Sena leader targets BJP over ‘population hypocrisy’
Telangana BJP chief Bandi Sanjay was arrested on Tuesday as he called for state-wide protests against the arrest of his party workers a day earlier outside ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi lawmaker Kalvakuntla Kavitha’s residence in Hyderabad.
SC REFERS PETITIONS FROM SENA, SHINDE TO CONSTITUTION BENCH New Delhi (PTI): The SC on Tuesday referred to a five-judge bench the petitions filed by the Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde raising several constitutional questions related to defection, merger and disqualification. A bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana ordered the listing of petitions before the constitution bench on Thursday and direct ed the Election Commission not to pass any orders on Shinde faction’s plea that it be considered the real Shiv Sena and granted the party’s poll symbol. “List the matter before the constitution bench the day after tomorrow and the bench will decide about the symbol related to the Election Commission proceeding at the beginning,” the bench also comprising Justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli said. The bench was hearing pending cases related to the recent political crisis in Maharashtra that led to the fall of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in the state.
DORAISWAMI IS NEXT COMMISSIONERHIGHOFINDIATOUK
Renni Abraham Mumbai: Embattled (and now retired) po lice officer, Parambir Singh and his then deputy Parag Manere allegedly hushed up the involvement of Ajit Kamat, head hon cho of Avon Lifes ciences Ltd (Avon Or ganics) with the inter national drug syndi cate operated by gang ster Vicky
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THE DEFENCE MINISTRY CENTRE’S ‘STERN’ ACTION... BrahMos MISSILE MISFIRE SERVICE OF 3 IAF OFFICERS TERMINATED
New Delhi: SC on Tuesday lashed out at Baba Ramdev for criticising allopathy and allopathic practitioners, saying he needed to be restrained from abusing doctors & other systems of treatment. It said ultimately we respect him as he popularised Yoga. NIFTY 17,577.50 86.80
MUMBAI l WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2022 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI TITLE NO. MAHENG/2022/14652 l Vol 1 l Issue No. 109
The BrahMos missile got accidentally fired from an airbase and landed inside Pakistan at a place called Mian Channu. The Pakistan government had registered its objection to the incident but much before that, an investigation was launched by India. The country’s foreign office said it had summoned India’s charge d’affaires in Islamabad to pro test what it called an unprovoked violation of its airspace.
Singh.PolicetionbasednybasedMukhianddirectorageritsinternationally—fromvaluedofseizureFollowingGoswami.the2016of18.5tonneephedrine—thenatRs2,000crorepremises,amanPunitSringi,aManojJainoneJaiMuljioftheSolapur-pharmacompawerearrestedonaninvestigaledbythenThaneCommissionerHowever,chair man and managing director of Avon Or ganics, Ajit Anu Ka mat had pleaded igno rance and zero in volvement in the drug racket.Atthe time, an ap parently gullible Sin gh told the media that there was not much proof apart from the statements Turn to P6 SUSPICIOUS
On March 9, in the course of routine maintenance, a technical malfunction led to the accidental firing of a mis sile. The government of India has taken a seri ous view and ordered a high-level Court of En quiry. It is learnt that the missile landed in an area of Pakistan. While the incident is deeply regrettable, it is also a matter of relief that there has been no loss of life due to the accident.
‘WHY RAPSSYSTEM?’MEDICINEABUSESCRAMDEV
TWO INFROMINFILTRATORSPAKKILLEDNOWSHERA
ADANI GROUP TO BUY 29.2% STAKE IN NDTV, LAUNCH OPEN OFFER New Delhi: Adani Group said on Tuesday its media unit will buy a majority stake in New Delhi Television, one of nation’s most popular, in most high-profile bet by billionaire Gautam Adani in vibrant media sector. Adani’s unit will indirectly buy a 29.18% stake in New Delhi Television Ltd & launch an open offer for another 26% stake. Open offer would be worth 4.93 bn Indian rupees ($61.73 mn), reports said.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi greets President Droupadi Murmu during a meeting at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Disgraced cop ignored US DEA advisory on Avon Organics CMD Ajit Kamat's ties with drug lord Vicky investigationsunderminedGoswami,
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While the US DEA arrested Goswami, the police department headed by Param Bir Singh in Thane found justifiable cause to ex empt Avon CMD Kamat from prosecution and even provided his ar rested employees with the option of thereducedaapprovers—facilitatingturningcosyprosecutionandsentence—incase.
Parambir Singh
Ex-Thane police chief Parambir Singh aided drug cartel?
LOCAL BODY POLLS
DELHI
New Delhi: Seasoned diplomat Vikram K Doraiswami was on Tuesday appointed India’s new high commissioner to the United Kingdom, considered an important posting in view of the growing strategic ties between the two countries.
THAKUR CALLS AAP, A “PARTY OF LIARS” Union minister Anurag Thakur on Tuesday called the AAP a party of liars, claiming that the “Kejriwal model” of governance has failed. ‘Whatever Manish Sisodia has said about the BJP is completely false. The BJP did not give him any offer,’ Thakur said.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to consider listing a plea challenging the grant of remission to 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case. The top court was hearing a PIL filed by CPI (M) Politburo Member Subhashini Ali, TMC MP Mahua Moitra, and one other petitioner.
First India Bureau Mumbai: Senior Shiv Sena leader Bhaskar Jadhav on Tuesday pulled up the state gov ernment led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde for its decision to revert to the 2017 status ahead of the forthcoming Bri hanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections. The Shindeled government recent ly reversed the erst while MVA govern ment’s decision to in crease the number of city councillors in Mumbai from 227 to 236. “It is very strange that the alliance govern ment (including the BJP, led by Deputy Chief Minister Deven dra Fadnavis) decided to reverse the MVA deci sion to increase the number of civic coun cillors in Mumbai in pace with changing the population demogra phy. This is particularly peculiar since it is the same BJP government at the Centre that in sists that the population in urban centres far outstrips the popula tion in India’s rural re gions,” Jadhav said.
It is very strange that the alliance govern ment (including the BJP, led by Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis) decid ed to reverse the MVA decision to increase the num ber of civic councillors in Mumbai in pace with changing the population demography. This is par ticularly peculiar since it is the same BJP govern ment at the Centre that insists that the population in urban centres far outstrips the population in In dia’s rural regions.
—Bhaskar Jadhav, Shiv Sena leaderBhaskar Jadhav, seen in conversation with Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray. —FILE PHOTO
DEROGATORY REMARKS ON PROPHET MUHAMMAD Telangana BJP MLA gets bail hours after arrest
BJP has suspended Raja & sought his reply in 10 days as to why he should not be expelled
A secretariat official said, “It is a fact, al though the latest popu lation data statistics are unavailable, that more than 60% of Turn to P6
l Sisodia gets summon from Assam court in connection with criminal defamation case l ED registered case against Sisodia, later top official denied
SONIA GANDHI CALLS ON PREZ DROUPADI MURMU
SHOW-CAUSE NOTICE ISSUED TO IMRAN; NEW CASES FILED Islamabad: A top court in Pakistan on Tuesday issued a show-cause notice to ex-PM Imran Khan and summoned him on August 31 in contempt proceedings initiated against him for controversial remarks against a female judge. Meanwhile, fresh cases were registered against Khan for violating section 144 by organizing a rally.
According to Pakistan, the missile flew more than 100 km inside their airspace Mian Channu.
BSE SENSEX 59,031.30 257.43 | NSE
First India Bureau Hyderabad: Telangana BJP MLA T Raja Singh, who was arrested for al leged derogatory re marks on Prophet Mu hammad, has been sent to 14-day judicial custo dy. Nampally court has returned the remand application for sus pended BJP MLA Raja Singh. He was arrested over his alleged deroga tory comments against Prophet Muhammad. On Monday, the BJP MLA released a video criticising stand-up co median Munawar, and was purportedly seen making comments, al legedly against Islam. Several people staged protests in parts of the city demanding Raja Singh’s arrest. You have expressed views contrary to Party’s position on various matters, which is in clear violation of Rule XXV 10 (a) of constitution of BJP. I have been directed to convey to you that pending further inquiry, you are suspended from the party and from your responsi bilities/assignments if any, with immediate effect.
—Om Pathak, BJP’s Central Disciplinary Committee Secretary Sisodia may be held soon: Kejriwal Ahmedabad: Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP has claimed massive sup port for it in Gujarat, and declared that it will be why Manish Sisodia, accused in a corruption case by the CBI, will come under increasing pressure. “We heard that Sisodia-ji will be arrested in 10 days. See ing your enthusiasm, it appears that he might be arrested in two or three days,” said Kejri wal at a massive public meeting at Bhavnagar. Arvind Kejriwal at the Townhall meet, in Bhavnagar on Tuesday.
BJP’S BIG STRATEGY FOR TELANGANA! Work is being done by the Bharatiya Janata Party on a new strategy for victory in Telangana, many leaders of TRS and Congress may join Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in future. Some leaders of both the parties are said to be already in touch with the BJP, as said by the sources.
BANDI DURINGDETAINEDPROTEST
T Raja Singh
OUR EDITIONS: JAIPUR,
Terms CM Shinde’s decision to reverse MVA decision to increase councillor constituencies in Mumbai from 227 to 236 as regressive, against increasing population demography
SC TO HEAR PLEA AGAINST 11 CONVICTS’ RELEASE
Srinagar: Two infiltrators from Pakistan were killed along the Line of Control in Nowshera sector of Jammu & Kashmir’s Rajouri district late Monday night, the Indian Army said on Tuesday. “In reconnaissance by a quadcopter, two bodies of infiltrators have been observed. The area is being scanned,” said Defence spokesperson.
A Group Captain and two Wing Commanders are sacked Missile was accidentally fired on March 9, 2022 into Pakistan Moni Sharma New Delhi: The service of three IAF officers was terminated on Tuesday in connection with the Brahmos mis sile misfire incident. A Group Captain and two Wing Commanders ter minated on Tuesday. A Court of Inquiry (Col), set up to establish the facts of the case, in cluding fixing responsi bility for the incident, found that deviation from the Standard Op erating Procedures (SOP) by three officers led to the accidental fir ing of the missile. These three officers have primarily been held responsible for the incident. Their services terminated by Centre with immediate effect. THE ACCIDENTAL INCIDENT
ABOUT
In an order issued on Monday, the department has directed all regional transport offices to take immediate action against vehicles that put such stickers or plates
MNS chief Raj Thackeray addresses party supporters at a rally in Mumbai on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY ANI
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indisposed due to his surgery, Thackeray primarily trained his guns on cous in Uddhav Thackeray, and the Eknath Shinde faction, but was careful not to criticize the BJP directly. In fact, he sup ported the BJP’s claims that Shiv Sena was never promised chief minis tership after two and half years in power. Recalling how the Shiv Sena and BJP would discuss alliances and power sharing when Balasaheb Thack eray and Pramod Ma hajan were spearhead ing the saffron coalition, he said, “Meetings would happen at Cen taur hotel or at Ma toshree. I would be pre sent at these meetings. Balasaheb, Manohar Joshi, Munde, Mahajan were clear about one thing. The party with the largest number of MLAs gets the chief ministership. Then, how can you ask for the reins when the Sena had fewer MLAs than the BJP? Then it is said a commitment was made within four walls be tween two people,” with out naming his cousin. Uddhav had claimed that in a closed-door one-on-one meeting, BJP’s Amit Shah had promised that after be ing BJP CM for two and half years, Shiv Sena would be given a shot at CM’s post—a claim de nied by the BJP. He added that when Prime Minister Naren dra Modi told rallies that Devendra Fadnavis would be CM, Uddhav Thackeray would be on the dais. “Why didn’t you take an exception then? Why didn’t you call them then? You re member only after SenaBJP got the mandate? Sena-BJP voters reject ed NCP-Congress and voted for you, and you formed a government with them?” he asked.
ED summons Swapna Patkar for interrogation SCAM CASE Swapna Patkar
LAND
ogy,”askedbysaidportedtoaskedapologize.onethinghadpreachercontroversialonProphetherNupurspokespersonSharmaoverremarksagainstMuhammad,thegroundsthatIslamicZakirNaiksaidthesameearlierbutnoaskedhimto“EverybodyNupurSharmaapologize.Isupher.WhatshewasearliersaidZakirNaik.Nobodyhimforanapolhesaid.
—FILE PHOTO SOPs in place for crimes HouseDyalwayswomenagainstbutaren’tfollowed,CMtells
PTI HOAX CALLER DEMANDS `5 CR TO ‘DEFUSE BOMBS’ AT 5-STAR HOTEL
Government”useanceivedsionertheDhakanecommissionering”,resentation”governmentdoesplategovernment“illegally”.UsingaMaharashtrastickeroronavehiclethatnotbelongtotheis“misrepand“cheatstatetransportAvinashsaid.Accordingtoofficials,transportcommisofficehadrecomplaintsfromRTIactivistabouttheof“Maharashtrastickers and plates on personal vehicles of the Maha rashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC)Violationsofficers.willinvite a fine of Rs500 under rele vant sections of the Mo tor Vehicles Act, and po lice action under the In dian Penal Code. Several government officers put official stick ers or plates on their per sonal vehicles to avoid paying tolls, which is again a loss to the gov ernment, an official said. Questioning the move, MSRTC union leader Shirang Barge said, “If officers cannot use the official sticker or plate on vehicles, how can we reach any accident spot in an emergency?”
BJP has been trying to woo the MNS as it tries to wrest the richest municipal corporation from the Shiv Sena, and a multi-cornered fight could just help their chances MNS chief Raj Thackeray on Tuesday supported suspended BJP
Mumbai (PTI): The convicts in the 2002 Bilkis Bano case of Gujarat were re leased following a Supreme Court or der, but it was wrong if a person accused of a crime is “felici tated” and there can be no justification for such an act, said Maharashtra Depu ty Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday. Replying to a dis cussion in the Legisla tive Council on Bhandara rape inci dent, he said there was no reason to raise the Bilkis Bano issue in the“TheHouse.accused have been freed after com pleting nearly 20 years...14 years in jail. The release has been done after a Supreme Court order. But it is wrong if any accused is felicitated and wel comed. An accused is an accused and there can be no justification for this (act),” he said.
First India Bureau Mumbai: After facing backlash for not in cluding a single wom an in the 20-member cabinet, the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fad navis-led Maha Yuti government is likely to include two women MLAs in the second phase of cabinet ex pansion likely to be executed this month. According to sourc es, one woman MLA could be made cabinet minister, and another is likely to be given a minister of state port folio. Currently, there are four names in the running for these two positions, and inciden tally they all belong to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). One of the leading names is Na shik BJP MLA Devyani Pharande, the daugh ter-in-law of late Prof NS Pharande, who served as the chairman of the andstituencyhisarBJPChaudhary,inotherMadhuriconstituencyfromfromLegislativeMaharashtraCouncil1998to2004.Three-timeMLAParvatiassemblyinPuneMisalisthestrongcontendertherace.Manishaatwo-timeMLAfromDaassemblyconinMumbaiSeemaHiray,who won from the Nashik (West) assembly seat in 2014 and 2019 are the other names being considered for the two ‘vacancies’.Meanwhile, it has been learnt that Gover nor Bhagat Singh Ko shyari is likely to se lect his 12 nominees for the Maharashtra Leg islative Council soon. The race to secure a nomination has begun in the BJP as well as the Shinde’s rebel fac tion. As of now, the BJP is likely to get a bigger share of the eight nominations in the fray leaving the Shinde faction with only four nominations, say NareshShivjunsonAnandraoKadam,MLAsamongstThesources.contenderstherebelincludeRamdasVijayShivtare,AdsulorhisAbhijitAdsul,ArKhotkarandThaneSenadistrictchiefMhaske.The
12 MEMBERS OF
‘Bhandara rape incident shameful; will sensitize police and hospital staff’
SOON; BJP LIKELY TO HAVE THE UPPER HAND IN THE FRAY
First India Bureau Mumbai: Dubbing the rape of a 35-yearold woman in Bhandara district very shameful, Dep uty Chief Minister of Maharashtra Dev endra Fadnavis on Tuesday said police and health officials will be sensitized again to handle cas es related to crimes against women. Replying to debate in the Legislative Council, Fadnavis, who also holds the Home portfo lio, said a Special Inves tigation Team (SIT) has been formed to probe theTheincident.SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) exist but they are not fol lowed. They have to be followed at the police sta tion and the hospital. I want to assure the House that police and health of ficials will be sensitized again, he Fadnavissaid.said the woman is suffering from psychosis and un dergoing treatment. She is unable to narrate many things. The first accused is yet to be ar rested, he said. The woman revealed that Shriram Murkute, a tempo driver, allegedly rapedFadnavisher. said the police tried to trace the accused by check ing the people with that name and also the vehicle. They found an 18-year-old man from Yavatmal with the same name, but his de scription did not match, while another person with the same name was lodged in the Balaghat jail. It appears the tempo driver is a local and the woman said since he behaved nicely with her, she didn’t want to register any case, Fad navis said, adding that the woman was being counselled.Thisisavery shame ful incident. If we look at the entire incident, there is a scope for im provement in our sys tem, the deputy CM said.
Transport dept to crack down on illegal govt stickers, plates Using a Maharashtra government sticker or plate on a vehicle that does not belong to the government is misrepresentation and cheating.
FIGHT FOR MUMBAI
Race for women ministers in state cabinet heats up
Former Maharashtra minister Pankaja Munde is one of the contenders for a cabinet post.
First India Bureau Mumbai: The Enforce ment Directorate (ED) on Tuesday sum moned Swapna Pat kar, a witness in the Patra Chawl redevel opment scam case, for interrogation. Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut is in judicial cus tody till September 05 for alleged involvement in the matter. His custo dy was extended on Monday after a hearing. According to reports, after the initial hearing in court, Raut’s judicial custody was valid till Au gust 22 but a special Pre vention of Money Laun dering Act (PMLA) court extended his custody till September 05 that day. Earlier on August 01, Raut was sent to the agency’s custody till Au gust 04 in the same case. On the same day, ED pro duced him before a spe cial sessions court after hisEDarrest.officials raided the Shiv Sena leader’s home on July 31, and af ter detaining and ques tioning him for several hours, arrested him on August 01. On June 28 this year, Sanjay Raut was sum moned by the probe agency in connection with the prevention of the money laundering case pertaining to the Rs1,034 crore Patra Chawl land scam.
WRONG IF ACCUSED ARE FELICITATED: FADNAVIS
Police are on the hunt for an unidentified caller, who claimed to have placed bombs at four locations of The Lalit hotel and threatened to detonate them unless he was paid Rs5 crore, officials said on Tuesday. A sweep of the property in suburban Andheri—following a complaint by hotel administrators regarding the incident, which occurred on Monday— revealed no active threat. BY
RAJ THACKERAY SET TO GO SOLO IN BMC POLLS?
SUPPORT FOR NUPUR SHARMA
GOVERNOR BHAGAT SINGH KOSHYARI TO NOMINATE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
—PHOTO
Mumbai (PTI): The transport department has issued an order directing a crackdown on vehicles ficialplatesmentMaharashtrasportinggovernstickersorillegally,anofsaidonTuesday.
candidates who could be in the running for a nomination from the BJP are late BJP leader Gopinath Munde’s daughter Pankaja Munde, former Con gress leaders who joined BJP Harshvard han Patil, Kri pashankar Singh, for mer Nationalist Con gress Party andSudhakariticianleader-turned-BJP(NCP)polChitraWagh,BhaleraoGaneshHake.
—Avinash Dhakane, State Transport Commissioner Satish Nandgaonkar Mumbai: In his first address to party workers after recov ering from his hip bone surgery, Maha rashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray on Tuesday gave first in dications that he could contest the elec tions to Brihanmum bai Municipal Corpo rations on his own on all 227 seats. The BJP has been try ing to woo the MNS as it tries to wrest the rich est municipal corpora tion from the Shiv Sena, which ruled the BMC for 25 years, and a mul ti-cornered fight could just help them trounce theHithertoSena.
His advocate Abhi nav Chandrachud on Tuesday argued before a division bench of Justices NM Jamdar and NR Borkar that not submitting a charge sheet indi cates there has been no progress in the investigation. Apart from seeking that the FIR be quashed, Pan choli also sought a direction to police to inform him about the progress made in the probe into the case. The high court after briefly hearing the matter issued a notice to the police and the complainant and post ed the matter for hear ing on September 19.
First India Bureau Mumbai: Out of a to tal of 48 structures in the vicinity of the Mumbai airport, parts of eight build ings will be demol ished in a month for violating the height norms, Mumbai sub urban district collec tor has told the Bom bay High Court. A division bench comprising Chief Jus tice Dipankar Datta and Justice MS Karnik had last month directed the collector to specify measures to be taken for razing parts of the 48 structures identified by the Directorate Gen eral of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Mum bai International Air port Limited (MIAL) in violation of height reg ulations.Whileperiodical sur veys are carried out to identify such struc tures, the MIAL in 2017 informed the suburban collector’s office that 48 such structures need to be demolished.
will be demolished for height norm violation: Collector tells HC CRITICALLY ENDANGERED TURTLE RESCUED
Thane (PTI): A criti cally endangered Leith’s softshell tur tle was rescued from the Brahmala lake in Thane city, said an of ficial on Tuesday. A team from the NGO Wild Welfare Associa tion (WWA) rescued the turtle in coordination with the forest depart ment on Monday even ing, said president of the association Aditya Patil.Weighing 20kg with a 2.7-foot-long cara pace, the turtle was found floating on the surface and was una ble to swim down, he said, adding that it was taken to a clinic, where a preliminary exami nation revealed that it was suffering from a lung infection.
Dhiraj Patil, a super intendent of police lev el officer, held the post of executive director (security and enforce ment) at the Maharash tra State
mentingsuspensionder,theanpetitiongustticeGautamcomprisingof(MSEDCL),DistributionElectricityCoLtdatthetimehissuspension.AdivisionbenchJusticePatelandJusGauriGodseonAu18dismissedthefiledbyawomwhohadchallengedMAT’sJuly2022orrevokingPatil’sanddirectforhisreinstateinservice.TheMAThadalsodirectedforthedepartmentalenquiryinitiat ed against Patil to be completed within three months.Thepetitioner, who is a lawyer, had com plained against Patil in July 2021 levelling alle gations which were per sonal in Pursuantnature.tothe com plaint, a departmental enquiry was initiated against Patil in Febru ary 2022, and on March 02, he was placed under suspension.Patilthen challenged his suspension before the“TheMAT. allegations
—FILE PHOTO BMC IRKS
First India Bureau Mumbai: The Bom bay High Court re fused to quash the Maharashtra Admin istrative Tribunal’s (MAT) order revoking the suspension and ordering for rein statement of a senior police officer. It noted that suspension or ders cannot be kept pending indefinitely.
BREAKDOWN As per the MACT order, the compensation amount includes Rs10.80 lakh towards established income, Rs5.40 lakh towards future prospects, Rs16,500 each for loss of estate with increase of 10% and funeral expenses with increase of 10%, Rs44,000 each towards spousal consortium, filial consortium, and parental consor tium. Upon realization of the claim, the tribunal has directed that Rs3 lakh be kept in fixed deposit of the deceased’s children until they attain majority.
“The deputy collec tor (encroachment re moval) has been in structed to hold a meet ing with the owners of the eight structures and to ensure the re moval of the said struc tures within a month,” said the affidavit. As per the MIAL, out of the 48 structures, 22 structures have been already removed, it said.Aletter was sent on August 10 to the DGCA and MIAL seeking de tails of the 15 struc tures for further action.
A dilapidated building unfit for residency was razed by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials in Mumbai a few days ago.
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Kin of man killed in bike accident get `17.85L aid
Mumbai (PTI) : Ac tor Aditya Pancholi has approached the Bombay High Court seeking to quash a 2019 case of alleg edly raping a lead ing woman actor. Pancholi in his peti tion said the FIR was lodged at sub urban Versova po lice station in June 2019, but till date the police have nei ther filed a charge sheet nor submitted a closure report.
ADITYA PANCHOLI MOVES HC
SEEKING TO QUASH RAPE CASE
First India Bureau Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Tues day pulled up the Ma harashtra government for failing to ensure that the state Mental Health Authority, which was set up to implement the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017, was fully functional. A division bench comprising Justice NM Jamdar and Justice NR Borkar noted that when the Act provides for an authority to ensure that the object of it is ful filled, the government cannot expect the court to look into all this. The court was hearing a public interest litiga tion (PIL) filed by a citybased psychiatrist seek ing a comprehensive re port on the status of all persons in mental health facilities across the state, and a review of their sta tus for discharge as man dated by the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017. “First and foremost, you (government) have to set up this state Men tal Health Authority, which will be looking into implementing the provisions of the Act. The court cannot be en trusted with this,” said Justice Jamdar. The bench then di rected the state govern ment to give a time frame by which the au thority would be made fullyThefunctional.courtposted the matter for further hear ing on August 29.
REVIVING AN ICON
It will be kept under medication until the lung infection clears up, saidLeith’sPatil.softshell turtle or Nilssonia leithii is a freshwater turtle, listed as critically endangered under the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It is also protected under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 in India.
Leith’s softshell turtle or Nilssonia leithii is a freshwater turtle, listed as critically endangered under IUCN. HC RANE’SCONSTRUCTIONREGULARIZATIONOVEROFATBUNGALOW
They FROM THANE LAKE
made by the petitioner (woman) against the re spondent number 1 (Pa til) in her complaint are personal in nature. The petitioner has reserved her right to file a crimi nal complaint against respondent number 1 for offences punishable under sections 376 (rape), 420 (cheating) and 406 (criminal breach of trust) of IPC,” said the high court. Even the MAT, in its order, has mentioned the summary of these allegations, but not ren dered any finding. In such circumstances, we do not find it appropri ate to deal with these allegations, said the court.
Choudhari said of these 48 structures, the collec tor’s office was facing difficulty in ascertain ing the specific details regarding 15 structures. While eight structures would be demolished in a month, 22 structures have already been re moved as per the MIAL and the process to iden tify the remaining three structures is still on.
‘Will not quash tribunal’s order revoking cop’s suspension’
A double-decker bus drives down a road in the backdrop of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), in Mumbai. Reported to be first introduced in the city of Bombay (present day Mumbai), these classic red double-decker buses were a reflection of their London counterparts, and have always enjoyed a special place in the city's life and culture. With the launch of Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transports (BEST) new electric double-decker bus, these iconic conveyances have got a fresh boost, with passengers seemingly excited to be a part of the revival. —PHOTOS BY PTI
The high court then asked the collector to list the steps to be taken for the demolition of these districtday,thethehigh-risestheraisingcatetiononThestructures.orderwaspassedpublicinterestlitiga(PIL)filedbyadvoYashwantShenoyconcernsoverdangersposedbylocatednearMumbaiairport.IntheaffidavitfiledinhighcourtonMonMumbaisuburbanCollectorNidhi
First India Bureau Thane: A Motor Acci dent Claims Tribunal (MACT) in Thane dis trict has awarded Rs17.85 lakh compen sation to the family of a 36-year-old man who was killed in a motorcycle accident in 2017. MACT member Shau kat S Gorwade directed the opponents the own er of the offending vehi cle and the New India Assurance Co. Ltd to pay the compensation with an interest of 6% per annum from the date of filing of the ap plication.Appearing for the ap plicants, advocate Sachin Mane informed the tribunal that the victim, Alam Ali Siddki Ali Khalifa, was a tailor at a Onboutique.December 08, 2017, Khalifa was riding pillion on a friend’s mo torcycle, when a twowheeler rammed into the vehicle. He fell off the bike and subse quently died due to the severe injuries sus tained in the accident, the counsel said. The man’s family had sought Rs31.07 lakh from the offending vehi cle’s owner Hardeep Singh Bolle and the in surer. The owner of the two-wheeler did not ap pear and the matter was decided ex-parte against him, while the insurance company contested the claim.
HC slams govt for not setting up Mental Health Authority
Mumbai: The Bom bay High Court on Tuesday berated the Brihanmumbai Mu nicipal Corpora tion’s (BMC) stand that it was ready to consider a second application for the regularisation of unauthorized con struction at a bun galow of Union min ister Narayan Rane in suburban Juhu. The BMC had re jected an applica tion for regulariza tion by Rane’s com pany in June. A division bench comprising Justice RD Dhanuka and Justice Kamal Khata on Tuesday asked how could the civic body consider a sec ond application hav ing rejected the first one. Lawyers of both Rane’s firm and the BMC said as per law and existing regula tions, a second appli cation can be consid ered. This flip did not go down well with the court. “Does the order passed by this court have no sanctity?” it asked. The bench then reserved its or der on the petition.
PLEA DENIED
—PTI PHOTO ‘8 BUILDINGS TO BE RAZED PARTIALLY NEAR AIRPORT’
Orders cannot be kept pending indefinitely even as no findings have been submitted by the MAT, says HC
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL
The US health authorities reported a New York person contracting a similar strain of the virus from oral vac cine after the man suffered paralysis. While the source of the virus was still being traced, authorities were con cerned about its spread. The US does not administer the oral vaccine. In March this year the WHO was notified about the presence of cVDPV3 in an unvaccinated child in Jeru salem. The child was brought to hospital after a paralytic attack. Here, too, the origin of the virus and its spread are part of the investigation. The apprehension is that the cVDPV3 strain could be spreading in these three countries. It is a scary devel opment for the world.
The US health authorities reported a NY person contracting a similar strain of the virus from oral vaccine after the man suffered paralysis. While source of the virus was still being traced, authorities were concerned about spread A
In the previous hearing, the top court had suggested constituting an expert panel comprising representatives from the central and state governments, opposition po litical parties, Election Com mission of India, Finance Commission, Reserve Bank of India, NITI Aayog, etc. Meanwhile, with Gujarat approaching, it will be inter esting to see how AAP places itself before the might of the BJP. In Delhi and Punjab, it may be noted that the BJP did not have a strong pres ence. However, Gujarat is an entirely different ball game and the contest will get inter esting as the countdown to the crucial polls begins.
reebies or better known as “revdis” in the Indian politi cal parlance has gained prominence in debates and the relevance of the same is a hotPrimetopic.Minister Narendra Modi of late has been hitting out in a veiled manner against the reported populist schemes of doling out free bies which are not just a “burden” on the taxpayers’ but may also pull the plug on the economic growth of the nation and dent the country’s attempts towards building a self-reliant nation. With the Gujarat elections coming up, it is not difficult to guage the fact that he had directed his attack against Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aad mi Party’s government which riding the crest of the Delhi model. “As a country, we have to take a pledge that we will not allow such tendencies to grow. This is a collective re sponsibility of the country,” Modi had said. “If there is selfishness in politics, then anyone can come and announce to give free petrol and diesel. Such steps will take away the rights of our children, and prevent the country from becoming self-reliant. Due to such self ish policies, the burden on honest taxpayers of the coun try will also increase. To deal with the challenges that the country is facing, it needs clear intentions and commit ment. It requires extreme hard work, policy and huge investments,” Modi said. “This is not policy, it is im morality. This is not national interest; it is a loss of the na tion. This is not nation-build ing, it is an attempt to push the nation back. To deal with the challenges facing the country, it takes clear inten tions, loyalty, and policy,” Modi said. In the first week of August, the Supreme Court advised the Union government to form a composite expert com mittee to examine the pros and cons of freebies given out by governments and ways to curb irrational elec toral promises that cost the exchequer dear.
Bhupender@byadavbjpYadav Was presented two publications ‘Policy to Curb Air Pollution in the NCR’ and ‘Graded Response Action Plan’ brought out by the Commission for Air Quality Management today. CAQM is working hard towards finding innovative solutions to Delhi-NCR’s air pollution problem.
SPIRITUAL SPEAK A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. Bible PM akistan is going through a déjà vu moment with the ousted Prime Minis ter Imran Khan fac ing arrest on terror charges. Four years ago in 2018 Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was sen tenced to seven years in prison on charges of corruption. The case against Imran Khan was filed following his outburst over the arrest of his key aide She hbaz Gill was arrested on Au gust 9 for his comments on tele vision which were termed sedi tious. Imran alleged that Gill was tortured in jail and criti cized the judge who allowed Gill to be taken in police custody. Later at a rally the former prime minister threatened to file cases against police officials on his return to power. This led to a case being filed against him un der the Anti-Terrorism Act. Imran Khan has managed to get brief reprieve from a court and is now galvanizing support against the government of She hbaz Sharif, Nawaz Sharif’s brother. It is the army’s “neutral ity” that will decide Imran’s fate.
On August 17, the Supreme Court observed that issues raised during the hearing of the petition against freebies promised by political parties during polls are getting “in creasingly complicated”, and whether access to free educa tion, drinking water, electric ity can be termed freebies? A bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana orally observed that the court can not prevent political parties from making promises. How ever, it added that the ques tion is what constitutes right promises?Thebench, also compris ing Justices JK Maheshwari and Hima Kohli, further asked, “Can we describe the promise of free education as a freebie? Can free drinking water, units of power, etc., be described as freebies?”
NAWAZ SHARIF?
The writer is Senior Journalist and former Managing Editor, First India Prime Minister Narendra Modi
AAP’S FREEBIE TRIP In the 2013 Delhi polls, when Arvind Kejriwal first came to power (just for 49 days), his campaign’s focus was to pro vide free (to a certain limit) electricity and water. People responded to AAP’s move and the party romped home in style. After AAP re peated its winning streak (in Delhi in 2020) it went on to win Punjab in 2022 on the DelhiAlso,Model.Indian politicians, over the time have grown smarter and some argue that bank write-offs to “some” corporates are more danger ous to the economy and the democracy in the larger con text than the freebies to poor voters at Freebielarge.politics is nothing new in India. Way back in the Sixties, K Kamaraj’s had promised to provide rice at the cost price of Re 1 per Kg. This move seemed to be high ly popular in those days, which was also perhaps the “need” of the hour as far as the per capita income of In dians considered. The move can certainly be argued. This decision helped Kamaraj earn huge political clout. Twenty years later, in 1983, NT Rama Rao romped home after he promised rice at Rs 2 perInkg.both the cases, Rao and Kamaraj faced scathing criti cisms over the viability of their “schemes” but they stood firm on their decision and continued with their populistHowever,schemes.thedie was cast and a ballot system unfortu nately has been imprinted in the minds of voters and they now want to simply transact votes in return of some sops or goodies and this is con tinuing over the decades. There’s been a huge up roar in the country for the last few weeks over freebies. Even as the Centre is appeal ing to the states to curb the “sops operas,” Delhi’s ruling party Aam Aadmi Party, Ta mil Nadu’s DMK and Andhra’s YSR Congress are challenging the central gov ernment in the Apex court on this. In its last hearing, the court had said, “Some people say that political parties can not be stopped from making promises to the voters. Now it has to be decided what free bies are.” Can healthcare for all, access to drinking water, schemes like MGNREGA, which make life better, be considered freebies?’ The court asked all the parties in the matter to give their views.
larm bells are ringing in the United States, Britain and Israel over resurgence of the polio virus at a time when most of the developing countries have eradicated the crippling virus. Nature re ported in June that a strain of polio virus was “detected during routine surveillance of waste water in February. A mutated version of the same strain was again picked up in the following months”. The report was based on the find ings of the UK Health Secu rity Agency (UKHSA). What is alarming about this strain is that it has originated from the oral polio vaccine, de scribed as “rare risk”. Called “circulating vaccinederived polio virus type 3” (cVDPV3) by the World Health Organisation, it is a strain of (weakened) polio virus that would have originally been found in oral polio vaccines. It can spread through faeces and respiratory secretions and, in rare cases, can prove to be haz ardous.
POLIO IS MAKING A COMEBACK
F
OF SOP OPERAS, POLITICS & GUJARAT ELECTIONS
PERSPECTIVE MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2022 04 www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epapers/mumbai I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia l Vol 1 l Issue No. 109 l RNI TITLE MAHENG/2022/14652NO.Printed and published by Anita Hada Sangwan on behalf of First Express Publishers. Printed at Dangat Media Pvt Ltd, No.22, Dighe MIDC, Vishnu Nagar, TTC Industrial Area, Dighe, Navi Mumbai-400701. Published at Plot No. 3 Scheme C of Manglorean Garden Home, CHS Limited, Survey No. 5, 6C (Part) Ville Parle East, Mumbai 400057. Editor-In-Chief: Dr Jagdeesh Chandra Editor: Anita Hada Sangwan responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act Dharmendra@dpradhanbjpPradhan Our Indian community is richly contributing to the progress and development of Australia. I encouraged our brand ambassadors to also be a part of India’s growth story, especially on the education front for establishing India as a knowledge superpower by the centenary year.
On August 17, the Supreme Court observed that issues raised during the hearing of the petition against freebies promised by political parties during polls are getting “increasingly complicated”, and whether access to free education, drinking water, electricity can be termed freebies? A bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana orally observed that the court cannot prevent political parties from making promises. However, it added that the question is whatrightconstitutespromises?
In the first week of August, the Supreme Court advised the Union government to form a composite expert committee to examine the pros and cons of freebies given out by governments and ways to curb irrational electoral promises that cost the exchequer dear
ROBIN ROY
TOP TWEETS P
IN-DEPTH WILL IMRAN KHAN MEET THE FATE OF FORMER
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NO STEPPING DOWN, DESPITE MLAs’ NO CONFIDENCE MOVE
GAINING GROUND
—PHOTO BY ANI
Vatan’
‘Mile Kadam, Jude New Delhi (Agen cies): The Congress on Tuesday unveiled the logo, tagline and pam phlet of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, a 3,570 kmlong nationwide foot march led by Rahul Gandhi that will be kick-started on Sep temberParty7.leaders Digvi jaya Singh and Jairam Ramesh unveiled the tagline of the yatra, ‘Mile Kadam, Jude Va tan’ (Come Together, Unite the Nation), and also launched its web site in New Delhi. “The purpose of this yatra is ‘Ek tera kadam, ek mera kadam, judd jaye pura vatan’ (One step by you, one step by me, come together to unite the nation),” said Digvijaya Singh, who heads the yatra organis ing“Hatredcommittee.is being spread in the country, Central agencies are be ing misused, Rupee is falling, Constitution is being disrespected...
—FILE
PM TO COMMISSION FIRST AIRCRAFTINDIGENOUSCARRIER
The Yatra will com mence in Kanyaku mari, at 5pm on Sep tember 7 which will pass through 12 states and two UTs, covering 3,500 km in 150 days. The other states will also hold Bharat Jodo Yatra which will be livestreamed.Jairam Ramesh said the yatra stands against political division, eco nomic inequality, social polarisation, abuse of the Constitution and the growing centralisa tion of power that the Union government holds over Respondingstates.to que ries on why the newly launched campaign’s documents do not pos sess the Congress logo, the duo said the yatra is a “non-partisan” initia tive even though it is led by the party.
SUPREME COURT SAYS DEBATE ON ‘FREEBIE’ ISSUE IMPORTANT FOR COUNTRY’S WELFARE
The PM will interact with the young minds via video-conferencing.
BJP asks Nitish to apologise for visiting temple with Muslim min
The bymarchnationwide3,570-kmfootistobeledRahulGandhi
Jairam Ramesh and Digvijaya Singh release logo of ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ at AICC headquarters, in New Delhi on Tuesday.
New Delhi: PM Narendra Modi is all set to com mission India’s first Indigenous Aircraft Car rier ‘Vikrant’ in Kochi on September 2. According to government officials, the Prime Minister was briefed on the capabilities of the carrier. The Vikrant is the largest-ever warship built in India and would be a landmark event for the navy and the country, they said. The 262-m-long carrier has a displacement of 45,000 tonnes.
Sharat K Verma New Delhi: When the civilian honours are an nounced on January 26 next year, it may be an nounced that the Dalai Lama will be awarded the Bharat Ratna and a base for this is being prepared. For many years, after becoming the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi did not wish the Dalai Lama on his birthday, over con cerns about China. But for the last two years, Prime Minister Modi has been congratulat ing him on his birthday. This means that India has changed its policy regarding China. Now India does not care for China as it was before. Now India is indicating that if China does not respect its sovereignty and territorial integri ty, then India can also question the One China policy.That’s when an allparty delegation of In dian parliamentarians on Tibet has proposed Bharat Ratna to the Da lai Lama. Last year, China had raised ques tions about this delega tion. This time the Par liamentary delegation has also suggested that a common session of Parliament should be called and the Dalai Lama should address it. Both these proposals have been sent to the government and the government has to de cide on them. Even if it is not decided to call a joint session for Dalai Lama to address, then it may be decided to give Bharat Ratna to him. If India does this then it will be a big deal and it will work according to the status of India which aspires to emerge as a superpower.
Patna (Agencies): The BJP on Tuesday criti cised Bihar chief min ister Nitish Kumar for hurting Hindu senti ments by visiting Gaya’s Vishnupad Tem ple, where entry of nonHindus is prohibited, a day earlier with his Muslim Cabinet col league. It warned of protests if he failed to apologise.Mohammad Israil Mansuri, who is in charge of the Gaya district, was among the ministers who ac companied Kumar to the temple to review the preparations for Pitri Paksha Mela from September 9. He told reporters he felt blessed to have visited theBJP’stemple.state chief San jay Jaiswal demanded a public apology from Ku mar. “If [he] refuses to apologise, he would face protests in the state as sembly.”Mahesh Gupt, a mem ber of the temple com mittee, said they could not recognise Mansuri as they had not seen him before. “...he did not appear different from others. But this could have been avoid ed. There is a notice board at the temple, say ing clearly that nonHindus are not al lowed.”
Ahmedabad (Agen cies): The release of 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case after 15 years shows they were reformed, retired IPS officer Vivek Dube, who investigated the case, said in his first response on the issue. Dube was joint direc tor, CBI, which took up the case after the SC ordered probe 18 years ago. His team success fully secured the con viction of 12 men ( one died by suicide) for life, including five cops and two doctors. The men massacred 14 members of Bano’s family in Gu jarat’s Dahod in March 2002. The youngest was her 3-yr-old daughter Saleha whose head was smashed on a rock. A pregnant Bilkis was gang-raped. She sur vived because they left her for dead and came to symbolise the bru tality of the 2002 Guja rat“Theriots.agitation by a section of people and media to assert that the release of the con victs has resulted in denial of justice to Bilkis have no basis. They are just being re vengeful, which is against spirit of the Constitution,” Dube said in a post.
SC STRIKES DOWN PROVISION OF 1988 BENAMI LAW
The Bilkis Bano case convicts after their release.
CM Nitish Kumar worships at Vishnupad Temple, in Gaya. Minister Israil Mansuri also seen. PHOTO New Delhi (PTI): Prime Minister Naren dra Modi will interact with students partici pating in the grand fi nale of this year’s Smart India Hackathon (SIH) on August 25, MoS Sub has Sarkar announced onTheTuesday.hackathon is a nationwide initiative to provide students with a platform to solve some of the pressing prob lems people face in daily lives, and thus inculcate a culture of product in novation and a mindset of pingorcrimevideo-conferencing.willSarkaratstudentsedceptioneverySmartdentinteractingendra“Primeproblem-solving.MinisterNarModihasbeenwiththestuparticipantsoftheIndiaHackathonyearsinceitsinandheisexpecttointeractwiththeeventhisyear8pmonAugust25,”said.ThePMinteractthroughDevelopmentofapredictingmodeltoolforhotspotmapusingimagepro cessing and artificial intelligence and ma chine learning ap proach; transfer of mul timedia data through police radio sets; OCR of temple inscriptions and translations in De vanagari; high resolu tion 3D model of ter rain, infrastructure and roads in disaster stuck areas and IoT enabled risk monitoring system in cold supply chain fare among the problem statements students are working on this year.
PM Modi to interact with Smart India Hackathon participants tomorrow
RUBAIYA SAYEED SKIPS COURT WARRANTHEARING,ISSUED New Delhi: The Supreme Court struck down one of the provisions of the (Prohibition)TransactionsBenamiActof1988,whichprovidesforthepunishmentofa maximum jail of 3 years or a fine or both for those indulging in ‘benami’ transactions. The apex court termed the provision “unconstitutional” on the ground of being “manifestly arbitrary”.
PM MODI TO INAUGURATE NEW CANCER HOSP IN CHANDIGARH
Will Bharat Ratna be awarded to Dalai Lama?
Jammu: A special court on Tuesday issued bailable warrants terSayeed’sex-CMagainstMuftiMohammeddaughRubaiyaaftershedidn’tturnupatthetrialagainst JKLF chief Yasin Malik in connec tion with her abduction in December 1989. Sayeed, a medical student at the time, was abducted on Decem ber 8, 1989, and freed on December 13 that year after the Centre agreed to release five arrested terrorists.
So nia Gandhi in Udaipur Chintan Shivir had said that people from all walks of lives, from all religions and castes, would join the ‘nafrat chhodo, Bharat jodo’ campaign,” he added.
—FILE PHOTO
Patna: A day ahead of Bihar Assembly’s special session called to prove the new government’s major ity, Speaker VK Sinha on Tuesday said he will not resign despite a no-con fidence motion moved by MLAs of ‘Mahagathband han’. Sinha, a BJP leader, claimed the motion was based on “false” charges against him. “In the noconfidence motion, which seems to have cared little for rules, I have been ac cused of partisanship and a dictatorial attitude. Both allegations are blatantly false,” he said.
MALIK’S PLEA TO PHYSICALLY ATTEND COURT TURNED DOWN
FOR MUSLIM GIRLS, NO PARENTS’ NOD TO MARRY AFTER PUBERTY Jammu: A court here turned down JKLF chief attendtoMalik’sYasinpleaphysicallycourt 1989witnessescross-examineandintheRubaiya Sayeed abduction case, according to a CBI counsel. The court also issued a bail able warrant against Sayeed after she did not appear for cross-examination by Malik, who she had identified as her abductor in a hearing.
Convicts’ release shows they were reformed: Cop who probed case
MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2022 05INDIA www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epapers/mumbai I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
Congress releases slogan, logo for Bharat Jodo Yatra
Can’t force Rahul, says Digvijaya Singh on top party post New Delhi: Rahul Gan dhi “can’t be forced to become Congress presi dent” if he doesn’t want to, party leader Digvijaya Singh said. Top lead ers are finally acknowl edging publicly that Rahul no longer wants to lead the party. “We can’t force Rahul Gandhi if he doesn’t want to become Congress president,” Digvijaya Singh said. Gandhi has refused to return to the post he quit in 2019 over the party’s colossal defeat in the national elections. The Congress has to elect a new chief by September 20 and is already run ning a few days late to start the process. The schedule may be an nounced later this week. Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot said yesterday the party is “unanimously” in favour of Rahul Gandhi for the post and workers would be disap pointed if he didn’t take charge. Digvijaya Singh, asked whether he would “appeal” to Gandhi to change his mind, said: “The appeal is known to everyone. It depends on Rahul Gandhi... How can you force anyone? We are trying to get everyone on board.” The future of the party “is bright”, Singh added. Meanwhile, the Congress President has consti tuted Screening Commit tees for the forthcoming state polls in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh with immediate effect.
New Delhi: PM Narendra Modi will inaugurate Homi Bhabha Cancer Hos pital & Research Centre at Mullanpur in New Chandigarh on Wednesday. According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the hospital has been built by the Centre for Rs 660 crore. The 300-bed hospital is a tertiary care hospital equipped with modern facili ties to treat all types of cancers using every available treatment modality like surgery, radiotherapy and medical on cology – chemotherapy, immunother apy and bone marrow transplant. This project is significant since there have been numerous reports of increased cancer prevalence in parts of Punjab and people being forced to go to other states for affordable treatment.
IN THE COURTYARD RELEASE ANUBRATA MONDAL, ELSE...: BENGAL SPECIAL CBI JUDGE GETS THREAT LETTER Asansol: A special judge, in a CBI court in Asansol, alleged that he had been threatened with a false NDPS case against his family members if he failed to secure the release of the TMC leader Anubrata Mondal who is in CBI custody, in a cattle smuggling case. The judge, Rajesh Chakraborty, alleged that he received the threat via a letter from one Bappa Chatter jee stating that if Mondal was not released on bail, his family would be implicated in an NDPS case in grave allegations of commercial quantity.
New Delhi: Hearing a plea to ban on the ‘freebie culture’ during polls, the Supreme Court said a debate on the matter was needed for the welfare of the country. CJI NV Ramana highlighted the need to differentiate between a promise made by a politician as a ‘freebie’ and a ‘welfare scheme’. He asked if a law rolled out by the Centre prohibiting ‘freebies’ would be open to judicial scrutiny. “Suppose the Centre makes a law that states cannot give freebies. Will such a law be open for judicial scrutiny?” he observed. During the hearing, the court took exception to remarks made by Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan.
lll If India does honour the Dalai Lama, it will be a big deal and also in line with the status of India, emergeaspireswhichtoasasuperpower
New Delhi: Delhi HC has said that a girl on andMuslimparents”consentmarrypubertyattaining“couldwithoutofherunderlawshastheright to reside with her husband even when she is otherwise minor. Justice Jasmeet Singh made the observation in the case of a Muslim couple who married against wishes of the girl’s parents. While the man is 25, the girl as per her family and police, is 15 years old.
Pfizer’s Covid shot 73.2% effective in kids under 5, data shows Pfizer & BioNTech’s vaccine was approved for kids under 5 in June
HEAVY RAINS BATTER ODISHA, SEVERAL DEAD IN HILL STATES MONSOON FURY
Abdul Hameed FROM PG 1 Ex-Thane police... gathered from the ar rested accused in the case. Instead, Singh em phasized the involve ment of popular ’90s Hindi film actress and model Mamta Kulkarni and her partner Vicky Goswami in the interna tional drug syndicate. However, a person fa miliar with the case re cently told First India that Singh was “lying through his teeth” at the“Paramtime.
New Delhi (Agencies): Bharatiya Janata Party president JP Nadda has reacted to the arrest of Telangana BJP chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar. JP Nadda said, “I strongly condemn the illegal ar rest of BJP Telangana State President Bandi Sanjay by TRS govern ment. KCR is worried seeing the massive sup port that BJP is receiv ing from all corners of the state against his cor rupt and family-centric regime.”“We’llfight democrat ically and ensure that in the coming elections TRS and KCR will be wiped out,” he added. According to a report, “Telangana BJP presi dent Bandi Sanjay Ku mar was detained by the police in Karimnagar after he called for pro tests over the arrest of BJP workers in Hy derabad.’BandiSanjay Kumar had earlier lashed out at the state police for registering “attempt to murder” cases against BJP workers for pro testing at the house of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s daughter Kalvakuntla Kavitha.
New Delhi (ANI): In dia’s aviation sector is expanding rapidly and the overall fleet size is expected to almost dou ble in the next five years, said Union aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.Speaking at industry body Assocham’s CEOs roundtable on Tuesday, Scindia said, “In five years we are looking at 1,200 fleet size in the country which will be almost double of the current number of 700 aircraft.” Scindia exud ed confidence that the Indian aviation sector is going to touch 400 mil lion passengers annual ly in 7-10 years from the current 200 million, ScindiaFurther,said.he stressed on India becoming an international hub for which the sector needs to add wide-body air craft in our skies.
RELIEF OP IN MP: IAF TO DEPLOY 2 HELICOPTERS
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New Delhi (Agencies): Several lives across In dian states continue to be jeopardised follow ing the heavy monsoon and flooding for days now. The situation in Odisha turned grim on Monday with over 9 lakh lives as the flood situation in several northern Odisha dis tricts, including Balas ore, turned worse. As many as 251 villages in the districts of Balas ore, Mayurbhanj, Jajpur and Bhadrak have been impacted by the north Odisha floods, while the total number of affected population crossed 9.66 lakhs. In Himachal Pradesh, 22 people were killed and 12 others injured in 36 incidents of land slides and flash floods triggered by heavy rain fall. In Uttarakhand, a series of cloudbursts killed four people re cently as rivers breached banks, washed away bridges, & waters inside houses, forcing evacuation of villages.
Bengaluru: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said heavy rain will lash Karnataka for the next three days and issued a yellow alert for the districts of Dakshina Kannada, Uttara Kannada, Udupi, Shivamogga, Chik kamagalur, Kodagu, Hassan and Kolar. The fishermen in the coastal districts have been advised not to venture into the sea as winds are likely to blow at a speed of 40 to 50 kilometres per hour. The IMD has also issued a yellow alert for Bengaluru, Ramnagar, Chamara janagar, Tumakuru, Ballary and Chitradurga. Residents of the state capital are experiencing a chill during the evenings and early mornings.
New Delhi: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted fairly widespread light to moderate rainfall with isolated heavy rainfall and thun derstorm, lightning over Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, the sub-Himalayan and Gangetic West Bengal, Sikkim, Odisha and Jharkhand during the course of this week. It is worth noting that the western end of the monsoon trough at mean sea level is south of its normal position and eastern end is near its normal position and a cyclonic circulation lies over Northeast Bay of Bengal while the neighbourhood extending upto middle tropospheric levels, IMD informed.
BJP National Prez JP Nadda speaks at an event. ANI photo KCR worried at BJP support in Telangana, says Nadda IPS officers shifted, Hameed is DIG Anti-Narcotics Force
New Delhi (PTI): The debut edition of the Common University En trance Test (CUET)-UG, the second largest en trance test in the coun try, has been marred by several glitches, includ ing change in exam cen tre, mass cancellation of exam following reports of sabotage, admit card mentioning already passed exam dates. These glitches caused exam cancellations. The National Testing Agency (NTA) had an nounced a grievance re dressal email for candi dates who are struggling with the issues. Accord ing to UGC, each com plaint is being evaluated and after verification a call is being taken whether to allow the candidate to appear for a retest.
“We need wide-body aircraft in the country to become an interna tional hub, that is why the ministry of civil aviation is working on it and we have engaged with the professionals to make India an interna tional hub in aviation,” ScindiaGrowthsaid.in the avia tion sector in terms of CAGR is 10% annually, he added. On the ques tion of recruitment of air traffic controllers (ATCOs) which are now low in strength, he said “soon we will recruit more than 300 ATCOs by the end of this year.”
New Delhi: SpiceJet is looking for investments from external parties, including airlines, and also plans to add seven more Boeing planes to its fleet by December, the carrier’s chief Ajay Singh said on Tuesday. In recent times, SpiceJet has faced turbulence -- especially with many of its flights suffering technical snags -- and subsequently, the airline has faced ac tions from aviation regulator DGCA. Singh said it is doing the utmost to work through the stress that it has faced and the strategy is to raise resources.
INDIA’S AIRCRAFT FLEET SIZE EXPECTED TO DOUBLE IN 5 YRS, SAYS JYOTIRADITYA SCINDIA Bengaluru (Agen cies): Pfizer Inc’s COV ID-19 vaccine was 73.2% effective in chil dren aged between 6 months and 4 years, the company’s data showed on Tuesday, two months after the U.S. rollout of the shots began for that age group. Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine was authorized for chil dren under 5 years of age in June, based on data that showed the vaccine generated a similar immune re sponse to those seen in older age groups. An early analysis based on 10 symptomat ic COVID-19 cases in the study had suggested a vaccine efficacy of 80.3% in this group, but experts had warned that the data was pre liminary due to the low number of symptomat ic Thecases.updated data re leased on Tuesday showed 13 children had COVID-19, at least sev en days after receiving a third dose of the Pfiz er-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, compared with 21 cases in those who received a placebo. Most cases were caused by the Omicron BA.2 variant that was dominant in March and April, when the study wasTheconducted.companies also said they were prepar ing an application seeking U.S. authoriza tion for an Omicrontargeting vaccine booster in children aged 6 months through 11 years of age.
Kumar said, “Strong ly condemn TS police registering a case of at tempted murder against BJP leaders who were protesting at the house of Chief Minister KCR’s daughter Kalvakuntla Kavitha demanding an answer to the allegations in the liquor scam. There is clear evidence that TRS goons have attacked BJP workers.”
The updated data released by the company on Tues day showed 13 children had COVID-19, at least seven days after receiving a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, compared with 21 cases in those who received a placebo. Most cases were caused by the Omicron BA.2 variant that was dominant in March and April this year, when the study was conducted.
HEAVY RAIN TO LASH K’TAKA FOR 3 MORE DAYS SPICEJET PLANS TO ADD SEVEN PLANES BY DECEMBER-END, SAYS MD AJAY SINGH Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia interacts with SpiceJet MD Ajay Singh at the ASSOCHAM meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Bhopal: The Indian Air Force will deploy two helicopters for relief operations in MP’s flood-hit Vidisha district, officials said. CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan also conducted an aerial survey of the affected areas. Rains stopped in Bhopal on Tuesday and the power supply was restored after more than 24 hours in parts of the city, which had witnessed tree falls and traffic snarls over the last couple of days due to heavy showers and strong winds blowing at up to 40 km per hour, officials said.
IMD PREDICTS HEAVY RAIN, THUNDERSTORM 13 KIDS HAD COVID EVEN AFTER GETTING 3RD DOSE
New Delhi (PTI): De fence Research & Devel opment Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Navy successfully flight tested Vertical Launch Short Range Surface-toAir Missile (VL-SR SAM) from the Integrat ed Test Range (ITR), Chandipur off the coast of Odisha on Tuesday. The flight test was car ried out from an Indian Naval Ship against a high-speed unmanned aerial target for demon stration of vertical launch capability. The missiles, equipped with indige nous Radio Frequency (RF) seeker, intercepted the target with high ac curacy. The VL-SRSAM system has been indige nously designed and de veloped by DRDO. Dur ing the test launch, flight path and vehicle performance parame ters were monitored us ing flight data, captured by various range instru ments. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has com plimented DRDO and Indian Navy.
Series of glitches hits debut edition of CUET entranceUGexam DRDO, Navy test new missile successfully Ahtesham Siddiqui Lucknow: The Yogi government transferred 15 IPS late on Monday night. Abdul Hameed, a 2006-batch IPS officer, has been made Deputy Inspector General of Po lice, Anti Narcotics Task Force (ANTF), Lucknow.IPSAkhilesh Kumar Chaurasia has been posted as SP Establish ment Headquarters, DIG, Lucknow. DCP East of Lucknow Commis sionerate, Syed Ali Ab bas has been made Ad ditional Commissioner of Police, knowADCPKumarCommissionerate.LucknowAnilYadav,whowasNorthinLucCommissionerate, was also transferred and now he has been made Additional Depu ty Commissioner of Po lice, Gautam Budh Na gar garlice,tymadepur.CommissioneratemissionerAdditionalhasGautamPoliceerAssistantCommissionerate.CommissionAnkitaSharmaofCommissionerateBudhNagarbeentransferredtoDeputyComofPoliceKanIPSSaadMianisAdditionalDepuCommissionerofPoGautamBudhNaCommissionerate.
15
Bir Singh lied and his DCP (Crime) Parag Manere had actually received a written missive from the United State Jus tice Department’s Drug Enforcement Agency on April 27, 2016, re garding Goswami’s ar rest in Kenya in No vember 2014, following a red corner alert is sued by the US authori ties over his interna tional drug dealings as well as money launder ing. The US DEA clear ly articulated that Ka mat and other senior directors in his firm had colluding with Gos wami’s drug syndi cate,” this person said. The written commu nication addressed to Manere had not only mentioned Kamat’s in volvement, but had also provided the transcript of a telephonic conver sation between Goswa mi and a potential buyer of
methamphetamine—laterephedrine—whichthatmiries.Africa-basedpreparedmethamphetamineathisSouthlaboratoMoreover,Goswahimselfrevealedhesourcedthewasprocessedintothe from the Solapur-based Avon Organics, this per son further said. While the US DEA ar rested Goswami, the Indian police depart ment headed by Param Bir Singh in Thane found justifiable cause to exempt Kamat from prosecution and even provided his arrested employees with the op tion of turning galdrugminedcusedamandoutdicate,internationalAvonrineeralcase.ducedprosecutioners—facilitatingapprovacosyandresentence—intheThiswasdespitesevtonnesofephedbeingsourcedfromOrganicsbythedrugsynwhichoperatedofKenya,ColumbiaSouthAfrica.ParBirSinghstandsacofhavingundertheinternationalsyndicateforillegratification.
Sena leader... India’s population to day resided in urban districts while less than 40% resides in rural re Jadhav,gions.” who was speak ing in the state legisla ture, pointed out that the MVA government had taken Mumbai’s rising population into account while increas ing the number of civic councillors by changing the boundaries of thethen extant 227 constit uencies in March 2022. The BJP-supported Shinde government has effectively reverted the status of civic constitu encies to what was ex isting in 2017 when the last civic elections were held in Mumbai.
—PHOTO BY ANI
An area gets submerged as the water level of Hati river rises following heavy rainfall, at Junagarh, in Kalahandi.
PTI ADANI GROUP IS WARNSOVERLEVERAGED’,‘DEEPLYCREDITSIGHTS
IN JULY
OTHER STORIES
New Delhi (Agencies): The RBI, as the regulator of the banking sector, is neutral to ownership, Gov ernor Shaktikanta Das said on Tuesday. The central bank in its latest monthly bulletin fea tured an article said that a gradual approach to priva tisation could help achieve the broader social objective of financial inclusion, the paper had said, seeking to underscore the role of state-run lenders in taking formal banking to the un der-banked.“Weprescribe certain regulatory guidelines and it is our job to ensure that those regulatory guidelines are adhered to and the banking sector functions in an orderly manner in a wellregulated manner, banks are robust, they are well capitalised, their financial parameters should be strong so we are agnostic to ownership, we are owner ship neutral,” Das clarified.
MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2022 07www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epapers/mumbai I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia Commodity Price Change % Chg GOLD 51,707.00 157.00 0.30 (Per 10g) SILVER 55,662.00 364.00 0.65 (Per 1kg) COMMODITIES Currency Price Change % Chg USDINR 79.88 0.04 0.05 GBPINR 93.9490 0.4239 0.4492 CURRENCIES
Apple planning for ‘Made in India’ iPhone 14 by Diwali
AS PER SBI REPORT TOP TALKING POINTS z
Chairman and Managing Director Ajay Singh said it is doing the utmost to work through the stress that it has faced and the strategy is to raise re sources.“Weare doing it by way of the government-sup ported scheme ECLGS, get ting new aircraft from Boe ing and therefore through the SLB process, exploring options for fundraise... We are exploring all options,” heSinghsaid. also said the air line was looking at invest ments from external par ties, including airlines. The shareholders of SpiceJet, which is a listed company, have approved fundraising of ` 1,500 to ` 2,000 crore, and some of the amounts have already been raised, Singh said. He said the carrier plans to add at least seven more planes by the end of De cember 2022.
z
‘INDIA TO BE No.1 PRODUCER OF STEEL’
GOVT TO APPROACH CAPITAL MARKET TO RAISE FUNDS FOR FOUR ROAD PROJECTS
“The owners of the banks it is for them to de cide how much of share holding they want to re tain, how much they want to, the others, the public or whoever wants to own, our regulations are ownership neutral,” he said. Das said that some signs of financial instability have potential to cause a huge impact on economy.
*Rates till the edition went to print.
z Despite this, most of the servicesimprovement,economichigh-frequencyindicatorsshowedespeciallyinthesectoractivity.
`
Q1FY23
PTI New Delhi: Domestic pharma industry is ex pected to report revenue growth of 7-9% in the current fiscal, due to headwinds in export sales in the regulated markets and high-base effect in the domestic formula tions business, as per CRISIL. It stated that the domestic formulations market is expected to grow 7-9% this fiscal, on a 15% growth last fiscal, led by a 6-8% average price increase allowed by the NPPA in March 2022 and on the back of new product launches.
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee depreciated 4 paise to close at 79.88 (provisional) against the US dollar on Tuesday, tracking a strong American currency in the overseas market and rising crude oil prices. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local currency opened at 79.85 and saw an intra-day high of 79.81 and a low of 79.90 against the Ameri can currency. It finally ended at 79.88, down 4 paise over its previous close.
PTI GDP GROWTH EXPECTED AT 15.7%
NIFTY
ABOUT 2 MONTHS AFTER RELEASE IN CHINA AMBITIOUS PLANS AHEAD z The company has been working with suppliers to ramp up production in India and shorten the lag in manufacturing new iPhones from the typical six to nine months for previous launches. z The Co. has been gradually ramping up production of iPhones in India.
New Delhi (PTI): Union Minister Jyotiraditya M Scindia on Tuesday exuded confidence that India will become the No.1 producer of steel in the world in the days to come. India is the world’s second largest producer after China. He was of the view that India has moved from becoming the net importer of steel to the net exporter of steel. He said India’s per capita consumption of steel has increased from 57.8 kg in 2013-14 to 78 kg. The government intends to achieve 300 MT of steel production target by 2030, Scindia said. Steel across the world is the primary sec tor which results in economic, capital and infrastructure growth.
New Delhi (Agencies): In dia’s GDP is expected to be much higher in Q1FY23 and growth is expected around 15.7% with a large possibility of an upward bias because several indi cators have shown good progress in the Indian economy, as per the latest SBI Ecowrap report. The progress in the econ omy is seen despite global spillovers, elevated infla tion and some slackening of external demand as geo political developments take their toll on world trade. Most of the high-fre quency economic indica tors showed improvement, especially in the services sector activity. There were also significant improve ments in the domestic sup ply delivery time, backlogs and decline in truck freights, which was reflect ed in the fall of index of supply chain pressures.
Union Min Scindia pitches for int’l aviation hub in India
New Delhi (PTI): SpiceJet is looking for investments from external parties, in cluding airlines, and also plans to add seven more Boeing planes to its fleet, the carrier’s chief Ajay Singh said on Tuesday. In recent times, SpiceJet has faced turbulence — es pecially with many of its flights suffering technical snags — and subsequently, the airline has faced ac tions from aviation regula torSpiceJetDGCA.
AUDIGROWTHTOHIKE
New Delhi: Richest Indian Gautam Adani’s ports-to-pow er-to-cement conglomerateis“deeplyoverleveraged”withthegrouppredomi nantly using debt to invest aggressively across existing as well as new businesses, Credit Sights said. “In the worst-case scenario, overly ambitious debt-funded growth plans could eventually spiral into a massive debt trap, and possibly culmi nate into a distressed situation or default of one or more group companies.” —PTI
ECOWRAP
PTI
RBI is bankneutral:ownershipDasonprivatisation
Mumbai (PTI): Bench mark BSE Sensex and Nif ty snapped their two-day losing streak to close near ly half a per cent higher on Tuesday following gains in banking, metal and auto stocks.The30-share BSE Sensex climbed 257.43 points or 0.44% to settle at 59,031.30. The broader NSE Nifty ad vanced 86.80 points or 0.50% to 17,577.50. From the Sensex pack, M&M, Bajaj Finserv, Titan, Tata Steel, State Bank of India, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Sun Phar ma and IndusInd Bank ad vanced. On the other hand, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, HCL Technologies, Hindustan Unilever, Tech Mahindra, Wipro and HDFC Bank were the major laggards.
Besides, airlines must have wide body aircraft to transport passengers inter nationally, he noted.
New Delhi (PTI): Union minister Jyotiraditya Scin dia on Tuesday said there needs to be anchor airlines at particular airports, more wide body aircraft as well as synergy between domes tic and international depar tures to have an interna tional aviation hub in India. The country’s civil avia tion sector is on the recov ery path after being hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and is projected to have 400 million air trav ellers in the coming years. “We are in the growth phase and there are tre mendous opportunities on the airlines and airports side,” Scindia said. He emphasised the need for a committed and concerted effort by all stakeholders to make an international hub in the country. There must be an inter national hub in India and there must be anchor air lines at particular airports.
New Delhi: Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday said the government will approach the capital market next month to raise funds for four road projects. The money will be raised through Infra structure Investment Trusts (InvITs), and there will be an investment limit of `10 lakh for retail investors, he added. “We will be approaching the capital market to raise funds for the four road projects... There will be an assured return of 7-8 per cent,” Gadkari said while addressing a Ficci event.
business New Delhi: German luxu ry carmaker Audi on Tues day said it will increase prices of its entire model range by up to 2.4% next month. The price hike is a result of rising input and supply chain costs and will come into effect from September 20, 2022, the automaker said in a state ment. “At Audi India, we are committed to operat ing a sustainable business model. With rising input and supply chain costs, we are required to take a price hike of up to 2.4% across our model range,” Audi India Head Balbir Singh Dhillon said.
PTI INDIA’S CRUDE OIL PRODUCTION FALLS 3.8%
The progress in the economy is seen despite global spillovers, elevated inflation and some slackening of external demand as geopolitical developments take their toll on world trade. z An intense heatwave in major regions across India during the summer season limited economic activity.
PTI PHARMA INDUSTRY TO REPORT 7%-9% PRICES BY UP TO 2.4% NEXT MONTH New Delhi: E-commerce companies are adding de livery personnel at a rapid pace, fearing a labour shortage might cause them to lose out in one of the biggest annual shop ping seasons. The moves come amid a tightening job market - India’s un employment rate fell be low 7% in July for the first time since Jan - and high inflation, complicat ing the outlook for the in dustry which has long battled chronically high employee turnover.
“As per our (SBI) ‘Now casting Model’, the forecast ed GDP growth for Q1 FY23 would be 15.7%, with an upward bias,” the report added. GDP Growth as per SBI composite leading indi cator (CLI), which includes parameters from almost all the sectors based on month ly data, shows early signals of turning-points in the eco nomic activity. Out of the 41 high frequency leading in dicators, 89% are showing acceleration, compared to 75% acceleration in FY22. Private final consump tion expenditure in real terms that had declined significantly by ` 4.77 lakh crore in Q1FY21 owing to Covid-19 recovered by 46% in Q1FY22. It remains to be seen how the remaining 54% pent up demand recov ered in Q1FY23. We believe it is likely to be more than 54%, indicating a strong recovery in consumer de mand, specifically in ser vices which has helped in the likely strong Q1FY23 numbers.
New Delhi (Agencies): Apple Inc plans to start manufacturing iPhone 14 in India about two months after the product’s initial release in China, it was re ported on Tuesday. The company has been working with suppliers to ramp up production in In dia and shorten the lag in manufacturing new iP hones from the typical six to nine months for previ ousThelaunches.US-based company has been gradually ramp ing up production of iP hones in India. Currently, its devices are manufac tured in India by three con tractThemanufacturers.threeApple part ners are part of the Indian government’s productionlinked incentive scheme for mobile manufacturing. They need to make prod ucts worth a minimum of `8,000 crore each this year to get the Foxconnincentives.Technology re portedly studied the pro cess of shipping compo nents from China and as sembling the iPhone 14 de vice at its plant outside Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Apple and Foxconn ulti mately determined a si multaneous start in India and China isn’t realistic this year, although it re mains a long-term goal. The first iPhone 14s from India are likely to be fin ished in late October or No vember, following the ini tial September release, they said. An ambitious target would be Diwali that begins on October 24.
BRIEFS
SENSEX, SNAP 2-DAY LOSING RUN
FALLS 4 PAISE TO CLOSE AT 79.88/$ CIVIL AVIATION IN INDIA
SpiceJet scouting for funds from airlines, says Ajay
The country’s civil aviation sector is on the recovery path after being hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. z It is projected to have 400 million air travellers in the coming years.
INDIAN EV MARKET TO HIT ANNUAL SALES OF 17 MN UNITS BY 2030 Mumbai: India’s EV market is expected to expand at a com pounded annual growth rate of 49% volumessegment’swith2021-2030,betweenthe set to cross annual sales of 17 million by 2030. This projected growth is expected to be driven by factors such as rising fuel prices, entry of new players, advancement in EV technology, continued subsidy support from both the central and state gov ernments as well as anticipated implementation of emission standards, IESA said.
E-COMMERCE FIRMS INCREASE HIRING FOR FESTIVE SEASON New Delhi: India’s crude oil production fell 3.8% in July on lower output from fields operated by stateowned ONGC and private sector firms, government data released on Tuesday showed. Production of crude oil, which is refined to produce fuels such as petrol and diesel, fell to 2.45 million tonnes in July from 2.54 million tonnes a year back. The output was lower than the monthly target of 2.59 million tonnes, the data released by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas showed.
17 CATTLE, INCLUDING COWS, SEIZED FROM TRUCK IN AURANGABAD DISTRICT
CRUCIAL READ
OPPN WALKS OUT OVER INADEQUATE AID FOR RAIN-HIT FARMERS
Maha farmer sets himself ablaze outside Vidhan Bhavan
Mumbai: A 24-yearold man died after suf fering injuries in the ‘Dahi Handi’ festival following which police registered an FIR against the event or ganizer. The deceased identified as Sandesh Dalvi, a member of the Shiv Shambho Govin da Pathak group, suf fered serious head in juries after he fell from a human pyra mid formed by ‘Govin das’ (Dahi Handi par ticipants) during the Krishna wadicelebrationJanmashtamiatBamaninVileParlearea on Friday. He died at the Nanavati Hospital on Monday night, an official from Vile Parle police station said. In another incident, a 65-year-old man died of electrocution after coming in contact with an electricity dis tribution panel in Thane city on Tuesday, a civic official said. The incident took place in the Upavan area of the city in the early hours of the day. In the third inci dent, a 49-year-old man was killed when a tree fell on him at Sir Parshurambhau Col lege campus in Pune on Monday. “The vic tim, a gardener, was cutting grass near the boys’ hostel when an old tree fell on him. The man was trapped under the tree and died while undergoing treatment at a hospi tal,” the official from Vishrambaug police station said. A 20-year-old college student died of burn injuries in Nagpur city while reportedly working on a studyrelated project using petrol at home. The deceased, identified as Gaurav Pramod Dak hode, was a final-year student of BCA. “A fire broke out while he was doing the project on August 16. He was hos pitalized with burn injuries and died on August 20,” a Git tikhadan police sta tion official said.
MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2022 082ND FRONT www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epapers/mumbai I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia Do you want things to change? Change the way you look at things. — Dr Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO & Editor-in-Chief, First India
First India Bureau Pune: The Shiv Sena on Tuesday said Ma harashtra Deputy Chief Minister Dev endra Fadnavis’s claim of working to fulfil the ‘dream’ of Sena founder Balasa heb Thackeray was a ploy to break the Marathi unity in Mumbai where civic polls are due. Taking a swing at the minister an editorial in the Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ asked, “Why are you seeking votes in the name of Balasaheb? Has your Modi era, Modi wave started receding?”
Dy CM Fadnavis terms says‘unfortunate’,incidentgovernment is tracking situation
The editorial also said leaders like Deven dra Fadnavis of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are now embrac ing the ‘dream of Bala saheb’, but they did not remember the late Sena supremo while snap ping ties with the party in 2014. They did not remember the dreams of Balasaheb while go ing back on the word of chief ministerial post to the Shiv Sena in 2019. “Fadnavis’ words are akin to the deceitful in vitation of a fox, and people of Mumbai and Thane should be cau tious,” the Marathi dai ly “Thesaid. language of ‘dream of Balasaheb’ used by the BJP is noth ing but a ploy to break the Marathi unity in Mumbai and for that they are injuring the Shiv Sena,” it claimed. The people who forgot (BJP veterans) Lal Krishna Advani, Atal Bihar Vajpayee, will they fulfil the dreams of Balasaheb? it asked. Today’s BJP is “not the real BJP”, the edito rial claimed and asked if the party, which be longed to Vajpayee and Advani, really exists. “The BJP of Vajpayee was all about keeping the promise but it is not there now and that is why we left such BJP (al liance) and set out on a different path of ‘Hindu tva’. Our political stand is still the same. We are Hindutvawadi, but we are not the BJP’s slave. We are honest servants of Maharashtra, not the ‘charandas’ (servant) of Delhi,” the Sena said. Further hitting out at Fadanvis, it said he is continuously chanting the name of Balasaheb. “He is saying give us votes in the Brihan mumbai ofSena,ingtoBalsahebsham?dreams.willelectionsCorporationMunicipal(BMC)andwe(BJP)fulfilBalasaheb’sWhatisthisWhichdreamofareyougoingfulfil?”itasked.“YourdreamofcreatasplitintheShivwasitthedreamBalasaheb?itasked.
2 booked for sharing video of 9-year-old boy urinating
MUMBAI-BOUND INDIGO FLIGHT ENGINE DEVELOPS SNAG AT GOA AIRPORT Panaji: The right engine of the Goa to Mumbai Indi Go aircraft 6E 6097, with 187 passengers including four infants on board, developed a technical snag at the Goa airport on Tuesday afternoon, a senior offi cial said. It had to be pushed back from Bay number nine by Navy teams, sources said, adding that the movement of other aircraft was not affected due to the incident. All the passengers were disembarked safely by the rescue teams of the Indian Navy, said airport director SVT Dhananjaya Rao. The Goa air port is a part of the Navy’s INS Hansa base.
MAHARASHTRA GOVT CLERK AMONG 3 HELD FOR ACCEPTING `30,000 BRIBE Thane: Rajendra Sankhe (45), a clerk in the Maharashtra Land Records department, and two resteddriver—wereGoli,Jogiidentifiedothers—asKailas(42)andRamananautorickshawarinPalghardistrict on Tuesday for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs30,000, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) said. Sankhe had demanded a bribe of Rs50,000 for providing the complainant with a land measurement report; the amount was later negotiat ed to Rs45,000. Sankhe accepted the bribe through Goli and Jogi, the ACB said. A case has been regis tered under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Police personnel seen with Deshmukh after he tried to commit suicide by setting himself on fire outside Vidhan Bhavan on Tuesday.
—PHOTO BY PTI Mumbai: Opposition members on Tuesday staged a walk out in the Maharashtra Legisla tive Assembly to express their dissatisfaction with the relief announced by the state govern ment to rain-affected farmers. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had earlier announced that the state government has doubled the sum of compensation mentioned in the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) norms. The state government will also offer assis tance to farmers in places that recorded less than 65mm rains in 24 hours, but witnessed 33% loss of actual sown soil, he said. People who lost their houses and other similar projects will also get Rs15,000 as one-time assistance, Shinde said. Expressing his dissatisfac tion, LOP Ajit Pawar said, “The government has not announced a wet drought in the state despite witnessing excess rainfall. This is highly unfair. The financial assistance announced by the Shinde government is inadequate and will be of no help to farmers. Hence, we are walking out of the House to mark our protest.”
BJP trying to break Marathi unity, claims Shiv Sena NO LOVE LOST
CCTV footage shows the man grabbing his kids and fleeing after the incident. The woman had gone out for two days with one of her wife’sman,friends,husband’swhichannoyedthewhoalso“doubtedhischaracter”,anofficialsaid
FOUR DIE IN MAHARASHTRA ACCIDENTS
First India Bureau Mumbai: Subhash Bhanudas Desh mukh, a farmer from Osmanabad district tried to commit sui cide by self-immolat ing outside the Vid han Bhavan in Mum bai on Tuesday morn ing, following a land dispute with his brother, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said. Fadnavis said the in cident—which took place near the Inox gate of the Maharashtra leg islature tailsOppositionlativetheablaze,selfingcommitfromation.inggovernmentunfortunatebuilding—wasandthewaskeepawatchonthesituDeshmukh,afarmerDharashiv,triedtosuicidebypourkeroseneoverhimandsettinghimselfFadnavistoldMaharashtraLegisCouncilafterthesoughtdeoftheincident.FadnavissaidDeshmukhhadafightwithhisbrotheroveralanddispute.Hisfathertootriedtocommitsuicide over the same issue a few months back. The deputy CM said he has directed officials to address the issue if it is at the official level. Prima facie, the man faced 20-30% burn inju ries, officials said. A police official ear lier said security per sonnel on duty in the area doused the flames and rushed the man to the GT Hospital. He is conscious and the Marine Drive police are further investigat ing the incident, the po lice official said.
Aurangabad: The police seized 17 cattle, includ ing cows, which were being transported illegally in a truck in Aurangabad district, police said on Tuesday. The police intercepted the truck on WalujAurangabad road on Monday night and found seven bullocks and 10 cows being transported illegally, an official said. Three men who were transporting the cattle alighted from the vehicle and managed to flee, he said. An offence under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960 and Maharashtra Ani mal Preservation (Amendment) Act 1995 has been registered, the official said.
First India Bureau Mumbai: An offence was registered against two members of a housing society in Mumbai for allegedly sharing a video of a nine-year-old boy uri nating on the staircase of the building, said police on Tuesday. The secretary and a member of a housing society in the eastern suburb of Mulund, se cured anticipatory bail last week in the case registered under rele vant provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The duo had allegedly recovered CCTV footage of a nine-year-old boy urinating on the stair case of the building and later shared the video in messaging groups of residents, said an offi cial.The boy’s mother ap proached the police and an offence under rele vant sections of the POCSO Act was regis tered. The matter is be ing probed by the Mu lund police.
First India Bureau Thane: Police have arrested a man for allegedly pushing his wife in front of a moving train on Monday, an official said on Tuesday. The woman died on the spot and her badly mutilated body was later sent for postmortem. CCTV footage of the incident, which took place around 04 am on Monday at the Vasai Road railway station in Palghar district, was widely shared on social media. The footage shows the man, in his 30s, waking up his sleep ing wife, dragging her to the edge of the rail way platform and pushing her on the tracks in the path of the Awadh Express train before picking up his two children and fleeing the plat form with a backpack. The man was later spotted boarding a train to Dadar in Mumbai and from there to Kalyan in Thane.The police nabbed him late on Monday night from Thane’s Bhiwandi town, the official said. The official said a preliminary inquiry revealed the woman had gone out for two days with one of her husband’s friends. This annoyed him, and the two quar relled over it. The pre liminary investiga tion also indicated that the man “doubted his wife’s character”, the official said. A case was regis tered against the man under Section 302 (murder) of the Indi an Penal Code (IPC), the official said. Deputy Commis sioner of Police Rail way Sandeep Ba jibakhre lauded the police team which nabbed the accused.
Man held for murdering wife by pushing her into path of oncoming train
UTTKARSHA SHEKHAR uttkarsha.shekhar@firstindia.co.in T
PAINT ME RED!
Thi ultimate color represents luck, pas sion, happiness, and even danger, red has had, is having, and will have utmost influence, especially in fashion world. Be it fashion ap parels or other fashion accessories, alluring shades of red run deep, charming people into the mix.With an aristocratic excess, red is the fashion code for all seasons. Red makes a strong visual impact in the collections of designers, and fash ionistas. Powerful and exciting, it can make a
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City first delves into the passionate world of the people who love the colour red and decodes the significance of red!
message is “have the courage to take action, and we’ll take care of the rest.” How much in fluence does this hue have over the fashion industry, and what are its upcoming trends?
he color of love and dominance,power,resentationEvensinnerscolourshade.yetmakesdominance,courage,power,esalsosometimespassionsymbolizstrength,danger,andwhichitamysterioushighly-lovedcolorThispowerfulhasruledbothandsaints.thespiritualrepofredisenergy,vitality,assertion,
Bhagyashree
Aashish Sharma and Gaurav Gaur JD Maheshwari Karan
Riya
Rewati
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SHARMASUNILBY—PHOTOS BEAUTYITSBEST! Clockwise:
Mona Gautam, Vasudha Tiwari and Rutvi Tiwari Shrishti Khatri, Neelanjana Jangid, Megha Shyam Soni and Shubhdaa Panwar Upadhyay with her mother
RutviVig
Gaurav Gaur and Riya Suledia Surbhi Sabnani
Divisha Paliwal, Vasudha Tiwari and Astha Khandelwal
Tiwari, Bhagyashree Mundra, Soumya Goyal, Astha Khandelwal, Shrishti Khatri, Tanu Choudhary, Charvi Dutta and Muskan Kamdar ChoudharyTanuwithGaurGaurav Akanksha Bhalla and Gaurav Gaur
Shrishti Khatri with her mother
CITY FIRST BRINGS TO YOU SOME MORE GLIMPSES FROM THE JAIPUR AUDITIONS OF ELITE MISS RAJASTHAN 2022, SEASON 9 ORGANISED AT HOTEL HILTON, JAIPUR ON SUNDAY. THE PARTICIPANTS SHOWED IMMENSE ENTHUSIASM ON THE OCCASION AND TO WIN THE COVETED CROWN, THE BEAUTIES WALKED THE RAMP WITH CONFIDENCE AND GRACE. GAURAV GAUR, DIRECTOR OF ELITE MISS RAJASTHAN ALONG WITH DESIGNERS YASHEEL PANDEL, STUNNING SUPERMODELS INCLUDING AKANKSHA BHALLA, SHRISHTI KHATRI, CHARVI TANYA DUTTA, ASTHA KHANDELWAL, VASUDHA TIWARI AND DIVISHA PALIWAL WERE ALSO PRESENT ON THE OCCASION
Shrishti Khatri, Sain, Mona Gautam, Mundra and Navya Tiwari Himakshi Choudhary, Tanu Choudhary, Rutvi Tiwari, Soni Kumari and Nupur Jhankal Jagdeesh Chandra addressing the audience
O pening up about her grief over losing Sidharth Shukla and peo ple’s scrutiny over her ca reer after his death, Shehnaaz Gill revealed that she does not pay at tention to it. In an interview, the actress said, “Duniya ke aage roge to log bolenge sympathy gain kar rahi hai. Peo ple would consider you weak and I never want to come across as one. How ever, I have never tried to hide my emotions. I dealt with it myself and I am fine with it absolutely.” She further added, “I feel very strong today. Also, I think whatever happened has prepared me for everything. I have a belief that whatever will happen will be for the good for now.” Talking about the trolls who claimed she monetar ily benefitted from Sid dharth’s death, She naaz said, “They don’t know anything so why should I feel bad? Honestly, I was set to resume work again, and before that, I wanted to do something for the person I respect the most. This was for me and my emo tions before I get back to work. It’s okay what they feel as I wanted to do it from my heart.”
ASHISH TIWARI cityfirst@firstindia.co.in
ridni,Advaiara ing high on the successes of Jeeyo,andBhulaiyaaBhool2Jugjuggisleaving a mark on social media as well. The ac tress looks lovely in a backless white top in her latest photoshoot. Her sartorial choic es have been the talk of the town lately, while her photos take the internet by a storm. Keeping up with this trajectory, the actress took to her social media space a few moments back and mesmerized everyone with her latest photo. In the picture, the actress can be lessousglamourdonningseenabackwhite dress. She struck an alluring pose with her back to the cam era. Kiara left her hair open and adorned flawless makeup with blushed cheeks, tinted lips, and mascara. She ac cessorized her outfit with a pair of dainty golden earrings.
S onali Phogat breathed her last on August 22 night. She suffered a mas sive heart attack in Goa. Sonali Phogat was last seen in Bigg Boss 14, after which she gained immense pop ularity. Sonali Phogat was also a BJP leader and became famous with her TikTok videos. Hours be fore her untimely death, the cialhercianactress-turned-politihadpostedsomeofpicturesonheroffisocialmediaaccountsincludingInstagramandFacebook.The41-year-oldleaderhadexpresseddiscomforttoherteamonMonday,andshewaslatertransportedtothehospital.
DEPRESSION?SUFFERS
SHEHNAAZ ON SIDHARTH AND TROLLS KIARA GLOWS IN WHITE
ASIMA
OUT DRESS
Asim Riaz
HADDI FIRST LOOK Poster of the film Haddi Archana Puran Singh
sim Riaz is one of the most fol lowed reality stars on theHetelevisionIndiannow.cameintolimelightafterparticipatingintheSalmanKhan-hosted reality show Bigg Boss 13. and even bagged the runner-up position on theHeshow.was all set to make his Bollywood debut with Salman’s film Bhaijaan. Howev er, now it seems there’s a twist in the story. The model-turned-ac tor took to social me dia and seemingly took a veiled attack on the superstar.Hewrote, “My father was promised a project from an confirmedspokebigfornameyearindustry,personalityinfluentialfromtheforthanonetheyusedmytocreateahypetheprojectallthemediapublicationaboutitandalsoitallIwant to say is all the fake promises won’t make me feel down. The pres sure and anxiety they have given me will nev er make me stop me from doing what I do right now so muje ap ney tour se duniya ko jeene de.” As Success and fail ures are all part of life, especially when you are in a rat race where everyone wants to be at the top. After receiving a reasonable amount of success and fame through Bigboss this came as a blow to the rapper-actor. And ac cording to the sources Asim Riaz also slid into depression and faced severe anxiety is sues post this.
ANIL GRANDCHILDSCAREDKAPOOROF
JOLLY VS JOLLY!
Her post... Sonali Phogat Shehnaaz Gill Sonam Kapoor Ahuja Arshad Warsi and Akshay Kumar
PHOGATSONALIPASSESAWAY
N awazuddin Sid diqui is regard ed as one of In dia’s best per formers, has not only established himself as one of the best but has also earned a name for himself in Hollywood. The actor is back again to rule the internet as on Tuesday, he an nounced his new pro ject titled Haddi. The actor has raised the curiosity level amongst the audience as it fea tures him in a neverseen-before avatar as he transformed him self into drag for the character. Taking to his social media han dle, the actor captioned it: “Crime has a new avatar. Started filming for dis noir revenge drama #Haddi. Releas ing 2023.” Ever since his first look is out, people have been prais ing it for Nawaz’s gen der-defying makeover, but surprisingly it is also reminding some netizens of The Kapil Sharma Show’s Archa na Puran Singh.
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S onam Kapoor and Anand Ahuja were recently blessed with a healthy baby boy. She proved that she is a true girl boss by showing how to flaunt your pregnant belly in style. Opening up about how her parents took the news of her pregnancy revealed that her father, actor Anil Kapoor was probably scared because he did not see himself becoming a grandparent. During an interview, the actress said, “I think my dad is scared. He didn’t see himself as a grandparent—for a long time, he didn’t even see himself as a par ent—but he was the one who got emotional when I told him I was expecting. He was shooting for Jugjugg Jeeyo in Chandigarh sometime before I broke the news to them and Mum and he was visit ing some temples around the area. Now, Dad isn’t particularly reli gious or spiritual, so when Mum jokingly asked him what he was going to pray for, and he responded, ‘A grandchild,’ she was shocked.” CUT-
T here were fan theo ries, speculations and rumours that Arshad Warsi and Akshay Kumar would come together on screen for another comedy-filled law drama after the suc cess of the first two films. According to a report, Akshay Kumar and Ar shad Warsi will come together for Jolly LLB 3 which will be directed by Subhash Kapoor. Produced by Star Studios, the film will go on floors by next“Subhashyear. Kapoor, Ak shay Kumar and Arshad Warsi have been toying with the idea of Jolly LLB 3 for a while now and things have fallen into place. Subhash has cracked a subject that warrants a face-off between the two Jolly’s. It’s hilari ous with a very rele vant topic for debate in the court of law,” a source close to the devel opment revealed.
