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 | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR Linking frontiers with the nation BRIEFLY Campaigning ends for first phase of Bihar Assembly polls: Patna: Campaigning for the first phase of the Bihar Assembly elections concluded on Tuesday. Voting for this phase will be held on 6 November in 121 assembly constituencies spread across 18 districts, with 1,314 candidates in the fray. The remaining 122 constituencies will go to the polls on 11 November, with 1,302 candidates contesting. The results will be announced on 14 November. Star campaigners of various political parties put in their full strength, holding rallies, public meetings, and roadshows to ensure the victory of their respective candidates. The NDA leaders appealed to voters in the name of development under PMModi & CMNitish Kumar, and to prevent the return of jungle raj. The INDIA bloc leaders, meanwhile, promised a job for every family as their main poll plank. Bilaspur/Raipur, 4 November A devastating train collision in Chhattisgarh’s Bilaspur district left at least ten passengers dead and dozens injured on Tuesday evening . The accident occurred when the Korba Passenger train rammed into a stationary goods train near Lal Khadan station on the busy Bilaspur-Katni rail line. Eyewitnesses described scenes Page 16 EDITORIAL PAGE CM threatens to topple BJP govt if genuine voters deleted STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE Kolkata, 4 November L aunching a scathing attack on the BJP-led C entre over the ongoing Sp ecial Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Trinamul Congress supremo and chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday warned that if even a single eligible voter’s name was struck off in Bengal, she would “bring down the BJP government at the Centre.” Speaking at a rally that began at Red Road and culminated in Jorasanko, Miss Banerjee accused the BJP of hatching a conspiracy to erase around two crore names from Bengal’s voter list in a bid to capture power. “They have calculated that they have 39 per cent of the vote and we have 40 per cent. So they think if they delete two crore names, they CM Mamata Banerjee leads a rally protesting against the SIR exercise, in Kolkata on Tuesday. TMC National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee and others are also present. BISWAJIT GHOSHAL can win. But this time, their plan will backfire ~ even their own voters will turn against them because people can see through this plot to snatch away their rights and homes,” she said. Taking direct aim at the Election Commission of India, the chief minister alleged that the ECI was acting under the influence of the BJP’s of panic and chaos as the impact derailed multiple coaches, trapping passengers inside the mangled compartments. Rescue teams from the Railway Protection Force (RPF), Government Railway Police (GRP), and local administration reached the site within minutes and began pulling out victims amid twisted metal and debris. In the late evening, rescue teams retrieved two more bodies from the wreckage, taking the toll to ten. Dozens of injured passengers were rushed to Bilaspur Railway Hospital and Sims Medical College, where several remain in critical condition. Officials said the collision caused severe damage to overhead electric lines and signalling systems, bringing train operations to a standstill. Several trains on the Bilaspur–Korba route have been cancelled, diverted, or rescheduled, including the Azad Hind Express and Bilaspur-Tata Express. A special medical relief train and heavy cranes were dispatched from Bilaspur and Korba for rescue operations, which continued late into the night. Senior railway officials, including the Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), camped at the site to oversee the operation. top leadership. “To please Modibabu and Shahbabu, Kursibabu (the Election Commission official) is trying to create history. But the history you are writing will become patihas (a blot),” she said, adding, “BJP leaders are calling citizens ‘Bangladeshi’ just because they speak Bengali. Speaking Bengali doesn’t make one Bangladeshi, just India, Israel reaffirm zero tolerance for terrorism STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE New Delhi, 4 November External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar on Tuesday reaffirmed both nations' zero tolerance towards terrorism in all its forms and manifestations as they met in New Delhi. The two countries also signed a Memorandum of Understanding during the 17th meeting of the India-Israel Joint Working Group (JWG) on defence cooperation in Tel Aviv the same day, to provide a unified vision and policy direction to deepen the defence cooperation between the two countries. • Details on Page 5 Wealth of India’s richest 1 pc spikes by 62 pc between 2000 & 2023: G20 report STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE New Delhi, 4 November Between 2000 and 2023, India’s richest 1 per cent have grown their wealth by 62 per cent, said the World Inequality Database in a new report commissioned by the South African Presidency of the G20. In China, the rich population’s wealth increased by 54 per cent in China while in the United States, a sharp rise occurred after 1980, with the top 1 per cent expanding their share of wealth by a total of 5 per cent since then. The study led by Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz warned that global inequality has reached “emergency levels”, putting democracy, economic stability, and climate progress at risk. The G20 Extraordinary Committee of Independent 3 Indians included in Women’s WC Team of the Tournament Page 8 Ten dead, several injured as passenger train collides with goods train in Chhattisgarh STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE Fracture in Ties Mamdani and Cuomo face off as NYC chooses new mayor Page 11 Page 9 Wednesday, 05 November 2025 SPORTS WORLD PERSPECTIVE | Experts on Global Inequality, which prepared the report, includes economists Jayati Ghosh, Winnie Byanyima, and Imraan Valodia. The report highlighted that the richest 1 per cent of people in the world captured 41 per cent of all new wealth created between 2000 and 2024, while the bottom half of the global population received only 1 per cent. Inequality in some countries narrowed marginally because incomes have risen in large countries like China and India, reducing the overall share of high-income nations in global GDP, the report said. However, within most countries, inequality has increased sharply. Between 2000 and 2023, the richest 1 per cent expanded their share of total wealth in more than half of all nations, covering 74 per cent of the global population. The G20 report mentioned that extreme inequality is a choice, not a necessity, and can be reduced through political action and global cooperation. The G20, it said, has a vital role in leading this effort. The G20 report suggested creating a new body, such as an International Panel on Inequality (IPI), which is similar to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The panel would track inequality trends worldwide and give governments clear, reliable data to guide policies. The proposed panel, to be launched under South Africa’s G20 Presidency, would offer authoritative and accessible information on the causes and impact of inequality. as speaking Hindi or Urdu doesn’t make one Pakistani.” Ridiculing the BJP as “Feku Babus,” Miss Banerjee said: “Now we have to prove we are citizens of India! Where was the BJP during the freedom struggle? They didn’t even exist then. They are the biggest looters of public money.” Drawing parallels between the SIR exercise and previous central policies, she said: “During demonetisation, they promised to bring back black money from abroad. Instead, they turned their own black money white, while innocent people died standing in queues. Now they are selling off LIC and every national asset.” Her nephew and party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee also warned the Centre and the ECI, declaring: “If even one eligible voter’s name is deleted, we will launch a massive movement in Delhi.” The rally ~ from Red Road to Jorasanko ~ brought central Kolkata to a standstill for hours, with thousands of Trinamul supporters joining the protest against what the party described as an attempt to “strip Bengal’s citizens of their democratic rights in the name of SIR.” • More reports on Pg. 3 Electoral roll revision kicks off in 12 states/UTs STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE New Delhi, 4 November The Election Commission on Tuesday launched the second phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in 12 states and Union territories, covering approximately 51 crore voters. The door-to-door enumeration process, carried out by block level officers (BLOs), began on Tuesday and will continue until 4 December. This nationwide exercise aims to ensure accurate, transparent, and legitimate voter databases ahead of upcoming elections in states like Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, and Puducherry. The ECI will publish draft electoral rolls on 9 December, followed by claims and objections until 8 January 2026. Hearings and verifications will be completed by 31 January 2026, with final electoral rolls to be published on 7;February 2026. The SIR 2.0 exercise includes changes from the earlier exercise in Bihar, such as not collecting documents from electors during enumeration and adding Aadhaar as an indicative document. The ECI has clarified that voters whose names appeared in the 2003 voter list need not submit extra documents.