CMYK WEDNESDAY www.thestatesman.com 20 APRIL 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 Russia ratchets up battle for control of Eastern Ukraine WEATHER Partly cloudy sky. Temperature likely to be in the range of 34-27 degrees Celsius. Kremlin declared that its main goal was the capture of the mostly Russian-speaking eastern Donbas region RAINFALL: Nil RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max.86% TEMPERATURE Max: 34.3 °C(-1) SUN RISES 05:13 hrs MOON RISES 20:50 hrs New moon on 01 ASSOCIATED PRESS Min. 63% LVIV, 19 APRIL Min: 27.5 °C(+2) SUN SETS 17:58 hrs MOON SETS 06:59 hrs May ussia ratcheted up its battle for control of Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland on Tuesday, intensifying assaults on cities and towns along a front hundreds of miles long in what officials on both sides described as a new phase of the war. After a Russian push to overrun the capital failed, the Kremlin declared that its main goal was the capture of the eastern Donbas region, where Moscowbacked separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces for eight years. If successful, that offensive would give President R THUMBNAILS IMF slashes India's GDP forecast:The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday slashed India's gross domestic product (GDP) forecast by 80 percentage points to 8.2 per cent for financial year 2022-23.In its World Economic Outlook report for the month of April 2022, the IMF said expectation of weaker domestic demand owing to higher oil prices will weigh on consumption.The RBI, for instance, has pegged the GDP growth for this financial year Pg8 at 7.2 per cent. Vladimir Putin a vital piece of Ukraine and a badly needed victory in the now 7-week-old war that he could present to the Russian people amid mounting casualties and economic hardship caused by the West’s sanctions. It would also effectively slice Ukraine in two and deprive it of the main industrial assets concentrated in the east, including coal mines, metals plants and machine-building factories.Ukraine’s military said early Tuesday that a “new phase of war” began a day earlier when “the occupiers made an attempt to break through our defenses along nearly the entire frontline.” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that “another phase of this operation is starting now.” Ukraine’s president said that massive numbers of Russian troops were committed to the offensive, though some observers noted that an escalation has been underway there for some time. Justin Crump, a former British tank commander, said the Ukrainian comments could, in Jahangirpuri under drone surveillance, Delhi Police submits report to MHA STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 19 APRIL In a latest development related to the Jahangirpuri violence, the Delhi Police has submitted a report to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) about the probe into the violence case, sources said.In wake of the Jahangirpuri violence that broke out on Saturday, the Delhi police are conducting drone surveillance to keep a vigil over the Central District. "Delhi police is also keeping an eye at Jama Masjid and Hauz Qazi area in Central district from the sky with the use of drones,” said DCP Shweta Chauhan, Central District. Besides that, Aman committee meetings were held with residents of the Central district at various police stations under the Central District. “Police officials reached out to communities and appealed to maintain peace and harmony at all times,” added the DCP ."The Aman Committee appealed to people to maintain peace and harmony, and not to spread and trust rumours/misinformation and to report mischievous activities," police said. Delhi Police arrested five people and apprehended one minor of the same family in connection with the April 16 Delhi Jahangirpuri violence. A total of 23 people have been arrested and two juveniles apprehended so far in connection with the incident in which nine people, including eight police personnel and a civilian, were injured. Delhi Police have arrested people from "both commu- Police personnel standing guard at Jahangirpuri on Tuesday. ANI nities" for the violence. Among all the arrested, the police have arrested all the men of a family belonging to "one particular community". The accused have been identified as Suken Sarkar, his brother Suresh Sarkar, Suken's two sons Neeraj and Suraj, and Sukeen's brotherin-law Sujit. Police have also detained Suken's minor son. Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana, while addressing a press conference on Mondayy, assured that action will be taken against those found guilty irrespective of their class, creed, community and religion. Two prime accused~ Ansar and Aslam - were sent to police custody till Wednesday by a Delhi Court today. Four other fresh accused of the incident were sent to judicial custody for 14 days. A day ago, during submission before the court, Delhi Police alleged that the main accused - Ansar and Aslam - got to know about the 'Shobha Yatra' on April 15 and then they hatched this “conspiracy”. Insurance scheme for healthcare workers fighting Covid extended STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 19 APRIL The ‘Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP)' insurance scheme for health care workers fighting Covid has been extended for a further period of 180 days from today. “It has been decided to extend the policy so as to continue to provide the safety net to the dependents of health workers who are deputed to take care of Covidpatients,” an official statement said.A letter to this effect has been issued to the additional chief secretaries (Health)/principal secretaries (Health)/ secretaries (Health) of all states/Union Territories for giving wide publicity to the decision to health workers.The PMGKP was launched on 30 March 2020 to provide a comprehensive personal accident cover of Rs 50 Lakh to 22.12 lakh health care providers, including community health workers and private health workers who may have been in direct contact with COVID19 patients and may be at risk of being impacted by the FACT FILE TOTAL CASES 4,30,45,527 ACTIVE CASES 11,860 NEW CASES 1,247 928 NEW RECOVERIES TOTAL DEATHS 5,21,966 UNION HEALTH MINISTRY FIGURES AS OF 8.00 A.M. TUESDAY 19 APRIL 2022 Bengal recorded 23 cases and zero deaths infection.Since the launch of the scheme, 1905 claims of health workers who died while being deployed for COVID related duties have been settled so far. Meanwhile, India recorded a steep decline in Covid cases as it recorded 1,247 infections in the past 24 hours, against 2,183 reported the previous day, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Tuesday. CMYK part, be an attempt to persuade allies to send more weapons. “What they’re trying to do by positioning this, I think, is ... focus people’s minds and effort by saying, ‘Look, the conflict has begun in the Donbas,’” said Crump, of strategic advisory company Sibylline. “That partly puts pressure on NATO and EU suppliers to say, ‘Guys, we’re starting to fight now. We need this now.’”European and American arms have been key to bolstering Ukraine’s defense, helping the under-gunned country to hold off the Russian force. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday by phone that the Netherlands would send “heavier material” to Ukraine, including armored vehicles. In what appeared to be an intensification of attacks, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said that air-launched missiles destroyed 13 Ukrainian troop and weapons locations while the air force struck 60 other Ukrainian military facilities, including missile warhead storage depots. Russian artillery hit 1,260 Ukrainian military facilities and 1,214 troops concentrations over the last 24 hours. The claims could not be independently verified. (See Pg10) After two year gap, BGBS kicks off today STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE KOLKATA 19 APRIL The sixth edition of the twoday West Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS), aimed to showcase the state as an ideal investment destination, is set to kick off from tomorrow at Biswa Bangla Convention Centre in Rajarhat after a gap of two years with participation from 14 countries. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the summit but the state secretariat could not confirm whether Mr Modi would attend it or not. As per Press Information Bureau's official tour information of the Prime Minister, Modi is slated to be in his home state Gujarat from 18 to 20 April. Thus, it is uncertain whether Modi would attend BGBS after returning from Gujarat.Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, who had slammed the state government for not sharing details of investments received from earlier editions of BGBS has also been invited at the inaugural function. Dhankhar will share the dais withBanerjee tomorrow. No official list of industrialists attending the summit was released by the state government. However, sources said many industry stalwarts would be present tomorrow. Presence of chairman and founder of Adani Group, Gautam Adani is almost confirmed as he had spoken about it at his recent visit to Nabanna. The Adani Group has already shown interest in the Tajpur deep seaport.This year for the first time, the summit will have two business partners ~ CII and FICCI ~ while in the last five editions FICCI was the only single business partner.(Full report on P3)