TUESDAY 28 JANUARY 2025 www.thestatesman.com X.com/thestatesmanltd. Fb/thestatesman1875 SINCE 1818 Pages 12 |` 5.00 |LC KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR ‘COLOMBIA AGREES TO TAKE DEPORTED MIGRANTS’ CONGRESS WILL BREAK THE WALL OF 50 PER CENT RESERVATION P9 SENSEX 75,366.17q−824.29 WEATHER Generally clear. Cloudy in the evening. Maximum and minimum temperatures likely to be around 27°C and 16°C respectively. HOW CAN ANYONE OPPOSE UCC THAT BRINGS ABOUT GENDER EQUALITY P5 NIFTY 22,829.15q−263.05 ` vs $ 85.79 JASPRIT BUMRAH NAMED ICC TEST CRICKETER OF 2024 P4 SILVER 99,000 GOLD 82,795.00 ‘India, US will work together for global peace’ RAINFALL: NIL RELATIVE HUMIDITY PM Modi spoke with US President Donald Trump over phone and congratulated him Max. 85% STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 27 JANUARY Min. 29% TEMPERATURE Max: 25.2˚C SUN RISES 06:17 hrs MOON RISES 16:26 hrs Min: 14.2˚C SUN SETS 17:22 hrs MOON SETS 05:29 hrs P New Moon on 29 January THUMBNAILS A huge crowd of tourists gather during Urs of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, n ANI Sridhar Vembu steps down as Zoho CEO to become companyÊs chief scientist:Sridhar Vembu, Founder and CEO of software major Zoho Corporation, on Monday stepped down as the CEO to serve as the company’s chief scientist. In a post on X social media platform, Vembu who was touted as 39th richest person in India with a net worth of $5.85 billion last year and was awarded India's fourth highest civilian award, the Padma Shri, in 2021. (Page 10) CM to unveil book fair today rime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday evening spoke with US President Donald Trump over phone, saying that India and the United States will work together towards global peace, prosperity, and security. Modi congratulated Trump on his second term in office. This was the first telephone conversation between both leaders since US President Donald Trump took office, last week. In a post on X after the telephone conversation, Modi said, "Delighted to speak with my dear friend President @realDonaldTrump @POTUS. Congratulated him on his historic second term. We are committed to a mutually beneficial and trusted partnership. We will work together for the welfare of our people and towards global peace, prosperity, and security." Earlier, on 20 January, KOLKATA, 27 JANUARY Chief minister Mamata Banerjee will inaugurate the 48th Kolkata International Book Fair (KIBF) at Boi Mela prangan in Salt Lake tomorrow afternoon. The theme country for this year's book fair is Germany. Philip Ackermann, ambassador of Germany in India, Marla Stuckenberg, regional director Goethe Institute, south Asia will be present at the inaugural ceremony. Well-known novelist Abul Basar will be conferred Guild Lifetime Literary Award by the chief minister Mamata Banerjee. There will be 1,000 stalls, highest ever in the KIBF. The book fair which is the biggest of its kind in the country will be held till 9 February. Hectic work is on to ensure a trouble-free fair. There is an enclosure where English books brought out by different national and international publishers will be kept. There are stalls for little magazines and small publishers along with the big ones. Attempts will be made to ensure that all the publishers could open their stall from 29 January. Goyendapith Lalbazar, a Bengali book on different stories involving the detective department of Kolkata Police and penned by Supratim Sarkar, ADG South Bengal will be released at the fair. Several gates named after great personalities have been put up. They are Salil Chowdhury, Ritwik Ghatak, Goethe, Max Muller, Hackeschen Hofe, Brandenburg Jibananda Nazrul. The roads at the Boimela Prangan have been named after great German literary personalities like Rainer Maria Rike, Bertolt, Franz Kafka and Thomas Mann. both our countries and to shape a better future for the world. Best wishes for a successful term ahead," wrote PM Modi as Trump took the oath at Capitol Rotunda. PM Modi and Trump had also spoken soon after the Republican leader's triumph in the Presidential election. JPC clears Waqf (Amendment) Bill STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 27 JANUARY STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE PM Modi had congratulated Trump on his return to the White House for a historic second term. "Congratulations my dear friend President Donald Trump on your historic inauguration as the 47th President of the United States! I look forward to working closely together once again, to benefit The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) examining the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, on Monday, approved 14 amendments proposed by the ruling BJP-led NDA members and all suggested changes moved by the Opposition members were negated by the panel. After the conclusion of the meeting, JPC chairman and BJP MP Jagdambika Pal informed that the amendments were accepted based on a majority vote, with 16 members supporting the changes and 10 opposing them. "44 amendments were discussed clause by clause. After detailed discussions over 6 months, we sought amendments from all members. This was our final meeting," he said. Taking to X, PM Modi wrote: "Had a great conversation with my friend, President Donald Trump, congratulating him on his spectacular victory. Looking forward to working closely together once again to further strengthen India-US relations across technology, defence, energy, space and several other P12 sectors." Both leaders had affirmed the resolution to work together for global peace. Trump was quoted saying that the whole world loves PM Modi, adding that India is a magnificent country and the Indian Prime Minister is a "magnificent man". PM Modi had congratulated Trump on his victory in the US presidential elections, asserting that he is looking forward to renewing collaboration with the 78-year-old leader to further strengthen the India-US Comprehensive Global and Strategic Partnership. Trump has already promised to strengthen the "great partnership" with India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his second term, continuing the close ties he forged in his first term. In his Diwali 2024 greetings, Trump said: "Under my administration, we will strengthen our great partnership with India and my good friend, Prime Minister Modi." BRENT CRUDE (IN $) 75.7q−0.35 India, China to resume Kailash Mansarovar Yatra STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 27 JANUARY In a major step towards normalisation of bilateral ties, India and China on Monday decided to resume the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra in the summer of 2025 and agreed to hold an early meeting of the Expert Level Mechanism to discuss resumption of provision of hydrological data and other cooperation pertaining to trans-border rivers. The two sides also decided to take appropriate measures to further promote and facilitate people-to-people exchanges, including media and thinktank interactions. They agreed in principle to resume direct air services between the two countries. The relevant technical authorities on the two sides will meet and negotiate an updated framework for this purpose at an early date. The decisions were taken during talks Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri had with Chinese leaders and top officials during his two-day visit to Beijing. Mr Misri was in China for a meeting of the Foreign Secretary-Vice Foreign Minister mechanism. As agreed between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping at their meeting in Kazan in October last year, the two sides reviewed the state of IndiaChina bilateral relations com- prehensively and agreed to take certain people-centric steps to stabilise and rebuild ties.They agreed to take appropriate measures to further promote and facilitate people-to-people exchanges, including media and thinktank interactions. They agreed in principle to resume direct air services between the two countries; the relevant technical authorities on the two sides will meet and negotiate an updated framework for this purpose at an early date. An official statement said the two sides recognise that 2025, being the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and China, should be utilised to redouble public diplomacy efforts to create better awareness about each other and restore mutual trust and confidence among the public. The two sides will conduct a number of commemorative activities to mark this anniversary. The two sides took stock of the extant mechanisms for functional exchanges. It was agreed to resume these dialogues step by step and to utilise them to address each other’s priority areas of interest and concern. Specific concerns in the economic and trade areas were discussed with a view to resolving these issues and promoting long-term policy transparency and predictability.