First India-Delhi Edition-20th October 2022

ANURAG THAKUR LEADS CLEANLINESS DRIVE UNDER SWACHH BHARAT

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COURT DISCHARGES TAHIR HUSSAIN IN ONE DELHI RIOTS CASE

New Delhi (ANI): A Delhi court on Wednesday discharged former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain and nine others from the offence of intent to destroy property by fire (Sec 436 IPC) in a case related to the 2020 Delhi riots. However, the accused will face trial under IPC sections 147, 148, 149, 427, and 120B.

6 MONTHS JAIL FOR BURSTING CRACKERS ON DIWALI IN DELHI

New Delhi: Kejri-led got on Wednesday announced purchasing or bursting firecrackers on Diwali in Delhi will attract a jail term of 6 months, fine of `200. Minister Gopal Rai said production, storage, sale of firecrackers in nat’l capital will be punishable with a fine of up to `5,000.

INDIAN-ORIGIN UK HOME SECRETARY QUITS TRUSS CABINET

CONGRESS

KHARGE PIPS THAROOR IN ONE-SIDED WIN

New Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge will take charge on October 26

Moni Sharma

Sonia Gandhi congratulates Kharge, Rahul Gandhi calls Prez post ‘historic responsibility’

SRI LANKA SC ORDERS TO ISSUE SUMMONS TO GOTABAYA

New Delhi: Indian-origin British home secretary Suella Braverman resigned on Wednesday after a “mistake” in using her private email for ministerial communication in London. On October 14, Kwasi Kwarteng was removed as the finance minister to be replaced by J Hunt. Suella tweeted her resignation.

‘VERY POOR’ AQI: TANDOORS BANNED IN NCR EATERIES

New Delhi: With “very poor” air quality predicted in NCR by Saturday, an official panel directed stage two of Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), which includes banning use of coal and firewood in in tandoors in hotels, restaurants, eateries.

F’FURT-B’LURU FLIGHT DIVERTED DUE TO MED EMERGENCY ON BOARD

New Delhi: Lufthansa’s Frankfurt-Bengaluru flight LH 754 on Tuesday had to be diverted to Istanbul due to a medical emergency on board. Boeing 747 took off from Germany at 1.05 pm with estimated time of arrival in India at 1.25 am next day. Passengers to reach Bengaluru today.

Ghaziabad SP says there is a property dispute between victim and the accused

New Delhi: A woman from Delhi was forced into a car at gunpoint while she was standing at Ashram Chowk, then gang-raped by five men over two days, tortured with an iron rod insert

My best wishes to Shri Mallikarjun Kharge Ji for his new responsibility as President of @INCIndia. May he have a fruitful tenure ahead. @kharge

New Delhi: As expected, Mallikarjun Kharge was on Wednesday elected the Congress president beating Shashi Tharoor in a tightly fought con test. The veteran, who won 7,897 of the valid votes (84.14 per cent) of the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) dele gates to Tharoor’s 1,072 (11.4 per cent), takes over as the first non-Gandhi chief of the party in twoand-a-half decades. While Kharge’s victory was no less than a land slide, Tharoor managed to cross 1,000 vote mark, surprising many.

Newly-elected Con gress president Mall ikarjun Kharge will take charge as party chief on October 26. He also thanked Outgoing Congress president So nia Gandhi on behalf of party workers. Rahul Gandhi, who is in the Bharat Jodo Yatra also extended wishes to Kharge and said that post he has been elected for “represents a demo cratic vision of India”.

Congress had strengthened the democracy of this country since Independence. Today when every institution is being dismantled, Democracy is in danger, the Congress, by holding a countrywide election, has worked towards strengthening the democracy.

Centre makes major reshuffle; Aramane is new defence secy

New Delhi: In a major shake up of top bureau cracy, govt on Wednes day appointed & reshuf fled 16 senior officials as secretaries. While AP cadre IAS Giridhar Ara mane will take charge as new defence secy from next month, Haryana cadre IAS Vivek Joshi has been named as new

financial services secre tary. Sanjay Malhotra, current financial ser vices secy, has been ap pointed as new revenue secy and he will replace Tarun Bajaj who is retir ing in Nov 6 of these 16 officers will take charge as secretaries in new depts in December, Jan uary and Feb. Turn to P5

The high-decibel election for Congress presiden cy is over. And now focus will now be back on Rajasthan. New Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leadership will have to take a call on whether to let Ashok Gehlot continue as CM, given the huge support he has of the MLAs, or force a regime change and bring in Sachin Pilot. Sources in the party said Rajasthan issue was “still open” and argued that a decision had been deferred till the party presidential elections.

GUJARAT SET TO BE DEFENCE HUB SOON!

New airbase near India-Pakistan border will be crucial for security, says PM Narendra Modi at Defence Expo 2022

Gandhinagar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday in augurated the Defence Expo 2022 in Gandhina gar, laid the foundation stone of a new airbase at Deesa and said the new airbase will emerge as an effective centre for country’s security. Guj will become a cen tre of defence in India and will play a crucial role in India’s security. With an aim to give impetus to the defence sector, India’s “biggest ever” defence exhibi tion - DefExpo 2022 is being held. “I was see ing on screen that peo ple of Deesa were ex cited over the construc tion of the new airfield. Deesa is only 130km away from the Interna tional Border. At pre sent, we are exporting defence materials and equipment to more than 75 countries of the world. We aim to take it to $5 billion dollars or about ` 40,000 crore in the next few years,” PM Modi said addressing Deesa’s ‘brothers and sisters’ in Gujarati.

PM Narendra Modi on Wednesday unveiled HTT-40 – the indigenous trainer air craft designed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited – at the India Pavilion during the expo, and also launched Mis sion DefSpace befor laying foundation stone for Deesa airfield in his home state.

PM Modi and visiting UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres on Thursday will launch the global plan of action for its brainchild Mission LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment) and appeal to world to opt for “mindful and deliberate utilisation to save the Earth from disastrous.

This is the very same country that once released pigeons, today it has reached a stage where it is releasing cheetahs. The events may look small at times but the underlying message is bigger. —Narendra Modi, Prime Minister

Organizing this Def-Expo at the beginning of ‘Amritkal’, reflects our strong resolve to safeguard the nation and become a defence manufacturing hub for the world in the next 25 years. In line with Modi’s vision to make India a strong, selfreliant nation, theme of this Expo is ‘Path to Pride’.

Delhi Police nabs Moosewala murder accused

New Delhi (PTI): The Delhi Police’s Special Cell on Wednesday nabbed gangster Deep ak Tinu, an accused in Sidhu Moosewala’s murder who escaped from Punjab police cus tody on October 1, from Alwar, officials said.

Special Commission er of Police (Special Cell) HGS Dhaliwal said Tinu kept chang

ing his hideout after fleeing from Mansa in Punjab. The Delhi Po lice carried out exten

Sidhu Moosewala was shot dead in Mansa district on May 29. Goldy Brar, a member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, claimed re sponsibility for the murder. Tinu is among 24 accused charge-sheeted in the case.

sive operations in dif ferent places in the country and finally suc ceeded in arresting

him. “Five grenades and two automatic pis tols have been recov ered from his posses sion. He is being brought to the national capital and his police custody remand will be sought,” Dhaliwal said.

In 2017, too, Tinu had escaped from Haryana after throwing pepper spray in the eyes of a police officer.

Woman abducted, gang-raped, dumped on road in Delhi

ed in her private parts, and then dumped— wrapped in a jute bag— on the road at the same Ashram Chowk, Ghazi abad police and Delhi Commission for Wom en (DCW) said on Wednesday.

According to the FIR, based on what the vic tim told her brother, there were four people inside the car whom she knew. After taking her to an unknown place, five men raped her. When she was in an un

It is shameful that the law and order situation is helpless before such beasts.

—Rajendra Pal Gautam, Delhi’s former Social Welfare Minister

conscious state, the men tied her hands and legs and wrapped her inside a jute bag. There after, they took her in the vehicle to another location where they dumped her.

DCW chief Swati Maliwal claimed that an iron rod was insert ed in the private parts

of the 36-year-old wom an. Ghaziabad police said there was a prop erty dispute between the woman and the ac cused. Four of the five accused have been ar rested, police said.

Authorities at the Guru Teg Bahadur Hos pital said the woman’s condition is stable and

no internal injury has been found yet. Sources at the hospital, howev er, said there were signs of sexual assault and a “foreign object” was found in her body.

According to Nipun Agarwal, Superinten dent of Police (City-I) Ghaziabad, the Nand gram police station re ceived a call on October 18, informing that a woman was lying on the Ashram road. The po lice took her to a nearby hospital but Turn to P3

NO FEAR OF LAW: NIRBHAYA’S MOTHER

Nirbhaya’s mother Asha Devi, who fought a long legal battle to get the accused punished, said though several years have passed, things have not changed on the ground. “It is saddening that in the last 10 years, things have not changed. Several laws have been enacted to protect women but they have not translated into action on the ground,” Devi said. “The perpetrators do not have any fear of law because they know that they will find support somewhere. Whenever they are being tried, some person or the other starts talking about their human rights. But what about the victim? Due to the trauma of recalling the incident at various stages of investigation and in court hearings, she loses the will power,” she said.

Mukesh Ambani splurges $163 mn on priciest Dubai villa First India Bureau

Dubai: Mukesh Amba ni bought the Palm Jumeirah mansion last week for about $163 million from the family of Kuwaiti ty coon Mohammed Alsh aya, said the people, asking not to be named as they’re not author ized to speak publicly.

Alshaya’s conglomerate owns the local franchis es for retail brands in cluding Starbucks, H&M and Victoria’s Se cret. The billionaire has been snapping up prop erties overseas, increas ingly looking westward for second homes.

First India Bureau

BISHNOI GANG

1ST

PREZ IN 24 YEARS

Congress leader Sonia Gandhi and General Secretary Sonia Gandhi pose for a group picture with newly elected Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and his wife Radhabai Kharge after his victory, at his residence, in New Delhi on Wednesday.

—PHOTO BY ANI

PM Narendra Modi inaugurates DefExpo22 at the Mahatma Mandir Convention in Gandhinagar on Wednesday. Also seen here are Union Minister Rajnath Singh, Gujarat Guv Acharya Devvrat, Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel, Defence Chief Anil Chauhan, Naval Staff Admiral R Hari Kumar and others.

PM Modi at the inauguration of the DefExpo22 at Mahatma Mandir Convention and Exhibition Centre, in Gandhinagar on Wednesday.

—Mallikarjun Kharge

—Shashi Tharoor

—Rajnath Singh, Union Defence Minister

MALLIKARJUN KHARGE’S NEXT CHALLENGE IS RAJASTHAN!

PM UNVEILS HTT-40, PAINTS ‘NEW INDIA’ MISSION LIFE TO LAUNCH TODAY

Narendra Modi

@narendramodi

`

Colombo:

Lanka’s Supreme Court on Wednesday directed authorities to issue summons to ousted president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to appear in court over the disappearances of two activists in 2011 as he has now been stripped of constitutional immunity.

VARSITY WELCOMES DECISION

STEPHEN’S HAS TO FOLLOW DU ADMISSIONS POLICY: SC

New Delhi (PTI): The Delhi University on Wednesday welcomed the Supreme Court’s or der refusing to stay a Delhi High Court’s that asked St. Stephen’s Col lege to follow the univer sity’s admission policy, and assured the aspir ants will face “no issue” as undergraduate ad missions will be con ducted as per schedule.

DU registrar Vikas Gupta said, “The court has decided in the right spirit. As a matter to re spect to the court we delayed the list. We are there for the students. They will face no issue during admission. Stu dents need not to worry. The admission will be conducted as scheduled and the session will start on November 2.”

The high court had directed St Stephen’s College to follow the university’s admission policy, according to which 100 per cent weightage has to be giv en to the Common Uni

DU ANNOUNCES FIRST LIST OF ADMISSIONS TO UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMMES

New Delhi(PTI): Delhi University announced on Wednesday the much-awaited first list of seat allocations for admission to under graduate programmes. This marks the com mencement of the third and last phase of the admission process.

The list was initially slotted to be announced

versity Entrance Test (CUET)-2022 score while granting admissions to non-minority students

on October 18. How ever, it was deferred to Wednesday. “The first round of the Common Seat Allocation System (CSAS) of the Univer sity of Delhi has been released today,” said DU Dean of Admission Haneet Gandhi. The list has not be issued in the public domain and the candidate will only be

in undergraduate courses. St Stephen’s College, however, want ed to give 85 per cent

EOW probe into role of jail officials in Sukesh’s ‘crime syndicate’

New Delhi (PTI): LG

VK Saxena has granted permission to the Eco nomic Offences Wing (EOW) of the city police for investigating the role of 82 Delhi Prison Department officials in the organised crime syndicate being run by conman Sukesh Chan drashekhar from the Rohini Jail, sources said on Wednesday.

The LG has also not ed that the Prison De partment was under the now jailed AAP leader and minister Satyendar Jain. Under him, it was marred with “several serious controversies includ ing confiscation of mo bile phones from pris oners”, following which jamming devices were installed in and around various jail premises recently, the LG Office sources said.

“Similarly, issues of overcrowding, violent clashes among inmates and prisoners jumping parole have put the de partment under a cloud. The case per tains to the extortion of Rs 200 crore by Chan

drashekhar in collu sion with jail officials,” a source said.

Chandrashekhar was lodged in jail number 10 of Rohini Jail at the time of the incident.

The EOW had in formed that during in vestigation in the case, seven officers have al ready been arrested for facilitating the extor tion syndicate being run by the accused. During investigation, it

❍ NEW COVID VARIANT

Keep masks on, beware of festive season: Dr Guleria

New Delhi (ANI): With India reporting a highly infectious new COV ID-19 variant, former Director of Delhi AIIMS, Dr Randeep Gu leria on Wednesday urged the common peo ple to follow COVID-ap propriate behaviour.

He said, “I would sug gest to everyone that if they are going out and especially in crowded places then they must wear a mask. High-risk groups, elderly people should avoid going out

because there are high chances of spreading infection.”

“New variants are ex pected and this variant has a tendency to mu tate that will continue, but now the situation is different, earlier, there was no vaccination, but people are now vacci nated also. But this doesn’t mean that peo ple will stop taking pre cautions, festival season is coming up and cases are also rising,” he ex plained further.

also found the involve ment of another 82 of ficials who had collud ed in running the syn dicate from the prison.

Chandrashekhar, who is currently in Mandoli jail here, is ac cused of cheating many people, including highprofile individuals such as former Fortis Healthcare promoter Shivinder Mohan Sin gh’s wife Aditi Singh of Rs 200 crore.

able to see the college and courses allotted to them on their dash board. The candidate will have to click on “Accept Allocation” under user action tab. “On receiving the ‘Approval from the College Principal’, student will proceed to pay the fee to confirm the admission.

weightage to CUET and 15 per cent to interviews for admitting students across categories.

PROSPECTUS GONE FROM WEBSITE

New Delhi: St Stephen’s College on Wednesday removed from its website a conten tious prospectus which was at the centre of a discord between the college and its governing Delhi University, hours after the Su preme Court re jected the college’s petition against the university’s admis sion process. The prospectus, which was on the web site since May, for admission to the college’s under graduate courses for 2022-23 men tioned 85 per cent weightage to the Common Univer sity Entrance Test Admissions (CUET) and 15 per cent to an interview.

SC urges HC to hear plea on Jamia violence soon

New Delhi (ANI): The Supreme Court on Wednesday requested the Delhi High Court to give an early hear ing to a plea relating to alleged violence in Ja mia Millia Islamia University on Decem ber 15, 2019.

A bench of justices Aniruddha Bose and Vikram Nath’s re quest came while hearing a plea by Na bila Hasan. The peti tioner’s lawyer sub mitted that matters have been pending be fore the HC for years.

The petitioner ap proached the HC

against Delhi Police for allegedly attacking the students of Jamia Millia Islamia on De cember 15 2019.

The HC was hearing a batch of petitions in cluding one filed by lawyer Nabila Hasan through advocates

Sneha Mukherjee and Siddharth Seem seek ing action against cops. The petitioners blamed the forces for using extreme physi cal force and violence against unarmed and peaceful students.

The plea also raised questions over the use of “extreme” meas ures (tear gas shells, chilli-based explosives and rubber bullets) against the protesters.

Several protesters and cops sustained in juries during a protest against the citizen ship law near the Ja mia campus.

SC grants bail to SP MLA

Nahid Hasan

New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted bail to Samajwadi Party MLA from Kairana Na hid Hasan in a case of alleged criminal intimi dation.

A bench of Justices A S Bopanna and PS Nar asimha noted the mate rial witnesses in the case have already been examined and Hasan was not keeping good health. “It is no doubt true that HC has advert ed in detail to the facts while rejecting the re quest of the appellant for bail.

“However, having tak en note of the subse quent developments and also the fact that the ma terial witnesses have already been examined and the appellant is not keeping a good health, without expressing any opinion on the merits, we find it appropriate that the appellant be re leased on bail,” the bench said.

An FIR was regis tered against Hasan and one Nawab in 2019 by a woman Shahjahan.

LIFE LESSONS IN JANGPURA

Flicker of hope for Afg refugees in tiny basement

Aparna Bose

New Delhi: Amid a labyrinth of shops in a bustling market in south Delhi’s Jangpu ra, lies a tiny room in a basement where around 300 refugees from Afghanistan are taught English and fa miliarised about Indi an society to help them get employment.

Refugees of all age groups attend classes at the Anjam Knowl edge House a commu

nity school started by another refugee, Ah mad Khan Anjam, some six years ago.

Some students here as pire to be doctors and engineers, others dream of becoming pi lots and teachers.

“I want to become a pilot,” said an enthusi astic 10-year-old Yasir, who arrived in India with his family around five years ago.

Reema Hassan, 15, said, “I want to be a doc tor when I grow up. I am

very keen to study, and I hope to have a success ful career.”

“When it comes to ad justing in society, the first problem is lan

guage barrier. Most of them speak only Pashto and hence, we teach English and grammar to the students. We also teach them about Indian

cultures like Holi and Diwali,” Anjam said.

“Before the pandem ic, there were around 16 teachers and more than 600 students at tended classes here.

But the coronavirus outbreak severely im pacted our finances.

Now, there are six teachers and around 300 students,” Anjam said. But the students need to study other im portant subjects as well to have a career and for that the school needs

support, he added.

“I reached out to the Indian government and appealed to them for help and support multi ple times but received no response. People who come here for edu cation cannot have a career until they get to study other important subjects along with English,” Anjam said.

Many children in this school have never been to an educational institute until they ar rived in India.

Students protest as police act tough near Jamia campus on December 15, 2019. —FILE PHOTO INVASION

Sukesh Chandrashekhar in police custody. —FILE PHOTO

CONGRESS WITH KHARGE

Shashi Tharoor greets newly elected Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge at the latter’s residence in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra with Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday.

—PHOTOS BY PTI

Congress leader Sonia Gandhi with Radhabai Kharge, wife of Mallikarjun Kharge, in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Jail, fine for bursting crackers on Diwali

Production, storage & sale of firecrackers in the capital will also be punishable, with fine of

First India Bureau

New Delhi: The Delhi government has re minded the people of the city that bursting firecrackers is banned this Diwali.

Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, Delhi envi ronment minister Go pal Rai said, “Bursting of firecrackers on Di wali in Delhi will at tract jail term up to six months and a fine of Rs 200.”

Not only this, even production, storage and sale of firecrackers in the capital will be pun ishable with a fine of up to Rs 5,000 and three years jail under Section 9B of the Explosives Act, the minister said.

Rai further said a public awareness cam paign -- Diye Jalao Pa takhe Nahi (light diyas, not firecrackers) -- will be launched on October 21. In September, the city government re-im

posed a complete ban on the production, sale and use of all types of fire crackers till January 1, a practice it has been following for the last two years.

The government will

Husband arrested after woman’s naked body found in suitcase

Gurugram (PTI): The husband of the woman whose naked body was found stuffed inside a suitcase near IFFCO Chowk a couple of days ago was arrested Wednesday for alleged ly killing her, police said. Police claimed that the 22-year-old man Rahul has confessed that he killed his wife over domestic strife.

The deceased has been identified as Pri yanka (20) who lived with her husband and a one-year-old daughter at a rented accommoda tion in Sirhual village here. They married in February last year.

During interroga tion, Rahul revealed

that the wife used to de mand mobile, TV and refrigerator which was out of his means. They used to fight over this issue quite often. On the night of October 16, Priyanka slapped Ra hul following a fight, which enraged him and

he strangulated her.

On the morning of October 17, he bought a big suitcase and stuffed her wife’s naked body into it after peeling off the skin from her hand which had her name tat tooed. The knife also has been recovered.

DCW notice to police

New Delhi (PTI): The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) has is sued a notice to Ghazi abad police in connec tion with the brutal gang-rape of a 38-yearold woman.

“The woman was found “wrapped in a jute bag, with her hands and legs tied and an iron rod inserted in her private part,” the DCW said.

The woman is in hos pital in a “very critical condition”, it said.

The notice was issued to Ghaziabad SSP seek ing action taken report and a copy of the FIR

along with details of ar rests made. DCW chief Swati Maliwal said, “The incident is very horrific and disturbing. It reminds me of the Nirbhaya case. All ac cused must be arrested immediately and strict action taken against them.”

NEIGHBOUR HELD FOR RAPING 11-YEAR-OLD

New Delhi: A 28-year-old man was arrested for rap ing a minor girl in north Delhi’s Wazirabad area, police said on Wednesday.

According to a complaint filed by the girl’s parents, the 11-year-old girl was allegedly raped by the neighbour in September.

The accused, a cook, was arrested on Tuesday, they said. Police said the matter came to light after the girl narrated her ordeal to her mother following which she approached the Wazirabad police.

light 51,000 diyas at the Central Park in Con naught Place on Friday.

Rai said 408 teams have been set up to im plement the ban.

“Pollution levels rise around Diwali every

2 bodies with heads crushed found at 2 sites

New Delhi (PTI): Two bodies with their heads crushed and multiple injuries were recovered in separate incidents here, police said on Wednesday.

In the first case, a body was found on Out er Ring Road in CR Park area. Police suspect it to be a case of accident.

DCP (South) Chandan Chowdhary said the body was of an approxi mately 40-year-old man.

In another case, a body of a man in his 30s was found in Jounapur village in south Delhi’s Fatehpur Beri area.

A labour attendance card recovered from one his pocket identified him as Pradip.

FROM PG 1

Woman abducted... she insisted on getting admitted to a hospital in Delhi. She was then tak en to the GTB Hospital, he said.

“Four of them (the ac cused) have been arrest ed. Preliminary investi gation has revealed that there is a property dis pute between the wom an and the accused. That case is already in Kark ardooma court. The matter is being investi gated,” Agarwal said.

The SP said the victim claimed that after rap ing her, the accused had inserted an iron rod in her private part but when the police tried to get her medically exam

year. The major reason is the bursting of fire crackers. Emissions from firecrackers are extremely dangerous especially for kids, women and the elderly.

“Therefore, the Delhi government has im posed a complete ban on the production, sale and use of all types of fire crackers this year too. The ban covers online delivery of firecrack ers,” the minister said.

Rai urged Union En vironment Minister Bhupender Yadav to en sure the ban on fire crackers is strictly im plemented in the entire NCR “as the smoke from firecrackers burst in the region impacts the people in Delhi also”.

to

OVER 1,400-KG FIRECRACKERS SEIZED, 5 HELD

New Delhi (PTI):

The police arrested five people in sepa rate operations and seized over 1,400 kg of firecrackers, of ficials said Wednes day. In Kanhaiya Nagar cops nabbed Mohit Gupta (22) for carrying a bag full of firecrackers.

Dinesh Chand (63) was held for storing huge quantity of crackers in his shop at Madangir. In Amar Colony Shubham Gupta (24) and Pawan Arora (24), and Gopal Das (64) were arrested.

New Delhi (PTI): The transport department has de-registered over 50 lakh vehicles so far this year, according to official data. They include diesel vehicles older than 10 years and petrol vehicles older than 15 years, officials said, adding this is the highest number of vehicles deregistered in

a year. According to the data, 53,38,045 vehicles have been de-registered between 2018 and 2022, with 50,25,447 dereg istered till October 17 this year. In 2018, the SC had ordered ply ing of diesel and petrol vehicles older than 10 years and 15 years, respectively is banned in Delhi.

CM Kejriwal urges PM Modi to work together to improve schools

New Delhi (PTI):

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday appealed to Prime Min ister Narendra Modi to work together to im prove the country’s schools and offered his government’s expertise.

Kejriwal’s remarks come after Modi visited a school in Gandhi Na gar, Gujarat, and inter acted with students.

“PM sir, we have done a wonderful job in the field of education in Delhi. In five years, all the government schools of Delhi were improved remarkably. Schools across the country can be improved in five years,” the CM tweeted.

DEFENDS DDCD, JASMINE SHAH

On the achievements of the Dialogue and Development Commission of Delhi (DDCD) in last seven years, Kejri wal said DDCD has done exemplary work and termed the showcause notice to vice-chairperson Jasmine Shah wrong.“Earlier, CATS ambulance used to take 55 min utes but during the pandemic, the DDCD redesigned the system, procured new ambulances and brought down waiting time to 18 minutes,” the chief minister said.

‘Recommended Anand for social welfare minister’

New Delhi (PTI): CM Ke jriwal on Wednesday said he has recommended to the LGthe name of Raaj Kumar Anand for social welfare minister, days after Rajendra Pal Gau tam resigned following a row over his presence at a religious conversion event.

ined at a Meerut hospi tal, she refused.“After preliminary treatment, when we tried to get her medical examination conducted, she refused. Doctors referred her to the Meerut Medical col lege for treatment but she refused to go there. The woman was then taken to a Delhi hospital and is undergoing treat ment there. Police is tak ing legal advice to ob tain evidence,” said the SP. In a statement, Dr Rajat Jhamb, media spokesperson of the GTB Hopital said the woman was admitted to the hospital on Tuesday morning. Her vitals were stable, he said.

Delimitation of Delhi wards done, polls next

New Delhi (PTI): The Ministry of Home Af fairs has issued the final gazette notification for redrawing of municipal wards in Delhi, paving the way for civic polls in the city.

The 800-page gazette notification by the MHA, dated October 17, stated that the number of municipal wards in Delhi will now be 250. Before the reunification of the three erstwhile corporations, there were 272 civic wards.

The delimitation com mittee on Monday sub

mitted to the Centre the final report on redraw ing of the wards of Mu nicipal Corporation of

WARDS NOW DOWN TO 250

The Centre had fixed total number of seats in MCD at 250 from the existing figure of 272. This was stated in a Delhi Gazette notification, issued on September 10.

The total number of seats reserved for the members of Scheduled Castes in MCD in pro

portion to their number is also determined to be 42, it had said. The previous three corporations in Delhi comprised 272 wards. While the North and South corporations ac counted for 104 wards each, the East corpo ration had 64 wards under its jurisdiction.

received have been ex amined and the Draft Delimitation Order for wards of MCD has been amended wherever re quired, feasible and jus tified on reasonable grounds.

2 Nigerians arrested for duping women of lakhs

New Delhi (PTI): Two Nigerian nationals were arrested for allegedly duping women after be friending them on social media, police said on Wednesday.

Delhi, sources earlier said. According to sources, the move will now pave the way for the

civic poll as after the fi nal delimitation order, the Centre is likely to direct the state election

commission to initiate the poll process.

“And, whereas, sug gestions/objections so

“Now, therefore, the Central Government, after careful considera tion of all aspects, here by determines the ex tent of each of the 250 wards as comprised within the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and as per Annexure to this order, “ reads the notification.

Accused, Raphael (19) and Evans Chukwudi (20), lived in Tilak Na gar, they said. The police conducted a raid and nabbed the accused, DCP (northwest) Usha Rangnani said.

The two arrived in In dia in 2022 for medical treatment and started scamming people

through social media, she said.

They befriended women on social media and induced them to pay large amounts on the pretext of customs duty and foreign currency conversion charge on costly gifts, the police said.

jail: Minister Gopal Rai

The move will pave way for Delhi civic body polls.

—FILE PHOTO

A public awareness campaign—Diye Jalao Patakhe Nahi—will be launched on October 21.

ABOVE 50 L VEHICLES DE-REGISTERED IN DELHI THIS YEAR TILL OCTOBER 17

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal addresses a press conference at CM Camp Office in New Delhi on Wednesday. —PHOTO BY PTI

MISSION GUJARAT

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia with AAP leaders Isudan Gadhvi, Pravin Ram, Jagmal Vala and others offers prayers at Somnath Temple on Wednesday. —PHOTO BY PTI

The man accused of kiling his wife, in police custody in Gurugram on Wednesday. —PHOTO BY PTI

EMOTIONAL SHREWDNESS

Ayoung man began experiencing backaches. He became deeply troubled about it, assuming the worst. The more he worried, the greater the pain became. Finally, he went to a physician, who found no reason for his problem.

Initially, the back pain started due to increased work load which made him worry about being a failure. After understanding the source of the difficulty, this man stopped being anxious, and the pain disappeared. This illustrates that emotional problems can affect one’s physical well-being. Unknowingly, a person can become his own enemy.

We live in a high-speed age with pressures that make people edgy. Small things like a thoughtless remark, an unintentional bump or a discourtesy shown can be so annoying that it can cause tensed persons to explode with anger.

We live in a high-speed age with pressures that make people edgy. Small things like a thoughtless remark, an unintentional bump or a discourtesy shown can be so annoying that it can cause tensed persons to explode with anger

understanding. An emotionally shrewd person is not crafty but practical and prudent, who can foresee difficulties and prepare for it.

Over sensitivity, over conscientiousness, and being over fussy results in nervous exhaustion. Such persons make ‘mountains out of molehills,’ and expect much from others.

goes, “what cannot be cured must be endured.” Getting rid of the ‘blues’ requires readjusting one’s outlook towards problems and learning to remain unruffled when people irritate. This will reduce emotional strain. Fatigue vanishes through purposeful activity.

Many crave emotional stimulation through fast driving, risky sports and drugs. Their tolerance for quiet environment is low, wanting to get more emotional exhilaration out of life. Appropriately controlled emotions add spice to life. Healthy sentiments strengthen determination to achieve worthwhile goals. Emotional shrewdness helps us to weigh the consequences before we act. It guides one to make a right estimate of things –recognizing what are the really big things in life and what things merit only minor importance.

If one permits small things to cause irritation, temper can quickly soar. Under provocation, a person does and says things which one regrets later, that makes him / her lose friends and ruin relationships. Acting rashly on some personal affront, makes one appear foolish in the eyes of others. By ignoring the errors, one allows the dishonour to die down. It helps one to preserve his / her dignity as well as peace of mind, and even aid those responsible for provocation to attain emotional balance.

Shrewdness is defined as sharpness in perception or

TOUGH ROAD AHEAD FOR NEW CONG PREZ

Anxiety, fear and worry are other harmful emotions. They speed up aging, wrinkle the skin and make one susceptible to disease. Tension headaches may occur due to stress from conflict at work or at home.

Controlling and restraining our emotions is a sign of strength. What makes more sense – to ‘let off steam’ now, thus showing anger or to cool down the fire that is building up the steam? Often, due to short sightedness or ignorance, one reacts in a hasty manner.

Am I a ‘worry bird’? One can ask oneself. Can I do something about it? If not, one must dismiss it from one’s mind. As the saying

If a friend or a family member is emotionally disturbed, it is easy for them to give in to instability, become withdrawn, introverted or become very independent and assertive. Some use coarse speech, others pretend to be something they are not, thereby becoming superficial.

By showing affection and care, their self-respect can be built. Emotional maturity is the ability to get along well with others with minimum friction. Rather than treating anyone inferior, one can heal others by thoughtful words and actions.

Good mental and emotional habits lead to good health. Taking out time for relaxation and a jovial frame of mind can shield one from the

bad effects of harmful emotions. Those who maintain a cheerful disposition despite difficulties benefit themselves physically.

Music can stir every kind of emotion – love, tenderness, reverence, sadness, hatred and passion. It can relax and soothe, or refresh and enliven when one listens to the right kind. We have an aesthetic nature that can respond emotionally to the unique song of birds.

Fearful people generally complain of abdominal pains. Aggressive persons experience pain in the neck and those in sadness usually complain of back pain. One’s emotions can intensify the pain, or can suppress it. For example, players, who are involved in a game can be injured and yet feel no pain at that time. Strong motivation helps one to resist yielding to damaging emotional upheavals.

All of us are exposed to new experiences and challenges that help one to grow emotionally and develop coping skills – the ability to handle success and failure effectively.

Many crave emotional stimulation through fast driving, risky sports and drugs. Their tolerance for quiet environment is low, wanting to get more emotional exhilaration out of life.

Appropriately controlled emotions add spice to life. Healthy sentiments strengthen determination to achieve worthwhile goals.

Emotional shrewdness helps us to weigh the consequences before we act. It guides one to make a right estimate of things – recognizing what are the really big things in life and what things merit only minor importance.

IDEA OF GOVT REPLACING THE COLLEGIUM IS QUITE SCARY

Octogenarian Mallikarjun Kharge, a loyal Congress soldier, has been elected president of the Grand Old Party. He is only the sixth non-Gandhi president in the party’s 137 year-old history and the first in the last 24 years. He defeated his nearest rival Shashi Tharoor, the MP from Kerala, by a huge margin. Tharoor, who alleged foul play and said that there was a pro-Kharge bias in the run-up to the poll, graciously accepted the verdict.

After the announcement of Kharge as president-elect, the incumbent Sonia Gandhi, her son Rahul Gandhi and daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are all expected to take a back seat and not make the new party boss a rubber

The challenges before Kharge are many but the deep-seated factionalism and bringing rival factions in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, MP and Karnataka to the conciliation table to make the party a cohesive unit is the biggest. Reviving the party in Gujarat, UP, MP, Maharashtra and AP is another and winning elections will be his biggest test

stamp as is being feared by many of the party members. He will have to ensure.

The challenges before Kharge are many but the deep-seated factionalism and bringing rival factions in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Mad-

hya Pradesh and Karnataka to the conciliation table to make the party a cohesive unit is the biggest. Reviving the party in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh is another and winning elections will be his biggest test. How he makes workers repose faith in the party and in his leadership will decide the fate of the party.

Senior leaders like Kapil Sibal, Sunil Jakhar, Ghulam Nabi Azad, RPN Singh, Jitin Prasada, Ashwani Kumar and Hardik Patel resigned citing lack of vision in the leadership. With Kharge at the helm, the exodus of party leaders will hopefully be checked. It is for him to prove that inner party democracy is not short-lived.

Judiciary is under attack from the government and on social media. Adding to judiciary’s troubles is the concern voiced by senior advocate CS Vaidyanathan who said on Tuesday that there were rumours the Supreme Court Collegium “is thinking of sending recommendations only if they are going to be accepted by the government”. Even as a rumour it is dangerous to imagine that such a situation could arise.

The government has been critical of the Collegium system and judiciary. Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju recently said that the Collegium system is “too opaque” and that the judges spend half their time in deciding who to appoint as judges instead of delivering justice. Appointing judges is the task of the government, he said. The remark was an unexpected cut Rijiju inflicted. It may not have been without a purpose, however.

Jibes like these are intended to bring the judiciary to its knees. Hopefully the Collegium will stand its ground and not make bureaucrats out of judges.

Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship. Buddha

TOP TWEETS

Discussions were held regarding status of implementation of the respective action plans of the NCR States and NCTD, utilization of machinery for in-situ and ex-situ management, extensive use of biodecomposers for in-situ management of paddy straw among other issues.

Nitin Gadkari @nitin_gadkari

Giving Momentum to New India’s Economy with World Class infrastructure! The project section of Delhi-Vadodara Expressway (Package-I), is the part of the 8 Lane accesscontrolled expressway that would connect New Delhi with financial capital Mumbai. #PragatiKaHighway #GatiShakti

● Vol 2 ● Issue No.52 ● RNI TITLE NO. DELENG/2021/19840 Printed and 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. Phone 011-49846474. Editor-In-Chief: Dr Jagdeesh Chandra Editor: Anita Hada Sangwan responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act

SPIRITUAL SPEAK

Bhupender Yadav @byadavbjp

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL

REKHA KUMAR

The writer is a personal development skills facilitator. rekhakumar@protonmail.com

English just a medium of comm, not a benchmark of intellect: PM

Earlier, knowledge of the English language was considered a mark of being intellectual. In reality, the English language is just a me dium of communication. The English language barrier was a hindrance. Many young talents from villages could not become doctors and engineers because they were not well-versed in English.

—Narendra Modi, Prime Minister

IN THE COURTYARD

MP: MINING DEPT OFFICIAL GETS JUDICIAL CUSTODY

Madhya Pradesh: A court in Madhya Pradesh’s Ratlam has sentenced a mining department official for demanding sexual favours from a woman five months ago, after her mine owner husband was found allegedly indulging in irregularities.

UPHAAR FIRE: HC SEEKS RESPONSE

New Delhi: The Delhi HC Wednesday sought the response of the city police to a plea by a former employee of the Ansal family seeking setting aside of his conviction and sentence for tampering with evidence in the 1997 Uphaar cinema fire tragedy case.

SEXUAL ASSAULT CASES AGAINST MINORS RISING: HC

New Delhi: Offences of sexual assault against minors are increasing alarmingly making it necessary for the courts to imbibe legislative wisdom, the Delhi High Court has observed while upholding life imprisonment awarded to a man for raping his one-year-old niece here.

SC TO HEAR DELHICENTRE ON NOV 24

New Delhi: The SC on Wednesday posted a plea of the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government on the contentious issue of who should control administrative services in Delhi over the transfers and postings of officers in the national capital, for November 24.

SC: TAX EXEMPTION FOR INST IF SOLELY ENGAGED IN EDU

New Delhi (PTI): Ad vocating the use of local languages in the coun try, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that English is just a medi um of communication, not a benchmark of be ing intellectual. While speaking at Gujarat govt’ s Mission Schools of Ex cellence initiative at Ada laj town in Gandhinagar, PM Modi pointed out that earlier English was considered the bench mark of being intellec tual despite being a me dium of communication.

During his speech, PM also asked to make sure those comfortable in Hindi and not Eng lish aren’t left behind.

HIMACHAL PRADESH ELECTIONS 2022: BJP RELEASES LIST OF 62 CANDIDATES

Himanchal Pradesh: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday released a list of 62 candidates for the upcoming Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections. The list was released a day after the meeting of BJP’s central election committee chaired by party president Jagat Prakash Nadda con cluded. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah were present in the meeting along with other members of the party’s election committtee. Himachal Pradesh chief minister Jai Ram Thakur will contest from Seraj constituency

KEJRIWAL URGES PM MODI TO WORK TOGETHER TO IMPROVE INDIA’S SCHOOLS

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednes day appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to work to gether to improve the country’s schools and offered his government’s expertise. Kejriwal’s remarks come after Modi visited a school in Gandhi Nagar, Gujarat, and interacted with students.“PM sir, we have done a wonderful job in the field of education in Delhi. In five years, all the government schools of Delhi were improved remarkably. Schools across the country can be improved in five years,” Kejriwal said in a tweet in Hindi.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court said on Wednesday educational institutions will not be entitled to approval under section 10(23C) of the Income Tax (IT) Act where their objective appears to be “profit-oriented”.Section 10 of the IT Act exempts from taxation certain classes of income.

AMARAVATI WILL BE ONLY CAPITAL OF AP: RAHUL

Andhra Pradesh: Con gress leader Rahul Gan dhi on Wednesday said that the Congress would ensure that Amaravati was the only capital of Andhra Pradesh.

Interacting with the media persons during the lunch break of his Bharat Jodo Yatra at Kurnool, Rahul said the Congress would not sub scribe to the three capi tals or decentralisation of administration.

He said the party would also look into every promise that was made to the people of AP at the time of bifur cation in 2014. “The govt of India had made some promises to the people. It made some provisions in the AP Reorganiza tion Act 2014. We would look into all those issues and implement every thing written in the Act and said on the floor of the Parliament,” Rahul Gandhi reiterated.

He blamed the BJP at the Centre and the re gional parties in the state for diluting the spirit of bifurcation.

He expressed concern over the delay in com pleting the Polavaram project and implement ing the rehabilitation and resettlement pack age for the displaced families. In reply to a question on the distribu tion of river water be tween the two Telugu States, Rahul Gandhi said the Congress would create a mechanism to settle all issues between the two states.

CONGRATULATORY MESSAGES POUR IN FOR KHARGE: ‘QUINTESSENTIAL ORGANISATION MAN’

Prashant Kishor claims Nitish Kumar in touch with BJP

New Delhi (PTI): Po litical strategist Prashant Kishor claimed on Wednesday that Bihar Chief Minis ter Nitish Kumar is in touch with the BJP and that he may go for a tieup with the party again if situation demands so, a suggestion dismissed by the JD(U) as mislead ing and aimed at spread ing confusion.

Kishor, who is on a padyatra in Bihar in what is widely seen as a precursor to his fresh entry into active poli

tics, told PTI that Kumar has kept a line of com munication open with the BJP through JD(U) MP and Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson Harivansh.

Harivansh declined to comment but his party rejected the claim and asserted that Kumar will never join hands with the BJP again.

Kishor said, “People who are thinking that Nitish Kumar is actively building a national alli ance against the BJP will be surprised to know that he has kept a line open with the BJP. He is in touch with the BJP through his party MP and Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson Harivansh ji.”

RAGA ANNOUNCES NEW CONG CHIEF BEFORE RESULTS

lay the foundation stone of multiple de velopment initiatives.

Meanwhile, PM Narendra Modi also launched the ‘Mission Schools of Excellence’

at Adalaj in Gandhina gar, the students and teachers said that through this project, the quality of educa tion and learning will be enhanced.

PM Modi lays foundation stone of various devel works in Junagadh Gujarat (ANI): Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Gujarat’s Tapi, the residents exclaimed that due to Modi’s growing global popu larity, it has become a matter of pride to be called a Gujarati. The residents ex pressed their exhilara tion to see their Vada Pradhan and are wait ing with bated breath to see and listen to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit Tapi on Thursday to

Denied entry into J-K, Mann holds protest

Kathua/Jammu (PTI): Shiromani Akali Dal (A) chief Simranjit Singh Mann’s protest at Lakhanpur — the gate way to Jammu and Kashmir bordering Pun jab — after being denied entry into the Union Territory entered the third day on Wednesday.

Mann, a Member of Parliament from San grur in Punjab, was stopped on the orders of Kathua District Magis trate Rahul Pandey, leading to protests by the politician and his supporters since Mon day evening.

He spent a second night in his vehicle on the road at Lakhanpur, SAD(A) officials said.

Supporters from

Jammu, Kathua and Punjab continued to throng the protest site and raised slogans against the BJP and the Jammu and Kashmir administration, the of ficials said. Mann is in the process of ap proaching courts in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, they added.

THAROOR CAMP ALLEGES ‘FRAUD’

New Delhi: In a letter ad dressed to the CEA, chief Madhusudan Mistry, Salman Soz, chief election agent for Tharoor has alleged that the election process in UP is “devoid of credibility and integrity”.

CENTRE APPOINTS...

From P1

industries secretary in January

NHAI chairperson

I WAS CANDIDATE OF CHANGE: THAROOR KHARGE HOLDS PRESS CONFERENCE

For example, current rural development secretary NN Sinha will take charge of steel secretary on January 1, 2023.

New Delhi: Congress leader Shashi Tharoor congratulated his opponent Mallikarjun Kharge who defeated him in the election for Cong presi dent, but tempered the greet ing by raising concerns about an “uneven” playing field.

New Delhi: In his first press conference, Cong Prez-elect Mallikarjun Kharge said for him every Congress worker is equal and all have to work together to fight the fascist forces threatening democ racy and the Constitution.

Jharkhand cadre IAS, Sailesh Kumar Singh will replace Sinha.

Sanjay Malhotra of Rajasthan cadre IAS, from 1991 batch, who has been designated as officer on special duty in the shipping ministry, will take over as shipping sec retary in February after superannuation of current secretary, Sanjeev Ranjan.

UP cadre IAS, Kamran Rizvi will take charge as heavy

Alka Upadhyaya is new road transport secretary Amrit Lal Meena of Bihar cadre as the new coal secretary Odisha cadre IAS Sanjeev Chopra will be the new food secre tary

MP cadre IAS Manoj Govil will be the new corporate af fairs secretary Rachna Shah of Kerala cadre will take charge of textile department

In-situ upgrada tion of 8 officers as special secretaries in their current post ings approved

NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON TOURIST POLICE

Better law and order increases tourist inflow: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla

Referring to the po tential of tourism in the country, Birla observed that India is a country full of natural resourc es, historical sites, ar chaeological monu ments, and religious

places, which are fa mous for tourism glob ally. He mentioned that in today’s times tourism is not limited to travel only, rather India is

known all over the world as a hub of spir ituality, Yoga, Ayurveda and Naturopathy. Laud ing India’s growing pro file in various fields,

Simranjit Singh Mann is on protest at Lakhanpur.

New Delhi: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla ad dressed the participants in the “National Confer ence on Tourist Police” organized by the Minis try of Tourism at Vig yan Bhawan today.

Birla opined that India is emerging as an im portant destination for ecotourism, business tourism and education tourism.

Rahul Gandhi with supporters during the party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday.

—PHOTO BY PTI

New Delhi: With Mallikarjun Kharge sweeping the party’s presidential elections, party lead ers from Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah congratu lated the veteran functionary as he became the first non-Gandhi president in more than two decades. Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor who sprang a surprise by polling more than 1,000 votes in the elections was among the first people to congratulate Kharge. The party’s general secretary and communications in-charge Jairam Ramesh posted on Twitter, “Shri Mallikarjun Kharge @kharge has completed 50 years in electoral politics. He has distinguished himself as a legislator and Minister in the state and at the Centre.”

Sonia Gandhi with newly elected Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, in New Delhi on Wednesday.

—PHOTO BY PTI Mallikarjun Kharge being greeted by Vivek Bansal.

Andhra Pradesh: Con gress leader Rahul Gandhi Wednesday said that the newly-elected Congress president will be the supreme authority in the party and all members and functionaries will report to him, including himself.

PM Narendra Modi at the foundation stone laying ceremony of the various development projects in Junagadh.

—FILE

PIC

‘New Delhi’s global impact has grown in Covid times’

India’s voice can only gain in authority and credibility, says UN Secretary General

Mumbai (ANI): Term ing India a partner of choice of the UN, Secre tary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday that New Delhi has increased its impact on the interna tional stage due to the donation of medicines, equipment, and vac cines at height of Cov id-19 to neighbouring countries.

Addressing the stu dents at the Indian Insti tute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, Guterres said, “From your donations of medicines, equip ment and vaccines at the height of the COV ID-19 pandemic, to your humanitarian assis tance and development finance to Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, you’re increasing impact on the international stage.

India is today a partner of choice of the UN.” UN Chief, who arrived in Mumbai today, said that India’s digital plat form Cowin is the larg est vaccination program for Covid-19 which is delivering more than 2 billion doses.

He further said that

Terror is absolute evil. There are no reasons, no pretext, no causes, and no grievances that can justify ter rorism. Terrorism is absolute evil.

—Antonio Guterres, UN, Secretary-General

India was the first coun try to launch a singlecountry south-south cooperation support framework via the In dia-UN development framework partner ship. Talking about In dia’s contribution to UN Peacekeeping, Gu terres said, “India is

also the biggest provid er of military and po lice personnel to UN missions, including the first all-women UN po lice contingent to a peacekeeping mission.

Over 200,000 Indian men and women have served in 49 peacekeep ing missions.

TERROR ABSOLUTE EVIL THAT NO REASON, PRETEXT CAN JUSTIFY: GUTERRES

Mumbai (ANI): UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres paid tributes to the victims of the 26/11 terror attacks at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel in Mumbai and said that terror is an absolute "evil" and no reason, pretext or grievance can justify the act of terrorism."Terror is absolute evil. There are no reasons, no pretext, no causes, and grievances that can justify terrorism. Terrorism is absolute

evil. It has no room in today's world," Guterres said at Taj Hotel. UN Chief, who came to India on Wednesday, visited the Taj Hotel on Wednesday and laid a wreath in honor of all those who sacrificed their lives in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack.

UN Chief further said, "I feel deeply moved to be here where one of the barbaric terrorist acts in history took place where 166 peo ple lost their lives."

New Delhi (PTI): The Centre on Wednesday said incidents of stubble burning have started in creasing rapidly, espe cially in Punjab, and the state government has not taken adequate steps to prevent farm fires.

At an inter-ministeri al meeting on the issue of crop residue burning in Delhi-NCR, Union En vironment Minister Bhupender Yadav ex pressed concern that the Punjab government has not been able to take co ordinated actions.

Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Sin

Punjab has taken inade quate steps in spite of several meet ings and efforts by the statutory panel.

gh Tomar mentioned that the status of paddy straw management in Haryana is “significant ly better than that in Punjab”, the environ ment ministry said in a statement.

“Till October 15, the trend of fire events was less as compared to last

year but now it has started growing rapidly, especially in Punjab,” the statement read.The ministers noted that the Pusa bio-decomposer – a microbial solution which turns stubble into manure in 15-20 days was being sprayed in a lesser area in Pun jab and its application needs to be promoted.

MM Kutty, the chair man of the Commission for Air Quality Manage ment (CAQM), said Pun jab has taken “inade quate” steps in spite of several meetings and efforts by the statutory panel.

Kolkata (Agencies): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Ba nerjee made a surpris ing claim today, saying it was not she who had chased Tata Motors out of the state, but the CPM that was in power then. In a strong retort to her comment, CPM leader Sujan Chakraborty told NDTV that Ms Baner jee's statement was a "blatant lie".

Speaking in Siliguri, the Bengal Chief Min ister said: "It's all rub bish that I had chased away the Tatas and that it's the Tatas who are now giving jobs here. I did not chase the Tatas away. It is the CPM that had chased them away." She said CPM had tried to forcefully acquire land, which was later returned by her gov ernment.

"There is no dearth of land, so why acquire land forcefully?" she asked. She further said: "We have also done so

many projects, but we did not acquire land forcefully."

Reacting to her state ment, Mr Chakraborty said: "What Mamata Banerjee said today is a blatant lie and she has exposed herself as a blatant lier. Unfortu nately, she's the Chief Minister of Bengal."

Taking a dig at the Ben gal Chief Minister, he further said: "She had started her career with a lie, saying that she

SHAH’S

‘Can split cricketing communities’: PCB

Lahore (PTI): A ‘disap pointed’ Pakistan Crick et Board on Wednesday requested the Asian Cricket Council to con vene an emergency meeting in the wake of BCCI secretary Jay Shah’s statement that India won’t travel to Pa kistan for next year’s Asia Cup.

In its first official re sponse to Shah’s state ment that India would like to play the continen tal tournament at a neu tral venue and not tour Pakistan, the PCB said “such statements can spilt the Asian and in ternational cricket com munities” and impact Pakistan’s visit to India for the 2023 World Cup.

Shah, who made the statement after the BCCI AGM on Tuesday, also happens to be the ACC president.

“The overall impact of such statements have the potential to split the Asian and international cricketing communi ties, and can impact Pa kistan’s visit to India for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 and future ICC Events in India in the 2024-2031 cycle. “The

PCB has to date not re ceived any official com munication or clarifica tion from the ACC on the statement of the ACC President. As such, the PCB has now re quested the Asian Crick et Council to convene an emergency meeting of its Board as soon as practically possible to discuss this important and sensitive matter,” the PCB said.

Pakistan has been al lotted hosting rights for the Asia Cup which will be held ahead of the ODI World Cup in India in October-November.

The T20 Asia Cup held

last month had to be shifted from Sri Lanka to the UAE amid the economic crisis in the island nation.

The 2018 Asia Cup, scheduled to be held in India, was moved to the UAE after the BCCI couldn’t procure clear ance from government security agencies to host Pakistan. India and Pakistan only play each other in Asian and ICC events due to the politi cal tensions between the two countries. India last toured Pakistan in 2008 while Pakistan’s last se ries in India came in 2012-13.

NIA FILES FIR IN MOMINPUR VIOLENCE

New Delhi (ANI): The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has registered a case and initiated a probe into the October 9 anti-Hindu violence in Mominpur in West Bengal, sources said. The move comes after the Counter Terrorism and Counter Radicalization division of the Ministry of Home Affairs directed the agency to register a FIR and start a thorough probe considering the gravity of the case.

VARANASI RESIDENT RADICALISED YOUTH FOR ISIS IN INDIA: NIA

Lucknow (Agencies): The National Investi gation Agency (NIA) arrested Basit Kalam Siddiqui (24) from Va ranasi. NIA had carried out a search operation in Varanasi on late night of October 18 at the premises of the accused. During its searches, NIA has seized incriminating articles such as hand written notes related to fabrication of IEDs and explosive substances, mobile phones, laptops, pen-drives.

was 'Doctor' Mamata Banerjee."

Ms Banerjee and her party Trinamool Con gress (TMC) were cata pulted to power in Ben gal after the CPM-led Left Front lost the 2011 assembly elections, fol lowing the anti-land acquisition agitations in Singur and Nandi gram that saw Tata Mo tors move their Nano car manufacturing plant from Singur to Sanand in Gujarat.

Anurag Thakur launches Mega Cleanliness Drives

New Delhi (Agencies):

Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Anurag Singh Thakur will inaugurate Mega Cleanliness

Drives under Swachh Bharat 2022 from Chan dani Chowk, Delhi on 19th October 2022. Simi lar Cleanliness Drives will be undertaken on 19th October 2022 in all villages across the country.

The aim is to consoli date the efforts of Swachh Bharat 2022 in

the Deptt. of Youth Af fairs and its affiliate organizations, namely NYKS and NSS, and fur ther intensify activities for ensuring mass pub lic participation in the campaign by organiz ing similar programs in all villages across the country.

A humble beginning can lead to great change and big transformation.

Swachh Bharat Pro gramme initiated by Deptt. of Youth Affairs in commemoration of

Azadi Ka Amrit KaAm rit Mahotsava bears tes timony to this. Barely 17 days ago, the pro gram commenced with the objective of collect ing One Crore k.g. of waste in the span of one month. To date, more than 60 Lakh k.g. of waste has been collect ed with overwhelming support and response from youth and people from all walks of life from all Districts across the country. This is a trendsetter

of a sort. People par ticularly the youth irre spective of their back ground and affiliations are not only participat ing in the program but playing a pivotal role in motivating and encour aging others to join the program purely on a voluntary basis.

Swacchta Abhiyan was started by Prime Minister Sh. Narendra Modi Ji during 2014 and since then, remarkable headway can be noticed in this regard.

Patna (Agencies): Bihar Education Minister Chandra Shekhar Singh on Wednesday assured a probe into the Kishanganj incident wherein a class seven exam paper contained a question that allegedly mentioned Kashmir as a sepa rate country React ing to the matter, Chandra Shekhar Singh said there would be no lapses in the investigation of this matter and it would be probed thoroughly.

“This is a serious matter for which the probe shall take place even if it involved top officials,” state Education Minister Chandra Shekhar Singh said.

VAISHALI’S EXBOYFRIEND RAHUL NAVLANI ARRESTED Indore (Agencies): TV actress Vaishali Takkar was found dead in her home in Indore.

A suicide note was recovered, in the note, the actress accused Rahul Navlani of harassing her. She was in a relationship with the businessman in the past, who was allegedly harassing her and not letting her get married.

Rahul was arrested in Indore. Takka’s neigh bor Rahul and his wife Disha were booked for abetment to suicide.

NPCL MAKES ARRANGEMENTS FOR DIWALI

Noida (Agencies) :

Noida Power Compa ny Limited has made special arrangements to keep Greater Noida lit on Diwali and to ensure 24-hour power supply to its consum ers. Like every year, this time too extra vigi lance is being taken by NPCL on Diwali. While wishing a happy Diwali to the residents of Greater Noida, the MD and CEO of NPCL PR Kumar has appealed to them to celebrate Diwali safely.

BIHAR CLASS 7 PAPER REFERS TO KASHMIR AS SEPARATE COUNTRY

CRUCIAL READ

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres being felicitated during ‘India @75: UN-India Partnership: Strengthening South-South Cooperation’ event at IIT Bombay on Wednesday. —PHOTO BY ANI

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a group picture with the faculty and students of IIT Bombay, on Wednesday. —PHOTO BY ANI

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at ‘Bijaya Samillani’, in Siliguri on Wednesday. —PHOTO BY ANI

A farmer burning paddy stubble in a field in Amritsar.

—FILE PHOTO

BCCI Secretary Jay Shah arrives for the 91st Annual General Meeting of the BCCI, at the Taj Hotel in Mumbai. — FILE PHOTO

SWACHH BHARAT CAMPAIGN

Union Minister Anurag Singh Thakur participates in the Mega Cleanliness Drive under Swachh Bharat 2022, in New Delhi on Wednesday. —PHOTO BY ANI

‘Punjab not taking adequate steps to stop stubble burning’

‘I didn't chase out Tatas, CPM did’: Didi's surprising claim

—MM Kutty, Chairman of Commission for Air Quality Management

business

BRIEFS

SPICEJET REVISES SALARY STRUCTURE OF ITS CAPTAINS

Inflation to fall below 6% next year: Goyal

Mumbai: No-frills carrier SpiceJet on Wednesday said it has revised the sal ary structure for its Cap tains, increasing their monthly remuneration to `7 lakh per month for 80 hours of flying, from No vember. The airline, in a statement on Wednesday claimed that with this lat est hike, the salaries of its Captains will be higher as compared to their preCovid salaries. According ly, salaries of Trainers and senior First Officers have also been increased com mensurately, the airline said.

COMPETITION COMM SLAPS PENALTIES ON MMT-GO, OYO

New Delhi (PTI): RBI Monetary Policy Commit tee (MPC) member Ashima Goyal on Wednesday said that the efforts of the Re serve Bank to contain price rise by repeatedly increas ing interest rates will help in containing inflation, which is likely to fall below 6% next year.

Goyal further said that the policy rate hikes have largely reversed pandemictime cuts but the real rate remains low enough not to hurt the growth recovery.

“With a lag of two-three quarters, higher real rates will reduce demand in the economy. “International commodity prices are sof tening with the global slow down and supply chain bot tlenecks have reduced,” she said. In order to control rising inflation, the RBI on Sept 30, raised the shortterm lending rate for the third consecutive time by .5 to take repo rate to 5.9%.

“The Indian government is also taking action to re duce supply-side inflation.

TOP TALKING POINTS

z RBI Monetary Policy Committee member Ashima Goyal said that the efforts of the Reserve Bank to contain price rise by repeatedly increasing interest rates will help in containing inflation

imposing minimal growth sacrifice.

z The policy rate hikes have largely reversed pandemic-time cuts but the real rate remains low enough not to hurt the growth recovery

z In order to control rising inflation, the RBI raised the short-term lending rate for the third consecutive time by .5%

India’s domestic passenger volume rose 65%

First India Bureau

New Delhi: India’s domes tic air passengers volume went up by 64.61%to 10.35 million in the month of September 2022 as com pared to the same period last year, according to a data released by Directo rate General of Civil Avia tion (DGCA) on Wednesday.

Indian domestic carriers (excluding newly launched Akasa Air) had flown a to tal of 7.66 million passen gers on the local routes, the data showed.

Akasa Air commenced its flight services on do mestic routes from August 7 this year.

The average passenger load factor of these carri ers stood at 77.5% against 72.5% PLF delivered in Au gust 2022, the DGCA data show.

‘Eager’ to secure trade deal with India, says UK’s Home Secretary

London (PTI): Home Sec retary Suella Braverman has said the UK is “eager” to secure a trade deal with India to boost both econo mies and that Brexit has meant that Britain no long er has a Eurocentric mind set towards trade or visas, days after she caused a stir with her “concerns” over what she feared could be an “open borders” approach in the ongoing trade talks with India.

The Indian-origin Cabi net minister spoke of being a proud member of the British Indian community and hailed the contribu tion made by the Indian diaspora to British life.

SUELLA BRAVERMAN SAID

z UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman has said the UK is “eager” to secure a trade deal with India to boost both economies

z The Indian-origin Cabinet minister spoke of being a proud member of the British Indian community and hailed the contribution made by the Indian diaspora to British life

New Delhi: The Competi tion Commission on Wednesday slapped pen alties totalling more than `392 crore on online trav el firms MakeMyTrip, Goi bibo and OYO for unfair business practices. A fine of `223.48 crore has been slapped on Make My TripGoibibo (MMT-Go) and `168.88 crore on OYO, according to a 131-page order. Among others, it was alleged that MMT-Go imposed a price parity in their agreements with ho tel partners.

DIAGNOSTIC COS REVENUES TO DECLINE 7% IN FY23

Current projections show inflation falling below 6% next year,” Goyal said.

According to Goyal, a mildly positive real inter est rate can act to reduce inflation, with supportive supply-side action, while

OTHER STORIES

She noted that today the forward-looking real inter est rate is positive and such a rapid response in an in flation targeting regime to inflation exceeding toler ance bands, helps anchor inflation expectations.

Replying to a question on the Indian rupee touching a historic low, Goyal point ed out that a more depreci

MSMEs CAN CONTINUE TO AVAIL NON-TAX BENEFITS POST RE-CLASSIFICATION: GOVT

New Delhi: MSMEs will continue to avail all non-tax benefits in their respective categories post re-classification for three years, the government said on Wednesday. The Ministry of MSME has notified that in case of re-classification in terms of investment in plant and machinery or equipment or turnover or both, and consequent re-classification, an enter prise shall continue to avail of all non-tax benefits of the category it was in before the re-classification for three years from the date of the such upward change. Non-tax benefits include benefits of various government schemes, including Public Procurement Policy, Delayed Payments, etc.

ated rupee makes imports more expensive and hurts those who have borrowed abroad but may raise re turns for some exporters.

While observing that lower imports and higher exports can help reduce the current account deficit, she said the dollar is strengthening against all currencies as rising Fed rates attract funds back to the US.

In terms of market share, leading carrier In diGo cornered 57% of the total domestic traffic pie, carrying 59.72 lakh passen gers across its domestic network followed by full service carrier Vistara, which flew 9.96 lakh pas sengers with 9.6% market share.

In an apparent effort to override her recent contro versial remarks about Indi ans forming the largest group of visa overstayers, the minister said the UK’s villages, towns and cities have been “profoundly en riched by immigration from India”.

“Naturally, there is an economic imperative for our countries to work to gether, which is why we are so eager to secure a trade deal,” said Braverman.

“But the boost to our economies is not the only virtue in making our friendship even stronger. We have a shared vision

Sensex, Nifty settle higher for 4th straight day as RIL, HDFC twins gain

Mumbai (PTI): Bench mark stock indices Sensex and Nifty closed higher on Wednesday, rallying for the fourth straight session helped by buying in index majors Reliance Industries and HDFC twins.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose by 146.59 points or 0.25% to settle at 59,107.19.

Mumbai: The decrease in number of COVID-19 test will result to a fall of upto 7% in diagnostic compa nies’ toplines in FY23, rat ing agency Crisil said on Wednesday. The fall in revenues in FY23 will come after a handsome 30% growth in FY22 on higher testing, the agency said, attributing the fall in Covid testing in the ongo ing fiscal to the waning in tensity of the pandemic and also a preference for self-test kits. The operat ing profit margins will moderate to 24-25% in FY23 on the decline in revenue and the higher operating expenses.

WEB3 STARTUPS IN INDIA RAISE $1.3 BILLION IN 2 YEARS

COMMITTEE ON MSP TO HOLD 3RD MEETING ON OCT 31 IN BHUBANESWAR

New Delhi: The government’s committee on the minimum support price (MSP), natural farming and crop diver sification is scheduled to hold its third meeting on October 31 in Bhu baneswar. In the first meeting held on August 22 in Delhi, the committee had formed three internal sub-groups to deliber ate on the mandated topics. The second meeting, held on Sept 27 in Hyderabad, deliberated on organic farming.

BHARAT BOND ETFs CROSS ` 50,000 CRORE AUM MARK

New Delhi: Bharat Bond Exchange Traded Funds have crossed the `50,000 crore asset under management mark in just two-and-a-half years. The fund house manages Bharat Bond ETFs. The overall passive debt category has crossed `1.15 lakh crore mark at the industry level – this growth was kickstarted by the launch of the first tranche of the Bharat Bond ETF in December 2019, accord ing to a statement. —PTI

During the day, it rallied 439.09 points or 0.74%to 59,399.69.

The broader NSE Nifty advanced 25.30 points or 0.14% to end at 17,512.25.

From the Sensex pack, Nestle, HDFC, Axis Bank, Reliance Industries, ITC, HDFC Bank and UltraTech Cement were the promi nent winners.

NTPC, State Bank of In dia, Bajaj Finserv, Hindu stan Computers Limited (HCL) Technologies, Dr Reddy’s, Infosys and Maru ti were among the laggards.

EXPECT BUSINESS AT PAR WITH 2021 LEVEL

New Delhi: India is now home to over 450 Web3 startups that have raised $1.3 bn, about `10,700 crore, in last two years, a joint report of NASSCOM with venture capital fund Hashed Emergent said. According to it, over 80% of Indian Web3 startups are in tier I cities. Howev er, the tier II/III ecosystem is growing rapidly with lo cations such as Jaipur, Vadodara, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Trivandrum, and Coimbatore evolving as emerging hubs.

that by 2030 we will enjoy an even stronger partner ship… As Home Secretary, I particularly value the co operation on security mat ters between our two coun tries. This is vital, on a do mestic level in India and in the UK but also more broadly on an internation al scale, especially in the Indo-Pacific,” she said.

With Diwali no longer the target deadline for a draft FTA, Braverman sought to reiterate that the Liz Truss led government remains determined to build on the momentum set by PM Narendra Modi.

India’s forex buffers sufficient: Fitch

Mumbai (PTI): With the Dhanteras around the cor ner, the jewellery industry is cautiously optimistic about the demand, mainly due to the exceptionally high base last year, infla tion worries and the over all rising cost of living.

The industry is cautious despite benign gold prices and overall positive con sumer sentiment.

After the first wave of the pandemic, revenge pur chases along with post poned weddings boosted demand, resulting in an exceptionally good Dhan teras in 2021, with sales

crossing even the pre-pan demic levels.

Dhanteras, which marks the first day of Diwali in India, is considered auspi cious to buy gold and silver as part of Hindu festivities.

`

PLUNGES 61 PAISE TO DIP BELOW 83-MARK FOR FIRST TIME AGAINST US DOLLAR Mumbai (PTI): The rupee plunged 61 paise to decline below the 83-mark for the first time against the US dollar on Wednesday amid unabated foreign capital outflows and a strong dollar in the overseas markets. Besides, rising crude prices in the international markets and risk-averse sentiment among investors weighed on the local cur rency, traders said. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the lo cal currency opened strong at 82.32 but later pared gains to settle at an all-time low of 83.01(provisional) against the American currency, down 61 paise over its previous close. In the previous session on Tuesday, the rupee slipped 10 paise to end at 82.40 against the dollar. Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, advanced 0.31% to 112.48.

Jewellers cautiously optimistic this Dhanteras

INDUSTRY EXPECTATIONS

z The industry is cautious despite benign gold prices, which are ruling at around `47,000-49,000 per 10 grams, and overall positive consumer sentiment z Dhanteras is considered auspicious to buy gold

New Delhi (ANI): India’s external buffers are suffi cient to cushion risks asso ciated with rapid monetary policy tightening in the US and high global commodity prices, and risk to the sov ereign rating from external pressure is limited, Fitch Ratings said on Wednesday. It expects the country’s foreign exchange reserves to remain robust and cur rent-account deficit (CAD) to be contained at a sus tainable level and reach 3.4% of GDP this fiscal year, up from 1.2% in last financial year.

India’s foreign reserves fell by almost $101 bn in Jan-Sept 2022, but are still large at around $533 bn.

India’s mineral output grew 4.2% during April-August

New Delhi (FIB): In com parison to a year-ago peri od, India’s mineral output in the first five month of ongoing fiscal registered a cumulative growth of 4.2%.

“The demand for jewel lery during Dhanteras is likely to be at par with last year as 2021 was an excep tional year for the industry when the country slowly inched towards normalcy

after the pandemic. This year, the consumer sentiment is dampened fol lowing high inflation, ris ing costs and unseasonal rains affecting agriculture activities.

But the index of mineral production of mining and quarrying sector during August was at 99.6, which was 3.9% lower as com pared to the level in August last year, according to the provisional data of Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM).

The output of important minerals in August in cludes coal 580 lakh tonnes, lignite 29 lakh tonnes, nat ural gas (utilised) 2,829 mil

4.2 PER CENT GROWTH

z In comparison to same period last year, India’s mineral output in the first five month of ongoing fiscal registered a cumulative growth of 4.2%

lion cu m, petroleum (crude) 24 lakh tonnes and bauxite 14.5 lakh tonnes.

US REPATRIATES 307 ANTIQUITIES STOLEN FROM INDIA

Yoshita Singh

New York: A globespanning, 15-year inves tigation has led to the repatriation of 307 an tiquities by the US that was stolen and traf ficked from India and valued at nearly four million dollars, the ma jority seized from dis graced art dealer Sub hash Kapoor.

Of these, 235 antiqui ties were seized follow ing the investigation by the office of the Man hattan District Attor ney into Kapoor, “a pro lific looter who helped traffic items from Af ghanistan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Myan mar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and other countries.”

All antiquities were returned during a repa triation ceremony at the Indian Consulate in New York attended by India’s Consul General Randir Jaiswal, and US Home land Security Investiga tions Acting Deputy Spe cial Agent-in-Charge Christopher Lau, a state ment issued by the Man hattan District Attor ney’s office said.

“These antiquities

Among the pieces being returned is the Arch Parikara, crafted from marble and dating to the 12th-13th century. Valued at approximately USD 85,000, the Arch Parikara was among the antiquities seized from Kapoor. It first surfaced in photographs depicting antiquity in a dirty, pre-restoration condition. These photographs along with dozens of others depicting antiquities lying in the grass or on the ground were sent to Kapoor by a supplier of illicit goods in India, the statement said, adding that the piece was smuggled out of India and into New York in May 2002. Kapoor laundered the Arch Parikara to the Na than Rubin Ida Ladd Family Foundation, which donated the piece to the Yale University Art Gallery in 2007.

were stolen by multiple complex and sophisti cated trafficking rings the leaders of which showed no regard for the cultural or histori cal significance of these objects,” Bragg said, adding that “we are proud to return hun dreds of stunning piec

POST CONG CHIEF POLL

FOCUS NOW SHIFTS TO GEHLOT-PILOT DUEL

New Delhi (PTI): After Congress gets its new president, focus is now expected to shift to Ra jasthan which has been witnessing long-run ning differences be tween chief minister Ashok Gehlot and his bete noire Sachin Pilot on who gets to call the shots. Significantly, both Gehlot and his former deputy Pilot separately

met Mallikarjun Kharge after he was elected as the Cong president. The tensions between Ge hlot and Pilot seem to be simmering with the for mer earlier this week, saying that there is no substitute for experi ence at any level.

Gehlot suggested that young leaders should have patience as they would get their chances when the time comes.

Though Gehlot slammed leaders such as Jyotira ditya Scindia and Jitin Parsada, who left Con gress to join BJP, as “op portunists” & said that all of them became Un ion ministers at a young age, many saw it as a veiled swipe at Pilot.

es back to the people of India.” One of the an tiquities being returned from Wiener is the Vishnu and Lakshmi with Garuda dating to the 11th century C.E., which was looted from a temple in Central In dia and smuggled into New York County. —PTI

IMBALANCE’

Conversion and infiltration root cause: RSS leader

Prayagraj (PTI): RSS leader Dattatreya Hosa bale on Wednesday said religious conversion and migration from Bangladesh are causing “population imbal ance” and called for strict implementation of anti-conversion laws.

Addressing report ers after a four-day allIndia working commit tee meeting of the Rashtriya Swayamse vak Sangh here, the RSS general secretary said the organisation is trying to create aware ness on conversions.

He said as a result there has been a favour

able outcome of “Ghar Wapsi” -- the Sangh Parivar effort to bring back to the Hindu fold people it says converted to faiths like Islam and Christianity.

He said the existing laws to prevent religious conversion need to be implemented strictly. This was an apparent reference to laws in some states, including Uttar Pradesh, that pro hibits conversion by force or allurement, par ticularly through mar riage. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat too attended the meeting in Praya graj from Oct 16 to 19.

Hindu preacher booked for calling Sita, Draupadi

‘extremely beautiful’

Mathura (PTI): Po lice here lodged a case against a preach er for allegedly mak ing derogatory re marks against Hindu deities, officials said on Wednesday.

A video of his re marks surfaced on social media.

The FIR was lodged at the Vrinda van police station late on Tuesday night against Anirud dhacharya, a Bhag watacharya (one who recites the Bhagavad Gita). Inspector Suraj Prakash Shar

ma said, “Anirud dhacharya made de rogatory remarks against Draupadi and Goddess Sita.”

The FIR has been filed for hurting reli gious sentiments on the complaint of BJP member Pawan Sharma and some Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha mem bers, he said.

The way derogato ry comment against Draupadi and God dess Sita has been expressed is hurting and insulting to wom en, the FIR reads.

New Delhi-Una Vande Bharat Exp kicks off

New Delhi (ANI): Six days after the inaugura tion by PM Narendra Modi, New Delhi to Amb Andaura Vande Bharat Express com menced its regular ser

vice on Wednesday. The Vande Bharat Express, is a semi-high-speed, in tercity, electric multi ple-unit train operated by the Indian Railways. Train number 22447

Vande Bharat Express departed from New Del hi railway station at 5:50 am. “It will take 4 hours 46 minutes to reach Una at 10:34 am,” said Loco pilot Mahendra Kumar.

POLITICAL EQUATIONS

l Hosabale claimed that after conversion, infiltration was the second biggest cause of “population imbalance.”

l The RSS leader said those who changed their religion should not get the benefit of reservation.

l Hosabale said the participation of women in social activities is increasing; their role in decision-making must also increase.

Yogi announces ` 5 lakh for kin of workers killed in Kashmir

Lucknow (PTI): The Uttar Pradesh govern ment on Wednesday de clared an ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh each to the families of the two mi grant workers from Kannauj killed in a ter ror attack in Jammu and Kashmir. Their last rites were performed at their native place.

A “hybrid terrorist” of the proscribed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and another suspect were arrested for the at tack in the Shopian dis trict on Tuesday, police said. A government of ficial said CM Yogi Adi tyanath had directed officials to provide as sistance of Rs 5 lakh each to family members

of the dead workers, identified as Manish and Ramsagar of Dan na Purva village in the Thatia police station limits. Kannauj District

Quitting SP, Imran Masood joins BSP

Lucknow (PTI): Nine months after he left the Congress to join the Sa majwadi Party, Imran Masood on Wednesday switched to the Bahujan Samaj Party.

Welcoming him into the party fold, BSP su premo Mayawati said the Muslim community is convinced that it is the BSP and not the SP that can get rid of the “hateful and cruel poli tics of the BJP”.

Masood joined the SP in January before the 2022 assembly elections.

The leader, who con tested the 2014 Lok Sab ha polls from Saharan pur on a Congress tick et, had courted contro versy over his hate speech in which he al legedly threatened to

“chop” Narendra Modi “into pieces”.

“Imran Masood is a well-known name in the politics of Western UP. He met me today along with his close associ ates. He has left the Sa majwadi Party and has promised to work with full force and good in tentions in the BSP. He is warmly welcomed,” Mayawati said in a se ries of tweets in Hindi.

Magistrate Shubhrant Kumar Shukla said they were sleeping in a tin shed with other mi grant workers when the terrorists attacked.

SC grants interim relief to Abbas Ansari in Arms Act case

New Delhi (ANI): In an interim relief to Abbas Ansari, the Supreme Court on Wednesday di rected the UP govern ment not to take any co ercive steps against him till further orders. The bench issued a notice to the UP government on Abbas Ansari seeking relief in an arms act case. In August, the UP Police had raided sever al locations in different states across the coun try in search of MLA Mukhtar Ansari’s son Abbas Ansari, who was declared an absconder by the district police. Abbas Ansari is accused in a fraud case of trans fer of arms licence.

High Command will decide next Himachal CM: Anurag Thakur

lll

Thakur is the son of former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and sources claim is himself hopeful for the top post

New Delhi (PTI): Un ion Minister Anurag Thakur on Wednesday said the BJP high com mand will take a deci sion on the next chief minister of Himachal Pradesh, even as his party released the first list of candidates for elections in the hill state.

“Be it Himachal or any other state, the par ty high command takes a decision,” Thakur, the

Minister of Informa tion & Broadcasting, and Sports & Youth Af fairs, told reporters here when asked about the next chief minister of Himachal Pradesh.

Himachal Pradesh goes for elections on No vember 12 when Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur is hoping to re turn to power in the face of the challenge posed by the Congress.

The BJP on Wednes day released its first list of 62 candidates for Himachal Pradesh, fielding the chief min ister from Seraj assem bly seat. The Union Minister expressed con fidence in winning the Himachal Pradesh as sembly polls and claimed that the opposi tion Congress will con tinue its losing streak in the elections.

19 NEW FACES IN BJP’S LIST

l Nineteen greenhorns are trying their luck as BJP can didates in Himachal Pradesh As sembly polls slated to be held on No vember 12.

l The party released its first list of 62 candidates. The state has 68 Assembly segments.

l 19 out of the 62 candidates declared in the first list are new faces and trying their luck for the first time, state BJP president Suresh Kashyap said.

l Five doctors and a retired IAS officer are among those given BJP tickets.

The artefacts were recovered from int’l trafficking networks

The repatriation is a result of a 15-year global probe: US officials

The US authorities formally handed over 307 antiquities, estimated to be worth nearly $4 million, to Indian officials.

—PHOTO BY PTI

ARCH PARIKARA FROM 12-13TH CENTURY

Family members, relatives, and other villagers upon arrival of the bodies of Ramsagar and Manish at their village Danna Purva in Kannauj district on Wednesday. The duo was killed in a terrorist attack in Kashmir’s Shopian district. —PHOTO BY PTI

Union Minister Anurag Singh Thakur interacts with youth during the 14th Tribal Youth Exchange Programme, in New Delhi on Wednesday.  —PHOTO BY PTI

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale (left) addresses a press conference during the ongoing four-day ‘Akhil Bharatiya Karyakari Mandal Baithak’, near Prayagraj, Wednesday.

—PHOTO BY PTI

Mayawati welcomes former SP leader Imran Masood into BSP.

Ashok Gehlot arrives to meet Mallikarjun Kharge at his residence in New Delhi on Wednesday.  —PHOTO BY ANI

IMMERSED IN GRIEF

Samajwadi Party (SP) President Akhilesh Yadav immerses ashes of his father Mulayam Singh Yadav at Sangam in Prayagraj on Wednesday.

—PHOTO BY PTI

‘THE SECOND BIGGEST CAUSE’

TALENT & GLAMOUR AN EVE TO REMEMBER

Mumbai, popularly known as the ‘City of Dreams’ is gearing up for the grand finale of the National level beauty pageant First India Queen 2022 to be held on October 21 at Hotel Sahara Star, Mumbai, with gorgeous-looking top 30 models all set to compete for the coveted crown. City First brings to you glimpses of the talent round conducted on Day 2 of the three-day grooming, mentoring and talent round held at Hotel T24, Mumbai on Wednesday!

—PHOTOS BY SANTOSH SHARMA

FIRST

aged to eat healthy, exer cise, and adopt healthy habits. They are groomed physically, mentally and emotion ally, and their innate skills are honed.

TA pageant is a talent or personality contest where beauty is just one of several criteria, you need a combination of communication skills, stage presence and per sonality. While some models showcased pow erful dance performanc es, some ended up sing ing melodious songs.

Parimal Mehhta, Founder Blanckanvas, Kavita Chauhan of the First India family and Khalid Ansari, IP Con sultant graced the even ing as the jury. The grand show witnessed spectac ular performances in various genres of acting, singing and dancing among many others.

The young ravishing girls stepped out of their

MITALI DUSAD

The stunning finalists of First India Queen during one of the grooming sessions

Clockwise: Garima Ahuja, Swara Mandlik and Kulsum Ali

Nigar Sayyed

Parimal Mehhta and Kavita Chauhan at the jury panel. Also seen are the finalists of First India Queen.

ARTISTIC AN

PATH

STUDY

1 Technical Foundation: Doing a Diploma, bachelor's Degree or a Masters in any of the Arts streams will give you a firm grounding in your chosen sphere. It will endow you with the tools using which you will be able to hone your craft and refine it.

KARTIK BAJORIA

If you are toying with the idea of a career in the Arts, chances are that there will come a point where you have to make a critical deci sion. To study your cho sen subject further, or to skip that stage and start working directly. See un like some other streams such as Engineering, the Sciences, Law, Account ancy and Medicine; the Arts are a universe where self-expression is paramount. And that begs the argument – do I need to study Writing, Film Making, Music and the like, at a graduate or postgraduate level? Is it REALLY necessary?

Like most things in life, here are the pros and cons:

2 Exposure: Studying with other students who are passionate about your field of study will provide immense exposure to different view points – a vital aspect of the arts. It makes the experience of learning richer, and makes one’s own percep tions and opinions, more diverse, bet ter informed, and more sensitive.

3Network: Depending on what college you study at, there will be an opportunity to network. This will come in handy, especially after your program. If it is an Artist you choose to become, or it is in Aca demia that you opt to pursue your career. Attending a good school will open doors.

4Self-Discovery: Perhaps the most important facet of a good higher education in the Arts is the process of self-discovery. It is only when you undertake a concentrated program will you delve deeper into yourself and come to many realiza tions about your

1LEARNING ON THE JOB: Many people choose to skip ‘the higher education stage and go directly into work. The philosophy here is that espe cially when it concerns the Arts, the amount one can learn on the job is in valuable, and no school can teach you that. I disagree with this. While ‘on the job’ learnings are immense, I believe that you will benefit much more on the job if your fundamentals are already mastered. Let’s take film-making for example. There are many amateur film-makers out there. They go directly onto the set rather than studying film. My contention is that had they studied the subject formally, their time on- set would be spent more productively, ob serving the several nuances of the filmmaking process, rather than learn ing the basics of Lighting, Sound, Editing etc on set.

EASY WORK: There is one thing that you should be ex tremely well aware of. Any degree, even from a top-notch college or university will not guarantee you a job in the Arts. So, if that is your primary reason for studying further, you ought not to waste money, time and effort!

3CONTACTS: The networking and contacts you will build when you actually get out there and work will make or break your career. That is not to say you must compromise as an artist. It only means that you should be smart, be good to people, be a bit PR savvy and always maintain great relations with your employers, past and present. Never leave a job, no matter how painful, on a sour note. You never know!

4

AGE: The one big advantage of working instead of studying further of course is age. If you de cide for example NOT to do your 2-year MFA in Film Making, and invest that time instead on set –some might say that you have a 2-year head-start over your contem poraries. Then again, there is no hard and fast rule, nor is there any right or wrong.

The arts present their unique des tiny for each individual. As a men tor, I can advise you that if you feel you have the time, opportunity and energy, do both. The combination of robust education and great work ex perience is, without a doubt, the ideal scenario. Two paths lead to the Arts. Why not take both?

author is a Jaipur-based Communication Skills Educator & Writer)

SHINE OF STARDUST

UTTKARSHA SHEKHAR uttkarsha.shekhar@firstindia.co.in

Silver an extremely aus picious metal to make new purchases on festi vals, especially gold or silver articles and new utensils and is a highly soft, pliable metal that takes a very high polish and is similar in composition and character to gold and copper.

Even though it lacks gold’s hard ness, it still has a lot of uses, particularly when alloyed with other metals to increase its hardness. To mark the fortui tous day, buying gold and silver on this day attracts prosperity.

One of the seven ancient met als that were familiar to people in the past the others being gold, copper, tin, lead, iron and mercury is silver.

because it has been in use for such a long time.

Since gold is more uncommon in nature and more challenging to mine in large quantities, it is currently much more valuable than silver.

Simple alloyed silver, such as sterling silver, is far more appro priate for use in jewellery and other works.

It is for gifts are the most pre ferred spiritual and traditional option.

In most cases, sterling silver jewellery is a fantastic, highquality option. The metal won’t rust or deteriorate and if you take care of your jewellery, it will continue to look fantastic for a very long time. Even future generations should be able to inherit your silver jewellery.

Even sterling silver, which is delicate, may not be suitable for use with settings for very valu able gemstones. The metals that are most frequently utilised in

need to be a little more cautious when cleaning it. Never use abrasive cleaners like baking soda or toothpaste since, over time, they will gradually re move some of the metal.

ver and gold jewellery comes down to personal style, although the cost is a significant consideration un less you’re excep tionally affluent.

Silver is a pre cious metal, of course, but you might be sur prised to find that it is much less ex pensive than gold.

Silver is precious and an extremely auspicious metal. City First brings to you the significance of this pure metal during the festive season!

ROYALTY ALL OVER THE GLOBE

DCITY FIRST esigner Nikhi ta Tandon un veiled her lat est collection recently at FDCI x Lakme Fashion Week. Known for its grace and high fash ion, the label NIKH ITA TANDON finds loyal clientage among royalty all over the globe.

Her forte in her dazzling embellish ments is just not confined to evening gowns but has an array of a wide and ex clusive range designed to slay and cater for every event keeping in mind how important every event is.

Her new collection showcas es her love for two things closest to her heart: nature

and spirituality. Sequins and Swarovskis played well along with the silhouettes of modernity that por tray craftsmanship at its best.

The collection consists of two col ours green and gold. Fun, sleek, sexy par ty dresses in green and ending with cou ture gowns in gold.

BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY

CITY FIRST

Film Tourism Conclave 2022

CITY FIRST

The 3-day mega film tourism event wit nessed its sec ond day at the India International Film Tourism Conclave 2022 promoted by Harshad Bhagwat producer recently in the city.

Siddharth Roy Ka pur shared his suc cess mantra, ‘Follow your gut’ to a dis cerning audience consisting of twenty countries who had come to pitch their locations to Indian film makers.

Commenting on the South Indian Film industry Sid dharth said “The south Indian cinema is having its renais sance moment. The audiences have start ed accepting and ap preciating such films.” On what goes behind choosing a shoot location for the film, the 48-year-old filmmaker said “We as filmmakers want to be true to the script and hence prefer to shoot at the actual lo cations as in the script. However,

budget sometimes plays a role and if we get something that may not look like a force fit and still be in our budgets, then we select that location.”

There was also a round table discus sion on the formula for cross-border col laborations with Sig mund Elias Holm, Film Commissioner of Western Norway Film Commission, Sameer Al Jaberi –Head of Locations & Government Re sources Abu Dhabi Film Commission, and Emin Guli yev, Head of Film Production, Filming Azerbai jan. They were joined by producer Gaurav Bose, Director of The Vermillion World, Chitra Subrama niam, Sr. VP of Crea tive & Production, Reliance Entertain ment, and Himanshu Dhanuka, Director at Eskay Movies. The session was moder ated by Dr Bhuvan Lall, celebrated Au thor, Filmmaker, En trepreneur, and Biog rapher of Subhas Bose, Har Dayal, Sardar Patel, and Gautam Buddha.

Asolo debut exhi bition titled, Bo hemian Rhapso dy by Rahul Bas wani was organised at Threshold Art gallery. The evening was well attended by art lovers and artists like Himmat Shah, Paramjit Singh, Arpita Singh, Kanchan Chander, Gopi Gajwani, Samar Jodha, Roobina Karode, Achia Anzi, Renu Modi, Mona Rai and Rajendra Tiku.

SUKOON: Stylish Yet Simple

CITY FIRST

F ashion designer Sonia Jetleey’s latest collection Sukoon was launched amidst fan fare at the just conclud ed India Style Fashion Week recently. The col lection is a story of her journey with the weaves and crafts of India. The garments with an Indi an soul with ajrakh block print and chand eri weave dominated the designs. The look was very global and stylish yet simple and significant. The collec tion had handcrafted thoughtfully curated, organic garments like tiered dresses, kimono hand quilted jackets, worn with relaxed di vine pants, relaxed overshirts, cord sets with Kurtis and co-ordi nated slim pants, tu nics, made by our very own local artisans.

“We also have hanky style shirt dresses, han ky style long tunics with divine pants, high low style tunics, patch work tops in beautiful fall colours like very peri, marigold, olive green, sapphire blue. Overall it is a bouquet of new styles to wear and flaunt to bring out the divine in you”, stat ed Sonia while talking about her collection.

The show saw a massive turnout of capitals fashionistas and social fraternity cheering up for their favourite designer.

honoured some of the best chefs in India at the country’s biggest culinary awards as a part of the celebra tion of International Chefs Day recently at Hotel Pride Plaza, Aerocity, New Delhi. Re nowned master chefs and hospitality industry veter ans graced the 19th edition of the prestigious awards. The award winners were felici tated by the chief guest of the evening Arvind Singh, Secre tary of the Ministry of Tourism.

Seventeen outstanding culi nary artists were awarded in multiple categories, including the lifetime achievement award, golden chef of the year, silver chef of the year, and others, at the glittering ceremony in the presence of over 400 industry professionals, young chefs, and

youngsters looking to make a career in the industry.

A four-day culinary competi tion was organised at the Insti tute of Bakery & Culinary Arts in Delhi and the Banarsidas Chandiwala Institute of Hotel Management and Catering Technology, Delhi.

Addressing the audience, Chef Davinder Kumar, Presi dent of the Indian Culinary Forum, said,“The idea be hind instituting the Chef Awards was to provide both veteran and upcoming chefs a platform to exhibit and hone their culinary skills. We are thankful to the industry partici pants, jury members, associ ates, and sponsors for their sup port in making the awards suc cessful. We are thrilled to see that the experience gained by the chefs here has helped them maximise their potential and growth, and we hope the awards continue to inspire and encour age more chefs.”

Nitibha Kaul

Anushka Ranjan, Nikhita Tandon and Nitibha Kaul

Anushka Ranjan

Sonia Jetleey walking the ramp with the models

Sonia Jetleey and Mukesh Jetleey

Deepali Chatrath and Shahana Mookherjea

Bharti Taneja and Ishika Taneja

Anuj Lalwani and Chavi Jindal

Food writer Award winner Sumit Jha

Vinod Bhatti and Ram Bharat

Ram Bharat felicitates

Chef Bharat Alagh with Silver Hat

Chef of the Year winner Chef Anuj Mathur

KB Kachru, Chef Davinder Kumar and Arvind Singh

Jinraj Adyanthaya felicitates Chef Virender S Datta with Lifetime Achievement Award Winners of ICF Chef Awards 2022

Siddharth Roy Kapoor and Harshad Bhagwat

Siddharth Roy Kapoor addressing the audience

Dr Bhuvan Lall interacting with the panel

Paramjit Singh, Arpita Singh, Mona Rai, Rahul Baswani, Manisha Gera Baswani and Tunty Chauhan

M Pravat

Samar Jodha and Gopi Gajwani

Sonia Bellany, Tunty Chauhan and Renu Modi

Gopi Gajwani and Manisha Gera Baswani

Divas showcasing the mesmerising collection by Nikhita Tandon

—PHOTOS BY SHAZID CHAUHAN

—PHOTOS BY SHAZID CHAUHAN

—PHOTOS BY SHAZID CHAUHAN