First India-Mumbai Edition-09th October 2022

BINNY LIKELY TO REPLACE GANGULY AS BCCI PRESIDENT

Nashik crash: CM orders probe, survey to identify ‘black spots’

Move comes after 12 die, 43 injured in Nashik road accident where bus caught fire after ramming into truck

First India Bureau

Nashik: Chief Minis ter Eknath Shinde has ordered a detailed in quiry into the road ac cident in Nashik that killed 12 persons and left 43 others injured

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BJP FIELDS KULDEEP BISHNOI’S SON IN HARYANA BYPOLL

Chandigarh: The BJP on Saturday announced party leader Kuldeep Bishnoi’s son Bhavya as its candidate for the next month’s assembly bypoll from Adampur, considered a family pocket borough.

The bypoll was necessitated after Kuldeep Bishnoi resigned as a Congress MLA in August and quit the party along with his son.

EC BARS SENA CAMPS FROM USING SYMBOL FOR BYPOLL

New Delhi: The Election Commission on Saturday barred the Shiv Sena factions led by Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde from using the party name and election symbol in the Andheri East Assembly bypoll. It asked them to suggest three name choices, and also as many free symbols by Monday.

NO ONE ASKED INDIA TO STOP BUYING OIL FROM RUSSIA: PURI

Washington: India, world’s third biggest oil importer, will continue to buy oil from any country that it has to, Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said adding that no country has told New Delhi to stop buying oil from Russia.

India, which has not publicly condemned Moscow for its military action in Ukraine, has become Russia’s No.2 oil buyer. P6

‘MAN-EATER’ TIGER

THAT CLAIMED 10 LIVES SHOT DEAD

Patna: A 3-year-old tiger, that claimed 10 lives in and around Valmiki Tiger Reserve in the West Champaran region since September, was on Saturday shot dead by forest officials, Live Hindustan reported.

Tiger’s latest victim was a woman and her kid in the Balua village.

INDIAN MISSION IN UK PROBES ILLEGAL VISA HANDLERS

London: The Indian High Commission here is investigating reports of unauthorised agents illegally charging fees to get visas processed for travellers to India, amid reports of a severe visa crunch faced by British tourists to the country. The Indian mission on Friday had alerted travellers to scams.

after a private bus hit a trailer truck and then caught fire.

Shinde on Saturday also said authorities

have been instructed to conduct a survey to identify “accident black spots” in Nashik city and the rest of the state.

The chief minister visited the spot of the accident at Nandur Naka on the NashikAurangabad highway

and later the district civil hospital, where most of the injured per sons were admitted. He also interacted with the

EX-GRATIA ANNOUNCED

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the loss of lives in the bus tragedy and announced an ex-gratia of Rs2 lakh for the next of kin of each deceased and Rs50,000 each for the injured. CM Shinde announced a financial as sistance of Rs5 lakh to the families of the dead and said the medical expenses of the injured would be borne by the state government.

PMO India @PMOIndia Anguished by the bus tragedy in Nashik. My thoughts are with those who have lost their loved ones in this mishap. May the injured re cover at the earliest. The local administra tion is providing all possible assistance to those affected.

kin of the injured and the deceased persons.

“This is a big acci dent wherein 12 people have lost their lives.

Will remove AFSPA only after installing peace: Shah in Assam

Guwahati (ANI): Un ion Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday said that the BJP-led govern ment would remove Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) only after installing peace in northeast India.

“Rahul Gandhi gave Congress an agenda to remove AFSPA from the northeast if they came to power (in 2019), for the sake of appease ment. When it was asked of me, I said we will first bring peace in the north east and then only will remove AFSPA, which would not happen just for appeasement,” Amit Shah said at a public gathering at the inaugu ration of the newly built BJP office — Atal Bihari Vajpayee Bhawan in Guwahati, party’s big gest office in the north eastern region with all modern amenities.

The Ministry of Home Affairs recently extended the AFSPA, an act that empowers the

Guwahati: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday as sured the people of Assam that the government would make the state ‘flood-free’ in the next five years. “Earlier, during Assembly elections, I said that we made Assam free from terrorism and strikes. Now give us five years we will make Assam free from floods. The Assam government has made yojana which will make floods a thing of the past in Assam within 5 years,” Shah said at a Karyakarta Sammelan at Guwahati’s Khanapara.

armed forces to main tain public order in “dis turbed areas,” in some parts of the northeast for another six months.

BCI comes in Justice Chandrachud’s defence

Sumit Kumar

New Delhi: With Justice DY Chandrachud set to take oath of office as the next Chief Justice of In dia, the Bar Council of India has come out strongly in favour of Jus tice Chandrachud and deprecated the modus of some people with vested interests for their unsuc cessful attempt to tarnish the image of our Supreme court and/or its Judges.

The BCI has observed that “such growing ten dency is really a matter of serious concern for the country and it has to be checked anyhow.”

It further said on Satur day, “One R. K. Pathan, claiming to be the Presi

dent of some so called “Supreme Court and High Court Litigant Associa tion” is stated to have lodged a complaint against the Senior-most Judge of Supreme CourtJustice D. Y. Chandra chud. Such post and letter of R. K. Pathan is being made viral by a few people deliberately on the eve of Justice Chandrachud’s elevation

In an order on Octo ber 1, the AFSPA was extended in certain re gions of Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.

However, the act was ex tended in Assam for six months on February 28, 2022 and on December 1, 2021 in Manipur.

This is the home min ister’s first visit to the region after the exten sion of the act.

Amit Shah asserted that the party’s consec utive rule in the north eastern region has en sured an “all-round de velopment”.

BJP ONLY IDEOLOGY BASED PARTY, CONG LACKS IDEOLOGY, SAYS JP NADDA Guwahati: The Con gress does not have any particular ideology and the BJP is the only ideology-based and national party in India, said BJP chief JP Nadda at the inauguration of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Bhawan in Guwahati, the newly built BJP office.

At a public meeting in Guwahati, Nadda said that BJP is the only ide ology-based and national party. He was speaking at the inauguration of the newly-built State BJP of fice. He further said that BJP proposed to set up 512 offices across the country out of which 236 offices have been con structed and 154 offices are under construction.

The government will take appropriate action to avoid the recurrence of such incidents. I have inspected the ac cident spot and ordered a detailed inquiry,” he

told reporters.

The accident oc curred at around 5.15 am when the bus, a “sleeper coach” was coming from Yavatmal in eastern Turn to P6

We’ll fight against hate-mongering, says Rahul Gandhi

Tumakuru (ANI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi held an interac tion with the masses as the Bharat Jodo Yatra resumed from Mayasan dra, Tumakuru in Kar nataka on Saturday. He said the Congress be lieves in fighting against those who spread hatred.

“My view is that it doesn’t matter who the person spreading hatred is, it doesn’t matter which community they come from, spreading hatred and violence is an antinational act and we’ll fight against such peo ple,” said Gandhi.

Stressing on the integ

rity and unity in the country he said,” Our constitution states: Bharat is a union of states. It means all our languages, states and traditions have an equal ly important space. That is the nature of our country.” This was his third press interaction during the march.

Mumbai (PTI): In one of the biggest seizures of its kind in the city, the Directorate of Rev enue Intelligence (DRI) has recovered 665 ani mals of exotic species at the Mumbai airport, an official said on Satur day.

The animals, smug gled into the country concealed in an import ed consignment of live fish, included rare liz ards, pythons and igua nas, he said.

The person who had imported the consign ment and the one who was supposed to take its delivery were arrested, the DRI official added.

Acting on a tip-off,

the Mum bai Zonal Unit of the DRI intercepted the consignment on Thursday after it ar rived at the Air Cargo Complex, he said. The consignment was opened in the presence of officials of the Forest Department and Wild life Crime Control Bu

animals smuggled

To their shock, a total of 665 animals of rare or endangered species were found concealed inside.

The import of such species, listed under ap pendices to the Conven

tion on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), is banned, the official said. The seized ani mals would be handed over to the forest depart ment, he added.

Pakistani boat held in Gujarat; `350 crore heroin seized Kutch: The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) on Saturday informed that they have seized heroin worth Rs 350 crore from a Pakistani boat off the state coast. The ICG and ATS, in a joint operation, also apprehended six crew members from the boat in Indian waters close to the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) in the Arabian Sea. The boat is being further investigated at the port Jakhau in Gujarat.

At the civil hospital in Nashik where he met survivors —ANI

perpetrators without immediately blaming Ukraine.

Coordinated efforts between central and state agencies a must to make country drug free: HM ‘Not drug seizure alone, enforcement agencies must aim at destroying channels of trafficking’

Union Home Minister Amit Shah with Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and others during a public meeting at Khanapara ground in Guwahati, on Saturday. —PHOTO BY PTI GOVERNMENT WILL MAKE ASSAM FLOOD-FREE IN 5 YEARS, AMIT SHAH ASSURES PEOPLE

Rahul Gandhi with Siddaramaiah during the party’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, in Tumakuru district, on Saturday. —PHOTO BY PTI

CONG PREZ POLL: RaGa TO VOTE AT CAMPSITE Turuvekere: Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and 40 other leaders will vote in the party president’s election at a Bharat Jodo Yatra campsite in Karnataka’s Bellary on October 17.

Justice DY Chandrachud

20 years RI to man for raping, impregnating 14-year-old girl

Judge also imposed fine of `30K on accused; crime happened in January 2015

First India Bureau

Thane: A Thane court has sentenced a man to 20 years of rigor ous imprisonment for repeatedly raping and impregnating a 14-year-old girl District and addi tional sessions Judge PR Ashturkar found the accused guilty of rape under the Indian Penal Code and rele vant provisions of the Protection of Children against Sexual Offenc es (POCSO) Act.

The court sentenced the accused to 20 years of rigorous imprison ment and imposed a fine of Rs30,000 on him.

The order was passed on October 01 and was made available on Fri day. Additional public prosecutors Ashwini B Patil-Bhamre and Kad ambini Khandagale told the court that the accused was a friend of

the victim’s brother and they were neigh bours. On the night of January 15, 2015, the ac cused came to the vic tim’s house when she was alone and raped her. After the first as sault, the accused, who was a married man, re peatedly raped the girl

on several occasions for a month, they said.

Eventually, the vic tim’s mother found out about the ordeal when the girl became preg nant. A police complaint was soon lodged and the accused was arrested, said the prosecution.

In his order, the judge

noted that the victim was only 14 years old at the time of the incident.

He also observed that she was so innocent that she never realized that she had gotten pregnant due to the act committed by the accused.

When her family members noticed the

THE ORDER

Judge Ashturkar noted that the victim was only 14 years old at the time of incident. He also observed that she was so innocent that she never realized that she had gotten pregnant due to the act com mitted by the accused.

When her family members noticed the aforesaid facts, it was too late even to termi nate the pregnancy.

During the trial she had given birth to a child, he said.

aforesaid facts, it was too late even to terminate the pregnancy. During the trial she had given birth to a child, he said. The judge also ordered that the victim be paid compensation once the fine amount is realized and also under any gov ernment scheme.

Fam welfare chief issues ‘office discipline’ circular

First India Bureau

Thane: Newly-ap pointed Maharash tra Family Welfare Department Com missioner, IAS Tu karam Mundhe, on Saturday issued a circular on ‘office discipline’ to staff ers, warning them that not following instructions may amount to misbe haviour and could invite action.

He said officials taking leave must have written permis sion from him, while those remaining ab sent due to ailments must submit relevant medical certificates.

As per the circular, wages of staffers will not be paid unless the days worked are veri fied as per the biom etric attendance sys tem installed in the department.

“Those coming in late three times will attract action, while

habitual latecomers will be reported to the department heads, who will need to set things right. Those leaving for official work must record such movement in the

register maintained for the purpose,” as per the circular.

Anniversaries, na tional festivals etc cel ebrated as per the gov ernment’s calendar will require full attend ance and skipping these will be seen as misbehaviour, said an official.

All staffers must use the department’s e-office system, while the legal cell must clear pending cases at the earliest, he added.

Mundhe is also the National Health Mis sion director for Ma harashtra.

7 STAFFERS OF FINANCE FIRM BOOKED FOR CHEATING INVESTORS OF `44L

Thane: Seven staffers of a financial firm have been booked for allegedly cheating investors of Rs44 lakh, a Thane police official said on Saturday. The firm accepted deposits promising high returns and failed to disburse money between 2020 and 2021, the Naupada police station official said. They have been booked under Indian Penal Code and Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors Act, though no arrest has been made so far, he said.

CRUCIAL READ PALGHAR COPS ARREST CHAINSNATCHER

BIZMAN SHOT AT IN THANE BY UNKNOWN MAN

Uddhav faction to begin ‘Mahaprabodhan Yatra’ from CM Shinde’s stronhold Thane

First India Bureau

Thane: The Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena will be gin its mass outreach programme titled ‘Mahaprabodhan Yatra’ on Sunday from Thane. It is the stronghold of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, whose rebel lion brought down the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) gov ernment in June.

Palghar: A repeat offender has been arrested for allegedly snatching a chain worth Rs2.2 lakh from a woman in the Virar area of Palghar district on October 03, police said on Saturday. Based on CCTV footage from the area and intelligence inputs, the police tracked down the 45-yearold accused who was on a motorcycle snatched a chain from a woman’s neck and fled, said Senior Inspector Pramod Badakha. The police also seized a motorcycle, helmet and other items worth Rs74,550.

Thane: Police are on the hunt for an unidentified man who shot at and injured a businessman in Majiwada area of Thane city. Sandeep Adsul (40), who operates a stonecrushing business, was standing outside his house at around 8.40 pm on Friday, when his assailant came near, fired at point-blank range and fled the scene, said an official from Kapurbawdi police station. The bullet hit the victim on his hip and he was rushed to a hospital. Cops suspect financial motive behind it.

19-YEAR-OLD KILLS OLDER BROTHER FOR UNKNOWN REASONS, ON THE RUN

Palghar: A 19-year-old man allegedly killed his elder brother in Chamilpada village in Jawhar taluka, in Palghar district, police said on Saturday. The accused, identified as Nivrutti Vaze. fatally attacked his 21-year-old brother Pankaj with a sickle on Friday morning, when the latter was going to work. Pankaj died on the spot, an official of Jawhar police station said. An offence under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 302 (murder) was registered against the accused, who is on the lam. The motive behind the murder is not known yet, he said.

The programme com prises a series of rallies across the state to gar ner support of the peo ple and highlight their issues and also boost the spirit of workers, Sena leader Chintama ni Kharkhanis told re

porters on Saturday.

Incidentally, the posters of the yatra, with the slogan ‘Aapla Maharashtra, Mahaan

Maharashtra’ will have images of both party founder late Bal Thack eray and Thane strong man later Anand

Will comprise a series of rallies across Maha to garner support ahead of polls

Dighe, just like the pub licity material used by the Shinde camp.

The yatra is begin ning from Thane as it is the cradle of the “be trayal and revolt” in the party, local Lok Sabha MP Rajan Vichare told reporters, a reference to Shinde walking away with a majority of MLAs to bring down the Uddhav Thackeray gov ernment on June 29.

REAL TALK

Raigad admin asks banks why loans being rejected

Alibag (PTI): The Raigad administra tion in Maharashtra on Saturday asked banks to check why so many proposals for loans to start busi nesses have been re jected in the district.

According to an offi cial, banks, which are mandated to disburse loans up to a limit of Rs50 lakh under various state government schemes to promote en trepreneurship, have re fused 318 of the 746 pro posals submitted to them. “Only 107 propos als have been sanctioned and 321 are pending. Col lector Mahendra Kaly ankar chaired a meeting on the issue and asked banks to ensure more

people get loans under these schemes,” added the official.

Meanwhile, more than 2,600 posts are va cant in the Raigad Zilla Parishad, including 1,502 and 556 in the Edu cation and Health De partments, respectively.

The ZP has 11 sec tions that cater to the work of 15 talukas, 15 panchayat samitis and 810 gram panchayats.

Muslims not getting due share in country: Pawar

First India Bureau

First India Bureau

Nagpur: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday said members of the Mus lim community have a feeling that they were not getting their due share despite be ing a large part of the country’s population.

Addressing an event titled ‘Issues Before In dian Muslims’ organ ized by the Vidarbha Muslim Intellectuals Forum in Nagpur, Pa war batted for Urdu but also stressed on the im portance of the “main

language” of states, cit ing the situation in Ker ala as an example.

“Members of the Muslim community have a feeling they are not getting their due share despite being such a large part of the country, which is actu ally a reality. Delibera tions have to be held on how they can get their due share,” he said.

Responding to an ear lier speaker seeking the use of Urdu in govern ment recruitment ex

aminations, Pawar hailed the language. “We should consider Urdu schools and edu cation, but along with Urdu, we have to con sider the main language of a state,” he said.

Pawar said Kerala has a large proportion of mi norities and one needs to study how minorities in that state, which has the highest literacy rate, are giving support to the main language and what benefits are being de rived from this.

The Muslim commu nity can contribute hugely in the fields of art, poetry and writing through Urdu, he said, adding that its mem bers have “quality and capacity” but need “support and equal op portunity”.

Pawar told the gath ering the NCP has al ways strived to give ad equate representation to minorities, citing that two of the party’s eight parliamentarians are Muslims.

Nagpur: National ist Congress Party (NCP) President, Sharad Pawar, on Saturday welcomed the Rashtriya Sway amsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat’s state ment that anything which causes social discrimination must be junked.

Speaking at a book launch event in Nag pur on Friday, Bhag wat had said concepts like ‘Varna’ and ‘Jaati’ (caste) should be completely dis carded, adding that the caste system has no relevance now.

“Everything that causes discrimina tion should go out lock, stock and bar

Cautioning against lip service, NCP chief asks people to accept mistakes and apologize

rel,” the RSS chief had said. He had also said one must not hesitate to accept and apologize for the mistakes committed by one’s ancestors.

Speaking to report ers at Nagpur airport, Pawar, however, said such statements need to be implemented in actual behaviour and must not remain as lip service. “Only apologizing, however, will not do. Every thing depends on how we actually behave with these sections of society,” he added.

NCP supremo was speaking at a Nagpur event where he emphasized on need for equal opportunity, support to the community

Pawar addressing the gathering at Nagpur on Saturday.

IAS Tukaram Mundhe —FILE PHOTO

Tukaram Mundhe lays down ground rules for staff, warns of action for misbehaviour

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde

—FILE PHOTO

Of the total 321, only 107 proposals have been approved so far. —FILE PHOTO

12 dead, 43 hurt: Bus-truck crash causes fire

Bus caught fire after collision with truck around 5.15 am on NashikAurangabad highway

Nashik (PTI): Twelve passengers, including a two-year-old child, were killed and 43 others injured as a private bus travelling to Mumbai caught fire after hitting a trailer truck in Nashik city of Maharashtra early on Saturday, police of ficials said.

The accident took place at Nandur Naka on Nashik-Aurangabad highway around 5.15 am when the sleeper bus was coming from Yavatmal in eastern Maharashtra, they said.

The CM visited the spot and the District Civil Hospital, where most of the patients were admitted. He said a detailed inquiry into the accident will be car ried out.

“A luxury bus travel ling to Mumbai from Ya vatmal hit a trailer truck en route to Pune on the Nashik-Aurangabad highway. Soon after ram ming into the truck, the bus caught fire in which 12 passengers died and 43 others were injured,” an official said.

The deceased includ ed a two-year-old child, he said, adding that the bus was completely de stroyed in the incident.

The injured persons were admitted to the Dis trict Civil Hospital and some private medical facilities in Nashik, city

7 booked for trapping official in false case

First India Bureau

Mumbai: Khar police have registered an of fence against two re tired Mumbai Police officers and five others for allegedly trapping a Maharashtra Hous ing and Area Develop ment Authority (MHA DA) officer in a falsi fied case and getting him arrested, an offi cial said on Saturday.

The offence was regis tered on Monday, based on a complaint lodged by the MHADA officer. Among the seven ac cused was also an inspec tor with the Economic Offences Wing, he added.

The complainant al leged that the accused arrested him in 2018 in a fake case of cheating, by submitting fabricat ed documents in court

and with the help of fake witnesses. He claimed that he was forced to spend two months in jail after a First Information Re port was registered against him in the fake case of duping people on pretext of providing MHADA flats at cheap er rates, the police offi cial said.

A case under sections of the Indian Penal Code pertaining to punish ment for giving false in formation, fabricating false evidence, using evi dence known to be false, false charge of offence made with intent to in jure, among others.

Police Commissioner Jayant Naiknavare said.

Before catching fire, the bus also hit a mini cargo van, due to which the latter overturned, he added.

On being alerted, the police, fire brigade and other agencies launched

a rescue operation and the fire was doused.

However, the bus was completely gutted, the official said.

During his visit to the spot around 1 pm, CM Shinde said, “A detailed inquiry into the acci dent will be conducted

and action will be taken based on its report.”

He was accompanied by Nashik district guard ian minister Dada Bhuse, state minister Girish Mahajan, local MP Hemant Godse, MLA Devyani Pharande, and senior officials.

‘Woke up due to loud noise and ran out, lucky to be alive’

Nashik (PTI): Anita Chaudhari and her daughter had a nar row escape as they managed to wake up and run out of a burning bus in the nick of time—sever al of their co-passen gers were not as lucky when the vehi cle caught fire after hitting a truck here early on Saturday.

Twelve passengers were killed and 43 oth ers injured, when the private bus going to Mumbai from Yavat mal district in eastern Maharashtra caught fire after ramming into the trailer truck around 5.15 am at Nan dur Naka on NashikAurangabad highway, officials said.

“We were sleeping

The accident occurred when we were asleep. Luckily, we got up and immediately ran out of the bus when we saw that it had caught fire. One of my uncles received injuries in the accident.

—Piraji Dhotre, Survivor

in the bus, when we heard a loud noise.

The bus had caught fire. Somehow, I man aged to get out of the bus along with my daughter.... We are lucky to have sur vived,” said Chaudha ri, who is from Washim district.

Another passenger, Piraji Dhotre, said he was travelling in the bus with his uncles.

“The accident oc curred when we were asleep. Luckily, we got up and immediately ran out of the bus when we saw that it had caught fire. One of my uncles received injuries in the acci dent,” said Dhotre, who hails from Yavat mal district.

People residing in the area where the ac cident took place, said they heard a loud sound and came out of their houses to see what was wrong.

By that time, the fire had spread inside the bus. The blaze was so intense that they could not even go near the vehicle to help the passengers stuck in side, some of the wit nesses said.

STATE-RUN BUS CATCHES FIRE, NO ONE HURT AS 33 PASSENGERS ALIGHT SAFELY

Nashik: Even as 12 persons died andw 43 were injured in one bus ac cident, the quick thinking of a driver and conductor saved 33 bus passen gers in what could have been another tragedy on Saturday, after a state-run transport bus caught fire in Vani in Nashik district on Saturday afternoon. The blaze, which occurred near the

toll plaza in Saptashrungi Garh, was likely caused by a short-circuit, an official said.“Driver SB Garud and conductor Surekha Khalate of the bus, which belongs to Pimpalgaon Baswant depot, showed presence of mind and ensured all 33 passengers alighted safely. The blaze was put out some time later,” he said.

Two hardcore Naxalites held in Gadchiroli

Maha sees 480 cases, 2 deaths, 521 recoveries

Mumbai (PTI): Maha rashtra on Saturday recorded 480 COV ID-19 cases and two deaths, which took the tally to 81,24,299 and the toll to 1,48,357, a health of ficial said.

This is a rise from 366 cases registered on Fri day, which had also seen five persons succumb to the infection.

The two deaths were recorded in Pune and Mumbai, which also ac counted for 130 of the new cases, the official added. The recovery count rose by 521 in the

last 24 hours to touch 79,73,675, leaving the state with an active case load of 2,267, he said.

State health depart ment data revealed the recovery rate was 98.15%

and the fatality rate stood at 1.82%.

So far, 8,49,34,657 COV ID-19 tests have been con ducted in the state, in cluding 20,174 in the last 24 hours.

PUNE ZP PLANS MEMORIAL FOR LOST STAFFERS `20 CR GIVEN TO KIN OF VICTIMS IN RAIGAD DIST

Pune: The Pune Zilla Parishad plans to build a memorial for the 35 staffers who died while taking part in efforts to curb the COVID-19 pan demic, its chief executive officer Ayush Prasad said on Saturday. These 35 persons were deployed in hospitals or were provid ing “extension health services”, he said, adding the plan draws inspiration from defence and police forces, which have martyr memorials.

Alibag: More than Rs20 crore has been distributed as compensation to the kin of COVID-19 victims in Raigad, an official said on Saturday. He said 4,713 persons have died due to COVID-19 in the district so far and the compensation amount stands at Rs50,000 each.

“We have so far disbursed Rs20.47 crore. While the applications of the kin of 4,094 victims have been processed, 619 more are being reviewed,” he said.

First India Bureau

Mumbai: Police ar rested two hardcore Naxalites carrying a cumulative reward of Rs10 lakh on their heads in Gadchiroli district, an official said on Saturday.

Krishna alias San niram Narote (24) and Sankuram Narote (22) from Sawargaon area in Dhanora were appre hended during an antiNaxalite operation on Friday, he said.

The state government had announced a re ward of Rs10 lakh for any information about the duo, he said.

Krishna, a resident of Morchul, was part of the Company 10 dalam and had a reward of Rs8 lakh on his head, the of ficial said.

He was sent by his seniors to revive ‘dalams’ (groups) in north Gadchiroli, which were eliminated in the 2021 Mardintola forest encounter, in which 27 Naxalites were killed, the official said.

He was recruited in

October 2015 into the Tipagad local organiza tion squad and was transferred to Company 10, where he was pro moted as the platoon party committee mem ber in 2020, he said.

“The preliminary in terrogation has revealed that Krishna was sent as part of an advance recce team to reorganize dalams that were elimi nated in the 2021 Mardin tola encounter,” Gadchi roli Superintendent of Police Ankit Goyal said. Sankuram, also a res ident of Morchul, be longed to the Jan Militia rank and carried a re ward of Rs2 lakh on his head, the official said. The duo was involved in various offences of mur der, arson and firing, he said, adding that the po lice were also investigat ing their involvement in other offences.

HYDROGEN-LADEN TRUCK OVERTURNS

The state govt

OF LITERARY RENDEZVOUS & MORE...

One of her novels, “Getting Lost”, published in 2001, is about her intense affair with a Soviet Diplomat.

Annie Ernaux is 82 years old. The citation was read out by Mats Malm, the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy which selects the winner. Part of it lauds the ‘courage and clinical acuity with which she uncovers the roots, estrangements and col lective restraints of personal memory’.

PAST KARMAS NOT LETTING LALU & FAMILY LIVE IN PEACE

This year’s prize for Literature has been awarded to the French author, Annie Ernaux. She is the first French woman to get the award. In all, seventeen female writers have received the Nobel for Literature

The one who wrote, “Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high; Where knowledge is free; Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls; Where words come out from the depth of truth; Where tireless striving stretch es its arms towards perfec tion; Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit; Where the mind is led forward by thee into everwidening thought and actionInto that heaven of Freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

This is stanza 35 from Ra bindranath Tagore’s “Gitan jali” for which he was award ed the Nobel Prize for Litera ture in 1913. No other Indian has got the Literature Prize since then.

Ihave met twenty one Nobel Laureates. Pearl Buck, U.S.A, Kawabata Yasunari, Japan, Pablo Neruda, Chile, Nelson Mandela, South Africa, Rob ert Manchu, Guatemala, Des mond Tutu, South Africa, Lech Walesa, Poland, Shiman Peres, Israel, Yaseer Arafat, Palestine Liberation Organi sation, Kofi Annan, Ghana, Wangari Maathai, Kenya, Mu hammad Yunus, Bangladesh, Amartya Sen, India, V.S. Nai paul, Trinidad, Nadine Gordi mer, South Africa, Octavio Paz, Mexico, Wole Soyinka, Nigeria, Gunter Grass, Ger many, Hennery Kissinger, U.S.A, Eisaku Sato, Japan, Martin Luther King Jr., U.S.A. and Garcia Marques.

R.K. Narayan would have got the Nobel Prize for Literature sooner rather than later. I often spoke to R.K. Narayan about missing out on the prize. His answer was that of man who had Malgudi written all over him. “I am glad I did not get the Prize. It would have disrupted my life, peace and tranquillity completely.” He meant it

Had Dag Hammarskjold, Secretary General of the United Nations, not died in plane crash in September 1961, R.K. Narayan would have got the Nobel Prize for Literature sooner rather than later. I often spoke to R.K. Narayan about missing out on the prize. His answer was that of man who had Malgudi written all over him. “I am glad I did not get the Prize. It would have disrupted my life,

IS TOO

peace and tranquillity com pletely”. He meant it.

We had been intimate friends for forty years. I still re-read some of his novels, specially, ‘Swami and Friends, ‘The Bachelor of Arts’, ‘The Guide’ and his en chanting autobiography, ‘My Days’, in which I appear. The year, 1965, New York. R.K. Narayan was in serious trou ble. Harvey Breit, at one time literary editor of The New York Times was an old friend of R.K. They fell out over Har vey’s stage version of “The Guide”. “His version was so different from mine that I withheld my permission to present it on the stage.”

R.K’s lawyer warned him that he should leave the coun try immediately, because, Har vey was taking him to court. A summon would be issued and R.K would not be allowed to leave New York for six months….”Thanks to my friend Natwar Singh of our foreign service, I secured asy lum in the Indian Consulate..” I put him on the Air India flight at 8 P.M.

This year’s prize for Litera ture has been awarded to the French author, Annie Er naux. She is the first French woman to get the award. In all, seventeen female writers have received the Nobel for Literature.

On October 6th a half de mented 34 year old Thai drug addict and dismissed police of ficer committed a horrific crime in a children’s school in the northern eastern rural town, Nangbua Lamphu. He entered the child care facility, armed with a pistol, shotgun and knife. He killed thirty eight people, including twenty four children, taking their af ternoon nap. Not one was more than four years old. Each was stabbed or shot in the head. Their eight month pregnant teacher met the same fate.

The killer then walked home, shot his wife, son and himself. Thailand is a Bud dhist country. At 5:1, weapons per 100 people, gun ownership rate in Thailand is among the highest in Asia.

The Chief of RSS, Shri Bhagwat is, it seems has be come an enlightened Hindu reformist. Do away with the concepts of Jati and Varna, he said four days back. I have lit tle doubt that some of his con servative followers must be feeling uneasy. Let them.

Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Pras ad Yadav cannot run away from his kar ma as chief minis ter of Bihar and as the Union railway minister. He has al ready served a fairly long term in jail for the infamous fodder scam and now the CBI has charge sheeted Lalu, his wife Rabri Devi who is also a former chief minister of Bihar, their daughters Misa Bharti, Hema Yadav and 16 others in the land for job scam in which land was acquired at rates lower than the market rate. The CBI’s case is that 12 persons from Patna were hired for Group D jobs in the railways and in return La lu’s family got seven plots of land. Lalu and his kin are al leged to have acquired 1 lakh square feet of land for mere Rs 26 lakh against the market rate of Rs 4.39 crore.

After the fodder scam Ya dav’s charge of witch hunt by the Central agency will be hard to believe.

SPIRITUAL SPEAK

The spirit is beyond destruction. No one can bring an end to spirit which is everlasting. Bhagavad Gita

Caste and religious politics are close ly linked in India.

In reality politics feeds on caste and religion as it keeps voters divided to its advantage. Hindu scriptures divide the society into four Varnas--Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras--based on which the evil of the caste system has evolved and become all-pervasive. It is reflected in the discrimi nation of and frequent cases of assault on Dalits. So fix ated are some upper caste Hindus on castes that they even want to practice it even in distant America. It is, therefore, heartening to hear Mohan Bhagwat, the Sarsanghchalak, talk of dis carding the caste system

The latest suggestion will also have an impact on reservations for both Dalits & Backward Classes. Neither section will let go of that right and with general elections due in 2024 netas will start making a beeline for Dalits’ homes

(Varna and Jaati) as it has become outdated. They are things of the past and forgot ten, he said. Unfortunately, they are not being allowed to fade from public memory.

Given the hold that caste politics has on Indian’s mind scape that doing away with it will be like stirring a hornet’s

nest. Although attempts are being made to assimilate low er castes into the main stream, high caste Hindus will oppose any such move tooth and nail. Just as Bhag wat’s 2019 call for a “conver sation in harmonious atmos phere between those in fa vour of quota and those against it”. The call was in terpreted as anti-Dalit-Back ward face of the RSS and BJP.

The RSS had to clarify that an unnecessary controversy was being created.

The latest suggestion will also have an impact on reser vations for both Dalits and Backward Classes. Neither section will let go of that right and with the general elections due in 2024 netas will start making a beeline for Dalits’ homes.

Amit Shah @AmitShah

Inaugurated the new headquarters of @BJP4Assam in Guwahati. I am confident that this state-of-art building will play a significant

Piyush Goyal @PiyushGoyal

Touch The Sky With Glory! On 90th #AirForceDay, we salute the valour and service of our Air Warriors and our veterans. The @IAF_MCC with its tradition of gallantry is transforming for the future as an Aatmanirbhar force.

K NATWAR SINGH

Garcia Marquez, K Natwar Singh & Sharda Prasad, 1983.

K Natwar Singh, Rajiv Gandhi and Nelson Mandela, 1991.

To

INDIAN AIR FORCE DAY

IAF CHIEF ANNOUNCES CREATION OF NEW WEAPON SYSTEM BRANCH

Chandigarh (ANI):

Pride and valour ech oed in the celebrations of the Indian Airforce which marked the com pletion of 90 years of its foundation on Satur day. IAF chief Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari lauded the forces and informed that the Indian govern ment approved the cre ation of a weapon sys tem branch for the of ficers in IAF.

This year’s anniver sary celebrations theme was “IAF: Transform ing for the Future”. This aptly highlights the Indian Air Force’s needs to redefine, reim agine and recalibrate to transform into a con temporary and futureready force. “It is my privilege to announce that the government has approved the crea tion of a Weapon Sys tem Branch for Officers in the IAF. This is the first time since the inde pendence that a new op erational branch has been created,” said Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari.

The move will essen tially be for manning four specialised streams of Surface-to-Surface missiles, Surface-to-Air Missiles, Remotely Pi

PRESIDENT MURMU, RAJNATH WITNESS IAF PROWESS ON FIRST AIR FORCE DAY CELEBRATIONS OUTSIDE DELHI-NCR

Chandigarh (PTI): A dazzling show by a fleet of military aircraft over the Sukhna Lake here enthralled the gather ing, including President Droupadi Murmu, who clapped during their breathtaking maneu vers as the Indian Air Force marked its 90th anniversary celebra tions on Saturday. It is the IAF’s first annual

loted Aircraft and Weapon System Opera tors in twin and multicrew aircraft.

He also informed that the crea tion of this branch would result in savings

CRUCIAL READ

Guwahati (Agencies): Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday washed the feet of senior BJP functionaries and shared the video on his Twitter handle. The chief minister said showing re spect to the seniors is a cornerstone of the BJP’s tradition and he is honoured to have washed the feet of the senior functionaries.

WOMAN KILLS HUBY BY CHOPPING OFF HIS GENITAL

Air Force Day parade and fly-past outside the Delhi-National Capital Region, which also saw the participation De fence Minister Rajnath Singh. Governors of Punjab and Haryana Banwarilal Purohit and Bandaru Dattatreya, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khat tar and Chandigarh MP Kirron Kher were

of over Rs 3,400 crore due to reduced expendi ture on flying training.

He also stressed the induction of air warri ors into IAF through the Agnipath scheme and

Nath seeks reply from 2 MLAs of molesting woman

present too. Prior to the spectacular aerial display, a ceremonial parade was held at the air force station here in the morning in the presence of Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari. Murmu was accorded the guard of honour upon her arrival here. This is her first visit to Chandigarh as the President of India.

called it an opportunity to harness the potential of youth. “We have changed our operation al training methodology to ensure each Agniveer is equipped with the

PM GREETS INDIAN AIR

FORCE ON THE DAY

The Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has greeted the members of Indian Air Force and their families on the oc casion of Air Force Day.

Arvind Kejriwal banners torn by BJP supporters

Vadodara (Agencies):

Protesting against al leged "anti-Hindu" statements by an Aam Aadmi Party minister in Delhi, supporters of the ruling BJP in Guja rat's Vadodara on Satur day tore the AAP's ban ners ahead of a sched uled rally by party boss Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.

Jajpur (PTI): A 33-yearold woman allegedly chopped off the genitals of her husband before stabbing him to death in Odisha’s Jajpur district, police said on Saturday. The incident took place at Pubola Mundasahi village on Friday night. The deceased has been identified as Raju Cham pia (39) of the village, police said. The accused woman, identified as Kuni Champia, allegedly murdered her husband with a sharp weapon late on Friday night.

CHANDRAYAAN-2 MAPS SODIUM ON MOON: ISRO

Bhopal (ANI): Madhya Pradesh Congress pres ident Kamal Nath has sought a reply from Satna MLA Siddharth Kushwaha and Kotma MLA Su neel Saraf who have been ac cused by a woman of molesting her onboard a train.

Kamal Nath has also constituted a committee to look into the matter.

Bengaluru (PTI): The X-ray spectrometer ‘CLASS’ on the Chan drayaan-2 Orbiter has mapped an abun dance of sodium on the moon for the first time, according to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Chandrayaan-1 X-ray Fluorescence Spectrom eter (C1XS) detected sodium from its char acteristic line in X-rays which opened up the possibility of mapping the amount of sodium on the Moon, it said.

Maharashtra and headed towards Mumbai. In structions have been given to the Nashik district administration, divisional commissioner, and Na shik Municipal Corporation (NMC) commissioner to conduct a survey of “accident black spots” in the city and prepare a report. Accordingly, meas ures will be taken in future, he added. “Black spots at other places in the state will also be found and measures will be taken to prevent such incidents. A high-level meeting of the concerned depart ments will be taken soon,” Shinde added.

Both MLAs were alleg edly accused by a wom an of molesting her on board a train, said the police. The Railway po lice received the infor mation of molestation and a team of officials was sent to the train.

Washington (ANI): Union Minister for Pe troleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri on Friday (local time) said that India will navigate through the Organisation of Pe troleum Exporting Countries Plus (OPEC+) decision to cut oil production from November by a steeper than expected two mil lion barrels per day (bpd).

“How will this im pact India? We are very confident of being able to navigate through the situation,” Puri said while speaking to re porters in Washington.

Puri highlighted In

Narendra Modi @narendramodi

On Air Force Day, my greetings to the cou rageous air warriors and their families. In line with the motto of the Indian Air Force has shown exceptional dexterity for decades. They have secured the nation and also shown remarkable human spirit during disasters.

right skills and knowl edge to start their career in the Air Force. In De cember we would be in ducting 3,000 Agniveer Vayu for their initial training,” he added.

At the 'Tiranga Rally' that began nearly three hours after the sched uled 4pm on a rainy day, Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal took to Hindu mythological references to allege that the BJP "insults Gods". He raised slogans of "Jai Sri Ram" and "Jai Sri Krishna" while calling himself a steadfast devotee. "Our enemies are all demons like Kansa. We have a duty to annihilate them," he said.

AAP SUPREMO PROMISES FREE AYODHYA RAM TEMPLE VISIT FOR GUJ RESIDENTS

Vadodara (Agencies): On a day anti-Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) posters featuring Arvind Kejriwal with reference to the conversion row came up in Gujarat, the AAP national convenor, addressing a tribal gathering in Dahod, prom ised “free visit to Ayodhya Ram temple” to “people from Gujarat”, should the AAP form the government in the western state. Urging people to ensure that “not a single vote goes to the Congress”, Kejriwal claimed that both the BJP and the Congress were having secret midnight meetings. Accompanied by Punjab Chief Minister Bhag want Mann, Kejriwal, who arrived a couple of hours late at the Dahod event Saturday, said, “They (BJP) always claimed that the roads in Gujarat are good… But look at the pathetic condition of roads everywhere.”

EX-CONG CHIEF JAKHAR NOW AT CENTRE OF BJP’S PUNJAB PLAN

Chandigarh (Agen cies): Former Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar is emerging as a prominent face of the state BJP since he joined the party this May, after being asso ciated with the Con gress for over three

‘Missing links in WHO’s claims should be probed’

decades.

Last month, the BJP high command chose him to be part of a

5-member committee constituted to conduct an inquiry into the vi olence during the par ty’s Nabanna march in Kolkata. This was the first assignment for Jakhar, the only party leader from Punjab in the committee.

Patna (ANI): After Prashant Kishor claimed that Nitish Ku mar offered him to join his party, Bihar Chief Minister said that a po litical strategist who helps political parties to win the elections and influence people is now making baseless claims, adding that a few years back Kishor had ad vised him to merge his party Janata Dal (Unit ed) with Congress.

Kumar took a swipe at Kishore, saying, “it appears that Kishor is working for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).”

The Bihar Chief Minis

ter categorically denied offering Prashant Kishor a post in his par ty. Asked about PK’s claim, Kumar told re porters, “It is false. Let him speak whatever he wants. We have nothing to do with it. 4-5 years back he had told me to merge with Congress. He has gone to BJP nowadays and is acting as per them. What he has to do with politics?”

dia is one of the largest oil importers and the demand is expected to rise driven by an in crease in India’s per capita consumption of energy which current ly stands at one-third of the global average. Puri further stressed that the fuel demand is expected to keep rising as the country’s econo my grows.

New Delhi (ANI): A health expert from the Standing National Com mittee on Saturday as serted that there are several “missing links” that need to be probed in the World Health Or ganisa tion’s (WHO) claim of over 66 deaths due to cold and cough syrup produced by the Maiden Pharma ceuticals Ltd. “The first death was reported in July but WHO informed the regulator in India on September 29. The Indi an government has not received a complete cau sality assessment,” Dr YK Gupta said.

New Delhi (ANI): Un ion Minister Jitendra Singh on Friday called the development in Jammu and Kashmir as the biggest achievement of Prime Minister Nar endra Modi-led govern ment and further claimed that each sector of the Union Territory has got a common allo cation.

"It is the biggest achievement of PM Modi that in 70 years, each division of J-K has a common allocation for the proposed develop ment projects," Union Minister Jitendra Singh said while reacting to Jammu and Kashmir National Conference

(JKNC) chief Farooq Abdullah's response to the challenge of Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Shah, during his public address in J-K's Baramullah on Wednes day, took a dig at the Gupkar alliance and openly challenged the JKNC to present a 're port card' regarding the development projects in the Union Territory, during its tenure of gov ernance.

Will Nitish and Tejashwi agree to form a 7 party coordination committee?

Mahesh Sharma

New Delhi: The cur rent Bihar government has the support of seven parties. Although only four parties are involved in the government, a to tal of seven parties are in the coalition govern ment. Three communist parties—CPI, CPM and CPIML—have support ed the government from outside, while JD(U), RJD, Congress and Hin dustan Awam Morcha form part of the govern ment. Running an alli ance of seven parties is not easy in a politically volatile state like Bihar. But since the number of these two parties, JD(U)

and RJD, also exceeds the majority, neither party is in a position to exert pressure.

Nevertheless, for the last few days, there is a discussion that a coordi nation committee should be formed, which will help in the opera tion of the coalition and

the government. This demand is especially from the three commu nist parties, which are not part of the govern ment. They feel that through the coordina tion committee, they will be able to keep an eye on the work of the government and take

some decisions accord ing to their agenda. For mer Chief Minister Ji tan Ram Manjhi’s party Hum and some Con gress leaders have also pointed out the need for a coordination commit tee. In fact, the message among the leaders of these five small parties is that the government is of JDU and RJD. All the work is being done according to these two big parties, which is true to an extent. There fore, it will be interest ing to see whether Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Deputy Chief Min ister Tejashwi Yadav are ready to form a coordi nation committee.

HIMANTA SARMA WASHES FEET OF SENIOR BJP LEADERS; SAYS, ‘INDIAN CULTURE’

President Droupadi Murmu graces the 90th anniversary celebrations of the Indian Air Force (IAF), at Sukhna Lake, in Chandigarh on Saturday. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit, Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari and his wife Neeta Chaudhari are also present. —PHOTO BY ANI

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal —FILE PHOTO

DAHOD RALLY

Tejashwi Prasad Yadav along with Nitish Kumar

J-K developments PM Modi's biggest achievement: Singh

Confident India will navigate through OPEC + production cut: Puri

It’s good, Prashant Kishor helping BJP, says Nitish Kumar

Beijing: China on Satur day criticized the latest U.S. decision to tighten export controls that would make it harder for China to obtain and manufacture advanced computing chips, calling it a violation of international economic and trade rules that will “isolate and backfire” on the U.S. “Out of the need to maintain its sci-tech hegemony, the U.S. abus es export control meas ures to maliciously block and suppress Chinese companies,” said Foreign Ministry representative Mao Ning.

ROLLS ROYCE IN TALKS WITH DRDO ON AMCA ENGINES

Rising food, oil prices fuelling inflation

New Delhi (Agencies): In flation in India has been on the rise consistently for the past several months and various reasons can be at tributed to it such as soar ing food and oil prices, among others.

However, most impor tantly, the sharply depreci ating rupee against the dol lar is one of the most sig nificant reasons behind it.

India’s retail inflation rose to 7 per cent in August from 6.71 per cent in July and this was due to higher food prices. In fact, retail inflation has been beyond the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) tolerance limit of 6 per cent for eight months in a row. A rise in food prices has led to a spike in retail inflation and this is evident from the fact that inflation in the food basket was 7.62 per cent in August, up from 6.69 per cent in July and more than double from 3.11 per cent in August 2021.

Earlier this year, the crude oil price had touched $130 a barrel. However, in September, it slid to less

BEYOND RBI TOLERANCE LIMIT

z India`s retail inflation rose to 7 per cent in August from 6.71% in July and this was due to higher food prices. In fact, retail inflation has been beyond the RBI tolerance limit of 6 per cent for eight months in a row

than $85 per barrel. But now they may rise again as OPEC+, the group of oilproducing nations, has de cided to cut down oil pro

z A rise in food prices has led to a spike in retail inflation as inflation in the food basket was 7.62 per cent in August, up from 6.69 per cent in July

z Rising oil prices directly impact inflation in India it imports more than 85 per cent of its oil requirement

duction. Rising oil prices directly impact inflation in India. This can be gauged from the fact that India im ports more than 85 per cent

of its oil requirement.

As crude oil prices start to rise, imports will also go up, which in turn will wid en the current account deficit (CAD).

Widening CAD will fur ther weaken the rupee, as in the face of a widening deficit, the country will be forced to sell rupees and buy dollars.

A weak rupee has fuelled inflation in India.

In order to control infla tion, the RBI has been hik ing repo rates since May this year. Due to monetary policy tightening across the world, and the continu ing war between Ukraine and Russia, the global sce nario has worsened as dis ruptions in supply chains have fuelled price rises.

Resultantly, these pre vailing situations have fuelled the risks of reces sion globally.

This has also impacted stock markets, as India has seen large portfolio out flows worth $13.3 billion during the current finan cial year.

PEOPLE STRUGGLE AS PRICES OF GRAINS GO THROUGH THE ROOF

New Delhi: Skyrocketing prices of essentials has dealt a heavy blow to the public already struggling to recover from the repercussions of the Covid-induced lockdowns im posed in phases since early 2020. Be it vegetables or foodgrains, the prices have touched the roof right from taking them out of the farms to reaching the common man’s kitchen.Prices increase manifold by the time it reaches the consumer from the farms via markets, wholesaler and the vendors. The farmer grows vegetables in the field and sells it in the government-mandated markets (mandis).

TRANSPORTATION MAIN CAUSE OF RISING PRICES IN NE

Guwahati/Agartala: Price rise at source, transportation bottlenecks and inadequate storage facilities are the main causes of the rising prices of vegetables and other essentials in the mountainous northeast ern states. The capitals of the northeastern states via Guwahati are 1,000 km to 1,700 km from Kolkata by road, and 2,000 km to 2,650 km from Delhi The Northeast Frontier Railway is now laying new railway tracks to connect the capital cities of three more northeastern states - Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland.

COMBINATION OF ‘GLOCAL’ FACTORS

EXPECTED TO HEAT UP INFLATION

New Delhi: A combination of global and local (glocal) factors -- geopo litical developments, crop production, reduction in crude oil production and the resulting price increase and depreciating rupee -- are expected to heat up the prices. The heating up of the prices is already happening and will continue to happen. A top official of a city-based star hotel told that their raw food costs have gone up and is continuing to hike, which have prompted hotels to revised prices of the dishes. A recent survey of households by the RBI showed that most categories of respondents expect higher inflation for both three months and one year ahead. A larger share of households expects higher prices for all product groups. Overall prices and inflation expectations for the 3 months ahead period were generally aligned with food products, non-food products and cost of services, while they were more aligned with non-food products and cost of services for the longer horizon of one year, the survey revealed.

Mumbai: A team from De fence Research and Devel opment Organisation (DRDO) met with the UKbased Rolls Royce to dis cuss the Advanced Medi um Combat Aircraft (AMCA) Engine. Under this joint venture the Intellectu al Property Right (IPR) will be retained by India for High Thrust Low bypass engine (110kn+). RollsRoyce said it is interested in collaborating with India to co-develop and produce engines for India’s AMCA fifth-generation fighter air craft project. —Agencies

EV PRODUCTION LIKELY TO REACH 54 MN UNITS BY 2029

OTHER STORIES

META WARNS 1 MILLION FACEBOOK USERS

WHO INSTALLED PASSWORD-STEALING APPS

New York: Facebook parent Meta is warning 1 million users that their login information may have been compromised through malicious apps. Meta’s researchers found more than 400 malicious Android and Apple iOS apps this year that were designed to steal the personal Facebook login information of its users, the company said Friday in a blog post. Meta spokesperson Gabby Curtis confirmed that Meta is warning 1 million users who may have been affected by the apps. Meta said the apps they iden tified were listed in Apple’s app store and Google Play Store as games, photo editors, health and lifestyle services and other types of apps to trick people into downloading them.

GOOGLE TO SHUT DOWN ENTIRE ASST DRIVING MODE DASHBOARD

RETAIL JOBS DOWN 12% AMID RECORD FESTIVE SALES, SAYS REPORT

India’s forex reserves down to lowest level since July 2020

Odisha gives nod to projects worth `1,900 cr, targets 5,000 jobs

Bandhan Bank’s collection efficiency rises to 97 per cent

New Delhi: The global electric vehicle production will grow at a compounded average annual growth rate (CAAGR) of 26%, with volumes approaching 54.1 million units by 2029, as per report. The EV Power train semiconductor mar ket is forecast to grow at a CAAGR of 31% to reach $27.3 billion by 2029, as per report by market re search firm Strategy Ana lytics. The push to electric vehicles is being dictated by consumer awareness and government regula tions and mandates related to climate change and the need to reduce emissions and reverse the impacts of global warming.

GURUGRAM FIRM TO ORGANISE BIGGEST PROPERTY EXPO

San Francisco: Tech giant Google has announced to shut down the Assistant Driving Mode Dash board that was announced at its developer conference I/O in 2019. Google will shut down the entire Assistant Driving Mode Dashboard on November 21, as per reports. Driving Mode, another name for the caroptimised experience in Google Maps for Android, will continue to exist, the report said.

New Delhi: As e-commerce play ers earn big this festival season, India saw a de-growth of 11.8 per cent in retail sector jobs from August 2021 to August this year, as per report.

Indians searching for retail jobs see a fall during the pandemic and beyond, and jobs in retails have seen an overall 5.50 per cent degrowth in the past three years.

Although jobs in retail saw an uptick of 27.70 per cent in 20202021, it again de-grew last year.

AMBUJA CEMENTS GETS SHAREHOLDERS’ NOD FOR RAISING ` 20,000 CR FROM ADANI GROUP FIRM

New Delhi: Ambuja Cements Ltd on Saturday said it has received shareholders’ approval for all proposals in its EGM, including a resolu tion to raise Rs 20,000 crore from an Adani group firm and appointment of Gautam Adani and others on the board of the com pany. The Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) has passed the special resolution proposing to raise Rs 20,000 crore by issuing securities on a preferential basis to Harmonia Trade and Investment Ltd, an Adani group entity, with 91.37 per cent votes, Ambuja Cements said in a regulatory update.

WORLD BANK PRESIDENT WARNS

New Delhi: India’s foreign exchange reserves fell by $4.8 billion to $532.6 billion for the week ended Septem ber 30, Reserve Bank of In dia data showed. This is the ninth straight weekly drop and the lowest since July 24, 2020. The decline was due to a dip in foreign currency as sets which decreased to $472.81 billion from $477.21 in the previous week.

The fall is partly due to depreciation of RBI’s hold ings of other major global currencies. The forex re serves stood at $532.664 bil lion at the end of the re porting week. The forex reserves stood at $537.52 billion in the prior week ending September 23.

The rupee, on October 7, hit a record low of 82.43 against the dollar and has depreciated more than 9 percent in 2022 so far fol lowing the Russia-Ukraine war and fears of recession.

New Delhi (PTI): The Odi sha government’s State Level Single Window Clearance Authority on Saturday approved ten in dustrial projects worth Rs 1923.60 crore as part of its initiative to generate em ployment for over 5,170 people in the state.The ap proval of big ticket projects took place during a meeting chaired by Odisha chief secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra in state capital Bhubaneswar, the govern ment said in a statement.

The industrial projects cleared in the meeting hailed to sectors like power and renewable energy, chemicals, information technology, electronics sys tem design and manufactur ing, oil and gas, metal down stream, tourism, technical textiles and infrastructure.

The Odisha government said four of the approved projects are being set up in Khordha while the remain ing six will be set up in Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapa da, Balasore, Keonjhar and Angul. The single window clearance authority also ap proved the proposal of Lu

‘We are facing ‘5th wave’ of debt crisis’

Gurugram: Axiom Land base, one of the leading real estate advisory firms of Gurugram, is all set to host the biggest property expo in Gurugram, which will serve as the one-stop property solution for all the real estate needs of visi tors. It will see large-scale participation by renowned developers in the NCR. All esteemed realtors from the NCR, dealing in diverse real estate segments, will register their presence to showcase the best of their projects.

New Delhi: World Bank President David Malpass has said the world is facing a “fifth wave of debt crisis” and called for more support for the countries that are in distress. He said about $44 billion in debt service pay ments from bilateral and private debt service have become due in 2022 alone.

He said, “I am worried about the debt levels, wor ried about the individual countries… In 2022 alone, around $44 billion in debt service payments from bi lateral and private debt service have become due in some of the poorest coun

tries, bigger than the for eign aid flows the coun tries could hope for.,” Mal pass added that the world right now is “in the midst of what I think is a fifth wave of debt crisis”.

Separately, during a con ference call, he told report ers that India has been one

INDIA IS AWARE OF DEBT DISTRESS: PM MODI

AIMS TO BE INT’L INDUSTRIAL HUB

z Odisha govt is seeking to not just be an industrial leader in Eastern India but also in East and South East Asia, leveraging its costal advantage

z State govt contributing to the development of Odisha as an industrial hub in Eastern India

minous Power Technologies Private Limited to set up a manufacturing unit of new technology eco-friendly Bat teries Fuel Cell, Advanced Chemistry Cell, and power storage and solar batteries in Angul Aluminium Park with a proposed investment of Rs 481 Crores generating employment for over 1,150 people in the state.

New Delhi (PTI): Band han Bank on Saturday said its collection efficiency ra tio (CER) increased to 97%, excluding NPAs and in cluding restructured ac counts, at the end of the second quarter of the cur rent fiscal. The bank’s CER stood at 96% at the end of the first quarter of the 2022-23 financial year. Its collection efficiency ratio at the end of the JulySeptember period of FY’23 for microlending increased to 95% as compared to 94% which it registered at the end of the previous quarter, a spokesperson of the pri vate lender said. The ratio for other advances stayed at 99 per cent both in the first and second quarters of FY’23. CASA (current ac count, savings account) ra tio at the end of the second quarter fell to 40.8% as com pared to 44.6% t in the same period last fiscal.

WhatsApp’s cloned app claimed to be spying

New Delhi (Agencies):

party version of What sApp. These malicious programmes can record audio and video in addi tion to having many other surveillance features.

India’s G-20, this

been

of the leaders in digitisation that empowers and expands the social safety net, Mal pass said. Responding to a question on India taking over the presidency of G-20 in December, Malpass said there is a potential focus on debt. I think the world is at a point where there can be

he said.

progress made for a more effective common frame work, he said. India, he said, is an important credi tor, for example, in Sri Lan ka and also in some of the heavily indebted countries of Africa. So, India as the chair of the G-20 has an op portunity there, he said.

The India is one of the na tions with the largest num ber of Android trojan de tections, a new report has warned. It also said that WhatsApp’s cloned app is leading in spying on people`s chats in the coun try. The cloned app is the third-party unofficial ver sion of WhatsApp.

According to the report by cyber-security firm ESET, ‘GB WhatsApp’ was behind a large part of An droid spyware detection in the last four months. It is a popular but cloned third-

“The cloned app is not available on Google Play and, therefore, there are no security checks in place compared with the legiti mate WhatsApp, and ver sions available on various download websites are rid dled with malware,” said the report.

The report also exam ined threats mostly im pacting home users.

TRIDIB

O

ne thing that can be said with certainty about politics is that neither are there ‘allweather’ friends nor enemies. Perhaps this was the reason why in his Dussehra rally at Shivaji Park, where Ud dhav Thackeray was cursing BJP in his fer vent address on Oct 5, sources reveal that on occasion of Navratri, Uddhav’s wife Rashmi Thackeray and Maha rashtra’s Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis have held a meeting at a well known Mumbai based businessman’s residence. If sources are to be believed, Fad navis is constantly try

ing to make a deal be tween Uddhav’s Shiv Sena once again. It is said that this Navratri party was organized by businessman’s wife, since Uddhav’s wife Rashmi Thackeray is one of her integral friends, so an invitation had already been sent to her. Inviting Fad navis to the event, busi ness family had told him ‘Rashmi is also go ing to come.’ And this meeting of Rashmi Thackeray & Fadnavis lasted for one and a half hours. According to sources, Fadnavis told Rashmi ‘if your Shiv Sena gives up its claim for post of CM, then we can come together. You can also get the benefit of this in BMC elec tions.” Fadnavis fur ther said that ‘Aditya Thackeray will be given full respect in this alli ance, but we should avoid personal attacks on each other’. It is said that Rashmi asked Fad navis if his plans had support of the central leadership & if it hap pens, what will you do with Eknath

Shinde? To this Fad navis said, “Shinde is our problem. Leave him to us. He has MLAs which you don’t have.” Rashmi has promised Fadnavis that she will speak to Uddhav.

GEHLOT AGREED, BUT WAS MAKEN’S HANDLING OF RAJ ‘CRISIS’ IMMATURE?

What really tran spired during the meeting between Sonia Gandhi and Ashok Ge hlot when the political whirlwind hit Ra jasthan Cong a few days back. Highly placed sources in grand old party have revealed that KC Venugopal had accompanied Ashok

and, according to sourc es, an emotional Sonia asked Gehlot an impor tant question, “I always trusted 2 people blindly, one was Ahmed Patel and other is you. But I was disappointed by the developments in Ra jasthan.” Gehlot also presented his explana tion on Sonia’s ques tion and said, “Madam, your people have made a mistake. Ajay Maken was in a hurry. I was ready to leave the post of CM even before con testing for the post of President, but your peo ple had already started pressurizing the MLAs’ that they have to choose their new leader now or at least convey ments to mand. I tried to en and make him understand but he did not

even consider it neces sary to meet me. Where as Ajay Maken spoke to Sachin Pilot at least ten times that day. So shouldnt I even defend myself, mam?” On this, Sonia replied to Gehlot and said, “Cong will have to do ‘face saving’ and ‘damage control’ in Raj.” In such a situa tion, it was decided be tween the two leaders that after the election of Cong President, Cen tral Observers will be sent from Delhi to Ra jasthan who will talk to the MLAs in a group of 5 legislators each. Any decision on the new leadership will be taken only when they explore their mind.

AKHILESH’S ‘NO’ TO NITISH’S ‘ROAD MAP’ OF KURMI POLITICS

general elections, Nit ish’s JDU will contest from 17 LS seats in Bi har while 17 seats will be given to RJD and the remaining 6 seats for Cong and Left. So, San jay Jha, a very close friend of Nitish, has advised him that ‘JDU should contest more elections on 15 Kurmi dominated seats out side Bihar. JDU is also going to field candi dates in MP, West Ben gal, Jharkhand, Odisha and Gujarat. If sources are to be believed, San jay Jha reached Luc know as Nitish’s spe cial envoy & urged SP supremo Akhilesh Ya dav to ‘organize meet ings for Nitish in Kur mi-dominated districts like Basti,

Jha and said, “Give time to think, I will re spond.” When Akhile sh’s call did not come for a long time, then Tejashwi called Akh ilesh at Nitish’s behest and asked him his opin ion about this. He said that “when my party is not entering Bihar, why do you want to come to UP?” Tejashwi sensed what Akhilesh said. Mamata Banerjee also had similar views about this. Jharkhand CM He mant Soren said after much hesitation that ‘he can give up one of his seats for Nitish as per agreement.’ MP’s Rewa is also a Kurmi dominated seat from where Buddsen Patel came for the first time by winning the election in 1996. But UP is slip ping out of Nitish’s hands, where after Bi har, there is a 9 percent Kurmi population. San jay Jha also hopes that he will convince Akh ilesh for this soon.

TENSION IN KCR

now visible in public.

Recently, when KCR changed name of his regional party ‘TRS’ to ‘BRS’ and made his in tentions clear that now his eyes are on national politics, his daughter Kavita was absent. She has not found a place in the team of 87 leaders in charge of campaign ing & management for by-election to be held in Monogode assembly seat of Telangana. KTR himself is blaming elec tion strategist Prashant Kishor and claims that PK had come to Hy derabad to meet Kavita and his cousin Harish Rao. KTR suspects that PK has put various ide as in kavita & his broth er’s minds that they are being sidelined in party. Since then, the rebel lion of Kavita has start ed taking shape. Any way, when a BJP MP dragged Kavita’s name in Delhi’s liquor scam, party did not come to her rescue. KTR has also ex

B

ihar CM Nitish Kumar is taking the 2024 general elec tion a little too seri ously and it is likely that in the 2024

Cocaine worth `502 cr seized

The contraband was found in a container loaded with green apples coming in from South Africa

Mumbai: The Directo rate of Revenue Intel ligence (DRI) has seized more than 50kg of “high-quali ty” cocaine worth Rs502 crore from a container carrying fruits at the Nhava Sheva Port in neigh bouring Navi Mum bai, an official said on Saturday.

This is one of the largest seizures of co caine attempted to be

smuggled through sea containers in the re cent past, he said, add ing that the drug was seized on Thursday.

Notably, the an nouncement comes a

day after officials seized 120kg mephed rone in raids in Mum bai and Gujarat.

“DRI’s Mumbai zonal unit had received intel ligence inputs about the

consignment, which was brought to Nhava Sheva Port from South Africa by an importer who was arrested by the DRI in the case involv ing the seizure of 198kg methamphetamine and 9kg cocaine from a con signment of oranges earlier this week. Ac cordingly, the container was identified and opened in the presence of the DRI officials, fol lowing which it was re vealed that a large num ber of bricks made up of high-quality cocaine and weighing approxi mately 1kg each, were concealed inside the boxes of green apples,” an official statement said.

A total of 50 such bricks cumulatively weighing 50.23kg and valued at Rs502 crore in the international mar

ket were recovered dur ing the examination, it said. This container was brought to India by the same importer, who was arrested by the DRI in the case involv ing the seizure of 198kg methamphetamine and 9kg cocaine from a con signment of oranges originating from South Africa at Vashi earlier this week, the official said.

The importer was ar rested by the DRI offi cials under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotrop ic Substances Act, he said.

This is a part of a se ries of large drug sei zures made by DRI, Mumbai zonal unit ranging from 198kg of methamphetamine, 9kg cocaine to 16kg her oin in the last 10 days, officials claimed.

FAMILY, BLAME ON PK Even though the po litical ambitions of Telangana CM Chan drashekhar Rao are to rise to national stage, all is not well in his house. The differences between his son KTR & daughter Kavita are

Mistake in sonography report leads to woman’s death, doctor booked

Thane (PTI): Police on Saturday registered an offence of culpable homicide not amount ing to murder against a doctor for allegedly giving a wrong sonog raphy report of a pregnant woman lead ing to her death in Thane district, an of ficial said.

An offence under sec tion 304 (A) (culpable homicide not amount ing to murder) has been registered against a doc tor who runs a sonogra phy centre in Kalyan town, the official said.

The 28-year-old wom an was undergoing treatment at a hospital in Kalyan between March and April 2021, during which she was referred to a sonogra phy centre, where the

accused doctor allegedly issued a report stating that the baby’s growth was not proper, he said. Based on the report, the woman was given abortion pills, which led to her death. The doc tor’s mistake and negli gence resulted in the woman’s death, the offi cial from Kongaon police station said. No arrest has been made so far.

FROM P1…

BCI comes... as the CJI. The Bar Council of India has thoroughly examined the contents of this 165 pages long letter and it finds that it is nothing but a scurrilous and ma licious attempt to inter fere with the functioning of Judiciary and the ad ministration of Justice.”

Notably, a complaint was been filed before the President Droupadi Murmu, Central Vigi lance Commission, and PM Narendra Modi for “corruption and misuse of Supreme Court”. The said complainant has ac cused the Justice of mis using his office in grant ing favour to a company for which his son repre sented as an advocate and granting benefits of thousands of crores to vaccine and pharma companies by his order wherein he had suggest ed people take the Covid vaccine.

Be it Adani, Ambani or Jay Shah, we welcome all: Raj CM

& Ziauddin

Jaipur: Criticising the BJP for mocking the Congress after he praised industrialist Gautam Adani during the Invest Rajasthan summit, Chief Minis ter Ashok Gehlot on Saturday said it was not a private pro gramme and 3,000 del egates attended it.

Be it Adani or Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s son Jay Shah, Rajasthan will welcome all because it wants in

vestment and employ ment, Gehlot said.

“It is not a private event, it is an investors’ summit. Are 3,000 dele gates (who attended the

summit) of the Con gress?” Gehlot asked, asserting their ideolo gies could be that of the Congress or the BJP.

“In such a situation,

RAJ GOVT HASN’T GIVEN PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT TO ADANI: RAHUL GANDHI

Turuvekere: A day after Gautam Adani pledged huge investments in Rajasthan, Rahul Gandhi said on Saturday the Congress government in the state has not given any preferential treatment to the industrialist and asserted that he is not against corporates but monopolies. Addressing a press conference here, Gandhi also said if the Rajasthan government gives business to Adani wrongly, he will oppose that. The BJP mocked the Congress on Friday after CM Ashok Gehlot lavished praise on Adani.

why do they want to cre ate a hurdle? I condemn these people. They talked about Gautam Adani yesterday (Fri day). Be it Gautam Ada

ni or any Adani, or Am bani or Amit Shah’s son Jay Shah, we will wel come all of them here.

We want employment, we want investment,”

Jairam Ramesh @Jairam_Ramesh

Much hype is be ing created over Gehlot's meet with Adani. Adani wants to invest `60,000 cr in Rajasthan. No CM will say don't invest. There are NO special rules or policies for Adani by RJ Govt. Gehlot is very much against cro nyism of the Modi variety.

the chief minister said. It was not clear why Gehlot clubbed Jay Shah’s name with those of industrialists Am bani and Adani as the

Union home minister’s son is not known to have any major busi ness interest.

Congress leader Ra hul Gandhi often high lights Adani to allege that Prime Minister Nar endra Modi only helps big business people.

Adani, the chairman of the Adani Group and the richest man in Asia, was seated next to Ge hlot during the inaugu ral ceremony of Invest Rajasthan, organised by the Congress-run state government to attract investment.

and valued at Rs502 crore were recovered. —PHOTO BY ANI

Chandrashekhar Rao

Ashok GehlotDevendra Fadnavis

Nitish Kumar

Naresh

CM Ashok Gehlot with Gautam Adani at the summit. —FILE PHOTO

Nothing expresses happi ness like flowers. They have the remarkable capac ity to make people smile and lift their spirits. That is why flowery motifs and patterns are always used by designers in their collections. If you’re anything like us, you prefer to have flowers around you in some man ner, shape, or form, whether you have fresh blossoms on your nightstand or your favourite dress has flowers over it. In the textile business, there are several flower print and pattern varieties, such as antique floral pat terns, tropical floral patterns abstract and stylised floral patterns which are the favourite of most women.

Florals may provide a splash of col our to Indian festival attires. It adds to the festive atmosphere, floral prints were prominent at numerous fashion events, including Couture Fashion Week SS21 in Paris. Chanel, Fendi, Dior, Viktor& Rolf and Giambattista Valli, all embraced the freshness of flowers in their designs. Florals have been popular in fashion for millennia.

During special occasions, ancient Greek and Roman ladies wore fra grant head crowns and garlands composed of flowers, leaves, and herbs. Floral motifs are stitched with gold and silver threads onto the velvet dresses of Eu rope’s affluent throughout the Medieval Ages.

FLORALS IN THREE DIMENSIONS

3D floral designs are an incredible strategy to bring the charm of flowers to life. “Team 3D floral blouses with jeans, shorts, or even a smart pair of joggers for a casual style.” When paired and matched correctly, it may also be the ideal day appearance. They also look great for a sophisticated party dress.

FLOWERS ON FLOWERS

If implemented right, printover-print looks may be a lot of fun. “Flowery paired with floral look remarkably good.

Floral designs stand out even more when paired with stripes and gingham. However, bear in mind that over-styling might ruin the effect.

MRIDULA SHARMA cityfirst@firstindia.co.in

Florals are a sign of beauty and youthfulness, they are ageless and that much is certain! City First brings you some most romantic floral pieces to float around this season

JEWELLERY IDEAS TO EXPRESS YOUR ROMANCE!

From voicing love to cherishing the memories of love, Jewelry is the way you can make a person feel special and desired. A Fine piece of the gem is capable to bring the feeling of affection towards one another. The feeling of being trapped in the world of love is magical and what makes it more ravishing is exhibiting it in a most memorable way. If you are scheduling to make a moment special for your loved ones, a jewel that expresses your feelings would work as the cherry on top.

is a pendant, ring or bracelet the aesthetic design makes the most popular jewellery to gift these days. An open heart pendant that split open in between leaving a space to add a picture or symbols that you cherish the most.

GLIMMERING GEMSTONES

vigilant about how pre cious they are to you.

POSY RINGS

in expressing a soppy feeling of attachment towards each other.

ew jewellery specialists ex plore the uni versal set of jewellery that symbolizes love and eter nity from ancient to the current world and how the innovation of this jewellery has impro vised over the years that evokes the feeling of love and affection Certain jewellery in novations that occur between ancient to pre sent times that could cheer up your love life and showcase your im pregnable love for each other.

ROSE QUARTZ RINGS

Rose quartz is a stone that expresses love and compassion. Its pale pink colour exhibits emotions of undenia ble love for your mate. it has translucent transparency and is in hexagonal crystal seems perfect for the girl you dream to spend the with rest of your life. only this but its warm tone promotes the feeling of self-love. In case you are on low self-esteem gifting a rose quartz ring or necklace can make you feel worthy and beauti ful.

OPEN HEART PENDANT

Open hearts jew ellery is one of the most trendy sets of jewel lery between couples. It allies with the feeling of love, compas sion, beauty and faith. Whether it

It may sound cheesy but just like a real Diamond never loses its shine, a true feeling of affection last forever. To outshine the crowd of people lead ers and powerful figures wears diamond crowns to let people know about their superiority since a Diamond symbolizes power and strength. Pre senting diamond jewel lery to your loved ones can make them

A simple Gold plated ring with a secret poem or a message written outside or inside of the ring makes it special and unique. The term ‘posy’ is driven by the word poesie, it is a me dieval time design popu lar in the 15th to 17th century in both Eng land and France, it is gifted mostly as the feel ing of love and friend ship. The language in which the quotation was written was Nor man French, French, Latin and English used in later times.

CUPID DESIGN JEWELS

Cupid jewels play a sig nificant role

There are several de signs with the Cupid concept but the most popular one is ‘The Power of Love,’ which features a playful take on romance in a ring that has cupid abscond ing with a flaming heart set with ruby from Eng land circa designed in the year 1725 engraved with the English in scription ‘Stop Thief ‘ at the Victoria and Al bert Museum, London.

DRIED RED TULIP PENDANT

Most people love flow ers but what makes them questionable is their short lifespan. Each flower symboliz es a different meaning of love hence the Red tulip represents the declaration of love. Spending cash on ex pensive bouquets is not worth knowing it will wilt within the days. Instead of a pendant with dried flowers would be an amazing deal. Dried Flowers can symbolize the most treasured memories. Dried flowers impro vise the way of think ing about beauty, gift ing dried flower jewel lery can bring differ ent meanings to your

INTERLINK PENDANT

A simple set of pendants with a huge meaning be hind it. It consists of two interlocked geo metrical symbols representing two people. It looks ele gant and classy and can be worn on the daily basis will do all justice to the feeling of the person that has gifted you a specific kind of ornament keeping it close to your heart all the time.

CHEERS TO ALL LADIES & GENTELMEN

A formal wear bash in the Western dress code, commonly known as Black Tie Party was organised at Notion, Sahkar Marg Jaipur, a newly opened Restaurant on Saturday. The British and European-inspired party was organised by Youth Icon Rishee Miglani and Priyambi Rajawat. The party enthusiasts were dressed up in dashing suits and pretty gowns, which made the aura mesmerizing. During the bash, Priyambi Rajawat said, “Black Tie Gala, is an amazing royal gala night inspired by the British Culture, for the first time in Jaipur, where we brought antiquity and culture with a very formal event, where people are envisioned to be elegant and they are predicted to see the culture and talk about food and good music as well as enjoy a little taste of UK and we are looking forward to seeing everyone.” During the occasion, Rishee said, “This is very exciting and

did a party like this for the first time, the party had warm vibes with the coolest people in the town, all were wearing formal and were enjoying the night in the most happening way. It was indeed a night Jaipur can not forget.”

—PHOTOS BY SUNIL SHARMA

Priyambi, Meghna, Rishee and Tanay Vriti, Wrickie, Rishee and Priyambi

Ratika and Kavita

Mandakini taking a selfie

Priyambi and Meghna Deepti and Atin

Sujata, Rishee, Hiyavi , Ashna and Karan

Devraj, Nisha and Anju

Deviya and Shaina

Shiksha and Abhishek

Inder and Rishee

Rishi, Ashima and Priyambi

Neha

Suvrat and TanyaAnjula, Mohit and Jassi

Ankit, Payal and Rohit

Kirti Rathore

Dhruv, Khushi, Divisha and Vaibhav Richa and Jitendra

Raj Choudhary, Deepti Saini, Karan Vig, Dr Poonam

Madan and Farha Ansari

Radhika

Lakshay and Erica on their song ‘TUMHE PYAAR KARUNGGA’

The first glimpse of Harshvardhan and Sonia as Tara and Bilal created quite a stir amongst the audience for its distinc tive look. Giving a sneak peek into the world of Tara and Bilal, makers unravelled the trailer of the film on Saturday and it promises lots of drama with an added twist of love in the life of two extreme oppo sites- Tara and Bilal.

Tara Vs Bilal

akshay Ka poor released his first nonfilm song, “Tumhe Pyaar Karungga” with VYRL Originals.

The song is produced by the talented duo Javed - Mohsin and penned by Rashmi Vi rag. The music video features the singer, Lakshay Kapoor, along side popular television actor Erica Fernandes.

Ashish Tiwari of First India spoke exclusively with the star cast.

The song is garner ing a lot of praise, speaking on the same Lakshay said, “The song is being loved and praised and that was our target. It’s a natural and a relata ble music video”. Erica added, “ It’s a very sim ple but lovely song, both visually and vo cally”

Sharing their first impressions of each other Erica Said, “ I couldn’t believe he’s a singer, a combination like him is very rare”

Lakshay add ed, “Indeed as she didn’t believe that I am the one who’s sung the song she made me sing basi cally before the shoot I had to audition for it. As I am an introvert she took the effort to know me and took me for a walk ” Lakshay gracefully manages to bounce from business to sing ing to now acting, speaking on the same

he shared, “ I have worked on my business for years and now it’s a successfully running company and I am very proud of it. Also, I have great support from my family. Singing was my mom’s dream so I be lieve she has manifest ed this”

Being a debutant to KJO, Lakshay said, “ His message to me was the start of my beauti ful journey in this in dustry and no matter

what I can never forget it” Speaking on being friend zoned or the con cept of one-sided love they shared, “ I have never been friend zoned I always believe in opening up of the feelings to the person because there’s always a chance that every thing might work out” Lakshay added, “I am very Shy and lazy to work so I have avoided falling in love “ Sharing their best

memories from the shoot they said, “Since it was my first shoot everything was magi cal for me and undoubt edly two of the best days of my life”

“I have no regrets with my song in Liger, it only proved that the audience does listen to the music and audio even though the movie didn’t do well at the box office,” said Lakshay on his song in Liger get ting praises.

Shivam Sharma to Join MTV Splitsvilla 14

Any reality show only works if the audience and view ers are entertained but when the levels of fun drop, the channels decide to bring in some popular characters to spice up the show. Shivam Sharma is that interesting element that MTV Splitsvilla Season 14 needs to amp up their audience’s in terest and he is going in the show as a Wild Card Entry! Shivam Sharma was seen in the dating-based re ality show Splitsvilla 13 in 2021. He had paired oppo

SHAMA SIKANDER’S NAVRATRI LOOK

Navratri is a time that almost everyone loves and is hyped about. If there’s any thing that gets us into the spirit of Navratri, it’s the right Garba playlist and the beautiful Outfits that we see on our Bollywood actresses.

Taking Navratri ethnic fashion to a higher level is Shama Sikander in a black and red Chanya choli set that was all about sparkles. The skirt had sequins, lacework and gold borders, which made it stunning. The actress paired it with a backless full-sleeve black crop top

and a coloured bandhani dupatta that featured deli cate lacework and captured the very spirit of Navratri.

Shama opted for heavy sil ver necklaces that went amazingly with the outfit and wore statement silver bangles with earrings and rings as accessories. She had her hair up in a tradi tional fashion and looked just perfect with lovely makeup.

Shama Sikander shared a picture on her Instagram handle in this striking en semble, and her fans just can’t stop drooling over these stunning pictures of the actress.

site Pallak Yadav and stood second in the season. He won every heart the first time around and we are sure will do an amazing job this season as well. Shivam

and Pallak were the fourth ideal match in the show. From doing mimicry and creating his slogan in the house to keep ing everyone entertained in Kangana Ranaut’s Lock Upp, Shivam Shar ma is one hell of a contest ant in any reality show he enters.

Chairman and Man aging Director of T-Se ries, Bhushan Kumar added, “Our aim has al ways been to entertain the audience to their fullest and Tara Vs Bilal will be another example of it.” Speak ing about the film Harshvardhan Rane said, “After my debut film, people on social media have been requesting filmmakers to cast me in a romantic film again, I am so grateful to Bhushan sir and John sir for giving the audi ence a film full of sweet ro mance after a long long

time”.

Leading lady Sonia Rathee expressed, “Tara is a character very close to my heart. It was a blast working with Harshvardhan and the entire team. I hope the audiences enjoy our film as much as we’ve enjoyed the making of it.”

Pro ducer

John Abraham said, “Tara Vs Bilal is a story that will make you laugh, cry and fall in love with Tara and Bilal at the same time. I’m ex tremely glad to have such talented actors like Harshvardhan and So nia to bring out a story so pure that will surely touch audiences heart.”

Tara Vs Bilal is set in London and teaches you the importance of fam ily, love and overcoming your inner demons, tak ing you on a rollercoast er ride of emotions.

Rahul Choudhry, Editor, Digital, TV9 Network along with his wife Aditi Awasthi, Senior Anchor, Zee News celebrated their daughter Adira’s first birthday with much enthusiasm at The Deck, Unitech Golf Course, Noida on Friday. Jagdeesh Chandra also sent his wishes on the occasion of their daughter’s birthday via bouquet and wished the young kid all the best for future endeavours. The glittering party was attended by the who’s who of the media industry including, Hemant Sharma, Director, TV9 Network, Sudhir Chaudhary, Consulting Editor, Aajtak, Rubika Liyaqat, ABP Network, Nishant Chaturvedi, TV9 Bharatvarsh, Dinesh Gautam, TV9 Bharatvarsh, Aditi Tyagi, ZeeNews and Sandeep Unnithan, Editor News9 Plus.

A

lways adored for their strong bond, Shetty sis ters, Shamita Shetty and Shilpa Shetty have stirred excite ment amongst their fans as they shared a video of them together dropping hints on something exciting coming up very soon.

Shilpa and Shamita aka Tunki and Munki have been the fan’s favourite sibling duo of B Town. Though the two together, have only appeared once on the silver screen in the film Fareb, audiences have loved their

fun banter whether on so cial media or during their interviews.

Surprising the fans via revealing a Behind The Scenes, Shamita Shetty and Shilpa Shetty shared a video of them having fun while they were on the sets of something ‘coming soon.’ Escalating the ex citement amongst the fans, the Shetty sisters captioned the video, “Dil thaam ke baithiye... kyun ki... Coming soon... Munki and Tunki.”

The anticipations have already begun as the audi ence is dropping their guess in the comment section. From predicting a brand new show of the two togeth er to adoring their bond, the public clearly can’t keep calm to see the two together.

ASHISH

Glimpses from the song launch

(L-R) Karan Johar, Erica Fernandes and Lakshay Kapoor

Poster of the song

Lakshay Kapoor and Erica Fernandes

Shivam Sharma

Shama Sikander

Shamita Shetty and Shilpa Shetty

Harshvardhan Rane

Poster of the film