TUESDAY 29 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 CONG WANTS GOVT TO CALL ALL-PARTY MEET OVER CENSUS DMK DISMISSES VIJAY AS BJP’S ‘C TEAM’ P5 SENSEX 80,005.04 WEATHER Partly cloudy sky. Maximum and Minimum Temperature most likely to be around 32˚C and 25˚C respectively. RAINFALL: 0.0 mm RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max. 95% TEMPERATURE Max: 31.5˚C (+0.6) SUN RISES 05:39 hrs MOON RISES 02:02 hrs Min. 66% NIFTY 24,339.15 P4 ` vs $ 84.07 P9 GOLD 80,595.00 Full Moon on 01 November THUMBNAILS Security personnel takes position during the search operation following the attack on the Indian Army vehicle by terrorists, at Battal area, in Akhnoor on Monday. nANI One Pakistani terrorist killed as troops foil attempt to ambush Army convoy in Jammu: One Pakistani terrorist was killed on Monday morning when the Indian Army troops foiled an attempt of heavily armed terrorists to ambush a convoy in the border area near Akhnoor in the Jammu district. The terrorists also fired indiscriminately at an Ambulance of the Army. This was followed by an encounter between the security forces and terrorists. P12 SILVER 98,000 Another proud moment for Kolkata: CM Mamata BRENT CRUDE (IN $) 71.14 India’s defence ecosystem reaching new heights: Modi CM has alsoexpressed pleasure at Kolkata getting the global recognition STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE Min: 25.4˚C (+2.8) SUN SETS 17:02 hrs MOON SETS 14:44 hrs WTC: INDIA NEED FOUR WINS IN SIX TESTS TRUMP’S MADISON SQUARE GARDEN EVENT FEATURES RACIST INSULTS KOLKATA, 28 OCTOBER K olkata has become one of the best cities in the world, ranked 19th by Savills’ Growth Hub Index for its rapid development. It has also achieved one of the best air quality indices among major world metros, with a second spot in May AQI by IIT Delhi. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has expressed pleasure at her hometown getting global recognition. It may be mentioned that UNESCO has given the Durga Puja carnival as the global intangible heritage tag. The 25 best cities in the World 2024, according to Travel-Leisure annual World's Best Awards survey 2024, Kolkata ranked 19 with 88.60 points. The first city is San Miguel de Allende in Mexico with 95.63 points. Udaipur ranks second with 91.75 points followed by Kyoto, Japan having 91.49 points. Kolkata is followed by Rome having 88.44 points. Barcelona has 87.94 points, while Seoul has 87.85 points. After coming to power in 2011, Miss Banerjee concentrated on beautifying the city. The government buildings, bridges were given blue and white paint. Highmast lights have been installed in the city and the city looks quite different at night. When one drives down New Town, the beautiful arrangement of lights is bound to attract people. In New Town, the county's biggest social urban park called Eco Park or Prakriti Tirtha, the name given by Miss Banerjee, has attracted more than a crore visitors every year. The Kolkata Municipal Corporation, the oldest civic body in Asia, has solved the drinking water problem for the city. The city gets more than 400 million gallons of drinking water per day and it is the only metro where there is no water tax. It may be recalled that Kolkata ranks third only after London and Hanover, Germany to get drinking water in 1865. The British government set up a station in Palta in North 24-Parganas to lift unfiltered water. It is then purified and the water is stored at the overhead tank in Tallah and then sent to the city by underground pipeline. All the major metros in India face water crisis. Kolkata ranks first in having the underground sewer line only after London and Hanover. After the Battle of Plassey in 1757, Calcutta (now Kolkata) became the capital of the East India Company and is called the second city after London. Like London, Kolkata too has a river port. Kolkata is now the only city in the country where the roads are cleaned three times a day. There is no dust on the main thoroughfares. The city has traffic sergeants to do traffic management and traffic jams are infrequent in Kolkata. Miss Banerjee has invited global business groups to invest in Bengal. In New Town an IT hub has been set up. A US-based firm is going to invest in manufacturing semiconductors in Bengal. STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 28 OCTOBER Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday said that India’s transformation of the defence sector exemplifies how a right plan and partnership can turn possibilities into prosperity. He underlined that strategic decisions have spurred the growth of a vibrant defence industry in India over the last decade. Speaking at the inauguration of TATA Aircraft Complex for manufacturing C295 aircraft in Vadodara, he said, ''We expanded private sector participation in defence manufacturing, made public sector units more efficient, restructured ordnance factories into seven major companies, and empowered DRDO and HAL.'' He said establishing defence corridors in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu infused new energy into the sector. Touching upon iDEX (Innovation for Defence Excellence) scheme, the PM said that it has driven the growth of around 1,000 defence startups in the past five to six years. He said that India’s defence exports have increased 30 times over the past decade, with the country now exporting equipment to over 100 countries. Mr Modi and his Spanish counterpart, Pedro Sanchez, jointly inaugurated the TATA Aircraft Complex for manufacturing C-295 aircraft at TATA advanced systems limited (TASL) Campus in Vadodara. A total of 56 aircraft are there under the C-295 programme, of which 16 are being delivered directly by Airbus from Spain and remaining 40 are to be made in India. Tata Advanced Systems Ltd is responsible for making these 40 aircraft in India. This facility will be the first private sector Final Assembly Line (FAL) for military aircraft in India. He said "...All of you have witnessed unprecedented growth and transformation in India's aviation sector in the last decade. We are already working to make India an aviation hub. This ecosystem will pave the way for Made in India civil aircraft in the future.''