National News
Punjab Polls: After rescuing labourers, Sonu Sood hits streets again
Months after he came to the rescue of labourers walking back home in the days of Covid-19 lockdown, actor and philanthropist Sonu Sood is himself hitting the streets.
With folded hands and smile on his lips, he’s going from house to house event in scores of villages drumming up support for his sister Malvika Sood Sachar contesting the Punjab Assembly polls less than a fortnight away.
With villagers complaining of lack of basic infrastructure facilities like public toilets, sanitation, drainage, disposal of sewage and large potholes as several people have met with accidents, Sood, accompanying his younger sister who is born and brought up in this town in the Malwa region, is assuring improvement, if the Congress party retains the helm in the state.
Malvika joined the Congress just a week ahead of the pronouncement of the February 20 polls for 117 Assembly seats.
She has replaced sitting Congress legislator Harjot Kamal, who joined the BJP and is again in the fray to retain the seat that has been the Congress stronghold since 2007.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)leader and former minister Tota Singh, who was convicted in 2012 in a case of corruption and sentenced to a year of imprisonment, represented this seat for two successive terms — 1997 and 2002.
Malvika, 39, married and running her parental family business in Moga, told IANS that she has taken the political plunge to dedicate herself to serve the society like her brother.
Sonu Sood’s childhood friends in his hometown, some 175 km from the state capital Chandigarh, described him as the messiah of tens of thousands of desperate migrants amidst pandemic and supporting school educations of scores of underprivileged, while his family believes his philanthropy spirit comes from his ancestry.
Born to a business family, the siblings’ father was in the cloth business and mother was an English lecturer in town’s oldest D.M. College of Education.
Their eldest sister is settled in the US.
“Sonu is a household name in every village. We have seen him on news channels on several occasions when he himself was on the streets to help the migrants who were returning to their homes during the pandemic. If he has zeal for serving society, we expect his sister will also follow in his footsteps,” octogenarian Nachhatar Kaur of Rattian village told IANS.
She said the brother-sister duo came to the village last week and sought votes with promise to strengthen village streets and the sewage treatment system.
Sharing similar sentiments, another village elder Ajaib Kaur added, “Ahead of the elections, Sonu’s sister came to our village and sponsored the school fees of several poor students when she came to know that their parents have lost wages due to the pandemic. She has provided money to poor villagers for rebuilding their ‘kutcha’ houses.”
However, Malvika’s rival and AAP candidate Amandeep Kaur Arora believes Malvika’s identity is only her brother.
“Malvika has no identity of her own. She is known only as Sonu Sood’s sister. My identity is that of a doctor and served ex-servicemen and their families,” Amandeep added.
SAD candidate Barjinder Makhan Brar, a lawyer by profession, believes in the dynasty’s advantage.
“My father (Tota Singh) remained an MLA of Moga twice and did a lot of development work. Sonu Sood has just surfaced. He’s just trying to woo the voters by using money. If he has philanthropic initiatives to his credit, what is the contribution of his sister to society? After all, the legislator is the local representative in the Assembly. The voters can’t be befooled for the sake of Sonu’s philanthropy,” he added.
In 2017, Harjot Kamal, then with the Congress, won the seat by securing 52,357 votes, while AAP’s Ramesh Grover finished second with 50,593 votes. Barjinder Brar polled 36,587 votes.
Incumbent Charanjit Singh Channi, the chief minister face of the Congress, while campaigning for Malvika, who did Master of Computer Application, on Wednesday announced if the party returns to power she would be a minister in his Council of Ministers.
In December 2020, a road in Sonu Sood’s hometown was named after his mother, Prof Saroj Sood. At this the actor said he cannot contain his happiness and this will always be the most important chapter in his life.
“Sonu is deeply attached to hometown, his family and friends. He prefers to travel to Moga whenever he spares time from his hectic schedule in Bollywood, Malvika, who runs cloth and education business, told IANS.
Sonu’s grandfather Vidya Rattan Sood was also a known philanthropist.
Malvika’s neighbour Rakesh Khanna said the people in the town are proud of Sonu for bringing this town into limelight through his philanthropic spirit.
He said his parents wanted him to become an engineer. He did his engineering from Nagpur.
“Besides having no godfather in the film industry, he established himself,” Khanna said, adding even his sister has no ego with the fame of her brother.
“Whenever Sonu is in his hometown, you can see him riding on his scooter from his college days. He also prefers to spend time in his father’s shop located in the main market,” Khanna added.
National News
Major Blow To Naxal Network In Maharashtra: 11 Top CPI (Maoist) Leaders With A Cumulative Bounty Of ₹82 Lakh Surrender

Nagpur: In yet another success to the Maharashtra government’s campaign to end left-wing extremism, 11 CPI (Maoist) commanders and cadres carrying a cumulative bounty of ₹82 lakh surrendered before the Gadchiroli police on Wednesday morning in the presence of Director General of Police Rashmi Shukla.
The surrendered group includes several high-ranking leaders — Divisional Committee Members, Platoon Committee Members and Area Committee Members — marking one of the most significant mass surrenders in recent years. Security was tightened at the venue as four of the Maoists arrived armed and in full uniform.
Among those who surrendered were Ramesh alias Baju Lekami and Bhima alias Kiran Hidma Kowasi, both Divisional Committee Members of the banned outfit. Senior Platoon Committee members Poriya alias Lucky Adama Gota, Ratan alias Sanna Masu Oyam, and Kamala alias Rago Iriya Veladi also laid down arms. Others include Poriya alias Kumari Bhima Veladi, Ramji alias Mura Lachhu Pungati, Sonu Podiyam alias Ajay, Prakash alias Pandu Pungati, Sita alias Jaini Tonde Pallo, and Sainath Shankar Made.
Local officials believe the surrender has delivered a major blow to Maoist operations across the Dandakaranya region, spanning Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Telangana. The event was attended by Additional Director General (Special Actions) Dr Tshering Dorje, DIG Ankit Goyal, DIG (CRPF) Ajay Kumar Sharma and Superintendent of Police Neelotpal.
Wednesday’s surrender is being hailed as one of the biggest successes for Gadchiroli police since Bhupathi alias Mallojula Venugopal Rao, a Politburo member of the CPI (Maoist), surrendered before Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on October 15 along with 60 others.
“This is the beginning of the end of Naxalism in Gadchiroli. We are committed to the Union government’s deadline of March 31, 2026, to eliminate leftwing extremism from India,” DGP Rashmi Shukla said, adding that over 100 Maoists have surrendered in Gadchiroli district this year.
Business
BSE launches 4 new BSE 100 large-cap TMC universe factor indices

New Delhi, Dec 10: The Bombay Stock Exchange’s (BSE) subsidiary BSE Index Service on Wednesday announced the launch of four new factor Indices from the universe of BSE large-cap total market capitalisation (TMC) index with 5 per cent stock level capping.
The newly introduced indices are BSE large-cap 100 momentum 30, BSE large-cap 100 low volatility 30, BSE large-cap 100 enhanced value 30, and BSE large-cap 100 quality 30.
“BSE Index Services Pvt. Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of BSE, today announced the launch of 4 new BSE factor indices from the BSE 100 large cap TMC index as the universe with 5 per cent stock level capping,” the exchange said in a press release.
These Indices are Reconstituted Quarterly, have a base value of 1000, and the first value date is June 20, 2005, along with the additional screening for the liquidity profile, the release added.
BSE large-cap 100 Momentum 30 will track the performance of the 30 companies in the BSE 100 large-cap TMC that exhibit the most persistence in their relative performance, based on their momentum scores. Constituents are weighted based on their momentum score.
BSE large-cap 100 Low Volatility 30 will measure the performance of the 30 least volatile companies in the BSE 100 large-cap TMC. Constituents are weighted by their inverse volatility.
BSE large-cap 100 Enhanced Value 30 measures the performance of the 30 companies in the BSE 100 large-cap TMC with the most attractive valuations, based on their value scores. Constituents are weighted based on their value score.
BSE large-cap 100 Quality 30 measures the performance of the 30 companies in the BSE 100 large-cap TMC that exhibit the most persistence in their relative performance, based on their momentum scores. Constituents are weighted based on their momentum score.
“Building on the success of factor launches on the BSE 500 universe earlier in the year, we are pleased to expand our factor family with the launch of four new factor indices, this time on the large-cap universe,” BSE Index Services Pvt. Ltd MD & CEO Ashutosh Singh said.
“These indices, in the same vein as our BSE 500 universe factor family, will be reset on a quarterly basis with the introduction of an innovative score-based only weighting method,” he added.
The index said that these new indices can be used for running passive strategies such as ETFs and Index Funds.
It can also be used for benchmarking of PMS strategies, MF schemes and fund portfolios. Additionally, investors can now access a broader spectrum of market opportunities, further enriching their investment strategies with this latest addition to BSE’s suite of indices.
Business
Installed renewable energy capacity in India reaches 250.64 GW: Govt

New Delhi, Dec 10: The total installed renewable energy (RE) capacity in India reached 250.64 GW (as on October 31), with solar energy constituting a major chunk, the Parliament was informed on Wednesday.
The solar energy capacity increased from 2.82 GW in March 2014 to 129.92 GW, wind energy capacity increased from 21.04 GW in March 2014 to 53.60 GW, and biomass power capacity has increased from 8.18 GW in March 2014 to 11.61 GW within the given period, Minister of State for New and Renewable Energy, Shripad Yesso Naik, said in a written reply in Lok Sabha.
India is a key driver of this explosive global surge in renewable energy. In the last 11 years, the country’s solar capacity has grown from 2.8 GW to nearly 130 GW, a rise of more than 4,500 per cent. Between 2022 and 2024 alone, India contributed 46 GW to global solar additions, becoming the third-largest contributor.
The country recorded its highest-ever addition of non-fossil capacity in the current financial year at 31.25 GW, including 24.28 GW of solar.
According to reports, the share of India’s electricity generation from renewable energy (RE) capacity, including large hydro, is expected to cross 35 per cent by FY30 from 22.1 per cent in FY25, with expected incremental capacity addition of around 200 GW between FY25 and FY30.
This, in turn, also hinges on the extent of implementation of the ongoing project pipeline, where the projects are bid out and the PPAs are signed, the development of adequate transmission connectivity infrastructure as well as timely bidding for new RE projects, along with the power purchase agreements (PPAs) signing by Central nodal agencies, states the report by rating agency ICRA.
With global mechanisms now shaping industrial competitiveness, India’s shift towards renewable energy has become even more urgent and strategically important.
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