FRIDAY 30 MAY 2025 www.thestatesman.com X.com/thestatesmanltd. Fb/thestatesman1875 SINCE 1818 Pages 16 |` 5.00|LC KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR P6 SENSEX 81,633.02 p320.70 TRUMP SAYS HARVARD SHOULD HAVE 15 PC CAP ON FOREIGN STUDENTS ‘VIKSIT KRISHI SANKALP ABHIYAN TO EMPOWER 1.5 CR INDIAN FARMERS’ PLOT TO MERGE BRS WITH BJP , SAYS KAVITHA P5 NIFTY 24,833.60 p81.15 GUJARAT MEET MUMBAI IN IPL ELIMINATOR P11 ` vs $ 85.42 P16 SILVER `99,900 GOLD `98,240 RAINFALL: 010.1 mm Modi calls TMC govt ‘ruthless regime’ RELATIVE HUMIDITY BRENT CRUDE (IN $) 63.87 CM accuses BJP of political propaganda & divisive tactics PM accused the TMC government of indulging in appeasement politics WEATHER Generally cloudy sky with a few spells of light to moderate rain/thundershower very likely to occur. Max. 98% Min. 86% TEMPERATURE Max: 29.7˚C (-5.4) Min: 25.8˚C (-1.4) SUN RISES 04:52 hrs MOON RISES 06:40 hrs SUN SETS 18:16 hrs MOON SETS 20:56 hrs Full Moon on 11 June THUMBNAILS STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE ALIPURDUAR, 29 MAY President Droupadi Murmu, during the inauguration of two-day Literary Conference on the theme: 'How Much Has Literature Changed?', at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Thursday. nANI Centre clears appointment of three judges in SC: Acting swiftly on the recommendation made by the Supreme Court Collegium, the Centre on Thursday cleared the appointment of three judges to the top court. CBI nabs EDÊs Odisha Dy Director: Deputy Director of the Enforcement Directorate's Odisha branch, Chintan Raghuvanshi, was arrested by the CBI here on Thursday .It is learnt that the CBI apprehended him while accepting a bribe of Rs 20 lakh from a mines operator to help him in an ED case. The demand was reportedly for Rs 50 lakh. L aunching a sharp attack on the Trinamul Congressled West Bengal government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday described it as a “Nirmam Sarkar” (ruthless government) while addressing a public rally. He criticised the state’s handling of recent riots in Malda and Murshidabad and alleged widespread corruption in the teachers' recruitment process. Without directly naming chief minister Mamata Banerjee, the Prime Minister accused the TMC government of indulging in appeasement politics and giving miscreants a free hand. “Elected representatives, including councillors and MLAs, were seen participating in the violence while the police stood as mute spectators,” he said. “People have now lost faith in this government. The public outcry is loud and clear— ‘Jonotar chitkar, nirmam sarkar’,” Modi added, echoing slogans raised during the rally. Attacking the government over the teachers' recruitment scam, the Prime Minister said: “This scam has shattered the hopes of thousands of educated youths who were eligible for teaching jobs. The TMC government has completely destroyed West Bengal’s education system.” He further alleged that the government not only indulged in massive corruption but also shielded its leaders involved in scams—from teacher recruitment irregularities to other financial misdeeds. Calling upon the youth of Bengal to take responsibility for the state’s development, Modi emphasised the need for Bengal’s active participation in building a "Viksit Bharat" (developed India). “West Bengal must India rules out talks with Pakistan, says terror and talks can’t go together be a driving force in India’s progress, especially under initiatives like Make in India,” he said. Highlighting alleged corruption in housing schemes, the Prime Minister said: “The central government has sanctioned large sums for housing, but lakhs of people have been deprived. The TMC leaders shamelessly demand cut money from poor beneficiaries.” He also accused the state government of stalling several development projects worth nearly Rs 90,000 crore, including the AIIMS hospital in Bengal. Turning to the plight of tea garden workers, Modi blamed the state government for the closure of several estates and the ongoing provident fund crisis. “The TMC government has failed to protect the rights of tribal workers. In contrast, the BJP has honoured tribal pride by nominating Droupadi Murmu as the President of India,” he said. The Prime Minister concluded by urging Bengal’s youth to usher in political change in the next Assembly elections. “Look at the transformation in neighbouring states like Assam and Odisha under BJP rule. Bengal too deserves a bright and corruption-free future,” he said. STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE KOLKATA, 29 MAY Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday voiced her opposition to the name given to the antiterror operation against Pakistan as Operation Sindoor and said name is politically motivated. “The name, Operation Sindoor was their brainchild. It is politically motivated. I did not want to say this, especially when the multi-party delegations are visiting several countries and explaining India’s stand. But today, the Prime Minister came to West Bengal with the motive of political propaganda,” said the Chief Minister. Earlier, while addressing a rally in Alipurduar district, PM Modi slammed the West Bengal government and ruling Trinamool Congress on multiple issues facing the state. NEW DELHI, 29 MAY Asserting that terrorism and talks cannot go together, India on Thursday demanded Pakistan to hand over to it, known terrorists, whose records and names had been given to the neighbouring country some years ago. New Delhi also asserted that any engagement between India and Pakistan has to be bilateral. Addressing his weekly media briefing, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, "As far as our engagement with Pakistan is concerned, our stand has been clear. Any engagement has to be bilateral. We would like to reiterate that terrorism and talks cannot go together. They (Pakistan) need to hand over to India, known terrorists, whose records and list we submitted to them some years ago." He made it clear that talks on Jammu and Kashmir will be held only after Pakistan vacates PoK and hands over the territory to India. Jaiswal further said as far as the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) is concerned, it will remain in abeyance till the time Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support to cross-border terrorism. "Just like Prime Minister Narendra Modi says, terror and talks cannot go together, terror and trade cannot go together, and water and blood cannot flow together," the MEA spokesperson said. The cessation of hostilities between India and Pakistan came after India’s ‘Operation Sindoor’, launched in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 civilians. The operation targeted nine terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), leading to intense clashes, including Pakistan’s attempted drone attacks on Indian cities along the International Border and Line of Control (LoC) and shelling along the LoC. share those proofs with the media,” Mamata said. Reacting to the allegation of the Prime Minister against Trinamool Congress on the issue of corruption, the chief minister said that the Prime Minister should first speak of the corruption in the BJP-ruled states before raising his fingers towards West Bengal. “Corruption is much more prevalent in the BJPruled states. But no action is taken to check the corruption,” the CM said. She also claimed that before criticising the West Bengal government, the Prime Minister should first ensure that the central dues under different centrally-sponsored schemes to the state government are released. “A massive amount of Rs 1.75 lakh crore is due to us. The Prime Minister should first clear those dues and then criticise us,” she said. Make-in-India powered Operation Sindoor, PoK will return to India, says Rajnath Singh STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 29 MAY STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE The chief minister also accused the Prime Minister of encouraging divisive politics through his address at Alipurduar. “First, he described himself as a tea-seller. Thereafter, he described himself as a guard. Now he has come here to sell Sindoor,” the chief minister said. Commenting on the allegation by the Prime Minister that the ruling Trinamool Congress and the state government encouraged hooliganism in minority-dominated Murshidabad district for appeasement politics, the chief minister said that in reality, the communal violence at Murshidabad was masterminded, planned, and triggered by the BJP. “The BJP always triggers communal violence, and they did the same thing at Murshidabad also. We have definite proof of it. When the time comes, we will Terming ‘Make-in-India’ as an essential component of India’s national security, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said it played a key role in the country’s effective action against Pakistan sponsored terrorism during Operation Sindoor. Effective action by the Indian Armed Forces against them would not have been possible if the nation had not strengthened its indigenous defence capabilities, the Defence Minister observed while addressing inaugural plenary of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Annual Business Summit in the national capital. “We destroyed the terrorist hideouts and then the military bases. We could have done a lot more, but we presented a great example of coordination of power and restraint,” he said. Talking about the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA) programme, Execution Model, he said the private sector will get an opportunity to participate in the mega defence project along with public sector companies. It will further bolster indigenous defence capabilities, the minister observed. The Execution Model for AMCA programme to build 5th generation fighter aircraft in India is a “bold and decisive step”, which will take the domestic aerospace sector to greater heights, he said. “Under the AMCA project, the plan is to develop five prototypes, which will be followed by series production. It is a key milepost in the history of the Make-in-India programme,” the minister told the business leaders. India, he said, has redesigned and redefined its strategy and response against terrorism, and Pakistan has also realised that running the business of terrorism is not cost-effective, rather it may have to pay a heavy price. India has recalibrated its engagement and scope of dialogue with Pakistan, and now talks will only be held on terrorism and PoK, the minister added. He reiterated that PoK is a part of India and the people who got geographically and politically separated will, sooner or later, voluntarily return to India. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Government is committed to its resolve of Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat. Most of the people in PoK have a deep connection with India. There are only a few who have been misled,” he said. The minister also exhorted the Indian industry to focus on national interests, more than company interests. “If securing company interests is your karma, safeguarding national interests is your dharma,” he said. Shashi Tharoor clarifies his surgical strike Bank frauds reduced but amount involved went up almost 3x: RBI report is 29% but the amount remark in Panama after Congress criticism involved was higher at Rs STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 27 MAY STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 29 MAY Facing intense criticism from the party and his colleagues, senior Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who is leading one of the seven all-party delegations India dispatched to over 30 partner countries to expose Pakistan support to terrorism and amplify Operation Sindoor message, has clarified his remarks that 2016 surgical strike was the first time India breached the LoC and the International Border. Tharoor stated that he was only speaking about the retaliation to terrorist attacks and not previous wars and that his remarks were about previous Indian responses to such attacks, which were both “restrained and constrained”. “For those zealots fulmi- nating about my supposed ignorance of Indian valour across the LoC: in the past 1. I was clearly and explicitly speaking only about reprisals for terrorist attacks and not about previous wars; & 2. My remarks were preceded by a reference to the several attacks that have taken place in recent years alone, during which previous Indian responses were both restrained and constrained by our responsible respect for the LoC and the IB,” the Congress MP from Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram said in a post on X. He further brushed off the criticism from Congress leaders, especially from Udit Raj, saying that his critics and trolls are welcome to distort his views, but he has “better things to do”. Although Tharoor has recently been irking and embar- rassing the Congress leadership due to some of his statements that appeared supportive of the Modi government and its policies, his latest remark in Panama, claiming that the 2016 surgical strike was the first time India had crossed the Line of Control (LoC), has also prompted a response from Pawan Khera, the party’s head of media and publicity department and a close aide of Rahul Gandhi. Khera had shared multiple news reports, including an interview of Dr Manmohan Singh and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s statement before a Parliamentary Committee on External Affairs in 2016, as well as excerpts from Tharoor’s own book, to prove his point that 2016 was not the first time India conducted air strikes across the LoC. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its Annual Report for the Financial Year 2025 said the bank frauds have reduced but the amount involved went up almost three-fold. It also said that most cases occurred in digital payments. Private-sector banks reported more cases but state-owned lenders “contributed maximum” to the fraud amount. The report highlighted that as many as 23,953 incidences of fraud involving banks took place, down 34% from FY24. The amount involved in frauds in FY25 was Rs 36,014 crore, up almost three times. It said the increase in the amount involved in the total frauds reported during 2024- RBI Annual Report for FY2025 Fraud Cases Down, But Amount Up Sharply: the number of bank fraud cases fell by 34% t 23,953 in FY25, the total amount involved sur nearly threefold to ₹36,014 crore. Public Sector Banks Accounted for Most Frau Losses: Although private-sector banks reported more fraud cases, public-sector banks accounted for the majority (71.3%) of the total fraud amount—₹25,667 crore out of ₹36,014 crore. Digital Payments and Regulatory Focus: Mos frauds occurred in digital payments. RBI emphasized strengthening fraud reporting systems and enhancing cybersecurity, includ the expansion of the Central Payments Fraud Information Registry (CPFIR). 25 over 2023-24 was mainly due to removal of fraud classification in 122 cases amounting to 18,674 crore reported during previous financial years and reporting afresh during the current financial year after re-examination and ensuring compliance with the judgement of the Supreme Court dated March 27, 2023. According to the report, the state-owned banks reported 6,935 cases which 25,667 crore at 71.3% of the total, as compared to 10,088 crore reported by private sector lenders. Regulatory efforts also took centre stage on strengthening fraud reporting mechanisms and encouraging information security preparedness, with an emphasis on cyber resilience. The central payments fraud information registry (CPFIR) reporting was extended to various categories of banks during the year, it mentioned. An assessment of bank group-wise fraud cases over the last three years indicates that while private-sector banks reported maximum number of frauds, public sector banks continued to contribute maximum to the fraud amount.