SATURDAY 13 JANUARY 2024 www.thestatesman.com Pages 12 |` 5.00|LC Twitter.com/thestatesman Facebook.com/thestatesman INDIA’S NATIONAL NEWSPAPER SINCE 1818 KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR ‘BJP WILL WIN ALL 11 LS SEATS’ MUKESH AMBANI BACK IN $100-BILLION CLUB P8 SENSEX 72,568.45847.27 WEATHER Mainly clear sky very likely. Maximum and minimum temperatures likely to be around 23 °C and 13 °C respectively. RAINFALL: NIL RELATIVE HUMIDITY P7 NIFTY 21,894.55247.35 Min. 57 % Max: 25.1°C (0) SUN RISES 06:19 hrs MOON RISES 07:7 hrs Min: 14.1°C (0) SUN SETS 17:10 hrs MOON SETS 18:6 hrs Full Moon on 25 January THUMBNAILS Delhi BJP Mahila Morcha workers celebrate Lohri at the Delhi BJP Office in the Capital on Friday.  SUBRATA DUTTA INDIA bloc to discuss seat sharing tomorrow, says Congress: The Congress announced that the meeting of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) will be held on Saturday. The party informed on Friday that issues including seat sharing for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections would be discussed by the leaders of the constituent parties during the virtual meeting. The INDIA is an umbrella of Opposition parties formed to take on the ruling BJP in the general polls. ` vs $ 82.9011 PAISE GOLD 62,950120 India’s longest sea bridge inaugurated STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 12 JANUARY NEW DELHI, 12 JANUARY The debris of an Indian Air Force (IAF) plane with 29 personnel on board that went missing in 2016 while flying across the Bay of Bengal have been found by a search and rescue team on the sea bed after seven years, an official said on Friday. An IAF official said that the debris of the ill-fated An-32 aircraft were spotted on the sea bed around 310 km off the Chennai coast by an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) deployed by the National Institute of Ocean Technology. The plane went missing over the Bay of Bengal on 22 July 2016 during a routine mission. The aircraft took off from Tambaram Air Force Station in Chennai at around 8:30 am and was due to arrive at Port Blair in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands around NEW DELHI, 12 JANUARY The Supreme Court on Friday refused to put on hold the operation of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act 2023 that excludes Chief Justice of India from a panel for the selection of Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners and gives the government a majority presence in the selection process. Issuing a notice to the Central government returnable in April, a Bench comprising Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta refused to stay the operation of the law, even as senior advocate Vikas Singh told the bench: “This is against the very concept of separation of powers.” The Bench said, “Stay will not be there. We can't stay a SILVER 76,000 BRENT CRUDE (IN $) 79.272.54 Army convoy ambushed in Poonch dist JAMMU, 12 JANUARY he Atal Bihari Vajpayee SewariNhava Sheva Sea Link, or Atal Setu, the country's longest bridge, was dedicated to the nation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra. The Atal Setu is also the longest sea bridge in the country. The bridge will provide faster connectivity to the Mumbai International Airport and Navi Mumbai International Airport and reduce travel time from Mumbai to Pune, Goa and South India. Also called the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL), the Atal Setu is a 22-km-long twin-carriageway six-lane bridge over the Thane Creek in the Arabian Sea, connecting Sewri in the island city of Mumbai to Chirle in Raigad district on the mainland. The MTHL includes a 16.5 km sea link and viaducts on land at either end with a cumulative length of 5.5 km. A total of Rs 21,200 T The inauguration of Atal Setu exemplifies India’s infrastructural prowess and underscores the country’s trajectory towards a Viksit Bharat NARENDRA MODI PRIME MINISTER crore has been spent on the project, work on which began in 2018, of which Rs 15,100 crore is a loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Mr Modi posted on microblogging site X: “The inauguration of Atal Setu exemplifies India’s infrastructural prowess and underscores the country’s trajectory towards a Viksit Bharat.” Addressing a public event in Navi Mumbai, the Prime Minister said: “Today is a very big day for Mumbai and Maharashtra and a historic day for Viksit Bharat Sankalp... The whole country has its eye on Mumbai as they have got this grand Atal Setu.” He said: “Several mega projects have been completed in Maharashtra and Mumbai, several will be completed soon... In the coming years, Mum- AFTER 8 YEARS  The An-32 aircraft with registration number K2743 of the IAF had gone missing over the Bay of Bengal on 22 July 2016, during a mission. Twentynine personnel were on board.  A large-scale search and rescue operation by aircraft and ships that was launched then could not locate any missing personnel or the aircraft debris. The National Institute of Ocean Technology recently deployed an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle at the last known location of the missing An-32. Analysis of images it took indicated the presence of debris of a crashed aircraft conforming to an An-32. midday. However, the authorities lost radar contact with the aircraft at around 9:12 am when the plane was about 280 kilometres east of Chennai. A large-scale search and rescue operation by aircraft and ships that was launched then could not locate any missing personnel or the aircraft debris. There were 29 people onboard the aircraft including six crew members, 11 IAF personnel, two Indian Army soldiers, one each from the Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard, and eight defence civilians working with the Naval Armament Depot. The National Institute of Ocean Technology, which functions under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, recently deployed an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle with deep sea exploration capability at the last known location of the missing An-32. The Ministry of Defence said the search operation was conducted at a depth of 3,400 metres using multiple payloads, including a multi-beam SONAR (Sound Navigation and Ranging), synthetic aperture SONAR and high resolution photography. Analysis of search images had indicated the presence of debris of a crashed aircraft on the sea bed approximately 140 nautical miles (approximately 310 km) from the Chennai coast. The IAF said that the search images were examined and found to be conforming with an An-32 aircraft.This discovery at the probable crash site, with no other recorded history of any other missing aircraft report in the same area, points to the debris as possibly belonging to the crashed IAF An-32 (K-2743) the ministry said. bai will get its first Bullet train..." Mr Modi said the government's intention is clean. Those who ruled the nation for a long time, their intention and loyalty have always been under question. Their intention was to gain power only. They were only dedicated towards the development of their families, and this is why they were never able to think about Viksit Bharat, he maintained. Privileges panel may recommend revoking suspension of 3 Congress MPs NEW DELHI, 12 JANUARY Privileges Committee of the Lok Sabha is likely to adopt the recommendation to revoke the suspension of three Congress MPs - Dr K Jayakumar, Abdul Khaleque and Vijay Vasanth, sources said on Friday. Three suspended Congress MPs, Dr K Jayakumar, Abdul Khaleque and Vijay Vasanth, recorded their statement before the Committee of Privileges in connection with a motion adopted by the Lok Sabha on December 18, 2023, which led to their suspension. The Privileges Committee summoned the three MPs on January 12 after the issue of their suspension was referred to the committee for further investigation and a report to be presented to the House. AGENCIES SC refuses to stay law excluding CJI in selection of CEC & ECs PARMOD KUMAR P12 STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE Debris of IAF plane that went missing in 2016 with 29 on board found on sea bed AGENCIES P5 ‘T20 WC SELECTION ALWAYS AT THE BACK OF THE MIND’ Atal Setu is a 22-km-long twin-carriageway 6-lane bridge over Thane Creek Max. 94 % TEMPERATURE ‘INDIA WILL BECOME THIRD LARGEST GLOBAL ECONOMY DURING MODI'S THIRD TERM’ statute like this. Notice we will issue.” Senior advocate Vikas Singh appeared for the petitioner Jaya Thakur who is a Madhya Pradesh Congress leader. The Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act 2023, was brought to dilute the March 2, 2023, a five-judge constitution bench’s unanimous judgment directing that the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and the Election Commissioners shall be done on the recommendation of a selection panel comprising the Prime Minister of India, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India. As per the new law, notified on December 28, 2023, the penal for the selection of CEC and the ECs would include the Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition, and a Central Minister to be nominated by the Prime Minister, thereby giving a clear majority to the government in the selection panel. The Gazette notification followed after the President gave assent to the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill 2023. Besides Jaya Thakur, Sanjay Narayanrao Meshram, Dharmendra Singh Kushwaha, advocate Gopal Singh have approached the top court challenging the new law on the selection of the CEC and the ECs that has dropped the Chief Justice of India from the selection panel. The petitioners have sought the setting aside of the notification of the law that replaced the Election Commission (Conditions of Service of Election Commissioners and Transaction of Business) Act, 1991. The Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill 2023, was passed by Rajya Sabha on December 12 and the Lok Sabha on December 21, 2023, amidst the suspension of a large number of opposition law maker in the lower house. Opposition members had earlier expressed their serious concern over the provisions of the then bill, saying it is "one of the biggest blows to democracy" by the Modi government in the last nine years. The court in its 2 March 2023, order had said that in case, there is no such Leader of Opposition, the Leader of the largest Party in the Oppo- sition in the Lok Sabha having the largest numerical strength will be on the Committee. The court had said that this norm will continue to hold good till a law is made by the Parliament. The petitioners have contended that the provisions of the new law, are violative of the principle of free and fair elections since it does not provide an "independent mechanism" for appointment of the members of Election Commission of India (ECI). They have further stated that the Act excludes the Chief Justice of India from the process of appointment of the members of ECI and it’s in violation of the March 2023 verdict of the top court which had ordered that the appointment of members of the ECI be done on the advice of a committee comprising the Prime Minister, the CJI and the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha till a law is made by the Parliament. CMYK A massive cordon and search operation was launched in the Khanetar area of the border Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir in Friday when an Army convoy, including the vehicle of a commanding officer, was attacked by terrorists. Terrorists tried to ambush the convoy near the Line of Control (LOC) by firing from a hilltop where they had taken up positions, reports said. The terrorists fled after the troops retaliated. The convoy was reportedly moving from the Daradhullian Khwadia area of Poonch and the commanding officer of Army’s Rashtrya Rifles (RR) was also travelling in his vehicle when terrorists fired bullets at them. Reinforcements of security forces have reached the spot. A statement issued by the White Knight Corps said; "At around 6 pm today, a security forces convoy of vehicles was fired upon by suspected terrorists from a jungle near Krishna Ghati in Poonch Sector. No casualties to own troops. Joint search operations by Indian Army and J&K Police are in progress.” The attack came hours after the Northern Army Commander Lt General Upendra Dwivedi and GOC of 16 Corps Lt. General Navin Sachdeva visited forward areas of the Rajouri district to finalise the strategy to tackle with terrorism in the border districts of Rajouri and Poonch. Retail inflation rises to 4-month high of 5.69 pc in Dec: Govt data STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 12 JANUARY India's retail inflation rose to a four-month high of 5.69 per cent in December 2023 due to a rise in food prices, data from National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) said on Friday. In November, the retail inflation was 5.55 per cent while in December last year, the retail inflation was 5.72 per cent. Food inflation came in at 9.53 per cent in December compared to 4.19 per cent in December last year while In november, the food inflation was 8.7 per cent. According to MoSPI data, the highest inflation was recorded in the food and beverages category at 8.70 per cent. “December CPI inflation printed a tad better than our expectations at 5.69%, but still rose mildly vs last month.While the food inflation data on a sequential basis was underpinned by the seasonal contractionary behavior seen in December, we reckon the perishables, specifically veg prices easing was lower than the average seasonal behaviour,” Madhavi Arora, Lead Economist at Emkay Global said. “Nonetheless, the food inflation has still ticked up onYoY basis. The Mandi prices are showing correction in perishables to continue, while select protein goods would need a watch,” Ms Arora said. “Encouragingly, core inflation has eased further to 3.77 per cent, led by seasonal sequential contraction in housing, but even ex-housing, the core momentum has remained contained. The inflation downtrend will be more visible in 4Q, averaging 5.1 per cent, while core could be sub 3.75 per cent,” she added.