First India-Delhi Edition-30th November 2022

CAUTIOUSLY ON TERROR NEWS’

FIRST INDIA NEWS TURNS 9!

IT’S OFFICIAL!

SIA+TATAS: VISTARA+AIR INDIA

First India Bureau

New Delhi: Tata Sons and SIA on Tuesday announced that they will merge Vistara into Air India, with a target to complete the process by March 2024 subject to regulatory approvals.

Kapadvanj: HM Amit Shah in Gujarat’s Kapadvanj on Tuesday said that Congress pitted one caste against another and one community against another. When Modi ji put an end to communal tension in Gujarat by taking strict action against criminals and anti-social elements. P6

RBI TO START PILOT OF RETAIL DIGITAL RUPEE ON DEC

1

Mumbai: The RBI on Tuesday announced that the first pilot for the retail version of the digital Rupee (e -R) would be introduced on December 01, 2022. It may be recalled that the RBI had on October 31 indicated that the pilot in e -R would commence in a month’s time. P7

Tata Sons will hold 74.9% stake in the AIVistara-AI Express-AirAsia India Pvt Ltd (AAIPL) combined entity and SIA remaining 25.1% stake. Based on SIA’s 25.1% stake postcompletion, its share of any additional capital injection could be up to $615 mn, payable after completion of merger.

The merger of Vistara and Air India is an important milestone in our journey to make Air India a truly world-class airline. We are transforming Air India, with the aim of providing great customer experience, every time, for every customer.

—N Chandrasekaran, Tata Sons chairman

Tata Sons is one of the most established and respected names in India. With this merger, we have an opportunity to deepen our relationship with Tata and participate directly in an exciting new growth phase in India’s aviation market and restore AI to its position as a leading airline on the global stage.

—Goh Choon Phong, SIA CEO

Sanctions-hit Russia asks Ind for parts for key sectors

New Delhi: The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi confirmed on Tuesday that the e-hospital data has been restored after seven days. It was feared that the personal data of three to four crore patients were at stake owing to the cyber attack.

Moscow: Moscow has sent India a list of over 500 products for potential delivery including parts for cars, aircraft and trains, four sources familiar with matter said, as sanctions squeeze Russia’s ability to keep vital industries

running. India is keen to boost trade in this way, said the source, as it tries to narrow a ballooning trade deficit with Russia.

Firms have expressed concern, however, about potentially falling foul of Western sanctions.

 Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid, jury chief at 53rd IFFI, calls Bollywood hit The Kashmir Files “propaganda and a very vulgar movie”

 Supreme Court lawyer files police complaint against IFFI jury head for remarks on ‘The Kashmir Files’

First India Bureau

Goa: An Israeli filmmaker has triggered controversy in India after he denounced a film on Kashmir dispute as “propaganda” and a “vulgar movie” at a government-sponsored film festival in Goa. Nadav Lapid, who headed the jury at IFFI said he was “disturbed and shocked” by the inclusion of The Kashmir Files in event.

Anupam Kher: Truth of Kashmir Files is stuck like a thorn in

throat of some people. They are neither able to swallow it nor spit it out.

Dir Vivek Agnihotri: I will quit filmmaking if intellectuals prove that events depicted in his film are false.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

SIA to invest $250 million after integration is properly completed

The valuation of the new Air India is more than $1 billion

AAIPL and Vistara airlines both did carriers did not have a single profitable fiscal

They have a total of 218 widebody and narrowbody aircraft

AAIPL, Vistara serves 38 international and 52 domestic destinations

Do not worry about your future: Vistara CEO assures 4,700 staffers

We, at Vistara, take immense pride in embarking on this journey. Vistara is a fine manifestation of its parent brands Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines, and we are delighted that we will continue to be guided by their legacies as we merge with Air India.

—Vinod Kannan, Vistara CEO

Delhi govt paying salaries to Imams, not to priests: Thakur

First India Bureau

New Delhi: Accusing Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of appeasement politics, Union minister Anurag Thakur on Tuesday said that the AAP government in Delhi was paying salaries to Imams and Muezzins of mosques but not to priests of Hindu temples and granthis of gurdwaras.

Campaigning for the party’s MCD candidates in Preet Vihar and Anarkali areas here, Thakur said, “Kejriwal ke teen yaar – daru, ghotala, bhrashtachar (Kejriwal’s three friends – liquor, scam, corruption).”

Thakur also cited the

COURTESY MEET!

THREE EX-AAP MLAs JOIN BJP, ACCUSING KEJRIWAL OF CORRUPTION

GILON, ISRAEL’S AMBASSADOR TO INDIA APOLOGISES

Israel’s ambassador to India on Tuesday publicly denounced a filmmaker from his country who called ‘The Kashmir Files’ a “propaganda” and “vulgar movie”.

Envoy Naor Gilon apologized to India in an “open letter” on Twitter, a day after filmmaker Nadav Lapid slammed movie at the closing ceremony of the festival on Monday.

A police officer on Tuesday said that the trigger for the murder was the fact that Anjan Das (45) had ill intentions towards his wife Poonam’s (48) stepdaughter and stepson Deepak’s (25) wife as well, and he was also sending Poonam’s earnings to his other wife and eight children in Bihar.

New Delhi: Three former AAP MLAs

the BJP on Tuesday,

their former party and its leader Arvind Kejriwal over issues

murder of Shraddha Walkar allegedly by her live-in partner Aaftab Poonawala. “He (Kejriwal) is not saying any-

thing against the one who cut (our) daughter into 35 pieces. Why has he gone speechless?” Thakur asked.

All is not well in Kerala Cong as Venu-Tharoor camps at loggerheads!

Bengaluru: It seems that trouble is brewing in Kerala Congress and ‘ALL IS NOT WELL’ in the state unit as the KC Venugopal and Shashi Tharoor camps have reportedly come face to face. Former Kerala Congress President Muraleedharan said on Tuesday that those dreaming of becoming Kerala CM are the same people that are engaged in opposing Tharoor.

“Opponents were also behind the cancellation of the Kozhikode Youth Congress program,” he claimed. There was rhetoric regarding Kozhikode, Malabar and Malappuram phase of yatra and now Kerala Congress sources have revealed that KC’s name is in CM race in case of formation of govt.

But on the other hand, Tharoor’s stature has increased after the Congress president election.

“Tharoor had performed well in elections even without any support. A large part of Kerala Youth Congress also supported Tharoor,”sources said. Notably, disturbed by the news of rebellion, Shashi Tharoor made it clear that he has no intention to form any party.

“I will work for Congress, and have no intention to form any other party. But at whose behest the Kozhikode program was cancelled should be probed,” he said. Meanwhile, on Tuesday, KC reached Jaipur to resolve the issue of Rajasthan.

Union Minister Anurag Thakur speaks during a public meeting in support of party candidate Ramesh Garg at Preet Vihar in New Delhi on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY PTI

joined

criticising

of corruption and neglect of volunteers. Joining the BJP at the party’s national headquarters on DDU Marg were twice MLA from Delhi Cantt Commando (ex) Surender Singh, former MLA from Trilokpuri Raju Dhingan, and Chaudhary Fateh Singh , who had left the BJP in 2015. Surender Singh had quit the AAP after he was denied ticket by the party in 2020 Assembly polls from the Delhi Cantt seat.

New Delhi (PTI): The police are yet to recover weapons used by a woman and her son for killing and chopping the body of Anjan Das in Pandav Nagar area.

Pandav Nagar: Cops yet to find weapons

Tatas and Singapore Airlines agree to merge Vistara & Air India by March 2024

per cent stake for the Singapore Airlines (SIA) in “new Air India (AI)”

Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid

Pramod Raghavan

MODI HAS PUT AN END TO THE COMMUNAL TENSION IN GUJ: SHAH

New Delhi: Reliance Jio users across the country are facing issues making calls and sending messages. Several users took to Twitter to complain about the issue. While some claimed that they are unable to make calls, others said that they are unable to send/receive messages and use internet from

Mumbai: Adani Group has emerged as the highest bidder for the 259-hectare Dharavi Redevelopment Project on Tuesday. The group has put in a `5,069 crore bid for redevelopment of one of the largest slum sprawls in world, CEO of project SVR Srinivas said.

‘MEDIA MUST REPORT VERY

New Delhi: Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur on Tuesday advised caution while live reporting terror attacks, saying it should not provide clues to attackers and their ill motives while accuracy of news is even more important. P6

RELIANCE JIO USERS FACE HUGE NETWORK OUTAGE

KC Venugopal

Shashi Tharoor

Dr Jagdeesh Chandra paid a courtesy visit to Honourable Governor of Gujarat, Acharya Devvrat at Raj Bhavan Gujarat, in Gandhinagar on Tuesday evening.

First India News, mostwatched channel in Rajasthan celebrates its ninth anniversary today. The function will be held at the channel office at 6pm, CMD Dr Jagdeesh Chandra and Director, First India News Virendra Choudhary will grace the occasion and greet First India News family.

MCD POLLS

‘

BJP won’t have needed big campaigners, only if..’

New Delhi (PTI): Chief Minister Arvind Kejri wal on Tuesday took a dig at the BJP, saying if the saffron party had "worked" during its rule in the city's civic body, then it wouldn't have re quired so many CMs and union ministers to cam paign for them for the MCD election.

He said this while in teracting with local resi dents during a door-todoor campaign in the Chirag Delhi area to seek support for the AAP ahead of the De cember 4 polls.

"There's garbage eve rywhere in the city. I'll clean the city if voted to power. The BJP abuses me day and night. We have made arrange ments for water, we will take responsibility for garbage disposal too. Give one chance to AAP, and we will clean the city like never before," Kejriwal claimed.

"We will make Delhi shine," the AAP supre mo told residents.

Several media per sons also accompanied the chief minister dur ing his campaign. Exud ing confidence in win ning the December 4 MCD polls, Kejriwal said that the AAP will win more than 230 seats and that the BJP will get less than 20 seats.

"I can see the excite ment in the citizens and I'm certain that AAP will get more than 230 seats. The BJP will not

get more than 20 seats in the MCD. We talk about the work that we have done in the Delhi gov ernment but the BJP doesn't have the audac ity to tell what work

they have done in the MCD," he said.

Reacting to the 'sting' videos and CCTV foot age of Satyendar Jain released by BJP, Kejri wal said, "BJP has start

RWAS TO GET STATUS OF ‘MINI COUNCILLORS’: KEJRIWAL

‘Dire need to ensure dignity of police’: Court dismisses bail plea of ex-MLA Asif Khan

New Delhi (ANI): A court here Tuesday dis missed the bail plea of former MLA Asif Mo hammad Khan accused of allegedly manhan dling and abusing a po lice officer on duty in Shaheen Bagh area.

incidents as in the pre sent case are against the rule of law," the court added.

ed a video company now. Once a week they come up with these vid eos. Their morning show begins at 9 am and by 12 noon it turns into a flop show."

New Delhi: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said if the Aam Aadmi Party comes to power in the MCD, resident welfare associations will be "empowered" and granted status of "mini councillors". He said the idea behind this vision is to "make people the owners of Delhi. "Today, we want to tell if AAP comes to power in MCD, we are going to really em power RWAs. We will give them political and financial powers," said Kejriwal, also the party national convenor.

Deepak Vihar residents decide to boycott polls

New Delhi: Unpaved roads, blocked drains and dilapidated school buildings are some major problems a sublocality of Southwest Delhi has been grap pling with for the past several years. Now, the locals have decided to boycott the upcoming MCD polls.

On every other wall of Deepak Vihar, post ers have come up -"Chunav ka bahiskar, humara vote humara adhikaar, kaam nahi toh vote nahi" (boy

Fire in Bhagirath Palace finally brought under control: Officials

New Delhi (PTI): The massive fire that broke out at a wholesale mar ket in Bhagirath Palace area of Chandni Chowk was brought under con trol on Tuesday even as the cooling process is underway for the sixth consecutive day, offi cials said.

Fire officials said over 150 fire tenders have worked since its outbreak. According to officials, the fire has been brought under con

trol but the cooling pro cess is underway to en sure the fire is complete ly doused. Presently, two

fire tenders are at the spot dealing with the cooling process, expect ed to continue today.

New Delhi (PTI): Delhi University has directed its colleges to take "im mediate" steps to fill vacant posts of assis tant professors.

In a letter to princi pals, the varsity said colleges are requested to "take immediate nec essary steps in filling up the vacant posts of Assistant Professors in various subjects/disci plines in your College/ Institution against the sanctioned strength."

cotting polls, our vote our right, no work no vote).

Deepak Vihar comes under the Sainik Enclave ward of the Vikas Puri as sembly constituency.

While BJP has pitched incumbent Reeta Vinay Gaur for the polls, Congress and AAP have fielded Aarti and Nirmala Kumari, respectively from the ward. The elections to 250 wards of the Municipal Cor poration of Delhi (MCD) will be held on December 4. —PTI

The court said, "The language, actions and conduct of the accused against public servants are to be viewed strictly and is strongly con demned." The accused was arrested on Novem ber 25 and is presently in judicial custody.

Metropolitan magis trate Shikha Chahal, dismissing the bail plea of Khan, said, “There is a dire need to ensure dignity of police offic ers is protected so that they can ensure public safety, and conflict be tween police and public is discouraged as in the

Son rushing father to hospital crashes car

Noida (PTI): A 58-yearold man was killed Tuesday in a car acci dent when his son, who was allegedly speed ing, lost control of the vehicle and drove it into a ditch by a high way in Greater Noida, police said.

The man had suffered a heart attack and his son was rushing him to a hospital when their car met with an acci dent in Dadri Police Station area on NH-91, a police officer said.

Pradeep Singh, a resi dent of Bahlolpur in Noida, said he was with his father Bhoop Singh, his wife, and their nineyear-old daughter in the car.

present case. Police have no choice, but to go into situations of dan ger or conflict and such

The court also said the allegation against the accused is grave. The court said the ac cused is an influential person, a former MLA and has a responsibility towards society, but he has committed offences against cops of Shaheen Bagh on the date of the incident and has used derogatory words even against the uniform of the police and threat ened SI Akshay in front of his subordinates and public, which has ad verse societal impact and has detrimental ef fects on the police-com munity relationship which is critical to maintaining public safety as well as effec tive policing.

HC grants Centre ‘last opportunity’ to respond to students’ plea

New Delhi (PTI): The Delhi High Court Tues day granted a “last op portunity” to the Centre to file its reply to a plea seeking transfer from Delhi Police to an inde pendent agency the FIRs against students in the incidents of violence in Jamia Millia Islamia University in 2019 fol lowing CAA protests.

A bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Talwant Singh issued notice to the Centre and asked it to file re ply within a week to the amendment applica

Govt’s law department rejects bills of advocates it hired

New Delhi (ANI): The Law Department of Delhi government has refused to pay several bills raised by advo cates, running into crores, due to non-com pliance with financial rules and violation of terms of engagements by minister Kailash Ge hlot, according to de partment sources.

Sources said among several others, bills amounting to Rs. 15.5 lakh put up by Kapil

NIA RAIDS IN DELHI

Sibal, and bill amount ing to Rs 980,000 put up by Rahul Mehra, have been turned down.

The sources added the department has

also not agreed to the very appointment of Kapil Sibal, Rahul Meh ra, Senior Advocates and Jyoti Mendiratta and Sudhanshu Padhi, (AoRs) in various mat ters where they were engaged directly by the Law Minister Kailash Gehlot.

Gehlot, the sources alleged, engaged the lawyers in violation of rules that require the concurrence of the Fi nance Department.

tion of a petitioner who also sought setting up of SIT to inquire into the alleged police atroc ities. The court listed a batch of petitions, al leging use of “ruthless and excessive” force by police and paramili tary forces on students, for further hearing on December 13.

Satyendar Jain moves HC challenging denial of bail

To dismantle gangster-terrorist-drug smuggler nexus

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The raids are being conducted at the premises linked to gangsters in more than six districts in UP, Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana & Delhi

New Delhi (ANI): In a fresh crackdown against gangster nexus, the National Investiga tion Agency (NIA) on Tuesday morning launched massive mul ti-state raids covering Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Delhi, Rajasthan and Haryana, sources said.

The raids are being conducted at the resi dential and other prem ises linked to gangsters in more than six dis tricts across these four states and Delhi in an

ongoing case aimed to dismantle and disrupt the emerging nexus be tween terrorists, gang sters and drug smug glers based in India and

abroad, sources added.

The raids are focussed on gang nexus linked to Laurence Bishnoi, Neeraj Bawana and Til lu Tazpuriya and Goldy

ADVOCATE IN THE NET

tion conducted during the day at 52 locations across north India’s four states and Delhi.

New Delhi (PTI): Jailed AAP minister Satyendar Jain has ap proached Delhi HC chal lenging a trial court or der denying him bail in a money laundering case lodged by Enorce ment Directorate (ED).

Brar, who are already under the lens of the anti-terror agency. These searches were planned after the ques tioning of several gang

sters by the NIA. In October, the NIA arrested an advocate here and a gangster from Haryana following a mega search opera

The arrested advo cate was identified as Asif Khan, a resident of Gautam Vihar in Us manpur area of North East Delhi. During in terrogation, the NIA said, it was revealed that Asif was in touch with jailed gangsters.

The NIA also arrested one Rajesh alias Raju Mota who hails from Basaudi, Sonepat.

Jain said he is not in a position to influence witnesses or tamper with evidence and is not a flight risk if granted the relief in the case of ED's ECIR (the equiva lent of FIR) registered on September 30, 2017 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act,

The plea is likely to come up for hearing later this week.

Jain has challenged the trial court's Novem ber 17 order which dis missed his bail plea say ing he was prima facie involved in concealing the proceeds of crime.

CM Arvind Kejriwal interacts with local residents in door-todoor campaign

Reminds them of BJP’s lack of development work while in power in MCD

Says AAP will win over 230 seats and that the BJP will get less than 20 seats

CM Kejriwal during a door-to-door campaign for MCD polls, at Chirag Delhi in New Delhi, Tuesday.

Shweta Sharma

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal meeting people during his poll campaign in New Delhi on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY PTI

Police personnel and firefighter team at Bhagirath Palace market on Friday.

—PHOTO BY ANI

2019 JAMIA VIOLENCE

DU to colleges: Fill asst profs’ posts immediately

Kapil Sibal’s bill of `15.5 lakh is pending, sources said.

—PHOTO

BY PTI

The court said that the language, actions and conduct of the accused against public servants are to be viewed strictly and condemned.

Cyber attack: AIIMS still looking for cure, patients suffer

First India Bureau

New Delhi: Unending queues at the OPD, lab services, diagnostic centres and billing counters are not only frustrating for pa tients but also for the staff at the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), Del hi, which is facing an unprecedented ran somware attack.

Patients are waiting for their turn at vari ous facilities for ex tended hours, while doctors and employees executing work manu ally, writing all reports and preparing bills with pen and paper.

Tuesday was the sev

enth day at the coun try’s premier institute when the hospital's digital services did not work, including the pa tient data system and day-to-day activities such as OPD registra tions and blood sample reports.

Officials from the In dian Computer Emer gency Response Team (CERT-IN), Delhi Po

lice, Intelligence Bu reau and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) are probing the ran somware attack but are yet to find any leads.

The AIIMS e-server contains data of about 4 crore patients, which include of former Prime Ministers, cabi net ministers and sev eral other political leaders and celebrities.

CYBER ATTACKS ON INDIAN

OTHER BIG HACKINGS

TECH MAHINDRA

HALDIRAM’S

OIL INDIA

HEALTHCARE

SECOND HIGHEST IN WORLD

l The number of cyber attacks on the Indian healthcare industry was second highest globally last year with 7.7 per cent of the total incidents being witnessed in the country in 2021, cyber se curity intelligence firm CloudSEK said in a report.

l The US healthcare industry faced 28 per cent of the total global attacks.

l India witnessed over 18 million cyber attacks and threats, at average of nearly 200,000 threats every day, in the first three months of 2022, ac cording to US-based cyber security firm, Norton.

l In Loksabha, it was informed that India is the third most affected country in the world in terms of network attacks. The country reported 674,021 cyber attacks until June 2022, which is about 3,700 cyber attacks every day.

In 2021, Tech Mahin dra was affected by a ransomware attack that targeted 27 servers of the Pimpri Chinchwad Smart City project which led to a loss of Rs 5 crore. The company reportedly spent nearly Rs 15 crore on a firewall to secure the systems.

SPICEJET

Several Spicejet flights were cancelled or delayed when it was hit by a ransomware attack this year in May. The airline service later confirmed on Twitter that their IT team has contained and rectified the situation.

Court okays narco test for Aaftab

Ankita murder: SIT mulls narco test of all accused

New Delhi (ANI): A court on Tuesday al lowed the plea of Delhi Police seeking permis sion to produce Aaftab Amin Poonawala at FSL Rohini for Narco Analysis from Tihar Jail where he is in judi cial custody. Metropoli tan magistrate Aviral Shukla allowed the plea moved by the in vestigation officer seeking permission to produce Aaftab before FSL Rohini. The court granted permission to produce Aaftab before the doctors for a pretest medical examina tion at Ambedkar Hos pital on December 1. The court also granted the permission to pro duce him at FSL from Tihar Jail on December 5, sources said.

Aaftab undergoes post-polygraph medical test

New Delhi (ANI): The polygraph test of Aaft ab Poonawalla was done on Monday and his post-polygraph med ical examination was done on Tuesday at FSL office.

“Today Aaftab is get ting medical treatment, which means that after the polygraph test, Aaft ab’s body parameters are being checked,” the police said.

New Delhi (ANI): Two Hindu Sena workers who attacked with swords the police van carrying Aaftab outside the Forensic Sci ence Laboratory in Rohini have been sent to judicial custody. Accused, Kuldeep Thakur and Nigam Gurjar, were arrested after the at tack and were produced in court by the police. Police said they were trying to

identify and arrest the rest of the accused. An FIR has also been registered under Sections 186, 353, 147, 148 and 149 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Prashant Vihar Police Sta tion in this regard. Aaftab was being taken back to jail by cops after his poly graph tests were done for the day when the attack took place on Monday.

"If required, the SIT probing the Ankita murder case can conduct a narco test on all the three accused including the main accused Pulkit Arya with the permission of the court," V Murugesan, Additional DGP, law and order said. The lifeless body of 19-year-old Ankita, a receptionist at a resort run by Pulkit Arya, son of expelled BJP leader Vinod Arya was recov ered from Chilla canal in Rishikesh on Septem ber 24. She was reported missing for at least six days before being found dead.

Pulkit Arya was arrested for allegedly push ing her into the canal following an altercation. Two more people - Ankit Gupta and Saurabh Bhaskar, were also arrested in the case.

DELAY IN DNA ANALYSIS DUE TO STAFF CRUNCH AT FSL?

New Delhi (PTI): Even after over two weeks of Aaftab Poonawala's arrest, there is no con clusive proof that the body parts recovered in the case are that of Shraddha.

"We cannot reveal anything about the body parts found since we have to maintain high secrecy in such cases," Assistant PRO at Forensic Science Labo ratory, Rohini, Dr Ra jnish Singh said.

According to forensic experts, specialists should not ideally take

more than 24 hours to ascertain a person's

identity from remains even if they are six months old.

Dr K Thangaraj, sen

ULEMA FOR PEACE

ior scientist and direc tor, Centre for DNA Fin gerprinting and Diag nostics under the Union government, said the entire analysis depends upon "the quality of samples, isolation of DNA from biological re mains, selection of ap propriate DNA markers, and most importantly, trained manpower".

A source at FSL Rohini said the lab is working with half of the required trained workforce.

This happened a month before the Spicejet attack. Oil India (OIL) faced a major cyber-attack in Assam. Offi cials said that the hacker demanded over Rs 57 crore as ransom.

Noida-based snacks manufacturer Haldiram experienced a ran somware attack on its servers in October 2020. The hacker reportedly encrypted the company’s files, data, applica tions, and systems and demanded 7.5 lakh USD for decryption.

ANDHRA PRADESH AND TELANGANA POWER UTILITIES

In a major breach, the servers of the Telan gana and Andhra Pradesh state power utili ties went down after a ransomware attack. Hackers not only hacked the computer systems but also demanded six bitcoins (which was approximately Rs 24 lakh at that time) to restore access to the data.

Staffer stages robbery, dupes shop owner, held

New Delhi (PTI): A 43-year-old man work ing at a cosmetic shop in north Delhi's Sadar Bazar was arrested for allegedly cheating his employer by staging an armed robbery of Rs 10 lakh, police said on Tuesday.

Sarvan, the resident of Burari, was working at the shop for four years. He was often sent to collect payments and deliver the products and when he got to know that the amount to be collected was Rs 10 lakh, he got avaricious and staged the entire epi sode of robbery, police said. With his arrest, po lice claimed to have re covered the stolen amount of Rs 9.93 lakh.

The matter was re ported to police on No vember 25 by a resident of Narayana Vihar who

Police said 50 CCTV cams in Sadar Bazar, Bara Hindu Rao and Lahori Gate were scanned to unravel the case

runs the shop in Sadar Bazar area, police said.

According to the com plaint, the owner had to collect the payment of Rs 10 lakh from one of his customers at Chan dni Chowk, for which he sent Sarvan.

However, Sarvan came back empty-hand ed, stating he was ab ducted and robbed by two persons at gunpoint while he was on his way back.

Preeti Sudan takes oath as UPSC member

New Delhi (PTI): For mer Health Secretary Preeti Sudan on Tues day took oath as a mem ber of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), according to a Personnel Ministry statement.

Sudan, a 1983-batch (retired) IAS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre, was administered the oath by UPSC chairman Manoj Soni at the cen tral hall of the main building of the commis sion here, it said.

She superannuated as the health secretary in July 2020.

Sudan also served as Secretary, Department of Food & Public Distri bution, and in the min istries of Women and Child Development and Defence.

In her cadre state Andhra Pradesh, she handled finance and planning, disaster man agement, tourism and agriculture portfolios.

Religion a unifier, not divisive instrument: Indonesian minister

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Ministrer Mohd Mahfud appreciated National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval for inviting him to India with a delegation of Ulema

New Delhi (ANI): Reli gion should be a unify ing tool, not a divisive instrument, visiting Co ordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Se curity Affairs of Indo nesia Mohammed Mah fud MD said on Tuesday.

The visiting minister was speaking on the role of ulema in fostering in terfaith peace and social harmony in India and Indonesia at an event at India Islamic Centre here. “Many times we have witnessed people

who use their religion as a doctrine of absolute truth and readily blame others. We have to go out of this and improve. Re ligion, I think, should be a source of peace, not reason for discord, con flict, or violence,” Mah fud said.

The minister added that the purpose is to provide an opportunity for ulema from India and Indonesia, as well as representatives of other faiths in India, to dis cuss how religious lead

ers could help foster cul ture of peace and social harmony in an inter faith society.

“Our world is facing difficult challenges, ranging from poverty, climate change, food in security, pandemic, cor ruption, unemploy ment, armed conflicts, income inequality, hu man rights abuses, to name but a few. Where are religions when the world fights against all these common con cerns? Religion must be

part of global solution to address those chal lenges,” he added.

He appreciated Na tional Security Advisor Ajit Doval for inviting him to India with a del egation of Ulama. “In Indonesia, we have over 17,500 islands, with 275 million people; 714 tribes; also, over 1,100 lo cal languages; and many religions and faiths.

Freedom of religion and the believers are pro tected by the State. Of those many religions,

six are mentioned in the national administrative laws,” he said.

The idea began when Doval, discussed this with him in Jakarta last March. The purpose is to provide an opportu nity for ulama from In dia and Indonesia, as well as representatives of other faiths in India, to discuss things on how religious leaders could help foster culture of peace and harmony in an interfaith society, Mahfud said.

NSA Ajit Doval with Sirajuddin Qureshi (centre), President of India Islamic Cultural Centre, and Prof. Dr. Mohammed Mahfud, Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs of Indonesia, in New Delhi on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY ANI

n Delhi Police had sought nod for the test n Pre-test med examination fixed on Dec 1

Aaftab being taken back from FSL in Rohini on Tuesday. —PHOTOS BY ANI

Asst Director FSL, Sanjeev Gupta addressing the media over the polygraph test of Aaftab Poonawala on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY ANI

It depends on quality of samples, isolation of DNA from biological re mains, selection of appropriate DNA markers, and trained manpower.

—K Thangaraj Sr Scientist

Dehradun (ANI): The Special Investigation Team of Uttarakhand Police probing the An kita Bhandari murder is considering conduct ing a narco analysis test of the three accused in the case, the state police has said.

2 SENT TO JAIL FOR ATTACKING POLICE VAN

Men carrying swords attack the police van carrying Aaftab in New Delhi on Monday.

WHY THE ‘HASTE’ & ‘LIGHTNING SPEED’

The Supreme Court last week had questioned the “haste” and “tearing hur ry” in appointing Arun Goel as Election Commis sioner. The Centre had ve hemently resisted the ob servations, with the attor ney general asking the court to “hold its mouth” for a while and look into the issue in entirety.

At the outset, a fivejudge Constitution bench headed by Justice K M Jo seph perused the Centre’s original file pertaining to Goel’s appointment as EC, and said, “What kind of evaluation is this? Al though, we are not ques tioning the merits of Arun Goel’s credentials but the process.”

Top Court last week had questioned the “haste” and “tearing hurry” in appointing Arun Goel as Election Commissioner. Centre had vehemently resisted the observations, with the attorney general asking the court to “hold its mouth” for a while and look into the issue in entirety.

Bench, which also comprised Justices Aniruddha, Hrishikesh Roy and CT Ravikumar, said none of 4 names in panel were “carefully handpicked” by law min so that they could complete 6-year tenure

As the bench questioned the “lightning speed” with which Goel was appointed as Election Commissioner and also that his file did not even move within depart ments for 24 hours, the Cen tre through Attorney Gen eral Venkataramani vehe mently urged the bench not to make observations with out looking into the entire issue pertaining to the ap pointment process.

During the hearing, law yer Prashant Bhushan tried to make submissions before the bench while the Attorney General was speaking. “Please hold your mouth for a while,” the top-most law officer had told Bhushan.

The Supreme Court re served its verdict on a batch of pleas seeking a collegium-like system for the appointment of ECs and the Chief Election Commissioner and asked the parties to file written submission in five days.

Justice Ajay Rastogi, who is also a part of the bench, told Venkatarama ni, “You have to listen to the court carefully and an

ARTICLE 324 OF THE CONSTITUTION TALKS ABOUT APPT OF ECs

Supreme court flagged Article 324 of the Constitution, which talks about the ap pointment of election commissioners, and said it does not provide the procedure for such appointments. Moreover, the article had envisaged the enactment of a law by Parlia ment in this regard, which has not been done in the last 72 years. The court also noted that since 2004, no Chief Election Commissioner has completed his six-year tenure and during the 10-year rule of the UPA government, there were six Chief Election Commissioners and in the eight years of the NDA government, there have been 8 Chief Election Commissioners.

swer the questions. We are not on individual candi dates but on the process.”

The Attorney General said he is bound to answer the questions of the court.

The Supreme Court said the 1985-batch IAS officer got voluntary retirement from service in a single day, his file was cleared by the Law Ministry in a sin gle day, a panel of four names were put up before the Prime Minister and Goel’s name got the nod from the President within 24 hours.

The bench, which also comprised Justices Anir uddha Bose, Hrishikesh Roy and CT Ravikumar,

APEX COURT OBJECTS TO LAW MINISTER RIJIJU’S REMARKS ON COLLEGIUM SYSTEM

“Never say that the government is sitting on the files. Then don’t send the files to the govern ment, you appoint yourself, you run the show then,” Rijiju had said.

Kaul said on Monday, “When someone high enough says that..it should not have happened…Mr [attorney general] I have ignored all press reports, but this has come from somebody high enough also. With an interview… I am not saying anything else…” The judge, who is junior only to CJI in seniority, asked AG R Venkataramani to “resolve” the issue, according to Bar and Bench, adding, “Don’t make us take a judicial decision [to ensure that files are cleared].”

Over the past few months, Rijiju has taken repeated swipes at the collegium system.

said none of the four names in the panel were “carefully hand-picked” by the law minister so that they could complete a sixyear tenure.

Venkataramani said that there is a mechanism and criteria for selection and there cannot be a sce nario where the govern ment has to look back at every officers’ track record and ensure that he com pletes a six-year tenure.

Under the Election Com mission (Conditions of Ser vice of Election Commis sioners and Transaction of Business) Act, 1991, an Election Commissioner can have a tenure of six

years or up to the age of 65, whichever is earlier. Speak ing on Arun Goel’s appoint ment, the Attorney Gener al said his profile is impor tant and not the voluntary retirement matter which is being made an issue.

The bench said the 1991 Act says that the Election Commissioner’s tenure is of six years and the gov ernment has to ensure that the person who holds the post completes the stipu lated period. The Apex Court said it is “strug gling” to find the reasons and objects on how the law minister selected a panel of four names who were not going to complete the

stipulated six-year tenure.

On last Wednesday, Arun Goel’s appointment as an Election Commissioner came under the scrutiny by the top court which had sought from the Centre the original records pertaining to his appointment for pe rusal, saying it wanted to know whether there was any “hanky panky”.

The Apex Court, which had rejected the Centre’s objections to its order for producing the original file, had said it wanted to know whether everything was “hunky dory” in the ap pointment process as claimed by the government.

On November 19, Arun

BUILDING OF A SHOWDOWN

s the executive and judiciary heading for a showdown?

Both sides have exchanged harsh words on the process to be adopted for appointment of judges.

The Centre argues that the collegium system is opaque and “alien to the Constitu tion”, while the Supreme Court’s argument is that the National Judicial Ap pointments Commission Act, which the government wants implemented, was struck down by a majority verdict of a Constitution bench hence was not rele vant. The Centre appears in no mood to follow that verdict.

Law Minister Kiren Riji ju, who has been critical of the collegium system for appointment of judges, fired the first salvo after the Supreme Court blamed the

Centre for sitting over names recommended by the collegium. “The Centre is frustrating the appoint ment process of judges in higher judiciary by not clearing names recom mended by its collegium”. Warning the Centre to re

solve the issue and “not force it to take decision on the judicial side”. Rijiju’s response further irked the court. Rijiju said, “Never say that the government is sitting on the files, then don’t send the files to the government, you appoint

yourself, you run the show.”

The exchange did not stop here. Justice SK Kaul of the Supreme Court re torted, “Let them give the power. We have no diffi culty…when somebody high enough says let them do it themselves, we will do

LAW MINISTER KIREN RIJIJU, WHO HAS BEEN CRITICAL OF THE COLLEGIUM SYSTEM FOR APPOINTMENT OF JUDGES, FIRED THE FIRST SALVO AFTER THE SUPREME COURT BLAMED THE CENTRE FOR SITTING OVER NAMES RECOMMENDED BY THE COLLEGIUM

it ourselves, no difficulty”.

On Monday Justices Kaul and AS Oka urged the gov ernment’s law officers to ensure that the law laid down by the apex court for judges’ appointment is fol lowed. This may not be the end of the story.

Goel, a Punjab cadre IAS officer, was appointed as election commissioner. Goel would be in line to be the next CEC after incum bent Rajiv Kumar demits office in February 2025. His total tenure in the Election Commission would be over five years.

He will join Rajiv Ku mar and Election Commis sioner Anup Chandra Pan dey on the poll panel. Arun Goel was the secretary in the Ministry of Heavy In dustries till recently and his voluntary retirement came into effect on No vember 18. He has also served in the Union cul ture ministry.

The bench said since 1990, voices have been raised from various quar ters and once, veteran BJP leader LK Advani had written for a collegiumlike system for constitu tional bodies, including election commissioners. The top court also termed the exploitation of the “si lence of the Constitution” and the absence of a law governing the appoint ments of ECs and CECs a “disturbing trend”.

The court flagged Article 324 of the Constitution, which talks about the ap pointment of election com missioners, and said it does not provide the procedure for such appointments. Moreover, the article had envisaged the enactment of a law by Parliament in this regard, which has not been done in the last 72 years. The court also noted that since 2004, no CEC has completed his six-year ten ure and during the 10-year rule of the UPA govern ment, there were six CECs and in the eight years of the NDA government, there have been eight CECs.

On November 17, the Centre had vehemently opposed a batch of pleas seeking a collegium-like system for the selection of CECs and ECs, contending that any such attempt will amount to amending the Constitution.

TOP TWEETS

Dharmendra Pradhan @dpradhanbjp

Even though the Prime Minister @narendramodi’s government is giving money for houses in the housing scheme, West Odisha has been neglected in the allocation of houses. The Modi government has provided toilets in Swachh Bharat Yojana, money to farmers in Pradhan Mantri Kisan Yojana, piped water to every house, and gas in Jwarja Yojana.

Bhupender Yadav @byadavbjp

Met with Karnataka Chief Minister Shri @BSBommai ji today. We spoke in detail about several issues concerning the sustainable development of the state.

For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. Bible

SPIRITUAL SPEAK

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL

Apex Court bench of SK Kaul and Abhay S Oka objected to Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju’s remarks that the government is not sitting on files recommending the appointment or transfer of judges.

Justice

Hada Sangwan

ROBIN ROY

The writer is Senior Journalist and former Managing Editor, First India

Campaigning ends for first phase of Gujarat polls; Shah attacks Congress

First India Bureau

Kheda: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday alleged that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi used to warn people against taking the Covid-19 vaccine terming it `Modi vac cine’, but later got vac cinated himself secretly.

Addressing a cam paign rally in pollbound Gujarat, he also

New Delhi: The Centre clarified to the Supreme Court that there was no legal compulsion to get a Covid vaccination. In an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, the Centre submitted that the concept of informed consent is inapplicable to the voluntary use of a drug. “While the GoI strongly encourages all eligible persons to take vax in public interest, there is no legal com pulsion for the same,” the affidavit read.

DEATH PENALTY TO 2 BY ODISHA COURT FOR RAPING MINOR

Paradip: Two persons were sentenced to death by a fast-track court in Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur on Tuesday for raping & killing an eight-year-old girl. The incident hap pened in 2014 in Tirtol PS area. The girl was returning home from a shop after buying choc olates when allegedly four people took her to a secluded spot, and raped her. They killed her after that, according to the prosecution.

RIJIJU CROSSED ‘LAKSHMAN REKHA’: SALVE

New Delhi: Displeased over Kiren Rijiju’s recent remarks on the run-ins between the govt and the judiciary over the functioning of the Colle gium, Senior Advocate Harish Salve said the Union Law Minister had crossed the ‘Laksh man Rekha’. Rijiju had criticised the Supreme Court’s observation that the govt was sitting on files relating to appoint ment of judges cleared by Collegium.

said that when he intro duced the bill for abro gating Article 370, op position leaders began to shout like crows in Parliament.

“When Congress

leaders were busy do ing politics during the pandemic, Prime Min ister Narendra Modi worked hard to keep the people of Gujarat safe,” he added. Modi, as

chief minister, estab lished peace in Gujarat, Shah said. “In Gujarat, Congress did nothing except making Hindus and Muslims fight each other. The BJP govern

Rahul gan dhi used to warn people against vaccine say ing do not take `Modi vaccine’ and it could harm you. But thank fully, no one takes him seriously nowadays.

—Amit Shah, Union Home Minister

NADDA: CONG, AAP LIKE QUAILS, WILL FLY AWAY AFTER DESTROYING CROPS

Ahmedabad: BJP president J P Nadda on Tuesday said the opposition Congress and Aam Aadmi Party were like quails who destroy standing crops and fly away. The BJP was here to stay, he said at a rally in tribal-dominated Devgadh Baria town of Dahod district where voting will be held on December 5 in the sec ond phase of the Gujarat Assembly elections.

ment eliminated riots in Gujarat. Such riots benefit neither Hindus nor Muslims. Such vio lence only hinders de velopment,” the Union minister said.

‘DO YOU HAVE 100 HEADS LIKE RAVAN?’, ASKS KHARGE

New Delhi (ANI): Days after PM Narendra Modi clapped back at a Con gress leader’s “aukat” comment, the party’s new chief Mallikarjun Kharge has delivered a new controversy for the party, just before the Gu jarat election, by target ing PM with a “Ravan” reference.

The BJP has accused Kharge of “insulting Gu jarat’s son” repeatedly. Kharge made the com ments while addressing a rally in Ahmedabad ahead of polls next month. “Modi ji is PM but forgetting his work, he keeps campaigning in corporation elections, MLA elections, MP elec tions, and everywhere & all the time he’s talking about himself” Kharge said. “How many times do we see your face? How many forms do you have? Do you have 100 heads like Ravan?” Kharge said, drawing laughter and ap plause from his audience. “Is Modi going to come and work at municipali ty,” Kharge asked.

C ongress president Kharge’s “Ravan” barb at PM Modi on Tuesday triggered a slugfest with the BJP slamming it as an insult of every Gujarati and the Opposi tion party calling the attack on its leader “anti-Dalit tirade”.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra asked voters in Gujarat to do “100 per cent voting for the son of the soil” Modi to take “revenge” in a democratic manner for the “insult”, as he invoked various ob

jectionable remarks made by Congress members over the years against the prime minister. BJP leader Amit Malviya said, “Unable to take the heat of Gujarat election, pushed to the fringe, Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge loses control over his words, calls PM Modi “Ravan”. From “Maut ka Saudagar” to “Ravan”, Congress continues to insult Gujarat and it’s son.”

Slamming Malviya, Con gress’ Pawan Khera asked “why can’t you digest the fact that a Dalit who has worked his way up is the elected prez of Cong”.

ON 7th DAY OF BJY IN MP, RAGA REACHES MAHAKALESHWAR

Shah was speaking at Thasra town in Kheda district where voting for the Gujarat Assem bly elections will be held on December 5, in the second phase.

“Parties like AAP and Congress emerge during the polls, and then disappear. The people of Gujarat must not give opportunity to those who seek votes by making misleading claims. They are like quails. As soon as the crop gets ready, quails come, and fly away after eating away the entire crop,” said Nadda. Both Con gress and shed “crocodile tears” for tribals but did nothing for them for 70 years, he alleged.

Minister Thakur schools media over reporting on terror attacks

New Delhi (PTI): Infor mation and Broadcast ing Minister Anurag Thakur on Tuesday ad vised caution while live reporting terror attacks, saying it should not pro vide clues to attackers and their ill motives.

“Media needs to re port with responsibility in the case of earth quakes, fire and more importantly terrorist attacks. Media must en sure that any live re porting in case of ter rorist attack should not provide clues to the at

tackers and their ill mo tives,” Thakur said while addressing the Asia-Pacific Broadcast ing Union (ABU) Gen eral Assembly here.

While the speed with which information is

transmitted is impor tant, accuracy is even more important and should be primary in the minds of communi cators, Thakur said. The Union minister said maintaining public trust should be the high est guiding principle for responsible media or ganisations. Thakur also credited the media for coming to the aid of those stuck at home dur ing the COVID-19 pan demic, saying it con nected people with the outside world.

walking briskly in the morning after the yatra marched towards Ujjain.

G-20: India plans mega 200 meetings across fifty cities

New Delhi (ANI): India will be hosting over 200 meetings across the na tion in 50 cities as New Delhi is set to assume the Presidency of the G20 for one year from December 1, 2022, to No vember 30, 2023, accord ing to sources.

India will assume the presidency of the Group of 20 (G-20), the alliance of 19 major economies and the Eu ropean Union on De cember 1st of this year.

‘ISIS-led terror still a threat, Ulemas have vital role’

New Delhi (PTI): Em phasising that crossborder and ISIS-inspired terrorism continues to pose a threat, NSA Ajit Doval said on Tuesday that Ulemas have a “vi tal role” to play in coun tering radicalisation and extremism by prop agating progressive ideas and thought. In his opening remarks at a dialogue between the

Indonesian and Indian delegation of Ulema and leaders of other faiths, Doval said the coopera tion of the civil society

is essential in counter ing threat from ISIS-in spired individual terror cells and returnees from theatres like Syria and Afghanistan.

“Cooperation of the civil society is essential in countering the threat from ISIS-inspired indi vidual terror cells and returnees from theatres like Syria and Afghani stan,” Doval said.

CHANGES IN CONGRESS

WOMEN SQUAD OF BSF SHOOTS DOWN DRONE ALONG INDIA-PAKISTAN BORDER

As per the sources, the meetings will take place in less explored parts of country at very exotic locations of India.

PM Modi’s vision is to connect all districts and blocks with G-20 so that the message will reach to masses through Jan Bhagidari initia tives. India will also light up 100 monuments on Dece 1st with the G-20 logo as the country officially takes the pres idency of the grouping.

Earthquake of 2.5 magnitude jolts Delhi, 3rd in 20 days

New Delhi (PTI): An earthquake of magni tude 2.5 struck 8km west of Delhi on Tuesday night at 9.30pm, Nation al Center for Seismolo gy said. The quake struck at a shallow depth of 5km.

However, there were no reports so far of any injury or damage to property. Tremors were felt across the national Capital. This is at least the third earthquake to hit Delhi in the last days.

Will Sonia-Rahul attend the Dec 4 steering committee meeting?

Sonia Gandhi & Rahul Gandhi find place in steering committee formed by Kharge, now question is, whether they will attend this?

Shamsher Singh

New Delhi: After Mall ikarjun Kharge was ap pointed as Congress President, an interest ing development hap pened. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi found place in the steering committee formed by the new Congress Presi dent Mallikarjun Kharge, but the ques

tion is whether both will attend the first meeting of this committee or not? After stepping down from the post of president, Sonia Gandhi is completely away from everyday political ac tivities. In a way, she has retired as her health is also not very good. Therefore it is possible that she may not attend the steering committee

meeting. When Rahul Gandhi was the presi dent, it happened maybe once in a while that Ra hul had held a working committee meeting and

Sonia did not attend. But barring a few excep tions in the last 24 years, Sonia has held all the meetings.

Rahul Gandhi defi

nitely used to remain absent from many meet ings. But that is a thing of the past. Now he has become a serious and round the clock politi cian. But right now he is undertaking the Bharat Jodo Yatra and there is no news that he will leave the trip and come to Delhi to attend the steering committee meeting. Although he had come to Delhi for Kharge’s oath taking ceremony. But there is no news about coming to Delhi for the steering

committee meeting. It is possible that he may join this meeting through video confer encing facility. But if both Sonia and Rahul are not in the meeting then it will be a big deal and then the whole stage will be in the hands of Kharge. Priyanka Gan dhi Vadra will definitely participate in the meet ing but she usually re mains silent in such meetings. That’s why there is a need to keep an eye on the December 4 meeting.

Hyderabad: Hyderabad Police on Tuesday eve ning arrested YSR Tel angana Party chief and Andhra Pradesh CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s

CRPF COMMANDO KILLED IN FIRING BY NAXALITES

Raipur (PTI): A com mando of the CRPF’s jungle warfare unit CoBRA was killed on Tuesday when Naxalites opened fire near a camp of the paramilitary force in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district, police said. The martyred head constable was a native of Palakkad district in Kerala. The incident took place at Dabba konta village where the CRPF set up a camp recently, IG Bastar said.

Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi & Mallikarjun Kharge. —FILE PHOTO

Union Home Minister Amit Shah waves at his supporters while addressing rally in Kapadvanj, Gujarat on Tuesday.

JP Nadda during the road show in Bhavnagar West on last day of campaigning for the phase 1 Gujarat Elections on Tuesday.

sister YS Sharmila along with her six as sociates in connection with a protest outside Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s residence. Earlier today, the police had towed away a car with YS Sharmila sitting inside and detained her.

Indore: Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra headed for Ujjain from Sanwer, In dore on the seventh day of its Madhya Pradesh leg on Tuesday. Gandhi and other Congress leaders includ ing former CM Digvijaya Singh, ex-parliamentarian Prem Chand Guddu were seen

Amritsar: A women squad of the Border Security Force has foiled a cross-border drug-smuggling attempt in Amritsar district by shooting down a drone, which was flying from Pakistan into India with 3.1kg of narcotics, officials said on Tuesday. The troops fired at the drone at on late Monday night after they noticed it enter ing the Indian territory near Chaharpur village, around 40km north of Amritsar city, they said.

V-P JAGDEEP DHANKHAR IN AGARTALA

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar with his wife Sudesh Dhankhar and Tripura CM Manik Saha at a seminar on ‘A New Horizon in the Development of Education’ and an exhibition on ‘Historical & Cultural Heritage of Tripura’, at MBB College, in Agartala on Tuesday.

KHARGE IGNITES ROW

Mallikarjun Kharge while addressing a rally in Gujarat.

Anurag Thakur

BJP SLAMS KHARGE FOR ‘RAVAN’ JIBE AT PM, CONG CALLS IT BJP’S ANTI-DALIT TIRADE

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi performing puja with rituals at the famous Mahakal temple of Lord Shiva in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday.

Rahul Gandhi once advised people against taking Covid-19 vaccine, says Amit Shah

BRIEFS

DIGITAL RUPEE TRIAL STARTS TOMORROW

First India Bureau

New Delhi: Gold price fell `101 to `52,837 per 10 grams on Tuesday amid weak global trends, ac cording to HDFC Securi ties. In the previous trade, the yellow metal had set tled at `52,938 per 10 grams. Silver also de clined `353 to `61,744 per kilogram. “Gold fell to the lowest level in more than a week as the dollar rose from session lows on hawkish comments from members of the US Federal Reserve reiterat ing their fight against in flation,” an official said on Tuesday. —PTI

IPHONE 15 TO COME WITH NEW SONY CAMERA SENSOR

New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India will launch the first pilot for CBDC (Central Bank Digital Cur rency) or retail digital Ru pee (e ` -R) on December 1, it said on Tuesday.

“The pilot would cover select locations in closed user group (CUG) compris ing participating custom ers and merchants. The e ` -R would be in the form of a digital token that rep resents legal tender. It would be issued in the same denominations that paper currency and coins are currently issued. It would be distributed through intermediaries, i.e., banks,” the RBI said in a statement.

SALIENT FEATURES

z Users will be able to transact with e`-R through a digital wallet offered by the participating banks and stored on mobile phones.

Transactions can be both P2P P2M, the central bank said

z The first phase will begin with SBI, ICICI Bank, Yes Bank and IDFC First Bank in four cities. Later, BoB, UBI, HDFC & Kotak Mahindra Bank will join

z Payments to merchants can be made using QR codes displayed at merchant locations

UK delivering on new FTA with India: Rishi Sunak

London (PTI): British Prime Minister Rishi Su nak has reiterated the UK’s commitment to a free trade agreement (FTA) with In dia as part of the country’s wider focus on enhancing ties with the strategic IndoPacific region and standing up to competitors with “robust pragmatism”.

The British Indian lead er reflected upon his herit age and committed to pro moting British values of “freedom and openness” around the world.

He also pledged to “do things differently” far re moved from the so-called “golden era” with China, which he said poses a “sys temic challenge” to British values and interests.

‘PROMOTING BRITISH VALUES’

z Delivering his first major foreign policy speech since taking charge at 10 Downing Street last month at the Lord Mayor of London’s Banquet on Monday night, the British Indian leader reflected upon his heritage and committed to promoting British values of “freedom and openness” around the world

we’re joining the TransPacific trade deal, the CPTPP, delivering a new FTA with India and pursu ing one with Indonesia,” he said.

Nilekani foresees ‘significant economic activity’

New Delhi (PTI): India will witness “significant economic activity” over the next decade on the back of open network for digital commerce (ONDC), record aggregating system and government measures like GST, FAStag and e-way bills, Infosys Technologies co-founder and chairman Nandan Nilekani said on Tuesday.

New Delhi: There’s al most a year left for the ar rival of iPhone 15 series but the rumours and speculations have been endlessly pouring in. In the latest news, the iP hone 15 series is said to use Sony’s new camera sensor that has photodi odes and transistors placed in separate layers, allowing for more photo diodes resulting in well-lit photos. According to a re port, upcoming iPhone 15 series could use Sony’s newest “state of the art” image sensors. — FIB

ONGC GAS PRICE TO BE CAPPED AT $6.5 FOR FIVE YEARS

Users will be able to transact with e₹-R through a digital wallet offered by the participating banks and stored on mobile phones. Transactions can be both Person to Person (P2P) and Person to Mer chant (P2M), the central bank said.

Payments to merchants can be made using QR codes displayed at mer chant locations.

RBI has also selected eight banks for phase-wise participation in this pilot.

OTHER STORIES

The first phase will begin with four banks: State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Yes Bank and IDFC First Bank in four cities. Later, Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank will join this pilot.

The pilot will initially be rolled out in Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru and Bhu baneswar. It will be extend ed to Ahmedabad, Gang tok, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Kochi, Lucknow,

DIRECT SELLING INDUSTRY IN INDIA IS SHOWING CONSISTENT GROWTH, SAYS IDSA

New Delhi: Indian Direct Selling Industry is showing consistent growth. The size of the industry has grown rapidly to over $2 billion last year. Indian Direct Selling Asso ciation (IDSA) is the association of the direct selling companies in India and is contributing to the growth and the development of this sector. Worldwide, the Direct Selling industry is estimated to be over $180.5 billion. Indian industry has grown at a CAGR of 15.7% over the past four years despite the COVID-19 pandemic and is likely grown even more rapidly. —ANI

Patna and Shimla. The scope of pilot may be ex panded gradually to in clude more banks and loca tions, the RBI said.

RBI Governor Shakti kanta Das had earlier this month said that the RBI will follow up on the whole sale e-rupee pilot with a similar trial on the retail side this month itself. The broader wish of the RBI is to execute a full-fledged launch of the CBDC “in the near future”, Das said.

Telecom operators may raise tariffs in

2023: Fitch

New Delhi (ANI): Fitch Ratings expects telecom op erators to raise tariffs in 2023, given the focus on profitability by the service providers.

“Before I came into poli tics, I invested in business es around the world. And the opportunity in the In do-Pacific is compel ling,” Sunak said.

“By 2050, the In do-Pacific will de liver over half of global growth com pared with just a quarter from Eu rope and North America combined. That’s why

India and Britain launched negotiations for the FTA in January with an aim to conclude talks by Diwali but the deadline was missed due to a lack of consensus on issues. The focus of the FTA nego tiations is on reduc ing the barriers to trade, cutting tar iffs, and support ing easier imports and exports into each other’s mar kets.

“...there are three big things coming today, which will over the next decade have more of an impact (on India). I believe in the next 10 years India is going to see significant economic activity which is broad based, inclusive and de mocratised,” he said.

The first is, ONDC sec ond is account aggregator framework and the trans formation happening in the logistics sector due to government initiatives like GST, Fastag and the e-way bill, Nilekani said.

Nilekani said he expects the ONDC — an initiative of the government to pro mote an open platform for all aspects of the exchange of goods and services through electronic net works — to begin soon.

Q2 growth likely slowed to 5.8%: SBI

New Delhi (PTI): Citing a weak manufacturing sec tor coupled with the steep margin compression, SBI Research has pencilled in the country’s GDP growth for the second quarter at 5.8%, down 30 basis points from average estimates.

New Delhi: A govern ment-appointed gas price review panel, led by Kirit Parikh, is recommending a floor and ceiling price for natural gas produced from legacy fields of state-owned firms for five years to help moderate CNG and piped cooking gas rates. State producers Oil and Natural Gas Cor poration (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd (OIL) will be paid a minimum or floor price of $4 per million British thermal unit and a cap or ceiling price of $6.5 as against the cur rent rate of $8.57, three sources with knowledge of the matter said. —PTI

EXPORTS

OF DEFENCE ITEMS TO REACH `17K CRORE IN FY23

New Delhi: Indian airline services Go First on Tuesday received an additional `400 crore under the government’s Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS). The airline is likely to receive 16 new P&W engines in the coming weeks. The no-frills carrier has at least 25 planes on the ground, mainly due to the non-availability of P&W engines that power its A320 fleet. Go First, which can take up to `1,500 crore under the scheme, has so far availed at least a total of `800 cr. —FIB

POSITIVE SIGNS

KIA INDIA FORAYS INTO CERTIFIED PRE-OWNED CAR BUSINESS

New Delhi: Automaker Kia In dia on Tuesday said it has com menced certified pre-owned business in the country with a plan to have 30 sales outlets by the end of the year. The company said its certified pre-owned car business ‘Kia CPO’ intends to provide a new age experience to customers, in line with new car buying experience, that will allow them to sell, buy or exchange pre-owned cars, backed by ownership transfers and customised finance options. —PTI

It said Vodafone Idea needs to increase tariffs as its EBITDA generation is insufficient to meet finance costs and to invest suffi ciently in capital expendi ture. The last time the tel ecom operators raised tar iffs was in late 2021.

“We have only one mar ket on an improving out look - India - compared with two (India and Malay sia) in 2022. Only one mar ket - Sri Lanka - is on a de teriorating outlook. Con solidation is likely to con tinue in most markets as weaker participants face the choice whether to be acquired or decline,” it said in a report.

In a report, SBI Research headed by Soumya Kanti Ghosh said corporate re sults, operating profit of companies, excluding banking and financial sec tor, degrew by 14% in

Q2FY23 as against 35% growth in Q2FY22, though the top line continued to grow at a healthier pace.

Net sales grew by 28%, while bottom line was down by around 23% from

the year ago period. Further, corporate mar gin seems to be under pres sure, as reflected in results of around 3,000 listed enti ties, excluding banking and financial sector, due to higher input costs with de clining operating margins, from 17.7% in Q1FY22 to 10.9% in Q2FY23. Given this and the wide diver gence in market consensus (6.1%) regarding Q2 GDP, SBI sees the economy print ing in at 5.8%.

Sensex, Nifty settle at fresh lifetime highs

New Delhi (PTI): In signs that the country’s civil aviation sector is recovering well, domestic carriers flew more than 4 lakh passengers for two consecutive days. After being severely hit by the coronavirus pandemic, air traffic is picking up but is yet to reach the pre-COVID level when the daily average passenger number was more than 4 lakh. the average passenger number is 3.70 lakh and the same is expect ed to rise in the coming months of December and January.

FUEL PRICE CUT HOPES RISE AS CRUDE OIL PRICES DROP

First India Bureau

New Delhi: The increased partnership with the pri vate sector has led to a substantial rise in defence exports. India achieved exports of defence items and technology worth a record `13,000 crores in 2021-22 and this figure is likely to rise to `17,000 crores in 2022-23. Several factors like rising demand, greater innovation, more conducive policies and a maturing ecosystem in defence and aerospace manufacturing space are leading to growth. — FIB

New Delhi: A huge drop in crude oil prices have rekin dled hopes in India of a possible reduction in fuel prices.

Benchmark Brent crude fell to its lowest since Janu ary on Monday, with prices dropping $2.6/barrel, or more than 3%, to $80.97.

Apprehension over anoth er production cut by the Opec+ grouping of oil ex porters, including Russia, has contributed to the sharp fall.

The fall in Brent crude oil prices has brought down

the cost of ‘Indian Basket’ – or the mix of crude bought by Indian refiners – to $82/ barrel from an average of

$112.8 in March. This fall has raised hopes of a fuel price cut in India as the current petrol and

LOWEST SINCE JANUARY 2022

z Benchmark Brent crude fell to its lowest since January on Monday, with prices dropping $2.6/barrel, or more than 3 percent, to $80.97

z This fall has raised hopes of a fuel price cut in India as the current petrol and diesel prices reflect oil at about $85/barrel

diesel prices reflect oil at about $85/barrel.

Petrol and diesel prices are supposed to be revised

daily but state-owned fuel retailers have not exer cised their rights since April 6. Rates have been on freeze since then except on May 22 when prices were reduced following a cut in excise duty.

Prior to the April freeze, petrol and diesel prices had gone up by ` 10 per litre each. Petrol currently costs `96.72 a litre in the national capital and diesel is priced at `89.62.

If the price reduction happens, this will be the first cut since May 22 when the govt cut excise duty on the two fuels.

New Delhi (PTI): The Sensex and Nifty ended at fresh lifetime peaks on Tuesday amid a largely firm trend in other Asian markets and continuous foreign fund inflows.

The 30-share BSE Sensex gained 177.04 points or 0.28% to settle at 62,681.84, its fresh record closing high. The broader NSE Nifty advanced 55.30 points or 0.30% to end at 18,618.05, its fresh record closing high. Among the Sensex pack, Hindustan Unilever, Sun Pharma, Nestle, Dr Reddy’s, Tata Steel, ICICI Bank, Titan were gainers.

` FALLS 3 PAISE TO CLOSE AT 81.71/$

New Delhi (PTI): The rupee slipped 3 paise to close at 81.71 (provisional) against the US dollar on Tuesday as rising crude oil prices in the international market weighed on forex market sentiment. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened strong at 81.58 but later slipped into the negative territory. During the session, it touched an intra-day high of 81.57 and a low of 81.74 against the greenback. The local unit finally settled at 81.71.

2ND FRONT

Modi: The country’s biggest crowd puller, who has capacity to convert crowd into votes

z Both Narendra Modi and Amit Shah are campaigning in Guja rat and addressing the people in Gujarati. Will that have any ef fect on the voters?

Of course. This is their ‘masterstroke’ as the public connects with it.

I hear them addressing the public in Gujarati and I admire them thinking that the elec tion has slipped from the Opposition’s hands. What ever public meet ing they address and some meeting is ad dressed by those who speak in Gujarati, tell me whom will the voter feel connected to more?

Unless the voter is the staunch supporter of the Congress or AAP or any other party. So this is a ‘masterstroke.’ This move has definitely made an impact.

z Will the enormous crowd that is visible in PM’s rallies con vert into votes?

Definitely. I have ob served a difference in the crowd that Naren dra Modi gets in his ral lies, and the crowd that other leaders garner. His crowd is a genuine crowd. Others’ is a crowd that the party as sembles from various places, but that does not convert into votes. But perhaps he (Modi) is God gifted or may be it is his style, or his hard work or commitment that the crowd that as sembled to hear Modi gets converted into votes. That is why you have 50,000 people at places where the maxi mum capacity is to in corporate 30,000 or so.

Similarly, for Amit Shah, the capacity may be 10,000, but there would be 15,000 people attending the rally. So, this crowd should be considered as genuine.

z How despite the stat ure and terror of Amit Shah, so many rebels have jumped into the electoral foray and will they have any ef fect on the overall equation for BJP?

They can hamper the equation albeit only to a limited extent. But they will come to know the real result of their deci sion only after the elec tion. Defying Amit Shah and not acknowledging his orders since he is a senior leader is a techni cal mistake of these re

bels. It so happens that a person learns about the mistake at the very time, or after it shows some result. Of course, they will hamper par ty’s prospects in 32 as semblies. So, the party also assigns the task re garding the ‘damage control’ to 30-35 people. Yes, there will be some damage, but not in the same proportions as they had thought of when they stood for elec tion, because the entire election is focused on Narendra Modi. They won’t be able to hurt much but like everyone else, I am also surprised with the bravery that these candidates have shown.

z So will the Con gress and AAP rebels also result in a simi lar story for their re spective parties? They too have rebels, but they are irrelevant. They are not going to form the government. They aren’t in the race. They are dividing the 40% vote amongst themselves. Only one estimate claims that the Congress will get 60 something seats, re maining all others have denied; So giving only 25-30 seats to Congress & the rebels can cast their affect on those seats. But the rebels can affect the BJP more since their number is greater in BJP while the number of rebels in Congress is not too high. AAP may have one or two rebels, but it does not have any rele vance. So, as far as dam age caused by rebels is concerned, it will be in context of BJP.

z In the entire cam paigning in Gujarat, the Congress has maintained an unu sual silence. Why is it so?

They are afraid. Once long back, Sonia Gan dhi had used the term ‘Maut Ke Saudagar’, then some one else said something else. These days Jairam Ramesh says something or Chi dambaram says some

thing else. But now it is said that they have been told to keep off. They don’t know what issues to pick apart from what they have said in their manifesto. So, they are cautious that as soon as they say anything, Modi-Shah will catch them and a new contro versy would be created. Thus, they have been asked to remain silent and keep off. And ac cording to me, that it is a ‘wise strategy.’

z What are the real is sues in this Gujarat election? Also, what are the issues that the BJP has been making?

The BJP’s main issue has always been ‘Hindutva,’ whether di rectly or indirectly. Then the second issue it raises is of the double engine government, and their third issue has always been of de velopment, Remaining all other issues are based on a short time span. Even in their manifesto, they ad dressed issues of farm ers, youth, students etc.

But BJP’s basic key is sues are the ones which have been aforemen tioned.

z And what does the Congress’ manifesto say?

The Congress’ mani festo is based on prom ises. They do not want to get into any contro versy. So, firstly they promised OPS Scheme which is given by Ashok Gehlot. Based on this, they are hoping to win the election in Himachal too. Here too they have promised the same and made it an issue. Then they have promised em ployment to 10 lakh peo ple. Thereafter, bring ing the ‘Chiranjeevi Scheme’ like Rajasthan

has been promised as well. Then come free electricity and women centric schemes. So major issues they have addressed and prom ised are is OPS, employ ment and the ‘Chiran jeevi Scheme.’

z Talking about promises, what has AAP promised or made into an issue?

AAP has only one promise. They promise everything to be free. Free electricity, water, education etc. And they also say that they will give everything for free and cite the example of Delhi and Punjab, where they have actu ally implemented their ‘free’ agenda. It is a separate issue that now a debate has started in the nation regarding freebies.

z After Delhi and Punjab, now AAP has promised freebies in Gujarat. What do you think will be its effect?

It won’t have much ef fect. An effect can hap pen only in totality and that is when the voters, as a whole, become ‘game- changer.’ Now that we have already made an assessment that these parties will be restricted within 9 seats and other survey claims not more than 15-20 seats. These is sues will perhaps bring AAP to a few seats.

z So by that meas ure, do you think BJP will taste victo ry in the New Delhi’s MCD elections?

BJP is making its best attempt to win the elec tions. It has got all its Central Ministers and Chief Ministers to cam paign there. But my analyses is that it will be difficult to bring

Modi’s crowd is a genuine crowd. Others’ is a crowd that the party assembles from various places, but that does not convert into votes. But perhaps he (Modi) is God gifted or may be it is his style, or his hard work or commitment that the crowd that assembles to hear Modi gets converted into votes. That is why you have 50,000 people at places, where the maximum capacity is to incorporate 30,000 or so

down AAP. They (BJP) may come close to in number of wards, but AAP gets ruled out or is routed, I don’t see that happening. Astrologers claim that though AAP will not have any major victory in Assembly elections, but in local body elections, AAP cannot be ruled out.

z Then why is BJP’s entire campaign fo cused on negative propaganda on AAP? Everything is fair in love and war. Secondly, what BJP has done, like the videos and stings of AAP, they are all genu ine. They can’t deny that they haven’t taken money. They cannot deny that a person was massaging their leader,

who has a rape case against him, in jail. They also can’t deny that they sold their tick ets. So, it can be termed as BJP’s negative cam paign on AAP, but it is based on facts and is logical as well.

z How do you analyse the ‘Women Factor’ in these elections con sidering a lot of women are now tak ing to active politics? The factor is reasonable and although it is not in proportion with the number of women in society, still the number of active women in pol itics is reasonable. BJP has fielded 17 female candidates and Con gress has fielded 14, while AAP has fielded

7, so there has been a reasonable representa tion of Gujarati women in these election.

z But if we look closely, it seems that the political parties do not give that rele vance to women or to put in another way, they are not given as many tickets as men? There must be a tactical or political reason for it. Considering that all po litical parties eye wom en voters and introduce schemes for them. There are talks of 50% reser vation, 35% reservation, laws are framed for them and lots of other steps are taken, but when it comes to ground reality, I think, that the parties do not get win ning candidates in good numbers and hence women do not get more tickets. Look at Con gress, they brought the slogan ‘Ladki Hoon Lad Sakti Hoon’ during Ut tar Pradesh polls, but they did not bring that slogan to Gujarat. So, every party has this rule to give tickets according to the representation in their organisation.

z But luring the fe male voters is also im portant. So what are the promises made by all three parties?

You can’t ignore the fe male voters as they are almost 48% i.e. almost half of 4.90 crore total voters in the State. Thus, the parties will have to bring populist schemes like free education, free gas cylinder, free elec tricity, free scooty or free computers. These are some of the things every government and party engages in.

z What is this ‘5P’ that is being heard in the Gujarat election?

Narendra Modi brings out a new miracle from his hat every day. This ‘5P’ will be a success and everyone is observ ing how successful it will be. He gives a slo gan and that becomes super hit. He gave the slogan ‘Lets make Guja rat’ and that became hit. Now he has given this ‘5P,’ and that has already become a hit amongst the masses.

z Will the Morbi bridge collapse re sult in any effect on these elections? There was a probability that it could have cast some effect, but BJP handled the entire epi sode with utmost grit and smartness. It could not become an issue. Secondly. political par ties have their own inter est. Some tried to make it an issue and I read that 132 people died, but no party is ready to give away its vote. Congress has made an issue over it and has said that 132 people have died and FIR has been registered then at least name the con tractor in the FIR or form a Judicial Commis sion or do something else in the matter. Chid ambaram said no one apologised, no case was registered and no one resigned. But still Morbi incident has not had that big an effect, as much as the people were hoping it would have had. Then BJP played a master stroke in this. The per son, who saved the peo ple, Kanubhai, the party gave him a ticket. So, Morbi has a moral influ ence, but I don’t think it will become a major is

sue in this election.

Dr Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Bharat24-Vision of New India and First India, CMD First India News, highlights what sets Modi led BJP campaign apart from other parties in Gujarat, how the issues created by other parties have become inconsequential, what role rebels will play in hurting BJP and what will be their political future post election. Dr Chandra also stresses that AAP may perhaps perform better in MCD elections than assembly elections and that the Morbi bridge collapse incident was handled superbly by BJP due to which the Opposition parties have not been able to make an issue around it. Excerpts... (Part II)

Dr Jagdeesh Chandra with (R to L) Astha Khandelwal, Poornima Mishra, Aditi Nagar, Pooja Yadav, Shweta Raje, Amit Mishra, Kshama Tripathi and Manish Desai during The JC Show.

Un discrepancy to the ‘every day smiley catalogue girl’,

Queen and donning the stage with her charm and confi dence, Bhakti has proved that she was born to conquer the fashion world.

It is rightly said that one should not mind their makeup every time, but make up their mind once in a while.

The 25-year-old diva showed the world that she just does not have good looks but learned good books. She

ing a student to being a fash ion designer was very hap pening and great, I always dreamt about being an inspir ing artist and wanted to get framed in a big bang poster to make my parents and myself proud”.

Bhakti’s inimitable style transformation from freshfaced girl to modelling power house shook everyone, when asked about her struggle the crowned beauty said, “I

strongly believe that if you re ally desire something from the heart then the whole uni verse will work towards get ting you that. From being re jected because of not so good personality, I made sure to give myself a chance and work on myself and present out there as a talented artist. I am working as a stylist in a production house for 4 years and also realised that there are many girls who have been rejected for their looks. I pre sented myself the way I am the way, I wanted to show the real me, my work, etc. I always wanted to inspire other dreamers. Rejections are mo tivation to the one who really wants to achieve dignity and success, and I wanted to be a voice for those who think they can’t do what they dream.”

The elegant queen further said, “I am extremely grateful to Dr Jagdeesh Chandra and First India Queen for making my dream come true, some thing great like this can only be visualized by JC sir, he has opened open the gates of op portunity for many deserving girls like us.”

Bhakti Jani, the winner of First India Queen, which took place on Friday, October 21 at the Jade Ballroom of the Sahara Star in Mumbai, shares her journey with City First

UTTKARSHA SHEKHAR uttkarsha.shekhar@firstindia.co.in

FIRST INDIA QUEEN

Jagdeesh Chandra along with Aditi Jaggi Rastogi felicitate Bhakti Jani

Jagdeesh Chandra along with Aditi Jaggi Rastogi and Pearl Agarwal (Winner First Miss India 2021) and the participants congratulate Bhakti Jani on being crowned as the Winner of First India Queen 2022

—PHOTOS BY SANTOSH SHARMA

SUPER INDIANS RAJASTHAN CHAPTER

City First brings to you some more glimpses from the Super Indians Rajasthan Chapter organised by First India News Rajasthan and Bharat24 News channel on Sunday at Lake City Udaipur. The lamp lighting of the program was done in five-star Hotel Ananta in the presence of Dr Jagdeesh Chandra along with Assembly Speaker Dr CP Joshi, renowned film actor Govinda, Rajasthan Foundation Commissioner Dhiraj Srivastava, Erstwhile Mewar royal family member Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar, Chief Business Office and Strategic Advisor Manoj Jagyasi, Newly appointed Managing Editor of Bharat-24 Shamsher Singh and First India News Editor Jinendra Singh Shekhawat and other dignitaries. During the event, actor Govinda conducted panel discussions in three different sessions with experts from different fields and shared valuable information.

Celebration of Indian design

CITY FIRST

The unveiling of Pernia’s PopUp Studio was held at Indian Handicrafts Emporium in Mehrauli, Del hi on November 26.

Headlining names at the grand launch of Per nia’s Pop-Up Studio, In dian Handicrafts Empo rium in Mehrauli in cluded design mavens and some of the most glamorous influencers in Indian fashion. The evening soiree would have been incomplete without these re markable change makers, who, with their forward-think ing and unparalleled skill set, are chang ing the face of the industry.

As you drive around Delhi, you come across many colossal monuments that re flect the influence of Mughal architecture throughout the citysome widely known, some forgotten over time. Pernia’s Pop-Up studios are the big gest experience cen tre at the Indian Handicrafts Empo rium in Mehrauli and also a most cel ebrated hub for de sign and luxury.

Sprawling across

BY MANOJ KESHARWANI

A MOMENT TO CHERISH!

50,000 sq. ft., The brandnew flagship store is steeped in tradition and history. Remi niscent of Indian heritage, a life-sized elephant sculpture greets you on entering the magnificent destina tion. A thoughtful juxta position of Mughal and Islamic architecture, the iconic facade boasts stone arches, monolith ic arched gateways and antique statues.

Action Hero in

Pracheen

Dr Shobha Koser (Kathak Dancer), Dr Pohankar (Vocal Recital), Yogesh Samsi with Ustad Akram Kumar (Tabla Jugalbandi), Purbayan Chatterjee (Sitar Recital) and many more will be going to grace the event with their performances.

Pracheen Kala Kendra is one of the oldest, premier and most prestigious organisations in the country dedicated to the promotion, preservation and dissemination of Indian Classical arts. At present, Pracheen Kala Kendra is a well-known institution imparting quality education and training under ancient Gurukul parampara in the subjects of Indian Classical Music including Carnatic Music (Vocal and Instrumental), Classical Dances (e.g. Kathak, Bharatnatyam, etc.) and Fine Arts (Painting) and conducting examinations in the field of performing and visual arts for the last 60 years.

UJJWAL GUPTA ROARED FIERCELY IN BHARAT 24’S SPECIAL PROGRAM

CITY FIRST

The special pro gram titled “UP Ke Mann Ki Baat Fi rozabad Se” organ ised by the national chan nel Bharat24 witnessed eminent personalities such as Dharmaveer Pra japati (Minister of State (Independent Charge) Prisons and Home Guards Department, For mer Minister of State for Industrial Development, UP Government) special guest Manish Asija (MLA Sadar and Secre tary Legislative Party Ut tar Pradesh Legislative Assembly) and Ujjwal Gupta (BJP Mahila Morcha leader) were present on stage along with Shishir Awasthi (Bharat 24. Con sulting Editor), Avnish Vidyarti (UP Head), with Mahima Singh Kanwar (Anchor) to kept their views in the said pro gram. During the pro gram, Ujjwal Gupta, the firebrand leader of Mahila Morcha, attract ed everyone with her statement.

Emphasizing political

empowerment she stated that women have been empowered in every field, but still their par ticipation in politics is very less, mainly because of the various challenges they have to face. Today, if a woman wants to do politics without any political legacy, then various kinds of question marks start arising from her. If a man helps someone at 12:00 in the night, then he is a leader, whereas if a woman goes to help a de prived oppressed at night, then question marks will arise her, which will make her think about whether she should move forward or not. In today’s time, there is a need to change the social attitude and while

requesting to improve the social and political at titude towards women, told that the leadership of women is a symbol of power in society, the po litical rights of women are also described in our Vedas. Praising the sensi tivity of the BJP govern ment towards women and the sense of political and social justice to wards their rights, she mentioned various schemes.

During this, Mancha sin Shishir Awasthi, Sa dar MLA and Minister also praised the state ment of Ujjwal Gupta, Ujjwal Gupta spoke strongly about the par ticipation of women and her` statement received a lot of praise and applause.

—PHOTOS

Dr Jagdeesh Chandra greeted Manoj Jagyasi, Chief Business Officer & Strategic Advisor, Bharat24- Vision of New India, on the occasion of latter’s birthday. The former reached his residence in Ahmedabad on Tuesday morning and wished him good health & success.

Leah Isadora Behn, the second daughter of Märtha Louise of Norway, dances with her cavalier, Lakshraj Prakash, the younger son of Diya Kumari of Jaipur, at le Bal des Débutantes in Paris.

Bharat 24 organised the program titled ‘UP Ke Mann Ki Baat Firozabad Se’ in a grand manner at Firozabad Club Limited. Dharamveer Prajapati (Minister of State (Independent Charge) Prisons and Home Guards Department, Former Minister of State for Industrial Development, UP Government) was present as the chief guest in the programme, while the program was presided over by Manish Asija the popular Sadar MLA and Assembly Secretary of Suhagnagari Firozabad. During the program, Bharat24’s Consulting Editor and Digital Head Shishir Awasthi and UP Bureau Avneesh Vidyarthi were present. The forum was successfully conducted by Bharat 24’s anchor Mahima, during the program, various issues were kept by the guests of the show. Ujjwal Gupta of Mahila Morcha emphasized the political empowerment of women at the show. Youth Chairman Sant Kumar and Soni Shivhare Jasrana’s young Chairman Avnish Gupta of Survey Sarva and many more wellknown faces of the city were present in the programme.

Kala Kendra is going to organise the tenth “Guru M.L. Koser” Festival of Music and Dance on December 13 and 14 December at Kamani Auditorium, New Delhi. This event is supported by the ministry of culture, the government of India.

Bollywood film directors Bhushan Kumar, Aanand L Rai and actors Ayushmann Khurrana and Jaideep Ahlawat pose for a photograph during a promotion of their upcoming film ‘Action Hero’ in New Delhi on Tuesday.

—PHOTOS BY SHAZID CHAUHAN

Madhuri Dixit during the unvling ceremony

The gorgeous beauty, Madhuri admires the art work

Visuals of Pop-Up store

Ujjwal Gupta during the show

Madhuri

Dixit Nene

Nandini Singh

Aanand L Rai, Bhushan Kumar, Ayushmann Khurrana and Jaideep Ahlawat