SATURDAY 10 AUGUST 2024 www.thestatesman.com Pages 12 |` 5.00|LC X.com/thestatesmanltd. Fb/thestatesman1875 INDIA’S NATIONAL NEWSPAPER SINCE 1818 KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR EBRAHIM ALKAZI–HOLDING TIME CAPTIVE TRUMP RECOMMITS TO DEBATING HARRIS P9 SENSEX 79,705.91p819.69 WEATHER GENERALLY CLOUDY SKY.LIGHT TO MODERATE RAIN/THUNDERSHOWERS. THE MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM TEMPERATURES WOULD BE AROUND 33 AND 27 DEGREE CELSIUS RESPECTIVELY. RAINFALL: 003.4 mm RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max. 100 % TEMPERATURE Min. 68 % Max: 34.8 °C (+1) SUN RISES 05:49 hrs MOON RISES 11:37 hrs Min: 26.6 °C (0) SUN SETS 19:05 hrs MOON SETS 22:13 hrs THUMBNAILS Former Delhi Deputy CM and Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia addresses party supporters after he was granted bail in the Delhi Excise Policy case in New Delhi on Friday. n SNS MORE REPORTS ON (P2) PM urges citizens to change profile picture to tricolour: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday urged citizens to change their profile pictures to one with the Tricolour on social media platforms. The PM changed his profile picture to tricolour to celebrate Independence Day. He called on everyone to do the same to make the Har Ghar Tiranga Movement a memorable mass movement. NIFTY P11 24,367.50p250.50 AFTER SILVER MEDAL, CHOPRA TO GET RID OF GROIN TROUBLE ‘N BENGAL NEGLECTED BY KOLKATA’ ` vs $ 83.89 P7 GOLD 71,640.00 31-member JPC set up to examine Waqf Bill P12 SILVER 83,000 BRENT CRUDE (IN $) 77.62q−0.33 PM Modi meets BJP SC/ST MPs over SC’s creamy layer observation Asaduddin Owaisi, Kalyan Banerjee, Gaurav Gogoi members of panel STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 9 AUGUST mentary committees shall apply to the Joint Committee with such variations and modifications as the Lok Sabha Speaker, Mr Om Birla, may make. A 31-member Joint Committee of MPs was announced on Friday to examine the contentious Waqf Amendment Bill. The committee, which has 21 members from the Lok Sabha, and 10 from the Rajya Sabha, will submit its report to the Lok Sabha by the last day of the first week of the next session of Parliament. The Bill, seeking to make changes in the management of Waqf properties in the country, was introduced on Thursday in the Lok Sabha, sparking a heated discussion. The Opposition maintained the Bill would not stand judicial scrutiny as it would encroach on fundamental rights of people and is against the secular spirit of the Constitution. Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju agreed to refer the Bill for study by a committee, and moved the motions for the constitution of the Joint Committee of MPs. The 21 members of the Lok Sabha on the committee are Mr Jagdambika Pal, Mr Nishikant Dubey, Mr Tejasvi Surya, Mrs Aparajita Sarangi, Mr Sanjay Jaiswal, Mr Dilip Saikia, Mr Abhijit Gangopadhyay, Mr D K Aruna, Mr Gourav Gogoi, Mr Imran Masood, Mohammad Jawed, Mr Mohibbullah, Mr Kalyan Banerjee, Mr A Raja, Mr Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu, Mr Dileshwar Kamait, Mr Arvind Sawant, Mr Mahtre Balya Mama Suresh Gopinath, Mr Naresh Ganpat Mhaske, Mr Arun Bharti and Mr Asaduddin Owaisi. The 10 members of the Rajya Sabha on the committee are Mr Brij Lal, Dr Medha Vishram Kulkarni, Mr Gulam Ali, Dr Radha Mohan Das Agrawal, Dr Syed Naseer Hussain, Mohammed Nadimul Haque, Mr V Vijayasai Reddy, Mr M Mohamed Abdulla, Mr Sanjay Singh and Dr Dharmasthala Veerendra Heggade. As per the rules governing the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), the quorum for a meeting of the JPC shall be onethird of the total number of the committee members. The Rules of Procedures of the Lok Sabha governing other Parlia- Parliament adjourned sine die: Parliament adjourned sine die on Friday after the conclusion of the Budget Session which saw presentation of the first full Budget of the Narendra Modi government’s third consecutive term in office. The session was the second session of the 18th Lok Sabha. Speaker Om Birla said that productivity during the session was 136 per cent. The Second Session of the 18th Lok Sabha commenced on 22 July and concluded on Friday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government had presented an Interim Budget for 2024-25 just before the 17th Lok Sabha’s term ended. Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar also declared the Upper House adjourned sine die after its 265th session. STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 9 AUGUST A delegation of BJP MPs from the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha belonging to SC and ST communities met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Parliament House on Friday and submitted a memorandum regarding the Supreme Court's observation on the creamy layer for SCs and STs. The MPs demanded that the Supreme Court's decision should not be implemented in our society. According to the MPs, PM Modi assured them that he would look into this matter. After meeting the MPs, the prime minister in a post on X said: “Met a delegation of SC/ST MPs today. Reiterated our commitment and resolve for the welfare and empowerment of the SC/ST communities.” After meeting with PM Modi, BJP MP Prof (Dr) Sikander Kumar said Mr Modi has assured them that the government will work in favour of the MPs. Centre sets up panel to monitor situation on Indo-B’desh border STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 9 AUGUST The Central government on Friday constituted a fivemember committee to monitor the current situation on the Indo-Bangladesh border in the light of the ongoing unsettled situation in the neighbouring country. “The committee will maintain communication channels with their counterpart authorities in Bangladesh to ensure the safety of Indian citizens and people belonging to minority communities in Bangladesh," the Border Management Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement. The committee will be headed by Ravi Gandhi, Additional Director General of the Border Security Force (BSF), Eastern Command and will have IG, BSF Frontier HQ South Bengal, IG, BSF Frontier HQ Tripura, Member (Planning & Development), Land Ports Authority of India (LPAI), and, Secretary, LPAI, as its members.