FOLLOW US: @TheStatesmanLtd @thestatesmanltd thestatesman1875 www.thestatesman.com People’s Parliament, Always in Session India’s National Newspaper since 1818 | Pages 12 | ` 5.00 | KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR | SPORTS WORLD US seeks to assert its control over Venezuelan oil NATION BRIEFLY B’desh police arrest key accused in Dipu Das lynching: Dhaka: The Detective Branch (DB) of Bangladesh police on Thursday arrested another prime accused in connection with the murder of a Hindu youth, Dipu Chandra Das, in Mymensingh district. The arrested man, 25-year-old Md Yasin Arafat, is a resident of South Hobirbari's Karaitola Mor in the district and was apprehended on Wednesday from the Sarulia area in Dhaka. On 18 December 2025, a mob lynched Dipu Chandra Das, a worker in a garment factory, in Bangladesh's Mymensingh district. According to reports, Dipu Das, who was beaten to death by a mob over alleged blasphemy charges, had his body hanged and set on fire. According to investigators, Md Yasin Arafat played a leading role in the incident, actively participating in the brutal assault and was also involved in Dipu’s death. Aussies seal 4-1 Ashes series win with five-wicket victory at SCG PERSPECTIVE Cong warns of ‘new abnormal’ phase in India-US ties Lessons from past tragedies Page 7 Page 9 Page 5 Friday, 09 January 2026 Page 12 Mamata steps in as ED raids I-PAC chief’s home, office; says politically motivated STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE Kolkata, 8 January A dramatic confrontation unfolded in Kolkata on Thursday after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted search operations at the residence of I-PAC founder Pratik Jain and the political consultancy’s office in Salt Lake, triggering an unprecedented intervention by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The ED raids, part of an ongoing investigation into a coal smuggling case, began early in the morning at Mr Jain’s Loudon Street residence and simultaneously at I-PAC’s office in Sector V, Salt Lake. A special ED team from Delhi carried out the searches. As news of the operation spread, tensions escalated sharply, culminating in the Chief Minister herself reaching both locations amid heavy police They want to take away our party’s hard disks, our candidate lists, our strategy documents. Is this the role of the ED or Amit Shah? ED moves Calcutta HC, alleges seizure of documents by CM: MAMATA BANERJEE, BENGAL CHIEF MINISTER and Central forces deployment. Miss Banerjee first arrived at Pratik Jain’s Loudon Street residence while the ED search was still underway. She was accompanied by Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Verma. After spending several minutes inside the house, the Chief Minister emerged holding a green file. At the spot, she alleged that the ED was attempting to confiscate sensitive party-related documents, including the Trinamul Congress’s electoral strategy and organisational plans. “They want to take away our party’s hard disks, our candidate lists, our strategy documents. Is this the role of the ED or Amit Shah?” the Chief Minister remarked, directly targeting the Union Home Minister Amit Shah. She further warned that the action amounted to an attempt to cripple the ruling party ahead of elections. Soon after, Miss Banerjee proceeded to I-PAC’s Salt Lake office in Sector V, where the ED was Kolkata: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) moved the Calcutta High Court alleging that documents and digital evidence were forcibly taken away during its search operations at the offices of political consultancy firm Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) and the residence of its founder Pratik Jain on Thursday. The central agency alleged that Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was instrumental in seizing the documents from the custody of the central agency. Seeking permission to file a case against the Head of the state for interfering in its work, the central agency alleged that this act amounted to an abuse of constitutional authority. The matter was admitted by Justice Shubhra Ghosh and is likely to be heard on Friday. According to ED, the raids were conducted at multiple locations in connection with an alleged illegal coal smuggling case. These included I-PAC’s office in Salt Lake, Kolkata, and Pratik Jain’s residence on Loudon Street. Sources in the ED stated that the searches were conducted strictly on the basis of evidence linked to the illegal coal smuggling case, allegedly operated by one Anup Majhi. Page 3 continuing its search. By then, the area had been heavily secured, with senior officers of the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate present and Central security forces sealing the entry and exit gates of the multi-storeyed building. SC reserves verdict on Justice Verma’s plea PARMOD KUMAR New Delhi, 8 January The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its verdict on a plea filed by Allahabad High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma challenging the decision of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to “unilaterally” constitute a threemember inquiry committee in connection with impeachment proceedings against him. The plea challenges the Speaker’s decision to set up a committee to inquire into the alleged recovery of unaccounted cash from Justice Varma’s official residence in Delhi following a fire on 14 March last year. Justice Varma contended that the Speaker’s decision stood vitiated after the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha rejected a parallel impeachment notice moved on the same day the notice was given in the Lok Sabha. PM Modi: Indian AI models should be ethical, unbiased, transparent Setback to India-backed International Solar Alliance, US withdraws from 66 organisations STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE VIBHA SHARMA New Delhi, 8 January Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that India should present a unique AI model to the world that reflects the spirit of “Made in India, Made for the World.” He was chairing a Roundtable with Indian AI start-ups at his residence at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg. Ahead of the India AI Impact Summit 2026 to be held in India next month, 12 Indian AI start-ups who have qualified for the AI for ALL: Global Impact Challenge in the Summit attended the roundtable and presented their ideas and work. Emphasising that startups and AI entrepreneurs are the co-architects of India’s future, the PM said the country has immense capacity for both innovation and large-scale implementation. He highlighted the imp ortance of artificial intelligence in bringing about transformation in society. He noted that India will host the India AI Impact Summit next month, through which the country will play a major role in the technology sector. He highlighted that India is making efforts to bring about a transformation with & leveraging AI. The PM said the world’s trust in India is the country’s biggest strength. He emphasised the need to ensure that Indian AI models are ethical, unbiased, transparent, and based on data privacy principles. He said startups should also work towards global leadership from India, and noted that India can promote affordable AI, inclusive AI, and frugal innovation globally. He also suggested that Indian AI models should be distinct and should promote local and indigenous content and regional languages. The meeting was attended by CEOs, Heads and representatives of Indian AI start-ups including Avataar, BharatGen, Fractal, Gan, Genloop, Gnani, Intellihealth, Sarvam, Shodh AI, Soket AI, Tech Mahindra and Zenteiq. Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw and Minister of State Jitin Prasada were also present during the meeting. These start-ups are working in a diverse set of areas including Indian language foundation models, multilingual LLMs, speech-to-text, text-to-audio and text-to-video; 3D content using generative AI for e-commerce, marketing, and personalized content creation; engineering simulations, material research and advanced analytics for data-driven decision-making across industries. New Delhi, 8 January In a major setback to the India-backed International Solar Alliance ~ a collaborative initiative between India and France aimed at uniting efforts to combat climate change by implementing solar energy solutions ~ the United States has withdrawn membership from the multilateral body. The ISA is a multilateral organisation promoted by India aimed at strengthening the country’s position as the voice of the Global South. India currently holds its presidency and France the co-presidency. The US step is a part of the Donald Trump administration's move to pull out of International Organisations, Conventions, and Treaties that the administration calls “wasteful, ineffective, harmful” President Droupadi Murmu poses for a group photograph with Union Minister of Consumer Affairs Prahlad Joshi and others during the inaugural session of the Eighth International Solar Alliance Assembly in New Delhi on 28 October 2025. FILE PHOTO and are “contrary to its interests”, and follows the US’ military action against Venezuela. US secretary of state Marco Rubio described the organisations as “anti-American, useless, or wasteful”. “Today, President Trump announced the US is leaving 66 anti-American, useless, or wasteful international organisations. Review of additional international organizations remains ongoing. These withdrawals keep a key promise President Trump made to Americans - we will stop subsidizing globalist bureaucrats who act against our interests. The Trump Administration will always put America and Americans first,” he wrote on X The Executive Order, which covers several United Nations organisations, is said to be one of Mr Trump's most far-reaching steps in the series that started with his second tenure in January 2025. Mr Trump has been quite open about promoting fossil fuels, crude oil, natural gas etc and doing away with the climate-friendly transition like renewables. Over the years, he has repeatedly referred to climate change as a “scam,” “hoax,” or “con job”. Last year he also announced the withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, sparking concern over its climate targets and milestones. The ISA was conceptualised on the sidelines of COP21 in Paris in 2015. Established by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the then President of France Francois Hollande on 30 November 2015, ISA’s objective is to scale up solar energy, reduce the cost of solar power generation through aggregation of demand for solar finance, technologies, innovation, research and development, and capacity building. India winding down Russian oil buys as Trump threats multiply, but defence, nuclear collaboration to intensify JAYANTA ROY CHOWDHURY New Delhi, 8 January As the United States threatened fresh sanctions on countries purchasing Russian oil, Indian companies have slowed or halted crude imports from Russia altogether, senior officials in the Petroleum Ministry said on Thursday. While New Delhi officially maintains that it reserves the right to procure crude oil from any source, it has quietly begun winding down purchases from Russia, even as imports from the United States have increased. However, other officials noted that India is expanding its defence and nuclear cooperation with Moscow encouraging Russia to enter into joint ventures, even as oil trade between the two countries is being scaled back. “We may reduce our oil dependence on Moscow, but not completely stop buying crude from her. However, we do want to encourage the Russians to buy more Indian produce and invest more in joint ventures with the large stock of Indian rupees they have,” said Pinak R Chakravarty, former Secretary (Economic Relations) with the Ministry of External Affairs. State-run oil refiners have been quietly advised to wind down deliveries of Russian crude and limit their purchases from non-sanctioned firms, while Reliance Industries Ltd, the world's largest single site refinery has stated that it has not been receiving any Russian crude for the last three weeks nor expecting any this month. India has also taken a policy decision to limit oil imports from any single country to no more than 25 per cent of its total crude purchases, a move designed to limit exposure to geopolitical shocks and advance its long-term objective of energy self-sufficiency. Officials in New Delhi's petroleum ministry describe the measure as an institutional safeguard, a "shock absorber" for an increasingly volatile global energy market. “Diversification is not an optional policy to show that we are even-handed. It is a strategic necessity given the geopolitical risks facing the energy market,” a senior petroleum ministry official said. All these decisions come as US officials indicated that President Donald Trump has approved a bipartisan proposal to expand sanctions on Russia, which could potentially also target countries such as China, India, and Brazil that continue to purchase Russian oil. Senator Lindsey Graham in a social media post on X, said Mr Trump gave his approval during a recent meeting, clearing the way for the legislation, titled the Sanctioning of Russia Act of 2025, to advance toward a bipartisan vote in Congress, possibly as early as next week. One of the largest buyer of Russian crude, Reliance Industries Ltd in a post on social media platform X earlier this week, said that it's neither received nor is expecting any Russian crude oil deliveries in the December-January period. “Reliance Industries' Jamnagar refinery has not received any cargo of Russian oil at its refinery in the past three weeks approx. and is not expecting any Russian crude oil deliveries in January,” RIL said in a statement posted on X. Indian refiners had increased their imports of Russian crude from 2022 onwards, on the back of huge discounts offered by Moscow after being hit by western sanctions, with 35 per cent of India's crude purchases in 2025 coming from Russian ports alone. The Rosneft-backed Nayara refinery is possibly the only refinery in India which continues to depend heavily on Russian crude. India's crude oil imports from the US surged in late 2025, reaching their highest levels in years of around 5.4 lakh to 5.75 lakh barrels per day in October. The United States became India's fourth-largest supplier by November 2025. “And this trend is growing,” said officials. However, officials point out that the 25 per cent cap on energy imports from any one source policy will also ensure that the US does not fill in the vacuum created by lower imports from Russia, thus ensuring a new energy dependency. Indian trade officials also noted that India's cooperation with Russia is increasing, especially after the summit meeting with President Vladimir Putin in New Delhi last month. "The Putin visit definitely spurred our growing phalanx of joint ventures in defence and nuclear power," said Mr Chakravarty. India's defence and nuclear cooperation with Russia has gained momentum, with bilateral trade reaching a record of nearly USD 70 billion. India has imported over USD80 billion worth of Russian arms over the past two decades, though Russia's share in India's arms imports has declined from 76 per cent in 2009–13 to about 36 per cent in 2019–23 as India diversified suppliers. “Recent initiatives include joint ventures for MiG-29 spares, air defence systems, deliveries of the S-400 missile system, and licensed production of AK-203 assault rifles in India and this is going to increase, not go down,” officials said. An expanding nuclear energy collaboration remains another cornerstone of bilateral ties with Russia, partnering India with the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, where units 1 and 2 are operational and units 3 to 6 are under construction, with completion targeted by 2027. "Rare earth, green energy and connectivity projects through central Asia and the Arctic are other areas where we will enlarge our collaboration with the Russians," officials said.