WEDNESDAY 15 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 ‘TESLA TO DOUBLE ITS IMPORT OF COMPONENTS FROM INDIA’ LOSING SUPPORT P6 WEATHER MAINLY CLEAR SKY. SHALLOW TO MODERATE FOG IN THE MORNING. THE MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM TEMPERATURES WOULD BE AROUND 26 AND 11 DEGREES CELSIUS RESPECTIVELY. RAINFALL: Nil RELATIVE HUMIDITY P8 P5 India look to avenge 2019 semi-final heartbreak India take on New Zealand in the first semi-final of the ICC World Cup 2023 today Max.98% Min. 42% TEMPERATURE Max: 25.9°C (-3) SUN RISES 06:44 hrs MOON RISES 09:41 hrs Min: 12.0°C (-2) SUN SETS 17:28 hrs MOON SETS 18:51 hrs TRIDIB BAPARNASH MUMBAI, 14 NOVEMBER A THUMBNAILS People visit a stall of Turkey at the 42nd edition of the India International Trade Fair, (SEE PAGE 3) in New Delhi on Tuesday.  ANI Kerala court awards death to Asafak Alam convicted of rape and murder of five-yeary old girl: The Ernakulam additional district sessions court on Tuesday sentenced to death Ashafaq Alam (28), a Bihar native convicted of abduction, rape, and murder of a five-year-old girl in Aluva. The Special Judge awarded the death punishment to Asafak Alam on Children’s Day. s the ICC World Cup 2023 enters its business end, all eyes are on the final three games, beginning with the first semifinal between India and New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Wednesday. For the uninitiated, India haven’t reached any of the last five finals in ICC whiteball World Cups, while New Zealand have never won one, despite reaching three finals in seven years. Hosts India have displayed a dominant performance, brushing aside opposition teams, be it the fancied ones or the emerging outfits to notch up nine straight and convincing wins, and make themselves the top contenders for lifting the title for a third time, after 1983 and 2011. However, Rohit Sharma’s side will have to deal with a tricky New Zealand in the first semi-final that throws up a repeat of the 2019 encounter at Old Trafford in Manchester, in which the Kiwis denied India a spot in the final. The memories of Mahendra Singh Dhoni being run out by Ross Taylor, ending India’s dreams four years ago, still haunt fans in India. Now, playing in their own backyard, India will look to avenge the loss on Wednesday. However, irrespective of their red-hot form, including the fourwicket victory in the league stage contest against the Black Caps in Dharamsala, Rohit Sharma and Co will be aware of the pitfalls of the knockout stage. For New Zealand, who Par panel recommends reinstating Section 377 AGENCIES NEW DELHI, 14 NOVEMBER A Parliamentary panel on the three Bills proposed by the government to replace colonialera criminal statutes has made several suggestions , which includes bringing back Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which was partially struck down by the Supreme Court in 2018, and retaining the adultery provision, among others. Speaking to the IANS news agency on Tuesday, BJP MP Brij Lal, who heads the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, said: “The panel has recommended several things in all the three Bills. There are many new things in the Bills.” “Like earlier, there was no mention of organised crime in the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which we have added. Many crimes we have termed as 'serious', such as death sentence for those convicted for gangrape of minors,” he said. “Suggestions for adultery has been added under Section 497, which was ended by the Supreme Court. Now we have made it gender neutral and both (male and female) will be responsible,” Mr Lal said. According to the panel, the adultery provision has been recommended because "the institution of marriage is sacred" which must be "protected". Last Friday, the panel submitted its report to Rajya Sabha Chairman and Vice President of India, Jagdeep Dhankhar, on the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS-2023) and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA-2023) Bills. The BJP MP said: “We have made some recommendations for bringing back IPC Section 377.” Section 377 was partially struck down by the Supreme Court on 6 September 2018, decriminalising same-sex relations between consenting adults. The panel has recommended that "non-consensual" sex acts - as defined in the partly struck-down Section 377, be penalised again. Mr Lal said: “Also, for small crimes, we have recommended community service in place of jail sentence,” the BJP MP said, adding that the panel has left the decision on community service with the state governments. “Through this, the poor who have been sentenced to jail and are unable to pay fine have to take up community service,” he said. Mr Lal also said that looking at the frequent adjournments in the courts by defence lawyers, "we have recommended for a maximum of two adjournments in one case". “We have also recommended that if the proceedings and trial are complete, the judgment needs to be passed within a month by the court,” Mr Lal said. qualified from a mid-table clutter involving Pakistan and Afghanistan, the 2023 edition provides them yet another opportunity after two consecutive final appearances in 2015 and 2019, to lift their first ever 50-over World Cup trophy, and the heartbreaking memories of the 2019 final will be surely playing in the back of their minds when they take the field on Wednesday. In their ranks, New Zealand can boast of a new-generation star in prolific batter Rachin Ravindra, certainly the find of the Six friends from Delhi killed in vehicle collision in Muzaffarnagar STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE MUZAFFARNAGAR, 14 NOVEMBER Six men who were heading to Uttarakhand for a vacation died after their car came under a truck on the Delhi-Dehradun highway here in the early hours of Tuesday, police said. The deceased have been identified as Shivam, Parsh, Kunal, Dheeraj, Vishal and another man, all residents of Shahdara in east Delhi, as per reports. According to police, the accident took place around 4 am near Chhapar in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district when the truck going towards Haridwar hit the speeding car. The car was crushed under the truck, they said. The bodies have been sent for post-mortem, the police officials further added. China's role in Indo-Pacific to figure at key Naval meet from today STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 14 NOVEMBER China's aggressive posturing against its neighbours is expected to figure prominently at the annual apexlevel international conference of the Indian Navy -– the Indo-Pacific Regional Dialogue –- which begins here on Wednesday. The three-day event will include a keynote address by Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and a series of special addresses by Union ministers and senior officers of the government, designed to provide overarching guidance to the deliberations of this mega conference, the Ministry of Defence said. The Indo-Pacific Regional Dialogue (IPRD) comes close on the heels of the Goa Maritime Conclave 2023, which was conducted by the Indian Navy from October 29-31 in Goa. In terms of conceptual positioning, the Goa Maritime Conclave seeks to project the Indian Navy’s The three-day event will include a keynote address by Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and a series of special addresses by Union ministers and senior officers of the government. cooperative engagement at the strategic-operational level, by providing a forum for the Chiefs-of-Navy and Heads of Maritime Agencies in the Indian Ocean Region. The IPRD, on the other hand, is the principal manifestation of the Navy’s inter- national engagement at the strategic-level, addressing ‘holistic’ maritime security issues across the Indo-Pacific. The first two editions of IPRD were held in 2018 and 2019 respectively at New Delhi. The IPRD 2020 was cancelled due to the COVID19 outbreak. The third edi- tion of IPRD was held in 2021 in online mode and the fourth edition was conducted, reverting to a physical format, at New Delhi in 2022. The overarching theme of IPRD-2023 is “Geopolitical Impacts upon Indo-Pacific Maritime Trade and Connectivity”. This year’s edition of the IPRD builds upon the previous one, which focussed upon ‘Operationalising the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI)’, by specifically addressing the ‘Trade, Connectivity and Maritime Transport’ pillar of the IPOI. Both ‘Trade’ and ‘Maritime Transport’ are segments of maritime connectivity. International participation at the dialogue will be through eminent speakers from 16 countries, who are expected to offer diverse regional perspectives on the subject, as also through the presence of representatives of the various embassies and high commissions in New Delhi. WE ARE PREPARED, SAYS CHHETRI AHEAD OF WC QUALIFIER KHARGE TO STEP IN TO RESOLVE SP-CONG IMBROGLIO IN UP tournament if cricket pundits are to be believed. Ravindra has hit 565 runs in nine matches and is the team’s highest-scorer in this edition. He has a strike rate of 108.45 and averages 70.63. He also has two half-centuries and three tons to his name in this campaign. Besides Ravindra, New Zealand will also pin their hopes on Mitchell Santner, who has picked up 16 wickets so far at an average of 24.87. Besides the duo, the Kiwis also boast of experienced campaigners, with skipper Williamson leading from the front, along with James Neesham, Tim Southee and Trent Boult, eager to make an impact in what could be their final World Cup appearance. On the other hand, India will be hoping their skipper Rohit Sharma continues the fun run at the top of the order in the company of Shubman Gill, and allow the likes of Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav to pile up the runs. In the bowling, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah will be expected to call the shots even as the Mumbai track promises decent turn and spin for the slower men. In the only ODI World Cup semi-final played at Wankhede, India lost to England by 35 runs in 1987, and come Wednesday, the Men-in-Blue have a golden opportunity to script their own destiny. History beckons for an India side who are looking for a first major tournament win in 12 years, and where better for this semi-final to be held than at the venue where India won their last World Cup back in 2011. P12 Modi’s guarantees will sweep away ‘fake’ Cong promises: PM in MP GAURAV CHANDRA BHOPAL, 14 NOVEMBER Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Tuesday that the Central government would launch a scheme worth Rs 24,000 crore for tribal welfare on the occasion of Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas on revered tribal King Birsa Munda’s birth anniversary on 15 November. Madhya Pradesh has 21 per cent tribal population, which is the highest in any state in India. Of the 230 seats in the MP State Assembly that would go to polls on 17 November, 47 are reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST). Addressing his last three election rallies back-to-back at tribal dominated Jhabua, Betul and Shajapur districts in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh on the penultimate day of canvassing today, the PM asserted that the “fake” promises of the Congress would be swept away in the storm of Modi’s guarantees in these assembly polls. Mr Modi said, without naming anyone, that a Congress leader who is mahagyani (over intelligent) and murkho ka sardaar (leader of idiots) is roaming around saying that Indians are using ‘Made in China’ mobile phones. The PM said mobile phones worth more than Rs 3.5 lakh crore are being manufactured in India and phones worth around Rs 1 lakh crore are being exported too. Mr Modi’s response was apparently to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s statement at an election rally at Neemuch in Madhya Pradesh yesterday that Indians presently use ‘Made in China’ mobile phones and his aim was that one day the people of China should have phones whose label reads ‘Made in Madhya Pradesh’. “The Congress leaders suffer from the ailment of being blind to the country’s achievements and success,” the PM said. “They (the Congress) are wearing foreign glasses, which prevent them from looking at the development and achievement of India,” he added. He said the Assembly polls are against the corruption and loot of the Congress. “You all know full well that, Congress aayee, barbaadi layee (Congress brings devastation),” the PM said.