Covid cases declining, projections gone wrong?

1 CAR MAKER CITROEN PULLSADVERTISEMENT OVER UPROARF rench car manufacturer Citroen withdrew Thursday anadvertisement featuring Egyptian singer Amr Diab after itsparked widespread accusations of promoting theharassment of women. In the ad posted on Egyptian socialmedia in early December, the 60-year-old pop star uses acamera installed in the car's rearview mirror to secretly take apicture of a woman crossing in front of the vehicle. Thewoman clearly does not give her consent to the photograph,but Diab is shown smiling at the image as it pops up on hisphone. He then invites the woman to join him in the 'S NEW SQUADRON OF FIGHTERJETS TO COUNTER INDIA'S RAFALEP akistan has acquired a full squadron of 25 Chinesemultirole J-10C fighter jets in response to India'spurchase of Rafale aircraft, Pakistan's InteriorMinister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said on Wednesday.

2 Theminister told reporters in his home city of Rawalpindithat a full squadron of 25 all-weather aircraft comprisingJ-10C will attend the Pakistan Day ceremony on March23 next year. Apparently, China has come to the rescueof its closest ally by providing J-10C, one of its highlyreliable fighter jets. SEDITION CHARGE AGAINST HINDULEADER AFTER GANDHI, ISLAM REMARKSAH indu religious leader from Maharashtra who insultedMahatma Gandhi and praised his assassin, NathuramGodse, has been arrested by the Chhattisgarh Police fromMadhya Pradesh's Khajuraho and charged with Maharaj, whose controversial speech at a "dharmasansad" or religious meeting in Chhattisgarh's Raipur led tochief patron Mahant Ramsunder Das disowning the event andwalking off stage in anger, was also charged with promotingenmity between communities after former mayor PramodDubey filed a police case.

3 CAN'T IMPOSE Covid RESTRICTIONS,IT MAY IMPACT ECONOMY : MAMATAWest Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today saidcoronavirus-related restrictions cannot be imposedeverywhere as it may impact the economy as has beenthe case since the onset of the pandemic. Speaking toreporters while visiting the Sagar Island in Bengal's South 24 Parganas district where the annual Ganga Sagar Mela willbegin next month, Mamata said Covid -19 cases in Kolkatawere rising as it was a transit point for people travelling ontrains and flights. "Most omicron cases are being detectedamong people coming on flights from the UK. RNI No. TELENG/2018/76469 Established 1864 Published From HYDERABAD DELHILUCKNOWBHOPALRAIPUR CHANDIGARHBHUBANESWAR RANCHIDEHRADUNVIJAYAWADA*LATE CITY VOL. 4 ISSUE 82*Air Surcharge Extra if us on:}RGV CALLS SHIVA TOO SIMPLISTICPage 11{ INDIAN RAILWAYSDESERVES A MAKEOVERMONEY 8 GOYAL HOLDS REVIEW MEETING ON MEDICAL OXYGEN PREPAREDNESSSPORTS12 BREACHING 90M WILL PUT ME IN LIST OFWORLD S BEST THROWERS: NEERAJHYDERABAD, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2021; PAGES 12 `3 HHYYDDRRAABBAADDWWEEAATTHHEERRU pdated DECEMBER 30, 2021 5:00 PM FFoorreeccaasstt::MOSTLY SUNNYTT eemmpp:: 27ocHHuummiiddiittyy:: 63%SSuunnrriissee:: 6:45 AMSS uunnsseett:: 5:52 PMAALLMMAANNAACC TTOODDAAYYM onth & Paksham:Margashirsha & Krishna PakshaTithi :Dwadashi 10:39 Nakshatram: Anuradha 22:04 Rahukalam :10:56 am - 12:19 pmYamagandam :3:03 pm - 4:26 pmVarjyam :3:01 am - 4:26 am Gulika :8:12 am - 9:34 amAmritakalam :12:45 pm - 2:11 pmAbhijit Muhurtham : 11:57 am - 12:41 pmTHIRD WAVE IN HERE!

4 ODPH calls it a blessing in disguise; 2-4 weeks very crucialNAVEENA GHANATE nHYDERABADThe New Year brings a thirdwave of Covid -19 to telangana ,but with a hope that six monthsdown the line, there won't beCovid anymore. TS Director of Public Health DrG Srinivasa Rao said on Thursdaythat the third wave of Covid -19had started not only in Telanganabut across the country, with thespike in cases being an stated that the Omicron vari-ant of Covid -19 was spreadingvery fast and this could be thebeginning of the third wave. Thenext 2-4 weeks were crucial, theDPH said. People's poet, popular folk songwriter Gorati VenkannabagsCentral Sahitya Akademi awardML MELLY MAITREYI nHYDERABADIn what is hailed as well-deservedrecognition, people's poet, folksongs writer, author and MLCG oreti Venkanna bagged the pres-tigious Central Sahitya Akademiaward for the year 2021 for his com-pilation of poems 'Vallanki Thalam'.

5 The announcement broughtcheers not only to literature andfolklore lovers in telangana but alsopeople from various walks of poured in for thehumble poet who is known for hisinspiring and thought-provokingpoems and songs to awaken theworking class and common peopleas well as to sensitise the ruling classwith his powerful lyrics expressedin local writes to Nirmala towithdraw tax hike on textilePNS nHYDERABADI ndustries Minister K TRama Rao hasdemanded theUnion Governmentto drop the moveto increase theGST rates for thetextile and hand-looms sector. In a letter toUnion MinisterNirmala Sitaraman, KTRasked her not to take forward aproposal to this effect at the GSTC ouncil meeting on Friday. He saidthat the increase in GST wouldimpact about 80-85% of the hand-loom and textile production andescalate the production costs by 15to 20 per cent, thereby impactingthe demand said that, instead of waiv-ing off the 5% GST on handloomproducts and its raw material, theUnion government's plan toincrease it to 12% from January 1would sound a death knell to theindustry and lakhs of people wouldlose their jobs.

6 "The textile and hand-loom sector provides thesecond highest employment inour country. This sector is alreadybearing the brunt of Covid andthe Union Government has noteven provided any relief to the sec-tor. Considering the current sce-nario, the Centre should extendadditional advantages and incen-tives to the sector", KTR said. The costs of raw materials, yarn,chemicals, packaging material andtransportation had gone up sub-stantially post- Covid . There wasdanger of many textiles and appar-els units closing down, he convenes meeting to discuss longpending issues between Telugu statesSNV SUDHIRnVIJAYAWADAThe Union government has calledfor a meeting to find solutions tomany long-pending issues thatremained unresolved betweenboth the Telugu states since theState Secretary at UnionHome department Lalita, KHedaoo, wrote a letter to the chiefsecretaries of Andhra Pradesh andTelangana to attend a meeting onJanuary 12 at New Delhi chairedby the Union Home Secretary.

7 A meeting will be held onWednesday, January 12, 2022,under the chairmanship of theUnion Home Secretary in RoomNo 119, MHA, North Block, NewDelhi, to discuss the pendingbilateral issues between AndhraPradesh and telangana . You arerequested to kindly make it con-venient to attend the meeting, said a note to both the chief have been many issuespending to be resolved for longbetween both the states. Fromassets and liabilities distribu-tion, dues clearance to watersharing both the Telugu stateshave been fighting on severalother common homedelivery of liquor: ISWAI PNS nHYDERABADThe International Spirits & WinesAssociation of India (ISWAI), apexbody of the premium AlcoBev sec-tor, has urged the telangana gov-ernment to consider and imple-ment home delivery of liquor,considering growing concerns overthe spread of the Omicron variantof Covid -19.

8 The industry body said that thecurrent festive months were thepeak consumption period for theindustry, and, therefore, regularis-ing/formalising of home deliverywould ensure minimal disruptionto the industry, ensure citizenconvenience, and also protect jobswhilst protecting state revenuefrom the alcobev a press communique, NitaKapoor, CEO, InternationalSpirits and Wines Association ofIndia (ISWAI), pointed to a 2020post- Covid lockdown LocalCircles survey on "Consumerpulse on home delivery of liquor"that found that 52% of citizens ofthe 8,078 polled across the coun-try wanting state administrationsto implement a 'home deliverysolution'. The Excise Department figuresavailable from the states of WestBengal and Maharashtra on thenumber of orders placed viahome delivery of liquor duringthe pandemic validated the casefor home delivery.

9 TS seeks release of Rs 900 crorepending spl assistance from CentrePNS nHYDERABADThe telangana government hasonce again represented to the NITIA ayog for release of funds pendingto the state under the BackwardRegion Grant Fund since Planning Board ViceChairman B Vinod Kumar andSpecial ChiefSecretary, Finance,Ramakrishna Raomet NITI AayogVice ChairmanRajiv Kumarand referred tothe provisionunder Section 94of the AP StateReorganisation Act forsanction of funds tothe development ofbackward regions of TelanganaState. After the formation of State,Chief Minister K ChandrasekharRao had written to the then Unionfinance minister Arun Jaitley andsubmitted that the State govern-ment was taking up MissionKakatiya and Mission Bhagirathaschemes. KCR had requested theCentre to extend financial assistanceas mentioned in theState , NITIA ayog officials made afield inspection and rec-ommended to theUnion Minister ArunJaitley to sanc-tion ,000crore to thetwo pro-grammes andsent demand extension of GST compensation for another 5 yrsPNS nNEW DELHIMany states have demanded that theGST compensation cess regime beextended for another five yearsand the share of the Union govern-ment in the centrally-sponsoredschemes be raised as the Covid pan-demic has impacted their GST compensation to statesfor revenue shortfall resulting fromsubsuming of local taxes such asVAT in the uniform national taxGoods and Services Tax (GST) willend in June next year.

10 There hasbeen a loss of revenue to the statesdue to the GST tax system, theCentre has not made arrange-ments to compensate the loss ofrevenue of about Rs 5,000 crore tothe state in the coming year, so theGST compensation grant should becontinued for the next five yearsafter June 2022, Chhattisgarh ChiefMinister Bhupesh Baghel said."Many states have asked for have also asked to extend GSTcompensation. If it is not extended,the finances of many states will bein a bad shape," Delhi Deputy ChiefMinister Manish Sisodia said afterpre- budget consultation of financeministers of states with UnionFinance Minister NirmalaSitharaman parties want UP polls in time: CECPNS nLUCKNOWC hief Election CommissionerSushil Chandra on Thursday saidall political parties in Uttar Pradeshwant the Assembly elections to beheld according to schedule whileensuring Covid CEC also asked the state tostep up coronavirus number of polling boothswill be increased and the votingtime enhanced by an hour, he said,adding polling officials will bevaccinated and those eligible will begiven a booster said some parties havealso expressed concern over hatespeeches, paid news and "biased" a three-day visit to Lucknowto review preparations for the elec-tions slated to be held before mid-March.