New Delhi/ Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], October 11 (ANI/PRNewswire): IIFL Finance , one of India's largest retail-focused diversified non-banking financial companies, has partnered with Credgenics , the leading provider of SaaS-based collections and debt resolution technology solutions worldwide, to implement Credgenics' end-to-end debt collections technology platform. Digitization to drive the next level of efficiencies and profitability. ML-based strategies to strengthen customer-focused approach in collections.
Credgenics AI-powered collections platform, deployed at IIFL Finance, covers a range of solutions across the collections stages from pre-due management to post-due recoveries. The platform has enabled completely digitized loan collections at IIFL with ML-based analytical capabilities to segment borrowers and roll out tailored collections strategies. With Credgenics, IIFL has implemented a multichannel strategic digital communications approach resulting in reduced bounce rates, higher recoveries, and enhanced customer engagement. The CG Collect mobile app has digitized field collections with its innovative capabilities including agent route map planning, proximity-based allocation, google maps navigation, field force tracking, unified borrower details, and simplified visit management. The Billzy digital payments application ensures that IIFL borrowers can easily complete their loan repayments digitally through custom payment links embedded in the communications. Credgenics, recognized as the top market-leading loan collections platform in India by IBS Intelligence in their Annual Sales League Table 2022, has reduced the operations cost with its automated and simplified processes.
Credgenics has also implemented 'Project Litigal', derived from 'Legal + Digital', a unique approach to digitize the collections related to legal processes at IIFL. Credgenics dashboards provide a 360-degree view of all litigation activities while integration with eCourts offers legal case tracking, real-time updates, and reminders. With Credgenics, the entire legal communication including notices, summons and warrants, across the lifecycle is sent digitally with tracking capabilities. Advocate dashboards that provide a comprehensive overview of the associated activities and costs incurred, offer enhanced visibility and transparency. An advanced version of the platform's mobile app will further provide advocates with quick access to notices and eCourts data.
Sanjeev Srivastava, Chief Risk Officer, IIFL Finance said, "Delivering disruptive products by combining innovation and setting a new benchmark in customer-centricity is a key differentiator for IIFL Finance. We take great pride in being the trendsetter when it comes to making our solutions and processes future-oriented. We partnered with Credgenics as we believe that their platform will bring in tremendous business agility, dynamism, and efficiencies across our collections value chain."
Sandeep K Rajput, Head Legal Recoveries, IIFL Finance said, "I would like to extend my thanks to the Credgenics team for their utmost efforts to set up the process of Litigal. Now, a new era has begun which is called 'LITIGAL', a unique form of Legal + Digital. We adopted it at a very fast pace through Credgenics and implemented the way of legal in Digital. This will definitely set up a new precedent in IIFL Finance while we move forward with a 100 per cent digital hybrid model. The legal and recovery team is dedicated to implementing all processes in this manner one by one. Automation of legal notices, servicing in a digital way, Chatbot, AI, IVR for legal cases is the way forward."
Rishabh Goel, Co-founder, and CEO of Credgenics said, "We are proud to be working with IIFL Finance for the digital transformation of debt collections. IIFL is a pioneer in leveraging technology innovations to redefine customer experience and Credgenics is extending this approach to collections. Soon after implementation, our market-leading platform has made a significant positive impact to the key collections-related metrics at IIFL, and we are confident of delivering more business value in the future."
IIFL Finance Ltd is a leading retail-focused diversified NBFC in India, engaged in the business of loans and mortgages along with its subsidiaries - IIFL Home Finance Limited and IIFL Samasta Finance Limited. IIFL Finance, through its subsidiaries, offers a wide spectrum of products such as Home loan, Gold loan, Business loan, Microfinance, Capital Market finance and Developer and Construction finance to a vast customer base of over 8 million customers. IIFL Finance has widened its pan-India reach through an extensive network of branches spread across the country and various digital channels. https://www.iifl.com/
Credgenics is the leading provider of Loan Collections and Debt Resolution technology platform to Banks, Non-banking finance companies, FinTechs, and ARCs worldwide. The SaaS-based platform provides solutions for end-to-end collections lifecycle including digital collections, multi-channel communications, calling, predictive dialers, litigation management, digital payments, mobile-based field collections, dashboard, and analytics. Credgenics reduces the time and cost to collect, increases the collections rate, brings down the NPAs, improves operational efficiencies, and transforms the borrowers' experiences. Credgenics works with 75+ customers and handles USD 2 bn NPA stage retail loan book value, and USD 6 bn delinquent stage retail loan book value. It manages 22 million retail loans and sends 50 million digital communications every month. With Credgenics, lenders have increased resolution rates by 20 per cent, improved collections by 25 per cent, reduced collections cost by 40 per cent, reduced collections time by 30 per cent, and improved legal efficiencies by 60 per cent. https://www.credgenics.com/
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 New Delhi [India], October 11 (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi conveyed greetings on the occasion of Parkash Purab of Guru Ramdas, on Tuesday.

The famous Guru Ramdas was the 4th Sikh Guru and has immense contributions to Sikh history. PM Modi said that Guru Ramdas Ji made an indelible contribution to Sikh history and culture, emphasising service and compassion.
Taking Twitter, PM said, "I bow to Sri Guru Ramas Ji on the auspicious occasion of his Parkash Purab. He has made an indelible contribution to Sikh history and culture with an emphasis on service and compassion."
PM also hailed Guru Ramdas as an outstanding poet and his works reflected a pure spirit of devotion."
The birth anniversary of Guru Ram Dass is celebrated as Parkash Divas or Parkash Gurpurab. He is called the founder of the holy city of Amritsar.
On the occasion of the birth anniversary of Guru Ram Das, devotees queued up in large numbers to celebrate the ocassion and took a holy dip in the Golden Temple Sarovar.
The Chief Minister of Punjab Bhagawant Mann also hailed Guru Ramdas on his birth anniversary and greeted people on the occasion.

"Congratulations to all the devotees on the occasion of Prakash Purab of the founder of the holy city Sri Amritsar Sahib... the fourth Patshah Sahib Sri Guru Ram Das Ji", Mann tweeted.
Mann further said that Guru Sahib also gave a message to humanity in his entire life and composed Gurbani to live life with love, egoless and service spirit.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also extended his greetings on the occasion of Parkash Utsav.

"Hearty congratulations and best wishes to all the people of the state and the Sikh community on the holy Parkash Utsav of Guru Sahib Shri Guru Ramdas Ji Maharaj," Yogi said. (ANI)

 New Delhi [India], October 11 (ANI/PRNewswire): RateGain Travel Technologies Limited (RateGain), a global SaaS company for travel and hospitality, has today announced that it has been selected by Royal Orchid Hotels to drive profitability and better connectivity with bundled solution offering from RateGain.
As one of India's fastest-growing hospitality chains with a wide footprint catering to leisure and business travelers, the Royal Orchid group is looking to capitalize on the excellent growth recovery with a strong upcoming festival season in India and inflow of foreign tourists. Royal Orchid Hotels will be implementing RateGain's award-winning Rate Intelligence solutions bundled together with channel manager platform for reliable and improved connectivity to demand partners globally.
With a strong recovery in travel and the country reopening, short-term demand volatility continues to make it difficult for hotels to track market changes in real-time and identify opportunities to either maximize their margins during high-demand dates or manage the impact on bookings in case demand falls.
Also, with new Online Travel Agents (OTAs) emerging globally and demand increasing across digital channels, hotel chains cannot afford to miss out on new demand emerging in different geographies across the world.
To counter these challenges and maximize revenue & occupancy opportunity, Royal Orchid Hotels has selected a bundled offering from RateGain, whose technology would provide them with real-time competitive pricing intelligence and improved connectivity to a wide network of OTAs globally. By leveraging the growing inter-operability of RateGain's products, the Group was able to fulfil its requirements across Sales, Marketing & Distribution through a seamlessly integrated single platform.
RateGain's Real-time Rate Intelligence Solution will help the Group to optimize their pricing strategy in accordance with the current market trends and competitor rates. Through an easy-to-use platform, Optima users can track rates across multiple channels - Mobile, Meta, Member & Market (Geographic point of sale).
RateGain's Channel Manager with a comprehensive demand partner network will enable the group to deliver unique booking experiences to its guests along with boosting its visibility across continents.
Commenting on the partnership Prashant Mehrotra, Chief Operating Officer, Regenta & Royal Orchid Hotels said: "As travel demand is returning strongly and with tourists flow expected to pick up, we are looking for innovative solutions to have a competitive edge to optimize our pricing and have better visibility across demand partners. In the current environment with many uncertainties looming, it was essential to have one partner who can provide us with a single platform for accurate real time intelligence and connectivity across global OTAs making it seamless and efficient for us to manage."
Commenting on the partnership, Bhanu Chopra, Founder and Chairman, RateGain, said, "We are delighted to deliver our bundled solution to Royal Orchid Hotels on a single platform providing them high-quality revenue insights and better connectivity to demand channels across the globe. Travel demand is recovering well and our combined capability to deliver actionable data along with better visibility, will help unlock revenue for the Group. It is a privilege to support Royal Orchid Group's hotel portfolio through the current recovery and beyond."
Royal Orchid & Regenta Hotels is one of India's fastest-growing hospitality brands, managing a portfolio of over 75+ properties with 4,600 rooms across the country. Catering to leisure and business travelers, the group's hotels and resorts are present across metro cities, holiday destinations, pilgrimage sites, adventure sites and wildlife parks. Royal Orchid Hotels has traded on the Indian Stock Exchanges since 2006. For more information, please visit https://www.royalorchidhotels.com/
RateGain Travel Technologies Limited is a global provider of SaaS solutions for travel and hospitality that works with over 2200+ customers in over 100+ countries helping them accelerate revenue generation through acquisition, retention and wallet share expansion. RateGain is one of the world's largest processors of electronic transactions and price points for the travel and hospitality industry and is the largest Software as a Service ("SaaS") company in the hospitality and travel industry in India.
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 New Delhi [India], October 11 (ANI): India's gems and jewellery exports witnessed a 27.17 per cent growth in September to Rs 30,195.21 crore (USD 3765.51 million) as compared to Rs 23,743.46 crore during the same month last year, data released by the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) showed.
Since the start of the financial year 2022-23, the overall gross exports of gem and jewellery rose 12.82 per cent to Rs 161,545.06 crores on a cumulative basis (USD 20,580.11 million) as compared to Rs 143,187.15 crore (USD 19,359.01 million) for the same period last year, data showed. With this, the sector has achieved 45 per cent of the total export target of USD 45.7 billion for the current financial year. "With a robust growth of gem & jewellery exports in September, the last quarter of the year is expected to be more fulfilling as sales will be driven by the Holiday season and festivities," Vipul Shah, Chairman of GJEPC said.
Plain gold jewellery has continued to gain traction with an average growth of 19.43 per cent (in dollar terms) post the India-UAE CEPA agreement.
"However, there are a few bottlenecks which if resolved would further boost the gem and jewellery trade between India and UAE. Lab-grown diamond exports continue to have a positive run, focused measures will further strengthen such exports from India," Shah said, adding that he was confident the sector would certainly achieve the export target.
Following is the item-wise break up of exports of gems and jewellery during the April-September period and for the month of September:
For the period of April - September 2022, the overall gross exports of Cut and Polished diamonds grew 4.71 per cent to Rs 95,805.48 crores as compared to Rs 91,495.04 crore for the same period last year.
In September 2022, the overall gross export of Cut and Polished diamonds grew 21.99 per cent to Rs 17,107.64 crore as compared to Rs 14,023.78 crore in September 2021.
For the period of April to September 2022, the provisional gross export of total Gold Jewellery (plain and studded) increased 24.88 per cent to Rs 38,939.62 crore as compared to Rs 31,182.32 crore for the same period last year.
For September 2022, the total gross export of Gold Jewellery (plain and studded) witnessed a growth of 25.42 per cent to Rs 7,067.17 crore as compared to Rs 5,634.86 crore for the same period last year.
In the financial year-to-date (April to September 2022), provisional gross export of Plain Gold Jewellery grew 26.92 per cent to Rs 16,395.42 crore as compared to Rs 12,917.66 crores for the same period last year.
For September 2022, the total gross export of Plain Gold Jewellery witnessed a growth of 30.78 per cent to Rs 2,556.40 crores as compared to Rs 1,954.78 crores for the same last year.
For the period of April to September 2022, provisional gross exports of all kinds of Studded Gold jewellery surged 23.43 per cent to Rs 22,544.21 crore as compared to Rs 18,264.67 crore for the same period last year.
For the month of September 2022, the total gross export of all kinds of Studded Gold jewellery went up by 22.57 per cent to Rs 4,510.77 crore as compared to Rs 3,680.08 crore in September 2021.
In the fiscal year-to-date, provisional gross export of Polished Lab-Grown Diamonds soared 70.26 per cent to Rs 7,407.56 crore as compared to Rs 4,350.81 crore for the same period last year.
From April 2022 to September 2022, the provisional gross export of coloured gemstones jumped 54.62 per cent to Rs 1,642.93 crore as compared to Rs 1,062.57 crore for the same period last year.
From April to September 2022, the provisional gross export of Silver Jewellery increased 42.68 per cent to Rs 13,735.07 crore as compared to Rs 9,626.64 crore for the same period last year.
For the period of April 2022 to September 2022, provisional gross export of Platinum Jewellery grew 52.46 per cent to Rs 153.5 crores as compared to Rs 100.68 crore for the same period last year. (ANI)

 Vellore (Tamil Nadu) [India], October 11 (ANI/PRNewswire): AG&P Pratham, a leading player in the Indian City Gas Distribution (CGD) industry, has launched Tamil Nadu's first Liquified Compressed Natural Gas (LCNG) station near Manthangal Village, Walajah Taluk, Ranipet District. The LCNG Station was inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Thiru. M.K. Stalin, in a virtual event which was also graced by Thiru. Thangam Thennarasu, Minister of Industries and Thiru. V Irai Anbu, IAS, Chief Secretary, Government of Tamil Nadu. Located in Wallajah Taluk, Ranipet, the new station was inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Thiru. M.K. Stalin.
Speaking at the event Abhilesh Gupta - Managing Director & CEO mentioned that the LCNG Station is the first of its kind in Tamil Nadu and that the commissioning of this facility is a significant step toward transitioning Vellore & Ranipet cities and surrounding areas into a gas-based ecosystem, fueling industry growth and prosperity in the region. The facility will cater to the piped natural gas requirements of domestic households, industries, commercial establishments and CNG for the transport sector. The company will be developing 300 km of pipeline network in Vellore-Ranipet area by the end of FY23. The new station will benefit 30000+ households and 325 industrial and commercial establishments across Vellore, Ranipet and Thirupattur. AG&P Pratham is developing CGD networks in 6 districts of Tamil Nadu including Kanchipuram, Chengalpattu & South East Chennai, Vellore, Ranipet, Tirupattur and Ramanathapuram. By consistently expanding its footprint in the state, AG&P Pratham aims to cover 1 lakh domestic connections within a year and shall cover 22 lakh households across Tamil Nadu in the next eight years. To date, AG&P Pratham has launched 27 CNG stations in Kancheepuram-Chengalpattu Districts & South East Chennai, 3 in Ramanathapuram District and 14 in Vellore & Ranipet Districts. The company plans to launch 22 more CNG stations in the state by March 2023.
Gupta further said that AG&P Pratham is grateful for the continued support from the State government and local authorities in helping AG&P strengthen the CNG infrastructure in TN and for their sustained pursuit of cleaner energy sources. We are working aggressively at the grassroots level to further the Government's vision of migrating towards a gas-based economy. With the new LCNG station, the area will now have easy access to natural gas which is a cleaner and affordable fuel for households, industries, commercial establishments and vehicular transport.
With AG&P Pratham's constant endeavor to create an environmental friendly ecosystem, we are promoting the use of CNG which has several merits over traditional fuels like diesel and petrol. CNG has the strongest safety record and compelling economic benefits to vehicle owners. Natural Gas helps reduce air pollution caused by vehicles and industries and helps the country move towards responsible growth and energy sufficiency.
AG&P Pratham has authorizations to develop CGD networks across 12 Geographical Areas covering 34 districts across 8 per cent of India and 64 million people in the states of Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. In its twelve Geographical Areas, AG&P Pratham is developing and operating CNG stations for vehicles, piped natural gas to homes, industries and commercial establishments. AG&P Pratham through its India-wide CGD network, plans to cover more than 278,000 and will have over 1,500 CNG stations and more than 17,000 inch-km of pipelines. AG&P Pratham has recently won the India 2022 'Energy Company of the Year' at 'The Economic Times Energy Leadership Awards'.
AG&P Pratham is presently operating CNG Stations in the districts of Andhra Pradesh: Anantapur, Kadapa, Chittoor, Sri Sathya Sai, Sri Balaji, Annamayya and Nellore Districts; Karnataka: Kolar, Mysuru, Mandya, Chamrajnagar, Hassan, Chikkamagaluru, Kodagu, Bagalkot, Koppal, Raichur, Kalaburagi, Vijayapura, Shivamogga, Uttara Kannada and Haveri; Tamil Nadu: Kanchipuram, Chengalpet, Vellore, Ranipet, Tirupattur and Ramanathapuram; Kerala: Alappuzha, Kollam, and Thiruvananthapuram; Rajasthan: Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Barmer.
This story has been provided by PRNewswire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content in this article. (ANI/PRNewswire)

 New Delhi [India], October 11 (ANI): With an aim to facilitate the spectators during the third ODI between India and South Africa cricket match scheduled for today at the Feroze Shah Kotla Ground's Arun Jaitley Stadium, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) revised the timings of the Metro trains running in the national capital and issued a new time table.
DMRC made minor tweaks in the last timings of the metro on all Lines except the Airport Express line, an official statement stated. The Delhi Metro will be performing extra train trips (around 48) by extending its last train timings by about 30-45 minutes on all Lines.
"To facilitate the spectators during the One-Day International Cricket match between India and South Africa scheduled on 11 October, Tuesday at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Ferozshah Kotla Ground, New Delhi, the Delhi Metro has made minor changes In its last train timings on all Lines except Airport Express Line", the statement read.
The Arun Jaitley stadium is adjacent to Delhi Gate/ITO Metro stations on the Violet Line and Kashmere Gate to Raja Nahar Singh corridor on the Violet Line.
"In anticipation of the sudden rush expected at these nearby Metro stations after the match is over, the Delhi Metro will be performing extra train trips (around 48) by extending its last train timings by about 30-45 minutes on all Lines," Delhi Metro's Principal Executive Director Anuj Dayal said in a press release. (ANI)

 Anand,PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday warned Bharatiya Janata Party workers against the Congress’s “silent” campaigning in Gujarat and said the ruling BJP will have to slightly modify its poll strategy to counter what he termed “conspiracy” of the opposition party.

Modi, on a three-day visit to his home state, said the Congress has this time appears to have changed its strategy in Gujarat, where Assembly polls are due in the next few months.

“I need to warn you because it appears to me that this time the Congress has adopted a new strategy. I have not probed, but that is what appears to me at first glance,” he said, addressing a BJP rally at Vallabh Vidyanagar in Anand district.

He said in previous Assembly elections, the Congress used to make a lot of noise and boast about “finishing” the BJP, which is ruling the state for more than two decades.

“But we did not fall (got defeated) in 20 years, so they have done something new, which is why we need to remain alert,” said Modi, who previously served as Chief Minister of Gujarat for 13 years.

The Prime Minister said the Congress, once a dominant political force in Gujarat, is not saying anything openly, but working “silently” by going to villages and adopting its old “manipulative” tricks.

“Therefore, don’t be confused because they are not appearing in the press, nor conducting any press conference or making speeches. Beware… the Congress is trying to infiltrate with a new strategy. It does not speak, but is reaching out to villages, holding meetings,” Modi said.

He said BJP workers needed to remain alert and counter this new strategy of the main Opposition party.

“Do not assess them on the basis of the fact that they have not conducted public meetings, press conferences, or made statements…There is a need for you to remain alert for the coming elections,” the Prime Minister said.

The BJP’s star campaigner maintained the country’s oldest political party is still leaving no chance “to insult Gujarat”.

“It has adopted a new strategy, to spread poison in villages, telling people by interpreting things differently,” he said at the rally on the second day of his visit to Gujarat.

He asked BJP cadres to reach out to voters and do door to door canvassing for the upcoming polls.

“We will have to understand this well and add a few new aspects to our strategy. I am sure BJP workers under the leadership of CR Paatil (Gujarat unit president) will tackle any crisis. We have to defeat the Congress’s conspiracy by going door to door (of voters),” Modi said. PTI

 Lucknow: In an akhada (a traditional wrestling ground) of Etawah’s Rajpur village in the early 1960s, a youngster from Saifai took on a well-known wrestler, Saryuddin Tripathi, and tamed him in a bout that lasted half an hour.

Years passed, the youngster, Mulayam Singh Yadav, rose to become the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh but his passion for wrestling remained undiminished. An apocryphal story goes that when a young bahubali (strong man) neta arrived at ‘Pancham Tal’ — the CM’s office on the fifth floor of Annexe Bhawan —  in the summer of 1990, Mulayam, then 50, folded his dhoti and wrestled down his rival.

“Netaji [Mulayam] was well-known for his ‘charkha daav’. It was said that if Mulayam used his move on someone in politics, his opponent would have to submit,” BJP MLC Narendra Bhati, who was previously with the Samajwadi Party (SP), told ThePrint reminiscing the exploits of three-time Uttar Pradesh chief minister who died Monday at a private hospital in Gurugram.

The political ‘daav-pech’  (strategies) of the wily Yadav could catch both his adversaries and friends off guard. Chandra Shekhar, the late former prime minister who once shared cordial ties with Mulayam, had a taste of it firsthand. 

The Samajwadi Janata Party (SJP) chief’s plans were first foiled when he attempted to send his supporter Mohan Singh to the Rajya Sabha in 1992 but Mulayam ensured his younger brother Ram Gopal Yadav entered the Upper House of Parliament. It was followed by an astute move. The one-time school master parted ways with Chandra Shekhar and announced the formation of the Samajwadi Party in September 1992. 

Journey to becoming Lohiaite

Born on 22 November 1939 at Saifai village in Etawah district, Mulayam did his schooling in his village school and graduated from K.K. College. He became an assistant teacher at Jain Inter College, Karhal in 1963. 

In his book ‘Mulayam Singh Yadav Aur Samajwad’, author Deshbandhu Vashisht writes that during the agitation launched by (Ram Manohar) Lohia against the UP government’s decision to hike the irrigation rates of water supplied to farmers, 14-year-old Mulayam courted arrest and was lodged in Etawah jail in 1954.

It was in his college days that Mulayam came under the influence of Socialist Party giants Ram Manohar Lohia and Raj Narain. 

An effective orator, Mulayam was elected as the president of the students’ union of his college and honed skills under his political mentor Nathu Singh and socialist leader Arjun Singh Bhadauria, who introduced him to Lohia.

This was the time when Lohia’s Samyukta Socialist Party (SSP) was running campaigns against English language along with abolition of casteism and hiked prices, Vashisht writes.

Mulayam made his electoral debut from Jaswantnagar on an SSP ticket in 1967 and became an MLA from the seat “gifted to him by Nathu Singh”, senior journalist Sunita Aron wrote in her book, ‘Akhilesh Yadav: Winds of Change’.

As he became engrossed in politics, Mulayam resigned from Jain Inter College in 1984. 

Mass leader with tight grip on cadre

“Under the patronage of Lohia, Raj Narain and later Charan Singh whose outfits fought against the Congress, he grew as a politician and was the one behind the rout of Congress in Uttar Pradesh,” Kunwar Rewati Raman Singh, a founding member of SP, told ThePrint.

In 1977, Mulayam became a cabinet minister in UP for the first time when the Janata Party replicated its stupendous show of the Lok Sabha election earlier that year.  

“With the death of Charan Singh [in 1987] resulting in a power tussle over inheritance of  Lok Dal and his son Ajit Singh claiming his father’s legacy, the Lok Dal was split and two outfits were formed: Ajit-led Lok Dal (A) and Hemwati Bahuguna led-Lok Dal (B),” reads the book, ‘Mulayam Singh: A Political Biography’, by authors Ram Singh and Anshuman Yadav.

The real force behind the Lok Dal (B) was Mulayam, the book notes, adding that Mulayam merged the Lok Dal (B) with the Janata Dal in 1989 and went on to become the Uttar Pradesh CM for the first time that year.

But Mulayam’s politics was pragmatic, said Sukhram Singh Yadav, the son of socialist leader and Samajwadi Party founding member Harmohan Singh Yadav.

Sukhram told ThePrint that Mulayam’s work at grassroot-level helped him to retain power amid a clutch of disunited non-Congress parties during the 1980s and 1990s.

Narrating an incident, Sukhram said former PM V.P. Singh refrained from mentioning his name during his speech at Kanpur at a campaign for local body polls in the late 1980s. “…Netaji stopped him thrice and forced him to take my name. That was the respect and regard he had for his workers.” 

A similar anecdote was narrated by socialist leader Sunilam, who once had 66 cases lodged against him and farmers in the aftermath of the 1998 Multai police firing in Madhya Pradesh.

“Netaji would always think about his workers. Usually, leaders of his stature don’t care for party workers. When I was facing criminal cases in connection with the [firing] incident, Netaji told me that he was worried and tried to speak to lawyers. He told me that he felt I would be convicted and helped me with legal support to get bail,” he told ThePrint.

Missed PM post by a whisker

Sukhram lamented that the “only thing” that Mulayam fell short of was the Prime Minister’s chair due to Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad.

Elaborating the turn of events, Rewati Raman said when the then Congress president Sitaram Kesri pulled down the Deve Gowda government in 1997, CPM stalwart Harkishan Singh Surjeet dropped his choice of Mulayam and instead propped up I.K. Gujral after Lalu came out against the SP chief.

“Surjeet had finalised Netaji’s name for the PM candidate in Delhi but it was RJD’s Lalu who opposed it. Mulayam would have been the PM but for Lalu,” he said.

In 2014, Mulayam taunted Lalu when he mentioned that his dream of becoming the PM remained unfulfilled “because of people who later became his relative”. The occasion, although, a happy one  — the marriage of Lalu’s youngest daughter Raj Lakshmi to Mulayam’s grandnephew Tej Pratap.

Thrice he became the chief minister (1989–91, 1993–95, and 2003–07), but Mulayam failed to complete terms like most of his predecessors .  His art of making friends across party lines helped Mulayam achieve the feat despite the unpredictability of UP politics which was then directly influenced by Delhi.

“Netaji had the knack of making good relations with politicians, irrespective of party lines. Even if someone was a political adversary, he would maintain friendships and never turned down a request,” Bhati said.

Mulayam sacrificed a Rajya Sabha seat on the request of V. P. Singh in 1996, he recalled. 

“SP was in a position to send three members to the Rajya Sabha. However, it was a call from an ailing V.P. Singh that changed this [result]. Singh and Mulayam were adversaries for long. However, Singh who was suffering with cancer told Mulayam that it might be his last request and asked him to help send his friend Wasim Ahmad to the Rajya Sabha. Although the nomination papers were ready, Mulayam told his aides that Singh’s request needed to be fulfilled,” the BJP MLC said.

His pragmatism and shrewdness came to the fore again when Mulayam, who grew on anti-Congressism, helped the UPA government to win the 2008 trust vote after the Left Front withdrew support over the India-US civilian nuclear agreement.  

From Dhartiputra to ‘Mulla Mulayam’

Thanks to his anti-English tirade that led to Hindi becoming the language for official communication in administration and in courts besides his work for the backward communities and peasants, Mulayam earned the tag of ‘Dhartiputra’ in the 1990s.

Arguably, the most significant event in Mulayam’s nearly five decades of political career took place on October 30, 1990 when the then UP chief minister ordered police to fire at karsevaks who were marching towards the Babri Masjid. “Let them try and enter Ayodhya. We will teach them the meaning of law,” he had remarked.

Political observers said that this decision catapulted Mulayam as the ‘sole saviour’ of the Muslims.  

“He earned the tag of Mulla Mulayam back then, but he protected the Constitution. He was a follower of the Constitution. Even today, youngsters in UP villages are familiar with the phrase — ‘Jiska jalwa kayam, uska naam Mulayam’ (He whose popularity remains undiminished is called Mulayam). Netaji could make possible what was deemed impossible,” Rewati Raman said.

Prof. Nadeem Rezavi of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) described Mulayam as “a typical politician who projected himself as the benefactor of Muslims”. “This is what politicians do for their interests. The outreach to Muslims was limited to Muslim faces in the party rather than any concrete step,” the professor of medieval history told ThePrint.

But it did not stop the Samajwadi Party from becoming the first choice of Muslims from 1990s onwards courtesy his famous Muslim-Yadav formula. 

Controversial but indispensable 

Mulayam had his share of controversies. In 2014, the country was shocked with his remark when opposing capital punishment for rape. His statement — “Ladke hain, galti ho jati hai (Boys make mistakes)” — opened the floodgates for his rivals to  attack the SP as a party harbouring hooligans and goondas.

His contemporaries prefer to remember Mulayam for his foresight as seen in the veteran politician claiming way back in 2010 and 2017 that China was preparing to attack India and that New Delhi was not prepared to face aggression. The SP chief had served as defence minister from 1996 to 1998 in the United Front government.

“He raised the issue of China several times in Parliament. Look at what has happened in Galwan and Arunachal. Whatever Netaji said had a meaning,” said Rewati Raman.

Mirza Asmer Beg, a professor of political science at AMU, told ThePrint that Mulayam’s controversies stemmed from the fact that as a speaker, he would connect with the masses. “As a grassroot politician, Mulayam may have sounded as if [he was] making off the cuff remarks at times, but all remarks of the grassroot politician are not enough to judge him,” he said.

Hailing the SP patriarch and his achievements, political analyst Ramesh Dixit called the departed leader as a “man of his words”.   

“Mulayam Singh Yadav doesn’t fit into any of the traditional parameters of a typical Indian politician like modern education, refinement of personality, robust or princely family background but yet, he has been a deciding factor in UP politics since late 1970s,” the former professor of political science at Lucknow University told ThePrint.

“He fought against stalwarts like Congress’ N. D. Tiwari, BSP’s Kanshiram and several others from BJP. This was because of only two things: his immense involvement and engagement with people and undiminished determination. By the time a politician would wake up and demand his tea, Netaji would have met 1,000 people from across UP. He is a symbol of unity of peasant castes and known for being ‘zubaan ka pakka’ (a man of his words),” Dixit said.

(Edited by Tony Rai)

 Matli (Uttarakhand) [India],  (ANI): Seven bodies were brought to Matli Helipad on Saturday from Draupadi ka Danda mountain peak in Uttarakhand, where an avalanche hit a team of mountaineers on the October 4 morning.

The bodies were recovered on Friday as the death toll rose to 26. The search and rescue operation is in progress for the remaining three mountaineers.

“Seven dead bodies were brought from the advanced base camp to Matli helipad after they were recovered from the spot of the incident. We will try to recover more bodies as per the weather,” said Abhishek Ruhela, District Magistrate, Uttarkashi.

According to the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM), as many as 29 persons including two instructors and 27 trainees went missing when the avalanche hit Draupadi ka Danda mountain peak in Uttarakhand.

“Search and Rescue operation is in progress at the disaster site. Helibome operation is ON. Evacuation of dead bodies by helicopter will be done depending on the weather conditions. Search and rescue in progress for remaining three trainees,” the NIM said in a statement.

Personnel from various teams of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM), the Air Force, the Army and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), and the High Altitude War School in Gulmarg in Jammu and Kashmir have been deployed in the rescue operations.

The rescue operation is being hampered due to bad weather conditions.

Sub Divisional Magistrate, Bhatwadi, Chatar Singh said that four more bodies of the trainee mountaineers were brought on Friday morning, which have been taken for post-mortem.

Mountaineers from the NIM participating in a training course were trapped in a glacier crevice on Tuesday morning after an avalanche hit the peak. The team was returning after summiting.

About 41 trainees and instructors of the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering were hit by an avalanche. The institute said that the Advanced Mountaineering Course commenced on September 14 at NIM Uttarkashi.

The course moved to the mountain on September 23 with 41 people- 34 trainees and seven instructors and one nursing assistant. The group arrived at the Base Camp on September 25.

As per the training programme, the course went on for high altitude training from October 2-October 4.

After summiting the 5670 metre altitude Mt Draupadi ka Danda II the team was on its way back when the avalanche struck at around 8:45 am above camp 1 in which 34 trainees and 7 instructors got caught, according to a release by the NIM on October 4. (ANI)

New Delhi,(PTI) BJP leaders on Monday paid rich tributes to veteran socialist leader and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, praising his grassroots connect and describing his demise as an end of an era.
Home Minister Amit Shah noted that the Samajwadi Party founder remained active in politics for decades with his unique political skills and said he will always be remembered for his connect with the ground.
 "His death is the end of an era in Indian politics," Shah said and also highlighted Yadav's struggle for the restoration of democracy during the Emergency.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said Yadav was a grassroots leader who played a key role in the politics of Uttar Pardesh for decades.