Chief Minister Eknath Shinde CHINA BLOCKS BID TO BLACKLIST AZHAR’S BRO Beijing: China on Thursday sought to defend its move to block a US-India proposal at the UN to blacklist Pakistan-based JeM deputy chief Abdul Rauf Azhar, saying it needs more time to assess the application to designate him as a global terrorist. P5 KIM JONG UN ‘SERIOUSLY ILL’ IN N KOREA COVID SURGE
With Dhankhar’s election as Vice-Prez, the presiding officers of both Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha will be from Rajasthan
8 IPS OFFICERS GET ED SUMMONS 24 ADDL DOMESTIC FLIGHTS FROM 20 New Delhi: The ED summoned 8 IPS officers in the WB coal scam case asking them to join its probe here in the national capital. Among those who were issued summons are IPS officers Gyanwant Singh, Koteswara Rao, S Selvamurugan, Shyam Singh, Rajeev Mishra, Sukesh Kumar Jain etc. New Delhi: Air India on Thursday said it will operate 24 additional domestic flights from August 20 onwards. Air India’s narrowbody aircraft fleet stands at 70, of which 54 are currently serviceable. The remaining 16 aircraft will progressively return to service by early 2023. READ Crucial Jammu (PTI): Two ter rorists carried out a ‘fi dayeen’ attack on an Army camp in Jammu’s Rajouri district early on Thursday, killing three soldiers. Both attackers were gunned down in the four-hour firefight that followed. Later, an other soldier, who had got injured in the attack, succumbed to injuries. “In the early hours on Thursday, alert sentries of the Indian Army post at Parghal, in Ra jouri district detected suspicious persons ap proaching their post taking advantage of the inclement weather and dense foliage,” PRO (de fence) Jammu Lt Col Devender Anand said. He said the sentries challenged the two ter rorists who lobbed gre nades while attempting to gain entry. However, alert troops cordoned the area and engaged them in a firefight thereby pin ning them, he said. Anand said in the en suing gunfight, the two terrorists were neutral ised. Six Army soldiers were injured and of them, three succumbed to injuries while repuls ing the attack, he said. Fourth jawan died later.
CM Shinde takes a two-day break for portfolio management Satish Nandgaonkar Mumbai: Chief Minis ter Eknath Shinde on Thursday left for his na tive Satara district where he will take a two-day break from the hectic politicking over cabinet expansion and portfolio allocation. He has told his faction to think over portfolio-re lated discussions in the larger interest of the Maha Yuti and get back to him when he returns. “Shinde has dis cussed with MLAs that they cannot demand all key portfolios, given that they share power with the BJP and will hence need to share key portfolios as well. He has given them two days to think over it, and said he will formal ly announce the portfo lios when he returns from his two-day break,” a person famil iar with the issue told FirstTheIndiaportfolio an nouncement was de layed due to disagree ments over three portfo lios that the Shinde camp wants, this per sonAbdulsaid. Sattar, who is likely to get Minority Affairs, also wants Ru ral Development, while Sanjay Rathod wants Social Welfare. The Shinde camp also wants the Agriculture minis try. Dada Bhuse from the Shinde camp was the Agriculture minis ter in the previous MVA dispensation.Pressurehas been building on the ShindeFadnavis duo after mas sive delays in the cabi net expansion. Nearly 40 days after they were sworn in as CM and Dy CM, they inducted 18 more ministers in the cabinet, but are yet to formally announce portfolios.Thosefamiliar with the issue said 22 more cabinet ministers are likely to be included in Phase 2 of the expan sion, either during the Ganesh Chaurthi festi val from August 31 to Sept 09 or after the Pit ru Paksh, a 15-day peri od considered inauspi cious. More significant ly, Shinde faction may get a share of 12 or more cabinet berths in Phase 2 expansion.Meanwhile, Shinde arrived in his native vil lage of Dare in Satara district and was sched uled to visit Turn to P5
CBI arrests TMC leader Anubrata Mondal Birbhum (ANI): The CBI on Thursday arrest ed TMC Birbhum dis trict president Anubrata Mondal who is known to be a close aide of CM Mamata Banerjee, in connection with the cat tle smuggling case. Mon dal is now being taken for a medical examina tion. Earlier today, a team of CBI arrived at Mondal’s residence in Birbhum’s Bolpur. The CBI on August 5 had sent a notice to Mondal for interrogation in connec tion with a cattle smug gling case, sources said.
Subedar Rajendra LakshmananRiflemanPrasad D Rifleman Manoj RiflemanKumar Nishant Malik A search operation is carried out by Army jawans after a militant attack on an army camp in the Darhal area, in Poonch on Thursday. —PHOTO BY ANI PM Narendra Modi waves ‘tricolour’ with girls who tied ‘rakhi’ to him on the Raksha Bandhan festival, in New Delhi, on Thursday.
(Clockwise from Top) Body of a dead militant; hand soldiers.theterrorist;fromrecoveredgrenadekilledandmartyerd —PHOTOS BY ANI Jagdeep Dhankhar @jdhankhar1 Felt blessed, inspired and motivated to be ever in service of Bharat in serene sublimity of Raj Ghat while paying respects to pujya Bapu.
MEXICAN PREZ FOR INCLUDINGPEACEGLOBALPANELMODI New Delhi: Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has written a letter to the UN proposing to set up a three-member committee, made up of three world leaders, including PM Narendra Modi, to promote a world truce for a period of five years. & MUMBAI
Sikar: In Khatu Shyamji stampede case, the police called the officials of the temple committee to Khatu Shyamji police station for questioning on Thursday. After 4 hours of questioning, the police released the office bearers by giving notice under Section 91 CrPC.
New Delhi (PTI): Jagdeep Dhankhar was on Thursday sworn in as the 14th Vice Presi dent of PresidentIndia. Droupadi Murmu administered the oath to Dhankhar (71) during a brief cere mony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. “Bahut-bahut badhai (many congratu lations),” Murmu said after Dhankhar signed the register of oath. Before the swearingin, the Election Com mission’s certification of election issued to Dhankhar was read out. PM Narendra Modi, Dhankhar’s predecessor M Venkaiah Naidu, for mer president Ram Nath Kovind, former VP M Hamid Ansari, and Union ministers Ra jnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nirmala Sitharaman and Nitin Gadkari were among the dignitaries present on the occasion. Once a “reluctant pol itician”, liticalreemergenceDhankhar’sintheposcenein2019as
President Droupadi Murmu greets newly sworn-in Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi, on Thursday. —PHOTO BY PTI
Mumbai: The Anti-Hu man Trafficking Unit (AHTU) of Mumbai po lice rescued 17 women, who were allegedly forced into prostitution, after conducting a raid in neighbouring Navi Mumbai, and arrested nine men for acting as agents, in an operation conducted August 05, an official said on Thursday.“Theaction was tak en after a woman ap proached the AHTU on August 04 with a com plaint stating that two persons named Raju and Sahil,” the police official stated, adding, “The duo would who would bring women from different states on the false promise of get ting them jobs as house maids in Mumbai. Then, the woman would be confined in an uni dentified place at Nerul in Navi Mumbai and forced into prostitu tion,” the police official said.Four teams of the AHTU conducted a raid at Shiravane village in Nerul and rescued 17 women and nine men, who acted as their agents, from the spot, hePolicesaid. have seized cash and mobile phones from the accused per sons, he said, adding that a minor Turn to P5
WB governor surprised many, so has his rise to Vice President’s office. Dhankhar was de clared elected as the Vice President on Saturday after he bagged 528 votes against his rival candi date Margaret Alva’s 182. A man of many inter ests, his legal career at Rajasthan High Court and Supreme Court and a brief stint as the par liamentary affairs min ister at the Centre will come in handy as he pre sides over Rajya Sabha.
New Delhi: PM Modi has said the Indian national flag does not contain only three colours in itself but is a reflection of the pride of our past, our commitment to the present and our dreams of the future. Addressing a Tiranga Rally in Surat via video conferencing, PM recalled that in a few days’ time, India is completing 75 years of independence. He said that all of us are preparing for this historic Independence Day as the Tricolour is hoisted in every corner of India.
OUR EDITIONS: JAIPUR, NEW DELHI
2nd expansion could be loaded in favour of Shinde faction as Bihar factor weighs on BJP
FIDAYEEN’ ATTACK ON ARMY CAMP IN RAJOURI
Pyongyang: Kim Jong Un’s sister said the North Korean leader suffered from a “high fever” during recent Covid outbreak, as she vowed to “eradicate” South Korean authorities if they continued to tolerate propaganda leaflets the regime blames for spreading the virus.
www.firstindia.co.in I https://firstindia.co.in/epapers/mumbai I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia MUMBAI l FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2022 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI TITLE NO. MAHENG/2022/14652 l Vol 1 l Issue No. 98
PM Modi celebrates Raksha Bandhan with staff’s daughters
Kolkata: Former West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) advisor Shanti Prasad Sinha and former SSC chairman Ashok Saha, who were arrested on Wednesday in connection with teacher recruitment scam, were sent to the CBI (CBI) custody. SOLDIERS, 2 TERRORISTS KILLED
When they formed the government, it was a 60:40 ratio in favour of the BJP. By the time the cabinet actually expanded, it had become 50:50. And in the second phase of ex pansion, it may well be 60:40 in Shinde camp’s favour and Bihar developments have a lot to do with it. —Person close to the development
‘
New Delhi (ANI): Prime Minister Naren dra Modi celebrated Raksha Bandhan with young girls at his resi dence, here on Thursday. This was a special Raksha Bandhan as these girls were the daughters of sweepers, peons, gardeners, driv ers, etc working at the Prime Minister’s Office. The PMO shared a video on the occasion in which PM Modi was seen celebrating the fes tival with the young girls. The Prime Minis ter was seen interacting with them as they came forward one-by-one to tie Rakhi.
TRICOLOUR IS INDIA’S PRIDE: PM MODI EX-SSC ADVISOR & CHAIRMAN SENT TO CBI CUSTODY
STAMPEDE5FALLSNO-CONFIDENCEINHIMACHALGRILLEDINKHATUCASE
AFTER OATH, VP INTERACTS WITH RAJYA SABHA OFFICIALS New Delhi: Soon after assuming charge as the Vice President, Jagdeep Dhankhar on Thursday visited his office as the Chairman of Rajya Sabha and interacted with officials. Dhankhar arrived at his Parliament House office in the afternoon and met Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh. He interacted with the officials and gathered details on his role as the Chairman of the Upper House of Parliament. In the morning, Dhankhar paid tributes at Raj Ghat, the memorial of Mahatma Gandhi.
17 women rescued, 9 agents held after prostitution racket busted
Shimla: A no-confidence motion moved by Congress and CPI-M against the Jai Ram Thakur govt in Himachal Pradesh was defeated by voice vote in the state Assembly on Thursday. The voting took place at 4.50 pm after the Opposition legislators walked out.
Jagdeep Dhankhar takes over as 14th Vice President of India
4
Raises whether MVA
BAC committee to end session on Aug 25 anddemandedmembersasmoreworkingdaysduetoholidaysweekendsinproposedschedule
questions on
Dhanush-Baan row: Thackeray faction gets 15 days to submit docs
2 3 First India Bureau Pune: Former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Pune district, Baburao Pacharne, died in a private hos pital at the age of 71 on Thursday follow ing a prolonged ill ness, sources close to him said. He is survived by a son, daughter and mem bers of their families. Pacharne had con tested the Shirur As sembly constituency in the district six times and represented it as a legislator twice, from 2004 to 2009 and from 2014 to Deputy2019.CM Devendra Fadnavis had paid a visit to the ailing for mer MLA at the hospi tal just a few days ago. Former BJP MLA Pacharne dies EC had asked the two warring factions to submit documents, including letters of support from the legislature and organizational wings of the Sena
lll TribunalNovemberQuashes2020orderbyMaharashtraAdministrativetorejectFirdousMohdPatel’spetitionforjoboncompassionategrounds Mumbai (PTI): The Election Commission is learnt to have given the Uddhav Thacker ay faction of the Shiv Sena 15 more days to submit documents in support of its claim on the party’s elec tion symbol. Last month, the Elec tion Commission had asked the rival factions of the Shiv Sena, led by Thackeray and Chief Minister Eknath Shin de, to submit docu ments by August 08 in support of their claims on the party’s election symbol—a “bow and ar row”.Following a request by the Thackeray fac tion, the EC has now asked it submit the doc uments by August 23, officialsRespondingsaid. to a ques tion on the plea by the Thackeray faction to postpone hearing on the matter by four weeks, sources said at present the EC has only asked for documents and the hearing will come later. The poll body had asked the two factions to submit documents, including letters of sup port from the legisla ture and organizational wings of the Shiv Sena, and their written state ments on the matter. Shinde and 39 other Shiv Sena legislators had revolted against the party leadership in June this year, leading to the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. The MVA dispensation was consisted of the Shiv Sena, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party. The Shinde camp joined hands with the BJP and formed the government in Maha rashtra subsequently.
STANDING WITH JUSTICE
New Delh (PTI): The BJP “washing ma chine” is now washing a Shiv sainik who has become a minister in the Maharashtra cabi net, after having been forced to resign when the saffron party was in the Opposition, said the Congress on Thursday. The swipe at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was an apparent reference to the induc tion of rebel Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Rathod into the state Rathodcabinet.hadresigned as an MVA minister last year, after his name was linked to the death of a woman in Pune. “Now the same machine is washing a Shiv Sainik who’s become a Minister now after having been forced to resign when BJP was in the Opposi tion,” Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a tweet. Cong takes dig at BJP over Rathod inductioncabinet It was neces sary that constituentsall of MVA discussed the is sue before selecting the LOP in the Legislative Council, but that did not happen. Let any one be appointed, but it was important that the three allies discuss it.
Cong-NCP bicker over Sena grabbing LOP post
1
First India Bureau Mumbai: The Maha rashtra state Assem bly’s Monsoon Session was extended by two days, and will now cul minate on August 25. The decision was tak en during a business advisory committee (BAC) meeting of the state legislature, held on Thursday. The meeting was chaired by Chief Minis ter Eknath Shinde and attended by group lead ers of all parties. The decision for an extended session came about due to the ‘Dahi Handi’ festi val that falls on August 19 this year. As it would be a holiday, and also be cause the Houses will not function over the weekends, the session has been extended. A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said committee members asked the sessions’ du ration to be extended, so that decisions that require the approval of both Houses can be taken.Atthe Thursday meet ing, Dada Bhuse and Uday Samant—two min isters from the Eknath Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena—were includ ed as party representa tives.Meanwhile, a delega tion of the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction of the Shiv Sena on Thurs day met with Maharash tra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar and asked him to include its MLAs in the House Busi ness Advisory Commit teeSunil(BAC). Prabhu, the chief whip appointed by Thackeray, said as the Thackeray-led party re mains the original Sena, its representatives should be part of the BAC which decides the business of the House during a session. The party recommended that he (Prabhu) and Ajay Choudhary be included in the BAC, Prabhu add ed.The appointments of both Prabhu and Chaud hary were contested by the rebel camp led by now Maharashtra CM Shinde.Choudhary was ap pointed leader of the Shiv Sena legislature party replacing Shinde after the latter rebelled against the MVA govern ment in June. We have asked the speaker to appoint our representatives to the BAC. He will take a legal opinion and decide, Prabhu said.
will continue to stay together
REMEMBERING BALASAHEB
NEWS MUMBAI | FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2022 02 www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epapers/mumbai I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
First India Bureau Mumbai: No adminis tration can be permit ted to take a heartless approach towards its own employees and their families, said the Bombay High Court on Thursday. It direct ed the atementowpoliceergovernmentMaharashtratoconsidtheapplicationofaconstable’swidseekingemployoncompassiongrounds.
—FILE PHOTO
The high court, while quashing a November 2020 order passed by the Maharashtra Adminis trative Tribunal reject ing Firdous’s applica tion, directed the Maha rashtra government to consider Firdous for compassionate employ ment by September 19. “No administration can be permitted to take so heartless an approach towards its own employ ees and their families. All that Firdous is seek ing is an opportunity to seek employment,” said the court.
—Nana Patole, Maharashtra Congress President
EX-GITANJALI GROUP VP GETS BAIL
In its August 04 or der—which was made available on Thursday— a division bench com prising Justice Gautam Patel and Justice Gauri Godse noted that the woman has been seeking an opportunity for em ployment for the last 14 years, but every single time the door has been shut on her face. The court was hearing a petition filed by 42-yearold Firdous Mohammad Patel, seeking a direc tion to the governmentMaharashtratoconsider her request for employ ment on compassionate grounds.Firdous had first ap plied to the government in 2009 after the death of her husband Moham mad Yunus Patel, a con stable with the Maha rashtra police, in 2008. This was rejected on the grounds that Patel had more than two children. As per the petition, Firdous was Patel’s sec ond wife. The couple had two children. In 2008, Pa tel and his first wife Rai sa died due to a fire inci dent. Patel and Raisa had threeRaisa’schildren.family and Fir dous then arrived at a settlement by which Raisa’s children would be solely entitled to Pa tel’s terminal benefits, such as provident fund and gratuity, while Fir dous would be entitled to apply for government service.
Consider employment plea of police constable’s widow: HC to govt
First India Bureau Mumbai: Shiv Sena’s partners in the Maha Vikas Aghadi, the Congress and NCP on Thursday voiced their displeasure over Sena unilaterally appoint ing Auranagabad MLC Ambadas Danve as the Leader of Op position in the Legis lative Council, trig gering speculation that the move could drive a wedge within the MVA. State Congress chief Nana Patole was the first to indicate that the Congress was not un happy with Uddhav Thackeray for recom mending Danve, who was then formally ap pointed by Deputy Speaker of the Legisla tive Council Neelam Gorhe, a senior Shiv Sena leader. “It was necessary that all constituents of MVA discuss the issue before selecting the LOP in the Legislative Council, but that did not happen. Let anyone be appointed, but it was important that the three allies discuss it,” Patole said. He added that the MVA was nev er a permanent politi cal formation but that it was agreed upon by the Congress high com mand in the interest of the people of Maha rashtra.Reacting to Patole’s statement, senior Con gress leader Ashok Chavan said, “Whatev er the state party presi dent decides is the offi cial position of the Con gress Party,” adding, “As the MVA, we are together, and the Con gress expects to be tak en into confidence be fore any important de cisions are taken.” While senior NCP leader Jayant Patil re fused to comment on Patole’s statements, he said, “It would have been better if the Shiv Sena had also consulted two other parties in the MVA but there were no discussions. Before NCP submitted a letter (for Ajit Pawar as LOP in the Assembly), discussions were held… LOP always tries to get the support of NCP’severyone.”Leader of Op position Ajit Pawar tried to do some dam age control. “Tradition ally, it is well estab lished that the party which has the highest number of members in the house gets the Lead er of the Opposition post. The Shiv Sena has 12 MLCs compared to 10 each of Congress and the NCP. Besides, it is the right of the Deputy Speaker to select the LOP. I think what is be ing pointed out is that a discussion between the alliance would have been better, but we don’t want to talk about it any further,” he said.
Maha Monsoon Session extended by two days
Newly appointed ministers of Maharashtra, Gulab Raghunath Patil, Dada Bhuse and others (1), Abdul Sattar (2), and Uday Samant (3) pay tribute at Balasaheb Thackeray Memorial, at Shivaji Park, in Mumbai on Thursday. —PHOTOS BY ANI
Ambadas Danve, LOP, Maha Legislative Council
The Uddhav Thackeray faction had also asked that the hearing on the issue be delayed by four weeks. — FILE PHOTO
First India Bureau
The London Blue Plaque scheme, run by the English Heritage charity, honours the historic significance of certain buildings across London. Naoro ji’s plaque was unveiled on Wednesday, as part of the 75th Independence.celebrationsanniversaryofIndianBorninMumbai,the
Women tie rakhis to a tree on the occasion of Rakshabandhan, in Karad on Thursday. —PHOTO BY PTI
Evacuations continue as rivers rise
Some rivers in the Vidarbha region were flooded after heavy rains and many from Bhandara and Chan drapur were shifted to safer places, they said. Heavy rains also caused damage to crops and an assessment sur vey was on, an agricul ture department offi cial said. In Gondia, a sports utility vehicle (SUV) carrying three persons was swept away in a swollen drain at Kidan gipaar on Wednesday night, district disaster management officer (DDMO) Rajan Choubey said.In Nagpur, flashwasKumarscientistMeteorologicalRegionalCentreDrPraveensaidthattherea“moderateriskoffloods”innext24 hours in a few areas of Vidarbha like Nagpur, Amravati, Wardha, Gadchiroli, Gondia, andInYavatmal.asliver of good news, the collective wa ter storage of Panshet, Warasgaon, Temghar and Khadakwasla dams, that provide wa ter to Pune, reached 90% following good rains in their catch ment areas, officials said. rides through a waterlogged street in Mumbai. —PHOTO BY ANI Arjun Tendulkar to play for Goa next domestic season?
Dadabhai Naoroji’s London house gets ‘Blue Plaque’ honour
Arjun Tendulkar seeks NoC from Mumbai after he was dropped from the side this season First India Bureau Mumbai: Maharash tra state.ganizedgrammeswithgustoRakshabandhancelebratedwithonThursday,severalprobeingoracrossthe
Women police constables on duty at the Vidhan Bhavan tied rakhis on the wrists of CM Shinde and Dy CM Fadnavis to mark the festival that celebrates the bond between brothers and sisters. —PHOTO BY ANI
ficialwellchokedKanhaningweregaon16rainsFollowingMumbai/Nagpur:heavyinNagpur,allgatesoftheNaveKhairidamopened,causfloodingintheriver,whichalltheintakestrainers,anofsaid.
New Delhi (PTI): Leg endary Sachin Ten dulkar’s son Arjun is all set to leave Mum bai and in all likeli hood will play for its south-western neigh bours Goa in the next domestic cricket sea son. The 22-year-old leftarm pacer, who has also been a part of In dian Premier League (IPL) franchise Mum bai Indians, has played two games for Mumbai, during the 2020-21 edi tion of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy against Haryana and Puduch erry respectively. It has been learnt that Tendulkar junior has already applied for No Objection Certifi cate (NoC) from his home association Mumbai Cricket Asso ciation thisforgroundgame“Getting(MCA).maximumtimeontheisimportantArjunTendulkaratjunctureofhisca reer. We believe that the shift will improve the probability of Ar jun featuring in more competitive matches. He is embarking on a new phase of his crick eting career,” said SRT Sports Management, which manages Ar jun’s career, in a state ment.For Tendulkar, the biggest disappoint ment has been getting dropped from the Mum bai squad this season without being given a chance to prove his mettle.People who have monitored his progress feel that the youngster has the right attitude and work ethic but does need consistent game time to showcase what he is capable of. A senior Goa Cricket Association (GCA) did acknowledge that Ten dulkar junior is expect ed to be considered among state’s pre-sea son“Weprobables.havebeen look ing out for left-hand bowling talent and also adding players to the middle order with mul tiple skills. In this con text, we invited Arjun Tendulkar to join the Goa side,” said Goa CA president Suraj Lot likar. By Aditi Khanna London: The south London home where Dadabhai Naoroji, a prominent member of the Indian free dom struggle and Britain’s first Plaque.memorativeouredyearslivedparliamentarian,IndianforabouteighthasbeenhonwithacomBlue
prominent Parsi na tionalist was an influ ential political and in tellectual force in both India and Britain. Much of his work was underpinned by his ‘drain of wealth’ theory on British colo nial rule, contending that India was impov erished by an expen sive foreign bureaucra cy for which it had to pay, and that any bene fits from the British presence there were incidental.Naoroji, often re ferred to as the grand old man of India, is re ported to have moved to Washington House—lo cated at 72 Anerley Park, Penge, Brom ley—in August 1897, at a time when his thoughts were turning increasingly towards full independence for India.“Much of his time here would have been occupied by his work as a member of the Welby Commission, set up by the British government to investigate wasteful spending in India,” the statement noted. His seminal work about the ‘drain of wealth’ theory, ‘Pover ty and Un-British Rule in India’ (1901) was published while he was livingAccordinghere. to re cords, Washington House functioned as an important centre for the Indian community in London, a place where many Indians were invited and where Indians travelled to if they were in trouble. Naoroji made seven trips to England and spent over three dec ades of his long life in London, English Herit age said in a statement.
A GRAND OLD HOME SIGNIFICANCE
There was no pump ing from the Kanhan Water Treatment Plant since 3am, affecting supply to many parts of Nagpur, he said. In Chandrapur, some low-lying areas were flooded due to backwaters of Wardha and Irai rivers. A disaster manage ment team from Nag pur went to Warora and Bhadravati tehsils in the morning to evac uate people residing near the Wardha river. Civic officials shift ed 332 flood-affected people to safer places, authorities said. The district admin istration has already sounded an alert for low-lying villages lo cated near the Wain gangaSomeriver.roads connect ing Rajura, Ballarpur, Bamni, Warora and Wani were cut-off due to the inundation of bridges, officials said. In Gondia and Bhandara, water en tered many houses af ter heavy rains. A number of fami lies from places.weredkepaarSanjaynagar,Gaurinagar,PininGondiashiftedtosaferApregnant woman was rescued from Dhadri village and taken to the subdistrict hospital of Ti rora, an official said. In Bhandara, the Wainganga river has crossed the danger mark, officials said. Collector Sandeep Kadam appealed to people to remain cau tious and not to ven ture near the overflow ing water bodies. The administration on Thursday shifted 183 families from Tum sar tehsil in Bhandara to safer places, DDMO Abhishek Naamdas said.All 33 gates of Go sikhurd dam were opened to release wa ter, an official said. In Gadchiroli, 17 traffic routes were af fected due to the flood ed drains and rivers, authorities said. In Kolhapur, where the rainfall has some what decreased, the Panchganga river level at Rajaram weir was at 41.7 feet at noon on Thursday, as against the warning level of 39 feet and the danger mark of 43 feet, offi cialsFoursaid. automatic gates of the theyratebeingopenedonlyactivitytheWednesday,wereRadhanagariupstreamdamopenedonbutduetodecreasedrainfallonThursday,twogateswereandwaterwasreleasedattheof4,456cusec,said.
MAHARASHTRA MUMBAI | FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2022 03 www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epapers/mumbai I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia IMD PREDICTS FLASH FLOODS IN VIDARBHA REGION SUV carrying three persons was personsinswollenawaysweptinadrainGondia;twosaved All 33 gates of the Gosikhurd dam have been opened to release water. —FILE PHOTO REPRIEVE FOR MUMBAI District Rainfall Nagpur 1,052.8 Chandrapur 1,263 Gadchiroli 1,263 Wardha 990.9 Bhandara 986.5 Gondia 998.8 Yavatmal 777.4 Amravati 642.5 Washim 610.2 Akola 456.6 Buldhana 442 RAINFALL IN THE SINCEREGIONJUNE 01 (in mm) Rakshabandhan celebrated with fervour A motorist
The red-brick home now has a plaque which reads: Dadabhai Naoroji 1825-1917 Indian Nationalist and MP lived here. —PHOTO BY PTI lll The grand old man of houseindependencestruggleIndia’sforIndianmovedtotheinBromleyinAugust1897andstayedthereforthelongest.Hence,itwaschosenforthecommemoration
First India Bureau Mumbai/Nagpur: The India son,traceeffortslaterTworainsdrainsawaypersonsThursday,VidarbhaflashpredictedDepartmentMeteorological(IMD)ariskoffloodsintheregiononeventhreeweresweptinswollenafterheavyinthestate.personswererescued,whilewereontothethirdperofficialssaid.
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis cel ebrated the occasion at Vidhan Bhavan, where women police consta bles on duty tied rakhis on their wrists to mark the festival that cele brates the bond between brothers and sisters. In neighbouring Thane city, members of different voluntary or ganizations tied rakhis for the inmates of the Thane Mental Hospital as well as the male staff ers of the central jail. Dr Netaji Mulik, su perintendent of the hospital, said the pa tients were delighted with the gesture. Thane central jail’s superintendent, Har shad Ahirrao, said the staff at the prison were overjoyed as they did not miss the festival de spite being on duty. At the Thane Civil Hospital, several NGOs and leaders of political parties distributed fruits to the patients. The festival was cele brated at all 50 attend ance sheds of the work ers of the Thane Mu nicipal Corporation (TMC). The female workers at the shed tied rakhis to their male col leagues and other office bearers of the corpora tion and officials. Swati Pandey, Postmaster General, India Post, Mumbai Region celebrates Rakshabandhan with sex workers from the city's Kamathipura area on Thursday. —PHOTO BY BHUSHAN KOYANDE
Nitish, known for frequently changing political partners, has clearly outmanoeuvred the BJP which was alleged to be plotting a Maharashtralike coup in Bihar J Bangladesh is not Sri Lanka yet, but price hikes, protests are worrisome
PERSPECTIVE MUMBAI | FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2022 04 www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epapers/mumbai I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia l Vol 1 l Issue No. 98 l RNI TITLE MAHENG/2022/14652NO.Printed and published by Anita Hada Sangwan on behalf of First Express Publishers. Printed at Dangat Media Pvt Ltd, No.22, Dighe MIDC, Vishnu Nagar, TTC Industrial Area, Dighe, Navi Mumbai-400701. Published at Plot No. 3 Scheme C of Manglorean Garden Home, CHS Limited, Survey No. 5, 6C (Part) Ville Parle East, Mumbai 400057. Editor-In-Chief: Dr Jagdeesh Chandra Editor: Anita Hada Sangwan responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act Dharmendra@dpradhanbjpPradhan Attended the oath-taking ceremony of Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar ji. Congratulate Shri Dhankar on being sworn-in as India’s 14th Vice President. Wish him the best for a fruitful and rewarding tenure. @jdhankhar1@VPSecretariat Bhupender@byadavbjpYadav Congratulations and best wishes to ‘Kisan Putra’ Shri @JDhankhar1 ji on being sworn-in as the Vice President of India. SPIRITUAL SPEAK If you want to be Great, Think Great and Positive. Bhagavad Gita IN-DEPTH WHO WILL BELL THE CAT TO CULTUREECONOMYSAVEFROMOFDOLES? he issue of freebies by political parties has reached an inter esting stage. After Prime Minister Nar endra Modi flagged the practice describing it as a drain on the economy and increasing taxpayers’ burden, the Supreme Court also took note of distribu tion of freebies by all political parties and, in the ongoing hear ing, observed that it is a “serious issue” as the economy is losing money. During arguments Solic itor-General Tushar Mehta, rep resenting the Central govern ment, said that the court can lay down a framework till the legis lature frames a law. The Su preme Court Bench of Chief Justice of India NV Ramana and Justice Krishna Murari refused to entertain the request as it “will go against the principles of Thedemocracy”.interesting part is that during the August 3 hearing the Supreme Court directed the Election Commission and two others to give suggestions to help the court pass an order on the formation of an expert panel on the issue. The EC refused to be a part of it.
NITISH MOVE MAKES OPPN HOPEFUL
Many feel the huge fuel price hike follows conditionalities possibly imposed by the IMF, from which Dhaka now ad mits to seeking a $4.5 billion support package. It is also seeking similar support from the World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB) to the tune of another $1.5Bangladeshbillion. Finance Min ister AHM Mostafa Kamal initially denied seeking bail out packages from multilat eral lenders but now says they come without any condi tions. He insists the fuel price hike was necessary to stop bleeding losses of nearly $8 billion due to fuel subsidies in the last few months, since the Ukraine war led to a huge spurt in global energy prices. Bangladesh may not yet be in the same boat as Sri Lanka or Pakistan as it still has enough forex reserves to pay for four to five months of im ports, but rising fuel import costs and possible drop in ex port earnings due to power rationing and global reces sion may have prompted Dhaka to seek a safe cushion before it is too late. Regardless of why the gov ernment had to impose the drastic fuel price hike and seek support packages from IMF, World Bank or ADB within a month of high volt age publicity of having suc cessfully built the 6.15 km railroad bridge on River Pad ma without World Bank funding and with the coun try’s own resources, there is no doubt that these develop ments are raising uncomfort able questions over Bangla desh’s much-touted turna round success story and ex posing chinks in its armour.
WHY INDIA SHOULD BE WORRIED India has much cause for worry over the sudden turn of events in Bangladesh. In the first place, the wave of public agitation over an unpopular government deci sion is attracting many in cluding apparently unaffili ated student and labour groups to join street agita tions. Even transport opera tors are threatening shut downs unless they are allowed to raise fares to manage high fuel prices impacting their cost of operations. This gives the Islamist opposition a huge opportunity to step up their agitation to bring down the Hasina government. The leading Opposition par ty, the BNP, and its ally proPakistan Jamaat-e-Islami are clearly buoyed by this Godsend of an opportunity. No longer are they seeking parliament polls, due at end of 2023, under a caretaker government, as was the case a month ago. BNP leaders are now threatening a massive agitation to bring down the Hasina government. Any threat of forcible regime change in Dhaka should worry Delhi.
SOURCE: THE FEDERAL T DHAKA’S DAILY STAR DESCRIBED ENERGY PRICE HIKE AS “HIGHEST EVER IN BANGLADESHHISTORY”
SUBIR BHAUMIK The writer is a former BBC correspondent and author PHOTO—FILE
In the first place, the wave of public agitation over an unpopular govt decision is attracting many including apparently unaffiliated student and labour groups to join street agitations. Even transport operators are threatening shutdowns unless they are allowed to raise fares to manage high fuel prices impacting their cost of operations he recent wave of agitations over an unprecedented fuel price hike in Bangladesh is raising concerns in Delhi, adding to worries over a trou bled neighbourhood after un precedented economic crises hit Sri Lanka and Pakistan. The India-friendly Awami League government on Au gust 5 suddenly raised the prices of diesel and kero sene by 42.5% and petrol and octane by 51.1% and 51.7%, respectively. The fuel price increase led to a hike in public transport fares with an immediate cascad ing effect on food prices and those of other essential commodities.Dhaka’sDaily Star de scribed the energy price hike as “the highest ever in Bang ladesh history”. Coming as it does after huge power cuts to conserve costly fuel and han dle a sharp drop in domestic natural gas output, which is adversely impacting on in dustrial production especial ly in the export-driven ready made garments sector, the fuel price hike is causing much public angst.
LOAN CONDITIONALITIES
ANY THREAT OF FORCIBLE REGIME CHANGE IN DHAKA, LOSS OF CONNECTIVITY TO BANGLADESH PORTS, ATTACKS ON RELIGIOUS MINORITIES ARE ALL A CONCERN FOR INDIA
TOP TWEETS T anata Dal-United leader Nitish Ku mar has ignited hope in the Oppo sition camp by snapping his alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party in Bihar. It is a setback with which the BJP is still trying to come to terms. Nitish, known for frequently chang ing political partners, has clearly out-manoeuvred the BJP which was alleged to be plotting a Maharashtra-like coup in Bihar. With BJP out of the JD-U’s equation Nitish is free to look beyond Bihar. His clean im age and stature, his call for opposition unity and the pro posed meeting with the Con gress President Sonia Gandhi in Delhi indicate that a UPAlike alliance could be in the making. His appeal for Oppo sition parties to come togeth er takes care of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Ba nerjee’s dodginess on the is sue. The Bengal leader facing rough weather from the En forcement Directorate is now said to be veering closer to the BJP. Her silence on Nit ish’s break-up with the BJP has not gone unnoticed. On the other hand, the Congress reached out to Nitish. These are early days to hazard any guess about turn of events in the coming two years, but going by the cheer in the Opposition camp, Nit ish’s is being compared to the late Jayaprakash Narayan as a galvanizing force at a time when the BJP was all set to run away with the 2024 elec tions. The party will now have to recalibrate its strat egy as the Opposition may have found its mojo. Interest ingly, if the BJP’s juggernaut is slowed down even slightly the credit will once again go to Bihar.
To Receive Free Newspaper PDF Daily Whatsapp: Telegram: Click the above link☝ & subscribe us on your preferred platform. https://bit.ly/fiwhatsappmumbai https://t.me/thefirstindiamumbai
Three key suspects involved in BJYM leader murder arrested Mangaluru (PTI): Three key accused in Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha leader Praveen Nettar’s murder case have been arrested, a senior police officer said on haveofBellarepartthreepolice“DakshinaThursday.KannadahavesecuredpersonswhowereofthehitsquadincaseinmurderPraveenNettar....wearrestedthem from Talapady on the Karnataka-Kerala bor der,” ADG Alok Kumar said. Those arrested are: Shiabuddin, Bashir and Riyaz Anthadka.
during the investiga tion of the case, sources added. “We have arrest ed him for non-coopera
Howrah: A woman and her husband allegedly killed four members of their family in West Bengal’s Howrah district over prop erty, police said on Thursday. The incident happened in MC Ghosh Lane in Howrah police station area around 11 pm on Wednesday, they said. The accused, Pallavi Ghosh, has been arrested while her husband Debraj Ghosh is on the run, police said.
Day after key changes in UP, Yogi meets Nadda
STOP DEMEANING DIGNITY OF PM POST WITH TALK ABOUT ‘BLACK MAGIC’, RAHUL HITS BACK AT MODI New Delhi: Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Thursday lashed out at PM Modi over his “black magic” jibe saying that he must “stop demean ing the dignity” of the PM’s post by talking about such superstitious things. Gandhi’s retort came a day after Modi referring to the August 5 protests which the Con gress had led against inflation, price rise and other issues by donning black clothes, said those who resort to “kaala jaadu” (black magic) will never be able to win the trust of the people again. Gandhi further said the government “will have to answer on the issues of the people”.
Congress rallies against Centre from August 17 New Delhi (Agencies): The Congress has planned to organise Chaupals around the nation as part of its stepped-up campaign against the Centre on issues of price increas es, GST on some pack aged foods, and unem ployment in the nation. Starting August 17 and running through August 23, the party will stage a series of protests in different parts of the nation, in cluding agricultural, mandi, and retail mar kets. According to a statement by Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh, the party’s statewide pro test against the admin istration’s what it called “anti-people” policies on August 5 had a sig nificant impact on the populace.
HINDU OUTFIT ALL FOR BAN ON ‘LAAL SINGH CHADDHA’ IN UP Varanasi: Members of a Hindu outfit staged a pro test demandingChaddha”,“LaalrerKhan-starAamiragainstfilmSingh a ban on it in UP as they ac cused the actor of making fun of deities. Members of Sanatan Rakshak Sena raised slogans and pro tested in front of Vijaya Mall. State president of the Sena’s youth wing, CP Singh, and vice-president Arun Pandey alleged Khan made fun of Hindu deities in his films and he is against Sanatan Dharma.
IN THE COURTYARD
New Delhi (PTI): Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath met BJP president JP Na dda here on Thursday, a day after the party ef fected some key chang es in its organisational affairs in the politically crucialUnderstate.Nadda’s guid ance, the state govern ment has been working relentlessly for every one’s welfare with a sense of service, Adity anath tweeted after the meeting.OnWednesday, the Uttar Pradesh chief minister had met Presi dent Droupadi Murmu and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar. Sunil Bansal, who was one of the BJP’s key election managers and the party’s Uttar Pradesh general secre tary (organisation), was on Wednesday appoint ed as its national gen eral secretary and also made in-charge of three Opposition-ruled states -- West Bengal, Odisha and Telangana -- in runup to the 2024 Lok Sab ha polls. According to sources, Adityanath and Bansal have had their share of differences over some organisational issues, and the former RSS functionary’s depar ture from the state has been linked to this rift.
This is second time in less than 2 months that China has put a hold on a listing by US & India to blacklist a Pak-based terrorist. WOMAN ARRESTED FOR KILLING FOUR MEMBERS OF FAMILY, HUSBAND ON RUN
Birbhum (ANI): The Central Bureau of In vestigation (CBI) on Thursday arrested Tri namool Congress (TMC) Birbhum district presi dent Anubrata Mondal who is known to be a close aide of Chief Min ister Mamata Banerjee, in connection with the cattle smuggling case. The leader is now be ing taken for a medical gustKolkataatappearcase,thetionMondalnoticeonofBirbhum’sMondal’saexamination.EarlieronThursday,teamofCBIarrivedatresidenceinBolpur.TheCentralBureauInvestigation(CBI)August5hadsentatoAnubrataforinterrogainconnectionwithcattlesmugglingsourcessaid.MondalwasaskedtointheCBIofficeNizam’sPalaceinonMonday,Au8.TheCBIonSeptember21,2020,hadarrestedaformerBorderSecurityForce(BSF)Commandant,inconnectionwithillegalcattlesmugglingacrossIndo-Bangladeshborder.Mondal’snamecameunderthescanner
CRUCIAL READ
‘Need more time to assess proposal against Rauf’
Anubrata Mandal gets inside the car after being arrested by CBI at Bolpur on Thursday.
AnthemNational to be acrossplayedLko Lucknow (PTI): The Lucknow administra tion will play the na tional anthem from loudspeakers across the city simultaneously on Independence Day after the flag hoisting is done by Chief Minister (CM) Yogi Adityanath at the Vidhan Bhawan on Monday.Theentire bustling city will come to a com plete standstill for those 52 seconds -- the dura tion of the national an them.Lucknow District Magistrate (DM) Suryapal Gangwar said the national anthem will be played simulta neously across the state capital after the flag joisting by the chief minister at 9 am. He said public address systems and LED screens will be installed across the city for the purpose.Gangwar further said a rehearsal for the pro gramme would be done on August 13 at 9 in the morning.Allroad traffic will come to a halt and traf fic signals will be red while the national an them will be played.
CBI arrests TMC district chief Anubrata Mondal
Bommai says govt is stable, will remain so Bengaluru (PTI): Kar nataka CM Basavaraj Bommai has said his government is stable and will continue to re main so and he will work much harder for the state and the BJP. There has been buzz in state BJP in recent times, regarding some kind of an overhaul in cluding at the top level, especially after the re cent visit of Amit Shah.
AI TO OPERATE 24 ADDL DOM FLIGHTS FROM AUGUST 20 New Delhi: Air India will operate 24 additional domestic flights from August 20. “The additional 24 flights include two new frequencies from Delhi to Mumbai, B’luru and Ahmedabad, and from Mumbai to Chennai and Hyderabad, as well as one new frequency on the Mumbai-Bengaluru and Ahmedabad-Pune route,” the airline said. Air India’s narrowbody aircraft fleet today stands at 70, of which 54 are currently serviceable.
COAL SCAM CASE: ED SUMMONS 8 IPS OFFICERS IN DELHI New Delhi: Enforce ment Directorate (ED) has (IPS)PoliceeightsummonsissuedtoIndianServiceofficers in the West Bengal coal scam case asking them to join its probe here in the national capital, officials said on Thursday. Among those issued summons are IPS officers Gyanwant Singh, Koteswara Rao, S Selvamurugan, Shyam Singh, Rajeev Mishra, Sukesh Jain, and Tathaga ta Basu.
Ashok Saha, arrested on Wednesday in connec tion with the teacher recruitment scam, were sent to Central Bureau of Investigation custody. Both the arrested were produced before the Alipore Court on Thursday following which the CBI was granted custody till 17 August.
NO END TO WOES
FORMER WB SSC ADVISOR, CHAIRMAN IN CBI CUSTODY New Delhi: Former West Bengal SchoolchairmanandSP(SSC)CommissionServiceadvisorSinhaex-SSC
WHY CAN’T ED QUESTION SOMEONE IF IT HAS DOUBTS: KERALA HC TO ISAAC CJI NV RAMANA ASKS LAWYERS TO WEAR MASKS IN COURTROOMS HC NO TO WITHFORMATION,ACBCASESLOKAYUKTA Bengaluru: The HC of Kar nataka quashed the March 14, 2016 order of the then State government form ing the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) and shifted the cases pending before the ACB to the Lokayukta. The staff and personnel of ACB would be absorbed in the Lokayukta.
New Delhi: The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has moved an appeal in the Division Bench of Delhi HC challenging the court’s decision to stay recent guidelines issued by the govern ment, restraining the levy of service charge on food bills by restaurants and hotels. The appeal moved by CCPA is scheduled to come before the bench headed by Chief Justice of Delhi on August 16. Last month the HC while issuing notice on the petition challenging the guidelines, had also stayed the operation of guidelines issued by Central Consumer Protection Authority restraining levying of service charge by res taurants and hotels.
—PHOTO BY ANI
Kochi: The Kerala High Court asked senior CPI(M) leader Thomas Isaac why the Enforcement Directorate (ED) cannot question someone if it has any doubts and at the same time it told the agency that privacy of an individual cannot be violated. The observations came during the hearing of Isaac’s plea seeking quashing of ED summons in connection with its probe into violations in the financial dealings of Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board. New Delhi: Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana on Thursday advised lawyers to wear masks in court rooms, saying staffers and judges were contracting COVID-19 infection. “Please wear a mask. The majority of our staff and colleagues are getting it (COVID-19). Judges are also getting it,” the CJI told the lawyers at the start of court proceedings. While hearing a PIL on freebies, the bench, which also comprised Justice Krishna Murari, asked the lawyers to wear masks.
MUMBAI | FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2022 05INDIA www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epapers/mumbai I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
J’KHAND MLAS TO APPEAR BEFORE SPL COURT Kolkata: The Calcutta HC directed the West Bengal CID to produce three Congress MLAs from Jharkhand, who were arrested in Howrah district after recovery of nearly Rs 49 lakh in cash from their vehicle, before a special court under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act.
Beijing (PTI): China on Thursday sought to defend its move to block a proposal by the US and India at the UN to blacklist Pakistanbased Jaish-e-Moham med (JeM) deputy chief Abdul Rauf Azhar, say ing it needs more time to assess the applica tion to designate him as a global terrorist. China on Wednesday put a hold on a proposal by India and the US to designate Azhar, the brother of JeM chief Masood Azhar, as a global terrorist and subject him to assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo. We need more time to assess the relevant ap plication, Chinese For eign Ministry spokes man Wang Wenbin told a media briefing while replying to a question. Wang said the 1267 Committee of the UNSC has clear guidelines re garding the designation of terrorist organisa tions and individuals and related procedures. China always takes part in the work of the committee in a con structive and responsi ble manner in strict ac cordance with these rules and procedures. We hope other members will do the same, Wang said in response to questions on Beijing putting hold of the US and India proposal at the United Nations to blacklist Abdul Rauf Azhar.Abdul Rauf Azhar, born in 1974 in Paki stan, was sanctioned by the US in December 2010. This is the second time in less than two months that China has put a hold on a listing by the US and India to blacklist a Pakistanbased terrorist under the sanctions commit tee of the UN Security Council.InJune this year, China had put a hold, at the last moment, on a joint proposal by India and the US to list Paki stan-based terrorist Abdul Rehman Makki under the 1267 Al-Qai da Sanctions Commit tee of the UN Security Council. When pointed out China also put a hold on the request to sanction a Rehman Makki under the 1267 Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee of the UNSC seeking time and how much time Beijing needs, Wang said. We need more time to assess the relevant ap plication. We hope me dia outlets will not be led by rumours and make speculations,unwarrantedhesaid.
FROM PG 1
tion in the investigation into the cattle smug gling scam,” an official said.
—PHOTO BY ANI 2 KILLED IN CLASH
CM Shinde takes... the Padmavati Devi temple in Tapola village to pay respects and ac cept the felicitation planned by the villag ers. He is slated to spend the night in Dare and on Friday perform puja at the Dare village deity Janani Devi temple. His sudden plan to visit his native village threw the local district administration into a tizzy. The region re ceived heavy rainfall for the last two days and the weather condi tions led to the collapse of some electricity poles, snapping both electricity and network connectivity in over 100 villages. BSNL and Ma havitaran, the state power utility, officials were working overtime to restore connectivity. 17 women... brother of one of the victims was also taken into custody by the po lice for his safety. The rescued victims were sent to women’s correc tional centres, while the arrested accused were remanded in po lice custody till Wednes day.“Hunt for Raju and Sahil is on,” the official said, adding that the in vestigation continues.
Party’s organisational affairs in the state saw a rejig on Wednesday Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath calls on BJP President JP Nadda in New Delhi on Thursday.
CCPA CHARGEONDELHICONTESTSHCSTAYSERVICENORMS
‘Dreams of becoming PM made Nitish betray people’s mandate’
Banda: At least four people drowned and several others went missing on Thursday when a boat capsized in the Yamuna in Banda district’s Marka area. The incident took place when the boat was going from Marka to Jarauli Ghat in Fatehpur, they said. SP Abhinandan said the boat was carrying 30-35 people. Help of divers is being taken to trace the missing, he said.ASP Lakshmi Niwas Mishra said seven to eight people swimmed to safety and many are feared drowned.
Renni Abraham Mumbai: Three mur ders in Bihar, including a temple priest and a contractor, since the newly installed Nitish Kumar led alliance gov ernment with the RJD and Congress has a smarting BJP ready to launch into a political campaign against Ku mar and Tejashwi Ya dav come Monday. “The BJP did not re act to provocations dur ing our alliance govern ment with Kumar even when our BJP offices were attacked in the state and when the Agn eepath armed forces re cruitment scheme saw state sponsored violence and arson. We simply asked Chief Minister Kumar then to ensure the security of his alli ance partners (red BJP offices) in the state and stopped all train traffic inbound to Bihar,” a BJP leader said. He added that with the Home department being headed by RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, the three murders will be used to pin down the party that is already un der the active probe by the CBI for the land for railway jobs scam. “The whole Yadav family has been found to be connected in the scam being probed by the CBI including two sisters of the newly in stalled deputy Chief Minister.
Taxpayers barred from enrolling in Atal Pension Yojana from October 1
BJP’s Tarkishore alleged Kumar “went quiet” on corruption after joining grand alliance
—FILE PHOTO
Rain havoc: Two dead, vehicles washed away Shimla (PTI): Heavy rains wreaked havoc in parts of Himachal Pradesh on Thursday with two women being buried alive under de bris following a land slide in Kullu, while shops & vehicles were washed away and highways blocked by flash floods. In Kullu, Chavelu Devi (55) and Kritika (17) died when their house at Khadel vil lage in Sheel gram panchayat of Anni tehsil was hit by debris following the landslide around 9 am, Director of state disaster man agement department Sudesh Mokhta said. In another incident, 10 shops and three ve hicles were washed away following a cloud burst at the Deuthi gram panchayat in Anni tehsil around 7.30 am, he added.
ASSAM JIBEHIMANTACMTAKESATNITISH MIN SHARES VIDEO SHOWING DOG FIGHTING 2 LIONS
WE WILL DELIVER ON THE PROMISE OF JOB CREATION, SAYS TEJASHWI YADAV Patna: Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav on Thursday asserted that his newly formed government will deliver on the promise of providing 10 lakh jobs that he had made while spearheading the RJD’s campaign during the assembly elections in 2020. Yadav claimed that his boss Nitish Kumar has issued instructions to the officials concerned to accord top priority to job creation. There are so many vacant posts in government departments.
Patna (ANI): Former Bihar Deputy CM and BJP leader Tarkishore Prasad on Thursday al leged that Nitish Ku mar’s “dreams of becom ing the PM” made him “betray the mandate of the people” and joins hands with the RJD. The BJP leader al leged that Kumar “went quiet” on the issue of corruption after joining the grand alliance, of which Lalu Prasad Ya dav’s RJD is a part. “Whenever he dreams of becoming the PM, he says things like this be cause his desire inspires him to betray the man date of people,” the BJP leader said. There has been speculation that Nitish is gearing up a larger role at the nation al level. However, the CM rejected any such speculations.
Shahjahanpur: A woman allegedly killed her husband and buried him in their house following a quarrel, police said on Thursday. However, the woman told the police that her husband died by suicide. According to the FIR in the case, Govind, a resident of Khamaria village under the Gadiya Rangan police station, had a fight with his wife Shilpi on August 7 after which she killed him, dug a pit in the house and buried him there. The matter came to light only after a foul smell started emanating from the house.
New Delhi (PTI): Sen ior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday hit out at the Centre over the terror ist attack on an army camp in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kash mir, saying the govern ment can’t go in hiding after such assaults and will have to answer. Two terrorists car ried out a ‘fidayeen’ at tack on an Army camp in Rajouri district in the early hours of Thursday, killing three soldiers. Both attack ers were gunned down in the four-hour fire fight that followed. “Saddened to learn about another dastard ly terrorist attack in Rajouri, claiming the lives of our soldiers,” Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Kharge said. “My humble trib utes to the martyrs who gave up their life. The GOI can’t go in hiding after such assaults on our people. They have to answer!” he said on Twitter.
EXCESSIVE RAINFALL DAMAGES SHOPS Uttarkashi: Excessive rainfall in thewaysheAccordingclosedNaugaontheShaliniThursday.accordinginplaceATMeightUttarkashiUttarakhand’shasdamagedshopsincludinganmachine,thattookduetoanincreasewaterinKumolaKhad,toanofficialonSDMBarkot,Negihasleftforspot,however,thePurolaroadisatmanyplaces.totheSDM,isalsostuckontheduetotheclosureofroad.
Bihar CM Nitish Kumar WHAT A JOKE! NITISH ON SUSHIL’S ‘TOTALLY BOGUS’ VP CLAIMS
New Delhi (PTI): Income taxpayers will not be allowed to enrol in the government’s social security scheme Atal Pension Yojana (APY) from October 1, accord ing to a notification. The government in troduced APY on June 1, 2015, to provide social security to workers mainly in the unorgan ised sector. Subscribers of the scheme get a min imum guaranteed pen sion of Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000 per month after at taining 60 years of age depending on their con tributions.“...from 1st Octo ber,2022, any citizen who is or has been an income tax payer, shall not be eligible to join APY,” the finance ministry said in the notification. The ministry has modified its earlier notification on APY.The new notification, issued on Wednesday, will not apply to sub scribers who have joined or joins the scheme be fore October 1, 2022. ‘Govt can’t go in hiding after such assaults, has to answer’
CASE VIRALBOBBYAGAINSTAFTERVIDEO
BJP to target Nitish Kumar, Tejashwi come Monday
WOMAN KILLS HUSBAND, BURIES BODY IN HOUSE, SAY POLICE
Dispur: Assam CM Himanta Biswa on Wednesday took a jibe at Nitish Kumar who switched sides to join hands with Mahagath bandhan & said he is a “Margdarshak” for those who want to “change parties in every six months”. New Delhi: A day af ter Nitish Kumar said the NDA government needs to “worry” about the next LS polls, Union Minister Giriraj Singh tweeted a video showing a dog trying to fight two lions and captioned it “Challenge 2024”.
The video shows Kataria lighting a cigarette on one of the back rows of a SpiceJet plane.
Things are going to heat up in Bihar where we were dumped despite following the principle of coalition Dharma. Now Karma will take over and the JD(U) CM and RJD party will pay for their sins,” the lead er Alreadyadded. the Con gress party that is part of the new alliance gov ernment has indicated that it will not be taken for granted especially, over the allocation of cabinet portfolios where it will demand its pound of flesh from CM Nitish Kuma. “The plan to launch an aggressive cam paign and prosecution action beginning Mon day was firmed up in the wake of comments made by RJD leaders like Misa Yadav who had the audacity to say her party had replaced the BJP in the govern ment for having asked people of India to re place their social me dia display picture (DP) image with the Tiranga (Indian flag), which was unbecoming,” he added.
Dehradun: The Uttara khand Police has registered a case against Instagram influencer Bobby Kataria after one of the videos showing him consuming liquor on a busy Dehradun road went viral. The video, posted by Kataria on his Instagram handle on July 28, triggered widespread anger among Twitter users. He had said in the caption, “It’s time to enjoy on the roads.”
lll The BJP will rachet up the makesgovtafterimmediatelyreportedmurders3thenewtookover,evenasCBIprogressinlandforrlyjobsscamcase
A vehicle stuck in debris following a cloudburst, triggered by incessant monsoon rains, in Chamba district.
CRUCIAL READ
Raju Srivastava on ventilator, critical New Delhi (PTI): Popu lar comedian-actor Raju Srivastava is “critical and on ventilator” in the ICU of the AIIMS, said hospital sources on Thursday. Following a heart attack on Wednes day, the 58-year-old standup comic was admitted to the hospital where he underwent angioplasty. “He is critical and on ventilator in the ICU,” the source said. His cousin Ashok Srivasta va had on Wednesday said the comic suffered a heart attack while exer cising.
AT LEAST 4 DROWN, SEVERAL MISSING AFTER BOAT CAPSIZES IN YAMUNA
New Delhi (PTI): Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Thurs day said no democracy can ever be meaningful and aspirational unless it is inclusive for all citi zens, accessible without fear or favour and par ticipative despite differ ential social, political, and economic vulnera bilities.Kumar also asserted that the framework for assessment and “socalled ranking” of de mocracies by global evaluating agencies should be objective and contextual, factoring in the magnitude, sociocultural and geograph icalHecontext.said India has witnessed a 235.72 per cent increase in female electors since 1971. He was addressing the vir tual meet of Asian Re gional Forum on Mak ing our Elections Inclu sive, Accessible and Participative. No democracy meaningful unless inclusive for all: CEC
Video of bodybuilder smoking in flight surfaces online; Scindia orders probe New Delhi (PTI): Avia tion Minister Jyotiradi tya Scindia on Thursday ordered an investiga tion after a video show ing bodybuilder Bobby Kataria smoking on a SpiceJet flight surfaced on social media. The video shows Ka taria -- who has 6.3 lakh followers on Instagram -- lighting a cigarette on one of the back rows of a SpiceJet Passengersplane.are not al lowed to take lighter in the plane. SpiceJet said that the smoking inci dent took place in its Dubai-Delhi flight on January 20 when pas sengers were boarding the plane and the cabin crew members were busy with completing the on-boarding proce dure.When the video of this incident was posted on Twitter on Thursday, Scindia responded: “In vestigating it. There will be no tolerance towards such hazardous behav iour.” In a statement, SpiceJet said: “This is with reference to a video on social media. The matter had been investi gated thoroughly in January 2022 when the video was brought to our notice and a com plaint had been filed by the airline in Guru gram.”
LOCOMOTIVE HITS STATIONARY TRAIN, FOUR WAGONS DERAIL
Raipur: Four wagons and the engine of a stationary freight train got derailed after it was hit by a moving locomotive near Raigarh railway station in Chhattisgarh on Friday.“No casualties were reported & movement of trains on the route remained unaffected,” they said. The incident took place at 11:40 am at a railway siding on outskirts of Raigarh railway station on Mumbai-Howrah route, said Saket Ranjan, Chief PRO of South East Central Railway.
Patna: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar on Thursday rejected claims by BJP MP and former deputy CM Sushil Modi that JD(U) had split with NDA as the CM was not made the VP. Dismissing it as a totally bogus claim Nitish told reporters: “You heard a man (Sushil Modi) say I wanted to be VP. What a joke! I have no such desire. Did they forget how much our party supported their President and VP candidate?”
HEAVY WARNINGRAININ ODISHA Bhubaneswar: Odisha may bear the brunt of another low-pressurepossibleareaover the weekend, the Met office said on Thursday, even as the state continues to reel from pouring rain over the past few days due to depression. Torrential rain has battered several districts due to the inten sified weather system, which crossed the state on Tuesday and has now weakened over Madhya Pradesh.
Bihar CM Nitish Kumar with Tejashwi Yadav. FILE PHOTO
MUMBAI | FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2022 06INDIA www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epapers/mumbai I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
OIL INDIA NET PROFIT TRIPLES ON OIL, GAS PRICE BOOST; RECORD GAINS OF `1,555.46 CR Mumbai (PTI): Equity benchmark Sensex rallied 515 points to reclaim the 59,000-level, propelled by heavy buying in IT, banking and financial stocks amid sustained foreign fund in flows. The 30-share BSE in dex ended 515.31 points or 0.88% higher at 59,332.60. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty gained 124.25 points or 124.25 % to close at 17,659. Axis Bank was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, climbing 2.75%, followed by Bajaj Finance, HDFC, Tech Mahindra, Wipro, SBI, TCS and IndusInd Bank. On the other hand, ITC, NTPC, HUL, Bharti Airtel, Maruti and Nestle India were among the lag gards, sliding as much as 1.56%. Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Seoul ended with significant gains, while Tokyo closed in the red. Equities in Europe were trading on a negative note in mid-session deals.
BRIEFS New Delhi: Income tax payers will not be allowed to enrol in the govern ment’s social security scheme Atal Pension Yoja na (APY) from Oct 1, ac cording to a notification. The government intro duced APY on June 1, 2015, to provide social se curity to workers mainly in the unorganised sector. Subscribers of the scheme get a minimum guaran teed pension of Rs 1K to Rs 5K per month after at taining 60 yrs of age de pending on their contribu tions.“... from Oct 1, 2022, any citizen who is or has been an income tax payer, shall not be eligible to join APY,” ministry said.
Power demand leads to 17% hike in coal supply
THE TECH TALKS z Negotiation officials undertook these technical talks in a hybrid fashion with some of the teams meeting in New Delhi, India, and the majority of officials joining virtually. Experts came together to discuss.
—PTI WHEAT PRICES IN INDIA
SEVENTH HIGHEST IN THE WORLD
New Delhi: The Adani Group on Thursday said it will be entering the alumina and iron ore business with an investment of `57,575 crore in Odisha. The capital will be utilised to set up a 4 MTPA integrated alumina refinery and a 30 MTPA valueadded iron ore project in the state. The investment proposal by the conglomer ate was cleared by a high-level clearance authority of the Odisha govt. Agencies
MUMBAI | FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2022 07www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epapers/mumbai I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia Commodity Price Change % Chg GOLD 52,709.00 347.00 0.65 (Per 10g) SILVER 59,103.00 455.00 0.76 (Per 1kg) COMMODITIES Currency Price Change % Chg USDINR 79.62 0.37 0.46 GBPINR 97.31 0.17 1.22 CURRENCIES
OTHER STORIES
ICICI HITS ` 6TN M-CAP 1ST TIME; STOCKS RECORD HIGH New Delhi: ICICI Bank on Thursday joined the elite club of `6 trillion market-cap with shares hitting a record high. The seventhbecamelendertheIndian stock to hit such a milestone. Shares of ICICI Bank hit an all-time high of `866.15 on BSE with market-cap of `6.01 trillion. The stock surged nearly 17% so far this year. At 1pm, the scrip was trading at `864 on BSE, up 1.8% from its previous close. —PTI DOMESTIC AIRLINES’ SHARES BOOST AS CAP ON PRICES LIFT New Delhi: Shares of Indian domestic airlines rose on Thursday, a day after the civil aviation minis try said it will remove restrictionsthe on ticket prices it had imposed two years ago due to the coronavirus pandemic. Domestic airlines IndiGo, SpiceJet, Air India, Go First and Vistara - a joint ven ture between the Tata Group and Singapore Airlines - can now price tickets freely. PTI GOVT REAPPOINTS FOUR INDEPENDENT DIRECTORS ON CENTRAL BOARD OF RBI
ADANI TO ENTER ALUMINA AND IRON ORE BUSINESSES IN ODISHA, INVEST `57,575 CR
New Delhi (PTI): Oil India Ltd (OIL) reported a tripling of net profit in the June quarter on record oil and gas price realisation. The profit was `1,555.46 cr, or `14.34 per share, in April-June compared to `507.94 cr, or `4.68 a share, in the same period a year back, the company said in a statement. The earnings rose as the company got $112.72 per barrel price for crude oil it sold in the quarter as opposed to $67.15 a barrel rate realised in the same period last year. Gas price realisation more than doubled to $6.1 per million British thermal unit from $1.79. Higher crude oil and natural gas prices stem from the rally in int’l oil prices that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Turnover nearly doubled to `6,029.86 cr in the first quarter of the current fiscal year that began on April 1. The earnings were also aided by a 4% rise in crude oil produc tion at 0.78 mn tonnes and an 8% rise in gas output at 771 mn standard cubic metres.
New Delhi (PTI): The sup ply of coal to electricity generating plants in creased by 17.09 per cent to 58.45 million tonnes in July due to rise in power de mand, the government dataThesaid.government in the last few months has taken various measures to en sure adequate availability of coal for power stations. The total coal dispatch to power utilities stood at 49.92 million tonnes (MT) in July last fiscal, accord ing to provisional data of the coal ministry. Overall dispatch of coal in the country went up by 8.51 per cent to 67.81 MT last month compared to 62.49 MT in the correspond ing month of previous fis cal. The overall coal pro duction also went up by 11.37 per cent to 60.42 MT in July as against 54.25 MT in the year-ago period.
YOJANAFROMI-TTHANKSSTABILISED,TOPOLICYPAYERSBARREDATALPENSIONFROMOCT1
New Delhi: The government has reappointed four independent directors, including RSS ideologue S Gurumurthy and cooperative movement veteran Satish K Marathe, on the board of RBI for another four years. Besides, the Centre also re-nominated Revathy Iyer and Sachin Chaturvedi as part-time, non-official directors on the Central Board of Reserve Bank of India for a further period of four years after completion of their present tenure on September 18, 2022, the central bank said in statement. PTI
A QUICK LOOK Coin Amount Bitcoin `18,27,371 Ethereum `1,41,982 Litecoin `4,603.01 Polkadot `691.10 Doge `5.220 Ripple `29 USDT `75.22
CNG, PIPED GAS PRICES JUMP 70% New Delhi (PTI): The oil ministry has ordered the diversion of natural gas from industries to the city gas distribution sector to cool CNG and piped cook ing gas prices that have shot up by 70% on the use of imported fuel. Less than three months after it ordered the use of costlier imported LNG to meet incremental demand for automobile fuel CNG and household kitchen gas PNG, the ministry on Au gust 10 reverted to an old policy of primarily supply ing domestically produced gas for city gas operations. The allocation for city gas operators like In draprastha Gas Ltd in Delhi and Mahanagar Gas Ltd of Mumbai has been increased from 17.5 million standard cubic meters per day to 20.78 mmscmd, officials said. The increased alloca tion will meet 94 per cent of the demand for CNG to au tomobiles and piped cook ing gas to household kitch ens in the Previously,country.about 83-84 per cent of the demand was met and the remaining was met through the import of LNG by GAIL, they said. Use of domestic gas in stead of imported fuel will bring down the cost of raw material and ease CNG and PNG rates, officials said. The move follows a mas sive jump in CNG and PNG prices in the country in the last one year as operators used costlier imported LNG. CNG prices in Delhi went up by a massive 74 per cent (from `43.40 per kg in July 2021 to ` 75.61 per kg now) while PNG prices rose by 70 per cent (from ` 29.66 per standard cubic meter to `50.59 per scm). Natural gas is the raw material that is used for CNG and PNG. This gas comes from fields such as Mumbai High and Bassein in the Arabian Sea. As the domestic production of gas is insufficient to meet all the requirements, the fuel is imported in the form of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) in ships. To promote the use of cleaner fuel, the government in 2014 includ ed the City Gas Distribu tion (CGD) sector on the top priority list for receiv ing gas from older or regu lated fields of state-owned ONGC and Oil India. The CGD was put on a ‘no cut’ priority sector and alloca tion was made twice a year based on consumption data of the previous 6 months.
Mumbai:The rupee de preciated by 37 paise to close at 79.62 against the US dollar on Thurs day despite sustained foreign capital inflows and a positive trend in equities. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local currency opened at 79.22 and saw an intra-day high of 79.22 and a low of 79.94 against the American currency. It finally ended at 79.62, down 37 paise over its previous close of 79.25.
—PTI New Delhi: Wholesale prices of wheat in the do mestic mandis have man aged to fall from their life time highs and have stabi lized as the central gov ernment timely brought in a slew of policy interven tions on the exports of the foodgrain. In Indore in Madhya Pradesh, which is considered one of the key mandis, wheat prices touched as high as `2,400-2,500 per 100 kg, against `2,000-2,1000 until the conflict in Ukraine broke out.
Lower bad loans push banks’ gains
New Delhi (PTI): Public sector banks have raked in more profits in the three months ended June on the back of a persistent decline in bad loans and the trend may have a posi tive bearing on their bal ance sheets in the coming quarters.Inthe June quarter, Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) and State Bank of India (SBI) were in the lowest quartile as far as Gross Non Performing As sets (NPAs) and net NPAs were concerned, accord ing to an analysis of the quarterly financial num bers published by the pub lic sector lenders. Cumulatively, all the 12 public sector banks report ed a profit of about Rs 15,306 crore in the three months ended June, regis tering an annual growth of 9.2 per cent. However, leading public sector lend ers -- SBI and PNB — post ed lower profits in the June quarter.
—PTI GOLD FALLS `347; SILVER SHARPLYDROPSBY `455 India, UK working hard to meet Diwali deadline for FTA Press Trust of India London: India and the UK will continue to work inten sively to meet the Diwali deadline at the end of Octo ber for a Free Trade Agree ment (FTA) announced during the India visit of outgoing British PM Boris Johnson, UK government statement said. In a joint outcome state ment on the ongoing FTA negotiations released, the Department for Interna tional Trade (DIT) said the fifth round involved de tailed draft treaty text dis cussion over 85 separate sessions and 15 policy are as. The latest round con cluded on July 29, with the next due to be held in the UK later this month. Indian and UK officials will continue to work in tensively throughout the summer towards our target to conclude the majority of talks on a comprehensive and balanced Free Trade Agreement by the end of October 2022, the DIT state mentNegotiationsaid. officials un dertook these technical talks in a hybrid fashion with some of the teams meeting in New Delhi, In dia, and the majority of of ficials joining virtually. For this round of negotiations, technical experts from both sides came together for detailed draft treaty text discussions in 85 sepa rate sessions covering 15 policy areas, it said. The statement follows Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal’s statement earlier this week at the Vyapari Udyami Sammelan in New Delhi that negotiations for the India-UK FTA are moving at a faster pace. He was comparing this to the re cently concluded trade deal with the UAE, which the minister said was done in record time. Last month, The House of Commons International Agreements Committee, in a report entitled UK-India free trade agreement: Scru tiny of the Government’s Negotiating Objectives’, questioned the Diwali deadline set for the conclu sion of the negotiations by Johnson during his visit to India in April. The committee cautioned that it could risk giving up a good deal for a fast one, by setting a time ambition over and above content. The committee has called on the government to publish a comprehensive trade policy that provides a framework within which all negotia tions can be conducted. This is now expected to be taken up after Parliament is back from its summer re cess in September.
z Min Piyush Goyal compared this to the recently concluded trade deal with the UAE, which the minister said was done in record time.
Sensex rallies 515 pts; IT, fin stocks shine
z The panel cautioned that it could risk giving up a good deal for a fast one, by setting a time ambition over & above content.
business
‘7.3% Indians owned digi currency in ’21’
—PTI RUPEE FALLS 37 PAISE TO CLOSE AT 79.62 AGAINST US $ New Delhi: Gold in the national capital on Thurs day declined `347 to `52,709 per 10 grams amid decline in interna tional yellow metal prices, according to HDFC Secu rities. In the previous trade, the precious metal had closed at `53,056 per 10 grams. Silver also fell sharply by `455 to `59,103 per kg from `59,558 per kg in the pre vious trade. In the inter national market, gold was quoting lower at $1,787 per ounce while silver was flat at $20.45 per ounce.
Oil ministry to divert gas from industries
United Nations (PTI): Over seven per cent of In dia’s population owns digi tal currency, according to the UN, which said that the use of cryptocurrency rose globally at an unprecedent ed rate during the COVID-19 pandemic. The UN trade and development body UNCTAD said that in 2021, developing countries ac counted for 15 of the top 20 economies when it comes to the share of the population that owns VenezuelabywithUkrainecryptocurrencies.toppedthelist12.7percent,followedRussia(11.9percent),(10.3percent), Singapore (9.4 per cent), Kenya (8.5 per cent) and the US (8.3 per cent). In India, 7.3 per cent of the popula tion owned digital curren cy in 2021, ranking seventh in the list of top 20 global economies for digital cur rency ownership as share of “Globalpopulation.use of crypto currencies has increased exponentially during the COVID-19 pandemic, in cluding in developing countries,” UNCTAD said. In three policy briefs published, it said that, they are an unstable financial asset that can also bring social risks and costs.
Vijay Suryawanshi is new Additional Metropolitan Commissioner-MMRDA
First India Bureau Mumbai: Senior IAS officer Dr Vijay Suryawanshi on Thursday took charge as the additional met ropolitan commis sioner of the ityDevelopmentMetropolitanMumbaiRegionAuthor(MMRDA).
Vijay Suryawanshi Maha Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis at a ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ event in Mumbai on Thursday.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, Dr Neer ja Birla, founder and chairperson, Mpower, said, “Through the launch of the city-specif ic mental health score we want everyone to re alize that mental health is not a taboo anymore. The best way to deal with it is to acknowledge it and seek the right pro fessional help as living with mental health is sues not only erodes one’s life of happiness, it also has a negative im pact on the economy of the country.”
lll Mental health serviceanddisturbancesconcludesproviderthatmoodanxietyaresomeofthecommonestissuesfacedbyyouthinPune z z
ACB ARRESTS CLERK FROM THANE SCHOOL FOR TAKING BRIBE
CRUCIAL READ
WORRISOME
MUMBAI | FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2022 082ND FRONT www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epapers/mumbai I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia Let us all make a pledge to fly the Tricolour high in our hearts and from our rooftops! — Dr Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO & Editor-in-Chief, First India I-T Dept seizes `58 cr cash; 32kg gold during Jalna raid
Flags being imported from China for ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’: Patole
Residential and official premises linked to business groups dealing in steel, clothing and realty were raided I-T officials with cash worth Rs50-plus crore after raids in the premises of an industrialist, in Jalna district, on Thursday. —PHOTOS BY PTI z z z BIG HAUL
First India Bureau Jaipur: As much as 218kg of ganja worth Rs40 lakh was seized by Directorate of Rev enue Intelligence (DRI) from a truck in Maharashtra’s Nag pur on the basis of a tip off given by the Ra jasthan police, an of ficial informed here on Thursday. The consignment was being transported to Ra jasthan from Vishakhapatnam, Addi tional Director General of Police (Crime) Ravi Prakash Mehra said. He further informed that intelligence inputs with regards to smug gling of ganja from Vishakhapatnam to Ajmer were received on August 08 by the police. According to officials, two youths associated by smuggler Shivraj Ma havar of Nagaur district of Rajasthan went to Vishakhapatnam to take delivery of the consign ment. The police team had earlier reached Pushkar and had arrest ed one of Shivraj’s ac complices, who told them about the arrival of Theconsignment.consignment was traced near Kardha toll booth and the ganja was found hidden at a secret place inside the truck that has been seized and a case has been regis tered against Shivraj Mahavar by the DRI. Ac cording to the official, the driver and the helper fled as soon as they came to know about the police. Mahavar’s aides were returning via Nagpur’s Kardha area when the consignment was seized by DRI Maha sees 1,877 new nCoV cases, five deaths Mumbai (PTI): Ma harashtra on Thurs day recorded 1,877 fresh COVID-19 cas es, while five more patients succumbed to the infection in the state, the health department said. With these addi tions, the state’s over all COVID-19 tally reached 80,66,243, while the death toll in creased to 1,48,162, the department said in a bulletin.Thestate had re corded 1,847 cases and five fatalities on Wednesday. Mumbai recorded 683 fresh cas es—169 less than the previous day—and one fatality due to the res piratory illness in the last 24 hours, said the department.Besidesthe finan cial capital, Jalna, Solapur, Pune city and Thane district record ed one death each. The state recovery rate was 98.02%, while the fatal ity rate stood at 1.83%. The bulletin said 1,971 COVID-19 pa tients recovered in the last 24 hours, taking their cumulative count to 79,06,291.
MSEDCL TO HALT POWER SUPPLY TO UNAUTHORIZED BUILDING IN THANE Thane: The district adminis tration has anpowertoLimitedbutionElectricityMaharashtraaskedStateDistriCompany(MSEDCL)disconnectthesupplytounauthorizedbuilding immediately. In 1998, a parcel of 300 sq. m of land had been given to the Thane Zilla Patrakar Sangh in 1998 for the construction of a Patrakar Bhavan. However, a commercial plot was built on the plot instead, leading district authorities to reclaim the plot the next year. Sub-Divisional Officer Avinash Shinde has ordered the Thane revenue officer to imme diately raze the structure, and asked the MSEDCL to disconnect its power supply, or face action.
Thane: bribelegedlyinaPatilclerk—ArchanahasBureauAnti-CorruptionThe(ACB)arresteda(43)—fromprivateschoolThaneforaltakingaofRs3,900, the ACB said here on Thursday. The accused had allegedly demanded Rs5,000 from a person to issue a Class 10 pass marks list and school leaving certificate and later agreed to take Rs3,900, ACB police inspector Sushma Patil said. The ACB laid a trap following a complaint and nabbed the clerk red-handed on Wednesday. A case was registered under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN’S BODY FOUND FLOATING IN THANE CREEK Thane: The body of an uni dentified man was found float ing in the creek near officialFriday,inVisarjanGaneshGhatThaneonacivicsaid.The deceased appeared to be around 40 years old, he said. Kalwa police have sent the body for autopsy and further investigation is on.
PHOTO—PTI
TRICOLOUR HUES Bhasta Dam of Thane has Tiranga’tocontributeofofspiritcelebratetheilluminatedmagnificentlybeenwithTricolourtotheof75yearsindependenceIndiaandtoitsbitthe‘HarGharinitiative.
First India Bureau Pune: A mental health service provider after accumulating mental health scores of resi dents of Pune and neighbouring Pimpri Chinchwad has con cluded that four of five individuals in the city have experienced men tal health issues. Online responses of individuals were taken into account while as sessing the mental health score of individu als. Mpower—an initia tive by Aditya Birla Edu cation Trust—has found that around 80% indi viduals in the city have faced mental issues. While mental health issues such as distress with depression was the commonest cause in women, anxiety and pan ic disorder was largely seen among the men. Other key factors were also brought into the limelight by the mental health scores calculated by Mpower.
A 2006 batch IAS of ficer, Suryawanshi was earlier municipal com missioner of the Kaly an-Dombivli GondiacollectoralsoCorporation.MunicipalHehasservedasdistrictofRaigadanddistricts. An alumnus of Sainik School Satara, Suryawanshi was also the chief executive of ficer of Palghar and Kol hapur zilla parishads. In Kolhapur, he set up India’s first zilla pari shad residential sports school. He also initiated Operation Kayapalat programme to improve public health parame ters in primary health centres.
218kg ganja worth `40L seized in Nagpur after Raj police tip-off
4 of 5 individuals in Pune face mental health issues
First India Bureau Mumbai: Maharash tra Congress presi dent Nana Patole on Wednesday claimed that tricolours were being imported from China for the ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ initia tive launched by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led cen tral government. He was speaking in Buldhana district as part of the ‘Azadi Gaurav Padyatra’ launched by the Con gress.“Along struggle had to be waged to oust the tyrannical British rule. The country was united under the Congress flag and brought independ ence to this country. People who have not contributed anything in this freedom struggle are today running events in the name of ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign,” alleged Pa tole.Tricolours are being imported from China for this event, which is an insult to the freedom fighters and the nation al flag, claimed the Con gress“Chinaleader.is encroach ing on our borders, but the prime minister is not talking about it. On the contrary, attention is being paid to how they get financial bene fits by importing tricol our flags from China,” he said.
First India Bureau Jalna: The Income Tax Department has seized around Rs58 crore in cash and assets worth Rs390 crore after it raided a Maharashtrabased business group engaged in steel and real estate, officials said on Thursday. The raids were launched last week on the business entity based in Jalna district after ac tionable inputs of al leged tax evasion were received against it, offi cials added. It took around 13 hours for the I-T Department to calcu late the total amount seized. Atleast 12 notecounting machines were used. The raids were conducted on several companies—SR Steel, Kalika Steel, One Co-op erative Bank, Financier Vimal Raj Bora and Dealer Pradeep Bora, etc. More than 120 vehi cles were used in which the teams of officials were divided into five during raid. Around 260 officials of I-T dept (Na shik branch) were in volved in the raid. The raids were con ducted from August 01 to 08 at the residential and official premises linked to two business groups dealing in steel, clothing, and real estate. The source said that the cash recovered from the premises of gar ments and steel busi nessman was taken to Nasik branch of State Bank of India, where it was counted for hours. The bank employees started counting the cash at around 11 am, which went on till 1 am. The I-T Department got the tip-off that there were irregularities in the accounts of four steel companies after which the teams swung into ac tion. The I-T sleuths con ducted recce for around two days before conduct ing the final raids.
RakshabandhanHappyEveryone.”Heposesasifhe’stouchinghissister’sfeetinoneofthephotographs.ThePyaarKaPunchnamaactorworeawhiteshirtandbluerippedjeans,his
E ven though Kangana Ranaut is unwell and has been diagnosed with den gue, the actress did not stop working on her upcoming film ‘Emergency’. The production team hails the actress for work ing despite dengue. The team of Manikarnika films mentioned in their story with a picture of Kangana: “When you are down with dengue, alarming ly low white blood cell count and high fever and yet you land at work, it’s not pas sion it’s madness...our chief @kanganaranaut is such an inspiration.” Kangana replied: “Thank you team @mani karnikafilms body gets ill not the spirit..thanks for the kind words.”
Sara Ali Khan
Kareena
ara Ali Khan is one of the most promis ing actresses in the industry. She has proved her acting mettle in movies such as Love Aaj Kal, Atrangi Re, Simmba, and others. In addition to this, she is a travel junkie too. As she enjoys a mas sive fan following on social media, the actress also gives glimpses of her vaca tion pictures and videos on it and gives major travel goals to her followers. Sara Ali Khan is cur rently in New York and has filled social media with some drool-worthy vacay pictures. During her trip, the actress visited Colum bia University where she studied and became nostal gic. While sharing the photo in the stories section of Ins tagram, she wrote, “Looking back with so much gratitude, fondness and nostalgia”.
Bhumi Pednekar Kareena’s Raksha Bandhan look Kangana Ranaut Kapoor Khan Panday
A S
SARABECOMESNOSTALGICinspirationTRUE G UPBEAT TRACK Kareena Elegancedefines KARTIK CELEBRATESAARYANRAKHI
SCREENING
n 2020, Kartik Aaryan shared a heart-warming post with his sister Kritika Tiwari. He captioned the Instagram post as, “ab behen doctor ho toh Raksha ki zimme dari bhi uski. @dr.kiki_ blessing me !!
A fter Akdi Pakdi, Waat Laga Denge and Aafat, the fourth song from Vijay De verakonda and Ananya Panday’s Liger is titled Coka 2.0. The makers shared the poster of the song and it looks like it will be a perfect upbeat Punjabi song. Vi jay is seen in a kurta pajama set with a turban on his head, where as Ananya looks stunning in a le henga. The pair is twinning and winning with their chemistry.
Ananya
fter a long wait, Raksha Bandhan was finally released in the theatres on Thursday. It was one of the most anticipated films of the year, and it clashes with Aamir Khan’s Laal Singh Chaddha. Starring Akshay Kumar and Bhumi Pednekar, Raksha Bandhan’s special screening were held last night, Au gust 10. It was attended by the entire cast of the movie and several television and Bollywood actors. The mass hysteria cre ated by the massive movie promotions across the country has made Raksha Band han one of the most eagerly awaited films on the festive occasion.
Poster Her post... His post... www.firstindia.co.in I https://firstindia.co.in/epapers/mumbai I twitter.com/ thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia 09 MUMBAI, FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2022
SAGITTARIUS NOV 23 - DEC 22 feelup.cheeryoudoneedswhatbehaviourBoisterousiseveryonerightnow,whatevercandotoeveryoneYouwillfinancially comfortable and infant you are in position to invest money in some new venture. Your personality will attract many eligible bachelors.
PISCES FEB20 - MARCH 20 You are family.backbonealsobyverycircle.afortunateverytohavegreatfriendYouaregenerousnatureandyouaretheofyourTodayis a favourable day for business. You may postpone your study plans. Be careful of the words that come out of your mouth. Your lover may finally say yes.
R Laxmi Kumari Chundawat receiving the Rajasthan Ratna AwardLaxmi Kumari Chundawat
10ETC MUMBAI | FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2022www.firstindia.co.in I https://firstindia.co.in/epapers/mumbai I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
Momal, the love story of the desert princess. Chundawat also trans lated the biography of Lenin into the Ra jasthani language. For translations of Russian stories in the Rajasthani language and compiling them in book form, titled the Hindu Kush ke us paar, Chundawat re ceived the coveted So viet Land Nehru Award in 1965. Im pressed with Chun dawat's writing acu men, French writer Frances Taft wrote a book on her by the name From Purdah to the People. She was con ferred with Rajasthan Ratna Award in the yearConferred2012. with nu merous awards like Sahitya Mahamaho padhyay, Rajasthan Ratna in 2012, Tessi tory Gold Award, Ma harana Kumbha Award, and the Soviet Land Nehru Award in 1965, Chundawat was born in 1916 and raised in Bhim, Deog arh, a premier thi kaana or estate of the then Mewar ChundawatState.till the age of 13 used to wear a turban and pant shirt like a tomboy. Adorably, her father called her Laxman Singh. Her father Vi jay Singh, the Rawat of Deogarh, nurtured Chundawat in a mod erate liberal environ ment but also imbibed her with moral values. During that era, girls were restricted from going out and study ing. Hence, eminent tutors were appointed to teach her. She was also taught horse rid ing along with her brother. She learned to type on a type writer and managed to type her stories and poems ef fortlessly. She was a football and mentencourageRawatsar.camestate,thenchiefsoneofgh,Rawatwasshooter.playerbadmintonandaChundawatmarriedtoTejSintheChiefRawatsar,ofthefouroftheBikanerandbeRaniofWithfromherhusbandandparents, Chundawat entered active politics in 1962. She discarded the sur name of her husband ‘Rathore’ and used the clan name of her par ents, women.andguagetomentherofthewill2014,Writers'RajasthanasChundawatFrominsationUnitederskent’sparticipatedcagojasthan’sreadanChundawatroshima,Peacepoliticsandanyshedawatingwithever,ginedscenariotoRawatsar.workdawatjoiningmandwhichternallegislatorChundawattheGayatrigetherteredmataChundawat‘Chundawat’.andRajGayatriDevienpubliclifetoin1962.WhileDevifoundedSwatantraParty,becameafromhermaplaceDeogarh,isnowinRajsaDistrict.Afterpolitics,ChundidtremendousforBhimandIn1980,shereturnedthestatepoliticalandwaselectasMLAwithamarof3,366votes.Howdisappointedthereducedvotmargin,Chundeclaredthatwouldnotcontestmoreelectionseventuallysheleftin1985.VisitedtheWorldConferenceinHiJapanin1958,asanIndirepresentativeandapaperonRacultureatChiUniversity.SheinTashAfroAsianWritConferencewithaNationsOrganiConferenceheld1978inNewyork.1976to2014,alsoworkedthePresidentoftheProgressiveAssociation.Chundawatdiedinaged98,butshealwaysremaininheartsofthepeopleRajasthanowingtoincredibleinvolvewithanddevotiontheRajasthanilanandliteratureasavoiceofrural
CAPRICORN DEC 23 - JAN 20 foodScrumptiousiswhat you are craving for today. You always maintain toworkouteveryone.relationshipcordialwithYoudailykeepyourself fit. You may start a side business to earn extra money. You are not a jealous kind and you feel happy for others. You are a very grounded person.
TAURUS APR 21 - MAY 20 You are a pro in your field and none can beat you. YouarewomenareunderFemalethissignlionessandaroundoftenjealous.givetough
SRIJAN, Model ARIES MAR 21 - APR 20 Take stand where you need to, don’t run in the same direction youranydoctoriseverybodywhereelsegoing.Visitaifyouhavedoubtsabouthealth.
YOURDAY Horoscope by Saurabbh Sachdeva
media circles, and a proposal was initiated to make Rajasthani an official language in the Rajasthan State As sembly though it did not materialize. Simi larly, Bikaner Ra jasthan Academy was established, the Ra jasthani language got placed in the Central Literature Academy, the Rajasthani lan guage was introduced in schools and Univer sities’ course curricu lum and Rajasthani programs were started on All India Radio and Television.Withprogressive be liefs and familiarity with Rajasthani liter ary storiesbookshasmalwithoutChundawat,folklore,anyforeducation,written37ofshortandpoemsinRajasthaniandHindi.HerwritingincludesessayslikeRajasthankiRajnitimeinMahilayein,RampyaarikiRisala,andstorybookslikeGirUncha,UnchaGhar,ManjhalRaat,andmanymore.ShehasalsowrittentheEnglishversionof
GEMINI MAY 21 - JUNE 21 Best day to buy gold and silver or any precious metal for sake.investmentYoulove to live close to your family. You are a child at heart and never let this child die. You have a big heart and you always help someone if you can. Video gathering is possible as you miss your social circle like anything.
You opportunistare and this will make you successful one day. Your spouse is anythingwhosomeonecandofor your happiness. There may be delays in property possession and it won’t effect you. You are happy spending whole day at home. AQUARIUS JAN 21 - FEB 19 This is the best time wife.towardswillpurpose.yourselfwithsomethingtrynewlifegiveanewYoufeelamorousyourWorkon your limitations, there can be no better time than this. You have more opposite sex friends than the same and you may be judged sometimes but don’t care.
Lakshmi Kumari Chundawat
SCORPIO OCT 23 - NOVEMBER 22 Don’t hesitatebutaboutforever.willmakeandfriendsmakeformoneystatusratherfriendswhostickwithyouYoucareyouloversomehowin expressing that care. On social front, you may have to spend some extra money in buying gifts for someone for some specific occasion.
competition to people. Many people get inspired by you. You will get special treatment from your dear ones. Health will be satisfactory.
CANCER JUNE 22 - JULY 23 Never mostyourmakemakesomething.capablesomeonesomeonedemotivateevenifisnotofdoingYousuretothingsworkway.Youarewantedby your friends. You can have romantic affair in office and a serious one. You will invest money in clothes and accessories today. You are a God fearing person.
LEO JULY 24 - AUGUST 23
MEMOIR: Incredible Journey of Rajputana’s Daughter ani of Rawat sar, Gurjarwat,DevnarayantheyearmashrithewasandWell-knownthroughment,forspentthedah"abandoningninificantlyandnihardjasthanpoliticiansamongChundawatinarhbliesLegislative4th,alsofromberRajyapoliticians.jasthanispherenameaChundawatKumariLakshmiisrenownedintheofRascholarsandElectedtoSabhaandmemofUpperHouse1972to1978andamemberof3rd,and7thRajasthanAssemfromBhim,DeogonCongressticket1962,1967,and1980wasthefirstwomeninRawhostrivedtomakeRajasthaanofficiallanguagecontributedsigtoRajasthaliterature.Shewasknownforthe"pur(veilsystem)infeudaleraandherentirelifewomen’supliftespeciallyherwriting.writerpoet,ChundawathonouredwithprestigiousPadAwardinthe1984forwritingMahagathaofBagdaanIdoloftheCommunity.DynamicChundawatwasaforward-lookingyetgreatfollowerofRajasthanirituals&traditions.IntraditionalRajputiattirewhenChundawatwenttoreceivethePadmashriAwardatRashtrapatiBhawaninNewDelhi,IndiraGandhihuggedheradorablyandtoldher,“Lakshmi,yourfondnessfortraditionandculturewouldsurelyhelpyouattainyourgoals.”ItwasChundawat’seffortsthatsawtheestablishmentoftheRajasthanilanguageinthemainstreameducational,literary,and
ANUBHA JAIN (Journalist jainanubha1@outlook.comWriter
LIBRA SEPT 24 - OCTOBER 22 You need help on academic front and you should not shy away from asking. Your spouse may make you spend more than you expected. Fantastic day for investing money in stock market as you can make fortune. You miss your parents a lot and somewhere fear to loose them.
VIRGO AUG 24 - SEP 23 You must create an environment of understanding at home. You need a break from day to tensions and the way to cope up with stress is to meditate. You will succeed in any sort of examination if you put your heart and soul to it. Promotion can be expected even if other are not.
from Purdah to People
FACEOFTHEDAY
Don’t attack stress even if you don’t have any. Let go of things that are not in your control. You will work hard to make your dream come true.
Tiana ties the band as Aarudra Modi curiously looks upon his wrist
CELEBRATING THE BOND OF LOVE AND PROTECTION! W MUMBAI | FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2022
The Dusad family during the occasionFrom left Anubhav, Prakhar, Kamakshi, Gokul and Bhavya Nidhi Natani rejoices with her family. Seen here are Nikita, Nitin Modi, Vigya, Arun Modi, Shalu and Gaurav Modi
Pushpa, Geeta, Priyal, Mahak, Surbhi, Pramod, Pawan, Ashish, Raghav, Akshit and Parth during the occasion Himanshu, Shubanshi and Prakhar Mayank and Suhani
ETC www.firstindia.co.in I https://firstindia.co.in/epapers/mumbai I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia 11
CITY FIRST ith mass vaccina tion, confidence has returned amongst consumers to step outside their homes and resume their life of the pre-pandemic times. Raksha Bandhan, which heralds the beginning of the fes tive season is traditionally a fam ily affair to celebrate the bond between brothers and sisters. While some enjoyed the hustle of meeting relatives and loved ones, some long distance siblings con nected over video calls. City First brings to you glimpses shared by our dear readers from the cele brations across Jaipur, New Del hi and Mumbai.
Samridhi with her nephew Krishiv Shrey and PrishaNidhi, Sanjeev, Gaurav, Arun, Amit and Priya
Ritika Tambi with Shailesh and Anita Tambi
Avika GorBhumi Pednekar Shilpa Rao with the team of Laal Singh Chaddha Shivin Narang Kareena Kapoor Khan Salman Khan with the sailors Rashami Desai and Mrunal Jain Shilpa Rao
amir Khan’s pet project, Laal AugusttreshitsChaddha,Singhthetheatoday,11.It is an official Hindi adaptation of Tom Hanks’ Forrest Gump. It’s not just the pace which is the trouble. It is also, centrally and crucially, Sard ar Laal Singh Chaddha himself. For the most part, director Advait Chandan’s Laal Sin gh Chaddha remains faithful to the origi nal material. But Amir Khan’s perfor mance is heartbreaking.utterly common parlance now resorts to grunts and more grunts in his reinterpretation of Forrest Gump, a role synonymous with Tom Hanks from the film of the sameThename.official Hindi adaptation of this Hollywood classic, Laal Singh Chaddha, much like that iconic buoying white feath er, common in both films, floats but each time it lands at Aamir’s shoes, is simply trampled upon. Kareena’s Rupa, adapted from Robin Wright’s Jen ny in the original, was perhaps the starkest. Inter woven with a tryst with physi cal abuse she wit nessed being meted out to her mother as a child, it is not a bad trope. And Kareena, with her thanesperformance,effortlessemerglookingbetterAamir.
The best way to un derstand how horri bly wrong Aamir went with his overthe-top acting is to look at Naga Chait anya’s Bala, an Army recruit. Chay lives his character and His sincerity and direc tor’s vision show in everyPerhapsscene.if Aamir had surrounded him self with lesser ac tors, his performance would have looked better in compari son. Perhaps if the makers hadn’t really
12 MUMBAI | FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2022www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epapers/mumbai I twitter.com/thefirstindia facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia CITY BUZZGETSTAYVACCINATEDMASKED
KAREENAA
EMERGES LOOKING BETTER THAN AAMIR IN LAAL SINGH CHADDHA
ASHISH TIWARI cityfirst@firstindia.co.in
G ive some in sights about your new re leased song ‘Tere Hawaale’ from the movie ‘Laal Sin gh Chaddha’. The story behind the re cording and her ex perience working with Pritam on this song? I started recording this song in 2019 actually and it’s been a very long journey with this song. When I was sing ing, I felt love is God. So that is where feelings come from in this song. And of course, with Pritam and Amitabh Bhat tacharya. They knew me since I came to Bombay and I am very grateful that I have worked with them and grateful for their friendship. And I think the cherry on the cake was actually when Aamir came and there is the last part of the song which talks about how you observe someone that you love when they are sleeping and then they are not aware that you are looking at them with all that love and affec tion and concern. I am sure everyone has done that, like looking at their kid sleeping or looking at their par ents sleeping or look ing at their beloved or even their pet sleeping. It all comes from a very pure place in your heart, and that is what the song is all about.
F or incidenceisPednekar,Bhumiitasweetco that her Katha!RakshabandhanfilmisreleasingonthesamedayasToilet:EkPremIncidental ly, both these films have her paired oppo site Akshay Kumar and these projects are also mean ingful, commercial social entertain ers. Bhumi says, “It is such a lovely coincidence that on the 5th anniver sary of Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, Rakshabandhan, my second movie with Akshay sir is releasing in thea tres! Akshay sir has been a huge part of my career and there is so much I have learnt from him.” She adds, “Akshay sir and I have a unique tun ing to deliver some meaningful en tertainers. Both Toilet and Raksha bandhan deliver a message that one can take home and also watch such films with the entire family.”
vika Gor shares her plan for She says, “This year my Rakshabandhan plan is going to be very similar to the rest of the year. I will go to my Nani's place and tie Rakhi on all my brothers on my Mom’s side and my Father’s side. I have a lot of cousins brothers, around 16-17 and I tie Rakhi to all of them. There are a few whom I send Rakhi too.” She further adds, “ I do not have a sibling but I do have a lot of cousins and we sometimes irritate each other and have fun. They keep me grounded and for me to be the same after being in the industry for so many years, the credit goes to my cousins. They take me outandcreamandwalksforice around them I feel that I
A mongst the largest destroy ers built in In their families, only to ensure that the Indian seas are safe and se
How did you feel when you heard that you had lent your voice to Kareena Ka poor Khan? So this is the first time I have sung for her and it’s such a beautiful song and I am really happy to be a part of this. I think the charac ter Rupa will win eve rybody’s heart. What skills have you learned from this project that will help you in your singing career? One thing I believe in and this song has is that your act of pray ing and loving some one is the same thing, and they are not two different things, and that thing is very lifeteaching for all of us. Do you wish to set a title as a singer? What kind of singer would you classify yourself as? The singer who is happy and is connected with her listeners, and I think that’s more than enough.
hivin Narang is excited for Ra khi, but this year he will be outside the country during the festival and will be celebrating it on line. The Veera actor is currently holidaying in Bali. “This year I will be out of the country and I know I would not be able to celebrate so I am already carrying my Rakhis.”
AVIKA SHARES HER EMOTIONS ON
R aksha Bandhan is here and eve ryone is ready to celebrate the special occasion with their loved ones. Mrunal Jain, who con siders co-actor Rashami Desai as his sister, shares about their bond, how they are emotionally dependent on each other and the best thing about having a sister. “I love the way our bond is getting stronger every day. Even if we don’t meet each other regularly and are not in touch daily, the love and care we have for each other are beautiful. So, I am very excited for Rakhi and have planned eve rything quite in ad vance,” he smiles. I don’t expect anything from her, I just need her love and blessings on this day. On every ra khi, I personally go and choose gifts for her. And I make sure I pick the best for her,” he adds.
UTTKARSHA SHEKHAR cityfirst@firstindia.co.in
MAGIC OF HER VOICE! SHILPA RAO, GRAMMY-NOMINATED SINGER FROM INDIA AND VOICE BEHIND FAMOUS SONGS LIKE SUBHANALLAH, MALANG ETC SHARES SOME INSIGHT ABOUT HER LATEST SONG TERE HAWAALE FROM LAAL SINGH CHADDHA' IN AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH CITY FIRST!
RAKHIMRUNALWITHSALMANRAKSHABANDHANSPENDSADAYTHESAILORSCELEBRATESWITHRASHAMI!
AKSHAY SIR AND I HAVE A TUNING:UNIQUEBHUMI SHIVIN STHERAKHICELEBRATETOOUTSIDECOUNTRY
