First India-Mumbai Edition-30th October 2022

statue has been coated with zinc

protect it from rain and sun

is constructed to last 250 years, can withstand wind speed up to 250 kmph

people can come at a time in the hall built near the Shiva statue

tallest Shiva idol has lifts, stairs, and a huge hall for the devotees

venue around the statue will host activities like bungee jumping, more

food court, adventure park, and a jungle cafe for tourists is also built here

was laid in August

READ Crucial

CM SHINDE TO STEP IN BETWEEN RANA & KADU?

Mumbai: CM Shinde will meet Independent MLA Ravi Rana today over the latter’s ongoing tussle with PJP MLA Bacchu Kadu. Those familiar with the development say the CM will likely try to convince pacify Rana to end the feud. P2

NCB FILES 200-PAGE CHARGESHEET AGAINST BHARTI, HER HUSBAND

Mumbai: Mumbai NCB has said that they have filed a 200-page chargesheet against comedian Bharti Singh and her husband Haarsh Limbachiyaa. They were held in 2020 in connection with drugs case, are currently out on bail.

59 KILLED, OVER 150 INJURED AFTER STAMPEDE IN KOREA

Seoul: Over 55 people died from cardiac arrest and over 150 others were injured after a huge crowd poured into a central district of the South Korean capital for festivities late on Saturday in a narrow alley near Hamilton Hotel here.

KANGANA DROPS A BIGGEST HINT ON HER ENTRY INTO POLITICS

New Delhi: ‘I would be grateful if I get a chance to serve the people of HP’ said actress Kangana Ranaut. On question if she would like to serve country if given a chance, Ranaut stressed that she is ‘open to all kinds of such participation.’

MUSK TO PROVIDE CHOICE IN DIFFERENT VERSIONS OF TWITTER

New Delhi: Twitter users could in future choose a version of SM platform they like by providing ratings on tweets. Being able to select which version you want is better, much as it would be for a movie maturity rating,” Elon Musk said on Saturday.

TALKING TERROR!

UN counter-terrorism council adopted the Delhi Declaration and called on all 15 member States to ensure zero tolerance towards terrorism

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jais hankar, on Saturday, at the Special Meeting of the Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) un derlined that the inter net and social platforms have become potent in struments in the toolkit of terrorists.

Characterising ter rorism as one of gravest threats to humanity, he said," The UN Security Council, in the past 2 decades, has evolved an important architecture, built primarily around the counter-terrorism sanctions regime, to combat this menace. And this has been effec tive in putting those countries on notice that

The entire international community must work together to “starve” terrorists of finance and emerging technologies to stop destruction around the world.

—James Cleverly, British Foreign Secretary

had turned terrorism into a State-funded en terprise," said Jais

TERROR GROUPS ABUSING NEW TECHNOLOGIES TO BE DEALT GLOBALLY: UN CHIEF

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday called for concerted global efforts to deal with the challenge of the use of new technologies by various terror groups to radicalise people and foment discord in societies.

hankar adding terror ism as " gravest threats" to humanity. More on P5

Jaishankar SPEAKS

Terrorists use technolo gies like virtual private network, encrypted message services and money, and importantly, ethos of open societies, to attack freedom, toler ance and progress India will contribute USD 500,000 to United Nations Trust Fund for Counter Terrorism this year to aid capacitybuilding support to member states in combating terrorism

by Raj CM Ashok Gehlot & Morari Bapu

India among developed countries by 2047: Modi

Gujarat targets to fill 35,000 posts in one year

First India Bureau

New Delhi: PM Naren dra Modi on Saturday addressed the Gujarat Rozgar Mela via video message. Modi compli mented the Gujarat CM and his team for this quick response. He in formed that in recent times 10,000 youngsters were given appointment letters in Gujarat and target of filling 35,000 posts in next one year has been set. Modi said this type of Rozgar Mel as will continue to be organised at national and state levels in com ing months. Whereas, Centre is working on providing 10 lakh jobs, States and UTs are also getting associated in the campaign, number will rise significantly. Under

‘MVA govt worked well with Centre’

Aaditya Thackeray slams Maha CM for loss of TataAirbus project

First India Bureau

Mumbai: Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thack eray on Saturday slammed the Eknath Shinde-led government over the loss of the Rs22,000-crore project Tata-Airbus project and claimed that the Maha

Vikas Aghadi (MVA) had “worked perfectly well” with the Centre.

Addressing a press conference, Aaditya, whose father Uddhav Thackeray leads a fac tion of the Shiv Sena, criticized Chief Minis ter Eknath Shinde and stated that Maharash tra was going back wards because of his “betrayal” and “demon ic ambition”.

“When we talk about the double engine gov ernment during the time of the MVA gov

ernment, our double engine with the Centre worked perfectly well,” the former state minis ter said, adding, “After

GAUNTLET THROWN DOWN

State Agriculture Minister Abdul Sattar once again targeted Aaditya Thackeray, while challenging him to let the people decide their fate in a “pitched battle”. Sharing data on decisions taken by the state government, in Nandurbar on Saturday, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said the former Maha Vikas Aghadi government had done nothing. At the same event, Sattar said: “Pappu Number Two (a jibe at Aaditya) said that after two years I will know who is what. Fight against me in Silo and it will be known who Abdul Sattar is. Mumbai too will know what you are. We are a total of 50 MLAs. Shiv Sena has 40 MLAs and 10 Independents. CM Shinde did not take us to Surat, so 50 of us requested him. We told them that if Shiv Sena has to survive, you have to take two steps forward.”

this unconstitutional government came to power, one engine has failed and investments that were to come to

Maharashtra are going to other states,” Aadi tya said. He further said that Subhash Desai, Turn to P6

lining critical role of young people in India’s march to developed na

tion status by 2047, PM asked them to fulfil their duty towards the nation.

‘State will get bigticket investments’

Nandurbar (PTI): Amid the blamegame between the government and Opposition over the `loss’ of Tata consortium-Airbus project, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Saturday said the state will get major investments in the coming days. The opposition has been targeting the Shinde government after a Tata-led consortium and Airbus chose Vadodara in Gujarat for its military aircraft project. Earlier, Vedanta-Foxconn had chosen Gujarat over Maharashtra for its semiconductor plant. “In the coming days, the state will get major industries,” chief minister Shinde said at a function here. “There has been a discussion going on about the industries in the state and our industries minister is speaking on this issue. I don’t want to comment on it. (But) The government will not fall short in generating employment for the youth,” Shinde added.

CM Eknath Shinde

Aaditya Thackeray

Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, Morari Bapu, Swami Chidanand Saraswati, Baba Ramdev, Dr CP Joshi, Shanti Dhariwal, Gulab Chand Kataria, Diya Kumari, Rajendra Rathore, Dr Raghu Sharma, Rajendra Kumar Yadav, Brij Kishore Sharma and others during the inauguration ceremony of the world’s largest Shiva statue ‘Vishwas Swaroopam’ at Nathdwara in Rajasthan on Saturday.

Moni Sharma

EAM Dr S Jaishankar with UK Foreign Secy James Cleverly including other delegates during special meeting of CTC, in Delhi on Saturday.

JAISHANKAR AT THE TOP UN MEET IN DELHI

DCW CHIEF WRITES TO PM MODI SEEKING CHANGES IN REMISSION, PAROLE RULES Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking changes in remission and parole rules in context with the parole given to rape convict Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and the release of the rapists of Bilkis Bano.

PM Narendra Modi addresses Gujarat Rozgar Mela via VC on Saturday.

Vir Yodha Sanghatana demands boycott of American products

The organization held a protest rally at Azad Maidan in Mumbai on Saturday

First India Bureau

Mumbai: Vir Yodha Sanghatana organ ized a protest at Azad Maidan in Mumbai on Saturday demand ing a ban on the US products from enter ing the Indian market

The sanghatana criti cized US President Joe Bidens decision to grant Pakistan Rs3,651 crore in financial aid on Sep tember 08, 2022 for F-16

CRUCIAL READ

RECRUITMENT AD PROCESS PUT ON INDEFINITE HOLD

Mumbai: The process to publish advertise ments for a Maharash tra police constabulary recruitment drive to fill vacant posts was postponed until further orders on Saturday for administrative reasons, an official said. The or der, was issued during the day by Director Gen eral of Police (Training and Special Squads), could delay the recruit ment drive by a few days. The advertisement was scheduled to be published on Tuesday.

fighter jets, claiming it promotes terrorism.

According to Shri kant Ranjankar, Maha rashtra State Head of Veer Yoddha Sangath an, in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the sanghatana has expressed its strong anger about the US’s role in sponsoring ter rorism and demanded a ban on American goods.

Ranjankar claimed that the terrorist at

tacks of 9/11 and 26/11 had established a direct connection between Pa kistan and terrorism across the globe. Also,

Pakistan had used F16 aircraft to carry out air strikes on Balaghat. In such a situation, we feel that the US is directly

fueling terrorism by providing financial support for fighter jets like the F16.

He further added,

Group has written to PM Modi, expressing its displeasure on the US’s role in sponsoring terrorism by providing financial aid to Pakistan

Western countries have a history of creating tensions among nations in order to benefit themselves. It is repre

Gadkari pitches Tata Group for investments in Nagpur

Union Minster says there are over 3,000 acres of land in the MIHAN SEZ and non-SEZ area and a lot of firms have set up base in the area

hensible that America conducts business in this manner in order to sell its own armaments.

If America uses the same money earned from India to support a country like Pakistan, which feeds terrorism, it is an insult to the sol diers guard our territo rial borders and even attain martyrdom in the line of duty.

Considering such incidents and the sen timents of all Indians, we have requested Prime Minister Nar endra Modi to ban all the goods that are be ing sold in the market

in America. Also, we, as an Indian and a Hindu nation, con demn the stance taken by the US towards Pa kistan for selfish rea sons. Hence, we have demanded to boycott American goods.

Earlier, India’s For eign Minister S Jais hankar and Defense Minister Rajnath Sin gh have strongly ob jected to the US-Paki stan deal. The US As sistant Secretary of Defense Eli Reitner says that the aid to Pa kistan is for the benefit of the US. It has noth ing to do with India.

Will lock house, shop if found in my name: Pednekar

“All Tata Group com panies like Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Con sumer Products, Voltas, Titan Industries, Big Basket may enjoy the strengths of Nagpur like overnight connec tivity with 350 districts of six states, lower rates of land, manpower and warehousing,” the min ister said in the letter.

Mumbai: A constable of the Oshiwara police rescued a 40-year-old woman, who allegedly jumped into a “nullah” (major drain) in the Lokhandwala area in the early hours of Saturday due to domestic issues, an official said. “After getting her out of water, she was given first aid. She told us she took the step due to some issues at home. She is a resident of Andheri’s New MHADA Colony. She was counselled and allowed to go home,” he said.

WOMAN JUMPS INTO ‘NULLAH’, RESCUED BY COP 4-YEAR-OLD DIES AS BALCONY COLLAPSES

Mumbai: Pranav Ashok Mane (4) died when a portion of a second-floor balcony collapsed suddenly in the Trombay area here on Saturday evening, a civic official said. The in cident at Cheetah Camp, occurred around 6.45 pm, he said. The injured were rushed to the nearby Shatabdi hospital where doctors declared Mane “brought dead”. An eight-year-old boy and a 45-year-old man were undergoing treat ment and are stable.

First India Bureau

Mumbai: In an at tempt to attract invest ments from the Tata Group in and around Nagpur, Union Minis ter Nitin Gadkari has cited strengths such as infrastructure, land availability and con nectivity about his home city.

In a letter to Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran, dated October 07, Gadkari— who handles the road transport and highways portfolio—said group

All Tata Group firms in cluding Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Consumer Products, Voltas and Big Bas ket may enjoy Nag pur’s strengths like overnight connec tivity with 350 dis tricts of six states, lower rates of land, manpower and warehousing.

companies engaged in businesses such as steel, auto, consumer products, IT services and aviation can choose to invest in Nagpur.

The letter shared with the media on Saturday comes amid Maharash tra losing several bigticket projects to neigh bouring Gujarat, like the over Rs1.5 lakh crore investment from Fox

conn-Vedanta on chip manufacturing and the Rs22,000 crore aircraft manufacturing project where the Tata Group has tied up with Airbus.

At a recent event, Chandrasekaran had said the Tata Group is exploring investments in electronics, renewa ble energy, electric vehi cles and other modern sectors, and is engaged

with the newly-formed state government under Chief Minister Eknath Shinde for the same.

In the letter, Gadkari said there are over 3,000 acres of land in the Multi-modal interna tional Hub Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN) SEZ and non-SEZ area, and added that already a lot of companies have set base in the vicinity.

Underlining that the group companies have already been present in Nagpur for over a cen tury, Gadkari told Chan drasekaran that the Tata Group’s airline ventures Air India, Vistara and AirAsia In dia can cut costs by making Nagpur a hub of their operations and choosing to park air craft at night.

He said that the group can also look at entering container manufacturing, saying supply from Tata Steel is possible in the re gion, which augurs well for the business.

Shinde calls on Rana to end ‘feud’ with Kadu!

Sandeep Shukla

Mumbai: In what could be a major po litical development, highly placed sources in the state govern ment re vealed on Sat urday that Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has called In dependent legislator Ravi Rana to meet him on Sunday over the

latter’s ongoing tussle with Prahar Janshak ti Party MLA Bacchu Kadu.

Those familiar with the development say CM Shinde is likely to at tempt to paci fy Rana in a bid to con vince him to end the standoff with Kadu who, incidentally, sup ports the current Maha rashtra government.

The worry is that the

next few days could be difficult, they say, add ing that the dispute be tween Rana and Kadu could even destabilize the state government in

Maharashtra.

Rana had alleged that Bacchu Kadu had ac cepted a bribe from the Shinde camp to switch sides from the Uddhav

FOR POLITICAL MILEAGE

government and also to end farmer's agitation.

In response, Kadu threatened to “take a de cision” along with eight other MLAs unless CM Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis counter Rana’s allega tions or Rana gives evi dence.

Kadu had given the leaders time till Novem ber 01 and Saturday’s development is being seen to be in connection with the ultimatum.

First India Bureau

Mumbai: The Mum bai Police has inter rogated former Mayor and Shiv Sena (Thackeray faction) leader Kishori Pednekar in connection with the Slum Rehabiliation Authority (SRA) scam case, which in volves the com plaint of at least nine people alleging ‘no flats in exchange of their money’.

“A total of nine people had filed a complaint that mon ey was taken in the name of getting SRA flats, but did not re ceive them,” the Mumbai Police said adding that Dadar Police have arrested a close aide of for mer Mayor Kishori Pednekar.

According to the police, Pednekar has not been named in the FIR so far.

BJP leader Kirit Somaiya has alleged former Mumbai Mayor of possessing six SRA flats at Gomata Janata SRA Worli, reacting to which she said that she would put a lock on its door if she

I do not have any role in this case, but Somaiya continues to make false allegations. The media can speak to the chair man and security of this society and if any shop or resi dence is in my name, I will put a lock at it.

—Kishori Pednekar, Former Mayor of Mumbai

found any shop or the residence in her name.

“The SRA has al ready said that I do not have any role in this case, still Kirit Somaiya continues to make false allega tions. The media can speak to the chair man and security of this society and if any shop or resi dence is claimed to be in my name, I will put a lock at it,” Ped nekar said.

She further gave an ultimatum of sev en days to conduct the inquiry and said that she lives here in this society on rent.

Uddhav group rakes up Belgaum issue as SC hearing nears!

Kolhapur unit chief Vijaya

First India Bureau

Mumbai: Battered by the split in the party and the subsequent loss of power, the Ud dhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena seems to have devised a strat egy to corner the Shinde-Fadnavis gov

ernment—by raking up old issues.

One such, highly pas sionate, issue for Ma harashtrians is the bor der dispute between Karnataka and Maha rashtra. Notably, late Bal Thackeray too had raised the demand and protested for bringing

Belgaum into Maha rashtra—an issue that his son’s supporters have now resurrected in order to gain politi cal mileage and cause trouble for the Maha rashtra government.

With the Supreme Court set to hear the matter on November 23, the Shiva Sena - Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray has declared November 01 as a “black day”.

On Saturday, the Shiv Sena’s Kolhapur unit chief Vijaya Dhawale said that Shiv Sainiks will take out a rally from Kolhapur October

31. They plan to cross into Karnataka via the Kagal check post to reach Belgaum through Shinnoli Marg. There after, the Sena will ob serve Black Day in Bel gaum on November 01, when the Karnataka government organizes its annual Rajyotsava programme to mark the state’s formation.

The boundaries of Belgaum city, Khan apur, Nippani, Nandgad and Karwar have been

at the heart of a dispute between Maharashtra and Karnataka for more than 50 years. During the reorganization of the states in 1956, some Maharashtrian leaders had that the Marathispeaking Belgavi dis trict be included as part of Maharashtra. Later, when the issue escalat ed, the Central govern ment constituted a com mission under the lead ership of former Chief Justice Mehr Chand

Mahajan in 1966. After reviewing Maharash tra’s claims, the com mission recommended the exchange of several villages in Belagavi dis trict between the two states, but rejected Ma harashtra’s claim on Belgaum city.

The spotlight re turned to the issue in 2006, when the Maha rashtra government filed a petition claiming Belgaum city in the Su preme Court.

The West has a history of creating tensions between nations to benefit from it, protesters say.

Dhawale declares November 01 a ‘black day’ in border town

—Nitin Gadkari, Union Min

Bacchu Kadu

Ravi Rana

Uddhav Thackeray

ANOTHER BABY GIRL RESCUED FROM KIDNAPPER IN MUMBAI

Third accused arrested in abduction case, police find sixweek-old infant in his possession

Mumbai: The Mumbai police have arrested a third person in con nection with the kid napping of a twomonth-old girl earlier this week, and res cued another infant from his possession in Sion area of central Mumbai, an official said on Saturday.

A team from the Azad Maidan police station on Friday arrested San tosh Dhumale (30) from Dharavi area, the offi cial said.

The police had on Wednesday rescued a two-month-old girl, who was allegedly kid napped from the pave ment outside St Xavier’s High School at Lokman

ya Tilak Marg in south Mumbai, and arrested a couple for the offence on Wednesday. The rescued 71-day-old infant was handed over to her mother by Mumbai Po lice Commissioner Vivek Phansalkar after a press conference, in which he said eight teams of police person nel had been formed to find her.

“We suspect that the accused was not oper ating alone and as per our prima facie inves tigation, he had ab ducted the child to sell her,” Phansalkar had said at the time, adding that the cops were in vestigating whether the accused couple was involved in other simi lar crimes.

Dhumale’s name

Labourer attacked over ‘donation’, man arrested

First India Bureau

Pune: A career criminal from Mum bai was arrested in Pune days after he attacked a man with a surgical blade for refusing to cough up a “donation” for the Ganesh festival, which was celebrat ed about two months ago, an official said on Saturday.

The accused, a resi dent of suburban Go vandi in the eastern part of Mumbai, was arrested on Wednes day from Pune’s Dha nori area for the at tack, he said.

The accused, against whom several criminal cases were registered in the past, had attacked the vic tim, a 40-year-old la bourer, with a surgi cal blade when the latter was sitting with his colleagues at a construction site.

Ahead of the 10-day

Ganesh festival, which was celebrated from August 31 this year, the accused had demanded that the victim give him mon ey as a donation. However, he refused. The accused did not do anything at that time, but held a grudge and attacked the labourer a few days ago before going on the lam. The Go vandi police had reg

Accused did not do anything when the victim refused to pay him money ahead of Ganesh festival, but held a grudge and attacked him a few days ago

istered a case of at tempted murder against the accused.

cropped up during the couple’s interrogation and a manhunt was launched for Dhumale soon after. Dhumale was apprehended and another baby girl was rescued from his pos session, an official said.

Investigations have revealed that Dhumale had offered the ac cused couple Rs60,000 to abduct the child,

NEWBORN BABY GIRL FOUND

ABANDONED

Mumbai: Samta Nagar police are look ing for the parents of a newborn girl who allegedly fled after abandoning her near the lift of a building in Kandivli (East) on Thursday. Concerned local residents called the police on hearing her crying. She was then taken to the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar hospital, where she is receiving treatment.

“We have registered a case of exposure and child abandon ment under the Indian Penal Code and are checking CCTV foot age in the area where she was found,” said a police official.

adding that the investi gation is ongoing.

Dhumale previously worked as a paramedic at a civic hospital in central Mumbai, he said.

Protest against Nagpur bench ruling on feeding stray dogs

DIWALI RESCUES

Mumbai: Animal lovers in the city will come together at Shivaji Park in protest of the recent order by the Nagpur bench of the Bom bay High Court on the matter of feed ing stray dogs.

The Nagpur bench, on October 20, had di rected citizens to not feed stray dogs at any place except at animal activists’ own homes after formally adopt ing them. Anyone found violating this directive would be fined, the court said.

Animal lovers will gather at the popular

36 cases of XBB subvariant of Omicron found in state

First India Bureau

Mumbai: The number of cases of XBB sub variant of Omicron in Maharashtra has reached 36, the health department said in a release on Saturday, adding that in most of these cases pa tients recovered in home isolation.

Pune district has re ported 21 XBB cases to date, followed by 10 in Thane, two in Nagpur and one each in Akola, Amravati and Raigad.

Two of the XBB pa tients were in the 11-20 age group, 13 in the 21-40 segment, 14 in the 41-60 category and seven were over 60. The patients comprised 22 males and 14 females.

“Nine of the 36 pa tients had some symp toms, while others dis played mild symptoms or were asymptomatic. A total of 32 patients recov ered in home isolation and the rest four had to be hospitalized as a pre

STATE GOVT TASK FORCE RAISES

CONCERNS OVER ‘LONG COVID’

Mumbai: The experts on the state government’s COVID-19 Task Force have expressed concern about rising cases of ‘Long COVID' at a recent meeting. “Incidence of conditions such as diabetes, brain fog and heart diseases seem to be increasing. Therefore, monitoring and follow-up of COVID-re covered patients is necessary,” a health department release said. The experts instructed that it would be beneficial to wear masks in hospitals and clinics by health workers and others.

cautionary measure or due to lack of necessary conditions for home iso lation,” the release said.

NOT A CRIME

Thirty-four of the 36 had been vaccinated, and five had taken the booster dose as well.

Mumbai: The forest department rescued more than 50 animals, birds and reptiles in coordina tion with NGO Resqink Association for Wildlife Welfare during the Diwali festivities in Mumbai and Thane district, an official said on Saturday, adding that authorities responded to more than 110 distress calls over five days. Monkeys, squirrels, bats, parakeets, kites, ibis cuckoos, owls, monitor lizards, snakes and turtles were among the rescues, and many of these had to undergo emergency surgeries due to the nature of their injuries, the official said.

maidan for a peaceful protest, for which they have obtained police permission as well.

Gauri Maulekhi, a trustee with People For Animals, explained the purpose of the gather ing: “Sunday’s protest will be peaceful but we

are also planning our legal strategy. People are outraged by this order because the court, which should act as a guardian for the most defenceless sections of society, is doing the complete op posite thing.”

Attempted murder charge added to case against film producer

First India Bureau

Mumbai: Film pro ducer Kamal Kishor Mishra was charged with attempted mur der for allegedly ram ming his car into his wife after she found him with another woman in the vehicle, a police official said on Saturday.

Mishra, who was ar rested in the early hours of Friday for supposedly running over his wife, was remanded to police custody till Sunday.

Based on the com plaint lodged by his wife, a first information report was registered at the Amboli police sta tion on Wednesday against Mishra under Indian Penal Code (IPC)

sections of rash driving and causing hurt by en dangerment.

“On Friday, IPC sec tion 307 (attempt to mur der) was added in the FIR,” the official said.

The alleged incident took place on October 19 in the parking lot of the couple’s apartment in Andheri (West), po lice said.

As per the wife’s com plaint, she came out looking for her husband and found him with an other woman in his car in the parking area. When the film produc er’s wife went to con front him, Mishra drove the car to escape from the spot and in the pro cess hit his wife, causing injuries to her legs, hands and head, it said.

Ok to shoot video inside police stations, Bombay High Court clarifies

lll

The Nagpur bench noted that police stations are not specifically mentioned as prohibited places in the Act, and so videography there cannot be an offence

First India Bureau

Mumbai: The Bom bay High Court’s Nag pur bench has ob served that a police station is not includ ed as a prohibited place as defined un der the Official Se crets Act (OSA), hence shooting a video in side a police station cannot be an offence.

A division bench, comprising of Justices Manish Pitale and Val miki Menezes, in July this year quashed a case lodged against one Ravindra Upadyay

under the OSA for re cording a video inside a police station in March 2018.

The bench in its or der referred to section 3 and section 2(8) of the OSA pertaining to

spying at prohibited places and noted that a police station is not specifically mentioned as a prohibited place in the Act.

“The definition of ‘prohibited place’ as de

fined in section 2(8) of the Official Secrets Act is relevant. It is an ex haustive definition, which does not specifi cally include police sta tions among the places or establishments,

The definition of ‘prohibited place’ as defined in section 2(8) of the Of ficial Secrets Act is relevant. It is an exhaustive definition, which does not spe cifically include police stations among the places or establishments, which could be included in the definition ‘prohibited place.

which could be includ ed in the definition ‘prohibited place’,” the court said.

Considering the aforesaid provisions, this court is of the opinion that none of

—Bombay High Court

the ingredients of the alleged offence are made out against the applicant, it added.

According to the complaint, Upadyay was at Wardha police station with his wife in

connection with a dis pute he had with his neighbour.

While Upadhyay had lodged a complaint against the neighbour, a cross complaint was being filed against Upadhyay as well.

The police at the time realized that Upadyay was record ing a video of the dis cussion taking place in the police station on his mobile phone.

The court quashed the FIR and subse quent chargesheet filed against Upadhyay in the case.

First India Bureau

Mumbai police chief Phansalkar handed the 2-month-old infant who was rescued on Wednesday to her mother. —FILE PHOTO

First India Bureau

The Nagpur bench recently directed people to not feed stray dogs anywhere but their own homes after formally adopting them. —FILE PHOTO

The 10-day Ganesh festival, celebrated from August 31, precipitated the incident. —FILE PHOTO

GANDHI: THE POWER OF TRUTH AND NONVIOLENCE

AZAM KHAN OF SP LOSES HOUSE MEMBERSHIP IN JOLT TO THE SP

We may foam, we may fret, we may resent, but let us not forget that the India of today in her impatience had produced an army of anarchists. I am myself an anarchist, but of another type…. Their anarchism… is a sign of fear. If we trust and fear God, we shall have to fear no one, not Maharajas, not Viceroys, not the detectives, not even King George”

Mohandas Karamchand Gan dhi, after 21 years in South Africa finally returned to In dia for good in January 1915. He kept away from active poli tics action for the next four years. But he travelled all over India speaking on Truth, Saty agraha and Social reform.

On 4th February 1916 he made a sensational speech at Benares. Below I give the abridged version. In 1892, Mrs Besant started a school at Benares, and in 1916 this in stitution, guided by Pandit Malaviya, was expanded into the Hindu University Central College. An illustrious gath ering of notable attended the three-day opening ceremo nies in February 1916. The Viceroy was there and so were numerous bejewelled maharajas, maharanis, rajas and high officials in all their dazzling panoply.

On February 4th Gandhi (not yet Mahatma) addressed the meeting. India had never heard such a forthright speech. Gandhi spared no one. “His Highness, the Maharaja, who presided yesterday over our deliberations spoke about the poverty of India. Other speakers laid great stress upon it. But what did we wit

WILL ELON MUSK WALK THE TALK

ness in the great pandal in which the foundation ceremo ny was performed by the Vice roy (Lord Hardinge)? Certain ly a most gorgeous show, an exhibition of jewellery which made a splendid feast for the eyes of the greatest jeweller who chose to come from Paris.

I compare with the richly be decked noblemen the millions of the poor. And I feel like say ing to those noblemen: ‘there is no salvation for India unless you strip yourselves of this jewellery and hold it in trust for your countrymen in India.

Whenever I hear of a great palace rising in any great city of India’, he went on, ‘be it in British India or be it the India ruled by our great chiefs, I be come jealous at once and say, “Oh, it is the money that has come from the agricultur ists”……There cannot be much spirit of self-govern ment about us, if we take away or allow others to take away from peasants almost the whole of the results of their labour. Our salvation can only come through the farmer. Nei ther the lawyers, nor the doc tors, nor the rich landlords are going to secure it.

It is matter of deep humili ation and shame for us, that I am compelled this evening under the shadow of this great college, and in this sa cred city, to address my coun trymen in a language that is foreign to me.

Suppose, that we had been receiving education during the past fifty years through

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, after 21 years in South Africa finally returned to India for good in January 1915 He kept away from active politics action for the next four years. But he travelled all over India speaking on Truth, Satyagraha and Social reform

our vernaculars, what should we be today? We should have today a free India, we should have our educated man not as if they were foreigners in their own land, but speaking to the heart of the nation; they would be working amongst the poorest of the poor, and whatsoever they would have gained during the past fifty years would be a heritage of the nation.

No amount of speeches will ever make us fit for self-gov ernment. It is only our con duct that will fit us for it. And how are we trying to govern ourselves?.... if you find me this evening speaking without reserve, pray consider that you are only sharing the thoughts of a man who allows himself to think audibly, and if you think that I seem to transgress the limits that courtesy imposes upon me, pardon me for the liberty I

may be taking. … I speak feel ingly as a Hindu. Is it right that the lanes of our sacred temple should be as dirty as they are? The houses round about are built anyhow. The lanes are narrow and tortu ous. If even our temples are not models of roominess and cleanliness what can our selfgovernment be? Shall our temples be abodes of holiness, cleanliness and peace as soon as the British have retired from India….?

All of us have had many anxious moments while the Viceroy was going through the streets of Benaras. There were detectives stationed in many places. This was not to be talked about in public. We were horrified, we asked our selves, ‘Why this distrust? Is it not better that even Lord Hardinge should die than live a living death? But a repre sentative of the mighty Sover eign may not. He might find it necessary even to live a living death. But why was it neces sary to impose these detec tives on us? We may foam, we may fret, we may resent, but let us not forget that the India of today in her impatience had produced an army of an archists. I am myself an anar chist, but of another type…. Their anarchism… is a sign of fear. If we trust and fear God, we shall have to fear no one, not Maharajas, not Viceroys, not the detectives, not even King George.”

ohammed Azam Khan, a senior Sama jwadi Party leader and MLA from Ram pur, has become the first high-profile politician to have been convicted for hate speech and disqualified from the membership of Uttar Pradesh Assembly. Azam was disquali fied from membership as the MP/MLA court sentenced him to three years in jail. A two-year sentence would have come as a reprieve. In November 2021 BJP MLA from Aydhya’s Gosaiganj, Indra Pratap alias Khabbu Ti wari, was disqualified after the court sentenced him for five years in a fake mark-sheet case. Hate speech remains unde fined under the Indian Penal Code. Section 153 A IPC deals with cases pertaining to promo tion of enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence and language. According to a report by the National Crime Records Bureau, there was a 500 percent increase in cases under 153A IPC between 2014 and 2020 but conviction rate remained extremely low. For convictions the judiciary has to play an un biased role.

SPIRITUAL SPEAK

The world is afflicted by death and decay. But the wise do not grieve, having realized the nature of the world. Buddha

The government an nounced tighten ing controls on so cial media the day Elon Musk said that the “Bird is freed“. In In dia Twitter will only enjoy the freedom which it is allowed by the Government of India. In what can be described as a nasty welcome the govern ment empowered itself with tough measures like ordering social media giants like Twit ter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube to overturn their de cisions. So if a user account is suspended, blocked or re moved by these companies the government now has the pow er to reverse these decisions.

Content moderation will no longer be their right.

Questions may be raised about freedom of expression

In India, Twitter will only enjoy the freedom which it is allowed by the Govt of India. In what can be described as a nasty welcome, the government empowered itself with tough measures like ordering social media giants like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube to overturn their decisions

as the new IT rules want the intermediaries (the social me dia companies) to ensure that “users do not post or share any information which does not belong to them”. That sim ply means a message or post

can no longer be forwarded. The rule will put Musk in di rect confrontation with the government unless he is ready to beat a retreat on making Twitter “a freewheeling place for all types of commentary”.

The government has said in no uncertain terms that Musk will have to fall in line. Having bought the ‘bird’ in a $44 bil lion deal Musk will not risk losing the huge Indian market even though users may be dis appointed. The first indica tion of a compromise came when Musk said that Twitter will form “a content modera tion council” which will take key decisions on content mod eration. That may not satisfy the government which wants absolute control as opposed to free speech absolutism of Musk.

Kiren Rijiju

@KirenRijiju

l

l

and published by Anita Hada Sangwan on behalf of First Express Publishers. Printed at Dangat Media Pvt Ltd, No.22, Dighe MIDC, Vishnu Nagar, TTC Industrial Area, Dighe, Navi Mumbai-400701. Published at Plot No. 3 Scheme C of Manglorean Garden Home, CHS Limited, Survey No. 5, 6C (Part) Ville Parle East, Mumbai 400057. Phone 022-46031417.

Editor-In-Chief: Dr Jagdeesh Chandra Editor: Anita Hada Sangwan responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act

Narendra Modi

@narendramodi

Was happy to speak with HH Amir @ TamimBinHamad of Qatar. Thanked him for his gracious Diwali greetings, and conveyed best wishes for a successful @FIFAWorldCup in Qatar. We agreed to jointly celebrate 50 yrs of India-Qatar diplomatic relations in 2023.

Coming together of Judiciary & Govt at Kaziranga to deliberate on critical issues, “Environment & Sustainable Development- Role of Judiciary” and “Digitization of Indian Judiciary”, will provide solution and make India fully developed by 2047, as visualized by @ narendramodi Ji.

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL

K NATWAR SINGH

The author is Former Minister of External Affairs of India

Terrorism biggest threat to humanity’

New Delhi (PTI): The counter-terror sanction regime of the United Nations has been effec tive to put countries on notice that turned ter rorism into a state-fund ed enterprise, External Affairs Minister S Jais hankar said on Satur day, in an apparent ref erence to Pakistan.

In an address at the meeting of the UN Se curity Council CounterTerrorism Committee in Delhi, Jaishankar described terrorism as “one of the gravest threats” to humanity.

He said despite ef forts by the UN, the threat of terrorism is only growing and ex panding, particularly in Asia and Africa.

“The UNSC, in past two decades, has evolved an important architecture, built pri marily around the counter-terrorism sanc tions regime, to combat this menace,” he said.

“This has been very effective in putting those countries on no tice that had turned ter

REMOVE ILLEGAL CONTENT ASAP: IT MINISTER

New Delhi (PTI): IT Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Saturday said while social media norms require platforms to remove illegal content within 72 hours of being flagged, he feels the timelines are “too long” and platforms should takedown such content “as fast as possible”.

rorism into a statefunded enterprise,” Jaishankar said.

“Despite this, the threat of terrorism is only growing and ex

PLEA SEEKS REPLACING PARTY SYMBOLS ON EVMS WITH CANDIDATE’S DETAILS

New Delhi (ANI): The Supreme Court has decided to hear a plea on October 31 that sought direction to the Election Commission to remove symbols from ballot and EVMs and replace it with ‘name, age, educational quali fication and photograph’ of candidates. The plea sought direction to declare the use of party symbol on EVM as illegal-unconstitutional and violative of Articles 14, 15, and 21 of the Constitution of India. The petition stated that the best solution to weed out corruption and crimi nalisation in politics is to replace the symbols of political party on ballot and EVM with the name, age, educational qualification and photograph of the candidates.

CATTLE SMUGGLING: MONDAL’S JUDICIAL CUSTODY TILL NOV 11

handrasekhar said the IT Ministry had been keen on prescribing a 24-hour timeline for removal of illegal content (as specified under rules) given that “virality and velocity” of misinforma tion tends to be much higher, but then finally settled for 72 hours after wide consultations.

panding, particularly in Asia and Africa, as successive reports of the 1267 Sanctions Com mittee Monitoring Re ports have highlight

ed,” he added. The minister said the ethos of open societies is being used to attack freedom, tolerance and progress.

JAISHANKAR MEETS BRITISH COUNTERPART CLEVERLY

New Delhi (PTI): The Ukraine conflict and the situation in IndoPacific figured promi nently in talks between External Affairs Min ister S Jaishankar and visiting British Foreign Secretary James Clev erly. Cleverly arrived in India on Friday on a two-day visit primarily to attend a special meeting of the UN Security Council

Counter Terrorism Committee. “De lighted to welcome UK Foreign Secretary @ JamesCleverly on his first India visit; shortly after our meeting in New York last month,” Jaishankar tweeted. “Noted the progress in our Roadmap 2030. Also discussed the Ukraine conflict and the Indo-Pacific,” he added.

NIA: TN ‘suicide bomber’ aimed to hit temple, homes

New Delhi (PTI): The apex court has sought response from the Centre on a plea against the age restriction of 35 years on women’s repro ductive rights for conducting pre-conception and pre-natal diagnostic tests. The plea contended the age bar is a restriction on the reproduc tive rights of women. The top court was hearing a plea that contended that the age restriction of 35 years in Section 4(3)(i) of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Na tal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994 is a restriction on the reproductive rights of women.

Asansol (PTI): A special CBI court here on Saturday rejected the bail plea of TMC leader Anubrata Mondal in a cattle smuggling case and extended his judicial custody for 14 days till November 11. Claiming that Mondal was unwell and needed proper treatment, his lawyers had moved the bail plea. Opposing the prayer, the counsel representing CBI said that the TMC Birbhum president was a powerful politician who could try influence the probe. The agency pleaded that the TMC strongman’s custody be extended.

UP FAST TRACK COURT AWARDS LIFE SENTENCE TO MAN FOR KILLING DOCTOR

Mathura (PTI): A fast track court here has sent a man to life imprisonment for killing a lady doctor over four years ago, an official said here on Saturday. Additional District and Sessions Judge Neeru Sharma on Friday also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on Ravindra after convicting him for the murder. “On the evening of July 13, 2018, the accused entered the residence of physiotherapist Khushbu Agrawal and slit her throat when she resisted his loot attempt,” Additional District Government Counsel (ADGC) Subhash Chandra Chaturvedi said.

TIHAR JAIL OFFICIALS IN CHARGE SHEET IN GANGSTER’S DEATH

New Delhi (PTI): A Delhi court has taken cognisance of a charge sheet filed against former deputy su perintendent of Tihar prison Narender Meena and other jail officials in a case related to the death of gangster Ankit Gujjar last year, citing “prima-facie” sufficient material to proceed with the case. Meena is currently in judicial custody along with then ASPs Deepak Dabas and Ram Avtar Meena, Head Warder Dinesh Chika ra, and warders Harphool Meena and Vinod Meena. The accused were charged with Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC.

‘DRIVER CAN’T BE PUNISHED FOR DEATH OF PETITIONER’S PET’

Bengaluru (PTI): The Karnataka High Court has quashed a case pending in a lower court against a car driver who was charged for causing an accident that led to the death of a peti tioner’s pet dog. Prathap Kumar G was driving his SUV in Vijayanagar, Benga luru, on Feb 24, 2018 when his car hit a pet dog named Memphi. Dhiraj Rakheja, whose mother was taking the dog for a walk, filed a complaint. The Vijayanagar police investigating officer conducted the investigation and filed a charge sheet against the petitioner for offences under the various sections.

AAP to declare CM face for Guj Assembly polls on Nov 4

Surat (PTI): Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said that his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will announce on November 4 the name of its CM face for the up coming Gujarat Assem bly elections on the ba sis of opinion given by the people of the state.

Addressing a press conference, AAP’s na tional convener urged people to contact the party through SMS, WhatsApp, voice mail and e-mail to give their

U’khand govt to rename ‘symbols of British slavery’

Dehradun: Uttara khand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami on Satur day confirmed that he has given instructions to all state depart ments to re name all the symbols of British slavery. All the departments have been asked to present a report on such names, he added.

views about who should be the CM candidate from the party.

“Today, I would like to ask the people of Gu jarat as to who they want to see as the next CM of Gujarat. To know

the opinion of the pub lic, we are releasing a number — 6357000 360. You can send SMS, WhatsApp messages, and leave voice mes sages. We are also re leasing e-mail — aap nocm@gmail.com,” Ke jriwal said.

He said people can give their choice in four ways - SMS, WhatsApp, voice mail or e-mail till 5 pm on November 3.

“We will announce the result on November 4,” he said.

Coimbatore: The 29-year-old engineering graduate killed at the wheel of a car that ex ploded in front of a tem ple in Coimbatore last Sunday was possibly a suicide bomber whose relative inexperience in handling explosives spared the locality the damage he might have intended to cause, inves tigators said as the NIA chased more evidence.

A witness told the cops that the car blew up soon after Jameesha Mubin, whom the NIA had interrogated in 2019, stopped in front of the Sangameswara tem

Shah on 2-day visit to Himachal from Nov 1

New Delhi (PTI): BJP leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah will address six rallies in two days in pollbound Himachal Pradesh starting from November 1.

He will also hold closed-door organisa tional meetings during his two-day visit to the hill state, his office said. Shah will stay the in tervening night of No vember 1 and 2 in Shim la and is likely to hold a meeting with the senior leaders of the BJP’s

state unit, sources said. He will hold a rally each in Bhattiyat, Kar sog and Kusumpatti as sembly segments on November 1. The next day, he will hold a rally each in Dhramshala, Nandon and Nalagarh.

UP: 16 PCS officers to be promoted as IAS soon

Ahtesham Siddiqui

Lucknow: The notifi cation of promotion of 16 PCS officers to IAS cadre in Uttar Pradesh will be issued soon.

This includes PCS of ficers of 2000, 2002 and 2004 batches.

The DPC of 23 PCS of ficers in Lucknow was held on October 7 under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary.

The panel of officers from UPSC had come to the DPC.

Sources said that 16

out of 23 PCS officers may get promotion in IAS cadre while the en velope of 7 PCS officers can be closed.

Central government had declared 23 vacan

cies for UPSC’s selec tion in 2021. Prosecu tion proceedings are going on against 4 PCS officers while other ac tion is going on against 3. Ashutosh Mohan Ag

HIMACHAL POLLS

nihotri of 2000-batch posted as Special Secre tary to the Chief Minis ter is at the top among the PCS officers to be promoted in IAS.

Manju Lata, Alka Verma, Santosh Kumar, Sunil Kumar Singh Chi tralekha Singh, Satish Pal, Madan Singh Ga briyal, Vipin Kumar Mishra, Rekha S Chau han, Anil Kumar Singh and Reena Singh are among the other PCS of ficers who would be come IAS officers after promotion.

ple at Kottaimedu at 4am on Diwali-eve. He stepped out of the vehi cle covered in flames before slumping on the ground a few feet away, a source privy to the probe quoted the wit ness as saying. The body was charred before any one in the vicinity, in cluding cops at a nearby checkpoint, could react.

Many houses along the road leading to the shrine could have been affected had the explo sion, caused by one of two LPG cylinders in the car, occurred in the man ner it had been planned, the investigators said.

1 killed, 5 trapped as landslide hits power project site in J-K’s Kishtwar

Jammu (PTI): One per son was killed on Satur day and five are feared trapped after a land slide hit an area where labourers were con structing a link road near a power project site in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district, officials said.

Five people were also injured in the incident that occurred in the Ra tle area, they said.

Labourers were working on the con struction of a link road near the Ratle power project site and a JCB machine was digging when a big boulder rolled down, trapping the workers, Kishtwar Deputy Commissioner Devansh Yadav said.

A rescue operation was launched immedi ately and five people were pulled out from the debris and taken to the hospital. One per son died in the incident, he said.

Five people are still feared trapped under the debris. Army, police and administration are carrying out the rescue operation, Yadav said.

Kejriwal is a symbol of anarchy: Anurag Thakur

Shimla (PTI): Union Minister Anurag Thakur here on Satur day lashed out Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, calling him “a symbol of anarchy”.

The Union minister of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) was responding to a query during his press confer ence regarding Kejri wal’s appeal to incorpo rate images of Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Ganesha on currency notes. “Arvind Kejriwal

who used to oppose (construction of a grand) Ram temple is a symbol of anarchy. He does fake talking. He does new propaganda to divert attention of the people from his fake ness,” Anurag Thakur further said.

The Union minister further asked AAP su premo Kejriwal that will his government also pro vide Rs 18,000 to temple priests, gurudwara granthis and church priests on the pattern of

maulvis in Delhi. Re garding “chargesheet” of Congress against Jai Ram Thakur-led BJP

government in pollbound Himachal Pradesh, Thakur said “Those whose national

leadership is on bail have no moral right to issue “chargesheet” against others.

The Union minister further said that the “double engine gov ernment” has taken all necessary steps for the all-round develop ment of Himachal Pradesh and it is nec essary for the BJP gov ernment to come to power again to carry forward the pace of development.

The Union minister said that the power of double engine govern ment is visible in eve ry sector.

Anurag Thakur addresses media in Shimla, on Saturday.

President Murmu greets representatives during a meeting with Heads of Delegations of the UNSC’s Counter-Terrorism Committee, at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi on Saturday. —PHOTO BY ANI

The blast incident had occurred last Sunday. —FILE PHOTO

PCPNDT: SC NOTICE TO GOI ON AGE BAR ON WOMEN’S RIGHTS

HIMACHAL MODEL

Alka Verma Chitralekha Singh

AAP has proof of ‘operation lotus’ in Delhi, Telangana: Manish Sisodia

Delhi Deputy CM plays an audio clip to support claim

New Delhi (Agencies): Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Siso dia on Saturday played an audio clip of an al leged BJP man purport edly luring a TRS MLA in Telangana and dis cussing the party's bid to poach AAP MLAs in the national capital.

He also showed the photograph of three men in the briefing and al leged that “all three Da lals (brokers) have been caught with Rs 100 crore kept aside for poaching the TRS MLAs.”

Addressing the media, Sisodia alleged, “Today, a huge example has come to the fore of operation lotus, which is being car ried out by the BJP. The

TELANGANA HIGH COURT STAYS PROBE IN TRS MLAS ‘POACHING’ CASE

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Saturday stayed the ongoing investigation into ‘MLAs poaching’ case till further orders. A single judge bench of the court passed the interim orders on a petition by the BJP seeking probe by the CBI into the alleged attempt to buy four MLAs of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) Justice B Vijaysen Reddy asked the state government and other respondents to file the counter by November 4. Petitioner’s counsel Rachna Reddy said the court deferred the investigation temporarily until further orders of the court.

way they buy legislators, they topple the elected governments.. such links have been found in Delhi and Telangana.

MP CM Chouhan lays foundation of 69 CM Rise Schools in Indore

AAP has proof of it.”

On October 27, three men were arrested dur ing raids in Telangana and Rs 100 crore were

Over 50 hurt in cylinder blast during Chhath puja in Bihar

Indore (ANI): MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan laid the foundation stone of 69 CM Rise Schools in Indore on Saturday. He said that CM rise school would bring a social revolu tion. CM Rise School would be better than any private school. He said, “CM rise schools will have proper facilities which include a grand building, proper lab, li brary, smart classrooms, playgrounds, sports equipment and good teaching faculty.”

He raised a slogan “Khelenge Kudenge, Ashman Ko Chhoo Lenge, Padhenge Likhenge, Ashman Ko Chhoo Lenge.” He ap pealed to teachers,

“WILL BRING BACK GODDESS’ IDOL FROM LONDON”

Indore: CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Saturday said the state govt would resume efforts to bring back the idol of goddess Vagdevi (Saras wati) kept in a museum in London. Although demand by Hindu community to bring back Vagdevi's idol to India is old, Chouhan's announcement comes in the wake of Rishi Sunak becoming the first Indi an-origin PM of Britain.

“Teach the students wholeheartedly and prove that Madhya Pradesh’s teachers are no less than a Guru. This is my request to all of you that create history.”

Mahesh Sharma

New Delhi: Mallikar jun Kharge has taken over as Congress Presi dent. On Wednesday, he took the chair in the presence of both Sonia and Rahul Gandhi at party headquarters at 24, Akbar Road, becom ing an important part of the history of the 137-year-old Congress party. Now his name is included among politi cal behemoths like Ma hatma Gandhi, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Sardar Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru are

If it happens, it will not be a very good thing for the Congress

named. However, with him becoming the Pres ident, the discussion has started whether the party will appoint a Vice President or Work ing President to aid the 80-year-old Kharge! Congress has a tradi tion of both. Rahul Gan dhi has worked with Sonia Gandhi as the Vice President. Arjun

Hyderabad (ANI): Con gress leader Rahul Gan dhi surprised everyone with his dancing skills during his Bharat Jodo Yatra in Telangana.

On Saturday, Rahul took to Twitter and shared a video in which he is seen dancing with members of tribal com munities in Telangana.

Rahul wore tribal headgear as he partici pated in “Kommu Koya” ancient art form dance with the tribals in Telangana’s Bhad rachalam. “Our tribals are the repositories of our timeless cultures & diversity. Enjoyed matching steps with the Kommu Koya tribal dancers. Their art ex presses their values, which we must learn from and preserve,” he captioned the clip.

Bharat Jodo Yatra, which began on Sep tember 7 from Kanya kumari, will cover a further distance of 2,355 km in its 3,570-km march. It will end in Kashmir next year. It is the longest march on foot by any Indian poli

Hyderabad: Three accused in the ‘MLAs poaching’ case were re-arrested by the Cyberabad police on Sat urday, hours after the Telangana High Court set aside the lower court’s order rejecting their remand. Ram achandra Bharathi alias Satish Sharma, Kore Nanda Kumar alias Nandu and Simhayaji, allegedly linked to the BJP, were arrested from Nandu’s residence. They were later taken to Cyberabad Police Commissioner ate and from there to Moinabad police station.

MLAS POACHING CASE: CYBERABAD POLICE RE-ARREST ACCUSED LAW WILL TAKE ITS OWN COURSE: KTR

Hyderabad: Minister and TRS working president KT Rama Rao (KTR) alleged that BJP state chief Bandi Sanjay had desecrated Sri Lakshmi Nara simha Swamy Devasthanam and the devotees should clean it. He said BJP is asking for votes by telling the works done by TRS. He said that a chargesheet was filed against the BJP during the previous by-polls.

seized, Sisodia said. “All three men are linked to the BJP. There were attempts to poach four TRS MLAs.

On October 28 (Friday), audio clips surfaced, which further gave de tails of the conspira cy,” Sisodia alleged.

BHARAT JODO YATRA

Aurangabad (Agen cies): At least 50 people, including some police personnel, were in jured after a huge fire broke out in Bihar’s Au rangabad district, caus ing an LPG cylinder blast in the early hours of Saturday.

The incident hap pened in the Shahganj locality of the Aurang abad town around 3.30 AM after a short circuit led to a huge fire at a shop. The mishap took place when a family was preparing “pras ad” for Chhath Puja, sub-inspector incharge of the Town po lice station Vinay Ku mar Singh said.

Fire tenders were im mediately rushed to the spot to douse the flame but the cooking gas cyl inder explosion further fuelled the blaze.

More than seven po lice personnel, includ ing a woman consta ble, suffered burn in

Rahul Gandhi shakes a leg with tribal dancers in Telangana

CONG WANTS PROBE IN ‘CASH GIFTS’ TO JOURNOS ON DIWALI

ON LEAVE FOR CHHATH, TWO BIHAR COPS KILLED AS TRUCK HITS BIKE

Arrah: Two policemen were killed on Saturday after the motorcycle they were riding was knocked down by a truck in Bihar’s Bhojpur district, an officer said. Bhojpur Superintendent of Police Sanjay Singh said that the accident took place on a national highway near Arrah town around 10 AM when the both the policemen were travelling to their homes for Chhath festival. The truck lost control after the accident and overturned. The driver fled the spot by the time a police team reached there, he said.

juries in the firefight ing operations. The owner of the shop, Anil Goswami,

said that the incident took place when his wife was preparing food for Chhath Puja.

CRUCIAL READ

Singh has been the Vice President of the party in the past as well. Ji tendra Prasad has also worked as Vice Presi dent. For some time now, the Congress has started the practice of making several work ing presidents along with the president in the states. However, its advantages or disadvan tages have not been as sessed. Informed sourc es in the Congress stress that Kharge will either be accompanied by one or two vice-presidents or at least two working presidents.

New Delhi (ANI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday extended a congratulatory mes sage to Elon Musk on his Twitter takeover. In a cryptic tweet, Rahul Gandhi showed alleged Twitter followers manipulation data in an image he attached with the congratulatory message directed to Elon Musk. “Congrats @elonmusk. I hope @Twitter will now act against hate speech, fact-check more robustly, and will no longer stifle the opposition’s voice in India due to government pressure,” Gandhi Tweeted. Last year in December, Rahul Gandhi alleged that the number of his followers on the micro-blogging site Twitter was being restricted.

tician in the history of India, the Congress claimed earlier in a statement.

The yatra has already

covered parts of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh, after having been flagged off in Ta mil Nadu.

AFFAIRS OF GRAND OLD PARTY

Will

New Delhi (PTI): Congress on Saturday alleged that Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai tried to bribe jour nalists by sending Rs 1 lakh cash gifts to them on Diwali and demanded the regis tration of a case and his resignation. The Congress demanded a judicial inquiry into what it called “Chief Minister’s Office ‘sweet box bribe’ to journalists”. CMO sources said Bommai has said he was unaware that “cash” was given to journalists. Addressing the media in New Delhi, senior Congress leader Randeep Surjewala said, “The Bom mai govt’s bribegate is now out in the open and this time the responsibility lies at the doorstep of the chief minister himself.” “This time, Mr Bommai has sur reptitiously, overtly and in a conspiratorial fashion tried to bribe the entire journal istic fraternity by sending 1 lakh cash to every journalist in Karnataka. Hats off to our journalist friends who open ly exposed the bribegate,” said Surjewala.

Ferozepur (PTI): A drone from Pakistan was spotted close to the international border here, said officials on Saturday. The unmanned aerial vehicle flew back to Pakistan after the Border Security Force troops fired at it, they said. The BSF personnel fired at least 18 rounds towards the drone, they said. A search opera tion is underway, they said.

Sri Ganganagar: A Pakistani civilian allegedly trying to enter Indian territory was killed by BSF personnel in Anupgarh sector of Sri Ganganagar district here, police said. On Friday night, BSF personnel patrolling the area saw a Pakistani civilian trying to enter the Indian side. When he did not stop despite being alerted by the jawans, they opened fire, Sriganganagar SP Anand Sharma said.

FROM PG 1

‘MVA govt... who served as the state industries minister from 2014-2022, had brought in investments worth Rs6.6 lakh crore during his tenure.

“When we went to Da vos, Desai, Nitin Raut and I could bring in Rs80,000 crore in invest ments. The important aspect is that it was the same Central govern ment. So, if the MVA government and the Centre could work and bring investment to Ma

harashtra, then why did their engine fail?” he asked.

The opposition has been attacking the state government after a con sortium of European aviation firm Airbus and the Tata group chose to manufacture military aircraft at Va dodara in Gujarat.

“No investor has any faith in the government. Be it law and order, in vestment or agriculture, the focus is only on poli tics,” he said.

in

Sharat K Verma

New Delhi: Will Mall ikarjun Kharge change the Congress organiza tion after becoming the president or will he con tinue with the old team? This is a big question because the old team is made up of Sonia and Rahul Gandhi and the people they trust are in this team. There have been some changes in the organization re cently. Like the entire team of media has been changed a few months back. Jairam Ramesh was made in-charge in

Recently, some changes were made in the party organization

place of Randeep Sur jewala and Pawan Khera and Supriya Sri net were given big re sponsibility along with him. This team is also doing a good job, so the question of replacing it does not arise.

Now talking about the party general secre taries, what changes will Kharge instill

there? The Congress has 10 general secretar ies, one of whom is Pri yanka Gandhi Vadra and the rest nine are trusted leaders of Sonia and Rahul. Everyone knows about Ajay Mak en, Randeep Surjewala, Jairam Ramesh, Jiten dra Singh and KC Venu gopal that Rahul trusts them a lot. Oommen Chandy hails from Ker ala, where the Congress is focussing on the elec tion, and Tariq Anwar is the only Muslim face. Then there is Mukul Wasnik whose powers have been curtailed.

PAKISTAN DRONE SPOTTED CLOSE TO INTERNATIONAL BORDER IN PUNJAB

PAKISTANI CIVILIAN, IN ATTEMPT TO CROSS BORDER, SHOT BY BSF

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi dances with the members of tribal communities of Telangana on Saturday.

MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan during the foundation stone of CM Rise school, in Indore, on Saturday. —PHOTO BY PTI

HOPE TWITTER WILL NOW ACT AGAINST HATE SPEECH: RaGa TO ELON MUSK

People get wood on 2nd day of Chhath in Ranchi, on Saturday. (INSET): A firefighter attempts to douse in Bihar’s Aurangabad.

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia addresses a press conference, in New Delhi on Saturday. —PHOTO BY ANI

New Delhi: Last month, The 59-year-old Nykaafounder Falguni Nayar was named India’s rich est self-made woman by the IIFL Wealth Hurun list, with a Rs 38,700 crore net worth. But since then the stocks of her e-commerce behe moth have plummeted by 24 per cent in a month, wiping off Rs 8,300 crore from her for tune. The fall of Nykaa has come after a bumper debut on the stock mar ket last year, when it de livered 80 per cent re turns to investors.

TABLET MARKET DOWN 16%, APPLE MAINTAINS LEAD

‘

Tech ensures benefits reach common man’

New Delhi (PTI): Technol ogy adoption by the govern ment for the benefit trans fer to targeted people has plugged leakages and en sured good governance, Fi nance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said.

Delivering the NT Rama Rao Memorial Lecture, she said, “What Prime Minister Modi has done is by adopt ing technology he has con tained the leaky bucket process. There are no leaks, the beneficiary who must get that money gets it”.

Technology has become a big instrument through which human folly and temptation are contained, she said.

“Today, the way we have adopted technology is en suring that benefits reach the common public, one of the goals of good govern

ance has been achieved,” a press release by GITAM quoted Sitharaman as say

ing. Speaking at an event in Hyderabad, Sitharaman also urged students of all

Guj govt to generate 10L jobs with new Electronics Policy

New Delhi: Despite the global tablet market de clining by 16% (year-onyear) in the third quarter this year, Apple marinated the lead with 39% market share and shipped 14.7 million units. As per Strat egy Analytics, Apple ship ments fell by 14% (onyear) but still gained mar ket share as its higher tier portfolio benefits from wealthier customers shrugging off inflation.

were better than expected at 7.2 million units, falling only 4% year-on-year.

SMARTPHONE MKT SINKS TO LOWEST Q3 LEVEL SINCE 2014

Ahmedabad (PTI): The Gujarat government on Saturday launched a new Electronics Policy to gen erate 10 lakh new employ ment opportunities in the Electronics System Design & Manufacturing (ESDM) sector in the state.

The ‘Gujarat Electron ics Policy 2022-2028’ has been designed to make Gu jarat a national hub of ESDM by offering a host of subsidies and incentives to the investors, said an offi cial release.

New Delhi: The global smartphone market de clined by 12% (year-onyear) even as it grew by 2% (on-quarter) to reach 301 million units in Q3, its lowest Q3 level since 2014. As per Counterpoint Research, the smartphone market remained under pressure given deteriorat ing economic conditions. Ongoing international po litical tensions resulting in economic uncertainty hit the smartphone market, even though it reversed its slide below the 300-mil lion-mark last quarter thanks to a slight quarterly recovery in Apple & Sam sung shipments, as per report.

EMPLOYEES NOT FORCED TO RESIGN, SAYS BYJU’S

Those wanting to invest in the ESDM sector in Gu jarat will be given up to 20 per cent capital expendi ture (capex) assistance with a ceiling of Rs 200 crore under the policy, the release said, adding that eligible investors will be entitled to get 100 per cent reimbursement on stamp duty and registration fee paid to the government.

While eligible entrepre neurs are exempted from paying any electricity duty, the state government will provide a power tariff subsidy of Rs 1 per unit for a period of five years.

Other incentives in clude interest assistance of up to 7 per cent on a term loan for a period of five years and logistics subsidy of up to 25 per cent on the freight charges for

five years, up to Rs 5 crore per annum, as per the re lease.

As per the policy docu ment, the state govern ment will develop Gujarat Electronics Manufactur ing (GEM) clusters for the ESDM ecosystem in the next five years. These GEM clusters will have common R&D facilities, testing labs and common infrastructure facilities.

institutes under the aegis of the commerce ministry to follow the five principles

Curbs on sugar exports extended by a year through October 2023

New Delhi (Agencies): In dia, the world’s biggest sugar producer, has ex tended restrictions for sug ar export by one year through October 2023, the government has said in a notification. The south Asian country restricted exports through the end of this month in May to con tain a rise in domestic pric es following record exports, according to the news agency Reuters.

The government official added that India is expect ed to produce record sugar crop this year, which could allow New Delhi to allow exports of up to 8 million tonnes. India’s domestic sugar consumption is esti mated at around 27.5 mil lion tonnes and mills are expected to divert 4.5 mil lion tonnes of sugar for ethanol production in the 2022-23 season.

outlined by Prime Minister Modi in his independence day speech this year, which includes moving forward with a bigger resolve of a developed India.

“I am not saying this is foolproof. Ingenuity will have some element in which people will know to hack even this but now, it is for sure that who should get what is going absolute ly without any kind of pil ferage. Good governance is about looking for instru ments with which you are able to implement the ob jectives,” she said.

Students should learn about sustainable designs developed in the country over a period of time and improve them for the ease of living of the current gen eration, Sitharaman said at an event.

WORLD IS LOOKING AT INDIAN ECONOMY AS A ‘BRIGHT’ SPOT: GOYAL

New Delhi: Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of Commerce & Indus try, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, and Textiles said that the world is now looking at the Indian economy as a ‘bright’ spot. During the pandemic, India came up with many innovations, including the Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin. The Minister exhorted the students to come up with good designs which lead to cost reduction. Go yal also spoke on the occasion, said that collaborative effort and breaking silos will transform India into global power soon. The ministers were speaking at a students meet of all the institutes under the aegis of the commerce ministry-- National Institute of Fashion Technology, National Institute of Design, Footwear Design & Development Institute, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade and Indian Institute of Packaging in Hyderabad on Saturday.

‘RBI can argue its case for not curbing inflation’

Chennai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) can ar gue its case strongly with the Central government as to why the inflation was not controlled at 4 per cent, said experts.

The RBI’s Monetary Poli cy Committee (MPC) will meet on November 3 to dis cuss what it would tell the Centre as to why it was not able to restrain the infla tion. In India, the retail in flation rose to 7.41 per cent in September. Experts were of the view that a combina tion of global and local (glo cal) factors — geopolitical developments, crop produc tion, reduction in crude oil production and the result ing price increase and de preciating rupee — are ex pected to heat up the prices.

The RBI on its part is try ing to contain the inflation by increasing the repo rate — the rate at which it lends to the banks.

COURSE OF INFLATION

z The RBI may also sound out the Central government as to the course of inflation as well as the reasons as to why it may be at the elevated levels z RBI can say inflation is due to supply side constraints and excess liquidity, says K Ramasubramanian, retired General Manager, RBI, and a forex advisor

The central bank has in creased the repo rate by 190 basis points in recent times and the last one was by 50 basis points last month.

Over 10 mn MT paddy procured in Punjab

Chandigarh(Agencies):

The More than 105 lakh metric tonnes (MT) paddy arrived in marketing yards in Punjab, out of which 104 lakh MT paddy was pro cured till Saturday.

In neighbouring Hary ana, a record 52 lakh MT paddy has been procured and Rs 10,000 crore paid to farmers. Punjab Food Civ il Supplies Minister Lal

Chand Kataruchak said timely purchase, payment and lifting is going on smoothly in each ‘mandi’.

All arrangements of ‘bardana’, labour and trans portation have been made.

As of now, the marketing yards are witnessing an ar rival of nearly 7.5 lakh MT in a day, and almost all pad dy is purchased by the end of the day. About the mini

mum support price (MSP) payment, Kataruchak said nearly Rs 15,400 crore has been released directly into the accounts of farmers and another Rs 2,000 crore has been approved and would be released on Monday.

Haryana Deputy CM Du shyant Chautala said the government had set a tar get of making payment to the farmers in just 48 hours.

India’s defence ministry is biggest employer

Bengaluru: Amid reports of forcing its employees to resign, BYJU’s said on Sat urday that it is not forcing its staff to resign or face terminations, as the whole exercise is part of the 5% reduction in its 50,000-strong workforce. Earlier, BYJU’s had an nounced to reduce 5% of its 50,000-strong work force, which will be “ration alised across product, con tent, media, and technolo gy teams in a phased man ner” in a bid to consolidate its India business.

Hamburg (Germany), (ANI): India’s Ministry of Defence is the world’s big gest employer with 2.92 million people, which in cludes combined active ser vice personnel, reservists and civilian staff, accord ing to a report in ‘Statista’.

A close second to the In dian Defence Ministry is the US Department of De fense which employs 2.91 million people, according to the Statista infographic on employers with the largest workforces world wide in 2022. Statista is a Germany-based private or ganisation that provides

data and statistics about various issues worldwide.

“At the top of the ranking for the world’s largest em ployers is India’s Ministry of Defence. Combining ac tive service personnel, re servists and civilian staff, the total headcount comes to 2.92 million – a touch ahead of the United States equivalent, the Department of Defense,” the report said.

As per Stockholm Inter national Peace Research In stitute, the 5 largest spend ers in 2021 were the United States, China, India, UK and Russia, together accounting for 62% of expenditure.

OTHER STORIES

IOC REPORTS `272 CRORE LOSS IN Q2 ON ACCOUNT OF SELLING PETROL AT LOW COST

New Delhi: Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) on Saturday reported a net loss of `272.35 crore for July-September - the second straight quarter of loss arising from selling petrol, diesel and cooking gas LPG at rates below cost. The net loss of `272.35 crore compared to a profit of ` 6,360.05 crore in July-September 2021, as per company’s filing with the stock ex changes. IOC as well as other state-owned fuel retailers had booked heavy losses in the first quarter of the current fiscal as they did not revise petrol, diesel and cooking gas LPG prices in line with the cost to help the government contain runaway inflation.

TELEGRAM CEO CRITICISES APPLE FOR APP STORE POLICIES

New Delhi: Telegram’s CEO has accused Apple of “destroying dreams and ruining entrepre neurship” because of its App Store policies. The company charged a 30% fee on in-app purchases for develop ers that earn more than $1 million annually, as per MacRu mors. Telegram enables content creators to charge users for access to channels through a paywall, as opposed to Apple’s in-app purchasing system.

FUSION LTD TO RAISE ` 600 CR BY ISSUING FRESH EQUITY SHARES

Jaipur: Microfinance company Fusion Limited is planning to raise around `600 crore through fresh issuance of equity shares in its initial public offering (IPO), a top official said on Saturday. The initial share sale will open for public subscription on November 2 and conclude on November 4. The company has fixed a price band of ` 350-368 a share, its MD and CEO Devesh Sachdev said.

NTPC Q2 NET DIPS OVER 7% TO `3,418 CRORE

New Delhi: State-run power giant NTPC on Saturday reported an over 7% dip in its consolidated net profit at Rs 3,417.67 crore for the September quarter, mainly due to higher expenses. The consolidated net profit of the company stood at Rs 3,690.95 crore in the quarter ended September 30, 2021, it said in a BSE filing. Total income rose to Rs 44,681.50 crore in the quarter from Rs 33,095.67 crore in the year-ago period.Total expenses jumped to Rs 40,000.99 crore in the second quarter of this fiscal from Rs 28,949.53 crore earlier.

FALGUNI NAYAR’S FORTUNE TAKES A ` 8,300 CRORE HIT

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman speaks during interaction with students, faculty/alumni of Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, National Institute of Design, National Institute of Fashion Tech, Footwear Design & Development Institute, as Union Minister for Commerce, Piyush Goyal looks on, in Hyderabad on Saturday. —PHOTO BY ANI

BY TRIDIB RAMAN

LOW TURNOUT AT KHARGE’S SWEARING IN?

T he swearing-in cer emony of the new ly-elected Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge witnessed some turmoil, beginning with a glitch in the dis tribution of invitation cards. It was decided that the invitation for swearing-in would be sent to former Union Ministers, Chief Minis ters, former Chief Min isters, State President, MPs, Working Presi dent of the Party, and Legislature Leaders etc. This action plan was implemented, but many important leaders of the party were seen be wildered in the Con gress office in search of

invitation cards. Many names were in the list, but they couldn’t get the card, so first they were sent to the control room. Then, they were asked to go to room number 17, from where they were asked to head to the war room at 15 Gur dwara Rakabganj. The invitation cards were being handled by Man ish Chatrath, who was very close to the late Ahmed Patel. Many big leaders didn’t even bother to come, like the absence of three big leaders of MP i.e. Ka mal Nath, Digvijaya Singh and the Leader of Opposition Govind Sin gh also raised many questions. Seeing that many of the chairs be hind the press gallery were empty, people standing outside were slowly called in so that a crowd could be seen at

‘KISSA KURSI KA’ BETWEEN ANAND

hairs were set up on the

stage for Kharge’s swearing-in ceremony and there were sofas for VIPs in the front row. Kharge had reserved his right and left chairs for Sonia and Rahul. But Rahul did not sit with Kharge at once, he left his chair for Madhusu dan Mistry, and sat after Mistry. One of the front sofas was reserved for Priyanka Gandhi. Two Delhi Police personnel were also ready to moni tor that sofa. Pawan Bansal, Bhupendra Sin gh Hooda and Ashok Gehlot were seated on the sofa next to it. By then the message of Pri yanka’s arrival on wire less had arrived. In the meantime, Anand Sharma reached the stage and sat on the sofa re served for Priyanka.

The police men imme diately ap prised him

3 officers held in angadia extortion case reinstated

that the sofa was meant for Priyanka, but Shar ma ji did not get up from that sofa. By the time Priyanka enters, Pawan Bansal gets up in a pan ic and takes Anand Sharma to sit with him on his couch, holding his hands all the way. It seems that Priyanka was aware of this entire scene, so she did not sit on the sofa set for her self and sat in the row behind it. She met all the big leaders of the party smiling, but did not move towards Anand Sharma. Priyan ka also met Ashok Ge hlot warmly while Hoo da and Anand Sharma were ignored by Rahul.

PRIYANKA’S LAST MINUTE CHANGE OF SCHEDULE MARS CONFIDENCE

I t seems that Gandhi family’s ‘role’ in the Gujarat elections is less and the reason for this is no longer unknown. Recently, when KC Venugopal, who is con sidered very close to the Gandhi family, had reached Ahmedabad, a crowd of party leaders and workers surround ed him. After this Venu gopal held a meeting with senior party MLAs. More or less all the Congress MLAs in the meeting were of the opinion that ‘Rahul Gandhi should also in clude Gujarat in his Bharat Jodo Yatra, since it can create an atmosphere for the Con gress here. But Venugo pal could not give any assurance from his side to the MLAs on this. In this, a legislator of two terms urged Venugo pal

OUT

that he wants ‘to invite Priyanka Gandhi in his grand Garba pro gramme as her partici pation can create a fa vourable atmosphere.’ Venugopal agreed to this and once the MLA learnt that his request has been cleared, the MLA got excited and bought a heavy garba lehenga worth Rs 45,000 for Priyanka’s Garba. But a few days before the programme, Priyan ka was forbidden to visit. So, although the Garba happened, but Congressmen didn’t have much enthusiasm.

GEHLOT’S ‘MAGIC’ STILL HOLDS RELEVANCE EVEN AFTER RAJ CRISIS

T he ‘fra grance’ of the politi cal crisis in Rajasthan was seen scattered in the swear ing-in cere mony. Even

after all this, the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Ashok Gehlot was meet ing most of the people. There was an influx of leaders, who came to meet him. Although leaders like Jairam Ramesh did not walk up to Gehlot to meet him, but sitting in his place, he signalled ‘ Thumbs up’ to the Rajasthan CM. At the same time, Sachin Pilot, sitting in the back row of Gehlot, was smiling. Initially, he had put a mask on his face, but when the media cameras started clicking his pictures, he took off his mask. Mo han Prakash was seated besides Sachin. No one was coming to meet Shashi Tharoor, who had garnered 1,072 votes in the presiden tial contest against Kharge, but Tharoor looked confident.

BJP LOOKING FOR FOOLPROOF VICTORY IN

lections are to be held on 182 seats of Gu jarat Assembly.

Keep in mind that in the 2017 assembly elec tions, Con gress had won

77 seats here, but after luring a dozen Congress MLAs, the political col our changed to saffron, so the count of Con gress MLAs has re duced to merely 65. So, the focus of BJP strate gists has now been re duced to these 65 seats and thus BJP has called for ‘Gujarat Gaurav Yatra’ before the elec tions. Many Union min isters including BJP President JP Nadda, Home Minister Amit Shah are continuously participating in this yatra. The entire focus of the Gaurav Yatra is on the seats dominated by the Congress, but the Congress seems devoid of any concrete pro gramme of counterat tack. The Congress High Command also seems to have left the Gujarat elections to its own fate. Rahul Gandhi also does not seem ready to tour Gujarat and neither Sonia Gan dhi nor Priyanka are displaying any enthusi asm in visiting Gujarat.

Man rapes buffalo calf, gets arrested

First India Bureau

Pune: A 38-yearold man was ar rested for alleged ly raping a buffalo calf in the Deccan area of the city on Friday, police said on Saturday.

Suspended cop

Saurabh Tripathi— accused of seeking a monthly bribe of ` 10 lakh—is still absconding

First India Bureau

Mumbai: Police In spector Om Vangate, Assistant Inspector Nitin Kadam and SubInspector Samadhan Jamdade of the Mum bai police—arrested earlier this year for allegedly extorting money from angadias here—have been rein stated by the Police Establishment Board at the Police Commis sionerate level, fol lowing a review meet ing, an official said on Saturday.

Suspended IPS officer Saurabh Tripathi, who was then Deputy Com missioner of Police

(Zone II), is on the run.

The three accused cops were suspended af ter their arrest, and an inquiry was initiated. A court granted them bail after the police submit ted a charge sheet.

“As the Mumbai police force is already shortstaffed, the decision to reinstate them was tak en,” he said.

Notably, the officers continued to receive 50% of their pay even after their suspended, which increased to 75% once they completed three months under suspen sion, the official said.

All three have been given non-executive postings at the Local Arms Department, where they will be given bandobast duty, he said.

Angadias are tradi tional couriers who de liver cash sent by traders from one state to anoth er. The angadia system is by and large used in the

jewellery business. A complaint filed last De cember by the Angadia Association in south Mumbai had alleged that the accused officials ex torted money from them on several occasions.

Tripathi had demanded a monthly bribe of Rs10 lakh to allow them to run their business, they said.

Vangate, Kadam and Jamdade were later ar rested along with a do mestic help who worked for Tripathi.

Bhiwandi Nizampur civic body urges hawkers to make use of PM SVANidhi

First India Bureau

Thane: The civic au thorities in Bhiwandi of Thane district have urged hawkers to take advantage of the PM SVANidhi scheme, which will resume in the town from Novem ber 01, an official said on Saturday.

Bhiwandi Nizampur Municipal Corporation (BNMC) commissioner Vijaykumar Mhasal has asked hawkers to make use of the scheme that provides affordable col lateral-free loans to street vendors.

In an official release, the BNMC’s public rela tions officer Sunil Zalke said that all categories of hawkers will be eligi ble for a loan of

Rs10,000, and those in the urban region will be eligible for an addition al Rs10,000.

People who repay the loans promptly will be eligible for a 7% subsi dy in the loan amount, he said, adding that peo

ple using digital trans actions will be given priority in the disburse ment of loans.

During the pandem ic, the disbursal of loans was suspended and it is being resumed now, the official said.

Digital transactions will get priority in loan disbursement; 7% subsidy for repaying the loan promptly

Local residents caught him in the act and beat him up till he fell unconscious

Locals caught him in the act and beat him up till he fell un conscious, an official said, adding that the accused, who hails from Nepal, was rushed to Sassoon General Hospital where he is being treated.

“Based on the evi dence submitted by area residents, we have registered an FIR against the man under section 377 (un natural sex) and oth er relevant provi sions of the Indian Penal Code and Pre vention of Cruelty Against Animals Act,” an official said.

The sun sets behind a pair of peahens, as they bask on a ramp at the Maharashtra Raj Bhavan, in Mumbai.

—PHOTO BY ANI

postings

the Local Arms Department,

The disbursal of loans, suspended uring the pandemic, is being resumed now.

—FILE PHOTO

The author is a journalist and political commentator and views expressed are his personal

Mallikarjun Kharge

Anand Sharma

Priyanka

Gandhi

CM Ashok Gehlot

Amit Shah

elena Gomez once said that I don’t know if I would’ve had the opportu nity to be on ‘Wiz ards of Waverly Place’ if it weren’t for my heritage. I realize everybody wants what they don’t have. But at the end of the day, what you have in side is much more beauti ful than what’s on the out side! And this inspired me to write an article on wiz ard clothing. But wait what? Wizard clothing??

Yes, because for me ‘No body knows what the fu ture is except for wizards’.

Our favourite Harry Potter has given us many rounds of imagination that gave us a hint that wizards at large in the Muggle commu nity may disclose themselves to each other by wearing the shades purple and green. However, this is no more than a ver bal code, and there is no responsibility to blend into it. A bunch of members of the mystical society prefer to wear their favourite colours when out and about in the Muggle world or adopt black as a practi cal colour, especially when flying on their brooms at night. According to the movie, ‘The International

Statute of Secrecy laid down clear guidelines on the dress for witches and wizards when they are out in public.’ Apart from the imaginary film, we all have grown up visualizing the cloak or pointed cony hats, long black boots and of course big magical flying broom. I am sure by far

now, wizard clothing has stayed out of fashion, al though slight alterations have been made to such garments as dress robes. But Classic wiz ard clothing comprises plain robes, worn with or without the tradi tional pointed hat, and will always be worn on such formal occa sions as christenings, weddings and funer als. Women’s dresses tend to be long. Wiz ard clothing might be said to be frozen in time, harking back to the seven teenth century, when they went into hiding. Their nostalgic adherence to this old-fashioned form of dress may be seen as a clinging to old ways and old times; a matter of cul tural pride.

Merchant Solutions by AU Small Finance Bank

CITY FIRST

As per the Min istry of MS ME’s Annual Report 202021, India has approximate ly 6 crore MS MEs that play an in strumental role in the country’s growth. They are regarded as the backbone of the Indian economy and contrib ute significantly to In dia’s GDP. However, a report by the Interna tional Finance Corpo ration (IFC) stated that the merchant segment remains highly under served with around 84 per cent of the credit demands of merchants being dependent on in formal financing chan nels. In fact, despite the prevalence of MSMEs in India, more than 90% of them are micro-en terprises with a turno ver of fewer than 5 crores. Also, more than half of them do not have access to formal digital payment solu tions. Over the last dec ade, there has been a marked increase in the adoption of e-com merce and digital pay ments. This has opened the door to the use of technology to reach In dian merchants and of fer formal financing and payment solutions.

“AU Small Finance Bank has been closely associated with mer chants in India for the last 25 years. Having worked with merchants from different indus tries and geographies, we have developed a 360-degree understand ing of the varying busi ness and credit profiles in the country. Further, we have developed indepth risk manage ment capabilities and a robust collection mod el. Over the years, while we have created a com prehensive basket of services and solutions for merchants, our spe cialisation lies in small-

ticket lending with Se cured Business Loans being our largest asset franchise along with business banking fa cilities like CC/OD lim its & bank guarantees.

Further, we have a strong network in the unorganised sector and

core geographies that boost our distribution capabilities,”said Manoj Tibrewal, Busi ness Head – Merchant Solution Group, AU Small Finance Bank.

“In India, merchants face a lot of challenges including the lack of

instant recurring small-ticket financing, unavailability of credit through formal chan nels due to insufficient documentation, LTV constraints, or collat eral appraisal, and the lack of value-added ser vices. At AU Small Fi

nance Bank, we offer a range of products and services to merchants including UPI QR with a sound box, POS (Point of Sale) devices, Cur rent Accounts, Unse cured transactionbased lending, CMS fa cilities and other bank

ing services. We are also working on an inte grated solution encom passing digital collec tions and payments, digital trade and supply chain finance, and in stant credit, in addition to the existing stack of products and services

that we offer to this seg ment. Further, we have leveraged the AU UPI QR as a low-cost mer chant acquisition tool,” he added.

The Bank’s trust quo tient, seamless on boarding experience, bouquet of products and services, and at tractive financing op tions has helped us scale our proposition.

“Merchant and MSME segments have been very important and constitute significant numbers both in Liabil ities and Assets at AU Small Finance Bank, and to fulfil their finan cial needs and solutions around this, we are strengthening our val ue propositions includ ing various payment solutions, digital appli cations, and transac tion-based lending.

Also, we are acquiring new-to-bank customers through UPI QR codes.

Towards our aspiration of becoming a whole some Digital bank, we are also implementing the OCEN framework and other such indus try-leading aggregation initiatives,” said Manoj

Tibrewal.

“As of March 31, 2022, we have installed over 4.8 lakh UPI QRs and acquired around 1.2 lakh, new custom ers, in FY-2021-22. With a focused after-sales support team, we have managed to drive an activation rate of over 65 per cent. After in stalling UPI QR, we have seen a 68 per cent rise in CASA monthly average balances in associated current ac counts. We have also commenced unse cured lending for over draft loans to small merchants based on their transactions through UPI QR with in a year of the launch”, Manoj fur ther said.

With a strong man agement team and a technology-first ap proach, AU Small Fi nance Bank is wellpoised to empower merchants using digi tal solutions like lowcost acquisition (UPI QR), digital CASA ac counts, holistic bank ing solutions, and digital lending solu tions.

ALIA’S THIRD DULHANIA FILM

Early birthday SURPRISE

Ananya Panday shares a great bond with Amitabh Bachchan’s granddaugh ter Navya Naveli Nanda. The two are childhood friends and are often spotted together at parties. Navya often features in Ananya’s Instagram pics along with their other friends Sha naya Kapoor and Suhana Khan. Ananya and Navya are also often seen hyping each other up on social me dia and sharing the cutest posts on each other’s birthdays. Speaking of which, Ananya Panday is all set to celebrate her 24th birthday on October 30.

While there are still 2 days to go, the actress has received an ‘ear ly birthday surprise’ from Navya.

Ananya Panday shared a picture on her Instagram story, giving her fans a glimpse of what Navya sent her.

The picture shows a bunch of pink balloons kept in the middle of the room. One huge heart-shaped balloon had ‘Happy Birthday Ananya’ written over it, while oth er balloons were assembled be low, over which ‘Happy birthday’ foil balloons were placed.

Alia Bhatt is undeniably one of the most loved actresses in Bollywood. She made her big screen debut in Karan Johar’s Student of The Year and then went on to collaborate for blockbusters like director Shashank Khaitan’s Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania and Badrinath Ki Dulhania. The first part of the Dulhania franchise was released in 2014 and the second one followed after three years. According to some sources the makers are planning to develop the third film in this popular franchise. The Dulhania franchise is extremely special for Karan, Varun, Alia and Shashank and the team really wants to come together for part 3. They have discussed a few ideas among them selves, however, they are yet to finalise the script. Once the story is locked they will figure out the other logistics. Just like the first two parts, the third film too will thrive on romance, endearing characters and the overall innocence of the story and the characters.

JANHVI MATCHES STEPS WITH MADHURI

The stage of Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa is set to raise the tempera ture as popular Bol lywood actress Madhuri Dixit is going to dance to the popular song from her film Devdas. And to ac company her on stage is none other than Janhvi Kapoor. The Dhadak ac tress will arrive as a guest on the show this weekend to promote her upcoming film Mili.

Janhvi was seen wear ing a red bodycon dress and looked absolutely stunning in her attire. In the glimpses shared by the official Twitter handle of Colors TV, we can see Jan hvi matching steps with Madhuri Dixit on the song, ‘Kaahe Chhed Mohe’. This song was very popular in the late 90s era and fea tured actress Madhuri Dixit and Shah Rukh Khan in lead roles.

atrina Kaif is on a promotional spree for her upcoming comedy horror film, Phone Bhoot and is appearing on various public platforms to talk about the film. Recently, she appeared on the Sal man Khan-led reality show, Bigg Boss 16 and fans went bonkers to see the former couple share the same stage. As per the new promo shared by the channel, Katrina is seen asking Salman Khan, “If you would have ever got an opportunity to spy on someone as a ghost, who would it be?” Salman replies, “There is a man named Vicky Kaushal. I would spy on him.” On being asked the reason behind this, the superstar continued, “He’s loving and caring and now when I am speaking about him, you are blushing.” Katrina Kaif couldn’t stop blushing the whole while.

here was numer ous reports about Samantha Ruth

Alia Bhatt

Janhvi Kapoor

Samantha Ruth Prabhu

Katrina Kaif

Ananya Panday

RAJIV ADATIA: I KNOW I AM A BIT CRAZY

TIWARI

Rajiv Adatia is one of the most promi nent person alities in the entertain ment indus try and has made his name across the country. Right from his very influential stint on Bigg Boss, the en tertainer has made his way to the top in a short span of time. Ra jiv recently sat down with City First to share about his jour ney, Bigg Boss, his dreams and more.

Talking about his journey, he said, “When I was 18, I was a model. I don’t look like one now but I was then! And my Dad passed away at the time. After that, I got into the business and opened a wedding com pany. I then opened an events company be cause all the models used to come to Lon don and ask me for work. It immediately clicked with me that this could be busi ness. So, I helped

many get maga zine deals and photoshoots when in London.”

“Now, I was born in London and did my schooling there. So, go ing into Bigg Boss was very sporadic. I just got

for the show and I will really enjoy it there.

Initially, I denied them because I was scared of going inside. There was a fear that I wouldn’t have control over what is going on outside. I

me as it was totally my thing and I would enjoy it there. So, I finally said my yes,” he shared about his Bigg Boss journey.

He stated that he was born with his ick to en tertain the people

his sorrow to people. “My father’s death was the biggest pain in my life. I have also received a lot of be trayal from people. People have used me and I have forgiven them. I am the kind of person that lets things go. Everyone goes through that journey of pain and finding yourself.”

He mentioned that Karan Kundrra, Neha Bhasin, Rashami Desai and Umar Riaz were some of his closest friends from the Bigg Boss house. He also stated that though many of the established industry people such as Neetu Kapoor and Shilpa Shetty support ed him thoroughly, he somewhere lacked the support of the audi ence.

Talking about his dreams, he said, “I think I want to enter tain people more. I want to do something to change. God is very clever. He gives you this platform for a reason. And he can also steal it away from you. Now that God has given me such a good plat form, I want to do something good with it. Bring some aware ness about things, and help people. Those are my big gest dreams.

On behalf of the Director General Border Security Force, Actor Sun iel Shetty was present for the flagging-in and prize distribution cere mony of the BSF Mara thon 2022 at JCP Attari.

Also present at the oc casion were the stal warts of sport from BSF ranks, talking about his experience Suniel Shet ty shared he was very grateful to the team BSF for inviting him to the event, it is an honour be ing a part of the event and especially the sol diers who sacrifice their lives on Border to keep us safe, Suniel Shetty played a motiva tor to both the troops as well as the runners and audience who share a unique bond with his iconic performance of a

SUNIEL AT BSF MARATHON

Asia’s pre miere mu sic label and film studio, T-Series and South India’s prestigious pro duction house Sri Ven kateswara Cre ations headed by Dil Raju and Shirish join hands to pre sent the music of the most awaited film of Thalapathy Vi jay, Varisu. This is the first time these two prestigious in stitutions are coming togeth er to forge a new partner ship.

Talking about the music ac quisition, Bhushan Ku mar, Managing Director and Chairman of TSeries said, “It’s been a wholesome experience work ing with Dil Raju, looking forward to this new associa tion which we hope to create magic on music charts.”

Speaking about this film’s music

which everyone wishes to see for a festival like Pon gal. Music is an integral part of any film, it gives me pleasure to en trust Bhushan Ku mar’s T-Series with the rights of this special film as they know our nerve and will de liver the soundtrack it’s due.”

Parineeti feels blessed

Versatile actress Parineeti Chopra is a part of Sooraj Barjatya’s next film Uunchai which also casts Amitabh Bachchan, Anu pam Kher, Boman Irani, Danny Denzongpa, Neena Gupta and Sarika.

Parineeti says, “Uunchai is going to be one of the most special films of my life as I got the opportunity to work with such legendary actors of our industry. Every day I would be super excited to go on the sets and learn something new from these tal ented actors. Their passion, their dedication, their commitment to wards the craft only motivated me to not only be a better actor but a better person as well.”

She adds, “Uunchai is a film about friendship and I feel so blessed to have worked with them, all of who taught me the real meaning of friendship. I would just observe them from afar and feel so blessed and grateful.”

he What The Hell Navya episodes have been a lot of fun so far and the most recent one has Jaya Bach chan giving her view on rela tionships and marriage and how things have changed since Jaya Bachchan’s era.

Jaya Bachchan shared her advice for the younger generation, stating that she believes that peo ple should marry their best friends. She said that she has no issues whatso ever if Navya Nanda decides to have a kid without first being mar ried. “I’m looking at it very clinically.

Since there’s a lack of

Urvashi discloses

M any claim Urvashi Rautela’s cryptic posts refer to her rumoured ro mance with Indian cricketer Rishabh Pant, often known as RP. Netizens are perplexed by her most recent post with actor Ram Pothineni. Fans believe that Ur vashi wrote her myste rious RP messages for Ram Pothineni rather than Rishabh Pant.

The actress has drawn criticism for reportedly stalk ing Pant, a charge that she has firmly denied.

Urvashi shared the photo on her social me dia account and included the actor’s name along with an emoji of a rose and a red heart. Many online users responded to her re marks by pointing out the glaring confusion in the post’s comments section.

Some online users continued to make fun of her by calling her by the cricketer’s name. She was frequently questioned about missing Rishabh. They said, “Rishab bhaiya ki yaad nhi aate aab ???” Some commenters went as far as to tag Rishabh on her post and leave hilarious com

that emotion, the romance today, I think you should marry your best friend. I have no problem if you have a child without a marriage also, I don’t have a problem,” said Jaya.

Mr Raju, Indian film producer and owner of Sri Ven kateswara Crea tions added, “Var isu is a perfect family entertainer

Jaya Bachchan with Shweta Bachchan

Nanda and Navya Naveli Nanda

Parineeti Chopra

Rajiv Adatia

Urvashi Rautela

Suniel Shetty during the event