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1 ! " # $ " % ! & ' () ! *+' +"&,With no let up in the hyper-mutated Omicron vari-ant s march in the country anda rise in Delta strain of Covid-19 virus, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on Thursdayasked people to be satark (vigilant) and saavdhan (cau-tious) even as he directed theCentre to work in close coor- dination with the States tosupport their public healthmeasures for containment andmanagement under the wholeof Government strategy of the Centrefor proactive, focussed, collab-orative and cooperative fightagainst the pandemic shouldguide all our future actions, thePM told the officials at a meet-ing held here while reviewingthe country s preparedness inthe wake of the Covid-19 pan-demic Omicronvariant number has since thencrossed the 236 mark.

2 Spread-ing in 16 States and UTs so per the Union HealthMinistry data, 104 people haverecovered or migrated so 65 cases,Maharashtra reported the high-est incidence, followed by Delhi(64), Telangana (24), Rajasthan(21), Karnataka (19), Kerala(15) and Gujarat (14).Modi reviewed the publichealth response measures forcontainment and managementof Covid-19, strengthening ofhealth infrastructure includingavailability of drugs, oxygencylinders and concentrators,ventilators, PSA plants,ICU/oxygen supported beds,human resources, IT interven-tions and status of to aGovernment statement, offi-cials briefed the PM about theemerging scenario globally dri-ven by the new variant.

3 With anoverview of surge in cases incountries having high vacci-nation coverage and presenceof Omicron variant. Continued on Page 2 "- &, * Aman was killed and fiveseriously injured in a blastinside a court complex inLudhiana on Thursday after-noon, with the police suspect-ing it to be triggered by ahuman bomb. Alarmed, theState Government has put every crowded place on alert, while asking the people to be careful .Coming close on the heelsof the two back-to-back inci-dents of attempted sacrilege,and ahead of upcomingAssembly polls, the bomb blastincident has created a stir withChief Minister Charanjit SinghChanni blaming the anti-national elements behind thesame with the sole aim to dis-rupt State s law and order.

4 Since they failed to suc-ceed in their nefarious designswhile committing the recentsacrilege incidents, they arenow creating terror, the ChiefMinister said, adding that sternaction would be taken againstthose trying to disturb lawand order in the Chief Minister-cum-Home MinisterSukhjinder Singh Randhawasaid, Punjab has been put on high alert. Special teamshave been deployed to probethe matter. Seeking a detailed reporton the incident, the UnionHome Ministry has asked thePunjab Government to informabout the findings of the initial investigation and whocould be possibly involved inthe Home Ministry, in acommunication, has asked theState Government to send thereport as early as possible , giv-ing details of the , the ChiefMinister, who visited the blastsite and later met the injured inall three hospitals withRandhawa.

5 Announced freetreatment for all injured per-sons in the two-member team ofNational Investigation Agency(NIA) from Chandigarhrushed to probe the blast inci-dent. Ludhiana PoliceCommissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said the area hasbeen sealed and forensic teamswill collect samples from theblast site. The explosion might havebeen executed by a humanbomb. Though not confirmed,the person, whose body isinside and is yet to be identi-fied, was either carrying thebomb or was very close to thesame, we are investigating, said Bhullar, who is leading that thedeceased is the prime suspectof the blast, the PoliceCommissioner said that thepolice have not picked thebody yet and are waiting for theNSG s bomb disposal squad toinvestigate the link between theman and the mysterious explo-sion.

6 The police are suspectinguse of IED in the police have confirmedone death, though initially twodeaths were reported from thespot. Bhullar said that thedeceased was being identifiedto ascertain how and why hereached the blast the injured includean advocate, a photostatmachine operator, a cop, andtwo visitors. The condition ofall injured was stated to be sta-ble and out of on Page 2 %+" . /, The contentious Anti-Conversion Bill waspassed by the KarnatakaLegislative Assembly onThursday, amid din, with ChiefMinister Basavaraj Bommaiterming it as both constitu-tional and legal , and aimed atgetting rid of the menace ofreligious the KarnatakaProtection of Right to Freedomof Religion Bill, 2021 , toothand nail, the Congress dubbedit anti-people , inhuman , anti-constitutional , anti-poor and draconian , andurged it should not be passedfor any reason and that it bewithdrawn by the JD(S)

7 Too expressed itsOpposition to the Bill provides for pro-tection of right to freedom ofreligion and prohibition ofunlawful conversion from onereligion to another by misrep-resentation, force, undue influ-ence, coercion, allurement orby any fraudulent proposes an imprison-ment from three to five yearswith a fine of 25,000, while forviolation of provisions withrespect to minors, women,SC/ST, the offenders will facejail from three to ten years anda fine of not less than 50, Bill makes provisions forthe accused to pay up to 5lakh as compensation to thoseconverted, and with regards tocases of mass conversion thereshall be a 3-10 year jail termand a fine of up to 1 on Page 2 "-$0*1'Aday after the Ram Mandirland scam expose,Opposition leaders, includingBahujan Samaj Party chiefMayawati and Congress leaderPriyanka Gandhi Vadra.

8 Start-ed mounting pressure of aSupreme Court-monitoredprobe alleging that the enquiryordered by the StateGovernment is an of all theOpposition parties, includingthe Bahujan Samaj Party, theCongress, the Samajwadi Party,the AAP, questioned how theUP Government officialsinvolved in the scam couldprobe it. Chief Minister YogiAdityanath on Wednesdayordered a probe after an inves-tigative report found thatGovernment officials and theirrelatives have purchased landaround Ram Mandir construction site the Governmentover the issue, Bahujan SamajParty president Mayawati hassought Supreme Court inter-vention in the alleged landscam in Ayodhya.

9 Continued on Page 2 / 2 * #,Targeting the milkmen com-munity, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi said develop-ment is not in the syllabus ofthe Opposition leaders whoruled the States for decades. The words of LPG, roads,toilets and other basic ameni-ties the people need are not intheir dictionary, said the PMwhile addressing an impressivepublic meeting at Kharkhinavnear Varanasi-Jaunpur highwayhere on Thursday, falling inPindra Assembly constituency,a segment of Machhalishahar(Jaunpur) Parliamentary seat. Mafia, Parivarvad, illegalgrabbing of land are some ofthe words found in the dictio-nary of the rival political par-ties who were responsible for allthe backwardness of this regionof Purvanchal, he said, addingthe Government work on theprinciple of seeking the sup-port, faith and efforts of all fortheir overall development.

10 Through the meeting afterlaying the foundation stonefor 475 crore Banas (Amul)Dairy plant, the third one afterLucknow and Kanpur in UP,Modi indirectly targeted thetraditional Yadav vote-bank ofthe Samajwadi Party, wooingthe milkmen. He also launchedthe Dairy Mark , a unified logoand certification mark thatensures quality and food safe-ty products across the country. Strengthening the dairy sectoris one of the top priorities ofour Government, Modi said. Seeing the double devel-opment work and doublestrength of the double engineGovernment of UP, frustrationhas started brewing up amongthe Opposition parties becausethey had always played a poli-tics of caste, creed and religionin their bid to come to thepower in the State, he said.