TUESDAY 27 AUGUST 2024 www.thestatesman.com X.com/thestatesmanltd. Fb/thestatesman1875 INDIA’S NATIONAL NEWSPAPER SINCE 1818 Pages 14 |` 5.00|LC* KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR ‘INDIA DIASPORA A LIVING BRIDGE BETWEEN INDIA & US’ ‘JOB ASPIRANTS DON'T JOIN DHARNAS’ P4 SENSEX 81,698.11 P5 NIFTY 25,010.60 WEATHER Generally cloudy sky. One or two spells of light to moderate rain / thundershower with a intense spell of rain very likely to occur. Maximum and Minimum Temperature most likely to be around 30˚C and 26˚C respectively. P8 ` vs $ 83.87 GOLD 74,255.00 The ‘Nabanna Abhijan’ has been termed ‘illegal’ by police, around 6,000 cops will be deployed Min. 91% Max: 28.8˚C (-3.9) SUN RISES 05:17 hrs MOON RISES 22:51 hrs Min: 25.5˚C (-1.1) SUN SETS 17:59 hrs MOON SETS 11:56 hrs TEMPERATURE New Moon on 02 September THUMBNAILS AGENCIES KOLKATA, 26 AUGUST Priests perform aarti of Lord Krishna at ISKCON temple on the occasion of Krishna Janmashtami festival, in Bengaluru on Monday. . n ANI ICG rescues 11 people on high seas: The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) Monday rescued 11 crew members from the distressed MV ITT Puma during a challenging night-time Search and Rescue operation. The Mumbai-registered general cargo vessel was en route from Kolkata to Port Blair when it reportedly sank about 90 nautical miles south of Sagar Island (West Bengal). The Maritime Search & Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) Chennai initially received a distress signal late last evening. The ICG’s Regional Headquarters (North East) in Kolkata promptly mobilised two ICG vessels and a Dornier aircraft to the site. The Dornier aircraft, equipped with advanced night-capable sensors detected adrift life rafts and sighted survival red flares from the distressed crew. A total of 4,000 police personnel will be stationed in different pockets of Kolkata, especially the connecting points with the adjacent Howrah district, in view of Tuesday's 'Nabanna Abhijan' (march to the secretariat) call given by students to protest against the R G Kar Medical College & Hospital rape-murder case. This will be in addition to the 2,000 police personnel, under the supervision of 97 senior officers, who will be deployed to ensure security in and around Nabanna, which is located at Mandirtala in Howrah district. The ‘Nabanna Abhijan’ call has been given on social media by the students of the state, who have invited everyone to join the protest march without carrying the banner of any political party. It is similar to the call given by women for a midnight march on the eve of Independence Day seeking justice for the R G Kar rape and murder victim. Those willing to join Tuesday’s protest rally will be assembling at College Square in central Kolkata and from there the protesters will march towards the state secretariat. Kolkata Police sources said that apart from the personnel of the city police and Howrah Police Commissionerate, personnel from other Commission- erate and district police units will also be deployed on Tuesday to prevent any sort of law & order issues over the rally. City police sources added that senior officers in the rank of additional commissioners along with other senior ranks will be on the streets of the city on Tuesday to supervise the security arrangements. There will be barricades at seven points in the city. Water cannons will also be stationed for any emergency. There will be drone surveillance at the rally as well, said sources. The state government last week approached the Calcutta High Court seeking the court’s intervention in getting a ban on the rally. However, on 23 MHA decides to create five more districts in Ladakh STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 26 AUGUST Considering the large and inaccessible parts of the Ladakh Union Territory, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has decided to create five new districts for the Union Territory. The five new districts will be Zanskar, Drass, Sham, Nubra and Changthang. At present there are only two districts – Leh and Kargil – in the Union Territory. Home Minister Amit Shah gave information about the new districts in a post on the X platform on Monday. He said the creation of the new districts would take administration to every corner of the Union Territory, along with benefits of administration at the doorsteps of people. Welcoming the decision, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a post on X, said, “Creation of five new districts in Ladakh is a step towards better governance and prosperity. Zanskar, Drass, Sham, Nubra, and Changthang will now receive more focused attention, bringing services and opportunities even closer to the people. Congratulations to the people there.” The Home Minister said the decision on the new districts has been taken in pursuit of the Prime Minister’s vision to build a developed and prosperous Ladakh. After the formation of the five districts, there will now be a total of seven districts in Ladakh, including Leh and Kargil. Ladakh is a very large Union Territory in terms of area. It is one of the least populated areas of India. Being extremely difficult and inaccessible, at present the district administration is facing many difficulties in reaching the grassroots level. The Narendra Modi government at the Centre is committed to provide development possibilities for the people of Ladakh. After the formation of these districts, now all public welfare schemes of the Central Government and Ladakh Administration will be able to reach the people easily and more and more people will be able to take their advantage. This important decision of MHA will prove to be very useful in the allround development of Ladakh, MHA said. Along with giving the “inprinciple approval” for the formation of the five new districts, the Ministry of Home Affairs has asked the Ladakh administration to form a committee to assess various aspects related to the formation of new districts. These will cover headquarters, boundaries, structure, creation of posts, and any other aspect related to the formation of districts, and submit its report within three months. After receiving the report of the said committee, the Union Territory of Ladakh will send the final proposal regarding the creation of new districts on the basis of this report to the Home Ministry for further action. August, a Division Bench of Calcutta High Court rejected the state government’s plea. Even the Supreme Court on 21 August observed that while the law would take its course, peaceful protests cannot be stopped forcefully. Meanwhile, West Bengal ADG police (law & order) Manoj Kumar Verma called the Nabanna Abhijan rally illegal and an attempt to incite widespread unrest in Kolkata. He said, "Nabanna is a restricted area. If any programme is organised here then the organisers should put a request to the police officials and the police will decide after considering the case. So far, no organisation has applied to hold a protest near Nabanna. This is a restricted zone and if anyone needs to organise a protest then they first need to apply for permission from the police...We have very specific inputs that some miscreants might try to create a situation of unrest there (near Nabanna). Additional deputy general of police, South Bengal Supratim Sarkar also said that there is speculation that during the Nabanna Abhijan rally, some miscreants could attempt to sabotage the rally. (See Page 3) Modi discusses cooperation in Quad with Australian PM R G Kar probe: Second round of polygraph tests on ex-principal, five others STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE KOLKATA, 26 AUGUST Prof (Dr) Sandip Ghosh, the controversial former principal of the R G Kar Medical College Hospital, and five others, including four junior doctors (two first-year postgraduate trainee (PGT) doctors, one house staff and an intern of the teaching hospital) on Monday underwent second round of polygraph tests conducted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probing the heinous rape and murder case of a 31-year-old woman PGT doctor happened in the chest medicine department of the same government medical teaching institute on 9 August. The central investigating agency on Saturday had conducted the first round of polygraph tests separately on the same six suspects at the CGO Complex. DEHRADUN, 26 AUGUST Kedarnath reconstruction works leading to continuous removal of moraine cover from Chorabari glacier ahead of the shrine area is bound to risk the future of Kedarpuri town, experts warn. Geologists, glacier experts and locals allege unchecked removal of moraines will increase breaking and melting of the glacier with higher frequencies of avalanches in future. Construction companies engaged in the reconstruction of Kedarnath town, also known as Kedarpuri, devastated in 2013 rain disaster, have started digging moraines as building materials from Chorabari lake site, 2-3 kilometers above the temple area. This, according to the experts who are in thick and thin of the Kedarnath ter- rain, will uncover the mass of the glacier lying under the moraines and increase chances of it breaking resulting into avalanches. Apart from this it will augment melting of the glacier for removing moraine layers will expose it to the outer environment and solar radiations. According to experts, it will also increase the danger of floods 4-5 times higher magnitude than that witnessed in 2013. As per official records, more than 6,000 people were killed in the June 2013 disaster and the entire Kedarpuri was destroyed with majority of the buildings crumbled down or washed away in the flood. “It is learnt that moraines in Kedarpuri are being excavated as building materials for the ongoing construction activities in the town from Chorabari lake area which is also part of the glacier. Digging moraines over Chorabari Glacier will expose underlying mass of ice and aggravate its rate of melting. "This will not only trigger faster recedes of the 6.5 kilometres long glacier but also lead to the breakdown of a big portion of ice mass with multiple consequences in areas down Mandakini River stream. Recently we saw a big disaster in the making between Ramabara and Gaurikund that resulted from massive rains in the upper Mandakini river course leading to multiple landslides," M P S Bisht, senior scientist and head, Department of Geology, HNB Garhwal University Srinagar, said. Similar views were expressed by another senior scientist and retired glaciologist D P Dobhal. “They are inviting another disaster by digging out moraines from the Glacier area. Heavy rains in the under construction town will anytime result in a massive volume of water stream in the river Mandakini as the glacier will melt BRENT CRUDE (IN $) 79.26 J&K candidates: Outcry after BJP trims original list SP SHARMA JAMMU, 26 AUGUST In an unusual flip-flop, the BJP on Monday morning within minutes after releasing its first list of 44 candidates for the 3-phase assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir, withdrew it without assigning any reason and later re-issued two lists containing names of 16 candidates. The list has triggered discontent among the grassroots level as it contained names of many of those from other parties who recently joined the BJP. Several BJP activists stormed into the BJP headquarters here protesting against denial of ticket to the “original” partyman who had been working among the masses for the past five years when J&K was downgraded as a union territory (UT) in 2019. Reports of annoyance among the party activists were also pouring in from the Poonch and Rajouri districts where tickets had been given to atleast three persons who joined the BJP just a couple of days ago after quitting National Conference (NC), PDP and other parties. The two lists contain names of only eight candidates from south Kashmir leaving open the other eight seats of politically vibrant region. The UT BJP chief Ravinder Raina rushed to the BJP office to pacify the protestors who were raising slogans against the selection of candidates particularly for a seat of Jammu city. Tuesday is the STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 26 AUGUST Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday spoke with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and took stock of progress in bilateral relations and cooperation in the multilateral fora, including the Quad. “Delighted to speak to my friend Anthony Albanese. We took stock of progress in our bilateral relations and cooperation in the multilateral fora, including the Quad,” Mr Modi wrote on X later. The Quad is a grouping that brings India, Australia, Japan and the United States under a common umbrella to develop a new strategy to keep the critical sea routes in the Indo-Pacific free of any influence. at greater pace. It may lead to big avalanches in Kedarnath. We are already witnessing its fallouts in the recent past but have turned blind eyes on it. Dobhal informed that construction activities in the Kedarnath had already inflicted huge damage to the terrain by disposing off big boulders deposited around the temple in the 2013 disaster. “These boulders would have been better safety devices for the temple than present multiple tiers of walls raised under Kedarnath reconstruction plan” added Dobhal. State government officials looking after the construction work in Kedarnath Town were unwilling to come on record, but they admitted that high decibel works involving construction of multistoried buildings, deep diggings, removal of big boulders and rocks for constructions works, deploy- last day for filing nominations for the first phase of polling on 18 September. The new and the withdrawn lists excluded names of two top BJP leaders, former deputy chief ministers Nirmal Singh & Kavinder Gupta. NC’s provincial president Devender Singh Rana, who some time back joined the BJP, was included for the Nagrota seat in the deleted list. Rana is younger brother of union minister Dr. Jitendra Singh and polling for the Nagrota seat will be held in the later phase. The new list contains names of the same candidates who figured in the deleted list. It is understood that the party functionaries were supposed to today release only the first phase list and release the other two lists of the second and third phase after the notification for these two phases were issued by the election commission. Releasing the revised list, the national general secretary of BJP Arun Singh stated that the list of candidates for the second and third phases of the Assembly elections would be considered "null and void". the list issued for the candidates for all the three phases has been withdrawn" Later, a list containing 15 names and another with only one name of Choudhary Roshan Hussain Gujjar for the Kokernag constituency of south Kashmir was issued. The Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections will be held in three phases on 18 and 25 September and 1 and October, Counting of votes is scheduled on 4 October. PM Modi-Biden phone call over Ukraine, safety of Hindus in Bangladesh STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 26 AUGUST Prime Minister Narendra Modi received a telephone call on Monday from US President Joe Biden. While discussing the situation in Ukraine, the Prime Minister briefed President Biden on his recent visit to Ukraine. Mr Modi conveyed his appreciation for President Moraine excavation at Chorabari in Kedarnath may lead to perilous outcomes: Experts P R SINGH P14 SILVER 87,000 Massive police presence to ensure peaceful protest RAINFALL: 62.2 mm RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max. 97 % ‘CAN’T LOSE MOMENTUM’ ‘THOSE VOCAL ABOUT PALESTINE SILENT ON BANGLADESH’ ment of heavy machines like stone crushers close to the glacier and other similar tasks taken up in Kedarpuri in the last 11 years have deteriorated it’s local climate and risked the topographical stability. Kedarnath town reconstruction works were started in 2014, but it failed to make a mark but for creation of an alternate pilgrimage track by Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) in record nearly six months to resume pilgrimage. However, it got impetus after Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014 and a Construction plan for Kedarpuri was enforced in his leadership. Nearly 30 buildings have been completed while more than 100 are under construction, informed a priest and member of the Badrinath Kedarnath Temple Committee (BKTC). Biden’s deep commitment to the India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership, which is based on shared values of democracy, rule of law and strong people-topeople ties. The leaders reviewed the significant progress in bilateral relations and highlighted that India-US partnership is aimed at benefiting the people of both countries as well as the entire humanity. The two leaders had a detailed exchange of views on a number of regional and global issues. While discussing the situation in Ukraine, the Prime Minister briefed the US President on his recent visit to Ukraine. He reiterated India’s consistent position in favour of dialogue and diplomacy and expressed full support for early return of peace and stability. The two leaders expressed their shared concern over the situation in Bangladesh. They emphasised restoration of law and order and ensuring safety and security of the minorities, particularly Hindus, in Bangladesh. The two leaders reiterated their commitment to further strengthen the cooperation in multilateral fora, including the Quad. The two leaders agreed to remain in touch. RBI set to launch ULI to transform lending sector like UPI: Governor STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 26 AUGUST The Reserve Bank of India is set tolaunchUnifiedLendingInterface (ULI) nationwide soon as it expects this platform to transform the lending sector in India much like UPI has transformed the payments ecosystem, said Governor Shaktikanta Das. Notably, the pilot for ULI was launched last year by RBI to enable frictionless credit, and based on the experience of the pilot, RBI has decided to launch ULI nationwide. Based on our experience from the pilot project, a nationwide launch of the ULI will be done in due course, the Governor said. Just like UPI transformed the payments ecosystem, we expectthatULIwillplayasimilar role in transforming the lending space in India. The ‘new trinity’ of JAM-UPI-ULI will be a revolutionary step forward in India’s digital infrastructure journey, he highlighted. “Last year we launchedthepilotofatechnology platform which enables frictionless credit. From now on, we propose to call it the Unified Lending Interface (ULI). This platform facilitates seamless andconsentbasedflowofdigital information, including even land records of various states, from multiple data service providers to lenders,” the RBI Governor said. This cuts down thetimetakenforcreditappraisal, especially for smaller and rural borrowers, he said. The ULI architecture has commonandstandardisedAPIs, designed for a 'plug and play' approachtoensuredigitalaccess to information from diverse sources. This reduces the complexity of multiple technical integrations.