MONDAY 23 DECEMBER 2024 www.thestatesman.com SINCE 1818 Pages 12 |` 5.00 | LC X.com/thestatesmanltd. Fb/thestatesman1875 KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR ‘HM SHAH’S REMARK ON AMBEDKAR AN IRREDEEMABLE SHAME’ ‘NC HAS TAKEN STEPS TO RATIONALISE JOB RESERVATION’ P5 WEATHER Generally clear. Hazy in the evening. Maximum and minimum temperatures likely to be around 27 °C and 17 °C respectively. P4 P7 India, Kuwait elevate ties to Strategic Partnership The two nations agree to boost cooperation in trade, energy, defence and technology; a Joint Commission on Cooperation is being set up RAINFALL: NIL RELATIVE HUMIDITY STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE Max. 67% Min. 56% NEW DELHI, 22 DECEMBER Min: 17.3˚C SUN SETS 16:58 hrs MOON SETS 11:42 hrs P Kuwait honours PM with its highest national award TEMPERATURE Max: 27.2˚C SUN RISES 06:12 hrs MOON RISES 19:55 hrs New Moon on 31 December THUMBNAILS Naga sadhus of Shri Panch Dashnam Awahan Akhara take part in the procession during the first 'Shahi Pravesh' for the Maha Kumbh Mela 2025 celebration, in Prayagraj on Sunday. n ANI Rahul Gandhi summoned by Bareilly court: A Bareilly court has summoned Congress MP and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi to appear before it on 7 January for his remarks related to the Economic Survey during the Lok Sabha polls. The summons was issued on a plea filed by an All India Hindu Mahasangh leader contending that his remarks on the low percentage of property held by weaker sections were aimed at creating ‘class hatred’. rime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday met with the Amir of Kuwait, Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and the two leaders agreed to elevate the bilateral relationship to a ‘Strategic Partnership’. Mr Modi and the Amir of Kuwait also discussed cooperation in key sectors like pharmaceuticals, IT, FinTech, Infrastructure and security. This was the first meeting between the two leaders. They recalled the strong historical and friendly ties between the two countries and re-affirmed their commitment to further expanding and deepening bilateral cooperation. In this context, they agreed to elevate the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership. Mr Modi also held talks with Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber AlMubarak Al-Sabah, Prime Minister of Kuwait, after which the two sides issued a joint statement in which they unequivocally condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 22 DECEMBER including cross-border terrorism, and called for disrupting of terrorism financing networks and safe havens, and dismantling of terror infrastructure. India and Kuwait also agreed to enhance cooperation in counter-terrorism operations, information and intelligence sharing, and in law enforcement, and work together against money laundering, drug trafficking and other transnational crimes. They pledged to expand cooperation across multiple sectors, including trade, investments, energy, defence, and technology. “The two sides welcomed the recent establishment of a Joint Commission on Cooperation (JCC) between India and Kuwait. The JCC will be an institutional mechanism to review and monitor the entire spectrum of the bilateral relations between the two countries and will be headed by the Foreign Ministers of both countries. To further expand our bilateral cooperation across various fields, new Joint Working Groups (JWGs) have been set up in areas of trade, investments, education and skill development, science and technology, security and counter-terrorism, agriculture, and culture, in addition to the existing JWGs on Health, Manpower and Hydrocarbons,” the statement said. ‘Bru rehabilitation a milestone in restoring dignity and livelihoods’ BGT: RICHARDSON ‘EXCITED’ TO RETURN TO OZ TEST SQUAD WHEN PIKETTY CAME TO INDIA Kuwait on Sunday conferred its highest national award, 'The Order of Mubarak Al-Kabeer', on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in recognition of his distinguished achievements and his endeavour to strengthen bilateral relations between India and Kuwait. PM Modi dedicated the award to the longstanding friendship between India and Kuwait, to the Indian community in Kuwait, and to the 1.4 billion people of India. This is the 20th international honour given to PM Modi by a country. Sheikh Meshal AlAhmad Al-Jaber AlSabah, the Amir of Kuwait conferred 'The Order of Mubarak AlKabeer' on PM Modi. (See Page 5) ‘Amendment in Conduct of Election Rules conspiracy to destroy integrity of ECI’ STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 22 DECEMBER Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday launched a scathing attack on the BJP-led government at the Centre over the amendment made in the Conduct of Election Rules, saying this was a "systematic conspiracy" by the ruling dispensation to destroy the institutional integrity of the Election Commission of India (ECI). Reacting to the amendment made by the Centre in the Conduct of Election Rules on Friday, he said: “Modi government's audacious amendment in the Conduct of Election Rules is another assault in its systematic conspiracy to destroy the institutional integrity of the ECI.Earlier, they had removed the Chief Justice of India from the Selection panel which appoints Election Commissioners, and now they have resorted to stonewall electoral information, even after a High Court order." Referring to the representations submitted to the ECI raising several issues in the last few months, the Congress chief wrote on X: "Everytime the Congress party wrote to the ECI, regarding specific poll irregularities such as voter deletions and lack of transparency in EVMs, the ECI has responded in a condescending tone and chosen not to even acknowl- AGARTALA, 22 DECEMBER Union Home Minister Amit Shah expressed his profound happiness on Sunday while addressing members of the rehabilitated Bru tribal community in a remote village in Tripura. "I am more happy than you. Prime Minister Modi ji is also very happy that we could rehabilitate you after 40 years," he said during his visit. The Bru (Reang) commu- nity, displaced for decades due to ethnic violence in Mizoram, has been resettled in Tripura under a historic quadripartite agreement signed on 16 January 2020. The agreement involved the Government to launch 3 apps to protect consumers from dark patterns STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 22 DECEMBER The Department of Consumer Affairs will launch “Jago Grahak Jago App”, “Jagriti App”, and “Jagriti Dashboard” for public use on National Consumers Day on 24 December. As part of the government's ongoing efforts to strengthen consumer protection and curb unfair practices in e-commerce and online services, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) notified the Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns in 2023 and specified 13 dark patterns, namely, False Urgency, Basket Sneaking, Confirm Shaming, Forced Action, Subscription Trap, Interface Interference, Bait and Switch, Drip Pricing, Disguised Advertisements and Nagging, Trick Wording, Saas Billing and Rogue Malwares. The CCPA had earlier issued notices to IndiGo Airlines and BookMyShow under Consumer Protection Act, 2019 for alleged unfair trade practices in the form of deceptive design patterns/dark patterns. The three apps, 'Jago Gra- Jago Grahak Jago App, Jagriti App, and Jagriti Dashboard are part of an intelligent cyber-physical system which operates in real-time hak Jago App,' 'Jagriti App,' and ‘Jagriti Dashboard’ are part of an intelligent cyberphysical system, which operates in real-time and runs on the Airawat AI Supercomputer under the National Supercomputing Mission for AI and Data Analytics. This innovative system analyses existing text and design elements on e-commerce platforms to determine whether they are being used to influence consumer psychology. The 'Jago Grahak Jago App' provides essential ecommerce information about all URLs during a consumer’s online activities, alerting them if any URL may be unsafe and requires caution. The 'Jagriti App,' allows users to report URLs where they suspect the presence of one or more dark patterns. The ‘Jagriti Dashboard’ is used to generate real-time reports on e-commerce URLs for the presence of dark patterns. Central government, the governments of Tripura, Mizoram, and representatives of Bru organisations. Mr Shah highlighted the government’s initiatives to ensure the sustainable livelihood of the resettled families. “We have made available 25 types of livelihood opportunities for you, including animal husbandry, dairy farming, honeybee keeping, and millet farming,” he said. The minister also visited several homes, interacted with the villagers, and inquired about their challenges. He assured the residents who had not yet received their Ayushman Bharat health cards that the matter would be resolved within two days and instructed the district magistrate to expedite the process. The Bru tribals, originally from Mizoram’s Mamit, Lunglei, and Kolasib districts, were forced to flee due to ethnic violence in 1997, 1998, and 2009. Since then, many lived in makeshift camps in North Tripura. Mr Kharge asserted that the Narendra Modi government's calibrated erosion of ECIÊs integrity is a frontal attack on the Constitution and Democracy, and their party will take every step to safeguard them. edge certain serious complaints. This again proves that the ECI, even though is a quasi-judicial body is not behaving independently." Mr Kharge, who is also the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, asserted that the Narendra Modi government's calibrated erosion of ECI’s integrity is a frontal attack on the Constitution and Democracy, and their party will take every step to safeguard them. The ECI on Saturday said candidates already have access to all the documents and papers, and nothing has been amended in the rules in this regard. An ECI official said recently Punjab and Haryana High Court in a case had directed sharing of all documents related to Haryana Assembly elections, including treating CCTV footage also as permissible under Rule 93(2) of the Conduct of Election Rules. Informing that the rule mentioned election papers, the official said ‘election papers and documents’ do not specifically refer to electronic records. “In order to remove this ambiguity and considering the serious issue of violation of secrecy of vote and potential misuse of CCTV footage of inside the polling station using artificial intelligence... the rule has been amended to safeguard misuse of CCTV footage of inside of the polling station,” the official said. Centre forms committee under Defence Secretary to look into Air Force’s overall capability development STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE P12 NEW DELHI, 22 DECEMBER Amid the growing air power of China and Pakistan and the shortage of fighter aircraft faced by the Indian Air Force, the Defence Ministry has formed a high-level committee under Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh (photo) to look into the overall capability development of the service through indigenous design, development and acquisition projects. Government officials told ANI that the committee was formed after the IAF made detailed presentations to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh during the Air Force Commanders' Conference last month in the national capital. During the conference, the top Defence Ministry functionaries were briefed about the futuristic combat aircraft requirements along with the gaps required to be filled in the capability that the force wants to have in the coming times to tackle the threat perception faced on both the fronts. The officials said the committee has other senior members of the Defence Ministry, including the Secretary (Defence Production), Sanjeev Kumar; Defence Research and Development Organisation chief Dr Samir V Kamat; and Deputy Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal T Singh, who is the committee's member secretary. The Secretary of Defence Finance also attended the first meeting of the committee that took place last week. The committee is expected to submit its report to the Defence Minister in the next two to three months with a detailed assessment of the requirements of the force. The Chinese are now also likely to provide fighter aircraft to the Bangladesh Air Force, where the new government is not seen as friendly to India.