SATURDAY 01 MARCH 2025 www.thestatesman.com Pages 12 |` 5.00| LC X.com/thestatesmanltd. Fb/thestatesman1875 SINCE 1818 KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR SIDDARAMAIAH JOINS ISSUE WITH CENTRE ON DELIMITATION QUESTION ‘UKRAINE PEACE DEAL CANNOT BE ONE THAT REWARDS THE AGGRESSOR’ P9 SENSEX 73,198.10q1414.33 NIFTY WEATHER PARTLY CLOUDY SKY. THE MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM TEMPERATURES WOULD BE AROUND 28 AND 15 DEGREE CELSIUS RESPECTIVELY. RAINFALL: NIL RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max. 75 % TEMPERATURE SUN SETS 18:21 hrs MOON SETS 19:55 hrs THUMBNAILS A boatman uses a snow shovel to wipe off snow from his Shikara at the Dal Lake after resh snowfall, in Srinagar on Friday. n ANI Trial incineration of Bhopal toxic waste begins: More than 40 years after the Bhopal gas tragedy in December 1984, the trial incineration of 10 tons of waste, out of the total 337 metric tons, from the defunct Union Carbide factory in Bhopal finally began around 3 pm on Friday at ‘Ramky Enviro’, a private incineration facility at Pithampur in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh, under heavy police security. GOLD 87,725.00 P12 SILVER 1,05,000 BRENT CRUDE (IN $) 73.14q0.90 PM Modi said the two sides have prepared a blueprint for collaboration in Trade, Technology, etc “ It is exactly the moment we find ourselves in. The planets are aligned – and so are Europe and India. P rime Minister Narendra Modi and European Union President Ursula von Der Leyen on Friday pledged to conclude a bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two sides by the end of the year. "We have directed our teams to conclude a mutually beneficial bilateral FTA by the end of this year," PM Modi announced at a press conference here after the talks between the two sides. He said the two sides have also decided to create URSULA VON DER LEYEN PRESIDENT, EUROPEAN COMMISSION a bold and ambitious roadmap for the India-EU partnership for the period beyond 2025. It will be launched during the next India-EU Summit. The EU is India's largest trading partner in goods. Talks between the two sides for an FTA, stalled for eight years resumed in 2021. Ms von der Leyen is leading a 27-member delegation on a two-day India visit, with both sides expected to speed up talks for the pro- posed FTA. PM Modi noted that this is not just the European Commission’s first visit to India, but also its first such comprehensive engagement in any single country. "Also, this is one of the first visits of the new Commission in its latest term. On this historic occa- sion, I warmly welcome the President of the European Commission and the College of Commissioners to India," he said. Describing the two-decade-long strategic partnership between India and the EU as natural and organic, he noted that its core is built on trust, a shared belief in democratic values, and a mutual commitment to prosperity and shared progress. The Prime Minister added that the two sides have prepared a blueprint for collaboration in the areas of Trade, Technology, Investment, Innovation, Green Growth, Security, Skilling and Mobility. Manipur Guv extends deadline for surrender of looted arms till 6 March 42 construction workers trapped in avalanche in Uttarakhand STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE P R SINGH In response to appeals from residents across both hill and valley regions, Manipur Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla has extended the deadline for the voluntary surrender of looted and illegal arms until 4 p.m. on 6 March. “Upon the expiry of the seven-day deadline for the voluntary surrender of arms, there have been requests from both the valley and hill areas to DEHRADUN, 28 FEBRUARY At least forty-two construction workers are feared trapped in an avalanche at Mana village of Chamoli district in Uttarakhand near the India-China border, officials said on Friday. The on-going rains for the past more than two days resulted in the breaking away of a thick mass of a glacier from the hills of the Mana village area on Thursday at around 1.30 p.m. Rescue teams of IndoTibet Border Police (ITBP) and Border Road Organisation (BRO) were able to rescue 15 workers, while 42 others are still trapped under the debris. India’s GDP grows at 6.2 per cent for Q3FY25; overall FY25 forecast revised to 6.5 per cent STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 28 FEBRUARY Market plunges nearly 2 per cent, investors lose around ` 9 lakh cr STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 28 FEBRUARY 6.4 per cent. For the full fiscal year 2024-25, the Indian economy is expected to grow at 6.5 per cent in Real GDP terms, an upward revision from earlier estimates. The nominal GDP is projected to increase by 9.9 per cent , signaling continued economic expansion. Benchmark indices plunged nearly 2 per cent on Friday, dragged down by a broadbased sell-off wiping out Rs 8.8 lakh crore in market capitalisation. For the week, the total wealth erosion has been recorded at 20 lakh crore. The Nifty 50 ended the session with a 1.85 per cent decline, closing at 22,128 points, marking its biggest single day fall of 2025 while the Sensex recorded its worst intraday fall of the year, tumbling 1.90 per cent to 73,198 points. The Nifty 50 index opened downside at 22,433 and touched an intraday low of 22,104. The Sensex today opened lower at 74,201 and touched an intraday low of 73,141. (Details on Page 10) India needs to expand at 7.8 pc to become a high-income country: World Bank STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE According to the World Bank, India’s gross national income per capita stood at USD 2,540 as of 2023. That number would have to grow to USD 20,000 by 2047 for the country to reach a highincome status. NEW DELHI, 28 FEBRUARY The World Bank in a report on Friday said India’s economy needs to expand at an average growth rate of 7.8 per cent over the coming decades to become a highincome country. “For India to become a high-income economy by 2047, its gross national income per capita would have to increase by nearly 8 times over the current levels,” it said. The World Bank said that India is currently on track to become an upper-middle-income country by 2032, but it will need two more decades of “very high growth” to reach its target of becoming an advanced economy by 2047, the 100th anniversary of its independence from Britain. P7 ‘India, EU to conclude free trade agreement by year-end’ NEW DELHI, 28 FEBRUARY Min: .18.4 °C India's real GDP in the third quarter (Q3) of FY 2024-25 is projected to expand at a rate of 6.2 per cent, data from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) said on Friday. This marks a spike from the GDP growth of 5.4 per cent in the last quarter. The construction sector recorded the highest growth at 8.6 per cent, followed by financial, real estate, and professional services at 7.2 per cent. Trade, hotels, transport, communication, and broadcasting-related services were at 6.4 per cent, while the private final consumption expenditure also rose by 7.6 per cent, reflecting a rebound in consumer spending. As a result, the government has revised its full-year real GDP growth projection for FY25 to 6.5 per cent, from ` vs $ 87.46 ASHOK TUTEJA Min. 56 % Max: 27.0 °C (+0.9) (+5.9) SUN RISES 06:45 hrs MOON RISES 08:06 hrs P8 22,124.70q420.35 JOS BUTTLER STEPS DOWN AS ENGLAND’S WHITE-BALL CAPTAIN ‘INDIA NOW THE SPIRITUAL CAPITAL’ According to the World Bank, India’s gross national income per capita stood at USD 2,540 as of 2023. That number would have to grow to USD 20,000 by 2047 for the country to reach a high-income status. Only a handful of countries have managed to make the transition from middle to high income in less than two decades. Many nations, including Brazil, Malaysia, Mexico, and South Africa, have languished in the middle-income trap for two decades, the lender said. To reach its growth goals, the South Asian country will have to focus on capital investment, labour reforms, and boosting productivity, it added. Over the next three decades, the dependency ratio — the number of children and elderly taken care of by the working-age population — is projected to increase from 45 per cent in 2032 to 49 per cent in 2050, the report said. The report added that India should urgently boost labour force participation and job creation. A team of the Uttarakhand State Disaster Response (SDRF) was also rushed to the avalanche site, while two high-altitude teams were stationed on alert mode in Gauchar and Shastradhara, Dehradun, for transporting the trapped workers to the hospitals. Chamoli District Administration and SDRF officials informed that although the exact position of the workers trapped under avalanche will be known after taking stock of the situation at the site, but they were believed to be close to each other when the incident took place and a thick mass of snow and glacier came crashing down above them. IMPHAL, 28 FEBRUARY extend the period. I have considered these requests and decided to extend the deadline until 4 PM on March 6,” read an official statement from the Governor’s office. The statement further reiterated that individuals who surrender their weapons within this period will not face punitive action. Over 300 weapons were handed over in the last week in the wake of Mr Bhalla's appeal, Manipur Police said. (Details on Page 03)