First India-Delhi Edition-14th November 2022

AMBANI ENTERS RACE TO BUY LIVERPOOL FC SAYS RECENT REPORTS

Mumbai: In big development, Mukesh Ambani has shown interest in acquiring Premier League giants Liverpool FC. Fenway Sports Group (FSG), the current owners, have put the club for sale. They had bought the club in October 2010 and as per the reports.

KALYANI JADHAV DIES IN ROAD ACCIDENT

Kolhapur: 32-year-old Marathi TV actor Kalyani Kurale-Jadhav died in a road accident in Kolhapur.

According to the police, Kalyani, known for her appearance in Tujyhat Jeev Rangala, was on her motorcycle, hit by tractor.

JNU SCUFFLE: 4 STUDENTS BARRED FROM CAMPUS

New Delhi: Days after a scuffle broke out between two groups, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has declared the campus “out of bounds” for four students involved in the fight on Thursday till its inquiry into the incident is completed.

PUNJAB GOVERNMENT

TO TIGHTEN GRIP OVER GUN LICENCES

Bhatinda: The Punjab govt has directed the district authorities to review all arms licenses in 3 months, and no new licenses will be issued until DC of the concerned districts is satisfied with the security angle for seeking a license.

ENGLAND LIFT THE ICC MEN’S T20 WORLD CUP 2022 TROPHY

ON TOP

OF THE WORLD!

z England won World Cup final match in sen sational style, defeating Pakistan by five wickets z All-rounder Ben Stokes kept the momentum go ing, lead team to become the T20 WC champions

z England’s Sam Curran proved to be the most successful bowler in the final, taking 3 wickets; was announced as the ‘Player of The Match’ and ‘Player of The Tournament’

z England become ‘Kings’ of white-ball

All eyes on India as Modi heads for ‘short’ G-20 summit in Bali

New Delhi: PM Naren dra Modi will be attend ing the 17th G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia from November 14-16 as he will formally take over India’s G20 Chairman ship for 2023 starting from December 1.

Foreign Secy Vinay Kwatra said that PM Modi and other G20 leaders will discuss im portant contemporary topics at the Bali Sum mit, including the status of the world economy, energy, environment, agriculture, health, and digital transformation.

He added, “The Bali Summit comprises of 3 working sessions at the leaders’ level.”

cricket, hold both ODI, T20 World Cups simulta neously in a first z England won the ODI World Cup crown back in 2019 after defeating NZ

z Kohli took to Insta gram to congratulate England for winning 2022 T20 World Cup trophy

z Sachin Tendulkar on Twitter: Congratulations to the England team!

z It was a nervy game, with the England bowlers restricting Pakistan to 137-8

Blast at Udpr-Ahmd rly bridge inaugurated by PM, NIA starts probe

CHIEF MINISTER TELLS TOP COP TO INVESTIGATE

Udaipur: Unidentified people attempted to blast a bridge on the Udaipur-Ahmedabad railway line, which was inaugurated 13 days ago by PM Modi. The inci dent happened on Sat urday night. The con spiracy was to blow up the bridge and destroy the railway track, said source. Explosives were also found on the spot. The blast caused cracks on the tracks. The ATS of the Rajasthan Police reached the spot to probe the terrorist an gle in the conspiracy.

The incident of damage to railway tracks on Oda railway bridge of Udaipur-Ahmedabad rail route is worrying. Senior police and administration officials are on the spot. The DG has directed the police to go to the bottom of the incident.

—Ashok Gehlot, Chief Minister

There has been a conspiracy to blow up the bridge with detonators. Soon the accused will be caught. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has also instructed Director General of Police Umesh Mishra for a detailed investigation.

—Tarachand Meena, Udaipur Collector

Planes collide at Dallas air show, 6 feared dead

Texas: Two aircrafta Boeing B-17 bomber and a smaller planecollided mid-air at an air show at Texas’s Dallas Executive Air port on late Saturday, immediately falling to the ground and bursting into flames.

“According to our Dallas County Medi cal Examiner, there

are a total of 6 fatali ties in Dallas air show incident,” said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins on Sunday.

Ex-AAP councillor cries foul from atop electricity tower

tower in Gandhi Nagar.

Durgesh Pathak and Sanjay Singh, he al leged that they took his original documents on the pretext of fielding him in the polls but re fused to hand them back.

The Aam Aadmi Par ty, for its part, termed Hasan a “dedicated, loyal and hardworking worker” and said it “sympathises” with all such members who could not get a ticket for the MCD elections.

Naming Atishi,

New Delhi (PTI): After he was denied a ticket for the upcoming mu nicipal polls, former AAP councillor Haseebul-Hasan on Sunday climbed an electricity tower in east Delhi and alleged that party lead ers had “sold” the tick ets for Rs 2 crore to 3 crore.

“AAP leaders have taken my original docu ments, including my bank passbook, on the

pretext of giving me a ticket but they are not returning the docu ments. Tomorrow is the

last day to file the nomi nations. If anything happens to me or if I die, Durgesh Pathak

and Atishi will be re sponsible,” Hasan said in a live video on social media from atop the

“Atishi, Durgesh Pathak and Sanjay Sin gh sold the tickets for Rs 2 crore to Rs 3 crore. They returned my doc uments only after I climbed this tower,” he told reporters after get ting down.

Police, along with of ficials from fire brigade and BSES, and ambu lances reached the spot and requested Hasan to climb down. He eventu ally agreed.

Claims party sold MCD poll tickets for `2-3 crore

AAP FIELDS WOMEN IN 55% SEATS

MARATHI ACTRESS

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Indonesia visit for 3 days starting today as he will formally take over India’s G20 Chairmanship for 2023 starting from December 1 First India Bureau

J&K LG SINHA CALLS ON PM MODI

Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha calls on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in New Delhi on Sunday.

PHOTO BY ANI

England players with the trophy celebrate after winning the T20 World Cup 2022 final match against Pakistan, at Melbourne Cricket Ground, in Melbourne on Sunday. (Inset) England captain Jos Buttler kisses the tropy during presentation ceremony after match.

Part of the bridge damaged tracks on Odha bridge near Kewda Ki Naal after blast on the Udaipur-Ahmedabad railway line on Sunday.

Narayan Meghwal

NEHRU HELPED INDIA

Indians, especially children, will on Monday celebrate Pandit Nehru’s 133rd birth anniversary. Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister always said that children are like buds in a garden and should be carefully and lovingly nurtured, as they are the future of the nation and the citizens of tomorrow. He was a true statesman whose legacy transcended national boundaries.

Structural audit of highrises in Noida approved

Noida (PTI): The Noida Authority board has ap proved a policy proposal for structural audit of high-rise buildings in the city, according to an official statement.

The policy defines roles and responsibili ties of the builder as well as the residents' as sociation vis-a-vis re pair of structures, if found defective.

The decision was tak en during the 207th board meeting of the Noida Authority.

The meeting was chaired by Uttar Pradesh Infrastructure and Industrial Develop ment Commissioner and Noida Authority chairman Arvind Ku mar with Noida Author ity chief executive of ficer Ritu Maheshwari in presence.

"According to this policy, the structural audit report from em panelled IIT or NIT or

expert institutions will be submitted by the de veloper before the par tial or full occupancy certificate is issued," according to the official statement.

It stated that even af ter the issuance of par tial or full occupancy certificate, in any pro ject, if 25 per cent or more allottees of AOA or tower complain about structural de fects, the committee constituted at the au thority level will exam ine the complaint and decide whether the de

fect is of minor or ma jor category.

"For structural de fects of major category, structural audit will be conducted from expert institutions. Under the Apartment Ownership Act, it is the responsi bility of the builder to remove the structural defects within two years," it stated.

"According to the RERA Act, the respon sibility of removing the structural defects rests with the builder for five years and after five years with the AOA,"

the statement said.

At present, it has been decided by the Board that if the struc tural audit report comes negative, then the structural defects will be removed by the builder within five years from the date of issue of occupancy.

In cases of two to five years period, the au thority will inform the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) to get the action taken by the builder after getting the audit done by the empanelled agency.

ACB registers FIR in `20 crore Jal Board scam

New Delhi (ANI): The Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) on Satur day registered an FIR against unidentified persons in connection with the alleged embez zlement of funds of Delhi Jal Board (DJB) worth Rs 20 crore, ac cording to the officials.

From recycled cigarette butts, plans to make air purifiers

New Delhi: On the outskirts of the na tional capital, a group of people patiently separate piles of ciga rette butts into paper, brown fibre and to bacco powder. And over a period of time, each separated item is churned into prod ucts ranging from soft toys to diaries.

Focused on sustain ability, startup Code Effort is recycling cigarette butts into different products for more than four years and is now exploring the possibility of making air purifiers with recycled butts.

"We pay Rs 200 to 400 per kilogram of cigarette butts that we procure from various entities. We have more than 200 collec tion centres in differ ent parts of the coun try," the startup's founder and Director Naman Gupta said.

The cigarette butts, which end up as litter, are collected by Code Effort through vari ous means, including

with the help of more than 2,000 ragpickers from different parts of the country.

The laborious pro cess of recycling ciga rette butts is not only

According to the ACB, in 2019 the vigi lance department of the DJB discovered "seri ous fraud" and embez zlement of DJB money by the officials/agen cies concerned. "The Vigilance Department, after scrutinizing the documents seized from the Revenue Depart ment of DJB, has con cluded that the prelimi nary investigation into the matter reveals em bezzlement of DJB funds amounting to Rs 20 crore and above," an

official statement said.

The ACB said that the department would in vestigate the role of the DJB officials and other private players in the al leged embezzlement that it claimed took place between 2012 and 2019.

Detailing the case, the ACB officials said that the DJB had award ed the work of setting

LG authorises recruitment of nonjudicial staff for

New Delhi (PTI): In a first, Lieutenant Gover nor VK Saxena has au thorised the Delhi Sub ordinate Services Selec tion Board (DSSSB) to recruit group 'B' & 'C' non-judicial subordi nate staff for the Delhi High Court, official sources said on Sunday.

Saxena cleared im pediments restricting the DSSSB to recruit only for the Delhi gov ernment and its under takings, Municipal Cor poration of Delhi, New Delhi Municipal Coun cil, they said.

up automotive bill pay ment collection ma chines at different loca tions in different DJB offices to Corporation Bank (now Union Bank of India) for a period of three years. It was al leged that the bank in volved a private agency for the setting up of ki osks and collection of bills from various loca tions in the city. The

Nigerian held with drugs

New Delhi (PTI): A 36-year-old Nigerian na tional was arrested here after 50 grams of heroin was seized from him, police here said on Sunday.

HAD ORDERED FIR IN SEPTEMBER

contract is said to have been extended from time to time till the time the alleged fraud was detected, in October 2019.

"The matter was im mediately brought to the notice of the Bank for recovery of the amount collected from the e-Kiosks, which the Bank had failed to de posit in the bank ac

count of DJB during the above said period, along with penal inter est and other liabilities. However, despite pro tracted deliberations at the senior level all this while, the Bank is ap parently reluctant to return the money em bezzled by its vendor to cause substantial finan cial loss to DJB," the statment said.

Murder accused on the run since 2018 held in Jharkhand

New Delhi (PTI): A 26-year-old man ab sconding since 2018 in a murder case was ar rested from Jharkhand, police said on Sunday.

The accused has been identified as Shalu To pno, a resident of Jharkhand, police said.

Topno dis closed that he worked in a placement agency and used to bring girls from Jharkhand and Bihar

be employed as domestic helps.

behalf of the Court for certain posts.

helping in boosting sustainability efforts but is also providing additional income for women in the nearby areas in these times of price rise.

—PTI

It was also desired by the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court that DSSSB, being a profes sional government re cruiting body, may or ganise and conduct open examination on

The new posts for which the DSSSB can now hold recruitment exams include private secretary, court master, administrative officer, senior judicial assis tant, personal assistant among others. Exami nations for such posts are currently conduct ed by outside agencies.

On Friday, we re ceived a tip-off regard ing a drug supplier, who was a foreign national, coming to M Block, Mo han Garden, Deputy Commissioner of Po lice (Dwarka) Harsha Vardhan said.

A trap was laid and around 11.45 pm, the man -- Obinna -- was ap prehended, Vardhan said. A case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substanc es Act has been regis tered, the DCP said.

After receiving infor mation about Topno, a police team was sent to Gumla district in Jharkhand from where he was arrested on Fri day, DCP (Special Cell)

PS Kushwah said.

The dismembered body of a 15-year-old girl was found in the Mianwali Nagar area here on May 17, 2018. A case was registered and three persons were ar rested, but Topno had been absconding since then, police said.

—PS Kushwah, DCP (Special Cell)

Topno disclosed that he worked in a place ment agency and used to bring girls from Jharkhand and Bihar to get them employed as domestic helps, the DCP said. He brought a 12-year-old girl from Jharkhand in 2015 but after three years the girl wanted to return home and asked Topno to pay Rs 2 lakh which was part of her salary.

(Clockwise from top): The pavilions of Madhya Pradesh, Assam, and Delhi getting finishing touches on the eve of the India International Trade fair at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi on Sunday. The India International Trade Fair begins on Monday but tIll November 18, it will be strictly restricted to Business Visitors. The fair will be thrown open for the general public from November 19 and will conclude on November 27. The Delhi police have made special traffic arrangements in view of the India International Trade Fair, 2022 at Pragati Maidan from November 14 to 27 and advised people to plan their travel accordingly. Visitors to the International Trade Fair have been requested to avail of public transport due to insufficient parking space. —PHOTOS BY ANI

Decision was taken during the 207th board meeting of the Noida Authority

Policy defines roles and responsibilities of the builder as well as residents’ association

If the report comes negative within 5 yrs, then the defects will be removed by builder

There

The audit re port from em panelled IIT or NIT or expert insti tutions will be submit ted by the developer before the partial or full occupancy certifi cate is issued.

Women sort cigarette butts in Noida on Saturday.

—PHOTOS BY PTI

Manoj Rammohan

A woman holds a soft toy made from recycled butts.

Soft toys made from recycled cigarette butts in Noida.

We employ and provide livelihood to 100 plus women and local artisans at our factory in Noida.

—Naman

Gupta, Founder & Director, Code Effort

LG

HC

LG Saxena cleared impediments restricting the DSSSB to recruit only for the Delhi govt and its undertakings

to

Kejriwal’s ‘Lootera’ in Del: BJP

n SPOKESMAN SHEHZAD POONAWALA HITS OUT AT

CM;

ASKS HIM TO UNDERGO POLYGRAPH TEST

New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Sunday mounted a fresh attack on CM Arvind Kejriwal on the excise policy issue and asked him to prove his "honesty" by undergoing a lie detector test as sought by conman Su kesh Chandrashekhar.

Addressing a press conference here, BJP na tional spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala tar geted Kejriwal on the is sue of alleged scams and said a 'Lootera' film di rected by the Delhi CM was going on in the na tional capital for the last eight years

Referring to the 2013 Ranveer Singh starrer 'Lootera', the party also shared a poster on Twit ter which showcased DyCM Manish Sisodia as 'Lootera' Poonawala's remarks came a day after Kejri wal said the BJP should make Chandrashekhar its national president as he was speaking the same language as BJP.

“It's a good chance for Kejriwal to undergo a lie detector test along with Satyendar Jain and Kailash Gahlot in a live telecast and proveSuke sh's claims wrong,” he said. Chandrashekhar has written letters to the LG, levelling various al legations of extortion against AAP leaders and said he was ready for a lie detector test along with Kejriwal and his ministers.

Poonawala said Kejri wal can prove his hon esty through a lie detec

tor test but he would not. He could have ap proached the court for quashing of FIR in "liq uor scam" but he did not do so either, he said.

"The cast of Lootera film directed by Kejri wal has Sisodia who is an accused in the liquor scam case," he said and claimed the now scrapped Excise Policy 2021-22 caused a loss of Rs 1,800 crore to the state exchequer,” he said.

Broken roads, waterlogging, garbage among key issues

Aparna Bose

New Delhi: Broken roads, waterlogging and garbage are some of the key issues that the resi dents in the capital have been facing for years, ac cording to the Residents' Welfare Associations (RWAs).

President of north Delhi RWA, Ashok Bha sin said 80 per cent roads in their area are broken and sewer lines around slums need to be fixed.

"The biggest issue we have been facing for last 3 to 4 years is broken roads. Condition of these roads and gullies (streets) are pathetic. Even the sewer lines around the slum area are in the same condi tion," Bhasin said.

"What has MCD given us in last 15 years? They have provided us with zero benefits. Residents are being threatened and charged fines in the name of pollution by the authorities. Politicians

RESIDENT ASSOCIATIONS COMPLAIN

Biogas Assn for hiking environment outlay to Rs 700-cr

are busy focusing on publicity rather than working for develop ment," he said.

BS Vohra, president of east Delhi RWA said the civic body needs to

focus on infrastructure He said due to improper drainage systems, resi dents face waterlogging during rains. Potholeriddled roads add to this problem.

—PTI

RESENTMENT BREWS IN DELHI BJP OVER CANDIDATE SELECTION

New Delhi: BJP MPs Gautam Gambhir and Manoj Tiwari are report edly unhappy with the selection of candidates and have met with na tional leaders to register their complaints.

“Gambhir was par ticularly dissatisfied with distribution of tickets against his recom mendations for Anand

Supreme Court lawyer joins BJP

New Delhi (PTI): A Su preme Court lawyer who worked as a legal advisor to governors of several states joined the BJP here on Sunday.

Vikas Bansode joined the party at its head quarters in the presence of its national general secretary CT Ravi.

Ravi told reporters that Bansode had worked as a legal advi sor to former governors, including late Congress leader Hansraj Bhard waj, of states of Karna

taka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. He knows many oppo sition leaders inside out and that is why some of them are losing sleep at

his decision to join the BJP, Ravi said.

Bansode’s induction into the party will strengthen it in south India, he said.

Vihar, Mayur Vihar and Mandawali wards. Tiwari is also learnt to be unhappy with the tickets given to ‘undeserv ing’ candidates in 8-10 wards in North East Delhi,” sources close to the two MPs said.

The Delhi BJP had on Saturday released its first list of 232 candi dates for the elections.

Delhi BJP Mahila Morcha general sec retary Teena Sharma questioned the tickets given to Mahila Morcha president and another general secretary. She also alleged that she was denied ticket from Andrews Ganj despite her name being recom mended by the district and state units.

New Delhi (PTI): The Indian Biogas Associa tion (IBA) has urged the Delhi government to increase its budget spending on environ ment by over five times to Rs 700 crore amid ris ing air pollution in the national capital region.

In a letter to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal earlier this month, the IBA point ed out that the spend ing on environment should be at least 1 per cent of the total budg et outlay of the Na tional Capital Territo ry of Delhi in the back drop of high air pollu tion in the city and adjoining areas.

It pointed out that for a long time, the burning

As per Budget 2022 23, Rs 126.9 crore has been allocated for envi ronment, which seems miniscule in compari son to the initiatives needed to curb pollu tion in Delhi.

—IBA, official statement

of crop residues was considered one of the main causes of the city's pollution prob lem. But other contrib uting factors such as automobile and indus trial pollution, road dust, and construction and demolition waste also do not get adequate attention from the gov ernment.

Family of brain-dead 8-yr-old girl donates organs

New Delhi (PTI): In less than 24 hours, AIIMS saw a second in stance in which a family donated the organs of a brain dead girl, giving a new lease of life to two kids, officials said.

Earlier, the family members of an 18-month-old girl, de clared brain dead, do nated her organs, offer ing life to two and vision to two other children.

Mansi from Mathura had fallen down from a height at her home on November 2. The eightyear-old girl suffered severe brain damage and was declared brain dead on November 11,

With the consent of her parents, her liver and a kidney were trans planted in a 5-year-old who was undergoing

ON FAST TRACK

treatment

of

and Biliary Sci ences Hospital here. The other kidney was given to a child aged 12 years, who was on peri toneal dialysis for over five years and there was

no suitable donor in the family.

Mansi's corneas and heart valves have been preserved to be used in other children.

"During the counsel ling, Mansi's parents

were told about Rolly's story after which they understood the concept of brain death and the need for organ dona tion," he said.

The parents of 6-yearold Rolly Prajapati, de clared brain dead fol lowing a gunshot injury, had donated her vital organs -- heart, liver, kidneys and corneas -in April this year.

"I believe Rolly's case has given a message to everyone to increase sensitisation in families towards this cause. Af ter that case, donations from children have been taking place at AIIMS," he said.

‘Construction of Ayodhya mosque likely to complete by Dec 2023’

In the long-standing dispute, the SC had directed that 5 acres be allotted by the government for building a mosque

Lucknow: The con struction of a mosque in Ayodhya, being built pursuant to the Su preme Court verdict in the Ram JanmabhoomiBabri Masjid case, is expected to be complet ed by December next year, the trust entrusted with the task has said.

“We hope to get ap proval to the map of the

proposed mosque, hos pital, community kitch en, library and research centre from the Ayod hya Development Au thority by the end of this month. Soon after we will start the con struction of the mosque,” Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation Trust secretary Athar Hussain told PTI.

The construction of the Dhannipur Ayod

hya Mosque is likely to be completed by the end of December 2023, while the remaining struc tures on the five-acre

The Supreme Court,

HOSPITAL, LIBRARY ALSO TO BE BUILT

Pradesh district.

The ‘bhoomi pujan’ for the temple was per formed by Prime Minis ter Narendra Modi in August 2020 and, ac cording to the temple trust, it is likely to be opened to devotees in January 2024.

in its verdict in the long-standing Ayodhya dispute, ordered the construction of a Ram temple on the 2.77-acre

plot where the Babri Masjid once stood, and directed that five acres be allotted for building a mosque in the Uttar

The timing of the completion of the tem ple and the mosque is significant as the next parliamentary election is scheduled for early 2024.

The Indo-Islamic Cul tural Foundation Trust, formed by the Uttar

Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board for the con struction of the mosque, has also decid ed to build a hospital, community kitchen, li brary and a research institute.

“The trust will start the construction of all proposed structures si multaneously and the mosque is likely to be completed first because of its small size. Al though no deadline has been fixed, it will hope fully be constructed within a year’s time,” Hussain said. PTI

Muh. Mazhar Saleem

Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah Complex will be come up subsequently, he said.

Proposed design of new mosque at Ayodhya

A poster parodying the original poster of the 2013 Hindi film Lootera, with Manish Sisodia purportedly leading the charge.

A watrerlogged street in Delhi after a bout of rain. —FILE PHOTO

Anti-smog guns in action in Delhi. —FILE PHOTO

The cast of Lootera film directed by Kejri wal has Sisodia who is an accused in the liquor scam case.

—Shehzad Poonawala, BJP nationall spokesperson

Professor of Neurosur gery, AIIMS, Dr Deepak Gupta said.

at Institute

Liver

Dr Deepak Gupta advised parents to ensure their balconies are twice the height of their kids, saying fall from height is biggest killer among them in India

BJP National General Secretary CT Ravi with Vikas Bansode as the latter joins BJP, in New Delhi on Sunday. —PHOTO BY PTI

n Vikas Bansode has been legal advisor to guvs

PM MODI: AN INSPIRING, MAGNETIC PERSONALITY

Meet the man who Brands India, Educates India, Guides India - PM

Eminent Gujarati writer, Jay Vasavada recalls how Modi ji’s unique vision and re sponses to seemingly obvi ous situations made him a better marketer, educator and a writer. Modiji’s in spiring thoughts, encouragement and out-of-the-box examples in practical life remain a guiding light for him. What are Navratri? It is Modiji who showed the world the grandeur and splen dour of Navratri. In one simple sentence Modiji explained what Navratri are when he described them as “the longest running song and dance festival of the world.” It is my observa tion that Modiji forms an in stant bond with people who harbor love for erudition and writing. His magnetic perso na attracts such people to him and there is a natural connect between Modiji and men of letters.

Modiji initiated the Vibrant Gujarat cam paign when he was the Chief Minister and I can recollect vividly, he intro duced the con cept of “Five Shaktis”. He spoke about Jan Shakti, Raksha Shakti and for the cam paign he in vited a few se lect writers to his bungalow. I was quite taken aback when I found my name amongst those who had been chosen by Modiji for this endeavor. I reached his residence and met him and Ad vaniji, who too was present there. Much to my surprise, Modiji knew all about me. I mean, I would have been sur prised if it was someone from the Information Department who was aware of my work and had recommended me to Modiji. But it was Modiji knew all about me. He re ferred to the books I had au thored, the last article I had written, and spoke about my passion for collecting books. My library is the greatest wealth I own and I was completely floored when Modiji mentioned my library to me. It was indeed a pleasant feeling to have my work acknowledged by someone none other

One sentence spoken by Modiji made me his mureed. I was teaching Marketing Manage ment at that time and when Modiji brought up the brilliant idea of marketing Navratri to the world as the “World’s longest run ning song and dance festival”, I was stumped. He said that we can google, at that time the internet too was in its nascent stages, and know all about the carnivals in Brazil and Ire

land but they run on for only two or three days. But think of the Indian Navratri –we celebrate this auspicious festival for 9 days and still the world knows very little about it. Navratri are nothing without Garba and are a celebration of life. We cannot think of Navratri without the raas and dance. All Gujaratis understand what Navratri are all about, but how to make the world aware of this rich and wonder ful Indian carnival? It took only one sen tence for Modiji to brand Navratri in such a powerful way that brought the Indian 9-day carnival so much fame!

When Vibrant Gujarat campaign came to Gujarat, I was invited to speak at the event at Mahatma Mandir. Modiji deliv ered a powerful speech as usual at the event. In a personal conversation, Modiji said “We should let people read whatever they wish to. It is not important where people begin reading from. It is not of consequence whether people cultivate a habit of reading by reading Swami Vive kanand or our own Manubhai Pancholi, who goes by the pen name Darshak - no, that is not the question.” To further elu cidate this point, Modiji cited the example of a heavily loaded truck that is taking a turn. It must move slowly, steadily and take a nicely, calculated turn. If the truck rushes on, it is bound to overturn. Thus young children should not be forced to read particular writers or books. They must be allowed to explore the world of books and reading and grow at their indi vidual pace. Now, this is how a perfect teacher thinks and Modiji definitely is one!

Modiji, at one point, showed me how to think about branding and now he showed me how to act like a teacher. During the Vibrant Gujarat Campaign, we do not limit ourselves to inviting Indian lumi naries; we go ahead and showcase our culture and heritage to the world by invit

‘ONE SENTENCE SPOKEN BY NARENDRA MODI JI

MADE ME HIS FOLLOWER’

One sentence spoken by Modiji made me his mureed. I was teaching Marketing Management at that time and when Modiji brought up the brilliant idea of marketing Navratri to the world as the “World’s longest running song and dance festival”, I was stumped. He said that we can google, at that time the internet too was in its nascent stages, and know all about the carnivals in Brazil and Ireland but they run on for only two or three days. But think of the Indian Navratri – we celebrate this auspicious festival for 9 days and still the world knows very little about it. Navratri are nothing without Garba and are a celebration of life. It took only one sentence for Modiji to brand Navratri in such a powerful way that brought Indian 9-day carnival so much fame!

ing dignitaries from other countries. We invite nations such as Israel, Korea and Japan. We do not compete with other In dian states. As CM, Modiji would say, “We’ve got a global campaign!” So his vi sion and appeal at that time too was uni versal and all-inclusive.

I vividly recollect the Aug 15 celebra tions for which I had been invited. I was carrying a copy of my latest book Life @ Kite but when I went ahead and presented it to Modiji, his first question to me was “Have you presented copy of your book to the Governor?” Now, let me tell you, Modiji was the inspiration behind the concept of the book. He had told me that I must project big and come up with qual ity work - be it my books, my words, my campaign!

So when I went up to present the book to him, he asked me if I had one more copy and took the book to the Governor himself. He said “Meet Jay Vasadeva, the much loved youth writer from Gujarat who will be honoured today in the event. Here’s a copy of his latest book for you!” Well, my father, out of much happiness and excitement, had moved a little to wards the front row. The guard stopped him and my face was turned the other way where I could not see what was hap pening. It was Modiji who noticed my father and immediately sent for someone to escort him to the front row, from where he could watch the proceedings. And then, Modiji did not just present the roll of honour to me, but honoured my father at the event as well. Thus, it is my good fortune that I have known Modiji’s thoughts, his vision and experienced his greatness closely.

EDITED BY SHASHIKANT SHARMA AND SHWETA SHARMA

COMPILED AND

Anyone casting evil eye on India is given befitting reply: Rajnath

Says air strikes and surgical strikes post Uri & Pulwama terror attacks are testimony

Chandigarh (PTI): De fence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday as serted that safeguard ing national interests is the main focus of the BJP-led government and anyone casting an evil eye on India is now given a befitting reply.

“India is no longer weak. We believe in peace,” Singh said, add ing that a befitting re ply is now given if any one tries to harm us.

Our soldiers have proved this time and again, Singh said refer ring to the 2016 surgical strikes and 2019 Balakot airstrikes. He also men tioned about the brav ery shown by soldiers during the Galwan Val ley standoff in Ladakh.

Singh was address ing a gathering after unveiling the statue of legendary warrior Prithviraj Chauhan in Haryana’s Jhajjar.

He also said to get rid

IN THE COURTYARD

PER CAPITA INCOME ROSE IN REAL TERMS

BY 33.4% SINCE NFSA: CENTRE TELLS SC

New Delhi: Per capita income of population in India has in creased in real terms by 33.4 per cent since the enactment of National Food Security Act (NFSA) in 2013, Centre has told the Supreme Court. In an affidavit, the Union govt said this rise in per capita income of people has taken a large number of households to higher income class. “During last eight years, since the enactment of NFSA, per capita income of the population in India has increased in real terms by 33.4 per cent,” the Centre said.

UP POCSO COURT GIVES LIFE TERM TO RAPE ACCUSED

Shamli: A man accused of raping a minor has been awarded a life sentence by the POCSO court in Shamli. Additional district sessions judge (POCSO), Mumtaz Ali, also imposed a fine of Rs 30,000 on the man. In April this year, the accused, identified as Mohd Usman, 32, who worked as a mason, kidnapped the 16-year-old girl from her village when her parents were away and raped her for three days.

HC: SENSITISE OFFICIALS TO THEIR POWERS

Chennai: The Madras High Court has directed the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department to sensitise its officials to their powers and respon sibilities in verification of community certificates. “We hope the needful will be done at the level of the secretary,” a Division Bench of Justice R Sub ramanian and Justice K Kumaresh Babu said while allowing a writ petition from a woman recently.

DELHI HC ALLOWS TN MEDICAL COLLEGE TO INCREASE INTAKE OF STUDENTS

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has said augmentation of medical infrastructure was crucial to meet the rising need of qualified doctors and deserving colleges must not be denied the opportunity to en hance the strength of medical profession als as it allowed a Tamil Nadu college to increase intake of students for NEET-UG 2022. The observation came dealing with a petition by Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan Medical College & Hospital in Tamil for raising the issue of denial of request for increased intake of students to 250.

of the colonial mindset, the Narendra Modi gov ernment has taken a number of initiatives, including a new Indian Navy ensign inspired from Maratha warrior Chhatrapati Shivaji, abolition of around 1,500 obsolete Britishera laws, renaming of Rajpath as Kartavya

Path and installation of a grand statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose at India Gate.

Over 1,500 archaic laws dating back to British era, whose rele vance was over, have been abolished. There are many such laws for which we are preparing a scheme, he said.

Did Cong keep away Rahul from Himachal polls?: Thakur

Mumbai (PTI): Senior BJP leader Anurag Thakur on Sunday took a dig at former Con gress chief Rahul Gan dhi, wondering whether the party had kept him away from campaign ing in the Himachal Pradesh elections as part of a strategy.

The state voted on Saturday where the Congress is keen to de feat the BJP govern ment led by Jai Ram Thakur.

“We have to under stand whether it was part of a strategy that Rahul Gandhi was kept away from elections on the pretext of the Bharat Jodo Yatra or whether it was a political move,” the information and broadcasting minister told reporters here.

Only the Congress can shed light on why a prominent leader of the party had not cam paigned in the elec tions, which form an important aspect of de mocracy, he said.

Yatra has revealed RaGa’s real identity: Kanhaiya Kumar

New Delhi (ANI): Con gress leader Kanhaiya Kumar on Sunday said that the party has com pleted the first leg of its Bharat Jodo Yatra and the yatra has revealed the real identity of Ra hul Gandhi.

“WILL NAIL GOVT”

“When yatra started, there were many ques tions in our minds, but it has succeeded beyond our expectations. During the Bharat Jodo Yatra, many people joined the party and mostly the common people of the country. Farmers, youth, and working people are joining the yatra,” Ku mar said.

“Women are also meeting Rahul Gandhi comfortably. It has re vealed the real identity of Rahul Gandhi. The first leg of Yatra has been completed and the second stage of the journey will be based on the unful filled promises of the BJP govt,” he added.

Dimple no match to MSY, BJP will win Mainpuri: UP Minister

Lucknow (PTI): UP Minister Jaiveer Singh has said the political stature of Mulayam Singh Yadav and Dim ple Yadav is as different as the earth and sky and claimed the BJP will win the Samajwadi Par ty’s bastion of Mainpu ri in the December 5 Lok Sabha bypoll. The SP has fielded

party chief Akhilesh Yadav’s wife Dimple Ya dav as its candidate

from the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat, which fell vacant after the death

BJP meet for 2024 Lok Sabha polls; party reviews Central government-run schemes

New Delhi (ANI): The BJP on Sunday held a meeting under its Gen eral Secretary BL San tosh at the party’s head quarters in Delhi to pre pare for the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

According to sources, during the meeting, the party reviewed the pro gress of all the ongoing programmes as well as the progress of the cen tral government-run schemes across the na tion. The sources fur ther said that the party also reviewed various initiatives that needed to be taken up ahead of the next general elections.

BJP is looking to put all its efforts into the up coming Gujarat polls.

MISSION 2024

Apart from this, the year 2023 also has As sembly polls likely in 9 states including Tripu ra, Meghalaya, Karna taka, Rajasthan, Mad hya Pradesh and Chhat tisgarh amongst others.

BJP-led NDA govt has been in power in the cen

tre since 2014 and is serving its second term under PM Narendra Modi. BJP had a full ma jority in 2019 too with the party winning over 300 seats in the 2019 polls. The party is confi dent that under the lead ership of Modi, they can

Will all parties accept Nitish as nat’l leader?

New Delhi: Bihar

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has got his first

ally outside Bihar. Ever since he broke ties with the BJP and formed an alliance with the Rashtriya Ja nata Dal and formed a new government in Bihar, he has been trying to forge a role in national poli tics. For this, he visited Delhi twice in the past and met opposi tion

leaders. He is also in touch with socialist leaders from across the country, with whom he did politics in the eighties and nineties. Despite this, he has not yet received open sup port from any Sama jwadi Party.

Meanwhile, Badrud din Ajmal, leader and MP of Assam’s All In dia United Democratic Front (AIUDF) has an nounced to accept Nit ish as a leader. Ajmal has said that if Nitish

Kumar leads the oppo sition alliance, he (Aj mal) would be ready to join it. Keep in mind that Ajmal’s party has been in coalition with the Congress in Assam. But right now both the parties are doing differ ent politics. With Ajmal siding with Nitish, the Janata Dal-U can get some advantage in the politics of the North east. The JDU has been influential in the north eastern states of Ma nipur, Nagaland,

Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh. There are elections in two of these states next year. If Nitish’s party repeats the previous performance, then JDU will come closer to be coming a national par ty. However, it is not yet clear whether Nitish will benefit from Aj mal’s support in the rest of the country or some parties will dis tance himself from him due to the compulsion of Hindutva politics.

emerge victorious in 2024 elections.

A scattered opposi tion is still searching for a leader who can bind all of them together. Sharad Pawar, Mamata Baner jee and K Chandrashek har Rao have all attempt ed opposition unity.

of party patriarch Mu layam Singh Yadav. The seat had been

represented by Mulay am for five times since 1996 while other SP nominees have won it a number of times.

Singh said Samajwa di Party under Mulay am was seen on the ground whereas under Akhilesh, it is being op erated from air-condi tioned rooms and visi ble only on Twitter.

Remarks on Murmu: BJP MP lodges FIR against TMC leader

New Delhi (ANI): BJP MP Locket Chatterjee on Sunday filed a police complaint at North Av enue police station against TMC leader Akhil Giri who passed derogatory remarks on President Droupadi Murmu recently.

Chatterjee has re quested immediate ac tion against Giri under sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/ ST) Act. According to her, Mamata Banerjee should fire Giri and apologize to President Murmu about the inci dent herself.

Speaking to media af ter filing FIR, Chatterjee said, “Mamata Banerjee should give a statement. Akhil Giri is a minister in her government, she should sack him imme diately. She should come to Delhi and apologize. They may say a lot about the SC-ST community in public but this is the ac tual sentiment of their ministers.”

RSS leader: ‘99% Muslims in India Hindustani by ancestry’

Thane

Kumar was addressing the concluding ceremo ny of the two-day statelevel workshop of activ ists of the Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MRM), a wing of the RSS, at Rambhau Mhal gi Prabodhini at Uttan in Thane district.

“We must consider our duty towards our na tion as supreme and above all other things as per the directives and tenets of the Holy Quran,” a release quot ed Kumar as saying.

“Ninety-nine per cent Muslims in India are

Hindustani by their an cestors, culture, tradi tions and motherland,” he said.

Kumar referred to RSS chief Bhagwat’s past statement on Indians having common DNA, and said, “D means the dreams we get everyday, N denotes native nation and A represents ances tors. We all dream in our mother tongue. We have common ancestors and share a common native nation which makes all of us share the common DNA.”

(PTI): Rashtri ya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader Indresh Kumar on Sunday said 99 per cent Muslims in India are “Hindustani” by their ancestry, cul ture, traditions and motherland.

Mahesh Sharma

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh during the unveiling ceremony of the statue of Samrat Prithviraj Chauhan, in Jhajjar on Sunday.

Haryana CM ML Khattar and others also seen. —PHOTO BY ANI

J&K L-G MANOJ SINHA CALLS ON DEFENCE MINISTER RAJNATH

New Delhi: Lieutenant Governor Jammu and Kash mir Manoj Sinha on Sunday met Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi. Taking to a micro blogging site Twitter, Defence Ministry of In dia wrote, “The Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Shri Manoj Sinha called on Raksha Mantri Shri @rajnathsingh in New Delhi today.”

BHARAT JODO YATRA

BJP RAISING ISSUES LIKE UCC AHEAD OF 2024 LS POLLS: BARQ

Dimple Yadav

Locket Chatterjee

Kanhaiya Kumar

BJP National President JP Nadda holds a meeting with party's National General Secretaries, at the party headquarters, in New Delhi on Sunday. —PHOTO BY ANI

No relief: IMD predicts heavy rainfall in Tamil Nadu, Chennai waterlogged

Tamil Nadu (ANI): In dia Meteorological De partment predicted rainfall accompanied by thunderstorms in Chen nai on Sunday.

The Met Department issued a red alert for Ta mil Nadu.

Several parts of Chennai have been wa terlogged due to the heavy rainfall since Fri day, adding to the woes of the common people.

The IMD had earlier stated the depression that formed in the Bay

of Bengal is likely to move towards the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coast as an intense de pression by Saturday, due to which coastal re gions of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry are likely to experience heavy rains from for the next three days.

“Puducherry and sur rounding areas have been receiving wide spread heavy rains since last night due to the low-pressure area,” the Meteorological De

partment said adding that the incessant rains in areas like Bussi Road, Laspettai East Coast

Road, Karuvadikuppam are flooded compelling the motorists to suffer. Notably, the low-lying

We are in our extended family: Vice Prez Dhankhar

Siem Reap (PTI): Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Sunday said he felt like home in Cambodia, which is part of India’s “extend ed family”, as he inau gurated the completed conservation work of ‘Haal of Dancers’ in Ta Prohm Temple here.

Dhankhar, accompa nied by his wife Sudesh Dhankhar and External Affairs Minister S Jais hankar, visited the Ta Prohm Temple and of fered prayers.

“We are not in the country of our extend ed neighbourhood, we are in our extended family,” Dhankhar said while inaugurating the restored Hall of Danc ers at Ta Prohm Temple in the Angkor archaeo logical complex.

‘The Hall of Dancers’ at Ta Prohm temple is part of a USD 4 million

Army Chief Gen leaves for France on 4-day visit

New Delhi (PTI):

Army Chief Gen Manoj Pande on Sunday left for France on a four-day visit with an aim to fur ther strengthen the “bonds of trust” be tween the Indian and French armies amid the fast-evolving security matrix and the geopo litical situation.

Gen Manoj Pande will hold extensive talks with the top mili tary brass of France.

“The Chief of the Army Staff has pro ceeded on a visit to France from November 14 to 17.

“During the four-day

visit, he will be meeting his counterparts and senior military leader ship of France with an aim to enhance defence cooperation between both the nations,” the Army said in a state ment issued on Sunday.

VP highlights concerns on food & energy security

Phnom Penh : Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar high lighted the global concerns on food and energy securi ty, and emphasised the role of the East Asia Summit (EAS) mechanism in pro moting free, open and inclusive IndoPacific with free dom of navigation and overflight.

He emphasised the role of the EAS mechanism in pro moting free, open and inclusive IndoPacific with free dom of navigation and overflight.

areas including Rain bow Nagar and Krishna Nagar are also sur rounded by rainwater.

The Puducherry gov ernment ordered two days of holiday for schools and colleges in Puducherry and Karai kal for Friday and Sat urday (i.e., November 11 to November 12) due to heavy rain. Similarly in Tamil Nadu, schools and colleges remain closed in several dis tricts in view of inces sant rainfall.

J&K to procure MPVs to boost anti-terror ops

Jammu (PTI): The J&K Police is all set to procure seven mine-pro tected vehicles (MPVs), five remotely operated vehicles (RoVs), and 18 under-vehicle surveil lance systems (UVSS), officials said on Sunday.

The special vehicles and equipment will boost the security and surveillance abilities of the Jammu and Kash mir Police engaged in counter-terrorism oper ations, they said.

Police headquarters recently floated bids on the Government e-Mar ketplace (GeM) portal for purchasing the secu rity equipment and ve hicles. According to of ficials, the vehicles should protect police personnel against IED and mine attacks.

Besides, police are also procuring two bomb baskets — de signed to withstand blasts — and 260 bulletresistant shields, for which bids have been floated, they said.

Rains to recede, Stalin to inspect delta

Chennai (PTI): Ta mil Nadu Chief Min ister M K Stalin on Sunday said he would soon be inspecting rain-affected areas in the Cauvery delta re gion.

After inspecting ar eas in north Chennai, Stalin said he would be visiting Sirkazhi in Mayilduthurai dis trict on November 14.

“People said there is

no rain water stagna tion in most (North Chennai) areas,” the Chief Minister said on his visit to city ar eas. From Monday, the India Meteorological Department has fore cast a significant de crease in rainfall ac tivity in Tamil Nadu and nearby Puduch erry.

Electricity distribu tion infrastructure

was hit. Sirkazhi saw a record 44 CM, alltime high for this spe cific region and high est in Tamil Nadu dur

EAM discusses Ukraine conflict with US Secy

Phnom Penh (PTI): External Affairs Minis ter S Jaishankar met US Secretary of State An tony Blinken on Sunday and discussed the Ukraine conflict, the strategic Indo-Pacific region and bilateral re lations on the sidelines of the ASEAN-India summit here in the Cambodian capital.

Jaishankar is accom panying Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, who is leading the Indian del egation to the ASEANIndia Commemorative Summit and the 17th East Asia Summit here.

“A good meeting with US Secretary of State @ SecBlinken. Discussed Ukraine, Indo-Pacific, energy, G20 and bilateral relations,” Jaishankar said in a tweet.

He also met UN chief Antonio Guterres at the end of the ASEAN gala dinner on Saturday.

“Always nice to catch up with DPM & FM Don Pramudwinai of Thai

Gujarat Assembly elections: Congress announces its fifth list of 6 candidates

First India Bureau

New Delhi (PTI): t The Congress on Sunday re leased its fifth list of six candidates for the Guja rat Assembly elections scheduled to be held in December in two phases.

The six candidates de clared by the party in cluded Manhar Patel from Botad in place of Ramesh Mer.

The total number of candidates declared so far by the party is 109.

The Congress had on No vember 4 released its first list announcing the names of 43 candidates

for the elections.

On November 10, the party came out with an other list with 46 names.

It released a list of seven candidates on Friday

LONG TERM STRATEGY ON ADAPTATION

but one was a replace ment for the earlier an nounced candidate. A fourth list of nine candi dates was released on Saturday.

ONLY BJP & CONG IN GUJ: PM’S BROTHER PRAHLAD MODI

Barabanki: There are only two parties, BJP and Congress, in Gujarat and never a third, PM Narendra Modi’s brother Prahlad Modi said on Sunday, dismissing AAP’s challenge in the Guja rat assembly polls. He also claimed that the Congress in now “nil” in the state and the BJP has “come to its full force”. Elections in Gujarat will be held in two phases on December 1 and 5, and results will be declared along with that of Himachal Pradesh on December 8. The hill state went to polls on Saturday. Prahlad Modi was here on the invitation of BJP leader Sumit Singh.

Met Canadian colleagues Trade Minister @mary_ng and FM @ melaniejoly at the ASEAN gala din ner. All for greater trade and strategic con vergence, while countering terrorism and opposing radicalization.

land. Discussed our shared regional con cerns and the strength ening partnership with ASEAN,” he said.

US President Joe Biden also attended the East Asia Summit. He

shook hands with Vice President Dhankhar during the summit. S Jaishankar on Saturday discussed a range of is sues with his counter parts from Canada, In donesia and Singapore.

5 KILLED, 20 INJURED IN TRACTOR-LORRY COLLISION IN TELANGANA’S SURYAPET

Telangana: Five people,

Secretary MoEFCC participates in COP27

lll MoEFCC said, “Developing a global baseline to enhance transparency & investor confidence is crucial in enhancing adaptation”

First India Bureau

Sharm el-Sheikh: Sec retary Ministry of Envi ronment Forest and Cli mate Change, Leena Nandan delivered her special remarks at a ses sion on ‘Long Term Strategy on Adaptation and Adaptation Readi ness in India’, organised by The Energy and Re sources Institute (TERI) at the India Pavilion at COP27 on Sunday.

Underscoring the im perative need for fi

nance for adaptation, Leena Nandan, Secre tary, pointed out that developing a global

baseline to enhance transparency and inves tor confidence is a cru cial measure in enhanc

ing adaptation readi ness. Noting that adap tation must be at the forefront of develop ment interventions, Nandan said, “The insti tutional arrangement, the action plan and re source mobilization, all have to walk hand-inhand and see the macro picture through the same lens.”

She strongly empha sised on the need for in formation dissemina tion to strengthen com munities for adaptation.

450 cases of theft of electricity and billing settled during National Lok Adalat

First India Bureau

Greater Noida: With the aim to dispose of pending cases of billing and theft of electricity through settlement, Noida Power Company Limited participated in the 4th National Lok Adalat held at Surajpur Court Complex in Gau tam Budh Nagar on No vember 12. Noida Power Company Limited was able to settle 450 cases related to billing and thefts in the National Lok Adalat.

A large crowd turned up in the Surajpur court complex for the settlement of billing and power theftrelated cases in the Lok Adalat.

In order to facilitate its consumers, NPCL had set up many counters

for the smooth settle ment of pre-litigation cases and electricity thefts separately. The company had made sep arate counters for its rural consumers and advocates to help them resolve their cases.

TNFRS personnel evacuate people from a waterlogged residential area following heavy rains, in Chennai, Sunday. —PHOTO BY PTI

worth collaboration project between India and Cambodia on pres

ervation and restora tion of cultural herit age in Cambodia.

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar also visits Angkor Wat Temple

Jagdeep Dhankhar at inauguration of restored Hall of Dancers at the Ta Prohm temple, in Siem Reap, Cambodia, Sunday.

VICE PRESIDENT DHANKHAR ADDRESSES EAST ASIA SUMMIT IN CAMBODIA

Phnom Penh: Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar addressed the East Asia Summit here on the last day of his visit to Cambodia. An official in the MEA said that the vice president’s address was a closed session. Dhankhar is in Cambodia for his threeday visit. This year marks the 30th anniversary of ASEAN-India relations and is being celebrated as the ASEAN-India Friendship Year.

Leena Nandan delivering special remarks at COP27.

including a child, died while 20 others sustained injuries after a lorry collided with a tractor they were travelling on the national highway at Munagala in the early hours of Sunday in Telangana’s Suryapet.The deceased were returning home after a pooja at a Lord Ayyappa temple on the outskirts of Munagala when the accident took place. Thenneru Pra meela (35), Chinthakayala Prameela (33), Uday Lokesh (8), Naragoni Kotaiah (55) and Gundu Jyothi (38) lost their lives in the road accident.

DR RANDEEP GULERIA TAKES VRS New Delhi: Former director of AIIMS Delhi Dr Randeep Guleria has taken voluntary retire ment. Dr Guleria was among the key people who led the central govt’s response team during the peak of the COVID-19. He served at AIIIMS for more than 30 years.

POACHGATE: POLICE LAUNCH SEARCHES Telangana: Telangana po lice on Saturday launched searches at seven places across four states in con nection with Poachgate. The special investigation team (SIT) probing the al leged scandal, claimed to have seized incriminating evidence during searches till last reports came in.

S Jaishankar meets Antony Blinken in Phnom Penh on Sunday.

—External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar

New Delhi (PTI): Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) has emerged as the top per former among public sec tor lenders in terms of loan growth in percentage terms during second quarter of 2022-23. The Pune-headquartered lend er recorded 28.62% in crease in gross advances at `1,48,216 crore at the end of September 2022, according to published quarterly numbers of public sector banks (PSBs). It was followed by Union Bank of India with 21.54% growth to `7,52,469 crore.

FPIs INVEST `19,000 CRORE IN EQUITIES IN NOVEMBER 2022

Inflation now at a manageable level: Puri

New Delhi (PTI): The in flation is still high com pared to the past, but it has come down to a ‘managea ble level’, Pidilite Indus tries Managing Director Bharat Puri has said.

He also expects better margins in the second half of this fiscal.

The current quarter will have some lag due to the carry forward of some of the high-priced inventory, but the fourth quarter would witness better mar gins, Puri said.

He is optimistic about India and the home im provement sector, and Pi

dilite is ready for the next phase of growth with its ongoing capex pro gramme.

Puri expects the rural

Cryptocurrency ‘crash’ caused by Nishad Singh

New Delhi (PTI): Foreign investors have infused close to `19,000 crore in Indian equities so far this month, primarily due to moderating trend in the US inflation and softening of the dollar. This came following a net outflow of just `8 crore last month and `7,624 crore in Sept, data with the depositories showed. According to the data, FPIs invested `18,979 crore in equities during Nov 1-11. So far this year, the total outflow by FPIs in equities has reached `1.5 lakh crore.

IOC TO RECYCLE 20 MILLION PET BOTTLES ANNUALLY

New Delhi (Agencies): Indian-origin Nishad Sin gh is being scrutinised for financial practices that caused the collapse of FTX, one of the largest crypto currency exchanges. Singh was in the inner circle of FTX’s 30-year-old founder, Sam Bankman-Fried.

“Gary Wang (Chief Tech nology Officer), Nishad and Sam control the code, the exchange’s matching engine, and funds,” said a person familiar with the matter.

Beleaguered crypto ex change FTX recently ad mitted that “unauthorised transactions” have drained hundreds of millions of dollars from its wallets, saying the company has

moved many digital assets to a new “cold wallet custo dian”.

FTX, which last week filed for bankruptcy in the US, did not reveal how much it lost in unauthor ised transactions but re ports claimed the amount could be as high as $600 million.

Singh’s LinkedIn profile indicates that he graduat ed from the University of California, Berkeley.

markets to bounce back with positive volume growth, helped by a good monsoon in next 6 months.

According to Puri, it

WHAT ARE THE EXPECTATIONS

z According to Pidilite Industries MD Bharat Puri, the inflation is still high compared to the past, but it has come down to a ‘manageable level’

z Puri expects the rural markets to bounce back with positive volume growth, helped by a good monsoon

will take a little bit of time but will come back. The demand is most impacted in rural and semi-urban India. “As inflation moder

ates and more money comes into the hands of the consumer because of the good monsoon, we do think that over the next six months, hopefully, demand should improve from there also,” Puri told PTI.

On Pidilite Industries, he said right now, the big gest concern over the last 12-18 months was unprec edented inflation in the input cost.

The cost of some princi pal raw materials such as vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) went up from USD 1,000 per tonne to an alltime high of USD 2,500 in

the first half of this fiscal, Puri noted.

However, “the good news is we can see change hap pening” as prices of some of the raw materials are softening. The current price of VAM is down to $1,200 to 1,400/tonne.

“You will see some im pact of this in Q3 but we would be carrying lots of inventories... We will actu ally have a larger impact in Q4 when low-priced VAM is consumed,” he said. Ac cording to Puri, the second half would be “much bet ter” than H1 in terms of margins perspective.

New Delhi (PTI): Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the nation’s largest oil firm, will recycle 20 million dis carded mineral water, cold drink and other PET bot tles annually to make ecofriendly uniforms for staff that man its petrol pumps and LPG distributor agen cies, its chairman said. IOC, which meets as much as half of the na tion’s fuel needs, has al ready committed to a net zero emission target by 2046 and is now ventur ing into recycling PET bottles, he added. Empty PET packaging discarded by the consumer after use becomes PET waste.

NINE OF TOP-10 FIRMS ADD `2.12 LAKH CR IN M-CAP

New Delhi (PTI): Nine of the 10 most valued firms together added over `2.12 lakh crore in their market valuation last week, with HDFC Bank and TCS emerging as the lead gainers. From the top-10 pack, Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) was the only laggard. The top 9 firms added a total of `2,12,478.82 crore to their market valuation last week. In the ranking of top 10 firms, Reliance In dustries emerged as the most valued company, followed by TCS, HDFC Bank, Infosys.

Mumbai (PTI): Corporate bond issuance is likely to remain muted witnessing 4-5% growth this fiscal to touch ` 41.42 lakh crore on rising coupon rates, de spite the drawdown more than doubling in the sec ond quarter, a report said.

Bond sales more than doubled to ` 2.1 lakh crore in the second quarter from the first quarter, when it was at a multi-year quar terly low of ` 1 lakh crore, as banks issued bonds worth an all-time high of ` 53,900 crore, and NBFCs, traditionally largest play ers in the market, issuing securities worth ` 1.1 lakh crore in Q2, according to an analysis by Icra Ratings on

Sunday.

Non-banking lenders have remained the largest issuers of bonds with a share of 47% in the first half, followed by corpo rates and banks at 33 and 20%, respectively, down from 50, 40 and 10%, respec tively from H1FY22, ac cording to the report.

RIL,

Nayara to gain from European energy crisis

Mumbai (PTI): The ongo ing energy crisis in Europe is expected to benefit Reli ance Industries and Na yara Energy as these are among the Asian refiners that produce winter-speci fication diesel for the EU, according to a report.

State-owned oil compa nies are not into exports and that gives an advan tage to Reliance -- the larg est importer of Russian crude and also the largest exporter of diesel from the country -- and Russia’s Ros neft-owned Nayara.

The energy crisis will only get further aggravated going forward as from next month Opec’s 2-million barrel per day production cut comes into force.

Rising interest rates to mute bond issuance this fiscal, says report

MAJOR HIGHLIGHT

z Bond sales more than doubled to `2.1 lakh crore in the Q2 from the first quarter, when it was at a multi-year quarterly low of `1 lakh crore, as banks issued bonds worth `53,900 crore.

Thanks to bumper sales in Q2, the overall bond issu ances rose to ` 3.3 lakh crore in the first half, and the agency expects `3.7-4.2 lakh crore sales in H2 FY23, marginally higher than the year-ago period, taking the volume of outstanding bonds to ` 41-42 lakh crore by March 2023.

Mkt to track inflation data & global factors this week

New Delhi (PTI): Inflation data, global trends and for eign fund trading activity are the major factors that would drive the domestic equity market this week, said analysts.

The last batch of the on going quarterly earnings would also influence trad ing, they added. Unabated foreign fund inflows and a rally in global equities drove the equity bench marks higher on Friday.

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

“The sentiment will con tinue to be driven by the movement of the world

markets. The market will be keeping an eye on our domestic inflation statis tics,” said Pravesh Gour, Senior Technical Analyst, Swastika Investmart Ltd.

Ajit Mishra, VP - Re search, Religare Broking Ltd, said, participants will be eyeing crucial macroe

partner for EV’

Chennai (PTI): Hinduja Group flagship Ashok Ley land is in advanced stage of discussions with inves tors for its electric vehicle business and the delay was largely to ensure that the company has the ‘right partner’ to support its growth plans.

Hinduja Group is plan ning to raise around $200250 million to support its EV arm -- Switch Mobility. Explaining the reasons for the delay in finding the right partner, Ashok Ley land executive chairman Dheeraj Hinduja said there has been a slowdown glob ally on EVs as a lot of peo ple raised money and were not able to deliver.

Jio strongest telecom brand in India: TRA

New Delhi (PTI): Billion aire Mukesh Ambani’s Re liance Jio is India’s strong est telecom brand in India, ahead of Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea Ltd, accord ing to brand intelligence and data insights company TRA.

TRA, formerly Trust Re search Advisory, in its ‘In dia’s Most Desired Brands 2022’ ranked companies ac cording to their brand strength.

Reliance Jio topped the telecom category, followed by Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea Ltd and BSNL.

In the apparel category,

Adidas was the top brand followed by Nike, Ray mond, Allen Solly and Pe ter England. BMW topped the automobile list, fol lowed by Toyota, Hyundai

and Honda, while LIC was ranked 1 on the banking and financial services in dex that had State Bank of India at number 2 and ICI CI Bank at 3rd.

INDUSTRY LEADERS

z Reliance Jio topped the telecom category, followed by Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea Ltd and BSNL.

z In the apparel category, Adidas was the top brand followed by Nike, Raymond, Allen Solly and Peter England.

z BMW topped automobile list, followed by Toyota.

z LIC was ranked 1 on the banking and financial services index.

VOLATILITY IN EQUITY MARKET HITS NFO

INFLOWS IN SEP QTR

New Delhi (PTI): Asset man agement companies mobilised `17,805 crore through 67 new fund offerings (NFOs) in the September 2022 quarter, a 64% decline from the year-ago period, on expensive valu ations and high volatility in equity markets. However, sequentially performance was much better. The first quarter of the current fiscal saw only four NFOs, garnering a total of `3,307 crore, acc to data com piled by Morningstar India.

conomic data -- CPI and WPI inflation for cues.

Besides, the perfor mance of global indices and foreign flow trends will also remain on their radar, Mishra noted. Investors would also keep a track on trend in rupee and move ment of Brent crude oil.

SEBI TO PARTICIPATE IN INDIA INT’L TRADE FAIR AT DELHI

New Delhi (PTI): With an aim to spread financial literacy and investor edu cation, capital markets regulator Sebi will participate in the India International Trade Fair at the national capital beginning Monday. During the 14-day event, Sebi, market infrastructure institutions and industry associations will be organising activities such as talk shows by market experts, quizzes, skits and muppet visuals at investor awareness shows.

New Delhi: Muthoot Finance, which has posted back-to-back decline in profits in the last two quarters, said it is set to make a comeback having discontinued its low-interest schemes. The country’s largest gold loan company in terms of loan portfolio expects a 10% business growth in current fiscal, George Alexander Muthoot, Manag ing Director, Muthoot Finance, said.

The non-banking finance company (NBFC) posted a decline of 10% in its net profit from a year ago period at `901.60 crore in quarter ended September 2022. —PTI

INDIA TO NOT PROBE CHINA SOLAR CELL SHIPMENTS

New Delhi (PTI): The com merce ministry has terminated an anti-dumping investigation into import of solar cells from China, Thailand and Vietnam following a request from the ISMA. “In view of the request made by the domestic indus try, ISMA,...The authority here by terminates the investigation initiated on May 15, 2021... Against the imports of solar cells whether or not assem bled into modules or panels exported by these countries.”

‘Delay in expansion plans as we want right

FLYING WITH ARMS, DRUGS

‘Pak drones into India doubled’

PANKAJ SINGH SAYS STATE-OF-THE-ART LABORATORY TO STUDY DRONE FORENSICS ESTABLISHED IN DELHI RECENTLY

‘Border areas line of defence; need to cut migration’

New Delhi (PTI): The BSF has been “bom barded” by the on slaught of drone flights from across the border on the western front, and instances of the aerial vehicles bringing drugs, arms and ammu nition more than dou bled in 2022, the force’s DG Pankaj Kumar Sin gh has said He said the force has recently established a state-of-the-art labora tory at a camp in Delhi to study drone forensics and the results have been very encouraging.

Security agencies could track the flight path and even address of criminals involved in this cross-border illegal activity, he said on Sat urday.

“The BSF has been at the receiving end of the drone menace for quite some time... the versatil ity of the drone, which is very well known, has been posing problems to us with nefarious ele ments having found new uses of the drone due to its anonymity and quick flight at sufficient

height bypassing the frontiers,” he said. The DG said this while brief ing Union home secre tary Ajay Kumar Bhalla, chairing an event to in augurate the forensic lab through a webinar session. The DG said while the BSF detected about 79 drone flights along the India-Pakistan

border in 2020, it in creased to 109 last year and “more than doubled at 266 this year”. “The major culprit regions are Punjab which saw 215 flights this year... in Jammu, about 22 flights have been seen,” he said.

“The problem is grave. We do not have a foolproof solution as of

FORCE NOW UNDERTAKING TWOPRONGED APPROACH: DG, BSF

“We are undertaking depth patrolling so that people cannot come to the border to pick drone droppings. We are digging deep into drone forensics to extract information about its senders and receivers,” he said.

The problem is “so acute” and, “this we

know by interroga tion (of suspects and those apprehended) that wherever our drone teams are deployed... depth patrols are or antidrone equipment is installed, the criminals go to other parts to undertake the illegal activity”, the DG said.

We don’t have a foolproof so lution. Drones have been bringing across narcotics, arms and ammunition, counterfeit currency and all kinds of things.

now. They (drones) have been bringing across narcotics, arms and am munition, counterfeit currency and all kinds of things,” he said.

The DG said initially the BSF grappled with the challenge of not knowing what to do and even when the drone fell they had “no clue”

where was it coming from or going.

“We then started get ting into the forensics part. We realised that these drones had chips similar to computers and mobile phones. As digital forensics help in solving cyber crimes, we got answers here too,” Singh said.

A new look Bibi Ka Maqbara by year end

Aditya Waghmare

Aurangabad: The Ar chaeological Survey of India will complete the work of illuminating Bibi Ka Maqbara, a 17th century monument in Maharashtra’s Aurang abad city, by the end of this year, an ASI official said on Sunday.

One of the most pop ular monuments in Au rangabad city, the tomb receives heavy footfall

of tourists.

The monument, which resembles Agra’s Taj Mahal, was built for Dilras Banu Begum, first wife of Aurangzeb, near the Kham river.

She was given the title of ‘Rabia-ud-Durrani’ posthumously. —PTI

100 dist hosps to be upgraded to med colleges

Payal Banerjee

New Delhi: The Health Ministry has drawn a proposal to set up 100 new medical colleges by 2027 by upgrading dis trict hospitals under the fourth phase of a scheme that aims to boost the availability of human resources for the

health sector. The col leges will be set up up grading district or refer

ral hospitals at an esti mated cost of Rs 325 crore per college on the

basis of Central and state share of 60:40, sources told PTI.

In last three phases, 157 medical colleges were approved, and 93 have become functional while others are at dif ferent stages of con struction. These pro posed 100 medical col leges will be set up in 100

districts which have a population of over 10 lakhs and where there is no private or govern ment medical colleges.

“The proposal has been approved by the Expenditure Finance Committee, after which a Cabinet note has been prepared,” sources said. PTI

CLAMPDOWN ON GUN CULTURE

The BSF, tasked to guard over 3,000 km of the India-Pakistan In ternational Border run ning across Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab and Jammu, first estab lished a drone repair lab at Delhi in September last year and later en hanced it in October to analyse the forensics of the drones shot down or recovered by it, the Pun jab Police and the Nar cotics Control Bureau.

It spent Rs 50 lakh in creating this forensic lab and has deployed a chosen manpower of tech-savvy officers and personnel to run it.

“We found their flight paths, launching and landing points, timings, GPS coordinates and messages they have ex changed and we realised there was an informa tion mine. If we could get into this, we could find suspect’s addresses, locations and much more,” Singh said. He said Punjab Police has provided BSF with 200 personnel to conduct “depth patrols” to check drones.

Pithoragarh (U’khand):

The Uttarakhand gov ernment is committed to minimising migra tion from the border vil lages as they serve as the country’s second line of defence, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has said.

To achieve this, the government has been promoting religious and adventure tourism and this will create self-em ployment opportunities for the local people, he said after inaugurating a 10-day Autumn Festi val at the DS Bisht Ground here on Satur day. On the occassion, he inaugurated develop ment projects worth Rs 136 crore and laid foun dation stone for 15 projects.“Border villag

es play a vital role in the country’s defence. They are, in fact, our second line of defence. We are committed to minimis ing migration there,” he said. Developing the Ma naskhand corridor by linking all major tem ples in the region is part of the efforts to promote religious tourism, the chief minister added.

Mohan Bhagwat arrives in Chhattisgarh on 4-day visit

Jashpur (PTI): Rash triya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mo han Bhagwat arrived in Chhattisgarh on Sun day evening for a fourday visit during which he will unveil the statue of former BJP MP and Union minister late Dilip Singh Judev in the tribal-dominated Jash pur district, a Sangh functionary said.

Bhagwat will unveil the statue on Monday and address a public meeting to mark Jan jatiya Gaurav Diwas, said Kaniram, prant prachar pramukh of RSS’ Chhattisgarh unit. These programmes are being organised by Vanvasi Kalyan Ash ram, a frontal organisa tion of RSS, which car ries out welfare activi ties for forest dwellers in tribal-dominated ar eas, he said. Janjatiya

Gaurav Diwas is ob served on November 15, the birth anniversary of tribal freedom fight

Punjab bans public display of firearms, songs glorifying arms

Chandigarh(PTI): The Punjab government on Sunday banned the pub lic display of firearms, including on social me dia, and songs allegedly promoting gun culture and violence, as it tight ened regulations after facing flak from the Op position over the law and order situation.

The state government also directed a review of arms licences within the next three months, with no new licence to be issued during the pe

riod, and surprise checks, according to an official order.

A complete ban should be imposed on carrying and displaying weapons at public gath erings, religious places, weddings and other events, the order said. Directions were also is sued for registration of FIR against those in dulging in hate speech against any communi ty,. The Bhagwant Mann government has been under fire from opposi

tion parties for the al leged deteriorating law and order situation after

a string of sensational killings. The state wit nessed the murder of

LICENSE REVIEW

order in the state.

Sacha Sauda follower Pardeep Singh on No vember 10. Both of them were under police pro tection.

Earlier the killing of international Kabaddi player Sandeep Nangal Ambian in Jalandhar in March and the brutal murder of singer Sidhu Moosewala in May had sparked outrage. There was also a rocket-pro pelled grenade attack at the Punjab police intel ligence headquarters in Mohali and

After the murder of the Dera follower, the op position parties had said that the state had become the “terror capi tal” of the country with a reign of anarchy.

The state’s home de partment, in a missive to the police head, commissioners of po lice, deputy commis sioners and senior su perintendents of po lice, said the chief min ister had issued direc tions to take these steps to maintain law and

According to the or der, songs that glorify weapons and violence should be completely banned. There should be a complete ban on public display of weap ons including on social media, the order said. It stated that within three months, there should be a review of arms licens es issued till now and if any arm license is found issued to any wrong per son, it should be can celled immediately.

Shiv Sena (Taksali) leader Sudhir Suri on November 4 and Dera

DG

Pankaj Kumar Singh, DG, BSF

BSF personnel inspects the Hexa-Copter drone as it was shot down, at Gandhu Kilcha village, Ferozepur on Wednesday. —PHOTO BY ANI

Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Dhami at Pithoragarh on Sunday.

er Birsa Munda, to com memorate the contribu tion of tribal freedom fighters.

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on his arrival on Sunday.

RSS CHIEF TO ATTEND PATH SANCHALAN

LEGAL TANGLES

Former Chief Justice of India Uday Umesh Lalit addresses the media at his residence in New Delhi on Sunday. On the public outcry on his judgement in the Chhawala rape case, Lalit said the guilt of the accused could not be established conclusively. —PHOTO BY PTI

MANY PROJECTS

Children hold in their hands, not just the seeds of the fu ture but of everyday joy and happiness! Even an hour spent in the company of chil dren will drive away the blues and make you believe in flowers, rainbows, dreams and love, again. Pandit Jawa harlal Nehru, on whose birthday, today we celebrate Children’s Day truly said the children of today will make the India of tomorrow. The way we bring them up will determine the future of the country. As a family, society and nation, we need to reaf firm our pledge to ourselves that we will give our all to nurture and care for these angels and hold the thought that their smiles are the rain bows in the sky. It is our duty to keep them safe and ensure that each child of our blessed beautiful motherland, India has the opportunity to bloom, blossom and fly!

DR ANITA HADA

RIO

This musical, romantic, and colourful animated experience. It should come as no surprise that RIO is both a sweet love tale about two birds and their owners and a love letter to Brazil.

Children and adults will learn a lot about Bra zilian customs, particularly Carnival, and what makes Rio such a special place from Linda and Jewel, two strong, unselfish female characters who are prepared to sacrifice everything for freedom (and their loved ones).

CHHOTA CHETAN

India’s first 3D film, Chhota Chetan was well implement ed by the makers. Displaying the story of a young girl Laxmi and her three friends who encounter a strange boy Chetan who seems to possess magical powers.

This Movie brought 3D glasses for the big screen, which were a major attrac tion for children back then.

If you are looking for some thing to take you back in time and surprise you with its elements, you have found your must watch for today.

HALO

HARRY POTTER

The Harry Potter movie franchise is an adaptation of British novelist J.K. Rowling. It is without a doubt among the greatest movies to see on Children’s Day. Choose any episode from the six series that have been pub lished so far to enter the world of witchcraft and sorcery. On this joyous occasion, let your children enjoy themselves to the maximum.

DIL TOH BACCHA HAI JI

animal life is as im portant as a humans and their presence/ absence are as criti cal to us !

AIR BUD

With its conta gious blend of drama, absurd villains, mis chievous canine antics, and ad venture, this film is aimed squarely at the heart. The entire time, view ers are picking up knowledge about duty, devotion, and love. Being in Buddy’s embrace prevents Josh from feeling alone and offers him a new family. Josh is content, his mother is content, and Coach Arthur Chaney becomes a mentor and father figure for Josh (Bill Cobbs).

THE SOUND OF MUSIC

A classic movie which is about more than music, its about love, loss, world politics, hatred, music, acceptance and more. The songs are adorable and years down the line we hum to themeach child has one’s own char acter and set in the backdrop of the Nazi invasion makes it more than a love story.

City First offers you a selection of handpicked films that have been specially chosen to honour Children’s Day. These films, in our opinion, celebrate kids as unique individuals! They serve as a reminder that children still matter.

HAPPY CHILDREN’S DAY!

MR INDIA

Mogambo Khush Hua became the most cel ebrated dialogue when Mr India hit the theatres and the nation swayed to Kaate nahin Kat te but the cute kids really touched our hearts.

Anil Kapoor and Sridevi along with the super hyper kids take us on a fun loving ride punctu ated by the drama of a menacing Amrish Puri.

The kids are so protec tive of Anil Kapoor and keen for his love life to foster- a joy to watch!

HOME ALONE

Some timeless films may be rewatched for a fun family chuckle on Children's Day. The ideal movie to watch on this occasion is Macau lay Culkin's Home Alone from 1990. The story of the movie centres on a little child who is abandoned at home throughout the holiday season. His well-planned de fence prevents some robbers from entering his home when they attempt to do so.

THE JUNGLE BOOK

The Jungle Book tells the tale of Mowgli, a young human child who was abandoned and raised by jungle animals. Mowgli embarks on a quest of self-discovery but is forced to leave the forest when Sher Khan issues a threat. Join Mowgli, Bagheera, Baloo, and their other pals on an adventure that is guaranteed to enchant your children.

GATTU

The story of naughty and illiterate orphan Gat tu, who is obsessed with kite-flying sneaks into school to fly his kite from the roof. Gattu fills us with admiration, his grit and sheer courage and street smartness makes him stand apart.

When we look at the faceless/nameless chil dren on Indian roads...remember Gattu- they deserve a life of education, safety and security!

KHUSHI TAMBI cityfirst@firstindia.co.in KOI MIL GAYA

kids and can impart

I AM KALAM

The story of an underprivileged child, who is inspired by India’s erstwhile President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. The film shows the triumph of the kid’s aspirations by the hands of the President himself with a cameo in the climax, I Am Kalam refrains from any such larger-than-life portrayal and remains rooted in the true Indian essence. It is a message for every one of us- dreams do come true!

Halo celebrates the special bond that each child shares with animals accept and love children unconditionally and for a child ...in many cases..an ani mal is a best friend who understands moods, success, failure- someone to cuddle up to when the world seems a starnge and hostile place.

Sasha’s fight to find her pup is a lesson that

CITY FIRST

ynergy-2022, the 3-day tech fest organised by SGT Uni versity, Guru gram, conclud ed on Sunday.

Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya was the chief guest of the concluding ceremo nies. Dr Subhas Sarkar, Union Minister of State for Education and Atul Kothari National Secre tary, Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas, were the guests of honour.

Chancellor of the University Padmashree Ram Bahadur Rai, Vice Chancellor Dr OP Kalra, Managing Trus tee Manmohan Singh Chawla, Chairperson Madhupreet Kaur Chawla and other sen ior functionaries of the University were pre sent.

Speaking on this oc casion, Chief Guest Bandaru Dattatreya, Governor of Hary ana said, “The central government led by Prime Minister Naren dra Modi was making endeavours to make education employment

‘ATMANIRBHAR BHARAT’: DATTATREYA @ SYNERGY 2022!

ergy being organised by the University will help students in learn ing new technologies, and innovations and develop a knack for re search in them.

CITY FIRST

Amid elections period environ ment has be come a very big political issue after wit nessing inaction in Ga ziabads garbage moun tain issue.

Plastic is one of the most dangerous item for the envi ronment, it takes more than 500 years to decompose.

The plastic bags which has made our shopping easy never decomposes in land and turns into micro plastics ulitamtely continue harming en vironment.

oriented by implement ing the New Education Policy. Like the Centre, the Haryana govern

In Mayur Vihar one organisation which is displaying great activ ism on the plastic waste issue is Mayur VKare Foundation has collect ed and recycled around 200 Kg of plastic waste.

Mayur VKare Foun dation is a Mayur Vihar based NGO which works on social, en vironmental & chil dren-old age wel fare issues.

Ms Kiran Butola quoted “Our mission is to make our mission whole Mayur Vihars vision. We will soon start working on State level regarding this is sue & save Delhi from Plastic waste.”

ment was also commit ted to providing quality education to students. He said that Universi

ties have a bigger role to play in providing quality higher educa tion to students. The

Governor said that technology, innova tions, and research are very important in this

competitive world and these three can make India ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’.”

Nursicon 2022 gets underway in an international

CITY FIRST

The 9th annual nursing confer ence Nursicon 2022 organised by the Department of Nursing at Rajiv Gan dhi Cancer Institute and Research Centre (RGCI) commenced to day in an international format with faculty drawn from hospitals in US and Malaysia be sides representatives from all the leading hos pitals in India including Tata Memorial, AIIMS and RML Hospital.

Nursicon stands out in the country as one of the largest conferences dedicated to nursing care for oncology. Glob ally cancer has emerged as a major health bur den given its rising inci dence. For taking care of cancer patients, spe cialized nurses with good training in treat ment modalities of can cer are required. World wide there is an acute shortage of specialized oncology nurses and for effective delivery of

cancer care, availability of competent nurses in adequate num bers is a must”, said Lt Col Madhu mita Dhall, Director of Nursing, RGCI.

Nursicon acts as an apt platform for knowl edge dissemination amongst the nursing community on a wide variety of treatment mo

dalities, specialized skills required to build a career in on cology etc. With the healthcare scenario evolving at a fast clip, it is the nursing frater nity that is making it possible for the delivery of high-tech and digital services. “RGCI is at the forefront of empower ing nursing staff con

sidering their key role in cancer care. Current ly, we have more than 700 nurses exclusively trained for delivering high-quality oncology care. Besides, we have dedicated 18 trained ro botic nurses to aid in the pioneering robotic treat ments offered by us “, said D S Negi, CEO of RGCIRC.

Lauding SGT Univer sity’s role in the field of education, the Gover nor said that the Syn

SYNERGY-2022 host ed over 22,000 students from 180 plus schools and over 40 colleges across the Delhi-NCR region. At the mega techno fest, highlights were the tech innova tions on display, among them MRI Gloves, Fo rensic Drones, Electric Bike, Electric Cycles, Electric Go-Kart, and Electric Vintage Car. Some of the projects de veloped are in collabo ration with the govern ment and private enti ties. During the event, students and educators interacted with stu dents. Additionally, the event also witnessed enthralling, neck-toneck competitions in areas such as Nukkad Natak which focused on contemporary social is sues, Robotics, and Drones, where students showcased their inno vations and talent, much to the delight of the audience and or ganisers.

CITY FIRST

Rubika Liyaquat, a famous Indian Anchor has joined the list of Most Beautiful female news anchors re cently. The list in cludes women who have hosted or worked as news an chors on television and those who work on ra dio globally. She ranked 39 among the top 50 an chors in the world. Ru

bika Liyaquat was born in Udaipur, Ra

jasthan, on April 18, 1983. She is a 24News staff member for the India News channel. In Udaipur, she began her journalism career with Channel 24. She be came a presenter and senior corre spondent for News 24 in 2008. She is popular among the Indian audience for her oratory skills and an choring style. Rubika has worked with many news channels like Aaj Tak, Zee News, and Live India.

The Sixth Edition Of Valley of Words Begins in Dehradun!

CITY FIRST

The Sixth Edition of the Valley of Words began with music from the mountains resonat ing in the Dehradun Valley. Under a bright blue sky, the colours of VoW 2022 set the perfect stage for authors, panellists, winners, artists, guests, judges and jury, students and teachers who all came together to celebrate the written word.

The music of Dhol Damaun set things in motion as the Hon'ble Governor of Uttara

khand, Lt. Gen (Retd) Gurmit Singh gave his inaugural speech. This was followed by his launching the Valley of Words 2022 ‘First Day Cover’, along with launching editions of the magazines The Book Review and Tadb hav, which carry English and Hindi reviews of all the forty shortlisted books under eight cat egories of 2022. Present on the stage was the Di rector of Uttarakhand Cultural Department, Beena Bhatt, Uttara khand Chief Post Mas ter General Amitabh Kharkwal and NAB

ARD Director Bhaskar Pant. In his Inaugural Speech, the Hon'ble Governor spoke about the power of words and

his association with VoW. He encouraged the audience to write and read and elaborated on the power of the written

word. He also spoke in detail about the value of being able to think deep ly and engage with top ics. “If you see the word

must,

His rousing speech about the importance of engendering a spirit of service was well-re

ceived by all and roused the entire audience.

This was followed by a wonderful perfor mance of dance and then mime by students from the Bajaj School of Learning.

Post the Inaugural session, there were multiple panels on the Plenary Lawn, includ ing the finale of the school debate. Followed by many interactive sessions. In the same episode, NABARD or ganised a special exhi bition featuring several stalls and the GI prod ucts of Uttarakhand, including the beautiful art form Aipan.

“speak” and remove the first letter S, then you have “peak” and that is where words can take you. Speak when you

and speak well!”

—PHOTOS BY SHAZID CHAUHAN

—PHOTOS BY SHAZID CHAUHAN

During the Synergy 2022

Bandaru Dattatreya, Governor of Haryana addressing the audience

Bandaru Dattatreya, Governor of Haryana visiting the stalls at SYNERGY at SGT University

Bandaru Dattatreya, Governor of Haryana during the SYNERGY 2022

Madhumita Dhall and Dr Gauri Kapoor during Nursicon 2022

Rubika Liyaquat

Hon’ble