First India-Delhi Edition-31st October 2022

OVER 78 DEAD AS CABLE BRIDGE COLLAPSES IN MORBI

were celebrating the festival of Chhath.

Morbi: A major acci dent occurred due to the breakdown of a ca ble bridge in Gujarat’s Morbi, on Sunday. The newly constructed ca ble bridge over the Machhu river was opened 3 days ago and more than 78 died in the tragedy. About 500 peo ple were present on the bridge at the time of the accident. All of them

Crucial

BHARAT JODO YATRA: RAHUL SPRINTS WITH YOUNG BOYS IN T’GANA

Around 400 people are feared drowned in the canal in this accident.

Several ambulances have reached the spot to take the injured to the hospital, rescue work is going on. PM Narendra Modi speaks to Gujarat CM Patel and seeks ur gent mobilisation of teams for rescue ops af ter cable bridge collapse in Gujarat’s Morbi.

MODI’S MEGA PUSH...

MAKE IN INDIA, MAKE FOR WORLD!

PM lays foundation stone of Gujarat plant for C-295 planes

Moni Sharma

Total cost of the project is said to be around `21,935 crore

Hyderabad: The lazy Sunday morning in Gollapalli in Mahbubnagar district in Telangana was turned into a sprint field as 52-year young Rahul Gandhi challenged a few young boys for a sprint even as other Cong leaders were caught unawares.

Telangana PCC President Revanth Reddy also started scooting from brisk walk. P6

SUPREME COURT TO HEAR 232 PLEAS ON CAA ISSUE TODAY

New Delhi: The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear around 240 PILs, including a large batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), on Monday after a nine-day Diwali vacation.

BYE BYE PAK TRENDS ON TWITTER AFTER INDIA’S LOSS TO SA

Perth: India and South Africa fought in a low scoring game of 134 runs at the Perth Stadium in Perth on Sunday. India’s loss means Pakistan virtually crashing out of World Cup and the result has sparked a meme fest on Twitter following Men in Green’s confirmed elimination.

AAMIR KHAN’S MOM

HOSPITALISED AFTER HEART ATTACK

Mumbai: Actor Aamir Khan‘s mother Zeenat has reportedly suffered a massive heart attack at her Panchagani house. Aamir Khan was with her during Diwali when his mother suffered a heart attack. Actor immediately flew her to Breach Candy hospital.

Vadodara: Prime Min ister Narendra Modi on Sunday laid the founda tion stone for the plant to manufacture C-295 aircraft in Vadodara in Gujarat. The joint ven ture of Airbus and Tata Advanced Systems Lim ited will manufacture 40 C-295 military trans port planes at the facil ity as part of a Rs 22,000 crore deal to supply 56 such aircraft. The Rest 16 planes will be sup plied from Spain.

Modi said that air craft manufacturing in Vadodara is India’s gi ant leap towards becom ing self-reliant in the aviation sector. He said that India is going to be a major hub for mani curing large aircraft.

PM Narendra Modi announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh from the PMRF for the next of kin of each of those who lost their lives in the bridge collapse in Gujarat’s Morbi. The injured would be given Rs 50,000 each. ‘I express my condolences to the families of the citizens who lost their lives in the tragedy. The state government will provide Rs 4 lakhs to the family of each deceased and Rs 50,000 to the injured,’ said CM Bhupendra Patel.

I am deeply saddened by the accident in Morbi. I have spoken to Harsh Sanghavi, MoS for Home and other officials of Gujarat in this matter. Local administration is engaged in providing relief work with full readiness, NDRF is also reach ing the spot soon. The administration has been directed to provide immediate treatment to the injured.

—Amit Shah, Home Minister

horror: Death toll in Seoul stampede rises to

Seoul: South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-

48 LAKH BOTTLES OF LIQUOR WORTH OVER ` 100 CR SOLD IN DELHI ON WEEKEND BEFORE DIWALI

New Delhi (PTI): More than 48 lakh bottles of liquor worth over Rs 100 crore were sold in Delhi on the weekend preceding Diwali, offi cials said on Sunday.

People celebrated Di wali with pomp on Mon day after two years of muted festivities due to the COVID pandemic.

Diwali, October 24 (Monday), was a dry day in the national capital.

“That led to a rush on the weekend from Fri day to Sunday with

heavy

the city,” said a

“More than 48 lakh

were sold on Friday-Sunday, worth over Rs 100 crore, ahead of Diwali on October 24,” he said. The aver age daily sale of liquor in Delhi is around 12.50 lakh bottles, he said.

Giving details, offi cials said 13.56 lakh bot tles worth over Rs 30 lakh were sold on Fri day and 15.09 lakh bot

of

tles

on Saturday.

On Diwali eve on Oc tober 23, a record sale

ness

ing under scanner and

into an alleged “scam”

INSIDE STORIES

A day after an 18-year-old DPS student was found dead at a residential society in Gurugram, police booked his friend for murder. P2

News portal ‘The Wire’ has filed a police complaint against its former consultant Devesh Kumar whose story led to a police FIR against The Wire and its editors. P3

A 42-year-old property dealer was shot dead in sleep at his home by unidentified assailants in early hours on Sunday, Gurugram

said.

average daily sale of liquor in Delhi is 12.50 lakh bottles.

A devotee offers ‘Arghya’ to the setting sun on day of Chhath Puja, in the pond near Kartavya Path in New Delhi, on Sunday. —PHOTO BY ANI

First India Bureau

PM Narendra Modi speaks to Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel, inquires about mishap

PM MODI, CM ANNOUNCE `2L, `4L EXGRATIA RESP FOR BEREAVED FAMILIES

About 500 people were present to celebrate the festival of Chhath when a cable bridge collapsed in the Machchhu river, in Morbi on Sunday. More than 400 people feared drowned in the canal in this accident, the injured were soon taken to the neaby hospital.

This is joint venture of Airbus and Tata Advanced Systems Ltd

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Acharya Devvrat, Rajnath Singh, Jyotiraditya M Scindia, Bhupendra Patel, Christian Scherer and other dignitaries during the foundation stone laying ceremony of C-295 transport aircraft manufacturing plant, in Vadodara, Gujarat on Sunday.

PHOTO BY ANI

Ambulances carrying victims to the hospital near the Hamilton Hotel where incident happened in Seoul, South Korea on Sunday.

President Yoon Suk Yeol declares a national mourning

Diwas,

Diwas

celebrated

The first and, to date, the only female Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi served as PM from January 1966 to March 1977 and again from January 1980 until her death in 1984. Late Congress politician was assassinated by her bodyguards on Oct 31, 1984, after she ordered military action in Golden Temple in Operation Blue Star. P8

Air thickens, worsens in NCR

z Delhi’s air quality was ‘very poor’ on Sunday and deterio rated to ‘severe’ in some areas.

New Delhi (PTI): En vironment Minister Gopal Rai on Sunday said the Delhi govern ment has set up 586 teams to ensure strict implementation of the ban on construction and demolition activi ties in the capital in view of worsening air quality.

Rai also requested the Uttar Pradesh gov ernment to use CNG buses in the national capital region, saying diesel-run buses have a big role in high pollu tion levels at the DelhiUP border.

Addressing a press conference, Rai said ex perts have forecast that wind speed and direc tion will become unfa vourable from Novem

ber 1 which will push the air quality index into 'severe' category.

"We held a meeting with all construction agencies and govern ment departments, in cluding PWD, MCD,

Satyendar Jain flouts jail norms in Tihar: ED to court

New Delhi (ANI): Delhi Minister Satyendar Jain has been getting special treatment inside the Tihar Jail, sources said quoting an affida vit filed by the Enforcement Directorate in the trial court as he meets with his wife regularly. Satyendar Jain's wife, Poonam Jain, has been given access to his cell and she meets the Delhi minister beyond the limits permissible, ED alleged in its affidavit presented to the Trial Court, the sources told ANI. According to sources, the ED has submitted an affidavit to the trial court stating that Satyendar Jain is getting special treatment inside Tihar jail.

The ED report also stated that Poonam Jain has been given access to the minister's cell where she stays with him for hours beyond the permissible limits.

It is pertinent to note that Satyendar Jain is the Jail Minister as well, and the jail where he has been lodged comes directly under his prerogative. Meanwhile, the ED has also sub mitted a copy of CCTV footage to support its point in the affidavit.

The ED sources have revealed that the vid eo footage showed Satyendar Jain getting a massage inside the Tihar jail prem ises. CCTV footage also showed the jail superintendent meet ing him regularly.

ED further disclosed be fore the court that Satyen dar Jain has access to home made food without the court's permission.

Jail's CCTV footage also showed Jain meet ing with a co-accused for hours together inside his cell.

Railways, DDA, Delhi Pollution Control Com mittee. We have decid ed to implement the ban on construction and demolition (C&D) activities," Rai said.

The government has

Three men rob SUV at gunpoint

New Delhi (PTI): A 35-year-old man was al legedly robbed of his SUV by three persons at gun point in Delhi's Cantonment area, po lice said on Sunday.

On Saturday at 5.19 am, Delhi Cantt police station received infor mation regarding car jacking from National Highway-8. The com plainant, who is a resi dent of Meerut, said that three unknown persons came on a mo torcycle and robbed his white Toyota Fortuner car from him at gun point, police said.

A case under section 397 (robbery) and 34 of the IPC was registered.

A purported video of the incident was found to be circulating on so cial media. In the video, the driver parks his white Fortuner car near the spot where three persons come on a mo torcycle. When the SUV owner comes out of the vehicle, a man takes out a pistol from his pocket and threatens him.

Two other gun wield ing accused also came and all the three escape from the spot along with the car.

prepared a strong mon itoring system to en sure compliance of the directions. It has set up 586 teams comprising officials of different de partments, he said.

Rai also said Anand

z Overall air quality index (AQI) stood at 367 at 9am and it improved to 352 at 4pm Sunday.

z Anand Vihar (AQI 449) was the most polluted place in the capital, followed by Vivek Vihar (AQI 402).

Vihar and Vivek Vihar have been reporting high pollution levels continuously which could be due to con struction work related to Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS).

Stubble burning share in air pollution rises to 26%

New Delhi (PTI): The share of stubble burning in Delhi PM2.5 pollution rose to 26 per cent on Sun day, the highest this year so far, amid an increase in farm fires and favourable conditions for trans port of emissions to Delhi-NCR.

On Saturday, farm fires accounted for 21 per cent of the PM2.5

pollution in the na tional capital.

PM2.5 are fine par ticles that are 2.5 mi crons or less in diam eter and can travel deep into the respira tory tract, reaching the lungs and enter ing the bloodstream.

The contribution of stubble burning to Delhi's PM2.5 pollu tion remained low (up to 7 per cent) till

Friday due to a pro longed rain spell in early October and slow transport-level winds which were not strong enough to car ry smoke from farm fires to the national capital.

On Diwali (October 24), stubble burning contributed five to eight per cent to the total PM2.5 pollution in Delhi.

Friend booked for murder of DPS student

First India Bureau

Gurugram: A day after an 18-year-old Delhi Public School (DPS) stu dent was found dead at a residential society in Sector 45 here, the Har yana Police on Sunday booked his friend, based on a complaint from the victim’s father, alleging murder.

The boy had appar ently died after falling from the eighth floor of an apartment building.

The boy had on Satur day gone to meet his friend on the fourth floor of a building in a residential complex in Gurugram’s Sector 45.

The victim’s father stated in his complaint that at around 1pm on Saturday his wife got a call that their son was not feeling well.

“When my wife ar rived in the society, my son was lying in a pool of blood. He was rushed to hospital where doc

Legal action should be taken against the guilty. My son was a football player and was mentally and physically healthy.

—Victim’s father, in complaint to police

tors declared him dead. My son has been mur dered and I want strict action against the cul prits,” the victim’s fa ther said.

According to the po lice, no suicide note was found and the boy’s mo bile phone is being checked.

Following the fa ther’s complaint, an FIR under IPC section 302 (murder) was regis tered against the friend.

Police analysed CCTV footage from cameras installed on the ground floor, in which it could be seen that the youth entered

at 12.53 pm and went to the fourth floor, a police officer said.

Soon after, he came down by lift but again went to the fourth floor. He then came to the ground floor before go ing to the eighth floor and was found lying in a pool of blood mo ments later.

According to police, the friend said the duo were in the same school earlier but were now in different schools.

Woman hangs herself, family alleges dowry

New Delhi (PTI): A 26-year-old woman alleg edly hanged herself in Sultanpuri area, with family members alleg ing she was killed over dowry, police said.

A case was registered against the woman's husband Rajesh and he has been arrested.

On Friday, police re ceived information that a woman hanged herself. As the death took place within seven years of marriage, the sub-divi sional magistrate, Kan jhawla was informed.

The spot was inspect ed and a scarf (chunni) was seized, police said.

META FIASCO

‘The Wire’ files police complaint against researcher

zzz

Devesh Kumar’s story on Meta platforms and influence of BJP’s Amit Malviya on them has led to a police FIR against The Wire and its editors

New Delhi (PTI): News portal ‘The Wire’ has filed a police complaint against its former con sultant Devesh Kumar whose story on Meta, which controls Face book and Instagram, and BJP’s IT depart ment head Amit Malvi ya has led to Delhi Po lice registering an FIR against The Wire and its editors.

A police officer said that the news portal filed the complaint late on Saturday through e-

mail. On Saturday, Del hi Police had filed an FIR based on a com plaint by Malviya, who accused The Wire of “cheating and forgery”

and “tarnishing” his reputation.

Malviya had on Fri day said he will pursue criminal proceedings against the portal over

stories, since retracted, which insinuated that he enjoyed a special privilege on Meta plat forms through which he could get any story taken down.

Malviya’s complaint was filed with Special Commissioner (Crime) against ‘The Wire’, its founding editors Sid dharth Varadarajan, Sidharth Bhatia and MK Venu, deputy editor Jahnavi Sen, the Foun dation for Independent Journalism, and some

unknown people.

Though ‘The Wire’ has apologised to its readers and withdrawn the stories, the BJP leader had noted that the news portal did not offer him an apology. The Wire, in a state ment on Thursday, said, “Technological evi dence is more compli cated and the usual due diligence may not al ways reveal the fraud perpetrated upon a pub lication. This is what happened to us,” it said.

Two men from Delhi swept away in Ganga in Rishikesh

Dehradun (PTI): Two men from Delhi were swept away by strong current in the Ganga river in Muni ki Reti near Rishikesh on Sat urday, police said.

The two men—Vansh Kaushal, a resident of Delhi’s Prashant Vihar area, and Kumar Gaurav, a resident of Chhatarpur area—have not yet been traced.

Kaushal and Gaurav, both aged 26, got down into the Ganga after rafting at Neem Beach and were swept away by the strong current.

A State Disaster Re sponse Force (SDRF) team rushed to the spot and launched a search and rescue operation. Divers were also pressed into service but the two men could not be traced. The search operation will resume on Sunday morning. The families have been informed, police said.

n Delhi govt sets up 586 teams to monitor ban on construction, demolition activities

A boatman rows a boat while a large number of migratory seagull birds fly over the Yamuna river on Sunday.

—PHOTO BY ANI

A farmer

Jalandhar

—PHOTO BY PTI

Family members and relatives of a victim, who died after a landslide at Ratle Power Project site on Saturday, perform his last rites in Kishtwar district on Sunday. At least four persons were killed and six others injured in the mishap, according to officials.

—PHOTO BY PTI

Thousands throng ponds, ghats for Chhath Puja

New Delhi (PTI): After two years of restric tions owing to Covid, thousands of devotees thronged ghats and makeshift ponds across the capital on Sunday to worship the Sun God as part of Chhath Puja cel ebrations.

Devotees, especially women keeping the ar duous 36-hour-long fast 'Nirjala Vrat', sang de votional and folk songs and offered 'arghya' to the Sun God while standing in knee deep water at ghats or make shift ponds.

Chhath puja is cele brated on the sixth day after Diwali and is also known as Surya Sashthi as it is dedicated to the Sun God. It is one of the most popular festivals in eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

After two years of Covid-induced restric tions, Chhath Puja is being celebrated this year at public places on a large scale in Delhi.

New Delhi: Days af ter he filed a com plaint against BJP MP Parvesh Verma and BJP leader Ta jinder Bagga for ‘ob structing discharge of official duty and criminal intimida tion’, Jal Board Direc tor, Treatment and Quality Control, San jay Sharma took bath in the Yamuna water after defoamer was sprayed into the river. A controversy broke out over the spraying

Property dealer shot dead by 2 armed men

of the chemical ahead of Chhath in an at tempt to get rid of the foam on the surface of the river. On Sunday, Sharma collected wa ter from the river and took a bath on the banks, seemingly in a bid to prove there was nothing hazardous in the defoamer.

Heavy flow from UP caused foam on Yamuna: Gopal Rai

New Delhi (ANI): Delhi Environment Min ister Gopal Rai has claimed that the speedy flow of river Yamuna from UP is the cause behind foam formation atop the river in the national capital.

“High-speed river flow from UP is the main cause for the foam formation over the river in Delhi, especially in the Kalindi Kunj area,” Environment Minister Gopal Rai said quot ing scientists of Delhi Jal Board.

The minister cited “multiple reasons” as the cause for the increase in air pollution dur ing winter in Delhi.

Rai further assured that a ‘monitoring com mittee’ will be formed to keep a watch over construction works in Delhi.

New Delhi (PTI): Deputy CM Manish Sisodia and Revenue Minister Kailash Gahlot on Sunday inspected Chhath Puja prepara tions in the national capital. “Just went to Qutub Vihar-Matiala and inspected the Chhath Puja Ghat. People are very happy with the arrangements made by Delhi govern ment. The members of Chhath Committee expressed their grati tude to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal area MLA Gulab Singh Yadav,” Gahlot tweeted after the visit.

No

Gurugram (PTI): A 42-year-old property dealer was shot dead in sleep at his home by unidentified assailants in early hours on Sun day, police said here.

Dharmesh Yadav of Dundahera village was sleeping in his underconstruction house in Sector 22, where two armed men murdered him around 2 am.

A worker sleeping in the same building raised an alarm and in

formed the victim’s family, DCP Deepak Sarahan said.

A police team reached the spot and tried to take the body in custody for autopsy but the victim’s family members re fused, demanding the arrest of the accused first. Police Commis sioner Kala Ramachan dran assured the family that the accused will be nabbed soon, only after that the body was hand ed over to police..

New Delhi (ANI): On the third day of Chhath Puja 2022, the Delhi administration officials have decorat ed the ITO Ghat near the Yamuna river for devotees to offer prayers on Arghya to the setting sun and on Usha Arghya to the rising sun.

As per the National Green Tribunal (NGT) laws, no offerings are allowed to be im mersed in the river Yamuna during the festivities.

For the devotees, the

Delhi Jal Board offi cials sprayed chemi cals into the river Ya muna to deal with the problem of foam for mation on the surface of the river.

Ahead of the Chhath Puja, which is usually celebrated on the river banks in northern India, the DJB officials sprayed chemicals on the sur face near Kalindi Kunj, with the aim to remove the toxic foam formed by the high levels of pollutants in the water.

‘BJP’s intention is bad on Uniform Civil Code’

Bhavnagar (PTI): Del hi CMArvind Kejriwal on Sunday questioned the intention of BJP government in pollbound Gujarat behind its move to constitute a committee to imple ment the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and said if the BJP wants to do so, it should do it across the country.

Kejriwal asked whether the BJP-led central government was waiting for the Lok Sabha polls to make a move in this direction.

The Election Com mission is likely to an nounce schedule for the Gujarat Assembly polls this week.

The Gujarat govern ment on Saturday said it has decided to form a committee headed by a retired HC judge to im plement UCC.

Union minister Par shottam Rupala had

said the committee will be formed before the model code of conduct for elections comes into force.

Gujarat MoS for Home Harsh Sanghavi had said the decision was taken as per the provisions of Article 44

of Part 4 of the Consti tution which expects the state government to apply common law for all citizens.

To a question on the Gujarat government's decision, Kejriwal claimed "their inten tion is bad".

Patidar leader Alpesh joins AAP

Bhavnagar (PTI): Al pesh Kathiriya, a promi nent Patidar leader who was part of the 2015 agi tation for reservation to the community in Guja rat, on Sunday joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the state, where the Assembly polls are due this year-end. He joined the AAP in the presence of the party's national convener and Delhi CM Arvind Kejri wal during an election rally in Gariadhar city of Bhavnagar district. Kathiriya is a convener of Patidar Anamat An dolan Samiti (PAAS), an outfit that had organ ised state-wide agitation demanding Other Back ward Class (OBC) status and reservation in gov ernment jobs and educa tional institutions to the youth from the Patidar

community. He joined the AAP along with his friend and PAAS co-convener Dharmik Malaviya and other members of the organisation. Kathiriya said all of them feel that the AAP will provide them the right forum to work for the cause of nation-building through social work.

"All of us will have to come forward in this struggle for the commu nity, for our pride, for the nation, for better education, health and corruption-free good governance. Your sup port is required," Kathiriya said in his ad dress at the election ral ly following his induc tion.

Devotees offering prayers to the setting sun during Chhath Puja festival, at an artificial pond in east Delhi on Sunday.

—PHOTO BY ANI

Deserted Yamuna Ghat near Kalindi Kunj, where devotees were not allowed to enter for Chhath Puja, on Sunday.

SISODIA, GAHLOT INSPECT CHHATH

DJB official, heckled by BJP leaders, takes dip in Yamuna

First India Bureau

Cops at the scene of the crime in Gurugram.

—PHOTO BY PTI

Chief Minister and AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal addresses the public ahead of the upcoming Gujarat Assembly elections, at Palitana in Bhavnagar on Sunday. —PHOTO BY ANI

Arvind Kejriwal raises hands with Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Man and newly-joined party members Rithibhai Malaviya and Alpeshbhai Katharia during the public meeting for the upcoming Gujarat Assembly elections, at Palitana in Bhavnagar on Sunday. —PHOTO BY ANI

The government should frame a Uniform Civil Code with the consent of all commu nities and by taking them together.

—Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi CM

On Friday, Parvesh Verma had yelled at the official over the spraying of a defoamer in Yamuna

Toxic foam on the surface of the Yamuna during sunrise in New Delhi on Sunday. —PHOTO BY PTI

—PHOTO BY PTI

ANIMAL WELFARE AND CULTURAL RIGHTS

IN-DEPTH

DANGERS OF NEW TECHNOLOGY FOR SOCIETY ARE NO LONGER FICTIONAL

In fact, Article 51A has been called the Magna Carta of animal rights in the country. This view was taken by the Supreme Court when the The Animal Welfare Board of India filed a case in 2011 for an outright ban on Jallikattu because of the cruelty to animals and the threat to public safety. In 2014, the Supreme Court banned the bull-taming sport, but all political parties in Tamil Nadu were united in their view that Jallikattu was a cultural right protected under Article 29 (1). The matter is still under he consideration of the Supreme Court, and the arguments for and against will merit a separate column!

The first legislation on the subject of wildlife protection was the Wild Birds Protec tion Act of 1887 – but as the name suggests, it was limited to possession and sale of specified birds, as for exam ple the Great Indian Bustard and certain varieties of ea gles and owls during the breeding season. It was ex tended to include animals like tigers and cheetahs in 1912, and the legislation was called the Wild Birds and Animals Protection Act. However it should be noted that the British Indian laws were not applicable in the In dian states which occupied half the territorial area of the country at that time, and in any case it was in these states that ‘shikar’ had be come an important means to curry favour with the British Residents, Political agents and senior functionaries of the Raj. From 1935, forests, and by implication wildlife became were transferred to the provincial list, and it was not until the passage of the 1972 Wildlife Protection Act that these were again brought under the concur rent list .

While the generally ac cepted view is that the ex tinction of species like the cheetah and the near decima tion of tiger, as well as In dia’s commitment to the CITES, which was conceptu alised as early as 1963 led to the passage of the Act, some believe that this was the ‘last nail in the coffin’ of the princely states whose privy purses had been abolished earlier, and who were the only organized pa trons of ‘shikar’.

The Act provided for the formation of wildlife advi sory boards, wild life wardens, and the preparation of a comprehen sive list of the en dangered wildlife of the country.

The Act prohib ited the hunting and trading of endangered spe cies and provid

The first legislation on the subject of wildlife protection was the Wild Birds Protection Act of 1887 – but as the name suggests, it was limited to possession and sale of specified birds, as for example the Great Indian Bustard and certain varieties of eagles and owls during the breeding season

ed for licenses for the sale, transfer, and possession of some wildlife species besides paving the way for the forma tion of the Central Zoo Au thority. The National Board for Wildlife, an apex body, chaired by the PM was con stituted as a statutory organ ization under the provisions of this Act.

The next major fillip to the legal regime for the protec tion of wildlife came with the passage of the forty second constitutional amendment

of 1976 . It introduce section 48A which directed the State to protect and improve the environment and safeguard wildlife and forests. Of equal significance was the inclu sion of wildlife protection under Article 51A which in troduced the concept of fun damental duties for the peo ple of India. The protection and and improvement of the natural environment includ ing forests, lakes, rivers, and wildlife and to have compas sion for living creatures was

included amongst fundamen tal duties .

In fact, Article 51A has been called the Magna Carta of animal rights in the coun try. This view was taken by the Supreme Court when the The Animal Welfare Board of India filed a case in 2011 for an outright ban on Jal likattu because of the cruelty to animals and the threat to public safety. In 2014, the Su preme Court banned the bulltaming sport, but all political parties in Tamil Nadu were united in their view that Jal likattu was a cultural right protected under Article 29 (1). The matter is still under he consideration of the Su preme Court, and the argu ments for and against will merit a separate column!

To be continued... THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL

After Uttarakhand it is Gujarat’s turn to announce forming a com mittee on uni form civil code. Uttara khand’s five-member com mittee of experts headed by Ranjana Desai, a retired Su preme Court judge, held its first meeting in July. Guja rat’s announcement comes just before Assembly elec tions with the obvious at tempt to consolidate Hindu votes although the BJP has a strong chance of romping home in the state one more time. Not ready to let BJP run away with advantage, Arvind Kejriwal has also demanded the implementation of uni form civil code. The two states are empowered to en act laws on succession and

Guj’s announcement comes just before Assembly elections with the obvious attempt to consolidate Hindu votes although the BJP has a strong chance of romping home in state one more time

family as these laws fall un der the concurrent list. Goa is the only state to have a uni form civil code.

Implementing a uniform civil code across the country, however, is the prerogative of Parliament. It was there on the BJP’s election mani festo in 1998 and 2019 and a Bill was proposed to be intro

duced in Parliament in 2019 but the proposal was with drawn for making changes amid protests from the Oppo sition. The Centre informed the Supreme Court in Octo ber of matter being placed before the Law Commission.

Article 44 of the Constitu tion, being one of Directive Principles, allows UCC but successive governments have preferred religion-based civil laws to avoid changes in the personal laws of any commu nity. An attempt by the BJP to bring about a uniform civil law is strongly being op posed by the Muslim Person al Law Board. Despite Oppo sition the Central govern ment passed the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill to end the system of triple talaq.

t’s no secret that technology can be a double-edged sword. Nuclear technology is a boon when it comes to power and medicine but that it can also destroy hu manity was demonstrated by the US in Japan during the Sec ond World War. As advance ments are made in new technol ogies, what may have once sounded fictional is now a real ity. Similar concerns now sur round new financial technolo gies like crowd funding, Inter net, social media and drones are also proving to be a risk for hu manity with the growing risk of terrorists misusing them. The biggest fear is of these technolo gies, like the dark web, falling into the hands of terrorists.

The danger becomes bigger when countries provide safe ha ven to terrorists and even equip ping them to carry out their ne farious designs. There are also countries which block any action mooted against a terrorist or ter rorist organization. Until Paki stan and China see sense in not protecting terrorists, UN’s coun ter-terror moves will be futile.

Blessed are those who do not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers. Bible

l Vol 2 l Issue No.61

l RNI TITLE NO. DELENG/2021/19840

Printed and published by Anita Hada Sangwan on behalf of First Express Publishers. Printed at Impressions Printing and Packaging Limited, C-21, 22 Sector-59, Noida-201301. Published at G-20, 3rd Floor, 309, Preet Vihar, New Delhi-110092. Phone 011-49846474.

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

Amit Shah @AmitShah

On the birth anniversary of Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabha, the father of Indian Atomic Energy Program, I remember him by saluting his incomparable contribution in taking the country forward in the field of nuclear energy and scientific research. His extraordinary achievements made the country proud and empowered.

Dharmendra Pradhan @dpradhanbjp

Hearty greetings to all the countrymen on the auspicious occasion of ‘Chhath Puja’, the great festival of sun worship and folk faith. May the blessings of Lord Surya be upon the countrymen and may happiness, prosperity and health reside in everyone’s life.

SPIRITUAL SPEAK

SANJEEV CHOPRA

The writer superannuated as the Director of the LBS National Academy of Administration, India’s apex training institution, and curates Valley of Words: An annual Literature and Arts festival at Dehradun, where he currently resides

INDIA DOING WONDERS IN SOLAR, SPACE SECTORS, SAYS PM MODI

In his monthly ‘Mann Ki Baat’ radio broadcast, Modi notes the ISRO’s recent success

New Delhi (PTI): Prime Minister Naren dra Modi said on Sun day that India is doing wonders in the solar as well as space sectors and the whole world is “surprised” to see its achievements.

In his monthly ‘Mann Ki Baat’ radio broadcast, Modi noted the ISRO’s recent success in plac ing 36 satellites in space simultaneously and de scribed it as a “special Diwali gift” from our youth to the country.

With this launch, Modi said, digital con nectivity will be further strengthened across the country and even the remotest areas will be more easily connected with the rest of India.

The prime minister cited it as a successful example for his gov ernment's push for self-reliance.

“When the country is self-reliant, how, it reaches new heights of success, this is also an example of this,” he said, noting that India was once denied the Cryogenic Rocket Tech nology but its scientists developed an indige nous technology.

US Secretary of State

New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear around 240 PILs, including a large batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), on Monday when it would reopen after a nine-day Diwali vacation. A bench comprising Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit and justices S Ravindra Bhat and Bela M Trivedi has listed for hearing as many as 232 petitions, mostly PILs, on October 31 on the issue of CAA alone.

COP FACES ARREST IN MODEL CODE VIOLATION CASE

Sultanpur (PTI): A court here has issued a con tempt notice and ordered the arrest of an investigat ing officer in a case of vio lation of the model code of conduct pending against former UP minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati. The court issued the contempt notice to Sub-Inspector Hari Prasad Verma.

STF TO MOVE HC AGAINST BAIL TO ACCUSED

Dehradun (PTI): The Special Task Force (STF) will appeal in Uttarakhand High Court against trial court order granting bail to accused in the question paper leak of the graduate level examination con ducted by the Uttarakhand Subordinate Services Selection Commission, official sources said.

Bengaluru (PTI): The Karnataka High Court has quashed the land acquisition process in Byadagi taluk of Haveri district for widening a state highway. Allowing a batch of five peti tions filed by multiple owners, the HC held the state govt’s amendment to Section 34 of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Karnataka) Rules, as invalid in respect of the land acquisition process for these land owners.

Blinken, Jaishankar discuss Ukraine war

BY ANI

PM tells J&K youth to leave behind past, look at future

New Delhi (PTI): PM Narendra Modi on Sun day described J&K as the pride of every In dian, and said that it is time to leave behind the old challenges and take full benefit of new possibilities.

Addressing the Jam mu and Kashmir Rozgar Mela through video conferencing, he also said that there is a need to work with a new approach and new thinking for fast-paced development.

PM Modi congratu lated 3,000 young people who received appoint ment letters to work in the government in 20 different places in Jammu and Kashmir. These youngsters will get opportunities to serve in various de partments like the PWD, health depart ment, food and civil supplies department, animal husbandry, Jal Shakti, and educationculture, he added.

NextGen launch vehicle for heavier payloads

New Delhi (PTI): As India eyes setting up its own space station by 2035, the Indian Space Research Or ganisation (ISRO) has proposed to the indus try to collaborate with it in developing a re usable rocket capable of carrying heavier payloads into orbit.

Dubbed as the NextGeneration Launch Vehicle (NGLV), ISRO Chairman S Som anath said the space agency was working on the design of the rocket and would like the industry to col laborate with it in the development.

“The intent is to bring industry along in the development process. All the mon ey need not be invest ed by us. We want the industry to invest to create this rocket for all of us,” Somanath told PTI here.

He said the rocket is planned to carry a 10 tonne pay load in the Geosta tionary Trans fer Or

The intent is to bring industry along in the devel opment process.

All the money need not be in vested by us. We want the industry to invest to create this rocket for all of us... the rocket is planned to car ry a 10 tonne payload.

—Somanath, ISRO Chairman

bit (GTO) or 20 tonnes to the low earth orbit.

Another ISRO offi cial said the new rock et would be helpful as India plans to have its own space station by 2035 and was also eye ing deep space mis sions, human space flights, cargo mis sions and putting multiple communica tion satellites into or bit at the same time.

The NGLV is envi sioned as a simple, ro bust machine designed for bulk manufactur ing that will make space transportation more cost effective.

Somanath said the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), ISRO’s warhorse rocket, was based on the technol ogy developed in the 1980's and cannot be used to launch rockets in future. ISRO plans to have the design of the NGLV ready within a year and offer it to the industry for production, with the first launch sched uled for 2030.

RSS real coffee, BJP just the froth: Prashant Kishor

Patna (PTI): Political strategist turned activ ist Prashant Kishor on Sunday compared the BJP-RSS combine to a cup of coffee in which the party was like the frothy top and the par ent body was the real thing underneath.

Washington (PTI): US Secretary of State An tony Blinken held a tel ephonic conversation with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and discussed the Ukraine war, counter terrorism and other re gional and global issues.

Jaishankar thanked Blinken for his “strong and clear message” on counter-terrorism.

“The two discussed regional and global is sues, including coun terterrorism coopera

tion and Russia’s con tinuing aggression against Ukraine,” Ned Price, the State Depart ment spokesperson said in a readout of the call.

“Good to speak to US Secretary of State @ SecBlinken. Thanked him for his strong and clear message yester day on counter-terror ism and 26/11 account ability. Discussed the Ukraine conflict and other regional issues,” EAM Jaishankar tweet ed on Saturday.

JITENDRA SINGH IN HIMACHAL

Kishor, who is on a 3,500 kilometres long “pada-yatra” in Bihar, came up with the col ourful analogy at Lau ria in West Champaran district which he has been covering on foot since October 2.

Kishor lamented that it took him long to real ise that “the ideology of (Nathuram) Godse can be defeated only by re viving Gandhi’s Con gress” and “it would have been better had I worked in that direc tion instead of helping people like Nitish Ku mar and Jagan Mohan Reddy realise their am bitions”.

The IPAC founder,

who has been sceptical of a united opposition’s efficacy in halting the Narendra Modi jugger naut, emphasised that one cannot defeat the BJP unless one under stands what it is.

“Have you ever looked at a cup of cof fee? There is froth at the top. BJP is like that. Be low that there is the deep structure of the RSS. The Sangh has wormed its way into the social fabric. It cannot now be beaten with shortcuts,” said Kishor.

Kishor also contin

‘BJP restored Himachal’s corruption-free state image’

First India Bureau

Dharamshala: Union Minister of State (MoS) (Independent Charge)

Dr Jitendra Singh said on Sunday that BJP re stored the image of Himachal Pradesh as a corruption free State.

Addressing a series of election meetings in dif ferent parts of the State, Dr Singh said that the pristine image of the Devbhoomi was compro mised by the erstwhile Congress Government

through a series of scams and scandals.

He charged that even apple growers were giv en a raw deal by the pre vious Congress govern ment and the Himachali Seb (Apple), instead of being a Himachal iden tity across the country, became a subject of scam and scandals.

Dr Jitendra Singh said that people of this hill state had not forgot ten the ill-deeds of exChief Minister Veer bhadra Singh, who

faced an IT probe of dis proportionate assets case over the dubious income shown by him.

The I-T probe in 2015 found that the sale of apples from Singh’s Shrikhand orchard in

Shimla district could not have fetched him more than Rs 64 lakh as against Rs 1.55 crore he showed in 2011.

He said that under the guidance of PM Narendra Modi, the Jairam Government in Himachal Pradesh not only ensured proper im plementation of the Modi Govt schemes, but also lived upto the “Double Engine” prin ciple by supplementing most of the Central schemes with State ini

tiated schemes.

Dr Singh asserted that development be comes reality with dou ble engine governments, as this ensures fast ap provals for projects and their fast implementa tion and progress. The Minister said, that the UPA government from 2004-2014 neglected the developmental aspira tions of people of Devb hoomi and particularly the youth, with no major infra project approved for the state.

ued to hurl barbs at Bi har Chief Minister Nit ish Kumar, whose JD(U) has been calling him a “BJP agent”.

Kishor, whose muchanticipated entry into the Congress could not fructify last year de spite meetings with its top leaders, hinted that he still admired the or ganisation but in its old avatar under the leader ship of Mahatma Gan dhi.

“Godse’s ideology can be defeated only by reviving the Congress of Gandhi,” said Kishor.

Chirag to campaign for BJP in Bihar by-elections

Patna (PTI): In a shot in the arm for the BJP in Bihar, Chirag Paswan on Sunday announced that he will cam paign for the saffron party in by-polls to two assembly seg ments in the state. Paswan, who heads a splinter group of the LJP told media at airport here upon his arrival from Del hi. Soon after land ing he said “Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) will campaign for the BJP in the by-elec tions to Mokama and Gopalganj.”

Shillong fest loses out due to violence

Shillong (PTI): The famed Shillong Autumn festival recorded a low turnout this year due to the violence in the city, an organiser said on Sunday. The two-day festival began at Umi am lake on Saturday.

“70 per cent of people who booked online tick ets did not turn up,” an official of the festival said. Unlike the previ ous editions, this time the festival saw thin gathering, he said.

Thousands of people from other states such

as Assam and West Ben gal attend the festival every year, the official said, The festival is a major tourist attraction of Meghalaya with lo cal artists, and wellknown domestic and international bands performing.

A rally on Friday de manding the filling up of vacant Meghalaya government posts turned violent when the participants at tacked passers-by with sticks, besides damag ing a few vehicles.

S Jaishankar meets with Antony Blinken. —FILE PHOTO

Dr Jitendra Singh addressing a series of public rallies in Sunder Nagar, Bahl and Nachan of Himachal Pradesh, on Sunday.

SC TO HEAR 232 PLEAS ON CAA ISSUE ON REOPENING AFTER DIWALI TODAY

K’TAKA HC QUASHES LAND ACQUISITION FOR GAJENDRAGAD-SORAB HIGHWAY

New Delhi: PM Modi on Sunday congratulated all the teams and athletes who participated, won medals and made records in the recently-concluded 36th National Games. In the 94th edition of ‘Mann ki Baat’, he ad dressed the nation saying, “Friends, Tomorrow, the 31st of October, is National Unity Day, the auspicious occasion of the birth anniversary of Sard ar Vallabhbhai Patel. On this day, ‘Run for Unity’ is organized in every corner of the country. This race strengthens the thread of unity in the country, inspires our youth.”

RUN FOR UNITY ON PATEL’S BIRTH ANNIV TODAY

S Somanath

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates the Miyawaki Forest and the Maze Garden at Ekta Nagar (Kevadia), in Narmada on Sunday. Bhupendra Patel is also seen here.

PM Narendra Modi addressing the J&K Rozgar Mela via video message, in New Delhi on Sunday.

Rahul sprints, others catch up

Jadcherla (Telanga na) (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi who is leading the par ty’s pan-India Bharat Jodo Yatra on Sunday gave some exciting mo ments during the foot march as he suddenly started to sprint along with some school chil dren, forcing others to run.

Caught unawares over his sudden shifting of gears, Gandhi’s secu rity personnel, Telan gana Pradesh Congress Committee President Revanth Reddy and oth ers also started scooting from their brisk walk.

Joined by party leaders and cadre, Gandhi re sumed his foot march from here this morning and is expected to cover a distance of 22 kilome tres, Congress sources said. This is the fifth day of the party’s campaign in the state.

Gandhi will address a Corner Meeting at Soli pur junction at Shadna gar in the evening, be fore halting for the day.

The Gandhi scion-led yatra completed over 20 km on Saturday, before halting at Jadcherla X

Road Junction for the night. The yatra will cover 19 Assembly and 7 Parliamentary constitu encies in poll-bound Tel angana, spanning a total distance of 375 km in

the state, before enter ing Maharashtra on No vember 7. The yatra will take a one-day break on November 4. The Way anad MP will meet intel lectuals, leaders of vari

ous communities, in cluding personalities from the sporting, busi ness and entertainment sectors during the party campaign in the south ern state.

ROBERT VADRA HAILS ‘BHARAT JODO YATRA’, LIKENS RAHUL TO SHIRDI’S SAIBABA

Shirdi (PTI): The country will witness a change due to Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ as thousands of people are getting connected to it and are seeing him as the hope for the future, the Congress leader’s brotherin-law and businessman Robert Vadra said here on Sunday. Vadra, who was in Shirdi town of Maharash tra’s Ahmednagar district to offer prayers at the famous Saibaba temple, also said that Rahul Gandhi’s thinking is similar to that of the spiritual leader’s (Saibaba) who

‘CONG WILL BRING BACK OLD PENSION SCHEME IN GUJARAT’

New Delhi (PTI): The Congress will provide fixed jobs for contrac tual workers, bring back the old pension scheme and ensure timely promotions if it comes to power in Gu jarat, former party chief Rahul Gandhi said. In a tweet, Gandhi said it is the Congress’ firm promise “fixed jobs for contractual workers, bringing back OPS”.

Monuments illuminated for dyslexia campaign

New Delhi (ANI): Rashtrapati Bhawan was illuminated with red lights on Sunday evening to spread aware ness for dyslexia. Not just Rashtrapati Bha wan, Parliament, North and South Block, and India Gate along with various historical mon uments and government buildings also went all red to support the cause.

October is celebrated as International Dys

lexia Awareness Month each year. High-impact events and advocacy campaigns are organ ized under the slogan ‘Go Red’, with the objec

CRUCIAL READ

New Delhi (Agencies): Just a fortnight after the world witnessed the solar eclipse of the year, the globe is now all set to witness a total lunar eclipse on November 8. A lunar eclipse occurs during a full moon night, when because of the alignment of the sun, the earth and the moon almost on the same plane, in a straight line. During this alignment, the moon passes through the shadow region of the earth for some time. The lunar eclipse in its totality will not be observed from every where. The beginning of the partial phase of the eclipse will be seen from some countries of Latin America.

J&K L-G SEEKS

PUBLIC SUPPORT TO ESTABLISH PEACE

Jammu (Agencies): J&K

Lieutenant Governor

Manoj Sinha on October 30 sought the support of people to establish peace in the UT. “Some elements try to disrupt peace by killing innocent people and give an impression that whatever was happening in the past 30 years is the way forward. Violence leads to nowhere,” L-G Sinha said.He appealed to people to support the govt in establishing peace. “Peace is a must for development. People have to support the government in establishing peace,” the L-G said.

FIRE AT CANDY FACTORY LINKED TO BHANDARI’S MURDER Dehradun (PTI): A fire broke out in an gooseber ry candy factory located on the premises of a resort linked to the Ankita Bhandari murder case.The incident took place at 10 am in the Yamkeshwar area of Pauri district, officials said. No casualties have been reported till now. An official said prima facie the accident took place due to overheating of an inverter installed in the factory. On the other hand, AAP leader Jot Singh Bisht termed the factory fire as another “conspiracy to destroy evidence” of the murder.

ELIMINATION OF FOREIGN TERRORISTS IN J&K FOCUS OF SECURITY FORCES: DGP

Srinagar (ANI): Elimination of foreign terrorists was the main focus of the security forces during the current year, Jammu and Kashmir’s Director General of Police, Dilbag Singh said on Sunday. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of Kashmir Marathon-2022 organised by the local police, the DGP noted that the security forces had specially focussed on wiping out foreign terrorists in Kashmir this year. “(As many as) 40 of them were killed this year so far with the result, that local militant recruitment also dropped significantly,” he said.

tives of removing the stigma associated with dyslexia, eradicating discrimination, and raising public knowl edge of the many

strengths of dyslexic thinking. This is key to developing pathways of success for individuals with Dyslexia.

Globally, it is estimat ed that 1 in 5 persons have a learning disabil ity. Yet, only 1 in 20 gets identified. Over 150 mil lion Indians are thought to have a specific learn ing disability, of whom 35 million are students. Dyslexia is one of the 21 disabilities recognized

by the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act of 2016. The New Educa tion Policy 2020 is also committed to inclusion in the classroom.

UNESCO MGIEP and its partner ChangeInkk Foundation had asked for the support of the Government in the ‘Go Red’ campaign, post which buildings and monuments in Delhi displayed red lighting on Sunday evening.

IAS couple Parthasarathi, Leena back in UP after 4 years

Ahtesham Siddiqui

Lucknow: After four years in Uttar Pradesh’s bureaucracy, 1994-batch IAS officer Leena Johri is returning to the state. Johri’s husband IAS Parthasarathi Sen Sharma has also re turned to UP from Cen tral deputation after four years. He has been made the Principal Sec retary of Health & Fam ily Welfare.

Now IAS Amit Ku

BJP trying to buy 20-30 TRS MLAs, topple govt: KCR

preached unity, though he did not elaborate.On the ongoing ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, he said, “Rahul is visiting a number of places and meeting thousands of people. These people are joining him in large num bers. Change will come in the future as Rahul Gandhi is the new hope for people.” “The govt (led by BJP at the Centre) will talk about our failures. They will make fun of the party (Congress), but Rahul, Pri yanka will not stop. We are among the people together and will work unitedly for them,” he added.

MAHATMA GANDHI’S STATUE VANDALISED

Khandwa (ANI): A case of vandalism of Ma hatma Gandhi’s statue has come to light in the village Rangoon of Khandwa district. The statue was installed in the year 2000 by the Gram Panchayat. Vil lage sarpanch Kunwarji said that last night some mischievous elements broke the head of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi.

Hyderabad (PTI): Tel angana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday accused the BJP of ‘trying to buy’ 20 or 30 MLAs of the rul ing TRS and topple his government and claimed that ‘brokers’ from Delhi offered the sitting legislators Rs 100 crore each.

Addressing a poll rally at bypoll-bound Munugode segment, Rao said, however, the legislators, who are ‘sons of the soil,’ re buffed the offer.Hitting back, the BJP said the MLAs were not worth Rs 100 crore and assert ed it had no intention of toppling the TRS gov ernment. Rao said,

“You have seen yester

COIMBATORE BLAST CASE

NIA begins probe into TN car explosion

day. (BJP thinks) there is one KCR who is talk ing loudly. Let’s see his (political) end. They have sent brokers to buy each MLA for Rs 100 crore.

They wanted to buy 20 or 30 MLAs and top ple KCR’s government and encroach Telanga na so that they can im plement privatisation as per their will.”His statement comes a day after three people who tried to “poach” four TRS legislators were ar rested and remanded to judicial custody.

The CM paraded all the four legislators dur ing the public meeting, praising them that such people were required in politics.

Minister retorts to Kapil Sibal’s IT Rules claims

New Delhi (Agencies): Union minister of state for IT Rajeev Chan drasekhar on Sunday retorted to Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal’s claims on the amended IT Rules and targeted for alleg edly jailing people by bringing the Section 66A of the IT Act.

mar Ghosh is posted as Additional Sector Road Transport and High ways while IAS Katru Ram Mohan Rao is post

ed as Chairman Vi sakhapatnam Port Trust. Johri and Shar ma are very smart, hardworking and hon est officers. Sharma has penned books like Ek Kadam Hazar Afsane, Musafir Hu Yaaro and Hum Hai Rahi Pyar Ke. The two officers are very capable and expe rienced. The govern ment may make Leena Johri the principal sec retary of an important department.

Coimbatore (PTI): The National Investiga tion Agency (NIA) on Sunday officially com menced the probe into a cylinder explosion in car in which one person was killed in front of a temple in the city on Oc tober 23.

Led by NIA SP, Sri jith, a team of NIA offi cials went to the spot and inspected the area in the vicinity of the temple and to collect further evidence, police said.

They inquired about the incident with the priest of the Kottai Es waran Temple, Sunda reshan, police said.

DIWALI WITH A DIFFERENCE

STOP SPREADING RUMOURS, SAYS TAMIL NADU POLICE

Chennai (ANI): Refuting allegations over a delay in transferring the Coim batore car cylinder blast case to the NIA, the Tamil Nadu Police attacked BJP chief K Annamalai, asking him to “stop spread ing rumours” to defame the police department.

“There has been no delay in handing over the Coimbatore Car Cylinder blast case to the National Investigation Agency (NIA),” Tamil Nadu police said attacking Annamalai for “spreading rumours” to defame the police de partment of Tamil Nadu.

Sibal on Saturday had hit out at the Centre for the latest amendment of IT Rules alleging that it is the “comprehensive capture of media”, news agency ANI reported.

“First, they captured the TV networks and now, they are going to capture social media platforms. It’s the com prehensive capture of media,” ANI quoted Sibal as saying. He add ed, “Safe for the govern ment and unsafe for oth ers, that’s what the poli cy of this government always has been... The only platform left for or dinary citizens was so cial media; when state ments defamatory are made... people will be prosecuted.”

Massive Swachhata campaign led by schoolkids

thusiastically in this campaign led by their city’s urban local bod ies, the municipal cor porations.

First India Bureau

New Delhi: This Diwali was different for many cities in India. The usu al noise of crackers heard around Diwali was replaced by ‘Hu mein Garv Hai’ song and chants of Hara Gee la Sookha Neela on roads and in community

lanes as mobile vans and carts with two bins went door-to door col lecting segregated waste.

Over 75 lakh students from nearly 45,000 schools from across In dia took part in the in what may be termed a massive awareness cam paign on segregating

wet and dry waste at source initiated by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (Mo HUA) towards achiev

ing the goal of garbagefree cities. In addition, citizens, community groups, and organiza tions participated en

The campaign titled “Swachhata ke Do Rang” , with “Hara Gee la Sookha Neela” as the campaign’s call to ac tion, stressed on mini mum two-bin segrega tion at source. Driven by Swachh Bharat Mis sion, over 3500 urban lo cal bodies across 32 states and Union Terri tories reached out to

schools, communities, going door to door and mobilizing households with on-ground aware ness programs on source segregation. Stu dents of different age groups enthusiastically participated in special activities like painting, art & craft creating green labels and blue la bels, building waste bins and toys out of waste, street plays, and took home the message of Swachhata Ka Up haar.

75 lakh children join the cause for segregation of waste at source during the 3-week campaign

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi waves while walking with padyatris during party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, in Golapalli on Sunday. —PHOTO BY ANI

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao at an election rally in Telangana on Sunday. —PHOTO BY ANI

IAS officer Leena Johri and husband Parthasarathi Sen Sharma.

FPIs PULL OUT

`1,586 CRORE FROM EQUITIES IN OCTOBER

New Delhi: After with drawing over `7,600 crore last month, foreign investors have slowed down the pace of equity selling in India in October so far, as they pulled out `1,586 crore from capital markets. Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) were net buyers of `51,200 crore in August. The month of November is expected to have net inflow of more or less similar to this. Ac cording to the data from the depositories, FPIs withdrew `1,586 crore from equities in October (till 28).

MARUTI SUZUKI RECALLS 9,925 UNITS OF 3 MODELS

New Delhi: Maruti Suzuki India Ltd is recalling 9,925 units of its three models, Wagon R, Celerio and Ignis, to rectify a pos sible defect in rear brake assembly pin, according to a regulatory filing. The affected vehicles are man ufactured between Aug 3 & Sept 1, 2022. Consider ing the safety of custom ers and out of abundant precaution, the company has decided to recall the suspected vehicles for in spection and replacement of the faulty part, free of cost, it added.

NINE OF TOP-10 FIRMS ADD `90,319 CR IN MARKET CAP

New Delhi: Nine of the 10 most valued domestic firms together added `90,318.74 crore in mar ket valuation last week amid a positive trend in equities, with Reliance In dustries emerging as the biggest winner. Barring Hindustan Unilever, rest nine companies witnessed addition in their market valuation, including Tata Consultancy Services, HDFC Bank, Infosys and SBI. Reliance Industries remained the most valued firm in terms of market capitalisation, followed by TCS, HDFC Bank, Infosys, ICICI Bank, HUL, SBI, Air tel, HDFC & ITC.

TEA PRODUCTION JUMPS 16.5% IN SEPTEMBER IN INDIA

Kolkata: The Tea Board of India on Sunday said the total tea production in the country is estimated to be 190 million kilogram (mkg) during Sept, as against 163 mkg in the year-ago month, which is a surge of 16.5%. The production of tea leaves by the largest producer among states, Assam, is estimated at 109 mkg in the reviewed month whereas West Bengal’s production is pegged at 52.94 mkg in Sept, against 46.32 mkg.

‘

Lot of progress’ in India-UK FTA talks

New Delhi: There is “a lot of progress” in negotia tions between India and the United Kingdom on a free trade deal, Britain’s foreign minister said, even as the post-Brexit deal missed the key Diwali deadline.

“We have made a lot of progress in the negotia tions, and we continue to work for an agreement that works for both countries,”

James Cleverly said in an interview published Sun day. “We have been very, very explicit that our part nership with India is one that matters to us and one we want to enhance and de velop,” he was quoted as saying.

India and its former co lonial ruler have been for about 18 months negotiat ing the pact to boost trade and investments between the countries. The aim was to conclude the talks by Di wali, but no new deadline to conclude the talks has been set.

India’s gains in lieu of likely duty cuts for British alcohol and automobiles, and visa flexibilities would be the focus areas. In ex change, India wants more work and study visas for its

OTHER STORIES

INDIA, GCC GROUP LIKELY TO START FREE TRADE PACT NEGOTIATIONS NEXT MONTH

New Delhi (PTI): India and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member countries are expected to start negotiations for a free trade agreement next month with an aim to boost economic ties between the two regions, an official said. GCC is a union of six countries in the Gulf region -- Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain.

“Terms of reference for the agreement are being finalised and we expect to launch the negotiations next month,” the official said.India has already implemented a free trade pact with the UAE in May this year.

According to experts, the GCC region holds huge trade potential and a trade agreement would help in further boosting

India’s exports to that market. India imports predominately crude oil and natural gas from the Gulf nations like Saudi Arabia & Qatar, and exports pearls, precious and semi-precious stones; metals; imitation jewellery; electrical machinery; iron and steel; and chemicals.

citizens in line with simi lar recent deals struck be tween Britain and Austral ia and New Zealand.

The prime ministers of both nations are set to re sume talks and agreed on the need for early conclu sion. Political changes in the UK and British home secretary Suella Braver man’s recent remarks on Indians being the largest

PRIVATE EQUITY INVESTMENT IN INDIA’S ELECTRIC VEHICLE INDUSTRY MAY CROSS $1 BILLION IN 2022

New Delhi: Private equity investment in India’s electric vehicle (EV) industry could top a billion dollars this year, as investors see new pol icy initiatives and rising cost of fossil fuel accelerating the adoption of green mobility. Investors pumped in $906 million through 26 deals in the nine months to the end of September, including in battery manufacturing and battery swapping and charg ing stations, according to data from Venture Intelligence. In 2021, the sector had received $1.8 billion in investment from 31 deals. These deals are taking place across the EV ecosystem, including in EV battery manufacturing companies, battery swapping and charging stations.

RELIANCE CAPITAL’S BIDDING PROCESS SEES CONCERNS BY SUITORS

New Delhi: Suitors have raised concerns over the bidding pro cess, including the introduction of ‘challenge mechanism’, as the resolu tion process of debt-ridden Re liance Capital Ltd enters the final stage. According to sources, the decision to introduce a new clause ‘Challenge Mechanism’ in the bidding process has upset the bidders. The ‘Challenge Mechanism’ gives lenders the power to oppose any resolution plan as & when they want.

FIB

FEL DEFAULTS ON PRINCIPAL AMOUNT OF `126.13 CRORE IN SEPT

New Delhi: Debt-ridden Future Enterprises has defaulted on a principal amount of `126.13 crore in September, which includes payment obligation of `98.35 crore for NCDs and `27.78 crore to banks, under a one-time restructuring scheme. Future Enterprises Ltd (FEL) had entered into the OTR scheme for COVID-hit companies with its consortium of banks and lend ers on October 27, 2020, as per the RBI guidelines.

group of people overstay ing in the UK were seen to be major hurdles in con cluding a deal, according to officials.

Cleverly told the Times that he saw it “as a very positive thing that so many Indians want to come and study in the UK, that Indi an businessmen want to do business in the UK. It’s a cause for celebration.”

Mumbai (PTI): For the first time since the imple mentation of the monetary policy framework in 2016, the Reserve Bank will sub mit a report to the govern ment on its failure to keep the retail inflation rate be low 6% for three consecu tive quarters beginning January 2022.

The monetary policy framework, which came into effect about six years ago, mandates the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to maintain retail inflation at 4% with a margin of 2% on either side.

In case of failure to maintain the inflation tar get for three consecutive quarters, the central bank, under section 45ZN of the RBI Act, is required to sub mit a report to the govern ment explaining the rea sons& spelling out the re medial actions it would be taking to check price rise.

The central bank has called a special meeting of the Monetary Policy Com mittee (MPC) on November 3, to prepare its report on missing inflation targets to the government.

Adani to invest $150 billion in pursuit of $1 trillion valuation

New Delhi (PTI): Richest Asian Gautam Adani’s group will invest over $150 billion across businesses ranging from green energy to data centres to airports and healthcare as it chases the dream to join the elite global club of companies with $1 trillion valuations.

The group plans to in vest $50-70 billion in green hydrogen business and an other $23 billion in green energy over the next 5-10 years. It will invest $7 bil lion in electricity trans mission, $12 billion in transport utility and $5 bil lion in the road sector.

Its foray into data centre business with cloud ser vices would entail an in vestment of $6.5 billion in partnership with Edge ConneX and another $9-10 billion is planned for air ports, where it is already the largest private

AMBITIOUS PLANS AHEAD

z It plans to invest $50-70 billion in green hydrogen biz & $23 bn in green energy over the next 5-10 years.

z It will invest $7 billion in electricity transmission, $12 billion in transport utility and $5 billion in the road sector.

z The group’s market cap is $260 billion in 2022

plans to set up a 1 million tonnes per annum PVC manufacturing facility at an investment of $2 billion and would enter the copper sector with a 0.5 million tonnes a year smelter at an investment of $1 billion.

The healthcare sector foray that will include in surance, hospitals and di agnostic and pharma would see an investment of $7-10 billion, with some coming from

ket capitalisation lion in 2015 and it is $260 bn

EARNINGS, US FED INTEREST RATE DECISION TO DICTATE SHARE MKT

New Delhi (PTI): The on going quarterly earnings season, the Reserve Bank’s special meeting of its ratesetting committee and the US Fed interest rate deci sion are the major events that would dictate trends in the equity market this week, analysts said.

Besides, auto sales num bers and macroeconomic data to be announced dur ing the week would also influence trading in the equity market. PMI data for the manufacturing sec tor would be announced on Tuesday, while the services sector numbers are sched uled to come on Thursday.

“FOMC meeting, RBI MPC meeting, auto sales numbers and Q2 earnings will drive the market this week. The market will have an eye on the unscheduled RBI MPC meeting. We are heading toward the last

IMPORTANT FACTORS

z Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) data for the manufacturing sector would be announced on Tuesday, while the services sector numbers are scheduled to come on Thursday.

batch of Q2 earnings, which will lead to stockspecific movement. Octo ber auto sales numbers will be important because they

z Auto sales numbers and macroeconomic data to be announced during the week would also influence trading in the equity market.

z Ongoing quarterly earnings season, the RBI’s MPC meet and the US Fed interest rate decision are the major events

will tell us about festival demand,” said Pravesh Gour, Senior Technical Analyst, Swastika Invest mart Ltd.

ROAD SECTOR HAS MAX NO. OF DELAYED PROJECTS

First India Bureau

New Delhi: The road transport and highways sector has the maximum number of delayed projects at 262, followed by railways at 115 and the petroleum sector at 89, showed a gov ernment report.

PTI

Four companies seek to raise over ` 4,500 cr via IPO

New Delhi (PTI): The pri mary market is heading for a busy time, with four firms, including Global Health Ltd, which operates hospitals under the Medan ta brand, and micro finance

Fusion Micro

nance Ltd, lining up their

week.

The other two compa nies whose IPOs are ready to open are DCX Systems, a manufacturer of cables and wire harness assem blies, and Bikaji Foods In ternational.

Together,

KNOW ABOUT THE COMPANIES

z Global Health Ltd, which operates hospitals under the Medanta brand, and micro finance lender Fusion Micro Finance Ltd, lining up their IPOs this week.

z The other two companies whose IPOs are ready to open are DCX Systems and Bikaji Foods International.

share sale of DCX Systems will open for

subscription on Oc tober 31

conclude on

November 2, while that of Fusion Micro Finance will be open during November 2-4. The IPOs of Global Health and Bikaji Foods will open for subscription on Nov 3 & close on Nov 7.

In 2022 so far, as many as 22 companies have floated their IPOs to raise over ` 44,000 crore. In 2021, 63 IPOs raised more than `1.19 lakh crore.

“Volatility of the second ary market has led to a weak IPOs market in 2022 and it is expected to remain subdued going ahead,” Vi nod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial said.

In the road transport and highways sector, 262 out of 835 projects are delayed. In railways, out of 173 pro jects, 115 are delayed, while for petroleum, 89 out of 140 projects are delayed, as per the latest flash report on infrastructure projects. The Infrastructure and Project Monitoring Divi sion (IPMD) is mandated to monitor central sector in frastructure projects cost ing ` 150 crore and above based on the information provided on the Online Computerised Monitoring System (OCMS) by the pro ject implementing agen cies. The report showed that the Muneerabad-Mah aboobnagar rail project is the most-delayed project. It is delayed by 276 months.

The second-most delayed project is the UdhampurSrinagar-Baramulla rail project which is delayed by 247 months. The third-most delayed project is BelapurSeawood-Urban Electrified Double Line, which is de layed by 228 months.

First India Bureau

RBI’s MPC to discuss inflation report this week

Homestay raided in gang rape case involving ex-chief secy

tion into the gang rape of a 21-year-old woman in which former chief secretary of Andaman and Nicobar Islands Ji tendra Narain is an ac cused, officials said.

Port Blair (PTI): A

homestay in Port Blair's Dollygunj was searched by the police on Sunday as part of the investiga

The gang rape survi vor accompanied mem bers of the Special In vestigation Team (SIT), formed to probe the case, to the homestay during the search, they said. The SIT along with a forensic team and the

survivor reached the homestay around 12.30 pm for the search opera tion, they added. The room where the woman was taken to by the homestay's owner was examined by the inves tigators, officials said.

Besides Narain, the homestay's owner, La bour Commissioner RL Rishi and a police in spector were named in the police case lodged in connection with the

CATTLE ON TRACKS

200 trains affected in first 9 days of Oct; 4K trains this year

Ananya Sengupta

New Delhi: Cattle run overs affected 200 trains in the first nine days of October and over 4,000 trains so far this year, official data has shown.

The worst affected is the newly minted Mum bai-Ahmedabad Vande Bharat Express train which was launched on October 1. It suffered three run-ins with cat tle this month, causing damage to its “nose”.

Officials said the Rail ways has barricaded several areas around the tracks which are prone to such incidents, but it is difficult to cover long stretches as there are residential areas with homes on one side and farms on the other.

The Railways has also identified stretch es which have recorded a high number of such cases and are in the process of fencing them. Work has been completed in 40 per cent of these sections, an official said.

“Railways is taking all efforts to reduce cat tle run overs (CROs). We are pinpointing lo cations where a pattern is found. We visit such sites and ascertain the cause of frequent CROs. Sometimes, there are reasons which can be addressed, but other times no direct reason is found. Still, our teams visit nearby villages and get in touch with the sar panches. We counsel the villagers about the repercussions of CRO.

“Sometimes, illegal passages are found to have been created

NORTH

The identified stretches include sections in the North Central Railways and Northern Railways in the Jhansi Division between Virangana Lakshmibai Gwalior section, Prayagraj Division between Pt Deen Dayal Upad hyay-Prayagraj section, Moradabad Division between Alam Nagar and Shahjehanpur and in the Lucknow Division between Alam Nagar and Lucknow. North Central Railway zone, which saw more than 6,500 of the 26,000 cases of cattle run overs in 2020-21 is one of the worst-affected Railway zones. It covers 3,000 km of tracks and hosts parts of the Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah corridors. It includes divisions like Agra, Jhansi and Prayagraj, and is the gateway for trains from the east to reach the northern parts of India.

NORTHERN ZONE HAS HIGHEST CASES OF CATTLE RUN OVER, AT NEARLY 6,800

offi cials said. According to data provided by the Railways, trains affected by cattle run overs rose from 360 in Janu ary to 635 in September, with more than 22 trains being affected daily. In the first nine days of October, 200 trains have been affected, taking the number to 4,433 for the year so far. Cattle run overs can cause serious damage to trains, delay them and even cause derailment.

across the tracks. Sometimes, fencing is required to be done over a patch,” said Am

THREE OTHER ACCUSED

room where she was taken to by the homes tay's owner," said a rela tive of the woman who was accompanying her.

Narain, who was questioned on Friday and Saturday, is likely to be interrogated on Monday as well, a source said.

runway repair works.

Narain is being kept at a private resort. The senior official arrived here to face questioning following a Calcutta High Court order.

gang rape. The team was seen coming out of the homestay with en velopes. When ap proached by journal

ists, the investigators refused to make any comment. "The survi vor was asked to iden tify the place and the

He is unlikely to leave Port Blair till Friday as the airport on the is land will be shut from Tuesday because of

‘Madrasas can stand stronger than Himalayas on their own’

Saharanpur (PTI): Ja miat-Ulema-e-Hind chief Maulana Arshad Madni on Sunday said there is no need for ma drassas to get affiliated with the UP Board of Madrassa Education and it was unfortunate that attempts were made to link the education system to terrorism.

He also said the gov ernment need not help madrassas as they can stand “stronger than the Himalayas” with the community’s help.

His remarks assume significance in the backdrop of the UP

Muslim clerics and managers of madrasas attend the conference convened by Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband in Saharanpur on Sunday.

government ordering a survey of all private madrassas in the state last month, saying nec essary facilities will be provided to them based

GHAZIABAD: 2 MORE HELD FOR MURDER OVER CAR PARKING

Ghaziabad (PTI): Po lice here on Sunday af ternoon arrested two more people, who had battered to death a 35-year-old man after an altercation over car parking near a roadside eatery. The dead was identified as Varun, son of retired Delhi Police sub-inspector Kanwar Pal. "They were nabbed today around 1 pm from Rajpur village entry gate and have been iden tified as Mohit Bhati and Sachin," ASP (Second) Gyanendra Singh said.

On Oct 27, police had arrested Chiranjiv Shar ma, alias Kaloo Pandit, near Farukhnagar vil lage after an exchange of firing in which he had sustained a bullet injury.

After his arrest, Pan dit told the name of his accomplices, who were involved in the killing

on the night of October 25. After getting inputs from him, police reached to recover the car which was used for fleeing after the murder.

Kaloo had tried to es cape from the police team and had snatched the service revolver of Sub-Inspector Subhash and fired on the cops.In self-defence, police re taliated due to which he sustained a bullet inju ry in his right leg.

He was rushed to the district hospital for treatment, SSP Muniraj G had said. ASP Singh said all three accused have been booked under Sections 302 (punish ment for murder), 427 (mischief causing dam age to the amount of fifty rupees) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of com mon) of the IPC.

Have compassion for mankind: CJI to law graduates

Kolkata (PTI): Chief Justice of India U U Lalit on Sunday advised students passing out of law schools to keep their minds open to eve ry suggestion and to have compassion for mankind and society.

Delivering his ad dress at the 14th convo cation of West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (WB NUJS), of which he is the chancellor, the CJI said that capacity build ing of a person never stops and one continues to learn till death.

“Keep your mind open to every suggestion,

that’s where you will be drawing great inspira tion,” Justice Lalit told the graduates.He ex horted them to continue to study and add dimen sions to their personali ty. Attributes of capacity building in different spheres and compassion for mankind will never fail a person in finding a solution to any problem, the CJI said.

Justice said that after stepping out of the walls of the university & em bracing the world, law graduates should strive to give back to society something greater than what they have received.

on the study.

“Darul Uloom Deoband and Ulemas have played an impor tant role in the nation’s independence. It is un fortunate that question marks are being raised on madrassas and at tempts are being made to link them to terror ism. Madrassas and the Jamiat do not have even the slightest of links with politics,” he added.

He also said the gov ernment need not help madrassas as they can stand “stronger than the Himalayas” with the community’s help.

The FIR was regis tered on October 1 when Narain was posted as the chairman and man aging director of the Delhi Financial Corpo ration. The Centre sus pended him on October 17. The woman claimed

that as her father and stepmother did not take care of her financial needs, she needed a job and was introduced by some people to the la bour commissioner as he was close to the then chief secretary.

The woman alleged that she was lured to the chief secretary's home with the promise of a government job, and then raped there on April 14 and May 1.

THE

ADITI NAGAR

ndia has had a fair share of political hap penings that have resulted in a ‘rup ture’ of sorts, in the way the nation was be ing led. The 90’s were tumultuous times for the nation when econ omy was at its lowest, governments fell and social structure was being shaken. But per haps, the biggest po litical happening, since Independence, was the cold blooded murder of the first, and till now the only, female Prime Minister of the nation - Indira Gandhi.

Since that day, 38 years ago, political commentators and observers have ar gued about India that could have been had Indira been alive; simply because the years of work that were put in to develop her as an ideal ‘lead er’ and not a ‘consti tutional post holder’ may not come to pass again.

Known for her abil ity to take hard deci sions and to stand by them, Indira left a grand legacy to carry forward, a legacy which was carried ahead, for a short time, by her son, who groomed, like his mother, young lead

void of Indira’s ‘guardianship’, the current leadership of Congress does not ap pear to be able to car ry forward the grand legacy left by Indira.

But while Indira may have passed on, her ideology and abilities are perhaps being displayed by Ashok Gehlot, a three time CM of Rajasthan, who like her mentor Indira, with whom he came in contact in his twenties, is known for running a ‘nononsense’ govern ment and standing by the decisions taken in public interest.

dira relevant even today is the fact that even after 38 years dira is still ‘relevant’ in the current politi cal clime. In 1999, In dira Gandhi was named “Woman of the Millennium” in an online poll organ ised by the BBC. In 2020, Gandhi was named by Time mag azine among the world’s 100 powerful women who defined the last century. In fact, such was her ‘influence’ that a whole generation of female children in Afghanistan was named Indira!

On her 38th death anniversary, First In dia remembers the ‘Iron Lady of India’!

The 21-year-old survivor went with the forensic team to where the alleged rape took place

itabh Sharma, Execu tive Director, Informa tion and Publicity, Rail ways.

BJP National President JP Nadda addressing an election campaign for the Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections at Kaza in Lahaul-Spiti on Sunday. —PHOTO BY ANI

Vande Bharat Express train between Mumbai Central and Gandhinagar after a collision with cattle in Mumbai on Saturday.

The

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Justice UU Lalit and Calcutta High Court Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava attend the 14th Convocation ceremony of West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, in Kolkata on Sunday. —PHOTO

BY ANI

t was a night of glitz and glam our, livewire performances and nervewracking deci sions, as the winners of First India Queen were announced in a star-studded cere mony at Jade Ballroom, Hotel Sahara Star, Mum bai on Friday. With 30 finalists from across the country battling it out for the coveted title, the jury had a tough time choosing the top five.

Jagdeesh Chandra graced the occasion as the Chief Guest.

The scintillating even

ing in the mesmerising land of picturesque beaches and the City of Dreams began by wel coming Jagdeesh Chan dra, the man who made it possible for every young girl to dream big with confidence so that she may reach greater heights. While congratu lating all the finalists,

City First brings to you glimpses from the coruscating star-studded eve full of fame and fortune witnessed in the gratifying grand finale of First India Queen organised at Jade Ballroom, Hotel Sahara Star, Mumbai on Friday, October 21.

Jagdeesh Chandra wel comed the audience and said, “We strongly wish to open the gates of op portunity in the fashion and entertainment in dustry for many deserv ing girls. First India and youth are natural allies and we promote talent for one and all.”

Famous anchor Sim

MITALI DUSAD mitalidusad01@gmail.com

(L-R) Victoria Fernandes (First runner-up), Bhakti Jani (Winner of First India Queen) and Svara Mandalik (Second runner up)

Jagdeesh Chandra walks the ramp with Bhakti Jani (Winner First India Queen). Also seen are Pearl Agarwal (Winner, First India Queen 2021), Aditi Jaggi Rastogi and Parimal Mehhta. Also seen are other finalists

Lekh Uthaiah, Pearl Agarwal, Chahak Bhandula and Shreya Gupta

Jagdeesh

Chandra with (clockwise) Kajol Saraswat, Swati Yadav and Bhakti Jani

—PHOTOS BY SANTOSH SHARMA

Many celebrities and dignitaries graced the mega event. Rajendra Jain (MD SVAR Group), Archana Kochhar (Fash ion Designer), Parimal Mehhta (FounderBlanckanvas Pvt Ltd), Dr Priti Shenai (Skin works), Roopmati Ma nere (Dy. Commissioner State Tax (GST) Thane), Aditi Jaggi Rastogi (Ce lebrity Fashion Design er), Jayanthi Ballal (De signer and Founder Mysore Fashion Week), Poonam Pandey (Ac tress), Ishika Taneja (Su permodel and Miss India winner), Shibani Kashy ap (Singer), Raayo S. Bakhirta (Actor), Mad huri Bhosle (FounderIRA), Karishma Modi (supermodel and ac tress), Akanksha Bhalla (supermodel and ac tress) and Nitinn R Mi ranni (Actor) were pre sent as the jury mem bers on the occasion.

On the occasion, var ious celebrities namely Riya Soni (Emerging

Star), Manish Raising han (Versatile Actor), Umar Riaz (Most popu lar Actor), Vishal Koti an (People’s Choice), Rehaa Khan (Style Icon), Sakshi Dwivedi (Sizzling Personality) were also felicitated by First India.

Parimal Mehhta, Founder of Blanckanvas Pvt Ltd while congratu lating the participants also thanked Jagdeesh Chandra and the First India team for giving them the opportunity to showcase this extrava gant event.

First India Queen is a platform of inspiration, learning and stardom for a common girl – coming from different parts of the country. The pageant celebrates inner beauty and talent as much as the physical appearance of any contestant, and hence it is instrumental in setting standards for evaluating and express ing the inner beauty of an Indian woman.

FULL OF CHARISMA AND

Jagdeesh Chandra and Deepak Agarwal felicitating Sakshi Dwivedi

Jagdeesh Chandra and Deepak Agarwal felicitating Vishal Kotian Jagdeesh Chandra and Deepak Agarwal felicitating Manish Raisinghan

Mrunal Jain

Yadav

Jagdeesh Chandra addressing the audience. Also seen

Karishma Modi, Parimal Mehhta, Raghu Zaveri, Poonam Pandey, Deepak Agarwal

Sandeep Shukla

Gaur and Akanksha

Kochhar,

jury members

Pandey, Nitinn R Miranni, Akanksha Bhalla, Karishma Modi, Raayo Bakhirta

Rehaa Khann

THE NOMAD BRIDE

CITY FIRST

The Nomad Bride inspired by nomadic queens of Central Asia by Samant Chauhan was launched recently in the city. The collection added a cultural flavour to modernday bridal looks and im pressed the audience of media, influ encers, buyers and partners alike.

The Nomad Bride appeals to a dif ferent kind of individualistic bride and beautiful weaves fused seam lessly. The mesmerising collection is a beautiful amalgamation of Central Asian artistry, indigenous fabrics, striking makeup looks and intricate ly woven hairstyles.

Talking about the collection re nowned designer Samant Chauhan said, “I wanted each of my pieces for The Nomad Bride to tell a story, just as each fabric, each weave tells one of its history and journey."

Halloween, an evening of fun-filled with cos tumes, spooky treats, trick-or-treating and Halloween party games is be ing celebrated today, Monday, October 31. It's time to deck out your porch with pump kins and get to carving. Hal loween parties range in size from a family home to school

wide bashes with parades, to community extravaganzas. Parties are typically deco rated in the Halloween col ours of black, orange and purple, along with silly or spooky decor. City First brings to you crazy extrava ganzas you can hit up for a Halloween event this year.

DEJA BREW, SCARY SKELEBRATION

A never forgetting night at Deja Brew. Walk in with your deadliest Halloween costume, enjoy specially crafted drinks with Skele tons and scrumptious food with Scary Pumpkins.

IMPERFECTO, LUCIFER'S

Light-Swiss Art Night

CITY FIRST

The art show, 'In The Light-Swiss Art Night' was held at Switzer land Embassy in New Delhi on Saturday. The spectacular Northern Lights visible only in high latitude regions like Finland, Greenland and Alaska came to visit during the event. It wasn’t a natural phe nomenon, but projec tions by Swiss light art ist Gerry Hofstetter in cluding illuminating trees, the Swiss flag, our

tricolour, peacock feath er, tiger and several oth er patterns. His work includes projecting ice bergs to highlight global warming. The event was graced by the presece of several eminent person alities including Union Minister of State for Ex ternal Affairs and Cul ture Meenakshi Lekhi and Swiss Ambassador Ralf Heckner.

Speaking about the “light-Swiss art night,” Swiss Ambassador Ralf Heckner said, “My team is proud to present, for the first time in India,

light art by renowned Swiss artist Gerry Hof stetter. Gerry's art is a unique combination of technological expertise and universal symbol ism. The light art projec tions coincide with Di wali the festival of lights.” This is the for mer chopper pilot’s first visit to India, the only country in the world that celebrates light while re ferring to Diwali. Hof stetter said he had been dreaming to visit India for 30 years and he knew he would fall in love with the country.

HALLOWEEN

One of the city's favourite resto-bars has resumed its hip events. Witness the par ty dressed as anything unu sual and enjoy the Hallow een special feast, scary ac tivities, face painting, and crazy dance performances.

MINISTRY OF BEER, SPOOKY MOB

Delhi’s First Microbrew ery in CP, Ministry of Beer, is organising spookmob where you can chug down your fave drinks and devour mouth-watering delights while taking in the amaz ingly spine-tingling vibes and also tapping your feet to the Halloween music.

The official Twitter handle of the Police families welfare society shared photos of PFWS Mission Olympic players Simranjit Kaur and Vanshika for winning medals in the sports shot throw and long jump organised in the Open Delhi State Athletic Championship.

The official Twitter handle of the Police families welfare society shared glimpses from the self-reliant drive where women were made aware of the rules of driving. The drive was organised to make the women of Delhi Police families self-sufficient.

Glimpse from the Light-Swiss Art Night

Gerry Hofstetter

Meenakshi Lekhi in conversation with Ralf Heckner

Ralf Heckner addressing the audience

Models showcasing the mesmerising collection, The Nomand Bride by Samant Chauhan

SHUBHANSHI PATHAK cityfirstdel@gmail.com

Captivating image of tiger projected on a tree

—PHOTOS BY MANOJ KESHARWANI