TUESDAY www.thestatesman.com 02 AUGUST 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 ‘RELIANCE JIO LEADS 5G SPECTRUM AUCTION WITH `88,078 CRORE’ UDDHAV THACKERAY COMFORTS SANJAY RAUT’S FAMILY P5 WEATHER GENERALLY CLOUDY SKY.THUNDERSHOWERS VERY LIKELY. THE MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM TEMPERATURES WOULD BE AROUND 31 AND 27 DEGREES CELSIUS RESPECTIVELY. RAINFALL: 0.4 mm RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max: 88% SUNAK TRIES TO CLOSE THE GAP ON RIVAL IN UK LEADERSHIP RACE P8 P10 Oppn assured that they would not bring placards into the House SOMA MOOKHERJEE KOLKATA, 1 AUGUST Min: 82% Min: 27°C SUN SETS 18:17 hrs MOON SETS 21:20 hrs THUMBNAILS SNS & AGENCIES NEW DELHI, 1 AUGUST A reflection of North Block and South Block seen in a fountain, at Vijay Chowk, in New Delhi on Monday. ANI Judoka Sushila settles for silver: Judoka Sushila Devi Likmabam lost the women's 48kg final against South Africa's Michaela Whitebooi to settle for a silver medal. Also, three other judokas will fight for the bronze medal. 10 people electrocuted in Bengal: Ten people were electrocuted while they were travelling in a pick-up van in West Bengal's Cooch Behar district, authorities said, adding that six others were also critically injured. An initial probe has revealed that the electrocution was likely triggered due to the short-circuit of a copper wire of the generator installed at the rear side of the carriage vehicle. Sanjay Raut sent to ED custody till August 4: Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut has been sent to Enforcement Directorate's custody till August 4 in connection with the Patra Chawl case. (Page 5) FACT FILE TOTAL CASES 4,40,36,275 ACTIVE CASES 1,43,989 NEW CASES 16,464 NEW RECOVERIES 16,122 TOTAL DEATHS 5,26,396 UNION HEALTH MINISTRY FIGURES AS OF 8.00 A.M. MONDAY 01 AUGUST 2022 Bengal logs 436 cases and 6 deaths India reports 16,464 fresh Covid cases in last 24 hours STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 1 AUGUST India reported 16,464 fresh Covid cases in the last 24 hours, stated the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Monday. With this, India’s active caseload now stands at 1,43,989 with active cases now constituting 0.33% of the country’s total positive cases. As per the data shared by the ministry, India’s recovery rate stands at 98.48% with 16,112 patients having recovered in the last 24 hours taking the cumulative tally of recovered patients to 4,33,65,890. While the weekly positivity rate in the country currently stands at 4.80 percent, the daily positivity rate shoots to 6.01 percent, as per the data. Besides, the health ministry stated that the last 24 hours saw a total of 2,73,888 COVID-19 tests being conducted taking the cumulative tests to over 87.54 crores. Under the National vaccination drive, 204.34 crore vaccine doses have been administered so far. P12 Bengal Cabinet reshuffle on LS Speaker revokes Wednesday, some ministers to suspension of 4 Cong MPs lose berths: CM Mamata TEMPERATURE Max: 31°C SUN RISES 05:08 hrs MOON RISES 08:53 hrs CWG 2022: SHEULI WINS THIRD GOLD MEDAL FOR INDIA h e L o k Sa b h a Speaker withdrew the suspension of four Congress MPs on Monday after the Opposition assured that they would not bring placards into the House. Speaker Om Birla gave the ruling and asked the members to respect the sanctity of the House. The proposal for the withdrawal of the suspensions was moved by parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi. The four Congress MPs -- Manickam Tagore, Ramya Haridas, Jothimani and T.N. Prathapan -were suspended last Monday for the entire Monsoon Session ending August 12 for holding protests with placards inside the House. Speaker Om Birla had earlier warned them to T behave and not to wave the placards inside the House if they wanted to protest. As the proceedings began in the Lok Sabha last Monday after the swearing-in ceremony of President Droupadi Murmu, the opposition members started sloganeering on the issue of price rise and hiked GST rates. Some MPs were seen holding placards and banners and some Opposition MPs reached the well of the House. Members of Left parties today protested in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue against the alleged destruction of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. BJP MPs from Bengal staged a demonstration in front of the Gandhi statue, demanding the resignation of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over alleged irregularities in a teacher recruitment scam. After witnessing two repeated adjournments in both Houses of Parliament over ruckus created by Opposition leaders on various issues, Union ministers Piyush Goyal a n d Pra l h a d Jo s h i expressed their concerns over Parliament not being allowed to function normally. Addressing the media persons today at the Parliament premises, Piyush Goyal said, "The Central Government was ready from the first day to discuss inflation. However, the Opposition wasn't allowing the House (Lok Sabha) to function normally. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had COVID-19. Knowing that she has just recovered, we are appealing to them for the House to function normally." Piyush Goyal said that the Opposition is not letting the House run and is running away from discussing other issues. Pralhad Joshi, too, expressed his concerns in the matter and objected to protesting with placards in the Parliament. "We have many bills to pass but unfortunately, t h e Ho u s e i s g e t t i n g adjourned. If the Leader of Congress Parliamentary Party gives assurance in the house that MPs will not come with placards, then, we are ready to withdraw the suspension," said Pralhad Joshi. "In spite of that, the Opposition is not cooperating, which means they are running away from the discussion of price rise. If the Opposition is really interested, they should allow the House to function normally," Joshi further said. Come Wednesday, five to six new faces will be inducted in the state Cabinet and four to five existing ministers will be utilised in the party's organisational work, said chief minister Mamata Banerjee today after the Cabinet meeting in Nabanna. "We have to reshuffle the Cabinet because senior leaders like Subrata Mukherjee and Sadhan Pande have passed away and Partha Chatterjee is in ED’s custody. There has been a lot of speculation on Cabinet reshuffle. I want to clarify that some reshuffling is required in the state Cabinet for the purpose of smooth functioning. There is no plan to dissolve it but there will be a minor reshuffle. We will announce the details of the reshuffle on Wednesday at 4 p.m. In this process, around four to five Cabinet members will be relieved of their ministerial responsibilities and their experience will be utilised in party organisation. Similarly, five to six new faces will be inducted," Miss Banerjee said. The two senior ministers have passed away since the Cabinet was created in May 2021. Miss Banerjee further said that after the deaths of Mukherjee, who held panchayat and PHE departments and Pande, who held SHG and self-employment and consumer affairs departments there has been a vacuum in those departments. Chatterjee held the commerce and industry, IT, industrial reconstruction and parliamentary affairs. “It is not possible for me to handle the responsibilities of so many departments. Some of the departments went vacant after the demise of the senior ministers. Who will handle all these departments? Someone has to take charge. It is not possible for me to keep all the departments," Miss Banerjee said. Miss Banerjee is currently in charge of 11 departments of which four were held by Partha Chatterjee. Speculations were rife that Paresh Adhikary, MoS (Education) who was involved in the recent scam for providing out of turn job to his daughter is likely to be dropped from the cabinet. Mr Udayan Guha who won by-poll from Dinhata in Cooch Behar may get a ministerial berth as he has been relieved of his organisational duty. Mr Tapas Roy who was former North Kolkata district president was relieved of his organisational post may also get a ministerial berth. Another new face that may be inducted is Babul Supriyo, MLA from Ballygunge Constituency, who switched sides and joined Trinamul Congress from BJP last year. Similarly, in Hooghly district, the district president Snehasish Chakroborty was relieved from the post of the district president and is likely to be inducted in the state cabinet. Partha Bhowmik who was earlier a district president of Dum Dum and Barrackpore was relieved of his post and may be given a ministerial berth. On the other hand, some ministers have been allotted party responsibilities and thus are likely to be relieved of their ministerial charges. State irrigation minister Saumen Mahapatra was made district president of East Midnapore and is thus likely to be relieved of his ministerial post. Next, minister Asima Patra was made district chairman and is likely to be relieved of her ministerial post. Again, deputy speaker Ashish Banerjee was made district chairman of district president. Meanwhile, Leader of the Lok Sabha Sudip Banerjee was made North Kolkata district president but the chairman’s post is to be declared later. In North 24 Parganas, for DumDum and Barrackpore, the post of district president was not declared but Nirmal Ghosh was declared the district chairman. Fire at Jabalpur hospital ‘No question of India going into recession’ snuffs out ten lives SNS & AGENCIES NEW DELHI, 1 AUGUST STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE BHOPAL, 1 AUGUST A major fire erupted in a private hospital in Jabalpur city of Madhya Pradesh today afternoon resulting in the death of eight persons and injuries to more than a dozen. According to police officials, the mishap occurred at the New Life Multi-Speciality hospital located near the Damoh Naka locality in the Garha area under the jurisdiction of Vijay Nagar police station of the city. Officials said the deceased included five patients and three members of the hospital staff. Jabalpur City Superintendent of Police (CSP) Tushar Singh told The Statesman that the fire erupted at around 2.45 PM. “Our preliminary investigations point towards a short circuit resulting in sparking in the generator unit of the hospital, which caused the fire,” Singh said. “The deceased include four men and four women. The injured have been admitted to different hospitals, where all are said to be out of danger,” the CSP said. Police officials said fire tenders and rescue workers were immediately rushed to the spot and several people including patients, who were trapped inside the building, were rescued. MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan expressed sadness at the incident and announced an ex-gratia compensation of Rs five lakh each to the kin of the deceased. Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman, responding to the debate on price rise in the Lok Sabha today, gave an account of all the parameters to assess the economy, and said there is no chance of the country going into recession or stagflation. In the middle of her response, Congress staged a walkout, saying they were not satisfied with her response. "The pandemic, second wave of Covid, Omicron, Russia-Ukraine -- despite all this we have held the inflation at 7 per cent or below. And that has to be recognised," Sitharaman said. "Currently retail inflation is at 7 per cent. During the UPA rule from 2004 to 2014, inflation went into double digits. "The pandemic, second wave of Covid, Omicron, Russia-Ukraine war, despite all this we’ve held the inflation at 7 per cent or below. And that has to be recognised," Sitharaman said. During that period, the inflation was above 9% for 22 con- Nearly 350 aircraft inspected in last few months: Govt AGENCIES A special drive of spot checks was conducted from 2 May till 6 June. During the period, a total of 300 aircraft were inspected which included 62 operational aircraft of Spicejet fleet. NEW DELHI, 1 AUGUST Aviation regulator DGCA conducted two special drives of spot checks in the last few months to ensure safety of flight operations, the Centre informed the Rajya Sabha on Monday. A special drive of spot checks was conducted from May 2 till June 6. During the period, a total of 300 aircraft were inspected which included 62 operational aircraft of Spicejet fleet. "The spot checks raised findings which were corrected by the airlines. Another series of spot checks were carried out on all operating aircraft of Spicejet from July 9 to 13, wherein 53 spot checks were carried out on 48 aircraft which did not raise any significant finding or safety violations," said the Ministry of civil Aviation in a written reply in the House. However, as an abundant safety measure, DGCA ordered Spicejet to release certain identified aircraft (10) for operations only after confirming that all reported defects and malfunctions are rectified. DGCA, further issued an interim order to Spicejet on July 27, 2022, wherein for the continued sustenance of safe and reliable air transport service, the number of departures of Spicejet have been restricted to 50 per cent of the number of departures approved under summer schedule 2022 for a period of eight weeks, said the ministry. The ministry said that DGCA ensures timely corrective action on deficiencies noted during oversight of certified operators and maintenance of record thereof. "There have been no lapses and hence no action is pending against officials. The Government has sensitised the scheduled airlines to give utmost importance to safety of operations and has taken various steps. Scheduled airlines have been asked to increase their engineering related capabilities at all base stations and transit stations. Special audits and spot checks have been ordered by DGCA and airlines have been asked to take appropriate mitigation action and greater internal surveillance to ensure safety of air operations. secutive months," she said. Most of the inflation, she pointed out, is in food and fuel. "Food inflation is coming down in the world, and it will come down in India also," she added. Declaring that India is still better off than other nations, Sitharaman said the GDP of the US fell 0.7 per cent in the 2nd quarter, after 1.9 per cent in the first quarter. "They called this unofficial recession. There is no question of India getting into recession... A Bloomberg survey of economists said there is a 0 per cent possibility of India slipping into recession," she said. Citing the other parameters of the economy, she said, "The NPA (Non-Performing assets) of commercial banks is at a six-year low. GST collections have been above ? 1.4 lakh crore consecutively for 5 months" Delhi records second monkeypox case, nationwide tally reaches 6 SNS & AGENCIES NEW DELHI, 1 AUGUST Delhi on Monday reported its second monkeypox case. A 35-year-old Nigerian man, who was admitted to the LNJP hospital, has tested positive for the infection, a source told IANS. He is the second confirmed case of monkeypox in the city. The foreign national was admitted two days ago to the LNJP hospital which has been designated by the government as the nodal hospital for treatment of the infection. As per the source, the Nigerian man has no recent history of foreign travel. His samples were sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune, and the confirmation report reached the hospital on Monday evening. Apart from that, a suspected case of monkeypox has also been admitted to the hospital on Monday. Currently, the hospital has two suspected cases of monkeypox. With two confirmed cases in the national capital, the nationwide tally of monkeypox infection has reached six while one person in Kerala has succumbed to the virus.