DRONE TARGETS ISRAELI PM’S HOUSE AS STRIKES IN GAZA KILL FIFTY NC GOVT WILL TREAT ALL REGIONS OF J&K EQUALLY: OMAR 20 OCTOBER 2024 ANOTHER INDIAN BATTING COLLAPSE PUTS NZ ON CUSP OF HISTORIC TEST WIN www.thestatesman.com X.com/thestatesmanltd. Fb/thestatesman1875 PAGE 12 PAGE 09 PAGE 5 INDIA’S NATIONAL NEWSPAPER SINCE 1818 PAGES 12 |` 5.00|LC KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR WEATHER Partly cloudy sky. Maximum and Minimum Temperature most likely to be around 32˚C and 25˚C respectively. CM reaches out to protesting junior medics over the phone Meeting between junior doctors and CM fixed for Monday amid hunger strike RAINFALL: 0.05 mm RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max. 96% Min. 77% TEMPERATURE Max: 29.7˚C (-2.7) SUN RISES 05:35 hrs MOON SETS 18:32 hrs Min: 26.6˚C (+2.4) SUN SETS 17:08 hrs MOON RISES 07:20 hrs New Moon on 1 November AGENCIES KOLKATA, 19 OCTOBER THUMBNAILS A Special Forces from India, Australia, Japan and the United States take part in the 28th Edition of Maritime Exercise Malabar 2024 that concluded on 18 October, in Visakhapatnam on Friday. n ANI EC orders removal of Jharkhand DGP Gupta ahead of Assembly polls: Ahead of the Assembly polls, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has asked the Jharkhand government to remove Director General of Police (DGP) Anurag Gupta with immediate effect. “The ECI has directed the Jharkhand government to remove Anurag Gupta from his position as the Acting Director General of Police (DGP) with immediate effect by handing over charge to the senior most DGP level officer available in the cadre,” sources said on Saturday. (PG 5) Over thirty flights receive bomb threats: Over 30 flights of various Indian carriers, including Vistara, Air India and IndiGo, received security alerts on Saturday relating to bomb threats, causing flight delays and disruption in the normal schedule. At least five flights of Akasa Air, five of Vistara, five of Air India, and five Indigo flights are reported to have received bomb threats through social media since Saturday morning. crucial meeting between West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the junior doctors protesting against the rape and murder of a woman colleague of R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital has been scheduled on Monday at 5 p.m. The date and time of the meeting were fixed after chief minister Mamata Banerjee reached out to the protesting medics in a telephone conversation at the latter’s fast-untodeath protest site at Esplanade. Chief Secretary Manoj Pant, accompanied by Home Secretary Nandini Chakraborty and Kolkata Police's Deputy Commissioner, Central division, Indira Mukherjee turned up at the dais of the hunger strike by seven junior doctors at Esplanade in central Kolkata. There, he contacted the Chief Minister on his mobile phone and NEW DELHI, 19 OCTOBER People living in the national capital faced breathing difficulties on Saturday due to the hazardous air as the city grappled with rising air pollution after the air quality here fell into the “poor” category. Delhi's overall AQI clocked 278 on Saturday as per the 4 p.m. AQI bulletin provided by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). It was a hazy morning in the city with a thin layer of smog engulfing it. An AQI between zero and 50 is considered "good"; 51 and 100 "satisfactory"; 101 and 200 "moderate"; 201 and 300 "poor"; 301 and 400 "very poor"; and 401 and 500 "severe". According to the CPCB, the AQI when marked under the 'Poor' category can cause breathing discomfort to most people on prolonged exposure, whereas, when under the 'Very poor' category can cause respiratory illness on prolonged exposure. According to data from be hampered by the resulting vacuum and shortage of workforce. We have to fill these posts by conducting elections, so that process would have to be undertaken. This is my request to you, and whether you agree with me or not is entirely your call." “I am in favour of humanity. I also want justice. But at the same time, the treatment of the common people will have to be ensured. So I am again requesting you to withdraw from the hunger strike and get back to work," she added. However, the junior doctors continued to dig in their heels, saying no request would change their minds. They stated that their decision to withdraw the hunger strike would depend on the outcome of the Monday meeting and that it should be on the terms of fulfilling all 10 of their demands. INDIA bloc to jointly contest Jharkhand Assembly polls, JMM-Congress to field candidates in 70 seats STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 19 OCTOBER Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Saturday announced that the INDIA bloc would jointly contest the forthcoming Assembly polls. He said that the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and Congress would field candidates in 70 of the 81 constituencies, and in the remaining seats, nominees from other parties of the Opposition alliance including Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) would contest. The Chief Minister and senior leader of the JMM made the announcement while addressing the media in Ranchi, days after the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the schedule for the Assembly elections in two phases. Citing the schedule of the Assembly polls announced by the poll panel, Mr Soren said: “The INDIA bloc, while taking this election very seriously and Delhi chokes as AQI reaches 278, people face breathing problems NIKHIL VYAS she made her appeal to the protesting junior doctors over its speaker, urging them to withdraw their fast-unto-death demonstration and come for discussions. “I request you to withdraw the hunger strike. Please come to the discussions. Most of your demands have already been fulfilled. Please give me three to four months. I will arrange to conduct elections for different councils in all medical colleges & hospitals. Please withdraw the hunger strike,” Miss Banerjee said. On the demand of the junior doctors for the removal of the Health Secretary Narayan Swarup Nigam, she said if all the key officials of a crucial department are shifted at one time, then there will beadministrativedifficulties. “We’re trying our best and have fulfilled most of the demands. The first four of the five demands have already been met, including the removal of Kolkata commissioner of police Vineet Goyal, DHS (director of health services) and DME (director of medical education. But I couldn't remove the health secretary as I believe you would agree with me that everyone in a department can't be removed at once, lest it the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR)-India, the AQI in Anand Vihar at 5 p.m. was recorded in the 'severe' range and was 453. However, some places in the national capital continued to battle ‘very poor’ levels of air quality with AQI levels clocking over 300 at 5 pm on Saturday. According to SAFAR's data, the AQI at Mundka area was 364, followed by 349 at Wazirpur, while the AQI at Bawana was 345.The AQI in Jahangirpuri was 337, in Dwarka it was 328 and in Narela it was 327. Rahul, Babu and Pratap, who live in Delhi, shared their concern over the present air quality in Delhi, saying that pollution levels have significantly risen in recent days. They are experiencing breathing difficulties, eye irritation, and sore throat, prompting them to wear a mask while outdoors. Pollution has made it extremely hard to breathe, they said. The overall Air Quality Index in Delhi stood at 297 at 10 am, putting it under the 'Poor' category. Meanwhile, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla visited the Yamuna bank in Kalindi Kunj area in Delhi and slammed the Aam Aadmi Party alleging that it is the poisonous politics of former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal that has made the water and air in the national capital poisonous. He further challenged Mr Kejriwal to come along with his party's leaders and take a dip in the Yamuna. "The Yamuna water has turned into poison. Kejriwal claimed that he would clean Yamuna till 2025. They previously said 2020, then, they claimed 2025. Now if the situation is such before Chhath Puja, the women who will come here may have to suffer many a disease. Yamuna has been polluted because the fund that was allocated for its cleaning has been spent by Arvind Kejriwal for advertisements and on himself," the BJP national spokesperson charged. In order to curb increasing pollution, the Delhi government on Tuesday implemented GRAP-1.Chief Minister Atishi and city Environment Minister Gopal Rai had a meeting with officials regarding the increasing pollution in the national capital. Later, it was announced that 99 teams would inspect the construction sites to check dust pollution. As many as 200 anti-smog guns from PWD, 30 from MCD, 14 from the NCRTC and 80 from DMRC will also be deployed. keeping every aspect in mind, have decided to fight the elections together. “Of the 81 Assembly constituencies, it was decided that JMM and Congress will contest in 70 seats and in the remaining Assembly seats there will be candidates of other parties of the INDIA bloc including RJD,” the Chief Minister said. In Jharkhand, there would be a direct contest between the ruling JMM-Congress led alliance and the BJP in the Assembly polls. In the 2019 Assembly polls, the JMM won 30 seats, Congress 16 and BJP 25 constituencies. The polling for the first phase (in 43 Assembly constituencies) would take place on 13th November and second phase (in 38 seats) on 20th November. The counting of votes would take place along with those of the Maharashtra Assembly elections on 23 November. GST on term life insurance premium, senior citizens likely to be exempted AGENCIES NEW DELHI, 19 OCTOBER The Group of Ministers (GoM) on GST that met on Saturday more or less decided to exempt the goods and services tax (GST) on term life insurance premiums and premiums paid by senior citizens for health cover. Exemption or reduction of GST on life and health insurance is a long-pending demand of the industry as the move would alleviate the tax burden on both insurers and policyholders. While most of the panel members of the GoM, led by Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Chaudhary, pitched for "full exemption" on health and life policy premiums, a few panel members suggested reducing the rate to 5 per cent from the current 18 per cent. The ministerial panel, tasked to rationalise rates, is scheduled to submit its recommendation to the GST Council by 31 October. The final decision in this regard will be taken by the GST Council when it meets next. At present, 18 per cent GST is levied on life and health insurance premiums. The GST Council took up the matter in the September meeting, following the debate over the 18 per cent GST levied on life and health insurance premiums. The panel is learnt to have discussed the revenue implication in various options suggested by the Fitment Panel, comprising revenue officials of the Centre and states. Other options discussed during the GoM meeting included exempting premiums paid by senior citizens and premiums with coverage up to Rs 5 lakh, or alternatively, only exempting premiums paid by senior citizens from the GST ambit. Last month, the GST Council, headed by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, set up a GoM on slashing the tax rate on life and health insurance, as well as reducing the GST on cancer drugs. The 54th GST Council meeting, held on 9 September, reached a “broad consensus” to bring relief to individuals and senior citizens with a decision on the GST applied to health insurance premiums. Remaining Indian diplomats ‘clearly on notice’, says Canadian Foreign Minister AGENCIES OTTAWA, 19 OCTOBER Days after India recalled its six diplomats from Canada after they were declared "persons of interest" in the investigation of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar's killing, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly warned over a dozen Indian diplomats, who are still in the country to respect the law. “They're clearly on notice,” Joly said, as quoted by CBC News. “Six of them have been expelled, including the high commissioner in Ottawa. Others were mainly from Toronto and Vancouver.” “Clearly, we won't tolerate any diplomats that are in contravention of the Vienna Convention,” she added. Her remarks are aimed at the 15 Indian diplomats who are still in Canada. The diplomatic row between India and Canada underwent a fresh escalation when Canada declared India's High Commissioner and other diplomats as "persons of interest" in the investigation of Nijjar's killing. Following this, India decided to call back its High Commissioner and five other diplomats from Canada. India has repeatedly accused Canada of not taking action against extremist and separatist elements in the country for the sake of "vote bank politics". Ms Joly’s comments come days after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) accused the Indian government, its agents and diplomats of links to criminal activity in Canada, including coercion, extortion and killings. The charges have been strongly rejected by India, which termed it "preposterous imputations" and accused the Justin Trudeau government of indulging in "vote bank politics." The RCMP has alleged there have been over a dozen credible and imminent threats to members of the South Asian community, particularly Sikh members of the pro-Khalistan movement.