First India-Mumbai Edition-12th November 2022

MOODY’S CUTS INDIA’S GDP PROJECTIONS TO 7%

TV ACTOR SIDDHAANTH VIR SURRYAVANSHI DIES IN GYM

HIMACHAL PRADESH VOTES TODAY

Shimla: Himachal Pradesh will have a single-phase election on Saturday. Campaign ing for the assembly elections had conclud ed on Thursday, and all the eyes are now on bal lots and voting ma chines, where the fates of candidates from the ruling Bharatiya Jana ta Party (BJP), Con gress, Aam Aadmi Par ty (AAP), and other parties will be decided on Saturday.

Prime Minister Nar endra Modi had spear headed the charge of the ruling party against the Congress, which is attempting a comeback. On December 8, results for Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat will be an nounced together.

VOTE

PUBLIC HOLIDAY ON HIMACHAL POLLING DAY

Shimla: The State Gov ernment has declared a public holiday on poll day on Saturday, November 12th, to the employees working in government offices, boards, Corporations, educational institutions and industrial establishments situated in Himachal Pradesh on ac count of assembly elections in the State. A notification in this behalf has been issued by the Himachal Pradesh Chief Secretary’s office.

CONGRESS, NCP FORGE PRE-POLL ALLIANCE IN GUJ

Ahmedabad (PTI): The Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) entered into a pre-poll alliance for the next month’s Gujarat Assembly elections, as part of which the Sharad Pawar-led party will contest three of the total 182 seats in the state, the leaders of the two parties announced here on Friday.

Foreign JeM terrorist killed in J&K encounter

Srinagar (PTI): Secu rity forces on Friday shot dead a foreign ter rorist of Jaish-e-Mo hammad (JeM) in an encounter in Shopian.

A police spokesman said the security forces, acting on specific infor mation generated by po lice regarding the pres ence of terrorist in the Kapren area of Shopian, launched a joint cordon and search operation.

Thane (PTI): Several hundred Nationalist Congress Party work ers blocked the Mum bra Bypass in Thane district for an hour to protest against the ar rest of MLA Jitendra Awhad on Friday in connection with the disruption of a show of the Marathi film 'Har Har Mahadev'.

Video footage of the incident showed some cine-goers were beaten up when they protested against the forcible stopping of the screen ing. A First Informa tion Report (FIR) was registered at Vartak Nagar police station un der Indian Penal Code sections 323 (assault) and 504 (intentional in sult with intent to pro voke breach of peace) following the incident on November 07.

The spokesman said as the search party ap proached towards the suspected spot, the hid

ing terrorist fired indis criminately which was retaliated effectively leading to an encounter.

The killed terrorist was categorised ultra and involved in several terror crime cases.

Shimla (ANI): The Himachal Pradesh unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday expelled state executive committee mem ber Anu Thakur for ‘anti-party’ activities. According to the official statement released by the BJP’s Himachal Unit, state president and Shimla MP Suresh Kashyap issued an order expelling Thakur for six years.

RECORD CASH, LIQUOR, FREEBIES SEIZED IN POLL-BOUND HIMACHAL AND GUJARAT: EC

New Delhi (PTI): Nearly 11 lakh litres of liquor, freebies worth Rs 65 crore and Rs 17.84 crore cash meant to in duce voters have been seized from poll-bound Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, the Election Commission said, describ ing it as a “record”. While polling will be held in Himachal on Saturday, Gujarat will have voting on December 1 and 5.

SC orders release of six Rajiv Gandhi assassins

New Delhi (Agencies): The Supreme Court on Friday directed the pre mature release of six convicts, including Na lini Sriharan and RP Ravichandran, serving life term in the assassi nation case of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, noting that the Tamil Nadu govern ment has recommended remission of their sen tence.

Besides Nalini and Ravichandran, the four others to be released are Santhan, Murugan, Robert Payas and Jaya kumar. The top court also took into account that their conduct was satisfactory during in carceration and they have undertaken vari ous studies.

A bench of justices BR Gavai and B V Naga rathna said the judg ment of the top court in the case of AG Perari valan, one of the con victs in the case, is equally applicable in their matter.

CONG CRITICIZES APEX COURT ORDER

New Delhi: The Congress has termed “totally unac ceptable and completely er roneous” apex court’s order directing premature release of six remaining convicts serving life sentence in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, saying the court has not acted in consonance with the spirit of India.

STALIN WELCOMES 6 CONVICTS’ RELEASE

Chennai: The Supreme Court judgment in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case demonstrated that Gov ernors should not put the decisions of elected govts on the back burner, Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin said on Friday. Stalin welcomed the release of six convicts in the Rajiv case.

WHERE IS JUSTICE FOR US? ASKS SURVIVOR IN RAJIV GANDHI ASSASSINATION BOMBING

Chennai: “What about justice for those killed and injured survivors in the 1991 suicide bombing that assassinated former PM Rajiv Gandhi?” asked Anusuya Daisy Ernest, a retired woman police officer. Ernest, then police sub inspector was regulating crowd when people jostled to move forward at venue of a Congress public meeting at Sriperumbudur on May 21, 1991 to garland Rajiv Gandhi.

PM Narendra Modi after unveiling the 108 ft bronze statue of Nadaprabhu Kempegowda, in Bengaluru on Friday.

Union Minister Pralhad Joshi and Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai are also seen.

PM Modi’s ‘4 states in 2 days’ tour, mega projects in big South push

Bengaluru (Agencies): Amid bitter battles be tween the BJP and sev eral ruling parties in the states, PM Narendra Modi is on a visit to four south Indian states in two days. The PM’s visit assumes significance as it comes less than six months before Assem bly elections in Karna taka, and bitter battles between Centre-appoint ed Governors and ruling parties in many states.

HC asks Raut to respond to ED plea

Justice Dangre also permitted the ED to amend its application as the special court order granting the RS MP bail was not available on Wednesday, when the application was filed

First India Bureau

Mumbai: Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut has been asked to respond to an application by the Enforcement Directo rate (ED) in the Bombay High Court, seeking cancellation of bail

granted to him in a money-laundering case by a special court earli er this week.

A single bench of Justice Bharati Dangre also permitted the ED to amend its application as the order of the spe cial court that granted bail to Sanjay Raut was not available on Wednesday, when the application was filed.

The matter will be next heard on Novem ber 25.

Apart from Sanjay Raut, a prominent lead er of the Uddhav Thack eray-led Shiv Sena fac tion, the central agency has also challenged the bail granted to busi nessman, Pravin Raut, a co-accused in the case.

“The applications shall be amended by No vember 14. The re spondents (Sanjay Raut and Pravin Raut) shall file their reply affida vits one week Turn to P6

PM INAUGURATES T2 OF B’LURU AIRPORT

Bengaluru: PM Narendra Modi on Friday inaugurated Terminal 2 of Kempegowda International Airport. The passenger handling capacity and check-in and immigra tion counters has got double.

PM FLAGS OFF VANDE BHARAT EXPRESS

Bengaluru: PM Modi on Friday flagged off ChennaiMysuru Vande Bharat Express at Kranthiveera San golli Rayanna Railway Station here. This is the fifth Vande Bharat train in the country.

PM UNVEILS 108-FEET STATUE OF B’LURU FOUNDER NADAPRABHU KEMPEGOWDA

Bengaluru: PM Narendra Modi on Friday unveiled the “Statue of Prosperity”, 108-feet bronze statue of Bengalu ru founder Nadaprabhu Kempegowda. The statue has been built to commemorate the contribution of Kempegowda, the founder of the city, towards the growth of Bengaluru.

dist judge for consolidation of lawsuits filed on the Gyanvapi row.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday said a plea filed by Union minister Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish Mishra seeking bail in a case related to Lakhimpur Kheri violence should be placed before a bench that had earlier dealt with the matter.

Varanasi: District judge AK Vishvesha on Friday fixed Dec 5 as next date of hearing in the Gyanvapi mosque case following orders of the Allahabad High Court. The district judge has posted the case to December 5 following the high court’s decision.

Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court on Friday ac quitted all the 12 accused in a case relating to the murder of the RTI activ ist and editor of ‘Maha Prachanda’ newspaper Lingaraju back in 2012 cit ing lack of corroboratory evidence.

Jitendra Awhad

from

earlier as the global slowdown and rising

interest rates will dampen economic momentum. This is the second time that Moody’s Investors Service has cut India’s growth estimates.

New Delhi: Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar with a delegation on Friday emplaned for Cambodia to attend the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit and the 17th East Asia Summit to be held in Phnom Penh on Saturday and Sunday.

Mumbai: Famous television actor Siddhaanth Vir Surryavanshi, known for his roles in shows like ‘Kkusum’ and ‘Kasautii Zindagi Kay’, died on Friday at the age of 46. The actor died while working out at a gym at 11am. P11

Security personnel at the site where an encounter broke out on Friday. —PHOTO BY ANI

First India Bureau

BJP EXPELS HIMACHAL PRADESH MEMBER ANU THAKUR FOR ‘ANTI-PARTY’ ACTIVITIES

Polling officials carrying EVMs, Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) and other polling materials leave for the polling stations for the upcoming Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections, in Kullu on Friday. —PHOTO BY ANI

DEMOCRACY, CONSTITUTION ARE IN DANGER: AADITYA

Joined Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on the latter’s Bharat Jodo Yatra ‘despite ideological differences’, Thackeray scion asserts

Aditya Waghmare

Aurangabad: Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray on Friday said he joined Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra despite ideolog ical differences as de mocracy and the Con stitution are in peril in the country.

The former Maha rashtra minister who belongs to the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Sena walked with Gandhi for some time as the Congress lead er's foot-march entered Maharashtra’s Hingoli district.

“Someone today said that people with two different ideolo gies have come to gether. But working together for the country despite ideo logical differences itself is democracy,” Aaditya said.

“An attempt to crush the Constitution and democracy is going on in our state and also in

the country. Against this, we have come on the road. And it is a

good sign for our de mocracy,” he said.

Shiv Sena (Uddhav

Balasaheb Thackeray) and Congress, along with the Nationalist

‘Yatra aims to protect India’s diversity, which is its strength’

First India Bureau

Nanded: Hailing di versity as India’s strength,Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar on Friday lauded the Bharat Jodo Yatra as a means to protect this diversity.

Addressing a press conference here, Ku mar—who has been part of the Rahul Gandhi-led foot march from Kanya kumari in Tamil Nadu since Septem ber 07—said there is a difference between a political yatra and an electoral one, add ing that “everything in politics is not for

cally but emotionally. Our hopes, aspira tions should also be united. If there is an emotional impact of this yatra on the peo ple, electoral impact will also be seen,” Kumar said.

Congress Party, are part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coali tion in Maharashtra.

Asked what he dis cussed with Gandhi during the march, Aaditya Thackeray said, “It had nothing to do with politics. But the issue of the (indus trial) investments which recently went out of Maharashtra was discussed.”

electoral gains”. “The objective of this yatra is to unite people emotionally in this diverse land. We have to be united not only geographi

“This is a padyatra (foot march) for the country organized by the Congress. People should join it by walking on their own for issues close to their heart. In the current political dis course, non-issues are being given prior ity, while important ones are sidelined. We wish to highlight those (important is sues),” he added.

RAGA RECALLS FATHER’S TECH FASCINATION

First India Bureau

Nanded: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said his in teraction with kids along the Bharat Jodo Yatra, which currently passing through Maharash tra, reminded him of his late father.

Former prime minis ter Rajiv Gandhi, was always curious about modern technology and how it could be harnessed for the coun try’s benefit, he said.

Gandhi wrote on Fa cebook about his fa ther after meeting a schoolboy who said he wants to be a software engineer but had never seen a computer.

In young Sarvesh Hatne and Chandrakant Kirkal’s eyes I saw the same curiosity and amuse ment as (his father) as I showed them how an iPad works. They shared with me their dream of becoming software engi neers.

Congress president

schoolboy from Nand ed, in Gandhi’s pres ence. Hatne had met Gandhi a day before.

Recalling his fa ther’s famous quote, “I am young, and I too have a dream,” Gandhi wrote, “Papa was al ways curious about modern technology and how it could be used to India’s advan tage. Computers were Papa’s absolute favour ite! And, he would al ways passionately dis cuss new plans on channelling youth power to usher India into the 21st century,” he added.

The Eknath Shindeled Maharashtra gov ernment recently came under fire after a semi conductor project by Vedanta-Foxconn and a military aircraft pro ject of Tata-Airbus were bagged by neigh bouring Gujarat.

“Rahul Gandhi has also taken up this issue in his speeches during the Yatra. Attempts are going on to sup press the voice of all those who speak out today. We talked about that too,” the Thack eray scion added. —PTI

TN man hit by truck is yatra’s 2nd death

First India Bureau

Aurangabad: In the second death occur ring during the Con gress party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, Ganesan Ponraman (62), a na tive of Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu, was killed after being hit by a truck in Nanded district. The accident also left Sayayul (30), also Tamil Nadu, in jured, a police official said on Friday.

— Rahul Gandhi

Friday gifted a laptop to Sarvesh

“A laptop for Sarvesh is just the beginning. We have a billion more dreams to realize.”

They were walking back to Pimpalgaon Ma hadeo village in Ard hapur tehsil for the yatra's night camp after attending Rahul Gan dhi's public rally in Nanded on Thursday when the accident oc

curred around 8.20 pm, he said.

Rahul Gandhi ex pressed grief over the incident, saying a “true soldier of the party and

a beloved companion on the Bharat Jodo Yatra” has been lost. “I express my deepest condolences to his family and well wishers. His dedication

to the country and the Congress party will serve as an inspiration to all of us in our en deavour to unite our country,” he added.

First India Bureau

Palghar: Activists of the Nationalist Con gress Party (NCP) and Bharatiya Jana ta Party (BJP) clashed in Palghar, with many suffering minor injuries, po lice said on Friday.

The incident oc curred in Dahanu ta luka on Thursday evening, ahead of the elections to the post of chief and deputy chief of Gram Panchayats, said an official. There after, complaints were lodged by both sides and First Information Reports were regis tered.

A few persons from both groups were in jured in the incident. No arrests have been made so far.

SHIRDI SAI BABA ADMIN GRANTS DEVOTEES ACCESS TO SAMADHI

proved at the meeting included installation of low-height mirrors where crowds gather most, allowing devotees to enter the Dwarkamai temple, allowing circum ambulation of the tem ple during the aarti.

Fadanvis holds talks on ` 45K cr green hydrogen project

First India Bureau

First India Bureau

Shirdi: In a meeting held by the adminis tration of the Sama dhi temple in Shirdi, the decision to re move the glass wall in front of the Samadhi was taken on Friday.

A wait that has spanned years, devotees of Shirdi Sai Baba will get their wish and be able to pray before the idol seated on a throne.

The area was made offlimits for the general public due to the huge influx of visitors at the temple every day.

“The glass wall that separates the region housing the idol from the

area demarcated for pub lic access will be re moved. Moreover, devo tees will be allowed to enter inside the Dwarka mai temple,” said Bhag yashree Banayat, CEO of the institution that

runs the temple.

Notably, much like other temples, devotees will be able to touch the feet of Sai Baba’s sama dhi to seek his blessings.

Other important is sues discussed and ap

However, the admin istration has made the stipulation that only de mands made by local villagers that do not af fect the security and administrative han dling of the temple will be accepted. Banayat also said that some de mands would be accept ed in a phased manner.

Earlier, only VIPs could touch the samadhi and get darshan of Sai Baba from inside the walls of the temple.

Mumbai: Having come under fire after a semiconductor pro ject by Vedanta-Fox conn and military air craft project of TataAirbus were bagged by Gujarat, Maha rashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister Dev endra Fadnavis on Friday held talks with the Avaada Group for setting up a green hydrogen pro ject in the state.

The first-of-its-kind project will be worth Rs45,000 crore and can generate employment for 12,000 persons, said Fadnavis who also holds the finance portfolio.

“Had a very detailed meeting with team

Avaada Group led by Vineet Mittal on green hydrogen, an important anchor of future energy transition as a part of Hon PM Narendra Modi ji’s vision,” he tweeted.

“We have assured them all support and look forward to collabo rative development and creating a green, renew able future together,” he added.

CLOSER TO GOD

To remove glass wall in area that houses the idol; also allows entry to Dwarkamai temple

Sai Baba Samadhi temple in Shirdi.

—FILE PHOTO

NCP, BJP activists clash in Palghar dist

Aaditya Thackeray was seen walking alongside Rahul Gandhi during the march on Friday. —PHOTO BY ANI

Kanhaiya Kumar has been part of the foot march from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu since September 07.

—FILE PHOTO

Rahul Gandhi and other party leaders pay their last respects to P Ganesan who died amid the yatra, in Nanded on Friday. —PHOTO BY ANI

Mallikarjun Kharge on

Hatne, the

Dy CM Devendra Fadnavis.

COVID-19 PANDEMIC FORCED 500 MAHA SCHOOLS TO SHUT

First India Bureau

Mumbai: According to a report by United District Information System for Education (UDISE), which falls under the purview of the Union Ministry of Education, Maha rashtra is among states where hun dreds of schools were shut down in the sec ond year of the COV ID-19 pandemic. A total of 509 schools in the state were shut down during the aca demic year 2021-22.

Nearly 20,000 schools were shut down across the country according to the UDISE report 202122. The states where schools closed include Madhya Pradesh (7,689 schools), Odisha (1,894), Andhra Pradesh (1,395), Uttar Pradesh (1143), Punjab (994), and Maha rashtra (509).

The total of 1,10,114 schools across the state has dropped to 1,09,605,

Navy staffer goes for swim doesn’t return; probe initiated

NO TEACHERS

Due to the shutting down of schools, the number of teachers, too, has declined by over 15,000, the report has revealed.

Closure of schools across the country has led to a decline in the number of teachers by 1.95% in 2021-22 com pared to 2020-21.

recording a decline of 509. But the decline seems to be a new trend,

The closing of schools due to poor enrollment was what the state government has been talking about. What now, when the number of enrollments is increasing while the num ber of teachers is declining, and so is the number of schools? We want to hear it from the education minister himself.

—Sunil

as the number of schools in the past decade has shown an increase. As

increased from 1,00,081 in 2011-12 to 1,10,114 in 2020-21, recording an in crease of 10.1%.

“The grouping or clustering of existing schools or even a short age of students in the current academic year are the reasons for clo sure of government and aided schools. This can be attributed to the COVID-19 induced lock down which led to the migration of many peo ple to their native plac es,” said an official from the state Education De partment. He added, “The number of enroll ments, if you see the data, has increased.”

Kaali peeli rides from Mum airport to cost more

First India Bureau

Mumbai: The Mum bai Metropolitan Re gion Transport Au thority (MMRTA) has hiked the fare of prepaid black and yellow taxis being operated from inter national and domes tic terminals of the airport in the city, a road transport offi cial said on Friday. Until now, the mini mum fare from inter national and domestic terminals was Rs127 and Rs85 respectively.

Mumbai (PTI): A

The employee, identi fied as Vishal Mahesh kumar, had left his home in Uran to go swimming on the morn ing of November 03, an official said.

“As Vishal did not re turn home, his parents approached the Uran police station and filed a missing person’s re port,” he said.

On the basis of their complaint, a search op eration was launched, he said.

“During the investi gation, it was found that Vishal was at a swimming pool in Uran between 10 am and 11 am on November 03. He had also called his mother from the swim ming pool and spoken to her,” he said.

Assistant Police In spector Aniruddha Gije, who is the investigating officer, said as per the CCTV footage from the area and Vishal's mobile tower location, he was last seen near the Panvel railway station, approxi mately 25km from Uran.

“From Panvel sta tion, Vishal went un traceable,” he said, add ing that he had made a financial transaction of around Rs70,000 a day before leaving Uran.

Naval police at Karanja have also start ed an investigation into the case, he said.

per data from the report, the total number of schools in Maharashtra

Explosive-like device creates panic, neutralized

Mumbai: Residents of Pen in Maharashtra’s Raigad district went into a tizzy when an explosive-like device was found in the Bhogavati river un der a bridge on the Mumbai-Goa high way around 6pm on Thursday, officials said on Friday, adding that the local police neutralized the threat within hours.

The apparatus— made up of two bunch es of six gelatin sticks, each attached to an elec tric circuit and a watch—was not con nected to any detonator and no explosive was found in it, Raigad Su perintendent of Police Somnath Gharge said.

Senior officials of the Raigad police, state AntiTerrorism Squad (ATS) and a Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) team from Navi Mumbai had reached the spot on being alerted about the recovery of the device, he said.

“In the early hours of Friday, the BDDS team took a device at an isolated location and neutralized it by separating its electric circuit and gelatin sticks connected to it,” another official said, adding that the opera tion was over by 2 am.

“We are sending the

recovered device to a forensic science lab for a detailed investiga tion,” Gharge said.

While the Raigad po lice have launched an investigation into the incident and are at tempting to ascertain the culprits behind the device, no FIR has been registered so far.

Meanwhile, the num ber of enrollments in schools has increased by 74,856 in the academ ic year 2021-22. The re port also highlighted that enrollment in pri vate schools continued to decline, while the number of students joining government schools has increased.

Following the revision, the minimum fare (for up to 6km) will be Rs140 from the interna tional terminal, while the minimum fare (up to 4km) from the do mestic terminal will be Rs93, an official said.

The decision to ap prove the fare hike, as per the four-member Khatua Panel’s for mula for revising the fare of black and yel low taxis and autos in Maharashtra, was taken at a recent

CRUCIAL READ

TODDLER RESCUED FROM TRAFFICKERS IN MUM, 5TH SUCH CASE IN 2 MONTHS

Mumbai: Local police rescued a one-year-old girl and arrested two women who had allegedly intended to sell her on Thursday, Deputy Commissioner of Police Sangramsingh Nishandar said on Friday, adding that city police have rescued five such children in the past two months. Crime branch officials first arrested one woman based on a tip-off. During interrogation, the woman admitted that she had taken the child from her mother, intending her accomplice. A First Information Report has been filed at Deonar police station.

FOUR HOUSES IN CHAWL GUTTED IN FIRE; NONE INJURED

Pune: Four houses were gutted after a fire broke out at around 11.30 pm on Thursday in a chawl in Wanwadi area. Nobody was injured in the incident, said an official on Friday. “The blaze erupted in a chawl in Shivarkar Vasti and four tenements there were gutted in it,” said a fire brigade official. Five fire tenders were pressed into service; it was doused by 12.15 am.

GOVT COMPANY MANAGER CAUGHT ACCEPTING BRIBE

Nagpur: SM Dhande, a manager of Western Coalfields Ltd (WCL) was caught by the AntiCorruption Branch (ACB) of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday while allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs50,000 from a retired employee of the government company. A case has been registered under Prevention of Corruption Act.

ORCHESTRA BAR RAIDED IN GHATKOPAR; 23 APPREHENDED, 13 WOMEN RESCUED

Mumbai: At least 13 women who were found dancing at an illegally operated orchestra bar in Ghatkopar were rescued late on Thursday night, officials said on Friday. Cops arrested 23 persons, including the bar manager, cashier, seven waiters and 13 customers. An FIR was registered under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Maharashtra Prohibition of Obscene Dance in Hotels, Restaurants and Bar Rooms and Protection of Dignity of Women (working therein) Act, 2016, an official said.

MEASLES OUTBREAK

MMRTA meeting. As per the panel’s report, the prepaid taxi fare includes a 25% incen tive up to 12km and 20% up to 4km.

In addition, MMRTA has also approved a stage carriage permit for 2,000 buses, to allow the BEST (Brihan mumbai Electric Sup

ply and Transport) un dertaking to operate more buses and pro vide better services.

As many as 92 new stands—73 for au torickshaws, nine for taxis, seven for share autorickshaws and three for share taxis— across the MMR have also been approved.

Mumbai city’s AQI ‘moderate’ at 149

Mumbai: With winter coming, the air quali ty index (AQI) of the city has been fluctuat ing, and an average AQI of 149 was re corded on Friday at 9 am. However, certain areas’ AQI put them in the ‘poor category’: Bandra Kurla Com plex registered an AQI of 249, while Deo nar-IIT Mumbai area saw an AQI of 207.

The particulate mat ter concentration, too, was in the moderate category, with PM 2.5 recorded at 65ug/m3 and PM 10 at 133ug/m3.

The PM 2.5—ultrafine particles having a size of less than or equal to 2.5 microns— levels in the city, how

The current PM 2.5 level concentration is 4.3 times more than the WHO’s recommended limit

ever, were worrisome as it was 4.3 times more than the recommended limit of World Health Organization’s (WHO) 24 hours air quality guidelines value.

According to the In dia Meteorological De partment (IMD), for the next two days, the city will see clear skies with temperatures hovering around 34°C to 20°C in the daytime. The coastal town of Uran recorded the worst AQI of 267 on Fri day at 9 am.

‘Screen 3,000 Govandi homes daily for next 10 days’

First India Bureau

Mumbai: After re ports of a measles out break at Rafi Nagar in Govandi of the city, officials from the state Health Department visited the area on Thursday. They di rected Brihanmumbai Municipal Corpora tion (BMC) officials to conduct door-to-door

screening of all 3,000 houses located in the area daily, for the next 10 days. Meanwhile, additional camps have been set up to vacci nate children who have missed any of their shots.

A three-member team of the state Health Department has also di rected the BMC to con tinue with vaccination

21

Since September, BMC has reported

surveyed 69,218 houses so far. —FILE

camps at Rafi Nagar for immunization against measles as well as other

preventable diseases. “We have directed the BMC to screen every

house at Rafi Nagar daily, for the next 10 days. We have also

tions that are part of the children’s immuni zation programme. A special camp will be conducted to inoculate kids who have missed their vaccination(s),” said Dr Nitin Am badekar, Joint Director (health services).

The BMC, which was carrying out their screening for measles, visited 705 houses, which covers a total population of 3,907 peo ple, and six suspected cases were identified.

asked the civic body to conduct a survey on the status of other vaccina

The children have fever and rashes, said civic officials.

22-year-old employee of the Navy, who worked as a chef at the INS Abhimanyu base camp at Uran in neighbouring Raigad district, has gone missing, police said on Friday.

First India Bureau

Health Dept team visits Rafi Nagar to take stock of situation; asks civic body to immunize every child against preventable diseases

confirmed cases of measles in M East ward (Govandi), and

PHOTO

Number of teachers dropped during pandemic; but student enrollments increased

20K schools across the country were shut in academic year 2021-22, says UDISE report.

Shejule, Coordinator, Marathi Shala Sansthachalak Sangh

The black-and-yellow cabs are a Mumbai icon. —FILE PHOTO NO FREE BUS RIDES FOR COPS

The gelatin-based apparatus was found floating in the waters of the Bhogavati river on Thursday evening.

Two bunches of gelatin sticks, attached to an electric circuit and a watch were found under a bridge near Pen; not connected to any detonator and no explosive was found, cops say

First India Bureau

INDIAN DEFENCE INDUSTRY: BLAZING TO GLORY

diverse equipment and tech nologies through indigenous sources, without compromis ing the operational efficiency. A large number of pro curements worth Rs 47,000 crore from Indian industry were concluded in 2021–22. The quantum of contracts that went to domestic units in the last three years has been the highest ever.

CHALLENGES

The defence production in dustry faces the following major challengesz High Dependence on Imports

z Narrow Private Participation.

z Lack of critical state of the art Technology

z Overlapping jurisdic tions between the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Industrial Promotion.

z Fragile relationship between R&D institutions, production agencies (public or private) and end-users.

WAY AHEAD

SUPREME COURT SET TO DEFEND ITS TURF ON COLLEGIUM ISSUE

Atmanirbhar Bharat’ is a ‘feel good factor’ but the success of Atmanirbhar Bharat will depend much on the right blend of policy implementations to fix the inherent challenges, as given out. India will require total focus and sincere efforts in line with “Nation First” attitude to reap the best benefits, in future

India has one of the world’s largest armed forces with a strength of over 14.4 lakhs (1.44 million) active personnel, since it has the largest unsettled borders with two nuclear powered neighbours. Also, it has high defence spending for operational readiness of such large force. Hence, the Indian defence budget is the third largest next to USA and China, though they are far ahead. Undoubtedly, the defence and aerospace industry is a strategically important sector in India.

In “AZAADI KA AMRIT MAHOTSAV” we find the indigenous defence manufac turing ascending on a path of growth and glory. The suc cess stories of India’s De fence Production include ship building including air craft carrier, Brahmos su personic missiles, Tejasmulti role fighter aircraft, attack and utility combat helicopters, anti-satellite weapon systems and a wide array of radars, missiles, drones, unarmed combat vehicles and armaments.

VISION STATEMENT

The vision of the govern ment is to achieve a turno ver of $25 Bn including export of $5 Bn in Aero

space and Defence by 2025.

Over the next 5-7 years, the Government of India plans to spend $130 Bn for fleet modernization across all armed services. In line with the self-reliant India initia tive, the share of domestic capital procurement, which was earmarked at 64% in 2021-22 has been enhanced to 68% of the Capital Acquisi tion Budget of the Defence Services for FY 2022-23.

GOVT INITIATIVE

To give a fillip to the domestic defence industry, the govern ment aims to ensure transpar ency, predictability and ease of doing business by creating a robust eco-system and form ing industry friendly poli cies. Towards this end the government has taken steps to bring about de-licensing, deregulation, export promotion and foreign investment liber alization. Ministry of Defence has also notified three ‘Posi tive Indigenization lists’ comprising of 411 defence equipments to be manufac tured locally. Additionally, to promote export and liberalize foreign investments FDI in Defence Sector has been en hanced up to 74% through the Automatic Route and 100% by government route. The following policy changes are noteworthyz Defence Production and Export Promotion Policy (DPEPP 2022)

z Defence Acquisition Proce dure (DAP 2020

z Strategic Partnership Model

z Re-Organisation Of Ord nance Factories

India will require total focus and sincere efforts in line with “Nation First” attitude to reap the best benefits, in future. There are shining examples of exclusive brilliance and the future seems to be bright, in-spite of a sluggish start. The defence industry took a long time to start toddling but now it has started walking

DEFENCE PRODUCTION HUBS

In line with ‘Make in India’ thought, new welcome develop ment has been the establish ment of two defence corri dors at Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. These two cor ridors shall focus upon devel opment of indigenous manu facturing and in turn become the springboard for defence manufacturing. These are z Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor (UPDIC) z Tamil Nadu Defence Industrial Corridor (TNDIC)

REALIGNMENT OF DEFENCE PROCUREMENT

The Indian Armed Forces modernization plan is rea ligning itself to ‘Make in In dia’ initiative. The ‘At manirbhar’ vision has em powered the Army, Air Force and Indian Navy, to procure

There is a silver lining and defence production has been looking up in the last decade. We can feel proud about the fact that defence exports grew by 334% in last five years and India is now exporting to over 75 countries. With Govern ment initiatives, the expendi ture on defence procurement from foreign sources which used to be 46% of the overall expenditure has reduced to 36% in the last four years i.e. 2018-19 to 2021-22. In 2020-2021, 74% of contracts by Army were awarded to Indian Ven dors, which is praise worthy. Government of India has set a target of Rs 1.75 lakh crore of defence production by 2025, which includes export of INR 35,000 crore.

CONCLUSION

‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ is a ‘feel good factor’ but the suc cess of Atmanirbhar Bharat will depend much on the right blend of policy imple mentations to fix the inher ent challenges, as given out. India will require total focus and sincere efforts in line with “Nation First” attitude to reap the best benefits, in future. There are shining ex amples of exclusive bril liance and the future seems to be bright, in-spite of a slug gish start. The defence indus try took a long time to start toddling but now it has start ed walking. With the right support and initiatives, we will soon find it taking giant strides, to glory and fame.

CONG, GANDHI FAMILY NOT ON SAME PAGE

In a politically im portant judgment, the Supreme Court ordered premature release of Nalini Sriharan, P. Ravichandran and four other convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. Na lini and Ravichandran were set free on account of their good behaviour. Besides Nalini and Ravichandran the other four---Murugan, Santhan, Sri haran and Robert Payas---had spent over three decades in prison. They were all sen tenced to life in prison. Earlier, the Supreme Court had used its extraordinary powers un der Section 142 of the Constitu tion to release another convict, AG Perarivalan, on the recom mendation of the Tamil Nadu government in May this year.

The special powers had to be

Although Sonia Gandhi, Rajiv’s widow, her daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra & son Rahul Gandhi wanted a closure to the tragic chapter of their lives by pardoning the convicts but the Congress party has taken a different stand

invoked because the state gov ernor took an inordinately long time to decide on his mer cy petition.

Former Prime Minister Ra jiv Gandhi was assassinated by a suicide bomber in Sripe rumbudur on May 21, 1991.

For reasons hard to explain,

the Congress party is not in sync with the Gandhi family on the release of Rajiv’s kill ers. Although Sonia Gandhi, Rajiv’s widow, her daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and son Rahul Gandhi wanted a closure to the tragic chapter of their lives by pardoning the convicts but the party has taken a different stand.

In 2018 it was Randeep Singh Surjewala who said that “the State cannot derelict its duty of punishing terrorists and ter rorism”. On Friday, the day of the Supreme Court’s order, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh tweeted that he found the order “totally unacceptable and com pletely erroneous”. Both Rahul and Priyanka had forgiven them after the latter met Nalini in jail in 2008. Their views must be respected.

It is the same conten tious issue of Gov ernment versus Su preme Court over ju dicial appointments once again. Law Minister Kiren Rijiju has repeatedly said that the Collegium system is “opaque and not accountable” involving a lot of politics. He has also ham mered the point that nowhere in the world do judges appoint themselves, which is fair. The new Chief Justice of India, Jus tice DY Chandrachud, said in an interview that the executive should avoid “grandstanding” but defended the system as it “ensures judicial independ ence”. He also said that the Col legium system “must improve” and that he took the criticism in a positive light. While the gov ernment may be right about lack of transparency, the executive’s bigger role in judges’ appoint ments could also compromise judicial independence.

The issue may take a new turn with the Bench of Justices San jay Kishan Kaul and AS Oka is suing notice to the Union Law Secretary for delay in processing names cleared for judgeship.

SPIRITUAL SPEAK

MAHENG/2022/14652

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

Editor-In-Chief: Dr Jagdeesh Chandra Editor: Anita Hada Sangwan responsible for selection of news under the PRB

A Karma-yogi performs action by body, mind, intellect, and senses, without attachment, only for self-purification.

Bhagavad

Gita

Piyush Goyal @PiyushGoyal

PM @NarendraModi ji flags off South India’s first Vande Bharat Express from Bengaluru connecting Mysuru & Chennai.The Bharat Gaurav Kashi Yatra train is also flagged off for pilgrims to visit our spiritual capital Kashi.

Dharmendra Pradhan @dpradhanbjp

#KashiTamilSangamam will celebrate the bond between Kashi and Tamil Nadu. People of Kashi are eager to celebrate Tamil Nadu’s language, culture and history. This mutual love and respect is the basis of our unity— PM Shri @narendramodi ji.

BRAVO! JAI HIND!! THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL

MAJ GEN

CP SINGH (RETD)

The writer is a scholar soldier accredited with MA, MSc, LLB, MBA, M Phil (Def Mgt) and M Phil (International Strategic Affairs)

Prez Murmu gets emotional as she visits her school in Odisha

Bhubaneswar (PTI):

President Droupadi Murmu on Friday turned emotional as she sat on the cot on which she used to sleep during her student days in 1970s at Unit-II Gov ernment Girl’s High School here.

Murmu, on the sec ond day of her Odisha tour, visited her alma mater and Kuntala Ku mari Sabat Adivasi Hostel where she used to stay during her school days. She also met 13 classmates and

expressed her happi ness for being in midst of her classmates, stu dents of her school and teachers.

The President start ed the day by visiting the Tapabana High School at Khandagiri in the city. Recalling her school days, Mur mu said: “I started my schooling at my Uparbeda village. There was no school building, but a thatched house where we used to study.” Describing the children of the present day as “fortunate”, the

HIMACHAL PRADESH POLLS:

President said: “We used to sweep class rooms, clean the school premises with cow dung. The students in our time studied with a free mind. I appeal to you to work hard and concentrate on your studies.” During an in teraction with girl stu dents, Murmu said: “In our time there were no such facilities like in ternet, television and other provisions to know the world outside us. As such I do not have any role models from outside. My

grandmother was my role model. I have seen how she used to help

people, particularly women in our area. My grandmother was men

tally very strong and I learnt a lot from her life.” As Murmu reached her alma ma ter where she studied from class 8 to 11, the school children greet ed her. She entered the school premises by waving at the people who were eagerly wait ing outside the campus to have a glimpse of her since morning. She also visited the Kuntala Kumari Sabat Hostel, where she stayed during her studies at the staterun school.

In total, 55% (226) of the 412 candidates fighting the elections are crorepatis

90% OF CONGRESS CANDIDATES

CROREPATIS, BJP HAS 82%: REPORT

AAP banking on Patidars to power its foray in Gujarat

Shimla (PTI): Around 90 per cent of the Con gress candidates in Himachal Pradesh as sembly polls to be held on Saturday are crore patis against 82 per cent of the ruling BJP, according to a report.

The AAP, which has fielded candidates on 67 of the total 68 assem bly constituencies, has 35, or 52 per cent, crore pati nominees, accord ing to the report by the Association for Demo cratic Reforms.

The BSP is fighting polls on 53 seats and 25 per cent (or 13) of its candidates are crorepa tis while 36 per cent (four) of candidates of CPI(M) are in the rich list. As many as 45 inde

BJP chief Satpal Singh Satti, in the elections in 68 constituencies across the state. For the ruling BJP, Prime minister Narendra Modi has led the cam paign from the front, wrapping up his canvassing with a personal appeal to voters of the state.

pendent candidates are also crorepatis. Sixtyone Congress candi dates and 56 BJP nomi nees are crorepatis.

Consumers in Noida get benefit of regulatory discounts from NPCL

In total, 55 per cent (226) of the 412 candi dates fighting the 2022 elections are crorepatis in Himachal Pradesh

Surat (PTI): “The ‘Bab bar Sher’ (lion) has come, now no one else stands a chance here,” said a youngster as Al pesh Kathiriya, AAP candidate from the Var achha Road Assembly constituency, arrived at a residential colony here on a motorcycle with his supporters in tow.

Kathiriya along with his supporters went from door to door chant ing ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ and urging residents, many of whom came out of their houses after seeing his cavalcade, to vote for him in the up coming state polls.

“We are with you,” an elderly woman assured 28-year-old Kathiriya, who was a prominent

leader of the 2015 Patidar quota agitation in Gujarat and earned the sobriquet ‘Babbar Sher’ for his aggressive and uncompromising stand on the issue.

“During the 2017 As sembly polls, they (BJP) had promised that they would withdraw all cas es filed against us but did not do so after re turning to power. They betrayed us.

Record seizures in Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat ahead of polls

New Delhi (ANI): The Election Commission of India (ECI) has made "Record seizures" dur ing Assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. The seizures in Gujarat amounted to Rs 71.88 crores while sei zures in Himachal Pradesh amounted to Rs 50.28 crores as per ECI's statement. The ECI in its press release stated that through "compre hensive planning, re views and follow-ups" these seizures have been made. Notably, on the oc casion of the announce ment of dates for the upcoming Gujarat As sembly Elections, 2022, Chief Election Commis sioner, Rajiv Kumar has stressed inducementfree elections.

Impact of Bharat Jodo Yatra already being felt: Cong’s dig at PM’s visit

“When we showed the President her room and the cot on which she used to sleep dur ing her student days, she turned emotional and sat on the same bed for a while,” said a woman teacher.

She also planted a sap ling on the premises of the Kuntala Kumari Sa bat Hostel where she stayed for four years from 1970 to 1974.

Later, Murmu met her classmates, who were invited to the school.

“It was a different

moment in our lives that the President of India invited to see us. We cannot express the feeling and we are so happy after meeting the country’s first citi zen, who was our class mate during school days,” said Chinmayee Mohanty, a retired col lege teacher and Mur mu’s classmate.

Murmu enquired about her other hostel roommates and asked: “Where is Chuni? Inci dentally, Murmu’s friend Chuni was ab sent on the occasion.

Chennai: A division bench of the Madras High Court on Friday directed IPS officer G Sampath Kumar to appear on December 9 in connec tion with a contempt petition filed by cricketer M S Dhoni. The bench of Justices P N Prakash and R M T Teeka Raman issued the statutory notice when the contempt application came up today. Dhoni has moved the High Court with a prayer to initiate contempt proceedings and issue summons against Sampath Kumar, for his alleged statements against the Supreme Court and certain senior counsels in the matter regarding fixing of cricket matches. Originally, Dhoni had filed a civil suit in 2014 to permanently restrain Sampath Kumar

DELHI VS CENTRE: SC FREEZES FILING OF PLEA

New Delhi: The SC on Friday freezes the filing of any plea in a case relating to disputes over services between the Delhi government and the Centre. Senior ad vocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi appearing for the Delhi government mentioned the matter before Supreme Court, saying Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia filed an affidavit to show paralysis in the administration. The matter is listed for hearing before the Constitution bench of the SC on No vember 24.

SC SEEKS REPLY FOR DELAY IN APPT OF JUDGES

New Delhi: The SC on Friday expressed un happiness with the Cen tre for keeping pending the names recommend ed by the Collegium for the appointment of judges in the High Courts and Apex Court. A bench headed by Jus tice Sanjay Kishan Kaul sought an explanation from the Law Secretary for the delay in the appointment of judges in the High Courts and Apex Court. The top court's observation

ing a plea filed by the Advocates

New Delhi: Based on the consistent efficient performance of the Company, the Uttar Pradesh Electricity Reg ulatory Commission (UPERC) vide tariff or der announced a regula tory discount @ 10% for the consumers of Great er Noida on the Retails Tariffs approved for the entire state of Uttar Pradesh. Resultantly, the tariffs in Greater Noida are cheaper by 10% as compared to the rest of the state of UP. In fact, after the aforesaid regu latory discount, the in dustrial tariff in Great er Noida is cheaper amongst all the cities in Delhi-NCR region, giv ing a boost in the arm in the developmental plans for the area luring more and more investment to Greater Noida Area.

The aforesaid regula tory discount has been made effective from Au gust August 4th, 2022 and since then the com pany has given a total discount of Rs. 54 Cr. from Aug-Oct’22 to its consumers in Noida.

New Delhi (PTI): The Congress took a dig on Friday at Prime Minis ter Narendra Modi’s visit to four southern states, saying the im pact of the opposition party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra is already being felt, but no antics can match the connection established with people by walking with and listening to them.

Modi is on a two-day visit to the southern states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra

Pradesh and Telanga na from Friday, during which he would attend several events and launch development

initiatives. Taking a dig at his visit, Congress general secretary in-charge communications

Jairam Ramesh said the impact of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, the foot march taken out by the party from Kanni yakumari to Kashmir, is already being felt.

“PM is now on a 2-day visit of 4 South Indian states that the Yatra has been through. There will undoubtedly be big photo-ops for camerajeevi. But no antics can match the connect from walking with and LIS TENING to the people,” Ramesh said in a tweet.

UTTAR PRADESH BUREAUCRACY

FROM PG 1

HC asks... thereafter. The matter shall be heard on No vember 25,” the court said.

Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, ap pearing for the ED, sought for the matter to be beard earlier on No vember 21.

“The special court has made certain un called for remarks. We are very affected by

that,” Singh argued. Justice Dangre, how ever, said in every order some remarks are made that have their effect.

“Nothing will happen if it (the plea) is heard one or two days later,” she said.

Notably, the special court, in its order, had termed Sanjay Raut’s arrest as “illegal, with out reason and a witchhunt”.

IAS officer Pratibha Singh to join UP bureaucracy

Lucknow: IAS officer

Pratibha Singh will join the Uttar Pradesh bureaucracy. She has been allotted TG-2020 and is currently posted as trainee officer in Telangana. Chief Min ister Yogi Adityanath has given an NoC for her to come to UP.

Singh got married

this year to IPS officer Aditya Langeh of Uttar Pradesh Carder 2016 batch. He is from Jam mu and Kashmir. Pres ently, he is the SP of Amroha. Earlier, he has done a good job as DCP in Varanasi Police Commissionerate. He is known for his hon esty and hard work.

Singh had applied for UP carde after her mar

riage. The DoPT will soon issue a notification for her carde change.

The DoPT will soon issue a notification for Pratibha Singh’s cadre change

In the bureaucracy of UP, in the 2020 batch, a total of 16 IAS

officers came from the Centre and are posted as Joint Magistrate in different districts of the state. IAS Nidhi Bansal Joint Magis trate Jhansi married her to IAS Abhishek Kumar 2020 of Tripu ra Carder of her batch.

Last month, DoPT changed Kumar’s post ing from Tripura to Uttar Pradesh on

grounds of marriage. He has been made Joint Magistrate Ja laun.

Sources said that by the end of this year, Singh will come to UP. The number of IAS of ficers in the list will increase from 16 to 18.

In the coming days, this number may in crease further on grounds of marriage.

Ahtesham Siddiqui

President Droupadi Murmu was given a rousing welcome by the students, teachers and officials on the campus.

Shimla (PTI): The ruling BJP is hoping for an en core on the back of its development agenda, while the opposition Congress is urging voters to go by the four-decade old tradition of voting out incum bents in Himachal Pradesh which goes to poll on Saturday. More than 55 lakh voters in the hill state will decide the fate of 412 candidates, including Chief Minister Jairam Thakur, former CM Virb hadhra Singh’s son Vikramaditya Singh and former

HC ORDERS IPS OFFICER TO APPEAR IN COURT IN M S DHONI CONTEMPT CASE

HIMACHAL

New Delhi (PTI): The DPIIT has organised a workshop on PM Gat iShakti national master plan for over 100 senior officials of public sector units such as Airports Au thority of India, Food Cor poration of India, and Power Grid Corporation.

The PM GatiShakti - NMP was announced last year with an aim to break de partmental silos and bring in more holistic and inte grated planning and exe cution of projects with a view to address the issues related to multi-modal and last-mile connectivity.

TKM DISCONTINUES

URBAN CRUISER COMPACT SUV

MOODY’S CUTS INDIA’S GROWTH FORECAST TO 7%

New Delhi (PTI): Moody’s on Friday slashed India’s GDP growth projection to 7% for 2022, saying that global slowdown and high domestic interest rates would dampen economic momentum.

This is the second time in as many months that Moody’s Investors Service has cut India’s growth esti mates for 2022. In Septem ber, it had cut projection for the year to 7.7% from 8.8% pegged in May.

“For India, the 2022 real GDP growth projections have been lowered to 7% from 7.7%. The downward revision assumes higher inflation, high interest rates and slowing global

growth will dampen eco nomic momentum by more than we had previously ex pected,” said the Global Macro Outlook 2023-24.

Moody’s expects growth to decelerate to 4.8% in 2023

SECOND TIME MOODY HAS CUT INDIA’S ESTIMATES

This is the second time in as many months that Moody’s In vestors Service has cut India’s growth estimates for 2022. In September, it had cut projection for the year to 7.7% from 8.8% pegged in May. “For India, the 2022 real GDP growth projec tions have been lowered to 7% from 7.7%. The downward revi sion assumes higher inflation, high interest rates.

`-denominated exports to soon touch $8-10 bn

Kolkata (PTI): Rupee-de nominated exports may soon touch $8-10 billion on the back of strong demand for Indian goods from Rus sia and the completion of groundwork by both gov ernments to create a new regime in international trade, a senior official of the FIEO said.

and then to rise to 6.4% in 2024. The Indian economy grew 8.5% in 2021 calender year, according to Moody’s.

As per official GDP esti mates, the economy ex panded 13.5% in April-June

2022-23, higher than 4.10% growth clocked in JanuaryMarch.

GDP figures for Septem ber quarter would be re leased at the end of this month.

Russian lender Gazprom bank has already opened a special Rupee account with UCO Bank. On Wednesday, India notified that export ers will receive all stipu lated benefits under the foreign trade policy for ex port realisations in domes tic currency after the Com merce ministry desired to promote international trade settlement in Rupee.

“Indian currency-de

nominated exports will reach $8-10 billion soon. Russia requires everything under the sun from India. There are strong inquiries in various sectors. Export ers were waiting for the government to allow bene fits under Rupee and banks to commence the process of transactions,” FIEO Di rector General & CEO Ajay Sahai said.

Currently, India’s ex ports to Russia are around $3 billion.

New Delhi (PTI): Toyota Kirloskar Motor on Friday said it has phased out Ur ban Cruiser compact SUV from its product portfolio in the country. The au tomaker introduced the model, a rebadged Maruti Vitara Brezza, in Septem ber 2020 and it has regis tered cumulative whole sales of over 65,000 units till date. The Co said that in order to further en hance customers’ mobility experience, its product strategy is focused on bringing in models based on customer’s feedback.

JET AIRWAYS POSTS

`308 CRORE LOSS IN SEPTEMBER QUARTER

New Delhi (PTI): Jet Air ways, which is grounded for more than three years, on Friday reported a stan dalone net loss of `308.24 crore in the three months ended September. The air line had reported a net loss of `305.76 crore in the same period a year ago, according to a regu latory filing. Through the corporate insolvency reso lution process, the Jalan Fritsch consortium emerged as the winning bidder for the airline after the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) approved the consortium’s resolu tion plan in June last year. However, the carrier is yet to resume operations.

GOLD RATE CLIMBS

`294; SILVER ALSO JUMPS BY `638

New Delhi (PTI): Gold price in the national capi tal rallied `294 to `52,663 per 10 grams on Friday amid a rise in price of the metal in the international market, according to HDFC Securities. In the previous trade, the yellow metal had closed at `52,369 per 10 grams.

Silver also surged by `638 to `62,858 per kg.

In the international mar ket, gold was trading higher at $1,761 per ounce while silver was up at $21.89 per ounce.

31% higher tax collection to help meet deficit target SENSEX RISES TO LIFETIME HIGH

Mumbai (PTI): Gross di rect tax collections have risen 31 per cent to Rs 10.54 lakh crore so far this fiscal, driven by personal income tax mop-up, the finance ministry said on Friday.

The net collection of direct taxes, which include per sonal and corporate taxes, after adjusting for refunds stood at Rs 8.71 lakh crore. This is 61.31 per cent of the Budget target for the full fiscal. Gross corporate tax and Personal Income Tax (PIT) collections grew 22.03 per cent and 40.64 per cent, respectively.

The Centre is likely to meet

the key fiscal deficit target of 6.4% in the current fi nancial year, mainly due to better tax collection.

Bank of America Securi ties on Friday said the key risks to budgeted fiscal deficit include higher sub sidies, lower divestment proceeds, excise duty cut on petrol and diesel.

Mumbai (PTI): Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty on Friday spurted by nearly 2%, propelled by heavy buying in IT, metal and financial stocks amid a rally in global markets af ter lower-than-expected US inflation data.

A strong rupee against the US dollar and unabated foreign capital inflows fur ther bolstered sentiment, traders said.

Easing US inflation trig gered speculation that the US Federal Reserve might slow down the pace of in terest rate hikes.

The 30-share BSE Sensex zoomed 1,181.34 points or 1.95% to settle at 61,795.04.

Government taking steps to help small tea growers: Piyush Goyal

Kolkata (PTI): Union Commerce and Industry minister Piyush Goyal on Friday said that the gov ernment is taking steps to help the small tea growers (STGs) which contribute to more than 50% of the coun try’s production.

Goyal said efforts are be ing made to strengthen the STGs and ensure them a safe source of supply to the factories for tea production.

“The government is tak ing steps to help the STGs which contribute to more than 50% of the total tea production. Efforts are also there to ensure that the STGs become a safe source of supply to the fac

TOP TALKING POINTS

z Union Commerce and Industry minister Piyush Goyal said efforts are being made to strengthen the STGs and ensure them a safe source of supply to the factories for tea production.

z Goyal said that tea is an ‘emotion in India’.

Likewise, the broader NSE Nifty rallied 321.50 points or 1.78% to finish at 18,349.70.

Among Sensex stocks, HDFC emerged as the lead gainer, rising by 5.84%, fol lowed by HDFC Bank, Info

Forex kitty drops by $1.09 bn to $529.99 billion

sys, Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech, TCS, Wipro, Tata Steel & RIL.

On the other hand, M&M, SBI, Kotak Bank, Dr Reddy’s, ICICI Bank and NTPC were among the laggards.

OTHER STORIES

RIL TO DEVELOP MULTIMODAL LOGISTICS PARK IN TAMIL NADU

` GAINS 62 PAISE TO CLOSE AT 80.78

AGAINST US DOLLAR

Mumbai (PTI): The rupee ap preciated by 62 paise to close at 80.78 (provisional) against the US dollar on Friday.. At the inter bank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened at 80.76 and touched an intra-day high of 80.58 and a low of 80.99 against the greenback. The local unit finally settled at 80.78, register ing a rise of 62 paise over its previous close of 81.40 against the American currency.

GLOBAL FOOD IMPORT BILL TO JUMP TO RECORD $1.9 TRILLION

tories producing tea”, he said. Goyal said that tea is an ‘emotion in India’. “The Darjeeling variety has been a sensation while As sam tea has become a sym bol of India’s global recog

IN THE MONTH OF OCTOBER

nition,” he stated.

The Commerce and In dustry minister said steps have been taken for auto matic renewal of their li censes for exports, tea waste and warehousing.

Mumbai (PTI): India’s for eign exchange reserves dropped by $1.087 billion to stand at $529.994 billion for the week ended November 4 on a sharp decline in the gold reserves, the Reserve Bank said on Friday. In the previous re porting week, the reserves had swelled by $6.561 bil lion to reach $531.081 bil lion, making it the biggest weekly jump in a year. The reserves have been declining as the central bank deploys the kitty to defend the rupee amid pressures caused by global developments.

PV wholesales rise 29% to 2.91 lakh units

First India Bureau

New Delhi: Aided by ro bust demand in the festive season, Passenger Vehicle wholesales in India jumps 29% to 2,91,113 units in the month of October 2022, the Society of Indian Automo bile Manufacturers (SIAM) said on Friday.

Total passenger vehicle dispatches from companies to dealers were 2,26,353 units in October 2021.

Total two-wheeler dis patches last month in creased 2% to 15,77,694 units as compared to Octo ber 2021.

“Good market senti ments coupled with festive boost, resulted in higher sales in October, especially for passenger vehicles,” SIAM President Vinod Ag

garwal said. Higher inflation and rising interest rates have impacted the rural market more, thereby returning marginal growth of the

MAJOR FINDINGS

z Passenger vehicle wholesales in India jumps 29% to 2,91,113 units in the month of October 2022

z Total two-wheeler dispatches last month increased 2% to 15,77,694 units as compared to October 2021.

two-wheeler segment, he added. Three-wheeler wholesales last month rose to 54,154 units from 31,812 units in the yearago period.

New Delhi (PTI): Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has been awarded the work to de velop the first multi-modal logistics park (MMLP) at Mappedu in Thiru vallur district of Tamil Nadu.

“MoRTH has made significant progress under this National Master Plan and embarking on the same, MMLP Chennai at Mappedu being developed in 184.27 acres is 1st MMLP awarded to RIL for which PM laid the foundation stone,” the MoRTH said in a statement.

New Delhi (Agencies): Global spending on food imports is expected to reach a record $1.94 trillion in 2022, the UN’s Food and Agri culture Organization warned on Friday, a 10% jump compared to the previous year due to rising prices. The new forecast would mark “an all-time high”, and is due to the depreciating values of currencies against the US dollar—the main currency of exchange on international markets—as well as Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine.

SEBI INTRODUCES REGULATORY FRAMEWORK TO FACILITATE ONLINE BOND PLATFORM PROVIDERS

New Delhi (PTI): Capital markets regulator Sebi has introduced a regulatory framework to facilitate providers of online bond plat forms that are selling listed debt securities. Under the new rules, no person would act as an online bond platform provider without obtaining registration certificate as a stock broker from Sebi, the regulator said in a noti fication made public on Friday. Such a person would have to comply with the conditions of registration and such other requirements specified by the regulator from time to time.

AMBANI, ADANI AMONG 13 BIDDERS FOR FUTURE RETAIL

New Delhi (PTI): Firms run by billionaires Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani are among the 13 compa nies that have submitted initial bids to acquire Future Retail Ltd. Ambani’s Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd, submitted the expression of interest (EoI) under insolvency proceed ings initiated to recover dues Future Retail owes to lenders.

April Moon Retail Private Ltd, a joint venture between Adani Airport holdings and Flemingo group, also submitted an EoI.

New Delhi (PTI): India’s industrial production ex panded by 3.1% in September, boosted by manufactur ing, mining and power sectors, ac cording to official data released on Friday. Factory output had contracted by 0.7% in the preceding month (Au gust 2022). It grew by 2.2% in July this year. Factory output, measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), had expanded by 4.4% in September 2021.

DPIIT HOLDS WORKSHOP ON PM GATISHAKTI NMP

Ex-cop’s discharge plea denied, collusion clearly seen: Court

Hearing held in connection with the Antilia bomb scare-bizman Hiren murder case

First India Bureau

Mumbai: A special National Investiga tion Agency (NIA) court here rejected former police officer Sunil Mane’s dis charge plea on the grounds that, prima facie, his involvement was clearly seen in the Antilia bomb scare case and the subsequent murder of Thane business man Mansukh Hiren.

In his discharge appli cation, Mane had claimed that he was not connected to the theft of Mansukh Hiren’s vehi cle on February 25, 2021, nor with the placing of explosives near billion aire Mukesh Ambani’s Antilia residence.

Special court judge AM Patil rejected the application on Thurs day, the detailed order of which was made available on Friday.

The NIA arrested Mane in April 2021, for his alleged role in the case. Mane, in his plea,

z February 25, 2021: A car with explosive gela tin sticks and a letter threatening the Am banis was found parked near their residence on Carmichael Road.

z March 05, 2021: Mansukh Hiren’s body

also contended that for mer police officers— Sachin Waze and

Maha sees 169 nCoV cases, two deaths; over 222 recoveries on Friday

CHRONOLOGY

was found in a creek in Thane. Hiren was the owner of the explo sives-laden Mahindra Scorpio, and had earlier claimed his vehicle had been stolen days before.

z March 08, 2021: NIA takes over the case

Pradeep Sharma—had conspired to kill Hiren, with other accused, and

investigation from Ma harashtra Anti Terrorism Squad.

z March 13, 2021: NIA calls Mumbai police officer Sachin Waze for questioning; arrests him after 12 hours of inter rogation.

that he wasn’t part of the plan. The NIA, on the other

hand, submitted that Waze had induced Hiren to place an explosiveladen sports utility vehi cle on Carmichael Road and tried to convince the businessman to accept the responsibility.

When Hiren refused, Waze plotted to kill him through two other ac cused, Sharma and Mane, with the help of hired killers.

According to NIA’s statement, the “appli cant” entered into a “well-organized conspir acy” headed by Waze for Hiren’s murder, which was a direct outcome of terrorist act committed by Waze and others.

“It is clear that primafacie involvement of this applicant is seen in this case,” the court ruled af ter hearing statements of witnesses.

The court also said that “prosecution has material to prove con spiracy” and “its culmi nation in the murder of Hiren” by Waze, and the other co-accused “in cluding the applicant”.

‘Attempts being made to defame, will respond’

First India Bureau

Maval: Dismissing rumours of a rift with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief and his uncle Sharad Pa war, party leader Ajit Pawar cleared the air around his absence from the party’s recently concluded camp on Friday.

The former deputy chief minister claimed that he was overseas when the re cently concluded NCP camp was held in Shirdi. “I was on an overseas tour and it was a planned trip. People tried to de fame me without any reason. If they want ed to, they could have checked with my of fice at least once. But they wanted to sensa tionalize my absence (at the camp),” said Pawar, while inter acting with the me dia after a pro gramme at Talegaon Dabhade in Maval taluka.

CBI opposes NCP leader Anil Deshmukh’s HC bail petition

First India Bureau Mumbai: The Central Bureau of Investiga tion (CBI) on Friday submitted an affidavit opposing former state minister Anil Desh mukh’s bail plea to the Bombay High Court.

Mumbai (PTI): Maha rashtra on Friday re corded 169 COVID-19 cases and two deaths, which took the state’s tally to 81, 34,150 and the toll to 1,48,400, a health official said.

On Thursday, the state had logged 169 cases, he pointed out.

The deaths took place in Raigad and Akola, while Mumbai led with 41 cases, the official said.

The recovery count

increased by 222 in the last 24 hours and touched 79,84,581, leav ing the state with an ac tive caseload of 1,169.

State health depart ment data showed the fatality rate was 1.82% and the recovery rate was 98.16%.

So far, 8,54,09,118 COV ID-19 tests have been con ducted in Maharashtra, including 15,929 in the last 24 hours, as per offi cial Health Department bulletin released.

The Central agency stated there are serious allegations of corrup tion, extortion and con spiracy against the Na tionalist Congress Par ty (NCP) leader along with sufficient evidence to establish his crimi nal involvement.

Deshmukh was ar rested in November last year first by the En forcement Directorate in a money laundering case and later by the CBI in connection with a corruption case.

He had moved the HC after a special court re

fused him bail in the CBI case last month.

Deshmukh was granted bail by the HC in the ED case last month.

The bail plea was mentioned before a sin gle bench of Justice Bharati Dangre on Fri day seeking urgent hearing. Justice Dan gre, however, recused herself without assign ing reasons. The bail plea will now be pre

sented before another single bench of the high court.

The CBI affidavit said the oral and documen tary evidence submitted with the charge sheet is sufficient to establish the criminal involve ment of the applicant (Deshmukh) in the com mission of offences.

“There are serious allegations of corrup tion, extortion and

‘SORCERY AND SWEET TALK’

Cites serious allegations of corruption, extortion & criminal conspiracy

criminal conspiracy against the applicant.

The grant of bail to the applicant in PMLA cannot be a fait accom pli (something that has been done and cannot be changed) to enlarge him on bail in the pre sent case,” said the CBI during the hearing.

It added the case lodged by the Enforce ment Directorate under charges of money laun dering has no bearing on the CBI case of cor ruption and, hence, Deshmukh cannot try to seek benefit of the HC order granting him bail in the ED case.

NCP leader explains absence at Shirdi camp; says he was abroad on a trip

With the party tackling political problems lately, Ajit Pawar’s absence at the Shirdi meet added fuel to the fire. Word was that Ajit was miffed with his uncle Sharad and all was not well in the Pawar family. It was the rea son why the chief’s nephew did not turn up for the most im portant party event.

After clearing the air about his absence, Ajit Pawar also chal lenged those “ped dling lies” about him and promised a rebut tal to all conspiracies through a presser.

At the Maval event, the NCP leader con demned those spread ing false news about him “being upset”. “Don’t we have a per sonal life? I went abroad on the 4th (November) and re turned. I will hold a press conference soon and talk in de tail on the issues raised during this time,” he assured.

Chhatrapati Sambhajiraje approves razing of Afzal Khan tomb encroachment

First India Bureau

Kolhapur: The state’s action in demolishing the illegal encroach ments around the tomb of Afzal Khan has not only resonat ed with the general populace, but has also found support in Shivaji’s descendant, Chhatrapati Samb hajiraje of the erst while Kolhapur royal family.

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj killed Afzal Khan, a general of the Bijapur Adil Shahi dy nasty, at the foot of Pratapgad fort in 1659, and a tomb was later built at the same loca tion. Unauthorized structures that had mushroomed in the vi cinity over the years were demolished on Thursday.

Even as he lauded the state’s move, Sambhaji raje, a former Upper House MP, also suggest ed names of two more forts where similar de velopments have taken place.

“The removal of en croachments from Afzhal Khan’s tomb is a welcome move. Now en croachments and ille gal construction should be removed from forts like Vishalgarh and Lo hagarh, he tweeted.

Pawar is NCP’s mastermind who ‘fixed’ Uddhav: Bawankule

Whoever comes under the control of Bhondu baba in this party, will not be able to escape, says Maha BJP chief

First India Bureau

Satara: Firing salvos

at both Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thack eray and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pa war, BJP state presi dent Chandrashek har Bawankule on Friday said the NCP has cast a spell on Thackeray.

“Due to this, Uddhav Thackeray has also started thinking like them,” he said, target ing two of the constitu ents of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance that, together with the Congress, held the reins in Maharashtra until a split in the Sena caused the government to col lapse in June.

“Whoever comes un

der the control of ‘Bhon du baba’ in this party, will not be able to es cape,” Bawankule said, in a jibe at Sharad Pawar.

“NCP’s Jayant Patil should give up the

dream of power. Even today he does not realize that they (MVA) have lost power. Jayantrao should not worry, we will not let them come to power again. Two hun

NCP cast a spell on Uddhav Thack eray and hence he went with Pawar sahib. But now we are so cautious that we (the government led by Chief Minis ter Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Deven dra Fadnavis) will win more than 200 seats in the next term.

dred of our MLAs will be elected in the next polls,” he claimed. Attacking Uddhav, Bawankule said, “He has accepted everything else. Uddhav Thackeray

should just take a dupli cate of the Congress constitution and pre sent it as the Shiv Sena constitution when sub mitting it to the Election Commission.”

‘GHAR VAPSI’ FOR EX-THANE COUNCILLOR VERISHETTY

Thane: In what could be a turning of the tide, former Thane Municipal Corpora tion councillor Ragini Verishetty hith erto a supporter of the Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena returned to the Uddhav Thackerayled fold amid much fanfare on Friday. The development has led to rumours that more politicians and party

workers could follow suit in Chief Minis ter Eknath Shinde’s stronghold of Thane in the coming days. As Thackeray welcomed her back into the fold at Matoshree by tying a “Shiv Bandhan” thread on her wrist, Verishetty was accom panied by her husband and others, who all pledged their loyalty to the party leader again.

Chandrashekhar Bawankule —FILE PHOTO

—Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Maharashtra BJP chief

NIA says Waze induced Hiren (inset) to place an explosive-laden SUV near Antilia and had him killed when Hiren refused to claim responsibility. —FILE PHOTOS

Ajit Pawar —FILE PHOTO

Anil Deshmukh

—FILE PHOTO

So far, 8,54,09,118 COVID-19 tests have been conducted in Maharashtra.

—FILE PHOTO

Chhatrapati Sambhajiraje

It is true that change is the only constant and an intelligent person can change with time and change the tides of time also.

—Dr Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO & Editor-in-Chief, First India

YOUR WAY

W THROUGH WINTERS

ho doesn’t adore knit wear these days as it grows more and more fashionable? People need and want knit wear no matter the season, whether it is winter or fall. Customers fre quently purchase knitwear, even in the summer. Despite their laid-back vibe, these

gan. Knitted sweaters are also a musthave; for an effortlessly chic look, wear yours with jeans and a plain tee. Knitted gilets, knitted vests, and knit ted tanks are other names for sweater vests. They have been popular among fashionistas for a while. Since AW20 collec tions from high-end fash ion houses like Prada, Gucci, and Dior includ ed, they have been trendy. Because of its adaptability, a knit midi skirt is a great addi tion to your wardrobe es sential. Dress it up for a special occasion with a beautiful top and heels, or dress it down for a trip to the grocery store with a cropped sweatshirt and spotless shoes.

By this point, it should be clear that knitwear includes much more than just sweat ers. Knitted pants are among the cosiest loung ewear options, and they are now stylish enough to wear everywhere. The knit wear direction for the next season celebrates uniqueness and self-expression and intro duces exaggerated materials that are bursting with colour. A vivid green knit dress with sparkling crystal buttons might catch the eye. A pastel pink wrap dress goes perfectly if you prefer more muted tones; it may be worn on both casual and formal occasions.

These knitted patterns show that there are no limits to what you may wear, so don’t be afraid to experiment with your appearance.

KHUSHI TAMBI cityfirst@firstindia.co.in

THE ART MOVEMENT OF

The Gyrotonic Method – a rel atively recent exercise re gime derived from dance and yoga, among others – is grow ing around the world and its practitioners swear by it. However, it may be something many Olympic athletes are reluctant to adver tise, preferring to keep it hush-hush for now given the intense scru tiny and competition they face from rivals. Varsha has a strong be lief in Gyrotonic’s abil ity to open up the hu man physical form, using the body to go beyond its limitations and to increase the functional capacity of the entire organism harmoniously. She be lieves that exercise should be a creative and delightful experi ence for everyone and

Talking about her background, Varsha said, “I completed my dance education in New York at the Mar tha Graham School of Contemporary Dance, after which I studied other contemporary dance forms and worked as a perform ing artist in and around New York City. I taught ballet and con temporary classes at various studios. I am also a coach and men tor to students looking to pursue dance as a full-time profession.”

When asked why Gy rotonic, the passionate multitasker explained, “I first started taking Gyrotonic private les sons as a tool to sup port my dance training at the Martha Graham School which required highly coordinated movements, along with strong core and articu lation of the spine and hip joint. With consist ent Gyrotonic lessons, I felt a significant im provement in the qual ity of my movements and technique, adding more freedom and ef fortlessness to my dancing.”

there is no better way to go about it than through the GYRO TONIC® Method.

She has studied with Billy Macagnone, au thorized master train er and the founder of the largest Gyrotonic studios in New York City, Body Evolutions, among others like De bra Rose, master train er and the owner of San Francisco GYRO TONIC®. Varsha has worked extensively in New York City with cli ents of backgrounds ranging from profes sional ballet/modern dancers to senior citi zens with complaints of arthritis and scolio sis.

Gyrotonic essential ly became a part of her life when she decided to study this work in depth under her mas ter trainers. She gained a renewed sense of purpose and began shar ing her knowl edge with not only her friends who were profes sional dancers/ dance students in New York but also with people from all sorts of physical back grounds who did not experience movement as much in their daily life. After returning to In dia during the pandemic, Varsha strongly believes her journey has come full circle in an effort to give back to her com munity a fairly new and more intelligent way of exercising the whole body. Varsha came back to India in 2021 and has been working toward setting up a chain of fitness studios where she and a team of international trainers would teach Gyrotonic Method and Ballet Fitness in on line, in-studio and out door environments. The first such studio has come up in Jaipur and she plans to ex pand into leading me tropolises in India.

Gyrotonic is a unique system of exercise that incorporates movement principles from yoga, dance, gymnastics, swimming and t’ai chi. City First interacted with Varsha Bansal, a certified GYROTONIC® trainer, who is committed to bringing her Gyrotonic training and the joy of moving freely to people.

MITALI DUSAD

mitalidusad01@gmail.com

Varsha Bansal

Varsha Bansal practising Gyrotonic

to premiere at IFFI

PRIYANKA TWINS WITH DAUGHTER

Priyanka Chopra is back in Los Angeles and she couldn't be more excited to be reuniting with her husband-singer Nick Jonas and daughter Malti Marie Chopra Jonas. Priyanka returned to India after three long years and was busy with her work com mitments. Just a while back, PeeCee took to her social media handle and shared her excite ment as she kickstarted her preparations for Christmas at her Los Angeles residence. Tak ing to her Instagram stories, Priyanka shared a glimpse of her Christmas tree and wrote: "It's up!" In another picture, she can be seen twin ning with Maltie Marie in white as they sat in front of their fireplace. Meanwhile, this will mark Malti's first Christmas after her birth.

Siddhaanth Vir dies at 46

Actor Siddhaanth Vir Surryavan shi, known for his roles in shows like Kkusum, Waaris and Suryaputra Karn, died on Friday at the age of 46. The actor reportedly collapsed while working out at a gym. He is survived by his wife, supermodel Alesia Raut and their two children.

The actor suffered a cardiac arrest while working out in the gym. There are no further de tails on the demise yet. However, his fans have already started drop ping 'RIP' comments on his Instagram post.

'FRESH AS A DAISY'

Anushka Shar ma is serving fitness goals as she's presently shooting for 'Chakda Xpress' where she es says the role of crick eter Jhulan Goswami. While she's been in dulging in some local lovely food while shooting in Kolkata.

JANHVI RECREATES ‘JHOOMAR SCENE’ Tears of Joy

applauded for her per formance. Nora's nota ble songs such as Dilbar, Saki Saki and Kamariya are popular and fans adore her beauty and talent. Recently, Nora's fan visited Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 10 sets to fulfil her dream of meet ing the actress. Her fan got emotional when she saw Nora and couldn't stop crying as Nora hugged her and kissed her forehead.

Poster of the movie

Anushka Sharma

Her post...

Late Siddhaant Vir Surryavansh

Priyanka Chopra

Janhvi Kapoor Nora Fatehi

Yami Gautam

Nora Fatehi with her fan

The struggle story of Actor Raam: FROM ZERO TO ZEE STUDIOS

Zayn Marie Khan in Monica O My Darling

t is always wonderful to see when tal ent is recog nised, cheered on, and gets its deserved ac knowledgement. Actor Raam from Jammu, who is known as SSR aka Superstar Raam by his fans has a similar journey of making a place for himself in the industry while start ing from zero. The actor who makes a bone-chilling cam eo in the recently released film, Rocket Gang sat down with City First to talk about his journey in the in dustry and more.

Sharing about his film and his role, Raam revealed that the film produced by Zee Stu dios is one of his big gest breaks. He said, "Directed by Bosco Martis, the film is a

dance horror-comedy. It is a good fun film and I also have an interest ing role in it. I play a stalker called Raghu and have 5-6 worthy scenes. However, as they lack dialogue, I was unable to portray the role to my full po tential. But I am grate ful to have gotten the opportunity to get rec ognised on this huge platform, so, I dearly want to thank Bosco sir and Zee Studios.”

While many aspiring actors move to Mumbai to start their acting journey, Raam took a different turn and shift ed his base to Kerala for six months in search of work in the entertain ment world. “I did Ag riculture BSE at Meerut Univer sity. After that, people around me started pushing me to pursue act ing as a career. So, I did that despite having no back ground in the en tertainment in dustry or any godfather to have my back.

After spending six months in Kerala, every

Dhoni making an acting debut?

Mahendra Singh Dho ni is one of the most cherished Indian cricketers who is loved by fans all over the country. The for mer Indian team captain who re tired in 2020 from all formats of international cricket recently for ayed into the film world through pro duction. Now, re ports suggest that celebrated filmmak er, Lokesh Kanagaraj wants to bring in Mahi for one of

anticipated projects, marking the cricket player’s acting de but. Reports further stated that the said film is part of the Lokesh Cinematic Universe, LCU which has been formed by the genius filmmaker through his films Kathi (2019) and Vikram (2022).

However, other re ports also suggest Dhoni’s debut to be with Kanagaraj’s col laboration with Thalapathy Vijay, temporarily titled, Thalapathy 67.

one there told me to move to Bombay as it would be the right place to start,” he said.

Tracing how he got started with his career, Raam revealed that it was Udit Narayan’s

wife Deepa Narayan Jha and her brother who signed him for a Nepali album. “After that, I was signed by Venus for their remix albums and all the credit goes to Cham pak Jain, Ramesh Jain and Manoj Sharma who directed those vid eos. My first lead role was in the theatre play version of Devdas written by Jagdamba Prasad Dixit. He was filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt’s writer and had written several of his films including Naajayaz and Zeher.”

He continued, “Si multaneously, I trained for acting for over a year under At

maprakash who has taught many celebri ties. I got my first film deal after that with Ather Khan’s Tu Hi Mera Pyaar which was released in the Nizam belt. I was praised for my work. After that, I did some small and big roles in three films which will release soon. Rocket Gang is my sev enth one.”

Raam stated that rec ognition and work are all he wishes for and hopes that his efforts are recognised. While he has celebrities such as Vidya Balan, Sid harth Roy Kapur and Hansal Mehta rooting for him, he wants to take on as much good work as possible.

Despite hailing from a prestig ious film family, Zayn Marie Khan is slowly but grad ually carving her path in the entertainment in dustry. And now Zayn Marie Khan is a name that’s here to stay. Ac tress Zayn Khan is all set to venture into the Bol lywood industry to carve her niche with the up coming Netflix Film ti tled ‘Monika O My Dar ling ‘. She was earlier an Assistant Director for movies like Kapoor And Sons. For her lead debut in the Hindi Film Indus try, she essayed the char acter of Anushka in the action thriller drama, Mrs Serial Killer. She was last seen in Netflix’s 'Feels Like Ishq', and ‘Aryan and Meera’. Speaking about her character on the show the actress shared, "This is a really special film for me as the title of the film, Monica Oh My Dar

ling is taken from the song, Piya Tu Ab Toh Aaja from the film Cara van which my Grandfa ther made. We were quite close and I feel re ally blessed that this film has tied me to him." Says Zayn who portrays the role of Shalu in the up coming movie.

Speaking on her expe rience of working with the lead star cast of the movie she shared, “It was really wonderful working with them.

The working styles of Raj kummar and I really matched. He is a fantastic actor. He would come on sets and want to do lines, and that is exactly what I like to do. So we had that comfort level right from the start because our working styles matched. It was won derful to watch him and see what he does.

Huma has a lovely en ergy. Whenever she walks into a room, she lights it up. She was the real fun ele ment on the set.

Monica, O My Darling is a muchawaited Hindi-lan guage neo-noir crime comedy thriller film di rected by Vasan Bala.

Sachet Tandon and Parampara Tandon has come up with a fast-paced peppy love track 'Takdaa Rawaan', featuring the duo in their most glamorous and stylish avatars!

Sung and composed by Sachet-Parampara, ‘Tadkaa Rawaan’ has been penned by Ku maar and the mu sic video has been directed by Adil Shaikh at some exclu sive and posh locales in the UAE.

As the duo launched the song on Friday in Mumbai, they were pleasantly surprised by a flash mob of their newly released peppy track by their fans. Sa chet and Parampara didn't only shake a leg with them but also crooned along to the lyrics of the song.

Talking about the song, Sachet Tandon said, “This song is go ing to be a huge sur prise for our fans be cause it’s very different from anything we’ve

done in the past – from the vocals, the music, the styling etc. We had an absolute blast film ing ‘Takdaa Rawaan’ and we hope fans enjoy this one.”

Adds Parampara Tandon, “It was a very special experience shooting ‘Takdaa Raw aan.' The song is pep py, up-tempo and the visuals comple ment the vibe of the song. We’ve tried to offer audiences some thing different and we hope they like it.”

Sachin

Kartik Aaryan is currently at the height of his career with some of the most anticipated projects in his pocket. Now re ports suggest that the actor has been roped in by Firoz Nadiad wala for the upcom ing Hera Pheri 3! It had been previously mentioned that Firoz Nadiadwala will be coming up with the third part of the hit

pened a day back

from his end.”

in Firoz Nadiadwala’s office. Kartik Aaryan has signed the dotted lines to play the icon ic role of Raju, played by Akshay Kumar in Hera Pheri and Phir Hera Pheri. Both Kar tik Aaryan and Firoz Nadiadwala are keen to sign Anees Bazmee as the director, how ever, the filmmaker is yet to give a go-ahead

Sachin Tendulkar is on a Rajasthan tour to cel ebrate his wife Anjali Tendulkar’s birthday. On the occasion of Anjali's birthday, Rambagh Palace GM Ashok Rathore and the Ram bagh Family greeted the couple with a warm wel come by decorating the palace with flowers and celebrated her birthday with much zeal and enthusiasm. During the tour, Bharat Rat na cricketer Sachin Tendulkar also visited Jhalana Leopard Safari on Friday where he vis ited the Interpretation Center at Jhalana. During this, wild

life expert Dheeraj Kapoor gifted Sachin the Jhalana Leopard Tree which consists of information about leopards living in Jhalana from the year 2011 to 2021.

Ten dulkar was greeted in Jhalana by State Wildlife Board member Sunil Mehta, DFO of Forest Department Ka pil Chandrawal, ACF Balamu rugan, ACF Raghuveer Mee na, Ranger Janeshwar Chaud hary and in-charge Forester Jogendra Shekhawat.

ASHISH TIWARI cityfirst.mumbai@firstindia.co.in

Zayn Marie Khan

Still from the song

Raam

Parampara Tandon and Sachet Tandon

Kartik Aaryan

Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Captivating flower decoration by the Rambagh family for Anjali Tendulkar’s birthday

Sachin Tendulkar and Anjali Tendulkar

GM Ashok Rathore greets Anjali Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar with others during his visit to the Interpretation center

Sachet and Parampara Tandon with fans