www.thestatesman.com | FOLLOW US: India’s National Newspaper since 1818 Evolve @TheStatesmanLtd | Pages 16 @thestatesmanltd | ` 5.00 | People’s Parliament, Always in Session thestatesman1875 KOLKATA | NEW DELHI 8th Day What lies beneath the silence | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR | 30 November, 2025 S P O RT S Dharmendra: Sharmila Thakur remembers the legendary actor Ro-Ko’s return as selection puzzles take centre stage Page 16 K’taka CM, DK signal truce amid buzz of ‘settlement’ VIBHA SHARMA New Delhi, 29 November BRIEFLY Operation ‘Sagar Bandhu’ intensifies: New Delhi: Intensifying its ongoing humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka under 'Operation Sagar Bandhu', the government on Saturday said that two aircraft carrying over 20 tonnes of relief supplies and NDRF teams landed in Colombo in the aftermath of Cyclone Ditwah, which claimed over a hundred lives and left thousands affected in the island nation. EAM Jaishankar also wrote that “A total of around 27 tons of relief material delivered by air and sea. More is on the way!"The High Commission of India in Sri Lanka has also set up an Emergency Help Desk in Colombo to support Indian nationals impacted by Cyclone Ditwah.” Page 6 T he final act is awaited, but the main protagonists in the Karnataka ‘nataka’~ Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy, D.K. Shivakumar ~ played to perfection the scene of bonhomie on Saturday, offering assurances such as “abiding by the decisions and directives of the party.” “We have both decided that we will abide by the decision and directive of the party high command. Be it as ministers or as legislators, no one is against our government,” Me Siddaramaiah told media persons, with a smiling Me Shivakumar by his side, after their breakfast meeting held at the “instructions of the party leadership.” “At the instructions of the party leadership, D.K. Shivakumar and I had breakfast together at our home,” the CM said, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah with Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivkumar during a press conference, in Bengaluru on Saturday. AGENCIES following which talk of a “settlement” formula started circulating. Putting up a united front, Mr Siddaramaiah and Mr Shivakumar asserted there were “no differences” between them and promised to maintain the status quo in the future as well. “Since there is a session, the high command has instructed us to clarify the confusion for both. Even now, there is no confusion, and there All-party meeting today, will listen to everyone there, says Rijiju AGENCIES New Delhi, 29 November Ahead of the upcoming Winter Session of Parliament, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Saturday said that an all-party meeting will be held on Sunday where the government will listen to all political parties. Speaking to IANS, Kiren Rijiju said: “There is an all-party meeting tomorrow, and we will listen to everyone there. As for the bulletins that mention parliamentar y etiquette, every Member is aware of it." The government will convene the all-party meeting on Sunday ahead of the Winter Session of Parliament, b eginning Monday. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju will meet the floor leaders of political parties from both Houses of Parliament during the meeting. During the meeting, the government will se ek cooperation from all political parties to ensure the smooth functioning of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha during the session. The Winter Session will be held from 1 to 19 December. Several important legislations are scheduled to be taken up for discussion and passage during this p erio d. The government intends to begin the Winter Session with a full-day discussion on 'Vande Mataram' as the nation marks 150 years of the national song. The focus will be on the complete recitation of the song, following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remarks that the removal of "significant verses" in 1937 played a role in the Partition of India. “In 1937, significant verses of ‘Vande Mataram’, the very essence of its spirit, were removed. Stanzas of the song were broken up. This removal sowed the seeds for the eventual Partition of the country. Today’s generation needs to understand why such injustice was committed against this great mantra of nation-building, because that same divisive mindset continues to pose a major challenge even today,” the Prime Minister had said on 7 November. won't be any tomorrow either. We will inform the high command about the agreement reached between us. But the confusion has been created by some media outlets. Some legislators may have visited Delhi in connection with the Cabinet reshuffle,” the CM said. He blamed the opposition BJP and JD(S) for “misinformation, false accusations, and baseless charges,” calling it their tactic Russia moves to ratify key military pact ahead of Putin’s visit PARWINDER SANDHU New Delhi, 29 November Ahead of the highly anticipated visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to India to attend the 23rd Bilateral Summit, slated for 4-5 December, the lower house of Russia's parliament is set to ratify a crucial military pact with India. Signed on 18 February in Moscow by Indian Ambassador Vinay Kumar and the then–Deputy Defence Minister Alexander Fomin, the Reciprocal Exchange of Logistics Agreement (RELOS) aims to further strengthen militar y cooperation between the two long-standing strategic partners. ‘No major Indian city recorded safe AQI levels at any point from 2015-2025’ STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE New Delhi, 29 November No major Indian city recorded safe Air Quality Index (AQI) levels at any point from 2015–2025, according to a new analysis by Climate Trends which assessed air quality data across 11 Indian cities from 2015 to November 2025. Despite recent policy interventions and technological improvements, top urban centres continue to face serious air-quality challenges, highlighting the need for more aggressive pollution-control strategies, sustained enforcement measures, and long-term urban planning reforms.The AQI levels in annual averages in the past decade and meteorology and geography are adding to the persistent winter smog especially across the Indo-Gangetic region, it states. As expected, Delhi tops the list, but then every major Indian city analysed by Climate Trends “experiences unhealthy air quality for a significant portion of the year and even improving cities remain outside the safe AQI range.” Bengaluru, with the lowest AQI values among the listed cities, remains largely between 65 and 90, but even these levels exceed what would be considered “good” air quality, showing that no major metro escapes pollution concerns. The degree of pollution varies from city to city and some improvement is visible in certain locations in recent years but all assessed cities consistently fall within ranges that “indicate moderate to hazardous pollution levels,” with some “routinely breaching recommended safe limits.” Delhi was the most polluted city throughout the study period, maintaining persistently high AQI values from peaks above 250 (2016) to levels still near 180 in 2025. “While there is minor year-to-year fluctuation, the city never approaches safe thresholds and continues to experience chronic poor air quality driven by vehicular emissions, industrial activity, seasonal crop burning, and geographic factors”. Urban centres like Lucknow, Varanasi, Ahmedabad, and Pune also show prolonged periods of elevated AQI. Kolkata, Chennai, Chandigarh, Visakhapatnam, and Mumbai present moderate AQI values compared to northern cities but still fail to reach consistently safe levels. to usurp power. “We have 142 members; they have only 64, and JD(S) has 18. Together, they make 82 members. No matter what false accusations the opposition parties make, we will effectively counter all of them,” he said, promising to bring the Congress back to power in 2028. On his part, Mr Shivakumar said people had supported the Congress and brought it to power; therefore, the party must live up to their expectations. Dismissing the notion of differences with the CM, Shivakumar said he discussed the strategy for the 2028 assembly polls, ways to tackle opposition parties. Now the said “compromise agreement” ~ according to sources, the final shape to it will be given by Delhi leadership and there seems a strong possibility of Mr Shivakumar getting the top post in a smooth, amicable transition of power as early as possible. Air India, IndiGo upgrade most of their Airbus fleet; no cancellations, say airlines STATESMAN NEW SERVICE New Delhi, 29 November Air India on Saturday evening completed upgrades on 69 out of their 113 Airbus aircraft impacted by orders for mandatory upgradation of software and hardware. By Saturday evening 184 out of Indigo’s 200 aircraft from the Airbus family, had b e en up grade d, while inspections on the remaining were progressing. The two airlines stressed that no flights have been cancelled, though there might be flight delays as a result of the mandatory checks. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had earlier directed that until the mandatory software, hardware updates for Airbus family aircraft are carried out , flights will remain grounded. This follows similar directives by European union Aviation Safety Agency and Airbus corporation on similar lines. The move affected Airbus A 318, A319, A320, and A321 aircraft. The airlines that are operating these were directed to first comply with the necessary changes, and till then refrain from operating these aircraft. Air India in a statement said "safety is to priority" and added that following the directives, a mandatory hardware and software re-alignment will be carried out before flying their fleet. In the Air India fleet, there are around 113 Airbus aircraft that were affected, while 200 Indigo aircraft faced the issue. According to sources, there are around 300 such aircraft operated by Indian carriers that require modifications. Twenty-f ive Air India Express aircraft were affected, out of which 17 had been upgraded by evening (1730 hours). The three airlines indicated that their affected aircraft will be updated by the end of Saturday. Airbus had earlier has ordered immediate repairs to 6,000 A320-family aircraft, covering more than half the global fleet. The recall requires airlines to revert to an earlier software version before the jets can fly again, except for ferry flights to maintenance centres. The recall is one of the largest in Airbus’s 55-year history and follows shortly after the A320 surpassed the Boeing 737 as the world’s most-delivered aircraft.