FOLLOW US: @TheStatesmanLtd @thestatesmanltd thestatesman1875 www.thestatesman.com People’s Parliament, Always in Session India’s National Newspaper since 1818 BRIEFLY Nifty hits fresh all-time high: New Delhi: Indian equity indices ended Friday’s session on a strong note, with the benchmark Nifty scaling a fresh all-time high of 26,328.55. At the close, the Sensex surged 573.41 points, or 0.67 per cent, to settle at 85,762.01, while the Nifty gained 182 points, or 0.70 per cent, to end at 26,328.55. During the session, the Nifty 50 touched an intraday record of 26,340 before paring some gains to close at a historic high. The broader market also remained firm, with the BSE Midcap index rising 0.97 per cent and the Smallcap index advancing 0.79 per cent. The overall market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies climbed to over ₹481 lakh crore from nearly ₹477 lakh crore in the previous session. Among sectoral indices, all ended in the green except FMCG, which declined 1.19 per cent. Realty stocks led the gains with a rise of 1.52 per cent, followed by PSU Bank (1.50 per cent), Metal (1.47 per cent), Consumer Durables (1.17 per cent) and Auto (1.13 per cent). Page 10 | Pages 12 | ` 5.00 | KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR | Saturday, 03 January 2026 ‘Decades of terror thwart good neighbourhood ties’ MeitY notice to X over misuse of Grok for derogatory content on women & children STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE UNITED NEWS OF INDIA New Delhi, 2 January E xternal Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday said that persistent crossborder terrorism remains a barrier to normal ties with “certain neighbours.” In an indirect reference to Pakistan, Mr Jaishankar said: “We have the right to defend our people. If you face terrorism for decades, you cannot have a good neighbourhood relationship. You cannot share water or cooperate with someone who continues terrorism.” The External Affairs Minister was speaking at the inauguration of Shaastra 2026 — IIT Madras Techno Entertainment fest in Chennai. He said India is recalibrating its neighbourhood policy by balancing humanitarian assistance, development cooperation and firm responses to security threats. The country has “naturally invested” in countries that share cooperative relations, he said He recalled how many neighbouring nations received their first Covid-19 vaccine consignments from India and the country also provided food support during the Ukraine conflict, when supply chains were strained. Referring to Sri Lanka, the External Affairs Minister said India extended USD 4 billion in financial assistance during its economic crisis and responded immediately during a recent cyclone with rescue and relief efforts. “That is what good neighbours do,” he added. On Bangladesh, Mr Jaishankar said India wishes the country well in its elections and hopes that “once things settle down, good neighbourliness will continue.” He reiterated India's longstanding civilisational ties with Afghanistan, acknowledging the challenges faced by the Afghan people. The External Affairs Minister said he had a constructive discussion with his Afghanistan counterpart and expressed optimism that “things will improve over time.” Commenting on the reports that a woman from Arunachal Pradesh was harassed by Chinese immigration officials at the Shanghai airport in November, Mr Jaishankar said India had formally protested the incident. “A lady from Arunachal Pradesh was detained and harassed. We protested. Arunachal Pradesh is, and will always remain, a part of India. We expect other countries to respect laws and norms,” he averred. On a light-hearted note, Mr Jaishankar said his life is ‘balanced’ despite not having ‘off days’, but his wife might contradict him! “In my life, I don’t have off days. It’s not like I work Monday to Friday and say Saturday-Sunday I won’t do anything because the world doesn’t accommodate that. The world still runs on Saturday-Sunday. My life is very mixed up; it doesn’t operate on a single time zone, and there is no off switch and no on switch. What I try to do is, within that, build habits and practices and indulgences which make you a stable, reasonable and congenial person who can deal with the rest of the world,” he said. New Delhi, 2 January The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on Friday issued a notice to X Corp, formerly Twitter, for alleged failure to follow statutory due diligence and obligations under Indian law, particularly in relation to obscene, indecent and sexually explicit content generated and shared using its artificial intelligence (AI) tools. In a detailed letter dated 2 January, MeitY said it has received repeated reports and representations from the public and parliamentary stakeholders that certain content circulating on X may not be in compliance with laws related to decency and obscenity. The Ministry expressed strong concerns over the AI-based application “Grok AI”, integrated on the X platform, which is allegedly being misused to create and share obscene and derogatory images and videos, especially targeting women and children. The Ministry said such content reflects serious gaps in platform-level safeguards and enforcement mechanisms and amounts to misuse of AI technologies in violation of applicable laws. The ministry directed X to conduct a comprehensive review of Grok's technical and governance frameworks to prevent generation of unlawful content. It said Grok must enforce strict user policies, including suspension and termination of violators. All offending content should be immediately removed without tampering with evidence, it said. MeitY said non-compliance could lead to loss of safe harbour under Section 79 of the IT Act and trigger penal action under multiple laws, including the BNS, the Indecent Representation of Women Act, and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. The government ordered X Corp to send an action taken report (ATR) within 72 hours detailing the measures adopted, the role of the chief compliance officer, and compliance with mandatory reporting under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023. Earlier, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi had written to Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw, (photo) raising concerns over the alleged misuse of AI tools on social media platforms to post objectionable images of women using fake accounts. She said such practices amount to a serious breach of women's privacy and urged the Centre to take urgent steps to safeguard their rights. KKR’s induction of Bangladeshi Toll in Indore water tragedy climbs to 19; MP govt mum on figures player triggers political row STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE Bhopal, 2 January STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE Mumbai, 2 January The decision of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to induct Bangladeshi fast bowler Mustafizur Rahman (photo) for the IPL 2026 session has kicked up a political row, with leaders of various political parties sparring over the issue. After several Hindu religious figures attacked KKR coowner and actor Shah Rukh Khan over the inclusion of a Bangladeshi player in the team amid tensions with Bangladesh and alleged persecution of minorities, particularly Hindus in the neighbouring country, BJP MP Praveen Khandelwal escalated the pressure. “Now Shah Rukh Khan has to decide whether he will stand with anti-national forces or stand with the people of India,” he said. BJP leader Sangeet Som went so far as to brand Shah Rukh Khan a “traitor.” “Everything he has is given by India, by the people of India. Yet he invests in players from a country that is working against India,” Som alleged. Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Nirupam also appealed to Khan, to reconsider the franchise’s decision in view of what he described as prevailing public anger against Bangladesh. The Congress, meanwhile, said that the government must be questioned on the issue of allowing Bangladeshi players to participate in the IPL auction. Party leaders further called out the right wing’s selective outrage over the issue, alleging that Shah Rukh Khan’s name and identity were being deliberately targeted, which is why various religious figures and BJP leaders were making such statements. Congress national spokesperson Supriya Shrinate questioned the decision to include Bangladeshi players in the IPL auction pool and held ICC chief Jay Shah responsible for the controversy surrounding KKR’s decision to pick Mustafizur Rahman. “Home minister’s son, Jay Shah, should answer who put the Bangladeshi players in the pool where IPL players are bought and sold,” Ms Shrinate said. “He is the main decision-maker in cricket all around the world.” The number of deaths caused by consumption of contaminated water in Indore has climbed to 19, hospital sources said on Friday, even as the Madhya Pradesh government is yet to come out with the official figures. Local corporator of the Bhagirathpura locality, Kamal Waghela said on Friday that at least 15 deaths have occurred. “From Friday till today, around 15 people have died due to the contaminated water,” Mr Waghela told some media persons. The unofficial figure, meanwhile, rose to 19 on Friday. Geeta Bai (68) succumbed at the Aurobindo Medical Science and Research Hospital after she was admitted with symptoms of severe vomiting, diarrhoea and dehydration. Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Friday ordered the transfer of Indore Municipal Corporation additional commissioner Rohit Sisonia, and the incharge superintending engineer of the water works section, Sanjeev Shrivastava, in connection with the Indore Narmada river drinking water tragedy. The CM also directed officials to issue show cause notices to IMC Commissioner Dilip Kumar Yadav, and Rohit Sisonia. Making a scathing attack on the BJP-led “double-engine” government, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday labelled Madhya Pradesh the “epicentre of misgovernance” following a deadly water contamination crisis in Indore. In a sharp statement on social media, Mr Gandhi accused the administration of “slumbering like Kumbhakarna” while sewage-mixed water ~ which he described as “distributed poison” ~ was supplied to the residents of Gig workers with 90-day employment to come under new labour codes STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE New Delhi, 2 January The Centre has published the draft rules for the four labour codes, which also bring gig workers on board for various benefits such as minimum wage, health, occupational safety, and social security coverage. The Ministry of Labour and Employment has invited feedback from stakeholders on these draft rules and is looking at the possibility of a nationwide rollout of the package of four labour codes from 1 April. Under the draft rules, in order to be eligible for the benefits, a gig or platform worker must be associated with an aggregator for at least 90 days in a financial year to qualify for social security benefits created by the Centre. If a worker is engaged with more than one aggregator, the minimum requirement is fixed at 120 days. The rules say that a worker is considered “engaged” on any calendar day if he/she earns income for work done for an aggregator, regardless of how much the earning is. If a worker is associated with multiple aggregators, the number of engagement days will be added together across all aggregators. The draft also states that if a worker is engaged with three aggregators on the same calendar day, it will be counted as three separate days of engagement. Regarding the minimum wage, the draft rules state that when the rate of wages for a day is fixed, then such amount shall be divided by eight for fixing the rate of wages for an hour and multiplied by 26 for fixing the rate of wages for a month. In the case of a five-day working week, the hourly rate of minimum wages so calculated shall be used to derive the minimum wages for the day. While fixing the minimum rates of wages, the government shall take into account the geographical area, experience in the area of employment, and level of skill required for working under the categories of unskilled, semiskilled, skilled, and highly skilled, the rules further state. The four labour codes are the Code on Wages, 2019; the Industrial Relations Code, 2020; the Code on Social Security, 2020; and the Occupational Safety, Health, and Working Conditions Code, 2020. The labour codes make it mandatory for employers to issue appointment letters to all workers, which provide written proof to ensure transparency, job security, and fixed employment. Earlier, no mandatory appointment letters were required. (Representational image) Bhagirathpura area of Indore. “Clean water is not a favour; it is a right to life,” Mr Gandhi stated. “For the murder of this right, the BJP’s negligent administration and its callous leadership are entirely responsible,” he said. He questioned why repeated complaints about foul-smelling water were ignored by officials until it was too late. “Those whose hearths have gone cold needed solace; the government served up hubris instead,” Mr Gandhi said, referring to “arrogant statements” from BJP leaders. His remarks come amidst a political storm fuelled by a viral video showing MP Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya snapping at a journalist for asking “worthless questions” about the contamination. “Every time the poor die, Modi ji, as always, remains silent,” Mr Gandhi added, Reports indicate that a leak was discovered in the main Family members mourn the death of a person who allegedly died after consuming contaminated water in the Bhagirathpura area of Indore on Tuesday, 30 December 2025. FILE PHOTOGRAPH drinking water pipeline near a police outpost in Bhagirathpura, at a location where a toilet had been built. They stated that this leakage caused the water supply to become contaminated. “Laboratory tests confirm bacterial contamination in the municipal water supply. Surveys find hundreds of families affected; many more recover with treatment,” a specialist in microbiology told UNI. Over the past nine days, more than 1,400 people in Bhagirathpura have been affected by vomiting and diarrhoea.A health department official reported that, as of Thursday night, 272 patients had been admitted to hospitals in the area, with 71 of them already discharged. The official stated that out of the 201 patients still hospitalised, 32 are receiving treatment in intensive care units. First mountain tunnel breakthrough achieved in Bullet Train Project at Palghar STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE New Delhi, 2 January Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Friday announced a significant milestone in the Bullet Train Project with the breakthrough of the second tunnel in Palghar, Maharashtra. This is the first mountain tunnel of the project in the state. The breakthrough has been achieved in an approximately 1.5 km long mountain tunnel (MT-5), among the longest in Palghar district, located between Virar and Boisar bullet train stations. The MT-5 tunnel was excavated from both ends and the excavation was completed within 18 months using a cutting-edge drill and blast method. This method allows real-time monitoring of ground behaviour during excavation and enables the deployment of support systems such as shotcrete, rock bolts, and lattice girders based on actual site conditions. Earlier, the first underground tunnel of approximately 5 km between Thane and BKC was completed in September 2025. The Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) project has a total length of 508 km, with an overall tunnel length of 27.4 km, of which 21 km comprises underground tunnels and 6.4 km surface tunnels. The project includes eight mountain tunnels, with seven tunnels in Maharashtra having a combined length of about 6.05 km, and one tunnel of 350 metres located in Gujarat. The Union Minister said the Bullet Train Project is generating significant employment and will provide additional opportunities during operation. He said once completed, the project will reduce travel time between Mumbai and Ahmedabad to just 1 hour and 58 minutes, connecting and integrating the economies of major commercial centers. The project is expected to foster economic activity along the corridor, facilitate knowledge transfer, and support the development of new industrial and IT hubs. In Maharashtra, work is underway on seven mountain tunnels. MT-1, with a length of 820 metres, has achieved 15 percent physical progress, while MT-2, measuring 228 metres, is currently under preparatory works.