WEDNESDAY 20 SEPTEMBER 2023 www.thestatesman.com twitter.com/thestatesman facebook.com/thestatesman INDIA’S NATIONAL NEWSPAPER SINCE 1818 Pages 12 |` 5.00|LC KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR ZELENSKYY HEADS TO USA AMIDST AID UNCERTAINTIES CONGRESS BACKS GOVT IN ROW WITH CANADA P5 WEATHER Generally cloudy sky. One or two spells of rain/thundershower very likely to occur. Maximum and minimum temperatures likely to be around 31 °C and 29 °C respectively. RAINFALL: 21.9mm RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max. 94 % TEMPERATURE P9 First day in new Parliament: Women’s Quota Bill tabled Activists of All Rabha Students Union, All Rabha women Council and other organizations of Assam stage a dharna at Jantar Mantar, in the Capital on Tuesday. SNS Aditya-L1 put on route to Lagrange Point: L Indian space agency ISRO in the wee hours of Tuesday sent off the Aditya-L1 solar observatory towards the Sun by successfully inserting it at the Trans-Lagrangian Point 1 orbit. This is the fifth consecutive time ISRO has successfully transferred an object on a trajectory toward another celestial body or location in space. HIGHLIGHTS he Modi government created history on the first day of Parliament’s sitting in its new building on Tuesday by introducing the Constitution (128th Amendment) Bill, 2023 in the Lok Sabha to reserve one-third seats for women in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies. The Bill comes after several unsuccessful attempts to provide reservation of seats for women in Parliament and state legislatures. The Opposition Congress, which has been demanding the government bring such a Bill in Parliament, on Tuesday denounced the Bill as a 'jumla' and a huge betrayal of the hopes of crores of Indian women and girls, noting that it will come into effect only after the next decadal Census. India has already missed the Census that was supposed to be held in 2021. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, making his first speech in the Lok Sabha The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2023, introduced by the government on Tuesday proposes reservation of 33 per cent of seats for women in Parliament and state Assemblies which would continue for a period of 15 years and can be extended further. T PM Narendra Modi with Union Home Minister Amit Shah, defence minister Rajnath Singh with other Parliamentarians walking from the old Parliament to the New Parliament Building, in New Delhi on Tuesday.  ANI of the new building, said several previous governments tried to get the law passed but failed. Perhaps God had chosen him to perform an auspicious responsibility once again, this time for empowering women and to enable them to devote their energy in the service of the nation, he said. Mr Modi appealed in both Houses of Parliament that the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam to enable women to play a greater role in policy formulations be passed unanimously. He said the first Bill to give reservation to women in legislatures was introduced in 1996. Attempts were made during the government of late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee but unfortunately sufficient support could not be ensured. Mr Modi said his Cabinet approved the Bill at a meeting on Monday. India rejects Trudeau’s charge of involvement in Nijjar’s killing, expels Canadian diplomat ASHOK TUTEJA NEW DELHI, 19 SEPTEMBER Canadian High Commissioner to India Cameron Mackay Hardeep Singh Nijjar, chief of the proscribed Khalistan Tiger Force was engaged in luring youths and forming terrorist gangs to carry out extortion for raising funds and for carrying out targeted killing of businessmen and leaders of particular communities in Punjab, according to the NIA. Nijjar was shot dead outside a Sikh temple in Vancouver on 18 June. Prime Minister (Narendra Modi), and were completely rejected,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a strongly-worded statement. “The High Commissioner of Canada to India was summoned today and informed about the decision of the Government of India to expel a senior Canadian diplomat based in India. The concerned diplomat has been India summoned the Canadian High Commissioner and informed him of the decision to expel a senior Canadian diplomat after Ottawa announced the expulsion of Indian diplomat Pavan Kumar Rai (photo), who the Canadian authorities say was the head of RAW in Canada. asked to leave India within the next five days,” the MEA said. The decision, it said, reflected New Delhi's growing concern at the interference of Canadian diplomats in India's internal matters and their involvement in anti-India activities. In a sensational claim, the Canadian PM told his country's Parliament that over the past number of weeks, Cana- Canadian Embassy in Delhi asks local staffers to leave office: Hours after India expelled a Canadian diplomat on Tuesday in a tit for tat move in retaliation to Canada's action of expelling an Indian diplomat, the Canadian Embassy in the national capital asked its local staffers to leave the premises at around noon, sources said. dian security agencies have been actively pursuing credible allegations of a potential link between agents of the Government of India and the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen. He said he raised the issue with PM Modi in “no uncertain terms” during his recent visit to New Delhi to attend the G20 Summit. He said: “Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty”. So far, the Canadian government has not made public any evidence it has for its claim of the Indian government's hand in Nijjar’s killing. Indian economy gaining strength, inflation to dip further in September, says RBI report NEW DELHI, 19 SEPTEMBER The Indian economy is gaining strength led by domestic drivers ~ private consumption and fixed investment, with strong public sector capital expenditure ~ and supply responses are improving amidst weakening global prospects, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its state of the economy report. However, the report flagged a new risk to global financial stability. Crude oil prices are hovering above $90 per barrel, challenging 10-month highs, due to Saudi Arabia and Russia extending voluntary production cuts to the end of 2023. “The strength of the US dollar on safe haven demand is PM Modi appeals to Parliamentarians to get rid of outdated laws  THUMBNAILS STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE P12 Congress dubs government’s Bill a jumla, huge betrayal of women’s hopes NEW DELHI, 19 SEPTEMBER Max: 31.2 °C (-2) Min: 26.5 °C (0) SUN RISES SUN SETS 05:25 hrs 17:38 hrs MOON RISES MOON SETS 08:50 hrs 20:9 hrs New Moon on 29 September Relations between India and Canada nosedived as New Delhi on Tuesday firmly rejected Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's charge that his country’s security agencies had “credible” intelligence that the Indian government was behind the June 2023 murder of a pro-Khalistan leader in British Columbia, Hardeep Singh Nijjar. In a tit-for-tat action, India also expelled a senior Canadian diplomat after Canadian Foreign Minister Melania Joly's office announced the expulsion of Indian diplomat Pavan Kumar Rai, who, the Canadian authorities claimed, was the head of RAW in Canada. “We have seen and reject the statement of the Canadian Prime Minister in their Parliament, as also the statement by their Foreign Minister. Allegations of the Government of India's involvement in any act of violence in Canada are absurd and motivated. Similar allegations were made by the Canadian Prime Minister to our P4 DEEPAK RAZDAN Min. 71 % SOMEONE WHO'S TAKEN A LOT IN HIS STRIDE HIGH COURT RESERVES ORDER ON NAIDU’S PLEA TO QUASH CASE also making crude prices higher. Global inflation is once again under siege as deep deficits in global oil balances become persistent unless global demand is hit by a sharp economic downturn,” the article authored by a team led by RBI Deputy Governor Michael Debabrata Patra said. “Dispelling this global gloom, the Indian economy is picking up steam and strength,” it added. The report further shows that India’s retail inflation, which softened in August from the previous month’s peak, is expected to trend down further in September. “As in the case of the upswing, the ebbing was driven by a reversal in the prices of vegetables. Hearteningly, the correction is not complete,” it added. Headline inflation, as measured by yearon-year (Y-o-Y) changes in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), moderated to 6.8 per cent in August from 7.4 per cent in July. This, however, was still outside the RBI’s comfort band of 2-6 per cent. Food inflation fell to 9.2 per cent Y-o-Y in August from 10.6 per cent in July. In terms of sub-groups, inflation in vegetables softened sharply, though it remained elevated. There are early indications of correction in a broad range of vegetable prices. On economic growth trend, the report said: “India’s G20 Presidency and its outcomes with the ethos of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam as the vision of global progress assume significance in an environment where global economic activity is experiencing a loss of momentum with a dichotomy in macroeconomic conditions across regions.” Real GDP growth for the first quarter of 2023-24 came in at 7.8 per cent, matching an assessment presented in the August edition of the report. This was led by domestic drivers ~ private consumption and fixed investment ~ which offset “the negative spill from net exports”. CMYK Whether in sports or space, start-ups or self-help groups, the world has seen the capacity of Indian women in various fields. The recent G20 under India’s Presidency had appreciated the concept of women-led development, he said. The PM quoted late former President Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan as saying Parliament is not just a legislative body but a deliberative body also.  There will be quota for SC and STs within the reserved seats for women. However, there is no reservation for OBCs (Other Backward Classes), The legislation, how- ever, is unlikely to be implemented in the 2024 LS elections. Women’s reservation in legislatures will be rolled out only after the next round of delimitation, possibly in 2029.  Seats reserved for women will be rotated after each delimitation exercise, according to the Bill. As Samvidhan Sadan, the old building will continue to guide us and will keep reminding us about the great personalities who were part of the Constituent Assembly NARENDRA MODI PRIME MINISTER STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 19 SEPTEMBER Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said framing new laws and getting rid of outdated laws was the highest responsibility of Parliamentarians at a time when Indian aspirations were at an all-time high. “India whose aspirations were chained for a thousand years is not ready to wait now... it wants to move with new aspirations and create new goals,” he declared while addressing Members of Parliament in the Central Hall of the old Parliament building before the two Houses formally moved to the new Parliament building.(photo) “We are heading to the new Parliament building with the resolve and determination to transform India into a developed nation,” Mr Modi said. Highlighting the contributions of the public representatives in repealing Article 370, he underlined with pride that the Constitution provided to the country was now being implemented in Jammu & Kashmir. “Today, Jammu & Kashmir is progressing on the path of peace and development and its people do not wish to let opportunities slip out of their hands any more,” he remarked. Recalling his address from Red Fort on Independence Day, Mr Modi said that the time was now, and it highlighted the reemergence of India with a renewed consciousness. “Bharat is brimming with energy,” Mr Modi emphasised as he noted that this renewed consciousness would enable all citizens to realise their dreams with dedication and hard work.