WEDNESDAY 17 APRIL 2024 www.thestatesman.com Pages 12 |` 5.00|LC Twitter.com/thestatesman Facebook.com/thestatesman INDIA’S NATIONAL NEWSPAPER SINCE 1818 KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR FM ACCUSES GEHLOT REGIME OF SPREADING CONFUSION OVER OPS P5 P7 SENSEX 72,943.68456.10 WEATHER PARTLY CLOUDY SKY. STRONG SURFACE WINDS (SPEED 30-40 KMPH) DURING THE DAY. THE MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM TEMPERATURES WOULD BE AROUND 35 & 22 DEGREES CELSIUS RESPECTIVELY. NIFTY 22,147.90124.60 P4 GOLD 74,130980 ` vs $ 83.37 PM: TMC opposes CAA, protects infiltrators TMC has leased out West Bengal to criminals and infiltrators: Modi in Bengal Max. 79 % STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE SILIGURI, 16 APRIL TEMPERATURE Max: 35.8 °C-1) SUN RISES 5:53 hrs MOON RISES 13:05 hrs Min: 23.5 °C (+2) SUN SETS 18:48 hrs MOON SETS 02:58 hrs THUMBNAILS The Indian Coast Guard rescues a stranded fishing boat off Karwar in Karnataka on Tuesday. ANI Two shooters nabbed in Salman case: The two shooters, who allegedly opened fire at Bollywood actor Salman Khan's home on Sunday, were apprehended from Gujarat's border Kachchh district early on Tuesday and brought to Mumbai, where a court sent them to police custody till 25 April, officials said on Tuesday. The duo, identified as Vicky Gupta, 24, and Sagar Pal, 23, were nabbed from Bhuj town in Kachchh district of Gujarat, bordering Pakistan, in a swift joint operation of the Mumbai Police and Gujarat Police, and brought to Mumbai on Tuesday morning. Poll panel bars Surjewala from campaigning for 48 hours STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 16 APRIL The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday banned Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala from campaigning for 48 hours in the Lok Sabha elections over his objectionable remarks against BJP MP from UP’s Mathura Hema Malini. The poll panel’s action against Surjewala came days after it received a reply from him in response to a showcause notice to him following a complaint from the BJP alleging that he had passed some derogatory remarks against the BJP parliamentarian. The BJP alleged that he made “sexist, vulgar and unethical public utterances against the dignity of BJP MP Hema Malini while campaigning in Haryana which are violative of the provisions and Model Code of Conduct (MCC)”. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday that the Trinamul Congress opposes the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) because the real truth will be revealed in West Bengal with its implementation. “Trinamul Congress has leased out West Bengal to criminals and infiltrators. The TMC provides protection for illegal entrants but it opposes recognition of refugees legally so that the truth does not come out. To punish this sin, vote for the lotus,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today. Mr Modi was addressing a public meeting at Balurghat in South Dinajpur where Dr Sukanta Majumdar, state BJP president is the candidate. He also addressed another public meeting at Rajganj in North Dinajpur later. (Photo) Speaking in Raiganj, Mr Modi said: “TMC has made Bengal poor. Women, mothers and sisters, are not safe in Bengal. TMC protects infiltrators including Rohingyas to ensure its vote bank and opposes the CAA. TMC prevents voters from getting their demo- cratic rights. Bengal is lagging behind due to TMC. Will you absolve them?” Mr Modi encouraged the crowd to celebrate Ram Navami tomorrow, especially as the first birth anniversary of Ram Lala after the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. “TMC opposes celebration of Ram Navami. The court has given permission for celebrating Ram Navami. You will celebrate Ram Navami gloriously,” Mr Modi added. He also said: “TMC has made Bengal as a home for extortionists, criminals and corruption. Primary teachers’ recruitment scam has been unearthed. Agencies have recovered huge amounts of black money from various officials’ residences. The whole country has seen what happened in Sandeshkhali. TMC tried to save criminals in Sandeshkhali. The TMC is attacking Central agencies in an organised manner.” SC directs Bengal Governor to appoint six persons as VCs from list sent by state govt AGENCIES NEW DELHI, 16 APRIL The Supreme Court today directed Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose, who is also the chancellor of state-run universities, to appoint six suitable persons as vicechancellors from a list of candidates given by the Mamata Banerjee led state government. Appearing for the chancellor, Attorney General R Venkataramani apprised the top court that he has approved six names from the list sent by the state government. The bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice K V Vishwanathan said that the six vice-chancellors should be appointed immediately. It also asked the state government to send a fresh list of suitable candidates to the office of the chancellor, who may decide to appoint some more VCs from among them. While hoping for an amicable solution to the ongoing tussle, the bench said it may consider setting up a search committee later for short-listing candidates for being appointed as vicechancellors in the remaining state-run universities. Earlier, the bench had asked the governor, the state government and the University Grants Commission (UGC) to suggest three to five names each for setting up a search-cumselection committee which will decide the candidates for appointment as VCs. During the hearing today, the attorney general told the bench that the chancellor has approved six names for appointment as VCs from the list forwarded by the state government. He further opposed the submissions of Senior Advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for the state government, that the governor was deliberately not consenting to the Bill on universities passed by the state assembly. Previously, the West Bengal Assembly had passed an amendment bill raising the number of members in the search committee set up for appointing vice-chancellors in state-run universities from three to five. However, the BJP had opposed the West Bengal University Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2023 alleging that the new search committee would further enhance the ruling party’s control over the appointment of vice-chancellors. The bench has now scheduled the plea for hearing on 30 April. He said: “Your dreams are my determination. I promise to fulfil your dreams. In next five years I will be working round the clock to bring in development by the year 2047.” He also accused the TMC of attacking poor and Adivasi women who joined the BJP and killing a booth president in Balurghat. “TMC’s business will end, that is why the TMC is lying. There is no proper employment plan for the people in this region. TMC prevents Central government programmes from being implemented. Despite resistance from TMC, BJP has developed railway network connecting Balurghat. There is no university and no medical college. TMC does not want an airport in Balurghat,” the PM said. Mr Modi mentioned some key points from the BJP’s manifesto and how it will help the people in Dinajpur and showcased PM Vishwakarma Yojona in which artisans in 18 sector will be getting employment opportunities in South Dinajpur. He also said that railway services like Vande Bharat and Amrit Bharat will be extended in Bengal. 200 complaints filed with EC STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 16 APRIL As many as 200 complaints have been filed by different political parties, including the BJP and the Congress, with the Election Commission since the model code of conduct came into effect following the announcement of the Lok Sabha polls on 16 March. “Approximately, 200 complaints have been filed by various political parties and candidates at the level of ECI and across states. Of these, action has been taken in 169 cases,” the poll panel said in a communiqué on Tuesday. Giving a breakup of the complaints, it said, “Fifty-one complaints were received from BJP, out of which action has been taken in 38 cases; complaints from INC were 59, with action taken in 51 cases; complaints received from other parties were 90, out of which action has been taken in 80 cases.” P12 SILVER 87,0001000 RAINFALL: Nil RELATIVE HUMIDITY Min. 34 % IPL: INCONSISTENT GUJARAT, DELHI IN MOMENTUM HUNT ‘PM MODI TRYING TO DEFEND BIGGEST CORRUPTION SCANDAL’ SIDELINING A WOMAN’S FREEDOM OF CHOICE BRENT CRUDE (IN $) 89.590.51 VVPAT: Apex court leery of human intervention, exhorts for trust in system PARMOD KUMAR NEW DELHI, 16 APRIL The Supreme Court on Tuesday sounded averse to going back to ballot paper system for casting votes, stating that the introduction of human intervention will create problems, and exhorted to repose trust and faith in the prevailing system and not to bring it down. As advocate Prashant Bhushan appearing for the NGO Association for Democratic Reforms batted for going back to the exercise of vote through ballot papers, Justice Sanjiv Khanna, heading a bench also comprising Justice Dipankar Datta, said: “We are in our 60s. We all know what happened when there were ballot papers, you may have, but we have not forgotten.” As Mr Bhushan referred to booth capturing, Justice Khanna said: “We are not on booth capturing, there were other things … human intervention is going to create problems…” Justice Khanna said: “Normally human interventions lead to problems and human weakness can be there which includes biases as well. Machines normally without human intervention will give you accurate results. Yes, the problem arises when there is human intervention or makes unauthorised changes when they are around the software or machine. If you have any suggestion to avert this, then you can give us that.” The bench appeared having some reservation in terms of the time it would consume, when Mr Bhushan said that in the present system of casting votes through EVMs, a voter should be permitted to have a look at the slip generated by the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) to ascertain whether the vote cast by him has been correctly recorded, before the slip is dropped in the box. The bench appeared unimpressed as Mr Bhushan argued that European countries like Germany that had opted for the EVMs have returned to the paper ballots. Justice Khan- na pointed out that Germany has about 5 to 6 crore voters, whereas in India there are about 97 crore registered voters. Justice Datta too added: “My home state West Bengal has more population than Germany. We need to repose some trust and faith in somebody. Do not try to bring down the system like this.” When senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for one of the petitioners, pointed to the discrepancies in the number of votes that were cast in 2019 and those counted in some places, Justice Khanna said that when you do hand counting, there will be different numbers in the counting. Mr Sankaranarayanan said that this discrepancy point was taken note of by a parliamentary committee, but in the last four years since then the Election Commission has not responded to it. Chhattisgarh: 29 Maoists killed in encounter with security forces STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE RAIPUR, 16 APRIL Twenty nine Maoists were killed by security forces in Kanker district of Chhattisgarh on Tuesday in a fierce encounter. The clash between the security personnel and the insurgents broke out around 2 p.m. in the dense jungles of Binagunda and Coronar, located in the Chhotepatia area of Kanker district, officials said. The encounter holds particular significance as voting for the Kanker Lok Sabha constituency is slated for 26 April. According to reports, most wanted Maoist commander Shankar Rao and Lalita were among those killed during the confrontation. Subsequently, the security forces have recovered 29 bodies of the Maoist insurgents along with a substantial number of automatic weapons. Three security personnel The encounter holds particular significance as voting for the Kanker LS constituency is slated for 26 April. sustained injuries in the exchange of fire. Currently, security forces are conducting an search operation in the Maad region. Additional reinforcements have been deployed to assist in the extraction of injured soldiers from the jungle terrain, they said. Confirming the operation's success, Kanker SP Kalyan Elesela said 29 Maoists, including notorious commander Shankar Rao, were eliminated in the encounter. Furthermore, security forces seized seven AK47 rifles, one INSAS rifle and three LMGs during the operation. The police said a joint operation conducted by the Border Security Force (BSF) and District Reserve Guard (DRG) teams commenced on 16 April in the village of Binagunda, Kanker. However, the BSF faced resistance from Maoist cadres, to which the security personnel responded effectively. A BSF soldier sustained gunshot wounds to his leg, but is currently reported to be in stable condition. A search operation is underway and arrangements being made for the proper treatment of injured personnel. The police have said that further details will be provided after the search operation. Not in a hurry to see lotus bloom in Valley, BJP interested in winning hearts: Shah Lucknow boy Aditya Srivastava tops civil services exam STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Tuesday declared the results for the civil services examination 2023, with Aditya Srivastava securing the top rank. Animesh Pradhan and Donuru Ananya Reddy secured the second and third ranks respectively, the UPSC said. Mr Srivastava, a resident of Lucknow, is currently working as an under-training IPS officer in West Bengal. He did his BTech from IIT Kanpur. His father Ajay Srivastava works in the Central Audit Department. The selected candidates will be appointed to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Indian Police Service (IPS), and other central services posts. A total of 1,016 candidates (664 men and 352 women) have JAMMU, 16 APRIL Dropping a hint that the BJP might not field its candidates in the three Lok Sabha seats in the Kashmir Valley, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said the party is not in a hurry to see the lotus bloom in the Valley as the BJP is in the process of "winning hearts of the people in Kashmir". He was addressing an election rally here in favour of BJP candidate Jugal Kishore Sharma for the Jammu Lok Sabha seat. Referring to allegations by political adversaries that the saffron party was trying to capture Kashmir through the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, Mr Shah said: “I want to tell the people of Kashmir that we are not among those who believe in capturing, the lotus (BJP’s party symbol) will bloom in the Valley only through your affection." He asked the people to vote for anyone except the parties of the Abdullahs, Mehbooba and Sonia Gandhi who work for the "growth of only their dynasties". The minister also accused the Congress, National Conference (NC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of staging fake encounters and putting guns into the hands of Kashmiri youth and charged that these parties are responsible for encouraging terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir. “I want to ask Dr Farooq Abdullah, in whose tenure most of the fake encounters took place. Wasn’t it Dr Farooq Abdullah’s government then?” he said. He asserted that the Narendra Modi government has not only restored peace in Jammu and Kashmir but also accelerated development and employment through a transparent system. He said the Assembly election in J&K will be held within the timeframe fixed by the Supreme Court. “There will be no delay,” he said. Targeting PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, Mr Shah said: "Nobody has the guts to raise slogans for Pakistan. Slogans of 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' can only be heard in Jammu and Kashmir. PDP chief had said that if Article 370 is removed, nobody will be left to give a shoulder to the tricolour... She needs to understand that this tricolour is immortal and will always stay. Article 370 was scrapped and the tricolour still flies with pride and glory." STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 16 APRIL qualified the examination and are recommended by the Commission for appointment to various services. Among the finally qualified candidates, the top five comprises three men and two women candidates. P K Sidharth Ramkumar and Ruhani got the fourth and fifth ranks, respectively in the civil services examination. Mr Ramkumar, a Bachelor of Architecture from College of Architecture in Trivandrum, secured fourth rank with anthropology as his optional subject. Ruhani, a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in economics from St Stephen’s College, Delhi University, secured the fifth rank with economics as her optional subject, according to the results of the civil services examination 2023. The top 25 candidates comprise 10 women and 15 men. The civil services examination is conducted annually in three stages~ preliminary, main and interview. The recommended candidates also include 30 persons with benchmark disability (16 orthopedically handicapped, six visually challenged, five hearing impaired and three with multiple disabilities). The civil services (preliminary) examination, 2023 was conducted on 28 May last year. A total of 10,16,850 candidates applied for this examination, out of which 5,92,141 candidates actually appeared in the examination. As many as 14,624 candidates qualified for appear- ance in the written (main) examination, which was held in September 2023. “A total of 2,855 candidates qualified for the personality test of the examination,” the UPSC said. The government has reported 1,143 vacancies — 180 in IAS, 37 in IFS, 200 in IPS, 613 posts in different central Group A services and 113 in Group B services ~ to be filled through the civil services examination 2023, the UPSC said. As many as 240 candidates have been put in a reserved list, it said, adding that the candidature of 355 recommended candidates has been kept provisional. Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the candidates who cleared the UPSC Civil Service exams and said those who could not clear should remember that this isn't the end of their journey, adding that there are more chances to succeed in the exams. SEE PAGE 3
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