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Two days after theGovernment offered tokeep in abeyance the threefarm laws, the rift widenedbetween the Government andfarmers’ unions on Friday.

In the 11th round of meet-ing, farmer unions rejectedthe Government’s offer andinsisted on complete repeal ofthe three laws. Both sides hard-ened their stands and could noteven reach a decision on thedate of the next meeting.

In the very beginning ofthe meeting, farmer leaderssaid that they have decided toreject the proposal to put offfarm laws for 18 months.

Hardening its stand, theGovernment asked farmers’unions that the next round oftalks will only continue if theyagree to accept the proposal bySaturday. Union AgricultureMinister Narendra SinghTomar said the Centre hasasked farmers to consider itsproposal on the temporarysuspension of the implemen-tation of the farm laws.

The Minister added thatthe next meeting would be

scheduled only after farmers’unions come back with aresponse. He blamed external“forces” for their rigid standand said no resolution is pos-sible when the sanctity of agi-tation is lost.

Meanwhile, farmer leadersalleged even as the meetinglasted for nearly five hours, thetwo sides sat face to face for lessthan 20-25 minutes and for therest of the time, they were in aseparate rooms. Farmers’ lead-ers said they felt “insulted” bythe manner in which theMinisters treated them.

“The Minister made uswait for three and a half hours.This is an insult to farmers.When he came, he asked us toconsider the Government’s pro-posal and said that he is end-ing the process of meetings,”said SS Pandher of KisanMazdoor SangharshCommittee.

At the meeting, the UnionMinisters told farmers’ unionsthat they have been given allpossible options and they mustdiscuss internally the propos-al of suspending the laws.Sources said the Ministers werenot happy with the farmers’

decision to go ahead with theirplan to hold tractor rally onRepublic Day in Delhi.

“The Government hasgiven the best, solution-ori-ented proposal to farmerorganisations. We asked themto reconsider our proposal as itis in the interest of farmers andthe country. Talks remainedinconclusive as farmers’ welfarewas not at the heart of talks

from the unions’ side. I am sadabout it. Farmers’ unions saidthat they only want the repealof the laws despite theGovernment asking for alter-natives. We should remainhopeful. We asked them to con-vey their decision tomorrow(Saturday). Let’s wait to hearfarmer unions’ final decision,”Tomar said after the meeting.

Taking a hardline posi-

tion, the Minister said someexternal force was definitelytrying to ensure that the agita-tion continues and those wereobviously against the interestsof farmers.

“The Government gavemany proposals to end theprotest, but no resolution ispossible when the sanctity of anagitation is lost,” he said.

Asked whether he expects

farmers to agree to theGovernment offer, he said, “Idon’t want to speculate, but weare hopeful that farmer unionswill consider our proposal pos-itively.” On whether he saw anydivision among the union lead-ers on the Government pro-posal, Tomar did not give adirect reply but said, “Wethanked all farmer leaders,including those who supportour proposal and those who areagainst it.”

During the meeting, farm-ers alleged the Delhi Police istrying to harass their leaders.One of the union leadersalleged that the rear wind-shield of his car was smashedby the Delhi Police. The carbelongs to one Ruldu SinghMansa. Darhsan Pal one of itsleaders received a threateningphone call while HannanMollah was manhandled bypolice. As the 11th round oftalks remained inconclusive,farmer leaders have threat-ened to intensify their protest.

The break, during whichfarmer leaders had their langar(community kitchen) food,lasted for more than threehours. The break also saw 41

farmer leaders holding con-sultations among themselves, attimes in smaller groups, whilethe three Union Ministers wait-ed in a separate room at VigyanBhawan.

Farmer leader Shiv KumarKakka who was the first toleave the talks said there was noheadway in the discussionsand the Government askedunions to deliberate on its pro-posal again. After the meeting,Bharatiya Kisan Union(Ugrahan) leader JoginderSingh Ugrahan said the dis-cussions have broken down asthe unions rejected theGovernment’s proposal.

Harpal Singh, presidentof Bhartiya Kisan Union AsliArajnaitik, said, “Even if weaccept the Government’soffer, our fellow brothers sit-ting at Delhi borders willnot accept anything otherthan a repeal of the laws.They will not spare us. Whatachievement will we show tothem?” He also questionedthe Government’s credibility,alleging it was difficult tobelieve that they will keeptheir word on putting thelaws on hold for 18 months.

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While a section of healthexperts have raised ques-tions about the efficacy of theHyderabad-based BharatBiotech’s anti-Covid-19 vac-cine, Covaxin, a report in TheLancet Infectious Disease jour-nal has said the vaccine showedenhanced immune responsewithout any serious side effectsin the participants enrolled forthe phase 1 trials.

Bharat Biotech has devel-oped the vaccine in collabora-tion with the Indian Council ofMedical Research (ICMR) andthe National Institute ofVirology (NIV), Pune. Covaxinhas been granted emergency

use authorisation (EUA) inclinical trial mode by theGovernment.

Covaxin, which is nowundergoing phase-3 trials, hadraised concerns among expertsover its emergency approvalearlier this month. The vaccine,codenamed BBV152, was welltolerated in all dose groupswith no vaccine-related seriousadverse events, noted theauthors of the study funded byBharat Biotech.

The same results were ear-lier published in the preprintserver medRxiv in December.

However, there has beenno new data released in thepublic domain which coulddemonstrate further safety and

efficacy of the preventive.The authors said all adverse

events were mild and moder-ate, and were more frequentafter the first dose, adding thatone adverse event was report-ed but was unrelated to the vac-cine.

The randomised phase 1trial to assess the safety andimmunogenicity of BBV152was carried at 11 hospitalsacross the country. Adults aged18-55 years who were deemedhealthy by the investigatorwere eligible. Between July 13and 30, last year, 827 partici-pants were screened, of whom375 were enrolled. Among theenrolled participants, 100 each

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The Congress on Fridayannounced that the grandold party will have an electedpresident by this June. Theschedule announced by theparty’s working committee willensure that the new presidentwill escape responsibility forthe outcome of the five StateAssembly elections that will beheld in May or before.

After three and a half hoursmeeting, the CWC authorisedincumbent interim party chiefSonia Gandhi to schedule theinternal election after the con-clusion of Assembly polls infive States.

Addressing a joint Pressconference to brief details ofthe CWC, Congress leaders KCVenugopal and RandeepSurjewala said elections to theCWC will also be held, but it

remains to be seen whetherthey can be scheduled before orafter the election to theCongress chief ’s post.

AICC sources said theCentral Election Authority hasproposed the holding of pollsfor electing the party presidentand AICC session on May 29and the working committeediscussed the dates but autho-

rised Sonia Gandhi to schedulethem after the Assembly polls.

The CWC passed threeresolutions demanding a repealof the three agriculture laws, atime-bound JPC probe into thealleged violations of nationalsecurity and Official SecretsAct and another to ensure thatthe Government ensures freetime-bound Covid-19 vacci-nation for the poor andoppressed sections.

“The CWC decided thatthere will be an electedCongress president by June2021 at any cost,” AICC generalsecretary KC Venugopal said.

He said the little change inschedule depending on theState elections will be decidedsoon.

“The CWC discussed theschedule of Congress presi-dent’s elections in May-end,proposed by its election author-

ity. All CWC members unani-mously requested the Congresspresident that the internal elec-tions should not interfere withthe Assembly elections.”

He said the Congress pres-ident was requested unani-mously to reschedule AICCPlenary Session to the end ofJune 2021 and the Congresschief ’s election would be con-cluded by June 2021.

“We will conduct electionsas per the Constitution of theparty. We need a change ofschedule due to Assembly pollsas counting would be under-way in May,” he said.

Asked about any dissentingnotes on the holding of elec-tions, Surjewala said, “Therewas no dissent at the meeting.”

He added that leaders likeGhulam Nabi Azad, AnandSharma or P Chidambaram

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Popular “bhajan” singerNarendra Chanchal, bestknown for his songs “Chalobulawa aaya hai” and “Tunemujhe bulaya sherawaliye”,died following prolonged ill-ness at a hospital here onFriday, sources in the hospitalsaid.

Chanchal, 76, breathed hislast at 12:15 pm at the ApolloHospital after suffering frombrain complications, thesources said.

The singer, who is sur-vived by his wife Namrata, hadbeen admitted to the southDelhi hospital on November

27. Born to a Punjabi family

in Namak Mandi, Amritsar,Chanchal’s growing up years ina religious atmosphereinspired him to start singing“bhajans” and “aartis” (devo-

tional songs) from a veryyoung age. In Hindi cinema,he found fame with the song“Beshak Mandir Masjid” forthe 1973 film “Bobby”, theblockbuster debut of RishiKapoor and Dimple Kapadia.

He won the Filmfare BestMale Playback Award in 1974for the song.

One of his most populartracks was “Chalo BulawaAaya Hain Mata Ne BulayaHain” from Rajesh Khanna’s1983 drama “Avtaar”.

In 2009, Chanchal releasedhis autobiography “MidnightSinger”, chronicling his lifefrom his early struggles andhardships to his achievements.

Prime Minister NarendraModi was among the manypeople who condoled hisdeath. Chanchal had carved aunique place for himself in thefield of devotional music withhis voice, the prime ministersaid on Twitter while express-ing his condolences to thesinger’s family and fans.

Congress leader RahulGandhi said his thoughts arewith Chanchal’s family andadmirers in this hour of grief.

“The death of NarendraChanchal ji, who made manybhajans popular with his mel-lifluous voice, is an irrepara-ble loss,” Gandhi wrote onTelegram. His party colleague

Abhishek Singhvi also senthis condolences.

“#NarendraChanchal Ji isone of the names that auto-matically pops into mindwhen we think of Bhajans orMata ka Jagrata. A true devo-tee of Devi Mata. Om Shanti!”he said on Twitter.

Describing him as a tal-ented singer and a devotee ofMatarani, singing legend LataMangeshkar said she was sad-dened at the news. “He was avery good person, may his soulrest in peace. I offer humbletribute to him,” she said.

Singer Daler Mehndi,actor Manoj Bajpayee, actorRanvir Shorey and music com-

poser Vishal Dadlani alsomourned his death.

“Rest in peace NarendraChanchal sahab!!! What asinger with such inspiringvoice. Singing your songs nowin your memory. God blessyour soul with peace,”Bajpayee tweeted.

“Saddened at the demiseof vocalist Sh. NarendraChanchal, singer of manyiconic bhajans & Hindi filmsongs in history. His uniquevoice had the ability to piercestraight to a listener’s heart,making every listening expe-rience an emotional & spiritualone. #RIP #respect,” Shoreytweeted.

Mehndi termed Chanchalan “iconic and most loved”singer. “In prayers for his soulto rest in peace. Heartfelt con-dolences to his family andlegions of fans,” he said.

Dadlani said Chanchalwill be remembered foreverthrough his songs.

“I doubt anyone will everwalk up to Vaishnodevi with-out hearing his voice resound-ing through the hills,” he said.

Filmmaker MadhurBhandarkar also mournedChanchal’s passing away andsaid the singer will be“remembered for his bhajansand some remarkable songs inHindi films”.

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Amid speculation that morepoliticians might join theBJP ranks during HomeMinister Amit Shah’s January31 rally in Howrah, anotherBengal Minister Rajib Banerjeeon Friday put in his papersholding out some “emotionaldetails” before the mediamoments after tendering hisresignation to GovernorJagdeep Dhankhar.

An hour later, ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjeereportedly “removed” theForest Minister from his posi-tion because there were someprocedural lapses on his part intendering his resignation.Sources at State SecretariatNabanna said that he was beingremoved as he had tendered hisresignation to the Governorinstead of the Chief Ministerwho was his official appointee

as the leader of the Cabinet.While the Trinamool

Congress leadership promptlyresponded to the latest resig-nation drama saying a bucketof water taken out of the oceanwould not matter much,besides raising some feeblecorruption charges against the“just former” Minister whowas yet to quit the party, Rajibsaid he had made up his mindto resign more than two yearsago after the Chief Ministerremoved him unceremonious-ly as the Irrigation Minister.

“Most regretfully I informyou that I have tendered myresignation from my office asCabinet Minister being incharge of Forest Department,”an emotional Rajib Banerjeesaid adding he had “neverthought that such a situationwill come someday … but I hadtaken a decision more than twoyears ago when the Chief

Minister removed me fromthe Irrigation Departmentwithout any prior intimation …I had to know it from the tele-vision breaking news even as Iwas busy meeting my partymen in North Bengal.”

It was a hurtful situation as“the Chief Minister should atleast have informed me beforetaking such decision … itshould be the minimum cour-tesy … there is no problem inchanging portfolios by theChief Minister who is the mas-ter of the situation … but thereis a way to do things … andwhy I still continued as theForest Minister is becausewhen I told her that I was quit-ting from all Government postsshe persuaded me to continueand I could not disregard herrequests at that point in time.”

Rajib is still an MLA, aparty member said that hewould “continue to work for

the people in future,” droppingsuggestions that he was in lookout for some “platform”.

He said, “I do not knowwhich platform I will get andfrom where I will work for thepeople but I will continue towork for them till I am alive.”Moments after Bengal BJPpresident Dilip Ghosh offeredhim a platform saying “thoughhe still continues to be a TMCleader we have not problemaccepting him in our partyshould he decide to join us.”

Rajib is the third Ministerto resign from the Governmentin a month after SuvenduAdhikari and Laxmi RatanShukla.

Rajib had been critical ofthe Government and the partytelling openly in the public howcorrupt sidekicks of top lead-ership always got the plumpositions and the dedicated

Continued on Page 11

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Hailing party workers asreal warriors, BJP presi-dent Jagat Prakash Nadda saidthat the oufit was set to ink his-tory as it was the only partywith internal democracy whereworkers, not family members,held the key to success.

“The enthusiasm and per-severance of BJP workers givesout an indication about thefuture of Uttar Pradesh. Of the1,500 odd small and big partiesin the country, the BJP is theonly one with internal democ-racy,” Nadda said whileaddressing booth-level workersin Lucknow on Friday.

The BJP boss said that thisit was due to the BJP thatNarendra Modi with suchhumble background, couldbecome Prime Minister of thecountry. It is only BJP wherepeople from modest familiesbecome Home Minister andDefense Minister of the coun-try,” he said.

“Barring BJP, almost allparties in the country sufferfrom dynasty politics. Whetheryou come to BJP by chance, bychoice or by accident, oncceyou have done so, you havecome to the right place,” Naddasaid.

The BJP leader further saidthat the Congress and Leftparties used to make fun of theoutfit during its initial years asthere was no possibility of theparty coming to power.

“We continued to fight forthe cause as we believed thatideology can bring change inthe country. The Congress andthe Left used to talk of revolu-tion while we foucssed on evo-lution as the strength of ouroutfit were our workers,” hesaid.

Nadda said that the prin-ciple of integral humanism,Antyodaya and cultural nation-alism propounded by PanditDeendayal Upadhyay havebeen carried forward by theBJP regimes headed by AtalBihari Vajpayee and NarendraModi. “On grounds ofAntyodaya, a policy of ‘SabkaSaath, Sabka Vikas and SabkaBiswas’ was laid down and

Continued on Page 11

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Aweek after the first dose ofanti-coronavirus vaccineswas given to front-line healthworkers, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Friday inter-acted with those involved in theCovid-19 vaccination drive inVaranasi, his Lok Sabha con-stituency, and assured those anx-ious about the safety of the desivaccines.

Instilling confidence amongthose who were vaccinated in thefirst phase of the vaccinationdrive in the country, the PM saidthere are no major side-effects ofthe vaccine and that India isabsolutely self-reliant in regard tojabs. The beneficiaries said theyhave experienced no side effects,mental or physical. “If anythingit feels like a normal injection,”

they said.The Prime Minister,

Ministers and other elected lead-ers or “key functionaries” areexpected take shot of the vaccinein the second phase to boost thepublic confidence in the ongoingvaccination .

The second phase of vacci-nation would focus on the pri-ority group above the age of 50in the country. Of the two avail-able vaccines — Civaxin orCovishield — every beneficiarywill need to receive two doses ofthe same vaccine, 28 days apart.

Addressing the beneficia-ries and those administrating theshots through video conference,Modi also expressed pride overthe development of two vaccinesin the country to tackle coron-avirus pandemic.

“The biggest vaccination

programme in the world is goingon in our country. Today, thenation has the willpower to man-ufacture its own vaccine - not onebut two Made in India vaccines.Vaccines are reaching every cor-ner of the country. India isabsolutely self-reliant in thisregard,” the PM said.

Modi sought to dispel fearsand misconceptions over theefficacy and safety of Covid vac-cines in an interaction withhealth workers in Varanasi, his

Lok Sabha constituency.“When doctors and health

workers give a clean chit to thevaccine, it sends a very strongmessage among people about theefficacy of the jab,” he said.

The PM said politicians orpolitics has no role in decidingthe efficiency of the vaccine.

The PM kicked off thenationwide Covid-19 vaccinationprogramme via video confer-encing on January 16, as hecongratulated India and thecountry’s scientists andresearchers for developing twovaccines in such a short span oftime. Nearly 10.5 lakh peoplehave been administered one ofthe two vaccines approved by theregulator. But several people,including some doctors andother healthcare workers, seem tobe hesitant.

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I, No-14815233 W, Hav/MtRAM AWATAR YADAV S/oLate MISHRI YADAV R/o Vill &Post Kori, Police Stn. Alinagar,Chandauli-232120. By mis-take in my service record mywife's name is written as MAD-HURI YADAV whereas hercorrect name is MADHURIDEVI is vide affidavit dated19.01.2021 before district courtPrayagraj (UP).

NOTICE

NOTICE

NOTICE

Original Registry Papers of myHouse No. 1, Chandari, Kanpurhave been lost somewhere.Whosoever finds these Papersmay kindly return to Smt.Parwati Das W/o LateUmashankar Das House No.314, Harishganj, Rail Bazar,Cantt, Kanpur.

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Social media posts threaten-ing to blow up malls andcine theatres put the cops ontenterhooks leading to search-es in Varanasi, Kanpur,Prayagraj, Mathura, Noida andother cities on Friday.

These threat posts howev-er turned out to be hoax butpolice brass were busy identi-fying those who uploadedthem.

Meanwhile, a statewidealert was sounded in UttarPradesh on Friday to allyapprehension of any subversiveactivity during the immminentRepublic Day celebrations.

Earlier, security at KashiVishwanath temple inVaranasi, Ram and KrishnaJanmabhoomi in Ayodhya andMathura respectively, werealready beefed up with DeputySP rank officers being postedfoir the purpose.

Local Intelligence Unitsand cops in civvies weredeployed at sensitive places toreport any suspicious person/s.Directions were issued to allowdevotees, visitors to enter theseplaces through metal detectorsonly after physical frisking.

Canine squads were also sta-tioned at important publicplaces.

On Friday morning, theVaranasi Police received inputof a bomb being planted at aMall in Chavni Parishad area.Personnel from Cant policestation and officials rushedthere and carried out a searchbut failed to detect any objec-tionable item.

In Kanpur too, a post froma tweeter handle ‘Badshah’claimed to blow up a Mall inKidwai Nagar area and some

theatres, to protest the releaseof film ‘Madam Chief Minister’. After a thorough combing ofthe area, it turned out to be a`hoax’. Later a case was regis-tered in this connection.

DIG Kanpur, PratinderSingh confirmed the messageswere also sent from twitterhandle @suryavanshi Bad1.

In Prayagraj, a tweer con-firmed planting bombs at twoplaces to protest the release of‘Madam Chief Minister’.Subsequently, cine theatres intwo malls at Mutthiganj area,

roadways bus depot etc weresearched but failed to detectanything untoward.

In another tweet spootedby Mathura police, search wascarried out in Roopam Talkiesin Govindnagar area. After anhour -long search, the copsfound no objectionale object.

In Noida, the police rushedto a place in Sector 63 uponlearning that a suspiciousbomb-like device was spotted.While the unclaimed articlewas recovered, no detonator orexplosives were found in it.

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Samajwadi Party presidentAkhilesh Yadav said thepeople would reject the pol-itics of hate and deceit pur-sued by the Bharatiya JanataParty. He pointed out that thepeople of the USA had reject-ed the similar politics ofDonald Trump.

Akhilesh Yadav alsorejected Chief Minister YogiAdityanath's claim that thepublic sector undertaking(PSU) sugar mills were priva-tised during the SamajwadiParty regime.

The SP chief, who was in Rampur on Friday, said the BJPhad captured power at the Centre and in UP by pursuing the pol-itics of hate and communal polarisation.

He said the negative politics of the BJP had resulted in a sharprise in incidents of communal violence, unemployment, deteri-oration in education standards and public health services and aspurt in crime. He said all sections of society were suffering underthe misrule of the BJP.

The SP chief alleged that on the plank of development, theBJP government had ruined the economy of the state and thefarmers and the agriculture sector were the worst affected.

Yadav claimed that no sugar mill was sold out to the privatesector during his regime. He said in fact many closed PSU sugarmills were revived by his government and payment to the sug-arcane farmers was made by the sugar mills within the legal timeframe.

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Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanathwill inaugurate the 24th HunarHaat of indigenous products ofartisans and craftsmen atAwadh Shilpgram in the statecapital on Saturday.

Artisans and craftsmenfrom 31 states and UnionTerritories will participate inthe event.

Hunar Haat is a flagshipprogramme of the Ministry ofMinority Affairs to createemployment opportunities forartisans across the country.

Promotion of artisans,craftsmen and village industriesis part of the ODOP (OneDistrict, One Product) schemeof the UP government. It waslaunched by the YogiAdityanath government onJanuary 24 in 2018 which coin-cides with the UP FoundationDay which was also launchedin 2018.

The prime focus of this 10-day event will be 'Vocal forLocal', representing PrimeMinister Narendra Modi'svision for an AtmanirbharBharat. The UP chief ministerhas repeatedly urged the stateto embrace the 'Vocal for Local'pledge and use its vast naturalresources for the success of

'Make in Uttar Pradesh' and'Make for India' vision so thatthe country gains global recog-nition of its products.

Union Minister forMinority Welfare AffairsMukhtar Abbas Naqvi, whoarrived in the state capital onFriday , said that about 500 arti-sans, craftsmen and culinaryexperts from Uttar Pradesh,Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar,Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh,

Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana,Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand,Ladakh, Punjab, Sikkim,Rajasthan, West Bengal,Odisha, Himachal Pradesh andJammu and Kashmir wouldparticipate in the event.

Indigenous products suchas ajrakh, applique, art metalware, Bagh print, Batik,Banarasi saree, Bandhej, Bastarart and herbal products, blockprint, brass metal bangles, Kota

silk, Pashmina shawls, caneand bamboo products, canvaspainting, chikankari, copperbells will be displayed at theHunar Haat.

Exclusive handloom textile,kalamkari, mangalgiri, lac ban-gles, leather products, Rampuriviolins, wooden and iron toys,Kantha embroidery, crystalglass items, sandalwood prod-ucts will also be on display andsale.

The highlight of the entireevent will be the ethereal folkperformances every eveningby eminent personalities likeKailash Kher, Vinod Rathore,Shibani Kashyap, BhupendraBhuppi, the Mirza sisters, PremBhatia and Rekha Raj and willbe accompanied by the entic-ing traditional delicacies ofLucknow depicting a self-reliant India.

Praising Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath's efforts andthe ongoing ODOP campaignin the state, Naqvi said, "Wehave also connected ODOPproducts to Hunar Haat withthe help of UP government."

Hunar Haat has successful-ly contributed in givingemployment opportunities tomore than five lakh artisansand craftsmen for the last fiveyears. It has strengthened andgiven wide recognition to theheritage of artisanal crafts-manship.

"Lucknow's Hunar Haatwill also be available onhttp://hunarhaat.org for theresidents of India and even out-side India to directly view andbuy indigenous goods of bothartisans and craftsmen. It willalso be organised in Portugal inthe coming time," Naqvi said.

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A15-year-old girl washacked to death allegedlyafter being raped and her four-year-old nephew was alsoinjured by unidentifiedassailants in Chitrakoot onThursday.

The victim was returninghome after delivering food toher father in the fields when shewas subjected to the brutalityand done to death before dis-posing of her body on thefringes of the village.

The nephew accompany-ing the girl at the time of inci-dent was also injured by theattackers. Both were rushed toa nearby hospital where thegirl was declared dead uponarrival. The victim’s family alsoalleged that the girl was rapedbefore being hacked to deathand the police were awaitingthe autopsy report to confirmthe incident. A case was regis-tered against unknownassailants under Pocso Act andefforts were being made toidedntify them with inputsfrom the victim’s moinornephew.

Elsewhere in Maharajganj,a 12-year-old girl was rapedand murdered and semi-nudebody was dumped in a forestarea close to her house onThursday evening.

Later, a police team rushedto the crime scene and sent thebody for autopsy. The policedsuspected that victim was gan-graped before being done todeath. The girl was the eldestamong three sisters and theirfather works in another city.Efforts were on to identity theaccused and arrest them.

Lucknow (PNS): The UP governmenthas directed Forest and Environmentdepartment to reduce the timeline forissuing pollution control related NoObjection Certificate (NoC) to indus-trial units from four months to 30 –45 days.

Chief Secretary R K Tewari issueda government order mandating con-cerned departments to accept entre-preneurs’ applications exclusivelythrough single window portal ‘NiveshMitra’.

Presiding over a review meetingof Infrastructure and IndustrialDevelopment department on ease ofdoing business under BusinessReform Action Plan (BRAP)-2020 onThursday evening, the official saidthat respective Additional ChiefSecretaries or Principal Secretariesshould review feedback received onNivesh Mitra portal on a monthlybasis. Irrelevant and cumbersomerules and laws replaced and related todepartments like Labour, Home (Fire

Services), Urban Development,Excise, Basic Education, Forest &Environment and Law etc. were dis-cussed and directions were issued tocomplete repealing, merger or reduc-tion in number of these compliancesby March 31.

Tiwary said that adequate scruti-ny should be done for repeal andamendment of laws/rules and regu-lations and will create a conduciveenvironment for industrialization.

Infrastructure and Industrial

Development Commissioner (IIDC),Alok Tandon informed that con-cerned departments had been direct-ed to ensure regular review of NiveshMitra dashboard for timely disposalof applications and complaints ofentrepreneurs.

“In addition to the above, actionwas being taken at departmentallevel to reduce the number of 1,300compliances related to industries invarious departments. This wouldallow relaxation in laws and rules

related to establishment and operationof industries in future and speed upthe creation of an investment-orient-ed environment,” he said. It wasdecided that more services be inte-grated with Nivesh Mitra and actionbe taken to eliminate the need forrenewal of various clearances requiredfor operation of low risk industries orincrease frequency and duration ofsuch renewals. Presently, 176 onlineservices of 25 departments are beingprovided through Nivesh Mitra.

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Bharatiya Janata Party pres-ident JP Nadda unveiled ahuge statue of Lord Rama at thestate party headquarters inLucknow on Friday. ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath, statein-charge Radha Mohan Singh,Deputy CM Keshav Mauryaand state BJP chief SwatantraDev Singh were present on theoccasion. A party functionarysaid that a proper canopywould later be constructed forthe statue which has beencarved out of bronze.

Earlier in June, ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath hadunveiled a seven-foot tall stat-ue of Lord Rama at ShodhSansthan museum in Ayodhya.

The statue, made of a sin-gle block of rosewood inKarnataka and costing Rs 35lakh, has been put on display atthe museum.

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Amedicine student kid-napped from Gonda lastMonday, was recovered by ajoint team of Gonda Police andSpecial Task Force and three ofthe four kidnappers werearrested from YamunaExpressway on Friday.

Ironically, two of the fouraccused are doctors, one ofthem a Delhi-based lady doc-tor, who is still absconding.The arrested were identified asDr Abhishek Singh, Dr PreetiMehra, Nitesh and MohitSingh.

Gaurav Halder, a studentof BAMS at SCPM Collegewas abducted from Gondaafter being honey trapped byDr. Abhishek Singh’s friend DrPreeti Mehra. Gaurav wasanesthetised by the miscreantsand brought to Delhi afterwhich they demanded a ran-som of Rs 70 lakh from hisfamily.

The West UP unit of STFstarted investigating along-side Gonda Police personnel.Acting on a tip-off, SP of STF

(Noida), Rajkumar Mishradropped the net on thee threeaccused on Noida Expresswayon Friday. The police alsorecovered a car, countrymadepistol and injections used forkidnapping the victim.

During the probe, it sur-faced that kidnapping master-mind Dr Abhishek was a res-ident of Gonda. He worked atRathi Hospital in Delhi’sNajafgarh and was acquaintedwith the victim.

Abhishek colluded withhis friend Dr Preeti Mehra andasked her to honeytrap Gauravand ask him to come to Gondafor a meeting. Later, Gauravwas anaesthitised and broughtto Delhi and held hostage atDDA flat in Bakkarwala areaof Delhi.

The Gonda police alsoarrested Rohit and Satish fortheir involvement in the kid-napping.

They told the police thatNitesh used to run a fake callcentre in Delhi to cheat peo-ple and that the plan to kidnapGaurav was in the pipelinesince Diwali last year.

the job industry at one click.The CM will unveil the high-tech platform on the occasionof ‘UP Diwas’.

The app, prepared underODOP scheme, is being tout-ed as a master-key for explor-ing self- employment oppor-tunities for youths. ThroughUdyam Sarathi app, youthswould be able to get a variedrange of business opportuni-ties in various departmentsand sectors, including UPand Union governmentdepartments.

The app would also pro-vide inputs on assistance byUP government, opinion ofexperts as well as the processof loan availability for youthto start self-employment.Besides, details of marketavailability, informationregarding business modelsand strategies for developmentwould also be presented.

“The UP government’smain objective is to make thestate as the most developedstate with highest employ-ment rate and push the stateto become the biggest enter-prise hub of the country,” agovernment spokesman said.

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Aiming to open new oppor-tunities, the Yogi govern-ment will launch ‘UdyamSarathi App’ on January 24which would provide informa-tion on self-employment and

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Atotal of 4,812 health work-ers were given vaccineshots at 35 vaccination centresin Lucknow on Friday. Districtimmunisation officer MKSingh said there were noreports of adverse reactionsfrom any centre. He said that 79sessions were planned for theCovishield vaccine and 4,475out of 7,754 beneficiaries wereadministered the shots. In thesix sessions for Covaxin, 337out of 600 health workers werevaccinated. Singh said lessnumber of Anganwadi workersturned up for vaccinations.

At the three centres inLucknow where Covaxin wasgiven, 74 out of 120 healthworkers were given the shots atCivil hospital, 107 out of 199at Rani Laxmi Bai Hospital and153 out of 200 at Lok BandhuHospital.

As for Covaxin, the bene-ficiaries filled consent formsand were vaccinated. MedicalEducation Minister SureshKhanna interacted with the

beneficiaries at Lok BandhuHospital.

Singh, who receivedCovishield shot at the UrbanCHC Red Cross, said he wasfeeling fine despite the hecticroutine. “I was at RMLIMS inthe morning and then I visit-ed SGPGI and Lok BandhuHospital before coming to thethe Urban CHC at 1:10 pm toget vaccinated. I was back towork and had no complaints,”he said.

Chief medical superinten-dent, Civil hospital, Dr SKNanda said there was not a sin-gle case of adverse reaction.

Dr Rajesh Singh, an anaes-thetist at Civil hospital, was alsogiven the shot and he said hewas feeling normal. “Thoughthere was a discussion in thefamily on the choice of vaccine,I had no issues,” he said.

Uma Singh (60), a matronat Civil hospital, said she facedno problems after getting theshot. She said she had testedpositive for coronavirus earlier.

Sanjay Kumari Mishra

Lucknow (PNS): ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath onFriday and directed officials toensure that vaccination wascarried out as per the guidelinesof the Central government. Hesaid that the vaccine would beavailable to everyone in the stateas per the priority order set bythe Central government.

Earlier in the day, Yogimade a surprise inspection ofthe Ram Manohar LohiaInstitute of Medical Sciences(RMLIMS) to get feedbackfrom ground zero of the secondphase of the vaccination cam-paign and spoke to the healthworkers who were being vacci-

nated. According to informa-tion, 61,585 people were vacci-nated in the second phase by 3pm and the vaccination wascarried out by the Healthdepartment at 1,537 centres inthe state. Additional ChiefSecretary (Health) Amit MohanPrasad said that vaccinationwould be done every Thursdayand Friday of the week.

"No untoward incident hasbeen reported so far and allthose who have been vaccinat-ed are healthy. All the vaccinat-ed persons are being keptunder observation at the cen-tre for 30 minutes before beingdischarged,” he said.

(60), who is the incharge ofPaediatric Ward at Civil hospi-tal, said she had full faith in thevaccines made available by thegovernment.

Susheela Devi, a matron atCivil hospital, said though sheis a patient of hypertension andtakes medicines for it, shefaced no problems after gettingvaccinated. “My family wassupportive and when I was toldto get vaccinated, I was readybecause I had tested positive forCovid earlier,” she said.

Dr N Bhalla, who was alsogiven the vaccine shot, said hewas back on duty soon after-wards. However, he said hiswife, who also is a doctor atKGMU, was a little concernedbut he took the call and wentfor it.

Nodal officer for Covidimmunisation at Lok BandhuHospital Dr Arun Tewari said97 health workers had beengiven the shots till 1 pm andthere was no case of adversereactions.

Dr Brijesh Kumar (51), a asenior paediatrician at LokBandhu Hospital, said he feltno no side-effects after gettingvaccinated. Dr Kumar, whosuffers from hypertension, saidhe filled the consent form andalso motivated others to follow suit.

Chief medical superinten-dent at Rani Laxmi BaiHospital Dr Anil Arya said that56 persons had been vaccinat-ed till 1 pm. “The process wasslow because filling the consentforms was taking time. Some of

the health workers did nottake the vaccine as they weresuffering from allergies andhypertension, but they had noproblem with the vaccine,” hesaid.

Media spokesperson ofRMLIMS Dr Shrikesh Singhsaid there were less number ofbeneficiaries owing to beginwith as it was foggy morning,but they were in touch withmost of the beneficiaries.

Dr Singh, who also got theshot on Friday, said he was notapprehensive at all. “I was opento both the vaccines,” he said.However, he admitted that hegot a bit scared when his fatherhad tested positive for Covid.“My father is also keen on get-ting vaccinated,” he added.

Balrampur Hospital direc-tor Dr Rajeev Lochan said thata total of 300 health workershad to be vaccinated and therewas considerable excitementafter the first round ofvaccination.

SM Tripathi from theBalrampur hospital whereCovishield was given said thathe did not even feel the prickwhen he was given the vaccine.“ I am feeling fine and back onduty and was given the vacci-nation at 10 am,” he said.

Manjula Chowdhary (58),a pharmacist at BalrampurHospital, said she is a patient ofhypertension but was encour-aged by her family to go forvaccination. “I have not testedCovid positive till now, and willsee now whether the vaccinehelps in the coming days or

not,” she said.Nargis (59), who is the

pharmacy incharge atBalrampur Hospital, said hermother was slightly concerned.“However, I assured her that Iwould be fine. I have nocomorbidities,” she said.

Gaurav Pandey (36), anoccupational therapist atBalrampur Hospital, said therewas no hesitancy amongst hisfamily members and his wifeencouraged him to take thevaccine shot.

Nodal officer for Covid

immunisation (KGMU) DrNishant Verma said 420 per-sons had been vaccinated till 4pm. On the first day of the vac-cination on January 16, only 57per cent of health workers hadturned up for vaccination.

Meanwhile, only 34 per-sons tested positive for coron-avirus in Lucknow on Fridaywhile 135 patients recovered.There are 1,740 active cases inthe district. In the state, 370persons tested positive. Therewere eight deaths in the state,including five in Lucknow.

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Taking a dig the oppositionparties in Uttar Pradesh, ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath saidtheir leaders are still in "quaran-tine", months after the first caseof coronavirus was detected.Addressing a "PrabuddhjanSammelan" (meeting of the intel-lectuals) organised by the BJP'sLucknow unit at Indira GandhiPratisthaan, the CM said theirworkers got isolated as their lead-ers did not show up.

"The first case of COVID-19in UP was detected in the firstweek of March. Almost 10-and-half months have passed. Leadersof many parties are still in quar-antine and not moving out of theirhouses. Their tweets come. Whenthe leader is in quarantine, thenit is natural that the workers willget isolated," he said.

He also praised PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, sayingthere was not a single week whenhe did not speak to the chief min-isters. "At the onset of the COVIDpandemic, we were not talkingabout sangathan (organisation)but we talked about seva (service).This was an unprecedented work.

New Delhi: Ancient cityAyodhya's heritage, replica ofa Ram temple, glimpse of'Deepotsav' and various storiesfrom Ramayana epic have beendepicted in the tableau of UttarPradesh which will be show-cased in the Republic Dayparade on January 26.

The bedecked tableau isfronted by a sitting model ofMaharishi Valmiki and thetemple model is on the rearside, officials said on Friday.

"Ayodhya is our holy placeand the Ram temple issue hasbeen an emotive one for thefaithful. Our tableau will show-case the ancient heritage of thetown, revered by countlesspeople across the country," an

official of the Uttar Pradeshgovernment, accompanyingthe state team, said.

A group of artistes, includ-ing two women dancers will bepart of the tableau and one per-son will be dressed up as LordRam. A media preview of thevarious tableaux, including atotal of 17 states and union ter-ritories, was held at theRepublic Day's cultural campat Delhi Cantonment onFriday.

Ajay Kumar, who wore ayellow silk dhoti and rudrakshgarland around his neck andheld a bow in his hand, said, "Iam very excited and happy thatAyodhya and its heritage willbe showcased in our tableau

and I have been chosen to playour beloved Lord Ram".

"We have been waiting tosee Ayodhya's heritage beingshowcased on Rajpath," saidKumar, a resident ofLaxmangarh in Chandauli dis-trict, as he posed for photog-raphers. Ayodhya's Deepotsavcelebrations with earthenlamps is depicted on one sideof the tableau, while othermurals show embracing ofNishadraj by Lord Ram andeating of Shabri's berry byhim, salvation of Ahilya, bring-ing of Sanjeevani by LordHanuman, Jatayu-Ram sam-vad, Ashok Vatika and otherscenes. On November 9, 2019,the Supreme Court had settled

the fractiousR amjanmabhoomi-Babr iMasjid issue going back morethan a century and backed theconstruction of a Ram templeby a trust at the disputed site.It also ruled that an alternativefive-acre plot must be foundfor a mosque in the Hindu holytown. Prime MinisterNarendra Modi last Augusthad performed the 'bhoomipujan' of a Supreme Court-mandated Ram temple inAyodhya, bringing to fruitionthe BJP's mandir movementthat defined its politics forthree decades and took it to theheights of power. The Ramtemple is scheduled for com-pletion in 2023. PTI

Lucknow (PNS): The CentralInstitute for SubtropicalHorticulture (CISH) haslicenced four technologies toentrepreneurs. Director ofCISH Shailendra Rajan saidthat the licence was granted tothe entrepreneurs for pro-moting organic cultivation inthe country so that they canproduce traps, bio-enhancerand bio-immunised tissueculture plants.

“The licence was given tothe entrepreneurs of UttarPradesh as well asMaharashtra for CISH bio-enhancer, in-vitro immunisa-tion of tissue culture bananatechnology, CISH-OMAT andCISH-VMAT fruit fly tech-nologies. Last year, a greatdamage was caused by fruitflies to fruits and vegetablesand it motivated the farmersto use fruit fly traps. The trapsdeveloped at CISH have addi-

tional benefits as they arerain-proof and have long-lasting lure,” he said. He addedthat a young entrepreneur,Mansi Rai Sharma, was giventhe licence for in-vitro bananaimmunisation technology. “Asa start-up, she will be produc-ing resistant banana plants forthe farmers,” he said.

“CISH received severalindents for the supply ofimmunised banana tissue cul-ture plants after seeing thesuccess of the technology infarmers’ field and the demandfor the plant is increasing bythe day. This start-up will beworking under the guidanceof CISH for producing a largenumber of immunised plantsto meet the demand,” he said.

He added that the entre-preneurs were keen on pur-chasing the licence for variousother technologies developedby the institute.

Lucknow (PNS): The UttarPradesh Excise department willuse information technology (IT)enabled measures to check themenace adulterated liquor at theretail excise shops. The depart-ment has developed software bywhich sampling of liquor shopswill be done on a random basis inall the districts of the state.Additional Chief Secretary Sanjay

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The MSME department isconstantly forging part-nerships with experts to hand-hold MSMEs to become glob-ally competitive — be it forquality, design, e-commerceor establishment of commonfacility centres. However, theefforts of the government willnot get multiplied till theenterprises make extensiveuse of all the facilities andschemes available.

This was stated byAdditional Chief Secretary,MSME & Export Promotion,Navneet Sehgal at the ‘UPMSME Conclave’, hosted byCII for the micro, small andmedium enterprises of thestate. Sehgal spoke about thevarious schemes introducedby the state government inline with the vision of thechief minister of achievingone trillion dollar GDP overthe next five years. He alsoinformed the participants thatthe ODOP programme is cre-ating a huge difference inhelping to develop clusterswith natural momentum.

He urged CII to submit areport on the deliberations so

that the department can for-mulate strategy and policiesfor the MSMEs accordingly.Chairman of CII UP StateCouncil Ankit Gupta pointedout that majority of MSMEscomprise micro-enterpriseswith a higher number in ruralareas than urban parts of thecountry and UP stands 4th interms of growth rate ofMSMEs. He also highlightedthat credit availability, delayedpayments, availability ofskilled manpower, inadequateaccess to domestic and glob-al markets are the major road-blocks which impede thegrowth of the sector.

Vice-chairman of CII UPState Council, CP Gupta saidthe various initiatives thatCII undertakes for competi-tiveness building of the smallenterprises and reiterated thatthe association is committedto further strengthening theMSME eco-system in the stateand encouraging entrepre-neurs and small businesses.

More than 200 partici-pants attended the conclaveand experts from the listingboard, web services, qualitycouncil, DGFT & SIDBIaddressed the participants.

5�,"���������*�������Lucknow (PNS): Uttar PradeshMetro Rail Corporation’s secu-rity department claimed to haveunearthed a job scam which wasbeing carried out in its name.The PRO said that UPMRCreceived information regard-ing fake job appointment lettersgiven to applicants.

“The applicants were askedto pay the bond amount for thejob in UPMRC,” he said. An FIRwas registered at Naka policestation following a complaint byUPMRC and the accused wasarrested from Roop GuestHouse in Charbagh. “In theguest house, there were 16applicants being called by theaccused for the fake job offer.Police told us that a total of 29applicants were being called tothe guest house. The policealso recovered fake job offer let-ters and application forms fromthe guest house. We told thepolice that no such vacancy hasbeen officially released,” he said.

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A10-year-old girl wasallegedly raped by ayouth in the forest area ofMall on Thursday afternoon.She was found in an uncon-scious state a few yards awayfrom the spot late in theevening. Police said she is thedaughter of a farmer, and aresident of Maal. She wasplaying with other childrenwhen Sheru, also of the samevillage, took the girl to anearby market to buy her toffees.

He then took her to anisolated place in the forestcover and raped her. The girltold the police she tried toraise an alarm but Sheruthreatened to her kill. She saidshe when she regained con-sciousness, she found herselfin the community health cen-tre. Her father said when thegirl did not come back afterplaying, he and others start-ed searching for her and

found her in an unconsciousstate around 10 pm onThursday.

Meanwhile, an attemptwas made to rape an 8-year-old girl, a resident of Nagram.Police said the girl left herhouse to dump garbage a fewyards from her house around8 pm. Satyendra, who is a res-ident of the same locality,dragged her to a field and toreher clothes. However, sheraised an alarm after whichfarmers rushed to her rescueand the accused fled thescene.

In another case, ateenaged girl, identified asMansi Gupta of SaharaGarden, Sahara Estate, underJankipuram police station,hanged herself from the ceil-ing in her room around 3 pmon Friday. However, no sui-cide note was recovered fromthe room. Locals told policethat a youth, ShubhamMaurya of Jankipuram, usedto harass the girl by calling

her at odd hours and wouldforce her for friendship. Theysaid she changed her numberon several occasions to avoidthe youth. She had narratedher ordeal to her father inOctober last year.

Maurya (24) is said tohave a good rapport withpolice. The bereaved fatherhad lodged a complaintagainst the accused atJankipuram police station inOctober last year. However,Maurya managed the situa-tion due to his links withpolice and no action wastaken against him. A monthlater, her father gave an appli-cation to the Commissionerof Police. It was alleged thatthe girl hanged herself onbeing deprived of justice.After she was found hanging,she was rushed a privatenursing home, from whereshe was referred to KGMUTrauma Centre. However, shewas declared dead at theTrauma Centre at 4:30 am.

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As part of Republic Daycelebrations, CentralCommand organised a liveband concert to honour Covidwarriors at Dilkusha Kothi inLucknow on Friday. The high-ly decorated band of 11Gorkha Rifles RegimentalCentre enthralled the audiencewith a splendid performanceas they played tunes of famouspatriotic and motivationalsongs. The Covid warriorsfrom Health department, UPPolice, Lucknow MunicipalCorporation and medical fra-ternity of armed forces werefilled with pride as patriotictunes were played in theirhonour.

�����4A meeting will be organ-

ised by DST, BabasahebBhimrao AmbedkarUniversity and UPCST onJanuary 24 for necessary rec-ommendation on the draft of

India’s 5th National Science,Technology and InnovationPolicy. The meeting will bechaired by Vice-ChancellorSanjay Singh and will be led byadvisor and head, STIPSecretariat, department ofScience and Technology,Akhilesh Gupta. The processwas initiated in June last yearinvolving nearly 150 expertsfrom government, academia,industry, diplomacy, policy,administration, NGOs, etcfrom across the country seg-regated into 21 thematicgroups. “An extensive consul-tation process involving rep-resentatives of Science andLine Ministries, States andUnion Territories (UTs), R&Dorganisations, academic insti-tutions, NGOs, civil societyorganisations, industry lead-ers, women organisations, stu-dents, researchers and youngscientists and many othersfollowed the initial delibera-tions. Subsequent meetingsat the apex level consisting of

secretaries of Science and Lineministries; Science andTechnology ministers andchief secretaries of states andUTs besides some eminentmembers of Indian diasporawere also held.

����� A webinar on

‘Environment and disasterrisk reduction’ was held byShri Ramswaroop MemorialUniversity (SRMU),Barabanki, in collaborationwith National Institute ofDisaster Management(NIDM), Union Ministry ofHome Affairs, on January 21.The programme was con-ducted in line with PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s 10-point agenda on disaster riskreduction. Issues related tothe prevailing pandemic andother factors causing disasterswere discussed. The speakersdiscussed concerns towardsenvironment exploitation andgrave forthcoming situation

due to neglect towards envi-ronment safety and conserva-tion. The importance of dis-aster risk reduction was alsohighlighted in light of saferenvironment and sustainabledevelopment under globaltrends under SDGs.

�����4 ���0�������The literary society of

BBDNIIT bagged the firstposition in ‘SDG ShutterbugCompetit ion’, organisedunder Youth for SustainabilityDialogues (Y4SD) andConnecting DreamsFoundation. The competitionwas organised under two cat-egories. One category wasfor the 13-19 years age groupand another one was for 20-30 years age group. In thefirst category (13-19 tears),Team Russia got the firstposition and in another cat-egory (20-30 years), the TeamBabu Banarasi Das NorthernIndia Institute of Technologybagged the first position. The

competition witnessed partic-ipation from all across theworld. The team membersalso got a chance to attend amasterclass on photographyby a renowned photographer.“The photos, along with theshort story, were presented tothe United Nations andUNDP. The photographs willbe included in global andcountry-specific media andmarketing campaigns and aYouth for SustainabilityDialogues Coffee Table. Thejury members were invited bythe United Nations. The com-petition was started onDecember 22 last year and thefinal result was announced onJanuary 8 in online mode,” hesaid. Sahil, VindhyaSrivastava, Roseline Churblin,Nitin Singh, Rachit Goyal,Aditya Raj, Ritika Pandeyand Shivankur participated inthe event. Chairperson ofBabu Banarasi DasEducational Group Alka Dascongratulated the team.

In a state like Uttar Pradesh,which has a population of 24crore, it was difficult for thegovernment machinery. But,when workers, intellectuals andself-help groups worked in tan-dem with the government, UPshowed a successful model ofCOVID management," heclaimed. Adityanath said despitepropaganda, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi enjoyed unprece-dented support of people. On acall given by the prime minister,people from different sections ofsociety came together, lit lampsand beat plates, he said. The UPchief minister said in the pastthree years, 39 lakh people in UPgot houses under the PM AwasYojana.

"This could have been doneearlier as well. The houses are notnamed after any person or anyparty," he said. He said it was thethought of a "bright future" thatled to a surgical strike againstPakistan and the abrogation of theJammu and Kashmir's special sta-tus. "Today India is not a soft state,but a 'maargdarshak' (guiding)state with new vigour, newimpression. All this is possiblebecause of the BJP," he claimed.

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'���)�)�������������������Lucknow (PNS): In yet anoth-er hooch tragedy, two labour-ers died and four others,including a woman, were takenill after consuming spuriousliquor in Pratapgarh onThursday.

As per reports, labourersworking at a brick kiln inChandrabhan Pur village con-sumed the hooch late onWednesday night. By earlyThursday morning, one ofthem Rohit (35) complained ofsevere stomach pain and nau-sea, after which he was rushedto a hospital. However, he diedduring treatment and was latercremated without the policebeing informed,

By Thursday evening, thecondition of another workersLail (40) and four others dete-riorated and were hospitalised.Lail also died during treatmentand his body was sent forautopsy. Rohit’s wife Shivanialleged that her husband andLail died due to spurious liquorsupplied at the brick kiln wherethey worked.

The police were now inves-tigating to confirm the sourcefrom where the liquor waspurchased so that samplescould be sent for examination.

Earlier a fortnight back,five people had died and 17others were hospitalised afterconsuming spurious liquor inSecunderabad area ofBulandshahr. An angry ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath hadordered to book the culpritsunder National Security Act(NSA) and Gangster Act.

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The body of a 10-year-oldboy, who was kidnappedlast Monday and a ransom of Rs40 lakh was demanded for hisrelease, was found in Sidhpuraare of Kasganj on Wednesday.On Thursday evening, the localpolice claimed to have arrestedthree miscreants and said thatthe victim was kidnapped overa family enmity between twofamilies.

Last Monday, Lokesh (10)went missing near his home atPithampur village of Sidhpurapolice station area. After thefamily got a call for a ransom of

Rs 40 lakh for his release,Lokesh’s father KishanveerSingh lodged a case of kidnap-ping accusing some personsand three police teams wereformed to track down theaccused. However onWednesday, Lokesh’s body wasrecovered on the fringes of thevillage. The police later inten-sified their search and arrestedthree accused - Ajay Kumar,Amar Pal and Raj Bahadur onThursday.

Circle Officer (Patiyali)Gavendra Pal Gautam said thattwo families have been living inadjacent houses in the villageand also had neighbouring

farm lands. The dispute start-ed after Lokesh’s family object-ed to installation of irrigationequipment by the other familyon the farmland.

During quizzing theaccused are reported to haverevealed that they kidnappedLokesh over the family feud.Ajay and Amar lured the boy byassuring to let him listen tosongs on their phones andtook him to a field where theystrangled him and dumped hisbody near a bajra mound.Despite the killing the hostageon Monday, the accused madethe ransom call to misleadthem.

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R Bhoosreddy said here on Fridaythat the Excise department wascommitted to ensuring the avail-ability of standard quality liquorto the consumers in the state. Hesaid the samples collected on arandom basis would be tested bythe regional laboratories of theExcise department and if anytype of adulteration was found inthe sample, strict action would betaken against the licensee.

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Being the local parliamentar-ian, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi wished an early100 per cent Covid vaccinationin the city. ‘The year 2021 hasstarted with a very good signbecause the world’s largest vac-cination programme is goingon in the country and after thefirst phase, a campaign will becarried out to apply Covidvaccination to 30 crore peoplesoon in the next phase,’ he said,adding that country is makingits own two vaccines which arenot only being sent to everycorner of the country but alsoproviding the same to manyother countries. He was inter-acting with doctors and healthworkers through video confer-encing on the COVID-19 vac-cination campaign. AfterJanuary 16, Covid vaccineswere given to the health work-ers in the district on Friday andafter this, the doses will be pro-vided to the same group onJanuary 28 and 29.

‘At such a time we shouldbe among you. Whatever wecan do for people in Kashi, it isa privilege for us,’ he told thehealth workers, adding thatthe entire infrastructure ofVaranasi has changed duringthe last six years and the wholeof Purvanchal (eastern UP) isbenefiting from it. According tohim, so far, more than 20,000people have been vaccinated inthe first phase at 15 centres inthe district, praising the entiremedical staff, district adminis-

tration and Yogi-led state gov-ernment for this achievement.

When the PM askedmatron of the GovernmentWomen’s Hospital, Pushp Devihow she was feeling after beingvaccinated, the latter respond-ed that she was feeling com-pletely well. Then Modiappealed to all the people to getvaccines in view to keep themand their families safe. PushpaDevi thanked the PM for hisinitiative to provide Covid vac-cines to the people within justnine months. ‘The scientistshave played an important rolein making the vaccines. As thedoctors and paramedical staffare most exposed to coron-avirus, treating the people fromthe front, it was decided to pro-

vide them vaccinations first sothat the whole society remainshealthy,’ Modi said. Whilespeaking to ANM RaniKunwar Srivastava of ShreeShiv Prasad Gupta (SSPG)Divisional Hospital, the PMpraised the work done byhealth workers and scientists inan atmosphere of uncertainty,terming the corona as anunknown enemy.

While interacting withChief Medical Superintendent(CMS) of Pandit Deen DayalUpadhyay (DDU) Hospital DrV Shukla, when Modi askedwhether the local people aresafe and happy or not, the lat-ter replied that despite being adeveloping country, India hasalso gone ahead in the field of

making Covid vaccines com-pared to developed countries.‘Till yesterday, 10 lakh peoplehad been vaccinated in thecountry and they are safe,’ DrShukla said.

In reply, the PM appealedto Dr Shukla to run competi-tion for the first phase Covidvaccination so that all thefrontline workers can be vacci-nated as soon as possible andafter this, in the second phase,vaccination of people above 50years of age will be done. Modialso interacted with LabTechnician of DDU HospitalRamesh Chandra Rai andANM Shrinkla Chauhan ofCommunity Health Centre(CHC) at Hathi Bazar(Sevapuri).

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COVID-19 VaccinationCampaign for corona war-riors (the healthcare team)started on Friday at CentralHospital in BanarasLocomotive Works (BLW) inpresence of General Manager(GM) Anjali Goyal. Two vac-cination centres are allotted tothis BLW hospital by the dis-trict authority in co-ordinationwith Union Ministry of Health& Family Welfare to coverboth Railway as well as non-Railway workers. This historicmoment was witnessed by offi-cers of BLW, members of StaffCouncil, besides the medicalteam of BLW. The GMexpressed her happiness overthe enthusiastic response of thebeneficiaries and meticulousarrangements.

All beneficiaries were firstseated in the waiting hall forregistration and verification ofdocuments by the UP Police.Thereafter, beneficiaries weresent for vaccination one by oneas per predetermined planfrom the waiting hall.Registered beneficiaries wereagain verified by the securitypersonnel before getting entryinto vaccination centres. Theywere vaccinated as per proto-col. Every vaccinated personwas kept in the hospital wardfor half an hour under obser-vation for treatment in case ofany emergency. District teamwas led by ACMO Dr PiyushRai and it comprised two vac-cinators, two constables,helpers and WHO representa-tives to assist the BLW hospi-tal in successful vaccination ofhealth care workers.

Campaign commenced

with vaccination of ChiefNursing SuperintendentChandrakala Rao and LabAssistant Chandan Prasad.Other healthcare workers werealso immunised as per pre-determined protocol and direc-tive on Co-Win portal. BLWGM inspected the preparednessfor vaccination and motivatedhealthcare workers for theirown vaccination as well as asafe vaccination process forother beneficiaries. She alsoinspected posters displayed atvarious places in hospitalpremises and emphasised theresponsibilities of healthcareworkers for prompt and safevaccination to make it grandsuccess.

On this occasion, Principal

Chief Medical Officer Dr SujitMallik, ACMS/Admin DrDevesh Kumar, ACMS DrSunil Kumar, ACMS Dr SKSharma, CPRO Vijay, Sr DMODr Madhulika Singh, DMO DrMinhaj Ahmad, DMO Dr SKMaurya, DMO Dr VishalMishra, ADMO Dr AmitGupta, ADMO Dr TanmayAnand, Hospital Visiting SkinConsultant Dr Srinivas Yadavwere also present. Apart fromit, Ravi Narayan Singh,Secretary Staff Council, alongwith other members such asBD Dubey, Pradeep Yada,Dharmendra Kumar Singh,Naveen Sinha, Alok KumarVerma, Sushil Singh, AjimulHaq and Nursing Staff, Lab andPharmacy staff were also pre-

sent.Meanwhile, vaccination

was also performed in directclose monitoring by WHOstaff for its successful perfor-mance. Vaccination was alsoadministered to Health work-ers at Community HealthCentres (CHCs) Arajline,Cholapur, Narpatpatpur, HathiBazar and Gangapur Mangri(Pindra) apart from PrimaryHealth Centres (PHCs)Baragaon and Harahuwa inrural areas while CHC Shivpur,District Women’s Hospital, PtDeendayal Hospital, IMS BHU,Heritage Medical College andLBS Hospital Ramnagar, apartfrom BLW Hospital in urbanareas where two sessions eachwere conducted.

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Bomb hoax at Vinayak CityCentre, popularly known asPVR Mall in down town CivilLines, and at StarworldCineplex in KatgharMutthiganj sent the police ontheir toes. People got panickedbut they followed the policeinstructions and left the placesmoothly. Officials, after receiv-ing an alert on social mediaplatform Twitter, reached theabove two spots with heavypolice force, bomb disposalsquad, Fire tenders and otherprecautionary mechanism, butlater to their relief no explosivematerial was found there.

The SP City confirmedthat they had received a mes-sage that bombs have beenplanted in the Vinayak CityCentre Civil Lines andStarworld Cineplax inMutthiganj. The first infor-mation was regarding VinayakCity Centre, so heavy policeforce was rushed for the spot.The whole mall including thePVR Cineplex was emptied.The shopkeepers, customers,

and the cinema goers wereasked to leave the place imme-diately in a disciplined mannerto avoid any untoward incidentowing to panic.

Police surrounded thewhole mall, and the officialsand personnel required fortracing out the bomb and dis-posing it off, took their posi-tions. After over an hour’ssearch nothing was foundthere, and the teams were sentback.

Same kind of message wasreceived for the StarworldCineplex of Katghar inMutthiganj. No explosive mate-rial was found there after amassive search.

Now, the police are tracingout the person who had sentthe message through Twitter.

Some police officers wereheard saying that it would havebeen an exercise to check policealertness, but the SP City didnot confirm the report of anysuch exercise.

THREE HELD FORSELLING SMACK: The copsof the Nawabganj police stationand Anti-Narcotics team

arrested three members of thegang who were promoting theirillegal occupation after makingunderage boys indulged inintoxication. A consignment ofsmack has been recovered fromtheir possession. All three arebeing questioned about theirdrug network.

Earlier, the ganja andsmack addicts used to be most-ly in the city, but now a largenumber of addicts have beenfound in villages and towns too.The truth is that the gangmembers who indulge in drugtrade first add new boys andthen make them their cus-tomers. Drug dealers who havebeen caught by the police havealso confessed this fact. OnThursday evening, the cops ofNawabganj police station alongwith the Anti-Narcotics teamarrested three people for smug-gling and selling them here.Among those caught areYashwant Maurya of Pithipurvillage, Akash Mishra aliasChintu of Dasapur village andMohammad Farooq alias Sheruof Nawabganj town. A 40 gramsmack was also found after they

were thoroughly frisked.During police interroga-

tion, it was found that bysmuggling smugglers fromother places includingBarabanki, they have been sup-plying it to Prayagraj and sur-rounding districts.

The three also confessedthat the people associated withtheir network first smack new-age boys for little money or forfree and force them to buysmacks when they are intoxi-cated. In this way the customersof drug dealers increase. Badboys also start stealing fromhome and outside due to intox-ication.

SEMINAR: In the memo-ry of the all time great Hindipoetess Mahadevi Verma, theHindustani Academy and thePrayag Mahila Vidyapeeth havejointly organised a seminar on`Chhayavaad aur MahadeviVerma’ in the Mahadevi Hall ofthe Prayag Mahila Vidyapeethon Saturday from 11 amonwards. The seminar will bepresided over by Dr UdayPratap Singh, chairmanHindustani Academy.

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Deputy Chief MinisterKeshav Prasad Mauryasaid in reference to the promis-es being made after AkhileshYadav's return to power inUttar Pradesh that it is writtenthat when he (Akhilesh Yadav)was in power, he did nothingfor the holy places of LordTathagata Buddha and otherpilgrimage sites including

Ayodhya, the birthplace ofLord Rama.

When there is no possibil-ity of coming to power, thenpromises of developmentmade by him are dreaming ofMungerilal. In the samesequence, a video has alsobeen tweeted in which 500-year-old Ram Janmabhoomistruggle has been shown as a12-minute short film byChandraprakash Dwivedi, the

producer of Chanakya serial.Along with that video, it is writ-ten that the source of nationalunity, synonymous with reli-gion, Maryada Purushottam,the triumph of liberation of thebirthplace of Lord Shri Ram.

The Deputy Chief Ministerhas also informed about cele-brating National Road SafetyMonth from January 18 toFebruary 17. It is written thatwe should be responsible and

sensible citizens. Follow traffic rules com-

pletely. While posting a picturehe tweeted that ‘Jaan Hai tohJahan hai’. In this context, peo-ple have also been urged to fol-low the rules of traffic duringPrayag stay. Maurya said that itis the responsibility of everyperson to follow the rules onthe road. Otherwise the con-cept of smart city will not befulfilled, he added.

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COVID-19 vaccination pro-gramme rolled out onNorth Central Railway onFriday. As many as 28 Railwaydoctors and 43 other frontlinehealthcare personnel wereimmunised at Central HospitalPrayagraj.

The most awaited andimportant COVID-19 vaccina-tion programme began atNorth Central Railway. In linewith Ministry of Health andFamily Welfare guidelines,Railway Board has alreadyadvised for vaccination of pri-mary health care workers ofRailways. In its letter theRailway Board has also askedto compile data of frontlineworkers of all departments ofIndian Railways who are atgreater risk of exposure toCOVID-19 infection and list ofsuch frontline workers belong-ing to different departments isbeing worked out on Prayagraj,Jhansi and Agra divisions,workshops and other units ofNorth Central Railway.

Meanwhile requisite prepa-rations have also been made toorganise this critical andimportant vaccination pro-gramme in Railway hospitalsand dispensaries over NorthCentral Railway. In this con-nection a mock drill on vacci-nation was also organised onJanuary 11, 2021. Necessarycoordination with state author-ities for smooth conduct of thisbiggest vaccination programmeis being ensured.

Those given the first doseof COVIDSHIELD vaccine onFriday include Principal ChiefMedical Director NCR DrAnand Tandon, Medical

Director Central Hospital DrVinit Agrawal, ACHD Dr SKHandoo, Sr DMO Dr GautamSen, Chief Health ConsultantDr Rajiv Kapoor other Railwaydoctors and primary healthcareworkers. All participants ofvaccination programme wereobserved for a period of 30minutes in the RailwayHospital and no adverse effectspost immunisation wereobserved. Dr Vishal PandeyNodal Medical officer fromstate government along withseven paramedics and otherstaff helped in organising thisvaccination drive. Participationof senior railway doctors ofNorth Central Railway in thisimmunisation drive will helpconfidence building in Railwayfraternity and public at largew.r.t. health safety standardfollowed in this immunisationand will bring impetus to thisbiggest and most important

vaccination programme of ourcountry.

Awareness campaign relat-ed to this important vaccina-tion campaign is also beingorganised at stations, trains,hospitals and other units ofNorth Central Railway. Thrustof campaign is to create aware-ness on importance of vaccina-tion, health safety standardfollowed in vaccination andprecaution against COVID-19which are required to be con-tinued even after takingCOVID-19 vaccine.

24 NEW COVID CASESIN PRAYAGRAJ: As many as24 new cases of coronaviruswere detected in the last 24hours on Thursday night inPrayagraj district. The infectedalso included an account offi-cer of the Higher EducationCommission, a teacher at BHS.On the same day one infectedperson died of infection. At the

same time, a total of 13 peoplebeat corona.

Nodal Officer for CoronaDr Rishi Sahai gave this infor-mation. He said that onThursday, 5,459 people weretested for Covid test. As againstthe testing, 28 new cases of theCOVID-19 are a bit relievingfor the Health department.

At the same time, six out of13 healthy people weredischarged from variousCovid hospitals and seven peo-ple completed their home iso-lation.

Dr Rishi Sahai said that theaccount officer of HigherEducation Commission,teacher of BHS along with twoadvocates of High Court andDistrict Court respectively arealso included in the list ofinfected. At the same time, thenumber of active patients hasnow come down to 337 infalling order.

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Under the mission speed ofthe Railways, in the samefinancial year, the electrifica-tion of 66 rail routes of thecountry will be completed.With the completion of railwayelectrification, the operation ofpassenger trains with electriclocomotives on these routeswill also begin. Of the railwaysections whose electrificationwill be completed in this finan-cial year, 15 are in the state ofUttar Pradesh.

In this also, more than 90

per cent work on all routes hasbeen completed. There aresome railways sections inwhich inspection to be carriedby the Chief SafetyCommissioner (CRS) is await-ing. Electric locomotives willstart operating on the respec-tive route as soon as nod isreceived by the CRS.

In fact, the Railway Boardhas entrusted the work of elec-trification of all the rail blocksof the country to the CentralOrganisation for RailwayElectrification (CORE)Prayagraj and other working

organisations. The CORE hasalso set the target of electrifi-cation of all rail routes by theyear 2024. So that the trainsspeed up and the cost of croresof diesel will be saved.

In this series, COREPrayagraj has claimed to com-plete the electrification work of66 rail blocks of the country inthis financial year. Its totallength is 3965 kilometres. Outof this, in 18 railways of 700km, electrification was done byCORE Prayagraj in the last yearitself. Now the 66 railwayswhich are to be completed in

this financial year, a lot ofwork has been done by theCORE. The nod to be given bythe CRS is now bing waited forthe electrification work to endin some railways.

Preparations are beingmade to operate electric loco-motive trains on Phaphamau toPratapgarh route from January26.

It is discussed that thiswee