WEDNESDAY 08 MARCH 2023 Pages 12 |` 5.00|LC www.thestatesman.com KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR P8 WEATHER PARTLY CLOUDY SKY. THE MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM TEMPERATURES WOULD BE AROUND 31 AND 15 DEGREE CELSIUS RESPECTIVELY. RAINFALL: Nil RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max: 84% P9 Min: 14.3°C (0) SUN SETS 18:25 hrs MOON SETS 07:40 hrs THUMBNAILS Erstwhile Royal Family perfoms Holika Dahan at City Palace as part of Holi celebrations, in Jaipur ANI on Monday.  Twitter breaks for millions as only 1 engineer left handling crucial APIs: Twitter went down for millions as users reported several issues with the platform -- from links not opening to images stopped loading and more -- as there was only one person handling the platform's application programming interface (API). When users clicked on links, they were greeted with a mysterious error message reporting that "your current API plan does not include access to this endpoint". RuPay, UPI technologies India’s identity: PM Modi STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 7 MARCH rime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said RuPay and UPI are low cost and highly secure, and have become India's identity in the world; it is time Indian financial institutions have maximum partnerships with fintechs to increase their reach. He was addressing a postBudget webinar on "Enhancing Efficiency of the Financial Services for Creating Growth Opportunities." This was the 10th webinar in a series of 12 post-Budget webinars organized by the government to seek ideas and suggestions for effectively implementing initiatives announced in the Union Budget 2023-24. The prime minister said India today has a robust financial system and a banking system that is in profit after being on the verge of collapse 8-10 years ago. Also, there is a government that is taking policy decisions with courage, clarity and confidence. “Today, the need of the hour is that benefits of the strength in India's banking system reach the maximum number of people,” he said. He said the whole world saw the performance of India’s fiscal and monetary policy during P Covid-19. This was the result of the Government’s efforts to strengthen the fundamentals of Indian economy in the last nine years. There was a time, when the world expressed doubts about India, whether it was economy, Budget, or any targets. Ever since the country adopted financial discipline, transparency and inclusive approach, there was a big change. In place of question marks, there is confidence and expectation. India is today called a bright spot of the global economy, he said. Modi said Indian talent, infrastructure and innovators can take the Indian financial system to the top. In the era of Industry 4.0, platforms developed by India are becoming models for the world, the prime minister said, giv- ing examples of GeM and digital transactions. In the 75th year of Independence, 75,000 crore transactions were done digitally, which shows how wide the expansion of UPI has become, he said. There is immense scope for innovation. UPI should become a means of financial inclusion and empowerment for the whole world, he said. "We have to collectively work for it. I suggest that our financial institutions should also have maximum partnership with fintechs to increase their reach,” the prime minister said. India is presiding over G20 and attracted the highest ever FDI in a year during 2021-22. A major part of this investment was in the manufacturing sector. He said applications are continuously Meghalaya, Nagaland Chief Ministers take oath, PM attends swearing-in ceremony STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE KOHIMA/ SHILLONG , 7 MARCH Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party's Neiphiu Rio and National People's Party (NPP) chief Conrad Sangma took oath as Nagaland and Meghalaya Chief Ministers respectively today. Conrad Sangma on Tuesday took oath as the Chief Minister of Meghalaya for a second consecutive term, along with his 11 ministerial colleagues in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Minister Amit Shah, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and others. This time, Meghalaya will have two deputy Chief Ministers -- Prestone Tynsong and Sniawbhalang Dhar. While, Tynsong had served as Sangma's deputy in the previous government, Dhar is the new addition in the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) 2.0 led by the National People's Party (NPP). For a small state like Meghalaya, with just 60-elect- ed representatives, inclusion of two deputies may evoke criticism. Sangma however, denied this and said: "I do not think there should be any sort of criticism. In Meghalaya, there were two Deputy Chief Ministers in the preceding governments also. I rather say, inducting two Deputy Chief Ministers represents inclusiveness." While speaking to reporters, Sangma laid down his government priorities for the next five years. "We will continue to work in the areas on which we focussed earlier too, primarily to ensure the infrastructure growth, betterment of health and education system, social welfare etc. A lot of importance to be provided in employment opportunities to the youth of the state," he said Unemployment was a major issue in this year's Assembly polls with the opposition Trinamool Congress and Congress attacking the NPP government on the matter. Sangma further said that in his previous tenure much importance was given to improve the delivery system of government's projects and schemes. According to Sangma, the portfolio distribution to new ministers will happen in the next 24-48 hours. Later in the day, Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) leader Neiphiu Rio was on Tuesday sworn in as the Chief Minister of Nagaland for the fifth time. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Nagaland Governor La Ganesan, BJP President JP Nadda and Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma witness the oath-taking ceremony in Kohima. Taditui Rangkau Zeliang and Yanthungo Patton also took oath as Deputy chief ministers of Nagaland. The ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive PartyBharatiya Janata Party retained power in the Nagaland election, with the two parties having secured 37 seats in the 60-member assembly, as per the data by the Election Commission of India (ECI). Rio won the Northern Angami-II Assembly constituency, trouncing Seyievilie Sachu of the Congress by a mammoth margin of 15,824 votes. Bangladesh building explosion kills at least 14; scores hurt AGENCIES DHAKA, 7 MARCH An explosion in a seven-story commercial building in Bangladesh’s capital on Tuesday killed at least 14 people and injured dozens, officials said. The explosion occurred in Gulistan, a busy commercial area of Dhaka, fire department official Rashed bin Khaled P10 He said the whole world saw performance of India’s fiscal and monetary policy during Covid-19 Min: 27% TEMPERATURE Max: 31.3°C (+3) SUN RISES 06:38 hrs MOON RISES 19:14 hrs BIDEN WILL SEEK MEDICARE CHANGES IN NEW BUDGET PETITION FILED AGAINST NEPAL PM DAHAL IN SC SBI DEBUNKS RAJAN'S COMMENTS ON INDIAN GROWTH SLOWING DOWN said by phone. The building contained several stores selling plumbing products and household items, and its first two floors were badly damaged, according to fire officials. It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion. Khaled said at least 11 fire department teams were working at the scene of the explo- sion. Bacchu Mia, a police official at the state-run Dhaka Medical College Hospital, said more than 50 people were taken there for treatment, and at least 14 of them were dead.Bangladesh has a history of industrial disasters, including factories catching fire with workers trapped inside. Monitoring groups have blamed corruption and lax enforce- ment. In 2012, about 117 workers died when they were trapped behind locked exits in a garment factory in Dhaka. The country’s worst industrial disaster occurred the following year, when the Rana Plaza garment factory outside Dhaka collapsed, killing more than 1,100 people. In 2019, a blaze ripped through a 400-year-old area cramped with apartments, shops and warehouses in the oldest part of Dhaka and killed at least 67 people. Another fire in Old Dhaka in a house illegally storing chemicals killed at least 123 people in 2010. In 2021, a fire at a food and beverage factory outside Dhaka killed at least 52 people, many of whom were trapped inside by an illegally locked door. Last year, a fire at a shipping container storage depot near the country’s main Chittagong Seaport killed at least 41 people, including nine firefighters, and injured more than 100 others. pouring in to avail of the PLI scheme which makes India an important part of the global supply chain. He said everyone should take full advantage of this opportunity. Giving an example of the Government’s support to the MSME sector, the prime minister asked the banking system to reach out to the maximum number of sectors. As many as 1.20 lakh MSMEs have received huge help from the government during the pandemic. In this year's Budget, the MSME sector got additional collateral-free guaranteed credit of Rs 2 lakh crore. "Now it is very important that our banks reach out to them and provide them adequate finance,” he said. Modi said the Government's policies related to Financial Inclusion have made crores of people part of the formal financial system. The government has helped fulfill dreams of crores of youth by giving Mudra loans of more than Rs 20 lakh crore without a bank guarantee. For the first time, more than 40 lakh street vendors and small shopkeepers received help from banks through PM Swanidhi Yojana. He called upon stakeholders to re-engineer all processes to reduce cost and increase the speed of credit so that it reaches small entrepreneurs quickly. DJOKOVIC WITHDRAWS FROM INDIAN WELLS AMID VISA ROW P12 BJP launches fresh attack on Rahul Gandhi for remarks in UK STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 7 MARCH The BJP today mounted a fresh attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his reported comments in the UK as to why Europe and the US, the defenders of democracies, were oblivious to how a huge chunk of democracy in India had come undone. The saffron party fielded senior leader Ravi Shankar Prasad who asked Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Sonia Gandhi to clear their party's stand on Rahul's remarks. Addressing a press conference, Prasad said, "We ask Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge if you feel that you are an elected president of Congress, do you support this irresponsible and shameful comment of Rahul Gandhi that 'America and Europe must intervene in India to restore democracy'? If you don't support Rahul Gandhi's statement, then disown it." He said; "Sonia Gandhi Ji, BJP will like to urge you to make your stand very clear where do you stand in the face of this utterly irresponsible statement of your son asking for interference by America and Europe to restore democracy in India?" Prasad said; "BJP would like to emphatically state with great agony that Rahul Gandhi, in his speeches, has sought to shame India's democracy, polity, parliament, political system, and judicial system." The former Union minister went on to say; ''"All decency, every decorum, and democratic humiliation have been forgotten. Now because the citizens of the nation do not pay attention to them or comprehend them, they depart for overseas and bemoan the state of India's democracy." Several other BJP leaders slammed Congress over Gandhi's remarks on the UK. Shehzad Poonawalla said Rahul has crossed all limits in his hatred for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP. Union Minister Kiren Rijiju slammed Congress leader Gandhi for his remark that the "Opposition leaders' microphones are often switched off in Parliament", saying it was the Congress leader who spoke the most in Parliament.