TUESDAY 22 OCTOBER 2024 www.thestatesman.com X.com/thestatesmanltd. Fb/thestatesman1875 INDIA’S NATIONAL NEWSPAPER SINCE 1818 Pages 12 |` 5.00|LC* KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR KHARGE HOLDS CEC MEET REVANTH URGES PUBLIC NOT TO TAKE LAW IN THEIR OWN HANDS P4 SENSEX 81,151.27 WEATHER Partly cloudy sky. Maximum and Minimum Temperature most likely to be around 31˚C and 26˚C respectively. RAINFALL: 0.0 mm RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max. 94 % P8 NIFTY 24,781.10 SPINNING TRACK EXPECTED IN PUNE PUTIN HOSTS SUMMIT P9 ` vs $ 84.07 GOLD 80,535.00 P12 SILVER 1,01,000 Jr doctors call off 16-day strike after meeting CM BRENT CRUDE (IN $) 74.37 India, China reach agreement on LAC patrolling Govt assured it would induct junior doctors at state & college level task forces for transparency Min. 61% TEMPERATURE Max: 31.0˚C (-1.4) SUN RISES 05:36 hrs MOON RISES 20:22 hrs Min: 25.8˚C (+1.6) SUN SETS 17:10 hrs MOON SETS 09:37 hrs New Moon on 01 November THUMBNAILS ASHOK TUTEJA NEW DELHI, 21 OCTOBER Director general of police, Gujarat, Police commissioner of Ahmedabad and police personnel pay tribute to the fallen heroes of the police services on the occasion of Police Commemoration Day, in Ahmedabad on Monday.n ANI Cab Sec reviews preparedness on Bay of Bengal cyclone: Cabinet Secretary Dr T V Somanathan on Monday chaired a meeting of the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) to review preparedness for the impending cyclone in Bay of Bengal, which is likely to cross Odisha and West Bengal coasts on 24th October night-25th October morning. The Director General, India Meteorological Department (IMD), briefed the Committee about the current status of the wellmarked low-pressure area over east central Bay of Bengal. It is very likely to move westnorthwestwards and intensify into a depression by 22nd October morning and into a cyclonic storm by 23rd October, 2024 over east central Bay of Bengal. Thereafter, it is very likely to move northwestwards and reach northwest Bay of Bengal off OdishaWest Bengal coasts by 24th October morning. (PG 3) STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE KOLKATA, 21 OCTOBER P rotesting junior doctors called off their 16-day fastunto-death on Monday evening following a nearly two-hour meeting with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at the state secretariat, Nabanna. The junior doctors have also decided to not press ahead with their health strike on Tuesday, which they had announced earlier. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had requested the doctors to call of their protest. Dr Debasish Halder announced that they have decided to call of their fast after requests from the parents of the Abhaya to end their fast. Earlier, the state gov- ernment assured it would induct junior doctors at state and college level task forces for better running and transparency in the state-run medical colleges across the state. The CM also said the state government will hold elections of the college unions by March 2025 and requested the junior doctors to withdraw their fast unto death. The doctors refused to take tea to express solidarity with their colleagues, who are observing fast at Esplanade. It was decided that the state chief secretary will inform the doctors about the formation and functioning of the task forces to the junior doctors by 3 pm on Tuesday. The statelevel task forces will have 10 members which will he headed by chief secretary Mr Pant. There will be five representatives from the state government and five from the junior doctors, namely, two junior doctors, two senior doctors and one female doctor. The task force will hold meeting once in a month to review the situation. Miss Banerjee said the task force will oversee the infrastructure development of the medical colleges and at the same time keep a tab on some doctors who are allegedly not attending their duties in the state-run hospitals in the districts and are attending private nursing homes and hospitals in the city. Miss Banerjee said she has a list of more than 300 junior doctors, who during the past two months Reconsider revision in prices of essential medicines, Bengal CM urges PM Modi STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE KOLKATA, 21 OCTOBER West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking him to intervene and reconsider the decision on upward revision in the prices of some essential medicines used to deal with many widespread diseases. In her letter to PM Modi, she pointed out that this decision by the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) to escalate the prices of some essential formulations used for the treatment of diseases like tuberculosis, asthma, thalassemia, psychiatric conditions, eye problems and several other infections by nearly 50 pc, would not only inflict serious hardship come upon common people but also cause an overwhelming strain on the budgets of states like West Bengal who provide drugs and treatment to patients free of cost. "I am sure you will agree that this unforeseen price increase poses a considerable challenge to the efforts of the states and the country as a whole to provide affordable healthcare. It disrupts the accessibility of indispensable treat- ments, potentially hindering public health outcomes and increasing the burden on the healthcare systems," the letter read. The Chief Minister has also pointed out that for the common people, who are already reeling under the adverse effects of high prices of day-to-day consumables and associated requirements of life and livelihood, the increased prices of essential medicines would deliver a serious blow to them and hence, should be avoided at any cost. "I urge upon your kind office to issue directions to the concerned ministry to immediately reconsider the decision on the price escalation in the overall interest of the health and well-being of the common people. The welfare of the citizens is of paramount importance and hence it is critical that all the stakeholders align the policies to reflect this commitment," the letter read. The NPPA announced on Monday that it had approved a 50 per cent increase in price for 11 scheduled formulations of eight drugs used in treating asthma, glaucoma, thalassemia, tuberculosis, mental health disorders, etc., following applications from manufacturers, citing various reasons including the increased cost of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) or production, or change in exchange rate etc, causing unviability in sustainable production and marketing of drugs. attended private nursing homes. “All infrastructure development cannot be completed within a single day and the state government is trying to complete them at the earliest,” she said. Miss Banerjee said the state government is in favour of recruiting doctors at the earliest. But the matter is pending before Supreme Court and the state government has left no stone unturned to ensure that it is included in the list of hearing. She said that the medical examination should be absolutely transparent. “If the knowledge base of the doctors was not upto-the-mark then they will not be able to treat the patients properly,” she said, adding, she had agreed with Dr Kinjal Nanda that threat culture PM may seek discharge of Indian nationals working for Russian Army STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 21 OCTOBER Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to again take up with Russian President Vladimir Putin the early discharge of nearly 20 Indian nationals who are yet to be discharged from the Russian Army when the two leaders hold bilateral talks on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit. At a media briefing here this afternoon ahead of the PM's visit to Russia, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said, "around 85 Indians have returned from Russia." Ministry of Civil Aviation plans to put those who make hoax bomb threats on a no-fly list: Union Aviation Minister STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 21 OCTOBER The Centre is considering amending existing laws to deal with false bomb threats on aircraft and plans to put those who make such threats on a no-fly list, Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu said on Monday. In the past few days, Spice Jet and Air Asia flights received five bomb threats each, with multiple airlines receiving a total of 30 bomb threats in the last four days. "From the Ministry, we have thought of some legislative action if it is required. We have come to the conclusion that there are two areas that we can explore 1) Amendment in Aircraft Security Rules... one of the ideas that we want to propagate by changing these rules is that once we catch hold of the perpetrator who is behind this, we want to put them in the no-flying list... 2) Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against Safety of Civil Aviation Act," the Civil Aviation Minister said while addressing a press conference here. On "UDAN Yojana", Naidu said under the "UDAN Yojana" the government is planning to start 50 more airports or enhance the capacity of existing airports. "We are envisioning the UDAN scheme for 10 more years. We want to take it forward for 10 years because in the next 5 years, we are planning to start 50 more airports or enhance the capacity of existing airports. Upto 2047, we feel that we have the capacity to increase the airports to more than 200. We have 157 today and we can take it up to 350," he said. He added that the "UDAN Yojana" is a revolutionary initiative in civil aviation, inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision to democratize air travel. "UDAN scheme has been a revolutionary scheme in civil aviation. It came out from the thought process of PM Narendra Modi who wanted to democratise air travel...The major beneficiary when we have utilised this UDAN scheme over the past 8 years has been remote areas of the country, especially the northeast areas or the hinterland areas where there was no connectivity at all. Now, they are properly connected through air travel, not just to other metropolitan cities of the country but also various other countries," he said. should end immediately. Dr Debashis Halder, Dr Kinjal Nanda, Dr Priyabrata Singha, Dr Saptadipa Chakraborty spoke on behalf of the junior doctors along with some others. State home secretary, director general of police, principals of different medical colleges attended the meeting. The junior doctors said they want a transparent system to ensure that their junior work in a good environment. They maintained that the process of selection and not election has given birth to all corruption and muscle-flexing. Miss Banerjee said she had always felt for the junior doctors. “I have full faith in you and request you to join duties and I ensure that all the promises given by us will be kept,” she maintained. In a significant development that could lead to an improvement in their ties after over four years of heightened tensions, India and China have reached an agreement on patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), leading to disengagement and a resolution of the eastern Ladakh military stand-off which began in April-May 2020. This announcement was made by Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri this afternoon at a media briefing on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Russia from October 22-23 to attend the BRICS Summit. Chinese President Xi Jinping will also attend the summit and the breakthrough in talks on the military stand-off may now lead to a bilateral meeting between Mr Modi and the Chinese leader. ''As you are aware of the events of 2020 in several years along the LAC, we have been in discussions with Chinese interlocutors, both at the diplomatic and the military levels. These discussions in the past had resulted in the resolution of the stand-off at various locations. However, there were a few areas or locations where the stand-off had not been resolved,'' the foreign secretary said. ''Now as a result of the discussions over the last several weeks, an agreement has been arrived at on patrolling arrangements along the LAC in the Indiachina border areas and this is leading to disengagement and eventually a resolution of issues that had arisen in these areas in 2020,'' he added. The patrolling arrangements agreement extends beyond the areas along the LAC where there has already been a disengagement of military personnel over the past few years, and include the so far unresolved areas of Demchok and Depsang, it is learnt. The Ladakh stand-off brought the relationship between the two neighbours to a new low. There have also been a few clashes between the troops on both sides, including the one at Galwan in June 2020, in which the Indian Army lost 20 soldiers, and China lost an unspecified number of troops.