1. DELHI BRAVES
BONE-CHILLING
COLD WAVE
New Delhi: With the con-
tinuous dip in temperature
in the northern part of In-
dia including the national
capital and Uttar Pradesh,
the people especially the
poor face the adversities
of the winter in most parts
of the region. The auto-
drivers, tea sellers, job
holders face their respec-
tive problems with severe
winter being in common.
The people sit around a
fireplace in groups and
warm themselves in this
chilling winter where peo-
ple said the “body seems
to freeze”. According to
the India Meteorological
Department, dense fog in
a few pockets is very likely
over east Uttar Pradesh on
Sunday. —ANI
Nadda to visit West Bengal on Jan 9
to strengthen BJP’s rank and file
BJP PRESIDENT TO GO IN DIDI’S DEN
New Delhi: Days after
West Bengal Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) un-
derwent major organi-
zational changes, party
MP Soumitra Khan on
Sunday informed that
party national presi-
dent Jagat Prakash Na-
dda will visit the state
on January 9 to
strengthen and guide
state party leaders.
Alleging that West
Bengal Chief Minister
Mamata Banerjee is de-
stroying democracy in
the state, Khan asserted
that BJP will make
West Bengal ‘Sonar
Bangla’ again. Speak-
ing to ANI here today,
the BJP MP said, “JP
Nadda will be on a two-
day visit to the state.
This visit is considered
important to strength-
en and guide party lead-
ers. West Bengal BJP
has made a big organi-
zational change in
which many new and
young faces have been
given an opportunity
.”
He said, “BJP will
make our West Bengal
‘Sonar Bangla’ again.
BJP will put an end to
the manner in which
state CM Mamata Ba-
nerjee is destroying de-
mocracy in the state.”
This visit holds im-
portance as Municipal
corporation elections in
Bidhan Nagar, Chan-
dannagar, Asansol and
Siliguri are slated to be
heldonJanuary22,2022.
“Nadda will meet all
his organizations from
District President to
zonal President. In this
meeting, all the office
bearers of the West
Bengal organization,
Vice President General
Secretary, will be pre-
sent,” said Khan.
Of the four, Asansol
is the largest municipal
corporation with 106
seats, followed by Silig-
uri with 47, Chandanna-
gar with 33 and Bidhan-
nagar with 41 wards. He
said that the top leaders
of the party have decid-
ed that the age limit to
become the president of
Yuva Morcha is below
35 years. —ANI
NEED TO LIMIT GLOBAL
TEMPERATURE LEVELS TO
SAVE ISLANDS: VP NAIDU
Lakshadweep: Vice
President M Ven-
kaiah Naidu urged all
countries to put in
consolidated efforts
to limit global tem-
perature levels, so that
smaller islands and
their sublime beauty
stays intact, and the
homes of the islanders
do not get displaced.
Expressing his deep
concern on the effect
of climate change and
global warming on
the small islands, the
Vice President said
that it is unfair that
small islands whose
percentage of overall
emissions is minimal,
pay the price for the
negligence of big na-
tions. “Rising sea level,
storm surges, flooding
and coastal erosion
pose a great threat to
the inhabitants of vari-
ous islands across the
world,” he added.
More on P8
‘EARLIER, CRIMINALS PLAYED GAMES IN UP,
NOW, YOGI GOVT PLAYS ‘JAIL JAIL’ WITH THEM’
Laying foundation stone of Major Dhyan Chand Sports University, PM Modi said that
every year, more than 1,000 girls, boys will graduate from the world’s finest varsity
NEW DELHI l MONDAY, JANUARY 3, 2022 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI TITLE NO. DELENG/2021/19840 l Vol 1 l Issue No. 125
OUR EDITIONS: JAIPUR, AHMEDABAD, LUCKNOW & NEW DELHI www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
The last year ended on a dramatic note for Indian aviation with a passenger air-
craft taking off without air traffic control (ATC) clearance. This incident happened
when a SpiceJet flight took off from Rajkot for Delhi without the mandatory nod
on the penultimate day of 2021 — December 30. The directorate general of civil
aviation (DGCA) is probing this serious lapse.
The technical committee appointed by Supreme Court to investigate use of
Pegasus spyware to snoop on phones of politicians, activists and journalists,
has sought information from people who suspect their phones were targeted.
In a public notice, the committee has asked such people to contact them by
January 7. The committee has also said that it is ready to examine the phones.
FLIGHT TAKES
OFF WITHOUT
ATC’S NOD,
PROBE INITIATED
‘GIVE US DETAILS,’
PANEL ASKS THOSE
WHO THINK OF BEING
PEGASUS TARGETS
23 new Omicron cases in Odisha;
Bengal announces fresh curbs
Bhubaneswar: Like in
other parts of the coun-
try, Omicron cases wit-
nessed a steep spike in
Odisha after 23 new
cases were reported on
Sunday, taking the Cov-
id mutant infection tal-
ly to 37 in the State.
As per the State
Health Department, all
the samples were sent
for genome sequencing
at the Institute Of Life
Sciences (ILS), Bhu-
baneswar.
Health Services Di-
rector, Bijay Mohapatra
said that of the 23 new
Omicron cases, 19 are
male and 4 female in the
age group of 8 to 83
years.
Aditi Nagar
Meerut: Hitting out at
the previous govern-
ment in Uttar Pradesh,
Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi on Sunday
said earlier criminals
and the mafia used to
play their games, but
now the Yogi Adity-
anath government is
playing “jail-jail” with
them.
Addressing a public
meeting after laying the
foundation stone for
the Major Dhyan Chand
Sports University in
Meerut, the Prime Min-
ister Modi said, “Dur-
ing the previous gov-
ernment, criminals
used to play their
games, the mafia used
to play its games. Ear-
lier, there were tourna-
ments of illegal
grabbing (of land).
People making bad re-
marks (‘phabtiyaan’)
on daughters used to
roam openly
.”
People living in
Meerut and adjoining
areas can never forget
how houses used to be
set ablaze, and the ear-
lier government used to
indulge in games of
criminals and the ma-
fia, he said.
The result of these
games played by earlier
governments was that
people were forced to
leave their ancestral
homes and there was
“exodus”, the Prime
Minister Narendra
Modi added.
“Now, the govern-
ment of Yogi (Adity-
anath) ji is playing ‘jail-
jail’ with such crimi-
nals. Five years ago, the
daughters of Meerut
used to fear leaving
their homes after even-
ing. Today, the daugh-
ters of Meerut are
bringing laurels to the
entire country,” PM
Modi further added.
Pak soldier
killed on LOC;
take back body,
says Army
Srinagar: The Indian
Army on Sunday asked
its Pakistani counter-
part to take back the
body of a Pak infiltra-
tor killed yesterday
while trying to cross the
Line of Control (LoC) in
the Keran sector of
J&K’s Kupwara.
A senior army officer
had said the man - iden-
tified as Mohammad
Shabir Malik - may have
been a member of the
Pakistan Army’s Bor-
der Action Team, or
BAT. A hotline commu-
nication has been made
to the Pakistan Army
from our side, asking
them to take back body
.
Economically weaker
section quota rules will
change next year: Govt
New Delhi: Existing
criteria to identify EWS
(Economically Weaker
Section) reservation
beneficiaries for admis-
sion to medical courses
across the country will
be retained for this aca-
demic year, the govern-
ment told the Supreme
Court in an affidavit
filed on Friday, details
of which emerged on
Sunday morning.
The government said
changing norms at this
time - when admissions
and allocation of col-
leges for NEET (Nation-
al Eligibility cum En-
trance Test) students
are ongoing - will lead
to complications. gov-
ernment said.
The government had
earlier argued that the
Rs 8 lakh annual in-
come criteria was con-
sistent with Articles 14,
15, 16 of Constitution.
SCHOOLS, COLLEGES CLOSED
IN WEST BENGAL FROM TODAY
JAN 5: PM MODI TO HOLD PUBLIC
RALLY IN PUNJAB’S FIROZPUR
PM MODI TO VISIT MANIPUR,
TRIPURA ON JANUARY 4
PM GETS WARM WELCOME FROM LOCALS IN MEERUT
NEW
CRITERIA
PM MODI PAYS
TRIBUTES TO
SHAHEEDS IN
MEERUT CITY
Kolkata: In view of the Omicron situation, West Ben-
gal has imposed a series of fresh coronavirus disease
(Covid-19)-related restrictions from January 3 (Monday),
under which all schools and colleges in the state will once
again shut their gates. Moreover, restrictive measures
have also been imposed on shopping malls, market com-
plexes, restaurants, and bars, wherein they will now allow
only 50 per cent of their total capacity. The restrictive
measures, on part of the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool
Congress government in West Bengal, were announced
on Sunday by the state’s chief secretary, HK Dwivedi.
Firozpur: Ahead of Punjab the Assembly elections,
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a public
rally in Firozpur district on January 5. This will be the
first rally of PM Modi in Punjab after the repeal of three
farm laws. The Prime Minister is also scheduled to in-
augurate a satellite center of the Postgraduate Institute
of Medical Education and Research (PGIMR) in Pun-
jab’s Firozpur. He is also likely to address a rally after
the event. Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi
is also likely to attend the event at PGIMR. The political
rally by PM is significance as he will be joined by ex-
Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh. Former Punjab
CM Captain Amarinder Singh and SAD (Sanyukt) leader
Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa will also take part in the rally.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit
Manipur and Tripura on January 4. According to a state-
ment issued by the Prime Minister’s Office on Sunday,
the Prime Minister will inaugurate 13 Projects worth
around Rs 1,850 crores and lay the foundation stone of
9 projects worth around Rs 2,950 crore in Manipur. He
will also inaugurate the new Integrated Terminal Build-
ing at Maharaja Bir Bikram Airport and will also launch
two key development initiatives in Tripura. Prime Minis-
ter will also dedicate 2,387 mobile towers to the people
of Manipur. He will lay the foundation stone of ‘State of
the Art Cancer Hospital’ in Imphal. Further, to boost the
Covid related infrastructure in the State, Prime Minister
will inaugurate ‘200 Bedded Covid Hospital at Kiyamgei.
Meerut: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday received a warm welcome from the peo-
ple in Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut where he will lay the foundation stone of Major Dhyan Chand
Sports University. A huge crowd, chanting ‘Modi- Modi’, was seen along the side of the
road. PM Modi accepting the greetings of the locals also waived back to the crowd while
sitting inside his car. Earlier in the day, PM Modi offered prayers at the Augurnath Temple.
The revised EWS
criteria retains the
contentious Rs 8 lakh
annual income ceiling
but excludes families
with agricultural land
of five acres or more,
irrespective of income.
CORONA CATASTROPHE
INDIA
27,553
new cases
284
new fatalities
NEW DELHI
3194
new cases
01
new fatalities
MESSI
TESTS
POSITIVE
 Seven-time Ballon
d’Or winner Lionel
Messi is among four
players in the Paris
Saint-Germain squad
to have tested positive
for the coronavirus
ahead of the team’s
French Cup game on
Monday night
 PSG coach Mauri-
cio Pochettino is un-
certain when Messi
will be able to return
to France, or whether
he can recover in
time to play away to
Lyon in the league
next Sunday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath wave to their
supporters during the foundation stone laying ceremony of Major Dhyan Chand Sports University.
Meerut: Prime Min-
ister Narendra Modi
paid floral tribute at
Shahid Smarak in Ut-
tar Pradesh’s Meerut
on Sunday. He was
accompanied by Uttar
Pradesh’s Governor
Anandiben Patel and
Chief Minister Yogi
Adityanath. PM Modi ar-
rived in the city today to
lay the foundation stone
of Major Dhyan Chand
Sports University. As per
an official statement is-
sued by Prime Minister’s
Office, the university
will be established at
Salawa and Kaili villages
of Sardhana town in
Meerut at an estimated
expenditure of about
Rs 700 crore. —ANI

2. New Delhi: Delhi Met-
ro’s journey was halted
in its tracks for nearly a
month in the year gone
by due to the brutal sec-
ond wave of Covid but
the urban transporter
tackled and surmounted
many challenges amid
the pandemic to achieve
a few milestones, includ-
ing running of next-gen-
eration driverless trains
on its second corridor.
Driverless train opera-
tions on the 59-km Pink
Line was started on No-
vember 25, putting the
mass rapid transit sys-
tem on fourth position
globally among the net-
works which operate this
cutting-edge technology.
While November saw a
high for Delhi Metro Rail
Corporation, the preced-
ing few months for it was
quite challenging, as it
had to run operations
with commuters being
allowed with limited
seating capacity, after re-
sumption of services
from June 7, post a near-
ly one-month long hiatus
in services due to Covid
restrictions imposed by
authorities to check the
spread of the pandemic.
DMRC services were
fully suspended from
May 10 in view of the
Covid-induced lockdown
in Delhi. It was first im-
posed on April 19, and
successively extended by
the city government. Ser-
vices had run partially
initially, catering only to
people from the field of
essential services.
Following the relaxa-
tions in norms by au-
thorities, the Delhi Met-
ro was running with full
seating capacity from
July 26, initially with no
provision for standing
travel for commuters,
and later provision for
standing was allowed
with some regulations.
However, towards the
fag end of the year, the
rising number of Covid
cases amid an Omicron
scare, again prompted
the government to im-
pose fresh restrictions
from December 28 on-
wards, under the ‘yellow
alert’ . —PTI
CAPITOL
NEW DELHI | MONDAY, JANUARY 3, 2022
02
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New Delhi: Delhi Depu-
ty Chief Minister Man-
ish Sisodia on Saturday
visited the under-con-
struction campus of the
upcoming Delhi Teach-
ers’ University at
Bakkarwala village and
informed that it will be
opened this year for a to-
tal of 5,000 students.
Delhi Government
will set up Delhi Teach-
ers University on 12
acres of land and stu-
dents will be able to ap-
ply for admission from
2022 itself as Sisodia di-
rected officials to fast
track the work of setting
up this university in
Bakkarwala village as
sessions will start in
2022.
After this visit, Siso-
dia, in a statement, said,
‘’In the meanwhile, the
concerned department is
also working on bringing
in the best teachers who
have worked with for-
eign universities and
will groom teachers in
Delhi with the help of
the world’s best practic-
es. The University will
cater to the professional
needs of both pre-service
and in-service teachers.’’
The University will
have lecture halls, digital
labs, and a library with
world-class facilities.
The four-storey main
university block has
been divided into two
parts- the Administra-
tive floor and Education
Floor.
Here, the ground floor
will have an administra-
tion office, whereas
classes will be run on the
first, second and third
floors. As of now, the
main university block is
ready to open and other
blocks are near comple-
tion.
It is to be noted that,
earlier on Decwember 20,
2021, the Delhi Cabinet
had approved the pro-
posal to set up Delhi
Teachers’ University.
The bill related to this
will be tabled in the win-
ter session of the Delhi
Legislative Assembly
starting from January 3.
But even before that, Del-
hi Government got in-
dulged in preparing its
infrastructure. —ANI
New Delhi: The air qual-
ity of the national capital
was in the “very poor”
category on Sunday
morning with the AQI
clocking 398 at 9 am, the
Central Pollution Con-
trol Board (CPCB) data
showed.
Delhiites woke up to a
cold morning as the min-
imum temperature set-
tled at 5 degrees Celsius,
two notches below nor-
mal, according to the
IMD.
Meanwhile, the AQI of
Delhi’s neighbouring
Faridabad stood at 332,
Ghaziabad at 368, Great-
er Noida at 314 and Noida
at 367, all in the “very
poor” category. —PTI
CRUCIAL READ
SOUTH DISTRICT REPORTS
HIGHEST CASES IN SINGLE DAY
37,000 OXYGEN BEDS AVAILABLE,
ONLY 0.2 PC OF THEM OCCUPIED
`99L COLLECTED FOR COVID-19
VIOLATIONS ON JANUARY 1
New Delhi: Delhi BJP
president Adesh Gupta
said his party’s protest
against the AAP govern-
ment’s new excise policy
would continue and that all
three MCDs in the capital
have decided to seal liquor shops that violate municipal
laws. He said shops that do not comply with corpora-
tions rules or are in close vicinity of a religious place or
a school will be sealed with immediate effect. The BJP
would resort to “chakka jam” today at 14 places if the
new excise policy is not withdrawn, Gupta said.
AT ODDS WITH AAP’S NEW EXCISE POLICY,
BJP-RULED MCDS SEAL LIQUOR SHOPS
POLICE RAMPS UP
SECURITY AT CITY
COURTS
New Delhi: In a bid to
ramp up security at city
courts, the Delhi Police,
following an audit, has
decided to procure 1,055
CCTVs, including 60 pan-
tilt-zoom cameras, 56
X-ray baggage scanners,
30 explosive detectors,
28 integrated systems
for checking vehicles,
and 155 iron barricades.
Issues regarding security
lapses came to the light
after 2 incidents last year.
New Delhi: Enforcement
officials of the Delhi
state GST department
said they had unearthed
a fake GST billing scam
of Rs 347 crore spread
across 11 firms. Ac-
cording to officials, the
firms that have been ac-
cused of evading taxes
were engaged in circular
trading and issuing fake
bills to claim fraudulent
input tax credit to evade
taxes.
`347 CR FAKE GST
BILLING SCAM
BUSTED; 1 HELD
AQI in very ‘poor category’,
city wakes up to cold morning
Covid wave pause; second driverless ops to join elite club
New Delhi: Delhi’s
peak power demand
surged to 7,323 MW
in 2021, only a shade
lower than the all-
time high of 7,409
MW in 2019 but con-
siderably higher
than the correspond-
ing demand of 6,341
MW in 2020, official
statistics reveal.
Power discoms of-
ficials attribute this
demand for power in
the capital to a dev-
astating second wave
of COVID-19 and ad-
verse weather condi-
tions for a prolonged
period here. —ANI
New Delhi: Two per-
sons sustained bullet
injuries and four po-
lice personnel were
injured in stone-pelt-
ing by a mob when
the Delhi Police team
went to arrest a
wanted drug peddler
in the Indrapuri area
of Delhi on Saturday.
According to Del-
hi Police, the Narcot-
ics team reached In-
drapuri to arrest
wanted drug smug-
gler Dharamveer
alias Palla. During
the raid, Palla was
not present at his
house. —ANI
National capital
witnessed rise in
power demand
in 2021
Police team
attacked during
raid to arrest
drug smuggler
Delhi Teachers’ University to be opened
this year for 5,000 students, says Sisodia
DELHI METRO
The University
will cater to the
professional needs
of both pre-service
and in-service
teachers.
—Manish Sisodia
Delhi Deputy Chief
Minister
DRIVERLESS TRAIN OPERATIONS ON
THE 59-KM PINK LINE WAS STARTED
ON NOVEMBER 25
New Delhi: The
chief minister on
Sunday urged the
Delhiites not to pan-
ic as the present
COVID-19 cases in
the national capital
is “very mild” in
comparison to the
Delta variant during
the second wave dur-
ing April-May 2021.
He appealed to
people to stay re-
sponsible and follow
COVID-appropriate
norms.
“There is no need
to panic. Keep follow-
ing COVID appropri-
ate behaviour and be
responsible. This
COVID is very mild
and the Delhi gov-
ernment is ready
and stands with
you,” the chief min-
ister said.
“On 29 December,
262 beds were occu-
pied in New Delhi’s
hospital by the COV-
ID patients. On 1
January, 247 patients
were admitted in to-
tal. It means the peo-
ple who are getting
infectedwithCOVID,
most of them are not
having the need to be
hospitalised. There
are mild and asymp-
tomatic cases,” he
added.
Presenting the sta-
tistics on the prepar-
edness of the Delhi
government, the
chief minister said
that there are 37,000
oxygen beds availa-
ble in the city out of
which only 82 oxy-
gen beds have been
occupied. “Only 82
oxygen beds are oc-
cupied in Delhi. To-
day we have the
preparation of 37,000
beds. Only 0.22 per-
cent of beds are oc-
cupied and 99.78 pc
of beds are unoccu-
pied,” he said. —PTI
New Delhi: The national
capital’s South district
has reported the highest
number of Covid cases
in a single day at 372
while the northeast
district had the least at
52, according to official
data, as Delhi sees a
major spurt in cases
with each passing day.
Delhi has so far logged
351 cases of Omicron
with it emerging as the
dominant variant among
samples being genome
sequenced here. Out of
the 11 districts, barring
one, all other areas have
case figures in three
digits. In a massive
surge, Delhi recorded
2,716 fresh Covid cases,
the highest single-day
rise since May 21, and
one death while the
positivity rate mounted
to 3.64 pc. —PTI
New Delhi: Delhi Chief
Minister Arvind Kejriwal
on Sunday informed
about his government’s
preparedness amid the
surging COVID-19 cases
in the national capital
and said that there are
37,000 oxygen beds
available in the city with
only 0.22 per cent of
them occupied at pre-
sent. Addressing a press
meet here, Kejriwal said,
“Today we have the
preparation of 37,000
beds. Only 82 oxygen
beds are occupied in
Delhi. Only 0.22 per cent
of beds are occupied
and 99.78 per cent of
beds are unoccupied.”
He further urged the
people not to panic as
the cases being detected
are mostly asympto-
matic with lesser need
of hospitalisation. —ANI
New Delhi: Over `99
lakhs was collected
in fines and 66 FIRs
were registered on the
first day of 2022, Sat-
urday for violation of
COVID-19 protocols,
following the enforce-
ment of ‘Yellow alert’
restrictions in the
national capital, said
the Delhi government.
A total of Rs 99.34
lakh were collected as
challans in the entire
city. Most numbers
of violations were re-
ported in North, East,
and Central Delhi for
not wearing masks in
the public on Satur-
day. As many as 689
incidents of violation
of COVID-19 guide-
lines were registered
in North Delhi, 629 in
East Delhi and 620 in
Central Delhi.
COVID cases rising at alarming rate
Noneedtopanic,saysCM
New COVID cases
in Delhi mild and
asymptomatic, says
Arvind Kejriwal
City reports 3,194 fresh COVID cases in the last 24 hours, positivity rate at 4.59 per cent
Teachers to inform parents about nearest vaccination centre for 15-18 age group
New Delhi: Class teach-
ers will be responsible
for informing parents
about the nearest COVID
vaccination centre, says
Delhi government’s new
guidelines for vaccina-
tion of children from 15-
18 age group that will
begin from January 3 in
159centresspreadacross
the national capital.
As per the guidelines,
the responsibility of in-
forming the parents
about the nearest vacci-
nation centre has also
been given to class teach-
ers of respective classes.
Also, separate rooms
should also be designat-
ed for the parents com-
ing with the children to
the vaccination centres.
“Schools will have to ap-
point a nodal officer that
will ensure vaccination
of all the students in the
school. In addition to the
ID proof already valid
for vaccination, the
school ID cards of a
child is also valid. Walk-
in registration facility
will also be provided at
the vaccination centre,”
reads the order.
These centres have
been set up in govern-
ment hospitals, dispen-
saries, polyclinics and
schools run by the Delhi
government and munici-
pal corporations. —ANI
Arvind Kejriwal

3. INDIA
NEW DELHI | MONDAY, JANUARY 3, 2022
03
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New Delhi: A Delhi-
based journalist has
filed a complaint with
the cyber cell of south-
eastdistrictpolice,alleg-
ing that unidentified
persons uploaded doc-
tored photos of her on a
webpage alongside ob-
jectionable comments
“aimedatinsultingMus-
limwomen”.Thiscomes
six months after police
inDelhiandNoidaregis-
tered cases in connec-
tion with photos of Mus-
lim women being up-
loaded on a Github app.
No arrests have been
madeinconnectionwith
that complaint.
DCP (south-east dis-
trict) Esha Pandey con-
firmed they have re-
ceived a complaint. “We
are looking into it and
appropriate legal action
will be taken,” she said.
Sources in the cyber
cell claimed they had
identifiedsomeaccounts
in connection with the
objectional posts, which
were deactivated follow-
ingthepolicecomplaint.
Police are trying to get
further details.
The complainant
states, “I was shocked to
find out this morning
that a website… had a
doctored picture of me
inanimproper,unaccep-
table and clearly lewd
context. I am often the
target of online trolls
and this seems to be the
next step in such harass-
ment. This needs imme-
diate action as the same
is clearly designed to
harass me and other
similarly situated inde-
pendent women and
journalists.”
She further wrote:
“The term bulli-bai it-
self seems disrespectful
and the content of this
website is clearly aimed
at insulting Muslim
women as the derogato-
ry term buli is used ex-
clusively for Muslim
women and the entire
website seems to have
been designed with the
intent of insulting Mus-
lim women. The term
bulli of the day further
objectifies and dehu-
manises women.” —PTI
SCRIBE FILES FIR ALLEGING HER
DOCTORED PICTURE UPLOADED
Several women posted screenshots of their photos with ‘lewd context’ being used on the webpage
‘Channi blaming Guv over delay
in regularisation of employees’
Amritsar: Attacking
Punjab Chief Minister
Charanjit Singh Chan-
ni, the Shiromani Akali
Dal (SAD) on Sunday
alleged that the Chief
Minister was trying to
put the blame on Gover-
nor Banwarilal Purohit
for delaying the imple-
mentation of the law to
regularise contractual
employees.
“Channi’s lies have
been caught. People
have come to know that
he is a ‘dramebaaz CM’.
He is now trying to put
the blame on the Guv to
safeguard himself from
public ire. But he’ll not
be able to escape them”,
alleged SAD leader
Prem Singh Chanduma-
jra on Sunday
.
Oxfam laments
loss of licence
New Delhi: Oxfam In-
dia on Saturday said the
govt’s decision to refuse
renewal of its FCRA li-
cence - needed to receive
funding from abroad -
will severely affect the
organisation’s ongoing
social work in 16 states.
“
As per the list released
by the MHA on Jan 1,
2022, Oxfam India’s
FCRA registration re-
newal request has been
denied... which means
thatOxfamIndiawillnot
be able to receive foreign
funds for any of its work
in India (effective imme-
diately),” the group said.
5-member SIT to probe Haridwar
Dharma Sansad hate speech
New Delhi: A five-
member special investi-
gating team (SIT) will
probe the extremely
provocative hate
speeches delivered at
the Dharma Sansad in
Haridwar, Uttara-
khand, in mid-Decem-
ber.
The SIT will be head-
ed by an officer of the
superintendent of po-
lice level and legal ac-
tion will be taken
against those found
guilty, said the Garhwal
deputy inspector gen-
eral, Karan Singh
Nagnyal, on Sunday
.
On Saturday, officials
said two more names —
Yati Narasimhanand,
Sindhu Sagar — were
added to an FIR lodged
in connection with the
Haridwar event where
speeches inciting vio-
lence against Muslims
were allegedly deliv-
ered.
New Delhi: After fury
over Muslim women be-
ing ‘auctioned’ by right-
wing extremists - for
the second time in less
than a year - IT Minis-
ter Ashwini Vaishnaw
tweeted a terse two lines
late Saturday to say the
GitHub user behind the
‘Bulli Bai’ app had been
blocked and “further
action” was being coor-
dinated. The brief mes-
sage was in response to
a plea by Shiv Sena MP
Priyanka Chaturvedi,
who yesterday tagged
Mr Vaishnaw asking
him to act against
“rampant misogyny and
communal targeting
of women”. “GitHub
(the Microsoft-owned
software-sharing plat-
form used to build and
run the ‘Bulli Bai’ app)
confirmed blocking
the user this morning
itself. CERT (Computer
Emergency Response
Team, an office within
the Ministry of Electron-
ics and Information
Technology, or MEITY)
and police authori-
ties are coordinating
further action. GitHub
confirmed blocking
the user this morning
itself. CERT and Police
authorities are coordi-
nating further action,”
Vaishnaw tweeted.
AMuslim group has approached the SC seek-
ing action against hate speeches against the
community, saying state authorities had failed to
act despite complaints. The plea by Jamiat Ula-
ma-i-Hind, through its president Maulana Syed
Mahmood Asad Madani, said “such speeches go
beyond the limits of a permitted critical denial of
another’s beliefs, and are certainly likely to incite
religious intolerance…”.
“BULLI BAI CREATOR BLOCKED”: MIN;
SENA MP SAYS MORE ACTION NEEDED
MUSLIM ORGANISATION MOVES
SUPREME COURT OVER HATE SPEECH
NAVJOT SIDHU
BATS FOR SELF
CDS CHOPPER CRASH
Probe report in January,
CIFT error likely cause
New Delhi: The probe
into last month’s heli-
copter crash in Tamil
Nadu that killed the
country’s first Chief
of Defence Staff, Gen-
eral Bipin Rawat, and
13 others is close to be-
ing complete and the
final report is expected
to be submitted to the
Air Force Chief in Jan-
uary, Defence sources
told.
There is no official
word from the Air
Force on the probe’s
findings so far. Sources
suggested that the like-
ly cause is not human
or technical error but
what is known as Con-
trolled Flight into Ter-
rain (CIFT), when the
pilot unintentionally
hits a surface.
CIFT means the heli-
copter was airworthy
and the pilot was not at
fault, sources said. In
this case, reduced vis-
ibility because of bad
weather in the Coonoor
area, where the crash
occurred, could be one
of the causes, they
said. CIFT is one of the
main causes of air-
craft crashes globally.
Air Force officials
said the final report
will shed light on the
details of the accident.
The tri-services
court of inquiry is
headed by Air Marshal
Manvendra Singh, who
is the country’s top
helicopter pilot in the
armed forces.
New Delhi: The Air
Force’s inquiry into
the chopper crash that
killed CDS General Bipin
Rawat, his wife and 11
armed forces personnel
is almost complete and
will be submitted soon,
sources. Neither the Air
Force nor the govt has
made any statement
yet on the probe or its
report, but sources indi-
cate that reduced visibil-
ity due to bad weather
may have contributed
to the crash. There has
also been no statement
or explanation so far on
whether pilot-error was
the underlying cause of
the accident or whether
rules for operating
within clouds in hilly
areas were disregarded.
Sources also said the
inquiry ruled out any
possibility of technical
errors or mechanical
defects.
BAD WEATHER LIKELY FACTOR IN GEN
RAWAT’S CHOPPER CRASH: SOURCES
BSF on alert at border areas
ahead of Modi’s visit to Tripura
Agartala: Security has
been tightened at the
India-Bangladesh bor-
der ahead of Prime
Minister Narendra
Modi’s visit to Tripura
on January 4, con-
firmed the Border Secu-
rity Force (BSF) on Sat-
urday
.
While speaking to
media, BSF Comman-
dant Ratnesh Kumar,
120 Battalions, said that
whenever there is VVIP
movement near border
areas, alertness is usu-
ally increased to ensure
there is no untoward
incident. “We have also
increased patrolling
along the border,” he
added.It should be not-
ed that PM Modi is slat-
ed to visit the north-
eastern state on Janu-
ary 4 and inaugurate a
new terminal building
atMaharajaBirBikram
Airport in Agartala.
P’’itching himself as a
chief ministerial can-
didate, Punjab Congress
president Navjot Singh
Sidhu Saturday said the
people of the state are
looking for a leader who
will show them hope and
give a concrete road map.
“I believe that the ‘Punjab
Model’ is the answer to
it,” Sidhu said. He has
been claiming that he had
developed a ‘Punjab Model’
which is cure-all for the
state’s financial problems.
New Delhi: NCP lead-
er & state cabinet min-
ister Nawab Malik on
Sunday criticised the
NCB for appealing
against the bail of his
son-In-law, Sameer
Khan, who was earlier
arrested in a drug case.
“The main accused
in the drug case is
Karan Sajnani. How-
ever, they have gone to
the HC to cancel the
bail of Sameer Khan,
just because he is my
son-in-law. They are
trying to scare me. But
I’ll not get scared and
will keep exposing the
wrongdoings,” Malik
said.
Malik releases two audio clips
with ‘proof’ of NCB wrongdoings
MALIK MAKES
NEW ALLEGATIONS
Maharashtra Minister
and NCP leader
Nawab Malik on Sunday
alleged that some
influential BJP leaders
from Maha are lobbying
for NCB zonal director
Sameer Wankhede at
the level of Union Home
Ministry for the further
extension of his tenure,
which came to end on
December 31 last year.
Image for representational purpose only.
Prem Singh Chandumajra
Image for representational purpose only.
Image for representational purpose only.
Rakesh Ranjan
New Delhi: The Su-
preme Court will sing
Auld Lang Syne for
eight judges this year
including the Chief Jus-
tice of India NV Rama-
na even before 2022 runs
its course. And yet, it’s
not clear how the Su-
preme Court Collegium
and the government
plan to fill the vacancies
to arise during the
course of 2022.
While CJI Ramana is
scheduled to step down
on August 27, 2022, his
likely successor in
terms of seniority Jus-
tice UU Lalit may have
just a little over two
months before he too re-
tires on November 8. If
the next senior judge DY
Chandrachud is ap-
pointed the Chief Jus-
tice of India after Jus-
tice Lalit, he will have a
good two-year term till
November 10, 2024.
According to the re-
tirement schedule, Jus-
tice Lalit will be the last
one to retire and his de-
parturewill bepreceded
by seven judges includ-
ing the CJI.
The first on the list of
retirement is Justice R
Subhash Reddy who
will step down tomor-
row i.e. 04.01.2022.
Justice Vineet Saran
will follow him as he
will retire on May 10
whereas Justice L
Nageshwar Rao will re-
tire on June 7. Justice
AM Khanwilkar will re-
tire on July 29 to be fol-
lowed by Justice Indira
Banerjee on September
23 and Justice Hemant
Gupta on October 16.
It may be underlined
that out of 34, the total
sanctioned posts of
judges, one post is al-
ready vacant.
It is stressed that to
maintain the dignity
and efficiency of the Su-
preme Court, it’s vital
that the scheduled va-
cancies are filled as
soon as they arise.
About 70,000 cases are
said to have been pend-
ing in the SC. This is
despite the fact that a
record 1.5 lakh cases
were heard via video
conferencing in 2021 af-
ter the virtual hearing
started post-March 2020.
Already, the dignity
of the judicial system
has suffered a huge
blow because of the
backlog of cases run-
ning into crores.
About 37% vacancies
of judgesinHighCourts
and over 20% in district
courts has considerably
slowed down the admin-
istered justice system
that is seen to be already
mired down by too
many deficiencies.
It is reported that
about 56 lakh cases are
pending in High Courts.
The rising pendency of
cases has touched the 5.7
croresmarkwithdistrict
courtsaccountingforthe
bulk of these cases. The
latter can’t be entirely
pinned down for the de-
laysasoutof 24,247sanc-
tionedposts,thesecourts
have 4,928 posts vacant.
Will retirement of eight SC judges in 2022 see smooth succession?
IN THE COURT
FACTFILE
z 56 lakh cases are
pending in High Courts.
z 5.7 crore is pendency
of cases with district
courts accounting for
most cases
z Out of 24,247 sanc-
tioned posts, dist courts
have 4,928 posts vacant
The‘passive-politician’
RahulGandhireturns!
Mahesh Sharma
New Delhi: Mamta Ba-
nerjee made scathing
remarks about Rahul
Gandhi during her
Mumbai tour and re-
marked as to what poli-
tics can be done with a
leader who stays abroad
all the time. Thereafter
Congress leaders be-
came extremely furious
while several leaders
stressed on how much
time Rahul is now de-
voting in domestic poli-
tics. But Rahul has gone
abroad again, and at a
crucial juncture too,
since elections of five
statescanbeannounced
anytime. At this time
BJP leaders are holding
rallies after rallies. PM
Narendra Modi and Un-
ion Home Minister
Amit Shah have thrown
themselves into the poll
campaign. Even leaders
of regional parties are
engaged but the Gandhi
scion chose to go on a
foreign tour.
He had returned from
a long foreign tour just
before the winter ses-
sion of Parliament.
Now by going abroad
again, he has made peo-
ple realize his serious-
ness. These days, prepa-
rations are on for elec-
tions and the third wave
of Corona is about to
come, therefore, how
can a serious and sensi-
tive politician go on a
foreign tour at such a
time?
The Prime Minister
has cancelled his visit
to the UAE, which was
scheduled for January
6, to mark 50 years of
India-UAE ties but Ra-
hul has gone abroad for
a holiday. There is cur-
rently a fifth wave of
corona in Europe and
international flights
are being stopped in
view of the third wave
in India. What if there
is a complete lockdown?
Will Rahul Gandhi be
taken out of a ship and
brought to India under
Vande Bharat Mission?
The number of ques-
tions raised by the BJP
leaders on his move will
be further picked up by
the leaders of the oppo-
sition parties.
Rahul Gandhi
Supreme Court of India
Nawab Malik

4. PERSPECTIVE
NEW DELHI | MONDAY, JANUARY 3, 2022
04
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Vol 1 Issue No. 125
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: Jagdeesh Chandra.
Editor: Sharat K Verma
responsible for selection of news
under the PRB Act
Piyush Goyal
@PiyushGoyal
We have to remember one more thing
related to the world of sports. The
global market for sports services and
goods is worth millions of crores.
Sports goods are exported to more
than 100 countries from Meerut itself.
Vocal is not only for Meerut local,
but also making local global: PM@
NarendraModi Ji.
Anurag Thakur
@ianuragthakur
Prime Minister @narendramodiji
keeps his promises! From spending
hours motivating our sportspersons to
interacting with them on their return
from the Olympics - he truly has been
the sportspersons PM.
SPIRITUAL SPEAK
For our struggle is not against
flesh and blood, but against the
rulers, against the authorities,
against the powers of this dark
world and against the spiritual
forces of evil in the heavenly
realms. —Bible
IN-DEPTH
ON ENVIRONMENT
CHILE SHOWS THE
WAY, TO REWRITE
CONSTITUTION
s climate change con-
tinuestothreatenour
survival, countries
party to the confer-
ence on climate
change keep protecting their
own political and national inter-
ests rather than taking substan-
tial steps to stop behaving as en-
vironment marauders. Of all the
countries it is Chile which has
decided to take a decisive step
towards protection of the envi-
ronment by asking Chileans to
rewrite the country’s 1980 consti-
tution written under the regime
of Augusto Pinochet to tackle a
“climate and ecological emer-
gency”. A committee of 155 Chil-
eans will look at issues like na-
ture having rights, how to regu-
late mines and if local communi-
ties should have a say in mining.
The interesting point before
the committee is whether nature
has rights. The Uttarakhand
High Court had in 2017 ordered
India’s lifeline, the Ganga and
Yamuna to be treated as living
entities. The order was later
stayed by the Supreme Court but
the time has come for us to give
nature some special rights.
TOP TWEETS
A
ear 2022 has start-
ed on a positive
note with Goods
and Services Tax
(GST) collections
recording a 13 percent in-
crease in December over the
corresponding period in 2020.
The gross revenue collections
remained above `1 lakh crore
for the sixth month in a row
amid signs that the economy
was on the path of recovery
.
Though a healthy indica-
tor, GST collections do not
give the complete picture.
Former chief economic ad-
viser Arvind Subramanian
pointed to other parameters
to strike a note of caution.
The former CEA has said that
the economy was emerging
out of last year’s blues so let’s
not raise a toast just yet.
“The GDP is barely back at
the pre-pandemic level and
IIP (Index of Industrial Pro-
duction) is still below pre-
pandemic level…It is far too
early to celebrate the num-
bers. They are still fairly
weak compared to the pre-
pandemic level,” he is re-
ported to have said.
Subramanian, who differs
from the government’s view
on economic growth, re-
opened the debate on GDP
growth between 2013-14 and
2018-19 which, he said, was 4
percent and not 7 percent
and called for its factual re-
assessment.
No one in the government
will be interested in giving
the previous GDP numbers a
second look as they can’t be
expected to revise the num-
ber downward.
Another aspect which the
Congress has taken up is the
high unemployment rate
which stood at 7.9 percent of
which urban youth com-
prised 9.3 percent and rural
7.2 percent. Improvement in
these numbers will reflect
only when there is buoyancy
in the key sectors of the
economy
.
GST COLLECTIONS KEEP
REVIVAL HOPES HIGH
Though a healthy
indicator, GST
collections do not give the
complete picture. Former
chief economic adviser
Arvind Subramanian
pointed to other
parameters to strike a
note of caution
Y
Importance of Value
ave you noticed that the word
“value” has become such a
buzzword of the 21st century!
Anytime you go on Google,
you witness some marketing
maven, company, blog post or
an industry guru, whipping
out this word and emphasiz-
ing how important it is to
“create value.”
We are indeed overusing
the word and it’s confusing
people, especially the young
generation. They use “Value”
in their banter with such
ubiquity that it hardly has
any meaning left.
In my 20+ years of experi-
ence, I have seen many Lead-
ers and marketing/sales pro-
fessionals attend hyped webi-
nars or a conference to only
realize that they have NO
clue of what it is, why they
are supposed to offer it, and
how to measure it!
I often see baffled, foiled,
inept people scratching their
heads and saying; “Hey,
where do I find VALUE?” As
if it is a treasure hunt! Let’s
start making more effort in
talking about what it is and
how to provide it.
In my opinion, VALUE as a
word doesn’t mean anything.
It is a placeholder, a catch-
phrase for something that is
dynamic, contextual and re-
quires an acknowledgment
from others. So when we
bring up this word in our con-
versations, we’re not offering
much insight. VALUE for one
person is different for anoth-
er and changes from a prod-
uct to a service to an idea and
an offer.
Please understand, VAL-
UE isn’t a thing; it’s an
AGREEMENT.
Identifying value starts
with looking outward. It be-
gins with a comprehensive
understanding of the other
person, group, or company
you’re looking to collaborate
with. Creating VALUE re-
quires empathy and has a
deep connotation with con-
sidering other person’s goals
and objectives. Being able to
solve, minimize and eradi-
cate the pain points of your
team and your customer is
critical to defining your VAL-
UE. Mostly the choice is be-
tween whether you can posi-
tion yourself as an asset or as
a tool in someone’s efforts to
improve their world.
Creating value is easy
when it is intrinsic. For ex-
ample, materialistic acquisi-
tions such as money, gold,
stocks, etc. have an intrinsic
value and therefore it’s easi-
er for the market to put a
price on it. However, in the
world of sales, it is not so
easy…Puzzling questions
like, What is the value of 60
minutes of someone’s time?
How do you measure the val-
ue of content writers? Why
should we pay a certain
amount to some trainers
when there are others avail-
able for much less? Deter-
mining the value of these
things makes the task even
more difficult.
In simple terms, value is
being seen as worth some-
thing; time, money, commit-
ment, support, etc. When you
expect to achieve something
in return, you’re headed in
the right direction. The more
someone will give you for
what you are offering, the
more VALUE you are provid-
ing, but it can only be estab-
lished by your power of con-
viction.
VALUES are significant in
our lives because they help
us grow and develop. They
create a road map for the fu-
ture we want to experience.
Through hundreds of deci-
sions that we make every day
,
we direct ourselves towards
a specific purpose.
Let me share a high-level
overview of the four kinds of
values that we all imbibe:
INDIVIDUAL VALUES
They are reflected in how you
show up in your life and the
principles you live by! Out-
lining the importance of
what you consider important
for your self-interest and dis-
play enthusiasm, creativity,
and humility
.
RELATIONSHIP VALUES
These are reflected in how
you relate to other people in
your life! Be it friends, family
,
or colleagues in your organi-
zation, they include open-
ness, trust, generosity, and
caring.
ORGANISATIONAL
VALUES
These are reflected in how
the organisation operates in
the world. They include fi-
nancial growth, strategic al-
liances, human resources
and social capital.
SOCIETAL VALUES
Societal values include fu-
ture generations, environ-
mental awareness, ecology,
sustainability, and how you
relate to your socio–econom-
ic status.
When the above values are
shared, they build a strong
backbone that provides im-
mense opportunities to inter-
nal as well as external stake-
holders. The true WIN is ac-
tually in knowing more about
what it is and how to create it
rather than negotiating un-
der false pretexts.
Let’s glide into the holiday
season with a profound un-
derstanding and considera-
tion. Thank you for reading
this and hope it provided
VALUE on your time.
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY
THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL
H
DR DIVYA JAITLY
The writer is a TEDx Speaker, Integrated
Communication Specialist, Leadership Mentor,
Public Speaking Coach, Image Consultant
Renowned TV Anchor in India.
In my opinion, VALUE as a
word doesn’t mean anything.
It is a placeholder, a
catchphrase for something
that is dynamic, contextual
and requires an
acknowledgment from others.
So when we bring up this
word in our conversations,
we’re not offering much
insight. VALUE for one
person is different for
another and changes from a
product to a service to an
idea and an offer.
We are indeed
overusing the word
and it’s confusing
people, especially the
young generation. They
use “Value” in their
banter with such ubiquity
that it hardly has any
meaning left

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6. INDIA
NEW DELHI | MONDAY, JANUARY 3, 2022
05
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We have put
up a strong
fight against
Covid earlier and
this learning must
be used to re-focus on
efforts against the
Omicron variant.
We must focus on
planning with re-
gard to the 15-18 age
group vaccination
and precautionary
doses for eligible
beneficiaries.
—Mansukh Mandaviya,
Union Health Minister
New Delhi: Congress
leader Rahul Gandhi on
Sunday called upon
people to raise their
voice against insult of
women and communal
hatred and said it was
time to speak up against
the menace.
His comments on
Twitter came amid out-
rage by netizens and
women rights groups
over the dodgy ‘Bulli
Bai’ app that has listed
Muslim women for
“auction”. Hundreds of
Muslim women, with
photographs, were list-
ed for “auction” on the
app. It has happened for
the second time in less
than a year. The app ap-
peared to be a clone of
Sulli Deals which trig-
gered a row last year.
“The insult of wom-
en and communal ha-
tred will stop only when
we stand against it in
one voice. The year has
changed, the situation
should also change. It is
time to speak up,” Gan-
dhi tweeted using the
hashtag ‘no fear’.
After photographs of
at least 100 influential
Muslim women were
uploaded for auction on
the app sparking wide-
spread outrage, IT Min-
ister Ashwini
Vaishnaw said GitHub,
the hosting platform,
has confirmed block-
ing user and that CERT
police are coordinat-
ing further action. The
minister did not elabo-
rate on the action be-
ing taken. —ANI
‘Time to speak up against insult of women’ Probe panel urges citizens
to share info on incident
Katra: Divisional Com-
missioner Jammu Ra-
ghav Langer, probing
Mata Vaishno Devi
stampede incident that
claimed the lives of 12
pilgrims on Saturday,
has issued a public no-
tice stating that those
desiring to submit any
evidence or facts may
appear before the en-
quiry committee either
online or in-person by
January 5. J-K govt or-
dered a high-level probe
headed by Principal
Secretary (Home). —ANI
CRUCIAL READ
PARL PANEL TO CHECK
MARRIAGE AGE BILL
HAS ONE WOMAN
MEMBER OUT OF 31!
VACCINATION DRIVE
FOR 15-18 YEAR
OLD TO START IN UP
FROM TODAY
WOMEN CONSTABLES
TO CHECK ON WOMEN
SMUGGLERS AT INDO-
BANGLA BORDER NOW
OBC QUOTA STIR:
BHIM ARMY CHIEF,
OTHERS DETAINED IN
MP CAPITAL
New Delhi: Parl panel
assigned to examine
landmark bill which
seeks to raise legal age
of marriage for women
to 21 has only 1 woman
MP out of 31 members.
Prohibition of Child
Marriage Bill, which will
have wider influence
over society especially
females, was introduced
in LS during winter ses-
sion and referred to Parl
Standing Committee on
Edu, Women, Children,
Youth and Sports.
Lucknow: Amidst a
spike in cases, the UP
govt will launch the vac-
cination drive for 15-18
year old from Monday.
Walk-in and online reg-
istration will be available
for vaccination of kids
in this age group. UP
has administered over
20.22 crore vaccine
doses so far. CM Yogi
Adityanath on Sunday
issued directives to
ensure preparedness
concerning the vaccina-
tion in this regard.
New Delhi: In order
to enhance patrolling
on India-Bangladesh
border, female consta-
bles have been deployed
to frisk women who
cross over border are
suspected to be involved
in smuggling illegal
substances into India,
informed BSF official.
“This is starting point
of India-B’desh border.
There is a village on that
side of border which
partly belongs to India,”
said BSF Constable.
Bhopal: Bhim Army
chief Chandrashekhar
Azad a dozen other
people were detained on
Sunday ahead of their
plans to gherao (en-
circle) MP CM Shivraj
Chouhan’s residence to
seek 27% reservation
for OBC, police said.
Azad was detained at
airport along with 12 to
13 people, though exact
number of detainees
will be known by late
evening, police commis-
sioner Makarand said.
ARMY CHOPPER MAKES EMERGENCY
LANDING IN JIND DUE TO TECH FAULT
New Delhi: An Army helicopter, on Sunday,
had made an emergency landing in Haryana’s
Jind due to a technical
fault. The chopper was
on its way from Punjab’s
Bathinda to Delhi. The
emergency landing was
made due to a techni-
cal glitch which is being repaired and it will be
flown back to Bhatinda. According to Indian
Army Officials, an Indian Army ALH Dhruv was
on its way from Bathinda to Delhi, made an
emergency landing in a village in Jind. “The
chopper has now been repaired and it has flown
back to Bathinda. The chopper landed back in
Bathinda at 5:30 pm,” the official said. —ANI
BENGAL NEWS UPDATE
On TMC anniv, Didi vows to
strengthen federal structure
Kolkata: WB CM
Mamata Banerjee,
while congratulated
TMC workers on the
party’s foundation day,
todayvowedtostrength-
en the federal structure
of the country. This
could be aimed at bring-
ing together various
regional parties for a
united fight against the
BJP in 2024 under her
stewardship. “I extend
my best wishes to our
workers, supporters
and members of the
Maa-Mati-Manush fam-
ily
. Our journey began
on January 1, 1998,
and since then we have
been committed in our
efforts towards serving
people,” she tweeted.
“As we step into yet an-
other year, ...let us work
towards strengthening
the federal struc-
ture of this na-
tion,” she wrote
on microblog-
ging site. —ANI
RAHUL GANDHI SLAMS CENTRE
POLL PROMISE FOR GOAN YOUTH
Panaji: The alliance of TMC and MGP on Sunday
announced ‘Yuva Shakti Card’, its second major
promise ahead of the assembly elections. The
scheme targeting Goan youth aged between 18 and
45 provides credit of Rs 20 lakh at 4 per cent inter-
est with the government as the guarantor. Announc-
ing the scheme on Sunday, Goa TMC leader Kiran
Kandolkar said that youth made up for nearly half of
the state’s population. “The population between age
group of 18 to 45 in Goa is 7.5 lakh. A lot of
times they cannot pursue higher edu be-
cause fin condition of their parents is
not very good. In this scheme govt
will be the guarantor,” he said.
TRIPURA GOVT CANCELS ABHISHEK’S PROGRAMME
Agartala: Tripura govt
on Sunday cancelled LS
MP and TMC National
Gen Secy Abhishek
Banerjee’s program
at Baramura eco-park,
stating that no prior
permission was taken.
In a letter from police,
Teliamura to DG secu-
rity WB, Tripura govt in-
formed, “On 02.01,2022
Lam Phiyoknai Trust
have already taken
permission from SDFO,
Teliarnura to organ-
ize a programme in
front of Haithai Kotor
Cafeteria where Minister
of Tripura Mebar K
Jamatia will attend in
the said programme
and even there is no
prior permission from
appropriate authority to
organize a programme
at Baramura Ecological
Park by Banarjee, LS
MP on 02.01.2022.”
JUDGEMENTAL
VIEW TAKEN ON
SUVENDU: GUV
GNF denounces
extension
of AFSPA
Kohima: An organisa-
tion that works for the
rights of the Naga peo-
ple globally has de-
nounced extension of
the Armed Forces (Spe-
cial Powers) Act (AFS-
PA) in Nagaland, days
after the death of 14
civilians by security
forces.
The demand for with-
drawing the AFSPA was
raised by several quar-
ters following the kill-
ing of 14 civilians by
army para-commandos
in Oting area of Mon
district of the Noirth-
eastern state in a
botched up operation
and its aftermath on De-
cember 4 and 5.
The leaders of state
governments in region,
including Nagaland,
Meghalaya Manipur
have appealed for the
removal of AFSPA. The
people and civil society
of the region have long
wanted AFSPA re-
pealed, Global Naga Fo-
rum (GNF) said in an
open letter to PM Nar-
endra Modi. —ANI
Kolkata: WB Governor
Jagdeep Dhankhar on
Sunday asked state govt
to inform him on whose
order a “judgemental
view” was taken on
communication by LoP
Suvendu Adhikari over
selection of state’s Lok-
ayukta. Adhikari was not
present in the meeting of
committee on Dec 27.
Governor West Ben-
gal Jagdeep Dhankhar
@jdhankhar1
As the communication
of Leader of Opposi-
tion @SuvenduWB, a
member of committee
for appointment #Lok-
ayukta, was apparently
determined without ref-
erence to the Commit-
tee, Governor has raised
issues for response @
MamataOfficial
Union Health Minister brought attention of States,UTs to fact that collectively they have only
used just over 17% of available approved funds under Emergency Covid-19 Response Package
New Delhi: Union
Health Minister Man-
sukh Mandaviya on
Sunday interacted
with State Health Min-
isters, Principal Secre-
taries, Additional
Chief Secretaries of
States/UTs and re-
viewed the public
health preparedness to
Covid-19 and national
Covid-19 vaccination,
informed the MoHFW.
The meeting was
held in view of the ris-
ing cases of the Omi-
cron variant and the
recent decisions to roll
out vaccination for the
age group 15-18 years
and precautionary
dose for identified vul-
nerable categories.
The Union Health
Minister noted at the
very outset that glob-
ally, countries are ex-
periencing 3-4 times
the surge in Covid-19
cases in comparison to
their earlier peaks.
The Omicron variant
being highly transmis-
sible, a high surge in
the case can over-
whelm the medical
system. —ANI
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
z Media reports claiming India
missed Covid-19 vaccination targets
‘misleading’: Union Health Ministry
z Haryana implements new norms,
applicable till Jan 12
z Delhi collects Rs 99 lakh for
Covid violations on Jan 1
z 85 school children test Covid-19
positive in Nainital
z Glenn McGrath tests positive
z Over 3.5 lakh kids in 15-18 age
group register on CoWin
z Mata Vaishno Devi University
closed after 13 students test positive
z Over 19.81 cr vaccine doses avail-
able with States, UTs, says Centre
z Assam reports 150 new cases
z Odisha reports 23 Omicron cases
z Pakistan confirms 594 new cases
z Russia registers 18,233 new cases
z New Zealand detects 2 new cases
z India’s vaccination programme one
of world’s most successful, says Govt
Union Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya reviews Public Health Preparedness to Covid-19 and
National Vaccination Progress with the States and the Union Territories in New Delhi on Sunday.
MANDAVIYA REVIEWS PUBLIC HEALTH
PREPAREDNESS WITH STATES,UTs
SONIA GANDHI SPEAKS TO BAGHEL,
TAKES STOCK OF COVID IN C’GARH
New Delhi: Congress
interim president Sonia
Gandhi on Sunday
spoke to Chhattisgarh
CM Bhupesh Baghel to
take stock of Covid-19
and Omicron situation in
state, said sources. The
2 Congress leaders held
a detailed discussion
over the possibility of
a 3rd wave of Covid-19
and its variant Omicron.
CM assured the Con-
gress interim chief that
Chhattisgarh is fully
prepared to deal with
any such eventuality.
Srinagar: Lieuten-
ant Governor of JK,
Manoj Sinha on Sun-
day chaired a high-lev-
el meeting with Covid
Task Force, DCs, and
SPs to review Covid-19
status, vaccination
for 15-18 age group
and preparedness of
health infrastructure
across the UT. As per
an official statement,
in view of new variant
Omicron and rise in
cases across country,
administration has
been asked to ensure
the functioning of
oxygen plants, avail-
ability of requisite
medicines, audit of
ICU and Oxygen sup-
ported beds across all
UT’s hospitals. “DCs
and Health officials to
ensure infrastructure
beginning from the
Panchayat Level are
strengthened and
optimally utilized,”
statement read.
Abu Dhabi: UAE has
announced a travel ban
on citizens unvacci-
nated with COVID-19
vaccines from January
10 with a requirement
to obtain the booster
dose for the fully vac-
cinated. The country’s
National Emergency
Crisis and Disaster
Management Author-
ity said in a tweet on
Saturday. However,
authority has said it
would not be applicable
for those medically ex-
empted from taking the
vaccine, humanitarian
and treatment cases.
J-K LG CHAIRS HIGH-LEVEL
MEETING ON COVID SITUATION
UAE: Travel ban from Jan 10 on
citizens unjabbed with Covid vax
SURGE: VIRTUAL
HEARINGS IN SC
FROM JAN 3
New Delhi: Amid rise in
Omicron cases in national
capital, the SC of India
has decided to shift to the
virtual system of hearing
starting January 3 till 2
weeks. A circular issued
by top court said physi-
cal hearings before the
court stands suspended
for two weeks and shall
be through virtual mode
only. New Delhi on Sun-
day reported 3,194 fresh
coronavirus cases.
JK Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha chairs a high-level
meeting with the Covid Task Force, DCs and SPs to review
Covid-19 status in Srinagar on Sunday.
Rahul Gandhi
Devotees stand in a queue on way
to Mata Vaishno Devi in Reasi.
VAISHNO DEVI STAMPEDE
Mamata Banerjee

7. BIZ BUZZ
NEW DELHI | MONDAY, JANUARY 3, 2022
06
ATF price hiked by 2.75%,
LPG cut by `102.5
New Del-
hi: Halt-
ing a
declin-
i n g
trend of
last month, jet fuel or
ATF price has been
hiked by 2.75 per cent
on firming in-
ternational
o i l
p r i c e s ,
while cooking
gas LPG rate has seen
the first decline since
October. Aviation tur-
bine fuel (ATF) price
has been hiked by
`2,039.63 per kilolitre,
or 2.75 per cent, to
`76,062.04 per kl in the
national capital, ac-
cording to a price noti-
fication of state-owned
fuel retailers.
The increase in rates
comes on back of two
rounds of price cuts
seen in December that
reflected a drop in in-
ternational oil prices
during the second half
of November and mid-
December.
Thereafter, interna-
tional rates have
firmed up, leading to
the hike in ATF price.
ATF price had
peaked to `80,835.04 per
kl in mid-November be-
fore it was cut on De-
cember 1 and 15 by a
total of `6,812.25 per kl
or 8.4 per cent.
Jet fuel prices are re-
vised on 1st and 16th of
every month based on
average price of inter-
national benchmark in
the preceding fort-
night.
Unlike ATF, commer-
cial LPG rates are re-
vised on 1st of every
month after taking the
average price in the
preceding month.
The price of a 19-kg
LPG cylinder, which is
used in commercial es-
tablishments like ho-
tels and restaurants,
has been accordingly
cut by `102.5.
This is the first re-
duction since October
6. Rates had gone up
from `1,734 per 19-kg
cylinder to `2,101 on
December 1.
However the price of
LPG used in domestic
kitchens remains un-
changed at `899.50 per
14.2-kg cylinder. This
rate has not changed
since October 6, prior
to which it had gone up
by almost `100 since
July 2021.
Petrol and diesel
prices too have not
changed for almost two
months now. Petrol
costs `95.41 a litre in
Delhi and diesel comes
for `86.67 per litre.
While the rates are to
be revised on a daily
basis based on a 15-day
rolling average of the
benchmark interna-
tional fuel, prices have
not changed since No-
vember 4, 2021 when
the Union government
had cut excise duty on
the two fuels. —PTI
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
ATF price had peaked to `80,835.04 per kl
in mid-November before it was cut on
December 1 and 15 by a total of
`6,812.25 per kl or
8.4 per cent.
The price of LPG used
in domestic kitchens
remains unchanged at
` 899.50/14.2-kg
cylinder
Railways earned over
`500 cr from Tatkal
New Delhi: The Rail-
ways earned `403
crore from tatkal tick-
et charges, an addi-
tional `119 crore from
premium tatkal tick-
ets, and `511 crore
from dynamic fares
during 2020-21, even
as much of its opera-
tions remained sus-
pended through most
of the year due to the
Covid pandemic, re-
vealed an RTI reply.
Passengers in
these three categories
are usually last min-
ute travellers who
avail these services
mostly for emergency
travel by paying pre-
mium charges.
In a reply to a RTI
filed by Madhya
Pradesh-based Chan-
dra Shekhar Gaur, the
Railways said that it
earned `240 crore
from dynamic fares,
`353 crore from tatkal
tickets and `89 crore
from premium tatkal
charges in the finan-
cial year 2021-22 till
September.
In the 2019-20 finan-
cial year, when there
were no restrictions
in train operations,
the national trans-
porter earned `1,313
crore from dynamic
fares, `1,669 from tat-
kal tickets and `603
crore from premium
tatkal tickets. Tatkal
ticket charges have
been fixed as a per-
centage of fare. —PTI
Housing sales up 71% in 2021 in top 7 cities
New Delhi: Housing
sales across top seven
cities rose 71 per cent
year-on-year in 2021 to
2,36,530 units, but de-
mand fell short of pre-
Covid levels by 10 per
cent, according to Ana-
rock. Housing sales
stood at 1,38,350 units
in 2020 and 2,61,358
units in the 2019 calen-
dar year.
M u m b a i -
based Ana-
rock at-
tribut-
ed the
rise in
housing sales to very
low interest rates on
home loans, pent-up de-
mand, surge in aspira-
tion for home owner-
ship, cut in stamp duty
by a few states includ-
ing Maharashtra and
discounts offered
by builders.
T h e
fourth quar-
ter contribut-
ed nearly 39
per cent to overall sales
during the last year, on
festive demand and
other positive factors.
According to the An-
arock annual data,
housing sales in Mum-
bai Metropolitan Re-
gion (MMR) rose 72 per
cent to 76,400 units in
2021 from 44,320 units
in the previous year.
Sales in Hyderabad
jumped nearly three-
folds to 25,410 units last
year from 8,560 units
during 2020.
Delhi-NCR wit-
nessed 73 per cent rise
in sales to 40,050 units
in 2021 from 23,210
units in 2020.
Housing sales in
Pune increased by 53
per cent to 35,980 units
in 2021 from 23,460
units in 2020.
Bengaluru saw 33
per cent increase in
sales to 33,080 units in
2021 from 24,910 units
in the previous year.
Housing sales in
Chennai were up 86 per
cent to 12,530 units in
2021 from 6,740 units in
2020.
In Kolkata, sales in-
creased to 13,080 units
in 2021 from 7,150 units
in 2020.
“Extrapolating on
the performance in
2021, 2022 will see very
satisfactory growth as
long as the coronavirus
pandemic remains in
check in India,” Ana-
rock Chairman Anuj
Puri said.
He hoped sales to
reach pre-COVID level
in 2022 and noted that
demand would further
consolidate towards
trusted developers.
—PTI
Omicron fear, PMI
data may move
market this week
Indian streaming industry
expected to grow $13-15
billion over next decade
New Delhi: The Indi-
an OTT streaming in-
dustry is expected to
grow to $13-15 billion
over the next decade at
a CAGR of 22-25%, ac-
cording to a joint re-
port on media and en-
tertainment.
The OTT (over-the-
top) industry is con-
stantly growing and is
one of the most com-
petitive amongst
emerging markets
with over 40 players
representing all types
of content providers,
said the report from
industry body CII and
Boston Consulting
Group (BCG).
This has been led by
“strong tailwinds”
from basic enablers be-
ing in place for digital
video streaming such
as affordable high-
speed mobile internet,
doubling of internet
users in the last six
years, increased adop-
tion of digital pay-
ments.
Moreover, it has
been also helped by In-
dia specific price
points offered by glob-
al players here such as
Netflix, Prime Video,
Disney+ offering plans
in India at 70-90%
cheaper than the US.
Besides, the OTT
sector is also witness-
ing a rise in invest-
ments
in Indian original con-
tent. This has led to
growth in hours of
original content avail-
able to users.
“Strong content also
helping capture eye-
balls outside India,”
the report said, adding
Indian OTT can cater
to international de-
mand by targeting the
Indian diaspora and
markets that have lan-
guage similarities.
There has been a re-
markable surge over
SVOD (subscription
video on demand) con-
tent over the last few
years and is expected
to overtake AVOD (ad-
vertising-based video
on demand), it added.
The major players in
the Indian OTT indus-
try include - Netflix,
Amazon Prime Video,
SonyLIV
, Alt Balaji,
Zee5 , Eros Now and
Disney Hotstar
Plus.
—PTI
New Delhi: Macroeco-
nomic data announce-
ment, Omicron situa-
tion and global trends
will be the major driv-
ing factors for the eq-
uity market in the first
week of the new year
2022, according to ana-
lysts.
In what turned out
to be a historic year,
the Indian stock indi-
ces went past multiple
milestones and the
30-share Sensex made
an annual gain of
10,502.49 points or
21.99 per cent in 2021.
Religare Broking
Vice-President (Re-
search) Ajit Mishra
said, “This week
marks the beginning
of a new month and
participants will be
closely eyeing some
crucial high-frequen-
cy data like monthly
auto sales, India Man-
ufacturing PMI and
India Services PMI.
Besides, updates on
the COVID-19 situa-
tion and performance
of global markets will
also be critical.”
He said that though
the markets have been
witnessing recovery
for the past two weeks,
it is too early to say
that “we’re out of the
woods”. —PTI
CAUTIOUS
GROWING FAST
23 cos line up IPOs worth
`44K crore in March quarter
New Delhi: The IPO
rush is far from over
and the primary market
will see frenetic activity
in the March 2020 quar-
ter with nearly two doz-
en companies are look-
ing to collectively raise
nearly `44,000 crore
through initial share-
sales, merchant bank-
ers said. Of the total
fundraising, a large
chunk will be garnered
by technology-driven
companies.
This comes after 63
companies mopped up a
record `1.2 lakh crore in
2021 through initial
public offerings (IPOs)
even as the pandemic
gloom shadowed the
broader economy
.
The firms that are ex-
pected to raise funds
through their IPOs dur-
ing the March quarter
include hotel aggrega-
tor OYO (`8,430 crore)
and supply chain com-
pany Delhivery (`7,460
crore), the merchant
bankers said.
In addition, Adani
Wilmar (`4,500 crore),
Emcure Pharmaceuti-
cals (`4,000 crore), Ved-
ant Fashions (`2,500
crore), Paradeep Phos-
phates (`2,200 core), Me-
danta (`2,000 crore) and
Ixigo (`1,800 crore) are
expected to float their
initial share-sales, they
added. Also, Skanray
Technologies, Healthi-
um Medtech, and Sa-
hajanand Medical Tech-
nologies are likely to
come out with their
IPOs during the period
under review, the mer-
chant bankers said.—PTI

8. NEW DELHI | MONDAY, JANUARY 3, 2022
07
NEWS
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
First India Bureau
Lucknow: In an at-
tempt to reach out to
youth ahead of the Ut-
tar Pradesh Assembly
polls, the BJP has
planned a series of
events to connect with
young voters. BJYM,
the party’s youth wing,
will explain to young
voters the work done
by the Modi govt.
BJYM’s [Bharatiya
Janata Yuva Morcha]
UP unit is organising
youth conferences in
all the districts to
highlight the youth-
centric policies and
schemes of the prime
minister Narendra
Modi and the UP CM
Yogi Adityanath gov-
ernments.
“UP BJYM is organ-
ising ‘Yuva Sammelan’
across the state. In the
programme, the outfit
is talking about nu-
merous govt schemes
that have successfully
benefitted millions of
people and are also
supportive and en-
couraging for the
youth. Some of the
policies are Skill In-
dia, Startup India and
Mudra loan, among
others,” a BJYM lead-
er said.
On January 12, to
mark the birth anni-
versary of Swami
Vivekanand, the saf-
fron party is organis-
ing a youth conference
in Varanasi. To make
it a grand success, the
BJYM has set up vari-
ous committees at the
Centre, state and dis-
trict levels across the
country. The BJYM is
expecting one lakh
youth to attend the
programme. Elections
for 403 member UP As-
sembly will be held in
February-March.
First India Bureau
Lucknow: Aiming to
provide relief to the
poor suffering in the
economic slowdown
caused by the corona-
virus pandemic, Uttar
Pradesh Chief Minis-
ter Yogi Adityanath
will provide a ‘mainte-
nance allowance’ to
two crore unorganized
sector workers on
Monday
.
Working with the
mantra of saving both
‘lives and livelihood’,
the UP government
will provide 1,000 to
each such worker to
tide over the economic
crisis. The total num-
ber of registered
workers in the state
with e-SHRAM portal
and BOCW board are
5,09,08,745. In the first
phase, maintenance
allowance will be sent
to the bank accounts
of a total of two crore
workers. The Yogi govt
has also distributed
maintenance allow-
ance to small shop-
keepers, daily wage
labourers,rickshaw/e-
rickshaw pullers cob-
blers and confection-
ers etc.
The workers in the
organized sector were
provided maintenance
allowance twice and
workers in the unor-
ganized sector once.
Along with this, the ra-
tion was made availa-
bletwiceamonth,once
through the PMGKY
and through the PDS,
eliminating the ration
card obligation.
First India Bureau
Gandhinagar: At a
gathering with the
Bharatiya Janata Par-
ty (BJP) medical cell
on Sunday, Gujarat’s
Chief Minister Bhu-
pendra Patel was ap-
prised of the COVID-19
situation in the state.
Speaking to the doc-
tors, he admitted, “I am
not the right person to
lecture you on corona
virus, but from what I
have understood from
the state health team
and officials is that the
Omicron variant is not
as dangerous as the
Delta variant.”
He emphasized on
the importance of tak-
ing enough precau-
tions, and assured the
team that the state gov-
ernment was focused
on testing and vaccina-
tion. “This will help
control the spread of
COVID-19 in the state,”
said the Gujarat Chief
Minister Patel.
Speaking at the
event, Gujarat state’s
Health Minister Rushi-
kesh Patel admitted,
“There is a shortage of
professional doctors in
the state, and yet, the
government is han-
dling the crisis (surge
in cases) successfully.
The state is implement-
ing COVID-19 guide-
lines strictly and that
can stop the spread of
coronavirus. Health in-
frastructure has also
been set up and kept on
standby to tackle any
surge in cases. Even
medicine stock is ready
to be dispensed.”
Meanwhile, on the
government’s plan to
improve education
among youths, Guja-
rat’s Education Minis-
ter Jitu Vaghani took
to his Twitter handle
and wrote, “The state
government is plan-
ning to make education
more market friendly
and produce skilled
youths and so it has de-
cided to introduce sev-
en new courses for the
secondary and higher
secondary from the
academic year 2022-
23.”
He added, “The op-
tional subjects to be
introduced are organic
agriculture, apparel,
home furnishing, auto-
motive, beauty well-
ness, electronics, hard-
ware, retail, tourism
hospitality.
They will be intro-
duced in 223 schools
and the idea behind it
is to train students on
the school-level to in-
crease employment
probability.”
Cases increasing but new variant not dangerous: Guj CM Patel
NO NEED TO PANIC
AAP IN ACTION MODE IN UP PUNJAB
First India Bureau
Lucknow: Delhi CM
and Aam Aadmi Party
(AAP) National Con-
venor on Sunday
launched party’s elec-
tion campaign for the
upcoming UP assembly
elections with a rally in
Lucknow.
Addressing the rally,
Kejriwal kept his
speech simple, straight
and short.
He did not talk about
caste, community and
crime. Instead, he spoke
about schools, hospitals
and free electricity
.
“If you want free
electricity, vote for us
otherwise you can vote
for Yogi ji. If you want
good hospitals and
schools, vote for us or
else you can vote for
Yogi ji,” he said.
He further said that
when Delhi Dy CM
Manish Sisodia spoke
about improvement in
our schools, he was
challenged by UP edu-
cation minister to see
the schools in UP.
“But when Sisodia
came here, he was
stopped by the police
from visiting any
school. I now invite
Yogi ji to visit our
schools in Delhi,” he
said.
Talking about Ayod-
hya, Kejriwal said that
he had visited the and
wasslammedbytheBJP
.
“I do not know what
wrong I did. After going
back to Delhi, I sent two
trains full of people to
visit Ayodhya and the
trips were free. If we
form government here,
I will do the same for
you,” he said. He added
that UP have given a
chance to the SP, BSP,
BJP and Congress but
its time to test AAP led
government in UP.
Kejriwal launches AAP’s
election campaign in UP
BJYM’soutreachprogramme
aimsatropinginyoungsters
SAD’S MAJITHIA HAPPY DUE TO
CHANNI GOVT’S BLESSINGS: CHADHA
BATTLEGROUND UTTAR PRADESH
GIVING `1000 TO WOMEN IS NOT ‘FREEBIES’, BUT A
SOCIAL SECURITY, SAYS AAP’S PUNJAB PREZ MANN
Chandigarh: Delhi MLA
and AAM Aadmi Party’s
co-incharge for Punjab
affairs Raghav Chadha
has accused Punjab CM
Chararjit Singh Channi of
deliberately not arrest-
ing Shiromani Akali Dal
(SAD) leader Bikram Singh
Majithia in the drugs case
registered against him. At a
presser on Sunday, Chadha
accused Punjab Chief
Minister Channi of having
directed the Punjab Police
not to arrest Majithia. The
AAP leader said that a
senior Punjab Police officer
had confided to the party
that directions had been
issued by the CM not to
take any action against
Majithia after registering an
FIR against him. “It is in-
explicable that the accused
has not been arrested even
after the rejection of his
anticipatory bail. The AAP
had revealed even before
the FIR was registered
that the real intention was
just to fool the people
of Punjab and not arrest
Bikram Singh Majithia,”
said Raghav Chadha.
Mahesh Kumar
Dharamkot/Moga:
Clarifying that giving
`1000 to women is not
freebies but a social
security, AAP’s Pun-
jab prez and MP Bhag-
want Mann said on
Sunday that the wom-
en will become em-
powered and self-reli-
ant with extra finan-
cial help.
“Giving `1000 allow-
ance to women is not
freebies, but a social
security
. Women will
become empowered
and self-reliant with
extra financial help.
AAP’s policy of giving
`1000 allowance to the
women above 18, will
prove to be a milestone
in women empower-
ment,” Mann added
that only `8200 crores
are required annually
for this scheme, which
can be fulfilled by clos-
ing only sand mafia
worth `20,000 crore.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal addresses at Rozgar Guarantee Rally, at Smriti Upvan Maidan, in
Lucknow on Sunday. —PHOTO BY ANI
AAP’s Punjab president Bhagwant Mann in a Rally at Moga.
Maintenance allowance
for 2 cr labourers in UP
to begin from today
Total number of
workers registered
in Uttar Pradesh are
over 5.90 crores
UP’s potato belt proving to
be a hot potato for AIMIM
Criminal-Politician nexus is
ingrained in UP’s politics
First India Bureau
Lucknow: In the
election heat, UP po-
tato is getting hot for
All-India Majlis-e-It-
tehadul Muslimeen
(AIMIM) president
Assaduddin Oawaisi
as resentment is
brewing among
Muslim potato culti-
vators against him
in Agra-Far-
rukhabad-Kannu-
waj belt.
Since Telangana’s
TRS govt has com-
pletely banned im-
port of potato from
UP, the Muslim po-
tato growers have
come out against
Owaisi because
AIMIM is an ally of
TRS in the state.
Owaisi, vigorously
campaigning in UP
has planned to con-
test on at least 100
Muslim dominated
seats, including the
“potato belt”.
The general secy
of Aloo Utpadak
Kisan Samiti Mo-
hammad Alamgir,
said that “how the
AIMIM could ask for
Muslim support of
this region when
TRS govt, whom the
AIMIM is support-
ing has banned the
import”.
Gyanendra Kumar
Shukla
Lucknow: The nex-
us of crime and poli-
tics has a deep rooted
historyinUP
.Recent-
ly
, the BSP supremo’s
direction to the party
officials to take an af-
fidavit of no-crimi-
nal background from
theticketseekershas
sparked a debate
about the criminali-
zation of politics.
After the Yogi govt
tightened the noose,
Mayawati may have
also distanced her-
self from the mafia-
turned-politician
MukhtarAnsari.But
in the past the BSP
has had a deep nexus
with the Ansari fam-
ily
. In UP
, no political
party is untouched
by the leaders with
taintedimage.Outof
143 MLAs, against
whom cases are reg-
istered, 105 MLAs
are booked under se-
rious cases like mur-
der, attempt to mur-
der, molestation and
misappropriation.
Gujarat’s
Health
Minister
Rushikesh Patel
assures on
preparedness
that the state is
ready to handle
any Covid-19
pandemic
related crisis Guj CM Bhupendra Patel addressing BJP medical cell members.
UP CM Yogi Adityanath
Assaduddin Oawaisi

9. 08
2NDFRONT
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First India Bureau
Lakshadweep: Vice
President M Venkaiah
Naidu urged all coun-
tries to put in consoli-
dated efforts to limit
global temperature lev-
els, so that smaller is-
lands and their sublime
beauty stays intact, and
the homes of the island-
ers do not get displaced.
Expressing his deep
concern on the effect of
climate change and
global warming on the
small islands, Naidu
said that it is unfair that
small islands whose
percentage of overall
emissions is minimal,
pay the price for the
negligence of big na-
tions. “Rising sea level,
storm surges, flooding
and coastal erosion
pose a great threat to
the inhabitants of vari-
ous islands across the
world,” he added.
Naidu who conclud-
ed his two day official
tour to the Lakshad-
weep islands wrote a
Facebook post sharing
his experiences of the
visit. Describing the
Lakshadweep islands
as the best kept secrets
of India, the Vice Presi-
dent said, “It is a joy to
be surrounded by the
vast expanse of tur-
quoise blue water, can-
opying palm trees,
white sand shores and
the clear blue skies.”
Lauding Lakshad-
weep administration
for their consistent ef-
forts towards protect-
ing the coastal envi-
ronment while pro-
moting tourism, Naidu
urged other tourism
destinations to emulate
Lakshadweep’s ap-
proach and adopt eco-
tourism.TheVicePresi-
dentfurthercalledupon
touriststotravelrespon-
sibly keeping the well-
beingof thelocalpeople
and nature in mind. He
appreciated the people
of Lakshadweep for
their role in keeping the
islands clean.
Pointing to the
steady growth in fish
production in the Lak-
shadweep region, the
Vice President appreci-
ated the efforts made by
the administration for
their consistent sup-
port to this sector. “To
give a boost to the fish-
ing sector, our scien-
tists and researchers
must come up with en-
ergy efficient fishing
systems for responsible
fishing,” he added.
Drawing attention to
the natural diversity of
India, he said, “We can-
not deny that India has
the best of everything
when it comes to tour-
ism. Be it the mighty
Himalayas, the archi-
tectural wonders of Ra-
jasthan, the crystal
clear lakes in Himachal
Pradesh, the spiritual
getaways in Uttara-
khand, the incredible
beaches of Goa, the
tranquil backwaters of
Kerala, the wildlife
sanctuaries in Madhya
Pradesh, the tea gar-
dens and breath-taking
sights of the hills of the
north east or scenic
beauty of the Rann of
Kutch.”
NEW DELHI | MONDAY, JANUARY 3, 2022
Checkglobal temp levels to saveislands:VP
It is unfair that small islands whose per-
centage of overall emissions is minimal,
pay the price for the negligence of big na-
tions. “Rising sea level, storm surges, flooding
and coastal erosion pose a great threat to the in-
habitants of various islands across the world.
—M Venkaiah Naidu, Vice President
Naidu urges tourists to travel responsibly
without harming environment
International
edu conf to
focus on
NEP-2020
First India Bureau
Ahmedabad: A two-
day international con-
ference of academic in-
stitutions will be organ-
ized here on January 5-6
in the run-up to the 10th
Vibrant Gujarat Global
Summit, with a focus on
the implementation of
the National Education
Policy, 2020.
The conference will
aim to “effectively clar-
ify the way to strength-
en the relationship of
industries, academia
and students by ex-
plaining the roadmap
for National Education
Policy
, 2020 (NEP-2020),”
Education Minister
Jitu Vaghani said.
S p e a k -
ing to re-
porters at
Science City, where the
conference will be or-
ganized, Vaghani said
around 120 panel speak-
ers, including 40 from
abroad, will share their
experiences across 21
different sessions.
Gujarat is all set to
adopt NEP-2020, and
leading experts and del-
egates from the educa-
tion sector, research
institutes, profession-
als, and educationists
will throw light on its
role in primary, second-
ary, higher and techni-
cal education, he said,
adding that academic
institutions of interna-
tional repute will pro-
vide a platform to real-
ize the vision of the
new policy
.
“Australia, Canada,
Norway, UK and France
will join as partner
countries for the inter-
national conference.
The British Council,
the Australia India
Business Exchange, In-
stitute of International
Education and others
have joined as interna-
tional participants,”
Vaghani said.
“Central organiza-
tions like
the NITI
A a y o g ,
Skill India, National
Skill Development Cor-
poration, University
Grants Commission,
All India Council for
Technical Education,
National Council of
Educational Research
and Training, and Na-
tional Board of Accred-
itation have joined as
well,” he added.
He said the confer-
ence will also focus on
skill development and
entrepreneurship, and
discuss the impact of
COVID-19 on school ed-
ucation, challenges,
and how to overcome
them. There will be a
session on Indian
knowledge systems as
well as a unique session
on Sanskrit, he said.
Gujarat is all set to
adopt NEP-2020,
and leading
education experts
delegates will throw
light on its role
Aviation ministry to formulate air sports
policy, set up apex body till January 31
First India Bureau
New Delhi: The govern-
ment plans to formulate
a national air sports
policy as well as set up
an apex body for air
sports. The civil avia-
tionministryhassought
comments from the pub-
lic on the draft National
Air Sports Policy (NASP
2022) till January 31.
The plan is to pro-
mote air sports by mak-
ing it “safe, affordable,
accessible, enjoyable
and sustainable”, ac-
cording to the ministry
.
The policy will cover
sports like aerobatics,
aeromodelling, ama-
teur-built and experi-
mental aircraft, bal-
looning, drones, skydiv-
ing and vintage aircraft.
Also, schools, colleges
and universities will be
encouraged to have air
sports included in their
curriculum.
Under the policy, an
Air Sports Federation
of India (ASFI) will be
established as the apex
governing body while
associations for each
air sport will handle
day to day activities.
“Air sports by their
very nature involve a
higher level of risk than
flying a regular aircraft.
NASP 2022 places strong
focus on ensuring inter-
national best practices
in safety
. Inability to en-
force safety standards
by an air sports associa-
tion may lead to penal
action by the ASFI
against such associa-
tion including financial
penalties, suspension or
dismissal,” said the
draft. —With PTI inputs
The draft has
been prepared
by a
committee
comprising
GoI officials,
Indian armed
forces, Aero
Club of India,
NCC and air
sports experts
Mahesh Kumar
Ludhiana: Ahead of
the opening of District
CourtsonMonday
,Com-
missioner of Police Lu-
dhiana Gurpreet Singh
Bhullar reviewed the
security arrangements
in the District Courts
Complex, here on Sun-
day
. Notably
, a bomb last
had taken place in a
washroom of the Ludhi-
ana District Courts last
month.
He was also accompa-
nied by senior police
and judicial officers.
Commissioner Bhul-
lar said that in view of
the recent blast at Dis-
trict Courts Complex
Ludhiana, a thorough
review of the security
arrangements has been
made. He said that as
there are several entry
points to the complex,
so each and every point
was reviewed, besides
the illegal points have
been sealed.
He assured the Lu-
dhiana residents, law-
yers and judicial offic-
ers that the Police is
keeping a close tab on
the security of not only
the District Courts
Complex Ludhiana, but
in all areas falling un-
der the jurisdiction of
Police Commissioner-
ate Ludhiana.
Ludhiana top cop
checks security as
courts open today
BLAST FROM PAST
Haryana sounds
Mahamari alert
in 5 dists as
COVID cases rise
First India Bureau
Chandigarh: The State
Disaster Management
Authority (SDMA) of
the Haryana govern-
ment has imposed
curbs in five districts of
the state amid the rise
in COVID-19 cases.
These districts include
Ambala, Faridabad, Gu-
rugram, Sonipat and
Panchkula. State’s Ad-
ditional Chief Secre-
tary (ACS)(Health) Ra-
jeev Arora said that en-
try of not-fully jabbed
persons has been
barred at public places.
These curbs, Ma-
hamari Alert Surakshit
Haryana, have been im-
posed in these five dis-
tricts from Sunday till
January 12.
As per this alert,
along with cinema
halls, theatres, multi-
plexes, sports stadiums,
complexes and swim-
ming pools will also be
closed during this peri-
od. The exception is for
those sports complexes
that are being used for
training of sports per-
sons for participation
in national or interna-
tional tournaments.
Haryana govt to promote
natural farming in state
First India Bureau
Chandigarh: Haryana
Chief Minister Mano-
har Lal Khattar has said
that natural farming is
gradually becoming the
need of the hour. With
this method, with less
agricultural inputs, the
farmer can increase the
organic yield and also
increase his income.
The CM directed the
Agriculture and Farm-
ers’WelfareDepartment
to identify a particular
area to promote natural
farming in the state and
a workshop should be
organized soon so that
the information regard-
ing the benefits of natu-
ral farming are given to
the farmers.
CM Khattar joined
the webinar from Chan-
digarh on Saturday in
which Prime Minister
Narendra Modi ad-
dressed the nation on
the occasion of direct
transfer of tenth in-
stallment of Prime
Minister Kisan Sam-
man Nidhi of more
than Rs. 20,000 crore to
more than 10 crore farm
natural farming given
to the farmers.
In his address, the
Prime Minister focused
more on natural farm-
ing, organic farming,
farmer production
groups, self-reliant
farmers, productivity
of organic fertilizers
and a healthy earth.
Inspired by the Prime
Minister’s address, the
Chief Minister gave
these directions to Di-
rector General, Agri-
culture and Farmers’
Welfare Department,
Hardeep Kumar and
said that the Gujarat
Governor, Acharya
Devvrat has already
been working on natu-
ral farming and zero
budget farming.
Ludhiana Police Commissioner (right) at courts complex on Sunday.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar. —FILE PHOTO
VGGS 2022
You can always choose to change
but at the beginning of a year it is
easier - do it!
—Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO Editor-in-Chief, First India

10. 09
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Stride of strength
courage
TARUNA THAPA, 22 IS A WOMAN OF MULTIPLE PASSIONS WHO
HAILS FROM CHANDIGARH. THAPA PARTICIPATED IN FIRST
MISS INDIA HELD IN GOA ON OCTOBER 30, 2021 CHARMED
THE AUDIENCES WITH HER TALENTS AND KNACK FOR FASHION!
assion and will are
two igniting pow-
ers that are re-
quired in any field
of profession, es-
pecially showbiz.
The world of mod-
elling, though filled with
glitz and glamour is also a
tough industry to make a
mark in. But, Taruna
Thapa, an ace teen mod-
el hailing from Chan-
digarh has made
her mark, early
on.
Taruna, a
nurse by profes-
sion, finalist of
First Miss India
Teen 2021 got
candid with City
First about her
journey as a
model and her
plans for the fu-
ture in the mod-
elling industry
.
Talking about
her journey,
Taruna said, “At
the time of my
2nd year in Bsc
nursing there
was a pageant
named, “Miss
North India Princess 2018’.
My sister and mother got
me registered for the show
and fortunately I was
among the top 12 contest-
ants. From that day I start-
ed modelling, and it gave
me the sense of content-
ment, happiness and the
realisation that one should
only make a career in the
field which makes them
happy from the inside.”
Discussing her inspira-
tion and motivation man-
tra, she said, “My mother is
a true warrior. She has
raised me into a strong
woman and I can’t be
more grateful to her. I
also believe that one
should live in the pre-
sent as life is so unpre-
dictable. Do what your
heart says. One
shouldn’t fear life and
unfold every chapter
as a challenge.”
Being a part of a
massive beauty
pageant like First
Miss India Teen
2021, Taruna
shared her expe-
rience. She said,
“My family is
my biggest sup-
port and their
faith in me and
my passion made
me confident enough
to be a part of this
huge pageant. First
India made full efforts
to provide us
with the best
mentors, ac-
comodation, facilities,
stage, prizes. The journey
went like a dream, all of
the participants took back
something precious home,
be it prizes, confidence,
friends, or strength.”
UTTKARSHA SHEKHAR
cityfirst@firstindia.co.in
P
NEW DELHI, MONDAY
JANUARY 3, 2022

11. 10
ETC
NEW DELHI | MONDAY, JANUARY 3, 2022
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F
A
C
E
O
F
T
H
E
D
A
Y
KUHOO, Model
ARIES
MAR 21 - APR 20
Some of you
are going to
experience
emotional
fulfillment on
romantic front.
Yoga would help
in raising energy
levels. Place
emphasis on domestic affairs to enhance
the domestic tranquility and harmony.
Associating yourself with humanitarian
group on social front would benefit you.
LIBRA
SEPT 24 - OCTOBER 22
You will have an
awesome day.
Continue to put
in efforts at work
and you will
see promising
opportunities.
Matrimonial
match for siblings
will bring happiness for entire family. You
will get a good price for your property.
You may receive invaluable guidance
from a spiritual leader.
TAURUS
APR 21 - MAY 20
Seek the opinion
of your family
before finalizing
an important
property deal.
An impromptu
invitation to a
function from
an unexpected
friend is likely to be received. Your bold
initiatives on romantic front bring back
passion, love and spark in romantic
relationship.
SCORPIO
OCT 23 - NOVEMBER 22
Health tips from
an expert will
enable you to
get closer to
your fitness
goals. Chances
of being misled
by competitors
in business are
high, so remain alert. Your generous
behavior would enable to enjoy some
lovely moments with family. Friendship
may turn into romance.
GEMINI
MAY 21 - JUNE 21
Your hard work
and dedication
are likely to
be noticed
by seniors,
paving way for
promotion or
increment. Family
will be supportive
of career aspirations. A promising day
overall as you stay in limelight without
any efforts. Harsh words may create a rift
in your romantic relationship; be careful.
SAGITTARIUS
NOV 23 - DEC 22
Investment in
antiques and
jewellery would
bring handsome
financial gains.
On professional
front, recognition
for good work
would motivate
you to work harder. Efforts made to
improve personality will bring desired
results. Those awaiting an affirmation on
romantic front may get lucky today.
CANCER
JUNE 22 - JULY 23
Those suffering
from chronic
ailments may
find remarkable
improvement in
their health with
home remedies.
Today you will
enjoy the trust
of senior management. Minor domestic
disputes may snowball into a major row,
so give attention to the family. Rewards
and recognition will come your way.
CAPRICORN
DEC 23 - JAN 20
You succeed
in completing
an important
project well
before deadline.
Disagreements
on the family
front are
foreseen. Be
careful about the legal apprehensions
in the property you are planning to buy.
Your intuition will save you from a tricky
spot today.
LEO
JULY 24 - AUGUST 23
You will succeed
in resolving mis-
understanding
with family
members,
normalizing ties.
Seek proper
valuation of the
property you are
planning to buy. You will remain much
in demand on social front. You need to
stand by romantic partner during testing
times to make the relationship stronger.
AQUARIUS
JAN 21 - FEB 19
A sound
financial health
of businessmen
would enable to
give monetary
benefits to
employees. Your
sole dependency
on friends may
fail to bring any respite from loneliness
today. It is good day to confess your love
as stars appear favourable for positive
reply.
VIRGO
AUG 24 - SEP 23
Paying special
attention to plan
your career would
give immense joy
and happiness.
You are likely
to get clearance
or approval for
your construction
plans. You find things moving in the
way you want them. Gifting something
to your beloved is likely to make the day
memorable.
PISCES
FEB20 - MARCH 20
Implementation
of new ideas
and projects
would add to
your prestige on
the professional
front. A sound
monetary
position would
enable you to keep pace with changing
times. Avoid raising controversial issues
at home to maintain harmony. It is a
wonderful day to build new connections.
YOUR
DAY
Horoscope by
Saurabbh Sachdeva
The Gingerbread Girl
tephen King is the
author of more than
60 books- ALL of
them worldwide
bestsellers!! Many
of his works are the
basis of major mo-
tion pictures. ‘It’ is the high-
est-grossing horror film of
all time. He is the recipient of
the 2020 Audio Publishers As-
sociation Lifetime Achieve-
ment Award, the 2018 PEN
America Literally Service
Award, the 2014 National
Medal of Arts, and the 2003
National Book Foundation
Medal for Distinguished Con-
tribution to American Let-
ters. He lives in Bangor,
Maine, with his wife Tabitha,
also a novelist.
‘The Gingerbread Girl’
originally appeared in Es-
quire magazine. It was later
included in King’s 2008 col-
lection of stories- ‘Just After
Sunset’. It is a story of abuse,
psychosis, and loneliness. In
King’s own words, “....even
the fastest runners have to
stand and fight”. The story
focuses on Emily, a woman
devastated by the ‘crib death’
of her two-month-old child.
She seeks solace in running.
She runs..... runs. Fighting
her emotional pain - she
pushes her physical self to
its limits- vomiting, sweat-
ing, running. When her hus-
band Henry treats it as a psy-
chological disorder, she runs
away from him to Florida
Gulf, to her father’s summer
home. It’s a conch shack in
the loneliest stretch of Ver-
million Key
.
Em keeps up her run-
ning- barefoot on the beach,
sneakers on the road- in total
isolation. Her life becomes
simple. Eat plain meals and
run. The only person she vis-
its is Deke Hollis, an old
friend of her father, who
runs the drawbridge on the
island. One day he tells her
that Jim Pickering, a man
who owns an estate on the
island, is back. He warns Em
about Pickering being a
womanizer- as he is seen
with a new ‘niece’ on every
one of his frequent visits.
One day, Em is jogging
past Pickering’s estate when
she sees the body of a girl
half falling out from the
trunk of a Mercedes car. As
she goes to get a closer look,
she is attacked, abducted,
dragged inside the house and
tied to a chair by the psycho-
path Pickering. From here
begins the gut-wrenching
terror so typical of Stephen
King. “He keeps the narra-
tion tight as a steel cable...
not letting the tension drop at
all”. The strong sense of fore-
boding permeates every
move that Em desperately
tries in her bid to escape. Re-
alizing that Deke Hollis will
come looking for her, Picker-
ing locks her in and goes to
first finish him off. Em gets
time to break the chair she is
tied to and rip off the duct
tapes. She manages to free
herself, attack and temporar-
ily knockout Pickering,
break the glass of his room’s
window and jump out from
the first floor, reminiscing
her childhood experiences.
She runs. “She hears him
behind her and realizes, in a
rather odd coincidence- that
she has been ‘training’ for
this moment”. Emily’s
months of running now help
her survive. Exhausted, hurt,
bleeding, she keeps running
on the beach, chased by him-
armed with large garden
scissors. A gardener from
one of the estates comes out
of curiosity to check on her-
but he is Spanish and cannot
understand her panic cries
for help. Pickering convinces
him of it being a marital is-
sue. When he senses doubt in
the gardener’s eyes, he at-
tacks and kills him. She does
outsmart him, but he has got
that crazy strength psycho-
paths to get when they are in
a murderous rage. Finding
no escape route, she runs
into the ocean. Pickering fol-
lows. But, he begins to floun-
der, pushing, bucking, and
convulsively thrashing.
“Truth lit up in her head like
fireworks on a dark night. He
couldn’t swim. Pickering
couldn’t swim. What kind of
a man with water phobia
would own a house on the
Gulf? He’d have to be crazy”.
She manages to escape
and sits on the shoreline to
watch Pickering drown. “She
wanted him to die in terror
and not quickly
. For Nicole...
and all the other ‘nieces’
there might have been before
her... Was she too a niece?
The last niece! The one who
had run as fast as she could.
The one who had survived.”
Finally, with her long or-
deal over, Em “stands and
shouts at the birds flying
about” and prepares to final-
ly ‘walk’ back home. Safe at
last.
‘The Gingerbread Girl’ is
intriguing, fast-paced, and to
the point. Stephen King’s no-
vella has all of his trademark
tension, violence, and cathar-
sis, with a spackling of mi-
sogyny
. It has an unexpected
twist at the end. The protago-
nist is most admirable, vul-
nerable yet so clear-headed
with a strong will to survive.
She keeps you glued to the
very end.
DEEPAK
deepaklifemusings@gmail.com
DEEPAK’S CORNER
S
months of running now help

12. ETC
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
11
SAREE THROUGH
BOLLYWOOD AGES!
s we all know, Saree is the most
ethnic and exquisite clothing
women can don on. Many west-
ern outfits may come and go, but
a saree is so much more than a
costume, it’s a feeling. It is syn-
onymous with Indian fashion
because women everywhere in India
drape it differently
. Some people choose
to wear it traditionally
, while others pre-
fer to wear it fashionably
. Post Independ-
ence, Bollywood films emerged in India,
bringing the impact of the gorgeous star-
lets who graced the big screen. Nutan,
Madhubala, Nargis, and Mumtaz were
all dressed in various saree styles, and
for the first time in history
, Indian wom-
en had the opportunity to choose their
fashion. By the mid-1990s and early
2000s, Indian women had come into their
element. It was the age of supermodels,
Miss Universe, and Miss World winners,
and these macots were taking the saree
to the world. The subtly risqué chiffon
saree gave way to the sexy organza
saree paired with OTT blouses.
Around the 20s, Indian fashion de-
signers used their ingenuity to cre-
ate pre-draped versions of the saree
that we can wear as quickly as any
western garments preferred by
modern Indian women. Pleats be-
came optional as sarees were
without them as half and half
versions that had contrasting
pallus and skirts. The saree be-
came a canvas for fusion wear
like Lehenga-Sarees and Saree-
Gowns to appease the
discer ning
connoisseurs
of Indian
fashion.
HARSHIKA KASLIWAL
cityfirstdel@gmail.com
A
“6 YARDS OF
PURE GRACE.”
NEW DELHI | MONDAY, JANUARY 3, 2022