RNI NO.

: DELENG/2005/15351
MILLENNIUMPOST.IN REGD. NO.: DL(S)-01/3420/2018-20

PUBLISHED FROM DELHI | KOLKATA VOL.17, ISSUE 63 | Friday, 4 March, 2022 | New Delhi | Pages 14 | Rs 3.00
No Half Truths

City: Pg 3 Nation: Pg 5 Film: Pg 13

SC to examine validity of amended ‘BJP’s victory in UP polls necessary Fans hail Aishwarya’s first
GNCTD Act, seeks Centre’s reply to ensure continued dev of state’ look from Ponniyin Selvan: I

INDIA RAMPS UP EVACUATION, RUSSIA PROMISES HELP GST EVASION

‘30 flights operated, about CBIC cautions

against sharing

6,400 people brought back’

Aadhaar, PAN
details without
Ukraine demands ceasefire, humanitarian corridors at talks with Russians valid reasons
Highlights
»»MEA spokesperson
Arindam Bagchi said the
number of people who
have left Ukraine since MPOST BUREAU
advisories were issued to
them to evacuate stood at
nearly 18,000 No hostage situation involving NEW DELHI: The CBIC on
Thursday cautioned the public

Indian students in Kharkiv: MEA

A building burns after shelling in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Thursday
OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: As war rages on
in Ukraine, India on Thursday
bolstered efforts to evacuate
its citizens from the strife-torn
country, with four IAF aircraft
bringing back 798 people,
and Russia promising it will
help Indians make a safe exit
through its borders.
which is pressing ahead with
its bombardment of key Ukrai-
nian cities, while rejecting calls
by the international commu-
nity for cessation of hostili-
ties, offered a glimmer of hope
to Indians stuck in the war
zone, saying it is ready to send
130 buses to evacuate them
from Ukraine’s battle-scarred
Kharkiv and Sumy to its Bel-
»»The United Nations said
more than one million refu-
gees had fled in just seven
days and the humanitarian
crisis was growing worse
»»During the next 24 hours,
18 flights have been
scheduled, including
three by C-17 Indian Air
Force aircraft and the
rest commercial airliners,
Bagchi said
AP/PTI
»»In a glimmer of hope
for Indians trapped in
lation. The United Nations said
more than one million refugees Ukraine’s bleak landscape
had fled in just seven days and with crumbling buildings
the humanitarian crisis was and flashes of light from
growing worse. With its main missiles whistling across the
assault force halted for days on sky, a top Russian military
a highway north of Kyiv, Russia general, meanwhile, said
has shifted tactics, escalating its his country was ready
bombardment of cities. with 130 buses to help
On the other hand, Bagchi them exit the battle zone
told a media briefing in New
MPOST BUREAU
NEW DELHI: India on
Thursday rejected claims by
both Russia and Ukraine that
Indian students are being
held hostage in the besieged
city of Kharkiv, and said it
has requested the support
of Ukrainian authorities in
arranging special trains for
taking them out from the city
and neighbouring areas.
India’s comments came
after a statement from Rus-
sian President Vladimir
Putin’s office claimed that
some Indian students were
“actually taken hostage” by
Ukrainian security forces,
who use them as a “human
shield” and in every possi-
ble way prevent them from
leaving for Russian territory.
The Russian claim was
mentioned in a readout issued
by Kremlin following a tele-
phonic conversation between
President Putin and Prime
Minister Narendra Modi on
Wednesday evening.
Separately, the Ukrainian
Foreign ministry “urgently
called on the governments
of India, Pakistan, China and
other counties whose students
have become hostages of the
Russian armed aggression in
Kharkiv and Sumy, to demand
from Moscow that it allows
the opening of a humanitarian
corridor to other Ukrainian
cities.” Some Indian students
were stuck in the eastern
Ukrainian city of Kharkiv and
several other conflict zones
and India has asked both Rus-
sia and Ukraine to facilitate
their safe passage to the bor-
der transit points for their exit
to neighbouring countries.
“We have not received any
report of any hostage situa-
tion regarding any student.
We have requested the sup-
port of Ukrainian authori-
ties in arranging special trains
for taking out students from
Kharkiv and neighbouring
areas to the western part of the
country,” External Affairs min-
istry spokesperson Arindam
Bagchi said. Continued on P4
against sharing Aadhaar and
PAN details without a valid
reason or for monetary gains,
saying that the information
could be misused by fraudsters
for GST evasion.
In a tweet, the Central
Board of Indirect Taxes and
Customs (CBIC) said Aadhaar
and PAN details can be used for
creating fake entities in GST for
evasion of taxes and hence peo-
ple should refrain from sharing
these without a valid reason.
“Protect your personal data
which may be used for creating
fake entities in GST for evasion
of taxes,” the CBIC tweeted.
Over the past years, Goods
and Services Tax (GST) offi-
cers have busted several bogus
firms, which were used to
raise fake invoices without any
actual supply of goods. The
sole intention is to fraudulently
claim input tax credit (ITC).

Bringing back Indian students important,

Ministry of External Affairs gorod region. Delhi: “The pace of Operation through its borders
said around 6,400 people have Meanwhile, Ukrainian Ganga continues to accelerate.

but PM busy in UP poll meetings: Mamata

been brought back under
Operation Ganga that was
launched to evacuate Indian
nationals, while over 7,400
more are expected to return
home to safety over the next
two days, officials said.
MEA spokesperson Arin-
dam Bagchi said the number
of people who have left Ukraine
since advisories were issued
to them to evacuate stood at
nearly 18,000.
An implacable Russia,
negotiators at talks with Rus-
sian officials on Thursday
demanded a ceasefire and
humanitarian corridors to
evacuate besieged citizens
as Moscow’s invasion forces
surrounded and bombarded
Ukrainian cities.
Hundreds of Russian sol-
diers and Ukrainian civilians
have been killed since President
Putin sent his troops over the
border on February 24. Russia
itself has been plunged into iso-
During the last 24 hours, 15
flights landed in India, bringing
back more than 3,000 Indians.”
He added: “With this,
it takes the total number of
flights under operation Ganga
to 30. So, we have brought back
around 6,400 Indian citizens.”
During the next 24 hours,
18 flights have been scheduled,
including three by C-17 Indian
Air Force aircraft and the rest
commercial airliners, Bagchi
said.
In terms of the departure
points from Europe, there will
be seven flights from Bucharest
(Romania), five from Budapest
(Hungary), three from Rzeszow
(Poland) and one from Košice
(Slovakia), Bagchi said.
Bagchi said that the
increased number of flights
reflects the large number of
Indians who have crossed over
from Ukraine and are now in
the neighbouring countries.
 Continued on P4
MPOST BUREAU
VARANASI: Bengal Chief
Minister Mamata Banerjee on
Thursday accused Prime Min-
ister Narendra Modi of being
busy in poll meetings in Uttar
Pradesh while Indians are
stranded in war-hit Ukraine.
Addressing a rally here,
while campaigning for the
Samajwadi Party (SP) for the
Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls,
she also accused the Centre
of leaving Indians in Ukraine
on their own in the midst of a
raging war. “Look what is hap-
pening right now. There is a
war underway in Ukraine and
Modi is doing meetings here
(in the state). What is impor-
tant? Isn’t bringing back our
Indian students important?”
Banerjee said.
“If you (Modi) have such
good relations with Russian
President Vladimir Putin and
knew three months in advance
that a war would break out, why
did you not bring back Indians
(from Ukraine),” the Trinamool
Congress (TMC) supremo said.
Campaigning for the Akh-
ilesh Yadav-led SP in Prime
Minister Modi’s parliamentary
constituency, she also slammed
the Centre, saying it is asking
Indians in the strife-torn nation
to come back on their own.
 Continued on P4

Over 55% voting recorded in sixth OVER 80% JUMP FROM 2020-21

Evacuation is a duty phase of UP Assembly polls Lokpal gets 4,244 complaints

not a favour
Rahul Gandhi MPOST BUREAU this fiscal till January ing in the remaining 54 seats will be
held on March 7.

In today’s
LUCKNOW: More than 55 per cent
voting was recorded in the sixth
phase of the Uttar Pradesh assem-
paper bly polls on Thursday.
The prominent faces among
... the 676 candidates for 57 seats
spread across 10 districts in this
City phase included Chief Minister Yogi
Adityanath from Gorakhpur Urban
326 NEW CASES, 3 DEATHS2 and state Congress president Ajay
Nation Kumar Lallu from Tamkuhi Raj.
According to tentative figures
NAWAB MALIK’S ED CUSTODY EXTENDED6 updated at 7 pm, 55.79 per cent poll-
international ing was recorded. In 2017 Assembly
polls, the turnout was 56.47 per cent
UKRAINE REFUGEE COUNT TOPS 1 MN  8 in these 57 seats.
The final tally will be released
edit by the poll authorities later, offi-
CALCULATIVE STANCE? 9 cials said.
With this, voting for 349 of the
business
TURKEY’S INFLATION JUMPS 54%
sport
10
Road Ministry issues new rules on
reporting accident to settle claims
ATKMB CONFIRM SEMI-FINAL SPOT12
Police personnel stand on guard at a
vacant polling station, in Ballia, on
Thursday
total 403 assembly seats has been
completed. The final phase of poll-
Around 2.15 crore people were
eligible to vote in this phase. The
voting started at 7 am and contin-
ued till 6 pm.
The districts where polling was
held on Thursday were Ambedkar-
nagar, Balrampur, Siddharth Nagar,
Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Maharaj-
ganj, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deo-
ria and Ballia.
In the 2017 Assembly polls, the
BJP had won 46 of the 57 seats.
Till 5 pm there was about 53.31
per cent polling, according to the
Election Commission of India’s
Turnout app.
PTI Additional Chief Electoral Offi-
cer (ACEO) BDR Tiwari said that
polling was held peacefully in the
state.  Continued on P4
MPOST BUREAU
NEW DELHI: Anti-corrup-
tion ombudsman Lokpal has
received 4,244 corruption
complaints between April 2021
and January 31, 2022, a jump
of over 80 per cent from 2020-
21. It had got 1,427 complaints
during 2019-20 financial year.
“Total 4,244 number of
complaints (including format
and non-format) have been
received through online/
offline and email during the
financial year 2021-22 (upto
January 31, 2022),” the Lokpal
said in reply to an RTI query.
A total of 2,355 complaints
(including format and non-
‘67% girls in urban slums
The government had
in March 2020 issued
a format for filing
corruption complaints
with the Lokpal
against public servants
format) were received through
online/offline and email dur-
ing 2020-21.
The government had in
March 2020 issued a format for
filing corruption complaints
with the Lokpal against pub-
lic servants.
All complainants have
to mandatorily give an affi-
DURING 1ST LOCKDOWN
davit on non-judicial stamp
paper, that among other
things mentions, making any
false and frivolous or vexa-
tious complaint is punish-
able with imprisonment for a
term which may extend to one
year and with fine which may
extend to one lakh rupees .
A complaint has to contain
the details of allegations about
the commission of an offence
by the public servant.
The Lokpal can entertain
complaints in any of the 22 lan-
guages, including Hindi, Guja-
rati, Assamese and Marathi,
referred to in the Eighth
Schedule to the Constitution.
 Continued on P4

India logs 6,561 didn’t attend online classes’

Covid infections, Incorporation of validated mobile numbers in the
MPOST BUREAU using a composite measure,
including metrics such as inci-
certificate of vehicle insurance made mandatory NEW DELHI: A study con- dence of COVID-19, child sex
142 deaths in a day ducted in urban slums of Delhi,
Maharashtra, Bihar, and Telan-
ratio, women getting married
before 18 years, annual dropout
MPOST BUREAU ing Officer (IO) shall also take gana revealed that 67 per cent ratio and women aged between
OUR CORRESPONDENT the photographs of the injured in of girls attended online classes 15 and 24 years using hygienic
NEW DELHI: The road ministry the hospital, the notification said, and 56 per cent did not get time methods during the menstrual
NEW DELHI: India’s Covid case tally rose to on Thursday said it has issued a adding that the IO shall conduct for recreational activi- cycle. In each state, two
4,29,45,160 with 6,561 people testing positive for notification to mandate the pro- spot enquiry by examining the ties during the Covid- districts or cities were
the infection in a day while active cases declined cedure for detailed investiga- eyewitnesses/bystanders. induced lockdown in selected.
to 77,152, according to Union Health ministry tion of road accidents, Detailed As per the notification, the 2020. During the 2020
data on Thursday. The death toll has climbed Accident Report (DAR) and its Investigating Officer shall inti- The study by NGO lockdown, fear of
to 5,14,388 with 142 more people succumbing reporting along with timelines mate the accident to the claims “Save The Children” in infection, closure of
to the disease, the data updated at 8 am stated. for different stakeholders for tribunal within 48 hours of the February last year also schools and health
It was for 25 consecutive days that India quick settlement of claims by accident, by submitting the First found that 68 per cent centres, long queues
recorded less than one lakh daily Covid cases. the Motor Accident Claim Tri- Accident Report (FAR) in Form I. of girls, aged between and unavailability of
Active cases comprise 0.18 per cent of the bunal (MACT). If the particulars of the insur- 10 and 18 years, faced challenges health staff made it difficult
total infections while the national Covid recov- The ministry in a statement ance policy are available, the inti- in accessing health and nutrition for adolescent girls to access
ery rate improved to 98.62 per cent, the Health further said the incorporation of mation of the accident in Form I services in these states. health and nutrition services,
ministry said. validated mobile numbers in the According to the notification, take photographs of the scene of shall also be given to the Nodal Delhi, Maharashtra, Bihar the report titled ‘Wings 2022:
A reduction of 8,528 cases has been recorded certificate of vehicle insurance has immediately on receipt of the the accident and the vehicle(s) Officer of the concerned insur- and Telangana represented the World of India’s Girls: Spot-
in the active Covid caseload in a day. also been made mandatory. information of a road accident, involved in the accident and pre- ance company of the offending four geographical zones — east, light on Adolescent Girls amid
 Continued on P4 The new rules will come into the investigating officer of police pare a site plan. vehicle, it said. west, north and south. COVID 19’ read.
force from April 1, 2022. shall inspect the site of accident, In injury cases, the Investigat-  Continued on P4 The states were selected  Continued on P4
2 mp City millenniumpost
FRIDAY, 4 MARCH, 2022 | NEW DELHI

AFTER MONTHS OF HEARINGS

Delhi Police lodge FIR
Delhi riots UAPA case: Order in pastor’s assault case
reserved on Umar’s bail plea
OUR CORRESPONDENT police said, adding that the pas-
tor was also allegedly punched
NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police and kicked.
registered an FIR on Thursday “They snatched my bag
days after a pastor alleged that which had valuables and the
he was thrashed, humiliated Bible. They tried to tear it but
OUR CORRESPONDENT that when Umar had filed an arguments, Umar’s lawyer, and forced to chant ‘Jai Shree could not. They accused me of

NEW DELHI: After hearing
Sharjeel’s speech clearly online application for permis-
sion to speak in Amaravati,
Senior Advocate Trideep Pais,
tore into the contents of the
Ram’ by a group of unknown
persons, who accused him of
conducting religious conver-
sions forcefully. They punched

on communal lines: Cops

the bail plea of former JNU
student leader Umar Kha-
lid for months-on-end in the
UAPA case related to the Feb-
ruary 2020 north-east Delhi
riots, Additional Sessions Judge
Amitabh Rawat on Thursday
reserved its order in the mat-
ter, with the pronouncement
of the order expected to come
on March 14.
Significantly, before reserv-
ing the order, the court on
Thursday heard submissions
from Special Public Prose-
cutor Amit Prasad, who fur-
ther accused Umar based
on the contents of the latest
supplementary chargesheet
filed by the Special Cell on
Wednesday.
Prasad took the court
through the events that led to
a speech by Umar in Amara-
vati in early February of 2020,
arguing that not just the speech
there but the conduct of the
OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: The Delhi
Police while opposing the bail
plea moved by Sharjeel Imam
in the 2019 Jamia rioting case
told the Delhi High Court
that his speech was clearly
on communal lines and he
had misled the students by
mentioning about the fake
detention camp.
This is with reference
to the speech delivered by
Imam on December 13, 2019
at Jamia Milia Islamia Uni-
versity. The case alleges that
Sharjeel Imam delivered pro-
vocative speeches which led to
Delhi Riots at various places.
accused in the run-up to it
purportedly made their case
“Keeping in view of the
facts, prevailing circum-
stances and sensitivity of
the case it is requested that
accused may evade the pro-
cess of law and jump, accused
may threaten the public wit-
nesses, accused may indulge
in such crime again if granted
bail, bail application of the
present applicant/ accused is
strongly opposed,” the reply,
filed by the Assistant Com-
missioner of Police, Inter-
State Cell Crime Branch, said.
The matter came up for
hearing before Justice Rajnish
Bhatnagar who listed the mat-
ter for further proceedings on
March 10.
of conspiracy stronger.
The prosecution argued
it was rejected by the Home
Department of the Maharash-
tra government. But later, an
application for the event was
filed by the Welfare Party of
India, of which Umar’s father
is a member.
Prasad said the second
application did not contain
Umar’s name and that this was
allegedly a ploy to circumvent
the authorities and have Umar
deliver the speech.
The prosecution went on
to argue that the materials
involved in rioting like acid,
chilli powder, etc. had to be
gathered and this indicated
planning from before. Refer-
ring to Advocate Mohammed
Pracha’s arguments in another
matter, Prasad said, “I have
not seen Kapil Mishra break-
ing CCTV cameras of Chand
Bagh. But Saleem Khan was
definitely there.”
However, rebutting these
most recent supplementary
chargesheet, saying it was “not
worth the paper it is written
on”.
Saying that the SPP was
“making a mockery out of a
UAPA prosecution”, Pais went
on to submit that the FIR in
relation to the Amaravati
speech did not even mention
Umar and that somehow the
prosecution was trying to argue
that that FIR had purportedly
made his actions in Delhi a ter-
rorist activity.
In addition, when Prasad
tried to argue that messages
indicating that the accused
wanted to make WhatsApp
calls somehow implicated
them, Pais said, “I work in
a basement, I make What-
sApp calls because network
doesn’t reach. But I am a ter-
rorist. The third chargesheet
is not worth the paper it’s
written on.”
carrying out religious conver-
sions “forcibly”, officials said.
The incident took place on
February 25 at South Delhi’s
Fatehpuri Berri area but the
pastor, Kelom Tet, filed the
complaint two days later at the
Maidan Garhi police station,
they said.
In the videos of the pur-
ported incident, a group of men
can be seen surrounding the
pastor and heckling him.
Tet, who has been resid-
ing in south Delhi’s Asola for
the last 18 years, recalled that
he was targeted by another
unknown group 15 years ago
at Sanjay Colony here.
“Based on the complaint,
we have lodged an FIR against
unknown persons under sec-
tions 365 (Kidnapping or
abducting with intent secretly
and wrongfully to confine per-
son), 323 (Punishment for
voluntarily causing hurt), 341
(Punishment for wrongful
restraint) and 34 (Acts done
by several persons in further-
ance of common intention)
of the Indian Penal Code and
an investigation is underway,”
said Harsha Vardhan, Addi-
tional Deputy Commissioner
of Police (South).
In his complaint, the pas-
tor alleged that on February
25, a group of men harassed
him and forced him to chant
‘Jai Shree Ram’ when he was
on his way to work after meet-
ing one of his friends.
Tet alleged in his com-
plaint that the men snatched
his Bible and tried to tear it, the
me, kicked me and forcefully
took me in their car, saying
they were taking me to Maidan
Garhi police station. They also
threatened to break my arms
and legs,” he alleged.
The pastor was allegedly
taken to Fatehpur chowk where
the men tied his hands with
ropes and started punching and
kicking him again on the road-
side, the police said.
“Around 100 people were
standing there as mute spec-
tators. No one came to rescue
me. They made videos and
watched me being thrashed
and assaulted. But no one
came to help. They also tried
to instigate the students who
were returning from school to
chant “Jai Shree Ram” and beat
me up. This went on for around
45 minutes,” he alleged.
Tet alleged that he somehow
managed to escape after the
ropes on his hands loosened.

HC raps SDMC for not removing ramps ‘FISH OUT OF WATER’ Dist judge asked to file
built outside houses in Vasant Kunj report on sentencing
OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: The Delhi

High Court Thursday said
soft-pedalling of the issue of
encroachment by the South
Delhi Municipal Corpora-
tion has encouraged people
to encroach upon government
land and pulled up the authori-
ties for their failure in remov-
ing ramps constructed outside
houses in the Vasant Vihar area
in south Delhi.
The high court said the
action was not taken by the
authorities despite a court order
and it amounted to dereliction
of duty .
Justice Najmi Waziri said
two-and-a-half months have
gone by and SDMC has nei-
ther demolished nor removed
ramps noticed by it in the area
and the inaction has encouraged
the extensive damage done to
the corporation’s own footpaths
and inconvenience to the gen-
eral public.
Soft pedalling of the issue
by the SDMC showed that it
encouraged people to encroach
upon government land which
caused much distress to physi-
cally infirm, disabled, elderly,
and children who want to take
a stroll, the court said.
It asked the SDMC to file a
status report on the action taken
and listed the matter for further
hearing on March 8.
The court also asked the
DCP (South) to give a report
on the action taken concerning
encroachment in the area along
with photographs.
The court was hearing a con-
tempt petition filed by Bhavreen
Kandhari, represented through
advocate Aditya N Prasad,
alleging that the area around
hundreds of trees in Vasant
Vihar in South Delhi has been
concretised and sought their
preservation.
The court had earlier
asked the SDMC to carry out
the social disability audit in a
proper manner in the Vasant
Vihar area.
It had objected to how the
social disability audit was done
as the SDMC officials were mov-
ing on the wheelchairs assisted
by another person from behind.
The court wanted them
to do the audit by moving on
wheelchairs on their own and
not with any assistance.
It had also asked why the
ramps built outside several
houses were not in level with the
standards of SDMC and asked
the authorities to remove them
so that there are no obstruc-
tions to persons on wheelchairs
or walkers.
The high court had earlier
questioned the SDMC offi-
cials for not moving on Vasant
Vihar’s footpaths on a wheel-
chair to check their usability
and asked: if it was below their
dignity to sit on wheelchairs.
proceedings of lawyer
OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: The Delhi High
Court Thursday directed the
District Judge (Headquarters)
to file a report in relation to
the trial court proceedings on
sentencing of a lawyer who was
convicted for assaulting a retired
district court judge when she
was an advocate.
The high court’s direction
came after being informed by
the retired judge that two sit-
ting district judges were present
on the dias when the CMM was
conducting the proceedings in
the matter.
A bench of Justices Sid-
A view of a new thematic mural titled ‘Fish Out of Water’, inspired by the idea of travel, and depicting dharth Mridul and Anoop
flora and fauna, at a residential complex in Lodhi Art District, in New Delhi, on Wednesday. The mural, Kumar Mendiratta wondered
an Indo-German collaborative work, has been created by Aashti Miller and Greta von Richthofen in the how two other district judges
last two weeks PTI could be present in the court-
room when a particular court
was being conducted.
“This has come as a surprise
to us. So let us see and let them
(district judge headquarters)
respond,” the bench said.
The high court was hearing a
petition by retired district court
judge Sujata Kohli seeking to
initiate contempt proceedings
against advocate Rajiv Khosla
for allegedly interfering with the
administration of justice after
he was convicted for assaulting
her when she was a lawyer and
argued that no convict should
be allowed to browbeat and
bully the court.

City Briefs Jewellery worth Rs 70 lakh stolen from PNB locker in Ghaziabad
RAHUL SINGH branch and have been using 2021, she again visited the bank worth Rs 5 lakh wrapped in a FIR has been registered under
locker for past 20 years. but the bank officials couldn’t yellow colour cloth along with the section of 406 (Punish-
TWO HELD FOR SNATCHING INCIDENTS GHAZIABAD: The Ghazi- “The last time I had used the resolve the issue. a piece of paper. A list of jewel- ment for criminal breach of
AT DU’s NORTH CAMPUS abad police has booked bank
officials of the Punjab National
locker in November 2019 but
since the pandemic, I couldn’t
“On February 25, 2022,
I visited the bank and once
lery was written on the paper.
However, such paper or yellow
trust) of IPC against the bank
officials.
NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police has arrested two people Bank after jewellery worth use the locker after that. In again I was not able to open cloth were not put by me there,” “Right now, we are checking
who were allegedly involved in stealing a bike and Rs 70 lakh went missing from October 2021, I went to check the locker. The manager raised she she added. the CCTV footage of the bank.
snatching two mobile phones in quick succession at the bank’s locker at its Nehru it but I was not able to open the a request to break the locker As per an estimate given As of now, we have to exam-
Delhi University’s north campus, officials said on Thurs- Nagar branch under Sihani gate locker with the help of key that and I granted it. They called by victim to police, jewelleries ine when the theft could have
day. According to police, it took only around three police station of Ghaziabad. I had. When the informed bank me again a couple of days later worth Rs 70 lakh were missing taken place as the locker was
Priyanka Gupta, a resi- officials about the glitch, they REPRESENTATIVE PHOTO and on February 28, when the from the locker. Nipun Aggar- not used for past many months.
hours for the accused to steal the motorcycle and
dent of Ashok Nagar in Ghazi- assured that they will resolve locker was broken, I found that wal, Superintendent of Police We are probing the matter and
snatch the mobile phones. The accused were identi- abad, said that she owns a bank the issue when I will visit next,” She further said that around my ornaments were missing. (city), Ghaziabad said that on expect a breakthrough soon,”
fied as Mohammad Monis (26), resident of Bhagirathi account at bank’s Nehru Nagar Gupta said. two months later in December I also found some jewellery the basis of the complaint, an Aggarwal said.
Vihar, and Namir (22), resident of Bara Hindu Rao,
they said. CENTRES SHUT AS FAMILIES STRUGGLE FOR BASICS ‘Can a husband be
As anganwadis’ stir continues,
‘BLIND’ MURDER CASE SOLVED, 2 HELD
NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police have claimed to solve
a blind murder case of a 40-year-old watchman in prosecuted under
scores of families left in a lurch Sec 377 if exception
the Sadar Bazar area within 24 hours, the officials in-
formed on Thursday. The two accused in the case were
identified as Sonu (25) and Gopal Bahadur aka Milan
(25), both natives of Nepal. Sonu is a resident of the
East Azad Nagar area of East Delhi while Milan was RUDRASHIS KANJILAL Millennium Post visited
three Anganwadi centres in
Camp, said, “We are always
worried about our existence
in Sec 375 exists?’
residing in the Gokhle Market area of Delhi. On Sun-
NEW DELHI: As the Delhi the area which have been shut here but anganwadi workers
day, the police received a call from the Lady Hardinge government and the Union for over a month, according to and helpers always reached NEW DELHI: The Delhi High will be heard separately,” the
Medical College regarding the admission of an injured government refuse to engage locals. While the Delhi gov- out to us with packets of len- Court has delinked a petition Court ordered.
man named Mangal, who later succumbed to his inju- with protesting anganwadi ernment had marginally raised tils, chickpeas, dalia, etc which from a batch of pleas seeking The petition filed by Advo-
ries. Devender and Mangal belongs to the same family. workers and helpers over their the pay of protesting workers, went a long way to sustain our criminalisation of marital rape. cate Amit Kumar raises the
A quarrel ensued in the past between Devender and demands, who have now sus- many demands were left unad- families but all of a sudden it A division bench comprising of question as to whether the 2013
Sagar (son of the deceased) during which Devender, pended work in protest for over dressed, because of which the stopped and now we have no Justice Rajiv Shakdher and Justice amendment to Section 375 is
and his father were beaten up by Mangal and his fam- a month, scores of impover- stir continues. one who will help us.” C Hari Shankar has reserved it’s inconsistent with Section 377
ished families in the Capital Punam Khatri, the super- Thousands of families rely judgment in the bunch of pleas qua the legally wedded citizens.
ily, due to which he felt humiliated and had to go back have been running from pillar visor of a Khanpur anganwadi on the anganwadi network challenging the exception to Sec- After 2013 amendment, the scope
to Nepal. Further, Paras, brother of the accused Sonu to post to find some alternate centre said, “We are receiving for their dry rations and their tion 375 of the Code, after mara- of the offence of rape has been
was arrested in a theft case on the tip-off of Mangal. relief as the closure of Angan- too meagre when compared to people from needy families on children’s nutritional needs. In thon hearing continuing for days, expanded to cover penetrative
Thus, they hatched a criminal conspiracy to eliminate wadi centres has hit their sup- today’s expenses. And now, we a daily basis who show up hop- areas like the IG camp, average reported legal news website Live acts other than penile-vaginal.
Mangal Singh and later involved Milan in it, Kalsi said. plies of dry rations, healthcare have to buy rations from shops ing that the centre has started family earnings are less than R Law. Delinking the petition from So when exception 2 to Section
privileges, and nutrition for at a higher price which is cost- functioning and now they 7,000 to Rs 8,000 but there are the said batch of petitions, the 375 excludes marital sex from
WOMAN, 22, HELD FOR BURGLARY their toddlers — that used to
be a major aid for these needy
ing us close to Rs 2,000. On top
of that, we have to buy milk and
would get some dry rations
but they return disappointed.”
a lot of mouths to feed.
“We are finding it really dif-
Court said that it will be hear-
ing the matter separately while
the offence of rape, it is anoma-
lous to prosecute a husband for
NEW DELHI: Delhi Police recently arrested one lady households. Cerelac for my two-month-old She also highlighted ficult to cope with these chal- listing it on March 11. non-vaginal penetrative sexual
burglar, who intruded into a house and stole jewellery Such is the case at Taimoor son and two-year-old daughter. that supervisors are desper- lenges. I have to give my nine “Since the issue raised in the acts under Section 377 IPC, the
worth around Rs 10 lakh. Police on Thursday informed Nagar’s Indira Gandhi Camp Earlier, anganwadis supplies ately requesting the AWW month toddler a typhoid con- above-captioned petition is quali- petitioner argues. The petitioner
that a team of Sarai Rohilla police station identified the 2 where 22-year-old Nazia is acted as a huge help but now and AWH to return to work. jugate vaccine. If I inoculated tatively different from the bunch is facing prosecution for the
arrested person as a vagabond and a drug addict. Po- always perturbed about her we often have to live with one But as the protesting work- him from the Anganwadi it of the writ petitions in which offence of Section 377 IPC for
lice claimed that she has sold most of the jewellery for household’s ration reservoir or two meals a day.” ers allege that the supervisors wouldn’t cost me a penny but hearing has been held before alleged non-consensual anal sex
as she has to feed a family of Nazia said that she had got are using threats to pressure now I have to take it from a pri- us i.e., W.P.(C) Nos. 284/2015, with his wife. When the same
Rs1.25 lakh. The receiver of the jewellery has also seven. a job as a house maid a few them, Punam denied these vate dispensary which costs Rs 5858/2017, 6024/2017 and act is exempted under Section
been nabbed by cops. Cops identified her as Geeta She added, “Our family’s weeks ago but she was fired allegations. 1,700. I don’t know how long W.P.(Crl.) No.964/2017, it is 375 IPC, the prosecution under
(22). monthly income hovers around when her employers found out 27-year-old Amiran, we can go on like this”, Ami- ordered to be delinked from the Section 377 IPC is unsustain-
Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000 which is she lived in the camp. another resident of the IG ran said. batch. The instant writ petition able, argues the petitioner.  PTI
Although every possible care and caution has been taken to avoid errors or omissions, this publication is being sold on the condition and understanding that information given in this publication is merely for reference and must not be taken as having authority of or binding in any way on the writers, editors,
publishers, and printers and sellers who do not owe any responsibility for any damage or loss to any person, a purchaser of this publication or not for the result of any action taken on the basis of this work. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent court and forums in Delhi/New Delhi only

Printed and Published by Jaiyendra Kumar Sharma on behalf of Front Row Media Pvt. Ltd. and printed at The Indian Express Pvt. Ltd., A-8, Sector-7, Noida-201 301 (U.P.) and published from First Floor, Pratap Bhawan, 5 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg,
New Delhi 110 002. Editor: Durbar Ganguly. Email: editor@millenniumpost.in, Tel. No. 011-47777500
millenniumpost
NEW DELHI | FRIDAY, 4 MARCH, 2022
3-JUDGE BENCH TO HEAR ON APRIL 6 DISPUTE ON CONTROL OF SERVICES
SC to examine validity of amended
GNCTD Act, seeks Centre’s reply
OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: The Supreme
Court Thursday decided to
examine the Constitutional
validity of the amended
GNCTD Act, 2021 and the
Transaction of Business Rules,
which allegedly give more
powers to Lieutenant Gover-
nor, and sought the Centre’s
response on the Delhi govern-
ment’s plea.
The Delhi government,
in its plea through Deputy
Chief Minister Manish Siso-
dia, has sought quashing of
the four amended sections of
the Government of National
Capital Territory of Delhi
(GNCTD) Act and 13 Rules
of the Transaction of Business
of the GNCTD Rules, 1993 on
various grounds such as they
violate the doctrine of basic
structure, separation of power
as the LG has been bestowed
with more authority.
A bench comprising Chief
Justice N V Ramana and Jus-
tices A S Bopanna and Hima
Kohli asked the counsel for the
Centre to file the reply within
four weeks.
The bench also said that a
three-judge bench will hear
on April 6 the another plea on
the contentious issue of who
should control administrative
services in Delhi, the dispute
which arose from a 2019 split
verdict.
On February 14, 2019, a
two judge-bench of Justices A
K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan,
both retired now, recom-
mended to the Chief Justice of
India that a three-judge bench
be set up to finally decide the
issue of control of services in
the national Capital in view of
its split verdict.
Justice Bhushan had ruled
that the Delhi government has
no power at all over adminis-
trative services.
Justice Sikri, however, made
a distinction. He said the trans-
fer or posting of officers in top
echelons of the bureaucracy
(joint director and above) can
only be done by the central
government and the Lieuten-
ant Governor’s view would pre-
vail in case of a difference of
opinion for matters relating to
other bureaucrats.
At the outset, senior advo-
cate A M Singhvi, appearing
for the AAP government, said
that governance for the elected
government has been difficult
as it does not have the power
on transfer of officers.
Additional Solicitor Gen-
eral Sanjay Jain, appearing for
the Centre, said the issue per-
taining to some aspects of Arti-
cle 239AA (special provision
with respect to Delhi) needed
re-consideration by a Consti-
tution bench.
The court said it would set
up a three-judge bench for
hearing the case on April 6.
The fresh plea filed through
the deputy chief minister of
Delhi, on which the notice was
issued, has said the amended
GNCTD Act and the Trans-
action of Business Rules have
disenfranchised Delhiites, and
violated the principle of fed-
eralism by diminishing the
constitutionally guaranteed
powers and functions of the
elected legislative assembly and
the council of ministers and
sought their quashing.
In the 2018 judgement, a
five-judge Constitution bench
had unanimously held that the
Lieutenant Governor of Delhi
is bound by the aid and advice
of the elected government and
both needed to work harmoni-
ously with each other.
Bhullar’s release in a
legal bind after some
SRB members resist
OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: Amid calls for
releasing Davinder Pal Singh
Bhullar, a 1993 Delhi bomb
blast case convict, the process
is now entangled in a legal quag-
mire with the Delhi govern-
ment firmly maintaining that
it is legally bound to follow the
Union government’s direction to
release him but several members
of the Sentence Review Board
disagreeing strongly — which is
what has now led to deferring
the matter further.
In the March 2 meeting,
sources aware of details have
said that while Home Minister
Satyendar Jain had clearly stated
that the Delhi government had
to follow through on the Union’s
recommendation for releasing
Bhullar, at least four members
of the SRB — the Law Secretary,
Home Secretary and the Joint
Commissioner of Police part of
City mp 3
Medical board has
said Bhullar is in
very poor health
and in a vegetative
state; Delhi govt says
Centre’s directions
binding on it
Justice and try to destabilise
Punjab. In addition, the judicial
officer on the board opined that
Bhullar should not be released
because he was a “hardened
criminal”.
Now, given that the Delhi
government finds itself in a posi-
tion to follow the Centre’s rec-
ommendation to release Bhullar
(made under Article 161) and
that the Sentence Review Board
stands in opposition to this rec-
ommendation — the legal ques-
tion that needs to be addressed
Nearly 579
Delhiites
stranded in
Ukraine
NEW DELHI: As many as
579 people from Delhi are still
stranded in war-torn Ukraine
while 299 people belonging
to the national capital have
been brought back, officials in
the city government said on
Thursday.
Till evening, district author-
ities including district magis-
trates (DM) and sub-divisional
magistrates (SDMs) visited the
residences of 606 students who

Jain opens UGR in Mayapuri,

the SRB, had strongly opposed is whether the SRB can overrule have either been evacuated or
the release — citing either that the Union government’s recom- are still stuck in the East Euro-
he continued to pose a danger mendation. In addition, it is also pean country, the officials said.
if released or that he should not being considered if such a mat- Families of 624 people have

‘will benefit 1.5 lakh residents’

be released because of the grav-
ity of his offence.
One of the sources told Mil-
lennium Post that this came
AAISHA SABIR despite the SRB meeting of
March 2, discussing in detail
NEW DELHI: In order to provide round-the- that Bhullar was currently suf-
ter should now be sent directly
to the office of L-G Anil Baijal
for a final decision — as a result
of which, the matter had been
deferred to the next meeting.
Delhi Home Minister Saty-
endar Jain heads the SRB, which
been contacted over the phone
and offered help, they said.
In all, 878 people from
Delhi were in Ukraine, the offi-
cials said citing a list handed to
them by the Centre.
Transport Minister Kailash

Govt to HC: Cannot

clock water supply and strengthen the water fering from an acute mental has a total of seven members. Gahlot on Thursday tweeted,
infrastructure of the Capital, Water Minister Saty- illness as certified by the Medi- Bhullar was convicted in The Delhi government is
endar Jain on Thursday inaugurated an under- cal Board as of February 2014 connection with the killing of constantly in touch with the

promote drunkenness
ground reservoir or booster pumping station at and was practically in a “vegeta- nine people and injuring of 31 families of those stranded in
Mayapuri which will benefit 1.5 lakh residents. tive state”. In fact, this was the in a bomb blast in 1993 in Delhi Ukraine. Delhi government
The area faces a water crisis, which worsens basis on which his death sen- and was sentenced to death by will ensure travel arrangements

through discounts
OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: The Delhi gov-
ernment on Thursday defended
before the Delhi High Court its
decision prohibiting any rebate
or concession given by retail-
ers on the sale of liquor, saying
it can’t promote drunkenness
through discounts.
Senior counsel appearing
for the Delhi government urged
Justice V Kameswar Rao, who
Senior advocate Rahul
Mehra, also appearing for Delhi
government, said liquor cannot
be sold below the MRP.
Justice Rao issued notice
on the petitions and asked the
Delhi government to file its
response by Friday evening and
directed that the matter be listed
for further hearing on March 7.
The petitioners sought a stay
on the decision on the ground
that it was causing them an
during the summer and in order to fix that the
reservoir with a capacity of 1.24 crore litres has
been set up.
Booster pumping station is a device that
increases low water pressure and flow by provid-
ing the extra boost needed to bring water pres-
sure to the desired level. The water is enabled to
move from a storage tank or throughout a whole
house or commercial facility.
“This will be a magnificent step to augment
the water pressure, which will help solve the exist-
ing water crisis in Delhi,” Jain said while adding
that 1.5 lakh residents residing in Hari Nagar
and Delhi cantonment area will benefit from it.
The residents of Khazan Basti, Maya Enclave,
M-Block, Hari Nagar, Part of Subhash Nagar,
A-Block, Mayapuri Ph-I & II, with the availability
of water at an adequate pressure will avoid water
crisis during summer months. The project cost
includes 10 years of operations and maintenance.
“These steps are part of a bigger and highly
ambitious endeavour of ensuring 24x7 water sup-
ply across the capital by the Delhi Government,
and we are evidently leaving no stone unturned
to fulfil this commitment,” he added.
“Under the leadership of Chief Minister
Arvind Kejriwal, the government is working
tirelessly day and night to achieve its aim of
cleaning the Yamuna and providing 24x7 water
supply to all the residents,” he said.
tence was commuted by the
Supreme Court. Despite this,
the Law Secretary of the Delhi
government opined that he is a
dreaded criminal who caused
the death of several people
and so there was no question
of releasing him. Moreover, the
Home Secretary of the Delhi
government was of the opinion
that he was a “terrorist” and that
such a “dangerous person” can-
not be released.
Meanwhile, the senior Delhi
Police officer on the board
opined that Bhullar, if released,
might “collude” with Sikhs for
a designated TADA court in
2001. After the SC commuted
his death sentence, he is now
serving life in Amritsar.
But the Ministry of Home
Affairs, in a letter to the Chief
Secretary of Delhi on Septem-
ber 29, 2019, had informed
about its decision to give spe-
cial remission to eight Sikh pris-
oners facing life imprisonment,
including Bhullar, on the occa-
sion of the commemoration of
550th birth anniversary of Guru
Nanak Dev, asking the Chief
Secretary to take “all required
actions”.
of Delhi residents to their
homes coming from Ukraine
at Hindon airport or Indira
Gandhi International Airport.
Senior government officials
on Thursday said that during
the Delhi government’s reach-
out exercise, many students
who returned hailed the Indian
government’s efforts in bring-
ing them back. They also talked
about the difficulties in move-
ment within Ukraine to reach
the borders, lack of coordina-
tion and concerns of the stu-
dents about their future, the
officials said.  MPOST

Administrative approval for City Briefs

was hearing a batch of petitions
by several liquor licence holders
challenging the order prohibit-
ing discounts, not to stay the
operation of the February 28
order and contended that the
discounts were given in a spo-
radic manner and being mis-
used by those with big pockets
to create a monopoly.
Delhi can’t be the city
for promoting drunkenness
through discounts... This was
being misused over and over
and over again by attracting
and luring people by absolutely
unreasonable and strange dis-
counting policy, argued senior
advocate Abhishek Manu
Singhvi.
It was also used as a mea-
sure of monopolising. We were
not against discounts generally
but when we found that in the
last few months, by giving huge
discounts, there was an attempt
by a few with deep pockets to
monopolise... These and other
things are to be the reason why
the decision was taken. It does
not cross the border of perver-
sity, Singhvi said as he sought
time to file a response on behalf
of the Delhi government and
stated that any interim order
would be akin to a final order
on the petition.
326 new cases,
irreparable loss on account
of the substantial decrease in
their business.
I’ll have it on Monday. Let’s
balance the equities. Let us
have their affidavit, said the
judge as he refused to interfere
with the discount prohibition
at this stage.
Senior advocates Mukul
Rohatgi and Sajan Poovayya,
who represented several peti-
tioners, argued that the Delhi
government order was passed by
the concerned authority with-
out any jurisdiction and was
perverse and arbitrary.
It is the petitioners’ griev-
ance that even though the appli-
cable excise policy and the
tender expressly permit grant
of discounts by the retail licens-
ees, the Delhi government on
February 28 prohibited the dis-
counts without giving them an
opportunity to be heard.
Revenue was (being) earned
for the State. Suddenly one day
without any warning, an order is
issued without any jurisdiction
saying that there are crowds so
discounts must stop, saying it
is unhealthy market practices.
Our sales have gone down by 75
per cent. Business has gone back
to Uttar Pradesh and Haryana,
Rohatgi said.
Now tourists
can recharge
Metro cards
through Delhi
Tourism App
NEW DELHI: Tourists can
now recharge their Metro
smart cards from Delhi Tour-
ism App which also contain fare
and route details, officials said
on Thursday.
Delhi Tourism and Trans-
portation Development Cor-
poration officials said that the
mobile application will also be
useful for foreign tourists and
for those who are not well versed
with the online modes of Delhi
metro recharge options or fare
and route details.
We strive to give tour-
ists from all over the world
the best experience in Delhi.
So with the help of Delhi
Tourism App’s metro recharge
feature now tourists can plan
their complete journey with
one app.  AGENCIES
IT WILL COMMENCE ON MAY 1
installing 600 LED screens GOVT TO ORGANISE 4TH ‘RAAHGIRI
OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: The Delhi gov-
ernment has given administra-
tive approval and sanctioned an
estimate of Rs 475 crore for its
project of installing 600 LED
screens across the city, a PWD
circular said on Thursday.
According to officials of
the Public Works Department
(PWD), under the project
large LED screens will be set
up at 600 locations in different
parts of the city that will display
pollution data, health adviso-
ries, graphic films, information
on government policies and
social messages. Officials said
the project will be completed in
a year’s time from the estimate
sanction. The circular issued
by the PWD said the project
should be completed within the
given timeframe.
“I am directed to convey
administrative approval and
estimate sanction as approved
Highlights
»»Under the project large
LED screens will be set
up at 600 locations in
different parts of the city
that will display pollution
data, health advisories,
graphic films, information
on government policies
and social messages
»»Priority will be given to
wider arterial roads with
100 to 200 feet ROW
(right of way) and having
large traffic volume for
maximum dissemination of
the information
by the Expenditure Finance
Committee on December 22,
2021 for the project of provid-
ing 600 LED screens at various
locations in Delhi at an esti-
mated cost of Rs 475.78 crore,”
PWD Special Secretary Shashi
Kaushal said in a circular.
PWD officials said that
these screens will be installed at
prominent locations on PWD
roads having ROW (right of
way) 80 feet and above, inter-
sections and T points of roads
with ROW 80 feet or more,
entry or exit of Metro station
having heavy footfalls.
“Priority will be given to
wider arterial roads with 100 to
200 feet ROW and having large
traffic volume for maximum
dissemination of the informa-
tion,” the official said.
He added that LED display
screens will be of different sizes
and shapes. These include por-
trait screen with unipole struc-
ture, landscape screen with
single display, tri-side display
and cluster monitors in rectan-
gular shape, officials said.
Now that the administrative
approval has been granted for
the project, tenders will soon
be floated, they said.
DAY’ IN BURARI ON MARCH 6
NEW DELHI: The Dialogue and Development Commis-
sion of Delhi will organise a ‘Raahgiri Day’ in Burari
on Sunday to promote citizen engagement towards
reducing pollution. A street from Pushta Road Baba
Colony to Pradhan Colony in Burari will be cordoned
off for a few hours this Sunday morning so that citizens
can come together in large numbers and use the street
for recreation that promotes health, wellbeing, fitness,
togetherness and joy, the Delhi government said. The
event, being organised in partnership with Raahgiri
Foundation and WRI India, will be held in the presence
of Burari MLA Sanjeev Jha as the Chief Guest, it said.
HEALTHCARE SHOULD BE FREE FOR ALL:
HEALTH MINISTER SATYENDAR JAIN
NEW DELHI: Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said
on Thursday that governments should work to make
healthcare free for all and not just a select few. Ad-
dressing the CII Delhi State Annual Session 2021-22,
the minister said the Delhi government is working on the
“largest healthcare expansion plan of the world” with
the construction of 15,000 new beds, which will become
functional in the next one and a half years. He said
governments should take care of both the taxpayers
and the ones who cannot afford quality healthcare.

DU’s plan for centenary celebrations — courses

three deaths;
positivity 0.7%
NEW DELHI: Delhi on
Thursday reported 326 fresh
COVID-19 cases and three
deaths, while the positivity rate
stood at 0.77 per cent, accord-
ing to data shared by the city
health department.
With this, the national Cap-
ital’s case count increased to
18,60,887, while the death toll
mounted to 26,130, the latest
health bulletin stated.
The number of COVID-19
tests conducted a day ago stood
at 42,542, it said. Delhi had on
Wednesday recorded 325 cases
with a positivity rate of 0.81 per
cent, and one death.
The number of daily cases
in Delhi has been on the decline
after touching the record
high of 28,867 on January 13.
The city had recorded a pos-
itivity rate of 30.6 per cent
on January 14, the highest dur-
ing the ongoing wave of the
pandemic.  MPOST
in engineering, commemorative stamp & coin
OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: Introducing
courses in engineering, con-
struction of new hostels, set-
ting up of Centenary ASEAN
studies centre and launch of
a commemorative stamp and
coin — these are among the
initiatives planned by Delhi
University as part of its year-
long centenary celebrations,
according to Vice Chancellor
Yogesh Singh.
Delhi University has also
announced a “centenary chance”
for those whose studies in the
university have remained unfin-
ished besides adoption of a cen-
tenary village with achievable
and tangible social welfare-ori-
ented goal. The centenary cele-
brations will commence on May
1 and the university has planned
several events in a year-long
celebration that will culminate
on May 1 next year. The Delhi
University has allocated Rs 10
crore for its centenary celebra-
tions and also has plans to bring
out a coffee table book to mark
the occasion.
“Many many students could
not complete their degrees.
The university has decided to
give them two chances. We
have called them a centenary
chance to complete their stud-
ies. They can register on the
University portal,” the VC said
at a press conference here. Singh
announced that the university
will be releasing a commemo-
rative stamp and a coin.
“We have prepared a road
map for the celebration of the
centenary of DU. As a part of
it, we will be launching a com-
memorative coin and stamp.
The year-long activities have
been planned including the
adoption of a centenary village
with achievable and tangible
social welfare-oriented goals,
health awareness checkup and
blood donation camps, among
others,” he said.
The Vice Chancellor further
informed that the university will
be starting several new courses
including BTech, UG and PG
programs for management and
economic courses.
“The university will also
begin certificate and diploma
courses in job-ready courses.
For the first time, technical
courses shall be started in the
university and BTech in three
streams including CSE, EC and
EE will be introduced. UG and
PG courses in Management and
Economics will also be intro-
duced in the School of Open
Learning (SOL),” Singh said.
The VC informed that the
centenary infrastructure cre-
ation has also been planned
through new building for the
Faculty of Technology and
Academic and Administrative
Blocks in the Institute of Emi-
nence (IoE) building.
He informed that the cente-
nary year shall also witness the
construction of two new hos-
tels, with 800-1000 bed capacity
each, “to cater to the exploding
needs of outstation students of
the university”.
“Further, the Centenary
Foundation Day shall also see
felicitation of distinguished
alumni, unsung heroes of the
university and teaching and
non-teaching serving as well as
retired staff members,” he said.
As part of the celebration,
100 trees will be planted at 100
different locations, informed
Singh, adding that a documen-
tary will also be released on the
100 years of the university.
NHRC ISSUES NOTICES TO DELHI GOVT,
DDA ON ‘DISAPPEARING’ WATER BODIES
NEW DELHI: National Human Rights Commission has is-
sued notices to the Delhi government and DDA over re-
ported disappearance of water bodies in Delhi due to
alleged unplanned growth and negligence by authori-
ties, officials said on Thursday. The NHRC has taken suo
motu cognisance of a media report on the issue, which
it said was “a matter of concern,” they said. “Notices
have been issued to the chief secretary, government of
NCT of Delhi and the Vice-Chairman, Delhi Develop-
ment Authority, calling for a detailed report in the mat-
ter within six weeks,” the NHRC said in a statement.
HC REFUSES TO STAY APPOINTMENT
PROCESS FOR POST OF DMRC MD
NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court Thursday refused to
stay the process of appointment of Managing Director
of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) while asking
the Centre and Delhi government to respond to a plea
seeking direction to fix a uniform age of 60 years for
external and internal candidates applying for the post.
A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Neena
Bansal Krishna issued notices to the Delhi government
and Centre, through the Ministries of Housing and Urban
Affairs and Law and Justice, and granted time to the
authorities to file response to the Public Interest Litigation.
4 mp Nation millenniumpost
FRIDAY, 4 MARCH, 2022 | NEW DELHI

UKRAINE CRISIS: JAISHANKAR BRIEFS CONSULTATIVE PANEL ‘Avoid full meals to extend

Oppn says it stands united with govt
MPOST BUREAU
NEW DELHI: The Opposi-
tion stands united with the gov-
ernment, opposition leaders
said on Thursday after External
Affairs Minister S Jaishankar
briefed the consultative com-
mittee of his ministry on Rus-
sia's attack on Ukraine and the
evacuation of Indians from the
war-hit nation.
During the meeting, which
was attended by nine MPs from
six parties, including Con-
gress senior leader Rahul Gan-
dhi, the opposition members
broadly supported the gov-
ernment's stand of abstaining
from voting in the UNSC on
a resolution deploring Russia,
sources said.
"Just completed a MEA con-
sultative committee meeting on
developments in Ukraine. A
good discussion on the strate-
gic and humanitarian aspects
of the issue. Strong and unani-
mous message of support for
efforts to bring back all Indi-
ans from Ukraine," Jaishankar
tweeted.
Thanking leaders for their
participation, Jaishankar
said,"a national consensus on
the importance of dialogue and
diplomacy."
Talking to reporters after
the meeting, Congress leader
Shashi Tharoor said,"we all are
Indian nationals, evacuated from crisis-hit Ukraine, arrive at the Hindon Air Force Station in Ghaziabad  PTI
united."
Later tweeting about the
meeting, Tharoor said,"Nine
MPs attended from six polit-
ical parties.@INCIndia MPs
present were @RahulGandhi,
@AnandSharmaINC & myself.
Frank discussions took place
in an amicable atmosphere, a
reminder that when it comes
to national interests we are all
Indians first and foremost."
According to those present
in the meeting, Gandhi asked
about the geopolitical impact
of Russia's attack on Ukraine
and if what Russia is doing in
Ukraine can become a tem-
plate for China in its dealings
with India, to which Jaishankar
responded emphatically that
"India is not Ukraine".
Gandhi also raised the
issue of increasing proximity
between China and Pakistan
and its impact on India.
While Congress leaders
supported India's position at
the UN on Ukraine, some MPs
including Tharoor expressed
concern over the government's
stand, mentioned in its first two
speeches in the United nations,
sources said.
Describing the meeting as
"excellent", Tharoor thanked
Jaishankar and his colleagues
for a comprehensive brief-
ing and candid responses to
the questions and concerns of
members.
This is the spirit in which
foreign policy should be run,
he tweeted.
The meeting of the
21-member committee lasted
for more than two hours and
came amid opposition criti-
cism of the government's han-
dling of the Ukraine crisis
evacuation of Indians and the
UN vote.
Apart from being critical of
the government's evacuation
efforts, Tharoor had also raised
questions over India's absten-
tion in voting against Russia at
the UNSC.
"Our stand has been that we
do not support invading other
countries and regime change
through violence and war After
our abstention, many regret-
ted that India had placed itself
on the 'wrong side of history',"
Tharoor tweeted last week.
Shiv Sena MP Priyanka
Chaturvedi described the
meeting as "very good" and
said, "we were well briefed
and stand united with the
government."
"Attended the Consultative
Committee meeting chaired
by Hon Minister, @DrSJais-
hankarji. Foreign Secretary
@HarshShringla ji briefed us
about the situation in Ukraine
and the evacuation efforts
made by GoI. Thank them for
the briefing and all stand united
in the efforts to bring our stu-
dents back home, " Chaturvedi
tweeted after the meeting.
YSR Congress MP Beeseti
Venkata Satyavathi said the
government assured the MPs
that stranded students would
be evacuated in the next few
days.
Commenting on the meet-
ing, Minister of State for Exter-
nal Affairs and Parliamentary
Affairs V Muraleedharan said
there was a "clear and unani-
mous" message of support from
the members on the govern-
ment's efforts to bring back all
Indians from Ukraine safely.
In a series of tweets, Thar-
oor said, "I have declined media
requests for comments since
the meeting is confidential.
However, we urged MEA to
issue a more detailed statement
than usual. The meeting took
place in a constructive spirit
and all parties are united in
their desire to see our nation-
als return safely home."
According to Congress
party sources, in the meet-
ing, party leaders noted that
the government did not take
steps in time to evacuate Indi-
ans, including students, from
Ukraine and that the advisories
issued by the Embassy there
were confusing, due to which
most of the students remained
there.
Maintaining that war sit-
uations are always challeng-
ing and "there are no perfect
solutions in such situations",
Gandhi for the time being our
priority should be to get our
students out of Ukraine safely,
sources said.
The Indian government
should have used India's good-
will to mediate between the two
countries so that violence could
have stopped, they added.
rations, keep white flag &
small kit of essential items’
Ministry of Defence issues dos and
don’ts for Indians stuck in Kharkiv
MPOST BUREAU
NEW DELHI: The Ministry of
Defence on Thursday evening
issued a list of dos and don'ts
for Indians stuck in war-torn
Ukarine's Kharkiv as "poten-
tially dangerous or difficult sit-
uations" are "to be expected"
in the city. In a statement,
the ministry said each desig-
nated group or squad of Indi-
ans should keep a white flag or
white cloth for waving.
Conserve and share food
and water, it suggested, adding
that they should stay hydrated,
avoid full meals and eat smaller
portions to extend rations.
Aerial raids, attacks by air-
craft or drones, missile attacks,
artillery shelling, gunfire by
small arms, grenade explosions
are few of the "potentially dan-
gerous or difficult situations"
that are "to be expected" in
Kharkiv, the ministry said.
In the list of dos, the it
said Indians stuck in Kharkiv
must keep a small kit of essen-
tial items on person or at hand
round the clock.
"If you find yourself in an
open area or field, melt snow to
make water," the defence min-
istry added.
If available, keep one
large garbage bag per per-
son to use as ground matting
or cover against exposure to
rain or cold or storm or during
forced march or evacuation, it
suggested.
Organise yourselves in
small groups or squads of 10
Indian students and within
that "organise buddy/pair sys-
tem/nominate a coordinator
and a deputy coordinator in
each group of ten persons", it
mentioned.
"Your presence and where-
abouts must always be known
to your buddy or small group
coordinator," the ministry
noted. Remain mentally strong
and do not panic, it stated.
According to the ministry,
"potentially dangerous or dif-
ficult situations" that are "to be
expected" include use of Molo-
tov cocktails (including by local
people or militia), building col-
lapse, falling debris, internet
jamming, lack of electricity
or food or water, exposure to
freezing temperature, psycho-
logical trauma, injuries, lack of
medical support, lack of trans-
portation and face-to-face sit-
uation with armed fighters or
military personnel.

‘Meghalaya becomes
From Page 1 back on their own. This cannot happen,” Baner-
jee said.
96 were from Kerala and 12 from Karnataka. and the rest non-judicial — were administered
the oath of office by Justice Ghose on March 27,
ninth state to withdraw
Meanwhile, four evacuation flights with 798
Indians from the Romanian capital Bucharest,
No hostage situation 2019. At present, the Lokpal has two vacancies
for judicial members.

30 flights operated Hungary’s Budapest and Polish city Rzeszow

“We will further step up efforts to bring all
these Indians, who are now in safety, back to
India at the earliest... We hope that over the
next two-three days, a large number of these
people will be back home. Till they are brought
home, after having crossed the Ukrainian bor-
der, our embassies in cooperation with the host
governments and local partners are providing
food and accommodation to them,” he said.
In a glimmer of hope for Indians trapped
in Ukraine’s bleak landscape with crumbling
buildings and flashes of light from missiles
whistling across the sky, a top Russian military
general, meanwhile, said his country was ready
with 130 buses to help them exit the battle zone
through its borders. The remarks by Russian
National Defence Control Center head Colo-
nel-General Mikhail Mizintsev came a day after
Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Rus-
landed at the Hindon airbase in Ghaziabad
early on Thursday as India’s ‘Operation Ganga’
mission continued to bring people back home
from Ukraine.
While Banerjee spoke at the joint rally of
opposition parties in Varanasi, Modi addressed
election meetings in Jaunpur and Chanduali in
the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh, where polling
is scheduled on March 7.
She also slammed the Centre over the han-
dling of the Covid pandemic and the exodus
of migrant workers from big towns due to the
lockdown imposed by the government in 2020.
Many people walked hundreds of miles on
foot and were left without any resources, Baner-
jee said, adding that her government in West
Bengal had made provisions to help such per-
sons from her state to reach their homes.
6th phase of UP
He said the Indian embassy in Ukraine is
in continuous touch with Indian nationals in
Ukraine.
“We note that with the cooperation of
Ukrainian authorities, many students have left
Kharkiv yesterday (Wednesday),” Bagchi said.
Prime Minister Modi on Wednesday spoke
to Putin and discussed the safe evacuation
of Indian nationals from the conflict areas in
Ukraine, including Kharkiv.
“The leaders reviewed the situation in
Ukraine, especially in the city of Kharkiv where
many Indian students are stuck. They discussed
the safe evacuation of Indian nationals from
conflict areas,” the Indian statement of the con-
versation said.
The Russian readout said the Russian side
is trying to organise an “urgent evacuation
of a group of Indian students from Kharkov
(Kharkiv) through the humanitarian corridor
along the shortest route to Russia.”
Of the 1,427 complaints received in 2019-
20, 613 were related to state government offi-
cials and four were against Union ministers and
MPs, according to the data.
As many as 30 complaints were received
against senior central government officials
between April and July 2021, according to the
data for 2021-22, updated till July 2021, avail-
able on the ombudsman’s website.
Out of the 30 complaints, 18 were against
group A or B officials and 12 against “chairper-
son/ member/ officer/ employee in any body/
board/ corporation/ authority/ company/soci-
ety/trust/autonomous body” wholly or partially
financed by the Central government or con-
trolled by it, according to the said.
Road Ministry
It added that a copy of Form I shall also be
provided to the victim(s), the state legal services
general consent to CBI’
NEW DELHI: The NDA-ruled Meghalaya has become
the ninth state to withdraw the general consent to the CBI
for investigation, top agency officials told a parliamentary
panel on Thursday, according to sources.
Earlier, Mizoram and seven states governed by non-
NDA parties -- Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, West
Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Kerala -- had with-
drawn the general consent to the premier investigation
agency.
The BJP is part of the ruling coalition, National Dem-
ocratic Alliance (NDA), in Meghalaya led by Chief Min-
ister and National People's Party leader Conrad Sangma.
Top agency officials told the parliamentary panel that
150 requests for investigation into various cases in these
eight states are pending.
These cases include matters related to bank fraud,
cheating, forgery and misappropriation of funds, the
agency officials said.
CBI Director Subodh Jaiswal and other top officials

Assembly polls authority, insurer and shall also be uploaded on

sian President Vladimir Putin and discussed
the safe evacuation of Indians.
A young medical student Naveen SG from
Karnataka was killed in one such shelling on
Tuesday when he ventured out to buy food
for himself and fellow students, who cowered
inside a shelter in freezing cold, running out of
supplies.
“A total of 130 comfortable buses are ready
to depart to Kharkov (Kharkiv) and Sumy from
the Nekhoteyevka and Sudzha checkpoints in
the Belgorod Region since 6 AM today in order
to Rescue Indian students and citizens of other
foreign states,” Colonel-General Mizintsev was
quoted as saying by the state-owned TASS news
agency. Mizintsev said that places for tempo-
rary accommodation and rest have been set up
at the checkpoints.
“The evacuees will be then transported to
the city of Belgorod for subsequent departure
to their homeland by air, including via Russian
military airplanes, the General said.
During their telephonic conversation on
Wednesday, President Putin assured Prime
Minister Modi that Russia is making every
effort to help Indian nationals leave Ukraine
safely, the Kremlin said.
“Putin emphasised that every necessary
instruction has been issued, and the Russian
service members are doing their utmost to
ensure the safe evacuation of Indian nation-
als from the zone of hostilities and their return
home, it said.
“In particular, Russia is doing its best to
organise the urgent evacuation of a group of
Indian students from Kharkov via a humanitar-
ian corridor by the shortest route to Russia,” the
Kremlin said on Wednesday.
On Thursday, Arindam Bagchi said in New
Delhi India has been coordinating effectively
with the countries in the region including
Russia, Romania, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia
and Moldova for evacuation of Indians from
Ukraine.
India has been evacuating its citizens by
special flights from Ukraine’s western neigh-
bours such as Romania, Hungary and Poland
as the Ukrainian airspace has been shut since
February 24 when Putin ordered the launch of
military offensive in Ukraine. Four Union min-
isters are in countries neighbouring Ukraine
to facilitate the evacuation of Indian nationals.
Hardeep Singh Puri is in Hungary, Jyotirad-
itya Scindia in Romania, Kiren Rijiju in Slova-
kia and V K Singh in Poland. Earlier in the day,
four C-17 Indian Air Force transport aircraft
brought back 798 Indians from the Romanian
capital Bucharest, Hungary’s Budapest and Pol-
ish city Rzeszow.
Mamata attacks PM
“Somebody is sleeping in bunkers, others
are living without food and water and Modi ji,
your government is instructing them to come
According to the Home department,
Ambedkarnagar recorded 62.66 per cent vot-
ing, Ballia had 52.01 per cent, Balrampur 48.90
per cent, Basti 57.20 per cent, Deoria 56 per
cent, Gorakhpur 58.89 per cent, Kushinagar 59
per cent, Mahrajganj 59.5 per cent, Sant Kabir
Nagar 52.20 per cent and Siddharth Nagar
51.60 per cent as per the reports received till 7
pm.
Those who cast their votes in the morning
included Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Basic
Education Minister Satish Dwivedi, Leader of
Opposition Ram Govind Chowdhury, Suheldev
Bhartiya Samaj Party chief Om Prakash Rajb-
har, minister Upendra Tiwari and former min-
ister Narad Rai.
Interacting with reporters after casting his
vote, the chief minister said the BJP will get 80
per cent votes and the rest 20 per cent will get
divided among the opposition.
The Samajwadi Party pitted the wife of the
late Upendra Dutt Shukla, a former BJP leader,
against Adityanath. Azad Samaj Party founder
Chandrashekhar Azad also contested against
the Chief Minister from Gorakhpur seat.
Swami Prasad Maurya, who was a minister
in the Adityanath government and had quit the
BJP to join the Samajwadi Party, contested from
Fazilnagar where polling was held on Thurs-
day, besides Leader of the Opposition in the
state assembly and Samajwadi Party leader Ram
Govind Chaudhary from Bansdih.
The ministers whose electoral fortunes were
sealed in the voting machines in this phase
included Surya Pratap Shahi from Pathardeva,
Satish Chandra Dwivedi from Itwa, Jai Pratap
Singh from Bansi, Shree Ram Chauhan from
Khajani and Jai Prakash Nishad from Rudrapur.
The campaigning for this phase had wit-
nessed the political parties going for an all-out
attack against each other.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacked
the BJP’s rivals by tagging them as dynasts, who
he claimed can never make India capable or
empower Uttar Pradesh and Congress general
secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had rebut-
ted by saying the BJP is only against her family,
which did not bow down before it.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav in his
electioneering had accused the BJP of hatching
a conspiracy of ending reservation and “selling”
government entities to the private sector.
6,561 Covid cases
The daily positivity rate was 0.74 per cent
while the weekly positivity rate was recorded
at 0.99 per cent. The number of people who
have recuperated from the disease surged to
4,23,53,620, while the case fatality rate was
recorded at 1.20 per cent.
Among the 142 fatalities reported in a day,
“At the same time, according to the latest
information, these students are actually taken
hostage by Ukrainian security forces, who use
them as a human shield and in every possible
way prevent them from leaving for Russian ter-
ritory,” it claimed.
It said the “responsibility, in this case, lies
entirely with Kyiv authorities.”
The Russian readout said Putin stressed that
all necessary instructions were given and that
the Russian military was doing everything pos-
sible to ensure the “safe evacuation of Indian
citizens from the war zone and their return to
their homeland”.
It also said the leaders agreed to continue
close cooperation in order to ensure the safety
of the Indian citizens in Ukraine.
In a statement, the Ukrainian Foreign Min-
istry asked Russia to “immediately cease” its
hostilities in Kharkiv and Sumy so that arrange-
ments can be made for the evacuation of the
civilian population, including foreign students
to safer cities.
“There are students from India, Pakistan,
China and other counties who cannot leave
because of the indiscriminate shelling and bar-
baric missile strikes by the Russian Armed
Forces on residential areas and civilian infra-
structure,” it said. It said the government of
Ukraine stands ready to assist foreign students
to relocate from Kharkiv and Sumy if Russia
commits to a ceasefire.
“Attempting to arrange evacuations through
cities that are being subjected to Russian bomb-
ing and missile strikes is extremely dangerous,”
it said.
Responding to media queries on Indian
students, Bagchi on Thursday said India has
been coordinating effectively with countries in
the region including Russia, Romania, Poland,
Hungary, Slovakia and Moldova for evacuation
of the Indians from Ukraine.
“A large number of Indian nationals have
been evacuated from Ukraine in the last few
days,” he said.
“We appreciate the help extended by Ukrai-
nian authorities to make this possible. We
thank Ukraine’s western neighbours in receiv-
ing Indian nationals and for accommodating
them while they waited for flights to take them
back home,” he added.
4,244 complaints
An online system that enables people to
file corruption complaints with the Lokpal was
inaugurated in December last year.
On March 23, 2019, President Ram Nath
Kovind had administered the oath of office to
Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose as the chairper-
son of the Lokpal, the apex body to inquire into
and investigate allegations of corruption against
public functionaries, including the Prime
Minister.
The Lokpal’s eight members — four judicial
the website of state police, if available.
The notification said the IO shall furnish
the description of the rights of victim(s) of road
accidents to the victim(s), or their legal repre-
sentatives, within 10 days of the accident.
The IO shall also file a copy of Form II along
with the DAR, it added.
The Investigating Officer shall provide a
blank copy of Form III to the driver of the
vehicle(s) involved in the accident and the
driver shall furnish the relevant information
in Form III to the investigating officer, within
thirty (30) days of the accident.
While in case of any minor child/children
of the victim(s) of the accident, the notifica-
tion said the IO shall provide blank Form-VIA
to the victim(s), who shall fill up the relevant
information/attach the relevant documents
and submit the same to the investigating officer
within 60 days of the accident.
Thereafter, the IO shall send the copy of the
victim’s Form-VI and VIA along with DAR to
Child Welfare Committee, within 30 days of
receiving the aforesaid Form-VI and VIA from
the victim(s), it added.
According to the notification, the commit-
tee shall ascertain if the child is in need of care
and protection as per the provisions of the Juve-
nile Justice (Care and Protection of Children)
Act, 2015.
Girls in urban slums
After the lockdown, 51 per cent of the ado-
lescent girls continued facing challenges in
accessing health services.
“Across the four states, one in three girls
attended online classes during the lockdown.
Three in four mothers (73 per cent) indicated
that the pandemic had adversely impacted their
daughter’s learning to a large extent,” the report
stated.
Since the closure of schools, two in five girls
(42 per cent) were not contacted by school staff
as reported by mothers during the pandemic
period.
It reduced the opportunities for play and
recreation as schools are the spaces for girls to
engage in extracurricular activities and pursue
creative pursuits with their classmates.
One in two girls reported that they missed
travelling to and from school with their siblings
and friends. Many girls also missed the games
period (46 per cent), library class (40 per cent),
lunch break (35 per cent) as well as the drawing
and painting class (30 per cent).
The study also showed that job losses and
reduced household incomes due to the pan-
demic have increased the likelihood of child
marriages.
“One in seven (14 per cent) mothers felt that
the pandemic has increased the risk of early
marriage among girls,” it said.
of the agency deposed before the Parliamentary Stand-
ing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and
Justice, chaired by senior BJP leader Sushil Modi, on the
subject of demand for grants for the financial year 2022-23.
When some members questioned about the with-
drawal of the general consent to the CBI, the agency offi-
cials informed them that so far nine states have withdrawn
the general consent with Meghalaya being the latest one,
sources in the panel told PTI.
To further queries on the issue, the officials informed
the panel that the withdrawal of general consent is impact-
ing its functioning.
The agency officials said that it has to seek consent
from these states case by case and that the process takes a
long time in many cases.
The CBI's functioning is governed by the Delhi Special
Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, 1946, and therefore it
must mandatorily obtain the consent of the state govern-
ment concerned before beginning to investigate a crime in
a state. The consent of the state government can be either
case-specific or general.  AGENCIES
Only 5% of fully vaccinated
Omicron patients needed
hospitalisation: BMC data
MUMBAI: Only five per cent of the fully vaccinated
persons who caught the Omicron variant infection in
Mumbai needed hospitalisation, as per the Brihanmum-
bai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) latest sample data.
On the other hand, among those who had not taken a
single dose of anti-coronavirus vaccines and who caught
Omicron, more than 17 per cent had to be hospitalized.
In the tenth round of genome sequencing -- needed
to detect Omicron patients -- 376 samples were sent by
the civic authorities. Of these, 237 were from Mumbai,
and all patients were found to have been infected by the
Omicron variant.
Of these, 128 patients had taken both the doses, and
only seven of them had to be hospitalized, including one
in ICU while another needed oxygen support. But of 103
patients who had not taken a single shot of the vaccine,
18 needed hospitalisation, the BMC said. Two of them
required oxygen support, while one was admitted to ICU.
Mumbai saw its peak Omicron infection in early January,
with 20,971 cases being recorded on January 7.  AGENCIES
CBI refutes Indrani's claim
MUMBAI: The CBI has said that Indrani
Mukerjea's plea claiming that her daughter
Sheena Bora, whom she is accused of killing,
is alive, is a "figment of her imagination" and
next to impossible. Mukerjea had recently
submitted an eight-page application before
the special CBI court, claiming that Bora is
alive. In the application submitted through
her lawyer Sana Raees Khan, Mukerjea had
sought that the CBI and prosecution be di-
rected to file an affidavit in response. AGENCIES
millenniumpost
NEW DELHI | FRIDAY, 4 MARCH, 2022 Nation mp 5
‘BJP’s victory in UP polls
Assembly
polls: Record
BJP’s defeat ‘imminent’: Mamata
necessary to ensure seizure of after facing attack in Varanasi
cash, drugs
continued dev of state’ from UP
Says ‘will come for oath-taking ceremony of Akhilesh Ya-
dav as the next CM of UP’, raises ‘Khela Hoga’ slogan
Opposition trying to divide society for votes NEW DELHI: A record Rs 328
crore worth of inducements SIMONTINI BHATTACHARJEE

when India needs to be strong: PM Modi

OUR CORRESPONDENT
JAUNPUR (UP): Prime Min-
ister Narendra Modi Thursday
alleged the Opposition is try-
ing to divide society for votes
at a time when India needs to
be strong to deal with "serious
challenges" the world faces.
The possible reference to
the war in Ukraine came dur-
ing a poll meeting during
which Modi also said the BJP's
victory in the ongoing Uttar
Pradesh election is necessary
to ensure the state's journey on
the path of development does
not stop.
"The time is coming up with
serious challenges for the whole
world. So your vote is making
India strong to deal with these
challenges. On one hand, there
are those who are busy dividing
society for votes even at such
times, while on the other side
there are BJP and our allies who
are devoting themselves whole-
heartedly in the development
of the country," he said.
Taking a jibe at the oppo-
sition, he said that dynasts
who only try to fill their 'tijori'
(vault) can never fulfill the
dreams of the poor. He claimed
that voting in the state so far
has confirmed the victory of
the BJP alliance.
In the sixth phase of polling
being held on Thursday, votes
are being cast in favour of the
BJP, the prime minister told the
meeting.
"The BJP's victory in the
assembly elections is necessary
because Uttar Pradesh is mov-
ing on the path of development
PM Narendra Modi  PTI
and it should not stop now,"
Modi said. "We have to ensure
that the victory of the BJP is as
grand as it was in 2017."
Terming the previous
Samajwadi Party government
"mafiawadi" (those who help
mafia elements), Modi said a
BJP government was needed
in the state to ensure Jaunpur
is "mafia-free".
Attacking the previous
Akhilesh Yadav government,
the PM said, "Pariwarwadis'
(dynasts) can never fulfill the
dreams of the poor. The way of
these 'mafiawadis' to run the
government is to loot Uttar
Pradesh and crush the dreams
of the poor. They never see
your pain, your trouble."
Referring to SP president
Yadav, Modi said he used to
send letters to the former Uttar
Pradesh chief minister from
Delhi, telling him time and
again that the Indian govern-
ment is giving money and you
can build houses for the poor".
But they didn't care about
the life of the poor, the PM
alleged. "They had only one
job to do –fill their vault from
wherever they got chance. They
knew that Modi will ask for the
account of money he is send-
ing from Delhi and they will be
caught. So they did not worry
about the poor," he said.
Under the Pradhan Man-
tri Awas Yojana only one
house was sanctioned in Jaun-
pur when Yadav was in power
in Uttar Pradesh, Modi said,
adding that in 2017 when the
BJP government came, 30,000
houses were sanctioned here
and 15,000 of them have
already been completed.
Referring to encephalitis,
a deadly disease that used to
spread in the Purvanchal (east
UP) region, he alleged dynasts
left the Purvanchal to suffer the
havoc of encephalitis
But now a network of med-
ical colleges is being created
there, he said, adding the gov-
ernment taken "a very big deci-
sion" to reduce the fees for half
of the seats in private medical
colleges to bring them at par
with that in government medi-
cal colleges. "These dynasts had
left the people of Purvanchal
on their own. These people had
tried their best to divide Uttar
Pradesh on caste lines, but
the people of the state under-
stood their designs and stood
unitedly today. The reason is
clear --Niyat, Niti, Nishtha and
Netritva' (intention, policy, loy-
alty and leadership)," he said.
The BJP's policy is that
whatever schemes are made,
they should reach every benefi-
ciary and without middlemen,
the PM said.
to voters such as cash, liquor
and narcotics have been seized
in Uttar Pradesh since the
announcement of the assem-
bly poll schedule on January 8,
Election Commission sources
said on Thursday.
The cumulative seizure of
such illegal inducements in the
five poll-going states –Uttar
Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Mani-
pur, Goa and Punjab –stood at
Rs 1,039.50 crore, the sources
said, adding that it included
drugs worth Rs 571.34 crore.
The seizure figure in Uttar
Pradesh up to Thursday was Rs
328.33 crore, 1.70 times more
than the total combined sei-
zure of Rs 193.29 crore in the
entire assembly polls held in
2017 in the state. Like last time,
this time too assembly polls in
the state are being held in seven
phases.
While voting is over in
Punjab, Goa and Uttarakhand,
Uttar Pradesh and Manipur
still have one phase each to go.
The commission, the
sources said, has been laying
special emphasis on induce-
ment-free elections and curb-
ing the malaise of undue
money power, liquor and free-
bies. A total of 128 expenditure
observers have been deployed
in Uttar Pradesh for effective
monitoring. Over 1,800 flying
squads and 2,104 static surveil-
lance teams were operation-
alised to check movement of
cash, liquor, drugs and freebies
in Uttar Pradesh.
Eight air intelligence units
of the Income Tax Depart-
ment have been formed in
Uttar Pradesh. Voting for
the sixth phase of the Uttar
Pradesh Assembly polls began
on Thursday morning.  AGENCIES
VARANASI: Describing her-
self as a "fighter", Bengal Chief
Minister Mamata Banerjee on
Thursday alleged that she was
attacked by BJP workers after
she arrived for campaigning
in Uttar Pradesh in support of
the Samajwadi Party and stated
that such incidents indicated
the saffron party's “imminent”
defeat in the ongoing Assem-
bly polls.
Polling for the seventh and
the final round is slated to be
held on March 7.
Elaborating on the incident,
Banerjee said: "I was coming
from the airport yesterday and
going to the (Dashashwamedh)
Ghat. Midway, some BJP work-
ers, who have nothing in their
brains except violence, stopped
my vehicle. They hit my car,
pushed me and told me to go
back."
The TMC supremo added:
"It was then that I thought,
they are going out (of power).
They are completely gone, their
defeat is imminent."
Speaking about her previ-
ous experiences and reiterating
that she would never bow down
to such hooliganism, Banerjee
said: "I am not a coward, I am a
fighter. I have fought for a long
time. The CPM attacked me in
the past, I was attacked with
sticks and shots were fired at
me several times in the past.
But I never bowed down."
Her car was allegedly
stopped, attacked, and pushed
by BJP workers and Hindu
Yuva Bahini activists. Banerjee
added when "abuses were being
hurled" at her on Wednesday,
she got down from the car and
stood silent for some time to
see what the "attackers could
Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Akhilesh Yadav during the joint mega rally of the Samajwadi
Party and its alliance at a village in Varanasi 
do".
"I wanted to see what you
can do. How much strength
you have. But you are a cow-
ard. I saw it and thanked them.
They attacked my car, pushed
me. I said thank you because
I knew the message is clear
that the BJP is losing, why else
attack me," Banerjee claimed.
Slamming her attackers for
shouting 'Jai Shri Ram' during
her visit to the ghat on Wednes-
day, she said: "BJP does not
respect women. We chant Jai
Siya Ram, instead of Jai Shri
Ram. We worship Maa Durga,
who Shri Ram used to worship.
We respect women-power."
While addressing the joint
mega rally of the Samajwadi
Party and its alliance at a village
in Prime Minister Narendra
Modi's constituency, leaving
no stones unturned, she made
a scathing attack on both the
BJP-ruled state government
and the Centre. "I wonder why
the BJP was so bothered about
my visit," asserted the TMC
supremo. She said if her com-
ing to Uttar Pradesh once can
ensure BJP's defeat, she would
come to the state a thousand
times. "If BJP is defeated in UP,
it will lose in the Centre too,"
Banerjee added.
"It's not so easy, Khela
hoga," she said, referring to
the Hindi variation of the Ben-
gali phrase which was the poll
anthem of the TMC in Bengal
Assembly elections last year in
which it defeated the BJP.
Akhilesh Yadav held a
major show of the 'Rainbow
alliance' where RLD chief Jay-
ant Chaudhary, Keshav Dev
Maurya of the Mahan Dal,
Krishna Patel of the Apna Dal
(Kameravadi), Shivpal Yadav
of the Pragatisheel Samajwadi
Party, Sanjay Chauhan of the
Janwadi Party (Socialist) and
the leaders of the Suheldev
Bhartiya Samaj Party were also
present.
"Do not fall for BJP's false
promises," the TMC chief
appealed. Making a scathing
attack on Uttar Pradesh Chief
Minister Yogi Adityanath she
said: "You all come to Ganga
Sagar in West Bengal, ask your
people there how well they
all are treated… The UP gov-
PIC/MPOST
ernment disrespected young
boys and girls in the name of
the 'anti-Romeo squad'. Where
were these BJP people when
people died walking to their
homes during Covid?" Cur-
rently, the ruling BJP is indulg-
ing only in temple talk and the
Hindu-Muslim debate during
the elections. "Yogi Adityanath
is not a 'Yogi', he is a ‘Bhogi’,"
she said.
Calling Adityanath an out-
sider, she appealed that "Jay-
ant and Akhilesh are the sons
of your soil and your family,
let them win". Banerjee also
appealed to the people to vote
for the SP-led alliance and
promised that she would attend
the oath-taking ceremony of
Akhilesh Yadav as the next CM
of the state. After addressing
the rally, Banerjee also visited
the Kashi Vishwanath temple
and offered prayers.
Meanwhile, experts feel that
the TMC chief is trying to for-
mulate a pan-India appeal since
her stupendous victory against
the BJP in Bengal last year, and
hence is extending support to
Akhilesh Yadav.

“No Nation can rise above the level of its teachers”

Inauguration of
DELHI TEACHERS
UNIVERSITY
Inspiring today’s students to be teachers of tomorrow

Chief Guest:
MANISH SISODIA
Dy. Chief Minister, Delhi

Friday,
Firday, 4th March, 2022
Venue: Outram Lane, Mukherjee Nagar, Delhi

VISION KEY FEATURES

DIP/Shabdarth/D/0224/21-22

To create a world-class • High quality pre-service and in-service programmes

institution of excellence • New age B.Ed, M.Ed, Phd & certificate courses
in the field of teacher
• Strong emphasis on fundamental & applied research in education
education.
• National and international collaborations for exchange of ideas
and practices
• Partnership with schools to provide hands-on experience

Directorate of Higher Education, Government of NCT of Delhi

6 mp
‘Rational to open schools while
taking necessary precautions’
‘It is evident that vaccines and wide vaccination coverage of a very high
order played a very important role in protecting lives in the recent surge’
OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: Unvaccinated
individuals account for 92 per
cent of Covid deaths in India
so far this year, the government
said Thursday, while asserting
the country is in a "vaccine-
protected low coronavirus
phase" now and it is rational
to open schools, colleges, and
normal affairs of society while
taking necessary precautions.
Addressing a press con-
ference here, Union Health
Ministry officials said high vac-
cination led to reduced mor-
bidity and mortality due to
COVID-19 in the recent wave
driven by the Omicron variant.
It is evident that vaccines
and wide vaccination coverage
of a very high order played a
very important role in protect-
ing lives in the recent surge,
NITI Aayog member (health)
Dr VK Paul said.
The vaccine has protected
the nation in the surge that we
just experienced, he said.
Presenting data from the
Indian Vaccine Tracker, ICMR
Director General Dr Balram
Bhargava said the COVID-19
vaccine effectiveness in mor-
tality prevention has been mea-
sured as per which the first
dose is 98.9 per cent effective
in preventing mortality, while
both doses are 99.3 per cent
effective.
India is the second country
Will talk to Centre that tractors
should not be included in policy
on discard of older vehicles: Khattar
SUSHIL MANAV
CHANDIGARH: Haryana
Chief Minister Manohar Lal
Khattar said that tractors
should not be included in the
Policy issued by the Central
Government to ban diesel
vehicles and petrol vehicles
older than 10 and 15 years
respectively plying in the
National Capital Region.
"Talks will be held with the
Central Government and some
way would be found to resolve
this issue. Last time also we had
got tractors excluded from the
NGT Policy," said Khattar.
The Chief Minister said
this while interacting with the
reporters after the discussion
held on the Governor's address
during the second day of the
ongoing budget session in
the Vidhan Sabha today.
Responding to a question
regarding students of Haryana
stuck in Ukraine, the Chief
Minister said that even today
nine students have reached
Mumbai airport. Arrangements
have been made to give air
Release
journalist
immediately:
Editors Guild
NEW DELHI: The Edi-
tors Guild of India (EGI) on
Thursday demanded "imme-
diate" release of a journal-
ist who was recently arrested
by Uttarakhand Police for
allegedly promoting enmity
between castes.
The editors' body said
police arrested Kishore
Ram, working for news por-
tal 'Janjwar, from Pithor-
agadh on February 24 under
section 153-A of the Indian
Penal Code (IPC) for alleg-
edly promoting enmity
between castes.
"The Editors Guild of
India is deeply disturbed by
the arrest of Kishore Ram,
a journalist working for the
news portal Janjwar, by the
Uttarakhand Police," it said in
a statement.
"Ram has been arrested
under section 153-A of
the Indian Penal Code, on
charges of promoting enmity
between castes. This is deeply
concerning as Ram has been
reporting on issues pertain-
ing to marginalised classes
and lower castes for a while,"
it added. MPOST
Nation
in the world to have its own
vaccine tracker, he said, adding
the Indian vaccine tracker has
data of 94.4 crore individuals --
73.9 crore fully vaccinated, 15.3
crore partially vaccinated and
5.09 crore are unvaccinated.
India witnessed consider-
ably lower number of deaths
and cases during the Omicron
surge due to vaccine develop-
ment, its rapid deployment,
acceptance and wide scale cov-
erage, he stated.
Elaborating on the impact
of Covid vaccination, he said
death in hospitalised patients
was 10.2 per cent in fully vac-
cinated individuals with 91
per cent having comorbidities,
and 21.8 per cent in unvacci-
CM Manohar Lal Khattar  MPOST
travel tickets from Mumbai to
Delhi to these students along
with a cash amount of Rs. 1000
being given on behalf of the
Haryana government. Besides
this, help desks have been set up
in Mumbai, Delhi, Chandigarh,
Faridabad, he added.
The Chief Minister said that
all the Deputy Commissioners
have been directed to contact
the families of such students
at personal level. Faridabad
Divisional Commissioner has
been made the nodal officer.
The Chief Minister said
that the list of 1784 youths of
Haryana was received from the
Ministry of External Affairs,
out of which 83 are not from
HP economy registers 8.3 %
growth, per capita income `2.01L
OUR CORRESPONDENT
SHIMLA: Showing a positive
turn in the recovery of the
state’s economy, after a mas-
sive down turn due to Covid
pandemic, Himachal Pradesh
is heading for growth rate of
8.3 per cent during 2021-22
–an encouraging trend in the
election year for the BJP gov-
ernment ,which has entered
fifth year of its rule.
The economic Survey
report of 2021-22, tabled in the
state assembly on Thursday by
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur
, ahead of the state’s budget for
2022-23, clearly shows a rever-
sal of the trend, which was a
negative growth of 6.2 per cent
in 2020-21 –worst hit by the
pandemic.
Before the pandemic ,the
growth was 8.9 per cent in
2019-20--higher than the
2018-19’s rate of 7.1 percent.
There is also another good
news as the per-capita income
during 2021-22 has also shown
a quantum jump and is likely
to be 10.1 per cent from Rs
1.83 lakh to 2.01 lakh dur-
ing the past one year. This is
also more than the estimated
national per-capita income for
2020-21 by Rs 51,528.
Representative Pic
nated or partially vaccinated
people with 83 per cent having
comorbidities.
Health Ministry Joint Sec-
retary Lav Agarwal said that
with the whole of government
and whole of society approach
India has been able to avert the
crisis of potentially devastat-
ing magnitude of Covid seen
in other countries.
He said 97 per cent of
Indian adults have been admin-
istered the first dose while 82
per cent are fully vaccinated.
He said 74 per cent of ado-
lescents between 15-18 years
of age have been administered
their first doses of COVID-19
vaccine and 39 per cent given
both doses. Also, 2.03 crore
our state. Out of total 1701
Haryana youth, 683 have been
brought back. With about 150
students remaining in Ukraine,
they have been asked to come
on border. Efforts are being
made to bring all of them
back safely. Replying to another
question, the Chief Minister
said that every time the names
of persons involved in drug
trade and corruption are taken
in the House by members but
they always fail to give concrete
evidence for the same.
"Last time we took this
lightly but this time a breach
of privilege motion will be
brought against such MLAs
through Parliamentary
Affairs Minister for making
irresponsible statements,"
said Khattar. When asked
about stopping the pension
through Parivar Pehchan Patra,
the Chief Minister said that
the pension of any elderly
person has not been stopped
through PPP, but through this,
about 22,000 people have been
identified, who are not getting
pension due to some reasons.
"In real terms, the increase
in gross state domestic product
(GSDP) pre-COVID and post-
COVID that is from 2019-20
to 2021-22 is 2.7 per cent”, the
Chief Minister stated.
The recovery in respect of
the growth is also indicated
by the revival of the tourism
activities. The tourism sec-
tor was so badly hit that it has
reported a contraction by over
81.33% in the arrival of the
domestic and foreign tour-
ists arrivals. Trade, hotel and
restaurants also slipped down
by 9.2 percent during the year
while it was up by 4.2 percent
in the previous year, reads
the report.
It also says "Nominal
GDP at current prices in the
year 2021-22 is estimated at
Rs 1,75,173 crore, as against
the provisional estimate
of GDP for the year 2020-
21 of Rs 1,56,675 crore,"
it added.
Significantly, the agricul-
ture and allied sector have
been the least impacted sec-
tor by the pandemic and the
sector is expected to grow by
8.7 percent in 2021-22. This is
despite the fact that 80 percent
of the state’s agriculture area
is rainfed. The agro climatic
Presenting data from
the Indian Vaccine
Tracker, ICMR
Director General
said the vaccine
effectiveness in
mortality prevention
has been measured
as per which the
first dose is 98.9
per cent effective in
preventing mortality,
while both doses are
99.3 % effective
precaution doses have been
given to those aged 60 and
above with comorbidities.
He said the efforts of
healthcare, frontline workers
coupled with vaccination cov-
erage helped in effective con-
tainment of the recent Covid
surge.
Paul said, "We are in a vac-
cine-enabled low coronavirus
phase. It is rational to open
schools, colleges, resorts, eco-
nomic activities and normal
affairs of society. But we should
be watchful and vigilant.
It is our responsibility to
ensure that the surveillance
remains intact, watchful, scien-
tific and systematic so that we
are able to pick up early signals
Nawab Malik's ED
custody extended
OUR CORRESPONDENT
MUMBAI: A special court
here on Thursday extended
till March 7 the Enforcement
Directorate custody of Maha-
rashtra minister Nawab Malik
in a money laundering case
linked to fugitive gangster
Dawood Ibrahim.
During the hearing, the
ED conceded that there was
a mistake in its earlier remand
plea which had alleged that
Malik paid Rs 55 lakh to late
Haseena Parkar, Ibrahim’s sis-
ter, and it should be read as
Rs 5 lakh.
Malik had been arrested on
February 23 following exten-
sive interrogation. He was pro-
duced before special judge for
Prevention of Money Launder-
ing Act R N Rokade after his
first ED remand ended. Seek-
ing his further custody, the ED
told the court that Malik had
allegedly illegally occupied
another property in suburban
Kurla.
Additional solicitor gen-
eral Anil Singh also clarified
that the figure of Rs 55 lakh
mentioned in the first remand
conditions in the state are con-
genial for production of cash
crops and thus, the farmers are
reaping a good harvest.
As per advance estimates
the Gross Value Added (GVA)
in the manufacturing sector
will rise by 11.3 percent in
2021-22 after contracting by
7.3 percent in 2020-21.
The contribution of the
Primary sector for the year
2020-21 First Revised Esti-
mated (FRE) is 13.61 per-
cent and the contribution of
the Secondary sector for the
same period is 41.71 percent
and remaining 44.68 percent
is contributed by the Tertiary
sector.
As per advanced estimates,
the industry's gross value
added (GVA) will rise 11 per
cent in 2021-22 after contract-
ing by 6.6 per cent in 2020-21.
The services sector has
been the hardest hit by the
pandemic. This sector is esti-
mated to have grown 6.3 per
cent during 2021-22, following
last year’s 2.1 per cent negative
growth, it added.
The economic survey fur-
ther stated that tourism is
an important source of reve-
nue and diverse employment
opportunities.
of an unfortunate change in
the current state of pandemic
towards upsurge or change in
the behaviour of the virus,"
he said, asking people to wear
mask.
Agarwal said while glob-
ally the Omicron surge led to
a peak almost 4.68 times the
previous reported peak, India's
efforts "have yielded positive
results .
Going by that magnitude,
the fear was India may win-
tess 19.39 lakh cases per day.
Presenting an analysis of cases
reported during second and
third surge, Agarwal said dur-
ing the second wave it took
49 days for cases to reach the
peak of 4,14,188 on May 7 from
40,953 cases being reported on
March 20, 2021 and 68 days to
fall down to 40,255 on July 14.
During the third wave
driven by Omicron variant, it
took 18 days for the cases the
reach the peak of 3,47,254 on
January 21, 2022 from January
4 when 37,379 infections were
registered and then 24 days to
decline to 34,113 on February
14, 2022, he said.
The number of districts
with a positivity rate of more
than 10 per cent has reduced
from 141 (in the week ending
February 9) to 29 districts (in
the week ending March 2) and
presently there are 34 districts
with positivity rate between
5-10 per cent, he said.
application was a “typographi-
cal error,” and should be read
as Rs 5 lakh.
Senior lawyer Amit Desai,
appearing for Malik, took a
strong exception, saying his
client had spent six days in jail
following the contention that
Rs 55 lakh had been paid.
When you (the ED) are
dealing with the liberty of peo-
ple, don’t rush to arrest them.
Apply your mind do your
homework, Desai said.
But ASG Anil Singh said
whether it was Rs 55,000
or even Rs 1, probe must be
conducted.
Pressing for a six-day exten-
sion of Malik’s remand, the
ED said the court had initially
granted ED the minister’s cus-
tody till March 3, but he was
admitted to hospital for treat-
ment between February 25 and
28 and could not be questioned
during this period.
The ED has gathered evi-
dence that Malik played and
continues to play a crucial role
in laundering certain other
proceeds of crime/usurped
properties, the latest remand
plea claimed.
Kerala raps passport authorities for
compelling single parents to litigation
OUR CORRESPONDENT
KOCHI: The Kerala High
Court has come down heav-
ily on the passport authorities
for compelling single parents,
who are divorced or separated,
to resort to litigation for reis-
suance of the travel document
of their children, by saying that
the officials concerned should
be "pragmatic and reasonable"
in their approach.
The high court also
imposed a cost of Rs 25,000 on
an Assistant Passport Officer
for his "high-handedness" in
objecting to a divorced wom-
an's application for re-issu-
ance of her minor daughter's
passport without the father's
consent and asking her to get a
court order for the same.
The order by Justice Amit
Rawal came on the woman's
plea who claimed that the pass-
port authorities did not pro-
cess her application despite
her giving an undertaking or
declaration, as provided under
the rules where one of the par-
ents has not given consent, that
the entire responsibility of the
child would be hers as there
SSB asks its troops not to store
personal data on smartphones
OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: Border guard-
ing force SSB has directed its
personnel not to store per-
sonal data on smartphones as
it may lead to "dangerous" con-
sequences if the device falls into
wrong hands.
Officials said on Thursday
that the force recently issued a
circular also asking its troops
and other staff to avoid sharing
official orders on WhatsApp
and desist from discussing and
sharing operational matters
over social media after an offi-
cer posted at a "sensitive loca-
tion" was reportedly found to
have divulged details of some
army and central forces' move-
ment to unidentified entities.
The force that guards
unfenced Indian fronts with
Nepal (1,751 km) and Bhu-
tan (699 km) has said such
instances have "grave national
security implications and
shows the organisation in poor
light". "Don't make your mobile
as a source for your personal
data, which is dangerous if it
falls into the hands of strang-
ers," it said.
The personnel have been
directed to note down the
unique IMEI (International
Mobile Equipment Identity)
code of their phones and keep
it at a safe place so that unau-
thorised access to their device
can be stopped and the phone
can be blocked in case it is lost
or stolen. It also asked the per-
sonnel to uninstall Truecaller
mobile phone application from
their smartphones.
"Sharing of official orders
on WhatsApp and other social
media platforms should be
avoided," the circular said.
‘Guru Nanak
Dev Auditorium’
in Punjab
inaugurated
MPOST BUREAU
CHANDIGARH: Invoking
the blessing of God Almighty
for the peace and prosperity of
the State, the Punjab Governor
and Administrator, UT,
Chandigarh Banwarilal Purohit
inaugurated 'Guru Nanak Dev
Auditorium' at Punjab Raj
Bhavan, Chandigarh.
Speaking on the occasion,
Purohit said that the state of
art multipurpose auditorium
well-equipped with latest
technology built in the Punjab
Raj Bhavan will facilitate
holding a range of high profile
events in-house.
He said that naming the
Auditorium after Guru Nanak
Dev Ji is a matter of great
pride and honour since Guru
Nanak Dev Ji always advocated
the concept of universal
brotherhood.
He said that the principles
enunciated by Sri Guru Nanak
Dev Ji transcend time and
will continue to guide the
humanity, forever.
OVER TRAVEL DOCUMENT
is already an order of divorce.
She had also submitted
a copy of the divorce decree
along with the application, her
petition had said.
The court termed as "high-
handedness" the conduct of
the Assistant Passport Officer
in the instant case for raising
objections with regard to re-
issuance of the passport by a
single parent facing a matri-
monial discord and directing
them to approach the court for
an order.
It further said, "This court
has come across similar liti-
FRIDAY, 4 MARCH, 2022 | NEW DELHI
Highlights
»»Force that guards unfenced Indian fronts with Nepal
(1,751 km) and Bhutan (699 km) has said such instances
have ‘grave national security implications and shows
organisation in poor light’
»»‘Don’t make your mobile as a source for your personal
data, which is dangerous if it falls into the hands of
strangers’
»»‘Sharing of official orders on WhatsApp and other social
media platforms should be avoided’
It said troops should avoid
putting pictures and video clip-
pings depicting troop move-
ments, location, weaponry
and any material of "sensi-
tive nature" over social media
platforms.
The personnel have been
asked to not immediately
respond to calls received
from landline phones, gov-
ernment common user group
(CUG) numbers or personal
mobile numbers and instead
"politely" inform the caller
that the information solicited
will be provided after obtain-
ing clearance from higher
authorities.
It has been reiterated in
the latest directive that suspi-
cious or doubtful people may
impersonate as senior officers
from security forces like army
or central armed police forces
or sister agencies to elicit sen-
sitive or confidential opera-
tional information by calling
the personnel on their per-
sonal or official communica-
tion links, a senior officer, who
did not wish to be named, told
the news agency.
"Be suspicious of unsolic-
ited phone calls, visits or email
messages from individuals ask-
ing about employees or other
Depression over Bay
of Bengal, weather
warning for TN coast
NEW DELHI: A well-marked
low-pressure area over south-
west Bay of Bengal intensified
into a depression on Thursday
morning packing wind speed
of 40-50 kmph as it moved
towards the north Tamil Nadu
coast, the weather office said.
It is expected to intensify
further into a deep depression
during the next 24 hours, the
India Meteorological Depart-
ment said.
The depression is likely to
move west -northwestwards
along and off the east coast of
Sri Lanka towards north Tamil
Nadu Coast during next 48
hours, it said.
At 5:30 am the depression
lay centred over the southwest
Bay of Bengal and adjoining
the equatorial Indian Ocean
about 470 km south-southeast
of Trincomalee (Sri Lanka), 760
km south-southeast of Nag-
apattinam (Tamil Nadu) and
870 km south-southeast of
Puducherry (Tamil Nadu) and
about 950 km south-southeast
of Chennai.
The IMD has warned of
gation day in and day out
whereby the petitioners/appli-
cants for re-issuance of pass-
port particularly either of the
parent who is facing the mat-
rimonial discord or there is
already a separation, are com-
pelled to approach this court
for appropriate order, despite
filling the form Annexure 'C.'
The officers at the helm
of affairs exercising the pow-
ers for issuing the passport
are supposed to deal with the
application in a pragmatic and
reasonable manner, but should
not reject the application in the
millenniumpost
internal information. If an
unknown individual claims
to be from a legitimate organ-
isation, try to verify his or
her identity directly with the
company (organisation)," the
Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) cir-
cular cautioned. The number of
the caller soliciting such infor-
mation should be noted and
communicated to higher head-
quarters immediately, it added.
"Do not provide personal
information or informa-
tion about your organisation
including its structures or net-
works, unless you are certain of
a person's authority to have the
information," the circular said.
It specifically asked the
personnel to "avoid" discuss-
ing operational and adminis-
trative issues over any social
media platform. The circular
directed senior officers to par-
ticularly sensitise personnel
who man control rooms and
those involved in the opera-
tions wings.
The officer quoted above
said similar worded circulars
and directives have been issued
by the home ministry, the Intel-
ligence Bureau and other agen-
cies to sensitise the troops of
other security forces against
such breaches.
strong winds (45-55 km/hr
gusting to an almost cyclonic
65 km/hr) over the south-west
and adjoining west-central Bay
of Bengal and along and off the
Tamil Nadu-South Andhra
Pradesh coasts and the Gulf of
Mannar on Thursday.
On Friday and Saturday,
squally weather (45-55 km/hr
gusting to 65 km/hr) is likely
over the West-Central and
adjoining South-West Bay, and
off North Tamil Nadu-Andhra
Pradesh coasts.
On Sunday, wind speed
may reduce slightly to 40-50
km/hr gusting to 60 km/hr
over North Tamil Nadu-South
Andhra Pradesh coasts.
The IMD has asked fisher-
men not to venture into South
Bay of Bengal and adjoin-
ing Equatorial Indian Ocean,
Gulf of Mannar and Comorin
area till March 5; and south-
west and adjoining areas of
west-central Bay of Ben-
gal and along Tamil Nadu,
Puducherry and south Andhra
Pradesh coasts on March 3
and March 5. MPOST
manner and mode as extracted
above."
The passport authorities,
during the proceedings, told
the court that the applica-
tion by the woman has been
processed and shall be issued
within a week.
Justice Rawal, however,
observed that the step was
taken by them "knowing full
well that the court would
express concern with regard
to the spate of litigations and
may come down heavily on the
action of the respondents".
Observing that the woman
had to shell out litigation
expenses for redressal of her
grievance, the court imposed a
cost of Rs 25,000 on the Assis-
tant Passport Officer.
It said that the cost of Rs
25,000, towards litigation
expenses of the petitioner,
would come out of the salary
of the official. The court also
directed that the order "be cir-
culated to all passport officers
who have been raising such
types of objections compelling
the affected parties to approach
this court for no rhyme and
reason."
millenniumpost
NEW DELHI | FRIDAY, 4 MARCH, 2022 Nation mp 7
UKRAINE CRISIS Irani launches Stree Back home from Ukraine, student
At Quad meet, PM Modi Manoraksha project thanks Haryana govt for its efforts
calls for return to path of
OUR CORRESPONDENT SUSHIL MANAV

NEW DELHI: As a part of CHANDIGARH: Haryana

dialogue and diplomacy

OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: Prime Minis-
ter Narendra Modi on Thurs-
day emphasised the need to
return to a path of dialogue and
diplomacy in dealing with the
Ukraine crisis during a virtual
meeting of Quad leaders.
Besides Modi, the meeting
was attended by US President
Joe Biden, Australian Prime
Minister Scott Morrison and
Japanese PM Fumio Kishida.
"Developments in Ukraine
were discussed in the meet-
ing, including its humanitar-
ian implications. The Prime
Minister emphasised the need
to return to a path of dialogue
and diplomacy," an official
statement said. In his remarks,
Modi also reiterated the impor-
tance of adhering to the UN
Charter, international law and
respect for sovereignty and ter-
ritorial integrity.
The meeting reviewed the
progress on Quad's initiatives
since the summit talks in Sep-
tember. "The leaders agreed on
accelerating cooperation, with
an objective to achieve con-
crete outcomes by the summit
in Japan later this year," the
statement said. It said Modi
underlined that the Quad must
remain focused on its core
objective of promoting peace,
stability and prosperity in the
Indo-Pacific region.
"He called for concrete and
practical forms of coopera-
tion within the Quad, in areas
like humanitarian and disas-
ter relief, debt sustainability,
supply chains, clean energy,
connectivity, and capacity-
building," it said.
The leaders also discussed
other topical issues, including
the situation in Southeast Asia,
the Indian Ocean region and
the Pacific Islands.
"The leaders agreed to stay
in touch and to work towards
an ambitious agenda for the
forthcoming Leaders' Summit
in Japan," the statement said.
International Women’s Day
week, which is celebrated from
March 1 to 8 by the Ministry of
Women and Child Develop-
ment (WCD), Union Minister
Smriti Zubin Irani launched
Stree Manoraksha project in
collaboration NIMHANS. The
project is aimed at extending
mental health training to 6,000
One Stop Centre (OSC) func-
tionaries across India.
While launching the proj-
ect, Irani said that Stree Manor-
aksha project is intended to
give life and dignity to women
and break the cycle of violence.
Irani further stated that
when a woman comes to an
OSC, she requires a lot of cour-
age to come out and admit that
she has been victimized. There-
fore, all staff at OSCs need to
be trained right from counsel-
lors to the security guard and
supervisor in helping distressed
women, she said, adding that
the training module metic-
ulously carved out by NIM-
HANS will aid functionaries
in helping distressed women
and also provide self-care
techniques.
As per the WCD statement,
Irani said that Stree
Manoraksha project is
intended to give life
and dignity to women
and break the cycle
of violence
the project would emphasise
on psychosocial well-being
and aim to improve the men-
tal health of women in India.
The project would focus on
building on capacity building
of OSC functionaries on the
tools and techniques as to how
to handle the cases of women
approaching the OSCs, par-
ticularly the women who have
suffered violence and distress
with due sensitivity and care,
it said.
Home Minister Anil Vij said
that the government is making
every effort to evacuate Indian
nationals from Ukraine. So far,
several citizens have been evac-
uated and brought back to the
country safely. Ishika Bhutani,
a student from Ambala Can-
tonment, Kachha Bazar, who
returned safely from Ukraine
on Thursday, met Home Min-
ister, Anil Vij at his residence
and expressed gratitude.
Vij said that the govern-
ment is making extensive
efforts to evacuate the citizens
and students of the country
from Ukraine. Apart from air-
lines, Air Force's C-17 Globe-
master planes are bringing back
citizens from Romania, Hun-
gary, Poland and other coun-
tries. The Home Minister also
took information from the stu-
dent Ishika regarding which
city of Ukraine she was study-
ing and from which border
she returned. He also told her
about the efforts being made
by the Government of India
to bring back the citizens and
students.
Vij said that he had written
a letter to the country's Exter-
Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij with Ishika Bhutani 
nal Affairs Minister, Dr. S. Jais-
hankar requesting him to take
back the citizens of Haryana
and was also told what help-
desks have been set up on the
borders of Poland, Romania,
Hungary, Slovakia to evacuate
students and citizens.
Ishika's father Vinay Bhu-
tani expressed gratitude to the
Home Minister Anil Vij and
said that due to the prayers
and efforts of Home Minis-
ter Anil Vij, his daughter was
able to come back alive. He said
that the family had appealed
to Home Minister Anil Vij a
few days ago to bring back his
daughter safely and today his
daughter has returned, which
has brought relief to him and
the entire family.
PIC/MPOST
Ishika Bhutani, an MBBS
student who returned from
Ukraine, expressed gratitude
to the Home Minister Anil Vij
and shared that she was study-
ing in Vinnitsa in Ukraine. She
said that the bus was provided
by the college for Romania bor-
der. Arrangements were made
by the Government of India at
the Romania border.
She elaborated that she
stayed at a shelter home in
Bucharest, the capital of Roma-
nia, for two days and was then
brought to the country on the
night of March 1 via an air-
line. Ishika said that thanks to
the government of the coun-
try, thousands of citizens have
been able to return safely from
Ukraine.

Cong ‘padayatra’ culminates with large rally in B’luru GREETINGS

BENGALURU: The Con-
gress in Karnataka on Thurs-
day concluded its padayatra'
(foot march), demanding
implementation of the Meke-
datu project across the Cau-
very river, by holding a large
rally in the city.
The second leg of the paday-
atra with the theme Namma
Neeru Namma Hakku' (Our
water, Our right) that began
at Ramanagara on February
27, culminated at the National
College Ground in Basavana-
gudi here, after covering a dis-
tance of 79.8 kilometres.
The last day of the march
today, which saw participation
of a large number of people,
covered a distance of 11.8 km
from Mekhri Circle to National
College Ground, causing traf-
fic related issues in parts of the
city.
A host of Congress lead-
ers, including AICC General
Secretary in-charge of Karna-
taka Randeep Singh Surjewala,
Leader of Opposition in Rajya
Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge,
state Congress President D
K Shivakumar and Leader of
Opposition in Assembly Sid-
daramaiah who led the march,
and pontiffs of Mutts were
among those who attended
the rally.
Addressing the rally, Sidda-
ramaiah accused the Centre of
supporting Tamil Nadu in the
Mekedatu project issue, for the
sake of votes there, and hit out
at the BJP government in the
state for not putting pressure
to get environmental clearance
from the Modi government, as
they lack "guts".
Thanking party work-
ers, leaders for the success of
the total 9 day-long paday-
atra from both first and sec-
ond leg, he said there are no
court orders or legal hurdles
for the project and urged the
BJP governments both at the
state and Centre to implement
it at the earliest. Also calling
BJP a "factory of lies'', the for-
mer CM said they have spread
false information and issued
'benami' advertisements accus-
ing the previous Congress gov-
ernment of doing nothing for
the implementation of Meke-
datu project, while the fact is
that the government led by
him had prepared the DPR for
the project.
Calling the padayatra "his-
toric", Shivakumar thanked
the people of the state, lead-
ers and workers of his party
and said, "this was the fight for
the Mekedatu project- for our
water, on our land and with
our own money."
Accusing the state govern-
ment of creating trouble for the
padayatra by filing about 10
FIRs against Congress leaders,
he said, "We did not fear it, we
are ready to face it. This is just
the beginning, we will have to
take it to the conclusion. We
are committed to hold simi-
lar rallies and marches across
Karnataka in the interest of
the state."
Surjewala in his address
said, Mekedatu padayatra
is not Congress' protest or a
political fight, but a mission to Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy with Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao during a
quench the thirst of Bengaluru meeting, in New Delhi, on Thursday  PTI
and surrounding areas. AGENCIES

Inauguration Ceremony

laying of 79.8 kms sewer line at

Shahbad Group of Colonies
and
10 kms of sewer line at
Singhu Group of Colonies
on Friday, 4th March, 2022

Chief Guest:

Satyendar Jain
Water Minister and Chairman, Delhi Jal Board
DIP/Shabdarth/D/0225/21-22

Key Highlights:

For Shahbad- For Singhu-

• Laying of 250mm to 700mm Internal & • Laying of 300mm to 635 mm Internal &
Peripheral sewer line in 16 colonies of Peripheral sewer line in 2 colonies and 1 village
Shahbad GOC falling under Rohini WWTP of Singhu GOC falling under Narela WWTP
at a total cost of Rs. 57.15 crore. catchment area at a total cost of Rs. 21.37 crore.
• Approx. 2,92,000 people will be benefitted. • Approx. 15,000 people will be benefitted.

Urban Development Department, Government of NCT of Delhi

8 mp World millenniumpost
FRIDAY, 4 MARCH, 2022 | NEW DELHI

Biden seeks $10 bn for aid to Ukraine RUSSIANS BESIEGE PORTS

WASHINGTON DC: The
Biden administration is seek-
major additions to budget
talks already underway.
requests would be additions
to a planned budget agree- Ukraine refugee count
passes one million
ing another USD 10 billion to The acting director of the ment that Congress is trying
help protect Ukraine against White House Office of Man- to finish before a March 11
the Russian invasion and an agement and Budget, Sha- deadline.
additional USD 22.5 billion landa Young, laid out the need Young said in the blog post
to cover Coronavirus pan- for the supplemental funding that the money was urgently
demic-related expenses, two in a Thursday blog post. The needed.  AGENCIES
KYIV: More than 1 million
people have fled Ukraine fol-
lowing Russia's invasion, in
the swiftest refugee exodus this
century, the United Nations
said Thursday, as Russian forces
kept up their bombardment of
the country's second-biggest
city, Kharkiv, and laid siege to
two strategic seaports.
The tally the U.N. refu-
gee agency released to The
Associated Press was reached
Wednesday and amounts to
more than 2% of Ukraine's
population being forced out of
the country in less than a week.
The mass evacuation could
be seen in Kharkiv, where resi-
dents desperate to escape fall- Refugees fleeing the war from neighboring Ukraine walk on a platform
ing shells and bombs crowded after disembarking from a train in Zahony, Hungary  PTI
the city's train station and
pressed onto trains, not always or less stuck, military analyst run to fight this war," he said,
knowing where they were Pavel Felgenhauer told the AP adding that if Putin and the
headed. in Moscow. military "are unable to wrap up
Overnight, Associated In a videotaped address, this campaign very swiftly and
Press reporters in Kyiv heard Ukrainian President Volody- victoriously, they're in a pickle.
at least one explosion before myr Zelenskyy called on Ukrai- With fighting continu-
videos started circulating of nians to keep up the resistance. ing on multiple fronts across
apparent strikes on the capital. He vowed that the invad- Ukraine, Britain's Defense
Russia's Defense Minis- ers would have not one quiet Ministry said Mariupol, a large
try said it had knocked out a moment and described Russian city on the Azov Sea, was encir-
reserve broadcasting center in soldiers as confused children cled by Russian forces, while
the Lysa Hora district, about who have been used. the status of another vital port,
DELHI JAL BOARD GOVT OF NCT OF DELHI 7 kilometers (4 miles) south Moscow's isolation deep- Kherson, a Black Sea shipbuild-
OFFICE OF THE ADDL.CHIEF ENGINEER (M-10) of the government headquar- ened when most of the world ing city of 280,000, remained
ENGINEERS BHAWAN , 2ND FLOOR, ANDREWS GANJ, NEAR MOOL CHAND CROSSING, ters. It said unspecified preci- lined up against it at the United unclear.
NEW DELHI-110049 Mail:- acem10.djb@gmail.com sion weapons were used, and Nations to demand it withdraw Ukraine's military said Rus-
STOP CORONA-WEAR MASK, FOLLOW PHYSICAL DISTANCING, MAINTAIN HAND HYGIENE that there were no casual- from Ukraine. And the pros- sian forces did not achieve the
NIT No.22/ACE (M-10)/EE (T) M-10/2021-22 Press Tender ties or damage to residential ecutor for the International main goal of capturing Mariu-
buildings. Criminal Court opened an pol in its statement, which did
A statement from the gen- investigation into possible war not mention Kherson.
eral staff of Ukraine's armed crimes. Putin's forces claimed to
forces didn't address the strikes, Felgenhauer said with the have taken complete control of
saying only that Russian forces Russian economy already suf- Kherson, which would be the
were regrouping and trying to fering, there could be a serious biggest city to fall in the inva-
reach the northern outskirts internal political crisis if Rus- sion. A senior US defence offi-
of the city. sian President Vladimir Putin cial disputed that.
The advance on Kyiv has does not find a way to end the Our view is that Kherson is
been rather not very orga- war quickly. very much a contested city," the
nized and now they're more There's no real money to official said, speaking on condi-
tion of anonymity.
Zelenskyy's office told the
AP that it could not comment
on the situation in Kherson
while the fighting was still
going on.
The mayor of Kherson,
BEFORE DEBTS RECOVERY TRIBUNAL-II, DELHI Igor Kolykhaev, said Russian
4th Floor, Jeevan Tara Building, Parliament Street, New Delhi-110001
OA NO 324/2020 Date: 24.02.2022
soldiers were in the city and
BANK OF BARODA APPLICANT came to the city administra-
VERSUS tion building.  AGENCIES
SANDEEP KUMAR SHARMA & ORS. RESPONDENT
To,
DEFENDANT
1. MR. SANDEEP KUMAR SHARMA S/O SH. RANGLAL SHARMA
R/O F10/A, BLOCK F, PANDEV NAGAR DELHI-91
ALSO AT: BLOCK F10/A, SHEETAL NIWAS PATPARGANJ NEW DELHI-91
Whereas the above named applicant (s) has / have instituted a case for recovery of Rs. 38,87,225/-
RUPEE THIRTY EIGHT LAKH EIGHTY SEVEN THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED TWENTY FIVE
ONLY) against you and where as it has been shown to the satisfaction of the Tribunal that it is not
possible to serve you in the ordinary way therefore, this notice is given by advertisement directing
you to make appearance in the Tribunal before on 10.06.2022 At 10.30 A.M. It is for publishing in the leading newspaper please. Further details in this regard can be seen at https://govtprocurement.
Take notice that in default of your appearance on the day before the mentioned, the case will be delhi.gov.in
heard and determined in your absence. ISSUED BY P.R.O. (WATER) Sd/- B N Gupta
Due to ongoing Pandemic situation, all the matters will be taken up through video Advt. No. J.S.V./2021-22/1197 EXECUTIVE ENGINEER (T) M- 10
Conferencing and for that purpose:-
(i) All the Advocates/Litigants shall download the "Cisco Webex" application/software:
(ii) "Meeting ID" and Password for the date of hearing qua cases to be taken by Registrar/ NOTICE INVITING E-TENDERING
Recovery Officer-I/and Recovery Officer-II shall be displayed in the daily cause list itself at DRT
Official Portal i.e. drt.gov.in The Executive Engineer JSV Division Hamirpur invites following tenders on behalf of Governor of Himachal Pradesh from
(iii) In any exigency qua that the Advocate/Litigants can contact the concerned official at Ph. No. approved eligible contractors for the following work(s) through e- tendering Process:-
23748478. S. Name of work Estimated Earnest Cost of Time
Given under my hand and seal of the Tribunal this the 24TH day of Feb., 2022. No Cost money tender
BY ORDER OF THE TRIBUNAL 1 Providing House Hold connection by Ministry of Jal Shakti Har Ghar Rs. Rs. 28640/- Rs.400/- 3 Months
ASSISTANT REGISTRAR, DRT-II, DELHI Nal Se Jal “ under LWSS Manjla ban Har rangus in Tehsil Nadaun 1432000/-
Distt. Hamirpur (Sh:- Construction of 1 No. RCC over head storage
tank 40000 liters capacity 10.00 meter staging height at Node No. B
& C/O 2 Nos of underground storage tank 40000 liters capacity at
Node No. B1 and 20000 liters capacity at Node No. D1).
Last date of filing/ uploading the tender through e- tendering 15.03.2022 up to 11.00 AM The tender
forms and other detailed conditions can be obtained from the website www.hptenders.gov.in.

Executive Engineer
No 7318/2021-2022 JS Division Hamirpur

PUBLIC NOTICE
It is for general information
that I Vinod Kumari Mittal W/o
Anand Prakash Mittal R/o 1974,
Kucha Chelan, Khari Baoli, Delhi dk;Zikyd vfHk;Urk dk dk;kZy;
- 110006 & 4B/6, Raj Narain
Road, Civil Lines, Delhi -110054
y?kq flapkbZ izeaMy] yksgjnxk
declare that name of mine and
my husband has been wrongly i=kad ------------------@yksgjnxk] fnukad -----------------@
written as Vinod Kumari and
Anand Prakash in my document
lwpuk
of sale deed dated 22-03-
1996 registration no 2758 in
dk;kZy; ds fufonk vkea=.k lwpuk la0
additional book no 1 volume
no 7170 at pages 44 to 49 of
MID/LOHARDAGA/F2-06/2021-22 tks lekpkj
property no 598-599, ward no
VII, Gali Fakarulla, G B Road,
i=ksa esa PR No. 264825 Lohardaga (2021-22).D
Delhi. The actual name of mine
is Vinod Kumari Mittal and my
}kjk izdkf'kr fd;k x;k Fkk dks vifjgk;Z dkj.kksa ls
husband is Anand Prakash Mittal ,rn }kjk jnn fd;k tkrk gSA fo'oklHkktu
respectively which may be
amended accordingly dk;Zikyd vfHk;ark]
Sd/- Vinod Kumari Mittal PR 265238 Lohardaga(21-22).D y?kq flapkbZ ize.My] yksgjnxk
millenniumpost
NEW DELHI | FRIDAY, 4 MARCH, 2022
EDITORIAL Undoing the raw deal
Calculative stance? History shows that sanctions have persistently failed as punitive action, therefore,
T
he United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) international community should stick to diplomatic solutions to end the Russian invasion
R
voted 141-5 to condemn Russia’s invasion of
Ukraine — demanding Russia to withdraw its ussia’s invasion is
troops unconditionally. India was among the not only a clear and
35 countries that decided to abstain from voting in sup- brutal violation of
port of the resolution. Notably, India’s stand at UN ses- Ukraine’s sovereignty
sions has been unwavering on this issue for over the past but also an outrageous assault
week. India’s abstention at UNGA came a week after it
M SHAKEEL AHMED on the foundation of the world
abstained from voting a similar resolution at the United order that has been in place
Nations Security Council. UNSC resolution is bind- since the end of World War II.
ing on the participating members whereas UNGA is not The invasion threatens to
legally binding. Western countries had failed to pass the destabilise the already volatile
UNSC resolution due to vetoing by a permanent mem- post-Soviet region with seri-
ber — Russia itself. India, one of the non-permanent ous ramifications for the secu-
members of the UNSC, had also abstained from voting, rity structure that has governed
along with China. India’s decision to refrain from call- Europe since the 1990s. Rus-
ing out Russia on the global stage for its aggression is sian president Vladimir Putin
being seen through different lenses from different par- has long lamented the loss
ties. It certainly has created a great deal of dissatisfaction of Ukraine and other repub-
in the Western circles, particularly the US. Jeanne Sha- lics since the Soviet Union
heen, a New Hampshire Democrat, opined that India’s disintegrated.
dependence on Russia for weapons has “also covered Putin has described the
values”. Some others see India to be siding with the ‘win- Soviet disintegration as a catas-
ning side’. And a good number of Western representa- trophe that robbed Russia of its
tives were simply bewildered to see that India is ‘shifting rightful place among the world’s
away’ from democratic principles. All these notions great powers and put it at the
are, in fact, truncated and represent only the half-truth. mercy of a predatory West.
Essentially, what India is trying to secure is its wider geo- After the collapse of the
political and national interests. There is no denying the Soviet Union, NATO expanded
fact that India has downplayed the element of principle eastward, eventually taking in
in its considerations. However, strictly speaking, India’s Though most of the European nations
stand cannot be technically condemned for being pro- that had been dominated by
Russia — even though it is, in effect. It must be noted economic the Communists. The Baltic
that in its explanation of the vote, India has condemned sanctions are republics of Lithuania, Latvia
the hostile situation and called for ‘immediate cease- and Estonia, once parts of the
fire’. At the top of everything, India has been expressing targeted Soviet Union, joined NATO,
legitimate concerns around evacuation of Indian stu- against Russia, as did Poland, Romania and
dents. However, developing a notion that India is com- others.
promising with democratic principles for just the safety these are also As a result, NATO moved
of stranded students will only reflect a part of the truth. likely to impact hundreds of miles closer to
Ensuring the safety of Indian students is more of a dip- Russia. What enraged Putin
lomatic exercise than a bargain. It might be too early Europe and the was Ukraine’s willingness to
to assume that India’s abstention from voting against entire world become part of NATO. Putin
Russia is an indicator of India reeling under the Rus- calls NATO’s expansion men-
sian pressure. In fact, it may just point towards India’s acing, and the prospect of
efforts towards maintaining strategic autonomy that has Ukraine joining it a major
been a characteristic of its foreign policy right since the threat to his country.
beginning. India perhaps is aware that Russia is the sole Russia presented NATO
big power in Asia that can stand by it, or at least act as and the US last December a set
a moderator, in case of increasing tensions with China. of written demands that it said
India’s adverse relations with Asian powers like China were needed to ensure its secu-
and Pakistan are no mystery. Furthermore, India appears rity. Foremost among them
to look at the Ukrainian crisis in a broader geopolitical was a guarantee that Ukraine
context where the West is as much faulty as Russia. And would never be allowed to join
it may not be wise to express support towards one bloc NATO and that NATO would
because the other appears to be more wrong in the pres- reduce its forces in the Eastern
ent circumstance. India is among the limited nations that Europe. The West dismissed
is consistently in dialogue with Russia and could have a these demands.
certain degree of influence over Russian actions. It has The timing of Putin’s “spe-
been urging for a dialogue among the involved parties, cial military action” in Ukraine
for a broader solution of the historically complex tangle could be related to the transi-
of Ukrainian crisis. All these arguments are nowhere tion from President Donald
to suggest that India’s stand at UNGA and UNSC can- Trump, who was friendly to
not be criticised. It can be, but not in a truncated sense. him and critical of NATO, to
India’s balancing approach, which is seemingly ambigu- President Joe Biden, who is
ous, could have many fallouts for its foreign policy. In the
Tackling methane menace
first place, it may sour its relations with the West, Quad
countries in particular, which could slightly affect the
vision of countering China in the Indo-Pacific region.
India may also face a backlash from the US in the form
of CAATSA sanctions for its S-400 deal with Russia. But
the Quad is of as much strategic importance to the West
as it is to India. Also, the Indo-US ties do have their own
broader complex and may only be marginally affected
by India’s abstention. The bigger issue for India is that its
India’s refrain from signing Global Methane Pledge at CoP26 was a welcome step
moderate stance on imperial aggression of Russia could
establish a bad precedent and bolster China to pursue but withdrawal of subsidies for biogas digesters may require reconsideration
O
the same across Indian borders. India, in that case, may
lose the moral ground to seek global support. Still bigger ne of the least dis-
is the issue of its image as a democracy flagbearer being cussed outcomes
tainted at the global stage. India is ready to extend sup- of CoP26 was the
port to Ukraine in terms of humanitarian aid but it has methane agree-
bigger things at stake when it comes to geopolitical con- DIPANKAR DEY ment which is likely to have
siderations and national interest. One may feel bad for serious and far-reaching con-
Ukrainians as this war is a highly emotive issue for them, sequences on the agricultural
but India holds on to pragmatism by not siding with the practices hitherto followed
West which may have its own agenda. worldwide.
In the CoP26, the Global
Methane Pledge was initiated
DearEditor jointly by the USA and the
European Union. Over 100
countries have made a non-
binding pledge to cut meth-
COLOURING THE WAR? ane emissions by at least 30 per
It appears that the popular Western media is only enhancing cent, compared to 2020 levels,
the misery of Ukraine’s refugees by seeing it through a smoky by 2030.
racial prism, as it labels the sufferers as White sufferers of Though the three largest
Europe or so. War at any place only brings misery, ending emitters — India, Russia and
human lives and destroying properties. It does no good China — did not join the band-
to anyone — either to the perpetrators or the sufferers as wagon, it is argued that certain
aspects of traditional agricul-
animosities get permanent. Countries like Syria, Yemen,
ture, poverty reduction, and
Afghanistan, Mali and many more in recent times have food security may be at risk
been exploited by the superpowers and got devastated. There as mitigation of methane in
seems no light at the end of the tunnel for smooth revival Compared the agriculture sector is seen,
of their economies. NATO countries and the Russian block by many policymakers, as an
should behave responsibly to not precipitate war — which to the EU, the essential measure towards
is a result of geopolitics of oil and arms sales. Post the importance of tackling climate change. Till
Covid-19 pandemic, the world is struggling with joblessness date, the onus of GHG mitiga-
and inadequacy. Humanity begs off superpowers for ‘Saying agriculture is tion had, primarily, rested on
No to War’ anymore. far greater in industry in general and fossil
India and it fuel sector in particular. Agri-
— BRIJ B GOYAL, LUDHIANA via email culture was kept outside the
BEYOND DOUBTS needs special purview of agreements related
protection by to GHG mitigation. With the
The heavyweight Opposition leaders of the Bengal’s BJP are methane pledge, agricultural
frantically trying to hide their faces following the landslide the state practices have now also been
victory of the Trinamool Congress in the civic polls. Less included in the ‘global fight
said is better about the losses suffered by the Congress and against climate change’!
the CPM who are almost nowhere. The outcome of the In this context, it should be
civic elections proves beyond doubt that the machinations mentioned that for FY 2020-
21, the share of agriculture
of the BJP in ousting the Trinamool Congress did not at
in GDP touched over 20 per
all gain any momentum. On the contrary, the people did cent — making the sector the
not miss the opportunity to show their total faith in the sole bright spot in GDP per-
leadership of the Trinamool supremo. formance that year. In the less
— ARUN GUPTA, KOLKATA via email agriculturally focused EU27,
the agricultural sector contrib-
millenniumpost.in uted an estimated 172 billion
Euros towards the EU’s GDP
Log on to write letters to the editor or send them to — equivalent to 1.3 per cent of
letter2editor.mp@gmail.com. You can also send your comments to The Editor, the total. So, compared to the
Millennium Post, Pratap Bhawan, 5 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi 110 002 EU, the importance of agricul-
ture is far greater in India and
Russian invasion challenges the norms and values of the entire global community
committed to the alliance and
suspicious of Moscow.
Biden, who had fore-
warned Putin of “economic
consequences like one he’s ever
seen”, began putting them in
place after the Russian troops
launched an offensive against
Ukraine.
The West had also warned
Putin before the invasion that
although it would not send
troops to defend Ukraine, it
would roll out a wide-rang-
ing and unforgiving set of eco-
nomic sanctions.
Soon after the invasion,
Biden announced tough sanc-
tions aimed at cutting off Rus-
sia’s largest banks and some
oligarchs from much of the
global financial system, and
preventing the country from
importing American technol-
ogy critical to its defence, aero-
space and maritime industries.
The US is also freezing
trillions of dollars in Russian
assets, including the funds con-
trolled by Russian elites and
their families, making them
pay for what Biden said “a pre-
meditated attack” against a free
nation in Europe.
Western governments have
also vowed to freeze assets
belonging to Putin, but very
little is known about what
and where he owns. The West
seems to be determined to iso-
late Putin politically and stran-
gulate Russia economically.
The critical question is,
The government has withdrawn all kinds of subsidies provided to the
farmers for the installation of biogas digesters
it needs special protection.
The methane problem
Methane is commonly
described as having 28-34
times the warming potential
of CO2, but this is a little mis-
leading. With a 12-15-year
lifespan, methane traps around
80 times the heat CO2 does
over 20 years, dropping to
28-34 times over a century.
Climate scientists claim that
limiting methane emissions
could be an excellent solution
for effectively curtailing short-
term warming.
Various statistics suggest
that agriculture is a key GHG
source. Agriculture, forestry,
and land use are indeed respon-
sible for about 25 per cent of all
GHG emissions. Agriculture
is, however, also a significant
“sink” — sequestering carbon
from the atmosphere in vol-
umes that effectively offset at
least 20 per cent of the sector’s
CO2 emissions.
Other farm sector GHGs
are methane and nitrous
oxide — the second and third
largest global contributors
respectively. Chemical-based
farming is a major source of
nitrous oxide in agriculture. In
the case of the US, some 75 per
cent of the source of nitrous
oxide comes from agricultural
Editorial
however, whether the biting
sanctions will force Russia to
regret the war or will the iso-
lation lead it to further upping
the ante. Let us not forget that
Russia is a nuclear power and
Putin has already put nuclear
forces on high alert.
The track record of eco-
nomic sanctions is mixed at
the best. The US has imposed
sanctions on Iran and Venezu-
ela. For both the regimes, the
sanctions have had little effect
on the political stance.
Iraq was subjected to the
UN sanctions after its inva-
sion of Kuwait in 1990. While
millions of Iraqis suffered, the
regime survived, even after
the bulk of Saddam Hussain’s
army was destroyed in the first
Gulf war. Saddam Hussain’s
survival, despite the sanctions,
angered the then US President
George W Bush so much that
he finally invaded Iraq under
a flimsy pretext of it having
nuclear weapons.
Iraq continues to struggle
to this day as a result of the
2003 invasion by the US. While
Putin is being held accountable
for his invasion of Ukraine, no
one ever pointed a finger at
the US or the UK for starting
a war that killed hundreds of
thousands of Iraqi civilians and
destroyed much of the country.
Syria is also under inter-
national sanctions follow-
ing Basher al Assad regime’s
bloody clampdown on a pop-
soil management systems,
while livestock production and
paddy cultivation are consid-
ered the main sources of global
methane emissions.
Agriculture accounts for
40 to 53 per cent of human-
caused methane emissions.
Therefore, action in the agri-
culture sector will be critical to
bringing down methane emis-
sions to the required levels.
But most of the attention on
the methane pledge in CoP26
has focused on “low-hanging”
fruits of reducing methane
emissions through improve-
ments in oil and gas infrastruc-
ture, such as fixing leaky pipes.
Despite the lack of specific
mention of this at COP26,
agriculture is included as a
sector in the EU and the US
strategies around methane.
The EU strategy includes plans
to (i) increase efficiency, i.e.,
reduce the methane emissions
intensity of livestock and (ii)
address the need for dietary
shifts, whereas the US strategy
only focuses on increasing effi-
ciency per unit of output.
To mitigate methane emis-
sions from livestock, a range
of new pellets and chemical
supplements are emerging
from companies such as the
Swiss start-up Mootral and the
ular uprising in 2011. Even
though much of the coun-
try has been ravaged by war,
Basher has survived and is
slowly coming out of the
regional isolation.
Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi
regime was also put under vari-
ous sanctions and, if it were not
for the Western military inter-
vention in 2011, he would have
crushed the popular uprising
against his dictatorship.
The small island nation
of Cuba has faced decades of
American sanctions, while
Fidel Castro regime withstood
attempts by the CIA and Cuban
exiles to topple or liquidate him.
North Korea is another
example. The regime here has
managed to stay intact despite
Western sanctions. Economic
sanctions have failed to deter
its leader Kim Jong-un from
carrying out a dangerous
nuclear programme.
India also faced sanctions
by the US, Japan and certain
European countries immedi-
ately after the Pokhran nuclear
tests in May 1998.
The sanctions consisted
of cutting off all assistance to
India, except humanitarian aid,
banning the export of certain
defence materials and tech-
nologies, ending American
credit and credit guarantees
and requiring the US to oppose
lending by international finan-
cial institutions to India.
The proactive diplo-
Dutch firm Koninklijke DSM
NV that can act as Gas-X for
cows. Moreover, basic dietary
changes for cows can alter their
digestive chemistry and reduce
their belching and flatulence.
Environment activists are also
applying pressure on the con-
sumers to choose plant-based
meats over animal meats until
the livestock producers cope
with their emissions problem,
reported Bloomberg.
Possible impact of methane
pledge on Indian agriculture
(i) Though India has not
signed the recent methane
agreement, being a major
exporter of agricultural prod-
ucts, it may find it difficult to
access markets of the USA and
the EU if measures to miti-
gate methane emission from
the farm sector are not taken.
Organic farming is likely to be
hit as it uses organic manures
— considered as major meth-
ane emitters.
(ii) No initiative has been
taken at CoP26 to mitigate
nitrous oxide, another source
of firm GHG. Should methane
tax be imposed, farmers will be
forced to switch to chemical
farming from organic farming.
(iii) Genetically modified
(GM) seeds may emerge as a
major game changer by pro-
viding solutions to mitigate
farm GHG like methane and
nitrous oxide. ‘Gene-modify-
ing techniques could reduce
the greenhouse gas emissions
from livestock, helping to feed
the world while combating
the climate emergency’, sci-
entists have already claimed,
as reported by The Guardian.
It should be mentioned that
till now the EU has not given
approval to GM food though
European firm Syngenta is one
of the greatest proponents of
GM seeds.
Solution
There exists a very simple
9
macy undertaken by India
in June 1998 culminated in a
whole new relationship built
between the US and India.
The US became the first coun-
try to have a nuclear deal with
India and the countries that
had advocated for sanctions
pushed for the waiver for India
at the Nuclear Suppliers Group
in 2008. India is now a member
of multilateral export control
regimes — MTCR, Wassenaar
Arrangement, Australia Group
— and is in the reckoning for
membership of the NSG.
Even Russia under Putin’s
leadership came under a much-
diluted set of sanctions when it
unilaterally annexed Crimea in
2014. Russia’s economy faltered
for a couple of years and then
slowly recovered.
The sanctions now
imposed on Russia aim to
completely remove it from the
global economic map. How-
ever, it will also affect the rest of
the world. Europe has impor-
tant trade ties with Russia, and
stands to lose far more than the
US from sanctions. It is also
dependent on Russian gas sup-
plies, a weakness that Putin has
exploited in past disputes.
Also at stake for Europe is
the security structure that has
helped keep the peace in the
continent since World War II.
The act of war by Russia
should be regarded as a seri-
ous challenge to the norms
and values of not just Europe
but the entire global commu-
nity. Countries need to stand
against Russia in unity and
provide support to Ukraine.
However, despite the puni-
tive action, it would be wise
for the world not to give up
diplomatic efforts to persuade
Russia into halting its military
operation that has resulted
in deaths and destruction in
Ukraine. The international
community needs to make
serious efforts to bring Russia
to reason.
The writer is a former
Editor of PTI and served
as the West Asia correspon-
dent for the same. Views
expressed are personal
and remunerative technology
for mitigating farm-sector
methane emissions — bio-
gas digester. It also produces
cooking fuel by capturing the
methane produced from ani-
mal dung in the digester. One
of the primary objectives of the
National Biogas and Fertilizer
Management Program was to
‘provide fuel for cooking pur-
poses and organic manure to
rural households through fam-
ily-type biogas plants’.
However, just after the
Global Methane Pledge in
CoP26, the government has
withdrawn all kinds of sub-
sidies provided to the farm-
ers for installation of biogas
digesters! Indian Biogas Asso-
ciation (IBA) has condemned
the move, saying it will impact
India’s goal of self-sufficiency
in fossil fuels and affect 50 mil-
lion farmers, reported Eco-
nomic Times.
Though the Indian gov-
ernment has very rightly
abstained from making any
commitment on methane
reduction during CoP26, its
decision to withdraw subsi-
dies for biogas plants to miti-
gate farm sector methane is
baffling. Awareness among
all major stakeholders about
the challenges the farm sector
is likely to face due to its inclu-
sion in the USA and the EU
in their ‘fight against climate
change’ is urgently needed.
The government should
chalk out a long-term plan
to popularise bio-gas among
farmers. The existing strategy
to promote biogas digester as a
viable low-cost energy source
for cooking fuel has failed. It
should be repositioned as an
important tool for mitigation
of the farm sector methane
which is crucial for the fight
against climate change and
global warming.
Views expressed are personal
10 mp
PM Modi exhorts industry to
reduce dependence on imports
‘Today, the world is looking at India as a manufacturing powerhouse’
OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister
Narendra Modi on Thursday
said Make in India is the need
of the hour and appealed to the
industry to reduce dependence
on imports and boost domestic
manufacturing.
He urged the industry to
take challenges and make efforts
to cut imports of goods that can
be manufactured in India.
“Today, the world is look-
ing at India as a manufacturing
powerhouse,” Modi said while
addressing DPIIT’s webinar on
‘Make in India for the World’.
The Prime Minister added
that the industry will have
to maintain global standards
and compete globally and it is
not acceptable that a country
like India ends up merely as
a market.
He said that the Budget has
many significant provisions for
Aatmanirbhar Bharat and Make
in India. He pointed towards
supply chain disruptions during
the pandemic and other uncer-
tainties to underline the critical
importance of Make in India.
Positive factors like demo-
graphic dividend of young and
talented population, democratic
setup, and natural resources
“encourage us to move towards
Make in India with determina-
Turkey’s
inflation jumps
54%, biggest rise
since 2002
ANKARA: Turkey’s annual
inflation rate further accelerated
in February, official data showed
Thursday, marking the biggest
jump since 2002 and deepen-
ing the squeeze on households
that are already struggling to
purchase basic goods.
The Turkish Statistical Insti-
tute said consumer prices rose
54.44 per cent in February com-
pared with a year ago. That is
up from nearly 49 per cent in
January.
In comparison, annual infla-
tion increased by a record 5.8%
in the 19 countries that use the
euro currency in February and
by 7.5 per cent in the U.S. in Jan-
uary the fastest pace in 40 years.
In Turkey, the highest yearly
price increase was in the trans-
portation sector, at 75.75 per
cent, while the increase in
food prices was 64.47 per cent,
according to the data. Turkish
consumers have been hit with
rising prices following a series
of interest rate cuts last year
that triggered a currency crisis.
President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan strongly opposes high
borrowing costs, insisting that
they cause inflation a position
that contradicts established eco-
nomic thinking.
Turkey’s central bank has
cut rates by 5 percentage points
since September, to 14 per cent,
despite high inflation rates
before pausing them in Janu-
ary and February. The Turkish
lira lost 44 per cent of its value
against the U.S. dollar last year.
In a bid to bring some relief,
the government last month
reduced value-added tax on
basic food to 1 per cent, from
the previous 8 per cent. AGENCIES
Sri Lankan economy facing World Bank stops all projects in Russia & Belarus
mounting challenges, says IMF The World Bank Group has not approved any new loans to or investments in Russia since 2014
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s econ-
omy was facing “mounting
challenges” with public debt
reaching “unsustainable lev-
els”, the IMF has said, calling
for urgent reforms in the island
nation’s economy as it is facing
the worst economic crisis.
Sri Lanka is currently reel-
ing under a severe foreign
exchange crisis with falling
reserves and the government is
unable to foot the bill for essen-
tial imports.
Sri Lanka has been hit hard
by COVID-19. On the eve of
the pandemic, the country was
highly vulnerable to external
shocks owing to inadequate
external buffers and high risks
Business
‘MAKE IN INDIA IS NEED OF THE HOUR’
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
He Said that industry will have to maintain
global standards and compete globally
and it is not acceptable that a country like
India ends up merely as a market
tion”, he said. The Prime Min-
ister asked the captains of the
manufacturing sector to pick up
some areas and work to remove
foreign dependence on them.
Referring to his call for ‘zero
defect-zero effect’ manufactur-
ing, Modi said Indian products
should not have any defect at all
and in this competitive world,
quality is the key.
“Aatmanirbharta is all the
more important if we see from
the prism of national security,”
Boiling oil forces markets to surrender early
gains as Sensex falls 366 pts, Nifty below 16,500
Rupee depreciates by 14 paise to close at 75.94 against the US dollar
MUMBAI: Equity indices relin-
quished early gains to close in
the red for the second straight
session on Thursday as surg-
ing oil prices amid the ongo-
ing conflict between Russia and
Ukraine sapped risk appetite.
Crude oil prices ratcheted
up towards the $120 per barrel
mark on fears of supply disrup-
tions as western nations tight-
ened sanctions on Russia, which
accounts for around 10 per cent
of global oil output.
The 30-share BSE Sensex
started the trade on a firm foot-
ing and jumped 527.72 points
in morning deals to a high of
55,996.62. However, during the
afternoon session it surrendered
all its early gains and finished at
55,102.68, down 366.22 points
SBI stops transactions related SJVN gets financial closure for two projects
to sanctioned Russian entities
NEW DELHI: State Bank of
India, the nation’s largest lender,
has stopped processing trans-
actions of Russian entities that
have been sanctioned by the
West over Moscow’s invasion
of Ukraine, sources said.
To effect this, SBI has issued
a circular as it fears that any
transaction with entities or sec-
tors under sanction will invite
sanction on it as well, sources
said. No transactions involving
entities, banks, ports or vessels
appearing on a US, European
Union or United Nations sanc-
tions list would be processed
irrespective of the currency of
the transaction, they said.
to public debt sustainability,
exacerbated by the Easter Sun-
day terrorist attacks in 2019
and major policy changes
including large tax cuts at late
2019,” the International Mon-
etary Fund (IMF) said in a
release after global lender’s
executive board’s consultative
meeting held on February 25.
Despite the ongoing eco-
nomic recovery, Directors
noted that the country faces
mounting challenges, includ-
ing public debt that has risen to
unsustainable levels, low inter-
national reserves, and persis-
tently large financing needs in
the coming years, the release
said.
he said, adding that manufac-
turing accounts for 15 per cent
of India’s GDP, but there are
infinite possibilities for Make in
India and “we should work with
full strength to create a robust
manufacturing base in India”.
The Prime Minister also
cited the examples of new
demands and opportunities in
sectors like semiconductors and
electric vehicles where manu-
facturers should move with a
sense of removing dependen-
or 0.66 per cent.
In similar fashion, the
Payments due to such enti-
ties have to be processed by
other mechanism rather than
through the banking channel,
sources added. SBI operates a
joint venture in Moscow called
Commercial Indo Bank Llc,
where Canara Bank is another
partner with 40 per cent stake.
The bank has not responded
to e-mail seeking comment on
the matter. Russia is one of big-
gest suppliers of defence prod-
ucts and equipment to India
mostly under government-to-
government contract.
Bilateral trade between India
and Russia stood at $9.4 billion
so far this fiscal year, against $8.1
The IMF has also called for
urgent reforms to the island’s
economy.
Directors emphasised the
need for an ambitious fiscal
consolidation that is based on
high-quality revenue measures.
Noting Sri Lanka’s low tax-to-
GDP ratio, they saw scope for
raising income tax and VAT
rates and minimising exemp-
tions, complemented with rev-
enue administration reform.
The bleak picture of the
local economy has come in at
a time when the government
here is coming under increased
pressure to seek an IMF bailout
as the island’s foreign reserves
have hit a critical low.  AGENCIES
cies on foreign sources.
Similarly, areas like steel and
medical equipment need to be
focussed for indigenous manu-
facturing, he added.
He also pointed out the dif-
ference between the availability
of a product and the availabil-
ity of made-in-India products
in the market.
Modi expressed his dismay
that many foreign products are
supplied for India’s various fes-
tivals, which can be easily pro-
vided by local manufacturers.
The ambit of ‘vocal for local’
goes well beyond buying ‘diyas’
on Diwali and the private sec-
tor should push the factors of
‘vocal for local’ and Aatmanirb-
har Bharat in their marketing
and branding efforts, the Prime
Minister said.
Take pride in the products
your company makes and instil
this sense of pride in your Indian
customers as well. For this, some
common branding can also be
considered,” he stated. Modi also
highlighted the need to find new
destinations for the local prod-
ucts while exhorting the private
sector to enhance spending on
R&D and diversify and upgrade
their product portfolio.
The demand for millets
is increasing in the world. By
studying the world markets,
we should prepare our mills
broader NSE Nifty declined
107.90 points or 0.65 per cent
billion in 2020-21.
India’s main imports from
Russia include fuels, mineral
oils, pearls, precious or semi-
precious stones, nuclear reac-
tors, boilers, machinery and
mechanical appliances; electri-
cal machinery and equipment
and fertilisers.
Major export items from
India to Russia include phar-
maceutical products, electri-
cal machinery and equipment,
organic chemicals and vehicles.
In the past too, India had
devised a mechanism to pay for
imports from Iran, when sanc-
tions were imposed on the Per-
sian Gulf nation.  PTI
WASHINGTON: The World
Bank has announced that it will
stop all its programmes in Rus-
sia and Belarus with “immediate
effect” in response to Moscow’s
military operations in Ukraine
and “hostilities” against the peo-
ple of the war-torn country.
On February 24, Rus-
sian forces launched military
operations in Ukraine, three
days after Moscow recognised
Ukraine’s breakaway regions -
Donetsk and Luhansk - as inde-
pendent entities.
The decision comes as a
large number of countries,
organisations and businesses are
severing ties and have imposed
sanctions on Russia over the
in advance for maximum pro-
duction and packaging, he said,
adding that new possibilities
are there due to the opening up
of areas like mining, coal and
defence sectors and the industry
should prepare a new strategy.
Further, he said that reforms
in the Special Economic Zone
Act will provide a boost for
exports. Talking about reducing
compliances, he said Common
Spice Form and National Single
Window System are examples
where the industry is feeling
the government’s development-
friendly approach at every step.
The Make in India campaign
is the need of 21st century India,
and it gives an opportunity to
show our potential, Modi said,
adding that “we should work
with full force to build a robust
manufacturing base”.
India has to become self-
reliant in the semiconductor
segment as there is no choice
and this sector has brought huge
opportunities for Make in India
and it is the need also for the
country’s security, he noted.
Citing an example of iron
ore, he said that the country
would not gain anything from
exporting raw materials.
“Manufacturers should see
that the dependence of the
country on the outside is min-
imised,” he said.
to close at 16,498.05.
UltraTech Cement was the
biggest drag among the Sensex
components, tumbling 6.47 per
cent, followed by Asian Paints,
Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Maruti
Suzuki India, Hindustan Unile-
ver Limited and ICICI Bank.
In contrast, PowerGrid,
Wipro, Tech Mahindra, HCL
Tech, ITC, Tata Steel and Info-
sys were among the prominent
gainers, climbing as much as
3.34 per cent. The BSE midcap
and smallcap indices ended on
a mixed note.
International oil benchmark
Brent crude surged 2.75 per cent
to $116.03 per barrel.
The rupee declined by 14
paise to close at 75.94 against
the US dollar on Thursday.  PTI
SHIMLA: Nand Lal Sharma,
Chairman & Managing
Director, SJVN on Thursday
informed that the financial clo-
sure for 210 MW Luhri-1 Hydel
Project in Himachal Pradesh &
75 MW Parasan Solar Power
Project in Uttar Pradesh has
been successfully achieved. The
Financial Closure of 210 MW
Luhri-1 HEP has been stamped
with State Bank of India. As
per the Loan Agreement, SBI
will provide Rs 1,537 crore at
an effective interest rate of 6.90
per cent per annum which is the
debt portion of total Project cost
of Rs 1,922.12 crore.
Sharma said that another
milestone has been achieved
by SJVN today with the finan-
cial closure of 75 MW Parasan
country’s invasion of Ukraine,
and with Belarus for its support
and cooperation with Moscow.
The World Bank Group has
not approved any new loans
to or investments in Rus-
sia since 2014. There has also
been no new lending approved
to Belarus since mid-2020,”
the Washington-based global
lender said in a statement on
Wednesday.
“Following the Russian inva-
sion of Ukraine and hostilities
against the people of Ukraine,
the World Bank Group has
stopped all its programmes in
Russia and Belarus with imme-
diate effect, the statement said.
The banking organisa-
TO KEEP TAB ON FISCAL DEFICIT
Govt to daily monitor revenue
& expenditure from March 15
OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: Keen to keep fis-
cal deficit within stated targets,
the Finance Ministry will from
March 15 start daily monitoring
of the revenue receipts, includ-
ing tax collections, as well as
expenditure.
The move comes against the
backdrop of a possible defer-
ment of the initial public offer-
ing (IPO) of LIC, which was
expected to fetch over Rs 60,000
crore, to the next financial year
in view of the ongoing Russia-
Ukraine war and its implication
on Indian markets.
On the other hand, the gov-
ernment’s decision to bring back
thousands of Indian students
stranded in Ukraine will impose
an additional burden on the
exchequer.
According to officials, the
daily monitoring of tax and non-
tax revenue collections will help
the government in taking timely
corrective actions, wherever
needed.
“The CBDT and CBIC have
been asked to report flash fig-
ures up to the previous day latest
by 12 noon. Besides, other non-
tax and disinvestment receipts
would have to be reported on
a daily basis,” the official said.
Officials said that the Con-
troller General of Accounts
(CGA) has been asked to pro-
vide daily revenue collection
and expenditure figures of vari-
ous ministries between March
15 and March 31 to the expen-
RBI launches surveys to gather
inputs for monetary policy
MUMBAI: Reserve Bank
of India (RBI) on Thurs-
day announced the launch
of next round of households
surveys to capture inflation
expectations and consumer
confidence.
Data gathered from the
surveys, which are conducted
regularly, provides useful
inputs for Reserve Bank’s
monetary policy.
Announcing the launch of
March 2022 round of Infla-
tion Expectations Survey of
Households (IESH), Reserve
Bank of Indiasaid the sur-
vey aims at capturing sub-
jective assessments on price
movements and inflation
of about 6,000 households
based on their individual
consumption baskets across
18 cities.
The cities include Ahmed-
Solar Power Project having the
Project cost of Rs 398.80 crore.
The debt fund amounting to
Rs 319.04 crore for execution
of the Project is in place in the
form of Foreign Currency Term
Loan sanctioned by PNB, Dubai.
The Bank will charge interest
ranging from 1.78 per cent
to 5 per cent after taking into
account the Foreign Currency
Fluctuation.
“Financial closure is a stage
of project development when all
the conditions of a financing
agreement are fulfilled prior to
initial availability of funds by the
financers,” said Sharma.
He apprised that the Foun-
dation Stone of 210 MW Luhri
Stage-1 Hydro Electric Project
located in Shimla & Kullu dis-
tion, with 189 member coun-
tries across the globe, has
not approved any new loans
or investments in Russia
since 2014, when the country
annexed the Crimean Penin-
sula in Ukraine, or in Belarus
since 2020, following a disputed
presidential election, The Hill
reported.
FRIDAY, 4 MARCH, 2022 | NEW DELHI
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman
According to officials, the daily monitoring
of tax and non-tax revenue collections
will help the government in taking timely
corrective actions, wherever needed
diture secretary.
The Central Board of Direct
Taxes (CBDT) and the Cen-
tral Board of Indirect Taxes and
Customs (CBIC) are the apex
bodies responsible for collect-
ing direct and indirect taxes,
respectively.
Likely deferment of LIC
IPO along with additional bur-
den on bringing back Indians
stranded in Ukraine will put
pressure on the fiscal deficit,
which has already been raised
in the Revised Estimates (RE)
to 6.9 per cent of GDP, from 6.8
per cent estimated earlier.
The government has col-
lected Rs 15.47 lakh crore in
net tax revenue, which is 87.7
abad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh,
Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad,
Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow,
Mumbai, Nagpur, Patna, and
Thiruvananthapuram.
“The survey seeks quali-
tative responses from house-
holds on price changes
(general prices as well as
prices of specific product
groups) in the three months
ahead as well as in the one
year ahead period and quan-
titative responses on current,
tricts of Himachal Pradesh was
laid by Prime Minister of India
Narendra Modi on December
27, 2021.The construction activ-
ities of the Project are in full
swing and moving fast forward
to generate 758.20 Million Units
(MU) in a 90 per cent depend-
able year by April 2026. The
levelised tariff for the gener-
ated electricity will be Rs. 4.24
per unit.
Sharma further stated that
the construction activities have
commenced at 75 MW Para-
san Solar Power Project. On
commissioning, the Project will
generate 168.343 MU annually
at a tariff of 2.68 per unit. The
Project is scheduled to be com-
missioned in the Financial Year
2022-23.
After Russia invaded, World
Bank President David Malpass
condemned the assault, say-
ing the group was “horrified by
the shocking violence and loss
of life as a result of the events
unfolding in Ukraine.”
“We are a long-standing
partner of Ukraine and stand
with its people at this critical
moment,” Malpass had said in
a statement.
On Tuesday, International
Monetary Fund (IMF) Man-
aging Director Kristalina Geor-
gieva said it was considering
Ukraine’s request for emergency
financing, while another pro-
gramme gave the nation access
to USD 2.2 billion through the
millenniumpost
per cent of the full-fiscal target
of Rs 17.65 lakh crore.
Similarly, non-tax revenue
collections stood at Rs 2.91 lakh
crore till January, or 92.9 per
cent of the RE target of Rs 3.13
lakh crore.
However, the government
has raised only Rs 12,423 crore
from disinvestments so far this
fiscal, against the revised target
of Rs 78,000 crore. It has been
banking on LIC IPO to meet
the target.
The government’s total
expenditure till January-end
worked out to be Rs 28.09
lakh crore, as against the RE
of Rs 37.70 lakh crore for the
entire fiscal.
three months ahead and one
year ahead inflation rates,”
RBI said in a release.
Separately, March 2022
round of Consumer Con-
fidence Survey (CCS) is
aimed to seek qualita-
tive responses from house-
holds, regarding their
sentiments on general eco-
nomic situation, employment
scenario, price level, house-
holds’ income and spend-
ing, the central bank said in
another release.
It said the survey is con-
ducted regularly in 13 cit-
ies, including Bhopal,
Chennai, Delhi, Guwahati,
Hyderabad, Jaipur, Luc-
know, Mumbai, Patna and
Thiruvananthapuram.
About 5,400 respondents
would be covered under the
CCS in the 13 cities.  PTI
The commissioning of the
Project will be our contribution
towards achieving the national
target of 175 GW renewable
energy by the end of current
year, he added
SJVN has embarked on a
fast-paced journey of harness-
ing Renewable Energy to meet
the commitment of Govern-
ment of India of achieving
500 GW of installed capacity
from non-fossil fuel sources
by 2030.
Having secured many new
projects in the last two years,
and still more projects in the
pipeline, SJVN has revised and
upgraded its Shared Vision Tar-
gets to 5000 MW by 2023, 25000
MW by 2030 & 50000 MW
by 2040. MPOST
end of June.
The World Bank Group also
announced on Tuesday it was
providing a USD 3 billion sup-
port package to assist Ukraine.
On March 1, both the IMF
and the World Bank Group
released a statement on the
war in Ukraine, saying “We are
deeply shocked and saddened
by the devastating human and
economic toll brought by the
war in Ukraine.
“People are being killed,
injured, and forced to flee, and
massive damage is caused to
the country’s physical infra-
structure. We stand with the
Ukrainian people through these
horrifying developments.”  PTI
millenniumpost
NEW DELHI | FRIDAY, 4 MARCH, 2022
Govt studying inputs received
on data protection bill: MoS IT
The government remains ‘clear’ and ‘steadfast’ on the need for the bill,
Chandrasekhar said on the sidelines of ‘NIC Tech Conclave 2022’
OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: The government
is studying the inputs received
on the draft data protection bill,
and will carefully ensure that
any legislation in the digital eco-
system will act as an enabler,
fuelling the growth momen-
tum, Minister of State for IT
Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on
Thursday.
The government remains
“clear” and “steadfast” on the
need for the bill, Chandrasekhar
said on the sidelines of ‘NIC
Tech Conclave 2022’ event.
“As far as government is con-
cerned, it is very clear, steadfast,
we would like a data protec-
tion bill. We are at the current
moment studying the bill, and
also, as is the norm, we will look
at every input we get post the
report that has come to the min-
istry. So we are studying all of
those inputs,” Chandrasekhar
said.
lems going down the road,”
he said.
The draft data protection
bill — currently in the works
— seeks to provide for the pro-
tection of the personal data of
individuals and establish a Data
Protection Authority for the
same. It proposes to put restric-
tions on the use of personal data
without the explicit consent of
citizens.
On December 16, 2021, the
Joint Committee on Personal
Minister of State for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar Data Protection Bill had tabled
its report in both the Houses of
Asked if the bill is likely to he said. Parliament, giving its views on
come up during the Budget ses- Every effort will be made to various provisions.
sion, the minister declined to ensure that any law that comes The bill proposes to specify
specify any timeline. up in the digital ecosystem will the flow and usage of personal
“We would rather come up be an enabling legislation. data, protect the rights of indi-
with legislations that are future “So we are extremely care- viduals whose personal data are
proof and that are catalyst and ful that whatever legislation we processed, as it works out the
create more fuel to startup do in digital ecosystem will be framework for the cross-border
success, rather than go by an enabling legislation...legislation transfer, accountability of enti-
artificial timeline, and create that improves the momentum ties processing data, and moots
problems for our entrepreneurs of growth of digital economy remedies for unauthorised and
and startups going forward,” rather than create any prob- harmful processing.
Business
It also seeks to provide the
government with powers to give
exemptions to its probe agencies
from the provisions of the leg-
islation, a move that has been
strongly opposed by the oppo-
sition MPs who had filed their
dissent notes.
In December, the parliamen-
tary panel had recommended
tougher norms to regulate social
media platforms by holding
them accountable for the con-
tent they host. It had said the
Centre must ensure data locali-
sation norms are duly followed
by all local and foreign entities,
with the establishment of the
Data Protection Authority.
The panel had also recom-
mended widening the scope of
the legislation to include both
personal and non-personal
data with “a single administra-
tion and regulatory body”, and
sought greater accountability for
social media platforms by treat-
ing them as ‘publishers’.
ADJUSTED GROSS REVENUE DUES
Public, private sector cos cannot
be treated differently, says TDSAT
OUR CORRESPONDENT
MUMBAI: Telecom disputes
appellate tribunal TDSAT has
ruled that the government can-
not exempt state-owned compa-
nies from paying their share of
Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR)
on the basis that they get only a
small portion of their revenues
from telecom-related services.
The Telecom Disputes Set-
tlement and Appellate Tribu-
nal (TDSAT) also said that an
exemption can be given to pub-
lic sector undertakings (PSUs)
only if the same is extended to
private sector players. The order
dated February 28 pertains to
the more than Rs 4 lakh crore of
revenue foregone by the govern-
ment after the Supreme Court
on October 24, 2019, dismissed
telcos’ petitions challenging the
AGR demand by the DoT.
The TDSAT’s latest ruling
is on a review petition filed by
Netmagic Solutions and Data
Ingenious Global. The review
petition was against the appel-
late tribunal’s order — issued on
November 19, 2020 — wherein
the plea regarding exemption of
PSUs from paying AGR dues
was rejected, citing the apex
court order dated October 24,
mp
The TDSAT also said
that an exemption
can be given to
PSUs only if the
same is extended
to private sector
players
Parks of India, Noida Software
Technology Parks, Gail India,
Delhi Metro, ONGC, Tamil
Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corpo-
ration and Gujarat Narmada
Valley Fertilizers. MTNL and
BSNL were also exempted from
paying the AGR dues, consider-
ing that they were government-
owned entities as well as due to
their weak financial conditions.
The Dept of Telecommunication
11
revenue generated by PSUs
under the head of telecom ser-
vices forms a “very negligible
and small part of their total
revenue”. Thirdly, it said the
Supreme Court judgement was
given in a case about mobile ser-
vice providers, and therefore it
has decided to withdraw notices
issued to other telecom service
providers, such as internet ser-
vice providers (ISPs), long-dis-
tance and bandwidth service
firms and so on.
The TDSAT said public sec-
tor and private sector companies
cannot be treated differently in
front of the law.
“There is no scope to dif-
ferentiate between two sets of
licencees having same or simi-
lar licences only on the basis of
their ownership, private or pub-
lic. The statutory rights and lia-
bilities must remain the same for
both the classes in so far as they
arise from the licences/agree-
ments under consideration.
“The same conclusion would
flow from the requirements of
equality, fairness and level play-
ing field,” the appellate tribunal
said. Further, it said there is no
legal basis for giving exemptions
to companies generating only a
small portion of their revenue

UK extends Russian sanctions to insurance sector

LONDON: Russian companies
in the aviation or space industry
will be prevented from making
use of UK-based insurance or
reinsurance services directly or
indirectly, the UK government
announced on Thursday as fur-
ther sanctions in response to the
attacks on Ukraine.
UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak
said the latest measures will
limit the benefits Russian enti-
ties receive from their access to
the global insurance and rein-
global insurance and reinsur-
ance market, he said.
Through Lloyd’s and the
London market, the UK
describes itself as a world leader
in these sectors of the global
insurance market. In taking such
action, the UK is demonstrat-
ing its commitment to apply
severe economic sanctions in
response to Russia’s invasion
of Ukraine, the UK Treasury
department said.
The UK government said it
isolates Russia’s economy from
the international financial sys-
tem,” the Treasury statement
notes. The move came as the
London Stock Exchange Group
(LSEG) suspended 28 com-
panies linked to Russia from
trading as a result of a series of
sanctions being imposed by the
2019. had raised demand notices with from licensed services while
The latest order, by TDSAT respect to AGR dues. denying it to those generating
Chairman Shiva Kirti Singh In its 27-page order, TDSAT a large portion of their revenue
and Member Subodh Kumar dismissed two of the three argu- from such activities.
Gupta, may have far-reaching ments put forth by the DoT. “The difference in the ratio
UK over the past few days. decisions, so if we see any other consequences for the telecom The DoT argued that of revenue from licenced qua
“London Stock Exchange securities affected by sanctions sector and 13 PSUs, which PSUs “form a class in them- non-licenced activities can-
Group has suspended trading then similar actions will take have won telecom or related selves as they substantially not be a germane and relevant
in 28 Russian-listed securi- place,” he said. licences. These companies were discharge governmental func- basis for change of adjusted
ties,” said LSEG Chief Execu- Companies affected include exempted by the government tions and represent public gross revenue terms for some
tive David Schwimmer. This has the state-owned oil titan Gaz- from paying AGR dues. funds” and, therefore, it is in licencees (PSUs) and thus create
been based on sanctions and the prom and the country’s largest The 13 PSUs include Oil “public interest to give them an two classes amongst licencees
ability to run an orderly market. lender, Sberbank, according to India, Railtel Corporation, Pow- exemption”. holding the same licence,” the
Suspensions are driven by those a notice posted by LSEG. PTI erGrid, Software Technology Secondly, the DoT said that bench said.
GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGAL
Samagra Shiksha Mission, Birbhum.
District Project Office.
KMDA TENDER NOTICE
e-NIT No: 13/SE/C-II/R&B/KMDA of
GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGAL
TENDER NOTICE 2021-22

surance market.
Russian companies in the
aviation or space industry will
now be prevented from mak-
ing use of UK-based insurance
or reinsurance services directly
or indirectly. This measure will
severely limit their access to the
will bring in legislation to pro- Sealed Tenders are being invited from the reputed
suppliers for procurement of one Photocopier (Xerox
hibit UK based insurance and machine) in Samagra Shiksha Mission, Birbhum. Details
will be available at www.birbhum.gov.in. Last date for
reinsurance providers from submission of tenders up to 1 p.m. on 23.03.2022.
undertaking financial trans- sd/-
actions connected with a Rus- District Education Officer
SSM, Birbhum
sian entity or for use in Russia. Memo No- 39(2) /Inf(advt)/Bir,Dated:03.03.2022.
“Coupled with similar actions
ICA-T4004(3) / 2022 “Administrative Building”
by the EU, this move further P.O. Suri, District Birbhum, PIN. 731101, Phone/
FAX:03462-255785 E-mail: ssm.birbhum@gmail.com
Online Tenders are invited by the NOTICE INVITING E-TENDER
Superintending Engineer, Circle-II, R&B
Sector, KMDA, Unnayan Bhavan, 7th
NIT No: 188 /DPO-ICDS/HUG/Ten Dated: 02/03/2022 And NIT
Floor, Block-A, Salt Lake City, Kolkata- NO 189 /DPO-ICDS/HUG/Ten Dated:02/03/2022 FOR CARRY-
700091, from reliable, resourceful, ING & STORINGOF FOOD STUFF IN 27 ICDS PROJECTS UNDER ICDS
bonafide and experienced firms /
companies / individual contractors, for
PROGRAMME OF HOOGHLY AND NIT No:190/DPO-ICDS/HUG/
the work, Sl. no., Name of Work, Value Ten Dated:02/03/2022 FOR DISTRICT LEVEL LIFTING AND CARRY-
of the work, Earnest Money, (1) Repair
of Old Durgapur Bridge Ultadanga.,
ING OF WBNP FCI RICE FROM FCI GODOWN TO 27 ICDS PROJECT
GODOWN OF HOOGHLY
Rs.32,52,368/-, Rs.65,047/-, (2) Repair
(Submission of Bid through online e-tender system)
of depression on the approach of VIP
end by soil stabilization with E-tenders are invited from the bona fide Firms/Companies/Agen-

Huawei manipulated
cementitious grout of Old Durgapur
Bridge near Ultadanga., Rs.13,69,641/-,
cies/ Registered Corpus like SHGs/Cluster of SHGs for CARRYING
Rs.27,393/-, Time of Completion: 60 (vide memo no.188/DPO-ICDS/HUG dt.2/03/2022) & STORING
days for each sl. no., Last date & time (vide memo no. 189/DPO-ICDS/HUG dt. 2/03/2022) of food stuff

account books to reduce

of Online Bid submission: 21.03.2022
upto 14.00 hrs., for details contact the
for different ICDS Projects in Hooghly district and NIT No: 190/DPO-
above office or visit both websites. ICDS/HUG/Ten Dated: 02/03/2022 FOR DISTRICT LEVEL LIFTING
www.kmdaonline.org (KMDA-839) AND CARRYING OF WBNP FCI RICE FROM FCI GODOWN TO 27

taxable income: CBDT

NEW DELHI: The income tax
department has found alleged
manipulation of account books
for reducing taxable income
in India by Chinese telecom
company Huawei whom it
raided recently, sources said
on Thursday.
The searches were con-
ducted on February 15 at the
main business and residential
premises of “key office bear-
ers” of a multi-national group,
engaged in distribution of tele-
com products and providing
captive software development
services, the CBDT said in a
statement. Sources identified
the company as Huawei.
“The ultimate shareholding
of the group lies with a foreign
entity of a neighbouring coun-
try,” the statement issued by the
policy-making body for the tax
department said.
The CBDT alleged that the
group “manipulated its books
of account to reduce its tax-
able income in India through
creation of various provisions
for expenses, such as provisions
for obsolescence, provisions for
warranty, doubtful debts/loans
and advances etc., which have
VIL board okays up to
little or no scientific/financial
rationale”. “During the inves-
tigation, the group has failed
to provide any substantial and
appropriate justification for
such claims,” it alleged.
The company, during the
searches, had said it was “firmly
compliant” with Indian laws.
“Huawei is confident our
operations in India are firmly
compliant to all laws and reg-
ulations. We will approach
related Government depart-
ments for more information
and fully cooperate as per
the rules and regulations and
follow the right procedure,”
the company had said in a
statement.
The CBDT statement made
multiple charges against the
company including that it
“made inflated payments
against receipt of technical
services from its related par-
ties outside India.”  PTI
www.wbtenders.gov.in
ICDS PROJECT GODOWN OF HOOGHLY
Intending bidders may download documents from the website
ICA-T3984(3) / 2022 ICA-T3979(3) / 2022 https://www.wbtenders.gov.in/ directly with the help of Digital Signa-
ture Certificate. Details are available in the official website of Hooghly
District www.hooghly.gov.in.
Sd/ District Programme Officer, ICDS,
Hooghly
GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGAL
ICA-T4006(2) / 2022 ICA-T4002(2) / 2022 WEST BENGAL HOUSING INFRASTRUCTURE
NOTICE INVITING TENDER
GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGAL e-N.I.T No.39 (2 nd Call) of G.M. (Elect) of 2021-22
WEST BENGAL HOUSING INFRASTRUCTURE Sealed Single Part tenders on Quoted Rate Basis are invited for
N. I. T No.112 of A.G.M (Engg-III) of 2021-22 the work of “Providing Passenger and Service Lift for Alipur Cor-
Sealed Tender is invited for the works having experienced in ICA-T3976(3) / 2022 rectional Home under WBHIDCO” from the agencies having abil-
from any Govt. Organization. Last date of receiving application- ity in execution for similar nature of work. Last date of receiving
16.03.2022 upto 2.00 P.M. All other information and details may GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGAL application 14-03-2022 upto 6.00 P.M. Detailed may be seen
be obtained from the office of the A.G.M (Engg).-III, WB HIDCO WEST BENGAL HOUSING INFRASTRUCTURE in our website at www.wbhidcoltd.com .
at Eco Park Office, Gate No.-6, New Town, Kolkata. e-Tender notice No.111 of 2021-2022
Sd- Addl. General Manager (Engg.-III) e- tender is invited for the work of “Engagement of House Keep-
WB HIDCO ing Agency for Alipore Central Correctional Home, Kolkata” in
the manner as described in the detailed e-tender notice available
on websites:-wbtenders.gov.in and wbhidcoltd.com & in e-tender
portal. Last date of Bid submission on 17.03.2022 upto 2.00 P.M.
Details may be seen in website at www.wbhidcoltd.com.
Sd- Addl. General Manager (Engg.-III)
WB HIDCO
ICA-T3982(2) / 2022 ICA-T3961(3) / 2022 ICA-T3965(4) / 2022 ICA-T3955(3) / 2022
GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGAL
WEST BENGAL HOUSING INFRASTRUCTURE
NOTICE INVITING TENDER ICA-T3995(3) / 2022

`14,500 cr fundraising
Vodafone said it intends to contribute
up to Rs 3,375 cr in VIL’s capital raise
NEW DELHI: Telecom oper-
ator Vodafone Idea (VIL) on
Thursday said its board has
approved raising up to Rs 14,500
crore, including Rs 4,500 crore
from promoter entities — Voda-
fone and Aditya Birla Group.
An amount of Rs 10,000 crore
would be raised by way of equity
or debt instruments.
In a regulatory filing, the
company said the board has
cleared issuance of up to 338.3
crore equity shares of face value
of Rs 10 each at an issue price
of Rs 13.30 per equity share for
an aggregate consideration of
These shares will be issued
to Euro Pacific Securities Ltd
and Prime Metals Ltd (Voda-
fone Group entities and pro-
moters of the company), and
Oriana Investments Pte Ltd (an
Aditya Birla Group entity) on
a preferential basis, the BSE
filing said.
In a separate filing overseas,
British telecom giant Vodafone
Group said it intends to con-
tribute up to Rs 3,375 crore
($450 million) in VIL’s cap-
ital raise from net proceeds
realised through the sale of
the primary shares in Indus
e-N.I.T No.45 of G.M. (Elect) of 2021-22
Sealed Single Part tenders on Quoted Rate Basis are invited for
the work of “Providing External Lighting Arrangement at Different
area inside Khel Nagari at Dumurjala, Howrah under WBHIDCO”
from the agencies having ability in execution for similar nature of
work. Last date of receiving application 15-03-2022 upto 3.00
P.M. Detailed may be seen in our website at www.wbhidcoltd.com.
KMDA TENDER NOTICE
e-NIT No : KMDA/CIVIL/BPPD-II/ ICA-T3988(3) / 2022 ICA-T3943(3) / 2022 ICA-T3930(3) / 2022
E&AM/16 of 2021-22 ICA-T3992(2) / 2022
Online e-Tender is invited by the
Executive Engineer, BPPD-II, E&AM
Sector, KMDA, 2nd floor, Jadavpur KIT
Complex, Kolkata-700032, from
GOVERNMENT OF WEST BENGAL
reliable, resourceful, bonafide, eligible WEST BENGAL HOUSING INFRASTRUCTURE
firms / companies / individual / Joint
Venture agencies, for the work, Name
N. I. T No.110 of A.G.M (Engg-III) of 2021-22
of Work, Estimated Cost (Excluding
GST & Labour Cess), Earnest Money,
Sealed Tender is invited for the works having experienced in
Time of Completion, Day to Day from any Govt. Organization. Last date of receiving application-
maintenance works for a period of 01
(one) year in Rabindra Sarobar.,
14.03.2022 upto 2.00 P.M. All other information and details may
Rs.23,80,134/-, Rs.47,610/-, 01 year, be obtained from the office of the A.G.M (Engg).-III, WB HIDCO
Last date & time of online Bid
submission: 19.03.2022 at 13:00 hrs., at Eco Park Office, Gate No.-6, New Town, Kolkata.
for details contact the above office or
visit both websites. (KMDA-841) Sd- Addl. General Manager (Engg.-III)
www.kmdaonline.org
WB HIDCO
www.wbtenders.gov.in

up to Rs 4,500 crore. Towers. PTI ICA-T3986(3) / 2022 ICA-T3971(2) / 2022 ICA-T3975(2) / 2022
12 mp
India ready to dish out stellar Russians, Belarusians
out of Paralympics
show in King Kohli's 100th Test
Kohli is one among "them" and in a fast-paced world, perhaps the
last cricket star who will enjoy an organic following of manic fans
MOHALI: Hailed by many as
the 'Last of the Mohicans' in
cricket's purest format, Virat
Kohli will be focussed on mak-
ing his 100th appearance mem-
orable while "white-ball legend"
Rohit Sharma plots the demo-
lition of an out-of-depth Sri
Lanka as India's 35th Test cap-
tain in the series-opener start-
ing here on Friday.
If one looks back at Indian
team's journey since its incep-
tion in international cricket
back in 1932, it has been about
stars, superstars, and megastars,
who become the reason for the
footfall at turnstiles of various
stadiums across the country.
It was the case when Sunil
Gavaskar scored his 10,000th
run, Sachin Tendulkar bade
the most emotional farewell
that cricket has ever seen and
now the spotlight will be firmly
on Kohli, whose domineering
presence has turned an inter-
national match into a footnote.
Kohli is one among "them"
and in a fast-paced world, per-
haps the last cricket star who
will enjoy an organic following
of manic fans.
India was, is and will remain
more of a "cricketer-loving"
nation and the social media
war-cry that perhaps led to fans
being allowed in the stadium
from Friday is a testimony to
Kohli's immense popularity.
This is his 'Test' and for
Kohli, a century to mark a 'cen-
tury' is something he would
be craving, having missed that
Women's World Cup: India eye first ICC title,
Australia favourites to reach 'Magnificent Seven'
MOUNT MAUNGANUI:
Mithali Raj will be eager to get
her hands on a maiden title in
what would be her last hurrah
for India at the world stage,
Heather Knight will hope to
defend it while Meg Lanning
seems primed to lead Australia
to a ‘Magnificent Seventh’ when
the ICC Women’s World Cup
gets underway here on Friday.
The tournament, which was
postponed by a year due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, will be
played across six venues with
the ICC deciding that teams
will stay in a ‘managed envi-
ronment’ instead of stringent
bio-bubbles.
The marquee event will be
played in the league format,
where all eight teams will face
each other once with the top
four sides qualifying for the
WITH 1-0 WIN OVER CHENNAIYIN
ATKMB confirm semi-final
spot for second straight year
MARGAO: ATK Mohun
Bagan rode on their talisman
Roy Krishna's first-half strike
to sail into the semifinals of
the Indian Super League for
the second straight year, with a
1-0 victory against Chennaiyin
FC here on Thursday.
Krishna netted his fifth
goal of the season and first
this calendar year in the 45th
minute and that proved to be
the difference in the end as
the green and maroons side
moved to second in the stand-
ings with 37 points from 19
matches.
They will take on Jam-
shedpur FC next on March 7
to potentially decide the team
that will finish at the top of the
table. Jamshedpur have two
games in hand and are at the
top with 37 points.
They take on Odisha FC
on Friday.
ATKMB bossed the game
from the first minute, bomb-
ing the Chennaiyin defence
with constant attacks, the lat-
ter happy to sit back and try to
attack on the counter.
Krishna gave early warn-
ings after a Kauko through ball
sent him clear but the veteran
Fiji striker, back in the starting
XI after an injury layoff, found
the post in his way.
There were no clear-cut
chances after that early oppor-
tunity but the Mariners looked
the likelier to score before
Sport
Indian and Sri Lankan supporters during a practice session of the Indian team ahead of the 1st cricket test
match between India and Sri Lanka, at IS Bindra PCA Stadium, Mohali, Thursday 
sense of accomplishment that
comes with a three-figure mark
for over two years now.
A bowling attack that
has the likes of Suranga Lak-
mal, Lahiru Kumara or Las-
ith Embuldeniya is perfect
for a sumptuous 'five course'
Kohli treat with cover drives,
on drives, flicks and pulls on
the menu.
Gavaskar and Tendulkar
couldn't, neither could a Viren-
der Sehwag, Rahul Dravid or
VVS Laxman but Kohli is a dif-
ferent beast.
The empty amphitheatre
was never meant for him. He
feeds off the energy from his
fans, and as the undisputed hero
semifinals.
India, who were runners-up
in the last edition and in 2005,
open their campaign against
arch-rivals Pakistan, while hosts
New Zealand, who won the title
in 2000, will take on West Indies
in the tournament opener.
Australia, the most success-
ful side with six titles, will meet
defending champions England,
who have been crowned cham-
pions four times.
The month-long event will
see young stars and veterans
come together. While the likes
of Mithali, Jhulan Goswami,
Suzie Bates and Megan Schutt
will look to add to their already
glittering legacies, teenagers
including Shafali Verma, Richa
Ghosh, Fran Jones and Darcie
Brown will be eager to make
one.
Roy Krishna of ATK Mohun Bagan in action during match 105 of season
8 of Indian Super League between Chennaiyin FC and ATK Mohun
Bagan, at the Fatorda Stadium in Goa, Thursday 
They will take on
Jamshedpur FC
next on March 7 to
potentially decide
the team that will
finish at the top of
the table
Chennaiyin started growing
into the game and almost kept
ATKMB at bay despite all their
adventures in the final third.
But just before half time,
Kauko provided a similar pass
for Krishna who, unlike at the
start of the game, slammed
of his story, he always finds an
antagonist, he is trying to slay.
He is a product of the mod-
ern day, who loves the spotlight
and the spotlight has always
loved him back.
However, every story has
its own set of sub texts and this
Test match is as much as a Kohli
story as it is about Rohit and his
remarkable ascendancy making
light of set ideas and templates.
Journey starts for Rohit's
team
They say, a 'A good Captain,
is a good captain, is a good cap-
tain". Everyone knows Roht's
credentials in white-ball cricket
especially IPL, where he has
even challenged the hegemony
Here’s a look at the eight
contenders:
Australia
Hurt by the shock semifi-
nal loss to India in 2017, six-
time champions Australia have
left no stone unturned in their
quest for an unprecedented sev-
enth title.
Such has been Australia’s
dominance in the past four
years in the 50-over format that
the Southern stars have lost just
one ODI in their last 30 games.
Labelled favourites, Austra-
lia head to the World Cup on the
back of a dominating 3-0 ODI
series victory against arch-rivals
England in the Ashes.
India
Runners up in the last edi-
tion, India will be keen to go
one step ahead and claim the
title that has eluded them, spe-
PTI
home past a diving Samik
Mitra in Chennaiyin goal.
Chennaiyin started the sec-
ond half on the front foot and
almost got their reward three
minutes into the hour-mark
when a Reagan Singh effort
deflected off an ATKMB shirt
and came off the post.
It was an open half but
ATKMB defended well to see
off the tie and grab important
three points although one
point would have been enough
to seal their semifinal berth.
Chennaiyin, already out
of the play-offs race after a
forgettable season, finished
their engagements with 20
points from the same number
of matches.  AGENCIES
millenniumpost
FRIDAY, 4 MARCH, 2022 | NEW DELHI
BEIJING: Faced with threats
of withdrawals and growing
national Paralympic Com-
mittee announced it would
animosity in the Athletes Vil- allow Russians and Belar-
lage, organizers of the Win-
ter Paralympics on Thursday
usians to compete when
the Games open on Friday,
reversed course and expelled
athletes from Russia and
but only as neutral athletes
with colors, flags and other
Belarus. national symbols removed
The about-face came less because of the invasion of
than 24 hours after the Inter- Ukraine.  AGENCIES
PTI
of the peerless Mahendra Singh
Dhoni.
There is no reference frame
to judge how good he will be in
a game that's played over five
days for six hours.
He is 34 and will surely not
be playing white ball cricket
for more than three years at
a stretch with a demanding
calendar.
How he handles a transi-
tion phase in Indian cricket,
which has started with cur-
tains on careers of Chetesh-
war Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane
and Ishant Sharma. will have a
huge impact on how he is per-
ceived -- just a mere captain or
a leader of men.  AGENCIES
cially skipper Mithali and vet-
eran pacer Jhulan Goswami,
who will be playing their last
World Cup.
India were staring at a
demoralising 5-0 whitewash
at the hands of New Zealand
but have been able to turn things
around by winning the final
match of the series while also
emerging victorious in their
warm-up games.
While Mithali and Gos-
wami continue to play pivotal
roles in the team, young Richa
Ghosh has shone in recent
series.
Star opener Smriti Man-
dhana is also in good nick
while the talismanic Harman-
preet Kaur, considered a big-
event player, has also found
her groove and is expected to
set the stage ablaze.  AGENCIES
millenniumpost
FRIDAY, 4 MARCH, 2022 | NEW DELHI Leisure mp 13
SHANTANU Equipment worth
`40 mn stolen from

REVEALS HIS Netflix shows’ sets

PARENTS’ REACTION
The shows whose sets have been the scene
of the crime are ‘The Crown’ and ‘Lupin’

TO HIS DEBUT FILM I

n a dramatic devel-
opment, ‘Netflix’ has
recently been struck
by heists as props
and other items have been
stolen from the sets of its
productions, as per ‘The
Hollywood Reporter’. The firmed that the Paris set for
The young actor shared the screen with shows whose sets have
been the scene of the crime
Lupin was also a target of a
full-fledged robbery a day
Alia Bhatt and Ajay Devgn in Sanjay Leela are ‘The Crown’ and more
ironically, Lupin, whose
later - February 25 - and
this time it was an even big-

Bhansali’s ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’

lead character Assane Diop ger loss for ‘Netflix’. As per
(Omar Sy) is an expert thief ‘AFP’, as many as 20 thieves
himself. stole equipment worth

S
anjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Gangubai
Kathiawadi’, which was released
in cinema halls on February 25,
has garnered high appreciation
from the audience. The film features Alia
Bhatt and Ajay Devgn. The movie also
marks Shantanu Maheshwari’s Bollywood
debut. Recently, in an interview with a
news portal, Shantanu opened up about
his debut film and revealed the reaction
of his parents.
In an interview with a leading daily,
Shantanu said, “Honestly, I had just told
them that I am part of the film but did
not really give many details. So, they
went to watch the film on Friday
and they started blowing the
trumpet. They asked every-
one around them to watch
it. It was never just about
me, but they too loved
the film and that is what
matters the most.”
On February 24, thieves
had stolen expensive
antique props used in the
award-winning popular
royal drama near Don-
caster, England. As per
‘Reuters’, the props were
worth 200,550 dollars.
‘Netflix’ had said in a
statement, “We can confirm
the antiques have been sto-
len and we hope that they
are found and returned
safely. Replacements will be
sourced. There is no expec-
tation that filming will be
held up.”
Now, ‘Netflix’ has con-
opportunity and wrote, “Where do I start?
‘Greatest education is to watch masters at
work’ - MJ. I lived this quote. When I got
330,000 dollars. The ‘THR’
report said that Sy was on
the set during the robbery.
The total amount stolen
is worth more than Rs 40
million. The streaming giant
said in a statement, “There
was an incident on Febru-
ary 25 whilst filming the
upcoming season of ‘Lupin’.
Our cast and crew are safe
and there were no injuries.”
‘Lupin’ season three is
currently in development.
Season five of ‘The Crown’
is scheduled to premiere
on ‘Netflix’ in November
2022. AGENCIES

Honestly, I had just told them that I

Shantanu further to know that I have been selected by the
said that though it genius himself, I was thrilled, because,
was his debut film he for me, sir is the biggest celebrity that
am part of the film but did not really was more excited to
work with Sanjay Leela
there is.”
“I kept wondering if it is true that soon

give many details. So, they went to

Bhansali and wanted to
give his 100 percent. The
actor added that he knew
watch the film on Friday and they that whatever screen time he
gets, it would do justice to his
I was going to work with the best. I kept
praying not to jinx it. Seldom you come
across people whose passion can ignite
a fire within you to explore your inner
abilities. Sir has that power. A pure soul,

started blowing the trumpet

talent. so rooted in his culture and the creative
Earlier, in a post on social person he is so inspiring. Working with
media, Shantanu thanked Sanjay him was enlightening and uplifting,” he
Leela Bhansali for giving him this added.  AGENCIES

Oscar-winning producer Alan Ladd Jr dies at 84
NEW YORK: Alan Ladd Jr,
the Oscar-winning producer
and studio boss who, as a ‘20th
Century Fox’ executive, green-
lit ‘Star Wars’, has died. He was
84.
Ladd died on March 2, his
daughter Amanda Ladd-Jones,
who directed the documen-
tary ‘Laddie: The Man Behind
the Movies’, wrote in a ‘Face-
book’ post. No cause of death
was given.
Ladd Jr, the son of ‘Shane’
star Alan Ladd, started in the
film business as his father’s
stuntman but rose to
Ladd Jr started in
the film business as
his father’s stuntman
but rose to become
one of its leading
executives
(1937-2022) As studio head at ‘Fox’ and
‘MGM’ (twice), Ladd, affec-
tionately known as Laddie,
become one of its leading was involved in some 14 best-
and most widely liked picture nominees, including
executives. ‘Young Frankenstein’ (1974),
Karisma tests positive for COVID-19
‘The Rocky Horror Picture Karisma Kapoor has and Kareena’s son, Jeh. tive. That was when Kareena
Show’ (1975), ‘Chariots of tested positive for COVID-19, In the video, Kareena and revealed that older sis-
Fire’ (1981) and ‘Blade Run- sister Kareena Kapoor Khan Kajol can be seen twinning in ter Karisma Kapoor tested
ner’ (1982). revealed to Kajol when the white and black, as they stand COVID-19 positive on March
As an independent pro- duo bumped into each other for a few minutes and catch up 2. “Lolo just turned positive
ducer, Ladd Jr helped steer on the morning of March 3. after a long time. yesterday,” Kareena told Kajol.
films including ‘Once Upon Kajol and Kareena met One can hear Kareena Both Kajol and Kareena
a Time in America’ (1984), each other as they were shoot- saying, “What is happening?”. also could not help but point
‘The Right Stuff ’ (1983) ing close by and the paparazzi Kajol also can be heard asking out that their respective
‘Gone, Baby Gone’ (2007) and snapped them at the perfect Kareena, “How is your new husbands Ajay Devgn and
Mel Gibson’s ‘Braveheart’ moment. A video from their baby?” To which, Kareena Saif Ali Khan dodged the virus
(1995), for which he won best meet also made its way replied, “Oh god, he is already and chuckled about it. After a
picture. to social media and the a year. COVID, everything. brief chat, the actors headed
All told, films Ladd pro- actors can be seen chat- We all had COVID.” their own way but not before
duced or greenlit movies that ting about their fami- At this point, Kajol added hugging it out and saying
won more than 50 Oscars and lies, health, the virus that she also was tested posi- bye.  AGENCIES
150 nominations.  AGENCIES

Fans hail Aishwarya’s first Marilyn

look from Ponniyin Selvan: I sues Evan
The film also stars Jayam Ravi as Ponniyin Selvan, Karthi
as Vandhiyathevan, Trisha Krishnan as Kundhavai
A R
ishwarya Rai Bach-
chan’s first look from
Mani Ratnam’s ‘Pon-
niyin Selvan: I’ is
going viral on social media.
Along with the posters, the mak-
ers announced the release date of
the much-awaited film. The film
is slated to release in theatres on
September 30.
Speaking about Aishwarya’s
look, she is seen in brown silk
attire and gold jewellery. Her hair
is tied in a side bun. If the reports
are to be believed, she has a dual
role in ‘Ponniyin Selvan: I’. She
will be playing the role of Nan-
dini as well as Mandakini Devi
in the Mani Ratnam directorial.
The post was captioned as:
‘The Golden Era comes to the
big screens on September 30th!’
As soon as she shared the
post, fans were all hearts for her
look.
A user wrote, “Queen is back!
Finally.”
Another one commented,
“Finally we will get to see you
on the big screen. Cannot wait.”
A fan wrote, “OMG! Yay!
Cannot wait to watch it. My
over abuse
allegations
favorite Aishwarya is back.”
The Bollywood actor had
made her film debut with Mani
Ratnam’s 1997 film ‘Iruvar’. She
was also seen in his 2010 film
‘Raavan’, along with Abhishek
Bachchan and also in ‘Guru’
(2007).
The film also stars Jayam Ravi
as Ponniyin Selvan, Karthi as
Vandhiyathevan, Trisha Krish-
nan as Kundhavai and Vikram as
Aadithya Karikalan. The film is
based on Kalki Krishnamurthy’s
1955 Tamil novel of the same
name.  AGENCIES
ocker Marilyn Manson
sued his former fiancée
and ‘Westworld’ star Evan
Rachel Wood on March 2 over her
allegations that he sexually and
physically abused her during their
relationship.
The lawsuit filed in Los Ange-
les Superior Court alleges that
Wood’s allegations were fabricated
and that she and another woman
named as a defendant, Illma Gore,
used pretenses including a phony
letter from the FBI to convince
other women to come forward
with sexual abuse allegations and
coached them on what to say
about Manson, whose legal name
is Brian Warner.
The lawsuit, which claims defa-
mation and intentional infliction
of emotional distress, says Wood
publicly cast Manson ‘as a rapist
and abuser - a malicious falsehood
that has derailed Warner’s success-
ful music, TV and film career.’
Wood and Gore have not yet
filed a response to the lawsuit. An
email to representatives of Wood
seeking comment was not imme-
diately returned.  AGENCIES
14 millenniumpost
FRIDAY, 4 MARCH, 2022 | NEW DELHI

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