First India-Delhi Edition-15th October 2022

TOUCHED AT BEING CALLED

OF ASSAM:

Crucial

I-T RAIDS PREMISES OF JD(U) CHIEF

LALAN’S CLOSE AIDE

Patna: The Income Tax dept on Friday conducted raids at multiple locations in Bihar’s Patna, including the Shivpuri, Patel Nagar, and Boring Road premises of builder Gabbu Singh. Builder Gabbu Singh is a close aide of the national president of Janata Dal (United) Rajiv Ranjan alias Lalan Singh. Details in this matter are awaited as the IT raids are currently underway.

HC LIFTS ITS OWN STAY ON RELEASE OF FILM ‘FARAAZ’

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday vacated its earlier order staying the screening of Hansal Mehta’s film ‘Faraaz’, based on the 2016 terrorist attack in Dhaka. The court dismissed a plea on the film’s stay by mothers of two victims of the attack on Holey Artisan cafe.

CISF CONSTABLE SHOOTS SELF AT METRO STATION

New Delhi (PTI): A 22-yearold constable of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) died after he shot himself with his service rifle inside the washroom of Welcome Metro Station here, police said on Friday. The incident took place on Thursday evening. The victim, identified as Ajay Kumar, a native of Bihar, was found in a pool of blood, police said.

INDIA TEST FIRES

BALLISTIC MISSILE

FROM SUBMARINE

New Delhi: India’s nuclearpowered submarine INS Arihant on Friday carried out a successful launch of a submarine-launched ballistic missile in the Bay of Bengal with a “very high accuracy”, defence ministry said. It said all operational parameters of the weapon system have been validated.

NO CARBON DATING OF ‘SHIVLING’ IN GYANVAPI MOSQUE

Varanasi: District Judge AK Vishvesha on Friday rejected the Hindu petitioners’ plea for carbon dating of what they claimed to be a ‘Shivling’ found in the Gyanvapi mosque premises. The judge cited Supreme Court directives that no tampering be done with the ‘Shivling’. The Hindu petitioners will now approach the apex court.

HIMACHAL TO VOTE ON NOV 12; NO ANNOUNCEMENT FOR GUJ

New Delhi (ANI): Himachal Pradesh will go to polls on November 12 to elect its next gov ernment and the results will be declared on De cember 8, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced on Friday. But it did not an nounce the poll sched ule for Gujarat citing past precedents.

At a press conference here, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Ku mar said the counting of votes for Himachal polls will take place on De cember 8 and elaborate arrangements have been made to ensure maximum participation of voters in the “festival of democracy”.

In the elections to the 68-member assembly with over 55 lakh eligi ble voters, the BJP will seek to overturn the three-decade conven tion of no ruling party returning to power by defeating the main op position Congress in the hill state.

The Commission re frained from announc ing the poll schedule for the Gujarat assembly which has a tenure till February 18, 2023.

ECI ON WHY IT DIDN’T ANNOUNCE GUJARAT ELECTION DATES NOW

New Delhi (Agencies): The Election Commission of India on Friday skipped Gujarat as it announced poll dates for Himachal Pradesh, though the schedule for the two states is traditionally revealed at the same time. Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, fielding questions, said no rules had been violated. The term of the Gujarat assembly ends on February 18 and that of Himachal Pradesh, on January 8. The BJP is in power in both states.

There is a gap of 40 days between the end of the assemblies of the two states.

According to the rules, it should be at least 30 days so that one result doesn’t impact the other. —Rajiv Kumar, CEC

BJP AND CONGRESS WELCOME ECI ANNOUNCING HIMACHAL ELECTIONS

New Delhi (PTI): The Congress and the BJP on Friday welcomed the announcement of assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh and said they are all geared up for the November 12 polling. BJP president JP Nadda appealed to people to elect a government which contributes to the state’s progress. Congress in-charge for Himachal Pradesh Rajiv Shukla said the party will win the state with a two-thirds majority. “We are confident to win Himachal with a two-thirds majority. Priyanka Gandhi will be campaigning for the party across the state,” Shukla said.

Election is the biggest celebration of democracy.

It is a medium to keep the country and the state on the path of development and good governance. —JP Nadda, BJP national president

CONGRESS WILL RESTORE OLD PENSION SCHEME IF VOTED TO POWER IN HIMACHAL, SAYS PRIYANKA GANDHI

Guj will make AAP pay price in polls for ‘abusing’ PM Modi’s mother: BJP

New Delhi: The BJP on Friday sharpened its at tack on the AAP after its Gujarat chief Gopal Ita lia was heard mocking the PM’s mother in a video, and said people of the state will make it pay for “abusing” her. An old video of Italia emerged on Thursday in which he is mocking Modi’s mother.

“If you think abusing the PM’s mother will help you gain political popularity in Gujarat, you are mistaken. And for that mistake, Guja

Smriti Irani addresses media in New Delhi, on Friday.

rat and Gujaratis will make you pay the politi cal price in the forth coming elections,” Un ion minister Smriti Ira ni told media on Friday

PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA MODI TO CHAIR CSIR SOCIETY MEETING TODAY

New Delhi (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair a meeting of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research Society here on Saturday. During a press conference, Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh said this is the third year of the CSIR Society and the meeting is of special significance as it marks 80 years of the establishment of the council.

PM TO DEDICATE 75 DBUS ACROSS 75 DISTRICTS TO THE NATION ON SUNDAY

New Delhi: In yet another measure to deepen financial inclusion, PM Modi will dedicate 75 Digital Banking Units to the nation on Sunday (Oct 16) via video conferencing. He will also address the gathering on the occasion. As part of the Union budget speech for 2022-23, the Finance Minister had announced the setting up of the 75 DBUs in 75 districts of the country to commemorate the 75 years of independence.

GUV

BSF shoots down Pak drone along Int’l Border in Punjab

Gurdaspur (ANI): Bor der Security Force (BSF) troops shot down a drone that entered India in Punjab’s Gurdaspur sector from the Pakistan side on the Internation al Border in the early hours of Friday.

A senior BSF officer said that the drone was spotted at 4.35 am by BSF troops on patrol ling duty. They immedi ately opened fire and it was shot down.

According to the BSF official, a massive search operation has been launched in the area to determine whether the

drone has dropped any consignment in the area.

A search operation is underway under the su pervision of BSF DIG. It is suspected that the drone was carrying a con signment from Pakistan.

“Brave jawans of BSF spotted a drone coming from Pakistan side. As soon as it entered India, jawans fired 17 rounds of bullets at it. One of the blades of the drone was damaged. The en tire area is being searched. The drone will be analysed,” said BSF DIG, Gurdaspur, Prabhakar Joshi.

20% ETHANOL-BLENDED PETROL MAY BE AVAILABLE FROM DEC OR JAN, SAYS PURI

Jaipur: 20% ethanol-blended petrol is likely to be available in country from Dec or January, ahead of April 2023 target, Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Puri said here on Friday. “We are constantly reviewing the ethanol production and I believe, 20 per cent blended fuel would come in the market in December or January ahead of April 2023 (target),” he said. P7

JUST 18 DAYS BEFORE HIS RETIREMENT.... Naresh Sharma

‘Daring’ DGP Lather transfers 149 RPS at his own level!

Jaipur: Has the ‘hon our’ of the government really started falling? Has the bureaucracy re ally started giving a wide berth to the ‘gov ernment’? Notably, a few days back Gehlot him self had satired and said, “As soon as the elec tions approach, the offic ers start to listen less.”

Gupta at farewell

Making people happy not job of judge:

New Delhi (PTI): Su preme Court judge Jus tice Hemant Gupta, who is set to retire on October 16, said on Fri day a judge cannot make people happy as “that’s not the role as signed to him”.

Justice Gupta was speaking at a felicita tion programme organ ised by the Supreme Court Bar Association on his last working day as an apex court judge.

“A judge cannot make people happy, that’s not the role assigned to

him. That role is as signed to other people in public life. One can not discharge this role with intention of pleas ing people,” he said.

He said he was harsh and blunt in court, “but whatever orders were warranted as per my

understanding were passed”.

“Most important is my inner satisfaction that I have given the best to the institution. I have no regrets. I have tried my best to dis charge my duties with utmost humility and sincerity, though some times I lose my cool. I cannot stake any claim to perfection. In my shortcomings, when I erred, it’s been uninten tional,” he said, adding “I am retiring with a lot of contentment.”

‘CONSPIRACY TO KILL AND HARM HINDUS’: COURT ON TAHIR HUSSAIN

Ex-AAP councillor ‘liable’ to be tried for murder, rioting, attempt to murder

First India Bureau

New Delhi: Former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain and five others face trial for murder, at tempt to murder, riot ing, criminal conspira cy and several other criminal charges in a case related to the 2020 Delhi riots.

Additional Sessions

near Chand Bagh on February 25, 2020.

“I find all accused per sons liable to be tried for offences punishable un der Sections 120B (crim inal conspiracy) read with Sections 147 (riot ing), 148 (rioting, armed with a deadly weapon), 153A (promoting enmity between classes), and 302 (murder) of the In dian Penal Code,” the judge said in his order dated October 13.

The judge further or dered framing of charg es against all Turn to P2

And now it is this sat ire and apprehension of Gehlot that came true on Friday as DGP ML Lather issued the transfer list of 149 RPS officers.

According to sources, there was no discussion even at the level of the Chief Minister, who happens to be the home minister as well.

DGP made the final list at his own level and issued the same just 18 days before his retire ment. Now everyone at the top level in the gov ernment is shocked and surprised!

Judge Pulastya Pra machala ordered the framing of charges against Hussain and Tanvir Malik, Gulfam,

Nazim, Kasim, and Shah Alam, while hear ing a case registered by Ajay Jha, who was al legedly shot at by a mob

Tahir Hussain in police custody.

—FILE PHOTO

CEC Rajiv Kumar and Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey at the Press Conference organised by the Election Commission of India for the General Election to Legislative Assembly of Himachal Pradesh, in New Delhi on Friday. —PHOTO BY ANI

Shimla (PTI): Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday promised to restore the old pension scheme for govt employees in Himachal if her party was voted to power in the Assembly elections. She said this at the ‘Parivartan Pratigya Rally’ held at Thodo Maidan in Himachal Pradesh’s Solan. She said the decision to restore the old pension scheme and provide one lakh jobs to unemployed youth would be taken in the first cabinet meeting if the Congress was voted to power in the state. P5

Counting will be held on Dec 8 and results will be declared on same day

Arrangements are in place to ensure maximum participation of voters: ECI

Border Security Force shot down a Pakistani drone along the International Border, in Gurdaspur on Friday. —PHOTO BY ANI

NEW

Justice Pankaj Mithal on Friday took oath as the new Chief Justice of Rajasthan. Justice Mithal was the CJ of the J&K and Ladakh High Court before being transferred to Rajasthan. Governor Kalraj Mishra administered him oath during a brief ceremony at Raj Bhavan here. CM Ashok Gehlot, assembly Speaker CP Joshi, leader of Opposition Gulab Chand Kataria, ministers and judges of the Rajasthan High Court were present in the programme.

Chair of Excellence set up in memory of Lt Gen PS Bhagat

Was first Indian officer to be awarded the Victoria Cross during World War II New Delhi (PTI):

Army Chief Gen Manoj Pande on Fri day announced setting up of a ‘Chair of Excel lence’ at the United Service Institution of India (USI) in mem ory of Lt Gen PS Bha gat, who was the first Indian officer to have won the coveted Victo ria Cross during the World War II.

Gen Pande described him as a “rare breed” who epitomised the highest virtues of “physical and moral courage.”

The announcement was made by him dur ing a ceremony held at the USI campus here, in the presence of two for mer Army chiefs -- Gen

(retd) M M Naravane and Gen (retd) V P Ma lik, and other senior army officials and Ashali Varma, daugh ter of Lt Gen Bhagat.

USI, a city-based de fence think-tank, will also hold Lt Gen PS Bhagat memorial lec

tures, and the first lec ture will be delivered by Gen Malik. Besides, a publication will also be brought out by it as part of the institution of the Chair of Excellence, a senior official said.

“Militaries continue to draw inspiration

Ex-bureaucrats write to LG for legal action against Gautam

New Delhi (PTI):

Many former senior bu reaucrats and police of ficers have written to Delhi Lt Governor VK Saxena requesting a strict legal action against former Delhi minister Rajendra Pal Gautam for ‘patronising public incitement’ through a religion con version event.

The letter comes days after Gautam resigned as minister after a con troversy broke out over the event, where hun dreds of people purport edly renounced Hindu deities in favour of Bud dhism.

Signatories of the let ter include bureaucrats and police officers who served at top posts such as chief secretary, addl chief secretary, DGP, Commissioner of Police in different states.

The list also included names of IFS officers and secretaries who served in different min istries of the central government.

In the letter dated Oc tober 13, the bureau crats said they found Gautam's presiding over the event a "grave crimi nal misconduct," and called the event a "bra zen provocation through

hate speech against Hin dus and Hindu deities."

from their past, their heroes find a pride of place in the annals of millitary history. And, much of this is passed on from one generation to another. The valour, inspiring leadership and professional bril liance of our heroes

become benchmarks that we try to achieve,” Gen Pande said in his address at the event.

Bhagat was born in October 1918, and was decorated with the Vic toria Cross by Viceroy of India Lord Linlith gow in 1941.

BJP leaders protest outside AAP office against Italia

New Delhi (PTI): Delhi BJP leaders and workers including its Mahila Morcha activ ists staged a protest outside Aam Aadmi Party headquarters here on Friday, asking for removal of the AAP's Gujarat chief Gopal Italia.

The AAP leaders have crossed all limits of decency as was ex emplified by Italia through his "abusive" language targeting the PM Modi, alleged Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Ramvir Singh Bid huri.

"AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal should remove such leaders from the party and apologise to the countrymen for their foul language," Bid

Gopal Italia Kejriwal should re move such leaders from the par ty and apologise to the countrymen for their foul language.

—Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, LoP, Delhi Assembly

huri said.

president Yogita Sin gh, incharge of the Morcha Barkha Singh and other leaders of the party participated in the protest.

Italia was on Thurs day detained here for nearly three hours by the Delhi Police after he appeared before the National Commission for Women (NCW) in connection with his al leged comments against Modi amid protests by AAP mem bers outside the wom en panel's office.

On Friday, the BJP sharpened its attack on the AAP and Kejri wal after Italia was heard purportedly mocking the PM's mother in a video, and said people of the state will make it pay for "abusing" her.

Disclosing rape victim’s identity: Offence by Rahul Gandhi survives, NCPCR tells HC

New Delhi (PTI): The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) told Delhi High Court on Friday in spite of Twit ter's claim about taking down Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's alleged tweet revealing the identity of a minor Dalit girl, raped and murdered last year, the offence of making such disclosure survives.

A bench of CJ Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad was hearing a plea seeking registra tion of FIR against Gan

DELHI RIOTS

‘Conspiracy to kill... the accused under Sec tions 149 (every mem ber of unlawful assem bly guilty of offence committed in prosecu tion of common object) and 307 (attempt to mur der) of the IPC.

“They are also found liable to be tried for of fences punishable un der Sections 147, 148, 307 read with 120B and 149 of the IPC and of fences punishable un der Section 153A read with 120B and 149 of the IPC,” the judge said.

“From the statements of various witnesses, it was reflected that all ac cused were part of the mob that continuously indulged in the firing of gunshots, pelting of stones, and petrol bombs towards Hindus and houses of Hindus,” the court said.

“All accused are lia ble to be tried for hatch ing a criminal conspir acy to indulge in riot and kill Hindus and harm the properties of Hindus and consequent to such conspiracy fir ing and causing gun shot injury,” it added.

Woman accused of killing head constable nabbed

New Delhi (PTI): A 27-year-old woman, accused in the killing of Delhi Police Head Constable Ratan Lal during the 2020 Delhi riots, was arrested from Noida, a senior officer said on Friday.

During technical surveillance, it sur faced that the mobile number of the ac cused was not in use, but on thorough ana lysing of the call de tails records, one mo bile number of her close relative was found to be frequent ly calling customer care number of a par ticular company situ ated in Noida, a sen ior police officer said.

On Thursday, a trap was laid. Around 5.30 pm, the woman, resident of Subhash Mohalla, Bhajanpu ra, was arrested, Dep uty Commissioner of

"Gautam's conduct is not only condemnable, but also criminally cul pable as it engenders animosity, acrimony among followers of dif ferent religions and weakening India by causing rifts and cracks in its unity in the face of emerging global chal lenges,” the letter read. New Delhi (Agen cies): The Delhi High Court has issued no tice to the Centre, the Delhi government, the Delhi Jal Board and others on a petition seeking proper sanita tion and waste dispos al facilities, besides better surroundings for the residents of Rangpuri area in the national capital.

She confessed that she had been actively involved in protests against CAA, police say

Police Sanjay Kumar Sain said.

She confessed to the crime and dis closed that during ri ots, she had been ac tively involved in pro tests against CAA/ NRC, police said. She fled her house and had been residing at different rented ac commodations. Dur ing this period, she married a person who arranged a job of a customer care execu tive for her at a Noidabased company.

dhi for allegedly reveal ing the identity of the minor victim by pub lishing a photograph with her parents on

Twitter.

Makarand Mhadle kar, a social activist, had moved court last year claiming that by posting

Sewerage facilities: HC notice to Centre, Delhi govt

the photograph with the parents of the child vic tim, Gandhi violated the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Chil

dren) Act, 2015 and Poc so Act, 2012, which pro hibit the disclosure of identity of minor vic tims of sexual offences.

Senior advocate Sajan Poovayya, representing Twitter, submitted on Friday before the court that "nothing survived" in the petition as the tweet in question has been "geo-blocked" and is presently not availa ble in India.

He also informed that initially Gandhi's entire account was suspended by the social media plat form but it was later re stored.

Court dismisses plaint of ‘false case certificate’ of AAP candidate in polls

The Division Bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad sought response from the authorities on

Thursday on a petition filed by charitable or ganisation Sarva Seva Trust, seeking proper sewerage facilities, in addition to construct ing public toilets for the residents of Rang puri village.

The petition pointed

out that a certain por tion of Rangpuri vil lage has no access to any sanitation or sew erage facilities and the entire sewage and oth er wastes generated from the households are being directed into a public well.

New Delhi (ANI): The Saket District Court imposed fine of Rs 1,000 on the petitioner and dismissed a com plaint that sought di rections to Delhi Police to investigate against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Cabinet Min ister Gopal Rai, MLA Prakash Jarwal and others in relation to the Delhi Assembly Elec tions 2020.

The complainant, Dal Chand Kapil, had stated that MLA Prakash Jarwal was

GURUGRAM MOSQUE INCIDENT

Complainant had stated that MLA Jarwal could not contest seat reserved for SC

not eligible to contest the elections from Deo li (SC) Assembly con stituency-47 which was reserved for Scheduled Caste. Arvind Kejriwal and Gopal Rai made him the candidate for the Assembly polls.

Complainant wants FIR cancelled

Gurugram (PTI): Two days after a mosque was allegedly ransacked by a mob, the main complain ant has asked police not to act on the FIR as the Hindu villagers have given their assurance that such an incident will never happen again.

The complainant, Subedar Najar Moham mad, said that the com munity does not want any police action in the matter, as the villagers have given the Muslims in the village their as surance that such an

incident will not recur.

The differences be tween the two commu nities were resolved in

Inspector Ajay Malik told PTI that police had received an application requesting cancellation of the FIR against the accused.

the panchayat on Thurs day night, according to the application Moham mad wrote to police.

“But the process of cancellation of the FIR will be decided only by the court,” he said. Fri day prayers were of fered peacefully in the mosque. However, po lice were deployed around the mosque as precaution as members of all four Muslim fami lies of the village at tended the prayers.

A panchayat meet was held Thursday night to restore peace between Hindus and the four Muslim families of the village at the sar panch’s office. The meet lasted for one and a half hours and concluded with assurances by the villagers to the Muslim families of peace and brotherhood, police said. Both communities said things have gone back to being as amiable as they were before, and there is no issue be tween them now.

Chief of the Army Staff General Manoj Pande with former Indian Army chiefs General VP Malik and General MM Naravane at the announcement of the establishment of Lieutenant General PS Bhagat Memorial Chair of Excellence, at United Service Institute of India in New Delhi on Friday. —PHOTO BY ANI

A broken chair at the mosque

Delhi

Delhi BJP vice pres idents Virendra Sach deva and Rajan Ti wari, Mahila Morcha

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. —FILE PHOTO

9-YR-OLD DALIT

Saibaba’s 8-year judicial custody ‘torture’

New Delhi (PTI): Ac tivists, lawyers and aca demics welcomed for mer Delhi University professor GN Saibaba's acquittal in a Maoist link case and rued that the wheelchair-bound human rights defender had to endure the "tor ture" of being in jail since 2014.

Welcoming his re lease, academician Ashok Swain tweeted, "He was jailed almost as long (Narendra) Modi has been prime minister."

Activist and CPI(ML) member Kavita Krishnan congratulat ed Saibaba's wife Vas antha and his lawyers for "winning his ac quittal".

"This disabled hu man rights defender proved innocent now had to suffer what amounts to torture in prison for so long, dam aging his health. Shame," she tweeted.

Supreme Court law yer and activist Indira Jaising took to Twitter to congratulate the le gal team of Saibaba and expressed her "heartfelt tribute to Pandu Narote, his (Sai baba's) co-accused who died in prison".

Arman Ali, execu tive director, National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Dis

SC TO HEAR CHALLENGE TODAY

New Delhi: The Supreme Court will hear on Saturday the Maharashtra government’s plea to stay the Bombay High Court’s acquittal of GN Saibaba, after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta’s forceful pitch that the acquittal was not justifiable under the antiterror law UAPA. On Friday evening, the Supreme Court website said the matter was listed for hearing on Saturday, usually a holiday at the top court, at 11am by a bench of justices MR Shah and Bela M Trivedi. Mehta said the offence committed by Saibaba was “against the nation”. He said, “We have not lost on merit but for want of sanction. The matter will become infructuous as they will be released from jail, if not (the case is) urgently listed.”

abled People, said, "It's a very good order."

"We were all sad dened and alarmed by the treatment he was

HAD FAITH HE WOULD BE ACQUITTED, THANKFUL TO JUDICIARY: WIFE

Saloni Bhatia

New Delhi: "The last eight years have been the longest time we have stayed apart but I was sure that he would be acquitted one day," former Del hi University profes sor GN Saibaba's wife A S Vasantha Kumari said on Friday.

"Sai and I are childhood friends.

But in the last eight years, we were sepa rated. This is the longest we have stayed apart," Vasn tha Kumari said.

Saibaba, who was serving as an assis tant professor of Eng lish in DU’s Ram Lal Anand College, was also terminated from service by the college in March last year.

He was suspended after his arrest by Maharashtra Police in 2014. Saibaba's

wife and daughter were receiving half the amount of his salary since his ar rest but then, his ser vice was terminated last year.

Asked how they coped with his ab sence, Vasantha Ku mari said, "There was a lot of struggle and patience in last eight years. It was difficult for Sai also since his health deteriorated and he lost his job."

However, she said,

"We had faith that he would be acquitted because he did not do anything wrong.

There was no crime and no evidence. I am thankful to the judi ciary and all those who supported us. He is an intellectual and a professor who only knows how to read and pen his thoughts. He can only teach. It was a false case in which he was in jail," Vasantha Kumari

meted by being kept in a solitary cell. Being a person with a disability, he has the right to cer tain accommodations

even in prison," he said. National Platform for the Rights of the Disa bled (NPRD) said as it has been consistently

YEARLY BANE

Vehicles ply on Delhi-Gurugram Expressway amid early morning fog in Gurugram on Friday. Air quality is likely to worsen to ‘poor’ in the next few days, the IMD said.

Gautam leads march against untouchability

New Delhi (PTI): Exminister Rajendra Pal Gautam on Friday took out a march with sup porters from Raj Niwas to Dr Ambedkar Nation al Memorial here and pledged to fight casteism and untouchability.

Hundreds of support ers shouted ‘Jai Bheem,

raising the issue of non-provision of "rea sonable accommoda tion" as well as several rights to a prisoner

Smog tower at CP has noticeable impact: Gopal Rai

with a disability as mandated by various laws both national and international cove nants and rules.

August 22, 2013: Accused persons - Mahesh Tirki, Pandy Narote and Hem Mishra - apprehended after being under surveil lance in Naxal-affected areas of Gadchiroli district in Maharashtra. First information report (FIR) registered by police.

September 2, 2013: Two more accused - Vijay Tirki and Prashant Sanglikararrested by police.

September 4, 2013: Warrant sought by police from Magistrate court to conduct a search at the house of G N Saibaba, pursuant to revelations made by accused Mishra and Sanglikar during inter rogation.

September 7, 2013: Search warrant issued by Magistrate court.

September 9, 2013: Police conduct a search at Saibaba’s residence in Delhi.

February, 15, 2014: Sanction to prosecute the five arrested accused under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) granted by the sanctioning authority.

February 16, 2014: Final report/charge-sheet submitted by police before Magistrate court.

February 26, 2014: Mag istrate court commits the case to sessions court, as offences are sessions triable.

February 26, 2014: Police obtain an arrest warrant to arrest Saibaba, but fail to arrest “due to sympathisers”.

May 9, 2014: Saibaba arrested and produced be fore court that remanded him to judicial custody.

February 21, 2015: Sessions court frames charges against all six accused. All accused pleaded not guilty.

April 6, 2015: Sanction to prosecute Saibaba under UAPA granted by sanctioning authority.

October 31, 2015: Sup plementary charge-sheet filed by police.

December 14, 2015: Ses sions court orders joint trial in both cases (Sai baba and five accused). Trial begins.

March 3, 2017: Sessions court at Gadchiroli in Maharashtra convicts Saibaba and five others under UAPA and IPC. Saibaba and four others sentenced to life impris onment; one imprisoned to ten years in jail.

March 29, 2017: Saibaba and others file appeal against conviction and the sentence in Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court.

October 14, 2022: Nagpur bench of the Bombay HC acquits Saibaba and five other convicts in the case.

Kejriwal ensures gran d Chhath with `25-cr grant

Jai Bheem’ as they marched on. Gautam, who recent ly resigned after he got into a controversy over a religion conversion event which he presid ed over, said that the caste-based violence must be stopped in the country.

SAFETY FIRST

New Delhi (PTI): The smog tower at Con naught Place here has a noticeable impact on air pollution up to a dis tance of 300 metres, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai said on Friday.

Within a radius of 50 metres, the giant air pu rifier is able to cut down air pollution by 70 to 80 per cent. It reduces pol lution levels by 15 to 20 per cent beyond 300 me tres, he told reporters.

CM Kejriwal inaugu rated the over 24-metrehigh smog tower on Au gust 23 last year.

New Delhi (PTI): The Delhi government has made grand prepara tions for Chhath Puja at 1,100 sites and allocated Rs 25 crore for the festi val, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Friday.

Chhath will be cele brated on October 30 and 31. Kejriwal said Chhath would be cele brated on a grand scale after people were stuck at home for two years due to Covid.

"For the last two years, the festivities were affected due to the pandemic," he said.

The CM also said, "The intensity of the infection may have re duced but the infection is still there. Please fol low Covid-appropriate behaviour and wear a

Delhi Fire Services ‘fully prepared’ for Diwali

lll

A water tender each will be deployed at 22 locations from 5 pm to midnight on Oct 23 and 24. Bikes fitted with fire-fighting equipment will be deployed at 5 other locations

Anjali Pillay

New Delhi: As the city gears up to celebrate Di wali, the Delhi Fire Ser vices is putting in place elaborate plans to en sure a trouble-free “fes tival of lights”.

From cancelling leaves of staff to deploy ing fire-fighting equip ment at 30 spots across the city, the fire depart ment on Friday said it was “fully prepared” to tackle any fire-related emergencies.

Despite a complete ban on crackers, the de

partment had received over 152 fire-related calls on Diwali in 2021.

The number was, how ever, 25 per cent lower from 2020 and the low est in 15 years, fire offi

cials said.

This year, around 2,900 fire-fighters will be on duty to tackle emer gencies.

As per the arrange ments, the fire depart

CANCELLED

fire-related calls during Diwali so that a water tender can quickly reach any location in case of a fire and check its spread, a senior fire official said.

mask. Fines might have gone but please follow the rules," Kejri wal said.

During a digital me dia briefing, Kejriwal said,"Before we came to power, the government would allocate Rs 2.5 crore for making prepa rations at 69 sites but now, the budget has grown to 25 crore and

sites to 1,100.”

The CM said his gov ernment had set up tents, chairs, wash rooms, ambulances, first-aid and power backup, at the puja sites. He said Delhi Police was supporting the se curity aspect and CCTV cameras would be in stalled at various loca tions.

Man held for carrying over 100-kg crackers

New Delhi (PTI): A 29-year-old man was ar rested for allegedly car rying firecrackers with an intention to sell them despite a ban on its sale and use, police said on Friday.

ment will deploy a water tender each at 22 busy locations from 5 pm to midnight on October 23 and 24. These spots have been selected based on an analysis of yearly

Besides water ten ders, motorcycles fitted with fire-fighting equip ment will be deployed at five other locations with narrow and congested lanes. The department will deploy other vehi cles fitted with firefighting equipment at spots such as Connaught Circus, Geeta Colony and J Road.

During patrolling in Sadar Bazar area’s Teli wara Chowk on Thurs day night, police no ticed a man holding plastic bags. Upon checking the bags, they found firecrackers in side the bags, Deputy Commissioner of Po lice (north) Sagar Singh Kalsi said.

On weighing, the

firecrackers were found to be around 103 kg and Mohammad Mashrul was arrested, police said. Mashrul, a resident of Bihar’s Khagariya, revealed he had rented a godown in Sadar Bazar’s Gandhi Market about a week ago, the DCP said.

Saibaba seen in a March 8, 2017 file photo.

In

file photo, GN Saibaba is seen with his wife Vasantha Kumari outside the Nagpur Central Jail.

SAIBABA

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal digitally addresses media regarding the celebrations of ‘Chhath’ festival in New Delhi on Friday.

Rajendra Pal Gautam addresses at Dr BR Ambedkar National Memorial on Friday. —PHOTO BY ANI

DECODING NETAJI’S JOURNEY OF SAMAJWAD & POWER

fence Minister in the United Front government headed by HD Deve Gowda. Sukhoi fight er aircraft deal with Russia was also done during his ten ure. Later, Mulayam Singh Ya dav once again turned to poli tics of UP & became CM for the third time in the year 2003.

Mulayam was engaged in uniting the family till the last moment

GYANVAPI CASE

He started his political journey in Uttar Pradesh and became the Chief Minister of the state thrice.

Even after the Samajwadi Party’s reins came into the hands of Akhilesh Yadav in 2017, Mulayam Singh Yadav remained Netaji for the party supporters and his presence on the stage gave hope to keep the Samajwadi clan connected

MOHD FAHAD

writer is National Editor at NewsBytes, and alumnus of AJKMCRC, Jamia Millia Islamia

Samajwadi Party (SP) founder Mulayam Singh Yadav, who was the leader of political ma neuvers and the axis of the politics of the opposition for decades, never got away from the political spectrum. Mu layam Singh Yadav, who was once a master of the wrestling arena, later proved to be a master wrestler of the politi cal arena as well. He breathed his last on Monday (October 10) at Medanta Hospital in Gu rugram. Mulayam Singh, popularly known as Netaji among supporters, remained active in politics for nearly six decades, and if he got famous during this journey, he also faced failure. But nothing could affect his popularity.

Early days and struggle Born on November 22, 1939, in a family of farmers in Saifai village of Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh, Mulayam was active in student politics dur ing his early days. He taught for some time in an inter-col lege after earning a degree in Political Science. He was elect ed MLA from Jaswant Nagar seat for the first time in the year 1967. He strongly opposed the declaration of emergency in the country by the then In dira Gandhi government in the year 1975. After the Emer gency ended in 1977, he be came the president of the Ut tar Pradesh unit of the Lok

NO POLL DATES YET FOR GUJARAT

Dal. Mulayam, who had an unmatched ability to know the pulse of politics, was elected to the UP Legislative Council in the year 1982 and during this time, he was also the LoP in the Upper House till 1985.

Was Defense Minister, but UP remained his political arena He also created the most prominent political clan of the state. He was a 10-time MLA and was also elected MP for seven terms. At one time he was also seen as a contend er for the post of PM. He was a national leader for decades but UP was mostly his politi cal arena. Influenced by so cialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia, he started his political journey in Uttar Pradesh and became the CM of the state thrice. Even after the Sama jwadi Party’s reins came into the hands of Akhilesh Yadav in the year 2017, Mulayam Singh Yadav remained Netaji for the party supporters and his presence on the stage gave hope to keep the Samajwadi clan connected.

Mulayam specialized in ‘manipulative’ politics Socialist Mulayam Singh Ya dav always kept the political possibilities open and he was a politician who used every op portunity. Yadav, who was also considered an expert in the politics of manipulation, was associated with many parties from time to time.

When SP leader was called ‘Mullah Mulayam’ He became the Chief Minis ter of UP for the first time in the year 1989. During this,

After entering politics, Mulayam Singh Yadav focused on removing social evils. Under this effort, he had given a feast at home to Valmiki &Dalits at his younger brother’s wedding in Saifai. He also worked for the backward & SCs. Due to becoming the voice of the weaker sections of the society, he came to be known as ‘Dhartiputra’

the Ram Janmabhoomi movement gained momen tum while bringing the poli tics of the country and the state under its influence. A gathering of kar sevaks took place in Ayodhya and on Oc tober 30, 1990, the police opened fire, in which five kar sevaks were killed. After this incident, the then CM Mu layam Singh Yadav came un der the target of BJP and other Hindutva organiza tions, and he was even called ‘Mullah Mulayam’.

Joining hands with arch-rival BSP

In November 1993, Mulayam Singh Yadav once again be came the CM of the state with BSP’s support, but later his government fell due to with drawal of support. After that Yadav turned to national poli tics and won the LS polls from Mainpuri in 1996. Mulayam also briefly appeared as a prime ministerial candidate during the opposition parties’ attempts to create a non-BJP alternative to the Congress. However, he was made the De

In the year 2016, the split start ed in the Yadav family. The war of supremacy started be tween the then Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav and on January 1, 2017, in the party’s emergency national conven tion, Mulayam Singh was re placed by his son Akhilesh Yadav as the party president. However, Mulayam Singh was made the patron of the party. Shivpal formed his own party in the year 2018 in the name of ‘Pragatisheel Samajwadi Par ty’ after not getting proper ‘respect’ in the party. During this, Mulayam kept trying his best to unite his clan.

Mulayam had revolutionary qualities since childhood

To know about the title ‘Dhartiputra’ (son of the soil) given to Mulayam Singh, it is necessary to throw light on his political life. Mulayam Singh Yadav, who was born before independence, had the quality of revolutionary since childhood and this is confirmed by the fact that he had joined the rally against the then Congress govern ment at the age of just 14.

7 times MLA from the seat gifted by Guru Mulayam Singh’s father want ed his son to become a wres tler but his luck didn’t want to limit him to wrestling. In 1962, when Mulayam Singh had ar rived to participate in a wres tling competition. Mulayam’s wrestling skills impressed Chaudhary Nathu Singh Ya dav, who was present there, and after which Nathu Singh took Mulayam with him. Nathu Singh had not only made him meet Ram Mano har Lohia but also gave the Jaswantnagar seat of UP to his disciple as a gift and he was asked to contest from there in 1967. Nathu Singh was a member of Praja Social ist Party. Mulayam lived up to his guru’s expectations and won the election. Later, he clinched the assembly polls from this seat seven times.

The district court in Varanasi has rejected a plea by four Hindu parties for carbon dating of the pur ported Shivling in the Gyanvapi mosque premises. The demand for a scientific test by the Archae ological Survey of India, as was done in the case of Ayodhya, was to confirm whether it was a Shiv ling or a fountain as was claimed by the Muslim side. The order has given the contentious issue a rest, at least for the time being.

The district judge dismissed the plea on the ground that the place was sealed on the orders of the Supreme Court and any scien tific investigation would inter fere with the SC order.

The district judge’s order does not mean that the issue has been resolved. All eyes will be on the apex court whenever it decides to take up the case. Also pending be fore SC is the Places of Worship (Special Provision) Act of 1991 which, the Hindus claim violates the principles of natural justice.

SPIRITUAL SPEAK

As a man casts off worn-out garments and puts on others that are new, so does the soul cast off its worn-out bodies and enter into others that are new. Bhagavad Gita

Dharmendra Pradhan @dpradhanbjp

The Election Com mission of India has once again held back the an nouncement of poll dates for Gujarat Assem bly. While the EC gave details of the poll schedule for Himachal Pradesh, it said that the dates for Gujarat after 40 days. In 2017 also the Election Commission was scheduled to announce poll dates for Guja rat and Himachal Pradesh on October 12 but only an nounced the schedule for Himachal Pradesh. Election Commissioner OP Rawat then defended the decision in a me dia interview saying that “the model code of conduct would disrupt flood relief opera tions”.

Commenting on the poll panel’s decision, senior Congress leader P. Chidam

The de- linking of elections in Himachal and Gujarat is surprising as there is little doubt about the BJP’s victory in Gujarat. The ruling party probably needed more time for campaigning to ensure that it won a three-fourths majority

baram had tweeted, “EC will be recalled from its extended holiday after Gujarat Govt. has announced all conces sions and freebies.”

The de- linking of elections in Himachal and Gujarat is surprising as there is little doubt about the BJP’s victory

in Gujarat. The ruling party probably needed more time for campaigning to ensure that it won a three-fourths majority. In 2017 the party formed the government in Gujarat for the sixth consecutive time with 99 seats and 49.1 percent votes. BJP’s main rival won 77 seats with 41.4 percent votes, an in crease of 2.5 percent. Poll sce nario in Gujarat has changed drastically with the Congress staying away from campaign ing in the state. Having virtu ally conceded the match Its focus is more on Rahul Gan dhi’s Bharat Jodo march.

The Aam Aadmi Party is eyeing the space being creat ed by the Congress. Arvind Kejriwal and his team are go ing full throttle to take on the ruling party they are banking mainly on its Delhi model.

Visited the Bharati School of Telecommunication Technology & Management at @iitdelhi. The institute is a part of the multi-institute collaborative #5G testbed project led by @iitmadras. #5G with plethora of use cases across sectors will be a force-multiplier for our economy.

published by Anita Hada Sangwan on behalf of First Express Publishers. Printed at Impressions Printing and Packaging Limited, C-21, 22 Sector-59, Noida-201301. Published at G-20, 3rd Floor, 309, Preet Vihar, New Delhi-110092.

011-49846474.

Dr Jagdeesh Chandra

Anita Hada Sangwan

for selection of news

Piyush Goyal @PiyushGoyal

‘Make In India’ record-breaker. $1 billion mobile phone exports in September. Big success for Govt’s Production Linked Incentive Scheme that is scaling production & jobs and transforming India into a global manufacturing hub.

To

Priyanka promises to restore old pension scheme in Himachal

New Delhi (PTI): Con gress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Fri day promised to re store the old pension scheme for govern ment employees in Himachal Pradesh if her party was voted to power in the Assembly elections.

AICC general secre tary Vadra said this at the ‘Parivartan Prati gya Rally’ held at Tho do Maidan in Himachal Pradesh’s Solan.

She said the decision to restore the old pen sion scheme and pro vide one lakh jobs to unemployed youth would be taken in the first cabinet meeting if the Congress was voted to power in the state.

Earlier, Gandhi paid obeisance at the Maa Shoolini Temple in Solan before formally launching the Con gress’ election cam paign in the hill state.

She also released the party’s election theme song on the occasion.

PM MODI WILL HAVE TO ANSWER QUESTIONS ON INFLATION, UNEMPLOYMENT: RAHUL GANDHI

New Delhi (PTI): Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday sought to know from Prime Minister Narendra Modi why inflation and unemployment were at a high and said the government will have to answer these questions.

“Why is inflation at a 35-year HIGH? Why is unemployment at a 45-year HIGH? Why are ‘Parathas’ being taxed at 18% GST? Why are farm tractors being taxed at 12% GST? “Bharat Jodo Yatra will keep asking you these questions and more, Prime Minister. You will have to answer,” Gandhi said on Twitter.

THAROOR IMRESSED BY WELCOME IN MADHYA PRADESH

‘Are we forcing our daughters?’ asks Owaisi

Union govt upgrades Assam CM’s security to Z+

Assam (ANI): The Cen tral Reserve Police Force (CRPF), which is currently providing Sarma ‘Z’ category se curity, will now facili tate him with ‘Z+’ cate gory security.

Sources said that the move comes after the security arrangement for Sarma was reviewed in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in con sultation with the Cen tral Security Agency and it has been decided to upgrade his present ‘Z’ category CRPF secu rity cover in NorthEastern region to ‘Z+’ category CRPF security cover on all India basis.

The MHA has re quested the CRPF to provide ‘Z+’ category security cover to Sarma on all India basis, said the sources.

Bhopal: Lok Sabha MP and Congress presidential poll candidate Shashi Tharoor on Friday said he was gladdened by the reception he has got from party workers in MP and admitted he did not get this kind of welcome in some states. Tharoor is contesting against veteran colleague Mallikarjun Kharge for the polls to the party’s highest post.

TEWARI ON KHARGE: CONG NEEDS A ‘SAFE PAIR OF HANDS’

New Delhi: Congress leader Manish Tewari on Thursday said that the party needs a “safe pair of hands” and a “composed personality” in the form of Mallikarjun Kharge who can provide “stability” to the party as the president. He extended support to Kharge’s candidature for the top post in the party.

New Delhi: Reacting to the split verdict given by the SC on petitions chal lenging the Karnataka hijab ban, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi has slammed the Centre for ‘’forcing the Muslim girls to remove their hi jab.’’ Reacting to the split verdict given by the top court on the hijab ban, Owaisi said, “if Muslim women want to cover their heads, it does not mean, they are covering their intellect.”

He further alleged, “They say that Muslims are forcing little chil dren to wear hijab. Are we really forcing our girls?” The AIMIM lead er went on to say, “Let our daughters wear hi jab, you wear your bi kini if you like…”

During his interac tion with a gathering at the Golconda Fort, he also sought to question whether hijab shows the ‘backwardness’ of Mus lims and whether Mus lim women are not con tributing to the develop ment of the country.

“If you come to Hy

President visits Kamakhya Shaktipeeth

Assam CM & Guv accompanied President Murmu to the temple

Guwahati (ANI): Droupadi Murmu, the President of India, who is on a two-day tour to Assam visited the shak tipeeth Kamakhya Tem ple in Guwahati this morning. This is her maiden visit to the state since assuming office.

She prayed at the tem

ple and sought blessings for the well-being and welfare of everyone. As sam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Governor Jagdish Mukhi accompanied President Murmu to the temple situated atop Nilachal Hills.

“Honoured to accom

BY ANI

pany Hon’ble President Smt Droupadi Murmj ji, who is on a 2-day vis it to Assam, to the Kam akhya Temple along with Hon’ble Governor Prof Jagdish Mukhi. We sought blessings from Maa Kamakhya and prayed for the wellbeing and welfare of everyone,” Assam Chief Minister Himan ta Biswa Sarma tweeted after the temple visit.

Nuclear sub INS Arihant test fires ballistic missile

New Delhi: India’s strategic strike subma rine INS Arihant car ried out successful launch of a ballistic missile on Friday, the defence ministry said.

The missile was test ed to a predetermined range and it impacted the target area in the Bay of Bengal. “The successful user train ing launch of the SLBM (submarine launched ballistic missile) by INS Arihant is significant to prove crew competency and validate the SSBN programme, a key ele ment of India’s nuclear

deterrence capability,” the ministry said.

“A robust, survivable and assured retaliatory capability is in keeping with India’s policy to have ‘credible mini mum deterrence’ that underpins its ‘No First Use’ commitment,” it said in a statement.

When a Hindu, a Sikh and a Christian student is allowed to enter the classroom with their religious clothing and a Muslim is stopped, what do they think of the Muslim student? Obviously, they think Muslims are below them.

—Asaduddin Owaisi, AIMIM chief

derabad, you will see the most notorious drivers are our sisters. Don’t even put your vehicle behind them. No, this is from my personal expe rience. I tell my driver to be careful. Sit behind them on the motorcycle wearing a helmet and then you will under stand whether they are being forced,” Owaisi said in his speech.

Referring to the Kar nataka hijab ban row,

IN

Owaisi said, “When a Hindu, a Sikh and a Christian student is al lowed to enter the class room with their reli gious clothing and a Muslim is stopped, what do they think of the Muslim student? Obvi ously, they will think Muslims are below us.”

Amid the raging hi jab row, Owaisi said that “One day, a girl wearing a hijab will be the PM of India. It is my dream”.

COURTYARD

CJI UU LALIT RECUSES TO HEAR BS YEDIYURAPPA’S PLEA IN LAND CASE

SC DISMISSES

APPEALS FILED BY WHATSAPP-META

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the Delhi High Court order, which dismissed the appeals filed by WhatsApp and Facebook (now Meta) challenging a single judge bench order refusing to stay the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) probe into alleged abuse of dominant position practices by WhatsApp in connection with its 2021 privacy policy.

NO DIVORCE UNDER ARTICLE 142 IF ONE SIDE UNWILLING: SC

New Delhi: The SC has said that it would not use its power under Article 142 to annul a marriage, when the wife is willing to give the marriage one more “try”, however the husband claimed an irretrievable breakdown of marriage. A bench was informed that the couple stayed together only for 40 days and they have been living separately for almost two years now.

SUPREME COURT REJECTS URGENT HEARING OF PLEAS OVER POLITICAL FREEBIES

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday said that there was no urgency to hear the matter against freebies promised by the political parties during election campaigns. The petition seeking an urgent hearing of the plea was mentioned for urgent hearing before the Supreme Court today. Advocate Ashwini Upadhyay mentioned the matter before a bench of Chief Justice UU Lalit and Justices Hemant Gupta saying elections are to be announced in Gujarat and parties are making irresponsible promises. CJI Lalit then said there is no urgent hearing and asked to send the files of the case to his chamber.

EXPANDING BASE

Will Arvind Kejriwal expand his cabinet?

Sharat K Verma

New Delhi: There are a total of seven ministers including Chief Minis ter Arvind Kejriwal in the government of the national capital Delhi. One of these ministers, Satyendra Jain, is lodged in jail and the other minister, Rajen dra Pal Gautam, has re signed. CM Arvind Ke jriwal himself has not kept any ministry with him. So, effectively, there are only four min isters in the Delhi govt right now. These four

ministers have all the portfolios. Delhi’s Depu ty Chief Minister Man ish Sisodia officially has 18 ministries, which include all the big min istries like Home, Fi

nance, Education, Pow er, Water, Urban Devel opment. Apart from this, it has also been written on the website of Delhi Government that all the depts which

have not been given to any other minister are also with Sisodia.

Recently, when Saty endra Jain was arrested and was lodged in jail, almost all his ministries were given to Sisodia.

Now that Rajendra Pal Gautam has resigned, his ministries have also been divided among the remaining four minis ters. Then the question is, will Arvind Kejriwal expand his govt now? Or will wait for Sisodia to go to jail too? He him self has said many times that Sisodia can

be arrested in the case of liquor policy. How ever, informed sources say that he will keep Satyendra Jain as the minister. A Dalit leader can be made a minister in place of Rajendra Pal Gautam. In this con text, the name of Man golpuri MLA Rakhi Birla, who is currently the deputy Speaker, is in the running. Apart from this, names of Karol Bagh MLA Vishesh Ravi and Kon dli MLA Kuldeep Ku mar are also doing the rounds.

IT conducts raid at premises of JD(U) chief’s close aide in Patna

Patna (ANI): The In come Tax (IT) depart ment on Friday con ducted raids at multiple locations in Bihar’s Patna, including the Shivpuri, Patel Nagar, and Boring Road prem ises of builder Gabbu Singh.

Builder Gabbu Singh is a close aide of the na tional president of Ja nata Dal (United) Rajiv Ranjan alias Lalan Sin gh. Details in this mat ter are awaited as the IT raids are currently un derway.

The development has come months after JDU

chief Nitish Kumar broke the party’s alli ance with Bharatiya Ja nata Party and joined hands with the opposi tion to form a “Maha gathbandhan” alliance in the state and took oath as Bihar CM for the

eighth time. It was in 2020 when the BJP-JDU won the election in alliance with each other in Bihar and Nitish Kumar was made the chief minister de spite BJP being the sin gle largest party.

Priyanka Gandhi addresses ‘Parivartan Pratigya Rally’, in Solan on Friday.

New Delhi: CJI UU Lalit on Friday recused from hearing former Karnataka CM B S Yediyurappa’s plea challenging Karnataka HC order restoring the criminal complaint against him in alleged forgery of documents over the withdrawal of approval for a parcel of land in the state. CJI Lalit directed to list the matter after Diwali before an appropriate bench of the SCin which he is not a member. The SC was hearing Yediyurappa’s plea challenging the Karnataka HC order dated January 5, 2021 whereby the HC has restored a criminal complaint against B S Yediyurappa, former minister for industries Murugesh R Nirani and one more accused.

An explosive blast, part of rehearsals ahead of Defence Expo, in Ahmedabad on Friday. —PHOTO BY PTI

President Droupadi Murmu with her daughter Itishri Murmu offering prayers at Kamakhya Temple, in Guwahati on Friday.

Lalan Singh

Yogi visits flood-hit villages, says ready to serve public

Maharajganj (ANI):

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adity anath on Friday visited the flood-affected vil lages of Maharajganj and Gorakhpur districts and distributed relief materials to the floods victims.

He also conducted an aerial survey of floodaffected areas. CM Yogi said that the adminis tration has been in structed to distribute relief materials to the flood-affected families on a war footing so that no one has to suffer. The officials have been di rected to immediately provide compensation of Rs 4 lakh to the fami lies of the flood victims.

“For the first time in October, we all have to face the tragedy of un timely floods. Facing the challenge of disaster firmly, the double engine government of the Cen tre and the state is en gaged in the service of the people,” he said. Yogi further said that all the possible help is being provided to every floodaffected person and en

‘GOVT NOT RUNNING ZOMATO, COLLECT YOUR RELIEF MATERIALS’: AMBEDKAR NAGAR DM TO FLOOD-HIT PEOPLE

Ambedkar Nagar (ANI):

At a time when Uttar Pradesh is reeling under a flood situation, its Ambedkar Nagar District Magistrate’s (DM) video with local people went viral where the official is heard saying that

sured no shortages of any kind.

He also met flood-af fected victims in Maha rajganj and Sahjanwa

No consensus between Punjab and Haryana over SYL

the government is not running “Zomato” to provide door-to-door service or relief materials

and distributed floodrelief material among them.

CM reviewed the situation arising out of incessant rainfall in the

to people in the flood-hit areas. “...If you need, you will be provided with chlorine tablets, and a doctor will come to see when one falls sick, this is the reason why flood posts are established,” the DM said.

state in the last few days. The Chief Minis ter has directed the Group of Ministers to immediately visit the

For the first time in October, we all have to face the tragedy of un timely floods. Facing the challenge of disas ter firmly, the double engine government of the Centre and the state is engaged in the service of the people

Expert committee holds first meeting

New Delhi (ANI): The first meeting of the four-membered com mittee to examine the World Health Organisa tion’s report regarding Maiden Pharmaceuti cals Ltd was held on Thursday.

districts under their charge and extend their cooperation in relief and rescue works to the flood-affected parts of the state.

In a high-level meet ing chaired by CM Yogi, instructions were is sued to expedite the re lief and rehabilitation work in all the districts affected by heavy rains. CM Yogi also ordered to keep the District Con trol Room functional 24x7 under the leader ship of Joint Magistrate level officers.

The committee com prises of technical ex perts Dr YK Gupta, Vice Chairperson of the Standing National Com mittee on Medicines (chair), Dr Pragya Ya dav, Indian Council of Medical Research- Na tional Institute of Virol ogy (ICMR -NIV) in Pune, Dr Arti Bahl, Di vision of Epidemiology, National Centre for Dis ease Control (NCDC) in New Delhi, and AK Pradhan, JDC(I) in Cen tral Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO). According to the sources from Union Health Ministry, the ex perts here discussed and intensified the in vestigation into the matter. Notably, the pro duction of cough syr ups by Maiden Pharma ceuticals was suspend ed on Wednesday, how ever, its lab report is awaited.

5th Vande Bharat train by Nov 2022

New India (ANI): The 5th Vande Bharat Train will begin operations from November 10 on the Chennai-BengaluruMysuru route.

The first Vande Bharat Express train was flagged off on Feb ruary 15, 2019, on the New Delhi-Kanpur-Alla habad-Varanasi route.

The government has dedicated significant ef forts towards strength ening the ‘Make in In dia’ campaign, and Vande Bharat Express

Chandigarh (Agencies):

A meeting to discuss the contentious Sut lej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal issue was held here today between Punjab Chief Minister Bhag want Mann and his Haryana counter part Manohar Lal Khattar.

Reportedly, the two failed to arrive at a consensus on the construction of SYL canal. They will now meet Union Water

Resources Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and brief him about the meet ing. The meeting was held after the SC re cently nudged them to meet and find an amicable solution. Addressing media af ter the meeting, Pun jab CM Bhagwant Mann said he had a long discussion with Haryana CM and his team. “I put across Punjab’s side very strongly,” he claimed.

is one of the success sto ries.

In his address to the nation on August 15,

75 weeks of the Amrit Mahotsav of Independ ence, 75 Vande Bharat trains will connect eve ry corner of the country.

Govt is alerted and has formed a com mittee. Production of cough syrups by Maiden Pharmaceuticals Ltd has been suspended, and its lab report is awaited.

“The government is alerted and has formed a committee. Produc tion of cough syrups by Maiden Pharmaceuti cals Ltd has been sus pended, and its lab re port is awaited. A fourmember expert commit tee has been formed to investigate the report sent by WHO,” official sources said.

According to reports, Atlanta-based Atlantic Pharmaceuticals Com pany Ltd which has per mission to export medi cines to West Africa’s Gambia had ordered combined cough syrup

‘DRUGS WORTH `900-CR SEIZED SINCE MAY 2021’

sources

bottles that were pur chased from Maiden Pharmaceuticals limit ed. “From the prelimi nary inquiry of CDSCO, it has been revealed that Maiden Pharmaceuti cals Ltd is a manufac turer licensed by the State Drug Controller for the product’s Pro methazine Oral Solu tion BP, Kofexnalin Baby cough syrup, Ma Koff Baby Cough Syrup and MaGrip n Cold Syr up under reference, and holds manufacturing permission for these products for export only,” the sources said.

READ

RUSSIAN AIRLINE AEROFLOT RECEIVES BOMB THREAT

2021, from the ramparts of the Red Fort, Prime Minister Modi an nounced that during the

IITs are our bridge to the future: Pradhan at R&D show ‘IInvenTiv’

New Delhi (Agencies): Union Minister for Edu cation and Skill Devel opment and Patron-inChief of IInvenTiv Dharmendra Pradhan, on Friday, inaugurated IInvenTiv - the first-ever all-IITs R and D show case at the Indian Insti tute of Technology, Del hi. The two-day event that would conclude on October 15 would bring academia and industry under one roof to show

Is Lalu’s family being surrounded by agencies?

New Delhi: The way the central agencies are laying siege to the Soren family in Jharkhand, similarly, Lalu Prasad’s family is being laid siege upon in Bihar. Lalu Prasad’s troubles in the fodder scam seemed to be end ing, so now the entire family has been entan gled in the alleged scam of job for land. The dis proportionate assets case is also pending

against almost all the members of the family. The latest case is of

land for job, which is from the time when Lalu Prasad was Rail

way Minister i.e. before 2009. Central agencies have started action in this matter after a dec ade and a half.

The CBI had regis tered a case in May this year in the case of giv ing jobs in lieu of land. Since then, the names of about one and a half dozen people have come in it.

Along with many railway officials, the names of Lalu Prasad, Rabri Devi, Misa Bhar ti and Hima Yadav are

also in it. Bhola Yadav, who was a close aide of Lalu Prasad in the same case, has been ar rested and the CBI is interrogating Tejashwi Yadav’s close aide San jay Yadav. The sword is also hanging over Tejashwi Yadav in a case of IRCTC, a rail way related company. If the agency has ar rested one accused in this case, then natural ly the sword of arrest is hanging on the rest of the accused as well.

On Thursday, PM Modi flagged off the in augural run of the fourth Vande Bharat Ex press from Amb Andau ra, Una to New Delhi. Train No. 22447/22448 New Delhi- Amb Andau ra- New Delhi Vande Bharat Express shall commence its regular service from 19th Octo ber 2022.

Centre rushes high-level team to UP

New Delhi (ANI): The Centre on Friday in formed that it has de cided to depute a highlevel team to Uttar Pradesh in collabora tion with the state au thorities for instituting measures for dengue management in Firo zabad, Agra and Eta wah districts.

“Union Ministry of Health and Family Wel fare has decided to de pute a high-level multi-disciplinary team to Uttar Pradesh to col laborate with the State Health Authorities in instituting public health measures for Dengue management in Firozabad, Agra and Etawah districts,” the ministry informed in a press statement.

As per the statement, the six-member central team to Uttar Pradesh comprises experts from National Centre for Dis ease Control, National Centre for Vector Borne Diseases Control and Dr RML Hospital, New Delhi.

Guwahati (ANI): Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday claimed that drugs worth Rs 900 crore were seized and a total of 6,800 people have been arrested in the state since May 2021. “To make Assam a drug-free state, the Assam government is continuing its war against Drugs. Drugs worth Rs 900 cr seized and 6,800 persons arrested in Assam since May 2021,” said CM.

New Delhi (ANI): Russian airline Aeroflot flight SU 232 received a bomb threat on Thurs day while the plane was enroute to Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) airport. “Our investigation is underway at the airport, all the passen gers and their luggage are being checked and the SOPs are followed, the aircraft is currently in the isolation bay,” an official investigation team said.

GOA (Agencies): The Goa Police on Friday ar rested one person for allegedly recording video of a girl while she was taking a bath in the Girls Hostel washroom. Panaji Police inspector Nikhil Palekar told IANS that the accused person, identified as Cipson Gomes, 25, has been arrested. Responding to a question, Palekar said that the accused person climbed the building using pipes and then recorded video while the complainant was taking a bath. “The accused person has been arrested,” he said. Police are further investigating the case.

HOPE IT IS TAKEN SERIOUSLY: MEA ON AUS STABBING

New Delhi (PTI): The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Friday the high commission in Can berra is in touch with the local authorities over an incident of stabbing of an Indian student in Australia and expects action to be taken against the perpetrators.MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said a suspect has been taken into custody in connection with the incident.

FISHERMAN WINS `70L LOTTERY IN KERALA

Kollam (Agencies): Barely hours after he received an attach ment notice from a bank in respect of his house for default on loan repayment, a fish seller from Kerala was able to heave a sigh of relief as he won the ` 70 lakh Akshaya lot tery of the state gov ernment. Pookunju, on October 12, began his day as usual and while on the way to collect the fish which he sells during the day.

Mahesh Sharma

Administration instructed to distribute relief materials to the flood-affected families

Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath distributes relief material to the flood-affected people, in Gorakhpur.

Lalu

ONE HELD IN GOA FOR RECORDING VIDEO OF GIRL IN HOSTEL BATHROOM

—Yogi Adityanath, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister

Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann and and Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar in a meeting to discuss the Sutlej Yamuna Link canal issue, in Chandigarh on Friday. —PHOTO BY ANI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the flagging off ceremony of the Vande Bharat Express. —FILE PHOTO

case India’s global R and D strength.

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan at inauguration ceremony of IInvenTiv at IIT Delhi on Friday. —PHOTO BY ANI

DENGUE SURGE

—FILE PHOTO

BRIEFS

PRICES

SILVER

FM: INDIA WILL COME OUT OF CURRENT GLOBAL TURMOIL

Washington (PTI): Fi nance Minister Nirmala

New Delhi: Gold price fell by `261 to `51,098 per 10 grams in the national capital on Friday amid a decline in the prices of yellow metal in the inter national market, accord ing to HDFC Securities. In the previous trade, the precious metal had closed at `51,359 per 10 grams. Silver also declined by `692 to `57,477 per kilo gram from `58,169 per kg. In the international market, gold was trading lower at $1,665.2 per

silver was down at $18.95

CENTRE’S WHEAT STOCK 11% HIGHER THAN BUFFER NORM

Sitharaman has exuded confidence that India will come out of the current global turmoil and move on the path of sustained re covery on the back of rapid digitisation and steps tak en by the government.

She said India has been able to set up a global benchmark in digitisation in areas of payment, healthcare, education and regulatory compliances, and this is a confidence booster for the economy.

The economy and busi nesses are doing well be cause of steps taken by the government in last two years, Sitharaman said.

“I would think that the economy’s revival is on a sustained path,” she said, adding that the govern ment has taken on board the impact of the global turmoil on demand, ex ports, and the rupee vis-avis the US dollar.

INDIA’S 5G IS INDIGENOUS, CAN PROVIDE TO OTHER COUNTRIES AS WELL: SITHARAMAN

Washington (PTI): India has launched its indigenously developed 5G infrastructure and is ready to share it with other countries as well, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday (Friday IST). “The story (of India’s 5G) is yet to reach the public,” Sithara man said. “The 5G that we’ve launched in our country is completely standalone,” she said. “There could be some parts coming from, say, countries like (South) Korea, but (not) coming from somebody else.

So complete indigenous technology that we can now provide 5G (to any country) who wants it,” she said. “So, our 5G is not imported from somewhere else. It’s our own product,” Sitharaman said.

WHAT NIRMALA SITHARAMAN SAID

z India has been able to set a global benchmark in digitisation in areas of payment, healthcare, education and regulatory compliances, and this is a confidence booster for eco

z The economy and businesses are doing well because of steps taken by the government in last two years

Sitharaman said the push for digitisation be tween 2014 and 2019 helped fight the economic crisis during COVID-19 and thereafter as well.

CURRENCIES

New Delhi: The govern ment’s wheat stock is 11% higher than the buff er norm at 227.46 lakh tonne at the beginning of this month, according to the Food Ministry data.

However, the wheat stock in state-run FCI is at five year low due to a 57% drop in procurement ow ing to a fall in production and aggressive buying by private traders for export purposes. In the case of rice, the stocks are more than double the buffer norm at 283.9 lakh tonne as of October

SOWING OF RABI CROPS, ESPECIALLY MUSTARD, BEGINS

“There is a sense of con fidence in India that we will go through this and we will be able to still perform. It’s because of the way in which technology has been used for the public good,” she said.

OTHER STORIES

She further said the credit availability is no longer an issue as even small businesses are get ting loans sitting at home.

These are actually great lubricants when the econo my is looking to find ways in which it can come out of the lockdown or the diffi culties of a largely extrane ous problem, she said.

PACKED, FROZEN PARATHA ‘QUITE DIFFERENT’ FROM ROTI; ATTRACTS 18% TAX: GST APPELLATE AAR

New Delhi: Packed frozen ‘Paratha’ is not ‘roti or chapatti’ as it requires further cooking before consumption and despite wheat flour being the ‘common thread’ there are other ingredients used in making parathas, said an order by the Gujarat Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling. Such parathas, whether named Malabar, Mixed vegetable, Onion, Methi, Alu, Laccha, Mooli or Plain, have ingredients like margarine, salt, emulsifying agent, oil, potato, peas, cauliflower, coriander powder, bread improver and water, apart from wheat flour, which make ‘quite different’ from plain roti or chapatti and hence are not eligible for 5 per cent Goods and Services Tax (GST) rate, the ruling said. —PTI

Sitharaman said India’s public goods are available for countries which need them. “For example, be cause of CoWIN, Indians travelling abroad don’t need any paper to show they’re vaccinated. They can show it on phone. Now, CoWIN app is available for any country which wants to use it.”

“The push that was given between 2014 and 2019 actu ally has helped us. And helped us in many unbe lievable ways. We were able to provide relief immedi ately during the long lock down,” she said.

Similarly, the public dis tribution system was digit ised and during this period, India also brought in One Nation One Ration Card scheme.

“We believe that the tar get approach was possible because we were techno logically well-networked.

MARKETS REBOUND SHARPLY AMID FIRM GLOBAL TRENDS

Mumbai (PTI): Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty ended over 1% higher on Friday, helped by heavy buying in Infosys and banking stocks amid a ral ly in global stock markets.

The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 684.64 points or 1.20% to settle at 57,919.97. During the day, it rallied 1,199.79 points or 2.09% to 58,435.12.

Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty climbed 171.35 points or 1.01% to end at 17,185.70. From the Sensex components, Infosys jumped nearly 4 per cent, followed by HDFC Bank, HDFC, HCL Technologies, Larsen & Toubro, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Finance and State Bank of India.

`

TOP GAINERS ON FRIDAY

z From the Sensex components, Infosys jumped nearly 4 per cent, followed by HDFC Bank, HDFC, HCL Technologies, Larsen & Toubro, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Finance and State Bank of India

FALLS 8 PAISE TO CLOSE AT 82.32 AGAINST $

Mumbai (PTI): The rupee depreciated 8 paise to close at 82.32 (pro visional) against the US dollar on Friday, as a firm American currency and risk-averse sentiment among investors weighed on the local unit. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local currency opened at 82.26 and finally settled at 82.32 against the American currency, registering a decline of 8 paise over its previous close. During the day, the local unit witnessed a high of 82.12 and a low of 82.43 against the greenback. On Thursday, the local currency had settled at 82.24 against the US dollar. Meanwhile, the dollar index advanced 0.56% to 112.99. Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures fell 0.75%.

WPI inflation eases to 18-month low of 10.7 percent in September

New Delhi (PTI): The wholesale price-based in flation declined to a 18-month low of 10.7% in September, as prices of food, fuel and manufac tured items softened.

New Delhi: Sowing of rabi crops, especially oilseeds and pulses, has begun across the country and about 7.34 lakh hectare has been covered so far, according to the agricul ture ministry data re leased on Friday. Wheat is the main rabi (winter) crop but its sowing data has not yet been reported from states, it said. Rabi crops are sown from Oc tober, immediately after the southwest monsoon is over and harvesting is done in April/May. The government has not yet announced MSP of rabi crops for the 2022-23 crop year.

BPCL TO CONVERT RETAIL OUTLETS INTO ENERGY STATIONS

ALIA BHATT TO EXPAND ED-A-MAMMA BIZ TO UAE, EUROPE NEXT YEAR

New Delhi: Bollywood actor Alia Bhatt has said that she plans to expand her fashion directto-consumer (D2C) startup Ed-a-Mamma’s business to UAE and Europe next year. The actor said that Ed-a-Mamma is her first entrepreneurial venture which focuses on sustainable cloth ing for kids at affordable price points. “I would like to focus on expanding outside India and add more categories to the brand. We started with a kids wear brand and are launching maternity wear this year. —PTI

DISCOMS’ AGGREGATE LOSS RISES 66% TO `50,281 CR IN 2020-21

New Delhi: Aggregate losses of power distribution utilities or discoms increased by 66% to `50,281 crore in 2020-21 as compared to the previous year, a report by state-run Power Finance Corporation said. ‘The Report on Performance of Power Utili ties in 2020-21’ unveiled also stated that overall AT&C losses of discome deteriorated from 20.73% in 2019-20 to 22.32% in 2020-21. Aggregate losses of discoms increased from `30,203 crore in 2019-20 to `50,281 crore in 2020-21. —PTI

Although the wholesale price index (WPI) based in flation declined for the fourth consecutive month, it continued to remain in double digit for the 18th month since April 2021.

“Inflation in September, 2022 is primarily contrib uted by rise in prices of mineral oils, food articles, crude petroleum & natural gas, chemicals & chemical products, basic metals, electricity, textiles etc. As compared to the corre sponding month of the pre vious year,” an official statement said.

The wholesale inflation was 12.41% in August and 11.80% in September last year. This year, WPI touched a record high of

MAJOR TALKING POINTS

z Although the wholesale price index (WPI) based inflation declined for the fourth consecutive month, it continued to remain in double digit for the 18th month since April 2021

15.88% in May.

Economists say the grad ual month-on-month de cline in WPI is mainly due to moderation in commod ity prices and pegged infla

UK ‘no longer working to Diwali deadline’

Bengaluru: Bharat Petro leum Corporation Limited (BPCL) has aimed to con vert its 7,000 conventional retail outlets into energy stations providing multi ple fueling options includ ing electric vehicle (EV) charging facility, in the medium to long term.

BPCL on Friday an nounced the launch of EV fast-charging stations on two corridors in the southern region -- Banga lore-Chennai and Banga lore-Mysore-Coorg

London (PTI): The free trade agreement (FTA) ne gotiations with India are no longer working towards a Diwali deadline, UK Trade Secretary Kemi Bad enoch has confirmed.

During a visit to a Scotch whisky distillery on Thurs day, the Cabinet minister in charge of the FTA negotia tions at the Department for International Trade (DIT) said the deal being lined up with India would bring great wins for the industry as the steep tariffs of up to 150% are set to be slashed.

However, while the nego tiations are progressing

well, signing a draft agree ment by October 24 is no longer the goal.

“We are close. We’re still working on a deal.

One of the things that has changed is that we are no longer working to the Diwali dead line,” Badenoch told BBC.

“We’ve closed a lot of

TIMELINE SET BY EX-PM JOHNSON

z The Diwali timeline had been announced by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson during his India visit in April

chapters (the sections for the negotiating text). The negotiations are progress ing well. But we want to focus on the quality of the deal rather than the speed of the deal. Given the changes that have taken place – not just in govern ment but the mourning pe

riod (for the Queen) and so on, it makes sense for us to focus on the deal rather than the day,” she said.

This marks the first of ficial confirmation that both sides are no longer considering Diwali as the closing date for the major ity of the deal, with the DIT previously only saying that the government “won’t sac rifice quality for speed”.

The Diwali timeline had been announced by for mer PM Boris Johnson during his India visit in April and it was widely ex pected that it would prove a tight deadline.

z The wholesale inflation was 12.41% in August and 11.80% in September last year. This year, WPI touched a record high of 15.88% in May

z Inflation in food articles in Sept eased to 11.03%, against 12.37% in Aug. But inflation in vegetables rose to 39.66%

tion to come down further with overall recovery mo mentum and weaker out look on commodity prices.

Inflation in food articles in Sept eased to 11.03%.

ACT NOW TO BRING DOWN INFLATION: IMF

Washington (PTI): The International Monetary Fund on Friday urged pol icy makers across the world to act now to bring down inflation, put in place responsible fiscal policy, safeguard financial stability and carry reforms to address climate change, make digitalisation work for people and address in equality.

Speaking to reporters IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said, “The IMF is working with our 190 members on these issues. Our economic anal ysis is front and centre to help countries navigate this complex environment and avoid policy mistakes.”

Describing it as a diffi cult global environment, Georgieva said the world economy has been hit by one shock after another. They continue to harm people’s lives and they have caused a cost-of-living cri sis, she noted.

‘India will do everthing to ensure energy security’

Jaipur (PTI): Reacting to the decision of Organisa tion of Petroleum Export ing Countries (OPEC) to cut oil production by 2 mil lion barrels per day, Union

Minister Hardeep Singh

Puri on Friday said India will do all that is required to ensure its energy secu rity and affordability.

He said if required, In dia will go for diversifica tion of energy sources.

“This is their (OPEC’s) sovereign right what they want to do but equally it is my job to point out that all actions

have consequences, in tended or unintended. In dia will be able to navigate through the situation with confidence,” the petroleum and natural gas minister said. “We will not allow any shortages to come in.

The government will do all that is required to en sure energy security and affordability,” he said. Puri said as per the esti mate of the sector, consumption of fuel will increase and 25% of the global demand in next 20 years will be from India.

India hosts regional anti-terror council

RATS, part of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, also includes Pakistan, China Decision taken to organise joint military exercise

New Delhi (PTI): The Regional Anti-Terror ism Structure (RATS) of the Shanghai Coop eration Organisation Friday decide on joint measures by member countries to counter threats posed by inter national terrorist groups operating from Afghanistan.

The decision was tak en at a meeting of the council of RATS that was hosted by India in the national capital The meeting was attended by senior officials of all the member nations in cluding China and Paki stan. India’s Deputy National Security Advi sor Dattatray Padsalgi kar said the meeting also decided to organise a military exercise called ‘Solidarity- 2023’ next year. It is learnt that the exercise will take place in China.

“Joint measures of

The chairmanship of the SCO RATS Council passed from the Republic of In dia to the Republic of Kazakhstan. The meeting of the Council was held in a businesslike, constructive and friendly atmosphere.

the competent authori ties of the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisa tion to counter the chal lenges and threats posed by international terrorist organizations from the territory of Afghanistan were ap proved,” Padsalgikar said at a media briefing. India hosted the meet ing in its capacity as the chair of SCO-RATS.

“The Council of the SCO-RATS decided to organise and conduct a joint border operation

with the forces and means of the border services of the compe tent authorities of the SCO member states ‘Solidarity-2023’,” the deputy NSA said. He said the meeting also considered the course of implementation of earlier decisions of SCO-RATS.

“The work plans of the SCO-RATS Execu tive Committee, as well as the activities of the group of technical ex perts of the competent authorities of the SCO

TIME TO GIVE BACK TO THE COUNTRY: RAJNATH SINGH

First India Bureau

New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajnath Sin gh on Friday said that it is time for the coun trymen to give back to the country, as he called on them to act as “responsible rid ers” and “not free rid ers” in the journey of the nation’s growth.

The Defence Minis ter said this during the launch of a website ‘Maa Bharati Ke Sapoot’ (MBKS) at an event held at the Na tional War Memorial complex. It is our mor al & national duty to

help families of mar tyrs and injured sol diers as we can never repay what they have done for us, he said.

The website will en able citizens to con tribute to the Armed

Forces Battle Casual ties Welfare Fund (AFBCWF). “When we help soldiers or their families, it should be with a feel ing of gratitude,” Singh added.

BY PTI

member states, expert groups in the areas of border cooperation and countering the use of the Internet for terror ist, separatist and ex tremist purposes were approved,” Padsalgikar said. “The course of im plementation of earlier decisions of the RATS SCO Council was con sidered,” the deputy NSA said.

“A decision was made to approve the regula tions on the jubilee med al ‘20 years of the Re gional Anti-Terrorist Structure of the Shang hai Cooperation Organ isation’,” he said. The deputy NSA said deci sions were made on or ganisational and staff ing support for the ac tivities of the Executive Committee of the RATS.

Vehicles in UP Dy CM’s convoy collide among themselves

Sitapur (PTI): Three policemen, a doctor and a health worker were injured af ter two ve hicles in cluding an ambu lance, which were a part of Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak’s convoy, collid ed with each other in this Uttar Pradesh dis trict on Friday.

The incident took place at Nankari vil lage under the Dehat Kotwali police station in the morning when Pathak was on his way to Gola Gokarannath in Lakhimpur Kheri district.

Three police person nel — sub-inspector Pramod Mishra, head constable Inder Dev Singh and Rajveer Sin gh — besides Arshad Jamal, a medical practi tioner, and a health worker sustained inju ries in the incident.

Shashank Trivedi, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Maholi, and Sitapur’s Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Madhu Gai rola went to the district hospital, where the injured persons are admitted.

Trivedi said the two vehicles in Pathak’s convoy collided with each other while trying to save a cyclist. He said the condition of the in jured persons is stable and they are undergo ing treatment.

UP MIN’S NEPHEW HELD FOR MURDER ATTEMPT

Bareilly (PTI): The nephew of an Uttar Pradesh minister was arrested after he alleg edly tried to ram his car into a group of restau rant workers for refus ing to serve him, police said on Friday.

On Tuesday night, Amit Kumar Saxena abused the staff for fail ing to serve his col league as the restaurant had closed.

At around 10.30 pm, he returned and tried to hit the staff who were eating outside the res taurant with his car, SP City Bareilly Rahul Bha ti said. While Saxena was arrested on Thurs day, his two aides have been detained, he said.

According to a com plaint filed by the hotel owner Naresh Kashy ap’s son Sushant Kashyap, Saxena also allegedly demanded Rs

one lakh as ‘rangdari’ (extortion).

Saxena is the nephew of Arun Kumar, minis ter of state (independ ent charge) for Forest and Environment, Zoo logical Garden, Climate Change. When contact ed, the minister told PTI, “The police must act as per the law, and there should be no lax ity on this.” A case has

WALK WITH THE GODS

been registered against Saxena and his two aides under sections 307 (attempt to murder), 147 (punishment for riot ing), 384 (punishment for extortion), 504 (in tentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimida tion) of the Indian Pe nal Code, Bhati said.

You are polluting minds of the young: SC to Ekta Kapoor

New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court Friday came down heavily on producer Ekta Kapoor over “objectionable content” in her web se ries ‘XXX’, saying she was polluting the minds of the young generation of this country.

The top court was hearing a plea filed by Kapoor challenging the arrest warrants issued against her for alleged ly insulting soldiers and hurting the senti ments of their families in the web series aired on her OTT platform ALTBalaji.

“Something has to be done. You are polluting the minds of the young

generation of this coun try. It is available to all. OTT (Over The Top) content is available to all. What kind of choice are you providing to the people?....on the con trary you are polluting the minds of young sters,” a bench of Jus tices Ajay Rastogi and C T Ravikumar said.

CONTINUING HIS WINNING STREAK

CASE FROM 2020

l A trial court in Bihar’s Begusarai had issued the warrant on a complaint lodged by Shambhu Ku mar, an ex-serviceman.

l Kumar, in his complaint of 2020, alleged series ‘XXX’ (Season-2) featured objectionable scenes relat ed to a soldier’s wife.

UPPER CASTE GROUPS DOMINATE INDIAN MEDIA, REVEALS NEW REPORT

New Delhi (PTI):

About 90% of leader ship positions in Indian media are occupied by upper caste groups with not even a single Dalit or Adivasi heading Indian mainstream media, ac cording to a new report.

The second edition of Oxfam India-Newslaun dry’s Report Who tells our stories matters: Representation of Mar ginalised Caste Groups in Indian Media’ re veals that around 90 per cent leadership posi tions in print, TV and digital media are occu pied by General caste groups with no Sched uled Caste (SC) or Scheduled Tribe (ST)

heading mainstream media outlets. The re port released at The Me dia Rumble, South Asia’s largest news me dia forum also shows that every 3 out of 5 ar ticles in Hindi and Eng lish newspapers are written by General caste authors while marginalised castes (SC, ST or OBC) only contribute to around 1 out of 5 articles.

Vinay Shukla’s ‘While We Watched’ bags award at Busan Film Fest

lll

The winner is selected by a jury composed of students from the cinema-related departments of 6 universities in Busan region

New Delhi (PTI): Con tinuing its winning spree, filmmaker Vinay Shukla’s documentary

“While We Watched”, featuring news anchor Ravish Kumar, has won the Cinephile Award at the Busan Internation al Film Festival 2022.

The film, titled “Nam askar! Main Ravish Ku mar” in Hindi, had ear lier won the Amplify Voices Award at the 2022

Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

The Cinephile Award is given to the best Korean and Asian documentary film presented in the Wide Angle documen tary showcase section.

The winner is select ed by a jury, comprising students from the cine ma-related depart ments of six universi ties in Busan region.

“While We Watched”

is described as a turbu lent newsroom drama that intimately chroni cles the working days of broadcast journalist Ku mar as he navigates a spiralling world of truth and disinformation.

“Through the lens of its protagonist a man cling ing onto integrity even as everything falls apart

While We Watched’ urg es the viewer to consider their own responsibility

and culpability as news and media come under greater scrutiny than ever before, Vinay’s up coming film delivers the promise of a bold, time ly, and globally relevant documentary,” the offi cial description read.

In a statement, Shukla said he is “overwhelmed” by the win. “I’d like to thank the Busan Inter national Film Festival, the audiences and the

jury. I spent the last four years locked in, working on this film everyday with my dedicated team.

“We wanted to make an immersive cinematic film about the emotion al cost of making and consuming news. It was a hard and long process. I moved to the outskirts of Delhi and rented a place there for two years to shoot the film,” the filmmaker said.

Representatives of India during the 38th meeting of Council of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS), in New Delhi on Friday.

—Dattatray Padsalgikar, Deputy NSA

Rahul Gandhi walks with artists dressed as Hindu deities during the Congress’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, in Chitradurga district of Karnataka on Friday. —PHOTO BY PTI

A still from ‘XXX’ web series on Zee5.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh with CDS General Anil Chauhan, Army chief General Manoj Pande, IAF chief Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari during the launch of ‘Maa Bharati Ke Sapoot’ website, in New Delhi on Friday.

Amit Kumar Saxena, the nephew of UP Minister Arun Kumar, following his arrest in Bareilly on Friday.

The ethnic wear market is booming with revitalised collections intended to steal hearts

City First brings to you amazing floral lehengas

BLOOM LIKE A FLOWER

The ethnic wear industry is flourishing with new ide as, modern ensembles and reinvigorated collections and is constantly brewing up celestial designs made to pilfer our hearts. Now-a -days girls have a vast array of op tions to pick from, which is why hunting for the perfect festive at tire wear can become an over whelming task at times. City First brings to you some amazing collec tion spectacular floral print lehen ga designs which will make your festival more colourful!

Be ready to steal the stage in some smoking looks made to exem plify pure royalty. You can turn up your festive era with the best floral lehenga stylebook which is totally different from the old heavy lehen gas but are made up of light mate rial and modern designs. If you are going for a statement look, then here are the best floral lehenga styles that deserve a spot on your vision board. So lets gear up with the latest ultra-posh lehenga ideas that are fresh off the runway.

White is the colour of grace and royalty, and the silky flowy floral print on the light creamy lehenga that falls gracefully to the floor is

DIWALI 2022: 7 BUDGET-FRIENDLY HOME DECORATION IDEAS TO SPRUCE UP YOUR HOME

ADD LIGHTS

Diwali is a festival of lights. Fairy lights can be used inside the home to freshen up windows, mirrors and walls, though most people prefer to use them to decorate balconies and exteriors.

Diwali is around the corner, and we all are busy clean ing the nooks and crannies of our homes. The festival of lights means sprucing up our houses and get ting them ready to welcome prosperity by worshipping God dess Lakshmi. How ever, elevating your home décor is not an easy task and re quires some invest ment. Don’t fret be cause we have got you covered. This article mentions budget inte rior design ideas that will help you com pletely alter your liv ing space to welcome guests and spread good vibes on Diwali.

ADD COLOURS, FRAGRANCE AND FRESHNESS

The simplest ap proach to improve any room’s interior design is to add plants and flowers. Around Di wali, you can get bou quets from street ven dors as well as a vari ety of them at the market.

Garlands made of marigolds are fre quently picked and hung about the house. It not only adds colour, but the smell also up lifts the spirit. Addi tionally, you can pur chase vibrant flowers and put them in vases to spruce up bare spaces.

In addition to fairy lights, you can enhance interiors with fake candles, chandeliers, and other reasonably priced light fixtures. To assist you improve the room without spending a lot of money, there are glass bell jars, attractive lamps and other solutions available on Amazon, Myntra and other e-commerce sites.

ACCENTUATE THE WALL

You can just add an accent to the area by painting one wall if you don’t want to paint the entire house. Most people either like to paint the wall behind the television or the sofa in the living room a different, brighter colour.

You don’t need to devote weeks and thousands of dollars to completing this task. Even you can complete the task. You can add textures and instantly brighten up any space by using do-it-yourself techniques.

ADD METALLIC SHOWPIECES

Rustic-looking metallic objects give an otherwise modern room a hint of beauty and traditionalism.

Furthermore, Diwali is the ideal opportunity to experiment with home décor. If you have old, large metallic containers lying around your house, you can scatter them around the walls and ceilings of your living room, hallway and balcony. They can then have candles and diyas (earthen lamps) lit inside of them after being filled with water, flowers and petals. light diyas (earthen lamps) and candles in them.

MRIDULA SHARMA

AIN’T NO SUNSHINE

Arjun Kapoor and Malaika Arora always give us major relationship goals. They never shy away from expressing their love for each oth er on social media. Arjun is in the UK to shoot for his next film and Malaika visited him. They shared pictures from their dates. But now, Malai ka has returned from the UK leaving be hind Arjun. And the actor is already started missing her. He even shared a pic ture of her.

The actor took to his Instagram handle and shared a picture of Malaika. In the picture, the diva can be seen wearing an all-white outfit as she looks out of a win dow. Captioning the picture, Arjun wrote “Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone… Malaika Arora.” As soon as he shared the post, his ladylove wrote, “Aww baby,” with a red heart emoticon. Actress Rakul Preet Singh reacted, “Awww” and his friendphotographer, Rohan Shrestha reacted with a red heart emoji.

Karwa Chauth Celebrations!

It is that time of the year again when ladies deck up and fast for the long lives of their hus bands. We have seen ladies celebrate Karwachauth with full glitz and glam and even our Bollywood divas are no less. Like every year Anil Ka poor’s wife Sunita Ka poor held a Karwachauth bash at her house Bollywood divas and star wives come together at the Kapoor mansion for their special day. Celebrities like Raveena Tandon, Shilpa Shetty and oth ers were spotted looking gor geous in traditional attires as they arrived for Suni ta’s celebration. Shilpa Shetty took to her Insta gram handle to share pictures from the Karwachauth bash.

In the first picture, we can see the en tire girl gang pose together flaunting their brightest smiles for the pic ture. All the la dies look lovely decked up in traditional at tires and we bet you would not be able to take your eyes off the pictures.

Shilpa also shares pic tures of her posing with Suni ta Kapoor and called her the best host.

CAN’T STOP SMILING

Kiara Advani and Sidharth Malhotra, who won hearts with their chemistry in the 2021 film, Shershaah, have been reportedly dating each other for a while now. Recently, while appearing in differ ent episodes of Karan Johar’s chat show Koffee With Karan season 7, Sidharth and Kiara had in a way admitted that they were dating. Recently, Kiara and Sidharth attended producer Ashvini Yardi’s star-studded birthday bash in Mumbai. Now, a candid picture of the rumoured love birds is doing rounds on the internet, in which they can be seen interacting with Riteish Deshmukh. For the occasion, Kiara wore a white butterfly halter top teamed with a golden shiny skirt and high heels while the Student Of The Year actress opted for a denim shirt paired with grey pants and white shoes. Riteish, on the other hand, is seen donning a black suit.

Phone Bhoot song out

Off to work

areena Kapoor Khan is currently in London shooting for her next with Hansal Mehta. On Thurs day she shared an adorable pic ture of her with her son Jeh and we bet you would not be able to shift your eyes from them.

In the picture, we can see Ka reena dressed in a white hoodie which she paired with light blue denim and white shoes.

An upcoming horror-come dy film Phone Bhoot’s first song Kinna Sona has been released. The song stars Katrina Kaif, Ishaan Khatter and Siddhant Chaturvedi. The track is composed, written, and sung by Tanishk Bagchi. The film is pro duced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhawani’s Excel Entertainment. The song video opens by showing Ishaan and Siddhant inside an old bungalow. Suddenly, Katrina dressed in a red latex dress appears- singing and walking on the railing of the stair case. Sharing the song video on Ig, the actress wrote, “Who let the ghosts out? We did! #KinnaSona out now.”

The actress tied her hair in a single ponytail and wore black sunglasses and held her son Jehangir Ali Khan’s hands. He cutely looked to wards his mom. The moth er-son duo appear to be walking in the hotel corri dor. Sharing these pic tures, Bebo wrote, “Off to work with my Boy…but a quick Pose before we leave…#Jeh baba#Kaam pe chalo..”

Alia Bhatt took to the comments section and wrote, “Superstars” with red heart emojis.

KARWA CHAUTH MEHENDI

ajal Aggarw al is making the best of both worlds right now. Apart from enjoying her new phase of life with her baby boy Neil Kitchlu, she has also re sumed work on Kamal Haasan starrer Indian 2. Now, the actress celebrated Karwa Chauth on Thurs day and she took to Insta gram to post a few sneak peeks of her prepara

tions. She shared some pic tures flaunting her Mehen di, looking radiant in a sans-makeup look in a black kurta and red bindi.

On the other hand, Rana Daggubati’s better half Miheeka also penned a beautiful Karwa Chauth post on Instagram, “2 souls, 2 people, 2 hands, 1 promise. An eternity to gether. Celebrating love, today and every day. You

Malaika Arora

Her post...

Kiara Advani and Sidharth Malhotra

Katrina Kaif

Kareena Kapoor Khan

Prime Time Research Media Announces Winners of Global Healthcare & Global Icon Awards 2022

ASHISH TIWARI cityfirst.mumbai@firstindia.co.in

Prime Time Re search Media Pvt Ltd, in as sociation with partners

Bharat 24 & First India (Media Partner) and News10 India (News Partner), IgoUgo (Trav el Partner) Xoom Stu dio (Creative Partner) concluded the prestig ious 9th Global Health care Excellence Awards, 2022 and 9th Global Icon Awards, 2022 in New Delhi to cel ebrate and honour the winners at different levels and Segments. They were awarded for their continuing com mitment to excellence, developing best prac tices and innovative strategies for the growth of the service sector with vision and inspiration in the hard times of COVID-19. The event was a hub of do ers and achievers from the Health care, Service and Media sectors. The Program witnessed the starry presence of Sunil Gavaskar as

Chief Guest. Not only as Media Partner but Bharat 24 a vision of the media maestro of Jagdeesh Chandra won the Best Emerging News Channel of the Year. While Ashish Ti wari, Managing Editor ( Entertainment ) of First India Group known for delivering some of the finest inter views with stalwarts from the industry for his show #Unfiltered Baatien won the award as Best Entertainment Editor. Bharat 24 is a channel that puts its emphasis on stories from around the nation with the help of its aug mented reality-enabled studios. Stars added fashion flavour dress ing in their best styles and Entrepreneurs from various segments took the charge of shar ing innovative ideas, thrilling journeys and experiences. The plat form gave a great op portunity for profes sionals and stakehold ers to exchange views and ideas en couraging budding talent to work hard and take calculated risks. The exacting and daunting feat of zeroing-in on the win ners was achieved by Prime Time Research Media, with support from its associates and partners. After an elab

orated and meticulous selection process which included invit ing nominations from potential nominees, substantial research and surveys and colla tion of feedback and opinions, screening was based on pre-deter mined judging param eters and subsequently choosing the winners through an independ ent jury panel. The sig nificant parameters which were considered for selecting the

Quality and Operation al Excellence, etc.

A comprehensive list of winners of the 9th Global Healthcare Excellence Awards in cludes Bharat 24, Ash ish Tiwari, Rajeeb Lochan Panda, Varsh ney Info tech, Prof. Dr Sunil Kumar Singh, Dr Varun Kumar, Law Trend, Dr Arvind Kumar, Dr T. K. Jayarajan, Jeeten dra Kumar Singh, Dr Ashwin Mudgil, Sal eem Baghban,

Shankar Prasanth, The Learning Curve, Ab hishek Chowksey, Neha Dhingra, Dr Rav ishankar Prasad Ravi, Dr Sandeep Kumar Pathak, Fakkeerappa I.P.S, Dr Muskan Tyagi, Dr Musharraf Ahmed Khan, Select Hospital, Moradabad, Aryabhat ta International School, Mo radabad, So matheeram Re search Institute and Ayurveda Hospital Pvt. LTD, Career choice360’s, Dawchem Pharmaceuticals PVT ltd, Dr Rishi George, City Eye Hospital, Al pha Astro App, Rihita Ranjan, Multi-Speciali ty Hospital, Pithapuram, Sujay Goswami, Sanjay Ku mar Singh, Vastulipi, KIMS Health, Dr Veena Chowdhary Founda tion Eye Hospital, Holy Child School, Dr Par thasarathi Dutta Roy, Voyage Consultants, Punam Gupta, Dr Rajesh Pal, CPL Di agnostics Pvt Ltd, Dr Gagan Deep Singh, Dr Anir ban Sengupta, Dr Bhanwar Singh Takhar, Dr Umar Nazir, Dr Brah manand Lal, Raja R R, Dr Meet Kumar, Abhilash Reddy, SVS Construc

tions, FWD Architects, Oscar Group of Hospi tals, Bharat 24, Ashish Tiwari, Mahant Gaurav Sharma, Dr Santosh Kumar Jha, The Picture House, 22 Yards Sports Media & Communication Pvt Ltd, IgoUgo, Advance Calibration

During the occasion, the director of the company, H N Jha ex pressed, “The pandem ic COVID-19 has affect ed the service industry the most. And, the way industries like Agri culture and Allied sec tor, IT, Healthcare and Education bounced back is commendable.”

Solah Shringar Karvachauth Mela

CITY FIRST

Showcasing the colours of India

CITY FIRST

Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, Swaranjali hosted two days Indian classical music event called 'Colours of India', Curated by Subrata De (Founder of Swaranjali). The event will highlight a galaxy of artists from various

states to perform at Triveni Kala Sangam, New Delhi. The emi nent Carnatic veena player Vidhushi Kalaimamani Jayalak shmi Sekhar with Trichy Dr K. Mu rali on Ghatam and Kumbakonam N. Padmanaban on Mridangam from Chennai followed by a Vocal recital from Ravi

Pal with Pradip Kumar Sarkar on Tabla and Lalit Sisodia on Har monium enthralled the audience by there per formances.

Swaranjali is an or ganisation for the pro motion of Indian mu sic and its budding art ists. Registered under the society act of the Delhi Government in December 2003.

For the occasion of Karwa Chauth on Thursday beauty and makeover expert, Ri cha Agarwal from Cleopatra Salon and Makeovers organised a beauty campaign titled 'Solah Shringar Kar vachauth Mela'. New looks of Karva Chauth which were traditional as well as modern and very attractive were presented during the campaign. On the occa sion, married women participated in good

numbers and got their transformation done while applying new de signs of Mehndi on their hands, trying new hairstyles, eye makeup,

ADMIRATION OF THE ART LOVERS

FIRST

J aipur-based sen ior artist Ajay Singh Peelwa's painting on a cheetah was displayed at the two-day Oil Fa bles Season 12 at DLF Emporio in New Delhi on Friday, which was witnessed and appreci ated by a large number of art lovers. The event was inaugurated by Meenak shi Devi member erst

while royal family Kis hangarh, Ma haraja Bra jraj Singh, MP Rajya Sabha Jayant Chaudhary and Nawab Kazim

Ali Khan of Rampur. A cheetah painting was presented to Ma haraja Ranjit Walkner at the event. The paint ings of Ajay Singh were beautifully en graved on canvas in acrylic, watercolour and graphite medium. These also include other confessional pic tures depicting wild

life including tigers, leopards, horses and birds. Attractive colour tones, tex tures and excellent techniques have been used in all the paintings of artist Ajay, which are very enchanting. It is a mat ter of happiness that the cheetah has come to our country after al most 70 years. For this, the efforts of Mahara

an important role.

Artist Ajay Singh Peelwa has been paint ing wild life in cluding lions, cheetah for more than 20 years.

Ajay Singh, who is making a painting for

the purpose of wildlife conservation, said that he would gift a painting of a cheetah made by him to Maha raja Ranjit Singh Walkner. Ajay ex pressed how he sin cerely wishes that the awareness among the people should increase so that wildlife can be protected properly. Ajay believes that if wildlife is saved then we will also be saved.

lip makeup and nail art trends. Elaborating on these looks and Solah Shringar Mela Makeo ver experts Richa Ag garwal and Harveen

Kathuria said, “On this day every woman is very particular about makeup, hairstyle and stylish outfits. Not only does she want to get decked up from head to toe but she also wants to give priority to new trends and new fashions. On this oc casion of Karva Chauth, we have organ ised Solah Shringar Mela which is in sync with new trends."

Through this Mela, Ri cha Agarwal along with beauty expert Harveen Kathuria ex

plored and implement ed new trends uniquely and subtly. The latest trends and tips for the season were also shared with everyone and the right way of using beauty and makeup products for skin, hair and nail care was dis cussed. There were sessions on personal DIY Make-up, Profes sional Make-up, Bridal Make-up, Air-brushed Make-up etc. There were special sessions for women on the right diet, food habits and lifestyle choices.

LIFE IN DELHI METRO

CITY FIRST

Nowadays, it isn’t uncommon to see people dancing on the streets as they take part in the lat est trends and dance challenges. Being un mindful of the people around takes a lot of con fidence. A similar video of a girl dancing inside a moving Metro coach while passengers stand nearby is going viral on Instagram.

The clip was shared by a woman with the user name thinlay.bhutia re cently and it received more than 1.5 million views. “Delhi metro life,” says a text insert on the video. The video shows the girl performing dance steps inside a mov ing Metro coach, which seems quite crowded.

The video seems to have been shot by a fellow passenger.

“Confi dence ho toh aisa,” says the caption of the video, praising the girl’s confi dence. Netizens lauded the girl’s confidence to dance in a crowded Met ro train and wished they had the same.

“Need such a confi dence,” commented an Instagram user.

Glimpse from the event

Susamoy Mishra and Amitava Sen

(L-R) Ajay Singh Peelwa, Vajra Pratap Singh Rathore, Shiromani Singh and Anshu Khanna ( Founder of Royal Fables)

Ashish Tiwari

Sunil Gavaskar felicitates Bhim Shankar Negi and Nishant Mishra of Bharat 24

Sunil Gavaskar felicitates Alpha Astro App

Sunil Gavaskar felicitates Ashish Tiwari

Sunil Gavaskar felicitates SVS Constructions Pvt Ltd

Sunil Gavaskar felicitates Kims Hospital