CMYK TUESDAY www.thestatesman.com 29 MARCH 2022 FIND US ONLINE Scan this with your smartphone twitter.com/TheStatesmanLtd facebook.com/thestatesman1875 Pages 12 |` 5.00|LC KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR NO-CONFIDENCE MOTION AGAINST IMRAN IS DELAYED NAIDU CALLS FOR REINVENTING HEALTH SYSTEMS P4 WEATHER Mainly clear sky. Maximum and minimum temperature most likely to be around 36°C and 27°C respectively. RAINFALL: NIL RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max. 88% TEMPERATURE P9 Max: 36°C Min: 27°C SUN RISES SUN SETS 05:32 hrs 17:50 hrs MOON RISES MOON SETS 03:43 hrs 15:10 hrs New moon on 1 April THUMBNAILS Students appear for their SSLC (10th) examinations, in Bengaluru on Monday.  ANI Defence Ministry signs deal for eight Fast Patrol Vessels: The Defence Ministry on Monday signed a contract with Goa Shipyard Ltd (GSL) for construction of eight Fast Patrol Vessels for the Indian Coast Guard at a total pro(P5) ject cost of Rs 473 crore. Two Lashkar terrorists held from Kashmir's Budgam: The Jammu and Kashmir Police along with other security forces have arrested two active terrorists linked with proscribed terror outfit LeT in Budgam district, on Monday. IANS Minister Partha Chatterjee alleges the attack was planned by the BJP he state assembly today witnessed pandemonium of its worst kind as the opposition MLAs took up the issue of law and order in the state, with special reference to Bagtui carnage. The members of the opposition and treasury benches exchanged blows, leaving lawmakers from both sides injured. Later, the livid speaker put five MLAs of the opposition BJP under suspension till the next session before adjourning the house. The BJP MLAs had been protesting against the deteriorating law and order situation in the state and staging walkouts for the last few days. The death of eight people burnt alive in an alleged revenge killing at Bagtui village of Rampurhat in Birbhum was the trigger for today’s protest which turned violent. The BJP lawmakers moved to the well of the house, led by their leader in the assembly Suvendu Adhikari to make their Dhankhar meets HM T NEW DELHI, 28 MARCH point to the speaker Biman Banerjee. Mr Adhikari criticised the chief minister for making certain comments regarding the Bagtui carnage at Siliguri. He said that the Cm should have made her statements inside the assembly, when the house is in session, instead of commenting outside it. According to Mr Adhikari, this was “improper”, and “violated the procedures of the state legislature”. This prompted the speaker to hit back as he said to Mr Adhikari, “You guys are creating pandemonium in the house and staging walkouts regularly but what had prompted you today to come up with these wild allegations?” This was the trigger which led to fisticuffs being exchanged between the two party MLAs. The ruling party MLAs later alleged that the BJP leaders showed scant respect to the female marshals inside the assembly and even injured them in the process.The chief whip of the BJP legislature party, Manoj Tigga alleged that he was beaten up and his shirt torn by the ruling party MLAs.The ruling Trinamul Congress MLA Asit Majumar, who represents Chinsurah assembly constituency in Hooghly was taken to SSKM hospital allegedly with a broken nose. Later, he alleged that Suvendu Adhikari had assaulted him. SC gives Centre more time on minority status of Hindus INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 28 MARCH The Supreme Court on Monday gave more time to Centre to bring on record its stand on a plea against its power to notify minorities under the National Minorities Commission Act, 1992, and also seeking minority status for Hindus in states, where their numbers are less than others. "I have received the reply... what stand the department has taken, I could not go through it," Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, submitted before a bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, urging the court to grant some more time in the matter. The bench, also comprising Justice M.M. Sundresh, on a lighter note, said the reply from the Ministry of Minority Affairs has been carried by the newspapers on Monday. The Ministry of Minority Affairs, in an affidavit, said: "It is submitted that the state governments can also declare a religious or linguistic community as a minority community within the said state. For instance, the government of Maharashtra has notified Jews as a minority community within the state of Maharashtra." The ministry said that certain states, where Hindus or other communities are less in number, can declare them a minority community within its territory, to enable them set up and administer their own institutions. The bench, in its order, said that the Solicitor General submits that he will place the stand on the matter on record as he has yet not vetted the affidavit, even though it may have appeared in the newspapers. To this, a smiling Mehta replied: "I have not read it... I am not aware of the view of the department." Senior advocate Vikas Singh, representing the petitioner BJP leader and advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, said: "This Act will have to go. And, they will have to come up with something like RERA, where every state will have to have these committees." Singh added that the T.M.A. Pai judgement as well as the Bal Patil judgement says it can be done only by the state and can't be done by the Centre at all. "And, this Act gives the power to the Centre to notify minorities," he said. The bench also pointed out to an office report drawn up by its registry that the Home Ministry, a party in the petition, had put the onus of response on the Ministry of Minority Affairs. "There is also some office report that some department has written, this does not per se (pertain) Bharat Bandh: Banking services partially affected STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 28 MARCH The Banking services were partially affected in the country as the All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) has called for a nationwide bank strike today and tomorrow. They are protesting against the privatization of public sector banks. Various banks had informed their customers about the disruption in services due to the strike. The impact of the strike was partial but its impact could be felt across the country. The strike would continue on Tuesday as well. The banks worked with reduced staff as many of their employees did not report for duty. The call for a nationwide strike was by several central trade unions. The AIBEA has a significant presence in most of the public sector banks, private banks, foreign banks, cooperative banks and regional rural banks that responded to the ‘Bharat bandh' call. AIBEA got a supporting hand from the joint forum of central trade unions that gave a call for a nationwide strike and which enhanced the scope of the strike. These unions were protesting against the government policies which they felt are not in the best interest of workers, farmers, and the people at large. The impact of the strike could be witnessed across India. Many bank employees marched on the streets holding placards in various cities. Various trade unions and Left organizations held a demonstration against policies of the central govern- ment including the privatization of PSU banks. Vijayawada saw the protesters marching on the streets. In Kerala, the impact of the strike was more pronounced. Roads wore a deserted look, and only a few private vehicles could be seen. The state transport was conspicuous by absence. It was a similar situation in West Bengal. The trade unions were on the streets protesting but the banks remained open. The unions were demanding the scrapping of the proposed changes in labour laws. They protested against the privatization drive of the government of banks and other institutions. Will Smith slaps Chris Rock, then collects best actor Oscar ASSOCIATED PRESS LOS ANGELES, 28 MARCH When Will Smith marched onto the Oscars stage and smacked Chris Rock, the unpredictable moment served as a jarring interruption to Hollywood’s feel-good celebration. But once Smith returned moments later to accept his first-ever Academy Award, he delivered a tearful apology for an act sure to overshadow his milestone achievement. He seized the opportunity during Sunday night’s awards to speak on being a fierce defender just like his tennis dad character Richard Williams from “King Richard.” Smith felt like the protector of many including his P8 MLAs exchange blows in Bengal Assembly STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE KOLKATA, 28 MARCH Min. 65% wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, after Rock made a joke about her appearance that didn’t sit right with him. “I’m being called on in my life to love people and to protect people and to be a river to my people,” said Smith during his acceptance speech after winning his first-ever Oscar. “I know to do what we do you’ve got to be able to take abuse. You’ve got to be able to have people talk crazy about you. In this business, you’ve got to be able to have people disrespecting you. And you’ve got to smile and pretend like that’s OK.” Pinkett Smith revealed in 2018 that she was diagnosed with alopecia. She has often discussed the challenges of hair loss on Instagram and other social media platforms. The joke missed, badly. Smith walked onto the stage from his front-row seat and took a swing at Rock with an open palm, generating a loud smack. Smith walked back to his seat and shouted for Rock to leave Pinkett Smith alone. Rock replied that he was just making a “G.I. Jane” joke — and Smith yelled back at him a second time. VERSTAPPEN WINS SAUDI ARABIA F1 GP AIM TO BECOME WORLD’S LARGEST STARTUP DESTINATION Smith shouted at Rock to “keep my wife’s name out of your (expletive) mouth,” and the crowd hushed as it became clear this was no act. The moment shocked the Dolby Theatre audience and viewers at home. At the commercial break, presenter Daniel Kaluuya came up to hug Smith, and Denzel Washington escorted him to the side of the stage. The two talked and hugged and Tyler Perry came over to talk as well. Smith shared what Washington told him: “At your highest moment, be careful because that’s when the devil comes for you.”“I’m hoping the Academy invites me back,” Will Smith said, as he concluded his on-stage remarks. CMYK West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar today met Union Home Minister Amit Shah at the latter's residence in New Delhi. He is understood to have discussed the law and order situation in the state in the wake of Birbhum violence.The meeting came amid the ongoing row between the Trinamool Congress and the BJP over the Birbhum violence in which at least eight people, including women and children, were killed and ten houses set ablaze by unidentified individuals on 21 March after the murder of TMC panchayat leader Bhadu SNS Sheikh. Several women lawmakers from both the camps alleged that they too had come under attack by the ruling and the opposition MLAs as well. P12 Centre likely to stop pre-call Covid-19 announcements SNS&AGENCIES NEW DELHI, 28 MARCH The Covid-19 announcements, being played before connecting phone calls across the network, may stop soon amid the declining fresh Corona infection. According to a source, the Department of Telecommunications has written to the Union Health Ministry requesting it to drop these pre-call announcements and caller tunes. Some people had approached the department complaining that this pre announcement caused delay in connecting the calls during emergencies, the source said. The Department of Telecommunications has said, in its letter, that the message being played across networks results in holding up and delaying critical calls from going through during emergencies and ends in consumption of precious bandwidth resources. It also added that this overloads the TSPs network and creates a significant delay in call connection, and that it also Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has tested positive for Covid-19, days ahead of his scheduled visit to India impacts customer experience. The Health Ministry had directed the DoT to issue instructions to telecom operators to play Covid-related caller tunes to spread awareness amongst citizens and tell them about the precautions and vaccination to be taken during the pandemic. The telecom operators have been playing the precall announcements on Covid to spread awareness from around last two years. India logs 1,270 Covid cases, 31 deaths in the last 24 hours: Showing further decline yet another day, India logged 1270 fresh Covid infections and 31 fatalities in the last 24 hours, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Monday. With this, the country's active caseload also fell below 20,000-mark and currently stands at 15,859, taking 0.04 per cent of the FACT FILE TOTAL CASES 4,30,20,723 ACTIVE CASES 15,859 NEW CASES 1,270 NEW RECOVERIES 1,567 TOTAL DEATHS 5,21,035 UNION HEALTH MINISTRY FIGURES AS OF 8.00 A.M. MONDAY 28 MARCH 2022 total caseload. While the daily positivity rate is at 0.29 per cent, the weekly positivity rate stands at 0.26 per cent. Besides, the country has witnessed 1,567 recoveries in a single day from the infection taking the total recoveries to 4,24,83,829. The recovery rate now is currently at 98.75 per cent. According to the data shared by the ministry, the death toll has mounted to 5,21,035. Bengal cases: West Bengal today registered 31 fresh Covid cases and no deaths in the last 24 hours.