BGT: CALLS FOR SHAMI’S RETURN GROWS DANCE ON WHEELS 08 DECEMBER 2024 AGEING WITH GRACE www.thestatesman.com X.com/thestatesmanltd. Fb/thestatesman1875 PAGE 16 INDIA’S NATIONAL NEWSPAPER SINCE 1818 PAGES 20 |` 5.00 |LC KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR WEATHER Mainly clear sky. Maximum and Minimum Temperature most likely to be around 27˚C and 15˚C respectively SC to hear pleas against Places of Worship Act RAINFALL: 0.0 mm RELATIVE HUMIDITY PARMOD KUMAR Samajwadi Party pulls out of MVA in Maharashtra 3-judge Special Bench of apex court to hear pleas on 12 December Max. 94% Shinde insists on getting home early but BJP keeps him waiting Min. 40% TEMPERATURE Max: 26.7˚C (-1.1) Min: 16.5˚C (-0.1) SUN RISES SUN SETS 06:04 hrs 16:52 hrs MOON RISES MOON SETS 11:00 hrs 22:36 hrs Full Moon on 15 December THUMBNAILS A roadside seller wearing a Santa Claus mask sells Christmas trees and miniature dolls ahead of the Christmas festival, in Guwahati on Saturday. nANI Another ISKCON temple burned in Bangladesh: Another temple of the International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) has been burned down in Bangladesh's Dhaka, a spokesperson of the organisation said on Saturday. “Another ISKCON Namahatta Centre has been burned down in Bangladesh. The deities and all items inside the temple were burned down completely. The centre is located at Dhaka,” Radharaman Das said. NEW DELHI, 7 DECEMBER A 3-judge special bench of the Supreme Court will hear on 12 December a batch of petitions challenging the constitutionality of certain provisions of the Places of Worship (Special Provision) Act, 1991. The Act prohibit the filing of a lawsuit to reclaim a place of worship or seek a change in its character from what prevailed on 15 August 1947. The special bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice K.V. Viswanathan will take up for hearing a batch of petition at 3.30 p.m. on 12 December. The petitions challenging the Places of Worship Act have contended that the Act takes away the rights of Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs to restore their ‘places of worship and pilgrimages’, destroyed by invaders. The petitions have challenged the constitutionality of Section 2, 3, and 4 of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991. They have contended that these Govt plans to introduce new tax slab, claims Rahul STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 7 DECEMBER Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday claimed that the government plans to increase the tax burden borne by the public by hiking the GST on the items needed by a common man. “It is heard that amidst the ever increasing collection from GST, the government is going to introduce a new tax slab - there is a plan to increase GST on the things you need,” he wrote in a series of social media posts on 'X'. The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha said: “See another example of concessions to capitalists and looting of common people. On one hand, income tax is constantly increasing in comparison to corporate tax. On the other hand, Modi government is preparing to collect more money through Gabbar Singh Tax.” He went on to say: “Just think - right now, the wedding season is going on. People must have been saving every penny and in the meantime, the government is going to increase the GST on clothes above Rs 1500 from 12% to 18%.” Mr Gandhi said this is a grave injustice – taxing the hard-earned money of poor and middle-class families in order to give tax breaks to billionaires and forgive their massive debts. The Congress leader said his party's fight is against this “injustice”, adding it will continue to raise its voice strongly against the burden of taxes on the common people and put pressure on the government to stop ''this loot''. provisions are violative of Article 14, 15, 21, 25, 26, and 29 of the Constitution, in so far as it legalises the illegal conversion of ancient places of worship and pilgrimage into mosques. On 12 October 2022, the Supreme Court had issued notice and sought a response from the Central government on the petitions challenging the 1991 law. During the 12 October 2022 hearing, the court had given more time to the Centre to respond to the petitions challenging the 1991 law, as the government had stated that it was considering whether to respond to the petitions or not. NEW DELHI, 7 DECEMBER The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has urged the Supreme Court to consolidate all the cases against e-commerce giants Amazon and Flipkart in the country to expedite the antitrust probe. In a petition, the nation’s competition watchdog sought consolidation of multiple proceedings filed by at least 20 e-tailers of Amazon and Flipkart at various high courts, alleging that they attempt to “scuttle the investigation” against the two e-commerce giants. The matter pertains to a 2019 antitrust probe against Amazon and Flipkart for giving preferred treatment to some e-tailers, including Cloudtail India Pvt, Samsung India Electronics Pvt, Vivo Mobile India Pvt Ltd and Appario Retail Pvt, according to reports. The CCI stated before the apex court that multiple proceedings initiated before the high courts aim to 'stall' the proceedings before the regulator. The cases filed before different high courts are an "attempt to scuttle the wellestablished procedure of investigation laid down under the Act," and if allowed to continue, it will lead to "absurdity." It has been alleged that the cases intend to restrict CCI’s investigation only against those parties that have been identified by the regulator for the purposes of an investigation. AGENCIES MUMBAI, 7 DECEMBER STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE MUMBAI, 7 DECEMBER Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has demanded the crucial home ministry from the BJP and talks on portfolio allocation are still in progress, Mr Shinde's aide and Shiv Sena MLA Bharat Gogavale said in Mumbai on Saturday. “When Devendra Fadnavis was Deputy Chief Minister in the Shinde-led government, he held the home ministry. Therefore Shinde has demanded the home ministry and talks on portfolio allocation are in progress,” Mr Gogavale said. He stated that cabinet expansion is likely to take place between 11 and 16 December, just ahead of the Winter session of the Maharashtra Assembly. The Maharashtra cabinet, including the chief minister, can have a maximum of 43 ministers. “A final decision on the number of min- No interest in weakening US dollar: EAM CLEAN BOWLED! AGENCIES The Samajwadi Party's Maharashtra President Abu Azmi expressed dissatisfaction with “communal remarks” made by the Shiv Sena (UBT) and pulled out of the Maha Vikas Agadhi (MVA) alliance on Saturday. The SP Maharashtra president announced in a post on X that the party had quit the alliance in the state due to the remarks made by Shiv Sena (UBT) leader, Mr Azmi said: “Samajwadi Party was, is and will always be against communalism. SP leaves Maha Vikas Aghadi because of Shiv Sena (UBT)." Mr Azmi was referring to the remarks made by the Shiv Sena (UBT) that had posted a picture of the Babari Masjid and Balasaheb Thackeray, expressing solidarity with the Babari Masjid demolition. isters to take oath in the cabinet expansion will be taken in two to three days,” a senior BJP leader claimed. Though it has been claimed that there will soon be clarity about allocation of portfolios in three days, there are indications that talks could be full of compromises and hard bargaining, sources said. Discussions about the allocation of portfolios seem to be complicated despite the previous talks Mr Shinde had with both Union Minister Amit Shah immediately after he was sworn in. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mr Shah are being informed of the ministerial portfolio allocations talks going on in Mumbai, it is learnt. Another issue which has not gone down well with the Shinde-led Sena is BJP's alleged attempts to change the portfolios held by the Sena in the previous Mahayuti government, according to a Sena leader. US denies BJP allegations of backing attempts to destabilise India DOHA, 7 DECEMBER AGENCIES India skipper Rohit Sharma continued his poor run with the bat, managing to notch up just six runs during the second innings in the Adelaide Test before being bowled by his Australian counterpart Pat Cummins. India ended Day 2 of the Test at 128-6, behind by 29 runs. nAGENCIES (Match report on Pg 16) CCI urges SC to consolidate cases against Amazon, Flipkart to expedite antitrust probe AGENCIES However, the top court had told the Central government that it would be in a better position to adjudicate the matter if the Centre spells out its position on the contentious issue. The court said that when the challenge is to a central legislation, we will be guided by what is the stand of the Central government in this case. On 12 November 2022 the top court had further given more time to the government to submit its reply to the petitions. The All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), meanwhile, approached the top court opposing the petitions chal- lenging the validity of Places of Worship Act, 1991. The Managing Committee of Varanasi's Gyanvapi Mosque also recently moved the Supreme Court, seeking the dismissal of the petitions against the Places of Worship Act, saying that consequences of declaring the 1991 Act unconstitutional are bound to be drastic and will obliterate the rule of law and communal harmony. It said that an Article 32 petition challenging a legislative enactment must indicate the unconstitutionality of the provisions based on constitutional principles and the rhetorical arguments seeking a sort of retribution against the perceived acts of previous rulers cannot be made the basis for a constitutional challenge. It said that it was only after thorough deliberation and debate that Parliament, in its wisdom and legislative competence, enacted the 1991 Act as a conscious decision to let the past not haunt the future of the country and the 1991 Act is a legislation recognising the preambular values of secularism and fraternity. The competition watchdog pointed out that writs filed by e-tailers are based on entirely misconceived issues of law, resulting in grave prejudice to the regulator, “as its enquiry has been halted, which is affecting the public and e-commerce sector as a whole,” the petition reads. The commission has stated that all arguments that are being made before various high courts can be raised before the commission itself. It has been contended that the non-confidential version of the investigation report has been shared with the parties involved, and such parties can object wherever it is deemed fit. Amazon and Flipkart were yet to comment. The plea seeks that these matters, which are presently being heard by 6 different high courts across the country, be combined and heard by either the Supreme Court or the Delhi High Court. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday reacted to President-elect Donald Trump's threat to impose 100 per cent tariffs on BRICS nations, stating that India has "no interest" in weakning the US dollar. Speaking at the Doha Forum, Mr Jaishankar also said that no decision has been taken by the BRICS nations to start a new currency to compete with the US dollar. Mr Jaishankar further pointed out: “We had a good relationship, a very solid relationship with the first Trump administration, yes there were some issues mostly trade related issues, but there were a whole lot of issues on which Trump was very international, and i remind people that it was actually under Trump that the QUAD was restarted.” NEW DELHI, 7 DECEMBER The US embassy in India on Saturday rejected the BJP's allegations that organisations funded by the US State Department and elements in the so-called American “deep state” were behind attempts to destabilise India. “It is disappointing that the ruling party in India would make these kinds of accusations,” a spokesperson of the US Embassy said. BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra had recently alleged that the US “deep state”, was colluding with the media portal OCCRP (Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project) and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to "damage" India's image, through targeted attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and businessman Gau- tam Adani. The BJP had cited Mr Gandhi's use of reports by OCCRP to attack the Adani Group and to accuse it of having closeness with the government. “The US government works with independent organisations on programming that supports professional development and capacity building training for journalists. This programming does not influence the editorial decisions or direction of these organisations," the US official said. "The United States has long been a champion of media freedom around the world. A free and independent press is an essential component of any democracy, enabling informed and constructive debate and holding those in power accountable," the US embassy official said. 100-day anti-TB campaign launched with focus on high-burden districts STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 7 DECEMBER Emphasising that India's fight against tuberculosis just got stronger, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the starting of a special 100 day campaign today with a focus on the high burden TB districts. He also urged citizens to read an article written by Union Health Minister J P Nadda. In a post on X, Mr Modi said: “Our fight against TB just got stronger! Powered by a collective spirit to defeat TB, a special 100 day campaign is starting today with a focus on the high burden TB districts.” The PM said India is fighting TB in a multi-pronged manner with doubling support to patients, Jan Bhagidari, newer drugs and use of tech- nology and better diagnostic tools. “Let us all come together and do our bit to eliminate TB,” Mr Modi further said. He highlighted that initiatives like Nikshay Mitras and shorter, effective treatments have significantly reduced TB incidence, improved recovery rates and reinforced India's global leadership in combating TB. Mr Nadda on Saturday officially launched the ambitious 100-Day TB Elimination Campaign in Panchkula, Haryana. The campaign aims to accelerate the fight against TB by improving case detection, reducing diagnostic delays, and enhancing treatment outcomes, particularly for vulnerable populations. The campaign will span 347 districts across 33 states and Union Territories. It represents a critical component of India’s strategy to eliminate TB and build a TB-free nation. India has also significantly reduced the incidence rate of the deadly infectious disease as well as the related deaths. Earlier, the Union Health Minister said under the leadership of the Prime Minister, India is making remarkable progress in the fight against TB. “Initiatives like the 100day campaign in high-burden districts, enhanced nutritional support through Nikshay Poshan Yojana, and faster, cost-effective diagnostic tools are accelerating the country’s efforts. These steps have significantly increased treatment coverage and reduced TB incidence. The emphasis on Jan Bhagidari has united communities, ensuring timely diagnosis and treatment,” Mr Nadda said in the post on X. “The incidence rate of TB in India has shown a 17.7 per cent decline from 237 per 100,000 population in 2015 to 195 per 100,000 population in 2023,” Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Anupriya Patel, had said earlier this week in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha. Ms Patel said: “TB deaths have reduced by 21.4 per cent from 28 per lakh population in 2015 to 22 per lakh population in 2023.” TB notification, which has been a concern in India, has also seen improvements in recent years. “Notified TB cases increased from 18.05 lakh in 2020 to 25.52 lakh in 2023,” said the MoS.