CMYK WEDNESDAY www.thestatesman.com 07 DECEMBER 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 ‘INDIA TO BECOME HUB OF DRONE TECHNOLOGY’ DELHI LIQUOR POLICY CASE: KAVITHA TO MEET CBI ON 11 DEC P4 WEATHER Mainly clear sky. Temperature likely to be in the range of 27-16 degrees Celsius. RAINFALL: NIL RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max.91% Min. 48% Max: 27.4°C (-1) SUN RISES 06:03 hrs MOON RISES 15:29 hrs Min:16.7°C (+1) SUN SETS 16:52 hrs MOON SETS 04:11 hrs TEMPERATURE Full moon on 08 December BIDEN’S EFFORTS TO PROTECT ABORTION ACCESS HIT ROADBLOCKS P8 P10 Parl session: Oppn seeks discussion on key issues Winter session of Parliament will begin today and conclude on 29 December STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 6 DECEMBER n aggressive Opposition today demanded a detailed discussion on all major issues, including price rise and the “misuse”of central agencies, during the Winter session of Parliament beginning tomorrow. At an all-party meeting ahead of the Parliament session, the Opposition leaders also sought a thorough discussion on “hurried” appointments to some key positions. The meeting was chaired by defence minister and Deputy Leader of the Lok Sabha Rajnath Singh. Commerce Minister and Leader of the Rajya Sabha Piyush Goyal, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi and Ministers of State for Parlia- A mentary Affairs V Muralidharan and Arjun Ram Meghwal represented the government at the meeting (in photo). Top Opposition leaders, including Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury from the Congress, Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Derek O'Brien from TMC, Tiruchi Shiva and TR Baalu from DMK, Pashupati Paras from the Lok Jansakti Party, Vandana Chavan from NCP, Farooq Abdullah from National Conference and Binoy Viswam from CPI were among those present at the meeting. While both Congress and TMC raised the issue of rampant unemployment, Congress also attacked the government over the issue of “hurried” appointments. The Opposition parties also demanded that more time be given to them during discussions and that their voices should not be muzzled. On the part of the government, the parliamentary affairs minister said: “The government is ready for discussion and debate on all issues as per the rules and as per the advice of the Chair.” Several Opposition parties including the Congress party said that it was important to consider the festival period before announcing the session dates. Congress Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said: “We must consider the sentiments of our Christian brothers and sisters just the way we celebrate Hindu and Muslim festivals. The government should have considered the upcoming Christmas festival dates before announcing the session dates.” Responding to this, Prahlad Joshi said: “We have taken everything into consideration before announcing the session dates and during Christmas, it's a weekend so Parliament won't be functioning.” The Winter session of Parliament will begin on 7 December and conclude on 29 December. The session will consider 16 new bills, including those proposing a globally compatible trademark registration system, repeal of redundant laws and tighter regulation of multistate cooperative societies. Several Bills already passed by either of the Houses or have been reviewed by Parliamentary committees will also be taken up for passage in the session.As per the schedules notified by the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, the government will also table supplementary demands for grants, seeking permission for spending more than originally planned for the current financial year. Ashish Mishra to face trial in Kheri murder case SNS & AGENCIES THUMBNAILS LAKHIMPUR KHERI (UTTAR PRADESH), 6 DECEMBER Protests against Vizhinjam seaport project called off: The strike against the Vizhinjam seaport project has been called off on Tuesday. The over 130-day-long protest by fisherfolk was called off after the anti-port committee held discussion with chief minister Piarayi Vijayan in Thiruvananthapuram. The announcement about calling off the agitation was made by Vicar General Eugene Pereira. The Adani Group will start construction of the port as soon as the government announces that the strike is over. The Fisherfolk at Vizhinjam have been protesting against the project for the past four months, alleging that its construction is causing massive sea erosion, taking away their livelihood and dwellings. TMC national spokesman Gokhale held by Guj Police AHMEDABAD, 6 DECEMBER The Ahmedabad Cyber Crime police on Tuesday detained Trinamul Congress spokesman, Saket Gokhale from the Jaipur airport. This was confirmed by Trinamul leader Derek O'Brien, through his tweet. Cyber crime wing sources said its team keeps an eye on social media about fake news and documents shared, and during one such exercise, the team found that Saket Gokhale had shared false information of RTI, in which he had shared newspaper cuttings, stating that Rs 30 crore were spent for Prime Minister Narendra Modi visit to Morbi, after the bridge collapse in which 135 persons were killed. Saket had shared the details of various expenses, and under the event management head Rs 5.5 crore expenditure was shown. Cyber Crime police after checking with the local authorities, found that no such information was shared under RTI, so the cyber crime registered a case against Saket Gokhale. It was found that after he posted the false information, many others had retweeted it and even shared some unverified 'documents'. Police have brought Gokhale to Gujarat on a transit arrest and will show his arrest in Gujarat later in the day and produced before the court, said sources.IANS Ashish Mishra (in photo), son of Union minister Ajay Mishra, will now be tried for the murder of four farmers and a journalist during a protest in Lakhimpur Kheri last year against the now-repealed farm laws. A court in Lakhimpur Kheri framed charges against him and the other accused on Tuesday and announced that the trial will begin on 16 December.This comes a day after the court rejected Mr Mishra's discharge petition.The police charge sheet has accused Mr Mishra of murder. It is alleged that he was in an SUV that ran over four farmers and a journalist during a protest march in Lakhimpur Kheri on 3 October last year. Shocking visuals of the incident had shown the car ramming into the protesting farmers at high speed. Angry farmers had man- aged to chase down the SUV and allegedly lynched the driver and two BJP workers. The incident sparked a wave of outrage against the ruling BJP and the government was accused of shielding Ajay Mishra, the Union minister of state for home. A speech by the Union minister before the incident, in which he allegedly threatened to ‘fix farmers in two minutes’ if they did not stop the agitation, started doing the rounds in the aftermath of the killings, with many calling for his resignation.Ashish Mishra was arrested days after the farmers' deaths, following an intervention by the Supreme Court. The Allahabad High Court granted him bail in February, raising questions on the police investigation.On 18 April this year, the SC cancelled the bail granted to Mr Mishra and asked him to surrender within a week. The court observed that the victims were denied ‘a fair and effective hearing’ in the Allahabad High Court, and added that the high court took a ‘myopic view of the evidence’. India, Central Asian countries call for collective fight against terrorism Border row: Kannada activists stage protest STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE BENGALURU, 6 DECEMBER NEW DELHI, 6 DECEMBER India and the five Central Asian countries today condemned in the strongest terms all forms and manifestations of terrorism and underscored the need to work collectively to fight this menace. They agreed that the expansion of terrorist propaganda, recruitment and fundraising efforts have serious security implications for the region and, therefore, a collective and coordinated response was essential.“The misuse of new and emerging technologies, arms and drugs trafficking, using terrorist proxies for crossborder terrorism, abuse of cyberspace to spread disinformation and unmanned aerial systems present new challenges in counterterrorism NSA Ajit Doval welcomes Tajikistan's Security Council Secretary Nasrullo Mahmudzoda to the first India-Central Asia meeting of the National Security Advisers/Secretaries of Security Councils, in New Delhi.  ANI efforts and call for collective action,” said a joint communique issued by them after the first India-Central Asia AGENCIES meeting of National Security Advisers/Secretaries of Security Councils. National security Adviser Ajit Doval presided over the meeting attended by security czars of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. The six countries also discussed the current situation in Afghanistan and its impact on the security and stability of the region. They emphasised that the territory of Afghanistan should not be used for sheltering, training, planning or financing any terrorist acts and reaffirmed the importance of UNSC Resolution 2593 (2021), that no terrorist organisations including those designated by the UNSC Resolution 1267 should be provided sanctuary or allowed to use the territory of Afghanistan. The protests by Kannada activists around the issue of border row between Maharashtra and Karnataka took a violent turn on Tuesday after trucks bearing Maharashtra registration number plates were attacked by an angry mob. The Karnataka police took president of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike, Narayana Gowda, and hundreds of workers into custody following the violence. According to the police, the activists who had arrived from various districts across the state had hurled stones at five trucks moving towards Maharashtra. They climbed on to the trucks and shouted slogans against Maharashtra politi- cians. They also plucked out the registration plates and painted the vehicles black. The protesters climbed on police vehicles with Kannada flags and raised slogans.The activists have planned a big procession and rally in Belagavi city and also wanted to prevent the entry of Maharashtra ministers. As Maharashtra ministers called off their visit, the police in Karnataka, prevented the Kannada activists from entering Belagavi city to maintain law and order.Belagavi city has a large number of Marathi speaking population. BJP general secretary and legislator C.T. Ravi said Maharashtra will not get an inch of land from Karnataka. ICC ANNOUNCES ‘PLAYER OF THE MONTH’ NOMINEES FOR NOV P12 World Bank upgrades India’s GDP growth to 6.9 pc for current fiscal SNS & AGENCIES NEW DELHI, 6 DECEMBER The Indian Rupee has fared relatively well in 2022 in comparison to other emerging market peers, seniorWorld Bank economist Dhruv Sharma said Tuesday after the global financial body revised India's GDP forecast to 6.9 per cent. “The Rupee has depreciated just about 10 per cent over the course of this year. That might sound like a large number, but relative to many other emerging market peers, India hasn't fared that badly," Mr Sharma told a press briefing today after the launch of the World Bank's India Development Update titled “Navigating the Storm”. For the record, the rupee has come substantially off its all-time low. Currently, it is trading around 82.0 against the US Dollar as against a record low of 83 it breached in mid-October. Tightening monetary policy by the US Federal Reserve and central banks in other advanced economies triggered the depreciation of the Indian currency. An increase in policy rates in the US and other advanced economies typically leads to a depreciation of the Rupee. The Reserve Bank of India had already hiked the key policy rate by 190 basis points since May to 5.9 per cent to cool off domestic retail inflation that has stayed above the RBI's upper tolerance limit for over three quarters now. TheWorld Bank has revised India's 2022-23 GDP growth forecast upward to 6.9 per cent from the earlier estimate of 6.5 per cent, due to robust economic activities. REVIVED Currently, the rupee is trading around 82.0 against the US Dollar as against a record low of 83 it breached in mid-October. The currency had depreciated by about 10 per cent during the year.  India is more resilient now than it was 10 years ago. All steps taken over the past 10 years are helping India navigate the global headwinds DHRUV SHARMA SENIOR WORLD BANK ECONOMIST “India is more resilient now than it was 10 years ago. All steps taken over the past 10 years are helping India navigate the global headwinds," said Mr Sharma. “Indian economy has rebounded fairly robust following the contraction that occurred during the pandemic year. India performed quite well relative to other large emerging market economies, and this story of the rebound has been largely driven by robust domestic demand, and consumption investment,” the World Bank economist said. On rising inflation in India, Mr Sharma said it was driven by the supply side as well as external factors.In October, retail inflation was 6.77 per cent as against 7.41 per cent the previous month. OFFERING Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee offering Chadar at Dargah of Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, in Ajmer on Tuesday.  ANI ` 25 L award for correct Guj poll prediction Mother’s choice final, can terminate RATHIN DAS AHMEDABAD, 6 DECEMBER As people are busy discussing authenticity of the exit polls about Gujarat assembly elections, a rationalist organisation here has declared an award of Rs 25 lakhs to anybody who can correctly predict the exact outcome. The Jan Vigyan Jatha in Gujarat had for last two decades been exposing astrologers and such other ‘Bapu’ or ‘Maulvi’ who duped people with false claims of turning their fortunes through spurious rituals. The rationalist organisation has challenged any astrologer, saint, Maulvi or Pastor to correctly answer four questions about outcome of the assembly elections to win the Rs 25 lakhs being offered. Jan Vigyan Jatha convenor Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel along with his wife Hetal Patel visits Ambaji Temple to offer prayers, in Junagadh on Tuesday.ANI Jayant Pandya told The Statesman on Tuesday that they have evolved this idea as lot of self-proclaimed astrologers, black magicians (tantrik), ‘Bapu’, Maulvi and Pastors have duped people by predicting results of elections. In a video message circulated over social media, Mr Pandya has said that nobody has ever correctly predicted any election results. He said that anybody who wants to predict the results correctly should deposit ten per cent of the award money as security, along with his predictions, which would be forfeited if he goes wrong. Imposition of this condition was necessary, Mr Pandya added, as many non-serious people came up dubious predictions just to get their names published in newspapers but there was no penalty for going wrong. The offer to make the correct predictions along with payment of security deposit is valid till midnight of Wednesday as the counting of votes will begin on Thursday morning. No one has come forward to make any predictions till Tuesday evening, he added. Mr Pandya had earlier intervened to stop many incidents of duping people through fake rituals by selfstyled astrologers and saints. But, unlike Dabholkar of Pune and Kalburgi of Karnataka, Jayant Pandya has not been done to death. In 2018, Mr Pandya was hospitalized following an attack by a group of Jamnagar-based Brahmins when he was speaking at a school against superstitions associated with lunar eclipse. On the eve of Raksha Bandhan this year, Mr Pandya had called the bluff of some selfstyled ‘astrologers’ seeking to dupe women by ‘predicting’ auspicious moments to tie the knot of sibling bonding. CMYK 8-month old foetus, says Delhi HC AGENCIES NEW DELHI, 6 DECEMBER The Delhi High Court on Tuesday allowed an eightmonth pregnant woman to undergo medical termination of pregnancy. In her petition, the 26year-old woman had mentioned that a cerebral abnormality was found in the foetus. “The court comes to the conclusion that the mother's choice is ultimate. Considering this, the court holds that medical termination is allowed. The petitioner is permitted to undergo termination immediately at the LNJP Hospital or any other hospital of her choice,” Justice Prathiba M. Singh said. The court further said that In her petition, the 26year-old woman had mentioned that a cerebral abnormality was found in the foetus in Indian law, it is the woman who decides if she wants to give birth after conceiving or not. “This right gives a woman the ultimate choice as to whether to give birth to the child that she has conceived. India is amongst the countries that recognise this choice of the woman in its law and has even expanded this right in recent times with amendments permitting the termination at an advanced stage under various circumstances,”Justice Singh said. The court said that cases involving fetal abnormalities highlight the severe dilemma that women undergo while taking a decision to terminate a pregnancy. The court directed that the petitioner is permitted to undergo the procedure for medical termination of pregnancy immediately at the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) hospital, or the Guru Teg Bahadur hospital or an approved medical facility of choice as per Section 4 under the supervision of a properly constituted medical team. On December 5, the court hauled up the LNJP hospital for delaying the medical examination of the petitioner, who was seeking termination of her 33-week pregnancy as the foetus suffers from cerebral abnormalities.