TUESDAY 14 NOVEMBER 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 ‘VOTE FOR THE BRIGHT FUTURE OF MADHYA PRADESH’ P10 SENSEX 64,933.87325.58 P11 NIFTY 19,443.5582.00 P5 ` vs $ 83.3204 PAISE GOLD 61,960.00 Generaly clear. Partly cloudy sky. Maximum and minimum temperatures likely to be around 31 °C and 22 °C respectively. RAINFALL: NIL RELATIVE HUMIDITY Mahua Moitra made TMC’s Krishnanagar organisational district president Max. 88 % TEMPERATURE Min. 81 % Max: 31°C Min: 22°C SUN RISES SUN SETS 05:48 hrs 16:53 hrs MOON RISES MOON SETS 06:31 hrs 05:29 hrs Full Moon on 27 November THUMBNAILS Toxic foam floats on the Yamuna river as the pollution level in the national capital remains in the 'Very Poor' category, at Kalindi Kunj, in New Delhi on Monday.  ANI Nine killed in Hyderabad building fire: Nine persons were killed and a few others injured in a huge fire in a multi-storied building here on Monday. The fire, which broke out in the chemical drums stored on the ground floor, spread to the upper floors, trapping the inmates. The incident occurred in the Bazar Ghat area in Nampal(P4) ly in the heart of the city. STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE KOLKATA, 13 NOVEMBER rinamul Congress announced the names of district presidents and chairpersons across the state. The names of the district presidents were placed before party’s chairperson Mamata Banerjee, who went through the list and subsequently cleared it. Brushing aside all speculation that the party has distanced itself from MP Mahua Moitra after she was accused in the cashfor-query case parliament, Miss Banerjee made her the president of Nadia, Krishnanagar unit of the party while Rukbanur Rahaman has been made the district chairperson of the unit. Professor Ashis Banerjee has been appointed as the chairman of the Birbhum unit of the party while no name of the district president is announced in absence of Anubrata Mondol. Against the name of the district president it is written: “core committee to committee.” Manish Gupta, former state minister has been appointed as the chair- T  Sudip Bandyopadhyay remains president of north Kolkata unit, chairman position left vacant.  Professor Ashis Banerjee appointed chairman of Birbhum unit; district president post pending for Anubrata Mondol.  Manish Gupta named chairperson of Trina- mul's south Kolkata unit; Debashis Kumar retains district president post.  Trinamul appoints four state secretaries, emphasising organisational strengthening ahead of the Lok Sabha election. person of party’s south Kolkata unit while Debashis Kumar, party’s MLA retains the post of district president. Party MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay has been retained as the president of the party's north Kolkata unit while the post of the chairman has been kept vacant. Biswajit Das, MLA who joined Trinamul Congress from BJP has been made the president of party’s North 24-Parganas (Bongaon unit). The party has appointed four party leaders in the post of state secretary. They are Mridul Goswami, Shaoni Singha Roy, Kanai Chandra Mandal and Uttarakhand tunnel collapse: CM Dhami visits site, operation underway to rescue trapped workers AGENCIES UTTARKASHI, 13 NOVEMBER Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Monday reached Silkyara to inspect the site where a portion of an under-construction tunnel on the Yamunotri National Highway collapsed on Sunday, leaving at least 36 workers trapped. The Chief Minister also took stock of the rescue efforts. The efforts to remove debris and rescue the trapped workers in the Silkyara Tunnel are underway. Heavy excavator machines have been deployed to remove debris. The rescuers have established contact with the trapped workers on walkie-talkies and all the workers are safe. Authorities are sending the workers food and water through the pipe. Authorities said a narrow Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami reviews the ongoing rescue operation after a portion of a tunnel under construction between Silkyara and Dandalgaon on the Brahmakhal-Yamunotri national highway collapsed, in Uttarkashi on Monday.  ANI opening has been made to pass oxygen into the tunnel as personnel of several teams work on to rescue the trapped workers. The under-construction tunnel of the Navayuga company from Silkyara to Dandalgaon on the Yamunotri National Highway collapsed at 5 a.m. on Sunday. At least 36 labourers are trapped in the tunnel, and they have been stuck for more than 30 hours. Rescue efforts by personnel from multiple agencies, including the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), and fire brigade, have been going on since Sunday morning. According to the information, the accident happened at a distance of 200 meters from the tunnel entrance towards Silkyara, while the workers were 2,800 meters inside the entrance. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also spoken to the Chief Minister on the phone and has been briefed about the entire incident. PM Modi has assured all possible assistance. Additionally, Uttarkashi District Magistrate Abhishek Ruhela has cancelled the leaves of all officials in the district. Continuous efforts are underway to safely evacuate all workers. The tunnel is a part of the Char Dham project and is supposed to connect Silkyara to Dangal Gaon, reducing the distance between the two places by at least 25 km when completed. P12 SILVER 72,400.00 CM announces party’s district presidents WEATHER DJOKOVIC CLINCHES YEAR-END NO. 1 RANKING ‘PEOPLE OF CHHATTISGARH HAVE FAITH IN PM MODI’ COURT ISSUES ARREST WARRANTS FOR IMRAN Soumen Mohapatra. With the Lok Sabha election a few months away, strengthening the organization is significant. Trinamul Congress is leaving no stone unturned to ensure the victory of as many candidates as possible in the election. In 2019, BJP got 18 seats. Trinamul has asked the party leaders, up to the block level to build contacts with people and Bijoya Sammelani was held in all the 294 Assembly constituencies. where people from different walks of life were invited.Trinamul is going all out to make people aware of the financial deprivation of the Centre and how the persons who were engaged in 100 days’ work had been facing economic hardship. On 23 November, Miss Banerjee addressed the party leaders at Netaji Indoor Stadium and party senior leaders said she would announce the roadmap that would be followed to expose the saffron party before the Lok Sabha election. “We are all waiting anxiously for the instructions which she is likely to give from the dais,” said a party MLA. (See page 3) BRENT CRUDE (IN $) 81.530.10 Braverman sacked, ex-PM Cameron back as foreign secy AGENCIES LONDON, 13 NOVEMBER British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak sacked his interior minister Suella Braverman on Monday after her criticism of the police's handling of a pro-Palestinian march divided his party and threatened his authority. Under fire from opposition lawmakers and members of the governing Conservative Party to eject Braverman, Sunak seemed to have brought forward a long-planned reshuffle to bring in allies and remove ministers he felt were not performing. The ever-controversial Braverman defied Sunak last week in an unauthorised article accusing police of "double standards" at protests, suggesting they were tough on right-wing demonstrators but easy on pro-Palestinian marchers. The opposition Labour Party said that inflamed frictions between a pro-Palestinian demonstration and a far-right counter protest on Saturday, when nearly 150 people were arrested, as per reports. "Rishi Sunak has asked Suella Braverman to leave government and she has accepted," a government source said, according to reports. She was replaced by foreign minister James Cleverly, who was seen walking up to Sunak's Downing Street office on Monday. David Cameron has returned to the UK government as Foreign Secretary, in a stunning comeback for the former premier that highlighted Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's willingness to take risks as he looks to revive his political fortunes, according to multiple media reports on Monday. Downing Street announced on Monday that Cameron would join the government, accepting a peerage to do so, as part of a wider reshuffle in which Suella Braverman was sacked as home secretary and replaced by the foreign secretary, James Cleverly. A spokesperson also confirmed Jeremy Hunt would remain as chancel- lor, The Guardian reported. Cameron stood down in 2016 after losing the Brexit referendum but reportedly told friends in 2018 he wanted to return to frontline politics, preferably as foreign secretary, The Guardian reported, as per reports. Since then he has maintained a relatively low profile, though he became embroiled in scandal two years ago when he lobbied government ministers to provide financing for the now-insolvent financial services company Greensill Capital. He returned to the headlines last month when he said Sunak's decision to cancel the HS2 high-speed train line between Birmingham and Manchester was wrong, adding: "We are heading in the wrong direction.” Jaishankar gifts bat with Virat Kohli's autograph to Sunak on Diwali CHINAR CHARMS STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 13 NOVEMBER A woman get herself clicked amid the fallen Chinar leaves at the Nishat Bagh on an autumn afternoon, in Srinagar on Monday.  ANI External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on the occasion of Diwali and presented him a cricket bat with the autograph of cricketerVirat Kohli, a statement said on Monday. Jaishankar and his wife visited the house of the British Prime Minister Sunday night. During the meeting, they expressed their best wishes to Indian communities across the globe as they celebrated the festival of lights, it said. "The Indian minister presented to Sunak a cricket bat with the autograph of top Indian Cricketer Virat Kohli on it and a Lord Ganesh statue," the statement said. Jaishankar, who is currently on a five-day visit to the United Kingdom, prayed at the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, London. Goldman Sachs upgrades Indian equities, lowers Chinese stocks PM Modi to launch vulnerable tribal groups mission on 15 November STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 13 NOVEMBER In a positive development, Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares in India, citing the market’s strategic appeal while it lowered its rating on Hong Kong-traded China stocks due to low earnings growth and a potential consensus downgrade. According to Goldman, India is expected to see the best structural growth prospects in the region with mid-teens earnings growth over the next two years. The market’s strategic appeal, particularly given its largely domestically driven growth, offers investors a wide array of alpha-generating themes, including make-inIndia, large cap compounders and mid-cap multibaggers, they said. “With valuations generally at fair levels relative to the macro backdrop, we expect earnings to be the main driver of returns,” strategists including Timothy Moe wrote in a note, referring to Asia markets. The Wall Street bank cut Hong Kong-listed Chinese companies to market-weight and Hong Kong firms to underweight. It downgraded views on China equities several times this year amid pessimism in the country’s stock market. In August, it cut the full-year earnings-per-share growth estimate for the MSCI China Index to 11% from 14%, and reduced the 12-month index target to 67 from 70. The gauge has lost nearly 3% since then. However, Goldman remains overweight on Chinese onshore shares. It said that the sectors relat- ed to China’s rebalancing toward areas of higher productivity and greater self-sufficiency such as artificial intelligence and new infrastructure might have a good run. “These ‘alpha’ opportunities, which are more widely present in the onshore market, counterbalance the structural challenges of slowing growth stemming from the housing sector downturn, high debt levels, and adverse demographics,” the strategists wrote. It is to be noted that China slipped back into deflation in October. A mild drop into the red, admittedly, consumer prices fell just 0.2% year on year. Despite a slowdown, the future doesn't look very bleak for the Chinese economy as recently the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasted 5.4% growth in China's economy this year. CMYK STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 13 NOVEMBER In a big step to empower tribals, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the PM PVTG (Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups) Development Mission on Wednesday. This will be a first of its kind mission, since Independence. The Rs 24,000 crore scheme will aim at ensuring holistic development of PVTGs on the occasion of Jan Jaatiya Gaurav Divas. In the 2023-24 Budget, the launch of the Pradhan Mantri PVTG Development Mission was announced to improve socio-economic conditions of the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups This will be a first of its kind mission, since Independence. The `24,000 crore scheme will aim at ensuring holistic development of PVTGs on the occasion of Jan Jaatiya Gaurav Divas. (PVTGs). There are 75 PVTGs in 18 States and Union Territories living in 22,544 villages (220 districts) having a population of around 28 lakh. These tribes stay in scattered, remote and inaccessible habitations, often in forest areas and hence a mission is planned to saturate PVTG families and habitations with basic facilities such as road and telecom connectivity, electricity, safe housing, clean drinking water and sanitation, improved access to education, health and nutrition and sustainable livelihood opportunities. The Mission will be implemented through convergence of 11 interventions of nine Ministries, like PMGSY, PMGAY, Jal Jeevan Mission etc. Some scheme norms will be relaxed to cover these remote habitations. In addition, separately, saturation will be ensured for PMJAY, Sickle Cell Disease Elimination, TB Elimination, 100 per cent immunisation, PM Surakshit Matritva Yojana, PM MatruVandanaYojana, PM Poshan, PM Jan Dhan Yojana.