parents prefer to stay blind to any deficiency in their “loved ones”. Untreated, such blind biases only go to stunt their ward’s full po tential.

A dyslexic child with normal intelligence loses many opportunities to pro gress, suffering silently from this puzzling learn ing disorder. It can be eas ily diagnosed as it reflects in late talking, slow learn ing of new words, feeling confused with similar sounding words or getting perplexed when handed several instructions at once. India detects more than one crore dyslexic cases every year, with mil lions being pushed under the desk.

Half the US population

(165 million) suffers from such chronic conditions, with 88% of these not will ing to discuss their own or their child’s disability. Consequently, better em ployment opportunities evade such people !!

It takes smart guardi ans to look consciously and objectively into their children’s behaviour, out put and social interaction to detect & understand NVD’s debilitating force.

For instance, to think that laziness is only a bad habit can be a cruel mis judgement.

Having said that, we must also look at the flip side of NVD. Could it be that humans are designed by Nature to be like that ??

For example, some plants from identical seeds pollinate with different in tensities. We don’t say they suffer from Botanical nymphomania.

Pups from the same litter re spond to train

ing differently. Do we cast away the slow learner from the kennel for being a cur ?? 1.5% of the world’s popu lation is diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disor der. We don’t deal with half of that split personality !?

Very often pursuit of perfection can impede cre ativity. Is it better to ac cept such vagaries of Na ture and move on.??

Many of those who were dealt this invisible hand by Nature, played with resil ience to come up with trumps. To follow the ex ample of Celebrities, Sports Persons etc with such disabilities is the an swer for now !!

ARIES

MAR 21 - APRIL 20

Your innovative ideas on the professional front are likely to be well received.

Good health will keep you fit and energetic.

Spirituality will have a special allure for you. You are likely to expand your social circle. You are likely to get immense fulfillment in your current relationship.

TAURUS

APR 21 - MAY 20

You succeed in putting an ambitious project on the tracks and cross all hurdles in making it a success.

Homemakers can exceed budget in doing up their homes. An old friend or a relative is likely to pay you a visit. Love beckons and promises to give immense joy and fulfillment.

GEMINI

MAY 21 - JUNE 21

LIBRA

SEPT 24 - OCTOBER 22

Homemakers will get a chance to implement their ideas. You are likely to be recognised for your efforts on the professional front. Chance of a raise is possible for some. Timely and correct decision will help you in saving a lot of money. You will be able to de-stress yourself completely today.

SCORPIO

OCTOBER 23 - NOVEMBER 22

Speculation may not be profitable and you can very well burn your fingers. A major purchase may make a dent in your savings, but will help in keeping up with the flow .Some of you may get hard pressed to find a good match for someone eligible in the family.

A romantic outing is on the cards.

SAGITTARIUS

NOV 23 - DEC 22

A job switch needs to be considered taking all aspects into consideration.

Those days when you will feel satisfied with whatever you do today on the social front. Those seeking love may not get lucky, but persistence will pay .A friend or relative can touch a sensitive nerve and get you all upset.

CANCER

LEO

Support from the family may seem most encouraging for those aiming an academic pursuit. Sticking to workout routine may benefit you on the health front. Meeting relatives at a marriage or party cannot be ruled out. A passion-filled evening is foreseen, as romantic front brightens.

VIRGO

A profitable day for entrepreneurs is envisaged. You may be played upon for spending on someone else’s needs and desires.

Homemakers are likely to enjoy the day in the company of neighbors and friends. Fatigue threatens in a long journey, but adequate breaks will keep you going.

CAPRICORN

DEC 23

Money coming from various sources will keep you in a happy state of mind. A new fitness regime that you have adopted promises to keep you in the pink of health. Getting an old furniture upholstered may be at the top of the mind of some homemakers.Overall health remains satisfactory .

AQUARIUS

PISCES

FACEOFTHEDAY

SHILPA SASWANI, Nutritionist

Horoscope by Saurabbh Sachdeva

Day of Disabled Persons”.

RAINU SINGH cityfirst@firstindia.co.in

VANESSA HUDGENS

The “High School Musical” star was born on December 14, 1988. Hudgens was featured in an episode of the Nickelodeon show Drake & Josh. After the taping, Hudgens, then16, reportedly took a nude photo of herself and sent to show star Drake Bell. The photo resurfaced on the internet two years later and caused a controversy for the young actress.

HOLLY MADISON

The Playboy model and reality TV star was born on December 23, 1979. Since she was 9 years old, Marilyn Monroe was her idol and ultimately the inspiration behind her wanting to be an actress. Her favorite Marilyn movie was How to Marry a Millionaire.

Jesus Christ made the entire month pious by choosing December as his birthday month. Apart from Christmas, December is a star-studded month for birthdays. These final-month-of-the-year-born kiddos are little beacons of light, thought to be endowed with good fortune and good health. City First brings to you some interesting facst over extra ordinary stars born in the month of Christmas!

BRITNEY SPEARS

The pop music icon was born on December 2, 1981. Fact: The famous singer started singing into a hairbrush at just 2 years old, but she made her real debut singing “What Child Is This” at her kindergarten graduation.

V

World Most Handsome Man in this world Kim Taehyung was born on December 30, 1995, In 2017, V’s face was picked as the most handsome in the world, topping TC Candler’s, on the annual list of the 100 Most Beautiful Faces of the Year. Loving V is like loving two different men at once. The first one is our ideal man - the cool and handsome guy. His name is V. He dances and sings passionately on stage and he makes the group complete their perfect hip hop image with his killer eyes and dead serious look. The other guy is the unique. His name is Kim Taehyung and he is the most handsome and most wonderful man

JIN

The mega super star Kim Seokjin was born on December 4, 1992. According to BTS’ Japanese fan club, Jin thought of becoming a journalist until his first year of high school. The following year, he changed his plans and set his sights on acting after being moved by Kim Nam-kil’s acting on the Korean drama “Queen Seondeok.” His was picked as the “world’s most handsome male face” in a poll conducted by Czech doll company CzDollic in 2018. He beat 18,000 competitors from 58 countries. Of the 1.5 million people who voted, more than 1 million voted for Jin.

ZOE KRAVITZ

NICKI MINAJ

today on earth.

The “Big Little Lies” star was born on December 1, 1988. Fact: The Batman is actually Zoe Kravitz’s second time playing Catwoman, after voicing the same character in The LEGO Batman Movie in 2017. However, The Batman could have been her third Batman film if she hadn’t failed her audition in The Dark Knight Rises which released in 2012.

UTTKARSHA SHEKHAR uttkarsha.shekhar@firstindia.co.in

AN ACCIDENT HAPPENS TO JUBIN

CITY FIRST

Jubin Nautiyal, a singing sensa tion, is receiving treatment at a hospital in Mumbai for injuries sustained in an accident. He was involved in an accident early on Thursday. After fall ing down a building stairway, the singer fractured his elbow, split his ribs, and suf fered brain injuries. “

“Jubin will have sur gery for the injury to his right arm. It has been suggested that he avoid using his right arm. With internation al successes including “Raataan lambiyaan,” “Lut gaye,” “Humnava mere,” “Tujhe kitna chahne lage hum,” “Tum hi aana,” and “Bewafa tera masoom chehra,” Jubin has so lidified his place as one of the industry’s lead ers in India.

‘HAPPY & GRATEFUL FOR THE WORK THAT I DO’

but this is just a remake or recreation which is like a tribute to the peo ple who were part of such iconic numbers“ shared Divya on the Bol lywood’s recreation de bate.

BIRTHDAY Celebrations

ASHISH TIWARI cityfirst.mumbai@firstindia.co.in

Actress Divya Agarwal has been breaking the internet with her desi looks in her new song ‘Re sham ka Rumal’ which was released on Friday. The song is a pep py track and the recrea tion is sung by Shruti Rane, whereas the origi nal song was sung by Ila Arun. The song is out now on Saregama Music YouTube Channel and all leading streaming plat forms. The actress spoke to First India News about her song, experiences and more.

Sharing thoughts about ‘Resham Ka Rumal’ Divya shared, “The idea was of the Saare gama team post the success of Sehri Babu. I am extremely grate ful to them for giving me this opportunity to

me. I always thrive to do better than anything I have done before. So we as a team have put in a lot of hard work and giv en our best”

The Biggboss OTT winner is known for having a huge fan base speaking which she shared, “I have always done what I want and I believe that is a quality that the audience loves about me so I won’t change anything.”

Sharing her challenges she stated, “While per forming we do face many challenges as we shot un der extreme weathers but I think Divya Agar wal under pressure gives out the best output.”

“People perceive re make’s in a wrong way

Speaking about her fu ture endeavours she shared, “I am a big Helen fan, so I would love to rec reate songs like Pia tu ab toh Aaja. It will be an honour to be a part of such an iconic number. At the same time, I would love to be a part of music numbers like Chitta Ve from Udta Punjab so in case there’s any Lady Shahid Kapoor that’s me the amount of en ergy and complexity his character has on screen is highly com mendable.”

Looking back at her journey she said, “I am just very happy and grateful with the work I am doing but I am not sure if I can still call this successful as I have a hunger to do more. Throughout my journey, I have managed myself a lot in all ups and downs. When I started I knew I had to reach a point to achieve something and I just started working hard for the same.”

Ye's anti-semitic statements

Leave it to hiphop musician, Kanye West to make com ments that would leave the audience baffled. The singersongwriter recently appeared for an inter view hosted by In fowars host and fel low conspiracy theo rist, Alex Jones.

Covered

black face hood, Ye claimed that he sees good things in Hitler.

“I see good things about Hitler, also,” he

said. “Every human be ing has a value that they brought to the table, especially Hitler. I was think ing about Satan… Whether it’s the Zionists or Hitler — it’s not the per son. It’s Satan us ing the people, who are controlled by demonic forces,” he added.

NORA TROLLED!

s a result of her incredible per formance in the FIFA World Cup, the stunning Nora Fatehi has been trending on so cial media.

At the FIFA Fan Fest, the actress-dancer presented a mesmer ising performance of the hit songs Garmi, Saki Saki, and Naach Mei Rani. She

even danced while hold ing and waving the na tional flag. Along with her, the talented dancer repeated "Jai Hind," to the cheers of the audience.

However, some online users are upset with Fatehi for carrying the flag inappropriately.

Footage from her per formance where she is supposedly seen hoisting the Indian flag upside down has gone viral. And this has irritated a lot of online us ers, who have attacked Nora on Twitter and demanded an apology from her.

Deepika’s surprise cameo in Cirkus

Ranveer Singh fans were treat ed to a fun-filled trailer of his up coming film Cirkus, which is directed by Ro hit Shetty and jointly produced by Rohit Shetty Pictures, Re liance Entertain ment and T-Series. Deepika Padukone was also seen in the trailer, making a spe cial appearance. The film also stars Jacque line Fernandez, Pooja Hegde, Sanjay Mishra, Ashwini Kalsekar, Mukesh Tiwari,

wife Deepika Padukone for a song in the trailer. Dressed in a bright pink ethnic look, Deepika is seen matching Ranveer every step of the way as they give an electrify ing dance performance on stage. Fans could not get enough of the two Cirkus is based on the 1982 film An goor, which was a re make of the 1968 film Do Dooni Chaar. Cirkus marks Ranveer and Ro hit’s third collaboration after Simmba (2018) and Akshay Kumar-starrer Sooryavanshi, where Ranveer made a cameo

The Celebration for the Bharat24 employees whose birthdays fell in the month of November was held in channel office at Noida on Friday. The occasion was all the more special as Dr Jagdeesh Chandra graced the celebrations and greeted all of them amid cake cutting and cheers, he also gave birthday gifts to each.

Nora Fatehi

Jubin Nautiyal

Deepika Padukone

Still from the movie

Jagdeesh Chandra along with Shamsher Singh and Manoj Jagyasi cuts the ceremonial cake, also with them are Neeraj, Amit Suman, Sandeep Mishra,Vivek Bhandari and others

Divya Agarwal

Ye (Kanye West)

Jagdeesh Chandra with (L-R) Syed Umar, Manoj Jagyasi, Pramod Raghavan, Shamsher Singh and Sandeep Mishra