www.thestatesman.com | FOLLOW US: India’s National Newspaper since 1818 @TheStatesmanLtd | Pages 16 @thestatesmanltd | ₹5.00 8th Day | People’s Parliament, Always in Session thestatesman1875 KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | BHUBANESWAR Evolve LUCKNOW | SILIGURI | 01 February 2026 S P O RT S Two Artists, Two States Expert Speak: Poultry protein daily | MUMBAI | Rybakina wins Australian Open by beating No. 1 Sabalenka for her 2nd Grand Slam title Page 16 BRIEFLY Robust IndiaUS trade deal could happen quite soon, says Piyush Goyal Mumbai: Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday said India expects to conclude a robust trade agreement “quite soon” with the United States, with negotiations continuing in parallel to its recently concluded pact with the European Union. In an interview with a television channel, Goyal said that India remains regularly in touch with US counterparts and is confident of reaching a deal, while rejecting suggestions that the FTA with Europe could delay talks with Washington. “We are having very good discussions with the United States of America,” Mr Goyal said, adding, “I think we'll have an equally robust, equally good deal with the US quite soon.” Sunetra sworn in as Maharashtra Dy CM STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE Mumbai, 31 January L ate Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's widow and NCP Rajya Sabha MP Sunetra Pawar was sworn in as Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra on Saturday evening, hours after she was elected by the Ajit Pawar-led NCP as its legislative party leader at the Vidhan Bhavan. After she was elected as the NCP's legislative party leader, Sunetra Pawar resigned as the NCP's Rajya Sabha MP. Maharashtra Governor Devvrat thereafter administered the oath of office to her at 5 p.m. at the Raj Bhavan, As Deputy CM, she will hold the portfolios of sports and state excise. Sunetra Pawar will also contest the bypolls to the Baramati Assembly constituency in Pune district, which has now fallen vacant after her husband's Ajit Pawar's tragic demise in an air crash on Wednesday morning, sources said. At present the NCP's tally in the Maharashtra Assembly has come down to 40, after Ajit Pawar's demise. Sources said that Praful Patel will be made the national president of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, though a large section of party leaders feel that Sunetra Pawar must be appointed as the party's national president instead. According to sources, there are also reservations about the way Praful Patel and Union Minister Amit Shah have allegedly been “directing” political events in Maharashtra, in a fait accompli style. According to sources, it has been decided that the crucial finance portfolio which was held by the late Ajit Pawar will go to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis “temporarily” since the Maharashtra Budget session is scheduled for March, when Fadnavis will present the Maharashtra state Budget. After the Budget session, the finance portfolio will be given to the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, sources said, though it is not yet clear whether the crucial finance portfolio will be given to Sunetra Pawar or some other NCP leader. Meanwhile, the elder son of the late Ajit Pawar has been pitched for the post of NCP's Rajya Sabha MP, in the place of his mother Sunetra. Ajit Pawar-led NCP leader and Member of Legislative Council (MLC) Idris Naikwadi said: “Sunetra Pawar will be the first woman Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Ajit Pawar’s son Parth Pawar should also be given a chance in a statutory position. I will suggest his name for the Rajya Sabha”. Sources have confirmed that the Ajit Pawar-led NCP leadership has agreed to push for Parth Pawar to be made the party’s Rajya Sabha MP. • Related reports: Page 5 EAM: States targeted by terrorism have right to defend themselves STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE New Delhi, 31 January Addressing the 2nd India-Arab Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (IAFMM) here, External Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday made it clear to Pakistan, without naming the neighbouring country, that it will have to bear the consequences of any terror attack on Indian territory. Highlighting the threat posed to humankind by terrorism, he said cross-border terrorism is particularly unacceptable as it violates the basic principle of international relations and diplomacy. ‘’States targeted by terrorism have the right to defend themselves and will understandably exercise it,’’ he asserted. Mr Jaishankar said it is essential for the global community to strengthen cooperation to combat the scourge of terrorism. “Zerotolerance for terrorism must be an uncompromising universal norm,’’ he added. The minister said the meeting between India and the Arab nations is taking place at a time when the global order is undergoing transformation for a variety of reasons. The landscape of West Asia has undergone a dramatic change in the last year. This obviously impacts all Arab nations as well as India, which is in the proximate region. Mr Jaishankar said India has strong partnership with Arab nations. With some of the Arab nations, it enjoys strategic partnership. Much of the relationship is rooted in history when the two sides exchanged goods, people and ideas. PM reiterates India’s support for Palestinians New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday reiterated India’s support for the people of Palestine and welcomed ongoing peace efforts, including the Gaza peace plan. The PM was talking to a visiting delegation of Foreign Ministers of Arab countries, Secretary General of the League of Arab States and Heads of Arab delegations, who are in India for the second IndiaArab Foreign Ministers’ Meeting. Mr Modi highlighted the deep and historic people-to-people ties between India and the Arab world which have continued to inspire and strengthen our relations over the years.He conveyed his appreciation for the important role played by the Arab League in supporting efforts towards peace. Shah links infiltration, Vande Mataram to call for regime change; TMC hits back Top Pak terrorist among 4 trapped in fierce gunfight with security forces in Kishtwar UNITED NEWS OF INDIA STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE Kolkata, 31 January Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday made a sharp attack on what he described as unchecked infiltration into West Bengal, linking the issue to questions of nationalism, border security, and what he claimed was the Trinamul Congress’s ‘opposition’ to Vande Mataram. “The problem of infiltration in Bengal is no longer confined to the state but has become a threat to the entire country,” the Home Minister said at a BJP rally in Barrackpore. He accused the Mamata Banerjeeled government of deliberately encouraging infiltration for electoral gains. “You all think that only to please its vote bank and promote infiltration, the TMC is opposing Vande Mataram,” he maintained. “This is the 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram. It was written against the British government and became the slogan of India’s freedom movement,” he said. He, however, claimed that MPs from the Trinamul Congress had opposed the song when it was discussed in Parliament. “See the problem. Vande Mataram was born in Bengal, but when it was discussed in Parliament, Mamata Banerjee’s MPs opposed it. Should the people of Bengal accept this?” he asked the gathering. Returning to the issue of border security, Mr Shah accused the state government of obstructing fencing along the international border. “For fencing, this government is not giving us land. Because of that, we cannot complete the fencing. At the same time, fake documents are being made, and those infiltrators are roaming across the entire country and creating disturbances,” he alleged. The Union Home Minister cited a recent observation by the Calcutta High Court, saying the court had directed that land be provided to the Border Security Force by 31 March 2026. “The High Court has admitted that the state government is lackadaisical in giving land to the BSF,” Shah said. He added that the TMC would continue to delay the process because infiltration formed its “vote bank.” Hitting back at Mr Shah’s comments, especially regarding the issue of Vande Mataram, the Trinamul Congress, in a withering post on the X social media platform, said the Union home minister invoking the national song would mean something if his party hadn’t repeatedly exposed its contempt for Bengal’s intellectual and cultural legacy. The TMC cited Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay as “Bankim Da” on the floor of Parliament, and BJP MP Anurag Thakur’s “Vande Bharat gaffe. “This amounts to appropriation without respect, symbolism without substance, and culture without comprehension. BJP doesn’t honour Bengal’s icons, it weaponises them, empties them of meaning, and repackages them for votes. Bengal’s legacy deserves reverence, not this counterfeit nationalism,” the party said. Jammu, 31 January After a 12-day lull, security forces on Saturday morning re-established contact with a group of fleeing Pakistani terrorists in the Dolgam area of Kishtwar, triggering a fierce gunfight with troops of the Indian Army. Unconfirmed reports claim that three security forces personnel and a terrorist were injured during the exchange of fire. At least four terrorists were trapped in the area as the security forces tightened the cordon. Reports said that the injured terrorist was spotted by a drone. The Army’s White Knight Corps, along with the CRPF and J&K Police, at around 5.30am re-established contact with terrorists involved in the 18 January encounter in which a Havildar of the Special Forces was killed and seven jawans injured at Chhatru in the Kishtwar district. GoC-in- C Northern Command Lt General Pratik Sharma flew to Kishtwar this morning to review the counter terrorism grid and operational preparedness. Security forces had established contact with this group of terrorists twice on 22 and 25 January, but they somehow managed to escape. Unconfirmed reports claim that a wanted top terrorist Saifullah is likely among others trapped in the Dolgam encounter. The Army has launched ‘Operation TRASHI-1’ to flush out the Pakistani terrorists from the mountain areas of the Kishtwar, Doda, Udhampur and Kathua districts of the Jammu division. The security forces have moved deeper into the dense forests amid hostile weather conditions and heavy snow. The White Knight Corps wrote on X; “During the ongoing joint Operation TRASHI-I, contact with terrorists was re-established in the early hours of 31 Jan 2026, in the general area of Dolgam by troops of White Knight Corps, J&K Police and CRPF. Intelligence from all sources had been coordinated to provide inputs to execute the operation on ground. A cordon has been established and operations are in progress”. Northern Army Commander Lt General Pratik Sharma was personally overseeing the Operation and “he visited Kishtwar to review the Counter Terrorism grid and operational preparedness. The Army Commander while interacting with the ground Commanders and the ever committed troops, commended them for their unwavering resolve in the ongoing efforts”. Lt General Pratik Sharma on Friday chaired a comprehensive joint security review meeting with key stakeholders at the White Knight headquarters at Nagrota, to assess the evolving security dynamics in the region. The for um discussed seamless synergy in Operations, joint combat readiness and strengthening of the Counter Terrorism grid. Modalities for heightened alertness were also formulated, leveraging all available resources in the region. India’s next Budget: Reform burst or signals for the long term? JAYANTA ROY CHOWDHURY New Delhi, 31 January When Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman rises in Parliament on Sunday to present India’s Budget for 2026–27, her speech will arrive at a crucial juncture. In the face of global headwinds, she will need to come up with a ‘smart’ reforms spurt to push India’s growth story, but rising public debt will mean Mrs Sitharaman will also have to signal intent to consolidate the country’s ever-increasing spending. Politically, this is perhaps the best time to push the reforms agenda. It's been two years since the NDA government has come back to power through a Parliamentary election, and despite the needs to play to the gallery ahead of elections to two states which the BJP’s electoral Juggernaut has not been able to conquer, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, it is also the best time to take risks with reforms, as the next general election is three years away. That reform burst is of course also a must, if North Bloc’s Mandarins wish to push the country’s GDP to grow by the projected 6.8 and 7.2 per cent, despite the fact that the larger global economy remains buffeted by protectionist tariffs, and geopolitical friction. India’s exports in both goods and services, which account for over a fifth of the GDP, will remain at risk regardless of the number of FTAs it signs. To raise finances for that growth story, India needs to interest investors and global rating agencies, who are looking at the longer term. Which means after increasing its spending way beyond the Indian state’s capacity through the Covid years, it now needs to reinforce ‘baby steps’ towards a much-needed era of fiscal consolidation to check a slowly but steadily expanding public debt, which now stands at nearly 56 per cent of India’s GDP. At the heart of the spending spree has been capital expenditure on India’s roads, railways, ports and airports. In the last dozen years, the Centre’s budget has relied heavily on expanding capital spending, raising it from just 1.6 per cent of GDP in 2014-15 to 3.1 per cent of GDP in the 2025-26 budget. Will India then roll back its capital spending? Unlikely. ‘Sarak, Bijli, Pani’ (roads, electricity and water) have always been vote getters and the push for expanding and improving them will remain, but with riders and perhaps with more private participation so as not to stretch the Centre’s finances beyond a point. Fiscal policy will possibly focus on a credible roadmap to reduce the debt-to-GDP ratio, targeting a deficit of around 4.2 cent in the coming financial year and 4 per cent or below in the year after, even as public capital expenditure in infrastructure, logistics and manufacturing, continues. Reforms will be more ‘smart’ in nature than the sweeping changes of the sort that Manmohan Singh, Yashwant Sinha, P Chidambaram or even Arun Jaitley brought in. At the macro level, only marginal tweaks are being expected in income tax slabs, with greater emphasis on simplifying compliance and perhaps introducing joint taxation for married couples, though this has its critics. From the industry, there is a growing pressure to simplify the sprawling system of tax deducted at source. Consolidating dozens of rates, which serve to confuse, into just three or four broad categories and exempting business-to-business payments, which are already covered by GST, would possibly reduce compliance costs for firms that complain of an overlapping tax regime trap. Small businesses, long termed the “backbone of the economy”, may receive targeted incentives through a second round of deregulation, better access to export credit and modest tax relief under presumptive taxation schemes, helping them grow with fewer worries. The defining feature of Budget 2026, however, is expected to be its strong tilt toward new technologies and green growth. Targeted tax incentives for artificial intelligence, robotics, data centres and highperformance computing are possibly on the cards. India needs to be positioned as a global digital and innovation hub. Funnelling investments into the cutting-edge areas of cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure and fintech can be the ‘Mantra’ to strengthen the digital economy. • Turn to Page 4