Pages 12 |` 5.00|LC KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR RR DEFEAT LSG BY 20 RUNS ON HOME TURF WHY SOUTH KOREA’S DEMOCRATS MUST WORRY FM REJECTS K’TAKA GOVT CHARGE OF FISCAL BIAS FORMER IAF CHIEF RKS BHADAURIA JOINS BJP P7 P4 P5 INDIA bloc to hold huge rally on 31 Mar in Delhi P12 CELEBRATION OF COLOURS Leaders urge citizens to unite & amplify their voices in defence of democracy STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 24 MARCH WEATHER PARTLY CLOUDY SKY. THE MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM TEMPERATURES WOULD BE AROUND 32 AND 16 DEGREES CELSIUS RESPECTIVELY. RAINFALL: NIL RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max. 92 % Min. 42 % TEMPERATURE Max: 29.8 °C-2) SUN RISES 6:18 hrs MOON RISES 18:45 hrs Min: 16.9 °C (0) SUN SETS 18:35 hrs MOON SETS 06:45 hrs THUMBNAILS 35 Somalian pirates apprehended by Navy remanded in 10-day police custody: A Mumd bai court has remanded the 35 Somalian pirates apprehended by the Indian Navy to 10 days of police custody on Sunday. Indian Navy's warship INS Kolkata nabbed the pirates after a 40-hour-long operation that commenced on 15 March. The Indian warship INS Kolkata successfully cornered and coerced all 35 pirates to surrender on March 16, ensuring the safe evacuation of 17 crew members from the pirate vessel without any injury, the Indian Navy said in an official statement. T he INDIA bloc will hold a "massive" rally at the Ramlila Maidan here on 31st March for “the protection of democracy and democratic institutions, which are being crushed and subjugated by the BJP government at the Centre, through authoritarian methods", said senior leaders of AAP and Delhi unit of Congress on Sunday. They also called upon citizens to "unite and amplify their voices in defense of democracy". The announcement comes in the wake of the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Delhi liquor policy case. Addressing a joint Press conference along with the top leaders of the Delhi Congress, Delhi minister and senior AAP leader Gopal Rai said: “The way the Prime Minister of the country, employing full authoritarianism, has killed democracy in this country, by arresting Delhi CM Delhi ministers and AAP leaders Atishi Singh, Gopal Rai and Saurabh Bharadwaj with Delhi Congress president Arvinder Singh Lovely and others during a Press conference of INDIA leaders, in the Capital on Sunday.  SNS Arvind Kejriwal, the anger within all the people who love the Constitution, love democracy, who love the constitutional institutions of this country, is palpable." Attacking Prime Minister Modi, Mr Rai, who is also the AAP Delhi state convenor said: “It's not just about Arvind Kejriwal. The way the Prime Minister is misusing agencies, conspiring, trading MLAs, intimidating people, either buying off or threatening the entire opposition with money or by threatening them with the ED and the CBI to join their party, is enraging everyone. Against all those opposition leaders who are neither ready to be sold nor ready to bow down, nor stop, there is a conspiracy to arrest them by fabricating false cases." Mr Rai further said: "Before the arrest of CM Kejriwal, we have seen how the CM of Jharkhand was arrested there." “If this country remains silent, then today if a CM can be arrested publicly, who will raise their voice after the elections? If the account of such an old party like Congress can be frozen, then every business person who does not donate to them (BJP) will have their accounts seized forcibly. They (BJP) will seize the account of every citizen of this country. Anyone who dares to speak against them will be thrown into jail. It is necessary to raise voice against this dictatorship,” he said. The minister added: “Whoever loves this country, should gather at Ramlila Maidan at 10 am on 31st March. We will raise our voice from there to end the authoritarianism of this country and collectively take this fight forward,” he concluded." Echoing similar sentiments, Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely said that the party will fully back and participate in the massive public meeting at the Ramlila Maidan. Attacking the ruling dispensation, he said, "The way the bank accounts of the country's most prominent opposition party, the Congress Party, were forcibly freezed by the BJP government at the time of elections, no government in the country has ever acted with a spirit of revenge. " ‘Certain that PoK will itself merge with India' AGENCIES NEW DELHI, 24 MARCH Defence minister Rajnath Singh said that the people of PakistanOccupied Kashmir (PoK) are themselves raising the demand for a merger with India and expressed confidence that eventually, the people of PoK will merge with India. He made the remarks during a programme on a television news channel. Asked about Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's recent remarks about Kashmir, Mr Singh said, "Can they ever take Kashmir? They should be worried about Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir. I had said almost Defence Minister Rajnath Singh celebrates the Holi festival with Armed Forces personnel, at Leh Military Station in Leh on Sunday.  SNS one and a half years ago that there will be no need for us to attack and occupy, because a situation is developing there that people of PoK themselves are demanding merger with India." Asked whether the government was making any plan, he responded, "I will not say anything more, I should not. We are not going to attack any country. India has a character of never attacking any country in the world, nor has it occupied an inch of other's territory. But PoK was ours, PoK is ours, and I am confident that PoK will itself merge with India." Asked what if China attacks India, Rajnath Singh said, "God should give them the good sense not to commit such mistakes. India has a character of never attacking any country, but if any country attacks us, we do not spare them. But the truth is that if anyone asks us, we have good relations with all our neighbours. "On Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's allegation that China has occupied nearly 2,000 square kilometres of India's territory, he expressed sadness over his remarks and stated that he does not want to remind him about the activities China did in 1962. Mr Singh on Sunday celebrated Holi with Indian troops in Leh. The minister applied ‘tika’ on the forehead of soldiers at the military station. The Defence Minister was accompanied by the Army chief, General Manoj Pande and GOC of the Fire and Fury Corps, Lt. General Rashim Bali. Mr Singh was scheduled to celebrate Holi with soldiers at the world’s highest battlefield, Siachen, but due to bad weather he was unable to proceed beyond Leh. Addressing the soldiers, Mr Singh said the positive commitment of the soldiers posted in high altitudes is much stronger than minus temperatures. He termed Ladakh as India’s capital of valour and bravery, just as Delhi is the national capital, Mumbai is the financial capital and Bengaluru is the technology capital. Women dance during the Basanta Utsav celebrations ahead of the Holi festival, in Kolkata on Sunday.  ANI Kangana Ranaut, Arun Govil, Naveen Jindal in BJP’s fifth LS list STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 24 MARCH Actors Kangana Ranaut and Arun Govil, industrialist Naveen Jindal, and BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra figure in the fifth list of 111 candidates announced by the BJP on Sunday evening for the Lok Sabha elections. The list was released after a meeting of the BJP's Central Election Committee (CEC) on Saturday. The BJP today named its candidates for the Lok Sabha seats from 17 states ~ Uttar Pradesh (13), Bihar (17), Odisha (18), Rajasthan (7), Haryana (4), Maharashtra (3), West Bengal (39), Kerala (4), Karnataka (4), Goa (1), Gujarat (6), Himachal Pradesh (2), Jharkhand (3), Mizoram (1), Sikkim (1), Telangana (2), and Andhra Pradesh (6). Actor Kangana Ranaut has been fielded from Himachal Pradesh's Mandi, a stronghold of the Congress. Arun Govil, who played the character of Lord Ram in Ramanand Sagar's Ramayan has been fielded from Uttar Pradesh's Meerut. Maneka Gandhi will contest from UP's Sultanpur. Former Congress MP and industrialist Naveen Pakistan ‘seriously’ considering Chandrayaan-3landing site reviving trade with India: FM Dar now officially ‘Shiva Shakti’ AGENCIES LONDON, 24 MARCH Pakistan's newly elected Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has expressed "serious intent" of his government to reconsider trade relations with India, a move that would be a pivotal change of policy and position since August 2019, when Islamabad suspended its trade relations in response to New Delhi's decision to abrogate Articles 370 and 35A and revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. The Pakistani Foreign Minister's significant statement regarding relations with India came during a press conference in London, where he is present to attend the Nuclear Energy Summit. Mr Dar highlighted the keen interest of Pakistan's business community in the revival of trade with India, hinting towards Islamabad's potential and major shift of diplomatic policy and stance towards its arch-rival and neighbour India. "We will seriously look into matters of trade with India," he said while answering a question on Pakistan-India relations. Mr Dar's statement seems to be part of the newly formed government's five-year road map focused on opening economic corridors of trade and business with neighbouring countries including India and paving the way towards economic revival for Pakistan. Mr Dar said that it was the wrong decisions of the Imran Khan-led government that pushed Pakistan on the verge of an economic collapse, adding that the previous 16month government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif compromised its political gains and took difficult unpopular decisions to save the country from a financial meltdown. "Our government would implement a five-year road map to put Pakistan on the road to economic progress and bring down inflation to lessen the economic difficulties of the common man," he said. Pakistan's newly formed government under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif looks focused on the prime issue the country faces and seems to be ready to open all possibilities of engagement with important neighbouring countries like India. Mr Dar's statement has come at a time when India is holding its general elections and relations with Pakistan would certainly be one of the focus of election campaigning of all political contenders. While Pakistan is sending out a policy-based proposal for the revival of engagement between the two countries; India has been clear on its approach towards Islamabad, maintaining that it wants Pakistan to take action against extremist terror elements, which have played roles in carrying out terror attacks in India. India has consistently maintained that Pakistan has not done enough to counter terrorism but has done all to safeguard anti-India groups, people and elements on its soil, keeping it as the top priority for any mode of engagement to materialize between the two countries. On the other hand, Pakistan keeps the Kashmir dispute as the top priority for table talks with government officials stating that there can be no talks if the Kashmir dispute is not on the agenda. AGENCIES Jindal, who joined the BJP on Sunday, will contest from Haryana's Kurukshetra. Sambit Patra will contest from Puri of Odisha. Former Calcutta High Court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay, who quit the Bench recently and joined the BJP, has been fielded from West Bengal's Tamluk seat. Other prominent candidates include Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan from Odisha's Sambalpur, former IAS officer Aparajita Sarangi from Bhubaneswar, Andhra Pradesh unit chief D.Purandeswari from Rajahmundry, and former Andhra Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, who quit the Congress, from Rajampet. In Bihar, the party has fielded Union ministers R.K Singh from Arrah, Nityanand Rai from Ujiarpur, and Giriraj Singh from Begusarai. Former Union ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad from Patna Sahib, Rajiv Pratap Rudy from Saran, Radha Mohan Singh from Purvi Champaran, and Ram Kripal Yadav from Pataliputra also figure in the list. JMM's Sita Soren, who recently joined the party, has been fielded from Dumka (ST). Former Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, who recently rejoined the party from the Congress, has been fielded from Belgaum and former state minister K. Sudhakar from Chikballapur. In Kerala, state chief K. Surendran has been fielded from Wayanad, where Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is contesting. Sitting MP Varun Gandhi has been denied a ticket from UP's Pilibhit and UP minister Jitin Prasad fielded in his place. Bareilly MP and former Union minister Santosh Gangwar has also been dropped and Chhatrapal Singh Gangwar was named the candidate. Moscow terror attack: EAM speaks to Lavrov AGENCIES NEW DELHI, 24 MARCH BENGALURU, 24 MARCH The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has approved 'Shiva Shakti' as the name of the Chandrayaan3 landing site on the moon. The approval came on 19 March after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement following the success of the mission on 26 August 2023. “IAU working group for Planetary System Nomenclature has approved the name station 'Shiv Shakti' for the landing site of Chandrayaan-3's Vikram lander,” the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, which provides detailed information about planetary names by International Astronomical Union, said. The announcement defined the origin of the name as a “compound word from Indian mythology that depicts masculine (Shiva) and feminine (Shakti) duality of nature; Landing site of Chandrayaan-3's Vikram Lander.” On 28 August 2023, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced at ISRO announced that the landing point of the Chandrayaan-3 While the Chandrayaan-2 landing failure spot will be called “Tiranga point", the day of the touchdown of the Vikram lander on the moon (23 August) will be celebrated as “National Space Day” in the country, PM Modi had stated. Mission would be known as “Shiv Shakti Point”. While the Chandrayaan2 landing failure spot will be called “Tiranga point", the day of the touchdown of the Vikram lander on the moon (23 August) will be celebrated as “National Space Day” in the country, PM Modi had stated. Prime Minister Modi made the announcements while addressing the gathering of scientists at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) at the ISRO Command Centre. “India has decided to name the touchdown point where Vikram Lander made a soft landing on the Moon as “Shiv Shakti Point”. The word “Shiv” stands for the welfare of humanity. “Shakti” stands for the required strength to get going to achieve the welfare of humanity,” PM Modi said. PM Modi has said that the Moon’s Shiv Shakti point will be a symbol of unity from the Himalayas to Kanyakumari. “The Shiv Shakti Point will inspire future generations in the direction of the use of science for the welfare of humanity,” Mr Modi had underlined. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov and conveyed his condolences on the loss of lives in the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall in Moscow, which claimed 133 lives. In a post on microblogging site X, Mr Jaishankar stated: “Spoke to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Conveyed our deepest condolences on the loss of lives in the horrific terrorist attack in Moscow." On Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned the terror attack inside a packed concert hall in Moscow, calling it a 'heinous act' and expressing solidarity with the Russian government and its people. Meanwhile, Mr Jaishankar, who is currently in Singapore, said on Sunday that Russia is a country with which India has always had a positive relationship and both countries have taken extra care to look after each other's interests. Interacting with the Indian community in Singapore, Mr Jaishankar said India should look at its relationship with Russia or any other coun- try from its perspective. "So, tell me has Russia helped us or harmed us? Has Russia at crucial moments contributed or obstructed? Going ahead, are there gains to be made from Russia or is it only damages which will come out?" he asked. “So, if I do my calculations from my perspective and my experiences, I will get the answer. And the answer in this case is that Russia is a country with which we have always had a positive relationship,” he said. "Both India and Russia have taken that extra care to look after each other's interests. So, I think we should have that confidence as we go forward," he said while answering a question. The ties between India and Russia remained strong notwithstanding Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. India has not yet condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and it has been maintaining that the crisis must be resolved through diplomacy and dialogue.