CMYK SATURDAY 25 MARCH 2023 Pages 16 |` 5.00|LC www.thestatesman.com KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR PROTESTERS GREET NETANYAHU AS HE MEETS SUNAK IN UK 'A MATTER OF SHAME FOR PUNJAB' P15 P7 WEATHER Mainly clear sky with fog/mist in the morning. Maximum and minimum temperatures likely to be around 33 °C and 24 °C respectively. Max. 88 % Min. 39 % TEMPERATURE Max: 33.2 °C (-1) SUN RISES 05:38 hrs MOON RISES 07:19 hrs Min: 23.6 °C (0) SUN SETS 17:49 hrs MOON SETS 20:32 hrs Full Moon on 06 April  ANI  STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE etting off a storm of protest from the Opposition parties, Congress leader and Member of Parliament from Wayanad, Rahul Gandhi, was on Friday disqualified from the Lok Sabha after his conviction by a Surat court on Thursday in a criminal defamation case.A notification issued by Lok Sabha Secretary General Utpal Kumar Singh announced the disqualification. The Surat court onThursday sentenced Mr Gandhi S UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and party President Mallikarjun Kharge come out after attending a meeting at the party office on Friday.  ANI to two years imprisonment in the defamation case over his “how come all thieves have Modi as their sur- name” remark made in April 2019 during a Lok Sabha election rally in Karnataka. The case against Mr Gandhi was NEW DELHI, 24 MARCH Devotees gather at Jama Masjid on the first day of the Ramadan month, in New Delhi on Friday. The Lok Sabha on Friday passed the Finance Bill, 2023, giving approval to taxation proposals in the Union Budget, 2023-24, after adopting several official amendments moved by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.The Finance Minister introduced the Bill just after 12 noon when the Lok Sabha reassembled after an almost hour-long adjournment. Mr Rajendra Agrawal, who was presiding, declared the Bill, as amended, passed by a voicevote, and adjourned the House till Monday.A message regarding the passage of the Money Bill in the Lok Sabha was later conveyed to the Rajya Sabha, and it was read out in the Upper House by Secretary-GenSNS eral P C Mody. SC restores criminal liability for membership of banned group STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 24 MARCH Reversing its own decadeold judgment that mere membership of a banned organisation is not a criminal offence as long as the person does not indulge in unlawful activities, the Supreme Court on Friday affirmed the validity of the provision of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 which attributes criminality to membership of a banned organisation. A Bench of Justices M R Shah, C T Ravikumar and Sanjay Karol upheld the validity of Section 10(a)(i) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, which provides for penalty to a person who is or continues to be a member of a banned organisation, attracting a jail sentence which may extend to two years and fine as well. The court today said that if a person continues the membership of an organisation, even after it is banned, The top court’s ruling came on a petition by the Centre and the Assam government seeking recall of the Supreme Court’s 2011 order which had held that mere membership of a banned organisation is not an offence. he would be liable to be punished. The court said that mere membership of an unlawful association is sufficient to constitute an offence under UAPA.The top court’s ruling came on a petition by the Centre and the Assam government seeking recall of the Supreme Court’s 2011 order which had held that mere membership of a banned organisation is not an offence. A two-judge Bench of Justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Misra (both since retired) on 3 February 2011 had ruled that mere membership of a banned organisation will not make a person criminal unless he resorts to violence or incites people to violence. Holding that Section 3(5) of the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 10987 (since repealed) cannot be read literally otherwise it will violate Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution, the bench of Justices Katju and Misra in their 3 February 2011, order had said: “Hence, mere membership of a banned organisation will not make a person a criminal unless he resorts to violence or incites people to violence or creates public disorder by violence or incitement to violence. Hence, the conviction of the appellant under Sec 3(5) of the TADA is also not sustainable.” The top court in 2011 had relied on three judgments of the US Supreme Court which had rejected the doctrine of ‘guilt by association’, saying that were applicable to India as well, as the fundamental rights under the Indian Constitution were similar to the Bill of Rights in the US Constitution. ‘India will eliminate TB by 2025’ STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE VARANASI/NEW DELHI, 24 MARCH Tuberculosis will lose and India will win, the world will win, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, adding that while the global target to end TB is 2030, India is working on eliminating it five years earlier, by 2025 itself.Inaugurating the One World TB Summit 2023 in Varanasi on Friday, Mr Modi said that today's new India is known for achieving its goals and has taken this pledge to eliminate TB from the country. Mr Modi also launched TB Preventive Treatment (TPT), TB Free Panchayat Initiative, Family Centred Care Model for TB and India's Annual TB Report 2023 during the event. He also virtually laid the foundation stone of BSL Lab Metropolitan Public Health Surveillance Unit in Varanasi. Mr Modi made special mention of India's global role P16 I am fighting for India's voice... Ready to pay any price, says Congress leader; leaders of Opposition parties slam Centre over move Lok Sabha passes Finance Bill, 2023 THUMBNAILS P2 RAHUL GANDHI DISQUALIFIED AS MP NEW DELHI, 24 MARCH RAINFALL: Nil RELATIVE HUMIDITY RUDRANKKSH WINS BRONZE IN 10M AIR RIFLE MAMATA, ABHISHEK SHOW SOLIDARITY WITH RAHUL GANDHI Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath greets Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Varanasi on Friday.  SNS in the fight against TB, observing that the efforts made by India after 2014 should be made known to the whole world because it is a new model in the global fight against TB. “We had called upon the people of the country to make Nikshay Mitras to join the TBfree India campaign. After this campaign, about 10 lakh TB patients were adopted by the common citizens of the country. Children aged 10-12 years are also taking forward the fight against TB by becoming Nikshay Mitra. Many children have broken their piggy banks and adopted TB patients. This financial support of Nikshay Mitras for TB patients has reached above Rs 1,000 crore,” he said.A total of 75 lakh TB patients have benefitted from the direct bank transfer (DBT) of Rs 2,000 crore sent to their accounts since the scheme was announced by the Central Government in 2018, he added.“For the screening of patients and their treatment, we have linked them with the Ayushman Bharat scheme. The number of laboratories for free TB testing has been increased across the country. “Today the TB-free Panchayat has started where all the elected public representatives of villages will together take a resolution that every patient in the village will be kept healthy. We have also started three months treatment for TB prevention instead of six months course,” he said. CMYK filed by BJP MLA from SuratWest, Purnesh Modi. As various Opposition parties came out in his support, the Congress leader said he was ready to pay any price for raising the voice of India. “I am fighting for India's voice... Ready to pay any price," Mr Gandhi tweeted in Hindi. Mr Gandhi's disqualification came after two weeks of disturbances in Parliament over the Treasury Benches' demand that he apologise for his comments in the UK on the state of Indian democracy and Parliament. The Congress came down heavily on the government over the disqualification of Mr Gandhi, calling it a "strangulation of democracy".Congress national spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi and senior leader Jairam Ramesh said: “The issue before us is political, more than it is legal. It is a political issue because it signifies the systematic, repetitive emasculation of democratic institutions by the ruling party. It signifies the strangulation of democracy itself." “...over the last several years, we have had repeated examples of unthinkable assaults on freedom of speech, more importantly, freedom after speech. We all know that Rahul Gandhi has been speaking fearlessly inside and outside Parliament. He is paying a price for it," Mr Singhvi said. "We are confident that we will get a stay on his conviction, which will, in turn, remove the very basis of this disqualification.We have full faith in the law," he added. Extending support to Mr Gandhi, former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray said: “Calling a thief, a thief has become a crime in our country. Thieves and looters are still free and Rahul Gandhi was punished. This is a direct murder of democracy. All govt systems are under pressure. This is the beginning of the end of dictatorship. Only the fight has to be given direction." Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal termed Mr Gandhi's disqualification the act of “a scared government”. "The way Rahul Gandhi was implicated and his membership has been terminated... we respect the court, but this is a cowardly act and the work of a scared government," he told the media.