FOLLOW US: @TheStatesmanLtd @thestatesmanltd thestatesman1875 www.thestatesman.com People’s Parliament, Always in Session India’s National Newspaper since 1818 | Pages 16 | ` 5.00 | KOLKATA LC | NEW DELHI WORLD BUSINESS Piyush Goyal in Washington for India-US trade talks Page 12 Israel evacuates Gaza hospital amid UN summit Page 11 Bengal to lose around `20k crore after GST reset: CM STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE Kolkata, 22 September T h e p e o p l e h ave benefitted due to the revised GST tariff but the Bengal government will lose revenue worth Rs 20,000 crore, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said today. She said: “All the states will be affected but as the Centre does not give dues to Bengal, it will be the worst hit. The Centre will give money indirectly to the double-engine governments to cover up the losses. Bengal government has reached a staggering Rs 1.92 lakh crore and another Rs 20,000 crore will be added to our woes. I am happy that people have been benefitted,” she said adding, “The Centre is taking credit for restructuring the GST tariff and the godi media, including the AIR and Doordarshan are giving all credit to the centre. We will advertise in newspapers to give the real picture and the loss we will be facing. The media will never show how West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee inaugurates the Alipore Sarbojanin Durga Puja pandal, in Kolkata on Monday. SNS Bengal has been deprived,” she said. Miss Banerjee inaugurated the 25 Pally Durga Puja in K i d d e r p o r e . S h e wa s accompanied by Kolkata mayor Firhad Hakim. Miss Banerjee said: “The Durga Puja is organised by people from all communities, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Christian. This is our culture and legacy. The Kidderpore PM unveils projects worth `5,100 crore in North-East STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE Itanagar/Agartala, 22 September Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday launched a series of initiatives in Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura, marking the first day of Navratri with development and devotion. In Itanagar, Modi accused the Congress of neglecting Arunachal and the Northeast because of its limited electoral weight, while asserting that the BJP had placed the region firmly at the centre of India’s growth story. Calling Arunachal Pradesh the “land of peace and patriotism,” he unveiled projects worth over Rs 5,100 crore, including foundation stones for two major hydropower projects—the 240 MW Heo and 186 MW Tato-I plants in Shi Yomi district worth over Rs 3,700 crore. He also announced the Tawang Convention Centre, besides projects on connectivity, health care, fire safety, and women’s hostels. Launching the next generation of GST reforms as a “GST Bachat Utsav,” Modi said the move would lower costs of essentials, benefit small businesses and artisans, and strengthen the “vocal for local” push. “Ease of living, ease of health, ease of education, ease of travel and ease of doing business—these are our guiding principles,” he said, adding that the reforms align with the vision of making India a developed nation by 2047. area is mini-India. People from different religions and communities have lived here will peace and harmony for generations. We will have to uphold our long cherished tradition of communal peace and harmony.” Quoting Swa m i Vivekananda , she said: “Unity is strength and weakness is death. We all should live happily and peacefully. Religion is personal but festival is for all.” Miss Banerjee said: “We love every language but should be proud to speak in our mother tongue. It is most unfortunate that our workers have been attacked and humiliated in other states for speaking in Bengali.” Miss Banerjee urged the P uja organisers to play Bengali songs. She has composed 16 songs for the Puja and the songs have been sung by well-known singers like Sri Radha Banerjee, Nachiketa, Raghab, Monomoy, Rupankar, Babul Supriyo, Indranil Sen among others. She was welcomed by school going girls. She urged them to listen to the song composed by her on Kanyashree. Miss Banerjee recollected her long association with Kidderpore. “I used to come to the house of Amal Mukherjee, who was the treasurer of south Kolkata district Congress. He is no more but the memory is there.” Defence minister: PoK belongs to India, day of reunification close STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE New Delhi, 22 September In a strongly-worded message to Islamabad, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh stated that India will take back the control of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) as the demands for the same are being raised by the people from the region. Rajnath Singh was speaking with the Indian diaspora in Rabat, Morocco, on Monday. “PoK will be ours on its own. Demands have started being made in PoK, you must have heard sloganeering,” he said. Speaking about his statement from five years ago, the defence minister said, “I was addressing the Indian Army at a program in Kashmir Valley five years ago, I had then said that we will not need to attack and capture PoK, it is anyway ours; PoK itself will say, ‘Main bhi Bharat Hoon’. That day will come.” Stating that Operation Sindoor was still ongoing, the defence minister said it was undertaken by the country’s armed forces to execute the terrorists and terror hubs behind the brutal killings in Pahalgam. “India does not discriminate against people from different communities, and it acted to teach a lesson to those who spread terror,” he added. Time has come to decriminalise defamation law, says SC PARMOD KUMAR New Delhi, 22 September The Supreme Court on Monday said that the time has come to consider doing away with the criminality attached to defamation, signalling a rethink on its 2016 ruling that had upheld the law’s constitutional validity. Justice M.M. Sundresh, heading a bench with Justice Satish Chandra Sharma, made the remark while hearing a plea filed by the news portal The Wire against summons issued by a magistrate on a complaint by Jawaharlal Nehru University professor Amita Singh over a 2016 article published by the news portal. “I think time has come to decriminalise all this…,” Justice Sundresh remarked, with senior advocate Kapil Sibal agreeing to it. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, was appearing in the case representing the Foundation for Independent Journalism that runs The Wire. The dispute stems from a report that said Prof. Singh led a group of JNU teachers who had prepared a 200-page dossier allegedly portraying the university as a hub of a “sex racket” and “secessionism.” The dossier, the article claimed, was submitted to the administration accusing some teachers of fostering a culture that legitimised separatist politics. Based on this, Prof. Singh lodged a criminal defamation case against the portal and its reporter. A magistrate first issued summons in 2017. The Supreme Court set aside that summons in 2024 and asked the magistrate to reconsider the issuance of the summons after examining the article. Fresh summons were again issued this January to the portal and its political affairs editor, Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta. The Delhi High Court upheld them in May, leading to the current appeal before the apex court. During the hearing, the Court questioned the long pendency of the case. “How long will you go on dragging this?” the Bench asked. To this, Sibal said, “Similar matter is being considered. Rahul Gandhi’s case.” Following this, the court issued notice in the matter. The court’s latest remark gains significance as, in May 2016, a bench led by Justice Dipak Misra had upheld the validity of the offence of criminal defamation under the old Penal Code. Then, the court had stressed that reputation was part of the right to life under Article 21, and rejected arguments that criminal defamation had a chilling effect on free speech. The top court by its May 13, 2016, judgment had said, “Once we have held that reputation of an individual is a basic element of Article 21 of the Constitution and balancing of fundamental rights is a constitutional necessity and further the legislature in its wisdom has kept the penal provision alive, it is extremely difficult to subscribe to the view that criminal defamation has a chilling effect on the freedom of speech and expression.” | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR | Tuesday, 23 September 2025