FRIDAY www.thestatesman.com 06 JANUARY 2023 FIND US ONLINE Scan this with your smartphone twitter.com/TheStatesmanLtd facebook.com/thestatesman1875 Pages 12 |` 5.00|LC KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR PREZ ASKS MILITARY TECHIES TO USE TECH IN CONSTRUCTION P5 WEATHER MAINLY CLEAR SKY. MODERATE TO DENSE FOG IN THE MORNING. COLD WAVE CONDITIONS AT A FEW PLACES. THE MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM TEMPERATURES WOULD BE AROUND 17 AND 04 DEGREES CELCIUS RESPECTIVELY. RAINFALL: Nil RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max. 100% TEMPERATURE Max: 16.5°C (-3) SUN RISES 07:15 hrs MOON RISES 17:01 hrs Min. 64 % GOP’S MCCARTHY PRESSURED TO ‘FIGURE OUT’ SPEAKER RACE ‘ROAD TO $5 TN DREAM PASSES THROUGH UP’ P8 P10 Participate in water conservation: PM THUMBNAILS Artists dressed in traditional attire perform folk dance during the fourth day of the fiveday-long Manali Sharad Mahotsav (Winter Carnival) 2023, in Manali on Thursday. ANI ‘Peace & tranquility in border areas prerequiC site for development of India-China ties': India today reiterated that ensuring peace and tranquility in the border areas was essential for the development of India-China ties. The two countries must also observe bilateral agreements and refrain from any unilateral attempt to change the status quo on the borders, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said at a media briefing. He was asked to comment on China's new Foreign Minister Qin Gang's remarks, in an op-ed piece for a US magazine, indicating Beijing's willingness to improve ties with New Delhi. Days before replacing Wang Yi as China's Foreign Minister, Qin, in the article titled "How China Sees the World" in the magazine ''The National Interest'', referred to India-China border issues and said, "both sides are willing to ease the situation and jointly protect peace along their borders." a Another incident of mid-air peeing: Days after an incident in which a man allegedly urinated on elderly women during an Air India flight between New York-Delhi on November 26 last year, another incident of December 6 has come to light in which a "drunk man urinated on the blanket of a co-passenger" while the Air India flight was on its way from Paris to the national capital. STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 5 JANUARY rime Minister Narendra Modi today called for the maximum participation of public and social organisations and civil societies in campaigns related to water conservation, saying attempts by the government alone in this direction would not be successful. Underlining the need for the conservation of all local sources of water, he asked gram panchayats to prepare an action plan for the next five years on issues ranging from P water supply to cleanliness and waste management. He also asked the states to consider ways to ensure that the water budget was prepared at the panchayat level based on how much water was required in which village and what work could be done for it. PM Modi was addressing the 1st All India Annual State Ministers’ Conference on Water via video message. The theme of the conference is ‘Water Vision @ 2047’ and its objective is to bring together key policymakers for discussions on ways to harness water resources for sustainable development and human development. Throwing light on the need to increase forest cover in the state for water conservation, he called for coordinated efforts by the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Water in this regard. Highlighting the success of the ‘Catch the Rain’ campaign, he reiterated that such campaigns should become an essential part of the state governments. “Instead of waiting for the rains, all the planning needs to be done before the rains,” he added. Pointing out that in the constitutional system of the country, the subject of water came under the control of the states, he said it was the states' efforts for water conservation that would go a long way in achieving the collective goals of the country. “Water Vision @ 2047 is an important dimension of the journey of Amrit Kaal for the next 25 years,” he added. Reiterating his vision of the ‘whole of government’ and ‘whole of the country’, the PM emphasised that all governments should work like a system wherein there should be constant interaction and dialogue between different ministries of state governments, such as Water, Ministry of Irrigation, Ministry of Agricul- Cabinet approves continuation of schemes for development of NE NEW DELHI, 5 JANUARY The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the continuation of schemes of the Ministry of Development of Nor th Easter n Region (MDoNER) with an outlay of Rs 12882.2 crores, for the balance period of the 15th Finance Commission (202223 to 2025-26). Based on the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) recommendations, the outlay for the North East Special Infrastructure Scheme (NESIDS) will be Rs. 8139.5 crores, including commit- ted liabilities of ongoing projects. The outlay for ‘Schemes of NEC’ will be Rs. 3202.7 crores, including committed liabilities of ongoing projects. The Ministry’s new scheme “Prime Minister’s Development initiative for the North Eastern region - PM-Devine” (with an outlay of Rs. 6600 crores), has been approved earlier in October 2022 separately, under which larger and high-impact proposals under infrastructure, social development and livelihood sectors are taken. The objectives of the schemes of the MDoNER are to supplement the efforts of the different central ministries & departments on the one hand and the felt needs of the NE region states on the other, for uncovered development/welfare activities. The MDoNER Schemes help provide gap-filling sup- port to the eight North Eastern States as per their felt needs, by taking up projects – e.g., for developing infrastructure to mitigate connectivity and social sector deficits and enhancing livelihood and employment opportunities in the region. Extension of the approved schemes for the balance of the 15th finance commission period, i.e. up to fy 202526, would enable better planning for implementation of the schemes in terms of project selection, front loading of sanction of the projects, and project implementation during the scheme period. Efforts will be made to complete a maximum number of projects by 2025-26 so that there are minimum committed liabilities beyond this year. Therefore, schemes would have new sanctions in 2022-23 and 2023-24 primarily; while expenditure would continue to be incurred during 2024-25 and 2025-26. focused attention will be given to completing the ongoing sanctioned projects. The Five pillars of the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan for self-reliant India, namely, Economy, Infrastructure, System, Vibrant Demography and Demand will get a push through the scheme. Ram Mandir to be ready by Jan 1, 2024: Amit Shah SNS & AGENCIES AGARTALA, 5 JANUARY Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Thursday that Ram Mandir would be ready by January 1, 2024. The Minister said this while flagging off BJP's 8-day-long "Rath Yatra'' in Tripura. He also claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would come to power after the upcoming Assembly elections in Tripura with a two-third majority. Weeks before the announcement of Assembly elections in Tripura, the ruling BJP initiated the 'Rath Yatra' across the state. Shah also urged the people to book their tickets to go to Ayodhya where Ram Mandir would be ready by January 1 next year. Alleging gross misrule during the CPI-M led Left Front government in Tripura, the for- P12 Mandaviya cautions people to avoid rumours on Covid-19 PM asked panchayats to prepare an action plan on issues ranging from water supply to cleanliness Min: 3.0°C (-4) SUN SETS 17:39 hrs MOON SETS 07:39 hrs STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE SMITH SMASHES 30TH TEST TON AT HOME GROUND mer BJP president said that for every aspect, people had to go to the CPI-M leaders as the entire Left Front government administration was controlled by the Left cadres. Referring to Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha, Shah said that the Prime Minister has promised HIRA (Highway, I-way, Railway and Airway) to Tripura, but people of the state also got "Manik" (ruby/ gem) After traversing the 1,000 km route covering all the 60 Assembly constituencies in the state, the eight-day long Yatra would culminate in Agartala on January 12, when a mega public rally would be held which would be addressed by BJP's national President J.P. Nadda. Tripura BJP President Rajib Bhattacharjee said that the Rath Yatra titled 'Jana Vishwas Yatra' is part of the party's mission to connect with around 10 lakh people across the state. Bhattacharjee told the media that two chariots on Thursday moved from South Tripura and North Tripura districts.Tripura Chief Minis- ter Manik Saha, former Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb and several central and state leaders participated in the Rath Yatra. Shah said that "Communist parties have been finished from the entire world and the Congress has been finished in India". Flagging off BJP's "Rath Yatra'' from Dharmanagar in northern Tripura and Sabroom in southern Tripura, Shah while addressing two separate rallies also said that Jammu and Kashmir would remain permanently with India. "Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Indian Army entered Pakistan and carried out surgical strikes against terrorists," the Home Minister said, adding that during the Congress regime Pakistani terrorists had entered India and killed the army men. ture, Ministry of Rural and Urban Development and Disaster Management. The PM underlined that promoting public participation in water conservation would not reduce the accountability of the government and it would not mean putting all the responsibility on the people. He further added that the biggest advantage of public participation was the awareness that was created among the public about the efforts being put into the campaign and the money being spent. “When the public is associated with a campaign, they also get to know the seriousness of the work. Due to this, a sense of ownership also comes in the public towards any scheme or campaign”, he added. Highlighting the success of the ‘Jal Jeevan Mission’ as a major development parameter for a state to provide water to every household, the PM remarked that many states have done a good job while many states were moving forward in this direction. He noted the water requirements in both the industry and agriculture sectors and recommended that special campaigns be run to make them aware of water security. He gave examples of techniques like crop diversification and natural farming that created a positive effect on water conservation. STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 5 JANUARY Amid recent spike in cases of COVID-19 in some countries, including China, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Thursday asked the people not to panic and avoid rumours about the new variant of the virus. The Union Health Minister further asked people to remain alert and follow the directives issued by the Union government. Mandaviya said Covid-19 variants will keep coming but the important thing is which variant will react and people should only believe information shared by government sources to avoid any kind of panic in the country. He said that the Centre is alert and making all preparations. Meanwhile, in India eleven types of COVID-19 Omicron Sub-variants were detected during testing of international passengers at airports and seaports between December 24 to January 3, official sources have said. A total of 19,227 samples of international travellers were tested, out of which 124 were found positive and were isolated, the sources said. "Of the 124 positive sam- ples, genome sequencing results of 40 were received of which XBB including XBB.1 was found in the maximum 14 samples. BF 7.4.1 has been found in one sample," as per the official sources. The other variants that are reported after samples from these international travellers are BA.5.2, BQ.1.1, BQ. 1.1(22), BQ.1.1.5, CH.1.1, CH.1.1.1, BB.3, BN.1.2, BN1.3, BY1 and BF. The sources further said that these all variants are already present in the country. India saw a slight increase in COVID infections on Thursday as it witnessed 188 new cases in the last 24 hours according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW). The country recorded 175 new cases on Wednesday. FACT FILE TOTAL CASES 4,46,79,319 ACTIVE CASES 2,554 NEW CASES 185 NEW RECOVERIES 201 TOTAL DEATHS 5,30,710 UNION HEALTH MINISTRY FIGURES AS OF 8.00 A.M. THURSDAY 05 JANUARY 2022