WEDNESDAY 31 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 P7 SENSEX 71,139.90801.67 BAZBALL AND SPIN RAHUL ATTACKS NITISH ATTACK, ENGLAND’S FOR SUCCUMBING PLAN FOR INDIA AT VIZAG TO BJP’S PRESSURE CIPHER CASE: IMRAN KHAN SENTENCED TO 10 YEARS IN JAIL IS FEMINISM CONFINED TO WHITE WOMEN? P9 NIFTY 21,522.10215.50 P5 ` vs $ 83.115 PAISE GOLD 63,270220 P12 SILVER 76,500300 BRENT CRUDE (IN $) 80.870.21 ‘Will not allow NRC in Bengal’ WEATHER Partly cloudy sky. Light rain likely to occur in some areas towards evening/night .Maximum and minimum temperatures likely to be around 26 °C and 17 °C respectively. Mamata Banerjee directed district authorities to issue ID-cards for border farmers RAINFALL: NIL RELATIVE HUMIDITY hief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday iterated that her government will never allow the National Register of Citizens to be implemented in West Bengal, asserting that she was ready to give her blood to prevent it. Miss Banerjee, currently on a tour of the north Bengal districts, pointed out at an official programme at Raiganj in North Dinajpur today that the BJP-led Central government is again making plans to implement the National Register of Citizens (NRC). “They have announced plans to implement an Uniform Civil Code. Autocratic leadership is being perpetuated. Where is democracy?” She said, and asked the people: “Will you accept it?” Max. 88 % TEMPERATURE Max: 25.4°C (-1) SUN RISES 06:17 hrs MOON RISES 21:16 hrs Min. 32 % Min: 16.0°C (+1) SUN SETS 17:23 hrs MOON SETS 08:59 hrs New Moon on 10 February THUMBNAILS Three jawans killed in Maoist attack in Chh’garh: Three jawans died while 14 others sustained injuries in a Maoist attack on a police camp located in Tekalgudem, Bijapur district in southern Chhattisgarh on Tuesday. The injured personnel were airlifted to Jagdalpur before being transferred to Raipur for further med(PG4) ical care. STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE SILIGURI, 30 JANUARY C “The people belonging to Matua community are Indian citizens. If they are not Indian citizens, how they casting votes. How have they obtained ration cards! We are all Indian citizens. They are lying. Don’t believe them. I will never allow them to implement NRC. Earlier I prevented them from implementing NRC, if necessary I will give my blood to stop the exercise of NRC,” Miss Banerjee said. Miss Banerjee also said that Bengal will guide India. Coming down heavily on the Centre for non-disbursement of funds meant for the MGNREGA scheme and other projects, Miss Banerjee said: “If the Centre does not release funds by 1 February we will stage dharna in Kolkata from 2 February.” Miss Banerjee said: “The BJP has decided to provide rice free of cost ahead of elections. After election they would not return. But before election they would beg votes like migratory birds. Only the Trinamul Congress can defeat the BJP and the CPM.” Attacking the BJP-led state governments in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh for imposing restrictions on non-vegetarian food, Miss Banerjee said: “Coming to power the BJP has stopped people from eating eggs. They have bulldozed non-vegetarian eateries there.What you will eat it is your right. They can not impose restrictions.” Before attending her official programme, she walked through the streets in Islampur and Raiganj as people greeted her. Addressing another official programme at Balurghat in South Dinajpur today, Miss Banerjee asked the District Magistrate to issue ‘inner permit cards’ to farmers who have agricultural land near or across the Bangladesh border. Opposing reported plans of the Border Security Force (BSF) to issue identity cards to the villagers who live close to the Indo Bangladesh border and work on their lands, outside the border fencing on the Bangladesh side, Miss Banerjee asked: “Why should the BSF issue the cards without informing the state? District Magistrate will issue the card from now.” Miss Banerjee also said: “The BSF keeps control over the people during elections. I even got information they maintained voters’ line in Balurghat in the last elections. I did not expect such role of the BSF.” She also criticised the BSF’s atrocities along the border and asked people not to accept identity cards from the BSF. Budget session commences today, suspended MPs to return STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 30 JANUARY The Budget session of Parliement, the last for the 17th Lok Sabha, commences tomorrow and will end on 9 February. The Session will commence with the address of President Droupadi Murmu on 31 January to the joint sitting of the two Houses. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the interim Union Budget on Thursday.The session would conclude on 9 February. Ahead of the session, the floor leaders of all parties attended an all-party meeting convened by the central government on Tuesday. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi told the media after the meeting that the government has requested Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar to revoke the suspension of MPs punished for their disorderly con- duct in the last session of Parliament. Mr Joshi said the Government wants order in the two Houses but is ready to discuss any subject. He said the all-party meeting was attended by 45 leaders of 30 parties, including the ruling party. The government’s thrust during the meeting was on the discussion on the motion of thanks on the President’s address. The Government wants the discussion to begin from Friday, 2 February, itself, Mr Joshi said. On this, he said, the government has requested the Speaker and the Chairman and talked to the Opposition also. After the interim budget on 1 February, there will be Jammu and Kashmir Budget, and if any urgent Bill was required, it will come after that. The meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere, Mr Joshi said. He said this would be a short session, the last of the 17th Lok Sabha. There was request from the Opposition for calling attention discussions, but “we said we will take it up in the next Lok Sabha.” On Zero Hour submissions, Special Mentions, he said subjects permitted by the Speaker and the Chairman, and as per Rules, will be allowed. “The government is ready for discussion on every subject. There should be order in the House,” he said. There is no Bill other than the financial business but there may be a Bill on change of Constitutional order, he said. Mr Joshi said there was a consensus reached at an allparty meeting held before the last session of Parliament that placards would not be displayed in the House. Despite the unanimous decision before the presiding officers, the Opposition members came with placards and disturbed the House, he said. This should not happen in this last session AAP, Cong cry foul over BJP Chandigarh poll win STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 30 JANUARY The BJP emerged victorious in the Chandigarh mayoral polls by a margin of four votes, provoking fury from the AAP and Congress, which had put up a joint candidate, after as many as eight votes were declared invalid. The BJP candidate Manoj Sonkar polled 16 votes against 12 of the CongressAam Aadmi Party (AAP) joint candidate while eight votes were declared invalid. The election was being contested by the AAP and the Congress jointly for the first time as part of the INDIA bloc. The result did not go well with the Opposition combine, which together has as many as 20 councillors in the civic body. Eight out of 36 votes were declared invalid by presiding authority Anil Masih, a nominated councillor, with no voting right. The AAP charged that the presiding officer, who belongs to the BJP declared the eight votes , invalid without verification of the ballot. The AAP charged that the presiding officer, who belongs to the BJP, declared the eight votes invalid without verification of the ballot. India home to 718 snow leopards, most in Ladakh STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 30 JANUARY Union minister Bhupender Yadav on Tuesday released a status report on snow leopards in India in the firstsuch scientific exercise, with the country now having a total of 718 such leopards. Releasing the report during the National Board for Wildlife meeting held here, he said the Snow Leopard Population Assessment in India (SPAI) programme is the first-ever scientific exercise of its kind in the country. The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) is the national coordinator for this exercise that was carried out with the support of the Nature Conservation Foundation, Mysuru and WWF-India. "The SPAI systematically covered over 70 per cent of the potential snow leopard range in the country, involving forest and wildlife staff, researchers, and volunteers,” the report noted. “A total of 241 unique snow leopards were photographed. Based on data analysis, the estimated population in different states are as follows: Ladakh (477), Uttarakhand (124), Himachal Pradesh (51), Arunachal Pradesh (36), Sikkim (21), and Jammu and Kashmir (9)," it said. CMYK of the Lok Sabha, the minister said. TMC leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay said “we raised in the meeting that the federal structure of the country is under threat. The Central Government is trying to make West Bengal financially weak, he said. A month ago, he said, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and he was also present. On behalf of the State Government, it was stated that the State Government should get Rs 1.17 lakh crore, including Rs 8,000 crore for the 100-day MGNREGA daily wage workers, he said. Interim Budget2024: No economic survey this yr due to elections STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 30 JANUARY The Union government will not release the Economic Survey or have a full-fledged budget on 1 February this year. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present an interim budget, also known as a vote-on-account. The year 2024 is an election year in India, and the Economic Survey gives an analysis of the past year’s performance and future outlook. Since this is an election year, the document could get politicised due to the potential change in government after the elections. This could disrupt the smooth functioning of the regular Budget process, which typically follows the survey presentation. The Economic Survey is a comprehensive annual report analysing the performance of the Indian economy over the past year and offering insights into its prospects. It is typically presented by the Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) in the lead-up to the Union Budget, providing a critical backdrop for the government’s financial plans. Although there will be no Economic Survey this year, the Union Finance Ministry has released a report titled ‘Indian Economy -- A Review’ saying the Indian economy is expected to grow at a rate above 7 per cent in coming years. The Review consists of two chapters and takes stock of the state of the Indian economy and its journey in the last 10 years and offers a brief sketch of the outlook for the economy in the coming years. The growth will be riding on the strength of its financial sector and other recent and future structural reforms and can aspire to become a $7 trillion economy by 2030.
The Statesman is one of India's oldest English newspapers. It was founded in Kolkata in 1875 and is directly descended from The Friend of India (founded 1818). The Englishman (founded 1821) was merged with The Statesman in 1934. The Delhi edition of The Statesman began publication in 1931. The Statesman Weekly is a compendium of news and views from the Kolkata and Delhi editions. Printed on airmail paper, it is popular with readers outside India. The Statesman (average weekday circulation approximately 180,000) is a leading English newspaper in West Bengal. The Sunday Statesman has a circulation of 230,000.
