WEDNESDAY 11 DECEMBER 2024 www.thestatesman.com Pages 12 |` 5.00|LC X.com/thestatesmanltd. Fb/thestatesman1875 INDIA’S NATIONAL NEWSPAPER SINCE 1818 KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR ‘GOVT COMMITTED TO CIVIC, POLITICAL RIGHTS FOR ALL’ NEVER MET GAUTAM ADANI, CLARIFIES STALIN P8 SENSEX 81,510.05 p1.59 WEATHER SMOG/MIST IS LIKELY IN THE MORNING. MAINLY CLEAR SKY. SMOG/MIST IS LIKELY IN THE EVENING/NIGHT. THE MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM TEMPERATURES WOULD BE AROUND 23 AND 07 DEGREE CELSIUS RESPECTIVELY. RAINFALL: Nil RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max. 97 % TEMPERATURE Min. 30 % Max: 23.0 °C (2) SUN RISES 07:05 hrs MOON RISES 14:06 hrs P3 NIFTY 24,610.05 q8.95 P7 ` vs $ 84.88 GOLD 79,440.00 THUMBNAILS Anti-smog machine vehicles spray water on streets during a campaign by Bhopal Municipal Corporation to improve Air Quality Index (AQI) and reduce air pollution, in Bhopal on Tuesday. n ANI SC hearing in RG Kar case: The Supreme Court, hearing the suo motu case it had taken up on the RG Kar rape and murder case, on Tuesday directed the parties to share their recommendations and suggestions on preventing gender-based violence and developing safety protocols for doctors and medical staff at hospitals with the court-appointed national task force. A bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar said the NTF will file its report within 12 weeks for its consideration. P12 SILVER 96,500 BRENT CRUDE (IN $) 71.82 Oppn submits notice Lalu backs Mamata to lead Opposition's INDIA bloc for Dhankhar no-trust The notice, signed by around 60 MPs, seeks to remove Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar for allegedly conducting the Rajya Sabha in a partisan manner STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE Min: 08.0 °C (2) SUN SETS 17:26 hrs MOON SETS 03:32 hrs HARBHAJAN BACKS KOHLI CAN TRUMP PARDON HIMSELF? NEW DELHI, 10 DECEMBER T he INDIA bloc on Tuesday submitted notice to move a no-confidence motion against Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, accusing him of running the proceedings of the Upper House in a “partisan manner”. The notice for a no-confidence motion against Mr Dhankhar was submitted to the Secretary General of the Rajya Sabha by the Opposition. Congress general secretary in-charge of Communications, Jairam Ramesh, in a post on social media platform 'X' wrote: “All parties belonging to the INDIA group have had no option but to formally submit a no-confidence motion against the learned Chairman of the Rajya Sabha for the extremely ‘partisan manner’ in which he has been conducting the proceedings of the Council of States.” Stating that it was a very “painful” decision for the INDIA parties to take, Mr Ramesh, who is a Congress MP in the Rajya Sabha, said that in the interests of parliamentary democracy they took this step.“The motion has just been submitted to the Secretary General of the Rajya Sabha,” he added. Talking to reporters at the Parliament premises, senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said: “All the parties of the INDIA bloc have decided to bring a no-confidence motion against the Chairman. That’s why everyone signed (the notice), our party (AAP) also signed.” Asked how many Opposition MPs signed the notice, Mr Singh said: “The notice has been submitted. So far, 60 people have signed the notice.” Trinamul Congress (TMC) Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev said: “The no-confidence motion moved by the Opposition today is also allowed in the Parliamentary procedure.” “In pursuit of our constitutional rights in order to protect constitutional parliamentary democracy, we have given in our resolution of no-confidence,” said TMC MP Sagarika Ghose to a news agency. Attacking the BJP-led government at the Centre, she said: “The Modi government is murdering Parliament. The Opposition is not being allowed to raise people’s issues.” The Opposition has been demanding a discussion on the issues relating to billionaire businessman Gautam Adani since the beginning of the Winter Session of Parliament. They also staged protests at the Parliament premises over the matter. Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, meanwhile, condemned the no-confidence motion brought by the INDIA Bloc against Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar and accused the opposition of disrespecting the dignity of the chair of both Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha. Addressing a press conference here today, Mr Rijiju said that they are happy with the work of Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar. He also assured that the NDA has the majority in the house. “The opposition disrespects the dignity of the Chair, be it in Rajya Sabha or Lok Sabha. We all know that in the parliamentary tradition, the Speakers of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha are our guides. Whoever sits on the chair, we have to obey them. Congress party and their alliance continuously behaved wrongly by not following the direction of the Chair," he said. STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 10 DECEMBER Former Bihar Chief Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Tuesday backed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to lead the Opposition's INDIA bloc, asserting that the Congress's objection to her leadership bid will not make any difference. “Congress's objection means nothing. We will support Mamata... Mamata Banerjee should be given the leadership (of the INDIA bloc),” the RJD leader told reporters in Patna. His remarks came days after Mamata Banerjee expressed her willingness to lead the anti-BJP coalition if given the opportunity. Earlier, Lalu Prasad’s son and former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav said that while he had no objection to Miss Banerjee or any other senior leader of the coalition leading the group, the decision must be made with consensus. After the Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi's humiliating defeat in last month's Maharashtra Assembly elections, Miss Banerjee had criticised the functioning of the INDIA bloc and said she was willing to lead the coalition from Bengal. “I had formed the INDIA bloc, now it is up to those leading the front to manage it. If they can't run the show, what can I do? I would just say that everyone needs to be taken along," she had said in an interview with a Bengali news channel. “If given the opportunity, I would ensure its smooth functioning... I don't want to go outside Bengal, but I can run it from here," she added. The INDIA bloc, formed ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections to defeat the BJP, is currently led by the Congress. The alliance has had mixed success under Congress's leadership. While it managed to stop the BJP from reaching a majority in the general elections, the saffron party-led NDA still formed the government. Bihar Chief Minister and JD-U leader Nitish Kumar, who played a cru- India doing multiple conversations ‘Have taken note’: SC on controversial to resolve Ukraine conflict: EAM speech of Allahabad High Court judge STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE PARMOD KUMAR NEW DELHI, 10 DECEMBER NEW DELHI, 10 DECEMBER External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday denied that India is attempting a “peace plan” or doing any mediation to resolve the Russia-Ukraine conflict, adding that New Delhi is only trying to facilitate bringing the two parties to the negotiating table. “We are doing multiple conversations and are very transparent about telling each party at the end of the conversation, saying that this is what we're going to tell the other party. We think that at this point of time (this is) the most useful. We also believe that we articulate the sentiments and the interests of the Global South ~125 other countries ~ who have found their fuel costs, their food costs, their inflation, their fertilizer costs impacted by The Supreme Court has taken note of the media reports and sought “details and particulars” of the controversial speech made by Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav of Allahabad High Court at a function on 8 December organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) wherein he had advocated majoritarian rule and used objectionable language to describe a minority community. “The Supreme Court has taken note of the newspaper reports of a speech given by Mr Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav, a sitting judge of the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad. The details and particulars have been called from the High Court and the matter is under consideration”, said a statement issued by the Supreme Court. this war,” he said at the Doha Forum 2024 on ‘Conflict Resolution in a New Era’. The foreign minister said India has always held the view that this war is not going to be solved on the battlefield, that at the end of the day people are going to return to some kind of the negotiating table. “The sooner, the better. Our effort has been to facilitate that to the extent possible,” he added. Mr Jaishankar said: “the general sort of the needle” is now moving more towards ‘No discrepancy in VVPAT, EVM counts in Maha polls’ STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 10 DECEMBER The Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday said there was no discrepancy found between VVPAT slip count and EVM control unit count in the recently concluded Maharashtra Assembly polls. The statement came days after the Congress filed a complaint with the poll panel in which it alleged serious and grave inconsistencies in the data relating to the polling and counting processes for the Maharashtra polls. In a statement, the Office of the Chief Electoral Office (CEO) stated that it is mandatory to count VVPAT slips of randomly selected five polling stations per Assembly constituency as per the guidelines of the poll panel. Accordingly, VVPAT slip count of randomly selected five polling stations per Assem- bly constituency was conducted on 23rd November during the counting procedure, in front of the Counting Observer / representatives of candidates, it said. “As per that, slip count of 1440 VVPAT units from 288 Assembly constituencies of Maharashtra has been tallied with respective control unit data. There is no discrepancy found between VVPAT slip count and EVM control unit count as per the reports received from the concerned DEOs. Due procedure laid by ECI has been followed,” the CEO said. On 3 December, a delegation of the Congress-led by senior party leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi met the poll panel and expressed their concerns on alleged arbitrary deletion of voters and subsequent additions, and inexplicable increase in voting percentages in Maharashtra polls. the reality of a negotiation than the continuation of the war. “We are trying to do the bit I told you about, why it's important for diplomacy to come forward. We are actually doinggoing to Moscow, talking to President Putin; going to Kiev, engaging President Zelenskyy; meeting them in other places; trying to see if we can encourage and find common threads which can be picked up at some point of time when the circumstances are right for it to be developed,” he added. The controversial speech made by Justice Yadav (photo), has evoked a strong reaction in the legal fraternity with Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms, Bar Association of India, and others including SCBA President Kapil Sibal condemning it and terming it contrary to the Constitution and its values. Mr Sibal has called for impeaching Justice Yadav over his recent speech. “Our constitution also requires judiciary to be independent. The PM, Home Minister and other MPs on government side should show support in impeaching else it will look like they are siding the judge,” Mr Sibal said. Seeking setting up of an “in-house committee to inquire into acts of judicial impropriety” by Justice Yadav and “withdrawing all judicial work” from him, the Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms in a letter to the Chief Justice of India, Justice Sanjiv Khanna, has said: “Both his participation in the rightwing event as well as his statements, are a gross violation of Article 14, 21, 25, and 26 read with the Preamble of the Constitution. They are discriminatory and violative of the basic principles of secularism and equality before the law, that is ingrained in our constitution.” The Bar Association of India has also condemned the remarks by Justice Yadav, stating: “These remarks are contrary to the principle of secularism as enshrined in the Constitution of India, in flagrant violation of the oath of office of a judge of Constitutional Court and strike at the very foundation of a fair and unbiased judiciary which sustains the Rule of Law.” Justice Yadav on a speech at a VHP function on 8 December, had said: “I have no hesitation in stating that this is Hindustan, and this country will function according to the wishes of the majority living here. This is the law. It is not about speaking as a High Court Judge; rather, the law operates in accordance with the bahusankyak (majority).” He reportedly used a slur for the Muslim community. Referring to extremists as “kathmullah”, he had said that the country should be circumspect about them. Mahakumbh 2025: Setting a global benchmark in event headcount with advanced technology STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE MAHAKUMBH NAGAR, 10 DECEMBER As Mahakumbh 2025 prepares to host an unparalleled influx of devotees, the Uttar Pradesh government is adopting stateof-the-art technology to document what is anticipated to be the world’s largest congregation. An estimated 40 to 45 crore devotees are expected to gather at the sacred Triveni Sangam in Prayagraj, where the Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati rivers converge. With innovative systems in place, every attendee will be accounted for, establishing a global milestone in crowd management. Under the leadership of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the fair administration is leveraging AI and other advanced technologies to achieve this unprecedented feat. Historically, the sheer size of the gathering at Prayagraj during the Kumbh and Mahakumbh has made precise crowd measurement a challenge. For Mahakumbh 2025, AI-enabled cameras and other technologies are being deployed to ensure accurate headcounts. Divisional Commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant announced on Tuesday that the event is expected to draw over 40 crore devotees, making it a record-breaking occasion. To manage this massive crowd, the administration has implemented several measures ~ 744 temporary CCTV cameras at 200 locations within the fair area; 1,107 permanent CCTV cameras at 268 city locations; 720 additional cameras across 100 plus parking areas for seamless monitoring. Monitoring hubs have been established at ICCC, the Police Line Control Room, and in the Arail and Jhunsi areas to oversee the event in real-time. The administration is employing AI-driven crowd density algorithms to generate accurate headcounts. These systems will deliver real-time updates, enhancing the management of devotees. Cameras will track individuals based on distinct attributes, reducing duplication in counts. Devotees will receive wristbands, especially on peak bathing days, tracked via RFID readers to monitor movement and time spent in the fair area. A GPS-enabled app, with user consent, will allow authorities to monitor real-time movement patterns of pilgrims. These methods, supported by advanced AI cameras operating from 3 a.m. to 7 p.m. during peak bathing hours, are undergoing rigorous testing to ensure a 95 per cent accuracy rate. Mahakumbh 2025, scheduled from 13 January to 26 February, will also feature a grand cultural showcase. Organised by the Uttar Pradesh Culture Directorate, the event will highlight diverse art forms, including music, dance, and poetry. A major attraction will be the Kavi Sammelan, where devotees, Kalpvasis, and tourists can immerse themselves in poetic renditions across genres such as Veer Ras, Shringar Ras, Hasya Ras, Karuna Ras, and Bhakti Ras. cial role in forming the Opposition's coalition, quit the alliance just before the general elections and joined the BJP-led NDA. He, along with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, played key roles as kingmakers. However, the INDIA alliance has faced multiple setbacks since the Lok Sabha elections, including electoral losses in Haryana and, more recently, the Maharashtra Assembly elections. Some allies have attributed these defeats to the Congress’s functioning and its alleged lack of respect for smaller partners. The differences within the INDIA bloc are also visible during the Winter Session of Parliament. Mamata Banerjee's TMC and Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party have distanced themselves from the Opposition's protest over the Adani issue. Karnataka’s former CM S M Krishna passes away STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 10 DECEMBER Former Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna passed away in the wee hours of Tuesday. Krishna also served as Maharashtra Governor and External Affairs Minister in the Manmohan Singh government. According to family sources, Krishna breathed his last at 2:45 am at his residence. The Congress-turned-BJP leader had a political career spanning over six decades and switched his allegiance to the saffron party in 2017. Krishna was struggling with his health for the past few months. In April, he was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of Manipal Hospital in Bengaluru and was under the care of a critical care team at the hospital. Last year, Krishna was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second-highest civilian honour, in recognition of his political career spanning six decades. The cremation will be conducted with full state honours on Wednesday in Mandya district. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called him a remarkable leader admired by people from all walks of life. "Shri SM Krishna Ji was a remarkable leader, admired by people from all walks of life. He always worked tirelessly to improve the lives of others. He is fondly remembered for his tenure as Karnataka’s Chief Minister, particularly for his focus on infrastructural development,” he said on 'X'.