First India-Mumbai Edition-13th October 2022

NAVY’S MIG

DEVELOPS

SNAG,

MODI GOVT’S

DIWALI BONUS!

crore boost for oil firms as bonus to the railway workers

CABINET

Payment of productivity linked bonus to the railway employees

New Delhi: The Cen tral government on Wednesday approved Rs 22,000 crore as a onetime grant for state-run oil marketing compa nies (PSU OMCs) for losses incurred due to domestic LPG prices.

The government said that between June 2020 to June 2022, the inter national prices of LPG increased by around 300%. Accordingly, do mestic LPG prices have risen only by 72% dur ing this period. This has led to significant losses for these OMCs, the government said.

The Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minis ter Narendra Modi ap proved one-time grant to 3 oil marketing com panies - Indian Oil Cor poration (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindu stan Petroleum Corpo ration Ltd (HPCL).

BONUS OF `1,832 CR FOR 11.27 LAKH RLY EMPLOYEES: THAKUR

M aking the announcement on Wednes day, Union minister Anurag Thakur said, “Productivity-linked bonus of ` 1,832 crore will be given to 11.27 lakh employ ees of railways. It will be a bonus of 78 days and `17,951 will be its maximum limit.” According to available data, about 11.27 lakh non-gazetted railway employ ees are likely to benefit from decision.

Graft convictions extend Aung San Suu Kyi’s prison term to 26 years

PUNJAB-HARYANA HC QUASH FIR AGAINST KUMAR VISHWAS & BAGGA

Development of the container terminal at Deendayal Port located in Gujarat

Russia ready for gas supplies to Europe: Putin

Moscow: Russian Pres ident Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Moscow is ready to re sume gas supplies to Europe via a link of the Germany-bound Nord Stream 2 pipeline under the Baltic Sea — an of fer quickly rejected by Berlin. German offi cials have said Russia halted supplies through the Nord Stream 1 as a political gambit and questioned why sup plies through Nord Stream 2 would be any more reliable.

Chinese national among 10 held in `900 cr fraud case

Cannibalism suspected, 1 body cut into 56 pieces

First India Bureau

Thiruvananthapuram:

A couple in Kerala who allegedly mutilated and killed two women in a ritualistic “human sac rifice” to get rich quick may have even eaten the flesh of their victims, the police said today, as shocking new details emerged in the case.

Myanmar: A court in military-ruled Myan mar on Wednesday sen tenced deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi to three years in prison on charges of accepting a bribe, a source with knowledge of the mat ter said. 77-year-old No bel laureate, a figure head of opposition to military rule, faces charges for at least 18 offences ranging from graft to election viola tions, carrying com bined maximum terms of nearly 190 years.

Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday quashed two separate FIRs regis tered against former AAP leader Kumar Vishwas and BJP leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga by Pun jab Police. Vishwas was booked by the Rupnagar Police in Punjab over his alleged inflammatory statements against AAP convener Arvind Kejri wal, Bagga was booked on charges of making provocative statements and promoting enmity.

SUSHIL KUMAR FACES MORE HEAT AS COURT FRAMES MURDER CHARGES AGAINST HIM

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Wednesday framed charges of murder against Olympian wrestler Sushil Kumar in connection with the killing of 27-year-old wrestler Sagar Dhankar, his lawyers said.

Additional Sessions Judge Shivaji Anand framed charges of murder among, other sections of the IPC, against Kumar and 17 others. A detailed order is awaited.

DEVELOPMENT OF CONTAINER TERMINAL AT TUNA-TEKRA

U

nion Cabinet approved the project to develop the container terminal at TunaTekra, Deendayal Port in Gujarat under public private partnership mode. The cost of `4,243.64 crore will be on part of Concessionaire and cost of common user facilities of `296.20 crore will be on the part of the concessioning authority toward development of common user facilities.

Hyderabad: The city police arrested 10 per sons including a Chi nese and a Taiwan na tional for allegedly cheating lakhs of per sons to tune of ` 903 crore. So far `1.91 crore have been frozen in var ious bank accounts. Hy derabad police commis sioner CV Anand opined that it could even be a Rs 10,000 crore scam, which was run through a network to route money of unsus pecting investors away.

Retail inflation jumps to 5-month high of 7.41 percent in September

New Delhi: India’s re tail inflation touched 7.41 per cent in Septem ber, up from 7 per cent in August, and 6.7 per cent in July, fuelled by high food prices, erratic rainfall, and supply shocks from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Prices of daily consum ables like cereals and vegetables, which form the largest category in the inflation basket, have climbed over the past two years.

INDIA’S DEBT RATIO

PROJECTED TO BE 84% OF ITS GDP: IMF

Victims Roselin and Padma were tied up and tortured before they were strangled, the po lice said. The women’s breasts were chopped off and the blood was al lowed to flow out. One of the bodies was cut into 56 pieces, the police chief said. The body parts were found from three pits. Two women were allegedly sacrificed as part of a ritual in a re mote Kerala village by three people, including a couple, to gain wealth. The victims were killed, their body parts chopped, cooked and eaten by the accused.

The first accused, Shafi, is a sadistic psychopath who takes pleasure in hurting and inflicting wounds on others. He is a sexual pervert. There’s a possibility that the accused ate parts of body after killing the victims. It is being investigated, but not confirmed yet.

—CH Nagaraju, Kochi police chief

ALL 3 ACCUSED SENT TO 14-DAY JUDICIAL CUSTODY

Ernakulam: The Ernakulam magis trate court on Wednesday remanded all the three accused of killing two women allegedly as a human sacri fice in black magic rituals in Kerala’s Pathanamthitta on judicial custody. The accused will be under judicial remand for a 14-day duration which will end on October 26.

Compensation for UHV lines to be hiked under revised

First India Bureau

The factory output, measured in terms of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), con tracted by (-)0.8% in Au gust, as per data re leased by the MoSPI.

India’s debt ratio is projected to be 84% of its GDP by end of 2022, which is higher than many emerging economies, but its debt is a little bit easier to sustain, a senior IMF offi cial has said. “It would be very important to give reassurance to people and to investors that things are under control, and things are going to become less vulnerable over time,” Mauro, told.

Mumbai: The state government on Wednesday approved a revised policy for the use of land to set up ultra-high voltage (UHV) transmission lines and pylons with an eye on expediting several power genera tion projects in differ ent parts of Maha rashtra, a statement

from the chief minis ter’s office said after the cabinet meeting. Land is not acquired to set up pylons and for laying of trans mission lines. Only

compensation is given for the use of land and for the crop loss. At present, the compen sation amount is very small and it is being opposed by the own ers of the land, due to which several pro jects are delayed and held up. As per the revised policy, for set ting up ultra-high voltage transmission lines of Turn to P6

Maha govt issues SOP for charging e-vehicles

Move is aimed at prevention of fires; EV charging stations to be put in open areas & users asked to stay alert

First India Bureau

Mumbai: A standard operating procedure (SOP) for electric vehi cle charging stations has been issued by the state government to prevent fires.

The move comes amid rising cas es of electric vehicles

and e-bikes bursting into flames, especially when they are plugged in for charging.

The SOP mentions that e-scooters should not be taken to individ ual flats for charging purposes. It also recom mended DC (direct cur rent) fast chargers be clearly differentiated from conventional ones.

“As charging methods could be either AC (al ternating current) or DC, the safety require ments need to address both. Where multiple chargers are in use,

there should be clear and prominent notices at each charging point

indicating if it is suita ble for AC or DC charg ing,” said an official.

As per the SOP, charg ing points should be provided in the open air at roof deck level to minimize risk of fire spread in multi-storey parking lots. It also mentions that the charging point shall be within five metres from parked vehicles to pre vent stretching of charging cables and at least 80 cm above the flood level. The rules also state that parking other vehicles in charg ing areas should be pro hibited.

Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting, Youth Affairs and Sports, Anurag Singh Thakur holding a press conference on Cabinet Decisions, in New Delhi on Wednesday. —PHOTO BY ANI

Moni Sharma

Laila, one of the accused in the Elanthoor ‘human sacrifice’ case, being produced at court, in Kochi on Wednesday. —PHOTO BY ANI

ACCUSED

Latke moves HC against BMC resignation ‘delay’

Widow of late MLA Ramesh Latke is set to contest Andheri East bypoll on ‘mashaal’ symbol

First India Bureau

Mumbai: ‘ShivSena Uddhav Balasaheb

Thackeray’ party candidate for the up coming Andheri (East) bypoll, Rutuja Latke on Wednesday moved the Bombay High Court seeking a direction to the Mum bai civic body to ac cept her resignation as its employee.

In her petition, Rutu ja said the delay by Bri hanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in issuing a letter or order (accepting her resigna tion) appears to be delib erate to prevent her from contesting the No vember 03 by-election.

She also requested the HC to allow her to file a nomination for the byelection, necessitated by

31 cheated of `45L through crypto app

the death of her hus band and sitting MLA Ramesh Latke.

The last date for sub mitting the nomination for the bypoll has been set at October 14.

Rutuja, however, has not mentioned the par ty she wants to file the poll nomination.

Separately, she has maintained that she will contest the bypoll on the Thackeray faction’s ‘mashaal’ symbol.

Her counsel Vishwa jeet Sawant mentioned the petition before a di vision bench of Justic es Nitin Jamdar and Sharmila Deshmukh and sought an urgent hearing. The bench said it would hear the petition on Thursday.

The petition stated the BMC’s conduct was “ar bitrary, illegal and malafide” and that it was duty-bound to accept her resignation.

“The delay on the part of the respondents (BMC) in issuing an or der appears to be deliber ate to prevent the peti tioner from contesting the bypoll,” it added.

NO GOVT STAKE IN BMC DELAY OF RUTUJA’S RESIGNATION: FADNAVIS

Mumbai (PTI): The state government has no role in alleged delay by the Mumbai civic body in accepting the resignation of its employee Rutuja Latke, said Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednes day. “The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is a self-governing and autonomous body. The administration will decide whether to accept the resignation of Latke or not. The Maharashtra gov ernment has nothing to do with the alleged delay in accepting the resignation,” Fadnavis told reporters. “There must be some rules that need to be followed before accepting any resignation of a BMC employee. We have no say in it,” he added.

‘Fake’ pro-Uddhav affidavits? Shinde loyalist seeks probe

Pune (PTI): Thirty one people from Solapur have allegedly been cheated of Rs45 lakh after they made investments through a crypto cloud mining app on the promise of hefty returns.

“Three persons asked the investors to down load the CCH Cloud Min er App and the crypto trading app. They then converted their Indian currency into dollars us ing it and were made to invest in the CCH Cloud Miner App,” said Police Inspector Udaysinh Pa til, adding that some of the investors received returns initially.

The app is now de funct and the office of the trio is shut.

Cloud mining is a mechanism to mine a cryptocurrency using rented cloud computing power.

Thane (PTI): The Bal asahebanchi Shiv Sena (BSS) on Wednesday demand ed a probe either by CID or CBI into “fake” affidavits pledging support to Uddhav Thackeray-led faction and claimed the “fraud” is akin to an other Telgi fake stamp paper scam.

The Mumbai police recently registered an FIR against unidenti fied persons on charges of cheating and forgery after recovering more than 4,500 affidavits be ing prepared in support of the Thackeray-led faction, now called the Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray party.

Naresh Mhaske, the spokesperson of the Shinde faction, on Wednesday, alleged sim ilar “fake” affidavits were prepared in other districts of the state too.

“The probe into the mega fraud of ghost af fidavits should be hand ed over to the state CID or the CBI and an SIT should be formed,” he

Naresh Mhaske

Mhaske had earlier claimed that the Mumbai cops have found 4,682 “fake” affidavits and lodged a criminal case

said and alleged that “a contract of Rs10 crore was given for preparing these fake affidavits”.

He also claimed sev eral affidavits have been submitted to the Elec tion Commission which also needs to be probed.

‘Rutuja Latke being pressured to contest for Shinde’s group’

Mumbai (PTI): The Uddhav Thackerayled Shiv Sena faction on Wednesday alleged that Rutuja Latke, their candidate for the November 03 byelection to Andheri East Assembly seat in Mumbai, was being pressured by the Eknath Shinde camp to contest on their ticket.

Talking to reporters,

former state minister Anil Parab claimed Ru tuja’s resignation as an administrative officer in the K ward of the Bri hanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) was not being accepted to force her to contest as the Shinde group’s can didate.

If her resignation is not accepted in the next two days, she would not be able to file her nomi

Sena party workers will teach detractors a lesson, vows Uddhav

First India Bureau

Mumbai: Ex-Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Wednes day said the Election Commission’s move to freeze the “Shiv Sena” name and the “bow and arrow” symbol has angered his party workers who will teach their detractors a lesson.

The Commission on Monday allotted the “flaming torch” (mashaal) election sym bol to the newly named ShivSena - Uddhav Bal asaheb Thackeray amid the dispute between the two factions of the Shiv Sena.

On Wednesday, ad dressing his party work ers from Uran in neigh bouring Raigad district, Thackeray said their organization will brave all attempts to destroy it and emerge stronger.

Thackeray further said there will be a Shiv Sena “wave” and “we will have a chief minis ter from our party” in the near future.

He urged party work

ers to ensure awareness about their new poll symbol reaches every household.

“We have to prepare for elections - from the gram panchayat to the Lok Sabha,” he said.

The EC had barred both factions from us ing the name “Shiv Sena” and the “bow and arrow” election symbol in the November 03 by poll to Andheri East As sembly seat.

BONE OF CONTENTION

CASES AGAINST SEVEN PEOPLE FOR COMMENTS AGAINST CM

nation papers by Octo ber 14, said a party lead er earlier.

“The Andheri East seat belonged to the Shiv Sena. You will know our next course of action if Rutuja Latke is unable to contest,” he said. Parab also said that BMC Commissioner IS Chahal was not giving reasons why her resig nation was not being accepted.

‘Hacker’ clears three pending passport applications

First India Bureau Mumbai: An uni dentified person completed the veri fication process of three passport ap plications after gaining access to login ID and pass word of a Mumbai police officer in the passport branch, said an official on Wednesday.

The Centre has provided an online verification system for allocation of passports

A First Informa tion Report (FIR) has been registered against the unidenti fied person for hack ing and logging into the online passport verification system managed by the Cen tral government.

Cong, BJP have trivialized issue of Savarkar: Uddhav-led Sena

Mumbai: The Shiv Sena - Uddhav Balasa heb Thackeray on Wednesday slammed the Congress as well as the Bharatiya Ja nata Party (BJP) on the recent controver sy over freedom fight er VD Savarkar, and said the two parties have trivialized the issue.

It said both the par ties need to study Sa varkar’s political, so cial, scientific and eco nomic thoughts.

Last week, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi,

during his ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, had claimed that Savarkar used to get a stipend from the British and asserted that it was a historical fact. React ing sharply, Deputy Chief Minister Deven dra Fadnavis had said Gandhi doesn’t know the history of India and of his party. He also tar geted Uddhav Thacker ay and asked whether the Shiv Sena leader supports such a state ment against Savarkar.

In the party mouth piece “Saamana”, the Shiv Sena said the Congress and the BJP have trivialized the is

sue of Savarkar.

Savarkar, a Hindutva ideologue, is a highly

two parties

AWARD DENIED?

nomic thoughts,” it said.

The party said Gan dhi’s comments on Sa varkar may be new, but they are certainly shocking.

For years, the Con gress has been claiming that Savarkar came out of jail in Andaman af ter his mercy petitions, the party said.

An investigation has revealed that the incident occurred on September 24 when the office of Special Branch-2 (SB-II) of fice was shut due to a holiday. The three persons whose veri fication papers were cleared are residents of Antop Hill, Chem bur, and Tilak Nagar, in Mumbai.

should first study Sa varkar’s political, so cial, scientific and eco

The Congress could have a separate think ing about the role of revolutionaries in the freedom struggle, but the British were taken aback by the revolt by many revolutionaries like Savarkar, the Sena said.

Explaining the procedure for pass port verification, the official said a person seeking a passport applies on the pass port Seva website, after which verifica tion of address and other details is done by local police.

The documents with remarks are forwarded to the Re gional Passport Of fice (RPO) which takes the final call.

Rutuja Latke has been employed with the BMC since 2006.

PHOTO

ShivSena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leaders Anil Parab (R) and Arvind Sawant address media persons at the party’s Bandra office in Mumbai on Wednesday. —PHOTO BY BHUSHAN KOYANDE

A hoarding displays the new name (ShivSena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and the ‘mashaal’symbol of the Uddhav-led faction of the Shiv Sena outside ‘Matoshree’, in Mumbai on Wednesday. —PHOTO BY BHUSHAN KOYANDE

Thane: District police have registered criminal cas es against seven leaders of the ShivSena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray party for allegedly making offensive statements against Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, said an official. The cases were registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against Vinayak Raut, Bhaskar Jadhav and Sushma Andhare among others, based on a com plaint by Shinde-supporter Dattaram Gavas. The official said these leaders allegedly used offensive language against CM Shinde, at the Mahaprab hodan Yatra in Thane on Sunday.

First India Bureau

modern Indian history. He is a revered

Shiv Sena and the BJP.

The editorial also asked why the Modi government did not rechristen Rajpath , now called Kartavya Path, after Veer Savarkar. —FILE PHOTO

MAHARASHTRA

Consider making Sec 498A compoundable offence: HC

Bombay High Court asks Centre to review Maha bill, cites overload of domestic violence cases, hardships for couples wanting to quash them

First India Bureau

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has asked the Central govern ment to consider Ma harashtra govern ment’s bill about mak ing Section 498A (pun ishment for domestic violence) of the Indi an Penal Code (IPC) compoundable with permission of the tri al court concerned.

The bench cited hard ships faced by several couples and their rela tives—who are litigants in such cases—due to le gal expenses as well as travel costs to and from their villages or towns.

A division bench com prising Justice Revati Mohite-Dere and Justice Prithviraj K Chavan passed an order last month, which was made available on Tuesday.

The bench allowed a plea filed by a man, his moth er and sister seeking to quash an FIR filed by the respondent wife in a 2018

The high court noted

and

BABY STEPS

make

offence

case filed in Pune under Section 498A of the IPC.

The court noted that the parties had decided to amicably settle their disputes and the wife had filed her affidavit for consent to quash the FIR.

The bench observed:

“The importance of making the Section 498A compoundable with the permission of the court, can hardly be over looked/understated…

Everyday, we have a min imum of 10 petitions/

‘Gold-stealing djinn’ turns out to be 12-year-old girl

First India Bureau Mumbai: In February, a Mumbai-based busi nessman was per plexed when he dis covered some gold ornaments went miss ing from his home.

Over the next few months he lost more jewelry, but avoided filing a police report, suspecting it was the work of a “djinn”.

However, in Septem ber, he finally filed a police complaint after a huge sum of cash was also stolen along with the jewellery.

In his complaint, Ab dulkader Shabbir Ghoghawala—the busi nessman—told the By culla police, “Djinns don't steal cash”. By then, gold and cash worth more than ` 40 lakh had been stolen from his house.

The police suspected that someone from the

The man filed a case when he realized that “djinns don’t steal cash,” he told cops

family may be stealing the valuables. Acting swiftly the police traced the accused within a day. It turned out to be the man’s 12-year-old niece. During the investiga tion, she revealed that her cousin, who was from Surat, asked her

to steal from her un cle’s house. After her revelation, the police arrested the cousin and his two friends after the probe linked them to the case. The police also recovered some of the stolen items worth Rs40.18 lakh from their possession.

No action has been taken against the girl so far, the police said, adding a detailed re port to the Juvenile Justice Board will be sent after her role in the case is ascertained.

applications seeking quashing of Section 498A by consent, since it is non-compoundable.”

Parties have to appear personally before the court, thus incurring hardships such as travel ling, litigation and ac

commodation expenses in the city. Parties, if working, are required to take a day off, it added.

It further stated, “Apart from the hard ships caused to parties, if Section 498A is made compoundable, the court’s precious time can be saved.”

Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhako ni, representing the state government, in formed the bench about the steps taken by the government to make Section 498A com poundable. He in formed that a bill was passed for amending the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), 1973 so as to make the offence un der Section 498A a com poundable offence.

Kumbhakoni added that the said bill was passed in both houses of the state legislature and currently it is pending before the Un ion Home Ministry for its approval.

Police find explosives, mines hidden in forest

First India Bureau

Gadchiroli: Police have seized two bombs and a pistol and also found two claymore mines un derground in a for est in Naxal-hit Gadchiroli district, officials said on Wednesday.

The police on Tues day received specific intelligence that Maoists had buried explosives and other items in a huge quan tity in Laddudera for est area with the in tention of causing damage to security forces in the area, a police release said.

They are suspected to have been placed there by Maoists, who use a variety of weap ons and explosives to carry out subversive and violent activities in Gadchiroli, offi cals said.

A team of C-60 com mandos, a specialized combat unit of the Gadchiroli police, and a bomb detection and disposal squad (BDDS) carried out a

In addition to 2 live pressure cooker bombs and 2 claymore mines, cops also unearthed a pistol, two wire bundles and an aluminium utensil

search operation.

During the search, they found two live pressure cooker bombs, two claymore mines, a pistol, two wire bundles and an aluminium utensil, the police said. The bombs and the anti-personnel claymore mines were destroyed on the spot with help of the BDDS.

Maoists generally buy such materials in large quantities and bury them in forests for use in violent ac

tivities, the police said.

Gadchiroli has long been the epicentre for clashes between secu rity personnel and the radical Maoists. In 2019, for instance, 15 police personnel were killed when an impro vised explosive device (IED) went off.

Last Friday, police arrested two hardcore Naxalites carrying a cumulative bounty of Rs10 lakh on their heads in the district as well.

Pre-Diwali health alert as H1N1 rises

First India Bureau

Mumbai: The state Health Department has urged people to exercise extreme cau tion ahead of and during the festive sea son, citing rising con cerns about new “more dangerous” COVID-19 variants emerging in China, and a rising number of swine flu cases in Maharashtra.

The health depart ment has warned peo ple against influenzalike illnesses (ILI) and severe acute respirato ry illnesses (SARI). It has been suggested that avoiding crowded plac es is one way to stay safe. In the event of in fection, people should seek immediate medi cal attention and begin treatment.

According to State Surveillance Officer Dr Pradeep Awate, “Per sons suffering from ILI should avoid public

BEST OFFER IN RUN UP TO

DIWALI: AVAIL 5 TRIPS AT `9

Mumbai: First-time users, who have never bought a super saver plan or a digital ticket have been extended a Diwali offer of utilizing 5 trips over 7 days on any route in Mumbai for just Rs9 on Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) buses. The offer is valid for both AC and non-AC buses but excludes special services like Airport routes and Hop-on Hop-off buses. The offer is aimed to encourage Mumbaikars to experi ence the convenience of digital tickets.

places and seek timely medical advice. Persons with high-risk condi

CREATING SAFETY AWARENESS

tions should follow COVID-19 appropriate behaviour.”

Flying lanterns banned in Mumbai until Nov 14

First India Bureau

Mumbai: With bare ly 10 days to go for Di wali, the Mumbai po lice have banned the use, sale and storage of flying lanterns, also called Chinese lanterns, from Octo ber 16 to November 14. The use of sky lan terns may cause dan ger to human life and

safety due to “the sit uation prevailing in areas under the con trol of Mumbai Po lice”, an official said on Wednesday. Any person contra vening this order shall be punishable under section 188 (Disobey ing the order of public servant) of the Indian Penal Code, the offi cial added.

Electrical issues responsible for 70% of fires in Mumbai: Official

Primary investigation by the Fire Brigade shows fire at Railview building also had electric origins

First India Bureau

Mumbai: Chief Fire Officer of the Mumbai Fire Brigade Hemant Parab on Tuesday said that roughly 70% of all fires that oc curred in Mumbai be tween 2019 and 2022 had electrical origins.

Parab was speaking at ‘Social Sanchar’, an in teractive event with citi zens about fire safety in Mumbai, organized by V Citizens’ Action Net

work in South Mumbai.

Primary investiga tions by the Fire Bri gade revealed, the fire at Rail View Housing Soci ety also had electric ori gins, and likely broke out as electric cables in a duct between the third and fifth floor of the building were chopped, and the wiring exposed.

According to the Fire Brigade’s data present ed by the CFO, in 2022, a total of 2,902 fires were reported in the city, of

1,996 or 69% had electrical origins and 906 had other origins. In

4,121 fires were re ported, of which 2,863 or

had electrical ori

serious fires specifically in high-rise buildings across the city and sub urbs. Recent incidents of fires in high-rise buildings have caused loss of property and life too. The supposed cause of the fires was also electric origin,” Parab said.

whereas 1,228 had other origins.

“We have witnessed

He further added that the fire brigade has been planning preventive measures, creating awareness and educat ing residents to reduce loss of life and property during fires, and to try and resolve fires before they grow intense.

“While stop call is the basic smallest level of

fire call, brigade call is the highest. Between these two grades, there are four levels. Our aim is to try and restrict all fires at the stop call it self. This means quicker response from the Fire Brigade, more aware ness among public, and fire safety and precau tion in all buildings,” he said.

There are common signs indicating electri cal fire risks, such as bulbs burning out, fuse blowing, lights flicker ing or dimming, lights going out, or appliances operating slowly, which should be watched out for, he said.

We have witnessed serious fires in high-rise buildings across the city and sub urbs. While stop call is the basic smallest level of fire call, brigade call is the highest.

Between these two, there are four lev els. We aim to re strict all fires at the stop call itself.

Fire broke out on the 12th floor of Rail View Housing Society in Mumbai’s Chembur area on Saturday.

—FILE PHOTO

——Hemant

Mumbai

Brigade

The cash and gold jewellery recovered from the arrested accused.

A banner on a police vehicle reminds people to wear masks and follow COVID-19 precautions. —FILE PHOTO

Girls prepare lanterns ahead of Diwali, at Mahim in Mumbai. —PHOTO BY ANI

Gadchiroli has long been the epicentre for clashes between security personnel and Maoists. In 2019, for instance, 15 police personnel were killed in an IED blast here. —FILE PHOTO

RUSSIAN JUGGERNAUT & EUROPEAN WINTERS

HUMAN SACRIFICE, A RESULT OF MENTAL SICKNESS OR SUPERSTITION

Will power outages in Europe be the order of the day like in a third world country or, will the EU shift its loyalties away from NATO to lean towards Russia to ensure industrial production, comfortable winters and economic growth. Can we predict that peace can return only if Europe shuns the interference of UK and US which have no contiguity with the main land mass and embrace trade and treaties with Russia to allow a new world order!

Well … implied lessons loom large for India as we wait and watch the Juggernaut

COL ANUPAM JAITLY (RETD)

Just after a little more than 7 months in war, Vladimir Pu tin signs a law formally merging four important Ukrainian regions into Rus sia. The documents annexing 20% of Ukraine, carried out in noncompliance of interna tional laws, were published on a Russian government website on 5th of October 22.

Both houses of the Rus sian parliament ratified trea ties making Donetsk, Lu hansk, Kherson and Zapor izhzhia regions as part of Russia. While Russia calls it ‘referendums’, US, western countries and Ukraine re jected it as a bogus and sham.

As a keen observer of mili tary affairs, I feel that the Rus sia – Ukraine war has now entered a totally new phase with Russia declaring that any attack on these four Rus sian territories will be viewed as a war on Russia and it will retaliate with all its detrimen tal nuclear might.

I am surprised to note that series of sanctions imposed under the banner of US since 2014, following the annexation of Crimea and now the an nexation of four regions have hardly had any effect on either

OUTSIDE FACTORS JOLTING ECONOMY

the military capabilities or, the economic strength of Russia.

Now the question arises if the numerous sanctions im posed on any strong-willed na tion carry any worthwhile meaning or not? Well, in 1974 and then in 1998 US imposed similar economic, technologi cal and trade boycott against India when it carried out nu clear tests in Pokaran. The only result it achieved was that India emerged as a stronger and a self-reliant nation tech nologically and economically.

In my opinion, the ratchet ing-up of sanctions on Russia gives the Western world an illu sion and a psychological satis faction that real action is taking place on Ukraine and US re mains in control of world af fairs. But, will these sanctions have any effect on a leader of Putin’s calibre and his decisionmaking on current war? The answer is NO. The history as also seen in case of India, sug gests that this is quite unlikely.

I would further state that, the whole theory behind sanctions is fundamentally unsound since it assumes that strong country like Russia will cir cumvent and manoeuver their policies if unbearable financial cost is inflicted on them.

On the reverse slope of all these sanctions stand Euro pean Community, a divided and alienated home where, many members are con vinced that US is in fact hurt ing their economy and pun ishing their people on the

In my opinion, the ratcheting-up of sanctions on Russia gives the Western world an illusion and a psychological satisfaction that real action is taking place on Ukraine and US remains in control of world affairs

pretext of isolating Russia. A French political class also believes these measures are ineffective. The president of the far-right party Ras semblement National of France, Marine Le Pen, in sisted that “these sanctions serve absolutely no purpose, except to make the people of Europe suffer “ by forcing Europe into an energy crisis during coming winters.

So, apart from France, how do other countries on the continent plan to tide over the monster of looming win ters? Moldova, North Mace donia and Bosnia Herzego vina are fully dependent on gas from Russia and cannot survive the onset of winters. All the three are in Eastern Europe and except North Mecedonia, other two are not under the umbrella of NATO and none are members of EU.

The story of major countries like UK, Germany and Italy that shape the decision making

of EU is no different. The dwin dling economy of UK is no hid den secret. British consumer price inflation is set to peak at 18% - nine times the Bank of England’s target - in early 2023 as per predictions of econo mists. The rising energy prices will hit the middle- and lowerincome households in the worst possible manner as it is directly linked to sanctions on Russia. Italy was also seen ap proaching Austria as a dealer for supply of Russian Gas to meet the challenges of winters.

Though, the political deci sions are pushing EU econo my to ruins courtesy Ukraine war, it’s the common man suf fering on the altar of sanc tions. Alarmingly reports say that Germany, France & Italy have only 60% gas stocks in place to beat the winters and run the industries. Will power outages in Europe be the or der of the day like in a third world country or, will the EU shift its loyalties away from NATO to lean towards Russia to ensure industrial produc tion, comfortable winters and economic growth. Can we pre dict that peace can return only if Europe shuns the in terference of UK and US which have no contiguity with the main land mass and em brace trade and treaties with Russia to allow a new world order! Well … implied lessons loom large for India as we wait and watch the Juggernaut.

The sacrifice of two women in Kerala to get rich is shocking.

It is difficult to imag ine superstitious be liefs as dangerous as in this case also occurring in a Communist state which prides itself on its literacy rate which is the highest in the country. In earlier times human sacrifices were made to please or appease gods for the fulfillment of one’s wish as part of religious practices. Now all religions have criminalised the barbaric practice. Yet they keep being reported, like the ones in Kerala, to shake our conscience.

The Kerala couple---Bhagaval Singh and his wife Laila---were allegedly made to believe that the two sacrifices will make them rich. Last year an Odisha man was charged with making a human sacrifice to appease Goddess Kali. In another report ed case a member of a family was sacrificed for its prosperity.

At least one NCRB report blamed holy men (tantriks) for the sacrifice of 51 children be tween 2014 and 2016.

SPIRITUAL SPEAK

Love the whole world as a mother loves her only child. Buddha

Aday after the Inter national Mone tary Fund cut In dia’s growth fore cast for 2022 to 6.8 percent, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told a gathering in the US, “I am aware that growth forecasts around the world are being revised lower. We expect In dia’s growth rate to be around 7 percent this financial year. More importantly, I am confi dent of India’s relative and absolute growth performance in the rest of the decade.” No global economy is beyond the impact of extraneous factors as a result of the RussiaUkraine war. Sitharaman es pecially mentioned energy and fertilizers as main disrup tors of growth as their avail ability was becoming difficult by the day. The Reserve Bank

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told a gathering in the US, “I am aware that growth forecasts around the world are being revised lower. We expect India’s growth rate to be around 7 percent this financial year. More importantly, I am confident of India’s relative and absolute growth performance in the rest of the decade”

of India had also lowered its growth forecast from 7.2 to 7 percent and the World Bank slashed its forecast for Finan cial Year 2023 from 7.5 to 6.5.

The Russia-Ukraine con flict and the consequent sanc tions on supplies have had serious implications for food prices. The Union Finance Minister was confident of In dia’s absolute growth pros pects but the IMF cautioned, “As storm clouds gather, poli cymakers need to keep a steady hand. The global econ omy continues to face steep

challenges, shaped by the lingering effects of three powerful forces: the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a costof-living crisis caused by per sistent and broadening infla tionary pressures, and the slowdown in China.”

The US Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates again in the near future and the RBI may also follow suit to check inflation which is expected to rise further from 7.41 percent. For the pov erty-stricken people inflation means higher cost of living.

On her birth anniversary, tributes to Rajmata Vijaya Raje Scindia Ji. She was synonymous with courage and foresight. She devoted her life to serving others. Sharing what I had said during one of the previous #MannKiBaat programmes about her outstanding personality.

Away from the attachment of position and power, Rajmata Scindia ji set high ideals in politics by living life as a national servant. The struggle of Rajmata Scindia ji, who dedicated her life to the service of the country and the organization, will always inspire us to restore democracy in the emergency.

Amit Shah @AmitShah

The writer is Defence expert, Motivational Speaker & Corporate Trainer

To

KHARGE DISMISSES ‘RUMOURS’ OF SONIA GANDHI’S SUPPORT

Kharge said that Sonia had never suggested his name for the party prez position

New Delhi (ANI): Con gress veteran leader and party's presiden tial candidate Mall ikarjun Kharge said that his name was not suggested by the party supremo Sonia Gandhi and dismissed the spec ulations of receiving support from the par ty's interim president.

Kharge said that So nia Gandhi had never suggested his name for the party president po sition and called it a rumour.

"Sonia Gandhi sug gesting my name for the president position is all a rumour, I have never said this. She has clearly stated that any one from the Gandhi family will neither be a part of the election nor support any candi date," Kharge said on Tuesday.

Notably, Shashi Tha roor and Mallikarjun Kharge are up against each other in the race for the post of Congress President.

"Someone has spread this rumour to defame the Congress party, So nia Gandhi and me. She has clearly stated that she will not participate in the party elections nor will she come in support of any candi date," Kharge said.

New Delhi: When asked about Shashi Tharoor's plan to "decentralise authority" in the Congress, senior party leader Mallikarjun Kharge said he does not want the two of them to be compared. In an exclusive interview with India Today, he made an appeal to not compare him with Tharoor. Speaking on Tharoor's manifesto to "reform the way the party functions", he said, "I have come on my own from block president to this level. Was Shashi Tharoor there during that time?"

Bhopal: Rajya Sabha MP Mallikarjun Kharge said on Wednesday that after becoming the Congress national president, his prime responsibility would be to implement declarations made dur ing the party's meeting held in Rajasthan's Udaipur. Kharge, who is one of the candidates for the Congress presi dent, was in Bhopal to seek support for his candidature.

Addressing a press conference at the Con gress headquarters in Bhopal, the Congress Rajya Sabha MP said that all the declarations made during the

CONGRESS TO MIX BALLOT PAPERS

RaGa to meet unemployed youths from Karnataka

Udaipur conclave were finalised after long dis cussions and they are the need of the hour.

Tharoor to cancel UP visit to avert ‘clash’ with Kharge

New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, who is one of the contend ers in the race for Con gress presi

dent, has had to cancel his visit to Uttar Pradesh twice in two days amid speculations that he was told to stay away to avert a poten tial ‘faceoff’ with sup porters of Mallikarjun Kharge, another Con gress veteran who is in the fray for the party’s top post and was com ing to visit the state.

Tharoor suggested

WILL CALL FOR CWC ELECTIONS IF ELECTED CONG CHIEF: THAROOR

New Delhi: Shashi Tharoor asserted that if he becomes the AICC chief, he would fully implement the party’s existing constitution which requires CWC elections and revival of the parliamentary board that has been dormant for a quarter-century. Tharoor also said the Cong must decentralise authority and truly empower the grassroots office-bearers of the party.

visiting on Tuesday but was told that it could result in clashes with

Karnataka (ANI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi resumed the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' from the Challakere town, Chitradurga in Karnataka on Wednes day. The Congress lead er will also be meeting around 2000 unem ployed youth from the southern state.

The march started at 6:40 am, informed the veteran Congress lead er Jairam Ramesh.

‘FOR EVERY AZAD AND SCINDIA WHO LEAVE, CONG WILL HAVE 25 OTHERS’ Bengaluru: Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh said senior leaders quitting the party are unlikely to leave a void as there is an abundance of workers and leaders who can replace them. “For every Azad (Ghu lam Nabi Azad) and Scindia (Jyotiraditya Scindia), the Congress will have 25 others. The party’s youth cadre is getting strong.” Ramesh asserted.

Veteran Congress leader Digvijaya Singh led the march in Chitradurga’s Thalaku with the Congress Seva Dal, while Ramesh followed him.

Jairam Ramesh

CALCUTTA HC DIRECTS WB POLICE TO FORM SIT TO PROBE MOMINPUR VIOLENCE

Kolkata: The Calcutta HC on Wednesday directed West Bengal Police to constitute a SIT to probe the Mominpur incident. After the investigation, the SIT will have to submit its report in court. The Calcutta HC has also directed the Kolkata Police Commis sioner to take steps so that there is no further violence. The tensions flared up in Mominpur on Sunday after religious flags put up in the area.

PLACES OF WORSHIP ACT: SC GRANTS CENTRE 2 WEEKS

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted two more weeks to the Centre to respond to a batch of petitions chal lenging certain provisions of the Places of Worship (Special Provision) Act, 1991, that prohibits the fil ing of a lawsuit to reclaim a place of worship or seek a change in its character from what prevailed on August 15, 1947.

SC TO HEAR ON OCT 31 PLEA RAISING ISSUE OF LSD

New Delhi: The SC said it will hear on Oct 31 a petition raising the issue pertaining to the lumpy skin disease in cattle. The matter was mentioned for urgent listing before a bench headed by Chief Justice U U Lalit. The counsel who mentioned the matter told the bench that the disease has spread among cattle and over 67,000 cows have died till date due to this.

MUSLIM MAN IN SHAHJAHANPUR DONATES LAND FOR HANUMAN TEMPLE

Shahjahanpur: Keeping the composite culture alive, a Muslim man in Shahjahanpur, UP, has donated land for the grand expansion of the Hanuman temple. The Shri Hanuman temple of Tilhar town in Shahjahanpur was to be shifted due to the widening of the road.While the dist admin was looking for alternate space to shift the temple, one Babu Ali, a local from the area, came forward and donated one bigha (17,000 sqft) of his own land for it. Babu Ali has officially donated the land in the name of Hanuman temple by signing the deed.

NO CITIZEN CAN BE PROSECUTED UNDER SCRAPPED SECTION 66A OF IT ACT, SAYS SC

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed that no citizen to be prosecuted under Section 66A of the Information Technology Act 2000, which was struck down as unconstitutional by the Court in 2015. Under section 66A of the IT Act, which was scrapped by the top court in 2015, a person posting offensive messages could be imprisoned for up to three years and also fined. A bench of Chief Justice of India UU Lalit and Justices Ajay Rastogi and S Ravindra Bhat said that there needs no reiteration that Section 66A is found to be in violation of the Constitution and as such no citizen can be prosecuted for violation of alleged offences under Section 66A of the IT Act.

Who will be successor to Naveen Patnaik?

Mahesh Sharma

New Delhi: Is Odisha Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal supremo Naveen Patnaik about to announce his politi cal successor? At least the murmurs in Odis ha’s political sphere seem to suggest so. Pat naik has said that his successor will be an nounced at the right time. His saying is im portant because till re cently he never talked about his successor.

He had said some time ago that Biju Janata Dal is not a party, but a mass movement, it is a party of the people and the people will decide his successor.

Now that he has stressed on announcing the successor at the right time, two ques

tions have arisen. First, who will be the succes sor and what will be the right time? It is be lieved that the right time is the 2024 assem bly elections. Elections to the Rajya Sabha will be held along with the Lok Sabha in Odisha and it is possible that before that Naveen Pat naik’s successor may be announced or at least indicated as to who it will be.

supporters of Kharge, who is set to visit the state capital.

"Day 35 of Bharat Jodo Yatra began at 6:40 am from Chal lakere and the entire day will be in the his toric Chitradurga. The afternoon interaction of Rahul Gandhi will be with around 2000 unemployed youth from all over K’taka who face a bleak fu ture in the so-called 'New India'", tweeted Jairam Ramesh.

Karnataka: Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivkumar was seen wearing a t-shirt highlighting the ‘unemploy ment’ problems during the Karnataka leg of the Bharat Jodo Yatra on Wednesday. The Congress leader wore a bright red coloured t-shirt with yellow text- symbolically signifying Kannada colours- highlighting the problem of unemployment while walking alongside Congress MP Rahul Gandhi during the 35th day of the Yatra. “Youth need jobs, not empty promises”, a message, written on DK Shivkumar’s t-shirt in the Kannada language. The State Congress chief accused the BJP government of failing to tame the rising unemployment in Karnataka.

GAURAV YATRA: NADDA ATTACKS CONGRESS IN GUJARAT

‘Atkaya, bhatkaya, latkaya...’

Gujarat (ANI): BJP president JP Nadda on Wednesday flagged off the ‘Gujarat Gaurav Yatra’ in Mehsana.

Chief Minister Bhu pendra Patel and other BJP leaders were also present at the occasion.

Addressing a public rally on the occasion, Nadda said, “BJP is a pro-active, pro-respon sible government and pro-responsive govern ment. He said BJP gov ernment understands the plight of the people. What did Congress do for years? Pitted broth ers against each other, areas against each oth er and did not supply water where it was needed. Jo vikas ki yatra chalani thi usko atkaya, bhatkaya, lat kaya. Now they them selves are stuck...”

PM TO LAUNCH `3,000 CR PMGSY SCHEME IN HIMACHAL PRADESH

Chamba: In the run-up to the Assembly polls, Prime Min ister Narendra Modi will launch Rs 3,000 crore Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana-III scheme sanc tioned for Chamba in Himachal Pradesh on Thursday. The Prime Minister will address a huge public meeting at the famous Chowgan, or the public promenade in the historic town of Chamba, which ranks 95th in the Centre’s list of the country’s 115 backward districts.

IMPOSING HINDI UNACCEPTABLE: KERALA CM WRITES TO PM MODI

Kerala: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that efforts to impose the Hindi language are "unac ceptable".

"The essence of India is defined by the concept of 'unity in diversity' which acknowledges cultural and linguistic diversity. Acknowledging this, it is brotherhood, tolerance and mutual respect between different peoples that sustains our country. The Chief Minister said that promoting any one lan guage above others would destroy this integrity," said CM Pinarayi Vijayan.

UP BUREAUCRACY

IAS Jai Shankar appointed as VC of Sushant Univ

Ahtesham Siddiqui

Lucknow: IAS Jais hankar Mishra, a retired bureaucrat from Uttar Pradesh’s bureaucracy, has been appointed as the new Chancellor of Gurgaon’s Sushant Uni versity. In this university that is more than three decades old, the chancel lor has been selected by a well-known academician and a search committee of enterprises.

Former bureaucrat Jai Shankar Mishra has

Lucknow: IAS Sujata Sharma, who came to Uttar Pradesh on inter-cadre dep utation, will now go back to her home cadre - Hy derabad - after completing her 3 years deputation in December. Sujata Sharma, a 2006 batch officer, came to Uttar Pradesh on Decem ber 4, 2019 and at present, she is posted as Secretary,

Infrastructure and Indus trial Development. Since she came to UP in 2019, she is handling the same industries department. In view of the Global Inves tors Summit to be held in February 2023, the Uttar Pradesh government may soon appoint a principal secretary or secretary rank officer. Due to the Global

Investors Summit, a lot of industries are coming to UP from across the country and the world. So in view of the increasing work in this department, there is a great need for officers, that is why the government can appoint an IAS officer of the rank of Principal Secretary and Secretary of Industries Department any time now.

been a 1980 batch IAS of Uttar Pradesh cadre and has served as col lector of many districts

of Uttar Pradesh, rising to the ranks of secre tary and principal sec retary, handling several

departments.

He has written more than 15 books in Hindi and English. His son

Abhishek Mishra has also been a minister in the Samajwadi Par ty government. Jais

hankar Mishra has been considered a very friendly and cheerful officer !!

‘If elected Congress Prez, will implement Udpr declarations’

Rahul Gandhi with padyatris during the party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, in Chitradurga on Wednesday.

SHIVKUMAR ATTACKS BJP, WEARS T-SHIRT HIGHLIGHTING ‘UNEMPLOYMENT’

Meanwhile, The country’s fourth Vande Bharat Express starting from Amb Andaura in Himachal Pradesh’s Una district will further shorten the distance to Delhi for people from northern India. It will be inaugurated by Prime Minis ter Narendra Modi from the Una station today.

JP Nadda speaking at the flagging-off of the “Gaurav Yatra”, in Mehsana on Wednesday. —PHOTO BY ANI

DON’T COMPARE ME WITH THAROOR, SAYS KHARGE ON CONG PREZ POLL

Naveen Patnaik

Mallikarjun Kharge

Jai Shankar Mishra

SUJATA SHARMA TO GO BACK TO HER HOME CADRE HYDERABAD

Sujata Sharma

Shashi Tharoor

‘Aus is India’s important partner for security’

Jaishankar on his 2-day visit to Australia, addressed the Indian community and spent time with military

Sydney (PTI) Austral

ia is an important part ner for India in terms of security and stabili ty in the Indo-Pacific and working together ensures that this region remains free, open, sta ble and prosperous, Ex ternal Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said.

Jaishankar, who is on a two-day visit to Aus tralia, during his ad dress to the Indian com munity said during the visit he spent time with the Australian military.

“They are a very im portant partner for us

today in terms of secu rity and stability in the Indo-Pacific. In fact, the big change in our rela tionship is the fact that today we both are mem bers of the Quad mech anism and are working together in many ways to ensure that this re gion remains free, open, stable and prosperous,” Jaishankar said on Tuesday.

“I have seen again even in the last year how much progress we have made just in the last few weeks. We have had two major exercises in Australia where the Indian military has par

CRUCIAL READ

SAJID OUTBURST: DCW CHIEF GETS RAPE THREAT

New Delhi (ANI): Delhi Commission for Wom en chief Swati Maliwal on Wednesday said she has been receiving rape threats on social media after she wrote to Union Information and Broadcasting Minister to remove filmmaker Sajid Khan out of Bigg Boss over allegations of sexual harassment against him. She also asked Delhi Police to ar rest who allegedly gave her rape threats.

‘KHAN SHOULD NOT HURT RELIGIOUS SENTIMENTS’

Bhopl (PTI): Madhya Pradesh Home Minister and BJP leader Narot tam Mishra said actor Aamir Khan should stay away from ad vertisements and acts which hurt religious sentiments after a bank commercial featuring Khan and actor Kiara Advani faced criticism. Mishra said Khan should not do such advertisements keeping Indian traditions and customs in mind.

DISCUS THROWER KAMALPREET KAUR BANNED FOR 3 YRS FOR USE OF STEROID

New Delhi (PTI): Top Indian discus thrower Kamalpreet Kaur, who achieved stardom for her exploits at the Tokyo Games, was on Wednesday banned for three year for using prohibited sub stance Stanozolol, the Athletics Integrity Unit has announced.Kamalpreet was handed a provisional suspension in May this year after testing positive for the steroid, which was found in her sam ple that AIU collected at Patiala on March 7.

FROM PG 1

Govt to hike...

66 KV or more, the com pensation amount will be double the rate of the land mentioned in the ready reckoner or aver age rate of purchase and the sale of land in the last three years, whichever is more.

There will be 30% compensation for the land covered under the transmission lines.

The amount of com pensation will be decid ed by a committee of deputy divisional offic ers, while a committee headed by the principal secretary of the energy department will over see the policy’s imple

mentation.

Maha govt...

The SOP also deals with electrical safety provi sions to charging sta tions and suggests that fire detection, alarm and control systems shall be as per Indian standards.

“The objective of the SOP is to ensure the fire and electrical safety of electrical vehicle charg ing stations during its operation cycle to safe guard human life and property,” said Dinesh Khonde, Chief Electri cal Inspector of Indus tries, Energy and La bour Department.

ticipated,” he said. He said the perception, the

relevance of each coun try to the other and the two nations’ common shared ability to con tribute to the better ment of the region, is “something which is today an important fac tor in the relationship “, he said.

The US, India and several other world powers have been talk ing about the need to ensure a free, open and thriving Indo-Pacific in the backdrop of China’s rising mili tary manoeuvring in the region.

INDIA’S TIES WITH JAPAN, SOUTH KOREA, CHINA IMPROVED: EAM

Singapore (ANI): India’s bilateral and economic ties with Japan, South Korea and China were bolstered because of its association with the 10-nation ASEAN bloc, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations NationsIndia trade in goods agreement was signed on Aug 13, 2009 and it came into force in Jan, 2010. The ten ASEAN

‘National games foster spirit of national unity among participants’

Surat (FIB): Under the chairmanship of Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, the closing ceremony of the 36th National Games-2022 has been organized at Pandit Deendayal Upad hyay Indoor Stadium, Surat. Lok Sabha Speak er Om Birla and Chief Minister Bhupendrab hai Patel will be present on the occasion.

Addressing the Clos ing Ceremony of 36th National Games at Pt Deendayal Upadhyaya Indoor Stadium in Surat today, the Vice President congratulated the state government for the suc cessful organisation of the mega sporting event which saw many new records being set in dif

ferent streams over the last few weeks. “Athletes will carry fond memo ries and a new enthused spirit of nationalism from here,” he said.

Significantly, 7500 athletes from 36 states and union territories participated in 36 types

Racial attack on Agra student in Australia

Shubham Dubey

Agra: A 28 year student from Agra’s town Kirav ali studying in Australia was attacked with a knife in Australia.

Family members fear that it was a racist inci dent and has requested govt to bring him home. Student Shubham Garg, pursuing PhD in Syd ney, was attacked on the night of October 6 when he was returning to his room after withdrawing money from an ATM.

He got seriously in jured and was admitted to a hospital. In Agra, the victim’s family met

MP Rajkumar Chahar on Tuesday and pleaded for help. Ram Niwas Garg, resident of Paith Gali , said that his son Shubham had gone to Australia on September 1 to pursue PhD in MS in University of New South Wales. Shubham’s roommate Bhuvan Tilani, a resi dent of Delhi, informed the police about the attack.

of sports in the 36th Na tional Games to realize Prime Minister Naren dra Modi’s ‘Khelo India’ and ‘Fit India’ cam paign. A total of 1100 competed for gold, silver and bronze medals. 2000 technical staff and over 2500 volunteers helped.

TMC lashes out at “political vendetta”

Kolkata (ANI): Amid the buzz over ex-crick eter Roger Binny likely to replace Sourav Gan guly as chief of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the Trinamool Con gress (TMC) attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), accusing it of attempting to hu miliate the former In dian skipper since it had failed to induct him into the party.

TMC Rajya Sabha MP Santanu Sen al leged political vendetta of the BJP behind the possible exit of Gan guly as BCCI president. “Amit Shah visited Sourav Ganguly’s house a few months ago.

OM BILRA ENCOURAGES SPORTSMANSHIP

countries include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myan mar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Jaishankar made these comments in a foreword published in a book titled: “ASEAN and India: The Way Forward,” which was launched in Singapore on Wednes day. “Ties with Japan and South Korea were energised as a result,” the minister said.

RAISES VISA BACKLOG ISSUE WITH AUSSIES

Sydney (PTI) Exter nal Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has that he took up with Australian authorities the issue of visa backlog, particu larly related to students seeking to return to educational institutions in the country following the COVID pandemic, and was assured that the problem would be resolved by the year end.

Haryana govt orders halt of cough syrup prod

Ambala (Haryana) (ANI): Haryana gov ernment has ordered a halt of total production of cough syrups from Sonipat-based company Maiden Pharmaceuti cals Limited, which was recently flagged by the World Health Organisa tion (WHO) following the deaths of 66 chil dren in The Gambia.

Surat (Agencies): The Indian National Flag got international recognition with the greatest effort made by their athletes, the Lok Sabha president said. Female players have made our country proud time and again—Lok Sabha’s President. Om Birla, President of the Lok Sabha, stated at the conclusion of the 36th National Sports in Surat, Gujarat.

The company has also been issued a show cause notice for 12 vio lations found at its man ufacturing plant.

State health minister Anil Vij told ANI on Wednesday,

“The samples of three drugs of the Soni pat-based pharmaceuti cal company which were mentioned by WHO, have been sent to

Central Drug Labora tory in Kolkata. The re port is yet to come.

We will take action only after the report comes. After a joint in spection by Central and State officials, 12 violations were found in the manufacturing facility. ... It has been decided to shut total production. We have sent a notice in this re gard.”

Prez lays foundation stone for Law University in Tripura

Agartala (Agencies):

President Droupadi Murmu, who arrived in Tripura on Wednesday, inaugurated a Judicial Academy and laid the foundation stone of the National Law Universi ty at Narsingarh, on the outskirts of the Agarta la city.

This was her first vis it to the northeastern region after assuming the highest office on July 25. According to the officials, National Law University, Tripura un der the Higher Educa tion Department of the state government, would now function from the Tripura Judi cial Academy as both are adjacent places.

Prof. (Dr.) Yogesh Pratap

Singh has recently been appointed as first ViceChancellor of National Law University, Tripu ra, for which the state government has allotted 9.23 acres of land at Narsingarh for setting

up of a permanent cam pus of the varsity.

Officials said that stu dents from the north eastern and other states of India would be able to take higher studies on law in the University.

At least twenty-eight children killed, many arrested in Iran

Nicosia (Agencies): At least 28 children have been killed in protests that have swept Iran since the death of Mah sa Amini, with hun dreds more mostly de tained in adult prisons, rights groups inside and outside the country said.

Amini, 22, was pro nounced dead days af ter the notorious moral ity police detained the Iranian Kurd last month for allegedly breaching the Islamic

Republic’s strict dress code for women.

Anger flared at her funeral and spread to become the biggest

wave of protests to rock Iran in almost three years, despite a crack down that has killed scores and seen hun

dreds arrested. Iran’s Children’s Rights Pro tection Society con demned security forces for resorting to violence against children who have protested in schools. “According to statistics, 28 children have been killed in these confrontations, most of which hap pened in the underpriv ileged province of Sistan-Baluchistan,” the Tehran-based group said in a statement post ed on its website.

RUSSIAN STRIKE KILLS SEVEN AT MARKET IN EAST UKRAINE INDIAN STUDENTS GET CHINESE VISAS

Over 1,300 In dian students have received visas to return to China to resume their studies after being unable to do so for over two years owing to strict Covid-19 travel re strictions imposed by the country in early ‘20 at the start of the pandemic.

XI JINPING ALL SET TO REWIND CHINA’S CLOCK

Beijing (PTI): China’s ruling Com munist Party is set to slide back to its founder Mao Ze dong’s era soon as President Xi Jinping is set to break the decades-old rule to cling in power and perhaps for life, amid pressure from the US-led West against Beijing.

Moscow (Agencies): Russian strikes on Wednesday killed seven people and wounded another eight at a mar ket in the east Ukraine city of Avdiivka near the frontline, said a regional governor. “At least seven dead and eight wounded as a result of the shelling this morning on Avdiivka. The Russians struck where many people were at that time,” the regional governor said.

Public protesting

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar interacts with Indian community, in Sydney. —PHOTO BY ANI

Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar at the national games in Surat on Wednesday.

Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij —FILE PHOTO

President Droupadi Murmu during the inauguration of the Tripura Judicial Academy laid the foundation stone of the National Law University, in Agartala on Wednesday. —PHOTO BY ANI

The victim was stabbed 11 times and is critically ill

Shubham Garg

Mumbai: State Bank on Wednesday said its home loan book has surpassed the Rs 6-lakh-crore-mark, making it the largest in the industry. To mark the occa sion, the bank also an nounced a festive offer for home loan buyers, offering up to 25 bps discount on interest rate starting at 8.40% & also the waiver of the processing fee till Jan uary 2023. The lower inter est will also be applicable to balance transfers. Com menting on this, chairman Dinesh Khara said SBI has over 28 lakh home loan customers.

PVR SHAREHOLDERS

APPROVE MERGER WITH RIVAL INOX

UPI, RuPay, BHIM to go global: Fin Min

Washington (PTI): India is talking to different coun tries to make Rupay ac ceptable in their nations, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday. “Not just that, the UPI (Unified Payments Interface), the BHIM app, and NCPI (the National Payments Corporation of India) are all now being worked in such a way that their systems in their re spective country, however, robust or otherwise can talk to our system and the interoperability itself will give strength for Indians expertise in those coun tries,” she said.

READY TO TALK WITH STARTUPS TO PREVENT THEM FROM MOVING OUT OF INDIA, SAYS FM

Rupee falls 12p to close at 82.33 against US dollar on fund outflows

New Delhi (PTI): The ru pee fell by 12 paise to close at 82.33 against the US dollar on Wednesday due to sus tained foreign fund outflows and a stronger dollar in the overseas markets. Besides, risk aversion sentiment among investors ahead of the release of US Fed min utes and inflation data weighed on the local unit.

Mumbai: Multiplexes chain company, PVR on Wednesday received shareholders’ approval for a merger with rival Inox Leisure. In March, PVR and the Inox Leisure board of directors approved a share swap amalgamation scheme where Inox will merge with PVR. On Octo ber 11, PVR sought equity shareholders’ approval for the Inox merger. During the meeting, 99.9986% vote was cast in favour of the merger, while a frac tional 0.0014% voted against the deal.

SPACEX TO SEEK GOVT PERMIT FOR STARLINK SERVICES

“We are working together with several countries,” Si tharaman said in response to a question from an Indian student at the University of Maryland, who wanted to have the UPI in the United States as well. Sitharaman made the remarks at the prestigious Brookings Insti tute think-tank during a fireside chat with eminent economist Eshwar Prasad.

“I’m a student at the Uni versity of Maryland here. I am really proud of our UPI system in India. I just want ed to ask, what do you think are the future plans for the UPI system and how can we

OTHER STORIES

Washington (PTI): The government is ready to talk with the startups who are contemplating moving overseas and address their issues as much as it can to help them stay in India, Union Finance Minister Nirma la Sitharaman said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has himself engaged with startups and the government’s policies have created an enabling environment as a result of which there are more than 100 unicorns in India. “I have engaged, the Prime Minister with the startups to know what they want from India. And we kept as much as possible addressing their concerns. Now as a result of which, not purely as a result of which, but also because of which, you saw your Unicorns coming to reach 100 in number within the year of 2020 and 2021,” she said in response to a question at the prestigious Brookings Institute think-tank. “I’ve heard this from others as well. They (startups) are moving to Singapore, they’re moving to the UAE. Well, if they want to talk to the Government of India and say, look, we were moving to Singapore, but if we were to do this, we would be quite happy to be here. And after hearing it if it’s possible, we’ll certainly attend to them,” Sitharaman said when asked about the successful Indian startups moving out of the country.

share it with the world? Specifically in the US, that’s what I miss the most about India not having a UPI system in the US,” the Indian student asked. “We

RBI’S RATE HIKES TO HAVE LIMITED IMPACT ON BANKS’ PROFITS: MOODY’S INVESTORS SERVICE

Bengaluru: The Reserve Bank of India’s slew of rate hikes this year to combat surging inflation will help lift banks’ net interest margins, but the increase will be limited as funding costs will rise faster than loan rates, Moody’s Investors Service said. The RBI has now raised rates by a total 190 basis points since its first unsched uled mid-meeting hike in May, with further hikes likely on the cards. While India’s economic growth will slow, its growth outlook was better than its peers, Moody’s said in a note on Wednesday. Banks’ profitability would also be reined in by losses on their govern ment securities holdings as yields rise, the ratings agency said.

are talking to different countries. Singapore and UAE have all come forward now to make Rupay accept able in their countries,” Sitharaman said.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local currency opened lower at 82.32 and later fell further to 82.3750 against the American currency. It re covered some ground to close at 82.33, registering a decline of 12 paise over its previous close. “In line with the dollar index, the rupee marked another steady day. So far this week, the rupee has been trading in a narrow range and clos ing near 82.32,” said Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst, HDFC Securities.

India’s BPM industry logs $44 bn revenues, grows at 14% in FY22

Bengaluru (PTI): India’s business process manage ment (BPM) sector with revenues at $44 billion ex perienced double-digit growth of over 14 per cent in FY22 as compared to FY21 and accounts for nearly 40 per cent of global sourcing spend, a Nasscom report said on Wednesday. Leveraging data to improve operational efficiency will emerge as the top priority for BPM service providers in the next two years.

As per the findings, over 90 per cent of the surveyed companies are expected to increase IT budgets by more than 10 per cent during the next 12 months though un certainties like macroeco nomic issues, geopolitics and delayed decision-mak ing may create some head winds. Moreover, firms are increasingly focusing on building an integrated Digi tal Capability Platform that

TWIN BLOWS: INFLATION RISES TO 7.4%, FACTORY OUTPUT SHRINKS

EXTREME SATISFACTION

z The highest concentration of Global 2000 enterprises is using & evaluating India as a delivery location for BPM services

z Over 60% of the surveyed enterprises have declared extreme satisfaction with the delivery of Cloud, AI, F&A, data, and insights from India

will ensure seamless data flow, said the report by Nasscom in collaboration with HFS Research. “The BPM industry in India has matured significantly. The next evolution for this sec tor will be more dynamic, reliable, and significantly more agile in driving and shaping the next-gen needs of clients,” said KS Vishwa nath, Vice President, In dustry Initiative, Nasscom.

Adani gets licence for full fledge telecom services

New Delhi: Billionaire en trepreneur Elon Musk’s SpaceX is set to seek a permit to launch satellite internet services in India under its Starlink brand, becoming the third com pany to apply for such a permit, the Economic Times reported. SpaceX will also seek statutory approvals from the gov ernment for landing rights and market access, the re port said, adding that it is likely to seek approvals from Department of Tele communications (DoT) to set up local gateways. SpaceX and DoT did not respond to Reuters re quests for comment after regular hours.

—PTI

INTEL PLANS TO CUT THOUSANDS OF JOBS

BYJU’S TO FIRE 2500 EMPLOYEES AND HIRE 10000 TEACHERS

New Delhi: Edtech major Byju’s has chalked out a plan to become profitable by March 2023 to optimise its marketing and operational cost, which will lead to retrench ment of 5 per cent employees or about 2,500 people in next six months. Byju’s co-founder Divya Gokulnath told PTI that the company will start focussing on building brand awareness over seas through new partnerships and hire 10,000 teachers for India and overseas business.

MERCEDES-BENZ AND MICROSOFT JOIN HANDS TO BOOST EFFICIENCY

New Delhi: Mercedes-Benz and Microsoft announced a partnership on Wednesday us ing Microsoft Cloud for a data platform intended to improve production efficiency at over 30 passenger car plants glob ally, the carmaker said. The data platform, called MO360, is already available in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and will also be launched in the United States and China, the state ment said.

New Delhi (PTI): In twin blows to Indian economic revival, higher food prices drove retail inflation to a five-month high of 7.4 per cent while factory output fell for the first time in 18 months. The second con secutive month of rise in consumer price index (CPI)-based inflation will add to the pressure on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to again raise interest rates to tame high prices.

Food inflation surged to a 22-month high of 8.6% while core inflation rose to a 4-month high of 6.3%.

Separately, the Index of In dustrial Production (IIP) declined 0.8% in August. “The combination of slight ly higher inflation and fall in IIP raises concerns,” said Nikhil Gupta, chief economist at Motilal Osw al. “However, next month’s data and US Fed’s policy

TRANSFORMING CASHLESS TRANSACTIONS

will decide whether we see 35 bps or 50 basis point hike by the RBI in December.”

Since April 2022, the RBI has increased the interest rate by 190 basis points in a bid to dampen demand. The consumer durables seg ment declined 2.5% from 11.1% growth a year ago.

The primary goods seg ment, which accounts for nearly 34 per cent of the index, expanded 1.7 per cent in August compared to 16.9 per cent growth in the year-ago period.

SLOWDOWN IN ALL MAJOR SECTORS

New Delhi: The manufacturing sector shrank by 0.7% in August 2022 compared to the 11.1% growth recorded in the year-ago period, as per the data by the Sta tistics and Programme Implemen tation Ministry. The power sector showed a growth of 1.4% against a 16% rise a year ago. The mining sector witnessed a contraction of 3.9% in August 2022, whereas there was a growth of 23.3% in the year-ago period.Capital goods output, which is a barometer of investments, rose 5% in August 2022 compared to 20% growth in the year-ago month.

New Delhi (PTI): Adani Data Network has been granted unified licence for access services, which en ables it to provide all tele com services in the coun try, according to two offi cial sources.

Adani Group entered the telecom sector after buy ing spectrum in the recent auction. “Adani Data Net works has been granted UL (AS),” an official source said. Another official said that the permit was grant ed on Monday.

An e-mail query to Ada ni Group did not elicit any reply. Adani Data Net works Ltd (ADNL), a unit of Adani Enterprises Ltd, acquired the right to use 400MHz of spectrum in the 26GHz millimetre wave band worth Rs 212 crore for 20 years in the recent 5G spectrum auction.

Digital Payment solutions record unprecedented growth in India

New Delhi: Chipmaker In tel Corp is planning a ma jor reduction in head count, likely numbering in the thousands, in the face of a slowdown in the per sonal computer market, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing people with knowledge of the sit uation. The layoffs will be announced as early as this month and some of Intel’s divisions, including the sales and marketing group, could see cuts af fecting about 20% of staff, as per the report.

New Delhi (Agencies): India has been extremely keen on adopting digital payment system fully and has been making giant leaps towards it.

During the last three years, digital payment transactions have regis tered unprecedented growth in India. Easy and convenient modes of digi tal payment, such as Bharat Interface for Mon ey-Unified Payments In terface (BHIM-UPI); Imme diate Payment Service (IMPS); pre-paid payment instruments (PPIs) and National Electronic Toll

Collection (NETC) system have registered substan tial growth and have trans formed digital payment ecosystem by increasing Person-to- Person (P2P) as well as Person-to-Mer chant (P2M) payments. At the same time, pre-exist ing payment modes such as debit cards, credit cards, National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) and RealTime Gross Settlement (RTGS) have also grown at a fast pace.

BHIM-UPI has emerged as the preferred payment mode of users. The Gov ernment of India also

launched the digital pay ment solution e-RUPI, a cashless and contactless instrument for digital pay

CASHLESS ECONOMY

z In August 2022 alone, 346 banks were live on the UPI interface, with 6.58 billion financial transactions being carried out for a total value of nearly Rs 10.73 lakh cr

z UPI firmly placing India on the track toward a cashless economy and currently constitutes over 40% of all digital transactions in India

finance economy.

ment, which is expected to play a huge role in making Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) more effective in

digital transactions in the country. All these facilities together have created a ro bust ecosystem for a digital

Getting a whopping over 1.3 billion people under the ambit of digital payment solutions is not an easy task but the Indian govern ment is not leaving any stone unturned to achieve that milestone. One of the major objectives of Digital India is to achieve “Face less, Paperless, Cashless” status. The promotion of digital payments has been accorded the highest prior ity by the Government of India to bring each and every segment of our coun try under the formal fold of digital payment services.

BY PC SLOWDOWN

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman speaks to scholars of The Brookings Institution in Washington, Tuesday. —PHOTO BY PTI

Crowdfunding med aid: HC questions govt, cops

Platform has challenged show cause notice for displaying a child’s pictures in wrong perspective in social media ads

First India Bureau

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has asked the state government and Mumbai police about online crowd funding for medical treatments and wheth er they can be done by a private organization or a company or not. It also sought to know if the same is permissi ble and which was the monitoring authority for the same.

The bench was hear ing a plea by Impact Guru Technology Ven tures, a crowdfunding platform, challenging a show cause notice issued to it by the police under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000. It had been accused of dwisplaying a child in the wrong perspective in its social media adver tisements.

A division bench com prising Justice Prasan

In jail for hot heeding pressure to betray Sena: Raut tells mom

na B Varale and Justice Nitin R Borkar heard the matter on October 06 challenging the Septem ber 07 show cause notice

EOW to probe ‘illegal’ contract for COVID-19 jumbo units

issued. Appearing on behalf of the petitioner, advo cate Niteen Pradhan submitted that it is a pri

vate limited company which enables patients to seek funds/ donations for medical treatment such as cancer, organ

MID-SEA RESCUE

UP

Mumbai (PTI): Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut, who is current ly in jail over money laundering charges, has claimed that there was pressure on him to “betray” his party, and that he landed in jail as he did not pay heed to it.

In a letter to his moth er dated August 08, a week after his arrest, Raut said, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray and Shiv Sainiks were like her own children and till the time he was in jail, they would take care of her. The letter was tweeted on Wednesday.

Everyone is aware that he has been framed under false and bogus charges and statements were extracted from him at gunpoint, he alleged. Raut also said free dom fighters Lokmanya Tilak and Vinayak Do madar Savarkar had to

Like you, the Shiv Sena is also my mother. I had pressure to be tray my mother (the party). There were threats not to speak against the government as it will prove costly. I did not pay heed to the threat which is why I am away from you.

—Sanjay Raut

face similar treatment. He was arrested by the Enforcement Directo rate (ED) in August in a money laundering case linked to alleged irregu larities in the redevelop ment of Patra 'chawl' in Mumbai. He is currently in judicial custody, and lodged at the Arthur Road prison.

Mumbai (PTI) The probe against a hospi tal management firm for allegedly provid ing forged documents to bag contracts to op erating jumbo centres during the COVID-19 outbreak and causing death by negligence has been transferred to the economic of fences wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police’s crime branch, an offi cial said Wednesday.

The investigation was hitherto handled by the Mumbai Police which had registered a First Information Re port (FIR) against the firm and four persons associated with it on a complaint lodged by former Bharatiya Ja nata Party (BJP) MP Kirit Somaiya.

As per the FIR, in June 2020, the partners in the hospital manage ment firm submitted a fake partnership deed to the Brihanmumbai Mu nicipal Corporation and obtained contracts for jumbo COVID-19 centres at NSEL, Worli, Mulund, Dahisar (in Mumbai) and in Pune without having any experience in the medical field.

The firm had submit ted bills of these cen tres to the BMC and col lected Rs38 crore, the FIR stated.

transplant and other rare diseases; from friends, relatives and public at large through online fundraising.

He submitted that as per the notice, advertise ments prepared by the company that were cir

culated through various mediums including You Tube, Facebook, among others displayed the child in the wrong per spective.

The police said adver tisements and money collected fall in the cate

gory of ‘begging’ under JJ Act and therefore, the firm had been indulging in activities inconsistent with the law.

Pradhan submitted that petitioner’s activity is permissible under the National Policy for Rare Diseases, 2021, as there are government portals for crowdfunding and therefore, the show cause notice was mis conceived and same be set aside.

The court noted that the petitioner has not clarified if it retains any of the funds or dona tions received. The mat ter will be heard next on October 19.

Fadnavis’ two-day visit to Jodhpur from today

First India Bureau

Jaipur: Maharash tra’s Deputy CM Dev endra Fadnavis will be on a 2-day visit to Rajasthan beginning from Thursday.

Fadnavis will reach Jodhpur at 1:50 pm by special aircraft. From Jodhpur, he will head to Ramdevra by helicopter and visit the Baba Ram

dev Temple. Thereafter, he will reached Jodh pur airport at 4:45 PM and leave for Churu.

CRUCIAL READ

19-YEAR-OLD WOMAN DIES IN LEOPARD ATTACK

Man sent to jail for 3 years for sexually harassing minor girl

First India Bureau

Mumbai: A special court in Mumbai on Tuesday sentenced a man to three years’ imprisonment for sexually harassing a minor.

In his defense, the ac cused had claimed that there were inconsisten cies in the victim’s alle gations as she had said that he had pulled her dupatta to cops and changed it to a scarf while testifying in court.

In 2017, an offence was registered under the Protection of Chil dren from Sexual Of fences (POCSO) Act and other relevant sections of sexual harassment of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against 20-year-old

Mohammad Zaid. The victim was a 15-year-old Class X student at the time of the incident.

The victim had said that Zaid had pulled her dupatta when she was out shopping.

“…There is not much difference between du patta and scarf. Both are used near the neck and are made from the same type of cloth, which women wear. The said inconsistency is not suf ficient to disbelieve the incident,” the court said.

Oct rainfall in Mumbai breaches 100mm mark

Fourth-highest amount of rainfall recorded in the western metropolis in October in the last 10 years

First India Bureau

Mumbai: The city re ceived more than 100mm of rain be tween October 01 and 11, quite unusual for this time of the year, officials at the India Meteorological De partment (IMD) said.

The IMD stated that in the past 10 years only in four instances (includ ing this year) did Mum bai experience more than 100 mm of rainfall

in the month of October.

According to the fig ures shared by the IMD’s Santacruz weather sta tion there has been 117.7 mm of rainfall till now in October this year, the fourth-highest amount of precipitation record ed in the month in the last 10 years.

Notably, the Santacruz observatory recorded 114 mm of rainfall on Oc tober 08 alone.

Weather experts add ed that considering the

current rainfall pattern, the overall rainfall quan tity could breach the 120mm mark if the mon soon does not retreat

anytime soon. “It has only rained heavily for 24 hours in October this year and the quantity of rainfall

recorded between Octo ber 07 and 08 is equiva lent to the overall month ly rainfall figure,” said Sushma Nair, a scientist

at IMD, Mumbai.

Nair further added that light-to-moderate spells of rainfall will continue in the city till the end of this weekend and there is a forecast for thunderstorms as well.

According to Mahesh Palawat, weather expert and meteorologist from Skymet Weather Servic es, there is a possibility of monsoon withdrawal from Maharashtra in the next 10 days.

“The monsoon may now start gradually re treating from Maharash tra but it will take at least 10 days to make a concrete prediction on this,” he said.

Pune: A19-year-old woman died after a leopard attacked her at a village in Shirur tehsil of Pune district on Wednes day. Pooja Narawade, was working outside her house in Jambut village in the evening when the feline caught hold of her by the neck. “Local resi dents tried to help by the animal, dragged her 200 feet into sugarcane fields and disappeared,” an official of Shirur police station said.

69-YEAR-OLD BRIDGE TO BE RAZED IN MUMBAI

Mumbai: The 69-yearold Ambalal Patel Road Over Bridge (ROB) will soon be demolished by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) as a precaution ary measure, informed a senior civic official. “Two structural audits (in 2019 and 2022) conducted by us confirmed that the bridge is not fit enough to keep it operational and therefore, we have issued a notice to pull it down,” said a BMC official.

Pune: A bike collided with a mixer truck coming from the opposite side, killing two youths on Karve Road. The de ceased have been identified as Manoj Ramesh Patil (23), who worked at a hotel in Baner, and Nitin Balaji Magar, a private company employee. The incident took place at 12.30 am. While Patil was killed on the spot, Magar succumbed to his injuries later.

REPAIRS TO HIT MUM, THANE WATER SUPPLY

Thane: Water supply in many parts of Thane is likely to get affected till October 20, due to ongoing repairs of the gate system at Pise in Bhatsa river. “Water levels of Bhatsa river will be lowered to carry out repair works on the pneumatic gate system. Thus, the water supply to TMC (Thane Munici pal Corporation) will be reduced by 10%. BMC will also reduce the water supply to several areas,” an official said.

283 LITTERBUGS FINED IN NAGPUR ON DAY 1 OF DRIVE

Nagpur: As many as 283 people were fined by Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s for lit tering city roads on Tuesday. An amount grossing Rs84,500 was recovered from violators in fines. The highest number of violators were found in the Laxmi Nagar zone. A squad of 150-odd civic cops and caught 53 residents, 78 roadside vendors, and 34 shopkeepers for throwing garbage on the roads, an official said.

TWO YOUTHS DIE AFTER BIKE COLLIDES WITH A MIXER TRUCK IN PUNE

Bench seeks

Uddhav Thackeray loyalist Sanjay Raut outside the Arthur Road Prison, where he is currently housed. —PHOTO BY ANI

The Indian Navy on Wednesday evacuated an Iranian naval personnel, who suffered a cardiac arrest on board a vessel off the Mumbai coast, following a request from the Islamic Republic of Iran, officials said. An Indian Navy advanced light helicopter was launched from INS Shikra around 8.30 am and airlifted the patient along with two attendants from the IRI Ship Makaran directly to Navy hospital, INHS Asvini. —PHOTOS BY ANI

As ethnic trends rule people’s sanities ahead of Karwa Chauth and Diwali festive occasions, paying attention to your jewellery is as important as picking a perfect outfit. If you are looking for fashion tips, here’s a guide on how to lift your fashion game

Anewlywed look consists of a basic satin dupatta, a highwaisted skirt with heavy, de tailed embroidery, and a cropped hanky halter top that adds a modern touch. Add beach waves to your hair, huge earrings, and studded kadas to complete the ethnic style. Stuck at work but want to make it on time when the moon makes an appearance? To work, you can don a deep red silk anarkali suit that goes well with golden jhumkas and coor dinating juttis. Leave your locks open with a middle split and highlight your cheeks to instantly heighten your look. You can even doll up yourself in a red flowy georgette saree with a glass beaded with a fullsleeved, corset-style, intricate lace blouse, which will surely get you praise.

BEAUTY GUIDE: THE SECRET TO RADIANT BEAUTY THIS

KARVA CHAUTH

Karva Chauth is upon us, the day when women observe a fast restricting food and water till they see the moon. It is believed that this fast is done to either be blessed with a good husband or for those who are married; their hus bands are blessed with a long and happy life. This festival is celebrated on the fourth day or Chauth of Kartik month, the ho liest month in the Hindu calendar.

Fasting women are fussed over by their mothers-in-law and hus bands along with other members of the family.

Dressing up is a huge part of this day as well.

The elusive moon sight ing is often celebrated with great communal fervour. While there is great romance in these ritualistic and cultural practices, one cannot for get the primary benefit of fasting is to detox and rest your overworked system.

As the warmth of the sun grows distant we adopt auspicious rituals of fire to maintain a strong Tejas through the cooler months. The month of Kartik provides a salubrious environment to rejuve nate skin cells. If you have ever considered an all-natural skincare re gime then this is the time of year for a favourable start. While karva Chauth is a day to cele brate the love between spouses, it is only fitting to start with some self-love.

To make radiant beau ty divine we must strive to achieve brilliant ‘Ojas’ (immune mechanism and bodily tissue), excel lent ‘Tejas’ (cellular in telligence and metabolic activity) and vibrant ‘Prana’ (life force and flow of communication). We must also work on flushing out Ama (toxic waste) and balancing the three Doshas–Vata (prin ciple of movement in cluding neuro-electrical impulses) Pitta (meta bolic fire responsible for digestion, absorption and assimilation of nutrition) Kapha (build ing block material like protein and fat).

But often, even in a spiritual science like Ayurveda, beauty is true, skin deep.

Skin is the reflection of what is going on deep inside, even down to our organs and is used in clinical observations and diagnosis of ailments. So we must make great efforts to keep our skin beautiful and radiant.

z STEP 1

Start your day by oiling your hair with bhringraj oil and then move on to oral cleansing and detoxification by oil-pulling and tongue scraping

z STEP 2

Next, it’s time to focus on our sense organs starting with the eyes splash your eyes with fennel tea that has been cooled down, for instant sparkle. Apply sesame oil in and behind your ears as well as in your nostrils. And then we move to the 5th organ our skin.

z STEP 3

Start by dry brushing your entire body to improve blood circulation and remove dead cells. Now generously your body with sesame oil in long and hard strokes towards your heart. This helps with lymphatic drainage.

z STEP 4

Make a dry mixture of 1 part milk powder and 1 part almond flour andsprinkle it over the oil you have applied and start rubbing it in circularmotions for a scrubbing effect.

z STEP 5

Take the pulp of the orange and massage it over the dry powder, follow by a bath us ing a mild non-toxic soap

A SPECIAL NOTE ON MEHNDI

While we all know that chemical-laden henna is not a patch in its former glory days, it is important to understand the great healing properties of henna. Henna flowers have long been known in Ayurveda as pain relievers, the oil obtained from henna has also proven to be useful in curing stomach pains, open wounds, and jaundice and preventing hair loss. As it is customary for women to apply henna on karva Chauth – one cannot ignore the link that in Ayurveda henna seeds have been used to regulate menstruation.

Karwachauth Special:

7 Fun Ways to Stop Thinking About Food

EXPLORE THE ARTIST IN YOU

Get busy creating something. Whether you like to paint, write, or do a DIY craft, utilize today to nurture the artist in you.Warning: If you love cooking, today isn’t an ideal day to experiment or try out a new dish.

INVITE YOUR FRIENDS FOR A GAME DAY

Go binge-watch the series that has been on your watchlist forever now. The next thing you know, it will be chaand-dekho time, just like that!

CAULDRON SISTERS Cityfirst@firstindia.co.in

Today is proba bly the only time when Sunday will feel like a long day to you if you are ob serving the Karwachauth fast.

Have you noticed that on fasting days, you tend to think about food more everything around reminds you of the food? Ahh, we know the feeling!

We have even ob served that our social media feed will also be full of yummy-looking dishes, recipe tutori als, etc, on the days of the fast. (Or is it every day?)

Anyhoo, we are not here to talk about and remind you about food. In fact, we are here for the exact opposite. In an effort to make things a little easier for you, we have listed down seven ways to help you get through the day without think ing about food and get ting ‘hungry.’

So, without any further ado, let’s get started!

PAMPER YOURSELF WITH SOME SKIN & HAIR CARE

Call your besties home or go to their place and just kill time playing video games. The adrenaline rush to win will make you forget those hunger pangs for sure.

KEEP DRINKING WATER

Drinking water is very important on the fasting day to avoid dehydration.

Sipping water frequently throughout the day also keeps you feeling full, which means, fewer feelings of hunger.

BINGE ON NETFLIX INSTEAD

Aye Zindagi: A heartfelt movie with spectacular performances

ADITI

It is seldom that audiences come across content that not only enter tains them for its duration but leaves a mark on them for the longest pe riod. Be it comedy, a slice of life, action, ro mance, drama or any other genre, it is diffi cult to find a film that has the power to move viewers. Anirban Bose made a similar effort and it seems to have paid off in the form of his new film, Aye Zind agi. A heartfelt movie with spectacular per formances and a pow erful message, Aye Zindagi is filled with real emotions, happi ness and positivity. It is one of the few films that touch upon a sensi tive topic and renders the audience teary with its brilliant visualisa tion. Talking about or gan donation and the struggles of a person waiting for a donor, the

masterpiece has an amazing star cast of Revathy and Satyajeet Dubey in the lead.

It revolves around the life of Vinay Chaw la (Satyajeet Dubey), a smart and succeeding engineer who suffers from liver cirrhosis at the age of 26. He moves from Lucknow to Hy derabad for his treat ment where he comes across Revathi Ranjan (Revathy). She is a counsellor at the hospi tal who convinces peo ple to organ donations.

The story revolves around how the two bond together and Vi nay is once again ig nited with the hope to live, his struggles and

love and more.

Revathy proves why she is known as a leg end with an incredible performance that in stils hope not only in Vinay but in the viewer as well. Satyajeet too has proved his talent as he acted at par with her. Other actors such as Mrinmayee Godbole who is Vinay’s love in terest in the film, Sawan Tank, Hemant Kher, Shrikant Verma, Mus kan Agarwal, Pranjal Trivedi and Mandeep Kumar have done a re markable job as well.

The film recently had a special screening for the entertainment in dustry which was at tended by several celeb

rities. The film’s cast and crew were joined by some supporting friends from the in dustry.

Mrunal Thakur, Divyang Th akkar, Arya web se ries fame Jagdeesh Purohit and Vikas Kumar, Sana Amin Sheikh and several others attended the event.

Shiladitya Bora who is not only the producer but also the casting director of the film showed his support to his team as he attended the screening. His love for Aye Zindagi could be seen through his encour agement to the cast

and crew and that alone is a beautiful feat. There are not many film pro ducers who are ready to back a film that is not even a bit of the masala entertainer that Bolly wood usually makes. Thus, it showcased his passion for bringing out a topic that makes a genuine impact on the audience.

Talking about his film, Satyajeet said, “This is a

really special film. Cine ma is a form of entertain ment but some films go beyond the realms of en tertainment. In my hum ble opinion, Aye Zindagi is that film. Our film is not just about celebrating organ donation but cele brating humanity. In this film, we are celebrating love in the most basic, most human form.”

Sharing his experi ence working with Re vathy, the actor revealed, “She has a beautiful aura that she brings into the film. And she is the way she is on screen. I real ised while working with her that greatness is not about anything big, it’s about humility, grace and being kind to other people.”

Extending her support to Satya jeet, Mrunal said, “Satyajeet is a very dear and old friend of mine. So, I am glad that he got the chance to do this film. It is a beautiful story; it is a beautiful character and I would say that it is a good film. Not because Satya is my friend but because I felt it when I watched the trailer. The impact the film created was khatarnak!”

We give 4 stars for the casting, stellar per formances and overall, a wonderful film.

OF PARK JIMIN

Vikram Vedha’s poor performance

Vikram Vedha starring Hrithik Roshan and Saif Ali Khan was critically ac claimed for its powerpacked performances with Hrithik especially gaining all the atten tion for his bone-chill ing portrayal of Vedha. However, despite the mass appeal of its incred ible cast, the film re fused to perform well at the box office. It opened low and did slightly well on the weekdays but the num bers in the second week fell extremely low that it seems difficult for the film to reach a three-digit net mark.

A total of Rs. 85 crore net mark in India and another 4.5-5 million

dollars gross (Rs. 3640 crore) from overseas is expected from the film, totalling its global net worth to Rs 140 crore. Several factors are stated to have re sulted in the downfall of the film including the availability of its original Telugu ver sion on all streaming platforms for free, a night before the Hindi one was released.

Ranbir to take a sabbatical

Park Jimin’ a heartthrob of millions of ar mies and mem ber of the world’s most popular boy band BTS is celebrat ing his 27th birthday. His charming smile has won the heart of every single girl who has witnessed it. When the song No More Dream was re leased on June 13, 2013, Jimin officially joined BTS. Jimin performs both danc ing and vocals for the ensemble. He has three solo songs un der BTS: Lie, Seren dipity, and Filter. Park Jimin is the beautiful

lead vocalist and main dancer of BTS. He is known for his incredibly sexy, love ly, and cute duality. It was on full display in performances and in teractions with the fans at every concert. He drew attention with his refreshing visuals, powerful dance moves, sexy

charisma, and incred ible vocal abilities, which caused a frenzy among fans, celebri ties, and even neti zens. On October 13, 1995, a cute little prince was born. He is our light, our seren dipity. His Authentic ity is mesmerizing, his vulnerability is captivating, his flaws are enchanting, his light is breathtaking, his love is spellbounding, and he is magic.

I can’t describe how excited I am for our baby mochi’s birth day. He is turning 27 But still looks like a baby. I love every bit of him from my entire heart and I wish he keeps smiling and entertaining us till we become old but my love for him will never fade.

Happier Jiminiee day armies, I amount of love and respect I have for this guy is immense. I have no words to describe his beauty and heart. he is equally beautiful from the inside and outside. A man without any flaws, when I saw him in Serendipity he was the first person to grab my attention, Boy with pink hair, He is so cute like a marshmallow. I just want him to live long and healthy until I die.

As Alia Bhatt & Ranbir Kapoor are excepting their first child and to your surprise, RK is taking a parental break. According to the latest report, Ranbir will stop acting follow ing the birth of his child. Ranbir will look after his kid while Alia will return to work right after her delivery.

According to ru mours, RK was the one who suggested taking a parental leave since he was so excited to take up a new father’s. Ac cording to a close friend of the couple, Ranbir came up with the notion to take a pa ternity break. He sug gested Alia go back to work so he could take care of the infant.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OUR JIMINIE. He is the most hard working guy I have ever seen. The way he works hard to not disappoint is very heartwarm ing. Ah, I just wonder how can anyone be cute, hot and handsome at the same time. I respect him a lot. And He gives me the strength to work hard.

—DISHA AJMANI

Mrunal Thakur

Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt

Ramesh Taurani and Satyajeet Dubey

Satyajeet Dubey and Vikas Kumar

Satyajeet Dubey and Sana Amin Sheikh

Satyajeet Dubey and Ashish Tiwari Divyang Thakkar

Satyajeet Dubey, Shiladitya Bora and Anirban Bose

Still from the movie

MRIDULA SHARMA cityfirst@firstindia.co.in