YK MYK GELATIN STICKS NEAR MUKESH AMBANI HOME, FIR LODGED NATION KOLKATA SATURDAY, 27 FEB, 2021 PG-12, YEAR—7, ISSUE—282 (RNI NO: WBENG / 2014 / 56803) MAX 35 C MIN 21 C Sky will be clear. AT A GLANCE PAK REMAINS ON FATF 'GREY LIST' TILL JUNE PARIS: Global terror financing watchdog, Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Thursday retained Pakistan on its "grey list" till June after concluding that Islamabad failed to address its strategically important deficiencies, to fully implement the 27 point action plan that the watchdog had drawn up for Pakistan. The global watchdog had in October last year asked Pakistan, which has been on the FATF grey list over issues related to terror financing, to deliver on all 27 points by this February. MORE ON WORLD PG NPAS CAN’T BE SWEPT UNDER THE CARPET ANY LONGER: PM MODI NEW DELHI: Outlining reforms in the financial sector and taking a dig at the UPA government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday that non-performing assets (NPA) cannot be swept under the carpet now as a bad loan for even a single day needs to be reported. Addressing a webinar on the Budget announcements for the Department of Financial Services (DFS), the Prime Minister said that reforms in the banking sector will continue. MORE ON PG 5 CORONA METER INDIA TOTAL CASES: 1,10,63,962 TOTAL DEATH: 156,870 WORLD TOTAL CASES: 113,671,973 TOTAL DEATH: 2,521,573 SPORTS Morning India Rs. 3 WEATHER TODAY YUSUF PATHAN RETIRES FROM ALL FORMS OF CRICKET Polling dates for Kerala, TN, WB, Assam, Puducherry announced Bengal polls to be held in eight phases from March 27 NEW DELHI/ KOLKATA: The Election Commission of India on Friday announced that West Bengal will witness eight-phased Assembly polls beginning March 27. The counting of votes will take place on May 2. Addressing a press conference, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said: "West Bengal will see eight-phase elections. 30 Assembly constituencies in five districts will go to polls in the first phase on March 27. 30 Assembly constituencies in four districts will go to polls in the second phase on April 1. In the third phase, 31 constituencies in 3 districts will go to polls on April 6. 44 constituencies in five districts will go for polling on April 10." "In the fifth phase, 45 constituencies in six districts will witness polling on April 17. 43 constituencies in four districts in the sixth phase will go to polls on April 22. 36 constituencies in five districts in the seventh phase will go for polling on April 26. In the eighth and final phase, 35 constituencies in four districts will witness polling on April 29," he said. The ECI has appointed two special police observers -- Vivek Dubey and MK Das -- for West Bengal. With the announcement of the election schedule, the Model Code of Conduct has come into force in the state. "Model Code of Conduct to come into force immediately after the announcement of the election dates. The commission has made adequate arrangements to ensure effective implementation of MCC guidelines," Arora said. Besides West Bengal, the ECI also announced the election sched- ule for Tamil Nadu, Assam, Puducherry and Kerala. The CEC said adequate CAPFs deployment shall be ensured during elections. "All critical, vulnerable polling stations identified and an adequate number of CAPFs will be deployed. Advance teams are already deployed in these states/UT," he said. "Postal ballot facility has been extended as an option to senior citizens aged 80 years and above, persons with disabilities and electors employed in essential services. A separate SOP (standard operating procedure) is there for COVID-19 patients, suspect COVID-19 patient. Polling time has been uniformly increased," Arora added. The CEC said door-to-door campaigning has been restricted to five persons including the candidate. Roadshows are allowed subjected to convoy breaking after five vehicles, he added. "A 824 Assembly constituencies shall be going to polls. 18.68 crore voters will cast votes at 2.7 lakh polling stations in states/UT. More than 3 lakh service vote electors will be availing facilities of electronic transmitted postal ballet system," Arora informed. The tenure of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will end on May 30 this year. West Bengal is likely to witness a triangular contest this time with TMC, Congress-Left alliance and BJP in the fray. While Mamata Banerjee is seeking her third consecutive term, BJP has set a target of winning 200 seats in the 294-member state Assembly. RESULTS MAY 2 RANCHI: A Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself with his service weapon in Jharkhand's Gumla district, police said on Friday. Sompal Singh, a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Meerut district allegedly shot himself with his AK 47 rifle on Thursday night. He was posted at the Bishunpur picket of Gumla district in September 2020. Police said that Sompal returned to his duty 10 days after holiday. He also took part in his colleague's birthday celebration before going to his room on Thursday. The body has been sent for postmortem and further probe is on to ascertain the exact cause of the death. MORE STORIES PG3 CEC Sunil Arora holding a press conference to announce the schedule for Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Puducherry Legislative Assembly Elections 2021, in New Delhi on Friday. Govt’s motto is development: Murmu JHARKHAND ASSEMBLY SESSION BEGINS, BUDGET TO BE TABLED ON MARCH 3 SANJAY SAHAY RANCHI: Enumerating the achievements of the government in her opening address of the budget session on Friday, Governor Droupadi Murmu said that it has worked on principle 'Vikas moolmantra, adhaar loktantra', adding it focused on the development of people who have been suppressed for years. She said that the government has adopted zero tolerance towards corruption, adding 51 public servants have been arrested in 202021. She said the government provided financial relief to stranded migrant workers during the lockdown, adding 1335 food distribution centres were operated in the state for serving daily workers and the poor. She said that products have been identified for export hubs in every district of the state, adding a districtlevel export committee has been formed in this regard. Steps have also been initiated for setting PM formalization of Micro food processing enterprises, she stated. The Governor said the state government is also bringing about radical reforms in generation, trans- CRPF PERSONNEL KILLS SELF IN GUMLA Governor Droupadi Murmu addresses legislators on the opening day of the Budget Session, in Ranchi on Friday. CM Hemant Soren outside Jharkhand Vidhan Sabha in Ranchi on Friday. Hemant Sutradhar mission, and distribution of power, adding a high-quality power supply system is necessary for the development of the state. She said the government is developing Giridih as a solar city in view of the importance of renewable energy. The Governor said that the government has decided to increase the daily wages under the MNREGA scheme to Rs 225, adding the target for employment generation has been raised to Rs 11.5 crore man-days per year. She said that around 15,063 women have been freed from brewing liquor and engaged with other sources of livelihood. Minister Hemant Soren said that opposition parties are at a loss on their future strategy after going out of power. He said the Governor's speech referred to schemes, which are being implemented on the ground. He said, "This is a glimpse of what we have done under pandemic conditions. We have a long time to perform. He said that BJP policies have caused widespread chaos in the country." Earlier, the opposition leaders, including former minister Neelkanth Singh Munda and Amar Bauri alleged that the state government made the Governor read a bundle of lies related to its achievements. Munda The Governor stated that the government has also initiated steps for waiving off agriculture loans up to Rs 50,000. She said that the state government has started the Pashudhan yojna for creating self-employment. She also mentioned government achievements under different schemes, including Amrit Yojna, Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna, Sona Sobran dhoti sari yojna and sports policy. She said that the state government has fixed a target to collect Rs 17379 .51 crore for 2020-21 financial years adding so far Rs 11689 crore have been collected. Speaking to media persons after the meeting, Chief said, "We simply heard out the entire speech silently. A government, which has spent only about 40 percent of the last year's budget, is trying to publicize about its successes." In his opening remarks in the assembly, Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahto appealed to the members to raise public interest issues. He said that the current session would have 16 days of works during which the government would present the supplementary budget for 2020-21 and the budget for the financial year 2021-22. The budget session would continue till March 23. The presentation of the state budget is on March 3. INDIA EXITS TECHNICAL RECESSION Country’s Q3FY21 GDP grows 0.4% NEW DELHI: India's GDP grew by 0.4 per cent in the October to December quarter (Q3 FY21), marking a return to positive zone after twoquarters of recession but showing a lingering weakness in the economy, government data showed on Friday. A sharp improvement in the Covid-19 situation and rising public spending are the two factors behind uptick. "The GDP at constant (2011-12) prices in Q3 of 2020-21 is estimated at Rs 36.22 lakh crore as against Rs 36.08 lakh crore in Q3 of 2019-20, showing a growth of 0.4 per cent," said the National Statistical Office (NSO). A continuing fall in domestic consumption is seen as a strong reason behind the sluggish pace. According to second advance estimates of economic growth, the real GDP in current financial year (2020-21) is estimated at negative 8 per cent as compared to growth rate of 4 per cent in 2019-20. Agriculture sector is estimated to see a growth of 3 per cent in FY21 as compared to 4.3 per cent in 2019-20. EIGHT CORE INDUSTRIES' PRODUCTION REMAINS FLAT IN JAN NEW DELHI: The production of India's eight major industries remained flat on a year-on-year basis during January 2021. The Index of Eight Core Industries' reading for last month showed a rise of just 0.1 per cent in output from an expansion of 2.2 per cent in the same month last year. On a sequential basis, the output of eight major industries had expanded by 0.2 per cent in December 2020. ECI index comprises 40.27 per cent of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP). After lifting green card, visa ban, Biden to ensure high-skill immigration NEW YORK: President Joe Biden, who has ordered an end to his predecessor Donald Trump's ban on issuing green cards and work visas, is committed to ensuring that highly skilled workers can get permanent residence, according to his Spokesperson Jen Psaki. Biden believes that it is important and long overdue "to modernise our immigration system, and that includes taking steps to help ensure that high-skilled workers can stay in the country and can go through the proper process to stay in the country", she said on Thursday. "We're eager to work with Democrats and Republicans in Congress to get that done," she added while replying to a question about what he intended to do about those in the country legally but have to wait decades for permanent residentship or green card. Two Democratic members of Congress introduced legislation last week that would have the effect of allowing more professional Indians on H1-B work visas to get green cards and cut their wait, which can stretch to several decades. The bill introduced by Senator Bob Menendez and House of Representatives member Linda Sanchez seeks to remove the annual limits on green cards for each country, a measure that would benefit them. State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said the Department will be normalising visa operations following Biden's orders ending the ban on issuing green cards and work visas. "The Department of State is committed to serving the American people and to restoring our visa operations to normal as soon as possible, always prioritis- ing the health and safety of our applicants, their loved ones, and our staff," he said. Biden issued a proclamation on Wednesday ending the Trump restrictions on issuing green cards and work visas, dismissing Trump's claims the ban was meant to protect US interests. Biden said that it does "not advance the interests of the US. To the contrary, it harms the United States, including by preventing certain family members of United States citizens and lawful permanent residents from joining their families here. It also harms industries in the United States that utilise talent from around the world". Trump had claimed the ban, which after extensions was to BIDEN BELIEVES THAT IT IS IMPORTANT AND LONG OVERDUE "TO MODERNISE OUR IMMIGRATION SYSTEM, AND THAT INCLUDES TAKING STEPS TO HELP ENSURE THAT HIGH-SKILLED WORKERS CAN STAY IN THE COUNTRY AND CAN GO THROUGH THE PROPER PROCESS TO STAY IN THE COUNTRY", SHE SAID ON THURSDAY. expire at the end of next month, was meant to protect US workers in a labour market pummeled by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Trump ban exempted some categories like spouses of citizens and workers needed in the fight against the pandemic. Meanwhile, tax records, which former US President Donald Trump tried to keep secret for years are now in the hands of the New York district attorney. According to CNN, prosecutors obtained the records on Monday, just hours after the US Supreme Court denied Trump's effort to keep the records private, a spokesperson for the district attorney said. As per sources, the millions of pages of documents contain the former President's tax returns spanning from January 2011 to August 2019, as well as financial statements, engagement agreements, documents relating to the preparation and review of tax returns, and work papers and communications related to the tax returns.