SATURDAY 09 MARCH 2024 www.thestatesman.com Pages 12 |` 5.00|LC INDIA’S NATIONAL NEWSPAPER SINCE 1818 Twitter.com/thestatesman Facebook.com/thestatesman KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR WEATHER Mainly clear sky very likely. Maximum and minimum temperatures likely to be around 31 °C and 21 °C respectively. RAINFALL: NIL RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max. 82 % TEMPERATURE Max: 31.1°C (-2) SUN RISES 05:52 hrs MOON RISES 04:20 hrs Min.31 % Min: 19.3°C (-2) SUN SETS 17:43 hrs MOON SETS 15:36 hrs New Moon on 10 March THUMBNAILS Shivratri celebration at Bhukailash temple in Kolkata on Friday. SNS Modi announces discount on LPG cylinders: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on the occasion of International Women's Day, announced a discount of Rs 100 on the prices of Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinders. Posting on social media platform ‘X’, the PM said: “Today, on Women's Day, our Government has decided to reduce LPG cylinder prices by Rs 100. This will significantly ease the financial burden on millions of households across the country, especially benefiting our Nari Shakti.” Accounts row: ITAT dismisses Cong plea Stay application against I-T proceedings without merit: I-T tribunal AGENCIES NEW DELHI, 8 MARCH he Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) on Friday dismissed the plea moved by the Congress party which sought a stay against Income Tax Department proceedings of recovery and freezing of their bank accounts. Congress treasurer Ajay Maken said the party is exploring all legal options and would move the high court “very soon”. An ITAT bench of GS Pannu, Vice President, and Anubhav Sharma, Judicial Member, on Friday passed the order and said, "We do not find that the recovery notice under Section 226(3) of the Act issued by the Assessing Officer on February 13, 2024 is lacking in bona fides, so as to require us to intervene." The stay application is without merit and, it is dismissed accordingly, said the bench in its order. T Congress treasurer Ajay Maken said the party is exploring all legal options and would move the high court ‘very soon’ The bench further stated that even after the rejection of the Appeal by the CIT (Appeals) on 28 March 2023, no recovery action seems to have been initiated by the Assessing Officer to recover the demand till 13 February 2024. On the other hand, the assessee has also not demonstrated its keenness to expeditiously settle the issue, it noted. Senior advocate Vivek Tankha who appeared for the Congress had requested the bench to keep the order in abeyance for 10 days so that the Indian National Congress (INC) can approach the concerned High Court. However, the bench declined to so, saying that we have no such provision or prayer before us. During arguments earlier, the Congress's senior lawyer cited the hardship created for the assessee, which is a National Political Party, in view of the forthcoming Parliamentary Elections, alleging that the initiation of the recov- CMYK ery proceedings under section 226 (3) of the Act on 13th February 2024 are so timed that the assessee would not be left with enough resources to contest the Parliamentary Elections. Attributing malice to the action of the Assessing Officer in exercising his power of recovery under Section 226(3) of the Act, senior counsel Vivek Tankha further submitted that the intention is not merely to recover the outstanding demand, but to bring the activities of the assessee to a standstill, as it would not be able to meet out even the basic maintenance and establishment expenditure. Mr Tankha had also submitted that the compliance requirements have been met. Advocate Zoheb Hossain, who appeared for the Income Tax Department, had submitted that this is a regular recovery proceedings and no propaganda ahead of polls. CBI cracks down on traffickers sending youths to Russia STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 8 MARCH The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has busted a major human trafficking network which was active across the country allegedly involved in recruiting unwitting youths for the Russian war effort against Ukraine with the promise of lucrative jobs. According to sources, after sending them off to Russia, agents present there would later get the trafficked Indian nationals trained in combat, and the latter were deployed at the RussiaUkraine war zone, against their wishes. A total of 19 such travel consultants and agencies that are located across the nation have been booked by the CBI over the suspected offence of criminal conspiracy, cheating and human trafficking, the sources said. The central probe agency conducted simultaneous searches at around 13 locations in Delhi, Trivandrum, Mumbai, Ambala, Chandigarh, Madurai and Govt making efforts to bring back Indians: MEA NEW DELHI, 8 MARCH India has strongly taken up with Russia the matter concerning several Indian nationals who have been duped to work in the Russian Army and is making all-out efforts to bring them back home, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on Friday. “Several Indian nationals have been duped to work in the Russian Army. We have strongly taken up the matter for the early discharge of such Indian nationals,” the spokesperson said. SNS Chennai. Officials of the federal agency have so far recovered cash amounting to over Rs 50 lakhs, incriminating documents, and seized electronic records in laptops, mobiles, desktops and CCTV footage. Rahul in first Congress list of 39, to contest from Wayanad STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 8 MARCH The Congress on Friday released the first list of 39 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections, including former party president Rahul Gandhi, who has been fielded from Kerala’s Wayanad, the constituency he currently represents. The list was released a day after the party’s Central Election Committee (CEC) finalised the names of candidates during a meeting chaired by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. Addressing a Press conference, Congress general secretary in charge of organisation KCVenugopal said: “The CEC has selected the first list of 39 candidates which included the name of former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel.’’ Mr Baghel would contest from Rajnandgaon parliamentary constituency in Chhattisgarh. Apart from Mr Gandhi, Mr Venugopal himself will contest from Alappuzha and Shashi Tharoor from his home turf Thiruvananthapuram.
The Statesman is one of India's oldest English newspapers. It was founded in Kolkata in 1875 and is directly descended from The Friend of India (founded 1818). The Englishman (founded 1821) was merged with The Statesman in 1934. The Delhi edition of The Statesman began publication in 1931. The Statesman Weekly is a compendium of news and views from the Kolkata and Delhi editions. Printed on airmail paper, it is popular with readers outside India. The Statesman (average weekday circulation approximately 180,000) is a leading English newspaper in West Bengal. The Sunday Statesman has a circulation of 230,000.