THURSDAY 08 FEBRUARY 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 ‘MODI-PATNAIK PARTNERSHIP GOVT IN ODISHA’ DARKNESS AT NOON IN PAKISTAN P7 SENSEX 72,152.0034.09 WEATHER MAINLY CLEAR SKY. STRONG SURFACE WINDS (SPEED 20-30 KMPH) WITH GUSTY WINDS (SPEED UPTO 45 KMPH) DURING THE DAY. THE MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM TEMPERATURES WOULD BE AROUND 21 AND 07 DEGREES CELSIUS RESPECTIVELY. Max: 21.0 °C-2) SUN RISES 7:05 hrs MOON RISES 06:44 hrs GOLD 63,230230 ` vs $ 82.99 ‘Nation believes in Modi’s Guarantee’ STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 7 FEBRUARY Min. 32 % TEMPERATURE P4 PM says Cong is steeped in negativity & incapable of giving hope to nation RAINFALL: NIL RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max. 92 % P10 NIFTY 21,930.501.10 Min: 07.0 °C (-2) SUN SETS 18:06 hrs MOON SETS 16:13 hrs THUMBNAILS President Droupadi Murmu interacts with students while taking a ride in the Metro, in New Delhi on Wednesday. (P2) Sharad Pawar's faction gets a new party name: A day after the Election Commission (EC) settled the dispute in the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in favour of the faction led by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, the poll panel on Wednesday allotted Sharad Pawar faction the party name “Nationalist Congress Party Sharadchandra Pawar". The decision was taken by the EC after the Sharad Pawar faction submitted three names-- Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar, Nationalist Congress Party - Shar- adrao Pawar and NCP- Sharad Pawar. (PG5) Parl Budget Session extended by a day till 10 Feb P rime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said the Congress is steeped in negativity and incapable of giving hope to the country, while his government looks forward to its third term in office shortly, focusing on better quality of life for the country’s 80 crore people. “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas is not just a slogan, it is Modi’s Guarantee,” he said, replying to the Rajya Sabha debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President Droupadi Murmu’s address to Parliament. The Motion was later adopted by the House. Mr Modi said in its third term, his government will continue to support the 25 crore people who have come out of poverty, giving the neo-middle class the “Modi kavach” shield. The Prime Minister said he can read the mood of the people; the Congress “warranty” is over and people will believe in the guarantee given by his government, seeing the changes in every part of life across the country. NEW DELHI , 7 FEBRUARY Amidst shouts of “Modi, Modi” from BJP benches, the Prime Minister said Viksit Bharat (Developed India) by 2047 is a commitment of his government and no “word-coinage,” and will mark the beginning of a golden period for India. The Prime Minister told the Congress members they cannot suppress his voice; people had given him energy to speak. Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge had “blessed him with 400 seats in the next election,” he said. The Congress should know reality, it is “outdated,” and the West Bengal Chief Minister had said the PANT CONFIDENT OF PLAYING IPL: PONTING IT’S GOING TO BE A HISTORIC PROTEST IN DELHI, SAYS VIJAYAN Congress will not get more than 40 seats, the Prime Minister said. Mr Modi said the Congress was short on facts and unable to appreciate the transformation the country has undergone in the last 10 years. The Opposition party is trying to provoke people, and posing a threat to the nation’s unity by talking in regional terms, he said. This nation is not a piece of land, how anyone can talk of “my taxes, my money,” he said. At this rate, the Himalayas can say rivers come out of them and the water is theirs; coal-producing states can say all coal is theirs, and vaccines The ongoing Budget Session of Parliament has been extended by a day till February 10. The last session before Lok Sabha polls expected to be held in April-May this year was started with the address by President Droupadi Murmu to the joint sitting of two Houses on January 31. It was earlier to be concluded on February 9. While announcing the extension in the Lower House, Speaker Om Birla said, "Honorable Members, Honorable Minister of Parliamentary Affairs has proposed that the 15th session of the 17th Lok Sabha be extended till Saturday, 10 February 2024 to dispose of the necessary government AGENCIES business." are for states which produce them, the Prime Minister said. SILVER 74,500 P12 BRENT CRUDE (IN $) 78.200.25 Court issues summons to Kejriwal on ED complaint STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 7 FEBRUARY Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was on Wednesday summoned by the Rouse Avenue court in connection with the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) recent complaint filed against him for not complying with the summons issued by the central probe agency in the Delhi liquor policy case. The Aam Aadmi Party, confirming this, said that the party respects the court's order and will present its case before the court. The ED had on Saturday filed a fresh complaint case under Sections 190 (1)(a) and 200 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, Section 174 of the Indian Penal Code, Section 63 (4) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Mr Kejriwal for non-attendance in compliance of Section 50 of the PMLA. The Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Divya Malhotra issued summons to the Delhi Chief Minister and directed him to appear before the court on 17 February. On 2 February, Mr Kejriwal skipped the Enforcement Directorate's summons for the fifth time in connection with the money laundering probe related to irregularities in the Delhi excise policy 2021-22 case. The fresh summons to the Delhi The Aam Aadmi Party, confirming the summons to the Delhi chief minister, said that the party respects the court’s order and will present its case before it. Chief Minister followed the fourth summons, which he had skipped on 18 January. Mr Kejriwal has so far skipped four previous summons issued by the ED on 18 January, 3 January, 2 November, and 22 December, calling them "illegal and politically motivated." Senior AAP leader and Delhi Minister Atishi, while addressing a Press conference here, said that the party will inform the court as to why the Delhi CM skipped the five summons issued by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED), and also why he refrained from appearing before the probe agency. U’khand becomes 1st state to pass UCC Bill Karnataka govt stages protest against Centre at Jantar Mantar STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE DEHRADUN, 7 FEBRUARY The Uttarakhand assembly on Wednesday enacted the much-talked about Unifom Civil Code (UCC) amidst demand by the Opposition to recommend it for a select committee of the state legislature. After the enactment of the law, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami proclaimed that Uttarakhand has taken lead in taking the nation to a new stride in legislation. The draft UCC Bill tabled in the assembly on Tuesday was made a law with a thumping majority following a debate in the House even as a demand was raised by the Opposition for referring it to the select committee claiming that draft needed review for certain anomalies in it. During the discussion in the House, Chief Minister Dhami said, "The state has taken a big leap in the direction of leading the country to a new stride of social and legal justice." According to Dhami, the UCC not only guarantees constitutional rights to the people of Uttarakhand but also ensures their implementation. He said, "UCC will end evil practices in the communities assuring socio-legal justice to the people. It's a historic law made rising above the castes, religions, sects and all other barriers to provide equal rights with no discrimination." The chief minister added, "This is the time of change and progress as stated by Prime Minister Naremdra Modi. The UCC will safeguard mothers, sisters, daughters and stop the injustices meted out to them." Mr Dhami further said, "The new law guarantees equality to about 50 per cent of the population of India starting from Uttarakhand." Earlier, Opposition parties, including the Congress party and BSP while endorsing the legislation, opposed certain contents including live-in relationship and property inheritance clauses in the Bill alleging that these violated the fundamental rights of the citizens. Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Yashpal Arya, his party colleague and MLA Pritam Singh and BSP MLA Shahjad, along with other speakers from Opposition benches, demanded that the Bill should be referred to the select committee for weeding out the alleged snags and come up with the final draft Bill. Assembly Speaker Ritu Khanduri refused to accept the Opposition demand and the Bill was put to vote leading to its enactment with a huge majority in the House. The UCC envisages polygamy, halala, and unregistered live-in relations as punishable offences. The Act titled 'The Uniform Civil Code 2024' categorically disallows marriage of any person, cutting across faith and caste divides, having a spouse alive. It, however, allows the remarriage of a divorced spouse without any precondition like halala with the provision for three years imprisonment or a fine of one lakh rupees or both for its violation. The more than 220-page UCC draft was prepared by a five-member committee of experts constituted by the Dhami government in May 2022. The committee submitted the report on February 2, 2024 with more than 2.72 lakh suggestions coming from the public directly and nearly 43 public contact and interaction meetings held in different parts of the state. Nearly 10,000 families constituting one-tenth of the state's population took part in the public interactions with the committee members in nearly 19 months. STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE She said that the AAP will inform the court that all the five summons issued by ED were illegal, and also apprise the court that the Delhi CM gave a written response to every summon by the federal agency informing them about what was not according to law in their notices and also asked questions to the ED. They will also inform the court that the agency did not respond to any of the written communications by the AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal. The ED not responding to letters sent by Mr Kejriwal, made it evident that the agency has no basis to prove the legality of the notices, Atishi said. The AAP leader also claimed that the summons by the agency have always landed following a Press conference by the BJP where the saffron party talks of Mr Kejriwal being sent to jail, or the ED going to arrest Delhi CM, and added that the AAP will also inform the court about this. Ms Atishi further alleged that summons are not based on any legal ground, but, are part of a conspiracy being hatched against Kejriwal, to put him behind the bars, after calling him at the ED office. She claimed that the ED summons have always followed after press conferences by the BJP, and all this was a part of an alleged political conspiracy. SC: All SCs, STs may not be homogeneous NEW DELHI, 7 FEBRUARY NEW DELHI, 7 FEBRUARY The Congress-led Karnataka government staged a protest here on Wednesday against the Centre, accusing it of disparity in allocation of grants to the Southern state. Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, state ministers, MLAs and party leaders and workers under the “Chalo Delhi’’ movement, held the demonstration at the Jantar Mantar and demanded a judicious share of resources and funds for the state. (Photo) Addressing the gathering, the Chief Minister said, “We are raising the issue of discrimination meted out by the Government of India against the state of Karnataka. The state is number two as far as tax collection is concerned. Maharashtra is number one. As a matter of fact this year, Karnataka is contributing more than Rs 4.30 lakh crore as tax. If we collect Rs 100 and give it to the Government of India, we are only getting Rs 12 to 13 back.” “Is this not an injustice to the people of Karnataka ? That is why we are here (in Delhi),” Siddaramaiah said. Echoing similar sentiments, Shivakumar said, “Karnataka is the second biggest state which is giving the highest revenue to this country. We are asking for our rights. We are asking for our share.’’ “We are the voice of Karnataka. We are the repre- sentatives of Karnataka. We have come here to show that we all are fighting for the cause of the people of Karnataka,” he said. The Deputy Chief Minister also claimed that the Karnataka government had requested drought relief funds from the Centre , but not even a single rupee has been given. Karnataka minister Priyank Kharge said, “We are here to protect interests of Kannadigas on the devolution of taxes and on the drought relief that has not been provided, among other things.’’ The Supreme Court, examining whether states can subclassify Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes for grant of quota inside quota, on Wednesday said all SCs and STs may not be homogeneous in terms of their sociological, economic, education and social status. "They (SCs and STs) may be a class for a certain purpose. But, they may not be a class for all the purposes," a seven-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud observed while hearing a batch of petitions on the issue. The court is hearing references to revisit a five-judge Constitution bench judgment of 2004 in which it was held that SCs and STs are homogeneous groups and hence, states cannot further sub-classify inside SCs and STs to grant quota inside quota for more deprived and weaker castes in these groups. AGENCIES Bumrah tops Test bowler list, first for an Indian quick Another Indian student found dead in US; 5th death since Jan TRIDIB BAPARNASH NEW DELHI, 7 FEBRUARY Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah became the first ever Indian quick to top the Test bowlers' chart in the latest ICC rankings. The previous highest ranking achieved by an Indian pacer was the No.2 spot -- on the retrospective Test bowlers’ table - by Kapil Dev from December 1979 to February 1980. Bumrah climbed three places to be ranked No. 1, and replaced his teammate R Ashwin in the position. Before this, his highest ranking had been No. 3. Apart from Bumrah, former left-arm pacer Zaheer Khan has also occupied the No. 3 spot, in October-November 2010. The star quick’s recent rise in the Test bowlers’ ranking follows a match-winning haul of 9 for 91 in the second Test against England in Visakhapatnam, where he was named Player of the Match as India levelled the series 1-1. Bowling on a flat deck, Bumrah claimed a fabulous six-wicket haul in the first innings, when he picked up his 10th five-for in only his 34th Test, a match he finished as the fastest Indian to 150 Test wickets. He also came second in the list of the fastest to reach 150 Test wickets, after Pakistan great Waqar Younis (27 Tests). In a brilliant display of two-way reverse-swing bowling, Bumrah put India in the driver’s seat by getting rid of the English middle order, comprising the likes of Joe Root, Ollie Pope, Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes, to give India a handsome 143run firstinnings lead. The highlight of his six wickets was the toe-crushing yorker that cleaned up Pope, the hero of the Hyderabad Test. Bumrah also had an impact in the second innings, where he picked up 3 for 46. With Ben Foakes and Tom Hartley threatening to keep England alive in their chase of 399, Bumrah had Foakes caughtandbowled, foxing him with a slower off-cutter. Bumrah is currently the leading wicket-taker in the series, with 15 strikes at 10.67. He picked up six wickets in the first Test in Hyderabad, which India lost by 28 runs. Besides Bumrah, India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal was the other Indian to make big gains in the latest ICC Test rankings. Jaiswal raced up 37 places to No. 29 following a career-best knock of 209 in Visakhapatnam. His England counterpart Zak Crawley also had a good Test, scoring 76 and 73 to climb eight spots to No. 22. New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson continues to occupy the top spot among Test batters, having cracked 118 and 109 in the first Test against South Africa in Mount Maunganui. AGENCIES NEW YORK, 7 FEBRUARY A 23-year-old Indian-origin man who was pursuing a doctoral degree at Purdue University has been found dead, taking the number of Indian students killed in the US to five since the start of this year. Sameer Kamath's body was found at about 5 p.m. on Monday at Crow's Grove Nature Preserve in Williamsport, Warren County Coroner Justin Brummett said in a news release published Tuesday afternoon. Kamath, a US citizen according to the coroner’s office, was a doctorate student in the Mechanical Engineer- Sameer Kamath's body was found at about 5 p.m. on Monday at Crow's Grove Nature Preserve ing Department at Purdue University, the Indiana-based Journal & Courier reported, citing the Coroner's Office. He graduated from the department in August 2023 with a master's degree in mechanical engineering. The release from the Coroner's Office said a forensic autopsy is scheduled to be performed in Crawfordsville and the family has been notified about the death. The Warren County Sheriff's Office said that the incident is being investigated by them. In a separate incident, Indian IT student Syed Mazahir Ali was chased and brutally attacked by unidentified men near his house in Chicago on 4 February. There were videos posted on social media and in one video posted on X, Ali can be seen with a bloodied nose and face and blood stains on his clothes as he describes his ordeal. With Kamath's death, five Indian students have died in quick succession in the US since the start of this year, including Shreyas Reddy Benigeri in Cincinnati and Purdue University's Neel Acharya in Indiana.