Vol. 35 No. 20 | SUNDAY | FEBRUARY 11, 2024 | 28 Pages | `5 & for Pune `6 only Reg. No. MCS/048/2021-23; RNI No. 46955/1988 M.p.c.s. office Mumbai-400001 Quality at Value www.freepressjournal.in EDITIONS: MUMBAI*, Pune, Nashik, Konkan, Indore, Bhopal, E-paper Guar rantee e FM’s jaggery to junk jibe movement on inland waterways increased 7 times; Handling cap pacity doubled at major ports Hamara Sa k l Viksit Bharat H Sankalp BJP to play CAA trump card FPJ NEWS SERVICE / MUMBAI GAURAV VIVEK BHATNAGAR / NEW DELHI A short discussion on ‘White Paper on Indian Economy’ in Rajya Sabha on Saturday ended curtly with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman taking a dig at the Congress saying that “the grand old party mastered the art of ruining accomplishments of the previous government as they did while managing inflation during the 10-year UPA regime”. She said ‘gur ko gober karna inki mastery hai’. Claiming mismanagement of the economy during 2004-14 by the Congress-led UPA government, she said the Modi-led government toiled for 10 years to bring the economy back on track, taking India from ‘Fragile Five’ to 5th largest economy of the world. “The inflation rate was below 4% in the last year of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, but it remained significantly high during the 10-year UPA regime. The Congress has a mastery of ruining something that has been accomplished,” she said, adding that India is soon going to become the world’s third largest economy . The finance minister attacked the Congress, saying its government did complete developments in time, but now Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally monitors progress of development projects, even with district-level officers. CONTD. ON NATION Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday said that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which was passed by the Parliament in December 2019, will be notified ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. He also clarified that CAA is not a law that takes away citizenship and stated that “the minorities of this country, in particular the Muslim brothers, are being misled and provoked”. Shah tweeted on ‘X’ that “the notification of CAA will happen soon”. He also shared a clip of his recent TV interview, in which he declared that the notification would happen before the elections. He further asserted, “CAA was a promise of the leaders of the Congress party. When the Partition happened and when the minorities there (in Pakistan) came together – including Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, Buddhists and Christians – and they wanted to Union home minister says Muslim brothers being misled as the amendment doesn’t snatch anyone’s citizenship, only grants it to minorities suffering religious persecution Walkout over white paper, temple T he opposition parties on Saturday walked out of the Rajya Sabha opposing the BJP government’s white paper on the economy, with the CPI(M) also refusing to participate in the discussion on the Ram temple in the House. The Left party said it will not become a “party to communalise the political situation”. Members of the TMC and the DMK were among those who walked out over the white paper brought by the government in Parliament to compare the state of the economy during the Congress-led UPA and BJP-led NDA regimes. Government of India come here (to India) because of the atrocities… At that time the Congress had promised that you would come gradually and whenever you would come you would be welcomed in India and given citizenship (sic).” However, Shah charged that the Congress reneged on its promise. The buzz around CAA’s implementation has been fast growing. In late January, Union Minister of State Shantanu Thakur said it would be implemented within a week. “Today I am giving a guarantee that CAA will be implemented in Bengal and other states of India in the next seven days,” he had said while addressing a public gathering in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas. Earlier in January, some government officials were cited in news reports as saying that the notification of the CAA rules was expected well before the announcement of LS elections. The CAA was an electoral promise of the BJP for a long time and the Act was passed in the Parliament on December 11, 2019. It had conferred citizenship rights on non-Muslim migrants in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan and set a cut-off date of December 31, 2014, for granting citizenship to refugees who wanted to leave these three countries due to “religious persecution or fear of religious persecution”. CONTD. ON NATION 1 lakh PMAY houses launched in Guj P rime Minister Narendra Modi virtually laid the foundation stone of over 1.3 lakh houses worth Rs2,993 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) in Gujarat on Saturday. The PM said, “In Ayodhya, Prabhu Ram got a house, and in villages, you all got houses. Today the families who have got their new houses, to all such families, many congratulations and good wishes from my side…” Promising to make India a developed country by 2047, he said, “We have helped 25 crore people in the country move out of poverty. We stayed with them every step of the way and they used the benefits of schemes, utilised the money in the right way, and... beat poverty.” cbc 2 22201/13/0261/2324 Modi Sar ki rkar e of Doin Business ensuring ng rapid development d S ‘Nation will bless 17th Lok Sabha’ At the last sitting of the 17th Lok Sabha session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi says it was all about ‘reform, perform and transform’ GAURAV VIVEK BHATNAGAR / NEW DELHI Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the 17th Lok Sabha was witness to numerous important decisions as the past five years under his government have been all about ‘reform, perform and transform’. Addressing the last sitting of the House before the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, Modi said, “We can say with satisfaction that the tasks for which many generations had been waiting for centuries were accomplished in the 17th Lok Sabha.” “With the abrogation of Article 370, full splendour of the Constitution was manifested. This must have pleased the framers of the Constitution. Today our commitment to social justice is reaching the people of Jammu and Kashmir,” the PM said. He also mentioned how during this period the new Parliament building began functioning and lauded the role of Speaker Om Birla in bringing all the members on the same page for its creation. The installation of the Sengol in the new building, he said, signified “the reclamation of India’s heritage and remembrance of the first moment of Independence”. Modi was also effusive in his praise of Birla for the manner in which he conducted the House. “You were ever-smiling. Your smile never faded. You guided this House in a balanced and impartial manner in several instances, for this, I appreciate you. There were moments of anger, allegations but you controlled the situation patiently and ran the House and guided us. I express my gratitude to you for this,” he said. The PM also pointed to the launch of the concept of paperless Parliament and the implementation of digital technology and lauded the Speaker’s role in this regard. He said it was notable that the productivity of the 17th Lok Sabha stood at about 97% and pointed out that in seven of the sessions it was over 100% due to the sittings extending late into the night. He hoped that in the 18th Lok Sabha the productivity would be 100%. CONTD. ON NATION