SATURDAY www.thestatesman.com 07 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 PM TRANSFORMED CONG'S ‘LOOK EAST POLICY’ P5 WEATHER MAINLY CLEAR SKY. MODERATE TO DENSE FOG IN THE MORNING. THE MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM TEMPERATURES WOULD BE AROUND 18 AND 05 DEGREES CELCIUS RESPECTIVELY. RAINFALL: Nil RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max. 100% TEMPERATURE Max: 16.5°C (-3) SUN RISES 07:15 hrs MOON RISES 17:55 hrs Min. 59 % Min: 3.0°C (-3) SUN SETS 17:40 hrs MOON SETS 08:23 hrs THUMBNAILS Village Defence Committee members in action while patrolling at Mangnar Village near the Line of Control, in Poonch on Thursday.ANI Indian economy to grow at 7 pc in FY23: The Indian economy is likely to grow at a rate of 7 per cent in the current fiscal, against the 8.7 per cent growth in 2021-22, the National Statistical Office (NSO) said on Friday. Responding to NSO's forecast, economists are of the view that the GDP growth to moderate to 6 - 6.1 per cent in FY24. The NSO, while releasing the first advance estimates of National Income for 2022-23, said that the "Real GDP (gross domestic product) or GDP at Constant (2011-12) Prices in the year 2022-23 is estimated at Rs 157.60 lakh crore. (SeePG8) VIOLENCE HITS MEXICO CARTEL STRONGHOLD AS ‘CHAPO’ SON NABBED NEW VARIANT WON'T BE SEVERE P7 P10 PM Modi chairs Chief Secretaries conference PM said the meeting with Chief Secretaries' would strengthen team spirit to take country forward AXAR’S BATTING GOING UP BY LEAPS & BOUNDS P12 No Delhi Mayor just yet, AAP-BJP clash stalls election STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 6 JANUARY STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 6 JANUARY rime Minister Narendra Modi today attended the conference of Chief Secretaries here, terming it as a wonderful forum to exchange views on important policy-related subjects and to strengthen team spirit to take India to newer heights. The three-day meeting, in which secretaries in the ministries at the Centre are also participating, is mainly focused on ensuring how districts can be developed as proponents of growth and development to achieve the target of making India a $5 trillion economy by 202627. Many young district collectors and magistrates from states and Union Territories are also attending the meeting to brainstorm on various issues. Modi will mainly be chairing the deliberations on Friday and Saturday, according to sources. He will also address the chief secretaries and the secretaries in the central ministries. The meeting will P also focus on achieving rapid and sustained economic growth in partnership with the states. This is the second edition of the conference, which was first held last year in Dharamshala at the initiative of the PM. The idea behind this conference is that Cooperative Federalism, through Central Ministries and Departments working together with States in seamless coordination, is an essential pillar for the development and progress of New India. Sources said this was not an isolated example when PM Modi has tried to leverage Cooperative Federalism to usher in efficiency and synergy in order to respond to many of India’s intractable challenges. In the last 8 years, he has worked to make the process of policy-making and implementation more collaborative and consultative, thus making India more federally governed. A discussion on the Aspirational Districts’ Programme (ADP), a government flagship programme anchored by Niti Aayog, was on the agenda of the meeting today. Launched by the PM in January 2018, the Aspira- tional Districts Programme aims to quickly and effectively transform the 112 most under-developed districts across the country in five thematic areas – health and nutrition; agriculture and water resources; education; financial inclusion and skill development; and basic infrastructure. Most of the identified districts have crossed the state averages in various fields but have Blocks which continue to lag behind. The 2022-2023 Union Budget had provided to focus on these Blocks. Under the programme, selected districts are encouraged to first catch up with the best district in their States and subsequently aspire to become one of the best in the country by competing with, and learning from others in the spirit of competitive and cooperative federalism. Niti Aayog is working closely with respective subject ministries and various development partners to fast-track progress at the district level. The aim is to eliminate interstate and inter-district variations in development. The districts are encouraged to develop and replicate best practices that drive improvement across the socio-economic themes. The programme essentially is aimed at localizing Sustainable Development Goals, leading to the overall progress of the nation. The programme entails the convergence of Central and State schemes, collaboration among Central, State, nodal officers and District Collectors, and encouraging competition among districts through monthly delta-ranking. The ranking is based on the incremental progress made across 49 Key Performance Indicators under the five broad themes and is available on the Champions of Change portal. With states as the main drivers, this programme focuses on the strength of each district, identifying low-hanging fruits for immediate improvement and measuring progress by ranking districts on a monthly basis. High drama, chaos and clashes between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) councillors on the first day of Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) proceedings eventually led to the adjournment of the House for the day on Friday without electing the mayor and deputy mayor for the House. A huge ruckus was witnessed at the Civic Centre before the commencement of voting for the Delhi mayor elections, over the swearing-in of nominated councillors. Shortly after the proceedings began on Friday to choose mayor and deputy mayor and the oath taking ceremony of new councillors, the House was adjourned amid the chaos and clashes between AAP and BJP councillors. The chaos started after the AAP objected to the oathtaking of nominated councillors. After the presiding officer asked aldermen to take the oath, the AAP councillors started creating a ruckus claiming that it was not the custom for the aldermen to take oath before the elected councillors. As the proceedings in the House began, AAP's leader of the House, Mukesh Goyal raised the issue of oath-taking of the nominated corporators. Goyal said that in the last 25 years, it has never happened that nominated councillors were taking oath before the elected members. The BJP and AAP councillors clashed with each other and raised slogans. After the proceedings of the House started, BJP councillor Satya Sharma was administered the oath as the presiding officer. New Delhi District Magistrate Santosh Kumar Rai administered the oath to Sharma. High drama ensued in the House for over an hour as Delhi was all set to elect its first single mayor in 10 years after the MCD was unified last year. High pitched ruckus was heard in the MCD House as the presiding officer invited aldermen Manoj Kumar to take oath first. The presiding officer, MCD commissioner and other officials left the House after the ruckus. Councillors from both parties clashed and then took to protests with sloganeering against each other ahead of the Delhi Mayor polls. Marshals had to make their presence felt as several councillors were injured in the process.