YK MYK GRANTS TO POPULARIZE USE OF DRONE IN FARMING IS THE BEGINNING OPINION Rs. 5 RANCHI SATURDAY, 22 JAN, 2022 PG-12, YEAR—11, ISSUE—253 (RNI NO: JHAENG / 2012 / 44137) AT A GLANCE MANOHAR PARRIKAR'S SON TO QUIT BJP PANAJI: Rejecting the BJP's efforts to arrive at a compromise, former Chief Minister late Manohar Parrikar's son Utpal Parrikar said on Friday that he would resign from the saffron party and contest as an Independent candidate for the February 14 polls from the Panaji Assembly constituency, which was formerly represented by his father. Addressing a press conference here, Utpal Parrikar also said that his candidature was rejected by the party during the 2019 Panaji bypolls despite support from his constituents. CORONA METER INDIA TOTAL CASES: 38,566,027 TOTAL DEATHS: 488,422 WORLD TOTAL CASES: 343,731,667 TOTAL DEATHS: 5,595,447 GOVT BLOCKS 35 PAK-BASED YOUTUBE CHANNELS FOR ANTI-INDIA CONTENTS SPORTS Morning India India reports 3.4L new cases, daily positivity rate at 17.94 pc NEW DELHI: India reported 3,47,254 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours and the daily positivity rate stood at 17.94 per cent, said Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Friday. The fresh infections are 29,722 more than yesterday. On Thursday, India logged 3,17,532 new COVID-19 cases. The weekly positivity rate stood at 16.56 per cent, as per the government's data released today. With the addition of new infections recorded in the country, the active cases mounted to 20,18,825. As per the ministry, the active cases account for 5.23 per cent of the total cases. As many as 2,51,777 recoveries were reported in the last 24 hours. With this, the total recoveries climbed to 3,60,58,806. The recovery rate is currently at 93.50 per cent. The number of people who succumbed to the virus in the last 24 hours is 703. The death toll is now at 4,88,396. The country has so far registered 9,692 cases of the COVID-19 variant Omicron. There is an increase of 4.36 per cent in its cases since Thursday as per the ministry. PG 5 A partially deserted view of Lal Chowk as Jammu and Kashmir administration imposes weekend lockdown in view of the rising COVID-19 cases, in Srinagar on Friday. ANI COVID DATA OF THOUSANDS OF INDIANS, HEALTH WORKERS 'LEAKED' ONLINE NEW DELHI: Cyber-criminals have allegedly stolen data of thousands of people in India, including health workers, from a government server (that has even been indexed in Google Search), which includes name, mobile number, address and Covid test results. The data of over 20,000 Indians are available on the Raid Forums website on the Dark Web, and the hacker claims that they are directly coming from a government CDN (content delivery network) server. The same documents are also available freely on Google Search as "List of Beneficiaries Enrolled for Covid Vaccine" with keywords like RT-PCR results. Inclement weather predicted in coming days INDIA LOST 49 ELEPHANTS TO HUNTERS IN 2021: RTI REPLY SANJAY SAHAY RANCHI: The northern and the central parts of the state would witness isolated rainfall on Saturday, which would be followed by fairly widespread rainfall all over the state on Sunday. Giving the information the weather department said that the change in weather is due to the western disturbance, which is presently lying over Rajasthan. It predicted that thunderstorm and hailstorm would take place at isolated places in Khunti, Ranchi, Ramgarh, Bokaro, Giridih, Dhanbad, Jamtara, Deoghar, Dumka, Pakur, Godda and Sahibganj on Sunday. It has cautioned the citizens to be alert and remain updated. On Monday, north-eastern, south-eastern and the central parts would witness light to moderate rain accompanied with thundering. The sky would be mainly clear from January 26. The weather department said that minimum temperature would increase by two to four degrees centigrade in People sit around a bonfire for relief from cold weather, in Ranchi on Friday. Hemant Sutradhar next three days adding it would then fall. The daytime temperature would also fall during the cloudy weather. On Friday, Ranchi registered a maximum temperature of 24 degrees centigrade and a minimum of 10.5 degrees centigrade. The state capital and its surrounding areas would have cloudy weather for the next three days. The sky would be main- ly clear from December 26. Light rainfall was registered in Tilayya in Jharkhand in the last 24 hours. The prediction has stated that the maximum temperature would be below normal to normal in next seven days and remain in range of 20 to 25 degree centigrade. The minimum temperatures would be normal to above normal. I am the face of Cong in UP: Priyanka In a big revelation, for the first time, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) Incharge of Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has said that she is the face of the party in the state for the upcoming Assembly elections. During a press conference, answering a question that when other parties have Chief Ministers' faces and they too are contesting polls, who is leading Congress, she replied, "I am the face of the party. Do you see any other face from the party in the State?" Although, when asked that will she contest the Assembly polls, Priyanka said, "that will be decided at a right time." PG 5 NOIDA: As many as 49 elephants were killed across the country by hunters in 2021, with law-enforcement agencies arresting 77 accused, a Central government agency said in response to an RTI query. The maximum killings were recorded in Assam (9) followed by West Bengal, Odisha and Tamil Nadu (8 each), Karnataka and Uttarakhand (3 each), the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) said. Both Kerala and Arunachal Pradesh logged two cases of elephant killings while Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Meghalaya, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra had one case each, it added. Noida-based social and animal rights activist Ranjan Tomar had sought the information from the WCCB, which functions under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFF) under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. In terms of arrests related to the killings of elephants, the maximum 17 people were held in Tamil Nadu followed by 15 in Assam, 13 in Odisha, 11 in West Bengal, the reply said. Amar Jawan Jyoti at India Gate merged with National War Memorial flame NEW DELHI: Amar Jawan Jyoti at iconic India Gate was merged with the flame at the National War Memorial in a military ceremony followed by a parade on Friday. The torch bearing the flames from Amar Jawan Jyoti was carried and merged with National War Memorial in a full military tradition. Soldiers from tri services marched carrying the flame from India Gate to the war memorial metres away from there. Air Marshal Balabhadra Radha Krishna, Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee (CISC), presided over the ceremony. The officer laid wreath first at Amar Jawan Jyoti and then at War Memorial. He was welcomed by three deputy chiefs in full military tradition. Amar Jawan Jyoti was built in 1972 underneath the India Gate arch to commemorate soldiers martyred in the Indo-Pak War of 1971. It is a memorial symbolised by an inverted bayonet and sol- dier's helmet over it with an eternal flame burning beside it. Amar Jawan Jyoti's existence was questioned two years ago when National War Memorial came into existence and the nation got a new eternal flame there. Earlier tri-services chiefs and visiting delegates used to pay respect at the Amar Jawan Jyoti. Even on all important days like Republic Day and Independence Day, tri services chief used to pay respect at Amar Jawan Jyoti. COWIN PORTAL: NOW, 6 MEMBERS CAN REGISTER WITH ONE MOBILE NO NEW DELHI: The CoWIN portal has been upgraded to now facilitate six members' registration using one mobile number for the beneficiaries The CoWIN is a platform to register for vaccination, using mobile number or Aadhaar number, or any other identity documents. "Instead of the existing limit of 4 members, now 6 members can be registered using one mobile number on Co-WIN," said the Union Health Ministry in a statement. In continuation of updates on various utility features of CoWIN for the beneficiaries, a feature has been introduced under raise an issue in Co-WIN account through which beneficiary can revoke its current vaccination status from fully vaccinated to partially vaccinated or unvaccinated status and also partially vaccinated to unvaccinated status. The feature enables the vaccine beneficiaries to correct their vaccination status where in occasional isolated cases, the vaccination certificates are generated. Top Maoist carrying bounty of Rs 10 lakh surrenders ANURAG THAKUR RANCHI: Jharkhand Police on Friday announced the surrender of notorious Maoist Maharaj Pramanik, the zonal commander of CPI Maoist, also carrying a bounty of Rs 10 lakhs. He surrendered with AK-47 in front of IG Operations AV Homkar and Ranchi Zonal IG Pankaj Kamboj. He was along with Jharkhand Police in the ongoing operation against Maoists unofficially for the last 3 months. Pramanik is said to be the hardcore Maoist of Central Committee member Patiram Majhi alias Anal Squad with a reward of Rs one crore. His surrender has weakened the Maoists in Seraikela, Khunti and West Singhbhum region. Earlier, on the occasion IG Operation AV Homkar said Maharaj Pramanik’s surrender is a great success for the police. Now the Maoists are getting disillusioned with the organization. Pramanik has also admitted that Maoists organizations do not have any theory or ideology. Their only goal is levy collection. Notably, Pramanik was wanted in more than two dozen Maoist incidents. He had carried out many incidents including Kukuruhat, Maoist Maharaj Pramanik, the zonal commander of CPI (Maoist) with policemen in Ranchi on Friday. Lanji of Seraikela. On June 14, 2019, CPI (Maoists) led by Pramanik attacked police forces at Kukuruhat in Seraikela and killed five policemen. Pramanik's squad was also accused of killing three policemen in the IED blast in Lanji in March 2021. Along with the state police, the NIA was also looking for Pramanik. The state police had announced a reward of Rs 10 lakh on Pramanik. Here, last year, Maoist spokesperson Ashok had issued a press statement saying that Maharaj had come out of the organization three times before July 2021 on the pretext of treatment. During this he came in contact with the police. The organization came to know about this, then on August 14, he left the organization and ran away. While escaping from the organization, he also took away Rs 40 lakh cash of the organization, an AK 47 rifle, more than 150 bullets and a pistol. Meanwhile, the biggest success is the arrest of six Maoists including Maoists' Politburo member Prashant Bose alias Kishan and his wife, carrying a reward of Rs 1 crore. In the past, three members of the Pramanik Squad, Balloon Sardar, Suraj Sardar and Suraj's wife have duly surrendered to the police.