MONDAY 05 FEBRUARY 2024 www.thestatesman.com Pages 12 |` 5.00|LC INDIA’S NATIONAL NEWSPAPER SINCE 1818 Twitter.com/thestatesman Facebook.com/thestatesman KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR WEATHER Mainly clear sky with fog in the morning. Maximum and minimum temperatures likely to be around 26 °C and 19 °C respectively. RAINFALL: NIL RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max. 93 % Mamata to strongly oppose simultaneous elections proposal Min.38 % Max: 25.5°C (+1) SUN RISES 06:15 hrs MOON RISES 00:44 hrs One Nation One Election: Jharkhand: Ruling alliance CM to attend Delhi meet MLAs returning to Ranchi ahead of today’s floor test Min: 17.1°C (+3) SUN SETS 17:26 hrs MOON SETS 11:46 hrs TEMPERATURE CAG’s statements twisted by BJP to malign state govt: TMC New Moon on 10 February STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE KOLKATA, 4 FEBRUARY THUMBNAILS STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE KOLKATA, 4 FEBRUARY Congress leader Rahul Gandhi waves to the supporters with a young girl as he leads the party's 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra', in Bokaro on Sunday.  ANI IOA wrangle: A day after 10 out of 15 members of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) wrote to PT Usha expressing resentment over the appointment of Raghuram Iyer as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), the IOA president said there was “no question” of going back on Iyer’s appointment. “I have full faith in my CEO. He is the right person to take Indian sports forward. He is a very competent person and there’s no question of reconsidering his appointment,” Ms Usha said on Sunday. hief Minister Mamata Banerjee will leave for Delhi on Monday to attend a meeting called by the Central government to discuss the ‘One Nation One Election’ proposal. While addressing the gathering at the dharna organised by Trinamul Congress on Red Road to protest against the Centre for the delay in clearing the dues to workers under various schemes, including the MGNREGA, Miss Baner- C jee had said: “The BJP ruled Centre should make a clear statement that it would go ahead with the Presidential form of government.” From her statement it is evident that she is going to oppose the proposed ‘one nation one election’ view wholeheartedly. She has said over and again that the saffron party had badly damaged the federal structure of our country which forms part of the basic structure of the Indian Constitution. She had severely criticised BJP’s view of “Hindu Hindi Hindusthan.” NE will mirror South-East Asia in development: PM STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE GUWAHATI, 4 FEBRUARY Blowing the poll bugle in Assam, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said that the rapid development of the North East region of the country in coming times will mirror the development of South East Asia. Addressing a mammoth public rally in Guwahati, Mr Modi said that the rapid development of the North Eastern region will result in increased trade, cultural connection between the region and the South East Asian countries which will boost the overall economy of the region. Mr Modi during his twoday visit, inaugurated and laid the foundation for projects totalling Rs 11,600 crore. He also said that the Kamakhya Divyalok Pariyojana will give a massive boost to tourism in Assam. The PM said once the project is complete, it will give great pleasure to devotees who throng the temple and it will also offer convenient darshan facilities to the people of Assam. "I recently got to visit various Teertha places across the country. We got to see the major inauguration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. After Ayodhya, I have come to the doors of Maa Kamakhya. I will lay the foundation of the Kamakhya Divyalok Pariyojana project today. Once this project is complete, it will give a lot of happiness to devotees, and a lot more devo- tees will turn up each year," said PM Modi. Mr Modi also said those who were at the helm at the Centre for long since independence did not understand the significance of places of worship and “made a trend out of the practice of being ashamed of one's own culture and past for political gains”.The Kamakhya Divyalok Pariyojana is an ambitious project with an estimated cost of Rs 498 crore. Mr Modi also said that peace accords and removal of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from various places of Assam have ushered in a new era of development “More than 10 peace accords have been signed in the last few years which have ushered in a new era of development. More than 7,000 misguided youths from the region have abjured violence and joined the mainstream.” Mr Modi said. Trinamul Congress leaders lambasted the BJP for spreading canards against the party by circulating malicious propaganda that Bengal government has not submitted utilisation certificates from 202-03 to 2020-21. Chief Minister Miss Mamata Banerjee has already written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi clarifying that in the period 2002- 03 to 2010-11 her party Trinamul Congress was not in power, and asking how her party could be held responsible for not submitting utilisation certificates. Addressing the media this afternoon, Mr Kunal Ghosh state general secretary of Trinamul Congress, said as the Left Front was in power from 2002-03 till 2010-11, the Trinamul Congress would not take any responsibility for not submitting utilisation certificate. (Details on Pg 3) Miss Banerjee will attend the meeting of the committee on 6 February and come back to the city late on Tuesday evening. The Bengal Legislative Assembly’s budget session will start tomorrow. Mrs Chandrima Bhattacharya, state Finance minister will place the budget for 2024-25 on 8 February in the presence of the Chief Minister. There will be discussion on the budget for two days. Financial experts said it is to be seen whether the state government will announce any new scheme. Two popular schemes, Swasthya Sathi and Sabuj Sathi had been announced in previous budgets. ‘ISI agent’ working at Indian embassy in Russia arrested STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 4 FEBRUARY The Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) has arrested an Indian embassy worker for alleged anti-national activities. The accused, identified as Satendra Siwal, was arrested from UP’s Meerut. Siwal worked at Indian embassy in Moscow and he is accused of spying for Pakistani intelligence agency ISI. He has been posted at the Indian embassy in Moscow since 2021 as an IBSA (IndiaBased Security Assistant). News agencies quoted knowledgeable sources as saying that the MEA is aware of the arrest, and continues to work with investigative authorities in the matter. According to the UP ATS, Siwal has been sending strate- gically crucial information on the Indian Army to Pakistan. “The ATS was receiving intelligence from various confidential sources that the handlers of the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI, through some persons, were luring the employees of the Ministry of External Affairs with money to obtain strategically and strategically important information related to the Indian Army that is likely to pose a huge threat to the internal and external security of India,” the agency said in a statement. The agency said it had called Siwal for interrogation at its Meerut office and he failed to provide satisfactory answers to their questions. When pressed further, he confessed spying for the Pakistani intelligence agency. STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 4 FEBRUARY The MLAs of Jharkhand’s ruling JMM-Congress-RJD alliance, who have been camping at a Telangana resort since Thursday, are returning to Ranchi ahead of Monday’s crucial floor test of the Champai Soren government. Around 40 MLAs of the ruling JMM-led alliance in Jharkhand, who stayed at a resort in Hyderabad for the past three days, left from the RGI Airport at Shamshabad by a flight to Ranchi on Sunday, Congress sources said. The MLAs were shifted to the Congress-ruled state amidst fears of poaching by the principal Opposition BJP after former Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s resignation and subsequent arrest. The MLAs were accommodated in a luxury resort at Shamirpet on the city outskirts, during the past three days. The Champai Soren government would seek a vote of confidence on Monday in the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly, three days after Mr Soren took oath as the Chief Minister. The ruling JMM-Congress-RJD alliance has 47 MLAs in the 81-member The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha has 29 seats, its ally Congress has 17 and the RJD and the CPI (ML) have one seat each. The Champai Soren government has given the Governor a letter of support from 43 MLAs. Jharkhand legislative assembly where the majority mark is 41. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha has 29 seats, its ally Congress has 17 and the RJD and the CPI (ML) have one seat each. The Champai Soren government has given the Governor a letter of support from 43 MLAs. Meanwhile, Congress leader Pranav Jha has alleged that BJP was still trying to break the party in Jharkhand. “CM has been allowed to vote. We have sufficient numbers quite in fact more than the majority. We came because the BJP was still trying to break us... The threat of ED, CBI, and IT was there. They’re trying to break every opposition state,” Pranav Jha told reporters in Hyderabad. Hemant Soren was arrested on Wednesday night by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) after six hours of questioning in the money laundering case linked to the alleged land scam. The probe pertains to huge amounts of proceeds of crime generated by forging official records by showing 'fake sellers' and purchasers in the guise of forged or bogus documents to acquire huge parcels of land having value in crores. After Kejriwal, Delhi Police notice to Atishi over AAP MLA ‘buying’ charges STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 4 FEBRUARY A team of the Delhi Police Crime Branch on Sunday served a notice on Delhi Finance and Education Minister Atishi in connection with the allegations that the BJP was trying to "buy" Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs. The Crime Branch team visited Atishi’s residence earlier in the day to serve the notice in response to the AAP"s claims that the BJP was trying to entice its MLAs with substantial financial offers as part of 'Operation Lotus 2.0'. According to sources, Atishi instructed officials at her camp office to receive the notice in her absence. Later, addressing a Press conference here, the AAP leader dubbed the notices served to her and the Delhi CM as plain letters as they did not mention any section of the IPC, Delhi Education Minister Atishi addresses a Press conference regarding the notice issued to her and CM Arvind Kejriwal by the Delhi Police Crime Branch on Sunday.  SUBRATA DUTTA  CrPC, PMLA, or the Prevention of Corruption Act. As regards the allegation against the BJP of an attempt to buy MLAs, the AAP leader asserted that these are the people who in July 2019 had won over 14 Congress MLAs in Goa to their side after approaching 17 MLAs. Without naming anyone, she said those who approached the AAP legislators were those who had taken away incumbent Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, along with Shiv Sena MLAs. On Saturday, the Delhi Police visited Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s office to serve him the second notice on the allegations made by him against the BJP over allegedly luring AAP MLAs and destabilising his government. The Crime Branch sleuths served the notice on CMO officials in the absence of Mr Kejriwal and sought a reply from the AAP supremo within three days. The notice said that the said tweet implies that the Chief Minister is privy to specific information regarding the commission of a cognisable offence. UK PM Sunak speaks on racism, says parents India has much to offer to the world on wanted him to speak without an accent to 'fit in' int’l issues in justice delivery: Murmu AGENCIES LONDON, 4 FEBRUARY UK's first Indian-origin PM Rishi Sunak shared his experiences of facing racism as a child, saying his parents sent him for extra drama lessons so that he could "speak properly" without an accent to fit into society. In an interview with Anushka Asthana of ITV News, Sunak recalled the pain of hearing slurs directed at his younger siblings, adding that racism "stings" and "hurts in a way that other things don't", The Guardian reported. “You are conscious of being different... It's hard not to be, right, and obviously, I experienced racism as a kid," he told Asthana who detailed her encounter with the Prime Minister in The Times. The PM also spoke about the "sting" of racism in July last year when he made a special appearance at the England versus Australia Ashes Test match at Lord's Cricket Ground in London. Born in Southampton in a Hindu Punjabi family that had migrated from East Africa, the 43-year-old leader said his parents, his mother in particular, were keen for him and his siblings to "fit in and not for it to be, in any way, shape or form, a barrier". “One of the things my mum was obsessed with was that we didn't speak with accents and we would speak properly,” he said. “So she was keen for us to try to do some extra drama.” Calling any form of racism “simply unacceptable”, he also mentioned Britain's reputation among global leaders as a model for racial harmony and equality. Addressing his first Conservative Party conference as party leader in Manchester in October 2023, Mr Sunak, using his example as proof, said that the UK is not a racist country and that his skin colour is not a "big deal" in the country. Mr Sunak admitted while speaking to Asthana that he never expected to see an indi- vidual from the ethnic minority community becoming Britain's prime minister one day "because you didn't have role models like that... hadn't happened yet". From lighting diyas on the steps of 10 Downing Street on Diwali to praying at Hindu temples, the Southamptonborn leader has shown that he is proud of his Indian roots and Hindu faith, which he says "guides him in every aspect of his life". Attending a 'Ram Katha' ceremony at the University of Cambridge's Jesus College last year, Mr Sunak said: "Being Prime Minister is a great honour, but it is not an easy job. There are difficult decisions to make, hard choices to confront and our faith gives me courage, strength, and resilience to do the best that I can for our country". STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 4 FEBRUARY President Droupadi Murmu said here on Sunday that India has emerged as a key stakeholder in the global discourse. India, she said, has much to offer when it comes to international issues in justice delivery. ''India is not only the biggest democracy, but history shows that it is also the oldest democracy. With that rich and long democratic heritage, we can offer our learning in justice delivery in modern times,” she added. The President was addressing the valedictory function of the Commonwealth Legal Education Association (CLEA) – Commonwealth Attorneys and Solicitors General Conference (CASGC) 2024 in New CMYK Delhi. Home Minister Amit Shah also spoke at the function. (Photo) President Murmu said what is right and just is also logically sound. These three qualities combine to define the moral order of a society. That is why the representatives of the legal profession and the judiciary, are the ones who help in upholding the order. If that order is challenged, they are the ones who, as lawyers or judges, law students or teachers, strive most to set it right again, she added. The President said that the Preamble to the Constitution speaks of “Justice, social, economic and political”. “Therefore, when we speak of ‘justice delivery’, we should keep in mind all aspects of it, including social justice.” She stated that in recent times, as the world faces the threat of climate change, environmental justice should also be added to these varied aspects of the concept of justice. As it happens, the issues of environmental justice often pose cross-border challenges. They form the key area of what this conference is about, namely, ‘Cross-Border Challenges in Justice Delivery’. She was happy to note that CLEA has taken the responsibility to chart a roadmap to a common future that transcends borders and underlines the fundamental principles of natural justice based on equality and dignity. She expressed confidence that the Commonwealth, with its diversity and legacy, can show the rest of the world the way to address the common concerns in a spirit of cooperation.