NANO-HISTORY AND HERITAGE CONSERVATION 16 JUNE 2024 www.thestatesman.com Twitter.com/TheStatesmanLtd Facebook.com/thestatesman THE HERITAGE OF STATESMAN HOUSE PAGE 14 BARBADOS TO HOST INDIA’S MATCH AGAINST AFGHANISTAN PAGE 13 PAGE 12 India’s National Newspaper since 1818 PAGES 16 | `5.00 | LC KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR WEATHER Partly cloudy sky. Possibility of rain / thundershower towards afternoon/evening. Maximum and Minimum Temperature most likely be around 38°C and 29°C respectively. RAINFALL: 0.0 mm RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max. 88% The meeting comes in the wake of recent terror attacks in the region Min: 30.2°C (+3.2) SUN SETS 18:22 hrs MOON SETS 00:6 hrs MVA to contest Maharashtra Assembly polls together; vows to oust MahaYuti govt Wherever Modi campaigned, we won: Pawar Min.43% Max: 37.4°C (+2.9) SUN RISES 04:52 hrs MOON RISES 12:28 hrs Amit Shah to chair J&K security review meet TEMPERATURE Aim is to neutralise enemy with minimum amount of damage: J&K DGP Swain Full Moon on 22 June AGENCIES CRPF personnel deployed on the Jammu National Highway ahead of the Amarnath Yatra, on Saturday.  ANI AGENCIES NEW DELHI, 15 JUNE Firefighters douse a fire that broke out at a chemical factory in the Tronica city industrial area in Ghaziabad, on Saturday. ANI Eight Maoists killed in encounter at Chhattisgarh-Maharashtra border: Eight Maoists M were killed in a fierce encounter with security forces in the Kuthul area of Abujhmad in the Narayanpur district, located at the Chhattisgarh-Maharashtra border. An STF (Special Task Force) personnel was martyred, and two others were injured in the encounter. The injured personnel are being airlifted to Raipur for medical treatment. The number of casualties among the Maoists may incrP ease as the operation is in progress. (Pg5) STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE Union Home Secretary, and senior officers from the Army, police, Jammu and Kashmir administration, and the MHA. Since 9 June, there have been terror strikes at four places in Reasi, Kathua, and Doda, where nine pilgrims and a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawan were killed, and a civilian and at least seven security personnel were injured. KATHUA, 15 JUNE THUMBNAILS Veteran sports journalist Harpal Singh Bedi dies at 73 Jammu and Kashmir DGP Rashmi Ranjan Swain reiterated on Saturday that they aim to neutralise the enemy with the minimum amount of damage in the wake of recent terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, which have raised concerns about the security arrangements in the region. He also met Jawans who were deployed during an encounter in Sohal village, Hiranagar and asserted that the teams would be strengthened, modernised and each ter- rorist would be hunted down. Mr Swain said: “I appeal to people that the flow of information should continue. Here, we respond to every piece of information, including smaller ones, as we have such orders from GoI in Delhi. We will strengthen our teams, modernise ourselves and kill each of them (terrorists). Drone is a threat. Our aim is to neutralise the enemy with the minimum amount of damage. Those who provide shelter, are least in numbers and we will ruin them to set an example that whoever thinks so will tremble.” nion Home Minister Amit Shah will chair a highlevel meeting on Sunday to review the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir and preparedness for the Amarnath Yatra. Earlier on Friday, the Union Home Minister reviewed the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir in a high-level meeting with senior officers of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) here in the national capital, and directed to call another detailed meeting on 16 June over the issue. U Mr Shah conducted Friday’s meeting in the wake of recent terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, which have raised concerns about the security arrangements in the region. In the meeting, the Home Minister also gave directions to call a followup meeting on 16 June in North Block to further assess the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir and the preparations for the upcoming Amarnath Yatra. As per Home Ministry officials, the 16 June meeting will be attended by the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, National Security Advisor, PM to release `20,000 cr under PM-KISAN in Varanasi on 18 June NEW DELHI, 15 JUNE STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 15 JUNE Veteran sports journalist and Editorial Consultant of The Statesman, Harpal Singh Bedi, who covered some of the most prestigious international sporting events in a career spanning over four decades, died here this morning following prolonged illness. He was 73 and is survived by his wife Revathi and daughter Pallavi. He was cremated at Green Park Crematorium in Delhi in the presence of family members, relatives, colleagues and a large number of friends, including External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. Bedi, who began his career with the UNI as a sub-editor in 1980, was the youngest Sports Editor of the news agency. He covered as many as eight Olympics, several Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, World Cups of cricket and hockey, and world and national championships of athletics and other major Olympic sports during his long career. (See Page 12) Prime Minister Narendra Modi will release the PMKISAN scheme’s 17th instalment amounting to nearly Rs 20,000 crore in Varanasi on 18th June. The event will be organised by the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare in coordination with the government of Uttar Pradesh. Disclosing this at a Press conference on Saturday, Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Shivraj Chouhan said the prime minister would be granting certificates to more than 30,000 self-help groups as Krishi Sakhis. He said Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath would be present on the occasion. Mr Chouhan called agriculture the foundation of the Indian economy. Even today, most of the employment opportunities are created through agriculture. He said farmers are today filling gran- aries of the country. Agriculture and farmers have been the top priority of the Prime Minister, he said, and as a result, the Government took several steps for the welfare of farmers. Just after assuming office, in his first order, the prime minister signed papers for the 17th instalment of the Kisan Samman Nidhi for release to the farmers. In his first public engagement, after becoming the prime minister for the third time, the highly anticipated 17th instalment of PM KISAN, amounting to more than Rs 20,000 crore, will be disbursed to over 9.26 crore beneficiary farmers by the prime minister with a single click of a button from Varanasi. Rudraprayag mishap: 12 tourists dead STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE DEHRADUN, 15 JUNE Twelve tourists died and 14 were seriousely injured on Saturday when a Tempo Traveller they were travelling in skidded off the road and fell 500 metres on to the bank of the river Alaknanda on the Badrinath National Highway in Rudraprayag. All the injured were shifted to Rudraprayag district hospital. Seven of them were later airlifted to AIIMS Rishikesh. The incident occured at around 11.28 a.m. The driver of the ill-fated vehicle lost control of it and it skidded off the road. The vehicle tumbled 500 metres on to the banks of the Alaknanda, informed State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) authorities. Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, expressing grief over the accident, said: “While SDRF local police and , administration worked hard to rescue the accident victims District Magistrate Rudraprayag has been ordered to investigate the cause of the accident." Indian Army prepares for future drone wars with deadly ‘Nagastra-1’ suicide drones AGENCIES NEW DELHI, 15 JUNE When tech billionaire Elon Musk says that future wars will be won by nations with the most effective drones, he is not bluffing at all. The Indian Army has received the first batch of ‘suicide drones’ called ‘Nagastra-1’ which can strike enemy training camps and launch pads in border areas with precision and save soldiers’ lives. According to reports, these high-tech drones are made in India by Economic Explosives Limited (EEL), a subsidiary of Solar Industries in Nagpur. The Army placed an order of 480 such drones and at least 120 of them have reportedly been delivered.What are these ‘suicide drones’? ‘Nagastra-1’ is a type of “loitering munition”, where the aerial weapon is armed with an in-built warhead, designed to loiter around an area until a target is located and then crash into it. These indigenously developed drones offer more selective targeting as the attack can be changed mid-flight or even aborted.In a ‘kamikaze mode’, the drone can neutralise any threat with a GPS- enabled precision strike with an accuracy of 2 metres. Weighing around 9 kg, the fixed-wing electric unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has an endurance of 30 minutes, a man-in-loop range of 15 km and an autonomous mode range of 30 km. It is said to be capable of carrying a 1 kg warhead up to a range of 15 km and an upgraded version can carry a 2.2 kg warhead up to 30 km distance. In case a target is not detected or if the mission is aborted, the suicide drones can be called back and make a soft landing with a parachute recovery mechanism, enabling them to be reused multiple times.The use of drones in armed conflict has now become widespread. Earlier this month, Ukraine attacked Russian targets with a total of 25 combat drones.Yemen's Houthi group also claimed to have made attacks on the US aircraft carrier Eisenhower, another US warship and several commercial cargo vessels in the Red Sea and Arabian Sea via drones earlier this month. Since November last year, the Houthi group has launched anti-ship ballistic missiles and drones targeting what they said were Israelilinked ships transiting the Red Sea to show solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden last year announced a slew of defence and technology deals, including armed SeaGuardian drones. STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE MUMBAI, 15 JUNE AGENCIES MUMBAI, 15 JUNE Buoyed by its impressive performance in Maharashtra in the just-concluded Lok Sabha elections, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) comprising Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress, and NCP (SP) on Saturday decided to contest the upcoming Assembly elections unitedly to dislodge the MahaYuti regime from power. Following a preliminary meeting of the opposition alliance, the MVA partners said that winnability is the sole criterion and there is no big or small 'brother' as all are equal with only one objective ~ to unseat the MahaYuti government comprising the BJP Shiv Sena , and NCP . The meeting was attended by NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, his son Aditya Thackeray, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut, and senior Congress leaders Prithviraj Chavan and Balasaheb Thorat, among others. At the media briefing following the meeting, Sharad Pawar, Aditya Thackeray, and Prithviraj Chavan claimed that the MVA will work hard to repeat the performance of Lok Sabha elections and defeat the MahaYuti in the upcoming Assembly elections slated for September-October this year. In the recent elections, the MVA won 31 out of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra, while the MahaYuti allies bagged the remaining 17 seats. The MVA leaders said the opposition alliance also comprising smaller parties like the CPI, CPI-M, AAP and , Peasants and Workers Party of India will arrive at a seatsharing formula at the ear- National Congress PartySharad Chandra Pawar (NCP-SCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that wherever Mr Modi held roadshows and rallies, they (Opposition candidates) won. “Wherever the PM's roadshow and rally took place, we won. That is why I consider it my duty to thank the Prime Minister,” Mr Pawar said. In the recently held Lok Sabha elections, the BJP suffered significant losses in several states, including Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, all ruled by it or its allies. liest. They also said that many social and non-political organisations are with the MVA and their association will continue in the Assembly polls to defeat the MahaYuti.