03 MARCH 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 ‘WILL NOT LEAVE NDA AGAIN’ P5 P9 SENSEX 73,806.15 NIFTY-50 22,378.40 WEATHER Generally clear. Hazy. Winds SW at 10 to 15 km/h. Maximum and minimum temperatures likely to be around 33°C and 23°C respectively. RAINFALL: NIL RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max. 77% Min. 62% Max: 33.0°C SUN RISES 05:55 hrs MOON RISES 23:33 hrs Min: 23.0°C SUN SETS 17:40 hrs MOON SETS 10:25 hrs TEMPERATURE CENTRE INKS TRIPARTITE ACCORD BIDEN APPROVES MILITARY AID AIRDROPS INTO GAZA ` vs $ 82.90 GOLD 65,475.00 NEW DELHI, 2 MARCH rime Minister Narendra Modi will contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh while Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Union Home Minister Amit Shah will be the BJP candidates for Lucknow and Gandhinagar seats, the party said on Saturday. Releasing the first list of BJP candidates for the Lok Sabha polls to be held in April-May, party general secretary Vinod Tawde said the list has 195 names, including those of 34 central ministers and state ministers. The first list was announced after a marathon meeting of the party's election committee held earlier this week, attended by the PM and BJP president J P Nadda and other top leaders. The first list includes the names of party candidates for 51 seats in Uttar Pradesh, 26 in West Bengal, 24 in Madhya Pradesh, 15 in Gujarat, 15 in Rajasthan, 12 in Kerala, nine in Telangana, eleven in Assam, eleven in Jharkhand, eleven in Chhattisgarh, five in Delhi, two in Jammu and Kashmir, three in Uttarakhand, two in Arunachal P THUMBNAILS BJP supporter blows a conch shell during a public meeting at Krishnanagar in Nadia on Saturday.  ANI Three held for gang rape of Spanish tourist: Three people have been detained after a Spanish woman who was on a bike tour of the country along with her husband complained that she was allegedly gang-raped in the Hansdiha police station area on Friday night, police said. Superintendent of Police (SP) Dumka, Pitamber Singh Kherwar, said the police are taking the necessary actions, including the medical examination of the victim. A committee is also being formed to investigate the matter. BJP National VP Baijayant Jay Panda & other leaders announcing the party’s first list of candidates for LS polls in New Delhi ANI on Saturday.  Pradesh and one each in Goa, Tripura, Andaman and Nicobar and Daman & Diu. Mr Tawde said two former chief ministers and 28 women are among those who have been given tickets in the first list of BJP candidates. There are at least 37 BJP candidates who are less than 50 years of age in the first list. Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan will be the party candidate for the Vidisha seat in the state. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has been renominated as the party candidate from Kota in Rajasthan. Union Minister of Women and Child Development Smriti Irani will be the BJP candidate from Amethi while Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, who was in Congress when the last Lok Sabha elections were held, will be the saffron party nominee for the Guna seat in Madhya Pradesh. Union ministers Mansukhbhai Mandaviya and Purshottambhai Rupala will be the BJP nominees for Porbandar and Rajkot seats in Gujarat. Union minister Meenakshi Lekhi has not been renominated by the party for the New Delhi seat. The party has given ticket to Ms Bansuri Swaraj, the daughter of late BJP stalwart Sushma Swaraj, for the New Delhi constituency. Former health minister Harshvardhan has also been denied the ticket for the Chandni Chowk seat in Delhi with the party naming Mr Parveen Khandelwal as its nominee. Union ministers Kiren Rijiju and Jitendra Singh have been given tickets for the Arunachal West and Udhampur seats respectively. In West Bengal, Locket Chatterjee will be the party candidate from Hooghly while Dr Rathin Chakraborty has been named for the Howrah seat. Ship with cargo suspected to be for Pak nuclear programme stopped ROSE FESTIVAL DUMKA, 2 MARCH A child enjoying the India-Africa Friendship Rose Garden in Chanakyapuri in New Delhi on Saturday SNS Google reinstates apps, IT minister calls meet AGENCIES NEW DELHI, 2 MARCH from the Play Store. Mr Vaishnaw said that the startup ecosystem is the key to the Indian economy and one big company cannot decide their fate. "I am hopeful that Google will be reasonable in its approach. We have a large startup ecosystem and it's crucial to protect their interests," said the minister. "We will take all necessary steps to safeguard our startup ecosystem, and I trust that Google will approach this matter reasonably," the IT minister noted. Earlier in the day, the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) Applications from companies like Altt, Stage, and Aha streaming platforms, Truly Madly and Quack Quack dating apps, Kuku FM audio content platform, and FRND social networking app have also been delisted by Google. slammed the removal of Indian companies' apps and asked Google to reinstate those delisted apps on its Play Store. Google had delisted more than a dozen apps by major Indian digital companies including Matrimony, and Shaadi.com from Play Store. The move comes after Google announced its plan to take action against 10 developers who had refused to comply with its payment policy, despite following the payment policies of other app stores. Security agencies at Mumbai's Nhava Sheva port intercepted a Karachi-bound ship from China suspected of containing a consignment that could be used for Pakistan's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, said a source. A team from the Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) examined the consignment, which is primarily suspected of being used in Pakistan's nuclear initiatives, particularly in manufacturing critical components for missile development. Customs officials, based on an intelligence input, halted a Malta-flagged merchant ship ~ CMA CGM Attila ~ at the port en route to Karachi on 23 January and inspected the consignment, which included a Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machine, originally manufactured by an Italian company. CNC machines are basically controlled by a computer and produce a scale of efficiency, consistency and accuracy not possible manually. A team of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) also inspected the consignment and certified that it could be used by the neighbouring country for its nuclear programme. According to the experts, the equipment would be useful in manufacturing critical parts for Pakistan's missile development programme. Since 1996, CNC machines have been included in theWassenaar Arrangement ~ an international arms control regime aimed at stopping the proliferation of equipment with both civilian and military uses. India is among the 42 member countries that exchange information on transfers of conventional weapons and dual-use goods and technologies. AGENCIES CMYK P12 SILVER 74,500 PM will contest from Varanasi again, while Rajnath & Shah from Lucknow & Gandhinagar New Moon on 10 March Facing intense criticism, Google on Saturday started to reinstate some of the apps of Indian digital companies it delisted from the Play Store. Sources confirmed that the tech giant reinstated some of the apps such as Shaadi.com, Info Edge's Naukri, 99acres and Naukri Gulf, and others. Info Edge co-founder Sanjeev Bikchandani also confirmed the development in a post on X. "Many of the Info Edge apps are back on the Play Store. An effort very well led by Hitesh (Hitesh Oberoi) and the entire Info Edge team. People were up all night for this. Great crisis management," he posted. Union IT and Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday, meanwhile, said he has called Google for a meeting next week, after the company started to reinstate some of the apps of Indian digital companies it delisted P10 BJP announces first list of LS candidates STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE CHIEF SELECTOR AJIT AGARKAR WAS FURIOUS WITH IYER: REPORT Modi attacks TMC’s record of governance STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE KRISHNAGAR, 2 MARCH PM Narendra Modi, speaking at a public rally in Krishnagar, days before the expected announcement of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, attacked the Trinamul Congress’s record of governance in the state, alleging a pattern of oppression, autocracy, corruption, and nepotism. “They have disappointed the people of West Bengal” who have voted for the TMC time and again, the prime minister said, citing a ‘betrayal’ of trust and a lack of inclusive development under the current administration. Mr Modi cited the “obstructionism” faced in establishing the first AIIMS in Bengal. Despite assurances, hurdles, particularly regarding environmental permissions, impeded the progress of the Kalyani AIIMS project, he said, lamenting the TMC government's alleged interference. (See PAGE 3) BRENT CRUDE (IN $) 83.39 India’s extreme poverty under 3 per cent: Report STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 2 MARCH Less than 3 per cent of India’s population is now living below the extreme poverty line of $1.9 (purchasing power parity) per day resulting in elimination of extreme poverty, according to recent World Poverty Clock data. TheWorld Poverty Clock provides a real-time platform to monitor poverty reduction across countries. It monitors progress against Ending Extreme Poverty, which is the UN's first Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). As per the data, around 3.4 crore people are living in extreme poverty in India. The number was 4 crore in 2023 and 4.6 crore in the previous year, according to the data. Purchasing power parity (PPP) is a metric which allows global comparisons of economic data. According to the World Poverty Clock, 94 per cent of the people living in extreme poverty are in rural areas, and the remaining 6 per cent in urban areas. The latest Consumer Experience Survey, too, said India's poverty levels dropped sharply in 2022-23, with urban poverty at 4.6 per cent and rural poverty at 7.2 per cent. The data also showed real per capita consumption growth of 2.9 per cent per annum since 2011-12. Rural growth at 3.1 per cent was significantly higher than urban growth of 2.6 per cent. Further, the survey highlighted the reduction in spending on food items as a percentage of total monthly per capita consumption expenditure in both rural and urban areas. Global think-tank Brookings, in a report based on data released by the Central government, also said high growth and a large decline in inequality have combined to eliminate poverty in India for the $1.9 poverty line. The Headcount Poverty Ratio (HCR) declined from 12.2 percent in 2011-12 to 2 percent in 2022-23, dropping 0.93 percentage points (ppt) a year, according to the report. The higher consumption growth in rural areas is based on strong policy thrusts of a wide variety of publicly funded programmes. These include a national mission for the construction of toilets, access to electricity, modern cooking fuel, and more, it said.