THURSDAY 14 AUGUST 2025 www.thestatesman.com Pages 12 |` 5.00|LC X.com/thestatesmanltd. Fb/thestatesman1875 SINCE 1818 KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR ‘GOVT-INDUSTRY SYNERGY KEY TO NEXT PHASE OF INDIA-SINGAPORE TIES’ ‘RAHUL SILENT ON VOTE CHORI IN AP AS HE IS IN TOUCH WITH NAIDU’ P8 SENSEX 80,539.91 p304.31 WEATHER GENERALLY CLOUDY SKY. ONE OR TWO SPELLS OF LIGHT TO MODERATE RAIN/THUNDERSHOWERS WITH HIGHER PROBABILITY DURING MORNING HOURS/FORENOON.THE MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM TEMPERATURES WOULD BE AROUND 33 AND 25 DEGREES CELSIUS RESPECTIVELY. RAINFALL: 000.2 mm RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max. 91 % TEMPERATURE Max: 35.0 °C (-0.4) SUN RISES 05:51 hrs MOON RISES 22:07 hrs Min. 60% Min: 26.8°C (-0.2) SUN SETS 19:01 hrs MOON SETS 11:53 hrs THUMBNAILS Special Operations Group personnel during full dress reherasals ahead of 79th Independence Day celebrations in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday. nANI Finance Ministry issues corrigendum to correct error in I-T Bill: The Finance Ministry has issued a corrigendum to correct a drafting error in the newly introduced Income Tax Bill, 2025 clarifying on the penal interest on shortfalls in advance tax payments. The amendment clarifies that penal interest on shortfalls in advance tax payments remains unchanged at 3 per cent per quarter with 1 per cent per month for three months. NEW DELHI, 13 AUGUST Congress general secretary KC Venugopal announced Wednesday that his party would launch a massive "Vote Adhikar Yatra" in Bihar on 17 August. "The fight to protect our democracy will take place on the streets! Starting August 17th, LOP Shri @RahulGandhi ji and INDIA parties will embark on a massive Vote Adhikar Yatra across Bihar," Venugopal said in a post shared on social media platform X. The yatra, led by Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi along with leaders from INDIA bloc parties, aims to protest against the alleged manipulation of electoral rolls through the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. Mr Venugopal said he has met INDIA bloc leaders in Sasaram to assess preparations and coordination for the yatra, which will take place in Bihar P5 NIFTY 24,619.35 p131.95 ` vs $ 87.42 GOLD `1,02,980 Around 5,000 guests have been invited to witness the historic event STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 13 AUGUST P rime Minister Narendra Modi will spearhead the 79th Independence Day celebrations at the Red Fort on Friday, where he will unfurl the national flag and address the nation. This year’s celebrations will reflect the theme ‘Naya Bharat’, celebrating the country’s transformative journey through inclusive development, technological advancement, and national pride. In a significant move towards public participation, around 5,000 special guests from across the country including achievers in sports, agriculture, entrepreneurship, and social development, have been invited to witness the historic event at Red Fort. The special invitees include medal winners from the Special Olympics 2025, champions of the Khelo India Para Games, outstanding farmers, entrepreneurs from tribal and SC/ST communities, youth to raise awareness and build public opinion against the alleged vote manipulation. The Congress party has been actively protesting against the alleged vote manipulation, with plans to organize various programs, including rallies and signature campaigns. The party aims to make the battle against "Vote Chori" a mass movement, mobilizing public support and demanding accountability from the Election Commission. The Congress-led Opposition’s protest assumes significance in the wake of the upcoming assembly polls in the state. The Opposition claims that the SIR drive is being used selectively and disproportionately, targeting vulnerable sections of society, and potentially leading to large-scale voter list deletions. The Election Commission of India, however, maintained that the SIR drive is a routine process aimed at cleaning up electoral rolls by removing duplicate or fake voters. authors, Anganwadi workers, Swachhta workers, and My Bharat volunteers, among many others. According to a statement from the Ministry of Defence, Prime Minister Modi will be received at the Red Fort by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Minister of State for Defence Sanjay Seth, and Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh. He will be formally welcomed by Lieutenant General Bhavnish Kumar, General Officer Commanding, Delhi Area, who will lead him to the saluting base where a combined Guard of Honour will be presented. This year, the Indian Air Force is the coordinating service for the ceremonial proceedings. The Guard of Honour will include 96 personnel, comprising contingents from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Delhi Police, led by Wing Commander AS Sekhon. The respective contingents will be commanded by Major Arjun Singh (Army), Lt Commander Komaldeep Singh (Navy), Squadron Leader Rajan Arora (Air Force), and Additional DCP Rohit Rajbir Singh (Delhi Police). Following the inspection, the Prime Minister will ascend the ramparts of the Red Fort, greeted by the Chiefs of the three Services and the Chief of Defence Staff. The national flag will be hoisted by the Prime Minister, assisted by Flying Officer Rashika Sharma, in synchrony with a 21-gun salute fired by the 1721 Field Battery (Ceremonial), using indigenous 105mm Light Field Guns under the command of Major Pawan Singh Shekhawat. As the Tricolour is raised, flower petals will be showered over the venue by two Indian Air Force Mi-17 helicopters, led by Wing Commanders Vinay Poonia and Aditya Jaiswal. One of the helicopters will display the national flag, while the other will carry a flag symbolizing ‘Operation Sindoor’, India’s recent military success that will be a key feature of this year’s celebrations. In a strong visual tribute, Operation Sindoor's logo will appear on view cutters, floral decorations, and even on official invitation cards, which also carry a watermark of the Chenab Bridge, representing the rise of a new and modern India. PARMOD KUMAR spaces within eight weeks, house them in shelters, and bar their release back to the streets. The May 2024 ruling relegated stray dog cases to High Courts, stressing that “under all circumstances, there cannot be any indiscriminate killings of canines,” while the 11 August order, issued in suo motu proceedings over rabies-related deaths, called the menace “very disturbing and alarming” and warned of contempt action against anyone ~ individual or organisation ~ obstructing rounding-up drives. Authorities were told to prioritise vulnerable localities, create dedicated forces if nec- essary, and ensure shelters are adequately staffed for sterilisation and vaccination. Issuing a clarification on its 11 August order, the bench of Justice Pardiwala and Justice Mahadevan said its directions were the product of two decades of documented failure by authorities to tackle a public safety threat, not “momentary impulse.” Stressing that the move was in the interest of both humans and animals, the bench noted alarming bite statistics ~ over 37 lakh cases nationwide and 25,201 in Delhi ~ and said the exercise must be humane, with no overcrowding, adequate food, medical care, and BRENT CRUDE (IN $) 65.02 Jaishankar to visit Moscow, Chinese FM coming to India next week STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 14 AUGUST External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar will hold a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on 21 August during which the two leaders will discuss key issues on the bilateral agenda between India and Russia. The meeting follows National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval's recent visit to Moscow, where he met Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russia's First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov and Russia’s Secretary of the Security Council Sergei Shoigu. Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is set to visit India on 18 August for talks under the Special Representative mechanism, reports indicated on Wednesday. The visit is scheduled to take place shortly before Prime Minister Narendra Modi travels to China to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit scheduled to take place at Tianjin later this month. CJI B R Gavai constituted a special bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and N.V. Anjaria following a mentioning by advocate Nanita Sharma pointing out the conflicting orders of the apex court. NEW DELHI, 13 AUGUST P12 SILVER `1,15,000 3-judge bench to hear stray dog issue amid conflicting SC orders The Supreme Court will on Thursday hear the contentious issue of community and stray dog regulation after two different benches issued conflicting directions ~ one in May 2024 and another on 11 August 2025. Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai constituted a special bench of Justice Vikram Nath, Justice Sandeep Mehta and Justice N.V. Anjaria following a mentioning by advocate Nanita Sharma, representing NGO Conference for Human Rights (India), pointing out the conflicting orders. Ms Sharma pointed out the divergence between a May 2024 order of Justice J.K. Maheshwari and Justice Sanjay Karol ~ which prohibited indiscriminate killing and mandated compassion in line with existing laws ~ and the recent order of Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice R. Mahadevan directing DelhiNCR authorities to remove all stray dogs from public ODI RANKINGS: ROHIT OVERTAKES BABAR P9 PM to lead I-Day with ‘Naya Bharat’ theme Congress’ ‘Vote Adhikar Yatra’ in Bihar from 17 August: Venugopal STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE USA DEFENDS TRUMP’S OUTREACH TO PAKISTAN adoption permitted only under the Animal Welfare Board’s 2022 protocol. It said that the directions given by it, as a court which functions for the welfare of the people, are both in the interest of humans as well as dogs. "This is not personal," it said. The Court highlighted the vulnerability of visually impaired persons, children, elderly people, and homeless individuals to dog attacks, and said coexistence cannot mean one’s life at the cost of another. It also noted that rabies carriers cannot be visually distinguished from other dogs, complicating selective removal. Savarkar Case: Rahul tells court that he faces a threat to his life The late Vinayak Damodar Savarkar's grand nephew Satyaki Savarkar stated that Rahul Gandhi's statement "is frivolous, and filed with the intention of delaying the trial". STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE MUMBAI, 13 AUGUST Congress leader and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi told a Pune court on Wednesday that he faces a threat to life due to his recent political battles and the lineage of the complainant Satyaki Savarkar in the defamation case against him. Rahul Gandhi urged the special MP/MLA court, which is hearing a defamation case, to take judicial notice of what he has described as “grave apprehensions” to his safety and to the fairness of proceedings in the case. "Given the documented history of violent and anticonstitutional tendencies linked to the complainant’s (Satyaki Savarkar's) lineage, there exists a clear, reasonable, and substantial apprehension that Rahul Gandhi may face harm, wrongful implication, or other forms of targetting,” Rahul Gandhi's lawyer made a submission before the court. “In view of the grave history associated with such lineage, the defence harbours a genuine and reasonable apprehension that history must not be permitted to repeat itself,” the submission stated. However, the late Vinayak Damodar Savarkar's grand nephew Satyaki Savarkar stated that Rahul Gandhi's statement "is frivolous, and filed with the intention of delaying the trial". "The facts mentioned in the application by Rahul Gandhi have nothing to do with the present case," Satyaki Savarkar told media persons in Pune on Wednesday. It may be recalled that the late Vinayak Damodar Savarkar's grand nephew Satyaki Savarkar had filed a complaint against Rahul Gandhi, alleging that in a speech made in London in March 2023, the Congress leader claimed that V D Savarkar had written in a book that he and five to six of his friends once beat up a Muslim man and he (V D Savarkar) felt happy about it. Satyaki Savarkar said no such incident ever took place, and that the late Vinayak Damodar Savarkar never wrote any such thing anywhere. Accordingly, he had sought Rahul Gandhi’s conviction under Section 500 of the IPC and compensation under Section 357 CrPC. However, the court has already granted bail to Rahul Gandhi in the case. Congress is mother of electoral fraud: BJP Military meets media: KBC’s I-Day promo stirs applause and outrage STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE PARWINDER SANDHU NEW DELHI, 13 AUGUST Taking on the Congress on the issue of voter fraud, the BJP on Wednesday accused the grand old party of being the “mother of electoral fraud”. In a social media post, the BJP citing a series of alleged fraud that the Congress indulged in during the early years of independent India. It listed five instances between 1952 and 1987, saying that Congress leaders, including former prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, engaged in malpractices to secure victories in the elections, it said in the post, which also carried infographics. The first instance occurred in 1952, when Congress and Communist leaders 'colluded' to defeat Dr BR Ambedkar in elections, it said. With images of Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, and Rahul Gandhi in the social media post, the BJP captioned it: “The mother of electoral fraud is Congress”, adding the slogan, “Congress’s attack on democracy - 1952, 1957, 1967, 1975, 1987… still continuing.” The BJP’s second cited example was from 1957, when Congress supporters allegedly carried out India’s first-ever booth capturing in Begusarai, Bihar. It further accused the party of manipulating the 1967 Jammu and Kashmir elections, claiming that opposition nominations were rejected en masse, allowing the party to win 61 seats uncontested. Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, it alleged, secured her 1975 Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat through rigging, an election result later challenged in court, leading to the imposition of the Emergency. Another incident mentioned was from 1987, when the Congress, in alliance with the National Conference, allegedly rigged the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections - an event often cited by analysts as a trigger for the beginning of insurgency in the valley. It comes amid an increasingly heated political climate, with both parties accusing each other on various fronts in the run-up to key state elections in Bihar, and the next year's assembly elections in Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry. NEW DELHI, 13 AUGUST The recent trailer of Independence Day special episode of Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) season 17, featuring Col Sofiya Qureshi, Wing Commander Vyomika Singh, and Commander Prerna Deosthaleem, has triggered a plethora of reactions regarding the appearance of the serving officers on the game show. Hosted by actor Amitabh Bachchan, the special episode will be aired on Independence Day on Sony TV. In the promo, the officers are seen speaking about the key moments from Operation Sindoor. Col Qureshi, who shot into the limelight while carrying out the media briefings of Operation Sindoor was heard saying, “Pakistan yeh karta chala araha hai. Toh jawab dena banta tha sir. Isiliye Operation Sindoor ko plan kiya gaya (Pakistan had been carrying out such acts repeatedly. A response was necessary, and that’s why Operation Sindoor was planned).” Sitting alongside her on the hot seat is Wing Commander Vyomika Singh, who had co-hosted the briefings with Col. Qureshi. Speaking about the quick execution of the operation, Vyomika said: “Raat ko ek baj kar paanch minute se lekar dedh baje tak, pachhis minute me khel khatam kar diya. (From 1:05 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. we completed the entire operation in just 25 minutes).” Commander Prerna spoke about the precision with which the entire operation was planned jointly by the three services. “Targets were destroyed and no harm was caused to any civilian.” Amidst the chants of Bharat Mata Ki jai by the show’s host and the audience the promo ends with Col Qureshi rendering its closing line, “Ye ek naya Bharat nayi soch ke saath hai. (This is a new India with a new vision).” The three officers are seen dressed in their uniforms as they appear on the show. “Three officers of the Armed Forces will appear on Kaun Banega Crorepati, a private entertainment show, in full uniform, explaining to a Bollywood actor the planning of a military operation. In any serious nation with a professional military, this would be unthinkable. But this is the spectacle of New India under Narendra Modi. An absolute disgrace,” the Kerala state unit of Indian National Congress wrote on X. “Indian Armed Forces officers, including Col. Sofiya Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh, will discuss Operation Sindoor on KBC's Independence Day special. it's PR or honoring service,” wrote a user on X. There were many who praised the move too. “Absolutely! Operation Sindoor was a proud moment for the nation, and showcasing it on KBC is pure brilliance. Let the truth shine where everyone can see it,” expressed a user. “Visibility. Inspiration. National pride. Operation Sindoor led by officers Sofiya Qureshi & Vyomika Singh, is a story that deserves to be told. Airing it on #KBC can inspire youth and deepen the nation's connection with our armed forces,” wrote another.