First India-Delhi Edition-30th September 2022

INDIA SAYS ABOUT BIDEN PROMISE OF UN REFORMS

Will not contest Congress president polls, says Ashok Gehlot

NEW CM IN A DAY OR TWO, SAYS VENUGOPAL

l “Whatever happend, was wrong. I am hurt”, Ashok Gehlot apologises to Sonia Gandhi for the MLAs’ fiasco

l I won’t decide that, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi will decide that, says Gehlot when asked about his CMship

New Delhi: Rajasthan

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday said that he will not fight for the post of Congress chief. His re marks came after the veteran leader met with party’s interim chief Sonia Gandhi at her residence at 10 Janpath in the national capital on Thursday.

“I met Rahul Gandhi in Kochi and requested him to fight the polls (for Congress President). When he didn’t accept, I said I’ll contest but now with that incident (po litical crisis in Ra jasthan), I have decided not to contest the elec tions,” CM Gehlot said.

Gehlot also apolo gised for the ruckus in Rajasthan triggered by his loyalists over a pos

GLOBAL INNOVATION INDEX 2022: INDIA RISES TO 40TH SPOT

sible leadership change in the state after Ge hlot was set to file his nomination papers for

the Congress chief polls. Gehlot said that whatever happened in the state in the past two

TODAY IS LAST DAY OF FILING NOMINATIONS, IT WILL BE CLEAR WHO ALL WILL CONTEST: KC

Congress president Sonia Gandhi will decide on the Rajasthan CM’s post within a day or two, party general secretary KC Venugopal said on Thursday. He also said it will be clear by Friday, the last day of filing nominations for the top post, who all will contest. The comments came soon after Rajasthan CM Gehlot announced that he will not contest the Congress presidential polls.

SHASHI THAROOR AND DIGVIJAYA SINGH TO FILE NOMINATION FOR CONG PREZ TODAY

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor will submit his nomination papers for the AICC presidential elections 12.15pm in Delhi on Friday.

Tharoor will also hold a PC at 1pm at his residence. However, he will have a tough contest against senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, who will also file his nomination for Congress president’s post on Friday.

persons after meeting Sonia Gandhi. Infact, Gehlot took a page with him on which was written, “Whatever happened, was wrong. I am hurt.”

Interestingly, accord ing to highly placed sources in the grand old party, Sonia questioned Gehlot, “What all hap pened in Rajasthan and why did it happen?” To this Gehlot replied, “Even I do not know. But this happened and I am sad for it. You gave me everything.”

days had shocked eve ryone. “I had a conver sation with Congress interim president So

nia Gandhi. Whatever happened two days ago shocked us. It gave a message that all of it

happened as I wanted to be CM. I apologised to her,” said CM Gehlot addressing the media

After this CM Ashok Gehlot reportedly of fered to resign from the post of Chief Minister, but Sonia did not give any response to Ge hlot’s offer. As a result, now Rajasthan Con gress is in a situation of uncertainty. Turn to P8

‘SUPREME’ JUDGMENT : Marital rape is now recognised

New Delhi: India has leapfrogged to 40th position on GII 2022 from the 81st spot in 2015, the govt said on Thursday. The country was ranked 46th on the index last year. The WIPO, a specialised agency of the UNs, released GII report for 2022 on Thursday.

‘4 UKRAINE AREAS TO BE FOLDED IN RUSSIA TODAY’

Moscow: Russia’s Vladimir Putin will hold a signing ceremony on Friday formally annexing four more areas of Ukraine where occupied areas held Kremlin-orchestrated “referendums” on living under Moscow’s rule that the Ukrainian government and West denounced as illegal and rigged. Putin to attend ceremony today.

CBI AGAINST DRUG CARTELS; 127 CASES FILED, 175 ARRESTED

New Delhi: The CBI carried out a widespread operation — Operation Garuda — along with the Interpol and state police to bust drug cartels with international links across India. Forces arrested 175, filed 127 cases across the country.

FOR US VISA, 2-YR WAIT FOR DELHI, 2 DAYS FOR BEIJING

New Delhi: Indian visa applicants require a waittime of over 2 yrs just for getting an appointment, a US govt website showed, while timeframe is only 2 days for countries like China. There’s an appointment wait-time of 833 days for applications from Delhi. Whereas, the wait-time is only 2 days for Beijing and 450 days for Islamabad.

‘

POWER IS A MEANS TO SERVE PEOPLE’

Moni Sharma

Surat: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday laid the foun dation stone and dedi cated various projects worth more than Rs 3,400 crores in Gujarat’s Surat. He is on a twoday visit to the state.

“After the formation of double engine govt in Gujarat, construction of houses has also acceler ated and other facilities are also being provided to the poor and middle class in Surat,” PM said.

PM said that Bhavna gar Port will play an im portant role in building an Aatmanirbhar Bharat and hundreds of new employment opportuni ties in the fields of stor age, transportation and logistics will be created.

In a veiled dig at AAP, which is hoping to oust BJP from power in Guja rat polls, PM said, “For us, power is a means to serve people; we carried out development with out spending huge money on publici ty.”

Prime Minister Modi also said, “I have implement Saurashtra Narmada Avta ran Irrigation scheme.”

PM TO VISIT AMBAJI VIA SIROHI TODAY

PM Modi will visit Rajasthan on Friday. PM Modi is scheduled to lay the foundation stone and dedicate various projects worth over Rs 7,000 crore in Ambaji. A new 150 km railway line between Ambaji to Abu Road is also scheduled to be inaugurated.

New Delhi: The SC on Thurday hearing 25-year-old unmarried woman case said that all women are entitled to safe and legal abor tion. No distinction will be made between mar ried and unmarried un der abortion law in In dia. For purposes of abortion, rape will in clude marital rape too. It stated unmarried women are also entitled to seek abortion in 20-24 wks arising out of con sensual relationship.

3 PFI premises in Delhi sealed

New Delhi: Three premises used by the Popular Front of India (PFI) in Delhi have been ordered to be sealed, according to a Union Home Ministry notification.

The premises which were ordered to be sealed are F-30/1B, Ground Floor, Zaid Apartment, near Royal Hotel, Shaheen Bagh; N-44/A-1, Hilal House, Ground Floor, Abul Fazal Enclave, Jamia Nagar; and B-27/2, 3rd Floor, Thokkar No-7, Jamia Nagar.

6 airbags must in cars from Oct 1, ’23: Gadkari

New Delhi (ANI): The Union government has decided to defer the im plementation of the sixairbag safety rule for passenger cars in India until October next year. This was announced by Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday. The rule will be implemented from October 1, 2023.

The govt had planned to make 6 airbags must in all eight-seater vehi cles from Oct 1, 2022.

‘IND IS RICH NATION WITH POOR PEOPLE’ Nagpur: Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday in Nagpur said even as India has emerged as the world’s fifth largest economy and although the country is rich, its population is poor, facing issues like starvation, unemployment, casteism, untouchability and inflation.

Estranged friend, brother-inlaw killed Sohna BJP leader

First India Bureau

Gurugram: On Septem ber 1, Sukhbir Khatana, 46, a BJP leader in Soh na, was gunned down inside a Raymond show room in Gurugram. Sukhbir Khatana was very close to the family of Joginder Khatana, who also lived in Sohna, but differences cropped up during the Zila Pari shad election, just before the Haryana assembly election in 2019.

“Sukhbir separated

himself from Joginder’s family and Turn to

Sukhbir Khatana’s sensational killing made the news headlines.

Days after Modi’s ‘trouble-shooters’ Nadda and Shah’s visit, now PM’s show in Gujarat

THE BJP’S GUJ ‘RAJ’

PM Narendra Modi inaugurates projects worth `3,400 crore in Surat, hails double-engine govt in Guj

PM Modi also inaugurated 36th National Games which are being organised for the first time in the State

PM Narendra Modi lays foundation stone & dedicates various projects to the nation, in Surat on

Bhupendra Patel, CR Paatil and other leaders during the ceremony.

PM HAILS ATHLETES ON 36TH NATIONAL GAMES AT NARENDRA MODI STADIUM

‘Transfer of Orissa CJ to Madras HC’ SC Collegium headed by Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit is learnt to have recommended to Union govt the transfer of CJ of the Orissa HC, Justice S Muralidhar, as CJ of Madras HC, sourc es said on Thursday.

Arindam Bagchi @MEAIndia Join India’s G20 Secretariat and contribute to shaping the global agenda under India’s Presidency. G20 Secretariat invites applications for Senior Policy Specialists /Policy Specialists. Visit http:// g20recruitment.mea.gov. in for more details. Last date to apply 12 Oct 2022.

PM Narendra Modi, Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat and Union Minister for Youth Affairs & Sports Anurag Thakur at Opening ceremony of 36th National Games in Ahmedabad.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Bhavnagar on Thursday.

Washington: India believes US President’s promise of reforming the UN Security Council is different from past Washington pledges, external affairs minister S.Jaishankar said, while acknowledging that path to Delhi’s elevation in body is still not easy, no one country can make it happen. P5

Law in modern times is shedding the notion that marriage is a precondition for the rights of persons. MTP act must consider the realities of today, must not be restricted by old norms. Law must keep in mind changing social realities.

—The court

If the rule is understood as only for married women, then it would perpetuate the stereotype that only married women indulge in sexual activities, which is not constitutionally sustainable.

—Justice Chandrachud

Aditi Nagar & Amit Mishra

Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot with Congress Rajya Sabha MP KC Venugopal leaves after the meeting with party interim President Sonia Gandhi, at her residence, in Delhi on Thursday.

PHOTO BY ANI

Haryana to develop

‘world's largest safari’ in Aravallis

Chandigarh (PTI):

Haryana will develop the world's largest jun gle safari park in the Aravalli range, the state government said in a statement on Thursday.

The 10,000-acre safari park will cover Guru gram and Nuh districts.

"This project will be the largest such project in the world," it said. At present, Sharjah is home to the largest cu rated safari park out side Africa. Opened in February 2022, the Sharjah Safari covers an area of about 2,000 acres.

"The proposed Ara valli park would be five times more this size and it would include a large herpetarium (a zoological exhibition space for reptiles and amphibians), aviary/ bird park, four zones for big cats, a large area for herbivores, an area for exotic animal birds, an underwater world, na ture trails, visitors, tourism zones, botani cal gardens, biomes, equatorial, tropical, coastal, desert, etc," the government said in the statement.

Union Minister for Forest, Environment

Political fallout....

joined BJP. Rohtash Khatana, brother of Joginder, was fielded as candidate by the Jan nayak Janta Party (JJP) from Sohna-Tauru con stituency, but he lost the election,” said Jaiveer Rathee, DSP, STF, on Thursday as he told re porters that Joginder Khatana, 50, has been arrested for the murder of Sukhbir Khatana.

Rathee said that after the election, Joginder roped in Chaman, Sukhbir’s estranged brother-in-law, to kill him. Joginder was ar rested by the STF Wednesday night on the basis of a confession of the main accused, Cha man, who, too, had a beef to settle with Sukhbir, whom his sis ter had married against his wishes years ago.

“Chaman with the help of gangster Papla Gujjar gunned down Sukhbir Khatana in the Raymond showroom,” police said, adding that Joginder had hatched the conspiracy and hired Chaman for Rs 25

The 10,000-acre safari park will cover Gurugram and Nuh districts, the state government said

Villagers in the surround ing villages will be benefited from the Home Stay Policy, while the safari will preserve Aravallis.

—Manohar Lal Khattar, Haryana Chief Minister

chief minister added.

CBI leads huge operation to ‘dismantle’ drug cartels

New Delhi (PTI): The CBI has led a massive countrywide crack down on narcotics net works in coordination with the NCB, Interpol and police in multiple states, leading to the ar rest of 175 alleged drug peddlers, officials said Thursday.

As many as 127 FIRs have been filed by the agencies involved in 'Operation Garuda' which started earlier this week to "disrupt, degrade and dismantle" drug networks with in ternational linkages, CBI said in a statement.

and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav and Haryana Chief Minis ter Manohar Lal Khat tar visited Sharjah Sa fari in this regard, the state government said.

"The Jungle safari project of Haryana

would be a joint project of the Ministry of Envi ronment, Forest and Climate Change and the Haryana government.

Under the scheme, the central government will also provide funds to Haryana for the pro

ject," said Khattar.

A global Expression of Interest was floated for the project and two companies with inter national experience in designing and operat ing such facilities have been shortlisted, the

The chief minister added that the Central Zoo Authority had done an evaluation study of the area and agreed on the technical feasibility of setting up such a park. On one hand, de veloping a jungle safari will help preserve the Aravalli mountain range while a large number of people from Delhi and adjoining ar eas will come for tour ism, creating ample employment opportuni ties for local residents, he said.

"Furthermore, vil lagers in the surround ing villages will be ben efited from the Home Stay Policy," said the chief minister.

The global operation was planned through a "rapid exchange" of in telligence on narco-traf ficking and coordinated actions with enforce ment agencies across international jurisdic tions through Interpol, officials said.

Police of eight states and Union Territories, including Punjab, Del hi, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Maharashtra, and the Narcotics Con trol Bureau (NCB) tracked around 6,600 suspects during the op eration following which 127 cases were regis tered and around 175 people, including six absconders and pro claimed offenders, were

arrested, they said.

The agencies target ed smuggling of illicit drugs and psychotropic substances, with a spe cial focus on the Indian Ocean Region, the state ment said.

"Drug trafficking net works with internation al linkages require law enforcement coopera tion across internation al jurisdiction. Opera tion GARUDA, CBI-led global operation, seeks to target drug networks with international foot prints for action against handlers, operatives, production zones and

support elements," the CBI spokesperson said.

The CBI and NCB worked with intelli gence agencies and po lice of different states for information ex change, analysis and operational informa tion. "Illicit drugs and psychotropic substanc es, including 5.125 kg heroin; 33.936 kg ganja; 3.29 kg charas; 1,365 gm Mephedrone; 33.80 gm of smack; 105.997 kg Tramadol; 10 gm hash oil; 0.9 gm Ecstacy pills, 1.150 kg opium, 30 kg poppy husk were recov ered," the CBI said.

SOURCES SAY...

Sources said possibilities of involvement of Sukhbir’s brother, JJP leader Rohtash Kha tana, in the murder cannot be ruled out. “We are interrogating the accused and hope some more persons’ involvement could be revealed during the interrogation,” said B Satheesh Balan, Inspector General, STF, Gurugram.

RICHEST CANDIDATE

Jannayak Janta Party’s (JJP) candidate Rohtash Khatana ‘Rithaujia’ from Sohna was the richest candidate in Hary ana in the 2019 Assembly polls, due to his ownership of farmland and a lot of real estate in Sohna, Gu rugram, and Badshahpur. Khatana’s net worth, as per the affidavit filed by him, was `325 crore. The politician declared movable as sets worth `84.32 crore and immovable assets worth `240.70 crore, including land, proper ties, and investments made by him.

lakh to kill Sukhbir. Joginder was pro duced in a city court Thursday and has been tak en on a one-day police remand by the STF. He will be pro duced again in the court

on Friday.

“My father had mar ried Chaman’s sister about 17 years ago. My father had at length pac ified him and also helped him many times.

His murder was planned by Joginder and others. We want all accused to be brought to book,” Anurag Khatana, son of Sukhbir Khatana, said.

New Delhi (PTI): Three juveniles in west Delhi's Sultanpuri area stabbed to death a 30-year-old man who used to snatch their money to buy drinks and often thrashed them, police said on Thursday. On Wednes day at 8.24 pm, police got information from Sanjay Gandhi Hospital that a man had been ad mitted by his sister with serious stabs. The victim was identified as Ajay, a resident of La bour Colony, Sultanpu ri. When police went to the hospital, they found the man unconscious with several stab wounds on his chest and other parts of the body, they said.

His sister said that her neighbour's son, along with his two oth er friends (all minors), stabbed him with knives. Ajay succumbed to his injuries during treatment, police said.

Monsoon has withdrawn from Delhi: IMD

New Delhi (PTI): The southwest monsoon -which gave highly une ven rainfall this year -has withdrawn from Delhi, the Met depart ment said on Thursday.

"The southwest mon soon has withdrawn from Punjab; some parts of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, west Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan and entire Delhi," IMD said.

The Safdarjung Ob

BEHIND THE SCENES

servatory, Delhi's pri mary weather station, logged 516.9 mm of rainfall this monsoon season, less than half

received last year (1169.4 mm).

The capital recorded an overall rain deficit of 19 percent this mon

soon season. Up to 19 percent of deficient and excess rain is consid ered 'normal'. accord ing to the IMD.

Delhi stared at a much larger rain deficit till September 20. How ever, a late spell of in cessant rains from Sep tember 21 to September 24 helped it cover the margin.

The capital recorded 164.5mm of rain against a normal of 125.1 mm in September.

Autobiography of Muzaffar Ali—‘Zikr’—to release in November

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‘Rumi and Khusrau are beacons of light illuminating my path. A path of universal humanism showed by my father,’ says Ali about himself

New Delhi (PTI): The autobiography of re nowned filmmaker and painter Muzaffar Ali will hit the stands in November, Penguin Random House India announced Thursday.

Peppered with un heard anecdotes about films and Bollywood, Ali in “Zikr: In The Light and Shade of Time” takes readers be hind the scenes of films like “Anjuman” and “Gaman”, speaking of the sensibilities that

shaped them and the in fluences on his work.

“I’m driven by poetry, but I am not a poet. In spired by artistes, have

inspired artistes. ‘Zikr’ is a homage to people I have met and places I have lived in. A celebra tion of cultures I have

“Rumi and Khusrau are beacons of light il luminating my path. A path of universal hu manism showed by my father and his contem poraries like Faiz,” he said in a statement.

Ali, who belongs to the royal family of Kot wara, began his career with advertising.

experienced constantly finding and creating bridges to connect,” said the 77-year-old cel ebrated filmmaker.

His works include movies such as “Umrao Jaan” and “Gaman”, besides several docu mentaries and short films. Also a fashion de

the traditional handi crafts of Awadh and promote Sufism.

signer, he has launched his couture line, “Kot wara”, and is involved in several initiatives that celebrate art, foster

He received the Pad ma Shri in 2005 and the Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award in 2014. Rich in history, “Zikr”, according to the publishers, can be an “inspirational” read for anyone looking for in spiration, seeking to venture off the beaten track of Bollywood, or wishing to bite into a slice of erstwhile Awa dhi culture.

‘Zikr’ is a homage to people I have met and places I have lived in. A celebration of cultures I have ex perienced, constantly finding bridges.

—Muzaffar Ali, Filmmaker, musician, Sufi

Will be joint project of Union Ministry of Environment & Forest and Haryana government

Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav with Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar during their visit to a jungle safari in Sharjah. —PHOTO BY PTI

Man bullies boys, boys stab man to death in sultanpuri

A man uses a raft to cross a flooded area near the Yamuna river which continued to flow above danger mark in New Delhi on Thursday. —PHOTO BY PTI

RAFTING IN YAMUNA

FOCUS ON INDIAN OCEAN REGION

CAPITOL NEW DELHI | FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2022 02 www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epapers/delhi I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia Sukhbir Khatana

Mahendru made `50 crore profit by violating policy: ED

New Delhi (PTI): Liq

uor businessman Sa meer Mahandru, arrest ed by the Enforcement Directorate in connec tion with the Delhi ex cise policy money laun dering case, earned Rs 50 crore as "proceeds of crime" in less than a year by violating the provisions of the liquor scheme, the agency told a local court.

Mahandru, the man aging director of an al coholic beverages man ufacturing company called Indospirit, was taken into custody by the federal agency around 9 am on Wednes day and the court of spe cial judge MK Nagpal later sent him to the En forcement Directorate custody till October 6.

He was questioned by the agency overnight at its headquarters in cen tral Delhi, sources said.

The agency claimed before the court that "proceeds of crime" in crores were generated and "major violations" were done by the ac cused in the case.

The agency told the court that it was "one of the major objectives of the excise policy that manufactures and re

tailers have to be differ ent persons and identi ties, but it has been al leged that the accused (Mahandru) was one of major beneficiaries of these violations as he was not only running a manufacturing unit for alcoholic beverages (In dospirit) but was also given a wholesale li

cence (L1) and some re tail licenses (L7) in the name of his relatives".

The agency said it has undertaken as may as 103 search opera tions in this case and that it wanted to con front Mahandru with "huge digital and physi cal records" seized dur ing the raids.

LIQUOR TRADERS URGE DELHI GOVT TO HELP DISPOSE 70 LAKH-BOTTLE LEFTOVER STOCK New Delhi (PTI): The alcoholic beverages industry has sought Delhi government's intervention for the disposal of leftover stock of around 70 lakh unsold liquor bottles a situation caused by the excise policy switchover.

The Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Beverage Companies (CIABC) has written to the excise department of Delhi government seeking its urgent atten tion for the disposal of the unsold stocks.

Excise dept had allowed companies to transfer stock to their new L1 li censees but per mission to sell it was not granted.

Rekhta Foundation's Anjas Mahotsav celebrates culture of Rajasthan in Jodhpur

New Delhi (PTI): To celebrate and preserve the rich traditions and culture of Rajasthan, the first edition of An jas Mahotsav will be organised in the last week of October, or ganiser Rekhta Foun dation announced on Thursday.

The two-day gala is likely to be inaugurat ed by Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Maharaja of Jodh pur Gaj Singh on Octo ber 29-30 at Garh Go vind in Jodhpur.

KUMAON LITERATURE

FESTIVAL RETURNS

New Delhi: The Kumaon literature festival, 'Hima layan Echoes 2022', is set to return to its home Nainital in a physical avatar after a hiatus of two years, from October 8 to October 9.

NIA opposes Aasiya Andrabi’s plea on attachment of in-laws’ Srinagar house

New Delhi (PTI): The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has op posed in the Delhi High Court the plea of Kash miri woman separatist leader Aasiya Andrabi, who challenged the at tachment of her moth er-in-law's house. The NIA said the house was utilised for terror ac tivities and even for cel ebrating Pakistan Day.

The agency, in its re ply, claimed that the at tached house was used as the office of pro scribed terrorist organ isation Dukhtaran-EMillat (DEM) by Aasiya Andrabi, and anti-India speeches were made and pro-Pakistani slo gans were chanted at the meetings held there.

NIA said that besides the distribution of in

surrectionary material, the Pakistani flag was also unfurled on its premises to profess Kashmir as part of Pa kistan and India as an aggressor.

Andrabi, who was chief of the banned out fit Dukhtaran-e-Milat had approached the HC in August against a tri al court order which

refused to interfere with the attachment of the house by NIA.

NIA clarified that even though the house was in the name of An drabi's mother-in-law, there are significant numbers of incriminat ing videos and photos to show persons openly advocating secession from its premises.

“Excise department had allowed companies to transfer these stock to their new L1 licensees but permission to sell it was not granted despite such assurance," said Vinod Giri, Director General CIABC. A senior Delhi government officer said that the matter was under consideration and a decision was yet to be taken about the leftover stock.

DELHI RIOTS: COURT DISCHARGES 10 ACCUSED OF ARSON New Delhi (PTI): A court here has dis charged 10 accused from the offence of allegedly destroying house by fire in a case related to the 2020 northeast Delhi riots.

The court, however, said that they will face charges for rioting.

The court was hear ing a case where the ac cused persons allegedly engaged in rioting and torched the complain ant’s vehicle parked on a road in the Maujpur area on the morning of February 25, 2020.

Additional Sessions Judge Amitabh Rawat transferred back the case only for the offence of rioting to the magis terial court concerned.

—Vinod Giri, Director General CIABC

In its first edition, the literary and cul tural festival will bring together a range of genres and art forms of the state such as literature, theatre, academia, performing arts, music, films, crafts, and various other intangible cul tural practices, the or ganisers said in a statement.

Folk artistes, craft spersons and literary personalities includ ing famous singers Ila Arun, Ustad Anwar Khan Manganiyar, Mame Khan, and Mukhtiyar Ali, Ra jasthani poets Arjun Deo Charan, Madhu Acharya, Aidan Singh Bhati, and Chandra Prakash Deval among others will take part in Anjas Mahotsav.

The event will also witness sessions by

Founded by author-social entrepreneur Janhavi Prasada and mentored by eminent writer Namita Gokhale, the theme of the festival, now in its seventh edition, is 'C.A.L.M.' -- Creativity, Art, Literature, Mountains. Talk on cinema and live music performance by Ajay Bijli, chairman and MD of PVR Cinemas, with his band 'Random Order'; a session emphasising on ayurveda by Kavita Khosla, creator of the wellness brand Pu rearth; and an informative session by Daleep Akoi on tigers and the legendary conservationist Jim Corbett are among the many highlights of the fes tival. "It's my first ever experience of a mountain festival where I will be speaking on Cinema and 25 years of PVR and I have a surprise perfor mance planned with my band," said Bijli.

"Bandish Bandits" fame actor Rajesh Tailang, musician Nathulal Solanki, and musical group Barmer Boys. Rekhta founder Sanjiv Saraf said that

Gangster held with loaded gun

New Delhi (PTI): A 27-year-old member of the notorious ‘Chhenu gang' who often posted his photos with fire arms on social media was arrested with ille gal guns in his posses sion, police said.

The accused has been identified as Abid, a resident of east Delhi's Maujpur area. Police had on Tuesday re ceived information about Abid's movement in the area and also that he was carrying a so phisticated pistol.

At around 10.25 pm, police saw a person with a back-pack. When he was searched, police found one semi-auto matic pistol loaded with three live cartridges, two country-made pis tols, and four live car tridges, police said.

TOP ATTRACTION

the foundation of An jas was laid "to ignite the revival and rejuve nation of Rajasthani language and tradition of the people of Ra jasthan".

RAJASTHAN KABIR YATRA TO COMMENCE FROM UDAIPUR

New Delhi (PTI): Af ter a gap of two years due to Covid-19 pan demic, Rajasthan Ka bir Yatra will return to the streets to spread the message of peace and harmony preserved in Kabir's poetry.

Organised by NGO Lokayan Sansthan with Rajasthan Police's 'Project Tana Bana', the 6th edition of the trav elling folk music festi val will commence from Udaipur on Octo ber 2 with a host of mu sical groups and sing ers to celebrate Kabir and other nirgun, Sufi preachers like Mira bai, Baba Bulleh Shah and Shah Latif.

"The poetry of Kabir has the power of bring ing people and society together. Through the Rajasthan Kabir Yatra,

we have seen how Ka bir's poetry and music give a positive message of communal harmo ny to society. People from all communities and artists are partici pating in this yatra be ing organised under Project Tana Bana and this musical yatra will surely help in increas ing social harmony at the local level," Prafful Kumar, Inspector Gen eral of Police, Udaipur Range, said in a state ment on Thursday.

Renowned Dastango Himanshu Bajpayee and singer Vedanth Bharadwaj will deliver a special dastan (story telling) on Kabir.

Qutub Minar most visited by foreigners in April-June: RTI data

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3,81,249 Indian visitors and 9,063 foreign tourists visited Qutub Minar between April and June this year, according to data shared by the ASI

Saloni Bhatia

New Delhi: The Qutub Minar was the most vis ited destination for for eign visitors between April and June, accord ing to an RTI reply.

The historic Red Fort was the second most visited destination for foreign visitors fol lowed by Humayun’s Tomb during the same period, the reply said.

An analysis of data shows that 15,51,975 In dians visited tourist

places between April and June. The number of foreign visitors stood at 21,580. Qutub Minar,

9,063 foreign tourists between April and June, according to data shared by the Archaeo logical Survey of India (ASI), Delhi Circle. The maximum number of foreign tourists visited the monument in April.

l Humayun’s Tomb received 5,139 foreign tourists in April-June.

a UNSECO-recognised world heritage site in Delhi, received 3,81,249 Indian visitors and

The Red Fort was vis ited by 5,696 foreign tourists during the same period. It received the highest number of domestic visitors at 8,13,434, more than twice the number at Qu tub Minar. —PTI

l The Red Fort and Qutub Minar also occupied the second and third spots among the 10 most popular centrally-protected ticketed monuments for domestic visitors in 2021-22, according to a report recently released by the Union Ministry of Tourism.

l While Purana Qila

received more do mestic visitors than Humayun’s Tomb at 1,27,474, it only welcomed 710 foreign tourists.

l Sultan Ghari in the Nangal Dewat Forest

near Vasant Kunj did not receive any foreign visitors, but welcomed 78 Indian tourists between April to June.

Khan-i-Khanan Tomb played host to three foreign visitors.

l Hauz Khas I, Kotla Feroze Shah and Tu ghlaqabad received 92, 52 and 63 foreigners.

l Jantar Mantar in Delhi witnessed 38,955 do mestic and 416 foreign tourists in April-June.

Mahendru questioned by ED overnight at its headquarters after getting custody for 8 days

ED told court that Mahendru was given a wholesale licence and also retail licenses for liquor

ED wants to confront Mahendru with ‘huge digital and physical records’ seized during raids

Sandeep Mahendru in ED custody on Wednesday.

MANUFACTURER OF ENSO WHISKEY

Andrabi was arrested in 2018 by the NIA under IPC sections including sedition, and the stringent UAPA.

Popular music band 'Neeraj Arya Kabir Caf', singers Kaluram Bamania from Malwa, Mooralal Marwaada from Kutch, Meer Basu Barkat Khan from Poo gal, folk singer Sumitra Jaitaran from Jalore, Anand Das Baul from Bengal will perform at the inaugural event.

After Batting Dominance over Aussies, Bowlers Shine in First Win over Proteas!

After a narrow series win against the Aussies, India began with a dominant victory in the first encoun ter against the Proteas. While Indian batting flourished through the matches against Austral ia, experts felt that Indian bowling was a major chink in the armour with the T20 World Cup just a month away.

After the Asia Cup deba cle, fans hoped that the return of Jasprit Bumrah would turn the tide and as he hit peak form, he would help other bowlers to find their best rhythm. On Wednesday evening in Thiruvanathpuram, how ever, it was young left arm seamer Arshdeep Singh who pegged the Proteas back with 3 quick wickets in his very first over which left South African batting in tatters. Eventually, the Proteas could set just a modest challenge of 107 runs which the Men in Blue knocked off with comfort. India won the match with 18 balls and 8 wickets in hand and that too without their super star pacer - Bumrah!

Besides the Bumrah uncertainty, the Indian squad is looking settled and there are no major problem areas. Axar has filled in Jadeja’s shoes quite well and Karthik has cemented his place in the eleven as a finisher. The batting unit is now firing like a well-oiled machine with King Kohli also back in form. The remaining matches with the Proteas could be used to give more game time to the World Cup squad as India look to iron out all flaws before the big event!

Indian bowling came under heavy scrutiny after India’s shockingly early exit in the Asia Cup. Even in the series with Austral ia, Indian fast bowling was quite ordinary. Team India suffered a setback before the first game with the South Africans as Bumrah was injured and needed rest. Skipper Rohit Shar ma still chose to bowl at the Greenfield Stadium, which was hosting an in ternational match after a gap of 3 years. But a stun ning display of swing bowling by Arshdeep and Deepak Chahar rocked the Proteas who crumbled badly, losing 5 wickets for 9 runs in just 3 overs.

Besides Arshdeep and Chahar’s brilliant spells, Ravi Ashwin was extreme ly economical giving just 8 runs in his 4 overs. Though he couldn’t pick up a wick et, the wily offie tied the

BOWLERS ENSURED THAT INDIAN BATTING GETS EASY TARGET TO CHASE

While the bowlers en sured that the Indian batting had an easy target to chase, South Africa sent jitters in the Indian dress ing room by dismissing Rohit and Virat cheaply and the score was just 17 runs after 6 overs. India’s new sensation -Suryakumar Yadav- now stepped to the crease and hit 2 sixes of his first 3 balls to calm Indian nerves. India could afford to play slowly with no runrate pressure and KL Rahul did just that as he picked momentum taking cue from Suryakumar’s book.

Proteas batting down which led to wickets at the other end. Harshal Patel who struggled in the se ries against Australia, was back in form and took 2 wickets at an economy of under 7.

A brief resistance from Wayne Parnell and Keshav Maharaj ensured that South Africa were not bowled out and managed to reach a modest total of 106 for 8. But it was Axar Patel who broke their

growing partnership when he got Parnell caught at deep midwicket region. Patel has been in amazing form and was the Player of the Series against the Aussies. He carried the form against the Proteas and conceded just 16 runs in his tight spell of 4 overs and even picked up a wicket.

While the bowlers en sured that the Indian bat ting had an easy target to chase, South Africa sent

jitters in the Indian dress ing room by dismissing Rohit and Virat cheaply and the score was just 17 runs after 6 overs. India’s new sensation -Suryaku mar Yadav- now stepped to the crease and hit 2 sixes of his first 3 balls to calm Indian nerves. India could afford to play slowly with no run-rate pressure and KL Rahul did just that as he picked momentum tak ing cue from Suryaku mar’s book. Both of them

A MECHANISM TO APPOINT JUDGES

Every time the Supreme Court Collegiums rec ommends a name for eleva tion there are guesses as to what may have gone in in fluencing the Collegium’s choice. When the govern ment sends a name back for reconsideration also leaves the common man wondering as to the pa rameters which determine if a certain judge deserves to be elevated to the Su preme Court. Is it the length of a judge’s stint in a high court which is con sidered, or it is investiga tive agencies’ reports on his integrity? Political leanings may not be offi

cially acknowledged as a criterion but unofficially it is also thought to carry weight. When a high court judge gets pulled up by the Supreme Court for the lan guage of his judgments,

not once but thrice, one can assume that his eleva tion won’t be easy.

The Supreme Court is now learnt to be evolving a mechanism for an objec tive process for elevation.

The Supreme Court is now learnt to be evolving a mechanism for an objective process for elevation

Reports said that the CJI, Justice UU Lalit, plans to go through past judicial performances of judges before recommending them for appointment as a judge of the apex court

Reports said that the Chief Justice of India, Justice UU Lalit, plans to go through past judicial per formances of judges be fore recommending them for appointment as a judge

of the apex court. The Col legium is learnt to be col lecting information about those in line for elevation.

The criteria for recom mending names include “number of judgments de livered, their quality and rates of disposal”. For high courts a lawyer’s per formance, his income and number of reported judg ments will form the basis for his/her appointment as judge.

Once the above mecha nism is formalised the Col legium’s recommenda tions should ideally face no criticism or hurdles from the Union law ministry ex cept if it is about a candi date’s background.

INDIA BEGAN WITH A DOMINANT VICTORY IN THE FIRST ENCOUNTER AGAINST THE PROTEAS. WHILE INDIAN BATTING FLOURISHED THROUGH THE MATCHES AGAINST AUSTRALIA, EXPERTS FELT THAT INDIAN BOWLING WAS A MAJOR CHINK IN THE ARMOUR WITH THE T20 WORLD CUP JUST A MONTH AWAY

ensured that there were no more hiccups and as they reached their respective fifties, India sailed through to a comfortable win.

All matches of Aussie series were high-scoring thrillers. In contrast, the game with the Proteas was a low scoring but absorb ing contest on a sticky wicket. Suryakumar was simply superb even on a tough surface where all other batters struggled. He now has the highest num

ber of runs in a calendar year and has risen to No2 in T20 Batting rankings. He is India’s standout bat ter in the shortest format this year and the team, fans and experts all expect big things from him at the World Cup!

At the end of Australia series there were many unanswered questions about Indian bowling. Now, in case Bumrah is ruled out of the World Cup, India will need an in cisive fast bowler and Mo hammad Shami could well get the nod. He was in fine form during the IPL and could lead the bowling at tack in Bumrah’s absence.

Besides the Bumrah un certainty, the Indian squad is looking settled and there are no major problem are as. Axar has filled in Jade ja’s shoes quite well and Karthik has cemented his place in the eleven as a fin isher. The batting unit is now firing like a well-oiled machine with King Kohli also back in form. The re maining matches with the Proteas could be used to give more game time to the World Cup squad as India look to iron out all flaws before the big event!

Anita Hada Sangwan

Jagdeesh Chandra Editor: Anita Hada Sangwan responsible for selection of news under the

SPIRITUAL SPEAK

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? Bible

Dharmendra Pradhan @dpradhanbjp 6 years ago PM Shri @narendramodi One decision of Ji changed the mood of India forever. When the Indian Army entered the terrorists’ home, Pakistan, did #SurgicalStrikes and told the world that this #New India will never compromise on its security and sovereignty.

Jagat Prakash Nadda @JPNadda Today, the fourth day of Shardiya Navratri, is the day of worship of Mother Kushmanda, I pray that the mother of the world blesses everyone. May the blessings of the mother who bestows life, fame, strength and health be with everyone.

TOP TWEETS

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL

SIDDHAARTH

MAHAN

The writer is a specialist on Sports and Cinema who works as an actor in the Hindi film industry

Need for UNSC reform cannot be denied forever: Jaishankar

Washington (PTI):

The need to reform the UN Security Council cannot be denied forev er, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said even as he not ed that India never be lieved that revamping the top organ of the world body will be an easy process.

India has been at the forefront of the yearslong efforts to reform the Security Council, saying it rightly de served a place as a per manent member in the United Nations.

Currently, the UN Se curity Council has five permanent members -China, France, Russia, the UK and the US. Only a permanent member has the power to veto any substantive resolu tion. India, currently a non-permanent member of the 15-nation UN Se curity Council, will com plete its two-year tenure in December this year.

IN THE COURTYARD

SC BENCH TO HEAR IN JAN PLEA AGAINST WHATSAPP’S POLICY TO SHARE USERS’ DATA

HC NOTICE TO DELHI POLICE ON INTERNAL COMPLAINT PANEL

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Police Commissioner on a plea of a woman cop seeking constitution of the Internal Complaint Committee (ICC) by the South Delhi DCP for redressal of sexual harassment complaints. The matter has been listed on October 19 for next hearing.

LUMPY: DELHI GOVT, MCD TO REPLY OVER PIL TO SAVE COWS

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has issued notice to the Delhi govt and Municipal Corporation of Delhi on a PIL seeking direction from concerned authorities to take immediate remedial steps to eliminate contagious viral disease known as ‘Lumpy Skin Disease’. The Bench directed the respondents to file a reply within a period of 10 days and listed the matter for 14th October.

5 SENTENCED TO 7 YEARS RI IN VYAPAM SCAM

Bhopal: A CBI court here on Thursday convited five people and sentenced them to seven years rigorous imprisonment in connection with the Vyapam scam. The court has also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 each, while their two co-accused were acquitted due to lack of solid evidence. These people were involved in scam in police constable exams held in 2013.

MYANMAR DEPOSED LEADER SAN SUU KYI GETS 3 YRS JAIL

Naypyidaw: A military court in Myanmar on Thursday sentenced country’s deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi and members of her team to three years in jail. Kyi’s team included Australian economist Sean Turnell who was imprisoned for violating the Official Secrets Act. The latest verdict delivered at a special court means that Kyi has been sentenced to over 20 years in prison so far in a dozen cases.

Rajnath Singh visits forward areas of 3 Corps in Arunachal

Washington: EAM S Jais hankar has said that India will continue to maintain a relationship with China that is based on “mutual” sensitivity, respect and interest. He said while responding to a query on consistent comments from Beijing about how things are “okay” between the two countries. “The phase of emergency response since the Gal wan Valley incident has basically come to an end, and the border situa tion is now switching to normalized management and control,” China’s Ambassador to India, Sun Weidong has said. “What I have said, to my mind represents accurate policy assessment of where the state of our relations is. We continue to strive for a relationship with China, but one that is built on mutual sensitivity, mutual respect and mutual inter est,” Jaishankar said.

L Adimoolam is new director on PTI Board

New Delhi (PTI): KN Shanth Kumar was reelected as the vice-chair man and L. Adimool am was ap pointed a di rector of the Press Trust of India’s Board of Direc tors at its Annual Gen eral Meeting on Thurs day. Shanth Kumar, who is the vice-chairman of The Printers (Mysore) Pvt Ltd, was elected for a second one-year term.

Twitter handles of PFI, its leaders taken down

New Delhi (Agencies):

A day after the Union Home Ministry banned the Popular Front of In dia (PFI) for five years, Twitter on Thursday took down its profile, along with those of its leaders. Facebook and Instagram, too, withheld the PFI official accounts.

On Twitter, where the PFI had over 80,000 fol lowers, it showed that the account had been with held in India following a legal demand. A similar notice was seen on the ac counts of its chairperson OMA Salam and general secretary Anis Ahmed.

On Wednesday, after invoking the UAPA Act to effect the ban, the MHA said that the PFI and its affiliates are linked to terror groups like the ISIS, propagate “anti-national senti ments… radicalise a particular section of so ciety with the intention to create disaffection” and constitute a “major threat to internal secu rity of the country”.

New Delhi: The banned PFI has been maintaining close ties with a radical Turkish group accused of supplying arms to Al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorists in Syria and even two PFI leaders were hosted by the terror group, officials said on Thursday. The Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief, commonly known as IHH, projects itself as a Turkish human rights organisation.

Kochi: The Kerala high court on Thursday directed the PFI to pay in two weeks ₹5.20 crore as damages estimated to have been caused during the bandh it called against raids on the premises of the group and people associated with it last week. The bandh was called days before the Centre on Wednesday outlawed the group and its affiliates for five years after a crackdown across several states.

ROBOTIC SURGERY CONVENTION

First India Bureau

New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday reviewed operational prepared ness along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) during his two-day visit to the country’s eastern most Army formations.

He said, “strengthen ing India’s military prowess has been the Government’s top prior ity ever since it came to power since 2014, with a focus on equipping the Services with state-ofthe-art weapons/equip ment through an ‘Aat manirbhar’ defence in dustry.” On Thursday, he interacted with Army jawans at Dibang valley in Arunachal

Pradesh and joined Army personnel at Bada Khana at Solmara Mili tary Station in Tezpur.

Singh termed the Armed Forces as the very reason behind the strength and confidence of the Nation.

He appreciated the fact that the Govern ment’s efforts have re sulted in making a strong military which is fully capable of pro tecting the Nation from all kinds of threats.

Singh lauded the Armed Forces for in stilling a sense of na tional pride and patriot ism among the people, especially the youth, by displaying their strength and courage from time to time.

India plays important role as frontline state in fight against terrorism: Murmu

New Delhi: President Droupadi Murmu on Thursday said India’s leadership in several fields has become un challenged now and the country plays an impor tant role as a frontline state in the fight against terrorism. Addressing a group of officer trainees of the Indian Foreign Service (2021 batch), who had called on her at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, she said that India’s strong position is based on its economic performance, among other factors.

Congress pitches its hopes on non-Congress leaders

Sharat K Verma

New Delhi: The Con gress will certainly have a role to play in Opposi tion unity. Therefore Jairam Ramesh need not say again and again that without Congress there will be no Opposi tion unity or after Bharat Jodo Yatra Con gress will become so strong that no one will be able to ignore it. These things are have no standing because re gional parties have no conflict with the Con

gress in most states. Where there is conflict, however strong the Con gress becomes, coordi nation will be difficult. So, when the time comes, the unity of the Opposition will be forged and Congress will also have a role in it. Congress will get the biggest help in this work from the leaders of Bi har. Lalu Prasad and Ni tish Kumar will be the most helpful for the Con gress in this work.

Lalu Prasad and Nit ish Kumar had met So

nia Gandhi last Sunday. Before that, Nitish’s deputy and Lalu’s son Tejashwi Yadav (Bi

har’s deputy CM) had met Sonia Gandhi in Delhi. Nitish Kumar was in Delhi for several

days and met Opposi tion leaders but then Sonia Gandhi was abroad. That’s why Nit ish Kumar could not meet Sonia Gandhi. However, the recent meeting of Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar with Sonia Gandhi it would not make any differ ence. Both these leaders will make room for the Congress in the Opposi tion alliance.

In Bihar and Jharkhand, although the Congress is part of the alliance, Lalu and

Nitish will make such an effort in other states as well. Both of them can play a role in getting the Congress included in the socialist camp. The most interesting case is of Ut tar Pradesh, Karnataka, Telangana and Haryana.

With Akhilesh Yadav, HD Kumaraswamy, K Chandrasekhar Rao and Omprakash Chautala, Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar can do the work of building the harmony of the Congress. This will have a big impact on the electoral prospects.

Mumbai: The Home Ministry on Thursday has increased the secu rity cover of industrial ist Mukesh Ambani, as per sources. The securi ty cover was ramped up to ‘Z +’ category based on the intelligence agen cy’s threat perception report, sources added.

Mukesh Ambani, Chair man and Managing Di

New tech nologies give us hopes of better healthcare, for example, but they threaten existing business practices too. We can use tech nology to reach out to those on the margins. At the same time, technology also resets the security paradigm with new threats. As a nation, we have before us a chance to reset our choices.

rector of Reliance Indus tries Limited, was earli er accorded ‘Z category’.

RELIANCE INDUSTRIES LTD TO TAKE ON ZARA AND MANGO UNDER ISHA AMBANI’S LEADERSHIP

O n Thursday, the retail division of Mukesh Ambani’s Reli ance Industries Ltd. opened its first in-house premium fashion and lifestyle store. The first of a new chain of stores called Azorte, which was opened in Bengaluru, will compete with Zara and Industria de Diseno Textil SA-owned Mango and target millenials and Generation Z.

BANNED GROUP PFI KEPT CLOSE TIES WITH RADICAL TURKEY GROUP: REPORT

KERALA HIGH COURT DIRECTS PFI TO PAY `5.20 CRORE AS DAMAGES

‘WE STRIVE FOR A RELATIONSHIP WITH CHINA BUT...,’ SAYS EAM

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in a business luncheon with US-India Strategic Partnership Forum Board members.

—PHOTO BY PTI

Dr S Jaishankar @DrSJaishankar

An extensive discussion on pressing global challenges with UN Secretary General @antonioguterres. Agenda included the Ukraine conflict, UN reform, G20, climate action, food security and data for development.

Security personnel deployed outside a sealed office of Popular Front of India in Bhopal. The Union govt banned the PFI and many of its associates for 5 years under a stringent anti-terror law.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday said it would take up on January 17, 2023 a plea by 2 students contending that WhatsApp’s policy to share users’ data with parent company Facebook and others is a violation of their privacy and free speech. A five-judge constitution bench headed by Justice KM Joseph asked the parties to complete pleadings by December 15. “We are inclined to adjourn the matter to January 17, 2023 for final hearing,” the bench said.

BANKING ON OUTSIDERS?

Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav leave after meeting with Congress Interim President Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi last week.

Mukesh Ambani’s security cover upgraded to ‘Z plus’

President Droupadi Murmu being greeted by officer trainees of Indian Foreign Service of 2021 batch, during a meeting at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Thursday. —PHOTO BY PTI

Rajnath Singh meets troops during his visit to Anini village, in Dibang valley, Arunachal Pradesh, on Thursday. —PHOTO BY PTI

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla with Union MoS for Civil Aviation VK Singh (L) and others during a robotic surgery convention, in Ghaziabad, on Thursday. —PHOTO BY PTI

—Droupadi Murmu

Rahul's posters, flexes torn in K’taka before Bharat Jodo Yatra

Chamarajanagar: (ANI): Ahead of Bharat Jodo Yatra entering Karnataka, welcome flexes bearing pictures of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi were seen van dalized in the Gundlu pet town in the Chamarajanagar dis trict of the state on Thursday.

The flexes were in stalled by Congress to welcome Rahul Gandhi, who is scheduled to ar rive at Gundlupet on September 30. Other flexes, that were put on the Highway passing through Gundlupet having pictures of dif ferent Congress Party leaders were also torn, according to reports.

More than 40 flexes were reported to be torn. The Congress lead ers have accused Bhar tiya Janta Party’s work ers of this ‘mischief’.

Previously, senior BJP leaders seem to be targetting Congress Par ty’s Bharat Jodo Yatra elsewhere. Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra earli er said that the Bharat Jodo Yatra of the party

has turned into a Leave Congress Project. “The Bharta Jodo Yatra has become Congress Chodo Yatra (Quit Congress Yatra). Ghulam Nabi Azad Ji’s resignation from Congress shows that now there is an at mosphere of panic in the party,” said Mishra in a video he tweeted.

Rahul Gandhi is cur rently leading Bharat Jodo Yatra, a national campaign of the party

❍ PROPHET ESSAY CASE

Karnataka school headmaster suspended

Gadag (ANI): Karna taka school headmas ter- alleged of trying to facilitate the religious conversion- has been suspended, a day after the state education de partment ordered an inquiry after the head master was heckled by right-wing outfit activ ists for organizing an essay competition on Prophet Mohammed for children of a govern

in a few decades. The 3,500-km march from Kanyakumari to Kash mir will be completed in 150 days and cover as many as 12 states. From Kerala, the Yatra will traverse through the state for the next 18 days, reaching Karnataka on September 30. It will be in Karnataka for 21 days before moving north. The Padyatra (march) will cover a distance of 25 km every day.

CONGRESS LEADER KC VENUGOPAL MEETS

SONIA GANDHI AGAIN New Delhi: Congress leader KC Venugopal on Thursday arrived at 10 Janpath to meet Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi in the national capital. He had previously met Gandhi on Monday to discuss the political turmoil in Rajasthan.

Venugopal’s meeting with Gandhi came a day before the final date for filing nominations for the top post in the Congress party.

‘FRIENDLY CONTEST AND NOT BATTLE BETWEEN RIVALS’

New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, who is likely to file his nomination for the Congress president’s post on Friday, met Shashi Tharoor, who said they agreed that theirs is “not a battle between rivals but a friendly contest” among colleagues. Singh met the party MP from Thiruvanan thapuram on Thursday after collecting nomination papers for the polls.

Rahul takes knee problem lightly: says “somebody is pulling me out of trouble”

Malappuram (PTI): Con gress leader Rahul Gandhi, who concluded his Kerala leg of the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ has said he was ex periencing knee problems during the foot march, but he was distracted from the pain when members of the public approached him and discussed various issues as the journey pro gressed.Gandhi revealed this during his candid con versation with Congress leaders of the southern state on Wednesday in Wandoor. The video of the conversation was released by the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee.“I am having knee problem

while I am walking. When I am walking, sometimes I am getting quite bad pain. And I have noticed whenever I am finding that difficulty, somebody is coming doing something or telling me something that is removing the dif ficulty,” Gandhi said.

‘BJD govt failed to fulfil people’s aspirations’

Bhubaneswar (PTI): The BJD government in Odisha has failed to ful fil the aspirations of the people, BJP president JP Nadda said on Thursday, calling upon the voters to oust it.

Addressing a rally here, Nadda alleged that there is corruption in different spheres of the government in the state.

“The protector is kill er in Odisha as at least three ministers were al legedly involved in the different murder cas es,” he said.

“There is corruption in the implementation of PMAY, MGNREGA and other schemes,” he alleged. Alleging mis rule under the BJD re gime, Nadda claimed that people here have to take their relatives to hospital on bicycles. Na dda said that it is unfor tunate for a democracy like India that most of the national parties have been reduced to re gional parties.

BJP is the only na tional party and has re gional aspirations, he claimed. “It is unfortu nate that all the nation al parties have been re duced to regional par

‘AAP gave ` 700 cr for fake publicity’

First India Bureau

ment school in Gadag district. Abdul Muna far Bijapur , the head master had organized an essay competition.

Ludhiana: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) presi dent Sukhbir Singh Badal on Thursday said even as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) govern ment had allocated Rs 700 crore for fake pub licity, farmers and the disadvantaged sections of society were suffer ing with crop damage compensation and di rect seeding incentive

Pressure mounts on accused Lingayat seer to step down

Bengaluru (Agen cies): Pressure mount ed on the rape accused, jailed Karnataka Lin gayat seer Shivamur thy Murugha Sharana ru, to step down as the head of Chitradurga Murugha Mutt, amid the demand that new religious pontiff should be anointed in place of rape accused seer.

The followers and prominent leaders of

Making things more complicated, Karnata ka High Court has de nied permission tem porarily to the accused Lingayat seer to put his signatures to cheques.

not being given to farmers even as the ‘aata-daal’ scheme had

been closed.

Asserting the chief minister was drunk on

‘BJP using poll panel to reduce votes of Yadavs’

power, Sukhbir Badal said “Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has al located an unprece dented 42 vehicles for his own cavalcade and enforces a virtual cur few at every place he visits. All promises made to the people have been forgotten with the entire government functioning to the whims and fancies of AAP Convener Arvind Kejriwal”.

NADDA ON TWO-DAY VISIT TO ODISHA Bhubaneswar (PTI): BJP president JP Nadda arrived on a two-day visit to Odisha on Thursday. BJP’s state president Samir Mohanty, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, BJP national vice-president Baijayant Panda and Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi were among the leaders who welcomed him at the airport here. A cultural performance was also held at the airport in his honour. Nadda, who is on a maiden trip to Odisha as the BJP president, went straight to the party’s state headquarters, in a massive bike rally. He is scheduled to address around 25,000 panchayat-level leaders at Janata Maidan. He will also hold a meeting over the political situa tion in the state with MLAs, MPs and other leaders.

ties. The BJP being the world’s largest political party now fights against the family-based par ties in different states,” he said. “The Indian National Congress is neither national nor In dian. It is now the ‘BhaiBehen’ (brother-sister) party,” he quipped. Na dda said that the Con

gress’s situation is such that its candidates lost deposits in most assem bly seats of Uttar Pradesh.

“In Odisha, obviously, Biju Patnaik’s family is ruling the roost,” Nadda said, maintaining that the Shiv Sena in Maha rastra is now getting free of “family raj”.

VETERAN CONG LEADER JAYANTI PATNAIK PASSES AWAY AT 90 IN BHUBANESWAR

Bhubaneswar: The wife of former Odisha CM and ex-gov ernor of Assam JB Patnaik, Jayanti was rushed to a private hospital at around 8pm after she developed complications. Four time Congress MP and first chairperson of National Commission for Women (NCW), Jayanti Patnaik passed away at a hospital in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday evening. She was 90. The wife of former Odisha CM and ex-governor of Assam JB Patnaik, Jayanti was rushed to a private hospital at around 8pm after she developed complications. She died at the hospital. She is survived by son Prithvi Ballav Patnaik and two daugh ters. Jayanti was elected from Cuttack and Berhampur Lok Sabha constituencies in 1981, 1984 and 1998. —PTI

TWO BLASTS HIT JAMMU AND KASHMIR WITHIN HOURS

NIA TEAM SENT TO UDHAMPUR, TO TAKE OVER BLAST CASE

the Lingayat commu nity held an important meeting in Chitradur ga to discuss the future of the historical, cash rich mutt on Thursday.

Sources state that as ac cused seer is not al lowed to sign the 200 plus cheques, the ac tivities of the mutt are severely affected and employees are not able to get salaries.

STILL A SUSPENSE

New Delhi (ANI): Sa majwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav al leged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with the help of the c “snatched” away the power in Uttar Pradesh from Samajwadi Party because they are aware that without UP, they cannot remain in power at the Centre.

Elaborating further he accused the Election

DGCI allows institute to export malaria vaccine to UK

Commission of deliber ately reducing the votes of ‘Muslim’ and ‘Yadav’ communities by 20,000 in almost every Vidhan sabha seat on the diktats of BJP and its aides.

WILL SATPAL MALIK JOIN RLD?

Mahesh Sharma

New Delhi: Meghalaya

Governor Satpal Malik will retire on 30 Septem ber. Even before retir ing, he has opened a front against the cen tral government and the BJP as he has been making allegations of one kind or the other all the time. He raised the issue of farmers as gov ernor and put the cen tral government in the dock. He had raised the issue of alleged corrup

tion while being the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir. After his removal, he will also be investigated and on this pretext also he will have a direct confrontation with the BJP. It is being said that after retiring from the post of Gover nor, he can join Jayant Chaudhary’s party

Rashtriya Lok Dal.

Even before joining the Rashtriya Lok Dal, he had started creating an atmosphere in favor of the party. Jayant

Choudhary also needs a leader who has a fight ing image and the media pays attention to. Satpal

Malik is perfect in this respect. His words are featured prominently in the media. However,

what will be the situa tion after the removal of the governor’s post can not be said. But since he is the governor made by the NDA government and has lived in many states, people are inter ested in what he has to say. He can also play a role in uniting the Jats and the farmers, but it remains to be seen how the Jat leaders who are already in RLD accept this move i.e. whether they welcome him to the party or not.

New Delhi (PTI): In dia’s drug regulator has allowed the export of the first produced-inIndia vaccine against malaria, developed by scientists at the Univer sity of Oxford and man ufactured by Serum In stitute to the U.K., offi cial sources said on Thursday.

The move comes after an application was sub mitted by Prakash Ku mar Singh, director, Government and Regu latory Affairs, at Serum Institute of India (SII) to DCGI on September 27 seeking permission to export the vaccine against malaria, offi cial sources told PTI.

“SII has developed the vaccine against ma laria under leadership of our CEO Dr Adar C Poonawalla. We have been relentlessly work ing to make available made-in-India and world-class vaccines against malaria to our country and world at large,” an official source quoted Singh as having said in the ap plication.

Udhampur/Jammu: A blast in a bus parked at a stand in Jammu and Kashmir‘s Udhampurcity on Thursday morning, the second within a few hours, sent security agencies in a tizzy as they sounded a high alert, sources said. The roof and the backside of the bus were blown away by the blast that occurred around 5.30 am but no one was injured, they said.

—PTI

Srinagar: The Udhampur blast case in which two persons suffered injuries, is likely to be handed over to the National Investiga tion Agency (NIA) on Thursday. Highly placed sources said that a team of elite NIA officials has been sent to J&K’s Ud hampur. The team is likely to take charge of all the documents regarding the blast from the local police.

—Agencies

NCW SEEKS REPLY FROM IAS OFFICER

HARJOT OVER HER ‘FREE CONDOM’ REBUKE

Patna: The incident took place at a workshop in Patna where a schoolgirl asked the IAS officer if sanitary pads can be made more affordable. After triggering a huge uproar, Bihar IAS officer Harjot Kaur Bhamra, who snapped back at a Patna schoolgirl with a “condom” remark for asking for cheaper sanitary pads, apologised for the incident, saying she did not intend to hurt anyone’s feelings. “I express regret if my words hurt any girl’s sentiments. I didn’t intend to humiliate anyone or hurt anyone’s sentiments,” Bhamra said.Riya Kumari asked the official, who is also the managing director in Bihar’s women’s development department, if they could be provided with sanitary napkins at a cost of `20-30. —Agencies

BOAT CAPSIZES IN DHUBRI, AT LEAST 7 PEOPLE MISSING Dhubri (Assam): A country-made boat carrying at least 50 people on board capsized in the Brahmaputra River in Assam’s Dhubri district on Thursday, officials said. “Search and rescue teams have rushed to the spot and started search and rescue operations,” Gyanendra Dev Tripathi, Chief Ex ecutive Officer of ASDMA told ANI.

4 KILLED IN FIRING IN PATNA OVER ILLEGAL SAND MINING

Patna: At least four people were killed and nine injured after mutliple rounds of firing in con nection with illegal sand mining in the Maner in Bihta in Patna district of Patna, police said on Thursday. Among the four dead included notorious criminal Shatrughan Rai, Patna Police said. The incident took place in the Diara area of Maner.

BJP national president JP Nadda addresses party workers during the ‘Karyakarta Sammelan’, in Bhubaneswar, on Thursday.

—PHOTO BY PTI

Sukhbir Badal urges PM to commute death sentence of Rajoana to life term

Sukhbir Singh Badal addressing media in Ludhiana on Thursday.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s flexes bearing were torn ahead of Bharat Jodo Yatra in Kerala, on Thursday. —PHOTO BY ANI

INDIA NEW DELHI | FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2022 06 www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epapers/delhi I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia Meghalaya Governor Satpal Malik

RELIANCE RETAIL LAUNCHES FASHION STORE ‘AZORTE’

India will be pillar of global economic revival: Goyal

Bengaluru: Reliance Re tail on Thursday launched a large format premium fashion and lifestyle store brand ‘AZORTE’. The new store format includes several tech-enabled in terventions such as smart trial rooms, fashion dis covery stations, “endless aisles” and self-checkout kiosks, it said in a state ment. “AZORTE will house the best of global trends and contemporary Indian fashion with an original take on style ranging from western and Indian wear to footwear, fashion accessories. —PTI

IPO MOP-UP PLUNGES

32 PER CENT TO `35,456 CRORE IN H1

Kolkata (Agencies): Un ion Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said India will be the pillar of the global economic revival as it exhibited steady growth and emerged as the fastestgrowing country among the large economies of the world.

He said if all stakehold ers of the economy work together with a sense of ‘Kartavya bhav’ (spirit of duty), the national goal of $30-trillion economy will be achieved by 2047, the year when the country will celebrate 100th anniversa ry of its independence.

TOP TALKING POINTS

Mumbai: Just 14 compa nies raised `35,456 crore through main-board pri mary share sales in the first half of the fiscal, down 32% from the yearago period when 25 is sues had mopped up `51,979 crore. But acc to Prime Database, the IPO pipeline is strong with 71 issues worth `1,05,000 crore having Sebi approv als and another 43 worth about `70,000 crore are awaiting approval. Of these 114 planned issues, 10 are new-age tech com panies.

—PTI

GOVT APPROVES

22ND TRANCHE OF ELECTORAL BONDS

“India is already the fifth largest economy in the world and is turbocharging its growth to become the third largest in the coming years. The PM’s vision is to make India a developed na tion by 2047 with an econo my size of $30 trillion as we will celebrate our 100th in dependence in that year,” Goyal, the commerce and industry minister, said.

All sectors such as agri culture, manufacturing and construction are doing quite well, he claimed.

“India is an island of sta bility and will be the pillar of global revival. Our econ omy has shown resilience

OTHER STORIES

z Union Minister Piyush Goyal said if all stakeholders of the economy work together with a sense of ‘Kartavya bhav’ (spirit of duty), the national goal of $30-trillion economy will be achieved by 2047

during the pandemic and is on a steady path of growth,” the minister said.

Asserting that India is the best destination for in vestments, Goyal said the government has taken sev eral structural reforms, and more are in the pipe line. The minister, who also holds food and textile port folios, urged industrialists for private investments

HOSPITALITY SECTOR DEMANDS CHANGE IN INFRA STATUS TO DRIVE GROWTH, BENEFIT MORE CITIES

New Delhi: Hotel Association of India (HAI) on Thursday demanded that the infrastructure status of the hospitality sector be amended to spur growth and help more cities benefit from it. The sector has recovered from the impact of the pan demic, driven by domestic travel with occupancy level in latest June quarter higher by 4% as compared to the pre-COVID level and average room rate up by 16%, HAI President Puneet Chhatwal said here at the Hoteliers’ Conclave 2022. “Amending the hospitality sector infrastructure status will incentivise and spur hospitality development which is the need of the hour,” he said. PTI

z Asserting that India is the best destination for investments, Goyal said the government has taken several structural reforms

z The minister urged Indian industrialists for private investments and asked them to believe in India’s growth story

and asked them to believe in India’s growth story and help the country in achiev ing its goals with greater participation.

Goyal cited McKinsey & Co CEO Bob Sternfels com ment - ‘it’s not India’s decade, it’s India’s cen tury’- to showcase the country as an impor tant destination for investment.

DON’T DEPEND ON SMALL INCENTIVES, SUBSIDIES; INCREASE COMPETITIVENESS: GOYAL TO INDUSTRY

New Delhi (PTI): Union Min Piyush Goyal on Thursday asked service exporters not to depend on small subsidies or incentives to increase exports and instead enhance competitiveness. He said the industry should work on increasing and strengthen ing their competitiveness to tap global markets. Ambitious targets of exports should not be affected by “small support subsidies and incentives. That has been the bone of contention between some services sectors and the government,” Goyal said. Citing examples, he said the IT sector never asks for any subsidy and they record healthy growth rate in exports. “How long will this mentality last that give us `2, we will be able to in crease exports...We need to look at our competitive edge.” Do not depend on the government, he said. On free trade agreements, the minister

India a ‘star’ among emerging mkts: S&P

New Delhi: Ahead of as sembly elections in Guja rat and Himachal Pradesh, the government on Thursday approved is suance of 22nd tranche of electoral bonds that will open for sale on October 1. Electoral bonds have been pitched as an alter native to cash donations made to political parties as part of efforts to bring transparency in political funding. SBI, in the 22nd phase of sale, has been authorised to issue and encash electoral bonds through its 29 authorised branches from October 1-10, the finance ministry said in a statement. —PTI

MEESHO RECORDS

68% JUMP IN 5-DAY FESTIVE SEASON SALE

INDIA REMAINS BRIGHT SPOT FOR CAR SALES: MOODY’S INVESTOR

New Delhi: Robust car sales during the ongoing festive season will help the Indian auto mobile industry outshine its regional and global peers this year, Moody’s Investor Service said. “India remains the bright spot for car sales this year. So far in 2022, sales are steady and we expect a stronger fourth quarter with the onset of the festive season starting at the end of September,” as per a note prepared by Moody’s. PTI

UDAAN STARTS MULTIPLE DELIVERIES PER DAY FOR PHARMACIES IN 6 CITIES

New Delhi: Lightspeed Venture Partners-backed B2B e-commerce firm Udaan has started deliver ing stocks to pharmacies four times a day across six cities and plans to scale up the service to other places after six to eight months. The 4X4 delivery service’ has been rolled out after a pilot programme and receiving extensive feedback from pharmacies in select cit ies, which required enhanced delivery capabilities. PTI

PASSENGERS CAN AVAIL SOON

New Delhi: Softbankbacked e-commerce plat form Meesho claims to have recorded 68% jump in sales during its fiveday festive season sale with around 3.34 crore orders. The unicorn ecommerce firm said near ly 60% of all orders came from Tier 4 cities and transacting users wit nessed a 60% jump dur ing the sale, which in cluded those who were new-to-ecommerce and were shopping online for the first time.

—PTI

New Delhi (PTI): S&P Global Ratings on Thurs day said rising rates and increased European ener gy insecurity are hitting growth in almost every country, but India with an estimated 7.3% growth this fiscal, would be the ‘star’ among emerging market economies.

In a report, S&P said global macro performance over the next few quarters points towards growth slowdown with tightening financial conditions amid rate hikes by central banks.

“For the 16 emerging economies that we cover, excluding China, 2022 GDP growth will hit 5.2% this year, in our view. This fore cast is up 30 basis points from our previous round. India is the star of this group with growth of 7.3% this fiscal year (ending in March 2023),” S&P said.

The US-based agency said as central banks ag

Sensex takes losing run to 7th day, falls by 188 points

Mumbai (PTI): Bench mark indices failed to hold on to early gains and ended lower for the seventh straight session on Thurs day, with the BSE Sensex declining over 188 points amid mixed global market trends. Even after rallying in early trade, the 30-share BSE benchmark fell 188.32 points or 0.33% to settle at 56,409.96.

Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty dipped 40.50 points or 0.24% to end at 16,818.10. Among the 30-share Sensex pack, Asian Paints, Tech Mahin dra, Titan, Kotak Mahin dra Bank, TCS, Bajaj Fi nance, Wipro and Bajaj Finserv were among the major laggards.

ITC, Dr Reddy’s, Tata Steel, Sun Pharma and Nestle were among the major winners.

AFTER RECORD LOW ON WED, ` RISES 13 PAISE TO CLOSE AT 81.80 AGAINST $

Mumbai (PTI): The rupee consolidated in a narrow range and settled 13 paise higher at 81.80 against US dollar on Thursday, ahead of the RBI monetary policy decision. At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened at 81.60 against the greenback. It witnessed an intra-day high of 81.58 and a low of 81.94 during the session.It finally ended at 81.80, up 13 paise from its previous close. On Wednesday, the rupee plunged below the 82-mark for the first time in intraday trade before settling 40 paise down at 81.93 against the dollar.

Delhi Airport becomes 5G network-compliant

Mumbai (PTI): GMR group-run Delhi Airport on Thursday said it has made its facility compliant for 5G network, which the passengers can avail once these services are rolled out by the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs).

Most airports at present provide wireless service primarily through Wi-Fi to passengers. Wi-Fi relies on the unlicensed spectrum which is free for anyone to use, as per the Delhi Inter national Airport Ltd.

With the rise in passen ger footfall, the airports have witnessed a rise in de

mand for more bandwidth and faster speed for using gadgets like smartphones and laptops, among others.

Airlines and other airport stakeholders are also seek ing fast, seamless and se

PRESENT SCENARIO

z Most airports at present provide wireless service primarily through Wi-Fi to passengers. Wi-Fi relies on the unlicensed spectrum which is free for anyone to use, as per the Delhi International Airport Ltd

RESULTS OVER NEXT FEW QTRS

z S&P said global macro performance over the next few quarters points towards growth slowdown with tightening financial conditions. Most leading and sentiment indicators are pointing toward slower growth as well

gressively raise rates to fight inflation, our confi dence is waning that they can avoid generating a sharp downturn.“We are now expecting a mild reces sion in the US,” it said, add ing that rising rates, in creased European energy insecurity, and lingering effects of Covid-19 are hit ting growth everywhere.

“This may be the most anticipated economic slow down on record, but the data have yet to fully fall in line,” S&P said.

ICRA revises outlook on Indian airport infrastructure

Mumbai (PTI): Credit rat ings agency ICRA on Thursday revised the out look on Indian airport in frastructure to ‘Stable’ from ‘Negative’ amid ex pectations that passenger traffic will surpass prepandemic level between September this year to August next year.

It also estimates that do mestic passenger traffic will reach pre-COVID lev els by the March quarter (Q4FY23 vs Q4FY2020) this fiscal year, while the inter national traffic is expected to see full recovery in the second quarter of fiscal year starting April 2023.

The overall recovery in domestic traffic remained strong and is expected to recover to 97-98% of preCOVID levels in Financial Year (FY) 2023 itself, ICRA said.

Housing sales up 49% in July-Sept across 8 cities

New Delhi (PTI): Housing sales have risen 49% yearon-year to 83,220 units in the July-September period across eight major cities on pent up demand, despite rise in interest rates and property prices, according to PropTiger.Com.

cure connectivity for their essential technologies to meet the demand, DIAL said, adding with 5G net work passengers will be able to enjoy a 20 times fast er data speed.

Such a network would al low them quicker down loads, zero buffering dur ing streaming and seam less execution of resourceintensive applications, DIAL stated.

Sales stood at 55,910 units in the same quarter last year. The sales have surpassed the levels of 2019’s Q3, housing broker age firm PropTiger.Com said in its quarterly report Real Insight Residential — July-Sept 2022.

“The real estate industry

is bouncing back from the pandemic and subsequent disruptions,” said Vikas Wadhawan, Group CFO, PropTiger.Com, Housing. Com and Makaan.Com.

Despite the slight in crease in overall interest rates, he said the demand for housing has not dipped.

Leadership is not rank and privilege, it is actually a responsibility.

AMID TENSION WITH CHINA

ITBP OR ARMY? WHO WILL LEAD PATROLLING AT LAC

First India Bureau

New Delhi: The govern ment is considering whether the Indo Tibet an Border Police (ITBP) or the Army should take the lead role in patrol ling borders with China.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) wants the ITBP to take a lead role but the Army is opposed to it, accord ing to media reports.

The ITBP is under the MHA’s operational con trol but works closely with the Army. All LAC patrols are carried out by a joint team of the Army and the ITBP. It is the local Army brigade which decides on the pa trolling patterns and who takes the lead role in them. In July 2020 there were reports that the government was considering a more prominent role for the ITBP in LAC manage ment with the Army taking charge of border defence. The discussion had taken a backseat but fresh media reports sug gest that the proposal is back on drawing boards.

‘Grey zones’ As per the original pro posal which was being considered, the Army will be away from grey zone areas of the 3,488 km-long LAC, especial ly since both India and China are creating buff er zones in locations where they have disen gaged. The grey zones are where forces from both countries patrol and come face to face.

ITBP BE PLACED UNDER ARMY’S OPERATIONAL CONTROL: PANEL

Following the Group of Ministers (GoM) report after the Kargil conflict that recommended ‘One Border One Force’, ITBP was assigned the entire LAC in 2004, replacing Assam Rifles in Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. The GoM report on LAC stated that the ITBP be placed under the operational control of the Army till such time as these portions of the border are fully demarcated. “Borders which are operation ally active should be the responsibility of the Army. Any other Forces, if deployed to guard these, owing to their special skills etc should be placed under the direct operational control of the Army,” it said. “The entire border with China should be guarded by the ITBP and it should be placed under the op erational control of the Army until such time as the border is demarcated,” the report added. The ITBP is a specialised force which trains in mountain warfare and has been look ing after the LAC since 1962. In the current stand-off with China, the ITBP has been standing shoulder to shoulder with the Army and has been involved in clashes.

ALL MEETINGS ALONG THE BORDER ARE UNDER THE AEGIS OF THE ARMY A similar arrangement is followed by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), as the PLA officers head the meetings attended by officers of its Border Defence Regiments (BDRs). Similarly, the existing hotlines are between the Indian Army formations and PLA forma tions. Unlike ITBP, the BDRs are an integral part of the Chinese army and not a central armed police force. These units are equipped and trained in a similar manner to that of PLA battalions, unlike the ITBP.

Experts say the ITBP cannot be brought under the Army’s operational command because it has multiple tasks. “ITBP person nel are also deployed for law and order duties, besides internal security operations. If they come under the Army, the dual capability will be gone,” a source in the MHA said. The Army will step in when they have to, but border management should ideally be done by the border forces and not the Army,” a second source said.

AFTER SITHARAMAN PUSH, PSU BANKS TO FILL BACKLOG SC QUOTA

New Delhi (PTI): All public sector banks will begin a special drive from October 2 for fill ing up of backlog vacan cies reserved for sched uled castes, National Commission for Sched uled Castes (NCSC) Chairman Vijay Sampla said on Thursday. The decision comes after a review meeting, jointly chaired by the NCSC chairman and Fi nance Minister Nirma la Sitharaman, was held on the performance of public sector banks (PSBs) on credit and other welfare schemes for scheduled castes

(SCs). While addressing the media here, the NCSC chairman said the banks will conduct the drive from October 2 to December 31 this year for filling up the back log vacancies.

Sampla also said that the banks will send a re port on reservation pol icy, with regard to re cruitments and cover age of SC beneficiaries in all the schemes, and submit the progress of all the schemes to the NCSC, twice every year.

Armenia buys Pinaka from India in war with Azerbaijan

First India Bureau

New Delhi: Armenia has signed a contract with India for procuring the indigenous Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launchers, unspecified missiles and ammuni tion, amid its growing tensions with Azerbai jan which is close to Tur key and Pakistan.

On Wednesday, Ar menia and Azerbaijan accused each other of violating a cease-fire agreement that ended two days of conflict this month.

Sources in the de fence and security es tablishment confirmed that the government-togovernment contract, valued at about Rs 2,000 crore, was signed earli er this month and that the supplies would be fast-tracked as per the requirement.

While the exact quan tity is not known, the order includes the in digenous Pinaka sys tem, ammunition and anti-tank rockets.

This is the first inter national order for the system, which was de veloped by the Defence Research and Develop ment Organisation (DRDO).

The multiple rocket launcher is already in service with the Army and has been deployed along the borders with China and Pakistan.

The defence sources remained tight-lipped about the exact nature of the government-togovernment contract but pointed out that Ar menia has bought Indi an defence goods in the past as well.

Azerbaijan is seen by many as part of an emerging axis with Turkey and Pakistan. It has used Turkish drones to fight the war against Arme nia and is also in talks with Pakistan to buy the JF-17 fighter aircraft. In 2017, Tur key, Azerbaijan, and Pakistan signed a Trilateral Ministers Agreement that established security cooperation and built upon previous bilateral military aid arrangements. Besides the strategic importance of the deal with Armenia, the export order is a boost for the indigenous defence industry with the Indian government keen to increase the value of Indian arms exports.

ADANI ENTERPRISES SECURES `10,238 CR FROM SBI FOR GANGA EXPRESSWAY

First India Bureau

New Delhi: Adani En terprises (AEL), the flagship company of Adani Group, which will build part of the Meerut-Prayagraj Gan ga Expressway, has se cured Rs 10,238 crore debt financing for the Ganga expressway pro jects from India’s larg est public sector lender, the State Bank of India.

The three subsidiar ies have entered into a concession agreement

RAISE HIGH THE SPIRIT

`8,000 crore to ‘remediate’ 1,000-plus dumping sites: Puri

New Delhi (PTI): Un ion Minister Hardeep Singh Puri Thursday said plans to remediate over 1,000 legacy dump sites, including those in Delhi, containing 12.8 crore metric tonnes of waste, have been ap proved by his ministry with a total cost of over Rs 8,000 crore.

The Housing and Ur ban Affairs Minister said that all legacy dumpsites, having 16

crore metric tonnes of waste, and occupying around 15,000 acres of prime land, will be “re mediated” in the second phase of Swachh Bharat Mission period under the ‘Lakshya Zero Dumpsite Challenge’.

The minister was ad dressing the inaugural of ‘Swachh Shehar Samvad and Tech Exhi bition’ which is a capac ity building initiative of the SBM(U) 2.0 to equip

states and cities with an understanding of all re cent developments in waste management, the ministry said.

“I am proud to note that action plans for over 1,000 legacy dump sites including those in Delhi containing 12.8

crore metric tonnes waste have been ap proved by MoHUA, with total project cost of more than 8,000 crore rupees, of which the Centre is contribut ing almost 3,000 crore rupees,” statement quoted him as saying at

the event. He said that as a result of efforts un der SBM, all 4,372 ur ban local bodies in In dia have now been de clared Open Defecation Free (ODF).

“Not only did we build over 73.45 lakh in dividual and commu nity toilets, we also re stored dignity and health to millions of urban poor, including the Divyang Jan,” the minister said.

with Uttar Pradesh Ex pressway Industrial Development Authori ty (UPEIDA). The con cession period shall be 30 years with a traffic link extension provi sion of 6 years, includ ing three years of the construction period.

The Ganga express way which will connect Meerut with Prayagraj will be India’s longest expressway to be imple mented on a toll basis & will have 6 lanes (ex pandable to eight-lane).

The one and a half hour meeting between Sonia and Gehlot also saw participation of Gener al secretary (Organiza tion) KC Venugopal and after the meeting, Ge hlot appeared to be in a happy mood.

Meanwhile, further in his address to the me dia persons, Gehlot said that he won’t contest the elections in this at mosphere. “I won’t con test these elections in this atmosphere, with moral responsibility. For fifty years, I have been a loyal soldier of the party,” Gehlot said. On being asked if he will remain Rajasthan CM, Gehlot said, “I won’t decide that, Con gress chief Sonia Gan dhi will decide that.”

“One-line resolution is our tradition. Unfor tunately, a situation arose that resolution wasn’t passed. It was my moral responsibili ty (to pass the resolu tion), but despite being a CM I couldn’t get it passed,” he added.

Gehlot said the party works under the Con gress president and all decisions will be taken by the party president.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh during his visit to LAC forward areas in Arunachal on Thursday, with Army chief General Manoj Pande

—PHOTO BY ANI

AZERBAIJANTURKEY-PAKISTAN

India has signed a $250 million (over Rs 2000 cr) deal to export anti-tank rockets and other ammunition to Armenia.

Fireworks over the Narendra Modi Stadium during inauguration of 36th National Games in Ahmedabad on Thursday. —PHOTO BY PTI

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chairs a meeting to review the performance of welfare schemes for SCs in public sector banks and financial institutions, in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Union Minister for Housing & Urban Affairs and Petroleum & Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri visits a Tech Exhibition in New Delhi on Thursday.

—PHOTO BY PTI

We are now targeting to go from an ODF India to a ‘Garbage-Free India.

—Hardeep Singh Puri,

Minister for Housing & Urban Affairs and Petroleum & Natural Gas

FROM P1…

The Ganga expressway which will connect Meerut with Prayagraj will be India’s longest toll expressway.

LET’S ROOT FOR THE BOOT

Boots are a girl’s new go-to accessory, they are available from winter white to rainbows to playful prints. City First brings to you the best boot fashion trends for this season.

unsure of how to style mid-calf boots, take note from Hailey Beiber and simply create a pair of jeans into them or try it with a classy coat for a stylish look

COWBOY BABY

UTTKARSHA SHEKHAR uttkarsha.shekhar@firstindia.co.in

ven though winter hasn’t even official ly arrived but if you are already stuck in a rut with your cold-weather attire, you’re not alone.

Stylish coats, long sleeve shirts, scarves, and every one’s favourite boots ever!

No matter if you prefer high heels or sneakers, boots have a powerful ef fect on everybody who loves shoes. Just like sneakers and skirts, the combination of a feminine frock with a more manly shoe style is unquestionably one that works.

Shoes can be as basic as flipflops or as complicated as boots.

Although high heels are viewed as a woman’s style in western so cieties, shoes can have low or high heels. There are also shoes with uppers that are designed high enough to cover the ankles; a shoe with an upper that rises above the ankle is typically re ferred to as a boot, however other designs may be called hightopped shoes or high-tops. To re shape the fashion world, City First brings to you the best boot fashion trends for this season.

TRENDY NEUTRAL

Neutral gives the best camou flage vibes and is currently rul ing the fashion world. If you’re

If talking about boots then cow boy boots come first in my mind, their sassy look and leather touch are enough to make any one crazy after them. We can carry this popular source of fashion with a midi skirt and a cosy sweater for an abruptly cool winter look.

POP OF PRINT

Boots with prints are a perfect example of funky fashion, if you are more into pop fashion and bright colours and prints do things with your heart then you can simply go for these trend set ters. Try adding a pair of snake print boots for an unexpected hint of colour and print.

EMBROIDERED BOOTS

How can we not talk about Em broidered boots? Work of Em broidered Boots is an art of giving diverse countenances to the same shoe material by adding unique designs and patterns to it. Tuck a pair of denim jeans into leather knee-high boots for a contrasting look that can be dressed up or down.

SEQUIN BOOTS

Add some glimmer to your look with a breathtaking se quin boots. If you really want to go for it, wear them with a pair of blue denims and long coat.

G

rowing up as a theatre kid, I re member how creative, collabo rative, and confi dent my theatre peers were. They were the best listeners, fantastic teammates, smart problem-solvers, and so in tune with their emotions.

Acting has been the most versatile of the per forming arts. It has been a medium of expression and a popular channel to take up social issues.

Ask any group of chil dren what their dream job is when they grow up, and you’ll hear at least a handful of them shout out “Actress!”, “Actor!” or “Movie star!”. From the moment your child lays eyes on their very first film or live performance, the dazzling glamour of the stage or silver screen is bound to draw them in.

The charisma and talent of our favourite perform ers can still leave us speechless as adults, so it’s no wonder that young kids are just as star struck.

Acting classes for kids provide an age-appropri ate outlet for your young ones to nurture their ar tistic side through learn ing movement, drama and performance skills.

City First highlights a few passionate chil dren from Ra jasthan, men tored by Kritesh Agarwal, a Jaipur-based filmmaker, act ing coach and casting direc tor, who are set ting benchmarks in the television industry at a young age.

THE RISING PASSION!

ACTING: A FLURRY OF ACTIVITY, A BURST OF COLOURS, A PALETTE OF EMOTIONS!

Aanya Galav, 6 years old from Kota Rajasthan is a true star. Her moth er’s constant support and guidance has helped Aanya tap her highest potential. She started her television presence with the Big Boss fashion show in 2019 and bagged the princess of the year, later, she joined Act to Action screen acting school in Jaipur when she was just 3 years old. From the beginning, she was a very talkative and expressive kid who could grab things very quickly and as a result, she got many opportunities to work with various national TVCs like Hyundai cars and joy e-bikes among others. Recently Aanya is streaming in a Dettol advertisement and soon her film with Bollywood stars Dimple Kapadia and Angora Khan will be released. Kritesh Agarwal, casting director and Aanya’s acting coach said, “She did very well in her online audition of Doosri Maa, that the production team which was earlier looking for Jaipur-based actors only changed their mind and her performance convinced them to cast her for the character of Nupur Gupta, the younger daughter of Yashoda in ‘Doosri

advika Sharma, 8 years old based in Dausa, Rajasthan, started her acting career in 2019 with ‘Act to Action’ acting school in Jaipur. She used to travel for her training every day. Aadvika has been fortunate enough with highly supportive parents who gave wings to her dreams and let her discover her true passion at an ear

She has done various shoots, and short films under Rising Passion Productions and late ly did PTKK season 12 on ZingTv. The young kid was recently featured in Hero panti 2 and Tata Punch ad vertisements. Aadvika shift ed to Pinkcity for her educa tion from Neerja Modi School and started her ex tensive training under Act to Action school, with Kritesh Agarwal as the mentor who cast her in ‘Doosri Maa’, a daily soup streaming on &TV and production

MITALI

ranay Prashant Malpani, a 13 years old based in Jaipur. He started his acting career in 2019 at ‘Act to Action’ acting school in Jaipur. Since child hood, he has actively participated in all the atric activities at his school, Maheshwari Pub lic School. Coming from a joint family, he has grown up with immense values and traditions and has an understand ing of emotions. All this has helped Pranay in this acting career. His consistent train ing for the past 3.5 years under his mentor Kritesh

Agarwal has also shaped him. He has done a music al bum, various modelling shows, and web series.

Pranay has played a lead role in the short film Chowmein streaming on MX player.

Kritesh Agarwal

The crazy ‘Act to Action’ team

Kritesh Agarwal with the talented children

Act to Action kids during rehearsals

Aanya Galav

Pranay Prashant

Aadvika Sharma

PERSONAL EVOLUTION

Trailer release

Parineeti Chopra and Harrdy Sandhu starrer Code Name: Trianga trailer released on Thursday. The film is action-packed and Parineeti will be seen do ing some intense action scenes as a RAW agent.

When the trailer was released, many celebrities praised her. Her Ishaqzaade co-star Arjun Kapoor appreciated the trailer. He shared it on his Instagram stories.

The actor, who is in Scotland currently, wrote, “@ parineetichopra This looks amazing. Make way for an action-packed dhamaka!: In the film, Parineeti Chopra is playing a RAW agent and is on a fear less mission for the country. Harrdy Sandhu is playing the role of a doctor.

Sharing the trailer on social media, Parineeti wrote, “HERE IT IS! - TRAIL

ER OUT NOW #CodeNameTiranga trailer out now! Releasing in cinemas on 14th October 2022.”

POOJA HEGDE CHANNELS INNER DIVA

Pooja Hegde has success fully estab lished her sta tus as a fashionista with some impres sive dress choices both on and off the screen. Recently, a video of the Radhe Shyam star garner ing eyeballs in a sleeveless green gown has made it to social media. This latest ensemble of the Beast star was for an event in Hy derabad. The star even dropped a few

sneak peeks from the evening on her Instagram account.

Meanwhile, on the work front, Pooja Hegde will be seen sharing screen space with Mahesh Babu in Tri vikram Srini vas' directori al SSMB28. The makers have concluded the first schedule for the much-awaited drama.

NEW PHASE OF MOTHERHOOD

Priyanka Chopra is completely en joying the new phase of moth erhood in her life and her so cial media space is proof of the same. A few mo ments back, Priyan ka took to the story feature on Instagram and shared a new picture with Malti. In the photo, the actress can be seen tak ing her baby daughter on a walk, while she carried her in a stroller. Priyanka looked pretty as she donned a knitted white dress and left her hair open. She wore a pair of white heels to match her outfit. Little Malti can be seen dressed in an adorable white dress as well. Sharing the photo, Priyanka wrote, “Just two girls walkin’

PEPPY NUMBER

Ayushmann Khurrana and Ra kul Preet Singh are gearing up for their next release Doctor G. On Thursday they released a peppy number featuring Ayushmann Khurrana and Rakul Preet Singh’s dance moves.

Sharing the song on his Instagram handle, Ayushmann wrote, “Ab

CPR ki nahi zaroorat! Aapke dil ki dhadkan badhaane #DoctorG has brought to you his special remedy, the #DilDhakDhakKarta Hai song. Song out now! #DoctorGIn Cinemas on 14th Oc tober 2022.”

NAVRATRI

hraddha Kapoor is one of the most popular ac tresses in B’Town. Lately, Shraddha has been sharing sneak peeks of her Navratri celebrations as she drops photos of her in out fits that coordinate with the col our for each day of the festival.

And so, as day three of Navratri is associated with the colour blue, she shared a selfie wearing the same hue.

A few hours back, Shraddha took to her Instagram space and shared a picture on the story feature on the social media platform. The actress shared a boo merang as she clicked a mirror selfie and winked at her reflection.

Sharing the photo, Shraddha wrote, “Navratri Day 3 – Royal Blue Tranquility (medi tation emoji) 9 Ratri9Rang.”

Deepika Padukone

Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone

Her post...

Still from the song...

Parineeti Chopra

Priyanka Chopra

Rakul Preet Singh

Her story...

Shraddha Kapoor

Pooja Hegde

Arjun’s story...

CELEBRATING ROYAL HERITAGE

CITY FIRST

Seasoned makeover ex pert Richa Agarwal along with Harveen Ka thuria revealed the Roy al and exquisite trends in bridal makeovers and added a Patiala punch to the looks on Wednes day. The inspiration for these looks were drawn from the roy al bridal looks of patiala which depicts flamboyance, glittering jewellery and a modernised sense of style which depicts the royal heritage of Patiala. From the beautiful bride and groom outfits, jewellery, accessories, makeup and hairstyles, the trends for upcoming bridal sea sons have undergone a complete overhaul. On the occasion, Ri cha also made forecasts for makeup trends for bridesmaids and working women. For bridal looks, a combination of bold and vibrant hues was picked. And eye makeup remained crea tive and smokey. These makeo vers elaborated on jewellery in pearls and rubies, from broad maangtikka to statement neck pieces and ear jewellery, every thing was opulent and luxuri ous and reflected the styles of Royal Patiala brides. Speaking on the occasion, ace Makeo ver Expert Richa Agarwal stated, with wedding season in full swing this time we thought of going vibrant and elegant at the same time not only for brides but grooms and the entire family and friends

Inner voice retreat

resa Mugica.

CITY FIRST

Ontologist and Re lationship Ex pert Aashmeen Munjaal, found er of Shukrana Grati tude Foundation along with Arvind Munjaal & her Research team in troduced an inner voice retreat, a three days awakening session where a person can un veil their hidden poten tial to understand and listen to the gut on Thursday at Zorba the Buddha, an Oa sis in the urban concrete jungle. Along with sev

eral participants, the session also witnessed the presence of Interna tional attendees, Sabine Dietrich Damm, Sarah Unwin, Ana Perez, Na talia Valencia and Te

MOU signing CEREMONY

CITY FIRST

Talking about the awakening series, Aashmeen stated, “The motive behind this re treat is to get to feel your soul, to under stand that it’s not a voice you hear neces sarily, but a sense or a feeling. The shift starts when you begin to pay attention to the impres sions and your respons es to them. With so many enticing stimuli drawing your atten tion outward, you may have lost touch with your ability to connect in ward.”

Amity School of Fashion, Greater Noi da organised an MOU signing cer emony with Chhanv Foundation in asso ciation with Ashh wika Foundation and WFive Communica tions as an official Media partner to fur ther strengthen the relationship between the two organiza tions on Thursday.

The agreements were signed by Prof. J.S. Jassi, Dean of

Academics, Amity University, Greater Noida, Dr Swarnima Singh, H.O.D. Amity School of Fashion Technology and Alok Dixit, Founder, Chhanv foundation. Dr Ajay Rana, Direc tor General, Amity University Greater Noida graced the event as the Chief Guest.

too. Hence keeping fashion and aesthetic sensibilities in mind we have created these looks. They look bold and vibrant but still are subtle and ele gant. We have added state ment jewellery to enhance the charm of these looks with the amalgamation of con temporary styles. Wedding sea son is popular for several rea

sons and people want to look their best and to achieve that fashion and makeovers play an important role. Be it hairstyle or creative makeup we have amalgamated royalty with con temporary charm and tried to create a balance. A stunning interplay was projected with stunning accessories and flow ers in these looks.

SEEK YE BLESSINGS!

BHEEGI LAKEEREIN

CITY FIRST

Rita Jhunjhunwala's solo show, Bheegi Lakeerein was organised at Living Traditions Centre, Bi kaner House. The coffee table book of ‘Bheegi Lakeerein’ is being published by Om Books International. Abstract in nature, the paintings for this series are mixed media on canvas. Choosing to be honest with every piece of corresponding poetry, Rita did not restrict herself to a particular medium or technique. Bilin gual in nature, with Hindi verses and also their transcreation in English, the book also features a curatorial note by Dr Alka Pande and an in-depth essay by art critic and writer Prayag Shukla.

Ontologist Aashmeen Munjaal

Prayag Shukla Rajiv Memani

Abha Dalmia

Shubhra Singh during the lamp lighting ceremony

Dr Karan Singh and Sudip Roy with a guest

Dr Alka Pande

Shreekant Somany, Anju Modi, Rita Jhunjhunwala, Jawahar Jhunjhunwala and Abha Dalmia

Sunanda Singhania, Rita Jhunjhunwala and Anju Poddar

Ontologist Aashmeen Munjaal with others during the awakening sessions

A grand Ram procession was organised by Luv Khush Ramlila on Thursday in New Delhi. The devotees showered flowers during the procession and took the blessings of Lord Ram. Singer and MP Manoj Tiwari played the powerful role of Kewat. Arjun Kumar, President of Luv Kush Ramlila, informed that Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and BL Verma, Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region graced the event the as chief guests. The procession was carried out to preserve the culture and heritage of Sanatan Dharma.

—PHOTOS BY SHAZID CHAUHAN

—PHOTOS BY SHAZID CHAUHAN

—PHOTOS BY SHAZID CHAUHAN

—PHOTOS BY MANOJ KESHARWANI

12 NEW DELHI | FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2022www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epapers/delhi I twitter.com/thefirstindia facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia CITY BUZZGET VACCINATED STAY MASKED (L-R) Alok Dixit, Ashhwika Soni and Dr Ajay Rana