The document summarizes protests in Maharashtra over controversial remarks made by state Agriculture Minister Abdul Sattar about farmer suicides. It also discusses ongoing strikes by state government employees demanding restoration of the Old Pension Scheme. Key points: - Opposition parties protested at Vidhan Bhavan demanding Sattar's resignation over his remarks on farmers. - Congress and NCP leaders support the employees' demand for the Old Pension Scheme, with NCP's Ajit Pawar saying if smaller states can implement it, Maharashtra should as well. - Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis appealed to striking employees to withdraw their protest, saying the government is

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MUMBAI l WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15, 2023 l Pages 12 l 3.00 RNI TITLE NO. MAHENG/2022/14652 l Vol 1 l Issue No. 305
OUR EDITIONS:
JAIPUR & MUMBAI
First India Bureau
Mumbai: The Opposi-
tion parties in Maha-
rashtra protested on the
stairs of Vidhan Bha-
wan demanding the res-
ignation of Maharash-
tra Agriculture Minis-
ter Abdul Sattar over
his remarks on farmers.
Abdul Sattar on Sun-
day sparked controver-
sy after his remarks on
the issue of “Farmers’
suicide”. The remarks
drew flak from the Op-
position and Maha Vi-
kas Aghadi (MVA) lead-
ers started protesting
and demanding Sattar’s
resignation.
Congress leader and
Maharashtra Congress
President Nana Patole
attacked the Maharash-
tra government by call-
ing them “anti-farmer”.
Patole said, “Be it the
central government or
the Maharashtra gov-
ernment, both are anti-
farmer. The state gov-
ernment is not helping
farmers, we want the
demands of farmers to
be fulfilled and the old
pension scheme to be
implemented, or else we
will hold “Kursi Choro
Andolan” throughout
the State”.
During the protest,
Nationalist Congress
Party (NCP) leader Ajit
Pawar also raised the is-
sue of the Old Pension
Scheme (OPS) and said
that the state govern-
ment should consider
the requests of the em-
ployees.
Talking to the media,
Ajit Pawar said, “The
government needs to
talk to the employees
who are on strike de-
manding the implemen-
tation of the Old Pen-
sion Scheme in the
state. The state govern-
ment will also have to
see that if the small
states have implement-
ed this scheme, then
why can’t advanced
states like Maharashtra
implement it? I raised
the issue in the Assem-
bly today, and have re-
quested the state gov-
ernment to negotiate
and mediate on this as
soon as possible be-
cause these strikes will
lead to even more trou-
ble for the people,” Pa-
war added.
Notably, under the
OPS, a government em-
ployee is entitled to a
monthly pension after
retirement.
MVA leaders protest demanding Sattar's resignation over remarks on farmers
The government needs to talk to the em-
ployees who are on strike demanding the
implementation of the Old Pension Scheme
in the state. The state government will also have to
see that if the small states have implemented this
scheme, then why can’t advanced states like Maha-
rashtra implement it? —Ajit Pawar, NCP leader
Shinde urges govt employees to withdraw strike
Kartikey Dev Singh
Mumbai: Maharashtra
CM Eknath Shinde on
Tuesday appealed to
state government em-
ployees, who are on an
indefinitestrikeseeking
restoration of the Old
Pension Scheme (OPS),
to withdraw their stir
and stressed the govern-
ment was positive and
sympathetic about their
demand.
Speaking in the state
Assembly, Shinde said
one can take an extreme
step when there is no
scope for a discussion,
but in the present case
the government is ready
for talks with agitating
employees as any deci-
sion on the pension
scheme will have finan-
cial implications.
“I request them (gov-
ernment employees) to
hold a discussion and
withdraw the strike.
They have to think and
discuss the issue with
the government and
withdraw the strike in
view of problems being
faced by people,” he
said.
Lakhs of state gov-
ernment employees
went on an indefinite
strike from Tuesday
seeking restoration of
the OPS, a defined pen-
sion scheme offering 50
per cent of the last
drawn salary, hamper-
ing functioning of vari-
ous services and facili-
ties at hospitals.
“You can decide to go
on a strike whenever
you want. But it is not
necessary to go on a
striketoday
.Wealsotold
them(employeeassocia-
tions) that those who
will retire before a deci-
sion is taken (by the gov-
ernment on OPS) will
get full benefits,” the
CM said.
The new pension
scheme was implement-
ed in the state on No-
vember 1, 2005.
Shinde said his gov-
ernment is committed
to ensure employees get
a dignified and secured
life post-retirement.
“But it is necessary to
think about all available
options before imple-
menting the Old Pen-
sion Scheme and this
has been brought to the
noticeof allemployees,”
he said. More on P8
Mumbai: Deputy CM Devendra Fadna-
vis said in assembly that there is no
strike. “We are ready for discussion
with all the employees and organi-
zations. The decision on old pension
scheme is not a hasty decision but a
well thought out decision,” Fadnavis
said. “I am ready to talk to all the
employee unions for a full day, not just
one, four days. What steps can be tak-
en, what can be the way forward. This
is a deliberate decision. When there
is no fiscal yardstick between future
governments or the public, it should be
considered what will be the condition
of the states. The rulers should think
about the future”, he said.
DON’T GO ON STRIKE: FADNAVIS
APPEALS TO EMPLOYEES
I request them
(govt employ-
ees) to hold a
discussion and withdraw
the strike. They have to
think and discuss the is-
sue with the govt and
withdraw the strike in
view of problems being
faced by people.
—Eknath Shinde, CM
The employees union is
ready for discussion. But
when we discuss, the gov-
ernment tells us that they are ap-
pointing a committee. There has
also been a lot of change in the la-
bor force in the Pension Fund De-
velopment Authority in the Central
Government. It has been changed
so that NPS holders are given 40
per cent family pension there. But
that much is not given in Maha-
rashtra. Rs 20 lakhs are given as
retirement. But it is not given in
Maharashtra. Gratuity is given to
NPS employees on retirement. Ma-
harashtra doesn’t have it.
—Employee union’s office bearer
14 LAKH MAHA-GOVT EMPLOYEES GO ON
INDEFINITE STRIKE DEMANDING OPS
P4
BUDGET SESSION DAY 2: PARLIAMENT ADJOURNED AGAIN SETBACK FOR BHOPAL GAS TRAGEDY VICTIMS
BJP CONG TRADE ‘SAY SORRY’
JIBE IN RAHUL GANDHI REMARKS
The LS and RS were adjourned soon after they met as heated exchange between BJP
and Congress over Rahul’s remarks at Cambridge University in London continued
Moni Sharma
New Delhi: Parliament
was adjourned for the
day on Tuesday after-
noon - till 11 am today -
amidacontinuingstand-
off between the ruling
BJP and the Congress
over Rahul Gandhi’s
criticism of the govern-
ment and PM Narendra
Modi.LokSabhaandRa-
jya Sabha saw protests
for a second straight day
.
On Tuesday, Piyush
Goyal picked up where
he, his colleagues left
off on Monday, declar-
ing, “Both Houses are
part of Parl, which have
been insulted. I feel this
is 1st time entire Parl
was insulted.” P5
Proceedings of Rajya Sabha underway during the second phase of the Budget Session of the Parliament, in New Delhi on Tuesday.
PM MODI HOLDS MEETING
WITH TOP MINS IN PARL
WOULD HAVE BEEN INTO
ACTING, IF NOT LAWYER: VP
MIN THAKUR DEMANDS
APOLOGY FROM RAHUL
TRIAL IN LAKHIMPUR KHERI VIOLENCE
CASE NOT ‘SLOW PACED’, SAYS SC
WHAT CENTRE SAID
MAJOR HAPPENING
WHAT SC REPLIED
On Tuesday morning, top ministers
attended a meeting in Prime Minister
Narendra
Modi’s office
to fine-tune
the rul-
ing party’s
strategy in
Parliament.
Union minis-
ters Pralhad
Joshi,
Anurag Thakur, Piyush Goyal, Nitin
Gadkari and Kiren Rijiju attended the
meeting to discuss the Parl strategy.
After India’s glory at Oscars, win-
ners being praised inside RS. “It’s a
recognition
in which we
all must take
pride”, VP
and RS Chair-
man Jagdeep
Dhankhar
hailed Naatu
Naatu, The
Elephant
Whisperer’s win at Oscars 2023. “If I
hadn’t become a lawyer, I would defi-
nitely have been into acting,” he, said.
Rahul Gandhi goes abroad and insults
the country. He should come to the
Parliament
and apologise
to the nation.
He says he is
not allowed
to speak in
Parliament,
but his at-
tendance in
Lok Sabha is
lower than the average attendance of
MPs in Parliament, said Union minister
Anurag Thakur in Parl on Tuesday.
SC on Tuesday said trial in 2021 Lakhim-
pur case, in which Union minister Ajay
Mishra’s son Ashish is among those facing
prosecution, is not “slow paced” and directed
the concerned sessions judge to keep appris-
ing it about the future developments of trial.
“We have received 3 letters from trial judge,” SC observed,
adding it had gone through contents of letters received from
1st addl district and sessions judge, Lakhimpur Kheri.
The Centre’s curative
plea for enhanced
compensation for the
victims sought a direction
to Union Carbide and other
firms for over `7,400 crore
additional amount over and
above the earlier settlement
amount of USD 470 million
(`715 crore at the time
of settlement in 1989) for
paying compensation to
the gas tragedy victims.
While rejecting the plea,
SC said, ‘Dispute
can’t be re-opened after
final settlement in 1989.
Depreciation of rupee since
1989 can’t be a ground
to now seek a “top-up” of
compensation.” SC also
expressed concern over
`50 cr undistributed dues,
also asked “How can Centre
file a “curative” plea directly
without filing a review?”
TopCourtrejectsCentre’s
pleaforaddlcompensation
First India Bureau
New Delhi: The Su-
premeCourtonTuesday
rejected the Central gov-
ernment’s curative plea
for enhanced compensa-
tion for the victims of
the 1984 Bhopal Gas
tragedy from US-based
firmUnionCarbideCor-
poration, now owned by
Dow Chemicals.
A five-judge constitu-
tion bench headed by
Justice Sanjay Kishan
Kaul pronounced the
verdict today after re-
serving the order on
January 12. . The bench
also comprised of Jus-
ticesSanjivKhanna,Ab-
hay S Oka, Vikram Nath
and JK Maheshwari. P6
We are un-
satisfied with
Union of In-
dia for not furnishing
any rationale for rak-
ing up this issue after
2 decades. We are of
the view that curative
petitions cannot be en-
tertained.
—Justice Sanjay K Kaul,
Supreme Court Judge
Sanjay Raut to clarify his Maha
legislature remark by March 20
First India Bureau
Mumbai: Rajya Sabha
MP and Shiv Sena
(UBT) leader Sanjay
Raut on Tuesday said
the time granted to him
by the Speaker of the
Maharashtra Assem-
bly for submitting a
clarification for his
“chor-mandal” remark
has been extended till
March 20.
Last week, Assembly
Speaker Rahul
Narvekar had said that
he had accepted Raut’s
request for more time
to submit a written
clarification.
Raut had been earli-
er asked to submit his
reply by March 3.
Asked about the ex-
tension, Raut told re-
porters, “It is till March
20.” Raut caused a fu-
rore last month when
he dubbed the state `Vi-
dhimandal’ (legisla-
ture) a “chor-mandal
(council of thieves).
Legislators of the
ruling BJP and Shiv
Sena submitted to the
Speaker a notice for a
breach of privilege mo-
tion against him.
l Congress MP Shaktisinh
Gohil filed a breach of privi-
lege notice against Piyush
Goyal, for violating House
rules by making allegations
against a member.
No outreach by RSS towards Muslims,
we respond to their invite, says Hosabale
Dimple Sharma
Panipat: RSS General
Secretary Dattatreya
Hosabale on Tuesday
said that Rahul Gandhi
should speak more re-
sponsibly and see the
reality of the Sangh’s
acceptance in society,
after the Congress lead-
er repeatedly targeted
the organisation in his
recent speeches.
Asked about Gan-
dhi’s recent remarks
against RSS, Hosabale
said he must be doing
this for his “political
agenda” but RSS does
not work in the political
field and he has no com-
petition with the Sangh,
Hosabale said at a press
conference on the last
day of RSS’s ‘ABPS
here. Turn to P5
RSS endorses PM
Modi’s ‘panch-pran’
pledge and eco policy
Dattatreya Hosabale with Sunil Ambekar during press conference
on last day of RSS’s ‘Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha’, on Tuesday.
Clash in Pakistan
as police try to
arrest Imran Khan
Lahore: Pakistani po-
lice and supporters of
Imran Khan fought
pitched battles outside
the former
p r i m e
minister’s
home in
Lahore on
Tuesday,
wounding
several on both sides,
ahead of his expected
arrest, a government
spokesman and wit-
nesses said.
RSS Chief Mohan Bhag-
wat will launch the first
Urdu trans-
lation of the
Samaveda,
one of the
four Vedas,
at an event
to be organised at Red
Fort on Friday.

2. NEWS
MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15, 2023
02
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AI flight smoking: Man refuses to pay `25K for bail
First India Bureau
Mumbai: A man
booked for alleged un-
ruly behaviour and
smoking on an Air In-
dia flight was sent to
jail by a court here after
he refused to pay
Rs25,000 for bail and in-
stead cited an online
‘search’ to claim the
fine payable under the
IPC section was Rs 250.
A court has granted the
accused, Ratnakar
Dwivedi, a cash bail,
but he refused to pay
the amount and told he
was ready to go to jail.
He was booked under
section 336 (the act of
endangering life or per-
sonal safety of others)
of the Indian Penal
Code after he was alleg-
edly caught smoking in
the lavatory of Air In-
dia’s London-Mumbai
flight and behaving in
an unruly manner on
March 10.
The accused told the
court he had read on-
line that the fine paya-
ble under section 336 of
the IPC is Rs250, which
he was willing to pay,
but not the bail amount.
Following this, the And-
heri metropolitan mag-
istrate sent him to jail
on Monday
.
Air India had said a
passenger was found
smoking in the lavato-
ry of the flight and be-
haved in an unruly and
aggressive manner, de-
spite repeated warn-
ings from attendants.
‘Funds going to
CM’s camp MLAs,
ally BJP unhappy’
Mumbai (PTI): Na-
tionalist Congress Par-
ty leader Ajit Pawar has
said the Eknath Shinde
government in Maha-
rashtra was splurging
funds to take care of 40
Shiv Sena MLAs while
105 Bharatiya Janata
Party legislators re-
main unhappy
.
Shinde became chief
minister in June last
year with the support
of the BJP after his re-
bellion brought down
the Uddhav Thackeray-
led Maha Vikas Aghadi
government, in which
Pawar was deputy CM.
Speaking on the
budget on Monday, Pa-
war, who also handled
the finance portfolio in
the MVA government,
hinted at unease among
the BJP MLAs claiming
funds were being used
for Shiv Sena MLAs.
“Funds are being
splurged to take care of
40 MLAs. There is doubt
whether this is a gov-
ernment of only 40 of
the 288 MLAs. Even 105
BJP MLAs are unhappy
.
They are quiet but there
is a lot of unease. They
face a lot of problems.
And they are told to
have patience as it is
better than sitting in
the opposition,”
claimed Pawar, the
Leader of the Opposi-
tion in the Assembly
.
CaseagainstBJPMLAover
‘hatespeech’againstMuslims
First India Bureau
Pune: An offence has
been registered in Ma-
harshtra’s Ahmedna-
gar against suspended
Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) MLA from Telan-
gana T Raja Singh over
a video of his vitriolic
speech targeting Mus-
lims that went viral on
social media.
The MLA was also re-
cently questioned by
Latur police in Maha-
rashtra over another
provocative tirade of
his, officials said.
“Whoever speaks
against Hindus, we will
not spare them,” Singh
is heard telling the size-
able crowd comprising
mostly youth in Rahta
tehsil in Ahmednagar
districtatarecentpublic
meeting.
Singh is heard saying
thatif someonewantsto
beat “lande” (a deroga-
tory reference to Mus-
lims), they should join
Bajrang Dal. He is also
heard seeking the sup-
port of youth to make
India “Hindu Rashtra”.
“Let the ‘lande’ of Ma-
harashtra know that the
army of Chhatrapati
Shivaji Maharaj is
ready
.Letthosewhotalk
against Hindus or
slaughter cows know
that we are ready
,” he is
heard saying.
India will be declared
as“
AkhandHinduRash-
tra” by 2026, Singh said.
“Hindus are demand-
ing the country be made
an ‘
Akhand Hindu Rash-
tra’.If therecanbemore
than 50 Islamic coun-
tries and more than 150
Christian nations, why
can’t India be declared a
Hindu Rashtra given
that Hindus constitute a
majority of its 100 mil-
lion people?” he asked.
“Come what may, in
2025 and 2026, India will
be declared as ‘Akhand
Hindu Rashtra’. I am
not saying this, this is
the roar of all sadhus
and sants and it is their
prophecy,” said Singh,
amid cheers by the
crowd.
A senior official on
Tuesday said they have
registered a case
against the MLA.
“We have registered
an offence against Singh
andtheeventorganizers
undersections295A(De-
liberate and malicious
acts intended to outrage
religious feelings), 504
(Intentional insult to
provoke breach of
peace), 506 (criminal in-
timidation)of theIndian
Penal Code,” he said.
CHECKERED HISTORY
In our Hindu Rashtra you won’t even get a
loudspeaker to do what you do five times a
day. —T Raja Singh, BJP leader
Telangana
legislator’s tirade
on making India
‘Akhand Hindu
Rashtra’ goes
viral on social
media platforms
Minister blames
leakage for
water scarcity in
Dombivali region
Thane (PTI): People
living in Dombivali in
Thane district and
neighbouring areas are
experiencing water
woes, primarily due to
tanker mafia and leak-
age from supply lines.
This was revealed
during a surprise visit
to Dombivali industrial
area by Maharashtra
Industries Minister
Uday Samant on Mon-
day night who told a
news channel that at
least 27 villages are fac-
ing water scarcity once
again.
He said a mineral wa-
terplantwithhugetanks
was found operating in
MIDC area sans permis-
sion and asked the civic
chief to take action. The
minister directed the po-
lice to act against the
water pilferers.
Samant said he was
shocked to find that wa-
ter was tapped out from
the main supply lines
of MIDC and Kalyan
Dombivali Municipal
Corporation in late
hours.
BJP legislators not
happy and there are
many problems, feels
NCP’s Ajit Pawar
Industries min Uday
Samant has directed
police to take action
against pilferers too
BYCULLA THEATRE
OPENS AFTER A
YEAR, WITHOUT CM
IN ATTENDANCE
Mumbai: The BMC opened
the Lokshahir Annabhau
Sathe auditorium in Byculla
after waiting for months
for Chief Minister Eknath
Shinde’s appointment
for the inauguration. The
Brihanmumbai Municipal
Corporation (BMC) spent
a large sum of money on
maintenance while waiting
for the CM to inaugurate
the auditorium, but the
decision to open it without
a formal inauguration was
taken by top-level officials
in the BMC due to the busy
schedules of ministers.
BEST RESUMES 369
NON-AC CNG BUSES
AFTER A MONTH
Mumbai: The Brihan-
mumbai Electric Supply
and Transport (BEST)
has resumed its services
involving 369 out of 400
CNG buses that had been
withdrawn last month.
These buses operate
from depots in Dharavi,
Santacruz, Majas and
Pratiksha Nagar and are
mainly operated on 32
routes in the city and
western suburbs. The bus
services were withdrawn
keeping in mind the safety
of passengers after one
of them caught fire. How-
ever, following an inspec-
tion by their manufacturer,
Tata Motors, the undertak-
ing decided to gradually
resume services with the
400 buses.
PANCHAYAT SAMITI
OFFICIAL HELD FOR
`2K BRIBE DEMAND
Mumbai: The Anti-Cor-
ruption Bureau (ACB) on
Tuesday arrested an of-
ficial of a panchayat samiti
in the Gondia district
for allegedly demanding
and accepting a bribe of
Rs2,000 and a meal, an
official said. The complain-
ant claimed that Rs77,000
was sanctioned to his
father under the MGNREA
scheme. The official took
a Rs5,000 bribe to clear
the bill and then demanded
Rs3,000 and a meal, the
official said. Based on a
complaint, the ACB laid
a trap and arrested the
accused, who is a Class
III junior engineer in
Goregaon taluka panchayat
samiti, he said.
CRUCIAL READ
WHAT HAPPENED
First India Bureau
Mumbai: The Bombay
High Court on Tuesday
dismissed a public inter-
est litigation seeking a
disproportionate assets
caseagainstformerShiv
Sena - Uddhav Balasa-
heb Thackeray faction
chief UddhavThackeray
and his family
.
Observing that it
sought a “roving en-
quiry”, the HC also im-
posed a cost of Rs25,000
on the petitioners hold-
ing that the PIL was be-
reft of any evidence and
that it was nothing but
an abuse of the process
of law.
The PIL, filed by city
residents Gauri Bhide
and Abhay Bhide,
sought the court’s direc-
tion to the Central Bu-
reau of Investigation
(CBI) and Enforcement
Directorate (ED) to con-
duct a “thorough and
impartial” investiga-
tion against the ex-CM
and his family
.
Rejecting the peti-
tion, a division bench
of justices Dheeraj
Thakur and Valmiki
Menezes said it provid-
ed no evidence that
would give a basis to the
court to conclude that
prima facie a case was
made out for an investi-
gation by the CBI or any
other central agency
.
“On a reading of the
complaint and the peti-
tion, it appears that the
petitioners are only
speculating on the sud-
den rise in the prosper-
ity index of the private
respondents (Thacker-
ays) from their humble
beginning. Therefore,
entertain a suspicion
that the lifestyle main-
tained by the said pri-
vate respondents could
only be attributed to the
corrupt practices in the
BMC,” the bench said.
Calling herself a “sin-
cere and vigilant” citi-
zen, one of the petition-
ers said in court she
wanted to help the Gov-
ernment of India “un-
earthing some more hid-
den,unaccountedwealth
disproportionate to in-
come and also unearth
laundered money”.
The plea stated she
was inspired by Prime
Minister Narendra
Modi’s “fight against
corruption”.
However, the court
termed the PIL “noth-
ing but an abuse of the
process of law”, the HC
dismissed it with a cost
of Rs25,000. It directed
the petitioners to de-
posit the amount in the
Advocates Welfare
Fund within a period of
two months.
HC dismisses PIL seeking ‘DA
probe’ against Thackerays
LAND OF NARANGIS!
Workers arrange piles of oranges at the Kalamna wholesale market, in Nagpur, on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY ANI
Uddhav and
his son Aaditya
Thackeray.
—FILE PHOTO
Council clears bill to extend MESMA term
Mumbai (PTI): The
Maharashtra Legisla-
tive Council on Tuesday
passed a bill that seeks
to extend for five more
years the term of an
Act that provides for
the maintenance of cer-
tain essential services
in the state.
The Maharashtra Es-
sential Services Mainte-
nance Act (MESMA) is
generally invoked to en-
suresmoothfunctioning
of services such as those
related to health, trans-
portation and communi-
cation, among others.
The Upper House
cleared the bill to give a
fresh five-year exten-
sion to the legislation.
The law was first in-
troduced in the early
1990s and since then it
has been getting an ex-
tension every five years.
The bill was cleared
on a day when state gov-
ernment employees
launched a strike for the
Old Pension Scheme.
The Maharashtra
Essential
Services
Maintenance Act
gets an addt’l
five years

3. MAHARASHTRA
MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15, 2023
03
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TWO KILLED IN
ROAD MISHAP AS
TRUCK HITS BIKE
Aurangabad: Two persons
were killed when a truck
hit their motorcycle in
Parbhani district on
Tuesday, police said. The
accident occurred on
Kalyan-Nirmal Highway
at Manwat bypass around
8.30 am, an official said.
The deceased, Rameshwar
Kadam and Gangadhar
Raul, were working as
teachers and were on a
motorcycle when a truck
travelling from Pathri hit
their vehicle, official added.
WOMAN HELD FOR
RUNNING FLESH
TRADE OPERATION
Thane: A woman has
been apprehended by the
police in the Thane area for
allegedly running a prosti-
tution ring, while her male
partner remains at large.
Authorities conducted a
search in the Narpoli region
and rescued two female
victims. The woman, along
with her missing accom-
plice, has been charged
under multiple sections of
the Indian Penal Code (IPC)
and the Immoral Trafficking
(Prevention) Act.
BLAZE ERUPTS AT
HOTEL, RESCUE
OP UNDERWAY
Mumbai: A fire erupted
at a hotel situated in the
suburban Dahisar region
of Mumbai. The flames
quickly spread across
the compound of Shree
Krushna hotel, with the
Bamboo stock in the
vicinity being particularly
affected. The Brihanmum-
bai Municipal Corporation
(BMC) officials have con-
firmed that the Mumbai
Fire Brigade personnel
are currently working to
extinguish the blaze.
MAN KILLS WIFE,
GOES TO WORK
SURRENDERS LATER
Palghar: A man was ar-
rested for allegedly stran-
gling his wife to death in
the Nalasopara area of Pal-
ghar district. The incident
took place in their home
and the man went to work
after killing his wife. “A
man strangled his wife to
death on Monday morning
because he suspected in-
fidelity and went to work.
After returning from work,
the accused husband
surrendered himself to the
police,” police said.
22 ELECTRIC METERS OF RESIDENTIAL
BUILDING GUTTED IN THANE FIRE
Thane: At least 22 electric meters were destroyed in a fire
that broke out in the meter room of a building near Kalwa
township in Thane district, civic officials said. No one was
reported injured in the incident. A fire broke out in the me-
ter room of a four-story building located in Vitawa, Thane
at around 1 am, according to a Thane disaster management
cell official. The building was a ground-plus four-storey
structure. Fire Brigade personnel quickly arrived at the
scene and managed to extinguish the flames within an hour.
CRUCIAL READ
‘Moving hand over back, head of
minor not outraging modesty’
First India Bureau
Mumbai: While quash-
ing the conviction of a
28-year-old man, the
Bombay High Court ob-
served “merely moving
hand over the back and
head of a minor girl
without any sexual in-
tent does not amount to
outraging her modesty
.”
The case dates back
to 2012 when the con-
vict, then 18 years old,
was booked on charges
of outraging the mod-
esty of a 12-year-old
girl.
According to the vic-
tim, the accused had
moved his hand on her
back and head and com-
mented that she had
grown up. The order
was passed on February
10 and was made avail-
able on March 13.
A single bench of
Justice Bharati Dangre,
while setting aside the
conviction, noted there
was no sexual intent on
the part of the convict
and that his utterance
indicated he had seen
the victim as a child.
“In order to outrage
the modesty of a wom-
an, what is most impor-
tant is having an inten-
tion to outrage the mod-
esty
. It is not the case of
the prosecution that the
accused did something
more than what has
been alleged, that is,
moving his hand over
the back and head of
the victim,” said Jus-
tice Dangre.
“Neither the victim
girl aged 12-13 years
spoke of any bad inten-
tion on his part, but
what she deposed is she
felt bad or indicating
some unpleasant act,
which made her uncom-
fortable,” the judge said
in the order.
The HC further said
the prosecution failed
to produce any materi-
al to show there was a
specific intention on
part of the appellant to
outrage the modesty of
the girl.
The man, who was
convicted by the trial
court and sentenced to
six months in jail, had
filed an appeal against
the order in HC.
In its order, the HC
said the trial court had
erred as the present
case, prima facie, ap-
peared to be an im-
promptu action with no
sexual intent.
Bombay High
Court sets aside
conviction of
28-year-old, says
act done without
sexual intent
The case dates back to 2012, when the accused was 18 years old.
THE CASE
As per the prosecu-
tion, on March 15,
2012, the appellant,
who was then 18
years old, visited the
victim’s house when
she was alone to give
some documents. He
then touched her back
and head and said she
has grown up, and the
girl got uncomfortable
and shouted for help.
The man, who was
convicted by the trial
court and sentenced
to six months in jail,
had filed an appeal
against the order in
High Court.
In absence of a specific intention being established by the prosecu-
tion to outrage the modesty, it is not understood as to how Section
354 has been invoked and even held to be proved, with the specific
version that the victim was frightened at the accused touching her on her
back and saying that she has grown up. The utterance by the accused def-
initely indicates he had seen her as a child and, hence, he said that she
has grown up. — Bombay High Court
First India Bureau
Aurangabad: A case of
child marriage was re-
ported in Maharash-
tra's Beed district after
a girl student skipped
her Mathematics paper
during the ongoing SSC
exams in the state, an
official said on Tuesday
.
Police have registered a
case against 13 identi-
fied persons and 150-200
guests who had attend-
ed the wedding.
The country's law
prohibits the solemni-
zation of marriage of a
boy who is less than 21
years of age and a girl
who is less than 18 years
old. The 16-year-old girl
did not take her Maths
paper on Monday
prompting an activist to
raise an alert through
Childline helpline 1098.
When gramsevak
(village worker) Dn-
yaneshwar Mukade
reached the girl's place,
he learnt about the girl's
marriage to a 24-year-
old man, the official
said. Mukade tried to
seek details about the al-
leged illegal act but her
relatives did not re-
spond to his questions.
A case was then regis-
tered under the Child
Marriage Restraint Act,
1929, the official said.
Activist Tatwashil
Kamble said the wed-
ding was already over
when officials reached.
First India Bureau
Mumbai: Doing away
with the 132-year-old
tradition of allowing
only boys, a school in
Mumbai has welcomed
girls. The change hap-
pened last year bring-
ing 16 girls to Bharda
New High School and
the management ex-
pects to have more girl
students in the new aca-
demic year.
Situated in South
Mumbai opposite the
Chhatrapati Shivaji
Maharaj Terminus, the
Bharda New High
School Junior College
was established in Jan-
uary 1891 by Jalbhai
Dorabji Bharda and
Kaikobad Behramji
Marzban.
The school has given
India a number of
cricketers, including
Vijay Merchant, Polly
Umrigar and Nari Con-
tractor, as well as well-
known table tennis
player Sudhir K Thack-
ersey
.
Trustees of Bharda
Marzban Educational
Trust, which has been
managing the institu-
tion since 1954, said the
junior college has al-
ways been a co-ed insti-
tution, but the school
was for boys only
. How-
ever, the trust decided
to change its age-old
policy three years back.
“The policy to turn
the school into a co-ed-
ucational institution
was made three years
ago. However, the im-
plementation was de-
layed due to the COV-
ID-19 pandemic. As we
returned to normalcy,
admissions opened to
girls last year. We ex-
pect more girls to join
the school in the up-
coming academic
year,” said Kersi J
Treasurywala, secre-
tary of the trust.
First India Bureau
Pune: A five-year-old
boy, Sagar Barela, fell
into a borewell in a vil-
lageinAhmednagardis-
trict on Monday
. Despite
a rescue operation last-
ing over nine hours, the
efforts proved futile as
the child was pulled out
dead in the early hours
of Tuesday
. Sagar was
the son of a sugarcane
workerfromBurhanpur
in Madhya Pradesh.
According to a police,
child descended from a
bullock cart at approxi-
mately 5 pm on Monday
in Kopardi village, lo-
cated in Karjat tehsil
nearly 125km away from
Pune, and subsequently
fell into a borewell.
Personnel of the Na-
tionalDisasterResponse
Force (NDRF), along
withlocalpoliceanddis-
trictadministrationper-
sonnel, launched an op-
eration to rescue him.
Officials had said the
boy was trapped at a
depth of 15ft in the de-
funct borewell.
“The boy was pulled
out dead from the bore-
well at around 2 am
Tuesday,” a police offi-
cial said.
K a r j a t - J a m k h e d
MLA Rohit Pawar said
farmers should take
care to properly cover
borewells in their fields.
First India Bureau
Mumbai: An adult
leopard got caught in a
trap cage set up by the
Forest Department
near a residential area
in the western suburb
of Malad on Tuesday, a
forest official said.
The forest depart-
ment had received
complaints about re-
cent sightings of leop-
ards near MHADA col-
ony in Dindoshi and a
trap was set up in the
radius of the locality,
the official added. The
animal walked into the
trap in the early hours
of the day, the official
said.
First India Bureau
Mumbai: A 15-year-old
girl allegedly killed her-
self on Friday after be-
ing repeatedly sexually
harassed by her cousin
brother, police said on
Tuesday. As per the po-
lice, the suspect has
been booked for alleged
sexual harassment and
abetment of suicide.
The suspect cousin
brother was arrested
andwillbefurtherinter-
rogated to know wheth-
er he has molested the
victim’s sister as well.
The police said that
the deceased girl lived
with her parents,
younger sister and
brother. On March 10,
the parents had gone to
a doctor while her sib-
lings were playing out-
side. At around 1.30 pm,
when her parents re-
turned, they found that
children were knocking
on the door but their el-
der daughter (the vic-
tim) was not opening
the door. When the door
was broken open, they
found the girl hanging
by the ceiling. She was
rushed to a nearby hos-
pital where she was de-
clared dead. The post-
mortem was carried out
which confirmed she
died due to asphyxia.
Child marriage: SSC student skips Maths paper
School in city welcomes
girl students after 132 yrs
Bharda New High
School decided to
change its policy
three years ago
The 16-year-old
student was
married off to a
24-year-old man
Boy pulled out dead
after falling in borewell
in Ahmednagar district
Forest Dept
traps leopard
in resi area
15-year-old minor sexually
harassed by cousin, kills self
The 5-year-old boy’s body, who could not be rescued from the
borewell. —PHOTO BY PTI
2 MEN HELD FOR RAPING MINOR GIRL
Mumbai: Police have arrested two men for allegedly
raping a minor, filming the act and blackmailing her
that if she informed anyone, they would circulate
the video. DCP (zone IX) Anil Paraskar said, “Two
accused men have been arrested in the case. They
have been produced before the court and remanded
in police custody.” The officer said the incident took
place on the afternoon of March 02.
First India Bureau
Washim: Women in
several villages in
Washim district of the
state earn a living by
breaking “bhilawa”, the
outer covering of a nut
called godambi, a dry
fruit. But this has an oc-
cupational hazard:
while breaking the bhil-
awa, an oil is released
which causes wounds
on the skin.
The oil released by
breaking the “bhilawa”
leads to deep scars and
marks. As a result, the
physical appearance of
women is affected due
to the oil that comes out.
According to the wom-
en, it becomes difficult
for girls to get married
due to this work.
Rupali Tayde, who
lives in Amani village
of Washim said, “The
oil that flies on the body
after breaking “bhila-
wa” leaves stains, due
to which there is a prob-
lem in the marriage of
girls. Even people from
outside do not want to
marry their girls in this
village. They believe
that if they get married
in this village, then
their girls will also have
to do the same work.”
‘Bhilawa’ causing skin wounds to Washim’s women workers
OCCUPATIONAL HAZARD
Girls facing difficulties in securing matches for themselves due to
their job. —PHOTO BY ANI
Oil released after breaking the
outer covering of godambi dry fruit
leaves deep scars on their hands

4. PERSPECTIVE
MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15, 2023
04
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UNTOLD STORIES OF PM MODI - PART 34
‘MODI HAI TO MUMKIN HAI…’
Reconstructing the Construction
Construct: Modi’s Projects
are Jan Andolans
The narrator proves to us how “Modi Hai To Mumkin Hai” is hundred percent
true when it comes to visualizing and implementing seemingly impossible
projects. Be it the Statue of Unity, the Mahatma Mandir, golden jubilee
celebrations or any other corporate project, PM Modi sees them right through
till the end so much so that one is convinced that “No One But Modi Can Do It!”
y conversation with PM Modi
veered off in a direction
where I believe I mentioned
to him something about hav-
ing a Sardar Patel statue out-
side the Mahatma Mandir.
He asked me “Harshad bhai!
Tell me what do you know
about Sardar Patel? What
have you read about him?”
And then his innermost
thoughts started pouring out
in words that eloquently ex-
pressed his reverence for the
Iron Man of India. He said
“In Gujarat, I will have this
statue overlooking the river
basin of the Narmada and
have it stand tallest amongst
the biggest statues of the
world. This will be taller
than the Statue of Liberty in
New York which people look
at and are mesmerized. And
we will have it located at the
Sardar Sarovar dam. And we
will create exceptional and
memorable tourism experi-
ences there! We must have
airports and airstrips, ban-
quet halls - a convention cen-
tre where we can hold inter-
national conferences and
seminars. There will be light
and sound shows in the even-
ing to depict the life and
times of Sardar Patel.” This
is how Narendra bhai visual-
ized his dream project and
we got down to making this
dream a reality. There were
several gray areas that need-
ed to be clarified and at the
first instance, any project of
this magnitude seems impos-
sible. Sometimes we would be
engulfed in a deluge of
doubts, if we would be even
able to do this much!
Well, BJP came up with its
memorable slogan “Modi
Hai to Mumkin Hai”. Al-
though this came up later, at
that time Modiji proved that
indeed if he’s there, every-
thing’s possible. When it was
time for real time execution
of this project, we had to
work through the fund allo-
cation worth `300 crore.
Whatever we had at that time
was way too short for a pro-
ject of this magnitude. But
God had other plans for us!
With the kind of persona
Narendra bhai possesses, his
vision and the dreams that
he watches with eyes wide
open, they come true and the
goddess of destiny is always
by his side. BJP chose him as
their Prime Ministerial can-
didate and he became the
most loved PM this country
has ever had in 2014!
During the golden jubilee
celebrations of India’s inde-
pendence, Narendra bhai’s
emotions towards his coun-
try, towards Mahatma Gan-
dhi and his ideology, and his
personal feelings for Bapu’s
thought were manifested
through the construction of
such a property in Gujarat
that would forever stand as a
remembrance for Mahatma
Gandhi. He decided to have
this Mahatma Mandir con-
structed right opposite the
Gandhinagar Secretariat in
Vidhan Sabha region. Now to
get some something con-
structed is a very simple ask
for a CM - all he needs to do
is put it in a file, sign it and
order the concerned depart-
ment. But when I had a word
with Narendra bhai about
this, he said “Harshad bhai!
I want the people to own this
place and I want the youth to
associate with this project. I
want school students from
all the districts and talukas
of Gujarat to come to this
place in buses, they should
bring water and soil from
their villages, and with this
soil of our state we should
lay the foundation of this
memorial. He also envi-
sioned the contribution of
the youth and the masses in
this project. And this is how
Narendra bhai realized this
dream by involving the peo-
ple contributing towards its
making. This has been his
vision towards almost every
development project that he
has visualized and brought
to life! He believes in shram-
daan - shramdaan of his peo-
ple, of the karyakartas, of
the youth - so much so that it
almost assumes the form of
a Jan Andolan!
With Narendra bhai, it is
like this - the project has been
laid down and is ready, con-
tractors are also ready; they
have been appointed and or-
ders have been issued, but
completion of the project
within the stipulated time-
lines and dedicating it to the
people, often times feels im-
possible. For instance, even
with companies such as LT,
oneoftendoubtsif theywould
be able to meet the targets
within the given deadlines or
not. But once Narendra bhai
has taken a decision, he sees
it through and through by be-
ing present at every stage per-
sonally and he asks for con-
tinuousreportsandfeedback.
And the Mahatma Mandir
that he visualized embodies
thespiritof MahatmaGandhi
who picked up a pinch of salt
andbreathedintothefreedom
struggle a new life, Narendra
bhai infused this same spirit
in this Mandir. Look at the ex-
hibition of Gandhiji’s life cre-
ated with assistance of Birla
family! It is a world class ex-
perience. Creating such a his-
torical and immortal opus in
a time as short as 268 time is
something that only Modiji
can do - it is indeed laudable
and simply remarkable!
The golden jubilee celebra-
tions in Gujarat were going
on. I made a presentation
running into 60 slides on this
issue and reached the CM of-
fice. My counterparts who
were with me were slightly
busy in a meeting and some
senior IAS officers were pre-
sent outside the office. They
asked me “Harshad bhai!
How many slides have you
prepared?” I replied, “60”.
They said “Suppose you have
to make a presentation to the
chairman of the company
you work for, would you still
make a presentation this
long and will your chairman
watch it too?” They contin-
ued “He is the CM of Guja-
rat! He is Narendra bhai!
Bring down the number of
slides to 10 or 12.” But just
then I was called into the
CM’s office and I went ahead
with the presentation I had.
Let me tell you - the meeting
lasted 4 hours. I spent 1 min-
ute on every slide and Naren-
dra bhai spoke for 3 minutes
about each slide. I concluded
the presentation telling Nar-
endra bhai that this is what I
had in mind about how the
golden jubilee must be cele-
brated and I requested him to
pick and choose what he
liked. He spoke with affec-
tion and his words that day
to me, I believe, were the
greatest compliment or cer-
tificate I could have ever re-
ceived for all my corporate
achievements and knowl-
edge. He said “Harshad bhai!
This is an extremely profes-
sionally crafted and drafted
presentation and there is
nothing that I wish to delete
here! I will implement every
single suggestion you have
put up to me today!”
TO BE CONTINUED...
M
WITH MODIJI, THE PROJECTS
MEET THE DEADLINES
With Narendra bhai, it is like this - the
project has been laid down and is ready,
contractors are also ready; they have been
appointed and orders have been issued, but
completion of the project within the stipulated
timelines and dedicating it to the people, often
times feels impossible. For instance, even with
companies such as LT, one often doubts if
they would be able to meet the targets within
the given deadlines or not.
AFFECTION I RECEIVED FROM MODIJI
IS THE GREATEST COMPLIMENT EVER
Iconcluded the golden jubilee presentation telling Narendra
bhai that this is what I had in mind about how event must
be celebrated and I requested him to pick and choose what
he liked. He spoke with affection and his words that day to
me, I believe, were greatest compliment or certificate I could
have ever received for all my corporate achievements and
knowledge. He said “Harshad bhai! This is an extremely
professionally crafted and drafted presentation and there
is nothing that I wish to delete here! I will implement every
single suggestion you have put up to me today!”
COMPILED AND EDITED BY
SHASHIKANT SHARMA
AND SHWETA SHARMA
BJP chose Narendra
Modi as their Prime
Ministerial candidate
and he became the most
loved PM this country
has ever had in 2014!
NO ONE BUT
MODI CAN DO IT!
Prime Minister
Narendra Modi
YOU READ PART 33 ON MARCH 2, 2023
l Vol 1 l Issue No. 305 l RNI TITLE NO. MAHENG/2022/14652 Printed and published by Anita Hada Sangwan on behalf of First Express Publishers. Printed at Dangat Media Pvt Ltd, No.22, Dighe MIDC, Vishnu Nagar, TTC Industrial Area, Dighe, Navi Mumbai-400701.
Published at Plot No. 3 Scheme C of Manglorean Garden Home, CHS Limited, Survey No. 5, 6C (Part) Ville Parle East, Mumbai 400057. Phone 022-46031417. Editor-In-Chief: DrJagdeesh Chandra Editor: Kartikey Dev Singh responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act

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6. MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15, 2023
05
INDIA
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New Delhi (ANI): The
government has initiat-
ed the process for com-
prehensiveamendments
to criminal laws like the
Indian Penal Code, 1860,
the Code of Criminal
Procedure, 1973 and the
Indian Evidence Act,
1872inconsultationwith
all stakeholders, Minis-
ter of State for Home
Ajay Kumar Mishra told
the Lok Sabha.
The Minister made
the announcement
while giving a written
reply to the query of a
few parliamentarians.
Asked whether the gov-
ernment is in the pro-
cess of review of the
existing many criminal
laws including the In-
dian Evidence Act, of
1872, Mishra said the
Department-related
Parliamentary Stand-
ing Committee on
Home Affairs, in its
146th Report had rec-
ommended that there is
a need for a comprehen-
sive review of the Crim-
inal Justice System of
the country
.
“Earlier, the Parlia-
mentary Standing
Committee in its 111th
and 128th Reports had
also stressed the need
to reform and rational-
ize the criminal law of
the country by intro-
ducing comprehensive
legislation in Parlia-
ment rather than bring-
ing about piecemeal
amendments in respec-
tive Acts,” the MoS told
the Lower House.
“With a view to mak-
ing comprehensive
changes in the criminal
laws of the country to
provide affordable and
speedy justice to all,
create a people-centric
legal structure, the gov-
ernment has initiated
the process for compre-
hensive amendments to
criminal laws like Indi-
an Penal Code, 1860, the
Code of Criminal Pro-
cedure, 1973 and the In-
dian Evidence Act, 1872
in consultation with all
stakeholders,” Mishra
added.
He further said that a
committee had been
constituted under the
Chairpersonship of the
Vice Chancellor, Na-
tional Law University,
Delhitosuggestreforms
in the Criminal laws.
Process begun for amendments
to major criminal laws: Centre
The proceedings of Lok Sabha underway during Budget Session of Parliament, in New Delhi on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY PTI
BUDGET
SESSION
Congress MPs stage a protest over various issues including the
Adani stocks issue, at Parliament, on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY ANI
Govt not mulling to
create any new state,
MoS informs Lok Sabha
New Delhi: There is no
proposal under the Central
government’s considera-
tion for creation of any new
state, the Lok Sabha was
informed on Tuesday by the
government. Union Minister
of State (MoS) for Home
Nityanand Rai said this while
replying to a written question
on whether the government
has received any proposal
for the constitution of Bun-
delkhand state.
Various steps taken to
tackle drug smuggling
at border areas: Govt
New Delhi: Government has
taken various steps to tackle
drug smuggling at the border
areas. MoS Nityanand Rai
said this in a written reply to
a question in Lok Sabha on
Tuesday. Rai said, detailed vul-
nerability mapping has been
carried out along the border
to strengthen surveillance by
deploying additional Special
Surveillance Equipment and
other available resources in
the vulnerable patches.
Rahul’s remarks
don’t require an
apology: Tharoor
New Delhi (ANI): As
the BJP continues to de-
mand an apology from
C o n g r e s s
leader Ra-
hul Gandhi
for his re-
marks in
London on
democracy in India, par-
ty MP Shashi Tharoor
said that Gandhi has not
said anything that re-
quires an apology
.
Tharoor further said
that Rahul Gandhi ex-
pressed concern about
the state of democracy
and attacks on it by the
practices of the ruling
government. “Rahul
Gandhi hasn’t said any-
thing that requires an
apology. He expressed
concern about the state
of our democracy and
attacks on it by the
practices of the ruling
government,” he said.
The Congress MP
said this is nothing
what Prime Minister
Narendra Modi has said
in foreign countries.
“This is milder than
what PM Narendra
Modi has said in foreign
countries. He has con-
stantly attacked the
Congress party, the pre-
vious government, and
alleged lack of progress
before he came to pow-
er. This kind of dis-
course abroad was initi-
ated by PM Modi, not by
Congress,” he added.
KCR IS WORRIED ABOUT CONGRESS!
Mahesh Sharma
New Delhi: Bharat
Rashtra Samithi leader
K Chandrasekhar Rao
is still seen fighting
with the Congress. But
he is also worried about
the Congress. KCR
knows that if the Con-
gress fights with more
vigor in Telangana, it
will benefit the BJP.
Congress also under-
stands this, so to keep
the pressure on KCR, it
is holding rallies and
programs in Telangana.
Whether both the par-
ties will coordinate in
the compulsion to stop
the BJP or not, is a mat-
ter on which decision
can be taken later, but
for now, KCR has start-
ed showing goodwill. In
Delhi, his daughter
Kavita asked the Con-
gress to give up its stub-
bornness and join the
alliance.
When Kavita asked
the Congress to join the
alliance, she was not
talking about an alli-
ance for the Lok Sabha
elections. She meant to
come together in the
Telangana elections.
Keep in mind that Con-
gress has a good pres-
ence in Telangana and
Asaduddin Owaisi’s
party MIM has influ-
ence in a large area. In
this way three parties
Bharat Rashtra
Samithi, Congress and
MIM are doing one vote
bank politics. If one
vote bank is divided
into three parties, then
BJP will be benefited.
KCR does not want a
hung assembly, so, from
the beginning, he has
been showing harmony
with the Congress. His
daughter Kavita went
on a one-day hunger
strike at Delhi’s Jantar
Mantar on March 10
and praised Sonia Gan-
dhi fiercely. She
thanked Sonia that due
to her efforts, the Wom-
en’s Reservation Bill
could be passed in the
Rajya Sabha. After this
initiative from her side,
some interesting chang-
es can be seen.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao addressing joint meeting of the BRS Parliamentary
Party, Legislature Party and the State Executive, in Hyderabad recently. —FILE PHOTO
New Delhi: Lok Sabha MP
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury
said the Centre should
apologise not
Rahul Gand-
hi. “Govt
doesn’t want
to run the
Parliament.
Has it ever been witnessed
that all the members of
a party in power create a
ruckus to halt the Parlia-
ment?,” he said.
NOT RAHUL BUT
CENTRE SHOULD
APOLOGISE: ADHIR
New Delhi: The Indian
Youth Congress (IYC)
held a protest outside Lt
Governor VK Saxena’s
office here, demanding
an investigation into alle-
gations made against the
Adani group in the Hin-
denburg research report.
Several IYC leaders and
workers gathered at Civil
Lines, holding banners
and raising slogans.
YOUTH CONGRESS
PROTESTS IN DELHI
AGAINST ADANI ISSUE
New Delhi: Amid storm
over Rahul’s “democracy”
remarks, Indian Overseas
Congress
chief Sam
Pitroda on
Tuesday said
Rahul never
invited any
foreign countries for help
and was being subjected
to a ‘well-orchestrated’
personal attack based on
“lies and misinformation”.
LIE-BASED PERSONAL
ATTACK: PITRODA ON
RAHUL’S CRITICISM
DIPLOMATIC DIALOGUE!
A multi-party French delegation led by Jean-Louis Bourlangescalls on Lok Sabha Speaker
Om Birla at Parliament House, in New Delhi on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY ANI
Nandigram
police firing’s
16th anniv: TMC,
BJP lock horns
Kolkata (PTI): TMC
andBJPlockedhornson
Tuesday as both parties
sought to appropriate
the legacy of the anti-
land acquisition move-
ment at Nandigram on
its 16th anniversary
.
The BJP
, led by Leader
of Opposition Suvendu
Adhikari, organised ral-
liesinNandigramareaof
Purba Medinipur district
to commemorate the day
whichsaw14anti-landac-
quisitionprotestorskilled
in police firing in 2007.
“The Nandigram
movement was not a
movement of any par-
ticular party but of the
locals. It is a heroic tale
of resilience and strug-
gle of the poor people of
Nandigram, who fought
against the then mighty
Left Front,” he said.
Karnataka DGP is
‘nalayak’,should be
arrested:Shivakumar
Bengaluru (Agen-
cies): Congress’ Karna-
taka President DK Shi-
vakumar on Tuesday
demanded arrest of the
state DGP Praveen Sood
for allowing erection of
an entrance in the name
of Nanje Gowda and
Uri Gowda, two histori-
cal figures who, as per
Hindu activists, had
killed erstwhile Mysu-
ru ruler Tipu Sultan.
During the visit of
PM Narendra Modi to
Karnataka to dedicate
Bengaluru-Mysuru Ex-
pressway, Praveen Sood
has allowed distortion
of history by allowing
anentrancetobenamed
after Nanje Gowda and
Uri Gowda. A case
should be lodged
against him and he has
to be arrested,” Shiva-
kumar said.
“This DGP is a nal-
ayak (useless). He had
heeded the demands of
the government. Imme-
diately, a case should be
registered against him.
The Election Commis-
sion should transfer
him to a different place.
He was there in the post
for three years. Why is
he still there?” he asked.
Non-eligible candidates
appointed in Railway: CBI
New Delhi (ANI): The
CBI in its chargesheet
filed in the land-for-job
scam stated that irregu-
lar appointments of
candidates were made
in Central Railway, vio-
lating the laid down
norms and procedures
of Indian Railways for
recruitment.
As a quid-pro-quo,
candidates directly or
through their immedi-
ate relatives/family
members, sold land to
the family members of
Lalu Prasad Yadav
(then Railway Minister)
at highly discounted
rates up to 1/4th to
1/5th of the prevailing
market rates, stated
CBI. CBI further stated
that investigation has
revealed that Lalu Ya-
dav during the period
2007-08. When he was
Railways Minister, with
the intent to acquire the
land parcels situated in
Vill- Mahuabagh, Patna
and Vill-Kunjwa, Patna
which were situated ad-
jacent to the land par-
cels already owned by
his family members;
entered into a criminal
conspiracy with his
wife Rabri Devi, daugh-
ter Misha Bharati, Of-
ficers of Central Rail-
ways namely Sowmya
Raghvan the then Gen-
eral Manager, Kamal
Deep Mainrai, the then
Chief Personnel Offic-
er, and residents of Vill-
Mahjabagh, Patna and
Vill-Bindaul, Bihta,
Patna and Patna City
namely Raj Kumar Sin-
gh, Mithlesh Kumar,
Ajay Kumar, Sanjay Ku-
mar, Dharmendra Ku-
mar and others.
Residences of Yadavs were recently raided in Patna and Delhi.
ROUNDUP
Court
Court
SC TO HEAR PLEA
AGAINST BAIL TO
K’TAKA BJP MLA
New Delhi: The Supreme
Court on Tuesday agreed
to hear plea of Karna-
taka Lokayukta against
grant of anticipatory
bail to BJP MLA Madal
Virupakshappa, main
accused in the Karnataka
Soaps and Detergents
contract scam. The plea
was initially mentioned
for urgent listing before a
bench headed by CJI DY
Chandrachud, who asked
the Lokayukta’s counsel
to mention the matter
before a bench headed
by Justice Sanjay Kaul.
DELHI GOVT TOLD TO
CONSTRUCT TOILETS
FOR TRANSGENDERS
New Delhi: The Delhi High
Court has set a deadline of
8 weeks for construction
of toilets for transgenders
in the city and warned it
will order personal appear-
ance of the top officials
concerned of the Delhi
govt and NDMC in case
of non-compliance. Court
noted that as per status
report filed by the city
govt, while the process
of construction was
stated to be underway, no
toilets have been built for
transgenders.
PLEA AGAINST USE
OF LOUDSPEAKERS
BY MOSQUES IN GUJ
Ahmedabad: The Gujarat
High Court has sought
the state govt’s reply on
a PIL seeking a ban on
the use of loudspeakers
for reciting ‘azaan’ (call
to prayer) in mosques.
A division bench of
Acting Chief Justice A J
Desai and Justice Biren
Vaishnav on Monday al-
lowed Shaktisinh Zala, a
Bajrang Dal leader, to join
the PIL after the original
petitioner Dharmendra
Prajapati sought to with-
draw it citing threats.
BCI: WILL CONSIDER
INCLUDING LAW ON
RTE IN CURRICULUM
New Delhi: The Bar
Council of India on
Tuesday told Delhi High
Court that it will consider
within “reasonable time”
the issue of introducing
Right to Education Act
as a compulsory subject
in law colleges. Court
was hearing a PIL, which
asserted that RTE Act
can be implemented in
its true letter and spirit
only if it is taught as a
compulsory subject in
the curriculum.
No outreach...
The RSS, in its resolu-
tion, has endorsed the
leadership of PM Modi
saying that the “pancha-
pran” mantra given by
himinhisIndependence
Day speech last year
could free the nation
from the colonial mind-
set. Hosabale also said
that the RSS agrees with
the Centre’s view on
same-sex marriage, add-
ing that marriage can
take place only between
twopeoplefromopposite
genders.Onthequestion
of the Sangh’s outreach
to Muslims, Hosabale
said RSS leaders are
meeting Muslim intel-
lectuals and their spirit-
ual leaders on their invi-
tation only
. Responding
toquestionsonGandhi’s
remarks in the UK, the
RSS leader said, “Those
whoconvertedIndiainto
a jail have no right to
comment on democracy
in the country
.”
FROM P1…

7. MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15, 2023
06
INDIA
www.firstindia.co.in I www.firstindia.co.in/epapers/mumbai I twitter.com/thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia I instagram.com/thefirstindia
CHRONOLOGY
OF EVENTS IN
BHOPAL GAS
TRAGEDY CASE
Tragedy claimed over 3,000 human lives and caused huge environmental damage...
m DEC 2-3, 1984: Leakage
of toxic Methyl Isocyanate
(MIC) gas from the Union
Carbide plant in Bhopal.
m DEC 3, 1984: Police
register FIR. Arrests Union
Carbide India Ltd (UCIL)
employees, including Jai
Mukund (Works Manager),
Satya Chaudhary (Asst
Manager), KV Shetty (Plant
Supdt) and others.
m DEC 6, 1984: Case
transferred to CBI.
m DEC 7, 1984: Chairman of
UCIL Warren M Anderson,
Chairman of UCIL Keshub
Mahindra and Managing
Director of UCIL Vijay
Prabhakar Gokhle arrested.
m DEC 7, 1984: Warren
Anderson released on bail
upon a promise to return.
m DEC 9, 1984: CBI takes
over the investigation.
m FEB 1985: Indian govt
files claim for USD 3.3 billion
from UCIL in US court.
m MAR 29, 1985: The
Bhopal Gas Leak Disaster
(Processing of Claims) Act,
1985 passed.
m MAY 12, 1986: US
District Court Judge
Keenan transfers all Bhopal
litigations to India.
m NOV 30, 1987: CBI files
charge sheet in the CJM
court, Bhopal, charging
the accused under section
304 (culpable homicide not
amounting to murder) and
other charges.
m DEC 1987: CBI files charge
sheet against Anderson and
others on charges of culpable
homicide.
m DEC 1, 1987: CJM,
Bhopal issues summons
against Anderson.
m NOV 15, 1988: CJM,
Bhopal issues bailable
warrants against Anderson.
m FEB 1992: Anderson
declared fugitive by court.
m APR 10, 1992: Bhopal
court issues Non-Bailable
Warrant against Anderson.
m JUNE 22, 1992: Bhopal
CJM commits the case to
the Sessions court against
the rest of the nine accused.
m NOV 1994: Despite
petitions by survivors, the
Supreme Court allows Union
Carbide to sell its stake in
UCIL to McLeod Russell
(India) Ltd of Calcutta.
m SEPT 13, 1996: SC on
plea of accused dilutes the
charges framed against
them by the trial court and
upheld by MP High Court.
m MAY 2003:Indian govt
formally conveys to the US
its request for extradition of
Anderson.
m MAY 2004: A US court
says it could order Dow
Chemicals to clean soil
and ground water in the
abandoned factory site if the
Indian government provides
a no objection certificate.
m JUNE 2004: The
US rejects request for
Anderson’s extradition.
m OCT 26, 2004: The
Supreme Court sets
deadline of November 15
to pay out the rest of USD
470 million paid by Union
Carbide as compensation.
m JUNE 7, 2010: After more
than 25 years, Bhopal CJM
holds guilty all 8 accused
and sentences them to
two years of jail term. All
convicts were granted bail.
m FEB 28, 2011: The
Supreme Court decides to
hear on day-to-day basis
Centre’s plea for restoration
of culpable homicide charge.
m MAY 23, 2011: Delhi
court allows CBI plea
seeking to extradite
Anderson from the US.
m APRIL 13, 2011: The
Supreme Court questions
delay in filing the curative
petition.
m MAY 11, 2011: The
Supreme Court dismisses
CBI’s curative petition but
leaves it to Sessions
court to consider strict
charges against the
accused persons.
m JAN 12, 2023:
The Supreme Court
reserves verdict on
Centre’s curative petition
seeking enhancement of
compensation to victims.
m MARCH 14, 2023: The
Supreme Court dismisses
Centre’s curative petition
seeking enhancement of
compensation to victims.
Stalin seeks PM’s help for release
of TN 16 fishermen from Sri Lanka
Chennai (Agencies):
Tamil Nadu Chief Min-
ister MK Stalin has re-
quested Prime Minister
Narendra Modi to inter-
vene in the release of 16
fishermen from Tamil
Naduwhowerearrested
by the Sri Lankan Navy
.
InalettertothePMon
Tuesday
,theTamilNadu
CM requested him to
initiate diplomatic steps
to ensure the release of
the fishermen.
“This is the third in-
cident of attack/arrest
of Indian fishermen by
the Sri Lankan nation-
als/Navy within a
month and as you are
aware, these fishermen
are solely dependent on
their fishing activity for
livelihood and such fre-
quent incidents shatter
the livelihood of poor
fishermen and also cre-
ate fear psychosis in the
minds of poor fisher-
men from Tamil Nadu.”
He said that 102 fish-
ing boats are in the cus-
tody of the Sri Lankan
Navy as of date and
added that six fishing
boats that were released
by Sri Lanka are yet to
be repatriated to India.
Stalin, in the letter, re-
quested the Prime Min-
ister to initiate “neces-
sary diplomatic steps to
secure the early release
of all 16 fishermen and
102 fishing boats that
were apprehended by
the Sri Lankan Navy
.”
The Chief Minister
also recalled his earlier
letters addressed to the
Union External Affairs
minister who had taken
up the matter with the
Sri Lanka government
and despite all the ef-
forts such incidents are
continuing.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin Prime Minister Narendra Modi
TN FISHERMEN RUE
BAN AGAINST SEA
CUCUMBER FISHING
Chennai: The fishermen
association affiliated with
the Congress party, All
India Fishermen Congress
will conduct a protest
march in Delhi in April
against the Sea Cucumber
fishing ban. The Centre
banned fishing of Sea
Cucumber in 2001 citing it
as an endangered spe-
cies. The fishermen are
demanding to lift the ban
on fishing this species. No-
tably, there is almost one
case registered on a daily
basis on smuggling of
Sea Cucumber from India,
especially from the Ram-
anathapuram coast. The
farmers urged the Central
govt to lift the ban so that
the sale of Sea Cucumbers
increases, fetching good
profits for fishermen.
“India is 1st responder in
humanitarian aid globally”
New Delhi (Agencies):
India has emerged first
responder in Humani-
tarian Assistance and
Disaster Relief (HADR)
at global level, said
Chief of Defence Staff
General Anil Chauhan,
in his virtual message
to a Workshop on Hu-
manitarian Assistance,
Disaster Relief, Risk
Mitigation and Disaster
Resilience rganized un-
der the aegis of Inte-
grated Defence Staff
(IDS), Ministry of De-
fence today on 14th
March, 2023 at New
Delhi. The workshop
was organized as part
of India’s Chairman-
ship of the Shanghai
Cooperation Organiza-
tion (SCO) and was at-
tended by speakers
from Kazakhstan, Kyr-
gyz Republic, Belarus,
Mongolia, Pakistan and
China along with speak-
er from Russia in the
virtual mode.
“In keeping with our
cultural beliefs of Vas-
udhaiva Kutumbakam
– the whole world is one
family, India has been
playing an important
role in providing HADR
in the region and be-
yond”, he added, citing
the instances such as
Operation Maitri – res-
cue operations during
earthquake in Nepal,
Assistance to Sri Lanka
in 2016 during Cyclone
Roanu, earthquake in
Indonesia in 2018,
flooding in Madagascar
in January 2020, Sup-
ply of Vaccines during
the COVID 19 pandemic
etc. He further said
that timely launch of
Operation Dost follow-
ing the recent earth-
quake in Turkiye is a
testimony to India’s
willingness to extend
help to all possible cor-
ners of the globe.
CDS Gen Anil Chauhan addresses workshop on Humanitarian
Assistance, Disaster Relief, Risk Mitigation Disaster Resilience.
39 of world’s 50 most polluted cities are in India: Report
New Delhi: The Swiss
firm IQAir in its ‘World
Air Quality Report’ re-
leased on Tuesday
rankedIndiatheworld’s
eighth most polluted
country in 2022, drop-
ping from fifth place the
previous year. In the list
of most polluted cities
in the world, out of the
50 cities, 39 are in India.
Chad, Iraq, Pakistan,
Bahrain, Bangladesh,
Burkina Faso, Kuwait,
India, Egypt and Tajik-
istan were the top 10
most polluted countries
whileAustralia,Estonia,
Finland, Grenada, Ice-
land, and New Zealand
mettheWorldHealthOr-
ganization(WHO)PM2.5
guideline (annual aver-
age of 5 Aug/m3 or less).
The data from 131
countries was taken
fromover30,000ground-
based monitors, govt or
non-govt operated.
In India, the transpor-
tation sector causes 20-
35 per cent of the PM2.5
pollution while other
sources of pollution are
industrial units, coal-
fired power plants and
biomass burning.
After the two top
most-polluted cities, La-
hore in Pakistan and
Hotan in China, Ra-
jasthan’s Bhiwadi is in
third place and Delhi
ranked fourth.
Delhi’s PM2.5 level is
almost 20 times the safe
limit, the report stated.
Delhi has so far been
the most polluted capi-
tal in the world and the
report made a distinc-
tion between ‘greater’
Delhi and New Delhi
the capital. Both are in
the top 10 and the infa-
mous distinction of be-
ing the world’s most
polluted capital goes to
Chad’s N’Djamena.
National Capital’s pe-
ripherals-- Noida, Gha-
ziabad, Gurugram and
Faridabad have seen a
decline in pollution lev-
els. The report said that
there is a 34 per cent de-
cline in Gurugram to 21
per cent in Faridabad if
compared to the aver-
age PM2.5 levels report-
ed in previous years.
Kolkata was ranked the most polluted after Delhi.
THE ‘WORLD AIR
QUALITY REPORT’
The report said that
worldwide, poor air
quality accounts for 93 bil-
lion days lived with illness
and over six million deaths
each year. As per report,
31 cities including 10
cities in Uttar Pradesh and
seven in Haryana, have
seen a steep percentage
decline in pollution levels.
Hyderabad: Hyderabad police arrested nine people in
Telangana State Public Service Commission’s (TSP-
SC) public examinations question paper leak, officials
said on Tuesday. Police said, “Based on the complaint
given by Assistant Secretary of TSPSC on March 11,
a case was registered. On March 13, the Commission-
er’s Task Force and Central Zone team apprehended
nine persons accused of stealing and leaking TSPSC’s
Assistant Engineer (AE) Exam Question Papers.”
9 HELD IN T’GANA STATE PUBLIC SERVICE
COMMISSION EXAM PAPER LEAK CASE
CRUCIAL READ
Firozabad: In a tragic incident on Tuesday, five peo-
ple including a woman were killed while nine others
in a collision between two four-wheelers on the Agra
Lucknow Expressway, the
police said. An ambu-
lance on its way also
collided with the car and
leaving those inside it
injured, they added. “The
accident happened near
pillar number 48 of the Agra Lucknow Expressway,
near Thana Nasirpur area,” said Ravi Ranjan, District
Officer, Firozabad.
UP: 5 KILLED, 9 INJURED IN AGRA
LUCKNOW EXPRESSWAY ACCIDENT
Kolkata: West Bengal’s ruling TMC on Tuesday
expelled youth leaders Kuntal Ghosh (R) and Santanu
Bandoopadhyay (L), both arrested in the multi-crore
teachers’ recruitment
scam in the state. This the
second time that TMC has
taken such a step in the
matter since the central
agencies started probing
scam. Last July, the party
stripped former state Education Minister and Secre-
tary General, Partha Chatterjee of all his ministerial
and party portfolios a week after his arrest by ED.
TEACHERS’ SCAM: TMC EXPELS KUNTAL
GHOSH, SANTANU BANDOPADHYAY
Terrorist held
in JK’s
Sopore district
Srinagar: Security
forces in Sopore arrest-
ed an active terrorist,
an official said on Tues-
day, adding arms and
ammunition were also
recovered from him.
The terrorist has been
identified as Owais Ah-
mad Mir. Based on spe-
cific input regarding
the presence of a terror-
ist in Madina Bagh Moh
at Dangerpura area, a
joint cordon and search
operation was launched
by Sopore Police and
the Army (22RR).
‘Vibrant Prog’ for border
villages’ development
New Delhi (ANI): The
central government has
approved a centrally-
sponsored scheme ‘Vi-
brant Villages Pro-
gramme’ for the com-
prehensive develop-
ment of the border vil-
lages, said Minister of
State for Home Affairs,
Nisith Pramanik in a
written reply to a ques-
tion in the Lok Sabha
on Tuesday
.
The programme aims
to develop the villages
in 46 border blocks of 19
districts in four States
and one Union Territo-
ry viz Arunachal
Pradesh, Himachal
Pradesh, Sikkim, Utta-
rakhand and Ladakh
(UT) abutting the north-
ern border.
A fund of Rs 4,800
crore has been allocated
for the programme for
the Financial Year 2022-
23 to 2025-26.
Over 900 Omicron sub-variants
detected in last 4 months: Govt
New Delhi (PTI): Omi-
cron and its sub-line-
ages are the dominant
SARS-CoV-2 variants in
India, the govt informed
RajyaSabhaonTuesday
.
During the last four
months, more than 1900
Omicron sub-variants
have been detected
among the samples ana-
lysed by the Indian
SARS-CoV-2 Genomics
Consortium(INSACOG)
across the country
, Min-
ister of State for Health
Bharasti Pravin Pawar
said in a written reply
.
Given the emergence of
variants of Covid-19 vi-
rus with variable trans-
missibility and their
possible health implica-
tions, INSACOG net-
work laboratories con-
ducts whole genome se-
quencing of samples for
detection of mutant
variants of the virus.
27-YR-OLD TRICHY
MAN DIES WITH
COVID SYMPTOMS
Chennai: The sample of a
27-year-old man who died
with Covid symptoms in
Trichy has been sent for
testing to check for the
presence of H3N2 virus,
officials said on Tuesday.
The victim was a resident
of Trichy and worked in
Bengaluru. Recently, he
had gone on a vacation
to Goa with his friends,
where he fell sick and
returned to Trichy on a
flight on March 9. He died
at GBR private hospital in
Trichy on March 10.

8. VW to invest $193 billion to meet EV target
New Delhi (FIB): Volk-
swagen plans to invest $193
billion over the next five
years in areas including
battery production and its
North American opera-
tions, it said on Tuesday,
though the pace of spend-
ing will fall from 2025.
The investments come as
Volkswagen tries to close a
gap with electric vehicle
(EV) pioneer Tesla by ex-
panding its slice of the
growing market for bat-
tery-powered cars.
As it works toward a tar-
get of EVs accounting for
50% of its sales globally by
2030, over two-thirds of the
five-year investment budg-
et is allocated towards elec-
trification and digitalisa-
tion, up from 56% in a five-
year plan it had released a
year earlier.
The difference from the
previous plan is primarily
down to more investment
in its battery business, raw
materials, and a $2 billion
plant for the Scout brand.
OVER A PERIOD OF FIVE YEARS
MAJOR
HIGHLIGHTS
z The investments come as
Volkswagen tries to close a
gap with EV pioneer Tesla
by expanding its slice of the
growing market for battery-
powered cars
z The difference from the
previous plan is primarily
down to more investment
in its battery business, raw
materials
business
BRIEFS
New Delhi: State-run
power giant NTPC is plan-
ning to import around 5.4
million tonnes of coal to
meet the supply shortage
during the first half 2023-
24 fiscal, Parliament was
informed on Tuesday.
“NTPC is planning to im-
port around 5.4 million
tonnes of coal for its
group stations to meet
domestic coal supply
shortage during the first
half of Financial Year
2023-24,” Power Minister
R K Singh said in a writ-
ten reply to the Rajya Sab-
ha on Tuesday. —PTI
NTPC MULLS 5.4 MT
COAL IMPORT IN 1ST
HALF OF 2023-24
New Delhi: Tata Motors-
owned Jaguar Land Rover
on Tuesday said it is part-
nering with Tata Technolo-
gies to accelerate its digi-
tal transformation. As part
of the collaboration, Tata
Technologies will deliver
end-to-end integrated
ERP to transform Jaguar
Land Rover’s manufactur-
ing, logistics, supply
chain, finance and pur-
chasing modules by
bringing data and knowl-
edge from multiple de-
partments into one single
source. The first phase
will include JLR UK core
production facilities, with
solutions subsequently
deployed to other global
locations. —PTI
JLR PARTNERS WITH
TATA TECH FOR
DIGITAL OVERHAUL
New Delhi: The deepen-
ing funding winter that the
startups face and the near
dry-up of IPOs singed the
deal street as the total val-
ue of deals plunged by
60% to $1.8 billion in
February. According to
Grant Thornton, the in-
dustry saw just 89 deals
worth $1.8 billion in Feb-
ruary, which is 60% lower
than the year ago period
in value terms and down
by 54% y-o-y as investors
continued to tread cau-
tiously amid macroeco-
nomic uncertainties. —PTI
DEALS PLUNGE BY
60% TO $1.8 BILLION
IN FEBRUARY 2023
New Delhi: Gold prices
climbed `480 to `57,380
per 10 grams in the na-
tional capital on Tuesday
amid strong global trends,
according to HDFC Secu-
rities. It ended at `56,900
per 10 grams on Monday.
Silver also zoomed `2,150
to `66,900/kg. “Spot gold
price in the Delhi markets
was at `57,380/10 grams,
up `480/10 grams,”
Saumil Gandhi of HDFC
Securities, said on Tues-
day. In the overseas mar-
kets, gold and silver trad-
ed higher at $1,909/ounce
and $20.80/ounce, re-
spectively. —PTI
GOLD CLIMBS `480
PER 10 GM; SILVER
ZOOMS `2,150/KG
MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15, 2023
07
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Commodity Price Change % Chg
GOLD 57,380.00 480.00 0.83 (Per 10g)
SILVER 66,900.00 2150.00 3.21 (Per 1kg)
COMMODITIES
Currency Price Change % Chg
USDINR 82.49 0.26 0.31
GBPINR 100.27 1.09 1.10
CURRENCIES
*Rates till the edition went to print.
IPPB WANTS TO
CONVERT ITSELF TO
UNIVERSAL BANK: CEO
New Delhi: India Post Payments
Bank (IPPB) wants to convert
itself to a universal bank as the
vast network
of post office
branches
would help
in achieving
financial inclusion, its MD and
CEO J Venkatramu said on
Tuesday. He said when the IPPB
started operations in 2018, 80%
of the transactions would hap-
pen in cash. However, with tech-
nology adoption, presently only
20% of the transaction happens
in cash and 80% digitally. —PTI
FRAGRANCE FLAVOUR
INDUSTRY TO TOUCH
OVER $5 BN IN 3-4 YRS
Kolkata: The fragrance and
flavour industry of the country
is likely to grow around 12%
each year and
touch over
$5.2 billion in
three to four
years, FAFAI
said. This growth will be driven
by factors like rising dispos-
able incomes and changing
consumer preferences. “The
fragrance and flavour industry is
growing very fast in the country.
The present size of the industry
is $3.7 billion in the country”,
FAFAI official said. —PTI
OTHER STORIES
MOST APAC FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS NOT TO BE
IMPACTED BY US BANK FAILURE: MOODY’S
New Delhi: Most Asia Pacific financial institutions are not exposed to
the failed US banks and are not as susceptible to large losses from
debt security holdings as Silicon Valley Bank was, Moody’s said on
Tuesday. On March 12, US regulators closed Signature Bank, just two
days after shutting Silicon Valley Bank,
following mass withdrawals of customer
deposits from these regional banks.
Moody’s Investors Service said these
events are likely to result in a tightening
of liquidity in debt markets globally as
investors grow wary. —PTI
‘AT AN EARLY DATE’
Govt to make India $5 tn economy
New Delhi (PTI): The gov-
ernment on Tuesday in-
formed the Rajya Sabha
that it is taking steps to
make India a $5 trillion
economy earlier than the
International Monetary
Fund’s forecast year of
2026-27. The IMF's Outlook
earlier said the size of the
Indian economy will in-
crease from $3.2 trillion in
2021-22 to $3.5 trillion in
2022-23 and cross $5 trillion
in 2026-27.
The government has
been taking steps to make
the country a $5 trillion
economy at an early date,
MoS for Finance Pankaj
Chaudhary said.
Observing that the out-
break of the COVID pan-
demic in 2020 and the Rus-
sia-Ukraine conflict in 2022
has impacted the world
output, increased inflation
in several countries and
raised uncertainty in the
world economy, he said,
lower uncertainty in the
global economic outlook
will help India become a $5
trillion-dollar economy
earlier.
Some of the important
measures taken by the gov-
ernment in the past to
boost economic growth in-
clude the making of the
National infrastructure
pipeline of projects, push
to capital expenditure, im-
plementation of the PLI
scheme, finalisation of the
National Monetization
Pipeline of public sector
assets and formulation of
National Logistics policy
.
The minister further
said that capital expendi-
ture will be speeded up by
PM Gatishakti for integrat-
ed planning of infrastruc-
ture and synchronised pro-
ject implementation across
all concerned central min-
istries, departments and
state governments.
The Union Budget 2023-
24, Chaudhary said, “fur-
ther sustains the growth
momentum with an in-
crease in capital invest-
ment outlay for the third
year in a row by 33% to `10
lakh crore (3.3% of GDP)”.
WPI inflation eases to over 2-year
low of 3.85% in February 2023
New Delhi (PTI): The
wholesale price-based in-
flation declined to over
two-year low of 3.85% in
February on easing prices
of manufactured items,
fuel and power, even
though food articles re-
mained expensive.
This is the ninth straight
month of decline in the
rate of wholesale price-in-
dex (WPI) based inflation.
The WPI inflation was
4.73% in January and
13.43% in February, last
year. Decline in the rate of
inflation in February 2023
is primarily contributed by
fall in prices of crude pe-
troleum natural gas, non-
food articles, food products,
minerals, computer, elec-
tronic optical products,
chemicals chemical
products, electrical equip-
ment and motor vehicles,
trailers semi-trailers,
the commerce and indus-
try ministry said on Tues-
day. The 3.85% WPI infla-
tion is the lowest since
January 2021, when the
rate of price rise on whole-
sale basis was 2.51%.
The decline in the rate of
price rise was mainly due
to a favourable base effect,
economists said, adding
that going forward, soften-
ing commodity prices
would help ease WPI infla-
tion further. However, the
future course of food infla-
tion would depend on
weather related conditions
and timely monsoon.
AIR INDIA PARTNERS
WITH SALESFORCE
New Delhi (FIB): Air In-
dia on Tuesday announced
partnership with Sales-
force to transform its cus-
tomer service technology
stack.
Through their work with
Salesforce, Air India will be
able to optimize the custom-
er experience across all key
touchpoints. By working
with Salesforce, Air India’s
customer-facing staff
across all touchpoints will
be empowered with a uni-
fied data platform for its
customers and AI-assisted
tools to excel in every cus-
tomer interaction.
The technology being de-
ployed from Salesforce will
allow Air India to track
customer interactions
across its contact centre,
mobile, web, chatbot,
email, social media and
other channels to provide a
single source-of-truth of
customer asks.
First India chip
fab set to be
launched soon
New Delhi (PTI): The first
semiconductor fab will be
announced in a few weeks,
and India is poised for a vi-
brant chip industry in the
next 3-4 years on the back
of enabling policies and
the government's firm
commitment towards
growing the manufactur-
ing ecosystem, Union Min-
ister Ashwini Vaishnaw
said on Tuesday
.
Today, 99% of mobile
phones used here are made
in India. This is in stark
contrast to the situation 10
years ago when out of 100
phones, as much as 99%
were imported, the Minis-
ter for Electronics and IT
said. And now the ecosys-
tem is also shifting to the
country. When it comes to
mobile phone manufactur-
ing India is number two in
manufacturing, and num-
ber three in exports, the
minister said.
To spur the supply side,
major initiatives have been
undertaken by the Centre,
including a sharp focus on
promoting the ecosystem
and ensuring a clearly laid
out policy framework that
is stable and consistent.
Markets fall for fourth day on the
trot; Sensex sinks below 58,000
Mumbai (PTI): Bench-
mark BSE Sensex declined
nearly 340 points to close
below the 58,000 level on
Tuesday, marking its
fourth straight day of loss-
es as auto, IT and financial
stocks wilted amid con-
cerns over the fallout of
failure of two US-based
banks.
The 30-share BSE Sensex
fell 337.66 points or 0.58% to
settle at anew five month
low of 57,900.19.
The broader NSE Nifty
declined 111 points or
0.65% to end at a five-month
low of 17,043.30, with 38 of
its scrips ending in the red.
MM was the biggest
loser in the Sensex pack,
declining nearly 3 per cent,
followed by TCS, Bajaj Fi-
nance, Wipro, Kotak Bank,
Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech
and Tata Motors.
` FALLS 26 PAISE TO 82.49 AGAINST DOLLAR
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee declined by 26 paise to 82.49 (provision-
al) against the US dollar on Tuesday amid stronger dollar, negative
sentiment in the domestic equity market and unabated foreign fund
outflows. At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit
opened lower at 82.27 against
the dollar and traded between
the range of 82.24 and 82.50
during intra-day. It finally settled
at 82.49 (provisional) against
the American currency. This is
the second consecutive day of
decline in the Indian currency.
On Monday, the rupee settled at
82.23 against the US dollar.
FB parent Meta
slashes another
10,000 jobs
New York (PTI): Facebook
parent Meta is slashing an-
other 10,000 jobs and will
not fill 5,000 open positions
as the social media pioneer
cuts costs.
The company said on
Tuesday it will reduce the
size of its recruiting team
and make further cuts in
its tech groups in late
April, and then its business
groups in late May
.
“This will be tough and
there’s no way around
that,” said CEO Mark Zuck-
erberg. “It will mean say-
ing goodbye to talented and
passionate colleagues who
have been part of our suc-
cess.”
The Menlo Park, Califor-
nia, company has invested
billions of dollars to rea-
lign its focus on the
metaverse. The company
announced 11,000 job cuts
in November.
VIA E-AUCTIONS
FCI to sell 10.13 lakh tn
of wheat to bulk users
New Delhi (PTI): State-
owned FCI plans to sell
10.13 lakh tonnes of wheat
to bulk consumers in the
sixth round of e-auction to
be held on Wednesday as
part of the government's
measures to check wheat
and atta prices.
The Centre has an-
nounced the sale of 50 lakh
tonnes of wheat in the open
market to control prices.
Of this, 45 lakh tonnes have
been earmarked for bulk
consumers, including flour
millers.
Food Corporation of In-
dia (FCI) has sold 28.85 lakh
tonnes of wheat to bulk
consumers in the five
rounds of e-auction held so
far. According to a senior
official, FCI will offer 10.13
lakh tonnes of wheat to
bulk consumers in the
sixth round of e-auction to
be held on March 15.

9. MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15, 2023
08
2NDFRONT
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Sunlight and shadows make a part of
our life, and they teach us to take joy
and sadness in our stride.
— Dr Jagdeesh Chandra, CEO Editor-in-Chief, First India
First India Bureau
Mumbai: Mumbai
police have arrested a
28-year-old man for al-
legedly duping a city-
based electronics re-
tail chain of Rs12 lakh
by posing as YS Jagan
Mohan Reddy, Chief
Minister of Andhra
Pradesh, an official
said on Tuesday
.
Nagraju Budumu-
ru, who stands ac-
cused of cheating 60
companies out of al-
most Rs3 crore using
a consistent method,
has been apprehend-
ed in the southern
state's Srikakulam
district after a com-
plaint was filed in the
city nearly two
months ago, accord-
ing to an official.
In December last
year, an employee of
the electronics seller
received a call from a
man claiming to be
the personal assistant
of the Andhra CM.
The caller said the
CM wanted to have a
word with the MD,
said the anti-cyber-
crime official.
The staff member,
being unaware of the
situation, gave out the
mobile number of the
MD. The culprit then
demanded a sum of
Rs12 lakh from the
electronics retail
company for sponsor-
ing a cricketer's kit,
according to a com-
pany official.
He had also sent
fake documents on be-
half of the Andhra
Cricket Association
and got the amount
released, the official
said.
After learning that
they had been duped,
the electronics seller
filed a police com-
plaint in January,
prompting the cyber
cell to launch a probe
and subsequently
track down the ac-
cused. He added that
they have recovered
Rs7.6 lakh from his
bank accounts.
First India Bureau
Mumbai: A special
court dealing with cas-
es under the Preven-
tion of Money Laun-
dering Act on Tuesday
remanded a sub-divi-
sional officer in the
Dapoli resort case to
the custody of the En-
forcement Directorate
till March 18.
SDO Jairam Desh-
pande was arrested by
the ED in connection
with the Sai Resort
case at Dapoli in Ratna-
giri district in which
Sadanand Kadam, an
alleged partner of Shiv
Sena - Uddhav Balasa-
heb Thackeray MLC
Anil Parab, has already
been held.
The agency has al-
leged that SDO Desh-
pande misused his po-
sition to illegally grant
permission for the con-
version of the status of
the plot of Sai Resort
from “agricultural” to
“non-agricultural” to
facilitate the construc-
tion of twin bunga-
lows.
The official has been
accused of granting
permission for the con-
struction of twin bun-
galows in a land area
falling under Coastal
Regulation Zone III
(CRZ III), where con-
struction is prohibited.
Despite knowing the
regulations, the ac-
cused reportedly gave
the nod under pressure
and influence from for-
mer state minister Anil
Parab. The permission
was granted through a
sanction order for a
conditional no-objec-
tion certificate (NOC)
to enable the construc-
tion of the bungalows.
Anil Parab, Sai Re-
sort, Sea Conch Resort,
and others are facing a
money laundering case
due to alleged viola-
tions of the Environ-
ment (Protection) Act
and causing loss to the
state government of
Maharashtra. The case
was filed by the Union
environment and forest
ministry and a linked
state police FIR against
the former minister
and others.
Former state minis-
ter Anil Parab on Mon-
day moved the Bombay
High Court seeking to
quash the money laun-
dering case lodged by
the ED in connection
with the Sai Resort at
Dapoli.
Official sent to ED custody till Mar 18; gave illegal nod to project
DAPOLI RESORT CASE
Ex-minister Anil Parab is also one of the accused. —FILE PHOTO
First India Bureau
Mumbai: During the
ongoing Budget Session
of theMaharashtraLeg-
islative Assembly on
Tuesday, Nationalist
Congress Party leader
Jayant Patil opposed the
Budget presented by
Deputy Chief Minsiter
Devendra Fadnavis.
Criticizing the state
government, Patil said
that fraudulent an-
nouncements have been
made in the Budget, and
“this will not impress
the common people of
Maharashtra.”
Lashing out at Fad-
navis by presenting a
poem, Patil said, “Tum
itnajomuskuraraheho,
kya gham hai jisko
chhupa rahe ho. Aank-
hon me nami hansi la-
bonpar,kyahaalhaikya
dikha rahe ho.” (What
sorrow are you hiding
behind your smiles?
With tears in your eyes
and smile on your lips,
what are you trying to
show the world?”)
“Since Fadnavis be-
came the deputy CM, I
have realized that when
he took oath as 7-8
months ago, he did not
know how to hide his fa-
cialexpressions.Now,he
has the technique down.
Fadnavis was expect-
ed to present a realistic
Budget, but he did not
do that. That is why I am
against it,” said Patil.
The accused
Nagraju
Budumnru
faces at least
30 similar
cases in
Andhra
Pradesh and
Telangana,
said cops
Our own people and ‘outsiders’ tried to
derail quest for power: Shankar Jagtap
First India Bureau
Mumbai: In a revela-
tion by former Bharati-
ya Janata Party MLA
Laxman Jagtap’s broth-
er Shankar Jagtap has
alleged that members
of his own family tried
to derail its power.
Speaking at a thanks-
giving meeting held to
celebrate BJP candi-
date for Chinchwad by-
election Ashwini Jag-
tap’s victory, Shankar
expressed regret that
‘outsiders’ tried to
break the Jagtap family
.
“Outsiders tried to
break the Jagtap family
,
but our own people also
tried that. I wouldn’t
wish such a time on
even the families of en-
emies. This sorrow will
always remain in my
mind. I worked day and
night to make Ashwini’s
sister-in-law an MLA,”
said Shankar Jagtap.
HailingtheBJP
,newly
elected MLA Ashwini
Jagtap said, “In 2017, the
BJP came to power in
Pimpri-Chinchwad Mu-
nicipal Corporation af-
ter 15 years. With the in-
duction of 100 BJP coun-
cillors, power was
brought to one party
. It
will happen again.”
BJP candidate Ashwini Jagtap
defeated Nationalist Congress
Party candidate Nana Kate in
Chinchwad. —FILE PHOTO
14 LAKH GOVT EMPLOYEES
GO ON STRIKE OVER OPS
First India Bureau
Mumbai: Over 14 lakh
state government em-
ployees seeking restora-
tion of the Old Pension
Scheme (OPS) went on
strike on Tuesday. The
move could hamper the
functioning of the state
administration and af-
fect many services.
Paramedics working
in hospitals run by the
state government and
civic bodies, sanitation
workers, and teachers
have also joined the
strike at a time when ex-
aminations for Class X
and XII are underway
.
The employees re-
sorted to the strike after
the talks between the
unions and the state
government failed on
Monday
.
On Tuesday, employ-
ees raised slogans like
“Only One Mission, Re-
store Old Pension” out-
side government offices
and hospitals.
Vishwas Katkar, the
convenorof acommittee
of nearly 35 unions rep-
resenting government
employees,semi-govern-
ment staffers and teach-
ers, said their members
in all 36 districts are par-
ticipating in the stir.
“Services in hospi-
tals, educational insti-
tutes,governmentestab-
lishments, tax offices
and even the district col-
lector offices were com-
pletely shut,” Katkar
claimed.
He asserted there will
be no compromise on
the issue and demanded
that the OPS, under
which the entire pen-
sion amount was given
by the government,
must be restored.
Since 2004, govern-
ment employees (bar-
ring armed forces per-
sonnel) are covered un-
dertheNationalPension
System, a contributory
scheme where the pay-
out is market-linked
and return-based.
Thousands of Mumbai municipal employees protest at Azad Maidan in Mumbai on Tuesday. —PHOTO BY BHUSHAN KOYANDE
IN NAGPUR AND
LATUR..
z Nurses, ward boys
and sanitation staff of
Government Medical
College and Hospitals,
and Indira Gandhi
Government Medical
College and Hospital,
both in Nagpur, joined
the strike along with em-
ployees of the local civic
corporation. They also
staged demonstrations
in Nagpur in support
of the OPS and other
demands.
z In Latur in central
Maharashtra, thousands
of government employ-
ees from various depart-
ments took out a march
and protested against
the state administration.
The march started from
Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar
Park and concluded at
the old collector office,
and during the protest,
agitators held placards
and raised slogans like
“Only One Mission, Old
Pension”.
MAHARASHTRA PTA CALLS OFF STRIKE
Mumbai: The Primary Teachers Association of Maharashtra
chose to call off the strike on Tuesday. The organization has
about two and a half lakh employees across the state. After
withdrawing from the strike, Sambhaji Thorat, President of
the Association, said, “We have withdrawn from the strike.
The day the government will not give us pension, we will
stand on dharna in front of you. If the government is giving,
then some problems of the government should be under-
stood. For that, we will again meet the chief minister and the
deputy chief minister and will discuss the issues.”
SATARA’S BONE OF CONTENTION
Satara: Over 13,500 government employees went on strike
in Satara demanding implementation of the Old Pension
Scheme. After 46 years, the state government and its
employees have come face to face on the issue in Satara. The
government has assured that disciplinary action will be taken
against the employees participating in the strike. The dis-
trict’s Health Department, Education Department, municipal
corporations, teaching staff, etc, are involved in the strike.
MARCH FOR FAIRNESS IN SOLAPUR
Solapur: The administrative work in Solapur came to a
standstill due to the indefinite strike called by the state
government and semi-government employees to imple-
ment the old pension scheme. Most of the services like
education, health, revenue, agriculture, among others, were
affected by the strike. In the afternoon, a march was taken
out by the Government and Semi-Government Employees
Coordination Committee to the collector’s office wherein
about 20,000 employees of the city as well as the Solapur
district participated.
FAIR WARNING
First India Bureau
Mumbai: Former
Chief Minister and
Shiv Sena - UBT leader
Uddhav Thackeray also
came out in support of
the agitating employees
and said the govern-
ment should restore the
Old Pension Scheme
(OPS). The Aam Aadmi
Party (AAP) has al-
ready extended support
to the OPS restoration
demand.
Speaking on the gov-
ernment employees’
strike, Thackeray said,
“Government employ-
ees in the state have
goneonstrikefortheold
pension scheme. Many
offices have been closed.
What is the problem
with the government
implementing the
scheme? Pension is the
right of the employees,
and they should
get it.”
CriticizingtheEknath
Shinde-led government,
he further stated, “With
suchabigsuperpowerat
itsback,thegovernment
should not worry about
increasing the financial
burden. Shiv Sena
stands firmly behind
government employees
andtheirfamilies.Some
states of the country
have implemented the
Old Pension Scheme.
So why is the Fadnavis-
Shinde government
playing tricks on this?
Employees should get
what they are entitled
to.”
Uddhav
backs govt
employees on
Old Pension
Jayant Patil lashes out at Deputy
CM Fadnavis in state Assembly
Manimpersonates
AndhraCM,dupes
electronicsretail
chainof `12lakh

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MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY,
MARCH 15, 2023
aipur Couture
Show felt big-
ger and busier
than ever with
a jam-packed
schedule fea-
turing a restor-
ative mix of fashion col-
lections. The second day
of the three-day Jaipur
CoutureShow,presented
by First India and
Bharat24-Vision of New
India organised at The
Palace on Ajmer High-
way on Monday
.
Jagdeesh Chandra
graced the occasion as
the chief guest and con-
gratulatedGauravGaur
for his great endeavour.
He said This is the 11th
chapter of Jaipur Cou-
ture Show 2023 and
with each passing
year, the benevolence
of the fashion show is
growing as the platform to
showcase brilliant beauty
and talent. We are happy to
see the passion and enthu-
siasm in the participating
beauties.
Renowned fashion de-
signers from across the city
showcasedtheircollections
on the second day of the
show. Show Patron JD Ma-
heshwari along with the
show's founder Gaurav
Gaur, directors Ajit Soni,
PNDoody
,AnkurJain,Ron-
nie Sharma and Nakul Vi-
jay were present. The sec-
ond day of the show saw a
host of Bollywood stars in-
cluding Bigg Boss fame
Tina Dutta, former Mr In-
diaAkashChaudhary
,actor
and singer Liza Malik, Bell
Bottom film fame TV actor
Anirudh Dave, Bollywood
actressMugdhaGodse,The
Expose film fame actress
Zoya Afroz added to the
charm of the show.
The show was inaugu-
rated by designer Anup
Choudhary where he made
little kids walk the ramp in
cute and colourful outfits.
Meanwhile, television ce-
lebrity Tina Dutta and for-
merMrIndiaAkashChaud-
haryweretheshowstoppers
for the label Shivayu by
Shivani and Aayush Soni.
Inthesubsequentsequence,
actress and model Charvi
Tanya Dutta walked for de-
signer Neelja. After this ac-
tress, Lisa Malik was seen
doingtherampwalkforthe
Craft Council of Artisans
and Weavers. Anirudh
Dave, Gaurav Gaur and
Akanksha Bhalla were the
showstoppers for House of
Skull Baba. Followed by an
astonishingcollectionfrom
Ankit Bagra, who show-
cased party gowns and
robes embellished with soft
satin and pure silk hand-
work on the concept brides-
maid theme. Model Sonak-
shi Channa was the show-
stopper for designer Daksh
Design Studio in Bhubane-
swar. Diva Mugdha Godse
was the showstopper for
renowned fashion designer
Seema Kalavadia. Shweta
Raje walked for Heena Be-
lani. While Hashtag Blunt
showcased the looks of
summer makeup and hair
trends, whose showstopper
was Muskaan Moolchan-
dani. Tanu Choudhary and
Karanvigwalktherampfor
Ruchi Pathak from Jaipur.
The final walk of the sec-
onddaywasmadememora-
ble by actress Zoya Afroz's
walk for designer Khushi
Chauhan from Dehradun.
—PHOTOS
BY
SANTOSH
SHARMA
AND
MUKESH
KIRADOO
TWINKLINGSTARS!
UTTKARSHA SHEKHAR
uttkarsha.shekhar@firstindia.co.in
JAIPUR COUTURE SHOW 2023
SHINE
OF
City First
highlights the
glimpses from
the second day
of the royal
Jaipur Couture
Show, held at
The Palace,
Ajmer Highway
on Monday
J
Jagdeesh Chandra with Muskan Mulchandani, Sheena Parashar, Kalpana Gupta and Soni Yadav
Showstopper Tina Dutta walks the ramp
with desingers Ayush, Shivani,Akash,
Yogesh, Nilanjana,Akanksha, Sumit,
Tanu,Aastha, Mahima and Khushi
Gaurav Gaur
Clockwise:Tanu Choudhary, Muskan Mulchandani,Akanksha Bhalla, Shweta Raje and Zoya Afroz