SATURDAY

11 FEBRUARY
2023

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WEATHER
UP has become a bright How do we protect the
MAINLY CLEAR SKY. STRONG SURFACE WINDS
(SPEED 20-30 KMPH) WITH GUSTY WINDS (SPEED interests of Indian
40 KMPH) OCCASIONALLY DURING THE DAY.

RAINFALL: Nil
RELATIVE HUMIDITY
spot for the nation: PM
Narendra Modi inaugurates the Uttar Pradesh Global Investors Summit 2023
investors, SC asks SEBI
Max. 89% Min. 40 % STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE It also said that it may also
TEMPERATURE
Max: 29.7°C (+7) Min: 13.1°C (+3)
coast in Maharashtra.
He also noted a meaning- Modi flags off NEW DELHI, 10 FEBRUARY appoint an amicus curia
to assist the court in
SUN RISES SUN SETS ful change in the government's two Vande The Supreme Court on the matter, while

07:02 hrs 18:08 hrs thinking in UP for ensuring ease
MOON RISES MOON SETS of doing business. “Today UP
23:10 hrs 10:36 hrs has become a source of hope
and inspiration,” he added.
The PM said that due to the
digital revolution, Uttar Pradesh
society has grown inclusive and
THUMBNAILS connected. “As a market, India
is getting seamless. Proce-
dures are being simplified.
Today, India is carrying out
reforms not out of compulsion,
but out of conviction,” he
said.
The PM said that every
MANOJ BHADRA robust partnership between the credible voice in the world was
LUCKNOW, 10 FEBRUARY resolve of the ‘double-engine’ optimistic about the ascend-
government and the possi- ing course of the Indian econ-
rime Minister Naren- bilities in the state, he urged
Bharat trains
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
MUMBAI, 10 FEBRUARY
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi flagged off two new
Vande Bharat Express trains
linking Mumbai with Solapur
and Sainagar Shirdi, amid
cheers and clapping from
the passengers and the audi-
ences, here on Friday.
Landing here this after-
noon at INS Shikra, the Prime
Minister drove to the World
Heritage Chhatrapati Shiva-
ji Maharaj Terminus and
Friday inquired from
the market regulator
Securities and Exchange
Board of India (SEBI) on
what is being contem-
plated to put in place a
“robust” regulatory mech-
anism to protect the interest of
investors from any future stock mar-
ket crash as has happened in the
case of the Adani Group in the past
two weeks.
Asking the SEBI to file a “brief
note on legal and factual aspects”
of the issue, including what is
being done to strengthen the secu-
rities market regulatory mechanism
to ensure that Indian investor are
protected from certain volatility wit-
making it clear that
it was in a larger
issue of protecting
investors interest.
It was clear that
the court was not going
to make the hearing
focused just on the loss
suffered by the investors in the wake
of the Adani Group’s stock mar-
ket fiasco but would look at the issue
in a larger context with the future
in mind.The court noted that India
in 2023 was not what it was in 1990s
and with change in economic
regime and facts, all spectrum of
people are investing in stock mar-
ket and not just the well-off sec-
tions as was in the past.The court

P
dra Modi today inau-
gurated the Uttar
Pradesh Global
Investors Summit 2023 with a
A view of a snow-covered residential area of call to industry giants of the
Rashel village that witnesses heavy snowfall, in country and abroad to invest
Lahaul and Spiti on Friday. � ANI in the state, which, he said, was
now known for good gover-
NEET-PG to be held on 5 nance, better law and order sit-
March, says Mandaviya: uation, peace and stabili-
The National Eligibility cum ty.“New opportunities for
Entrance Test-Postgradu- wealth creators are being made
ate (NEET PG 2023) will be here,” the PM said while draw-
conducted as per the ing attention to the unwant-
schedule date on 5 March, ed tags like under-develop-
Union health minister Man- ment, BIMARU, and the poor
sukh Mandaviya informed the Lok Sabha on Fri- law and order situation that
day. Mandaviya said that the decision to not were attached to Uttar Pradesh
postpone NEET PG 2023 has been taken to in the past. Scams worth thou-
streamline the process to avoid further delay sands of crores were unearthed
in the exam and counselling process caused on a daily basis in earlier
due to Covid-19. The minister was replying to a times, he noted.
question by Congress member Gaurav Gogoi. While highlighting the
the investors and industry
leaders to not waste any more
time and become a part of the
prosperity. “The prosperity of
the world lies in the prosper-
ity of India and your partici-
pation is very important in this
journey of prosperity,'' the
PM said while addressing the
gathering of top industrialists.
He underlined that Uttar
Pradesh has become a bright spot
for the nation just like India has
become a bright spot on the glob-
al stage. Mr Modi also stressed
that initiatives for development
of better infrastructure in UP were
bearing fruit.
He said very soon UP would
be known as the only state with
five international airports. A
freight corridor would connect
the state directly with the sea
omy as it has not only shown
resilience in the face of the pan-
demic and war but also rapid
recovery.
He emphasised that today
India, in real terms, has start-
ed moving on the path of
speed and scale as the basic
needs of a very large segment
have been met and they were
thinking ahead. “This is the
biggest reason for the trust in
India,” he added.
Talking about the Union
Budget, the PM underlined the
growing allocation for infra-
structure and talked about
opportunities for investors in
health, education and social
infrastructure. Similarly, he
invited the investor to the
opportunities in the green
growth path that India has
embraced.
showed the green flag to the
two swank new trains.Later,
PM Modi e-inaugurated the
Vakola-Kurla and MTNL-Lal
Bahadur Shastri elevated cor-
ridor arms of the Santacruz-
Chembur Link Road, a crit-
ical east-west connector.He
also pressed the button to
open a new vehicular under-
pass in Kurar village in Malad
suburb connecting the West-
ern Express Highway to ease
traffic congestion in that area
besides linking Kurar with
Malad station.
The Mumbai-Solapur
Vande Bharat train will trans-
port pilgrims to the famed
temples and religious sites of
Siddheshwar, Akkalkot, Tul-
japur, Pandharpur and even
Alandi in the vicinity.
nessed in recent two weeks, a
Bench of Chief Justice D Y Chan-
drachud ,Justices P S Narasimha
and J B Pardiwala gave the SEBI till
13 February to file its response.
Besides the legal and factual
matrix, the court said: “The response
can contain existing regulatory
framework, the relevant causal
factors, and the need for putting
into place robust mechanism to pro-
tect investors. If the union is ready
to accept the suggestion, the nec-
essary recommendation of the
committee may be made.”
The court also permitted the
securities market regulator to
communicate with the Finance
Ministry on the issue.
The court also indicated that it
may constitute a committee of
experts dealing with the securities
market and international banking.
posted the matter for hearing on
13 February 2023.
The top court was hearing two
public interest litigation by advo-
cate petitioners Manohar Lal Shar-
ma and Vishal Tiwari seeking a
probe into the Hindenburg
Research Report relating to the
Adani Group.
Mr Tiwari in his PIL has said that
the Hindenburg Research Report
on the Adani Group has “tarnished
the image of the country” and has
caused loss to the investors who
had invested their lifes’ savings in
the stock market.
He has sought directions to the
Centre to constitute a committee to
inquire into the Hindenburg Research
Report, and also sought direction for
setting up of a committee to over-
see the sanction of loans above Rs.
500 crores to big corporates.

Budget balances devp imperatives
within fiscal prudence limits: FM
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 10 FEBRUARY
Finance minister Nirmala
Sitharaman (in photo) today
said the Union Budget 2023-
24 balances the requirements
of India's development imper-
atives within the limits of fis-
cal prudence, without com-
promising on India's growth
potential, while government’s
steps have brought down con-
sumer inflation at tolerance
level of below six per cent.
Replying to a general dis-
cussion on the Budget in the
Lok Sabha, she said that in spite
of the difficult times the coun-
try had faced due to the Covid-
19 pandemic and the Ukraine
war, the Indian economy was
still the fastest growing major
economy in the world and
would continue to be so in the
coming financial year.
Mrs Sitharaman said the
Budget has provided Rs 17.98
lakh crore to be transferred to
States during 2023-24. This
would be Rs 1.55 lakh crore
higher than the revised amount
for the current financial year
(2022-23). It would be Rs 2.91
lakh crore more than the actu-
al 2021-22 expenditure also,
she said. Realising the multi-
plier effect of capital expen-
diture (Capex) on jobs and eco-
nomic activity, the Budget
has provided a record Capex
allocation of Rs 10 lakh crore,
she said. Capex was Rs 3.39 lakh
crore in 2019-20, and Rs 2.91
lakh crore in the last full Bud-
get of UPA rule in 2013-14. The
finance minister said the
States will be partners in this
massive capital expenditure
exercise and the Budget has
provided Rs 1.30 lakh crore for
interest-free 50-year loans to
the States. The States' inter-
ests have been kept in mind,
she said.
She said growth in 2023-24
will be maintained with poli-
cies like PM Gatishakti, Nation-
al Logistics Policy and the
PLI Scheme, along with coop-
erative federalism empow-
ering the States. The Finance
Minister said the economy was
deeply affected by the pan-
demic and the government
opted for the Capex route as
it could generate jobs, triggering
better incomes and con-
sumption. The method was
considered better than the
path recommended by some
economists who wanted
money to be put in the hands
of consumers with much less
possibilities of the multiplier
effect.
Listing the Budget priori-
ties, the finance minister said
for the middle class, a new tax
regime has been proposed
with no tax for income less than
Rs 7 lakh. Doubling of invest-
ment from Rs 15 lakh to Rs 30
lakh has been allowed for the
senior citizens' savings scheme
and there is increase in the
monthly income scheme limit
too with high interest rates. A
new 7.50 per cent interest
saving scheme for women
and girls with two year term
has been announced. There
were similar positive initiatives
for employment, MSMEs,
agriculture and health.
She said there was no
reduction in MGNREGA allo-
cation. In fact, the Budget
estimates were every year
were surpassed by the actu-
al expenditure, she said, cit-
ing figures from the past three
financial years. She told MPs
from West Bengal that no
funds were held up for the State.
Centre notifies Travel norms relaxed for passengers
appointment of from China, five other nations
2 more SC judges
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 10 FEBRUARY
The Centre on Friday noti-
fied the appointment of Jus-
tice Rajesh Bindal, Chief Jus-
tice of Allahabad High Court,
and Justice Aravind Kumar,
Chief Justice of Gujarat High
Court as judges of the
Supreme Court.
The Union law minister
Kiren Rijiju took to Twitter
to announce the fresh
appointments to the top
court and extended his best
wishes to them.The names
of Justices Rajesh Bindal and
Aravind Kumar were rec-
ommended by the Supreme
Court collegium for eleva-
tion as judges of the top
court on 31 January 2023.
Both Justices Bindal and
Kumar are likely to be admin-
istered the oath of the office
early next week, most likely
on 13 February. After both
are sworn in, the Supreme
Court will have its full sanc-
tioned strength of 34 judges.
The Department of Jus-
tice in the Union law min-
istry issued separate notifi-
cations announcing their
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 10 FEBRUARY
for International Arrivals’,the
Health Ministry has dropped
the existing requirements of
proactive yet graded public
health response to Covid-19
management has been updat-
The Union government has pre-departure Covid-19 test- ing ‘Guidelines for Interna-
� The Centre notified relaxed the travel norms for ing and uploading of Self- tional Arrivals’ from time to
the appointment of Jus- passengers coming from six
tice Rajesh Bindal, Chief Health Declaration for inter- time.
Justice of Allahabad High countries, including China, to national travellers coming “In the last update, based
Court, and Justice Aravind India from 13 February as from/via China, Singapore, on the increasing trajectory
Kumar, Chief Justice of these six countries are wit- Hong Kong, South Korea, of Covid-19 and circulation of
Gujarat High Court as nessing a sustained and sig- Thailand, and Japan. The new mutant variants of the SARS-
judges of the SC nificant decline in the trajectory arrangement will come into CoV-2 virus in some countries,
of Covid cases in the last four practice from 11 a.m. on Mon- the Ministry had mandated
� Both Justices Bindal and weeks. day. requirements of pre-departure
Kumar are likely to be However, the random test- In a letter to the Civil Avi- Covid-19 testing and upload-
administered the oath ing of 2 per cent of travellers ation Ministry, Union Health ing of Self-Health Declaration
of the office early next coming to India will contin- Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on the Ministry of Civil Avi-
week, most likely on 13 ue. said the Ministry of Health & ation’s ‘Air Suvidha’ Portal,”
February. After both are Updating the ‘Guidelines Family Welfare as a part of its the letter reads.
sworn in, the SC Court will
have its full sanctioned
strength of 34 judges
appointments.
Last week, five judges
were appointed to the
Supreme Court and they
were administered oath on
6 February.
While all five members of
the Collegium, headed by
Chief Justice D.Y.Chandra-
chud were unanimous in
recommending the name of
Justice Bindal, Justice K. M.
Joseph had reservations on the
name of Justice Kumar on the
ground that his name can be
considered at a later stage.

ISRO’s SSLV-D2 mission completed, 3 satellites put in orbit

SNS & AGENCIES
SRIHARIKOTA, 10 FEBRUARY
The Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO) on Friday
added one more satellite
launch vehicle to its stable with
its Small Satellite Launch
Vehicle SSLV-D2 successful-
ly orbiting three satellites.
On its second develop-
mental flight the SSLV-D2
put into orbit an earth obser-
vation satellite EOS-07 weigh-
ing about 156.3 kg and two oth-
ers - 10.2 kg Janus-1 belong-
ing to ANTARIS of the US and
8.7 kg AzaadiSat-2 belonging
to Space Kidz India, Chen-
nai.Speaking after the suc-
cessful launch, S Somanath,
chairman, ISRO said the coun-
try now has one more rocket
to launch satellites.Later this
and the rocket has reached the
intended destination today
(Friday)."He said last year's
SSLV-D1 mission had a small
problem. Detailed analysis
was carried out and corrective
actions were taken.
“In the shortest period we
came out with a new satellite
separation system and guid-
ance system,” Mr Vinod added.
Looking forward, Mr
Somanath said the space
ISRO launches the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle-SSLV-D2 from
agency is gearing up for anoth-
the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, in Sriharikota on Friday. �ANI er commercial satellite launch
with its Polar Satellite Launch
year, ISRO will launch a nav- failed maiden SSLV-D1 mis- Vehicle (PSLV) by the end of
igation satellite with its GSLV sion last year, Mr Somanath March.Mr Somanath also said
rocket."The SSLV-D2 rocket said: “We had a narrow miss. ISRO will launch 36 satellites
has launched the three satel- We have implemented cor- of the UK-based OneWeb.
lites successfully. The orbit rective measures.”Mr SVinod, According to him, the land-
achieved was good. All the rock- Mission Director, said India ing experiment for ISRO's
et systems worked well," said has a new satellite launch reusable launch vehicle will be
the chairman.Recalling the vehicle.“It all started in 2018 carried out and the year-end
will see the launch of NISAR
satellite, a joint project of
India and the US.
India's newest rocket, the
34-metre tall and weighing 120
ton SSLV-D2 blasted off from
the first launch pad at the
Sriharikota rocket port.
The rocket's total carrying
capacity was 500 kg to Low
Earth Orbit (LEO). But the
SSLV-D2 had a total payload
of 175.2 kg.The three-staged
SSLV-D2 is primarily pow-
ered by solid fuel (total 99.2 ton)
and also has a velocity trim-
ming module powered by 0.05
ton of liquid fuel for precise
injection of satellites.About
13 minutes into its flight, the
SSLV rocket orbited EOS-07 and
soon after that the other two
satellites Janus-1 and AzaadiS-
AT-2 followed suit.
02 NEW DELHI, SATURDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2023
THUMBNAILS
Illegal hoardings, banners
continue to deface Guru-
gram: A large number of ille-
gal hoardings and banners
deface the city's roads and
the Municipal Corporation of
Gurugram (MCG) has failed to
act against violators. The
lack of deterrent action on
the ground by the MCG has
only encouraged political
parties to deface the city's
landscape. The mushrooming
of illegal banners and hoard-
ings are seen all over Guru-
gram as officials are doing
little to stop the illegal
practice.
Delhi man booked for sub-
jecting his wife to cruelty:
Delhi Police booked a man
for allegedly subjecting his
wife to cruelty in Rohini dis-
trict, said an official on Fri-
day. A senior police official
said that on Thursday a
woman came to the Aman
Vihar police station and gave
a complaint alleging cruelty
by her husband, a resident
of Balbir Vihar. "Thereafter
an NGO counsellor was called
and she was counselled.
From the contents of the
complaint, matter is found
to be of matrimonial
dispute.
2 Nigerians arrested for
duping women via dating
app: A Cyber Crime team of
the Gurugram Police arrest-
ed two Nigerian nations for
duping women through a
dating app, authorities said
on Friday. In connection
with an incident matter on
January 14, a woman filed a
complaint that she came in
contact with a man named
Alex through the app who
had claimed that he was a
pilot and a German citizen.
The victim told the police
that Alex asked her for Rs
40,0000 to buy saffron, but
she transferred only Rs
15,000. A few days later,
Alex told her that he was
coming to India to meet
her and asked for Rs
39,700, saying that he was
caught by the Customs at
the airport due to excess
cash and expensive goods.
This time she transferred
the money. Later, he
demanded more money
from the victim and also
threatened to edit her pho-
tos and make them viral on
social media if she did
not pay.
Delhi HC seeks police report on sale
& supply of ‘banned’ Chinese manjha
AGENCIES
NEW DELHI, 10 FEBRUARY
On account of supply of 'Chi-
nese manjha' (kite string)
even after its ban, the Delhi
High Court on Friday direct-
ed the Police Crime Branch to
submit a comprehensive sta-
tus report investigating the
manufacturers and importers
supplying the material to the
traders.
A single-judge bench of
Justice Prathiba M. Singh,
who was dealing with a bunch
of similar pleas while seeking
status of all the related FIRs
in the city, also sought details
of the marketers still selling the
manjha.
Justice Singh said that the
report also has to state whether
any legal action has been
taken against the public, such
as Tehsildars and SDMs, who
have a responsibility to carry
Snatcher couple arrested in Delhi’s Uttam Nagar
AGENCIES
NEW DELHI, 10 FEBRUARY
A husband and wife duo
involved in snatching were
arrested from New Delhi's
Uttam Nagar area, the Delhi
Police said on Friday.
The arrested duo have
been identified as Karan (27
years) and his wife Gauri (23
years). One receiver identified
as Saddam has also been
nabbed by the police on the
instance of the couple.
According to Deputy Com-
missioner of Police (DCP)
West Ghanshyam Bansal, on
Jan 6, a PCR call was received
at Police Station Vikaspuri
that a mobile phone of a
woman had been snatched by
a man and a woman riding a
white coloured scooty.
Subsequently, a case under
section 379 of the Indian
Penal Code (IPC) was regis-
Delhi govt to provide
sewer connections in Badli
Sisodia said Delhi govt is working in a phased manner towards better sewerage management
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 10 FEBRUARY
eputy Chief Minis-
D
ter Manish Sisodia
has approved the
Delhi Jal Board's
plan to provide sewer line con-
nections to all houses in one
village including 14 colonies
in the Badli Assembly con-
stituency.
After the completion of this
project worth Rs 28 crore,
about 1.3 lakh people in the
colonies and villages of the
area will get relief from sewer
problems. Sisodia said, “Delhi
Jal Board has decided to con-
nect sewer connections of dif-
ferent houses in the Badli
Assembly constituency.
Around 27,740 house sewer
connections will be added
here. With this, about 1.3
lakh people of 1 village includ-
ing 14 colonies of the area will
get relief from the sewer
problem.”
He added that after the
completion of the sewer con-
nection work in the area, the
residents of the colonies will
Ghaziabad: Action taken against minors
riding two-wheelers, 91 vehicles seized
AGENCIES
GHAZIABAD, 10 FEBRUARY
The Ghaziabad traffic police
during a drive against minors
riding two-wheelers in the city
has registered FIRs against
their parents and vehicle
owners in various police sta-
tions. The police has also
seized 91 such vehicles in
the last week.
out the orders prohibiting
the sale and production of Chi-
nese manjha.
"Let the compliance of the
directions be carried within six
weeks," the court said.
tered.
During the course of the
investigation, the team
scanned dossiers and also
collected inputs from inform-
ers. On the collective assess-
ment of CCTV footage and
information network, it was
revealed that the couple
snatcher is residing in the
get relief from sewer problems
as well as a clean and pollu-
tion-free environment.
Sisodia said the Delhi gov-
ernment is working in a
phased manner towards bet-
ter sewerage management
and ensuring 24-hour water
supply across the National
Capital.
He added, “In order to
Among the FIRs, 12 have
been lodged in Kavinagar
police station, 8 in Nand-
gram, 10 in Kotwali, 4 in Vijay
Nagar and 13 in Sahibabad,
among others.
Additional DCP Traffic
Ramanand Kushwaha held a
meeting with the staff before
starting the drive.
Kushwaha said that any-
one under the age of 18 can-
To the Arvind Kejriwal-
led government, the judge
directed to again alert the
Police, DMs, SDMs, Tehsildars,
and other officials of the ban
on Chinese manjha.
area of Shiv Vihar in Uttam
Nagar, the police said.
Accordingly, the team and
an informer reached the res-
idence of the couple snatch-
er and apprehended them.
The DCP said, "During the
preliminary investigation,
one stolen scooty, one Button
Actuated Knife and three
mobile phones stolen from the
Vikaspuri area were recovered
from their possession."
"On sustained interroga-
tion, it was revealed that the
couple had been consistent-
ly committing theft and were
involved in snatching inci-
dents.
They had previously been
arrested in several cases. While
Saddam is accused in almost
15 cases of stolen property,
theft and snatching," the DCP
added.
Further investigation is in
progress, the police informed.
All that UP lacked before are now available.
make the Yamuna clean and
the environment better, it is
necessary to extend sewer
lines and provide connections
to every household."
Sisodia said in the Badli
assembly constituency, the
Delhi Jal Board will extend the
domestic sewer connection
line to the houses of the con-
sumers of the area, so that
not drive vehicles. In case of
such incidents, under section
199 (A) of the Motor Vehicle
Act, the registered owner of
the vehicle may be punished
with a fine of Rs 25,000 or
imprisonment for three years
and cancellation of the vehi-
cle registration for one year.
He added that there is
also a provision of not issu-
ing a license to the juvenile
riding the vehicle till the age
of 25.
Apart from this, the traf-
fic police is also taking action
against those who drive vehi-
cles without obtaining a
license, despite crossing the
age of 18. In such cases, chal-
lans have been issued to 149
vehicles. The traffic police is
visiting schools and colleges
to make students aware of traf-
fic rules.
Kushwaha said that a study
on road accidents revealed that
a large proportion of minors
ride vehicles which is a mat-
ter of concern.
In order to determine
whether shop owners are reg-
ularly informed of the ban, the
court ordered the authorities
to conduct appropriate mar-
ket inspections and to issue
traders with stern warnings that
harsh action will be taken
against them if the prohibit-
ed material is discovered to be
sold in their establishments.
The court further ordered
Delhi Police to determine if it
would be feasible to issue an
advisory regarding the usage
of plastic guards on bikes to
protect riders from Chinese
manjha. The court directed the
government to file a further
affidavit about the award of
compensation to petitioners.
The court listed the mat-
ter to continue on April 12.
It is to be noted that as per
section 94 of the Delhi Police
Act, 1978 where it is provid-
ed that, "Prohibition against
G-20 Food Festival with taste of world cuisine
at Talkatora Stadium from February 11-12
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 10 FEBRUARY
New Delhi Municipal Coun-
cil (NDMC) is going to organ-
ise G-20 International Food
Festival on the theme of "Taste
the World" and "Interna-
tional year of Millets" at Talk-
atora Stadium in the Nation-
al Capital from February 11-
12 under the one roof.
The G-20 International
Food Festival will be inau-
gurated by Union Housing and
Urban Affairs Minister Hard-
eep Singh Puri on Saturday at
11:30 am, Kuljeet Singh Cha-
hal, Member NDMC, informed
the media persons here today.
Chahal further informed
that the four G-20 countries
people do not have to face
sewer problems.
Along with this, there is no
need to take approval from
the agencies concerned for
the sewer line connection, he
said.
Sisodia said, “Under the
leadership of Chief Minister
Arvind Kejriwal, the Delhi
government has been able to
supply free drinking water and
the sewerage management
has also been improved. In
this sequence, the Delhi Gov-
ernment is giving free sewer
connections in unauthorised
colonies. This scheme will
prove to be important in
sewage management and
cleaning of the Yamuna pro-
ject.
"Earlier getting a sewer
connection was very expen-
sive. To get a sewer connec-
tion, people had to pay devel-
opment, connection, and
road-cutting charges. Chief
Minister Arvind Kejriwal has
made it free and lakhs of
people are taking advantage
of it,” the Deputy Chief Min-
ister said.
AAP govt to set up Optometry training
wing at Guru Nanak Eye Care Centre
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 10 FEBRUARY
The Delhi government has
decided to set up an Optom-
etry training wing at the Guru
Nanak Eye Care Centre in the
National Capital.
Under this, a four-year
Bachelors of Optometry degree
will be offered to medical stu-
dents by the Optometry Train-
ing Wing.
The objective of the insti-
tute is to provide quality eye
care services to the people of
Delhi by training students
and providing support to carry
out screening activities for
community programmes, as
well as national programmes.
Deputy Chief Minister
Manish Sisodia said, “Eyes are
a very delicate & crucial part
of the human anatomy. In the
digital era, many people are
suffering from chronic eye
diseases due to the excessive
use of electronic devices such
flying kites, etc. -- No person
shall fly a kite or any other thing
so as to cause danger, injury
or alarm to persons, animals
or property."
In 2017, the National Green
Tribunal (NGT) imposed a
complete ban on the manu-
facture, distribution, sale, and
use of nylon or any synthet-
ic manjha or thread holding
that it is the same as lethal in
nature and non-biodegradable.
The HC on August 4, 2022,
had asked the Police to inform
the court about the steps it has
taken to implement the NGT
order banning Chinese Man-
jha used for flying kites.
A division bench headed by
Chief Justice Satish Chandra
Sharma dealt with a public
interest litigation expressing
safety concerns over the alleged
use of Chinese manjha and a
complete ban on kite flying and
related activities.
like China, Turkey, Japan and
Mexico are participating in the
G-20 International Food Fes-
tival with their national
cuisines.
He said signatures cuisines
AMIT SHAH
UNION HOME MINISTER
Delhi HC to hear plea against
Sharjeel Imam & others on 13 Feb
AGENCIES
NEW DELHI, 10 FEBRUARY
The Delhi High court on Fri-
day allowed the urgent listing
of plea moved by Delhi Police
against the discharge of 11 per-
sons including student activists
Sharjeel Imam, Asif Iqbal
Tanha, Safoora Zargar, who
were previously accused in
2019 Jamia Millia Islamia
(JMI) University Violence.
The division bench head-
ed by chief justice Satish
Chandra Sharma allowed the
urgent listing of the matter for
hearing on Monday, which was
mentioned by Solicitor Gen-
eral Tushar Mehta. The plea
against the persons previ-
ously accused in Jamia Vio-
lence was moved by the Delhi
Police after the Saket Court in
the national capital discharged
them on Saturday (February
4) and directed to frame
charges against Mohd. Iliyas
alias Allen in the matter.
The Saket court had made
serious remarks in the case dur-
ing the hearing last week and
said that the Sharjeel Imam
and others were made scape-
goats in the matter.
The court had said that
police had no evidence against
as TVs, laptops and cellular
devices. Under such condi-
tions, there is a demand for
Optometry experts in the
country as well as across the
world. Keeping this in mind,
the Kejriwal Government is set-
ting up an Optometry train-
ing wing to provide basic eye
care services by trained
optometrists to the citizens of
Delhi."
The four-year Bachelors of
Optometry degree will be
offered by the Optometry
Training Wing, he said.
Delhi HC judge miffed over lawyers
taking court proceedings casually
AGENCIES
NEW DELHI, 10 FEBRUARY
Justice Pratibha M. Singh of
the Delhi High Court on Fri-
day expressed displeasure
over how many benches allow-
ing virtual appearance of
lawyers has led to many ?faux
pas and is becoming a mat-
ter of concern for many judges.
She said that some lawyers
appearing through video con-
ference are disturbing the
from 14 states/UTs of India
like Gujarat, Tamil Nadu,
Telangana, Delhi, Bihar, Pun-
jab, Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh,
Kerala, Maharashtra, Kar-
nataka, Rajasthan, Manipur
the said accused persons and
discharged them.
This case pertains to vio-
lence in Jamia and surrounding
areas in December 2019, which
erupted after a clash between
the people protesting against
Citizenship Amendment Act
(CAA) and the police.
Notably, Sharjeel Imam
was granted bail in 2021 and
was discharged on February
4 with other activists lodged
in the Tihar Jail.
The Delhi Police registered
a case at Jamia Nagar Police
Station in connection with the
violence that broke out on
December 13, 2019, and
The Guru Nanak Eye Cen-
tre is a training institute for
graduate programmes, affil-
iated with the Maulana Azad
Medical College and Delhi
University, with an intake of
15 students every year.
Sisodia informed that the
degree is a graduate course in
Optometry, which includes a
one-year internship as part of
a 4-year course programme
with a focus on eye care ser-
vices.
At present, Dr Rajendra
Prasad Centre for Ophthal-
court proceedings repeated-
ly.
If this keeps happening, the
judge said, the court will need
to enact some strict mea-
sures, and those who keep
repeating it won't be per-
mitted to appear remotely.
She said: "We will get their
enrolment number and say
that these people will not be
allowed a virtual hearing."
In a series of mishappen-
ings during the court pro-
and Meghalaya will be avail-
able for the public.
He said 11 hotels are also
participating in the the Food
Festival.
Ministry of Agriculture will
named 12 persons accused in
the case.
The police registered the
alleged offence of rioting and
unlawful assembly and Sec-
tions 143, 147, 148, 149, 186,
353, 332, 333, 308, 427, 435, 323,
341, 120B and 34 of the Indi-
an Penal Code (IPC) were
invoked in the First Informa-
tion Report (FIR).
However, Imam will remain
in custody as he is accused in
a larger conspiracy or a Delhi
riots case and a sedition case.
His bail in larger conspir-
acy case and sedition case was
dismissed by the Karkar-
dooma court.
mology in Delhi is the only Gov-
ernment Institute besides the
All India Institute of Medical
Sciences (AIIMS) and the Gov-
ernment Medical College,
Chandigarh to offer a four-year
degree course in Optometry.
Students who have stud-
ied and graduated from the Sci-
ence stream in class 12th can
apply for admission to the
Bachelors of Optometry course.
For admission to Guru
Nanak Eye Care Centre, stu-
dents have to pass the entrance
test. It takes four years to
complete the Bachelors of
Optometry degree. Out of
these four years, three years
are devoted to academic train-
ing, while the last year is ded-
icated to an internship for
practical learning. In this
course, all subjects related to
the eyes are taught in detail.
Admissions will take place
for 20 seats in the first batch
at the Guru Nanak Eye Care
Centre.
ceedings, a lawyer asked the
court whose matter was going
on when he appeared through
VC. A lawyer had previously
logged in using two devices,
which resulted in an echo.
In another instance, the
counsel was not aware of the
matter she was appearing in.
Following all of this, the
court observed that the pro-
ceedings had turned into a
joke.
Mentioning how people
can be seen walking in parks
and logging into hearings
while standing in corridors,
Justice Singh said: "They are
not even sitting in their offices.
None of them have any papers.
The court has to tell them if
their matter is passed over. We
have to repeat the dates three
times."
However, many judges
also ask lawyers to be phys-
ically present if the matter
requires a detailed hearing.
The G-20 International
Food Festival will be
inaugurated by Union
Housing and Urban
Affairs Minister Hard-
eep Singh Puri on Sat-
urday at 11:30 am, Kul-
jeet Singh Chahal,
Member NDMC,
informed the media
persons here today.
also put up 8 stalls in the
Food Festival on the theme of
international year of Millets,
he informed.
Mother dairy will also be
presenting its Milk products,
Chahal added.

THUMBNAILS
Haryana to apply dress
code in all govt health facil-
ities: Haryana health and
family welfare minister
Anil Vij on Friday said a
dress code will now be
applicable for all staff
working in the state gov-
ernment-run health facili-
ties. Speaking to reporters
today, the minister said he
had recently given direc-
tion to make uniform
mandatory in all medical
facilities of Haryana. He
said it will now be manda-
tory for every employee to
wear proper uniform and
the designing of the uni-
form is in the final stage.
Forest Guard held for tak-
ing Rs 15,000 bribe: The
Punjab Vigilance Bureau
(VB) on Friday nabbed a
forest guard Munish
Kumar, posted at Malerkot-
la and residing at Sunam
road Sangrur red handed
for accepting a bribe of Rs
15,000. A spokesperson of
VB said the above said for-
est official has been arrest-
ed on the complaint of
Nirbhey Singh, resident of
village Burj, Malerkotla dis-
trict.
Drone dropped parcel containing 3 kg
Heroin, pistol recovered from border
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
CHANDIGARH, 10 FEBRUARY
Punjab Police in joint oper-
ation with Border Security
Force (BSF) has recovered a
parcel containing three pack-
ets of Heroin, weighing three
kilogram, and 0.30 bore pis-
tol along with magazine and
five live cartridges from the
border area of village Mian-
wal in Tarn Taran.
The consignment was air-
dropped by the Pak-based
smugglers using a drone from
across the border, the Direc-
tor General of Police (DGP)
Punjab Gaurav Yadav said
on Friday.
He said on information pro-
vided by a civilian on hearing
drone movement in Indo-
Pak border in Khemkaran
area on the intervening night
Cong slaps showcause notice to tribal veteran Arvind Netam
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
RAIPUR, 10 FEBRUARY
Weeks after Bhanupratap-
pur bypoll, the Congress
seems to have woken up to
wrest control of its dwin-
dling internal discipline, with
the grand old party slapping
a show cause notice to trib-
al veteran Arvind Netam for
his alleged anti-party activi-
ties.
Congress Disciplinary
Committee chief Tariq Anwar
Challenge to practice of excommunication in
Dawoodi Bohra community goes to 9-judge bench
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 10 FEBRUARY
The Supreme Court on Fri-
day referred to a larger nine-
judge bench pleas challeng-
ing the practice of excom-
munication in the Dawoodi
Bohra community and
whether it could be treated
as a “protected practice” in
the face of the Maharashtra
law that outlaws such prac-
tices.
A five-judge Constitution
bench of Justice Sanjay Kis-
han Kaul, Justice Sanjiv Khan-
na, Justice A.S. Oka, Justice
Vikram Nath and Justice J.K.
Maheshwari said that a nine-
judge bench constituted to
decide the correctness of the
Sabarimala judgement of
September 28, 2018 will also
decide whether the practice
of excommunication in the
Dawoodi Bohra community
survive despite the Maha-
rashtra Protection of People
from Social Boycott (Pre-
vention, Prohibition and
Redressal) Act, 2016.
Besides Sabarimala issue,
the nine-judge bench is seized
of the larger question of the
legality and essentially of
religious belief and practices
prohibiting the entry of
women in mosques and tem-
ples, genital mutilation in
Dawoodi Bohras and the ban
on the entry of Parsi woman
in the fire temple after she has
SC thrashes Hindu Sena's plea
to ban BBC's India operations
Earlier this month, the top court, acting on pleas of N.Ram and others, had asked the Centre
to produce original records related to its decision to block the BBC documentary on PM Modi
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 10 FEBRUARY
he Supreme Court
T
on Friday dismissed
as “entirely miscon-
ceived” a plea by
Hindu Sena President Vish-
nu Gupta seeking complete
ban on the British Broad-
casting Corporation (BBC)
and BBC India’s operations
in India for airing the docu-
mentary ‘India: The Modi
Question’ relating to the
2002 Gujarat riots.
Thrashing the plea by
Hindu Sena president Vish-
nu Gupta, a bench of Justice
Sanjiv Khanna and Justice
M.M. Sundresh said, “"Com-
pletely misconceived, how
can this be argued also? You
want us to put complete
censorship… What is this?”
Seeking ban on BBC oper-
of Thursday and Friday, police
teams from Tarn Taran dis-
trict immediately shared the
pin-pointed inputs with the
BSF and jointly launched a
combing operation in the
area, which was within the
radius of one kilometer from
the Indo-Pak border.
“On deep checking of the
surrounding fields, police
and BSF teams have suc-
cessfully recovered the con-
signment of three kilogram
heroin and a pistol along
with ammunition from the
area of Mianwal,” the DGP
said. This recovery came a day
issued a show cause notice to
former union minister Netam
for his alleged anti-party
activities during the
Bhanupratappur bypoll held
on 5 December. He, several
party leaders accused, was
instrumental in fielding Sarva
Adivasi Samaj candidate Akbar
Ram Korram who secured
more than 23 thousand votes.
Interestingly, a similar notice
has also been served to PCC
General Secretary Amarjeet
Chawala who is considered
married outside the Parsi
community. The five-judge
constitution bench was in
the course of the hearing of
an earlier reference by a
three-judge bench was told
to wait for a nine-judge bench
decision in the Sabarimala
matter or refer the present case
also to a nine-judge bench.
In the course of the hear-
ing by the five-judge bench
on challenge to practice of
excommunication in Dawoo-
di Bohra community, Solic-
itor General Tushar Mehta
appearing for Maharashtra,
had told the bench that this
case should be tagged along
with Sabrimala case before the
nine-judge bench.
The Solicitor General had
told the court that the recon-
sideration of the 1962 judg-
ment, which was also rendered
by five judges, may not be pos-
sible by a bench of the same
strength.
In 1962 a five-judge con-
stitution bench of the top
Adress code will now be applicable for all staff working in the
state government-run health facilities...
ation in India, Hindu Sena
President Vishnu Gupta
alleged that the British Broad-
casting Corporation was tak-
after the Punjab Police arrest-
ed a juvenile after recovering
15 packets of heroin, weigh-
ing 15 kilogram, and Rs 8.40
lakh drug money from his pos-
session during a special naka
at Ram Tirath Road in Amrit-
sar. This consignment was also
airdropped by Pak-based
smugglers using a drone and
the accused was going to
deliver after retrieving the
parcel from the border area
of village Kakkar in Amritsar.
Sharing more details,
Senior Superintendent of
Police (SSP) Tarn Taran
Gurmeet Chauhan said that
investigations are on to ascer-
tain the identity of the Pak
smugglers, who sent the con-
signment via drone, and also
their Indian associates, who
were to receive this air-
dropped consignment.
very close to PCC president
Mohan Markam, a Singh
Deo confidante.
Netam, who had been a
Loksabha MP from Kanker in
north Bastar for five terms is
at loggerheads with Chief
Minister Bhupesh Baghel for
quite a long time now. He has
on several occasions slammed
Baghel government for its
policies and actions on issues
critical to tribal lives and
environment. The 81 year
old tribal veteran turned his
court had regarded excom-
munication as a legitimate
practice of a community that
had to be protected under Arti-
cle 26 of the Constitution,
which grants individuals the
freedom to manage religious
affairs.
Senior advocate Fali Nari-
man appearing for one of
the parties in the case had also
submitted that the matter
should be deferred till the nine-
judge bench gives its ver-
dict.
The top court had then
reserved its verdict.
Earlier, the bench had
decided to examine whether
the practice of excommuni-
cation in the community can
continue as a "protected
practice" despite the Maha-
rashtra Protection of People
from Social Boycott (Pre-
vention, Prohibition and
Redressal) Act of 2016 have
already come into force.
Nariman had said that the
questions posed in the case
HARYANA HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE MINISTER
ing an “anti-India” position.
The PIL by Gupta also
sought direction to the NIA
to initiate a probe against the
TMC leader Abhishek
addresses rally in Tripura
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
KOLKATA, 10 FEBRUARY
Abhishek Banerjee, Trinamul
Congress national general sec-
retary urged people to put up
resistance and defeat the
BJP in the forthcoming
Assembly election. He
addressed a rally at Kamalpur
in Tripura today. Mr Baner-
jee said “ time has come to
defeat those who speak about
double engine government.
The Tripura government has
not done any development
work in the past five years and
demanded that a report card
stating the achievement of the
BJP government should be
published. Give me one hour
time and I will come with a
report of the achievements
of West Bengal government
in the past five years.”
Mr Banerjee alleged that
the BJP was mortally scared
back on the Baghel dispen-
sation when it became amply
clear that CM had no regard
left either for Mr Netam or
the issues he was raising, one
of his close confidantes told
‘The Statesman’.
When contacted, Netam
said that he has not received
the notice so far. He will
appropriately reply once he
gets it, he claimed.
The grand old party in
Chhattisgarh has been grap-
pling with an unprecedent-
have become "moot" with the
enforcement of the 2016 Act,
which has repealed the Bom-
bay Prevention of Excom-
munication Act of 1949.
“The 2016 Act provides
remedy to all victims of social
boycott. A complaint can be
lodged with the nearest Mag-
istrate in case of apprehen-
sion of social boycott by a reli-
gious body. If any member of
a community is subject to
ostracisation, please file a
complaint. Excommunica-
tion is not legally feasible
now," Nariman had said.
Senior advocate Siddharth
Aggarwal, appeared for the
petitioners, however, had
said that a general law on social
boycott may not protect the
Bohra community members
facing excommunication.
Aggarwal had said that
the 2016 Act was a Maha-
rashtra law and the "practice
may not be confined to Maha-
rashtra".
The Constitution bench
was hearing a case filed by the
Central Board of Dawoodi
Bohra Community in 1986 to
re-consider and over-rule
the 1962 judgment of anoth-
er five-judge bench.
The 1962 judgment came
on a challenge by Syedna
Taher Saifuddin, the head of
Dawoodi Bohra Communi-
ty to Bombay Prevention of
Excommunication Act, 1949
on the ground that the pro-
ANIL VIJ
anti-India and anti-Indian-
government reporting/doc-
umentary films/short films
including its employee jour-
of Trinamul and even the
venue of the meeting had to
be changed following the
pressure of the BJP con-
trolled administration. “ Ear-
lier they had tacked our lead-
ers and even rooms were
not allotted to them in hotels.
BJP did all sorts of muscle flex-
ing to scare us. But we are here
to fight the election,” , he said.
The national general sec-
retary of Trinamul Congress
said the party had published
the election manifesto and
if voted to power, all the
promises made in the man-
ifesto wil be implemented.
He alleged that in the past five
years BJP had not done any-
thing to develop Tripura. “
There is mounting unem-
ployment and no infra-
structure development has
taken place in the state where
the law and order situation
is fast deteriorating.”
ed discord between several
Congress camps with signs of
uneasiness taking over the dis-
course within the party. Fur-
thermore, much hyped strife
for alleged Fifty-fifty power
sharing formula and the sub-
sequent marginalisation of
Health Minister T S Singh
Deo has not only reaffirmed
a disturbing one upmanship
of Baghel but has also severe-
ly diminished the suprema-
cy of Nehru-Gandhi dynasty
in the party.
visions of the Act infringe
Articles 25 and 26 of the Con-
stitution.
Syedna’s contention was
that the Act infringed upon
his constitutional freedom
of religion by curtailing his
right, as the religious head, to
discipline the community by
casting out "errant" members.
The 60-year-old verdict
of the top court had regard-
ed excommunication as a
legitimate practice of a com-
munity that had to be pro-
tected under Article 26 of the
Constitution, which grants
individuals the freedom to
manage religious affairs.
The Supreme Court had
concluded that the 1949 Act
was unconstitutional.
In 1949, in what was then
Bombay Province (that includ-
ed the states of Maharashtra
and Gujarat), the State gov-
ernment had passed the Bom-
bay Prevention of Excom-
munication Act, 1949, with the
objective to protect the civil,
social, and religious rights of
those excommunicated by
their own communities.
In 2016, the Maharashtra
Legislative Assembly passed
the Act identifying 16 types
of social ostracisation and
made them illegal, punishing
the perpetrators with impris-
onment for upto three years.
One among the 16 deals with
the expulsion of a member of
a community.
NEW DELHI, SATURDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2023
nalist in India and to submit
an inquiry report before the
apex court.
The PIL said the recent
BBC documentary on the
Prime Minister is “result of
a deep conspiracy against the
global rise of India and its
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi.”
Earlier, the apex court
had issued notice to the Cen-
tre and sought its response
on pleas seeking direction to
restrain the Central govern-
ment from censoring the
BBC documentary relating to
the 2002 Gujarat Riots.
Two part documentary
critical of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’s tenure as
Gujarat Chief Minister dur-
ing the State’s riots in 2002
sparked outrage and was
removed from select social
media platforms.
Himachal Pradesh to have chilling points
at cluster level for collection of milk : CM
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
SHIMLA, 10 FEBRUARY
Dairy sector in Himachal
Pradesh will be strength-
ened under National Pro-
gramme for Dairy Develop-
ment (NPDD), in a big way
said Chief Minister, Thakur
Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu in
a meeting with Union Min-
ister of Fisheries, Animal Hus-
bandry and Dairy, Parshot-
tam Rupala at New Delhi on
Friday.
He urged the Union Min-
ister for a dairy project for the
state in which components
of chilling, transportation
and dairy products were
available.
Chilling points would be
set up at cluster level in vil-
lages for collection and stor-
ing milk from the farmers and
thereafter it will be trans-
Canada-based terrorist's
associate held with 3
others & ammunition
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
CHANDIGARH, 10 FEBRUARY
Punjab Police on Friday
arrested an associate of Cana-
da-based terrorist Lakhbir
Singh alias Landa and his
three aides after recovering
four pistols along with ammu-
nition from their posses-
sion, said Director General
of Police (DGP) Punjab Gau-
rav Yadav.
The arrested key accused
has been identified as Vijay
Kumar alias Toti of village
Bhikha Nangal in Kartarpur,
Jalandhar, while his three
aides have been identified as
Amardeep Singh alias Patwari,
Sooraj Singh and Rahul
Lahoch, all residents of
Jalandhar.
The DGP said while all the
accused persons are histo-
ry-sheeters, the main accused
Vijay alias Toti has been fac-
ing as many as 18 criminal
cases pertaining to drugs, ille-
gal weapons, kidnapping
and extortion.
Yadav said acting on a reli-
able input that accused Vijay
along with his gang members
were hatching a conspiracy
to commit crime in Kar-
tarpur area, Police teams
from Jalandhar Rural prompt-
Foreign Secy Kwatra to
visit Nepal next week
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 10 FEBRUARY
Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwa-
tra will pay an official visit
to Nepal on 13-14 February
as part of regular high-level
exchanges between the two
countries.
The visit was simultane-
ously announced by the for-
eign ministries of the two
countries in New Delhi and
Kathmandu.
This will be the first stand-
alone visit of the top Indi-
an diplomat to Nepal since
he assumed charge. This
will also be first high-level
visit from India after Push-
pa Kamal Dahal assumed
office as Nepal's Prime Min-
ister on 25 December.
''The visit is in keeping
with the tradition of regu-
lar high-level exchanges
between the two countries
and the priority India attach-
es to its relations with Nepal
under its ‘Neighbourhood
First’ policy. During the
visit, the two foreign secre-
taries will hold discussions
on the entire range of mul-
ported through refrigerated
milk vans to the Mother plant
at district levels, said Sukhu.
"Emphasis will be laid for
making milk products so as
to ensure better price to the
farmers. To learn coopera-
tive mechanism skills, the
state will facilitate exposure
visits of the farmers to
Gujarat," he said, adding
that in India, dairying is rec-
ognized as an instrument
ly conducted special naka in
Durgi area of Jalandhar and
successfully arrested all the
four accused persons, who
were travelling on two motor-
cycles.
He said the Police
impounded both the motor-
cycles and have recovered
four pistols including two .32
bore country-made pistols
along with 10 live cartridges,
one 9 mm country-made
pistol along with two live
cartridges and one .12 bore
country-made pistol along
with one live cartridge from
their possession.
Divulging more details,
senior superintendent of
police (SSP) Jalandhar Rural
said that two of the arrested
accused persons were also
wanted by Kapurthala Police
in kidnapping case, where-
in they had abducted a res-
ident of Gaji Gadana village
in Kapurthala district and
sought Rs Three Crore as
ransom for his release.
03
tifaceted cooperation
between India and Nepal,''
the MEA said.
India has historical and
civilisational linkages with
Nepal, and bilateral coop-
eration between the two
countries has strengthened
in recent years, with sever-
al major infrastructure and
cross-border connectivity
projects completed with
India’s assistance.
The visit will be an oppor-
tunity to further advance
bilateral ties.
The foreign ministry of
Nepal said Kwatra and his
counterpart will review the
status of India-funded pro-
jects in Nepal as well as dis-
cuss various matters of bilat-
eral cooperation such as
connectivity, power trade,
agriculture, health and cul-
ture.
Kwatra will also call on
President Bidhya Devi Bhan-
dari, Prime Minister Dahal,
former Prime Ministers Sher
Bahadur Deuba and KP
Sharma Oli. He is expected
to formally invite Dahal to
visit India.
for social and economic
development.
"The process of procure-
ment, processing, and mar-
keting of milk and milk prod-
ucts through the state imple-
menting agency or state co-
operative dairy producer's
societies will be strength-
ened" said Sukhu, adding
that Animal husbandry and
dairying play significant and
integral role in strengthen-
ing the rural economy.
The Union Minister
assured for funding the pro-
ject as soon as the detailed
project report is received in
the Ministry, said the Chief
Minister.
The Chief Minister also
requested for releasing the
pending amount of about Rs.
15 crore to the state on
account of LiveStock Insur-
ance scheme.
‘My govt
committed to
ensure justice in
sacrilege &
firing incidents’
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
CHANDIGARH, 10 FEBRUARY
Appealing the family mem-
bers of 2015 Behbal Kalan
police firing victims and Sikh
organisations to lift the block-
ade of the Bathinda-Amrit-
sar national highway over
alleged failure of Punjab
government to deliver justice
in sacrilege and police inci-
dents, Chief Minister Bhag-
want Mann on Friday said
the state government is fully
committed to ensure jus-
tice in Behbal Kalan and
Kotkapura incidents.
In an appeal, the CM said
the firing incidents at Behbal
Kalan and Kotkapura along
with sacrilege of Guru Granth
Sahib at Bargari had bruised
the psyche of every human
being especially the Sikh
sangat. He said that justice
will prevail in both these
incidents and the perpetra-
tors of these heinous crimes
will not be spared at any
cost. Mann said that the
state government is already
leaving no stone unturned for
this noble cause and those
involved in these crimes will
be soon behind the bars.
04
We will make changes in the state secretariat so that it
reflects the Indian and Telangana culture... TENDER
BANDI SANJAY KUMAR
NEW DELHI, SATURDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2023
TELANGANA BJP PRESIDENT

T’gana MLA Health minister spars with

Karnataka Governor detained near DMK MPs in Lok Sabha over
CM's house
addresses joint session SNS & AGENCIES
medical colleges issue
SNS & AGENCIES MPs Dayanidhi Maran and K.
Karnataka Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot says state most progressive in country BENGALURU, 10 FEBRUARY BENGALURU, 10 FEBRUARY Kanimozhi protested, the
Health Minister said that as the
SNS & AGENCIES Cow Slaughter Prohibition Hyderabad police detained How high the political stakes Tamil Nadu government did-
BENGALURU, 10 FEBRUARY Act to protect cattle wealth. suspended BJP MLA T. Raja are in DMK-ruled Tamil Nadu, n't allot land on time, the infra-
'Goshalas' have been con- Singh who had reached near was evident in Lok Sabha on structure for Madurai AIIMS

K
arnataka Governor
Thawar Chand Gehlot
while addressing the
joint session at state
legislature house in Bengaluru
on Friday described the state
as the most progressive in
the country.
In his 34-page speech, the
Governor showered praises on
the ruling BJP government.
"When compared to other
states, Karnataka is the most
progressive in all sectors. The
state is executing develop-
ment successfully and striv-
ing for the wellbeing of peo-
ple," he said.
He called on the legislators
to indulge in constructive
and qualitative discussion to
ensure further development.
"As per the dreams of Prime
Minister Narendra Modi, I
believe that the state would
tread the path of progress as
laid down for another 25 years
of 'Amrit Kaal'," he said.
He explained that in the
50:50 partnership with the
central railway ministry, nine
railway projects have been
taken up.
"Karnataka government
follows a model of inclusive
development. The govern-
ment has implemented the
structed to protect the weak, the official residence of Telan-
sick and orphaned animals, gana Chief Minister K. Chan-
which farmers can't take care drasekhar Rao to stage a protest
of," he said. demanding replacement of
However, Opposition bullet-resistant vehicles pro-
leader Siddaramaiah skipped vided to him by the government.
the first day joint session and Raja Singh was detained
participated in Prajadhvani when he reached near Pragati
yatra. Party sources said that Bhavan along with the bullet-
he will participate in the dis- resistant car to demand that
cussion on the Governor's the government either pro-
speech on Monday. vide him with another car or
The last session of 15th leg- take it back. As he was trying
islative Assembly of Karnata- to leave behind the vehicle
ka commenced on Friday. near the high-security premis-
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bom- es, alert police officials stopped
mai will present the last bud- him. He was later dropped at
get of his government on Feb- the Assembly building in a
ruary 17. police vehicle. The MLA from
Goshamahal constituency in
the city alleged that the bullet-
resistant Scorpio assigned to
him as part of his security is in
bad condition.
Friday when Union Health couldn't be completed on time.
Minister Mansukh Mandaviya
entered into an argument with
DMK MPs. The high-voltage
drama took place during Ques-
tion Hour, when DMK MP
T.R. Baalu sought to know
from the Health Minister the
number of medical colleges
functioning in the country
without proper infrastructure,
and also the number of colleges
whose foundation has been laid
by the prime minister, but are
yet to function.
To this, Mandaviya said
that "politics can be played on
any issue, but if the respected
member is trying to ask about
the AIIMS in Madurai, then I
would like to inform that cours-
es have already begun there,
only the infrastructure remains
to be completed". When DMK

this the 15th day of December, 2018 IN THE COURT OF

PUBLIC NOTIFICATIONS 2022.
ASSISTANT REGISTRAR (0)
for REGISTRAR GENERAL
BS
Seal of the Court
F-3309
(U/o 5 Rule 20 CPC)
Next Date : 31-03-2023
PUBLICATION ISSUED TO :
KAMA DEVI : PLOT NO. 16
RAJENDRA NAGAR SHOB-
Ltd.
HAWATI KI DHANI JODHPUR
RAJASTHAN
In above titled case, the
accused could not be served.
Shri Vikash, Judicial Magis-
trate - 1st Class, Gurugram
India Bulls Housing Finance
Congress, UDF to continue
protests until govt withdraws
Vs
DEEPAK GUPTA
CIS NO - 4884/2018
CNR No. HRGR03-011111-

fuel cess in budget : KPCC Prez

summons it is hereby noti-
fied that if you shall not
defend the case on the 27th
day of March, 2023 at 10:00 AM
the day fixed for the final dis-
posal, it will be heard and
determined ex-parte.
Given under my hand and
the seal of the court, this 07th
day of February, 2023.
Commercial Civil Judge-
cum-Additional Rent Con-
troller, Tis Hazari Courts,
Delhi
Seal of the Court
F-3303
PROCLAMATION REQUIRING
ATTENDANCE OF
IN THE COURT OF
Ms. Sakshi Saini, Civil Judge
(Junior Division), Gurugram
AMIT BISHNOI
Vs
M/S TOONZ RETAIL INDIA
PVT LTD.
CNR No. HRGR02-002168-
2022
Next Date : 10-04-2023
PUBLICATION ISSUED TO :
DEFT NO. 1. M/S TOONZ
RETAIL INDIA PVT LTD.
REGD. OFFICE 203, INIZIO,
OP. PAND G PLAZA, CARDI-
NAL GRACIOUS ROAD,
CHAKALA. ANDHERI EAST,
MUMBAI
DEFT. NO. 2 M/S QUALITY
KIDS ZONE PVT. LIMITED
THROUGH MD/DIRECTOR,
REGD. OFFICE PT NO. 102 -
2ND FLOOR, MAHARAJA
ABODE, LUMBINI AVENUE,
GACHIBOWLI, HYDERABAD
500032
In above titled case, the
defendant(s)/respondent(s)
could not be served. It is
ordered that defendant(s) /
respondent(s) should appear
in person or through coun-
sel on 10-04-2023 at 10:00 a.m.
For details logon to
https://highcourtchd.gov.in/?t
rs=district_notice&dis-
trict=Gurugram
Civil Judge (Junior Divi-
sion), Gurugram
Dated, this day of 06-02-
2023
Seal of the Court
IN THE COURT OF
Shri Vikash, Judicial Magis-
trate - 1st Class, Gurugram
India Bulls Housing Finance
Ltd.
Vs
BHEEKYA CHAUHAN
CIS NO - 3067/2018
CNR No. HRGR03-007815-
2018
Next Date : 31-03-2023
PUBLICATION ISSUED TO :
BHEEKYA CHAUHAN : PLOT
NO. 82, SHRI YANTRA NAGAR.
SEC C GRAM BILAVLI M.P.
ALSO AT : DR. AMBEDKAR
NAGAR MHOW INDORE M.P.
452001
In above titled case, the
accused could not be served.
It is ordered that accused
should appear in person or
through counsel on 31-03-
2023 at 10.00 a.m.
It is ordered that accused
should appear in person or
through counsel on 31-03-
2023 at 10.00 a.m.
For details logon to
https://highcourtchd.gov.in/?t
rs=district_notice&dis-
trict=Gurugram
Judicial Magistrate - 1st
Class, Gurugram
Dated, this day of 08-02-
2023
Seal of the Court
IN THE COURT OF
Shri Vikash, Judicial Magis-
trate - 1st Class, Gurugram
India Bulls Housing Finance
Ltd.
Vs
JYOTIBEN SHRENIK SHETH
CIS NO - 4874/2018
CNR No. HRGR03-011106-
2018
Next Date : 31-03-2023
PUBLICATION ISSUED TO :
JYOTIBEN SHRENIK SHETH :
11 SUN BUNGLOWS NR UGAN-
DA PARK ROAD OPP HEMNATH
PARK SOC MEMNAGAR
AHMEDABAD
In above titled case, the
accused could not be served.
It is ordered that accused
should appear in person or
through counsel on 31-03-
2023 at 10.00 a.m.
For details logon to
https://highcourtchd.gov.in/?t
rs=district_notice&dis-
trict=Gurugram
Judicial Magistrate - 1st
Class, Gurugram
Dated, this day of 08-02-
2023
Seal of the Court
IN THE COURT OF
Shri Vikash, Judicial Magis-
trate - 1st Class, Gurugram
India Bulls Housing Finance
Ltd.
Vs
NAVEEN HOODA
CIS NO - 4881/2018
CNR No. HRGR03-011126-
2018
Next Date : 31-03-2023
PUBLICATION ISSUED TO :
NAVEEN HOODA : HOSTEL
NO. 6 HARYANA POLICE ACAD-
EMY MADHUBAN KARNAL
2) NAVEEN HOODA
COMMANDANT 2ND BATAL-
LION HARYAN POLICE ACAD-
EMY MADHUBAN KARNAL
HARYANA 132001
2018
Next Date : 31-03-2023
PUBLICATION ISSUED TO :
DEEPAK GUPTA : 452 A
BHOLA NATH NAGAR SHAH- STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE last five years,
DARA NEW DELHI T’PURAM, 10 FEBRUARY Calling chief minister
ALSO AT : 504, 5 CHOTTA Vijayan a “protector of cows”,
BAZAR SHAHDARA NEW DELHI
ALSO AT : 504, 5 CHOTA A day after Kerala chief min- Congress Kerala chief said
BAZAR SHAHDARA NEW ister Pinarayi Vijayan reiterated he had constructed an expen-
DELHI-110032
In above titled case, the that the LDF government sive cowshed in his official
accused could not be served. would not roll back the bud- residence
It is ordered that accused
should appear in person or
get proposal levying cess on the “The chief minister is the
through counsel on 31-03- sale of petrol, diesel, liquor and biggest cow protector in Ker-
2023 at 10.00 a.m. other additional taxes in the ala. He spent Rs 49 lakh to feed
For details logon to
https://highcourtchd.gov.in/?t annual budget, Kerala Pradesh cows at his official residence,"
rs=district_notice&dis- Congress Committee(KPCC) Sudhakaran was referring to
trict=Gurugram
Judicial Magistrate - 1st president K Sudhakaran said the construction of a new
Class, Gurugram the Congress and the UDF cattle shed and a compound
Dated, this day of 08-02-2023 will continue protests until wall at the Cliff House,the chief
Seal of the Court
the government withdraws minister's official residence.
(U/o 5 Rule 20 CPC)
IN THE COURT OF the fuel cess and taxes imposed The state government had
Ms. Sanchita Singh, Civil in the budget sanctioned a sum of R 42.90
Judge (Junior Division),
Gurugram Speaking to media per- lakh for these construction
SANJEEV KUMAR S/O LATE sons, Sudhakaran said the activities.
SH. DATT KUMAR, R/O GH3, state was paralysed due to "It remains to be seen
PHB, GURUGRAM 1 HOUSING
COMPLEX, SECTOR 22, chief minister Pinarayi whether. he (chief minister)
GURUGRAM-122015 Vijayanr’s obstinance. will ask us to observe ‘Cow Hug
Vs
1. GENERAL PUBLIC He said the UDF protests Day’ in Kerala on the Valen-
2. TEHSILDAR/SUB REGIS- and public ire against the LDF tine's Day,” Sudhakaran said
TRAR, TEHSIL BADSHAHPUR,
GURUGRAM
government’s new cess and tax Sudhakaran also urged
3. HALKA PATWARI, VILLAGE proposals, will ultimately force the people not to pay addi-
BEHRAMPUR, R/O SHOP NO. the Pinarayi Vijayan govern- tional taxes and assured that
211, SUSHANT TOWER, SEC-
TOR 56, GURGAON ment to roll back the cess on the Congress will protect
CNR No. HRGR02-000507- petrol and diesel and and addi- them in case of any action
2023
Next Date : 12-04-2023 tional taxes imposed in the bud- Pinarayi Vijayan had ear-
PUBLICATION ISSUED TO : get. lier said during the UDF rule
GENERAL PUBLIC ETC : GGM He further said the gov- that party workers would not
In above titled case, it is
ordered that defendant(s) / ernment, which is unable to col- pay additional taxes
respondent(s) should appear lect taxes, is imposing “ back- Meanwhile, Leader of
in person or through coun-
sel on 12-04-2023 at 10:00 a.m. breaking’ additional taxes Opposition VD Satheesan on
For details logon to burden on common man. Friday said he is not aware
https://highcourtchd.gov.in/?t
rs=district_notice&dis-
He was referring to the of KPCC president K Sud-
trict=Gurugram damning Comptroller and hakaran’s statement urging the
Civil Judge (Junior Divi- Auditor General (CAG) report people not to pay additional
sion), Gurugram
Dated, this day of 10-02-2023 for the period 2019-21, slam- taxes.
Seal of the Court ming the LDF government for Speaking to media per-
F-3308
inefficient tax collection result- sons here, Satheesan said that
ing in an estimated Rs 7,100 the he had not seen that state-
https://epaper.thestatesman.com

crore revenue shortfall in the ment of the KPCC president.

ALL CLASSIFIED ARE CARRIED

DEFENDANT For details logon to 3) NAVEEN HOODA

(Order 5, Rule 20 of the https://highcourtchd.gov.in/?t H. NO. 215/2021 SUKHPURA
Code of Civil Procedure) rs=district_notice&dis- CHOWK ROHTAK NAVEEN
IN THE COURT OF trict=Gurugram HOODA 4881/18
ON OUR WEBSITE

Ms. Nivedita Anil Sharma, Judicial Magistrate - 1st In above titled case, the
FREE OF COST

Himanta invites Leonardo

Principal Judge (North),
Family Courts, Rohini,
New Delhi
Case No. HMA. 1499/22
Class, Gurugram accused could not be served.
Dated, this day of 08-02- It is ordered that accused
2023 should appear in person or
Seal of the Court through counsel on 31-03-

DiCaprio to visit Assam

M/s Sam (India) Infra-
structure LLP is pleased to
inform that the “Construc-
tion of 184 Multi Storied Flats
for Hon'ble MPs” at “BKS
Marg, New Delhi” has been
accorded with Environmental
Clearance vide EC Identifi-
cation No. EC23B038DL195421
dated 01 February 2023 from
State Environment Impact
Assessment Authority, Delhi.
The copies of the clearance
letters are available with the
SEIAA, Delhi and can also be
seen on their website
www.parivesh.nic.in
M/s Sam (India) Infra-
structure LLP
434, 2nd Floor, Jagriti
Enclave,
Vikas Marg Extn., New
Delhi-110092
LEGAL NOTICES
J.(Civil)-12
PROCLAMATION REQUIRING
ATTENDANCE OF
DEFENDANT
(Order 5, Rule 20 of the
Code of Civil Procedure)
IN THE COURT OF
Sh. Fahad Uddin, Commer-
cial Civil Judge-cum-Addi-
tional Rent Controller,
Room No. 255, 2nd Floor, Tis
Hazari Courts, Delhi
Suit No. CS - 49/2022
GAGAN GANDHI
-Plaintiff
Vs
M/s CELEBRITY FITNESS
INDIA PVT. LTD. & ANR.
-Defendant
To,
1. M/s Celebrity Fitness
India Pvt. Ltd., E-31, First Floor,
Greater Kailash Enclave-II,
New Delhi-110048.
2. Sh. Vivek Bajpai, General
Manager, Celebrity Fitness
India Pvt. Ltd., E-31, First Floor,
Greater Kailash Enclave-II,
New Delhi-110048.
THE DEFENDANT ABOVE
NAMED
Whereas you are inten-
tionally evading service of
SIMRAN
Vs
INDERJEET
To
Sh. Inderjeet S/o Sh. Rajen-
der Singh, R/o Flat No. 31, 3rd
Floor, Block-H, Pocket-3, Sec-
tor-16, Rohini, Delhi-110089
Whereas you are inten-
tionally evading service of
summons it is hereby noti-
fied that if you shall not
defend the case on the 13th
day of March, 2023 the day
fixed for the final disposal,
it will be heard and deter-
mined Ex-Parte.
Given under my hand and
seal of the Court this 04 day of
February, 2023
Principal Judge (North),
Family Courts, Rohini,
New Delhi
Seal of the Court
IN THE HIGH COURT OF
DELHI AT NEW DELHI
(ORDINARY ORIGINAL CIVIL
JURISDICTION)
CS(OS) 28/2015
Bharat Kumar Chaudhary
-Plaintiff
Vs
Navin Malhotra
-Defendant
To
Defendant No. 2
M/s Star Bazar Pvt. Ltd.
through its Chairman Mr.
Naveen Malhotra S/o Late
Sh. R. L. Malhotra, R/o B-24,
Kailash Colony New Delhi -
110048.
WHEREAS the plaintiff above
mentioned has instituted an
SUIT FOR RECOVERY OF RS.
3,50,00,000/- (RUPEES THREE
CRORES AND FIFTY LACS
ONLY) PLUS INTEREST @ 12%
P.A. FROM DATE OF FILING
TILL THE REALISATION OF THE
SUIT against you, the above
named defendants and where-
as it has been shown to the
satisfaction of this Court that
it is not possible to serve you
in the ordinary way there-
fore, this notice is given by
publication directing you, the
above named defendant to
make appearance before the
Joint Registrar (Judicial)
of this Court on 02-03-2022
at 11:00 AM.
Take notice that in default of
your appearance on the day
above mentioned, the suit
will be heard and determined
in your absence.
Given under my hand
and the seal of this court on
IN THE COURT OF 2023 at 10.00 a.m.
Shri Vikash, Judicial Magis- For details logon to
trate - 1st Class, Gurugram https://highcourtchd.gov.in/?t
India Bulls Housing Finance rs=district_notice&dis-
Ltd. trict=Gurugram
Vs Judicial Magistrate - 1st SNS & AGENCIES cated to persevering and
Class, Gurugram
KAMA DEVI
Dated, this day of 08-02-2023 GUWAHATI, 10 FEBRUARY safeguarding our rich cultural
CIS NO - 4847/2018
CNR No. HRGR03-011064-
Seal of the Court heritage.
After Hollywood actor and cli- "Thank you for your kind
mate activist Leonardo words, @LeoDiCaprio, and I
DiCaprio showered praise extend a warm invitation to
on the Assam government's you to visit Kaziranga and
efforts to end poaching of Assam."
one-horned rhinos in the The Kaziranga National
Kaziranga National Park, Park witnessed only one case
KOLKATA Delhistatesman@ Bangalore-560025. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa of rhino poaching in the year
gmail.com Tel. : 9212192123 Sarma on Friday invited the 2021 -- the lowest figure in
Statesman House,
4, Chowringhee Square Email: Oscar-winning Hollywood 21 years.
SILIGURI delhistatesman@gmail. star to visit the state. From 2000 to 2015, a total
Kolkata-700 001
Spencer Plaza, 18/19, com In an Instagram post on of 153 poaching cases were
M- 7980388433, bangalore@thestatesman
9830045650 1st Floor Thursday, the actor said: "In registered.
Burdwan Road group.com
Email: 2021, the government of the Assam houses the highest
Above Vishal Mega
Delhistatesman@ MUMBAI Indian state of Assam set population of one-horned
gmail.com Mart out to end the poaching of rhinos in India. Out of 2,657
5, Kasturi Buildings,
Siliguri-734005, West
statesmandisplay@ Jamshedji Tata Road, the Endangered Greater One- rhinos, 2,413 live in Kaziranga
Bengal
gmail.com Mumbai-400 020 Horned Rhinoceros in Kazi- National Park.
Ph.: 9832082429 ranga National Park follow-
thestatesmanclassifi M-9212192123
sil_statesman@ ing the killing of around 190
ed@gmail.com Tel: (022) 35775450,
yahoo.co.in animals for their horns
DELHI Email:
Delhistatesman@
gmail.com
delhistatesman@ between 2000 and 2021. In
Statesman House,
gmail.com 2022, they met their goal
148, Barakhamba Road, HYDERABAD mumbai@thestatesman
and no rhinos were poached
New Delhi-110 001
The Statesman Limited, group.com in the area for the first time
Tel: (011) 2331 5911,
2nd Floor, UNI Building, LUCKNOW since 1977.
43043793
A.C. Guards, 2/2, Butler Palace (Near "Kaziranga National Park
Delhistatesman@ is home to 2,200 greater one-
gmail.com Hyderabad-500004, Jopling Road), Lucknow-
horned rhinos, which is about
Mob: 9866323009, 226 001,
Hiten Rathore two-thirds of the world's
9212192123 M-9212192123 Email:
hiten.statesman@ population. This triumph in
delhistatesman@
gmail.com Email:
gmail.com India also comes with more
Mob: 9212192123 delhistatesman@
RANCHI good news, as WWF also
gmail.com
BHUBANESWAR 11/C, Road#1, reports that the world pop-
Plot 3A, Zone B, Sector hyderabad@thestatesm Ashoknagar, Ranchi - ulation of the rare rhino
A, Mancheswar angroup.com 834 002 soared to around 3,700 from
Industrial Estate, BANGALORE M-9212192123 Email: about 200 at the turn of the
Bhubaneswar-751 010. delhistatesman@gmail. 20th century."
No. 68, First Floor, Gold com
M-09438838880 Taking to Twitter on Fri-
statesmanbbsr@gmail. Tower, ranchi@thestatesman day in response, the Chief
com 50 Residency Road, group.com
Minister said: "Preserving
AIR-SURCHARGE; Kathmandu - Re. 2, Eastern Region - Re. 1 wildlife is integral to our cul-
All other stations in India - Re. 1 tural identity. We are dedi-
 05
The cost of PM Gareeb Kalyan Yojana and public dis-
tribution system is being fully borne by the Centre...
NIRMALA SITHARAMAN
FINANCE MINISTER NEW DELHI, SATURDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2023

Himachal's Pong and Janjehli to be developed

Gehlot presents 'tax free under Swadesh Darshan Yojna II
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE

budget' for Rajasthan

places of tourist interest connectivity will be assured
SHIMLA, 10 FEBRUARY under the ambit of the for the 'Tent City' project,
scheme. which will have more than 200
Himachal Pradesh Chief Min- Reiterating his resolve to encampments with all the lux-
ister, Thakur Sukhvinder develop district Kangra as the ury and comfort, he added.
76 lakh BPL families will get LPG cooking gas cylinders at a subsidised price of `500. Singh Sukhu said that Pong
Dam reservoir in district Kan-
tourism capital of the state,
the Chief Minister said that
Earnest efforts would be
made to develop Kangra, an
Consumers using power up to 100 units per month will get free electricity gra and Janjehli area of Mandi
district will be developed
state government would pre-
pare a detailed project report
all time favourite tourist des-
tination for both domestic and
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE in the entire state. Also, Rajiv Disease spell last year, he under Swadesh Darshan and submit it to the Ministry International tourists and
JAIPUR, 10 FEBRUARY Gandhi National Youth assured. Yojna II. for erecting a 'Tent City' at the strengthening the tourism
Exchange Program will be The CM extended the Old A renowned consultancy base camp of Dhauladhar related infrastructure in the
ajasthan Chief Min- started for the youth. Elec- approved by Ministry will ranges. district, said the Chief Min-

R
ister Ashok Gehlot
on Friday presented
a tax-free budget with
a relaxation in tax regime
with a sum of Rs 1,750 crore
besides announcing LPG
cooking gas cylinder to 76 lakh
BPL families at a subsided
price of Rs 500 and free elec-
tricity to the consumers using
power up to 100 units per
month.
The budget makes a pro-
vision of free ration for one
crore families under the
National Food Security Act
along with the Mukhya Mantri
Nishulk Annapurna Food
packet per month.
With a three-point agen-
da of 'Bachat, Rahat and
Badhat' (saving, relief and
growth) in his 5th and last bud-
get in third term of the Con-
gress rule, Gehlot focused
on new youth policy, youth
development and welfare
fund with a corpus fund of Rs
500 crore in the budget.
In his biggest announce-
ment for the students from
Class I to XII, Gehlot said,
"They will be taught for free
under RTE (Right to Educa-
tion). At present, more than
40,000 schools are registered
on the RTE portal. It has
more than 4 lakh seats."
"For the students appear-
ing for the competitive exam-
inations, it has been decid-
ed to make all recruitment
examinations free. For this one
time registration has to be
done. This decision will ben-
efit more than 50 lakh can-
didates. Along With this, dig-
ital libraries and residential
hostels will also be built for
the youth preparing for com-
petitive exams", he said in his
3 hours and 15 minutes long
speech.
Campus placement will be
arranged by the government
in the college itself, he added.
To encourage sports in the
state, the government has
decided to organise Rajiv
Gandhi Rural and Urban
Olympics in the coming year
tric scooty will be distributed
to the girl students under the
scooty scheme. A special
task force will be constitut-
ed to prevent cheating in
recruitment examinations
and it will be under the Spe-
cial Operation Group of
Police (SOG).
In the health sector, Gehlot
said per family insurance
amount under CM Chiran-
jeevi Health Insurance
Scheme has been increased
upto Rs.25 lakh from Rs.10
lakh.
Presenting a separate Agri-
culture Budget for the sec-
ond consecutive year, Gehlot
told the House that the
Krishak Kalyan Kosh amount
has been increased from Rs
500 crore to Rs 7,500 crore.
An economic assistance of Rs
40,000 would be given to the
farmers/villagers who lost
their cows during the Lumpy
Pension Scheme benefits to
employees of all corpora-
tions, boards and other insti-
tutions, and appealed to the
Prime Minister to effect social
security to every citizen.
According to the budget
proposal, five per cent of
the total budget is meant
for cyber security, tourism
development fund at Rs 1,500
crore, free electricity to more
than 11 lakh farmers on con-
sumption up to 2000 units per
month, reduction on VAT
on Aviation Turbine Fuel to
2 per cent on commercial
flights, and interest free crop
loans amounting to Rs 22,000
crore to be distributed, and
interest subsidy of Rs 1,000
crore. On the revenue front,
Gehlot said with the effi-
cient management, the state's
GST increased to 31.22 per-
cent in 2022-23 (till Decem-
ber) against the national
percentage of 29.78 percent.
soon prepare detailed project Adequate land and road ister.
report for further execution
of this project. While he met
Union Minister of Tourism,
G. Kishan Reddy at New Delhi
on late Thursday evening, he
urged him for including the
places of tourists interests in
state under Swadesh Dar-
shan Yojna II in next phase.
He said that the state is
blessed with immense tourism
potential, which includes
water bodies (reservoirs),
religious destinations, a lot
for adventure lovers and
striking mountain ranges.
The Chief Minister also
requested to include other

Govt exerting undue pressure on presiding officers: Kharge

SNS & AGENCIES
NEW DELHI, 10 FEBRUARY
Congress President and
Leader of Opposition in the
Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun
Kharge, on Friday alleged that
the Centre is conspiring to
hide the truth by exerting
undue pressure on the pre-
siding officers.
"The (Narendra) Modi
government is conspiring
to hide the truth by exerting
undue pressure on the pre-
siding officers of both the
Houses of the Parliament, and
is conspiring to suppress
the JPC inquiry," Kharge
said.
His remarks came after
parts of the speech of Rahul
Gandhi and Kharge made in
the House were expunged by
the presiding officers.
He said questions will be
asked both inside the Par-
liament as well as in the
'people's parliament'.
"Should there not be an
inquiry into the Adani scam?
Shouldn't the falling value of
LIC's money, invested in
Adani's companies, be ques-
tioned? Shouldn't questions
be asked about the Rs 82,000
crore loan given to Adani by
SBI and other banks," he
asked.
Kharge said the ques-
tions will be asked as to why
Rs 525 crore of LIC and SBI
were invested in Adani FPO
despite more than 32 per cent
fall in Adani's shares. Why
the value of LIC and SBI
shares fell by more than Rs
1 lakh crore in the stock
market, he asked.
"It must be asked to whom
the thousands of crores of
rupees pouring in from tax
havens into Adani's com-
panies belong? Is it a fact that
France's 'Total Gas' has
stopped the $50 billion invest-
ment in Adani's company
pending completion of the
investigation against him,"
Kharge asked.
Kharge said that the
world's largest equity
investor, Norway Sovereign
Fund, sold all Adani shares
worth $200 million.

Opposition attacks Yogi Kamal Nath targets Scindia

govt ahead of GIS-23
SNS & AGENCIES
LUCKNOW, 10 FEBRUARY

Just before the Global

Investors' Summit (GIS)-
2023 kicks off on Friday,
opposition parties in Uttar
Pradesh have mounted a
blistering attack on the Yogi
Adityanath-led state gov-
ernment.
Samajwadi Party (SP) pres-
ident Akhilesh Yadav said
the state government should
not discriminate between
industrialists.
He described industrial-
ist Gautam Adani as "Vitamin
A of the BJP" and added that
"excess and loss of Vitamin
A has its disadvantages".
"The BJP government is
getting MoUs done with the
companies that function out
of one room. Anyone it spots
with suit-and-tie, the BJP
government is getting MoU
signed with them," the SP chief
said.
"Industry and industrial-
ists should progress, but
there should not be any dis-
crimination or preferential
treatment by the govern-
ment. It cannot be the case
that one industrialist grows
and the other does not. The
government should have the
same vision for everyone."
Meanwhile, the Congress
termed the GIS-23 as "Glob-
al Event Summit" and alleged
that it was being organised
to waste public money.
AICC spokesman Akhilesh
Pratap Singh said the state gov-
ernment, on the one hand,
was claiming to have attract-
ed an investment of Rs 21 lakh
crore ahead of the GIS, and
on the other hand, it was
also spending a huge amount
of money in organising it.
Singh said the state gov-
ernment has also engaged cer-
tain event management agen-
cies for the summit and now
it should clarify about the
amount of money it was pay-
ing to such agencies.
Responding to the attacks,
Uttar Pradesh BJP spokesman
Harish Srivastava said:
"Akhilesh Yadav seems to
have lost the plot complete-
ly. He is getting desperate and
it shows in his utterances. The
SP must realise that though
it is the main opposition
party in Uttar Pradesh, it
does not mean negating all
positives. "There is so much
that he could have done for
the state during his tenure,
but he has a problem if the
BJP is doing development at
the speed of a bullet train and
people are backing the party."
The spokesman also said
that the Congress was not even
worth responding.
STATESMAN NEW SERVICE
BHOPAL 10 FEBRUARY
Madhya Pradesh Congress
President Kamal Nath today
targeted union aviation min-
ister Jyotiraditya Scindia and
told Congress workers in
Shivpuri that they must
remember that the main
conspiracy to topple the
Congress state government
in 2020 was hatched from this
area only.
Nath was addressing party
workers during a party meet-
ing in Shivpuri, which is part
of the Gwalior-Chambal
region that is considered to
be the stronghold of Jyotira-
ditya Scindia. Scindia had
resigned from the Congress
and joined BJP along with 22
of his supporter MLAs in
March 2020, which led to
the fall of the Kamal Nath-led
Congress government in
March 2020, after just 15
months of coming to power
in 2018. Nath today urged
party workers to not leave any
stone unturned in ensuring
a befitting reply to the con-
spirators and the BJP in the
Assembly polls scheduled at
the end of this year.
Nath also lambasted the
BJP’s ‘Vikas Yatra’ (Devel-
opment March) in MP and
mockingly termed it ‘Nikas
Yatra’ (Exit March). He said
the people of the state are fed
up with the BJP’s misgover-
nance in all areas and they
are waiting to show the doors
to the government in these
assembly polls. The former
MP CM said the ‘Vikas Yatra’
was being carried out by
misusing funds of the gov-
ernment and the people’s
money.
Nath also said he would
contest the next Assembly
polls. He said he has to decide
whether to contest the polls
from his present assembly
constituency, Chhindwara,
or from the nearby assembly
seat of Saunsar.

One-sided lover open fires

at Indore Rly station, man
hurt trying to save girl
SNS & AGENCIES
INDORE, 10 FEBRUARY
In a horrific incident at
Indore Railway station, a
21-year-old, Sanskar Verma,
was hit in the head by a bul-
let after the shooter missed
the shot while targeting a girl.
A young man named
Rahul Yadav opened fire at
a girl at Indore railway Sta-
tion on Tuesday, but the
bullet hit her friend as the
shooter missed the shot.
After the incident, the accused
ran away while the girl took
her friend to the hospital in
an injured condition. Accord-
ing to the information given
by Deputy Commissioner
of Police (DCP) Dharmendra
Bhadauria, who reached the
spot. The DCP informed
that Monika Yadav, the res-
ident of Gauri Nagar works
in the call centre along with
her friend Sanskar Verma
who is 21 years of age.
Both were leaving the
call centre and going home.
During this, the accused
Rahul Yadav, who has been
forcing Monika to marry
him, reached there and start-
ed arguing about marrying
himself to Monika. In the heat
of the moment, Rahul took
out the pistol and targeted
fire to shoot Monika but the
bullet hit Sanskar Verma in
the head as he tried to res-
cue Monika. As per the infor-
mation, Sanskar's condi-
tion is serious, his treat-
ment is going on at Mahara-
ja Yeshwantrao Hospital.
Monika Yadav told that Rahul
was pressurizing her to get
married for a long time, but
she was not ready, that is why
he came to kill her and in the
incident, her friend got shot
in the head instead of her.
President calls upon people to
adopt nature-friendly lifestyle
STATESMAN NEW SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 10 FEBRUARY
President Droupadi Murmu
today impressed upon the
people the need for adopt-
ing a nature-friendly lifestyle
so as to give a secure future
to the next generation.
''In Indian tradition, the
Universe is one and inte-
gral. A human being is only
a small part of this Universe.
No matter how much
progress we have made
progress in science, we are
not the master of nature,
but its children. We should
be grateful to nature. We
should adopt a lifestyle in har-
mony with nature,'' she said
addressing the Foundation
Day Celebration of the
Jnanaprabha Mission at
Bhubaneswar.
Pointing out that sages had
taught Indians to consider
mother, father, teacher and
guest as God, she wondered
whether the people have
adopted these teachings in
their lives. ''This is a big
question. Are children tak-
ing proper care of their par-
ents? Often, sad stories of
elderly parents appear in
the newspapers,'' she said
while emphasising that mere-
ly addressing parents as God
and worshiping their pic-
tures was not spirituality.
Caring about parents and
respecting them was impor-
tant. President Murmu
observed that materialistic
expectations and aspirations
were increasing and people
were gradually turning away
from the spiritual side of
life. ''Earth's resources are lim-
ited, but the desires of humans
are limitless. The present
world is witnessing the unusu-
al behaviour of nature which
is reflected in climate change
and increase in the temper-
ature of the earth,'' she added.
Noting the fact that the
Jnanaprabha Mission was
active in popularising the
‘Kriya Yoga’, the president said
that whatever the form –
Yoga was an ancient science
and spiritual practice of
India, whose objective was
to create a healthy human
society. ''Prevention is bet-
ter than cure for a healthy life.
If we remain ‘Yog-yukt’ (asso-
ciated with Yoga), we can
remain ‘Rog-mukt’ (free from
diseases). Through yoga, we
can attain a healthy body and
peaceful mind. In today’s
world materialistic happi-
ness is not beyond the reach,
but peace of mind may be
beyond the reach of many.
For them, Yoga is the only way
to find peace of mind,'' she
added.
06 NEW DELHI, SATURDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2023
Incorporating and directly descended
from THE FRIEND OF INDIA - Founded 1818
Insecure Africa
R
ecent coups d’état in Burkina Faso, Guinea,
and Mali, coming as they did against the back-
drop of continuous conflict in the Sahel
region where violence has displaced more than 2.5
million people, have created a situation where West
Africa seems headed into a new period of instability.
The conflict in the Sahel region has spread to previ-
ously peaceful areas including Benin and Togo
which witnessed deadly attacks in 2021 and 2022,
confirming the trend of broadening violent activi-
ties in the region’s coastal countries.
In a timely warning, Mounir Siaplay, former
Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Liberia,
and Professor Eric Werker of the Simon Fraser Uni-
versity, have in a recent article iterated that these
events can no longer be viewed as isolated incidents
chalked up to foreign-funded extremists hiding in
the desert. A significant and growing risk of region-
al instability recalls the calamities of the 1990s and
2000s, when civil wars engulfed Liberia, Sierra
Leone, Guinea-Bissau, and Côte d’Ivoire, while
Mali, Niger, and Nigeria faced insurgencies that
cumulatively impeded economic growth and devel-
opment. West Africa’s young population of 429 mil-
lion, growing at 2.5 per cent per year, now risks get-
ting stuck in a rut of insecurity and stalled human
development all over again.
The authors underline two recent changes
which illustrate the complexity and internationali-
sation of the region’s insecurity: The arrival of the
Russia-backed Wagner group in Mali at the end of
2021 complete with its ‘disinformation toolkit’, and
the cessation in end-2022 of France’s decade-long
Operation Barkhane which at its peak saw 5,500
French troops deployed across the region.
Regional stability has been deteriorating despite
the presence of other external military forces,
including the United Nations stabilisation force in
Mali, the European Union Task Force under French
command, and the combined Sahel states’ ‘Joint
Force’. West Africa’s five successful coups in the
last three years are more than what the region has
experienced at any time in the last thirty years and
underline fragility. Poor governance is clearly both a
cause and a symptom of the insecurity which has
gripped the region.
The legitimacy of governments across West
Africa is questionable and a governance structure
premised on a client-patron relationship between
those in power and the wider population has pro-
vided an excuse for the coups. As a result of the
conflict in the region, the possibility of violence
spreading to vast swathes of West Africa is a clear
and present danger.
As a consequence, write Siaplay and Werker
based on their analysis of data from the Stockholm
International Peace Research Institute, countries in
the region have increased military expenditure
eight-fold to combat internal and external threats
over the past 30 years. While this expenditure may
be necessary to manage the threat of instability, it
represents a diversion from spending on essential
social services such as healthcare and education.
Growth and investment too are languishing. It’s a
vicious circle.
Variable vibes
D
uring much of the lockdown, Ravichandran
Ashwin was engrossed in footage of India's
vintage spinners going about their business.
It cannot have been about just getting the better of
boredom in enforced idleness in an extraordinarily
trying, even panic-stricken situation, but also add-
ing to one's craft and honing one’s skills with tips
from the globally acknowledged and acclaimed
masters. It was quite obviously about a diligent
student trying to get better, expanding his cerebral
horizons to move determinedly to another frontier
and conquer it. That did not rule out the slings
and arrows of outrageous fortune though: sitting
out those Test matches on the tour of England
when Virat Kohli, then captain, simply airbrushed
the contemporary world's finest spinner from the
reckoning, amid speculation in the media about
Ashwin’s future in the game, would surely have
been galling.
Cut to February 2023 and the scenario is dra-
matically and absolutely different. India, grandees
or standees, beardless urchins or top-mop teens,
has persuaded itself that Ashwin will win the cur-
rent Test series against Australia for us. The huge
fandom, of course, goes by what the notables say,
with Ravi Shastri strongly advocating first-day turn-
ers for the Tamil Nadu boy to play havoc on, saying
that he would not have to pull off anything special
and restrict himself to what he comes comfortably
up with for the visitors to keel over. It is reminiscent
of the time when, ahead of a game, an eye-arresting
billboard went up just off the main gates of Chep-
auk urging “Siva, Rama, Krishna” to “give us a vic-
tory.” Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, the ebony-hued
leg-spinner, probably remembers it.
What people could remember years later
though is that Kohli was spoken of Down Under
this time around as the “weak link” in the Indian
batting line-up. The former national captain has
not scored a Test century since his 136 against
Bangladesh at Eden Gardens in 2019. Quite a come-
down, since his days as being among the world’s
best, along with Steve Smith and Kane Williamson,
piling up 7,202 runs at 54.97.
And it is not as if he has been found fallible only
in the conventional format. His recent, authoritative
century in white-ball cricket against Afghanistan
was preceded by more than 1, 000 days without a
three-digit knock in any format. In a phase, he man-
aged only 917 runs in 36 knocks at 26.2. Kohli, of
course, owns a glorious record against Australia but
appeared distinctly vulnerable in an overall assess-
ment. At the end of each day, a chess piece is a
chess piece is a chess piece.
Ethics and Business~II
Einstein wondered about the meaning of our existence and purpose of human life –
our ‘brief sojourn‘ on earth and was convinced that we exist not for ourselves but for
others. He wrote: ‘But from the point of view of daily life, without going deeper, we
exist for our fellow-men – in the first place for those on whose smiles and welfare all
our happiness depends, and next for all those unknown to us personally with whose
destinies we are bound up by the tie of sympathy‘
T
he revelations about
ethics deficit discussed
yesterday are shocking.
There is hardly any asp-
ect of business where the corpo-
rates have not indulged in uneth-
ical practices.
Therefore, the general public
perception has been that ‘busi-
ness ethics’ is an oxymoron or
self-contradictory because there
is no ethics in business as evid-
enced by massive corruption,
scams, scandals, bribery to gov-
ernment officials, political con-
tributions and the lavish life style
indulged by the top executives.
Manipulations, dishonesty,
causing environmental damage
and profiteering are considered
quite ‘normal’. This is one point
of view and there are valid rea-
sons to hold such a view.
While business houses are
getting more and more powerful,
there is also greater awareness
and people have started ques-
tioning everything that business
does.
There are increasing dem-
ands from stakeholders, the aca-
demicians, the civil society, the
government and the internation-
al organizations to make busi-
ness more ethical.
German philosopher Frie-
drich Wilhelm Nietzsche said,
“Only individuals have a sense of
responsibility.” This means that
corporate and institutional ethics
is a misnomer.
It is the ethical and moral
values of an individual (CEO or a
top executive) that can make a
difference and enforce ethics.
Ethics cannot be taught ~ it
comes from the heart, from the
individual’s consciousness.
It comes automatically from
the ‘Universal Moral Principles’
pervading the universe and is
inculcated in the individuals nat-
urally and also from the family
and the schools since childhood.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Give animals a chance
SIR, The Supreme Court recently
ordered a halt to all construction
activities in tiger reserves, national
parks, and wildlife sanctuaries.
While hearing a batch of petitions
concerning the alleged illegal con-
struction of buildings and water-
bodies, as well as the unlawful
felling of trees in Uttarakhand's
Jim Corbett National Park, the
Court realised that the importance
of having a zoo within tiger
reserves or national parks was not
recognised. Converting parks,
The entire animal and natural which shaped his illustrious life.
world strictly follow the Univer- In his book, The World As I See It
sal Morality which is also present (originally in German), Einstein
in every man but suppressed by writes : “A hundred times every
our civilization. day I remind myself that my
Immanuel Kant, one of the inner and outer life depend on
greatest philosophers of all time, the labours of other men, living
said that there is no ethics in this and dead, and that I must exert
world or the outer world except myself in order to give in the
‘pure goodwill’ coming from the same measure as I have received
“Categorical Imperative” of the and am still receiving. I am
individual’s sense of duty. Ac- strongly drawn to the simple life
cording to Kant, one and am often
does not need the oppressed by the
Church or God to tell feeling that I am
her or him what is engrossing an un-
right and what is necessary amount
wrong. of the labour of
Every rational my fellowmen.”
human being who is Einstein won-
a moral actor is a dered about the
‘sovereign republic’ meaning of our
and he can legislate existence and pur-
for himself, which in pose of human life
turn becomes a uni- PARIMAL ~ our ‘brief soj-
versal law applicable BRAHMA ourn’ on earth and
uniformly to every- was convinced
The writer is a former
body whether it is Dy. Comptroller & Auditor that we exist not
his own parents or General of India and a former
Ombudsman of Reserve Bank for ourselves but
himself. of India. He is also a writer of for others. He wri-
several books and can be
Human dignity, reached at tes: “But from the
rationality, consis- brahmas@gmail.com point of view of
tency, universality, daily life, without
duty, unconditional love, and going deeper, we exist for our fel-
goodwill are the hallmarks of low-men ~ in the first place for
Kantian ethics ~ the ‘categorical those on whose smiles and wel-
imperative’ and ‘the kingdom of fare all our happiness depends,
ends’ harmonizing with ‘the and next for all those unknown to
realm of nature’ (natural laws us personally with whose des-
and morality). tinies we are bound up by the tie
Ethical values presuppose of sympathy.”
rationality, humility, gratitude To me, there is no greater
and a sense of indebtedness. philosophy of life and ethics than
Unless an individual realizes the this. But are the billionaires of
smallness of man and under- the world listening? Of the 2668
stands how he is indebted to billionaires (2022), only a very
others for his existence, he can- few like Warren Buffet and
not develop the humility re- George Fenny are known to lead
quired to make ethics a philoso- a frugal life and the vast majority
phy of life. do not tread the path of simple
Albert Einstein, the great sci- life shown by Einstein or Mahat-
entist-philosopher realized the ma Gandhi.
need to recognize human indebt- The richest one per cent
edness more than anybody else, who have captured 63 per cent of
editor@thestatesman.com
amendment to the old law in June
last year.
The Supreme Court had
forests, and other wildlife conser- established a unique, authorised
vation areas into picnic areas has committee to look into this. The
had no success in saving endan- committee's recommendation is
gered species of animals. The Min- to immediately revoke the authori-
istry of Environment, ironically, is sation for these operations in the
aware of this. Nonetheless, by expansive grounds of sanctuaries
changing the laws, permission was and wildlife conservation parks.
granted to open zoos and safaris Only activities for the treatment of
in the sanctuaries. The Environ- sick or injured wildlife, etc., can be
ment Ministry approved the open- started in these containment
ing of zoos and picnic areas in zones.
sprawling areas of tiger reserves Since the attempts taken thus
and other forests and parks meant far to conserve tigers have failed,
for wildlife conservation in an more concern has been expressed
about this, particularly with regard
to tigers. Their lives are adversely
affected by human activity. It is
well known that many different
kinds of economic activities are
carried out clandestinely to pro-
mote tourism both within and out-
side of all sanctuaries. Places have
been created in several sanctuaries
for hotels, rest stops, restaurants,
and other venues where some
activities take occur all year long.
Even advertisements are issued to
entice visitors to these sanctuaries.
Many locations have launched
safaris. In other words, the tourists
are forced to sit in cars before
being led on walks through those
woodlands.
The purpose of allowing the
zoo to open is also to attract
Vol. CXXXXXVII 35
A MEMBER
OF THE
ASIAN VOICES
Cautionary
tale of
Pokhara airport
I
deally, PRIA should have been a
departure point for us to develop
other large public infrastructure
projects. But initial indications are
not very encouraging towards that
end. The airport, which was supposed
to be a complementary cushion for
international flights, has fallen into an
unnecessary geopolitical debate com-
pounded with unclear flight paths for
international flights. Nepal’s commit-
ment to pay back the $215 million loan
in 20 years makes it hard to imagine
how this project will help transform
the economy.
In the federal landscape, Pokhara
is not just a touristic place but also the
capital of Gandaki province. Looking
at the project from a provincial per-
spective, PRIA should have been a
source of pride for Gandaki. But no
enthusiasm has been expressed from
the provincial level so far. This tells us
that the federal government has been
trying to control how it will be used
and what the project will give the
country. The Civil Aviation Authority
of Nepal (CAAN) has made the whole
process an unresolved and immature
task by letting the airport be used
without completing due diligence.
Some experts, even from government
agencies, are hesitant to state that the
the world’s wealth (2021) have
quietly forgotten their responsi-
bility, indebtedness and grati-
tude to the millions contributing project will be a game-changing infra-
to their wealth. structure. This leads all to make a
What Einstein said about common judgement that the airport
human indebtedness and grati- was built with a political aspiration
tude, Indian Rishis proclaimed rather than an economic calculation.
three thousand years ago in a People aspire to get quality ser-
much wider and more universal vices regardless of how a project is
context. Human ethical values built and what challenges the govern-
are born out of the feeling of ment will face to pay back the loan.
indebtedness. Our common problem is that we
Humans have inherited five don’t allow debates to be conducted
categories of indebtedness or
over issues that are critical for the larg-
Rin in our existence on earth and er economy of the country. Some-
all of us must express our grati- times, we get swayed by unnecessary
tude and also to repay our debt. debates initiated for the interest of
These are: small groups.
(1) Devarin ~ indebtedness to That’s why it is vital that we review
supra-human powers for the gifts the existing parliamentary committees
of Sun, air, water, light etc. and do a thorough analysis of the need
(2) Rishi Rin ~ Indebtedness to for additional committees so that ade-
sages who leading a life of utter quate discussions are held among law-
self-denial, realise the highest makers over the issues, challenges and
truths and gave the wisdoms. utilisation of resources.
(3) Pitri Rin ~ indebtedness to As the country has reached a
parents and ancestors for their point of financial crisis, we have to be
cumulative contributions to us. careful about managing financial
(4) Nri Rin ~ indebtedness to resources.
humanity at large, to countless Following the general elections
people who have contributed to and the formation of a new govern-
make existence a reality. ment, incoming Finance Minister
(5) Bhuta Rin ~ indebtedness to Bishnu Poudel inherited multi-faceted
all sub-human species ~ trees, challenges and critical problems in the
animals, birds, fish, insects etc.
for their incalculable gifts to us.
economy. He said he wouldn’t issue a
white paper on the economy as he
Ethics is the “oxygen” of life didn’t want to expose its status and
and without ethics, the world spread anxiety among the people.
would turn into a lawless, anar- Officials at the Ministry of Finance
chic, uncivilized and a cruel jun- are facing problems making the bud-
gle to live in, where the only rule get because of a large gap in financial
would be ‘might is right’. resources. People have big expecta-
Society and good life would tions from the new government, but
collapse. It is not a question of there are almost no resources for even
ethics in business only. a bare minimum of programmes.
If the world is to survive, Recurrent expenditure has over-
ethics has to be the guiding and shot revenue collection. The question
motivating force in all walks of is how we will manage the gap and
life and at all levels ~ family, who will be funding other pro-
community, professional, social, grammes. Another question is where
political, judicial, cultural, tech- we will get funding to develop public
nological and scientific. infrastructures that will take us beyond
(Concluded) our current position.
WHITHER SCIENCE?
SIR, Apropos Govind Bhattacharjee’s article ‘Her Best Budget’, 5
February, let us remember those times when the Finance Bill carried
a special mention of the allocation for science and technology. But
that has disappeared.
It is true that ‘development’ was mentioned in the budget 38
times and ‘growth’ 15 times. Does the FM believe ‘development’
and ‘growth’ are born out of air? Does she need any persuasion to get
convinced that indigenous science and technology beget ‘develop-
ment’ and ‘growth’ for a country? Economists (barring former PM
Manmohan Singh) are always indoctrinated with words like GDP,
inflation, growth rate, etc. ignoring the basic fact that S&T creates
wealth.
Government dangles a carrot of 2 per cent of GDP allocation
(up from 0.8 per cent now) on research and development. This is not
to be ~ especially when the imbibed philosophy of the government is
’Jugad’ innovation and ‘Make in India’ based on imported technolo-
gy. Indigenous research especially basic science is bound suffer.
Yours, etc., Subrata Ghosh,
Kolkata, 7 February.
tourists. Wildlife sanctuaries and consistently stated that commer-
parks have proven to be an effec- cial activities should not take place
tive means of promoting tourism. near sanctuaries. To stop human
In order to generate revenue, gov- activities inside the sanctuaries,
ernments promote tourism-relat- the Supreme Court ordered the
ed activities in such locations. removal of villages a few years
However, these activities have a back. However, despite being
significant impact on the natural aware of all these facts, the Min-
life of wildlife. This reduces their istry of Environment continued to
fertility, and they are beset by dis- give approval for commercial
eases. Wildlife organ traffickers activities.
also find it simple to infiltrate Yours, etc.,
sanctuaries. As a result, wildlife Abhijit Roy,
organisations and experts have Jamshedpur, 10 February.

Why it is so difficult to
tackle climate change
ANDREW SHENG
ixty years ago, the Club of
S Rome’s report “Limits to
Growth” already projected how
human activity was going to
change the planet, heating up the cli-
mate through carbon emissions that
would raise the sea level, change
weather and damage food, water and
natural resources.
Since most people do not under-
stand how their individual activities
change the planet, scientists worked
hard to provide more evidence, but
economists thought they had a perfect
market solution. If carbon markets
can be created to price carbon costs
and benefits, emitters could pay those
who are willing to sequester carbon at
the right price. Unfortunately, carbon
markets are still nascent in most coun-
tries and are so fragmented that their
impact is limited. People don’t trade
carbon if they don’t understand it.
Dealing with climate change is a
complex system change. This is tough
because everyone is connected or
interdependent in this complex world.
This leads to “collective action traps”.
Human beings find it difficult to work
together because of different values,
objectives and circumstances. Each
expects the other to act, whereas if all
do not cooperate, nothing will change.
Like a network of individuals bound
to each other, one virus can take the
whole network down. This inability to
act is called Tragedy of the Commons,
because individuals for their selfish
action, destroy the commons, or what
is considered public good.
When the corporate world adopts
ESG (environment, society and gover-
nance) standards to improve corpo-
rate social responsibility (CSR), it for-
gets that all three are entangled. Fun-
damentally, poor human governance
is actually the evil that creates envi-
ronmental destruction and social
injustices.
There are essentially three broad
categories of governance – state, mar-
Travails of Bangladesh’s national carrier
ANUPAM DEBASHIS ROY
ike anyone else, I get quite ner-
L
vous when a plane starts shak-
ing mid-air. It's only when the
calm voice of the captain or the
cabin crew says, "We are encountering
some minor turbulence, it will be over
soon," that I relax. But if I were to get
on a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight,
I would be nervous from the get-go.
And why would I not? It seems as
though the management is failing – or
simply does not care enough – to live
up to expectations that the country’s
national flag carrier would provide an
affordable and quality service. Tax-
payers' money is spent to maintain an
airline instead of leaving air travel
solely in the hands of the private sec-
tor, because we view air travel as an
essential service that the government
must provide as a public good. How-
ever, Biman's performance can hardly
be termed as a source of satisfaction,
let alone pride.
There are, sadly, a plethora of
complaints against Biman that have
come to light. Let's start with the issue
of recruitment. In October, examina-
tion papers for a recruitment test for
various positions in the airline were
leaked and, reportedly, high officials
of the air carrier were involved in it.
Because of the leak, the recruitment
process had to be suspended.
The pilot recruitment process has
also been corrupted. In February last
CROSSWORD
1 2 3 4 5 6
8 9
10 11
12 13 14 15
16
17 18
19 20 21 22
24 25
ket, or civil society (communities - the
smallest being the family). State insti-
tutions are essentially hierarchical,
top-down governance, with siloed
bureaucracies that often work against
each other for their own interests.
Profit-driven market organizations
end up being highly concentrated
with monopolistic or oligopolistic
control over their consumers and
workers. Civil societies or communi-
ties are more flexible, but at the micro
or small end often suffer from lack of
fair access to funding and incur higher
transactions costs than larger multi-
nationals.
United Nations Special Envoy on
Climate Action Mark Carney identi-
fied what he called the Tragedy of
Horizon, namely, people cannot
cooperate because of different time
horizons. Profit-motivated companies
are reluctant to cut carbon emissions
because they involve additional costs.
Corporate quarterly and annual finan-
cial reporting cycles mean that CEOs
whose bonuses are tied to short-term
year, 14 pilots were appointed to
Biman, all of whom became the sub-
ject of an investigation after the Prime
Minister's Office (PMO) sent a letter
to the civil aviation ministry. Accord-
ing to reports by investigative agen-
cies, these pilots were hired instead of
giving at least 30 existing Biman pilots
their due promotions. Even worse, in
many cases, they were hired from
other airlines from which they had
either been sacked or denied promo-
tion.
The most flagrant was the case of
Sadia Ahmed, whose husband was on
the recruitment committee and
allegedly bent the rules in her favour.
Ahmed reportedly did not have the
required 300 flying hours needed to
7 ry is within our grasp if we stand unitedly
YESTERDAY'S SOLUTION
F L A T GE R A N I
U R U F F R
R OMA N T I C F I C T I
E E D R E H
L
I
S
A D I E SMA N
R L
A T I S F Y
D
I C
A
E
O
E R U
L A S S U S CH
L
O
N P Q O G R
A S T I U NWR I N K L E
O C C A I S
S P E C I A L I S A T I ON S
23
L N O O H S W E
O RD I N A R Y
NOTE: Figures in parentheses denote the number of letters in the words required. (By arrangement with The Independent, London)
profits decline long-term investments
for the future.
Similarly, few politicians in a
democracy will make very tough deci-
sions for the long-term because they
all face electoral cycles of not more
than 4-5 years. In seeking popularity,
they will not act to inflict pain through
tougher regulations or higher taxes.
The tragedy of horizons almost guar-
antees that long-term or public inter-
ests will be sacrificed for short-term
gain.
All these explain why govern-
ments and corporations find it hard
to change. However, communities
(either urban or rural) that face the
consequences of climate change, such
as those hurt by wild forest fires, rising
seas, food shortages, water pollution,
etc. are more driven to work together
when they identify common threats.
The bottom-up approach works better
because those who are most directly
affected by climate threats have a
common fate and therefore are incen-
tivized to work together to meet these
qualify for operating a Boeing 777 air-
craft. Also, she had been sacked
before by Regent Airways and US-
Bangla Airlines. Why, then, was she
appointed to operate the national flag
carrier?
Since the controversy became
publicly known through the media,
the appointment of nine pilots was
cancelled. But it's not only the new
pilots who are questionable. Accord-
ing to a report, two Biman pilots wil-
fully jeopardised the lives of their pas-
sengers and about 500 others by con-
cealing the fact that the engines of the
plane they were flying had been dam-
aged due to the captain's inappropri-
ate mid-flight procedures. According
to the law, the penalty for such a crime
ACROSS
16
8 Salesperson right
to avoid door, offering
UM
M A contrition (10)
ON 9/24 Novel plot
17
suppressed by a
T X
woman (4,4)
L A
T
N I
S
C
10/22 Celebrity finally
dabbling in wrong
18
V
L E
C
R A
aspect of astrology
(4,4)
11 Leaks not initially
19
seen in ship one sells
complete? (10)
N S 12 Hard to engage in a
22
24
job with some rigging,
25
turning to address
E N I D someone else (10)
15 Couple moving west,
challenges. On the other hand, gov-
ernments and corporations are hier-
archical, divided into top-down
bureaucracies that have few incen-
tives to work together because each
seeks to deliver partial results for their
own vested interests.
The tragedy of horizons reveals a
fundamental mismatch of different
cycles. What goes around must come
around – meaning that there are con-
sequences for any action. Agricultural
communities work together because
planting any crop works in cycles and
seasons. You cannot rely on too much
chemical fertilizers or pesticides with-
out polluting or poisoning the crops.
Grain crops like rice and wheat or veg-
etables can be planted once or twice a
year. Fruit trees and trees cultivated
for their wood have cycles that last
decades, since the former may take
four-five years before they bear fruit
and commercial forests may take
much longer, requiring planned cut-
ting, planting, and re-planting. Indige-
nous farmers know that you cannot
is life imprisonment. But instead of
penalising them, the Biman authori-
ties promoted one of those pilots to
fly long-distance flights. Fortunately,
the promotion was revoked a day after
the carrier was contacted to inquire
about the investigations into the event
and the pilots involved.
There are numerous other inci-
dents involving Biman's inefficiency
and mismanagement, ranging from
making losses year after year, owing
money to various organisations, and
keeping new aircraft underutilised, to
cancelling flights to several destina-
tions, providing subpar customer ser-
vice, and causing callous accidents on
the grounds of Hazrat Shahjalal Inter-
national Airport (HSIA). All of this
happened in just one year (2022),
which also happened to be its 50th
year of service.
For example, on November 17, at
the HSIA, a Biman ground handling
equipment collided with a Gulf Air
Boeing 787, damaging the main body
of the aircraft and taking it out of
operation. Previously, on April 10, a
Biman Boeing 777-300ER collided
with a carrier Boeing 737-800 while it
was being brought into the hangar.
Not only were Biman's planes dam-
aged in such incidents; other foreign
carriers' aircraft have also been dam-
aged in recent years as a result of the
Biman personnel's incompetence.
Reportedly, two Turkish Airlines jets
were damaged in a similar manner not
long ago.
joining new DOWN
community (4)
Delivering pure
1 Some crazes that
half-cut diamonds
will produce
(though unable to
enthusiasm (4)
buy them?) (15)
Nuts – some parts 2 Historic city mostly
held in regard, looking
a man held back? (4)
back (10)
Deliveries with
flexibility? More than
you need (10)
3 Difficult situation:
spot disheartened
Well-known civil
engineer: source of 4
bridge partners (4)
Rude and simple
countryman cruelly
annoyance in a lot of
dismissing son (15)
English city (10)
5 More than one church
See 10
property that is
See 9
included in church
Work done on pylons
indicators (10)
with care: it presents
6 A post I shall abandon,
the likelihood of
turning up as priest (4)
dropping off (10)
NEW DELHI, SATURDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2023
rely on mono-crops, which kill the soil
and that diverse crops, as well as crop
rotation would regenerate the soil.
The real barrier in tackling cli-
mate change is therefore high popula-
tion Homo Sapiens, a species that has
grown to become a monoculture that
is killing biodiversity through over-
consumption of natural resources.
Indigenous people have always lived
with nature. Life is a cycle from dust
to dust, but death returns our physical
body to the soil, so that micro-bacte-
ria, viruses and fungi replenish the soil
from which other plants, worms and
life regenerate. Tackling climate
warming and biodiversity cannot be
two separate tracks, as is being done
through COP27 in Egypt and COP15
on biodiversity in Toronto.
The unity of complex systems
within complex systems is through
cycles linking different parts, just as
ocean and air currents circulate like
Nina weather effects that impact on
rain, thunderstorms and fish and farm
growth.
By discovering fossil fuels, which
are after all carbonized energy
deposits of previously living things,
humanity has used these to power its
domination over the rest of mankind
and other living things, destroying
biodiversity wantonly.
When individuals, communities,
corporations and states want to deal
with climate action, they only have to
look in the mirror to see the major cul-
prits. Until we become aware that we,
the collective humanity, are the ulti-
mate threat to our own existence,
through either nuclear war or wanton
waste of what nature provided, we will
never stop climate warming.
Life begins with a single cell, and
is a journey from life to death to
renewal. Not dust to dust, but soil that
nurtures life to soil. Destroy that
diversity, and we destroy ourselves as
part of that diversity.
(The writer, a former central banker, is a
distinguished fellow at the Fung Global
Institute.)
Special to ANN.
The inefficiency and incompe-
tence of the Biman staff is no secret
anymore. The government has noted
it to such a level that the Civil Avia-
tion Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB)
has decided to appoint an interna-
tional firm at the new third terminal of
the airport for the job.
This is utterly irresponsible and
unacceptable. Biman is a public asset
and therefore is duty-bound to pro-
vide good service. With such poor
conditions of pilots and staff, Biman
will not be able to compete with other
airlines and will continue to endanger
its passengers and the prestige of the
country. It is high time Biman was
overhauled to make it efficient. Cor-
ruption and nepotism must be root-
ed out of the organisation. The entire
system needs to be accountable and
the responsible parties for the mis-
deeds listed above must be brought to
book.
Biman has a long way to go to
meet modern aviation standards. The
airline must address its poor on-time
performance, inadequate in-flight ser-
vices and amenities, and ineffective
management if it is to regain the trust
and loyalty of its customers. Only then
can it hope to compete with other
international carriers and establish
itself as a world-class airline. Other-
wise, the country will never be able to
get a "Smart Airline" for a "Smart
Bangladesh."
The Daily Star/ANN.
NO-292340
7 A long-established
driver of industry,
were wealth to be
redistributed
(5,5)
13 Verse form – write
dull conclusion? Not
conclusion (10)
14 Wild and very keen to
bring in one expert
(3-7)
15 Intruder? In Paris,
very unfashionable
end for flâneur (10)
20 Energy certainly seen
in parts of storms
(4)
21 Provide military
men an opening (4)
23 Pull up around front
of store in wind (4)
07
100 YEARS AGO
OCCASIONAL NOTE
The Calcutta School of Music has now
been in existence for seven years, during
which it has given to scores of pupils a sound
musical education. A number of these have
become professional musicians, and the
School has thus helped to raise the standard
of musical performance in Calcutta. Poor
but promising pupils have been taught on
nominal terms, a liberality which has result-
ed in the discovery of remarkable talent,
while the Chamber Concerts given by the
School enjoy a well-deserved popularity.
Those who are acquainted with these facts
will turn with sympathetic interest to the
appeal from Lady Godfrey which we publish
in another column. The need for coming to
the public has been caused partly by the
impending departure of Mrs. Everett, who
has throughout given her services both as
professor of the piano and as secretary, and
partly by the reduction in the Government
grant owing to financial stringency. For a
time it was feared that the School would
have to close its doors, but in response to a
privately circulated appeal sufficient help
has been promised to enable the Committee
to draw up a useful but restricted pro-
gramme for the next three years. Now that
the facts are made public, it is hoped that all
who value music and musical education will
join in assisting the Committee to find the
funds necessary to carry on their work.
NEWS ITEMS
BIHAR TENANCY
LEGISLATION
PATNA, FEB. 10
H.E. the Governor of Bihar and Orissa
held a Durbar at Government House this
afternoon for presenting sanads and titles.
At the conclusion of the ceremony H.E. the
Governor delivered a short speech dwelling
on the tenancy legislation now before the
Bihar Council. He said the legislation was
not imposed by Government. It was under-
taken at the instance of those that are inter-
ested in the hope of obtaining a friendly
solution of the points of uncertainty and
doubt. After referring to the hitherto unsuc-
cessful attempt of the Hon. Mr. McPherson
to bring about an amicable settlement, he
asked the landlords and tenants to come
together in a spirit of equitable compromise
which meant a spirit of give and take.
BRITISH POLICY IN
IRAQ
Refereeing to Sir Percy Cox's visit, the
Observer says it fails to see how any drastic
modification of policy as regards
Mesopotamia is possible at present. The
paper recognises that British interests can-
not be indefinitely involved in post-war
experiments on the Asiatic coast but says
that our present responsibilities are the log-
ical outcome of the Mesopotamian cam-
paign during the war, when we were not a
free agent. To clamour for evacuation,
which a section of the London daily papers
continues to demand, is to force an open
door. As far as that principle goes, the real
problem is to apply the principle in a way
which will be less harmful to British inter-
ests than to risk staying there.
NO RETURN TO
CHEAP POST
Mr. G.R. Clarke, Director-General of
Post and Telegraphs, who has just returned
to Calcutta from Simal, in the course of an
interview with a representative of the
Statesman yesterday, said he inclined to the
opinion that there was very little probabili-
ty of India ever returning to the half-anna
postage for letters and the quarter-anna for
postcards. Mr. Clarke also said that after the
last increase of the postage rate there was
an abrupt drop of between 26 and 30 per
cent in the volume of business done by the
Post Office. Since July, however, the
amount of matter going through the post
had steadily increased, so that the addi-
tional revenue now coming in amounted to
between 1 and half and 2 lakhs per week.
NO PEACE IN
IRELAND
LONDON, FEB. 10
"The war will go on until the country's
independence is recognised by her ene-
mies, foreign and domestic," declares a
proclamation issued by Liam Lynch, the
Irregular Chief of Staff and addressed to the
Republican Forces. "We cannot compro-
mise on this fundamental condition," he
says, and urges the men not to be deluded
into surrendering their strong position, so
dearly won. He concludes by saying "victo-
and firmly." Three armed men blew up by
land mines, a printing works in Dublin,
doing thousand of pounds worth damage,
practically simultaneously with the issue of
the proclamation.
THE LIMITATION OF
ARMAMENTS
GENEVA, FEB. 10
The Commission for the limitation of
armaments, after hearing Lord Robert
Cecil's outline of a suggested mutual guar-
antee-treaty, decided to recommend the
Council of the League to invite the United
States to submit concrete proposals with a
view to its cooperation in controlling the
private manufacture of arms.
08
Uttar Pradesh will
drive India's growth.
NARENDRA MODI
NEW DELHI, SATURDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2023 PRIME MINISTER

New India’s New UP ready to play

THUMBNAILS
TikTok sacks entire India
staff: Chinese short video-

country’s growth engine: CM Yogi

making app TikTok has
sacked its entire India
staff -- about 40 employ-
ees -- and February 28 will
be their last working day.
The ByteDance-owned
platform, banned in India He said Uttar Pradesh ranks first in the production of many commodities including food grains, milk and sugarcane among others
in June 2020 over national STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE investors, as well as Nivesh Yamuna Expressway area.
security concerns, told its LUCKNOW, 10 FEBRUARY Sarathi, the online incentive Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the GIS, Yogi Adityanath Other projects being developed
employees they would and customer relationship described the summit as “Mahakumbh’ of investment. He said include IIT GNL at Greater
ounting on the invest- management portal (Nivesh Noida, mega food park at

receive up to nine months
of severance package.
However, most of the
staff will only get three-
month severance.
Yahoo to lay off 1,600
employees: Yahoo is lay-
ing off 20 per cent of its
workforce, or 1,600
employees, that will
impact half of the compa-
ny's ad tech business. In
an interaction with Axios,
Yahoo CEO Jim Lanzone
said that these changes
will be "tremendously ben-
C
ments proposals
worth Rs 32.92 lakh
crore Uttar Pradesh
has attracted through the
roadshows for the Global
Investors Summit (GIS) 2023,
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath
on Friday said that the state
is ready to play the role of
growth engine of the country
in line with the Prime Minis-
ter Narendra Modi’s vision and
by imbibing his mantra of
'Reform, Perform Transform'.
The chief minister made
these remarks in the pres-
ence of Prime Minister Modi,
Sarathi), are proving immense-
ly useful in facilitating invest-
ments.
According to him, 406 serv-
ices of 33 departments are
available on the online single
window portal 'Nivesh Mitra'.
Udyami Mitra is being
deployed to assist the investors.
CM Yogi also informed the
gathering about the prepara-
tions that went into organis-
ing roadshows in 21 cities of
16 countries and nine cities in
different states of the coun-
try for the GIS by teams led by
a group of ministers from
the investments, which will take place through 18,645 MoUs Bareilly, Transganga City at
signed between the government and the companies in diverse Unnao, plastic park at Gorakh-
sectors such as renewable energy, real estate, education, tourism, pur, garment park at Gorakh-
electronic vehicle manufacturing, housing, food processing, etc, pur and several flatted facto-
will create 92.50 lakh job opportunities in the state. ry complexes.”
Introducing the global
Inviting investors to take part in The CM said that Purvan- industrial world to the state's
the development of Uttar Pradesh, chal and Bundelkhand world-class infrastructure,
CM Yogi said that the state govern- regions of the state, which industry-friendly policies
ment, under the guidance of PM were considered ‘BEMARU’ and better law and order, the
Modi, has made the environment regions once, have also got chief minister called upon the
investments of Rs 9 lakh investors to take advantage
of the state favourable for industri- of the immense opportuni-
al development with better law crore and Rs 4.28 lakh crore
ties present in Uttar Pradesh
and order and 25 sectoral policies respectively through the and become co-travellers in
providing ease of doing business. Global Investors Summit. its journey of progress while
making New India prosper-

eficial for the profitability
of Yahoo overall". The lay-
offs will help the compa-
ny "to go on offense" and
invest more in businesses
that are profitable.
According to the compa-
ny, 12 per cent of the
workforce (around 1,000
employees) would be laid
off on Friday. In the next
six months, another 8 per
cent (600 people) will be
let go, the company said.
the Defense Minister, the
Governor, several Union Min-
isters, world class policy mak-
ers, top leadership of the cor-
porate world, business dele-
gations, academia, think tanks
and intellectuals.
He pointed out that the
Nivesh Sarathi portal, the
online system for signing
Memorandum of Under-
standings (MoUs) and mon-
itoring their implementation
for the convenience of
Uttar Pradesh on the occasion.
“We got the cooperation of
Indian missions, ambassa-
dors, high commissioners, as
well as business and industrial
organisations posted abroad
during the roadshows. With
the positive cooperation of all
these, we hope to achieve the
target of $1 trillion economy
of Uttar Pradesh also to take
the vision of the Prime Min-
ister forward. The chief min-
ister said that all the 75 dis-
18,645
MoUs signed between the govern-
ment and the companies in diverse
sectors
tricts of the state are con- India, ranks first in the pro-
nected “with this investment duction of many commodities
Mahakumbh”, adding that including food grains, milk and
investment programmes are sugarcane among others.
being held in every district. “Through policy-driven
Introducing the state's governance, the state gov-
industrial and sectoral poli- ernment has formulated
cies, he said Uttar Pradesh, around 25 policies to attract
known as the food basket of investment in various sec-
92.50
tors including IT/ITES, data
centre, ESDM, defense and
aerospace, electric vehicle,
warehousing and logistics,
tourism, textile, MSME, etc.
Since then, several refor-
mative steps have been taken
towards creating a holistic
ecosystem for industrial
lakh job opportuni-
ties will create in
the state.
development”, CM Yogi
remarked.
He added: “State's first
medical device park has been
inaugurated near Yamuna
Expressway. Similarly, film
city, toy park, apparel park,
handicraft park, logistics hub
are being developed in the
ous and powerful. He also
assured them of all possible
assistance at every stage as
per the policies of the gov-
ernment.
The CM said that Purvan-
chal and Bundelkhand regions
of the state, which were con-
sidered ‘BEMARU’ regions
once, have also got invest-
ments of Rs 9 lakh crore and
Rs 4.28 lakh crore respec-
tively through the Global
Investors Summit.

Moody's changes outlook of four

Adani Group companies to ‘negative’
AGENCIES
SINGAPORE, 10 FEBRUARY
Moody's Investors Service on
Friday changed outlook for four
Adani Group companies.
In a release, it said it has
changed the outlook on com-
panies to negative from sta-
ble, while maintaining the
stable outlook on other four
companies. Outlook has been
changed to negative from sta-
ble for Adani Green Energy
Limited (AGEL), Adani Green
Energy Restricted Group (AGEL
RG-1), Adani Transmission
Step-One Limited (ATSOL),
Adani Electricity Mumbai
Limited (AEML).
Outlook has been kept sta-
ble for Adani Ports and Special
Economic Zone Limited
(APSEZ), Adani Ports and Spe-
cial Economic Zone Limited
(APSEZ), Adani International
Container Terminal Private Ltd
(AICTPL), Adani Green Energy
Restricted Group (AGEL RG-2)
- comprising Wardha Solar
(Maharashtra) Private Limited,
Over the past week,
share prices of compa-
nies in the Adani
Group have dropped
significantly. The
report alleged stock
manipulation and
fraud by the conglom-
erate.
Kodangal Solar Parks Private
Limited and Adani Renewable
Energy (Rj) Limited.
It has also been kept sta-
ble for Adani Transmission
Restricted Group 1 (ATL RG1)
- comprising Barmer Power
Transmission Service Limit-
ed; Raipur-Rajnandgaon-
Warora Transmission Ltd;
Sipat Transmission Limited;
Thar Power Transmission Ser-
vice Limited; Hadoti Power
Transmission Service Limit-
ed; ChhattisgarhWR Trans-
mission Limited.
"These rating actions fol-
low the significant and rapid
decline in the market equity
values of the Adani Group
companies following the recent
release of a report from a
short-seller highlighting gov-
ernance concerns in the
Group," the release said.
Over the past week, share
prices of companies in the
Adani Group have dropped sig-
nificantly. The report alleged
stock manipulation and fraud
by the conglomerate.
The Adani Group has
attacked Hindenburg as "an
unethical short seller" and
stated that the report by the
New York-based entity was
"nothing but a lie".
The continued sell-offs in
the group's stocks led its flag-
ship firm, Adani Enterprises
Limited, to cancel a fully sub-
scribed Rs 20,000 crore follow-
on public offer.
Adani Group on January 29,
in a long 413-page report,
said the recent report by Hin-
denburg Research was not
an attack on any specific com-
pany but a "calculated attack"
on India, its growth story,
and ambitions.
Asia shares mostly fall, eyeing inflation, earnings, growth
AGENCIES
TOKYO, 10 JANUARY
Asian shares were mostly
lower on Friday after Wall
Street retreated for a second
day as market watchers con-
sidered earnings reports and
various indicators about
whether inflation is waning in
the U.S. and elsewhere.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei
225 added 0.3% to 27,650.80.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200
slipped 0.7% to 7,438.50. South
Korea’s Kospi dropped 1.0%
to 2,456.39. Hong Kong’s Hang
Seng shed 1.8% to 21,238.81,
while the Shanghai Compos-
ite was down 0.6% at 3,250.85.
Shares in Mumbai, Tai-
wan and Singapore also
declined.
China reported that its
consumer inflation rate ticked
up last month as demand
revived due to the lifting of pan-
demic restrictions and travel
and spending connected with
the Lunar New Year, the coun-
try’s biggest holiday.
Producer prices fell 0.8% in
January after a 0.7% decline
the month before. Consumer
price inflation rose to 2.1% from
a 1.8% climb in December.
Next week will bring the
release of U.S. and British
inflation updates, as well as U.S.
retail sales and industrial pro-
duction data. On Tuesday,
Japan will report its economic
growth figures for the final
quarter of 2022.
Wall Street share prices
dropped Thursday following
another mixed set of profit
reports from companies, amid
rising expectations for inter-
est rates.
The S&P 500 fell 0.9% to
4,081.50, while the Dow Jones
Industrial Average lost 0.7%
to 33,699.88. The Nasdaq com-
posite sank 1% to 11,789.58.
Stocks have been flipping
from gains to losses and back
again amid uncertainty about
where interest rates and infla-
tion are heading. A still-strong
jobs market has investors
buying more into the Feder-
al Reserve’s forecast that it will
hike rates a couple more times
before holding them at a high
level through this year. High
rates can drive down inflation
but also raise the risk of a reces-
sion and hurt investment
prices.
“There’s continuing evi-
dence that the economy is
stronger than people thought
it was going to be,” said
Thomas Martin, senior port-
folio manager at Globalt Invest-
ments. “The question is what
is the economy’s ability to
continue that resilience in
the face of interest rates that
are a lot higher than they
were a year ago.” High infla-
tion and worries about a slow-
ing economy have already
begun to hit corporate earn-
ings, and big U.S. companies
have been reporting relative-
ly lackluster results for the end
of 2022.
In energy trading, bench-
mark U.S. crude fell 41 cents
to $77.65 a barrel in elec-
tronic trading on the New
York Mercantile Exchange. It
lost 41 cents to $78.06 on
Thursday. Brent crude, the
international standard for
pricing, fell 34 cents to $84.16
a barrel. In currencies, the U.S.
dollar inched up to 131.70
Japanese yen from 131.44
yen. The euro cost $1.0721,
down from $1.0729.

FICCI CASCADE urges govt to launch robust BharatPe refutes Ashneer’s claim
international campaign against smuggling that 150 mn users’ data breached
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 10 FEBRUARY
The FICCI Committee Against
Smuggling and Counterfeit-
ing Destroying the Economy
(CASCADE) has urged the
government to launch a robust
international campaign against
the menace of smuggling.
It said the magnitude of
smuggling and the conse-
quent loss to the country’s
economy might become a
roadblock in India’s march
towards a 40 trillion-dollar
economy under the Govern-
ment’s vision of Amrit Kaal.
While last year FICCI CAS-
CADE took the initiative to
mark February 11 as Anti-
Smuggling Day, the body is
appealing to the Indian gov-
ernment to highlight the issue
of smuggling on the world
stage and work with the Unit-
ed Nations to declare this as
an ‘International Anti-Smug-
gling Day’.
The significance of the
need for a high-impact inter-
national campaign against
smuggling can be understood
in the context of the massive
loss that smuggling inflicts
on the Indian economy.
As per a 2022 FICCI CAS-
CADE’s study titled - ‘Illicit Mar-
kets: A Threat to Our Nation-
al Interests’, over a period of
10 years, the tax loss to the Gov-
ernment of India because of
the illicit trade has jumped by
163 per cent to reach a mam-
moth Rs 58,521 crore (from Rs
22,230 crore) for 5 key indus-
tries - Alcoholic Beverages,
Mobile Phones, FMCG-House-
hold and Personal Goods,
FMCG-Packaged Foods and
Tobacco Products.
P C Jha, Former Chair-
man, Central Board of Indi-
rect Taxes & Customs (CBIC)
and Advisor- FICCI CASCADE
said given the massive dam-
age that smuggling is inflict-
ing on the Indian economy,
the government has to take up
the issue at the international
stage and lead a campaign
against it.
Anil Rajput, Chairman,
FICCI CASCADE said, “While
we will continue to highlight
the issue of smuggling in the
country, an International Anti-
Smuggling Day declared by the
UN will enable momentum to
an international campaign
against smuggling by bring-
ing together nations – both
developing and developed,
international institutions, pol-
icymakers, industry, enforce-
ment agencies and media. AGENCIES company said in a state-
It will highlight the grow- NEW DELHI, 9 FEBRUARY ment.
ing hazard of smuggling and "OTPless is our service
create awareness amongst Fintech platform BharatPe provider that only enables
consumers and the youth to on Thursday termed the verification via WhatsApp
mitigate smuggling which has allegations levelled by its and is used by less than 10
now become an obstacle to former Managing Director per cent of our merchant
nation-building, he said. and Co-founder Ashneer base," it added.
On the occasion of the sec- Grover about data leak at the Moneycontrol was first to
ond Anti-Smuggling Day, company as "malicious and report about Grover's alle-
FICCI CASCADE is organising completely baseless". gation.
a conference in New Delhi on Grover had earlier alleged BharatPe said they "are
February 11. The conference that there is a breach of fully compliant on all our
will feature several senior data of over 150 million UPI data privacy obligations
functionaries from leading users at BharatPe by its Co- with our customers and
international organisations, founder Bhavik Koladiya, partners".
such as World Customs Orga- who has formed a new start- BharatPe and Grover are
nization (WCO), United up called OPTless. entangled in a fierce legal
Nations Office for Drugs and "BharatPe fiercely pro- battle over alleged siphon-
Crime (UNODC), US Home- tects the data of its cus- ing off of company funds
land Security and Australian tomers and observes high worth Rs 88.6 crore by Grover
Border Force. security standards," the and his family members.

SBI inaugurates special branch

for start-ups in Gurugram
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 9 FEBRUARY
State Bank of India inaugurated
its third specialised branch for
start-ups in the country at
Gurugram to support and
provide all banking services
required by start-ups under one
roof.
Gurugram, houses the third
highest number of unicorns
in the nation after Bangalore
and Mumbai.
Speaking on the occasion,
Dinesh Khara, Chairman SBI
said that the primary aim of
this branch is to provide end-
to-end support to startups at
every stage of their journey
starting from the formation of
the entity till IPOs and FPOs
of the companies.
Apart from regular bank-
ing services to start-ups, the
branch will also act as a one
stop shop in providing invest-
ment banking, treasury/forex,
advisory and other ancillary
financial services through the
Bank’s subsidiaries.
Apart from start-ups, the
Bank also intends to cater to
the requirements of the pri-
vate equity (PE), venture cap-
ital (VC) and Alternative Invest-
ment Funds (AIFs).
Leveraging on its locational
advantage of Gurugram, the
Startup branch has entered into
MoUs with Foundation for
Innovation and Technology
Transfer (FITT) at IIT-Delhi,
Pusa –Krishi (ICAR-IARI),
Technology Incubation and
Entrepreneurship Develop-
ment Society (TIEDS) at IIT-
Roorkee, MeitY Startup Hub
under the aegis of Ministry of
Electronics and Information
Technology, GOI.
That will enable the branch
to reach out to recognised
Start-ups with the objective of
assisting them in navigating
the various financial aspects
of the venture.
With the opening of the 3
rd Startup branch, with sev-
eral more lined up at other cen-
ters in the country, SBI has
taken a major initiative to
support the GOI’s vision of an
“Atmanirbhar Bharat”.
India needs 30 mn digitally skilled
professionals by 2026: Report
AGENCIES
NEW DELHI, 10 FEBRUARY
India will need 30 million dig-
itally skilled professionals
by 2026, and about 50 per cent
of the current workforce
would require to re-skill
themselves in areas of emerg-
ing technologies, a new report
said on Friday.
Currently, India has about
500 million people of work-
ing age, and industry data sug-
gests that only 49 per cent of
total youth (age group of 22-
25 years) in the country is
employable, according to
employment services provider
TeamLease.
"Our own survey have
indicated that 75 per cent of
companies face a skill gap in
the industry. Even among
people, who can stay in their
current jobs, 40 per cent of
fundamental abilities are
likely to change and thus re-
aligning the skill strategy will
be crucial for companies," said
Rituparna Chakraborty, Co-
Founder & Executive Direc-
tor, TeamLease Services.
Moreover, the report sug-
gests that developing a skills
matric, conducting skill audits
to target specific learning
journeys and intermingling
upskilling within the company
culture; a comprehensive
skill development strategy
will lead to a more sustain-
able future of work.
The proposed suggestion
also includes having an effec-
tive outcome-focused learn-
ing approach with structured
impact evaluation metrics.
"Over 2 million jobs in
AI, Cyber Security, and
blockchain are expected to
remain unfilled in 2023. Addi-
tionally, the workplace is
evolving so rapidly that 76 per
cent of the global workforce
is not equipped with the req-
uisite skills to function in
the new digitally focused
workplaces," mentioned
Chakraborty.
"The long-term goal of all
skill development programs
must focus on the creation of
a future-ready and future-
proof workforce for that is the
only way we can tackle the
fluctuations in the world of
work and infuse a sense of
greater stability. The adop-
tion of sustainable skill devel-
opment thereby creating a
healthy talent pipeline in
any country is the only way
to address the vagaries of
talent Inequity."
According to the World
Economic Forum, investing
in upskilling could boost
India's economy by $570 bil-
lion by creating 2.3 million
new jobs by 2030, the report
said.

India will be the most prosperous
nation by 2047: President Murmu
Women empowerment has become a reality
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
BHUBANESWAR, 10 FEBRUARY
I
t is the responsibility of the
young generation to take
India to the pinnacle of
development and ensure
that India becomes the most
prosperous nation in the world
by 2047 said President Droupa-
di Murmu while underlining
the empowerment of women
that has taken place.
Addressing the Convocation
of Rama Devi Women’s Uni-
versity, her amla mater, here
on Friday, President Murmu
turned nostalgic recalling her
days as a student for four years
at the college, the love and affec-
tion of the teachers.
She said that she is still in
touch with many of her class-
mates.Telling the students
that they should feel proud as
representatives of women, she
Odisha custodial death: Orissa HC grants bail to 29
NHRC seeks report arrested Sambalpur lawyers
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
BHUBANESWAR, 10 FEBRUARY
The alleged custodial death
of a man detained by for-
est department earlier last
week in Cuttack district
has come under the scruti-
ny of the NHRC which has
sought an ATR from the
Principal Chief Conserva-
tor of Forests and police
authorities.
Fifty-nine-year-old
Dhaneswar Behera, a resi-
dent of Satagochhia village,
was picked up by forest
department officials of Atha-
garh area on 5 February on
charge of poaching a tusker
and removing its tusks.
Allegedly beaten up black
and blue in custody, Behera
later succumbed to injuries.
Spectacular start to Dhauli-
Kalinga Mahotsav
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
BHUBANESWAR, 10 FEBRUARY
The 19th Dhauli - Kalinga
Mahotsav at the foothill of the
famous Dhauli Shanti Stupa
here took off to a glittering per-
formance of Odissi, Bharat-
natyam and Martial arts on Fri-
day.Odissi dance by dancers
of Rudrakshya Foundation led
by Guru Bichitrananda Swain
was followed by Bharatnatyam
by Parshwanath Upadhye &
Group (Punyah Dance Com-
pany, Bangalore).
The last presentation was
Kalaripayattu & Mayurbhanj
Chhau by Carolina Prada &
Group (Kalarigram, Auroville,
noted that women empower-
ment is no longer a slogan, it
has become a reality to a large
extent.
It is heartening that the
representation of women is
increasing in all democratic
institutions from Panchayats
to Parliament. It is a great
achievement of our democracy
that for the first time, the num-
ber of women parliamentari-
ans has crossed 100.
The President advised stu-
dents to keep faith in their abil-
ities. She said that after leaving
the university campus, they
would enter another universi-
ty - the University of Life. To be
successful in the University of
Life, they must be aware of
their strengths and abilities.
Union Education Minister
Dharmendra Pradhan request-
ed the state government to
upgrade Rama Devi Women’s
The carcass of a bullet-
ridden de-tusked male ele-
phant had been retrieved
from Hipinda Reserve for-
est under Badamba range
on 31 January.
Meanwhile, police have
arrested six forest person-
nel including a forest range
officer and two foresters of
Athagarh division in con-
nection with the custodial
death.
Supreme Court Lawyer
and Human Rights Activist
Radhakanta Tripathy had
drawn the attention of
NHRC on the alleged cus-
todial killing of the man.
The petitioner had urged
the NHRC to direct the
authorities to furnish
inquest report, post mortem
report and other details.
Puducheri).
Satyabrata Sahu, Addi-
tional Chief Secretary, Odia
Language,Literature, Culture
Department; Guru (Prof)
Ramahari Das, Eminent Odis-
University to a unitary varsity.
Odisha Governor Prof
Ganeshi Lal Ministers Ashok
Panda and Rohit Pujari were
present.
Earlier during the day, the
President addressed the Foun-
dation Day celebration of
Jnanaprabha Mission.
Addressing the gathering,
the President said that she
was happy to be part of the
Foundation Day celebration of
Bemoans that arrested lawyers undermined the dignity of Court
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
BHUBANESWAR, 10 FEBRUARY
The Orissa High Court, while
granting conditional bail to
29 lawyers arrested for trig-
gering vandalism in court and
endangering the lives of judi-
cial officers during the court
of an agitation in Sambalpur,
said “there is no iota of doubt
that the arrested legal prac-
titioners have undermined the
majesty and dignity of the
Court”.
“They unabashedly put
the Presiding Officers and
Staff of the Court, even for-
getting that there are also
lady officers and staff in mor-
tal fear of their life and limb.
It is by sheer providence that
si Vocalist and Music Com-
poser; Ranjan Kumar Das,
Director, Odia Language,Lit-
erature and Culture Depart-
ment and other dignitaries
were present.
the Jnanaprabha Mission which
is established with the aim of
awakening the power and
potential of mother and build-
ing a healthy human society.
She said that it is a matter
of pride that this Mission has
been named after the moth-
er of Paramahansa Yoganan-
da Ji who was his inspiration.
Our sages taught us to con-
sider mother, father, teacher
and guest as God. But do we
the judicial officers and staff
of the Court did not suffer any
serious injury”, the single
bench, Justice V.Narasingh
said in an order pronounced
today.
While granting condition-
al bail, Justice Narasingh
restrained the lawyers from
holding rallies, giving state-
ments before the media and
influencing witnesses.
The arrested lawyers, who
were taking part in the agita-
tion for the establishment of
a separate bench of Orissa High
Court in Sambalpur, had gone
on rampage on 12 December
as they barged into the court-
room and vandalized the judi-
cial complex in the presence
of judges.
ECoR has recruited
16405 people in 8 yrs
Vacancy percentage stands at 14.9 %
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
BHUBANESWAR, 10 FEBRUARY
East Coast Railway has filled
16405 vacant posts in last
Eight years through the
Recruitment Drives by Rail-
way Recruitment Boards
(RRBs) and Railway Recruit-
ment Cell (RRC), informed a
release issued by the Rail-
ways here on Friday.
Despite the challenges of
Covid-19 epidemic, East Coast
Railway (ECoR) has increased
its employee’s strength from
45,507 as on 1 April 2019 to
47,331 as on 1 January, 2023,
it stated.5259 candidates were
adopt this teaching in our
lives? This is a big question. Are
children taking proper care of
their parents? Often, sad sto-
ries of elderly parents appear
in the newspapers. She said that
merely addressing parents as
God and worshiping their pic-
tures is not spirituality. Caring
about parents and respecting
them is important.
Noting the fact that the
Jnanaprabha Mission is active
in popularizing the ‘Kriya
Yoga’, the President said that
whatever be the form – Yoga
is an ancient science and spir-
itual practice of India, whose
objective is to create a healthy
human society.
The President said that our
materialistic expectations and
aspirations are increasing, but
we are gradually turning away
from the spiritual side of our
life.
It may be recalled here that
the Supreme Court had
assailed the act of violence
on part of lawyers and pulled
up Odisha police for its fail-
ure to maintain law and
order.
The alleged conduct of
the petitioners is deplorable,
to say the least. The manner
in which they have con-
ducted themselves shocks
the conscience of this Court.
However, it is the majesty of
law reigning supreme that
mandates, to treat all accused
with an even hand notwith-
standing their alleged con-
duct, stated the court.
The arrested advocates
have spent more than 50 days
in judicial custody.
appointed in East Coast Rail-
way in Level 1 posts during last
8 years . Apart from Level 1
posts, 11146 candidates got
appointments in East Coast
Railway in different categories
in last 8 years.
All the above posts include
primarily safety category posts.
Recruitment process is
also in final stage for filling up
2,858 vacancies in ECoR by
RRBs and RRC, said the release.
As a result, the percentage
of vacancies to total sanc-
tioned staff strength in ECoR
has been reduced from 17.3 per-
cent as on 1 April 2019 to 14.9
percent as of 1 January, 2023.
NEW DELHI, SATURDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2023 09
Former
bureaucrat
Bijay Patnaik
joins
Congress
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
BHUBANESWAR, 10 FEBRUARY
Widely respected former chief
secretary of Odisha, Bijay Pat-
naik on Friday joined the Con-
gress at the AICC headquar-
ters, Delhi and said he was
entering politics to restore
democracy in Odisha which
is under misrule and corrup-
tion.AICC president Malikar-
jun Kharge, K C Venugopal,
Odisha incharge Dr A Chel-
lakumar and OPCC chief Sarat
Patnaik were present during
the induction.
The significance of the for-
mer top bureaucrat’s entry to
politics stems from the fact that
he has a clear insight into the
functioning of the Chief Min-
ister Naveen Patnaik and his
close bureaucratic coterie.
Bijay Patnaik was close to
the CM during his stint as
secretary to Naveen Patnaik
and subsequently as the chief
secretary of the state. He was
instrumental in acting as a
‘check’ to the then powerful
former bureaucrat late Pyari-
mohan Mahapatra.
Known to be a gentleman
with in depth knowledge of the
state, Bijay Patnaik steered
the state to new heights . He
could stand up to an ambi-
tious junior bureaucrat who
became close to the CM.
Implicitly indicating at this,
Patnaik told media persons that
the BJD is wholly devoted to
elections and does not think
of development or addressing
the concerns of people.Peo-
ple in Odisha do not know as
to who will redress their griev-
ances, resolve their problems
because MLAs and Ministers
plead helplessness ( read a few
bureaucrats run the show).
The tyranny of the unelect-
ed prevails in the state. It is a
threat to democracy. Vio-
lence and corruption have
become the order of the day,
he added.
Patnaik said he had seen
and worked under several
party governments in the state
and he chose Congress as it was
‘liberal’. He went on to note
that Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat
Jodo Yatra – a journey of love
and unity did inspire him.
Speculations are that sev-
eral retired bureaucrats may
soon follow and join the Con-
gress to form a viable core think
tank in the state.
The 1976-batch IAS Officer
Bijay Patnaik, who was con-
sidered to be powerful in
Naveen Patnaik administra-
tion, was the Chief Secretary
of Odisha from 2010 to 2013.
Prior to his appointment as the
Chief Secretary, he had served
as the Forest Secretary, Water
Resources Secretary and Prin-
cipal Secretary to Chief Min-
ister.
10
NEW DELHI, SATURDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2023
WEATHER
CITY MAX(°C) MIN(°C)
SINGAPORE 31 24 R
HONG KONG 22 20 H
TOKYO 13 05 S
LONDON
DUBAI
11
24
04 H
16 S
SAN FRANCISCO 13 07 R
NEW YORK
MOSCOW
08
-02
01 S
-04 R
S= sunny, CL= clear,
H=hazy, R= rainy...
THUMBNAILS
An ox stands surrounded
by burned trees in Santa
Juana, Chile. � AP
Russian court sentences
ex-governor to 22 years
for murder:A Russian
court on Friday sentenced
a former regional gover-
nor to 22 years in prison
after finding him guilty of
murder in a case that trig-
gered massive protests
two years ago. Sergei Fur-
gal was convicted of ord-
ering the killing of two
business competitors in
2004-2005, before he be-
came the governor of Rus-
sia's far eastern Khab-
arovsk region, and involve-
ment in the botched att-
empt to kill another busi-
nessman. Three other peo-
ple convicted of involve-
ment in the murders alon-
gside Furgal were handed
prison terms ranging from
9 1/2 to 21 years. ANI
Senator John
Fetterman remains
in hospital,
undergoing tests
WASHINGTON, 10 FEBRUARY
Pennsylvania Sen. John Fet-
terman, who had a stroke dur-
ing his campaign last year,
remained hospitalized and
undergoing tests after feeling
lightheaded, with tests so far
negative for another stroke or
seizure, his office said Thurs-
day evening.
An MRI at George Wash-
ington University Hospital,
along with other tests run by
doctors, rule out a new stroke,
Fetterman’s communications
director Joe Calvello said in a
statement Thursday evening.
Fetterman was being monitored
with an electroencephalogram
(EEG)- an instrument that
measures brainwaves- for signs
of a seizure, Calvello said.
“So far there are no signs of
seizure, but he is still being mon-
itored,” Calvello said. Calvel-
lo gave no indication about
when Fetterman might leave
the hospital, but had said late
Wednesday that Fetterman
was “in good spirits and talk-
ing with his staff and family.”
Fetterman felt lightheaded
Wednesday while attending a
Democratic retreat in Washing-
ton and went to the hospital,
staying overnight for testing.
In November, Fetterman,
53, won the seat held by now-
retired Republican Pat Toomey
after a hard-fought contest
against GOP nominee Mehmet
Oz. ANI
Corruption endangers world’s shrinking fisheries
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON, 11 FEBRUARY
As Indonesia’s fisheries min-
ister, Edhy Prabowo was tasked
with protecting one of his co-
untry’s most precious res-
ources: baby lobsters so tiny
one can fit on the tip of a fin-
ger.
The waters off the nation’s
many islands and archipela-
gos had once teemed with lob-
ster. But overfishing in recent
decades decimated the crus-
tacean’s population, so much
so that fishermen turned to
catching the hatchlings. They
scooped them up by the thou-
sand and shipped them to Viet-
namese lobster farms, where
the babies are raised to adult-
hood and sold mostly to deal-
ers in China to meet its enor-
mous demand for seafood.
Concerned that such har-
vesting was harming lobster
populations, Indonesia’s fish-
ing ministry in 2016 prohib-
ited the export of the tiny
crustaceans. Shortly after tak-
ing office, Prabowo lifted the
ban. Court documents show
that just a month later, in June
of 2020, the minister accept-
Russia targets Ukraine with missiles, drones
Kyiv says the military push by Moscow has been brewing for days and appeared to pick up pace ahead of anniversary of its invasion
ASSOCIATED PRESS
KYIV, 10 FEBRUARY
ussia unleashed strate-
R
gic bombers, killer
drones and rockets
in a barrage of attacks
across Ukraine early Friday,
as a military push by Moscow
that Kyiv says has been brew-
ing for days appeared to pick
up pace ahead of the one-year
anniversary of its invasion.
The Kremlin’s forces
focused their bombardments
on Ukraine’s industrial east,
especially the Luhansk and
Donetsk provinces that make
up the industrial Donbas
region where fighting has
recently been most intense,
the Ukrainian military said.
Moscow-backed separatists
have been fighting Ukrainian
forces there since 2014.
But the barrage went fur-
ther, also taking aim at the cap-
ital, Kyiv, and Lviv, near
Ukraine’s Western border
with Poland. It also struck
critical infrastructure in
Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-
largest city in the northeast.
Seven people were wounded
there, two of them seriously,
regional Governor Oleh
Syniehubov said.
Officer drew gun as
he approached Tyre
Nichols, report finds
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MEMPHIS, 10 FEBRUARY
One of three Memphis Police
officers who initially detained
Tyre Nichols last month has
admitted he did not witness
the alleged reckless driving that
was the justification for pulling
over Nichols but still
approached his car while
brandishing his gun, accord-
ing to police documents seek-
ing to bar him from working
in law enforcement.
That Jan. 7 traffic stop
quickly escalated into a beat-
ing, and Nichols died three
days later.
Officer Preston Hemphill’s
own body camera showed
that from the very beginning
of the traffic stop he and two
other officers approached
Nichols with force that was
disproportionate for the
alleged offense of reckless
driving, according to a state-
ment from the disciplinary
hearing that took place before
he was fired.
Hemphill was fired last
week but has not been charged
for his role in Nichols’ beat-
ing and arrest, which has
sparked widespread outrage
and reignited a national dis-
cussion of police brutality
against Black people.
Five other officers, who are
Black and were caught on
video pummeling Nichols
with their fists, feet and a
ed a $77,000 bribe from a
seafood supplier to grant it a
permit to sell the hatchings
abroad.
The money kept flowing.
In his short stint as minister,
Prabowo accepted bribes of
nearly $2 million. He was
arrested in 2020 by Indone-
sian authorities, having used
the graft to purchase 26 road
bikes, Old Navy children’s
clothes, Louis Vuitton bags,
Rolex watches and two lux-
ury pens. Prabowo, 50, was
sentenced to five years in
prison for corruption. His
attorney declined to com-
ment.
Prabowo’s case is not an
outlier. It’s emblematic of the
corruption plaguing dozens of
coastal developing countries
that play a key role in managing
Air raid sirens went off
across much of the country.
The Ukrainian Air Force said
its defenses destroyed five
Kalibr missiles and five Iran-
ian-made killer drones.
The bombardments could
be an effort by Russia to soft-
en up Ukraine’s defenses
ahead of a ground assault,
which Kyiv believes Moscow
is planning in the east where
the Kremlin is striving to
secure areas it has illegally
annexed and where it claims
its rule is welcomed.In the
Donetsk region, local Ukrain-
ian officials reported that the
Russian military deployed
additional troops and launched
offensive operations. “There
is a daily escalation and Russ-
ian attacks are becoming
active throughout the region,”
Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said.
baton, have been charged
with murder and other offens-
es.
Hemphill did not take part
in the second, more violent
encounter, which took place
after Nichols ran from police.
But the documents highlight
that he was heard on his body
camera telling his partner: “I
hope they stomp his ass!”
The information about
Hemphill’s actions is con-
tained in supporting docu-
ments attached to a Wednes-
day request from Memphis
Police Chief Cerelyn “CJ”
Davis to strip Hemphill, who
is white, of his police certifi-
cation so that he could not
work in law enforcement
again. Hemphill’s lawyer did
not immediately comment
Thursday because he had
not fully read the documents.
The documents help cre-
ate a fuller picture of the ini-
tial encounter with the 29-year-
old Nichols that involved
Hemphill, Demetrius Haley
and Emmitt Martin III. Haley
and Martin were fired last
month and charged with sec-
ond-degree murder in Nichols’
death along with Tadarrius
Bean, Desmond Mills Jr. and
Justin Smith.
The police chief has said
she saw no justification in
video of the incident for
pulling Nichols over in the first
place.
Meanwhile, the office of the
top prosecutor in Memphis
said in a statement Thursday
that it will review all previous
cases, “closed and pending,”
of the five officers charged in
the Nichols investigation.
It was not immediately clear
how many cases the review
by the Shelby County District
Attorney’s Office will involve,
but there is at least a chance
that some cases could be
re-opened if problems emerge.
some of the world’s most
threatened fishing grounds,
according to experts and a
review of criminal case files and
media reports by the AP. At least
45 government officials have
been accused of corruption in
the past two decades, the AP
found. The allegations range
from high-ranking officials
like Prabowo accepting large
payments from fishing com-
panies to obtain lucrative con-
tracts to low-level civil servants
accepting a few thousand dol-
lars to ignore fishermen bring-
ing illegal catch ashore.
“Fisheries corruption can
have devastating impacts on
marine ecosystems and local
communities that may depend
on them,” said Ben Freitas, the
manager of ocean policy at the
World Wildlife Fund, based in
They worked primarily in the field of developing the mineral resource base...We
appreciate the attention that the Sudanese leadership pays to them......
Macron weighs kicking Putin
out of French Legion of Honour
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BRUSSELS, 10 FEBRUARY
Ukraine’s wartime leader
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has
now been bestowed with
France’s highest medal of
honor. But there’s a problem:
Russian President Vladimir
Putin has the same medal.
French President
Emmanuel Macron pinned
the Grand Cross of the Legion
of Honor medal on Zelen-
skyy’s chest after the two met
in the French presidential
In Luhansk province, the
Russian army is trying to
punch through Ukrainian
defenses, according to region-
al Gov. Serhii Haidai.
“The situation is deterio-
rating, the enemy is con-
stantly attacking, the Rus-
sians are bringing in a large
amount of heavy equipment
and aircraft,” Haidai said.
There has been little change
in battlefield positions for
Pence subpoenaed by special counsel probing Trump
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ormer Vice President
F
Mike Pence has been
subpoenaed by the
special counsel over-
seeing investigations into
efforts by former President
Donald Trump and his allies
to overturn the results of the
2020 election, according to a
person with direct knowl-
edge of the event.
The subpoena to Pence as
part of the investigation by spe-
cial counsel Jack Smith was
served in recent days, accord-
ing to the person, who spoke
to The Associated Press on
condition of anonymity Thurs-
day to discuss a sensitive
issue. The extraordinary sce-
nario of a former vice presi-
dent potentially testifying
against his former boss in a
criminal investigation comes
as Pence considers launching
a 2024 Republican presiden-
tial bid against Trump. The two
have been estranged since a
mob of Trump’s supporters
‘We couldn’t let go’: War tears young Ukrainian family apart
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BRASOV, 10 FEBRUARY
University student Vlada
Yushchenko was still in her
teens and nearly three
months pregnant when she
hugged her husband at the
border, turned away and
walked into Moldova. Now
she’s in Romania, one of
the millions of Ukrainians
forced to flee Russia’s inva-
sion. Her baby, Daniel, was
born there eight months
ago and still hasn’t met his
father Yaroslav, who is 21 and,
like most men of fighting age,
prohibited from leaving
Ukraine.
The young family’s forced
separation is an all-too-
common story among the
estimated 110,000 Ukrain-
ian refugees in Romania —
Washington.
“Countries with weak gov-
ernments that lack oversight
and accountability are more
susceptible to corruption risk.
And that is where fisheries
corruption plays a pernicious
role in overfishing. It can lead
to the over-exploitation of
resources. It is a global prob-
lem.” The situation is most crit-
ical in areas managed by devel-
oping nations because many
industrialized countries have
already overfished their own
waters, forcing them to dispatch
fleets of trawlers across the globe
to meet growing seafood
demand. People worldwide
consume twice as much
seafood as they did five decades
ago, according to United
Nations estimates, and 35% of
stocks are considered over-
fished, up from 10%.
Many coastal developing
countries depend on fish for
millions of jobs and to meet
the dietary needs of their po-
pulations. The U.N. Office on
Drugs and Crime warned in a
2019 report that failing to ta-
ckle corruption will lead to “sig-
nificant financial, environ-
mental and societal damages.”
ACKNOWLEDGING THE PRESENCE OF RUSSIAN-OWNED MINING COMPANIES IN SUDAN
palace Thursday, a move
Macron said was meant to
show France’s “immense”
recognition for Ukraine’s
valor since Russia invaded
it a year ago.
Some French legislators
and activists have called on
Macron to rescind Putin’s
award because of the war.
Macron didn’t rule out
stripping Putin of the honor
bestowed by then-President
Jacques Chirac in 2006.
Macron told reporters
Friday that such a decision
weeks.
Also Friday, Moldova’s
Ministry of Defense said that
a missile was detected tra-
versing its airspace near the bor-
der with Ukraine. Moldova’s
foreign ministry said in a state-
ment that the Russian ambas-
sador in Chisinau has been
summoned for talks over the
“unacceptable violation”.
The ministry said that the
missile was detected in its
stormed the U.S. Capitol
building on Jan. 6, 2021, in an
attempt to stop Democrat
Joe Biden’s victory.
The subpoena is an aggres-
sive step from a prosecutor
who for years led the Justice
Department’s public cor-
ruption section and who over-
saw indictments against major
political figures. The move sets
the stage for a likely executive
privilege fight, given Pence’s
close proximity to Trump for
four years as major decisions
were being contemplated
and planned. It is unclear
whether efforts to secure vol-
untary testimony from Pence
stalled before the subpoena
was issued.Spokespeople for
Pence and Smith declined to
nearly all of them women
and children.
“Nobody expected the war
was coming and that we
weren’t going to be together,”
said Yushchenko, who has
settled for now in the central
Romanian city of Brasov where
she gave birth and shares a
two-room apartment with
Daniel, her mother, and her
terminally ill grandmother.
“For a long time we could-
n’t let each other go,” said
Yushchenko, 19, recalling the
couple’s separation at the
border. “We really didn’t want
this, but at the same time we
understood that we have to
RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SERGEY LAVROV
came to Romania’s airspace
was approximately 35 kilo-
meters (20 miles).
High-voltage infrastruc-
ture facilities were hit in the
eastern, western and south-
“has serious meaning, and ern regions, Ukraine’s ener-
it should be taken at the gy company, Ukrenergo, said,
right moment.” He noted that resulting in power outages
he has rescinded the honor in some areas. It was the 14th
in the past. round of massive strikes on the
Macron stripped Holly- country’s power supply, the
wood producer Harvey Wein- company said. The last one
stein of his Legion of Honor occurred on Jan. 26 as Moscow
award in the wake of wide- seeks to demoralize Ukraini-
spread sexual misconduct ans by leaving them without
allegations against him in heat and water in the bitter win-
2017. Disgraced cyclist and ter. Zaporizhzhia City Coun-
former Tour de France star cil Secretary Anatolii Kurtiev
Lance Armstrong also had said the city had been hit 17
his French Legion of Honor times in one hour, which he
award revoked. said made it the most intense
period of attacks since the
beginning of the full-scale
airspace at around 10 a.m. and invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.
flew over two border villages Ukraine’s Air Force shot
before heading toward down 10 Russian missiles
Ukraine. over Kyiv, according to the Kyiv
The spokesperson for City Administration. The frag-
Ukraine’s Air Forces, Yurii ments of one missile damaged
Ihnat, told The Associated two cars, a house and electricity
Press that another missile wires. No casualties were
crossed the airspace of Roma- reported.
nia, a NATO member coun- The Ukraine Air Force said
try. Romania’s defense min- Russia launched up to 35 S-300
istry denied that, however, say- anti-aircraft guided missiles on
ing the closest the missile the Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia
Trump's Facebook and Instagram pages restored: Fac-
ebook and Instagram pages belonging to former US Pres-
ident Donald Trump have been restored. Andy Stone,
policy communications director at Meta, has confirmed
the development, NBC News reported. The reinstate-
ment had been expected after Facebook's president
of global affairs Nick Clegg in January said that the sus-
pension will be lifted, as per the news report. Trump's
accounts on Facebook and Instagram were suspend-
ed by Meta after January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. The ban
was announced initially as an indefinite ban that
included the last two weeks of his presidency, as per
the NBC News report. The ban on Trump's account was
later formally extended for two years.
comment on the issuance of the election was stolen
the subpoena, which was first
reported by ABC News.
marched to the Capitol build-
ing, brutally pushed past the
Pence was a central figure police and smashed through
in Trump’s efforts to stay in the windows and doors while
power after losing the 2020 Pence was presiding over the
election. Trump falsely insist- certification of Biden’s victory.
ed that his vice president, The vice president was steered
who had a ceremonial role in to safety with his staff and fam-
overseeing the certification of ily as some in the mob chant-
the election, could simply ed, “Hang Mike Pence!”
reject the results and send While the mob was in the
them back to the battleground Capitol, Trump tweeted, “Mike
states he contested. Pence didn’t have the courage
On Jan. 6, Trump sup- to do what should have been
porters driven by the lie that done to protect our Country
“Sometimes we burst out
in tears (but) we are very
happy when we see each
other on video,” Yushchenko
said. “I called (Yaroslav) and
sent a photo as soon as I was
able to” the day Daniel was
born, she added. “It was very
emotional, he was very happy,
do this for mine and the it was unforgettable.” But
baby’s health and to be safe.” even that virtual link isn’t
As the war drags into its sec- always there.
ond year, the lack of physical In recent months, Russian
contact between the baby and strikes have targeted critical
his father, a computer pro- energy infrastructure across
gramming student in Kyiv, large swathes of Ukraine,
rankles. Still, their smart- which has at times made
phones allow the family a communication difficult.
sense of connection. Yaroslav tries to ease her con-
provinces. Those missiles can-
not be destroyed in mid-air by
air defenses but they have a
relatively short range so the Rus-
sians have used them for
attacks on regions not far from
Russian-controlled territory.
The Khmelnytskyi province
in Western Ukraine was also
attacked with Shahed drones,
according to regional Gov.
Serhii Hamalii.
Russia has in the past used
Iranian-made Shahed drones
to strike at key Ukrainian
infrastructure and sow fear
among civilians, according
to Western analysts. They are
known as suicide drones
because they nosedive into tar-
gets and explode on impact
like a missile.
The onslaught lent a sense
of urgency to Ukraine’s pleas
for more Western military
support. The need prompted
Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelenskyy to make
a rare-and daring-two-day
trip abroad this week to press
allies to grant Kyiv more aid.
Due to the threat of a mis-
sile attack, emergency power
outages were enacted in Kyiv
city, the Kyiv and Dnipropetro-
vsk regions, according to pri-
vate energy operator DTEK.
and our Constitution.”Smith,
who was named special coun-
sel in November by Attorney
General Merrick Garland, has
been tasked with overseeing
investigations into Trump’s
attempts to subvert his defeat,
his actions leading up to the
Jan. 6 insurrection at the
Capitol and his possession of
top-secret government doc-
uments at his Florida estate,
Mar-a-Lago.
Federal prosecutors have
been especially focused on a
scheme by Trump allies to ele-
vate fake presidential electors
in key battleground states
won by Biden as a way to sub-
vert the vote, issuing sub-
poenas to multiple state
Republican party chairs.
Federal prosecutors have
brought multiple Trump
administration officials before
the grand jury for question-
ing, including former Trump
White House counsel Pat
Cipollone and Pence’s own
former chief of staff, Marc
Short.
cerns, Yushchenko said, by
warning her of potential out-
ages and telling her not to panic
during moments of silence.
Still, seeing footage of the
war play out in Ukraine, and
knowing her husband is there,
only adds to her worries.
“It’s very hard to watch the
news and see all the misery, the
missile strikes, the deaths,”
said Yushchenko, who between
taking care of the baby continues
her mathematics and physics
studies remotely at the Kyiv Poly-
technic Institute.
Her faith, among other
things, is helping her through
the ordeal.

THUMBNAILS
A woman takes a picture
of a lantern display inside
a shopping mall in Beijing.
� AP
Int'l cruise ships return to
Philippines after 3 years:
International cruise ship
operations have resumed
in the Philippines for the
first time after a three-
year suspension due to
the Covid-19, authorities
said on Friday. "Cruise shi-
ps are now back in the
tourism scene as they
resume operations in dif-
ferent parts of the coun-
try on Thursday," Xinhua
news agency quoted
Philippine Ports Authority
General Manager as saying
in a statement. IANS
Heavy snow warning
issued for Tokyo: A heavy
snow warning was issued
for Tokyo on Friday by
the weather agency in
Tokyo, with the inclement
weather disrupting trans-
portation services. The
Japan Meteorological Age-
ncy issued the alert for
Tok- yo's 23 wards, warn-
ing that later in the day
the snow could turn to
sleet and then rain, mak-
ing eve- ning rush hour
driving conditions poten-
tially hazardous if the
roads become icy. IANS
Palestinian shot dead: A
Palestinian man who
attempted to stab Israeli
soldiers was shot and
killed south of the occu-
pied West Bank city of
Hebron, the army in the
Jewish state said.In a
statement, the army
issued a picture of a large
kitchen knife and said it
was used by the suspect
to try to stab the soldiers
on Friday who "responded
with live fire and neutral-
ized the suspect", reports
Xinhua news agency. IANS
Laos begins
to prepare for
2024 ASEAN
summit
VIENTIANE, 10 FEBRUARY
Preparations are underway
for Laos to host the next
ASEAN summit in 2024,
with a national-level meet-
ing convened at the Prime
Minister's Office to discuss
the arrangements, local
media reported on Friday.
The meeting was chaired
by Lao Prime Minister
Sonexay Siphandone, Xin-
hua news agency quoted
local daily Vientiane Times
as saying.A national com-
mittee, responsible for
arranging accommodations
and vehicles, preparing the
summit venue, delegating
duties to officials, prepar-
ing a budget, and deciding
on the content of the sum-
mit, has reviewed the prepa-
rations to date.According-
ly, some 14 sub-committees
have been appointed to
supervise preparations for
the summit.
They will be responsible
for arranging meeting
venues, readying hotels and
restaurants, putting up pro-
motional materials around
capital Vientiane, repair-
ing roads, and ensuring
communication systems.
The Ministries of Foreign
Affairs; Industry and Com-
merce; and Information,
Culture and Tourism have
been entrusted to prepare
the contents and agenda of
the summit.
The focus of discussions
will be the three pillars of
the ASEAN Community,
namely the ASEAN Political-
Security Community, the
ASEAN Economic Com-
munity, and the ASEAN
Socio-Cultural Communi-
ty, when Laos will assume
the chair of ASEAN in 2024,
said the daily report.Laos will
assume the chairmanship
from January 1 to Decem-
ber 31, 2024. IANS
Alarm bells in Pakistan as
reserves drop below $3 bn
The nation has $8.54 bn in reserves in total, including $5.62 bn held by commercial banks, The News reported
The country is strug-
gling to service
extremely high levels
of external debt, and
has barely enough dol-
lars to cover less than
three weeks worth of
imports, the report
said.
INDO ASIAN NEWS SERVICE
KARACHI, 10 FEBRUARY
akistans foreign
P
exchange reserves held
by the central bank
decreased by 5.5 per
cent or $170 million to $2.91
billion in the week ending 3
February, the State Bank of
Pakistan said on Thursday,
deepening the economic woes
of the crisis-stricken country,
media reports said.
The country has $8.54 bil-
lion in reserves in total, includ-
ing $5.62 billion held by com-
mercial banks, The News
reported.
The country is struggling
to service extremely high lev-
els of external debt, and has
barely enough dollars to cover
less than three weeks worth
of imports, the report said.
The nation's already pre-
carious economic predica-
ment was made worse by the
rapidly decreasing reserves.
Pakistan held talks with the
IMF to obtain assistance for
containing a growing finan-
cial crisis that was made worse
by a lack of foreign currency
and skyrocketing inflation.
The rupee recently fell to
historic lows after the gov-
ernment, in an attempt to meet
Political turmoil in
Maldives ultimately
benefits China: Report
ASIAN NEWS
INTERNATIONAL
MALE, 10 FEBRUARY
The political rivalry between
Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, the
current President of Mal-
dives and Mohamed Nasheed
both belonging to the same
party is making the country
suffer and China is becom-
ing the ultimate benefactor,
reported Maldives Voice.
Solih won the presidential
election with a 22 per cent mar-
gin. Although these elections
were questioned by Nasheed
and his allies of being rigged
by Solih. The former gov-
ernment under Abdulla
Yameen had charged Nasheed
with terrorism and he was sen-
tenced to a 13-year jail term
in March 2015. Forced to
escape the Maldives and live
in exile in London where he
was granted political asylum
as well as spent years in
Colombo as part of his exile
terms. After the fall of the
Yameen government in 2018,
the Maldives Supreme Court
exonerated Nasheed's con-
viction, terming it "ques-
tionable and politically moti-
vated" the report claimed.
Nasheed when returned to
Male desired to hold the pres-
idential post. However, a top
decision-making body of
MDP selected his former
deputy, Solih over him as a
presidential candidate. Yet,
Rescues in Turkey offer moments of relief in earthquake aftermath
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ISKENDERUN, TURKEY
Rescuers pulled several peo-
ple alive from the shattered
remnants of buildings on Fri-
day, some who survived more
than 100 hours trapped under
crushed concrete in the bit-
ter cold after a catastrophic
earthquake slammed Turkey
and Syria, killing more than
20,000.
The survivors included six
relatives who huddled in a
small pocket under the rub-
ble, a teenager who drank his
own urine to slake his thirst,
and a 4-year-old boy offered
a jelly bean to calm him down
as he was shimmied out.
But the flurry of dramatic
rescues — some broadcast live
on Turkish television — could
not obscure the overwhelm-
ing devastation of what
Turkey’s president called “the
disaster of the century.” Entire
neighborhoods of high-rise
As we outline our agenda for the year ahead, our most immediate
task is to dramatically reduce the severity of load shedding in the
coming months and ultimately end load shedding altogether
Petrol crisis to hit by mid-Feb
INDO ASIAN NEWS SERVICE
KARACHI, 10 FEBRUARY
Pakistan's refineries have
warned of a looming petrol
crisis by mid-February if the
government fails to resolve
the payments issues of
imported raw materials and
additives needed by the sec-
tor, media reports said on Fri-
day.
The delay in payments
of raw materials and additives
as well as the dollar shortage
hampered the production
of petrol massively, the refiner-
ies explained, The News
reported.
"The situation will become
extremely critical by mid-
February if remedial measures
are not taken immediately,"
local refineries warned Petro-
leum Minister Musadik Malik
and the Governor of State
Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Jameel
Ahmed, in separate letters.The
letters were jointly written by
Pakistan Refinery Limited,
National Refinery, Attock
Refinery and Cnergyico Refin-
ery, The News reported. Dif-
ficulties in establishing let-
ters of credit (LCs) for the pay-
IMF lending conditions, lift-
ed currency controls that had
been artificially supporting the
currency.
Pakistan is dealing with a
serious array of issues. Tens
of millions of people were
harmed by flooding last year,
which cost $30 billion in dam-
ages.
Nasheed was subsequently
elected as the speaker.
Nasheed since then has
been keeping a close eye on
Solih and often accused him
of inaction on corruption
and against violent extrem-
ist groups affiliated with ISIS
and al-Qaeda on unfounded
grounds, the report claimed.
On the other hand, Yameen
in this political feud got the
chance to skim the political
uncertainty of the country
even when he has been jailed
and is currently serving 11 years
in jai for money laundering and
bribery under his rule.
He also took an anti-India
stance, the country which
helps the Maldives gener-
ously all the time. Under Chi-
nese influence, he acted as the
proxy for China in Maldives
granting several infrastructure
projects to Chinese compa-
nies and entering agreements
with China, including those
that undermined the sover-
eignty of the island nation such
as leasing away the island of
Feydhoo Finholu to a Chinese
company.
buildings have been reduced
to twisted metal, pulverized
concrete and exposed wires,
and the magnitude 7.8 quake
has already killed more peo-
ple than Japan’s Fukushima
earthquake and tsunami, with
many more bodies undoubt-
edly yet to be recovered and
counted.
Four days after the earth-
quake hammered a sprawling
border region that is home to
more than 13.5 million peo-
ple, relatives wept and chant-
ed as rescuers pulled 17-year-
old Adnan Muhammed Korkut
from a basement in Turkey’s
Gaziantep, near the quake’s
epicenter. He had been trapped
there for 94 hours, forced to
drink his own urine to survive.
“Thank God you arrived,”
he said, embracing his moth-
er and others who leaned
down to kiss and hug him as
he was being loaded into an
ambulance.For one of the
rescuers, identified only as
SA PRESIDENT DECLARES NATIONAL STATE OF DISASTER TO ADDRESS ELECTRICITY CRISIS
ment of raw materials and
other inputs needed by the
refineries have been cited as
the major cause of the loom-
ing crisis.
Pakistan Punjab has
already started experienc-
ing the unavailability of petrol,
after alleged hoarding in
anticipation of the price hike
expected in the next fort-
nightly review.
As per the letter, the SBP
issued a priority list of essen-
tial imports for foreign remit-
tances of critical industries
and petroleum products were
included in that priority list.
However, imports of
essential raw materials and
additives mainly N-Methyl-
aniline (NMA - a non-metal-
lic RON booster) against
which LCs have already been
established are being held by
the banks for release of doc-
uments and payments.
Moreover, the banks are
reluctant to establish LCs
for NMA imports against
which payment for the month
of February/March 2023 are
falling, it stated.
The refineries cautioned
that the delay or suspension
The country has been neg-
atively impacted by inflation,
the impact of Russia's war in
Ukraine on food and energy
prices, and political uncer-
tainty, The News reported.
Pakistan has long-stand-
ing issues with its balance of
payments. The government
is hoping that it will quickly
GOING TRADITIONAL
High school seniors clad in traditional attire bow during a joint graduation and coming-of-age ceremony at Dongmyung Girls'
High School in Seoul, South Korea. � AP
Kim calls for stronger military power during photo op
INDO ASIAN NEWS SERVICE
SEOUL, 10 FEBRUARY
North Korean leader Kim
Jong-un called for bolstering
the country's military strength
at an unprecedented pace,
during a photo session with
the participants of a military
parade held earlier this week,
Pyongyang's state media
reported on Friday.
Speaking on Thursday,
Kim stressed that the pros-
perity of the North depends
on a "powerful army" and
Yasemin, Adnan’s survival hit
home hard.
“I have a son just like you,”
she told him after giving him
a warm hug. “I swear to you,
I have not slept for four days.
... I was trying to get you out.”
In Adiyaman, meanwhile,
rescue crews pulled 4-year-old
Yagiz Komsu from the debris
of his home, 105 hours after
the quake struck. They then
turned to trying to reach his
SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT CYRIL RAMAPHOSA
of foreign payments for
imports of such essential
raw material/additives includ-
ing establishing credit letters
for the same would serious-
ly hamper the operations of
refineries, especially the local
production of mogas (petrol),
The News reported.
Keeping in view the short-
ages that have been surfac-
ing in different parts of the
country, the Pakistan Petro-
leum Dealers Association
has asked the Ministry of
Petroleum and Natural
Resources to immediately
formulate a committee to
find out the reasons behind
this shortage, The News report-
ed.
Several petrol pumps run
dry: Amid claims of ade-
quate availability and the
Pakistan government warn-
ing of stern action against
hoarders, the shortage of
petrol persists across Punjab
province disrupting the rou-
tine life of the public at large.
The situation is worst in
remote areas where the
pumps have had no sup-
plies for the last over a month,
Dawn reported.
reach an agreement with the
IMF mission over the terms
of its $6.5 billion lending pro-
gramme to unlock crucial
funding from the IMF this time.
But even if a loan tranche of
$1 billion is unfrozen, this is
only a bandage. More amounts
are required if Pakistan is to
avoid default.
noted "one can demonstrate
one's dignity and honor only
when one is strong", accord-
ing to the North's official
Korean Central News Agency
(KCNA).
He added that suppress-
ing the "increasingly brutal
imperialist tyranny by force"
requires its army to "grow
stronger at an incompara-
bly faster speed than that of
the past history", Yonhap
News Agency quoted the
KCNA as saying.
Kim also praised the par-
mother, according the Haber-
Turk television, which broad-
cast the rescue live. The crowd
was asked not to cheer or
applaud to avoid scaring the
child, who was given a jelly
bean, the station reported.
Elsewhere, HaberTurk tele-
vision said rescuers had iden-
tified nine people trapped
inside the remains of a high-
rise apartment block in Isk-
enderun and pulled out six of
NEW DELHI, SATURDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2023
Balloon row: China calls US House
resolution ‘political manipulation’
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BEIJING, 10 FEBRUARY
China on Friday dismissed a
U.S. House of Representatives
resolution condemning Bei-
jing over a suspected Chinese
spy balloon shot down above
U.S. waters as “purely polit-
ical manipulation and hyp-
ing up.”
“China is strongly dissat-
isfied with this and firmly
opposes it,” Foreign Ministry
spokesperson Mao Ning told
reporters at a daily briefing.
“The resolution by the
U.S. Congress was purely
political manipulation and
hyping up,” Mao said.
The resolution, which
passed unanimously on
Thursday, condemned China
for a “brazen violation” of U.S.
sovereignty and efforts to
“deceive the international
community through false
claims about its intelligence
collection campaigns.”
Republicans have criti-
cized the Biden administra-
tion for not acting sooner to
shoot down the balloon, but
both parties’ lawmakers came
together on the vote, 419-0.
China insists the object was
a civilian weather balloon
that had been blown off
course, but has not said whom
it belonged to or offered other
details.Meanwhile, China’s
Defense Ministry said it refused
a call from U.S. Defense Sec-
retary Lloyd Austin following
the downing of the balloon
because the U.S. had “not cre-
ated the proper atmosphere”
for dialogue and exchange.
The U.S. action “serious-
ly violated international norms
and set a pernicious prece-
dent,” ministry spokesper-
son Tan Kefei said in a state-
ment issued late Thursday.
ticipants for "glorifying" the
parade as an event to be "spe-
cially recorded in history", say-
ing that it has "made a clear-
er description of the prestige
and greatness, high honour
and rosy future of our state".
Top military officials
attended the photo session,
including Ri Pyong-chol and
Ri Yong-gil, who both serve
as vice chairman of the Cen-
tral Military Commission of
the ruling Workers' Party.
Kim last held such a mass
photo session last month
them, including a woman
who waved at onlookers as she
was being carried away on a
stretcher. The crowd shout-
ed: “God is Great!” after she
was brought out.
The building was only 600
feet from the Mediterranean
Sea and narrowly avoided
being flooded when the mas-
sive earthquake sent water
surging into the city center.
There were still more sto-
ries: A German team said it
worked for more than 50
hours to pull a woman alive
from the rubble of a house in
Kirikhan. In the hard-hit city
of Kahramanmaras, two
teenage sisters were saved, and
video of the operation showed
one emergency worker play-
ing a pop song on his smart-
phone to distract them.And the
work continued: One trapped
woman could be heard speak-
ing to a team trying to dig her
out in video broadcast by
HaberTurk television. She
China’s Defense Min-
istry said it refused a
call from U.S. Defense
Secretary Lloyd Austin
following the downing
of the balloon because
the US had “not creat-
ed the proper atmos-
phere” for dialogue
and exchange
“Given that this irrespon-
sible and seriously wrong
approach by the U.S. did not
create the proper atmosphere
for dialogue and exchanges
between the two militaries,
China did not accept the U.S.
proposal for a phone call
between the two defense
ministers,” Tan said.China,
Tan added, “reserves the right
to use necessary means to deal
with similar situations.”
After initially expressing
“regret” over the incident,
China’s rhetoric has hard-
ened in recent days as the FBI
gathers debris from the site
of the downing in U.S. terri-
torial waters off the coast of
South Carolina and sends it
to the FBI’s lab in Quantico,
Virginia, for investigation.
Beijing said the U.S. “over-
reacted” by shooting it down.
The Foreign Ministry has
labeled the action “irre-
sponsible” and calls U.S.
claims that it was spying “part
of the U.S. side’s information
warfare against China.”
Austin had sought on Sat-
urday to discuss the balloon
issue with his Chinese coun-
terpart, Wei Fenghe, but was
refused, the Pentagon said.
In the wake of the incident,
Secretary of State Antony
Blinken canceled a planned
trip to Beijing this week that
some had hoped would help
with members of the Korean
Children's Union. The North
held the night-time parade
Wednesday to celebrate the
75th founding anniversary
of its armed forces, during
which it displayed its key
weapons, including Hwa-
song-17 intercontinental bal-
listic missiles.
Kim attended the event
along with his wife, Ri Sol-ju,
and his daughter Ju-ae.
State media did not men-
tion whether Kim delivered
a speech during the event.
told her would-be rescuers that
she had given up hope of
being found — and prayed to
be put to sleep because she was
so cold. The station did not say
where the operation was tak-
ing place.Even though experts
say trapped people can live for
a week or more, the chances
of finding survivors in the
freezing temperatures are
dimming.
Still, the rescues Friday
provided fleeting moments of
joy and relief amid the mis-
ery and hardship gripping
the shattered region where
morgues and cemeteries are
overwhelmed and bodies lie
wrapped in blankets, rugs
and tarps in the streets of
some cities.In Kahraman-
maras, a sports hall served as
a makeshift morgue to accom-
modate and identify bod-
ies.Temperatures remain
below freezing across the
large region, and many peo-
ple have no place to shelter.
11
stabilize bilateral relations,
which have tumbled to their
lowest level in decades over
trade, human rights, China’s
threats against Taiwan and the
Chinese military’s increas-
ing assertiveness in the South
China Sea.
The U.S. has flatly con-
tradicted China’s version of
events, saying that imagery of
the balloon collected by Amer-
ican U-2 spy planes as it
crossed the country showed
that it was “capable of con-
ducting signals intelligence col-
lection” with multiple anten-
nas and other equipment
designed to upload sensitive
information and solar panels
to power them.
The U.S. says the balloon
was part of a huge aerial sur-
veillance program that targeted
more than 40 countries under
the direction of the People’s
Liberation Army. Similar bal-
loons have sailed over five con-
tinents, according to the
administration.
A State Department offi-
cial said the U.S. has confi-
dence that the manufactur-
er of the balloon has “a direct
relationship with China’s
military and is an approved
vendor” of the army. The
official cited an official PLA
procurement portal as evi-
dence.
Publicly available records
show several Chinese com-
panies have been developing
balloons for military use, with
some openly touting their
connections with the PLA,
advertising airships bristling
with surveillance and com-
munications gear.Such high-
tech balloons are often far larg-
er than the hot air balloons
used for recreational pur-
poses. The one shot down by
the U.S. was 60 meters tall.
Chinese
Uyhgurs call
for arrest of
Xinjiang Guv
LONDON, 10 FEBRUARY
The World Uyghur Congress
(WUC), a London-based dis-
sident group, have request-
ed the British Attorney Gen-
eral for permission to arrest
the Governor of the Chinese
autonomous region of Xin-
jiang and prosecute him if he
visits London next week.
In a statement, the WUC
said that Xinjiang Governor
Erkin Tuniyaz, was respon-
sible for "severe human rights
violations perpetrated against
Uyghur people and other
Turkic groups in the North-
west of China which amount
to torture".
This is a part of China's
“deradicalisation” policy
against the Uyghurs, who
are mostly Muslims.
“Evidence has been passed
to the (London) Metropoli-
tan Police's War Crimes team,
SO15, for the investigation,
which may lead to the arrest
of Tuniyaz,” it added.
China has been running
a vast network of concen-
tration camps in the Uyghur
region for years.
A man, Erbakit Otarbay,
described by the WUC as a
survivor of a camp, is repre-
sented by Michael Polak, an
award-winning human rights
lawyer. Polak was quoted by
The Guardian as asserting:
“Because the client is in the
US and an alleged victim of
torture, he's entitled to bring
a case against Tuniyaz.”
The Turkish government
has distributed millions of
hot meals, as well as tents and
blankets, but was still strug-
gling to reach many people in
need. Precious hours have
turned to tense days across
earthquake-hit southern
Turkey as fewer people are
pulled alive from the rubble.
While family members watch
rescue workers shift to recov-
ery, they also face an awful
truth: that it’s unlikely they’ll
ever be reunited with their
missing loved ones.
In Nurdagi, a city of around
40,000 nestled between snowy
mountains some 35 miles
from the epicenter of the
quake, throngs of onlookers
~ mostly family members of
people trapped inside —
watched on Thursday as heavy
machines ripped at one build-
ing which had collapsed, its
floors pancaked together with
little more than a few inches
in between.
 ‘WE ARE MISSING CHANCES’
ATK Mohun Bagan head coach Juan Ferrando encour-
aged his side to keep working hard after the Mariners
NEW DELHI
SATURDAY 11 FEBRUARY 2023 12
couldn't convert their chances against Jamshedpur
FC in a 0-0 draw in the latest fixture of the Indian Super
League (ISL) at the JRD Tata Sports Complex, in
Jamshedpur, on Thursday. The game ended in a stalemate,
in what was the third goalless draw of the season. The
result meant ATK Mohun Bagan stayed in the fourth spot
with 28 points from 17 games, while Jamshedpur FC lay in
the tenth spot with 13 points from 18 games.

For more updates www.thestatesman.com Postal Reg. No. DL (ND)-II/6088/2018/-19-20

BGT, Day 2: Rohit ton, Jadeja & Patel fifties

guide India to 114-run lead against Australia
Rohit scored his first century since September 2021, his ninth overall by lofting Murphy for a boundary, his ton came off 171 balls and was studded with 14 fours and two sixes
AGENCIES and two sixes. the second new ball that Steve Australia reviewed and got the
NAGPUR, 10 FEBRUARY Jadeja, who claimed 5-47 Smith failed to grasp at the sec- wicket.
to help India dismiss Aus- ond slip. But it did not mat- Pujara (7, 14 balls, 1x4)
pener Rohit Shar- tralia for 177 in their first

O
ma scored a majes-
tic hundred, his
first as Test cap-
tain, while all-rounders
Ravindra Jadeja and Axar
Patel struck fighting unbeat-
en half-centuries as India
reached 321/7 at stumps to
take a 144-run lead against
Australia on Day 2 of the first
Test of the four-match Bor-
der-Gavaskar Trophy series,
here on Friday.
At the close of play at the
VCA Stadium here, Jadeja
was batting on 66 while Axar
Patel was keeping him com-
pany with 52 runs as India
scored 244 runs in the day, los-
ing six wickets, setting them-
selves to go for victory in the
next three days.
Rohit scored his first cen-
tury since September 2021, his
ninth overall by lofting Mur-
phy for a boundary, his ton
came off 171 balls and was
studded with 14 fours and two
sixes. He was out in the first
over after tea, his opposite
number Pat Cummins send-
ing his off-stump cartwheel-
ing with the second new ball.
Rohit's 345-minute vigil
at the wicket fetched him 120
runs and his innings was
studded with 15 boundaries
innings, and Axar Patel took
over from there on, adding 81
runs for the unfinished eighth-
wicket partnership as they
propelled India past the 300-
run mark. Jadeja completed
his half-century off 114 balls,
hitting seven boundaries.
Patel achieved the milestone
off 94 balls and struck eight
fours.
It was an engrossing and
enthralling day as both sides
tried to take control of the pro-
ceedings. Every time India
tried to press home the advan-
tage, Australia claimed a wick-
et or two to peg them back.
Debutant Todd Murphy (5-82)
claimed his maiden five-wick-
et haul in his debut Test and
troubled the Indian batters
throughout the day. The rook-
ie off-spinner bowled a fine
line and length at the right pace.
However, Australia will
rue the five chances they
dropped in the Indian innings.
? drought going back to Sep-
Rohit played one of his
best innings as he held the Indi-
an innings together with a
majestic effort. He was cau-
tious, played the spinners
with soft hands, used his feet
and read the line and bounce
perfectly. This was his ninth
century in Test cricket and
came after a long period of
tember 2021. It was also his
first as India captain and sec-
ond at the VCA Stadium after
an unbeaten 102 against Sri
Lanka in 2017.
Though there were a few
anxious moments and close
calls -- edges flew just wide
of the fielders on a couple of
occasions -- he kept one end
intact even as he lost partners
like Ashwin, with whom he
shared a 42-run stand,
Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat
Kohli and Suryakumar, all
three not staying at the wick-
et for long. He completed
his century with a lofted
boundary off Murphy off 171
deliveries as India marched
past Australia's first-innings
score of 177.
The 35-year-old, who was
born in Bansod, near Nagpur,
started aggressively on Thurs-
day morning, completing the
first fifty of his century in 66
deliveries. His second fifty
was sedate and more mea-
sured and came off 105 deliv-
Brief scores
Australia 177 v India
321/7 in 114 overs
(Rohit Sharma 120,
Ravindra Jadeja bat-
ting 66, Axar Patel
batting 52; Todd
Murphy 5-82). India
lead by 144 runs.
eries.
India crossed the 200-run
milestone in the 71st over
and went for tea at 226/5,
adding 75 runs in the second
session.
The Indian skipper got the
only life of his innings in the
first over after tea when his
opposite number Pat Cum-
mins forced a thick edge with
ter much as Cummins bowled
an even better delivery next
up and sent Rohit's off-stump
cartwheeling, with one moved
just a bit, passed through the
gap between the bat and pad.
Apart from Rohit, India
also lost the wicket of Srikar
Bharat post tea break but
hosts were able to score 95
runs in the last session of the
day.
Earlier in the morning,
Ashwin, sent in as night watch-
man after K.L Rahul was out
in the penultimate over before
stumps on Thursday, did his
job well as he survived the first
hour, helping skipper Rohit
Sharma to keep the scoreboard
ticking.
He struck a boundary each
off Nathan Lyon and Pat Cum-
mins and slog-sweeping Lyon
over deep mid-wicket for a six
as he survived a few close calls
including a big lbw appeal in
the 27th over before getting
out for 23, trapped lbw off Todd
Murphy.
The ball pitched on the mid-
dle and leg from round the
wicket and turned in, missing
the inside edge by a whisker
and striking the front pad.
Ashwin had not taken a bit step
forward and though the
umpire gave him not out,
was looking his usual cautious
self before he tried to hit a loose
ball outside leg from Murphy
but could only top-edge it to
Scott Boland at short fine-leg.
Rohit and Kohli took India
to lunch with India 151/3
with the Indian skipper going
strong on 81.
Kohli fell on the first ball
after lunch, offering a thick
edge behind off a loose deliv-
ery by Murphy as the rookie
Aussie off-spinner claimed
his fourth wicket of the match
as India fell to 151/4, still a few
runs behind Australia's first
innings total of 177. And when
Suryakumar Yadav could
manage only eight runs in his
debut Test, India were 168/5,
still nine runs behind the vis-
itors.
Pujara's wicket, along with
that of Virat Kohli after the
afternoon session was a big
blow for India as they could
have helped the team reach
a stronger position in the
match.
However, Rohit and Jade-
ja added 61 runs for the sixth
wicket and then Jadeja and
Patel raised another half-cen-
tury partnership for the eighth
wicket to take India past the
300-run mark and in control
of the match.

2025 World Aquatics Sachin Baisoya posts

Championships moved
to Singapore from Russia
AGENCIES
SINGAPORE, 10 FEBRUARY
The 2025 World Aquatics
Championships will be held
in Singapore, World Aquat-
ics has announced.
Kazan had won the bid to
host the 2025 World Cham-
pionships, but owing to inter-
national sanctions against
Russia, Singapore will instead
host the premier interna-
tional aquatics event.
"World Aquatics could
not be happier to know that
the hosting of our main
event for 2025 is in such
good hands, thanks to the
team here in Singapore,"
said World Aquatics president
Husain Al-Musallam on
Thursday.
"Singapore has every-
thing we hope to share with
our athletes: world-class
facilities, proven experience
of hosting events of the high-
est quality and a compre-
hensive approach to aquat-
ic sports that runs from elite
level to the community. "
With dates to be decided,
over 2,500 athletes are expect-
ed to participate in the show-
case event in 2025, repre-
wire-to-wire win to claim
PGTI Players Championship
STATESMAN NEWS
SERVICE
KOLKATA, 10 FEBRUARY
Delhi’s Sachin Baisoya
carded a a steady final
round of one-under 69
that enabled him to post
a wire-to-wire win to take
home his maiden trophy
and cheque of Rs. 15 lakh
at the Rs. 1 crore TATA Steel
PGTI Players Champi-
onship at Tollygunge Golf
Club, here on Friday.
senting World Aquatics' 209 Sachin’s (64-66-65-69)
member federations, reports long-awaited victory came
news agency Xinhua. as a result of his total to
Japan's Fukuoka will host 16-under 264 and helped
the 20th World Aquatics him prevail with a two-shot
Championships this July. margin.
This tournament was orig- Harsh Gangwar (66-
inally scheduled to be staged 64-67-69), another Delhi-
in 2021, but was postponed based golfer, was tied
twice due to the Covid-19 second as his last round
pandemic and associated of 69 as he finished the
travel restrictions. tournament at a total of
The 21st World Champi- 14-under 266.
onships, originally sched- Rookie Varun Chopra
uled for summer 2023, was (65-68-65-68) of the Unit-
then rescheduled to take ed States, making his pro
place in Doha in debut on the PGTI shot a
February 2024. fourth round of two-under
68 to also take tied second
place along with Gangwar.
Sachin , who led from
the first round, was two
shots ahead going into
round four, made early
headway today with a
birdie from long range on
the second. He dropped
his first bogey of the day
on the ninth where his ball
was plugged in the bunker.
With closest rivals
Harsh and Varun breath-
ing down his neck, Sachin
played some brilliant
wedge shots to pick up tap-
in birdies on the 13th and
15th to seize the advantage.
He made a couple of cru-
cial pars on the 16th and
17th that all but sealed the
title for him. A bogey on
the last hole was not
enough to halt his charge
towards the title.
“I was numb after the
final putt as I had been
waiting for my first victo-
ry for a very long time."said
Sachin adding “The birdie
on the 15th was probably
the turning point as it
Kolkata’s Sandeep Yadav (69), the
lone amateur to make the cut, fin-
ished tied 27th at four-under 276
thus bagging the trophy for the
best performance by an amateur.
resulted in a two-shot
swing in my favour after
Harsh bogeyed the same
hole. I was then playing for
par till the end and hit some
good tee shots on the 16th
and the 17th that saw me
home.
Harsh overnight sec-
ond and two off the lead,
was in the mix till the
14th having sunk a tap-
in eagle on the 13th as well
as four birdies and three
bogeys. However, a bogey
on the 15th and a double-
bogey on the 16th where
he hit it out of bounds,
put paid to his chances.
Varun lying overnight
third and three off the lead,
also came close to chal-
lenging for the lead on the
final day but his double-
bogey on the 13th saw him
drop out of the race. Varun
also made five birdies
and a bogey during his
round.
Gurugram’s Kartik
Sharma (67) and Patna’s
Aman Raj (68) finished
tied fourth at 13-under
267. Udayan Mane (64)
ended tied 13th at eight-
under 272.
Kolkata’s Sandeep
Yadav (69), the lone ama-
teur to make the cut, fin-
ished tied 27th at four-
under 276 thus bagging the
trophy for the best per-
formance by an amateur.
Last year’s winner
Yuvraj Sandhu took tied
30th place at one-under
279. Raju Ali Mollah, the
only local professional to
make the cut, was tied
46th at one-over 281.

Formula E debuts in India with Hyderabad street circuit
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
HYDERABAD, 10 FEBRUARY
Hyderabad is all set to host
the debut of the Formula E
championship, the global
all electric racing competi-
tion in the country tomorrow
with the iconic Hussain Sagar
and the Giant Buddha Mono-
lith statue forming a formi-
dable backdrop and with
nearly 22,000 people in the
stands to witness the grand
event.
The Greenko Hyderabad
E-Prix marks the return of top
tier FIA World Championship
motor racing to the country
for the first time in a decade
and held in collaboration
with Telangana government
will provide Hyderabad and
India the first taste of top tier
electric motor sport. Greater
Noida had hosted Formula
One race in 2013 but its all
electric equivalent will make
its debut in India tomorrow
with the Hyderabad street cir-
cuit becoming the 30th venue
and first in India to host an
E-Prix. The government hopes
it will boost the city’s image
as a hub of e-mobility tech.
The current season of
Formula E is the first one in
which Gen3 cars are being
raced. The fourth race of the
season will be held on the
country’s first street circuit
on NTR Marg around the
shores of Hussain Sagar lake
and by the NTR gardens.
The Hyderabad Street Circuit
starts with a high speed lake-
side run along the heart
shaped Hussain Sagar lake
and its length is about 2.835
km long with some 18 turns.
Today, the first practice race
was held while a second one
will be held tomorrow morn-
ing. After a qualifying race the
finals will be held at around
3 pm. Although eleven teams
are competing most of the
cheers will be definitely
reserved for the home team
Mahindra Racing.
The city is all decked up
ahead of the race as the
longest musical fountain of
the country on the Hussain
Sagar Lake was unveiled yes-
Cristiano Ronaldo scores four for Al Nassr
terday. The 180 x 10 x 90
to cross 500 career club goals mark
metres high fountain was set AGENCIES chester United, it was his
up by Hyderabad Metropol- RIYADH, 10 FEBRUARY second goal for his new squad,
itan Development Authority and he added three more
(HMDA) as an additional aes- Cristiano Ronaldo on Thurs- before the game's end to
thetic to the lake. The foun- day scored four goals for Al- help his team win 4-0.
tain show will last for 20 min- Nassr in the Saudi Pro League In five separate top leagues
utes and will be held three to reach the career milestone for five clubs, Ronaldo has 503
times everyday between 7pm of 500 club goals. league goals. He scored 103
and 10pm. However, the huge In the Saudi Pro League on goals for Manchester United,
traffic snarls the city wit- Thursday, Ronaldo scored 311 goals for Real Madrid, 81
nessed has been a dampen- his 500th career league goal goals for Juventus, three goals
er since many of the key roads against Al-Wehda. In order to for Sporting Lisbon, and five
at the heart of the city are out give Al-Nassr the lead, the goals for Al-Nassr as of right
of bounds because they form forward got the ball now.
part of the street circuit of For- inside the penalty The five-time Ballon d'Or
mula E leading to a harrow- area, took a few winner was named team cap-
ing time for the commuters. touches, and tain after signing a two-and-
Since the Assembly is also cur- then struck a a-half-year contract with Al-
rently in season, there has been low, left-foot- Nassr in December that was
heavy deployment of securi- ed effort reportedly worth more than
ty for movement of VIPs in past the £177 million. After 16 games,
Public Gardens and Lakdika- goalie. Al-Nassr is in the first place
pul area adding to the plight Fol- and is tied for second with Al-
of the daily commuters. Many lowing Shabab on 37 points.
took to social media plat- his The star forward will return
forms to complain about the trans- to action with his team Al-
event taking place at the city fer from Nassr against Al-Taawoun
centre. Man- on Friday, February 17.

Printed and published by VINEET GUPTA for THE STATESMAN LTD, Statesman House, 148 Barakhamba Road, New Delhi ��Editor: RAVINDRA KUMAR ��Managing Editor: ARYA RUDRA ��Printed at Vibha Publication Pvt Ltd, D-160 B, Sector 7, NOIDA 201301 (UP). ��The Statesman Ltd. RNB REG. No. M-8905,RNI No. 507/57