FOLLOW US: @TheStatesmanLtd @thestatesmanltd thestatesman1875 www.thestatesman.com People’s Parliament, Always in Session India’s National Newspaper since 1818 | Pages 12 | ` 5.00 | KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | MUMBAI | BHUBANESWAR | LUCKNOW | SILIGURI EDITORIAL PAGE Assam Assembly passes UCC Bill; CM Sarma says implementation in 6 months Strategic architecture Page 4 WORLD Trump to chair Cabinet meeting on Iran war Page 6 Byju’s founder sentenced to six-month jail by Singapore court New Delhi: The edtech company Byju’s founder Byju Raveendran was sentenced to a six-month jail term by the Singapore court for contempt. Reports said Byju Raveendran was ordered to serve a jail term for disobeying multiple orders related to his assets dating back to April 2024. He has been instructed to surrender to officials, pay costs of USD 70,500 and provide documents proving his legal ownership of Beeaar Investco Pte, a corporate entity that held shares in a related company. The dispute is related to the acquisition of Aakash Educational Services shares. Singapore courts had issued orders linked to asset disclosures and ownership documents, and the court eventually found that Raveendran had failed to comply with multiple orders dating back to April 2024. Page 10 SC backs SIR: ECI has limited power to examine citizenship PARMOD KUMAR New Delhi, 27 May T he Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the constitutional validity of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls carried out by the Election Commission of India, starting with Bihar and later extended to 12 States and Union Territories, holding that it is well within the powers of the poll panel to undertake such an exercise and that it advances the constitutional goal of free and fair elections. Holding that the SIR exercise could not be invalidated merely because it did not conform in every respect to the ordinary modalities contemplated for revision under Section 21(2) of the Representation of the People Act read with Rule 25, a Bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said that the revision of electoral Senior advocate Ashwini Upadhyay addresses the media after the Supreme Court’s verdict on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) issue in New Delhi on Wednesday. AGENCIES rolls does not violate the Act and instead “breathes life into the constitutional mandate of Article 324 through the precise statutory conduit provided by Section 21(3).” On the contentious issue of whether the Election Commission could engage itself in ascertaining the citizenship of a person for inclusion in the voters’ list, the judgment said: “The Commission is empowered, SHAHID K ABBAS New Delhi, 27 May in the exercise of its constitutional mandate, to undertake a limited enquiry into citizenship for the purpose of satisfying itself as to eligibility for inclusion in the electoral roll. Such an enquiry does not amount to a determination of citizenship in the strict sense, and any action taken pursuant thereto is confined to electoral consequences alone.” The Court further said: “The consequence of such a deter- New Delhi involving Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, senior leader Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretary K C Venugopal, Karnataka incharge Randeep Surjewala, Mr Siddaramaiah and Mr Shivakumar. While the party officially denied any discussion on leadership change, insiders indicated that the Congress leadership urged Mr Siddaramaiah to pave the way for what was described as a generational and organisational transition in Karnataka. According to party sources, the Congress leadership is attempting to execute the change without triggering factional unrest in a state that remains the party’s most important southern stronghold. A formal announcement is expected after further consultations with legislators and a possible Congress Legislature Party meeting in Bengaluru. The latest developments have revived political debate over an alleged understanding reached after the Congress’ emphatic Assembly victory in 2023, under which Mr Shivakumar was expected to eventually assume the Chief Minister’s post after the government completed roughly half its term. mination is correspondingly limited. It affects the individual’s entitlement to be included in the electoral roll, and thereby their right to participate in the electoral process. It does not, however, operate to divest the individual of claims of citizenship, nor does it foreclose a determination of that question by the Competent Authority under the Citizenship Act.” Upholding the constitutionality of the SIR exercise undertaken by the Election Commission of India, Chief Justice Surya Kant, speaking for the Bench, said: “The Impugned SIR exercise neither stands in direct conflict with the RP Act and the 1960 Rules, nor does it detract from the constitutional imperative of free and fair elections. It is, instead, an exercise traceable to Section 21(3) of the RP Act read with Article 324 of the Constitution, undertaken to advance the very objective which Part XV of the Constitution is designed to protect.” Kolkata, 27 May Bengal’s planned economic revival will be spearheaded by the public sector. Projects long envisaged are being fast forwarded in ports, steel making, and railways to script the state’s story post-2026. Top officials in Delhi and Kolkata have been burning the midnight oil to work on the final contours of existing plans and to speed them up and the result is a slew of public sector projects which could catalyse private investment in the long run. The state’s gigantic steel plants IISCO and Durgapur Steel Plant are going in for what is termed as brownfield expansion. The Steel Authority of India Ltd’s board had quite some time ago approved expanding the steel-making capacity of IISCO, which was set up in 1918 by Sir R N Mookerjee at Burnpur, by 4.08 million tonnes per annum (MTPA). Top SAIL officials told UNI that “tendering for Page 12 award of works is in progress for IISCO and orders for all technological packages have been placed … the capacity expansion is expected to be completed by 2029-30.” This means that two new steel plants will function at the sleepy steel-making town near Asansol at a cost of Rs 45,000 crore, making this the single largest investment made in West Bengal in this century. IISCO's new capacity which will produce hot rolled coils, sheets and plates, could bring in investment in downstream industries such as machine building, automobiles, steel fabrication, ship building, etc. Similarly, Durgapur Steel Plant, envisaged by the state’s first chief minister Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy and set up with British know-how in 1959, is slated to see a capacity increase from 2.088 MTPA to 3.5 MTPA besides a 40 MW captive power plant. This means that some 20,000 new jobs could be created in downstream industries such as machine building, automobiles, steel fabrication etc. From the colonial-era docks of Kolkata to ambitious plans for a deep-sea port on the Bay of Bengal coast, the state is also witnessing a broad reimagining of its port and logistics ecosystem. The Syama Prasad Mookerjee port, which includes both the docks at Kidderpore and Haldia docks, is undergoing a massive multi-year infrastructure modernisation to expand its capacity from 87.5 million metric tonnes to 115 million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA) by 2030. Capacity augmentation and mechanisation projects at the Haldia Dock Complex are focused on streamlining dry bulk and cargo operations. The move is expected to reduce vessel turnaround times and strengthen supply chains serving eastern and north-eastern India. Top port officials said the turnaround time would be reduced to less than one single day from a current 1.5-2.5 days at Haldia, “once the system which is ready is implemented after sensitising the stevedores.” The significance of Haldia extends beyond Bengal itself. It remains a major industrial and energy US delegation to visit India from 1 June to finalise trade agreement STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE New Delhi, 27 May A United States (US) trade delegation is set to visit India from 1 to 4 June to finalise the details of the Interim Trade Agreement and take forward the negotiations under the broader Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA). According to the information shared by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, “the US team led by the Chief Negotiator will be visiting India from 1 to 4th June 2026. It is proposed to finalise the details of the Interim Agreement and take forward the negotiations under the broader BTA on multiple areas such as Market Access, Non-Tariff Measures, Customs and Trade Facilitation, Investment Promotion, Economic Security Alignment.” In Washington, United States Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer said that he expects to meet Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal soon to finalise the India-US framework deal under discussion since early this year. Notably, on 7 February this year, India and the United States had issued a Joint Statement agreeing on a framework for an Interim Agreement regarding reciprocal and mutually beneficial trade. Under the proposed interim arrangement, India had agreed to eliminate or significantly reduce tariffs on all US industrial goods and a broad range of American agricultural and food products. In return, the USA agreed to lower its proposed reciprocal tariff rate on Indian goods from 50 per cent down to 18 per cent. Subsequently, however, the reciprocal tariffs that served as the basis of the American trade agreements were declared illegal by the US Supreme Court. An Indian team had later visited Washington DC, from 20 to 23 April, for inperson rounds of meetings with their US counterparts. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, during his recent visit to India had said New Delhi had committed to purchasing $500 billion worth of US goods over the next five years. United States Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer said that he expects to meet Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal soon to finalise the IndiaUS framework deal under discussion since early this year. Bengal CM rolls out Annapurna Yojana form STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE Kolkata, 27 May Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari announced the rollout of the Annapurna Yojana form, in one of the first steps for the implementation of the proposed government welfare scheme aimed at providing Bengal remake: Major steel, port, rail projects to be speeded up, including IISCO’s `45k expansion JAYANTA ROY CHOWDHURY French Open: Jannik Sinner brushes past Clement Tabur in opener Page 9 Siddaramaiah set to step down as Congress works out Karnataka power transition Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is likely to step down from his post following sustained intervention by the Congress high command, with the party leadership now working to facilitate a smooth transfer of power to Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar amid mounting speculation over a long-discussed powersharing arrangement in the state. Sources within the Congress said the broad contours of the transition were discussed during marathon meetings in Thursday, 28 May 2026 SPORTS NATION BRIEFLY | gateway handling coal, petroleum products and bulk commodities that feed economic activity across a large geographical area. What may become its crown jewel is the stalled project at Tajpur. The proposed deep-sea port at Tajpur in East Midnapore has witnessed repeated delays and changes in direction following the cancellation of earlier concessions involving major private players. Despite uncertainties, the state government continues to examine execution strategies for what would be a Rs 15,000 crore-plus greenfield project. Tajpur seeks to create an artificial harbour capable of accommodating large vessels with an 18-metre draft. Though experts warn that with silting this draft may come down to 12 metre, if realised, it could potentially transform Bengal’s maritime landscape by allowing direct access for large container ships that currently rely on transshipment arrangements elsewhere. Rs 3,000 per month to women beneficiaries in West Bengal. The initiative, which is expected to involve a large-scale verification and registration process across the state, was introduced amid discussions over the continuation and transition from the existing Lakshmir Bhandar scheme At a Press conference on Wednesday, Mr Adhikari announced the formal rollout of the Annapurna Yojana application form, describing it as a major welfare initiative targeted at women across the state. According to him, the process will be coordinated through the Women and Child Welfare Department under the supervision of Minister Agnimitra Paul. “We are launching a form today. State Women and Child Welfare Minister Agnimitra Paul is carrying out this initiative through her department,” Mr Adhikari said. He further claimed that nearly 30 lakh individuals whose names have been permanently removed from the voter list and who did not approach the tribunal for correction are currently receiving benefits under the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme but they will not be covered by the Annapurna Yojna scheme. “Almost 30 lakh people whose names have been permanently deleted from the voter list and who did not appeal before the tribunal are receiving Lakshmir Bhandar money. They will not receive benefits under this scheme,” he said. “The scope of this work is massive. The women who have applied for CAA or whose names are under consideration of the SIR tribunal will get the benefit of Annapurna Yojna” he said. The Chief Minister has made it clear that women who are not the citizens of this country or those who pay Income Tax will not be considered for the scheme. He explained that the form seeks detailed information from applicants and is also designed to collect broader family data that may later be utilised for other government schemes.