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1 ! " # $ % & & & & ! "# ' ( # & ! ) *+ , % (.0#1 Mahatma Gandhi sfavourite tune AbideWith Me will not figure in thisyear s Beating the RetreatCeremony on Rajpath onJanuary 29. This hymn played at theannual ceremony since 1950was omitted in 2020 but wasincluded later following criti-cism from various , this develop-ment on Saturday came a dayafter a political slugfest over theshifting of the Amar JawanJyoti from the India Gate to thenewly constructed NationalWar Memorial (NWM). Veterans and Congressleaders Rahul Gandhi said theextinguishing of the AmarJawan Jyoti was an insult to thefallen soldiers. However, theGovernment refuted thecharge and said the flame wasnot extinguished and insteadmerged into the eternal flameat the NWM.)

2 Abide With Me is ahymn that was written byScottish anglican HenryFrancis Lyte in 1847 while bat-tling tuberculosis. It is aprayer urging God to remainwith the speaker through lifeand in favourite of Gandhiji,this tune is played at the endof the Beating the Retreat cer-emony at Vijay Chowk everyyear. The Retreat, an ancientmilitary tradition, signals theend of fighting for the day,with soldiers sheathing armsand withdrawing from thebattlefield. The hymn is set tothe tune of Eventide byWilliam Henry year s ceremony willbegin with Fanfare byBuglers, followed by VeerSainik by the Massed Bandsand six tunes by the Pipes andDrums band. Bands of theCentral Armed Police Forceswill play three tunes, followedby four tunes by the Air ForceBand, which will include aspecial Ladakoo tune, byFlight Lt L S Rupachandra.

3 (.0#1 Amid the third wave ofCovid-19 in the country,the Election Commission (EC)on Saturday extended the banon physical political rallies,roadshows, pad-yatras, cycleand bike rallies and processionstill January 31 in five poll-bound States Uttar Pradesh,Goa, Manipur, Punjab andUttarakhand. This is the second time thecommission has extended theban after the first one wasannounced on January 15 andthe second on January poll panel also increasedthe five-person limit for door-to-door campaigning to 10and allowed video vans forpublicity at designated openspaces with coronavirusrestrictions. No roadshow, padyatra, cycle /bike/vehicle rally andprocession shall be allowed tillJanuary 31, 2022, the EC decision was taken fol-lowing a virtual meeting totake stock of the Covid-19 sit-uation with all stakeholders,including the Union HealthSecretary, Chief ElectoralOfficers, Chief Secretaries,and State Health Secretaries ofthe five poll-bound States.)

4 Since contesting candi-dates for Phase 1 elections willbe finalised on January 28,2022, the commission hasdecided to allow physical pub-lic meetings of political partiesor contesting candidates indesignated open spaces with amaximum of 500 people or 50per cent of the capacity of theground or the prescribed limitset by State DisasterManagement Authorities,whichever number is lesser,from January 28, 2022, tillFebruary 8, 2022 (excludingthe silence period), it EC said that limit offive persons for door to doorcampaign has been enhancedto 10 people, excluding secu-rity personnel and video vansfor publicity permitted at des-ignated open spaces withCovid restrictions. !"# $ #%& (.0#1 Goa s MLAs who were elect-ed in the 2017 Assemblypolls do not seem to have anyallegiances to the party whichfielded them in the many as 24 MLAs in Goa,which is 60 per cent of the 40-member Assembly, shiftedtheir loyalties in the last fiveyears, the Association ofDemocratic Reforms (ADR)said in a has set a uniquerecord, which is unparalleled in the history of Indian democ-racy.)

5 Assembly polls in Goa willbe held on February 14. In the five-year tenure ofthe current Assembly (2017-2022), as many as 24 MLAshave changed their parties,which is 60 per cent of the totalstrength of the House. It hasnever happened anywhere elsein India. A clear reflection ofutter disrespect to the mandateof voters. A callous approach toethics and discipline overborneby uncontrolled greed at itsworst, the report said the list of 24 MLAsdid not include the names ofVishwajit Rane, SubhashShirodkar, and DayanandSopte, who had resigned asCongress MLAs in 2017, and 02 3-4/The Samajwadi Party onSaturday confirmed thatparty chief Akhilesh Yadav willcontest the Assembly poll, hisfirst, from Karhal constituen-cy in Mainpuri district, whichis in his family s home has voted forSamajwadi Party candidates inevery election since 1993,except in 2002, when the BJPwrested it.

6 It returned to the SPin 2007 and is currently held bySobaran contesting from Karhal,the current and long-time LokSabha seat of his fatherMulayam Singh Yadav,Akhilesh is trying to secure hisparty s fortress of the Yadavbelt where the BJP has by the success ofthe huge turnout in Vijay RathYatra, Akhilesh had decidednot to contest the Assemblyelection and concentrate oncampaigning. Two events,however, forced him to changethe strategy ban of cam-paigning by the EC (nowextended till January 30) dueto the third wave of Covid-19pandemics, and BJP decidingto field Yogi Adityanath fromGorakhpur. In a loud and clear mes-sage to the electorate that theBJP is leading the battle fromthe front, the saffron partyannounced Yogi s name in thevery first list of its candidateseven when the polling inGorakhpur will be held in thesixth phase of election onMarch constituency has ahigh population of SP won it in 2017 with amargin of more than 38,000votes despite the BJP wave inthe State.

7 Karhal town is just a15-minute drive from theYadav family s native village,Saifai, in the Etawah Akhilesh taking theplunge into Assembly elec-tions, the SP is trying to senda larger message in the entireYadav belt from Firozabad toKannauj to rally behind theparty in these elections. 02 3-4/Making a conscious effort toshun the old baggage andpresent her party in a newavatar in Uttar Pradesh,Congress general secretaryPriyanka Gandhi Vadra hashand-picked over 70 per centnew faces among the total166 candidates for the high-stakes State Assembly sticking to herpromise of 40 per cent womencandidates, Priyanka has over-whelmingly given a chance todebutants with an aim to builda new leadership in the Hindiheartland, which had slippedfrom the party hands in the total 166 namesdeclared so far by theCongress, 119 candidates willbe making their electoraldebut, party spokesmanAnshu Awasthi told PTI.

8 Withthe candidature of SangeetaTyagi, wife of party leaderlate Rajiv Tyagi, fromSahibabad seat, Priyanka hasmade an earnest effort tobreak the mould and createnew leadership in the century-old party which has fadedinto political oblivion. !" New Delhi: Former Goa CMLaxmikant Parsekar to quitthe BJP. He said, I was amember of BJP for years butthe party took me for have prepared to dissociatemyself from the BJP and havedecided to contest indepen-dently. I will come out with thisdeclaration in a couple of days. # $ % & ' ( " ( )* + "# * , % + - joined the ruling BJP, beforecontesting polls on its least 10 Congress legis-lators had crossed over to theBJP in 2019. They included thethen leader of oppositionChandrakant Kavlekar(Quepem constituency).)

9 OtherCongress MLAs who hadswitched over to the BJP are -Jennifer Monserrate (Taleigao),Francisco Silveria (St Andre),Filipe Nery Rodrigues (Velim),Wilfred Nazareth MeninoD sa(Nuvem), Clafasio Dias(Cuncolim), Antonio CaranoFernandes (St Cruz),Neelkanth Halarnkar (Tivim),Isidore Fernandes (Cancona),Atanasio Monserrate (whowon the Panaji by election in2019 after death of ManoharParrikar). (.0#1 From one case on December2 last year, the Omicrontally in the country has crossedthe 10,000-mark! India record-ed a total of 3,37,704 Covid-19new cases of the novel coron-avirus, along with 488 deathsdue to the infection in the past24 hours. India s daily Covidcases have remained over 3lakh for the 3rd day in a World HealthOrganization (WHO) haswarned that to suggest thatOmicron will be the last vari-ant is virus is cir-culating at a very intense levelaround the Earth globe and it sstill Absolutely crit-ical we continue to track, mon-itor & assess variants.)

10 We re hearing a lot ofpeople suggest that #Omicronis the last variant & that it sover after this and that is notthe This virus is circu-lating at a very intense levelaround the world, said MariaVan Kerkhove, infectious dis-ease epidemiologist; Covid-19 Technical Lead of theWHO. We must keep working toreduce Covid-19 transmis-sion, she to the datashared by the Union HealthMinistry, the country saw atotal of 2,42,676 discharges inthe last 24 hours, taking thetotal recovery rate at per cent, and total recov-eries data reached to 3,63, total active cases ofCovid-19 in India have risen to21,13,365, the Ministry datashowed today. The total deathtoll in the country is now at4,88,884. In India, the firstdeath due to the Covid pan-demic was reported in , the tally ofOmicron cases reached 10,050on Saturday with an increase per cent since daily positivity rate is per cent today.